For evil may I good return,
Kindness for bitter hatred shew,
With pious grief sincerely mourn
The fall of my relentless foe,
His faults with tenderest love conceal,
His shining qualities commend,
And cordial consolation feel
In hope—that hope was in his end.
For evil may I good return
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “David lamented over Saul.”—II. Sam. i. 17. Introduced in Charles Wesley, Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 1 (Bristol: Farley, 1762). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 9 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 163.
Publishing: Public Domain