And also: 440 Oh for a thousand tongues to sing The glories of my God and King, The triumphs of His grace. And then again those strong and stirring words: 501 A charge to keep I have, A never-dying soul to save, From youth to hoary age, My calling to fulfil; Oh, may it all my powers engage To do my Master's will! And other words which suggest the trumpet's sound: 509 Soldiers of Christ, arise, And put your armor on; Strong in the strength which God supplies, Through His eternal Son. Strong in the Lord of Hosts, And in His mighty power; Who in the strength of Jesus trusts Is more than conqueror. And then those familiar words of eager petition: 650 Jesus, my strength, my hope, On Thee I cast my care; With humble confidence look up, And know Thou hear'st my prayer. Give me on Thee to wait, Till I can all things do; On Thee, almighty to create, And who shall tell the strength and the comfort, brought to thousands in living and in dying, by his greatest hymn, already spoken of, sung everywhere, and translated into many languages? 335 Jesus, lover of my soul. Let me to Thy bosom fly, Oh, receive my soul at last! Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on Thee; Still support and comfort me. With the shadow of Thy wing. Plenteous grace with Thee is found, Spring Thou up within my heart, Rise to all eternity. Oh, what power there is, what consolation in these immortal words! The first lines of other hymns by Charles Wesley, to which a place has been given in our hymnal, are: 83 Weary of wandering from my God. 566 Lamb of God, I look to Thee. 588 Through Him, who all our sickness felt. George Whitefield was great as a preacher-John Wesley was great as an organizer-Charles Wesley was great as a writer of hymns. Except as a memory of divine oratorical gifts, Whitefield's influence seems to have passed away from earth; but the influence of the Wesleys remains, and is powerful today, because one of them founded a great society, and the other provided for that society the only liturgical service it still enjoys. When the Wesleys were living they urged their followers to attend upon the ministrations of the established Church, and to worship God in the use of its liturgy. They were careful to have their preaching services at hours when there was no service appointed in the churches; and they were simply preaching services. John Wesley used in these services one or two Collects, the Lord's Prayer, and nothing besides. The place for public prayer was the church. There let all people gather to worship God; such was his direction and desire. For his American followers he provided a Book of Common Prayer, which, with omissions, was substantially that of the Church of England. Those followers have strayed away from his wise counsels; but still they have something of a liturgy in Charles Wesley's hymns. For well has Isaac Taylor said: "It may be affirmed that there is no principal element of Christianity, no main article of belief as professed by Protestant churches; that there is no moral or ethical sentiment, peculiarly characteristic of the Gospel; no height or depth of feeling proper to the spiritual life, that does not find itself emphatically, and pointedly, and clearly conveyed in some stanza of Charles Wesley's hymns." And then he goes on to describe many of the early Methodist meetings: "The sermon was indeed a heavy trial of patience and candor to the casual visitor; the prayer was a much heavier trial. But, at the worst, the soul of Charles Wesley, lofty, tender, pure, intense, was there present; present in the hymn, and like a summer's shower in a time of drought was this hymn sung on such occasions and in such places. The preacher could at least read it. And the hymn book was in almost every hand, and enough of the soul of music was among the people to secure for the congregation the benefits of a liturgical worship, animating, elevating, instructive." So to Charles Wesley we must assign "the place of honor, as the everywhere present soul of Methodism." One subject remains to be considered, the differences between these two men-John and Charles Wesley-in their attitude towards separation from the established Church of England. The Methodists were originally organized as a society within the Church-just as we have missionary societies and temperance organizations, and a St. Andrew's Brotherhood in these days-the purpose of the society being "to spread Scriptural holiness throughout the land." Charles Wesley lived and died a clergyman of the Church of England. And the same is true of John Wesley, also; but, towards the close of his life, he was persuaded to take a step which his brother never ceased to regret. "I can scarcely yet believe it," so wrote Charles Wesley in sadness, "that in his eighty-second year, my brother, my old intimate friend and companion, should have assumed the Episcopal character, ordained elders, consecrated a bishop, and sent him over to ordain lay-preachers in America. I was then in Bristol, at his elbow, yet he never gave me the least hint of his intention. How was he surprised into so rash an action!" In the Methodist societies, John Wesley had become an autocrat. His will was law. Many of his preachers in England wished to separate from the Church, and to be clothed with ministerial authority. He held them back from this with an iron hand. But he professed to think that the case was different in America-as indeed in several ways it was. In England there were many bishops, and for those trained as religious teachers, and called of God to the ministry, Ordination could readily be had, and Baptism and the Lord's Supper were frequently administered. But in the United States there was no bishop. To secure Ordination was difficult and tedious and expensive, and multitudes of Christ's people were left without the Sacraments. At this juncture Thomas Coke enjoyed the confidence and the favor of Mr. Wesley. He was zealous, a clergyman of the established Church, in prosperous circumstances, and withal "dangerously ambitious." The treasure of the Gospel he carried in an earthen vessel; the clay of which it was made was certainly not fine clay. Mr. Wesley concluded to send him to America as his representative, and, by virtue of his Ordination as a presbyter, to sanction the Ordination of American lay preachers by him. Coke wanted to make use of Wesley's boundless influence among the Methodists in America, and so he secured from Mr. Wesley the laying on of hands, with prayer, before he started on his mission. He was commissioned as superintendent, and at once he began to ordain. Three times he laid his hands upon the leading lay preacher-Francis Asbury-making him first a deacon -second an elder-and third a superintendent. So there were two superintendents of the American Methodists. But the name was cumbersome, or possibly not sufficiently euphonious, so after a while they altered it, and without any authority, excepting their own, they changed the Minutes of Conference and substituted the word "bishop" for "superintendent." Charles Wesley wrote concerning his brother's action: So easily are bishops made, By man's or woman's whim; Wesley his hands on Coke hath laid, But who laid hands on him? The latest historian of Methodism and the best, Mr. Tyerman, not only says that Coke assumed, what Wesley never gave him, the title of bishop; but, adds that the name "Methodist Episcopal Church" is a name which Wesley never used. He also says, however, that "to reconcile Wesley's practice and profession in this matter during the last seven years of his eventful life, is simply impossible." |