Thy people can a prophet know
Who lives a prophet’s life below,
Who witnesses the truths of God,
And seals his mission with his blood:
But proof the learned cannot find,
Thro’ envious prepossession blind;
Nor should a saint the praise receive
Which Pharisees are forc’d to give.
The people can a prophet know
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘They be persuaded that John was a prophet.'—[Luke 20,] v. 6.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Luke.” 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 1977/575, 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. 11 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 269.
Publishing: Public Domain