And are our joys so quickly fled

Author: Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley, M.A. was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family, perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn-writer of all ages. Charles Wesley was the youngest son and 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, and was born at Epworth Rectory, Dec. 18, 1707. In 1716 he went to Westminster School, being provided with a home and board by his elder brother Samuel, then usher at the school, until 1721, when he was elected King's Scholar, and as such received his board and education free. In 1726 Charles Wesley was elected to a Westminster studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1729, and became a college tutor. In the early part of the same year his religious impressions were much deepene… Go to person page >

And are our joys so quickly fled? C. Wesley. [Christ walking on the sea.] A long hymn of 14 stanzas of 6 lines, on St. Matt. xiv. 23-33. (Christ and Peter.) First published in Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1749, under the heading "The Tempest." In its full form it is unknown to the collections; but a cento, "Oft when the waves of passion rise," was given in the Leeds Hymn Book, 1853, No. 291, and repeated in various hymnals, including Baptist Psalms & Hymns, 1858; Sir J. Mason's Orphanage Hymn Book, and others. It is composed of stanzas iv., v., vii., viii., xiv., slightly altered. Original text in Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. iv. p. 454.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)