Chapter XXV
Progress of Piety at Cambridge--Rowland Hill--Oxford--St. Edmund’s Hall--The Six Students--Expulsion--Sir Richard Hill--Dr. Horne, Bishop of Norwich--Mr. Godwyn--Charges against Lady Huntingdon--Account of the Students, and the proceedings against them--Letter from Lady Dartmouth--Lady Buchan--Letter from Mr. Wesley--Cheltenham--Lord Dartmouth--Letter from Mr. Venn--Mr. Wells--Mr. Trinder--Mr. Whitefield to Mr. Madan--Mr. Madan to Mr. Wesley--Lady Huntingdon to Mr. Alderman Harris--Gloucester Association--Lady Huntingdon to Mr. Brewer--Chapels at Gloucester, Worcester, and Cheltenham--Lady Huntingdon’s Letter concerning them.
At this period (1767–8) many students of the Universities were deeply imbued with a sense of the value and importance of religion. The Cambridge band was headed by Rowland Hill, whose whole soul was bent on promoting the growth of piety in himself, and among his friends, Pentycross, Simpson, Robinson, and others, who, imbued with his zeal and spirit, possessed, perhaps, less fire, and energy, and unflinching boldness. At the head of the religious youth of Oxford was Mr. Halward, the constant correspondent of Mr. Hill, and whose letters became at this period peculiarly interesting. Mr. Durbridge, a humble, but pious friend of Mr. Whitefield, had lately suffered a triumphant death, and at the house of his widow, Dr. Stillingfleet, Mr. Halward, of Worcester College, Mr. Foster, of Queen’s College, Mr. Pugh, of Hertford College, Mr. Gordon, of Magdalene, and Mr. Clark, of St. John’s, were wont to meet for prayer and mutual encouragement in religion. To this congregation were added the celebrated six students of St. Edmund’s Hall, of whom we are about to speak more at length:--
“Faithful and devoted souls (says Lady Huntingdon), and active in diffusing the light and love of which they are the happy recipients. With some of them I have long been acquainted, and have heard most interesting particulars of their proceedings from dear Mr. Whitefield. O let earnest, ardent prayer ascend from every gracious soul for the success of these young witnesses, whom the Lord of the harvest hath mercifully raised up to proclaim the Gospel of salvation. The hand of the persecutor is upon some of them, and they have deep waters to wade through; but, amidst every outward opposition, the little flock continues to augment its numbers. I expect great things from them, and hope and pray that these witnesses will rise up and testify to the Gospel of the grace of God long after I am numbered with the dead.”
Mr. Halward, in his letter to Mr. Hill, spoke of the meeting, and of the excitement thereby created both in “town and gown.”
At length the storm which had so long been gathering, and which had already given a few warnings of its violence, burst, and poured the full torrent of its vengeance on the devoted heads of the six students of St. Edmund’s Hall. They had been in the habit of meeting Dr. Stillingfleet, then a fellow of Merton College, but afterwards Prebendary of Worcester, a well-known writer, and the cherished friend of Lady Huntingdon, at Mrs. Durbridge’s, where the doctor would expound, and pray, and invite the students to do likewise. Their unusual piety and zealous efforts, expounding at private houses and preaching in the neighbourhood, had, as we have seen, excited the jealousy of the Church and attracted the ridicule of the gay townsmen. Mr. Higson, tutor of St. Edmund’s Hall, a person who was liable to attacks of insanity, and who had been treated as insane, first formally complained to the Principal, Dr. Dixon, of several students in the Hall, “enthusiasts, who talked of inspiration, regeneration, and drawing nigh to God.” The worthy Principal, who was thoroughly acquainted with the right views and pure lives of the accused students, looked upon the tutor’s complaint as an evidence of his recurring insanity. Not so the Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Durrell, to whom Mr. Higson next applied. He considered that the tutor of St. Edmund’s merited, by his zeal, the thanks of the whole University; and fearing that these young men, who already imitated Wesley and Whitefield in their piety, might, like them, “turn the world upside down and the Church inside out,” he summoned a conclave, appointed assessors, and cited the offending students before him.
The conclave consisted of Drs. Durrell, Randolph, Fothergill, Nowell, and the senior proctor, Atterbury. Dr. Nowell took notes, which were afterwards published in vindication of the Vice-Chancellor and his junta. The students arraigned were Benjamin Kay, Thomas Jones, Thomas Grove, Erasmus Middleton, and Joseph Shipman. Several heads of houses warmly espoused the cause of the students, especially Dr. Dixon, who, as Principal of their Hall, bore direct testimony to their admirable conduct and exemplary piety, and defended them against Mr. Higson’s charges, out of the Thirty-nine Articles themselves. His amendment was, however, overruled, and sentence of expulsion was passed against them; the Vice-Chancellor declaring that each of them deserved expulsion, and adding, “I, therefore, by my visitorial power, do hereby pronounce them expelled.” Such was the Oxford bull of 1768.
Mr. Whitefield immediately addressed an admirable letter, written in his most forcible manner, to the Vice-Chancellor, which has been very frequently printed, but is now extremely scarce. Sir Richard Hill wrote a capital pamphlet, entitled “Pietas Oxoniensis,” dedicated to the Earl of Lichfield, then Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Dr. Horne, afterwards Bishop of Norwich, very ably defended the students, and condemned the conclave in a powerful paper; and Mr. Macgowan and several others severely lashed the Heads of Houses for their sentence. On the other hand, there were a pamphlet by the Vice-Chancellor, an answer to Sir Richard Hill by Dr. Nowell, and other vindicatory tracts of great ability. The Rev. Charles Godwyn, one of the Fellows of Balliol College, writing to Mr. Hutchins, the historian of Devon, says--
“A very odd affair has happened here. The Principal of Edmund Hall has been indiscreet enough to admit into his Hall, by the recommendation of Lady Huntingdon, seven London tradesmen, one a tapster, another a barber, &c. They have little or no learning, but have all of them a high opinion of themselves, as being ambassadors of ‘King Jesus.’ One of them, upon that title, conferred by himself, has been a preacher. Complaint was made to the Vice-Chancellor, I believe by the Bishop of Oxford, and he, in his own right, as Vice-Chancellor, had last week a visitation of the Hall. Six of the preaching tradesmen were found so void of learning that they were expelled, and the tutor, with his pupils, not choosing to live under such a Principal, are removing, I believe, to Christ Church.”
In a subsequent letter Mr. Godwyn adds:--
“The Vice-Chancellor has done very well in removing from hence some ‘ambassadors from Jesus Christ,’ who were made up of ignorance and assurance, and were likely to do more harm than good. There is a short sensible pamphlet published in defence of him, relating barely the facts, and producing the reasons upon which the Vice-Chancellor proceeded. It says just as much as is proper, and nothing more. A person among us, of some consequence, has shown his piety to his alma mater by publishing what he calls ‘Pietas Oxoniensis.’ It is in defence of our Methodists, from whence you may judge of the odd turn of the man. We are at a loss to find out who is the person; the Vice-Chancellor knows. Nothing of any value has been published against it.”
The expulsion itself was thus announced in the St. James’s Chronicle:--
“On Friday last (March 11, 1768), six students belonging to Edmund Hall were expelled the University, after a hearing of several hours before the Vice-Chancellor and some of the Heads of Houses, for holding Methodistical tenets, and taking upon them to pray, read, and expound the Scriptures, and singing hymns in private houses. The Principal of the College (Dr. Dixon) defended their doctrines from the Thirty-nine Articles of the Established Church, and spoke in the highest terms of the piety and exemplariness of their lives; but his motion was overruled, and sentence pronounced against them. One of the Heads of Houses present observed that, as these six gentlemen were expelled for having too much religion, it would be very proper to enquire into the conduct of some who had too little; yet Mr. Vice-Chancellor Durrell was heard to tell the chief accuser that the University was much obliged to him for his good work.”
We add in a note some particulars of the expelled students.[221] In the public journals of the day Lady Huntingdon was accused not only as Mr. Godwyn accused her, but of “seducing” several young men from their respective trades and avocations, and sending them to the University, where they were maintained at her expense, that they might afterwards “skulk into orders.” Her Ladyship was at Bath during the whole transaction, and she regarded not without anxiety the arbitrary proceedings of the heads of the University against these young men--for what? For maintaining the fundamental doctrines of the Reformation and of the Church of England, viz., election, perseverance, justification by faith alone, and the necessity of the influence of the Holy Spirit to constitute every one a child of God--doctrines which lie at the very foundation of Christianity, and have ever been esteemed the great bulwark of Protestantism; insomuch that there is not a Reformed Church in Europe but admits them to the chief place in her confessions of faith.
“It is a grievous thing (says her Ladyship) to find men who have solemnly subscribed to the doctrines of the Reformation acting with such inconsistent cruelty, tyranny, falsehood, and scurrility towards those who conscientiously adhere to the tenets of our excellent Church and endeavour to propagate her principles. Such conduct on the part of our Church rulers and the heads of the Universities is a sad blow to the Church to which they profess to belong, and strengthens the hands of our Popish adversaries. Of what solemn perjury are those men guilty who, for the sake of filthy lucre and creeping into high places, swear to the belief of doctrines and principles which, in their hearts, they disbelieve and detest? How will the Great Head of the Church be avenged on such people as these; and how he will reward their fidelity a future day will disclose to the view of an assembled world! O, my soul, come not thou into the secrets of such men! With the foul invectives of common newspapers I have nothing to do, neither am I accountable for the impudent falsehood of those who have maliciously asserted that I have inveigled six ignorant young men from their trades in the country and maintained them at the University. All these, and many other absurd and ridiculous accusations, insinuations, and statements, are utterly false, and without any, the least, foundation of truth to support them; but the Lord God is witness between me and my accusers in this matter; and woe unto them that call good evil, and evil good; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness. Dr. Nowell seems to be of opinion that the expulsion of the students ‘is a seasonable interposition, and has disappointed the hopes of those who were desirous of filling the Church with their votaries.’ Bold assertion often supplies the place of truth with some men. May the Lord pardon him for the unjust part he has acted in this affair, and convince him that his conduct, and that of the other members of the University, has been utterly inconsistent with every sentiment of truth, justice, conscience, religion, humanity, and candour.”
We have dwelt at some length on the expulsion of these students on account of the interest Lady Huntingdon took in the affair, because of Mr. Whitefield’s zealous interference in behalf of the victims, and because we hope and believe this Oxford bull will remain the last of its race. Now public opinion would expel from the University of Christian fellowship any number of Heads of Houses who should repeat this tyranny. That great tribunal has just pronounced the sentence of unqualified condemnation against the late Popish “Oxford Tracts,” and neither the Chancellor nor ex-Chancellor could now obtain, were they inclined to try, any mitigation of the sentence.
The Tracts are unprotestant and therefore unpopular; and, by parity of reasoning, the conduct of the persecuted students would have been supported by popular opinion, had it occurred in our day, for their conduct was eminently Protestant. The hisses and yells in which the raw witlings of Oxford indulged against the Dissenters at the installation of the Duke of Wellington were the mere ebullitions of political folly, and proved nothing against the University but the want of good manners on gala days; whereas the Tracts proved the absence of good theology--a defect of more importance in such an institution, and not quite so easily supplied. It may tend to the purification of doctrines and manners to preserve and keep before the world the names of the conclave who expelled six Oxonians for extempore prayer and singing psalms, and retained one who had been proved guilty of ridiculing the miracles of Moses and Jesus Christ. But Oxford was never without her Abdiels, and it gives us real pleasure to recall the names of those faithful ones who protested against the outrages on truth, decency, and consistency. Her cloud of witnesses is not great, but it is sufficiently splendid to inspire high hopes, as well as hallowed recollections. Middleton, in his “Ecclesiastical Memoir,” laments that any decree so unsuitable to the spirit of a purely Protestant institution, as this decree of the Vice-Chancellor, should continue to disgrace the archives of Oxford; but it appears to us a fortunate circumstance that the document has been preserved, for were it not in the archives of Oxford, who would believe that it had ever existed?
Whilst Lady Huntingdon was thus deploring the effects of spiritual wickedness in high places, hostile to that cause which more than life she valued, there were, on the other hand, signs of blessedness to rouse her to more vigorous exertion. The triumphant death of Lord Buchan, and the impressions made on surviving relatives, were very remarkable circumstances.
The Dowager Countess was a woman of strong natural understanding, and of a highly cultivated mind. She now became the devoted Christian, and consecrated her honours and her talents at the foot of the cross. It was at this period that Lady Anne Erskine, her eldest daughter, took up her residence with Lady Huntingdon. The young Earl also was valiant for the truth, and Mr. Venn and Mr. Berridge were appointed his chaplains. Mr. Wesley was honoured by a similar mark of regard, through the intervention of Lady Huntingdon, which he acknowledged in the following letter, dated London, June 4th, 1768, and addressed to the Countess, at Bute:--
“My dear Lady--I am obliged to your Ladyship and to Lady Buchan for such a mark of your regard as I did not at all expect. I purpose to return her Ladyship thanks by this post.
“That remark is very striking, as well as just--if it is the Holy Spirit that bears witness, then all speaking against that witness is one species of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. And when this is done by those who peculiarly profess to honour Him, it must in a peculiar manner grieve that blessed Spirit. Yet I have been lately surprised to observe how many, who affirm salvation by faith, have run into this meaning--fall into Sandeman’s notion, that faith is merely an assent to the Bible, and not only undervaluing, but even ridiculing the whole experience of the children of God. But so much the more do I rejoice that your Ladyship is still preserved from that spreading contagion, and also enabled plainly and openly to avow the plain, old, simple, unfashionable Gospel. I am glad to hear your Ladyship has thoughts of being soon in town, but sorry that your health is not yet re-established. Yet certainly
‘Health we shall have, if health be best:’
for the Lord still ruleth in heaven and earth. Wishing your Ladyship many happy years, I remain, my dear Lady, your very affectionate servant,
“JOHN WESLEY.”
Mr. Shirley and Mr. Powling (of Dewsbury, in Yorkshire) were at this time in Bath, and their ministry was attended by great crowds. Mr. Daniel Rowlands repaired thither, to accompany her Ladyship and Mr. Shirley on a tour into Gloucestershire. Proceeding through Stroud, Painswick, and Gloucester, they arrived at Tewkesbury, where Mr. Shirley preached from that passage--“Awake, thou that sleepest!” The audience was exceedingly large and deeply attentive. In the afternoon Mr. Rowlands explained and enforced those solemn words--“It is appointed unto men once to die.” The congregation was more numerous than in the morning, and there was not an inattentive hearer. “A remarkable power from on high (observes her Ladyship) accompanied the message of his servants, and many felt the arrows of distress. O may we rejoice in a world of spirits that we have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain, but that many in this populous town may be found amongst the redeemed and ransomed of the Lord!”
From Tewkesbury, Lady Huntingdon proceeded to Cheltenham, where much good had been effected through the instrumentality of those who laboured with her in this honourable and glorious cause.[222]
Cheltenham was now well supplied with Gospel ministers, through the interest and exertions of Lady Huntingdon and Lord Dartmouth. Mr. Downing, his Lordship’s chaplain, obtained the pulpit of the parish church two or three times; but the rector and churchwardens, envious of the signal success of his preaching, and prejudiced against him, the doctrines he taught, and the persons who crowded to hear him, refused to admit him again. Thus excluded from the church, Mr. Downing preached twice a week at Lord Dartmouth’s residence, and on Sunday evenings the attendance was always very numerous. An enquiry was excited, and the prospect of usefulness becoming daily more encouraging, his Lordship wrote to Lady Huntingdon for further help.
“I wish (says he) your Ladyship would use your influence with Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Romaine to pay us a visit. Mr. Stillingfleet has been obliged to return to Oxford to attend some indispensable duties, and I know not where to direct to Mr. Madan or Mr. Venn. Mr. Talbot has promised to come as soon as possible, and next month I expect good Mr. Walker, of Truro. The rector was so displeased with Mr. Downing preaching, and the great crowds that flocked to hear him, that he excluded him from the pulpit after three or four sermons, and refused to admit Mr. Stillingfleet, though I said everything I could to induce him to do so. Since then I have opened my house, but find it too small for the numbers who solicit permission to attend. I hope shortly we shall have a large place, for I have no hopes of again obtaining the use of the parish church.”
Just at that time Mr. Madan arrived in Cheltenham, and was soon after joined by Messrs. Venn and Maddock.[223] Contrary to the expectations of Lord Dartmouth, both Mr. Madan and Mr. Venn were several times admitted to preach in the parish church. About ten days after, Mr. Whitefield came to Cheltenham, and notice of his arrival having been circulated by Lord Dartmouth, an immense crowd collected from all parts, expecting he would preach in the church. At the time appointed, Mr. Whitefield, attended by Lord and Lady Dartmouth, Messrs. Madan, Venn, Talbot, and Downing, arrived at the church door, and finding it closed, Mr. Whitefield stood upon a tombstone and addressed a most attentive multitude from “Ho! every one that thirsteth,” &c. In the evening the sacrament was administered by Mr. Whitefield at his Lordship’s residence, after which Mr. Talbot gave a short exhortation, and Mr. Venn closed the solemnities of the evening with a most scriptural prayer.
On these subjects Mr. Venn writes to Lady Huntingdon in the following terms:--
“To give your Ladyship any just description of what our eyes have witnessed and our hearts felt within the last few days exceeds my feeble powers. My inmost soul is penetrated with an overwhelming sense of the awful power and presence of Jehovah, who hath visited us with the blessed effusion of his Spirit, on this occasion, in a very eminent manner. Under Mr. Whitefield’s first sermon there was a visible appearance of much soul-concern among the immense crowd that filled every part of the burial-ground, so that many were overcome with fainting: others sobbed deeply, some wept silently, and a solemn concern appeared on the countenance of almost the whole assembly. When he came to press the injunction in the text (Isaiah li. 1) upon the unconverted and the ungodly, his words seemed to cut like a sword upon several in the congregation, so that whilst he was speaking they could no longer contain, but burst out in the most piercing, bitter cries. At this juncture Mr. Whitefield made an awful pause of a few seconds--then burst into a flood of tears. During this short interval Mr. Madan and myself stood up, and requested the people as much as possible to restrain themselves from making any noise. Twice afterwards we had to repeat the same counsel, still advising the people to endeavour to moderate and bound their feelings, but not so as to resist or stifle their convictions. O with what eloquence, what energy, what melting tenderness did Mr. Whitefield beseech sinners to be reconciled to God--to come to him for life everlasting, and rest their weary souls in Christ, the Saviour! When the sermon was ended the people seemed chained to the ground. Mr. Madan, Mr. Talbot, Mr. Downing, and myself, found ample employment in endeavouring to comfort those who had broken down under a sense of guilt. We separated in different directions among the crowd, and each was quickly surrounded by an attentive audience, still eager to hear all the words of this life. Of such a season as this it may well be said, ‘I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold! now is the accepted time--behold! now is the day of salvation.’
“The next day a like scene was exhibited to our wondering eyes, when dear Mr. Whitefield preached to a prodigious congregation from that passage--‘Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.’ In the evening Mr. Talbot preached at Lord Dartmouth’s to as many as the rooms would hold. Hundreds crowded round his Lordship’s residence, anxiously expecting Mr. Whitefield to preach. Exhausted as he was from his wonderful exertions in the morning, when he heard that there were multitudes without, he stood upon a table near the front of the house, and proclaimed the efficacy of the Saviour’s blood to cleanse the vilest of the vile from the guilt and filth of sin and iniquity.
“Intelligence of the extraordinary power attending the word soon spread, and the next day we had Mr. Charles Wesley and many friends from Bristol, Gloucester, Tewkesbury, Rodborough, and the villages in the neighbourhood; but all loud weeping and piercing cries had subsided, and the work of conversion went on, though in a more silent manner. For several days we have had public preaching, which has been well attended, and much solid good has been done.
“Mr. Whitefield and myself purpose leaving this for London the day after to-morrow, and Mr. Madan and Mr. Talbot go in a few days to Northamptonshire. I shall defer further particulars till I have the honour of waiting upon your Ladyship. With many thanks for all your kindness to a sinful man, and increasing prayers for your eternal welfare, I remain, Madam, yours in the Gospel of our adorable Lord,
“H. VENN.”
On leaving Cheltenham, Mr. Madan and Mr. Talbot itinerated through Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, and Northamptonshire. At Winwick their preaching was attended by great crowds, having been invited thither by Mr. Hartley, the pious and useful rector of that place. From thence they proceeded to Weston Favel, where they were most joyfully received by Mr. Hervey. When writing to his excellent friend and correspondent, the late Mr. Ryland, then of Warwick, but afterwards of Northampton, he says, “I had, not long ago, the favour of a visit from your worthy neighbour, Mr. Talbot. He came accompanied by Mr. Madan, and both were like men baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire, fervent in spirit, and setting their faces as a flint.”
From Northampton they returned to Cheltenham, where they were allowed the occasional use of the pulpit, though the rector still persisted in excluding Lord Dartmouth’s chaplain, Mr. Downing. Not long after, Mr. Walker, of Truro, arrived at his Lordship’s, on his way to visit Mr. Hervey, in Northamptonshire, and during his stay he preached frequently with much acceptance.
The late Mr. Samuel Wells then resided in Cheltenham, as head master of an extensive public seminary: he was a man of deep piety, and having tasted of the richness of the Gospel, opened his house whenever the pulpit of the church could not be obtained. There many able and faithful ministers, especially Mr. Talbot and Mr. Madan, preached two or three times in the course of the week, and officiated occasionally at several villages in the neighbourhood.
The late Mr. Thomas Trinder, the respectable deacon of the Baptist Church at Northampton, was at that time a pupil at Mr. Wells’s school.
“On the 17th of July (says he) I first heard the Rev. Mr. Madan. His discourse was founded upon the third chapter of St. John’s Gospel and the first nine verses, containing the conference between Nicodemus and our Lord Jesus Christ. I do not intend to give any larger account of his sermon than just to say, he showed what regeneration was not, but more particularly what it was. The word was armed with power to me. I was convinced I had never experienced the great change; I saw the necessity of it, and that without it I should be miserable to all eternity. When the service was over I came home with my master and schoolfellows, but I think it was with great difficulty that I could refrain from tears in going along the streets. When at home, I retired into my chamber, upon my knees, there to give vent to my tears, and prayed, if I could pray, that I might be born again. I felt that I was a lost creature.... My soul was now all on fire for the preaching of the word, and about three of my schoolfellows got together after school, in our room, and read the New Testament. The Gospel according to John wrought most upon me, but chiefly the eight or nine last chapters; these I read over and over privately to myself. I, with some others who were most affected, were ready to break through the rules of decency and good manners to hear but a single word concerning salvation. I well remember that whenever Mr. Madan came to Mr. Wells’s, as he commonly did two or three times a week (Mr. Wells being the only religious person that he and his brethren were conversant with in Cheltenham), if we could obtain the knowledge of it, we should immediately run down from school; and happiest was he who could obtain the keyhole to hear the conversation.”
Mr. Madan appears to have continued at Cheltenham some considerable length of time, making frequent excursions to various parts of Gloucestershire and Warwickshire, and had the satisfaction of seeing his labours blessed. Encouraged by the success he had met with, he now made application for the use of the parish church for a week-day sermon, which he soon obtained through the interest of Lord Apsley, to whom he was chaplain, and who was at this time a visitor at Cheltenham. As soon as he had accomplished this object he wrote to inform Mr. Whitefield, from whom he shortly after received the following reply, dated London, Nov. 3, 1757:--
“Your kind letter was very acceptable. Ere now, I trust, the Redeemer hath given you the prospect of the barren wilderness being turned to a fruitful field. Never fear; Jesus will delight to honour you. Every clergyman’s name is Legion. Two more are lately ordained.
“Satan lets and men object, Yet the thing they thwart effect. Thoughts are vain against the Lord-- All subserves his standing word; Wheels encircling wheels must run, Each in course, to bring it on.
“You need not remind me of praying for the noble pair; surely they are not to be prisoners another winter. The kingdom of God suffereth violence; and really if we would take it by force, we must do violence to our softest passions, and be content to be esteemed unkind by those whose idols we once were. This is hard work; but, Abba, Father, all things are possible with thee! Blessed be God for putting it into your heart to ask the pulpit for a week-day sermon. Are we not commanded to be instant in season and out of season? If dear Mrs. Madan will take my word for it, I will be answerable for your health. The joy resulting from doing good will be a continual feast. God knows how long our time of working may last. This order undoes us. As affairs now stand, we must be disorderly or useless. O for more labourers! Go on, my dear Sir, and tell a sinful nation that sin and unbelief are the accursed things which prevent success. Thus, at least, we shall deliver our own souls, and be free from the blood of all men. But I forget; I suppose you are preparing for the pulpit: I dare not detain you. My best respects await Mrs. Madan; your mother is well. That you may return to London in all the fulness of the blessings of the Gospel of Christ is and shall be the prayer of, dear Sir, yours, &c.,
“G. WHITEFIELD.”
In a letter to Mr. Wesley, Mr. Madan speaks thus of Lord and Lady Dartmouth, whose conduct in opening their house for the preaching of the Gospel at Cheltenham rendered them extremely conspicuous:--
“I have been this month (says he) at Cheltenham to drink the waters, and have preached every Sunday. Some of the company are much offended--others very thankful: the poor people of the place are very desirous to hear, and those of all persuasions flock to hear the word of life. Last time the Quakers and Baptists made no inconsiderable part of the congregation; and this confirms me in an opinion I have long had, that if the truth was preached in the Church, few, if any, would separate from it.
“Lord and Lady Dartmouth are here; we pass much time together: and I have daily more and more reason to rejoice before God in their behalf; all prejudice is taken out of their hearts, and I verily believe their delight is in the saints that are upon the earth, and in such as exceed in virtue, without any party spirit, in narrowing their affection towards any of their brethren in Christ Jesus upon account of any outward difference. O, Sir, how extraordinary it is to see people of their rank, youth, and property, joined by every qualification and endowment of mind and body which can make them amiable in the eyes of the world, desiring to become yet more vile for Christ’s sake--to see them breathing after inward holiness, as the hart panteth after the water-brooks! Surely nothing less than Almighty power could effect this. I trust you will remember both them and me in your prayers, that we may not stop short of the crown and prize.”
By the labours of these eminent persons considerable attention was excited to the subject of religion in this resort of fashion and dissipation. Lady Huntingdon also frequently visited Cheltenham, and her active spirit diffused there, as in every other place, the savour of that name which she loved. On one of her visits to Cheltenham her Ladyship writes thus:--
“I sincerely hope that I may he enabled to pay much attention to this interesting field of labour. There is certainly an incorrigible apathy prevalent amongst the gay who frequent this place, and it is difficult to prevail upon them to attend the faithful preaching of the truth as it is in Jesus. Nevertheless, much good has been done, and not a few have given manifest proofs of the reality of their conversion to God, and of their love to his ways. Over such we do and will rejoice as the fruits of our humble efforts. Lord, give us the spirit of ardent labour and of patient faith; for ‘neither is he that planteth anything, neither is he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.’ To his name, then, be all the glory.”
Some time after her Ladyship’s college was established at Trevecca, at the particular request of some of the leading members in the Gloucestershire Association, she sent some of the students to Cheltenham: those who laboured there and in other parts of Gloucestershire were Messrs. Matthew and Mark Wilks, Boddily, Richardson, Honeywell, Shenstone, and Brewer. Mr. Shenstone, having adopted some opinions on the subject of infant baptism, drew away many of the congregation, and acted in other respects so as to displease his kind patroness and supporter. Many disagreeable circumstances arising from some improper interference with the students, her Ladyship wrote to Mr. Whitefield’s old friend, Gabriel Harris, Esq., one of the aldermen of Gloucester, giving an ample detail of her proceedings. This was in September, 1781:--
“My dear Sir--You will find by this how much I feel obliged by taking your word, but before I have done I fear your patience will be proved. My present difficulties oblige my confidence in you, hoping to prevent any perplexities by so judicious a friend, and that in the course which I account my only happiness on earth. Your good opinion of Mr. Hogg, and your long acquaintance with him, renders your access easy and natural to find out matters so dark and obscure, as well as extremely distressing to me. In March last I had a letter from Mr. Butler, one of the principals in the Gloucestershire Connexion, earnestly requesting me to take the chapel at Cheltenham into my hands, as they had no ministers for it. I had no great ease upon my mind on the subject, from the delicacy of appearing in so wrong and unfaithful a light as entering into others’ labours. I got Mr. Groves (one that often preaches for them) to write me word if it was the united desire of the managers; to which, by letter, he replied in the affirmative. I then sent the student I believe best calculated for that service. Mr. Hogg wrote me the most thankful and Christian letter on the occasion. Very soon after this ---- met with some of my students in our work in various parts of Wiltshire, and told them that the old man intended seducing the students I had sent to Cheltenham; and in consequence of this the Wiltshire student, a very honest young man, shocked at the duplicity that did appear in this matter, came over to inform me of it. I said I could not give credit to anything so unworthy; but as he seemed so uneasy, being a student himself, and liable to much reflection upon himself by any suspicion, I advised him, as he heard this said, to go, as from himself, to the old man, and ask if there was any truth in it. He went directly from Bath (where I then was) and opened the matter. They positively declared such a thing never entered into their thoughts; and after, he went to his brother student at Cheltenham, who had not been (of his four years) but one year and a half. He also denied the thought. At this very time the acceptance of another student serving our work in Staffordshire was transacting, and a letter was found by the master of the college, with directions for him to go and settle at Wootton-under-Edge. I called on Mr. Hogg on my way here, and had the most Christian and friendly reception. He wanted me to go to Rodborough; but I on no account could do this, and gently said, ‘I don’t approve your ministers;’ and that day I first heard that the student had arrived there from my college. I let all pass, and coming home, found that student gone, after labouring to divide and bring all confusion into the college. I wrote to the Cheltenham student (Shenstone) to order him to France, as having a more able one to employ while the company was there. But he sent him back, and said he would not go. I then repeated my orders to both to change, and the France student went to Cheltenham; and again Shenstone said he would not stir, sent his horse home to the college, and refused even answering my letter. In this situation I am. They want me to be angry and to turn him off, and so charge all this on me, in order to have him leave me with appearance of some face of justice; and I am bound to conclude they will take back Cheltenham, and fix that student there. Their whole connexion of preachers are those who have broken through every tie that could hold an honest man in order. You may enquire this most fully after them. This conduct I abhor, of entering into those blessed men’s labours, and trying to bring every scandal upon the best of men, who for near forty years I have known, loved, and honoured, for the most disinterested services I have yet known in the world or Church either. The point is now to seduce away, by any means, those whom I, at much expense, labour, and care for the poorest, and with the Lord’s blessing, have maintained. After a year or two their gifts appear, and, while honest and simple, are useful--these are the objects, as you see above, and by these to raise a connexion to oppose and distress me. Four years is their absolute engagement to labour in the place; those from under my roof, * * * * they get as they can, without the least information or the smallest civility to me. This is the hopeful state of the Gloucestershire Connexion. The good old man Hogg desired peace and union with me from his heart; but still truant principles rule; I may be silent, but never will approve. I send you articles of agreement under the strictest equity I know. The wicked and most shameful confusion they have made in Wales must be no longer continued; the Spirit of God must be in all righteousness, goodness, and truth: the divisions and distractions occasioned in God’s Church by those, prove this is not their guide; and no peace can be made with my dear Welsh friends and me but what has this for the foundation. ---- has been in London to offer peace, and wanted to preach in our large congregation, and by getting in, bring nothing but division. I have avoided this with him, but upon these conditions, viz., that the Welsh work be instantly returned to the association, and that my own ministers must have the lead through all the work. There are nine or ten of the first clergymen in this nation for abilities, disinterestedness, gifts, and grace; and had their eyes been single they would have rejoiced in these, in the room of such poor runaway boys as they only employ among them.
“Matters go on ill in dear Mr. Whitefield’s places, and you must judge, when the good old men drop in Gloucestershire, what these poor honest souls must be left to, and which I have some reason to believe does distress their poor old hearts. My intention by this (trusting on your fidelity) is to come to these close quarters of conscience with Hogg--how receiving these men can be consistent with common justice, and if he thinks such who have acted so unfaithfully can be good men, or men fit to be trusted with the souls of simple, honest people? Take notice, I mention this to prevent future robbery; as our work is so immense, we want all hands that appear fit to be sent, and such reproach brought upon the college by all honest men by this means, that makes my heart ache, and often makes me, like him under the juniper tree, say, ‘It is better for me to die;’ but strength comes for the next day of trial, and hitherto the Lord Jesus has kept my poor unworthy soul in his hands, and my weak, foolish, and blundering labours as my only honour and happiness through all in his dear divine services. Could any further proceedings for such barefaced wrong be prevented, and I serve them on any occasion, as a truly disinterested friend for the Lord’s sake, I can say my heart is ready; but to be the dupe for such evil practices I must make great distance and silence my point, ever wishing to do my worst enemy any possible good, so it does not essentially affect those my honour and justice oblige me to defend. Perfect harmony and the most astonishing success now follow our disinterested labours over England and Wales; and unless this point is universally carried through by all, I would suffer death rather than one dying moment should convince me any part of my life had another meaning. I know your love and faithful regard to dear Mr. Whitefield would make you feel for these miserable threatenings. You will be sure unceasing difficulties to me must arise did any know of my communicating this to you--but you must assert the facts without my name on any account; and if a possible evil can be avoided for the future by your means, I am sure you will rejoice. I should just mention ----’s conduct previous to this, in taking possession of two congregations the college had laboured in and raised to me, at my great expense; and trying every means to reflect and bring disgrace upon us all, by trying to divide my friends from me, and so taking us all up, at times, as his merry Andrews, into the pulpit, and leaving a bitter sting, as far as he could, through his evil jokes. All this, though not fair or upright, I should have so far despised as, for peace’ sake, to have passed over; but it is the worm that yet lies at the bottom of the gourd in Wales, that no honest conscience can put up with, that staggers all within me, knowing the whole of this by the friends departed from the association to me, with all particulars--ministers, and the true trustees for the place they possess.
“Boddily and Brewer have written to me very lately, as wishing to give me no offence, and they have all my good wishes for them. As I mean to hurt none by this, but save the cause from offence, and to prevent the ruin of young men ignorant of the world, and drawn in thus to their destruction, this is also due from me by a means that cannot hurt the worst, and on this account I could wish, on your being fully apprised of these my simple and honest wishes, to prevent this falling into any hands whatsoever, you would burn it. I am tired with thinking I tire so severely my kind and worthy friend; but in this most faithful relation my heart seems relieved, knowing that a single meaning to hurt any creature is not intended by me, but one single desire to prevent the evil of all, and the honour of our blessed Lord’s Church among all his servants. The very, very meanest and least he ever had, is, ever dear Sir, your truly faithful and ever obliged friend,
“S. HUNTINGDON.
“P.S.--Let me hear soon that you have received this.
“The articles intended to be proposed, and which never were, I sent you; but since the proposals for peace were sent from Mr. Keene and Mr. Hill, in London, I could not abide by them universally, yet partially they might be considered as having some utility in them.”[224]
At length the differences and divisions became so disagreeable that Lady Huntingdon determined on giving up Cheltenham altogether, and accordingly wrote to Mr. Brewer to that effect. Her letter is dated from Trevecca, February 10th, 1782:--
“Mr. Brewer--Your principal situation in the Rodborough Connexion obliges me to give you this trouble. You must be well acquainted that at the request of others, and Mr. Butler in particular, I undertook the services at Cheltenham, by no means my choice, and that lest difficulties might arise in its being in the midst of another Connexion, which I had never for a moment interfered with, and so produce some consequences wherein peace, the bond of all union, might in the end be miserably wanting. The friendly appearances in this matter made me glad at length to give any assistance, and I appointed one of my students, Mr. Shenstone, a sober and serious young man, who had long been ill at the college, hoping that the poor might be profited by his labours and his health restored: in the last it proved successful, but his whole conduct so reversed the meaning of this college that I never mean to admit of his return here or to labour in any part of this Connexion. I am obliged to be thus explicit, as he has taken the liberty to order my student at Worcester to change with him, while his own unfaithful practice regarded no orders given to himself. This, with various other instances of insolence most unfit for his own character, and that while under obligations of his own making, and even quite unsought by me, renders him the last kind of disposition I can hope any good from myself, or recommend to others as a minister of that Gospel which is in all truth and righteousness. The warning I had of the intended imposition relative to Cheltenham I gave no credit to, though now too clearly explained by the event; as I had supposed it impossible that honest men, fearing God, could mean to act so deceitfully by one kindly disposed to serve them, and never having given them any offence, so on that account I could not look to the warmth of any personal resentment for the possible cause. The whole of this affair obliges me to give up Cheltenham for any future care under this Connexion. Should the united ill-usage of the managers have been occasioned by Shenstone’s intended views of being joined with them, the end is now most certainly obtained, yet on both sides most unworthy of honest men. I wish them all every blessing connected for the future with the most upright conduct towards God and man; but I am truly glad they are freed from one they could use so ill, and adding this satisfaction to them, of being sure of my never, on any occasion, troubling them for one moment in future. Nevertheless, the Judge of the whole earth will do right; and they must bear their burdens, whosoever they be.
“As I never heard you were concerned in this affair, and believing you a faithful servant of God, I thought you most proper to give this information to the managers, Shenstone and Ballinger, at Cheltenham; praying God a thousand-fold of blessings may arise to the succeeding trust of that very important stand for the Gospel, and most faithfully and earnestly requesting every increasing honour upon your judicious and upright services in the Church of Christ, and wherein you may be eminently owned by the Lord in bringing glory to his name, and abounding joy and peace to your own soul. Live in peace, and the God of peace shall be with you. This is my motto, as far as lies in us to maintain; and when this disposition is wanting, distance and silence may remain the next best fruit of divine charity to our worst enemies.
“Blessed be God, the offence of the cross does not sever us from the world with so many threatenings, but love and harmony unite us to each other. I am, Mr. Brewer, with great regard and respect to your character, your much obliged and faithful friend,
“S. HUNTINGDON.
“P.S.--I hope to give you pleasure by assuring you your honest porter promises well, and I hope you will have great cause to rejoice in future for your recommendation.”
Thus, by the conduct of Mr. Shenstone, Lady Huntingdon was induced to withdraw her valuable assistance from Cheltenham; and the narrow, confined views of this gentleman ended in establishing a small Baptist congregation, which, with a still smaller one, belonging to the Wesleyan Methodists, and the parish church, constituted all the places of worship at that time in the town--a poor provision for the accommodation of a place containing three thousand resident inhabitants, and which was the annual resort of many thousand persons, who visited it for the benefit of the waters. For a number of years the town continued increasing, and while Christians of various denominations felt the inconveniency of having no place of worship suited to their wishes, those which existed were not capable of holding all that were disposed to attend.[225]
Lady Huntingdon’s attention was now directed to Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, where a spirit of religious enquiry continued to increase. This was not only apparent from the numbers who attended the ministry of Mr. Andrews, and of those ministers who occasionally visited Gloucester, but in the deep seriousness which they manifested while sitting under the word. The labours of Mr. Alderman Harris had been abundantly blessed. Through evil report and through good, this excellent man held on the unvarying tenor of his way, and many, by his instrumentality, experienced the grace of God in truth.
On Lady Huntingdon’s visit to Gloucester she was accompanied by Mr. Shirley and Mr. Rowlands, both of whom preached several times in the pulpits of the Established Church. A chapel was afterwards erected, and supplied by the ministers and students in the Connexion. The late Mr. Thorne, who had his education at Trevecca, was for many years the resident minister at Gloucester. From Gloucester, Lady Huntingdon, and the clergymen who accompanied her, proceeded to Worcester--
“Where (says her Ladyship) we have full employment in ministering to a people not unwilling to hear the Gospel. The labours of Mr. Glascott, Mr. Venn, and others, have excited a disposition among the inhabitants of this city to attend to the things which belong to their peace. Nearly two hundred persons have been united in religious society, many of whom have given decisive proofs of their conversion to God, and are encouraging rewards of our disinterested labours for our great and gracious Master. To spread the knowledge of his blessed name amongst those who knew not God has been my chief desire for many years; and I think that desire has suffered no diminution, but rather gained strength, since I left Bath; and my daily prayers and exertions are made with a view to an increased ability to afford my fellow-sinners all the blessings connected with that unspeakably precious Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation.”
The vigorous and well-directed efforts of her Ladyship, and the powerful preaching of Mr. Shirley and Mr. Rowlands, excited an interest so lively and extensive, that her Ladyship was solicited by a considerable number of persons to erect a chapel for the preaching of that Gospel which they could not hear within the walls of their parish churches. To this request she readily yielded, and the necessary steps for this purpose were taken without delay.
“Thus have I been called (observes her Ladyship) to erect another chapel for the service of the living God. May He deign to bless it, and cause the cloud of his gracious presence to rest upon it! It is his work; I can only plant: his Holy Spirit will water, and give the increase. I leave all events with him. Great difficulties and discouragements attend every effort to spread the knowledge of divine truth; but those who labour with me have been taught to feel that it is not by might, nor by power, and that nothing short of the vital energy of the Holy Ghost can give success to the preaching of the Gospel.”
About the year 1771 a chapel was erected in Bridport-street, partly by subscription, and the interest of the remaining debt was paid by Lady Huntingdon till the congregation was enabled to liquidate the whole. This chapel was opened by the Hon. and Rev. Walter Shirley, in 1773.
“It will afford you unspeakable pleasure (writes Lady Huntingdon) to hear of the amazing success which hath attended our labours at Worcester. The chapel was crowded, and multitudes went away unable to gain admittance. We had a glorious display of the power and grace of our adorable Immanuel, and dear Mr. Shirley was enabled to testify of the salvation which is provided for the guilty and the lost with great boldness and fidelity. I know not which way to turn, I have so many applications from the people in various parts of the kingdom for more labourers. Pray mightily to the Lord to send forth a host of holy devoted souls to proclaim the glory of his righteousness and blood to an unbelieving and degenerate world. I feel that if I had a thousand worlds and a thousand lives, through grace assisting, that dear Lamb of God, my best, my eternal, my only Friend, should have all devoted to his service and glory. O pray for me, that I may be more extensively useful in promoting the extension of his kingdom upon earth, for it is matter of unceasing grief that I have done so little for so good a Master.”
For several years the chapel continued to be supplied by the students from Trevecca, amongst whom we find the names of Green, Hayes, English, Jones, Merror, Winkworth, Newel, and French. The congregation having increased, it was determined, in 1804, that this chapel should be taken down, and a more capacious one erected on its site, capable of containing about a thousand persons. It was opened by the Rev. John Brown, of Cheltenham. Under the ministry of the respected pastor, the Rev. Edward Lake, the Lord “added to the Church,” and the chapel became so thronged by the increasing congregation, as to render it necessary to make considerable enlargement. On the completion of these alterations, in 1815, the chapel was re-opened by the Rev. Rowland Hill. The building, which is capable of containing more than 1,500 persons, was soon well filled by an overflowing congregation. Attached to the chapel are Sunday-schools, first established by the Rev. Mr. Harris, in 1791. They were regulated and re-organized in 1799, by the late Rev. Robert Bradley, of Manchester; and there are now ten schools in the city and suburbs belonging to the chapel, and nine in the villages. The number of children under instruction is about twelve hundred. The whole of the teachers act gratuitously in this important sphere of labour.
Several schools in the western part of the county, bordering on Herefordshire, were taught and supported by the congregation at Lady Huntingdon’s chapel; but as there are three chapels now erected, whose congregations support their own schools, they are not numbered among the children of her Ladyship’s chapel at Worcester. There are also nine stations in the country, at various distances from the city, for village preaching, which are rendered a great blessing to many, the power of the Holy Ghost having evidently accompanied the simple declaration of the truths of the everlasting Gospel.
Chapter XXVI
Chapel at Bath--Pope, the Poet--Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester--Lady Fanny Shirley--Charles Wesley--John Wesley--Beau Nash--Anecdote--Mr. Hervey--Methodist Conference--Mr. Larwood--Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury--Dr. Doddridge--Hon. Mrs. Scawen--Mr. Cruttenden--Mr. Neal--Dr. Doddridge visits Bristol--Visits Lady Huntingdon at Bath--Anecdote--Dr. Oliver--Dr. Hartley--Prior Park--Death of Dr. Doddridge--Mrs. Grinfield--The Moravians--Count Zinzendorff--Elizabeth King--Lady Gertrude Hotham--Death of Miss Hotham--Marriage of Sir Charles Hotham--Death of his Lady--His own Decease--Death of his Mother, Lady Gertrude--Mr. Theophilus Lindsay--Mrs. Brewer--Lord Huntingdon and Mr. Grimshaw--Lord Chesterfield and Mr. Stanhope--Countess of Moira--Mrs. Carteret and Mrs. Cavendish--Countess Delitz--Lady Chesterfield--Earl of Bath--Lord Cork--Anecdote of George II.
The frequent visits of Lady Huntingdon to Bath, during a period of twenty-five years prior to the opening of her chapel in that city, were attended with the happiest results. Wherever she went she invariably produced an extraordinary degree of attention to religious subjects. Her Ladyship’s character[226] was in many respects new. There was a publicity in her religion which no other, Dissenter, Puritan, Churchman, or Reformer, had ever displayed, at least since the Reformation. Wherever she was, and in whatever company, her conversation was on religion, in which there was this peculiarity, that she spoke of the sins and errors of her former life, her conversion to God, the alteration in her heart and conduct; and she plainly said to all, it was absolutely necessary that the same change should take place in them, if they would have any hope in death. What an innumerable multitude will have abundant cause to bless God to all eternity on her account, as the honoured instrument in his hands of leading them to a saving acquaintance with the truth as it is in Jesus. The means on which she chiefly relied in this good work was the erecting of numerous chapels, where the glad tidings of a free and full salvation, suited to the wants and necessities of the ruined, the vilest, and most abject of the human race, have been, and still continue to be, faithfully proclaimed; whereby many outcasts and wanderers have been brought back to the fold of the Great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls.
Towards the close of the year 1739, the Earl of Huntingdon, who had been much indisposed during the summer, had been recommended to use the Bath waters. One of his friends, the late Mr. Allen, then resided at Widcombe, where Pope (the poet) and Dr. Warburton (afterwards Bishop of Gloucester) were on a visit.[227] In the society of these distinguished men[228] Lady Huntingdon enjoyed many opportunities of advancing the interests of true religion, which she uniformly embraced with all the ardour of a newly-awakened convert, and with that energy and talent which she so remarkably possessed. The bigoted and intolerant Warburton took every occasion to rally her Ladyship on her newly-adopted sentiments, and, with his characteristic rudeness, pronounced her an incurable enthusiast; for with him all personal experience of a divine witness, by the Spirit of God, in the heart was rank enthusiasm: and this Lady Huntingdon maintained as the essence of truth and Christianity. She pleaded for the application and enjoyment of divine truth in the conscience; Warburton for bishops, priests, and deacons, and the two sacraments of sacerdotal administration, as essential to the being of a Christian. Through life this singular man was strongly prejudiced against, and warmly opposed and censured, both the principles and people that Lady Huntingdon honoured and respected, and on numberless occasions manifested an undeviating opposition, contempt of, and endeavour to suppress, what he was pleased to style Methodism, which he abhorred, but which her Ladyship loved and vindicated--even that true, spiritual, experimental religion that is really felt in the heart, and acknowledged to be the work of the Holy Ghost, illuminating, converting, and comforting the chosen people of God.
Mr. Charles Wesley was at Bath,[230] but meeting great opposition, preached only once or twice. Lady Huntingdon, however, attended his preaching at Bristol, Bradford, and other places, where he was heard by thousands. The ridicule of Warburton was ever ready to encounter her Ladyship on her return from these excursions.
In the year 1745 the second Methodist Conference was held in Bristol. Besides Messrs. John and Charles Wesley, there were present the Rev. John Hodges, rector of Wenvo, and seven travelling preachers--Thomas Richards, Samuel Larwood,[231] Thomas Meyrick, James Wheatley,[232] Richard Moss, John Slocombe,[233] and Herbert Jenkins.[234] Lady Huntingdon was then at Clifton, and formed an acquaintance with several of these apostolic labourers, some of whom, particularly Messrs. Richards, Meyrick, and Moss, she invited to Bath, whither she went for a short period. The preaching of these men of God was attended by a divine power, and many in the middling and inferior classes of society, as well as some in the more refined circles, became the “seals of their apostleship in the Lord.”[235]
In 1747, Lady Huntingdon again visited Bath, for the benefit of her health. Previous to her Ladyship leaving London she called on Dr. Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury; and as he was then in his seventy-fifth year, and in a declining state, her Ladyship, with the utmost tenderness and fidelity, spoke of the near approach of that last solemn event which would terminate all earthly friendships. He appeared sensibly affected, and at parting, took her Ladyship’s hand, and said, with great earnestness, “May the Lord God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob bless thee!” For many years she enjoyed the friendship of this learned divine, who succeeded Dr. Wake in the see of Canterbury, which high and important office he supported with much dignity for a period of ten years. When Bishop of Oxford he had an opportunity of witnessing the rise of Methodism in the University; and afterwards ordained the Messrs. Wesley, Ingham, Hervey, Broughton, Clayton, Kinchin, &c., the first members of that society. On one occasion he treated Mr. Charles Wesley with great severity; but towards the close of life his sentiments respecting the Methodists seem to have undergone a more favourable change; his long intimacy with Lady Huntingdon may have contributed to this end. On the death of Lord Huntingdon, he visited her frequently, and always treated her with parental tenderness. Not long after her Ladyship left London for Bath, his Grace was seized with an alarming illness, from which he never entirely recovered. The last act of his life was writing the following note to her Ladyship, on the 10th of October, 1747:--
“Dear Madam--I have been very well since I last saw you. I hope soon to hear from you, that your health is better for your being at Bath. Continue to pray for me until we meet in that place where our joy shall be complete. I am, as ever, your affectionate friend,
“JOHN CANTUAR.”
After his Grace had written the above, he was walking with it to his scrutoire, and (as his son, Mr. Potter, acquainted Lady Huntingdon), being seized with a sudden syncope, dropped upon the floor, and expired with the letter in his hand!
Lady Huntingdon was again in Bath in 1750. At this period she was extremely ill, and serious apprehensions were entertained for her life. At the close of a letter from Mr. Hervey to the Rev. Moses Browne, afterwards vicar of Olney, dated December 22, 1750, he enquires--
“What account can you give of Lady Huntingdon’s health? Never, never will the physician’s skill be employed for the lengthening of a more valuable life. May Almighty goodness bless those prescriptions, and command her constitution and our zeal to flourish!”
Dr. Doddridge, in a letter to his correspondent, the Rev. Mr. Wood, of Norwich, dated about the same time, says--“Dear Lady Huntingdon is in a very declining way. Pray devoutly for her important life.”[236] From a letter written by the Duchess of Somerset, better known to the world as the Countess of Hertford, to the Rev. Theophilus Lindsay, dated Percy Lodge, July 9th, 1751, we learn that Lady Huntingdon’s health had by that time considerably improved--“I have had no letter from Lady Huntingdon (says the Duchess), but I hear she is at Cheltenham, and pretty well.” In a subsequent letter from the Duchess of Somerset we find Lady Huntingdon had returned to Bath in the month of August, or beginning of September. Her Grace writes--
“I have had a very agreeable letter last week from Dr. Oliver, who tells me that Lady Huntingdon is pretty well, and much employed in attending Dr. Doddridge, who is in a deep consumption at Bath, but is to set out in a few days, in order to embark at Falmouth, for Lisbon, from whence, it is Dr. Oliver’s opinion, he will never return.”[237]
The consumptive disease under which Dr. Doddridge had long suffered now began to make more rapid progress. His health declined so fast that his excellent physician, Dr. Stonhouse,[238] recommended him a voyage to Lisbon. He had been at Shrewsbury for some time, for the benefit of air, exercise, and an entire cessation from business and company. From thence he proceeded to Bristol, where he remained several weeks, during which period he received numerous letters of condolence from his friends, filled with anxious enquiries after the state of his health. The letters of Lady Huntingdon, the Honourable Mrs. Scawen,[239] Robert Cruttenden, Esq.,[240] Nathaniel Neale, Esq.,[241] and Lord Lyttleton, were peculiarly interesting and affectionate, from the friendship expressed in them, and the divine consolations which they administered.
The worthy Doctor hesitated to take the journey to Portugal, lest the necessary expense should injure his family; but Lady Huntingdon, with that noble generosity which so distinguished her character, contributed the sum of one hundred pounds; and her liberality did not stop here, for with the assistance of Lady Chesterfield, Lady Fanny Shirley, Lord Lyttleton, Lord Bath, and a few others amongst the nobility, she gathered a sum of about three hundred pounds, which she placed in the hands of Mrs. Doddridge.
“Words (says her Ladyship) cannot express the gratitude and thankfulness with which dear Mrs. Doddridge accepted the contributions which I was enabled to collect. I felt grateful to God that he enabled me thus, in a trifling degree, to administer to the external comfort of one of his dear servants. Less than the least, I feel humbled before him for this instance of his goodness, in making me instrumental of any benefit to the saints that are upon the earth. The Lord disposed my heart to add one hundred pounds to the benefactions of dear Lady Chesterfield, Lady Fanny, Lord Lyttleton, and Lord Bath, making a total of nearly three hundred; which, with that Mr. Neale and his friends amongst the Dissenters may collect, will, I hope, be of essential service in procuring him every comfort which his almost helpless state requires.”
Accordingly, on the 17th of September, Dr. Doddridge left Bristol, and, on his arrival in Bath, became the guest of Lady Huntingdon, until the period of his departure for Falmouth. In the morning of the day on which he set out from Bath to Falmouth, Lady Huntingdon came into the room, and found him weeping over that passage in Daniel ix. 11, 12, “Daniel, a man greatly beloved,” &c. “You are in tears, Sir,” said Lady Huntingdon. “I am weeping, Madam (answered the Doctor), but they are tears of comfort and joy; I can give up my country, my relations, my friends, into the hands of God; and, as to myself, I can as well go to heaven from Lisbon, as from my own study at Northampton.”
Dr. Oliver, Mr. Allen, Pope, and Dr. Warburton, testified their regard for Dr. Doddridge at this period. Between Warburton and Doddridge long and intimate friendship existed, and much of the correspondence between them has been preserved in Nichols’s “Literary Anecdotes,” and the “Diary and Correspondence of Dr. Doddridge,” lately published. In the last letter which he wrote, that worthy and amiable man, whilst at the Hot-wells for the benefit of the waters, says:--
“Your kind letter gave me, and will give Mr. Allen,[242] great concern; but for ourselves, and not for you, death, whenever it happens, in a life spent like yours, is to be envied, not pitied; and you will have the prayers of your friends, as conquerors have the shouts of the crowd. God preserve you, if he continues you here to go on in his service; if he takes you to himself, to be crowned with glory, be assured the memory of our friendship will be as durable as my life.”
Warburton visited Lady Huntingdon while Dr. Doddridge was her guest, and in the presence of Dr. Oliver and Dr. Hartley, author of “Observations on Man,” rated her Ladyship and Doddridge about enthusiasm. On another occasion, when Lady Huntingdon dined at Prior Park, the subject of conversation happening to turn on Mr. Whitefield, who had just then embarked for America, Dr. Hartley[243] spoke of his abilities with admiration, and of his doctrines with respect. “Of his oratorical powers (said Warburton), and their astonishing influence on the minds of thousands, there can be no doubt--they are of a high order; but with respect to his doctrines, I consider them pernicious and false.” A very animated and interesting debate took place, in the course of which Dr. Hartley ably defended Mr. Whitefield against the unjustifiable aspersions of his unreasonable antagonist, and proved the uniformity of his doctrines with the articles and formularies of the Established Church, and their accordance with the Confessions of Faith of all the Reformed Churches in Christendom. In this sentiment Lady Huntingdon, Dr. Oliver,[244] and Mr. Allen concurred. Warburton’s irascibility and unappeasable malignity to what he denominated Methodism could not endure this, and he hastily left the apartment.
On the 30th of September, Dr. Doddridge embarked at Falmouth, and landed at Lisbon on the 13th of October. A few days after his departure from Bath, Lady Huntingdon writes thus concerning him:--
“Our dear and much-loved Doddridge has left us for Lisbon, and left us without the shadow of a hope of meeting again on this side eternity. May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ go with him, and abide with him to his journey’s end: and give him at last a triumphant entrance into his kingdom of eternal rest and glory, reserved for the people of his choice, the objects of his redeeming love and boundless mercy!”
Of the serene and happy state of the Doctor’s mind, in the prospect of approaching dissolution, the following extract from one of his letters, written during this solemn season, is a characteristic and instructive proof:--
“I see, indeed, no hope of recovery, yet my heart rejoiceth in my God and in my Saviour; and I can call Him, under this failure of everything else, its strength and everlasting portion. I must now thank you for your heart-reviving letter to strengthen my faith, to comfort my soul, and assist me in swallowing up death in victory! God hath indeed been wonderfully good to me; but I am less than the least of his mercies, less than the least hope of his children. Adored be his grace for whatever it hath wrought by me; and blessed be you of the Lord for the strong consolations you have been the instrument of administering. Let me desire you to write again, and to pour out your heart freely with all its strong cordial sentiments of Christianity; nothing will give me greater joy. What a friend you will be in heaven! How glad shall I be to welcome you there, after a long and glorious course of service, to increase the lustre of your crown! May you long shine with your light, warmth, and influence, like a sun upon the earth, when there remains not any united particles of that poor, wasting, sinking frame, which enables this immortal spirit to call itself your friend in everlasting bonds.”
The melancholy intelligence of his death was communicated by Dr. Stonhouse to Lady Huntingdon, than whom, in the extensive circle of his acquaintance, few had a warmer friendship for the Doctor, or more sincerely mourned his removal in the height of vigour, usefulness, and honour:--
“The death of my dear lamented Doddridge has affected my heart in a very uncommon manner, and I am often melted into tears when I reflect upon his unspeakable loss to the Church and the world. But all my murmurings are silenced by the voice of Him, in whose hands are the issues of life and death, and who hath said--‘Shall I not do what I will with my own?’ With my hand on my mouth, and my mouth in the dust, I desire to acquiesce in this divine prerogative to take and leave as seemeth good to him, crying from my heart, ‘Thy righteous will be done!’”
The remains of Dr. Doddridge were interred in the burying ground belonging to the British Factory at Lisbon; and a handsome monument was afterwards erected to his memory at Northampton, at the expense of the congregation, and an epitaph inscribed upon it, drawn up by his much-esteemed friend, Gilbert West, Esq., Clerk of the Privy Council, and nephew of Lord Viscount Cobham.
The latter end of May, 1752, found Lady Huntingdon again at Bath.
“May the waters (writes Mr. Whitefield) be abundantly blessed to the restoring of your bodily health, and may the comforts of the ever-living, ever-lovely Jesus fill and refresh your soul! I hope to see your Ladyship about the 24th of this month. Next week, God willing, I go to Portsmouth, and from thence to Bath. My body is much enfeebled, but the joy of the Lord is my strength. Hoping shortly to see your Ladyship prospering, both in soul and body, and begging a continual interest in your Ladyship’s prayers, I subscribe myself,” &c.
On the 22nd of June, Mr. Whitefield arrived in Bath, and continued with Lady Huntingdon about three weeks, preaching every evening to great numbers of the nobility. Here he first became acquainted with the late Mrs. Grinfield,[245] a lady who attended on Queen Caroline:--“One of Cæsar’s household (writes Mr. Whitefield) hath been lately awakened through her Ladyship’s instrumentality, and I hope others will meet with the like blessing.”
The dangerous illness of Mrs. Charles Wesley obliging Lady Huntingdon to remove to Bristol, Mrs. Grinfield returned to London to attend her duties at Court, and Mr. Whitefield to his usual occupation. In a few days he writes thus:--
“Yesterday morning I obeyed your Ladyship’s commands, and carried the enclosed to Mrs. Grinfield, at St. James’s palace. I was much satisfied with my visit, and am rejoiced to find that she seems resolved to show out at once. The Court, I believe, rings of her, and if she stands, I trust she will make a glorious martyr for her blessed Lord.”
In another letter he says:--
“Till Mrs. Grinfield can meet with company that is really in earnest, I think the closer she keeps to her God and her book the better. The Lord strengthen, stablish, and settle her in his ways and will!”
Now was the period of the Moravian controversy, to which we have alluded, and the result of which was to draw Mrs. Grinfield,[246] with Mr. Cennick and others, over to the Church of the United Brethren.
Mr. Whitefield wrote his remonstrance to the Count, Bishop of the United Church in England, and the Countess of Huntingdon’s part in the affair may be related in her own words. Count Zinzendorff paid her Ladyship a visit, and was received with the hospitality, dignity, and politeness due to a person of high distinction. Her Ladyship, with mingled tenderness and fidelity, remonstrated with the Count on the farrago of superstitious fopperies and shocking offences introduced by the leading brethren in London and other places, whereby hundreds of honest-hearted Christians were deluded and involved in unspeakable distress and anguish of mind.
“He heard my remonstrance with patience (says the Countess), and seemed much troubled when I mentioned the cases of those persons who have been involved in utter ruin by means of the brethren. I entered at some length into the superstitious horrors acted at Hatton-garden, and the evident impropriety of usurping an authority over the consciences and properties of the people. Our conference was long, and, as the Count honoured me with his company for a few days, was resumed at intervals, always closing with a solemn scriptural prayer to our great and glorious Head for the illuminating influences of his Spirit to guide us into all truth. We parted with the utmost cordiality. Dear Mr. Whitefield’s letter has much grieved the Count. But his remonstrance is faithful, and the awful exposures he has reluctantly been forced to make may be productive of the highest good in opening the eyes of many to the miserable delusions under which they lie.”
About this period the illness of one of her daughters obliged Lady Gertrude Hotham to remove to Bath. In the summer of 1755, Mr. Whitefield again visited that city, and preached frequently at the residence of Lady Gertrude. Lord Chesterfield and Mr. Stanhope, who had just then returned from the continent after a long absence, were on a visit to Lady Gertrude. Mrs. Bevan[247] and Mrs. Grinfield were also of the party; but the most interesting member of this remarkable circle was the young lady whose illness had brought Lady Gertrude and her friends to Bath. She was the eldest daughter, and had all her mother’s piety. When Lady Gertrude opened her house to the preaching of the Gospel, and when the house of Lady Huntingdon was a temple, at which the great were not ashamed to worship Christ, this young lady had been heartily awakened by the preaching of Mr. Whitefield.[248] Before the period of which we write she had long seemed to be preparing for that inheritance which was reserved for her in the courts above; but her friends had little expectation of the calm splendour of that closing scene which rendered her an example to the Church. A few days before her departure Mr. Whitefield visited her, at the particular request of Lady Gertrude. She had been prayed for very earnestly two days before at the administration of the sacrament at Lady Huntingdon’s, the preceding day at the administration of the same ordinance at Lady Fanny Shirley’s, and likewise, previous to his interview, in Lady Gertrude’s drawing-room, on which occasion her Ladyship, Sir Charles Hotham, the Misses Melisina and Gertrude Hotham, the Countess Delitz, Lady Fanny Shirley, and the attending domestics, were much affected with the awful and impressive solemnity of the scene. When Mr. Whitefield approached her bed-side, she seemed glad to see him, but requested he would speak and pray as softly as he could. She desired to keep her lying posture; “but I can rise to take physic (she exclaimed); why not to pray?” He conversed with her a little, during which she dropped some strong expressions about the depravity of her heart, the vanity of the world, and the littleness of every thing out of Christ. She appeared to speak out of the abundance of her heart, from a feeling sense of her own vileness. After prayer she seemed as though she felt things unutterable. Those about her wept for joy. A short time before her dissolution she declared to those around her dying bed, her peace and hope, and bore the strongest testimony to the faithfulness and love of God to her soul at that solemn season. She knew in whom she had believed; and her hope of eternal life, founded on the Rock of Ages, was an anchor to her soul, “both sure and steadfast.” Before the final struggle she affectionately embraced her whole family, and, with almost her last breath, assured her afflicted parent that she was quite free from pain or fear. In this peaceful state she took her leave of earthly scenes and entered into the joy of her Lord.[249]
In December, 1757, Lady Gertrude had the happiness of seeing her son, Sir Charles Hotham, married to an amiable and accomplished young lady, Miss Clara Anne Clutterbuck, daughter and heiress of Thos. Clutterbuck, Esq., of Mill-green, in Essex. Their union was but of short duration. In June, 1759, Lady Hotham was suddenly seized with a violent fever, which, in the course of a few days, terminated in death. This severe affliction, however, was the appointed means of leading Sir Charles to a deeper knowledge and experience of the truth as it is in Jesus. He had frequently heard Mr. Whitefield and other eminent ministers at his mother’s house in London and Bath, and had not drunk the poison of his uncle, Lord Chesterfield; yet he was not a decided character until he became a lonely widower. From that time he defied all the sneers of the Court, and dared to be “singularly good.”
Soon after the death of his lady, Sir Charles Hotham became Groom of the Bedchamber to George III., through the interest of his uncle, Lord Chesterfield; owing to his increased ill health, and being ordered change of air, he went to Germany in 1767, and in the same year died there, at a village near the Spa. This last stroke was a severe one to Lady Gertrude. She had already lost her hopes, and now her Isaac was called for, but in the trial she showed an Abraham’s faith and patience. The very evening after she received the intelligence of her melancholy loss, being alone and reading, she set fire to her ruffles, and the linen about her neck and head burnt so rapidly, that for fifteen days she was under means for her recovery. She would not suffer her friends to lament the accident, blamed herself for having been desirous of a speedy flight, or marking out the way to God. While Mr. Adair dressed her wounds, which daily occupied an hour and a half, she would speak of God’s mercies to her. The surgeon would say that her good life had merited heaven; but she, in holy indignation, would rouse her fainting spirits to reply, that there was no merit but in Christ Jesus, and that in his blood and righteousness were all her hopes. She called on her friends to bless God for her accident, and suffered the means of recovery to be taken with her only in the spirit of submission, lest it should be God’s will that she should live. For every nourishment afforded, she gave peculiar thanks, and on being directed to take some wine, she could not speak of its restoring influence without remembering that on his cross her Saviour was denied the kind indulgence then afforded her. A few minutes before her death her friends put some liquid in her mouth, and she, who had spoken little for three days, said, “Enough--happy--happy!” and one sigh set her spirit at liberty![250]
Sir Charles Hotham had been the intimate companion of the young Earl of Huntingdon, upon whom he had exerted some good influence, at least for a time. Mr. Whitefield, in a letter to Lady Fanny Shirley, says, in reference to the friendship of Sir Charles and her nephew, the Earl of Huntingdon--
“It will be pleasant to see Sir Charles and the Earl striving who shall go fastest to heaven. Your Ladyship will scorn to be outstripped by any. The Almighty God approves the ambition, and angels look down with pleasure to see the event. Blessed be God, that is certain. All believers here do run, and all hereafter shall obtain the prize.”
Unfortunately, the Earl of Huntingdon was not a Sir Charles Hotham. Little has ever been made known relative to this accomplished nobleman, the eldest and only surviving son of Lady Huntingdon. He was born in 1729, the memorable year in which Methodism took its rise at Oxford.
We have already spoken of his tour to France, and his introduction from his adopted father, Lord Chesterfield, formerly ambassador to that Court, to the celebrated Lady Hervey, mother of the excellent Lady Mary Fitzgerald, the friend and correspondent of Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Venn, Mr. Fletcher, and Mr. Wesley. When young, the public expectation was raised very high regarding him; and an ode was addressed to him by Dr. Mark Akenside, who, as the reader knows, had settled as a physician at Northampton, and was patronized by the Huntingdon family.
In November 1756, he was appointed Master of the Horse to George III., then Prince of Wales, who, succeeding to the crown October 25, 1760, continued his Lordship in that office, and nominated him one of the Privy Council in December following. His Lordship carried the Sword of State at his Majesty’s coronation, in 1761; and December 29th, the following year, was appointed Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and of the city of York and county of the same. At the baptism of Prince Frederick, his Majesty’s second son, on Wednesday evening, September 14, 1763, the Earl of Huntingdon, being then Groom of the Stole (which office he resigned in January, 1770), stood proxy for the Duke of York, one of the sponsors. His Lordship was also enrolled among the members of the Royal Society. He is said to have left his place at Court, and given up all employment, offended at being refused the Dukedom of Clarence, which he had claimed by hereditary right. Although his manners were much more like those of a foreigner than an Englishman (speaking French, Italian, and Spanish perfectly, with all the elegance of a foreign courtier), yet he never made a display of anything like superiority. It was impossible to be in his society without obtaining information, and he was equally polite to the wise and to the ignorant. His venerable mother, however, through a long life, had to mourn over the infidelity of her child, and the baseness of those principles which he had imbibed from Lord Chesterfield and Lord Bolingbroke.[251]
When Lady Huntingdon was in Yorkshire, Mr. Grimshaw, rector of Haworth, used to be much with her Ladyship, and had frequent arguments with Lord Huntingdon on the internal evidence of the Christian religion. On one occasion, after a discussion of this nature, Mr. Grimshaw, with the openness and frankness so characteristic of that apostolic labourer, told his Lordship “that the fault was not so much in his head as in his heart.” His Lordship was so much affected with this remark that he never encountered that antagonist again. So true it is that the most insurmountable, as well as the most usual, obstacle to our belief, arises from our passions, appetites, and interests; for faith being an act of the will as much as of the understanding, we more often disbelieve for want of inclination than for want of evidence.
Lord Huntingdon died before his venerable parent, October 2, 1789. He was unmarried, but left a natural son, Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Hastings, Bart. The barony of Hastings devolved on his sister, the Countess of Moira, but the Earldom remained unclaimed till January 14, 1819, when Hans Francis Hastings, son of Lieutenant-Colonel George Hastings, who had been educated at the sole expense of Theophilus, Earl of Huntingdon, was confirmed in his claim to the Earldom, and took his seat in the House of Peers as twelfth Earl of Huntingdon.
Lady Elizabeth Hastings, afterwards Countess of Moira, was the eldest daughter of Lady Huntingdon. In early life she was much admired at Court for her elegance of manners, her vivacity, and great abilities. She was appointed Lady of the Bedchamber to the Princesses Amelia and Caroline, sisters to George III., in March 1749, in the room of Lady Anne Montague, who resigned. Her Ladyship held the situation only a few months. Horace Walpole, afterwards Lord Orford, says, “The Queen of the Methodists got her daughter named for Lady of the Bedchamber to the Princesses; but it is all off again, as she will not let her play at cards on Sundays.” Whether this was the real cause we do not pretend to know; but she was shortly succeeded by a daughter of Earl Gower. Lady Elizabeth married, in 1752, John, first Earl of Moira, and on the decease of her brother, Francis, tenth Earl of Huntingdon, in 1789, carried the Baronies, by writ, Botreaux, Hungerford, Molines, and Hastings, to that family. Her grandson, George Augustus Francis, present Marquis of Hastings, married Barbara Gray de Ruthyn, heir to the whole blood of the Earls of Pembroke, and the elder branch of the house of Hastings. His infant son is heir to three noble families--namely, the Marquisate of Hastings, the Scotch Earldom of Loudon, and the Barony of Ruthyn. The Earl of Moira was Baron Rawdon at the period of his union with Lady Elizabeth Hastings. He was the cousin-german to Lady Huntingdon, and their marriage appears to have given her considerable satisfaction. Soon after the union, the Countess of Hertford, when writing to a friend, says--
“Lady Rawdon’s marriage has given unmingled satisfaction to all her family and friends, and Lady Huntingdon tells me she is extremely happy and contented. I rejoice at this, not only on her account, but on account of her worthy mother, who has certainly done her duty by her, and fulfilled her trust with the most scrupulous fidelity. Lady Selina (this letter was written before the death of that excellent young lady) is a great comfort to her, and is a most amiable, pious, and affectionate character. What an affliction is Lord Huntingdon’s dislike to religion! And what have not my Lords Chesterfield and Bolingbroke to answer for? But he is most attentive, respectful, and kind to Lady Huntingdon. This is some consolation; and we may hope that, in the course of time, her example, and the excellent advice which he has received, may have their full weight of influence on his character. He is a most interesting, elegant, and accomplished young nobleman, and very likely to make some figure in the world. He was much affected at the death of Miss Hotham, to whom he is said to have been greatly attached; but of this I cannot speak with any certainty, as Lady Huntingdon has never mentioned it to me.”
The writer of these pages was very intimate with Lady Moira after she had passed her seventieth year, and received from her many interesting particulars relative to her venerable mother. Her Ladyship always spoke of Lady Huntingdon with marked respect and affection. She frequently called attention to an original likeness of her Ladyship, which represents the Countess placing her foot on her coronet. This portrait must have been painted prior to the year 1773; for we find Horace Walpole, in one of his letters of that date, mentioning what he terms the “beatific print” of Lady Huntingdon, just then published, which was copied from it. Lady Moira was a great political character; she was a woman of exquisite taste, of extensive literary acquirements, and the patroness of all the literary geniuses of her day. Lord Moira died in 1793, and his Countess survived him till April 12, 1808. She was in her seventy-eighth year.
Among Lady Huntingdon’s visitors at Bath this season were Mrs. Carteret and Mrs. Cavendish, two sisters, allied to two of the noblest and most ancient families in England; they formed part of the great harvest collected at Lady Huntingdon’s house in London, having there first heard and received the Gospel in the light and in the love of it. Being women of rank and fortune, their influence was considerable, and many, by their instrumentality, were induced to attend Mr. Whitefield’s ministry. They united with Lady Huntingdon, Lady Gertrude Hotham, and the other “honourable women,” in their exertions to spread in the region around them the light of the Sun of Righteousness, and very many monuments remained of their successful labours. In the published correspondence of Mr. Fletcher, Mr. Berridge, and others, letters to these excellent women will be found. There is an interesting narrative of their dying experience in a volume of the “Christian Guardian,” in a letter addressed to their very dear and intimate friend, the ever-to-be-revered Lady Mary Fitzgerald, now united to them in glory. In their last illness they were frequently visited by Messrs. Romaine, Newton, Hill, Cecil, Foster, Jones (of Langan), Venn, and other eminent ministers of Christ. Two or three days before Mrs. Carteret’s death, her dear old friend, Mr. Venn, went in to look at her. She took hold of his hand, and prayed most earnestly that the Lord Jesus would blot out every spot of sin in his most precious blood, and clothe her in his most glorious righteousness, that therein her soul might be justified. These prayers she repeated again and again with great earnestness; they were prayers which received and embraced the promises, and, laying hold of them with a sure and certain hope, she rejoiced in a full salvation.
Mrs. Cavendish said, “It is enough--an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure--this is all my salvation, and all my desire.” Her favourite hymn, during the whole course of her illness, was the one commencing--
“There was a fountain filled,” &c.
They were removed hence within a short time of each other, to meet again in the kingdom of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. “They were lovely in their lives, and in their deaths were not divided.”
The Countess Delitz, one of the daughters of the Duchess of Kendal and the sister of Lady Chesterfield, was another gem of the same crown; and many of the letters of Mr. Whitefield to her Ladyship have been preserved in the collection published by his executors. The Countess was particularly intimate with Lady Fanny Shirley, and is frequently mentioned in the correspondence of Mr. Hervey with her Ladyship. She died in Chesterfield-street, May-fair, November 2, 1773.
Such were Mr. Whitefield’s trophies in the Chesterfield family. He won souls in it, upon the right hand and the left of the Earl; thus leaving him without excuse for his wilful blindness and obstinate rejection of divine truth: his Countess made a better choice.
Lady Chesterfield was a natural daughter of George I., and was created Countess of Walsingham and Baroness of Aldborough in her own right. Her mother was Melosina de Schulenberg, Duchess of Kendal, who died in 1743, when her title became extinct. Born to wealth, and allied to a rich and noble house, she was fitted to make a distinguished figure among the great, and to shine at Court. Her various accomplishments attracted general admiration; and she was for many years fascinated with the splendour and allurements of high life, which seemed to absorb all her thoughts and gratify her utmost wishes. But it pleased God to lead her to attend the preaching of Mr. Whitefield, at the Countess of Huntingdon’s house; and to convince her that no situation, however high and elevated, can secure to its possessor uninterrupted felicity; and, at the same time, exhibited to her view the source of true and permanent happiness. Lady Chesterfield knew the world too well not to expect its hatred and reproach for casting her fortune, her honours, and her talents at the foot of his cross. In compliance with the wishes of Lord Chesterfield, her Ladyship sometimes went to Court, and mixed with the gay and thoughtless, but found no pleasure in the fashionable follies of those around her. The last time she visited the royal circle, her plain but elegant dress was of a brown ground with silver flowers, which Lord Chesterfield, a nobleman of undoubted taste, had obtained from the continent at considerable expense. His Majesty, who it seems was well acquainted with the proceedings at Lady Huntingdon’s, coming up to Lady Chesterfield, first smiled, and then forgetting royal decorum, remarked--“I know who chose that gown for you--Mr. Whitefield; and I hear you have attended on him this year and a half.” Lady Chesterfield replied, “Yes, I have, and like him very well;” but after she came to her chair, was grieved she had not said more, when she had so favourable an opportunity.
Lord Chesterfield had been the intimate companion and friend of the Earl of Huntingdon, on whose decease the young Earl became, as we have stated, his adopted son. Hence an extraordinary degree of intimacy subsisted between the families; and he was on all occasions the counsellor and friend of Lady Huntingdon and her children. Notwithstanding his infidel sentiments, he was very constant in his attendance at her Ladyship’s whenever Mr. Whitefield was to preach.
Lady Huntingdon had at times some favourable hopes of Lord Chesterfield. She said to Dr. Doddridge--
“Sometimes I do hope for dear Lord Chesterfield and Lord Bath, Mr. Stanhope, and one of the privy council of Denmark,[252] with a great many ladies and people of fashion, as well as of quality. I know your warm heart will rejoice at this, and your prayers will help with ours for an increase to our blessed Lord’s kingdom, even among them.”
Lord Chesterfield, however, deceived her hopes. He called death a “leap in the dark!” but Lady Huntingdon, discussing this subject with him, said--
“The sentence which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall pass upon impenitent sinners at the great day of judgment, will be final and irreversible. It is our unspeakable advantage that we are not left merely to the uncertain light or feeble conjectures of our own unassisted reason in matters of the highest importance. In the revelation which he has given us of himself, he declares, with great solemnity, that it shall be more tolerable in the day of judgment for the most profligate parts of the heathen world, than for those who obstinately reject and abuse his offers of mercy and salvation--‘This is the condemnation (saith the Saviour himself), that light is come into the world; but men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil’--and so go on in an obstinate course of aggravated guilt, in opposition to the clearest light and most glorious advantages. Nor is it any impeachment of the wisdom, justice, and equity of the divine government, that obstinate sinners, who now reject his mercy and grace, should never be admitted to that transcendant bliss and glory which he hath of his own free and sovereign goodness promised to the righteous, but be left to perish to their sins, and for ever abide under the stinging reflections of their own guilty consciences.”
His Lordship lived, with increasing infirmities, to the 24th of March, 1773. Not all the efforts of Lady Chesterfield, of his sister, Lady Gertrude Hotham, nor of Lady Huntingdon, could induce the hardened infidel to follow their example.
“I saw my dear and valued friend (says Lady Huntingdon) a short time before his departure. The blackness of darkness, accompanied by every gloomy horror, thickened most awfully round his dying moments. Dear Lady Chesterfield could not be persuaded to leave his room for an instant. What unmitigated anguish has she endured.[253] But her confidential communications I am not at liberty to disclose. The curtain has fallen--his immortal part has passed to another state of existence. Oh! my soul, come not thou unto his end!”[254]
In his will he mentions his servants, “his unfortunate friends, his equals by nature,” and the mother of his natural son; but not one word is said of his excellent lady, who survived him only a few years; but how different was her death-bed.
“I was with her to the last (says Lady Huntingdon), and never saw a soul more humbled in the dust before God, on account of her own vileness and nothingness, but having a sure and steadfast hope in the love and mercy of God in Christ, constantly affirming that his blood cleanseth from all sin. The last audible expressions that fell from her, a few moments before the final struggle, were--‘Oh! my friend, I have hope--a strong hope--through grace!’ then taking my hand, and clasping it earnestly between hers, exclaimed with much energy--‘God be merciful to me a sinner!’”
Lady Chesterfield died September 16, 1778, without issue, whereby her titles became extinct.
Though Lord Chesterfield seldom exerted his poetical talents except in epigrams and ballads; the few that are known to be his are evidently by the hand of a master; witness his “Fanny, blooming fair,” written on Lady Fanny Shirley, a reigning beauty at Court; “Advice to a Lady in Autumn,” addressed to the same; his epigram on the Duchess of Richmond; and verses written in a lady’s “Sherlock on Death,” &c. No attack of an enemy could have degraded his character so much as the publication of his “Letters to his Son,” which, if they do not deserve the severe reprehension of Dr. Johnson, that they “inculcated the morals of a strumpet with the manners of a dancing-master,” certainly display a relaxation of principle for which no talents can make amends, and which prove him to have been a man in whose mind the applause of the world was the great, and almost the sole, governing principle.
At the same time with Lady Chesterfield, William Pulteney, Earl of Bath, the celebrated statesman, and a person of much notoriety in his day, was deeply impressed under Mr. Whitefield’s ministry. There had been for many years the most intimate friendship between him and Lady Huntingdon, in which Lady Fanny Shirley had no small share. Whatever, therefore, may be thought of his public character, he must have been rather more than moral, to have secured their esteem. He is said to have been extremely amiable in his private life, and much beloved by his friends. Lord Chesterfield’s malignity towards him was keen and inveterate. Like his political antagonist, Sir Robert Walpole, Lord Bath could, when
“Uncumbered by the venal tribe, Smile without art, and win without a bribe.”
He attended Tottenham-court chapel regularly for some years, and was very liberal on several occasions, contributing munificently to the establishment of the Orphan-house, in Georgia, and the erection of the Tabernacle at Bristol. He died July 7th, 1764, without surviving issue.[255]