He must unjust or cruel seem

Verse 1
He must unjust or cruel seem,
The sinner, or the law condemn,
Mercy or truth offend,
His zeal, or his compassion show;
Absolve her? he is virtue’s foe,
And sin’s acknowledg’d Friend.

Verse 2
The Serpent speaks in guileful men,
He tempts us first to sin, and then
Accuses those that yield:
But Jesus he in vain assay’d,
That Bruiser of the serpent’s head
His blunted tools repel’d.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him.’—[John 8,] v. 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. 11 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 415.
Publishing: Public Domain