Verse 1
Ye sacrilegious race,
Your genuine father own,
Who boldly hope to purchase grace
By what yourselves have done:
Your righteous rags unclean
Who would for pardon sell,
Your works and you are nought but sin,
And fit for nought but hell.
Verse 2
Repent, and cast aside
Your fancied righteousness,
Your goodness sin, your virtue pride,
Your faith a lie, confess:
Ev’n you may then believe,
The Lord doth justify,
And freely that to sinners give
Which they can never buy.
Verse 3
Jesus exalted is,
Salvation to bestow,
His rest, his Spirit, and his peace
Which all believers know:
And every soul of man
May our Redeemer love,
A pardon without price obtain,[1]
And then a crown above.
[1] Wesley included a possible alternate wording in the manuscript: “without money gain.”