Every gospel-scribe should be

Verse 1
Every gospel-scribe should be
With sacred knowledge stor’d,
Witnessing the mystery,
The power of Jesus’ word,
Well-instructed from above
The salutiferous grace t’ impart,
Taught of God to teach his love,
His kingdom in the heart.

Verse 2
If in him it richly dwells,
He doth the word dispense,
Speaks as God’s own oracles,
And draws his treasures thence,
Old and new he doth produce,
The talents, gifts, on him bestow’d
Spends them for the Master’s use,
And for the church of God.

Verse 3
Furnish’d thus, O Lord, by Thee,
I would employ thy grace,
Serve thy sacred family,
And feed the faithful race,
Make thy great salvation known,
Conduct them to a perfect man,
Nourish’d by thy word alone,
Till meet with Thee to reign.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is an housholder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.’—[Matt. 13,] v. 52.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Matthew.” 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 1977/577, 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. 10 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 277.
Publishing: Public Domain