1 What is the thing of greatest price,
The whole creation round?--
That which was lost in Paradise,
That which in Christ is found.
2 The soul of man--Jehovah's breath--
That keeps two worlds at strife;
Hell moves beneath to work its death,
Heaven stoops to give it life.
3 And is this treasure borne below,
In earthen vessels frail?
Can non its utmost value know,
'Till flesh and spirit fail?
4 Then let us gather round the cross,
That knowledge to obtain;
Not by the soul's eternal loss,
But everlasting gain.
Source: The Voice of Praise: a collection of hymns for the use of the Methodist Church #374
First Line: | What is the thing of greatest price |
Author: | James Montgomery |
Meter: | 8.6.8.6 |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
What is the thing of highest [greatest] price? J. Montgomery. [The Soul.] Published in his Christian Psalmist, 1825, No. 504, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines; and again in his Original Hymns, 1853. It is found' in a few modern books in Great Britain and America.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)