“Beneath the Cross of Jesus”
This hymn describes the vivid imagery of the cross (the shame, the brutality, the stench of our sins) as something beautiful. To the hymn writer, the cross is a “might rock” and an “abiding place.” Everything is revealed at the cross of Jesus and all we can do is confess our sin and unworthiness. It is at the cross that we receive the “sunshine of his face,” Now that’s where I want to be! -Ben Hasche
THE AUTHOR: Elizabeth Cecelia Clephane
Elizabeth Clephane was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on June 18,1830 and lived most of her life in the village of Melrose. Her father was the county sheriff and her parents both died while she was young. Despite her own poor health and her experiences with grief at an early age, she was one of those cheerful people who brighten every corner. She focused on what she could do for others rather than sitting and feeling sorry for herself. Her friends called her "Sunbeam" –– a nickname that may have inspired the lines in this hymn that says: "I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face."
Her hymns appeared, almost all for the first time, in the Family Treasury, under the general title of Breathings on the Border. In publishing the first of these in the Treasury, the late Rev. W. Arnot, of Edinburgh, then editor, thus introduced them with these words:
"These lines express the experiences, the hopes, and the longings of a young Christian lately released. Written on the very edge of this life, with the better land fully, in the view of faith, they seem to us footsteps printed on the sands of Time, where these sands touch the ocean of Eternity. These footprints of one whom the Good Shepherd led through the wilderness into rest, may, with God's blessing, contribute to comfort and direct succeeding pilgrims."
In her hymn, “Beneath the Cross of Jesus,” Elizabeth alluded to a passage in Isaiah that speaks of “the shade of a great rock in a weary land” (Isaiah 32:1-2).
“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.”
Perhaps one reason that this hymn has enjoyed such popularity is that we know what it means to live in a weary land. We feel the need of a mighty rock to shelter us from the heat. Elizabeth says that, for her, Jesus’ cross is that resting place. For her, Jesus’ cross is her home within the wilderness, her rest upon the way.
Elizabeth died on Feb. 19, 1869 at the age of 38.
THE COMPOSER: Frederick C. Maker
Frederick C. Maker (1844-1927) received his early musical training as a chorister at Bristol Cathedral, England. He pursued a career as organist and choirmaster—most of it spent in Methodist and Congregational churches in Bristol.
