Wesley Corpus

Arminian Magazine (1778-87)1 Baker list, 371-380 Editorial Introduction: In 1778 John Wesley began publishing the Arminian Magazine. He had witnessed the success of Calvinist journals like the Christian Magazine and Gospel Magazine, and wanted to provide an alternative monthly publication that would affirm and defend God's universal offer of salvation. Each monthly installment of the Arminian Magazine had three major sections. First came a prose section that included sermons, spiritual biographies, excerpts from theological tracts, and the like. This was followed by a selection of letters (most written to Wesley) that were judged to be spiritually edifying. The concluding pages of each issue were devoted to poetry. In the first year, as he sought to highlight the distinctive emphases of the Arminian Magazine, John Wesley reprinted nine of Charles Wesley's polemical poems against predestination from the Hymns on God's Everlasting Love (1741/42), and one other in this vein from HSP (1740), 136-42. He also began to publish (without attribution) a series of other poems by Charles that had not appeared in print before. This document contains all of the new poems included in the Arminian Magazine through 1787 that there is reason to believe were written by Charles Wesley. In many cases (noted below) there are manuscript copies of the poems in Charles's notebooks that prove authorship. In a few cases the judgment is based on the content and style of the poem, as well as the lack of any other identifiable source. In those cases where a poem exists in a manuscript collection and in print in the Arminian Magazine, there are frequently differences between the two. Most of these are minor and reflect editing for stylistic reasons. It is unclear if such changes were made by John Wesley or by Charles as he prepared a text to send to John. The text below reproduces what was printed in the Arminian Magazine. Notes from manuscript copies are added only where they supply missing information or the change is considered potentially significant. Last updated: July 21, 2022.