There are in the Church Hymnal (the Red back Church of God Hymnal) Three versions of Alas And Did My Savior Bleed. They are 264, At the Cross, 355 He Loves Me, and 291, Oh How I Love Jesus, though all of these songs contain the hymn originally composed by Isaac Watts, his original hymn did not contain a refrain. All three of these songs are identical in their verses, but in every case, a different tune is used and a refrain has been added. Isaac Watts original composition was entitled “Godly Sorrow Arising From the Sufferings of Christ.” Isaac Watts wrote over 500 hymns in his life and has been called the father of the English hymn. His poetic gift was revealed at a young age. As a child during family prayers he penned one of his first poems, it was simply:
“There was a mouse for want of stairs,
Ran up a rope to say his prayers”

Many years later he write such great words as:
“See from His head, His hands His feet,
Sorrow and love flowed mingled down.
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown.”

From his birth his father would read the Word of God to him and pray for him. His father was a godly preacher and a Nonconformist to the Church of England. His father was sent to prison twice because of his convictions. His family were Dissenters or Non- conformists. The Dissenters were Protestants who did not think that the Church of England had separated enough from the doctrines of the Roman Catholics and refused to conform to the Church of England.

Isaac was born in 1674 and was the oldest of nine children. At the age of eleven his father addressed a letter to all of his children encouraging them to “frequently to read the Scriptures – get your hearts to delight in them – above all books and writings account the Bible the best and read it most – lay up the truth of it in your hearts”.

Isaac Watts was saved at the age of fifteen and by the age of sixteen he had mastered Latin, Greek, Hebrew and French. When Isaac was about twenty he became dissatisfied with the singing of the Nonconformist Congregation. At that time it was viewed as sinful to sing songs that were not taken from the Scriptures the majority of which were Psalms or metrical Psalters. His major complaint was the quality of the writing, his father challenged him if he did not like what was being sung to do something better. Over the next two years, from the age of Twenty until he was Twenty two, he wrote the majority of his hymns. He was greatly criticized by both the Roman Catholics and the nonconformist who called his hymns “uninspired” because they were not direct quotations from Scripture. His reply to this was “…if we can pray to God in sentences that we have made up ourselves (instead of confining ourselves to the Our Father and other prayers taken directly from the Scriptures), then surely we can sing to God in sentences that we have made up ourselves”.

Isaac Watts wrote Alas and Did My Saviour Bleed in 1707, it originally had six stanzas and no refrain. The original tune as intended by Isaac Watts is not known, but in 1800 Hugh Wilson began using his original music composition entitled Martyrdom. In 1885 Ralph F. Hudson added the refrain and the tune that we know use and know as “At The Cross”.

It is interesting to note before we explore the doctrinal content of Alas and Did My Saviour Bleed, the in the Fall of 1850 at the age of thirty, Fanny J. Crosby went to the altar at the Thirtieth Street Methodist Church in New York City. She had been to the altar twice before by had not received the peace she sought. While at the altar the congregation was singing the hymn “Alas and Did My Saviour Bleed”, according to her own testimony and in her own words she says:
“…it seemed to me that the light must indeed come then or never; and so I arose and went to the altar alone. After a prayer was offered, they began to sing the grand old consecration hymn, ‘Alas, and did my Saviour bleed, And did my Sovereign die?’ And when they reached the third line of the fourth stanza, ‘Here Lord, I give myself away,’ my very soul was flooded with a celestial light. I sprang to my feet, shouting ‘hallelujah,’ and then for the first time I realized that I had been trying to hold the world in one hand and the Lord in the other.”

Isaac Watts was a brilliant young man and because of his intellectual acumen and proclivity to study he was encouraged by his friends and a prominent Southampton physician to go to one of the Universities, at their expense, in hopes that he would eventually be ordained into the Church of England. Because of his background and being raised as a Dissenting Nonconformist, he refused and rather chose a nonconformist academy. He started preaching at the age of twenty-four and pastored his became pastor of a well-know independent congregation in 1702, he died on November 25, 1748.

The doctrinal content of “Alas and Did My Saviour Bleed” could be examined from a plethora of Christian Theology, Justification, Propitiation, Christology, Anthropology, Harmitiology, Soteriology just to name a few, for all of these are contained within the lines of this hymn. We will however, briefly explore the doctrine of propitiation as found in the lines of “Alas and Did My Saviour Bleed”.

The word propitiation appears 3 times in our King James Bible, Romans 3:5, I John 2:2 and I John 4:10. In both instances in I John the Greek word for propitiation is hilasmos, In Romans the word is hilaste?rion. The word is “used of the cover of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies, which was sprinkled with the blood of the expiatory victim on the annual day of atonement (this rite signifying that the life of the people, the loss of which they had merited by their sins, was offered to God in the blood as the life of the victim, and that God by this ceremony was appeased and their sins expiated); hence the lid of expiation, the propitiatory”. The word hilasterion is actually translated as mercy seat in Hebrews 9:5
“And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly”.

The Lord Jesus Christ became our propitiation. A good definition of the word is that Jesus Christ satisfied the holiness of an offended God and a broken law. There are two other occasions that you find the word meaning propitiation, it is translated from the Greek word hilaskomai which means to make propitiation, and it is translated as “be merciful” in Luke 18:13 “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” and “make reconciliation” in Hebrews 2:17 “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” This propitiation, no doubt is what Isaac Watts had in mind as he penned the words “Alas, and did my Saviour bleed and did my Sovereign die”

Isaac Watts may have taken the thought for his line “for such a worm as I” from Psalm 22:6 “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” Since Psalm 22 is prophetic and descriptive of the events of the crucifixion, it is enlightening to the mind of Watts as to the play on words. To the world, as they crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, he was a worm, but in reality, it is sinful man who is the worm. David no doubt referred to this in Psalm 22 and it is likely that Watts was making reference to this as well.

We see a glimpse of propitiation in the lines “Was it for crimes that I had done”. Yes it was for my sins, yea, and the sins of the whole world that Jesus Christ willingly laid his life down.

From the lines “And love beyond degree” Watts no doubt had the words of Jesus himself in mind for in John 15:13 the Lord Jesus declared that “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” One thing that is amazing about the love of Jesus and his “laying his life down” is that we were not friends, we were enemies as is declared in Romans 5:10.

When the Lord Jesus died, darkness was upon the whole earth. This darkness is referenced in Watts original fourth verse and is found in Luke 23:44. The Bible says that this darkness was from the sixth hour until the ninth hour. The Jewish day started at six A.M. not midnight as our days start, so this was mid day, the whole earth was dark. What was the significance of this darkness and what caused it. The liberals and agnostics try to explain this miracle away by saying that it was an eclipse of the sun, but this could not be the case. Jesus was crucified during the Feast of Passover, this always happened at the time of a full moon and an eclipse cannot happen during a full moon, also, an eclipse would not last for three hours so this cannot be the case. This was of a divine origin. Darkness is a sign of punishment. When God punished Pharaoh there was darkness. These three hours was the time that God was punishing the Lord Jesus for our sins and no doubt, he did not want the world to see this. This is what Watts was referencing and it is why Watts declared in his last verse and that we as well can proclaim, “Here, Lord, I give myself away ‘Tis all that I can do.

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The hymn, “All Hail The Power of Jesus Name”, is often called “The National Anthem of Christendom” . The lyrics were written by Edward Perronet. Edward was a missionary to India and the hymn first appeared in the November 1779 issue of the Gospel Magazine published by the writer of “Rock of Ages”, Augustus Toplady. The lyrics to “All Hail” has been translated into almost every (if not every) language in which Christianity is known.

The lyrics of this hymn, originally eight verses, were written by Edward Perronet in 1779. The original title was “On the Resurrection, the Lord is King”. The first verse was originally published in the Gospel Magazine in November 1779 anonymously. All eight verses were published in the April 1780 issue and were accompanied by an acrostic poem that spelled out Edward Perronet. Edward Perronet was ordained into the Anglican Church but eventually deferred to the evangelical movement of John and Charles Wesley. He was in many meetings with John Wesley and even though he was a great preacher in his own right, He would never preach in the presence of John Wesley. “Wesley was not one to take no for an answer and one day in the middle of a meeting he [John Wesley] simply announced to the large crowd that Brother Perronet will now speak. Thinking quickly, Perronet declared, ‘I will now deliver the greatest sermon ever preached on earth’ (you can imagine he got everyone’s attention) he then read the Sermon on the Mount, and sat down.” This was the kind of man that Edward Perronet was, he preferred his brother before himself. Though the Lyrics were written by Edward Perronet, there was no music, no tune written for this hymn. Congregations would choose a tune that would fit the meter of the hymn and sing it to that tune. The first music that was applied to the lyrics was a song written by William Shrubsole called “Miles Lane”. In 1838 James Ellor penned a tune he called “Diadem” and used the lyrics. The verse
Oh that, with yonder sacred throng, we at his feet may fall,
Join in the everlasting song, and crown Him Lord of all.
Join in the everlasting song, and crown Him Lord of all!

was written in 1787 by John Rippon.

Before we briefly examine some of the doctrinal content of this great hymn, let me relay two stories of this great hymn. “One of the most dramatic instances of its use was found in the experience of the Rev. E. P. Scott in India” Scott was greatly burdened for a very barbarous tribe that his friends had strongly advised him to avoid. He journeyed to where they were putting his trust in God to protect him. Before he reached their tribe he was accosted and surrounded by them. He had no weapon of offense or defense with him, he had only his violin. He closed his eyes and began to play and sing “All Hail The Power of Jesus Name” fully anticipating that he would open his eyes in Heaven. After a few minutes he opened his eyes to steal a look and much to his surprise they had dropped their spears and were looking at him in awe and curiosity. Later, after welcoming him in, he shared with them the glorious story of the Gospel and led many of them to the Lord.

I also heard the story of an Elderly woman who was nearing death. Her family was gathered around her bed and they heard her whispering “bring… bring.” They immediately thought she was thirsty and brought her some water. She just shook her head and simply said “bring… bring.” One of the family members remembered seeing her shout and wave a handkerchief in her younger years and they brought that to her and she still shook her head and said “bring… bring.” Still not knowing what she wanted they brought her Bible to her and laid it at her bed and the Old woman still shook her head and said “bring… bring.” Exasperated they looked at her and asked, “what is it you want us to bring?” With her last bit of strength she pushed herself up in the bed and raised her hands and with her dying breath she sang “Bring forth the Royal Diadem and Crown Him Lord of All!”

As we examine “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name” the opening line is the perfect place to start, the power of Jesus Name. Acts 4:12 declares “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” There is power in the name of Jesus to Save, this is in fact, the only way to be saved, to call upon the name of the Lord. The word name in Acts 4:12 is the Greek word onoma and it is used to denote the person himself. Albert Barnes describes it “As we would say, there is no one who can save but Jesus Christ.”

The name of Jesus also has power to Secure. The Bible says in I Timothy 2:5 that Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man. The word “mediator” is the Greek word mesitēs (pronounced mes-ee’-tace) and it means a go between a reconciler, one who intervenes. It is through Jesus, not Mary that we have an advocate, a mediator.

There is power in the name of Jesus to sustain us. It is Jesus that saves us and Jesus that keeps us saved. I am reminded of the story of D.L. Moody who boarded a train. The conductor of the train was a devout Mormon. The conductor spent the evening and on up into the night trying to convert Moody to Mormonism. After a lengthy discussion, Mr. Moody told the conductor, “there is only two letters difference between my religion and yours, you spell yours D-O, Do, I spell my D-O-N-E, Done.”

There is power in the name of Jesus to succor us as declared in Hebrews 2:18. The word succour is the Greek word boētheō and it means to help, to bring aid. It is comforting to know that Jesus is standing ready to run to our aid when we call for him.

The doctrinal content of the original eight verses written by Edward Perronet is Eschatological, the final day when “every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” Thank God there will come a day when “every tribe and every tongue” will fall prostrate before Him. Albert Barnes said “To bow the knee” is an act expressing homage, submission, or adoration. It means that every person shall acknowledge him as God, and admit his right to universal dominion. God is all powerful, he is all knowing, and he is all present, this is the omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of God. He is the creator of the universe and everything in the universe. As such, he deserves all glory and honor. This world at this time does not recognize God as the one and only God, but there will come a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. Philippians 2:10 says that every knee should bow, but Romans 14:11 says that every knee shall bow. This will no doubt occur at the White Throne Judgment described in Revelation 20:11

The word diadem, is actually found in Scriptures four times, Job 29:14, Isaiah 28:5 and 62:3 and Ezekiel 21:26 and there are 3 different Hebrew words used in these passages. All of three of these words have basically the same meaning, a crown, the royal attire of the head which the king wore daily or the headdress of the high priest. It also has reference to the wreathen crown that was given to the winners of sporting events. This is a far cry from the caricature of a royal crown that was platted out of thorns. This phrase no doubt has reference to Revelation 4, when the four and twenty elders are falling down before the Lamb and casting their crowns, their diadems at his feet. These crowns that you see in Revelation 4 are different than the crowns that you see in Revelation 19:12. The crowns in Revelation 4 are stephanos which is the badge of royalty, the prize in the public games, but the crown in Revelation 19:12 is diadēma, this is the royal crown, the crown of kings, and Jesus is wearing many crowns because he is the King of kings.

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