John Stockton, a Methodist minister in southern New Jersey, struggled with poor health for most of his life. Although he wanted to enter the ministry, he didn’t do it until he was 44-years-old. But, his health kept failing him, and he had to take a leave of absence. When he was getting his strength back, he wrote hymns… hymns such as this one and “Glory To His Name”.

Often when he finished a hymn, he would send it to Ira Sankey, who was the music director and soloist for Dwight L. Moody’s evangelistic crusades. Sankey would put these hymns in his “musical scrapbook”, which was sort of a musical bottomless pit that Sankey would reach into when he needed to find a new song.

In 1873, Sankey was crossing the Atlantic Ocean for services in England… and he had time to look through his musical scrapbook. That’s when he discovered this hymn written by John. He liked it, except for the chorus which – in the original – began, “Come to Jesus, come to Jesus”. Sankey changed it to “Only trust Him, only trust Him”… and began using it in England. When Moody and Sankey returned to Philadelphia, a very frail John Stockton helped Sankey lead the congregation in singing this invitation hymn.

It was published in 1874.

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