Elders, if the church ordain

Verse 1
Elders if the church ordain,
Ministers in things divine,
All should strive the grace t’ obtain,
All in prayer and fasting join,
Faithfully approach the throne,
Bring the heavenly blessing down.

Verse 2
Every soul for them should plead
Who the common burthen bear,
Each desire their work may speed
Who for every sinner care,
Men by Christ himself design’d
Christ to spread thro’ all mankind.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting.’—[Acts 14,] v. 23.” 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 293.
Publishing: Public Domain