“This have I done for thee; what has thou done for Me?”

This was Franc­es Hav­er­gal’s first hymn.

 She wrote it af­ter see­ing Stern­berg’s paint­ing Ec­ce Ho­mo in Düs­sel­dorf, Ger­ma­ny.

A cap­tion on the paint­ing read, “This have I done for thee; what has thou done for Me?” Here is what Miss V. G. Ha­ver­gal wrote about this hymn:

In F. R. H’s MS. co­py, she gives this ti­tle, “I did this for thee; what hast thou done for Me?” Mot­to placed un­der a pic­ture of our Savior in the stu­dy of a Ger­man di­vine. On Jan­u­a­ry 10, 1858, she had come in wea­ry, and sit­ting down she read the mot­to, and the lines of her hymn flashed up­on her.

She wrote them in pen­cil on a scrap of pa­per. Read­ing them over she thought them so poor that she tossed them on the fire, but they fell out un­touched. Show­ing them some months lat­er to her fa­ther, he en­cour­aged her to pre­serve them, and wrote the tune Ba­ca spe­cial­ly for them. The hymn was print­ed on a leaf­let, 1859, and in Good Words, Feb., 1860. Pub. al­so in <The Min­is­try of Song, 1869. Though F. R. H. con­sent­ed to the al­ter­a­tions in Church Hymns, she thought the orig­in­al more strict­ly car­ried out the idea of the mot­to, “I gave My life for thee, What hast thou done for Me?”

Frances Ha­ver­gal her­self said about this hymn:

I was so over­whelmed on Sun­day at hear­ing three of my hymns touch­ing­ly sung in Per­ry Church, that I ne­ver be­fore real­ized the high priv­i­lege of writ­ing for the “great con­gre­ga­tion,” es­pe­cial­ly when they sang, “I gave My life for thee” to my fa­ther’s tune Baca.

---

I gave My life for thee, My precious blood I shed, That thou might ransomed be, and raised up from the dead I gave, I gave My life for thee, what hast thou given for Me? I gave, I gave My life for thee, what hast thou given for Me? My Father’s house of light, My glory circled throne I left for earthly night, for wanderings sad and lone; I left, I left it all for thee, hast thou left aught for Me? I left, I left it all for thee, hast thou left aught for Me? I suffered much for thee, more than thy tongue can tell, Of bitterest agony, to rescue thee from hell. I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee, what hast thou borne for Me? I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee, what hast thou borne for Me? And I have brought to thee, down from My home above, Salvation full and free, My pardon and My love; I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to Me? I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to Me?

---

This hymn was re­cast in 1871 in Church Hymns,

 under the ti­tle “Thy Life Was Giv­en for Me”:

Thy life was given for me; Thy blood, O Lord, was shed,
That I might ransomed be, and quickened from the dead.
Thy life was given for me; what have I given for Thee?
Thy life was given for me; what have I given for Thee?

Long years were spent for me, in weariness and woe,
That through eternity Thy glory I might know.
Long years were spent for me; have I spent one for Thee?
Long years were spent for me; have I spent one for Thee?

And Thou hast brought to me, down from Thy home above,
Salvation full and free, Thy pardon and Thy love.
Great gifts Thou broughtest me; what have I brought to Thee?
Great gifts Thou broughtest me; what have I brought to Thee?

O let my life be given, my years for Thee be spent,
World fetters all be riven, and joy with suffering blent!
Thou gavest Thyself for me; I give myself to Thee.
Thou gavest Thyself for me; I give myself to Thee.