Praying for Perfection

What! never speak one evil word?

Author: Charles Wesley
Published in 41 hymnals

Representative Text

1 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?

2 Thy sinless mind in me reveal;
Thy Spirit's plenitude impart;
And all my spotless life shall tell
That thou hast purified my heart.

Source: The Seventh-Day Adventist Hymn and Tune Book: for use in divine worship #630

Author: Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley, M.A. was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family, perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn-writer of all ages. Charles Wesley was the youngest son and 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, and was born at Epworth Rectory, Dec. 18, 1707. In 1716 he went to Westminster School, being provided with a home and board by his elder brother Samuel, then usher at the school, until 1721, when he was elected King's Scholar, and as such received his board and education free. In 1726 Charles Wesley was elected to a Westminster studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1729, and became a college tutor. In the early part of the same year his religious impressions were much deepene… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: What! never speak one evil word?
Title: Praying for Perfection
Author: Charles Wesley
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

What! never speak one evil word? C. Wesley. [Holiness desired.] This cento is thus composed: stanzas i., ii. are from Wesley's Short Hymns, 1762, vol. ii., No. 753, on James iii. 2; and stanzas iii., iv. from the same, vol. i., No. 854, on Psalms ciii. 3. In this form it appeared in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, No. 353, and has been repeated in several collections. Original texts in Poetical Works, 1868-72, vols. xiii. and ix.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 41 of 41)

A Collection of Hymns Adapted to the Use of the Methodist Episcopal Church #d617

A Collection of Hymns for Public, Social and Domestic Worship #d924

A Collection of Hymns for Public, Social and Domestic Worship #d931

A Collection of Hymns for Public, Social, and Domestic Worship #d931

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A Collection of Hymns for Public, Social, and Domestic Worship #543

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A Collection of Hymns for the use of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in America #505

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A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the Methodist Episcopal Church #338

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A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the Methodist Episcopal Church #338

A Collection of Hymns for the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Rev. with a Supplement #d647

A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the United Brethren in Christ #d359

A Collection of Hymns for the use of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America #d571

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A Collection of Hymns, for the Use of the People Called Methodists, with a Supplement #363

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A Collection of Hymns, for the use of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America. #373

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A Collection of Hymns #338

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A Collection of Hymns #361

A New Book of Hymns for the Use of the Methodist Episcopal and Other Churches #d261

A Selection of Hymns ... Supplement to the Methodist Pocket Hymn Book. 1st ed #d301

Hymn Book of the Holiness Movement Church #d546

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Hymnal of the Methodist Episcopal Church #532

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Hymnal of the Methodist Episcopal Church #532

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Hymns and Tunes #370

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Hymns for the Use of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Rev. ed. #505

Hymns for Use in Divine Worship ... Seventh-Day Adventists #d1252

Methodist Hymn and Tune Book #d846

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Methodist Hymn-Book #530

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New Hymn and Tune book #173e

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New Hymn and Tune Book #173e

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Songs for All #102c

The American Hymn and Tune Book #d859

The Chapel Hymn Book #d382

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The Clifton Chapel Collection of "Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs" #664

The Happy Singer #d150

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The Heart and Voice #69c

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The Hymn Book of the African Methodist Episcopal Church #599

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The Hymn Book of the Free Methodist Church #426

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The Reformed Methodist Pocket Hymnal #I.145

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The Seventh-Day Adventist Hymn and Tune Book #630

The Union Harp and Revival Chorister. Rev ed. #d452

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