God of my life, to Thee, My cheerful soul, &c. C. Wesley. [Birthday Hymn.] No. 10 of his "Hymns for Believers," given in Hymns & Sacred Poems, 1749, vol. i., No. 123, in 8 stanzas of 6 lines, and again in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, No. 219, with the omission of stanza v. In the revised edition of 1875, No. 229, the original stanzas are given in this order, i., ii., iv., iii., vi., viii., thus making a hymn of 6 stanzas. The last stanza contains the lines:—
"Like Moses to Thyself convey,
And kiss my raptured soul away."
These lines are based upon the Jewish tradition that God drew the soul of Moses from the body by a kiss. Watts has the same idea in his poem on the death of Moses—
"Softly his fainting head he lay
Upon his Maker's breast;
His Maker kissed his soul away,
And laid his flesh to rest."
(See Horae Lyricae, 1706). C. Wesley's Original text is in Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. v. p. 15.
--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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