One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.
Psalm 27:4
Words: Elizabeth H. Reed, in The Hymn Book, 1842.
Music: Weber, in Harmonia Sacra, 12th edition, 1867 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good picture of Reed (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
O that I could for ever dwell,
Delighted, at the Savior’s feet,
Behold the form I love so well,
And all His tender words repeat.
The world shut out from all my soul,
And Heav’n brought in with all its bliss—
O is there aught from pole to pole,
One moment to compare to this!
This is the hidden life I prize—
A life of penitential love;
When most my follies I despise,
And raise my highest thoughts above.
Thus would I live till nature fail,
And all my former sins forsake;
Then rise to God within the veil,
And of eternal joys partake.