My brethren, why these anxious fears,

My brethren, why these anxious fears,
These warm pursuits and eager cares
For earth and all its gilded toys?
If the whole world you could possess,
It might enchant; it could not bless;
False hopes, vain pleasures, and light joys.

Remember, brethren, whose you are;
Whose cause you own, whose name you bear;
Is it not his who could not call
His own (though he had all things made)
A place whereon to lay his head -
A servant, though the Lord of all?

If wealth or honour, power or fame,
Can bring you nearer to the Lamb,
Then follow these with all your might;
But if they only make you stray,
And draw your hearts from him away,
Reflect in what you thus delight.

Jesus has said (who surely knew
Much better what we ought to do
Than we can e'er pretend to see),
"No thought e'en for the morrow take;"
And "He that will not for my sake
Relinquish all, 's unworthy me."

Let no vain words your souls deceive,
Nor Satan tempt you to believe
The world and God can hold their parts;
True Christians long for Christ alone.
The sacrifices God will own,
Are broken, not divided, hearts.

Great things we are not here to crave;
But if we food and raiment have,
Should learn to be therewith content.
Into the world we nothing brought,
Nor can we from it carry aught;
Then walk the way your Master went.