Comfortable Words
The King James Bible of 1611, a model of straightforward English made for reading aloud.
The King James Bible of 1611, a model of straightforward English made for reading aloud.
Charles Wesley pictures the communion service as the unfolding of the courts of heaven and the living presence of Jesus Christ.
In this poem, Charles Wesley turns to the Epistle to the Hebrews, where St Paul describes Christ as a sacrifice presented everlastingly before God in a heavenly Temple. In the communion service, says Wesley, we are admitted to that heavenly sanctuary for a blessed moment.
A hymn that develops the exhortation of St Paul, that we should ‘pray without ceasing’.
Joseph Scriven (1819-1886) was an Irishman, born in Dublin, who emigrated to Canada in 1847 and dedicated his life to education, preaching, and charitable work. His life was beset by disappointments and bereavements: twice he was engaged to be married, and twice his fiancée died. This poem was written for his mother when she fell dangerously ill in 1855, and headed ‘Pray without ceasing’.
A hymn about the temple of the Christian heart, where the Wisdom of God makes his humble dwelling.
Charles Wesley’s Love Divine is a staple of weddings but it is, of course, much more than a paean to married love. It picks up on St Paul’s teaching that God dwells in each Christian as he dwelt in the Temple at Jerusalem, and (if he is allowed to) gradually transforms the believer into his own glory — what the Church Fathers used to call theosis, making man divine.
A hymn about free grace, based on St Peter’s release from prison by the hand of an angel.
This hymn is one of Charles Wesley’s finest. It draws on St Luke’s account, in the Acts of the Apostles, of St Peter’s release from prison by an angel sent from God, and relates it to the Christian who realises that Jesus Christ has torn up the indictment for sin that stood between them.
A hymn about the enduring freshness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In 1866, Katherine Hankey (1834-1911), daughter of an English banker, was recovering from a long and debilitating illness. Thankful for this answer to her prayers, she composed a long poem reflecting on the story of redemption. Within a year, the handful of verses given below had became a popular hymn, helped by a memorable musical setting by American inventor and choirmaster William Howard Doane.
A hymn for those times when the Christian life seems like riding in a storm-tossed ship.
Jesu, Lover of My Soul begins with an image of the Christian life as a ship tossed upon the heaving waters of a storm at sea without, and ends with the image of a refreshing fountain of eternal youth welling up within.