METHODIST HYMNODY.
ed for use in the churches. When he was a " Missioner in Georgia," John Wesley pre¬
pared and published A collection of Psalms and Hymns, which he described, in an
enlarged edition of Wood's At hence Oxonicnsis,us ol the year 173<;, but the imprint on
the title paLre is " Charles-Town, printed by Lewis Timothy, 1737." This work was the
first collection of In inns published for use in the Church of England. The volume
" illustrates his care to provide for the spiritual wants of those to whom he ministered;
his earnest and serious tt uiper ; and his piontinent eceltsiasticism." On his return to
England, he prepared a new edition of that collection, and issued it in 1738. It is a
lL'mo. book of s4 pages. Of the American book, only one copy is known to exist; of
the Emrlish reptint of 1738, three copies are known, one of which is in the Lambeth
P.ilace library. [For details, see England Hymnody, Church of, §1.]
Th.:> first Meth<> lists at Oxt'jrd sang psalms in proportion to their earnestness in re-
lL'ion ; when they declined and shrank from the reproach of serious Godliness, the sing¬
ing in their meetings was given up. After the conversion of the two Wesleys, in May,
17.1s, si:i'_'imj; was resumed; and from that time to the present, frequent singing has
been an essential part of Methodist worship. To encourage this form of service, John
We-lev, as early as 174l?, provided time-books for the use of his followers (some of
which are in us..' at the present thne^; and that all might learn to sing, he printed the
melody only. We will now enumerate the original poetical works of John and Charles
We-ley in detail.
i. The first collection pub. by J >ln and Charles Wesley with their names on the title-page was
entitled " Hymns and Sacred Poem-," 1739, i2mo. pp. 223, and contained 139 hymns. This was reprint¬
ed the same year without the Poems, and a third ed., unabridged, is also dated 1739. In this book are
given the tirst of Charles Wesley's compositions, and out of this volume 50 hymns were selected for
the We-ley Hymn Book, 17:50. A fourth edition appeared in 1743, and another in 1747.
2. Early in 1740, appeared " Hymns and Sacred Poems," an entirely new book of 209 pages, with
96 hymns, and amongst them some of the most popular now in use, including " O for a thousand
tongues to sing,"—page 42s, i.,—an 1 " Jesus lover of my Soul,"—page 590. i. This volume supplied
54 hymns to the Wesley Hymn Book, 17S0.
3. In 1741, the Wesleys issued " A Collection 01" Psalms aud Hymns,"a vol. of 126 pages, contain¬
ing 165 compositions. Tli is was not a reprint of the 173S book, though containing a few of the pieces
therein, but the Psalms were C. Wesley's version of various Psalms, and the Hymns were new. Only
3 of these found their way into the Wesley Hymn Book of 1780. After the death of John Wesley, Or.
Coke made additions thereto which doubled its size. It came into general use, so that the Confer¬
ence of 1S16 recommended it for " use in Methodist Congregations in the forenoon, " from which it
came to be called " The .Morning Hymn Book," and such it remained till 1S31, when the Supplement
■was added to the 17S0 book.
4. In 1741, appeared "Hymns on God's Everlasting Love," in 36 pages, containing 38 new hymns,
of which 19 are in the Wesley Hymn Book, 178-). The second edition contains 84 pages. The third is
dated 1770.
5. In 1742, a new volume of "Hymns and Sacred I'cems " appeared, with 304 pages and 155 new
hymns, of which 102 were selected for the Wesley Hymn Book of 1780.
6. An enlarged edition of the collection of "Psalms and Hymns" appeared in 1743 containing
135 hymn-, 17 of which are in the 1780 book.
7. In 1744, three tracts of hymns were issued, with the titles of "Hymns for the Nativity," 18
hymns. "Hymns for the Watchnight," 11. "funeral Hymns," 16. From these three, 10 hymns are in
the Wesley Hymn Book.
8. Four tracts and one volume of hymns appeared in 1745. From two only of these have selec¬
tions been made. "A Short View of the Differences between the Moravians and J. and C. Wesley,"
contains 6 hymns, 3 of which are in the Wesley Hymn Book. The second is a most important work,"
"Hymns on the Lord's Supper," by Charles Wesley, a volume of 141 pages and 166 hymns,"with a pref¬
ace concerning the Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice, extracted from Ur. Brevint." From this work
20 hymns were selected for the Wesley Hymn Book of 17S0. The hymns for "The Lord's Supper" have
been often reprinted, but generally without the pieface, which was never intended, as Chailes Wesley
has only versified portions of Or. Breviut's remarks, in some of the hymns. In the extracts from Dr.
Brevint the doctrine of the True and Real Presence is taught, and Charles Wesley embodies the teach¬
ing of the preface in his verses. In the fourth section "Concerning the Sacrament as a Means of
Grace," and in paragraph 5, are these words in relerence to the hfficacy of the Death of Christ :
"This victim having been offered up in the fulness of times, and in the midst of the world, which is
Christ's great Temple, and having been thence carried up to Heaven, which is His Sanctuary, from
thence spreads Salvation all around, as the burul-offering did its smoke And thus His Body and
Blood have everywhere, but especially at this Sacrament, a true and real presence." Catching the
same inspiration, Charles Wesley expresses the same idea in at least seven of the hymns which
follow:—
Hy. 33. "Drink Thy blood for sinners shed
Taste Thee in the broken Bread."
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