Charles Wesley is best known for his talents as a hymn writer. He is widely recognized as composing approximately 9,000 hymns. Charles had an appreciation for the power of music.
What did Charles Wesley say about music? Charles believed that good music had purpose. That purpose was not simply for entertainment but to glorify God. Charles was harsh on modern music that sought only to entertain. Music that failed to meet the two purposes he considered essential made for bad music.
The following quotes and hymns on music give a flavor of Charles’s underlying thoughts on music. They help us to understand why he spent so much time composing and publishing his hymns.
The True Use of Music
Charles revealed his thoughts on the true use of music very clearly.
Passed the afternoon at Mrs Rich’s, where we caught a physician by the ear, through the help of Mr Lampe and some of our sisters. This is the true use of music.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Saturday, March 29, 1746, bold added.
The true use of music to Charles was to catch the ear so that the truth of the gospel could be proclaimed. There are many examples of Charles using music with this purpose.
He was clear about the reason why. He thought this was what music was for. To catch people by the ear.
But he wanted them to be caught for a purpose. That purpose was not to be entertained. It was so that they could hear the Word of God.
Modern Music
Charles approved of music when it was used to catch the ear and when it contained God’s Word. But what about music that only caught the ear but was devoid of God’s Word?
Charles was not a fan.
Modern Music
G[iardini], B[oyce] and all
Their followers, great and small,
Have cut Old Music’s throat,
And mangled every note;
Their superficial pains
Have dashed out all his brains:
And now we dote upon
A lifeless skeleton,
The empty sound at most,
The Squeak of Music’s Ghost.
-Charles Wesley in Kimbrough and Beckerlegge,The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, 3:383.
Modern music had emptied the form of its content. The purpose was simply for entertainment. The object was to get people to follow the composer, not the Creator.
Charles said this killed music. Made it empty and lifeless. Empty sound at most.
He wrote another hymn on the empty form of music which is devoid of true, godly content.
Who’er admires as Excellence
Sound unaccompanied by Sense,
Shall have my free consent to praise
The favourite Music of our days.
Still let them dance to Orpheus’ Sons
Who captivate the Stocks and Stones;
And while (to Harmony’s confusion)
The Masters show their execution
Attend with long transported ears,
Bad Music’s Executioners.
-Charles Wesley, ibid.
Music devoid of the Word of God was bad music to Charles. It was nothing more than noise.
For Charles, good music has a purpose. That purpose is two-fold. That is:
- To catch the ear; and
- To communicate God’s Word.
If music did these two things, it was good music to Charles. If it fell short of these two marks, it was bad music. No matter how popular it may have been.
If you enjoy senseless sound, Charles gave you license to praise modern music.
Charles’s focus on producing music with substance is good reason for understanding the longevity of his hymns. These were not songs composed to be popular for a moment and then forgotten like many modern popular songs.
Charles wrote lyrics that were designed to last.
In some cases it is beneficial to give the tune a more modern sound to update these hymns for modern generations. Doing so is actually in keeping with Charles’s thoughts on good music.
Strength Through Song
Charles believed in the power of song. It had the power to strengthen Christians.
Being to preach this morning for the first time, received the strength for the work of the ministry in prayer and singing.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Sunday, July 2, 1738.
Not only was Charles himself strengthened, in part, by singing. He also believed that singing could bring the power to believe for non-believers.
While we were singing the Hymn to the Father, she did find the rest she sighed after; was quite pierced, as she said; her heart ready to burst, and her whole nature overpowered.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Monday, July 10, 1738.
Singing is powerful. Both for good and for bad. The lyrics and the tune can get stuck in a persons head. It can be a lasting witness where the words of a sermon are long forgotten.
Took horse for Tyrrellspass. We overtook a lad whistling one of our tunes. He was a constant hearer, though a Roman, and joined with us in several hymns which he had by heart.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Monday, February 8, 1748.
Even though this lad didn’t share Charles’s theology, he had many hymns committed to memory. He carried them in his heart. Charles knew that these seeds were worth planting in the hearts and minds of others.
(You may be interested in my post on Charles’s quotes on singing, too.)
Hymns As Antidotes
We all understand the power a song has to get stuck in our heads. It’s no mistake that the longest book in Scripture is the book of Psalms. 150 chapters of songs.
In addition, the longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119. Another song.
God inspired songs in order to instill good theology in His people. These songs were also a corrective. They filled the heart and mind and kept bad theology out.
Charles attempted to use music in the same way.
At Crouch’s Society many were wounded. I left among them the hymn entitled “The Means of Grace,” which I have printed as an antidote to stillness.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Tuesday, April 22, 1740, bold added.
Charles believed that hymns could be an antidote to false doctrines and teaching. He used and distributed hymns to combat some of the controversies that the Methodist societies were facing.
Singing As Preaching
Proper hymns don’t just catch the ear with a tune. They also contain the Word of God.
Charles believed in the power of God’s Word. That power was just as present in good hymns as it was in good preaching.
Sarah Church informed me she had received forgiveness the night Mr Simpson expounded at Rag Fair; not under his preaching, which was quite dead to her, but in singing an hymn which I gave out. So did Anne Roberts, after hearing the word in the same carnal ordinance of singing.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry May 15, 1740.
Even though the preaching was dead, the singing was alive. The life was not in the carnal ordinance of singing itself. The life was in the Word of God present in the hymn.
When God’s Word was accompanied with a musical tune, it brought life to some where the preaching alone did not.
Charles would not condone leaving preaching out. But joining good preaching with good hymns was a common practice for him.
Today I talked with several who have lately found rest to their souls, particularly:
Joanna Nichols, justified on Sunday, in hearing the word. It was then she first said, “I have redemption in his blood.”
Jane Connor, at Baptist Mills, found the power of the Lord present to heal her.
Jane Parker experienced the same, while we were singing.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Tuesday, October 30, 1739, bold added.
God was pleased to give the gift of faith through hearing. Hearing comes by the Word of God. The Word of God can be faithfully preached – both with and without the accompaniment of a tune.
Related Questions
How Many Hymns Did Charles Wesley Write? Early estimates had put the number of hymns composed by Charles Wesley around 6,500. However, the true number is closer to 9,000. He published about 4,600 during his lifetime and another 3,100 were published after his death. Another collection of about 1,300 previously unpublished works were published in 1988-1992.
When Was Charles Wesley Converted? Charles Wesley records his own conversion event in his journal on Sunday, May 21, 1738. Anyone interested in reading a more detailed account can read this post on The Conversion of Charles Wesley.
0 Comments