Don't believe all you hear.--Mrs. Wesley finds her
"dear Jack" true to his colours.--She joins the
Methodists.--And thus dreadfully shocks her eldest
son.--Death of Mr. Samuel Wesley.--A loving
mother's letter to "her boy."
I THINK Mr. Wesley's greatest trouble at this time was, that even his
dear mother, whom he had not seen for a long, long time, believed many
of the things that people were saying about him, and felt sure he had
wandered away from the true religion of Jesus Christ.
It does not do for us to believe all we hear, and when at last Mrs.
Wesley went to London, and saw and talked with her sons, she found all
the tales had been untrue, and that her "dear Jack" was the same loyal
soldier and servant of Jesus Christ that he had ever been.
Instead of going back to where she had been living, Mrs. Wesley, freed
from her fears, remained in London with her "boys," a proud and happy
mother. She joined the Society in Fetter Lane, went every Sunday to hear
her sons preach, and helped them in every way she could. Once she stood
by Mr. Wesley's side when he preached on Kennington Common to a
congregation of about 20,000 people, and I don't know which was the
prouder, mother or son.
You remember Mr. Samuel Wesley, the eldest brother? He was one who
strongly disapproved of open-air preaching, and thought John and Charles
were very much in the wrong for not behaving like other clergymen. When
he heard that even his mother had joined the Methodists he was more
indignant than ever, and wrote her what I think was a very rude letter.
"I was very much surprised and grieved," he said, "when I heard that you
had joined the Methodists, and, indeed, become one of Jack's
congregation. My brothers are brothers to me no longer, and now, must my
mother follow too?"
It is sad to think that two weeks after Mr. Samuel wrote this he was
taken ill and died in a few hours. He was a clever and a sensible man,
but he did not understand, or even try to understand, the work his
brothers were doing, and, therefore, disapproved of it.
When Mr. Wesley heard the news of his brother's death he set off at
once to Bristol to Mr. Charles, and together they went to Tiverton to
comfort and help their sister-in-law. They forgot all the unkind things
their brother had said against them, and only thought how they could
best show their love and sympathy to those that were left.
Poor Mrs. Wesley was very ill when she heard the sad news. She had
always dearly-loved her eldest child, and his death was a great sorrow.
But she said: "It is God's will, therefore it is all right."
You can tell what a real comfort Mr. John was to her at this time, by
the letter she wrote to Charles at Bristol about a month after Mr.
Samuel's death. This is what she said:
"DEAR CHARLES,
"You cannot want to see me more than I want to see
you. Your brother Jack, whom I shall call son
Wesley, now that my dear Sam is gone home, has
just been in to see me, and has cheered me up ever
so much. Indeed, he never comes but he does me
good; his visits are all too seldom and too short.
For this I cannot blame him, for I know he is
about his Heavenly Father's business.
"But, dear Charles, I do so want one of you, for I
feel weak as a little child. I do pray that God
will bless you both in your work, and keep you
from harm; and that He will give you strength and
courage to preach the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
"This is the hearty prayer of, dear Charles,
"Your loving mother,
"SUSANNA WESLEY."
Is not that a loving letter? No wonder Mr. Charles prized it very much.
Little folks generally take care of all the letters they get. I know I
did when I was a little girl, indeed I have some of them now. Grown-up
people usually tear theirs up, they get so many. But this letter that
Mr. Charles had from his dear old mother was too precious to be so
treated; he took great care of it, and after his death it was found
among his papers.
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