Ye high in gifts, who lift your head,
As trees their leafy honours spread,
Ye barren souls who flourish fair,
And words in large abundance bear,
If still ye want the humble root,
If still ye bear no gracious fruit,
The righteous axe ye soon shall feel,
Cut down to feed the flames of hell.
Ye high in gifts, who lift your head
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire.’—[Matt. 3,] v. 10.” 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 146.
Publishing: Public Domain