“Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly . . . .” So begins one of the most beloved hymns ever written in the English language. The hymn gives utterance to some of the deepest feelings of the human heart, yet it expresses them in a way that even a child can understand. For example, stanza three ends with “Vile and full of sin I am, Thou art full of truth and grace.” Note that this couplet of fourteen words uses only single syllables.

The man through whom God gave us this hymn was one of the most remarkable hymn writers in church history. Charles Wesley was the author of over 6,500 hymns, including such favorites as “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “And Can It Be,” “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” and “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.”

Charles Wesley was the eighteenth child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley. While children have the potential to bring heartbreak to a family, they also have the potential to accomplish great things for God’s glory and to be a delightful crown to their parents. This son of the Wesleys was born prematurely, and they feared that their newest baby would die in infancy as so many of his brothers and sisters had. But God, Who has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty, saw fit to spare the weak infant to render a mighty service of praise.

Young Wesley was a studious boy with an eagerness to learn. His first eight years were spent under the loving instruction of his mother. John Wesley was five years older than his brother Charles, and the two of them were destined to work together for the spread of the Gospel.

After studying at Westminster School for ten years, Charles Wesley entered Christchurch College, Oxford, in 1726. His older brother John preceded him there. John testified of his brother, Charles: “He pursued his studies diligently, and led a regular, harmless life; but, if I spoke to him about religion, he would warmly answer, ‘What? Would you have me to be a saint all at once?’ and would hear no more.”

A great change began in the heart of Charles Wesley as he and a group of like-minded fellow students started to take matters of religion seriously. In the spring of 1729, this band of Oxford students united to hold each other accountable to a strict routine of study, prayer, and rigorous mental and physical exercise. Their fellow students called them “Methodists” in derision of their devotion to their chosen “methods.”

At this time, Charles Wesley knew much about religion, but his striving after holiness was only an external effort, without a change of heart wrought by the power of the Holy Spirit. Wesley graduated from Oxford in 1732; he then began tutoring younger pupils at the university. Persuaded to accompany his elder brother John on a missionary trip, the two brothers prepared to cross the Atlantic. Older brother John had been ordained to the ministry in the Church of England and Charles was ordained as a deacon. The two brothers embarked on their mission trip in 1735 to the Georgia colony in the New World.

After a brief stay in Georgia while serving as secretary to Governor Oglethorpe, Charles Wesley sailed back to London. Mighty storms at sea shattered the tranquility of the voyage, and Wesley never forgot the peaceful confidence of some Moravian Christians who sang hymns as the storm raged. He realized that these Moravian believers had something that he, with all of his strict “methods,” yet lacked.

Upon reaching England, Wesley was laid low by a severe illness. During this time, his thoughts were focused upon the Gospel of Christ and the simplicity of saving faith, apart from all human efforts, in the finished work of a crucified Redeemer. Wesley sought out the teaching of the Moravian brethren who had so impressed him on the voyage home across the Atlantic.

On May 21, 1738, Charles Wesley was born again as a child of God, abandoning all legalistic efforts to earn salvation and trusting simply in the righteousness of Christ. The older John Wesley was converted three days after his younger brother. Charles Wesley was seized with an irrepressible desire to share the message of the Gospel with all around him. This sentiment of proclaiming praise to God is expressed in his hymn, “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing.”

Both Charles and John began preaching whenever and wherever they had opportunity. Their zeal and evangelistic message was held in suspicion by the established Church of England, so Charles and John began preaching in the open air wherever audiences would give them a hearing. George Whitefield became their friend and co-laborer in the great cause of evangelism.

For ten years, Charles Wesley preached as an itinerant evangelist. He and his brother, John, had a disagreement about whether or not to separate officially from the Church of England. John advocated a strict separation. Charles advocated an allegiance of the growing Methodist movement to the Church of England. However, their disagreement never broke the close bands of unity between the two brothers, and they continued to aid and encourage one another in the Lord’s work.

John Wesley became especially known for his preaching. Younger brother Charles became especially known for his hymns. Possibly, the hymn “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” was composed soon after Charles’s conversion. Phrases such as “while the nearer waters roll” perhaps were drawn from his experiences on the stormy Atlantic.

Many in the established Church of England thought that sentiments such as regarding Jesus as a “lover” were too familiar and lacked reverence for worship. Even brother John excluded the hymn from his published hymn book. But Charles Wesley pointed to passages such as in the Song of Solomon and also Christ’s tender mercies displayed in the Gospel record as Biblical foundation for his text. A famous preacher a century later said, “I would rather have written this hymn of Wesley’s than to have the fame of all the kings that ever sat on earth.”

Charles Wesley did more than any other man of his age to give expression to an intimate relationship with a loving Savior. He showed that the Christ of Galilee is indeed the chief “lover of my soul” and welcomes sinners into the haven of His bosom.

In 1749, Charles Wesley married Miss Sarah Gwynne, a Godly young lady who was almost half his age. She proved to be a faithful wife and loving mother to their eight children. Of these eight, only three survived their childhood. The two sons excelled in music, and the daughter was a poet like her father.

Wesley lived a long and fruitful life of service. When creeping old age prevented him from traveling as an itinerant preacher any longer, he settled down in Bristol and continued to preach as opportunity arose. He continued to write hymns, even in times of sickness. He lived to be eighty years old, and reportedly he wrote several lines of poetry each day. In both life and in his death, he testified that the love of Christ extended freely to sinful men. His written prayer—“Safe into the haven guide, O receive my soul at last”—was answered on March 29, 1788, when he entered the safe haven of Christ, Who loved him and gave Himself for him.