A judge so late he quits his place

Verse 1
A judge so late, he quits his place,
(O how contemptible and base,
When malice stoops so low!)
See, the high-priest informer turns,
So fierce his righteous fury burns
Against the church’s foe.

Verse 2
In ours, in every age are seen
Elders, and venerable men
Who sacred things abuse,
Men with infernal malice fraught
Men in the school of Satan taught
The brethren to accuse.

Verse 3
Swift are the steps of angry zeal,
When bigots set on fire of hell
Their utmost powers employ,
T’ excite the world against the just,
Hunt down the men who Jesus trust,
And innocents destroy.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘And after five days, Ananias the high-priest descended with the elders, and with a certain orator &c.’—[Acts 24,] 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 The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 12 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 407.
Publishing: Public Domain