Gracious soul, to whom are given

Author: Charles Wesley

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 >

Gracious soul, to whom are given. C. Wesley. [Resignation.] Appeared in the Hymns & Sacred Poems, 1740, in 11 stanzas of 6 lines, And based on the words, "Blessed are they that mourn." (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. i. p. 330.) As given in the American Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, 1878, No. 487, it is composed of stanzas i., ii., vii., iii., in the order named. The cento, "Human soul, to whom are given," in the American Unitarian Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, is also from this hymn.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)