BENEATH THE CROSS OF JESUS

This cross sits on a bluff between the towns
of Omak and Okanogan in north-central 
Washington state. See footnote for a
You-tube telling its history.

A monthly feature on a hymn of the faith.

We often think of hymn writers as older or mature people, especially when they compose verses about the most sacred event of our faith: the crucifixion of Christ. Not so with this hymn, “Beneath the Cross of Jesus.” Its author, Elizabeth Clephane, was a frail young woman born to a Scottish sheriff's family. A quiet little girl, she was always composing verse and absorbed in books, and the top scholar in her class at school. Despite her chronic ailments, she reached out to those who were suffering and impoverished. Her compassion for the needy led to her nickname as “The Sunbeam of Melrose,” Melrose being a suburb of Edinburgh. One time she and her sisters sold their horse and carriage to raise money for a needy family. She wrote only eight hymns in her short lifetime before dying at age 39. But they reflected her diligent study of the Bible through her Presbyterian roots.

Her poems could have faded into history after her death—but here the story picks up momentum with the evangelistic campaigns of two Americans: Dwight L. Moody and his song leader Ira Sankey. About five years after her death, Moody and Sankey were traveling between crusade events in Scotland. Sankey stopped to buy a newspaper before they boarded the train. As he idly flipped through it, he noticed her poem titled “The Ninety and Nine.” He tried to interest Moody in it, but the evangelist was too busy preparing his sermon. So Sankey cut out the poem and put it in his pocket.

That evening, Moody spoke from Luke 15 about Jesus as the Good Shepherd. When he finished, he turned to Sankey and asked him to sing an appropriate solo. Sankey's mind went blank. Then he remembered the little poem in his vest pocket. He pulled it out, placed it on his little folding organ, and quickly prayed for divine help. Striking a chord, he began to sing, with the entire song coming to him note by note. When he finished, Moody was in tears. Sankey was in tears. The Scottish audience was visibly moved and many responded to the call of Christ. There's more: during Moody and Sankey's campaign in Scotland, two of her sisters were in the audience. Imagine their surprise and gratitude to hear how their late sister's poem had become a powerful evangelical musical tool.

Besides “The Ninety and Nine,” she is also remembered for her lyrics for “Beneath the Cross of Jesus.” Although she wrote it a year before her death, it wasn't published until four years later. Her diligence in Bible study is reflected in the hymn's Biblical allusions:

*”The Mighty Rock”--Isaiah 32:2

*”The weary land”--Psalm 63:1

*”A home within the wilderness”--Jeremiah 9:2

*”A rest upon the way”--Isaiah 28:12

*”Noontide heat”--Isaiah 4:6

*”Burden of the day”--Matthew 11:30

Unlike the spontaneous way the music was written for “The Ninety and Nine,” the tune to “Beneath the Cross of Jesus” was by Frederick Charles Maker, one of the outstanding organists of his day and a contributor to a Scottish hymnal of his times.

Two things to note in the lyrics of “Beneath the Cross of Jesus”:

*The references to the sunshine of Christ's face—no doubt remembering her nickname as the local “sunbeam”

*The two wonders she confessed: Christ's redeeming love and her unworthiness.

Sing along:

Beneath The Cross Of Jesus - YouTube

Guy Penrod, The Nelons - The Ninety and Nine (Live) - YouTube

The story behind the hilltop cross in photo at top of blog:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ8v0NUx5zk&ab_channel=ChristiansinAction