****JESUS, LOVER OF MY SOUL

The three greatest and most prolific writers of English language hymns are Isaac Watts, Fanny Crosby, and Charles Wesley.  Each of them wrote thousands of hymns.

Some of Charles Wesley’s best-known hymns include "Ye Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim," "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus," "A Charge To Keep I Have," "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling," "Soldiers Of Christ, Arise," "Oh, For A Thousand Tongues To Sing," and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing."

But many scholars of Christian hymnody have labeled his hymn, JESUS, LOVER OF MY SOUL, the greatest hymn ever written and even where there is disagreement, almost all of them agree that it is the best of Wesley's hymns.  He wrote it shortly after his conversion in 1738. 

The hymn had many early critics who considered it unsuitable for public worship.  His own brother, John, disliked using terms of endearment to address God; he thought the use of phrases like, “Jesus, Lover of my Soul,” and “let me to thy bosom fly,” were too intimate and, so, he would not allow it to be used for congregational singing.  It was not published in any hymnbooks until six years after John’s death.

Unlike most of Charles Wesley’s songs, this one has very little verifiable, historical context.  There is no particular event linked to it but there are several, often repeated, sentimental legends.  Some of them seem too fantastic to be believable.

  

One story that is most often repeated is that, in one of his many open-air evangelistic meetings in Ireland, Charles Wesley preached a convicting message that was not very well received.  A mob of angry attendees assaulted him and intended to kill him.  Wesley ran for his life and came to a nearby farmhouse. 

The farmer’s wife, Jane Moore, hid him in the milk house.  Within a few minutes, some of the mob arrived looking for him.

Mrs. Moore stalled their search by offering some refreshments.  She told them she needed to go to the milk house to get something cold to drink. 

 

Then, in the milk house, she told Wesley to climb through the rear window, and hide under the hedge.  Outside, he found branches overhanging a little brook that was flowing beside the hedge.  That gave him a safe hiding place.

While he waited for the angry mob to give up their search and leave, Wesley pulled a pencil and paper from his pocket and began to write the lyrics to this song. 

Whether or not any of the stories are true, there is no doubt as to the hymn’s skillfully applied allusions to scripture, its doctrinal integrity, and its universal influence in the Christian church.

The great American preacher, Henry Ward Beecher, once said: “I would rather have written this hymn of Wesley’s than to have the fame of all the kings that ever sat on earth.”