Page:The Methodist Hymn-Book Illustrated.djvu/18

6 :::Hark! a voice divides the sky.
 * Omnipotent Lord, my Saviour and King.
 * To the haven of Thy breast.
 * Jesu, my strength, my hope.
 * Happy soul, who sees the day.
 * Blest be the dear uniting love.
 * None is like Jeshurun's God.
 * Vain delusive world, adieu.
 * Arise, my soul, arise.

Many other hymns are also published here which have rooted themselves in the life of Methodism. The preface says that Christian perfection is 'the subject of many of the following verses'.

In 1742 Wesley issued twenty-four of the choicest pieces in the 1739 volume for twopence, to bring them within reach of the poor.

From this time the stream of publications followed almost without intermission. Every national event, every Christian Festival, called for its pamphlet of hymns. In 1747 appeared Hymns for those that seek and those that have Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ, which the Rev. Richard Green says 'deserves the highest place amongst the group of hymn-pamphlets of which it may be regarded as the last'. John Wesley's estimate of their value is seen from the fact that he selected twenty-four out of the fifty-two for inclusion in the Large Hymn-Book in 1780. Funeral Hymns, Hymns for the Watchnight, Graces before Meat, Hymns for Children, followed each other in quick succession.

In 1749 Charles Wesley published Hymns and Sacred Poems in two volumes. A list in his own writing shows that his friends subscribed for 1,145 copies, of which 513 were taken in London, 136 in Bristol, 129 in Ireland. Many of the Societies subscribed for the volumes. The price was 6s. The preachers acted as agents, and the money helped the poet to set up housekeeping in Bristol.

John Wesley says, 'As I did not see these before they were published, there were some things in them that I did not approve of' (Works, xi. 391). The volumes contain expositions of Scripture, memorials of events in the lives of friends and in the progress of Methodism in all parts of England. Many were addressed to his wife before and after their marriage. All the Methodists thus shared their poet's joy, or, as he aptly puts it,