1750 런던지진에 관한 찬송 연구 - Karen B. Westerfield Tucker

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Methodist History

42:4 (July 2004)

"ON THE OCCASION": CHARLES WESLEY'S HYMNS ON THE LONDON EARTHQUAKES OF 1750

- Karen B. Westerfield Tucker

The alarm here continues and increases, through the daily accounts we receive of more earthquakes. I am printing more hymns and a sermon on the occasion.

So wrote Charles Wesley to "My beloved Sally" on March 29, 1750.'1  In this letter to his wife, Charles apparently refers to a new hymn pamphlet, Hymns Occasioned by the Earthquake, March 8, 1750. Part II, which had been preceded by one under the same title. Wesley's intention in writing the

hymns and the sermon "on the occasion" was to offer a theological and pastoral reflection on a current crisis. In so doing, Wesley participated in the long-standing, even pre-Reformation, English practice of supplementing the authorized liturgical resources in times of national anxiety, emergency, or disaster with new forms of prayer, calls on a national scale for penitence, fasting, charitable actions, and the preaching of sermons. His use of verse as social and theological commentary likewise was not unique, but reflected a custom well known and well used in his day. Given his particular social location, it was necessary for Wesley also to take on the questions posed by the Enlightenment rationalists of his day regarding the nature of God and the nature of humanity, and the relationship between scientific inquiry and natural theology, or more precisely, the relationship between primary and secondary causes. What, then, was the particular "alarm'' that demanded a response?

I

 1차지진 The first was felt after noon on February 8, 1750 in London and Westminster, and in outlying areas on both sides of the Thames. It was also sensible as far afield as Gravesend and Reliford. Moving from the southeast to the northwest, the shock jolted houses; toppled chimneys, brought down a slaughterhouse in Southwark, and rocked or overturned, boats at their moorings. Chairs rattled and pewter clattered to the floor. A rumbling noise accompanied the heaving earth. Alarmed, most residents bolted from their homes or places of work. Even the counselors in the court of King's bench

 1. Cited from Thomas Jackson, The Journal of the Rev. Charles Wesley, A1.A. (London: John Mason 1849; repr. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1980) 2: 184.  Methodist History

and chancery in Westminster Hall deserted the building for fear of collapse,2  provoking versified ridicule in the press:

You say, old Rufus' fabric trembl'd,

When Earth her intrails shook;

And all the able hands assembl'd,

The term-time work forsook.

'Twas wrong -- they shou'd have made a stand,

And not have left their shops:

If law's the basis of the land,

Sure lawyers are the props.3

2차지진 A month later, on March 8, a tremor affected roughly the same area, this one seemingly more violent than the first. The shaking, which began approximately a half-hour after five in the morning (5:30am 발생), was reported by many to have been preceded several hours earlier by milder shocks, and immediately before by severe lightning, roars like exploding cannon, and the rushing of wind. Chimneys, houses, and kitchenware were again damaged. Steeple bells sounded after being struck by their swaying hammers, and stones fell from the new spire at Westminster Abbey. In Charterhouse Square, a maid-servant who was tossed out of bed broke her arm. Dogs howled, fish jumped, sheep scattered, roosting crows took flight, and trees visibly shook.

Fortunately, no deaths resulted.4     진도 몇?

Quipped Horace Walpole, author and Member of Parliament, '~as far as earthquakes go towards lowering the price of wonderful commodities, to be sure we are overstocked. ''5

2. For fuller descriptions of the February 8 earthquake, see, for example: ~'Historical Chronjcle," Gentleman's Magazine 20 (February 1750) 89; "The Monthly Chronologer," London Magazine: Or Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer 19 (February 1750) 91; various reports in

Philosophical Transactions 46 (1749-1750) 601-606; accounts from the diary of William Stukeley recorded in The Family Memoirs of the Rev. William Stukeley, M.D. and the Antiquarian and other Correspondence of William Stukeley, Roger & Samuel Gale, etc. (London: Surtees Society, 1883) 2:369-70; and Journal, February 8, 1750, The Works of John Wesley, vol. 20: Journal and Diaries ill, ed. \V. Reginald Ward and Richard P. Heitzenrater (Nashville: Abingdon, 1991) 320.

3. The Scots Magazine 12 (February 1750) 87. "Rufus'' refers to William Rufus, the eldest son of William the Conqueror and the builder of Westminster Hall.

4. For accounts of the March 8 earthquake, see: Thomas Burrat, ''The President's Report of the Account Given Him by Tho. Burrat, of Kensington, concerning the Earthquake on March 8. Last Past," Philosophical Transactions 46 (1749-1750) 681~83; "Historical Chronicle," Gentleman's Magazine 20 (March 1750) 137; Stephen Hales, "Some Considerations on the Causes of Earthquakes. By the Rev. Stephen Hales, D.D. and F.R.S.," Philosophical Transactions 46 (1749-1750) 671-72, 676-77; "The Monthly Chronologer," London Magazine 19 (March 1750) 138; H. Miles, ''The Rev. H. Miles D.D., F.R.S. to Mr. H. Baker F.R.S. Containing a More Full Account of the Same Than His Former Letter, Art. XII,'' Philosophical Transactions 46 (1749-1750) 628-30.

5. Letter to Horace Mann, March 11, 1750, The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole's Correspondence, vol. 20: Horace Walpole's Correspondence with Sir Horace Mann IV, ed. \V. S. Lewis, Warren Hunting Smith, and George L. Lam (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1960) 130. Walpole recounted to Mann, the English envoy in Florence, that he felt the earth's "shivering fit" between one and two on the morning of 8 March; regarding the stronger tremor, he noted: "on a sudden I felt my bolster lift up my head; I thought somebody was getting from under my bed, but soon found it was a strong earthquake, that lasted near half a minute, with a violent vibration and great roaring" (ibid.). 

II

The first earthquake provoked reactions of curiosity as well as concern. Attendance of visitors at the February meeting of the Royal Society of London increased dramatically for a discussion about earthquakes.6 The February issue of several popular magazines included, in brief, histories of earthquakes in England and abroad as well as theories about their cause. But alongside such "philosophical" reports and discussions appeared also admonitions to heed what appeared to be God's displeasure, as was intended by this anonymous poem in the Gentleman's Magazine:

Britain! attend the warning voice,

And dare be deaf no more!

The God that makes still sounds his choice,

Can bid his thunders roar.

The sanguin field, the vacant stall,

Have cry'd aloud REPENT;

The Locusts next repeat the call,

On the same errand sent.

An Earthquake now speaks louder yet,

And shakes a guilty shore:

Ye fools, who slumber near the pit,

Wake now, or wake no more.

If reason and religion nod,

And wretches truth despise,

The brutal world will arm for God,

And in his quarrel rise.

E'en Earth itself shall leave its base,

With indignation mov' d,

Ere man, a favour'd, thankless race

Be guilty, unreprov' d.

How deep the wound, and great the fall,

When God shall give the blow,

If, deaf to ev'ry friendly call,

We no repentance show.

Dear Britons! then, for your own sakes,

Avert the fatal stroke,

Lest God's tremendous vengeance wakes,

Nor love the doom revoke.7

One parson, after hearing debates whether the noise and shaking were the result of an earthquake or an explosion, remarked, "They are such an impious set of people, that I believe if the last trumpet was to sound, they would

6. The Family Memoirs of the Rev. William Stukeley, M.D., 2:370.

7. Gentleman's Magazine 20 (February 1750) 87.

bet puppet-show againstjudgment."8

Even King George II saw God at work. He refused to attend a masquerade, thinking that no one would do so after such an act of judgment, though he was wrong.9

Following the second earthquake, scientific and theological commentaries proliferated. Speculation that the earthquakes resulted from the proximity of Jupiter to the earth or their actual contact, an event supposedly predicted by Isaac Newton, was soundly denounced.10 Some persons, taking the deistic position of a remote clockmaker God and "rationally" explaining earthquakes as purely natural phenomena, reinforced or developed older claims that the source of earthquakes was subterranean air, water, or fire.11

Two new theories were set forward, with their principal proponents clergy scientists (both Fellows of the Royal Society) who, in their understanding of natural theology, saw no reason to divorce the natural and supernatural. One theory by Stephen Hales, curate at Teddington, may have been influenced by an idea postulated in a 1693 letter by first Astronomer Royal John Flamsteed

that up to that time had gotten little attention. In light of events then current,

Flamsteed's contribution was republished. Based in part on "evidence" supplied by the London tremors, Hales posited that when sulphurous fumes are emitted from the pores of the earth, especially in hot and dry weather, and do not disperse because of lack of air movement, the resulting sulphurous clouds may explode like lightning near the earth's surface. An earthquake

thus is the result of an "airquake."12

Yet along with his airquake theory, Hales acknowledged that, ''the Hand of God is not to be overlooked in these things, under whose Government all natural Agents act; especially such rare and unusual Events as Earthquakes." For, "God sometimes changes the Order of Nature, with Design to chastise Man for his Disobedience and Follies; natural Evils being graciously designed by him as moral Goods: All Events are under his Direction, and fulfil his Will."13  Similarly, William Stukeley at St. George's Church, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, took the position that there was no need to, "lose Sight of the theological Purpose of these amazing Alarms, whilst we endeavour to find out the Philosophy of them."14

"It certainly becomes a Christian Philosopher whilst he is investigating material Causes," said Stukeley, "to look up to the moral Use of them; for, in reality, every thing in the whole World was ultimately made for that Purpose. And of all the great and public Calamities which affect us Mortals, Earthquakes claim the first Title to the Name of Warnings and Judgments."15

The "mate-

8. Letter to Horace Mann, March 11, 1750, Horace Walpole's Correspondence, 20:131.

9. The Family Memoirs of the Rev. William Stukeley, M.D., 2:370.

10. "To the Author, &c.," London Magazine 19 (March 1750) 103.

11. For a thorough study of earthquake literature in this period and before, see John Gates Taylor, Jr., "Eighteenth-Century Earthquake Theories: A Case-History Investigation into the Character of the Study of the Earth in the Enlightenment,'' Ph.D. diss., University of Oklahoma 1975.

12. Hales, "Some Considerations on the Causes of Earthquakes," 676-77.

13. Hales, 669-70. w'The Rev. W. Stukely M.D. & F.R.S. to the President, on the Causes of Earthquakes,"

Philosophical Transactions 46 ( 17 49-17 50) 64 2.

15. "The Rev. W. Stukely M.D. & F.R.S. to the President, on the Causes of Earthquakes," Philosophical Transactions 46 ( 1749-1750) 668.

rial" cause of earthquakes, claimed Stukeley, was electricity, specifically the shock produced between a non-electrified cloud and the highly electrified earth. In presenting this second theory, Stukeley drew upon the previous work of Benjan1in Franklin, who had just a few months earlier discussed his studies of atmospheric electricity with the Royal Society. 16

Specifically theological interpretations of the earthquakes took a variety of forms, though in general each saw the movement of earth as an additional warning to a sinful people and a call for "spiritual improvement'' - additional, because England had already experienced 'judgment" through an infestation of locusts and sickness in its cattle. Poems and essays continued to be printed in newspapers and monthlies. Following.the precedent of his royal ancestors, the king found it fitting to issue a prayer for use in churches and chapels, especially since the second quake fell during Lent:

0 most Glorious and Gracious God; whose Judgments against obstinate O:flfenders

are most severe and terrible, but whose mercies are infinite to all them that with

hearty Repentance and true Faith tum unto thee: We, the sinful People of this Land,

do adore thy most righteous Judgment in all that is come upon us, and do humble

ourselves under thy mighty Hand; acknowledging before thee with Shame and

Confusion of Face, that we are no more worthy to be called thy Sons or thy Servants,

whom neither thy Judgments have driven, nor thy Goodness led to Repentance. In

mercy, 0 God, awaken us all to a true and deep Sense of our manifold and often

repeated provocations. Pardon the great Offences of us thy Servants, and the crying

Sins of the whole nation; remove the Evils we still lie under, and tum from us those

we have just Cause to fear. It is of thy Goodness, 0 Lord, that we were not all con-

sumed by the late dreadful Earthquakes, the Beginning of Sorrows, and Forerunners

of our final Destruction, and that in the midst of Judgment thou didst remember

Mercy. Let the strong Sense of our late marvellous Preservation work in us such a

thankfulness of Heart, and such a Seriousness and Watchfulness of Spirit, that no

Calamity may ever be a Surprize to us, nor Death itself come upon us unawares; that

so we may at length arrive safely at that blessed Kingdom which cannot be shaken:

For the sake of Jesus Christ our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.17

16 "The Rev. W. Stukely M .. D. & F.R.S. to the President,. on the Causes of Earthquakes,"

Philosophical Transactions 46 ( 1749-1750) 643. See also "The Philosophy of Earthquakes, by

the Rev. William Stukeley, M.D. & F.R.S. &c in a Letter to Martin Folkes, Esq., LLD. and

President of the Royal Society, &c.," Philosophical Transactions 46 (1749-1750) 731-50. The

theories of Hales and Stukeley are included also in The History and Philosophy of Earthquakes,

from the Remotest to. the present Tinies: Collected from the best Writers on the Sql;Jject. With a

particular account of The Phaenomena of the great one of November the 1st 1755, Yn various

Parts of the Globe (London: Printed for J. Nourse, 1757) 243-52; 253-79.

17 A Prayer to be used on Occasion of the late Earthquakes, in all Churches and Chapels with-

in the Cities of London and Westminste1; and the Bills of Mortality, during the time of Lent, after

the Prayer against the Mortality of the Cattle, By His Majesty's Special Command, Dublin

1750. In 1580, Elizabeth I issued an order of prayer and a sem1on to be used in all parish

. churches "to avert and tum God's wrath from us threatened by the late terrible earthquake"; the

last prayer included was also to be used by "all householders with their whole families." See

William Keatinge Clay, ed., Liturgies and Occasional Forms of Prayer set forth in the Reign of

Queen Elizabeth, Parker Society, vol. 30 (Cambridge: University Press, 1847) 562-75.

Pulpits offered a ready venue for the explication of what were believed

to be God's intentions and Anglican and Dissenter alike took the opportuni-

ty, with some of them committing their sermons to print. Samuel Hull,

preaching from  II Samuel 22:8 at Lorriners Hall on Sunday, March 11,

pleaded that God might awaken the citizens of London and Westminster,

"from the spiritual Sleep of carnal Security, and excite them to fly for Mercy

to the Hope set before them in the Gospel."18

Thomas Secker, Bishop of Oxford and later Archbishop of Canterbury, took Psalm 2:11 as his text for the March 11 service in the parish church of St. James, Westminster. God sends earthquakes and other alarms in every age to awaken people from their lethargy and to remind them of the final judgment that will inevitably· come. The two most recent shocks, said Secker, were particularly directed at London, the, "headquart' ers and example of wickedness to the whole island." · The sins of Londoners worthy of punishment were many, yet Secker noted

that earthquakes are also signs of hope and God's favor for those who tum from their wickedness, since one quake occurred at the death and another at the resurrection of the Lord, "the two great bulwarks of Christian comfort.''19

In a sermon drawn from Isaiah 5: 12 and delivered April 4 at Crosby Square, Dissenter Thomas Newman took similar lines, and also rebuked those who denied God's involvement in favor of scientific explanations, ''Scripture directs us, and our reason at once falls in therewith, to give this as the only satisfactory answer, all these things hath God's hand made."20

The. Bishop of London also spoke out on the situation in the form of a pastoral letter to the clergy and people that, after initial publication on March 16, went through numerous printings,

21 was published in full or excerpted by the press, and was quoted in part in sermons. Identifying the tremors as a "strong summons from God to repentance," Thomas Sherlock said he was

compelled by his status as "servant and monitor in Christ Jesus" to warn his flock to, "flee from the wrath that is to come,'' particularly since, "they have loved darkness" though they have, "had the light." He commented at length upon specific vices and corruptions in religion and morals. , including the ·publication of books that, "ridicule the great truths of religion, both natural

and revealed,'' and bemoaned that the season of Lent had been turned into, "a time of mirth and jollity, of music, dancing, and riotous living." He urged

18. Samuel Hull, The fluctuating Condition of human Life, and the absolute Necessity of a

Preparation for the eternal World, consider'd, in a Sennon occasioned by the late Shocks of

Earthquake. Preached at Lorriners Hall, March 11, 1749-50. Humbly recommended to the

serious Perusal of the Inhabitants of London and Westminster (London: Printed for J. Fuller,

1750) 27.

19. Sermon VIII, The Works of Thomas Secker, LLD., new ed. (London: Printed for C. and J.

Rivington, 1825) 5: 154-77.

20. Thomas Newman, The Sin and Shame of disregarding alanning Providences. A Sermon

preached at Crosby-Square, April 4, 1750. Occasioned by two SHOCKS of an Earthquake; One

on February 8. The other on March 8 (London: Printed for R. Hett, 1750) 6.

21. Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann dated April 2, 1750, observed that ten thousand

copies of the .Bishop's letter were sold in two days and that fifty thousand had been subscribed

for (Horace Walpole's Correspondence, 20:133).

the people to reform themselves and the clergy to preach repentance, "for the dissolute wickedness of the age is a more dreadful sign and prognostication of divine anger, than even the trembling of the earth under us."22 In general, the Bishop's letter was positively received, though some published letters questioned his certain knowledge of divine intention (''Who knoweth the Councils [sic] of the Almighty?"), especially God's singling out the English over other wicked peoples and nations, and his omission of a charge to repentance and reform directed at the clergy.

23

While the Bishop's letter and the preaching of sermons may have had the desired effect ofencouraging repentance, they also undoubtedly contributed to an escalating sense of panic. It had not been lost on most citizens that the second and more severe earthquake had hit exactly a ' month after the first. .

What awaited in April, either on the 5th (Thursday), exactly four weeks after

the previous shock, or on the 8th (Sunday)? Tensions increased when

"Mitchell," a lifeguard man of Lord Delawar's regiment, proph:esied the

destruction of Westminster and London for April 5 between midnight· and

one, thus earning himself the epithet "military prophet,''24

and a shoemaker turned field preacher claimed that an angel revealed the world's destruction

for Sunday moming.25

But these · were only the latest prognostications encouraged by recent events. Added to these were the previous predictions made by such well known and controversial intellectuals as William Whiston, who tried to substantiate his ''biblical" prophesy for the arrival of the millennium in lectures given to Londoners on March 6, 8, and 10.26

Even

22 Letter from the Lord Bishop of London, to the Clergy and People of London and Westminster;

On occasion of the Late Earthquakes, (London: Printed for John Whiston, 1750) Because the

Bishop of London had jurisdiction over the colonies in America, his letter was reprinted there,

asis evident from a Boston publication ''Re-Printed and sold by John Draper" dated 1750.

23 See, , for example, Modest Remarks upon the Bishop of London's Letter concerning the late

Earthquakes. By One of the People called QUAKERS, 2d ed., (London: Printed forT. Howard,

1750) and A Letter to the Lord Bishop of London, on Occasion of His Lordship's late Letter to

the Clergy and People of the Cities of London arid Westminster. By a Citizen of London,

(London: Printed for J. Robinson, 1750).

24 Commented Catherine Talbot in a letter, "[He] has prophesied a thousand shocking things, and

to hear them hawked about this morning almost chilled me; there was something horrid in it;

though the only real horror belonging to it, is the pain it must give to weak low-spirited peo-

ple'' (Letter of Miss Talbot to Mrs. Carter, 3 April 1750, A Series of Letters between Mrs.

Elizabeth Carter and Miss Catherine Talbot, from the year 1741 to 1770. To which are added,

letters from Mrs. Elizabeth Carter to Mrs. Vesey, between the years 1763and1787; published

from the original manuscripts in the possession of the Rev. Montague PennilJ:gton, 3d ed.

(London: Printed for F. C. and J. Rivington, 1819) 1:276. The "prophet'' retracted his predic-

tion before 5 April, saying that Londoners' acts of repentance had satisfied God for the moment.

He was, in the end, committed to a madhouse. See The Military . Prophet's Apology; 01;

Probable Reasons for Deferring the Earthquake. In a letter to D1: M-dd--t-n (London: Nathan

Foretell, 1750) 3-4.

15 The Scots Magazine 12 (March 1750) 153.

26 William Whiston, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Mr. William Whiston, M.A. Part III and

Last. To which are added his Lectures on the late remarkable Meteors and Earthquakes, And

on the Future Restoration of the Jews, 2d ed. (London: Printed for J. Whiston and B. White,

1753) 13-15, 46-55. For a study ofWhiston's millennialistclaims, see James E. Force, William

Whiston: Honest Newtonian (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985) 113-37.

Dissenting minister and hymn writer Philip Doddridge had foretold doom the previous August in a sermon in which sinful London was likened to Sodom and Gomorrah that in the end had succumbed to the "reeling" earth.27

The response of many terrified persons, rich and poor, was to flee the city, which garnered a spate of literary reactions. In his sermon of March 11, Bishop Secker asked, "But do you hope to fly from God? Fly from your iniquities to God, if you would be safe."28

In the same vein, a list of queries appeared in papers and magazines addressed to those leaving town. Among them:

Whether they can hope, by a change of place, to flee from the face of that God who

is every where present?

Whether they think the divine displeasure, expressed in those convulsions of nature,

is against the spot of ground on which London stands, or against the wickedness of

the persons who generally reside in this capital?

Whether their own particular vices ought not to be put in the account, when they are

meditating on this motive, and considered as the chief cause of their particular danger?29

There was also criticism, serious and cynical, in published verse. From

The Scots Magazine:

You tax the age with unbelief:

But where has your attention been?.

The scene is chang' d. -- Dispel your grief;

Credulity s the reigning sin.

Britons attend! from Folly's bed

A dreamer starts, and tells his tale;

And by his brain-sick dreams are led

Both the great vulgar and the small.

See, Sherlock! a believing age

The word of prophecy reject;

But, when a dreamer mounts the stage,

Him they receive with all respect.

30

And in the London Magazine:

A Word to the Wise, and especially to the Other wise, who are not yet run away from

our Metropolis.

When dread convulsions shake this ball of earth,

21

Philip Doddridge, The guilt and doom of Capernaum seriously recommended to the consider-

ation of the inhabitants of London: in a sermon preached at Salters-Hall, August 20, 1749; pub-

lished on occasion of the late alarm by the second shock of an earthquake, March 8, 1749-50:

with a preface relating to that awful event, (London: Printed by J. Waugh, 1750).

28

Sermon VIII, The Works of Thomas Secker, LL.D., 5:166.

29

Gentleman s Magazine 20 (March 1750) 125 [which lists the source as the London Evening

Post] and London Magazine 19 (April 1750) 177 [which lists the source as the Westminster

Journal for 31 March].

30

Tlze Scots Magazine 12 (March 1750) 154. "On The Occasion''

Adore the power who gave creation birth:

With deep contrition think on failings past;

And live, as tho' that sun might shine your last.

Yet let not wizard-tales your judgment blind.

Why shou'd feign'd, future earthquakes fright mankind?

Low, stupid panicks speak a pigmy race:

Let such no more our learned isle disgrace.

Dauntless, the good and wise in London stay:

Wicked or weak are all who sneak away.

A Word more, (to the Other-wise only.)

· Rise from your lurking holes, each dastard fool;

Creep back to town, and go to wisdom's school:

There learn, that heaven's decrees are hid in night;

Not fram' d for knaves or dupes to bring to light:

Learn one just fear, the fear of doing ill;

Or acting to off end th' almighty will;

That will, which instantly bid nature rise,

And governs her each work, all good, all wise.

Eclipses, shadows, dancing lights dismay,

And thus our mental emptiness betray:

To try our faith, lo! bottle~conjurers rise;

And last a craz'd enthusiast blinds our eyes.

Shou' d justice weigh impartial in her scales,

As folly triumphs, or as sense prevails;

She'd think the palm, to those who fled not, due;

A birchen-rod to run-away, - like you.

31

205

,.. ~ . ,.

Such reproof did little to staunch the flow of men, women, and children

moving by foot or carriage to the countryside. In the days immediately

before April 5, as many as 730 coaches were counted passing Hyde Park

Comer. Those unable to depart readied themselves. Numerous women

sewed "earthquake gowns" to keep themselves warm when they sat outside

on the night of April 4.

32

III

On March 8, Charles Wesley had been leading worship at the Foundery when the earthquake struck and shook the structure, raising cries of fear. He noted in a letter to his brother John that Psalm 46  (찬송집 1부 맨 끝에 수록) came to mind and that, "God filled my heart with faith, and my mouth with words, shaking their souls, as well as their bodies."33

Over the next three days, Wesley recorded in his journal that services of worship were especially crowded and that he had taken as his text Psalm 46 (March 9) and Isaiah 24 (March 10).  "My spirit and many others' seem revived by the late judgment."34

To address the issues that two successive earthquakes had thrust upon the people of London and Westminster, Charles Wesley, as others of his fellow

31 London Magazine 19 (April 1750) 186.

32 Letter to Horace Mann, April 2, 1750, Horace Walpole's Correspondence, 20:137.

33 Joumal, March 8, 1750, The Works of John Wesley, 20:323.

34 Entries for March 9-11, The Journal of the Rev. Charles Wesley, M.A., 2:68-69.

clergy had done, used the literary devices of sermon and verse. Psalm 46, mentioned twice in the first two days of the crisis, was for him a pivotal text that spoke of God simultaneously as desolator and refuge. It was the one taken for Charles' written sermon on the subject of the earthquakes,35

and it appeared in the form of a metered paraphrase in Part I of Hymns Occasioned by the Earthquake, March 8, 1750.36

Though not always quoted in the five hymns of Part I or the thirteen hymns in Hymns Occasioned by the Earthquake, March 8, 1750. Part II, Psalm 46 nonetheless appears to provide a conceptual framework for both parts. This does not exclude Wesley's customary use of a catena of scripture in producing a unified prose or poetic text. Because the hymns and the sermon share a literary and historical linkage and because the intended audience for both is saint and sinner alike,

references to the sermon will be made when examining the content of the hymn texts.

A. The Cause and Purpose of Earthquakes Charles Wesley, cognizant of contemporary philosophical and theological discussions concerning the causes of earthquakes, took the position that, "earthquakes are the works of the Lord"; · "God is himself the author . . . whatever the natural cause may be.''37

Scientific explanations by "smooth prophets' ' ignored or denied God's ongoing direction over all things, seen and unseen:

From whence these dire portents around,

That strike us with unwonted fear!

Why do these earthquakes rock the ground,

And threaten our destruction near?

Ye prophets smooth, the cause explain,

And lull us to repose again.

"Or water swelling for a vent,

"Or air impatient to get free,

"Or fire within earth's entrails pent";

Yet all are order'd, Lord, by Thee;

The elements obey Thy nod,

And nature vindicates her God.38

35 The edition of the sermon used here is from Kenneth G. C. Newport, The Sennons of Charles

Wesley: A Critical Edition with Introduction and Notes (New York: Oxford University Press,

2001) 225-37. The first edition, under the title "The Cause and Cure of Earthquakes. A Sermon

Preach'd from Psalm xlvi.8 London. Printed in the Year MDCCL," was published anonymous-

ly. The second edition, issued in 1756, listed Charles as author.

36 The version of the earthquake hymns cited here is the more readily accessible G. Osborn, The

Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office,

1870) 6:17-52; however, the 18th printings (1750, 1755, and 1756) have also been examined

and silent corrections have been made when Osborn's version departs from both the second and

third editions. The text for the Psalm 46 paraphrase, not included in Osborn, was taken from the

third edition (London: n.p, 1756) publication of Part I.

37 The Sermons of Charles Wesley, 227.

38 Stanzas 1-2, Hymn 5, Part I.

That nature is obedient to the divine will is also stressed by allusion to Psalm 148:8:

Vapours and damps confess' d their God,

And did Thy word fulfil,

And earth observed its Maker's nod,

And trembled, and was still.39

Wesley had no doubt, following the dictates of Scripture and reason, that, "eap:hquakes are God's 'strange works' of judgment, the proper effect and punishment of sin. "40

The late events, to his mind, were warnings of God's justifiable anger:

God of awful majesty,

Thy glorious name we praise! [1 Chronicles 29:13]

Known are all thy works to Thee [Acts 15:18]

Of judgment, and of grace:

In Thine only breast it lies

To raise or sink, revive or slay:

Wilt Thou yet again chastise;

Or tum thy wrath away? [Psalm 106:23]

Vengeance on Thy foes to take

Hast Thou in anger sworn?

Sworn again our earth to shake, [Job 9:6]

And from its base o'ertum?

Surely then to Abraham's seed [Galatians 3:29]

Thou shalt reveal the wrath to come, [1 Thessalonians 1: 10]

Speak the punishment decreed,

And warn us of our doom.41 (1부 4번, 1-2절)

The people's sin was profound and deserving of God's ire:

We Thy judgments have abhorr'd,

We Thy covenant have broke,

Daringly denied our Lord,

Cast away His easy yoke,

Would not cast our sins away,

Would not know our gracious day.

42

[Leviticus 26: 15]

[Jude 4]

[Matthew 11 :30]

Like Bishop Sherlock, Charles signaled the ra1npant corruption in morals

and religion that plagued England. Among the sins specifically identified

were those he listed in a single hymn text, namely, vice, the scorn o.r denial

of Christ, the Arian subordination of the Son that thereby fractured the co-

equality of the triune God, self-righteousness, and self-deception.

39. Stanza 8, Hymn 1, Pat1 II.

40. The Sennons of Charles Wesley, 228.

41. Stanzas 1-2, Hymn 4, Part I.

42. Stanza 2, Hymn 6, Pa.ti II.

How vain, great God, and worse than vain,

How sinful our pretended pain

In this our evil day!

Unless we to our Smiter tum,

The cause of all our evils mourn,

And cast our sins away.

'Gainst vice we partially declaim,

With undiscerning censure blame

Our nation's wickedness:

But 0 ! the sin that loudest cries

For all the vengeance of the skies,

We never once confess.

0 might we from our hearts repent

Of scorning Him Thy pity sent

To heal our sin and grief!

Assist us through Thy Spirit's power,

To own, and feelingly deplore,

Our damning unbelief.

Convince the wretches who deny

Their Lord, that stoop' d for them to die,

Who triumph in His pain,

Who trample on His precious blood,

And hate, and scoff the dying God,

And crucify again.

Confound the misbelieving pride

Of those that impiously divide

Thy dearest Son and Thee;

Who will not Him Thine Equal own,

But madly threaten to dethrone

The Filial Deity.

And 0 ! Almighty Son of God,

Into the blind self-righteous crowd

Thy sharpest arrows dart;

The men who infidels condemn,

Nor ever knew themselves the same,

Mere infidels in heart.

A formal self-deceiving race,

Who mock the counsel of Thy grace,

The sense of sins forgiven,

The power of godliness explode,

The witness, and the peace of God,

And faith that leads to heaven.43

Although it was individuals who were guilty, by the collective stain the

(Christian) nation was also implicated and judged:

43. Stanzas 1-7, Hymn 5, Part II. "On The Occasion"

Your sins for vengeance call,

Your sins the scourge demand,

Your sins have judgment brought on all

The sad polluted land:

Cursed for your only sake,

The earth reels to and fro,

And lo! its deep foundations shake,

And Tophet yawns below.

The nations to rebuke,

When God His power displays,

Earth trembles at His threatening look,

And moves and shifts its place:

Infernal thunders roar,

And speak His kindled ire,

And hills dissolve like wax before

The sin-consuming fire.

44.

Now, Lord, to shake our guilty land,

Thou dost in indignation rise;

We see, we see Thy lifted hand

*****

Made bare a nation to chastise,

Whom neither plagues nor mercies move

To fear Thy wrath, or court Thy love.

Therefore the earth beneath us reels,

And staggers like our drunken men,

The earth the mournful cause reveals,

And groans our burden to sustain;

Ordain' d our evils to deplore,

And fall with us to rise no more.

45

[Isaiah 24:20]

[Isaiah 30:33]

[Micah 4:3]

[Psalm 104:32]

[Psalm 97:5]

[Isaiah 29:6]

[Isaiah 24: 19-20]

209

In spite of God's dramatic warnings, Wesley acknowledged that sinners

still would refuse to change their habits:

The crowd alarm'd with short surprise,

And spared, alas! in vain,

Started, and half unseal' d their eyes,

And dropp' d to sleep again. 46

The crowd, the poor unthinking crowd,

Refuse Thy hand to see,

They will not hear Thy loudest rod,

They will not tum to Thee.

As with judicial blindness struck,

They all Thy signs despise,

44. Stanzas 3-4, Hymn 4., Pait II.

*****

45. Stanzas 4~5, Hymn 5, Part I. The first line of the fourth stanza is .altered in the third edition to

read "to shake a guilty land."

46. Stanza 2, Hymn 1, Part II. 210 Methodist History

Harden their hearts yet more, and mock

The anger of the skies.

But blinder still, the rich and great

In wickedness excel,

And revel on the brink of fate,

And sport, and dance to hell.

Regardless of Thy smile or frown,

Their pleasures they require,

And sink with gay indifference down

To everlasting fire.

47.

*****

How weak the thoughts and vain,

Of self-deluding men!

Men, who fix' d to earth alone,

Think their houses shall endure,

Fondly call their lands their own,

To their distant heirs secure.

How soon may God rebuke

Their folly with a look!

Caused by the Almighty's frown,

When the sudden earthquake comes,

Then their hopes are tumbled down,

Then their houses are their tombs.

48.

[Psalm 95:8]

[Matthew 25:41]

[Psalm 94: 11]

[Psalm 49: 11]

[Luke 12: 18-21]

Regarding the masses that were departing London and its environs, Charles

reminded those determined to change their location and flee that they would

inevitably face the consequence of their sin. Escape was not possible. To

make his point, he posed the same rhetorical question as Bishop Secker that

echoes the words of the Psalmist:

Ah! whither would ye fly

To screen your guilty heads?

Danger and death are always nigh,

Where' er a sinner treads:

Impenitent, ye strive

To' escape with fruitless haste,

Whom earth must swallow up alive,

Or hell receive at last.

Tremble, ye Christless crowd,

Whom death and hell pursue,

Strangers, and enemies to God,

Alas! what will ye do?

In vain ye change your place,

If still unchanged your mind;

Or fly to distant climes, unless

Ye leave your sins behind.

47. Stanzas 3-4, Hymn 3, Part I.

48. Stanzas 1, 3, Hymn 9, Part II.

[Psalm 139:7]

[Numbers 16:30]

I

"On The Occasion"

Who can escape the wreck

In that vindictive day!

The mountains at His presence quake,

The mountains flee away;

The rocks he rends and tears,

And violently throws down,

And nature in convulsions bears

The terror of His frown.

49.

B. The Cure of Earthquakes

211

[Nahum 1 :5, 6]

"Judgment," according to Wesley, is also "mercy's harbinger."50

God

gives signs of impending judgment so that the wamiI}.g may be heeded and

doom escaped by the "timely repentance" both of individuals and the nation.

"What but national repentance can prevent national destruction ?"51

Great God, who, ready to forgive,

In wrath rememberest mercy still,

By whose preserving love we live,

Though doom'd the second death to feel;

We magnify Thy patient grace,

And tremble, while we sing Thy praise.

52

*****

God of glorious majesty,

Whose judgments are abroad,

Pierce, and turn our hearts to Thee,

With sacred horror aw' d;

All this drowsy land awake,

And by the thunder of Thy power

Shake, our inmost spirits shake,

And let us sleep no more.

E're the threatned ruin come,

A general terror dart,

Send the keen conviction home

To every thoughtless heart;

Shake us out of Satan's hands,

Burst open every prison door,

Rouse, and loose us from our bands,

And bid us sin no more.

53

[Habakkuk 3:2]

[Revelation 21 :8]

[Job 26:14]

[Job 2:6]

[Acts 16:27]

But, says Wesley, penitence alone is insufficient unless a per~on also

believes the Gospel and accepts salvation in Jesus Christ. Indeed, such "true

repentance" is only possible through Christ himself, whose Spirit supplies

49

Stanzas 1-2, 5, Hymn 4, Part II.

5

°From stanza 6, Hymn 11, Part II.

51

The Sermons of Charles Wesley, 234-35.

52

Stanza 1, Hymn 1, Part I.

53

Stanzas 1, 3, Hymn 2, Part I.

................................................................................................. 11!111 ..212 Methodist History

the conviction against sin and unbelief and whose perpetual intercession

frees the guilty:

54

But O! the Saviour of mankind

Hath gain'd for us a longer space,

Jesus His Father's heart inclin' d

To spare a vile rebellious race,

To snatch from Co rahs fearful doom,

And save us from the wrath to come.

Then let us to our Saviour turn,

Answer His mercy's whole design,

With godly fear rejoice, and mourn,

And praises with confessions join,

'Till all these lowering clouds remove,

And God appears the God of love.SS

*****

Jesus, Lord, to whom we cry,

The true repentance give,

Give us at Thy feet to lie,

And tremble, and believe;

On the Rock of Ages place

Our souls, 'till all the wrath is o'er;

Ground, and 'stablish us in grace,

And bid us sin no more.

56

Let all the faithless nation cry,

Redeem us, Saviour, or we die,

A second death to feel :

Jesus, Thine only name and blood

Can save us from the wrath of God,

Can ransom us from hell.

57

Jesu, save us from our sins,

*****

*****

Save us from our plague of heart,

All of unbelief convince,

All unto thyself convert;

Let our sin-sick spirits find

Thee the Healer of mankind.

No delight Thy goodness hath

In the death of him who dies;

Grant us then the living faith,

54

The Sermons of Charles Wesley , 236.

55

Stanzas 3-4, Hymn 1, Part I.

51

'Stanza 4, Hymn 2, Part I.

57

Stanza 9, Hymn 5, Part II.

[Judell]

[1 Thessalonians 1: 1 O]

[Joel 2: 12]

[Revelation 21 :8]

[Exodus 9:14]

.

I

j

"On The Occasion"

Faith that on Thy blood relies,

Faith that all thy grace receives,

Faith that all Thy fulness gives.5 ~

[Romans 3:25]

[Romans 4: 16]

213

To those who are truly penitent and faithful, God is a refuge and strength

from the perils of earthquake and from the mockery of those who defame the

divine name or assault the church. Wesley's paraphrase of Psalm 46 takes up

in twelve stanzas these themes (Luther used the same Psalm to address sim-

ilar issues in ''A Mighty Fortress"), though only stanzas 1, 3-8 are quoted

here:

God, the omnipresent God,

Our Strength and Refuge stands,

Ready to support our Load,

And bear us in his Hands:

Readiest when we need Him most,

When to Him distress' d we cry,

All who on his Mercy trust

Shall find Deliverance nigh.

Let Earth's inmost Center quake,

And shatter'd Nature mourn,

Let th' unwieldy Mountains shake,

And fall by Storms uptorn,

Fall with all their trembling Load

Far into the Ocean hurl'd,

Lo! we stand secure in God,

Amidst a ruin' d World.

From the Throne of God there springs

A pure and crystal Stream,

Life, and Peace, and Joy it brings

To his Jerusalem:

Rivers of refreshing Grace

Thro· the sacred City flow,

Watering all the hallow' d Place

Where God resides below.

God most merciful, most high,

Doth in his Sion dwell,

Kept by Him their towers defy

The Strength of Earth and Hell.

Built on her o' ershadowing Rock,

Who shall her Foundations move,

Who her great Def ender shock,

Th' Almighty God of Love?

All that on this Rock are stay'd,

The World assaults in vain,

Ever present with his Aid

He shall his own sustain:

5

x Stanzas 5-6, Hymn 6, Part II. 214 Methodist Histo1y

Guardian of the chosen Race,

Jesus doth his Church defend,

Save them by his timely Grace,

And save them to the End.

Furiously the Heathen rag' d

Against his Church below,

Kingdoms all their Power engag' d

Jerusalem t' o'erthrow;

Earth from her Foundation stiff' d,

Yawn' d to swallow up her Prey,

Jesus spoke, she own'd his Word,

And quak' d, and fled away.

For his People in Distress

The God of Jacob stands,

Keeps us, 'till our Troubles cease,

In his Almighty Hands:

He for us his Power hath shewn,

He doth still our Refuge prove;

Loves the Lord of Hosts his own,

And shall for ever Love.

Wesley's paraphrase of Psalm 46 employs the metaphor of the rock, an

image he particularly favored in the earthquake hymns and used, according

to scriptural precedent, to mean either a strong foundation or a secure place

in which one could safely hide.

59

A christological interpretation to the Old

Testament usage of "clefts in the rock" is given in one stanza:

Enter into the Rock, and hide

Your trembling spirits in the dust;

Fly to the clefts, the riven Side,

And in a dying Saviour trust.

60

The metaphor of the rock was one in a set of three that Charles Wesley

e1nployed in his sermon to lure penitent sinners, "Enter into the rock - the

ark - the city of refuge. "61

These two metaphors also have a place in the

earthquake hymns. Each is found in a hymn that summarizes a biblical nar-

rative wherein is recounted the story of a faithful person who perseveres

with God's help amidst a sinful world. A hymn that takes up the account of

Noah and the Flood (Hymn 7, Part II) gives different interpretations to the

metaphor of the ark. It is the vessel that saved Noah and thus, "the heir of

righteousness Divine." It is Jesus himself, "to the Ark of mercy fly, I And

Jesu's wounds their refuge make." And it is the church, "within the sacred

59

See Hymns 2 and 3 of Part I, and Hymns 4 and 9 of Part II. See also Wesley's use of the image

in his journal entry for 10 March 1750 (The Journal of the Rev. Charles Wesley, M.A, 2:69).

60

Stanza 2, Hymn 2, Part II. A similar christological interpretation is found in Stanza 10, Hymn

4, Part II, which refers to believers "Hid in the clefts of dying Love."

61

The Sermons of Charles Wesley, 237. "On The Occasion'' 215

Ark to rest"; "Triumphant o'er the .blazing flood, I The church, and family

of God, I Our Ark and we shall rest in heaven"). The destruction of Sodom

and GomotTah, an example of God's judgment also found in the sermon, and

the preservation of Lot create the context for the image of the city of refuge

(Hymn 3, Part II). Herein Wesley contrasts, in two adjacent stanzas, the Old

Covenant with the New, ''O let us to our Zoar fly, I And find a place of

refuge nigh," is followed by, "Till all who will, escape, and rest I Close shel-

ter' din their Saviour's breast."

To those who find shelter in the Savior's gracious keeping, the fitting

response, according to Wesley, is gratitude and faithfulness , worship and

thanksgiving:

Rise every soul in Jes us' name,

Who after Him aspires;

The wonders of His love proclaim,

And praise Him in the fires.

Wherefore our lives shall show His praise

Long as our lives are given,

Or snatch' d from earth obtain a place

Immovable in heaven.

62

Accepting our deliverance, Lord,

Our long, or short, reprieve,

Thy wondrous goodness we record,

And to Thy glory live.

We never will the grace forget,

But thankfully improve,

And still in songs of praise repeat

Thy providential love.

63

*****

But these faithful servants must also keep alert to see what the Lord will do

next, confidently secure:

Blessed are the servants, Lord,

Whom Thou shalt watching find,

Hanging on Thy faithful word,

And to Thy will resign'd;

Safe amidst the darts of death,

Secure they rest in all alarms,

Sure their Lord hath spread beneath

His everlasting arms.

64

02

Stanzas 1, 4, Hymn 8, Part II.

63

Stanzas 9-10, Hymn 1, Part IL

6-IStanza 4, Hymn 4, Part I.

[Luke 12:37]

[Titus 1:9]

[Ephesians 6d 6~

[Deuteronomy 33:27]

________________________________ ._ ................................................................... .216 Methodist History

C. Earthquakes as an Instrument of God's New Creation

In general, the content of Charles Wesley's sermon and hymns, as thus far

identified, has been comparable in its theological and spiritual emphases to

the literature produced after the earthquakes by other English religious lead-

ers. There are, of course, particular "Methodistical" nuances, and character-

istic words and phrases in the hymns. But on the whole, Wesley's theologi-

cal arguments fall in line with Anglican and Dissenting writers focused on

motivating the people to repentance in response to God's warning. Or, per-

haps it should be read in another way. Because of the calamity of the earth-

quake, a more evangelical approach was taken up by those not normally of

that camp, and closer to what the Methodist movement had already been

advocating. For indeed, Charles Wesley's earthquake sermon and hymns,

though they speak to the specifics of the current events, are a version of his

standard rehearsal of the grand history of salvation and of the more person-

al via salutis.

The hymns go beyond the sermon in developing an additional under-

standing of the purpose of the earthquakes. They herald that the "ruined

world" (so identified in the Psalm 46 paraphrase) is giving way to a "new-

created earth" marked by the return of the one who is the "Desire of

Nations":

65

Wars, and plagues, and great distresses,

The tremendous day fore-run,

Earthquakes felt in divers places

Show the latter times begun;

Want, and national confusion,

Boding grief, and panic fear,

Mark the times of restitution,

Speak the great Restorer near.

66

Hark how all nature groans

*****

In pangs of second birth!

Expect, ye ransom' d ones,

A new-created earth,

The ruin of the old is near:

Look up, and see your Lord appear!

His tokens we espy,

And now lift up our head,

And in the earthquake cry,

It is my Saviour's tread!

He comes to save His servants here:

Look up, and see your Lord appear!67

[Romans 8:22]

[Mark 10:45]

[2 Peter 3: 13]

[2 Timothy 4:1]

[Luke 21 :28]

[Psalm 31:16]

[2 Timothy 4: 1]

65

This image from Haggai 2:7 is found in stanza 3, Hymn 10, Part II and in stanza 1, Hymn 13,

Part IL

66

Stanza 2, Hymn 10, Part II; compare with stanza 4, Hymn 12, Part IL

67

Stanzas 3-4, Hymn 11, Part IL

, 1·" "On The Occasion" 217

On that eschatological day will be seen the descent of the heavenly

Jerusalem:

0 might we quickly find

The place for us design'd;

See the long-expected day

Of our full redemption here!

Let the shadows flee away,

Let the new-made world appear.

High on Thy great white throne,

0 King of saints, come down;

In the New Jerusalem

Now triumphantly descend,

Let the final trump proclaim

Joys begun which ne'er shall end!68

[John 14:2]

[Job 14:2]

[Revelation 20: 11]

[Revelation 15:3]

. ["13-evelation • 21 :2]

[1 Corinthians 15:52]

Surrounded by his saints, Christ will then reign for eternity:

Plant the heavenly kingdom here,

Glorious in Thy saints appear,

Speak the sacred number seal' d,

Speak the mystery fulfill' d.

Take to Thee Thy royal power,

Reign, when sin shall be no more,

Reign, when time no more shall be,

Reign to all etemity.

69

[2 Timothy 4:18]

[2 Thessalonians 1: 10]

[Revelation 7 :4]

[Colossians 1 :26]

[Hebrews 8: 12]

[Revelation 10:6]

Thus, because they forecast the fulfillment of the kingdom of God, earth-

quakes ultimately signal a ''permanent peace .. ''

70

Bring the kingdom of Thy Spirit,

Joy, artd righteousness, and peace;

Purchasec1 by Thy dying merit,

Every child of mart possess;

Come to us, who languish for Thee,

Us, who long Thy face to see,

Fill the latter house with glory,

Then receive us up to Thee.

71

[Revelation 22:4]

In approaching earthquakes as a sign of the new creation, Charles Wesley

may have been influenced by the various millenarian interpretatioh~, of bib-

lical prophecy that had been circulating in print. But more likely, his knowl-

edge of Scripture, particularly his reading of the apocalpytic texts, inspired

him to link the earthquakes with the second coming of Christ, thus giving

the hymns a millennial tone. Although he could have drawn from the earth-

68

Stanzas 9-10, Hymn 9, Part II.

69

Stanzas 5-6, Hymn 13, Part II.

7

°From stanza 3, Hymn 12, Part II.

11

Stanza 4, Hymn 10, Part II. 218 Methodist History

quakes recorded at the Crucifixion and the Resurrection to illustrate further

the theme of new creation, "the two great bulwarks of Christian comfort,"

which Bishop Secker had claimed, Wesley surprisingly did not do so.

D. The Anticipated April Earthquake

Armed with his "written sermon on the subject" and the published

hymns, Charles on April 4 preached the sermon and "gave out several suit-

able hym11s" to an anxious crowd in the Methodist chapel. Charles's flock

were not alone. Throngs congregated in churches and chapels, Methodist

and otherwise, throughout the area as the day came to a close. Persons con-

cerned about toppling buildings spent the night in boats, in coaches and car-

riages, and in parks and fields where they were met by preachers like George

Whitefield, who tended the guilt-laden and fearful in the open air of Hyde

Park at midnight. Those convinced of their spiritual security calmly went to

bed. It was, recorded Charles, who had slept soundly until 4 a.m., "a glori-

ous night for the disciples of Jesus."72

Yet even when April 5 had safely gone,

many citizens remained out of town or outside their homes until the 8th had

also passed.

Although thanksgiving and relief reigned, still there was satire about the

third earthquake that wasn't. An anonymous and fictional letter (usually

attributed to Paul Whitehead) was published, written as if the April 5 earth-

quake had indeed occurred, and describing the condition of certain persons

thereafter. The Bishop of London had been the first to perish. He could have

escaped, "but his zeal was so great in distributing copies of his letter, which,

good man, as the time drew near he gave away in bundles, thirteen to the

dozen, to any body that would accept of them, that he took no manner of

heed to his steps, and so entirely lost himself." William Whiston had

escaped, however. "On the first beginning of the trembling, [he] set out on

foot for Dover, on his way to Jerusalem, where he has made an appointment

to meet the Millennium: it is thought, if he makes tolerable haste, he will

arrive there first."73

Such levity undoubtedly helped Londoners put their

ordeal behind them. Yet five years later in 1755, consternation about earth-

quakes would again resurface with the massive devastation that befell

Lisbon on All Saints' Day.

72

The Journal of the Rev. Charles Wesley, M.A., 2:69-70. See also "Historical Chronicle,"

Gentleman's Magazine 20 (April 1750) n.p.; and Thomas Jackson, The Life of the Rev. Charles

Wesley, M.A. (New York: G. Lane & P. P. Sandford, 1844) 425-26.

73

A Full and True Account of the Dreadful and Melancholy Earthquake which happened

between twelve and one o'Clock in the Morning, on Thursday the 5th of April, 1750, with an

exact List of such persons as have hitherto been found in the Rubbish. In a Letter from a

Gentleman in Town, to his Friend in the Country (London: Printed by J. Debrett, 1798) 6, 9.

n .·

!

i

i

"On The Occasion" 219

IV

Although England was far removed from the immediate destruction, the

catastrophe of Lisbon added energy to the literary production, both scientif-

ic and tlieological, that had continued in the intervening years since the

London quakes. Earlier, in June of that year, Charles Wesley's brother John,

while visiting the village of Osmotherley, learned of a recent "convulsion of

nature" that had taken place at nearby Whitson (Whitestone) Cliffs and went

to investigate.

74

His eye-witness account and analysis of the situation, which

was published in several versions,

75

eventually became part of his Serious

Thoughts Occasioned by the Earthquake at Lisbon first published anony-

mously in late 1755. Discounting fire, water, and ·air as causes of the .

Whitson Cliffs disturbance, John Wesley "proved'' the divine origin of the

event - which he identified as an earthquake - and went on to claim, as his

brother had done, that such phenomena are used by God to sh.pw God's

greatness and power as well as human finitude.

76

Twenty-two years later, he

would effectively summarize his Serious Thoughts with the statement,

"There is no divine visitation which is likely to have so general an influence

upon sinners as an earthquake. "77

In response to the Lisbon tragedy, the earthquake hymns were .reprinted

in 1755, and in 1756 a new text each was added to Part I and Part IL The

new hymns recapitulate the central themes and emphases of the hymns in

the first edition, but perhaps with a greater intensity to match the magnitude

of Lisbon's desolation by shaking earth, fire, and tsunami: There is a

stronger sense of urgency in these later hymns, in their identification of the

earthquake as God's judgment, their call to repentance, and their proclama-

tion that the day of the Lord - and God's new creation ~ is surely nigh.

Added to Part I is "An Hymn upon the pouring out of the Seventh Vial"

that was "Occasioned by the Destruction of Lisbon" and inspired by

"Revelation 16, 17 &c.'' Although Charles Wesley did not abandon his char-

acteristic use of a chain of diverse but related scriptural allusions, the devel-

opment of the hymn directly follows the sequence of chapters in the Bible's

last book. The hymn is divided into two parts of five stanzas each. The first

part focuses upon God's wrath and earth's destruction from which England

is not immune while the second part invites the singer into the security of

the Savior and his coming reign . . In the second part, Charles returned to the

metaphor of the rock, "the everlasting Rock/ Is cleft to take us ir~_·" The con-

')

74

Journal, June 2, 1755, The Works of John Wesley, vol. 13: Journal and Diaries IV, ed. W.

Reginald Ward and Richard P. Heitzemater (Nashville: Abingdon, 1992) 13-16.

75

See The Works ofJohn Wesley, 13:13; n. 51; and especially Roger G. Cooper, John Wesley at

Whitestone Cliff, North Yorkshire, 1755, Borthwick Paper 91 (York: Borthwick Institute of

Historical Research, University of York; 1997).

76

The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M. (London: Wesleyan Conference Office 1872) 11:1-

13.

77

Letter to Christopher Hopper, October 18, 1777, The Letters of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M.,

Standard ed. (London: Epworth, 1931) 6:284.

------------------------------------................. ...i ................................ .220 Methodist History

trast between the two parts of the hymn, and the anticipation the first pai1 is

intended to produce, is evident when the final two stanzas of each part are

examined together:

Lo! from their roots the mountains leap;

The mountains are not found;

Transported far into the deep,

And in the ocean drown'd.

Jesus descends in dread array

To judge the scarlet whore:

And every isle is fled away,

And Britain is no more!

She sinks beneath her ambient flood,

And never more shall rise;

The earth is gone, on which we stood,

The old creation dies!

Who then shall live, and face the throne,

And face the Judge severe?

When heaven and earth are fled and gone,

0 where shall I appear?

Yet still the Lord, the Saviour reigns,

When nature is destroy' d,

And no created thing remains

Throughout the flaming void.

Sublime upon His azure throne,

He speaks the' almighty word:

His fiat is obey' d! 'tis done;

And Paradise restored.

So be it! let this system end,

This ruinous earth and skies;

The New Jerusalem descend,

The new creation rise.

Thy power omnipotent assume;

Thy brightest majesty!

And when Thou dost in glory come,

My Lord, remember me!

*****

[Revelation 16:20]

[Matthew 21:21]

[Revelation 17: 1, 3]

[Malachi 3:2]

[Revelation 20: 11]

[Revelation 19:6]

[Psalm 33:9]

[Revelation 16: 17]

[Revelation 21 :2]

[Revelation 11: 17]

[Luke 23:42]

The new hymn in Part II, under the general heading "A Hymn for the

Year 1756," consists of eight stanzas that, like its counterpart, progresses

from warning of "the dread ills to come" to anticipation of that day when,

"God with dreadful pomp comes down I To'erect His kingdom here." In

effect, the final hymn summarizes the entirety of Part II that, more so than

in Part I, has a clear movement from judgment to heaven. The first stanza

alludes to Noah and the ark, thereby creating a link with the sixth stanza in

which hints are given to the waves that flooded Lisbon ("What ails thee, 0

thou sea, I To start out of thy bed?"). The final stanza articulates the prayer

of the faithful of every generation: "On The Occasion"

Eternal Judge of all,

Thy people's Advocate,

In faith we for Thy coming call,

And for Thy kingdom wait;

Assume Thy royal power,

And bear our souls away

To sing, and triumph, and adore

Through one eternal day.

v

221

With the publication of both parts of his Hymns Occasioned by the

Earthquake, March 8, 1750, Charles Wesley endeavored to combine theo-

logical interpretation with pastoral care in the face of current events and · a

national crisis. The hymns, drawing from the fullness of the scriptural wit-

ness but especially from the Psalms, the prophet Isaiah., and the Revelation

of John, were intended to provide a warning but also reassurance, .precisely

what Wesley construed to be the purpose of the earthquakes themselves.

Intended for the singing and prayerful reflection of the faithful, the neglect-

ful, and the hardened sinner, the hymns were simultaneously catechetical

and evangelical. But Charles also had an agenda beyond amplification of the

phenomenon of earthquakes, namely, to prove that scientific explanations

were generally insufficient (and even arrogant), that God was still intimate-

ly involved in the world's affairs, and that attacks on Christ's church and its

doctrine had merited God's displeasure.

Certain of the earthquake hymns were published in later collections,

three in the 1780 Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called

Methodists, though not entirely in their original versions, and three - again

not in their original form - in the 1870 British Methodist Hymn-Book.

Twenty-first century singers will not find these texts among their standard

repertoire. Nevertheless, both parts of the Hymns Occasioned by the

Earthquake, March 8, 1750 provide a model for a hymnic synthesis of both

theological integrity and cultural awareness, and the need, as always, to pro-

vide liturgical materials "on the occasion."

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