The persecuted man

Verse 1
The persecuted man
Who pleads his innocence,
And boldly dares his plea maintain,
Commits a fresh offence;
Smote by the slanderous tongue
Unless he silent stand,
The world inflict a farther wrong,
And smite him with the hand.

Verse 2
Tis thus our baffled foes
To lawless violence fly,
And smite, and stop the mouth of those
Who contradict their lie;
Unable to gainsay
The words of righteousness,
They answer us a shorter way,
And truth by blows suppress.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘The high-priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him, to smite him on the mouth.’—[Acts 23,] v. 2." 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 400.
Publishing: Public Domain