"Jesus Paid It All"

Elvina Hall (1822-1899) wrote the words to “Jesus Paid It All.” It was initially played as an organ tune. The story is that she was sitting in church one Sunday, listening to the sermon, when her mind drifted from what the preacher was talking about. He had been talking about all the Jesus had done for us, and her mind drifted to “all” that Jesus had done for her. Elvina first married a man from Virginia, but was widowed. Afterward, she married a Methodist minister, Thomas Meyer, and moved to Baltimore, Maryland. She was a member of the Monument Street Methodist church for forty years. It was during her time at this church that she wrote the words to the organ hymn “Jesus Paid It All.”

The choir director from Monument Street Methodist Church, John T. Grape, had been toying with the melody for an organ tune at about the same time that Hall wrote the words to “Jesus Paid It All.” The church was doing some renovations and he took the organ to his house, which gave him more time to work on Sunday hymns.

“Jesus Paid It All”

I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”

Refrain

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

For nothing good have I
Whereby Thy grace to claim,
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.

Refrain

And now complete in Him
My robe His righteousness,
Close sheltered ’neath His side,
I am divinely blest.

Refrain

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone.

Refrain

When from my dying bed
My ransomed soul shall rise,
“Jesus died my soul to save,”
Shall rend the vaulted skies.

Refrain

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,
I’ll lay my trophies down
All down at Jesus’ feet.

Refrain

“Jesus Paid It All” was first published in Theodore Perkins’ Sabbath Carols. The organist hymn has made quite an impact on many people. There is a story about a young servant girl who passed by an open-air mission after having had a falling out with the family for which she had been working. In the course of hearing what the minister had to say and hearing the organ tune, she came to realize the need to be saved.

“Jesus Paid It All”

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