The poetical works of John and Charles Wesley

But O, take heed, ye souls unskill'd
What fabric on this ground ye raise;
Gold, silver, pearls, on Jesus build,
Your solid, vital happiness,—
Doctrines which may the test endure,
Actions, and words, and tempers pure.

Taught by the oracles of God,
The permanent materials choose,
Doctrines which have for ages stood;
But every novel scheme refuse:
Nor on that one Foundation lay
The wood, the stubble, or the hay.

Wood, stubble, hay,—of creeds untrue,
Traditions, miracles unknown,
Worship Divine to saints undue,—
The various ways for sin to' atone,
The flames that venial sins consume,
And all the boasts of modern Rome.

Wood, stubble, hay,—of lifeless forms,
Of canons, rites, inventions vain,
Of precepts taught by erring worms,
Of laws which God did ne'er ordain,
Of fancy's dreams, and wild excess,
And instantaneous perfectness.

University of Virginia Library

3080.

[But O, take heed, ye souls unskill'd]