Lyrics
Jesus, and shall it ever be,
A mortal man, ashamed of Thee?
Ashamed of Thee, whom angels praise,
Whose glories shine through endless days?
Ashamed of Jesus! sooner far
Let night disown each radiant star!
'Tis midnight with my soul, till He,
Bright morning star, bid darkness flee.
Ashamed of Jesus! O as soon
Let morning blush to own the sun!
He sheds the beams of light divine
O'er this benighted soul of mine.
Ashamed of Jesus! that dear friend
On whom my hopes of Heav'n depend!
No; when I blush, be this my shame,
That I no more revere His name.
Ashamed of Jesus! yes, I may
When I've no guilt to wash away;
No tear to wipe, no good to crave,
No fears to quell, no soul to save.
Ashamed of Jesus! empty pride!
I'll boast a Savior crucified,
And O may this my portion be,
My Savior not ashamed of me!
Public domain hymn text (1765, later altered), based on Mark 8:38.
The Story Behind the Hymn
Joseph Grigg wrote "Jesus, and Shall It Ever Be" and published it in his 1765 collection Four Hymns on Divine Subjects — the same volume that gave us "Behold a Stranger at the Door," already part of this collection as hymn 299. Grigg, who began composing religious verse as a child and briefly served as assistant minister at a Presbyterian church in London before retiring from ministry altogether, produced only these two hymns of any lasting reach among the roughly forty he is credited with writing.
The hymn as commonly sung today has been altered from Grigg's original wording. His first version began "Jesus! and shall it ever be! A mortal man ashamed of Thee?" and used somewhat different imagery throughout — "let evening blush to own a star" rather than "let night disown each radiant star," for instance. The now-standard text reflects revisions made by later hymnal editors, smoothing the meter and sharpening a few images while keeping Grigg's central structure intact.
That structure is a study in escalating refusal: six stanzas, each built around the same repeated question — ashamed of Jesus? — answered by comparisons drawn from nature that make the idea seem absurd. Night disowning a star, morning refusing to acknowledge the sun: each image argues that shame at Christ is not just wrong but nearly unthinkable, a violation of the natural order itself.
The hymn draws its scriptural anchor from Mark 8:38, where Christ warns that whoever is ashamed of Him will find Him ashamed of them in turn. Grigg's closing stanza turns that warning into a plea, asking not to be spared shame altogether, but that whatever he is ashamed of, it will never again be Christ.
