Young Isaac Watts found the music in his church sadly lacking, and his father challenged him to create something better. Isaac did. His hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” has been called the greatest in the English language and has been translated into many other languages.

Watts’s worshipful third verse ushers us into the presence of Christ at the crucifixion.

            See from His head, His hands, His feet,

            Sorrow and love flow mingled down.

            Did e’er such love and sorrow meet

            Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

The crucifixion Watts describes so elegantly stands as history’s most awful moment. We…