Thou man of an unbridled tongue

Verse 1
Thou man of an unbridled tongue,
Who dar’st assume the Christian name,
With slanders foul thy brother wrong,
Or needlesly his faults proclaim,
Thou dost thy wretched soul deceive,
And like thy fellow-fiends believe?

Verse 2
Does it extenuate thine offence,
To love, and still believe a lie,
Without remorse, or shame, or sense,
Thy own good deeds to testify,
Thee from thyself with softest art
To hide, and always err in heart?

Verse 3
Repent of thy religion vain,
Whereof thou loudly mak’st thy boast,
Or sentenc’d to eternal pain,
And into outward darkness thrust,
Thou shalt with the accuser dwell,
And find thy faith’s reward in hell.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “If any man seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.”—[James] i. 26. Introduced in Charles Wesley, Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 2 (Bristol: Farley, 1762). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 13 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1872), page 166.
Publishing: Public Domain