Come, O Thou Traveller unknown. C. Wesley. [Prayer.] This poem was first published in Hymns & Sacred Poems, 1742, in 14 stanzas of 6 lines, and entitled "Wrestling Jacob." It is based on the incident in Jacob's life as recorded in Gen. xxxii. 24-32. Although a poem of great power and finish, it is unsuited to Public Worship. I t received the most unqualified praise from I. Watts, who, J. Wesley said, did not scruple to say, "that single poem, Wrestling Jacob, was worth all the verses he himself had written" (Minutes of Conference, 1788); and J. Montgomery wrote of it as:—
"Among C. Wesley's highest achievements may be recorded, "Come, O Thou Traveller unknown," &c., p. 43, in which, with consummate art, he has carried on the action of a lyrical drama; every turn in the conflict with the mysterious Being against whom he wrestles all night, being marked with precision by the varying language of the speaker, accompanied by intense, increasing interest, till the rapturous moment of discovery, when he prevails, and exclaims, “I know Thee, Saviour, Who Thou art.'" (Christian Psalmist, 1825. xxiii.-iv.)
Notwithstanding this high commendation, and of it as a poem it is every way worthy, its unsuitability for congregational purposes is strikingly seen in the fact that it is seldom found in any hymnal, either old or new, except those of the Methodist denominations.
In 1780 it was given, with the omission of stanzas v. and vii. in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, No. 136, in two parts, Pt. ii. being, "Yield to me now, for I am weak." These parts were subsequently (ed. 1797) numbered as separate hymns, and as such are Nos. 140 and 141 in the revised edition, 1875. In the Hymns for the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church, N. Y. 1849, it is broken up into four parts, each being numbered as a separate hymn, as:—"Come, O Thou Traveller unknown"; "Wilt Thou not yet to me reveal"; "Yield to me now, for I am weak"; and "The Sun of Righteousness on me." In their new Hymnal, 1878, which has taken the place of the 1849 book, the division, "Wilt Thou," &c, is included in the first, “Come, Thou, &c." There is also a cento from this poem in the New Congregational Hymn Book, No. 1063, beginning, "O Lord, my God, to me reveal." Original text in Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. ii. p. 173.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Come, 0 Thou Traveller unknown, p. 250, i. In the Primitive Methodist Hymnal, 1887, Nos. 516-18, are three centos from this poem:—(1) "Come O Thou Traveller unknown"; (2) "What though my shrinking flesh complain" ; (3) "I know Thee, Saviour, Who Thou art."
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
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 >
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