I need Thee, precious Jesus

I need Thee, precious Jesus. Frederick Whitfield* (1829-1904). Published in Whitfield’s Sacred Poems and Prose (Dublin, 1859), where it was entitled ‘The Need of Jesus’. It was prefaced with ‘“Unto you who believe He is precious.” 1. Pet. ii. 7’. It may have been one of those hymns that were mentioned in the Preface as having appeared earlier. It had six 8-line stanzaas, each beginning ‘I need Thee, precious Jesus’, and continuing with (1) ‘For I am full of sin’, (2) ‘For I am very poor’, (3) ‘I need a friend like Thee’, (4) ‘For I am very blind’, (5) ‘I need Thee day by day’, (6) ‘And hope to see Thee soon’. The last stanza was a spectacular piece of extravagant baroque, harnessed to...