Paper
Reflections
The Wesley brothers - Charles Wesley
Part Three
Charles Wesley's ministry – drawing on his Journal
1. On June 7th and again on the 12th, Charles tells of his encounter with a French Prophetess – a story that remind us that we live in a very different age. Charles writes: “I heard more of my Prophetess, who told a brother, that she can command Christ to come to her in what shape she pleases; as a dove, an eagle, etc … She came his friend Bray’s house. Charles continues “when she came in; (she) flew upon us like a tigress; tried to outface me; insisted that she was immediately inspired. I prayed. She cried, “The devil was in me. I was a fool, a blockhead, a blind leader of the blind; …She roared outrageously; said it was the lion in her. (True, says Charles, but not the Lion of Judah.) …I asked, “Who is on God’s side? Who (is) for the old Prophets rather than the new? Let them follow me.” They followed me into the preaching room. I prayed, and expounded the lesson with extraordinary power ….We rejoiced and triumphed in the name of the Lord our God. Later Charles, John, and others “All agreed to disown the Prophetess”. (p.153)
2. By the beginning of 1739 opposition was rising within the established church to the preaching of Charles, John, and George Whitefield and as a consequence church doors were closing against them. In June 1739 Charles reports that the Bishop of London had authorised his “forcible exclusion”. Charles responded initially by saying “I felt nothing in my heart but peace. I prayed and sang!” However, some hours later he was no longer singing, His Journal reports that he “sank down in great heaviness and discouragement”. (p.154)
3. John was not the only Wesley to preach at Oxford University. Charles records that on “Sunday July 1st, 1739 (He) preached (a) sermon on justification before the University, with great boldness. All were very attentive. One could not help weeping.” The next day however he tells us: “I visited the Vice-Chancellor, at his own desire; gave him a full account of the Methodists; which he approved; but objected the irregularity of our doing good in other men’s parishes; charged Mr. Whitfield with insincerity, ….appealed to the Dean, and appointed a second meeting there. All were against my sermon, as liable to be misunderstood.”
4. John Wesley visited Ireland some 27 times. In 1748 Charles also visited Ireland. The following extract from his Journal tells of his visit to Cork: It was on Sunday 18th of September. Charles says: I rose …in pain, which confined me for the day.. I prayed God to suspend it if it was his will I should speak …with his people. I went to meet with them at five …(more than) ten thousand …stood fixed in deep attention. I faintly read my text from Acts 2:42 …they observed my weakness and prayed me strong….my words sunk into their hearts, and melted them to tears. For two hours we wept and rejoiced together …commending each other again and again to God.”
Marriage – harmony and conflict
Charles Wesley and Sarah Gwynne were married at 8am on the morning of 8th April 1749. Charles was 41 and Sarah (or Sally as Charles preferred to call her) was 22. His brother John presided at the wedding, and Sarah’s parents and sisters and several others were present. John joined their hands together, and then led a hymn with no less than ten verses. A couple of the verses read as follows:
Raise our hearts to things on high,
To our Bridegroom in the sky;
To our Bridegroom in the sky;
Heaven our hope and highest aim,
Mystic marriage of the Lamb.
O that each might obtain a share
Of the pure enjoyment there,
Now, in rapturous surprise,
Drink the wine of Paradise. (p.56 vol 2)
This was a significant turning point in Charles’ life. Charles and Sally’s marriage was a happy one as evidenced in his many letters to “my dear Sally”. They had eight children though only three survived to adulthood, two boys and a girl. Their son Samuel and grandson Samuel Sebastian both made significant contributions to the musical scene in England. Charles died aged aged 81 in 1788. Sarah died aged 96 in 1822.
A major consequence of the marriage of Charles to Sally was that Charles gradually transitioned from being an itinerant preacher to a supervisory role in relation to the Methodist societies in both London and Bristol. Gareth Lloyd in his book Charles Wesley and the struggle for Methodist Identity, says that “Charles's itinerant preaching was reduced until it ceased altogether in 1756.” Lloyd continues “This aggravated other tensions that were starting to appear in the relationship of John and Charles. The brothers seem to have viewed each other's marital intentions as a threat to their respective ministries. This climaxed in Charles's deliberate destruction of his brother's engagement to Grace Murray in October 1749. A decisive personal break between the brothers was only narrowly avoided, but, their old closeness was severely undermined and this alienation started to impact on the Methodist movement.”
Another issue that seriously blighted the relationship between John and Charles had to do with the question of ordination. Charles although he had similar issues to John with with regard to some of the hierarchy of the Church of England nevertheless always felt a strong attachment to the established Church. He saw Methodism as a movement, not separate from the Church of England but an off shoot of it. Consequently, he did not want to do anything that would permanently damage the relationship between the Methodists and the Church of England. John had a more pragmatic bent and a greater commitment to the wider Methodist connexion. It all came to a head when John chose to ordain Thomas Coke to Superintend the work in America and to ensure that the sacrament of Holy Communion could be offered to the rapidly growing Methodist societies in America. John knew it was against Anglican polity for lay people to preside over the sacrament and he also knew that it was against Anglican polity for a person who was not a Bishop to ordain others. He weighted this up, he searched the scriptures, and came to the conclusion that: a) he could on New Testament grounds ordain people (“bishops and presbyters are the same order” he writes in September 1784), and b) that having the Eucharist available and presided over by the ordained was not only necessary it was more important than the ordination issue. Otherwise, hundreds, if not thousands of people would be deprived of the sacrament. Having come to that conclusion John ordained Thomas Coke in 1784 as Superintendent for America and instructed Coke to ordain Francis Asbury as his assistant. John defended his actions in a letter to Charles on August 19th 1785, and again in a letter written September 13th 1785. He begins the latter saying “I see no use of you and me disputing together; for neither of us is likely to convince the other. You say I separate from the Church; I say I do not. Then let it stand.” Charles replied on the same day saying I did not say; You separate from the Church; but I did say, If I could prove it, I would not.” Charles was far from happy about his brother’s actions.
Reconciliation – illness and death
The two brothers ultimately “did let it stand” and were reconciled. Charles died on March 29th 1788. Just prior to his death John wrote frequently to him. In a brief note written on February 18th John says “Dear Brother, - You must go out every day or die. Do not die to save charges. You certainly need not want anything as long a I live. Adieu. In another letter written a few days later, John says to Charles: “Many inquire after you, and express much affection and desire of seeing you.”
Sadly, John didn’t know that Charles had died until April 4th five days after his death – John was in the north of England at the time. Consequently, John was unable to be at Charles’ funeral. On receiving the news of Charles death he immediately wrote to Sally saying “If it had been necessary, in order to serve either him or you, I should not have thought much of coming … to London. Indeed, to serve you, or your dear family, in anything that is in my power, (it) will always be a pleasure …, dear sister. Your affectionate friend and brother.
That’s a sketch of some of the background to Charles’ life and ministry. A question remains for us to explore, it is this: what significance does Charles Wesley have for Methodism, then, and now? More about that later …
Norman E Brookes May 2024.