Bishop supreme, thy people bless
With bishops after thy own heart,
Who may, as vessels of thy grace,
Blessings to all our souls impart,
Greatest, as ministers of all,
Their Apostolic function prove,
As genuine successors of Paul,
In zeal, fidelity, and love.
Bishop supreme, Thy people bless
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship.’—Acts 20, v. 38." 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 381.
Publishing: Public Domain