The Day He Gave His Cross To Me

THE DAY HE GAVE HIS CROSS TO ME I stood along a roadside there with all the mocking crowd, Like them I joined the ridicule with voice so very loud. I jeered as he walked by me then and spit upon his face, I did not care what he looked like, that he was a disgrace. The bleeding back, the crown of thorns--I looked at them with glee; At last this man is gone for good! He will not bother me! And then he stopped to look at me; and my heart pounded fast, He took the cross from off his back and it at me he cast. “All right, you carry this old cross! You go on up that hill! You let them nail you to it there and you your blood can spill! You pay the price I’m going to pay for sinners just like you; I’ll stand here mocking like you did and see what you will do!” I did not know just what to do, but just to save my face I placed the cross upon my back and then began my pace. I looked beyond the city wall and saw the mountain where They led the criminals to die and crucified them there. And up the hill, and closer still, I came unto the place, But as I reached the top of it, a horror crossed my face. A pit was looming there below, with fires aflame from hell, And I was heading right for it; that I could surely tell. Still closer, closer, there I got, and still on me they pressed, It would not be too long before I’d fall in it, I guessed. I reached the edge of that small hill, and I began to fall, And then in agony I cried, for mercy I did call. Then suddenly the cross became a bridge that blocked the way, And I was saved from hell below when I cried out that day. The blood upon that cross He’s borne there now had covered me, And I looked up into the sky with tears of joy and glee. I knew then that I should have been condemned for all my sin, But when I called upon His name, His love there took me in. I saw what I deserved that day He gave His cross to me, But He had mercy on my soul, His grace there set me free.