What, never speak one evil word,
Or rash, or idle, or unkind!
O, how shall I, most gracious Lord,
This mark of true perfection find?
Thy sinless mind in me reveal,
Thy Spirit’s plenitude impart,
And all my language pure shall tell
Th’ abundance of a loving heart.
What, never speak one evil word
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.”—[James] iii. 2. Introduced in Charles Wesley, Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 2 (Bristol: Farley, 1762). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 13 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1872), page 173.
Publishing: Public Domain