Verse 1
A loose morality proceeds
Unseen from the corrupted heart,
Insensibly, as leaven spreads,
By slow degrees, thro’ every part,
Till the whole church deprav’d we see
With pride, or infidelity.

Verse 2
Still the two clashing sects appear,
Who Jesus and his truths oppose.
The formal Pharisees severe,
Humility’s eternal foes,
Exact in every outward rite;
The tombs are beautifully white.

Verse 3
With specious shows, and state, and ease
They court, and keep the croud in awe,
But hate the power of godliness,
The Christian life, the Spirit’s law,
The faith, the wisdom from above,
The pure morality of love.

Verse 4
Behold the adverse Sect arise,
The careless Sadducees profane!
Religions all alike they prize,
Content the things of earth to gain;
No pleasures they, but bestial, know,
And seek their only heaven below.

Verse 5
United in a common cause
Prelates and infidels admire!
But while to fight against the cross,
All in the holy league conspire,
Atheists and formalists proclaim
The world in every age the same.