Two hundred and fifty years ago this month Charles Wesley was born. From his earliest years it was evident that he was destined for leadership. He possessed a naturally brilliant mind. It is said that on his fifth birthday he learned the alphabet perfectly and the next day spelled out the words, "In the beginning God."
He was the second youngest of nineteen children born to Samuel and Susannah Wesley. Large families were not unusual in those days, Susannah herself being the twenty-fifth child in her father's family. But we shudder at the thought of what might have happened, or not happened, had John, the fifteenth child of Susannah, and Charles, the eighteenth, not been born. To write the history of England without taking cognizance of these brothers would be impossible, for under their preaching, and that of their associates, the whole country was swept by an overwhelming and almost irresistible tide of grace. Lecky the historian observes that, tremendous as were the immediate spiritual blessings resulting from their work, the byproducts of that religious revival were even greater. Think of the social reforms and the prison reforms, and later the abolition of slavery, as well as the philanthropic and benevolent institutions that began to spring up.
Today we take it more or less for granted that education is the right of every individual, but this too came as the result of their work. The plague—the specter of the centuries—was banished by saner systems of sanitation. Their ministry "went to the heart and core of human life," and for multitudes life began anew. Another historian, John R. Green, declares that the church they produced was secondary to the civilization they built. The fruitage of their work can never be fully tabulated.
Westminster Abbey, the memorial shrine of the great, contains a stone plaque representing these two brothers. It is the only monument of its kind to be found there. How fitting that John and Charles should be associated on this tablet of honor, for theirs was a united work. Beneath the heads of these leaders are John's triumphant last words, "The best of all is, God is with us." And below, on a bas-relief is found his famous reply to those who demanded explanation for their invading evangelism. He said, "I look upon all the world as my parish." Coupling these two sayings together, we get the very index of their lives. Both were intrepid evangelists and scholarly theologians, Charles, however, possessing the more appealing personality.
Their godly mother was their first teacher, and before he was nine years old Charles left the home school in Epworth and entered Westminster School, in London, where his brother Samuel, about seventeen years his senior, was chief assistant to the headmaster. We do not hear much of this elder brother, but his influence upon the growing lad must have been wise and spiritual. It is not long before we see young Charles befriending the oppressed, one of whom was a lad who later became the Earl of Mansfield and Chief Justice of England. Little wonder that in afterlife he and Charles continued a sweet fellowship.
While Charles was in the Westminster School a wealthy but distant relative, Garrett Wesley of Ireland, expressed an eagerness to adopt Charles. The decision was left with Charles himself. He declined, and for that the church might well be thankful, for had he accepted this honor his life would doubtless have been very different. Richard Colley, who accepted in his stead, became Baron Mornington. His son, the Earl of Mornington, was the father of the Duke of Wellington, victor at Waterloo. What a decision for a mere lad! But the God of heaven was molding the supple clay for something greater. The world today knows little, and cares less, for these family ramifications and the honors associated with them, but millions all over the world sing with fervor, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul." And other millions who give scant place to spiritual things all the year, join with Charles at Christmas time singing, "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing."
Charles Enrolls in Oxford
In 1726 this young student, who for ten years at the Westminster School conversed continually in Latin—a requirement of the school, left London for Oxford, where he enrolled in the same college where two of his brothers, his father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather had studied. At Oxford he took the Master of Arts degree and at the same time pursued "holy orders." When he first went there his brother John was serving as curate for their father. When Charles sensed the need of fortifying himself against the inroads of worldliness, he organized the famous Holy Club. In derision the university students called these young Christians "Methodists- because of their methodical habits of prayer and study.
John joined him later at the university, and following their ordination both sailed for Georgia, John as a missionary to the American Indians, and Charles as secretary to Governor Oglethorpe, a job he was to do on the side, his high aim being to witness for Christ to those who had never heard His name.
Their stay across the Atlantic was short. Charles returned to England in about five months and John about a year and a half later, each, however, with a deep sense of personal spiritual need. John's brief record in his Journal sounds a drastic note of self-condemnation, "I who went to America to convert others was never myself converted."
In revising his Journal later he added a footnote, "I am not too sure of this."
However we may describe their spiritual state, they certainly needed a firsthand encounter with God. Having already associated with some Moravian missionaries, these men realized the wide gap between a formal religion and a vibrant, joyful Christian experience. Upon their return to England, Peter Boehler, a young Moravian missionary under appointment, became a close friend. It was not long before these gifted leaders found the full joy of salvation, Charles's experience antedating that of John by three days.
When Charles became ill Peter Boehler went to visit him, and soon they were discussing the grace of God.
"Do you hope to be saved?" asked Peter. "I do," was the reply.
"On what ground?"
"On the ground that I have used my best endeavors to serve God."
Boehler shook his head, saying, "That is not enough."
"What! Aren't my endeavors a sufficient ground of hope? Would you rob me of my endeavors? I have nothing else to trust to."
Poor Charles! How hopeless the outlook, and how great the distance between that and the hymn we all love so well:
Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
More than all in Thee I find.
Before Charles made a complete recovery he was carried to the home of a friend, a brazier named Bray, whom he described as "a poor, ignorant mechanic who knows nothing but Christ, yet knowing Him knows all things." A devout woman, a kind of practical nurse, while doing all she could to ease Charles's sufferings, became aware of his great spiritual need. She felt the urge to talk to him about the Christ whose grace meant so much to her. But how could she, an ignorant woman, broach the subject to this scholarly man? She and Mr. Bray prayed that God would open the way. Terribly burdened for the soul of this dear man, the little "nurse" entered the room. In quiet confidence, her heart uplifted in prayer, she talked about her all-sufficient Saviour and the joy of His salvation. Like the silent dawn of day the Spirit of God began to break in upon Charles's clouded mind, bringing a revelation of God's love. Grace, mercy, peace, and the assurance of sins forgiven and everlasting life swept into his soul like a flood tide.
That was Sunday, May 21, 1738. Awakening Tuesday morning, his heart aglow with praise, he read the words of Psalm 107. Then, taking his pen, he began to write. In that hour his first hymn was born, the first of more than 6,500! Its opening lines read:
Where shall my wondering soul begin?
How shall I all to heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin,
A brand plucked from eternal fire, How shall I equal triumphs raise, Or sing my great Deliverer's praise?
He wrote two hymns on his conversion. The second, "Amazing Love," is better known to us, although not as well known as it should be. This hymn, found in Gospel Melodies, No. 5, is one of the greatest hymns ever written. Every stanza tells the triumph of His grace. Note these words:
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature's night.
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray:
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light,
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
As ministers we would do well to lead our members to a new appreciation of these mighty messages in song. You may not know this hymn, but why not study it and teach your congregations to sing it from their hearts? Like most of Wesley's other hymns, this is pure gospel.
During the fifty years of their association, the Wesleys published fifty-seven different collections of hymns, the first appearing, not in England, but in Charleston (then Charles-Town), South Carolina. This was issued in approximately 1737, and was not only the earliest hymnal published in America but actually the earliest of any English hymnbook outside of the Psalters. The most comprehensive of their compilations was published in London in 1780. This hymnal, sometimes called The Large Hymnbook, containing 539 hymns, nearly all of which were written by Charles, is a strange contrast with the Church Hymnal we use today. John also wrote some, but he translated many more. In this collection are found nineteen hymns translated by John from the German, one from the French, and one from the Spanish.
The theology of the Wesleys was Arminian rather than Calvinistic, and nothing reveals their theological convictions more clearly than their hymns. "Free grace" rather than "election" and the invitation for all to receive salvation were basic in their message. Little wonder that they roused opposition. Hymns such as this made churchmen raise their eyebrows:
Come sinners to the gospel feast; Let every soul be Jesus' guest; There need not one be left behind. For God hath bidden all mankind.
Christ was uplifted as the world's Redeemer, "the general Saviour of mankind." Note this stanza:
Father, whose everlasting lose
Thy only Son for sinners gave.
Whose grace to all did freely move.
And sent Him down a world to save;
Help us Thy mercy to extol,
Immense, unfathom'd, unconfined;
To praise the Lamb who died for all,
The general Saviour of mankind.
These preachers were denounced as heretics and ostracized by the very church that ordained them, but nothing that men could do could stop their work. The evangelical revival was born of God.
On the first anniversary of Charles's spiritual awakening he wrote:
O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer's praise!
These hymns became the medium for the testimony of multitudes. Thousands could sing from their hearts:
He breaks the power of canceled sin;
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood avails for me.
Reformation of life followed in the wake of these heralds of the cross, for the Word of God was magnified in their ministry.
Dr. Moulton in his book The Bible in Charles Wesley's Hymns emphasizes the vital place the Word of God had in their poems. One of the smaller collections, Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scripture, contains language from 2,030 different verses of Scripture, and all the way from Genesis to Revelation. One hymn alone contains more than forty different expressions from the Bible. Vital doctrines of Christianity formed the basis of every hymn, and sometimes many were written on the same theme. For example, Charles wrote 164 hymns on the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. And some of the finest hymns we have on the Second Advent came from his pen. Scarcely a day passed without some new hymn appearing, most of these being written in shorthand on horseback!
While these hymns were written "for the people called Methodists," they have long ago jumped the boundaries of denominationalism and have become the hymns of virtually the whole Christian church. Henry Ward Beecher, the great Congregationalist preacher, once declared, "I would rather have written 'Jesus, Lover of My Soul' than to have all the fame of all the kings that ever lived." We agree with Elmer T. Clark Nyhen he says, "Few of the world's great have imparted more spiritual inspiration to more human hearts than has Charles Wesley, the sweet singer of the Evangelical Revival."
To Charles and Sarah Wesley were born eight children, five of whom died in infancy. Charles, Jr., and Samuel became talented organists and musicians, the former being proficient on the harpsichord before he was three years old. Charles, Jr., served as organist in several of London's large churches. Incidentally, he was rejected from being the organist of St. Paul's because the cathedral authorities "wanted no Wesleys there." Samuel was acclaimed the greatest organist of his day. He was a composer at six years of age and later became the publisher of Handel's music. It was a great blow to his father when in 1784 this gifted organist turned to the Roman Catholic Church. We can hear the heartbreak of the poet in these words:
Farewell, my all of earthly hope,
My nature's stay, my age's prop,
Irrevocably gone!
Submissive to the will divine acquiesce, and make it mine;
I offer up my son!
We are happy to record that this Samuel, composer of the tune "Aurelia," which was written for "The Church Has One Foundation," having soon discovered the hollowness of mere ritualistic worship, returned to the Protestant faith, saying that he "did not care a straw for any excommunication that her priesthood could utter." His own son, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, following the musical bent of his father, took the degree of Doctor of Music and composed a number of hymns while serving as organist for Gloucester Cathedral.
At the age of eighty, he whom Canon Overton declared "the greatest hymn writer of all the ages" passed quietly to his rest. He had been an indefatigable worker, but "the weary wheels of life at last stood still."
No monument carved in stone is needed to memorialize Charles Wesley, for his immortal hymns live in the hearts of millions who sing the redemptive love of God from hearts responsive to His grace.
The preface of a volume of his sermons contains an impressive evaluation by his wife: "His most striking excellence was humility; it extended to his talents as well as his virtues; he not only acknowledged and pointed out but delighted in the superiority of another, and if there ever was a human being who disliked power, avoided pre-eminence and shrunk from praise, it was Charles Wesley." In his own verse in Wesley, volume 2, page 453, he echoes this truth:
Not unto me, O Lord,
Not unto me, the praise. . . .
