Scripture Verse

Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Revelation 1:5

Introduction

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Short Hymns (Bris­tol, Eng­land: E. Far­ley, 1762), Vol­ume 2, num­ber 823.

Music: Ormes­by George Mer­ritt, in The Pri­mi­tive Me­tho­dist Hym­nal, ed­it­ed by George Booth (Lon­don: Pri­mi­tive Me­tho­dist Pub­lish­ing House, 1889), num­ber 46 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Mer­ritt (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Lyrics

True and faith­ful wit­ness, Thee
O Je­sus, we re­ceive;
Fullness of the De­ity,
In all Thy peo­ple live;
First be­got­ten of the dead,
Call forth Thy liv­ing wit­ness­es,
King of kings, Thine em­pire spread
O’er all the ran­somed race.