This traditional Protestant hymn is in the public domain. Sorry, but it needs to be in the key of F to make the melody come out right on the guitar. You can transpose it to another key, if a vocalist or another instrument is going to carry the melody. A violin works very well for this.
The song itself is rather simple, except for the fact that you need to play the full barre F and the full barre Bb. You could play a regular F, but there's just no way to play Bb without barring. For this reason, and because it contains slides and pull-offs, I classify it as "Intermediate", though it's simpler than a lot of beginner songs in other ways.
Played very slowly, with lots of feeling, it's a lovely song, and I especially like the lyrics. For a truly moving version by vocalist Brian Doerksen, over a guitar/organ duet, accmpanying an Easter video, click HERE.
There are at least two versions of how the lyrics came to be written. Both agree they were written by Charlotte Elliott in 1835. One version has her writing the song immediately after a conversion experience, the other as a sort of journal entry recording her thoughts in a time of trouble.
Billy Graham claimed he was converted to Christ after hearing this song. He used it so extensively in his campaigns that many Christians think he wrote it! Many other evangelical ministries of various Protestant churches have also found it apt. I associate it with the Baptists, because I first encountered it in an independent Baptist church.
