whether (Jackson's Charles Wesley, ii. 456) her father knew German. Dr. Julian says, 'It has been the common practice for a hundred years or more to ascribe all translations from the German to John Wesley, as he only of the two brothers knew that language; and to assign to Charles Wesley all the original hymns except such as are traceable to John Wesley through his journals and other works. In this Dictionary, this course has been adopted throughout'. That principle has been followed in the index to The Methodist Hymn-Book for 1904. It is possible that more light may yet be thrown on this difficult question; but if John Wesley suffers injustice, substantial justice is at last done to his brother. The Evangelical Revival seems to have silenced John Wesley's muse, whilst it woke up Charles to a poetic fervour which only ceased with his last breath.
He had begun to write poetry in Georgia. General Oglethorpe's wife told her husband's father, in a letter from America, that Charles Wesley was staying with them. She added, 'he has the gift of verse, and has written many sweet hymns which we sing'. On his return to England, he was making poetry from his conversion to his death-bed. On March 15, 1744, he was summoned to Wakefield to answer a foolish charge of disloyalty, and wrote on the way a hymn in which he committed himself into the hands of his Master; when he won the day, he poured out his gratitude in a hymn of thanksgiving. He rode with a loose rein, jotting down his thoughts on a card. He tells his wife, 'I crept on, singing or making hymns, till I got unawares to Canterbury.'
Canon Ellerton says, 'As time went on, the hymn-writing passed almost entirely from the hands of John Wesley into those of the younger brother'. The Rev. John Kirk reckoned that in 'the Selection which the brothers left behind them for use throughout the Wesleyan congregations,' out of 771 hymns, 626 were by Charles and 33 by John Wesley.
The only time when we clearly see John Wesley burst into poetry is when Grace Murray was torn from him. John Wesley's contribution to Methodist worship-song was that unlocking of the treasures of German hymnody in which he was a pioneer. His fine taste and sound judgement, which were greatly needed in dealing with the luscious Moravian hymns, were also employed in the revision of his brother's work, to its advantage and to the formation of a high standard in such matters in Methodist circles. His words (Sermon 117, Works, vii.
