Watts himself altered that line in the 1709 edition of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, to prevent it from being mistaken as an allusion to Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, the heir to the throne who died at age 11.

[2] The hymn's fourth stanza ("His dying crimson...") is commonly omitted in printed versions, a practice that began with George Whitefield in 1757.

When I survey the wond'rous Cross On which the Prince of Glory dy'd, My richest Gain I count but Loss, And pour Contempt on all my Pride.

[7] "Rockingham" was written by Edward Miller, the son of a stone mason who ran away from home to become a musician, being a flautist in Händel's orchestra.

First written in 1824 and published a year later, it was not set to this text until The Sabbath Hymn and Tune Book (1859), and even then it did not gain wide traction until late in the 19th century.