Jesus only is my motto

I. Background and Composition

This hymn by C.P. Jones (1865–1949) is central to the worship life of his denomination, the Church of Christ (Holiness), U.S.A. At the time he wrote it, Jones was pastor of Mt. Helm Baptist Church, Jackson, Mississippi. His evolving theological views and worship practices drew significant criticism from his Baptist associates, especially in relation to his involvement with the broader, interdenominational Holiness movement. He positioned himself as a central figure in that movement when his church started hosting Holiness conventions in 1897. Later in life, Jones gave two facets of the story behind his hymn, starting with his spiritual motivation:

Between the Holiness convention of 1897 and 1898 I began to be impressed with the inconsistencies of our Baptist churches, being myself almost a fanatical Baptist. Our slogan was that we were the only scriptural people; the only people who preached the whole Bible without adding of taking from—without changing the word of God to add the traditions of men (Mark 7:6–13; Prov. 30:5,6; Rev. 22:18,19). We boasted of our scripturalness. If it was “Thus saith the Lord,” it was Baptistic; if not, it was the mere tradition of man and unworthy of authority. This was our claim as Baptists.

But I was taken to account before God. “You Baptists are liars,” said the Spirit. “You profess to love me, but you do not. You love yourselves, but you do not love MY NAME. You praise yourselves, but you do not praise ME. You glory in yourselves, but you do not GLORY IN MY NAME” (Ps. 105:3). It was the NAME OF JESUS for which the apostles suffered shame (Acts 5:41). It was for my name’s sake I said you should be hated of all men. You are hated merely for your sect name. . . . It is the Name of Jesus alone that has salvation in it. You expect salvation because you are Baptists.” . . .

But I said, “Lord, our denominational name is only a convenience of operation. We stand on principle; on the word; on scripture. We must gather in one name to distinguish us, as we stand for scriptural principles.” . . . But as I contended, He said, “My people hate my name and so they hate me. Try them and see (Jer. 6:27–30). . . . Each wants to set himself above his fellow, but none glory in me. My ‘all-in-allness’ they know not. They do not bless Him who comes in the name of the Lord (Matt. 23:39). How can they see me?”

It was this attitude that brought the severest persecution upon me. I was carried to law. Baptists and Methodists held a congress and counsels against me. They reported six hundred preachers present. But I know according to our denominational principles I was a better Baptist than any of them. I held on and was determined to know nothing but Jesus (1 Cor. 2; Phil. 3:1–12). I admit that in view of the fact that Christ loves all men, and that Paul became all things to all men, it seemed foolish to be so contentious about a name. But this name had salvation in it. . . . I had chosen to be hated of all men for His name’s sake. I was not carried to law for stealing or murder or rape or slander, but because I would know nothing but Jesus. No name but His. No master but Him. No law but His word. No creed but Jesus. I had to be “Happy with Jesus alone.” All else was trash to me.[1]

The circumstances of the hymn’s writing came at a time when he experienced a threat of violence related to his divergence from the Baptist faith:

There was a Sunday School convention held at Mt. Olive Baptist Church near Jackson in 1899. At this convention I was to be killed. Rev. Mr. [George] Wright himself told the story. He got Professor [Sam] Brown to come from Lexington [Mississippi]—more than 70 miles—to help him. They carried pistols, it was reported, for the express purpose of sending me on to be with my Master while I was young. There was to be a row raised—something the blessed Baptists of that day seemed to regard as the spice of the program. That was a part of their enjoyment. They took it as a part of their liberty in Christ, but they seldom hurt anyone. However, this time murder was planned. One man, a school teacher, too, a Professor Bracy, drew back to strike me, but I answered him so meekly, and I dare say, looked so astonished and frightened that he thought the better of it. You see, it was that they desired to get me to fight. That would break the power of my message and later the tone of my ministry. No more holiness thunder to disturb flustered consciences! O they would have been delighted to have me fight. . . .

Just before I got back to the meeting house [from dinner] the row occurred. When I got opposite the church house my friends were all in the road, and the pastor, the Reverend Love of Crystal Springs, saw standing in the door, calling everybody back. Brown and Wright, I suppose, were in the house. I do not remember seeing them at that time. . . . “Come on, Brother Jones,” said my friends; “they drove us out and we are going down to Carleton Hill and organize another convention.” So I kept right on up the road and beat everyone to Carleton Hill. I sat down before the deacons’ table and wrote and tuned “Jesus only is my motto.” From this song my first two song books were named. . . .

Whenever I hear “None but Jesus,” I think of Professor Sam Brown and Rev. George Wright, who set themselves against the Lord—dead now more than thirty-five years.[2]

II. Publication

Jones’s hymn was first printed in Jesus Only Songs and Hymns (Jackson, MS: Truth Publishing, 1901 | Fig. 1) published through his own company but probably prepared and printed by the National Baptist press in Nashville. The hymn was presented as the first selection in the book, headed by Matthew 17:7–8 (KJV), printed in shape notes, spanning four stanzas, with a chorus beginning “None but Jesus, Savior, Captain.”

The hymn has retained its pride of place as the first song in Church of Christ (Holiness) hymnals up through His Fullness Songs (1977), but it is largely unknown outside of the denomination.

III. Analysis

Musically, the hymn fits within the realm of gospel hymns from that time period, with its verse-chorus structure and its reliance on basic harmonies (I–IV–V). One of its distinctive qualities is its use of rests after every two measures even though the text is written in four-bar phrases.

Textually, Donté Ford said of it, “‘Jesus Only’ is a hymn replete with statements acknowledging the supremacy of Christ.”[3] Throughout the hymn, Jones used a series of terms to describe Jesus: “my motto,” “my song,” “my heart-thought,” “my Captain,” “mine armor,” “my Master,” “Savior,” “Lord and King.” Even though Baptists would likely agree with the message of the hymn and would find nothing objectionable in it, it reflects Jones’s concern for not being beholden to the denominational strictures he found himself battling. Ford believed the last stanza in particular involved a stance whereby “Committing to and professing Jesus Christ results in rejecting all people and all things that threaten to become more important.”[4] Similarly, Lester Ruth wrote:

Seen in context, the song reveals Jones’s resolve to persistently seek an exclusive commitment to Jesus Christ in the midst of terrible infighting. By lifting up the name of Jesus as an object of devotion, the song was also a polemic against the Baptist sectarianism which Jones had grown to despise.[5]

Ford and Spencer were both careful to point out how the hymn should not be taken as a form of anti-trinitarianism, because Jones and his followers affirmed classical Trinitarian theology. Said Jon Michael Spencer, “The title Jesus Only is not at all related to the anti-Trinitarian or unitarian ‘Jesus Only’ movement of the ‘Oneness Pentecostals,’ which commenced in 1913. These ‘Jesus Only Pentecostals’ or ‘Jesus Onlies’ rejected the Trinity and baptized ‘in the name of Jesus.’”[6]

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
8 February 2021

Footnotes:

1. Ortho B. Cobbins, History of the Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A. 1895–1965 (1966), pp. 405–409.

2. Ortho B. Cobbins, History of the Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A. 1895–1965 (1966), pp. 410–412.

3. Donté Ford, “Jesus only is my motto,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology: http://www.hymnology.co.uk/j/jesus-only-is-my-motto

4. Donté Ford, “Jesus only is my motto,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology: http://www.hymnology.co.uk/j/jesus-only-is-my-motto

5. Lester Ruth, Longing for Jesus: Worship at a Black Holiness Church in Mississippi, 1895–1913 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013), p. 29.

6. Jon Michael Spencer, Black Hymnody: A Hymnological History of the African-American Church (Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 1992), p. 214.

Related Links:

“Jesus only is my motto,” Hymnary.org: https://hymnary.org/text/jesus_only_is_my_motto