The men who human praise desire

Verse 1
The men who human praise desire,
Who set their heart on things below,
Like Pilate, carelesly inquire,
But will not wait the truth to know,
But soon their slighted Lord forsake,
And cast his words behind their back.

Verse 2
Not with a cold or double heart,
But faith’s sincerity unfeign’d
We ask thee, Saviour, to impart
The knowledge in Thyself contain’d,
And give our newborn souls to prove
The Truth the Life of perfect Love.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?’—[John 18,] v. 38." This hymn appears in the 1763-64 manuscript “MS John.” 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 1977/573, 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. 12 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 77.
Publishing: Public Domain