Scripture Verse

The blood of Jesus Christ…cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 1:7

Introduction

Words & Mu­sic: An­nabelle W. Wa­te­rman, 1920 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

Origin of the Hymn

From a home with one bro­ther and one sis­ter, Charles Wa­ter­man’s urge was to see the coun­try. This took him to hitch­hik­ing on the rail­road to Ca­li­for­nia. He was in­flu­enced by the world­ly crowd and gave him­self to be­come an al­co­hol­ic.

Even as such, he worked his way up to be­come an en­gin­eer on the steam lo­co­mo­tive. He mar­ried An­na, who had a Chris­tian back­ground and did what she could to keep the tes­ti­mo­ny be­fore him.

Anna was dis­cour­aged at the path her husband fol­lowed be­cause it was caus­ing him to miss work on some of his hang­ov­ers. So she asked a la­dy in her town in Ca­li­for­nia to meet with her and help her pray for Charles to be saved.

His wild life went on for three or more years, and one night he be­came fright­ened while un­der the in­flu­ence, and when he fi­nal­ly ar­rived at home, he told An­na he want­ed to be saved.

She im­me­di­ate­ly called her friend who came ov­er to their home and they led him to the Lord. He begged the Lord for for­giv­eness and to clean up his life, which the Lord did.

The hap­pi­ness that fol­lowed caused An­na to write this song. A book with ov­er 30 oth­er songs was col­lected and pub­lished.

They vis­it­ed in Lo­di, Fount­ain Coun­ty, In­di­ana, and at the Bap­tist Church, lat­er named Wa­ter­man Bap­tist Church.

Lyrics

Come, ye sin­ners, lost and hope­less,
Jesus’ blood can make you free;
For He saved the worst among you,
When He saved a wretch like me.

Refrain

And I know, yes, I know
Jesus’ blood can make the vil­est sin­ner clean,
And I know, yes, I know
Jesus’ blood can make the vil­est sin­ner clean.

To the faint He giv­eth pow­er,
Through the mount­ains makes a way;
Findeth wa­ter in the de­sert,
Turns the night to gold­en day.

Refrain

In temp­ta­tion He is near thee,
Holds the pow’rs of hell at bay;
Guides you to the path of safe­ty,
Gives you grace for ev’ry day.

Refrain

He will keep thee while the ag­es
Roll through­out eter­ni­ty;
Though earth hin­ders and hell rag­es,
All must work for good to thee.

Refrain