Susanna Wesley
Share Embed Flag
Download ePaper

Susanna Wesley

This is the story of Susanna Wesley, 1669-1742 Mother of Charles and John Wesley, who were founders of the Methodist Church. Susanna and her husband, Samuel, had nineteen children, ten of whom survived to adulthood. Her son Charles became a well-known hymn writer and her son John became the found of Methodism. Susanna was brought up in a Puritan home as the youngest of twenty-five children. As a teenager, she became a member of the Church of England. She became the wife of a chronically debt-ridden parish rector in an English village. She said, "I have had a large experience of what the world calls adverse fortune." Nonetheless, Susanna managed to pass down to her children Christian principles that stayed with them. This is the story of Susanna Wesley, 1669-1742 Mother of Charles and John Wesley, who were founders of the Methodist Church. Susanna and her husband, Samuel, had nineteen children, ten of whom survived to adulthood. Her son Charles became a well-known hymn writer and her son John became the found of Methodism.

Susanna was brought up in a Puritan home as the youngest of twenty-five children. As a teenager, she became a member of the Church of England. She became the wife of a chronically debt-ridden parish rector in an English village. She said, "I have had a large experience of what the world calls adverse fortune." Nonetheless, Susanna managed to pass down to her children Christian principles that stayed with them.

carrythelight
from carrythelight More from this publisher
17.04.2021 Views

120 SUSANNA WESLEY. course this letter made Samuel more curious than ever, and he wrote begging for further information, and gravely asked his mother, " Have you dug in the place where the money seemed poured at your feet " ? To his father he " observed, if the noises bode anything to our family, I am sure I am a party concerned." It was some time before the Rector could be persuaded to answer his son's inquiries, but at last he enclosed a few lines with a long letter from Emilia, which gave some particulars not mentioned by anyone else : " DEAR SAM, " February llth, 1716-17. " As for the noises, &c. in our family, I thank God we are now all quiet. There were some surprising circumstances in that affair. Your mother has not written you a third part of When it. I see you here you shall see the whole account, which I wrote down. It would make a glorious penny book for Jack Dunton ; but while I live I am not ambitious for any thing of that nature. I think that 's all, but blessings, from "Your loving father, " SAM WESLEY." Emilia described the sound as hollow and different to anything else, and " said : It would answer to my mother, if she stamped on the floor and bade it. It would knock when I was putting the children to bed, just under me, where I sat. One time little Kezy, pretending to scare Patty, as I was undressing them, stamped with her foot on the floor, and immediately it answered with three knocks, just in the same place. It was more loud and fierce if anyone said it was rats,

THE SUPERNATURAL NOISES. 121 or anything natural." The young lady also described how something resembling a white rabbit or a badger had been seen in the house, and asserted her opinion that it was witchcraft, adding that her father had been preaching " warmly " against the custom prevalent in the parish of consulting cunning men, shortly before the rappings and other manifestations at his own house. Ventriloquism and occult phenomena were not unknown even in the days of George the First, to those who posed as wizards and soothsayers ; and the notion that some one or other of these cunning me a were paying the rector out for robbing them of their gains by denouncing the practice of consulting them from the pulpit, cannot but suggest itself to the profane and unbelieving mind of this nineteenth century. But the Wesleys, and many of their biographers, took these wonders seriously, and firmly believed that they had beneficial effects on the minds of some of the family. One incident marvellously like our modern tableturning was chronicled by Sukey, who wrote to her brother how " last Sunday, to my father's no small amazement, his trencher danced upon the table a pretty while, without anybody's stirring the table, when lo ! an adventurous wretch took it up, and spoiled the sport, for it remained still ever after." Samuel probably continued to ask questions, for on March 27th Mrs. Wesley wrote to him " I cannot : imagine how you should be so curious about our unwelcome guest. For my part, I am quite tired with but when you come among hearing or speaking of it ; us you will find enough to satisfy all your scruples, and perhaps may hear or see it yourself." Mr. Wesley himself wrote a detailed account of

120 SUSANNA WESLEY.<br />

course this letter made Samuel more curious than<br />

ever, and he wrote begging for further information,<br />

and gravely asked his mother, " Have you dug in the<br />

place where the money seemed poured at your feet " ?<br />

To his father he<br />

" observed, if the noises bode anything<br />

to our family, I am sure I am a party concerned."<br />

It was some time before the Rector could<br />

be persuaded to answer his son's inquiries, but at last<br />

he enclosed a few lines with a long letter from Emilia,<br />

which gave some particulars not mentioned by anyone<br />

else :<br />

" DEAR SAM,<br />

" February llth, 1716-17.<br />

" As for the noises, &c. in our family, I thank<br />

God we are now all quiet. There were some surprising<br />

circumstances in that affair. Your mother has<br />

not written you a third part of When it. I see you<br />

here you shall see the whole account, which I wrote<br />

down. It would make a glorious penny book for Jack<br />

Dunton ;<br />

but while I live I am not ambitious for any<br />

thing of that nature. I think that 's all, but blessings,<br />

from<br />

"Your loving father,<br />

" SAM WESLEY."<br />

Emilia described the sound as hollow and different<br />

to anything else, and<br />

"<br />

said : It would answer to my<br />

mother, if she stamped on the floor and bade it. It<br />

would knock when I was putting the children to bed,<br />

just under me, where I sat. One time little Kezy,<br />

pretending to scare Patty, as I was undressing them,<br />

stamped with her foot on the floor, and immediately<br />

it answered with three knocks, just in the same place.<br />

It was more loud and fierce if<br />

anyone said it was rats,

logo

products

Resources

Company

Terms of service
Privacy policy
Cookie policy
Cookie settings
Imprint
Change language
Made with love in Switzerland
© 2024 Yumpu.com all rights reserved

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!