The Work of Faith

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 >

Author of faith, Eternal Word. C. Wesley. [Faith.] This poem is a paraphrase of Heb. xi. It appeared in 88 stanzas of 4 lines in Hymns & Sacred Poems, 1740, with the title "The Life of Faith." In 1780 J. Wesley gave stanzas i.-vi. as No. 92 in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, (ed. 1875, No. 95). From the Wesleyan Hymn Book it has passed into most of the collections of the Methodist denominations in Great Britain and America, and also into other hymnals. Full original text in Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. i. pp. 209-221. The poem as a whole, is criticised in the Wesleyan Magazine, 1839, p. 381.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)