Eternal Beam of Light Divine. C. Wesley. [In Affliction.] Appeared in Hymns & Sacred Poems, 1739, p. 144, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines. (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. i. p. 128; and again in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, No. 328. It has passed into several collections in Great Britain, America, and other English-speaking countries. In the Boston (U.S.) Unitarian Hymn & Tune Book for the Church & Home, 1868, it is altered to "Eternal God, Thou Light Divine"; and in Songs of Christian Praise, N.Y., 1880, and others, as:—"Eternal Source of Light Divine." It is a soothing and inspiriting hymn, and well adapted for use in affliction.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (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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