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.
24 SUSANNA WESLEY. in her own generation, for the natural goodness and amiability which unfortunately do not always go hand in hand with the sincerest piety. Mrs. Wesley had been very happy in the brotherly friendship which existed between her own husband and her sister and Mr. Dunton, and felt the bereavement deeply. Mr. Wesley wrote the epitaph which was engraved on Mrs. Dunton's tomb in Buuhill Fields, and, though it was the fashion of the day to attribute every virtue under the sun to those who had epitaphs written for them, it was acknowledged by general consent that every word of it was true : " Sacred urn ! with whom we trust This dear pile of buried dust, Know thy charge, and safely guard, Till death's brazen gate 's unbarred ; Till the angel bids it rise, And removes to Paradise A wife obliging, tender, wise ; A friend to comfort and advise; Virtue mild as Zephyr's breath ; Piety, which smiled in death ; Such a wife and such a friend All lament and all commend. Most, with eating cares opprest, He who knew, and loved her best ; Who her loyal heart did share, He who reigned unrivalled there, And no truce to sighs will give Till he die, with her to live. Or, if more he would comprise, Here interred Eliza lies. The two sisters were considered very much alike both in person and character, so that anything recorded of
LATER MARRIED LIFE. 25 Mrs. Dunton throws a side light on Mrs. Wesley's own personality. Mr. Wesley had been present at the wedding of the Duutons, and then presented them with an " Epithalamium " which was all doves and loves, and Cupids and Hymens. He evidently had a shrewd suspicion that the widowed bookseller was not made to live alone, for in the letter enclosing the epitaph he slily remarks that he hopes it may arrive before another Epithalamium is wanted. Mr. Dunton did marry again, within six months, and Mr. Wesley dropped his acquaintance as precipitately as Dr. Primrose might have done under the same circumstances. He was never tried in the same way himself, as Mrs. Wesley survived him, but, judging from what we know of his character, it is more than probable that he would not have lived long without a wife had he had the misfortune to lose his faithful partner. Most likely it was when Mrs. Wesley was first installed at Epworth that she faced the problem of education for her children. Had she not done so, her daughters would have grown up ignorant, for funds wherewith to send them to school would never have been forthcoming. Strenuous efforts would naturally have been made for the boys; for education, and that at a public school, was regarded as & sine qua non by the father, and he would have moved heaven and earth to procure it for them. Mrs. Wesley was a quietly practical woman, who, having much to do, found time to do everything, by dint of unflagging energy and industry and a methodical habit of mind. It was, of course, impossible to teach her eldest boy till he was able to speak, but as soon as he began to talk she began to instruct him.
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24 SUSANNA WESLEY.<br />
in her own generation, for the natural goodness and<br />
amiability which unfortunately do not always go hand<br />
in hand with the sincerest piety.<br />
Mrs. <strong>Wesley</strong> had been very happy in the brotherly<br />
friendship which existed between her own husband and<br />
her sister and Mr. Dunton, and felt the bereavement<br />
deeply. Mr. <strong>Wesley</strong> wrote the epitaph which was engraved<br />
on Mrs. Dunton's tomb in Buuhill Fields, and,<br />
though it was the fashion of the day to attribute every<br />
virtue under the sun to those who had epitaphs written<br />
for them, it was acknowledged by general consent<br />
that every word of it was true :<br />
" Sacred urn ! with whom we trust<br />
This dear pile of buried dust,<br />
Know thy charge, and safely guard,<br />
Till death's brazen gate<br />
's unbarred ;<br />
Till the angel bids it rise,<br />
And removes to Paradise<br />
A wife obliging, tender, wise ;<br />
A friend to comfort and advise;<br />
Virtue mild as Zephyr's breath ;<br />
Piety, which smiled in death ;<br />
Such a wife and such a friend<br />
All lament and all commend.<br />
Most, with eating cares opprest,<br />
He who knew, and loved her best ;<br />
Who her loyal heart did share,<br />
He who reigned unrivalled there,<br />
And no truce to sighs will give<br />
Till he die, with her to live.<br />
Or, if more he would comprise,<br />
Here interred Eliza lies.<br />
The two sisters were considered very much alike both<br />
in person and character, so that anything<br />
recorded of
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