Sinners, the call obey, The latest call of grace. C. Wesley. [In Time of National Danger.] This hymn was written under the some circumstances as "Sovereign of all, Whose will ordains", and was published in the same tract, Hymns for Times of Trouble and Persecution, 1st ed., 1744, in 8 st. of 8 1. (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. iv. p. 12). In the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, st. v.-vii. from this hymn, and st. v., vi. from C. Wesley's "Tremendous Lord of earth find sky," published in Hymns Occasioned by the Earthquake, March 8, 1750 : London, 1750, were given as No. 441, as a hymn "For England," beginning, "Terrible God and true." In the 2nd edition of the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1781, this cento was replaced by st. i., ii., vi.-viii., as "Sinners, the call obey," and this was retained until the revised edition of 1875, when it was replaced by "Jesus, the word bestow" Home Missions), which had been previously published from the Wesley manuscript in the 1830 Supplement to the Wesleyan Hymn Book, No. 706 (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. xiii., p. 22).
-- 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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