When virtue’s advocate replies

Verse 1
When virtue’s advocate replies
As far from passion as from fear,
The answer soft and meekly wise
Becomes his Saviour’s minister,
Who calmly sensible complains,
And truth and Jesus cause maintains.

Verse 2
For wisdom, Lord, on Thee I wait:
Instruct me when to hold my peace,
And when in words to vindicate
The works of genuine righteousness,
And stop the bold impiety
Which blames the good that flow’d from Thee.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work &c.’—[John 7,] v. 21." This hymn appears in the 1763-64 manuscript “MS John.” 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 1977/573, 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. 11 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 404.
Publishing: Public Domain