But the men of learning proud

Verse 1
But the men of learning proud,
Proud of their own righteousness,
Scorn to follow with the croud,
Scorn their evil to confess,
Level’d in the dust to lie,
There for mercy mercy cry.

Verse 2
Never by the precept slain,
How can they the promise plead?
They the gospel-plan disdain,
No Divine Physician need,
Will not condescend to take
Life and heaven for Jesus sake.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘But the Pharisees &c.'—[Luke 7,] v. 30.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Luke.” 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 1977/575, 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. 11 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 164.
Publishing: Public Domain