Susanna Wesley
SUSANNA WESLEY
A Mother Who Overcame Hardships and Impacted the World
HEROES OF FAITH
Heroes of Faith—Susanna Wesley ©1993 Institute in Basic Life Principles Box One Oak Brook, IL 60522-3001 All rights reserved.
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All Scripture references are from the King James Version of the Bible, unless otherwise noted.
Printed in the United States of America.
April 1993 5P 4P 3P 2P
for her mother had rocked twenty-four cradles, and Susanna was in the twenty-fourth!
HISTORY When these facts from the life of Susanna Wesley are presented to the average church RESOURCE congregation today, laughter erupts.
Looks of disbelief and amazement are exchanged between mothers who are struggling with two or three
HOW DID ONE WOMAN BENEFIT
GOD'S KINGDOM BY DISCOVERING
SECRETS OF RAISING CHILDREN?
children. These modern mothers do not understand the secrets of child-rearing which Susanna Wesley applied not only in training outstanding children, but in doing it under some of the most adverse conditions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
England was in a state of spiritual decline.
Charles II was on the throne with his secret ambitions to return the nation to Roman Catholic control. The loose and immoral lives of the king and other government leaders influenced the laws they made and reflected the sinfulness of the people.
Literature, plays, and other forms of entertainment served only to spread the godless fantasies of their authors to the thoughts and actions of common Englishmen.
The people carried their greed into their businesses as well.
'^'y^A/^A^f-f-H.
Susanna Wesley's greatest contribution to the advancement of God's Kingdom did not die with her two famous sons, John and Charles. The principles she discovered for raising up children who were mighty in spirit continue to bear fruit wherever they are applied.
THi: HjfTT rxa LAtornEts ur cscLiye This amazing woman took seriously the This period cartoon relates the servile status axiom, "The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand of young children hired out by their parents in that rules the world." She rocked nineteen cradles in an age when children were regarded as a bother, and eighteenth-century England. historians now agree that two of those whose cradles
Young children were being sent into the she rocked had more impact on English history manufacturing industry, where they were overworked while paid and taught practically nothing. in the eighteenth century than any of their In the medical arena, deception, overcharging, and contemporaries. abortions were common.
Yet, even the Church Whenever praised for her success, however, offered no solutions. Those who were called to be this mother responded humbly, recognizing as her the salt and light of the world were preoccupied with "secret" the principles of Scriptural child-rearing, many of which she had learned from her mother— their own battles.
Heroes of Faith Serte*—Susanna Weiiey
The Established Church of England was London road called Spital Yard became a haven defending its threatened power and doctrines from for Dissenters. attacks of various other denominations.
Those outside the Church of England were quite varied in • She taught authority by her reverence. their beliefs and methods themselves, but they were all dubbed "Dissenters" or "Nonconformists"
It was in this environment because of one common characteristic— they were of serious theological discusnot part of the Established Church. sion that young Susanna was The Dissenters included such Godly men as John Bunyan and the Pilgrims and Puritans who reared. By age thirteen, having listened to the many educated men who visited her sailed to America to find liberty. Also numbered in this classification were those who had called for and performed the execution of King Charles I in 1649 and who were now trying to disestablish, or "pufather, Susanna had weighed their cases and felt compelled to side with the Established Church of England rather rify." the Church of England through illegal means. than with the rebellious strain Dr. Samuel of Dissenters to whom she was exposed.
Annesley 1620-1696 To Dr. Annesley, this decision of his youngest child was painful, as he had labored and suffered much for the Dissenters' movement. However, Susanna must have made her appeal humbly and respectfully, because despite this disagreement between them.
Dr.
Annesley continued to nurture the special relationship he had begun to develop with this daughter.
Among those who called on the hospitable Dr. Annesley was the son of another prominent The tyranny of Charles Stuart (Charles I) as King of England provoked his people to civil war. The Dissenter and student at the Reverend Edward Veal's Dissenting Academy— Samuel Wesley. When
Dissenter armies hunted him down, tried him as a traitor, and condemned him to death. the school closed two years later, this young scholar transferred to Mr. Morton's Dissenting Academy.
The Established Church was taking advantage Yet, as Susanna had already done by this of its position to encourage laws persecuting the time, Samuel Wesley decided to join the Church of Nonconformists. However, on January 20, 1669, one prominent London Dissenter had reason to rejoice whatever the circumstances of England were.
His wife had just given birth to her twenty-fourth child. She sat in bed gently rocking the baby.
Standing proudly beside her was her husband, Dr. Samuel Annesley, a respected London minister who had cemented his position as a Dissenter twenty years earlier.
It was not the first time he had spoken out against the government, but by one disrespectful comment against the king, he had sacrificed his claim to one of the most prestigious pulpits in London.
Since that time the influential Dr. Annesley became known as the St.
Paul of the NonconSamuel Wesley ministered for several months to superstitious sailors who had learned formists, and the Annesley home on the small to fear the powerful and the unknown.
Heroes of Faith Series—Susanna Wesley
England. He left the Nonconformists" educational system and enrolled at Oxford University, a school
• She taught ownership by her contentment. then closed to Dissenters. Five and a half years later,
Samuel Wesley was ordained a minister of the Church of England and given his first chaplaincy on The years in Lincolnshire were not easy for Susanna. Mr. Wesley did not make enough money to support his growing family. Early in 1691, a baby a British man-of-war. girl, whom they named Susanna, was born. Now
However, his heart was not with the sea; it was there were two Susannas and two Samuels in the with young Susanna Anneslcy back in London. family, but not always in the house.
After only a few months the new chaplain resigned Samuel Sr. spent most of his time working his relatively well-paying position and returned to London to marry nineteen-year-old Susanna. with his parish of 260 members and fulfilling his duties as the personal chaplain of the Marquis of Normandy, whose country home was in South Ormsby. Even when Samuel was at home, he spent hours hidden in his study, trying to make a fortune through his literary interests.
Young Susanna loved to read. She spent hours studying the Scriptures and other literature, but His poetry and other articles did little, however, to help support the Wesley household, and the family began to contract debts. Mr. Wesley continued to expend so much of his time and she purposely avoided novels and similar books which would not conresources trying to supplement his salary through tribute to her spiritual poetry that Susanna one day came to the point of growth. advising her children, "Make poetry sometimes your diversion, tho' never your business."
Apparently it did not occur to Samuel to involve his children in his writing.
If he had done this, he could have helped his wife and further developed the skills which would one day be especially needed by his more prominent sons.
The young couple settled in Holborn near a small London church where Samuel was offered
Meanwhile, as Mr. Wesley was preaching and a post as a curate (an assistant minister in the Church writing, Mrs.
Wesley contentedly cared for little of England). With the meager salary this position afforded them, Susanna set up housekeeping and prepared for the birth of their first child. Samuel Wesley Jr. arrived on February 10, 1690.
His was a difficult birth for Susanna.
In fact, none of her other births were as difficult as this first one.
If Susanna had been living today, there is no question that an attending physician or midwife would have advised her to limit the number of her pregnancies in order to avoid complications such as those she had encountered with this birth.
Although we do not know what the "deep affliction, both of body and mind" she experienced was, we do know that Susanna did not allow her initial sorrow to reduce her future joy.
In June, when Samuel Jr. was four months old, Mr.
Wesley accepted an offer to minister in South Ormsby, Lincolnshire.
It was a long and difficult journey to their new home, especially for Susanna, who had lived only in London for the first twenty-one years of her life.
Charles, the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs.
Wesley, is remembered not for his dynamic sermons, but for the seven thousand hymns and poems he wrote.
Kleroes ol Fallh Scric*—Susanna Wesley
book: by which means he learned very soon to read .
. well."
Samuel and Susanna at home. Just before Susanna reached her first birthday, Emilia was born. Soon after Emilia's first birthday, Mr. Wesley was arrangSusanna's joy was doubled that December when Annesley and Jedediah were born— twins!
She had high hopes for her four children, and she and her husband wanted to provide the best educaing for the burial of baby Susanna.
On top of her sorrow over the death of young Susanna, Mrs. Wesley began to be concerned about Samuel Jr. He was four years old; yet, he had never spoken a word. One day Samuel Jr. had been out of tion possible for them.
• She taught success by her creativity. sight for longer than usual, so his mother began to look for him.
Although they were poor and still in debt, Susanna and Samuel scraped together what Susanna searched all through the house and resources they could and enrolled little Samuel in in the garden. Deeply concerned, she called out for Mr. John Holland's private school.
Mrs.
Wesley expected that her brilliant young Samuel would be her son.
Little Samuel crawled out from under a table where he was playing with the cat and answered in perfect English, "Here am 1, Mother!" greatly helped and would learn much in his first Relieved and full of joy, Susanna wrapped her arms around the young boy and thanked God. school year.
That year ended, however, in deep disappointment for Mr. and Mrs. Wesley. Having tried the system, and believing that even she, a simple, poor housewife, could do better than the British schools,
Mrs. Wesley removed Samuel from the school and began to teach him and her other children at home.
The same year that Samuel Wesley Jr. spoke his first words, another articulate speaker, Francois
Marie Arouet, was born. Remembered better by his pen name, Voltaire became a leader in the French Years after Mrs. Wesley removed Samuel Jr. from the classroom, her wisdom was confirmed when
Revolution while Samuel Wesley developed in a leadership role among the clergy of Great Britain.
Mr. Wesley discovered that Samuel's teacher had been dismissed from thirteen previous positions because of Compared to most children, he had learned to his wickedness. talk late, but as with Albert Einstein and other famous men of great intellectual ability throughout
The success of the methods she would history, those first, silent years helped Samuel develop and employ in the education of her children develop a greater capacity for learning. bears witness to itself in the fruit of her children's lives. Susanna did not believe she was doing a good
By initially thinking in pictures rather than in words, speech came later for Samuel. When he did job, but this is because she did not initially realize that it was the character which she imparted to them, not begin speaking, however, his communication the knowledge she taught, that would prepare her immediately took the form of complete thoughts. children for having major roles in the advancement
Susanna wrote that he learned so quickly "and had such a prodigious memory, that I cannot remember to have told him the same word twice.
What was yet stranger," Susanna continued, "any word he had learned in his lesson, he knew wherever he saw it, either in his Bible or any other of God's Kingdom.
• She taught suffering by her tolerance.
In 1732 Susanna's famous son, John, pleaded with his mother by letter to share with him her Heroes of Faith Series—Susanna Wesley
responsibilities as much as possible. Her gracious secrets of successful child-rearing. Susanna initially attitude in her suffering was beautifully expressed in responded: the following words; "The writing anything about my way of education I am much averse to.
It cannot.
I "Though man is born to trouble, yet r / think, be of service to anyone to know how
I believe there is scarce a man to be found upon earth, but, take the whole course of his
J / .
. 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, life, hath more mercies than afflictions, and much more pleasure than pain.
I am sure it has been so in my case.
I have many years that would entirely devote above twenty years suffered much pain, and in great bodily of the prime of life in hopes to save the souls of infirmities: but I have likewise enjoyed great their children, which they think may be saved intervals of rest and ease. And those very without so much ado; for that was my sufferings have, by the blessing of Cod. been of excellent use, and proved the most proper means of reclaiming mefrom a vain conversaprincipal intention, however unskillfully and unsuccessfully managed." tion; insomuch that I cannot say I had better have been without this affliction, this disease, this loss, want, contempt, or reproach. All my sufferings, by the admirable management of Omnipotent Goodness, have concurred to promote my spiritual and eternal good.
Glory be to Thee. O Lord!"
• She taught responsibility by her orderliness.
Although Susanna hesitated to share her Susanna Wesley invested all her time training principles of education, John persisted in asking her, and in July of 1732, she finally sat down with her her children. Although her husband spent months on end, year after year, in London, Susanna returned to quill and ink to set forth her method on paper. this city of her birth only once in over forty years.
The Wesleys suffered ridicule and torment "Dear Son, from the villagers about them who were convicted
According to your desire.
I have collected by their Godly disciplines and the truths they the principal rules I observed in educating my preached and lived. In Epworth, where Samuel and Susanna ministered for forty years, the village 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 people set fire to their home several times, threatened to harm their children, stabbed their dressing and undressing, changing their linen, cows, crippled the family dog, burned their crops, and were even indirectly responsible for the death of one of their children. etc. ..."
Sadly, many of Susanna's children did not live Many who learn of the trials this family long enough to enter into and benefit from her experienced imagine Mrs. Wesley as a tireless and "regular methods." One month after the December
1694 birth of Anncsley and Jedediah, Samuel was unflinching woman; yet, in reality Susanna was constantly reminded of her own frailty by regular preparing for their burial. Susanna had borne five sickness. Although the nature of her illness is not children in five years, but three of them had died. clear, we know that Susanna suffered affliction Only young Samuel and Emilia remained. throughout her life, especially after reaching fifty Emilia was three years old by this time, but years of age. While she was often bedridden for Mrs Wesley was so encouraged by Samuel's days, weeks, and sometimes months at a time, she progress after almost five years without learning so much as how to speak or read that she purposed to nevertheless relinquished her rights to lie idly about, choosing instead to suffer patiently and fulfill her Heroes of Faith Serte«—Suunru Wesley
and don'ts" for the children— they were statements wait until each child turned five before helping him to begin studying even the alphabet. The results were amazing. of responsibility for both the children and the parents.
On each child's fifth birthday, Susanna took • Susanna recognized that children sometimes lie to the child alone into a room. In one day she taught him the entire alphabet, upper and lowercase, until avoid punishment.
In order to prevent this habit from forming in her children, Mrs. Wesley promised them that if a child charged with wrongdoing he knew it thoroughly. Only two of the children required an additional half-day of instruction. confessed and repented, he would not be spanked.
After learning the letters, each child began • No lying, stealing, disobedience, quarreling or reading Genesis 1, mastering it syllable by syllable, word by word, verse by verse, until he could spell and read it perfectly. Within three months, each fighting, or any other sinful act was allowed to pass unpunished.
• No child was paddled twice for the same offense. child could read and speak English very well— well enough, in fact, to begin the foreign languages which If he repented afterwards, the matter was forgiven and not brought up again.
Mr. Wesley taught them. Mehetabel, for example, was reading the Greek New Testament when she was eight years old, only three years after learning
• Every time a child performed a good deed, especially when he did it of his own initiative, he was praised and often rewarded. the English alphabet!
• When a child performed a good deed with the intention to please, but the deed was poorly or While classroom teachimproperly done, the intentions were praised, and ers spent days and weeks the child was graciously taught how to do better in drilling the letters of the alphabet into their students the future. using lessons and primers • The rights of property were strictly observed. Even like the one shown here, Susanna Wesley successthe smallest pin or coin, borrowed against or without the owner's consent, had to be returned, and the offending child was punished. fully taught her children to read and write much more quickly by using Scripture.
• Promises had to be kept, and gifts given could not be taken back, unless they were given conditionally and the conditions had not been met.
• No girl was taught to work or sew or the such until ".
. It is almost incredible what may be taught a child in a quarter of a year by a she could read very well. vigorous application, if [he] have but a tolerable capacity and good health. Kezzy excepted, all could read better in that time than most women can do as long as they live."
The only exception to this, as Susanna noted, was Kezia. This is significant, because Kezia learned her letters before she turned five, but did not follow the same study of Genesis
as the others. As a result, Susanna said, "... She was more years learning than any of the rest had been months."
Within a year after the twins died, another baby girl was born. Susanna would yet have a namesake, so this child was named Susanna. With I>ir« BiWf IIKu'raltwii her three children, mother Susanna began to estabSusanna Wesley's bylaws were founded on the Ten Commandments and other basic Scriptural lish and enforce household rules. She developed eight key bylaws which were not simply a list of "do's principles.
Heroes of Faith Series—Susanna Wesley
In addition to these eight rules, Susanna "I discourse every night with each child by maintained her training methods. The baby would be laid in the cradle awake and rocked continuously
[himself] on something that relates to [his] principal concerns. On Monday I talk with through naptimes, three hours during the morning
Molly: on Tuesday with Hetty: Wednesday study time and three during the afternoon study with Nancy:
Thursday with Jacky; Friday time. Eventually, the length of those naps would be reduced to two hours each, then one hour each, and with Patty: Saturday with Charles: and with Emily and Sukey on Sunday." finally none at all. This schedule would gradually accustom the child to regular times of sleeping and waking.
John (affectionately called "Jacky" by his • She taught discipline by her kindness. mother) often wrote to her in later years about how he longed to be able to continue their ThursdayThe next year.
1696, Mary was born.
Mrs.
Wesley continued the naptime routine with Mary and taught little Susanna, now one year old, "to fear evening sessions together.
These times and the memories of them probably did more to influence the lives of her children than any of the other the rod and to cry softly."
While Mrs.
Wesley principles Susanna Wesley applied. believed that discipline was important, she did not endorse the abusive punishments being inflicted upon children in the classrooms and industrial mills
• She taught freedom by her loyalty. of England in that day.
As Susanna Wesley Discipline, as defined by Mrs.
Wesley, is listed her principles of dis- "strength guided by kindness." She would be firm and uncompromising, but also kind and loving to cipline and education in a letter to John, General James Edward Oglethorpe was making final plans for her children. sailing to the American "When turned a year old (and some before) colony of Georgia in Octothey were taught to fear the rod and to cry ber 1732. Mr. Wesley was softly, by which means they escaped abundance of correction which they might othera strong supporter of General Oglethorpe and wrote wise have had, and that most odious noise of to him frequently.
John and Charles later made a the crying of children was rarely heard in the house, but the family usually lived in as much
James Edward trip to this colony, where quietness as if there had not been a child among them."
Oglethorpe ^^^ "-ord taught them 1696—1785 many vital lessons.
Susanna carefully dipped her pen in the When the children grew strong enough, Mrs. inkwell to replenish its supply. Returning the nib to Wesley restricted them to three meals a day. They the paper before her, she continued her July 24,
letter to John describing her methods of were not permitted to eat or drink between meals
(unless they were sick) or to ask out loud for extra education. servings at meals. The children ate what was given to them, and if they desired more, they could whisper to the maid, who would whisper their "In order to form the minds of children, the request to Susanna. first thing to be done is to conquer their will and bring them to an obedient temper. To By eight o'clock each evening the children inform the understanding is a work of time, and must with children proceed by slow were all washed and in bed.
Mrs. Wesley never permitted anyone to sit with a child until he fell degrees, as they are able to bear it: but the asleep, but required that each child lie quietly alone subjecting the will is a thing that must be done at once, and the sooner the better, for by neglecting timely correction they will in his bed until he fell asleep by himself.
• She taught success by her availability.
Despite rigorous schedules, many children, and strict rules, Mrs. Wesley did not neglect to spend contract a stubbornness and obstinacy which are hardly ever after conquered, and never time with each individual child.
Heroes ot Faith Sertcs—Susanna Wesley
Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden to build dikes and drain the island. without using such severity as wouid be as painful to me as to the child.
. I cannot yet The agreement offered a third of the land to Vermuyden in payment, while the British royalty claimed another third, and the remaining third was dismiss the subject. As self-will is the root of all sin and misery, so whatever cherishes this in children ensures their after wretchedness and irreligion: whatever checks and mortifies left to the inhabitants. The contract became an issue of great controversy as the people bitterly claimed it, promotes their future happiness and piety. their rights to the land which had been in their This is still more evident when 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 families for generations.
The people responded violently to the government, burning tools, destroying newly built dikes, and finding other ways to hinder the Dutch workmen. They reacted with great hostility to these aliens who had moved onto their land. Thus, the 2,500 eternal happiness being this self-will, no indulgence of it can be trivial, no denial, unprofitable. inhabitants of Epworth probably regarded the new t rector and his family as just another group of foreigners who had invaded their island.
'Conquering the will' would be a continual task for Susanna, especially with new children being born almost annually. One of these, Mehetabel, was born in 1697, the same year the Wesleys moved to Epworth. The growing Wesley family was relocating from Samuel Wesley's South Ormsby church and its
£50 annual salary to a larger parish promising £200 a year.
The new rector at Epworth was born in November of 1662 to Mr. and Mrs.
John Westley. Later in life Samuel dropped the "t" from his last name and became Samuel Wesley.
'^M^ i -^^ Although Mr.
Wesley did not violate the people's property rights, he became an object of the Epworthians' bitterness as he "violated" their personal rights through the strict moral demands of his fiery sermons. While Samuel Wesley was trying
-«ii _4 as'^ I to conquer the wills of his parishioners, Mrs. Wesley was at home training the five Wesley children to Samuel Wesley Sr. served almost forty years at St. Andrew's parish in Epworth. submit their wills to God.
Essential to her success in doing this were her uncompromising rules that no child would ever get
Feeling confident with this dramatic increase in salary, Mr. Wesley borrowed £150 to consolidate that for which he cried and that every act of several smaller debts and to cover the expenses disobedience would be punished. involved with moving to and furnishing their new home.
"When a child is corrected [he] must be conquered, and this will be no hard matter Epworth was located in a geographically unique section of England called the "Isle of Axholme." Although this eighty-square-mile "island" was thirty miles inland, it was surrounded by water.
Four rivers, the Trent, the Tame, the Don, and the to do, if [he] be not grown headstrong by too much indulgence. And when the will of a child is totally subdued, and [he] is brought to revere and stand in awe of the parents, then a ^ great many childish follies and inadvertences may be passed by. Some should be overlooked and taken no notice of, and others mildly Idle, formed its boundaries and made the Isle of Axholme a very isolated, swampy area, which often flooded. In order to reclaim more usable land from the swamp, the British government contracted the
Heroes of Faith Series—Susanna Wesley
away in London for months at a time. However, he reproved; but no wilful transgression ought ever to be forgiven children without chastisement less or more, as the nature and circumstances of the case may require. said he was leaving for good this time, even though
Susanna was then carrying their fourteenth child.
When Hetty, as Mehetabel was often called, learned to speak, the first thing Mrs. Wesley taught her was the Lord's Prayer. This she had done with each of her children, and each child prayed it every morning and evening, daily submitting his will to God:
. T/iy will be done ..." (Matthew 6:10).
Susanna's most effective method of training her children to submit to the will of Godly authority was her own example. Mrs. Wesley told her children in later years "that your father and 1 seldom think alike" and that she and her husband ""rarely agreed on a particular matter."
King James II, having fallen into disfavor even with members of his own family, was disheartened by the news that William of Orange had landed with his armies on England's shores. James fled to France, and Yet, in positions where they disagreed, Mrs.
Wesley recognized the authority and responsibility of her husband and voluntarily submitted to him.
William, at the invitation of government leaders, assumed the throne.
Perhaps the greatest period of testing in Susanna's life began in 1698.
Several months later, William III died from One year after Hetty was born, Susanna's injuries incurred when his horse threw him. Anne became queen, and Mr. and Mrs. Wesley agreed she was a legitimate heir to the throne. Mr. Wesley was ninth child was born and died.
In May of 1699, Susanna gave birth to a baby boy whom they named John, but he, too, died soon. One year later,
Benjamin was born; he died shortly afterwards.
Then in 1701, Susanna had twins, and they also then free from his vow to return home to his forgiving wife, which he did.
When he arrived at Epworth, Samuel was died within the year. introduced to Anne, the newest addition to the Wesley family. The cementing factor to the reunion
It was during these years that the rectory caught fire for the first time, and two-thirds of it burned down. During her sufferings the neighbors were of no comfort, continuing to vandalize their of Samuel and Susanna was the birth of their first child conceived after Samuel's return from London.
Born on June 17, 1703, this son was named property. Samuel was caught up in his ministry for two of the Wesleys' previous children who had outside the home, and Susanna herself was often died soon after birth. John Benjamin, the only Wesley with a middle name, would be remembered bedridden with illness.
Then in the summer of 1701, this period of by generations to come as one of the greatest men of testing climaxed.
Samuel and Susanna had a faith in history. political disagreement as to the legitimacy of the Throughout her intense suffering, especially acting king. William of Orange was not in line for during the six years which preceded John's birth, Susanna remained meek and forgiving, submissive the English throne, but Parliament invited him to become king after James I! abdicated.
When Mr. Wesley asked Susanna what she to God's will.
In a letter Susanna wrote to her brother in India who had criticized her husband thought, she respectfully presented her case, but did after these things happened, Susanna still faithfully not press the matter beyond a simple, thirteen-word defended Samuel: explanation. For some reason still not fully understood. John Wesley, who told the story in later years, claimed that his father lost his temper and rashly vowed that as long as they had two kings, they (he and Susanna) would have two beds. With that, he
"For better or for worse, I'll take my | residence with him. Where he lives, I will live; and where he dies, I will die: and there will be buried. God do so unto me, and more also, if aught but death part him and me." left for London.
Susanna was left at home with the children, certainly nothing new. for Samuel had often been
Heroes of Fallh Series—Susantu Wesley
The area was considered to be a key section of • She taught design by her the county, and whoever carried the Isle of Axholme was practically guaranteed the victory.
Epworth determination.
In 1704, for the first time in over fifteen years, one year passed without a birth or death in the being the largest city on the Isle and Mr. Wesley the leading clergyman, it is understandable that the Wesley household. There was still a sense of loss, politicians came directly to Samuel to try to elicit however. Samuel Jr. left for Westminster School his support. at the age of fourteen to begin his formal educaMr. Wesley assured Sir Thurold that he would tion toward becoming ordained by the Church not vote against him. Samuel was determined not to of England. vote for the other incumbent, however, and Susanna had been especially dependent on promised his second vote to Colonel Whichcott.
Samuel. He was her first-born son and had been After a short trip to London, Samuel returned with her throughout her much suffering and her joy. to discover that Colonel Whichcott was actually a Although Samuel Sr. did not totally neglect his Dissenter who bitterly opposed the Church of responsibility for the education of his children and England. Samuel then felt obliged to remove his their need for a father who loved and cared for support from the colonel and support both incumbents instead. them, he was so absorbed in his ministry and spent so little time at home that Samuel Jr. became, in Samuel Sr.'s own words, "a father to .
[his] This change of loyalties enraged the Dissenters in Epworth.
Thus, while Samuel was in London to record his vote, an angry Nonconformist mob formed around the rectory. Standing beneath brothers and sisters."
Susanna's first-born son, Samuel, was named after the Mrs.
Wesley's window, they "kept drumming, shouting, and firing off pistols and guns." prophet in Scripture as well as Worn out from the emotional turmoil the mob for his father and grandfather.
As Hannah had done with her Samuel, Susanna dedicated him to the Church before caused her, Susanna gave her newborn child to the nurse and went to bed. The nurse remained awake throughout the noisy mob demonstration, but when the commotion died down an hour or so after his birth. midnight, she fell asleep.
The exhausted nurse unknowingly rolled over BrotSfn Pubbhm Samuel Wesley Jr. onto the baby as she slept and awoke to find him
1690-1739 dead. She ran out and threw the baby into the arms of the maid, who immediately took the child to John was only one year old when Samuel left
Susanna. Samuel said later that "she composed herfor Westminster, but he was the second surviving son, and upon Samuel's departure, he became the self as well as she could, and that day got it buried." oldest son at home. He was not to be the only son for Samuel returned to Epworth after the long, however.
In 1705, one month before John's election, having voted against Colonel Whichcott.
Unfortunately for Samuel, one of Colonel Whichsecond birthday, Susanna gave birth to another baby boy. cott's relatives, a Mr. Pinder, also happened to be one of Mr. Wesley's creditors.
The same year also marked an important After a baptismal service, Samuel was met on election in England.
In Lincoln County where Epworth is located, two men named Colonel the road by Mr. Pinder, who demanded immediate payment of his debt. Mr. Wesley agreed to pay the Whichcott and Bertie were challenging Sir John Thurold and "Champion"
Dymoke for their small debt, which amounted to less than £30, but informed Mr.
Pinder that it would require a few Parliamentary seats. hours for him to return home and sell some furniture
Campaigning was begun in earnest, especially on the Isle of Axholme. Although the inland island was isolated and generally forgotten by the rest of or farm animals.
. All his answer was, Samuel later wrote, ". that 1 must immediately pay the whole sum, or go the nation, it was divided among a greater number of to prison."
Mr.
Wesley could not produce the money there on the street, so he was taken landowners than any other area of the county.
Because only landowners were permitted to vote, directly to Lincoln Castle where he was thrown the Lincoln County candidates gained a sudden interest in the people of Axholme. into debtors' prison.
Heroes of Faith Series—Susanna Wesley
• She taught purpose by her faith.
In spite of the miserable conditions in which he was held, Mr. Wesley boldly took advantage of the On May 8, 1706, one year to the day after the situation and began a ministry to the other prisoners. birth of the Wesleys' most recent child, Martha was welcomed into the family.
In December of the His only concern was for his wife and children who were left in Epworth with no regular income. They were relying entirely on the dairy products from their following year, Susanna had another child. Born prematurely, Charles Wesley was sent in the Lord's small farm. perfect timing and would eventually become one of the most respected hymnwriters in Church history.
One winter morning, a year after Charles' birth, six-year-old John was awakened by light shining through the curtains drawn about his bed.
He was unusually tired, and no doubt desired more sleep than he had received.
It was actually almost midnight. John should have slept on for hours, but he wisely did what his mother had taught him instead of what he felt like doing.
Susanna had instilled into her children such a desire to do what they knew was right beyond mere obedience that John did not give the desirable Perhaps the prison ministry of John and Charles prospect of "sleeping in" a second thought and in later years was influenced by their father's term in called for the nurse. John did not realize that the prison and the reports he brought back about his nurse was not in the room. In fact, no one but himself was in the room. ministry there.
Yet, Susanna's concern was for her husband His father was the only one who heard John in prison, who had "little above ten shillings" to pay call, but though he tried, he could not help him.
Only when John got up and looked out of the for his food. She sent him the small amount of jewelry she had, including her wedding ring, to help curtains did he realize the ceiling above him was him purchase food or pay his debts.
Samuel, however, returned them to her. engulfed in flames.
Just minutes before John had awakened, Mr.
Wesley was aroused by someone in the street Samuel sent an appeal to Archbishop Sharpe for aid.
The archbishop, in turn, went to visit Susanna, and after promising her assistance, he yelling, "Fire! Fire!" Getting out of bed and opening the door, he discovered that it was his home that was on fire. In another room Hetty was awakened at the same time by pieces of burning wood falling on the asked, "Tell me, Mrs.
Wesley, whether you ever really wanted bread." foot of her bed from the ceiling.
"My Lord," Susanna replied, "I will freely own to your Grace that, strictly speaking, Hastily Samuel told Susanna and Emily to get out of the house, and he dashed to the nursery. He awakened the nurse, who took baby Chades and bade the other children to follow her, but John did
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 not hear the commotion and continued to sleep until he was awakened by the light of the fire in his room. the next degree of wretchedness to having none at all."
They quickly made their way through the hall and down the stairs to the door, but the door was locked, and the key was upstairs. Samuel bravely ran back up the stairs to retrieve the key and Impressed by his visit.
Archbishop Sharpe soon paid half of the £300 total which Samuel owed and arranged for the payment of the rest. After three months in prison, Mr. Wesley was released. Howreturned just moments before the stairs, too, burst into flames. The key did them little good, however, for when they op>ened the door, the gusting northeast winds drove the flames toward them and ever, he had not learned his lesson and continued to borrow money throughout the rest of his life. barred the exit.
Heroes o( hailh Serte*— Susanna Wesley II
Blessed by having come so close to losing another son but seeing him spared so miraculously,
Samuel cried out, "Come, neighbours, let us kneel down; let us give thanks to God! He has given me all my eight children. Let the house go:
I am The children escaped through the windows and the small garden door, but Susanna, who was eight months pregnant, was not able to use either of these exits. She attempted several times to break through the wall of fire blocking the doorway, but each time was driven back. rich enough!"
Through John's miraculous escape, Susanna recognized that God had a special calling for him.
I "In this distress I besought our blessed Saviour for help, and then waded through the fire .
. which did me no further harm than a She purposed "to be more particularly little scorching [of] my hands and my face. careful of the soul of this child, that Thou hast so mercifully provided for, than ever I have been, that I may do my endeavour to instil into Then Samuel heard John crying upstairs. his mind the principles of Thy true religion and virtue."
Pierced by the realization that one of his children was still in the midst of the inferno, Samuel attempted to beat back the flames and work his way back up the stairs, but his efforts were in vain.
Realizing the John also recognized God's claim on his life because of the fire and referred to himself as "... a brand plucked out of the fire" (Zechariah 3:2). The morning after the fire, Mr. Wesley paced about the hopelessness of the situation, Samuel made his way out of the quickly disintegrating building and dropped to his knees to commend his doomed area where his home had once stood to see if son to the Lord.
John, having opened the curtains enough to anything could be salvaged. All that remained was recognize the imminent danger he was in, made a dash for the nursery door, but the flames in the a small lump of silver, a bit of old iron, and a few sheets of paper. hallway would not permit passage.
John then Gazing over the items, he stopped to read the page which was from his prized Polyglot Bible.
Its retreated to the window where he was seen by his family and the neighbors gathered in the yard below.
Latin print spelled out, "Vade: vende omnia quae One of the onlookers proposed to fetch a habes, et attoUe crucem, et sequere me." which ladder. "There will not be time," said another and translated into English means, "Go; sell all that thou hast; and take up thy cross, and follow Me." quickly proposed his alternative plan.
Without a moment to spare, a large, sturdy • She taught freedom by her alertness. neighbor braced himself against the wall. Another man named Clarke climbed up onto his shoulders, and reaching into the second floor window of the low parsonage, he grasped little John from the Since the Wesleys now had no home, their few friends in the area and some relatives took in various ones of the family until the rectory could be rebuilt. Emilia and Mrs. Wesley stayed with a family nursery just seconds before the entire roof collapsed. in Epworth.
Young Susanna stayed with her uncle Samuel Annesley until he left for India. At that time she joined Hetty, who was staying in London with another uncle.
Dr. Matthew Wesley. John stayed with a minister, and the rest of the family was dispersed among other friends in Epworth. Samuel
Jr. was still at school and had his provisions there.
Mrs. Wesley had taught her children proper behavior and to stand alone for what is right. Yet, several months of fellowship with other Christians who did not regard the same high standards minus the support of their mother's reinforcement began to wear away at their Godly disciplines.
John so vividly remembered the fire which consumed the parsonage and almost took his life on the night of February 9, 1709 that years later he was
In less than one year the rectory was rebuilt, and the family reassembled.
Mrs.
Wesley also brought home with her Kezia, who was born a month after the fire. able to record a detailed account of this event which so deeply influenced his life.
Heroes of Faith Series—Susanna Wesley
Kezzy, as Mrs. Wesley called her daughter, was Susanna's last child, but even after nineteen potential employee for a chimney sweep or coal miner. By sending the children out of the house to be children, her contemporaries and historians alike trained by another, the parents of eighteenthcentury England thought they could gain independence. Susanna's attitude was different. praise the beauty which Susanna retained to her death.
Mrs.
Wesley understood, however, that .
. beauti^ is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised" (Proverbs 31:30).
In eighteenth-century England children were ofUpon their return to the rectory, Mrs. Wesley immediately discovered that the children had developed lapses in character and discipline while away. Thus, she began "a strict reform" as soon as they were ail under the same roof again. ten used to perform tasks in small spaces like coal mines where full-grown men could not fit.
Difficult, unwanted jobs and load-bearing work was also assigned to children in the industrial and textile mills of Susanna Wesley's day.
"There is nothing I now desire to live for, but to do some small service to my children. ..."
Susanna may not have realized it at the time, but every little bit she invested in her children would be multiplied back to her later in life.
The new rectory was built out of brick rather than wood and is still standing today in Epworth, England.
• She taught headship by her initiative.
Though the children were home and reform was under way. Mr. Wesley was still as busy as ever, and the winter months of 1711-1712 found him in London again, attending another convocation.
While he was gone, Emilia came across a story in Samuel's study about some Danish missionaries.
Susanna read the report and felt both convicted and inspired.
Each morning at five o'clock, Susanna rallied the family together to have what we now call a Wisdom Search, reading the day's Psalms and a chapter from the Old Testament in groups of two
(the eldest child with the youngest who could speak, the second oldest with the next youngest, and so on). Then they had a time of private prayer followed by a family breakfast.
"/ was never, I think, more affected with any thing," she told Samuel in a letter. ".
After opening with singing, they began their studies, all of which were centered around Scripture.
It came into my mind: Though I am not a man or a minister of the Gospel .
. yet if my heart were sincerely devoted to God .
I might do somewhat more than I do.
I thought I might Mrs. Wesley herself wrote the few textbooks they used besides the Bible. After six hours of study, the family closed their school day as they had begun, by singing the Psalms. live in a more exemplary manner in some At five o'clock in the evening, another Wisdom
Search was conducted. This time the children read things.
I might pray more for the people, and speak with more warmth to those with whom the Psalms and a chapter from the New Testament
I have an opportunity of conversing. while Mrs. Wesley met individually with each child on designated evenings. At six o'clock, after family
"However, I resolvedfirst to begin with my own children. ..." prayer, supper was served. Soon afterwards, the children were washed and put to bed.
Most mothers in Susanna's day, rather than Mr.
Inman, the curate substituting for the reforming their children, would have been trying traveling Mr. Wesley, dutifully held morning services each Sunday, but never an evening service. He had to hire them out. Even six-year-old John was a Hcioc5 of Fallh Series—Su&anna Wesley
without spelling a good part of it out. And how would that edify the rest? Nor has any member of enough trouble trying to keep the pews filled on Sunday mornings! our family a voice strong enough to be heard by such
With the inspiration received from the story of a number of people." the Danish missionaries, Susanna began to hold her own Sunday evening services at home for the Susanna also wrote, "Our meeting has children. They began meeting in the kitchen, and wonderfully conciliated the minds of this people toward us, so that we now live in the greatest amity
Susanna led them in a time of song, prayer, and imaginable.
. Some families who seldom went to reading of some of her husband's short sermons. church, now go constantly. ..."
As others found out about the little service, they asked permission to attend. Susanna never Yet, due to the reports of Mr. Inman, Samuel
Wesley responded with another letter, this time sought this ministry to her neighbors, she only took advantage of the opportunity. Soon word-of-mouth vaguely telling Susanna of his desire that she stop advertising brought over two hundred people, and many more had to be turned away for lack of room! the meetings. Mrs. Wesley, believing that he did not fully understand the legitimacy and value of the conventicles, wrote one last appeal.
She expressed in it her hope to continue the outreach but also her foremost desire to meet her husband's wishes. After a lengthy discussion of the meetings, Susanna concluded the letter with a request that if he desired her to stop, he should give clear and emphatic direction to do so, assuming full responsibility for the spiritual consequences to the villagers' hungry souls upon himself as her authority.
It seems that Mr. Wesley made either a positive reply or no response at all to her second, articulate appeal, and the meetings continued until Mr. Wesley returned. He then resumed the Sunday evening Although Susanna began in the kitchen with her own children, as the group multiplied, they probably services at church.
Susanna's meek appeals and obedient spirit were among the qualities which so began to fill other rooms as well. Some historians even impressed her husband that he wrote of her: propose that the Wesleys moved the meeting to the barn in order to allow more to attend.
"She graced my humble roof, and blest Susanna wrote a letter to her husband about my life. the meetings, and so did Mr. Inman. Susanna had more of the townsfolk attending her Sunday night
Blest me by far greater name than wife; .
[She] Scarce thought, much less could act, what I denied. meetings than Mr. Inman had in church for the Sunday morning services!
In our low house there was no room for pride; Nor need I e'er direct what still was right.
She studied my convenience and delight.
Mr. Wesley was understandably terrified to learn of the conventicles, as such home services were called.
In 1664, forty-seven years eadier, the All my commands, requests at her fair hands.
And her requests to me were all commands:
To others' thresholds rarely she'd incline; Her house her pleasure was, and she British Padiament had passed the Conventicle Act, which made illegal any such meetings with more than five guests in attendance unless certain was mine.
. ." requirements were met.
Mrs. Wesley, however, carefully ensured that the laws were kept, and she ministered within the • She taught success by her love. requirements of the unscriptural Conventicle Act. In In 1714 John left for the Charterhouse School response to Samuel's first letter regarding the in London, having been nominated by the Duke meetings, Susanna appealed.
Samuel had proposed that one of the men of Buckingham. The following year Charles left read to avoid the awkward appearance of a woman for Westminster. Later the two went to Oxford together.
Despite the fact that these were regarded reading the sermons. Susanna reasoned, "I do not as the finest schools in England, the Wesley boys think one man among them could read a sermon
Heroes of Faith Series—Susanna Wesley
were exposed to all manner of ungodly influences through them.
They educated him at home and then enrolled him in Oxford.
While at Oxford, John Wesley tutored John Whitelamb without charge until young They were still able, however, to emerge true
Mr. Whitelamb was ordained and he returned to serve as Samuel Wesley Sr.'s curate. to their disciplines because their parents continued to counsel them by letter and to hold them accountable.
John and Chades also developed special • She taught ownership by her security. projects together and kept each other accountable.
Meanwhile, travel for Mr. Wesley over the four-and-a-half-mile distance between Wroote and Epworth was difficult. Some days Mr. Wesley could walk the route. Other days the swamps were so flooded he had to travel by boat. During the spring of 1725, Mr. Wesley suffered a mild stroke, and his right hand was paralyzed. y:i^x He began to suffer from gout, and his overall health was declining from these and other ailments.
Mr. Wesley seemed close to death several times, but each time he recovered, though never to be quite as healthy as he had once been.
Fulfilling his pastoral duties became more and more difficult, so after ten years of ministry at Wroote, he turned the parish over to John Whitelamb, who had recently married his daughter
Mary. Eventually he could not make his visitation rounds at Epworth and even had to turn over some
While Charles was at Westminster, a childless, wealthy relative named Garret Wesley offered to adopt
Charles and make him his heir. When Charles refused of the Sunday services to another.
Yet. Mr. Wesley bore his suffering well. He to leave his family. Garret Wesley adopted another relative named Richard Colley. Richard later married and had a son named Arthur Wellesley.
He is remembered today as the Duke of Wellington for his spent the last twenty-five years of his life writing a book called Dissertations on the Book of Job.
Through his study he learned how to bear his victory over Napoleon at Waterloo. miseries contentedly: "...
1 despair of nothing, but firmly believe that He who is best will do what is In 1724, while John was at Oxford and best.
. And there
rest the whole matter, and Charles was still at Westminster, Mr.
Wesley assumed the parish of nearby Wroote, maintaining leave it with Him to whom 1 have committed all my concerns, without exception and without his position at the church in Epworth. The Wesley reserve. ..." family moved to the parsonage at Wroote and rented
Then in the spring of 1735. his health took a out their Epworth home. Although the additional definite turn for the worse, and Mrs. Wesley called responsibilities brought Samuel additional income, most of the new revenue was consumed by the the children home to his bedside.
"Are you much in pain?" John asked his additional expenses of a second church. father.
Kezia was five years old by that time, and Mrs.
Wesley did not have any more children. Samuel, John, and Charles (the three boys) were all away at "God does chasten me with pain," Mr. Wesley responded, "yea, all my bones with strong pain.
But 1 thank Him for all!
I bless Him for all!
1 love Him for all! school, and one by one the daughters were leaving home and marrying.
Yet, the Wesleys still had a deep love for children.
• John, perhaps wondering about his own spiritual condition, inquired, "Are the consolations
Recognizing the need and potential of one young lad in Wroote named John Whitelamb, the Wesley family shared what little they had and took him into their home. Mr. and Mrs. Wesley provided of God small with you?"
"No! no! no!" was his father's ready response.
"The weaker I am in body, the stronger and more the same education for this tall, slender youth as they had for their own sons. sensible support I feel from God." Several times Samuel exclaimed to John, "The inward witness.
Heroes ol Fallh Series—Susanna Wesley
than expected. "Now I am heard," she said, "in his having so easy a death, and my being strengthened son! The inward witness; that is the proof, the strongest proof of Christianity!" to bear it."
Again and again, Samuel turned to Charles and laying his hand on his son's head encouraged,
"Be steady! The Christian faith will surely revive in Susanna not only lost her husband, but she lost her home as well. Another minister would be assigned the Epworth parish, and Susanna could no this kingdom. You shall see it, though 1 shall not."
On the morning of April 25, 1735, having held communion with his family, Mr. Wesley became so longer remain in its rectory. The material goods Samuel left behind were quickly consumed as Susanna focused first on paying his debts. Once their
"full of faith and peace" that his family began to obligations were fulfilled, Mrs. Wesley was left with expect a possible recovery. That evening, however, extremely little for herself. as John whispered to his weary father, "Are you not In the England of her day, a sixty-six-year-old widow such as Mrs. Wesley would usually have been near Heaven?" Samuel responded, "Yes, I am!"
The family knelt about his bed, and as John left to the Church or the state for care. However, prayed the Commendatory Prayer, Samuel Wesley because Susanna had not neglected her own Sr. quietly died. Mrs. Wesley had suffered perhaps more than her husband during his dying days. A number of times she had fainted because of her grief children, but had diligently given herself to their care, she was rewarded.
Not only did her children provide a home for as she was caring for him at his bedside. her, they were practically competing for the honor of The Wesley children did not know if their mother would be able to bear their father's death when it came; yet, she responded much more calmly caring for her! While Samuel Jr. was financing his mother's last days in the parsonage just following Mr.
. She must be still, in some degree burdensome to you, as Wesley's death, Charles wrote to him, ". she calls it. How do 1 envy you that glorious burden and wish 1 could share it with you!"
Mrs. Wesley first moved to Gainsborough to live with Emilia, who was then running a ladies' boarding school. After a year with her, Susanna was convinced to move to Tiverton where she lived with Samuel Jr., who had married a minister's daughter and was beginning his own family.
Ten months later she relocated again, this time to Wooton, Wiltshire, where Martha and her husband, Westley Hall, made their home. Less than another year later, Mrs. Wesley moved with the Halls to a new home in Salisbury. She stayed with them happily for two years before she moved to London, where she lived in John's home for the remainder of her life.
• She taught freedom by her virtue.
With many of her children married and establishing their own families, Susanna was no longer supporting her children.
In fact, they were supporting her. Yet, Susanna knew that as long as she was alive on earth, God had a purpose for her.
She continued to counsel her children and began to teach her grandchildren as she had her own sons and daughters. One of Charles Wesley's sons
When John Wesley was refused a hearing in the later said of his grandmother, "She had the happy
British churches (even at Epworth where his father had ministered for forty years), John appealed to the talent of imbuing a child's mind with every kind of useful knowledge in such a way as to stamp people from behind the Epworth church, standing on it indelibly on the memory." his father's grave.
Heroes of Faith Series—Susanna Wesley
the lives and ministries of her children, Susanna still Susanna did not stagnate in her relationship with the Lord either. She continued to be faithful to a commitment she had made at thirty years of age to spend an hour each morning and each evening in a felt inadequate.
Ten years before her death she wrote, "I never did much good in my life. ..."
In later years, pjersonal time of prayer and study of God's Word.
Susanna not only continued to mature spiritually, reflecting on her life in the light of Luke 17:10, Susanna wrote in a letter to John, "...
I have been an unprofitable servant. ..." but as the palm tree in Psalm 92, she flourished as she aged.
Despite her feelings of inadequacy, Susanna recognized the potential of each child. The awesomeness of having such a powerful influence on a human life and much more the knowledge that one day she would answer to the Lord for the children
He had entrusted to her compelled Mrs. Wesley to endure whatever hardship arose and to toil on in "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord their Godly education. shall flourish in the "Though the education of many children must create abundance of trouble, and will courts of our God.
They shall still bring perpetually keep the mind employed as well forth fruit in old age: they; shall be fat and as the body: yet consider 'tis no small honour flourishing: To shew to be entrusted with the care of so many souls.
And if that trust be but managed with prudence and integrity, the harvest will abundantly recompense the toil of the seedthat the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him" time: and it will be certainly no little accession
(Psalm 92:12-15). to thefuture glory to standforth at the last day and say, 'Lord, here are the children which Thou hast given me. of whom I have lost none by my ill example, nor by neglecting to instil
In fact, while living with John, seventy-yearold Susanna experienced a significant personal into their minds, in their early years, the principles of Thy true religion and virtue'! " revival. John quotes in his journal his mother's description of how she was reminded of God's grace and so deeply impressed with the significance of His forgiveness as the Spirit bore witness with her spirit
• She taught suffering by her joyfulness. that it was for her Jesus had died.
With spiritual growth there comes a new perspective on suffering.
Rather than seeing "... Two or three weeks ago, while my son sufferers as prisoners of this world, a mature Hall [Martha's husband] was pronouncing Christian sees death and suffering as the gateway to those words, in delivering the cup to me, 'The eternal freedom in a far better place. blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was The turbulent times of Susanna's spiritually mature years only confirmed her longing for the given for thee, ' the words struck through m^; heart and I knew God for Christ's sake had joyful presence of her Savior. In the closing years of forgiven me all my sins." her life, God gave Susanna the opportunity to transfer two more portions of her heart to Heaven as she experienced the homegoings of her firstborn in • She taught responsibility 1739, followed two years later by her youngest. by her endurance.
Susanna was also reminded of her own eternal reward in the summer of 1742, as her illness
In spite of her continued personal growth, the climaxed. The Wesley children gathered together to wise counsel she gave to her children, the things she her bedside where she lay, and on July 23, Susanna taught her grandchildren, and the assistance she was spoke her last words on earth: "Children, as soon to John with his growing Methodist Community, even seeing the developing fruit of previous labors in as 1 am released, sing a psalm of praise to God!
Heroes of Faith Series—Susanna Wesley
That evening, the children stood around the bed as John led them in a chorus of praise to God.
Her own illness and suffering the loss of her husband, the deaths of twelve (and later, two more) of her nineteen children and several grandchildren, the loss of all her own brothers and sisters and her parents, all served as reminders to Susanna of the promiseof Heaven where ".
. God shall wipe awa\; all tears from their eyes: and there shall be r}o more death, neither sorrow. norcr\;ing, neither shall there be ani; more pain: for the former things are passed awa]^" (Revelation 21:4).
Through all her temporal pain and suffering on earth, Susanna learned to see more clearly. She was then able to pass her vision on to John and Chades, who turned their country "upside down"
John Wesley's preaching ministry was transformed by the faith and disciplines built into his life by Susanna. He learned from his mother to stand alone on God's Word, and he was dismissed from the as they sought the Kingdom of God and His churches. He learned from his mother to share God's
Word, and he outgrew the churches. righteousness.
The inestimable number of those the Wesleys reached for Christ in eighteenth-century England is
"And were it not that God supports, and by His omnipotent goodness often totally suspends all sense of worldly things, I could particularly significant when it is taken into connot sustain the weight of many days, perhaps hours." sideration that the entire population of England at that time was under six million people! Even today
"I have long since chosen Him as my only good: my all; my pleasure, my happiness in the ministry, lives, and hymns of the Wesley family continue to transform lives. this world, as well as in the world to come."
Truly, a Godly mother like Susanna Wesley dedicated to the Kingdom of God and His Susanna Wesley righteousness can "rule the world" from her home, and her physical and spiritual children will rise up and call her "blessed."
The Wesley children made an impact on this wodd for the Lord which will never be forgotten.
Yet, there is an ironic contrast between the lives of Susanna Wesley and her husband.
PROJECT Discuss in your family the answers to the In seeking God's Kingdom, Samuel Wesley following questions.
If possible, share the testimony tried to change the Church by neglecting his of Susanna Wesley's life with a young mother who needs encouragement to rear her children for God. children, and he failed both the Church and his family. Susanna simply concentrated on her family and changed the Church and the nation and Write a report of your counseling session for your
Life Notebook. influenced the world.
Because several of the Wesley children had What were some of the spiritual conditions in the day of Susanna Wesley which are parallel to
the same wrong focus their father had, they violated some of the same principles he had violated.
However, Mrs. Wesley's diligent investment in the Kingdom of God was certainly not in vain. All the Wesley children, as far as can be seen, put their complete faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. This was
Susanna's goal. those of our day?
2. What reassurance can the account of Susanna's first-born son give to mothers today who are concerned about sons who are slow learners?
3. What was Susanna Wesley's secret to rearing a house full of quiet children?
Moreover, Mrs. Wesley went far beyond her immediate goal of saving her own children. Susanna
Wesley developed such faith in them that her chil4. How did God meet Susanna Wesley's needs in her later years through her dedication to seek the Kingdom of God in earlier years? dren went out and reached hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of others during their lives— making a tremendous impact on their nation.
Date completed Evaluation .
Heroes of Faith Series—Susanna Wesley
% that vjaiktth with wist men ^ shall be zvisc"
\ 'V j r/ F ^^overbs 13.^^ V/ When ordinary Christians make Biblical commitments and develop Godly disciplines, extraordinary results occur which benefit the hves of multitudes.
John Wesley observed this fact when he stated, "Do not seek after a ministry; anticipate the finiit of a disciplined life."
Scripture assiu*es us that "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him
. ."
(11 Chronicles 16:9). ilxtstttutt in lOasic ICtfe |JnunpUa Box One Oak Brook, Illinois 60522-3001 of F^ii'h »"
Wesley