This sheet music is part of the collection of crosby3145 :
There’s a reason
statistics are so big in
baseball. Numbers can be very
telling. 50 home runs in a
season tells you that a guy
had a great year. 700 in a
career tells you the guy had
several great years. Same
with 300 wins, 3,000
strikeouts, and 3,000 hits.
The players who hit these
milestones are the greatest of
all time.
Well, Charles Wesley has a
similar statistic. During his
lifetime, he published more
than 300 hymns. More than
3,000, even. By his death at
age 80, he had published some
6,000 hymns! Even if he wrote
quickly, 6,000 is a staggering
amount, one that must have
taken a ton of time to come up
with. Only passion could
cause a man to put that much
effort into something, and for
Wesley, passion it certainly
was. It was a passionate love
of God.
Charles Wesley was born
December 18, 1807, in Epworth,
Lincolnshire, England. He was
the 18th—yes, 18th—child
of Samuel and Susanna Wesley.
The reverend Samuel Wesley was
rector at Epworth. The young
Wesley, along with his brother
John, studied at Westminster
School and later at Oxford
University. While at Oxford,
he formed a prayer group in
1727. His brother would join
it two years later, and it was
from this group that the
Methodists were formed. The
name “Methodist” started
much like the term Christian,
a term of ridicule that was
quickly embraced for what it
meant. In the Wesleys’ case
, Methodist referred to their
methodical and detailed Bible
study—which probably gave
them a greater knowledge of
the Bible than all their peers
who examined it less
carefully. Charles graduated
in 1735 and was ordained into
the Church of England.
That same year, Charles and
John were asked to come to the
new colony of Georgia in the
United States by James
Oglethorpe, its founder.
Charles was officially
Secretary of Indian Affairs
but also served as chaplain at
Fort Frederica. He and John
had trouble gaining the favors
of settlers in Georgia, and
when Charles left in 1736, he
never would return.
This visit to America,
however, lay the foundation
for Charles and John’s
conversion to Christianity.
Conversion, you say? Charles
was ordained in the Church of
England! Wasn’t he already
a Christian? Nominally, yes,
but he was missing
something—something the
Moravians showed him. Charles
and John first met the
Moravians on a ship on the way
to America and were impressed
at the Moravians’ faith
during a storm. On their
return to London, they found
some in England and met with
them. Charles was offended
when one shook his head after
Charles told him he thought
the virtue of his works would
lead him to Heaven. He did
not forget the experience,
though, and the encounter
paved the way for a change in
his heart. On May 21, 1738,
he was reading Martin
Luther’s Commentary on
Galatians when he finally
discovered the truth—no
works he did could make up for
the sins he had committed
which doomed him to Hell.
Only by placing his faith in
Jesus, Whose sacrifice took
the place of the punishment
sinners so richly deserve,
could Charles find eternal
life. He placed his faith in
God, that day, and as his
brother wrote, “I received
the surprising news that my
brother had found rest to his
soul.”
Buoyed by his newfound faith,
Charles began writing hymns.
He also started preaching,
but, after only a year, was
kicked out of the church at
Islington by the vicar, who
noted that the churchwardens
did not like Charles’s
sermons. Unfazed, Charles
took a page out of George
Whitefield’s book and began
preaching in fields in 1739.
With his brother John, he
began to journey around
England, preaching the Gospel
wherever he went and writing
hymns at the same time.
Charles was married in 1749 to
Miss Sarah Gwynne, with whom
he lived happily the next
twenty years (until her
death). In 1756, Charles
ceased his journeys around
England, focusing then on
churches in Bristol and
London. Bristol was his home
until 1771, when he moved to
London and began ministering
(as he had done in his younger
days) to the prisoners at
Newgate. He and John
disagreed about Methodism’s
split from the Church of
England—Charles was so
firmly committed to the
Anglican Church, he declared
that he would be buried in an
Anglican churchyard. However,
the disagreement did not ruin
the brothers’ relationship,
and they were on good terms
all their days. Charles died
in London March 29, 1788, but
his legacy lives on today in
hymnals, each of which bears
multiple hymns by him.
Perhaps this line from one of
Charles’s hymns best
describes how and why he wrote
so many. “The Holy Ghost in
part we know, For with us He
resides, Our whole of good to
Him we owe, Whom by His grace
he guides, He doth our
virtuous thoughts inspire, The
evil he averts, And every seed
of good desire, He planted in
our hearts.” His most
famous hymn expresses a desire
which came true six times
over, if you count each hymn
as a tongue—“O for a
thousand tongues to sing my
great Redeemer's praise,
the glories of my God and
King, the triumphs of his
grace!”
Obviously, a collection of ten
contains just the tip of the
iceberg when it comes to
Wesley’s output.
Additionally, some of his
famous hymns (like “O for a
Thousand Tongues”) are
pretty short, so I didn’t
want to make stand-alone
arrangements of those.
However, it was pretty easy to
find ten great hymns by him
for this collection. “Lo,
He Comes with Clouds
Descending” is a majestic
portrayal of the future Second
Coming of Christ. “Ye
Servants of God, Your Master
Proclaim” restates God’s
command which is manifest
throughout the Bible.
“Soldiers of Christ Arise”
is the logical conclusion of
Paul’s “put on the whole
armor of God” analogy in
Ephesians, exhorting us to
live for Christ our Savior.
Other hymns included in this
collection are “Arise, My
Soul, Arise,” “And Can It
Be,” “Jesus, Lover of My
Soul,” “Love Divine,”
“Rejoice – the Lord Is
King!,” “Christ the Lord
Is Risen Today,” and “I
Want a Principle Within.”
Some of these arrangements
were written a year or more
ago. Others were written
within the last couple weeks.
A couple of the tunes are by
great classical composers
(Michael Haydn and Louis
Spohr), and I must admit I was
channeling my inner Liszt as I
wrote some of these. I hope,
though, that these
arrangements are a blessing to
you, and that the congregation
or audience you play them for
thinks through the words as
they hear you play the tunes.
Enjoy!
NOTE: Arise, My Soul, Arise is
already listed in another
collection. See At Calvary!
and Nine Other Great Hymns of
the Faith by Daniel B. Towner
to find it. Sheet music list : › Campbell,Thomas : And Can It Be › Anonymous : Christ the Lord Is Risen Today › Spohr, Louis : I Want a Principle Within › Marsh, Simeon Bulkley : Jesus, Lover of My Soul › Anonymous : Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending › Zundel, John : Love Divine › Darwall, John : Rejoice - the Lord Is King! › Elvey, George Job : Soldiers of Christ, Arise › Haydn, Johann Michael : Ye Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim