Chapel at Bath--Bretby Hall--Mr. Townsend and Mr. Jesse--Mr.
Romaine--Mr. Shrapnell--Mrs. Wordsworth--Letters from Mr.
Romaine--Chapel opened at Bath--Mr. Whitefield and Mr.
Townsend--Mr. Fletcher’s labours at Bath--Lord and Lady
Glenorchy--Letter from Lady Glenorchy to Lady Huntingdon--Death
of Lord and Lady Sutherland--Lady Huntingdon, the Wesleys,
and Mr. Whitefield--Letter from Lady Huntingdon to Mr.
Wesley--Horace Walpole--Lady Betty Cobbe--Nobility attend
Lady Huntingdon’s Chapel--Letters from Mr. Whitefield to
Mr. Powys--Mr. Stillingfleet--Mr. Venn and Sir Charles
Hotham--Anecdotes of Mr. Venn--Mr. Andrews and the Bishop of
Gloucester--Mr. Venn at Trevecca--Mr. Lee--Capt. Scott and Mr.
Venn--Anecdotes of Captain Scott--Letter from Mr. Venn--Mr.
Howel Davies--Anecdote--Dr. Haweis--Mr. Cradock Glascott--Letter
from Mr. Fletcher.
In the year 1765 her Ladyship bought a piece of ground in the Vineyards
at Bath, and erected there a house and the beautiful chapel which was
destined to prove so great a blessing. While those buildings were in
course of erection, her Ladyship accepted Lord Chesterfield’s offer of
his house and chapel at Bretby Hall. Thither she went with Mr. Jesse,
of West Bromwich. Mr. Romaine was prevented from accompanying, but
promised to follow her Ladyship, and Mr. Townsend joined her on her
arrival, which was towards the close of July in the year above named.
These ministers preached alternately in the Hall chapel, which, on
Mr. Whitefield’s arrival, was exchanged for the Park, so vast was the
concourse, and Mr. Romanie’s auditors were hardly less numerous; but he
refused to be a _field_-preacher, and the crowd heard only what
they could gather from the pulpit.[256] Lady Huntingdon left Bretby
for Bath, recalled by the indisposition of Mrs. Wordsworth.[257]
Soon after her arrival at Bath, Lady Huntingdon summoned the ministers
who laboured for her, Messrs. Whitefield, Shirley, Romaine, Venn,
Madan, and Townsend, to the opening of her chapel there.
Mr. Romaine was willing to attend the summons, but having been received
in Yorkshire with the greatest attention by the clergy, who, on account
of his greater “regularity,” opened to him pulpits which were closed
against Mr. Whitefield; and, being then engaged with equal ardour and
success at Oathall and Brighton, he preferred remaining there. “The
Society (he says) most earnestly intreat you, if Mr. Madan should come
down to Bath, that I may be suffered to stay here with them. Why should
we both be there at the same time, to stand in one another’s way? Why
should Bath have all, poor Brighton none?” This note is dated September
11, 1765. Mr. Madan was prevented from attending, and Lady Huntingdon
wrote again to Mr. Romaine, who replied, under the date of October 1st,
1765, again denying her request--“I must openly tell you (he says)
that my very heart and soul are now in this work; inasmuch that I have
not minded going to Oathall wet to the skin, for the joy that was set
before me.” Lady Huntingdon insisted no more, and Mr. Romaine was
suffered to remain at Oathall.
On the 6th of October, 1765, the chapel was dedicated to God and the
preaching of his everlasting Gospel. An immense crowd attended, and
great numbers of the nobility, who had been specially invited by Lady
Huntingdon. Mr. Whitefield preached in the morning, and the rector of
Pewsey, the son of the celebrated Alderman Townsend, of London, in the
evening.
“Could you have come (says Mr. Whitefield, in a letter to his
friend, Robert Keene, Esq.), and have been present at the
opening of the chapel, you would have been much pleased. The
building is extremely plain, and yet equally grand. A most
beautiful original! All was conducted with great solemnity.
Though a wet day, the place was very full, and assuredly the
Great Shepherd and Bishop of souls consecrated and made it holy
ground by his presence.”
Mr. Whitefield preached but a few times, being obliged to return to
London. Mr. Madan, however, arrived soon after he left Bath, and his
ministry was attended with very considerable success. Thither, also,
Mr. Romaine followed, and spent there many of his vacations, with
great utility to the cause of God; for the Lord was pleased to make
known, by him, the savour of his grace in every place. There, as at
Brighton, he united in labour with that great apostle of the Lord, Mr.
Whitefield, and though many are now so shy of mentioning his name, or
owning their obligations to his diffusive zeal, Mr. Romaine honoured
his character, gloried in his friendship, and cheerfully associated
with him in his labours. They were, indeed, _par nobile fratrum_.
In point of popular eloquence and commanding oratory, Mr. Whitefield
was certainly his superior, as indeed he was to every other man of his
day. He had arrows in his quiver which he alone knew how to sharpen;
but in erudition and critical knowledge of the Scriptures Mr. Romaine
far excelled him, and, indeed, most of his contemporaries.
Much about the same period Mr. Fletcher repaired to Bath, on a summons
from Lady Huntingdon, and entered on the duties of his vocation with
an extraordinary degree of earnestness and zeal. Instant in season and
out of season, this man of God diligently performed the work of an
evangelist, faithfully dispensing the word of life, according as every
man had need: instructing the ignorant, reasoning with gainsayers,
exhorting the immoral, rebuking the obstinate, and earnestly beseeching
all to flee from the wrath to come, and lay hold on the hope set before
them in the Gospel of God our Saviour.
No age or country has ever produced a man of more fervent piety or
more perfect charity; no Church has ever possessed a more apostolic
minister. Being by this time fully acquainted with the English
language, he generally trusted to his powers, and preached _ex
tempore_, that mode of address so universal on the Continent, being
much more consonant with the lively feelings and ready utterance of Mr.
Fletcher than the reading of a pre-composed sermon, however important
the subject, or well-arranged its materials. The deep attention he had
paid to the recesses of his own heart enabled him to form no inadequate
idea of the internal feelings of others. Hence he knew when to probe
and when to heal--when to depress and when to encourage: and no
person’s case was so perplexed or desperate, but he was in some measure
prepared to explain and relieve it. A happy talent which he possessed
of selecting, at a moment, the most appropriate passages of Scripture,
clothed his words with a divine authority, and enabled him to speak as
one who was conscious of his high credentials.
“There was an energy in his preaching (says Mr. Gilpin) that
was irresistible. His subjects, his language, his gestures,
the tone of his voice, and the turn of his countenance, all
conspired to fix the attention and affect the heart. Without
aiming at sublimity, he was truly sublime; and uncommonly
eloquent without affecting the orator. He was wondrously skilled
in adapting himself to the different capacities and conditions
of his hearers. He could stoop to the illiterate, and rise with
the learned: he had incontrovertible arguments for the sceptic,
and powerful persuasions for the listless believer; he had sharp
remonstrance for the obstinate, and strong consolation for the
mourner. To hear him without admiration was impossible--without
profit, improbable! The unthinking went from his presence under
the influence of serious impressions, and the obdurate with
kindled relentings.”
Such was the man whom Lady Huntingdon appointed to hold forth the word
of life to the numerous auditories that thronged her chapel at Bath.
His words were clothed with power, and entered the heart of many a
sinner.
“Deep and awful (says her Ladyship) are the impressions
made on every hand. Dear Mr. Fletcher’s preaching is truly
apostolic--the divine blessing accompanies his word in a
very remarkable manner. He is ever at his work, is amazingly
followed, and singularly owned of God.”
In one of his pastoral letters to his flock at Madely, in reference to
his labours at Bath, he says--
“By the help of Divine Providence and the assistance of your
prayers I came safe here. I was, and am still, a good deal
weighed down under the sense of my own insufficiency to preach
the unsearchable riches of Christ to poor dying souls. This
place is the seat of Satan’s gaudy throne; the Lord hath,
nevertheless, a few names here, who are not ashamed of him, and
of whom he is not ashamed, both among the poor and among the
rich. There are not many of the last, though blessed be God for
any one; it is a great miracle if one camel pass through the eye
of a needle: or, in other words, if one rich man enters into the
kingdom of heaven. I have been sowing the seed the Lord hath
given me both in Bath and Bristol, and I hope your prayers have
not been lost upon me as a minister; for though I have not been
enabled to discharge my office as I would, the Lord hath yet,
in some measure, stood by me, and overruled my foolishness and
helplessness. I am much supported by the thought that you bear
me on your hearts, and when you come to the throne of grace ask
a blessing for me in the name of Jesus, and that the Lord doth
in no wise cast you out.”
Lord and Lady Glenorchy had but lately returned from the Continent,
and at this time resided at Great Sugnal, a place at a short distance
from Hawkestone, the celebrated seat of Sir Rowland Hill, Bart. At this
time several of the younger branches of this family--Mr. Richard Hill,
the Rev. Rowland Hill, Miss Hill, their eldest sister, and another
sister, Elizabeth, who afterwards married Clement Tudway, Esq., member
of Parliament for Wells--were of a decidedly pious character, and bore
the reproach ordinarily connected with it, from the thoughtless, the
formal, and the profligate. Lady Glenorchy visited this family, became
intimate with it, revered and loved its members, and secretly wished
that she were like them. Happily the time was at hand in which God
fulfilled these desires of her heart.
Lady Glenorchy was not yet twenty-four, and Miss Hill was about her own
age, or perhaps somewhat older. They had before been intimate--from
this time they became bosom friends. The goodness of God was very
evident in providing for Lady Glenorchy an adviser so well informed, so
wise and prudent, so faithful and affectionate. In the summer of 1765
her Ladyship was seized with a dangerous putrid fever, and was confined
to her bed for a considerable time. On her convalescence, by a singular
circumstance in Providence, a train of serious thoughts and reasonings
was produced, followed by convictions and purposes which ended in a
complete renovation of heart and conduct. From that interesting moment,
without hesitation or conferring with flesh and blood, she resolutely
turned her back on the dissipated world, and without reserve devoted
herself, and all that she could command and influence, to the service
of Christ and the glory of God; and in this she invariably persisted to
her latest breath.
In order to divert her mind from those serious subjects which occupied
it, Lord Glenorchy was advised to leave the country, at an earlier
season of the year than usual, for London and Bath, where every means
were employed to induce her to return to the gaieties of the world.
Her judgment and her conscience, however, were decidedly against it:
and neither severity or art (both were put in practice) could divert
her from her purpose. Just at this juncture her intimacy with Lady
Huntingdon was of the most essential service to her. The excellent
advice and heart-searching conversation of the Countess, united
with the preaching of Mr. Madan, Mr. Romaine, and other ministers,
contributed to establish and confirm her in the faith and hope of the
Gospel. Lady Glenorchy’s future path of life lay through evil report
and through good report; in the midst of deep adversity and high
prosperity; of severe trials and strong temptations, both temporal and
spiritual; but none of these things moved her from the steadfastness
of her Christian profession. Although her road was often rough in the
extreme, and her enemies cruel, strong, and numerous, yet on she went
in her Christian course, never deviating to the right hand nor to the
left, but ever pressing towards the mark for the prize of her high
calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Lady Glenorchy was destined to be the SELINA of Scotland.
Lady Huntingdon was her model, although her biographer seems to have
forgotten the fact. She derived great spiritual benefit, and caught her
inspiration in the cause of God, from the example and the chaplains of
the Countess. Dr. Thomas Snell Jones, who had received his education
at Trevecca, was supplying the Tabernacle at Plymouth, having been
sent thither by Lady Huntingdon, when first introduced to the notice
of Lady Glenorchy, whose chaplain and biographer he eventually became.
It is somewhat extraordinary that Dr. Jones should have made so little
mention of his former noble patroness, to whom he was so deeply
indebted, or of the long and very intimate connexion and correspondence
that existed between these excellent women. Her Ladyship left Bath in
the spring; and soon after her arrival in Edinburgh thus expressed her
gratitude and thanks to Lady Huntingdon for the inestimable benefits
she had reaped from her conversation and society:--
“My dear Madam--How shall I express the sense I have of your
goodness?--it is impossible in words. But my comfort is, that
the Lord knows the grateful thoughts of my heart, and he will
amply reward you for the kindness you have shown a poor unworthy
creature, whom blindness and ignorance render an object of pity.
When you say your heart is attached to me, I tremble lest I
should prove an additional cross to you in the end, and the pain
I suffer in the apprehension of this is unspeakable. I hope the
Lord permits it as a spur to me to be watchful, and to keep
near to Him who alone is able to keep me from falling. _I can
truly say, that, next to the favour of God, my utmost ambition
is to be found worthy of the regard which your Ladyship is
pleased to honour me with, and to be one of those who shall make
up the crown of rejoicing for you in the day of our Lord._
“I am sorry to take up more of your precious time than is
needful to express my gratitude for the obliging lines your
Ladyship favoured me with; and will only add, that I ever
am, with the greatest respect and affection, my dear and
much-honoured Madam, your most obedient servant,
“W. GLENORCHY.”
Suffering under a depression of spirits by the untimely death of their
eldest daughter, Lord and Lady Sutherland sought relief by change in
the society and amusements of Bath, where they arrived shortly after
Lady Glenorchy had departed for Scotland. Lady Sutherland was the only
sister of Lady Glenorchy, who introduced her by letter to the notice
and attention of Lady Huntingdon.
“Never (says her Ladyship) have I seen a more lovely
couple--they may, indeed, with justice, be called the _Flower
of Scotland_; and such amiability of disposition, so
teachable, so mild! They have, indeed, been cast in Nature’s
finest mould. Bowed down to the earth by grief, they are almost
inconsolable for the loss of their daughter. The good Providence
of God has, I hope, directed them to this place, in order to
divert their attention from their recent loss, and lead them
to the Fountain of living waters, from whence to draw all the
consolation and comfort they stand in need of. May the word of
the Lord be powerfully applied to their hearts in this season
of trial! Dear Lady Glenorchy is extremely anxious on their
account.”
At this critical moment Mr. Whitefield returned to Bath, and the
youthful Earl and Countess of Sutherland were induced to attend his
preaching.
“Last Friday evening (says he), and twice yesterday, I preached
at Bath to very thronged and brilliant auditories. I am told it
was a very high day. The glory of the Lord filled the house.
To-morrow, God willing, I return thither again. Mr. Townsend is
too ill to officiate. Lady Huntingdon is mounting on her high
places.”
But one affliction rapidly succeeded another. Soon after their arrival,
the Earl was attacked with a putrid fever, with which he struggled
_fifty-four_ days, and then expired. The attentions of the
Countess, who was devoted to her Lord, were so unremitting--having
watched him in his chamber for _twenty-one_ nights and days
without intermission or retiring to rest--that at last, overcome
with fatigue, anxiety, and grief, she sunk, an unavailing victim to
an amiable but excessive attachment, seventeen days before the death
of her Lord. In this season of sorest anguish, Lady Huntingdon had
several interviews with Lady Sutherland, and endeavoured to pour into
her bleeding heart all the consolation and comfort which the religion
of Jesus can impart. Prayer, both public and private, was incessantly
offered up on their behalf. The best medical advice was of no avail.
“Everybody (says Lady Huntingdon) was interested about them, and
I never saw such a universal concern at the death of any persons
before. Many seem cut to the heart--others plunged into the
deepest grief. It has been a most awful event, and has brought
many to the chapel who had hitherto refused to enter it.”
Lady Sutherland was in her twenty-fifth year, and Lord Sutherland
in his thirty-first. They left an infant daughter, Lady Elizabeth,
who succeeded her father in the honours of Sutherland, and who,
having married the late Marquis of Stafford, survived him and the
Duchess-Countess Dowager of Sutherland, and died only a few months
since.[258] Thus the venerable Countess of Huntingdon, and her
celebrated chaplain, the apostolic Whitefield, ministered to her
Grace’s suffering parents when she was an unconscious infant!
This melancholy event spread a general gloom over the gay inhabitants
of Bath. Two sermons were preached on the occasion in Lady Huntingdon’s
chapel, attended by almost all the nobility then in Bath, many of
whom seemed to feel the awful Providence. A remarkable circumstance
aggravated this bereavement to the family. Strange and unaccountable
as the circumstance may appear, yet it is a fact of which there can be
no doubt, that Lady Sutherland’s mother, Lady Alava, knew nothing of
the death of her daughter for nearly three weeks after the event had
taken place. The death of her daughter had been concealed from her,
and only that of Lord Sutherland communicated. The way in which she
at last became acquainted with it was in itself particularly singular
and affecting. Whilst Lady Alava was hastening from Scotland to the
assistance of her daughter, she happened to alight from her carriage
at the door of an inn on the road to Bath, where she saw _two_
hearses standing. Upon enquiring whose remains they contained, she
was told they were those of Lord and Lady Sutherland, on their way to
Scotland for interment!
Soon after the death of the Earl and Countess of Sutherland, Lady
Huntingdon left Bath and proceeded to Brighton, where she remained
the principal part of the summer. About the same time Mr. Whitefield
appears to have gone to Bath, where his health became so much impaired
by his exertions, that he was obliged to retire to Cottam, near
Bristol, for a few weeks. But his active spirit was not idle there.
“As my feverish heat continues (says he), and the weather is
too wet to travel, I have complied with the advice of friends,
and have commenced hot-well water-drinker twice a day. However,
twice this week, at six in the morning, I have been enabled
to call thirsty souls to come and drink of the water of life
freely. To-morrow evening, God willing, the call is to be
repeated. Good seasons at Bath. Good seasons here. Large
auditories. Grace! Grace!”
Towards the end of August, Mr. Wesley, being in Bath, was invited, as
usual, to preach in her Ladyship’s chapel. “Many (says he) were not a
little surprised at seeing me in the Countess of Huntingdon’s chapel.
The congregation was not only large, but serious, and I fully delivered
my own soul.”
Hitherto, Mr. Wesley and Mr. Whitefield had interchanged letters not
very frequently, and they preached occasionally in each other’s pulpit:
but there was no cordial intercourse--no hearty co-operation. Such
a wound as had been made in their friendships always leaves a scar,
however well, to outward appearance, it may have healed. Nevertheless,
they did justice to each other’s intentions and virtues; and old
feelings rose again, as from the dead, like the blossoming of spring
flowers in autumn, which reminds us that the season of hope and of joy
is gone. It is pleasant to observe that this tenderness increased as
they advanced towards the decline of life. When Mr. Whitefield returned
from America to England, for the last time, Mr. Wesley was struck with
the change in his appearance. “He seemed (says he, in his Journal) to
be an old man, being fairly worn out in his Master’s service, though he
has hardly seen fifty years.” Mr. Whitefield, at this time, to use Mr.
Wesley’s language, breathed nothing but peace and love. “Bigotry (says
he) cannot stand before him, but hides its head wherever he comes.” On
a summons from Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Wesley hastened from Yorkshire to
meet Mr. Whitefield in London.
“And if no other good result from it (says Mr. Wesley) but our
firm union with Mr. Whitefield, it is an abundant recompense
for my labour. My brother and I conferred with him every day;
and let the honourable men do what they please, we resolved, by
the grace of God, to go on, hand in hand, through honour and
dishonour.”
Mr. Wesley’s plan of union amongst the Evangelical clergymen in
different parts of England, at that period not more than _forty_
in number, not having met with any cordial support, it was agreed,
about this time, that Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Whitefield, Mr. John and Mr.
Charles Wesley, should meet as frequently as convenient, and co-operate
with each other in the general diffusion of divine truth. That this
alliance had been entered into is certain; but we cannot concur with
Southey in his “Life of Mr. Wesley,” imputing the non-fulfilment of
it to what he is pleased to call the “bigotry and intolerance of Lady
Huntingdon and a clique of Calvinistic clergy,” whom she had collected
around her. Mr. Charles Wesley was of a different opinion. In a letter
to Lady Huntingdon, written after the publication of the Minutes
of Conference of 1770, and after Mr. John Wesley had preached Mr.
Whitefield’s funeral sermon at the Tabernacle, he remarks:--
“_You_ remember a sort of quadruple alliance entered into
three or four years ago, which _one of the parties never
thought of from that day to this_. How soon is that alliance
come to nothing! One is safely landed--another _removed to
an immeasurable distance_--while yet we live, scarce one
short year perhaps betwixt _us two_, let there be peace!
I am very sensible that _my_ night cometh; my course is
well nigh finished, and I pray and hope my work and life will
end together. I expect to be in town the beginning of February,
without my family. There and in all places let me find the
benefit of your prayers, till I also arrive where the wicked
cease from troubling--where the weary are at rest!”
That Mr. Wesley had entered into this alliance is further evident
from the offer which he made to Lady Huntingdon, of supplying her
chapel at Bath during his stay at Bristol. Her Ladyship’s reply to Mr.
Wesley, expressing her gratitude for his kind offer, and his universal
devotedness to the glory of their Divine Master and the souls redeemed
by his blood, will be read with deep interest. Southey might have had
access to this document, as it appeared in the twentieth volume of
the _Methodist Magazine_, and it would have corrected one of the
numerous blunders, false statements, and wilful misrepresentations with
which his work everywhere abounds.
“September 14, 1766.
“My dear Sir--I am most highly obliged by your kind offer of
serving the chapel at Bath during your stay at Bristol; I mean
on Sundays. It is the most important time, being the height of
the latter season, when the great of this world are only in
the reach of the sound of the Gospel from that quarter. The
mornings are their time--the evenings the inhabitants chiefly.
_I do trust that this union which is commenced_ will be
for the furtherance of our faith and mutual love to each other.
It is for the interest of the best of causes that we should
all be found, first, faithful to the Lord, and then to each
other. I find something wanting, and that is, a meeting now
and then agreed upon, that you, your brother, Mr. Whitefield,
and I, should at times be glad regularly to communicate our
observations upon the general state of the work. Light might
follow, and would be a kind of guide to me, as I am connected
with many.
“Universal and constant usefulness to all, is the important
lesson. And when we are fully and wholly given up to the Lord,
I am sure the heart can long for nothing so much as that our
time, talents, life, soul, and spirit, may become upon earth a
constant and living sacrifice. How I can be most so, that is the
one object of my poor heart. Therefore, to have all the light
that is possible, to see my way in this matter, is my prayer day
and night; for worthy is the Lamb to receive all honour, and
glory, and blessing.
“What you say of reproach, I hope never to be without, so that
it be for obeying. I am honoured by every degree of contempt,
while my heart has its faithful testimony before Him who can
search it to the bottom, and knows that his glory and the good
of souls is my one object upon earth. I shall turn coward, and
disgrace you all, when I have any worse ground to stand upon;
and I am sure my prayer will be answered, which has been made
these seven-and-twenty years, that whenever his eye, which is
as a flame of fire, sees any other end or purpose of my heart,
he will remove my poor wretched being from this earth. But so
vile, and foolish, and helpless as I am, he keeps my heart full
of faith, that he never will leave me nor forsake me: having
neither help nor hope, but that he will each moment prove the
Lord--the Lord full of mercy and compassionate love, to such a
poor worm. Pray, when you have leisure, let me hear from you,
and believe me, most faithfully, your affectionate friend,
“S. HUNTINGDON.”
Lady Huntingdon’s chapel was at this time principally supplied by Mr.
Madan and Mr. Townsend, and two Welsh clergymen of great notoriety, Mr.
Howel Davies and Mr. Daniel Rowlands, with the occasional assistance
of Mr. Whitefield, who generally preached once, and sometimes twice,
a week, besides his stated labours at Clifton and Bristol. On Mr.
Madan leaving Bath for Aldwincle, in Northamptonshire, whither he went
to preach for Dr. Haweis, Mr. Romaine supplied his place during the
months of October and November. Early in the month of October, Mr.
Wesley arrived in Bath, and during his stay preached frequently in her
Ladyship’s chapel. Being very popular at this time he was remarkably
well attended, and his labours were not altogether in vain in the Lord.
On Sunday, the 5th of October, at eight o’clock in the morning, he
administered the sacrament, and at eleven preached on these words in
the Gospel of the day--“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” “The
word (says Mr. Wesley) was quick and powerful, and I trust many, even
of the rich and great, felt themselves sinners before God.”
At this period Horace Walpole visited Bath. There was a sort of family
connexion between the Walpoles and Lady Huntingdon;[259] and therefore,
perhaps, Horace Walpole accompanied his friends, Lord and Lady Powys,
to the chapel. Mr. Wesley was the preacher, but the chapel itself was
attractive.
“They have (says he) boys and girls with charming voices that
sing hymns in parts. The chapel is very neat, with _true_
Gothic windows. I was glad to see that luxury is creeping in
upon them before persecution. They have very neat mahogany
stands for branches, and brackets of the same, in taste. At the
upper end is a broad _hautpas_ of four steps, advancing in
the middle; at each end of the broadest part are two eagles,
with red cushions, for the parson and clerk. Behind them rise
three more steps, in the midst of which is a third eagle for
a pulpit. Scarlet arm chairs to all three. On either hand a
balcony for elect ladies. The rest of the congregation sit on
forms. Behind the pit, in a dark niche, is a plain table within
rails; so you see the throne is for the apostle. Wesley is a
clean elderly man, fresh coloured, his hair smoothly combed,
but with a little _soupçon_ of curl at the ends. Wondrous
clever, but as evidently an actor as Garrick. He spoke his
sermon, but so fast, and with so little accent, that I am sure
he has often uttered it, for it was like a lesson. There were
parts and eloquence in it; but towards the end he exalted his
voice, and acted very vulgar enthusiasm.”[260]
There were several persons of distinction at this time in Bath, almost
all of whom, according to Walpole, were constantly in the habit of
attending divine service at Lady Huntingdon’s chapel. Indeed, he says,
it was quite the rage amongst persons in high life to form parties to
hear the different preachers who supplied the chapel. Amongst these
he enumerates Lord Camden (then Lord High Chancellor of England), Lord
Northington (Lord President of the Council), Earl Chatham and family,
Lord Rockingham, Lady Malpas, Lord and Lady Powys, Lord and Lady Buchan
and family, Miss Rich (sister to Lord Lyttleton), the Duke of Bedford
and family, Mr. and Lady Lucy Trevor, &c.[261]
Early in the month of November we find Mr. Whitefield again at Bath.
He and Mr. Romaine preached alternately at Lady Huntingdon’s chapel to
very numerous and attentive auditories. “Bath air (says Mr. Whitefield)
will never agree with me long. However, if good is done, all will be
well. Sunday and last night were seasons of power. Some, we trust, were
made willing.” During his stay at Bath his health was indifferent, but
he went occasionally to Bristol, where he preached to very crowded
congregations. On one occasion he administered the sacrament there, and
used _eight_ bottles of wine. His popularity continued to increase
at Bath, and many of the nobility who had not before heard him were now
eager to attend his ministry.
“Such a numerous and brilliant assembly (says he) of the mighty
and noble I never saw attend before at Bath. Everything is so
promising that I am constrained to give notice of preaching next
Sunday. I hope the Redeemer will give us a blessed Sabbath.
I trust already the arm of the Lord hath been revealed.
Congregations have been very large and very solemn. O what
Bethels hath Jesus given to us! We were filled as with new wine.”
Receiving an invitation from Mr. Stillingfleet to visit Oxford, on his
return to London, Mr. Whitefield resolved to go thither immediately--
“And have, therefore (says he), written to dear Mr. Jesse to
stay two or three weeks at London. Mr. Howel Davies, who, they
say, is expected here next week, may then officiate for that
space of time at Bath, and, at Mr. Jesse’s leaving London,
may go up to town. I beg Captain Joss may go through with the
Tabernacle work, and stick to it with his whole heart.”
Mr. Whitefield was followed by Mr. Venn, one of the most powerful
and successfully pious preachers of the time; but he was not only
distinguished as a minister--as a companion he was the most agreeable
man imaginable; he had a flow of conversation which never ceased to
delight and edify; and, out of a store of anecdotes treasured up in his
memory, produced a fund of entertainment as well as usefulness, which
those who were his favoured companions seldom forgot.[262]
In his journey from Brighton to Bath, Mr. Venn paid a visit to his
valued friend, Mr. Townsend, at Pewsey.
“That dear minister (says he) has a single eye and a warm heart.
Three young students are in his house, in order to prepare
for the ministry. Here I spoke the word of life to a small
church-full, and to a large room-full afterwards; and, though
the sphere of action in his parish is small, yet round about
there are a great number of souls awakened, and some who know
the Lord to be their God.”
In his letter to Miss Wheeler, niece to Lady Huntingdon, and one of
the daughters of Lady Catherine Wheeler, Mr. Venn says--
“At Bath we heard Mr. Romaine, in the plain but elegant chapel
of Lady Huntingdon. He was very well attended on the week-days,
but on Sundays the chapel is crowded. My kind friend, Miss
Gideon, I had both the pleasure and grief of seeing, with
Mr. and Mrs. Romaine--the pleasure, because she triumphs in
the blood of the cross, and is, indeed, an ornament to her
Christian faith; but it was a grief to see her labouring under
a complication of diseases, and one among these the dropsy, so
that Dr. Moisey told me he apprehended there was great danger of
her soon being called hence. Yet which of her friends can coolly
wish her to stay?--as not only a most infirm, afflicted body
prevents the full exercise of her mental powers, but even in our
best estate of body here, how poor, how sinful is the soul! We
cannot possibly be like Jesus till we see him as he is.”
Mr. Andrews[263] occasionally visited Bath, and united with those men
of renown who in that day dared to be singular in the cause of Christ.
He was very zealous in the discharge of his ministerial duties, but was
incapacitated by ill-health from doing as much as many of his brethren.
He frequently preached in other places, and was always delighted with
the visits of Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Wesley, and any other minister who
proclaimed the name of that Saviour whom he loved.
When Lady Huntingdon was at Bath, Mr. Andrews preached very frequently
at her Ladyship’s, and united with those cross-bearing labourers who
aided her in the great work of spreading the everlasting Gospel. He
went boldly to Christ without the camp, bearing his reproach. He was
a faithful minister of the Church of England, but never ashamed of
the brand of Methodism, or of those most liberally abused by a wicked
world, and often most obnoxious to their own brethren. His work was his
wages, and the souls of men redeemed his object.
Such conduct provoked the implacable enmity of the intolerant
Warburton, then Bishop of Gloucester, who, like his neighbour,
Lavington, Bishop of Exeter, was the inveterate enemy of all Methodists
and Moravians. His Lordship informed Mr. Andrews that he had received
several complaints of him, and, unless he had ample satisfaction,
threatened to revoke his license by process in the spiritual court.
“I shall insist upon your constant residence in your parish, not
so much for the good you are likely to do there, as to prevent
the mischief you may do by rambling about in other places. Your
Bishop and (though your fanatic conduct has almost made me
ashamed to own it) your patron,[264]
“W. GLOUCESTER.”
Mr. Andrews acquainted the Bishop, by letter, in answer to the first
charge, “that he had resided at least two years and nine months out
of the three years that he had been in possession of the living;”
and, in reply to the second, “that the Bishop had at Bath, in
consideration of the smallness of the income and Mr. Andrews’s want
of health, recommended it to him to officiate at Stinchcombe only
once on a Sunday, and that, notwithstanding he had several times done
double duty; that many other clergymen in the Bishop’s diocese, on
much better livings, did not reside at all; and that he had refused a
living of eighty pounds a year, and taken one of thirty-six pounds,
merely on account of its requiring less duty.” But, as might have been
anticipated, remonstrance with such a man as Warburton was in vain.
Mr. Andrews was a Methodist; he had committed the unpardonable crime
of preaching for Lady Huntingdon, and, without a divine legation, the
Bishop was resolved to interdict his itinerancy.
“If I indulged you in giving your parish only one service on
a Sunday, I hereby revoke that indulgence, and insist on your
giving them full service.
“W. GLOUCESTER.”
The Bishop appears somewhat _amiable_ in his correspondence with
Doddridge, and not a little faithful in exposing “the unclean beasts”
in his own ark; but he could _persecute_, as well as _rail_.
At length Lady Huntingdon interfered.
“Poor Andrews (says her Ladyship) is sadly used by his Bishop. I
have written to his Lordship, hoping that my long and intimate
acquaintance with him may induce him to relax a little of his
severity; but I much fear, knowing his implacable enmity, so
long indulged, and his most unreasonable hostility to dear
Mr. Whitefield and myself, whom he sometimes treated most
uncourteously.”
The reply of Warburton was laconic, and quite in character. It ran
thus:--
“Madam--Mr. Andrews is under my jurisdiction, and I am resolved
to keep him and his fanatic conduct within his own parish. I
remain, Madam, your obedient servant,
“W. GLOUCESTER.”
The preceding year the Bishop of Gloucester had published “The Doctrine
of Grace; or, the Office and Operation of the Holy Spirit vindicated
from the Insults of Infidelity and the Abuses of Fanaticism”--a work
containing many shrewd and pertinent observations, and original lucky
turns of thought, with a considerable portion of critical sagacity.
This most “impudent man of the age,” through almost every part of his
book, not only wantonly throws about the arrows and firebrands of
scurrility, buffoonery, and personal abuse, but at the same time, on
account of some unguarded expressions and indiscretions of a particular
set of honest, though fallible men, takes occasion to wound, vilify,
and totally deny the all-powerful operations of the Spirit of God,
by which alone his Lordship, or any other man, can be sanctified
and sealed to the day of eternal redemption. The work soon produced
answers from Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Wesley, one from Mr. Payne,
Accountant-General to the Bank, and one from Mr. Andrews, entitled
“The Scripture Doctrine of Grace, in an answer to a Treatise on the
Doctrine of Grace, by William, Lord Bishop of Gloucester, so far as
that important doctrine is considered.”
On leaving Bath, Mr. Venn preached at Bristol and Gloucester, and in
the pulpit of Mr. Andrews; thence he passed on to Trevecca, “Happy
Trevecca!” as he styles it, of which, and of Mr. Howel Harris, he gives
the following account, in a letter to Miss Wheeler:--
“Howel Harris is the father of that settlement, and the founder.
After labouring for fifteen years, more violently than any of
the servants of Christ, in this revival, he was so hurt in
body as to be confined to his own house for seven years. Upon
the beginning of this confinement, first one and then another,
whom the Lord had converted under his word, to the number of
near a hundred, came and desired to live with him, and that
they would work and get their bread. By this means, near one
hundred and twenty, men, women, and children, from very distant
parts of Wales, came and fixed their tents at Trevecca. We were
there three days, and heard their experience, which they spoke
in Welsh to Mr. Harris, and he interpreted to us. Of all the
people I ever saw, this society seems to be the most advanced
in grace. They speak as men and women who feel themselves every
moment worthy of eternal punishment, and infinitely base; and
yet, at the same time, have such certainty of salvation through
the second Man, the Lord from heaven, as is indeed delightful to
behold. My heart received a blessing from them and their pastor
which will abide with me.”
Mr. Venn, being obliged to return to Huddersfield before the end of the
month, could make but a short stay at Trevecca; but there, as in other
places where the churches were not open to him, he hesitated not to
proclaim the riches, the glory, and the grace of his Lord and Master.
“From Trevecca (says Mr. Venn, in his long letter to Lady
Huntingdon) we came to Berwick, where, though we did not find
you had yet made the Squire a preacher, yet both his consort and
himself were much the better in their souls for the rummaging
they went through at Brighthelmstone--not from the custom-house
officers, but from one who is very zealous lest the revenue of
Jesus should sustain damage, and that none should be deceived
into a notion that their goods have the seal royal upon them,
when it is no more than a counterfeit ticket. In a word, they
are both, I trust, in earnest, seeking the face of the Lord, and
to know the certainty of the words of truth. A few days after
we got there, a Mr. Lee, a man of estate in Shropshire, came to
pay his visit. He is, I do think, of all the persons I ever saw
in my life, the very one that you would be made a blessing to.
His understanding is clear and strong; his sight of human nature
in its fall amazingly deep; his spirit bold and intrepid--only
fearful of being deceived to take that for grace and faith which
may not be so. He speaks of himself as yet a seeker; and I trust
the Lord will give him to know his love, and his peace, and
the power of his resurrection. We returned, with Mr. and Mr.
Powys, the visit; and in his parlour I preached to _eighty
people_. If your Ladyship comes into Shropshire, he will
certainly seek an opportunity of being in your company; or, if
he goes to Bath, you will see him there in the spring.”
To Miss Wheeler, Mr. Venn says, “Mr. Lee is a gentleman of fortune,
about forty years of age, and a man of uncommon parts, with whom I was
much delighted. Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Wesley visited him whenever they
were in Shropshire, and his house was usually open for the preaching
of the Gospel. Mr. Wesley being in that part of the country in March,
1769, was invited by Mr. Lee to his house. “My horse being lame (says
he), and part of the road very bad, I did not reach Mr. Lee’s, of
Cotery, till noon. The house is delightfully situated in his park,
at the top of a fruitful hill. His chaplain had just begun reading
prayers; afterwards he desired me to give an exhortation.” In the month
of August, the same year, Mr. Wesley was again in Shrewsbury, on his
way to attend the anniversary of Lady Huntingdon’s College at Trevecca,
and receiving invitations from Messrs. Powys and Lee, preached at
Berwick and Cotery.
While Mr. Venn was at Berwick, Captain Scott, of whose conversion by
Mr. Romaine we have spoken, had succeeded in obtaining an introduction
to that honoured instrument of his conversion, who would not see him at
Brighton, but at London kindly received and prayed with and for him.
On Captain Scott taking leave, Mr. Romaine gave him a letter for Mr.
Powys, of Berwick, in Shropshire, whither the Captain was proceeding.
Leaving London in the Shrewsbury mail-coach, as soon as he had well
adjusted himself, Captain Scott found, by the common observations which
curiosity ever makes on the associates with whom we travel, that one
of his companions was a Major, destined to Shrewsbury. Among other
conversations which took place in the interval before they fell asleep,
the Captain asked whether he knew any families there. He answered in
the affirmative, and enumerated, among other families of his particular
acquaintance, the Scotts. Captain Scott professed himself to have had
formerly some acquaintance with this family, and begged to know such
particulars as occurred respecting those members of it he had lately
seen or heard of. After the mention of a variety of particulars, in
which the Captain expected his own name to have occurred, but without
being gratified, he asked if the Major had heard nothing of any other
branches of the family. He replied, “Yes--there was one mad fellow,
who many years ago went into the army; and, when he was there, turned
Methodist, and went about preaching with the regiment.”
Captain Scott asked if he had shown any other mark of derangement
besides those he had mentioned, which appeared to be of a religious
kind. The Major replied, “he could not say, as he really knew very
little about him.” The night drew on, and the parties slept and
conversed at intervals till they arrived at Oxford, when they got
out of the coach, and were ushered into a room, lighted by two large
candles. The Captain immediately, taking one of the candles in each
hand, walked, with a firm step, up to the Major, and bowing, said,
“Give me leave, Sir, to introduce to you the mad Captain Scott.” The
Major appeared overwhelmed with surprise and confusion. He seemed much
hurt at what had passed, but Captain Scott, seeing his embarrassment,
soon relieved him--assured him that he had not felt hurt at anything
he had said; and, indeed, under the circumstances, could not be so;
and only begged of him the favour, as he was then going to Shropshire,
and would probably see many of his friends, to correct their mistaken
apprehensions of his being deranged; for that he had travelled with
him from London, and discovered (as Captain Scott hoped) no mark of a
disordered mind.
Captain Scott observed to him that it was no uncommon thing for a man
to be charged, by the unthinking part of mankind, with derangement,
at the very time when he was beginning to be truly wise, and to live
to better purpose than any part of his preceding life, particularly
when he begins to reflect that he has an immortal and invaluable
soul, and makes it his great concern to secure its eternal happiness.
Captain Scott admitted that, when he went into the army, he had been
a dissipated character, but that a great revolution in his sentiments
and conduct had afterwards taken place; and he begged the indulgence of
the Major briefly to state to him the nature of those views of religion
which he had imbibed, that he might be enabled to judge whether they
merited the severe reflections with which they had been charged. This
gave him an opportunity of opening to him the plan of divine truth, as
revealed in the Gospel; which was, no doubt, accompanied with Captain
Scott’s earnest prayer for his conversion. The Major bowed assent to
every thing advanced, and declared it very sober, very rational, very
proper, &c., but whether any salutary effects were produced the Captain
did not learn, never afterwards having the opportunity of another
interview with his polite and candid friend.
After a few days spent amongst his family and friends, Captain Scott
rode to Berwick, to deliver the letter which Mr. Romaine had entrusted
to him. We have said that at that time Mr. Powys entertained Mr. Venn
as a visitor in his house. One morning, soon after breakfast and family
prayer, Mr. and Mrs. Powys and Mr. Venn were looking from the parlour
window in front of the hall, and who should they see but Captain Scott,
who was now bringing Mr. Romaine’s letter, enter upon the lawn, dressed
in his uniform and riding his military horse. Mr. Powys recognized him
at a distance, and said, “There is Captain Scott; what can he want
here? I am determined not to see him if I can avoid it.” Upon this they
all withdrew.
Captain Scott rode up and asked, “Is Mr. Powys at home?” The servant,
uninstructed by his master to adopt the fashionable expedient of
stating an untruth to avoid an inconvenience, informed him that he was.
Mr. Powys was called, and received his visitor with an air of distant
civility, thinking that his presence would be an interruption to the
spiritual enjoyments of himself and friends; but after he had read
Mr. Romaine’s letter, which he received with considerable agitation,
giving an account of Captain Scott’s conversion, he caught him in his
arms, embraced and rejoiced over him as over one raised from the dead.
In this position, with an elevated voice, he cried out, “Mr. Venn! Mr.
Venn! Mrs. Powys! Mrs. Powys! come, come here quickly! Here is Captain
Scott, a convert to Christ! a new creature in Christ Jesus!” They both
came, and being informed of the contents of Mr. Romaine’s letter, all
three, in the joy of their hearts, embraced the penitent, and, in
imitation of the angels in heaven, rejoiced over him who had been
dead, but was alive again; who had been lost, but was found.
Of Manchester, where Mr. Venn next proceeded, he says--
“There is much life in Mr. Wesley’s society, and a great
crowding to hear the word. And well for the nation it is so:
since in the churches, at all the great towns we came to, there
are no worshippers scarce of any sort to be found. Absolute
profaneness begins visibly to reign. Formality and pharisaism
is, and has been of late, so much besieged and battered down,
that a crisis seems approaching. Real believers possessing the
Holy Ghost, or open revilers of Christian faith, seem to be
the two standards under which men will rank themselves. As to
my own flock, I found them, at my return, well. The Lord is
with us. Sinners are converted, souls are happy in Christ, and
his pleasant odours diffuse their life-giving fragrance in the
congregation.”
In the meanwhile the Rev. Howel Davies came to Bath, to supply her
Ladyship’s chapel. He was one of her Ladyship’s oldest acquaintances
in the principality; and, with the Rev. Daniel Rowlands, Rev. Peter
Williams, Rev. William Williams, and other awakened clergymen,
was eminently useful in the great revival of religion in Wales.
He was educated by the apostolic Jones, rector of Llandowrer, in
Carmarthenshire, who, when he received priest’s orders, gave notice to
the whole congregation of it, and desired an interest in their prayers,
that the Lord would bless him, and give him success in the ministry.
The first church in which Mr. Davies was called to officiate was
Llys-y-fran, in Pembrokeshire; but he was soon turned out, on account
of his zeal and faithfulness in the cause of God and truth. He was a
Boanerges, and mere formalists could not bear his faithful application
of the truths of the Gospel to the heart and life. He was a burning
and a shining light, and preached in four different places statedly,
besides his daily labours in houses, barns, fields, commons, mountains,
&c. He had upwards of two thousand communicants, and the church has
been frequently emptied twice, to make room for the third congregation
to partake of the Lord’s Supper! He would break through the form of
words used upon these occasions, and would speak of Christ and his
sufferings in a variety of Scripture expressions.[265]
It was about this period that the Rev. Dr. Haweis, rector of Aldwincle;
the Rev. Cradock Glascott, afterwards vicar of Hatherleigh, in
Devonshire; the Rev. William Jesse, perpetual curate and lecturer
of West Bromwich, in Staffordshire; and the Rev. John Harmer, of
Warrington, commenced preaching in the chapels of Lady Huntingdon,
and wherever she required them to itinerate. In the early part of
his ministry Mr. Jesse was an occasional preacher at Tottenham-court
Chapel, and was held in good estimation by Mr. Whitefield and
Lady Huntingdon. In 1771 this exemplary minister was situated in
Lincolnshire. Mr. Venn, in a letter to Mrs. Ryland, says, “Mr. Jesse
met me at Malton, and accompanied me as far as Hull: he is a very
excellent man, and seems appointed to evangelize the _Wolds_,
the inhabitants of which are dark almost as the Indians.” How highly
Lady Huntingdon thought of him, her own words will best tell--“Dear,
honest-hearted Jesse has my best wishes. He is a humble, devoted
soul, and much in earnest in his Master’s work. Having ever found
him faithful, I can in truth recommend him to your Lordship’s kind
notice and patronage.” This was addressed to Lord Dartmouth, through
whose interest he became curate and lecturer of West Bromwich. He also
became rector of Dowles and Riblesford, in the county of Worcester, and
chaplain to the Earl of Glasgow. Mr. Harmer was sent by her Ladyship to
Brighton and Oathall; he also preached occasionally at Bath, but he was
not a popular speaker. After some time, however, he thought proper to
withdraw from all connexion with her Ladyship, and declined preaching
in her chapels, without assigning any cause for such a step. This was
the source of much vexation and disappointment to her Ladyship; and
to this Mr. Fletcher alludes in the following letter, dated Morley,
December 9, 1766:--
“I stayed in London just to receive your Ladyship’s letter,
but not to see Mr. Glascott or Mr. Harmer. For some days the
_latter_ had kept out of my way, nor did I know the reason.
He told Jesse his design to decline serving the chapels of
your Ladyship, but hid it from me. I had it from Jesse the day
before I set out. So far as I could gather, he was fixed in his
resolution; and whether his reasons were solid or only pretended
ones, to his own Master he stands or falls, and by Him they
will be tried. In the Gospel I had rather have nobody than an
unwilling servant and a slave. Providence, I hope, designs you
a son. Sarah waited long for Isaac. She saw the ingratitude of
Hagar, and the pertness of Ishmael, before the true seed was
given her. The believer does not make haste. It is a blessing
that the cause is the Lord’s, and that the disposal of all
affairs and all hearts is in his hands. If a sparrow falleth
not to the ground without his leave, much less can a minister
fall from an agreement without it. He will never suffer a
disappointment to befall us, but to prevent a greater one, or to
bring in a superior blessing. This we shall see in the end. In
the meantime, I repeat it, we walk by faith.”
Mr. Harmer joined Mr. Wesley, and in the year 1780 was situated at
Warrington; of his subsequent history little is known. The Rev. W.
Buckingham, who held a curacy in Cornwall, preached for Lady Huntingdon
on Mr. Harmer’s secession. Soon after he too joined Mr. Wesley, but in
two years withdrew from the Methodists. “He had no sooner done this
(says Mr. Wesley), than the Bishop rewarded him by turning him out of
his curacy, which, had he continued to walk in Christian simplicity,
he would probably have had to this day.” In 1781 he was residing in
London, assisting Mr. Wesley as a curate, with Mr. Richardson; but at
what period he terminated his course we have not been able to learn.
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
WILLIAM EDWARD PAINTER, STRAND, LONDON, PRINTER.
INDEX TO VOL. I.
Abney, Lady, 58
Sir Thomas and Lady, 201
Abraham, Old, at Oathall, 319
Akenside, Dr., 136
Aldwincle living and Mr. Kimpton, 413
Andrews, Mr., and Bishop of Gloucester, 480
Anecdote of Lord Bolingbroke and Dr. Church, 179
of Newton’s preaching at Leeds, 271
of Captain Scott, 317, 381, 484
of Conversion of an old Inn Keeper at Aldwincle Church, 420
of Dr. Doddridge on leaving Bath for Falmouth, 450
of George I. and Lady Chesterfield, 463
of Mr. Venn, 479, 486
Articles of Peace, 437
Ashby-place, Lady Huntingdon at, 119
Ayscough, Dr., Dean of Bristol, and Doddridge, 175
Baddelley, Mr., Letter of Whitefield to, 120
Baptists, General, 44
Bath, Earl of, impressed under Whitefield’s preaching, 465
the Countess’s Chapel at, 443, 467
Batty, the Messrs., account of, 247
Belcher, Governor, of New Jersey College, 140
Bell and Maxfield, Fletcher’s regard for, 321
Bennett, Mr., visits the Countess at Donnington Park, 45
Berridge and the Countess, 216
Letters to the Countess, 323, 336, 359, 386, 388
Extracts of Letters from, 358
and the Bees, 366
Character of, wit and labours, 367
and the Bishop, 369
Letter to, from Mr. Thornton, 371
---- from, to Mr. Thornton, 373
Illness of, 381
Singular effects of the preaching of, 397
Bishops, Conduct of, 38
of London, Oxford, and Gloucester, 196
---- Death of, 231
Seat of, in Bath Chapel, 477
Blair, Dr., 58
Bliss, Mr., impressed under Dr. Haweis, 391
Bowers, first lay preacher among the Methodists, 32
Bolingbroke, Lord, hears Whitefield, 90
Death of, 178
Bretby Hall, the Countess at, 466
Brethren, the United, 246
Brighton, Chapel re-opened, 378
Broughton, Rev., Bryan and Whitefield, 196
Browne, Rev. Moses, Chaplain to the Duke of Somerset, 127, 164
Buchan, Lady, 427
Buckingham, Duchess of, 27
Burder, Rev. George, and Romaine, 273
Burnet, Bishop, 39
Burnett, Rev. G., impressed under Mr. Walker of Truro, 276
Burr, President, of New Jersey College, 140
Cambridge, Progress of piety at, 421
Campbell, the Hon. Hume, 205
Carteret, Lord, Letter to the Countess, 67
Cavendish, Mrs., visits the Countess at Bath, 461
Cennick, Mr., 32, 198, 262
Chancellor, Lord High, found guilty of corruption, 6
Chapel of the Countess, at York, 310
at Brighton, 314, 390
at Lewes, 364
at Chichester, Petworth, Guildford and Basingstoke, 393
at Gloucester, Worcester, and Cheltenham, 440
Charges against the Countess, 424
Cheltenham, Whitefield, Madan, and Venn preached there, 429
Chesterfield, Lord, 90, 99, 115, 458
Lady, impressed under Whitefield, 462
Church, Dr., 179
Clanricardes, Pedigree of, 3
Clergy, awakened under the preaching of Whitefield and Wesley, 61
Coachman of George III., Anecdote of, 131
Cobb, Lady Betty, influence over the Bishops, 477
Colne, Vicar of, and Messrs. Grimshaw and Ingham, 259
Conference, First Methodist, 62
at Leeds, 267
Convict, the Countess’s exertions in behalf of a, 227
Conyers, Dr., commencement of Evangelical Ministry of, 277
Visitation Sermon displeases the Archbishop of York, 280
Letter from, to the Countess, 281
Cooper, Miss; Death of, 52
Cotton, Dr., and the Countess, 157
Cruttenden, Robert, Esq., Account of, 448
Darracott, Rev. R., Letter to, from the Countess, 114
Dartmouth, Lord, 276, 326, 429
Davies, Howell, 486
Deane, Mrs., Character of, 296
De Courcy, Mr., 381, 411
Delamotte and Charles Wesley, 243
Delitz, the Countess, 462
Derry, Bishop of, 33
Dodd, Dr., 401
Doddridge, Dr., Letter to, from the Countess, 64
Letter of, to Mr. Fawcett, 154
Ill health of, visits the Countess at Bath, 448, 449
embarks at Falmouth and lands at Lisbon, 451
his views when near death, 452
his peaceful dissolution, 452
Downes, Mr., Death of, in the pulpit, 63
Dream of a lady respecting Lady Huntingdon, 313
Earthquake in London, 128
Edwin, Mrs., 86
Edwin, Lady Charlotte, 175
Erasmus, Bishop of Arcadia, 331
Erskine, Dr., and Dr. Robertson, 184
Evangelical Magazine commenced, 214
Exeter, Bishop of, 95, 125
Extraordinary occurrence, 205
Fast, the public, 395
Ferrers, the, 4
Ferrers, Lord, tried--visited by the Countess--singular
conduct--execution, 402, 409
Fletcher, Mr., introduced to the Countess by John Wesley, 231
Letter of, to Whitefield, 289
---- to his Flock at Madeley, 469
Letters of, to Charles Wesley, 232, 235
---- to the Countess, 234, 241, 295, 357, 487
preaches & celebrates the Communion at the Countess’s, 232
appointed vicar of Madeley, 234
visits Berridge, 236
Success of, in the Ministry, 237
and Mr. Venn preach at Everton, loud cries in the Congregation,
400
Labours of, at Bath, 468
Foote, the player, 208
Ford, Dr., 216
Fox, Mr. Charles, 210
Frankland, Lady Anne, 20
Galatin, Colonel and Mrs., 156
Gardiner, Colonel, 59
Marvellous Conversion of, 60
Death of, 66
Gardiner, Lady Frances, 410
Garrick and Dr. Stonehouse, 139
George II., 67
Gertrude, Lady, 456
Giardini, 229
Gibbon, Mrs. Hester, 147
Gibbons, Dr., 111
Gill, Dr., 113
Glascott, Mr., 310
Glenorchy, Lady, 411
Lord and Lady, 470
Lady, Letter from, to the Countess, 471
Gloucester, Bishop of, 18
Gloucestershire Association, 434
Godwyn, Rev. Charles, 423
Government, Liberal conduct of, to the Welsh Methodists, 110
Grafton, Duke of, 210
Graves, Mr., his Recantation and Letters, 48–51
encourages John Nelson, 255
Grenfield, Mrs., 453
Grimshaw, Mr., 252
Opinions of, 259
Account of, 267, 271, 286
Letter of, 284
and his friend Robertshaw, 286
Death of, 286
Gumley, Colonel, 94
Gwynne, Marmaduke, Esq., 110
Halifax, Lord, 210
Hammond, the Poet, 22
Handel, 229
Harris, Howel, 378
Hartley, Mr., 172
---- Dr., 450
Hastings, Lady Margaret, 14
George and Ferdinando (sons of the Countess), Death of, 62
Lady Frances, 84
---- Anne, 122
---- Betty, 248
Hon. Henry, Death of, 311
Lady Selina, Illness and death of, 331
Colonel George, 332
Haweis, Dr., 223
preaching at the Lock, 326
and the living of Aldwincle, 414
itinerates for the Countess, 487
Hertford, Countess of, Letter of, 197
Hervey, Mr., Letter of, to the Countess, 123
at Ashby with the Countess, 153
commences “Theron and Aspasio”, 187
method of preaching, 191
Letters to the Countess, 188, 189
Hill, Mr. Rowland, great popularity, 211
style of preaching, 212
great success at Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapels, 212
Ordination by the Bishop of Bath and Wells and first Sermon,
212
Hill, Sir Richard, 423
Hinchingbroke, Lady, 30
Horne, Dr., Bishop of Norwich, 423
Hotham, Lady Gertrude, 160, 454
Sir Charles, 375
---- Marriage of, and death, 456, 457
Miss, Happy death of, 456
Lady, Death of, 456
Lady Gertrude, Happy death of, 457
HUNTINGDON Family, 7
Earl of, his family, 8
---- his character, 17, 50
---- visits Ledstone Hall, 254
---- remarkable dream, and death, 74
---- epitaph, 75
Young Lord, comes of age, tour to France, &c., 115
---- his high appointments under George III., 458
---- his Infidelity, interview with Grimshaw, and death, 459
Lady--her birth--early character--first religious
impressions--grave of youth--piety--private
prayer--fashionable life--marriage, 7–10
Letter from, to Charles Wesley, 41
---- to John Wesley, 46
---- of, respecting a penitent, 55
---- respecting Mr. Harvey, 192
---- to Dr. Doddridge, 64
---- to Mr. Wesley, 71
---- to Dr. Doddridge, 78–83, 102, 150
---- to Mr. Venn, 225
---- to Romaine, 305
---- to Mr. Milner, 307
---- to Mr. Wren, 309
---- to Gabriel Harris, 443
---- to Mr. Brewer, 438
---- to Mr. Wesley, 475
and the Moravians, 201
Illness of, and recovery, 122
Letters of, to Lord Dartmouth and Mr. Madan, 417, 418
her first acquaintance with Mr. Fletcher--Letter of, concerning
Mr. Fletcher--her request to him to preach to the French
prisoners at Tunbridge, 231
liberates John Nelson from prison, by her influence, 258
visits Yorkshire, with Whitefield, 265
visits Aberford, with Romaine, 273
visits Yorkshire and Lancashire, with Romaine, Mr. Ingham, and
Lady Margaret, 273
visits Yorkshire again, has frequent meetings with the pious
Clergy there, 281
attends the 19th Conference at Leeds, with Messrs. Romaine,
Madan, Venn, Whitefield, John and Charles Wesley, 281
visits Aberford again--takes an excursion to Haworth, Fletcher
and Townsend preach in the churchyard--visits Huddersfield,
290
Illness of, 290
and Mr. Venn, respecting Mr. Ingham’s state of mind, 301
sends students to Yorkshire, 303
Chapel of, at York, 310
---- at Lewes, opened, enlarged, and re-opened, 364
---- at Gloucester, Worcester, and Cheltenham, 441, 442
---- at Bath, 443
exertions at Brighton, 312
sells her Jewels to build a Chapel at Brighton, 314
Gratitude of, respecting Mr. Romaine’s success at St. Anne’s,
Blackfriars, 363
---- at Chichester, Guildford, and Basingstoke, 393
Extracts from letters respecting the Fast, 395
visits Mr. Berridge, with Mr. Madan, 399
visits Earl Ferrers in prison--her exertions to save his life,
405
purchases the Advowson of Aldwincle, and writes to Mr. Thornton,
416
Charges against, respecting the six expelled Oxford Students,
424
Letter of, respecting them, 442
Illness of, greatly blest, 14
Schools of, 51
Anecdote of one of her workmen, 54
Death of the Sons of, 62
her attachment to the Church of England, 83
Huntingdon, Lady, Nobility meeting at her house, 108, 228
the Wesleys, and Whitefield, 474
the Nobility attend her Chapel at Bath, 477
Hurd, Dr., Bishop of Worcester, Anecdote of, 18
Hyatt, Mr. John, his settlement at Tabernacle, and Tottenham
Chapel, 214
Incident, Singular, concerning Dr. Doddridge, 154
Ingham, Mr., 28, 242
Marriage of, to Lady Margaret Hastings, 248
leaves the Moravians, 263
chosen General Overseer, 269
Melancholy state of, 301
Lady Margaret, Illness and death of, 302
Inghamite Churches and Discipline, 269
Preachers, 270
Impostor, an, 114
Irvine, Lady, 297
Itinerants, 33
Jesse, Mr., Letter of, 363
Jews, the, 114
John, Lord St., attendant at the Countess’s, Death of, 97
Johnson, Dr., on Bolingbroke’s Works, 181
Johnson, Mr., the Murder of, by Lord Ferrers, 402
Jones, Mr., the death of, 54
of St. Saviour’s, the death of, 325
Thomas, 394
Joss, Captain, unites in the Ministry with Whitefield, 212
Keene, Mr., 213, 468
Kilmorey, Lady, 81
King, Elizabeth, 453
Knight, Mr. Joel Abraham, 214
---- Titus, 283
Larwood, Mr., 446
Law, Mr., 148, 223
Lee, Mr., 483
Levi, David, 114
Levinges, the, 6
Lewes, the Countess procures an opening for Messrs. Romaine, Madan,
and Fletcher at, 363
Lewes, Chapel of the Countess at, opened and re-opened, 364
Lindsay, Theophilus, 459
Lisburne, Lord, 30
Long-Acre Chapel, 203
Lothian, Marquis of, 100
Luxborough, Lady, 181
Lyttleton, Lord, 150
---- Mr., 177
Madan, Mr. Martin, his family, conversion, ordination, &c., 165,
166, 323
Madan, Mr. Martin, opens the Chapel at Brighton, 314
and Dr. Haweis, Musical taste of, 364
Letter of the Countess to, 418
Reply of, 420
Letter of, to John Wesley, 433
Magistrates and John Nelson, 255
Mallet, Mr. David, and Bolingbroke’s Works, 181
Marlborough, Sarah, Duchess of, 25
Mason, Mr. William, Letter of, to Dr. Free, 364
Maxfield, Mr., 32
and Bell, 321
Maxwell, Lady, 411
Methodists, the, 12, 31
the first Society of, 19
Welsh, Persecution of, 110
Societies, 195
Conference, 446
Methodism, Rise of, in Yorkshire, 242
in Scotland, 410
Milner, Mr., 267
Mr. Joseph, attends the Countess’s Preachers, and begins to
preach the Gospel, 303
Ministers, the German, 115
Minor, The, publication of, 209
Mitchell, Mrs., 40
Mohegan Indians, 411
Moira, Countess of, 460
Montague, Lady Mary Wortley, 22
Moravians, the, 36, 453
and Charles Wesley, 41
Settlement of, at Fulneck, 250
Nobles, 262
More, Mrs. Hannah, 293
Moorfields, Preaching of Whitefield and Wesley in, 36, 199
Murray, Grace, marriage to Mr. Bennett, 45
Nash, Beau, 445
Nelson, John, 46, 251
Spirit of, encouraged by the Countess, 255, 256
imprisoned, 257
liberated through the influence of the Countess, 258
Newton, Rev. John, Anecdote related by, respecting Whitefield, 92
visits Yorkshire, 270
Letter of, to John Wesley, 270
Nimmo, Mr. and Lady Jane, 185
Lady Jane, Letter of, to the Countess, 186
Nobility, Scotch, 185
Nobility attend preaching at the Countess’s, 108, 228, 477
Northampton, Lord, 132
Oathall, 316
Occum, the Indian Preacher, 298, 411
Okeley, Mr. Francis, 244
Oliver, Dr., 450, 451
Oratorio, at the Lock Chapel, 364
Oxford, Lord, 29
Oxford, Students of, 421
Progress of piety among, 226
St. Edmund’s Hall, the expulsion of, 422
Penitent’s Death Bed, 55
Pentycross, Mr., 393
Perfection, Christian and sinless, 321, 329
Perronet, Vincent, 387
Piety, Progress of, at Cambridge, 421
Pitt, Mr., 210
Pope, the poet, 26, 444
Potter, Dr., Archbishop of Canterbury, 446
Powys, Mr. and Mrs., 375
Preaching, Lay, 32
Preachers, Lay, 60, 198
Mr. Wesley’s Defence of, 61
Welsh, 84, 198
Pretender, the, 65
Queensbury, Duchess of, 28
Religion, Revival of, in the Establishment and among the
Methodists, 220
Riddell, Mr., Letter of, to the Countess, 303
Robinson, Miss, 29
Rogers, Mr., 244
Romaine, Mr., Family of, 130
Letters of, to the Countess, 323, 324, 327, 330, 362
---- to Mrs. Medhurst, 302, 333
Great popularity of, 130
appointed Chaplain to the Countess, 132
Opinion of, respecting the Inghamite Churches, 273
preaches in Mr. Ingham’s Chapels, 273
at Haworth, preaches in the open air, 274
Wesley, Madan, Whitefield, &c. in Yorkshire, 281
Connexion of, with the Countess, 315
driven from the chapel of the Broadway, 326
and the Lectureship at St. Dunstan’s, 360
Lord Mansfield’s decision in favour of, 360
Influence of the Bishop of Peterborough for, 361
Election for St. Ann’s Blackfriars living on behalf of, 361
Probation Sermon; contest, canvassing and scrutiny, 361
Second Election on behalf of, 362
view of his preferment in a letter to the Countess, 363
Romaine, Mr., Suit in Chancery against, but decided in his favour,
362
preaches at Bristol and Cheltenham, 388
and Madan visit Everton, 398
Rowley, Mr., 310
Sandeman’s letters, 274
Scarborough, Lord, 20
Scawen, Mrs., 448
Scott, Captain, 299, 317
and Mr. Venn, 485
Secker, Archbishop, 19
Shent, Mr. William, 291
Shirley, Family of, &c., 1
Lady Fanny, 22, 115, 191, 444
Mr., 363
Shrapnell, 467
Shunamite, the London, 299
Shuter, Mr. Edward, the comedian, Anecdote of, 207
Simpson, Mr., Mr. Wesley’s opinion of, 47
Society at Fetter-lane, Separation of, 35
Soldiers, Christian, 93
Somerset, the Duchess of, 82
the Duke of, 127
Somerville, the Poet, 22
Southey, Dr., 18
Reflections of, on Berridge, and their refutation, 367
Steward, Mr., 193
Stillingfleet, Mr., 478
Stonehouse, Lady, 155
Dr., 170
Suffolk, Lady, 98
Sunderland, Lord, 258
Sutherland, Lord and Lady, Death of, 472
Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapels, History of, commencement,
opening, &c., 196–206
Talbot, Rev. W., 381
Taylor, David, 43
Temples, the, 21
Thompson, Mr., 126
Thorne, Rev. Thomas, 393
Thornton, Mr., 280
---- Letter of, to Berridge, 371
Thorold, Sir John, 77
Thorpe, Mr., mimics Whitefield, and is converted, 149
Toplady, Mr., 331, 390
Tottenham-court Chapel opened, 206
Townsend, Lady, 22
Townsend, Mr., sent to Edinburgh, 411
Townsend, Mr. and Mr. Jesse, 466
-- Whitefield, &c., 467
Trapp, Dr., 179
Trinder, Mr., 431
Tyler, Mr., 305
-- Labours of, at Hull, 306
Union among the Evangelical Clergy proposed, 409
Venn, Mr., begins to attract notice, 219
Acquaintance of, with Mr. Broughton, one of the original
Methodists, 223
Illness of; accompanies Mr. Whitefield to Bristol; remains with
the Countess at Clifton, 224
removes to Huddersfield, 276
Letters of, to the Countess, 282, 287, 336, 359, 430
publishes “The Complete Duty of Man”, 359
Letter of, 486
Irregularities of, 291
Defence of, 294
Whitefield and Fletcher, 375
and Fletcher preach at Everton, 398
at Trevecca, 482
Wales, Death of the Prince of, 173
Wall, Joseph, 313
Walpole, Horace, 465
at Bath, 477
Warburton, Dr., Bishop of Gloucester, 444
Wardrobe, Mr., 187
Watts, Dr., 58
Letter of, to Dr. Doddridge, 82
Anecdote of, 200
Wells, Mr. Samuel, 431