Philip P. Bliss, The Charm: A Col­lect­ion of Sun­day School Mu­sic, 1871.

Cæ­sa­rea, Philip P. Bliss, The Charm: A Col­lect­ion of Sun­day School Mu­sic, 1871 (MIDI, NWC, PDF).

He who is al­most per­suad­ed is al­most saved, and to be al­most saved is to be en­tire­ly lost, were the words with which the Rev. Mr. Brun­dage end­ed one of his ser­mons. P. P. Bliss, who was in the au­di­ence, was much im­pressed with the thought, and im­me­di­ate­ly set about the com­po­si­tion of what proved to be one of his most pop­u­lar songs.

One of the most im­press­ive oc­ca­sions on which this hymn was sung was in the Ag­ri­cul­tur­al Hall in Lon­don, in 1874, when Mr. Glad­stone was pre­sent. At the close of his ser­mon Mr. Moody asked the con­gre­ga­tion to bow their heads, while I sang Al­most Per­suad­ed. The still­ness of death pre­vailed through­out the au­di­ence of over fif­teen thou­sand, as souls were mak­ing their de­ci­sions for Christ.

Sankey, p. 112