The power he had from God receiv’d
He impiously employ’d
Against that God whose Spirit he griev’d,
Whose servants he destroy’d;
Stretch’d out his cruel hands, to tear
And slay them with the sword,
Nor fear’d the vengeful wrath to dare
Of their Almighty Lord.
The power he had from God received
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Now about that time, Herod the king stretched out his hands to vex certain of the church.’—[Acts 12,] v. 1.” This hymn appears in the 1764 manuscript “MS Acts.” 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 1977/555, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 1). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in S.T. Kimbrough Jr. and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1990), page 347.
Publishing: Public Domain