Paper
Reflections
The Wesley Brothers – Charles Wesley
PART ONE
Charles Wesley, was the 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, he was born on the 18th December 1707, almost four and a half years after the birth of John (JW June 17, 1703), and seventeen years after the birth of their older brother Samuel. Of the nineteen children born to Susanna and Samuel, ten children, seven of whom were girls, survived to adulthood.
Charles, along with the rest of the children, was initially home schooled. Susanna took the lead in this. She taught the children maths, grammar, history, geography, and theology, while their father Samuel who was often away from home taught the children the Classics. Much later, one of Charles’ sons, another Samuel, was to remark that Susanna “had the happy talent of imbuing a child’s mind with every kind of useful knowledge in such a way as to stamp it indelibly on the memory.” If Susannah taught you something, you didn’t forget it!
Rev. Samuel Wesley – father of Charles
Before we get to Charles, let me introduce you to his father, Samuel senior. Samuel was an educated man, he had a BA from Exeter College, Oxford. He was also a person with strong convictions, which he undoubtedly inherited from his own father, another John. John Westley – they dropped the “t” from their surname in Samuel’s lifetime. This John, who was the grandfather of Charles, also had a mind of his own. When he was a vicar in Devon he spent time in prison due to his failure to use the Book of Common Prayer! The Bishops could say what they liked but John would lead worship his way. Like father, like son. Evidence of Samuel’s strong convictions came to the fore when, in 1695, he refused to allow the mistress of a man who later became Earl of Castleton, to visit his house. A wife could visit but not a mistress! Morality mattered to Samuel!
On the 12th November 1688 Samuel married Susanna Annesley who was the daughter of a dissenting minister . The dissenters were Protestants who separated from the Church of England in the 17c and 18c. There were a variety of dissenting groups, like the Puritans and the ana-baptists, but mainly the dissenters or separists were ministers who wanted the Church of England to be more Protestant in its theology. At the point of their marriage Samuel was 27 years old and Susanna was 20. In marrying Susanna, he also married a person with strong convictions. At the age of 13 Susanna told her father she was leaving the dissenters and joining the Church of England. After a period as a curate Samuel spent a year as a ship’s chaplain. He was then appointed Rector of the South Ormesby parish in Lincolnshire. He resigned from there in 1695 as a consequence of the “mistress” issue and was then appointed Rector of Epworth.
The NZ Methodist Stationing Committee would never have appointed him to Epworth unless the Committee had a serious lapse of judgement. In this case it was a Bishop who had the serious lapse of judgement. Samuel was quite unsuited for this appointment. He was a person with an academic bent, right leaning politics, a high church approach to liturgy, and an authoritarian manner. His Epworth parishioners on the other hand were down to earth, working class, mainly farming people, and were, more often than not, also illiterate. One writer has described his appointment as a “complete mismatch for some of his illiterate parishioners”. It is not surprising therefore that Samuel and his parishioners seldom saw eye to eye. So much so that they tried to burn down the rectory (the parsonage) on two occasions. Imagine going to burn down the minister's house because you didn’t agree with his theology or his politics! You would certainly have to be very steamed up! One of these attempts to burn down the rectory you will know well as five year old John Wesley had to be rescued from the upper floor as the flames were threatening his life. Thereafter John saw himself as a “brand plucked from the burning”.
Samuel Wesley was often in debt and spent time in a debtor’s prison from which he was eventually rescued by the intervention of the Bishop of York. However, this angular, often unpopular parson did have a passionate interest which he passed on to his youngest son, Charles. This was an interest in poetry. Samuel started his poetic journey by writing curious little poems mainly with children in mind. He published a book in 1685 with the title “Poems on Several Subjects never before Handled”. One poem was titled “On the Grunting of a Hog”. Another, with the title of “Maggots” reads as follows:
“Because when the foul maggot bites
He ne’r can rest in quiet
Which makes him make so sad a face
He’d beg your worship or your grace,
Unsight, unseen to buy it.”
Hardly, Shakespeare! And I’m not sure what Samuel is suggesting his reader “buy”. Clearly this kind of poetry is a long, long, way from “love divine, all loves excelling,” or “amazing love, how can it be that thou my God should'st die for me”. Nevertheless these were beginnings. It wasn’t long before Samuel moved on to create verse with a more serious intent. Notable, amongst his poems was his publication in 1693 of a major poem with the heading “The Life of Christ”. He dedicated this poem to Mary, who was then Queen of England. The poem is in rhyming couplets. The passage I am about to read to you tells of the Transfiguration of Jesus:
Here is Samuel’s poetic account of that event …
Unrivalled beauties deck'd the Saviour's face,
His dazzling form the circling glories grace.
His seamless coat, than falling snows more white,
Enclos'd a pillar of transparent light :
This stands alone, though human arts combine,
And clearly proves the workmanship divine.
The two great prophets who beside him stood,
Array'd in light, their modest glories show'd.
Thus stars appear, when twinkling they display
Their feeble lustre to the orb of day.
Yet Moses, who from trembling Sinai came,
Appear'd encircl'd in a robe of flame ;
While great Elijah, half conceal'd from sight,
Shone with strange lustre through a cloud of light.
Should we these scenes to things on earth compare,
We needs must blot what should be render'd fair :
Just as the painter, who designs to show
The sun above, portrays a cloud below.
I think we begin to see here the source of Charles’ inheritance of his poetic gift. Samuel is to be given credit for what in the end turned out to be a monumental creation…at least in terms of the size and the scope of its content. The poem was by any measure a substantial work. In a reprint by the printer of Forgotten Books in 2020??? a paperback edition of the poem runs for over 500 pages! Should you go and buy a copy? I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are in love with rhyming couplets. For me, rhyming couplets though often clever in their construction, soon become monotonous. After several pages I confess I would be nodding off – would I read 500 pages, certainly not!
One further comment before we leave Samuel. While researching for this session I noted that Samuel wrote the occasional hymn. There is one in the 1933 Methodist hymnbook. It is number 193. The first verse reads:
Behold the Saviour of mankind,
nailed to the shameful tree!
How vast the love that Him inclined
to bleed and die for thee!
I have no recollection of it ever been chosen by a preacher in my lifetime.