Christian History Institute June 7, 1913 • Bennard Introduced "The Old Rugged Cross." ©2007

he cross. The cross of Christ. In 1913, George Bennard was struggling with a problem that caused him much suffering. His mind went back again and again to Christ's anguish on the cross. This was the heart of the gospel! The cross he pictured was no gold-covered icon. It was a rough, splintery thing, stained with gore.

"I saw the Christ of the Cross as if I were seeing John 3:16 leave the printed page, take form and act out the meaning of redemption," he said later. (John 3:16 is probably the most familiar verse of the New Testament: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.")

This theme was so great, it needed a song. In a room in Albion, Michigan, Bennard sat down and wrote a tune. But the only words that would come to him were "I'll cherish the old rugged cross." He struggled for weeks to set words to the melody he had written.

As a Methodist evangelist, Bennard was scheduled to preach a series of messages in New York. He found himself focusing on the cross. The theme of the cross grew increasingly more urgent to him. Back in Albion, Michigan, he sat down and tried again to put together the words. This time the lines came. He later told Dr. Al Smith, "I sat down and immediately was able to rewrite the stanzas of the song without so much as one word failing to fall into place. I called in my wife, took out my guitar, and sang the completed song to her. She was thrilled!"

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.

There were two other verses in a similar vein.

On this day, June 7, 1913, according to his own account, George Bennard introduced the new hymn in a revival meeting he was conducting in Pokagon, Michigan. "The Old Rugged Cross," soon became one of the top ten most popular hymns of the twentieth century.

Bibliography:

1. "George Bennard." http://www.cyberhymnal.org
2. Hughes, Charles William. American Hymns Old and New : notes on the hymns and biographies of the authors and composers. New York : Columbia University Press, 1980.
3. Old Rugged Cross Foundation, History. http://www.theoldruggedcrossfoundation.org/history.htm
4. "Old Rugged Cross, the." Historic Albion Michigan. albion History Geology Resources by Frank Passic. Morning Star, April 5, 1993, pg. 4 http://www.albionmich.com/history/histor_notebook/ 930405.shtml
5. Sanville, George Washington. Forty Gospel Hymn Stories. Winona Lake, Ind., The Rodeheaver-Hall Mack co., 1943.
6. Smith, Al. "The Old Rugged Cross Written by George Bennard." http://www.harvestbaptistchurch.com/torcross.htm
7. Various articles in books of hymn stories and on the internet.

Last updated May, 2007.