The Wondrous Cross

The Wondrous Cross Synopsis

The author writes as a minister of a church where the Psalms are sung in the services, not hymns, yet here he takes Isaac Watts' 'When I survey the wondrous cross' as the basis for these chapters. I happily sit at the feet of Isaac Watts; and even if I am not entirely convinced by his argument that the new covenant necessitates a new hymnody, I am glad to learn from him, and meditate at the grandeur of the vision expressed in his hymns, as well as the power of the devotional element in them. I invite you to do the same as we take the best-known of all his hymns as the basis for our studies on the cross of Christ. Composed for a communion service, 'When I survey the wondrous cross' was published in the 1707 collection under the title, 'Crucifixion to the World by the Cross of Christ'. In its original form it had a fourth stanza which is often omitted in current editions. This stanza reads: His dying crimson, like a robe, Spreads o'er his body on the tree; Then am I dead to all the globe, And all the globe is dead to me. The four chapters of this short book were prepared for a communion weekend in the APC Church in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in August 2012, another psalm-singing church which received these messages warmly. Indeed, the presence of the Lord was very evident as we gathered together for worship and to remember the Lord's death.