Who shall presume to’ explore

Verse 1
Who shall presume t’ explore,
Or tell us all his mind,
If God let loose the adverse power,
The wicked hands unbind?
By man doth He chastize
In vengeful wrath his own?
Or bid the raging tempest rise,
To make his mercy known?

Verse 2
His love and righteousness
May they not both agree,
While God permits the world t’ oppress,
That all his power may see;
While the whole preaching croud
To different climes are driven,
And watred by the martyrs’ blood
The church grows up to heaven!

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘At that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.’—[Acts 8,] v. 1.” 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 220.
Publishing: Public Domain