When our benign almighty Lord

Verse 1
When our benign almighty Lord
Will use the ministry of man,
He makes a way to preach the word,
And earthly powers oppose in vain;
His works and means to Him are known
And all that God appoints, is done.

Verse 2
Our foes may in the temple seize,
Or load us with a felon’s chain,
Jesus his prisoners can release,
And send us to his house again:
And servants of his sovereign will,
We must our ministry fulfil.

Verse 3
We yet shall to the people speak
The words that life eternal give,
Point out the way to all who seek
With Christ in paradise to live,
The words which spoke by Him we know
Are spirit, life, and heaven below.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Go, stand, and speak in the temple to the people, all the words of this life.’—[Acts 5,] v. 20.” 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 188.
Publishing: Public Domain