Charles Wesley's Secret Diaries

Kenneth Newport says he’s figured out Charles Wesley's coded diary. The Anglican priest and professor at Liverpool Hope University has spent years deciphered the 1,000-page, 300,00 word hand-written manuscript written between 1736 and 1756. Newport says the new information reveals Charles’ early relationship with his brother, John Wesley. Together they founded the Methodist movement. Charles wrote such hymns as Hark the Herald Angels Sing and O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing. But his diaries reveal another side. Here are some of the revelations in the diaries:

• Charles Wesley battled depression
• Tried to stop his brother’s proposed marriage from taking place with Grace Murray
• Partially blamed his brother for his own wife’s miscarriage
• Wanted to prevent the Methodist societies from breaking away from the Church of England
• Made a pact with his brother not to marry without the other’s approval
• Was concerned with the growing influence of Islam