Jesus Paid It All -- Elvina M. Hall

She must have been moved in some way that morning, but was it really okay that this songwriting episode transpired while she was apparently ignoring an ongoing sermon? This was the question that most troubled Elvina M. Hall when she shared with the minister later in a Baltimore church the details of “Jesus Paid It All”. Someone might say she had also desecrated church property – a hymnal -- while scribbling the words for the poem that came to her spontaneously. Well, at least Elvina hadn’t slept during the minister’s message! The words she penned also could have been her best defense, for they seem to indicate she’d engaged in a conversation with the One above, while forgoing the minister’s message. So, with whom would you rather converse, the usher or the homeowner? Perhaps that’s what Elvina calculated was the correct question for her to answer.      

Elvina Hall was evidently not the only person in that Baltimore church engaged in the birth of “Jesus Paid It All” in 1865. The organist, John Grape, unbeknownst to Elvina, had composed some music that he had yet to tie to any words, though he had shared it with the minister. Thus, the same minister who’d bored Elvina one Sunday morning had also been Grape’s musical sounding board! Was it just a coincidence or was some other force at work to consummate the union of Elvina’s poetry and John’s tune, via the minister with whom they’d both served at the church? Since Elvina had scrawled her words on a blank page of a hymnal in the choir attic, one wonders if the three of them might have concluded that the poetry was providentially destined for a piece of music to complete the loop for a newborn hymn. “Jesus Paid It All” would be one of only a handful of poems that Elvina would ever craft, and the only tune we know that is attributed to John, making this episode especially remarkable for the both of them. Elvina imagined Jesus reassuring her that her own human frailty would not matter when He entered the equation (v.1). And, that would be just the beginning, for the rest of her thoughts envision the Divine nurture he would provide, the completion of her walk, and the inheritance that she trusted He would bestow on her. In her 40s when she penned the words, Elvina would spend some 40 years in that Baltimore church (Monument Street Methodist Church). She was closer to the starting line than the finish line, she may have realized, so she listened and heard what He said could follow over the next few decades. All she needed to do one morning in the top of that church was allow Her dialogue with Him to flow through her hand onto a blank page.   

 How many other Sundays did Elvina sit pondering in the choir loft during the sermon, after she wrote “Jesus Paid It All”? Perhaps she did many times, though only two other hymn poems are ascribed to her. The six verses of “Jesus Paid It All” may have been enough for her to contemplate for some time, as they ultimately foresee one scene that will matter most for any of us – meeting Him. Elvina must have sensed that at that moment, who could pay for her eternal home would be paramount. My home mortgage is just about as much financial liability as I want. What’s the mortgage on a mansion in heaven (John 14:2)? Have you got that creditor lined up to pay for you?

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; 101 More Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985; and Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.

Also see this link, showing all six original verses, and a brief recitation of the development of the  tune, which was then paired with the author’s poem to create the song: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/j/p/a/jpaidall.htm