Near The Cross: A Song History

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"Near the Cross," widely known by its first line as "Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross," joins a text by Fanny Crosby (1820–1915) to a tune by William H. Doane, and both belong to 1869[1][2]. The music came first: Doane supplied the melody and Crosby then fitted words to it, which C. Michael Hawn describes as "a practice that was not uncommon in their relationship"[1]. The tune takes its name, NEAR THE CROSS, from the text, and words and music were printed together that same year in Bright Jewels for the Sunday School (New York: Biglow & Main), where the hymn is No. 180, credited to Crosby and Doane[2][3]. That songbook's preface called its contents almost entirely new, singling out previously unpublished pieces by the late William B. Bradbury and mentioning melodies by Doane and others[3].

Fra Angelico painting of Christ on the cross against a gold background, with mourners and saints standing and kneeling below

Fra Angelico, The Crucifixion, tempera on wood transferred to canvas, possibly ca. 1440. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). Shown for its subject; it has no connection to the hymn.

Crosby had lost her sight at six weeks old. She began writing Sunday-school hymns for Bradbury in 1864, and J. H. Hall's 1914 sketch, reproduced by the Hymnology Archive, credits her with more than four thousand for Biglow & Main and names Doane among the composers who used her texts[4]. Doane, who died in 1915, ran a large woodworking-machinery plant in Cincinnati and backed evangelistic campaigns. As an amateur composer he wrote more than 2,200 hymn and gospel tunes and edited over forty songbooks[5].

The hymn has four stanzas with a refrain; most hymnals print the full text, and the fourth stanza is the one occasionally left out[2]. Hawn suggests that one of its images may come from William Cowper's "There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood"[1]. The hymn is No. 301 in The United Methodist Hymnal[1], and Hymnary.org lists it in 863 hymnals[2].

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Sources

  1. Discipleship Ministries (United Methodist Church), C. Michael Hawn: "History of Hymns: Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross".
  2. Hymnary.org: "Jesus, keep me near the cross".
  3. Internet Archive: "Bright Jewels for the Sunday School" (New York: Biglow & Main, 1869).
  4. Hymnology Archive (Chris Fenner): "Fanny Crosby".
  5. Hymnary.org: "NEAR THE CROSS (Doane)".