Kings of earth, from Christ alone

Verse 1
Kings of earth, from Christ alone
Your royal power proceeds:
Taught by Him, with reverence own
Your sceptres are but reeds:
Use them for your heavenly King,
T’ advance on earth his reigning power,
All into subjection bring
To Him your hearts adore.

Verse 2
Dare ye spurn the just command
Of your Incarnate God?
Soon that reed in Jesus’ hand
Shall prove an iron rod:
Him your sovereign Lord confess,
And Jesus shall his servants own,
Wave the sceptre of his grace,
And call you to his throne.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘They spit on him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.’—Matt. 27, v. 30.” 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 425.
Publishing: Public Domain