Wesleyana Collection
Charles Wesley (1707 - 1788)
Charles Wesley - “…born eighteenth child and youngest son in family of nineteen in the home of Samuel and Susannah Wesley….Studied at St. Peter's College, Westminster, London; and in 1726 began study at Christ Church, Oxford. While there helped form the Holy Club, of which George Whitefield and his brother John later became members.
In 1735 ordained before he and John accepted the urgent invitation of General Oglethorpe to go with him as chaplain and teacher to his colony in Georgia. Dissatisfied and ill in health, Charles returned to England the next year. Greatest contribution to the Christian church was over six thousand hymns, four thousand of which were published.
What John Wesley preached, Charles Wesley sang. Some of his greatest hymns are “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” “Jesus Lover of My Soul,” “ Love Divine, All Love Excelling,” “O, For a Thousand Tongues,” and “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.”
…For a while Charles traveled with John in his preaching tours.“ After 1756 he traveled little, ”not having the iron constitution of his brother and having a family of eight to provide for. From 1756 to 1771 preached at Bristol, and from 1771 until his death, in London.”
Wycliffe Biographical Dictionary of the Church, by Elgin Moyer.
Revised and enlarged by Earle E. Cairns.
Chicago: Moody Press, 1982.
pp. 859-860.