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LADY HUNTINGTON 



AND 



HER FRIENDS; 



OR, 



THE REVIVAL OF THE WORK OF GOD 



IN 



THE DAYS- OF WESLEY, WHITEEIELD, EOlfAINE, YENN, AND- OTHERS 



IN 



THE LAST CENTURY, 



COMPILED BY 

MRS. HELEN C. KNIGHT, 



PUBLISHED BY THE 
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

l.-O NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. 




T?» 



tr-^r^y- 



H^ze 



.<- n,1ii 



m 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, ty 0. R. Kings- 
bury, in the Clerk's Office of the District Coiirt of the United States for the 
Southern District of New York. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Natural and spiritual birth of Lady Huntington 9 

CHAPTER II. 

A glance at familiar faces — "Watts — Lady Abney — Col. Gardiner — 
Doddridge 21 

CHAPTER III. 

Doing and suffering ' . . 36 

CHAPTER IV. 

Whitefield 49 

CHAPTER V. 

Romaine — Alarms — Gospel ranging 64 

CHAPTER VI. 

Doddridge 82 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Tabernacle — Venn — Preaching tours 97 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Family matters — Chapels — Berridge . 114 

CHAPTER IX. 

The valley of Baca 127 

CHAPTER X. 

Blackfriars — Chapel at Bath — Lady Glenorchy 137 



4 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XI. 

Indian preacher- — Dartmouth. — Lord Buchan 150 

CHAPTEE, XII. 

Trevecca 164 

CHAPTER XIII. 

A fresh recruit — Tunbridge Wells 174 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The breach 187 

CHAPTER XY. 

Death of Whitefield 203 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Venn leaves Huddersfield — Labors of Lady Huntington — Death of 
Howell Harris and Lord Chesterfield 218 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The rectory of Yelling 239 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Rowland Hill 251 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The secession 263 

CHAPTER XX. 

Harvest-home 278 



PREFACE. 



The beginning of the last century was marked 
by spiritual barrenness in England and her colonies. 
Immorality and scepticism had blighted the moral 
consciousness of the nation, and cankered the great 
heart of the church. In place of the vital, sturdy 
faith of a former day, there seemed only a perverted 
Christianity, weak, insincere, effeminate, with *'a 
name to live." 

But in this evil and desolate hour, there were in 
secret places the wrestling Jacobs, whose conflicts 
issued in " newness of life ;" and suddenly, strangely 
as it seemed to men, the electric appeals of White- 
field, and the powerful preaching of the Wesleys, star- 
tled the thronging multitudes of London with the aw- 
ful verities of the world to come. The doctrines of 
the cross were proclaimed by earnest men, who them- 
selves had felt their saving power ; everywhere souls 
were sunk in the depths of spiritual want, who laid 
hold of the "living way" of return to their Father's 
house set before them in the gospel ; and multitudes, 
renouncing the pomps and vanities of this life, con- 
fessed themselves " strangers and pilgrims on the 



6 PREFACE. 

earth," arxd ^'desired a better country, that is, a 
heavenly." 

"We have singled out from this great company a 
noble Christian Woman, whose name is blended v^ith 
the history of this period ; whose soul glowed with a 
fervent faith ; and whose princely mansions were open 
with a tireless hospitality to every one who loved her 
Lord. As we follow her path, "Wesley goes out from 
us to stamp his intrepid spirit upon the organism of 
one of the largest bodies of Protestant Christians, and 
at some future day we hope to follow him in his 
career. 

Never, perhaps, since the days of the apostles, did 
the brave, loving, and rejoicing spirit of the gospel 
more strikingly manifest itself. It embraced the 
high and the low, the rich and the poor, who, when 
imbued with its divine life, became one in Christ 
Jesus, members of the same household of faith. In 
them the new birth was something more than a theo- 
logical dogma, or an article in the creed ; it was a 
living reality : they rejoiced and testified that they 
were born of G-od, for " old things had passed away, 
all things had become new." Heligion no longer con- 
sisted in a formal assent to a dead orthodoxy, but it 
was the life of God in the soul, the living Christian- 
ity of the Bible, which is alone transforming and 
vital. 



PREFACE. 7 

It is well to study the spiritual development of a 
period so marked as this — ^the very period of the great 
revival of the work of G-od in our own country in con- 
nection with the labors of Edwards, Brainerd, and 
the Tennants — in order that we may see clearly the 
distinguishing elements of the renewed soul : hatred 
of sin, love to the Redeemer, and flowing from these, 
love and good-ioill to man. It will help to settle 
the solemn question, which we doubt not rises upon 
many a disquieted soul, both within and without the 
visible church, " Am I really a child of Grod ?" The 
question returns, Do you honestly and heartily desire 
to be free from the corruption which underlies your 
nature, and which makes you an alien from your 
Father's house ? Does your heart go out in tender- 
ness and love to Him who hath borne your iniqui- 
ties, and by whose stripes you are healed ? And 
with this love in your soul, is it your heart's desire 
and prayer to Grod to bear your part, humble though 
it be, to bring others to this Saviour of lost men? for 
this is the fruit of faith. 

Such endeavors may be noiseless, quiet, domestic 
in their nature, like Harlan Page's, and like many a 
godly mother's ; but they must exist, for the church 
of Christ is essentially aggressive: its mission is not 
only to love, but to conquer by love. And while 
the believer should win a hearing by the purity and 



8 PREFACE. 

Mamelessness of his life, the singleness of his aim, 
and the beauty of his holiness, shall he not '' go forth 
bearing precious seed," be ready to "do good and 
to communicate ;" and in humble imitation of his 
heavenly Master, distribute the living bread, and 
pour out the healing waters of salvation to famished 
ones all along the way-sides of life ? 



LADY HUNTINGTON 



AND 



HER FRIENDS. 



CHAPTER I. 

NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL BIRTH OF LADY HUNT- 

INGTON. 

A LITTLE girl is following her playmate to the 
grave ; the funeral badges, the solemn pomp of the 
procession, the falling of the turf upon the coffin, with 
the mournful echo, ''earth to earth, ashes to ashes, 
dust to dust," fill her with profound awe. Death 
and life seem strangely blended ; the great hereafter 
rises before her amazed and startled vision. Her 
young heart is bowed. "Oh G-od, be my Grod, when 
my hour shall come !" is her anxious though unuttered 
cry. The impressions of this hour were never lost ; 
neither the bright promises which dawned upon her 
girlhood, nor their brighter realization in a brilliant 
and happy marriage, could ever lull the unrest of her 
awakened spirit, or silence the cravings of her famished 
soul. She felt herself in a far country, a wanderer 
from her Father's house, and she began to be in 

want. 

1* 



10 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

This child, called Selina Shirley, second daughter 
of Earl Ferrars, was born in Chartley, August 24, 
1707. Almost from infancy, an uncommon serious- 
ness shaded the natural gladness of her childhood; 
in the clear depths of her penetrating eye, and in the 
curve of her thin lip, were traces of earnest thought, 
and thought inspired not so much by the sweet 
solitude and breezy melodies of the grand old trees 
around her father's mansion, or the ivied ruins of 
Chartley castle, or the storied associations of her own 
ancestral history, as by other and far deeper things. 
She loved to visit the grass-grown grave of her departed 
friend, and would often stray to a little closet in her 
own room, where, screened from the notice of her 
sisters, she poured out her heart in supplication to the 
Author of her being. Without any positive religious 
instruction, for none knew the inward sorrows of this 
little girl, nor were there any around her who could 
have led her to the balm there is in Grilead, Selina 
devoutly and diligently searched the Scriptures, if 
haply she might find that precious something which 
her soul craved. That there was a higher good, a 
purer joy, a loftier love, she was well assured, for her 
religious instincts kept climbing upward for light and 
warmth ; but where could they be found ? 

At the age of twenty-one, she was married to 
Theophilus, Earl of Huntington, a man of high and 
exemplary character, and by this connection became 
allied to a family whose tastes and principles happily 
coincided with her own. 

Both by birth and by marriage Lady Huntington 



FIRST YEARS OF MARRIED LIFE. U 

was introduced to all the splendors and excitements 
of high English life. At the residence of her aunt, 
Lady Fanny Shirley, at Twickenham, which formed 
one of the literary centres of that day, and whose 
misti'ess was a reigning beauty of the court of Greorge 
I., she mingled freely with the wits, poets, and 
authors, then distinguished in the walks of English 
literature. Among her friends might be numbered the 
famous Duchess of Marlborough, whose talents were 
only equal to her temper ; Lady Mary "Wortley Monta- 
gue, whose intimacy and quarrels with Pope, as well as 
her eccentricities, have sent her name down to pos- 
terity; Margaret, daughter of the Earl of Oxford, a 
patroness of literature and friend of Miss Robinson, 
afterwards the beautiful and accomplished Mrs. Mon- 
tague. 

The gifts and graces of the young Lady Hunt- 
ington fitted her to shine in the most elegant circles 
of England ; but whatever she might have been as a 
leader of fashion, or an actor in political intrigues, or 
the friend of literary merit, her life comes down to 
us linked with the Redeemer's cause, and her name 
is enrolled among those who have loved and labored 
for their Lord. 

During the first years of her married life, Lady 
Huntington's chief endeavor, amid the shifting scenes 
of town and country life, was to maintain a con- 
science void of offence. She strove to fulfil the 
various duties of her position with scrupulous exact- 
ness ; she was sincere, just, and upright ; she prayed, 
fasted, and gave alms ; she was courteous, consider- 



12 LADY HUNTlNaTON. 

ate, and charitable ; at Donnington Park, Ashby de la 
Zouch, in Leicestershire, the elegant summer resi- 
dence of the Earl, she was the Lady Bountiful of 
the neighborhood ; she struggled against infirmities 
within and temptations from without, and strove to 
model her outward and inward life after the divine 
pattern — yet, was Lady Huntington happy? The 
consciousness of seeking to live a virtuous and Grod- 
fearing life braced her moral powers and quickened 
her intellect; but where was the faith that could 
emancipate her soul from the fear of Grod's inquisi- 
tion ? *' I have done virtuously," was the complacent 
suggestion of self-love; '^but how can I tell when I 
have done enough ?" was the doubtful inquiry of 
conscience. 

So passed the early years of Lady Huntington's 
life ; children were born, mingling their lights and 
shadows in the stately household ; no earthly good 
was withholden, nor were earthly blessings abused 
by riot or excess ; dignity, sobriety, and refinement 
presided over the homes and halls of the Earl. 
Among the women of her day it might have been 
said of his wife, "She excelled them all," yet her 
heart knew its own sorrows ; it was laden with its 
own hidden burdens. 

Lord Huntington had several sisters whose 
thoughtful cast of mind made them particularly wel- 
come to his house. In them, Lady Huntington had 
found kindred spirits ; but now came Lady Margaret 
from Ledstone Hall, bearing a new and rich experience. 
She was the same Margaret of old, and yet another. 



HEARS MR. INaHAM. 13 

Yorkshire and Ledstone, among other towns in York- 
shire, had been blessed by the labors of a mighty man 
of God. He preached the great doctrines of the 
cross under a profound and thrilling sense of their 
value. He went from town to town, from hamlet to 
hamlet, and house to house, preaching "repentance 
toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." 
Men paused and listened to his messages ; the clergy 
were waked from their spiritual slumbers, some to 
receive a new quickening from his words, others to 
upbraid and drive him from their churches. The 
sisters of Ledstone Hall heard of his fame, and hun- 
gered for the living manna. Mr. Ingham was invited 
to the Ledstone church. The preacher's words fell 
upon good ground. His simple yet searching appeals 
alarmed the conscience and melted the heart. Mar- 
garet Hastings embraced the truth as it is in Jesus : 
it was no longer the Christianity of creed and ritual, 
^)ut a new birth into Christ's spiritual family, with 
the conscious heirship to a heavenly inheritance. 

"With this fresh life in her soul, she visited the 
house of the Earl. What a new world of hopes, of 
aims, of privileges could she unfold to Lady Hunt- 
ington — pardon through a crucified Saviour — peace 
such as the world could neither give nor take away ; 
and as she spoke one day, these words fell from her 
lips : " Since I have known and believed in the Lord 
Jesus Christ for salvation, I have been as happy as 
an angel." A believer's blessed testimony, but it 
found no response in Lady Huntington's heart. 
Margaret's language was like an unknown tongue. 



14 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

It was the report of a strange land. There was no 
answering tone. She felt herself an utter stranger to 
those sweet assurances which had hushed the dis- 
quiet of her sister's soul, and admitted to the groping 
spirit a gleam of light from the heavenly world. 

Lady Huntington was alarmed. Could she, relig- 
ious from her youth up, he really ignorant of the true 
way of acceptance with G-od ? Had she not always 
been doing, struggling ? Yet in spite of all, a con- 
viction of short-coming pressed upon her ; and she 
added austerities and rigors to subdue her sense of 
indwelling sin. 

Alas, she felt only more keenly, that every attempt 
to make her life answer to the requirements of God's 
righteous laws, only widened the breach between 
herself and the Lawgiver. She beheld herself more 
and more a spiritual outcast. Thus harassed by 
inward conflicts. Lady Huntington was thrown upon 
a sick-bed, and after many days and nights seemed 
hastening to the grave. The fear of death fell terri- 
bly upon her. 

"It was to no purpose," says one of her at this 
period, ''that she reminded herself of the morality of 
her conduct. In vain did she recall the many 
encomiums passed upon her early piety. Her best 
righteousness, so far from justifying her before G-od, 
appeared only to increase her condemnation." 

There she lay, with every alleviation which the 
best skiU and the tenderest nursing could impart, 
but there was a malady of the soul which these 
could not reach. Was there no balm in G-ilead, and 



STUDENTS IN OXFORD. 15 

no Physician there ? Then it was that the words of 
Lady Margaret came laden with wonderful meaning. 
"I too will wholly cast myself on Jesus Christ for 
life and salvation," was her last refuge ; and from her 
bed she lifted up her heart to Grod for pardon and 
mercy through the blood of his Son. "With streaming 
eyes she cast herself on her Saviour : '' Lord, I believe ; 
help thou mine unbelief." Immediately the scales 
fell from her eyes ; doubt and distress vanished ; joy 
and peace filled her bosom. With appropriating faith, 
she exclaimed, "My Lord, and my Grod I" From 
that moment her disease took a favorable turn ; she 
was restored to health, and what was better, to 
"newness of life." 

Exemplary as Lady Huntington had been as a wife 
and mother, and free from the corruptions of fashion- 
able society, no one could fail to see the transform- 
ing influence which grace had wrought in her. Love 
and self-abasement mellowed the sterner traits of her 
character ; the strong sympathies of her heart gushed 
out towards the people of Grod, and henceforth, "My 
Grod, I give myself to thee," became the watchword 
of her life. 

At the period of Lady Huntington's marriage, 
there was a little band of students in the bosom of 
Oxford University who, by prayer and fasting and a 
rigid self-denial, had laid hold upon the great doc- 
trines of the gospel, and were wrestling with them, 
like one of old, for a heavenly benediction. Shocked 
by the scoffing tone and degraded aims of their fel- 
lows, and disgusted with the prevailing shallow piety 



16 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

of the pulpit and the church, they asked, ''Is there not 
something holier and loftier than this in the gospel of 
Jesus Christ?" "Can it not redeem from sin and 
exalt hy the power of an endless life ?" Profoundly 
earnest, they accepted the Bible in its integrity, with- 
out abatement or addition, as the charter of their 
liberties and a missive charged with terrible mean- 
ing from Grod to a fallen world. They gave them- 
selves to the service of the Lord with their whole 
hearts ; nor is it strange, in that period of scepticism 
and levity, that then- devout and steadfast adherence 
to religious convictions provoked the frowns of their 
masters, and the ridicule of their companions ; but 
taunts and revilings could not daunt the spirit of 
such men as "Whitefield, the AYesleys, and their more 
immediate copartners. Rich in that grace which the 
Father of our spirits vouchsafes to the waiting and 
believing followers of his Son, the time came when 
every corner of England thrilled with the fervid 
eloquence of their preaching. 

After leaving Oxford, Whitefield at Bristol, Ing- 
ham in Yorkshire, and Wesley at London, began those 
fearless and awakening appeals which quickened the 
vitality of English Christianity, reasserting its de- 
mands upon the moral consciousness of the nation. 

The Wesleys with Ingham went to G-eorgia, 
where, after laboring two years with success ill-pro- 
portioned to their zeal, they returned to England. 
On the voyage and during their stay, having been 
thrown into the society of some Moravian mission- 
aries, whose simple piety won their confidence and 




"'^S"V'i'^l'"'''»'eslerParaa-ise 



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."uiUfTieiih^ ^e..^hieriam. 'Iha^c Sccieh' . 



JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY. 17 

love, they lost no time on their arrival at London in 
visiting the Moravian chapel at Fetter's-lane, where 
"Wesley's career properly begins, but whence he not 
long after withdrew to lay, as it seemed, not only 
the foundations of a new encampment in the great 
Christian army, but to give urgency and a name to 
that religious renovation which the church needed, 
both to maintain her supremacy, and to quicken her 
onward march in the conquest of the world. 

As Margaret Hastings, from whose lips she first 
heard the joyful language of a saving faith, was a 
disciple of Ingham, no wonder that when Lady 
Huntington experienced its blessed effects in her own 
soul, she turned from the more frigid and formal 
teaching of former spiritual guides with a yearning 
heart towards the new. On her recovery, she sent 
for John and Charles Wesley, then in London, to 
come and visit her, expressing a warm interest in 
their labors, and bidding them Grod speed in the 
great and glorious work of urging men to repentance 
and to heaven. This was in the year 1739, and 
Lady Huntington was at the age of thirty-two. 

In Lady Huntington they found an ardent friend, 
and a fearless advocate of their new movements. 
To her, new movements wore no portentous look 
when the church was sleeping at her post, and the 
world around was sinking to ruin. The vigorous 
itinerant preaching which constituted the then new, 
though revised instrumentality for meeting the wants 
of the time, whether among the coUiers of Kings- 
wood, the London rabble on Kennington common. 



lb LADY HUNTINdTON. 

or the farmers of the Yorkshire dales, strongly con- 
trasted with, and boldly rebuked the stagnant min- 
istrations of the sporting clergy, the grave decorum 
of their more serious brethren, and the utter indiffer- 
ence generally felt about providing suitable means 
of moral culture for the great masses of half-savage 
workmen living in the principal cities of the king- 
dom. 

Both the Earl and his wife became frequent 
attendants upon the ministry of Wesley ; and while 
Lady Huntington took great delight in the society of 
her new Christian friends, she did not neglect to urge 
upon her former associates the claims of that gospel 
which she had found so precious to her own soul. 
The rebuffs which she sometimes met with on these 
occasions form a curious page in the chapter of 
human pride. 

'' The doctrines of these preachers are most repul- 
sive," writes the proud Duchess of Buckingham, 
^'and strongly tinctured with impertinence and dis- 
respect towards their superiors, in perpetually endeav- 
oring to level all ranks and do away w~ith all distinc- 
tions. It is monstrous to be told that you have a 
heart as sinful as the common wretches that crawl 
upon the earth. This is highly offensive and insult- 
ing, and I cannot but wonder that your ladyship 
should relish any sentiments so much at variance 
with high rank and goodbreeding." 

"Your concern for my religious improvement is 
very obliging," thus discourses the unhappy Lady 
Marlborough; " God knows we all need mending, and 



20 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

solid is the peace and how divine the joy that springs 
from an assurance that we are united to the Saviour 
by a living faith. Blessed be his name. I have an 
abiding sense of his presence with me, notwithstand- 
ing the weakness and unworthiness I feel, and an 
intense desire that he may be glorified in the salva- 
tion of souls, especially those who lie nearest my 
heart. After the poor labors of the day are over, 
my heart still cries, ^Grod be merciful to me a sin- 
ner !' I am deeply sensible that daily, hourly, and 
momentarily I stand in need of the sprinkling of my 
Saviour's blood. Thanks be to Grod, the fountain 
is always open; what an anchor is this to my 
soul J" 



A GLANCE AT FAMILIAR FACES. 21 



CHAPTER II. 

A GLANCE AT FAMILIAR FACES. 

Among Lady Huntington's friends and guests we 
find dear familiar and honored names. Behold that 
little feeble old man, shy in manner, yet rich in 
speech : bodily infirmity has long beset his path, and 
driven him from public and stirring life to the retire- 
ment which he dearly prized. For him the country 
had manifold charms, and thus he sings : 

"I search the crowded court, the busy street, 
Run through the villages, trace every road. 
In vain I search ; for every heart I meet 
Is laden with the world, and empty of its God. 

How shall I bear with men to spend my days ? 
Dear feathered innocents, you please me best; 
My God has formed your voices for his praise, 
His high designs are answered by your tuneful breast." 

Wherever he goes, he is regarded with veneration 
and love, for his mind is stored with knowledge and 
his heart is alive with tender sympathies. He is the 
author of many a learned treatise, a father in the 
ranks of non-conformity, and has a fame both in the 
old world and the new; yet we know and love him 
best as author of the sweet cradle-song, '' Hush, my 
dear, lie still and slumber," which lulled us to sleep 
in the nursery, and of those psalms and hymns which 
are destined to shape the experience and lead the> 



22 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

worship of millions, when the fame of his learning 
shall no more he remembered. 

This is Dr. "Watts, the venerable pastor at Stoke 
Newington. He was born in the stormiest days of 
non-conformity, and we find him nursed in the arms 
of his sorrowing mother on a stone by the prison walls 
which confine his father, a "godly man and a deacon," 
willing to suffer constraint and persecution for con- 
science' sake. He is without the endearing treasures 
of wife and children, for he was never married ; " yet 
his lines have fallen to him in pleasant places and he 
has a goodly heritage," for he is the beloved and hon- 
ored member of a family '' which, for piety, harmony, 
order, and every virtue, was a house of G-od ;" here 
were "the retired grace, the fragrant bower, the 
spreading lawn, the flowery garden," with comfort, 
elegance, friendship, and books. 

" I came to the house of this my good friend Sir 
Thomas Abney, intending to spend a single week 
beneath his roof," said Dr. Watts one day, " and I 
have extended my visit to thirty years." 

" I consider your visit, my dear sir," responded 
Lady Abney, "as the shortest my family ever re- 
ceived." 

Sir Thomas, Alderman of London, a pious and 
exemplary man, whose dignities did not seduce his 
heart from his Grod, died in 1722, eight years after 
Watts had come under his hospitable roof. The 
mournful occasion was commemorated by an elegiac 
from the poet-pastor ; closing with a note of praise, 
always so congenial to his spirit : 



A G-LANCE AT FAMILIAR FACES. 23 

" Great God, to thee we raise our song — 
Thine were the graces that enriched his mind ; 
We bless thee that he shone so long, 
And left so fair a track of pious life behind." 

After Sir Thomas' death, he still remained in the 
family an honored and cherished member of the fire- 
side circle. 

Dr. Watts was settled at Stoke Newington in 
1702 : the extreme delicacy of his health prompted 
his people the next year to associate with him Rev. 
Samuel Price. The love he bore to his charge, and 
the high estimate he entertained of the relation which 
bound him to it, is thus touchingly expressed: "I 
pronounce it with the greatest sincerity," said he, 
" that there is no place or company or employment 
this side of heaven, which can give me such a relish 
of delight as when I stand ministering holy things 
in the midst of you." Nor was it from the pulpit that 
his influence was chiefly exercised: whenever his 
health permitted, his pastoral visits from house to 
house were kind, instructive, and edifying; while a 
fifth, or as some say, a third part of his income was 
spent in charities. 

There were then no associations, as now, to cir- 
culate the word of life at home and abroad. Bible, 
Missionary, and Tract societies were the growth of a 
later day, nay, the product of that very renovation 
of English Christianity which was then in progress. 
" I sometimes regret foolishly enough," said Hannah 
More, "while assisting in the formation and watching 
the growth of the religious institutions which have so 
distinctly marked the present century, that some of 



24 LADY HUNTING-TON. 

my earliest and dearest friends did not live to pro- 
mote and rejoice in them." Nor can we help thinking 
how both Watts and Doddridge would have rejoiced 
in those things which we now see and hear, when the 
knowledge of the Lord is so fast filling the earth. 

" I have long been in pain," wrote Colonel Grar- 
diner to Doddridge, '' lest that excellent person. Dr. 
Watts, should be called to heaven before I had an op- 
portunity of letting him know how much his works 
have been blest to me, and of course of returning to 
him my hearty thanks. I must beg the favor of you 
to let him know that I intended to have waited on 
him in the beginning of last May, when I was in 
London ; but was informed, and that to my gi-eat 
sorrow, that he was extremely ill, and therefore that 
I did not think a visit would be seasonable. I am 
well acquainted with his works, especially with his 
psalms, hymns, and lyrics. How often, by singing 
some of these to myself on horseback and elsewhere, 
has the evil spirit been made to flee away : 

" Where e'er my heart in tune was found, 
Like David's harp of solemn sound. 

" I desire to bless Grod for the good news of his 
recovery ; and entreat you to tell him, that although 
I cannot keep pace with him here in celebrating the 
high praises of our glorious Redeemer, which is fhe 
great grief of my heart, yet I am persuaded, when I 
join the glorious company above, where there will be 
no drawbacks, that none will outsing me there, be- 
cause I shall not find any that has been more indebt- 
ed to the wonderful riches of divine grace than I. 



A GLANCE AT FAMILIAR FACES. 25 



i'. c n: 



Give me a place at thy saints' feet, 
On some fallen angel's vacant seat, 
I '11 strive to sing as loud as they 
Who sit above in brighter day.' " 

Lady Huntington hacl the pleasure of introducing 
these two men to each other ; and we can almost see 
the tall and stately figure of the colonel, dressed in 
his regimentals, bending with love and veneration 
before the feeble and palsied poet, seemingly more 
attenuated by his closely fitting breeches and skull 
cap. What a whole-souled heartiness in the soldier's 
grasp ! How affectionate and sympathizing is the 
answering pressure of the old man's hand ! 

Colonel and Lady Frances G-ardiner were frequent 
guests of Lord Huntington, during their visits in 
London. 

"And I cannot express," exclaimed Lady Hunt- 
ington, "how much I esteem that most excellent man 
Colonel Grardiner. What love and mercy has God 
shown in snatching him as a brand from the burning ! 
He is truly alive to God, and pleads nothing but the 
plea of the publican, ' G-od be merciful to me a sinner.' 
What a monument of his mercy, grace, and love! 
To glorify G-od and serve him with all his ransomed 
powers is now his only aim." 

Behold another, one whom Dr. Watts tenderly 
loves : he is a young man of tall and slender make, 
whose sincerity and sweetness of manner win our 
confidence and bespeak affection. You hear him talk, 
and every thing he says bears the aroma of deep and 
genuine piety ; nothing dogmatic or uncharitable or 
censorious falls from his lips ; his spirit is not fettered 

Huntington. <5 



26 LADY HUNTmaiON. 

by denominational Larriers, but he recognizes his 
Master's image and embraces his Master's followers, 
as well within the pale of the stately English church, 
and among the rude tenants of Moorfields, as among 
the stern believers belonging to his own household of 
faith. He is the popular preacher, and successful 
teacher, Philip Doddridge of Northampton. 

When it was proposed to establish a college among 
the dissenters, Doddridge, then quite young, was 
requested to express his views upon the best method 
of preparing young men for the ministry. He drew 
up a paper, which was sent to Dr. Watts for his 
opinion. Much pleased with the breadth and sound- 
ness of the article, the doctor immediately opened a 
correspondence with the young author, expressing a 
hope that he might one day be able to carry his 
admirable plan into execution. 

He was already a favorite and rising preacher : soon 
after completing his studies, he received an urgent call 
to settle over a large dissenting congregation in Lon- 
don ; this, with other flattering invitations, he refused, 
preferring the humble parish of Kibworth, with less 
hurry and more leisure for study and self-improve- 
ment. To some of his friends, who seemed to pity 
his obscure fortunes, he thus beautifully replies : 

"Here I stick close to those delightful studies 
which a favorable Providence has made the business 
of my life. One day passeth away after another,, and 
I only know it passes pleasantly with me. I live like 
a tortoise shut up in its shell, almost always in the 
same town, the same house, and the same chamber ; 



A GLANCE AT FAMILIAR FACES. 27 

yet I live like a prince — not indeed in the pomp of 
greatness, but the pride of liberty — master of my 
books, master of my time, and I hope I may add, 
master of myself. I can willingly give up the charms 
of London, the luxury, the company, and the popu- 
larity of it, for the secret pleasures of rational employ- 
ment and self- approbation, retired from applause or 
reproach, from envy and contempt, and the destruc- 
tive baits of avarice and ambition ; so that instead of 
lamenting it as my misfortune, you should congrat- 
ulate me upon it as my happiness, that I am con- 
fined to an obscure village, seeing it gives me so 
many valuable advantages to the most important pur- 
poses of devotion and philosophy, and I hope I may 
add, usefulness too." 

Behold the sweet contentment of the village pas- 
tor, at rest with himself and happy in his Grod : no 
ambitious cravings, no secret repinings, no envious 
comparisons, no feverish excitements, disturb the 
peaceful flow of his devout and useful life. But at 
Kib worth, Doddridge was not destined to remain ; the 
Lord had other work for his servant. Unknown to 
himself, he was preparing a fame wide as the Chris- 
tian world. 

In 1729, he received a pressing call to an impor- 
tant dissenting congregation at Castle Hill, North- 
ampton. Various circumstances conspired, which 
caused his best friends to urge his accepting it. He 
did so ; and in addition to his pastoral and pulpit 
duties, he established an academy for young men 
upon the plan already mapped out, which had received 



28 LADY HUNTINQTON. 

the universal approbation of his ministerial brethren- 
Doddridge is now twenty-eight years old. 

A life-work was before him, and he entered upon 
it with an elastic and bounding spirit — more than that, 
with systematic and steady diligence. At the begin- 
ning of every year he laid out an exact plan of busi- 
ness, as also for every month, week, and day, so that 
the work of to-day should not clash with that of to- 
morrow ; and he continued to have a few hours every 
week, to which no particular business was allotted. 
These he set apart as a sort of surplus capital, out of 
which he might repair his accidental losses, or be 
enabled to meet, now and then, some unexpected call. 

"It seems to me," he says, "that activity and 
cheerfulness are so nearly allied, that we can hardly 
take a more effectual method to secure the latter, 
than to cultivate the former, especially where it is 
employed to sow the seed of an immortal harvest." 

Yet, with all his weightier cares, the humblest of 
his flock found access to him, and he could turn away 
pleasantly from his most favorite studies to hear their 
sorrows, to comfort, and to counsel them. In short, his 
life abounded with those "sweet courtesies" vv^hich 
his kindly nature no doubt rendered easy to him, but 
which he never ceased to cultivate in himself or com- 
mend in others. " I know that these things are mere 
trifles in themselves," saith he, "but they are the 
outguards of humanity and friendship, and effec- 
tually prevent many a rude attack, which, though 
small, might end in fatal consequences." 

"And as a husband," he says, "may I particu- 



A G-LANCE AT FAMILIAR FACES. 29 

larly avoid every thing which has the appearance of 
pettishness, to which, amidst my various cares and 
lahors, I may in some unguarded moment be liable. 
May it be my daily care to keep up the spirit of 
rehgion in conversation with my wife, to recommend 
her to the divine blessing, and to manifest an oblig- 
ing and tender disposition towards her ; and as a 
father, may it be my care to intercede for my children 
daily, to endeavor to bring them early to communion 
with the church, and to study to oblige them and 
secure their affections." 

But busy as the preacher, the pastor, and the 
father must now be, Dr. Watts singled him out to 
do a work which it had long been one of his own 
chief desires to execute, but which his increasing in- 
firmities now warned him to relinquish. It was to 
prepare a small volume upon practical and experi- 
mental religion for popular use. 

''In the doctrines of divinity and the gospel of 
Christ, I know not any man of greater skill than him- 
self," says the doctor of his friend and favorite, ''or 
hardly sufficient to be his second, as he hath a most 
exact acquaintance with the things of God and our 
holy religion, and he hath a most happy manner of 
teaching those who are younger. He is a most affec- 
tionate preacher and pathetic writer ; and in a word, 
since I am now advanced in age, beyond my seven- 
tieth year, if there were any person to whom Provi- 
dence would suffer me to commit a second part of 
my life and usefulness, Doddridge would be the man ; 
besides all th'p, he possesseth a spirit of so much char- 



30 LADY HUNT1N(_tT0K. 

ity, love, and goodness towards his fellow- Christians 
who may fall into some lesser differences of opinion, 
as becometh a follower of the blessed Jesus." 

Doddridge declined the work on account of his 
manifold duties, until he dared no longer to resist the 
urgency of his venerable friend. He consented to 
undertake it, and in 1745 the book was issued, dedi- 
cated to Dr. Watts, and called, '' The Rise and Prog- 
ress of Religion in the Soul.'-' The gratified doctor 
pronounced it a most excellent performance, ''its ded- 
ication being the only thing he felt disposed to find 
fault with." The little book has preached all over 
Christendom : to-day it is telling the story of the 
cross in ten thousand homes, and multitudes, we may 
well suppose, like "Wilberforce and Stonehouse, have 
reason to bless G-od for its searching appeals. 

At the advent of Wesley and Whitefield, the inter- 
ests of genuine piety seem to have been at as low an 
ebb among the dissenting churches as among the 
Episcopal, though in each there were beacon-lights 
on the black shores of indifference and scepticism. 
If Burnet could grievously exclaim, ''When I see the 
gross ignorance of those who apply for ordination, and 
the want of piety and scriptural knowledge in those 
already in the sacred office, these things pierce my 
soul and make me cry out, ' Oh, that I had wings 
like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at rest.' 
What are we like to grow to ? How are we to deal 
with adversaries, or in any way promote the honor of 
Grod and carry on the great concerns of the gospel, 
when, in the fundamentals of religion, those who ought 



A GLANCE AT FAMILIAR FACES. 31 

to teach others need to be themselves taught the first 
principles of the oracles of Grod." No less mournful 
utterances come up from the bosom of dissent. Hear 
its voice of lament. " The dissenting interest is not 
like itself I hardly know it. It used to be famous 
for faith, holiness, and love. I knew the time when 
I had no doubt, into whatever place of worship I went 
among dissenters, but that my heart would be warmed 
and edified, and my edification promoted. Now I 
hear prayers and sermons which I neither relish nor 
understand. Evangelical truth and duty are quite 
old-fashioned things ; many pulpits are not so much 
as chaste ; one's ears are so dinned with ' reason,* 
* the great law of reason,' and ^ the eternal law of 
reason,' that it is enough to put one out of conceit 
with the chief excellency of our nature, because it is 
idolized, and even deified. How prone are men to 
extremes. for the purity of our fountains, the 
wisdom and diligence of our tutors, the humility, 
piety, and teachableness of our youth." 

Such were the voices of those crying like Ishmael 
in the wilderness, because the fountains were dried 
up. The causes which had produced so general a 
decay in vital piety, it hardly falls within our prov- 
ince to describe. We regard it as one of the signs 
of the times, and descry in it the Lord near at hand, 
mighty to save. How did the true Israel of God 
sit solitary, weeping sore in the night. How did the 
ways of Zion mourn, because none came to her solemn 
feasts. 

Hark ! in the distance the heralds cry, '' Prepare 



32 LADY HUNTING-TON. 

ye the way of the Lord," and the voice of promise 
comes richly laden : " Thy light shall hreak forth as 
the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speed- 
ily. The glory of Grod shall be thy rereward. Then 
shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou 
shalt cry, and he shall say. Here am I. And if thou 
draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the 
afflicted soul, then shall thy light arise in obscurity, 
and thy darkness be as the noonday ; and the Lord 
shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in 
drought, and make fat thy bones : and thou shalt be 
like a watered garden, and like a spring of water 
whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee 
shall build the old waste places : thou shalt raise up 
the foundations of many generations ; and thou shalt 
be called. The repairer of the breach, The restorer of 
paths to dwell in." 

Thus do the glorious foreshadowings of holy writ 
adapt themselves to every period of Zion's enlarge- 
ment : they come forth now to meet and make strong 
the chosen instruments of this great awakenmg. 

How did the dissenting churches of England 
receive the new preachers ? Did they rejoice and 
say, '' How beautiful upon the mountains are the 
feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publish- 
eth salvation ?" Some stood aloof, caring for none of 
these things ; others spoke bitterly. Others asked, 
"Whereunto will this grow?" Others laid all to 
the charge of enthusiasm, and thought themselves 
doing Grod service. "I cannot but think," saith Dod- 
dridge, " that by the success of some of these de* 



A GLANCE AT FAMILIAR FACES. 33 

spised men, Grod is rebuking the madness of those 
who think themselves the only wise men, and in a 
remarkable manner laying bare his mighty arm." 
*' There may indeed be, and often is, a tincture of 
enthusiasm in some extraordinary conversions; but 
having weighed the matter diligently, I think a man 
had better be a sober, honest, chaste, industrious 
enthusiast, than live without any regard to God and 
religion at all. I think it infinitely better for a man 
to be a religious Methodist, than an adulterer, a thief, 
a swearer, a drunkard, or a rebel to his parents, as I 
knew some actually were who have been wrought 
upon and reformed by these preachers." 

Doddridge was severely censuied by his brethren 
for his ready recognition of Whitefield and Wesley, as 
true reapers in the Lord's harvest. Angry and threat- 
ening letters were sent to him from various quarters, 
and fears were entertained lest his catholicity might 
prove ruinous to the institution under his charge ; 
for he not only grasped them by the hand and bade 
them God speed on their glorious mission, but on com- 
ing to London he appeared in their pulpits. 

" I am sorry to have had many questions asked 
me about your preaching in the Tabernacle," wrote 
Dr. Watts anxiously, yet tenderly, " and sinking the 
character of a clergyman, and especially a tutor among 
the dissenters, so low thereby. I find many of our 
friends entertain this idea ; but I give no answer, not 
knowing how much you may have been engaged there. 
T pray God to guard us from every temptation." 

Not long afterwards. Lady Huntington, Lady 



34 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

Frances Gardiner, Doddridge, and Mr. Price were 
dining with Lady Atney. The conversation natu- 
rally turned upon the remarkable religious move- 
ments of the day, when they were candidly discussed, 
and all, from their separate points of observation, 
related what their eyes had seen and their ears had 
heard. 

" Such are the fruits," exclaimed the doctor, his 
small grey eyes brightening with the intensity of his 
interest, ''that will ever follow the faithful proclama- 
tion of divine mercy. The Lord our Grod will crown 
his message with success, and give it an abundant 
entrance into the hearts of men. It is a blessing 
such men have been raised up." Doddridge prob- 
ably did not receive another reproof. Dr. Watts 
afterwards became acquainted with Whitefield, who 
received his almost dying benediction, having paid 
him a visit a few hours before his death in 1749. 

" The nation hath been much alarmed of late 
with reports concerning the growth and increase of 
Methodism," said one of the church of England. 
" Would we put a stop to the further progress of it ? 
There is one way by which it may be done, and let 
us of the estabhshed church join heart and hand in 
the work, namely, to live more holily, pray more fer- 
vently, preach more heavenly, and labor more dili- 
gently than the Methodist ministers appear to do. 
Then shall we soon hear that field-preaching is at an 
end, and people will flock to the churches to hear us, 
as they now flock to the fields to hear them.". 

To this Doddridge heartily responded, ''And let 



A GLANCE AT FAMILIAR FACES. 35 

US of the dissenting churches go and do hkewise." 
His earnest prayer was for greater union and har- 
mony among Protestant Christians. "0 for that 
happy time," sighed this healer of breaches, " when 
the question shall be, not how much we may lawfully 
dispute, but on the one side, what may we waive^ 
and on the other, what may we acquiesce in, from a 
principle of mutual tenderness and respect, without 
displeasing our common Lord, and injuring that 
great cause of original Cln-istianity which he hath 
appointed us to guard. But," he adds, "the dark- 
ness of our minds, the narrowness of our hearts, and 
our attachment to private interest, will put the day, 
I fear, afar off." 

A hundred years later, and we descry not yet its 
dawn. 



36 LADY HUNTING-TON. 



CHAPTER III. 

DOINa AND SUFFERING. 

Lady Huntington took a warm and active inter- 
est in promoting the Redeemer's kingdom; she not 
only lent her money and her name, hut she gave 
herself in personal efforts to seek and to save them 
which were lost. " For a fortnight past," she writes 
to Charles Wesley, " I have found that instruction, 
and some short exhortations to the weak, have been 
of great use, especially among my work people, with 
whom I spend a part of every day. I find much 
comfort in this myself, and am rarely if ever out of 
the presence of God, He is a pillar of light before 
me." 

Always intent upon seizing opportunities for 
speaking "to her dependents, she once addressed a la- 
borer at work on the garden wall, pressing him with 
affectionate earnestness to consider eternal things. 
Some time after, speaking to another upon the same 
subject, she said, '^Thomas, I fear you never pray, or 
look to Christ for salvation." 

'' Your ladyship is mistaken," replied the man ; 
"I heard what passed between you and James at 
the garden wall, and the word you meant for him 
took effect on me." 

"How did you hear it ?" she asked. 

"I heard it," Thomas answered, "on the other 



DOING- AND SUFFERING. 37 

side of the garden, through a hole in the wall, and I 
shall never forget the impression I received." 

In this one little incident we mark the germ of 
that which constituted the main element of that spir- 
itual awakening-coNQUEST, and conquest in the true 
line of Christian aggression. An unfledged hope, the 
quiet possession of spiritual immunities, a merely 
christened profession, did not satisfy her. She must 
not only he fed with the bread of life, hut she must 
also feed others ; she must not sit down herself at the 
Master's table, but go out and compel others to come 
in. At all times and everywhere, men were to be 
rescued from sin and its terrible penalties ; in all the 
glare, the activity, the interlaced and interlacing 
interests of the present and outward life, only two 
things concerned her — redemption, and retribution; 
they stood out bald and significant, charged with im- 
mortal issues : and all her purposes, all her induce- 
ments were shaped and carried forward under the ur- 
gency of motives grand and solemn as eternity itself. 
The folding of the hands, a sweet retirement into un- 
worldly places, a graceful withdrawal from forbidden 
things, was not her testimony to the exceeding sinful- 
ness of sin. She went from the altar and the mercy- 
seat warmed with holy zeal ; her presence aroused 
the moral consciousness of the most dormant ; her 
whole life was a constant exhortation, " Turn ye, 
turn ye ; for why will ye die ?" 

In 1744, the earl's family was afflicted by the 
loss of two beautiful boys, G-eorge and Fernando, 
who died of small-pox, then prevailing at London. 



38 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

With domestic sorrow then mingled public anxiety, 
the whole country being agitated by the last despe- 
rate effort of the exiled Stuarts to regain the throne 
of England. The nation was filled with alarms and 
rumors. In many of the larger towns riots occurred, 
in which the Methodist preachers were sometimes 
rudely attacked and grossly insulted. 

On one occasion Charles "Wesley was summoned 
before the magistrates of Yf akefield to answer for 
treasonable words let fall in prayer, wherein he be- 
sought the Lord to recall his "banished" ones, which 
was construed to mean the Pretender. 

" I had no thought of the Pretender," said the ac- 
cused to the official, ''but of those who confess them- 
selves strangers and pilgrims on the earth, who seek 
a country, knowing this is not their home. The 
scripture speaks of us as captive exiles, who are not 
at home until we reach heaven." The judges wise- 
ly accepted the spiritual interpretation, and let the 
prisoner go. 

In the struggle which followed. Col. Grardiner lost 
his life. On parting with his wife and eldest daugh- 
ter at Stirling castle, previous to the fatal engage- 
ment at Prestonpans, Lady Frances was more than 
ordinarily affected : instead of offering his accustom- 
ed consolations, and inspiring hope by his own cheer- 
fulness, he only said, '' We have an eternity to spend 
together." 

The fall of this excellent man not only bereaved 
a large and fond family, but spread sorrow over a 
wide circle of friends, and sadness through the na- 



DOINa AND SUFFERINa. 39 

tion. Heavy are the costs of war — " and heavy is 
this affliction to Lady Frances and the children," ex- 
claimed Lady Huntington ; '^ but he has gone to the 
great Captain of his salvation, to sing the wonders of 
that love which hath redeemed him, and made him 
meet for the saints in light." So does "hope in 
Christ" point heavenward. Doddridge preached an 
impressive sermon upon the occasion, which was 
afterwards published, and a hundred copies sent to 
Lady Huntington for circulation. At a later date 
appeared his well-known memoir, which has been 
read and reread all over the world. 

"Within less than a year. Lady Frances Grardiner 
was called to reciprocate the sympathies of her 
friend. Earl Huntington died of apoplexy on the 
13th of October, 1746, at his mansion in Downing- 
street, Westminster, aged fifty, leaving his wife at 
the age of thirty-nine in the sole charge of his family 
and fortune. He was a man of unblemished charac- 
ter, and though not a believer in the distinctive the- 
ology of his wife, he courteously entertained her re- 
ligious friends, and listened with admiration to the 
eloquent preachers of that day. "The morality of 
the Bible I admire," he says, "but the doctrine of 
the atonement I cannot understand." 

His sisters were eminent for their piety, and Mar- 
garet became the wife of Rev. Benjamin Ingham, 
whose preaching first led her to the Saviour. After 
the earl's death, the family retired to Donnington 
Park, where the countess spent in privacy the first 
six months of her widowhood. Some extracts from 



40 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

lier letters to Doddridge admit us to tlie inner sanc- 
tuary of lier heart. 

" I hope you will never care about the ceremony 
of time in your letters to me, but just when attended 
with greatest ease to yourself, for we both agree that 
the one thing worth living for must be, proclaiming 
the love of G-od to man in Christ Jesus. As for me, 
I want no holiness he does not give me ; I can wish 
for no liberty but what he likes for me, and I am 
satisfied with every misery he does not redeem me 
from, that in all things I may feel, 'without him I 
can do nothing.' 

" My family consists of two sons and as many 
daughters ; for all of them I have nothing to do but 
to praise G-od. The children of so many prayers and 
tears, I doubt not shall one day be blest, your prayers 
for us all helping. The hint you gave me is great 
matter of joy to me ; my soul longeth for grace. 

" May the Lord give us all such love, to live and 
to die to him, and for him alone. I am, with most 
kind respects for Mrs. Doddridge, your most sincere, 

but weak and unworthy friend, 

"S. H." 

Again she writes, "Some important time is comb- 
ing. Oh, might I hope it is that time when aU 
things shall be swallowed up by the enlightening 
and comforting displays of our glorious Redeemer's 
kingdom. My hopes are not only full of immortal- 
ity, but of this. Your works are blessed, and G-od is 
making you a polished shaft in his quiver. I want 
every body to pray with you and for you, that you 



DOING AND SUFFERING. 41 

may wax stronger and stronger. I have had a letter 
from Lord Bolingbroke, who says, ' I desire my com- 
pliments and thanks to Dr. Doddridge, and I hope 
I shall continue to deserve his good opinion.' " 

During the lifetime of the earl. Lady Huntington's 
time was necessarily engrossed hy many cares, which 
withheld her from the friends and the interests which 
lay nearest to her heart. As mistress of his princely 
mansions, she had duties to general society which 
could not be slighted ; respect and affection for him 
controlled her private preferences, and without mak- 
ing her disloyal to her religious convictions, blended 
her interests with his own. The tie is now broken : 
she meekly bears the chastisement ; more than ever 
she feels herself a stranger and a pilgrim in the pres- 
ent and outward world ; more than ever she feels 
herself a subject of that spiritual kingdom which 
Christ came to set up ; and henceforth we find un- 
folding that lofty energy of character, which has 
identified her name with the revived Christianity of 
her day. 

Returning again to society. Lady Huntington 
may be seen journeying through Wales. The party 
is large, composed of her two daughters, her sisters 
Anne and Frances Hastings, several clergymen, and 
other religious friends. Is it a jaunt of pleasure ? a 
tour of aimless excitement ? a seeing of new things for 
the sake of killing time ? 

Let us first pause and look around on the moral 
wastes of this English soil. *' While there was little 
zeal in the great body of the clergy," says Southey, 



42 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

''many causes combined which rendered this want 
of zeal more and more injurious. The population 
had doubled since the settlement of the church un- 
der Elizabeth, yet no provision had been made for in- 
creasing proportionally the means of moral and re- 
ligious instruction, which in the beginning had been 
insufficient. In reality, though the temporal advan- 
tages of Christianity extended to all classes, the great 
majority of the populace knew nothing more of re- 
ligion than its forms. They had been Papists for- 
merly, and now were Protestants, but they had never 
been Christians. The Reformation had taken away 
the ceremonies to which they were attached, and sub- 
stituted nothing in their stead. There was the Bible 
indeed, but to the great body of the laboring people, 
the Bible was even in the letter a sealed book." 

Here then was the rudeness of the peasantry, the 
brutality of the town populace, the prevalence of 
drunkenness, the growth of impiety, a general dead- 
ness to religion ; and it was this brutish ignorance, 
this stiff-necked degradation, this famine of the word 
of G-od and all means of moral elevation, which at 
once demanded the labors of such men as Whitefield, 
Wesley, and their coadjutors, and inspired them with 
that resistless zeal which made their preaching like 
the fire and the hammer upon the flinty rock. Every- 
where^ on all sides, was spiritual ivaiit ; it was not 
only seen among the abandoned, but felt in the 
general indifference to religion among the mid- 
dling classes, in the sceptical spirit which pervaded 
the higher, and the almost total lack of earnestness 



DOlNa AND SUFFERINa. 43 

in professed Christians, both among the clergy and 
laity. 

What a demand for laborers on this harvest-field. 
The single and uppermost thought of those raised up 
of God and sent to these famishing multitudes was, 
" To the rescue." Their simple and heartfelt mes- 
sage was, " Repent, and believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ." This was not only the pervading element 
of the preachers, but also of private Christians. As 
Christ came to seek and to save them which were 
lost, so must his disciples go forth bearing his invita- 
tions &f mercy, leading men from sin and shame to 
those ways which are pleasantness, and to those paths 
which are peace. 

So felt Lady. Huntington. The party set out 
from Bath, and in its journey through Wales travelled 
slowly, stopping at the towns and villages on the route, 
in order to give the preachers an opportunity of ad- 
dressing the people whenever a congregation could be 
gathered. Multitudes flocked to hear them. 

Indeed, the preachers knew something of their 
hearers : one of them was G-riffith Jones of Aber- 
cowyn, author of a plan for instructing his country- 
men, known as the "Welsh circulating schools." 
The ignorance and heathenism of the peasantry he 
had deeply deplored. On his first settlement in 
1711, before he admitted communicants, he began 
by carefully examining them in Christian doctrine ; 
but he soon found that those who most needed the 
instruction, men grown up in ignorance, were un- 
willing to attend, because unable to answer the ques- 



44 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

tions put to them. He then fixed upon Saturday 
before the communion for distributing to the poor 
their supply of bread, bought with the money col- 
lected at the previous communion. These he gath- 
ered into a class, and by his great kindness of man- 
ner won their confidence and love, until he at last 
encouraged them to learn short lessons from the Bible. 
Thus it became a custom among his poor parishioners 
to repeat a verse of Scripture on receiving their 
monthly allowance of bread. By this direct and per- 
sonal intercourse with the poor, he learned how vague 
and imperfect were their notions of Christianity, and 
how little the Sabbath service could effect, without 
the aid of other means of instruction. With this 
data he resolved to act, and his first school was estab- 
lished in 1730 in one of his parishes, Llanddowror. 
Another soon followed ; and these were attended with 
results so obviously good, that he soon received the 
cooperation of several efficient persons, and a generous 
donation of Bibles and other books from the Society 
for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 

In ten years, one hundred and twenty-eight schools 
were in operation, with nearly eight thousand per- 
sons taught to read the Scriptures in the "Welsh lan- 
guage, catechized, instructed in psalmody, and under 
the general supervision of Christian schoolmasters, 
trying in various ways to promote their best good. 
G-riffith Jones was a popular as well as a faithful 
preacher ; his greatest excellence was " gavaelgar ar 
y gydwybod," or a grasp on the conscience; and 
accustomed as he had been to preaching-tours, and 



DOING AND SUFFERINa. 45 

gray as he had grown in the service of his hardy 
countrymen, his very presence was Hke the ringing 
of the sabhath bells for the people to come and 
hear. 

Beside him is a younger brother, a Welsh Boa- 
nerges, HowEL Harris. Grreet him and cherish him, 
for he deserves well of those who love the Lord. 
Though destined for the church, he received no seri- 
ous impressions until twenty-one, when this passage 
from a sermon, " If you are unfit to visit the table of 
the Lord, you are unfit to visit the church, you are 
unfit to live and unfit to die," fastened powerfully 
upon his conscience. On his way from church, meet- 
ing a person whom he had wronged, he instantly 
confessed his fault and begged to be forgiven; and 
thousrh fears and remorse for a lonof time darkened 
his soul, he stoutly determined to give himself to the 
service of Grod, and began to warn his neighbors to 
flee from the wrath to come. In 1735 he returned 
to Oxford to complete his studies, but the immorali- 
ties of the university disgusted him, and he returned 
home. He betook himself henceforth to the poor of 
his native land. In the cottaare and the field he is 
preaching the doctrines of the cross. So many came 
to him for instruction, that at the close of the year he 
formed them into societies. "In the formation of 
these," he tells us, " I followed the rules of Dr. Wood- 
w^ard, in a book written by him on the subject. Pre- 
viously to this, no societies of the kind had been 
founded either in England or Wales. The English 
Methodists had not become famous as yet, although. 



46 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

as I afterwards learned, several of them in Oxford 
were at that time under strong religious influences." 

They were not organized either as Methodist or 
dissenting congregations, nor indeed with any view 
of their ever separating from the church. The revival 
of religion in the church was his avowed purpose at 
first, and. his proposed ohject through life. 

In 1739 "Whitefield and Harris met for the first 
time in the town-hall of Cardiff, where the former, 
fresh from the glowing scenes of Bristol, poured forth 
his impassioned eloquence to his Welsh auditory, 
among whom was Howel Harris. Of the mutual 
delight afibrded by the interview, which immediately 
afterwards took place, "Whitefield said characteris- 
tically, '' I douht not Satan envied our happiness ; 
hut I hope by the help of G-od we shall make his 
kingdom shake." 

Such then wore the men attached to Lady Hunt- 
ington's party. On arriving at Trevecca, Brecknock- 
shire, the birthplace of Howel Harris, they remained 
several days, the preachers addressing, four or five times 
a day, immense crowds, who came from all the coun- 
try round about. Twenty years afterwards, Trevecca 
was one of the principal centres of the countess' 
mfluence. 

" On a review of all that I have seen and heard," 
exclaimed she, on their return home, " I am constrain- 
ed to cry, ' Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is 
within me bless his holy name.' The sermons con- 
tained the most solemn and awful truths, such as the 
utter ruin of man by the fall and his redemption by 



DOING- AND SUFFERING. 47 

the Lord Jesus Christ, the energetic declaration of 
which produced quite a sensible effect on many, 
who, there is reason to believe, were brought from 
nature's darkness to the marvellous light of the all- 
glorious gospel. My earnest prayer to Grod for them 
is, that they may contmue in his grace and truth." 

Of a journey thus conducted, we cannot but regret 
that the only memorials are the brief sketches of a 
hastily penned journal by Lady Frances Hastings. 
Though undertaken for the countess' health, it seems 
really to have been a home missionary tour ; a rare 
union, we may venture to assert, in those days as 
well as our own, when travelling, even among pro- 
fessing Christians, is too often a time for " casting off 
fear and restraming prayer." 

Not long after the countess' return, Doddridge 
paid a visit to London. During his stay he thus 
writes to his wife : *' I can conclude by telling you 
that I am at the close of one of the most pleasant 
days I shall ever spend without you. After an hour's 
charming conversation with Lady Huntington and 
Mrs. Edwin, I preached in her family by express de- 
sire, and met Colonel Crumley, who is really a second 
Colonel G-ardiner. After dinner the ladies entertained 
us with their voices and a harpsichord, with which I 
was higlily delighted ; and I have stolen a hymn 
which I believe to have been written by good Lady 
Huntington, and which I shall not fail to communi- 
cate to you. She is quite a mother to the poor ; she 
visits them and prays with them in sickness, and 
they leave their children to her for a legacy when 



48 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

they die, and she takes care of them. I was really 
astonished at the traces of religion which I discovered 
in her and Mrs. Edwin, and cannot but glorify Grod 
for them. More cheerfulness I never saw mingled 
with so much devotion. Lady Frances Grardiner 
sets out on Monday next. I have taken my leave 
of her," 




Eng'^'by F.Ealpm. 



(Bm(^m(B-m wisihie'iiifeiiilie), 



JhcblUheS^ly ihe^- ^Tnericcmyl^aot-Saaisty , 



WHITEFIELD. 49 



CHAPTER IV. 

WHITEFIELD. 



In 1728 there was a young man struggling through 
Oxford, paymg his way as servitor at Pembroke col- 
lege. "At first he was rendered uncomfortable by 
the society into which he was thrown : he had several 
chamber-fellows, who would fain have made him join 
in their riotous mode of life ; and as he could only 
escape from their persecutions by sitting alone in his 
study, he was sometimes benumbed with cold ; but 
when they perceived the strength as well as the sin- 
gularity of his character, they suffered him to take 
his own way in peace." 

Before he came to Oxford, he had heard of the 
young men there "who lived by rule and method," 
and were therefore called Methodists. They were 
now much talked of, and generally despised. He, 
however, was drawn towards them by kindred feel- 
ings, defended them strenuously when ho heard them 
reviled, and when he saw them go through a jeering 
crowd to receive the Lord's supper at St. Marys, was 
strongly inclined to follow their example. For more 
thanl year he yearned to be acquainted with them, 
but it seems that a sense of his inferior condition kept 
him back. At length the great object of his desires 
was effected. A pauper had attempted suicide, and 
he sent a poor woman to inform Charles Wesley, that 



Huntiugton. 



50 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

he might visit the person and administer spiritual 
medicine ; the messenger was charged not to say who 
sent her ; contrary to these orders she told his name, 
and Charles Wesley, who had seen him frequently 
walking by himself, and heard something of his char- 
acter, invited him to breakfast the next morning. An 
introduction to this little fellowship soon followed, and 
he also, like them, "began to live by rule, and pick 
up the very fragments of his time, that not a moment 
of it might be lost." 

This young man was Greorge Whitefield, and thus 
has the graphic pen of Wesley's biographer described 
his first introduction to that little society, whose mem- 
bers afterwards stamped their influence so broadly on 
that and subsequent time. 

After leaving Oxford and taking deacon's orders, 
he began to preach at Bristol, and exhibit that impas- 
sioned eloquence which moved and melted both the. 
old world and the new. He preached about five times 
a week to such congregations that it was with great 
difficulty that he could make his way along the 
crowded aisles to the reading-desk. "Some hung 
upon the rails of the organ-loft, others climbed upon 
the leads of the church, and all together made the 
church so hot with their breath, that the steam would 
fall from the pillars like drops of rain." Whsn he 
preached his farewell-sermon, and said to the people 
that perhaps they might see his face no more, high and 
low, old and young, burst into tears. Multitudes, after 
the sermon, followed him home weeping ; the next 
day he was employed from seven in the m.orning un- 



WHITEFIELD. 51 

til midnight in talking and giving spiritual advice to 
awakened hearers ; and he left Bristol secretly in the 
middle of the night, to avoid the ceremony of being 
escorted by horsemen and coaches out of the town. 

While at London it was necessary to place con- 
stables at the doors, both within and without, such 
multitudes assembled ; and on Sunday mornings in 
the latter months of the year, long before day, you 
might have seen the streets filled with people going 
to hear him, with lanterns in their hands. 

" The man who produced such extraordinary 
effects," says Southey, "had many natural advan- 
tages. He was something above the middle stature, 
well proportioned, though at this time slender, and 
remarkable for a native gracefulness of manner. His 
complexion was very fair, his eyes small and lively, of 
a dark blue color ; in recovering from the measles, he 
had contracted a squint with one of them, but this 
peculiarity rather rendered the expression of his coun- 
tenance more remarkable, than in any degree lessened 
the effect of its uncommon sweetness. His voice 
excelled both in melody and compass, and its fine 
modulations were happily accompanied by that grace 
of action which he possessed in an eminent degree, 
and which has been said to be the chief requisite of 
an orator." Garrick said he could make men weep 
or tremble at his varied utterance of the word Meso- 
potamia. 

To these natural gifts and graces was added a 
deep conviction of the greatness and the grandeur of 
his calling, as a messenger of G-od. His maxim was 



62 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

to preach as Apelles painted, for eternity. Wlien a 
young man, Dr. Delany once remarked in his hear- 
ing, ''I wish, whenever I go into the pulpit, to look 
upon it as the last time that I may ever preach, or 
the last time the people may hear." This, Whitefield 
never forgot. lie often said, '' "Would ministers preach 
for eternity, they would act the part of true Christian 
orators, for then they would endeavor to move the 
affections and warm the heart, and not constrain their 
hearers to suspect that they dealt in the false com- 
merce of unfelt truth." 

Whitefield broke away from the popularity thus 
strongly flowing in upon him, to follow his heloved 
college companions the "Wesleys to the new world ; 
hut not, as he expected, to labor with them in G-eorgia, 
for the ship which carried him sailed from the Downs 
only a few hours before that which brought "Wesley 
home anchored on the English coast. 

He remained a year in Georgia, w^here he seems 
not to have experienced any of those peculiar trials 
which hindered the usefulness of Wesley. He returned 
to England in 1739, in order to receive deacon's 
orders and to raise contributions for the establishment 
of an orphan-house at Bethesda, twelve miles from 
Savannah, after the famous model of Professor Franke's 
in Halle ; the history and success of which seems to 
have created a profound interest among the Christians 
of that day, when charitable institutions of any 
magnitude scarcely existed, and long before the 
great religious associations of our time had been con- 
ceived. 



WHITEFIELD. 53 

Among the news of this period, the celebrated 
Countess of Hereford thus writes to a friend on the 
continent: ''I do not know whether you have heard 
of a new sect, who call themselves Methodists. There 
is one Whitefield at the head of them, a young man 
of five and twenty, who has for some months gone 
about preaching in the fields and market-places in 
the country, and in London at May-fair and Moor- 
fields, to ten or twelve thousand people at a time. He 
went to Greorgia with Greneral Oglethorpe, and returned 
to take priest's orders, which he did; and I believe 
since that time hardly a day has passed that he has 
not preached once, and generally twice. At first, he 
and some of his brethren seemed only to aim at restor- 
ing the practice of the primitive Christians as to daily 
sacra,ments, stated fasts, frequent prayers, relieving 
prisoners, visiting the sick, and giving alms to the 
poor ; but upon sound men refusing these men their 
pulpits, they have betaken themselves to preaching 
in the fields, and they have such crowds of followers, 
that they have set in a flame all the clergy in the 
kingdom, who represent them as hypocrites and en- 
thusiasts. As to the latter epithet, some passages in 
Mr. Whitefield's latest journals seem to countenance 
the accusation ; but I think their manner of living 
has not afforded any grounds to suspect them of 
hypocrisy. The Bishop of London, however, has 
thought it necessary to write a pastoral letter to warn 
the people of his diocese against being led away by 
them ; and Dr. Trapp has published a sermon upon ' the 
great folly and danger of being righteous overmuch,' 



54 LADY HUNTINGTON. ' 

a doctrine wMch does not seem absolutely necessary 
to be preached to the people of the present age." 

It was not until his second visit to America and 
return to England, that difference of theological views 
began to cloud the friendship which had subsisted 
between the two distinguished preachers, Whitefield 
and John Wesley. We should approach the rupture 
with sadness, only as such things ''must needs be" 
in our present state of imperfect knowledge and feeble 
grace. 

While the storm was brewing, '' My honored friend 
and brother," wrote Whitefield to Wesley, "for once 
hearken to a child, who is willing to wash your feet. 
I beseech you, by the mercies of (xod in Christ Jesus 
our Lord, if you would have my love confirmed towards 
you, write no more to me about the misrepresentations 
wherein we differ. Why should we dispute, when 
there is no possibility of convincing ? Will it not in the 
end destroy brotherly love, and insensibly take from 
us that cordial union and sweetness of soul, which I 
pray G-od may always subsist between us ? How glad 
would the enemies of the Lord be to see us divided. 
How would the cause of our common Master every 
way suffer by our raising disputes about particular 
points of doctrine. Honored sir, let us offer salvation 
freely to all by the blood of Jesus, and whatever light 
G-od has communicated to us, let us freely communi- 
cate to others." 

Happy were it for the Christian world, if the ad- 
mirable temper of this letter could govern its divided 
friends and clashing sects ; but admirable as it was, 



WHITEFIELD. 55 

and however it might* have conciliated the resolute 
and uncompromising spirit of Wesley, the breach 
widened, for on hotli sides there were friends and 
followers who fanned the flame, and Whitefield after- 
wards wrote in an altered and recriminating tone. 

With such questions at issue, involving points of 
doctrine which no human intellect has ever mastered, 
a rupture became inevitable. When Whitefield re- 
turned to the scene of his early triumphs, "he came 
to his own, and his own received him not." His 
Kingswood school was in the hands of Wesley ; and 
at London a temporary shed, called the Tabernacle, 
served to shelter his spiritual children since their 
exodus from the foundry. At this period Whitefield 
says sadly, " The world is angry with me, and num- 
bers of my own spiritual children. Some say, that 
God will destroy me in a fortnight, and that my fall 
will be as great as Peter's. Scarce one comes to see 
me from morning till night, and on Kensington com- 
mon I have not above a hundred to hear me. I am 
much embarrassed in my circumstances. A thou- 
sand pounds I owe for the orphan-house. I am threat- 
ened to be arrested for two hundred pounds more. 
My travelling expenses also are to be defrayed. A 
family of one hundred to be daily maintained, four 
thousand miles off", in the dearest place of the king's 
dominions — all my work is to begin again." 

Their counsels divided and their ranks broken, 
there seemed to be a weak betrayal of their Master's 
cause. Were the Apolloses and Cephases thus to 
come in and assert their shallow claims, and plunder 



56 LADY HUNTING-TON. 

the church of her men and means ? It was not so 
to be. 

In spite of the dissents and jarrings which must 
needs come, the leaders of that day more truly com- 
prehended their mission ; their spiritual gains were 
not to be scattered, nor their spiritual strength wast- 
ed in a bitter household squabble : there was a wor- 
thier work for them. Whitefield and Wesley loved each 
other, and the soul of each glowed with the \^arm 
charities of the gospel ; they loved a common Master, 
whose cause lay nearest their hearts, and while each 
proclaimed its great normal principle, salvation by a 
crucified Redeemer^ with a loving earnestness, each 
linked with it his own peculiar system of doctrines. 

When we see the chafing and champing of world- 
ly and sometimes even religious men at the ebbing 
of their popularity, it is encouraging to turn to one 
who not only knew the solidity of his own principles, 
but could steadily anchor on them and calmly take 
the surges and the spray. 

"What is a little scourge of the tongue?" says 
Whitefield. "¥,^hat is a thrusting out of the syna- 
gogue ? The time of temptation will be, when v/e 
are thrust into an inner prison and feel the non enter- 
ing into our souls. G-od's people may be permitted 
to forsake us for a while, but the Lord Jesus can 
stand by us. And if thou, dearest Redeemer, 
wilt strengthen me in my inward man, let enemies 
plunge me into a fiery furnace, or throw me into a 
den of lions. Let us suffer for Jesus with a cheerful 
heart. His love will sweeten every cup, though never 



WHITEFIELD. 57 

SO bitter. May all disputing soon cease, and each of 
us talk of nothing but Him crucified: this is my 
resolution.'''' 

And his Hfe corresponded to it, in adversity as 
well as in prosperity. Herein was the singleness of 
Whitefield's piety : one aim governed and sustained 
him through a long and laborious career — and it was 
preaching Christ. 

At what time Lady Huntington first became 
acquainted with Whitefield does not appear. On her 
return from Wales, he was expected in England from 
his third visit to America. When he landed at Deal, 
she immediately sent Howel Harris to bring him to 
her own house in Chelsea, where he preached to large 
circles of the gay world, who thronged this fashion- 
able watering-place. For the benefit of this class of 
hearers, she soon after removed to London, appointed 
Whitefield her chaplain, and during the winter of 
1748 and '49 opened her splendid mansion in Park- 
street for the ministrations of the gospel. 

'* Grood Lady Huntington," writes he, ''has come 
to town, and I am to preach twice a week at her 
house to the great and noble. that some of them 
might be effectually called to taste the riches of re- 
deeming love." On the day appointed, Chesterfield, 
Bolingbroke, and a circle of the nobility attended; 
and having heard him once, they desired to come 
again. " Lord Chesterfield thanked me," he says. 
" Lord Bolingbroke was moved, and asked me to 
come and see him the next morning. My hands have 
been full of work, and I have been among great com- 



58 LADY HUNTINaX02T. 

pany. All accepted my sermons. Thus the world 
turns round : * In all time of my wealth, good Lord, 
deliver me.' " 

Although Whitefield used the current compliments 
of address common to that period, more fulsome then 
than now in England, and at either time sounding 
oddly enough to us on this side of the Atlantic, he 
never hetrayed his office as the minister of G-od, hut^ 
warned, rebuked, and exhorted men with all fidelity, 
as well as with all affection. 

"As ioY praying in your family, I entreat you 
not to neglect it," he said to the old Scotch Marquis 
of Lothian, who would fain have been like Nicodemus, 
a Christian in the dark. '' You are bound to do it. 
Apply to Christ to overcome your present fears ; they 
are the effects of pride or infidelity, or both." 

The death-bed of Lord St. John, who was one of 
the hearers of this parlor preaching, exhibited scenes 
unusual in the circle where he moved : the Bible was 
read to him, and his cry was, ''Grod be merciful to 
me a sinner !" '^ My Lord Bolingbroke," wrote Lady 
Huntington to Whitefield, "was much struck with 
his brother's language in his last moments. that 
his eyes might be opened by the illuminating influence 
of divine truth. He is a singularly awful character ; 
and I am fearfully alarmed, lest the gospel which he 
so heartily despises, yet affects to reverence, should 
prove the savor of death unto death to him. Some, 
I trust, are savingly awakened, while many are in- 
quiring ; thus the great Lord of the harvest hath 
put honor on your ministry, and hath given my heart 



WHITEFIELD. 59 

an encouraging token of the utility of our feeble 
efforts." . 

Under her auspices, a prayer-meeting was estab- 
lished for those females who, from the circles of rank 
and fashion, became the followers of the Lord. Among 
these were Lady Frances G-ardiner, Lady Mary Ham- 
ilton, daughter of the Marquis of Lothian, who had 
attended the ministry of Whitefield in Scotland, Lady 
G-ertrude Hotham and Countess Delitz, sisters of 
Lady Chesterfield, Lady Chesterfield herself, and 
Lady Fanny Shirley, of whom Horace Walpole wrote 
in his scoffing way to a friend on the continent, " If 
you ever think of returning to England, you must 
prepare yourself with Methodism : this sect increases 
as fast as ever almost any other religious nonsense did. 
Lady Fanny Shirley has chosen this way of bestow- 
ing the dregs of her beauty, and Mr. Lyttleton is very 
near making the same sacrifice of the dregs of all 
those various characters that he has worn. The 
Methodists love your big sinners, and indeed they 
have a plentiful harvest." 

" There needed," said one, " strong consolation in 
order to resist the strong temptations presented by a 
frivolous court, a witty peerage, and a learned bench 
in favor of a formal religion. Nothing but the 'joy 
of the Lord' could have sustained them in such a 
sphere. Happiness in religion was the best security 
for their holiness. They could not be laughed out of 
a good hope through grace. Wit or banter may make 
persisting a weakness or a fancy, but they cannot 
make hope, peace, and joy appear absurd. Neither 



60 LADY HUNTINaXON. 

the severe denunciations of "WarLurton, or the polish- 
ed sarcasm of Chesterfield, could touch the conscious- 
ness of peace in helieving, or of enjoyment m secret 
prayer, in the hearts of those peeresses who had found 
at the cross and the mercy-seat the happiness they 
had sought in vain from the world." 

" Religion was never so much the subject of con- 
versation as now," writes Lady Huntington to Dod- 
dridge. ^' Some of the great ones hear with me the 
gospel patiently, and thus much seed is sown by Mr. 
Whitefield's preaching. that it may fall on good 
ground, and bring forth abundantly. 

^' I had the pleasure, yesterday, of Mr. G-ibbon's 
and Mr. Crittenden's company to dine with me. Lord 
Lothian and Lady Frances Grardiner gave them the 
meeting, and we had truly a most primitive and heaven- 
ly day ; our hearts and voices praised the Lord, prayed 
to him, and talked of him. I had another lady pres- 
ent, whose face, since I saw you last, is turned Zion- 
ward. Of the 'honorable women,' I trust there are not 
a few ; patience shall have its proper work : and if 
we love our Lord, we must be tender over his lambs. 
I trust He will assist us to keep fanning the flame in 
every heart ; this, my friend, is our joyful task for the 
best Master we can serve, either in time or eternity. 
Do not let our hands hang down ; we must wrestle 
for ourselves and for all dead in their sins, till the day 
break and the shadows of time flee away." 

While thus solicitous for the spiritual Vv^elfare of 
those of her own rank, no less interested is she in her 
humbler neighbors ; to them her house was constantly 



WHITEFIELD. 61 

opened, that they also might be enriched by ''that 
faith which comes by hearing." On week-days her 
kitchen was filled by the poor of the flock, whom she 
supplied with all the means of religious profit which 
lay in her power. 

Meanwhile good and evil tidings come from "VYales. 
The winter -campaign of Howel Harris is attended 
with stormy weather. The gentry frown, the mag- 
istrates bristle, while the poor people, who hunger for 
his "good words," are sorely oppressed, nay, griev- 
ously tormented. On one excursion he did not take 
off" his clothes for seven days and nights, being obliged 
to meet his little congregation in solitary places at 
midnight, or by daylight in ravine or cleft, in order 
to avoid the persecuting vigilance of their enemies. 
" One man," says Harris, " was obliged to pay Sir ' 
"Watkins Wynn twenty shillings, several of my poor 
hearers five shillings, and one who paid the same 
sum before, was fined seven shillings more ; and this 
is the third time my poor sheep of this fold have been 
thus served." 

"When the matter came to Lady Huntington's 
knowledge, indignant at the injustice and bigotry of 
Sir "Watkins Wynn, with characteristic energy she 
instantly made a representation to the government 
of his infringement of the Act of Toleration ; the 
magistrates were rebuked by the higher law, and Sir 
"Watkins was ordered to return the fines to the pockets 
of the sufferers. 

Honorable exceptions, however, were there among 
the "Welsh magistrates. Harris having made an ap- 



62 LADY HUNTm&TON. 

poiiitment to meet the peasantry near Grarth, in Bre- 
consliire, the residence of Sir Marmaduke Grwynne, 
that gentleman, frightened by the reports concerning 
him, resolved on the occasion to do his duty as a 
magistrate, and stop proceedings of so disorderly and 
mobbish a character. Regarding the missionary as 
neither more nor less than a firebrand to church and 
state, Mr. Magistrate Grwymie prepared for a reso- 
lute attack, but wisely enough said to his family on 
going out, "I'll first hear the man myself, before 
I commit him." Accordingly he mingled with the 
congregation, lying in wait to pounce upon the 
preacher at every next word. " Why, he 's neither 
more nor less than an apostle," cried G-wynne in- 
wardly, his stout heart melting under the manner 
and earnest language of the man of G-od. The riot 
act lay asleep in his pocket, and at the end of the 
discourse he marched up to the rude platform, shook 
the preacher warmly by the hand, confessed his 
intention, asked his pardon, bade him preach while 
he lived, and took him back to Grarth to supper. 
Henceforth the countenance of the G-wynne family 
smiled on the new movements. Regardless of public 
or private censure. Sir Marmaduke stood stoutly up 
for the evangelists, and used all his influence for pro- 
moting the spread of the gospel in the regions round 
about. One of his daughters afterwards married 
Charles Wesley. 

In February, 1749, Whitefield left London a short 
time to recruit amid scenes less exciting, for rest he 
never knew. Lady Huntington goes to Clifton. Her 



WHITEFIELD. 63 

eldest son has become of age, and as Earl Hunting- 
ton, takes possession of Donnington park, Ledstone 
hall, with other patrimony belonging to his title. He 
then set out upon the fashionable continental tour. 
At Paris he is warmly greeted by the most distin- 
guished English residents, particularly introduced as 
he is by Lord Chesterfield, who pronounces him "one 
of the first peers of England, with merit and talents 
equal to his birth." 

Lady Elizabeth Hastings, the countess' eldest 
daughter, much admired for her grace, vivacity, and 
abilities, in March of this year was appointed "lady 
of the bedchamber" to the princesses Amelia and Car- 
oline, sisters of Greorge HI. She remained in office 
but a few months. In relation to it Horace Walpole 
said, " The queen of the Methodists got her daughter 
named for lady of the bedchamber to the princesses ; 
but it is all off again, as she will not let her play 
cards on Sunday." 



64 LADY HUNTINGTON, 



CHAPTER V. 



ROMAINE— ALAEMS. 



Here comes one with quick, elastic step ; his eye 
is keen ; his thin, yet strongly lined face is surmounted 
by a gray wig somewhat smitten by the hand of 
time ; his plain, and certainly not polished manners, 
are perhaps in keeping with the blue suit and coarse 
blue yarn stockings, in which he is usually seen ; he 
cannot stop for all the elaborate courtesies of life, for 
manifold cares and duties eat up his time, which he 
is bent on using wisely, as one who must give ac- 
count. Behold Rev. William Romaine, curate of St. 
Dunstans and St. Greorges, Hanover-square, London, 
whose searching and pungent appeals were at once 
the scorn and the delight of multitudes, and wdiose 
".Walk of Faith" held a prominent place on the book- 
shelves of our fathers fifty years ago. 

He was at Oxford with Whitefield and the Wes- 
leys, whom on account of their religious strictness 
and singularity he then avoided and despised. What- 
ever might have been his literary hopes or ambitious 
longings, he was the child of prayer, and trained 
by believing parents for the service of G-od. Thor- 
oughly instructed in the doctrines of the cross, he at 
length cordially embraced them, and the unfeigned 
faith which dwelt in his parents now became a living 
principle within his own bosom. 



ROMAINE. 65 

Having taken orders, he occasionally preached, but 
for seven years his time had been chiefly occupied in 
preparing for the press a new edition of the Hebrew 
Concordance and Lexicon of Marius de Calasio; and 
it was to further its progress with the printers that 
we find him in London in 1747, then thirty-three 
years of age. Having completed his arrangements, he 
determined to return to the north of England, where 
his friends resided, and vvdiere he was best known. 
His trunk was on shipboard, and he was hurriedly 
threading his way through the bustle of Cheapside 
on his route to the quay, when a stranger suddenly 
stopped him and asked if his name were not Ro- 
maine. " That is my name," answered the aston- 
ished young man. '' I knew your father, and I saw 
at a glance the father's look in the son," continued 
the gentleman. The two stood and talked. Before 
parting the stranger spoke of his interest in the 
vacant parishes of St. G-eorge and St. Botolph, and 
oifered to exert it m his behalf; and thus, on this 
chance and abrupt meeting, did the young preacher 
pause and make choice of his destiny for life. 

^' Had not Mr. Romaine met this stranger — ^had 
not the stranger been instantly struck with the son's 
resemblance to his father — ^had he not accosted him 
with a curiosity for which probably he himself could 
give no reason — ^liad he passed a moment sooner or 
later — ^liad the lectureship not been vacant — had not 
the conversation led to the cause of Mr. Romaine's 
leaving — in short," says Dr. Haweis, "if a thousand 
unforeseen circumstances had not concurred just at 



66 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

that critical moment, the labors of that great reviver of 
evangelical truth in the churches of London, humanly 
speaking, had heen lost to the metropolis, and with 
it aU the blessed consequences of his ministry, which 
thousands have experienced, and for which they will 
bless G-od to all eternity." 

Thus doeth He v/ho holds the thread of every 
circumstance : we are the web of his own great pur- 
poses. 

A general alarm prevailed in London at this time, 
1749, for fear of coming judgments. The universal 
corruption of morals, the mocking spirit of irreligion, 
and the heartlessness and hollowness of society on 
one side, the bold rebukes, the searching appeals, the 
fearless denunciations of the new preachers on the 
other, united with the report of earthquakes desolat- 
ing and destroying on the continent, conspired to 
kindle in the public mind a consciousness of deserved 
wrath, and a fearful apprehension of approaching 
calamities. There are times when whole communi- 
ties are thus startled into a sense of Grod, and great 
fears lay hold upon them. The shocks of earth- 
quake were now more sensibly felt in London than 
for many years. Houses were shaken, chimneys were 
thrown down, multitudes left the city, while crowds 
fled for safety to the open fields. Tower-hill, Kenning- 
ton-common, and Moorfields were thronged with men, 
women, and children. Places of worship became 
crowded. The "Wesley s preached incessantly, and 
Whitefield went out one time at midnight to address 
a dismayed and affrighted multitude in Hyde-park. 



ALARMS. 67 

Romaine also was intent upon improving these sol- 
emn opportunities. In addition to liis forcible appeals 
from the pulpit, and his faithful conversations in pri- 
vate, he published "An Alarm to the Careless World," 
\Yhich might speak where his voice could never reach. 
A sermon also appeared from the pen of Dr. Dod- 
dridge, entitled, " The Guilt and Doom of Caper- 
naum seriously recommended to the Inhabitants of 
London." 

"You have now, sirs," he says in the preface, 
"very lately had repeated and surprising demonstra- 
tions of the almighty power of that infinite and ador- 
able Being, whom in the midst of your hurries and 
amusements you are so ready to forget. His hand 
hath once and again, within these five weeks, lifted 
up your mighty city from its basis, and shook its mill- 
ion of inhabitants in their dwellings. The palaces 
of the great, nay, even of the greatest, have not been 
exempted, that the princes of the land might be wise, 
and its judges and lawgivers might receive instruc- 
tion. And is not the voice of this earthquake like that 
of the angel in the Apocalypse, flying in the midst of 
heaven, and having the everlasting gospel, saying with 
a loud voice, ' Fear Grod, and give glory to him, and 
worship liim that made heaven and earth V " 

"I suppose what you have so lately felt, to be the 
result of natural causes ; but remember, they were 
causes disposed by Him who, from the day in which 
he founded our island and laid the foundations of the 
earth, knew every circumstance of their operation 
with infinitely more certainty than the most skilful 



68 LADY HUNTINOTOK 

engineer the disposition and success of a mine which 
he hath prepared and directed, and which he fires 
in the appointed moment. And do not your hearts 
meditate terror ? Especially when you consider how 
much London hath done, and even you yourselves have 
done, to provoke the eyes of his holiness and awaken 
the vengeance of his almighty arm ? The second 
shock, it seems, was more dreadful than the first ; 
and may not the third he yet more dreadful than the 
second? So that this last may seem as a merciful 
signal to prepare for what may with the most ter- 
rible propriety be called an untimely grave indeed — 
a grave that shall receive the living with the dead. 
Think what you have lately felt ; and think whether 
in that amazing moment you could have done any 
thing material to prepare for another world, if eternity 
had depended upon that momentary preparation. A 
shriek of wild consternation, a cry as you were sink- 
ing, ' The Lord have mercy on us !' would proba- 
bly have been of very little significancy to those that 
have so long despised mercy, and would not have 
thought of asking it but in the last extremity." 

''Oh London, London," cries the preacher in his 
sermon, "dear city of my birth and education, seat of 
so many of my friends, seat of our princes and sena- 
tors, centre of our commune, heart of our island 
which must feel and languish and tremble and die 
with thee, how art thou lifted up to heaven; how 
high do thy glories rise, and how bright do they shine ! 
How great is thy magnificence ; hov^^ extensive thy 
commerce ; how numerous, how free, how happy 



ALARMS. 69 

thine inliabitants ; how happy, above all, in their 
religious opportunities ; how happy in the uncor- 
rupted gospel, so long and so faithfully preached in 
thy synagogues I But while we survey these heights 
of elevation, must we not tremble lest thou shouldst 
fall so much the lower, lest thou shouldst plunge so 
much the deeper in ruin ? 

"My situation, sirs, is not such as renders me 
most capable of judging concerning the moral charac- 
ter of this our celebrated metropolis. But who can 
hear what seem the most credible reports of it, and 
not take an alarm ? Whose spirit must not, like that 
of Paul at Athens, be stirred, when he sees the city so 
abandoned to profaneness, luxury, and vanity ? Is it 
indeed false, all that we hear ? Is it indeed accidental, 
all that we see ? Is London wronged, when it is said 
that great licentiousness reigns among most of its 
inhabitants, and great indolence and indifference to 
religion, even among those who are not licentious ? 
that assemblies for divine worship are much neglect- 
ed, or frequented with little appearance of seriousness 
or solemnity, while assemblies for pleasure are throng- 
ed, and attended with such eagerness that all the 
heart and soul seems to be given to them rather than 
to G-od ; that the Sabbath, instead of being religiously 
observed, is given to jaunts of pleasure into neighbor- 
ing villages, or wasted on beds of sloth, or at tables 
of excess ; that men of every rank are ambitious of 
appearing to be something more than they are, grasp- 
ing at business they cannot manage, entering into 
engagements they cannot answer, and so, after a vain 



70 LADY -HUNTINaiOl^. 

and contemptible blaze, drawing bankruptcy upon 
themselves and others ? that the poorer sort are 
grossly ignorant, wretchedly depraved, and aban- 
doned to the most brutal sensualities and infirmities ; 
while those who would exert any remarkable zeal to 
remedy these evils, by introducing a deep and warm 
sense of religion into the minds of others, are suspected 
and censured as whimsical and enthusiastical, if not 
designing men ? m a word, that the religion of our 
divine Master is by multitudes of the great and the 
vulgar openly renounced and blasphemed ? Men and 
brethren, are these things indeed so ? I take not upon 
me to answer absolutely that they are : but I will 
venture to say, that if they are indeed thus, London, 
as rich and grand and glorious as it is, has reason to 
tremble, and to tremble so much the more for its 
abused riches, grandeur, and glory." 

While some of the preachers were thus careful to 
improve the general alarm by a vigorous enforcement 
of divine truth, there were multitudes of the people 
no less anxious for spiritual instruction. St. Greorges, 
where Eomaine preached, was thronged ; and of this, 
some of the regular parishioners grievously complain- 
ed. The old E arl of Northampton reminded them that 
they bore the greater crowd of a ballroom, an assem- 
bly, and a playhouse, without inconvenience or com- 
plaint; ''and if," said he, ''the power to attract be 
imputed as a matter of admiration to Grarrick, why 
should it be urged as a crime against Romaine ? 
Shall excellence be excentionable only in divine 
things ?" 



ALARMS. 71 

But the thing was not to be borne. If the parish- 
ioners could bsar the preaching of the curate, the 
rector would not. Zeal in the preacher was at that 
time looked upon, in certain quarters, as one of the 
unpardonable sins of the pulpit ; for it reflected dis- 
credit upon a large body of the clergy, and whether 
he meant it- or not, was a rebuke upon the dead and 
formal ministry of his bretluren. Romaine was there- 
fore summarily dismissed from his curacy. Turned out 
of St. Greorges, but reluctant to part from many of his 
parishioners, he ventured to meet them at the house 
of one of their number ; for which alleged irregularity 
he was threatened with prosecution from the eccle- 
siastical court. On learning this, Lady Huntington 
immediately invited him to her house in Park-street, 
offered him her scarf, and made him her chaplain. 
Thus shielded by a peeress of the realm, he continued 
his labors, more vigorously than ever, for the spirit- 
ual good of his fellows. Romaine was at this time 
thirty-five years of age. 

^'God has been terribly shaking the metropolis," 
wrote Whitefield to Lady Huntington. "I hope it is an 
earnest of his giving a shock to secure sinners, and 
making them to cry out, '"What shall we do to be 
saved?' I trust, honored madam, you have been 
brought to believe on the Lord Jesus. What a mercy 
is this : to be plucked as a brand from the burning, 
to be one of those few mighty and 7ioble that are 
called effectually by the grace of G-od. What can 
shake a soul whose hopes are fixed on the Rock of 
ages ? Winds may blow, rains may and will descend 



72 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

even upon persons in the most exalted stations, but 
they that trust in the Lord never shall, never can be 
totally confounded." 

As the season advances, we turn from the excit- 
ing scenes of the metropolis, from its din and deprav- 
ity, to the green lawns and hawthorn hedges of the 
country. We hear the lark, 

" Blithe spirit 



Pouring its full heart 

In profuse strains of unpremeditated art ;" 

we cross the Ouse, perhaps at Olney, and see "display- 
ed its lilies newly blown ;" and following Whitefield, 
find him at Northampton in the hospitable home of 
Dr. Doddridge. The famous and somewhat unquiet 
visitor cannot disturb the sweet accord of the minis- 
ter's famxily, though the children gather around him, 
drawn by the tender warmth of his love for them. 
How vividly he tells the story of his London labors, 
and of the good countess whom their father loves ; 
or perhaps he recounts his travels among the wild 
forests and the tall red men of the new v/orld, to 
which they listen with eager interest ; or perhaps he 
discourses with the parents upon the marvellous works 
of G-od, or urges upon the young men of the academy 
the glorious gospel of his blessed Lord. But private 
ministrations are not for him. On a Tuesday morn- 
ing we find him preaching to Doddridge's family, and 
in the afternoon to above two thousand people in the 
neighboring field. 

Hervey comes to welcome him, James Hervey, 
one of the Oxford band, now curate in the little vil- 



DR. STOREHOUSE. 73 

lage of "Western Flavel, so near Northampton that he 
and Doddridge may often thread the green lanes to 
each other's houses and take sweet counsel in heav- 
enly things. Hervey is pale and attenuated, but great 
men find their way to his retired church, for his works 
are admired among the literary circles of the land. 
On tliis side of the waters he is best known as 
the author of '^ Meditations in a Graveyard," once a 
popular little volume, but now cast in the shade less 
for the serious tone of it, than for its airy flights of 
style. Hervey's heart glows while Whitefield talks. 

" Surely, I never spent a more delightful evening," 
exclaimed he, "or saw one that seemed to make 
nearer approaches to the felicity of heaven. A gentle- 
man of great worth and rank invited us to his house 
and gave us an elegant treat ; but how mean was his 
provision, how coarse his delicacies, compared with the 
fruit of my friend's lips. They dropped as a honey- 
comb, and were a well of life." 

Dr. Stonehouse is also of the company, once Dod- 
dridge's beloved family physician, now a physician of 
souls. An avowed infidel when he first came to 
Northampton, the preaching, conversation, writings, 
and counsels both of Doddridge and Hervey led him 
to reconsider the ground upon which he stood, discover 
his perilous condition, and flee to Jesus Christ for ref- 
uge from the wrath to come. He afterwards settled at 
Great and Little Cheveril, Wilts, where he became the 
spiritual guide of Hannah More, and the ''Mr. John- 
son" of her admirable and far-famed tract, " The Shep- 
herd of Salisbury Plain." After the death of his wife 

Huntington. 4 



74 LADY HCJNTlNaTON. 

he married Miss Ekins, a tenderly beloved ward of 
Dr. Doddridge, ''whose account of her expenses and 
estate was so just," says the husband on receiving the 
property of his bride, ''that he really did not do jus- 
tice to himself, in consequence of which we made his 
widow a handsome present for his undercharges." 

Meanwhile Lady Huntington is at Ashby de la 
Zouch, in Leicestershire, one of the manors belong- 
ing to Lord Huntington's family, a day's journey from 
Northampton, if the lumbering vehicles of a hundred 
years ago could make fifty miles a day. Here were 
the ladies Hastings, Frances, Anne, and Betty. After 
a while, Doddridge pays her a visit. On Sabbath 
forenoon he preached, while her domestic chaplain read 
the service ; in the evening the order was reversed, 
Doddridge prayed and the chaplain preached. " This 
is a true catholic spirit," exclaims the countess, "that 
wishes well to the cause of Christ in every denomi- 
nation. I wish all the dissenting ministers were like- 
minded, less attached to little punctilios, and more 
determined to publish the glorious gospel wherever 
men are assembled to hear, whether in a church, a 
meeting-house, a field, or a barn — less anxious to con- 
vince their bretliren in errors of discipline, and more 
solicitous to gather souls to Christ." 

Whitefield in his rounds at length halts at Ashby. 
" And Ashby -place is like a Bethel," he exclaims ; 
" we have the sacrament every morning, heavenly 
conversation all day, and preaching at night. This is 
to live at court indeed." Does not this picture remind 
us of the primitive Christians, when they continued 



WHITEFIELD. 75 

daily with one accord in the temple, breaking bread 
from house to house, eating their meat with gladness 
and singleness of heart, and praising Grod ? 

But the spirit and the preaching of Ashby-place 
did not suit the humor of the neighborhood. Riotous 
proceedings took place on various occasions, inflamed, 
it was said, by the dissenters ; perhaps "Whitefield 
comes nearer the truth when he exclaims, " Alas, how 
great and irreconcilable is the enmity of the serpent." 
The countess' house is threatened with ruin, and some 
persons on their way home narrowly escaped being 
murdered. " Ungratefal Ashby," cries Whitefield, 
" that thou knewest the day of thy visitation. I 
shall be glad to hear what becomes of the rioters. 
that your ladyship may live to see many of those 
Ashby stones become children to Abraham." 

To Lady G-ertrude Hotham, one of his London 
converts, he wrote, " Good Lady Huntington is weak 
in body, but strong in grace. Thousands and thou- 
sands flock to hear the word twice every day, and the 
power of G-od has attended it in a glorious manner. 
But the good people of Ashby were so kind as to mob 
round her ladyship's door while the gospel was preach- 
ing. Ashby is not worthy of so rich a pearl. You 
and Lady Fanny were constantly remembered at 
Ashby at the holy table." 

Whitefield staid here a fortnight, continuing in- 
stant in season and out of season in his Master's work, 
when he took leave and pushed on towards the north. 
As mails were not carried by coaches in England 
until nearly thirty years after this time, we may sup- 



76 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

pose there was little public accommodation for travel- 
lers. People went in their own conveyances. Let ns 
take a look at Whitefield, as his carriage drives out 
of Ashby on the road to Nottingham, drawn by a 
favorite pair of handsome black horses, doing credit 
to their keeping at the Ashby stables. It was on this 
journey, while he was preaching at Kendal, surround- 
ed by a listening multitude, that some of the baser 
sort, honoring the preacher in their own way, enter- 
ed the barn where his carriage was housed, hacked 
the leather, abused the trimmings, and cut off the 
horses' tails. ^' Still," he observes, '' G-od vouchsafes 
to prosper the gospel plough. Such an entrance has 
been made at Kendal as could not have been ex- 
pected. The people are importunate that I should 
return again, and the power of the Lord has been 
wonderfully displayed." 

At Nottingham, he was attended by great multi- 
tudes, who thronged every avenue to the place appoint- 
ed for him to preach in; in some places, " Satan ral- 
lied," he says, '' giving notice of me by calling the 
people to a bear-baiting : a drum is beat, and men are 
called to the market-place ; but the arrows of the 
Lord can disperse them." It was at Eotherham that 
several young men met at a tavern, and undertook on 
a wager to see who could best mimic him ; each in 
turn mounted the table, and opening a Bible, enter- 
tained his companions at the expense of every thing 
sacred. A youth by the name of Thorpe was to close 
the scene ; and he exclaimed, on taking his stand, " 1 
shall beat you all." Opening the Bible, his eye fell on 



WHITEFIELD. 77 

the solemn sentence, " Except ye repent, ye shall all 
likewise perish." It pierced the young man's soul. 
The truth mastered him. He spoke, but it was like 
a dying man to dying men. A profound seriousness 
spread over the company, and those who came to 
scoff went away to weep. He afterwards became a 
preacher, and for many years faithfully ministered in 
holy things ; and his son. Rev. William Thorpe, was 
for a long time one of the stated supplies of the White- 
field chapel in London. 

Whitefield visited Aberford, the residence of Ing- 
ham and Lady Margaret, where Ingham and Grrim- 
shaw joined him on his tour in Yorkshire. From 
Leeds he ^vrites to Lady Huntington, " Last night I 
preached to many, many thousands, and this morn- 
ing also at five o'clock. Methinks I am now got into 
another climate. It must be a warm one, where 
there are so many of G-od's people. Our pentecost is 
to be kept at Mr. G-rimshaw's. While at Haworth, 
Mr. G-rimshaw's curacy, the Lord's supper was fre- 
quently administered not only to the stated commu- 
nicants, but to hundreds ftom other quarters, who 
resorted hither on these solemn occasions, when it 
seemed emphatically, that the " Spirit was poured out 
from on high." " Pen," he writes to Hervey, " can- 
not well describe what glorious scenes have opened in 
Yorkshire. Since I was in Ashby, perhaps seventy or 
eighty thousand have attended the word preached in 
divers places. At Haworth, on Whit- Sunday, the 
church was thrice filled with communi-cants. It was 
a precious season." 



78 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

After travelling through different parts of Lan- 
cashire,Westmoreland, and Cumberland, accompanied 
by Ingham and one or two other kindred spirits, he 
departs for Scotland ; while we return to Ashby, and 
find Hervey there, among other guests. How feeble is 
he. Dr. Stonehouse can administer nothing for his 
relief, but advises him to go to London by easy stages, 
and try the effect of change of air ; and Lady Hunt- 
ington 'urges it. The next winter finds him lodged 
not with " his brother after the flesh," but with 'Hhe 
brother of his heart," Mr. Whitefield, at his house 
near Moorfields. Lady Huntington commends the 
invalid to the kind notice of her female friends ; at 
the house of Lady Fanny Shirley and Lady G-ertrude 
Hotham, he preaches as often as his strength admits, 
and it was to the former that he dedicates his new 
volume, " Theron and Aspasio." 

Early in the month of October, Whitefield comes 
back to Ashby, after long ranging about, as he says, to 
see who would believe the gospel report. 

" Your kind letter," he answers Doddridge, " finds 
me happy at our good Lady Huntington's, whose path 
shines brighter and brighter till the perfect day. 
Gladly shall I call upon you again, if the Lord spares 
my life ; but in the meanwhile, I shall not fail to pray 
that the work of our common Lord may more and 
more prosper in your hand. I thank you a thousand 
times for your kindness to the chief of sinners, and 
assure you, reverend sir, the affection is reciprocal. I 
go with regret from Lady Huntington. Do come and 
see her soon." 



WHITEFIELD. 79 

There were five clergymen now beneath her hospi- 
table roof, " and it is a time of refreshing from the 
presence of our G-od," she writes to her aunt, Lady 
Fanny. "Several of our little circle have been won- 
derfully filled with the love of G-od, and have had joy 
unspeakable and full of glory. It is impossible to con- 
ceive more real happiness than Lady Frances enjoys. 
Dear Mr. Whitefield's sermons and conversation are 
close, searching, experimental, awful, and awaken- 
ing. Surely God is wonderfully with him." 

Whitefield now returned to London. Lady Hunt- 
ington remained with her family at Ashby-place. 
Her health is delicate : Dr. Stonehouse still adminis- 
ters to her in bodily things, though he has just taken 
the cure of souls. He is thrown much into the society 
of those who are movers and actors in the great relig- 
ious movements of the day, some of whom are among 
his choicest friends ; yet he seems to have felt a strong 
repugnance to the term ' Methodist,' and perhaps it 
was in reference to his timid conservatism upon this 
point, that Lady Huntington urges, ' Go forth boldly, 
fear not the reproach of men, and preach the inesti- 
mable gift of God to impotent sinners.' " 

" For Christ's sake, dear Mr. Hervey," wrote 
Whitefield, " exhort Dr. Stonehouse, now that he 
hath taken the gown, to ' play the man ;' " and to the 
doctor himself he says, " I have thought of you and 
prayed for you much, since we parted at Northamp- 
ton. How wonderfully doth the Lord Jesus watch 
over you. How sweetly doth he lead you out of 
temptation. follow his leadings, my dear friend, 



V 



80 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

and let every, even the most beloved Isaac, be imme- 
diately sacrificed for Grod. Grod's law is our rule, and 
Grod will have all the heart or none. Agags will 
plead, but they must be hewn in pieces. May you 
quit yourself like a man, and in every respect behave 
like a good soldier of Jesus Christ." 

''Allow me to express my heartfelt gratitude for 
the very faithful manner in which you have placed 
my serious duties before me," he courteously replies 
to Lady Huntington, ''duties high and honorable, 
but arduous indeed. What holy and excellent exam- 
ples have I in the exalted piety and ministerial fidel- 
ity of Doddridge, Hervey, and Hartley, and the un- 
daunted zeal of that great apostle, Mr. Whitefield. 
May I bo a follower of them as they are of Christ, 
and whatever little differences may exist between us, 
may we all finally meet before the throne of G-od and 
the Lamb." 

Dr. Stonehouse is said to have become one of the 
most elegant preachers of the kingdom, and for the 
grace of propriety perhaps he was mainly indebted to 
Grarrick, whose famous criticism will bear repeating. 

Being once engaged to read prayers and preach 
at a church in London, he prevailed upon G-arriok to 
go with him. After the service, the actor asked the 
preacher what particular business he had to do when 
the duty was over. 

" None," said the other. 

" I thought you had," said Grarrick, " on seeing 
you enter the reading-desk in such a hurry. Nothing 
can be more indecent than to see a clergyman set 



GARRICK. 81 

about sacred business as if he were a tradesman, and 
go into church as if he wanted to get out of it as soon 
as possible." He next asked the doctor what books 
he had before him. 

'' Only the Bible and Prayer-book." 

'' Only the Bible and Prayer-book?" replied the 
player; ''why, you tossed them backwards and-- for- 
wards, and turned the leaves as carelessly, as if they 
were those of a daybook and ledger." 

The doctor acknowledged the force of the criti- 
cism by henceforth avoiding the faults it was designed 
to correct. Might not many a young preacher of our 
own day wisely profit by the same ? 



82 LADY HUNTINGTON, 



CHAPTER YI. 

DODDHIDaE. 

One of the finest expositions of Dr. Doddridge's 
own principles, of which it can justly be said he was 
a 'living epistle," we find in a sermon of his deliv- 
ered in January, 1750, before a meeting of ministers 
at Creaton, in Northamptonshire, upon '' Christian 
Candor and Unanimity." 

" To agree in our sentiments as to every point of 
doctrine or discipline, or as to the authority or expe- 
diency of every rite of worship that may he in ques- 
tion, is absolutely impossible. The best of men dif- 
fer — their understandings differ — ^various associations 
have been accidentally formed, and different princi- 
ples have been innocently and perhaps devoutly 
admitted, wliich even a course of just and sensible 
reasoning must necessarily lead to different conclu- 
sions. But," says the excellent man, "where we and 
our brethren agree in attending to the one thing 
which Christianity was designed to teach us, surely 
an agreement in that should unite our hearts, more 
than any difference consistent with that agreement 
should divide them. To reverence with filial love 
the Grod of heaven, and adore him with integrity of 
heart ; to honor Jesus his Son as the brightest image, 
subscribing to the truth of all he is known to have 
revealed, and the authority of all he is apprehended 




£ng<i "by F. aalpi^i 



IPSIUMIP ID)(0)ffi)in)IEIlIQ)©]E,2n)olD), 



-Puilishediy Ae- Ama-LauL I'rast^ SocU(^ . 



DODDRlDaE. 83 

to command ; conscientiously to abstain from every 
knoAvn evil, and to practise, as far as human infirmity 
will admit, the comprehensive precepts of living 
soberly, righteously, and godly ; still looking for the 
mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, 
setting the affections on those gTeat objects which 
the gospel opens to our view, and finally, being habit- 
ually ready to sacrifice life and all its enjoyments to 
that blessed hope — ^this, this, my brethren, is the 
essential character of every Christian ; and where we 
see this, shall we esteem it a difficult thing to live 
peaceably with him ? Shall we esteem it a praise 
that we do not censure, grieve, or injure him, because 
he follows not us? Is this the man to be. hated 
and suspected ? I will add, Can we refuse to embrace 
and esteem him, merely because he worships in an- 
other assembly, or according to a different form ; 
because he expresses his apprehensions about some 
of the doctrines in different words ; because he can- 
not see all we think we discern in some passages of 
Scripture, or because he imagines he sees some- 
thing which we discern not ? And is it, after all, so 
great a matter to love a character which, amidst all 
its imperfections, is m general so justly amiable ? 
Nay, instead of thinking much of any act of kindness, 
ought we not rather to lament that we can do no 
more ? Ought we not rather to endeavor to supply 
in our fervent prayers to God the lack of that further 
service which Christian benevolence dictates, but 
which the narrow limits of our condition or our nature 
will not allow us to perform ? 



54 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

" Methinks the matter might be safely rested 
here." And yet he finds it good to illustrate and en- 
force his principles hy many winning arguments ; and 
more powerfully still did he commend them by his 
own example of loving fellowship with Hervey and 
Romaine, with Whitefield and Ingham, and indeed 
with all of whatever name who could reciprocate 
such charity. May not Doddridge thus speak to us? 
Let us filially contemplate this phase of his character, 
if haply we may catch his spirit and profit by his 
teachings. 

On being published, this discourse was dedicated 
to Lady Huntington, '' that eminent example of 
Christian candor here recommended, and of every 
other virtue and grace which can inspire, support, 
and adorn it." 

In June we find Doddridge at Ashby, and from a 
letter written to his beloved pupil and ministerial 
brother, Rev. Benjamin Fawcett of Kidderminster, we 
find some notes of pleasant memory. 

'' Lady Huntington, for whom I desired your pray- 
ers, is wonderfully recovered. She walked with me in 
the garden and park, and almost wearied me, such 
is her recruit of strength ; but the strength of her 
soul is amazing. I think I never saw so much of the 
image of G-od in any woman upon earth. "Were I to 
write what I know of her, it would fill your heart 
with wonder, joy, and praise. She desired me to 
educate a lad for the dissenting ministry at her ex- 
pense, till he be fit to come to my academy ; and this 
is but one of a multitude of good works which she is 




DODDRIDaE. 86 

binually performing. I must tell you, however, 
one observation which struck me much : ' None,' 
said she, ' know how to prize Christ, but those 
who are zealous in good works. Men know not till 
they try, what imperfect things these best works are, 
and how deficient we are in them ; and the experi- 
ence of that sweetness that attends their perform- 
ance, makes me more sensible of those obligations to 
Him whose grace is the principle of them in our 
hearts.' She has Grod dwelling in her, and she is 
ever bearing her testimony to the present salvation 
he has given us, and to the fountain of living waters 
which she feels springing up in her soul ; so that she 
knows the divine original of the promises before the 
performance of them to her, as she knows God to be 
her Creator by the life he has given her. 

" As I was setting out on my blessed journey to 
her, for such indeed it was, yesterday was sevennight, 
a terrible accident happened to my study, which might 
have been attended with fatal consequences. I had 
been sealing a letter with a little roll of wax, and I 
thought I had blown it out, when fanned by the mo- 
tion of the air as I arose in haste, it was rekindled. 
It burnt about a quarter of an hour, while we were 
at prayer, and would have gone on perhaps to have 
consumed the closet and the house, had not my oppo- 
site neighbor seen the flame and given the alarm. 
When I came up I found my desk, which was cov- 
ered with papers, burning like an altar : many letters, 
papers of memoranda, and schemes of sermons were 
consumed. My book of accounts was on fire, and a 



86 LADY HUNTlNaiON. 

volume of the Family Expositor, the original manu- 
script from Corinthians to Ephesians, surrounded 
by flames and drenched with melted wax ; and yet, so 
did G-od moderate the rage of this element, and deter- 
mine in his providence the time of our entrance, that 
not one account is rendered uncertain, nor is one line 
which had not been transcribed destroyed in the 
manuscript. Observe, my dear friend. His hand, and 
magnify the Lord with me." 

In the preface to this volume of the Family Ex- 
positor, he writes, " Well may it be said, ' Is not this 
a brand plucked out of the burning V A fire was 
kindled among my papers which endangered the 
utter ruin of my affairs. Every thing must have 
gone, had it not been for the glance of an eye by 
which an opposite neighbor discovered it. I desire 
now to leave it upon record, that I now have received 
this wonderful mercy from the Lord, and would con- 
sider it as an engagement to devote all I have to him 
with greater zeal." 

In December of this year Lady Huntington had 
a dangerous illness, which greatly alarmed her friends. 
She was at Ashby with her daughters and sisters, the 
Ladies Hastings. This month Dr. Doddridge is also 
called to St. Albans to preach the funeral-sermon of 
his almost father, Dr. Samuel Clarke, author of " The 
Promises," a man highly venerated by his brethren 
and gratefully beloved by Doddridge. 

^' I want to be a minister," was the chief desire 
of a young lad, many years before this time. He 
was an orphan and poor, for all the little patrimony 



DODDRIDaE. 87 

left him by his father was lost by his guardian. He 
left school and went to his sister, but her income was 
too small to render him effectual aid. He loved 
study, and his uppermost wish was to preach the 
gospel, yet darkness was on the way. A rich lady 
having learned something of his cleverness, offered 
to pay his expenses at Oxford, provided he would 
enter the English church. He was very grateful to 
this lady, but he felt constrained to refuse the offer, 
for he revered the faith of his fathers, and chose rather 
to suffer constraint and reproach with the dissenters, 
than to dwell in the sumptuous tents of the estab- 
lishment. 

Troubled and anxious, he thought he would ven- 
ture to call upon a learned minister in the neighbor- 
hood, lay his case before him, and ask his advice. 
The gentleman received the poor lad coolly, and spoke 
no word of encouragement. He advised him to choose 
another calling, and think no more of preaching. 
Disheartened more and more, he turned away from 
the house sorrowfully. " Try the law," said some of 
his friends, and not long afterwards they procured 
him a suitable situation in an office. There seemed 
to be nothing else for him to do ;• but before the final 
decision, the young man set apart one morning espe- 
cially to seek the direction of G-od in this matter. 

While engaged in prayer, the postman knocked 
at the door. He brought the young man a letter. 
It was from an early friend of his father, who having 
learned his destitute condition, offered, if he were still 
intent upon the work of the ministry, to take him 



88 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

under his care and assist him in his studies. "What 
a precious letter it was ! " This," he exclaimed 
with heartfelt gratitude, " I look upon almost as an 
answer from heaven, and while I live I shall always 
adore so seasonahle an opening of divine Providence. 
I have sought G-od's direction in all this matter, and 
I hope I have had it, and I beg he would make me 
an instrument of doing much good in the world." 

His desires were gratified, for Grod enabled him 
not only to become a useful and beloved minister 
himselfj but to train up many others for the same 
holy calling. What a blessing waits on those who 
wait on G-od. 

This young lad was Philip Doddridge, and the 
timely friend, good Dr. Clarke of St. Albans, whose 
death he is now called to mourn. An uninterrupted 
friendship had ever subsisted between them, the elder 
rejoicing in the ripe and useful manhood of his once 
orphan charge, and the younger holdmg in grateful 
memory the friend who appeared to him in the hour 
of his need. 

On this journey to St. Albans, to officiate at the 
funeral services, in the raw and chilly weather of an 
English December, Doddridge took a severe cold, 
which hung about him all winter. 

Lady Huntington continues ill. "I fear we shall 
soon lose her too," he says, "but the Lord liveth, and 
blessed be our Eock." At the beginning of the new 
year, 1751, she declined so rapidly that Whitefield 
was sent for in haste from London. " I rode post to 
Ashby," he said, " not knowing whether I should find 



DODDRIDaE. 80 

good Lady Huntington alive. Blessed be Grod, she 
is somewhat better, and I trust will not die, but live, 
and abound more and more in the work of the Lord. 
Entreat all our friends to pray for her. Indeed she 
is worthy." 

A few hours before Whitefield reached Ashby, 
Lady Frances Hastings was suddenly removed to that 

•' Land of pure delight, 
Where saints immortal reign." 

Her age was fifty-seven. In all things she adorned 
the doctrine of her Saviour. Her gentleness and sin- 
cerity endeared her to a large circle of friends, and 
heavenly-mindedness made her a choice spirit among 
the people of G-od ; while a multitude of the neighbor- 
ing poor attended her funeral, weeping '' for the good 
works and almsdeeds which she had done." 

" She seemed, as it were, to smile at death," wrote 
Whitefield to Lady Mary Hamilton, her intimate 
friend, " and may be said, I trust truly, to have fallen 
asleep in Jesus. Lady Betty is more affected than I 
ever saw her. Lady Anne bears up pretty well; 
while Lady Huntington rejoices at the thought of 
her sister's being so quickly translated out of this 
house of bondage into the glorious liberty of the sons 
of God." 

Every body advises her ladyship to take a journey 
to Bristol, for the benefit of the waters, which she 
hopes to do. 

After Whitefield left. Dr. Stonehouse came to 
Ashby, where he remained until the invalid could be 
removed to Bristol Hot- Wells, whither she went in the 



90 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

beginning of March. Just before going, Doddridge 
seems to have paid her a visit, for we hear her exclaim- 
ing, '' How holy, how humble is that excellent man ! 
And what divine words fell from his lips at the last 
sacramental feast I How close and searching were 
his addresses ! I think I was scarce ever so happy 
before. He and Dr. Stonehouse have preached alter- 
nately every evening. I trust my journey to Bristol 
will be for good. that my health and strength 
may be wholly employed for that blessed Redeemer 
who has done such great things for me." 

A few weeks find her much recruited in strength, 
and she is now at Bristol, interesting herself and her 
friends to procure subscribers for the last three volumes 
of " The Family Expositor," just completed. This 
Doddridge esteemed his '' capital work," which he 
began to prepare on his first entrance into the minis- 
try, and always kept in view through all his sub- 
sequent studies. On transmitting to him a long list 
of additional subscribers, "I have the unspeakable 
pleasure of communicating intelligence that will re- 
joice my much-esteemed friend," she says. ''Most 
earnestly do I pray the Lord of all lords to prolong 
your valuable life, and give you strength and abilities 
for the publication of a work so calculated to promote 
the glory of his name, and the everlasting good of 
mankind." 

Alas, there were symptoms that this valuable life 
was on its wane. His early winter cold has never left 
him. Months pass away and there is no abatement 
of his cough. Anxiety and fear creep into the bosom 



DODDRIDaE. 91 

of his family. The skill of his physician seems baffled. 
The tenderest nursing loses its healing power. Every 
thing is expected from the benign influences of spring ; 
and while hope alternates with fear in the hearts of 
his friends, he is urged, as milder weather approaches, 
to leave his laborious charge at Northampton, and 
try a change of air and scene. 

"Use all means," wrote one in impassioned accents, 
" use all means to repair your frame and prolong your 
usefulness ; this is not only needful for Northampton 
and its adjacent towns and villages, but desirable to 
us all and beneficial to our whole interests. Stay, 
Doddridge, slay and strengthen our hands, whose 
shadows grow long. Fifty is but the height of use- 
fulness, vigor, and honor. Providence hath not directed 
thee yet on whom to drop thy mantle. Who shall 
instruct our youth, fill our vacant churches, animate 
our associations, and difluse a spirit of piety, moder- 
ation, candor, and charity throughout our villages 
and churches, and a spirit of prayer and supplication 
into our towns and cities, when thou art removed 
from us ? Especially, who shall rescue us from the 
bondage of systems, party opinions, empty, useless 
speculations, and fashionable forms and phrases, and 
point out to us the simple, intelligible, consistent, 
uniform religion of our Lord and Saviour ?" 

With the soft influences of the season, and the 
exhilaration produced by easy journeying through 
some of the most beautiful parts of the kingdom, the 
invalid seemed to revive ; those less acquainted with 
the flattering nature of his disease, even looked for 



92 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

recovery, but every auspicious token was speedily 
dissipated when with the increasing warm weather 
he grew more languid and feeble. A sea-voyage is 
now the last sad resort, and his physician advises a 
trip to Lisbon. The expense being beyond his lim- 
ited means. Lady Huntington generously contributed 
one hundred pounds, which, with the aid rendered by 
Lady Fanny Shirley, Lady Chesterfield, and a few 
others, was raised to three hundred; '' and this," she 
says, "with what his friends among' the dissenters 
may collect, will, I hope, be of essential service in pro- 
curing him every comfort which his almost helpless 
state requires." 

Early in September we learn she is at Bath, in 
devoted attendance upon Dr. Doddridge, who is in a 
deep-seated consumption, but who is to set out in a 
few days in order to embark at Falmouth for Lisbon, 
whence Dr. Oliver thinks "he will never return." 

The tenderest and deepest solicitude is felt by 
his many friends all over the kingdom ; numerous 
letters daily arrive filled with anxious inquiries after 
his health ; and affection and skill do their utmost to 
relieve him. " My soul," he says, " is vigorous and 
healthy, notwithstanding the hastening decay of this 
frail and tottering body. It is not for the love of 
sunshine, or the variety of meats, that 1 desire life ; 
but, if it please Grod, that I may render him a little 
more service." How did he regard the approaching 
voyage ? 

" The means I am about pursuing," he hoarsely 
whispers, "to save life, so far as I am solely con- 



DODDRIDG-E. 93 

cerned, are to my apprehension worse than death. 
My profuse night-sweats are very weakening to my 
material frame ; but the most distressing nights to 
this frail body have been as the beginning of heaven 
to my soul. Grod hath, as it were, let heaven down 
upon me in those nights of weakness and waking. 
Blessed be his name." 

Yet friends urge it, and he consents. On the 
morning of his departure, Lady Huntington entered 
his room and found him weeping over the open Bible 
lying before him. 

" You are in tears, sir," she said. 

" I am weeping, madam," rephed the doctor in a 
faint, yet calm tone, " but they are tears of joy and 
comfort. I can give up my country, my friends, my 
relatives, into the hands of G-od; and as to myself, 
I can as well go to heaven from Lisbon, as from my 
own study at Northampton." 

" I see indeed no prospect of recovery," again said 
the almost dying man, "yet my heart rejoiceth in 
my Grod and my Saviour, and I can call him, under 
this failure of every thing else, its strength and ever- 
lasting portion. G-od hath indeed been wonderfully 
good to me, but I am less than the least of his mer- 
cies, less than the least hope of his children. Adored 
be his grace for whatever it hath wrought by me." 

After a fatiguing journey of ten days, owing to 
the wetness of the season and the bad state of the 
roads, he reached Falmouth, and was hospitably 
received into the house of Dr. Turner, a clergyman of 
the English church. On the night before embarking, 



94 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

some of his worst symptoms, which had been for a 
while checked, returned with great violence, so that 
his wife entreated that the voyage might be given 
up. " The die is cast, and I will go," was the quiet 
answer. 

'' On the 30th of September," writes one of him, 
" accompanied by his anxious wife and servant, he 
sailed from Falmouth ; and, revived by the soft breezes 
and the ship's stormless progress, he sat in his easy- 
chair in the cabin enjoying the brightest thoughts of 
all his life. ' Such transporting views of the heavenly 
world is my Father now indulging me with, as no 
words can express,' was his frequent exclamation to 
the tender partner of his voyage ; and when the ship 
was gliding up the Tagus, and Lisbon with its groves 
and gardens and sunny towers stood before them, so 
animating was the spectacle, that affection hoped he 
might yet recover. That hope was vain. Bad symp- 
toms soon came on, and the chief advantage of the 
change was, that it perhaps rendered dissolution more 
easy. On the 26th of October, 1751, at the age of 
50, he ceased from his labors, and soon after was laid 
in the burying-ground of the English factory." 

" Grod is all-sufficient, and my only hope," writes 
the afflicted wife to her family at Northampton. " Oh, 
my dear children, help me to praise Him. Such 
supports, such consolations, such comforts has he 
granted, that my mind at times is astonished and is 
ready to burst into songs of praise under its most ex- 
quisite distress. As to outward comforts, Grod has 
withheld no good thing from me but has given me 



DODDRIDaE. 95 

all the assistance and all the supports that the ten- 
derest friendship was capable of affording me, and 
which I think my dear Northampton friends could 
not have exceeded. Their prayers are not lost. I 
doubt not I am reaping the benefit of them, and I 
hope that you will do the same." 

Such is the eloquent utterance of the believer. '' I 
will bless the Lord at all times ; his praise shall con- 
tinually be in my mouth. Oh, taste and see that the 
Lord is good : blessed is the man that trusteth in 
him. There is no want to them that fear him." 

Nor can we let pass the sound preacher, the suc- 
cessful writer, the beloved pastor, without a grateful 
tribute to the memory of Doddridge as the sweet 
lyrist of Grod's people. Has he not given a voice to 
the most cherished emotions of the soul ? Has he not 
been with us on our covenant-day, and with exquisite 
pathos bid 

''the glowing heart rejoice 



And tell its raptures all abroad ?" 

Beset with foes and ready to faint by the way, world- 
weary, have not his stirring words come to us like 
the breath of heaven ? 

" A cloud of witnesses around, 
Hold thee in full survey : 
Forget the steps already trod, 
And onward urge thy way." 

Has he not stayed the tear in its fountain by the 
exhilarating prospect, 

" Fast as ye bring the night of death. 
Ye bring eternal day ?" 



96 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

And he must ever be a sweet singer to the Israel of 
G-od until the coming of the new Jerusalem, where 
is no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither 
any more pain, for the former things have passed 
away. 



THE TABERNACLE. 97 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE TABERNACLE — VENN— PREACHING TOURS. 

The present inhabitants in and around Moorfields 
in London would hardly be willing to acknowledge 
the sorry figure which Moorfields made a little more 
than a hundred years ago. This tract of land, just 
beyond the limits of the old city wall, was, as its 
name indicates, a marsh, and impassable the greater 
part of the year. Having been partially drained, a 
brickkiln was erected, and the first brick used in 
London were manufactured there. Afterwards it was 
a field for the practice of archery, when it was laid 
out in walks and called the City Mall. Though im- 
proved in name and appearance, it became the rally- 
ing ground of all the rabble m London ; wrestlers, 
boxers, and mountebanks, the idle, the dissolute, and 
profane held here their daily and nightly revels. It 
appeared in fact to be one of the strong-holds of Satan, 
and therefore became a most tempting and important 
point of attack for the daring eloquence of Whitefield. 
All London rang one day with the announcement 
that Whitefield would preach the day following at 
Moorfields ; this was in January, 1739. 

" The thing being strange and new," says Grillies, 
" he found, on coming out of the coach, an incredible 
number of people assembled. Many told him he 
would never come out of that place alive. He went 

Huntington. Q 



98 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

in however between two friends, who by the pressure 
of the crowd were soon parted from him entirely, and 
obliged to leave him to the mercy of the rabble. But 
these instead of hurting him formed a lane for him, 
and carried him along to the middle of the fields, 
where a table had been placed ; this however having 
been broken by the crowd, he mounted a wall and 
preached to an exceeding great multitude in tones so 
melting, that his words drew tears and groans from 
the most abandoned. Moorfields became henceforth 
one of the principal scenes of his triumphs. Thirty 
thousand people sometimes gathered to hear him, and 
generous contributions here flowed in for his orphan- 
house at Bethesda. On one occasion twenty pounds 
were received in half-pennies, more than one person 
was able to carry away, and enough to put one out of 
conceit with a specie currency." 

Before "Whitefield went to G-eorgia, in 1738, a 
temporary shed had been roughly thrown up to screen 
the people from the cold, and called a Tabernacle, in 
allusion to the movable sanctuary of the Israelites in 
the wilderness. A more spacious edifice was now 
projected. The matter first came up for discussion 
in the summer of 1751, when Doddridge, Stonehouse, 
Hervey, and Whitefield happened to meet together at 
Lady Hunting-ton's in Ashby. During the following 
winter Whitefield began to make collections for the 
object, and on almost its first presentation at London 
niQe hundred pounds were subscribed. " But," he 
says, ''on the principle that burned children dread the 
fire, I do not mean to begin until I get one thousand 



THE TABERNACLE. 99 

in hand, and then to contract at a certain sum for the 
whole." The fact was, Whitefield had often been in 
great straits for the support of his orphan-house over 
the sea, "for I forgot," he tells us, "to recollect that 
Professor Franke built in G-laucha, in a populous 
country, and that I was building at the very tail of 
the world." In accordance with this prudent resolu- 
tion, it was not until March, 1753, that he writes to 
Charles Wesley, " On Tuesday morning the first 
brick of our new Tabernacle was laid with awful 
solemnity. I preached from Exodus: 'In all places 
where I record my name, I will come unto thee and 
bless thee.' The wall is now about a yard high. 
The building is to be eighty feet square. It is on 
the old spot. We have bought the house, and if we 
finish what we have begun, shall be rent free for 
forty-six years." 

In June it was ready for the opening services, and 
though capable of holding four thousand people, was 
crowded to suffocation. Whitefield was now solicited 
to hold public services at the west end of London, 
and Long-acre chapel, then under the charge of a 
dissenter, was offered for his use. Ah unruly rabble 
tried to drive the preacher from his post ; but a run- 
ning fire of brickbats, broken glass, bells, drums, and 
clappers, neither annoyed nor frightened the intrepid 
evangelist, nor did ^a hierarchal interference which 
followed hard after, prohibiting his preaching in an 
incorporated chapel. " I hope you will not look upon 
it as contumacy," said Whitefield to the bishop, "if 
I persist in prosecuting my design until I am more 



100 LADY HUNTINaXON. 

particularly apprized wherein I have erred. I trust 
the irregularity I am charged with will appear justi- 
fiable to every lover of English liberty, and what is 
all to me, be approved at the awful and impartial 
tribunal of the great Bishop and Shepherd of souls." 
" My greatest distress," he says to Lady Hunt- 
ington in the course of these proceedings, ''is so to 
act as to avoid rashness on the one hand and timidity 
on the other ;" and this shows, what in truth his whole 
life showed, an entire absence of that malignant ele- 
ment of fanaticism which courts opposition and revels 
in it. 

Determined not to be beaten from his ground, yet 
hoping to escape some of its annoyances, Whitefield 
resolved to build a chapel of his own. Hence arose 
Tottenham-court chapel, which went by the name 
of " Whitefield's soul-trap." " I pray the Friend of 
sinners to make it a soul-trap indeed to many wan- 
dering creatures," said he. " My constant work is 
preaching fifteen times a week. Conviction .and con- 
version go on here, for Grod hath met us in our ne^v 
building." 

This chapel was opened in November, 1756, accord- 
ing to the forms of the church of England, and licensed 
under the Toleration Act, as other houses of prayer. 
Twelve almshouses and a chapel-house were added 
two years after. The lease granted by General Greorge 
Fitzroy to Mr. Whitefield having expired in 1828, it 
was purchased by the trustees and reopened in 1830, 
when Rev. William Jay preached the reopening ser- 
mon. The chapel at present is a handsome building, 



THE TABERNACLE. 101 

the exterior coated with stucco and ornamented with 
pilasters ; the interior is neat and tasteful. Its pres- 
ent pulpit is the same in which "Whitefield preached. 
Among the monumental tablets, you read the names 
of Whitefield, Toplady, and Joss. 

It was before the new Tabernacle was completed 
that we find "Whitefield, in one of his summer tours, 
revisiting Scotland, and domiciled at the hospitable 
mansion of Mr. James Nimmo at Edinburgh, a gentle- 
man of high birth and unaffected piety. This was his 
third visit to the north, the first of which took place in 
1741 ; and greater multitudes than ever now flocked 
to hear him. While in Edinburgh, though much 
indisposed by chills and fever, he continued to preach 
twice a day, early in the morning and at six in the 
evening. " Your ladyship's health," he says in a 
letter to Lady Huntington, " is drank and inquired 
after every day. Mr. Nimmo and his family are in 
the number of those who are left in Sardis, and have 
not defiled their garments." A letter from Lady 
Jane, who is the friend and correspondent of Lady 
Huntington, reveals to us not only a lively picture of 
the religious movements at the Scotch capital, but the 
high consideration with which Lady Huntington is 
regarded by the people of Grod in that quarter. 

" Accept my thanks for your very obliging mes- 
sage by Mr. Whitefield, and I hope to avail myself of 
your very kind offer the first time I go to London 
with Mr. Nimmo. Your ladyship will rejoice to hear 
what crowds flock to hear Mr. Whitefield. The 
energy and powier of the gospel word is truly remark- 



102 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

able. Dear Lady Frances G-ardiner is very active 
in "bringing people to hear him. There is a great 
awakening among all classes. Truth is great and 
will prevail, notwithstanding all manner of evil is 
spoken against it. The fields are more than white 
and ready unto the harvest in Scotland. Many pray- 
ers are offered up for your ladyship, and many bless 
(xod for your sending your chaplain into these parts. 
The infinitely condescending Redeemer vouchsafes to 
bless your labors for the good of souls in England, 
and your ladyship will shortly have my native coun- 
try to add to the brilliancy of that diadem wliich 
will adorn your brow in the great day of the Lord. 
I blush and am confounded when I think to what 
little purpose I have lived. I beg, dear madam, you 
will pray for me. I feel under manifold obligations 
to you, and hope to spend an eternity with you in 
praising that grace and love that has plucked us as 
brands from the burning. Mr. Nimmo begs his most 
cordial salutations to you, yours, and all who love 
our Lord Jesus Christ; and wishing you the best of 
blessings, I subscribe myself, my dear madam, your 

ladyship's, most affectionately in our common Lord, 

"JANE NIMMO." 

About this time two gentlemen came from Amer- 
ica to solicit contributions for Princeton college. These 
were Mr. Allen and Colonel Williams. They brought 
letters of introduction from G-eneral Belcher of New 
Jersey to Lady Huntington, who collected consider- 
able sums for the object. Mr. Allen died in two 
m(5nths after his arrival of a disease called the jail 



THE TABERNACLE. 103 

fever, first known in 1750, at the summer session of 
Old Bailey, Three years afterwards, Messrs. Ten- 
nent and Davies were sent over to reawaken the 
interest and further the cause. 

Among the publications of the day appeared 
" Theron and Aspasio," by Hervey, in which the 
doctrines of the cross were illustrated and enforced 
in the form of dialogue. '• Thank God for the mas- 
terly defence of them in these dialogues," exclaimed 
Romaine. 

The book was dedicated to Lady Fanny Shirley, 
who became the appreciating patron and warm friend 
of the invalid and retiring preacher. Though long 
gone by, these dialogues are still well worth reading, 
both for the truths they teach and the spirit which 
they breathe. Let us go and see Hervey on a 
Sunday. 

" Last Sabbath-day, after preaching in the morn- 
ing at Olney, with three others I rode to hear one 
Mr. Hervey, a minister of the church of England, 
who preached at Collingtree, and to my great sur- 
prise as well as satisfaction, having never seen such 
a thing before in prayer-time, instead of singing- 
psalms they sung two of Dr. "Watts' hymns, the clerk 
giving them out line by line : after prayer, without 
going out of the desk, the minister put off his surplice 
and turned to the fifteenth chapter of St. Matthew, 
which was the second lesson of the day, and told the 
people what pleasure had occurred in his mind while 
reading the parable of our Saviour's feeding the four 
thousand men, besides women and children, with 



104 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

seven loaves and a few little fishes : he then spoke 
in a plain, simple manner about it, and afterwards 
spiritualized it by observing what great things the 
Lord sometimes does by small things and weak 
instruments. And then, without going up into the 
pulpit, he turned to the fifth chapter of the Ephe- 
sians, and read the twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, and 
twenty-seventh verses, and very sweetly and clearly 
he spoke from them ; showing the meaning of those 
words in the creed, I believe in the holy catholic 
church, wherein he observed, They do not believe in 
the church, as in G-od Almighty and in his Son Jesus 
Christ our Lord ; but the meaning, he observed, was, 
I believe G-od has a holy catholic church ; and the 
word catholic signifies universal'; that there always 
was, now is, and will be a church of Christ. He 
then from the holy word showed who were the mem- 
bers of this church ; such as were cleansed, washed, 
or justified from their sins in the blood of our Lord 
Jesus Christ ; and here he spoke very clearly to the 
people, and told them that all were not of or in this 
church, which he compared to Noah and his family 
in the ark being safe, when all the rest were drowned 
in the deluge. In like manner he showed, notwith- 
standing their coming to that place or building, if 
they were not members of that church he had been 
describing, by being united to Jesus Christ by faith, 
they, as the people out of the ark, must perish at last. 
And as he had been telling them who were members 
of this church, he spoke in a humble way of himself 
as being an unworthy member thereof And now 



VENN. 105 

having shown what was meant by the church, and 
who were its members, he showed lastly, from the 
words that were read, what were the church's privi- 
leges. Thus far I have been particular, for such a 
way of • proceeding in the church of England seems 
wonderful to me. But what shall we say ? G-od 
is no respecter of persons, neither of places. This 
Mr. Hervey expounds every Wednesday night, cate- 
chizes the children, and meets some people on Tues- 
days and Thursdays in or near the parish where he 
lives." 

Surely here is in very deed a servant of the true 
spii'itual church of the Redeemer, bought with his 
own precious blood. ^ 

Rev. Bryan Broughton, secretary of the Society 
for Promoting Clnistian Knowledge, was also one of 
the original Oxford band. Now living at London, 
college friendships are kept alive, and he is still the 
friend and associate of Whitefield and the Wesleys. 
There came to our house, he says, the newly ap- 
pointed curate of St. Matthews, a young man, whose 
fresh and earnest spirit was prepared to regard the 
new religious movements of the time with candid 
and inquiring interest. ' ' Are these things from Grod ?" 
he asked reverently. 

His name is Henry Yenn, whose " Complete Duty 
of Man" is now amono: the choice and sterling: books 
of our religious libraries. Law's " Serious Call" had 
made a deep impression upon his mind, and he was 
endeavoring to meet its stern and uncompromising 
demands upon liis moral nature. Like the Wesleys 



106 LADY HUNTINaiON, 

at Oxford, he prescribed to himself a rigid course of 
fasting and prayer. He determined resolutely to 
grapple with the evil of his nature, and compel his 
rehel affections to do homage to their Lord. But the 
course thus marked out could not meet his wants. 
No self-inflictions could reach the necessities of the 
case. He now became acquamted with Whitefield, 
Lady Huntington, and others like-minded, who from 
their own fervent experience could point him to ""the 
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the 
world.'''' A severe and long-continued illness, which 
broke in upon his public labors, gave him time for 
deep searching of heart and uninterrupted meditation 
upon divine truth. His views of doctrine grew clearer, 
and salvation by the blood of Christ as the grand 
central doctrine of the Scriptures, became distinct 
and precious to his soul. 

"When he again went forth to his ministry, he 
went in the might of a crucified and risen Saviour, 
deeply imbued with that spirit of prayer and holy 
consecration which made his conversation, his preach- 
ing, and his writings so eminently useful in his day. 
Soon after his recovery he accompanied Whitefield 
upon a preaching tour into G-loucester shire, where 
they proclaimed to immense crowds the glad tidings 
of the gospel. At Clifton they were welcomed and 
hospitably entertained by Lady Huntington, and here 
Yenn met many kindred spirits, whose sympathy and 
knowledge in divine things quickened and rejoiced 
his spirit. 

In 1759 he received the largo and valuable living 



VENN. 107 

of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, one hundred and 
ninety miles north-west of London, and Mr. Venn 
became the apostle of the region. He was instant 
in season and out of season, exhorting, rebuking, 
reproving with all long-suffering and patience. 

" Preach Christ crucified as the only foundation 
of the sinner's hope," wrote Lady Huntington to 
him, " and may your bow abide in strength. Be 
bold, be firm, be decisive. Let Christ be the alpha 
and omega of all your addresses to your fellow-men, 
and may the gracious benediction of your heavenly 
Master rest upon you." 

Pastoral fidelity was one of the chief excellences 
of this man of Grod. He made frequent visits to all 
the different hamlets of his extensive pa^'ish, collect- 
ing together those who could not attend divine wor- 
ship on the Sabbath, and instructing them from house 
to house. 

"I have delightful accounts from Huddersfield," 
said his patron, "of the wonderful manner in which 
the ministry of their faithful and laborious vicar is 
blessed to that people; and what is gratifying, his 
health was never better." 

We cannot but look with surprise upon the pro- 
digious labors of many in the ministry at this period, 
when work and health and long life seemed to go 
hand in hand. Hard roads, rough weather, pressing 
service, threats, and opposition never daunted, nor 
discouraged, nor interrupted their labors. They shrunk 
from no toils. " Heart within and God for head," 
they proved themselves patient and hardy laborers, 



108 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

simple in their habits, strong in faith, and solicitous 
chiefly about the furtherance of the kingdom of their 
Lord and Master. 

Yorkshire, one of the largest counties of England, 
is washed by the G-erman ocean, and is divided into 
east, west, and north ridings. It contains many 
ranges of high land, and is watered by the Ouse, Don, 
Humber, and Aire. This was the native county and 
principal theatre of the labors of Benjamin Ingham, 
one of Wesley's college band. On leaving Oxford in 
1734, he went to his mother's house, where he used 
to collect little companies about the neighborhood and 
expound to them the word of Grod. With the Wes- 
ley s he went to Greorgia, and labored at a small 
Indian mission a few miles from Savannah. He 
learned the language, made a grammar, and became 
deeply interested in the wild sons of the forest. On 
the return of the brothers to England, he accompa- 
nied them, and shortly revisited his native county. 
At Wakefield, Leeds, and Halifax he preached with 
marvellous power. This provoked ecclesiastical cen- 
sure, and he was prohibited the use of the churches 
throughout the diocese of York. Not at all dismayed 
or discouraged, he betook himself to the fields, where 
crowds of hungry hearers hung upon his lips : every- 
where the common people heard him gladly ; others 
also were subdued by his searching and personal ap- 
peals. The Hastings of Ledstone-hall lent an ear to 
his instructions, and embraced the truths thus heart- 
ily and zealously enforced. In 1741, as has been 
related, he married Lady Margaret Hastings, Earl 



ORIMSHAW. 109 

Huntington's youngest sister, and made his home at 
Aberford. 

Coworker with Ingham was "William Gtrimshaw 
of Haworth. Haworth is a bleak and unpromising 
little parish, embracing four hamlets, which afford 
little to interest the fastidious ; but they enclosed the 
joys and sorrows, the sins and the infirmities of hu- 
manity, and this made them worthy of the curate's 
best endeavors. Besides his Sabbath service, G-rim- 
shaw established two circuits, which he went over 
every week alternately. On what he called his idle 
week, he preached twelve or fourteen times ; his 
busy week from twenty-four to thirty, going also 
from house to house, visiting the sick, instructing 
the ignorant,- comforting the sorrowful, and helping 
the aged towards heaven. 

One of the most violent opposers of Grrimshaw 
and Ingham was the vicar of Colne, a town on the 
borders of Yorkshire. On hearins^ of the arrival of 
any of the awakened preachers into his neighborhood, 
he used to call the people together by beating a drum 
in the market-place, and enlisting the mob for the 
defence of the church : one of his proclamations 
to this end is a curious specimen of ecclesiastical 
tactics. 

" Notice is hereby given, that if any man be 
mindful to enlist in his majesty's service, under the 
command of Rev. Greorge "White, commander-in-chief, 
and John Banister, lieut. -general of his majesty's 
forces for the defence of the church of England, and 
the support of the manufactory in and about Colne, 



no LADY HUNTING-TON. 

of both of which are now in danger, let liim repair 
to the drum-head at the cross, where each man shall 
receive a pint of ale in advance, and all other proper 
encourasrement." 

The reckless fury of a force thus enlisted may he 
well imagined : the preachers often ran a gauntlet 
for. their lives ; they and their congregations were 
pelted with stones and dirt, trampled into the mud, 
and beaten without mercy ; the constables often 
rivalling the vicar in his violence and hatred against 
them. 

Newton was much in Yorkshire previous to his 
own settlement, loving and laboring both with Ing- 
ham and Grrimshaw. " I forgot to tell you," he writes 
to a friend, ''that I had the honor to appear as a 
Methodist preacher. I was at Haworth ; Mr. (xrini- 
shaw was present and preached. I love the people 
called Methodists, and vindicate them from unjust 
aspersions, and suffer the reproach of the world for 
being one myself, yet it seems not practicable for me 
to join them farther than I do ; for the present I must 
try to be useful in private life." 

Lady Huntington and her chaplains often jour- 
neyed during the summer, making their presence a 
means of religious revival wherever they went. We 
find her now, in company with Romaine, travelling in 
Yorkshire, and tarrying at Aberford, guests of the 
Inghams. Romaine and Ingham, though together at 
college, knew and cared little for each other then; 
they now met warm and intrepid champions of the 
cross. Lady Margaret felt a cordial sympathy for 



ROMAINE. Ill 

Romaine in his London trials and reverses, and gen- 
erously eked out his small income from her own purse ; 
while her husband accompanied him on preaching 
tours throughout the north of England — Romaine 
preaching wherever he could obtain a pulpit, and Ing- 
ham exhorting in chapels and private houses. 

At Haworth, a large crowd having assembled, 
Mr. Grrimshaw gave out word that "his brother Ro- 
maine would preach the glorious gospel from brother 
Whitefield's pulpit in the graveyard ;" and though the 
announcement did not quite suit the preacher's taste 
or principles, he felt it was no time for a minister of 
Christ to stick at forms ; Romaine therefore took his 
stand in that temple not made with hands, and pro- 
claimed the unsearchable riches of Christ. 

There is something grand and beautiful in the 
laborious and unselfish ministrations of the band of 
preachers who thus went out into the highways and 
hedges of England, publishing the gospel message as 
if fresh from Christ and Calvary. We feel there was 
vitality and power in their utterances, and we almost 
wish that ive too might have been there to see and 
hear. We look around in our own time, and even 
with all the multiplied apparatus of church extension 
in our day, all the bustling activity of our societies and 
anniversaries, the current of our spiritual life seems 
tame and sluggish compared with the warm and 
quickened flow of theirs. We cannot help the inquiry 
*'What was the main element of their preaching, 
which we have not ? . Where were the hidings of 
that wondrous power which electrified both England 



112 LADY HUNTINOTON. 

and her colonies ? for America also had her Edwards 
and her Tennents." 

It was not learning or logic merely, though some 
of them were learned and giant men; it was not 
artistic eloquence, eloquent as they were ; nor was it 
the burning of a sectarian or selfish zeal : it was a 
profound and vivid sense of sin and redemption, of 
heaven and hell — in a word, of the stupendous and 
solemn issues of man's moral history ; they felt the 
reality and the grandeur of eternity. 

Nurtured and brought up with the Bible, the 
catechism, or the prayer-book, many men have only 
a conventional sort of piety : they believe because 
nobody questions; they preach because it is a pro- 
fession, and a noble one ; they maintain a respectable 
standing among their fellows ; and though in their 
more spiritual moments they may conceive of that 
latent heat and hidden power, the divinity which 
underlies redemptive truths, they yet see only through 
a glass darkly, and make little progress. Buffetings, 
aggression, conquest in their Master's service, how- 
ever they may have been elements in the labors of 
apostles and reformers, form no part of their inner or 
outer life — ^they sail on no such stormy seas. Now 
let this inherited and passive belief in the truths ot 
Christianity, setting easily upon us like a fashionable 
garment, become instinct with life — ^let the curtain 
of the present and visible world be suddenly rent 
away, and ourselves and our fellows be seen hasten- 
ing to eternal joy or remediless woe, and from that 
hour onward we are altered beings. 



ROMAINE. 113 

It was this quickened apprehension of revealed 
truth, this deeper intuition into man's lost estate, 
which made Paul and Peter, Luther and Calvin, 
Whitefield and Wesley, Edwards and Tennent what 
they were ; and this it is which must inspire every 
true reformer of the church or the world. He must 
discover in divine truth ^Hhe substance of things 
hoped for^ the evidence of things not seen.^^ And 
this is faith, the gospel faith, in its own integrity, 
simple yet powerful — simple, for the child can grasp 
it, and mighty enough to lay hold on G-od himself. 

Is it not this which the disciples of the Lord in 
our own time need, in order to be "true and faith- 
ful witnesses" of Grod, and to carry on that. great 
aggressive movement into the kingdom of darkness, 
which Jehovah declares is the mission of the church ? 
"For this purpose have I raised thee up, to be my 
salvation to the ends of the earth. Behold, I send 
thee far hence to the G-entiles." 



114 LADY HUNTINaTON. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

- FAMILY MATTERS— CHAPELS— BERRIDaE. 

In the winter of 1756 and 1757 Lady Huntington 
came to London with her family, and had her house 
opened twice a week for the preaching of the gospel, 
where Romaine and Venn principally officiated. 

''I rejoice," says Whitefield, ''in the increase of 
your ladyship's spiritual routs. I can guess at the 
consolation such scenes must give to your soul. No 
wonder you are distressed from other quarters. In- 
deed, my most noble and ever honored patroness, 
thus it must he. Christ's witnesses must he purged 
at home. Inward domestic trials fit for outward 
public work. Nature recoils when constrained to take 
the cross, and it may be from a near and dear rela- 
tion's hand ; but infinite wisdom knows what is best." 

The precise nature of these trials does not appear, 
unless we may take a hint of them from the Countess 
of Hertford, who exclairiis, 

"What an affliction is Lord Huntington's dislike 
to religion ; and what have not my Lords Chesterfield 
and Bolingbroke to answer for. But he is most ten- 
der, respectful, and kind to Lady Huntington. This 
is some consolation, and may we not hope that in a 
course of time her example and the excellent instruc- 
tion which he has received may have their full weight 



FAMILY MATTERS. 115 

on his character." She also adds, ''He is a most 
interesting, elegant, and accomplished young noble- 
man, and very likely to make seme figure in the 
world. He was much affected by the death of Miss 
Hotham, to whom it was said he was much attached." 

Lady Grertrude Hotham, sister to Lady Chester- 
field, has been alre''-,dy mentioned as one of the num- 
ber who dared to be sinsrilar for the Lord's sake. 
Both in London and at Bath, she opened her house 
to the ministratir Qs of Whitefield, and she had the 
happiness of seeii^g her eldest daughter born into the 
spiritual family of her Lord. Miss Hotham adorned 
her Christian profession both in her life and in her 
death, which took place in the bloom of a ripe and 
beautiful womanhood. While ill, many prayers were 
offered for her recovery at the administration of the 
Lord's supper at Lady Huntington's, Lady Fanny 
Shirley's, and m her own home. One day when White-^ 
field came and knelt at her bedside, she was desired 
to remain as she was. '' I can rise to take physic," 
she said ; " v^hy not to pray ?" Her sick chamber bore 
the flowers i^nd fruits of a thorough Christian experi- 
ence. She U:new whom she had believed, for the hope 
which she nad in her Saviour was indeed like an 
anchor to her soul, sure and steadfast ; and the peace 
and joy which she expressed even in the pangs of 
dying, served in a most affecting and striking manner 
to confirm, in the minds of her friends and companions 
of the gay world, the precious truths of that gospel 
which Whitefield proclaimed by his preaching. 

Lady Ehzabeth Hastings, Lady Huntington's 



116 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

eldest daughter, married the Earl of Moira, a branch 
of the Huntington family, and the connection seems 
to have given much satisfaction ; but "Lady Selina," 
says one, "is the greatest comfort to her mother ; she 
is a most pious, amiable, and affectionate character ;" 
so that, if there v^ere shadows on Lady Huntington's 
household, there were also sunbeams. 

In September, 1757, we behold her suddenly call- 
ed to Brighton by the illness of her fourth son. Honor- 
able Henry Hastings, who died at the age of eighteen 
years. 

"Oh what strong physics is our heavenly Father 
obliged to give us," wrote Whitefield to the bereaved 
mother, ""What pruning- knives do these luxuriant 
branches require, in order to preserve the fruit and 
delicacy of the vine. Blessed be Grod, there is a time 
coming when these mysterious providences will be 
explained. May the Lord Jesus raise you up many 
comforters. Above all, may he come himself" 

The Lord Jesus came himself, and so healing was 
his heavenly presence, that we find the mourner bear- 
ing the precious balm to the humble homes in her 
neighborhood. Behold her at the obscure lodgings of 
a poor soldier's wife, carrying her food to eat and 
raiment to put on, and inviting her to "the Lamb of 
(rod, who taketh away the sin of the world." The 
woman's room was next to a public bakehouse, where 
the people who worked at the oven overheard the 
pious conversation of a lady through a crack in the 
ceiling. When her visits became known, other poor 
women begged to come in and be taught also, until 



FAMILY MATTERS. 117 

a little company assembled daily with whom she pray- 
ed, read, and explained the Scriptures. One day a 
blacksmith, notorious for his wickedness, swore he 
would go to the meetings, and accordingly forced him- 
self in behind the women. When Lady Huntington 
entered and saw a man in the corner, she was about 
to ask him to withdraw, but on second thought con- 
cluded to go on as usual. Her simple, direct, and 
affectionate exhortations touched the conscience of 
the bold blasphemer. He who came to scoff went 
away with the cry, "Lord, what shall I do to be 
saved ?" A radical change took place in his charac- 
ter, and for nearly twenty-nine years he lived to adorn 
the doctrine of his Lord and Saviour. 

One day as Lady Hunting-ton was walking out, 
a lady suddenly accosted her, " Oh, madam, you are 
come." Surprised at so abrupt an address from an 
entire stranger, she feared the woman was deranged. 
" What do you know of me ?" asked the countess. 
" Madam, I saw you in a dream three years ago, 
dressed as you now are," answered the stranger, and 
then related other circumstances connected with the 
dream. Singular as these circumstances were, an 
acquaintance was formed between them, and Lady 
Huntington became instrumental in the conversion 
of her new-found friend, who died a year afterwards 
in the triumphs of faith. 

Thus did this remarkable woman lay out a field 
for the labors of Whitefield, who visited Brighton in 
1759, and preached his first sermon under a spread- 
ing tree in the midst of a large meadow. 



118 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

Brighton, or Brighthelmstone, as it was then com- 
monly called, in the county of Sussex, fifty-two miles 
south of London, was not at that time the famous 
watering-place it has since become. Its buildmgs 
were comparatively mean and its population poor, 
presenting a strong contrast to the splendid edifices 
and spacious accommodations which now make 
Brighton one of the favorite summer resorts of the 
English. 

A spirit of religious inquiry was kindled among 
the people. They hungered for the bread of life. 
Nor when they asked bread, could they be satisfied 
with a stone, or husks, for they wanted that of which 
if a man eat he shall never hunger. A small soci- 
ety gathered in an ^' upper chamber ;" they were 
poor in worldly goods, but rich in faith ; despised, but 
not forsaken. In order to strengthen their hands, 
Lady Huntington determined to build a small chapel 
for their use near her own house in North-street, 
though straightened in means, for her benefactions 
were already numerous. To resolve^ with her, was to 
accomplish. Wherein could she curtail ? There lay 
her jewels, long since put aside for a pearl of infinitely 
greater price, and these she determined to offer to 
her Lord. They were sold for six hundred and ninety- 
eight pounds, and with this she erected a neat house 
of worship, which was opened in 1760. Here Ro- 
maine, Yenn, and other godly men labored with apos- 
tolic zeal, and though their work was often evil- 
spoken of, the Lord " added to the church daily of 
such as should be saved." Brighton henceforth be- 



CHAPELS. 119 

came one of her favorite places of residence. This 
was the small beginning of one of her greatest enter- 
prises — ^this was the first of those houses of divine 
v/orship known by her name, which in a few years 
dotted the English soil ; and its interests so prospered, 
that in five years the building needed a considerable 
enlararement. 

On the day previous to its reopening, she set apart 
several hours for private devotion, like Jacob of old, 
to wrestle with Jacob's G-od for his blessing on this 
sanctuary reared to his name ; and in the evening a 
meeting was held at her house for the same purpose : 
so greatly did she honor the mercy-seat, and so firmly 
did she trust in the power of prayer. 

At that time there were many spiritual wastes m 
the county of Sussex, and Lady Huntington was on 
the alert to cast in the good seed wherever an oppor- 
tunity offered, or if possible to make opportunities in 
a cause so pressing and momentous. While making 
inquiries for securing a preaching spot at Oathall, 
ten miles from Brighton, an old gentleman unexpect- 
edly came and offered to lease her for a certain num- 
ber of years the mansion of Oathall, a house on an 
estate belonging to one branch of the Shirley family. 
His terms were promptly and thankfully accepted, 
and workmen were immediately engaged to fit up a 
large room for divine worship, and prepare the remain- 
der of the house for the accommodation of herself 
and her chaplains. Here the gospel was faithfully 
preached, and with marked effect. During the sum- 
mer, a regiment of soldi8r3 was quartered in the 



120 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

vicinity. The captain, a gay officer, went out one 
day on a sporting frolic, and was forced by a violent 
shower to seek shelter under a shed with a farmer and 
his laborers, with whom he soon entered into conver- 
sation; the farmer was a Christian man, and the 
talk took a religious turn. His remarks surprised 
and interested the officer, and he asked where so much 
had been learned about divine things. 

" In that hall yonder," answered the farmer, 
" where there is a famous man, a Mr. Romaine, 
preaching for Lady Huntington ; you would do well 
to go and hear him for yourself." 

Captain Scott, moved by all the circumstances, 
determined to do so, and on the following Sabbath 
bent his steps thitherward. On entering the hall, 
the devout and serious air of the congregation forcibly 
impressed his mind ; while Mr. Eomaine's remarks 
from the words of the Saviour, ^'lam the way," 
were as goads and as nails fastened by the Master of 
assemblies upon his conscience. Though a man of 
pleasure, there had been times when a profound seri- 
ousness came over him, compelling him to pause and 
ask, " "Whither am I tending ?" Nor had these sea- 
sons escaped the notice and ridicule of his companions. 
He was now in the presence of one who seemed to 
him to speak as man never before spoke, and they 
were truths just suited to his case. He afterwards 
made the acquaintance of Mr. E-omaine in London, 
whose prayers and instructions confirmed him in his 
resolutions to seek with all diligence to make his call- 
ing and election sure ; and as he had proved himself 



CHAPELS. 121 

a brave officer on the plains of Minden, so did he 
become valiant in a better service, even a heavenly. 

When Captain Scott was on his way to Shrop- 
shire, Romaine gave him a letter for Mr. Powys of 
Berwick, a gentleman of high connections and large 
fortune, and very zealous for the cause of God and 
truth. Yenn was at that time paying him a visit. 
One morning after prayers, as they were looking from 
the hall window, Captain Scott rode into the lawn 
mounted on his military charger and dressed in his 
uniform, bringing the letter entrusted to his care. 
Mr. Powys recognized him in the distance and ex- 
claimed, ^' There is Captain Scott. What can he 
want ? How can I avoid seeing him ?" for . how 
great an interruption would a gay officer be, with a 
guest like Venn of Huddersfield ! The gentlemen 
withdrew. Scott rode up to the door, and was receiv- 
ed with distant politeness by Mr. Powys. On reading 
Romaine's letter, giving an account of the captain's 
conversion, Powys became much agitated ; he ran to 
the officer, warmly embraced him, and cried out, 
" Mr. Venn, Mr. Venn, Mrs. Powys, come quickly. 
Here is Captain Scott, a convert to Christ ; a new 
creature in Christ Jesus !" How great was their joy 
over him who had been lost, and was found ; dead, and 
now made alive. 

Let us hear of him again. " I went last Mon- 
day," said Fletcher, " to meet Captain Scott, one of 
the fruits that have grown for the Lord at Oathall — 
a captain of the truth — a bold soldier of Jesus Christ. 
God hath throv.'n down before him the middle wall 

Ili-iiitinjrton G 



122 LADY HUNimaTON. 

of bigotry, and he boldly launches into an hregular 
usefulness. For some months he has exhorted his 
dragoons daily ; for some weeks he has preached pub- 
licly at the Methodist meeting-house at Leicester, in 
his regimentals, to numerous congregations. . The 
stiff ones pursue him with hue and cry, but I believe 
he is quite beyond their reach. G-od keep him zeal- 
ous and simple. I believe this red coat will shame 
many a black one. I am sure he shames me." 

"Whitefield invited him to come to London and 
" bring his artillery to Tabernacle -rampart." . 

Captain Scott was an accomplished man, of an 
ancient and respectable family, with flattering pros- 
pects of worldly advancement ; but worldly honors 
now ceased to charm him : he quitted the army for 
the ministry, and for twenty years was one of the 
supplies at the Tabernacle, and his new labors were 
crov/ned with abundant success. 

Another of the first-fruits of Oathall was an old 
man of a hundred years. He had long been serious, 
and had often complained that church-preaching was 
not like church-prayers ; and though no friend to " new 
measures," old Abraham determined one day to go and 
hear for himself what, kind of stuff they had at the 
chapel. He listened with the profoundest attention 
and deliofht while Mr. Yenn discoursed of the love of 
Christ, and could hardly contain himself for joy. 
"Ah, neighbor," he exclaimed, as soon as the services 
were over, tapping the shoulder of one who sat next 
to him, '' this is the very truth of G-od's word, which 
I have been for ever seeking, and never found before. 



BERRIDaE. • 123 

Here will I tarry." And from that morning a new 
life was beating in the old man's bosom. 

On one occasion when Brighton and Gathall 
were destitute of a supply, Lady Huntington sent for 
a distinguished revival preacher to spend a few weeks 
in these fields. In reply, he says, "I am determined 
not to quit my charge again in a hurry. Never do I 
leave my bees, though for a short space only, but on 
my return I find them either casting or colting, or 
fighting and robbing each other ; not gathering honey 
from every flower of Grod's garden, but filling the air 
with their buzzings, and darting out the venom of 
their little hearts in their fiery stings. Nay, so in- 
flamed they often are, and a mighty little thing dis- 
turbs them, that three months' tinkling afterwards 
with a warmingpan will scarce hive them at last, and 
make them settle to work asfain." 

This quaint mixture of wit, sense, and bluntness 
came from Rev. John Berridge, who is now intro- 
duced to our readers. His tall, stalwart figure looks 
as if it was made to wear ; his deliberate and distinct 
speech seems fit only for weighty words ; but beneath 
the grave, nay, the solemn expression of his face there 
is lurking a quiet humor, which gives a genial warmth 
to his affections, and a gladsome play to his spirits, 
rarely found in the lonely life of a bachelor : yet it 
were a strange misnomer to call Berridge's life a 
lonely one, for it was as stirring as a hundred miles 
riding, with ten or twelve sermons a week, could 
make it, and that for a period of nearly five and 
twenty years. At home his table was- ever ready for 



124 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

his hearers, many of whom came from a distance — 
his stables open to their horses ; while houses and 
barns in every direction Were rented and taken care 
of for the lay-preachers employed at his expense on 
errands of gospel love. 

Berridge is settled at Everton, in Bedfordshire, 
about thirty miles north-west of London. In 1757, 
two years after his removal thither, he began to be 
in doubt and anxiety concerning his soul; for like 
many others he had entered upon the work of the 
ministry a stra-nger to that love which works by faith 
and purifies the heart. He beheld his own vineyard 
parched and dry, unvisited by those showers of mercy 
which enriched the labors of a more spiritual hus- 
bandry. 

"Lord, direct me," was his importunate cry; 
" show me thy way, and lead me to a knowledge of 
the truth as it is in Jesus." The Holy Spirit visited 
his soul ; a clearer light dawned upon his mind, and 
salvation by Christ became the corner-stone of his 
own hopes, and the refuge to which he bade all men 
flee from the wrath to come. The fruits of his new 
ministry he thus describes : 

'•'' Soon after"! began to preach the gospel at Ever- 
ton, the churches in the neighborhood were deserted, 
and mine so overcrowded, that the squne, ' who did 
not like strangers,' he said, ' and hated to be incom- 
moded,' joined with the offended parsons, and lodg- 
ing a complaint against me. I was summoned before 
the bishop. - 

" Well, Berridge," said the bishop, " did I insti- 



BERRIDaE. 125 

tute you to Eaton, or Potten ? why do you go preach- 
ing out of your parish ?' 

" ' My lord,' says I, * I make no claim to the 
living of those parishes ; 'tis true I was once at Ea- 
ton, and finding a few poor people assembled, I ad- 
monished them to repent of their sins, and to believe 
in the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of their 
souls. At that very moment, my lord, there were 
five or six clergymen out of their own parishes, and 
enjoying themselves on the Eaton bowling-green.' 

'' ' I tell you,' retorted his lordship, ' that if you 
continue preaching where you have no right, you will 
be very likely sent to Huntington jail.' 

" * I have no more regard for a jail than other 
folks,' rejoined I, ' but I had rather go there with a 
good conscience than to be at liberty without one.' 

" His lordship looked very hard at me.. ' Poor 
fellow,' he said, ' you are beside yourself, and in a 
few months you will be either better or worse.' 

" ' Then, my lord,' said I, ' you may make yourself 
quite happy in this business ; for if I should be better, 
you suppose I shall desist of my own accord, and if 
worse, you need not send me to Huntington jail, for 
I shall be better accommodated in Bedlam.' 

" His lordship then pathetically entreated me, as 
one who had been and wished to continue my friend, 
not to imbitter the remaining portion of his days by 
any squabbles with my brother clergymen, but to go 
home to my parish ; and so long as I kept within it, I 
should be at liberty to do what I liked there. ' As 
to your conscience,' he "said, ' you know that preach- 



126 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

ing out of your parish is contrary to tlie canons of the 
church.' 

" ' There is one canon, my lord,' said I, 'which I 
dare not disobey, and that says, ' Gro preach the gos- 
pel to every creature.' ' " 

Although powerful patrons were displeased with 
Berridge's career, friends equally powerful were raised 
up for his defence, so that Everton and the region 
round ahout ever continued to enjoy the unstinted 
benefactions both of his heart and purse. 

Berridge was forty in the year from which he 
dates his ''new birth," 1757. A few months after- 
wards he met Wesley, and a little later Whitefield, 
against both of whom he had been strongly prejudiced. 
He now welcomed them as beloved brethren in the 
Lord. Lady Huntington soon made his acquaint- 
ance ; a warm friendship sprung up between the two. 
Indeed, the richness and originality of his mind made 
him an especial favorite ; while his sturdy sticking to 
his own notions of duty never gave offence to those who 
understood the depth and singleness of his piety. 



THE VALLEY OF BACA. 127 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE VALLEY OF BACA. 

In the panoramic scene now moving before us, we 
see Lady Huntington, in the beginning of 1757, at 
Bath, accompanied by Lady Fanny Shirley and her 
favorite daughter, Sehna Hastings. On the fourth of 
January, she went to Bristol to meet Mr. Wesley, 
who returned with her to Bath, and preached several 
times to the nobility at her house. Early in February 
she returns to London ; and on a day of public fast- 
ing and prayer goes to the Tabernacle to hear Mr. 
Whitefield, who addressed an immense audience from 
the solemn words, "Rend your hearts, and not your 
garments." In the evening she is at the Foundry, 
listening to "Wesley, who preached to an overflowing 
multitude. 

We now are present at the Lord's supper, adminis- 
tered on a Tuesday at her own house, by Whitefield, 
assisted by Romaine and Madan. Of Whitefield's 
solemn address, she says, "All were touched to the 
heart, and dissolved in tears. My inmost soul felt 
penetrated by the height and depth of that love which 
passes knowledge, and I was ready to say with Peter, 
' It is good to be here.' Lord, teach me how to im- 
prove to the utmost these gracious visitations." 

Who the "all" were is not known, but among 
the communicants were the Countess of Chesterfield, 
Lady Grertrude Hotham, Earl and Countess of Dart- 



128 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

mouth, Mr. Thornton, Venn, Fletcher, and other less 
familiar names. 

This service concluded. Earl Chesterfield, with a 
few others, entered, when Whitefield preached from 
the passage, "Him that cometh unto me I will in 
no wise cast out." 

''The Lord was eminently present," she says; 
'' the word seemed clothed with an irresistible energy, 
and drew sighs from every heart, and tears from 
every eye. Mr. Fletcher concluded with a prayer, 
every syllable of which seemed uttered under the im- 
mediate teachings of the Spirit ; and he has told me 
since, that he never had more intimate communion 
with G-od, or enjoyed so much of his immediate pres- 
ence, as on that occasion. Ah, how poor and tri- 
fling does all created good appear, when thus highly 
favored of G-od. He in mercy keeps me sensible of 
my weakness and dependence upon himself, for which 
I praise him. He has strengthened my body to under- 
go more fatigue than usual, without being hurt by it. 
Bless the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his 
benefits." 

It was in the summer of this year that cries and 
convulsions, v/hich attended the early preaching of 
"Wesley, appeared among the hearers of Berridge. 
Lady Huntington begged Mr. Komaine to visit Ever- 
ton, and witness the phenomenon. He was warmly, 
welcomed by the vicar and Mr. Hicks of "Westling- 
worth, whose preaching produced similar effects. 
After conversing with those who had fallen into con- 
vulsions, and accompanying the preachers on their 



THE VALLEY OF BACA. 129 

rounds, he felt persuaded that the work was the re- 
ligion of G-od, though occasionally mingled with the 
wildness of enthusiasm. "Wesley also went to Ever- 
ton for this purpose. " I have often observed," he 
tells us, " more or less of these outward symptoms to 
attend the beginning of a general work of God. So 
it was in New England, Scotland, Holland, Ireland, 
and many parts of England; but after a time they 
gradually decreased, and the work goes on more 
quietly and silently." Ralph Erskine treats the sub- 
ject with less indulgence. 

Wesley thus pleasantly discourses to Lady Hunt- 
ington. 

" The agreeable hour which I spent with your 
ladyship the last week, recalled to my mind the 
former times, and gave me much matter for thank- 
fulness to the G-iver of every good gift. I have found 
great satisfaction in conversing with those instru- 
ments w'hom God has lately raised up. But still 
there is, I know not what, in those whom we have 
known from the beginning, and who have borne the 
burden and heat of the day, which we do not find in 
those who have risen up since, though they are up- 
right of heart. Perhaps, too, those who have lately 
come into the harvest are led to think and speak 
more largely of justification and the other first prin- 
ciples of the doctrine of Christ. And it may be proper 
for them to do so, yet ice find a thirst after something 
farther. We want to sink deeper and rise higher in 
the knowledge of God our Saviour. We want all 
helps for walking closely with him, whom we have 



130 LADY HUNTlNaTON. 

received, that we may the more speedily come to the 
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. 

" Mr. Berridge appears to be one of the most 
simple, as well as most sensible men of all whom it 
pleases G-od to employ in reviving primitive Chris- 
tianity. They come now twelve or fourteen miles to 
hear him, and very few come in vain. His word is 
with power; he speaks as plain and homely as John 
Nelson, but with all the propriety of Mr. Romaine, 
and the tenderness of Mr. Hervey. 

"At Colchester, likewise, the word has free 
course. On Sunday I was obliged to preach on St. 
John's-green ; the people stood on a smooth sloping 
ground, sheltered by the walls of an old castle, and 
behaved as men who felt that G-od was there. 

"I am persuaded your ladyship still remembers in 
your prayers your willing servant, for Christ's sake, 

"JOHN WESLEY." 

Though Lady Huntington honored and admired 
this noble reformer, he crosses the path of our nar- 
rative less frequently than we could wish. He occa- 
sionally preached both at her house and in her chapels, 
but his own field is broad, his own work great, and 
he is laying deep the foundations of that ecclesiastical 
polity which has given such expansive and conquer- 
ing power to the Methodist connection. 

Lady Huntington was anxious to visit Everton, 
and witness for herself the surprising effects produced 
there by the preaching of the gospel. On the morn- 
ing after the arrival of her party, a large concourse of 
people assembled at an early hour. At seven o'clock, 



THE VALLEY OF BACA. 131 

Mr. Berridge preached in a field near the church, 
when the " power of G-od fell upon the assemhled 
multitude in a very uncommon manner." Messrs. 
Venn, Madan, and Fletcher held services other parts 
*of the day. The coming of Lady Huntington, and 
the preaching of her ministers, was speedily noised 
abroad, so that by the next day ten thousand assem- 
bled to hear them. While Mr. Venn was impressively 
exhorting from the solemn words o^ the prophet, '' The 
harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not 
saved," several individuals, men and women, '' sunk 
down and wept bitterly;" and in the evening, under 
the sharp, energetic eloquence of Berridge, '' five per- 
sons, almost at once, sunk down as dead;" others ut- 
tered, with a loud and bitter cry, " What must we do 
to be saved ?" In a little time all was silent, and the 
preacher concluded his discourse. 

On Lady Huntington's return to London, Berridge 
accompanied her, for she was anxious to introduce 
him into the religious circles of the metropolis. Dur- 
ing his stay he preached several times in the city 
churches, assisted both Whitefield and Wesley, ex- 
pounded almost every morning and evening at Park- 
street, besides occasional lectures at Lady Gertrude 
Hotham's, in Norfolk-street, G-rosvenor-square, and 
Lady Fanny Shirley's in South Audley-street. 

Favored as Oak Hall had been by the blessing of 
God, it was here that Lady Huntington was visited 
by one of her severest family afflictions, which was 
the death by fever of her youngest born, Lady Selina 
Hastings, at the age of twenty-six. 



132 LADY HUNTING-TON. 

Amiable, acoomplished, and devotedly attached to 
her mother, Lady Huntington's cares were lightened 
by her affection and sympathy. 

She was one of the six earl's daughters chosen to 
assist the Princess Augusta to bear the train of Queen- 
Charlotte on her coronation day ; and she was soon to 
have been married to Colonel G-eorge Hastings, a 
connection much approved by her mother. And yet 
these charms of the present life had not rend.ered her 
unmindful of that life which is to come. 

'' She was my dearest," said the weeping mother, 
'' the desire of my eyes, and the continual pleasure of 
my heart." 

" On her going to bed the day she was taken ill." 
continues she, from whose lips we will learn of the 
last sad scenes, " she said she should never rise from 
it more. She said she did not begin to think about 
death then, and that she had no desire to live ; ' There- 
fore, my dear mother, why not now ? The Lord can 
make me ready any moment •, and if I live longer, I 
may not be better prepared.' She desired me to pray 
by her, and with great earnestness accompanied me. 
At one time she called me, and said, ' My dearest 
mother, come and lie down by me, and let my heart 
be laid close to yours, and then I shall get rest.' Dur- 
ing the last four days, she often exclaimed, ' Jesus, 
teach me ; Jesus, cleanse me ; Jesus, wash me.' The 
day before her death, I came to her, and asked if she 
knew me. 'My dearest mother,' she answered. I 
asked her if she were happy. Raising her head from 
the pillow, she whispered, ' I am happy, very, ve,ry 



THE VALLEY OF BACA. 133 

happy ;' and then put out her lips to kiss me. She 
gave directions to her servant, Catharine Spooner, 
about the disposal of some rings ; observing, that she 
mentioned it to her, lest it should shock her dear 
mother to tell her. She often said, ' To he resigned 
to G-od's will WSLS all, and that she had no hope of 
salvation hut in the mercy of Jesus Christ.' Blessed 
are the dead who die in the Lord." 

Letters of sympathy and consolation came in from 
all her friends. Those of Mr. Berridge are worthy of 
many readings. 

'' My Lady — I received your letter from Bright- 
helmstone, and hope you will soon learn to bless 
your Redeemer for snatching away your daughter 
so speedily. Methinks I see great mercy in the sud- 
deness of her removal ; and when your bowels have 
done yearning for her, you will see it too. Oh, what 
is she snatched from ? Why, truly from the plague 
of an evil heart, a wicked world, and a crafty devil — 
snatched from all such bitter grief as now overwhelms 
you — snatched from every thing that might wound her 
ear, afflict her eye, or pain her heart. And what is she 
snatched to ? To a land of everlasting peace, where 
the voice of the turtle is ever heard, where every in- 
habitant can ever say, ' I am no more sick :' no more 
whim in the head, no more plague in the heart, but 
all full of love and full of praise ; ever seeing with 
enraptured eyes, ever blessing with adoring hearts, 
that dear Lamb who has washed them in his blood, 
and has now made them kings and priests unto Grod 
for ever and ever. Amen. Oh, madam, what would 



134 LADY HUNTINOTOK. 

you have ? Is it not better to sing in heaven, ' Worthy 
is the Lamb, that was slain,' than to be crying at 
Oathall, * wretched, woman that I am V Is it 
not better for her to go before, than to stay after 
you ? and then to be lamenting, ' Ah, my mother !' 
as you now lament, ' Ah, my daughter !' Is it not 
better to have your Selina taken to heaven, than to 
have your heart divided between Christ and Selina ? 
If she was a silver idol before, might she not have 
proved a golden one afterwards ? She has gone to 
pay a most blessed visit, and you will see her again, 
never to part more. Had she crossed the sea, and 
gone to Ireland, you could have borne it; but now 
she has gone to heaven, it is almost intolerable. Won- 
derful, strange love is this ! Such behavior in others 
would not surprise me, but I could almost beat you 
for it; and I am sure Selina would too, if she was 
called back but for one moment from heaven to gratify 
your fond desires. I cannot soothe you, and I must 
not flatter you. I am glad the dear creature has gone 
to heaven before you. Lament if you please, but 
glory, glory, glory be to God, says, 

"JOHN BEERIDGE." 

In another letter, a week later, he says, '' Oh, 
heart, heart, what art thou ? a mess of fooleries 
and absurdities ; the vainest, foolishest, craftiest, 
wickedest thing in nature. And yet the Lord Jesus 
asks me for this heart, woos me for it, died to win it ! 
0, wonderful love ; adorable condescension ! 

" Take it, Lord, and let it be 
Ever closed to all but thee." 



THE VALLEY OF BACA. 135 

A fortnight later, he again says, "Mrs. Bateman 
has sent me a mighty pretty letter to coax me into 
Sussex, and withal acquaints me your ladyship has 
been ill of a fever, and is now better. I was glad to 
hear of both. Nothing expels undue grief of mind 
like bodily corrections. Nothing- makes the child 
leave crying like the rod ; at least, I find it so by 
experience. However, I durst not send such conso- 
lations to many Christians, because they are not able 
to see the truth, or bear the weight of it. I found your 
heart was sorely pained, and I pitied you, but I durst 
not soothe you ; for soothing, though it eases grief but 
a moment, only makes Lady Self more burdensome, 
and occasions more tears in the end. A little whipping 
from your Father will dry up your tears much sooner 
than a thousand pretty lullabies from your brethren. 
I now hope you will be well soon." 

Yenn tenderly writes from Huddersfield, "Among 
the many in these parts who have a love for your 
ladyship's name, and a tender sympathy with you as 
a member of Christ, I desire to assure your ladyship, 
I do not forget to offer up many prayers that your 
present very severe cross may be sanctified, and the 
agonizing separation made supportable by larger 
manifestations of the faithfulness and marvellous lov- 
ing-kindness of Grod our Saviour." 

As soon as it was possible for him to leave his 
charge, Venn visited the bereaved mother at Brigh- 
ton, and went back from there to London to superin- 
tend the publication of his " Complete Duty of Man," 
which was brought out this year, 1763. Precious as 



136 LADY HUNIINaTON. 

his visit must have been to the mourner, he could 
respond, " It was indeed a great Messing to my soul ;" 
so unspeakably enriching is that fellowship which is 
in Christ Jesus. 

Berridge also came to Oathall during the sum- 
mer, where his ministrations were cordially welcomed 
by the people in all the region round about. White- 
field was on his way to the new world. 

Grimshaw of Ha worth also died in the spring of 
this year, of a highly infectious fever, vv^hich spread 
extensively through his parish. From the first attack 
of the disease he felt that it would be fatal, and looked 
in the face of the king of terrors as if it had been the 
face of an angel. " Never had I such a visit from 
God since I knew him," said the dying man. He 
was in the fifty-fifth year of his age, and the twenty- 
first of his ministry at Haworth. 



BLACKFRIARS. 137 



CHAPTER X. 

BLACKFRIARS— CHAPEL AT BATH— LADY GLEN- 

ORCHif. 

For many years Mr. Romaine lived in Walnut- 
tree Walk, Lambeth, where he had a little garden, 
which he planted and took care of himself ; and where, 
with his annuals and biennials, sprung up also im- 
mortal plants, for in 1755 he married, and children 
were horn to him. His regular salary at this time 
was but eighteen pounds a year, derived from the 
lectureship of St. Dunstan's ; and though the means 
of living flowed in from other sources, he was com- 
pelled to be frugal in his habits, and prudent in his 
expenditures. Equally frugal of his time, he often 
received his friends to an early breakfast. " I break- 
fasted one morning with him," said a young clergy- 
man, *' and on taking some bread, which I thought 
very good, he spoke of a certain physician who thought 
London bread should not be given to sick people, on 
account of its too frequent adulteration previous to 
baking : he then clearly and forcibly touched on a 
variety of modes by which the word of G-od was mixed 
up with the ill-leaven of other ingredients, so as to 
deprive it of its heaven-imparted sustenance ; and this 
he did in such easy, familiar, and yet pointed terms, 
and with such paternal benignity of look, that I was 
equally pleased and profited by the interview, and it 



138 LADY HUNTlNaiON. 

has certainly served to render bread to me of more 
value, both as a support and as a sign." Thus was 
he intent upon turning every occasion to some spir- 
itual account. 

In 1764, the living of St. Ann's, Blackfriars, 
became vacant, '^ and it was immediately impressed 
upon my mind, that the vacancy was to be filled by 
dear Mr. Eomaine," said Lady Huntington, opening 
the matter to the Lord Chancellor. The right of 
presentation was vested alternately in the crown and 
in the parishioners ; it was now subject to the latter. 
The parishioners were sounded by his friends, and 
although some of them had entertained little hopes 
of his success, to their surprise there was a general 
interest in his favor. "But he is too proud to ask 
your votes," it was said by his opponents, " while the 
candidate in canonicals comes hat in hand, bowing 
from door to door." Mr. Eomaine, who was absent 
in Yorkshire, was speedily apprized of what his friends 
had been doing in his behalf; and at the time appoint- 
ed for the candidates to preach, he was in London, 
and preached from the words, ""We preach not our- 
selves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your 
servants for Jesus' sake." 

Alluding to the reports which had been circulat- 
ed in consequence of his not having solicited their 
votes in the too common way, he says, " Some have 
insinuated it was from pride that I would not go about 
the parish, from house to house, canvassing for votes ; 
but truly it was another motive. I could not see how 
this could promote the glory of Grod. How can it be 



BLACKFRIARS. 139 

for the honor of Jesus, that his ministers, who have 
renounced fame and riches and ease, should be most 
anxious and earnest in the pursuit of those very- 
things which they have renounced? Surely this 
would be getting into a worldly spirit, as much as 
the spirit of parliamenteering. And as this method 
of canvassing cannot be for Jesus' sake, neither can 
it be for his honor : it is far beneath our function ; 
nor is it for your profit. What good is it to your 
souls ? What compliment to your understandings ? 
Is it not depriving you of the freedom of your choice ? 
Determined by these motives, when my friends of 
their own accord put me up as a candidate, to whom 
I have to this hour made no application, directly or 
indirectly, I left you to yourselves. If you choose 
me, I desire to be your servant for Jesus' sake ; and 
if you do not, the will of the Lord be done." 

This dis^nified stand won him favor : at the second 
balloting, Mr. Romaine received a large majority of 
votes ; but the two other candidates taking advantage 
of some flaw in the manner of proceeding, the case 
was carried into the courl of Chancery. It was some 
time before the matter was decided, and Romaine 
was accused of being too easy about the result. 
" Blackfriars church is desirable," he replies, " but 
we cannot tell whether Jes.us wants it or not: if 
he does, he will bring it about ; if not, his will be 
done." 

While this important matter was pending, we find 
Lady Huntington and her chaplains sowing and reap- 
ing at Lewes, situated at the edge of the South Downs, 



140 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

eight miles north-east of Brighton. The town is an- 
cient and of marked historical interest. In the ivy- 
clad ruins of a castle and priory are the memorials 
of a feudal age, of monks and cowls ; here also was a 
battleground once red with the conflict between royal 
and baronial power ; ''the mise of Lewes" is known in 
history as one of those agreements which armed men 
entered upon only to break at a more convenient sea- 
son. Lady Huntington obtained one of the regular 
churches for Mr. E-omaine ; his searching appeals 
angered his brethren, and he was refused another 
hearing : a large room v/as then obtained, and, better 
still, such was the irrepressible eagerness with which 
the people flocked to hear him, he spoke in the open 
air. "All gave solemn heed," said Lady Hunting- 
ton, "while he applied those solemn words, 'Behold 
the Lamb of Grod, who taketh away the sin of the 
world.' I did not see one careless or inattentive per- 
son, and there is reason to think many poor sinners 
were cut to the heart." 

In the same year also, 1765, active measures 
were taken to erect a chapel at Bath, the resort alike 
of the fashionable and the afflicted. The summer 
months found this city thronged with people in quest 
of change, excitement, society, or health, thoughtless, 
restless, aimless. 

From time to time, "Whitefield had proclaimed 
here the "good tidings" of redemption. As early as 
1752 he preached at the house of Lady Huntington 
for three weeks to large circles of the gay world ; 
three years afterwards, Lady Gertrude Hotham threw 



THE CHAPEL AT BATH. 141 

open her doors for his ministrations ; the city had been 
also blessed in less public ways with the labors of 
those who loved their Lord ; and it seemed to be now 
a fitting time for the creation of a place of worship 
where the awakened clergy could have a wider sphere 
to work in. 

In the summer of 1765, Lady Huntington bought 
a piece of land in the vineyards of Bath, and made 
preparations for building. Meanwhile Lord Chester- 
field offered his chapel at Bretly Hall, in Derbyshire, 
to be used by her chaplains during their summer 
tours. Grladly did she accept the offer ; and the old 
domain, so often echoing with the noise of revelry, 
now resounded with the proclamations of the gospel, 
for Romaine is in the pulpit, and Whitefield in the 
park. This was in July. Referring to this period, 
Romaine says, "Fifteen pulpits were open to me 
here, and showers of grace came down." 

One of the gentlemen of Lady Huntington's party 
rambled one day among the grand and beautiful 
scenes of the famous Derbyshire peaks. Weary with 
his wanderings, he sought rest and refreshment in a 
humble cottage among the heights. Beginning a talk 
with the woman, he was surprised to find her an 
intelligent and warm-hearted Cliristian. He asked 
if there were many like-minded, and if the gospel 
were often preached in her neighborhood. 

"Alas, no," she replied, "I have not a creature of 
the same mind to converse with ; I am quite alone ; 
those I see and talk with know nothing of the grace 
of aod in Christ." 



142 LADY HUNTING-TO:tT. 

"And pray, how came you to know it ?" asked 
the gentleman. 

"Why sir," she answered, "some time ago there 
was a famous man down in this country, called Mr. 
E-omaine ; he preached some miles off, and many of 
the neighbors went to hear him. So I thought I would 
go too ; accordingly away I trudged, and he had no 
sooner begun his discourse, than it all seemed directed 
to me : he opened the depravity of my heart, con- 
vinced my conscience of my sins, showed me the 
wages of death which were due to me, and the truth 
of it I felt in my own soul. He then opened the ful- 
ness and glory of Christ, described his sufferings and 
death, displayed the riches of his grace to the miser- 
able, and invited them to embrace it and be blessed. 
Sir, you cannot think the instantaneous and wonder- 
ful effect it had on me ; I was convinced of sin, jus- 
tified by faith, and came home rejoicing. From that 
day to this I have never lost the sweet savor of those 
truths. How I long to see the gentleman again. Do 
you know him? I think they said he came from 
London." 

The gentleman and the poor cottager were no 
longer strangers. They were of the same spiritual 
household, and beheld in each other the likeness of 
their Lord. She had probably heard the London 
preacher on one of his summer tours to Ashby, which 
was not far off. 

By October, the chapel at Bath was finished. In 
the latter part of September, Lady Huntington sent 
for K-omaine to attend her at Bath. He is now in 



CHAPEL AT BATH. 143 

Brighton, and replies, " The society most earnestly 
entreat you, if Mr. Madan should come down to 
Bath, that I may be suffered to stay here with them. 
Why should Bath have all, and poor Brighton none ? 
My very heart and soul are at work here now, inas- 
much as I have not minded going to Oathall wet to 
the skin, for the joy that was set before me." Lady 
Huntington urged no more. On the 6th of October, 
the dedication services were performed by Whitefield, 
wdio says, " Though a wet day, the place was crowded ; 
and assuredly the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls 
consecrated and made it holy ground by his presence." 

Here Romaine spent many of his vacations ; and 
though he had not the commanding eloquence of 
Whitefield, his clear and pungent exhibitions of 
truth, sharpened by a critical knowledge of the word 
of God, powerfully affected the consciences of his 
hearers, and constrained men to flee from the wrath 
to come. Here also Fletcher pleaded with the prod- 
igals and prayerless, with that irresistible sweetness 
and seriousness so peculiar to him. " Dear Mr. Fletch- 
er's preaching is truly apostolic," says Lady H ; 

''the divine blessing accompanies his word in a very 
remarkable manner ; he is ever at his work, is amaz- 
ingly followed, and singularly owned of Grod." 

The chapel was not only frequented by the true 
hearers of Grod's word, but the fame of its eloquent 
preachers attracted the most distinguished visitors of 
Bath. "It is certainly very neat, with its true Groth- 
ic windows," Horace Walpole tells us, who went there 
to hear Wesley; ^'I was glad to see luxury creeping 



144- LADY HUNTINGTON. 

in upon them before persecution. They have boys 
and girls with charming voices, who sing hymns in 
parts. At the upper end is a broad hautpas of four 
steps advancing in the middle ; at each end of the 
broadest part are two eagles, with red cushions for the 
parson and clerk. Behind them rise three more steps, 
in the midst of which is a third eagle for a pulpit ; 
scarlet armchairs in all three. The congregation sit 
on forms. "Wesley is a clean elderly man, fresh color- 
ed, his hair smoothly combed, but with a little soup- 
9 on of curls at the ends. "Wondrous clever, but as 
evidently an actor as Grarrick. There were parts and 
eloquence in his sermon, but towards the end he ex- 
alted his voice and acted very vulgar enthusiasm." 

"Many were not a little surprised at seeing me in 
the Countess of Huntington's chapel," says Wesley ; 
"the congregation was not only large, but serious, 
and I fully delivered my soul." 

Among the visitors of Bath this season, were Lord 
and Lady Grlenorchy of Scotland. They had just re- 
turned from the gayeties and excitement of a conti- 
nental tour, when Lady G-lenorchy was laid by from a 
severe illness at G-reat Sugnal, situated a short dis- 
tance from Hawkstone, the celebrated seat of Sir Row- 
land Hill. Lady G-lenorchy 's intimacy with the Hill 
family had led her to some acquaintance with a spir- 
itual Christianity, and impressed strongly upon her 
mind the idea that there was a higher and better life 
than that of a heartless round of fashionable follies. 
On her sick-bed that life dawned upon her soul. She 
found Jesus Christ, the tried corner-stone, elect and 



LADY aLENORCHY. 145 

precious ; and though gifted, beautiful, and young, for 
she was now but twenty-four. Lady G-lenorchy reso- 
lutely turned her back upon the gay world, and con- 
secrated herself to the service of her heavenly Master. 
Her nearest friends were alarmed and angry ; they 
hastened to drive from her mind this strange and 
unwonted seriousness, and her husband was advised 
immediately to leave the country for the gayer resorts 
of Bath and London. They came to Bath : at Bath 
she met Lady Huntington, and at Bath she had a 
precious opportunity of hearing that preaching which 
confirmed her faith and nourished her soul. She was 
one of the earliest attendants upon the ministrations 
of the new chapel. 

'' Doubtless the world condemns your choice," 
wrote Miss Hill, almost the only pious friend whos3 
instruction and countenance Lady Glenorchy enjoyed, 
*^and has been telling you, you are sadly lost to your 
friends and acquaintances, and with an affected sort 
of pity would fam entangle you in its snares. ' Re- 
member,' saith our blessed Lord, 'the word that I 
said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord : 
if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute 
you ; if they have kept my saying, they will keep 
yours also. These things have I spoken unto you, 
that ye should not be offended.' These words of our 
Lord are sufficient consolation to every believer. Un- 
der their influence let us, my dear friend, learn daily 
that glorious lesson, to 'count all things but loss for 
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our 
Lord,' and think it our highest honor, that as we can 

Hiintiiistou. / 



146 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

do so little for Christ, we should he called in some 
way or other to suffer for him, till he gives us our 
discharge and takes us to share the triumphs of that 
victorious faith which overcometh the world. May 
this he our happy lot. I rejoice that you had resolu- 
tion and fortitude to resist all places of puhlic amuse- 
ment at Bath, and that you were enahled to see the 
vast danger you were in of being again entangled in 
the world ; whose delights you now happily find to he 
so truly empty and so greatly disproportionate to the 
moral capacities of the soul, that they are no more 
capable of yielding any solid contentment to an im- 
mortal mind, than the glow-worm glistening in the 
hedge is capable of giving light to the universe. Let 
us remember, that whatever we make our chief delight, 
to the neglect of Christ and his salvation, as it is 
vanity in the fruition, so it shall surely be bitterness 
in the end. But if the blessed Jesus say to us, ' Be 
of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you,' and add that 
blessed promise, ' I will never leave you, nor forsake 
you,' we cannot but be truly happy. Let me warn 
you not to give way to unbelieving doubts and fears, 
which are higlily dishonorable to G-od, and most de- 
structive to your own peace and comfort. Do trust 
him ; he will certamly perfect the work he has begun. 
Yfhat if your duties are imperfect, your graces at 
times weak, and your comforts fail ; is not Christ 
still the same ? Look upon him as a full Saviour, and 
rest satisfied that he can save to the uttermost." • 

Lady Huntington became deeply interested in 
this youthful disciple, thus struggling with foes within 




LADY aLENORCHY. 147 

and temptations without, and we may well suppose 
how comforting and inspiring both her conversation 
and example must have been to the fainting, yet 
faithful heart of Lady G-lenorchy. 

On her return to Edinburgh in the spring, we 
find her not unmindful, of the blessing, for she writes, 
"How shall I express the sense I have of your good- 
ness, my dear madam ? It is impossible, in words. 
When you say your heart is attached to me, I tremble 
lest I prove an additional cross to you in the end, and 
the pain I suffer in the apprehension of this is un- 
speakable. I hope the Lord permits it as a spur to me 
to be watchful, and to keep near to him, who alone is 
able to keep me from falling. I can truly say, that next 
to the favor of God, my utmost ambition is to be found 
worthy of the regard which your ladyship is pleased to 
honor me with, and to be one of those who shall make 
up the crown of your rejoicing in the day of our Lord." 

Soon after her departure, arrived Lady Sutherland, 
sister of Lady Grlenorchy, accompanied by her hus- 
band, both of whom were deeply suffering from the 
death of their eldest born. They were commended to 
Lady Huntington's ever ready sympathies. " Never," 
says she, "have I seen a more lovely couple; they 
may indeed with justice be called the Flower of 
Scotland. The good providence of Grod has, I hope, 
directed them here in order to lead them to the foun- 
tain of living waters. Dear Lady Glenorchy is ex- 
tremely anxious on their account." 

They attended the preaching of "Whitefield, who 
was then at Bath ; but only for a little while, for both, 



148 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

within a short time of each other, died of putrid-fever. 
The mournful event spread a general gloom over the 
gay city, and for a moment there seemed to be a pause 
in the whirl of pleasure. Two sermons were preached 
on the occasion in Lady Huntington's chapel, attended 
by almost all the nobility then at Bath. 

During the summer, Whitefield spent much time 
between Bath and Bristol. "As my feverish heat 
continues," he says, " and the weather is too wet to 
travel, I have complied with the advice of friends, 
and commenced hot-well-water drinking twice a day. 
However, twice this week, at six in the morning, I 
have been enabled to call thirsty souls to come and 
drink of the water of life freely. To-morrow evening, 
G-od willing, the call is to be repeated. Good seasons 
at Bath; good seasons at Bristol. Large auditories. 
G-race, grace." 

"Whitefield was followed by Yenn, who not only 
instructed and inspired from the pulpit, but charmed 
by the easy flow of his conversation in the social 
circle. 

To return to St. Ann's, Blackfriars, and the suit 
between Romaine and his competitors pending in 
Chancery. In February, 1766, a decree was issued 
in his favor, to the great joy of all who knew him and 
felt for the cause of truth. "While receiving the con- 
gratulations of his friends, he simply said with, pro- 
found seriousness, "It is my Master's will, and I sub- 
mit." 

To Lady Huntington he writes, "I had promised 
myself a little rest and retirement in the evening of 



ROMAINE. 149 

life, but my fine plan is broken all to pieces. I am 
called into a public station and to the sharpest engage- 
ment, just as I had got into winter quarters — an en- 
gagement for life. I can see nothing before me, so 
long as I live, but war, and that with unreasonable 
men, a divided parish, an angry clergy, a wicked 
Sodom, and a wicked world ; all to be resisted and 
overcome. Besides all these, a sworn enemy, subtle 
and cruel, with whom I can make no peace, no, not 
a moment's truce, night and day, with all his chil- 
dren and his host, is aiming at my destruction. 

"When I take counsel of the flesh, I begin to 
faint ; but when I go to the sanctuary, I see my cause 
good, and my Master is almighty, a tried friend ; 
and then he makes my courage revive. Although I 
am no way fit for the work, yet he called me to it, 
and on him I depend for strength to do it, and for 
success to crown it. I utterly despair of doing any 
thing as of myself, and therefore the more I have to 
do, I shall be forced to live more by faith upon him. 
In this view, I hope to get a great income by my liv- 
ing ; I shall want my Jesus more, and shall get closer 
to him. As he has made my application to him more 
necessary and more constant, he has given me stronger 
tokens of his love. Methinks I can hear his sweet 
voice, 'Come closer, come closer, soul ; nearer yet : I 
will bring you into circumstances that you cannot 
do one ixioment without me.' " 

Romaine was now fifty years of age, beginning a 
new career of thirty years' labor. 



150 LADY HUNTINaTON. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE INDIAN PHEACHER— DAETMOUTH— LORD 
BUCHAN. 

The red men who roamed through the dense 
forests skirting- their American colonies, were objects 
of intense and curious interest to the people of Eng- 
land. While stories of wild adventure and romantic 
incident "lent enchantment" to these far-off regions, 
the darkness and degradation of savage life pressed 
sorrowfully upon the Christian heart ; efforts made 
to propagate the gospel among the tribes were cor- 
dially responded to by English Christians ; and when 
Samson Occum, an Indian preacher, visited those 
eastern shores and stood before a London audience, 
he was welcomed as the first-fruits of a speedy and 
glorious harvest. 

Dr. Wheelock's school for the education of Indian 
youth, at Lebanon, Connecticut, excited a general 
interest. It was patronized by the chief men of the 
colonies, and besides other generous contributions both 
at home and from abroad, Mr. Joshua Moor, a farmer 
of Mansfield, Connecticut, had made it a substantial 
gift of land, with a building for a school-house ; in 
memory of which, the school was called Moor's Indian 
Charity school. Whitefield took it by the hand and 
commended it to the kind charities of his English 
friends. 



THE INDIAN SCHOOL. 151 

"My very dear Dr. "Wheelock," he writes from 
London in 1760, "I have just time to write you, that 
upon mentioning and a little enforcing your Indian 
cfFair, the Lord of all lords put it into the heart of 
the Marquis of Lothian to put into my hands fifty 
pounds sterling ; you will not fail to send his lordship 
a letter of thanks and some account of the school. 
Now the great G-od has given us Canada, what will 
become of us, if we do not improve it to his glory and 
the conversion of the poor heathen ? Satan is doing 
what he can here to bring the w^ork into contempt, 
by blasphemy and ridicule from both theatres. But 
you know how the bush burned and was not con- 
sumed ; and why ? Jesus was, and is in it ; Hallelu- 
jah. My hearty love to the Indian lambs." 

A hundred pounds came also from an unknown 
lady ; who she was, with Dr. "Wheelock, we may be 
permitted to conjecture. The doctor thus replies to a 
friendly and encouraging letter from Lady Hunting- 
ton. "It animates and refreshes me much to find 
such fervent love to Christ, and earnest care for the 
perishing souls of poor savages, breathed forth by a 
lady of such distinction. My Indian school lives and 
flourishes only by the grace of Grod. My number of 
late has been twenty-six. Two young English gentle- 
men belonging to it were lately ordained to the sacred 
work, with a view, as soon as provision can be made 
for their support, to a mission among the Six nations. 
Three young Indians are appointed to be schoolmas- 
ters among those tribes, and six more to be assistants 
for the summer, and return here in the fall. The 



152 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

aforesaid youth were all appointed to tlieir respective 
services, not knowing we had a penny in stock to 
support them, till a few days ago we were informed 
by Mr. "Whitefield's letter of a hundred pounds ster- 
ling from a lady unknown, devoted to the service of 
this Indian design. My soul blesses the benefactress, 
and the blessing of many ready to perish, I trust, will 
come upon her. And then we, who can only con- 
jecture by whom the favor is conferred, shall, by the 
account itself, and by the crown of glory given as the 
reward of it, be fully assured of the hand by whom it 
was done, where there shall be neither a possibility 
or occasion to conceal her liberality any more." 

The expenses of the school still outrunning its 
ordinary supplies, Dr. "Wheelock, with the advice of 
his friends, concluded to send Samson Occum, one of 
the most promising of his graduates, and then preacher 
among the Narragansetts, in company with Eev. Na- 
thaniel "Whitaker of Norwich, to solicit benefactions 
in England. They arrived in England in the sum- 
mer of 1767. 

Having brought letters of introduction to Lady 
Huntington, and already enjoying the personal friend- 
ship of Whitefield, who was then in his native land, 
they were speedily introduced into the religious circles 
of the metropolis. Occum excited universal attention. 
He preached to large audiences both at the Taber- 
nacle and Tottingham chapel ; and in his journey 
through England and Scotland, was warmly welcomed 
by Christians of every name. 

'' May G-od mercifully preserve him from the snares 



DARTMOUTH. 153 

of the devil," ejaculated his old instructor on hearing 
of his flattering reception in the old world. 

As the fruit of missionary enterprise, and a speci- 
men of well-directed efforts to christianize the savages, 
the presence of Occum not only encouraged Christian^ 
benevolence, hut shamed the lukewarm and silenced 
the heartless ridicule of opposers. Whitefield, Wesley, 
Romaine, and Venn, all advocated the school, and 
money flowed generously in. A hoard of trustees 
was or2:anized in London to receive contributions and 
disburse them to Dr. Wheelock, according to his needs. 
The Earl of Dartmouth was chosen president of this 
board, among whom we find the well-known names 
of Charles Hotham and John Thornton. Seven thou- 
sand pounds were collected in England, and between 
two and three thousand in Scotland ; and thus, through 
the favor of God, the interests of this little school 
found lodgement in the hearts of the great and good. 

As its course of study was limited, and its pupils 
had to be sent to distant colleges in order to complete 
their preparations for future usefulness, it was now 
thought advisable by its friends in the colonic*^, to 
enlarge its sphere of operations by removing it to a 
more eligible location and connecting a college with 
it. G-enerous offers were made by different and dis- 
tant towns, to have it located within their borders. 
Greneral Lyman was anxious it should come within 
his grant of government land on the Mississippi. The 
governor of Massachusetts offered it a large tract in 
Berkshire county ; a larger offer was made by the 

city of Albany, and a still more generous one issued 

7# 



154 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

from Grovernor "Wentworth of New Hampshire, con- 
sisting of five hundred acres of land in the township 
of Hanover, and a charter of the township of LandafF, 
consisting of twenty-four thousand acres, with his own 
agency to procure a royal charter for the college. 

Dr. Wheelock sent these different proposals to the 
Earl of Dartmouth, asking the advice of the hoard 
of trustees. The offer of Grovernor Wentworth was 
accepted, and the little shoot was planted in a granite 
soil. 

It was in August, 1770, that Dr. "Wheelock, then 
in his sixty-first year, went forth from the ease and 
comfort of the older settlements to make a new home 
in the yet unbroken forests. The lofty pines were 
levelled, a little clearing opened to the sunlight, and 
a few rude cabins erected, when the doctor's fam- 
ily and pupils, numbering seventy persons, began 
their toilsome journey to the north. The ladies lum- 
bered along in a coach given him by some London 
friends ; the rest, on horseback and on foot, left the 
travelled roads and plunged into the rude paths of 
the wood ; the journey occupying as many weeks then, 
as it now does hours. The doctor, like a patriarch in 
the desert, gave them a hearty welcome in the name 
of the Lord : gathering his flock around him, a hymn 
of praise and the voice of grateful prayer broke upon 
the deep solitudes of the wilderness. His cheerful 
courage and unflinching faith inspired the most de- 
sponding; while, with the activity and enterprise of 
youth, he laid out plans, selected sites, and shared all 
the privations of his fellow- workers. 



DARTMOUTH. 155 

The frame of a college building, eighty feet in 
length and two stories in height, was soon raised and 
partially covered ; a hall and two or three rooms were 
nearly finished, when the autumn storms, coming on 
earlier than usual, put a step to further progress. 
Many were the hardships of this little colony during 
the first year of its existence ; want of water, scanty 
supplies, coarse fare, drifting snows, beds made of 
boughs, with the nameless, yet numerous discomforts 
of new settlers, made up the stern discipline of this 
long and dreary winter. Like Elijah, who founded 
a school of the prophets in the wilderness of Jordan, 
the good man fainted. not, but trusted in Him who^ 
is the refuge and the fortress of his people. Though 
the snow lay four feet deep, and the sun was long in 
climbing above the topmost pine — though the cold 
northwester came Hke the breath of icebergs, there 
were warm hearts and devout spirits and busy hands 
in this forest clearins". 

God too was there with the tokens of his favor. 
Through the reviving and converting influences of his 
grace, Dr. "Wheelock, in January, had the unspeak- 
able satisfaction of gathering from his flock a church 
of thirty members, who made a solemn dedication of 
themselves to the service of Grod. 

As a testimony of respect to William Earl of 
Dartmouth, one of its earliest patrons and benefactors, 
this institution was named Dartmouth College ; and 
expressive of its birth and aim, its seal bears the sig- 
nificant motto, ''Vox clamantis in descrto" — "The 
voice of one crying in the wilderness," Dartmouth 



156 LADY HUNTING-TON. 

College, in the town of Hanover, New Hampshire, 
is the cherished and venerated alma mater of many 
grsat and good men, whose names live in the great 
heart of the republic, and whose virtues are the treas- 
ures of the church. 

A portrait of its patron hangs in one of the col- 
lege halls. We look with admiration upon the hand- 
some features and ripened manhood of this wealthy 
and accomplished Englisli.peer, but better and more 
beautiful still is it to think of him as casting all his 
honors at the Saviour's feet, and counting it his high- 
est privilege to be known as a follower of Christ. 

The king and some noblemen were once going 
out upon an early morning ride. Waiting a few mo- 
ments for Lord Dartmouth, one of the party rebuked 
him for his tardiness. " I have learned to wait upon 
the King of kings before I wait on my earthly sov- 
ereign," was his reply. May the lofty and uncompro- 
mising tone of his religious character ever distinguish 
the institution which bears his name. 

The same year that Occum visited England, and 
made glad the heart of Lady Huntington, she sor- 
rowed over the death of a dear and valued friend, Mrs. 
Yenn, who died at Huddersfield in the autumn of 
1767. To sound judgment and exalted piety, there 
was added a sweetness and vivacity of manner which 
rendered Mrs. Yenn a charming companion. A friend- 
ship sprung up between the two on their first intro- 
duction, while the Yenns lived at Clapham, and it 
ever continued a source of profit and pleasure to both. 
Mr. Yenn was deeply bereaved by the death of his 



LORD BUCHAN. 157 

wife; it was an "unspeakable loss" both to himself 
and his cliildren, yet behold the consolations vouch- 
safed to the children of G-od when afflictions break in 
like a flood. 

" Since the moment she left me," wrote the weep- 
ing husband to Lady Huntington, " I can compare 
my sense of her being with the Lord to nothing but 
a vision, it is so clear, so constant, so delightful. 
At the same time the Lord gives me to see his own 
infinite beauty, and to feel more and more his pre- 
ciousness as a fountain of livinsr waters to those who 
are bereft of earthly joy. And well it is I am so 
supported. For his own cause I cannot but conclude 
the Lord does it, since immediately upon my un- 
speakable loss the opposers cried out, ' Oh, now you 
will see what will become of his vauntin2:s of the 
power of faith, and the name of Jesus.' They knew 
our great happiness, and they said, ' You will see your 
vicar just like any one of us in the same situation.' 
But my Grod heard and answered; so that when I 
was mightily helped by him to preach the very Sab- 
bath after her death, and not many hours after her 
interment, their mouths were stopped, and the little 
flock of Jesus, who had been praying for me with all 
fervor and affection, say they have not had so great a 
blessinsr since I have been amonsr them." 

The death also of Lord Buchan, a Scottish peer, 
with the solemn pomp which attended his burial, 
made a pause in the gayeties of Bath, and plunged 
into sorrow a family circle whom Lady Huntington 
dearly prized. He was brother to Lady Frances 



158 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

Gardiner j and had long been intimately associated 
with the religious circles of Scotland. In quest of 
health, he came with his family to Bath just after 
the opening of the Bath chapel ; here his intimacy 
was renewed with Lady Huntington, and his family 
was favored with frequent intercourse with all the 
awakening preachers of the day. r 

Lord Buchan found no alleviation of his malady ; 
his health grew worse, hut with the daily increasing 
feebleness of his body, his soul was renewed day by 
day. From the means of grace, to which he gave 
diligent heed, and the conversation of many emi- 
nent Christians, he gamed clear views of Bible truth, 
and was enabled to lay hold of the doctrmes of the 
cross as he had never done before. A few days before 
his death, he sent for Lady Huntington to visit hin^. 
Grrasping hsr hand, he exclaimed, '' I have no founda- 
tion of hope whatever, but in the sacrifice of the Son 
of G-od ; I have nowhere else to look, nothing else 
to depend upon for eternal life and salvation, and my 
confidence in him is firm as a rook." 

The impressive services which took place at his 
funeral are so different from any thing within the 
range of our observation on this side of the water, 
that we may perhaps like to hear Whitefield's ac- 
count of them. "All hath been awful, and more 
than awful," he tells us. " On Saturday evening, 
before the corpse was taken from Buchan house, a 
word of exhortation, and a hymn sung in the room 
where the corpse lay. The young earl stood with his 
hand on the head of the coffin, the countess dowager 



LORD BUCHAN. 159 

on his right hand, Lady Anno and Lady Isabella on 
his left, with other relatives on one side ; a few friends, 
with all the domestics, on the other. At ten, the 
corpse was removed to good Lady Huntington's chapel, 
where it was deposited within a space railed, covered 
with black baize and the usual funeral concomitants, 
except the escatcheons. On Sunday morning all 
attended in mourning at early sacrament. They 
were seated by themselves at the foot of the corpse, 
and, with their head servants, received first, and a 
particular address was made to them. Immediately 
after receiving, these verses were sung for them : 

'• ' Our lives, our blood we here present, 
If for thy truths they may be spent ; 
Fulfil thy sovereign counsel, Lord ; 
-' Thy will be done, thy name adored. 

Give them thy strength, God of power; 
And then, though men and devils roar, 
Thy faithful witnesses they '11 be : 
'T is fixed — they can do all through thee.' 

Then they received the blessing, and the noble mourn- 
ers returned to the good Lady Huntington's house, 
which was lent them for the day. At eleven, public 
services began. The bereaved relatives sat in order 
within, and the servants outside the rail. The chapel 
was more than crowded ; near three hundred tickets, 
signed by the present earl, were given out to the 
nobility and gentry to be admitted. All was hushed 
and solemn. Proper hymns were sung, and I preached 
from these words : ' I heard a voice from heaven, say- 
ing unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead that die in 
the Lord.' Deep and almost universal impressions 



160 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

were made. The like scene, and, if possible, more 
solemn, was exhibited in the evening. Ever since, 
there hath been public service and preaching twice 
a day. This is to be continued tUl Friday morning; 
then all is to be removed to Bristol, in order to be 
shipped to Scotland. For five days together we have 
been attending to the house of mourning. Many, 
I trust, are obliged to say, ' How dreadful is this 
place.' Such a scene I never expect to see opened 
again this side of eternity. Surely the death of this 
noble earl will prove the life of many. He had great 
foretastes of heaven : he cried, ' Come, Holy G-host.' 
He came, and filled him with great joy. 'Happy! 
happy I' were his last words. The survivors feel the 
influence ; they sit round the corpse, attended by 
their domestics and supporters, twice a day. Two 
sermons every day." 

The young earl, twenty-four years of age at his 
father's death, joined himself to the people of G-od, 
and became valiant for the truth as it is in Jesus. 
He soon after went to London, where he became 
intimate with Lord and Lady Dartmouth, Lady 
Gertrude Hotham, Lady Chesterfield, Romaine, and 
"Whitefield. The latter says of him, '' He stands 
here in town against the opposition of his old com- 
panions like another Daniel ; he must be, nay, he 
hath already been, thrown into a den of lions ; but 
he hath One with him who can stop the lion's mouth." 
Berridge, Fletcher, and Venn were appointed his 
chaplains. " Though I feel not the least degree of 
value for any honor that oometh of man," said Yenn 



LORD BUOHAN. IGI 

to Lady Huntington, on receiving the appointment, 
" yet this pleases me very much, because I can 
receive it in no other light than that of bearing a 
pubhc testimony that Jesus, the G-od of the Chris- 
tians, is his G-od and his all." 

Lady Anne Erskine, the eldest daughter of the 
house, a lady of exemplary piety, now made her 
home with Lady Huntington, a daughter in her 
affections, a partner in her toils, and a well-beloved 
sister in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The funeral services of the earl, with the faithful 
application made of them by the impressive oratory of 
"Whitefield, produced a deep seriousness at Bath, and 
brought large numbers of the nobility to Lady Hunt- 
ington's chapel. On the departure of Whitefield, she 
was anxious to follow up the impression already 
made with the powerful preaching of Yenn and Ber- 
ridge. She wrote in urgent terms to summon them 
to Bath. 

^' My lady," wrote Berridge from Everton, De- 
cember 26, 1767, " I had a letter from your ladyship 
last Saturday, and another from Lord Buchan. His 
letter required an immediate answer, which I sent on 
Monday, and then went out a preaching. I am now 
returned, and sit down to answer yours. But what 
must I say ? Yerily you are a good piper, but I know 
not how to dance. I love your scorpion letters dearly, 
though they rake the flesh off my bones, and I be- 
lieve your eyes are better than mine, but I cannot 
yet read with your glasses. I do know that I want 
quickening every day, but I do not see that I want 



162 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

a journey to Bath. I have been whipped pretty 
severely for fighting out of my own proper regiment, 
and for rambling out of the hounds of my rambles ; 
and while the smart of the rod remains on my back 
it will weigh more with me than a thousand argu- 
ments. All marching officers are not general officers, 
and every one should search out the extent of his 
commission. A. gospel minister who has a church 
will have a diocese annexed to it, and is only an 
overseer or bishop of that diocese ; and let him, like 
faithful G-rimshaw, look well to it. An evangelist 
who has no church, is a metropolitan or cosmopolitan, 
and may ramble all the kingdom, or all the world 
over ; and these are more highly honored than the 
other, though they are not ahvays duly sensible of 
the honor. They are nearest to the apostolic character 
of any. 

" But whom do you recommend to the care of my 
church ? Is it not one Onesimus who ran av/ay from 
Philemon ? If the dean of Tottenham could not hold 
him in with a curb, how could the vicar of Everton 
guide him with a snaffle? I do not want a helper 
merely to stand up in my pulpit, but to ride round 
my district. And I fear my weekly circuits would 
not suit a London or a Bath divine, nor any tender 
evangelist that is environed in prunello. Long rides 
and miry roads in sharp weather ; cold houses to sit 
in, with very moderate fuel, and three or four children 
roaring or rocking around you ; coarse food ; lumpy 
beds to lie in, and too short for the feet ; stiff blan- 
kets, like boards, for covering ; rise at five in the 



LORD BUCHAN. 163 

morning to preach; at seven, breakfast; at eight, 
mount a horse, with boots never cleaned, and then 
ride home praising Grod for all mercies. Sure I must 
stay till your academy is finished, before I get an 
assistant. 

." But enough of these matters. Let us now talk 
of Jesus, whom I treat in my letters as I deal with 
him in my heart, crowd him into a corner, when the 
first place and the whole room belongeth of right to 
himself. He has been whispering, of late, that I 
cannot keep myself or the flock committed to me ; 
but has not hinted a word as yet, that I do wrong in 
keeping close to my fold. And my instructions, you 
know, must come from the Lamb, not from the Lamb's 
wife, though she is a tight woman. He has taught 
me to labor for him more cheerfully, and to loathe 
myself more heartily, than I ever could before. I see 
myself nothing and feel myself vile, and hide my 
head, ashamed of all my sorry services. I want his 
fountain every day, his intercession every moment, 
and would not give a groat for the broadest fig-leaves 
or the brightest human rags to cover me. A robe I 
must have of one whole piece, broad as the law, spotless 
as the light, and richer than an angel ever wore — the 
robe of Jesus. And when the elder Brother's raiment 
is put on me, good Isaac will receive and bless the 
lying varlet Jacob." 



164 LADY HUNTlNaTON 



CHAPTER XII. 

TE-EVECCA. 

At this period there were many pious students 
both at Cambridge and Oxford; and although, as in 
the college days of Wesley and "Whitefield, opprobrium 
and opposition were still to be encountered, yet there 
was now at length a larger circle of brave and good 
men throughout England to lend them sympathy and 
assistance. The Cambridge band was headed by 
Rowland Hill, who already began to exhibit that fear- 
less zeal in the cause of truth, which afterwards ren- 
dered him so conspicuous. In the bosom of Oxford, 
was also a little company in whose hearts glowed the 
fires of devotion, and who, not content with being sav- 
ed themselves, went about in the by-ways and ham- 
lets of the poor, striving if haply they might be in- 
strumental in saving others. This excited the jeal- 
ousy of the church, and the ridicule of their fellows. 
A storm was gathering, which, after a few threaten- 
ing signs, burst upon the heads of six young men of 
St. Edmund's Hall. 

"A very odd affair has happened here," says a 
fellow of Baliol. '' The principal of Edmund hall 
has been indiscreet enough to admit into his hall, 
by the recommendation of Lady Huntin^ton^ seven 
London tradesmen ; they have little or no learning, 
but have all of them a high opinion of themselves, as 



TREVECCA. 165 

being ambassadors of ' King Jesus.' One of them, 
upon that title conferred by himself, has been a 
preacher. Complaint was made to the vice-chancel- 
lor, I believe, by the bishop of Oxford ; and he, in his 
own right as vice-chancellor, had last week a visita- 
tion of the hall. Six of the preaching tradesmen 
were found so void of learning that they were expel- 
led. He has done well in removins: from hence some 
' ambassadors of King Jesus,' who were likely to do 
more harm than good." 

The expulsion is thus announced in the St. James 
Chronicle : " On Friday, March 11, 1768, six students 
belonging to Edmund hall were expelled the univer- 
sity, after a hearing of several hours before the vice- 
chancellor and some of the heads of the houses, for 
holding Methodistical tenets, and taking upon them 
to read, pray, and expound the Scriptures, and sing- 
ing hymns in private houses. The principal of the 
college defended their doctrines from the thirty-nine 
articles of the established church, and spoke in the 
highest terms of the piety and exemplariness of their 
lives ; but his motion was overruled, and sentence 
pronounced against them. One of the heads of houses 
present observed, that as these six gentlemen were 
expelled for having too much religion, it would be 
very proper to inquire into the conduct of some who 
had too Httle ; yet Mr. Vice- Chancellor was heard to 
tell the chief accuser, that the university was much 
obliged to him for his good work." 

" It is a grievous thing," exclaimed Lady Hunting- 
ton, who looked on with a deep and painful interest. 



1C6 LADY HUNTINaXON. 

"to find men who have solemnly subscribed to the 
doctrines of the Reformation, acting with such incon- 
sistent cruelty, tyranny, and falsehood towards those 
who consciously adhere to the tenets of our excellent 
church, and endeavor to propagate her principles." 

This affair served to quicken Lady Huntington in 
maturing a project which she had long contemplated, 
of establishing a college for the purpose of training 
young men for the ministry ; she had been led to the 
subject by finding how difficult it was to supply her 
chapels with needful help, and especially how impos- 
sible it was to enlarge her sphere of operations, under 
the existino' embarrassments. 

After much deliberation and the counsel of her 
wisest and choicest friends, the plan of a college was 
drawn up, into which only such young men should be 
admitted as students, as gave evidence of piety and 
were resolved to devote themselves to the work of the 
ministry ; they were to remain three years at the 
institution, board and education gratuitous, to receive 
a new suit of clothes once a year, and on leaving 
might enter the established church or any other Prot- 
estant religious denomination. Here pious young men 
could be trained for the ministry unfettered by the 
peculiar restrictions of a university course, while very 
many might be qualified for usefulness who could 
ill afford a longer and more expensive pupilage. 

Where should the new college be located ? Tre- 
vecca was fixed upon, in the parish of Talgarth, South 
Wales. Perhaps not the least of the attractions of 
TrevQcca might have been, that here dwelt Howell 



TREVECCA. 1G7 

Harris, with no cooling of the holy fire, and no abate- 
ment of the "Welsh vigor of his soul. But the frame 
which had braved summer heats and winter colds in 
his Master's service, had given way, and Harris sat 
waiting in his battered tent for the summons to go 
up higher; 

Mr. Venn, in one of his preaching tours, visited 
Trevecca, "happy Trevecca," as he calls it; and 
further adds, " Howell Harris is the father of that 
settlement, and the founder. After laboring for fifteen 
years more violently than any of the servants of Christ 
in this revival, he was so hurt in body as to be con- 
fined to his own house for seven years. Upon the 
beginning of this confinement, first one, and then 
another, whom the Lord had converted under his 
word, to the number of near a hundred, came and 
desired to live with him, and they would work and 
get their bread. By this means, near one hundred 
and twenty men, women, and children, from very dis- 
tant parts of Wales, came and fixed their tents at 
Trevecca. "We were there three days, and heard their 
experience, which they spoke m Welsh to Mr. Harris, 
and he interpreted to us. Of all the people I ever 
saw, this society seems to be the most advanced in 
grace. My heart received a blessing from them and 
their pastor, which will abide with me." 

Trevecca, then, was to be the seat of the proposed 
college; and for this purpose. Lady Huntington took 
Trevecca House, a venerable structure dating back 
as far as 1176, and had it opened for religious and 
literary instruction, with a chapel dedicated to the 



168 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

worship of Grod, on the 24th of August, 1768. Mr. 
"Whitefield preached from the words, " In all places 
where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and 
bless thee." On the Sabbath following, he addressed 
a congregation of some thousands, assembled in the 
court before the house. 

Mr. Fletcher of Madely was appointed president, 
and shortly after, Rev. John Benson head master of 
the institution. 

While the project was approved and encouraged 
by most of Lady Huntington's friends, there were 
some who regarded it in a less favora ble light, among 
whom was Mr. Berridge. 

Lady Huntington resided at Trevecca the greater 
part of the year, and the ' ' influence of her fervent 
piety," says one, " was highly beneficial. The spirit 
of devotion was everywhere apparent ; when walk- 
ing in the neighboring vales, one might often hear 
from several parts of the surrounding woodlands the 
voice of social prayer, arising from little bands of 
students who were pouring out their hearts before 
God. 

" Active exertion was united with devotional exer- 
cises ; horses were kept for the purpose of conveying 
the students to more distant places on Saturday after- 
noons, while the nearer villages were visited on foot, 
and thus the benefits of the college were felt through- 
out the surrounding towns and villages, to the dis- 
tance of twenty or thirty miles. Frequently a student 
was sent to greater distances to preach in certain dis- 
tricts or rounds^ as they were termed. On these 



TREVECCA. 169 

tours, chapels, private houses, market-places, or fields, 
as occasion required, became the scene of his labors ; 
and by this missionary work was the gospel introduc- 
ed, and the cause of Cln*ist revived in very many 
places, where we now find flourishing churches." 

For many years, the anniversaries of this college 
were scenes of deep and stirring interest. Yast 
crowds collected, sometimes numbering three thou- 
sand ; and on one occasion no fewer than one thousand 
three hundred horses were turned into a large field 
adjoining the college, besides what were stationed in 
the neio^hborins: villasfes. Baskets of bread and meat 
were distributed to the people in the court, while 
ample feasts of the bread of life were furnished by 
some of the most distinguished preachers of that day. 
The college was blessed by many tokens of the divine 
favor ; extensive revivals of religion followed the 
labors both of teachers and pupils, until Mr. Ber- 
ridge, moved by the cheering news which ever and 
anon reached the Everton parsonage, was constrained 
to acknowledge the favorable change in his feelings, 
and so wrote to its patroness. 

'' My Lady — ^When the frost broke up I became 
miserable indeed, just able at times to peep into my 
Bible, but not able to endure the touch of a quill. I 
am now reviving, but not revived, and can venture 
to take up my pen ; you will have its first fruits, such 
as they are. 

" I am glad to hear of the plentiful effusion from 
above on Talgarth. Jesus has now baptized your 



170 LADY HUNTINaTO^. 

college, and thereby shown his approbation of the 
work ; you may therefore rejoice, but rejoice with 
trembling. Faithful laborers may be expected from 
thence ; but if it is Christ's college, a Judas will cer- 
tainly be found among them. I believe the baptism 
will prove a lasting one, but I believe the sensible 
comfort will not always last as long. Neither is it 
convenient. In the present state of things, a winter 
is as much wanted to continue the earth fruitful as a 
summer. If the grass were always growing, it would 
soon grow to nothing ; just as flov/ers that blow much 
and long, generally blow themselves to death. And 
as it is thus with the ground, so it is with the labor- 
ers too. Afflictions, desertions, and temptations are 
as needful as consolations. Jonah's whale will teach 
a good lesson, as well as Pisgah's top. I see Jonah 
come out of the whale cured of his rebellion ; I see 
Moses go up to the mount with meekness, but come 
down in a huff and break the tables. Further, I see 
three picked disciples attending their Master to the 
mount, and fall asleep there. 

" I believe you must be clad only in sackcloth 
while you tarry in the wilderness, and be a right 
mourning v/idow until the Bridegroom fetches you 
home. Jesus has given you a hand and a heart to exe- 
cute great things for his glory, therefore he will deal 
you out a suitable measure of affliictions to keep your 
balance steady. Did Paul labor more abundantly 
than all his brethren ? He had more abundant stripes 
than they all. The Master will always shave your 
orown before he puts a fresh coronet upon your head, 



TREVECCA. 171 

and I expect to hear of a six months' illness when I 
hear of your huilding a new chapel. 

" I cannot comfort yon by saying that I think 
your day is almost spent, and that your afternoon 
shadows lengthen. G-o on, my dear lady ; build and 
fight manfully, and believe lustily. Look upward 
and press forvA^ard. Heaven's eternal hills are before 
you, and Jesus stands with arms wide open to receive 
you. One hour's sight and enjoyment of the Bride- 
groom in his place above, will make you forget all 
your troubles by the way. Yet a little while, and He 
that shall come, will come, and receive you with a 
heavenly welcome. Here we must purge and bleed, 
for physic is needful, and a tender Physician admin- 
isters all. But the inhabitants of heaven cry out and 
sing, 'We are no more sick' — 

" ' Ah. Lord, with tardy steps I creep, 

And sometimes sing, and sometimes weep ; 
Yet strip me of this trunk of clay, 
And I will sirig as sweet as they.' 

" A very heavy time have I had for the last three 
weeks — cloudy days and moonless nights. Only a 
little consolation fetched down now and then by a 
little dull prayer. At times I am ready to wish that 
sin and the devil were both dead, they make such a 
horrible racket within me and about me. Rather let 
me pray. Lord, give me faith and patience ; teach me 
to expect the cross daily, and help me to take it up 
cheerfully. WofuUy weary I am of myself, but know 
not how to live daily and feast upon Jesus. A treas- 
ure he is indeed, but lies hid in a field, and I know 



172 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

not how to dig in the dark. May daily showers from 
above fall on you and refresh you, and the dew of 
heaven light upon your chapels and college. 

" I remain your affectionate servant in a loving 

Jesus, 

"JOHN BERHIDGE." 

Nor did Lady Huntington's friends rest in empty 
expressions of approbation, for these were often sup- 
ported by bank-notes. "We find recorded five hundred 
pounds, the second gift from John Thornton, towards 
defraying the expenses of the institution, and a thou- 
sand pounds from some female friends who loved the 
Lord. To Lady Grlenorchy, who enclosed four hun- 
dred pounds. Lady Huntington writes, 

"I am indeed bound to thank your ladyship most 
sincerely for your generous gift to the college, which 
has been the offspring of many tears and strong cry- 
ing to the great and glorious Head of the church. 
This is surely one of the blessed effects of that faith 
wrought in your heart by the power of the Holy 
Grhost. The college is in a most glorious state. The 
unction of the Holy One is continually descending 
on its beloved inmates, and the love and harmony 
that reigns among them all it is most delightful to 
witness. Fired with a zeal for G-od and perishing 
souls, all seem determined in their strength to spend 
and be spent in this divine employ. The college, as 
dear Mr. Berridge says, has been baptized with the 
baptism of the Holy G-host ; great grace rests upon 
all withi 1 its walls, and eminent success crowns their 
labors in the towns and villao:es around. To G-od 



TREVECCA. 173 

alone he all the glory. The work is his, and he will 
carry it on in his own way. His smiles of approbation 
have cheered my heart amidst the many cares, labors, 
and sorrows I have to contend with. I thirst for an 
entire devotedness to him, and his cause and interest 
in the world. that I had a thousand hearts, a thou- 
sand hands ; all should be employed for him, for he 
is worthy. Sing, my soul. Worthy is the Lamb 
that was slain." 

In the hearts of how many of G-od's professing 
people does this wish meet with an earnest and hearty 
response ? 



174 LADY HUNTINGTON, 



CHAPTER XIII. 

A NEW RECRUIT— TUNBEIDaE WELLS. 

*' Sir — Mr. Thomas Palmer was at my house last 
week, and desired me to call upon you when I went 
to Cambridge. I am now at G-randchester, a mile 
from you, where I preached last night and this morn- 
ing, and where I shall abide until three in the after- 
noon ; will you take a walk over ? The weather is 
frosty, which makes it pleasant under foot. If you 
love Jesus Christ, you will not be surprised at this 
freedom taken by a stranger, who seeks your ac- 
quaintance only out of love to Christ and his people. 

" I am, for his sake, your affectionate servant, 

"J. BERPJDGE." 

This was addressed to the leader of the Cambridge 
band of pious youth, Uowland Hill, tidings of whose 
fearless fervor had reached the vicarage of Everton, 
only a few miles from Cambridge, and rejoiced the 
heart of its good old master. The invitation was 
thankfully responded to, and Uowland, a blooming 
young man of nineteen years, set out for G-rand- 
chester mill, where Berridge tarried with the miller. 
And thus these two met to confer together upon the 
rich prerogatives and ample endowments of their 
heavenly inheritance. Rowland's family were divided 
in their views of Christian duty. His eider brother 



ROWLAND HILL. 1/0 

Richard, and two of his sisters, sympathized with 
the religious movements of the day, and had them- 
selves received a saving knowledge of the truth as it 
is in Jesus. For Rowland they had felt the deepest 
solicitude ; for not only had he the common tempta- 
tions which beset the path of a rich man's son, but 
he possessed a vivacity and wit which would not fail 
to fascinate and delight the gay cii'cles of college 
students. 

As the time of his quitting Hawkstone for school 
drew near, the language of their hearts was, ''We 
cannot let thee go, without a blessing from on high :" 
nor were their fidelity and earnestness lost upon him ; 
he saw and felt the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and 
laid hold of the Refuge provided in the gospel. The 
change which passed over him was a thorough and 
permanent one ; there was no reserve in his conse- 
cration to Christ, and henceforth it became the en- 
deavor and the delight of his life to make known to 
others that salvation which he had found so precious 
to his own .soul. But upon this turn in the current 
of his life, his parents looked with a less favorable eye ; 
they sought to arrest him in his new course. Nor 
were college tutors more lenient, nor college com- 
panions more merciful. Rowland endured the cross 
for his Master's sake. Among the students there were 
a few of like faith, and these stood firm, willing to 
endure reproach and contradiction with him for the 
sake of Christ. 

From the meeting at the mill a delightful inti- 
macy sprang up between the old disciple and the new, 



176 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

and every Satbath, while at Cambridge, Rowland 
tried to spend a portion of the day at Everton. 

Although a diligent student, and holding a high 
rank in his classes, the young man was more than a 
student : the musty air of a cloistered life did not suit 
the buoyant energies of his spirit ; he craved the 
warmth and excitement of active life; he could not 
behold the moral wastes and the famishing poor 
in his daily walks, without longing to sow the seed 
and carry the bread of eternal life. And this he did. 
He pressed forward, doing with his might whatsoever 
his hand found to do. A strong opposition was 'raised 
against him. The faculty threatened, and his father 
frowned. In the midst of his troubles he ventured to 
address Mr. Whitefield, then at London, and lay his 
perplexities before him. 

"About thirty-four years ago," answered White- 
field, " the master of Pembroke college, where I was 
educated, took me to task for visiting the sick and 
going to the prisons. In my haste I said, ' Sir, if it 
displeaseth you, I go no more.' My heart smote me 
immediately. I repented, and went again : he heard 
of it — ^threatened, but for fear he should be looked 
upon as a persecutor, he let me alone. The hearts of 
all are in the Redeemer's hands. I would not have 
you give way, no, not for a moment ; the storm is too 
great to hold long : visiting the sick and imprisoned, 
and instructing the ignorant, are the very vitals of 
true and undefiled religion. If threatened, or denied 
a degree, or expelled for this^ it will be the best de- 
gree you can take : a glorious preparation for, and 



ROWLAND HILL. 177 

a blessed presage of future usefulness. I have seen 
the dreadful consequences of giving way and looking 
back. How many, for this wretched cowardice and 
fear of the cross, have been turned into pillars, not of 
useful but useless salt. Now is your time to prove 
the strength of Jesus yours. If opposition did not so 
much abound, your consolations would not so much 
abound. Blind as he is, Satan sees some great good 
coming on. "We never prospered so much at Oxford, 
as when we were hissed at and reproached as we 
walked along the streets. That is a poor castle that 
a little stinking breath of Satan's vassals can throw 
down. Your house, I trust, is better founded. Is it 
not built upon a rock ? Is not that rock the blessed 
Jesus ? The gates of hell, therefore, shall not be able 
to prevail against it. Gro on, therefore, my dear man, 
go on. Old Berridge, I believe, w^ould give you the 
same advice. Grod be praised that you are helped to 
bless, while others blaspheme. G-od bless and direct 
and support you. Good Lady Huntington is in town. 
She will rejoice to hear that you are under the cross. 
You will not want her prayers, or the poor prayers of, 
my dear honest young friend, 

" Yours in an all-conquering Jesus." 

This letter, so much in harmony with his own 
feelings, encouraged and animated the young man to 
engage with fresh ardor in his labors of love. 

Not long after this, in 1768, while under the dis- 
pleasure of his father, he came to Bath, on his way to 
Cambridge, and paid a visit to Lady Huntington, 
who received the young evangelist with open arms. 

8* 



178 LADY HUKTINaiON. 

He preached at her chapel, and expounded in her 
house, with great acceptance, giving promise on every 
occasion of that sahent oratory which distinguished 
his riper years. 

Rowland Hill was now twenty-three, and ready 
to receive orders ; yet six bishops refused to ordain 
him, on account of his irregular conduct at Cam- 
bridge, and for fear of still greater irregularities in 
tira.e to come. 

This, with divers other trials, grieved and embar- 
rassed him : his father restricted his allowance, in 
hope of breaking up his preaching tours ; but his 
spirit could neither be curbed nor broken. With his 
little "Welsh poney, the gift of a friend, without purse 
or scrip, he went forth on the highways and by- 
ways, far and wide, proclaiming the unsearchable 
riches of Christ. " Make the best of your time," said 
Berridge; "while the Lord affords travelling health, 
and strong lungs, blow your horn soundly." 

'^ I find you have got honest Rowland down to 
Bath," he writes to Lady Huntington once, while 
entertaining the ranger at her house. " He forsakes 
father and mother and brethren, and gives up all for 
Jesus. The Lord hath owned him much at Cam- 
bridge and in the north, and I hope will own him 
more abundantly in the west." 

Lady Huntington's house at Bath became now 
for a time his head-quarters, whence he went forth 
through the neighboring towns, preaching to large 
crowds, receiving abuse, or welcome, as the world 
saw fit to give him. 



ROWLAND HILL. 170 

'' I think your chief work for a season will be," 
writes Berridge to him, ''to break up fallow-ground. 
This suits the accent of your voice at present. Grod 
^yill give you other tongues, when they are wanted ; 
but he now sends you out to thrash the mountains, 
and a glorious thrashing it is. Geo forth, my dear 
Rowley, whenever you are invited, into the devil's 
territories ; carry the Redeemer's standard along 
with you, and blow the gospel trumpet boldly, fearing 
nothing but yourself. If you meet with success, as 
I trust you will, expect clamors and threats from the 
world, and a little sorrow now and then from the 
children. These bitter herbs make good sauce for a 
young recruiting sergeant, whose heart would be lift- 
ed up with pride, if it were not kept down by these 
pressures. Make the Scriptures your only study, and 
be much in prayer. The apostles gave themselves to 
the word of Grod, and to prayer. Do thou likewise. 
Labor to keep your mind in a heavenly frame ; it 
will make your work pleasant, and your conversation 
savory. Now is your time to work for Jesus. You 
have health and youth on your side, and no church 
or wife on your back. The world is all before you, 
and Providence your guide and guard. Fear not. 
Jesus is with you." 

The encouragement and countenance thus cor- 
dially proffered to the young Rowland by these veter- 
ans in his Master's service, Berridge and Whitefield, 
falling happily in with the current of his own tastes 
and talents, confirmed the sturdy Catholicism of his 
views ; and as they were about departing from the 



180 LADY HUNTINGMON. 

field, they cast on the young recruit the mantle of 
their own resolute, yet tolerant and loving spirit, 
which had made their preaching awful as that of the 
Hebrew prophet, and winning as that of the beloved 
disciple. 

Let us now pass to Tunbridge Wells, in the 
county of Kent, thirty-five miles south-east of London, 
a town much resorted to by the sick for the healing 
power of its waters, and by the fashionable to banish 
time and ennui by the picturesque beauties and the 
unrestrained gayeties which the place afforded. 

The cloud of mercies which broke upon Brighton 
and Oathall, led Lady Huntington to hope also 
something for so unpromising a field as Tunbridge 
"Wells : and she was encouraged in this by Sir Thom- 
as I'Anson, a pious man, who lived in the neighbor- 
hood, and who had sometimes opened his own man- 
sion to the preaching of the gospel. She went hither, 
accompanied by Mr. Yenn and Mr. Madan, in 1763, 
when large meetings were held in the Presbyterian 
church. But spacious as was the place, thousands 
were unable to get in. To satisfy the eager interest 
of the people. Lady Huntington begged them to take 
the open field — a new and extraordinary spectacle to 
the people of Tunbridge "Wells, and it created no 
small stir both among townsfolk and visitors. 

" May the precious name of Him who died to 
save, be made very dear to many in this place, and 
may this grain of mustard-seed become, by the bless- 
ing of Grod, a flourishing tree, extending its branches 
far and wide," was the parting benediction of one of 



TUNBRIDaE WELLS. 181 

the preachers. And that the grain began to spring 
up, and other of the Lord's husbandmen came and 
cared for the shoots, we may fairly conclude, for, five 
years afterwards, we find Lady Huntington taking 
up a permanent residence on mount Ephraim, one of 
the three little hills between which the town is situ- 
ated, with Whitefield by her side. This was in the 
summer of 1768. 

During the following winter. Lady Huntington 
spent a few months in London at her house in Port- 
land RoAv, Cavendish-square. Anxiety and her in- 
cessant labors threw her upon a sick-bed, and confin- 
ed her for many weeks to the house ; but though it 
suspended her personal activity, it did not close her 
doors to the preaching of the gospel. Whitefield, 
"Wesley, and Romaine are there, "holding forth the 
word of life" to as large auditories of the nobility 
and fashion of the metropolis, as in the earlier days 
of their ministrations. Whitefield was laborins: under 
severe bodily suffering, yet his labors were abundant, 
and in every interval of ease he was alert as a w^atch- 
man on a beleagured city. In March, Mr. Venn ar- 
rived at London, where he found a warm welcome 
and hospitable entertainment at Portland Row. He 
was anxious to improve every opportunity of attend- 
ing upon this great evangelist, whose conversation 
and ministry were so filled with an unction from on 
high, and whose failing health gave mournful pre- 
sage that the places now so glad with his presence 
must soon know him no more for ever. At the last 
meeting at Lady Huntington's house for the season. 



182 LADY HUNTlNaTON. 

we find Charles Wesley the preacher, Romaine and 
Yenn are administering the Lord's supper, and White- 
field pouring out his soul in the parting prayer with 
unspeakable solemnity, as though his feet had already 
touched the waters of Jordan. 

Lady Huntington immediately proceeded to Bath 
in company with Mr. Yenn. Lady Fanny Shirley, 
Lady Gertrude Hotham, and the Countess of Buchan 
now resided here, shedding a religious influence over 
the circles in which they moved, and striving to com- 
mend the Christian profession not only by well-order- 
ed lives, but by seeking to bring their friends to a 
like precious experience. 

The chapel, which had been fully attended during 
the winter, was now supplied for a few Sabbaths by 
Mr. Yenn. In his correspondence at this time, among 
other interesting things, he writes thus: ^' I am favor- 
ed with the pleasing sight, and with the animating 
example of a soul inflamed with love to a crucified 
G-od, that stumbling-block to them that perish. In 
Lady Huntington I see a star of the first magnitude 
in the firmament of the church. Blessed be Grod for 
free grace, that salvation is to every one that cometh 
to Christ. Otherwise, when I compare my life and 
my spirit with hers, I could not believe the same 
heaven was to contain us. How do works, the works 
of faith and love, speak and preach Jesus Christ, in 
that devoted servant of his. No equipage, no livery 
servants, no house, all these given up, that perishing 
sinners may hear the life-giving sound, and be enrich- 
ed with all spiritual blessings. Her prayers are heard, 



, tunbridctE wells 183 

her chapel is crowded, and many sinners among the 
poor are brought to the city of refuge. I feel, from 
Lady Huntington's example, an increasing desire 
both for myself and you, and all our friends, that we 
may be active and eminent in the life of grace. Too 
apt are we to rest in life received, and not to be doing 
every day something for our Lord ; either earnestly 
engaged in prayer, speaking affectionately to sinners, 
overcoming our selfish passions, or exercising mercy 
to our needy brethren ; but it is by abounding in 
every good work, that our light shines before men, 
and we stand confessed the workmanship of G-od in 
Cln-ist. 

^' I have enjoyed in this visit the edifying discourse 
and bright example of many of our dear Saviour's 
family, all of them partakers of one life and one 
spirit, yet each distinguished by its particular hue 
and beauteous color more predominant than the rest. 
In one, I have been animated by the ardent activity for 
the glory of Christ and the salvation of souls. In 
another, I was pleased and softened by conspicuous 
meekness and gentleness of spirit. In a third, I was 
excited to love and good works, by the fervent charity 
and brotherly kindness I beheld ; and in a fourth, I 
was led to abase myself, and confess the pride of my 
heart, from the humility and brokenness of spirit that 
struck me. In the Head alone, all graces in their 
lustre unite." 

How lovely is Christian fellowship, thus reflecting 
and multiplying the Christian graces. 

In April, "Whitefield left London, and followed 



184 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

Lady Huntington to Bath; his health becoming 
somewhat improved, accompanied by the Countess 
and Lady Anne Erskine, he made a tour through 
Bristol, Chippenham, Rodborough, G-loucester, Chel- 
tenham, and several other towns, the scenes of early 
and later triumphs. " Never were these places so 
endeared to me," he exclaimed. " Old friends, old 
gospel wine, and the great G-overnor ordering to fill 
to the brim ! Oh, to grace what mighty debtors !" 

In May, the three, with the addition of Lady 
Buchan and Miss Orton, proceeded to Tunbridge 
Wells, to attend the dedication of the chapel, now 
nearly completed. At an early hour on the Sabbath 
morning of the services, great numbers assembled in 
the court before the countess' residence, to begin the 
day with prayer and praise. 

''It is impossible," exclaimed the lady of the 
mansion, "to express the delight and satisfaction I 
felt, on being awoke at an early hour in the morning 
by the voice of praise and thanksgiving; my heart 
was powerfully affected, and never shall I forget the 
pleasure I then experienced." 

These tokens of interest and religious fervor must 
have been peculiarly grateful, for they were blossom- 
ings from the little seed long since sown, and fore- 
shadowings of a precious and golden harvest yet to 
be reaped. At the opening services, the prayers of the 
established church were read by Mr. De Courcy, and 
Mr. Whitefield preached the sermon ; but the chapel 
having become crowded almost to suffocation, the 
sermon was delivered in the open air, from a mound 



TUNBRIDdE WELLS. 185 

in the court before the chapel. It was one of his most 
eloquent and thrilling efforts ; the lofty energy of his 
tones, the utter forge tfulness of himself in the all- 
absorbing interest of his subject, the very impersona- 
tion of the truths which he uttered as he stretched 
forth his hand — " Look yonder; what is that I see ? 
It is my agonizing Lord! Hark, hark; do not you 
hear ? earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the 
Lord !" thrilled the vast congregation, riveting the 
eye, piercing the conscience, and holding strong men 
breathless before the resistless might of his oratory. 

Infirm, asthmatic, corpulent, and heavy. White- 
field has lost none of his early power ; the grace and 
elasticity of both youth and health have gone, field 
preaching has lost the freshness and strangeness of 
thirty years before ; his themes have no new elements, 
his mind no broader range, his thoughts no sharper 
cut or richer mould, yet he is Whitefield still, with 
all his outgushing eloquence, thronged by a crowd, 
who hung with eager and trembling earnestness 
upon liis august and impassioned utterances. The 
unabated popularity of this wonderful man is one of 
the most remarkable things in his history ; when we 
remember, too, that he founded no sect, led off no fol- 
lowers, opened no new school of Theology, and pro- 
tested against no system. He was upheld or carried 
forward by no partisan interest of any kind. It was 
eminently a personal power which he wielded, receiv- 
ing neither force nor abatement from patronage or 
party. What this power precisely was, it is perhaps 
difficult to decide. Vividness of conception, single- 



386 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

ness of aim, depth of emotion, a native tenderness of 
spirit, all concentrated upon one grand theme, and 
that theme Christ, the crucified and risen Saviour ; 
and more than all this, his being a chosen instrument 
in this spiritual renewal of the true church, set apart 
by the Lord of glory — therein were the hidings of his 
power. 



/ 



THE BREACH. 187 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE BREACH. 

The first day of the year 1770 Lady Huntington 
set apart for fasting and prayer, and for a renewed 
dedication of herself to G-od. 

" I am just returned from the Lock," she says 
in the evening, "where I heard a profitable sermon 
from dear Mr. Romaine on that awful passage, * This 
year thou shalt die.' If the Lord shall see fit to 
remove me hence tlxe year just begun, may my worth- 
less soul be numbered with the redeemed before his 
throne. Of late I have enjoyed much intimate fel- 
lowship with the Father and the Son, and the Holy 
Grhost has frequently witnessed with my spirit that I 
am his child. This has caused me to rejoice with 
unspeakable joy." 

Such are the delights which are the privilege of 
the Cliristian. How do they cheer and soothe the 
soul chafed by the disappointments and cares that 
must needs beset us in our earthly pilgrimage. In 
proportion as our sphere is wide, so do cares multiply, 
and we live to see the fairest mornins^s clouded and 
our dearest hopes withered in the bud ; drought 
blights our labors, and barrenness eats up our Edens. 
It was in such a season of suspended fruitfulness 
that this pious woman had written Berridge; and 



188 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

to her letter, under the date of January 9, he thus 
replies : 

" You complain that every new work after a 
season becomes a lifeless work. And was it not in 
the beginning as it is now ? Do not the Acts and 
epistles show that the primitive churches much re- 
sembled our own ? In their infancy we find them of 
one heart and soul, having all things common; but 
presently read of partial distribution in their church 
stock, then of eager and lasting contentions about 
circumcision, coupling Moses with Jesus, and setting 
a servant on a level with his Master. And gentile 
churches are much on a level with the Jewish. The 
Corinthians soon fell into parties about their leaders, 
into errors about the resurrection, and into many 
gross immoralities. The Galatians seemed at first 
ready to present Paul with their own eyes, but grew 
desirous at last of plucking out his. The Ephesians 
had been much tossed by winds of doctrine. The 
Colossians had fallen into will- worship, and the Thes- 
salonians had some of our gossips among them who 
would not work, but sauntered about picking up news 
and telling tales. St. Paul's labors were much em- 
ployed in Asia, and many churches were gathered 
there ; yet I hear him complaining in a certain place, 
that ' all they in Asia were turned aside from him.' 
Scripture mentions a former and a latter rain, between 
which of course there must have been an interval of 
drought and barrenness. The former rain falls just 
after seed-time, when there is plenty of manna com- 
ing down from above, plenty of honey flowing out of 



THE BREACH. 189 

the rock, and plenty of joyful hosannas rising up to 
Jesus. After this rain comes the interval, during 
which most of the stony and thorny grounds sheer 
off', taking a final leave of Jesus ; and the good 
grounds are scarcely discernible, so cold they appear 
and full of weeds, so exceedingly cold and swampy. 
At length the Lord arise th in just indignation to 
chastise and vex his people, continuing his plagues 
until he has broken their bones and humbled their 
hearts, causing them to see and feel and loathe their 
backslidings, and raising up a sigh and a cry in their 
hearts for deliverance. Then comes the latter rain 
to revive and settle ; after which they learn to walk 
humbly with G-od." 

What church has not experienced this spiritual 
drought, when the leaves fall from the fig-tree and 
the vine fainteth for want of water? If the laws 
of the natural world are types and shadows of the 
spiritual, then such things must needs be in the pres- 
ent economy of life. And though we see but through 
a glass darkly, we discern a heavenly wisdom : those 
w^hich have no root wither away, while the strong 
trunk abides the heat, and the delicate flower folds 
its leaves and bows its head, waiting meekly for the 
rain ; these shall be for the garden of the Lord. 
Blessed are those who endure to the end. 

It was in August of this year that the churches 
in connection with Mr. Wesley held their twenty- 
seventh annual conference in London, w^hich gave 
birth to a controversy, perhaps one of the hottest and 
most barren of spoils in the annals of Protestant the- 



190 LADY HUNTINCrTON. 

ology. It was a kindling of the old flames that so 
nearly consumed the friendship of "Wesley and "White- 
field more than twenty years hefore ; and though 
smothered for a season hy the predominance of the 
Christian element, theological differences which mark- 
ed their preaching were likely to assume a greater 
importance in the minds of their friends or follow- 
ers, and demand a more unqualified acknowledg- 
ment. The conference made the following decla- 
rations : 

" 1. With regard to me/z'i* faithfulness. Our 
Lord himself taught us to use the expression, there- 
fore we ought never to be ashamed of it. We ought 
steadily to assert, upon his authority, that if a man is 
not faithful in the unrighteous mammon, Grod loill 
not give him the true riches. 

^'2. With regard to working for life, which our 
Lord expressly commands us to do. Labor, work 
for the meat that endureth to everlasting life. And 
in fact every believer, till he comes to glory, works 
for as well as from life. 

" 3. We have received it as a maxim, that ' a 
man is to do nothing in order to justification.' Noth- 
ing can be more false. Whoever desires to find favor 
with G-od, should cease from evil and learn to do 
well. So God himself teaches by the prophet Isaiah. 
Whosoever repents, should do works m.eet for repent- 
ance. And if this is not in order to find favor, what 
does he do it for ? 

*' In review, 

"1. Who of us is nouj accepted of Grod ? 



THE BREACH. 191 

'' He that now believes in Christ with a loving 
and obedient heart. 

"2. But who among those that never heard of 
Christ? 

" He that, according to the light he has, feareth 
G-od and worketh righteousness. 

"3. Is this the same with him that is sincere ? 
" Nearly, if not quite. 
"4. Is not this salvation by works ? 
*' Not by the merit of works, but by works as a 
condition. 

*' 5. What then have we been disputing about 
these thirty years ? 

" I am afraid, about words. 

"6. As to the 7nerit^ of which we have been so 
dreadfully afraid, we are rewarded according to our 
tvorks, yea, because of our ivorks. How does this 
differ from, for the sake of our tvorks? Can you 
split this hair ? 

" 7. The grand objection to one of the preceding 
doctrines is drawn from matter of fact. G-od does 
in fact justify those who, by their own confession, 
neither feared God nor luroug-ht righteousness. Is 
this an exception to the general rule ? It is a doubt 
whether G-od makes any exception at all. But how 
are we sure that the person in question never did 
fear God or work righteousness ? His own saying 
so is no proof; for we know how all that are con- 
vinced of sin undervalue themselves in this respect. 

" 8. Does not talking of unjustified or a sanctified 
state tend to mislead men ? almost naturally leading 



192 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

them to trust in what was done at one moment? 
Whereas we are, every hour and every moment, pleas- 
ing or displeasing to God " according to our works," 
according to the whole of our inward tempers and our 
outward hehavior." 

These were the minutes which alarmed Lady 
Huntington and her friends, because they were 
thought to he aimed against divine sovereignty and 
electing grace, which were favorite doctrines of Mr. 
"Whitefield and his adherents. With an honest though 
hasty warmth, Lady Huntington declared that no 
one embracing the statements laid down in these 
minutes could remain in her college. Mr. Benson, 
her head-teacher, defended them, and in consequence 
closed his connection with the college. 

''I am glad you had courage," said Wesley to 
him, ''to speak your mind on so critical an occasion. 
At all hazards do so still, only with all possible ten- 
derness and respect. She is much devoted to Grod, 
and has a thousand valuable and amiable qualities." 

Mr. Benson immediately informed Mr. Fletcher, 
the President, of his dismissal, who says, with his 
wonted tenderness for those who love the Lord, '' Take 
care, my dear sir, not to make matters worse than 
they are ; cast the mantle of forgiving love over cir- 
cumstances that might injure the cause of G-od, so far 
as it is put into the hands of that eminent lady, who 
hath so well deserved of the church of Christ ; but 
if what you say is true, a false step has been taken, 
and if the plan of the college is overthrown, I have 
nothing more to say t6 it." 



THE BREACH. 193 

A circular was now issued by the offended party 
inviting the clergy of all denominations to convene 
at Bristol, in order to meet the "Wesley an conference, 
and compel them to retract their heresies. The tone 
of the circular was more calculated to aggravate than 
to conciliate. The evening before the meeting took 
place. Lady Huntington wrote to Wesley apologizing 
for any seeming harshness or imperiousness : ''As 
Christians," she says, "we wish to retract what a 
more deliberate consideration might have prevented, 
as we would as little wish to defend even truth itself 
presumptuously, as we would submit servilely to 
deny it." 

The two parties met ; a candid and Christian 
temper presided over the discussions, and mutual 
explanations and concessions took place ; Lady Hunt- 
ington's chaplains and friends acknowledging an in- 
discreet haste in making up and expressing their 
opinions, and Wesley consenting to make such a 
public explanation of his views as would satisfy the 
unbiassed mind. 

" Whereas," he says, '' the doctrinal points in the 
minutes of a conference held in London, August 7, 
1770, have been understood to favor justification by 
works ; now we, the Rev. John Wesley and others, 
assembled in conference, do declare we had no such 
meaning, and that we abhor the doctrine of justifica- 
tion by works as a most perilous and abominable 
doctrine. And as the said minutes are not suffi- 
ciently guarded in the way they are expressed, we 
hereby solemnly declare in the sight of Grod, that we 

Huntington 9 



194 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

have no trust or confidence but in the alone merits of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for justification 
or salvation, either in life, death, or the day of judg- 
ment ; and though no one is a real heliever who doeth 
not good works when there is time and opportunity, 
yet our works have no part in meriting or purchasing 
our justification, from first to last, either in whole or 
in part." And thus it stands, signed by fifty-three 
of his preachers. 

This frank and manly avowal, or disavowal, qui- 
eted the apprehensions of his friends ; and peace must 
have been speedily restored between the two religious 
parties, had not a vindication of the doctrines of the 
minutes, prepared by Mr. Fletcher at the request 
of Mr. "Wesley, and written before the meeting of the 
conference of adjustment, soon appeared. When 
Fletcher heard the result of the meeting at Bristol, 
he was extremely anxious to suppress the article; 
but it fell into the hands of a violent partisan, who 
hastened it through the press, and the gauntlet being 
thus thrown down, combatants were not wanting to 
take the field. 

The. details of this warfare it is hardly necessary 
to record here. Sir Eichard Hill, Uev. Augustus Top- 
lady, and Mr. Berridge were the principal writers on 
one side ; Fletcher, Sellon, and Olivers on the other. 
However powerful may have been the arguments 
wielded on either side, tools also of a sharper point 
were freely used ; acrimonious and intemperate ex- 
pressions were hurled back and forth ; both parties, 
instead of convincing or retreating, were driven to the 



THE BREACH. 195 

extremes of their own principles, and made unguard- 
ed assertions of themselves and their opponents, the 
effect of which was to alienate the hearts of Christian 
brethren, draw them from their proper work, and 
widen the breach between those who really loved the 
Lord. Mr. Thornton and others tried to pacify the 
parties, and moderate some of their excesses, but it 
availed little. Wesley took no active part in the war ; 
and Fletcher, though one of the principal actors, must 
be allowed to have preserved the habitual serenity of 
his spirit ; he was indeed, in a measure, above the 
storms of earthly passions. While in the heat of the 
controversy he came to Stoke Newington seriously 
indisposed, where he was visited by many distin- 
guished people and several of his opponents. '' I 
went to see a man with one foot in the grave," said 
one of him, "but I found a man with one foot in 
heaven." 

" Your ladyship's account of what occurred at 
Mr. Wesley's last conference does not surprise me," 
wrote Lady Grlenorchy from Edinburgh; "may the 
Lord G-od of Israel be with you, and enable you to 
make a firm stand in defence of a free-grace gospel. 
Lady Anne's letter told me all you had been doing in 
this momentous affair. When you next write to dear 
Mr. Shirley, give my kindest regards to him, and also 
to Mr. Fletcher, Mr. Yenn, and Mr. Romaine. May 
we all be kept by the mighty power of G-od unto the 
day of salvation. 

" I am rejoiced at the success which has attended 
the college and your very extensive field of labor. I 



196 LADY HUNTING-TON. 

long to be more actively engaged for Grod, but hitherto 
my way has been greatly hedged up. When the 
weather permits, I frequently visit the poor, and find 
much liberty and pleasure in speaking for G-od. 
Knowing the great demands upon your generosity, I 
beg your acceptance of the enclosed for four hundred 
pounds, which you will oblige me by expending in 
that glorious cause which my heart longs to serve ; 
and at the same time allow me to repeat, v^hat I have 
already assured your ladyship, that my purse is always 
at your command, as I feel persuaded that the Lord 
smiles on your plans of usefulness and will crown 
them with his blessing." 

A writer, describing these polemics, speaks of 
Berridge as a "buffoon as well as a fanatic," neither 
a very impartial nor discerning estimate of one of the 
noblest spirits of his day. We might, indeed, some- 
times regret the indulgence of his humor, and could 
wish, for his vocation's sake, a check-rein to the 
bridle of his speech ; but we fear we should have con- 
tinued to laugh with him, instead of giving him the 
highest and noblest proof of our love for him and for 
Christ's cause, shown by Mr. John Thornton in the 
following letter — a letter worthy of serious perusal by 
every clergyman whose wit is liable to get the better 
of his wisdom. 

" In some discussions we have had relative to 
' The Christian World Unmasked,' " discourses Mr. 
Thornton, " I could not help laughing with you, 
though at the same time I felt a check within ; your 
reasons silenced, but did not satisfy me. • Your vein 



BERRIDaE. 197 

of humor and mine seem much alike. If there is any 
difference between us, it lies here : I would strive 
against mine, while you seem to indulge yours. I 
fight against mine, because I find the ludicrous spirit 
is just as dangerous as the sullen one ; and it is much 
the same to our great adversary, whether he falls in 
with a capricious, or facetious turn of mind. I could 
not forbear smiling at your humorous allegory about 
the tooth, and was pleased at the good sense dis- 
played in it ; yet something came across my mind — 
Is this method agreeable to the idea we ought to 
entertain of a father in Israel ? It would pass mighty 
well in a newspaper, or any thing calculated for 
public entertainment ; but it certainly wanted that 
solidity or seriousness that a Christian minister should 
write with. What the apostle said in another sense 
will apply here : ' When I was a child, I spake as a 
child,' etc. An expression of yours in your prayer 
before sermon, when at Tottenham-court, struck me, 
that God would give us new breads not stale^ but 
ivhat was baked in the oven that day. Whether it 
is that I am too little, or you too much used to such 
expressions, I wont pretend to determine, but I could 
not help thinking it savored of attention to men more 
than to G-od. I know the apology frequently made 
for such language is, that the common people require 
it; it fixes their attention, and it affords matter for 
conversation afterwards ; for a sentence out of the 
common road is more remembered than all the rest. 
This may be true, but the effect it has is only a loud 
laugh among their acquaintances ; not one person is 



198 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

edified, and many are offended by such lilie expres- 
sions. Some ministers I have known, run into the 
other extreme, and think something grand must he 
uttered to strike the audience ; but this seems to me 
as unnecessary as the other, and both have a twang 
of self-conceit, and seem like leaning to carnal wis- 
dom. Truth, simple truth, requires no embellish- 
ments, nor should it be degraded ; we are not to add 
or to take from it, but to remember the power is of 
God wholly. 

" My reverend friend, as an old man, might be 
indulged in his favorite peculiarities if they would 
stop with him ; but others catch the infection, and we 
find young ministers and common people indulging 
themselves in the same way ; they think they are 
authorized so to do by such an example. Wit in any 
person is dangerous and often mischievous when 
used improperly, and especially on religious subjects; 
for as the professing part of an audience will much 
longer retain a witty or low expression than one more 
serious, so will the wicked part of it too, and turn it 
to the disadvantage of religion. I recollect but one 
humorous passage in all the Bible, which is that of 
Elijah with the Baalites ; and when the time, place, 
and circumstances are properly considered, nothing 
could be more seasonable, nothing so effectually ex- 
pose the impotency of their false god, and the absurd- 
ity of their vain worship. The prophets often speak 
ironically, sometimes satirically, but I do not remem- 
ber of their ever speaking ludicrously. Our Lord 
and his apostles never had recourse to any such meth- 



BERRIDGE. 199 

ods. The short abstracts we have of their sermons 
and conversations are all in a serious strain, and min- 
isters cannot copy after a better example. I dare not 
say that giving liberty to a man's natural turn, or 
an endeavor to put and keep the people in good- 
humor, is sinful ; but this I may assert, such a 
method is universally followed on the stage, and in 
all places of public entertainment, and therefore it 
seems to me to savor much more of the old man than 
of the new. 

" I remember you once jocularly informed me 
you was born with a fool's cap on ; pray, my dear sir, 
is it not high time it was pulled off? Such an accou- 
trement may suit a natural birth, and be of service ; 
but surely it has nothing to do with a spiritual one, 
nor^ever can be made ornamental to a serious man, 
much less to a Christian minister. I waive 'men- 
tioning scripture injunctions, such as, "Let your 
speech be with grace," etc., as you know these better 
than I do. Surely they should have some weight, 
for idle and unprofitable words stand forbidden. If 
it should please G-od to give you to see things as I do, 
you will think it necessary to be more guarded ; but 
should you think me mistarken, I trust it will make 
no interruption with our friendship that I am thus 
free with you, as it proceeds from a sincere love and 
regard. The Tabernacle people are in general wild 
and enthusiastic, and delight in any thing out of the 
common course, which is a temper of mind, though 
in some respects necessary, yet that should never be 
encouraged. If you and some few others, who have 



200 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

the greatest influence over them, would use the curb 
instead of the spur, I am persuaded the effect would 
be very blessed. "Wildfire is better than no fire ; 
but there is a divine warmth between these two ex- 
tremes which the real Christian catches,. and which 
when obtained is evidenced by a cool head and a 
warm heart, and makes him a glorious, shining ex- 
ample to all around him. I desire to be earnest in 
prayer that we may be more and more partakers of 
this heavenly wisdom, and ascribe all might, maj- 
esty, and dominion, to the Lord alone. 

"I am, dear sir, yours affectionately, 

"JOHN THORNTON." 

"Dear and honored sir," replies the vicar, "your 
favor of the 17th requires an answer attended with a 
challenge ; and I do hereby challenge you, and defy 
all your acquaintances to prove, that I have a single 
correspondent half so honest as yourself. Epistolary 
intercourses are become a polite traffic, and he that 
can say pretty things, and wuik at bad things, is an 
admired correspondent. Indeed, for want of due 
authority and meekness on one side, and of patience 
and humility on the other, to give or to take reproof, 
a fear of raising indignation instead of conviction, 
' often puts a bar on the door of my lips ; for I find' 
where reproof does not humble it hardens, and the 
seasonable time of striking, if we can catch it, is 
when the iron is hot : when the heart is melted down 
in a furnace, then it submits to the stroke, and 
takes and retains the impression. I wish you would 
exercise the trade of a gospel limner, and draw the 



BERRIDG-E. 201 

features of all my brethren in black, and send them 
their portraits. I believe you would do them justice 
every way, by giving every cheek its proper blush 
without hiding a dimple upon it. Yet I fear, if your 
subsistence depended on this business, you would 
often want a morsel of bread, unless I sent you a 
quartern loaf from Everton. 

"As to myself, you know the man : odd things 
break from me as abruptly as croaking from a raven. 
I was born with a fool's cap. True, you say; yet 
why is not the cap put off? It suits the first Adam, 
but not the second. A very proper question, and my 
answer is this : a fool's cap is not put off so readily 
as a nightcap. One cleaves to the head, and one to 
the heart. Not many prayers only, but many fur- 
naces, are needful for this purpose. And after all, 
the same thing happens to a tainted heart as to a 
tainted cask, which may be sweetened by many 
washings and firings, yet a scent remains still. Late 
furnaces have singed the bonnet of my cap, but the 
crown still abides on my head ; and I must confess 
that the crown so abides, in whole or in part, for want 
of a closer walk with Grod, and nearer communion 
with him. When I creep near the throne, this humor 
disappears, or is tempered so well as not to be dis- 
tasteful. Hear, sir, how my Master deals with me . 
when I am running wild, and sayi g things some- 
what rash or very quaint, he gives me an immediate 
blow on my breast, which stuns me. Such a check 
I received while I was uttering that expression in 
prayer you complained of; but the bolt was too far 

9* 



202 LADY HUNTING-TON. 

shot to be recovered. Thus I had intelligence from 
above, before I received it from your hand. However, 
I am bound to thank you, and do hereby acknow- 
ledge myself reimbursed for returning your note. 

"And now, dear sir, having given you an honest 
account of myself, and acknowledged the obligation 
I owe you, I would return the obligation in the best 
manner I am able. It has been a matter of surprise 
to me how Dr. Conyers could accept of Deptford 
living, and how Mr. Thornton could present him to 
it. The Lord says, '"Woe to the idle shepherd that 
leaveth his flock.' Is not Helmsley flock, and a 
choice flock too, left — ^left altogether, and left in the 
hands, not of shepherds to feed, but of wolves to 
devour them? Has not lucre led him to Deptford, 
and has not a family connection overruled your pri- 
vate judgment ? You may give me a box on the ear 
for these questions, if you please, and I will take it 
kindly, and still love and pray for you. 

" The Lord bless you, and bless your family, and 
bless your affectionate servant, 

"JOHN BEHRJDGE." 



DEATH OF WHITEFIELD. 203 

CHAPTER XV. 

^DEATH OF WHITEFIELD. 

Whitefield, though, sick and infirm, was im- 
pelled by the strong current of his Christian sympa- 
thies to revisit America. He had been now four years 
in England, and his heart yearned with unspeakable 
tenderness for his dear children over the waters. 
" Besides," he says, " a pilgrim life is to me the 
sweetest this side of eternity ; I am more content with 
it, and I shall have time enough to rest in heaven." 

As the time of his departure drew near, more than 
ordinary tenderness and solemnity mingled with his 
leave-takings. "Oh these partings," he exclaimed; 
" without a divine support, they would be intolerable. 
Paul could stand a whipping-post, but not a weeping 
farewell." 

On the day of his leaving London, he preached 
at the Tabernacle atseven in the morning ; none too 
early for the friends and admirers of this distin- 
guished man to grope their way through the damp 
and dingy atmosphere of an early London morning, 
responsive to his call. 

" Oh, sinners, you are come to hear a poor crea- 
ture take his last farewell ; but I want you to forget 
the creature and his preaching. I want to lead you 
further than the Tabernacle, even to mount Cal- 
vary, to see with what expense of blood Jesus Christ 
purchased his own. Now, before I go any further. 



204 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

will you be so good, before the world gets into your 
hearts, to inquire whether you belong to Christ or 
not ? Surely the world did not get into your hearts 
before you rose from your beds. Many of you were 
up sooner than usual. I hope the world does not get 
into your hearts before nine. Man, woman, sinner, 
put thy hand upon thy heart and say, didst thou ever 
hear Christ's voice so as to follow him?" 

Thus, with apostolic fervency and colloquial direct- 
ness, did he plead for the last time in behalf of the 
immortal interests of his Tabernacle auditory. There 
were heavy hearts and tearful eyes, even among strong 
men ; while a cloud of heavenly benediction went up 
from grateful souls which had been made glad by his 
messages of love. 

A large number of his friends, in coaches and on 
horseback, accompanied him to G-ravesend, where he 
embarked on the last of September, 1769. Contrary 
winds detained the vessel some days along the coast, 
affording several opportunities for Whitefield to land 
and preach yet again on the dear old English soil. 
Favoring breezes at last sprung up, and his native 
land faded for ever from his sight. After a long and 
tedious passage, his thirteenth across the Atlantic, 
the Friendship arrived off Charleston the first of De- 
cember, and a cordial welcome awaite'd him on shore. 
'' Grrace, grace !" ejaculates Whitefieid ; "a recep- 
tion as hearty or heartier than ever. Blessed be Grod, 
I am brave and well, and am able to preach this 
afternoon." 

As soon as possible he hastened to visit his Orphan- 



DEATH OF WHITEFIELD. 205 

house at Bethesda. "Oh Bethesda, my Bethel, my 
Peniel I" he exclaims ; " my happiness is inconceiv- 
able. I have had nine or ten prizes lately — ^you know 
what I mean — nine or ten orphans have been lately 
taken in. Hallelujah." 

For thirty years the Orphan-house had been the 
child of his love, the object of his paternal care, and 
the one thing which he felt anxious to provide for. 
An infirmary had been added to it, to which the poor 
and disabled resorted for charitable assistance, and at 
one time the number of patients amounted to one 
hundred and thirty. Although we find there was 
much land attached to the institution, a garden filled 
with " all sorts of greens," " plenty of milk, eggs, 
and poultry," sheep and cattle and horses, yet it was 
far from self-supporting ; it seems always to have 
been attended with a heavy expense to the founder, 
who every year was compelled to tax the Christian 
public for its support. 

Bethesda, however, wore an unusually flourishing 
aspect when now visited by Whitefield, and he imme- 
diately set about projecting a plan to increase its 
range of usefulness by adding a college ; and " thus, 
may it please your excellency," runs his memorial to 
the governor of Greorgia, "my beloved Bethesda will 
not only be continued a house of mercy to poor 
orphans, but be confirmed as a seat and nursery of 
sound learning and religious education, I trust, to the 
latest posterity." We find the following notice in 
the G-eorgia Grazette, bearing date, Savannah, Janu- 
ary 31, 1770 : 



206 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

' ' L ast Sunday, his excellency the governor, council, 
and assembly, having been invited by the Rev. Greorge 
Whitefield, attended divine service in the chapel of 
the Orphan-house academy, where prayers were read 
by the Rev. Mr. Ellington, and a very suitable ser- 
mon was preached by the Rev. Mr. "Whitefield, from 
Zechariah 4 : 9, 10 : ' The hands of Zerubbabel have 
laid the foundation of this- house ; his hands shall also 
finish it ; and thou shalt know that the Lord of 
hosts hath sent me unto you ; for who hath despised 
the day of small things ?' to the general satisfaction 
of his auditory. After divine service, the company 
were very politely entertained with a plentiful and 
handsome dinner, and were greatly pleased to see the 
useful improvements made in the house in so much 
forwardness, and the whole executed with taste and 
in a masterly manner ; and being sensible of the truly 
generous and disinterested benefactions derived to 
the province through his means, they expressed their 
gratitude in the most respectful terms." 

In whatever light the plan of a college was re- 
garded by the colonial authorities, no measures were 
ever taken towards putting it into execution during the 
lifetime of Whitefield ; and after his death, one dis- 
aster after another swept away every thing but the 
memory and the name of the Orphan-house of Georgia. 

As soon as the news of "Whitefield's return to the 
colonies had spread abroad, pressing invitations from 
the north poured in upon him, while the cordiality of 
his Grcorgia friends, and the apparent prosperity of his 
Bethesda, tempted him to remain at the south ; "but 



DEATH OF WHITEFIELD. 207 

no resting this side of eternity," he exclaimed ; "all 
must give way to that divine employ, gospel rang- 
ing." Accordingly, when spring opens, we follow him 
to Philadelphia, "where pulpits, hearts, and affec- 
tions seemed to he as open and enlarged towards him 
as ever;" and "notwithstanding I preach twice on 
the Lord's day, and three or four times a week," he 
tells us, " I am better than I have been for many 
years." 

He worked hard all summer, feeble as he was, 
with a fixed and unfaltering purpose to spend and be 
spent in the service of his Lord. From Philadelphia 
we track him to New York, wind with him up the 
Hudson and the Mohawk, project with him a mis- 
sionary tour among the benighted Oneidas, tarry 
with him at Northampton, welcome him to Bos- 
ton, and with anxious glance behold him, " faint 
yet rejoicing," start on a journey from that city to 
the east. 

Everywhere his heart and hands are full ; people 
flock to hear him ; he has lost nothing of the forceful 
oratory of thirty years before : the heart is moved, 
the conscience pierced, and in spite of the abuse and 
misrepresentation which frequently beset his path, 
his presence is reverently sought for, his coming 
eagerly expected, his arrival cordially welcomed, and 
his " journey ings oft" are like a march of triumph 
through the land. Sorely worn and weary is the out- 
ward, yet is the inward hfe struggling for utterance 
and action. Now he is compelled to pause and 
recruit his decaying powers ; the next day he starts 



208 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

Up from the suffering couch as with a fresh lease of 
health. 

" You will see," he writes from Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire, and it was his last letter, ''by the many 
invitations, what a door is opened for preaching the 
everlasting gospel. I was so ill on Friday that I 
could not preach, though thousands were waiting to 
hear. Well, the day of release will shortly come ; 
but it does not seem yet, for by riding sixty miles 
I am better, and hope to preach here to-morrow. I 
trust my blessed Master will accept of these poor 
efforts to serve him. Oh, for a warm heart. Oh, to 
stand fast in the faith ; to quit ourselves like men, 
and be strong." 

On a beautiful Saturday in the latter part of 
September, he rode from Portsmouth to Exeter, where 
he was expected, and preached to a great multitude 
already assembled in the fields beneath a rich autum- 
nal sky, and surrounded by the golden harvest. Be- 
fore going out, some one remarked he was more fit to 
go to bed than to preach. 

" True, sir," replied the almost dying man, who 
, turned aside, and clasping his hands, ejaculated, 
"Lord Jesus, I am weary in thy work, but not o/it. 
If I have not yet finished my course, let me go and 
speak for thee once more in the field, seal thy truth, 
and come home to die ;" and it seemed like prophetic 
prayer : once more he went forth, and the forests rang 
with the melody of his tones, and men hung on his 
words as if they had been the words of an angel. 

After dining with Captain Grilman, he rode to 



DEATH OF WHITEFIELD. 209 

Newburyport. Tlie evening shadows of his brilliant 
day were fast lengthening around him. Night over- 
took hinl in the cold damps of death, and the Sabbath 
dawn witnessed his departure to an eternal Sabbath 
in the heavens. His death was sudden and unex- 
pected. Though known to be sick, his ceaseless ac- 
tivity made men forget his infirmities, and the pause 
in his career was abrupt and startling. This event 
occurred September 30, 1770. 

Everywhere good men made great lamentation 
over him. 

Mr. Sherburne of Portsmouth immediately sent to 
Rev. Mr. Parsons, at whose house he died, to beg the 
body for his own new tomb ; several gentlemen also 
came from Boston to ask for the remains of one so 
dear to the churches ; but mindful of Whitefield's 
often expressed desire, should he die at Newburyport, 
that he might be buried before the pulpit of his friend, 
Mr. Parsons declined these requests, and the great 
evangelist lies interred in the Federal-street church, 
where a handsome cenotaph has been erected to his 
memory. , 

The funeral services were most solemn and affect- 
ing, for multitudes of his spiritual children gathered 
to mourn around his bier. Just before the coffin was 
lowered into the vault, E-ev. Daniel Rogers of Exeter 
offered a prayer, during which he cried out, " my 
father, my father !" when overwhelmed by his own 
emotions, he sat down and wept aloud, while sighs 
and sobs came from every part of the church ; and as 
the great congregation broke up, people went to their 



210 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

homes weeping silently. The sad tidings of his death 
reached London November 5, 1770. 

""Whitefield was the prince of English preachers," 
says an English critic. " Many have surpassed him 
as sermon-makers, but none have approached him as 
a pulpit orator. Many have outshone him in the 
clearness of their logic, the grandeur of their concep- 
tion, and the sparkling beauty of single sentences ; 
but in the power of darting the gospel direct into the 
conscience, he eclipsed them all. 

"He was an orator, but he only sought to be an 
evangelist. Indeed, so simple was his nature, that 
glory to G-od and good- will to men having .filled it, 
there was room for little more. Having no church to 
found,, no family to enrich, and no memory to immortal- 
ize, he was the mere ambassador of G-od ; and inspired 
with its genial, piteous spirit — so full of heaven rec- 
onciled and hiuTianity restored— he soon himself be- 
came a living gospel. Radiant with its benignity 
and trembling with its tenderness, by a sort of spir- 
itual induction a vast audience would speedily be 
brought into a frame of mind, the transfusing of his 
own ; and the white furrows on their sooty faces told 
that Kingswood colliers were weeping, or the quiver- 
ing of an ostrich plume bespoke its elegant wearer's 
deep emotion. Coming to his work direct from com- 
munion with his Master, and in all the strength of 
accepted prayer, there was an elevation in his views 
which often paralyzed hostility, and a self-possession 
which only made him, amid uproar and fury, the 
more sublime. And when it is known that his 



DEATH OF WHITEFIELD. 211 

voice could be heard by twenty thousand, and that 
ranging all the empire, as well as America, he would 
often preach thrice on a working-day, and that he 
has received in one week as many as a thousand 
letters from persons awakened by his sermons, if no 
estimate can be formed of the results of his ministry, 
some idea may be suggested of its vast extent and 
sinsfular effectiveness." 

We have followed him for the most part in the 
light of his triumphs, we have listened only to the 
pleasant voices of those who loved him, and have 
heard only the echo of his soul-stirring eloquence, yet 
Whitefield had many foes, who made "no small stir" 
against him. Cowper tells us, in the beautiful tribute 
which he paid to his memory, how the preacher and 
the world quit scores ; for, 

" Assailed by scandal and the tongue of strife, 
His only answer was a blameless life ; 
And he that forged, and he that threw the dart, 
Had eacli a brother's interest in his heart. 
Paul's love of Christ, and steadiness unbribed, 
Were copied close in him, and well transcribed. 
He followed Paul — his zeal a kindred flame, 
His apostolic charity the same ; 
Like him, crossed cheerfully tempestuous seas, 
Forsaking country, kindred, friends, and ease ; 
Like him he labored, and like him, content 
To bear it, suffered shame where'er he went." 

"Whitefield died at the age of fifty-six. He was 
married in 1741, but enjoyed little of domestic life, 
for his field was the world : one son, the only fruit of 
this union, was removed in early childhood, and his 
wife died two years before himself 



212 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

By "Whitefield's will it was found that the orphan- 
house in Bethesda, and likewise all his buildings, 
land, books, and furniture in the province of G-eorgia, 
were bequeathed, as the will ran, " to that lady elect, 
that mother in Israel, that mirror of true and unde- 
filed religion, the Right Honorable Selina Countess 
Dowager of Huntington ;" and in case she should 
be called to enter upon her glorious rest before his 
decease, to Honorable James Habersham, a merchant 
of Savannah, and one also of the original Oxford 
band. 

In a codicil appended to the will, we find a record 
of cherished friendships. "I also leave a mourning- 
ring to my honored and dear friends the Rev. John 
and Charles Wesley, in token of my indissoluble 
union with them in heart and Christian affection, 
notwithstanding our difference in judgment about 
some particular points of doctrine." 

"With these possessions was bequeathed to Lady 
Huntington a large revenue of care and anxiety, 
which, with grief for the loss of so well-beloved a 
friend and faithful a coadjutor, so pressed upon her 
spirit, that she appointed Tuesday, the 15th of Jan- 
uary, a day of especial prayer throughout the chapels 
under her patronage, that the great Head of the 
church would pour out his Spirit both upon ministers 
and people, and that she herself might lay hold with 
a more simple and relying faith upon the "arm of 
the Lord," which alone is strength and protection. 

Not daunted by this accession to her labors. Lady 
Huntington soon began to act with her characteristic 



DEATH OF WHITEFIELD. 213 

energy. She took every measure to make herself 
thoroughly acquainted with the real state of the 
institution, which at that time contained "sixteen 
children, nine managers and carpenters, and seventy- 
five negroes." New plans were made for its manage- 
ment ; her own housekeeper was sent out to regulate 
its domestic economy ; Rev. Mr. Crosse was appointed 
teacher of the school, and Mr. Piercy made president 
and general agent of her affairs there. Meanwhile, 
a mission to North America was projected, whose 
head-quarters should be at Bethesda, from which the 
missionaries could go forth either to the savages in 
the forest, or among the white men of the colonies, 
wherever the providence of God opened a way to 
publish the everlasting gospel. 

Lady Huntington addressed a letter to all the 
ministers and students in her connection, inviting a 
general meeting at Trevecca, in order to consult to- 
gether and to ask counsel from on high upon a meas- 
ure at once so new and so important. The occasion 
proved to be one of unusual interest. Missionary zeal 
was enkindled ; the baptism of a self-sacrificing love 
fell upon many hearts ; and at the call, "Who will go 
for us ? who will publish the glad tidings of great 
good in the forests and frontiers of the new world ?" 
the response came from many a youth, "Here am I, 
send me." 

The impressive services which attended the selec- 
tion and the setting apart of the students for the 
North American mission, both at Trevecca and Tot- 
tenham-court chapel, and in the open air on Tower 



214 LADY HUNTINaXON. 

hill, were witnessed by large numbers deeply and 
tenderly excited by the scene. 

"In October, the missionaries embarked on board 
a vessel destined to convey them to America, and 
sailed from Black wall to Grravesend. As the moment 
of their departure approached," says one, "the pray- 
ers of thousands who felt themselves peculiarly inter- 
ested in the arduous, yet glorious undertaking, became 
m.ore frequent and fervent. Yast multitudes attended 
them to the river's side, and as soon as the boats con- 
veyed them from the shore, every countenance was 
suffused with tears, hats and handkerchiefs were seen 
waving in every direction, while prayers and wishes 
ascended like a cloud of incense to the great Head of 
the church, commending them to his merciful protec- 
tion and guardian care. Such a spirit of prayer and 
supplication was poured out upon the people of Grod 
at this interesting period, as has seldom been remem- 
bered." 

The vessel being detained in the downsl)y adverse 
winds, the missionaries had several opportunities of 
going on shore, which they gladly improved, preach- 
ing with the fervor of men who had given their 
all to the service of their Lord, and setting the cur- 
rent of pious sympathy strongly in favor of the mis- 
sionary enterprise. "Nor was any thing so blessed," 
said Lady Hunting-ton, "as the spirit in which they 
went." 

After a six weeks' voyage, the company arrived 
safely in G-eorgia, where they met with a cordial 
reception from Whitefield's friends ; the orphan-house 



DEATH OF WHITEFIELD. 215 

became their head-quarters, and never, perhaps, did 
so many favorable circumstances seem to conspire to 
the happy furtherance of missionary labor. 

''The province of G-eorgia," Lady Huntington 
tells us, "have made proposals to build a church at 
their own expense and present me with it, that the 
college of G-eorgia may have their ministry in that 
part honored. My last letters from America inform t 
me, that our way seems open to the Cherokee country ; 
and in all the back settlements we are assured the 
people will joyfully build us churches at their own 
expense, and present them to us, to settle perpetually 
for our use. Some great, very great work is intended 
by the Lord among the heathen. Should this appear, 
I should be rejoiced to go myself and establish a col- 
lege for the Indian nations. I cannot help thinking 
that the Lord will have me there before I die, if only 
to make coats and garments for the poor Indians." 

Thus hopefully begun was this enterprise, thus 
broad and buoyant were the expectations which fan- 
ned the ardor and guided the strength of her who 
stood at its helm, watching with a keen eye, a rever- 
ent and earnest spirit, the progress of her richly 
freighted argosy. 

In the midst of these bright hopes, tidings reached 
England of the destruction of the orphan-house by 
fire. The loss was great, and so we may suppose 
must have been the disappointment ; and yet what 
does Lady Huntington say : " Though we may be dis- 
appointed, Grod the judge of all is not defeated ; all 
things are ordered according to the counsel of his own 



216 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

will ; I cannot wish it for one moment to be other- 
wise." 

From all that can be gathered, Lady Huntington's 
temporal affairs in G-eorgia seem not to have been 
well managed. For several years she spent large 
sums with few cheering results. The breaking out 
of the revolutionary war threw every thing into dis- 
order ; Piercy returned to England, and in 1782 
the estates were seized by the Americans, though she 
says her greatest losses were by the king's troops. 
Collisions with the state authorities afterwards occur- 
red, and the establishment for orphans passed away. 
Thus closed the career of an institution which was 
the cherished favorite of the religious public a hun- 
dred years ago. - 

The actual amount of good accomplished by the 
associations and institutions of pious men for human 
renovation, cannot always be measured by their out- 
lays, or their permanency. They are intended to bear 
upon the spiritual kingdom of our Lord ; and how 
many consciences have been pierced, how many bur- 
dens removed, how many souls saved, how many 
prayers elicited, how much love enkindled, how much 
oovetousness rebuked, how much unbelief chastized, 
how much sloth removed, in a word, hoiv much train- 
ing for eternity has been accomplished through their 
instrumentality, we can never fully know this side 
of the grave. The direct object of their projectors 
may not have been as completely answered as seemed 
desirable ; no large revenue of positive usefulness may 
have been palpably gathered in, and to the worldly 



DEATH OF WHITEFIELD. 217- 

looker-on only disappointment and defeat may seem 
to reward our utmost painstaking. But the aspect 
of affairs is quite different viewed from the Christian 
standpoint. Here we learn, that the one vital interest 
of each one of us is, to do Grod's will and grow into his 
likeness ; that it is the hearty and humble desire to 
glorify G-od in whatever we do, and not the success 
which may crown our efforts, which becomes the true 
measure of a well-spent life. 

We may rejoice and be thankful when G-od honors 
us by making us the instruments of doing gi'cat things 
for his kingdom here below ; but we need not be cast 
down when, by his providence, he sees fit to break 
in upon our most cherished plans for good. He knows 
better than we what springs to touch and what wheels 
to turn in the mighty machinery of his moral govern- 
ment. He knows also what ordering is best to fit us 
for heaven ; and the humble and trusting spirit, a 
heart patiently waiting and loving its Saviour's will 
upon a sick-bed, may constitute a more perfected life, 
than many a one whose deeds ring round the world. 



HuntingtoD. 10 



218 LADY HUNTINGHON. 



CHAPTER XYI. 

YENN LEAVING HUDDERSFIELD— LABORS OF LADY 
HUNTINaTON — DEATH OF HOWELL HARRIS, AND 
LORD CHESTERFIELD. 

Mr. Yenn had now been settled twelve years in 
Huddersfield, and had made full proof of a blessed 
ministry, not only to the people of his particular 
charge, but to many a neighboring hamlet and cot- 
ter's home. The pastoral labors of this excellent man 
were everywhere attended with marked success ; and 
it is a question of no common interest, in these times 
of spiritual barrenness, what was the secret of his suc- 
cess, or what the gifts and graces which secured to 
him so fast a hold upon the consciences and affections 
of his hearers. 

" Look upon your people," he said to his son 
John, on entering upon the sacred office, " as prisoners 
under condemnation, for whose pardon and recovery 
you ought to feel as the tender mother does for the 
child at her breast. Lament an unfeeling heart in 
yourself as well as in them ; beg earnestly that you 
may long after their salvation in the bowels of the 
Lord Jesus Christ." And he regarded as a qualifica- 
tion of the ministry more necessary almost than any 
other, " a deep sense of your own un worthiness — neces- 
sary to make you speak with consciousness of your 
poverty and ignorance ; necessary to teach you how 
to speak to the weary and tempted soul ; necessary to 



VENN LEAVING HUDDERSFIELD. 219 

lay hold on Christ, and find in him more than all you 
need, for acceptance, strength, comfort, and useful- 
ness ; and necessary to make you take pains, and give 
yourself wholly to the work, that your profiting may 
appear ;" nor can we doubt that this was the transcript 
of his own experience, leading him to those labors of 
love which distinguished and adorned liis life. 

Let us go now among the people, and hear what 
mention they make of the pastor and preacher. 

" There was a meeting every Saturday night of 
the most pious people at Thomas Hanson's, sometimes 
twenty or more, who sung and prayed together," an 
old parishioner goes on to say ; " and I was first led to 
the Huddersfield church by listening with an uncle of 
mine at the door of the house where the meeting was 
held. We thought there was something uncommon 
to make them so earnest, so we went together to the 
church one Thursday evening. There was a great 
crowd within the church — all silent, many weeping. 
The text was, ' Thou art laid in the balances, and art 
found wanting.' When we got out of church, we did 
not say a word to each other till we got some way 
into the fields. Then my uncle stopped, leaned his 
back against a wall, and burst into tears, crying out, 
' I can't stand this.' His convictions of sin from that 
time were most powerful, and he became quite a 
changed character, and a most exemplary person, as 
people will testify. After that sermon I could no 
longer be easy in sin. I began to pray earnestly, and 
soon to seek salvation in earnest. The people used to 
go from Longwood in droves to Huddersfield church, 



220 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

three miles off; scores of them came out of church 
together, whose ways home were in this direction, 
and they used to stop at the Firs' End, a milo off, 
and talk over for some time what they had heard. 0, 
that place has been to me like a little heaven below. 
Never was a minister like our minister. He was 
most powerful in unfolding the terrors of the law ; 
when doing so, he had a stern look that would make 
you tremble : then he would turn off to the offers of 
grace, and begin to smile, and go on entreating till 
his eyes filled with tears. The most wicked and ill- 
conditioned men went to hear him, and they fell like 
slaked lime, in a moment." 

'' Always at work," adds another, " he took every 
method of instructing his people, he left nothing 
unturned. The lads he catechized used to tell him 
that people said he was teaching a new doctrine, and 
leading them into error ; but he always replied, 
' Never mind them, do not answer them ; read your 
Bibles and press forward, dear lads, press forward, 
and you cannot miss of heaven.' 

" Everywhere were the fruits of his ministry. 
Sinners were reclaimed, children were trained in the 
fear of Grod, piety was quickened, numbers were 
added to the people of Grod, the stated means of 
grace were diligently improved, a saving and healthy 
influence went forth from the church, and as a con- 
sequence, the Sabbath was respected, sobriety pre- 
vailed, scoffing and infidelity were rebuked, and good 
morals began to creep in among the ale-shops." 

Mr. Venn was nearly fifty, and in the prime of his 



VENN LEAVING HUDDERSFIELD. 221 

usofulness ; but a tendency to consumption began 
gradually to be developed, warning him to curtail his 
labors, if not altogether to desist from them ; yet this 
was almost impossible in a parish as large as that of 
Iluddersfield. A summer journey did no^ materially 
benefit him., although we find him preaching here 
and there by the way. Tarrying a while at Lady 
Huntington's hospitable mansion at Bath, the mourn- 
ful tidings of Mr. Whitefield's death reached England, 
and he undertook the- sad and solemn task of preach- 
ing a funeral-sermon at the Bath chapel, now bereft 
of one of its strong pillars. 

It was durinof this visit that Mr. Venn received an 

o 

offer of the curacy of Yelling, a small town about 
tvv^elve miles from Cambridge, and every considera- 
tion of prudence urged him to accept it. But to 
leave Huddersfield, to part from the " dearly loved 
and longed for, his joy and crown," the thought was 
deeply afflicting ; and when he accepted Yelling, and 
the decision was known at Huddersfield, never were 
witnessed sadder scenes on a like occasion. "How 
can we let thee go ?" was the universal cry, and they 
almost constrained him to tarry with them. During 
the three months succeeding his removal, so many 
and so affecting were the tokens of his people's love, 
that Mr. Venn was in a strait betwixt two ; and when 
he preached his farewell-sermon, people flocked from 
all parts to hear him, and weeping mothers held up 
their children, saying, " There is the man who has 
been our most faithful minister, and our best friend." 
" No human being," wrote Yenn to Lady Hunt- 



222 LADY HUNTINLtTON. 

ington, ''can tell how keenly I feel this separation 
from a people I have so dearly loved ; your ladyship 
well knows how much I am attached to Huddersfield, 
where my poor lahors have been acknowledged by 
the great Lord of the harvest, and where I have en- 
joyed so much and such near communion and fellow- 
ship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ ; but 
the shattered state of my health incapacitates me for 
the care of so large a parish. And now, my dear lady, 
my most faithful friend, pray for me, that the bless- 
ing of the Lord our Grod may go with me, and render 
my feeble attempts to speak of his love and mercy 
efficacious to the conversion of souls. At Yelling, as 
at Huddersfield, I shall still be your ladyship's will- 
ing servant in the service of the gospel ; and when I 
can be of any service in furthering your plans for the 
salvation of souls and the glory of Christ, I am your 
obedient servant to command." 

The parish of Yelling was thinly inhabited, and 
a congregation of twenty or thirty rustics wore a very 
different aspect from the large and intelligently train- 
ed audience which he used to preach to ; " but they 
are remarkably attentive," he writes to Lady Hunt- 
ington, " and seem to wonder very much at my doc- 
trine and earnest manner. Dear Mr. Berridge has 
been here, and has preached for me. He encourages 
me to go into the neighboring parishes, where he has 
preached occasionally, and I have already had several 
congregations in barns and other places, where I hope 
good has been done. Your ladyship would enjoy the 
sight of one of these rustic assemblies, and the avidity 



VENN LEAVING HUDDERSFIELD. 223 

with which they drink in, as it were, every expression 
that falls from my lips. Souls are perishing in every 
direction around me, but I have not strength to go 
forth as I once did. I long to see your ladyship, and 
to hear once more the many precious things from 
your lips which invigorated my dead soul, and gave 
me such vehement desires in times past. Oh, pray 
that I may be animated with a burning desire to 
spread the glorious gospel of my precious Lord and 
Master, and be content to spend and be spent in a 
cause so divine." 

"We are left in no doubt what it was that gave 
such transforming power to the pastoral ministrations 
of this man of Grod. He felt the truth and reality 
of redemption. " What an unspeakable mercy," he 
exclaims with admiring gratitude, "to be rescued 
from the bondage of sin, to enjoy the presence of G-od, 
to behold the glory of Grod, to feel his support, his 
protection, and his victorious arm stretched out in our 
behalf; and thus to ivalk with him on earth, and 
endure as seeing Him who is invisible. This is a 
hard work — at least, I find it so ; but this is our 
daily business, togetheT with that of our particular 
calling. Against this walk with our Grod, the com- 
pany of three armies as it were, the world, the flesh, 
and Satan, fight continually ; but let us not be dis- 
couraged, for this is our consolation : ' The Lord will 
ffive strength unto his people ; the Lord will bless his 
people with peace.' " Is not the life of such a man 
a fi-esh witness of the power and excellency of divine 
truth ? Mr. Venn removed to Yelling in 1771. 



224 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

Meanwhile the unquenchable zeal of Lady Hunt- 
ington found many outlets through the labors of her 
students, who now began to traverse every part of the 
kingdom, bravely and vigilantly carrying on a guerilla 
vrarfare with the powers of sin and Satan. They went 
into the highways and hedges, preaching and teach- 
ing with apostolic fidelity, and whenever the weather 
was favorable "using a table for a pulpit and the 
canopy of the heavens for a sounding-board, and 
ever beseeching the Lord Jesus to preside over their 
assemblies." 

"And it seems to be the prevailing spirit of the 
present students to do this everywhere," Lady Hunt- 
ington tells us ; " the gift of awakening sepms much 
continued to our plan and work ; the spread is aston- 
ishing ; the college does not yet fill equal to our calls, 
but the fewer the more useful : they appear like 
G-ideon's army." 

At one time we hear of a consregation of fifteen 
hundred poor colliers and nailers. At another, of 
ten thousand in a large, deep hollow; and Lady 
Huntington herself is at Cornwall, saying, " My call 
here is to the tinners, and thousands and tens of 
thousands of poor perishing creatures, whom all seem 
to neglect ; their souls are the object of my loving 
care, and if the Lord permit, I wish to make three 
or four establishments in the heart of the tin mines, 
for their instruction and salvation." 

^he passed much time at Trevecca, her "beloved 
retreat," as she called it, secluded as it was from the 
clamor and strife of the world, yet animated with the 



HER CHAPELS. 225 

generous impulses and devotional ardor of a band of 
pious youthj ready, through evil and through good 
report, to bear witness for their Lord. Here she main- 
tained an extensive correspondence with her numer- 
ous friends, preachers, and various people connected 
by business with her different departments of relig- 
ious effort. Indeed, the management of her business 
required the time, attention, and energy of no com- 
mon man ; and yet she entered into its details and 
encountered its perplexities with a courage and pa- 
tience which neither age or infirmities could long 
damp, and which thsy could never destroy. 

We now find her travelling in different counties, 
following up with her presence the labors of her 
missionaries, inspecting her chapels, investigating the 
doings of trustees and committees, regulating sala- 
ries, directing funds, counselling, controlling, and en- 
couraging, with an unspent force of mind which was 
marvellous to behold. 

A letter to one of her committees havinsr the 
chq,rge of a chapel, may serve to show the kind and 
amount of her labors, as well as the faith Vv^hich sus- 
tained her amid the greatest discouragements and 
perplexities. 

"My worthy Friends — You must allow me to 
assure you that the pleasure I had in reading the 
conclusion of your letter did abundantly outweigh 
those many complaints, and I hope needless fears, 
which our gracious Lord is forced to try us by, and 
that in order that we may see the only hand worthy 

10* 



226 LADY HUNTINOTON. 

to expect our blessing from, and yield him all the 
praise. More I want not, than to find our Lord own 
our assemblies as his. No good thing shall be with- 
held while the Lord of hosts remains the tender Father 
of us his Israel, and will afford us our meat in due 
season. 

"I lament a complaint should come on Mr. Tay- 
lor's account, and have sent a direction to provide for 
him from my own property, as no collection can be 
had at Tunbridge Wells, owing to the great poverty 
of the people. The income of an estate of mine has 
ever been freely given to support the gospel m that 
part of Kent, with an allowance for the winter food 
of a student, as no minister can pay this out of what 
is received. Mr. Taylor cannot have more for his 
support for four months there, than is allowed through 
all the churches ; and in case of his absence, a min- 
ister is to be boarded by him, as is the student, sup- 
ported in part by the people, all the winter. The 
purpose that is intended bears no proportion of diffi- 
culty to me, who only am the responsible person for 
the debts and deficiencies that may arise on the 
chapel. I am still willing to trust my dear and 
faithful Master ; he has ever dealt kindly by his poor 
old worthless servant, and I do not find that I want 
a better bank to maintain food and raiment for me, 
or those proper and just supplies he shall afford for 
his various little households, which he orders or may 
order for my ignorant care of them. As to the min- 
ister's board, your allowance of two guineas a week 
just comes to what you have stated. 



HER CHATELS. 227 

'' As to a reader, we have no such example among 
us. The Grardens have one for the sake of the pray- 
ers when a student preaches, but no one minister has 
ever had a single difficulty ; and it appears to me, 
allowing the minister ten guineas who stays a quar- 
ter with you, to find a reader if he likes, will be less 
expense than the burden of regularly maintaining 
one. Many choose to read the prayers, and I must 
say the air of superiority and importance thus mani- 
fested has not that simplicity that means neither 
show or parade. The more apostolic we are the bet- 
ter ; and I must say, as a most remarkable blessing, 
I know of none anxious or discontented among us, 
even when it might have been justly excused, seeing 
myself unable to do what my heart so much desired. 
My best advice to you is, to be wisely cautious upon 
this point ; and either collections or private subscrip- 
tions from honest and devoted hearts, privately ap- 
plied to for this purpose, as a little loan to the Lord, 
and not necessity, will go further to bless such means 
than the many affected shows supposed liberality 
wears. I am sure you expect a faithful answer from 
me, and 'such as I have give I unto you' all. Do 
not be careful about the household stuff; my dear 
Master will not let me want table or chairs. You 
see where all my cares are cast. Commending your 
gracious labors to Him whose faithful and tender eye 
is ever over you, I remain, my worthy friends, your 
faithful, willing, and ever ready friend and devoted 
servant, 

'•S. HUNTINGTON." 



228 LADY HUNTINaXON. 

This was addressed to the committee of one of her 
London chapels, several of which she had erected or 
hired for the accommodation of the poorer flocks, who 
without them had been as sheep without a shepherd. 

The second of her London efforts was the renting 
of a large building in Princes-street, Westminster, 
which she repan-ed and enlarged, with the aid will- 
ingly rendered to her by some of her wealthy friends 
interested in the Redeemer's kingdom. Eor some 
time this chapel was supplied by ministers from the 
established church, among whom we find the name 
of Toplady, a name familiar to the lovers of lyrical 
poetry. '' The congregation is very numerous," she 
tells us, '' and many of the mighty and noble, as well 
as the poor, gladly hear the word, to some of whom 
it has proved the savor of life." 

The next in succession was the Mulberry Gar- 
dens chapel, fitted up in a tasteful and elegant man- 
ner, and opened according to the forms of the church 
of England. The labors of its ministers gave great 
offence to many in the neighborhood, who, alarmed at 
their popularity, and shamed by their diligence, en- 
deavored to silence them by various acts of persecution. 
These efforts were fruitless ; great success attended 
their ministrations, owned and blessed as they were 
by the great Head of the church. 

In 1773, Lady Huntington lost two friends with 
whom she had been long and differently associated. 
" That indefatigable servant of Grod, Howell Har- 
ris, fell asleep in Jesns last week," she writes to 
Romaine. " When he was confined to his bed, and 



DEATH OF HOWELL HARRIS. 229 

could no longer preach or exhort, he said, ' Blessed 
be God, my work is done, and I know that I am 
going to my Grod and Father, for he hath my heart, 
yea, my whole heart. Grlory be to G-od, death hath 
no sting — all is well ;' and thus this good man went 
home to his rest. 

"It is impossible to describe the grief which is 
awakened everywhere by the tidings of his death, he 
was so beloved as the spiritual father of multitudes. 
Truly his loss is felt at the college, where many were 
awakened by his lively ministry. The last time he 
preached at college, he spoke with a mighty sense of 
G-od, eternity, and immortality; and when he came 
to the application, he addressed himself to the audi- 
ence in such a tender, earnest, and moving manner, 
exhorting us to come and be acquainted with the 
dear Redeemer, as melted the assembly into tears. 

" On the day of his interment, we had some spe- 
cial seasons of divine influence, both upon converted 
and unconverted. No fewer than twenty thousand 
persons were assembled, and we had abundance of 
students in the college, and all the ministers and 
exhorters, who collected from various parts to pay 
their last tribute to his remains. We had tliree stao-es 
erected, and nine sermons addressed to the vast mul- 
titudes, hundreds of whom were dissolved in tears. 
Fifteen clergymen were present, six of whom blew 
the gospel trumpet with great power and freedom. 
Though we had enjoyed much of the gracious pres- 
ence of God in our assemblies before, yet I never saw 
so much at any one time as on that day, especially 



230 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

when the Lord's supper was administered. God 
poured out his Spirit in a wonderful manner. Many 
old Christians told me they never had seen so much 
of the glory of the Lord and the riches of his grace, 
nor felt so much of the power of the gospel before. 

''I hope soon to open a chapel in Worcester. 
Lincolnshire and Kent promise great things. Lady 
Fanny Shirley has frequent meetings at her house in 
Bath, where the nohility attend. The work spreads 
amazingly in Grloucestershire. 

'' When you have a little leisure, Mr. Shirley will 
he glad of your assistance in Brighton. Mr. Yenn is 
now at Oathall. I expect here, in a month, also Mr. 
Toplady and Mr. Berridge." 

In contrast with the death of Howell Harris 
stands that of Lord Chesterfield, which occurred a 
few months afterwards. He had been the early 
friend and companion of Earl Huntington; after 
whose death, he seems always to have remained on 
a friendly footing with the countess. Towards the 
young earl we find him acting as towards an adopted 
son, a circumstance which Lady Huntington is pre- 
sumed not to have been able to control, and which 
must have occasioned her no little sorrow. His scep- 
ticism and profligacy did not prevent him from fre- 
quently attending on the ministrations of Whitefield, 
whose eloquence he greatly admired, and at Lady 
Huntington's solicitations, he often contributed to the 
cause of Christ. 

'^ Really there is no resisting your ladyship's 
importunities," he once replied to her: "it would ill 



DEATH OF LORD CHESTERFIELD. 231 

become me to censure your enthusiastic admiration 
of Mr. AVhitefield ; his eloquence is unrivalled, his 
zeal inexhaustible, and not to admire both would 
argue a total absence of taste, and an insensibility 
not to be coveted by any body. Your ladyship is a 
powerful auxiliary to the Methodist cabinet ; and I 
confess, notwithstanding my own private feelings and 
sentiments, I am infinitely pleased at your zeal in so 
good a cause. You must have twenty pounds for 
this new tabernacle, but I must beg my name not 
to appear in any vmy^ 

And it was unto him according to his desires ; his 
name was never enrolled among those who loved their 
Lord, while his corrupt principles and maxims are 
handed down to us in a volume of "Letters to his 
Son," a book which illustrates the well-known, yet 
often to be repeated lesson, that bright talents can 
make no amends for bad morals. " Death," he de- 
clared to be '' a leap in the dark," and dark and dread- 
ful did he find the leap to be. As the pains of dis- 
solving nature increased upon him, and human help 
was vain, his cold and mocking scepticism could offer 
neither present alleviations nor future hope. " The 
blackness of darkness, accompanied by every gloomy 
horror, thickened most awfully around his dying 
moments," says Lady Huntington, w^ho vainly tried to 
administer the only consolation which could avail. 

Far different was the impression which Lady Fan- 
ny Shirley on her sick-bed made upon the surrounding 
attendants. Once, as a reigning beauty at court, 
Chesterfield had addressed to her some of his most 



232 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

famous epigrams ; since tken, she had chosen that 
better part which could never be taken from her. 

" I am quite at a loss to explain how Lady Fanny 
is enabled to bear such a severity of suffering with so 
much tranquillity, and so few symptoms of restless- 
ness and murmuring," said her physician to Mr. 
Yenn ; " can you account for it, sir ?" 

"Sir," answered Yenn, "that lady happily pos- 
sesses what you and I ought daily to pray for, the 
grace of her Lord Jesus Christ, the love of G-od, and 
the fellowship of the Holy Grhost." "What supports 
are these ! After Lord Chesterfield's death, Rowland 
Hill became chaplain to his lady. 

In the early part of the year 1775, Lady Hunt- 
ington is at Bath, preparing for the opening of her 
chapel in Bristol. " Opening a chapel in Chichester, 
with the business which arises from the amazina; in- 
crease of our work, allows me little time to indulge 
myself even in that of more constant intercourse with 
my friends," she says, and we may well conclude 
she allows no hinderances to stop her, for four new 
chapels are opened this year in different parts of the 
kins^dom. 

Some misunderstandins: havinsf arisen between 
Lady Huntington and the trustees of the Taber- 
nacle, Berridge, on his annual visit to the metropolis, 
inquired into its origin, and thus discourses to her 
ladyship : * 

" My dear Lady — Mrs. Carteret tells me I owe you 
a letter, and your ladyship might tell Mrs. Carteret I 



LETTER FROM BERRIDGE. 233 

owe you much love, which will ever he paying, I 
trust, and never he paid. Demands on this score, if 
honestly made, are always welcome ; and if roguishly 
practised, are quickly forgiven. For who ever thought 
of hanging a love thief ^ except a disappointed lover ? 
A miser, who cannot open the string of his purse 
Yvdthout pain, can part with the string of his heart 
freely to a bountiful friend ; and the favors you have 
shown me call out for more than one heartstrins: — a 
dozen, at least. 

"'Well, well, enough of this,' you say; 'but 
what have you seen or heard at London? As you 
are an old fellow with a prattling tongue, I shall 
expect a long history, hut let it he a faithful one.' 
Indeed, my Lady, I have seen and heard some things 
to please me, and some things to grieve me. I have 
seen the Tabernacle temple well crowded with atten- 
tive hearers, which has cheered my heart ; but the 
Tabernacle house deserted by your students, which 
has grieved my spirit. Upon asking the cause, I 
was told the trustees were suspected of a design on 
your Mulberry G-ardens. What has occasioned that 
suspicion I know not, but I well know they had no 
more desire to steal your mulberries, than to steal my 
teeth; and I believe the profit of the mulberries, if 
that base thing had been in view, would no more 
enable them to buy a crust, than my old teeth would 
enable them to bite it. When the yearly accounts 
of the two chapels are made up, I know they are 
sometimes below par, and have seldom £20 in hand ; 
and the Mulberry Grardens, if under their manage- 



234 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

ment, were not likely to produce any other gain be- 
sides trouble. Indeed, my Lady, I am well satisfied 
that the trustees have been your hearty friends and 
faithful servants, and am sorry to find they are much 
offended at your suspicions. Could I discern lucra- 
tive views in them, as much as I love the Tabernacle — 
that old beehive, which has filled many hives with 
her swarms — I would visit her no longer. But the 
more I know of the trustees, the more I am confirmed 
of their integrity, which they will give a proof of 
shortly by adopting Dr. Ford as a third trustee. 

"Well, now I am prattling, I must even prattle 
on ; an old man's tongue is like a 'larum — when it 
sets off, though teazing enough, it will run down. 
But you cry, ' No more griefs, pray, Mr. Grrievous, 
unless you intend to set me a yawning.' Indeed, my 
Lady, I have another, and beg you would seal up 
your lips to prevent yawning, if that is indecent out 
of a church. I am told, and simply tell you my 
tale, that since the trustees were dismissed your ser- 
vice, you have taken a Tory ininistry, are growmg 
sadly churchified, and seem to walk with a steeple 
on your head, newly sprung up, but pointing very 
high. As to the steeple, I heed it not ; a smart 
heavenly breeze will soon blow that down ; but I can- 
not be reconciled, like some of my brethren, to a Tory 
ministry and a church-wall spirit. I regard neither 
high-church nor low-church, nor any church but the 
church of Christ, which is not built with hands, nor 
circumscribed within peculiar walls, nor confined to a 
singular denomination. I cordially approve the doc- 



LETTER FROM BERRIDGE. 235 

trines and liturgy of the church of England, and 
have cause to bless Grod for a church house to preach 
in, and a church revenue to live on. And I could 
wish the gospel might not only be preached in all 
the British churches, but estabhshed therein by 
Christ's Spirit, as well as by a national statute ; but 
from the principles of the clergy and the leading 
men in the nation, which are growing continually 
more unscriptural and licentious, I do fear our de- 
fence is departing, and the glory is removing from 
our Israel. Perhaps in less than one hundred years to 
come the church lands may be seized on to hedge 
up government gaps, as the abbey lands were two 
hundred and fifty years ago. 

" But you say the Lord is sending many gospel 
laborers into the church. True ; and with a viev/, 
I think, of calling his people out of it. Because, 
when such ministers are removed by death, or trans- 
ported to another vineyard, I see no fresh gospel 
laborer succeed them, which obliges the forsaken 
flocks to fly to a meeting. And what else can they 
do ? If they have tasted of manna and hunger for 
it, they cannot feed on heathen chaff, nor yet on 
legal crusts, though baked by some stanch Pharisee 
quite up to perfection. What has become of Mr. 
Yenn's Yorkshire flock, what will become of his Yel- 
ling flock, or of my flocks, at our decease ? Or what 
will become of your students at your removal ? They 
are virtual dissenters now, and will be settled dis- 
senters then. And the same will happen to many, 
perhaps most of Mr. Wesley's preachers, at his death. 



236 LADY HUKTINGTON. 

He rules like a real Alexander, and is now stepping 
forth with a flaming torch ; but we do not read in 
history of two Alexander's succeeding each other. 

*'But you reply, 'Some of my hest preachers 
leave me in my lifetime.' Perhaps they may ; and 
if I may judge of your feelings by my own on such 
occasions, this must griev® you, on the first view at 
least ; but wait and see whether the Lord's hand be 
not in it. I dare not commend Barnabas for his abrupt 
departure from Paul ; yet it might be permitted, 
v/ith a view of sending him to Cyprus. The Lord 
can, and often does make the wrath of man, or the 
foolishness of man, turn to his praise. However, 
it is good for us, I know, to have our well-meant 
views frequently perplexed and overturned, else we 
might grow headstrong, and fancy ourselves wise 
enough to be the Lord's privy-councillors, yea, able 
to outcounsel him. "We had rather sit with Jesus 
at the council-board than follow him with a string: on 
our nose, to turn us round, or turn us back, at his 
pleasure. Some years ago, tvv^o of my lay-preachers 
deserted their ranks and joined the dissenters. This 
threw me into a violent fit of the spleen, and set me 
a coughing and barking exceedingly ; but when the 
phlegm was come up, and leisure allowed for calm 
thought, I did humbly conceive the Lord Jesus might 
be wiser than the old vicar, and did well in send- 
ing some preachers from the Methodist mint among 
the dissenters, to revive a drooping cause, and set old 
crippled pilgrims on their legs again. Nay, it is cer- 
tain that some of these deserting preachers have not 



LETTER FROM BERRIDaE. 237 

only quickened the Chelsea invalids, hut raised up 
now and vigorous recruits for the King's service. Be 
glad, therefore, my Lady, to promote the Lord's cause 
in any way — in your own line, if it may he ; in an- 
other line, if it must he. If your preachers ahidc with 
you and are valiant for the truth, it is well ; if they 
depart, let them depart, and rejoice you have heen 
instrumental in sending them forth. If a lively 
preacher goes, he will prove a live coal among dying 
cmhers ; if a dead one departs, he is huricd put of 
your sight. 

" Paul tells me in one place, ' All in Asia are 
turned aside from me ;' and in another, he says, 
' Some preached Christ out of envy and strife,' out of 
envy and opposition to him ; yet he adds, ' What 
then ? Every vfay Christ is preached ; and therein 
I do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.' Here is a pat- 
tern for our imitation. However rusty or rickety 
the dissenters may appear to you, Grod hath his rem- 
nant among them ; therefore lift not up your hand 
against them for the Lord's sake, nor yet for con- 
sistency's sake, hecause your students are as real 
dissenting preachers as any in the land, unless a 
gown and hand can make a clergyman. The hishops 
look on your students as the worst kind of dissenters ; 
and manifest this hy refusing that ordination to your 
preachers which would he readily granted to other 
teachers among the dissenters. 

" When I consider that the doctrines of grace are 
a common offence to the clergy, and the Bihle itself 
a fulsome nuisance to the great vulgar — that power- 



238 LADY HUNTIECtTOI^. 

fill efforts have been made to eject the gospel doc- 
trines out of the church, and the likelihood there is, 
from the nation's infidelity, of a future attempt suc- 
ceeding, there is room to fear, when the church doc- 
trines are banished the church by a national act, 
Jesus will utterly remove the candlestick, and take 
away his church bread from those hirelings who eat 
it and lift up the heel against him. 

'' So you are whispering to Lady Anne, ' This 
old vicar is very tedious, and grovv^ing pedantic too. 
He would fain turn a seer, and has not wit enough for 
a common conjurer or a strolling fortune-teller ; but he 
is often eaten up with the vapors, poor man, and I must 
excuse him.' Indeed, I am not ivholly eaten up with 
the vapors, and cannot be, because I am much eaten 
up aforehand with esteem for your Ladyship. I know 
your zeal for the Master's honor, and for the prosperity 
of his Zion, which must endear you to every honest- 
hearted pilgrim. The good Shepherd be your guide 
and guard ; may his cloud direct all your motions, and 
distil a gracious dew upon yourself, and upon your 
students. Please to present my respects to Lady 
Anne and Miss Orton; and believe me to remain your 

hearty well-wisher and affectionate servant, 

"JOHN BEERIDGE." 



THE RECTORY OF YELLING. 239 



CHAPTER XYII. 

THE RECTORY OF YELLING. 

Hitherto we have been occupied chiefly with the 
public labors of these servants of Grod in the great 
awakening. Scepticism had fled away before the 
keen edge of the truths which they wielded, and 
mere nominal Christianity acknowledged its weak- 
ness ; while vice and degradation had yielded to the 
only power which could heal and save. But there 
was something in their influence more positive still : 
everywhere their presence infused a new and holier 
life, whose gentle charities distilled like dew upon 
English homes, endearing the tie of husband and 
wife, parents and children, and making the family a 
household of faith, "abounding in love towards one 
another, and towards all men." Let us behold these 
fruits of piety as they grow in " social sweetness" in 
the rectory of Yelling. 

At the time of his removal from Huddersfield, 
Mr. Yenn was a widower with five children, the 
eldest of whom was but thirteen. Soon afterwards, 
he formed an engagement with an old and valued 
friend, to whom he thus wrote shortly before their 



marriage. 



" Long was I very backward to think of entering 
again into the married state, though so blessed in my 



240 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

first connGction ; but the gracious Grod whom I serve, 
and ^^dios3 I am, has provided for m.e one of his own 
elect. I begin to feel more concern than I at first 
did, lest my children should give you trouble ; for just 
in the same proportion as I love and value you, I 
must feel any thing that in any degree may affect 
you. And I say to myself, ' How should I be able to 
bear seeing my dear wife in tearSj or void of her sweet 
cheerfulness and vivacity of spirit by any of my 
children, to whom she has so kindly shown herself a 
friend indeed.' I hope it will not be so ; and if prayer 
can avail to prevent such a trial coming upon her, 
she will never experience any. sorrow on my account, 
or those belonging to me, but by our departure. 

'' You may remember how pleasantly you said 
Hogarth would describe our courtship. In what light 
would the world regard my letters ? Strange love-let- 
ters indeed ! 0, did they but know how much more 
blessed are the faithful in Christ, in every relation of 
life, than themselves, the love of present enjoyment 
would make them converts to the faith. But all this 
is hid from their eyes. They cannot understand how 
a solid acquaintance with a crucified Saviour diffuses 
an influence through the whole life, and renders the 
husband, the wife, the father, the master, the servant, 
the child, the friend a very different creature, and far 
more excellent than what he would otherwise be." 

At the marriage his scattered household reassem- 
bled around him, and he exclaims, " We are all now 
under one roof. Important and awful connection ; 
which I wish and pray may be more and more 



THE RECTORY OF YELLINa. 241 

imprinted upon my mind. How contrary to nature, 
to consider our nearest relatives in tliis light, and to 
say often and solemnly, my father or mother, hus- 
band or wife, children or servants are the very per- 
sons with whom, as I have the most to do, so shall I 
have the most to answer for. "With what circum- 
spection, with what zeal, with what tenderness of 
love, should we do good, and edify and comfort one 
another." 

Mr. Yenn accepted Yelling as a ^'providential 
retreat," where, though shattered in health, he might 
scatter a few more seeds, and gather a little harvest 
for the Lord of glory ; but if not rest, freedom from 
the manifold cares and excitements of a large parish, 
seems to have been just what he most needed. His 
health gradually improved, and the strength he was 
praying for so many years before he left Yorkshire, 
v/as vouchsafed to him at Yellins:. 

" Week after week passes," he says again, " and 
except on a Sunday, we see nothing but trees and 
sheep, and a peasant or two passing over the field ; 
yet I am quite joyous, and solitude is to the full as 
delicious as it used to be twenty years ago at Clap- 
ham ; yet as the Swiss have a certain longing 
which comes over them at times to see their own 
country again, I feel something of this towards Hud- 
dersfield." 

" You tell me you have no idea how we go on," 
he writes to a friend. " Take the following sketch : 
I am up, one of the first in the house, soon after five ; 
and when prayer and reading the blessed word is 

11 



242 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

dono, my daughters make their appearance, and I 
teach them until Mrs. Yenn comes down at half past 
eight. Then family prayer hegins, which is often 
very sweet, as my mother's maid and my own ser- 
vants are, I believe, born of Grod. The children begin 
to sing prettily, and our praises, I trust, are heard on 
high. From breakfast, we are all employed till we 
ride out, in fine weather, two hours for health ; and 
after dinner, employed again. At six, I have always 
one hour for solemn meditation and walking in my 
house or the church till seven. We have then, some- 
times twenty, sometimes more or less of the people, 
to whom I expound the word of the blessed Grod : 
several appear much affected ; and sometimes Jesus 
stands in the midst and saith, 'Peace be unto you.' 
Our devotions end at eight ; we sup, and go to rest at 
ten. On Sundays, I am able to speak six hours at 
three different times, to my own great surprise. Oh, 
the goodness of Grod in raising me up." 

The delights vouchsafed to the children of G-od, 
and which constitute them a "peculiar people," are 
strikingly exhibited when the rector of Yelling says, 
"I have now been here three years and three months. 
Take notice, never absent but eleven out of one 
hundred and seventy Sundays ; and sometimes not a 
night in a month. Is not this residence ? and never 
more pleased than when no visitor came near us, 
though no one delights more in the company of his 
friends, and the friends of Jesus. But I find unspeak- 
able joy in the word of grace, at the throne of grace, 
in meditation and contemplation, in recalling past 



THE RECTORY OF YELLING-. 243 

marvellous mercies and distinguishing grace, in look- 
ing forward to the final scene of man's eventful his- 
tory and my own pilgrimage ; while the business I 
have with my family, and my sermons — meeting with 
a few poor cottagers every evening, who are, I trust, 
members of Christ — make each passing day glide on 
apace ; and weeks and months and years bring with 
them abounding evidence of G-od's faithfulness and 
overflowing goodness and everlasting love to the vil- 
est of the vile, as I sometimes do indeed appear to 
rnyself." 

"But I have long since found, that if I turn my 
eyes from Jesus, and expect my comfort from any 
thing but from himself, I must be disappointed." 
Such was the spirit with which he met the trials of 
the spiritual husbandman. " Twenty-five years ago, 
I was certain I could reconcile the word of God in 
all its parts, and be able to pray without distraction. 
Now I wait for the light of eternity and the perfec- 
tion of holiness, in order that I may know any thing 
as I ought to know." 

Yet he labored lovingly on. "I have just now," 
he tells us, ''ventured on an undertaking for the dear 
children of my parish. I have engaged a master to 
teach them all. How tenderly did our Saviour recom- 
mend little children to our regard. Had I any time 
to begin anew, I would give myself more to this work. 
In these labors of love, a sweet peace of mind is 
enjoyed ; and when we teach, we are taught by the 
great Master of assemblies. I venerate the name of 
Dr. Francke of Halle, Saxony, who, when a profes- 



244 LADY HUNTIN&TON. 

sor of greatest note in that university, felt his howels 
yearn over the children of the poor, and became their 
teacher, though derided by the university for his heav- 
enly compassion. So differently did his G-od regard 
the good work, that, from a small beginning, it was 
soon enlarged to be among the first charitable foun- 
dations, embalming his name for ages to come." 

In 1777, his son John went to Cambridge, and 
was entered as a student at Sidney College. The 
introduction of a child on this sphere of effort, of dis- 
cipline, and of temptation must needs always be an 
event of deep and anxious interest to the Christian 
parent. This son had not disappointed parental fidel- 
ity, he grew up in the fear and nurture of the Lord ; 
and solicitous to keep the fountain pure and guard 
well the outposts of Christian character, the father 
impresses upon the lad the importance of dwelling 
much upon the substantial parts of a Christian's life. 
''This substantial part," says he, "is modesty and 
chastity, in opposition to pertness and impurity — ^tem- 
perance and sobriety, confronting the surfeit or drunk- 
enness of epicures — humility and meekness, in oppo- 
sition to natural haughtiness and angry pride — guard- 
ed cheerfulness, under a sense both of the divine pres- 
ence and the mischief of noisy mirth — love to Grod 
and his word, expressed by a stern look when scoffers 
pour out foolishness, and when a double entendre or 
an infidel sneer is uttered— love of diligent study, 
serious acquaintance, useful conversation, with secret 
prayer and meditation on the word of Christ. Con- 
scious that you are living thus, and that this is your 



THE RECTORY OF YELLING-. 245 

earnest purpose and daily prayer, you need have no 
fear that you are making a compromise with the 
world, or want that zeal for the Lord which true faith 
inspires. Nothing will put to silence the ignorance 
of foolish men and conquer their prejudices like the 
humility, meekness, wisdom, and soundness of mind 
which those who are really in Christ possess and 
manifest. 

"I would advise you to study with attention and 
exactness their characters who liave obtained the im- 
mortal honor that they 'pleased Grod ;' such as Enoch, 
Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Job. You may be 
sure nothing is misrepresented here. You will see 
what manner of persons the Spirit of Grod does form ; 
you will see that supreme love to him, undaunted 
valor in his cause, and resignation to his will, fully 
possessed them. Then, lifting up your heart and eyes 
to their Grod and your God, beg that, under a more 
luminous dispensation and richer helps for spiritual 
life and godliness, you may be a follower of them who 
are set before you for examples." 

To Eling, his eldest daughter, he thus pours out 
his soul in a letter on one of her birthdays : '' I wish 
you to be saying a thousand and a thousand times to 
yourself, ' I am none of my own ; I am the Lord's. 
Infinite honor, unequalled grandeur of condition, is 
included in this relation. May I know how to set a 
just value upon it. I am the Lord's, to have the 
benefit of his wisdom and unerring counsel. / am 
the Lord's, to desire from his might ability to do 
those things which by nature we cannot do. / am 



246 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

the Lord^s, to be preserved and defended by his ten- 
der care in this world of pits and snares and seduc- 
ing objects and mahgnant sphits. / ayn the Lord's^ 
to hear his voice and treasure up his divine sayings. 
I am the Loi'd's^ to do the work he has given me to 
do by the allotment of his providence, and to be intent 
on discharging it with all diligence, humility, and 
cheerfulness. I am the Lord^s, not only to live, but 
to die unto him.' Thus may our dear Eling be taught ; 
and thus reckon herself to be alive to G-od from the 
dead, through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the 
whole my heart can wish you. May you, living and 
dying, be the ItordhP 

^' It is the pleasure and privilege peculiar to Chris- 
tians to make intercession for their children," he 
writes to Kitty on her seventeenth birthday, "to be 
looking up to the Father of mercies, to bestow upon 
them what is necessary for their safety^ their comfort^ 
and their usefulness, I have therefore early in the 
morning of this anniversary presented my poor but 
sincere prayers at the throne of grace in your behalf, 
that you might dwell in safety. My dear Kitty will 
not be at a loss to know on what account she need to 
pray herself, and to desire all that love her soul to do 
so too, that she may be preserved. For you know, I 
trust, what enemies are ever working to destroy you : 
your corrupt nature is your most powerful enemy. 
Who shall deliver you from it? He who left his 
throne of glory to seek and to save that which was 
lost. He can and will^ upon your calling and lifting 
up your soul to him. He will create you again after 



THE RECTORY OF YELLING-. 247 

his own image ; give yon wisdom and power to deny 
yourself, to do the will of Grod, to love him in sin- 
cerity, and to dwell in love to every one. Then you 
tire indeed safe. 

^'I have prayed also that you, my dear Kitty, may 
spend your days in comfort — not in show or dress, or 
in abundance of the things of this world, but in solid 
comfort; knowing that you are accepted of G-od, and 
that heaven is your eternal home. So our ever-blessed 
Saviour, when about to depart out of this world, told 
his dearest friends, ' I will not leave you comfortless ; 
I will come to you. My peace I give unto you.' All 
desire comfort; yet young and old, rich and poor, de- 
spise or neglect Jesus of Nazareth. They cannot believe 
that the crucified man who died under the hands of his 
enemies, is the G-od of peace and hope ; hence none 
in their natural state have solid comfort. One only 
can give it. It is pure, heart-satisfying comfort to 
know that you have, in the Lord of all, a companion, 
a counsellor, and a most familiar friend, who will be 
ever present with your spirit, who orders all your con- 
dition, whether you shall be sick or well, lose or still 
enjoy the advantage of very dear relations. In a 
word, this alone is comfort, to have in G-od a Father, 
to whom you can apply and rest satisfied with all 
his will. 

" But comfort and safety are not the whole I 
pray the Lord to provide for your soul. Useful- 
ness is the very excellency of life. No man, in the 
real church of Christ, livetli unto himself. Every 
true Christian is a tree of righteousness, whose fruits 



248 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

are good and profitable unto all men. He is glad to 
help and to comfort others. He is diligent and indus- 
trious. He dwells in peace and gentleness and love. 
He reproves what is wrong by an excellent example, 
and recommends by his own practice what is pleasing 
to G-od. 

" My dear Kitty, how have you been distinguished 
by the divine goodness — distinguished in having your 
birth in a land of gospel light, in your parents being 
believers, in the examples you have seen, in the 
instructions you have received, and in the pains 
taken with you. All these advantages you are to 
improve, not as a task, but for your own enjoyment, 
Grod having inseparably connected our duty and our 
happiness. I figure you, therefore, to myself, as 
maintaining a wise, discreet, and godly conversation ; 
satisfied with the portion the Lord divides unto his 
children ; acquainted with spiritual blessings ; filling 
up each day, so as to find time too short for all you 
have to do." 

Nor did the beloved youth of his own family and 
parish alone share the affectionate assiduities of this 
devoted man. His vicinity to Cambridge brought 
many a serious student from college halls to the 
study and fireside of Yelling, where they always 
received a cordial welcome, and found in Mr. Yenn a 
wise counsellor and experienced teacher in heavenly 
things. 

Mr. Yenn had a quick insight into character and 
excelled in conversation, and these rendered his social 
and pastoral influence very great. His manners were 



THE RECTORY OF YELLING. 249 

tender and sympathizing, inspiring confidence and 
winning affection, and thus preparing the way for a 
fidelity to the immortal interests of his fellow-men 
which seldom gave offence. He had none of that 
startling, vehement, brilliant oratory which distin- 
guished some of his illustrious associates, hut his 
deep acquaintance with the distinguishing doctrines 
of the word of God imparted an unspeakable solem- 
nity to his manner, and a penetrating earnestness to 
his language ; his preaching made all men feel that 
they had business with G-od and eternity which must 
not be trifled with, and could not be delayed. 

In common with them he possessed the deep spir- 
ituality, the reverent, yet rejoicing spirit, the abase- 
ment and the elevation which distinguish those who 
truly walk with God. His instructions were sound, 
solid, and eminently practical ; he aimed to establish 
and build up well-ordered Christian character, to 
foster and strengthen the habits essential to holy 
living. '' Every prophet and every apostle," he said 
to a son after he entered the ministry, "insists as 
much on the fruits of faith, as upon faith itself and 
the glory of Christ's person. The sovereign and elect- 
ing grace of God, by which alone we are brought to 
him, bears no proportion ' in the Scriptures to the 
continued mention that is made of the absolute neces- 
sity, beauty, and excellency of a holy life and con- 
versation — ^bears no proportion, I say, to the practical 
part of our religion." And this growth in grace, and 
these fruits of faith, of which Venn himself was an 

eminent example, can alone spring from an experi- 

11* 



250 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

mental knowledge of, and a vital union with Christ 
the crucified Saviour ; any thing short of this is delu- 
sive, and must produce mildew, stagnation, and 
death. 

'No wonder that the young Timothys of Cam- 
bridge prized the friendship of the rector of Yelling ; 
his influence was not lost upon them, and long after 
his death it was perpetuated in the godly lives of 
many an humhle curate and zealous rector, whose 
devoted piety adorned the next generation of English 
clergymen. 



ROWLAND HILL. 251 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



ROWLAND HILL, 



Rowland Hill was now in the zenith of his pop- 
ularity. Whitefield and Berridge had been his foster- 
fathers in the Christian Hfe, nor did he ever disown 
or dishonor his spiritual birthright ; with the humor 
of the one, and the impressive oratory of the other, 
united to the apostolic zeal which belonged alike to 
both, he appeared in the highways and by-ways of 
England, preaching repentance and remission of sins 
through Clirist the crucified Saviour. In chapels 
and churches, market-places and moors, fields and 
fairs, wherever there were men to hear, there was 
Rowland Hill enforcing with robust earnestness that 
truth which thrilled his own soul ; and especially 
were his strong sympathies drawn towards those 
classes where vice has no disguise and sorrow no 
alleviations. . 

During the political riots which broke out in 
England in 1780, threatening the peace of the realm, 
he often went to St. Greorge's Fields, in the southern 
suburb of London, a place of disorderly assemblages 
and seditious vigils, and dared to address vast con- 
courses of discontented and starving workmen upon 
the verities of the world to come. His intrepid ad- 
dresses were charged with hidden power ; they pierced 
the consciences of men hungry for bread, and heated 



252 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

with political excitement : the grievances of the pres- 
ent life, great as they seemed to he, and great as 
they really were, sunk into comparative insignifi- 
cance hefore the momentous interests of the life to 
come ; stout hearts gave way ; a cry went up for the 
bread of life, and they who had nothing to expect 
from earthly sovereigns, gained access to the throne of 
grace. Nor is it to be wondered at, that hatred and 
spite aimed their shafts at the bold yet true reform- 
er ; often he was pelted with stones, lampooned, burnt 
in effigy, which, with the displeasure of his parents 
and the undisguised uneasiness felt by many of his 
true yet timid friends, might have damped a heart 
less resolutely devoted to his Master's cause. 

'' True, I am what the world despises, a ' lay itin- 
erant,' " he says, " but I am certainly convinced of 
the Lord's blessing on the work." And could he cease 
from it ? Toplady invited him to his house in Lon- 
don, and tried to dissuade him from his course ; but 
the times needed just such men, and men were raised 
up who recognized the call, and who were made 
"strong jln the Lord and in the power of his might." 

" Because I am in earnest," he once said at Wot- 
ton, " men call me an enthusiast. But I am not ; 
mine are the words of truth and soberness. When I 
first came into this part of the country, I was walking 
on yonder hill ; I saw a gravel-pit fall in, and bury tiiree 
human beings alive. T lifted up my voice for help 
,so loud that I was heard in the town below, at a dis- 
tance of a mile ; help came, and rescued two of the 
poor sufferers. No one called me an enthusiast then; 



ROWLAND HILL. 253 

and when I see eternal destruction ready to fall upon 
poor sinners, and about to entomb them irrecoverably 
in an eternal mass of woe, and call aloud on them to 
escape, shall I be called an enthusiast now? No, 
sinner, I am not an enthusiast in so doing: I call 
on thee aloud to fly for refuge to the hope set before 
thee in the gospel of Christ Jesus ;" and there were 
times when the tremendous issues of life and death, 
of heaven and hell, were so vividly pictured to his 
own mind, that the impassioned energy of his manner 
was almost overwhelming. ''I like to go and hear 
Rowland Hill," said Sheridan, "because his ideas 
come red-hot from the heart." 

There was, indeed, no false show of feeling, no 
trickeries of language, no assumed oddity of rrianner, 
by which he or his illustrious compeers attracted and 
riveted the minds of both the learned and the un- 
learned, the rude and the refined, constraining them 
to honor the messages of salvation by the attentive 
ear, and, in how many cases, by the submission of 
their hearts and the renewal of their lives. 

The motto of the Hill family was, " Gro forward ;" 
words of stirring significance, which Rowland had 
engraven on his seal, and which were the watchword 
and epitome of his world-known career. 

" Dear sir," wrote Berridge, who marked his 
progress with cheerly interest, '' I mean, my dear 
Rowley, your kind letter was long in coming, but it 
brought good tidings and refreshed my heart. The 
motto of your seal rejoiced me much ; it gave me a 
peep into your bosom, and a taste of your letter before 



254 LADY HUNTIN&TON, 



1 



I read it. Indeed, I was afraid lest orders and some 
other tilings would cure you of rambling ; but my 
fears were groundless, and all is well. The lampoon 
published against you is a blessed omen for good, 
that G-od intends to honor you. It seems to me a 
happy token that you will remain an itinerant, and 
that much good will arise from your ministry. Lu- 
ther used to say, when the Lord had fresh work for 
him, a strong trial was sent beforehand to prepare 
him for it by humiliation. Study not to be a fine 
preacher. Jerichos are blown down with ram's horns. 
Look simply unto Jesus for preaching food ; and what 
is wanted will be given, and what is given will be 
blessed, whether it be a barley or a wheaten loaf, a 
crust or a crumb. Your mouth will be a flowing 
stream, or a fountain sealed, according as your heart 
is. Avoid all controversy in preaching, talking, or 
writing ; preach nothing down but the devil, and 
nothing up but Jesus Christ." 

These irregularities finding no favor with the eccle- 
siastical authorities, Rowland found much difficulty 
in obtainins: orders. His friends besfored him to desist 
while application was making in his behalf, and accord- 
ingly we find him at one time trying to keep quiet 
at the house of a pious friend in Woburn. While 
here, he writes to Miss Tudway, the lady whom he is 
about to marry, with the hearty and honest directness 
which always characterized him, in reply to her affec- 
tionate recommendations to abandon "the field." 

" I beg you to be at ease about my conduct," he says, 
"since I assure you I act with all the caution in my 



ROWLAND HILL. 255 

power. I know your heart is upright before G-od ; your 
fearing mind frequently perplexes you : I am sure it is 
a sign of a most tender heart, and such tender-hearted 
disciples shall never want direction from above. Here 
I continue a prisoner, though a prisoner at large, under 
this hospitable roof, and I have a hearty welcome to 
stay until the bishop's answer is received. On Satur- 
day, at farthest, I shall hope to receive it, as I really 
dread staying over here on the Sunday, my tempta- 
tions to preach will, I know, be so great ; and if I do 
not, as I am known in these parts, I know it will 
slacken dear Grrove's hands and grieve the dear people 
of Grod in the neighborhood. Here as well as m other 
places, there seems to be a more extensive opening 
than ever ; that I were at liberty to labor for my 
God." 

Through the intercession of liis friends a favois 
able answer was received, and Rowland was at last 
ordained deacon by Dr. "Wills, the aged Bishop of 
Bath and Wells ; and "through the kind and unex- 
pected interposition of Providence," he says, "I was 
ordained without any condition or compromise what- 
ever." It was in June, 1773. 

Unfettered then by "promise or condition," the 
newly made deacon having already "endured hardness 
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, began to make full 
proof of his ministry," by again resuming his home 
missionary labors and preaching as he had opportu- 
nity. At one time we find him in Northampton, 
standing where Doddridge stood twenty-five years 
before, pleading the claims of that gospel whose sweet- 



256 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

ness and richness so filled his life and so fitted him 
for death. Then he is at Olney, where no meeting- 
house could contain the thronging multitude ; then 
among the fashion of Richmond, " expecting much 
persecution ;" and on a Tuesday, at the Tabernacle 
in London, attending a "general sacrament, lasting 
from six till ten, where, blessed be G-od, thousands 
communicated." 

Now we follow him to Wales and stop with him 
some bright morning on the road, where he preaches, 
at "the blessed consecration of an old barn, on pre- 
paring * a habitation for the Lord.' " Rowland loves 
the hearty tone of Welsh piety, it is "savory and 
well baked," and he is received with open arms ; he 
preaches three or four sermons a day, never less than 
an hour long, and the people follow him by thousands. 
Another Whitefield is ranging over the hills, another 
Howell Harris is revisiting the beloved preaching 
spots and reviving the hearts of G-od's dear people. 
No inclemency of the weather hinders the gathering 
of the peasantry. Many a time, it is said, did he 
stand through a heavy shower, preaching to a vast 
concourse of these hardy men, who seemed uncon- 
scious of the rain, and were as orderly and attentive 
as if sunshine were overhead. No fair weather hear- 
ers these ; and he used afterwards to say to.his Lon- 
don audience, when the weather had kept them at 
home on the Sabbath, "Ah, if you loved the gospel 
as the Welsh do, you would not mind a shower." 

These labors, abundant and blessed as there is 
reason to believe they were by the great Bishop of 



ROWLAND HILL. 257 

souls, vexed those in authority, and prevented his 
farther advancement in the church ; he never was 
ordained priest, and the disappointment is only thus 
briefly recorded : ''Missing of full orders, I thought it 
was my duty again to begin my public labors as 
usual." The friendship of the church authorities could 
give no additional value to his labors, nor could its 
displeasure rob them of their power. 

The Tabernacle and Tottenham-court hailed Row- 
land Hill as a successor of Whitefield, and crowds 
attended on his preaching. 

In the early part of his career, while under the 
paternal frown. Lady Huntington had received the 
ardent and self-forgetting young man with an open 
heart, and gave him a cordial welcome beneath her 
roof. Subsequently a coolness seems to have sprung 
up between them : though mutually respecting each 
other, and mutually wishing each other G-od speed in 
separate paths of usefulness, they do not appear to 
have wrought harmoniously together. 

The committee of Spa-fields chapel, anxious at 
one time to secure his services for that portion of 
London, consulted Lady Huntington in reference to 
inviting him to supply the pulpit. In reply to the 
letter addressed to her on the subject, she said, with 
the distinctness which always marked her movements, 
''"Without reserve to you, my kind friend, and with 
every best wish to dear Mr. Yenn, Mr. Hill cannot 
preach for me. This must not be pressed. Should 
any future day prove it expedient, it may be con- 
sidered ; but be assured, it cannot be now. Mr. Pieroy 



258 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

will be succeeded at Spa-fields by Mr. Philips, the 
master of the college, till some other of our ministers 
return from their four quarterly excursions around the 
kingdom. He is a gracious, worthy, and faithful min- 
ister ; he is not only sufficiently judicious for a critic 
to hear, but welcome to every heart that loves the 
Lord. Respected Christian love to you and dear Mr. 
Yenn, and to the committee." 

Her conduct in reference to the young man, was 
like the language of the patriarch of old to his kins- 
man Lot, " Let there be no strife, I pray thee, betwixt 
me and thee ; for we be brethren. Is not the whole 
land before thee ? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from 
me." "Would not much discontent and discord be 
nipped in the bud, and the people of G-od be saved 
from much just reproach, if they whose strong indi- 
vidualities or peculiar opinions cannot harmonize, 
would kindly part, seeking distinct fields of labor, 
"one to the right, and the other to the left ; for is not 
the whole land before us ?" 

Rowland is perhaps now at London, dwelling at 
the Tabernacle parsonage, and helping to form a 
society for the purpose of enabling pastors to itinerate 
in their immediate districts, after the example of 
Berridge and G-rimshaw ; this association received the 
name of Societas Evangelica, or what with us would 
be more familiarly termed a home missionary society. 
Or perhaps he is at Wotton, the place which he called 
home after his marriage, a beautiful town a hundred 
miles north-west of London, commanding a fine pros- 
pect of the "Welsh mountains and the silvery Severn, 



ROWLAND HILL. 259 

with woody knolls and green dales, and all the rich 
variety of an English landscape on every side. Here, 
in a picturesque situation, he built a house, with a 
chapel called The Tabernacle, which Robert Hall 
pronounces "one of the most paradisiacal spots he 
was ever in." But Mr. Hill's friends became anxious, 
at last, to secure his permanent services in the great 
metropolis ; accordingly a subscription was set on foot 
for the purpose of erecting a chapel at St. Greorge's 
Fields, the scene of former conquests, and a region 
whose spiritual barrenness loudly appealed to the 
friends of humanity. 

"I am persuaded your ladyship will rejoice," 
wrote Berridge to Lady Huntington, who was then 
at Trevecca, ''that dear Rowley is going, with the 
Lord's help, to erect a standard for the gospel in the 
very middle of the devil's dominions in London. 
What a bellowing and clamor the old enemy will 
make, at this fresh invasion of his kingdom. But he 
may storm and rage and persecute, Christ's cause 
must and will prevail over all opposition. A meet- 
ing has been held, and I am told the place fixed upon 
is one of the worst spots in London. This much is 
satisfactory. Fine soil for plowing and sowing ! By 
and by, my lady, we shall hear of the reaping time, 
the harvest, and the harvest-home. How glorious 
will be the triumphs of the gospel in that place. 
Some of the blessed fruits we may expect to meet in 
our Father's kingdom above. I need not remind your 
dear ladyship to pour forth a volley of prayers for the 
success of this sanctuary." 



260 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

" Such," the countess tells us, "is the very reviv- 
ing news from London. I, v^ho have known Mr. Hill 
from his first setting out, can testify, that no man 
ever engaged with more heart-felt earnestness in 
bringing captives from Satan to the glorious liberty 
of the gospel ; and it will require all the energies of 
his zealous and enterprising spirit to erect the stand- 
ard of the cross in that part of London, where igno- 
rance and depravity prevail to an awful degree. 
Though I have seen sufficient cause to exclude him 
from my chapel for the present, yet I cordially rejoice 
in the success which has attended his faithful labors. 
I knew him when a youth at the university, when 
persecuted by his family, when in pecuniary distress ; 
and he was as a son to me, received into my house, 
and preached for me everywhere. My heart's desire 
and prayer to Grod is, that this undertaking may pros- 
per most abundantly, and that many souls may there 
be gathered to the true Shiloh, and be crowns of his 
rejoicing in the great day." 

'Not only did the undertaking meet with her cor- 
dial approbation, but she aided it by a liberal sub- 
scription. The corner-stone of this now well-known 
house of worship, called Surrey Chapel, situated be- 
tween Blackfriars bridge and the Obelisk, south 
of the Thames, was laid, with appropriate services, 
on the 24th of June, 1782, when a sermon was 
preached by Mr. Hill from Isaiah 28 • 16, " Behold, I 
lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a 
precious corner-stone, a sure foundation." The chapel 
was vested in the hands of fifteen trustees, its doc- 



ROWLAND HILL. 261 

trinal basis the articles of the church of England, 
and its pulpit free to pious ministers of all denomi- 
nations and of every country. 

" The church turned me off, and not I her," its 
pastor used to say in later times. " I confess, I like 
a little more liberty than she allows; and, thank G-od, 
I can ask the great Dr. Chalmers and great Dr. Mor- 
rison and others, when they come to London, to preach 
in Surrey chapel pulpit. I suppose they would not 
let St. Paul, if he were to come upon earth now, 
preach in his own cathedral." 

Surrey chapel, or Rowland Hill's chapel, as it is 
frequently called, is an object of great interest to 
Christian travellers from this side of the Atlantic; 
and one says of it, " Probably no place of worship 
has been the source of more institutions for promoting 
the glory of God and the welfare of men, than this 
has been ;" indeed we find springing up, soon after 
his settlement, a " School of Industry," a " Benevolent 
Society for the Relief and Personal Visitation of the 
Sick Poor," a '' Dorcas Association," a society or 
'' Social Meetings" for young converts; social prayer- 
meetings were gathered here and there, in which he 
mingled with a cordial and delighted interest ; and 
afterwards he and his church took an active part in 
founding several of the principal benevolent institu- 
tions of the age. 

Mr. Hill now became a settled pastor and a perma- 
nent resident of London, and lover as he was of the 
picturesque and beautiful in nature, the change of 
homes would have been painful to one less ardently 



262 LADY HUNTlNaTON. 

attached to his heavenly work. The present occu- 
pants of Surrey side can hardly realize, that all about 
the house he then lived in was a swampy marsh edged 
with the ahodes of vicious poverty. 

Yet Mr. Hill had his summer tours and haunts, 
when he revisited the scenes of his early labors, 
refreshed himself on the green hanks of the Severn, 
and rejoiced in his sylvan retreat at Wotton; indeed, 
he sometimes humorously subscribes himself, ''Rector 
of Surrey chapel, vicar of Wotton-under-edge, and 
curate of all the fields, commons, etc., throughout 
England and Wales." 

His dear old friends Berridge and Venn sometimes 
supplied the pulpit of the absent pastor, and never 
was he more gratified than when his people were 
thus fed with the marrow and fatness of Christian 
truth. An annual exchange also took place between 
Mr. Hill and Dr. Scott, chaplain of the Lock hospital. 
" After I had been a few years in London," said the 
venerable commentator, " I refused to preach irreg- 
ularly, except as once a year I consented to exchange 
pulpits with Mr. Hill of Surrey chapel, that being the 
stipulated condition of his preaching a charity-sermon 
for the hospital." 

Rowland Hill, whose life and labors extended 
more than thirty years into the present century, and 
whose fame was almost as much the wonder of our 
childhood as was Whitefield that of our grand-parents, 
is a bright ray from that elder time, when "Whitefield 
and Wesley, Berridge and Yenn, gemmed with their 
heavenly radiance a dark night in the history of tlie 
church. 



THE SECESSION. 263 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE SECESSION, 



In Spa-fields, or Clerkenwell, as it is now better 
known, then a northern suburb of London, a large 
building had been erected called the Parthenon, 
designed especially for a place of Sunday amuse- 
ment, where, in its whirlpools of riot and excess, 
many both of the young and old wrecked their hopes 
for this world and the next. But in this case, the 
wages of sins proving low, the building was after a 
while put up for sale or lease, and those who had the 
spiritual desolations of that part of the metropolis at 
heart, were anxious to secure it for a place of divine 
worship. Two awakened clergymen belonging to 
the establishment had their eyes fixed upon it for 
this purpose, determining to fit it up at their own 
expense for that preaching which would seek and 
save them which are lost. Meanwhile Lady Hunt- 
ington, advised of the sale, immediately saw the im- 
portance of the stand, and began to consult with her 
friends upon the propriety of taking it herself. 

Mr. Toplady discouraged the movement : the first 
outlay, he thought, must be large, and the stated 
outgoings afterwards were calculated at i^400 a year ; 
the place was far out of town, and the ways to it 
none of the best in winter. "And consider also," ho 



264 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

adds, "the supply of constant and able ministers 
which such a chapel would require ; where are they 
to be had ?" 

Lady Huntington yielded to the prudent sugges- 
tions of her advisers, though contrary to her wishes 
and convictions; ''for my heart," she tells us, ''is 
strongly set upon having this temple of folly dedi- 
cated to Jehovah Jesus, the great Head of his church 
and people. Dear Mr. Berridge does not discourage 
the undertaking, but says I may count upon a fit of 
sickness if I engage in this affair. I feel so deeply 
for the perishing thousands in that part of London, 
that I am ready to run any risk ; and though at this 
mioment I have not a penny to command, yet I am 
so firmly persuaded of the goodness of the Mastei 
whose I am, and v/hom I desire to serve, that I shall 
not want gold or silver for the work. It is his cause ; 
he has the hearts of all at his disposal, and I shall 
have help when he sees fit to employ me in his ser- 
vice. Nevertheless, with some regret, I give up the 
matter this time ; those on the spot may be able to 
judge better than I can, hut faith tells me to go for- 
ward, nothing fearing, nothing doubting." 

Lady Huntington having relinquished her plans, 
the building was taken by a company of gentlemen, 
who converted it into a place of divine worship and 
engaged two excellent preachers to supply the desk. 
Thus a faithful and efficient ministry was set up in 
Spa-fields. The spacious edifice was filled with 
hearers, while the whole neighborhood shared in their 
labors of love ; the sick were visited, the sorrowful 



THE SECESSION. 265 

comforted, and sinners were led to repentance and 
newness of life. 

The zealous and abundant labors of these faithful 
men soon stirred up the hostility of the minister of 
St. James, the parish church, who, resenting the im- 
plied reproach which their earnest ministrations cast 
upon himself, determined if possible to drive them 
from the field. He accordingly set up his right to 
nominate the chaplains and preach in the chapel 
whenever he pleased ; he formally demanded the 
sacramental money, and all the income derived from 
the seats or other sources to be paid to him, and on 
pain of non-compliance threatened to bring the mat- 
ter before the ecclesiastical courts. 

These claims, so subversive of the rights and 
authority of the proprietors, were firmly resisted ; 
the curate, whose motives inclined him neither to 
generosity nor justice, exasperated by the dignified 
stand of the proprietors, commenced a suit against 
the Spa-fields preachers in the Consistorial court of 
the Bishop of London. The offending clergymen 
were speedily cited to appear before it to answer to 
the charge of irregularity, in carrying on divine wor- 
ship in a place not episcopally dedicated, and in oppo- 
sition to the wishes of the minister of the parish. 
Verdicts were found against them, and they were 
ordered to desist from their ministrations ; the chapel 
was closed, and the once flourishing congregation 
broken up and scattered. 

The affair gave great pain to the friends of true 
religion. As soon as the result was known, Lady 

Huntington. 1 2 



2G6 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

Huntington hastened to London to see if something 
could not be done in order to rescue the chapel from 
the persecuting curate. An opportunity now offered 
to follow counsels less timid than those formerly 
given, and more in harmony with her own daring 
and hopeful spirit. Lord Dartm^outh and Mr. Thorn- 
ton advised Lady Huntington to become proprietor 
of the chapel, and thus place it on a footing with her 
other chapels, under the protection and jurisdiction of 
a peeress of the realm. 

''Blessed be Grod," she exclaims, ''for the ability 
and strength which has been given me in the prose- 
cution of this affair. pray that His presence may 
be with us at the dedication, and the power of his 
arm revealed in the conversion of sinners to himself. 
My eye is directed to this ultimate and only end of 
all my labors." 

The house passed into her hands, and was again 
opened under auspices favorable to true religion. 
Lady Huntington's income at this time was no more 
than sufficient to meet the already numerous de- 
mands made upon it by her various undertakings to 
extend the Redeemer's kingdom. But her faith and 
courage never failed. Her vigorous and resolute 
spirit rose above all timid counsels or temporary pol- 
icy, in things needful to be done. Once clearly decided 
in her views of duty, she knew no faltering, and hor 
" must be " carried with it a wonderful power to clear 
away the hinderanoes which might stop the progress 
of less ardent and resolute temperaments. 

We note at this time this pleasing incident. A 



THE SECESSION. 267 

gentleman who assisted her in the management of 
Spa-fields chapel, called one day at her house to 
remonstrate with her on the impropriety of taking 
measures for another chapel in the metropolis, with- 
out having the means for carrying them out. Before 
he left the house her letters arrived. As she opened 
one, her face brightened and tears came into her eyes. 
The letter ran thus : " An individual who has heard 
of Lady Huntington's exertions to spread the gospel, 
requests her acceptance of the enclosed draft." It 
was for five hundred pounds, the exact sum then 
required for the purposed undertaking. " Here," said 
she, "take it, and pay for the chapel ; and be no longer 
faithless, but believing." 

As a peeress of the realm. Lady Huntington be- 
lieved she possessed the right of employing her own 
chaplains when and where she chose on her own prem- 
ises. In this, however, she v/as destined to be unde- 
ceived ; for the curate of St. James, with unabated 
zeal, renewed his attack both upon her chapel and 
preachers, and once more carried the matter before 
the tribunals of the church, and here she fared no 
better than her predecessors. The suit was decided 
against her ; verdicts were issued against Dr. Haweis 
and Mr. Glascott, the preachers of Spa-fields, and they 
were prohibited from again exercising their ministerial 
functions at the chapel. Harassed by the suit, and 
surprised at the result. Lady Huntington lost no time 
in consulting the highest legal advice, and submitted - 
the following questions to a leading lawyer at the 
English bar : - 



268 , LADY HUNTINGTON. 

''Is the domestic chapel of a peer of this realm 
exempt from ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and licensed ? 

" What constitutes such domestic chapel? Is it 
sufficient that it be contiguous with the house or 
usual residence of such peer, and that divine service 
be performed according to the church of England, 
by a regularly ordained minister ? 

" May such chapel be opened to any besides his 
immediate domestics, if such peer pleases to admit 
them ? 

" Must the clergyman so officiating necessarily 
be registered in the Commons; or is an appointment 
under such peer's hand and seal, with or without a 
pecuniary appointment for his services, necessary to 
constitute him legally qualified for such ministry ? 

"If he is cited into the Commons for such exer- 
cise of his ministry, can he refuse to appear ? Will 
his plea, as domestic chaplain of such peer, be suffi- 
cient bar to further proceedings? Can the case be 
carried into the King's Bench or House of Lords ? 

"Is it necessary that such chapel should be regis- 
tered in the Bishop's court ?" 

Her inquiries were promptly answered and accom- 
panied by a letter from Mr. G-lynne, which will be 
read with interest in these days of light and freedom : 

" In the notes to the queries which your ladyship 
did me the honor to transmit to me," says he, "you 
will perceive there are great difficulties in your way. 
Ecclesiastical law, as it now stands, is against you 
in some points — ^points which would not be insur- 
mountable, were our bishops differently minded ; but I 



THE SECESSION. 269 

regret to say that the spirit and the temper of too many 
of our ecclesiastical rulers is very unfavorable to any 
liberal or tolerant system ; so that nothing can be ex- 
pected of a set of men who seem so determined, on all 
occasions, to crush the spirit of inquiry, free opinion, 
and liberty of conscience. I anxiously look for refor- 
mation in some matters connected with the estab- 
lished church, to which I am conscientiously attached ; 
and though I may not live to see any great change, 
yet I am persuaded the time is not far distant, when 
bishops will deeply lament that persecuting spirit 
which has driven so many from the church, and 
which in too many instances is more in accordance 
with the intolerant spirit of the Romish church, than 
with the enlightened principles of the Protestant 
faith.'' 

The spirit of opposition thus fairly let loose against 
Lady Huntington, encouraged by ecclesiastical au- 
thority, she saw no end to the litigations which might 
ensue, bringing a long train of perplexities and ex- 
penses which must essentially embarrass her opera- 
tions and impair her usefulness. Under these cir- 
cumstances, she cast about in her mind how to free 
herself from the power which could persecute. Sor- 
rowfully and anxiously, but not long, did she con- 
sider the painful subject. 

'' Should further actions come," she says, ''I must 
patiently endure while power conquers right. In this 
case I am reduced to turn the finest conofresration, 
not only in England but in any part of the world, 
into a dissenting meeting, unless by the medium of 



270 LADY HUNTINGTON 

secession. Our ministers miglit occupy a neutrality 
between cliuroli and dissent-secession. Such minis- 
ters could supply any work that opened, yet not be 
obnoxious to either party, while by preaching and 
practice they maintained the doctrines of the Refor- 
mation. Little, weak, and insufficient as I account 
my light among others, this becomes the only noble 
and honest testimony." 

It was not without a struggle that Lady Hunt- 
ington decided to take a step which must not only lay 
her open to invidious remark and severe censure, but 
deprive her of the miinisterial cooperation of some of 
her most esteemed friends. The decision of the Con- 
sistorial court had indeed already done this, but her 
proposed course would confirm that decision, and 
place her, if beyond the control, also beyond the pro- 
fessional services of faithful and true men of the 
English church. The example and success of Wes- 
ley encouraged her ; and she felt that a denomination 
differing from ''the "Wesleyans in holding the doc- 
trinal articles of the church of England in their Cal- 
vinistic sense — from the Independents, by admitting 
the lawfulness, and in many cases the expediency of 
using a scriptural liturgy — from the church of Eng- 
land herself, in being free to adopt whatever they 
deem valuable in her services, and to refuse what 
appears to them objectionable, while they are exempt 
from that corrupting influence to which she is exposed 
by her union with the state," and yet agreeing with 
each in the essential doctrines of the gospel, might 
occupy a most favorable position for those evangel- 



IHii SECESSIO^^ 271 

izing labors wliich England then seemed so much to 
need. And she was the more urged to this on sur- 
veying the good already accomplished by her chapels, 
and beholding what large and destitute fields still 
opened for the faithful efforts of her students and 
preachers. 

"I am to be cast out of the church now," she 
says, " only for what I have been doing these forty 
years — speaking and living for Jesus Chiist ; and if 
the days of my captivity are now to be accomplished, 
those that turn me out, and so set me at liberty, may 
soon feel what it is by sore distress themselves for 
these hard services which they have caused mc. 
Blessed be the Lord, I have not one care relative to 
this event, but to be found exactly faithful to God 
and man through all. I have been severely handled 
and vilified, but none of these things move me, deter- 
mined that the short remnant of my life shall be em- 
ployed in setting up the standard and enlarging the 
circle of evangelical light and truth." 

^' Hitherto it had not been generally understood," 
says her English biographer, "how far the privileges 
of a peeress of the realm extended; but the trials 
which took place at the Consistoriai court of London 
respecting Spa-fields chapel, first decided the charac- 
ter of Lady Huntington's chapels as dissenting places 
of worship. Conscientious clergymen at this decis- 
ion were painfully circumstanced. On the one hand 
multitudes in every neighborhood were perishing in 
ignorance ; on the other, the regulations of the estab- 
lished church forbade their stepping over the bounda- 



«v 



272 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

ries of a parish. The result was, that many, though 
sincerely attached to the church of England, pre- 
ferred what seemed to them the lesser evils, and 
preached beyond the limits of their own parishes, 
but generally without incurring ecclesiastical penal- 
ties. Berridge's caustic reply to the reproof of his 
diocesan for preaching beyond parish bounds, is well 
known : ' Why, my lord, I see many parsons play- 
ing at bowls and going a hunting out of their parishes, 
yet they are not rebuked ; why should I be blamed 
more than they ?' " 

In order to be freed from all further annoyances, 
two gentlemen of the established church, Messrs. 
"Wills and Taylor, who had been prohibited by the 
court from preaching in Lady Huntington's chapels, 
determined to secede from the establishment, and tak- 
ing the oaths of allegiance as dissenting ministers, 
find shelter under the Toleration act. Mr. Wills was 
then appointed minister at Spa-fields, and henceforth 
the worship of Grod was carried on without molesta- 
tion. Although misrepresented and misunderstood, 
their vindication shows them to be men whose can- 
dor, common-sense, and true catholicity no one could 
seriously call in question. 

"We beg leave," they say to the archbishops and 
bishops of the church of England, "with all humility 
and due respect, to inform your lordships, that we have 
for some time past been engaged in the service of the 
chapels belonging to the countess dowager of Hunt- 
ington ; apprehending that those places of worship, 
under the protection of her ladyship as a peeress of 



THE SECESSION. 273 

the realm, were in no wise contrary to the laws, 
ecclesiastical and civil. 

''But whereas, by a late decision of the Consisto- 
rial court of the Bishop of London, it appears that her 
ladyship cannot authorize us to officiate in her chap- 
els in the public manner wherein we have been 
accustomed to exercise our ministry, we perceive 
ourselves — as long as we continue in the established 
church — reduced to the necessity of knowingly and 
wilfully opposing the law of that church, whereof we 
are at present ministers, or of withdrawing our ser- 
vices from the various congregations to whom we have 
administered for a long season, and trust we have, 
by the blessing of Grod, been made useful. But as 
we cannot take either of these steps with a good con- 
science, nor submit to those ecclesiastical canons that 
would prevent the discharge of the ministerial com- 
mission we have received from God and m^an to the 
fullest extent ; and yet desire from principle — as we 
have invariably done from our ordination — to spread 
and maintain faithfully the fundamental doctrines 
contained in the articles, homilies, and liturgy of the 
church of England, through the various parts of the 
kingdom as we have opportunity, we think there is 
no alternative left but for us to secede or withdraw 
peaceably from the established church, and under the 
protection of the Toleration act, continue to maintain 
her doctrines, though we cannot in all things submit 
to her discipline. And this we desire to do, not from 
a factious or schismatical spirit, not from a design 
to propagate heresies in the church of G-od, nor from 

12* 



274 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

any sinister or lucrative motives v/hatsoever ; "but for 
a simple view of glorifying Grod, of preaching the 
gospel, and of being useful to our fellow-creatures in 
that way which is most agreeable to our own con- 
sciences, and which we humbly conceive to be the 
most calculated for the general good of those many 
thousands that attend the ministry of ourselves and 
of those connected with us." 

This manly stand did credit to them as Christian 
men and ministers of Grod. 

The students of Trevecca, no longer being able 
to obtain episcopal ordination, were henceforth to be 
ordained on the plan of secession ; and on the 9th of 
March, 1783, th^ first ordination of ministers in Lady 
Huntington's connection took place in Spafields chap- 
el. Six young men from Trevecca were to be set 
apart to the office of the holy ministry, and the chap- 
el at an early hour was filled to overflowing. A pro- 
found solemnity rested upon the large congregation. 
After the opening supplications and hymns of praise, 
Mr. Taylor reviewed the reasons which had led to 
a secession, and the motives which influenced himself 
and his coworker Mr. "Wills in detaching themselves 
from the establishment. 

" This Bible, this precious Bible," said the speaker, 
laying his hand upon the inspired volume, ''we take 
for our rule, and acknowledge it as such in all matters 
of faith and practice. We have not, we dare not take 
any other. Believing this book, therefore, to be the only 
standard, we receive or refuse the sentiments, opinions, 
and doctrines of every man, as weighed in this balance. 



THE SECESSION. 275 

And further, believing this pure word of God, we 
abjure that heretical tenet which supposes either 
that the popes of Rome, the bishops of England, or 
any individual whatever, is the head of Christ's 
church. This is a prerogative belonging only to Christ 
himself. Him, therefore, and only him we acknow- 
ledsre as such." 

After intermediate services, the confession of faith 
already subscribed'to by the ordaining clergymen, and 
to be received by ministers in the connection, was 
publicly read, which recognized all the distinguishing 
doctrines of the gospel. 

At the laying on of hands, the candidates knelt 
before the altar and each received from the ordaining 
clergyman a copy of the Bible, with the injunction, 
" Take thou authority to preach the word of G-od, and 
to administer his appointed ordinances, in the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 
After this, a solemn and impressive charge was given 
by Mr. Wills from the words of Paul to Timothy : 
" Take heed unto thyself, and to thy doctrines ; con- 
tinue in them : for in doins^ this thou shalt both save 
thyself and them that hear thee." 

Henceforth the societies of Lady Huntington be- 
came known as a separate denomination ; free in exer- 
cising their powers, and untrammelled by ecclesiastical 
restrictions, but cut off from those who once loved to 
labor with them and for them. Romaine and Venn no 
longer officiated in those pulpits once so dear to them, 
although they still cordially loved the chapels, and 
maintained an unabated attachment to their founder. 



276 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

At the time of the secession, the connection num- 
hered sixty-seven chapels, seven only of which were 
the private property of the countess ; and though the 
control which she exercised over them was not a 
strictly legal one, yet, originated and aided by her 
princely munificence, she was, during her lifetime, 
their natural overseer or head, and her strong powers 
of mind, united with her knowledge and taste for 
business, peculiarly fitted her for the oversight of this 
great work. She kept herself carefully informed of 
the state of affairs, appointed and removed ministers, 
directed the labors of students, appointed laymen in 
each congregation to superintend its secular concerns, 
indited letters of advice and admonition, received ap- 
plications for preachers, conducted a numerous cor- 
respondence ; in a word, such was her strong person- 
al and moral influence, that no changes were made 
or plans executed in the connection, without her coun- 
sel and approbation. 

'' Of what church do you profess yourselves ?" was 
asked of Dr. Haweis, one of the trustees of Lady 
Huntington's property. 

''We desire," he replies, "to be esteemed mem- 
bers of Christ's catholic and apostolic church, and es- 
sentially one with the church of England, of which 
we regard ourselves as living members. And though, 
as the church of England is now governed, we are 
driven to a mode of ordaining ministers and maintain- 
ing societies not amenable to what we think abused 
episcopal jurisdiction, yet our mode of governing and 
regulating our congregations will probably be allowed 



THE SECESSION. 277 

to be essentially episcopal. "With us a few preside. 
The doctrines Ave subscribe are those of the church of 
England, in the literal and grammatical sense. Nor 
is the liturgy of the church performed more devoutly, 
or the Scriptures better read for the edifying of the 
people, by any congregations in the realm, than by 
those in our connection." 



278 LADY HUNTINGTON. 



CHAPTEE XX. 

HAE.VEST-HOME. 

Lady Huntington had now gone beyond three- 
score years and ten, with no abatement of her labors, 
or of the vigor and resoluteness which distinguished 
her character. She knew indeed neither weariness 
nor rest. The new divine life with which she arose 
from her sick-bed in the days of her youth and splen- 
dor, was subject to none of the infirmities of the 
natural body ; and far beyond the common life of man, 
it seemed to lift her above the weakness of the flesh, 
and clothe decaying nature with the strength and 
beauty of an immortal vesture. Lady Anne Erskine 
was her constant companion, devoted to her interests, 
animated by the same lofty purposes, and willing 
both to suffer and rejoice with her. 

In 1789, the venerable countess was called to 
mourn the death of her eldest son, Lord Huntington, 
nor was this the only occasion when her heart had 
bled on account of him. He was an elegant and 
accomplished man, and had filled several offices of 
trust and honor under his sovereign ; but strongly 
tinctured with the profligacy and practical infidelity 
of the times, he neither understood the excellency of 
his mother's principles in life, nor their saving power 
in death. Mr. Grrimshaw had many conversations 
with the young earl, and pronounced the fault not so 



HARVEST-HOME. 279 

much in the head as the heart. "Wherever it was, 
he died as he had lived, at the age of sixty years. 

During her last years, Lady Huntington lived 
the greater part of the year at her house in Spa-fields, 
London, next door to the chapel, where her style of 
living hefitted less an English peer than an heir of 
glory. Her equipage and furniture were extremely 
simple ; and although her income was much increased 
at her son's death, so ample were her benefactions 
that she allowed herself but one dress a year, a degree 
of economy that might well shame many a Christian 
woman whose adorning consists far more in the 
" putting on of apparel," than " the hidden man of 
the heart in that which is not corruptible." 

" I remember," said one, '' calling on her with a 
person who came from the country : when we came 
out he turned his eye towards the house, and after a 
short pause exclaimed, ''What a lesson ! Can a per- 
son of her noble birth, nursed in the lap of grandeur, 
live in such a house, so meanly furnished ? and shall 
I, a tradesman, be surrounded with luxury and ele- 
gance ? From this moment I shall hate my house, 
my furniture, and myself for spending so little for 
God, and so much in folly." 

" With an mcome of only twelve hundred pounds 
a year, spent in the service of G-od, what wonders 
was she able to perform," exclaims one of her friends. 
" She maintained the college at her own expense, 
she erected chapels in most parts of the kingdom, 
and she supported preachers who were sent to preach 
in various parts of the world. This was indeed con- 



280 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

secration to Grod. Go thou, therefore, who art say- 
ins:, ' What shall I render unto the Lord for all his 
benefits V and do likewise. Thou canst not evidence 
thy love to Grod or man by adding house to house 
and field to field, or by treasuring up thy riches be- 
hind the exchange. On the contrary, if God hath 
given thee wealth with a liberal hand, and thou hast 
no heart to expend it in his service, it will convince 
every being but thyself that thou hast no love to him, 
and that thy professions are not thy principles." 

In approaching her eighty-fourth year. Lady Hunt- 
ington felt that her work was nearly done ; the in- 
firmities of age came upon her, and the once robust 
and active frame, so alert to do the bidding of its 
spiritual tenant, began to ask for indulgence and to 
crave rest. Her business was carefully arranged, her 
extensive charities all provided for, responsible per- 
sons had been selected to carry out her plans, and 
though still diligent with the business of the evening, 
she looked forward with "strong immortal hope" to 
the dawn of that to-morrow whose glorious sun would 
have no setting. 

As she sits in her elbow-chair, and memory runs 
back over the long past, and through this brilliant 
period of the history of the church signalized by so 
many triumphs and trophies, is there no whisper of 
self-gratulation for the conspicuous part which she 
bore, the friend and helper of G-od's chosen ones, the 
leader and counsellor of many of his people ? 

"0, who would dare to produce the best works of 
his best days before Grod for their own sake?" she 



^' 



HARVEST-HOME. 2S1 

exclaims ; " sufficiently blessed and secure are we, 
if we can but cry, ' G-od be merciful unto me a sin- 
ner.' Let me be found 'accepted in the Beloved.'" 
" Drawing near to him," she said on another occa- 
sion, " what hope could I entertain, if I did not know 
the efficacy of his blood ? How little could any thing 
of mine give a moment's rest to the departing soul — 
so much sin and self mixing with the best, and always 
so short of what I owe." 

Coming from her chamber one morning, and tak- 
ing her place in the easy-chair, an unwonted light 
was spread over her countenance. " The Lord hath 
been present with my spirit this morning in a remark- 
able manner," she soon said; "what he means to 
convey to my mind I kno'w not ; it may be my ap- 
proaching departure : my soul is filled with glory — 
I am as in the element of heaven itself." 

Only a few days after this she ruptured a blood- 
vessel, from the effects of which she never recovered. 

" How do you feel ?" asked Lady Anne, who sat 
at the bedside of her friend. 

" I am well ; all is well, well for ever," was the 
triumphant answer of this aged believer. " I see, 
wherever I turn my eyes, whether I live or die, 
nothing but victory." What was there in the weak- 
ness and suffering of decaying nature to dictate a 
reply like this ? 

Her sickness commenced in November ; the silver 
cord was gently loosed, for she lingered through the 
winter until June. By the ministry of sickness she 
grew patient and childlike, and often said, " I am 



282 LADY HUNTINaTON. 

cradled in the arms of love and mercy ;" and again, 
when it seemed a great way to the better land, she 
''longed to be at home." "My work is done; I 
have nothing to do but to go to my Father ;" and a 
few hours before the last struggle she whispered joy- 
fully, " I shall go to my Father to-night ;" and so she 
went home, June 17, 1791. Her age was eighty- 
four. She was buried in the family tomb at Ashby- 
de-la-Zouch, and her name is with the Miriams, the 
Marys, and the Marthas of the church of Grod. 

Berridge, Romaine, and Yenuj all in the evening 
of their days, still lingered on the earthly scene. It 
was during this year that the rector of Yelling came 
to preach in London for the last time, and he says, 
''I took my final leave of 'Surrey chapel, addressing 
myself to a great multitude from Heb. 10 : 23 : 'Let 
us hold fast the profession of our faith without waver- 
ing; for He is faithful that promised.' My work is 
nearly ended." 

Soon after, accompanied by two of his children, 
he paid a visit to the venerable pastor of Everton, 
"dear brother Berridge, whose sight," he tells us, 
"is very dim, his ears can scarcely hear, and his 
faculties are fast decaying ; but in this ruin of the 
earthly tabernacle, it is refreshing," adds his Mend, 
"to see the joy in his countenance ajid the lively 
hope with which he looks for the day of his dissolu- 
tion. In his prayer with me and my children, we 
were much affected by his commending himself to 
the Lord as if quite alone, not being able to read, 
or hear, or do any thing ; ' but I have, Lord,' 



HARVEST-HOME. 283 

said he, ' thy presence and thy love ; that suf- 
ficeth.' " 

Mr. Berridge's large fortune seems to have been 
far spent towards the close of his life, for we find 
Romaine in London begging in his behalf for "the 
support of two preachers and their horses, for several 
local preachers, and the rent of some barns for them 
to preach in ;" so that he strove to keep his under- 
shepherds still in the field. Nor did he himself ever 
relinquish his work ; for we find him making his 
yearly visits to the metropolis while life lasted, and 
with tottering steps climbing up the pulpit stairs of 
the Tabernacle and Surrey chapel, revered for the 
sturdy godliness of his character, and pointed out to 
strangers for the quaint sayings and eccentric doings 
which had been noised about concernino: him through- 
out the kingdom. He was expected in London to 
preach, when tidings came of his death in 1793, aged 
seventy-six. 

Let us go to Blackfriars or St. Dunstan's and 
once more see Romaine, although there is said to be 
little left in his sermons but heaven, and the doc- 
trines which he so long preached as truths, he now 
finds in a deep and rich experience to be blessings 
indeed. He is a ohee ful, pleasant old man. Like a 
newly found diamond, he was once rough, very sharp, 
and of great point, but the discipline of many years 
has polished the hard exterior, and brought forth its 
hidden lustre ; his virtues shine with a softer and 
serener beauty. 

His summer and winter campaigns Romaine kept 



284 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

up, like a brave old soldier, to the last; during the 
winter remaining at his post in London, and in sum- 
mer visiting the towns and villages which were the 
scenes of his early conquests, and now rich with the 
trophies of his zeal and faithfulness. 

The last year of his life his strength gradually 
began to fail, and when people met and asked him 
how he was, his usual answer was, ''As well as I 
can be out of heaven ;" and at the close of a seven 
weeks' illness, the last words which lingered on his 
bloodless lips were, "Holy, holy, holy, blessed Jesus, 
to thee be endless praise !" He died in 1795, aged 
eighty-one. 

Yenn is now writing, " I am so infirm as not to 
be able to pray with my own family ; nevertheless, 
' He that loved me will love me to the end ;'" and 
then, with an ever-thoughtful tenderness for others, 
he says, " One thing only I desire without ceasing, 
that for the sake of the thousands to whom I have 
preached the unsearchable riches of Christ, I may in 
the hour of death look through an opened heaven to a 
crucified Saviour smiling upon a poor guilty soul." 

His wife died a year before him, and all his chil- 
dren having married except Kitty, who remained his 
nurse and devoted companion, he left the rectory of 
Yelling and came to Clapham, where his son was 
rector, and dwelt with him. It is said that the near 
prospect of dissolution so elated his mind that it 
proved a stimulus to life. On one occasion Mr. Yenn, 
observing some fatal symptoms, said, " Surely these 
are good." " Sir," answered the physician, " in this 



HARVEST-HOME. 285 

state of joyous excitement you cannot die." Nor 
will he die ; he yet liveth and speaketh, though he 
passed from the earthly scene in 1797, at the age of 
seventy- three, and entered upon those joys, blessed 
foretastes of which cheered, comforted, nay, in mo- 
ments often transported his soul, in its pilgrimage 
below. 

Standing as we are at the bed of death, in the 
glowing language of the lyric shall we not exclaim, 

'^ How glorious is the gift of faith, 
That cheers the darksome tomb, 
And through the damp and gloomy grave 
Can shed a rich perfume. 

" Triumphant faith ! it lifts the soul 
Above desponding fears ; 
Exults in hope of heaven her home, 
And longs to enter there." 

"Who is not ready to put up the heartfelt petition, 
" May my last days be like theirs ?" Are you as 
ready to flee from the wrath to come ; as ready to 
embrace the offers of mercy through a crucified Re- 
deemer ; as ready to lay hold on eternal life ? The 
triumphs of faith are for those who lead a believer's 
life. 

In her will, Lady Huntington devised her chap- 
els, houses, furniture, and all the residue of her 
estates and effects, to four trustees, Dr. Haweis and 
his wife. Lady Anne Erskine, and Mr. Lloyd, direct- 
ing them at their death to appoint successors ; and in 
a codicil requesting her children, the Countess of 
Moira and her husband being the only survivors, to 



286 LADY HUNTINGTON. 

approve and confirm the disposition wliioli had thus 
been made of her property. 

The lease of the college building at Trevecca 
having nearly expired, measures had been adopted 
before the countess' death to remove the institution 
somewhere nearer London ; for this purpose a build- 
ing and lands v^ere taken at Cheshunt, delightfully 
situated on New river, twelve miles from London. 
It was reopened on the 24th of August, 179.2, the 
anniversary of its establishment at Trevecca, and of 
the birthday of its distinguished founder and patron- 
ess. In anticipation of her death, and the consequent 
loss of income from that source, funds had been raised 
for its future support, and the interests of the college 
vested in the hands of seven trustees, in whom resides 
the right of admitting or rejecting students, and the 
appointment or dismissal of tutors. The students 
are boarded and educated for four years, entirely at 
the charge of the college ; and according to the liberal 
principles of the institution, every student is at lib- 
erty, at the close of the prescribed course of study, to 
serve in the ministry of the gospel in any of the 
churches of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rev. Isaac Nich- 
olson of the established church was appointed presi- 
dent. 

Dr. John Harris, whoso •' Grreat Teacher" has 
taught so many on this side of the Atlantic, is now 
theological professor at Cheshunt. 

When it was known what disposition Lady Hunt- 
ington had made of her property, the trustees agreed 
that as Lady Anne Erskine had long been familiar 



HAE-VEST-HOME. 287 

with the busmess transactions of the connection, she 
should be requested still to occupy the house at Spa- 
fields and carry on the necessary correspondence, and 
exercise a superintending control — advising with her 
colaborers, and rendering an account to them, when 
required, of the state of affairs. 

Lady Anne inherited much of the talent of the 
Erskine family. At the age of eight years she first 
felt the strivings of the Holy Spirit, and though her 
early life was passed amid the fashionable follies of 
her rank and day, an acquaintance with the Hills of 
Hawkstone revived her religious feelings, and led her 
to a serious consideration of eternal things. At Bath 
she met Lady Huntington, v/hose conversation and 
example instructed and confirmed her faith ; she 
turned from the pomps and vanities of the world, and 
made an unreserved dedication of herself to the ser- 
vice of her Lord. Congenial in their purposes and 
principles. Lady Anne was taken to the countess' 
heart, and invited to her home, where she found scope 
for that activity of mind which could not rest satis- 
fied without its appropriate work to do. 

" During the twelve years after her active life 
commenced," runs a brief account of her, " she was 
indefatigably employed in the work of Grod. Her 
correspondence was very extensive. Her room was 
hardly without visitors from morning till night, giv- 
ing an account of commissions fulfilled, or taking 
directions where to go and what to do. She im- 
proved every opportunity of conversing with the 
friends who visited her, especially the young. T> 



288 LADY HUNTINaiON, 



i 



deed, her whole time and thoughts seemed to bo 
engaged to fill up her place, feeling it her delight, 
as well as her duty, to discharge her trust, as she 
must answer to the great Shepherd and Bishop of 
souls." 

At Lady Huntington's death, her income was re- 
duced to a mere pittance ; but she knew in whom she 
trusted, and many a time was her faith encouraged 
by receiving supplies in ways most unexpected and 
for times of the greatest need. One day a lady, on 
leaving, put a letter on her table, which Lady Anne 
sent back, supposing it left through mistake. The 
lady begged her to keep it, and on opening it she 
found five notes of one hundred pounds each. "A 
fortune has been left me," said the lady, '' and I desire 
to honor the Lord with my substance and the first 
fruits of my increase. I give it to you to strengthen 
your hands in the cause of G-od." 

" I had not," said Lady Anne, ''a shilling in the 
house at the time. Application had been made to me 
to receive a chapel into the connection, which I was 
obliged to refuse ; but as soon as I received this mon- 
ey, I sent for the parties and gave it the required 
aid." 

Lady Anne survived her friend twelve years, and 
after some weeks of slight indisposition, was found 
one morning sleeping in Jesus. 

From an English standpoint shall we not take 
one backward glance over the stirring scenes just 
closing around us ? 



HARVEST-HOaiE. 289 

"Whether the chapels in Lady Huntington's con- 
nection are at this time few or many," says Isaac 
Taylor in his late admirable work on Methodism, "is 
a matter of no general moment to inquire ; for whether 
few or many, the connection has subsided into its 
place as one among the religious communities that 
hold orthodoxy and evangelic doctrine ; and probably 
it is efficient in a full proportion to its statistics. But 
with this we have here no concern. What does 
concern us, is the fact that much that has become 
characteristic of evangelic Christianity at the pres- 
ent time, had its origin in Lady Huntington's draw- 
ing-room, that is to say, in the circle of which she 
was the centre, and her house the gathering point. In 
a diffusive or undefined manner this religious style 
has pervaded all religious communions; but within 
the Episcopal church the transmission was more deter- 
minate, and more sharply outlined, and it may there 
be traced with more precision, and is pregnant with 
further consequences. 

"In fact, this religious transmission, which con- 
nects the venerated names of Yenn, Newton, Scott, 
Milner, and others in no very remote manner with 
the founders of Methodism, might seem too conspicuous 
to be called in question : nor does it very clearly ap- 
pear what those manly and Christian-like feelings are, 
which would prompt any parties to repudiate it. 

"It is the Episcopal church which has inherited 
the main part of the religious animation and refresh- 
ment which has come down from that band of or- 
dained ministers of which we are speaking. Besides 

Huntington. 1 3 



290 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

those already named, and who stand so nearly relat- 
ed to the present times, in ascending a few years 
we reach, without a break, that company of men, 
less regular in their ministrations, hut not less de- 
serving of affectionate regard, whose names can by 
no means be disconnected with Mithodism — names 
which, so long as the church retains her articles and 
homilies, it would be treason to disown. Let Fletcher 
lead the way, and let there come Hervey, G-rimshaw, 
Berridge, Romaine, Toplady, Walker, and Shirley. 

''It may be granted, that the rise of Methodism 
brings to view many instances of what may be called 
independent origination ; and it is true, that the minds 
of men who were unknown to each other, became 
about the same time similarly affected towards the 
first truths of the Christian system ; so that, when 
accident or sympathy had brought them into contact, 
they readily coalesced, and thenceforward thought it 
their duty and happiness to act in concert. So act- 
ing and so associating. Lady Huntington gathered 
them around herself; and she aided, and to some ex- 
tent, she directed their movements. 

"As with "Wesley, so with Lady Huntington, a 
formal separation from the established church was, in 
each act and instance, submitted to with extreme 
reluctance, and not until it was felt to be inevitable. 
When at length the irregularities of the awakened 
clergy could no longer be winked at by the church 
authorities, the greater number of them fall back in 
their places as parish ministers ; and this defection, 
while it gave rise necessarily to a new order of min- 



HARVEST-HOME. 291 

isters in the 'connection,' whose ordination placed 
them on a level only with the dissenting ministry, it 
took place at a time when no alternative was left to 
Lady Huntington's congregations, but to seek protec- 
tion under the Toleration act as dissenters. 

"Lady Huntington was always the object of a 
warm personal affection with those who were nearest 
to her. With them, it was always 'our dear Lady 
Huntington ;' and putting out of view formal eulo- 
gies, it is unquestionable, that if she governed her 
connection as having a right to rule it, her style and 
behavior, like "Wesley's, indicated the purest motives, 
and the most entire simplicity of purpose. This, in 
truth, may be said to be a common characteristic of 
the founders of Methodism : a devotedness to the ser- 
vice of the Saviour Christ, which none who saw or 
conversed with them could question. 

"The same praise and in the same degree is un- 
doubtedly the due of many of those who were the 
associates and colleagues of these principal persons. It 
is as bright a company that we have before us, as we 
find anywhere on the page of Christian history." 

One of the most interesting aspects of this great 
awakening, to us, is the family likeness which exists 
among the true children of Grod; and this is one of 
the old truths which sometimes break upon us with 
new favor and beauty, and which we indeed often 
need to be reminded of. In our company have been 
Dissenters, Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Meth- 
odists, Arminians, Calvinists, by various names are 



292 LADY HUNTINaiON. 

they known among men, yet all bearing the image of 
their common Lord, and possessing the characteris- 
tics which mark them a "peculiar people," the true 
''Israel of Grod." Here all that was subordinate and 
local was set aside, all inferior considerations were 
swallowed up in the one grand and absorbing object, 
to live in and to labor for their Redeemer and Lord, 
Jesus Christ. "I am the Lord's," was the animat- 
ing principle of their lives, not only lifting them above 
the ordinary discouragements and indulgences of life, 
but carrying them through labors and self-denial and 
opposition, in the pursuit of a spiritual and unseen 
good, with a steadfastness of purpose that never fal- 
tered, and a zeal that knew no abatement. And it 
not only endowed them with the spirit of conquest, 
it imbued them also with all the spirit of love, a true, 
hearty, cordial, self-forgetting love, for one another^ — a 
love which knew no sect, demanded no certificates, 
and was bounded by no state lines. By this, might 
it have been emphatically said, did all men recognize 
the Lord's disciples, in that they "loved one another." 
The old world and the new felt the fraternal tie, and 
"kissed each other." 

When shall the Lord's people again live this fresh 
and glorious life ? When shall the cloven tongues of 
another Pentecost speak the wonderful works of Grod ? 
Shall not our hearts' desire and prayer to Grod be for 
a new baptism of the Holy G-host ? 



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