Jack at Westminster.--At Oxford.--Life at
College.--Jack a deserter.--His good angel.--"He
that goes a borrowing, goes a sorrowing."--A
bitter disappointment.--A letter from
"Mother."--Jack's decision.--Father's advice.
WHEN Jack was sixteen he left the Charterhouse School, and joined
Charlie at Westminster. Here too he was so diligent and persevering,
that when his brother Samuel wrote home to his father, he said: "Jack is
a brave boy, and learning Hebrew as fast as he can." The next year he
went to Oxford, where he got on splendidly. He was very witty and
lively, and still _very fond of talking_; but his was not foolish talk,
and he always took care to stand up for the right.
At first he was much shocked at the drinking and gambling, and
wickedness of all sorts that went on among the students at the
university. But when day after day we witness wrong-doing, gradually we
get less and less shocked, and after a time think little about it. This
only happens though when we get down from our watch-tower, and the enemy
has a chance to get near to us. Jack's temptations to join his fellow
students were very great, and I am sorry to say, he got "off his guard,"
and yielded. For a time he quite disgraced the colours of his regiment,
and became a deserter from Christ's army. But it was not for long, he
remembered what he had learnt at home, and how his dear mother had
prayed for him. He remembered how he had been saved from the burning
house, and he felt sure that God had not spared his life for him to grow
up a wicked or a worldly man.
He had found it hard work to be a Christian at the Charterhouse School,
now he found it harder still at Christ Church College. He loved fun and
merry company, and this sometimes led him to seek the society of young
men who loved their own pleasure better than any thing else; and many
times Jack, following their bad example, did things for which he was
afterwards very sorry and very much ashamed.
I have somewhere read this line of poetry:
"The boy that loves his mother
Is every inch a man,"
and if ever boy loved his mother, Jack did. The memory of her loving,
holy life was Jack's good angel; and when temptations proved almost too
strong for him at Oxford, he wrote and asked her to pray for him, and to
pray on every Thursday. For Thursday had been Jacky's day with mother,
ever since a little boy he knelt at her knee; and he felt that his
mother's prayers on _that_ day could not fail to bring down God's
blessing upon him, and give him strength to resist the many evil
influences that surrounded his college life--and they did.
I told you before, I think, that Jack's parents were not rich; they had
never been able to allow him much pocket-money, and now at Oxford, when
his expenses were greater, he somehow could never manage to make his
money last out. I am afraid he was not always as careful as he might
have been, and I am sorry to say when he was spent up--which was very
often--he did what so many boys and young fellows do, borrowed money.
This is always foolish, for, of course, it cannot make things any
better, and indeed only makes them worse; because when the allowance
comes, the debts have to be paid, and there is little or no money left.
However, neither debt nor being short of money troubled Jack at this
time; indeed he said it was just as well to be poor, for there were so
many rogues at Oxford, that if you carried anything worth stealing, it
was not safe to be out at night.
One of his friends was once standing at the door of a coffee-house about
seven o'clock in the evening, and happening to look round, in an instant
his hat and his wig--they wore wigs in those days--were snatched off
his head by a thief, who managed to get clear off with his booty. Jack
writing home about this said: "I am safe from these rogues, for all my
belongings would not be worth their stealing."
When Jack had been four years at Oxford, and was about twenty-one, his
brother Samuel wrote to tell him he had had the misfortune to break his
leg. He also told him his mother was coming to London, and if he liked
he might go and meet her there.
It was a long, long time since Jack had seen his mother, and you may
imagine his delight when he got this letter. He wrote back:
"DEAR BROTHER SAMUEL,
"I am sorry for your misfortune, though glad to
hear you are getting better. Have you heard of the
Dutch sailor who having broken one of his legs by
a fall from the mast, thanked God that he had not
broken his neck? I expect you are feeling thankful
that you did not break both legs.
"I cried for joy at the last part of your letter.
The two things I most wished for of almost
anything in the world were to see my mother and
Westminster again. But I have been so often
disappointed when I have set my heart on some
great pleasure, that I will never again be sure of
anything before it comes.
"Your affectionate brother,
"JACK."
Poor Jack! it was well he did not anticipate this treat too much, for
when the time came he hadn't enough money to take him to London, and as
he was already in debt he could not borrow any more. It was a bitter
disappointment; but when his mother got back home again after her visit
to London, she wrote one of her bright, loving, encouraging letters,
which did something towards comforting the heart of this "mother's boy."
This was the letter:
"DEAR JACK,
"I am uneasy because I have not heard from you.
Don't just write letter for letter, but let me
hear from you often, and tell me if you are well,
and how much you are still in debt.
"Dear Jack, don't be discouraged; do your duty;
keep close to your studies, and hope for better
days. Perhaps we may be able to send you a few
pounds before the end of the year.
"Dear Jacky, I pray Almighty God to bless thee!
"Your mother,
"SUSANNA WESLEY."
When boys get to be fourteen or sixteen, they begin to think and wonder
what they will be when they are men. Very little boys generally mean to
be either cab-drivers or engine-drivers; and I did hear of one who meant
to have a wild beast show when he grew up. Jack reached the age of
twenty-one, and had not decided what he would be.
At last the time came when he must make up his mind. After thinking
about it very seriously, he thought he would like to be a minister like
his father. So he wrote home and told them his decision.
His father who had been ill and was unable to use his right hand
properly, wrote to him that he must be quite sure that God had called
him to this work before he undertook it. "At present," he said, "I think
you are too young." Then, referring to his illness, he said: "You see
that time has shaken me by the hand; and death is but a little behind
him. My eyes and heart are almost all I have left, and I bless God for
them."
Mrs. Wesley was very glad when she heard that her boy wished to be a
minister. "God Almighty direct and bless you," she wrote to him.
A few months afterwards, Jack's father wrote, and told him that he had
changed his mind about his being too young, and that he would like him
to "take Orders," that is, to become a minister, the following summer.
"But in the first place," he said, "if you love yourself or me, pray
very earnestly about it."
To choose to be Christ's minister, a preacher of the gospel, Mr. Wesley
knew was a very solemn and responsible choice, and he wished Jack to
think very seriously, and to pray very earnestly before he took the
important step.
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