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.