Chapter IX
Earthquake in London--Mr. Romaine, his popularity--Lord Northampton--The King’s Coachman--Lady Huntingdon appoints Mr. Romaine her Chaplain--Ashby-place--Dr. Stonhouse--Dr. Akenside--New Jersey College--Governor Belcher--President Burr--Dissenting Ministers--Dr. Doddridge--Education of Ministers--Mrs. Hester Gibbon--Mr. Law--Mr. Whitefield--Success of his Ministry at Rotherham--Dr. Doddridge dedicates his Sermon to Lady Huntingdon--Lord Lyttleton--Mr. Hervey--Dr. Doddridge visits Ashby--Singular Accident--Lady Stonhouse--Colonel and Mr. Galatin--Dr. Cotton--Miss Hotham.
Events of a most disastrous and terrifying nature had at this time spread a general alarm, and awakened the most stolid in the metropolis to a sense of danger. The earthquake by which Lisbon was destroyed, the shocks felt in London, and the false alarm excited by pretended prophecies of still greater devastation, had filled many with terror, whom they could not bring to repentance. These signal judgments of Jehovah were preceded by great profligacy of manners, and its fruitful parent, licentiousness of principle. Iniquity stalked with brazen front through the streets; and error, in ten thousand forms, vented its unsoftened blasphemies against God and his Messiah.
“As to faith (says one who preached on that occasion), is not the doctrine of the Trinity and that of the Divinity of our Lord and Saviour--without which our redemption is absolutely void, and we are yet in our sins, lying under the intolerable burden of the wrath of God--blasphemed and ridiculed openly in conversation and in print? And as to righteousness of life, are not the people of this land dead in trespasses and sins? Idleness, drunkenness, luxury, extravagance, and debauchery--for these things cometh the wrath of God, and disordered nature proclaims the impending distress and perplexity of nations. And O may we of this nation never read a handwriting upon the wall of heaven, in illuminated capitals of the Almighty--MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN: God hath numbered the kingdom, and finished it. Thou art weighed in the balances of heaven, and found wanting the merits of a rejected Redeemer, and therefore the kingdom is divided and given away.”[66]
The shocks felt in London at this time were considerably more violent than any remembered for a great number of years: the earth moved westward, then east, then westward again, through all London and Westminster. It was a strong and jarring motion, attended with a rumbling noise like that of thunder. Many houses were much shaken, and some chimneys thrown down, but without any further hurt. Multitudes of every description fled from the city with astonishing precipitation, and others repaired to the fields and open places in the city. Tower-hill, Moorfields, and, above all, Hyde Park, were crowded with men, women, and children, who remained there a whole night under direful apprehensions. Places of worship were thronged with frightened sinners, especially the chapels of the Methodists, where multitudes came all night knocking at the doors and begging admittance for God’s sake. The convulsions of nature are always regarded by enthusiasts and fanatics as the sure harbingers of its final dissolution. A soldier “had a revelation” that a great part of London and Westminster would be destroyed by an earthquake on a certain night, between the hours of twelve and one o’clock. In consequence of his assertion thousands fled from the city for fear of being suddenly overwhelmed, and repaired to the fields, where they continued all night, in momentary expectation of beholding the prophecy fulfilled: whilst thousands ran about the streets in the most wild and frantic state of consternation, quite certain that the day of judgment was about to commence: the scene was truly awful. Fear filled the chapels of the Methodists with persons of every description. Mr. Charles Wesley, who was then in London, preached incessantly, and very many were awakened to a sense of their awful condition before God, and led to rest their hopes of eternal salvation on the Rock of Ages. Mr. Whitefield, animated with that burning charity which shone so conspicuously in him, ventured out at midnight to Hyde Park, where he proclaimed to the affrighted and astonished multitudes the most essential and important intelligence that ever assailed the ear of mortals--that there is a Saviour, Christ the Lord. The darkness of the night, and the awful horrors of an approaching earthquake, added much to the solemnity of the scene. The sermon was truly sublime, and to the ungodly sinner, the self-righteous pharisee, and the artful hypocrite, strikingly terrific. With a pathos that bespoke the fervour of his soul, and with a grand majestic voice that commanded attention, he took occasion from the circumstances of their assembling to call the attention of the surrounding thousands to that most important event, in which every soul will be essentially and particularly concerned--namely, the grand final consummation of all things, the universal wreck of nature, the dissolution of this lower world, and the confirming and fixing the eternal and unalterable state of every son and daughter of Adam. The awful manner in which he addressed the careless, Christless sinner, the sublimity of the discourse, and the appearance of the place, added to the gloom of the night, combined to impress the mind with seriousness, and to render the event solemn and memorable in the highest degree. Among those who failed not to improve these awful providences was Mr. Romaine, who then published his “Alarm to a Careless World,” and “The Duty of Watchfulness Enforced”--subjects treated so nobly, and with such awful views of our state and danger, that the two discourses remain, not merely the temporary warnings of the day, but equally applicable at the present time to the inhabitants of the great metropolis, where the sins that bring down God’s judgment, and the number of those who commit them, seem to have gone on in an increasing ratio, and the same punishment for which can be delayed or averted only by the piety and prayers of such men as Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Romaine.
We must brave abuse when speaking the truth, and fear not to lay open the nakedness of the land, because of the enmity which the fidelity of our narrative may excite. It may be a bold, but it is nevertheless a faithful assertion, that Mr. Romaine was, at the time of which we speak, almost, if not altogether, singular in the testimony he bore for Christ in the Church of England in this metropolis. The Methodists had indeed awakened great attention; they had at their commencement attracted immense auditories by their occasional discourses in the different churches to which they were invited; but as no one of them had any church settlement in the metropolis which could be considered as legally his own, the doors of the Church were soon closed against them, and they were driven into the fields, or into the chapels of their own erection, whither they whom their ministry had awakened fled for refuge, resolved to hear the Gospel wheresoever it should be preached, rather than be confined to mere morals and the husks of formality. They who have once tasted that the Lord is gracious must have the bread of life, and they will seek it even in Egypt.
Mr. Romaine, who had descended from the stilts of self-taught excellence, and the enticing words of man’s wisdom, to the plainness and simplicity of the doctrine of the cross, determined henceforth to know nothing else but Jesus Christ, and him crucified; and God immediately began to bless his testimony with the signs of conversion. He had been elected to St. Dunstan’s somewhat before his appointment to St. George’s, Hanover-square, and at both places the word of the Lord, preached in the light of love, was glorified. Mr. Romaine’s now eminent position drew attention--to his voice, his manner, and more especially to the subjects he treated, to the dissimilarity of all around him to what was observed in other churches. Although he still adhered to the written sermon, he delivered it with energy and pathos, and great and small bore testimony to the power with which he spake. The Gospel from his mouth appeared to them another Gospel from that which they had heard before. His fame spread--multitudes thronged around him; the church was crowded, the parishioners incommoded;[67] the merely formal among the clergy were tacitly reproved by his example, so opposite to theirs; a conspiracy was formed to remove him, and the rector, wrought upon by his enemies, was induced to dismiss him, on no other ground than that he had ceased not to preach and to teach the Gospel of Christ Jesus. Among the members of the congregation who continued stedfast to Mr. Romaine was Mr. John Sanderson, many years state coachman to George III. He exemplified in himself the life, the walk, and the triumph of faith so excellently described by the honoured instrument of his conversion. Of this individual, now occupying a place before Him who is no respecter of persons, a few recollections may be acceptable. He was brought up a coachman, and although, in his day, post-chaises were in little use, yet his road-work, such as driving the nobility down to Bath, &c., had already pointed him out for good conduct and recommended him to favour, when, being at Exeter, while Mr. Cennick was preaching in the streets, a new motive for the exercise of Christian energy was afforded him; the preacher, who had already been ill-treated by the mob, was expatiating on the blood of Christ, when a ruffian butcher, exclaiming “If you like blood, you shall soon have enough of it,” rushed from his shop with a pail nearly full of blood, which he would have cast on Mr. Cennick, had not Mr. Sanderson calmly met him, and, suddenly catching the pail, poured its contents over the man’s own head. This drew the attention of the mob from the preacher to Mr. Sanderson, who escaped with difficulty, and was obliged to leave the city early in the morning. From that moment to his death, which occurred on the 13th of August, 1799, in the 89th year of his age, he adorned the doctrine he professed by a conversation such as becometh godliness.
But the greatest good often results from the sufferings and persecutions of God’s people; as the blood of the martyrs has been always the seed of the Church. Lord Northampton, who had married Lady Huntingdon’s relative, the Baroness Ferrars, of Chartley, granddaughter and heir of Robert, first Earl Ferrars,[68] had mentioned Mr. Romaine with high commendation. He spoke of his doctrine with respect, and of his abilities with admiration. He was now turned out of St. George’s, Hanover-square, but, reluctant to part with many who were dear to him, and who wished still to profit by his labours, he met them at the house of a Mr. Butcher; for which pretended irregularity, being threatened with a prosecution in the most apostolic spiritual court, the excellent Lady Huntingdon, supposing she had a right to protect him from this fresh opposition, invited him to her house in Park-street, gave him her scarf, and, as her chaplain, he continued long to preach to the poor in her kitchen unmolested; as he did afterwards in her drawing-room, to numbers of the nobility who were invited by her Ladyship to hear the Gospel, and where, by his aid, with that of Mr. Whitefield, the seraphic Mr. Jones of St. Saviour’s, Mr. Wesley, and others, a weekly lecture was delivered to a very polite circle. The utility of these labours shortly after induced the Countess to erect or open a variety of chapels at Brighton, Oathall, Bath, and Bretby, in all which Mr. Romaine zealously laboured for her with singular benediction. But the relation of these faithful services, and the great success attending them, must be reserved for a fitter period of our history, with the observation, that God never fails to bring still greater good out of man’s enmity and opposition to his Gospel. “The wrath of man shall praise him.”
To return to the earthquake. During that awful visitation Lady Huntingdon continued at Ashby-place, much indisposed. In a letter to her Ladyship, Mr. Whitefield says:--
“God has been terribly shaking the metropolis. 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, honoured Madam, you have been brought to believe on the Lord Jesus, and have experienced the beginning of a real salvation in your heart. What a mercy is this! To be plucked as a brand out of the burning--to be one of those few mighty and noble that are called effectually by the grace of God; what consolation must this administer to your Ladyship under all afflictions! What can shake a soul whose hopes of happiness, in time and in eternity, are built upon the Rock of Ages? Winds may blow, rains may and will descend even upon persons of the most exalted stations; but they that trust in the Lord Jesus Christ never shall, never can, be totally confounded.”
In a letter to the Countess Delitz, sister to the excellent Lady Chesterfield, he likewise notices the awful occurrences in the metropolis:--
“The earthquake hath been an alarming providence. Happy they that have an interest in Christ, and are always ready! On him alone is my strength and safety founded. Did not this support and comfort your Ladyship under the awful alarm? Go on, then, honoured Madam, and, by a constant looking to Jesus, make continual advance in the divine life, which I believe hath been communicated to you from above. The more you see of His excellences, the more will all created things sicken and die in your view and taste. Wherever I am, your Ladyship and honoured sister, with the other honourable ladies, are continually remembered by me at the throne of grace. I hope all are determined with full purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord.”
Lady Huntingdon’s indisposition still continuing, Mr. Whitefield left London for Ashby, and on his way thither had an interview with Drs. Stonhouse and Doddridge, and Messrs. Hervey and Hartley.
“On the Tuesday (says Mr. Whitefield), I preached in the morning to Dr. Doddridge’s family, and in the afternoon to above two thousand in the field. Dr. Stonhouse, Mr. Hervey, &c., attended me, and walked with me afterwards along the street; so that I hope the physician will now turn his back on the world, and be content to follow a despised crucified Redeemer without reserve. I expounded at his house in the evening, and am hereafter to come to it as my own.”
Of this interview Mr. Hervey has preserved the following account:--
“I have seen lately that most excellent minister of the ever-blessed Jesus, Mr. Whitefield. I dined, supped, and spent the evening with him at Northampton, in company with Dr. Doddridge and two pious, ingenious clergymen of the Church of England,[69] both of them known to the learned world by their valuable writings. And, surely, I never spent a more delightful evening, or saw one that seemed to make nearer approaches to the felicity of heaven. A gentleman of great worth and rank in the town 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 the honey-comb, and were a well of life. Surely people do not know that amiable and exemplary man, or else, I cannot but think, instead of depreciating, they would applaud and love him. For my part, I never beheld so fair a copy of our Lord, such a living image of the Saviour, such exalted delight in God, such enlarged benevolence to man, such a steady faith in the Divine promises, and such a fervent zeal for the Divine glory; and all this without the least moroseness of humour or extravagances of behaviour, sweetened with the most engaging cheerfulness of temper, and regulated by all the sobriety of reason and wisdom of Scripture; insomuch, that I cannot forbear applying the wise man’s encomium of an illustrious woman to this eminent minister of the everlasting Gospel: ‘Many sons have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.’”
On Mr. Whitefield’s arrival at Ashby, he found the Countess very weak, but better than he expected. On this, as on a former visit to Ashby, some of the baser sort were stirred up to riot before her Ladyship’s door while Mr. Whitefield was preaching, and some persons in their way home narrowly escaped being murdered. A magistrate residing in the neighbourhood sent a message to Lady Huntingdon, in order to bring the offenders before him. In a letter to Mrs. Colonel Galatin, Mr. Whitefield says:--
“Good Lady Huntingdon hath been ill, but is recovering. There hath been an awakening at Ashby; but opposition begins to show itself in these parts by the instrumentality of a Dissenting minister.”
To another of his correspondents he writes thus:--
“For a few days I have been at good Lady Huntingdon’s, who, though weak in body, is always abounding in the work of the Lord. I preach daily at her Ladyship’s, and this week, God willing, I shall preach in two or three churches.”
After Mr. Whitefield left Ashby, in a letter to her Ladyship, he says:--
“I shall be glad to hear what becomes of the rioters. O that your Ladyship may live to see many of those Ashby stones become children to Abraham!” And again:--“Ungrateful Ashby! O that thou knewest the day of thy visitation! Surely your Ladyship may shake off the dust of your feet against them. This was the command which the meek and lowly Jesus gave to his apostles where the Gospel was not received; and he himself departed when the Gadarenes desired him to go from their coasts. This justifies your Ladyship in removing Mr. Baddelley. What avails throwing pearls before swine, who only turn again and rend you?”
In a subsequent letter he writes:--
“Ever-honoured Madam--The Lord, as yet, hath but begun to bless you; you shall, you shall, you will be made a great blessing indeed. If dear Mr. Hervey gets Ashby, that will be making you a blessing. I am glad that both he and Mr. Doddridge have been with your Ladyship. I would have all good ministers come and visit you; there are numbers would go scores of miles willingly for that purpose. Your Ladyship hath acted like yourself in forgiving the offenders; such offences come that Christ’s followers may give evidence of his blessed temper being wrought in their hearts. Your letter revived my heart, and gave me some fresh hopes for ungrateful Ashby.”
To his friend and correspondent, Lady Gertrude Hotham, Mr. Whitefield says:--
“Good Lady Huntingdon I left some time ago, weak in body, but strong in the grace which is in Jesus Christ. Thousands and thousands flocked to hear the word twice every day, and the power of God has attended it in a glorious manner. But the good people of Ashby were so kind as to mob round her Ladyship’s door whilst the Gospel was preaching. Alas! how great and irreconcilable is the enmity of the serpent! This is my comfort--the Seed of the woman shall at length be more than Conqueror over all. Her Ladyship will yet live, I trust, to declare the works of the Lord. Ashby is not worthy of so rich a pearl. The Countess and Lady Fanny were constantly remembered at Ashby at the holy table.”[70]
About the period that Dr. Stonhouse[71] and Dr. Akenside, author of the “Pleasures of Imagination,” came to reside at Northampton, the Rev. James Hervey had also removed to that part of the country, and his preaching began to be attended with signal success. Mr. Whitefield soon after paid a visit to Northampton, and was invited by Dr. Doddridge to preach in his pulpit. This gave violent offence, and exposed the Doctor to the censure and expostulations of many of his brethren in the ministry: but the Christian simplicity and gentle firmness with which Dr. Doddridge defended himself and two of his pupils, Mr. Darracott and Mr. Fawcett, from the unmerited and bigoted reproaches with which his moderate conduct towards the Methodists had been assailed, reflects the highest credit on his character. The wrath manifested towards him was unreasonable: for Mr. Whitefield’s visit at Northampton was rather to his old friend and brother Churchman, the ingenious author of the “Meditations.”
Dr. Johnson, in his “Lives of the Poets,” speaking of Akenside, observes--“Being now to live by his profession, he first commenced physician at Northampton, where Dr. Stonhouse then practised with such reputation and success, that a stranger was not likely to gain ground upon him.” Dr. Akenside was patronized by the Huntingdon family, and an Ode was addressed by him to the young Lord Hastings, afterwards Earl of Huntingdon. Encouraged by such patronage, he tried the contest with Dr. Stonhouse for a time; but his unnecessary zeal for what he called and thought liberty disgusted Lord Huntingdon: “A zeal (says Dr. Johnson) which sometimes disguises from the world, and not rarely from the mind which it possesses, an anxious desire of plundering wealth or degrading greatness, and of which the immediate tendency is innovation and anarchy--an impetuous eagerness to subvert and confound, with very little care what shall be established.” Though the son of a Presbyterian, and educated for the office of a Dissenting minister, yet he was entirely unsupported by the Dissenters at Northampton. He might have had the support and countenance of Dr. Doddridge, to whom he was known, but the intimacy which had subsisted for some time between him and Dr. Stonhouse, and the obligation which the town and country owed to the latter, as the founder of the infirmary, induced him to deny his support to Dr. Akenside, who, after losing the patronage of Lord Huntingdon, and deafening the place with clamours for liberty, removed to Hampstead, where he resided a short time, and then fixed himself in London, the proper place for a man of accomplishments like his.
Of Mr. Hervey, Mr. Whitefield says:--
“Your sentiments concerning Mr. Hervey’s book are very just. It has gone through six editions; the author of it is my old friend, a most heavenly-minded creature, one of the first of the Methodists, who is contented with a small cure, and gives all that he has to the poor. He is very weak, and waits daily for his dissolution. A neighbouring clergyman[72] near him preaches the Gospel; and a physician,[73] formerly a noted Deist, has lately espoused the interest of Jesus of Nazareth. We correspond with, though we cannot see one another: we shall, ere long, meet in heaven--
‘There pain, and sin, and sorrow cease, And all is calm, and joy, and peace.’”
Soon after Dr. Stonhouse, the converted infidel, had become the apostolic minister, we find Mr. Whitefield writing thus to Mr. Hervey:--
“For Christ’s sake, my dear Mr. Hervey, exhort Dr. Stonhouse, now he hath taken the gown, to play the man, and let the world see that, not worldly motives, but God’s glory and a love for souls, have sent him into the ministry. Though when I conversed with him he was exceedingly weak, yet, as I trust there is sincerity at the bottom, I hope he will turn out a flamer at last.”
The prevailing weakness of this good man was a dread of being considered a Methodist. Worldly hopes and worldly fears were a perpetual stumbling-block in his way. He had not yet learned to endure the cross, despising the shame.
“I earnestly wish (says the Countess) to see you more actively engaged in the cause of Christ, and in shedding abroad the savour of his most precious name. Go forth boldly--fear not the reproach of man--and preach the inestimable gift of God to impotent sinners. My poor intercessions are ever offered in your behalf, that you may be led forth to testify the righteousness of our Immanuel, freely imputed to guilty, hell-deserving man, for his complete justification and acceptance with the Judge of all; and I shall cease not to beseech the Father of mercies and Fountain of light that you may be anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power.”[74]
Mr. Whitefield’s interview with Dr. Stonhouse, on his way to Ashby, excited in his warm and generous heart the liveliest sensations of gratitude for the signal conversion which God had wrought. On his arrival at Lady Huntingdon’s he communicated what he had witnessed to her Ladyship, who rejoiced with him that the Doctor had been called without the camp to bear that reproach which all who will live godly in Christ Jesus, but especially those who preach him to a proud, self-righteous, gainsaying world, must ever expect to meet for their fidelity. Knowing some of the peculiarities of his character, Mr. Whitefield lost not a moment in communicating that advice which he conceived most needed for the confirming of the new convert.[75] A few days after his arrival at Lady Huntingdon’s he addressed the following letter to Dr. Stonhouse:--
“Ashby, May 11, 1750.
“My dear Doctor--I have thought of and prayed for you much since we parted at Northampton. Now, I believe, is the time in which the axe is to be laid at the very root of the tree. How wonderfully doth the Lord Jesus watch over you! How sweetly does he lead you out of temptation! O! follow his leadings, my dear friend, and let every, even the most beloved Isaac, be immediately sacrificed for God. Kindness is cruelty here. Had Abraham consulted either Sarah or his affections he never would have taken the knife to slay his son. God’s law is our rule, and God will have all the heart or none. Agags will plead, but they must be hewn in pieces. May the Lord strengthen, stablish, and settle you! Good Lady Huntingdon was much rejoiced to hear that you had been without the camp. May you quit yourself like a man, and in every respect behave like a good soldier of Jesus Christ! Her Ladyship is very weak, but I hope will yet be spared to do much good on earth. O, the happiness of giving up all for Christ, who hath given himself for us. The Lord be with you. I am yours to command,
“G. W.”
Lady Huntingdon was much interested at this time about an institution which seemed to promise much benefit to the cause of God, and the extension of his kingdom on the continent of America. From time to time her Ladyship had received letters from his Excellency Governor Belcher, relative to the Presbyterian College in the New Jerseys. The importance and extensive usefulness in this seminary to the spread of the Gospel in the New World had been often mentioned by Mr. Whitefield, who had been on the spot, and had conversed with many connected with it. Principally by the exertions of Governor Belcher, the College was now on a different footing from what it had hitherto been; and in the early part of this year two gentlemen, Mr. Allen and Colonel Williams, friends of the Governor, arrived in England, to negotiate all matters concerning the institution, and collect funds which would enable the president and trustees to enlarge the sphere of its operations. These gentlemen brought letters to Lady Huntingdon, from Governor Belcher and President Burr, which Mr. Whitefield presented to her on her arrival at Ashby. A statement of the intended plan and enlargement of the College was drawn up, and several of the Dissenting ministers in London promised their assistance. By the advice of Lady Huntingdon this statement was printed, together with a recommendation of the plan, subscribed by her Ladyship, Dr. Doddridge, Mr. Whitefield, and others. Being desirous of serving the interests of this rising institution, which had many worthy presidents, some of whose names are well known in the learned world, such as President Burr, Dr. Jonathan Edwards, Dr. Samuel Davies, Dr. Samuel Finley, Dr. Witherspoon, &c., her Ladyship was very active in collecting considerable sums amongst her friends and acquaintances, and corresponded with many persons of eminence in England and Scotland, to whom she communicated the mission of Mr. Allen and Colonel Williams. Mr. Whitefield, likewise, lost no opportunity of recommending the institution to the attention of those who, he thought, could effectually further the objects it had in view. He preached several sermons in its behalf; and in the course of a few months considerable sums were collected, which were immediately transmitted to America.
Mr. Whitefield, in a letter to the Rev. Mr. McCulloch, of Cambuslang, dated about a week after his arrival at Lady Huntingdon’s, says, “I have desired to write you a long letter for a considerable time, but was so hurried when at London that I could not be so explicit as the affair I wanted to write about necessarily required. It is concerning the Presbyterian College in the New Jerseys, the importance and extensive usefulness of which I suppose you have long since been apprized of. Mr. Allen, a friend of Governor Belcher’s, is come over with a commission to negotiate this matter: he hath brought with him a copy of a letter, which Mr. Pemberton sent to you some months past. This letter hath been shown to Dr. Doddridge and several of the London ministers, who all approve of the thing, and promise their assistance. Last week I preached at Northampton, and conversed with Dr. Doddridge concerning it. The scheme that was then judged most practicable was this:--‘That Mr. Pemberton’s letter should be printed, and a recommendation of the affair, subscribed by Dr. Doddridge and others, be annexed;--that a subscription and collections should be then set on foot in England, and afterwards that Mr. Allen should go to Scotland.’ I think it is an affair that requires despatch. Governor Belcher[76] is old, but a most hearty man for promoting God’s glory and the good of mankind. He looks upon the College as his own daughter, and will do all he can to endow her with proper privileges. The present President, Mr. Burr,[77] and most of the trustees, I am well acquainted with. They are friends to vital piety, and I trust this work of the Lord will prosper in their hands. The spreading of the Gospel in Maryland and Virginia in a great measure depends upon it, and therefore I wish them much success in the name of the Lord.”
Unhappily for the scheme of the New Jersey College, Mr. Allen, who came over on purpose to negotiate it, was smitten by the fatal infection which, during the summer of this year, was so prevalent at the Old Bailey,[78] and died about two months after his arrival in England. Colonel Williams returned to America, and Dr. Doddridge wrote largely to Mr. Pemberton, urging him to visit England the ensuing summer, and to bring over with him some of the converted Indians--a scheme which had been suggested by Lady Huntingdon, from an idea that it would be a convincing proof to the public of the good that had already been effected, and was likely to result more largely from the extended operations of the College. Thus matters remained till the visit of Messrs. Tennant and Davies to England in 1753.
It was about the same period that several meetings were held in London for the purpose of establishing an academy for the education of young men for the ministry amongst the Dissenters. In many congregations the life and power of religion was almost extinct, and others were wholly destitute of pastors; so much so, that when Mr. Whitefield was applied to for a minister to take charge of a church in America, he returned for answer:--
“I wish I could send you good news about your minister. But, alas! I despair of procuring one. I waited upon Dr. Gifford immediately after my arrival; he gave no hopes. The person that was fixed upon declined it. Several of the large congregations in London, besides many more in the country, are without pastors: they are obliged to make use of our preachers. O that the Lord of the harvest may thrust out more labourers into his harvest!”
Dr. Doddridge felt extremely anxious for the establishment of an institution that would furnish a succession of true Christian evangelical ministers to the churches. He circulated the printed prospectus which had been sent him by the Committee in London, and was very active in procuring funds, and recommending it to the Dissenting churches in his neighbourhood. From Lady Huntingdon, to whom he mentioned the scheme when at Ashby, he received a most liberal contribution, accompanied by her prayers and good wishes for its success. When her Ladyship’s donation was remitted to the Committee in London, the Rev. John Barker, an eminent Dissenting minister in the metropolis, says, “Lady Huntingdon’s generosity is noble and catholic.”[79]
Mr. Barker was morning preacher at Salter’s Hall, long esteemed one of the most celebrated places of worship among the Dissenters. For many years the congregation was large and respectable, and it was considerably increased during Mr. Barker’s ministration, by the attendance of great numbers of the awakened people in the metropolis, who were eager to profit by his preaching. Lady Huntingdon, Lady Chesterfield, Lord Dartmouth, and some others of the nobility, occasionally formed part of his auditory.
In the correspondence of Lady Huntingdon, Dr. Doddridge, and Mr. Barker, frequent allusion is made to the decline of vital godliness in many of the Dissenting churches. “In my opinion (says the Countess), coldness and indifference have much to do with the desertion so often and so justly complained of. Were the Gospel of our adorable Saviour preached in purity and with zeal, the places would be filled with hearers, and God would bless his own word to the conversion of souls. Witness the effects produced by those whom he hath sent forth of late to proclaim his salvation. What numbers have been converted to God, and what multitudes attend to hear the word wherever it is proclaimed in the light and the love of it.”
In his “Free Thoughts on the most probable means of serving the Dissenting Interest,” and in his letter to his numerous correspondents, Dr. Doddridge expresses his firm persuasion that the preaching of evangelical doctrines in a plain, spiritual, experimental, and affectionate way, is the only thing which can preserve a congregation from decay, and revive it when it is decayed. So much did the existence of Dissenters, in his view, depend on this one thing, that he expresses his sentiments in the following terms:--
“I cannot but believe, if the Established clergy and the Dissenting ministers in general were mutually to exchange their strain of preaching and their manner of living but for one year, it would be the ruin of our cause, even though there should be no alteration in the constitution and discipline of the Church of England. However you might fare at London, or in some very singular cases elsewhere, I can hardly imagine that there would be Dissenters enough left in some considerable counties to fill one of our largest meeting-places.”
On the character of its ministers the prosperity of the Church will at all times greatly depend. That they should first be men of talents and piety is devoutly to be desired. Education succeeds to prepare them for this peculiar service. Could a greater blessing be wished for the human race, than that it might be regarded as an universal maxim, “that no man should receive an education for the pastoral office who had not first been made a partaker of a divine nature, and know the grace of God in truth?” Could a man write Latin with the elegance of a Cicero, or Greek with the sublimity of a Plato--could he compose poetry like Virgil, and vie as a mathematician with Euclid or Sir Isaac Newton, how little would they all conduce to make him a good minister of Jesus Christ; for they all lie at the remotest distance from the knowledge of a Saviour, and the doctrine which is according to godliness. The most illiterate man that ever entered a pulpit, if he understands the method of salvation, is versed in the Scriptures, and can tell one unvarnished tale of Him who died upon the cross to save the chief of sinners, though he cannot utter a single sentence without a breach of the rules of grammar, is infinitely better qualified for the pastoral office, and will do unspeakably more service in promoting the salvation of immortal souls.
The awful departure from the “faith once delivered to the saints” in many of the old Dissenting congregations, and the great want of evangelical ministers and students to supply the place of those who were daily dropping into another world, became the objects of Lady Huntingdon’s particular solicitude. She had contributed nobly to the evangelical seminary to be established by the Dissenting ministers in London, and now turned her attention to the academy at Northampton, under the management of Dr. Doddridge, whom she and some of her friends enabled to increase his establishment by the addition of two tutors, and six boys to be instructed in grammatical learning:--
“The want of ministers and students is so seen and felt (says the Doctor), and the necessity of the scheme for educating lads not yet ripe for academical studies is grown so apparent, that between three and four score pounds per annum have been, by well-disposed persons, without any pressing solicitations from me, subscribed for that purpose. And I have now in that view the six following--Mr. Bennett, a serious lad, lately arrived, and who is subsisted by an exhibition of ten guineas yearly from Lady Huntingdon; Messrs. Howe, Brooks, Robotham, Cole, and Smith, three of whom come from a distance: and I hope they will many of them prove a seed to serve the Lord, who shall be accounted to him for a generation. The number of pupils and lads altogether is now thirty-six.”[80]
Mr. Whitefield appears to have continued at Ashby about a fortnight, actively engaged in preaching whenever he could obtain a pulpit:--
“Your kind letter (says he to Dr. Doddridge) found me happy at our good Lady Huntingdon’s, whose path shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. Gladly shall I call upon you again at Northampton, if the Lord spares my life; and in the meanwhile shall not fail to pray that the work of our common Lord may more and more prosper in your hands. I thank you a thousand times for your kindness to the chief of sinners, and assure you, reverend Sir, that the affection is reciprocal. Good Lady Huntingdon greatly esteems you. I go with regret from her Ladyship, who intends writing to you this evening: do come and see her soon. I shall not be unmindful of your sick student.[81] May the Lord Jesus sanctify all pain, and through his sufferings make him perfect.”
Leaving Ashby, Mr. Whitefield proceeded to Nottingham, and on his way thither preached at Milburn and Radcliff. At the latter place, where he was attended by great crowds, he preached on these words: “But one thing is needful.” After sermon he conversed with Mrs. Hester Gibbon, Mrs. Hutcheson, and a sister of the celebrated mystic, Mr. Law. The divine power accompanied the word, “and many (says Mr. Whitefield) were deeply impressed. Mr. Law’s sister seems to be under awakenings.”
About ten years previous to this period, Mrs. Hester Gibbon, aunt to the eloquent but infidel historian of the “Decline and Fall,” and Mrs. Hutcheson, widow of Archibald Hutcheson, Esq., of the Middle Temple, having formed the plan of retiring from the world to the exercise of charitable and religious duties, took the well-known author of “The Serious Call to a Devout Life” as their chaplain, instructor, and almoner, and came to reside at King’s Cliffe, in Northamptonshire, having previously lived for a short time at Thrapston, in the same county. With these singular and benevolent characters Lady Huntingdon soon became acquainted, and occasionally corresponded with Mrs. Gibbon and Mr. Law. They were frequently visited by Mr. Hartley, who was an extravagant admirer of the mystic writers, and in the latter years of his life an enthusiastic follower of the Baron Swedenborg. The severe indisposition under which Lady Huntingdon so long and resignedly laboured appears to have excited considerable alarm in the minds of Mrs. Gibbon and her amiable associates, and Mr. Hartley was deputed bearer of the following letter to her Ladyship:--
“King’s Cliffe, May 29, 1750.
“My dear Madam--Your excellent physician, and our worthy and respected friend, Dr. Stonhouse, about a month since, was so kind as to inform us of your Ladyship’s illness, and the alarming state of debility to which you were reduced. At our particular wish, Mr. Law requested good Mr. Hartley to visit Ashby, and report to us the result of his observations; but the duties of his parish prevented his leaving home at that time, and we were not able to learn any tidings of your Ladyship till the other day, when we were delighted with the sight of your valuable chaplain, Mr. Whitefield. O, my dear Madam, how have we prayed and wrestled with the great Author of life and light for the preservation of your invaluable existence! Precious above estimation is the prolongation of such a life as yours. We mourned, we wept, we prayed, and each returning day your case was presented on our family altar. Thanks, eternal thanks to Him, with whom are the issues of life and death, for your restoration and subsequent amendment. My dear Mrs. Hutcheson has not been quite well for some time, and good Mr. Law’s advanced stage of life precludes our leaving our beloved retreat, or we should do ourselves the gratification of personally congratulating you on your recovery. Present our united thanks and good wishes to Lady Anne Hastings for her kind remembrance of us. We hope, now that your Ladyship is so much better, she will pay us her long-promised visit. Best compliments to Lady Frances and all your amiable circle, in which good Mr. Law most cordially unites.
“I remain, my dear Madam, very sincerely, and with Christian affection, your faithful friend,
“HESTER GIBBON.”[82]
At Nottingham, Mr. Whitefield was attended by great multitudes, who thronged every avenue to the place appointed for his preaching. “Several came to me (says he) enquiring what they should do to be saved? I preached four times. One evening Lord Essex and several gentlemen were present, and behaved with great decency.” After leaving Nottingham, Mr. Whitefield proceeded to Mansfield, Rotherham, and Sheffield, in which places he preached several times with great and remarkable success.
“After leaving Mansfield (writes Mr. Whitefield), I went to Rotherham, where Satan rallied his forces again. However, I preached twice on the Friday evening and Saturday morning. The crier was employed to give notice of a bear-baiting: your Ladyship may guess who was the bear. About seven in the morning the drum was heard, and several watermen attended it with great staves. The constable was struck, and two of the mobbers were apprehended, but rescued afterwards. But all this does not come up to the kind usage of the people of Ashby. I preached on these words: ‘Fear not, little flock.’ They were both fed and feasted; and after a short stay I left Rotherham, when I knew it was to become more pacific.”
With this species of brutal opposition, the propagation of malicious falsehoods was encouraged, with a design to counteract the good effects of his labours. Mr. Thorpe, afterwards pastor of the Independent Church at Masborough, near Rotherham, ranged under the standard of his most virulent opposers; and not content with personal insult, added private ridicule to public interruption. Public houses became theatres where the fate of religious opinions was to be determined.[83] But a mighty change awaited Mr. Thorpe, the heart of the scoffer became changed, and the people whom, in the days of his blindness and thraldom to Satan, he so frequently reviled, became the object of his delight. He sought their company with avidity, and soon after became a member of Mr. Ingham’s connexion, which at this period had spread over a great part of Yorkshire and some of the neighbouring counties. His habitual seriousness and uniform morality soon endeared him to his new connexions, and the specimen he gave of his talents, in his occasional exercises in private, flattered their hopes that he would soon be called forth to public notice. In these expectations they were not disappointed, for he was quickly sent forth by Mr. Ingham to “preach the faith which he once laboured to destroy.” He afterwards preached for a short time in Mr. Wesley’s connexion; but his ideas becoming more enlarged in the doctrines of grace, he was eventually chosen pastor of the Independent Church at Masborough, where he exercised the ministerial function thirteen years. On the 8th of November, 1776, and the 46th year of his age, he gently resigned his breath without a struggle, and doubtless went triumphantly to the perfect worship and happiness of heaven! He left a son, the Rev. William Thorpe, for many years one of the stated supplies at the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapel, London, and minister of Castle-green meeting, in Bristol.
It was about this time that Dr. Doddridge, who had long known and highly estimated the talents and virtues of Lady Huntingdon, preached at a meeting of ministers at Creaton, in Northamptonshire, and afterwards published a sermon, the title of which is, “Christian Candour and Unanimity stated, illustrated, and urged.” This is an admirable discourse, and exhibits a fine transcript of the author’s own mind, which was fully attuned to the virtue he recommended. It was addressed to Lady Huntingdon,[84] and strongly displays his admiration of her excellent character.
Not long after the publication of this sermon, Lady Huntingdon wrote to Dr. Doddridge. Her letter speaks of his friendship and candour, and towards the close mentions Mr., afterwards the well known and excellent Lord Lyttleton, with whom her Ladyship became acquainted about this time. The letter is dated Ashby-place, June 6, 1750:--
“My most excellent Friend--I know no one who, without intending it, seems more calculated to betray me into a spirit of partiality than yourself: for as your friendship and great kindness to me bind me by obligation, so your piety and abilities obtain both my love and highest estimation; and were I to judge by you of all that think with you, I should have more to say for my partiality than has fallen to the share of any particular denomination; and yet, by looking a little farther, I find to distinguish is my best privilege, as it ever will be one of yours to be the most eminently distinguished; and thus my preference honours and admires in you only what it would rejoice to see in all; but this is reserved for heaven, and a few pledges of it are given us to show how worthy it will be to all eternity of our friendship.
“Your candour is such a blessedness about you, that I fear it will make you too soon fit for heaven, and leave no mourning followers of your example. It is what my whole soul aspires after--it is my reigning object, as well as subject of delight; yet how do the fetters of prejudice, weakness, and ignorance, contend with me; and still hope assures me, that feeling these so strong will but occasion my bolder springs for liberty; and while my chains thus oppress me, my longing heart pants for the deliverance, and sighs after the happy prospect of breathing love upon the whole creation. I live satisfied for this to be despised, mistaken, and reproached; rejected by all, yet rejecting none; from the unwearied labours of my life and love hoping all things, and, in conformity to heaven’s best gift to man, the Son of God, ready to yield up those prison garments of flesh and blood a humble offering to testify it. For such a paradise in man it was that Jesus Christ paid the penalty--for this blessed reality he died. O, this high price! Happy am I, though but a redeemed slave, and following my mighty Conqueror in the bonds of guilt, fear, and shame; the multitude does not make him forget me, though so far behind them all; and on his pardon, the captive’s liberty has reached my rebellious heart, he will yet delight to listen.
“Thus does divine compassion show me the extremes of love in him, and by it best discovers the depths of misery in myself, and that nothing but a sad insensibility to the one can exclude me from the other. That watchful care follows every unguarded thought, and with those eyes which are as flames of fire pursues all our enemies and drives them out before us, so will he prepare the habitation of his creatures for himself, till, from the charity of their souls, he can rejoice in them; it is through this transparency alone we can behold him, for ‘blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God;’ and, indeed, when we reflect upon the price of our ransom, we can join in the reasonableness of the Apostle’s argument, and expect unboundedly from such liberality--‘He who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?’ and yet by man a guilty heart is thought too much to offer him! Oh! had he not the love of God, even earth could not bear us, heaven could not receive us, and then our miserable but just portion in eternal banishment would be to enjoy only our own horrid natures--all we could have left, and hell enough. I can say, for one, mine would be so were I left to it, and that, my worthy friend, I find myself a miserable being, existing in time out of eternity; but that only in order to become, by an infinite redemption from evil, a glorious, happy, and immortal creature, by an acquaintance and resemblance of nature with the God and Lord of all heaven and earth; and I do now, in part, by actual possession, rejoice in the hope of that glory with God for evermore. These truths want no metaphors: that well of living water is ever springing up, and will eternally abound with further displays of these infallible truths; and thus a Christian can never have cause to despair, or ask any one if the promises in the Bible belong to him;--he has got them, they are wrote with the Spirit of the living God within him, and each hour serves but to make the characters more legible. Of this divine knowledge my soul now breathes with the force and ardour of anticipated glory in hallelujahs with those blessed spirits who are permitted to rejoice for us, though not with us; they are strangers to the joys of redemption; and oh! they must long to have come from Abraham’s loins, since the humility of Jesus took upon him his nature; and who, being thus lowly, makes them the blessed beings they are. Alas! what a lesson of humility have they come from; rather, how must they see their glory in this respect to be nothing, by reason of that which so far excelled in the Son of God: they gaze and admire, but these depths exceed the capacities of their natures. But how or where am I looking myself? Even in a mystery the angels are not worthy to look into. Forgive the eager adoration and high sensibility of the love of Jesus Christ which carries my transported heart to forget what I am, from the view of what his love is resolved to make me, and from my great poverty: do not wonder that this exaltation seems too much for me; it is literally taking the beggar out of the dust and seating him for a moment with the princes of his people.
“But I must now beg you to return my kindest respects to Mr. Lyttleton. I honour his sentiments of universal love to all good men; may the choicest of all blessings rest upon him! I own I should be glad to hear he was out of those trammels his vast parts and knowledge may make him liable to continue in long; his heart none ever doubted of being truly upright; but under such his great temporal advantages, these humble condescensions of becoming simple and quite unknown before God as a little child, perhaps his whole life has been calculated to destroy; books, men, friends, earthly pursuits, with the wise man’s ambitious heart, all serve but to hold that humility cheap which is to exalt God above all these; and till He is depended upon for all, as the ignorance and helplessness of a little child makes his parent the object of all its hopes and fears, there is no help for man that can yield him a rational joy or a secure hour upon earth. I suspect you have spoken of me to him with that partiality of the friend I have felt you to be: this is owing to your knowing me little, as well as the goodness of your heart, that it makes you hope all things.
“Assure Mrs. Doddridge it is I must sustain the disappointment, by not having the pleasure of seeing her. How am I bound to your prayers! It is these have again lifted me from the gates of death. Do thank and bless for me the kindness of those charitable souls who so entreated for me; may heaven, with every pure joy upon earth, be their reward.
“I am, my most excellent friend, with the truest respect and most affectionate regard, your companion in the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
“S. HUNTINGDON.”
Before Mr. Whitefield left Ashby, Lady Huntingdon wrote to Mr. Hervey, requesting him to pay her a visit as soon as convenient. Mr. Hervey obeyed the summons, and arrived at Ashby a few days before Mr. Whitefield set out on his tour. Mr. Baddelley had been some weeks in London, and during his absence Mr. Graves and Mr. Simpson alternately supplied his place as domestic chaplain to the Countess and the Ladies Hastings. Mr. Baddelley had been usefully and actively engaged during his stay in the metropolis, preaching wherever he could obtain a pulpit:--
“I am glad (says Mr. Whitefield) you have sounded the silver trumpet in London; crescit eundo must be your motto and mine. There is nothing like keeping the wheels oiled by action. The more we do, the more we may do; every act strengthens the habit: and the best preparation for preaching on Sundays, is to preach every day in the week. I am glad you have peace at Ashby. What a fool is Satan, always to overshoot his mark! I hope that Mr. Graves, as well as Mr. Simpson, will hold on. They will be glorious monuments of free grace indeed. I am like-minded with you in respect to the Doctor’s comment; he is indeed a glorious writer! May the Lord Jesus strengthen him to finish the work! My dear Mr. Baddelley, what blessed opportunities do you enjoy for meditation, study, and prayer! Now is your time to get rich in grace, to search into the depths of divine love, and the mystery of iniquity hid in your own heart. Such an example, and such advantages, no one in England is favoured with but yourself. I do not envy you; but I pray the Redeemer, from my inmost soul, to sanctify your situation, and give you to increase with all the increase of God.”
In the month of June, Dr. Doddridge arrived at Ashby, but his stay was of short duration, the duties of his congregation obliging him to return to Northampton, having but lately returned from London, Norwich, and other places, where he had been preaching with great acceptance and success. He remained one Lord’s-day at her Ladyship’s, on which day Mr. Baddelley read the service of the Church of England, and the Doctor preached to a numerous congregation. In the evening Dr. Doddridge exchanged places with her Ladyship’s chaplain, reading the Liturgy, and Mr. Baddelley preaching. Speaking of this circumstance, Lady Huntingdon remarks:--
“His is a true Catholic spirit, that wishes well to the cause of Christ in every denomination. I would that all the Dissenting ministers I hear of were like-minded; less attached to all the punctilios of order, system, regularity, &c., and more determined to publish the glorious Gospel of the ever-blessed Immanuel, in season and out of season, wherever men were assembled to hear, whether in a church, a meeting-house, a field, or a barn;--less desirous to convince men of the errors in the discipline of those churches who hold the great doctrines of the Reformation, and more anxiously solicitous to gather souls to Christ, the true Shiloh. This should be the one great object of those who are called to the high and honourable office of ambassadors of Christ--all others are unimportant when compared with this.”
Of this visit to Ashby, the providential escape of his MSS. from destruction, and some singular circumstances which preceded it, the Doctor has preserved the following very interesting account, contained, in a letter to his pupil, the Rev. Benjamin Fawcett, of Kidderminster:--
“Northampton, June 26, 1750.
“Lady Huntingdon, for whom I desired your prayers, 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 God in 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 expense, till he be fit to come into my academy on an exhibition; and this is but one of a multitude of good works she is continually performing. I must tell you, however, one observation of hers, 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 our best works are, and how deficient we are in them; and the experience of that sweetness which attends their performance makes me more sensible of those obligations to Him whose grace is the principle of them in our hearts.’ She has God 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 for my blessed journey to her, for such indeed it was, yesterday was seven-night, a terrible accident happened in 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 motion of the air, as I arose in haste, it was re-kindled. It burnt about a quarter of an hour, while we were at prayer, and would have gone on to consume, perhaps, the closet and the house, had not my opposite neighbour seen the flame, and given an alarm. When I came up, I found my desk, which was covered with papers, burning like an altar; many letters, papers of memoranda, and schemes for sermons, were consumed. My book of accounts was on fire, and the names at the top almost burnt through, a volume of the ‘Family Expositor,’ the original MSS. from Corinthians to Ephesians, surrounded with flames, and drenched in melted wax; the fire had kindled up around it, and burnt off some leaves and the corners of the other books, so that there is not one leaf entire: and yet so did God moderate the rage of this element, and determine in his Providence the time of our entrance, that not one account is rendered uncertain by what it suffered, nor is one line which had not been transcribed destroyed in the MS. I have to add that all my vouchers for Miss Ekins’[85] money, all my sermons and MSS. intended for the press, and, among the rest, the remainder of the ‘Family Expositor,’ were all in such danger, that the fire, in another quarter of an hour, had probably consumed them. Observe, my dear friend, the hand of God, and magnify the Lord with me.”
We find in the memoranda of remarkable incidents in the life of Dr. Doddridge--a narrative of what he considered the special dealings of Providence with regard to himself and some persons of his acquaintance--these allusions to our subject:--
“The mercies of my journey (says he) I would solemnly acknowledge; the wonderful preservation of my study from fire, and the great goodness of God in sparing the dear and excellent Lady Huntingdon, my interview with her, and the preservation and growing friendship of her Ladyship.”
Leaving Rotherham, Mr. Whitefield proceeded to Sheffield and Leeds, where he was attended by vast multitudes; and from thence to Aberford, on a visit to Mr. and Lady Margaret Ingham. At Sheffield the people received the word gladly, and a great alteration was discernible in their looks and behaviour since he had been there before. Mr. Grimshaw and Mr. Ingham joined Mr. Whitefield at Leeds, and the crowds that assembled from every side exceeded anything they had ever seen before in that part of Yorkshire. “Last night (says he), I preached to many, many thousands, and this morning 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 God’s people. Our Pentecost is to be kept at Mr. Grimshaw’s: I have seen him and Mr. Ingham.” For these occasional itinerant visits Mr. Whitefield’s talents were admirably adapted. His manner, his voice, his action, and, above all, his solemnity and fervour, commanded and riveted the attention beyond anything that modern times have exhibited. When he was at Haworth, the Lord’s Supper was frequently administered, not only to the stated communicants, but to hundreds from other quarters, who resorted thither on those solemn occasions, esteeming them, in a peculiar sense, as “days of the Son of Man;” such, in many respects, as had never been witnessed since the first promulgation of Christianity, when the Spirit was, in so eminent a degree, “poured out from on high.” “Pen (says Mr. Whitefield, in a letter to Mr. Hervey) cannot well describe what glorious scenes have opened in Yorkshire. Perhaps, since I saw you at Ashby, seventy or eighty thousand have attended the word preached in divers places. At Haworth, on Whit-Sunday, the church was thrice filled with communicants. It was a precious season.”
Accompanied by Mr. Grimshaw and Mr. Ingham, Mr. Whitefield visited Manchester, where they found Colonel and Mrs. Galatin, who received them with the greatest cordiality. “All was quiet (he writes to Lady Huntingdon) at Manchester, and I humbly hope the Redeemer will gather to himself a people there. Kind Colonel Galatin and his lady will acquaint your Ladyship with particulars. I hope he will prove a good soldier of Jesus Christ. I advised him to send your Ladyship word of their coming to Ashby, that they might be directed the best road from Derby.” Through different parts of Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, Mr. Whitefield was accompanied by Mr. Ingham and Mr. Milner; Mr. Grimshaw having returned to Haworth. Everywhere he preached in Mr. Ingham’s chapels, and, as usual, was attended by large and attentive congregations. At Kendal, and Ulverston, and Whitehaven, where Lady Huntingdon afterwards had chapels, he was followed by immense multitudes, who thronged around him, eager to hear all the words of this life. From Kendal we find him writing thus to Mr. Hervey:--“I guess this will find you returned from good Lady Huntingdon, with whom, undoubtedly, you have taken sweet counsel, and been mightily refreshed in talking about the things which belong to the kingdom of God. This leaves me at Kendal, where I arrived this morning, and where, God willing, I shall preach the everlasting Gospel this evening.” Soon after his arrival he was joined by Mr. Batty, a very popular preacher in Mr. Ingham’s connexion. Mr. Whitefield preached on the brow of a hill, which overlooks the town, to many thousands of hearers. That night, some evil-disposed persons got into the barn and stable where his travelling carriage and horses were locked up: the leathers were all destroyed, and the carriage otherwise much abused; they also cut off the long tails of a pair of black horses that he had had a long time, and greatly esteemed. Nevertheless, he rejoiced at the success attending his labours. “Still (he observes, in a letter to Lady Huntingdon), the Lord of all lords vouchsafes to prosper the Gospel plough. Such an entrance hath been made into Kendal as could not have been expected. I preached twice to several thousands last week, and the people were so importunate that I was prevailed on to return hither again last night; the congregation was greatly increased, and the power of the Lord was displayed in the midst of them.”
After preaching some weeks in Scotland, Mr. Whitefield returned to London, where, besides his usual labours at the Tabernacle, he frequently assisted Mr. Wesley at West-street Chapel. “Mr. Wesley (says he) breakfasted and prayed with me this morning; and Mr. Hervey was so kind as to come up and be with me in my house. He is a dear man, and I trust will yet be spared to write much for the Redeemer’s glory. I have prevailed on him to sit for his picture, and it will be published in a short time.” Mr. Hervey’s health was so delicate, that Dr. Stonhouse advised change of air, and Mr. Whitefield invited him to the Tabernacle-house, in London. On his way thither he paid a visit to Dr. Cotton, an eminent physician and poet, who resided at St. Alban’s, where he kept an asylum for lunatics, in the treatment of whom he was remarkably skilful. By means of Dr. Stonhouse he was introduced to the notice of Lady Huntingdon, who had a great esteem for him, and occasionally corresponded with him. When the Doctor published his “Visions,” he sent a copy to her Ladyship, who, in her letter acknowledging the receipt of the present, made some strong animadversions on the defects of the poem:--
“I am glad (says her Ladyship) that my good friend was not offended at my late well-meant admonition and reproof. We must be faithful to each other, or else how can we expect to meet with joy at the great tribunal? I trust he will yet be enabled to see by faith the Lord’s Christ. Blessed be God, in him all fulness dwells, of merit and righteousness, of grace and salvation, and this for the vilest of the vile, for whoever will. O, then, my friend,
“If haply still thy mental shade Dark as the midnight gloom be made, On the sure faithful arm Divine, Firm let thy fast’ning trust recline. The gentlest sire, the best of friends, To thee nor loss nor harm intends; Though toss’d on a tempestuous main, No wreck thy vessel shall sustain. Should there remain of rescuing grace No glimpse, no footsteps left to trace, Hear the Lord’s voice; ’tis Jesus’ will-- ‘Believe (thou poor dark pilgrim) still.’
“Thus much (continues the Countess) I have written to my worthy friend at St. Alban’s, and I trust God will bless my poor unworthy services to his eternal good. I long to see his fine genius consecrated to the best of causes--the glory of our incarnate God, and the salvation of souls redeemed by his most precious blood.”
To his pious and ingenious friend, the author of “Meditations,” Dr. Cotton also sent a copy of his “Visions.” In a letter to Dr. Stonhouse, also a poet and a critic, Mr. Hervey makes some excellent observations on the merits and defects of the Doctor’s work:--
“Please (says he) to make my best thanks to Dr. Cotton for his very delicate ‘Visions.’ I think they may do good, and promote virtue; then, I am persuaded, they will answer the benevolent intention of the author. I wish, at the same, that he would be a little explicit and courageous for Jesus Christ. He deserves it at our hands, who, for our sake, endured the cross and despised the shame: he will recompense it unto our bosom, by owning us before his Father and the holy angels. Nor can I ever think that the spread of our performances will be obstructed by pleasing Him who has all hearts and all events in his sovereign hand. A vision upon death, without a display of Christ, seems to me like a body without a heart, or a heart without animal spirits. I am sure, when I was lately (as myself and every one apprehended) on the brink of eternity, I found no consolation but in Christ. Then I felt, what I had so often read, that there is no other name given under heaven whereby man may obtain life and salvation, but only the name, the precious and inestimable name of Jesus Christ. O, that its savour may be to us, both living and dying, as ointment poured out. Shall I beg you to tell Dr. Cotton, that his beautiful ‘Visions’ were, by Dodsley, the bookseller, put into the hands of a very pious and ingenious friend of mine (Mr. Moses Browne), who proposes an alteration in a line, where he would read Jesus, instead of virtue.
“‘At that important hour of need, Jesus shall prove a friend indeed.’
“But I am not of his opinion, unless an uniform vein of evangelical doctrine had run through the whole. This, I must confess, I could have been glad to have seen in so elegant a poem where Spenser’s fancy and Prior’s ease are united. And I hope, if the Doctor should ever write any more poetry, he will take this important hint into his consideration. Indeed, he ought; for even in his ‘Vision on Death’ he has not paid the least regard to Christ the Redeemer, the Conqueror of death.”
During Mr. Hervey’s residence in London, Dr. Cotton visited the metropolis, and it was Lady Huntingdon’s wish that that good man should avail himself of the Doctor’s medical skill, and at the same time drop such hints as might, by the blessing of God, be made useful to him. “If I am tolerably well (says Mr. Hervey), I will wait upon Dr. Cotton on Tuesday morning. He has a delicate genius, and I dare say he is an excellent physician. O that his fine parts may be grafted into the true olive-tree, and bring forth fruit unto God. If Providence permits us to meet, I hope to have some evangelical discourse with him.”
Some time after, Lady Huntingdon sent Dr. Cotton a present of Marshall’s “Gospel Mystery of Sanctification,” a work that has long had the seal of high approbation from many judicious ministers and Christians. It had been recommended to her Ladyship’s notice by Mr. Cudworth, a preacher in Mr. Whitefield’s connexion, who sometimes visited Mr. Hervey, and occasionally preached at Ashby and other places in the neighbourhood. But Dr. Cotton thought the doctrine contained in Marshall’s[86] book inconsistent with Scripture and repugnant to reason. This produced a little controversy, in which Mr. Hervey ably defended his favourite author. On this subject he uses a little pleasantry with his friend Dr. Stonhouse, who became the medium of communication in this affair:--
“Tell our ingenious friend at St. Alban’s, if I did not give a direct answer to his question, it was because he stated it improperly. His manner was like making a raw apothecary’s apprentice the proper judge of a doctor’s bill. If such a chap should take upon himself to say, ‘Doctor, your language is unintelligible, your recipes are injudicious,’ what answer would you make? Some such answer must be made to Dr. Cotton, if he maintain, or would intimate, that the ‘Mystery of Sanctification,’ as delineated by Marshall, is unintelligible and injudicious, merely because he does not immediately discern its propriety.
“‘This (says Dr. Cotton) is my firm faith--that if we do well, we shall be accepted through the merits of Christ.’ I might ask the Doctor whether he does well? Dare he avow this, even before me, his fellow-worm and fellow-sinner? How, then, will he maintain the pretension before that infinitely pure God, in whose sight the very heavens are unclean? But I choose to ask him (what may seem less offensive), has he never read of ‘the righteousness of faith?’ of being ‘made righteous by one man’s obedience?’ of ‘righteousness imputed without works?’ Now I should be glad to learn what the Holy Spirit means by these expressions? And if our worthy friend pleases to show how his faith can be made conformable to any one of these texts, I will undertake to demonstrate the conformity of my faith to them all. Ah! why should we hug a despicable rag, and reject a suit of beautiful apparel? May the Lord Jesus enable us all to discern the things that are excellent.”
Prevailed on by the repeated importunity of Lady Huntingdon and Mr. Whitefield, Mr. Hervey came to London by easy stages, in order to try whether change of air might be of any service to his decayed constitution; his worthy physician, Dr. Stonhouse, having declared that nothing which he could prescribe was likely to administer relief. One of the winters he stayed in London he lodged at the house of his good friend, Mr. Whitefield, adjoining the Tabernacle, in Moorfields. “I took up my abode (says he), not at my brother’s after the flesh, but with the brother of my heart.” By means of Lady Huntingdon he soon became acquainted with many pious and excellent characters in London, particularly Lady Gertrude Hotham, Lady Chesterfield, the Countess Delitz, and Lady Fanny Shirley, at whose house he occasionally expounded to very polite and attentive auditories. With the latter he maintained a very intimate correspondence for several years, which was published after her death by her executors. It was to Lady Fanny that he dedicated his celebrated work, “Theron and Aspasio,” which she was the means of introducing to the notice of Royalty, “I should never have been known to such grand personages (says he), if you had not condescended to introduce me. My name had never been heard by a royal ear, if it had not received some credit by your Ladyship’s notice.” His “Observations on Lord Bolingbroke’s work ‘On the Use and Study of History,’” were likewise addressed to her Ladyship.
Mr. Hervey had also frequent interviews with Miss Hotham, and on one occasion administered the sacrament at Lady Gertrude’s before Mr. Whitefield’s return from Portsmouth. Of his last interview he has preserved a short notice in his letter to Lady Huntingdon:--
“I had the pleasure of perusing your Ladyship’s letter to Mr. Whitefield, and return my grateful acknowledgments for your condescension in enquiring after me. My kind patroness, Lady Chesterfield, and many honourable persons whose names I trust are written in the Book of Life, are very desirous for your Ladyship’s return to the great city. I have lately expounded, and administered the ordinance, at good Lady Gertrude Hotham’s. Her daughter is ripening fast for glory. I had but little conversation with her, for she is too weak to endure much fatigue. When speaking of God’s stupendous love, in giving his only Son for our salvation, and of our interest in the all-sufficient propitiation of his death, I quoted these portions of Scripture:--‘He came into the world to save sinners--He poured out his soul for transgressors.’ ‘Yes (said Miss Hotham, who had been listening with singular attention), He died, the just for the unjust--he suffered death upon the cross, that we might reign with him in glory.’ On a subsequent visit I found her much altered for the worse, as respected her bodily health. Mr. Whitefield had been to see her the preceding day, and has since gone to erect the joyful standard at Portsmouth. Blessed be God, she enjoyed much peace and tranquillity of mind, and a firm persuasion that God was her reconciled Father, and the blessed Redeemer her all-sufficient portion. I expect to hear every day of her abundant entrance into the joy of her Lord. Good Lady Gertrude, and all her noble relatives and friends, are wonderfully supported in this trying affair. May the inestimably precious Jesus refresh and uphold them with the choicest cordials of his glorious Gospel! and may his name be very precious to them!”
As often as his health permitted, he attended the ministry of Mr. Whitefield and his faithful associates, at the Tabernacle; he says of him:--
“On Sunday he preached with his usual fervour, and administered the sacrament to a great number of very serious communicants. He delights in the work of the ministry, and embraces every opportunity of preaching the everlasting Gospel. He is, indeed, in labours more abundant. What a pattern of zeal and ministerial fidelity is our excellent friend! and God rewards him with joy unspeakable. God also fulfils to him, in a remarkable manner, his gracious promise, ‘Them that honour me, I will honour.’ This day he was most respectfully entertained at the houses of two noblemen. What a most exalted satisfaction must he enjoy in attending these great personages--not to cringe for favour, but to lay upon them an everlasting obligation--not to ask their interest at court, but to be the minister of their reconciliation to the King of kings.”
Again:--
“Yesterday our indefatigable friend renewed his labour of love. He preached to a crowded audience, and yet multitudes went away for want of room. In the midst of this audience was a clergyman in his canonical dress--a stranger; his name I could not learn. He behaved with exemplary seriousness, and expressed much satisfaction.”
While in the metropolis he was visited by Dr. Gill, Dr. Gifford, and other ministers of eminence, both in the Established Church and amongst the Dissenters, and declares it was his own fault if he reaped not much advantage by their conversation. With Mr. Cennick, Mr. Cudworth, and other devoted men who laboured at that period in the Tabernacle connexion, he formed a very intimate friendship. There, also, for the first time, he heard Mr. Romaine, to whom he was introduced at Lady Huntingdon’s particular request. To Lady Fanny Shirley he gives an account of Mr. Romaine’s style and manner of preaching, and wishes much success to him in explaining the Gospel to his thronged auditors. Mr. Romaine often visited him at the Tabernacle-house, and occasionally accompanied him to hear Mr. Whitefield. On one occasion Mr. Wesley and Mr. Romaine breakfasted with Mr. Whitefield. Besides Mr. Hervey, there were present Dr. Gifford, Dr. Gill, Mr. Cudworth, and Mr. Cennick. Mr. Romaine led the doctrinal part of the service, and Dr. Gill addressed a short exhortation to his brethren in the ministry. At other seasons these excellent men often met at the residence of the Countess Delitz, Lady Gertrude Hotham, and Lady Fanny Shirley, where they proclaimed the truth of the Gospel to polite and fashionable auditors, and were enriched with spoils--spoils won from the kingdoms of darkness, and consecrated to the Captain of our salvation.
Chapter X
Mr. Whitefield at Ashby--Mr. Moses Browne--Mr. Martin Madan--Lady Frances Hastings--Dr. Stonhouse--Mr. Hartley--Death of the Prince of Wales--Anecdote--Lady Charlotte Edwin--Dr. Ayscough--Lord Lyttleton--Death of Sir George Lyttleton--Death of Lord Bolingbroke--Dr. Trapp--Dr. Church--Anecdotes--Lady Luxborough--Mr. Mallet--Mr. Pope.
Early in the month of October, Lady Huntingdon had the pleasure of another visit from Mr. Whitefield, who had been again ranging about, as he expresses it, to see who would believe the Gospel report. “I am now (says he) at Lady Huntingdon’s house, with four other clergymen, who I believe love and preach Christ in sincerity.” Whilst he remained at Ashby-place the sacrament was administered every morning by some of the clergymen who were with her Ladyship; and in the evening Mr. Whitefield preached.
“It was a time of refreshing from the presence of our God (writes her Ladyship to Lady Fanny Shirley): several of our little circle have been wonderfully filled with the love of God, and have had joy unspeakable and full of glory. Lady Frances is rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. It is impossible to conceive a more real happiness than she enjoys. Dear Mr. Whitefield’s sermons and exhortations were close, searching, experimental, awful, and awakening. Surely God was with him--he appeared to speak of spiritual and divine things as awful realities. Many of us could witness to the truth of what he uttered, by finding that which our hearts discovered and read to us. His discourses in the neighbouring churches were attended with power from on high, and the kingdom of darkness trembled before the Gospel of Christ.”
Mr. Whitefield, in a letter to the Countess Delitz, says:--
“Good Lady Huntingdon goes on acting the part of a mother in Israel more and more. For a day or two she has had five clergymen under her roof, which makes her Ladyship look like a good archbishop, with his chaplains around him. Her house is a Bethel: to us in the ministry it looks like a college. We have the sacrament every morning, heavenly conversation all day, and preach at night. This is to live at Court indeed! Last night I had the pleasure of seeing a little flock that seemed to be awakened by the grace of God; so that out of ungrateful Ashby I trust there will be raised up many children unto Abraham. Your Ladyship and the other elect ladies are never forgotten by us. I would write to good Lady Fanny, but I hear she is out of town.”
To Lady Gertrude Hotham he writes:--
“Ashby, October 11, 1750.
“Honoured Madam--It is with great pleasure that I have heard from good Lady Huntingdon of your Ladyship’s being so supported under your late bereavement [Lady Gertrude had just lost her daughter], and of the good impressions made on surviving relatives by it. Thus the Redeemer delights to magnify his strength in his people’s weakness, and causes the death of one to be the life, as it were, the resurrection of another. O what amazing mysteries will be unfolded when each link in the golden chain of Providence and grace shall be seen and scanned by beatified spirits in the kingdom of heaven. There all will appear symmetry and harmony; and even the most intricate, and seemingly most contrary dispensations, will be evidenced to be the result of infinite and consummate wisdom, power, and love. Above all, there the believer will see the infinite depths of that mystery of godliness, ‘God manifest in the flesh,’ and join with that blessed choir who, with a restless unweariness, are ever singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. May your Ladyship live to see all your surviving children taught and born of God! I must not enlarge--neither have I room to acquaint your Ladyship how that mirror of piety, good Lady Huntingdon, adorns the gospel of her Lord in all things. I wrote some particulars of our situation to the good Countess.”
Lady Huntingdon used all her interest in endeavouring to extend the knowledge of the doctrine of her crucified Lord; and she appears to have been actively engaged about this time in procuring ordination for Mr. Moses Browne, and the living of Ashby for Mr. Hervey, who was then officiating as curate to his father, in the charge of Collingtree; but upon his demise, in 1752, Mr. Hervey succeeded to the living of Weston Favell. From what cause Lady Huntingdon did not succeed in placing Mr. Hervey at Ashby it is difficult, at this distance of time, to ascertain, as no further mention is made of the affair in the correspondence or papers of her Ladyship or Mr. Whitefield.
Mr. Moses Browne, afterwards well known as Vicar of Olney, and Chaplain of Morden College, Blackheath, was at this time very desirous of procuring ordination, but many obstacles opposed his wishes. He had never been at either of the Universities; he had a large family, and his circumstances were very contracted. He had, among his other talents, a taste for poetry, and some of his early productions are remarkably easy and elegant. On the institution of the Gentleman’s Magazine, about the year 1730, he became a constant contributor to it, and obtained some of the prizes offered by Mr. Cave for the best poems.[87]
By the kindness of Dr. Watts, Mr. Browne was introduced to the notice of Lady Huntingdon and Lady Hertford, at whose house he met most of the poets and eminent literary characters of that time. During a severe illness, which threatened his life, he was penetrated with a deep sense of the divine reality and importance of religion; but his rage for dancing and theatrical amusements frequently obliterated for a season those sacred impressions. Whilst in this state he was providentially led to attend the preaching of the first Methodists, under whose powerful and awakening preaching he began to view the things which concerned his salvation in a clearer light; and from that time his sentiments and conduct appeared to have undergone a complete revolution.
Just at this period, the Rev. Martin Madan, who was originally bred to the study of the law, changed, by the advice of his friends, Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Jones of St. Saviour’s, Mr. Romaine, and others, the abstruse practice of the bar for the elocution of the pulpit. Mr. Madan, founder and first chaplain of the Lock Hospital, near Hyde Park-corner, afterwards so celebrated for his writings and as a popular preacher in the chapels of Lady Huntingdon, was the eldest son of Colonel Madan, of the Guards, by his wife Judith, daughter of Judge Cowper, the brother of the Lord Chancellor. Like many others, his conversion arose from circumstances apparently trivial. The preaching of the first Methodists had excited universal attention, and roused many from the torpor of indifference. Mr. Madan, being in company one evening with some of his gay companions at a coffee-house, was requested by them to go and hear Mr. Wesley, who, they were told, was to preach in the neighbourhood; and then to return and exhibit his manner and discourse for their entertainment. He went with that intention, and just as he entered the place, Mr. Wesley named as his text, “Prepare to meet thy God!” with a solemnity of accent which struck him, and which inspired a seriousness that increased as the good man proceeded in exhorting his hearers to repentance. He returned to the coffee-room, and was asked by his acquaintance “if he had taken off the old Methodist?” To which he answered, “No, gentlemen, but he has taken me off.” From that time he withdrew from their company altogether, and in future associated with persons of a different stamp. His first friend and intimate in the religious world was Lady Huntingdon, who had been well acquainted with his mother-in-law, Lady Hale, relict of Sir Bernard Hale, Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland, the friend and contemporary of her Ladyship’s grandfather, Sir Richard Levinge, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Lady Huntingdon’s cousin, Sir Edward Dering, Bart., grandson of Lady Anne Shirley, afterwards married a niece of Mr. Madan’s, daughter of William Hale, Esq., of King’s Walden, and sister to Mrs. Stillingfleet, of West Bromwich.
Possessing a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures in the original languages, and having embraced those evangelical views of Gospel truth, of which he afterwards was so zealous a defender, Mr. Madan was desirous of diffusing amongst his fellow-men the savour of that name which he loved. Master of an independent fortune, he entered the ministry without any mercenary views: and though his brother, Dr. Spencer Madan, was successively Bishop of Bristol and Peterborough, he never accepted any benefice or emolument in the Church. In consequence of his religious sentiments, and the open avowal he made of the faith once delivered to the saints, he experienced some difficulty in obtaining orders; but through the perseverance and interest of Lady Huntingdon and some others, he was at length successful. Alluding to this circumstance, Mr. Whitefield says:--
“I am glad Mr. Madan is ordained, and hope Mr. Browne will be the next. By the Bishop’s letter to him, I find your Ladyship has acted in the affair like yourself. Your Ladyship shall have a copy of it, and you will then see how matters go on. Mr. Browne is much for embarking in Christ’s cause, and if the Duchess would but help him at this juncture he might be a useful and happy man. Both he and Mr. Hervey have the most grateful sense of your Ladyship’s great kindness. The latter, I believe, intends to winter with me in London. If possible, I will prevail on Mr. Hartley to come and pay him a visit.”
Soon after his ordination, Mr. Madan was called to preach his first sermon in the church of All-hallows, Lombard-street. The lawyer turning divine was novel: curiosity prevailed among the million of the metropolis. The manly eloquence of the preacher drew general attention and excited applause. The poor heard the Gospel with gladness, and the rich were not sent empty away. Many were filled with wonder. The croaking cry of prejudice was silenced--her raven voice sunk amidst the loud acclaims of the friends of religion, who heard the doctrines of the Reformation nobly defended by an able advocate, whose knowledge was equal to his zeal. Like Boanerges, a son of Thunder, he proclaimed the law from the flaming mountain; and from the summit of Zion’s hill he appeared a Barnabas, a son of consolation. Mr. Madan was rather tall in stature, and of a robust constitution: his countenance was majestic, open, and engaging, and his looks commanding veneration: his delivery is said to have been peculiarly graceful. He preached without notes; his voice was musical, well-modulated, full and powerful; his language plain, nervous, pleasing, and memorable; and his arguments strong, bold, rational, and conclusive: his doctrines were drawn from the sacred fountain: he was mighty in the Scriptures--a workman that needed not be ashamed of his labours, rightly dividing the word of truth.
The success attending her Ladyship’s applications in behalf of Mr. Madan induced her to redouble her efforts to serve Mr. Browne:--
“I have had a polite refusal (says Lady Huntingdon) from the Bishop of Winchester,[88] but have hopes that my letter to his Lordship of Worcester will prove more favourable. The testimonials, signed by Hervey, Hartley, and Baddelley, all beneficed clergymen, men of known integrity and reputation, remain in the Bishop’s hands. My dear Lady Chesterfield has been very kind, and takes a great interest in Mr. Browne’s case. The Countess Delitz has sent me ten guineas for him. I have written to Lady Fanny, and hope her application to the Duchess will be successful.[89] My Lord Bath has promised me his support, and I doubt not but he will be generous likewise. Let the cry of every heart be addressed to Him who has all hearts at his disposal, and will do whatsoever seemeth him good in this as in every other case. Our business is to spread it before him in prayer; the result will be according to his most righteous will.”
All these efforts were vain--
“Poor Mr. Browne (says Mr. Whitefield, in a letter to Lady Fanny Shirley) is much obliged to you for speaking in his behalf. He happened to be with me when your letter came. The reception your Ladyship’s kind motion met with convinces me more and more that ‘Be ye warmed and be ye filled,’ without giving anything to be warmed or filled with, is the farthest that most professors go. Words are cheap, and cost nothing; and, therefore, many can say ‘they pity,’ and that extremely too, when at the same time their practice shows it is only a verbal, and not a real compassion.”
At length, however, through the interest of the Hon. Welbore Ellis,[90] Lady Huntingdon succeeded in obtaining ordination for Mr. Browne, who soon after commenced his ministry as curate to Mr. Hervey, at Collingtree. That inconceivably amiable, humble man had frequently urged him to enter the ministry; and in one of his letters to him says:--
“As to your entering into holy orders, I have no manner of doubt; by all means do it. It is what I have been praying for these several years; it is what all the disciples of Christ are directed to implore at the Lord’s hands, that he would send many such labourers into his vineyard. As God has inclined your heart to the work--as he has given you so clear a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, and stirred you up to be zealous for the interests of a bleeding Saviour--I assure you, if the king would make me a bishop, one of the first acts of my episcopal office should be to ordain the author of ‘Sunday Thoughts.’ I hope the Lord will guide you by his Spirit, and commission you to feed his flock, and make you a chosen instrument of bringing many sinners to Christ--many sons to glory.”
Immediately on coming to Collingtree, Mr. Browne was invited to Ashby-place, and some of his first and most effective discourses were delivered amongst the people there. When Lady Huntingdon removed to London, he occasionally visited the metropolis, and at her Ladyship’s house united with that great apostle of the Lord, Mr. Whitefield, in preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ to the polite and fashionable. He likewise assisted Mr. Madan at the Lock, and Mr. Jones at St. Saviour’s; and the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls bore testimony to the word of his servant, and gave him many seals to his ministry.
Early in the month of December, Lady Huntingdon was again alarmingly indisposed. Mr. Whitefield also was dangerously ill at the same time in London. Dr. Doddridge appears to have been extremely apprehensive as to her Ladyship’s state of health, and in a letter to his correspondent, the Rev. Mr. Wood, of Norwich, dated December 4th, says--“Dear Lady Huntingdon is in a very declining way. Pray devoutly for her important life.” On the 22nd of the same month he again mentions her Ladyship--“I am printing the funeral sermon for my excellent friend at St. Alban’s.[91] Lady Huntingdon continues very ill. I fear we shall soon lose her too. But the Lord liveth, and blessed be our rock.” At the close of a letter from Mr. Hervey to the Rev. Moses Browne, dated December 22, he enquires--“What account can you give of Lady Huntingdon’s health? Never, never will the physician’s skill be employed for the lengthening a more valuable life. May Almighty goodness bless those prescriptions, and command her constitution and our zeal to flourish.”
The beginning of the year 1715, Lady Huntingdon’s health declined so rapidly that Mr. Whitefield was sent for express. “I rode post to Ashby (says he), not knowing whether I should see good Lady Huntingdon alive. Blessed be God, she is somewhat better, and I trust will not yet 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.” Lady Selina was slowly recovering from a fever, and Lady Frances had died suddenly a few hours before Mr. Whitefield reached Ashby. She was a retired character, lived silently, and was removed to that
----“land of pure delight, Where saints immortal dwell,”
without a sigh or a struggle. Her Ladyship was born at Donnington Park, January 8, 1694, and died unmarried, January 23, 1751.[92] Her humility, meekness, sincerity, and heavenly-mindedness were conspicuous in all her deportment, and rendered her much esteemed and respected by all who had the happiness of her acquaintance. In her intercourse with society,[93] she was a pattern to all, manifesting an uniform piety, a deadness to the world, and a conversation that in all things adorned the doctrine of our Saviour. She was universally lamented by the poor in the neighbourhood, of whom a multitude attended her funeral. Before the body was removed, Mr. Whitefield gave a solemn exhortation; and after her Ladyship’s remains were interred amongst those of her ancestors, he addressed an attentive and weeping multitude, preaching from the words, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.”
The following letter from Mr. Whitefield to Lady Mary Hamilton contains some interesting particulars of the death of Lady Frances:--
“Honoured Madam--Last Monday evening, through the goodness of our ever-blessed Redeemer, I got safe to Ashby, where I found good Lady Huntingdon very sick, though I trust not unto death. All advise her Ladyship to take a journey to Bristol, for the benefit of the waters, which her Ladyship seems determined to do. The death of Lady Frances has not affected her so as to hurt her. She 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. Her death was a translation indeed! Her Ladyship died without a groan. She seemed, as it were, to smile at death; and may be said, I trust truly, to fall asleep in Jesus. Ere long, she and all that sleep in Jesus shall come with him. Almost all have been ill in their turns. Lady Selina has had a fever, but is better. Lady Betty is more affected than ever I saw her. Lady Anne bears up pretty well; but Miss Wheeler is inconsolable. It is a house of mourning: that is better than a house of feasting. The corpse is to be interred on Friday evening. May all that follow it look and learn! I mean, learn to live and learn to die. This is a lesson which you and yours, honoured Madam, I trust, are learning every day. We had need be careful to get our lesson perfect, since we know not when the Son of Man will come, whether at evening, cock-crowing, or in the morning. To be ready at that hour is all in all. Good Lady Huntingdon sends her sincerest compliments. If anything extraordinary happens before my return, your Ladyship shall hear again from, honoured Madam, your Ladyship’s most dutiful, obliged, and ready servant for Christ’s sake,
“G. W.”
Mrs. Whitefield’s illness obliging her husband to return to London, he wrote to Dr. Stonhouse the day before his departure, urging him to use his influence with Mr. Hartley to come without delay to Ashby; but he being then unable to leave his parish, Dr. Stonhouse went to Ashby, where he remained till her Ladyship was sufficiently recovered to remove to Bristol Hot Wells, whither she went in the beginning of March. This was an important circumstance for the Doctor, who seemed halting between two opinions, notwithstanding the searching letters and eloquently urgent remonstrances of Mr. Whitefield. Lady Huntingdon says, in a letter written just before leaving Ashby:--
“The dear and excellent Dr. Doddridge and Dr. Stonhouse have been to see me. I long to see the latter embark more boldly in the cause of Christ, but he has an unaccountable dread of the opinion of the world, and is fearful of being called a Methodist. We spoke most faithfully and solemnly to him; he appeared affected, and shed tears. He and Dr. Doddridge have preached alternately every evening, and have occasionally assisted in the administration of the sacrament. How holy, how humble, is that excellent man! and what divine words fell from his lips at the last sacramental feast! How close and searching were his addresses! I think I was scarce ever so happy before. I trust my journey to Bristol will be for good! O that my health and strength may be wholly employed for that blessed Redeemer who has done such great things for me!”
Mr. Whitefield left Ashby the first week in February, and towards the close of the month received a letter from Lady Huntingdon, with an account of the continued improvement in her health, which rejoiced the benevolent heart of that great and good man.
Early in the month of March, Lady Huntingdon and family left Ashby for Bristol. A few days after her arrival she was agreeably surprised by a visit from Mr. Whitefield, who had been preaching at Gloucester and Tewkesbury, with his accustomed zeal and success. Intending to proceed towards the south, he wrote to Mr. Hervey to supply his place:--
“This comes (says he) with a summons from good Lady Huntingdon for you to appear in Bristol and abide for a month or two at my brother’s house; you must not refuse. The God who has carried that elect Lady through such bad roads from Ashby hither will take care of you, and I am persuaded you will not repent your journey. Her Ladyship made the motion to me, and intends writing herself. Blessed be God, she is much better, and I trust will do well. She will have nobody to give her the sacrament unless you come.”
But Mr. Hervey’s precarious state of health would not permit his accepting her Ladyship’s kind invitation. He was in London, and under the roof of his valued friend, at the Tabernacle-house.
“This (says Mr. Whitefield) I count a great honour, and such a privilege, that I wish to have the favour conferred on me as long as I live. These my hands, could they work, or was there occasion for it, should readily minister to your necessities.”
Disappointed of Mr. Hervey’s assistance, Mr. Whitefield wrote to Mr. Hartley on the 30th of March, enclosing a letter from Lady Huntingdon, requesting him to visit Bristol without delay:
“I am persuaded (says he) you were surprised to find our elect Lady gone from Ashby, and I was as much surprised to see her Ladyship at Bristol; I hope her journey was of God. The waters agree with her wonderfully already, and I trust she will be restored to perfect health. As dear Mr. Hervey cannot be prevailed upon to come down, if it would any way suit you to be with her Ladyship a month, it would much refresh her, and I believe be very agreeable to you. Some pulpits would be open for you, and who knows but you might catch some great fish in the Gospel net? But I need not enforce this, since her Ladyship hath written to you herself. May the blessed Redeemer direct your going in his way!”
After a short visit to Plymouth, Exeter, and other places in Devonshire and Somersetshire, Mr. Whitefield returned to Bristol, where he found Mr. Daniel Rowlands, who had arrived a few days before, on a visit to Lady Huntingdon. These apostolic labourers preached frequently at this time in the open air, to vast multitudes, who heard them with apparently deep and serious attention:--
“It is delightful (says her Ladyship) to see such multitudes flocking to hear the word. Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Rowlands are greatly owned and honoured of the Lord in the conversion of notorious profligates and self-righteous formalists. Very many have been compelled to lay down the arms of rebellion, and submit to the all-conquering sword of the Spirit. Mr. Hartley hath preached several times in the churches with great acceptance. I trust my journey hither was of the Lord, and that some great good will yet appear the result of it. I often find Luther’s words applicable to myself--He was never employed about any fresh work, but he was either visited with a fit of sickness or violent temptation.”
About this time the Duchess of Somerset, being extremely anxious to learn the state of her Ladyship’s health, wrote both to Ashby and Bristol, but not receiving any reply, her Grace wrote thus to Dr. Doddridge on the 14th of April:--
“I have wrote twice to Lady Huntingdon since I have had a letter from her; but a gentleman, who came from Bristol last week, told me that she was there; but not having the happiness to be acquainted with her, he could give me no account of her health, which I most earnestly pray may be restored by the use of those waters.”
Mr. Hervey also, when writing to Lady Frances Shirley, in the month of June, says:--
“I have not had the favour of a line from Lady Huntingdon for some months. When I was at London, to see Mrs. Whitefield, on her return from Bristol, she told me that the good Countess’s health was very much restored by the waters: that she was (to use her own expression) charmingly well. I hope this amendment continues, and wish it may be perpetuated.”
The unexpected death of the Prince of Wales at this time was an alarming stroke to the nation:--
“I suppose (says Mr. Whitefield) the death of our Prince has affected you. It has given me a shock--but the Lord reigneth, and that is our comfort.”
The unhappy misunderstanding between the Prince and his father, George the Second, caused him to emancipate himself from all restraint, and form a party of his own. Inflamed by the artifices and ambition of his supporters, his opposition to Government became systematic, and he conceived a most ill-founded antipathy against Sir Robert Walpole, his father’s minister. As he had a taste for the arts and a fondness for literary pursuits, he sought the society of persons who were most conspicuous for their talents and knowledge. He was thrown into the company of Carteret, Chesterfield, Pulteney, Cobham, and Sir William Wyndham, who were considered as the leading characters for wit, talents, and urbanity. His house became the rendezvous of young men of the highest expectation--Pitt, Lyttleton, and the Granvilles; whom he afterwards took into his household, and made his associates. The usual topic of conversation in this select society was abuse of the minister, and condemnation of his measures, urged with all the keenness of wit and powers of eloquence. The Prince found the men whose reputation was most eminent in literature, particularly Swift, Pope, and Thomson,[94] adverse to Walpole, who was the object of their private and public satire. But the person who principally contributed to aggravate his opposition was Bolingbroke, whose ambition ever aimed at the summit of power, and whose immoderate desires nothing seemed capable of satisfying but the liberty of governing all things without a rival. About 1748 the party of the Prince began to form a new opposition; and in the second and third sessions of the new Parliament they took the lead against the administration. In the third session, which commenced in January, 1751, the party of the Prince seemed likely to gain great accession, from the merited unpopularity which the ministry incurred by the subsidiary treaties in Germany; while Lord Cobham and his friends meditated a secession from the ministerial phalanx. But the unexpected death of the Prince gave a new aspect to public affairs, and produced a great and singular change in the temper of the court and the councils of the kingdom. “Providence (says the Duchess of Somerset, in a letter to Dr. Doddridge) seems to have directed the blow where we thought ourselves the most secure; for among the many schemes of hopes and fears which people were laying down to themselves, this was never mentioned as a supposable event. The harmony which appears to subsist between his Majesty and the Prince of Wales is the best support for the spirits of the nation, under their present concern and astonishment. He died in the forty-fifth year of his age, and is generally allowed to have been a Prince of amiable and generous disposition, of elegant manners, and of considerable talents.”[95]
The loss of this amiable and accomplished Prince was most sensibly felt by Lady Huntingdon, who, in early life, was frequent in her attendance at court, and had many opportunities of witnessing the simplicity and elegance of his manners, the liberality of his principles, and the benevolence of his disposition. When the Prince’s difference with his father led him to keep his own court, her Ladyship attended it, and Lord Huntingdon, Lord Ferrars, and other of her Ladyship’s friends, were his political supporters. When her Ladyship withdrew from her attendance at the fashionable circle of the great, the line of conduct which she thought proper to pursue naturally excited the enmity of those of her own rank, although she had a testimony in the consciences of them, as appeared even in their words, that what she did was right. One day, at Court, the Prince of Wales enquired of Lady Charlotte Edwin,[96] a lady of fashion, where my Lady Huntingdon was, that she so seldom visited the circle? Lady Charlotte replied, with a sneer “I suppose praying with her beggars.” The Prince shook his head, and, turning to Lady Charlotte, said, “Lady Charlotte, when I am dying, I think I shall be happy to seize the skirt of Lady Huntingdon’s mantle, to lift me up with her to heaven.”
A letter from Lord Bolingbroke had apprised Lady Huntingdon of the unexpected demise of the Prince of Wales: “an event (says his Lordship) likely to cause many extraordinary changes at Court, and much discontent in the kingdom.” Her Ladyship never took any interest or part in the politics of the times, although, from family connexions and other causes, her earliest associates were generally in the opposition rank. Desirous of knowing the feelings and sentiments of the Prince at the close of life, she wrote to Mr. Lyttleton, who had been principal secretary to his Royal Highness. Little could be ascertained, yet that little was satisfactory:--
“It is certain (says her Ladyship) that he was in the habit of reading Dr. Doddridge’s works, which had been presented to the Princess, and has been heard to express his approbation of them in the highest terms. He had frequent argument with my Lord Bolingbroke, who thought his Royal Highness fast verging towards Methodism, the doctrines of which he was very curious to ascertain. His Lordship told me that the Prince went more than once privately to hear Mr. Whitefield, with whom he said he was much pleased. Had he lived, it is not improbable but Mr. Whitefield would have been promoted in some way. But an all-wise Providence has seen fit to remove him to another world. May the Judge of all the earth dignify him with the illustrious character of King and Priest, in that kingdom purchased for the heirs of salvation by the unspeakable precious merits of Him who was exalted as a Prince and a Saviour, and humbled himself to death, even the death of the cross, to procure for us a heavenly--a blissful inheritance beyond the skies!”
Dr. Francis Ayscough, afterwards Dean of Bristol, who had married one of the sisters of Lord Lyttleton, was appointed clerk of the closet to the Prince of Wales, and first preceptor to his late Majesty, George III. On being appointed by the Prince to take charge of the education of his children, Dr. Doddridge wrote him a letter of congratulation; in reply to which the Doctor says:--
“I am truly sensible of the difficulties as well as the advantages of the station I am placed in. A trust of such importance to posterity is a charge which I have not only on my mind, but in my conscience. I hope God will enable me to go through it with success; and I think I have a right to call upon every good man and lover of his country for advice and assistance in the discharge of a duty, on the faithful performance of which the public good so much depends. And as you have been so much concerned in the education of youth, I shall always be glad to receive any advice or instructions from you, which I desire you to give me freely, and I promise you it shall be most friendly received. I thank God I have one great encouragement to quicken me in my duty, which is, the good disposition of the children entrusted to me: as an instance of it, I must tell you that Prince George[97] (to his honour and my shame) had learned several pages in your little book of verses without any directions from me: and I must say of all the children (for they are all committed to my care) that they are as conformable and as capable of receiving instruction as any I ever yet met with. How unpardonable, then, should I be in the sight of God and man, if I neglected my part towards them! All that I can say is, that no care or diligence shall be wanting in me; and I beg the prayer of you, and every honest man, for the Divine blessing on my endeavours.”
It was through the kindness of Lady Huntingdon that Dr. Ayscough had become acquainted with her favourite, Dr. Doddridge, whom her Ladyship represented as a gentleman, a scholar, and an able and pious minister of Christ. Lady Huntingdon prevailed upon the Doctor to present, as we before stated, his work on the “Rise and Progress of Religion” to the Princess of Wales, through the medium of Dr. Ayscough, who thus informed him of the execution of the commission he had entrusted him with:--
“I presented your book to her Royal Highness, and ought long since to have acquainted you with her most gracious acceptance of it, and that I was commanded to return you her thanks for it. There is, indeed, such a spirit of piety in it as deserves the thanks of every good Christian. May God grant it may have its proper effect in awakening this present careless age! and then I am sure you will have your end in publishing it.”
Dr. Doddridge was at this time publishing “The Family Expositor,” by subscription. One volume had already appeared, and few persons in the circle of the Doctor’s friends made more strenuous exertions for the circulation of his work than Lady Huntingdon. But the dangerous illness of their faithful and much-esteemed friend, Mr. Lyttleton, retarded the printing of the remaining volumes.
“The three volumes (says Dr. Doddridge) will hardly be published at so small a price as a thousand pounds, and I shall judge it the part of prudence, and therefore of duty, not to send them to the press on any terms on which I shall not be secure; and if there be such a number subscribed for, or bespoke by booksellers, as to effect that, I shall go on with the publication as fast as I can; and bless God for such an opportunity of doing any public homage to his word, and endeavouring with all integrity and simplicity to make it understood, and to enforce it on men’s consciences according to the little ability he has been pleased to give me; which truly I think so little, that I am sometimes almost ashamed of having undertaken so great a work.”
Mr. Lyttleton, however, soon recovered, and in a short time transmitted to Lady Huntingdon a long list of additional subscribers:--
“I have the unspeakable pleasure (says her Ladyship) of communicating intelligence that will rejoice my much-esteemed friend. You will be thankful that the great Author of all good has raised our friend, Mr. Lyttleton, from the borders of the grave, and he is now quite recovered from his late most alarming indisposition. I have just had a letter from him, lamenting his not having procured a larger list of subscribers to ‘The Expositor,’ owing principally to the delay caused by his illness; but hopes, as soon as his strength is restored, to redeem the time that is lost by redoubling his exertions.”
Mr. Lyttleton’s exertions in procuring subscriptions for the remaining volumes of “The Family Expositor” were the means of introducing it to many in high life, to whom it might otherwise have had no access. “Most earnestly (continues her Ladyship) do I pray the Lord of all lords to prolong your valuable life, and give you strength and abilities for the completion of a work so calculated to promote the glory of his name, and the everlasting good of mankind.”
It was now that letters from the Duchess of Bridgewater and Dr. Ayscough to Lady Huntingdon announced the unexpected death of Sir Thomas Lyttleton, who had long been an intimate friend of the late Lord Huntingdon and several branches of the house of Hastings. “My father (says Sir George, afterwards the well-known and respected Lord Lyttleton) met death with so noble a firmness and so assured a hope of a blessed immortality, that it has raised our thoughts above our grief, and fixed them much more in the example he has left us, than in the loss we have sustained.” Ill health had obliged him to retire from a public station, and he lived retired, in the continual exercise of all the virtues which can ennoble private life; his sound judgment, inflexible integrity, and universal candour, recommended him to the esteem of all parties. Though in a state of great bodily suffering, his immediate death was not contemplated by his family:--
“As far as I can judge (writes Lady Huntingdon) from what the Duchess and Dr. Ayscough write concerning Sir Thomas, he must have left these scenes of mortality with a well-founded hope of happiness. The perusal of Dr. Doddridge’s ‘Rise and Progress of Religion’ was much blessed to him; and on his dying bed he recommended it to the serious attention of his children. I have not time at present to give you many particulars; but one expression that dropped from him the day before his departure appears satisfactory, and most consoling to his afflicted family. Mr. Lyttleton had read some chapters from the Bible, and afterwards engaged in prayer for his dying parent; when he had concluded, Sir George expressed his readiness to depart, adding, ‘My dear child, I feel that God my Saviour has pardoned all my sins; and from what you have just read, that his blood cleanseth from all iniquity, I derive great comfort, for he is my ONLY, ONLY HOPE.’ I pray that this affliction may be sanctified to the good of surviving relatives. The Duchess is quite inconsolable; but the good Doctor rejoices in the eternal happiness of his respected father-in-law. I shall write to both the next post.”[98]
Intelligence of the death of the excellent Dr. Doddridge now arrived in England, and was quickly followed by that of a character in every respect dissimilar--namely, the Lord Viscount Bolingbroke,[99] a man of fascinating manners and commanding eloquence, abounding in wit and fancy, master of polite learning, which he knew how to draw forth on all occasions; but in his private character without morals and without principles. The intelligence was communicated to her Ladyship by his Lordship’s only sister, the eccentric and accomplished Lady Luxborough, the friend and correspondent of Shenstone, the poet.
His Lordship entertained a very contemptuous opinion of clergymen in general; and this is not much to be wondered at, for many of those with whom he had come in contact were mere sycophants and time-servers--fawning on the great for preferment. The well-known Dr. Trapp, rector of the united parishes of Christ Church, Newgate-street, and St. Leonard, Foster-lane, was his chaplain. He acted as manager to that celebrated High Church bigot, Dr. Sacheverel, in his trial before the House of Lords. With Lord and Lady Huntingdon, Dr. Trapp was well acquainted, and was a frequent guest at their house. From a mistaken notion that he was recommending himself to his ecclesiastical superiors, he invariably manifested the most implacable hatred to the whole Methodist body. His “Preservative against Unsettled Notions in Religion,” and his “Sin and Folly of being Righteous over-much,” were answered by Messrs. Whitefield, Wesley, and Law.
Dr. Thomas Church, Vicar of Battersea and Prebendary of St. Paul’s, was likewise the intimate friend of Lord Bolingbroke, and, after his Lordship’s decease, published an Analysis of his Philosophical Works. He also was a violent exposer of the Methodists, and addressed a “Serious and Expostulatory Letter” to Mr. Whitefield, and “Remarks on Mr. Wesley’s Journal,” in a letter to that gentleman.[100]
It is well known that Lord Bolingbroke professed himself a Deist: and those principles which he had all along avowed he confirmed with his dying breath, having given orders that none of the clergy should be permitted to trouble him in his latest moments. He often attended Mr. Whitefield’s ministry, and on several occasions complimented him on his eloquence and abilities:--
“He is (says his Lordship, in a letter to Lady Huntingdon) the most extraordinary man in our times. He has the most commanding eloquence I ever heard in any person; his abilities are very considerable; his zeal unquenchable; and his piety and excellence genuine--unquestionable. The bishops and inferior orders of the clergy are very angry with him, and endeavour to represent him as a hypocrite, an enthusiast; but this is not astonishing--there is so little real goodness or honesty amongst them. Your Ladyship will be somewhat amused at hearing that the King has recommended to his Grace of Canterbury that Mr. Whitefield should be advanced to the Bench, as the only means of putting an end to his preaching. What a keen--what a biting remark! but how just, and how well-earned by those mitred lords!”
His friendship for Lady Huntingdon, and his admiration of her talents and her devotedness to the cause of God her Saviour, were extraordinary, and continued unabated to the close of his life. With her Ladyship he frequently conversed on the most solemn truths of religion. Disdaining the restraints of God’s law, and priding himself in freedom of thought above the vulgar, the wisdom of God, in his eyes, was foolishness; and revelation, at the bar of his “exalted reason,” was weighed and found wanting! Nevertheless, he was seldom in her company without discussing some topic beneficial to his eternal interests, and he always paid the utmost respect and deference to her Ladyship’s opinion. On one occasion he said, “How does your Ladyship reconcile prayer to God for particular blessings, with absolute resignation to the Divine will?” “Very easily (replied the Countess); just as if I was to offer a petition to a monarch of whose kindness and wisdom I have the highest opinion. In such a case my language would be--‘I wish you to bestow on me such a favour; but your Majesty knows better than I how far it would be agreeable to you, or right in itself to grant my desire. I therefore content myself with humbly presenting my petition, and leave the event of it entirely to you.’”
Lord Bolingbroke’s second wife, the Marchioness of Villetta, was niece to the celebrated Madame de Maintenon (wife of Louis XIV.), the cruel instigator of those horrid persecutions of the Protestants which disgraced the reign of that great monarch. She was a woman of superior accomplishments, and styled by her aunt, in her published letters, “the most sensible person among her female relations.” Between her Ladyship and the eccentric Lady Luxborough, his Lordship’s only sister, there existed little cordiality. With Lady Fanny Shirley she was particularly intimate; and was very regular in her attendance at Lady Huntingdon’s to hear Mr. Whitefield, and other eminent ministers. “Of Lord Bolingbroke and the Marchioness (says her Ladyship) I sometimes have a hope; they attend with such regularity, and hear with such apparent attention. But Lady Luxborough is so odd, and so engrossed with her poets and literary acquaintances, that she has neither time nor attention to spare for that which concerns her never-dying soul: she is good-humoured and good-natured, though no great love exists between her and the Marchioness, for what cause I know not. I cannot help feeling very anxious about them, and hope and pray that the Father of light may illuminate their darkened understandings, and give them at last the knowledge of himself, whom to know was everlasting life.”[101]
Not long after the death of Lord Bolingbroke, his works, in five pompous quartos, edited by Mr. David Mallet, were given to the public. The wild and pernicious ravings, under the name of “Philosophy,” which were thus ushered into the world, gave great offence to all well-principled men, and produced a host of answers and refutations. Of these, the most celebrated were by Clayton, Bishop of Clogher; Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester; Dr. Leland, in his “Review of Deistical Writers;” and Mr. Hervey, whose answer to his Lordship’s observations on the “Use and Study of History” was addressed to Lady Fanny Shirley. Dr. Johnson, hearing of the mischievous tendency of Lord Bolingbroke’s works, which nobody disputed, was roused with a just indignation, and pronounced this memorable sentence on the noble author and his editor: “Sir, he was a scoundrel and a coward: a scoundrel, for charging a blunderbuss against religion and morality; a coward, because he had not resolution to fire it off himself, but left half-a-crown to a beggarly Scotchman to draw the trigger after his death!”
Lady Huntingdon, hearing of Mr. Mallet’s intention, made some fruitless efforts to prevent the publication of Lord Bolingbroke’s works. “I have written to Mr. Mallet (says her Ladyship), and used my influence with Lord Chesterfield and others, to try, if possible, to suppress what must be so detrimental to mankind.” But Mallet was a determined infidel, and, in other respects, a worthless character. By address or accident, perhaps by his dependence on the Prince of Wales, to whom he was under-secretary, Mallet found his way to Lord Bolingbroke, a man whose pride and petulance made his kindness difficult to gain or keep, and whom Mallet was content to court by an act of unexampled infamy. On the death of Pope, when it was found that he had clandestinely printed an unauthorized number of the pamphlet called “The Patriot King,” Bolingbroke, in a fit of useless fury, resolved to blast his memory, and employed Mallet as the instrument of his vengeance. This time-server had not virtue, or had not spirit, to refuse the office; and was rewarded not long after with the legacy of Lord Bolingbroke’s works. This man also received a legacy of five hundred pounds from Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, to write the life of her husband; but he never fulfilled the engagement; and if anything could add to his infamy, it was the publishing of libels against Byng, while that unfortunate admiral was on his trial; and for which the calumniator was rewarded with a pension and a place. “I mourn the fate of poor Byng (says Lady Huntingdon), and envy not the feelings of his vilifier. Every effort to save him proved ineffectual; and he is added to the number of victims to popular clamour and ministerial policy.”
In whatever light we view the character of Lord Bolingbroke, we shall find him rather an object of wonder than an example for imitation; more to be feared than esteemed, and gaining our admiration without our love. The world now begins to think justly both of him and of Pope--that Pope was the greatest poet, but not the most disinterested man in the world; and that Bolingbroke had not all those virtues nor all those talents which the other so proclaimed: that he did not even deserve the friendship which lent him so much merit, and for the mere loan of which he dissembled attachment to Pope, to whom in his heart he was as perfidious and as false as he was to the rest of the world.
Chapter XI
Mr. Whitefield in Scotland--Dr. Erskine and Dr. Robertson--Scotch Nobility--Mr. and Lady Jane Nimmo--Letter to Lady Huntingdon--Mr. Wardrobe--Mr. Hervey: his “Theron and Aspasio”--Letters to Lady Huntingdon--Lady Fanny Shirley--Prince and Princess of Wales--Mr. Hervey’s method of preaching--Letter from Lady Huntingdon--Mr. Steward--Lady Anne Hastings.
Mr. Whitefield visited Scotland, for the first time, in 1741. The fame of his success as a popular preacher, in England and America, had induced individuals of different persuasions, and in particular a class of ministers who had lately seceded from the Established Church, to invite him earnestly to that country, from an expectation that he might be as successful in promoting the revival of religion there, as they believed him to have been in England and America; it was also not unreasonably hoped, on the part of the seceding friends, that, by means of his popularity, directed by them, they might gain both attention and influence to their infant sect.
He continued to officiate, as he had originally done in England, sometimes in the parish churches, and more frequently in the fields, in the most populous districts of Scotland; from Edinburgh and Glasgow, to Leith, Dundee, and Aberdeen, everywhere attended by immense multitudes of people; on many occasions producing effects on his hearers, of every rank, age, and character, of which, though there may have been similar examples, yet there are certainly not many more striking or perhaps equal instances on record.
On this first visit to Scotland, he was most hospitably received by many persons of rank, who behaved towards him with great politeness and attention: and this attention was considerably increased, in every subsequent visit, after he became chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon; her Ladyship being, as we have already shown, well known to many of the Scotch nobility, among whom she had a very extensive acquaintance. His adherence to the doctrines of Calvin, which he affirmed to be the doctrines of the Church of England, rendered him far more popular than Mr. Wesley; who, although he was more literary, and spoke with more classical correctness, was yet compelled to admit the effect of Mr. Whitefield’s eloquence, amidst all the improprieties of manner and language which he imputed to him.
The countenance which was given to Mr. Whitefield, and the astonishing effects resulting from his labours, not only created much diversity of opinion within the Established Church, but occasioned violent dissensions in private life, as many individuals still living can attest.
The late Dr. Erskine, minister of the old Greyfriars’ Church, was still, at the period of which we speak, a student at the University of Edinburgh, and was one of those who zealously defended the character of Mr. Whitefield. He felt the force of his powerful and popular eloquence, and seems to have had a strong impression of the usefulness and efficacy of his evangelical doctrines. Dr. Robertson, then also a student at the University, certainly entertained a different opinion, both of his character, which they did not at that time consider sufficiently established, and of the extraordinary effects imputed to his public ministrations.
Dr. Robertson and Dr. Erskine had been associated in a literary society, in the University, with a number of individuals who became afterwards considerable in different departments. Unfortunately, the question of Mr. Whitefield’s character and usefulness was introduced into their debates; and, calling forth very contrary opinions, was agitated with so much zeal and asperity, as to occasion the dissolution of their society, and to interrupt even their intercourse in private life.[102]
The clamour excited in England, before this time, against the progress of Methodism, in which the characters of Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Whitefield, and the Wesleys, were treated with equal freedom and severity, must have greatly contributed to heighten the prejudices circulated in Scotland against Mr. Whitefield, and the respectability or success of his labours. There was not, indeed, the same prejudice in Scotland as in England against field-preaching. During the preceding century the persecuted Presbyterians, driven from their churches, had transmitted to their descendants a partiality for religious assemblies in the fields, which, although no longer the effect of necessity, continued to be in very general practice, as often as the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was dispensed, and in some districts of the country are not even at this day completely disused. When Mr. Whitefield, therefore, appeared in the Orphan Hospital Park, at Edinburgh, the circumstance of his addressing the people in the open air exhibited no novelty to an audience who were far too numerous to have been contained in any church of the city, and who were accustomed to field-preaching in almost every parish of the country in which they occasionally resided.
Some of the most distinguished families in the kingdom were, as often as the opportunity was given them, his constant hearers, and were, besides, in the habit of admitting him to their private society; and among those, in particular, was a nobleman, who was then his Majesty’s representative, as Lord High Commissioner, in the General Assembly, who not only attended his ministrations and invited him to his house, but who introduced him to his public table during the session of Assembly.
His visits to Scotland continued, and in the summer of 1750 we find him at the hospitable residence of Mr. Nimmo,[103] where he was most kindly received during his then stay in Edinburgh. Greater multitudes than in any former visits flocked to hear him, and earnestly entreated him not to leave them soon. Though burning with fever, and much indisposed from a violent cold, he continued to preach twice a day, early in the morning and at six in the evening. “Your Ladyship’s health (says he, in a letter to the Countess) is drank and enquired after every day. Mr. Nimmo, who married Lord Marchmont’s sister, has given me three franks, and his family are in the number of those who are left in Sardis, and have not defiled their garments.”
It was during this visit of Mr. Whitefield to Scotland that Lady Jane Nimmo wrote the following letter to Lady Huntingdon:--
“Madam--Accept my thanks for your very obliging message by Mr. Whitefield; and I hope to avail myself of your kind offer the first time I go to London with Mr. Nimmo. Your very acceptable and truly Christian letter was conveyed to me by my brother, and I ought to have answered it sooner, had not some family occurrences interfered, which obliged me to leave home for a distant part of the kingdom.
“Your Ladyship will rejoice to hear that greater crowds than ever flock to hear Mr. Whitefield. The energy and power of the Gospel word is truly remarkable, and such as to cause great joy and thankfulness among the people of God. Dear Lady Frances Gardiner is very active in bringing people to hear him, to some of whom there is reason to believe the word has been blessed. 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 harvest, in Scotland. Many prayers are offered up for your Ladyship, and many bless God for your sending your chaplain to these parts. The infinitely condescending Redeemer vouchsafes to bless your labours for the good of souls in England: and your Ladyship will shortly have my native country to add to the brilliancy of that diadem which shall 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. It is time now to begin to do something for Him who has done so much for me, and suffered so much for my sinful soul. I beg, dear Madam, you will pray for me while life lasts. I feel under manifold obligations to your Ladyship, and hope to spend an eternity with you in praising that grace and love that has plucked us as brands out of the burning. Mr. Nimmo begs his most cordial salutations to you, yours, and all who love your dear Lord and Saviour in sincerity; and, wishing you the best of blessings, I subscribe myself, my dear Madam, your Ladyship’s most affectionately, in our common Lord,
“August 9th.” “J. NIMMO.”
In one of Lady Huntingdon’s letters to Mr. Whitefield she requests him to invite the correspondence of the Rev. James Robe, minister of Kilsyth, well known in Scotland for his zealous exertions in the cause of truth, and by the publication of his “Narrative” of the revival of religion, and the visible convulsive agitations which accompanied his ministrations, and those of the parish ministers in his neighbourhood.
Dr. Gillies, of Glasgow, Mr. Adams, of Falkirk, Mr. Robe, of Kilsyth, Dr. Webster, of Edinburgh, and Mr. Wardrobe, of Bathgate, were men of great piety, and of more liberality of mind than was commonly found among the Scotch ministers at the time of which we are writing. They cultivated an acquaintance with the Methodists, and frequently invited Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Wesley to visit Scotland. With Lady Huntingdon several of them kept up a constant correspondence for many years, particularly Mr. Wardrobe, for whom her Ladyship had a great regard, and whom she often called her zealous Scotch chaplain.[104]
It was about this time that Mr. Hervey commenced his inimitable work of “Theron and Aspasio.” Of the amiable and excellent Hervey it may be truly said, that few lives have ever been more heavenly, and few deaths more triumphant. He died in the Lord, and is now at rest, where even “the wicked cease from troubling.” His name is recorded in the annals of eternity, and the honours conferred on him by Christ will for ever continue blooming and incorruptible in the world of glory; his character, both in his public and private capacity, was of the most exemplary kind; his writings afford a lasting and indisputable proof of his grace and abilities--these were given him for the use of the Church of God, and they were laid out for that end. His style has been much admired: it must be owned that there is much of brilliancy and floridness in all his compositions; but persons of refined taste have expressed themselves much less satisfied with his language than his thoughts. The nervous, chaste, and manly style of the ancient classics he certainly has not copied; but rather that laboured attention to words and forms which has been objected to in Seneca, Austin, and others. However, this is but of small importance, compared with the heavenly truths he delivered, and the seraphic ardour with which he uttered them. The casket, indeed, is brilliant, and carefully embellished; but it is the jewel within that gives it value.
His “Theron and Aspasio” has proved eminently useful to multitudes, and it still continues to exhibit, with increasing usefulness, all those grand doctrines of Christianity which are of universal concernment and of the last importance. With that humility which was so conspicuous in this amiable man, we find him, in the following letter, submitting the first four dialogues of his work to the critical inspection of Lady Huntingdon:--
“Madam--With gratitude I received, and with inexpressible delight I perused, your Ladyship’s very kind and truly Christian letter. I assure you I esteem such epistles to be favours indeed. May I be so bold as to beg you to continue them? The languor of my constitution is so great, and the failure of my spirits so frequent, that I have not been able to pay the indispensable debt of gratitude and friendship due to my correspondents; but though I have not written to your Ladyship as frequently as I ought, I have taken every opportunity to enquire after you. Lady Frances Shirley has lately given me some pleasing instances of your Ladyship’s usefulness to the souls of your fellow-mortals. May your words be ‘as polished shafts’ in the victorious Redeemer’s quiver, and ‘as a nail fastened in a sure place!’ May the seed which you are daily sowing in various parts of the kingdom grow and prosper; and may the ground before you be like the harvest of the sixth year in Israel--doubly fruitful.
“Your Ladyship is pleased to express a wish that I should proceed without delay in finishing my intended work. Be assured your wishes, Madam, have all the force of a command with me. I send you the first four dialogues, beseeching you to peruse them, not with the partiality of a friend, but the severity of a critic. The like request I have made of others, and have received their friendly corrections. I am deeply sensible of my own deficiencies, and in order, therefore, to render my work, if possible, fit for public view--meet for the Master’s use--I shall feel obliged by any corrections or improvements which your pen may make. Your Ladyship is at liberty to show the manuscript to whom you please. Your remarks, and those of your friends, may supply the sterility of my invention and the poverty of my language.
“The letter of my honourable friend, Lady Frances, brought me your Ladyship’s message. Most gladly will I lend my pulpit to any minister whom you send; but it would give me unspeakable pleasure to see you at Weston. O do come, and diffuse a little of that holy zeal which continually burns in your heart, and which, I trust, will warm the hearts of multitudes! May your Ladyship be made the honoured instrument of training up many, very many, for a life of distinguished holiness and extensive usefulness in the world below, and for a life of consummate happiness and everlasting glory in the mansions of eternal felicity above!
“My good friend Mr. Hartley begs me to present his respects and Christian regards to your Ladyship, to which Dr. Stonhouse requests his may be united. The latter was much benefitted by your very seasonable letter to him. Once more, I earnestly beg that you will bestow your free corrections on my manuscript. If you really approve what I have sketched, I shall be encouraged to proceed in my work. May I not hope for the honour of dedicating it to your Ladyship? It would give me singular pleasure to have any work of my pen patronized by the Countess of Huntingdon.
“Praying that the Lord Jesus may prosper you in all your labours, and enable you to pray for the weakest of all your brethren, I remain, Madam, in great weakness, but with great sincerity, your Ladyship’s truly affectionate friend and willing servant, for Christ’s sake,
“JAMES HERVEY.”
Lady Huntingdon, entering fully into the design of Mr. Hervey’s work, claimed the assistance of all those whom she considered capable of suggesting improvements and useful hints, and transmitted their observations to the author. The imputation of Christ’s righteousness, which is considered very distinctly and copiously in the Dialogues of “Theron and Aspasio,” becoming the topic of conversation at her Ladyship’s, when several ministers were present, the late Mr. Hartley,[105] Rector of Winwick, in Northamptonshire, objected to the doctrine, and said it would be better to suppress than to publish the intended work. This information was communicated to Mr. Hervey, who, in a letter to Mr. Ryland, of Northampton, father of the late Dr. Ryland, of Bristol, thus notices the circumstance:--
“My good friend and pious brother Hartley has just published a volume of sermons. He is a friend to the righteousness of Christ; but, so far as it is formed in our hearts, he does not like the doctrine of imputed righteousness: and said, at Lady Huntingdon’s, from the sincerity and impartiality of his zeal, that it would be better to have my intended work suppressed than published. This I was told under the rose; and this I speak only inter nos. I heartily wish my brother Hartley’s sermons may be accompanied with an abundant blessing, and bring much honour to our crucified Lord.”
Lady Huntingdon, as will appear from the following letter, dated July 14, 1753, declined the offered dedication. Mr. Hervey says--
“Madam--Accept my thanks for taking the trouble of perusing my very imperfect manuscript, and my grateful acknowledgments for the improving touches and remarks you have made, as well as for those of your highly valuable friends and acquaintances. The corrections you have done me the honour to transmit will be exceedingly beneficial to the work, and render it more acceptable to the public in general. But I confess I feel disappointed at your Ladyship’s declining to patronize the public attempt of my pen; nevertheless, your observations are so sensible and just, and carry with them so much weight, that I cannot think of pressing the matter on your attention, further than to solicit your prayers for the success of the undertaking, and for the unworthy author. O that a double portion of the divine benediction may attend it!--that it may be made instrumental in awakening the supine, and directing many to take shelter in our Divine Mediator!
“Your Ladyship’s hint relative to Lady Frances I shall certainly improve without delay. I rejoice to hear that the Redeemer’s cause prospers. O may the arm of the Lord be revealed more and more amongst us, and the triumphs of free grace have wider spread and freer course! May your bow ever abide in strength, and may your ability for the service of our Divine Master increase, as much as mine decreases!
“When you write next to dear Mr. Whitefield, your Ladyship will much oblige me by conveying to him my kindest wishes and my Christian love. I shall write in a post or two to Lady Frances. The moment my work comes from the press, I must beg your acceptance of a few copies for your Ladyship and friends. Continue to beseech the Lord Jesus to make it subservient to the furtherance of his cause, and cease not to pray for its most unworthy author. May the eye of Omnipotence be your guide and mine! Your obliged friend and servant, for Christ’s sake,
“JAMES HERVEY.”
Few religious authors met with more acceptance than Mr. Hervey, and few have met with more opposition:[106] his “Theron and Aspasio” has been severely censured. This is the more surprising, as it contains the leading truths of the Gospel, such as they were formerly maintained by all the Protestant Churches and a great number of the soundest and most holy divines; and, indeed, is chiefly prized by the most judicious and evangelical friends of the truth. Among many others, the late evangelical Romaine says, “Read his ‘Theron and Aspasio,’ and when you are thoroughly convinced that ‘Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth,’ and can say with faith, ‘In the Lord have I righteousness and salvation,’ then your mind will be settled in peace and comfort, and you will be delivered from those dangerous errors which are now propagated concerning the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. Thank God for the masterly defence of it in these Dialogues. In them, Mr. Hervey, being dead, yet speaketh the promise of the adorable Redeemer, and clearly proves that we have our salvation through his righteousness.” Even his combatant, Mr. Wesley, owns that in it most of the grand truths of Christianity are explained and proved with great strength and clearness.
Lady Fanny Shirley now became the patroness of Mr. Hervey. The lively imagination, solid judgment, correct taste, and luxuriance of style displayed in his writing soon attracted the cultivated mind of her Ladyship, who invariably expressed herself highly pleased with the clear, pleasant, and judicious views of divine truth which he exhibited to the minds of his readers. Her name has been immortalized by the dedication of “Theron and Aspasio” to her Ladyship--a work which, for nearly a century, has wonderfully contributed to the diffusion of evangelical truth in Britain and elsewhere; and we fondly hope the saving effects of the principles it contains may be still more widely extended for ages to come.
Lady Fanny, having perused Lord Bolingbroke’s “Letters on the Study and Use of History,” wrote to Mr. Hervey, asking his opinion concerning his Lordship’s remarks on Scriptural History. Mr. Hervey immediately procured the book, and submitted to her Ladyship’s judgment the thoughts which occurred whilst reading it. His “Letter” was addressed to Lady Fanny, whose name, though it would have graced and recommended his performance, he was not allowed to mention. Her Ladyship’s commands, which would admit of no excuse, drew the remarks from his pen; and her desire, which with him always had the force of a command, brought them to the press. At the commencement of his “Letter,” he assures her Ladyship that, though many might discuss the point much more clearly and satisfactorily than the person she favoured with her commands, yet no one could think it a greater honour to receive, or a greater pleasure to execute them.
The cross of Christ was the doctrine that lay nearest the heart of this good man; this, in all its tendencies and bearings, in all its relations to the honour of God and the salvation of men, he delighted to elucidate in every diversity or form of words, and on this he dwelt with growing zeal and ardour to the close of life. It was the subject that met him in every direction, that beautified and adorned every other topic, that lived and breathed in all his preaching, the centre point of all his sermons; in reference to, and in dependence upon which, other subjects were considered.
His manner of preaching was impressive: indeed, he thought his message written on his heart. He spoke of the guilt of sin and the sufferings of Christ in the exercise of feeling his own guilt, and leaning on these sufferings for its expiation. He expatiated on the love of Christ under the influence of a heart kindled with it; and on the glory to come, in the temper of one who expects and longs to be a sharer in that glory. Of his mode of preaching, and the manner in which he exercised his ministry, an interesting account has been preserved by Lady Huntingdon, in a letter to one of her intimate correspondents, most probably to Lady Fanny Shirley:--
“My dear Friend--Your account of the old man was highly satisfactory. The intelligence from Trevecca is most encouraging, and Mr. Harris is rejoicing over a multitude snatched as firebrands out of the burning. * * *
“Our dear Mr. Hervey goes on in his usual way; I lately had an interesting account of his manner of lecturing in his church, which pleased me much, and I send it to you, knowing how delighted you will be with anything that relates to him:--‘Last Sabbath-day, after preaching in the morning 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 surprise as well as satisfaction, having never seen such a thing before, in prayer-time, instead of singing psalms, they sung two of Dr. Watts’s 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 15th of St. Matthew, which was the second lesson of the day, and told the people what pleasure had occurred in his mind whilst reading the parable of our Saviour’s feeding the four thousand men, besides women and children, with 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 5th chapter of the Ephesians, and read the 25th, 26th, and 27th 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 God Almighty and in his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; but the meaning, he observed, was, I believe God 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 members 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, notwithstanding 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 the members of this Church, he spake in a humble way of himself, as being an unworthy member thereof. And now having shown what was meant by the Church, and who were its members, he showed, lastly, from the words he had read, what were the Church’s privileges. And first, Christ loved the Church--secondly, he gave himself for it--and last, to crown all, he would ‘present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.’ 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? God is no respecter of persons, neither of places. Oh that others of his brethren, the clergy, may go and do likewise! And I am not without hope that many will. I was with him a little after he had done preaching, and he spake of two more of the clergy who are coming on much in the same way, and live down lower in the country, near Daventry; and another who came out of Huntingdonshire some time ago, on purpose to see him, and since has written a letter to him. This Mr. Hervey expounds every Wednesday night at the same church, preaches twice on the Sabbath-day, catechizes the children, and meets some people on Tuesdays and Thursdays, in or near the parish where his father preached.[107]
“Though long, I am persuaded your gratification will be as great as mine at this narration of his proceedings among his people. The fields are everywhere ready unto harvest, and I consider it right, and the bounden duty of ministers, to use all lawful efforts for the Gospel’s sake: and our success therein will at once declare God’s voice to the land. O how little do we do for Him who hath done so much for us! May we be continually on the stretch for God--now is the time. Let us use all possible exertions while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work. Dear Mr. Rowlands says, ‘The Lord gets himself the victory in a wonderful manner in Wales, and many are added to the Lord. The work is on the increase everywhere.’
“And now, my dear friend, your remembering me before the throne of grace makes me prize you more than ever. Continue to bear me--my poor, vile, and worthless self--and all my wretched performances for Him, when you approach the mercy-seat, and plead powerfully in my behalf. Oh! I need it--
‘Strengthen thy servant, gracious Lord, Subdue her sins thro’ Jesu’s blood; And when she would from thee depart, O bind her, Jesus, to thy heart.’
“May the God of love be with you to the close of your earthly career, is the earnest prayer of your ever faithful and affectionate friend,
“S. HUNTINGDON.”
About this time Lady Huntingdon was much affected on account of the death of the Rev. Mr. Steward, a valuable minister, who began to be popular in the Church, but was soon called to his everlasting rest. Being acquainted with some members of the Huntingdon family, he was invited to her Ladyship’s house to hear Mr. Whitefield, and was among the first witnesses to the benediction of the Spirit of God upon their labours of love.[108]
Mr. Whitefield was deeply affected at the loss of this excellent man, whose lustre was eclipsed in the zenith of merited popularity, and whose ministerial career was interrupted before he had well attained the meridian of life. “Strange (says he, writing to Mr. Charles Wesley) that so many should be so soon discharged, and we continued! Eighteen years have I been waiting for the coming of the Son of God; but I find we are immortal till our work is done. O that we may never live to be ministered unto, but to minister! Mr. Steward spoke for his Lord as long as he could speak at all. He had no clouds nor darkness! I was with him till a few minutes before he slept in Jesus.”
The summer of 1754, Lady Huntingdon spent at Ashby-place, where she was visited by Mr. Ingham, who preached frequently during his stay. She also went to Aberford for some time, and from thence repaired to London. “I was surprised (says the Countess of Hertford) to meet Lady Huntingdon on the road last Saturday fortnight; she was on her way to London, but her coach drove by so fast that I had only time to send Lomas after her with my compliments: she seemed to me to look as well as ever I saw her.”
In May, 1755, Mr. Whitefield returned to England from America, and on his arrival in London was disappointed at finding Lady Huntingdon had gone to Ashby. He was, however, much gratified at receiving a liberal benefaction from her Ladyship for Bethesda, and delighted by the intelligence that so many had been “stirred up to preach a crucified Saviour” during his absence. “Many (says Mr. W.) in Oxford are awakened to the knowledge of the truth, and I have heard almost every week of some fresh minister or another that seems determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. This excites the enmity of the old serpent, which discovers itself in various shapes. The greatest venom is spit out against Mr. Romaine, who, having been reputed a great scholar, is now looked upon and treated as a great fool, because made wise himself, and earnestly desirous that others also should be made wise to eternal salvation.”
On the 1st of July, Lady Anne Jaqueline Hastings was removed to her eternal rest, after a short illness, in the 65th year of her age. “At Bristol (says Mr. Whitefield) I heard of the death of good Lady Anne, and was glad to find that Miss Wheeler bore the news of it with so much composure. Alas! how many has your Ladyship lived to see go before you; John Cennick is now added to the happy number of those who are called to see Him as He is. I do not envy, but I want to follow after them.”
Chapter XII
Retrospective Glances--Georgia--The Orphan House--Whitefield in London--His Ordination--The Clergy--Mr. Broughton--Countess of Hertford--Breach with Wesley--Societies for the Reformation of Manners--Methodist Societies--Tabernacle Commenced--Its History--Welsh Preachers--Moorfields--Lay Preachers--Nobility at the Tabernacle--Opposition of the Dissenters--Anecdote of Dr. Watts and Lady Huntingdon--Moravians--Sir Thomas and Lady Abney--Tabernacle Opened--Long-acre Chapel--The Hon. Hume Campbell--Tottenham-court Chapel Opened--Ned Shuter--Foote, the Player--The Minor--Lord Halifax--Duke of Grafton--Mr. Fax--Mr. Pitt--Mr. Rowland Hill--Captain Joss--Mr. Matthew Wilks--Mr. Knight--Mr. Hyatt--Mr. Whitefield’s Will--Dr. Ford--Mr. Berridge and Lady Huntingdon.
It may be well, at this point of our history, to pause and take a retrospective glance at the progress of Methodism. In 1736, Mr. Whitefield preached his first sermon at Gloucester, and he continued with zeal and energy unparalleled, and with extraordinary eloquence, to preach the Gospel. After the Society broke up at Oxford, he came to London, and, in spite of his boyish appearance, and the sneers it excited, succeeded in fixing deep and serious attention, by his first sermon preached at Bishopsgate Church. On his second visit to London crowds of hearers climbed the leads and hung on the rails of the churches, while multitudes were willing, but unable, to get near enough to hear. These scenes were new to the Church of England, which had not been troubled with the excessive popularity of its preachers since the days of Baxter, Vincent, and the Puritans. The managers of churches of which the coffers were exhausted applied to Mr. Whitefield, who preached four times on each Lord’s day, and often nine times in the week, administering the sacrament before day-break in the morning, and thus rousing thousands to a state of solicitude for their eternal happiness. He then went to Georgia, and on his return he was received with coldness by the clergy, but with extreme enthusiasm by the people. He came to England to receive priest’s orders and to collect for the Orphan-house.[109] He preached where he could, but many of the pulpits were now closed against him, as the apostle of a new sect; and the Bishop of London (Dr. Edmond Gibson) thought it necessary to write a pastoral letter, warning the people of his diocese against the Methodists.[110] Nevertheless he accepted Mr. Whitefield’s title, and gave him letters dimissory to the Bishop of Oxford (Dr. Seeker), who, in return, gave him similar letters to the Bishop of Gloucester (Dr. Benson), in virtue of which he was ordained at Oxford, in accordance with his own previously recorded prayer to God, that the same excellent prelate, at whose hands he had been ordained deacon, might make him a priest. The good Bishop, in a letter to his pupil, Lord Huntingdon, gives an account of Mr. Whitefield’s ordination, expressing his hope that the act “will give some satisfaction to my Lady, and that she will not have occasion to find fault with your Lordship’s old tutor. Though mistaken on some points, I think him (Mr. Whitefield) a very pious, well-meaning young man, with good abilities and great zeal. I find his Grace of Canterbury thinks highly of him. I pray God grant him great success in all his undertakings for the good of mankind, and the revival of true religion and holiness among us in these degenerate days; in which prayer I am sure your Lordship and my kind good Lady Huntingdon will most heartily join.”
Mr. Whitefield returned from Oxford to London, and the opposition to his preaching was increased by his expounding in societies and reading and praying in private houses, for joining in which several of the ministers threatened their parishioners with prosecution.[111]
The celebrated Countess of Hertford, afterwards Duchess of Somerset, in a letter to the Countess of Pomfret, then on the continent, observes on this part of our history--
“I do not know whether you have heard of our new sect, who call themselves Methodists. There is one Whitefield at the head of them, a young man under 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 Moorfields, to ten or twelve thousand people at a time. He went to Georgia with General 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, and generally twice. At first he and some of his brethren seemed only to aim at restoring the practice of the primitive Christians as to daily sacraments, stated fasts, frequent prayers, relieving prisoners, visiting the sick, and giving alms to the poor: but, upon sound ministers 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 enthusiasts. 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; though at the same time he treats them personally with great tenderness and moderation. I cannot say Dr. Trapp has done the same in a sermon which he has published, entitled, ‘The great Folly and Danger of being Righteous over-much’[112]--a doctrine which does not seem absolutely necessary to be preached to the people of the present age.”
Now came the breach between the great Methodist leaders. While Mr. Wesley was preaching in favour of perfection, and against election, Mr. Whitefield, whose Calvinistic doctrines were confirmed and enlightened by the descendants of the Puritans in America, wrote his letters against “The Whole Duty of Man,” and “Archbishop Tillotson.” Mr. Charles Wesley, who was more kind and generous, less positive and hostile to Calvinism than his brother, wept and prayed that the breach might be prevented; but John Wesley seems to have parted with his old companion with great coolness. Mr. Whitefield is said to have told him, “You and I preach a different Gospel:” then they turned one to the right hand, and the other to the left. Mr. Whitefield was only once allowed to preach in the Foundry; and “at Bristol (he says) I was forbidden to preach in the house I had founded.”
Mr. Cennick, with others of the first labourers in the cause of Methodism, having adopted Mr. Whitefield’s views, joined with him at Bristol, and assisted him to build another place at Kingswood, near that of which Mr. Wesley kept possession; so that a congregation was established there on Calvinistic principles; and the colliers, who, before Mr. Whitefield introduced the Gospel among them, were a race of semi-barbarians, now worship God with constant delight and serious attention, displaying to conviction the power of the Gospel on the rudest of the human race.
“Calvin (says Beza, in his Life of that Reformer) is turned out of Geneva, but behold a new Church rises!” These words animated Mr. Whitefield; the clergy of the Establishment were now more angry with him than ever, for avowing the sentiments of Calvin; he therefore sought a substitute for the parochial pulpits; and societies[113] were formed in Beech-lane, Crooked-lane, Redcross-street, Southwark, the Minories, Wapping, Dowgate-hill, Crutched-friars, and various parts of the metropolis. Many of the Calvinistic Dissenters, who perceived in his preaching the savour of their popular commentator, Matthew Henry, whose creed was the catechism composed by the Westminster Assembly of Divines, stood firmly by him in this time of trial; they procured a piece of ground in Moorfields, and erected a temporary shed to screen the auditory from cold and rain at their meetings early in the morning. This place was called a Tabernacle, in allusion to the moveable tent constructed by divine direction, for the devotions of the Israelites, while they were travelling in the wilderness. It was opened in June, 1741, but Mr. Whitefield did not like the site, because, being near the Foundry, where Mr. Wesley was preaching, it had the appearance of one altar set up against another. Great success, however, followed his exertions here; and, having obtained the aid of Messrs. Cennick, Adams, Jenkins, Smith, Stevens, Ingham, Reynolds, Edwards, Kelley, Middleton, Seagrave, Humphries, Godwin, Howel Harris, and the Rev. Daniel Rowlands, a beneficed clergyman, the congregations were kept up by variety, increased by novelty, and powerfully affected by the “Welsh fire” which was displayed in the animated addresses of these Cambrian brethren. Mr. Whitefield was thus enabled to be present at many other places where the Lord called, and new scenes of usefulness arose.
It was now that he made his grand assault on that “vanity fair,” which on holidays had assembled in Moorfields all the booths and shows of Smithfield on St. Bartholomew’s day. The idea of preaching to the mob of idlers thus collected was by many considered wildly quixotic; but we may quote his own words, to prove that his efforts were not in vain. “Soon after, three hundred and fifty awakened souls were received into the society in one day; and numbers that seemed, as it were, to have been bred up for Tyburn, were, at that time, plucked as brands out of the burning.”
But not alone the lowly and the miserable; even the great and wealthy were among the congregation at the Tabernacle.
In the winter of 1742, the Earl and Countess of Huntingdon were constant in their attendance, and were often accompanied by his Lordship’s sisters, the Ladies Hastings, and occasionally by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and Catherine, Duchess of Buckingham, two of the most celebrated and remarkable women of their day; also by Lord Lonsdale[114] and others.[115]
While the noble and the lowly heard with equal reverence the preaching of the first Methodists, the leading Dissenters contemplated their proceedings with feelings of disgust and suspicion. The Rev. Risdon Darracott (minister of Wellington), and the Rev. Benjamin Fawcett (minister of Kidderminster), as well as Mr. Doddridge, were exceptions; but their reception of Mr. Whitefield, and their preaching at the Tabernacle, exposed them to the censure of their metropolitan brethren.[116] Even the amiable Dr. Watts was disposed, from the reports made to him, to judge unkindly of his friend: “I am sorry (says the Doctor) that since your departure I have had many questions asked me about your preaching in the Tabernacle, and sinking the character of a minister, and especially of a tutor, among the Dissenters, so low thereby. I find many of our friends entertaining this idea: but I can give no answer, as not knowing how much you have been engaged there. I pray God to guard us from every temptation!” This amiable man, however, took no part in the very warm censures of his Nonconformist brethren; and very soon after became the intimate friend of Lady Huntingdon and the great leaders of the Methodist body, for each of whom he entertained the highest respect and esteem.[117] During Mr. Whitefield’s absence in America, Mr. Harris chiefly conducted the affairs of the Tabernacle. On some difference with the latter gentleman, Mr. Cennick quitted the Connexion, and went over to the Moravians--a circumstance which Lady Huntingdon vainly struggled to prevent.
On Mr. Whitefield’s return from America he found his congregation much scattered. “Matters (says he) were in great confusion by reason of Mr. Cennick going over to the Moravians: but, blessed be God, we are now easy at the Tabernacle, and the word falls with might and power.” About the same period there were similar divisions in Dr. Doddridge’s congregation, at Northampton, of which frequent mention is made in his correspondence with Lady Huntingdon and Mr. Whitefield. The latter, in his reply to the Doctor, thus very feelingly notices the conduct of the brethren:--
“I thank you, dear Sir, for your solemn charge in respect to my health. But what shall I say concerning your present trial? Shall I wish you joy? Surely I may with great propriety, since an inspired writer hath said, ‘Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations.’ But, at the same time, I most earnestly sympathize with you, having had the same trial from the same quarter long ago. The Moravians first divided my family, then my parish at Georgia, and after that the societies which, under God, I was an instrument of gathering. I suppose not less than four hundred, through their practices, have left the Tabernacle. All this I find but little enough to teach me to cease from man, and to wean me from that great fondness which spiritual fathers are apt to have for their spiritual children. Thus blessed Paul was served--thus must all expect to he treated who are of Paul’s spirit, and are honoured with any degree of Paul’s success. Our Lord blessed you in your writings; nay, your people’s treating you as they are now permitted to do, perhaps, is one of the greatest blessings you ever received from heaven. May patience have its perfect work, and may you be enabled to sanctify the Lord God in your heart! I know of no other way of dealing with the Moravians than to go on preaching the truth as it is in Jesus, and rest upon that promise, ‘Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be plucked up.’ Doubtless there are many of God’s children in the Moravian flock; but many of their principles and practices are decidedly wrong, for which, I doubt not, our Lord will rebuke them in his own time. I thank you for your sermon. It contains the very life of preaching--I mean, sweet invitations to close with Christ. I do not wonder you are dubbed a Methodist on account of it. Last Sunday evening I preached to a most brilliant assembly indeed. They expressed great approbation, and some, I think, begin to feel. Good Lady Huntingdon is indeed a mother in Israel. She is all in a flame for Jesus. You may guess, by a word or two in this, that she hath shown me your last letter. I suppose she will write to you soon.”
Shortly after Mr. Whitefield’s return to England, matters assumed a different appearance at the Tabernacle, and he now began to think of erecting a more spacious edifice, which his enlarged soul and mighty powers of elocution filled for many years after. In the summer of 1751, Mr. Whitefield being at Lady Huntingdon’s residence at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in Leicestershire, the building of the Tabernacle was first discussed, in presence of Mr. Hervey, Mr. Hartley, Dr. Doddridge, and Dr. Stonhouse. The design seems to have originated with her Ladyship, who was exceedingly zealous in the cause, and who had already given largely towards the Tabernacle at Kingswood--
“I am much interested (says her Ladyship) about the intended building, and trust it will be for the glory of our common Lord, and the increase of his kingdom among men. O that very many precious souls may be there awakened, renewed, pardoned, and consecrated to God! Mr. Hervey, Mr. Hartley, Dr. Doddridge, and Dr. Stonhouse are most cordial in their approval and promise of support. May the hearts of the people of God be opened to contribute for this most desirable object! If our eye be single, and his glory and the salvation of souls our only end in view all will be well. To him I commit this cause, and my poor prayers shall be daily offered for a blessing to rest upon it.”
How unspeakably great and precious hath been the answer to these prayers!
In the winter of 1752 the subject was again renewed at Lady Frances Shirley’s residence in South Audley-street, in the month of November; and in compliance with the urgent entreaties of her Ladyship and Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Whitefield now began strenuously to exert himself in making collections. “It would have pleased your Ladyship (says he) to have seen how willingly the people gave last Lord’s-day. At seven in the morning we collected fifty pounds, in the evening one hundred and twenty-six. Blessed be God, we have now near nine hundred pounds in hand.” Still he was determined not to commence building without a sufficient sum to proceed with; therefore the foundation-stone of the Tabernacle was not laid till the 1st of March, 1753. In a letter to Mr. Charles Wesley, there is an interesting account of this event:--
“On Tuesday morning the first brick of our new Tabernacle was laid with awful solemnity. I preached from Exodus the twentieth, and the latter part of the twenty-fourth verse: ‘In all places where I record my name, I will come in to thee and bless thee.’ Afterwards we sung, and prayed for God’s blessing in all places where his glorious name is recorded. The wall is now about a yard high. The building is to be eighty feet square. It is on the old spot. We have purchased the house, and, if we finish what we have begun, shall be rent free for forty-six years. We have about eleven hundred pounds now in hand.”
As the new Tabernacle was intended to be much larger than the temporary one already mentioned, the shell of it was constructed round the other, in order that the congregation might be accommodated with a place to meet in while that part was erecting. It was opened for the preaching of the everlasting Gospel on Sunday, June 10, 1753, on which occasion Mr. Whitefield preached, in the morning, from 1 Kings viii. 11: “And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer,” &c.; and in the evening, from 1 Chron. xxix. 9, “Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly,” &c. The Tabernacle, though capable, with its surrounding galleries, of containing about four thousand persons, was crowded almost to suffocation in every part: and there, as in every other place, the Lord made manifest, by this apostolic man and his zealous colleagues, the savour of his grace.
Not long after the opening of the Tabernacle in Moorfields, application was made to Mr. Whitefield to preach twice a week, in Long-acre Chapel, then in the possession of the Rev. John Barnard,[118] who had officiated in it for some time, as a Protestant Dissenting minister. The chapel was licensed, and Mr. Whitefield had permission to use the Liturgy, if he thought proper. Looking upon this as a providential call from Him, who in the days of his flesh taught all who were willing to hear, on a mount, in a ship, or by the sea-side, and who, after his ascension, commanded his ministers, by his apostle, to be “instant in season and out of season,” Mr. Whitefield readily complied, and preached there for the first time, December 23, 1755.
The assemblies at the residences of Lady Huntingdon, Lady Frances Shirley, and Lady Gertrude Hotham, were composed chiefly of persons in the upper ranks of life, who were very importunate to have, nearer home, the blessings of the Gospel, and hoped it would prove a mercy to their neighbours; but a conspiracy was formed to remove him from Long-acre. Some soldiers and others, provided with a copper furnace, bells, drums, clappers, &c, made it their business to raise the loudest din they possibly could, from the moment he began preaching to the end of his sermon. Persons were encouraged to riot at the chapel door during the time of divine service, and insult and abuse him and the congregation after it was over. The chapel windows were repeatedly broken by large stones, which severely wounded many of the congregation. In consequence of these unwarrantable proceedings, Mr. Whitefield wrote to Dr. Zachariah Pearce,[119] Bishop of Bangor, then Dean of Westminster, and applied to a neighbouring magistrate for protection, which being immediately afforded, Mr. Whitefield thus addressed him:--
“Gratitude (says he) constrains me to send you a few lines of thanks for the care and zeal you have expressed in suppressing the late disorders at Long-acre Chapel. A better acknowledgment will, I trust, wait you at His bar, by whom kings reign and princes decree justice, and who hath instituted magistracy to be a terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well. I hear that some unhappy men have incurred the penalty inflicted by our salutary laws. As peace, not revenge, is the thing aimed at, I should rejoice if this could be procured without the delinquents suffering any further punishment. Perhaps what hath been done already may be sufficient to deter others from any further illegal proceedings, and that will be satisfaction enough.”
After preaching a few weeks at the chapel, he was prohibited from again officiating there by an order from the Bishop of Bangor. But Mr. Whitefield was not a man to be suspended from the free declaration of the Gospel by the veto of any intolerant or persecuting superior. He complained less of the veto than of the interruption which was now got up by members of the Bishop’s own vestry; of this he spoke energetically, as the following letter will show:--
“I beg the favour of your Lordship so far to interpose as to desire the persons belonging to your vestry to desist from such irregular proceedings. For my own irregularity in preaching I am ready at any time to answer; and was I myself the only sufferer, I should be entirely unconcerned, whatever personal ill-treatment I might meet with in the way of my duty. If no more noise be made on their part, I assure your Lordship no further resentment shall be made on mine. But if they persist, I have the authority of an apostle, on a like occasion, to appeal unto Cæsar. And thanks be to God, we have a Cæsar to appeal to, whose laws will not suffer any of his loyal subjects to be used in such an inhuman manner. I have only one favour to beg of your Lordship, that you would send (as they are your Lordship’s parishioners) to the above gentlemen, and desire them henceforward to desist from such unchristian, such riotous and dangerous proceedings. Whether as a chaplain to a most worthy Peeress, a Presbyter of the Church of England, and a steady, disinterested friend to our present happy constitution, I have not a right to ask such a favour, I leave to your Lordship’s mature deliberation. You will allow I have a right to do myself justice, and therefore I hope you will not be offended if I lay a plain and fair narration of the whole affair, together with what hath passed between your Lordship and myself, before the world.”
As the uproar was still continued, and the facts were so flagrant, he determined to prosecute the offenders by law. This being understood, his life was threatened; when, judging that others were concerned as well as himself, and that it was an affair that had reference to the welfare of the civil government, he, by the advice of Lady Huntingdon, consulted the Hon. Hume Campbell.[120] Alluding to these disagreeable circumstances, in a letter to Lady Huntingdon, he says:--
“My greatest distress is, how to act, so as to avoid rashness on the one hand, and timidity on the other. I have been introduced to the Earl of Holdernesse,[121] who received me very courteously, and seemed to make no objection against issuing a reward for the discovery of the letter-writer.[122] Mr. Hume Campbell advises me, by all means, to put all concerned into the Court of King’s Bench. I see no other way for me to act, than either resolutely to persist in preaching and prosecuting, or entirely to desist from preaching, which I think would bring intolerable guilt upon my soul, and give the adversary cause to blaspheme. Alas! alas! what a condition would this land be in were the Protestant interest not to prevail! Glad should I be to die by the hands of an assassin if Popery is to get footing here. I shall then be taken away from the evil to come.”
One effect of this persecution was to induce Mr. Whitefield to erect a permanent and suitable place of worship at the westend of London. The first account of his intention is contained in a letter to Lady Huntingdon, dated May 2, 1756--
“I find that all things happen for the furtherance of the Gospel. I suppose your Ladyship hath seen his Majesty’s promise of a pardon to any that will discover the letter-writer: and this brings your Ladyship the further news of my having taken a piece of ground, very commodious to build on, not far from the Foundling Hospital. On Sunday I opened the subscription, and, through God’s blessing, it hath already amounted to near six hundred pounds. If he is pleased to continue to smile upon my poor endeavours, and to open the hearts of some more of his dear children to contribute, I hope in a few months to have what hath long been wanted--a place for the Gospel at the other end of the town. This morning, God willing, I venture once more to preach at Long-acre.[123] The enemy boasts that I am frightened away; but the triumph of the wicked is short. Our people, Mr. Hume Campbell, Mr. Madan,[124] &c, are for bringing the rioters to the King’s Bench; and, perhaps, upon the whole, it may be best.”
The foundation-stone of Tottenham-court Chapel was laid with great solemnity in the beginning of June, 1756, on which occasion Mr. Whitefield was supported by three celebrated Dissenting ministers, who stood by him--Dr. Benjamin Grosvenor, Dr. Thomas Gibbons, and Dr. Andrew Gifford, assistant librarian at the British Museum. Their countenance at this period, and on this occasion, and their occasionally preaching at the Tabernacle for him, are proofs of liberality which redound much to their honour. It is, perhaps, not generally known that it was Mr. Whitefield’s intention to place this chapel under Lady Huntingdon’s protection:--
“We have consulted the Commons (says he) about putting it under your Ladyship’s protection. This is the answer:--‘No nobleman can license a chapel, or in any manner have one, but in his dwelling-house. The chapel must be private--that is, not with doors to the street, for any person to resort to at pleasure, for then it becomes public. A chapel cannot be built and used as such, without the consent of the parson of the parish; and when it is done with his consent, no minister can preach therein without license of the bishop of the diocese.’ There seems, then, to be but one way--to license it as our other houses are; and thanks be to Jesus for that liberty which we have!”
Through the liberal contributions of Lady Huntingdon and other persons of rank, the chapel advanced rapidly, and on the 7th of November, 1756, it was opened for divine worship, according to the forms of the Church of England. On this occasion Mr. Whitefield preached from 1 Chronicles iii. 11. The chapel became an object of intense interest and curiosity.[125]
“A neighbouring doctor (says Mr. Whitefield) calls the place WHITEFIELD’S SOUL-TRAP. I pray the Friend of sinners to make it a soul-trap indeed to many wandering creatures.” In a subsequent letter he adds, “At Long-acre, indeed, the word ran; and at Tottenham-court Chapel we have had some glorious earnests of future blessings. My constant work now is, preaching about FIFTEEN TIMES a-week. Conviction and conversion go on here. God hath met us at our new building. Last Sunday there was a wonderful stirring amongst the dry bones; some great people came, and begged they might have a constant seat.”
Among Mr. Whitefield’s frequent hearers at the new chapel was Shuter, the comedian, then in the height of his reputation as the representative of Ramble. On one occasion he was seated in the pew exactly opposite the pulpit, and while Mr. Whitefield, in his energetic address, was inviting sinners to the Saviour, he fixed his eye on Shuter, saying--“And thou, poor Ramble, who hast long rambled from him, come thou also. O, end thy ramblings by coming to Jesus!” Shuter was exceedingly struck, and afterwards, coming to Mr. Whitefield, said, “I thought I should have fainted--how could you serve me so?”
The Rev. Mr. Kinsman, another intimate friend of Shuter’s, tried hard to wean him from his profession. Meeting one day in Portsmouth, Mr. Kinsman said he had been preaching so often, and to such large auditories, that Dr. Fothergill advised change of air to avert a threatened illness. “And I (said Shuter) have been acting till ready to die; but, oh, how different our conditions! Had you fallen, it would have been in the service of God; but in whose service have my powers been wasted? I dread to think of it. I certainly had a call once, while studying my part in the park, and had Mr. Whitefield received me at the Lord’s table I never should have gone back; but the caresses of the great, who, when unhappy, want Shuter to make them laugh, are too seducing. There is a good and moral play to-night, but no sooner is it over than I come in with my farce of ‘A dish of all sorts,’ and knock all the moral on the head.” Being seen with Mr. Kinsman, his friends rated him as a Methodist. “A precious method is mine (said Shuter): no, I wish I were; if any be right, they are.” The attractions of his profession, however, nipped in the bud the flowers of promise which his religious friend hoped to see blooming fully.
Shuter once visited Lady Huntingdon at Bath, when performing in that city. Her Ladyship met him in the street, and, though personally unknown to him, enquired after his health, and invited him to her house. The only account of this interview which now remains is contained in a short extract of a letter from her Ladyship to Lady Fanny Shirley. Speaking of Shuter, she says:--
“I have had a visit from Shuter, the comedian, whom I saw in the street, and asked to call on me. He was wonderfully astonished when I announced my name. We had much conversation; but he cannot give up his profession for another more reputable. He spoke of Mr. Whitefield with great affection, and with admiration of his talents. He promised to come some other time, when he had more leisure for conversation. Poor fellow! I think he is not far from the kingdom.”
Another actor,[126] equal in professional eminence to Shuter, but of a very different moral character, was employed by Mr. Whitefield’s enemies to mimic and burlesque him, in a manner the most profane and ludicrous, on the stage of the Theatre Royal, Drury-lane. His success at that theatre induced him to write, and bring out at the Haymarket Theatre, his “Minor”--a ridiculous farce levelled at the Methodists. Of this miserable piece of buffoonery it may be enough to say, that he, and the agents employed at the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapel to procure materials, were so disgracefully ignorant of the inspired writings, as not to know that what they took for Mr. Whitefield’s peculiar language was that of the word of God!
A letter addressed to Mr. Garrick, written by the Rev. Martin Madan, on the intended representation of this piece, had a most extensive circulation, and Lady Huntingdon waited on the Lord Chamberlain, to apply for the suppression of “The Minor.” Her request could not immediately be granted; but his Lordship assured her that if he had had any intimation of the evil tendency of “The Minor,” previous to its being licensed, it never should have appeared. Lady Huntingdon next sought an interview with Mr. Garrick, who treated her Ladyship with the utmost deference and respect; and her remonstrances so far succeeded, that Roscius promised to use his influence in excluding it for the present, and added, that had he been aware of the offence it was calculated to give, it should never have appeared with his concurrence.
The opposition manifested towards Mr. Whitefield at Long-acre Chapel, and the representation of that wretched piece of mummery at the theatres, so far from lessening the number of his congregation, considerably increased his popularity, and brought thousands of new persons to hear the Gospel, which was the very thing he aimed at; and thus Providence gave him the victory. About this period he preached frequently at the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapel, in behalf of the poor French Protestants in Prussia, who had suffered so much from the cruelty of the Russians, when great numbers of the nobility and many of the highest officers of the crown went to hear him. The collections on these occasions amounted to upwards of fifteen hundred pounds; and for this disinterested act of benevolence Mr. Whitefield received the thanks of his Prussian Majesty.
Again, on the day appointed for a general fast, Mr. Whitefield preached at Tottenham-court Chapel, from Joel ii. 15, and in the evening at the Tabernacle, from Gen. vii. 1; after which collections, amounting to upwards of five hundred and sixty pounds, were made for the relief of the German Protestants and the sufferers by fire at Boston, for which he received the unanimous thanks of the freeholders and inhabitants of that town. On this occasion several persons of consequence were present. “It would delight you (says Lady Huntingdon) to have seen what crowds of the mighty and noble flocked to hear him. The collection was for the relief of the poor German Protestants. I invited several to come who probably would not attend his ministry on other occasions. All appeared pleased and surprised.” Lady Chesterfield, Lady Gertrude Hotham, and Lady Fanny Shirley, also took large parties of the nobility with them. Lords Halifax and Holdernesse, the personal friends of Lady Huntingdon, the latter at that moment Secretary of State, but succeeded in that office a few weeks after by Lord Bute, who was likewise present: the young Duke of Grafton, then rising rapidly into public life, and Lady Harrington, his Grace’s aunt; the Duchess[127] was prevented availing herself of Lady Huntingdon’s invitation. The Duke, now chiefly remembered as having been the subject of attack from the eloquent but rabid pen of the celebrated Junius, whose “Letters” are said to have driven him from the helm, was soon after in office as Secretary of State, and First Lord of the Treasury. To these celebrated personages may be added the names of two of the greatest men of their day, Charles Fox and William Pitt, who, with Mr. Orby Hunter, Lord Villiers, and Mr. Soame Jenyns, the admired author of a treatise on the internal evidence of the Christian religion, were to be found mingling with the crowd that thronged every part of these edifices. Few places could boast of such a constellation of transcendant genius and senatorial talent, such a brilliant assemblage of wisdom, magnanimity, and oratorical powers, as was then to be found within the walls of Tottenham-court Chapel and the Tabernacle. These congregations were long attracted by the eloquence of Whitefield alone, and he for many years was the sole minister of those chapels, which have continued almost ever since to supply a portion of the life-blood of vital Christianity to the metropolis. In 1766, indeed, he associated with himself the late Captain Joss; before speaking of whom, however, let us remind our readers of one of the most popular of the supplies at these chapels, the late Rowland Hill, who, in the summer of 1772, by his ministry in them, was the means of reviving the cause of Methodism. The distinguished situation in which he was placed held him up more than ever before public observation. His labours in the metropolis were immense, and great and small bore testimony to the power with which he spake. The displays of Gospel grace under the ministry of this faithful labourer in the Lord’s vineyard were truly surprising; and his success was, from the beginning, as great as the situation in which he stood was peculiar and eminent.
“The popularity of Mr. Hill (says Lady Huntingdon, in a letter written at this period), and the crowds that follow him wherever he is called to preach, overwhelm me with astonishment, and gratitude to the God of all grace, who hath endowed him with such gifts. He boldly proclaims the doctrines of the cross, and the word of the Lord runs and is glorified in the conversion of multitudes. Dear Captain Joss told me above a hundred wakened souls, the fruits of his preaching, have been received into the Tabernacle Society--so eminently does the benediction of our dear and precious Immanuel rest on the labours of his servant. I have attended him at Blackheath and Kensington, where the Lord blessed his testimony in a very remarkable manner. Thousands and thousands attended, and the most awful and solemn impression seemed to pervade the vast assemblies. Excepting my beloved and lamented Mr. Whitefield, I never witnessed any person’s preaching wherein there was such displays of the divine power and glory as in Mr. Hill’s. May HE who hath raised up this second Whitefield, with talents and zeal so distinguished, make him eminent in his day and generation, crown his message with success, and by his own Almighty power, the copious effusions of his Spirit, and the effectual manifestations of his grace to his soul, keep him faithful to the end.”
Mr. Hill’s residence was at the Tabernacle House, in Moorfields, from which he made preaching excursions in the neighbourhood of London, in addition to his labours in the metropolis itself. The effects of his addresses to the people on these occasions were extraordinary in the extreme. One individual wrote him word, for his encouragement, that the Lord had blessed the truth he had delivered to “hundreds”--nay, he might safely say, “thousands;” and earnestly entreated him to return as soon as possible, as “multitudes longed for the time when they should hear him again.” “Many (he continues) I have visited on their sick bed, blessing God for the time they heard you. Notes of thanks were put up from whole families, stirred up to seek the Lord by your ministry.”
The style of Rowland Hill’s addresses to the people was, at this period of life, extremely simple and forcible; they abounded with lucid views of the doctrines of the Gospel, mingled with sudden bursts of vivid, sublime, and sometimes singular illustrations. A specimen of this mode of appealing to the people is to be found in a preface to a little work, containing an address to those who had been converted by his ministry in London. It is dated Tabernacle House, August 27, 1772. Soon after, he proceeded to the degree of Master of Arts, at Cambridge, and visited his excellent friend and patron, Mr. Berridge, vicar of Everton, in the neighbourhood of the University. He again preached to immense crowds at the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapel after which he retired, as the winter came on, to the seat of his family in Shropshire. From his friend Captain Joss he received, whilst there, accounts of his converts in London. “We have taken (he informs him) above one hundred into society, concerning whom it may be said that you were the happy instrument of opening their eyes. There are many more with whom I have conversed, who, I sincerely trust, will be your crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord. Indeed, my dear brother, what the Lord hath done by you in London cannot but afford you matter of joy and humiliation.”
This was before Mr. Hill had obtained episcopal ordination. On the 6th of June, 1773, through the kind and unexpected interposition of Providence, he was ordained by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, without any promise or condition whatever, and preached his first sermon for his dear and valued friend, Mr. Rouquet, at St. Werburgh’s, Bristol, on the 8th of June, to a very large congregation. He then retired to his curacy at Kingston, in Somersetshire, and after a few months spent there, returned to London, to supply the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapel. The recollection of his early preaching in these places was cherished by him to the end of his days, with a happy retrospect of the ease with which he spoke, and the crowds who attended his ministry. In the last sermon he ever preached, delivered on March 31, 1833, he said, “O! my dear brethren, I almost wish to be made young again, if I could but see such days as when I first came and preached at Tottenham-court Chapel, and was in the habit of preaching in the streets and lanes for want of room. O! how I love to recollect what I then felt.”
To return to Captain Joss. On him Mr. Whitefield prevailed to leave the compass, the chart, and the ocean, for the service of the sanctuary. A maritime employment is not generally very favourable to religious improvement: but that God who “sitteth upon the floods can (as Mr. Whitefield said of him and Captain Scott) bring a shark from the ocean and a lion from the forest,” and “form them for himself, to show forth his praise.” His sermons, in the former years of his residence in London, were not only attended by large auditories, but with energy, to the conversion of many souls; nor did God leave him without many witnesses to the close of his ministerial labours. He generally spent four or five months in the year out of London, for the purpose of itinerating. In this period he regularly visited South Wales, Gloucestershire, Bristol Tabernacle, and, occasionally, other parts of the kingdom. In Pembrokeshire the Welsh followed him in multitudes; and on the Lord’s-day would travel from one to twenty miles round Haverfordwest to hear him. To not a few of them he became a spiritual father; and, indeed, wherever he exercised his talents, though but a few weeks, he left some seals of his ministry behind.
Mr. Whitefield and the Rev. Toriel Joss were joint ministers, till the death of the former, in 1770; soon after which event a Mr. Brooksbanks was appointed assistant preacher. How long he continued is uncertain, but most probably to the autumn of 1775, when the Rev. Matthew Wilks was admitted a minister of the Tabernacle Connexion. This venerable and respected man was called under the ministry of the Rev. William Piercy, who at that period was curate of West Bromwich, in Staffordshire, and afterwards chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon. Early discovering the intellectual powers and moral worth of Mr. Wilks, and anticipating his becoming of extraordinary use to the Church of Christ, Mr. Piercy not only manifested great personal attachment towards him, but insisted upon his devoting himself to the work of the Christian ministry. Quoting Mr. Wilks’s own words:--“To the Countess of Huntingdon’s College, at Trevecca, I must and should go; and, though against my inclination, I went, and closely pursued my studies.”
During the latter part of his college life, Mr. Keene, one of the executors of Mr. Whitefield, and a manager of his London chapels, paid Lady Huntingdon a visit in Wales, and heard Mr. Wilks preach part of a Sabbath in the College Chapel. The result was an invitation to London as a supply, and in the autumn of 1775 his appointment as minister of the Tabernacle connexion took place, the Rev. Messrs. Berridge, Piercy, and Joss taking parts in his ordination.
For more than fifty years this venerable servant of Christ proclaimed the Gospel of his Divine Master in the pulpits of the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapel, and during this very extended period his ministry was attended by all the best proofs of a decided popularity. The benediction of the Spirit of God rested upon his labours of love, and numerous have been the Christian pastors who attributed their conversion to him, as God’s honoured instrument, many of whom have been introduced to their spheres of labour by his kind and effective patronage. He was greatly honoured of God, in being the father of several of the great schemes now in operation at home and abroad for the salvation of souls. The “Evangelical Magazine” owes its origin to the mutual efforts of the Rev. John Eyre and himself, both educated at Trevecca, and introduced into public life under the auspices of the Countess of Huntingdon. He was one of the fathers of the London Missionary Society, and preached a sermon, previous to its formation, at Tottenham-court Chapel, in the year 1795, from Ps. xliii. 3--“O send out thy life and thy truth;” which was the means of awakening a missionary spirit in the hearts of many who had the privilege of hearing it. A sermon preached at its annual meeting, at Surrey Chapel, in 1812, if not the most eloquent, was, beyond all dispute, the most ingenious and effective ever preached in its behalf; for from that sermon have arisen all the Auxiliary and Branch Societies in England and America.
For some years previous to his decease the health of Mr. Joss was in a declining state. This good man, whom Mr. Berridge used to style “The Archdeacon of Tottenham,” was removed to his eternal rest April 17, 1797. In consequence of his inability to preach as frequently as formerly, about eight years previous to his decease, Messrs. Keene and West gave the Rev. Joel Abraham Knight a cordial and affectionate invitation to settle in the Tabernacle connexion. He had been ordained to the work of the ministry in Lady Huntingdon’s Connexion, at Spa-fields Chapel, March 9, 1783, and was assistant there and master of the charity-school for some years. This respected and useful servant of Christ entered into the joy of his Lord, April 22, 1808. Some years previous to his death, the Rev. John Hyatt, then of Frome, was invited as a supply to the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapel. His talents arrested the attention of the congregations, and the declining health of Mr. Knight induced the managers to consider Mr. Hyatt as a suitable person to become a stated minister in the Connexion. This invitation was given to him with unanimity, and accepted, on his part, with cordiality. On this immense field he entered, and here for twenty years he laboured, finishing his course January 30, 1826. His venerable colleague, Mr. Wilks, survived him till January, 1829. His last audible expressions were uttered when his friend Mr. Townsend informed him that they had fulfilled his wish, and thought it would relieve his mind to know that all was arranged with Mr. Campbell to succeed him: he lifted up his hand, and exclaimed softly, “Thank God! God be praised!--that is well!”
During Mr. Whitefield’s life-time the management of his chapels was frequently committed to a few trusty friends. Amongst them we find the names of Robert Cruttenden, Esq., Charles Hardy, Esq., Robert Keene, Esq., and Mr. Beckman, a man of great integrity and worth, and often mentioned in the letters of Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Berridge. Whilst, absent in America, in 1764, the affairs of the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapel were in the hands of Messrs. Keene,[128] Hardy, and Beckham. “Three such friends (says he) surely could not be picked out for the London affairs.” Two years previous to his last voyage to America he formed the determination of making a final arrangement of his chapels, and all that he possessed in England. In a letter to Mr. Keene, dated November 27, 1767, he says:--
“As another voyage, perhaps, may be the issue and result of all at last, I would beg you and dear Mr. Hardy to let me have my papers and letters, that I may revise and dispose of everything in a proper manner. This can do no hurt, come life or come death, or whether I stay at home or go abroad.”
In the order of Divine Providence there is a strange combination of circumstances, by which what is appointed is brought to pass. In the same year died Mr. Whitefield, the Rev. Howel Davies, rector of Prengast, near Haverfordwest, the head of Calvinistic Methodism in Pembrokeshire, and the Rev. Thomas Adams, minister of the Tabernacle at Rodborough, the leader of the same cause in Gloucestershire and Wilts, and Mr. Whitefield’s only surviving first fellow-labourer, to each of whom he had bequeathed a small legacy. Though the Tabernacle at Bristol was under Mr. Whitefield’s auspices, yet, strange to say, in his will we do not find the least mention of it. The trustees in London offered to befriend it, but would not accept it as a part of their charge. The Honourable James Habersham was appointed executor for his affairs in the province of Georgia, and Messrs. Hardy, West, and Keene for those in England.
Having by his will left both of his places of worship in London, his houses, library, and all things appertaining thereto, to two of his executors, in survivorship, Mr. West and Mr. Keene, they were enabled, through the abundant goodness of God, to carry on the work in the same manner as in Mr. Whitefield’s life-time, without the least diminution either of the largeness of the congregations, or the visible power of God attending the ministry of those faithful men who laboured for them. Two persons could not have been more happily associated than Mr. West and Mr. Keene. They were always regular and exact in the discharge of the weighty duties that devolved upon them. An uninterrupted harmony characterized all their public transactions. It was now their study to conciliate the affections of the ministers, to promote the glory of Jesus Christ, and the spiritual interests of the congregations; and they had the happiness to see the pleasure of the Lord prosper in their hands. The late Mr. Berridge, who had a very high regard for them, when speaking of them, says:--
“Could I discover lucrative views in them, as much as I love the Tabernacle (that old bee-hive which has filled many bee-hives with her swarms), I would visit her no longer. But the more I know of the trustees, the more I am confirmed in their integrity, which they will give a proof of shortly, by adopting Dr. Ford as a third trustee.”
This was in the year 1777. From this, as well as from other circumstances, it would appear that the Doctor, being known as a preacher and trustee in Lady Huntingdon’s Connexion, was associated with Messrs. West and Keene in the Tabernacle trust. After the mournful difference between her Ladyship and Mr. Wills, in 1788, some propositions were made relative to a union between the two Connexions, but of what nature, or to what extent, we have no information. Mr. Berridge, the mutual friend of both, appears to have been a chief instrument in negotiating this affair. Lady Huntingdon being in London, in September, 1788, commissioned Mr. Berridge, then residing at the Tabernacle House, to propose the intended plan, the fulfilment of which she seems to have had much at heart. But the only document we have been enabled to procure, which throws any light on the subject, is a short letter from Mr. Berridge to her Ladyship. It is dated Tabernacle House, September 25, 1778:--
“My Lady--My ears are so deaf, that I can hear nothing without bawling, as Mr. Dupont[129] knows to his sorrow, which makes a visit very troublesome to others and disagreeable to myself. On this account I thought it more advisable to send you in a letter what has been shouted into my ears by the trustees, than to wait upon you in person, and the message I have to communicate is this: ‘When Dr. Ford returns to London, a fortnight hence, the trustees will consider of the proposal made to them by Mr. Dupont and others.’
“I was grieved to hear of Mr. Wills’s departure; but our wise Jesus can overrule this separation for his glory, as well as that between Paul and Barnabas. I return this week to Everton. May the Lord Jesus abide with you and go with me, and give us both a triumphant exit at last. So prayeth your affectionate servant,
“JOHN BERRIDGE.”
Mr. Keene died on the 30th of January, 1793. His name deserves to be recorded in the annals of the Church, as an illustrious example of holiness and zeal in the cause of God. Mr. West survived him till the 30th of September, 1796. He was in the 70th year of his age. His remains were interred under the communion-table, in a vault that contained the remains of Mrs. Whitefield, Mrs. West, and Mr. Keene. It is a singular circumstance, that Mrs. Whitefield, Mr. Keene, and Mrs. West all died on the 30th day of the month, and Mr. Whitefield and Mr. West on the 30th of September. Mr. West, by his last will, bequeathed the management of the places to Samuel Foyster, Esq., and John Wilson, Esq., both of whom are since dead. Mr. Foyster’s removal to another world took place February 2, 1805. He was one of his Majesty’s justices of the peace, and was a humble, pious, and peaceable Christian, and an ornament to his religious profession.
The ministers who supplied immediately after Mr. Whitefield’s death were Mr. Berridge, Mr. Green, Mr. Elliott, Mr. Piercy, Mr. Rowlands, Mr. Shirley, Mr. De Courcy, Mr. Hill, Mr. Owen, Dr. Peckwell, Dr. Illingworth, Mr. West--all clergymen; and Mr. Kinsman, Mr. Medley, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Scott, Mr. Titus Knight, Mr. Heath, Mr. Winter, Mr. Beck, Mr. Ashburner, Mr. Durant, and a long list of worthy clergymen and Dissenting ministers from the country, who esteemed it their privilege to preach to every large, serious, and attentive congregation, whose hearts were filled with thankfulness, and at the same time engaged in prayer for every such minister of Christ; and an unusual blessing commonly attended both the sowers and reapers. It was the desire of the managers to let the pulpits be open to every disinterested minister that might occasionally visit London, of good moral character, sound in the faith, of moderate Calvinistic principles, without distinction of parties or denominations, whose talents were suitable to preach with life and power to overflowing congregations.
Here let us pause, and lift our hearts in thankfulness to the great Head of the Church, for the plenteous harvest of immortal souls that hath been gathered to the true Shiloh in these highly-favoured chapels. The benediction of the Spirit seems to have rested in a peculiar manner on the labours of the ministers of Christ in these vast fields of usefulness. They were men of renown in their day, who, through evil report and good report, preached the everlasting Gospel, and were as distinguished by the success which crowned their labours, as by the zeal and ability with which they performed them. This noble army of confessors are now before the throne. The great Captain of Salvation hath called them to their eternal reward. May their surviving brethren catch a glowing spark of the flame of zeal which animated these men of God, imitate their excellencies, avoid their infirmities, and leave behind them a memory as blessed, and a monument as enduring, in the hearts of thousands converted by their ministrations! Such were the men “whom the Lord delighted to honour.” Happy shall we be if counted worthy to sit at their feet in Christ’s kingdom of eternal glory!