When maliciously they seek

When maliciously they seek
Occasion to accuse,
Urg’d by clam’rous foes to speak,
We lawfully refuse:
Innocence with generous scorn
May envious accusations slight,
Silence is the just return
To impotent despight.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.’—[Matt. 27,] v. 12.” 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 418.
Publishing: Public Domain