Wesley Corpus

Last updated: December 2, 2009. Epistle to Whitefield (1771)1 Baker list, 328 Editorial Introduction: In 1755, at the same time that Charles Wesley was experiencing growing tension with his brother John, he was rebuilding his relationship with George Whitefield and Lady Huntingdon. While they continued to disagree over the issue of predestination, Charles found Whitefield and Huntingdon to be allies in the concern to preserve connection with the Church of England. Charles's way of working through the dynamics of relationships like these was to articulate his concerns and hopes in verse. In addition to writing the Epistle to John Wesley in 1755, which he published immediately, Charles also wrote epistles to George Whitefield, Howell Harris, George Stonehouse, and Nikolaus von Zinzendorf. It is unclear how many of these epistles he sent to their designated recipients, but he did not publish them at that time. They can be found in MS Epistles, elsewhere on this website (the epistle to Whitefield on pp. 45-51). In 1771, following Whitefield's death and shortly after publishing his Elegy on Whitefield (1771), Charles Wesley decided to publish as well his 1755 manuscript epistle to Whitefield. This decision was likely prodded by criticism that the Wesley brothers received from some Calvinist Methodists for publishing pieces praising Whitefield after spending so many years challenging his teaching about predestination. Charles may have hoped that the Epistle to Whitefield would demonstrate that he and Whitefield had been actively supporting each other's ministry over the last fifteen years. Edition: Charles Wesley. An Epistle to the Reverend Mr. George Whitefield. London: J. W. Oliver, 1771.