The Wesley brothers are exceptionally well-known in Church History. John Wesley was born in 1703 and Charles Wesley in 1707 in England. (Incidentally John was the fifteenth and Charles the eighteenth of the nineteen children in their family.) They were the founders of the Wesleyan Church. Charles became famous because of the hymns he had composed and published, over 6,000 in total. “And Can It Be that I Should Gain” and “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” are two of his best-known hymns. John Wesley became famous because of his preaching and writings. He had written a commentary on every book of the Bible. He had traveled over 250,000 miles on horseback to preach. He preached two or three times each day and preached more than 40,000 sermons. I have a hard time figuring out how anyone can accomplish so much even in this day and age, let alone three hundred years ago! It was truly amazing! John Wesley passed away on March 2, 1791, at the age of eighty-seven. As he lay dying, he opened his eyes and said in a strong and clear voice, “The best of all is, God is with us!” The story of the Wesley brothers reminds me of Jesus’ saying in John 15:5, “---apart from Me you can do nothing.”  Thank God for Jesus. Thank God Jesus is Immanuel (God is with us)!               

在教會歷史中, 衛斯理兩兄弟的名字是非同凡響的. 約翰衛斯理於1703年, 查爾斯衛斯理於1707年, 出生於英格蘭. （順便告訴你, 他們家中共有十九個兄弟姐妹, 約翰排行十五, 查爾斯排行十八.）他們是衛理公會的創辦人. 查爾斯成名是因為他所作的讚美詩, 他總共出版了六千首詩歌.  在他所作最著名的讚美詩裏, “怎能如此”  和 “聽啊, 天使高聲唱” 是其中的兩首. 約翰衛斯理成名是因為他的講道和他的著作. 他為聖經的每一卷書都寫了註釋書. 他為了傳道, 馬不停蹄, 騎馬趕路超過廿五萬英里. 他平均每天講道兩三次, 講章超過四萬篇. 就算是在今天這個時代, 我也很難想像任何人能夠有這樣偉大的成就, 更何況是在三百年前的時代! 這確實是了不起的事! 約翰衛斯理逝世於1791年3月2日, 享壽八十七歲. 當他彌留之際, 他睜開了眼睛, 用強而清晰的聲音說出最後的一句話, “最奇妙的就是, 神與我們同在!” 衛斯理兩兄弟的故事, 讓我想起了主耶穌在約翰福音十五章五節所說的: “---離了我, 你們就不能作什麼.”  感謝神賜下耶穌. 感謝神, 耶穌是以馬內利 (神與我們同在)!