Figure and Means of Saving Grace

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 our salvation, Thee. C. Wesley. [Holy Communion.] First published in Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 1745, No. 28, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines, and based on the words, "As it is a sign and a means of Grace," being the first hymn on that division of the subject. It is not in use in Great Britain. In the Hymnal of the Methodist Episcopal Church, N. Y., 1878, No. 851, it is given in an unaltered form. Also in the Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. iii. p. 236.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)