Charles Wesley is well known as the 'sweet singer' of Methodism - the most gifted and most prolific of all English hymnwriters. His hymns are an exhilarating expression of the evangelical faith and mood of the revival of the eighteenth century. His gift of expressing prayer and praise in great simplicity, and faithfully recording the 'ups and downs' of the Christian life, has enriched and encouraged the whole church.

It is, however, a popular misconception that Charles was the hymn writer and his brother John the preacher. In this new biography Arnold Dallimore firmly establishes Charles as much more than just a poet and puts him in his rightful place in Methodism's history, as one of the most powerful of the open-air field preachers of the revival and an indefatigable evangelist who spoke 'in demonstration of the Spirit and of power'. Dallimore's stirring biography does not ignore Wesley's faults but tells of the abundant blessing which rested on the ministry of the man who wrote:

His only righteousness I show,
His saving truth proclaim;
'Tis all my business here below
To cry, 'Behold the Lamb!'

Arnold Dallimore was pastor of the Baptist Church at Cottam in Ontario, Canada for many years, but since his retirement has devoted his time to writing. He has written popular biographies on Spurgeon and Irving and his definitive two-volume biography of Whitefield has been widely acclaimed.