CHAPTER V
TEACHING AND TRAINING.
CHAPTER V.
TEACHING AND TRAINING.
JOHN WESLEY certainly could not have remembered the beginning of his mother's educational work, as it commenced before his birth; but he must have experienced its benefits, as she, with some assistance from her husband in rudimentary classics and mathematics, prepared him to enter the Charterhouse at eleven years of age with considerable credit to himself and his teachers.
He pressed her repeatedly in afterlife to write down full details for his information, and she was evidently somewhat loath to do it, for at the end of a letter dated February
21, 1732, she says : — "The writing anything about my way of education I am much averse to.
It cannot, I think, be of service to any one to know how I, who have lived such a retired life for so many years, used to employ my time and care in bringing up my children.
No one can, without renouncing the world in the most literal sense, observe my method; and there are few, if any, that would entirely devote above twenty years of the prime
SUSANNA WESLEY.
of life in hopes to save the souls of their children, which they think may be saved without so much ado; for that was my principal intention, however unskilfully and unsuccessfully managed."
'Happily she did ultimately allow herself to be persuaded, and wrote to her son John as follows : — Epwortu, July 24, 1732.
Dear Son, — According to your desire, I have collected the principal rules I observed in educating my family.
The children were always put into a regular method of living, in such things as they were capable of, from their birth; as in dressing and undressing, changing their linen, etc.
'The first quarter commonly passes in sleep.
After that they were, if possible, laid into their cradle awake, and rocked to sleep, and so they were kept rocking till it was time for them to awake.
This was done to bring them to a regular course of sleeping, which at first was three hours in the morning and three in the afternoon: afterwards two hours, till they needed none at all.
When turned a year old (and some before) they were taught to fear the rod and to cry softly, by which means they escaped abundance of correction which they might otherwise have had; and that most odious noise of the crying of children was rarely heard in the house, but the family usually lived in as much quietness as if there had not been a child among them.
Whe Maas oP 8 ee y ¥ phemriniaaiet vray { < ae ay PR a ay thin SL sie hi P ;
r EA CHING A ND TRA INING.
'As soon as they were grown pretty strong they were confined to three meals a day.
At dinner their little table and chairs were set by ours, where they could be overlooked ; and they were suffered to eat and drink
[small beer] as much as they would, but not to call for anything.
If they wanted aught they used to whisper to the maid that attended them, who came and spake to me; and as soon as they could handle a knife and fork they were set to our table.
They were never suffered to choose their meat, but always made to eat such things as were provided for the family.
Mornings they always had spoon meat ; sometimes at nights.
But whatever they had, they were never permitted at those meals to eat of more than one thing, and of that sparingly enough.
Drinking or eating between meals was never allowed, unless in case of sickness, which seldom happened.
Nor were they suffered to go into the kitchen to ask anything of the servants when they were at meat: if it was known they did so, they were certainly beat, and the servants severely reprimanded.
At six, as soon as family prayer was over, they had their supper ; at seven the maid washed them, and beginning at the youngest, she undressed and got them all to bed by eight, at which time she left them in their several rooms awake, for there was no such thing allowed of in our house as sitting by a child till it fell asleep.
They were so constantly used to eat and drink what was given them, that when any of them was ill there was no difficulty in making them take the most un-
Nes oS pee ie Ca eee , ?
Ss Sy ay Ite PL RNa
SUSANNA WESLEY.
pleasant medicine ; for they durst not refuse it, though some of them would presently throw it up.
This I mention to show that a person may be taught to take anything, though it be never so much against his stomach.
In order to form the minds of children, the first thing to be done is to conquer their will and bring them to an obedient temper.
'To inform the understanding is a work of time, and must with children proceed by slow degrees, as they are able to bear it; but the subjecting the will is a thing that must be done at once, and the sooner the better; for by neglecting timely correction they will contract a stubbornness and obstinacy which are hardly ever after conquered, and never without using such severity as would be as painful to me as to the child.
In the esteem of the world they pass for kind and indulgent whom I call cruel parents, who permit their children to get habits which they know must be afterwards broken.
Nay, some are so stupidly fond as in sport to teach their children to do things which in a while after they have severely beaten them for doing.
When a child is corrected it must be conquered, and this will be no hard matter to do, if it be not grown headstrong by too much indulgence.
And when the will of a child is totally subdued, and it is brought to revere and stand in awe of the parents, then a great many childish follies and inadvertencies may be passed by.
Some should be overlooked and taken no notice of, and others mildly reproved ; but no wilful transgression ought ever to be
ae Parga © 4" Pee Cee Deities $i ioe aaa Beas
; i x pee, TEACHING AND TRAINING.
'Siete forgiven children without snadueemnede less or more, _as the nature and circumstances of the case may require. I insist on the conquering of the will of children betimes, because this is the only strong and rational foundation of a religious education, without which both precept and example will be ineffectual.
But when this is thoroughly done, then a child is capable of being governed by the reason and piety of its parents till its own understanding comes to maturity, and the principles of religion have taken root in the mind.
I cannot yet dismiss the subject.
As self-will is the root of all sin and misery, so whatever cherishes this in children insures their after wretchedness and irreligion: whatever checks and mortifies it, promotes — their future happiness and piety.
This is still more evident if we further consider that religion is nothing else than doing the will of God and not our own ; that the one grand impediment to our temporal and eternal happiness being this self-will, no indulgence of it can be trivial, no denial unprofitable.
Heaven or hell depends on this alone ; so that the parent who studies to subdue it in his child works together with God in the renewing and saving a soul.
The parent who indulges it does the Devil's work ; makes religion impracticable, salvation unattainable, and does all that in him lies to damn his child body and soul forever.
Our children were taught as soon as they could speak, the Lord's prayer, which they were made to say at rising and at bedtime constantly ; to which, as they
Wet er TAs « am Nila silat ~ ae % if , a
. me
SUSANNA WESLEY
grew bigger, were added a short prayer for their parents, and some collects, a short catechism, and some portion of Scripture, as their memories could bear.
They were very early made to distinguish the Sabbath from other days, before they could well speak or go.
'They were | as soon taught to be still at family prayers, and to ask a blessing immediately after, which they used to do by signs, before they could kneel or speak.
They were quickly made to understand they might have nothing they cried for, and instructed to speak handsomely for what they wanted.
They were not suffered to ask even the lowest servant for aught without saying " Pray give me such a thing;" and the servant was chid if she ever let them omit that word.
Taking God's name in vain, cursing and swearing, profanity, obscenity, rude, ill-bred names, were never heard among them; nor were they ever permitted to call each other by their proper names without the addition of brother or sister.
There was no such thing as loud playing or talking allowed of, but every one was kept close to business for the six hours of school.
And it is almost incredible what may be taught a child in a quarter of a year by a vigorous application, if it have but a tolerable capacity and good health.
Kezzy excepted, all could read better in that time than the most of women can do as long as they live.
Rising out of their places, or going out of the room, was not permitted except for good cause ; and running into the yard, garden, or street, without leave, was always esteemed a capital offence.
Tales ete FY , apres a ee, Diyas
' a us ey — :
TEACHING AND TRAINING.
. 53
. re - 'For some years we went on very well.
Never were children in better order.. Never were children better disposed to piety, or in more subjection to their parents, till that fatal dispersion of them after the fire into several families.
In these they were left at full liberty to converse with servants, which before they had always been restrained from, and to run abroad to play with any children, bad or good.
They soon learned to neglect a strict observance of the Sabbath, and got knowledge of several songs and bad things which before they had no notion of.
That civil behavior which made them admired when they were at home by all who saw them was in a great measure lost, and a clownish accent and many rude ways were learned which were not reformed without some difficulty.
When the house was rebuilt, and the children all brought home, we entered ona strict reform ; and then was begun the system of singing psalms at beginning and leaving school, morning and evening.
Then also that of a general retirement at five o'clock was entered' upon, when the eldest took the youngest that could speak, and the second the next, to whom they read the psalms for the day and a chapter in the New Testament, as in the morning they were directed to read the psalms and a chapter in the Old Testament, after which they went to their private prayers, before they got their breakfast or came into the family.
There were several by-laws observed among us.
I mention them here because I think them useful.
Po tM ne erm ANP ole ee yy Ava' ae,
SUSANNA WESLEY.
— Se First, it had been observed that cowardice and fear of punishment often lead children into lying till they get a custom of it which they cannot leave.
To prevent this, a law was made that whoever was charged with a fault of which they were guilty, if they would ingenuously confess it and promise to amend should not be beaten.
'This rule prevented a great deal of lying, and would have done more if one in the family would have observed it. But he could not be prevailed upon, and therefore was often imposed on by false colors and equivocations which none would have used but one, had they been kindly dealt with; and some in spite of all would always speak truth plainly.
Second, that no sinful action, as lying, pilfering at church or on the Lord's Day, disobedience, quarrelling, etc., should ever pass unpunished.
[One feels that in the last sentence Mrs. Wesley must have been interrupted, or that possibly a line or two of her letter may have been lost (it has been several times printed), for usually she was very clearheaded and precise in what she wrote, and certainly would have considered pilfering on any day and in any place sinful. ] Third, that no child should be ever chid or beat twice for the same fault, and that if they amended they should never be upbraided with it afterwards.
Fourth, that every signal act of obedience, especially when it crossed upon their own inclinations, should be always commended, and frequently rewarded according to the merits of the case.
Seay eee a aT oe re = ae Mole onty ee eh Nhe Nyy ae AD AS oe Ar \
TEACHING AND TRAINING.
ie ~ * _ Fifth, that if ever any child performed an act of obedience, or did anything with an intention to please, though the performance was not well, yet the obedience and intention should be kindly accepted, and the child with sweetness directed how to do better for the future.
_ Sixth, that propriety [the rights of property] be invariably preserved, and none suffered to invade the property of another in the smallest matter, though it were of the value of a farthing or a pin, which they might not take from the owner without, much less against, his consent.
'This rule can never be too much inculeated on the minds of children; and from the want of parents and governors doing it as they ought, proceeds that shameful neglect of justice which we may observe in the world.
Seventh, that promises be strictly observed ; and a gift once bestowed, and so the right passed away from the donor, be not resumed, but left to the disposal of him to whom it was given, unless it were conditional, and the condition of the obligation not performed.
Eighth, that no girl be taught to work till she can read very well; and that she be kept to her work with the same application and for the same time that she was held to in reading.
This rule also is much to be observed, for the putting children to learn sewing before they can read perfectly is the very reason why so few women can read fit to be heard, and never to be well understood.
SuSANNA WESLEY.
* SF Ze Care ; BA i. pat TC ae
: a te Ty: a 't "A ry a | 56,
SUSANNA WESLEY.
2 Sve hi A wise and generous nature found expression in these eight rules, and the last of them be_ spoke a woman who valued mind above matter.
Very few of her country men and women at the present day ever attain the art of reading aloud audibly and intelligibly, as may be observed by . diligent attendance at church, where the average clergy mumble and murder both liturgy and lessons.
\ .
Perhaps school-books of the ordinary sort were scarce at Epworth,— certainly there was no money to spare for the purchase of them, — or perhaps it was on principle that Mrs. Wesley's children were taught their very letters and small words from the first chapter of Genesis, and made perfect in reading each verse before going on to the next.
'As soon as the fifth birthday was passed the house was set in order, and the mother devoted the six school-hours of one whole day to teaching her youngest pupil its letters, with what success she herself has told us.
She must have had a great deal of uninterrupted time for her educational work, as her husband spent most of his days in his study when at home, and was chosen by his clerical brethren in Lincolnshire to represent them three several times in Convocation.
This took him to London for many months at a time; and
'eas Beh Shay he) ogi Gere ye 7) Ag a
ah Mepeey es ayer
EA CHING AND TRAINING,
i eos Hie) journey Ae the expense of remaining in the metropolis so long were heavy drains on his purse, the occupation was congenial and kept him before the public eye, thus causing a readier sale for his literary productions and giving him the opportunity of distinguishing himself and communicating with publishers.
During these absences Mrs. Wesley had everything in her own hands, — the glebe, the parish, and the family; she kept the books, did the best she could with regard to farming operations (though having, like her husband, spent her youth in London and among books, she could, hardly have been very conversant with anything of that kind), corresponded with her lord and master, and diligently instructed her children.
Just a little ease from pecuniary difficulties seems to have dawned on the Wesleys in the spring of 1702.
The rector's " History of the Old and New Testament attempted in verse, and adorned with three hundred and thirty sculptures" had appeared a few months before, and doubtless was expected to prove a source of considerable profit.
The money, however, came in very slowly, and creditors pressed so hard for what was due to them, that in March
Mr. Wesley once more mounted his horse and
Coe' Fo ORS AY eee
eee eee Be 4: it vase oP ae {7 BS te ' y | Lg ~ «' i P Ax UF J ! i ie aah SY cn |
SUSANNA WESLEY.
rode to London for aid.
His appeal was responded to in various quarters, for the Dean of Exeter gave him ten pounds, the Archbishop of Canterbury ten guineas, the Marquis of Normanby twenty, and the Marchioness five.
A few other small sums raised the amount to sixty pounds, and the good man rode joyfully home with it, paid off some debts entirely, and a portion of others, and kept ten pounds in his own hands towards the expense of getting in his harvest.
It need not necessarily be assumed that these moneys were given him out of charity pure and simple; for publishing was then, as now, an expensive process, and authors who had no capital accomplished it by subscription.
It is very possible that the Marquis and the Archbishop and others had promised their subscriptions but not paid them up, so that Mr.
Wesley may only have collected money justly due to him.
But loss and poverty pursued him; for the summer proved hot and the thatched roof of the parsonage got very dry, and perhaps the kitchen chimney wanted sweeping.
At all events, some sparks fell upon it, and though the house was not burnt down, a great deal of mischief was done.
It must have occurred either when Anne was a very few weeks old or
ers ew ea es, AOE Bay the WIMONT Us
an att) ee | :
\ Perey
ms nan!
TEACHING AND TRAINING.
° f a just before she was born.
Mr. Wesley gave an account of it in writing to his kind and constant friend the Archbishop of York, to whom he had commenced a letter on July 25, writing only
_the date and the words "My Lord."
This identical sheet of paper was partly burnt and wetted with the water that extinguished the flames; but as it was saved, with other books and papers, the letter was ultimately completed on it and forwarded to Dr. Sharpe.
"He that's born to be a poet must, I am afraid, live and die poor ; for on the last of July, 1702, a fire broke out in my house, by some sparks which took hold of the thatch this dry time, and consumed about two-thirds of it before it could be quenched.
I was at the lower end of the town to visit a sick person, and thence to R. Cogan's.
As I was returning they brought me the news.
I got one of his horses, rode up, and heard by the way that my wife, children, and books were saved, for which God be praised, as well as for what He has taken.
They were all together in my study and the fire under them.
When it broke out she got two of the children in her arms and ran through the smoke and fire; but one of them was left in the hurry, till the other cried for her, and the neighbors ran in and got her out through the fire, as they did my books and most of my goods ; this very paper amongst the rest, which I afterwards found as I was looking over what was saved.
MOOA Nis DORE a NF cea oa yaa
SUSANNA WESLEY.
"T find 'tis some happiness to have been miserable, for my mind has been so blunted with former misfortunes that this scarce made any impression upon me.
I shall go on, by God's assistance, to take my title \ [tithe ?] ; and when that's in, to rebuild my house, having at last crowded my family into what's left, and not missing many of my goods."
There is a story concerning this part of Mrs.
Wesley's life which, though it rests on the authority of her son John, must be either a mistake or an exaggeration; and, as the circumstance related occurred before his birth, he, of course, repeated it only from hearsay, and not of his own personal knowledge.
It is to the effect that Mrs. Wesley, never having viewed William of Orange as the rightful Sovereign of England, did not respond to the prayer for the King as read by her husband at their family worship.
He asked the reason why, and was favored with a plain but full exposition of her political views ; whereupon he retorted hotly,
" Sukey, if that be the case, you and I must part; for if we have two kings we must have two beds," and declared that unless she renounced her opinions he would not continue to live with her.
So much, runs the story, did he take her contumacy to heart that he left the room without another word, retired to his study,
A AEN vy ee a kT od
" ee +f cars ay
"TEACHING AND TRAINING.
Po * % and in the course of the day rode off to Convocation without taking leave or holding any further communication with her.
He remained -in London for a year without corresponding, and only returned after Queen Anne's accession.
There could be no dispute between the pair as to her right to reign, so the ordinary habits of life were resumed, and John Wesley was the first child born afterwards.
So the story goes; but it is manifestly wrong, for in the first place neither the dates given nor the events mentioned fit in; and in the second place, John Wesley was born on the 17th of June Old Style, or the 28th New Style, 1703, when his sister Anne was twelve months old; so that the tale of his father's absence from home for a whole year falls to the ground.
The strength and tenacity of Mrs. Wesley's political feelings are shown by passages in her ' Occa- ' written two or three years later. sional Papers, The country was at war, and the object of Marlborough's campaigns was to break the power of France, though there were some special pleaders who declared that their end and aim was the preservation of Protestantism.
She writes : — "As for the security of our religion, I take that to be a still more unjustifiable pretence for war than the
Vy Mier Pe y is ACM
- SUSANNA WESLEY.
Pee od other.
For, notwithstanding some men of a singular complexion may persuade themselves, I am of opinion that as our Saviour's Kingdom is not of this world, so it is never lawful to take up arms merely in defence of religion.
It is like the presumption of Uzzah, who audaciously stretched out his hand to support the tottering ark ; which brings to mind those verses of no ill poet : — alg ro « 'In such a cause 't is fatal to embark, Like the bold Jew that propped the falling ark ;
With an unlicensed hand he durst approach, And, though to save, yet it was death to touch.'
And truly the success of our arms hitherto has no way justified our attempt; but though God has not much seemed to favor our enemies, yet neither hath He altogether blest our forces.
But though there are often many reasons given for an action, yet there 1s commonly but one true reason that determines our practice ; and that, in this case, I take to be the securing those that were the instruments of the Revolution from the resentments of their angry master, and the preventing his return and settling the succession in an heir.
Whether they did well in driving a prince from his hereditary throne, I leave to their own consciences to determine ; though I cannot tell how to think that a King of England can ever be accountable to his subjects for any mal-administration or abuse of power.
But as he derives his power from God, so to Him only he must answer for his using it.
But still, I make
es against their Prince, and those sath knowing _ A " nothing of the contrivance, and so consequently not consenting to it, only submitted to the present Government, which seems to me the law of the English nation, and the duty of private Christians, and the case with the generality of this people.
But whether the praying for a usurper, and vindicating his usurpations after he has the throne, be not participating his sins, is easily determined."
It appears, also, that when a national fast day was proclaimed and observed, Mrs. Wesley stayed at home instead of going to church; and she justifies her action thus: — "Since I am not satisfied of the lawfulness of the war, I cannot beg a blessing on our arms till I can have the opinion of one wiser, and a more competent judge than myself, in this point, namely, whether a private person that had no hand in the beginning of the war, but did always disapprove of it, may, notwithstanding, implore God's blessing on it, and pray for the good success of those arms which were taken up,
I think, unlawfully.
In the mean time, I think it my duty, since I cannot join in public worship, to spend the time others take in that, in humbling myself, before God for my own and the nation's sins; and in beseeching Him to spare that guilty land wherein are many thousands that are, notwithstanding, compara-
by she Ay
ed Cit | Cn a ee Sar ids A Pe clk er NY, oy AY mth Lee Roe rou c nea pr
=" midds she ay i "igi- .
awh ° - \ GA
SUSANNA WESLEY.
— tively innocent, and not to slay the righteous with the wicked, but to put a stop to the effusion of Christian blood, and in His own good time to restore us to the blessing of public peace.
Since, then, I do not absent myself from Church out of any contempt for authority, or out of any vain presumption of my own goodness, as though I needed no solemn humiliation, and since
I endeavor, according to my poor ability, to humble myself before God, and do earnestly desire that He may give this war such an issue as may most effectually conduce to His own glory, I hope it will not be charged upon me as a sin, but that it will please Almighty God, by some way or other, to satisfy my scruples, and to accept of my honest intentions, and to , pardon my manifold infirmities."
It was probably a month or two before the birth of John that Samuel, the eldest boy, was placed at the school of Mr. John Holland, at Epworth, that there might be no break or loss of time in his preparation for Westminster School; and he was the only one of the brothers who received any other assistance on entering at a public school than that which could be givey by his parents.
John was probably a delicate babe, as he was baptized by his father when only a few hours old.
He received the names of John Benjamin, after two baby boys (the tenth and eleventh children) who had preceded
TEACHING AND TRAINING.
him and died in infancy.
He was the only one of the family who had a second name, and it was never used, as he was simply called Jack, or Jacky, at home, and never signed himself otherwise than plain John.
SUSANNA WESLEY.
CHATAER. var
TRIALS AND TROUBLES.
THE Rector of Epworth was not remarkably popular in his own parish; perhaps a very poor clergyman never is.
He had great difficulty in repairing and rebuilding the part of his house that had been destroyed by fire; and when his son John was about seven or eight months old
Mr. Wesley suffered a fresh loss, as his crop of flax was set fire to and demolished under circumstances that looked very much like incendiarism.
He was also involved in a controversy that caused a deal of ill-feeling and bad blood, in consequence of a letter, or rather pamphlet, which he had written in his youth, before he removed from London to South Ormsby, after attending a meeting of the Calves Head Club, a body of violent political Dissenters.
Very much disgusted, Wesley went home, and while his heart was hot within him, wrote off a long letter, and after writing it, went to bed about five in the morning.
A friend — probably his landlord, Robert Clavel, a bookseller, and then
TRIALS AND TROUBLES.
Master of the Stationers' Company — came in while he slept, took possession of the MS., and, after reading, dissuaded Wesley from sending it to the person to whom it was addressed, but contrived to keep it in his own hands.
Twelve years afterwards, without the author's consent, he published it, under the title of "A Letter from a Country Divine to his Friend in London concerning the Education of Dissenters in their
Private Academies in several parts of this Nation: Humbly offered to the consideration of the Grand Committee of Parliament for Religion now sitting."
The temper of the House at that moment was one of extreme hostility to Dissenters and eagerness for their suppression.
The strife waxed quite furious as pamphlet succeeded pamphlet, and angry passions arose on all sides.
Mr. Wesley's special antagonist was a Rev. Samuel Palmer, who, of course, had his adherents; and to such an extent did this wordy warfare go that Daniel De Foe, who took his full share in it, was committed to Newgate in July, 1703.
Mr. Wesley might perhaps have had the same fate had he lived in London; for so universal was the contention, that according to Dean Swift the very cats and dogs discussed it, while fine ladies became such violent partisans of the Low and High Church
SUSANNA WESLEY.
parties "as to have no time to say their prayers."
The Rector of Epworth, with his sharp tongue and hot temper, was far more likely to make enemies than friends at such a time, and no doubt a great deal of prejudice and ill-feeling was aroused against him in Lincolnshire, and his wife, as well as himself, had to bear the brunt of it.
It was a great trial to her to part with her firstborn son, Samuel, who in 1704 was placed at Westminster; though she would have been the last woman to have stood in the way of her child's advancement.
The boy went to London with his father, probably riding before him on the same horse, and speedily won the favor of his new tutors and governors.
He had also several friends in London; his paternal grandmother was still alive, and his uncle Matthew was a surgeon and _ apothecary in good circumstances, while another uncle, Timothy Wesley, and an aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth
Dyer, his father's only sister, also lived in the city.
They all appear to have shown the boy the kindness to be expected by a nephew, and were most likely proud of his talents and rapid progress.
His mother's anxious affection for him was so great that she devoted many hours, and also many sheets of foolscap, to writing him
TRIALS AND TROUBLES.
a series of letters which were neither more nor less than treatises on Revelation and the law of reason.
The first is dated March 11, 1704, and is very long, and, to say the truth, dry, unrelieved by a scrap of home news or gossip.
She, no doubt, in writing it and "successive epistles, fulfilled what she felt to be a conscientious duty, but was aware that they were beyond the boy's comprehension at that period, as she told him to keep them till he was older and better able to understand them. A letter written towards the close of the summer seems more natural, and better suited to a school-boy's comprehension : — EpwortuH, August 4, 1704.
Dear Sammy, —I have been ill a great while, but am now, I thank God, well recovered.
I thought to have been with you ere this, but I doubt if I shall see you this summer ; therefore send me word particularly what you want.
; I would ere now have finished my discourse begun so long ago, if I had enjoyed more health ; but I hope
I shall be able to finish it quickly, and then have you transcribe all your letters ; for they may be more useful to you than they are now, because you will be better able to understand them.
I shall be employing my thoughts on useful subjects for you when I have time, for I desire nothing in this world so much as to have my children well instructed in the principles of
_ SUSANNA WESLEY.
religion, that they may walk in the narrow way which alone leads to happiness.
Particularly I am concerned for you, who were, even before your birth, dedicated to the service of the sanctuary, that you may be an ornament of that Church of which you are a member, and be instrumental (if God shall spare your life) in bringing many souls to Heaven.
Take heed, therefore, in the first place, of your own, lest you yourself should be a castaway.
; You have had great advantages of education ; God has intrusted you with many talents, such as health, strength, a comfortable subsistence hitherto, a good understanding, memory, etc. ; and if any one be misemployed or not improved, they will certainly one day rise up in judgment against you.
If I thought you would not make good use of instruction, and be the better for reproof, I would never write or speak a word to you more while I live, because
I know whatever I could do would but tend to your greater condemnation.
But I earnestly beg of God to give you His grace, and charge you, as you will answer for it at the last great day, that you carefully "' work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," lest you should finally miscarry.
You say you do not know how to keep a secret without sometimes telling a lie.
I do not know what secrets you may have: I am sure nobody with you has authority, however, to examine you ; but if any should be so impertinently curious to do it, put them civilly off, if you can ; but, if you cannot, resolutely tell them
TRIALS AND TROUBLES.
Wa you will not satisfy their unreasonable desires ; and be sure you never, to gain the favor of any, hazard losing the favor of God, which you will do if you speak falsely.
To God's merciful protection I commit you.
SUSANNA WESLEY.
The next letter is not dated, but was written either during the same or the following year:
Dear Sammy, —'"' Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your
Father which is in Heaven."
Examine well your heart, and observe its inclinations, particularly what the general temper of your mind is ; for, let me tell you, it is not a fit of devotion now and then speaks a man a Christian, but it is a mind universally and generally disposed to all the duties of Christianity in their proper times, places, etc.
For instance, in the morning or evening, or any other time when occasion is offered, a good Christian will be cheerfully disposed to retire from the world that he may offer to his Creator his sacrifice of prayer and praise, and will account it his happiness, as well as his duty, so todo.
When he is in the world, if he have business, he will follow it diligently, as knowing that he must account with God at night for what he has done in the day, and that God expects we should be faithful in our calling as well as devout in our closets.
A Christian ought, and in the general does, converse with the world like a stranger in an inn; he will use
SUSANNA WESLEY.
what is necessary for him, and cheerfully enjoy what he innocently can; but at the same time he knows it is but an inn, and he will be but little concerned with what he meets with there, because he takes it not for his home.
'The mind of a Christian should be always composed, temperate, free from all extremes of mirth or sadness, and always disposed to hear the still small voice of God's Holy Spirit, which will direct him what and how to act in all the occurrences of life, if in all his ways he acknowledge Him, and depend on His assistance.
J cannot now stay to speak of your particular duties ; I hope I shall in a short time send you what I designed.
In the mean time, I beg of you, as one that has the greatest concern imaginable for your soul:
I exhort you, as I am your faithful friend: and I command you, as I am your parent,—to use your utmost diligence to make your calling and election sure, to be faithful to your God; and after I have said that, I need not bid you be industrious in your calling.
Sammy, think of what I say, and the blessed God make you truly sensible of your duty to Him, and also to me.
Renew your broken vows ; if you have wasted or misemployed your time, take more care of what remains.
If in anything you want counsel or advice, speak freely to me, and I will gladly assist you.
I commit you to God's blessed protection.
SUSANNA WESLEY.
TRIALS AND TROUBLES.
_ While the mother was writing to her absent boy, and keeping school with her other children, her husband was in his study writing rhyme as fast as it would flow from brain and pen.
The Duke of Marlborough was the hero of the hour; he had gained the battle of Blenheim in August, 1704, and struck such terror into the French nation as long found echo in the refrain,
" Marlbrouck s'en va-t-en guerre."
The nation delighted to honor the: soldier-statesman, whose victory justified Queen Anne's confidence in him; both Houses of Parliament publicly thanked him, the city of London entertained him at a civic feast, the nation gave the Manor of Woodstock to him and his heirs forever, and built for him that Blenheim Palace, but just now despoiled of the art treasures he collected during his successful campaigns against the power of the Grande
Monarque.
Policy and patriotism both tended to inspire Mr. Wesley's muse, and he achieved a poem of five hundred and ninety-four lines, entitled "' Marlborough, or the Fate of Europe."
Archbishop Sharpe took poem and author under his fostering wing, and brought them under the Duke's notice.
The least that the hero could do in return was to give Mr. Wesley the chaplaincy to Colonel Lepelle's regiment; and so pleased was another peer with the poem that he sent for
Heb
SUSANNA WESLEY.
its writer, and tried to procure him a prebend's stall; But, alas'!
" The best laid schemes 0' mice and men Gang aft a-gley!" and the very means by which the poet-parson sought to serve his patrons and strengthen his position caused him to lose all that he had gained, as well as all he hoped for.
Early in May, 1705, Mrs. Wesley gave birth to another son, but between worry and weakness was unable to nurse it; so it was given into the charge of a woman who lived opposite the rectory.
Epworth was greatly disturbed on account of a contested election, and the street was so noisy one night that the nurse could not get to sleep till between one and two in the morning, and then slept so soundly that she overlaid and killed the child.
It was small wonder that Mrs. Wesley should have been worried both before and after her confinement; for Queen Anne had dissolved Parliament on the 5th of April, and it was well known that the contest between Whigs and Tories would be keen.
No Romanist is so zealous or so bigoted as a "convert," and no Churchman is so "high" as one who was born and brought up in the bosom of Dissent.
Thus it was perfectly natural that the Rector of
TRIALS AND TROUBLES.
Epworth should be a Tory of the first water, and throw all his weight and personal influence into the scale against Colonel Whichcott and Mr.
Albert Bertie, the candidates who favored Presbyterianism and had the Dissenters on their side, and who contested the representation of Lincolnshire with the previous members, Sir John Harold and "Champion" Dymoke.
No doubt the Tory party, already friendly to him, would have remembered, and in some manner rewarded the zealous clergyman who had espoused their cause with all his might and main, had they been successful; but the Whigs carried the day, and he was consequently insulted by the mob, and was in some danger of maltreatment.
Wesley's opponents speedily deprived him of his chaplaincy to Colonel Lepelle's regiment, so that he suffered in purse as well as in local popularity and reputation.
His own account of the state of affairs is found in a letter he wrote to Archbishop Sharpe as soon as the hubbub had a little subsided.
Epworth, June 7, 1705.
I went to Lincoin on Tuesday night, May 29th, and the Election began on Wednesday, 30th.
A great part of the night our Isle people kept drumming, shouting, and firing of pistols and guns under the window where my wife lay, who had been brought to bed not three
SUSANNA WESLEY.
weeks.
I had put the child to nurse over against my own house ; the noise kept his nurse waking till one or two in the morning.
'Then they left off, and the nurse, being heavy to sleep, overlaid the child.
She waked, and finding it dead, ran over with it to my house, almost distracted, and calling my servants, threw it into their arms.
'They, as wise as she, ran up with it to my wife, and before she was well awake, threw it cold and dead into hers.
She composed herself as well as she could, and that day got it buried.
A clergyman met me in the Castle yard, and told me to withdraw, for the Isle men intended me a mischief.
Another told me he had heard near twenty of them say "if they got me in the Castle yard they would squeeze my guts out."
My servant had the same advice.
I went by Gainsbro', and God preserved me.
When they knew I was got home they sent the drums and mobs, with guns, etc., as usual, to compliment me till midnight.
One of them, passing by on Friday evening and seeing my children in the yard, cried out, "O ye devils ! we will come and turn ye all out of doors a-begging shortly."
God convert them and forgive them !
All this, thank God, does not in the least sink my wife's spirits.
For my own, I feel them disturbed and disordered ; but for all that I am going on with my reply to Palmer, which, whether I am in prison or out of it, I] hope to get finished by the next session of Parliament, for I have no more regiments to lose.
S. WESLEY.
ie 5 yey Ria '
TRIALS AND TROUBLES.
_ But his worst trials were yet to come, and the manner in which they affected his wife and family are best told by himself.
He was in debt to one of the people he had angered by his zeal at the recent Election, and, as he had not the wherewithal to pay, was speedily arrested and sent to Lincoln jail.
Here is the account given by his own hand to the Archbishop of York:
LINCOLN CASTLE, June 25, 1705.
My Lorp, — Now I am at rest, for I am come to the haven where I've long expected to be.
On Friday last (June 23), when I had been, in christening a child, at Epworth, I was arrested in my churchyard by one who had been my servant, and gathered my tithe last year, at the suit of one of Mr. Whichcott's relations and zealous friends (Mr Pinder), according to their promise when they were in the Isle before the Election.
The sum was not thirty pounds, but it was as good as five hundred.
Now they knew the burning of my flax, my London journey, and their throwing me out of my regiment had both sunk my credit and exhausted my money.
My adversary was sent to where I was on the road, to meet me, that I might make some proposals to him.
But all his answer (which I have by me) was, that I must immediately pay the whole sum or go to prison.
Thither I went with no great concern for myself, and find much more civility and satisfaction here than in drevidbus gyaris of
ooo
SUSANNA WESLEY.
my own Epworth.
I thank God my wife was pretty well recovered, and. churched some days before I was taken from her; and hope she 'll be able to look to my family, if they don't turn them out of doors, as they have often threatened to do.
One of my biggest concerns was my being forced to leave my poor lambs in the midst of so many wolves.
But the great Shepherd is able to provide for them and to preserve them.
My wife bears it with that courage which becomes her, and which I expected from her.
I don't despair of doing some good here (and so long I shan't lose quite the end of living), and, it may be, do more in this parish than in my old one; for I have leave to read prayers every morning and afternoon here in the prison, and to preach once a Sunday, which I choose to do in the afternoon, when there is no sermon at the minster.
And I'm getting acquainted with my brother jail-birds as fast as I can: and shall write to London, next post, to the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, who, I hope, will send me some books to distribute among them.
I should not write these things from a jail if I thought your Grace would believe me ever the less for my being here ; where if I should lay my bones, I'd bless God and pray for your Grace.
Your Grace's very obliged and most humble servant,
S. WESLEY.
Archbishop Sharpe's kind heart must have warmed to the man who could be so cheery in
TRIALS AND TROUBLES.
such a position, strive to help his " brother jailbirds" without repulsion, and look upon them as the flock committed to his charge for the time being.
He immediately wrote him a sympathetic answer, told him the reports he had heard, and asked for a statement of his affairs.
Mr. Wesley was able to explain all satisfactorily, and, after detailing the falsehoods fabricated and spread by his opponents, adds: — " My debts are about £300, which I have contracted by a series of misfortunes not unknown to your Grace.
The falling of my parsonage barn before I had recovered the taking my living; the burning great part of my dwelling-house about two years since, and all my flax last winter; the fall of my income nearly one half by the low price of grain; the almost entire failure of my flax this year, which used to be the better half of my revenue; with my numerous family; and the taking this regiment from me, which I had obtained with so much expense and trouble, have at last crushed me, though I struggled as long as I was able.
Yet I hope to rise again, as I have always done when at the lowest; and I think I cannot be much lower now."
How Mrs. Wesley and the family fared at home, he tells in a letter written on the 12th of September : —
SUSANNA WESLEY.
"Concerning the stabbing my cows in the night since I came hither, but a few weeks ago; and endeavoring thereby to starve my forlorn family in my absence, my cows being all dried by it, which was their chief subsistence ; though I hope they had not the power to kill any of them outright.
"They found out a good expedient, after it was done, to turn it off, and divert the cry of the world against them ; and it was to spread a report that my own brawn [boar] did this mischief, though at first they said my cows ran against a scythe and wounded themselves.
"As for the brawn, I think any impartial jury would bring him in not guilty on hearing the evidence.
There were three cows all wounded at the same time, one of them in three places; the biggest was a fleshwound, not slanting but directly in towards the heart, which it only missed by glancing outwards on the ribs.
It was nine inches deep, whereas the brawn's tusks were hardly two inches long.
All conclude that the work was done with a sword, by the breadth and shape of the orifice.
The same night the iron latch of my door was turned off, and the wood hacked in order to shoot back the lock, which nobody will think was with an intention to rob my family.
My house-dog, who made a huge noise within doors, was sufficiently punished for his want of politics and moderation ; for the next day but one his leg was almost chopped off by an unknown hand.
'T is not every one could bear these things; but I bless God my wife is less con-
ere we
LTRIALSSAND TROUBLES.
8I cerned with suffering them than I am in the writing, or than I believe your Grace will be in reading them.
She is not what she is represented, any more than me.
I believe it was this foul beast of a worse than Erymanthean boar, already mentioned, who fired my flax by rubbing his tusks against the wall; but that was no great matter, since it is now reported I had but five pounds loss."
Whether the Archbishop of York went to Epworth to see the state of affairs for himself, or whether Mrs. Wesley met him at Lincoln or elsewhere, during her husband's imprisonment, is not known, but certain it is that they had an interview, at which, among other questions, he asked, "Tell me, Mrs. Wesley, whether you ever really wanted bread?"
"My Lord," said she, "I will freely own to your Grace that, strictly speaking, I never did want bread.
But then I had so much care to get it before it was eat, and to pay for it after, as has often made it very unpleasant to me.
And I think to have bread on such terms is the next degree of wretchedness to having none at all."
"You are certainly right," replied the Archbishop, who the next day gave the much-tried rector's wife a handsome present in money.
When Mr. Wesley had been in prison about three months, some of his clerical neighbors
SUSANNA WESLEY. and some of his political friends assisted him by paying off about half his debts and arranging for the liquidation of others.
The joyful intelligence speedily produced a very grateful letter, in which he told the Archbishop what had occurred, and mentioned another touching manifestation of his wife's devotion: — LINCOLN CASTLE, September 17, 1705.
My Lorp,—I am so full of God's mercies that neither my eyes nor heart can hold them.
When I came hither my stock was but little above ten shillings, and my wife's at home scarce so much.
She soon sent me her rings, because she had nothing else to relieve me with; but I returned them, and God soon provided forme.
The most of those who have been my benefactors keep themselves concealed.
But they are all known to Him who first put it into their hearts to show me so much kindness; and I beg your Grace to assist me to praise God for it, and to pray for His blessing upon them.
This day I have received a letter from Mr. Hoar that he has paid ninety-five pounds which he has received from me.
He adds that "avery great man has just sent him thirty pounds more ;"' he mentions not his name, though surely it must be my patron.
I find I walk a deal lighter, and hope I shall sleep better now these sums are paid, which will make almost half my debts.
I am a bad beggar, and worse at returning formal thanks, but I can pray heartily
TRIALS AND TROUBLES.
for my benefactors ; and I hope I shall do it while I live, and so long beg to be esteemed your Grace's
_ most obliged and thankful, humble servant, Sam. WESLEY.
Shortly after this Mr. Wesley was released and returned home, where he lived with a lighter heart in the bosom of his family, and engaged in a voluminous correspondence with his eldest son at Westminster School.