One of the most personal and passionate selections in our hymnals comes from Charles Wesley (1707-1788), the author of more than six thousand hymn texts. He wrote “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” in 1738, just months after his conversion. He titled it “In Temptation,” a different thematic context from that with which we usually approach the text. It was first published in 1740, two years after he wrote it, when it appeared as a poem. It was not paired with a hymn tune nor included in a hymnal until 1797, nine years after the author’s death in 1788. Within a few decades, the hymn was to become one of the most popular and influential hymns sung in churches of all denominations. To date, it has been included in more than 2600 hymnals, though for many years it was rejected by Methodists because of the “lover” imagery that was wrongly understood to be too intimate to refer to the Deity!
The story of the Wesley brothers, John and Charles, is rather well known. They were two of Samuel and Susanna Wesley’s family of nineteen children, and were raised in the home environment of a stern eighteenth century Anglican clergyman, in this instance one who was inexcusably abusive to his wife and children. Charles, the next to youngest, was born at Epworth, England, on December 18, 1707. Both boys felt a call to ministry and were ordained in the Church of England soon after graduating from Oxford University. As students there, they were zealous about matters of spirituality. They were members of “The Holy Club,” a group of students who devoted themselves to daily practices of intense personal spiritual discipline. This group included another of the great evangelists of the Great Awakening, George Whitefield.
In 1735, both young men sailed to the new colony of Georgia, John as a missionary and Charles as a secretary to General Oglethorpe, who was then governor of the colony. It was on that trip that they encountered a group of Moravians. These people were of German ancestry and part of the Pietist movement in the Lutheran Church, one that had been slipping into what we would call today “dead orthodoxy.” It was the Moravians who sparked and led the modern world missions movement. Those Moravians’ singing aboard ship, especially during a fierce storm (a hurricane?) that lasted for days, challenged the Wesleys to confront the unpleasant truth that their faith had no such calm confidence in the Lord.
After returning home to England, it was in a Bible study of Romans in a home on Aldersgate Street, near St. Paul’s cathedral, that John was convicted that while he knew “about” Jesus, he did not know “Him.” On Pentecost Sunday, Charles embraced the gospel of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. It was three days later that the same gospel realization was awakened in John’s heart. He wrote in his journal of that night that his heart was “strangely warmed,” as he felt that for the first time that he truly trusted Jesus. What the Holy Spirit did in their hearts set their souls on fire with love for Christ and a passion to bring the message of being born again to those lost in the emptiness of formal religion (what John later called “a fair summer religion”), and immersed in a culture in which every street in London had its ale house in which men wasted their income on drink rather than providing for their families.
When Anglican bishops refused to allow them to preach in the churches of their diocese because of their “enthusiasm” (a very derogatory term in their minds!) John and Charles both became itinerant preachers and began organizing meetings that would be called “Methodist societies,” because of their use of “methods” of personal spiritual disciplines, and which would eventually, after their deaths, become the basis for the formation of the Methodist Church. At the start, John would occasionally write hymns, but preaching and leading the new movement eventually took almost all of his time. Charles, on the other hand, almost immediately discovered a love and ability for writing verse which he would continue for the rest of his life. He was naturally a poet, and now the writing of religious verse became to him nothing less than a passion. Every experience of his own, every scene and occasion of the Methodist revival, became the inspiration of a new hymn. Every protestant hymnal today contains multiple examples of Wesley’s hymn-writing skill. He wrote his first within a day or two of his conversion. He dictated his last to his wife from his deathbed, “in age and feebleness extreme” (as hymnologist Louis Benson described him).
The three greatest hymn-writers of the English language are undoubtedly Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, and Fanny Crosby. There are many who think that “Jesus, Lover of my Soul” is the greatest hymn ever written. Many hymnologists consider that it is the best of Wesley’s hymns. Many of these six thousand, too, rise to the highest rank of religious poetry, such as those beginning: “Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim,” “Come, Thou long-expected Jesus,” “A charge to keep I have,” “Arise, my soul, arise,” “Love divine, all love excelling,” “Depth of mercy! Can there be,” “Soldiers of Christ, arise,” “Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing,” and the classic Christmas hymn, “Hark! the herald angels sing.” What a wonderful list of great hymns to have been written by one man.
Charles Wesley, always meticulous in drawing upon biblical or classical sources he had learned during his years at Oxford, continued this practice in “Jesus, Lover of My Soul.” The apocryphal book, “The Wisdom of Solomon,” 11:23-26, provides the inspiration for this primary theme of this hymn: “But thou hast mercy upon all; for thou canst do all things, and winkest at the sins of men, because they should amend. For thou lovest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made: for never wouldest thou have made any thing, if thou hadst hated it. And how could any thing have endured, if it had not been thy will? or been preserved, if not called by thee? But thou sparest all: for they are thine, O Lord, thou lover of souls.”
Another possible source is Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), who often commented on the nature of love. In his classic devotional work, “The Imitation of Christ,” for example, he states: “A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver.” Another quote also addresses Jesus’ followers as “lovers.” “Jesus has now many lovers of the heavenly kingdom but few bearers of His cross.” Perhaps even more to the point is this statement cited by Dr. Carlton R. Young, editor of “The United Methodist Hymnal,” in his “Companion,” “Most mighty God of Israel, zealous Lover of faithful souls.”
Others have also noted the role of the Psalms and other sources from which Wesley drew his literary imagery. Stanza one states, “safe unto the haven guide” (Psalm 107:30), stanza two concludes with “the shadow of thy wing” (Psalm 91:4), in stanza four, Wesley draws upon fountain imagery, “Thou of life the fountain art” (Psalm 36:9). Another also credits English poet and diplomat Matthew Prior (1664-1721) with an image in the first stanza:
We weave the Chaplet, and We crown the Bowl;
and smiling see the nearer waters roll;
‘Till the strong Gusts of raging Passion rise;
‘Till the dire Tempest mingles Earth and Skies;
A beautiful story is told of this hymn in connection with the Civil War. In a company of old soldiers, from the Union and Confederate armies, a former Confederate soldier was telling how he had been detailed one night to shoot a certain exposed sentry of the opposing army. He had crept near and was about to fire with deadly aim when the sentry began to sing, “Jesus, Lover of My soul.” He came to the words, “Cover my defenseless head With the shadow of Thy wing.” The hidden Confederate lowered his gun and stole away. “I can’t kill that man,” said he, “though he were ten times my enemy.”
In the company of gathered ex-soldiers was an old Union soldier who asked quickly, “Was that in the Atlanta campaign of ’64?” “Yes.” “Then I was the Union sentry!” And he went on to tell how, on that night, knowing the danger of his post, he had been greatly depressed, and, to keep up his courage, had begun to hum that hymn. By the time he had finished, he was entirely calm and fearless. Through the song God had spoken to two souls.
Here isWesley’s great hymn, including the third stanza, which is now never sung.
In stanza 1, we find ourselves at sea in the midst of a storm. We can’t help but remember that it was in such a setting that Wesley first realized that he had not yet received the new birth. It is fitting imagery for the condition in which we all found ourselves spiritually before the Lord delivered us from our bondage to sin. Awakened to that condition, and still experiencing the many storms of life in this fallen world, we flew to Jesus’ bosom, even as the storms continue, confident that He will guide us “safe into the haven.” And ultimately that means into His presence “at last.”
Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll, While the tempest still is high!
Hide me, O my Savior, hide, Till the storm of life be past;
Safe into the haven guide, Oh, receive my soul at last!
In stanza 2, we face our soul’s helplessness and the fact that there is no refuge to which we can flee. All around us, people will be seeking shelter in countless other hopes, but they will all fail. Our hope is in Jesus, as we plead that He not leave us alone, and that He will “still support and comfort” us. And we remember that He promised in Hebrews 13:6, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” All our trust is “stayed” on Him; all our “help” must come from Him. And because of His grace in undeserved covenant love, we can rest assured that He will cover our “defenseless head with the shadow” of His wing, a phrase taken directly from Psalm 57:1.
Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on Thee;
Leave, ah! leave me not alone, Still support and comfort me!
All my trust on Thee is stayed, All my help from Thee I bring;
Cover my defenseless head With the shadow of Thy wing.
In stanza 3, seldom if ever sung today, the sense of desperation becomes more intense. It’s as if the writer (or singer) fears that perhaps the Lord will not “regard my call” or “accept my prayer.” Satan knows how to stir up those doubt in our minds, reminding us of our sins and that we have absolutely no valid reason in ourselves to expect God to respond to us favorably. The verbal images are frightening, as we stand, “hoping against hope” and “dying.” But within the stanza is that hope assured. This is a God who reaches out with a “gracious hand,” and who gives us His strength so that, even as we are dying, we can sing, “Behold, I live!”
Wilt Thou not regard my call? Wilt Thou not accept my prayer?
Lo! I sink, I faint, I fall – Lo! on Thee I cast my care:
Reach me out Thy gracious hand! While I of Thy strength receive,
Hoping against hope I stand, Dying, and, behold, I live!
In stanza 4, once again we sing of our heart’s need of Christ, and more specifically of our heart’s longing for Christ. Should this not be the prayer of every redeemed saint, “Thou, O Christ, art all I want.” This matches what Jesus said is the first and greatest commandment, that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart (Deuteronomy 6:4). This is the passion for God that we find in so many of the Psalms, like these words from Psalm 42:1, “As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You, O God,” or Psalm 62:1, “For God alone my soul waits in silence,” or Psalm 63:1, “You are my God; earnestly I seek You,” or Psalm 27:4, “One thing have I asked of the LORD … to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD.” And what a powerful contrast in the final phrase. “False and full of sin I am; Thou art full of truth and grace.”
Thou, O Christ, art all I want; More than all in Thee I find:
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, Heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is Thy name; I am all unrighteousness:
False and full of sin I am; Thou art full of truth and grace.
In stanza 5, we should hear music swell from subdued woodwinds in a minor key to the brilliance of strings and trumpets in a major key. Here we have words to express our confidence that “Plenteous grace with Thee is found, grace to cover all my sin.” How wonderful to know that despite our feeble spiritual condition, the Lord is willing and able to provide “healing streams” that will “make and keep me pure within.” Jesus said that He would give living water, and He is the supply of that fountain that He will cause to spring up within our hearts, that we might ‘rise to all eternity.”
Plenteous grace with Thee is found, Grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound, Make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art Freely let me take of Thee:
Spring Thou up within my heart, Rise to all eternity!
The tune most often associated with the text today is ABERYSTWYTH, named after the Welsh town by that name. It was written by Joseph Parry (1841-1903), himself a Welshman. He was born into a poor but musical family. Although he showed musical gifts at an early age, he was sent to work in the puddling furnaces of a steel mill at the age of nine. His family immigrated to a Welsh settlement in Danville, Pennsylvania in 1854, where Parry later started a music school. He traveled in the United States and in Wales, performing, studying, and composing music, and he won several Eisteddfodau (singing competition) prizes. Parry studied at the Royal Academy of Music and at Cambridge, where part of his tuition was paid by interested community people who were eager to encourage his talent. From 1873 to 1879 he was professor of music at the Welsh University College in Aberystwyth. After establishing private schools of music in Aberystwyth and in Swansea, he was lecturer and professor of music at the University College of South Wales in Cardiff (1888-1903). Parry composed oratorios, cantatas, an opera, orchestral and chamber music, as well as some four hundred hymn tunes.
Here is a link to a choir and congregation in the British Isles singing the hymn. Musicians will notice the descant on the final stanza, and the Picardy third on the final chord.