John Wesley, the great evangelist, was born at Epworth Rectory,
England, on June 28 (new style), 1703. He was the fifteenth child
of Samuel and Susanna Wesley. When John was only five years old the
rectory was burned to the ground, and the family had a narrow escape
from death. For six years Wesley was a pupil at Charterhouse School,
and in 1720 he entered Oxford. He had only a little over two hundred
dollars a year to live on, and his health was poor; but, nevertheless,
he managed to get the most out of his studies. He was fond of riding
and walking, was an expert swimmer, and played a good game of tennis.
On September 25, 1725, he was ordained deacon, and he preached
frequently in the churches near Oxford. In 1726 he began to act as his
father’s curate. He already displayed those talents for leadership
which were to find so conspicuous a field in the evangelical revival.
On April 25, 1735, Wesley’s father died, and the following October John
and his younger brother Charles, with two other Methodists, sailed for
Georgia. John hoped to be able to convert the Indians to Christianity;
but the mission was a failure.
On his return to England from Georgia, Wesley became the acknowledged
leader of Methodism. He began itinerant preaching. No other preacher of
the century had his mastery over an audience. He made his appeal to the
conscience in the clearest language, with all the weight of personal
conviction. Victory over sin was the goal he set before all his people.
Up to 1742 Wesley’s work was chiefly confined to London and Bristol and
the country thereabout. But now he began to extend the territory over
which he preached. In August, 1747, he paid his first visit to Ireland,
where he had such success that he gave more than six years of his life
to the country, and crossed the Irish Channel forty-two times. Wesley’s
first visit to Scotland was in 1751. In all he paid twenty-two visits
to that country.
Wesley generally traveled about five thousand miles in a year. This
was a great strain upon his powers. In his encounters with the mob,
however, his tact and courage never failed. He always looked a mob in
the face, and appealed to its better feelings.
On March 2, 1791, John Wesley died in his house at City Road. He was
eighty-eight years old.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 35, SERIAL No. 35
COPYRIGHT, 1913. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: WILLIAMS HOUSE, DEERFIELD, MASS.]
_THE CONTEST FOR NORTH AMERICA_
_The Deerfield Massacre_