Anxious Thy followers’ lives alone

Verse 1
Anxious thy followers’ lives alone
To save, forgetful of thine own,
Thou dost by thy command
Strike down whoe’er their God oppose,
Or secretly restrain thy foes,
And rule the ruffian band.

Verse 2
Thy servants, Lord, they must dismiss,
They cannot thine Apostles seize
Prohibited by Thee,
Who freely dost thy life resign
A bleeding sacrifice divine
For all mankind, and me.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way.’—[John 18,] v. 8." This hymn appears in the 1763-64 manuscript “MS John.” 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 1977/573, 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. 12 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 67.
Publishing: Public Domain