The Old Rugged Cross
The beloved hymn began in Albion, Michigan, where George Bennard was attending a revival meeting. By the end of the revival tour in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, Bennard and his revival partner, Ed E. Mieras, debuted the song as a duet on the last evening of the revival. In 1913, the famous gospel song composer, Charles H. Gabriel, helped Bennard find the perfect harmonies and chords for the hymnal classic.
The song was first published in 1915 in Heart and Life Songs for the Church, Sunday School, Home, and Campmeeting, a songbook edited by Bennard and two other colleagues.
Eventually, Billy Sunday made the song a staple in his evangelical ministry.
On a hill far away, stood an old rugged Cross
The emblem of suff'ring 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
Oh, that old rugged Cross so despised by the world
Has a wondrous attraction for me
For the dear Lamb of God, left his Glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary
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
In the old rugged Cross, stain'd with blood so divine
A wondrous beauty I see
For the dear Lamb of God, left his Glory above
To pardon and sanctify me
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
To the old rugged Cross, I will ever be true
Its shame and reproach gladly bear
Then He'll call me some day to my home far away
Where his glory forever I'll share
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