I want that adorning divine,
Thou, only, my God, canst bestow;
I want in those beautiful garments to shine,
Which distinguish Thy household below.


I want every moment to feel
That Thy Spirit resides in my heart--
That His power is present to cleanse and to heal,
And newness of life to impart.


I want, oh, I want to attain
Some likeness, my Savior, to Thee:
That longed-for resemblance once more to regain,
Thy comeliness put upon me.


I want to be marked for Thine own;
Thy seal on my forehead to wear;
To receive that “new name” on the mystic white stone,
Which only Thyself canst declare.


I want so in Thee to abide,
As to bring forth some fruit to Thy praise;
The branch that Thou prunest. though feeble and dried,
May languish, but never decays.


I want Thine own hand to unbind
Each tie to terrestrial things,
Too tenderly cherished, too closely entwined,
Where my heart too tenaciously clings.


I want, by mine aspect serene,
Mine actions and words, to declare
That my treasure is placed in a country unseen,
That my heart and affections are there.


I want, as a traveler, to haste
Straight onward, nor pause on my way.
No forethought or anxious contrivance to waste
my tent, only pitched for a day.


I want (and this sums up my prayer)
To glorify Thee till I die;
Then calmly to yield up my soul to Thy care,
And breathe out in prayer my last sigh.

-- Charlotte Elliott




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"I want that adorning divine. Charlotte Elliott. [For Purity.] This poem on "The Pilgrim's Wants" appeared in the Christian Remembrancer pocket book, 1848, and as one of J. Groom's leaflets, 1848, in 9 stanzas of 4 lines. Each stanza is based upon a passage of Holy Scripture.

i. Col. iii. 12-17; ii. Rom. viii. 11, 16; iii. 1 John iii. 2, 3; iv. Rev. ii. 17; vi. John iv. 2, 5; vi. 1 John ii. 15; vii. Matt. vi. 19, 21; viii. Heb. xiii. 5, 6; ix. Philip iii. 8, 9.

It is also given in Leaves from the Christian Remembrancer, 1871, and in Leaves from Unpublished Journals, Letters and Poems of Charlotte Elliott, Lond., n.d. (cir. 1870). In Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1872, it is given in two parts, Pt. ii. being, "I want Thine own hand to unbind." [William T. Brooke]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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