James Nicholson wrote these words under the title of “Holiness Desired,” basing them on David’s penitential prayer in Psalm 51; the refrain uses the latter part of verse 7, “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” The hymn first appeared in a 16-page pamphlet, Joyful Songs No. 4, 1872.

Nicholson was born in 1828 in Ireland and emigrated to the United Sates about 22 years later, settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He became active in Sunday school work and evangelism. He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1871, and worked as a postal clerk. He busied himself in church work, teaching singing and leading singing groups. He became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and died on November 6, 1876, in Washing-ton D.C. he also wrote SDAH 515, “The Lord Is My Light.”

The tune, sometimes called WHITER THAN SNOW, was composed in 1872 for these words by William Gustavus Fischer (1835-1912; see SDAH 307). He also composed the unnamed tunes for SDAH 307 to the words “I Am Coming to the Cross,” and SDAH 457 to the words “I Loved to Tell the Story.”