What is the thing of great­est price,
The whole cre­ation round?
That which was lost in pa­ra­dise,
That which in Christ is found:

The soul of man, Je­ho­vah’s breath!
That keeps two worlds at strife:
Hell moves be­neath to work its death,
Heav’n stoops to give it life.

God, to re­claim it, did not spare
His well-be­lov­èd Son;
Jesus, to save it, deigned to bear
The sins of all in One.

The Ho­ly Spir­it sealed the plan,
And pledged the blood di­vine,
To ran­som ev­ery soul of man;
That price was paid for mine.

And is this trea­sure borne be­low,
In earth­en ves­sels frail?
Can none its ut­most val­ue know,
Till flesh and spir­it fail?

Then let us ga­ther round the cross,
That know­ledge to ob­tain;
Not by the soul’s eter­nal loss;
But ev­er­last­ing gain.