A hymn and its story
The Old Rugged Cross
The Old Rugged Cross was written, words and music, by George Bennard, an American Methodist evangelist, in 1912, and published in 1913. It is a hymn of love for the cross as the place where Jesus was slain for a world of lost sinners, and of the hope of one day exchanging it for a crown.
Words and music by George Bennard, written 1912, published 1913
An evangelist who kept preaching the cross set out to understand it rather than describe it, and wrote the hymn that made a rough wooden beam into something people say they love.
The Old Rugged Cross at a glance
- Words and music
- George Bennard
- Written
- 1912
- First published
- 1913
Who wrote The Old Rugged Cross, and why?
George Bennard was an American evangelist who had served with the Salvation Army before travelling as a preacher. He wrote The Old Rugged Cross in 1912, after a season of meetings, while turning over what the cross of Christ had actually cost and what it meant to glory in it. The hymn was published in 1913 and spread through revival meetings across the United States.
Its striking move is affection. The cross was an instrument of public execution, and the hymn calls it dear and says the singer will cling to it. That is not sentimentality about wood. It is love for what was done there.
The words of The Old Rugged Cross
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.
The Scripture behind The Old Rugged Cross
What does The Old Rugged Cross mean?
The hymn holds two things together that are hard to hold at once: that the cross was genuinely shameful, an emblem of suffering, and that it is the one thing a Christian will boast in. Paul says the same thing more sharply, that he will glory in nothing except the cross. People sing this one at funerals and in hospital rooms because it does not look away from suffering; it says the worst thing was where the best thing happened.
Sing it, and mean it
A hymn is a prayer you can carry in your chest. The people who wrote these did not write from a stage; they wrote from shipwreck and sickbeds, from ordinary faithful mornings, and handed us words for the days we cannot find our own. You do not have to sing well. You only have to lift it, and mean it, to the One it is about.
Meet the One these hymns are aboutWorship in The Living BreadWhat the cross meansWhen you are sufferingJesus Christ is Lord.
Frequently asked questions
- Who wrote The Old Rugged Cross?
- George Bennard, an American evangelist, wrote both words and music. He wrote it in 1912 and it was published in 1913.
- What Scripture is The Old Rugged Cross based on?
- Galatians 6:14, in which Paul writes that he will glory in nothing except the cross of Christ. The hymn is that verse turned into affection.
- Why does the hymn say 'I love that old cross'?
- Because of what was done on it. The cross itself was an instrument of execution and the hymn calls it an emblem of suffering and shame; the love is for Christ, who was slain there for a world of lost sinners.
Sources
Dates and attributions are checked against these sources. The reflections are our own words.
