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Aug 8, 2023

Charles Wesley

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They were travelling to the New World when an Atlantic storm threatened to capsize their ship. Waves crashed over the deck and split the main sail. John and Charles Wesley (1707-1788) were traveling to Georgia as Anglican missionaries. Moravians from Germany (modern day Czech Republic) were also on board. While the English travelers went into full panic mode, the Moravians went right on singing. John Wesley later questioned a Moravian if he was afraid. “I thank God, no.” Wesley asked, “But were your women and children afraid?” “No,” he said, “our women and children are not afraid to die.” John Wesley wrote in his journal, “This is the most glorious day I have ever seen.”
The Wesley brothers arrived in Georgia, but Charles lasted only four months before returning to England to begin a prodigious hymn-writing ministry.  On the day of his conversion in 1738, he opened his Bible to Psalm 40, “He put a new song in my mouth. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.” Charles wrote sixty-five hundred hymns over his lifetime, including “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.” This trinitarian hymn praises Jesus as the expression of God’s love in verse one, the Holy Spirit as our sanctifier in verse two, and the Father as the source of life in verse three. The hymn is filled with Biblical imagery. The references to Jesus as Alpha and Omega and casting our crowns before him are drawn from Revelation. The words, “changed from glory into glory” are a direct quote from 2 Corinthians. John Dryden, a contemporary of Wesley, composed a poem with the opening words, “Farthest Isle, all Isles excelling.” Wesley played off John Dryden’s words in his hymn’s opening line, “Love divine, all loves excelling. While the goddess Venus chose the Isle of Britain in John Dryden’s poem, God chose the human heart as his dwelling place in Charles’ hymn. Today’s prayer asks God in divine love: “to fix in us thy humble dwelling…to enter every trembling heart…to visit us with thy salvation…to take away the love of sinning…to set our hearts at liberty.”

Love divine, all loves excelling,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        joy of heav’n to earth come down,
fix in us thy humble dwelling,
all thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus thou art all compassion,
pure, unbounded, love thou art.
Visit us with thy salvation,
enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit
into ev-‘ry troubled breast.
Let us all in thee inherit,
let us find the promised rest.
Take away the love of sinning,
Alpha and Omega be.
End of faith, as its beginning,
set out hearts at liberty.

Come, Almighty, to deliver,
let us all thy life receive.
Suddenly, return, and never,
nevermore thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
serve thee as thy hosts above,
pray, and praise thee without ceasing,
glory in thy perfect love.

Finish, then, thy new creation,
true and spotless let us be.
Let us see thy great salvation
perfectly restored in thee.
Changed from glory into glory,
till in heaven we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before thee,
lost in wonder, love and praise.

Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.