Scripture Verse

Introduction

Origin of the Hymn

Charles Wes­ley’s Hymns for a Fa­mi­ly have a pe­cul­iar charm, and they all seem to date from the hymn, Come, thou ev­er­last­ing Lord.

Wesley had re­mained sin­gle for near­ly for­ty years. He then met a young la­dy in Wales who in­ter­est­ed him great­ly, and af­ter much pon­der­ing and con­sul­ta­tion and hymn-writ­ing, he pro­posed, was ac­cept­ed, and was mar­ried Sa­tur­day, April 8th, 1749.

From the ex­pe­ri­enc­es of that wed­ding and that mar­riage these hymns came, and they will be more and more re­mark­able for their per­fect fit­ness to the vic­is­si­tudes of fa­mi­ly life, as they are stu­died with this fact in view.

The bride­groom’s own ex­pe­ri­ence can be best giv­en in his own lan­guage:

Not a cloud was to be seen from morn­ing till night. I rose at four; spent three and a half hours in pray­er, or sing­ing, with my bro­ther, with Sal­ly, with Beck.

At eight, I led My Sal­ly to church. Her fa­ther, si­ster, La­dy Rudd, Grace Bow­en, Bet­ty Will­iams, and I think, Bi­lly Tuck­er, and Mr. James were all the per­sons pre­sent.

At the church-door I thought of the pro­phe­cy of a jea­lous friend, that if we were ev­en at the church-door to be mar­ried, she was sure, by re­ve­la­tion, that we could get no far­ther. We both smiled at the re­mem­brance. We got far­ther.

Mr. Gwynne gave her to me (un­der God); my bro­ther joined our hands. It was a most so­lemn sea­son of love!

Nev­er had I more of the Di­vine Pre­sence at the sac­ra­ment. My bro­ther gave out the fol­low­ing hymn: Come, thou Ev­er­last­ing Lord, etc. He then prayed ov­er us in strong faith.

We walked back to the house, and joined again in pray­er. Pray­er and thanks­giv­ing was our whole em­ploy­ment. We were cheer­ful with­out mirth, ser­ious with­out sad­ness… My bro­ther seemed the hap­pi­est per­son among us.

Not ma­ny men are mar­ried to the mu­sic of their own hymn as Charles Wes­ley was.

Duffield, pp. 115–16