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Beneath the Cross of Jesus Elizabeth Clephane was born on June 18, 1830, the third daughter of a Scottish lawman. She was never a strong child, prone to long bouts of sickness and therefore often homebound. In spite of her inability to move through life as freely as she would like, Elizabeth had a strong, sweet spirit that deeply touched the community of Melrose. So, in the midst of their hard lives, the people of the village looked upon Elizabeth as an inspiration. She showed that even in the worst of times, joy and wonder can be found in each new day and that every breath is a blessing for which to give thanks. Taking Clephane’s bleak life into account, it is amazing that Elizabeth was able to maintain her positive attitude. Not only was she constantly fighting illness, but her father died when she was just a girl. After his death, times were tough for the family. Even finding enough to eat was often an insurmountable task, and affording medical care for Clephane was simply beyond the family’s means. But the fragile girl never complained. In bad times and good, she remained a shining beacon for her siblings as well as an inspiration to those who observed her from afar. When bouts of illness confined her to the family’s tiny home, Clephane turned her attention to reading. Like many from her country, she enthusiastically consumed the works of local hero Sir Walter Scott, but, unlike few outside the clergy, she also spent hours each day reading the Bible. It is hardly surprising that by the time she was in her mid-twenties, her knowledge of English literature was exceeded only by her understanding of the Good Book. The latter, much more than the former, influenced everything she did. Many claimed they could actually feel Christ’s love in her gentle touch. Clephane’s easy smile lit up every room she entered. In fact, most in Melrose called her not by her given name, but by her nickname, “Sunbeam.” And, on those days when she was healthy enough to leave her home, it was as Sunbeam that the slight woman made her rounds sharing food and clothing with the poor as well as tending the sick and elderly. Doing these menial chores brought her more happiness than anything in her sparse life. While it is impossible to say if Clephane felt a foreshadowing of her own early passing, there can be no doubt that she well understood the fragile nature of life. She had ministered to the gravely ill of all ages. She had watched her father die in the prime of his life. She had seen children taken just after birth and had held the hands of the elderly as they drew their final breaths. Just as she knew hunger, despair, and poverty, she knew death. Thus, as she reached out to those whose every moment was filled with pain and suffering, she felt driven to share the story of faith that made her life so meaningful and her own pain so meaningless. In that way she transcended being “Sunbeam” and became a beam of light from God’s own Son. By 1868, Clephane’s body was further weakened by numerous bouts with the flu, her vision was starting to fail, and she looked much older than her thirty-eight years. Nevertheless, though her back was bent and her frame was rail thin, her smile was as quick as ever, and there was still a sparkle in her eyes. Yet, though still a young woman, Clephane had to have known she was near death’s door. It was probably for that reason she seemed so intent on making each new day count for something special. Even when she was confined to her bed, she seemed to be constantly looking for ways to leave behind the essence of her faith to future generations. Like her hero Scott, she would touch others with timeless verse. One afternoon, as she laid aside her well-worn Bible and picked up a pencil, Clephane considered several essential elements of her faith. The first was that Christ was her rock and had saved and delivered her from the travails of an existence filled with sin and temptation. After all, she had seen many unhappy souls who had given in to temptation only to be tortured by it. Through faith she had escaped that fate. Next she considered the suffering Christ had endured in order to give her the blessings of a forgiven life. This led her to consider the unworthiness of all people, including herself. That Jesus had died for her, when he could have chosen not to, humbled her beyond measure. She felt awed by God’s grace. As Clephane thought of Christ’s suffering on the cross, she turned from the horrid scene to the results of that painful death. Because of the cross, she had been given the keys to God’s kingdom. She had received the joy and comfort of having him with her during bad times and good and had come to appreciate the promise of eternal life. Hence, the cross was in fact not a dark moment in time, but one of the brightest in human history. It was the conduit to experiencing the eternal love of God. Opening her Bible, Clephane read Matthew 27:36 – 37: “And sitting down they watched him there; and set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” These were not new verses to her. She had read them hundreds of times. But today this Scripture brought her the greatest inspiration she had ever known in her short life. Elizabeth was transported to the cross and had a vision for a poem. In only a few years, the five verses she wrote would become one of the most important songs the church would use throughout Lent and on Easter. Yet on this day, the words Clephane penned were just a vehicle the woman employed to spell out what Christ meant to her. This poem was for her eyes only; it was for her heart, and it was to anchor her faith. When she finished writing “Beneath the Cross of Jesus,” Clephane did nothing with it. Satisfied that her writing had brought her closer to her Lord, she filed her latest work away with seven other Christian poems. These eight poems were discovered after Clephane died, and for a short while they were shared with just family and friends. Initially no one thought of taking them to the world. Then, in 1872, a family member submitted them to the Scottish Presbyterian periodical Family Treasury. The editor published Clephane’s poems one at a time under the title Breathing on the Borders. The first printed was “Beneath the Cross of Jesus,” and no writer credit was given. As Clephane did not want to bask in the spotlight, she would have probably approved of not being spotlighted as the poem’s writer. This humble woman would have wanted readers to dwell not on her often sad and short life but rather on the life, death, and resurrection of her Savior. It is not known whether composer Frederick Charles Maker first saw Clephane’s poem in the Family Treasury or if he spotted it when it was later reprinted in a British newspaper. Whichever is the case, when the forty-year-old composer read the words to “Beneath the Cross of Jesus,” he was deeply moved. Maker, an organist, a professor of music at Clifton College, and the conductor of the Bristol Free Church Choir, felt this dynamic testimony could reach a much larger audience if it could be sung. Therefore, Maker created a musical score for the poem and entitled his new melody “St. Christopher.” As it was written during an era when modern music was being accepted into English worship, this coupling of verse and melody quickly made “Beneath the Cross of Jesus” one of the most popular hymns in British church history. When contrasted against Elizabeth Clephane’s weak body and humble existence, the song’s power and majesty takes on even deeper meaning. When first anonymously published in Family Treasury, Elizabeth Clephane’s poems created so much reader feedback that Reverend W. Arnot, the periodical’s editor, felt moved to share something of the writer’s personality and character. He wrote, “These lines express the experiences, the hopes, and the longings of a young Christian lately released. Written on the very edge of life, with the better land fully in view of faith, they seem to us footsteps printed on the sands of time, where these sands touch the ocean of Eternity. These footprints of one whom the Good Shepherd led through the wilderness into rest, may, with God’s blessing, contribute to comfort and direct succeeding pilgrims.” And so they have! Almost a century and a half later, Elizabeth Clephane’s words have done more than even Arnot could have imagined. They have led people not just to view the cross but also to understand its meaning. This frail woman’s example continues to touch lost souls with the glory of the cross, and Sunbeam became a ray of spiritual light for the world. |
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