Evil I then must be
Who bring forth evil fruit:
Corrupt the fruit, corrupt the tree,
And most corrupt the root:
Whatever gift or grace
Thou hast on me bestow’d,
Lord, I with all my soul confess
That yet I am not good.
Evil, I then must be
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.”—[Matt.] vii. 18. 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. 10 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 203.
Publishing: Public Domain