For the Love of God and His Church Don't Get Rid of the Hymns

I want you to forget about music for a moment, if that is possible. I want to tell you that there is no such thing as "Christian music", only Christian lyrics. Good music is simply the vehicle through which our words flow. So, banish for a moment the music that accompanies the following poem, and I think that you will be freshly overwhelmed.

I want to take a look at a magnificent poem by Dr. Isaac Watts. I will treat it verse by verse, as is my style. Please feel free to ignore the commentary. Analyzing poetry can sometimes stifle its beautry. But if you read what I've written, I hope that you will gain the appreciation that I have found in his profound poetry. The title of this poem is, "Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed?"

Verse 1:

Alas, and did my Savior bleed
and did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I?

Alas is a good word. It is an interjection that expresses mourning or grievance. It regrets that something has occurred, and wishes that it could have been otherwise. The poet asks a simple question about his savior. Did he bleed? Did he die?

We see that this is no ordinary savior. This savior is also the poet's King. One to whom the poet owes his allegiance. Kings send subjects to die for the crown, not the reverse.

This Savior King is also Holy and Sacred. The poet believes this King to have been a great man. Someone worthy of adoration and the highest praise found in language. This man was Sacred. This is contrasted with the poet's view of himself. The poet is a worm.* He is not a nobleman worthy of regard, but a wretched worm. He is a nobody, and yet he finds that his Sacred King bled for him personally.

Theologically speaking, the poet stresses his personal depravity, and an idea of a personal atonement. Christ died for HIM. Jesus shed His blood on the poet's behalf.

*Modern hymnbooks have replaced "Such a worm as I" with "For sinners such as I" without even so much as a footnote in most hymnbooks. I can only guess that it is because modern people do not like to think of themselves as worms. But to rob Dr. Watts of this imagery is shameful. If anyone knows how this came about, I'd like to know.*

Verse 2:

Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown,
And love beyond degree!

The King loves this subject, and in an act of unprecedented love and mercy, the King dies for the subject's crimes. While being dismayed that this is the truth, the poet still celebrates this magnificent King's sacrifice.

Theological points:
The doctrine of a penal, substitutionary atonement is found here. That is, Christ died on the cross in the place of the poet, and Christ died for the poet's crimes.

Verse 3:

Well might the sun in darknes hide,
and shut his glories in,
when Christ the mighty Maker died
for man, the creature's sin.

The sun is ashamed. He hides his face from the spectacle of Jesus being killed. Darkness covers the land. For Christ also made the sun, and it has the sense to see the atrocity of the situation.

The King is Christ Jesus, and not only is He Sovereign, Savior, Sacred, gracious, and loving, but He is also Creator. He made the sun and the servant. Man is the creature; Christ is Maker. Man is brazen enough to kill the King; the sun hides in shame.

Verse 4:

Thus might I hide my blushing face
while Calvary's cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
and melt mine eyes to tears.

Now the poet is ashamed. He is ashamed as the sun is ashamed. He cannot bear the vision of the Sacred King groaning on his behalf. The picture brings shame, and yet it brings profound thankfulness. He cannot look, but he cannot deny the reality. It causes him the deepest shame, and yet it brings him great joy.

Verse 5:

But drops of grief can ne'er repay
the debt of love I owe;
Here, Lord, i give myself away,
'Tis all that I can do.

His grief over his King's sacrifice can never repay his Lord's kindness. His grief alone cannot atone for his crimes that caused Christ's sufferings. Pitifully, he offers himself, a worm, to the service of the King. He recognizes that the gift is small, but it is all that he can give. The King has offered himself for the criminal, and now the criminal offers himself for the King.

I hope that you can read these verses as poetry, and I hope that you are able to meditate on them. Yes, music is useful, but it is not inspired. I have often heard it said that the longest book in the Bible is the Psalms. The Psalms were, of course, songs. But I find it interesting to note that not one note of music is preserved for us, only the words. Only the poetry remains. Even the musical notations sometimes given are lost in ambiguity (The meaning for words like "Selah" are unclear at best.)

I think that in the future I will take more time to look at some of the beloved poems found in the hymnbooks of the Church. I wonder why such good poetry is missing from my Norton's Anthology? Certainly Dr. Watts was as influential as the other poets of his day!