Wesley Corpus

Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739) - Charles Wesley Verse1 Baker list, 13 Editorial Introduction: In March 1739 the Wesley brothers issued the first in a new series of collected verse, titled Hymns and Sacred Poems. While it bore the names of both brothers, printer records and diary entries make clear that John was the primary collector and editor of the work. John also authored the preface to the volume (not included below, available in John's Works). But several of the hymns in the collection were clearly authored by Charles (his first published verse). Twenty-seven of the items in HSP (1739) were drawn from John's earlier Collection of Psalms and Hymns volumes. John added nearly sixty additional selections from other identifiable authors. Combined, these sources account for nearly two-thirds of the contents. Most of the remaining items are likely original contributions by John or Charles Wesley. The exact division in this regard is a bit unclear, as John occasionally fails to identify the source when drawing on other writers. We have tried to exclude below all items by other writers, but a few may remain unidentified. The thornier issue is determining the specific authorship of the original contributions in this collection, because the Wesley brothers agreed from the beginning not to indicate individual authorship in their shared collections. In some cases the question can be settled by the survival of a particular item in Charles Wesley's manuscript collections of his work (indicated by adding CW after the title in the Table of Contents below). Beyond that, scholars are reduced to debating internal criteria for discerning when a poem might be by John rather than Charles. Two broad generalizations have emerged from this debate. First, unless there is strong evidence to the contrary (such as appearance in Charles' manuscript collections), scholars concur that John should be considered the author of the translations of German (and one Spanish) hymns so none of these are included below. Second, scholars concur that the vast majority of the original contributions were penned by Charles, thus he should be considered the author for the verse that follows unless compelling evidence emerges to indicate otherwise. A complete text of Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739) can be found in the subsection of this website devoted to John Wesley's collections of hymns. Editions: John and Charles Wesley. Hymns and Sacred Poems. London: Strahan, 1739. 2nd London: Strahan, 1739.