Ye worthy Ministers of Righteousness,
Who Piety promote, and Vice suppress,
Ye Guardians of our Liberties and Laws,
Patrons of Virtue’s and Religion’s Cause,
Go on, your high Commission to fulfil,
Commend The Good, and terrify The Ill, (Romans 13:1-4, I Peter 2:13-14)
Till HE who did the Powers on Earth ordain, (Rom. 13:1)
Receive You with Himself in Heavenly Bliss to reign.
Ye worthy Ministers of Righteousness
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “To the Worshipful the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Bristol.” This hymn was included in a manuscript titled “MS Festivals.” This manuscript is held by the Methodist Archive and Research Centre of the John Rylands Library at The University of Manchester (accession number DDCW 6/71). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in S.T. Kimbrough Jr. and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 3 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1992), page 105.
Publishing: Public Domain