The modern Pharisee is bold
In boasting to surpass the old:
Triumphant in himself, he stands
Conspicuous with extended hands,
With hideous screams and outcries loud
Proclaims his goodness to the croud,
Glories in his own perfect grace,
And blasphemies presents for praise!
“Again I thank thee, and again,
“That I am not as other men,
“But holy as thyself, and pure,
“And must, O God, like thee indure:
“Thyself I now to witness call,
“That I am good, and cannot fall,
“Thee to exalt, repeat the word,
“And thus I glory—in the Lord![”]
The modern Pharisee is bold
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are &c.'—Luke 18, v. 11, 12.” 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 and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1990), page 169.
Publishing: Public Domain