The’ appointed teachers now

Verse 1
Th’ appointed teachers now
The chair of Moses fill:
To them by thy command I bow,
Respect, and hear them still:
I hear them read, or preach,
With reverential awe,
And gladly do whate’er they teach
Out of thy sacred law.

Verse 2
But me thy word forbids
Implicitly t’ obey,
Or do according to their deeds,
When from thy paths they stray:
When Thee their lives despise,
Or contradict thy word,
I stop my ears, and shut my eyes,
And only mind my Lord.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying, The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses chair. All therefore &c.’—[Matt. 23,] v. 1, 2, 3.” 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 358.
Publishing: Public Domain