Part 11

These verses might be headed ‘A Prayer before Controversy,’ but it is a shock to the reader on turning the page to find that the next verse shows how soon he descended from this high level.

The controversy was renewed thirty years later with vastly greater bitterness, and with much more personal feeling.

John Fletcher parted in 1771 from his Trevecca students like the saint he was, for he could no longer hold his place when other Arminians were discharged. ‘I cannot give up the possibility of the salvation of all any more than I can give up the truth and love of God.... I left them all in peace, the servant, but no more the president of the college.’[136]

The love of Whitefield and the Wesleys was of the kind which many waters cannot quench; but when Madan, Romaine, Hervey, and Rowland Hill heaped upon John Wesley’s venerable head torrents of vulgar abuse—abuse absolutely impossible, inconceivable in our milder mannered age[137]—Charles felt that there was a point beyond which even Christian charity could not decently go. His refusal to write Hervey’s epitaph is worthy of a Christian gentleman:

Let Madan or Romaine record his praise, Enough that Wesley’s brother can forgive.

The flowing tide, however, was with the Methodists, and though the fight was long, and the victory was not wholly won in their day, these hymns rendered an inestimable service to the cause of religious freedom. It may be true that they represented Calvin’s teaching one-sidedly, and at times misrepresented it, but it cannot be denied that they pictured current Calvinistic teaching accurately enough. The Wesleys saw clearly that, should belief in a limited redemption spread in their Society, they would but labour in vain and spend their strength for nought. They might have gathered little coteries of devout folk, strongly tinctured with what we now call Plymouth Brethrenism, but they could never have founded a great Church, whose chiefest glory should be its missionary enterprise both at home and in the ends of the earth. The mission of Thomas Coke more than a hundred years ago, the great city missions of our own time, the work of William Booth, of Hugh Price Hughes, and Samuel F. Collier, would have been impossible had they not been able to say anywhere and to all—

Sent by my Lord, on you I call; The invitation is to all: Come, all the world; come, sinner, thou; All things in Christ are ready now!

The Wesleys reached their doctrine of general redemption by two paths. In the first place, they had been trained in the school of Arminius and of Laud, and had been confirmed in the faith by their own careful study of God’s word. But it is abundantly evident that their own experience had led them to believe in the infinite mercy of God. Charles Wesley, especially, argued with the profound humility of the sincere penitent, that his own salvation, of which he had received the undeniable assurance, ‘the indubitable seal,’ on Whit-Sunday, 1738, was itself convincing evidence of the good tidings he proclaimed.

Thy sovereign grace to all extends, Immense and unconfined: From age to age it never ends; It reaches all mankind.

Throughout the world its breadth is known, Wide as infinity; So wide, it never passed by one, Or it had passed by me.[138]

This is a note which constantly recurs in the _Hymns on God’s Everlasting Love_—sometimes expressed quaintly and unpoetically, sometimes with a pathos truly sublime, as in these verses—

O let me kiss Thy bleeding feet, And bathe and wash them with my tears; The story of Thy love repeat In every drooping sinner’s ears, That all may hear the quickening sound, Since I, even I, have mercy found.

O let Thy love my heart constrain, Thy love for every sinner free; That every fallen soul of man May taste the grace that found out me; That all mankind, with me, may prove Thy sovereign, everlasting love.[139]

In this, as in other respects, the Wesleyan theology was characteristically Pauline. ‘This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all men to be received that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief.’

Hymns of this class have an important place in the story of the Methodist Revival, as well as in the Calvinistic controversy. The vehemence, the violence, with which the Wesleys asserted their doctrine was largely, if not entirely, due to their sense of what it meant to the vast crowds of neglected, ignorant, savage folk who listened with amazement to the messengers who proclaimed God’s love to them.

Sinners, believe the gospel word, Jesus is come your souls to save! Jesus is come, your common Lord; Pardon ye all in Him may have, May now be saved, whoever will; This Man receiveth sinners still.

See where the lame, the halt, the blind. The deaf, the dumb, the sick, the poor, Flock to the Friend of human kind, And freely all accept their cure; To whom doth He His help deny? Whom in His days of flesh pass by?[140]

And again—

O unexampled Love, O all-redeeming Grace! How freely didst Thou move To save a fallen race! What shall I do to make it known What Thou for all mankind hast done?

O for a trumpet voice, On all the world to call! To bid their hearts rejoice In Him who died for all; For all my Lord was crucified, For all, for all my Saviour died![141]

This was a new voice crying in the wilderness of dull religious mediocrity or of self-satisfied religious devotion, it was the clarion-cry of one that brought good tidings to the outcasts of Israel.

4. Hymns of the Methodist Evangel

From the first the Methodists made their own experience the starting-point of their preaching. John Wesley desired no help from any who had not ‘the witness in himself.’ His itinerants must set to their seal that God is true. ‘We are witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost.’ This personal element, the testimony of the man who believed and therefore spoke, differentiated at once Methodist preaching from the cold impersonal moral essays of the parish church. But Methodist preaching would not have been what it was had John Wesley’s sermons rather than Charles Wesley’s hymns represented Methodism to the masses. John Wesley’s keen intellect held his deep religious fervour in check, but Charles took full advantage of the poet’s licence to say what was in his heart without reserve and without modifying explanations.

His hymns of invitation strike a new note. There is nothing to compare with them in earlier hymn-writers, and comparatively little in later. They are the battle-songs of an open-air preacher, and are borne on the wings of the tempest that raged around the heroic little poet as he faced cheerily the rage or ridicule of the mob. His metres are bright and lilting, winning the ear of the simple and arresting the casual passer-by.

The mercy I feel To others I show, I set to my seal That Jesus is true: Ye all may find favour Who come at His call, O come to my Saviour, His grace is for all!

O let me commend My Saviour to you, The publican’s Friend And Advocate too, For you He is pleading His merits and death, With God interceding For sinners beneath.

And again—

O all that pass by, To Jesus draw near; He utters a cry, Ye sinners, give ear! From hell to retrieve you, He spreads out His hands; Now, now to receive you, He graciously stands.

Only a preacher, perhaps only an open-air preacher, could have written such hymns. They are not hymns of the oratory, of the class-room, or the village church; but of that vast cathedral whose roof is the blue vault of heaven; they are songs of Moorfields, of Kingswood, of Newcastle, and of Gwennap. Perhaps of all Wesley’s hymns these are the most characteristically Methodist. Comparatively few are to be found even yet in any but Methodist books, but in them they hold an unchallenged place, and belong to the whole Methodist family, which has had many a quarrel in Conference, has been many a time by schisms rent asunder, but has never faltered in its loyal and steadfast proclamation of the message of God’s everlasting love.

As a general rule each revision of a Nonconformist hymn-book renders it less distinctive of the denomination it represents, and this is, to some extent, true of the new Methodist hymn-book. It has lost the section with which Wesley’s book opened, ‘Exhorting and Entreating to Return to God,’ but it retains almost all the hymns. Modern writers have seldom succeeded in hymns of this type. A few, however, rank with the best of Charles Wesley’s, who himself never struck a note of yearning sympathy for the erring more true and tender than Faber in his ‘Come to Jesus.’

Souls of men! why will ye scatter Like a crowd of frightened sheep? Foolish hearts! why will ye wander From a love so true and deep?

It is not one of the best signs of the times that hymns of invitation are now for the most part provided by American singers and are of the ephemeral class.

Faber’s exquisite lines, set side by side with such a hymn as Wesley’s

Ye neighbours and friends Of Jesus, draw near,

well illustrate the difference between the cheery, hopeful, out-door evangel of the Wesleys and the subdued earnestness of the pleading of the modern Catholic or Anglo-Catholic missioner. I do not suggest that the comparison is to the advantage or disadvantage of either, but only indicate the difference of the tone of the mid-eighteenth and mid-nineteenth century mission hymns. In our day evangelism has lost much of its novelty, and men are less hopeful than they were of the world’s conversion. To the first Methodists it seemed as though any triumph was possible to such a gospel as theirs, and their battle-songs were all songs of victory.

Wesley’s hymns enshrine the history as well as the doctrines of Methodism, and few studies in Methodist hymnology are more interesting than that of the geography of the hymn-book. As to the local setting of ‘Lo! on a narrow neck of land’ there has been much controversy, but it undoubtedly belongs to Jekyl Island, and not to the Land’s End. Charles Wesley wrote to Lady Oglethorpe from Jekyl Island in 1736—

‘Last evening I wandered to the north end of the island, and stood upon the narrow point which your ladyship will recall as there projecting into the ocean. The vastness of the watery waste, as compared with my standing place, called to mind the briefness of human life and the immensity of its consequences, and my surroundings inspired me to write the enclosed hymn, beginning

Lo! on a narrow neck of land, ’Twixt two unbounded seas I stand—

which, I trust, may pleasure your ladyship, weak and feeble as it is when compared with the songs of the sweet psalmist of Israel.’[142]

He did write a hymn at the Land’s End, but it is of quite a different type. It might have been written for St. Augustine of Canterbury on his landing at Ebbsfleet.

Come, Divine Immanuel, come, Take possession of Thy home, Now Thy mercy’s wings expand, Stretch throughout the happy land.[143]

The popular hymn

See how great a flame aspires, Kindled by a spark of grace! Jesu’s love the nations fires, Sets the kingdoms on a blaze—

tells of victory at Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Glory to God, whose sovereign grace Hath animated senseless stones;[144]

tells of triumph at Kingswood, whilst—

Worship, and thanks, and blessing, And strength ascribe to Jesus!

is reminiscent of mobs at Walsall and Devizes.

5. Hymns of the Methodist Society

The duty of a Methodist preacher was not simply to sow good seed broadcast, but to gather those who received the word into Societies, where they could be taught, trained, watched over. A large part of John Wesley’s itinerations were for the purpose of confirming and sifting the Societies. In many cases they might be described as Charles Wesley, who had an eye for the humorous side of people and things, describes the Newcastle converts, ‘a wild, loving, staring Society.’ But the converts who remained steadfast were soon led to an intelligent faith and a life of devotion such as is possible only to those who are taught by educated men or their pupils. The debt Methodism owes to Oxford culture is inestimable. The Wesleys were never discouraged by the ignorance of their hearers, but they were never content with it. They had profound faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a teacher, and prayed, like St. Paul for his simple-minded converts at Philippi, that love might abound in good sense and good taste.[145]

Him Prophet, and King, And Priest we proclaim, We triumph and sing Of Jesus’s name; Poor idiots[146] He teaches To show forth His praise, And tell of the riches Of Jesus’s grace.

No matter how dull The scholar whom He Takes into His school, And gives him to see; A wonderful fashion Of teaching He hath, And wise to salvation He makes us through faith.

To a generation brought up to regard Sankey’s _Songs and Solos_ as the best possible hymns for mission-halls and open-air services, a study of Wesley’s hymns is a liberal education. For the most ignorant of the converts the hymns were the one and only means of culture. They could not read, much of the preaching must have been beyond their comprehension, but the hymns, read slowly, a line at a time, soon became familiar, and the favourite hymns sung over and over again in the house, the class-room, and the family circle, became a part of their very life. Methodist biography shows how the life and death of the saints has been cheered and sanctified by these spiritual songs.

The most important, and by far the largest, part of Wesley’s _Collection_ was devoted to hymns of the Christian life.

It is divided into sections: For Believers Rejoicing, Fighting, Praying, Watching, Working, Suffering, Seeking for Full Redemption, Saved, Interceding for the World. It begins with his own translation of Johann Andreas Rothe’s great hymn

Now I have found the ground wherein Sure my soul’s anchor may remain, The wounds of Jesus, for my sin, Before the world’s foundation slain; Whose mercy shall unshaken stay, When heaven and earth are fled away

This is followed by his version of Zinzendorf’s hymn

Jesu, Thy blood and righteousness My beauty are, my glorious dress.

After these Moravian hymns are a number of Charles Wesley’s, which celebrate the joys of believers, for ‘How should not he be glad, whom the glad tidings have reached?’[147] It is often difficult to understand John Wesley’s principle of classification, but in this section almost every hymn of the seventy-five is obviously well placed under the title ‘For Believers Rejoicing.’ The notes of thanksgiving are very varied, from the calm confidence of ‘Now I have found the ground’ to the simple songs written for him ‘that in God is merry,’ such as

O what shall I do My Saviour to praise, So faithful and true, So plenteous in grace, So strong to deliver, So good to redeem The weakest believer That hangs upon Him!

and

My God, I am Thine, What a comfort divine, What a blessing to know That my Jesus is mine!

We cannot claim for these hymns that they introduce new songs to the Christian choir. Joy and gladness are common to all who have found salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Isaac Watts, Philip Doddridge, F. W. Faber, Frances Ridley Havergal, and many more have had ‘the high praises of God in their mouth.’ From the days of the Hebrew psalmists until now the sense of infinite content which comes with the peace which passeth all understanding has been the theme of God’s singers. ‘He satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.’ Yet joyousness is a special characteristic of Methodist hymns, and especially of those which were written in the early days of the triumphs of the itinerant preachers. No hymns rise higher in their exultant rapture, none are more tenderly triumphant than the songs of Charles Wesley.

His Birthday hymn exhibits the happy enthusiasm of his evangelism.

My remnant of days I spend in His praise, Who died the whole world to redeem; Be they many or few, My days are His due, And they all are devoted to Him.

In other hymns he expresses the same joy in living in calmer tones.

The winter’s night and summer’s day Glide imperceptibly away, Too short to sing Thy praise; Too few we find the happy hours, And haste to join those heavenly powers, In everlasting lays.

Bright and inspiring as these pieces are, they are in striking contrast with the hymns characteristic of minor religious movements, and justify John Wesley’s claim that ‘in these hymns is no doggerel.’ That they are of unequal merit goes without saying, but it is remarkable how many of them are living hymns to-day. Religious feeling is no more healthy because it loves to pray for guidance ‘amid the encircling gloom,’ or to describe the hosts of the Church militant as ‘pilgrims of the night.’ A ‘sober standard of feeling’ must take into account that the darkness has passed and the true light now shineth.

Yet one who knows little of early Methodism would be surprised to find how ‘sober’ is the tone of most of the hymns provided for the people called Methodists. They are songs in which ‘calmly reverential joy’ is more often heard than ecstasy. It is instructive to turn from Mr. Lecky’s chapter on ‘The Religious Revival,’ in his _History of England in the Eighteenth Century_ to Wesley’s hymns. The uninstructed reader of Mr. Lecky would expect to find here the turbid, involved, hysterical expression of a morbid fanaticism, but he would search almost in vain for illustrations of that side of the Methodist Movement. It is true that both the Wesleys were perplexed by the physical effects of their preaching, and were afraid to treat them as mere manifestations of hysterical excitement. But they dealt with them as St. Paul dealt with somewhat similar phenomena at Corinth, and carefully avoided encouraging such painful and inconvenient interruptions of their services. The hymn-book makes no provision for the nervously excited, and has no compositions of the class characteristic of many ‘revivals’—such, for instance, as are found in Hugh Bourne’s _Hymns for Camp Meetings, Revivals, etc._ The novelty, the directness of the preaching, and, no doubt, the lack of education of many of the preachers naturally led to indiscretion in many places, especially in the early days of the Revival; but it is fair to judge the Wesleys’ own standard of religious emotion by their hymns rather than by the extravagances of their least intelligent helpers.

Charles Wesley’s hymn, ‘For the Fear of God,’ is a good example of the attitude of soul he desired for himself and for Methodists generally.

God of all grace and majesty, Supremely great and good! If I have mercy[148] found with Thee, Through the atoning blood, The guard of all Thy mercies give, And to my pardon join A fear lest I should ever grieve The gracious Spirit divine.

Rather I would in darkness mourn The absence of Thy peace, Than e’er by light irreverence turn Thy grace to wantonness: Rather I would in painful awe Beneath Thine anger move, Than sin against the gospel law Of liberty and love.

But O! Thou wouldst not have me live In bondage, grief, or pain, Thou dost not take delight to grieve The helpless sons of men; Thy will is my salvation, Lord; And let it now take place, And let me tremble at the word Of reconciling grace.

Still may I walk as in Thy sight, My strict observer see; And Thou by reverent love unite My child-like heart to Thee; Still let me, till my days are past, At Jesu’s feet abide, So shall He lift me up at last, And seat me by His side.

Perhaps there are few hymns quite of this type, but the subdued and subduing sense of the fear of God pervades many of Charles Wesley’s poems. He dwells much on ‘the mystic joys of penitence,’ as in his brief meditation on Ezek. xxxvi. 26, ‘I will give you an heart of flesh.’

Let me, according to Thy word, A tender, contrite heart receive, Which grieves[149] for having grieved its Lord And never can itself forgive;

a verse which reminds one of Cardinal Newman’s saying that true penitence never forgives itself. This, however, is not what Charles Wesley meant, for he of all Christian poets best understood how truly the pardoned prodigal might make merry and be glad when he was safe in his Father’s house once more.

Lift up Thy countenance serene, And let Thy happy child Behold, without a cloud between, The Godhead reconciled.

An important series of hymns—so important that it demands separate consideration—is that which is found in Sections vii.-ix. of the original hymn-book. They include nearly one hundred pieces, and from the days of John Wesley until the latest revision the section began with a hymn which is the most fitting introduction to the series, since it sets forth with great simplicity the Wesleyan doctrine of Christian perfection. Familiar as this hymn is to Methodists, it is worth while to quote it in full here—

The thing my God doth hate, That I no more may do, Thy creature, Lord, again create, And all my soul renew; My soul shall then, like Thine, Abhor the thing unclean, And, sanctified by love divine, For ever cease from sin.

That blessed law of Thine, Jesus, to me impart; The Spirit’s law of life divine, O write it in my heart! Implant it deep within, Whence it may ne’er remove, The law of liberty from sin, The perfect law of love.

Thy nature be my law, Thy spotless sanctity, And sweetly every moment draw My happy soul to Thee. Soul of my soul remain! Who didst for all fulfil, In me, O Lord, fulfil again Thy heavenly Father’s will!

This hymn is made up, as are many others, by joining together verses from the _Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures_. The first verse is suggested by Jer. xliv. 4: ‘Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.’ The second and third by Jer. xxxi. 33: ‘I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people.’

Another peaceful and attractive hymn on the same subject is based on Heb. iv. 9: ‘There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.’ Charles Wesley wrote twenty-seven verses; John Wesley selected eight, these are reduced to six in the _Methodist Hymn-book_. I am inclined to think that a further abridgement would have been still wiser. The four verses which follow are a beautiful meditation on the text—

Lord, I believe a rest remains To all Thy people known, A rest where pure enjoyment reigns, And Thou art loved alone:

A rest, where all our soul’s desire Is fixed on things above; Where fear, and sin, and grief expire, Cast out by perfect love.

O that I now the rest might know, Believe, and enter in! Now, Saviour, now the power bestow, And let me cease from sin.

Remove this hardness from my heart, This unbelief remove: To me the rest of faith impart, The Sabbath of Thy love.

The doctrine of Entire Sanctification, as it was believed and taught by the Wesleys, is set forth in the hymn-book with emphasis, but the expressions are rarely open to serious objection, nearly every phrase having Scriptural precedent. In early days Charles Wesley had often prayed for death, believing that through its gate alone could he find entrance into ‘the land of rest from inbred sin.’ In one of his first hymns, published in 1739, he had written—

Fain would I leave this world below, Of pain and sin the dark abode, Where shadowy joy or solid woe Allures or tears me from my God; Doubtful and insecure of bliss, Since death alone confirms me His.[150]