Father of me and all mankind. C. Wesley. [The Lord's Prayer.] This paraphrase of The Lord's Prayer as in St. Luke xi. 2-4, was given in his Short Hymns, &c, 1762, vol. ii., in 8 separate hymns numbered 342-349; but in the Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. xi. p. 200, these hymns are massed as one, No. 1366, in 10 stanzas of 8 lines. The cento in common use appeared in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, No. 242, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines, and is compiled from the original hymns, No. 342 and 343. It is found in several collections in Great Britain and America, and sometimes as "Father and God of all mankind," as in Longfellow and Johnson's Book of Hymns, Boston, 1846-8, &c. Wesley's version of the Lord's Prayer as in St. Matthew vi. 9-13, begins, "Father of earth and sky," q.v.
--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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