Charles Wesley was an English leader of the Methodist movement, most widely known for writing more than 6,000 hymns. Wesley was born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, the son of Anglican cleric and poet Samuel Wesley and his wife Susanna.
In the course of his career, Charles Wesley published the words of over six thousand hymns, many of which are still popular. These include:
- “Arise my soul arise”
- “And Can It Be That I Should Gain?”
- “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today”
- “Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies”
- “Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown”
- “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus”
- “Depth of Mercy, Can it Be”
- “Father, I Stretch My Hands to Thee”
- “Hail the Day that Sees Him Rise”
- “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”
- “Jesus, Lover of My Soul”
- “Jesus, The Name High Over All”
- “Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending”
- “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”
- “O for a Heart to Praise My God”
- “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing”
- “Rejoice, the Lord is King”
- “Soldiers of Christ, Arise”
- “Thou Hidden Source of Calm Repose”
- “Ye Servants of God”
Some 150 of his hymns are in the Methodist hymn book Hymns and Psalms, including “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing, and “The Church Hymn Book” (In New York and Chicago, US, 1872) where “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” is published. Many of his hymns are translated into other languages and form the foundation for Methodist hymnals, as well as the Swedish Metodist-Episkopal-Kyrkans Psalmbok printed in Stockholm in 1892.
