Once He in the Baptist came

Once he in the Baptist came,
And virtue’s paths restor’d,
Pointed sinners to the Lamb,
Fore-runner of his Lord:
Sent again from paradise,
Elijah shall the tidings bring,
“Jesus comes! Ye saints, arise,
And meet your heavenly King!”

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”—[Mal.] iv. 5. Introduced in Charles Wesley, Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 2 (Bristol: Farley, 1762). 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 135.
Publishing: Public Domain