Charles Wesley
Posts in Comfortable Words tagged ‘Charles Wesley’
A short poem about the transformation of the communion bread and wine by the action of God’s Spirit.
In Charles Wesley’s day, the change effected to the bread and wine in the eucharist was a matter of bitter and often ill-informed dispute. Here, he echoes the wise words of eighth-century monk St John Damascene, and simply asks the Holy Spirit to be present and to do those things which surpass reason and thought.
A meditation on St Paul’s exhortation to put on the whole armour of God.
This is one of Charles Wesley’s best-known hymns, though usually shortened, and in recent times it has been criticised for its supposed ‘militaristic’ tone. The extended military metaphor is, of course, from St Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians; and as Paul himself makes abundantly clear, it is concerned solely with fighting invisible spiritual forces, the dark angels that lord it over men and lands to their own ruin.
Charles Wesley looks forward to the day when Jesus Christ will return to earth.
St Luke tells that when Christ was taken from the Apostles’ sight by a cloud on the Mount of Olives, forty days after his resurrection, he promised he would return in the same fashion. In this famous hymn, Charles Wesley waits in keen anticipation for that day.
A meditation on the birth of Christ, as the light of heaven come down to earth.
There are few Christmas hymns to match this one, by Charles Wesley; yet it is rarely sung today. It deserves better. The central theme is the Sun of Righteousness from the prophecy of Malachi, who would dawn upon the faithful of Israel ‘with healing in his wings’.
A short poem about the irresistible power of the Name of Jesus Christ, and its source in that mildest of images, the helpless lamb.
‘Behold the lamb of God’ was the cry of John the Baptist when he saw Jesus walking towards him as John baptised repentant sinners in the River Jordan. Few can have understood what he meant; that became a little clearer when Jesus was put to death just as the Passover lambs were being sacrificed in the Temple.
A hymn urging Christians to think of those who have died as ever-present with us, in our worship, our prayers and our hearts.
The Church of England in the eighteenth century did not encourage its members to think of the dead; they had passed on to an unknown fate, were now sleeping and could be no more to us than an example to follow. In this hymn, Charles Wesley rather daringly invites us to think of the departed Christians as very much alive, and as joined with us in our prayers and songs.