When boys get to be fourteen or sixteen, they begin to think and wonder what they will be when they are men. Very little boys generally mean to be either cab-drivers or engine-drivers; and I did hear of one who meant to have a wild beast show when he grew up. Jack reached the age of twenty-one, and had not decided what he would be.
At last the time came when he must make up his mind. After thinking about it very seriously, he thought he would like to be a minister like his father. So he wrote home and told them his decision.
His father who had been ill and was unable to use his right hand properly, wrote to him that he must be quite sure that G.o.d had called him to this work before he undertook it. "At present," he said, "I think you are too young." Then, referring to his illness, he said: "You see that time has shaken me by the hand; and death is but a little behind him. My eyes and heart are almost all I have left, and I bless G.o.d for them."
Mrs. Wesley was very glad when she heard that her boy wished to be a minister. "G.o.d Almighty direct and bless you," she wrote to him.
A few months afterwards, Jack"s father wrote, and told him that he had changed his mind about his being too young, and that he would like him to "take Orders," that is, to become a minister, the following summer.
"But in the first place," he said, "if you love yourself or me, pray very earnestly about it."
To choose to be Christ"s minister, a preacher of the gospel, Mr. Wesley knew was a very solemn and responsible choice, and he wished Jack to think very seriously, and to pray very earnestly before he took the important step.
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CHAPTER V.
Books.--Two books that left impressions on Jack.--Must a Christian boy be miserable?--Jack says "No."--So says Jack"s mother.--Father gives his opinion.--"The Enchanted Rocks;" a fairy story.
I WONDER if any of my readers ever think what the books they read are doing for them, especially the books they are most fond of? Do you know every book you read makes _you_ a little bit different? By _you_, I mean the unseen part of you, your mind and character.
I remember, when I was somewhere about the mischievous age of eight or nine, how fond I used to be of getting to the putty round a newly-put-in window pane. It was lovely to press my thimble on it, and see all the pretty little holes it left; or to push a naughty finger deep down into the nice soft stuff. Then, when the putty had dried hard, I used to look with great interest on my work, for every impression was there, and could not now be removed.
So it is with books, they make an _impression_ on you; and you are either a little bit better or a little bit worse for every book you read. _Take care only to read those books that will make you better._
The summer after Jack decided to be a minister, he read two books which made some big impressions on his mind, and left him _better_ than he was before reading them. One was called "The Imitation of Christ," and the other "Holy Living and Dying." They taught him that true religion must be in the heart, and that it is not enough for our words and actions, as seen and heard by men, to be right, but our very thoughts must be pure and good, such as would be approved of G.o.d. He did not at all agree with Thomas a Kempis, the writer of the first book I mentioned, in everything, though, for he made out, according to Jack"s idea, that we should always be miserable.
I think Jack would never have persevered in his determination to follow Christ, if he had been convinced that "to be good you must be miserable," for he loved fun, and could not help being happy. He felt sure Thomas a Kempis was mistaken, especially when he remembered that verse in the Bible which says religion"s ways "are ways of _pleasantness_" (Prov. iii. 17). When he wrote home, he asked his mother what she thought, for although he was now a young man of twenty-two, he was still the old Jack that thought father and mother knew better than anybody else.
His mother wrote back that she thought Thomas a Kempis _was_ mistaken, for so many texts in the Bible show us that G.o.d intends us to be happy and full of joy. "And," she said, "if you want to know what pleasures are right and wrong, ask yourself: "Will it make me love G.o.d more, and will it help me to be more like my great example, Jesus Christ?""
Jack"s father wrote: "I don"t altogether agree with Thomas a Kempis; but the world is like a siren, and we must beware of her. If the young man would rejoice in his youth, let him take care that his pleasures are innocent; and in order to do this, remember, my son, that for all these things G.o.d will bring us into judgment."
Some of my readers will hardly understand what Mr. Wesley meant when he said the world is "like a siren." Most of you have read fairy tales; well, a kind of Greek fairy story tells of some beautiful maidens, called sirens, who used to sit on some dangerous rocks, and play sweetest music. When sailors saw them and heard their singing, they were drawn by magic nearer and nearer to where they were, until at last their boats struck on the rocks, and the poor deluded sailors were dragged by the sirens to the bottom of the sea and were drowned.
Now, do you see why the world is like a siren? Its pleasures all look so beautiful that we are tempted to draw nearer and nearer, until at last we are lost to all that is holy and good.
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CHAPTER VI.
Jack a minister.--A letter from father.--Jack"s first sermon.--"Mr. John."--Back at college.--Temptations and persecutions.--"For Jesus" sake."--Mr. John"s long hair.--Clever, but not proud.--Young soldiers for Christ.
WE all love to get letters, do we not? though some of us are not so fond of writing them. It was in the year 1725, when Jack was twenty-two years old, that he became a minister; and just about this time he had a beautiful letter from his father. In it Mr. Wesley said:--
"G.o.d fit you for your great work. Watch and pray; believe, love, endure, and be happy, towards which you shall never want the most ardent prayers of
"Your affectionate father, "SAMUEL WESLEY."
Jack"s first sermon was preached at a small town near Oxford, and his second at his dear home-village, Epworth. Mr. Wesley was getting old, and as he had now two churches to look after, the one at Epworth and another at a place called Wroote, where he and Mrs. Wesley had gone to live, he was very glad when his son offered to go and help him. And now that Jack has grown up and got to be a proper minister, I think we must begin to call him Mr. John. Well, Mr. John stayed some time helping his father at Wroote and Epworth, and then went back again to Oxford, to study for a place in a college there--Lincoln College.
There were several others trying to get this same place, and they didn"t like Mr. John because he would not do the wicked things they did, so they made great fun of him, and laughed at him for being good. n.o.body likes being laughed at; and Mr. John didn"t, but he bore it bravely; and his father comforted him when he wrote: "Never mind them, Jack; he is a coward that cannot bear being laughed at. Jesus endured a great deal more for us, before He entered glory; and unless we follow His steps we can never hope to share that glory with Him. Bear it patiently, my boy, and be sure you never return evil for evil." His mother, too, sent loving letters to cheer and comfort him.
So Mr. John worked hard, and bore his persecutions patiently--_for Jesus" sake_; and in spite of all his enemies he won the coveted place, and became Fellow of Lincoln College. Oh, how glad and thankful he was!
And his father and mother were so proud and happy.
It was just about this time that Mr. Wesley was afraid he would have to leave Wroote, and it was a great trouble to him. "But," he said, proudly, "wherever I am, my Jacky is Fellow of Lincoln." As for Jack, he felt it was worth everything to give his father and mother such pleasure.
Though he was properly grown up, twenty-three years old, Mr. and Mrs.
Wesley always thought of him as their "boy." Fathers and mothers always do this. It doesn"t matter how old their children grow to be, they love to think of them, and speak of them as their "boys" and "girls." Dear readers, remember there is no one on earth that loves you, or ever will love you with such a big love as father and mother. No matter how tall, or how strong, or how clever you may grow, they will always love you with the same big love they did when you were little boys and girls.
And, oh! whatever you do, never, never grieve these dearest of all dear friends.
Mrs. Wesley had been longing to see her "boy" again, especially now that he had become Fellow of Lincoln College. At last her wish was granted.
There were a great many things that puzzled Jack which he wanted to ask his father and mother about. So he went and spent a long summer at home, getting his hard questions answered, and helping his father with the work that was now almost too much for him. He had such a happy time that he was almost sorry when the autumn came and he had to return to Oxford.
Being at school and college costs a great deal of money, and Jack knew that his father was not a rich man, and that he had hard work often to pay his college expenses. Jack had been very sorry to be such a burden to his parents, and tried to be as careful as he could. Have you ever seen a picture of Mr. John Wesley? If you have, you will have noticed his long hair. Every one at Oxford wore their hair short; but having it cut cost money, and John used to say: "I"ve no money to spend on hair-dressers." So, though his fellow-students made great fun of him, he saved his money and wore his hair long, and in time got so accustomed to it, that he wore it long all his life. Now that he was Fellow of Lincoln College he received enough money to pay his own expenses, and it made him very happy to think he need no longer be an expense to his dear father. But he resolved still to be as careful as he could, and never again to go into debt.
When he went back to his new College, after spending the summer at home, he said to himself: "I will give up all the old friends who have so often tempted me to do things that a Christian ought not to do, and I will make new friends of those who will help me on my way to heaven."
So, though he was always polite to the many worldly young men who wanted to make his acquaintance, he would not have them for his friends.
This made some of them say very unkind things about him; but Mr. John bore it all quietly, and never said unkind things back again. He felt he was only treading the path Jesus had trod before him, the path which all His disciples must follow.
Mr. John got to be so clever that soon he was made professor, or teacher of Greek. Some boys and girls--yes, and grown-up people, too--become proud when they get to be clever, but Mr. John did not. He determined, more than ever, to be a faithful and humble follower of the Lord Jesus.
He was very patient with his scholars, and tried not only to make them learned, but to make them Christians. "I want these young soldiers of Christ to be burning and shining lights wherever they may go," he said.
"If they are not all intended to be clergymen, they are all intended to be Christians."
In the beginning of the next year (1727), Mr. John went home again to help his father, who was getting very old, and was often ill. He stayed at Wroote about two years, and then went back again to Oxford.
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