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.