The Death of Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley battled weakness and poor health for nearly his entire life. Even so, Charles lived a long and full life.

How did he die? Charles Wesley died naturally on March 29, 1788, at the age of 80. He was surrounded by his family. Charles’s physician stated that Charles’s weakness and poor health was likely the result of his being overly studious and abstaining from food while at Oxford.

Despite battling frail health for his entire adult life, by February of 1788 it was becoming clear that the end was near.

Preparing For Death

Charles pined to be with his Lord and Savior. This longing was a constant feature of Charles’s life.

Throughout his journal entries and poetic works it is not uncommon to find sentiments to the effect that Charles longed to be present with the Lord. Charles was eager to receive the full promise of salvation. He longed to be free from this body of sin and death.

Some of these statements may be driven by Charles’s depression. Others may be the result of his frail health. Still others may be the product of the brokenness and difficulty of life in a fallen world. Likely, all three factors worked together.

Charles had spent much of his life attempting to get others prepared to die. He urged them to be reconciled to God through Christ.

Believing his own death to be imminent Charles did not need to be reconciled. He had been justified by the grace of God through faith on May 21, 1738.

But he still prepared himself. Charles made an effort to pray for those considered to be enemies of his just two weeks before his death. He didn’t want to entertain the possibility of having unforgiveness in his heart toward others.

Being both prepared and desirous of death, Charles steadily weakened. He loved his family and was blessed to be surrounded by them in his waning moments.

Charles’s daughter wrote a description of his final moments to brother John Wesley, who was not present.

His last words which I could hear were, ‘Lord, my heart — my God!’ He then drew his breath short, and the last so gently, that we knew not exactly the moment in which his happy spirit fled. His dear hand was in mine for five minutes before, and at the awful period of, his dissolution.

Letter from Sally Jr. to John Wesley, cited in Tyson, Assist Me To Proclaim, 337, bold added.

A final preparation was made by Charles. He had requested to be buried in the consecrated ground at the parish at Marylebone. He made this request to the parish priest who visited Charles on his deathbed.

Charles’s brother, John Wesley, had made arrangements for both he and Charles to be buried together in another location. Charles’s request was symbolic of his life.

Charles was a faithful member of the Church of England. He lived in communion with the Church. He wanted to be buried in a way befitting his life.

Charles wrote the words that are on his tombstone. These words were originally written by Charles for another, his friend Latrobe. His epitaph reads:

With poverty of spirit blessed

Rest happy saint in Jesus rest.

A sinner saved through grace forgiven

Redeemd from earth to reign in heaven

And labours of unwearied love

By thee forgot are crown’d above

Crown’d through the mercy of thy Lord

With a free full immense reward.

(From Charles Wesley’s Grave Stone)

Thoughts on Death

Some biographers have noted that Charles Wesley had a strange fascination with his own death dating back to his evangelical conversion.

Sunday, June 11 [1738]. While Mr Piers was preaching upon death, I found great joy in feeling myself willing, or rather desirous, to die.

-Charles Wesley, MS Journal, bold added.

Some poems give helpful insight into Charles’s reasons for desiring and contemplating his own death.

For Myself

1. ‘Tis finished! O Almighty Love,

Accept our everlasting praise!

Our friend is safe arrived above,

Hath hardly won the doubtful race;

But all his toils at last are o’re,

And sorrow’s Son shall weep no more.

2. He is, he is at last possest

Of that for which so long he pin’d;

The happy soul hath found its Rest,

Left all its Tears and Griefs behind,

Weather’d the Storm, escaped the wave,

And dropped his Burden in the Grave.

-Charles Wesley, in Kimbrough and Beckerlegge, The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, 3:330-1.

Forty year before he died, Charles composed a poem titled “Desiring Death.”

1. Thou, GOD, to whom alone I live,

For whom my All I spend,

Thy Servant graciously forgive,

And let my Labours end.

2. Weary alas! Thou knowest I am

Of this sad Vale of Tears,

Restless to die from all my Shame,

From all my Griefs & Fears.

3. Evil and few my Days have been,

And still Thou hearst me groan

Impatient at my People’s Sin,

Impatient at my own.

4. Oft have I sunk orewhelm’d, opprest

Beneath the double Load,

And languish’d for that Land of Rest,

Th’Inheritance of GOD.

5. Oft I have groan’d my Lot to bear,

A Man of Grief and Strife,

And struggled to throw off the Care,

And burst the Bars of Life.

-Charles Wesley, in Kimbrough and Beckerlegge, Unpublished, 3:354.

This poem continues but the tone and gist should be evident. More examples could easily be given.

Charles longed to leave this fading world of grief and sorrow behind. He longed to dwell in the blessed presence of his God and Savior forever.

For more, you can check out my post with 33 quotes from Charles on Death.

The Methodists Mourn

By the time of Charles’s death, his relationship with the Methodists was strained. There were growing pressures to separate from the Church of England. It was no secret that Charles was unequivocally against separation.

Charles had made it clear that if the Methodists separated from the Church, they would be separating themselves from Charles, too.

It is in this light that we must understand Charles’s desire to be buried in the Church of England instead of in the shared crypt his brother John had prepared for them both. The symbolic gesture can only be understood with its full weight in this context.

Charles was in both life and death united to the Church of England. Even in death, he wanted this unity to be seen clearly.

As the Methodists prepared to separate officially from the Anglican Church, they knew they must wait until after the death of Charles.

No matter how tense things had gotten, Charles was still the co-founder of the Methodists. In the minutes from their conference in 1788, they wrote this about Charles:

Mr. Charles Wesley, who after spending fourscore years with much sorrow and pain, quietly retired into Abraham’s bosom. He had no disease; but after a gradual decay of some months, ‘The weary wheels of life stood still at last.’ His least praise was his talent for poetry; although Dr. Watts did not scruple to say, ‘that single poem, Wrestling Jacob, is worth all the verses which I have ever written.’

Methodist Conference of 1788 Minutes, cited in Tyson, Assist, 338-9.

Though short, this notice is filled with praise and compliments. Isaac Watts is indisputably one of history’s greatest poets. To say that one poem of Charles Wesley is worth more than everything Isaac Watts ever wrote is effusive praise.

But they go further. Not only does one poem of Charles’s surpass everything of Isaac Watts. They go further to say that his talent for poetry was his least praise.

Charles Wesley would be sorely missed.

Related Questions

Where is Charles Wesley buried? Charles Wesley is buried in the cemetery in the Marylebone churchyard in London, England. He died March 29, 1788, and was buried April 5, 1788. Fellow Methodist Samuel Bradburn preached at Charles Wesley’s funeral. John Wesley was unable to attend.

When was Charles Wesley born? Charles Wesley was born prematurely on December 18, 1707, to Samuel and Susanna Wesley at Epworth. The records are not entirely clear whether Charles was the 15th, 16th, or 18th child born to Samuel and Susanna. What is known, is that from these many children, ten survived to maturity.