Develop a Discipleship System
Happy Birthday, Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley's Life
| Dec 18, 1707 | born, Epworth, Lincolnshire, England; 18th child and youngest son of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, brother of John |
| 1716 | enrolled in Westminster School; room and board paid by his brother Samuel |
| 1721 | elected a king's scholar |
| 1726 | entered Christ College, Oxford |
| 1729 | Charles formed the Oxford Holy Club, came to be jokingly called "Methodists" by their fellow students; club started by Charles (the "first Methodist"), later headed by John |
| 1730 | graduated, B.A., Christ College, Oxford |
| 1732 | George Whitefield joined the Holy Club |
| 1732 | M.A., Christ College, Oxford |
| May 1735 | Whitefield the first Holy Club member to find assurance of salvation |
| 1735 | ordained deacon and elder, Church of England |
| 1735 | went to the new Georgia Colony in America with John as a missionary; served as General James Oglethorpe's secretary and Secretary of Indian Affairs at St. Simon's Island |
| Mar 25, 1736 | first entry in his Journal, with entries to Nov. 4, 1756 |
| 1736 | became disillusioned, returned to England, arriving Dec 3 |
| Aug 26, 1737 | appeared before King George II on behalf of the Univ. of Oxford at Hampton Court |
| 1738 | suffers from pleurisy, ending his hope to return to Georgia as a missionary |
| April 1738 | travel to London with John and the Moravian, Peter Bohler, who instructed the brothers in evangelical Christianity |
| May 21, 1738 | converted on Whitsunday, three days prior to John |
| Oct 1738 | preached extempore for the first time at St. Antholin's Church, Bristol |
| 1739 | first publication of "And Can It Be that I Should Gain" and "Where Shall My Wondering Soul Begin," both composed at or near his conversion; also wrote "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" |
| 1739 | served, without license from the bishop, as curate of St. Mary's Islington, a center of early Methodist activity |
| 1740 | first publication of "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing," composed in 1739 in celebration of his 1738 conversion; "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" |
| 1744 | first publication of "Come, Thou Long-expected Jesus" |
| 1747 | first publication of "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" |
| 1749 | moved to Bristol, married Sarah Gwynne (John officiated), eventually having eight children; unlike his brother's marriage, it was a happy, loving relationship |
| 1749 | first publication of "And Are We Yet Alive" |
| Fall 1756 | itinerant ministry ends in the north of England; final Journal entry Nov. 5 |
| 1762 | Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures, for which Wesley composed hymns and poems on scriptures from every book of the Bible |
| 1762 | composes "A Charge to Keep I Have," which becomes the favorite hymn of US President George W. Bush, and the source of the title for his campaign autobiography, A Charge to Keep |
| 1771 | moved back to Marylebone, London with family, where he and Sally had been married; overseas work of the London Methodists; sons Charles and Samuel were gifted prodigies, with Samuel compared to Mozart by contemporaries |
| 1780 | John published A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists, with many hymns by Charles; Charles' published hymns, only a small portion of the more than 6,500 total, were published during his lifetime in 64 collections by the Wesleys |
| Mar 29, 1788 |
died, Marylebone, London, England; his final hymn was dictated to his wife on his deathbed:
In age and feebleness extreme, |
|
buried in the Marylebone Parish Church, London, an Anglican church; he did not wish to be buried in unconsecrated, Methodist ground; his gravestone reads:
HERE LIE |
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