Us in their hands the angels bear

Verse 1
Us in their hands the angels bear
In all our lawful ways:
But shall we from his precepts err,
And tempt the God of grace?
Ourselves as from the summit cast,
Th’ appointed means neglect,
And think we hold his promise fast
Who his command reject?

Verse 2
In vain the promise of our Lord
The disobedient pleads,
God never contradicts his word,
Or wills what he forbids:
Father, thy whole recorded will
Doth every part explain,
And none but who the terms fulfil
The promis’d good shall gain.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘He shall give his angels charge over thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up.’—[Matt. 4,] v. 6.” 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 153.
Publishing: Public Domain