1. Ye simple souls who stray
Far from the path of peace,
That lonely, unfrequented way
To life and happiness,
Why will ye folly love
And throng the downward road,
And hate the wisdom from above,
And mock the sons of God?
2. Madness and misery
Ye count our life beneath,
And nothing great or good can see
Or glorious in our death;
As only born to grieve,
Beneath your feet we lie,
And utterly contemned we live
And unlamented die.
3. So wretched and obscure,
The man whom ye despise,
So foolish, impotent, and poor,
Above your scorn we rise.
We through the Holy Ghost
Can witness better things,
For he, whose blood is all our boast,
Has made us priests and kings.
4. Riches unsearchable
In Jesus’ love we know,
And pleasures springing from the well
Of life our souls o’erflow.
The Spirit we receive
Of wisdom, grace, and power:
And though ’mid scenes of woe we live,
Rejoicing evermore.
5. Angels our servants are
And keep in all our ways;
And in their watchful hands they bear
The sacred sons of grace;
Unto that heavenly bliss
They all our steps attend,
And God himself our Father is,
And Jesus is our Friend.
6. With him we walk in white;
We in his image shine;
Our robes are robes of glorious light,
Our righteousness divine.
On all the kings of earth
With pity we look down;
And claim, in virtue of our birth,
A never-fading crown.