Whate’er to magistrates belong,
Who bear the sword, and not in vain,
I dare not render wrong for wrong,
Or grief for grief, or pain for pain:
The spirit of fierce vindictive Jews
I hate, when Jesus’ mind I know,
And goods, and life itself would lose,
Rather than hurt my deadliest foe.
Whate’er to magistrates belong
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Resist not evil.’—Matt. 5, v. 39.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Matthew.” This manuscript is part of the collection of the Methodist Archive and Research Centre in The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester (accession number MA 1977/577, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 3). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 10 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 170.
Publishing: Public Domain