Monday, March 22 [1736] While I was persuading Mr Welch not to concern himself in this disturbance, I heard Mrs Hawkins cry out: Murder! and walked away. Returning out of the woods, I was informed by Mr Welch that poor blockhead Mrs Welch had joined with Mrs Hawkins and the Devil in their slanders of me. I would not believe it till half the town told me the same, and exclaimed against her ingratitude.

From: Methodism founder Charles Wesley's secret code diary cracked by priest -Times Online

Who would have known that something as innocent as Charles Wesley's diary could generate 'tabloid' type headlines. Yet, that is what I find as I do a search for Wesley's diary. It took Professor Kenneth Newport nine years to transcribe the 1000 page manuscript. The code, it seems, was based on John Byrom's, an 18th Century poet, who published New Universal Shorthand in 1940. This was about 4 years after Wesley used it (or an adaptation of it) for his journal.

It makes sense that Charles would code his diary using something. After all, sexual allegations are not good for someone trying to reform the church. Some of the allegation sound a little far fetched to me however. According to the DailyMail.co.uk:

A 270-year-old diary, written in code, has been cracked for the first time to reveal a secret history of the Methodist church, it emerged today. Link: Mail Online 

That's the news coming from a UK site. The Rev Professor Kenneth Newport, Liverpool Hope University’s pro vice-chancellor for research and academic development was the one who 'cracked' the code. The article goes on to discuss some of his findings. None were particularly surprising really. Charles was horrified at the thought of leaving the Church of England. Charles didn't approve of John's marriage and there was a suspicion of lay preaching. All of this makes sense. Still, once published, this work will give more insight into some of the struggles of the Wesley brothers. Both with the movement called Methodism and with each other.

Rev. Newport also says he uncovered sermons and 9,000 hymns and poems. This could be the biggest contribution to Wesley studies, although, knowing some of the inner thoughts of Charles during the Methodist movement will be quite insightful too. According to Newport, Charles didn't always agree with John (after all, they were brothers!). This may give us a different 'flavor' of the Methodist movement and some of the struggles involved.