soul seemed filled with music and poetry, and when his genius became
touched by the divine spark of Christ's Spirit, it burst into full flame.
It has been said of Franz Schubert that "he had to write music." The same
was true of Charles Wesley. When his soul was full of song, he had to
give expression to it by writing his immortal hymns. The inspiration came
to him under all sorts of conditions. Some of his hymns were written on
horseback, others in a stage-coach or on the deck of a vessel. Even as he
was lying on his deathbed, at the age of eighty years, he dictated his
last hymn to his faithful and devoted wife. It begins with the words, "In
age and feebleness extreme."

Charles Wesley was the next to the youngest of nineteen children born to
Rev. Samuel Wesley and his remarkable wife Susannah. The father, who was
a clergyman in the Church of England, possessed more than ordinary
literary gifts. He is the author of at least one hymn that has survived
the passing of time, "Behold, the Saviour of mankind." The mother
presided over the rectory at Epworth, where both of the distinguished
sons were born, and also looked after the education of the younger
children of the large family. Concerning this very unusual mother and the
spiritual influence she exerted over her children, volumes have been
written.

Poverty and other tribulations descended upon the Epworth rectory like
the afflictions of Job. The crowning disaster came in 1709, when the
Wesley home was completely destroyed by fire. John, who was only six
years old at the time, was left behind in the confusion and when the
entire house was aflame he was seen to appear at a second-story window.
The agonized father fell upon his knees and implored God to save his
child. Immediately a neighbor mounted the shoulders of another man and
managed to seize the boy just as the roof fell in. Thus was spared the
child who was destined to become the leader of one of the greatest
spiritual movements in the Christian Church.

While John and Charles were students at Oxford University, they became
dissatisfied with the spiritual conditions existing among the students.
Soon they formed an organization devoted to spiritual exercises. Because
of their strict rules and precise methods, they were nicknamed "the
Methodists," a name that afterwards became attached to their reform
movement.

The hymns of Charles Wesley are so numerous that only a few of the more
outstanding can be mentione