Sons of the church, yourselves who deem

Verse 1
Sons of the Church, yourselves who deem
The temple of the Lord,
Awake out of your fatal dream,
And tremble at the word;
Howe’er your privileges ye boast,
On outward helps rely,
Ye all must finally be lost
Who unconverted die.

Verse 2
Long as the things of earth ye love,
Nor will from sin depart,
Your own pretensions ye disprove,
Poor heathens still in heart;
Members of the true church in vain,
Unchang’d, and unforgiven,
Unless ye all are born again,
Ye cannot enter heaven.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.’—[Matt. 3,] v. 9.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Matthew.” 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 1977/577, 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. 10 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 145.
Publishing: Public Domain