Hymns of Christian Experience

We sing these glorious hymns but these people did not write them primarily because they were poets. There are many poets who do not write things like this, quite the opposite. Many poets, like Keats, were atheists or agnostics. They could not write hymns like this, because they knew nothing about it. But hymn-writers record their experience. Take Charles Wesley. He was a poet in his own right, and even if he had never been a Christian he would have been an outstanding poet. He says,

Thou, O Christ, art all I want;
More than all in Thee I find

And then he goes on:

Plenteous grace with Thee is found,
Grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound,
Make me, keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art.
That is it! 'In him was life, and the life was the light of men' (John 1:4).

Thou of life the fountain art,
Freely let me take of Thee;
Spring Thou up within my heart,
Rise to all eternity.
(Charles Wesley)

That is glorious poetry, is it not? But it is true experience. There was a time when Charles Wesley could not have written those words, but from May 1738 he was able to write like that.