London Times

An Anglican priest has unlocked the 270-year-old secrets of Charles Wesley’s coded diary, throwing light on the turbulent relationship that he had with his brother John in the early years of the Methodist movement they founded.

Wesley, a central figure in the 18th century evangelical revival, has been portrayed as a spiritual giant of his times, and was the author of hymns including Hark the Herald Angels Sing. But his journals, partly written in a personal shorthand, have revealed him to be a depressive character who was prepared to go to extreme lengths to wreck his brother’s proposed marriage and who was ready to blame him for his own wife’s miscarriage.

The Rev Professor Kenneth Newport, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Liverpool Hope University, was the first to crack the cipher and spent nine years transcribing the 1,000-page hand-written manuscript held at John Rylands Library in Manchester.

The “hidden” material offers an insight into Wesley’s fierce determination to prevent the Methodist societies from breaking away from the Church of England, and disagreements with his more influential older brother…

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