JUST AS I AM by I. Edgar Jones

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, June 24, 1880

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 56, No. 1

“JUST AS I AM.”

By I. Edgar Jones

“Just as I am, without one plea, But that thy blood was shed for me, And that thou bid’st me come to thee; O Lamb of God, I come.”

’Twas thus a drunkard tried to pray While bending o’er his baby’s clay; His trembling fingers, anguished, grasped The little hand that death had clasped, But failed to change the sunny smile That rested on the face the while.

“‘Just as I am’—I yield the strife— The record of my ruined life; The curse that made my mind a wreck; That neither prayer nor pride could check; No other place have I to flee— Oh! let me hide myself in thee.

“‘Just as I am’—weak, weary, worn, The relic of a hope forlorn; A thing whose worthless actions tend To every weak and wicked end; Whose faltering footsteps daily trace The path of pain and deep disgrace.

“‘Just as I am’—a weary soul O’er which temptation’s billows roll; The demon forms that round me creep, The horrid dreams that banish sleep, The craving fiends that o’er me ride, With calls that will not be denied.

“‘Just as I am’—remembering well The wife that by my fury fell; The little lips that daily cried For bread their father’s curse denied, And daily begged—with weary feet That marked with blood the frozen street.

“‘Just as I am’—O Saviour! come And save me from the rage of rum; By memories of this little form, That thou hast taken from the storm, By all the hope thy Scriptures give, Support my vows and let me live.”

The clouds were rent, the darkness fled; And fell upon the burdened bed A ray of sunshine, soft and warm, That glorified the little form, And shone in promise fondly there, As if in answer to his prayer.

And ever since his feet have trod In light and life and love of God, Devoting ceaseless work to win The wandering ones from ways of sin.

“Just as I am, without one plea, But that thy blood was shed for me”— These the grand words with which he came, Go, weary one, do thou the same.

—I. Edgar Jones.