Poetical Works of J.& C.Wesley, ed. G.Osborn: Vol.IX, 1870: transcription from a copy in St Deiniol's Library, Hawarden.
Short Hymns on Select Passages of Holy Scripture, 1762: Editorial Preface, including Charles Wesley's Preface.
[Editorial Preface]
The "SHORT HYMNS ON SELECT PASSAGES OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES" were originally published in two volumes "in the year 1762." Some copies appeared without any other words on the title-page, the Author probably fearing that some might be deterred by his name from buying or reading what was designed for their benefit. But the greater part of the edition was issued with the names of both author and printer; the latter being E.Farley, in Small Street, Bristol; and the former announcing himself, as in other publications, "Charles Wesley, M.A., and PRESBYTER of the Church of England." The following Preface appears in most copies: --
"GOD, having graciously laid His hand upon my body, and disabled me for the principal work of ministry, has thereby given me an unexpected occasion of writing the following hymns. Many of the thoughts are borrowed from Mr HENRY's Comment, Dr Gell on the Pentateuch, and BENGELIUS on the New Testament."Several of the hymns are intended to prove, and several to guard, the doctrine of Christian Perfection. I durst not publish one without the other.
"In the latter sort I use some severity; not against particular persons, but against Enthusiasts and Antinomians, who, by not living up to their profession, give abundant occasion to them that seek it, and cause the truth to be spoken evil of.
"Such there have been, in every age, in every revival of religion. But this does in no wise justify the men who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who call the wisdom of God foolishness, and all real religion Enthusiasm.
"When the wheat springs up, the tares also appear, and both grow together until the harvest%: yet is there an essential difference between them. This occasions a difference in my expressions; and as great a seeming contradiction, as when I declare with St. Paul, A man is justified by faith, and not by works; and with St James, A man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
"My desire is, rightly to divide the word of Truth: but who is sufficient for these things? Who can check the self-confident, without discouraging the self-diffident? I trust in God, that none of the latter will take to themselves what belongs to the former only.
"Reader, if God ministers grace to thy soul through any of these hymns, give Him the glory, and offer up a prayer for the weak instrument, that, whenever I finish my course, I may depart in peace, having seen in JESUS CHRIST His great salvation."
The volumes thus introduced to the reader's notice are entitled to rank among the choicest productions of their Author. They display all his characteristic excellencies, and the wide range and rapid succession of the subjects supplied by the several books of Scripture give them an interest all their own. They were circulated in various forms, and scores of them having been inserted in the "Collection," published for general use among the Societies in 1780, have obtained a world-wide circulation and popularity. They were evidently favourites with the Author also, as he spent many of the later years of his life in revising and enlarging them, especially those on the New Testament.
Where so much is admirable, it becomes doubly painful to remark on the Author's weak points. His interpretations of unfulfilled prophecies will by many be considered unsatisfactory. His high church proclivities, though not allowed to interfere with the exercise of his ministry among the Methodists, not seldom find expression here. His early tendencies toward the system of the Mystics also exhibit themselves occasionally, and in particular where he represents the servants of God as being deprived of the conforts of religion without any fault of their own, but merely with a view to the improvement of their graces. Against this notion, by whomsoever held, his brother John earnestly protested, and traces of this difference of judgment between the brothers will be found in sundry short annotations which have been transferred to these pages from the margin of his copy of the work. On the subject of Christian Perfection, the Author intimates in the preface that he might have something unwelcome to say in the course of his work; and accordingly we find several passages in which the doctrine usually held among the Methodists appears to be contradicted, if not ridiculed. Perhaps, if a formal and complete statement of his views had been asked for, or published, they would not have been found materially different from those of his brother; but as he dealt with the subject in fragments, and as the several texts just then before him seemed to dictate, there is sometimes an apparent want of harmony between them. The time, too, was unfavourable to calmness, as the doctrine had been greatly discredited by the indiscretions of some professors, and the absolute fanaticism of others.* ____________________________________
The different dispositions of the two brothers were remarkably exemplified in their mode of dealing with the subject in these circumstances. Charles was indignant at the folly and inconsistency which he witnessed, and lashed the delinquents without mercy. His brother John knew that some of the deluded ones were quite sincere, and while fully alive to the foolish character and mischievous tendency of their proceedings, and capable of satirizing them as keenly as any one, yet believed that they might be recovered, hoped that they would be, and meanwhile was "gentle among them, even as a nurse cherisheth her children." His patience, condescension, gentleness, and forbearance at this juncture are very conspicuous both in his dealing with his brother, and with those to whom his brother's caustic remarks were intended to apply; and show him to have been a most accomplished guide of souls, and a true follower of the Good Shepherd. The event, we believe, justified both his anticipations and his methods.
It is only needful to add that a second edition of these two volumes, somewhat abridged, was published in 1794-6; but in the present reprint nothing is omitted, while the Author's manuscripts have supplied more than a hundred additional hymns -- several of them not properly entitled "Short Hymns" -- of the value of which it would be difficult to speak too highly. A wish has sometimes been expressed that these additions might be separately published, but the way in which the Author has incorporated the old with the new renders this inexpedient, if not impracticable.
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