One thing’s need­ful; Lord this trea­sure
Teach me high­ly to re­gard;
All else, though it first give plea­sure,
Is a yoke that press­es hard.
Beneath it the heart is still fret­ting and striv­ing,
No true, last­ing hap­pi­ness ev­er de­riv­ing.
The gain of this one thing all loss can re­quite
And teach me in all things to find true de­light.

Wilt thou find this one thing need­ful,
Turn from all cre­at­ed things
Unto Je­sus and be heed­ful
Of the bless­èd joy He brings.
For where God and man both in one are unit­ed,
With God’s per­fect full­ness the heart is de­light­ed;
There, there is the wor­thi­est lot and the best,
My one and my all and my joy and my rest.

How were Ma­ry’s thoughts de­vot­ed,
Her eter­nal joy to find
As in­tent each word she not­ed,
At her Sav­ior’s feet re­clined!
How kin­dled her heart, how de­vout was its feel­ing,
While hear­ing the les­sons that Christ was re­veal­ing!
For Je­sus all earth­ly con­cerns she for­got,
And all was repaid in that one hap­py lot.

Thus my long­ings, heav’n­ward tend­ing,
Jesus, rest alone on Thee.
Help me, thus on Thee de­pend­ing;
Savior, come and dwell in me.
Although all the world
Should for­sake and for­get Thee,
In love I will fol­low Thee, ne’er will I quit Thee.
Lord Je­sus, both spir­it and life is Thy Word;
And is there a joy which Thou dost not af­ford?

Wisdom’s high­est, nob­lest trea­sure,
Jesus, lies con­cealed in Thee;
Grant that this may still the mea­sure
Of my will and act­ions be,
Humility there and sim­pli­ci­ty reign­ing,
In paths of true wis­dom my steps ev­er train­ing.
Oh, if I of Christ have this know­ledge di­vine,
The full­ness of heav­en­ly wis­dom is mine.

Naught have I, O Christ, to of­fer
Naught but Thee, my high­est Good.
Naught have I, O Lord, to prof­fer
But Thy crim­son-col­ored blood.
Thy death on the cross hath death whol­ly de­feat­ed
And there­by my right­eous­ness ful­ly com­plet­ed;
Salvation’s white rai­ments I there did ob­tain,
And in them in glo­ry with Thee I shall reign.

Therefore Thou alone, my Sav­ior,
Shalt be all in all to me;
Search my heart and my be­hav­ior,
Root out all hy­po­cri­sy.
Restrain me from wan­der­ing on path­ways un­ho­ly
And through all life’s pil­grim­age
Keep my heart low­ly.
This one thing is need­ful, all oth­ers are vain;
I count all but loss that I Christ may ob­tain.