In the Cross of Christ, Be My Glory Forever
How many of us can sing by heart the words of the song that starts “Jesus, keep me near the cross?” “Near the Cross,” more than just a song, it’s an essential prayer for all Christians. Too many of us have an incomplete understanding of what happened when Jesus willingly embraced the cross and died upon it. “Near the Cross” was written by Fanny J. Crosby (1820–1915) Throughout her life, she authored 8,500 gospel songs. Crosby went blind at 6 weeks of age, but she began to show her talent at age 6 when she first began writing texts. She later became a teacher at the New York School for the Blind, where she was a student.
A friend of several presidents, Crosby became one of the most important advocates for the cause of the blind in the United States. Her texts were set to the compositions of some of the most prominent gospel song composers of the day including William Bradbury, William Doane, and Ira Sankey. Crosby composed under a number of aliases. She married blind musician Alexander Van Alstyne. Although she is famously known as Fanny Crosby, British hymnals identify her as Frances Van Alstyne, her married name.
This song first appeared in the collection Bright Jewels (1869), compiled by Bradbury, Doane, W.F. Sherwin and Chester G. Allen. As was common in hymn writing in those days, Doane who wrote the music and then gave it to Fanny Crosby to add the text. As Crosby did several times, the text of this hymn was written to fit the tune, which then took its name from the text. The tune, written by William Doane uses a compound rhythm with a very simple harmonic structure. Doane, who often signed his name as W. Howard, was one of the most prominent collaborators with Fanny Crosby for providing tunes to accompany her texts. Carlton R. Young notes: “It is one of many texts by Crosby that combine vivid imagery and powerful biblical and evangelical metaphors: the cross, a fountain of healing streams, free grace, the daily walk of faith, God’s pursuing love and mercy, Jesus, the Lamb of God, beyond the river of death, Heaven with its golden streets, and rest for the post raptured souls.”
A major theme of the refrain is “The Glory of the Cross.” It is a common metaphor of Romantic Era style hymnody. The Cross, a place where the agony of this life on Earth and the perfected joy of Heaven come together, is a kind of spiritual altar to which we might draw near for refuge and solace. From it flows a “precious fountain.” This is a reference perhaps borrowed from the 18th-century poet William Cowper and his hymn “There is a Fountain Filled with Flood.” The eschatological theme of “Near the Cross” captures the hope and joy of Heaven that is so characteristic of Crosby’s hymns: “Till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river.”
Though the cross was an instrument of cruel punishment and torture by the Romans primarily, to Christians, the cross is a source of a “healing stream” (stanza one) and a place where “Love and Mercy found me” (stanza two). Stanza three invites us to ponder the image of the cross, “bring its scenes before me.” The “shadow” of the cross reminds us to walk in the shadow of the cross daily, pick up our own cross and follow Christ (Luke 9:23). This image is evocative of another Romantic Era poet, Elizabeth C. Clephane, who in 1872 wrote “Beneath the Cross of Jesus.”
The renowned evangelist Dwight L. Moody was said to have asked Crosby the following question toward the end of her life: “If you could have just one wish granted, what would it be?” Moody expected her to ask for sight. Recognizing this, she is said to have replied, “If I could have one wish, I’d wish that I might continue blind the rest of my life.” Moody was taken back and asked, “How can you say that?” Crosby was said to have responded, “Because, after being blind for all these years, the first face I want to see now is the face of Jesus.”
