It is recorded that Charles Wesley wrote so many poem and hymns (6000 plus in his lifetime) that he often wrote while he was traveling from place to place on his horse. He wrote poems to commemorate important days in his life (his wedding, etc.). In fact. "And Can It Be" was written to commemorate his evangelical conversion.
Charle's contribution of hymns and poems that even though Charles and John Wesley were excluded from preaching in Anglican parish churches Charle's songs could not be kept from being sung by people all over the United Kingdom. Even to this day his great hymn "Love Divine All Love's Excelling has been a favorite hymn for many of the royal weddings of the House of Windsor.
Charles Wesley's vast corpus of hymn texts is the most defining cultural artifact of eighteenth-century Methodism. Perhaps the greatest contribution of Charles' sons was that he was able to "set" in song the theology and experience of Methodists.*
Reflection:
1--Are the songs you sing in church or other places a clear reflection of your experience of God's work in your life?
2--How can you include hymns in your practices of spiritual formation?
*Richard Heitzenrater, Wesley and The People Called Methodist