Susanna Wesley (née Annesley; 20 January 1669 – 23 July 1742) was the daughter of Dr
Samuel Annesley
Samuel Annesley (c. 1620 – 1696) was a prominent Puritan and nonconformist pastor, best known for the sermons he collected as the series of ''Morning Exercises''.
Life
He was born in Haseley, in Warwickshire in 1620, and christened on the 26th ...
and Mary White, and the mother of
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
and
Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include " And Can It Be", " Christ the Lord Is Risen ...
.
“…although she never preached a sermon or published a book or founded a church, (she) is known as the Mother of Methodism
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...
. Why? Because two of her sons, John Wesley
John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...
and Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include " And Can It Be", " Christ the Lord Is Risen ...
, as children consciously or unconsciously will, applied the example and teachings and circumstances of their home life.”[Pellowe, Susan. ]
Susanna Wesley Biography
'
2009-05-13. Retrieved 4 Feb. 2007.
Family
Susanna Wesley, was the 25th of 25 children. Her father, Dr Samuel Annesley, was a
Dissenter
A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc.
Usage in Christianity
Dissent from the Anglican church
In the social and religious history of England and Wales, and ...
from the
established church
A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a t ...
in England. At the age of 12, Susanna stopped attending her father's church and joined the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
.
She and
Samuel Wesley
Samuel Wesley (24 February 1766 – 11 October 1837) was an English organist and composer in the late Georgian period. Wesley was a contemporary of Mozart (1756–1791) and was called by some "the English Mozart".Kassler, Michael & Olleson, Phi ...
were married on 11 November 1688; Samuel was 26 and Susanna was 19.
Susanna and Samuel Wesley had 19 children. Nine of her children died as infants. Four of the children who died were twins. A maid accidentally smothered one child. At her death, only eight of her children were still alive.
Personal life
Susanna experienced many hardships throughout her life. Her husband left her and the children for over a year because of a minor dispute.
To her absent husband, Susanna Wesley wrote:
Samuel Wesley spent time in jail twice due to his poor financial abilities, and the lack of money was a continual struggle for Susanna. Their house was burned down twice; during one of the fires, her son,
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
, nearly died and had to be rescued from the second storey window. She was the primary source of her
children's education.
After the second fire, Susanna was forced to place her children into different homes for nearly two years while the rectory was rebuilt. During this time, the Wesley children lived under the rules of the homes they lived in. Susanna was mortified that her children began to use improper speech and play more than study.
“Under no circumstances were the children permitted to have any lessons until they had reached their fifth year, but the day after their fifth birthday their formal education began. They attended classes for six hours and on the very first day they were supposed to learn the whole of the alphabet. All her children except two managed this feat, and these seemed to Susanna to be very backward.” “The children got a good education. Daughters included, they all learnt Latin and Greek and were well tutored in the classical studies that were traditional in England at that time.”
During a time when her husband was in London, defending a friend against charges of heresy, he had appointed a locum to bring the message. The man’s sermons revolved solely around repaying debts. The lack of diverse spiritual teaching caused Susanna to assemble her children Sunday afternoon for family services. They would sing a psalm and then Susanna would read a sermon from either her husband's or father's sermon file followed by another psalm. The local people began to ask if they could attend. At one point there were over 200 people who would attend Susanna’s Sunday afternoon service while the Sunday morning service dwindled to nearly nothing.
Wesley practised daily devotions throughout her life, and in her reply to her son Charles's letter, she addressed her experience of the depravity of her human nature, and the grace of God. The letter also shows that she has been fully awakened to the spiritual enjoyments for many years, with which her sons were only recently made acquainted.
Her husband Samuel spent his whole life and all of the family’s finances on his exegetical work of the
Book of Job
The Book of Job (; hbo, אִיּוֹב, ʾIyyōḇ), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and is the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars ar ...
. However, his work was not remembered and had little impact on his family other than as a hardship. In contrast Susanna wrote several pieces that would be fundamental in the education of their children. “In addition to letters, Susanna Wesley wrote meditations and scriptural commentaries for her own use. She wrote extended commentaries on the
Apostles Creed
The Apostles' Creed (Latin: ''Symbolum Apostolorum'' or ''Symbolum Apostolicum''), sometimes titled the Apostolic Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, is a Christian creed or "symbol of faith".
The creed most likely originated in 5th-century ...
, the
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...
, the
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
. Many of these were lost in the rectory fire, but many survive. The most accessible means to her writings is Charles Wallace's excellent and important ''Susanna Wesley, The Complete Writings''.”
[
]
Susanna was buried at Bunhill Fields
Bunhill Fields is a former burial ground in central London, in the London Borough of Islington, just north of the City of London. What remains is about in extent and the bulk of the site is a public garden maintained by the City of London Cor ...
in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
In film
In 1954, the Radio and Film Commission of the British Methodist Church
The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a Protestant Christian denomination in Britain, and the mother church to Methodists worldwide. It participates in the World Methodist Council, and the World Council of Churches among other ecumenical ass ...
, in cooperation with J. Arthur Rank
Joseph Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank (22 December 1888 – 29 March 1972) was a British industrialist who was head and founder of the Rank Organisation.
Family business
Rank was born on 22 or 23 December 1888 at Kingston upon Hull in England into ...
, produced the film ''John Wesley
John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...
''. The film was a live-action re-telling of the story of the life of John Wesley, with Leonard Sachs
Leonard Meyer Sachs (26 September 1909 – 15 June 1990) was a South African-born British actor.
Life and career
Sachs was born in the town of Roodepoort, in the then Transvaal Colony, present day South Africa. He was Jewish. He emigrated to ...
as John Wesley and Curigwen Lewis
Curigwen Lewis (1 November 1905 – 17 February 1992) was a Welsh actress of stage and screen.
She was born in Llandrindod Wells as Martha Curigwen Lewis. In 1939 she married actor Andrew Cruickshank, with whom she appeared in two episodes of ...
as Susanna Wesley.
In 2009, a more ambitious feature film, '' Wesley'', was released by Foundery Pictures, starring Burgess Jenkins
Burgess Jenkins (born October 24, 1973) is an American actor. He is known for work in the film ''Remember the Titans'' opposite Academy Award winner Denzel Washington; and as Hilary Swank's husband David Winter in ''The Reaping'' (2007).
Ear ...
as John Wesley, June Lockhart
June Lockhart (born June 25, 1925) is an American actress, beginning a film career in 1930s & 1940s in such films at ''A Christmas Carol'' and ''Meet Me in St. Louis''. She primarily acted in 1950s and 1960s television, and with performances on ...
as Susanna Wesley, and R. Keith Harris as Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include " And Can It Be", " Christ the Lord Is Risen ...
.
References
Further reading
* Clarke, Eliza. ''Susanna Wesley
Susanna Wesley (née Annesley; 20 January 1669 – 23 July 1742) was the daughter of Dr Samuel Annesley and Mary White, and the mother of John Wesley, John and Charles Wesley.
“…although she never preached a sermon or published a book o ...
.'' London: W. H. Allen, 1886.
* Kirk, Rev John. ''Mother of the Wesleys.'' London: Jarrold, 1868.
* Ludwig, Charles. ''Mother of John and Charles: Susanna Wesley.'' Milford: Mott Media, 1984.
* McMullen, Michael. ''Prayers and Meditations of Susanna Wesley.'' Peterborough: Methodist Publishing House, 2000.
* Newton, John A. ''Susanna: Susanna Wesley and the Puritan Tradition in Methodism''. .
* Rogal, Samuel J.
The Epworth Women: Susanna Wesley and her Daughters
'' Retrieved 30 April 2009.
* Wakeley, J. B. ''Anecdotes of the Wesleys: Illustrative of Their Character and Personal History''. New York: Nelson & Phillips, 1869.
* Wesley, Susanna. ''Susanna Wesley: The Complete Writings.'' ed., Charles Wallace Jr. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
External links
*
Susannah Wesley
historical marker at St. Simons Island, Georgia
Familytree.org
Susannah Annesley Wesley at Familytree.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wesley, Susanna
English Methodists
English evangelicals
History of Methodism
1669 births
1742 deaths
Susanna
Burials at Bunhill Fields
18th-century English people
18th-century English women
17th-century English women
17th-century English people