Canst thou with specious words deceive

Verse 1
Canst thou with specious words deceive
The Searcher of thy reins and heart?
Fair words thou mayst to mortals give,
Persuading them how good thou art,
Mayst perfect love to Christ profess;
But God thine inmost substance sees.

Verse 2
Actions He more than words requires,
Actions with right intention done,
Good works the fruit of good desires,
Obedience to his will alone,
Pure hope which seeks the things above,
Practical faith, and real love.

Verse 3
Who Jesus for their Lord receive,
With all his dear commands comply,
To God, and not themselves, they live,
Their God in Christ they glorify;
And such their Lord shall own for his,
And crown with everlasting bliss.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doth &c.’—[Matt. 7,] v. 21.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Matthew.” This manuscript is part of the collection of the Methodist Archive and Research Centre in The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester (accession number MA 1977/577, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 3). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 10 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 204.
Publishing: Public Domain