Wesley Corpus

Taking of Jericho (1742) Baker list, 58 Editorial Introduction: Charles Wesley records in his MS Journal preaching on the fall of Jericho (Joshua 6) in Bristol on June 19, 1741, and again in Cardiff on August 26, 1741. There were likely other sermons on this passage about this time that are not recorded. Sometime over the winter of 1741-42 Charles wrote an eighteen-stanza composition on the passage. Jericho represents the bondage of sin in the poem, Jesus is Joshua, and the means of grace are the divinely appointed "ark" that conveys salvation. In early 1742, now ministering in the society at London, Charles chose to publish this poem as another defense of pursuing Christian holiness through the disciplined use of the means of grace. The ledgers of William Strahan show that Charles arranged for 1,000 copies to be printed on March 23, 1742 , then an additional 2,000 copies the following week. Unfortunately not a single example of either printing appears to have survived. There is no evidence of other printings of the poem individually, though Charles included it in his 2-volume Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749). Editions: Charles Wesley. The Taking of Jericho. London: William Strahan, 1742. no copies extant Text: For the text of this hymn, see Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), 1:240-44.