Among the most corrupt of men

Verse 1
Among the most corrupt of men
Is oft reserv’d, for ends unseen,
One prudent man and good,
Design’d to stand in truth’s defence,
Appear for injur’d innocence,
And stem the rising flood.

Verse 2
Ev’n now th’ omniscient God perceives,
But hid and unsuspected leaves
His instrument unknown,
In senate, court, or sanhedrim,
The man whom still the world esteem,
And count him all their own.

Verse 3
Rais’d up by an Almighty Hand,
He shortly in the gap shall stand,
The violent to repress,
With heavenly Wisdom on his side
Shall singly turn th’ outragious tide,
And save the witnesses.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of law, had in reputation among all the people.’—[Acts 5,] v. 34.” 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 and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1990), page 303.
Publishing: Public Domain