Father, to Thee my soul I lift. C. Wesley. [God the Giver of every good Gift.] This is the first of three hymns on Phil. ii. 13. "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do," first published in his Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1749, vol. ii., in 3 stanzas of 8 lines. (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. v. p. 374). It was given in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, No. 423, and later editions, but divided into 6 stanzas of 4 lines. In addition to this text, which is in common use in Great Britain and America, another was included in Toplady's Psalms & Hymns, 1776, No. 21, in 7 stanzas of 4 lines, of which stanzas i.-v. are from this hymn, and stanzas vi., vii. are from the last of the three hymns named above. The use of this text is limited. No. 210 in the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Psalms & Hymns is from the former somewhat altered.
--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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