There Is A Green Hill Far Away
There Is a Green Hill Far Away
There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified,
Who died to save us all.
Oh, dearly, dearly has He loved,
And we must love Him too,
And trust in His redeeming blood,
And try His works to do.
We may not know, we cannot tell
What pains He had to bear;
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.
He died that we might be forgiv’n,
He died to make us good,
That we might go at last to heav’n,
Saved by His precious blood.
There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
Of heav’n, and let us in.
FROM HER CHILDHOOD, Cecil Frances Alexander wrote poetry, and as an adult she wrote primarily for children. She felt that the truths of Christianity could best be taught through hymns, and so she tackled major doctrines with simple words. One project was a series of hymns based on the Apostles’ Creed. She wrote “All Things Bright and Beautiful” (May 5) to teach about God the Father as “maker of heaven and earth.” Today’s hymn was written to teach about Jesus as He “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried.”
Along with her husband, Reverend William Alexander, Cecil cared for the poor families in their parish in Ireland. “From one poor home to another she went,” her husband wrote. “Christ was ever with her, and in her, and all felt her influence.” She reportedly wrote this song while sitting at a child’s sickbed.
Carrying the cross by himself, [Jesus] went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). There they nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him, one on either side, with Jesus between them.
John 19:17-18
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