OLD RUGGED CROSS
“The Old Rugged Cross” is a popular Christian song written in 1912 by evangelist and
song-leader George Bennard. George Bennard, was a native of Youngstown, Ohio but
was reared in Iowa. After his conversion in a Salvation Army meeting, he and his wife
became brigade leaders before leaving the organization for the Methodist Church. As a
Methodist evangelist, Bennard wrote the first verse of the gospel song, “The Old Rugged
Cross” in Albion, Michigan, in the fall of 1912. Charles H. Gabriel, a well-known gospel-
song composer helped Bennard with the harmonies. The completed version was first
performed on June 7th, 1913, by a choir of five in Pokagon Michigan. Published in 1915,
the song was popularized during Billy Sunday evangelistic campaigns by two members
of his campaign staff, Homer Rodeheaver (who bought rights to the song for $500) and
Virginia Asher, who were perhaps also the first to record it in 1921. “The Old Rugged
Cross” uses a sentimental popular song form with a verse/chorus pattern in 3/4 time, and
it speaks of the writer’s Christian experience rather than his adoration of God. Bennard
retired to Reed City, Michigan, and the town maintains a museum dedicated to his life
and ministry.
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering 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.
O 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 that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
