Tis thus the world in every age

Verse 1
Tis thus the world in every age
Doth Jesus in his members use:
To ruin us they first engage,
And then search out whereof t’ accuse,
Fit means, howe’er unjust, employ,
And seek a colour to destroy.

Verse 2
Jesus, Thou know’st, our envious foes,
Before they cite us to their bar,
Thy people criminals suppose,
Thy people criminals declare;
And then our horrid crimes invent,
To justify our punishment.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘The chief priests and the elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death.’—[Matt. 26,] v. 59.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Matthew.” 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 1977/577, 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. 10 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 409.
Publishing: Public Domain