Praise to the Holiest in the height
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee; Let the water and the blood, From Thy riven side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure, Save me from its guilt and power.
1 Praise to the Holiest in the height,
and in the depth be praise:
in all his words most wonderful,
most sure in all his ways.
2 O loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
a second Adam to the fight
and to the rescue came.
3 O wisest love! that flesh and blood,
which did in Adam fail,
should strive afresh against the foe,
should strive and should prevail;
4 And that a higher gift than grace
should flesh and blood refine,
God’s presence and his very self,
and essence all-divine.
5 O generous love! that he, who smote
in Man for man the foe,
the double agony in Man
for man should undergo;
6 And in the garden secretly,
and on the cross on high,
should teach his brethren, and inspire
to suffer and to die.
7 Praise to the Holiest in the height,
and in the depth be praise:
in all his words most wonderful,
most sure in all his ways.
