Sent to the great, and rich, and wise

Verse 1
Sent to the great, and rich, and wise,
(God and his law before our eyes)
We speak, their conscience to convince
Publicky tax their publick sins,
Without insulting we reprove
In just severity of love.

Verse 2
Preachers are call’d, above the rest,
To stand for innocence opprest,
Themselves by hellish hate pursued,
To vindicate their suffering Good,
And set at man’s unrighteous bar,
T’ arraign their wicked judges there.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.’—[Acts 5,] v. 30.” 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 191.
Publishing: Public Domain