It does not do for us to believe all we hear, and when at last Mrs. Wesley went to London, and saw and talked with her sons, she found all the tales had been untrue, and that her "dear Jack" was the same loyal soldier and servant of Jesus Christ that he had ever been.
Instead of going back to where she had been living, Mrs. Wesley, freed from her fears, remained in London with her "boys," a proud and happy mother. She joined the Society in Fetter Lane, went every Sunday to hear her sons preach, and helped them in every way she could. Once she stood by Mr. Wesley's side when he preached on Kennington Common to a congregation of about 20,000 people, and I don't know which was the prouder, mother or son.
You remember Mr. Samuel Wesley, the eldest brother? He was one who strongly disapproved of open-air preaching, and thought John and Charles were very much in the wrong for not behaving like other clergymen. When he heard that even his mother had joined the Methodists he was more indignant than ever, and wrote her what I think was a very rude letter.
"I was very much surprised and grieved," he said, "when I heard that you had joined the Methodists, and, indeed, become one of Jack's congregation. My brothers are brothers to me no longer, and now, must my mother follow too?"
It is sad to think that two weeks after Mr. Samuel wrote this he was taken ill and died in a few hours. He was a clever and a sensible man, but he did not understand, or even try to understand, the work his brothers were doing, and, therefore, disapproved of it.
When Mr. Wesley heard the news of his brother's death he set off at once to Bristol to Mr. Charles, and together they went to Tiverton to comfort and help their sister-in-law. They forgot all the unkind things their brother had said against them, and only thought how they could best show their love and sympathy to those that were left.
Poor Mrs. Wesley was very ill when she heard the sad news. She had always dearly-loved her eldest child, and his death was a great sorrow. But she said: "It is God's will, therefore it is all right."
You can tell what a real comfort Mr. John was to her at this time, by the letter she wrote to Charles at Bristol about a month after Mr. Samuel's death. This is what she said:
"Dear Charles,
"You cannot want to see me more than I want to see you. Your brother Jack, whom I shall call son Wesley, now that my dear Sam is gone home, has just been in to see me, and has cheered me up ever so much. Indeed, he never comes but he does me good; his visits are all too seldom and too short. For this I cannot blame him, for I know he is about his Heavenly Father's business.