Scripture Verse

Thou hast the words of eternal life. John 6:68

Introduction

portrait
Frederick Whitfield (1829–1904)

Words: Fred­er­ick Whit­field, 1855.

Music: Sa­voy Cha­pel John B. Cal­kin, 1870 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Cal­kin (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
John B. Calkin (1827–1905)

Lyrics

I need Thee, pre­cious Je­sus,
For I am full of sin;
My soul is dark and guil­ty,
My heart is dead with­in.
I need the cleans­ing foun­tain
Where I can always flee,
The blood of Christ most pre­cious,
The sin­ner’s per­fect plea.

I need Thee, pre­cious Je­sus,
For I am ve­ry poor;
A stran­ger and a pil­grim,
I have no earth­ly store.
I need the love of Je­sus
To cheer me on my way,
To guide my doubt­ing foot­steps,
To be my strength and stay.

I need Thee, pre­cious Je­sus,
I need a friend like Thee,
A friend to soothe and pi­ty,
A friend to care for me.
I need the heart of Je­sus
To feel each anx­ious care,
To tell my ev­ery trou­ble,
And all my sor­rows share.

I need Thee, pre­cious Je­sus,
I need Thee, day by day,
To fill me with Thy full­ness,
To lead me on my way;
I need Thy Ho­ly Spi­rit,
To teach me what I am,
To show me more of Je­sus,
To point me to the Lamb.

I need Thee, pre­cious Je­sus,
And hope to see Thee soon,
Encircled with the rain­bow
And seat­ed on Thy throne.
There, with Thy blood bought child­ren,
My joy shall ev­er be,
To sing Thy prais­es, Je­sus,
To gaze, O Lord, on Thee.