I particularly love “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” Written by Issac Watts in 1707. Apparently Charles Wesley said that he would give up all the other songs he wrote to have written that one. Watts wrote over 750 hymns in his lifetime and was a bit of an innovator. He was getting tired of writing just the prescribed Old Testament material and broke out of the mold with hymns like When I Survey… The language is beautiful and the words could carry one for a lifetime.
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.