Wesley Corpus

New Year's Hymns (1749)1 Baker list, 176 Editorial Introduction: The first thing to note about Charles Wesley's collection of New Year's Hymns is that they were intended to be used on January 1. This might seem obvious, but until 1752 England remained on the Gregorian calendar, which identified March 25 (the Annunciation) as the proper turning to the new year. Many deviated from this practice and Charles Wesley was among them. His MS Journal marks the turn of the year in January from its earliest entries (1736). The second thing to note about this collection is that it was produced to resource an emerging tradition in Methodist worship practice. In the initial days of the revival the Wesley brothers joined the English Moravians, who held a love-feast early on the morning of January 1 (see John Wesley's Journal account for 1739). This practice subsided a bit after the break with the Moravians, but was clearly retrieved by 1748. John Wesley's Journal describes a gathering in London on January 1, 1748, at 4:00 am for a service marked by "joy and thanksgiving." The same language is used in the journals of both brothers to describe services on January 1, 1750 in Bristol (led by Charles) and London (led by John). Hymns for New Year's Day, 1750 had been published in December 1749, to provide the hymns for these services. This early morning service of praise and thanksgiving on New Year's day became a standard feature of Methodist worship, and the New Year's Hymns collection was reprinted frequently to provide for this practice. Initially the date was changed in the title for each reprinting; eventually the date was dropped. The content of the collection remained the same. There are seven hymns in the collection, one of which (6) dates back to 1741 and had been published in HSP (1749). Editions: Charles Wesley. Hymns for New Year's Day, 1750. Bristol: Farley, 1749. Bristol: Farley, 1750. ...New Year's Day, 1751. London: Cock, 1751. ...New Year's Day, 1752. London: Cock, 1754. ...New Year's Day, 1755. Bristol: Grabham, 1758. stop adding year to title Bristol: Pine, 1761. Bristol: Pine, 1766. Bristol: Pine, 1769. Bristol: Pine, 1772. London: Hawes, 1775?. London: Hawes, 1777. London: Paramore, 1784. London: Paramore, 1785. London: New Chapel, 1788. Page 3