Isaac Watts (1674-1748; see Biographies) wrote six stanzas of this hymn in 1707 under the title “Godly sorrow Arising From the Sufferings of Christ.” Through the years, editors have made a number of alterations. The final line of stanza 1 was “For such a worm as I.” 

Watts’s membership in the Independent Church gave rise to the mistaken impression that he was a Unitarian. However, he shows his clear belief on this point in the third line of his fourth stanza, which originally was “When God, the mighty Maker, died,” thus identifying Jesus as very God. 

The words of the refrain were added by Ralph Hudson when he wrote the tune for the text. It was first published in Songs of Peace, Love, and Joy, 1885. Until recently it was thought that the refrain was a camp meeting chorus that Hudson borrowed. In the July 1980 issue of The Hymn, Ernest K. Emurian presents evidence of its true source. From the Library of Congress he obtained a copy of a Civil War song entitled “Take Me Home,” ascribed to one “Raymond,” the short form of “Eugene Raymond,” the pen name used by the “Bard of the Confederacy, “John Hill Hewitt (1801-1890).The song was first published as an anonymous poem with music in New York in 1853 by W. L. Bloomfield. Hewitt then composed a Southern edition and published it in Augusta, Georgia, 1864. So it is evident that Hudson adapted what was probably a very popular song and used it with only a couple of note changes for the refrain of this hymn. 

Ralph E. Hudson was born July 9, 1843, at Napoleon, Ohio, but soon the family moved to Pennsylvania. In 1861 he enlisted in the Army and served as a nurse in the Civil War. Later he taught music at Mount Vernon College, Alliance, Ohio, and became active as singer, composer, and publisher of songbooks. He was licensed to preach in the Methodist Church, and devoted a good portion of his time to evangelistic and temperance work. One of his books was The Temperance Songster. He died at Cleveland, Ohio, June 14,1901.  Fanny Crosby (see Biographies) said her “soul flooded with a celestial light” at the time of her conversion, when this hymn was sung.