Greetings,
John
Wesley, with his brother Charles, attended Oxford University and while there they formed the Oxford Holy Club. Both brothers were ordained into the
priesthood of the Church of England, both went to the colony of Georgia as
missionaries and both returned to England, disappointed with their experience
in the colony, to lead effective ministries.
Yet both were still struggling with their inner spirituality. On Pentecost Sunday, May 21, 1738, Charles
was ill at home with pleurisy when he heard someone come into his room and say,
“In the Name of Jesus of Nazareth arise and believe, and thou shout be healed
of all thy infirmities.” He felt “a
strange palpitation of heart,” and said “I believe, I believe.” Fortified by this wonderful sequence of
events, Charles “found myself at peace with God, and rejoicing in hope of
Christ.” That night he began to write a
hymn, Where Shall My Wondering Soul Begin, expressing his faith, which
he finished on the 23rd.
Charles
Wesley’s journal for Tuesday, May 23, 1738, where he speaks of his experience
on Whitsunday (the English title for Pentecost), two days earlier, an
experience which seems to have released his power of evangelical verse, says:
At nine, I began an hymn
upon my conversion, but I was persuaded to break off for fear of pride.
Mr. Bray, coming encouraged me to proceed in spite of Satan. I prayed
Christ to stand by me, and finished the hymn. Upon my afterwards showing it
to Mr. Bray, the devil threw in a fiery dart, suggesting that it was wrong,
and I had displeased God. My heart sunk within me; when, casting my eye upon
a Prayer-book, I met with an answer for him. “Why boastest thou thyself,
thou tyrant, that thou canst do mischief?” Upon this, I clearly discerned
it was a device of the enemy to keep back glory from God. ...In his name, therefore, and through his
strength, I will perform my vows unto the Lord, of not hiding His righteousness
within my heart. [See the Journal of Charles Wesley, 1:94-95; with
this last phrase cf. lines 17-18 of the hymn.]
On May 24, 1738, John Wesley wrote in his journal that he went to a
prayer meeting in Aldersgate Street, “where one was reading Luther’s preface to the
Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works
in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone
for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my
sins, even mine, and save me from the law of sin and death.”
Charles
Wesley later wrote of that night: “Towards ten, my brother was brought in
triumph by a troop of our friends and declared, ‘I believe.’ We sang the hymn [Charles wrote at his
conversion] with great joy, and parted with prayer.”
The hymn Glory to God, and Praise and Love, which has 18 stanzas, and which we know
as the hymn which begins with stanza 7, O
For a Thousand Tongues to Sing, was written by Charles Wesley in
1739 to commemorate his conversion on May 21st, the year
earlier. It was published with the title
For the Anniversary Day of One’s Conversion. Traditionally O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing has been the opening hymn in
Methodist hymnals throughout the world since 1780.
Yours & His,
DED
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