The finest flow'r that e'er was known, Opened on Calv'ry's tree, When Christ the Lord was pierced and torn, For love of worthless me. Its deepest hue, its richest smell, No mortal sense can bear; Nor can the tongue of angels tell How bright its colors are. Earth could not hold so rich a flow'r, Nor half its beauties show; Nor could the world and Satan's pow'r Confine it here below. On Canaan's banks supremely fair, This flow'r of wonder blooms, Transplanted to its native air, And all the shores perfumes. But not to Canaan's shores confined, The seeds which from it blow Take root within the human mind, And scent the church below. Love is the sweetest bud that blows, Its beauty never dies; On earth among the saints it grows, And ripens in the skies.