Passing from the watchful eye of his father and the tender, loving, and
almost unexampled care and instruction of his mother, he entered, at
about the age of eleven, the famous Charterhouse School, London. This
was built originally for a monastery. It was purchased by Thomas Sutton,
Esq., and under a charter from King James he established a school for
the young. In this school forty-four boys, between the ages of ten and
fifteen, were gratuitously fed, clothed, and instructed in the classics.
Here such notables as Addison, Steele, Blackstone, Isaac Barrows, and
others were educated.
Young Wesley was largely aided in securing this position by the Duke of
Buckingham, who seems to have been a fast friend of the family. He
secured for him a scholarship, which gave him about two hundred dollars
a year. By the direction of his father he ran around the playgrounds
three times every morning for the benefit of his health. It was a school
of trial. Being a charity scholar, he did not escape the taunts of his
fellow-students more highly favored than he; but he bore all with
meekness, patiently suffering wrongfully. He remained there some six
years, and, though a mere youth, he distinguished himself in every
branch of scholarship to which he turned his attention.
Mr. Tyerman, who seems to have searched for every spot on this rising
sun, is bold to say that Wesley "lost the religion which had marked his
character from the days of his infancy. He entered the Charterhouse a
saint, and left it a sinner." We cannot find this marked change on the
record with the clearness with which it appears to Mr. Tyerman. There is
no evidence that Wesley had ever known the converting grace of God up to
this time, and, if not, we are unable to see how he could have lost it.
That he was a sinner at this time there can be no doubt. But, while he
confesses that he was a sinner, he declares that his "sins were not
scandalous in the eyes of the world." Instead of being the wicked boy
that Mr. Tyerman represents him to have been, he declares: "I still read
the Scriptures, and said my prayers morning and evening. And what I now
hoped to be saved by was: (1) Not being as bad as other people; (2)
Having still a kindness for religion; and (3) Reading my Bible, going to
church, and saying my prayers." Should an unconverted young man in these
times, in passing through our high schools or seminaries, give evidence
that he read his Bible, prayed morning and evening, attended church
regularly, joined in all the devotions, went to the sacrament, and
manifested a kindness for religion, who would say that "he entered the
school a saint, and left it a sinner"? There is no evidence that Wesley,
during his six years' course at the Charterhouse, ever contracted
vicious habits or became a flagrant sinner. The wonder is that, with
such corrupt and corrupting influences surrounding him, he had not been
morally ruined.
CHRIST COLLEGE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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