recently read 'sussana wesley' (the mother of john and charles) by charles ludwig
she was raised according to what i might call 'the methodical method'...to do the same thing at the same time is the best way i can describe it. this morning i had the impression that God intended me, at 60, to become like a little child and begin to train myself
(give me a new heart, Lord..a heart that desires only to obey You..otherwise i can only become a methodist who deservingly goes to hell)
according to this method. after a life of little thought as to what happened last and what would come next..we'll see what happens, but even on the first day it is causing me to think very differently and to be a bit more focused and 'sharpened'. probably will last through tomorrow morning...but i hope not. i only have half a nano second left here with nothing done for Jesus Christ..
148.3...thankful for what he had learned, john later wrote to his mother and asked her to outline the methods she used in raising and educating her children. in a letter dated july 24, 1732, susanna replied:
the children were always put into a regular method of living in such things as they were capable of, from their birth; as in dressing and undressing, changing their linen, etc. the first quarter commonly passed in sleep, after that they were, if possible, laid into their cradle awake, and rocked to sleep.
when turned a year old (and some before) they were taught to fear the rod and to cry softly, by which means they escaped abundance of correction, the family usually lived in as much quietness as if there had not been a child among them.
as soon as they were grown pretty strong they were confined to three meals a day. at dinner their little table and chairs were set by ours. if they wanted aught they whispered to the maid. drinking or eating between meals was never allowed, unless in case of sickness. nor were they suffered to go into the kitchen to ask anything of the servants when they were at meat: if it was known that they did so, they were certainly beat, and the servants severely reprimanded.
at six oclock, as soon as family prayer was over, they had their supper; at seven the maid washed them, and beginning at the youngest, she undressed them and got them to bed by eight, at which time she left them in their several rooms awake.
susanna then went on to describe how and why she disciplined her children.
in order to form the minds of children, the first thing to be done is to conquer their will. to inform the understanding is a work of time, and must...proceed by slow degrees. i call cruel, parents who permit their children to get habits which they know must be afterwards broken.
after many more observations on that subject, susanna wrote about how she gave religious instructions to her little ones.
our children were taught as soon as they could speak the Lord's prayer, which they were made to say at rising and bedtime, to which, as they grew bigger, were added a short prayer for their parents...and some portion of scripture as their memories could bear. they were very early made to distinguish the sabbath from other days. they were taught to be still at family prayers, and to ask a blessing immediately after, which they used to do by signs, before they could kneel or speak.
they were quickly made to understand they could have nothing they cried for, and instructed to speak handsomely for what they wanted. they were not suffered to ask even the lowest servant for aught without saying, 'pray give me such a thing.
taking God's name in vain, cursing and swearing, profanity, obscenity, rude, ill bred names, were never heard among them; nor were they ever permitted to call each other by their proper names without the addition of brother or sister.
there was no such thing as loud playing or talking...everyone was kept close to business for six hours of school.
on day susanna was teaching a difficult rule of grammar, and kezzy could not understand it. patiently, susanna went over it again and again. then, noticing a shadow, she lifted her eyes and discovered that samuel had been listening. shaking his head, he commented, 'i wonder at your patience, sukey. you have told that child twenty times that same thing.
susanna smiled. 'if i had satisfied myself by mentioning it only nineteen times, i should have lost all my labor. it was the twentieth time that crowned it.
155.last ..her dream of producing children who would help change the world still continued. to enable her to do this, she produced a set of rules. here they are as she later outlined them to her son john.
1. it had been observed that cowardice and fear of punishment often lead children into lying. to prevent this a law was made that whoever was charged with a fault of which they were guilty, if they would ...confess it and promise to ament (they) should not be beaten.
2. that no sinful action, as lying, pilfering at church or on the Lord's day, disobedience, quarrelling, etc. should ever pass unpunished..
3. that no child should ever be chided or beat twice for the same fault, and that if they amended they should never be upbraided with it afterwards.
4. that every signal act of obedience, especially when it crossed upon their own inclingations, shold always be commended, and frequently rewarded according to the merits of the case.
5. that if ever any child performed an act of obedience, or did anything with an intention to please, though the performanced was not well, yet the obedience and intention should be kindly accepted, and the child with sweetness directed how to do better for the future.
6. that propriety (the rights of property) be ...preserved, and none suffered to invade the property of another in the smallest manner, thoughit were but the value of a farthing or a pin, which they might not take from the owner without, much less against, his consent.
7. that promises be strictly observed; and a gift once bestowed, and so the right passed away from the donor, be not resumed, but left to the disposal of him to who it was given, unless it were conditional, and the condition of the oboligation not performed.
8. that no girl be taught to work till she can read very well.
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