The first will prove the last,
Unless they still contend,
Their humble confidence hold fast,
And keep it to the end:
The first have well begun;
But this cannot suffice;
The persevering grace alone
Insures th’ immortal prize.
The first will prove the last
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.’—[Matt. 19,] v. 30.” 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 328.
Publishing: Public Domain