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Christian Quotes About Love Biography

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I am sure that not one of us would have liked to have lived two hundred years ago, when the brothers John and Charles Wesley were born.

England was in a terrible state at that time. In the towns it was not safe to go out after dark. It was before the days of the police, and the few old night watchmen were quite unable to deal with the highwaymen and ruffians who walked the streets, attacking and robbing, and sometimes murdering, those they came across. The curfew bell rang at sunset, and, after that, no decent person cared to be out.

There were no restrictions whatever as to the sale of intoxicating drinks, and in London every gin shop invited the passer-by to "come in and get drunk for a penny, or dead drunk for twopence." Of course drunkenness and immorality were rampant. The magistrates tried to keep order by inflicting very heavy penalties, but even these did not stop crime. Hanging was the punishment for even small offences, such as stealing 5s., robbing a hen roost, or writing a threatening letter. One morning twenty young thieves were hanged in Newgate. Even children were hanged. We read of one little lad of nine who was executed in this way for some small offence.

In the country villages there was hardly anyone who could read or write. There were no schools, except a few Grammar Schools founded by Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth.

The amusements of the people were cruel and debasing; bull-baiting, bear-baiting, and cock-shying, were some of the scenes they delighted in. On Shrove Tuesday cocks were tied to a stake and battered to death, as people nowadays play for cocoanuts. On holidays the public were allowed to go through Bethlehem Hospital in London, on paying 2d., and amuse themselves by teasing the lunatics.

In the Church, matters were in a very low state. The clergy frequently did not live in their parishes, and the services were neglected, and the people unvisited and uncared for.

It was a time of almost universal darkness and degradation.

It was then that John and Charles Wesley were born, and they "changed the face of all England." I quote from a most interesting account of the Wesley family, by Lady M'Dougall, in her delightful book, Songs of the Church. She says: "If ever a woman might rejoice that she has brought sons into the world, that woman was Susanna Wesley! Her sons, John and Charles, changed the face of England. They were the channel through which God's blessing flowed to the ends of the earth. Through them came revival to the Church of Christ. Hospitals, churches, the visitation of men and women in prison, missions to the heathen, the doing away of the slave trade, all these were the blessed results of their lives and work."

The father of John and Charles Wesley was the Rev. Samuel Wesley, Rector of Epworth, in Lincolnshire. There, on a very small income, these two godly parents brought up their large family of nineteen children, ten of whom (three sons and seven daughters) lived to grow up. John was born on June 17, 1703. Charles was born four years later, on December 18, 1707.

Susanna Wesley was a strict but loving mother. One of the windows in the Lady Chapel of Liverpool Cathedral is dedicated to her— "To Susanna Wesley and all devoted mothers." She had her own ideas about the bringing up of children. She never allowed them to cry or scream. They were taught to cry softly if they cried at all. She had a strange way of beginning their education. She never attempted to teach them the letters of the alphabet until they had reached their fifth birthday. Then Mrs. Wesley put all her usual household duties aside for the day. No one was allowed to come into the room where she and her little pupil were, from 9 till 12, and from 2 till 5. During these six hours everyone of her children, except two, successfully learned all the letters of the alphabet. After this she taught them to read the first chapter of Genesis. In a few days the difficulties of reading had vanished, and all future work was easy and pleasant. She was always most anxious for the spiritual welfare of her children. It was her habit to have one or more of them in her room each evening for a quiet talk and prayer. "On Thursday I talk with Jacky, and on Saturday with Charles." The children loved these quiet times with mother; and who can tell the results of that holy mother's teaching and prayers?

Soon after the family had gone to live at Epworth Rectory the house caught on fire. It was near midnight on February 9, 1709. The Rector, his wife, seven children, and the maid, all got safely out of the burning house; but one child — a lovely boy six years old — lay sleeping on, unconscious of his danger. His father tried to rescue him, but he was thrice driven back by the flames. Finding he could not help him, the father knelt in the hall, and in an agony of prayer commended his soul to God. Meanwhile the child awoke, and seeing the room full of light, and thinking the morning had come, called to the maid to get him up. But presently he saw streaks of fire running along the top of the room. He jumped out of bed and ran to the door, but all he saw was a roaring sea of flame. Climbing on a box by the window, he was seen from the garden below. "I will run and bring a ladder," said one, but there was not time. So one man (a light one) stood on another man's shoulders, and, the house being low, they managed to reach the child and lift him down. Another moment, and the burning roof fell in. All the world knows that the child thus marvelously saved from a fearful death was none other than John Wesley. He never forgot his deliverance, and under one of his portraits he had a picture drawn of a house in flames, with the motto, "Is not this a brand plucked out of the burning?"

It is interesting to read of the two brothers, John and Charles, going to Oxford at an early age, and — grieved at the careless lives of other young men — forming themselves, with a few more, into a little band, pledged to live pure lives, to attend Holy Communion frequently, to visit the poor, the sick, and the prisoners in the jail; to fast, and pray, and study God's Word. They were nicknamed "The Holy Club," and "Methodists," but they persevered in spite of much ridicule and persecution; and their influence spread. From Oxford, Charles returned home to visit his dying father, who laid his hand upon his son's head and said: "Be steady. The Christian faith will surely revive in this kingdom. You shall see it, though I shall not."

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