The hymn we have just sung, "Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown," is based on the Old Testament lesson read for us this morning. It was written by Charles Wesley, the brother of John Wesley. Charles Wesley was a prolific writer of hymns. He wrote more than 6,000 hymns. He put the great affirmations of our Christian belief, and particularly those that John Wesley felt were important, and put them into hymns. Other Christian traditions recite their faith with a creed. The Methodists have always sung their faith with hymns, Wesley's hymns. Originally this hymn had seventeen verses. Methodists nowadays, if they sing it at all, will only sing four verses and stop, they won't go any farther than that. We sang the four-verse version this morning.

Isaac Watts, perhaps the greatest hymn writer ever, wa…