The Journal Letters and Related Biographical Items of the Reverend Charles Wesley, M.A.

As a primary record of one of the founders of the Wesleyan/Methodist movement, Charles Wesley’s Journal is crucial to an understanding of the beginnings of that movement. It is an indispensable interpretive companion to John Wesley’s Journal, diaries, and letters. Since it provides important background to the context of Charles Wesley’s own lyrical theology expressed in sacred poetry, it is likewise absolutely essential for anyone who wants to understand the context out of which Wesleyan theology, worship, spirituality, hymnody, and conferencing emerged. For a church or movement which avers that “it sings its theology,” Charles Wesley’s Journal is an imperative.

This volume is part of a series dedicated to providing a complete and accurate published collection of Charles Wesley manuscript items beyond his sermons and verse. The various items included in the series constitute crucial primary texts for study of Wesley’s life, his ministry, and his increasingly contentious position within Methodism in his later years. The first two volumes of the series were devoted to Charles Wesley’s Manuscript Journal, a single bound item held at the Methodist Archives and Research Centre. The present volume gathers a number of scattered items (the majority also held at MARC), many of which are earlier—and more complete—drafts of material in the Manuscript Journal. The third major component of the series is publication of all of Charles Wesley’s surviving personal correspondence, which are replete with material of biographical and larger historical interest.