Reluctantly they let them go,
The men devoted unto death,
God over all appoints it so,
And plucks the prey out of their teeth:
Like them your mission to fulfil,
Servants of the Most-high, go on,
Nor fear who can the body kill—
But not till all your work is done.
Reluctantly they let them go
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘They let them go.’—[Acts 5,] v. 40.” This hymn appears in the 1764 manuscript “MS Acts.” 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 1977/555, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 1). 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 195.
Publishing: Public Domain