Charlotte Elliott wrote the lyrics and William Bradbury wrote the music to this English hymn in 1835.
The story to the song goes this way:
Elliott was visiting friends in London at a dinner party that year, and there met Minister César Malan. As they sat down, the minister said he hoped that she was a Christian. Elliott took offense to this, and said she would rather not discuss the question. Dr. Malan said that he was sorry if he had offended her, but that he wanted to offer a prayer before the meal, and he hoped that she would pardon him.
They met again a month later, and Elliott told the minister that she had, in fact, been trying to accept Christ as her savior. She asked him to help her come to Jesus. Dr. Malan told her to “just come to him as you are”. She did, and shortly after that second meeting, she wrote this poem.