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    May She Have a Word with You?: Women as Models of How to Live in the Poems of Charles Wesley with Commentary
    May She Have a Word with You?: Women as Models of How to Live in the Poems of Charles Wesley with Commentary
    May She Have a Word with You?: Women as Models of How to Live in the Poems of Charles Wesley with Commentary
    Ebook186 pages1 hour

    May She Have a Word with You?: Women as Models of How to Live in the Poems of Charles Wesley with Commentary

    By S T Kimbrough Jr. and Laceye C. Warner

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    Perhaps Charles Wesley's two volumes of Funeral Hymns (1746 and 1759), plus a few poems left in manuscript form, are the least known of his poetical corpus. They are a treasury, however, of his views on the importance of women in eighteenth-century England as examples of how to live the Christian life. Entries in his MS Journal indicate an extremely positive relationship with women who are his coequals in mission and in the Methodist societies, and much of the work depended on them. Furthermore, Charles wrote numerous poems about women, often occasioned by death, which lift up individual women as models for the community at large and the church. The intent of this volume is not to present a historical survey of these women or their historical place per se in the early Methodist movement, rather the primary goal is to discover a literature that helps us to see the values which women had in the early Methodist movement and how those values were acknowledged, recorded, and fostered or encouraged by Charles Wesley, particularly in his poetry. The title, May She Have a Word with You, suggests there is a need today to hear of these women's exemplary words, deeds, and lives as a whole.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCascade Books
    Release dateAug 13, 2019
    ISBN9781532648076
    May She Have a Word with You?: Women as Models of How to Live in the Poems of Charles Wesley with Commentary
    Author

    S T Kimbrough Jr.

    S T Kimbrough, Jr. is a Research Fellow of the Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition of the Divinity School of Duke University and founder of The Charles Wesley Society. He is editor of its journal Proceedings of The Charles Wesley Society and author/editor of several books on Charles Wesley including: The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, 3 vols., and The Manuscript Journal of the Reverend Charles Wesley, M.A., 2 vols.

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      Book preview

      May She Have a Word with You? - S T Kimbrough Jr.

      9781532648052.kindle.jpg

      May She Have a Word with You?

      Women as Models of How to Live
      in the Poems of Charles Wesley
      with Commentary

      S T Kimbrough, Jr.

      foreword by

      Laceye C. Warner

      1119.png

      MAY SHE HAVE A WORD WITH YOU?

      Women as Models of How to Live in the Poems of Charles Wesley with Commentary

      Copyright © 2019 S T Kimbrough, Jr. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

      Cascade Books

      An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

      199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

      Eugene, OR 97401

      www.wipfandstock.com

      paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-4805-2

      hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-4806-9

      ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-4807-6

      Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

      Names: Kimbrough, S. T., 1936–, author. | Warner, Laceye C., foreword.

      Title: May she have a word with you? : women as models of how to live in the poems of Charles Wesley with commentary. / S T Kimbrough, Jr. ; foreword by Laceye C. Warner.

      Description: Eugene, OR : Cascade Books, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

      Identifiers: isbn 978-1-5326-4805-2 (paperback) | isbn 978-1-5326-4806-9 (hardcover) | isbn 978-1-5326-4807-6 (ebook)

      Subjects: LCSH: Wesley, Charles,—1707–1788. | Christian poetry, English—18th century. | Women in Christianity. | Methodist women—England—History—18th century.

      Classification: BX8345.7 .K55 2019 (print) | BX8345.7 .K55 (ebook)

      Manufactured in the U.S.A. October 11, 2019

      Table of Contents

      Title Page

      Foreword

      Abbreviations

      Technical Matters

      Introduction

      Section 1: Women of the Bible

      Chapter 1: Martha and Mary Magdalene

      Chapter 2: Tabitha/Dorcas (Acts 9:36)

      Chapter 3: The Woman of Canaan (Matthew 15)

      Section 2: Women of the Eighteenth Century

      Chapter 4: Grace Bowen

      Chapter 5: Lady [Caroline?] Hotham

      Chapter 6: Mrs. L[efevre]

      Chapter 7: Mrs. Mercy Thornton

      Chapter 8: Mary Naylor

      Chapter 9: Anne Wigginton

      Chapter 10: Mrs. Hannah Dewal

      Chapter 11: Elizabeth Blackwell

      Chapter 12: Hannah Butts

      Chapter 13: Mary Horton

      Chapter 14: Mary Stotesbury

      Chapter 15: Miss M[olly] L[eysho]n

      Chapter 16: Miss F[rances] C[owper]

      Chapter 17: Prudence Box

      Chapter 18: Epitaphs

      Section 3: Prose

      Chapter 19: A Short Account of the Death of Hannah Richardson

      Summary

      Selected Bibliography

      Foreword

      In the pages that follow, the Rev. Dr. Kimbrough offers a treasure of poetry featuring the exemplary lives of eighteenth-century Christian women. Kimbrough, Research Fellow in the Center for Wesleyan Studies at Duke Divinity School, shares his tremendous creative talent through the curation and commentary of this collection. His keen eye, trained by a lifetime of artistic and scholarly achievements, shapes the selection of a unique collection of poetic portraits previously left unattended, in relative obscurity, little known to scholars, much less wider audiences.

      The poet, Charles Wesley—a graduate of Oxford, priest, and poet of the eighteenth century—contributed to the founding of the early Methodist renewal movement in the Church of England, and is one whom Kimbrough has studied and written about extensively. While Charles Wesley is well-known among Anglo-Methodist audiences, many of the women in the poetic tributes, particularly those from modest backgrounds, seem not to appear in any other historical materials. Fortunately, the poetry of Charles Wesley, among other primary sources, is recently accessible through online sources (The Center for Wesleyan Studies at Duke University Divinity School).

      The collection is significant for its historical contribution, namely the acknowledgment of women from a wide variety of social backgrounds—from the very elite to the most humble and unknown. Each poem is included in its entirety, allowing the reader to be immersed in the beautiful and poignant imagery portraying the faithful Christian witness embodied in the lives of these women. Historical commentary, informed by Kimbrough’s scholarly attentiveness, is provided throughout, as well as a thorough bibliography of complementary material.

      This collection is a rare gift of interdisciplinary expertise, reflecting upon the lives of women devoted to their witness of the Christian faith. With gratitude to Wesley and Kimbrough, these women’s lives may speak into the imagination of Christian disciples and communities across time and space. May the example of these Christian women and their tributes inspire many—in Charles Wesley’s words memorializing his mother, Susanna Wesley:

      In sure and steadfast hope to rise.

      Laceye C. Warner

      Associate Professor of the Practice of Evangelism and Methodist Studies

      Duke Divinity School

      Durham, North Carolina

      Abbreviations

      AM Arminian Magazine.

      CSWT Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition. There are a number of citations from manuscript versions of Charles Wesley’s poetry. These manuscript versions may be found on the CSWT website at: http://www.divinity.duke.edu/initiatives-centers/cswt/wesley-texts/manuscript-verse.

      FH 1746 Funeral Hymns. [London: Strahan, 1746].

      FH 1759 Funeral Hymns. London: [Strahan], 1759.

      HGF 1746 John Lampe. Hymns on the Great Festivals and Other Occasions. London: for M. Cooper, 1746.

      HSP 1742 Hymns and Sacred Poems. Bristol, UK: Farley, 1742.

      HSP 1749 Hymns and Sacred Poems. 2 vols. Bristol, UK: Farley, 1749.

      MM Methodist Magazine.

      MS FH MS Funeral Hymns (1756–87). http://divinity.duke.edu/sites/divinity.duke.edu/files/documents/cswt/35_MS_Funeral_Hymns_1756-87.pdf.

      MS Journal The Manuscript Journal of The Reverend Charles Wesley, M.A. 2 vols. Edited by S T Kimbrough, Jr. and Kenneth G. C. Newport. Nashville: Abingdon, 2008.

      PCWS Proceedings of the Charles Wesley Society. 21 vols. 1994–2017.

      PW The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley. Edited by George Osborn. 13 vols. London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1868–1872.

      RV Representative Verse of Charles Wesley. Edited by Frank Baker. London: Epworth, 1962.

      UP The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley. 3 vols. Edited by S T Kimbrough, Jr. and Oliver A. Beckerlegge. Nashville: Abingdon/Kingswood, 1988, 1990, 1992.

      Technical Matters

      1. Unless otherwise noted, biblical quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible / Authorized Version, since it was the version generally used by Charles Wesley. Much of the language of his poetry is directly related to the language of that version.

      2. All words and phrases that appear in italics in Charles Wesley’s verse were italicized at his bidding unless otherwise noted.

      3. Where feasible and appropriate, God’s has replaced the third person masculine possessive pronoun his and God for the third person accusative pronoun him.

      4. Personal pronouns in reference to God appear in lower case.

      5. Some references are to stanzas and line(s) of stanzas, e.g., Part I, 7:3–5, which means Part I, stanza 7, lines 3–5.

      6. Since these poems were written by Charles Wesley as tributes or remembrances of the women studied in this volume on the occasion of their deaths, he usually listed the date of their deaths at the beginning of a poem. He is not, however, consistent in this style. Most commonly he listed the month, day, and year. At other times, he states only the month and year, e.g. Miss Francis Cowper (1716–1742). In two instances cited here he gives no date at all, e.g., Mrs. Hannah Dewal (also Dewell, 1700–1762) Hannah Butts (1720–1762). Wesley did not provide the dates of birth or birth years, which are provided in this paragraph of the women whom he is honoring, but in the instance of two women in this study, one can determine the birth year, since he designated their ages at the time of death, e.g., Mary Horton (1752–1786) and Prudence Box (1740–1778). Dates of the following women have been determined from other sources: Lady Hotham (b. ?1714–1756), Mrs. Lefevre (1723–1756), Mary Horton (1752–1786), and Molly Leyshon (also Leyson, 1721–1750).

      7. After the names of the eighteenth-century women at the beginning of each chapter, the death date, if provided by Wesley, has been included. Death dates not included in his manuscripts or publications appear in brackets.

      Introduction

      Charles Wesley, the distinguished and eloquent poet-priest of the eighteenth century, was born into a family in which the women far outnumbered the men. Early he came under the strong influence of his mother Susanna, whose teaching gifts had lasting effects on his life. She gave birth to nineteen children, but only ten survived infancy, and seven of them were girls. Their impact on Charles’s life is clearly reflected in his poetry and letters. For some he was a brother confessor, and for others more like a good friend. He yearned that they live with Christ and the church at the center of their lives and have wholeness and happiness. He had one sister, Mehetabel or Hetty, who possessed particularly keen intellectual ability, was a fine poet, and could read the Greek New Testament when she was only eight years old. Some of her verse was published in The Gentleman’s Magazine of the day. Another sister was born with physical challenges that Charles himself never experienced, and his heart went out to her. A number of his sisters had unfortunate marriages, and in reading Charles’s correspondence and poetry, one senses his deep concern for them. We know also from his Journal how he held them in affection and often visited them, attempting

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