The judge his innocence confessed

Verse 1
The judge his innocence confest,
Yet lo, he at the king’s request
Repeats his righteous plea,
A ready condescension shows,
And pays the just respect he owes
To listning majesty.

Verse 2
Himself permitted to defend,
He answers for a nobler end,
Not for himself alone,
But call’d before the rich and great
Arrests them on the judgment seat
And makes his Saviour known.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself.’—[Acts 26,] v. 1." 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 422.
Publishing: Public Domain