[Music]
Saw ye my Savior, saw ye my Savior,
Saw ye my Savior and God?
Oh! he died on Calvary to atone for you and me
And to purchase our pardon with blood.
He was extended, he was extended,
Painfully nailed to the cross;
Then he bowed his head and died, thus my Lord was crucified,
To atone for a world that was lost.
Jesus hung bleeding, Jesus hung bleeding,
Three dreadful hours in pain;
Whilst the sun refused to shine, when his majesty divine
Was derided, insulted and slain.
Darkness prevail-ed, darkness prevail-ed,
Darkness prevailed through the land;
Oh, the solid rocks were rent, through creation's vast extent
When the Jews crucified the God-Man.
When it was finish'd, when it was finish'd,
And the atonement was made;
He was taken by the great, and embalmed in spices sweet,
And was in a new sepulchre laid.
Hail, mighty Savior, hail mighty Savior!
Prince and the Author of peace!
Oh, he burst the bars of death, and triumphing left the earth,
He ascended to mansions of bliss.
Now interceding, now interceding,
Pleading that sinners might live;
Saying, "Father, I have died, (O, behold my hands and side!)
To redeem them, I pray thee, forgive."
"I will forgive them, I will forgive them,
When they repent and believe;
Let them now return to thee, and be reconciled to me,
And salvation they all shall receive."
This song occurs also in _Olive Leaf_, p. 203, where it is called "a
Scotch air". Miss Gilchrist tells us, in the article often cited here,
that 'Saw Ye My Savior' is 'Saw Ye My Father', or 'The Grey Cock',
found in both Scotch and English versions. A text is in Herd's
collections of 1769 and 1772, and another with the tune, in Chappell's
_Popular Music_. Chappell's version begins:
Saw you my father, saw you my mother,
Saw you my true love John?
He told his only dear that he would soon be here,
But he to another is gone.
The melodic phrase above, which coincides with the text "Oh ... me",
is used to build up the tune for 'Simple Ploughboy', Sharp, i., 369.
As to the influence of this impressive text on the crucifixion songs
of the negroes, see _White Spirituals_, 277. Stephen Foster seems to
have been influenced by the 'Saw Ye My Savior' tune or its secular
relatives in composing his 'Old Black Joe'. (See my article in _The
Musical Quarterly_, xxii., No. 2.) For further references as to 'The
Grey Cock' see _British Ballads from Maine_, 310ff.
No. 17
ESTER, OSH 437