294) written in August, 1789, show how careful he was to avoid any expression that savoured of familiarity in addressing God.
In the Index of 1875 Charles Wesley's name only appeared once, as Mr. C. L. Ford points out, 'in an introductory note, not very conspicuous, which probably not one in a thousand reads'. Also, the 'W' used in cases of uncertainty, and in one case where there is no doubt at all, 'Jesu, Lover of my soul', is misleading. For in almost all these cases the probability is very largely in favour of Charles Wesley's authorship.
For some years a strong desire had been felt for the revision of the 1875 hymn-book, and in 1900 the Conference appointed a Committee to consider the principles on which it should be carried out. After careful consideration, it was felt that it would be impossible to retain Wesley's Large Hymn-book in its, separate form, as many pieces in it had passed out of use, and no satisfactory arrangement could be secured if two books, an old and a new, were thus set side by side. The Committee therefore recommended that an entirely new arrangement should be adopted. Conference approved this recommendation. Great regret was felt that so venerable a Methodist manual of devotion and of theology—'a mirror of the spiritual activities of the Evangelical Revival—a poetical Pilgrim s Progress', should thus be recast, but provision was made that it should be issued as a separate volume in the exact form it left John Wesley's hands. The Conference of 1901 appointed a Committee of Revision, which acted with the friendly co-operation of representatives of the Methodist New Connexion and the Wesleyan Reform Union. The Methodist Church of Australasia also joined in the work by correspondence.
The Committee had first to decide what hymns should be excluded from the new collection. The utmost care was used to retain every hymn that had endeared itself to the Methodist people or become recognized as an embodiment of Methodist theology. In many cases the omission of a verse or verses rescued a whole hymn from hopeless neglect. It was found that about 300 hymns might safely be omitted. When this difficult part of its task had been done, the Committee set itself to study hymn-books and other sources from which new hymns might be drawn. Special pains were taken to make adequate provision for the growing requirements of public worship in all its parts, especially for the Lord's Day and the Seasons, the needs of children and young people, and the varied
