Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley (1707–1788) was an Anglican clergyman, co-founder of the Methodist movement, and the most prolific hymnwriter in the English language, credited with more than six thousand hymns. Educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, he helped found the disciplined prayer circle at Oxford around 1729 that would become the seedbed of Methodism, and was ordained Anglican deacon and priest in 1735. Unlike his brother John, Charles consistently resisted formal separation from the Church of England, maintaining that Methodism was a renewal movement within Anglicanism rather than a new denomination. His hymns — among them "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing," and "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" — synthesized orthodox Trinitarian theology with warm evangelical piety and gave the Methodist revival much of its devotional voice. He spent his final decades in London, composing and preaching until near the end of his life.