Lord’s Day, Vol. 5 No. 47
Beneath the Cross of Jesus
- From One Who Followed the Way of the Cross
The cross is the sacred symbol of the Christian faith. There our burden of sin was lifted. There we experienced the wonderful grace of our Lord and Saviour. Our sins and guilt were nailed to that cross. Since we came to that old rugged cross, life has never been the same. There we found salvation and life abundant and eternal.
One of the great hymns of the cross was written by Elizabeth Clephane (1830-69) of Scotland. She learned the meaning of the cross when as a young child she lost both her parents. From her youth she was in delicate health. Although frail, she gave herself in service to the poor and sick.
She took seriously the challenge of the cross when Christ said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matt. 16:24). Along with her sister, she gave all of her carriage. Her acts of compassion among the sick and suffering earned from the townspeople the affectionate designation, “The Sunbeam”.
One of her two enduring hymns, “There Were Ninety and Nine,” was made famous by Ira Sankey during Moody’s revivals in the United States and Great Britain.
Shortly before her death at the early age of thirty-nine, from serious illness and weakness, she composed “Beneath the Cross of Jesus.” The Scotts knew their Bible. Her imagery is biblical: “the mighty rock” was taken from Isaiah 32:2, “the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” And “weary land” taken from Psalm 63:1, “my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is”.
And “home within the wilderness” was taken from Jeremiah 9:2, “in the wilderness a lodging place”. Also, “rest upon the way” is taken from Isaiah 28:12, “This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest”. Then there is “noontide heat” taken from Isaiah 4:6, “a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat”. Finally, “burden of the day” taken from Matthew 11:30, “For my yoke is easy and my burden light”.
In the second verse the cross becomes more than a symbol. On it the lyricist sees “the very form of One dying there for me.” She sees two contrasting wonders – the wonder of God’s love and the wonder of our unworthiness.
Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty rock
Within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness,
A rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat,
And the burden of the day.
Upon that cross of Jesus
Mine eyes at times can see
The very dying form of One
Who suffered there for me;
And from my smitten heart, with tears,
Two wonders I confess:
The wonders of His glorious love,
And my own worthlessness.
I take, O Cross, thy shadow
For my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than
The sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by,
To know no gain nor loss,
My sinful self my only shame,
My glory all the Cross.
Miss Clephane did not live to hear either of her two hymns put to music or to know the great blessing that they brought to an innumerable company throughout the world. The words of this frail Scot saint speak eloquently of what the cross should mean to us.
This hymn is well-summarized in Hebrews 12:2-3 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
May this inspiring hymn be our experience and testimony, that our glory will be “all the cross.”
Yours Lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee