1 As you strive for the world, for its fame and its joy,
Have you carefully counted the cost?
Is the prize rich enough all your strength to employ,
When to win it the soul must be lost?
Refrain:
Are you carefully counting the cost?
Have you thought what it means to be lost?
For the joys that decline, do you Heaven resign?
Are you counting the terrible cost?
2 In the craving for wealth, for its glittering show,
Into grief and despair you are cast;
And you know not the peace Heav’n alone can bestow,
While your soul will be lost at the last. [Refrain]
3 Leave the riches of earth; seek the treasures above,
And thro’ years that unceasingly roll,
Heav’nly pow’rs shall be yours with the fullness of love,
And the life, endless life of the soul. [Refrain]