The poetical works of John and Charles Wesley

A judge so late, he quits his place,
(Oh how contemptible and base,
When malice stoops so low!)
See the high priest informer turns,
So fierce his righteous fury burns
Against the church's foe.

408

In ours, in every age are seen
Elders and venerable men
Who sacred things abuse,
Men with infernal malice fraught,
Men in the school of Satan taught
The brethren to accuse.

Swift are the steps of angry zeal,
When bigots set on fire of hell
Their utmost powers employ,
To' excite the world against the just,
Hunt down the men who Jesus trust,
And innocents destroy.

2927.

[The counsel learnèd in the laws]

And when he was called forth, Tertullus, &c. —xxiv. 2.

The counsel learnèd in the laws,
Skilful to flatter and defame,
Opens the prosecutors' cause,
Lost to all sense of truth and shame,
Smoothly employs his venal tongue,
Proves wrong is right, and right is wrong.

The judge corrupt and most unjust,
The' oppressor covetous and base,
The slave of every sordid lust,
His worth he blushes not to praise,
But cringing courts a tyrant's smiles,
Loaded with the whole nation's spoils.

How can the governor withstand,
When such a powerful speaker pleads?
He must allow the priests' demand,
And add to all his worthy deeds
The proof supreme, the crown of all,
By sentencing the vagrant Paul.

409

2928.

[Silence! Tertullus speaks!]

We have found this man a pestilent fellow, &c. —xxiv. 5.

Silence! Tertullus speaks!
“We have this fellow found,
This vagabond who outcasts seeks,
And strolls the nation round:
To spread his poisonous lies
The' itinerant presumes,
And riotous assemblies rise,
And mobs where'er he comes.

A universal pest
He plagues both rich and poor,
And will not let one sinner rest
In Satan's arms secure:
He doth the crowd infect,
Into his net he draws
And multiplies the Christian sect,
And glories in the cross.”

2929.

[According to your law indeed]

Whom we took, and would have judged, &c. —xxiv. 6.

According to your law indeed
Ye with the messengers proceed
Who Jesus testify:
Your justice ye by facts declare,
The men ye first in pieces tear,
And then proceed to try.

2930.

[The men who public peace maintain]

The chief captain Lysias came upon us, &c. —xxiv. 7.

The men who public peace maintain,
And wisely resolute restrain
The rabble's furious will,
Should violent to the violent seem,
And still persist to wrest from them
The power of doing ill.

410

2931.

[No ornaments in its defence]

Forasmuch as I know that thou hast, &c. —xxiv. 10, 11.

No ornaments in its defence
The cause of pure religion needs;
Simplicity, their eloquence,
And truth itself for Christians pleads.

2932.

[Who after Paul and Jesus tread]

I went up to Jerusalem for to worship, &c. —xxiv. 11, 12.

Who after Paul and Jesus tread,
We duly to the temple go,
Thither by His own Spirit led,
We our unfeign'd devotion show;
The house we honour, not profane,
Our solemn prayers and vows repeat,
Communion with the saints maintain,
And then the King of saints we meet.

Our foes, the superstitious crowd,
Who to the brick and mortar cleave,
The church, the church, who roar so loud,
To us both house and altar leave:
They seldom come, or not at all,
The prayers neglect, and slight the word,
Yet us the Separatists they call,
Themselves the temple of the Lord!

2933.

[So worship I my fathers' God]

After the way which they call heresy, so, &c. —xxiv. 14.

So worship I my fathers' God,
Who bought us with His precious blood,
Who died for all, in all to live:
His presence in my heart I feel
In holy joy unspeakable,
Joy, which the world can never give.

Fill'd with His purity and power,
In truth and spirit I adore,
A way by formalists unknown,

411

A way which Rome can never see,
But calls it Northern heresy,
A way to heaven through Christ alone.

2934.

[The written word, entire and pure]

Believing all things which are written, &c. —xxiv. 14.

The written word, entire and pure,
The word which always shall endure,
My rule of faith and life I own;
Not reason or tradition vain,
Not the authority of man,
Not an internal light alone.

Built, through the sacred oracles,
On Christ, the Rock that never fails,
Religion from the fountain brought
I find it in the heavenly book,
What Moses and the prophets spoke,
What Christ and His apostles taught.

2935.

[God is my hope and portion here]

And have hope toward God, which they, &c. —xxiv. 15, 16.

God is my hope and portion here,
And till I at His bar appear
Body and soul with Him I trust:
My enemies themselves confess
That Jesus shall our bodies raise,
Judge of the wicked and the just.

My hope by purity I show,
By labouring all my time below
A spotless conscience to maintain,
With that immortal prize in view,
Careful to render all their due,
Unblamable toward God and man.

412

2936.

[My hope is fix'd on things above]

I came to bring alms to my nation, &c. —xxiv. 17.

My hope is fix'd on things above,
My faith exerts itself by love,
By yearning pity for the poor;
Christ in His members to relieve,
Cheerful my little all I give,
I render them my all and more:

Their advocate with others I,
A beggar turn for their supply,
Their every want my own I make,
Honour as God's peculiar seed,
And only live to serve and feed
My bosom-friends for Jesus' sake.

2937.

[How does he break the law of God]

Certain Jews from Asia found me purified, &c. —xxiv. 18.

How does he break the law of God,
Or stain the house of holiness,
In keeping of that law employ'd,
And reverencing that sacred place?
These are the facts on which they found
Their charge of gross impiety;
For when pure malice is the ground,
Falsehood the only proof can be.

2938.

[The witnesses who cried so loud]

Who ought to have been here before thee, and, &c. —xxiv. 19.

The witnesses who cried so loud,
Demanding succour of the crowd,
All parties if the judge will hear,
They think it time to disappear:
Fierce zealots thus in every age
Against the real Christian rage,
But shrink, abscond, and stand aloof,
When magistrates require the proof.

413

2939.

[Not hasty, not precipitate]

Felix...deferred them, and said, When Lysias, &c. —xxiv. 22.

Not hasty, not precipitate,
To sentence, or to clear,
'Tis wisdom in a judge to wait
And all informants hear;
He then shall to the utmost know,
And Jesu's servant find
A minister of good below,
A friend of all mankind.

2940.

[No smooth-tongued orator is he]

He sent for Paul, and heard him, &c. —xxiv. 24, 25.

No smooth-tongued orator is he,
But foe to all iniquity,
The greatest dares reprove,
A preacher rational of grace,
Explains the life of righteousness,
Sobriety, and love.

He preaches Christ, and faith in Him,
Who died His people to redeem,
Who soon in judgment comes,
And those that made Him die in vain,
That dead in wilful sin remain,
To death eternal dooms.

2941.

[A magistrate corrupt and lewd]

As he reasoned of righteousness, &c. —xxvi. 25.

A magistrate corrupt and lewd,
A sinner wallowing in his blood,
He seizes by the word;
And while his conscience he awakes,
The judge before the prisoner quakes,
And feels the two-edged sword.

He feels the' anticipated fear
Of sinners when the trump they hear,
And see the Judge come down,

414

When on the melting rocks they call,
And bid the burning mountains fall
To hide them from His frown.

The Heathen dreads His righteous doom,
The Jewess slights the wrath to come,
Partaker of his sin,
She sleeps in forms insensible,
Till the wide opening mouth of hell
Vesuvius takes her in.

She was swallowed up there.

2942.

[He trembles, but he cannot stay]

Go thy way for this time; when I have a, &c. —xxiv. 25.

He trembles, but he cannot stay
And perfectly inquire the way,
To' escape the endless woe;
Convinced of his belovèd crime;
Yet for a more convenient time,
He lets the present go.

Alarm'd in vain the truth he hears,
Repentance fatally defers,
And faith in Jesus' name;
He waits as life were in his power,
Waits for a more convenient hour,
Which never, never came.

Neglecting such a time as this,
What crowds of guilty souls will miss
The true celestial way,
(Who would not, when they might repent,)
And in eternal groans lament,
Their damnable delay!

415

2943.

[Silver and gold he none possess'd]

He hoped...that money should have been, &c. —xxiv. 26.

Silver and gold he none possess'd,
Poor follower of a Master poor,
But with substantial riches bless'd,
Riches which evermore endure;
To men that sold themselves for nought,
An instrument their souls to save,
The promised liberty unbought,
Freely as he received, he gave.

2944.

[How soon a miser's fears are past]

Wherefore he sent for him the oftener, &c. —xxiv. 26.

How soon a miser's fears are past,
How transient his remorse within!
Pangs of repentance cannot last
While Felix cherishes his sin:
The love of gold and beastly vice
Destroys the work but just begun,
It stops his ears, puts out his eyes,
And turns again his heart to stone.

2945.

[In vain of temperance he heard]

Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, &c. —xxiv. 27.

In vain of temperance he heard,
And judgment for a moment fear'd,
Who held his idols in his heart,
Nor would with the adulteress part,
Nor would a suffering saint release,
But fill'd with all unrighteousness
Appeased his foes at the expense
Of injured, helpless innocence.

University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XXIV.

2926.

[A judge so late, he quits his place]