Jesus, and shall it ever be

Jesus, and shall it ever be. Joseph Grigg* (ca. 1720-1768), altered by Benjamin Francis* (1734-1799). First published in Grigg’s Four Hymns on Divine Subjects, wherein the Patience and Love of our Divine Saviour is displayed (1765). Ira D. Sankey* stated, improbably, that this had been written by Grigg when a child, and that when it was first published it was headed ‘Shame of Jesus conquered by love, by a youth of ten years' (Sankey, 1906, p. 129).  According to Taylor (1989), the first verse was: Jesus! And shall it ever be! A mortal man ashamed of Thee? Scorn’d be the thought by rich and poor; O may I scorn it more and more! It appeared in John Rippon*’s A Selection of Hymns (1787)...