Who the high office can display

Verse 1
Who the high office can display
Of Jesus’ gospel-messenger?
Sent to prepare his Saviour’s way
Into the souls of all that hear,
The man should as an angel be
In knowlege, zeal, and purity.

Verse 2
O that the character were mine,
While active as Seraphic flame
I spread that Sacrifice Divine,
The presence of my Lord proclaim!
But He the stony must remove,
And bid the world believe and love.

Verse 3
Where’er Thou dost thy servant send,
Jesus, the Power of God be found,
Thyself vouchsafe my steps t’ attend,
Thy sacred feet behind me sound,
And shew to all the ransom’d race
Jehovah’s glories in thy face.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Before [Behold], I send my messenger (Gr., Angel) before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.’—[Matt. 11,] v. 10.” 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 248.
Publishing: Public Domain