Religion

Matthew 7:5: If wilful sin hath blinded me

by Charles Wesley 1707–1788

From Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures (1762) · Osborn ed., vol. 10 (1871)

Religion

If wilful sin hath blinded me,
My brother's faults I cannot see,
But if I have cast out the beam,
I may discern the mote in him,
And kindly help him to remove
The smaller hindrances of love.

Sin cannot duty supersede,
Nor am I from reproving freed:
A sinner, still I must reprove
Sinners in lowhness of love.
But ask, when ready to condemn
The mote, have I cast out the beam?

Assist me. Lord, to lay aside
The zeal of novices untried,
The unreform'd reformer's haste
Too fierce, too violent to last.
And let me with myself begin
By now renouncing my own sin.

My bosom sin I would not hide
With fig-leaves of delusive pride,
With envious, quick, discerning eye
My neighbour's faults I would not spy;
My gentleness on them be shown,
My harshness on myself alone.

O may I strive and not in vain,
Personal holiness to' attain,
First judge myself with shame and grief
The least of saints, of sinners chief,
And then another's faults reprove
With candour, equity, and love.

MLA

Wesley, Charles. “Matthew 7:5: If wilful sin hath blinded me.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/wesley_c/4036/.

Chicago

Wesley, Charles. “Matthew 7:5: If wilful sin hath blinded me.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/wesley_c/4036/.

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