Increasingly, Charles Wesley is seen as an individual in his own right rather than just as a prolific religious poet who was also the younger but less significant brother of John Wesley (with whom he was so often at odds). Any expectation that Charles Wesley's journal would be comparable to his brother's is swiftly dispelled by even a cursory glance at these two volumes: this is personal rather than public writing. The years of this journal were probably Charles Wesley's most significant, including his brief time in America, his religious experience, early evangelical career and marriage, up to his withdrawal from itinerant preaching. Publication of his ‘journal letters’, including subsequent years (characterised by a rearguard action against Methodist separation from the Church of England), will follow. In their introduction, the editors claim completeness, accuracy and accessibility, which should be understood in context. The surviving manuscript journal spans 1736–51 and 1756; previous editions were neither complete nor accurate. The description of Wesley's idiosyncratic shorthand has formed a major part of the editors' task and they are to be congratulated upon their persistence and application. On the downside, there is no bibliography, nor a biographical synopsis to aid the general reader. The replacement of some archaic forms in the text is questionable. Despite such criticisms, this edition is a major contribution to scholarship around Charles Wesley and his religious and literary context. Reassessing his contribution to Methodism, and Church and society at large, becomes ever more urgent and absorbing.