28 Facts About Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley was an English Anglican cleric and a principal leader of the Methodist movement.

Charles Wesley was born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, the son of Anglican cleric and poet Samuel Charles Wesley and his wife Susanna.

Charles Wesley was a younger brother of Methodist founder John Wesley and Anglican cleric Samuel Wesley the Younger.

Charles Wesley was the father of musician Samuel Wesley and the grandfather of musician Samuel Sebastian Wesley.

Charles Wesley was educated at Oxford University, where his brothers had studied, and he formed the "Holy Club" among his fellow students in 1729.

John Charles Wesley later joined this group, as did George Whitefield.

Charles Wesley followed his father and brother into ministry in 1735, and he travelled with John to Georgia in America, returning a year later.

In particular, Charles Wesley was strongly opposed to the idea of a breach with the Church of England in which they had been ordained.

Charles Wesley was the 18th child of Susanna Wesley and Samuel Wesley.

Charles Wesley was born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England, where his father was rector.

At Oxford, Charles Wesley formed a prayer group among his fellow students in 1727; his elder brother, John, joined in 1729, soon becoming its leader and moulding it in line with his own convictions.

Charles Wesley tutored while studying; he graduated in 1732 with a master's degree in classical languages and literature.

Charles Wesley commemorated the first anniversary of his religious experience by composing an 18-stanza poem, with its seventh verse, beginning "O for a thousand tongues to sing", now serving as the opening of a shorter hymn.

Charles Wesley felt renewed strength to spread the gospel to ordinary people and it was around then that he began to write the poetic hymns for which he would become known.

Later that same year, finding that they were unwelcome inside parish churches, the Charles Wesley brothers took to preaching to crowds in open fields.

Charles Wesley wrote to Whitefield regularly and is mentioned in many of Whitefield's journal entries.

In Newcastle upon Tyne, Charles Wesley established its first Methodist society.

Charles Wesley faced mob violence in Wednesbury and Sheffield in 1743 and at Devizes in 1747.

Charles Wesley was the daughter of Marmaduke Gwynne, a wealthy Welsh magistrate who had been converted to Methodism by Howell Harris.

In 1771, Charles Wesley obtained another house in London and moved into it that year with his elder son.

Charles Wesley junior spent most of his career as the personal organist of the Royal Family, and Samuel became one of the most accomplished musicians in the world and is often called "the English Mozart".

Charles Wesley's body was carried to the church by six clergy of the Church of England.

Charles Wesley's hymns are marked by their strong doctrinal content, a richness of scriptural and literary allusion, and the variety of his metrical and stanza forms.

Charles Wesley's poetry included epistles, elegies and political and satirical verse.

Charles Wesley produced paraphrases of the Psalms, contributing to the long tradition of English metrical Psalmody.

Charles' brother Samuel Wesley wrote a poem against such practice.

Charles Wesley is still remembered for his ministry while in St Simon's Island, Georgia, by the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church; in 1950, the conference opened a Christian retreat centre on the island by the banks of the Frederica River, designating it Epworth by the Sea in honour of his and John's birthplace.

Charles Wesley's hymns are utilised in not only Methodist churches but other Protestant denominations, and have been adopted by the Roman Catholic Church.