The gift which our own flesh we owe
If on the temple we bestow,
Tho’ meant an offering to the skies,
Tis sacrilege, not sacrifice:
What thro’ the hands of parents poor
We gladly should to God restore,
If to the church or priest we give,
God never will thro’ them receive.
The gift which our own flesh we owe
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Ye suffer him no more to do anything for his father or his mother &c.’—[Mark 7,] v. 12.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Mark.” 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 1977/574, 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 5.
Publishing: Public Domain