A charge to keep I have

"A charge to keep I have" is one of the most famous and widely sung hymns written by Charles Wesley. Focused deeply on the theme of personal Christian responsibility, the hymn was first published in 1762 in his two-volume work, Short Hymns on Select Passages of Holy Scripture. It appeared in the first volume as number 188, structured in two stanzas of eight lines, and was written as a direct reflection on Leviticus 8:35.

The editorial history of the hymn is quite unique. Although Charles Wesley omitted it from the second edition of Short Hymns in 1794, his brother John Wesley recognized its immense spiritual value and included it in the highly influential Wesleyan Hymn Book of 1780 as hymn number 318. Later, it was preserved in the Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, published between 1868 and 1872.

The hymn has enjoyed incredibly extensive use across both Great Britain and North America. In most hymnals, such as the Wesleyan Hymn Book and the Evangelical Hymnal of New York, the text is printed in its original, unaltered form. However, some regional variations have appeared over time. For example, the line "from youth to hoary age," which is found in the American Protestant Episcopal Hymnal, was adapted from the American Prayer Book Collection of 1826. It remains a standard of Methodist and ecumenical hymnody to this day.