Ah when shall I awake

Author: Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley, the son of Samuel Wesley, was born at Epworth, Dec. 18, 1707. He was educated at Westminster School and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated M.A. In 1735, he took Orders and immediately proceeded with his brother John to Georgia, both being employed as missionaries of the S.P.G. He returned to England in 1736. For many years he engaged with his brother in preaching the Gospel. He died March 29, 1788. To Charles Wesley has been justly assigned the appellation of the "Bard of Methodism." His prominence in hymn writing may be judged from the fact that in the "Wesleyan Hymn Book," 623 of the 770 hymns were written by him; and he published more than thirty poetical works, written either by himself alone,… Go to person page >

Ah, when shall I awake. C. Wesley. [Prayer.] From his Hymns on God's Everlasting Love, first published in 1741, in 11 stanzas of 8 lines (second series), No. vii. Of the original, 6 stanzas were included in the 1780 edition of the Wesleyan Hymn Book, No. 294. Orig. text, Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. iii. p. 61.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)