The man that hath, that still retains

Verse 1
The man that hath, that still retains,
Improving his inferior light,
A clearer light and knowledge gains,
To deal the word of truth aright;
If powerful in the scriptures now,
And rich in talents, he submit
With meek docility to bow,
And listen at a layman’s feet.

Verse 2
The meanest saint who Jesus knows
Can shew a learn’d Apollos more,
The joy that from believing flows,
The life, and purity, and power;
A woman by her Saviour taught
A teacher of good things may prove,
And lead the man with wisdom fraught
Into the way of perfect love.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.’—[Acts 18,] v. 26." 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 The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 12 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 354.
Publishing: Public Domain