On 21 May the Church of England remembers John and Charles Wesley – two men who had a significant impact on the founding of the Methodist Church, preaching and hymn writing.

But who are the Wesley Brothers?

John Wesley (1703–91)
Born at Epworth Rectory in Lincolnshire in 1703, John Wesley was educated at Charterhouse School and Christ Church, Oxford. Ordained into the Anglican ministry, he acted for a time as his father’s curate.

In 1729 he went into residence at Oxford as Fellow of Lincoln College. There he joined his brother Charles and George Whitefield in the Holy Club, a group of students who met together for private worship and good works, including visiting prisons and comforting the sick. Their strict and methodical religious practices earned them the nickname ‘methodists’ from their fellow students.

In 1735 Wesley went to Georgia with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, but his personal faith was far from sure at this time. On board ship he met some German Moravians, whose simple faith and fearlessness in the face of Atlantic storms greatly impressed him.

On his return to England in 1738, he sought them out and, while attending one of their meetings in Aldersgate Street, London, on 24 May 1738, he had a profound spiritual experience, often referred to as his ‘conversion’. He famously recorded in his Journal:

About a quarter before nine while [the speaker] was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for my salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

In March 1739 he was persuaded by George Whitefield to begin outdoor preaching and the following month founded the first Methodist society in London. Methodism was initially intended to be an add-on for Anglicans who had experienced conversion and Wesley expected them to attend worship and the sacraments at their parish church. But as time went on Methodism began to develop its own structures with classes for pastoral care, authorized lay preachers to address the societies and, from 1744, an annual Conference.

An indefatigable preacher and organizer, Wesley travelled around 5,000 miles a year on horseback, sometimes delivering up to five sermons a day. Huge numbers came to hear him and the response varied from tearful repentance to violent attack.

Rejecting Whitefield’s moderate Calvinism, he rejoiced to be known as an ‘Arminian’, emphasizing that salvation was available for all through Christ. He also stressed the doctrine of assurance: ‘every man can be saved and every man can know that he is saved’. He died on 2 March 1791, and was buried at City Road Chapel, London.

Charles Wesley (1707–88)
John’s younger brother by four years, Charles Wesley was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. While at Oxford he was a founder member of the Holy Club. Ordained in 1735, later that year he went to Georgia with his brother John as secretary to the colonial governor James Oglethorpe. But ill health forced him to relinquish the post and he returned to England the following year.

Caught up in the growing evangelical revival, Charles had a conversion experience on Whit Sunday, 21 May 1738, three days before his brother. Charles subsequently was closely associated with the Wesleyan movement and travelled extensively as a preacher.

In 1749 he married Sally Gwynne, the daughter of a Welsh magistrate and, unlike his brother, for whom marriage was much more of a trial than a joy, he enjoyed a happy family life in Bristol, where he ministered to the Methodist Society at the New Room. From 1771 he lived in London.

The two Wesleys differed on certain doctrinal matters, Charles always being the more conservative of the two. In addition, Charles strongly opposed steps that might lead to separation from the Church of England and thus disapproved of John’s unilateral ordinations of Methodist ministers for North America and Scotland from 1784 and from 1788, the year of Charles’ death, for England also.

Charles greatly regretted this innovation that could only cause greater discord between Methodism and the Church of England, but suggested that his brother’s judgement might have been sounder if he had been younger: ‘Twas age that made the breach, not he’.

But Charles Wesley’s greatest work was his poetry and hymn writing. It was he who ensured that Methodism would be noted for its congregational singing and he left a incomparable legacy of nearly 7,000 hymns, far more than any other hymn writer, before or since, and many of them are still regularly sung. Among the most widely known are And can it be?, Hark! the herald angels sing, and Love divine, all loves excelling.

Yet Charles has not been without his critics who have claimed that early Methodist worship encouraged emotionalism, dwelt unhealthily upon sin and that some of his lyrics had unnecessarily erotic imagery. Nevertheless Charles Wesley remains probably one of the greatest Christian poets and certainly the greatest hymn writer of all time.

A day or two after his conversion Charles wrote the hymn Christ the friend of sinners, with the first verse:

Where shall my wandering soul begin?
How shall I all to heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin,
A brand plucked from eternal fire,
How shall I equal triumphs raise,
Or sing my great Deliverer’s praise?

an Extract from Saints on Earth: A biographical companion to Common Worship by John H Darch and Stuart K Burns

A Prayer for John & Charles Wesley

God of mercy,
who inspired John and Charles Wesley with zeal for your gospel:
grant to all people boldness to proclaim your word
and a heart ever to rejoice in singing your praises;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.