The first appearance of the spiritual in something close to its current form is uncertain. A version of the refrain can be found in Washington Glass's 1854 hymn "The Sinner's Cure," (see link below) where it is in 7s.6s.7s.6s rather than the Common Meter of today's refrain. Glass attributed this hymn to himself, but like several of the hymns so attributed, it is substantially the work of another. He attached to one of John Newton's Olney hymns [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/newton/olneyhymns.h1_62.html] of 1779 this refrain: