Verse 1
Why should our parents call us good,
And poison us with praise,
When born in sin by nature proud,
And void we are of grace?
Verse 2
Who fancy righteousness in man,
Themselves they have not known,
Evil are all our thoughts and vain,
And God is good alone.
Verse 3
Good of himself he only is;
And if he makes us good,
Our goodness is not ours, but his,
For Jesu’s sake bestow’d.
Verse 4
O let us not ourselves forget,
Tho’ man presume to praise,
And puff us up with the conceit
Of our own righteousness.
Verse 5
O let us as from serpents fly
From all who us commend,
Or fill’d with just abhorrence cry,
“Get thee behind me, fiend!”
Verse 6
Glory to God, if we receive
The smallest spark of grace,
He only doth our goodness give,
And his be all the praise.