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The earliest of the hymns of Methodism were written during John Wesley's residence in America. One of the most interesting passages in the first volume of the Standard Edition of Wesley's Journal is that in which we are given a page from Wesley's Diary for 1736, containing the text of four of his hymns. Hitherto the only knowledge we have had as to any hymn written in that year has been the reference in the Plain Account of Christian Perfection, where Wesley wrote 'We embarked for America in the latter end of 1735. It was the next year, while I was at Savannah, that I wrote the following lines:
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Is there a thing beneath the sun That strives with Thee my heart to share? Ah! tear it thence, and reign alone, The Lord of every motion there!' |
It was in 1736, therefore, that he made his great version of
Tersteegen's 7
do not know the date of the writing,' remarks Mr. Curnock, 'but it must have
been some weeks earlier than December, 1736.' These five hymns are the
earliest of the hymns of Methodism: they are all translations from the
German, they are all the work of John Wesley, and they all date
from the first year of his sojourn in Georgia. Not only are these the first
hymns of which we have any knowledge, but it is almost certain that they
are the very first that John Wesley ever wrote. He began to learn German
at the beginning of the voyage, on October 17, 1735, and the Diary
for 1736 has many entries such as 'German,' 'verses,'
'translated German,' 'made verses.' These entries, which show that he
was working at German hymns, begin in May, 1736, and these hymns date
from the next few months. The hymns in the Diary (except the first) have
numbers attached--a valuable detail--and three of the four were previously
known to be translations from Freylinghausen, Richter, and Zinzendorf. The
fourth had never been published before, and there was some doubt as to
whether it was a translation or an original hymn of Wesley's, until the
present writer discovered, in searching through Knapp's
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| 'O Jesu, Source of calm repose.' | |
| 124 | 'My soul before Thee prostrate lies.' |
| 215 | 'Jesu, to Thee my heart I bow.' |
| 306 | 'To Thee with heart and mouth I sing.' |
Mr. Curnock suggested in a note that these numbers prefixed to the hymns might possibly give a clue to the 'original source whence they were drawn before translation.'
Some time ago, the writer became the happy possessor of a copy of the
1737 edition of 9
10
a suitable melody may be found. What is meant
by the Halle Gesangbuch is evidently Freylinghausen's
hymnal, the accepted collection of the
Pietists, whose head quarters were at Halle. In
the Library of Richmond College are Wesley's
copies of the Herrnhut Gesangbuch and of
Freylinghausen's Gesangbuch. We now know that
Wesley had both books in his possession in
Georgia in 1736, or, at any rate, had access to
them there, for under the date, Sunday, November
21, in that year, there is an entry in his
Diary: 'Freylinghausen's Gesangbuch with
Delamotte,' and the numbered hymns in the Diary
prove that he used the Herrnhut Gesangbuch
then. Most of those who were aware that
Wesley possessed both books seem to have
thought that these were merely two different
hymnals, without any special relation, and it has
been suggested that he drew upon each of them
for his translations. But the unquestionable fact
is that his copy of Freylinghausen's Gesangbuch
was Wesley's tune-book: it was simply the musical
companion of the Herrnhut hymnal. There
remains no possible doubt about this. All the
thirty-three hymns that Wesley translated are
found in the Herrnhut Gesangbuch, many of them
are found nowhere else, and--as we have seen--where
he attached a number it was that of
the page in this book, despite the fact that two
of the three numbered hymns are found in Freylinghausen
also. It is plain that he did not use
Freylinghausen for the hymns which the book contained, but merely for
the tunes.
Seven of the hymns that Wesley translated are by Zinzendorf; four by Gerhardt; four by Scheffler; two by Tersteegen; two by Freylinghausen; two by C. F. Richter; one each by Ernst Lange, Joachim Lange, W. C. Dessler, J. J. Winckler, J. A. Rothe, Anna Dober, Maria Böhmer, Gottfried Arnold, Sigismund Gmelin, L. A. Gotter, and A. G. Spangenberg; and one is a cento from four hymns by Zinzendorf, Johann Nitschmann, and Anna Nitschmann. 1
It should be noted that the bulk of these
writers are Pietists and Moravians.
Freylinghausen (1670-1739) was the son-in-law and successor of A. H. Francke,
the founder of the Orphan House at Halle.
C. F. Richter (1676-1711) was the physician of the Orphan House.
Joachim Lange (1670-1744) was Professor of Divinity at Halle.
J. J. Winckler (1670-1722) was a Pietist clergyman.
Gottfried Arnold (1666-1714), a distinguished ecclesiastical historian,
was a disciple of Spener, the founder of Pietism.
Ludwig Andreas Gotter (1661-1735), who was Hofrat at Gotha, had
relations with Pietism.
Sigismund Christian Gmelin (1679-1707) was a Separatist who had
a variegated career, but was in touch with
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Pietists all his life.
Maria Magdalena Böhmer (167?-1743) was a Pietist who contributed three
hymns to Freylinghausen's collection.
Then, in addition to Zinzendorf, there are three other Moravians whose hymns Wesley translated. J. A. Rothe (1688-1758) was appointed by the Count to the pastorate of Berthelsdorf, the parish in which Herrnhut was situated, Anna Dober (1713-39) (nèe Schindler) was the wife of Leonhard J. Dober, one of the bishops of the Brethren, and A. G. Spangenberg (1704-1792), who had been Assistant Professor of Divinity at Halle, was the most learned and lovable of the Moravians, and became also one of their bishops.
Thus, excepting the classical hymns of Gerhardt (1607-1676), Scheffler (1624-1677), and Tersteegen (1697-1769), practically all the rest of the hymns that Wesley translated were the product of the two great and closely related spiritual movements that had their head quarters at Halle and at Herrnhut.
The translations from the German were all published between 1737 and 1742. They were probably all written by 1739.
Apparently Wesley disused German after his breach with the Moravians
in 1740. In November, 1745, when many German troops were encamped on the
Town Moor at Newcastle-on-Tyne, in consequence of the Rebellion, he wrote
in his Journal: 'I observed many Germans standing
12
John Wesley's versions of German hymns are amongst the very finest
examples of translated verse in the language. They stand the supreme test
of a translator's art, for they are as vigorous and as poetical as the
originals. They read as if they
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O Love, Thou bottomless abyss! My sins are swallowed up in Thee. Covered is my unrighteousness, Nor spot of guilt remains on me, While Jesu's blood, through earth and skies Mercy, free, boundless mercy, cries! which renders the German verse: In other hymns, again, the English does little
more than express the central thought of the
German, as in the lines: Through Thy rich grace, in Jesu's blood Blessing, redemption, life we find. Our souls washed in this cleansing flood, No stain of guilt remains behind. Who can Thy mercy's stores express? Unfathomable, numberless! which are a version of the German stanza: 14
John Wesley learned some Spanish while in Georgia, in order to minister
to a few Spanish Jews who were in the colony. He translated one Spanish hymn,
'O God, my God, my all Thou art!'--a fine version of Psalm 68.
The Spanish source has never been traced. The earliest of Charles Wesley's hymns appear to have been those entitled
'A Hymn for Midnight' ('While midnight shades the earth o'erspread'),
'Written in the Beginning of a Recovery from Sickness'
('Peace, fluttering soul! the storm is o'er'),
and 'After a Recovery from Sickness' ('And live I yet by power divine?').
The first of these probably dates from the early months of 1738; the others
were certainly written during that period. But the real beginning of Charles
Wesley's work as the poet of Methodism came with the wonderful experience
of May 21, 1738. Immediately thereafter he wrote three hymns which have a
new accent. 'Where shall my wondering soul begin?' is almost certainly the
hymn referred to in the entry in his Journal for May 24, 'Toward ten my
brother was brought in triumph by a troop of our friends, and declared,
"I believe!" We sang the hymn with great joy.'
'And can it be that I should gain' is colored throughout by reminiscences
of a passage in Luther's Galatians that be had read on May 17.
'What morn on thee with sweeter ray' is entitled
15
These hymns, the firstfruits of Charles Wesley's genius, were all
first published in the Hymns and Sacred Poems of 1739. From that
year onward his hymns appeared in a stream of publications that only ceased
in 1785--three years before his death.
disconsolate at the skirts of the congregation. To these I was constrained
(though I had discontinued it so long) to speak a few words in their own
language. Immediately they gathered up close together, and drank in every
word.' This, of course, refers to disuse of the spoken language, but it is
significant that no German books are mentioned in the Journal after
the earliest period, while French books are often referred to. Yet, on the
other hand, he read Bengel's
Translated Hymns
had been written in English. His own standard of translation varied.
Sometimes his version is as literal as it could be, to retain freedom of
poetical movement, as, for example, in the stanza:
Charles Wesley's Earliest Hymns
'Congratulations to a Friend on believing in Christ,' and was
unquestionably addressed to his brother at this time.
1 See Appendix I. for a complete list of the German hymns and their writers.