Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley (1707-1788)
You can hear an audio recording of this post on episode 9 of the Methodical Methodist Podcast!
Charles Wesley is one of, if not the most, prolific hymn writers to ever walk this planet. Scholars believe he wrote anywhere between 6,000 to 9,000 hymns – including “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” “Love Divine All Love’s Excelling,” and “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.” Charles is also considered to be the co-founder of the Methodist Movement – along with his brother John Wesley.
Charles Wesley was born two months early on December 18, 1707. He was the 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley. There were 19 children in all, but nine of them died before they had grown out of infancy or childhood – three of them were boys and seven were girls. They weren’t sure Charles was going to make it. He didn’t cry or open his eyes when he was first born. But luckily, he survived. Finally, around the time of his due date he started opening his eyes and making some noises and crying.
Like John and his siblings, Charles grew up in Epworth, and his father, Samuel was a priest in the Church of England there.
When the parish fire occurred to the family home in 1709, Charles was just a baby who was carried out to safety, while John barely escaped from the flames – and his mother Susanna deemed him a “brand plucked from the burning.”
At eight years old, Charles left Epworth to go and live with his eldest brother Samuel Jr. and stayed with him until he was thirteen years old. During this time, Charles attended Westminster school, and with the guidance of his brother Samuel, he developed a love for the church, poetry, and the classics.’
As a student at Westminster school, Charles became “the captain” of the school, the equivalent of Student Body President. He had good character, even as a young boy. He was known for defending one boy in particular from bullies – this young boy grew up to be Lord Mansfield, the Chief Justice of England. Later in life, when Charles visited London, the two reconnected and continued their friendship.
Charles went on to attend Christ Church College in Oxford University. While in college, Charles began to have difficulty in finding a way to take his faith seriously. On January 5, 1729, Charles wrote his brother John explaining his state of mind, saying, “My standing here is so very slippery. No wonder I long to shift my ground. Christ Church is certainly the worst place in the world to begin a reformation in; a man stands a very fair chance of being laughed out of his religion at his first setting out, in a place where ‘tis scandalous to have any religion at all.”
By his second year of college, Charles had laid the groundwork of what would be called “The Holy Club” from which the Methodist Movement would develop. He began seriously and methodically studying scripture and practicing spiritual disciplines. He began taking the sacrament of communion each week and was joined by a few of his friends. And this behavior, he writes to his brother John, “gained me the harmless nickname of Methodist.”
In 1729, John returned to Lincoln College in Oxford University and joined Charles and the rest of the Holy Club. It wasn’t long before John had assumed the leadership responsibilities over the group. The Holy Club was just one nickname that they received. They were also called “Bible Moths” and even “Bible Bigots” because they devoured their Bibles like moths devour wool. They were called, “Sacramentarians” because they believed in taking communion as frequently as possible. They were also called “Enthusiasts” because they seemed like religious fanatics. And some even called them “Supererogation – Men” because it seemed like they were going above and beyond what was required of them, making it seem like they were seeking divine approval. But obviously the term “Methodist” is the one that stuck.
They were very Methodical in what they did. They would pray, and fast, and give alms to the poor, and they would even visit people in prison. Some even criticized that this religious regiment actually led to one of their members, William Morgan, getting ill and passing away. Despite this tragic event, the Wesleys continued meeting as “Methodists” in Oxford, and they recruited more and more people to their club.
After the death of their father Samuel, John and Charles made the decision to become missionaries in Georgia. At first, Charles did not want to go, but his older brother John slowly wore him down. In fact, Charles even writes about this saying, “I took my Master’s Degree, and only thought of spending all my days at Oxford. But my brother, who always had the ascendant over me, persuaded me to accompany him and Mr. Oglethorpe to Georgia. I exceedingly dreaded entering into holy orders; but he overruled me here also, and I was ordained Deacon…”
On October 21, 1735 – John and Charles – on board the Simmonds embarked for America. Charles would serve as James Oglethorpe’s administrative secretary as well as an Anglican priest at Fort Frederica in St. Simon’s Island; Meanwhile, his brother John would serve in Savannah. On the voyage, Charles spent quite a bit of time writing sermons in order to build up his repertoire – John had served as a parish priest prior to this so he had a backlog of sermons, but this was new to Charles. So, he enters the new land as a greenhorn. He is barely 28 years old. Which, coincidently, is actually how old I am.
While serving at Fort Frederica, in St. Simon’s Island, Charles has a very unfortunate encounter with some of his church members. This just kind of escalated very quickly over time. It is kind of a bizarre and complicated story. So, just kind of stick with me through this. Charles was put between a rock and a hard place. A maid goes to Charles and says that her mistress, Mrs. Hawkins had struck her… that she had hit her. And she is crying about it, and she is very upset. And she is wanting to run away from the situation. And so, Charles takes it upon himself to act as a mediator between this maid and Mrs. Hawkins. And it boy does it not go well.
Mrs. Hawkins is furious. She just completely goes off on Charles about this when he confronts her. Then, when Charles goes to James Oglethorpe and asks for help for this poor maid, Oglethorpe gets upset as well. And he is very cold to Charles. And it just escalates very, very quickly.
Then, a lot of the folks get upset because Charles get Oglethorpe to pass a rule forbidding “the discharge of firearms on the Lord’s day.” So, people are not allowed to shoot guns on the sabbath. And as you can imagine, this really upsets a lot of the people in the colony, because they loved to go out shooting on Sunday.
Two people shoot guns off on Sunday morning, March the 21st, right outside of the chapel during the communion service. First, Mr. Germain does this. Then Dr. Hawkins – who is the local doctor there – shoots off a gun as well a little bit later. Both of these men are arrested.
Dr. Hawkins is furious, and he actually shouts out, “Charles Wesley is to blame for this (He is the one who convinced Oglethorpe to pass this new law). If anybody dies while I’m in jail, Charles Wesley is the one to blame!”
And then, we see the wrath of Mrs. Hawkins rise again. Of course, Doctor Hawkins is none other than Mrs. Hawkins’ husband. And when Mrs. Hawkins sees her husband being arrested, she loses her mind. She runs and grabs a gun and shoots it and yell, “See, I did it too! You have to put me in the jail, as well!” Then she grabs a bottle and she smashes it over the deputy’s head, it almost kills him. And this huge controversy erupts over this new law, and Charles is the one who gets blamed for it.
And it just continues to get worse and worse; Because A young woman named Mrs. Lawly gets pregnant, then she miscarries her child. And at this point, even Oglethorpe blames Charles for this happening, because he is the reason the Doctor is imprisoned.
So, Charles is shunned by the community. Nobody will speak to him. And in addition to all this going on, a woman named Mrs. Welch begins to spread rumors about Charles. And Mrs. Hawkins jumps on the bandwagon. Together, they instigate this scheme to destroy the reputations of both James Oglethorpe and Charles Wesley.
There is a lot that goes into this; but essentially, these two women tried to pit Charles and Oglethrope against one another by spreading these vicious lies and rumors. First, Mrs. Welch tells Charles that Oglethorpe had made unwanted sexual advances toward her. Then Mrs. Hawkins said the same lie about Oglethorpe to Charles.
Little did Charles know that Mrs. Welch and Mrs. Hawkins also told Oglethorpe that Charles had made unwanted sexual advanced toward them. So, as you can imagine, these rumors spread throughout the town very quickly. And at first, both of the men believed what these women had said. But it wasn’t until a little later that they eventually learned the truth and realized that the entire thing was just nothing more than false accusations.
Prior to them finding out the truth of the situation, Charles is going without basic necessities. His living conditions are terrible. He is going without adequate food. He is sleeping on the ground He doesn’t have a bed. He gets extremely sick. He has a terrible fever, and Oglethorpe is having nothing to do with him.
Luckily, Benjamin Ingham – who was one of Charles’ friends from Oxford and the Holy Club – is actually working with Charles there in Georgia. And Benjamin realizes that it is time to get Charles’ older brother John involved.
John travels from Savannah and he is able to clear the air between Charles and Oglethrope. And the situation between the two men is finally resolved.
But After several month of being in Georgia, Charles decides that it is time to go hom. So, on Monday, July 26, 1736 – Charles leaves Georgia to return back to England. And like his brother John, Charles considered his time in Georgia to be a complete failure. He was ill most of the time and his parishioners only offered continual persecution against him. It really was a very unfortunate situation. However, despite this failed missionary trip, many scholars believe that this experience was part of what led to the revival in his life that would soon come… out of this persecution, he was able to find spiritual renewal. He even gets to a point where he wishes he could return to Georgia, but illness prevents him from doing that.
His ship The Hannah finally arrives back in England on December 3, 1736. John also returns back to England a few years later in February, 1738. During this time, Charles is battling illness, on and off. And at a few points, it looks like he might even die. And not only is he struggling with his physical health, but he is also struggling with his spiritual health.
But on Pentecost Sunday, May 21, 1738, Charles begins to pray for a spiritual awakening. This kind of marks the beginning of his so called “conversion.” After he said this prayer on Pentecost Sunday, he starts to fall asleep, and then suddenly – Mrs. Musgrave who was a woman who had been nursing Charles – comes into the room and says, “In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, arise, and believe, and thou shalt be healed of all infirmities.” This really stuck a chord with him. This has kind of been described as his personal Pentecost. Charles has this heartwarming experience
Charles began to write a hymn about this conversion experience. And coincidentally, his brother John had a heartwarming conversion experience as well, just a few days later– On May 24th, during a Moravian Meeting. And together, the two brothers actually sang this hymn that Charles had written and then they said a prayer for one another.
Unfortunately, Charles does not say which hymn it is that he wrote for this occasion. But many scholars believe that it was the hymn “Where shall my wondering soul begin?” But another hymn that folks believe it could be is the hymn “And Can it be.” Both of these hymns were written around this same time as Charles’ conversion experience.
Charles begins preaching about three times a day, and he is actually a very effective evangelist. On one occasion, he even preached for King George III. Where John was very reasonable and restrained, Charles was much more emotional when he preached.
But both Wesley Brothers start to attract negative attention from the Church of England. They both had to appear before the Bishop of London in October 1738 after being charged with preaching “an absolute assurance of salvation.” Ultimately, the Bishop sided with the Wesley Brothers after they explained that this really had to do with the way a person can become conscious of his or her own life and how God accepts and offer this idea of people being aware of their state of salvation.
Interestingly enough, they were also charged with re-baptizing an adult – this is something that was against the teaching of the Church of England – and in fact, it is also against the teaching of the United Methodist Church. They essentially baptized someone who was initially baptized by a dissenting clergyman. Charles got in further trouble when he actually told the Bishop that he had plans to baptize a dissenter.
And so this continued to escalate and carried over to the local churches in England. People started closing their doors to the Wesleys. They were not allowed to preach in most of the Anglican churches throughout England.
At the urging of their friend George Whitfield, who had tremendous success preaching outside, Charles and his brother John both started “Open-Air preaching.” Charles combined his love for music and poetry. And he implemented his voice in both singing and preaching which really made for a very spontaneous form of worship. He, like John, were preaching to large crowds and found a lot of success as well as some persecution. The fact that they barred from the Anglican Church and forced to preach outdoors really pushed them to move away from the Church of England to a degree.
Both John and Charles endured ridicule and opposition in open-air-preaching. They faced mob violence and hecklers constantly. They were pelted with stones, rocks, eggs, and clods of dirt; In one occasion, Charles was nearly thrown off a bridge; but in the end, they responded by turning the other cheek, and their nonviolent resistance wore them down; and they were able to reach thousands of people in their preaching.
Thanks to George Whitfield, John and Charles adapted and found a new way to reach people. Even though the Wesley brothers would eventually separate themselves from Whitfield because of their debate over predestination and free will. Predestination is the idea that God preordains things that happen. And free will is the idea that we are free to make our own decisions. Whitfield came to adopt a more Reformed theology of predestination and the Wesleys adopted an Arminian theology of free will.
This eventually led to two branches of Methodism – the Calvinist Methodists and the Wesleyan Methodists. Even though this split happened, Whitfield and the Charles remained good friends.
John purchased a meeting place called the New Room in Bristol and this is where the Methodist movement started to really to take shape. This became a place of worship and meetings. It contained rooms for lay preachers, it had a room for John, a room for Charles, and even a room for their mother Susanna.
The 'Lily Portrait' of a young Wesley in the New Room, Bristol
But despite starting up this new movement, Charles really still considered himself to be an Anglican. He would never preach during Anglican worship. In fact, he often attended Anglican worship and received the Lord’s Supper in worship. Then he would go out and preach to largely uneducated and unchurched crowds. He would go to where the people were. He would preach in fields, markets, village squares, in the streets – anywhere he could draw a crowd. He preached to minors, he preached in the courtyards, he even preached outside of the churches that had barred him from preaching inside. In fact, Mrs. Seward – the wife of one of Charles’ friends says, “Charles Wesley offers Christ to all.”
As time went on, John and Charles became more organized and Methodical in how they sustained their Methodist movement. They formed General Rules for the Methodist Societies. The rules essentially taught to do no harm, to do good, and to attend all the ordinances of God – or in other words – “stay in love with God. They also formed small groups – classes and bands. They also engaged in itinerant preaching and mobilized lay preachers as well. They were very methodical and careful in how they did all this. These Lay Preachers were mainly men preachers, but there were actually several women who were called to preached in the Methodist societies like Sarah Crosby and Mary Fletcher.
Charles was a spiritual guide for many of these lay preachers, but he was very clear that he believed the lay preachers should only preach but not administer the sacraments – because they were not ordained through the Church of England.
Charles was very methodical in the way he oversaw the lay preachers. He was known for being very impatient with them at times. And he was especially known for dismissing lay preachers about as rapidly as John would appoint them. Charles was very critical of the lay preachers, and John would often be the one that would come to their defense. John understood the importance of mobilizing these lay preachers in order to grow the movement. Charles did not agree with this method. He wanted to use educated clergy rather than these uneducated lay preachers.
John Wesley got his way in the end, and because of that, the Methodist movement grew very quickly. They started holding annual conferences, and the first annual conference that was held was at the Foundery – which was one of the Methodist meeting places in London in 1744. It was attended by John and Charles and four others, but by the end of the eighteenth century, the Methodist annual conference had about one hundred preachers in attendance.
As the Methodist Movement progresses, the Wesley Brothers start gaining popularity… particularly among the women. In a letter to the Moravian Bishop Count Zinzendorf – a man named James Hutton wrote this, “John and Charles Wesley are dangerous snares to many young women; several are in love with them. I wish they were married to some good Christian sisters, but I would not give them of my sisters, if I had any.”
Although John and Charles had first made the decision to be celibate for their whole lives, Charles begins to grow tired of single life.
On Friday August 28, 1747, Charles met his future wife Sarah Gwynne or “Sally” as he called her. While he was staying with a man named Rev. Philips, he had three visitors from the Gwynne family. When he first laid his eyes on Sally, it was love at first sight. They began courting and wrote letters back and forth to each other.
Sarah Gwynne Wesley - wife of Charles Wesley - daughter of Marmaduke Gwynne
On one occasion, after Charles had finished up a dangerous six month preaching trip in Ireland, he stopped by the Gwynne home in Garth, Wales. His clothes were worn out, he had a toothache and was sick from traveling in the rain. During his stay with the Gwynne family, Charles said that Sally had nursed him like a guardian angel.
They continued to date and write to one another, and Charles very methodically weighed his options. He wrote hymns to help him make sense of his feeling. He consulted his friends and family. The person’s support he wanted the most was from his brother John. The two had made a pact that if either of them were to marry, they wouldn’t do it without the other’s knowledge and consent. Charles and John talked about this marriage proposal and they both agreed. According to Charles the two were of one heart and mind in all things when it came to Sally.
When Charles spoke with Sally’s parents, they were a little concerned about his income situation. So, Charles made the decision to print a large two-volume version of his work entitled “Hymns and Sacred Poems.” This was so quickly put together that John did not even have the chance to exercise his Methodical editorial skills. Charles was able to bring in more income, and this slowly but surely started to melt away some of Sally’s parents’ concerns. About this time John started to have second thoughts, but Charles quickly rebuked him and convinced him to allow the wedding to take place.
After all of this, on April 8th, 1749, at about eight o clock Charles and Sally were married and the hymn was sung “Come, thou everlasting Lord, By our trembling hearts adored; Come, thou heaven-descended Guest, Bidden to the marriage-feast.”
There were only two prenuptial promises that Charles made to Sally. The first one was kind of a strange one... but it was that he would be allowed to his “vegetable diet.” The second promise was that he would preach one less sermon or travel one less mile now that he was married. And apparently Charles did a good job of keeping that first promise but not so much the second. The plan, at first was for Sally to travel with him, but she stopped doing that after her first miscarriage. As a result, Charles began traveling less and less.
He eventually became more of a family man. Charles and Sally had eight children, but only three survived childhood: Little Charles, Little Sally, and Little Samuel. Unfortunately, their first child, John, died of smallpox at sixteen months old. Their daughter Martha Maria died after one month. Susanna – named after Charles’ mother after eleven months. Selina lived only five weeks, and John James died after seven months.
This first loss was especially hard for the couple. As a way to reflect and process this, Charles did what he did best. He wrote a hymn entitled “On the Death of a Child.” The hymn says, “Dead! Dead! The child I love so well! Transported to the world above! I need no more my heart conceal: I never dared indulge my love: But may I not indulge my grief, and seek in tears a sad relief?”
It was not unusal for several young children to die back then, but Gosh that is sad. I cannot imagine. That’s just a very tragic thing. And this ultimately led to Charles spending more and more time with his family; and less and less time traveling and preaching.
But Charles was still very instrumental in the Methodist Movement. His brother John was seen as “the head” of the Methodist Movement while Charles was seen as “the heart” of the movement. And these two brothers had a very strong friendship, but they were also just very different.
Charles is described more like his father Samuel – he was impetuous, short-tempered, and had emotional outbursts. He experienced times of joy and times of complete depression. John, on the other hand, is described more like his mother Susanna – he was more measured and rational.
Often times, Charles would go along with John’s leading, just because he wanted to avoid a fight. John seems like the kind of guy who would not let things go until you agreed with him. He was just very persistent, whereas Charles often went along with his brother for the sake of peace and quiet and avoiding an argument. These personality differences were seen in their preaching styles, in their leadership skills, and in the way that they viewed certain theological ideas. And, from time to time, these would lead to arguments.
Charles and Sally’s marriage and their children led to some tension between the brothers. As Charles spent more time with his family, John would often give more demands of Charles. And this, at times, created some tension between them.
Over time, John found himself, yet again, in another love triangle (after the Sophia Hopkey story). John fell in love with a woman named Grace Murray. They kind of started talking, but meanwhile she was also talking to another man named John Bennet – who she ended up getting engaged to. But John is still trying to win her over, and she is kind of stringing him along. Charles intervenes, and he goes behind John’s back and takes Grace Murray to marry John Bennet. Charles and George Whitfield serve as witnesses of this wedding, but this is something that truly hurt Charles and John’s relationship. After this, John never fully trusted Charles the same way again.
John did eventually get married to a woman named Molly Vazeille – Charles did not approve – in fact, he called her “a woman of a sorrowful spirit.” John never even consulted Charles in this decision. Molly and John remained married (despite a tumultuous relationship and living separately) until Molly died.
The rift between Charles and John did eventually heal – perhaps this is because John came to realize that he rushed into this marriage. Or maybe it is because John became sick and nearly died in 1753, and the two were able to put aside their differences for the sake of the Methodist Movement – but also for their true brotherly love for one another.
Not only did Charles love his brother, but he also had great love for the Church of England which he lovingly referred to as “The Old Ship.” He really viewed Methodism as a renewal group within the Church of England which allowed people to experience revival, and he considered support for the Church of England a requirement for membership in the Methodist societies.
But there were often lay preachers who were pressuring John Wesley to move away from the Church of England and ordain them outside of the official church. This constant pressure began to change John’s mind on the matter, but Charles remained very stubborn on this matter. Ultimately, John sided with Charles on this matter – although maybe not with as much fervor as Charles had. But over time, Charles realized that separation was inevitable. Despite his best efforts, he could tell that the winds had shifted and separation from the Church of England would happen whether he wanted it to or not.
Toward the end of his life, Charles moved his family to London where Charles took over the chief functions of the Methodist Chapels at West Street and the Foundery. He continued to preach but also tried to find a balance as a family man. During this time, his frustration with lay preachers and the threat of the Methodist Church splitting grew and grew.
John eventually ordained lay preachers that were sent out to America to continue the Methodist movement in the New World. John did this behind Charles’s back – and when Charles found out – he wrote “I am thunderstruck. I cannot believe it.” John and Charles exchanged several heated letters back and forth. And in the end, John ended up ordaining at least 27 of his preachers and one, Thomas Coke to the level of superintendent. This obviously caused great tension between the brothers, but Charles and John were ultimately able to remain close despite this. Charles was finally able to make peace with this reality – the Methodist Movement was bound to break off from the Old Ship. Charles, however, was very stubborn and he remained a Church of England man throughout his entire life.
Over the years Charles’ already poor health continued to decline. Just a few days before his death, Charles had his wife Sally write down these words:
In age and feebleness extreme,
Who shall a sinful worm redeem?
Jesus, my only hope Thou art,
Strength of my failing flesh and heart;
O could I catch a smile from Thee,
And drop into eternity!
Charles never seemed to fear his inevitable death, but he embraced it. On March 29, 1788, at the age of 80 years old, Charles died with his family surrounding him. In his last breath he uttered the words, “Lord, my heart – my God.” He was buried in St Mary-le-borne Parish Church graveyard – which of course was a church in the Church of England. Charles was a man who lived passionately and loved passionately. He was a poet and a preacher. He was a husband and a father and a brother. He was a man who held strongly to his beliefs. And his contribution to the Methodist Movement is undeniable. I know that after doing the research for this episode I have a newfound appreciation for Charles Wesley and the life that he lived.
