Professors good in their own eyes

Verse 1
Professors good in their own eyes,
In their own vain opinion just,
Who dare the worst of men despise,
And in their own perfections trust,
They, dead in sin, themselves deceive,
And only have a name to live.

Verse 2
Themselves they never yet have known
Themselves who proudly justify,
On publicans with scorn look down,
Originally titled: “‘Stand by thyself” to sinners cry,
And glory in their sordid dress,
The clouts of their own righteousness.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘He spake this parable unto certain, which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.’—[Luke 18,] v. 9.” 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 S.T. Kimbrough Jr. and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1990), page 168.
Publishing: Public Domain