When Jesus’ meanest messenger

Verse 1
When Jesus’ meanest messenger
To sinners testifies the same,
The Spirit falls on those that hear
Forgiveness preach’d in Jesus name,
The Holy Ghost the truth reveals,
And pardon on their conscience seals.

Verse 2
As light and heat the solar rays,
Mercy accompanies the word,
The doctrine of redeeming grace
Obtain’d thro’ faith in Christ the Lord;
And to confirm our sins forgiven
The Holy Ghost comes down from heaven.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.’—[Acts 10,] v. 44.” 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 251.
Publishing: Public Domain