He never knew his Lord aright
Who thinks him rig’rous and austere,
Who thinks our God can take delight
In mocking his poor creatures here,
Deny to most his special grace,
Impossibilities require,
And doom the non-performing race,
As Sovereign, to eternal fire.
He never knew his Lord aright
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘I knew that thou art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sown &c.’—[Matt. 25,] v. 24.” 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 389.
Publishing: Public Domain