Freely He lays the ransom down,
The life which none could take away,
Goes forth to meet the ills foreknown,
Yields himself up an easy prey;
His foes by miracle struck blind,
Struck down by one resistless word
Their Lord instructs himself to find,
And gives them power to seize their Lord.
Freely He lays the ransom down
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?’—[John 18,] v. 4, 5, 6." 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 66.
Publishing: Public Domain