Devotional

Have faith in God –
With conscience taught and guided;
Have faith in God –
When by the world derided;
Have faith in God –
Thy way by Him decided.
Have faith, dear friend, in God.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Matthew 16:24, 25.

    A hymn which expresses the attitude indicated by the apostle Peter to Christ in the text cited above is "Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken." The text was written by Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847). It first appeared in his 1824 "Sacred Poetry" and was signed only "G." A slightly altered version appeared in Lyte's 1833 "Poems, Chiefly Religious," in which Lyte claimed authorship. Lyte is best-known for his hymn, "Abide With Me."
    The tune (Ellesdie; also Disciple, Ocean, The Cross, Violet, or Vondeventer) first appeared in "The Christian Lyre" Vol. 11, published in 1831 by Joshua Leavitt (19th c.). It is often attributed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). However, no such melody has ever been found among his known works. It is possible that the arrangement in Leavitt's book was made by Lowell Mason (1792-1872). The modern harmonization was done by Hubert Platt Main (1839-1925). It first appeared in the 1873 "Winnowed Hymns" of C. C. McCabe and D. T. MacFarlan.
    The hymn was found in the 1923 "Choice Gospel Hymns" edited by T. B. Mosely and published by the Gospel Advocate Co., but was not included in any of their later books. Three stanzas were used with the Ellesdie tune and two others with another tune in the 1921 "Great Songs of the Church" No. 1, and this practice was continued in the 1937 "Great Songs of the Church No. 2," both edited by E. L. Jorgenson. It was also used in the 1963 "Abiding Hymns" edited by R. C. Welch. Today, it can be found in the 1986 "Great Songs Revised" edited by F. M. McCann, and the 1992 "Praise for the Lord" edited by John P. Wiegand.

Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee.
Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou from hence my all shall be.
Perish every fond ambition, all I’ve sought or hoped or known.
Yet how rich is my condition! God and heaven are still mine own.

Let the world despise and leave me, they have left my Savior, too.
Human hearts and looks deceive me; Thou art not, like them, untrue.
And while Thou shalt smile upon me, God of wisdom, love and might,
Foes may hate and friends disown me, show Thy face and all is bright.

Go, then, earthly fame and treasure! Come, disaster, scorn and pain!
In Thy service, pain is pleasure; with Thy favor, loss is gain.
I have called Thee, “Abba, Father”; I have set my heart on Thee:
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather, all must work for good to me.

Man may trouble and distress me, ’twill but drive me to Thy breast.
Life with trials hard may press me; heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh, ’tis not in grief to harm me while Thy love is left to me;
Oh, ’twere not in joy to charm me, were that joy unmixed with Thee.

Take, my soul, thy full salvation; rise o’er sin, and fear, and care;
Joy to find in every station something still to do or bear:
Think what Spirit dwells within thee; what a Father’s smile is thine;
What a Savior died to win thee, child of heaven, shouldst thou repine?

Haste then on from grace to glory, armed by faith, and winged by prayer,
Heaven’s eternal day’s before thee, God’s own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission, swift shall pass thy pilgrim days;
Hope soon change to glad fruition, faith to sight, and prayer to praise.