Scripture Verse

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. John 14:1

Introduction

Words: John H. Stock­ton, Sal­va­tion Me­lo­dies No. 1 (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Per­kin­pine & Hig­gins, 1874).

Music: Trust (Stock­ton) John H. Stock­ton, 1869. Re­frain by Ira D. San­key, 1873 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Stock­ton (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Ira D. Sankey (1840–1908)

Anecdotes

While on the way to Eng­land with Mr. Moody in 1873, one day in mid-ocean, as I was look­ing ov­er a list of hymns in my scrap-book, I no­ticed one com­menc­ing, Come ev­ery soul by sin op­pressed…

Believing that these words had been so oft­en sung that they were hack­neyed, I de­cid­ed to change them and tell how to come to Je­sus by sub­st­itu­ting the words, On­ly trust him. In this form it was first pub­lished in “Sac­red Songs and So­los” in Lon­don.

While hold­ing meet­ings in Her Ma­jes­ty’s The­ater in Pall Mall, Lond­on, and sing­ing this hymn, I thought I would change the chor­us again, and asked the peo­ple to sing I will trust Him…

When as we sang I de­cid­ed to change it once more, and asked them to sing I do trust him. God bless­ed this ren­der­ing of the hymn to eight per­sons pre­sent, who tes­ti­fied af­ter­ward that by the change they were led to ac­cept sa­lv­ation.

I am much in­ter­est­ed in sac­red songs, writes a mis­sion­ary in Eng­land, be­cause it was the first verse of On­ly Trust Him that op­ened the door of my heart to let the Mas­ter in­to my soul in all His full­ness.

I was in the ar­my, and found my way to the Wool­wich Sol­diers’ Home, where I heard the Gos­pel; and for a fort­night I was grop­ing in the dark for peace, when one ev­en­ing I heard the sing­ing of On­ly Trust Him, which brought light in­to my soul.

I have ev­er since been hap­py, serv­ing Him with my whole heart. I am now a mis­sion­ary to my com­rades.

Sankey, pp. 212–14

Lyrics

Come, eve­ry soul by sin op­pressed;
There’s mer­cy with the Lord,
And He will sure­ly give you rest
By trust­ing in His Word.

Refrain

Only trust Him, on­ly trust Him,
Only trust Him now;
He will save you, He will save you,
He will save you now.

For Je­sus shed His pre­cious blood
Rich bless­ings to be­stow;
Plunge now in­to the crim­son flood
That wash­es white as snow.

Refrain

Yes, Je­sus is the truth, the way,
That leads you into rest;
Believe in Him with­out de­lay
And you are ful­ly blessed.

Refrain

Come, then, and join this ho­ly band,
And on to glo­ry go
To dwell in that ce­les­ti­al land
Where joys im­mor­tal flow.

Refrain

O Je­sus, bless­èd Je­sus, dear,
I’m com­ing now to Thee;
Since Thou hast made the way so clear
And full sal­va­tion free.

Refrain