Assist Me to Proclaim: The Life and Hymns of Charles Wesley (review)

Several volumes were published in conjunction with the tercentenary year (2007) of Charles Wesley’s birth: Gary Best, Charles Wesley: A Biography (Epworth, 2006); Gareth Lloyd, Charles Wesley and the Struggle for Methodist Identity (Oxford, 2007); Kenneth G. C. Newport and Ted A. Campbell, eds., Charles Wesley: Life, Literature and Legacy (Epworth, 2007); S.T. Kimbrough, Jr. and Kenneth G. C. Newport, The Manuscript Journal of Charles Wesley, M.A. (Abingdon, 2008); and the volume reviewed here, John R. Tyson, Assist Me to Proclaim: The Life and Hymns of Charles Wesley.

The Tyson volume provides a sweeping overview of Wesley’s life and ministry and uses poetry as a commentary on his life and thought. Tyson provides a chronological overview of his life and work, and generally uses poetry to punctuate the development and views of both. The author takes the reader on a journey from Wesley’s beginnings and home life to school, university, and his American experience in Georgia; his return to England; his conversion in 1738; and his lifelong relationship with his family and friends, the Church of England, and the Methodist movement.

A strong aspect of the volume is the exploration of Wesley’s relationship to his family, especially his brother, John; his wife; and his children. Tyson does not romanticize Wesley, but shows the man as he is: tender and loving, yet headstrong and stubborn; deeply committed to the evangelical revival, yet equally committed to the Church of England. From this account the reader has a keen sense of his struggle to stay within the Methodist movement and within the Church of England. Intimately a part of this struggle at times was his difficult relationship with John, especially as regards the role of lay preachers and ordination. Although the relationship often was rocky, Tyson makes clear that Wesley’s deep love for his brother never diminished and what the two accomplished in ministry and in publications is indeed amazing.

The author has perused an enormous amount of material, as is indicated by the extensive annotated bibliography, “A Note on the Sources,” at the end of the volume. This is a useful resource to those interested in further study on Wesley.

The editors of the series Library of Religious Biography aver on the first page of the book: “Marked by careful scholarship yet free of footnotes and academic jargon, the books in this series are well-written narratives meant to be read and enjoyed as well as studied” (emphasis in original).The decision to provide no documentation of quotations, especially of poetry sources, is unfortunate. It can indeed be read and enjoyed, for Tyson writes a smooth narrative, but readers cannot know that what they are reading is accurate.

The book is deeply flawed by poor editing. There are a number of misspellings, such as along = alone (p. 93), mony = many (p. 196), was = wast (p. 201), and you = your (p. 302). Much more troubling, however, are the errors in the poetry quotations. Many lines of poetry do not scan properly because of misprints, such as passt = passest (p. 113), draws’st = draw’st (p. 113), “And be like his Son” = “And to be like his Son” (p. 103), and innocence = innocency (line 2, stanza 10, p. 151; also on p. 143), was = wast and exalting = exulting (lines 3 and 5 of the first stanza of poetry, p. 201), “The instantaneous witness see” (this is the next to the last line of the poem at the top of page 250 and it is completely omitted), and gracious = greater (first line of poem at the bottom of p. 249). In some instances the format of the poetry has not been carefully edited. On page 108 a poem in 8.8.8.8 meter of alternating rhyme wrongly appears with the first and third lines indented, while on...