THEIR AUTHOBS AND ORIGIN. 188
the benefit lie received from a Mr. Bray, whom he describes as " a poor ignorant mechanic, who knows nothing but Christ."
In 1738, he mentions in his diary that he corrected George Whitefield s diary for the press. And in the same year he had to appear before the Bishop of London to answer for certain alleged irregularities in the fulfilment of his official duties. His
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zeal for Christ led him to overstep the restraints of system ; and his earnest labours and evangelical doctrines awakened remark and aroused opposition.
For several years Charles united with his brother in the great work of preaching the Gospel to a dormant generation. His diary records the opposition he met with in his preaching tours, the perseverance with which he continued in his work, the rich blessing that sometimes attended his eloquent discourses, and the way in which the good cause took root in different parts of the country.
In the year 1749, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Gwynne, a lady of a good family in Brecknockshire ; and after that time, he confined his preaching labours almost entirely to Bristol and London. Two of his sons, Charles and Samuel, had a remarkable talent for music, and became celebrated, the first as a performer from his early childhood, and the other as an eminent composer.
Leaving administrative ai rangcments and the advocacy of a system to John, who found in them congenial work, and willingly resigning to him the Calvin like firmness that seems necessary to every great reformer, Charles, naturally cheerful in his piety, gladly became the hymn-writer of Wesleyanism. And it is in this capacity that his name lives, and will live amongst posterity. In respect to hymn-writing, John willingly assigned the palm to his more poetical brother ; while, on his part, Charles benefited by the co-operation of John, who, with severer taste, pruned away the luxuriance of his brother s pro ductions to the advantage of what remained. There was one respect in which John had the advantage of Charles, he was
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