1. Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand 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. 2. Upon that cross of Jesus Mine eye at times can see The very dying form of One Who suffered there for me; And from my smitten heart with tears Two wonders I confess The wonders of redeeming love And my unworthiness. 3. I take, O cross, thy shadow For my abiding place; I ask no other sunshine than The sunshine of His face; Content to let the world go by, To know no gain nor loss, My sinful self my only shame, My glory all the cross.
Lyrics: Elizabeth Cecelia Douglas Clephane
Music:
Frederick Charles Maker
Tune: ST. CHRISTOPHER
Meter: 7.6.8.6.8.6.8.6.
Elizabeth C. Clephane, 1830–1869
This hymn of commitment was written by a frail Scottish Presbyterian woman of the nineteenth century, Elizabeth Clephane. Despite her physical limitations, she was known throughout her community of Melrose, Scotland, for her helpful, cheery nature. Among the sick and dying in her area she won the name of “Sunbeam.” “Beneath the Cross of Jesus” was written by Miss Clephane in 1868, one year before her early death at the age of thirty-nine. She wrote eight hymns, all published posthumously. Besides this hymn, only one other has endured—“The Ninety and Nine.”