Teachers and priests perversely blind,
Ambitious, covetous, and proud,
Matter of sore displeasure find
In all the wondrous works of God:
They rage to see his kingdom near,
While newborn babes their voices raise,
With Jesus’ name torment their ear,
And fill the church with hymns of praise.
Teachers and priests perversely blind
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘The chief priests and scribes were displeased.’—[Matt. 21,] v. 15.” 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 341.
Publishing: Public Domain