The heart of man, the ground accurst
No difference knows of best or worst,
O’rerun with nature’s thorns and briers,
Fit fewel of infernal fires:
His only grace can make it good,
Who dearly bought it with his blood:
And if my heart be fertile ground,
The fruit to Jesus’ praise is found.
The heart of man, the ground accursed
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit.’—[Matt. 13,] v. 8.” 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 267.
Publishing: Public Domain