Wesley Corpus

Family Hymns (1767)1 Baker list, 299 Editorial Introduction: After issuing Hymns for Children in 1763, Charles Wesley went nearly four years without a publication. But he was busy composing. In 1767 he released two major collections: Trinity Hymns and Family Hymns. While their themes are fairly divergent, the two collections bear evidence of being cultivated alongside each other. In particular, Charles arranged the first twenty-four selections in Family Hymns (1767) to correspond to the metre of the twenty-four Festival Hymns (1746), allowing him to suggest Lampe's tunes for these hymns (and the others in the collection with the same metre). He used the same arrangement in the last section of Trinity Hymns (1767).2 While Trinity Hymns (1767) had a tight organizational structure and focus, following the outline of a book by William Jones, Family Hymns (1767) is a wide-ranging and eclectic collection of materials for personal and family devotional use. Some of the items were surely composed with the collection in mind, but Charles also gathered here many poems written in settings of his family life over the last two decades. The collection sold well enough to be reprinted in 1776. However, this was strictly a reprint, with no further editorial attention. It reproduces nearly all of the scattered misprints in the original. Editions: Charles Wesley. Hymns for the Use of Families. Bristol: Pine, 1767. London: Hawes, 1776. Table of Contents Hymns for a Family. I. For the Master. 1 Chronicles 16:45 II. For the Family VI. For the Evening VIII. For Sunday XVII. For the Evening XXX. For the Evening XXXIV. For the Master XXXVIII. For a Family of Believers Occasional Hymns. XLV. For a Woman Near the Time of Her Travail LVI. For a Woman in Travail LIX. Thanksgiving for Her Safe Delivery LX. Hymn for a New-Born Child LXII. At the Baptism of a Child LXIII. Hymns for Parents