Susanna Wesley, Mother of Three
Ministers
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Title: Susanna Annesley
Wesley
Susanna Annesley Wesley was born in
John and Charles
Her two best known children are John Wesley, founder of Methodism, and Charles Wesley, prolific composer of hymns which we continue to sing today.
Briefly about Susanna--
Susanna’s father was a vigorous Dissenter minister whose large family suffered through the lean years of constant persecution while he refused to return to the Church of England. When King Charles II finally relaxed the laws preventing Dissenter activities, her father preached as often as three times a day, not just Sundays, without losing his stamina. His first wife had died in childbirth, but his second gave him 24 additional children, the last being Susanna. Susanna’s mother also demonstrated endless energy.
Her father taught her logic and metaphysics after she learned to read extremely well when, in those days, girls were not usually taught to read. He described her as having a stubborn will and a keen mind. Although their home was visited by many learned men who discussed the logic of Dissenting in detail, Susanna formed her own opinions and listed her carefully thought out reasons at age 13 for her return to the Church of England. Of her own self discipline between ages 13 and 19 when she married, she wrote that she spent no more time in recreation than in “private religious duties.” She is known to have set aside two hours daily for personal devotions her entire life.
Samuel as husband and pastor
Although raised by financially stable parents, she married Samuel Wesley, a Church of England pastor, knowing that he likely would not be able to support a large family easily on his meager salary, even though he was also a fine poet and writer. Of course, she was not aware that her husband would never be debt free, and she certainly did not anticipate going without some necessities at times, especially while her husband was absent from the home. Samuel once stated he was an “average Eighteenth Century husband—one child per annum and my wife sick at least half the time.”
Susanna realized very early in her marriage that her husband, like most others at the time, expected her to keep her opinions to herself and to obey him. Two years before John, her fifteenth child, was born, Samuel left her and the family because Susanna would not say “amen” to the prayer for King William. He told her he could no longer live with her, but he did return a year later when the rectory partially burned and had to be rebuilt. She had had a year’s vacation from pregnancy.
When it came to the punishment of sins committed by his parishioners, Samuel was very harsh, but he also knew every parishioner and made special efforts to care for the sick and dying. His political foes were very likely behind at least three fires the family endured.
Once during a political uproar against Samuel Wesley, the noise outside their home was nearly unbearable and Susanna had recently given birth to another child. A neighbor took the baby across the street and when she finally slept, she accidentally rolled over onto the child and suffocated it. Sick in bed with the noise outside making matters worse, Susanna suddenly found her dead child thrust into her arms. In a complimentary note about his wife, Samuel said, “All this, thank God, does not in the least sink my wife’s spirits.”
After opposing the election of two men, one of their supporters suddenly demanded immediate repayment of a £30 debt and had Samuel thrown into debtors’ prison before he could return home for the money. Susanna was left to fend for herself and her children for six months while his supporters attempted to raise the funds. The only jewelry she owned was her wedding band which she sent to her husband in prison. He refused to use it to help pay his debt and had it returned to her. While in debtors’ prison, Samuel wrote to Susanna that he could at least read prayers twice a day and preach a sermon on Sunday afternoons to his fellow prisoners, so he felt he was making himself useful and serving God’s purpose. Meanwhile, someone stabbed their cows, causing them to dry up and leaving her with no milk for the children and useless cattle to feed. Someone also attempted to cut off one of the family dog’s legs. [mastiff]
Education of children
Susanna home-schooled her children
in grammar, history, mathematics, geography, and divinity six hours a day, six
days a week for most of twenty years. From Susanna's effective home schooling grew
a recognition of the importance of education and
schools for the indigent and unskilled who learned trades to lift them from
poverty and dependence. From her own love of learning
and habits of independent thought grew the respect for differences in persons
and beliefs. From her determination to
provide regularity in a world of disorder grew a method for bringing creative,
positive, Christ-centered change. From her example and methods grew
Methodism.
When her first son Samuel went away to school at age fourteen, she wrote him lengthy treatises on scripture for his continued education. Early on, she told him, “Perhaps while I write I may learn, and by instructing you I may teach myself. . . .” She wrote manuals for her children on Christian doctrine, and her treatises on the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments were used as textbooks in her daily lessons.
In preparation for each of the three boys to go away to school, Samuel taught them to read Greek and Latin in addition to the studies taught by Susanna. As a result, they were all quite successful in their studies at university. John later taught university Latin.
Her Letters
To her oldest son Samuel, she wrote, “The mind of a Christian should be always composed, temperate, free from all extremes of mirth or sadness, and always disposed to hear the voice of God’s Holy Spirit.” Later, she reminded each son that in becoming a minister, “those who are admitted to serve at the altar…ought themselves to be most pure, and free from scandalous action…” Susanna believed that religion should not be confined to the closet. Merely exercising prayer and meditation are not enough.
Practical “methods” for rearing children
Susanna expected the children to do tasks as they became capable of completing them. They were allowed to sleep the first four months, then were rocked in the cradle during school lessons three hours morning and afternoon while sleeping [multitasking], thus training them to sleep at regular intervals. Laughter and play during free time were common in the household, but at a tolerable level. The children entertained themselves without toys or musical instruments because the family could not afford them. They often sang and created their own games. She taught them, by age one, to fear the rod and cry quietly. At age 5, they were taught the alphabet, usually in one day.
Susanna’s Expectations
They learned quickly that willful disobedience resulted in swift physical punishment which seldom had to be repeated for the same offense. Owning up to an error resulted in no punishment the first time, thus preventing lying. Lying, stealing, quarreling, and disobedience resulted in appropriate punishment. Good acts were praised, even if not well performed. The children were expected to respect others’ rights and property, no matter how insignificantly small, respect the authority of their parents, and always keep every promise. The girls were taught to read before they were taught female tasks such as sewing and cooking because Susanna observed that otherwise, girls grew up unable to ever read well enough for listeners to understand them.
Children’s Daily Routine
The children’s daily routine began
at
Susanna’s methods were not extreme and she carefully balanced discipline so it was never too soft or harsh. Each child was allowed to develop an individual personality but without getting his own way. She described John as a “noncomplainer” and Charles as “so plucky” she worried he would use his fists against someone bigger than he. Along with obedience and religious instruction, the children were taught manners and politeness.
The fire
In February 1709, the rectory burned down, but everyone survived. They were unable to save anything, including their clothes and Samuel’s many books and writings. Five year old John was trapped in the bedroom, but when he appeared at a window, two neighbors saved him just as the roof collapsed into the room. Afterward, Susanna wrote that she knew God had saved John for some great future purpose, so she concentrated on preparing him for whatever purpose God had in mind. During the following year while the parsonage was rebuilt at the Wesleys’ own expense and the children stayed with other families, Susanna used the time to write. When the children returned home, she had to undo such new and undesirable learnings as bawdy songs, clownish speaking, and neglect of strict observance of the Sabbath. This resulted in her giving each child a weekly time with her for individual discussion and instruction. She again emphasized method, self examination, critical thinking, building faith, and self-discipline. John later requested as an adult his usual Thursday evening private session at a time when he needed advice. The family’s debts increased to a point that they sometimes went without necessities while Samuel was again away for Convocation--at his own expense for the next six winters--in his attempt to better his chances for advancement.
Influence on Methodism
For her children, Susanna began her well known Sunday evening kitchen services, the forerunner of today’s Sunday schools, in the absence of their father’s sermons while he was away at Convocation for the first time. Others began to ask to attend and she eventually had to move them to the barn to accommodate up to two hundred people. When Samuel sent her a letter of disapproval, she responded: “…in our corrupt age, the utmost care and diligence have been used to banish all discourse of God or spiritual concerns out of society, as if religion were never to appear out of the closet, and we were to be ashamed of nothing so much as of professing ourselves to be Christians.” She argued further that he had left a large family in her care and she owed it to God to be a good steward of their talents. She ended her list of reasons for continuing the meetings by telling her husband that if he wished her to stop, he must make it a formal command so that when they appeared together on Judgment Day, God would absolve her from all guilt and punishment for neglecting this opportunity of doing good. When Samuel returned to the rectory, his congregation had increased in numbers, his parishioners were less likely to turn against him, and many families had reformed their sinful ways. She was allowed to continue the meetings.
By teaching outside the Church, Susanna later influenced John Wesley in
encouraging lay preachers and the beginning of the circuit-rider movement in
the
Samuel Jr.
When Samuel Junior first wrote letters to his mother from school, he addressed her as “madam.” Susanna hinted to him in her letters that he should address her as “mother” and he finally did. She responded to him with, “There is more of love and tenderness in the name of mother than in all the complimentary titles in the world.”
When her husband died, Susanna had to move from the rectory and lived
with her first son Samuel for a time.
Later she moved to the newly purchased foundry where John held his
Methodist meetings. Three of the
daughters cared for her when John was absent.
Her son Samuel stayed with the Church of England and was infuriated when
she chose to accompany John when he preached to as many as 20,000 people at a
time at these early Methodist meetings.
She was also able to enjoy some of Charles’ many hymns which were sung
during the meetings.
Influence as a Mother
The impact she had on those around her would put to shame many who lived in much better circumstances. In his book Susanna Wesley, Arnold Dallimore states, “All of the Wesley children were characterized by a force of personality and a strength of will that set them apart.”
Realizing the great worth of his wife as a mother Samuel Wesley once wrote to his oldest son:
Samuel to
Samuel Jr.
“…Often reflect on the tender… love your dear mother has always expressed towards you...and the particular care she took of your education; above all, [remember] the… advice and counsel which she has often given you to fear God, to take care of your soul as well as of your learning, to shun all vicious practices and bad examples… [Remember] as well those valuable letters she wrote you on the same subjects. . . . Endeavor to repay her prayers for you by doubling yours for her, as well as your fervency in them, and, above all things, to live such a virtuous and religious life that she may find that her care and love have not been lost upon you, but that we may all meet in heaven.”
With all that she endured, one might be surprised to discover that Susanna Wesley was a small framed woman whose health was precarious throughout her married life. She did not have the number of servants common to households of her time, especially those of a clergyman, and one might ask how she found time for extensive personal devotions when she spent so much time in the education of her children in an age when most women could not read. She wrote treatises for textbooks and long, intellectual letters to her absent children. She even set aside individual time with each of her children once a week for strengthening their faith, building discipline, and honing their abilities in discussion and logic.
John
In his introduction to Immortal Mother, biographer Franklin
Wilder writes that
Susanna Wesley is
“responsible for guiding John Wesley and directing his efforts in creating the
religious revolution in
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Bibliography
Dallimore, Arnold A. Susanna Wesley (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1993).
Deen, Edith. “Susanna Wesley—Mother of John and Charles Wesley.” Great Women of the Christian Faith (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1959), pp. 141-149.
Edwards, Maldwyn L. “Wesley, Susanna (1669-1742).” Encyclopedia of World Methodism,
Snowden, Rita F. Such a Woman: the Story of Susanna Wesley (Nashville, TN: The Upper Room, 1962).
Susan
Pellowe/Renard Productions. “Susanna Wesley’s Biography.” [Online]
Wilder, Franklin. Immortal Mother (New York: Vantage Press, 1966).