All for Jesus

All for Jesus” is well-known and dearly loved by members of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). This is because it is the official college song of the PCA’s Covenant College on Lookout Mountain, high above the city of Chattanooga, TN. Even for those who do not have that church connection, the music and words make a powerful connection with all those who know and treasure the Lord Jesus. Watch and listen to the hymn as sung recently by a group of students, faculty, and staff from Covenant College.

The source for this hymn is John Stainer’s 1887 oratorio “The Crucifixion.” This, along with Theodore Dubois’s cantata “The Seven Last Words of Christ,” used to be standards for Good Friday services for most church choirs. It is scored for SATB choir, soloists, and organ and includes five hymns for congregational participation, the last of which is “For the Love of Jesus,” with its opening line: “All for Jesus.” The best-known selection from the oratorio is “God So Loved the World,” which has probably been sung by more church choirs than any other 19th century anthem. Here’s a link to watch and listen to a full performance of Stainer’s composition performed by a typical amateur church choir.

Our study needs to touch several bases to complete the picture for the hymn as it appears in hymnals today. First is Sir John Stainer (1840-1901) and his oratorio, “The Crucifixion.” He was an English composer and organist who is remembered today almost exclusively for this one work. And yet his influence as an Anglican choir director and organist set standards that continue to this day. He became a chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London at the age of ten. At sixteen, he became a church organist at St. Michael’s College, Tenbury and later organist at Magdalen College, Oxford. Subsequently he won an appointment as organist at St. Paul’s Cathedral. In his later years he returned to Oxford as a professor of music. He died unexpectedly while on vacation in Italy.

Second is the text of Stainer’s work, which was written by W. J. Sparrow Simpson (1859-1952). He was an English Anglican priest who, in addition to the libretto for “The Crucifixion,” wrote several hymns and more than fifty books. Following graduation from Trinity College, Cambridge, he was ordained as a deacon and appointed as curate for Christ Church, Albany Street, in Marylebone, London. After serving as vicar of St. Mark’s, Regent’s Park for six years, he labored as a hospital chaplain from 1904 until his death. He had become an authority on the life and doctrines of Augustine of Hippo. His hymn, “Cross of Jesus, Cross of Sorrow,” included in “The Crucifixion,” is found in many hymnals to this day, though with only a few of its original ten stanzas. Ironically, Sparrow Simpson regarded this oratorio as “rubbish.” Stainer wrote all the music in “The Crucifixion,” included the music for the hymn texts written by Sparrow Simpson.

Third is the hymn text we sing today, which is significantly different from the “All for Jesus” text in “The Crucifixion.” Our hymn text was written two years later in 1889 by Mary D. James (1810-1883). Born in Trenton, New Jersey, converted at the age of 10,  by the age of 13 she had begun teaching a class of girls in Sunday School in her Methodist Episcopal Church.  About the time of her conversion, she wrote these words in her diary.  

“Glory to God in the highest! He has heard my prayers, and this night my soul rejoiced in that ‘perfect love which casteth out fear.’ O how happy I am! Where shall I begin to praise my Saviour for His goodness to me? It is now more than a year since I enlisted under the banner of Jesus, and He has kept me by His power until this time. I have had many temptations and trials, and sometimes have not lived as near to God as I ought to have done, but blessed be His dear name, He has upheld me by His gracious hand, and I am at this moment a witness that His precious blood cleanseth from all sin.”

She became a prominent figure in the Wesleyan Holiness movement, and often led meetings at the Ocean Grove conference grounds. She was also active in the 19th century temperance movement. She wrote about 50 hymns and contributed numerous articles to holiness publications. It was for a New Year’s resolution in 1871 that she wrote the words of “All for Jesus,” reflecting on what she had done for the Lord in the previous year. As she described it, “I have written more, talked more, prayed more, and thought more for Jesus than in any previous year, and have had more peace of mind, resulting from a stronger and more simple faith in Him.”

She apparently did not write the words with Sparrow Simpson’s libretto in mind, nor thinking of Stainer’s oratorio, which she may not have ever heard. But the similarity in the themes led to the union of Stainer’s music with James’s poem/prayer. While many hymnals today use the tune CONSTANCY for her text, the Stainer music is a far better fit.

In stanza 1, it’s the word “all” that stands out in bold prominence. For those of us with a heart like hers (which is hopefully true of every believer!), every fiber of our spiritual being resonates with inexpressible devotion to the Lord Jesus. We desire to have every thought directed to Him and informed by Him and are driven by a desire to exalt Him in His supremacy over all things, as Paul wrote in Colossians 1:18.

All for Jesus! All for Jesus!
All my being’s ransomed pow’rs,
all my thoughts and words and doings,
all my days and all my hours.

In stanza 2, the entire personhood of the singer is enlisted to exalt the Savior: hands, feet, eyes, and lips. As we sing the stanza, we ask that Jesus would guide us in what we do, where we go, what we see, and what we say. All of this flows out of a heart that is consumed by a passion for Him, a passion that influences everything about us and directs everyone around us to join us in a “joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8).

Let my hands perform His bidding,
let my feet run in His ways;
let my eyes see Jesus only,
let my lips speak forth His praise.

In stanza 3, a dramatic contrast is drawn between what “worldlings” treasure and count valuable and what gives fullness to their lives and what’s true for us. What they consider to be “gems of beauty” are nothing but “gilded toys of dust.” While they “boast of wealth and fame and pleasure” … financial success, importance in career reputation, and pursuit of entertainment … we instead put our trust in and find our greatest joy in Jesus only.

Worldlings prize their gems of beauty,
cling to gilded toys of dust,
boast of wealth and fame and pleasure;
only Jesus will I trust.

In stanza 4, we think of the phrase in another hymn: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in His wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” When our eyes are “fixed on Jesus,” when our spirit’s vision is “so enchained” to Jesus, whatever hardships we may be troubled by or attractions we may be drawn to inevitably fade in comparison with the love and beauty when “looking at the Crucified.”

Since my eyes were fixed on Jesus,
I’ve lost sight of all beside;
so enchained my spirit’s vision,
looking at the Crucified.

Stanza 5 rises in a glorious climax of wonder and amazement, not only at who Jesus is (the infinitely glorious Son of God) and at what Jesus has done (became a curse for us on Calvary’s tree), but even more at the fact that it was for us that He so humbled Himself and suffered. The words become intensely personal at this point. How incredible that He did this for me, and more than that, that He “deigns to call me His beloved” (how astonishing!) and “lets me rest beneath His wings” (which should leave us speechless with joy).

O what wonder! How amazing!
Jesus, glorious King of kings,
deigns to call me His beloved,
lets me rest beneath His wings.