Jesus I My Cross Have Taken

by Henry F. Lyte, 1793-1847
(Nice, France)

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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?

6. Haste then on from grace to glory,
armed by faith and winged by prayer,
Heaven’s eternal days 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.

These lyrics are in the public domain.

Henry Lyte was an Anglican priest whose wife Anne was an ardent Methodist. Henry got saved in 1816 and became a Bible-believing preacher.