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MRS. SAMUEL WESLEY,

MOTHER OF JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY.

SUSANNAH ANNESLEY, afterwards Mrs. Samuel Wesley, was the daughter of Dr. Samuel Annesley, a man much esteemed and beloved for his learning and piety. Religious principles were early instilled into her mind; but, being possessed of superior intellect, she determined to examine into the reasonableness and authority of the doctrines she had been taught. With this view she looked rather deeply into the controversy between the Episcopal Church and the Dissenters, and decided in favour of the former.

She was very young when she made this choice, but it was a choice that her maturer judgment approved; for, some years after, in a letter to her son Samuel, she says "I was educated among the Dissenters, and there was something remarkable in my leaving them at so early an age, not being full thirteen. I had drawn up an account of the whole transaction; under which I had included the main controversy between them and the Established Church, as far as it had come to my knowledge, and then followed the reasons which had deter

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mined my judgment to the preference of the Church of England. I had fairly transcribed a great part of it, when, you writing to me for some directions about receiving the sacrament, I began a short discourse on that subject, intending to send them all together; but, before I could finish my design, the flames consumed both this and all my other writings. I would have you, at your leisure, begin to do something like this for yourself, and write down what are the principles on which you build your faith; and, though I cannot possibly recover all I formerly wrote, yet, I will gladly assist you what I can, in explaining any difficulty that may occur.'

We cannot give the exact date when Susannah Annesley became the wife of the Rev. Samuel Wesley, Rector of Epworth, in Lincolnshire; but, when filling the responsible position of wife and mother, her character reflected the highest honour on her Christian profession.

Shortly after her marriage, she resolved to spend one hour, night and morning, and, as often as possible, another hour at noon, in private devotions; and nothing but illness, or some urgent duty, was ever allowed to prevent these devout exercises.

We will give a passage from her diary, which we think will interest our readers, as well as show the writer's deep religious feeling, and mental superiority.

Noon.-"To know God only as a philosopher; to have the most sublime and curious speculations concerning his essence, attributes, and providence; to be able to demonstrate his Being from all or any of the works of nature, and to discourse with the greatest propriety and eloquence of his existence and operations, will avail us nothing, unless, at the

same time, we know him experimentally; unless the heart know him to be its supreme good, its only happiness; unless a man feel and acknowledge that he can find no repose, no peace, no joy, but in loving and being beloved by him; and does accordingly rest in him as the centre of his being, the fountain of his pleasure, the origin of all virtue and goodness, his light, his life, his strength, his all; in a word, his Lord, his God. Thus let me ever know thee, O God!”

Our space will not allow us to insert more of these devout meditations.

Mrs. Wesley ordered the concerns of her family with so much regularity, that these religious exercises never interfered with her active duties.Out of nineteen children, ten lived, and received from her the elements of their education. She felt that God had committed these precious souls to her care, and that no one was so fitted for the task of instruction as a pious mother.

As there was something peculiar in her mode of teaching, we insert an extract from a letter, which explains her plan.

"None of them were taught to read till they were five years old. The way of teaching was this the day before a child began to learn, the house was set in order, every one's work appointed them, and a charge given, that none should come into the room from nine till twelve, or from two till five, which were our school hours. One day was allowed the child wherein to learn its letters: and each of them did, in that time, know all its letters, great and small, except Molly and Nancy, who were a day and a half before they knew them

perfectly; for which I then thought them very dull; but the reason why I thought them so was because the rest learned them so readily, and your brother Samuel, who was the first child I ever taught, learnt the alphabet in a few hours. He was five years old on the tenth of February; the next day he began to learn, and as soon as he knew the letters, he began at the first chapter of Genesis. He was taught to spell the first verse; then to read it over and over, till he could read it off hand, without any hesitation. The same method was observed with them all."

The Rev. Samuel Wesley frequently attended the sittings of convocation which obliged him to make protracted visits to London, and his absence proved injurious to his flock. His wife felt this to be the case, and nobly determined to do all she could to supply his place. She accordingly formed a little meeting at the rectory every Sunday evening, where she prayed, read a sermon, and conversed with any who wished it. She made her husband acquainted with these meetings, and he objected to them on account of their singularity. The following letter will shew the purity and sincerity of her motives :

"February, 1712.

"The main of your objections against our Sunday evening meetings, are first,-that it will look particular; secondly, my sex; and, lastly, your being at present in a public station and character; to all of which I shall answer briefly.

"As to its looking particular, I grant it does, and so does almost everything that is serious, or that may in any way advance the glory of God or

the salvation of souls, if it be performed out of a pulpit or in the way of common conversation; because, in our corrupt age, the utmost care and diligence has been used to banish all discourse of God or spiritual concern 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.

"To your second, I reply, that, as I am a woman, so I am also mistress of a large family. And though the superior charge of the souls contained in it lies upon you, as head of the family, and as their minister; yet, in your absence, I cannot but look upon every soul you leave under my care, as a talent committed to me under a trust, by the great Lord of all families of heaven and earth, and if I am unfaithful to him, or to you, in neglecting to improve these talents, how shall I answer unto him, when he shall command me to render an account of my stewardship?

"As these, and other such like thoughts, made me at first take a more than ordinary care of the souls of my children and servants; so, knowing that our most holy religion requires a strict observation of the Lord's day, and not thinking that we have fully answered the end of the institution by only going to church, but that likewise we were obliged to fill up the intermediate spaces of that sacred time by other acts of piety and devotion, I thought it my duty to spend some part of the day in reading to and instructing my family, especially in your absence, when, having no afternoon service, we have so much leisure for such exercises, and such time I esteemed spent in a way more accept

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