Excused from earthly cares

Verse 1
Excus’d from earthly cares
Detatch’d from all below,
Jesus’ authentic ministers
Should only Jesus know:
Their priviledge to deal
Supersubstantial bread,
And with the meat invisible
Poor, hungry souls to feed.

Verse 2
Ye Apostolic men
Your one great business own,
The low concerns of earth disdain
And live for Christ alone;
By ministring his word
His people multiply,
And with the Spirit of your Lord
The growing church supply.

Verse 3
Your Call is To dispense
His blessings from above,
The sense of cancel’d guilt, the sense
Of holy joy and love:
Make the full proof appear
On multitudes forgiven,
Go on, to save the souls that hear,
Go on, to people heaven!

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.’—[Acts 6,] v. 2.” 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 196.
Publishing: Public Domain