Wesley Corpus

Last updated: December 5, 2009. Prayers for Condemned Malefactors (1785)1 Baker list, 439 Editorial Introduction: Both John and Charles Wesley devoted considerable energy to ministering with prisoners. A striking account in Charles's MS Journal (July 10-19, 1738) describes how he spent days with a group of prisoners about to be executed, encouraging them to make their peace with God. He then accompanied them to the gallows, offered them a last communion, and joined in singing hymns as they met their fate. Charles clearly assumed that those condemned to die had a particular need to "prepare" to die, and that he had a ministry of helping them in this preparation. It is little surprise that this ministry would find poetic expression. The earliest published example is "Hymn for Condemned Prisoners" (1742). The largest published collection came in 1785, when Charles issued a set of ten poetic Prayers for Condemned Malefactors. Most of these were written in connection with ministry among the prisoners when Charles was in his seventies! A helpful study of these hymns is Joanna Cruickshank, "Singing at the Scaffold: Charles Wesley's Hymns for Condemned Malefactors," Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society 56 (2007): Edition: Charles Wesley. Prayers for Condemned Malefactors. London: Paramore, 1785. Table of Contents IV. To be Used by the Malefactors VIII. Just Before Their Being Led Out to Execution Page 2 2A manuscript version of this hymn appears in MS Miscellaneous Hymns, 93-94. 3A manuscript version of this hymn appears in MS Miscellaneous Hymns, 94-95. Friend of all the sinful race, Jesus, full of truth and grace, Sent the wand'ring sheep to find, Save these outcasts of mankind: Earnestly remember them, That they may themselves condemn; Them for whom we life request, On the brink of hell arrest. O reverse their sorest doom, Snatch them from the wrath to come, Touching whom we now agree, Mercy to implore from thee. Mercy they can ne'er receive, Till thou dost repentance give: Giver of the grief unknown, Look and break their hearts of stone. Let them hear thy dying cries, Then the dead in sin arise; Stubborn guilt doth then relent, Rocks are by thy passion rent; With severest anguish torn, Felons look on thee, and mourn, Poor repenting thieves confess Christ their Lord and die in peace!