The church’s servant should be wise

Verse 1
The church’s servant should be wise,
Appearances of evil shun,
Walk in the light, abhor disguise,
And nothing act unseen, alone,
But vouchers of his conduct take,
For Jesus, and the gospel’s sake.

Verse 2
Bold the attested truth to tell,
He should in Jesus footsteps tread,
And simply to the word appeal,
In secret have I nothing said,
In secret have I nothing done,
But all my life to all is known.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entred into the man’s house.’—[Acts 11,] v. 12.” 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. The full hymn was published in S.T. Kimbrough Jr. and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1990), page 343. The first verse was 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 255.
Publishing: Public Domain