Hymns Supplied Through the Gracious Generosity
of the Cyber Hymnal Website
Words: Frances Ridley Havergal, 1858.
Music: "Kenosis," Philip Paul Bliss, in Sunshine for Sunday Schools, 1873 |
This was Frances Havergal's first hymn. She wrote it after seeing Sternberg's painting Ecce Homo in Dnsseldorf, Germany. A caption on the painting read, "This have I done for thee; what has thou done for Me?" Here is what Miss V. G. Havergal wrote about this hymn:
In F. R. H's MS. copy, she gives this title, "I did this for thee; what hast thou done for Me?" Motto placed under a picture of our Saviour in the study of a German divine. On January 10, 1858, she had come in weary, and sitting down she read the motto, and the lines of her hymn flashed upon her. She wrote them in pencil on a scrap of paper. Reading them over she thought them so poor that she tossed them on the fire, but they fell out untouched. Showing them some months later to her father, he encouraged her to preserve them, and wrote the tune Baca specially for them. The hymn was printed on a leaflet, 1859, and in Good Words, Feb., 1860. Pub. also in The Ministry of Song, 1869. Though F. R. H. consented to the alterations in Church Hymns, she thought the original more strictly carried out the idea of the motto, "I gave My life for thee, What hast thou done for Me?"
Frances Havergal herself said about this hymn:
I was so overwhelmed on Sunday at hearing three of my hymns touchingly sung in Perry Church, that I never before realized the high privilege of writing for the "great congregation," especially when they sang, "I gave My life for thee" to my father's tune Baca.
I gave My life for thee, My precious blood I shed,
That thou might ransomed be, and raised up from the dead
I gave, I gave My life for thee, what hast thou given for Me?
I gave, I gave My life for thee, what hast thou given for Me?
My Father's house of light, My glory circled throne
I left for earthly night, for wanderings sad and lone;
I left, I left it all for thee, hast thou left aught for Me?
I left, I left it all for thee, hast thou left aught for Me?
I suffered much for thee, more than thy tongue can tell,
Of bitterest agony, to rescue thee from hell.
I've borne, I've borne it all for thee, what hast thou borne for Me?
I've borne, I've borne it all for thee, what hast thou borne for Me?
And I have brought to thee, down from My home above,
Salvation full and free, My pardon and My love;
I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to Me?
I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to Me?
This hymn was recast in 1871 in Church Hymns, under the title "Thy Life Was Given for Me":
Thy life was given for me; Thy blood, O Lord, was shed,
That I might ransomed be, and quickened from the dead.
Thy life was given for me; what have I given for Thee?
Thy life was given for me; what have I given for Thee?
Long years were spent for me, in weariness and woe,
That through eternity Thy glory I might know.
Long years were spent for me; have I spent one for Thee?
Long years were spent for me; have I spent one for Thee?
And Thou hast brought to me, down from Thy home above,
Salvation full and free, Thy pardon and Thy love.
Great gifts Thou broughtest me; what have I brought to Thee?
Great gifts Thou broughtest me; what have I brought to Thee?
O let my life be given, my years for Thee be spent,
World fetters all be riven, and joy with suffering blent!
Thou gavest Thyself for me; I give myself to Thee.
Thou gavest Thyself for me; I give myself to Thee.
The Blue Letter Bible ministry and the BLB Institute hold to the historical, conservative Christian faith, which includes a firm belief in the inerrancy of Scripture. Since the text and audio content provided by BLB represent a range of evangelical traditions, all of the ideas and principles conveyed in the resource materials are not necessarily affirmed, in total, by this ministry.
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