Charlotte Elliott's great hymn of surrender and dedication, Just As I Am, is widely known and loved, and rightly so. There is another hymn on the same theme and with the same opening words, whose author Marianne Hearn was born 17 December 1834 and whose anniversary is tomorrow.



Just as I am, Thine own to be.



Just as I am, Thine own to be,

Friend of the young, Who lovest me,

To consecrate myself to Thee,

O Jesus Christ, I come.



In the glad morning of my day,

My life to give, my vows to pay,

With no reserve and no delay,

With all my heart I come.



I would live ever in the light,

I would work ever for the right;

I would serve Thee with all my might;

Therefore, to Thee I come.



Just as I am, young, strong, and free,

To be the best that I can be

For truth, and righteousness, and Thee,

Lord of my life, I come.



With many dreams of fame and gold,

Success and joy to make me bold,

But dearer still my faith to hold,

For my whole life, I come.



And for Thy sake to win renown,

And then to take the victor’s crown,

And at Thy feet to cast it down,

O Master, Lord, I come.



And on 17 December two years after her birth, John Rippon (1751-1836), pastor of the Carter’s Lane Baptist Church in Lon­don for more than sixty years and the foremost authority on the hymns of Isaac Watts, died full of years and was laid to rest near the graves of Watts and of John Bunyan. Rippon's own great hymn speaks in power and assurance to those like Charlotte Elliott, like Marianne Hearn, like us, "who unto Jesus for refuge have fled." The hymn was sung at the funerals of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Robert E. Lee.



How Firm A Foundation



How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!

What more can He say than to you He hath said,

You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?



In every condition, in sickness, in health;

In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;

At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,

As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.



Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;

I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand

Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.



When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;

For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.



When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,

My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design

Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.



Even down to old age all My people shall prove

My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;

And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,

Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.



The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,

I will not, I will not desert to its foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.