Scripture Verse

The truth is in Jesus. Ephesians 4:21

Introduction

Words: James Proc­ter, date un­known.

Music: Ro­bert Hark­ness, 1903 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

portrait
Robert Harkness
(1880–1961)

[These] lines were found af­ter his death, on the desk of an in­fi­del who be­came a Chris­tian.

Hark­ness Gos­pel Songs, by Ro­bert Hark­ness (Pa­sa­de­na, Ca­li­for­nia: Hark­ness Mu­sic, 1926), num­ber 35.

There is al­so an ar­ti­cle about this song’s ori­gins in 101 More Hymn Stor­ies, by Ken­neth W. Os­beck (Grand Ra­pids, Mi­chi­gan: Kre­gel Pub­li­ca­tions, 1985), pag­es 144–45.

Lyrics

I’ve tried in vain a thou­sand ways
My fears to quell, my hopes to raise;
But what I need, the Bi­ble says,
Is ev­er, on­ly Je­sus.

My soul is night, my heart is steel—
I can­not see, I can­not feel;
For light, for life, I must ap­peal
In sim­ple faith to Je­sus.

He died, He lives, He reigns, He pleads;
There’s love in all His words and deeds;
There’s all a guil­ty sin­ner needs
Forevermore in Je­sus.

Tho’ some should sneer, and some should blame,
I’ll go with all my guilt and shame;
I’ll go to Him be­cause His name,
Above all names, is Je­sus.