diff options
Diffstat (limited to '10129-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 10129-0.txt | 11354 |
1 files changed, 11354 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/10129-0.txt b/10129-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..32d002c --- /dev/null +++ b/10129-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11354 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10129 *** + +[Illustration: A STREET IN CAIRO. (See _Mary Louisa Whately_.)] + +EXCELLENT WOMEN. + +BY VARIOUS WRITERS. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +ELIZABETH FRY. BY JAMES MACAULAY, M.A., M.D. +SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. BY REV. R. LOVETT, M.A. +RACHEL, LADY RUSSELL. BY JAMES MACAULAY, M.A., M.D. +FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. BY REV. J.P. HOBSON, M.A. +HANNAH MORE. BY HENRY JOHNSON. +SUSANNA WESLEY. BY REV. J. CUNNINGHAM, M.A. +MRS. HEMANS. BY REV. S.F. HARRIS, M.A., B.C.L. +MADAME GUYON. BY WILLIAM NICHOLS. +ANN JUDSON. BY FRED. A. MCKENZIE. +MARY LOUISA WHATELY. BY REV. W.R. BOWMAN. +AGNES JONES. BY ELLEN L. COURTENAY. +ELIZABETH, DUCHESS OF GORDON. BY REV. S.F. HARRIS, M.A., B.C.L. + + + + +ELIZABETH FRY. + +I. + +BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS. + +Elizabeth Fry was born in Norwich, on the 21st of June, 1780. She was +the third daughter of John Gurney, of Earlham, Norfolk, and Catherine +Bell, daughter of Daniel Bell, merchant in London. Mrs. Bell was a +descendant of the ancient family of the Barclays of Ury in +Kincardineshire, and granddaughter of Robert Barclay, the well-known +apologist of the Quakers. + +John Gurney of Earlham, born in 1749, was educated in the principles of +the Society of Friends, but as he advanced in life, and associated with +persons of various Christian denominations, the strictness of his +religious opinions was much relaxed, and he showed liberality of +sentiment towards others, even if they were indifferent to all spiritual +concerns. In fact, in those times there was throughout England, in all +the churches, a decay of faith and a tendency to unbelief; against which +a few men made noble protest, till the religious Revival, led by +Whitefield and Wesley, inaugurated a happier era. + +We are, therefore, not surprised to read that the daughters of John +Gurney, deprived in early life of their mother's care, were accustomed +to mingle with people entirely devoid of religion, although some of +these were accomplished and talented in their way. The father continued +formally to attend the Friends' Meeting; and the eldest daughter, +Catherine, being of a thoughtful mind and with desire for instruction, +was of use to her sisters in somewhat checking their love of worldly +pleasure and amusements. Of Elizabeth, it is said that in her young days +"she was singularly attractive; her figure tall, her countenance sweet +and pleasing, and her person and manners dignified and lovely. She was +gentle and quiet in temper, yet evinced a strong will." The visits of +different Friends, especially her uncle Joseph Gurney, who always had +much influence with her, both then and during her future life, helped to +confirm the good teaching of her mother in childhood. + + + + +II. + +BEGINS A PRIVATE JOURNAL: WITH RECORD OF HER EXPERIENCES. + +In 1793, when in her seventeenth year, Elizabeth Gurney began to keep a +private Journal.[1] In the early part of this record she frankly tells +her proceedings day after day, and describes the long and gradual +struggle that took place in her heart, which ended in her conversion by +the power of the Holy Spirit, and in her thorough consecration to the +service of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a most instructive record, +especially for the young. + +[Footnote 1: This Journal was kept up by her till the close of her life, +and contains not only a full account of events, but a personal record of +her thoughts and experiences. It is preserved with pious care by members +of the family. _A Memoir of Elizabeth Fry_, published by her daughters, +in two volumes, was widely circulated after her decease. Innumerable +biographies and memoirs have since appeared, the best of which, by +Susanna Corder, contains selections from the private Journal.] + +Her father, a man popular on account of his genial ways and social +disposition, making no objection, she joined, with some of her sisters, +in all the gaieties of life in Norwich. Prince William Frederick, +afterwards Duke of Gloucester, was then quartered with his regiment +there, and there was an incessant round of pleasures--balls, concerts, +and oratorios. Elizabeth Gurney entered into all the gaiety, but she was +ill at ease. She says, "I see the folly of the world. My mind is very +flat after this storm of pleasure." "I do believe if I had a little true +religion, I should have a greater support than I have now." + +She had also before this time given expression to the better +dispositions of her natural heart, saying, "I must do what I can to +alleviate the sorrows of others; exert what power I have to increase +happiness; try to govern my passions by reason; and adhere strictly to +what I think right." + +This condition of her mind, with alternate indulgence in vanity and +resolutions after better things, lasted till she was twenty-two years of +age, when she came to the settled conviction that "it is almost +impossible to keep strictly to principle without religion. I don't feel +any real religion; I should think those feelings impossible to obtain, +for even if I thought all the Bible was true, I do not think I could +make myself feel it: I think I never saw any person who appeared so +totally destitute of it." + +It was something to arrive at the conviction that she lacked the one +thing needful; and that she felt that more than natural effort, even the +power of the Holy Spirit, was necessary to awaken her to new life, and +to change her heart. The arrival at Norwich of an American friend, +William Savery, "a man who seemed to overflow with true religion, and to +be humble, and yet a man of great abilities," confirmed her in her +dissatisfaction with her own state, and strengthened her desires after a +new life. Of him, she says, that "having been gay and disbelieving only +a few years ago, makes him better acquainted with the heart of one in +the same situation." + + + + +III. + +FIRST VISIT TO LONDON. + +While in this unsettled and partially awakened state of mind, +Elizabeth's father proposed to take her to see London, an offer which +she gladly closed with, without any thought beyond the excitement of new +scenes and pleasures. He took her there, and left her for several weeks, +under the care of a relative. It was a perilous trial for a young girl, +but the result was for her happy. The effect was to disgust her more +with the world and mere worldly amusements, and to fix her heart more +surely where true peace can alone be found. + +In the middle of April, after having been seven weeks in London, her +father came to take her home, and very thankful she was to get back to +the quiet country. A few days after, a letter came from William Savery, +to whom she seems to have written asking his counsel. It was a long +epistle, full of wise and faithful advice, and showing most loving +interest in his young friend's welfare. A few sentences will give the +substance of his letter, which may be read by others with as much +advantage as it was by Elizabeth Gurney. "I know, my dear, thou hast, +and wilt have, many temptations to combat with: thou wilt, doubtless, be +frequently importuned to continue with thy gay acquaintance, in pursuit +of that false glare of happiness, which the world, in too bewitching and +deceitful colours, holds out to the unwary traveller, and which +certainly ends in blinding the intellectual eye from discovering the +pure source of soul-felt pleasure resulting from a humble heart, at +peace with its God, its neighbour, and itself. + +"Thee asks my advice, my dear friend, and without any premeditation when +I sat down, I find I have been attempting to give it; but it is very +evident thou art under the special care of an infinitely better +Instructor, who has already uttered His soft and heavenly voice, to +teach thee that the first step towards religion is true humility; +because in that state only we can feel the need we have of an arm, +stronger than human, to lean upon, to lead us out of and keep us from +things which hinder our access to, and confidence in, that boundless +source of purity, love, and mercy; who, amidst all the vicissitudes of +time, is disposed to be our Shepherd, Guardian, and Friend, in whom we +may trust and never be afraid; but this blessed confidence is not, +cannot be enjoyed by the gay, the giddy, proud, or abandoned votaries of +this world." + +Up to this time she had adopted none of the distinctive peculiarities of +the Society of Friends. Although from custom attending the meetings, she +did not confine herself to the services there; for we read such entries +as this, "I went to St. Peter's and heard a good sermon. The common +people seemed very much occupied, and wrapt up in the service, which I +was pleased to see; afterwards I went to the cathedral." She had already +commenced efforts to be useful to others, visiting the sick, and +teaching the children of her poorer neighbours, in Norwich, or at +Bramerton, then a quiet, pleasant village, where the family usually +resided in summer. "I have some thoughts," she says, "of increasing by +degrees my plan for Sunday evening, and of having several poor children, +at least, to read in the Testament and religious books for an hour. It +might increase morality among the lower classes if the Scriptures were +oftener and better read to them." Sunday school work she for herself +discovered to be a profitable, as she found it to be a delightful task. +All this time she was diligent in study, and in the intellectual culture +of her own mind, as we find from her Journal. + +"I had a good lesson of French this morning, and read much in +Epictetus." Later on, we find her intent on the books of Dr. Isaac +Watts, his _Logic_ especially, which Dr. Johnson had commended strongly +to all who sought the "improvement of the mind." + + + + +IV. + +AT COLEBROOK DALE, AND ON A JOURNEY TO WALES. + +In the summer of 1798, John Gurney took the whole of his seven daughters +an excursion through parts of England and Wales. At Colebrook Dale, +where they saw several relatives, members of the Society of Friends, +Elizabeth Gurney received the deepest impressions. She was especially +struck with the veteran philanthropist, Richard Reynolds, who having +made a large fortune in his well-managed iron-works, spent his money and +time in seeking the moral good of the working people. At Colebrook Dale +also she spent some days with an elderly cousin, Priscilla Hannah +Gurney, cousin to the Earlham Gurneys by both father and mother, her +father being Joseph Gurney and her mother Christiana Barclay. Being left +by her father alone for some days with this cousin, the influence of the +visit was very powerful on her. "She was exactly the person to attract +the young; she possessed singular beauty, and elegance of manner. She +was of the old school; her costume partook of this, and her long +retention of the black hood gave much character to her appearance. She +had early renounced the world and its fascinations; left Bath, where her +mother and sister Christiana Gurney resided; became eventually a +minister among Friends; and found a congenial retreat for many years at +Colebrook Dale." + +The travelling party went on to make a tour in Wales and to attend the +gathering of Friends at the Welsh half-yearly meeting. Most of the +Colebrook Dale Friends were present, and further converse with Priscilla +Gurney induced her niece to resolve openly to conform to Quaker customs, +though at what precise time she became professedly a Friend we are not +told. As to the costume, she was very slow in adopting it--not till some +time after returning to Norwich. + +In this early Welsh journey a singular prediction was given in an +address by an aged Friend, Deborah Darby, who said of her that "she +would be a light to the blind, speech to the dumb, and feet to the +lame." "Can it be? She seems as if she thought I was to be a minister of +Christ. Can I ever be one?" asks Elizabeth Gurney in her Journal. + + + + +V. + +THE LAST YEAR AT HOME. + +The early months of 1799 were passed in Norwich, where she engaged in +works which she believed to be right and useful. She visited the poor, +doing what she could to relieve distress, yet cautious lest she should +appear to do too much, telling her friends that in such charity she was +only agent for her father, who approved of her thus helping others. She +held what are now called "mothers' meetings," reading and talking to a +little group of people about fifteen in number. Her "Sunday School" had +also gradually increased, till there were sometimes seventy poor +children receiving instruction from her. Cutting out and preparing +clothes for the poor, and occasional visits to hospitals, and once to +Bedlam to see a poor woman, were among the occupations of the winter +months. She had not yet, however, made any decisive change in her social +habits, for she occasionally accompanied her sisters to balls and other +entertainments, yet finding less and less satisfaction in what she in +calmer moments disapproved. + +The doubtful, wavering condition of mind led her to think more seriously +of openly avowing her religious principles. + +In the autumn her father travelled to the north of England, taking with +him his son Samuel and his daughters Priscilla and Elizabeth. He was +going to visit an estate belonging to him; also to attend the general +meeting at the Friends' School at Ackworth, after which they were going +to Scotland. All this expedition Elizabeth much enjoyed. At Ackworth she +took part in the examination of the scholars, and had pleasant +conversation with the headmaster Doctor Binns, and with Friends +assembled on the occasion. At York they saw the wonderful Minster; at +Darlington, found themselves in a living colony of Friends; and +Elizabeth was gratified by receiving a note and a book of grammar from +the famous Lindley Murray, whom she had met and taken tea with at York. +Durham, Newcastle, Alnwick Castle, and Edinburgh, were successively +visited, and afforded abundant materials for entries in her Journal, and +for agreeable recollections after returning home. + + + + +VI. + +MARRIAGE, AND SETTLEMENT IN LONDON. + +On August 19, 1800, Elizabeth Gurney was married, at the Friends' +Meeting House, Norwich, to Joseph Fry, youngest son of William Storrs +Fry, of London. He had been to Earlham, and made an offer of marriage, +during the preceding year, but nothing had then been settled, Elizabeth +Gurney being afraid that any change at that time might interfere with +her spiritual welfare and her newly-formed plans of active usefulness. +But after some correspondence, when the proposal was renewed, she felt +it right to give her consent. It was the custom more generally +prevailing than now for the junior partner to reside in the house of +business, and in accordance with this, Joseph and Elizabeth Fry prepared +to establish themselves in Mildred's Court in the City, a large, +commodious and quiet house, since pulled down in consequence of +alterations in London. The parents of her husband occupied a +country-house at Plashet, Essex. The Fry family, like that of the +Gurneys, had long been members of the Society of Friends; but unlike her +own parents, they had adhered strictly to the tenets and the habits of +Quakers. She thus came to be surrounded by a large circle of new +connexions, different from her own early associates at Norwich. + +During the fortnight occupied by the Yearly Meeting, Mildred's Court +was an open house for the entertainment of Friends from all parts of the +kingdom, who would come in to midday dinner, whether formally invited or +not. On one occasion, when an American Friend, George Dilwyn, was a +guest, she commenced regular family worship, with the approval of her +husband, this now recognised duty not having been previously the +practice in the house. + +Occasionally she got rest in staying at Plashet, but her life was a busy +one, and hardly favourable to spiritual advancement. At Plashet, on the +9th of seventh month (July) she wrote: "We live at home in a continual +bustle; engagement follows engagement so rapidly, day after day, week +after week, owing principally to the number of near connexions, that we +appear to live for others rather than ourselves. Our plan of sleeping +out so often I by no means like, and yet it appears impossible to +prevent it; to spend one's life in visiting and being visited +seems sad." + +It is evident that the circumstances under which she began her married +life were too fatiguing for her, and to these were added the usual +domestic troubles at times with servants. All this told upon her, then +approaching her first confinement, depressing not merely her bodily +powers and natural energy, but in some degree her spiritual liveliness. +But she must attend to present duty, and when her first child, a girl, +was born, she was absorbed in the anxieties, pleasures and +responsibilities of a mother. + +From the feeble state of her health, she was some time in regaining +strength enough to attend Meeting, or to resume her usual activity. She +was confined to her room when she heard the great tumult of joy, at the +thanksgiving and the illuminations, for restoration of Peace in 1801, on +the 10th of October; and the noise of the mob in the streets disturbed +her even in this quiet house. A fortnight later the parents went to +Norfolk, taking with them their little treasure, a lovely infant, which +gave great delight to the relatives there. The child was vaccinated by +Dr. Simms on their return to London, and the doctor's advice was taken +about the health of the mother, who then was in a state of much bodily +weakness, with a troublesome cough. These trials caused interruption in +the Journal for some weeks; but she and the child gradually got better; +and at the Yearly Meeting of 1802, she was able to attend almost all the +meetings, and to receive the customary crowd of visitors at her house; +among them her much-loved uncle, Joseph Gurney, whose presence was of +much service to her. + + + + +VII. + +FAMILY CARES AND TRIALS. + +In the autumn her husband took her a journey into the north of England, +going by Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon, Chester, Liverpool, and the +Lakes, some of the excursions at which she went on horseback. She was +even able to climb Skiddaw, so that her health had been much restored by +the expedition. They were glad to get back to their comfortable home, +mother and child both better for the trip. Soon after their return, her +brother Samuel came to reside at Mildred's Court, to learn details of +the banking business, and it was to both a great pleasure to be near one +another. A second girl was born in March, 1803; and altogether she had +in future years a very large family, eleven sons and daughters; +regarding which it is sufficient to say that the succession of illnesses +caused so much nervousness and debility, that we can only the more +marvel at the indomitable spirit with which she afterwards undertook the +labours of charity and beneficence which have made her name so famous. +There were also, besides her personal illnesses, many events of trial +and of bereavement, as must necessarily happen where there are numerous +relatives. Writing at Earlham on the 20th of August, 1808, she says, "I +have been married eight years yesterday. Various trials of faith and +patience have been permitted me; my course has been very different from +what I expected; and instead of being, as I had hoped, a useful +instrument in the Church militant, here I am, a careworn wife and +mother, outwardly nearly devoted to the things of this life. Though, at +times, this difference in my destination has been trying to me, yet I +believe those trials that I have had to go through have been very +useful, and brought me to a feeling sense of what I am: and at the same +time have taught me where power is, and in what we are to glory; not in +ourselves, nor in anything we can be, or do; but we are only to desire +that He may be glorified, either through us, or others, in our being +something or nothing, as He may see best for us." + +That same year in late autumn, her dear father-in-law Fry was at +Mildred's Court, very ill; and he died there, being carefully and +tenderly nursed by his daughter-in-law. She also, at risk to her own +family, went to nurse her sister Hannah, in what turned out to be +scarlet fever, about which she says, that "she did not know what malady +it was when she went; and that she was the only sister then at liberty +to wait on her." Through God's mercy, no harm came to her own family +from being there, and no one else took the complaint. "This I consider," +she says, "a great outward blessing. May I be enabled to give thanks, +and to prove my thankfulness by more and more endeavouring to give up +body, soul, and spirit, to the service of my beloved Master." + +In February, 1809, she and her husband left Mildred's Court to occupy +the house at Plashet; to her a pleasant change from the smoke and din of +the great city. Here, her sixth child, a boy, was born in autumn of that +year. Shortly afterwards she was summoned to Earlham, where she +witnessed the death of her own father. It was a heavy blow to her, but +she had the satisfaction of finding that his mind was at peace when he +drew near his end. "He frequently expressed that he feared no evil, but +believed that, through the mercy of God in Christ, he should be received +in glory; his deep humility, and the tender and loving state he was in, +were most valuable to those around him. He encouraged us, his children, +to hold on our way; and sweetly expressed his belief that our love of +good (in the degree we had it) had been a stimulus and help to him." At +the meeting before the funeral she resolved to say nothing, but her +uncle Joseph spoke words of comfort and encouragement; and then she +could not refrain from falling on her knees, and exclaiming, "Great and +marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are all Thy +ways, Thou King of saints; be pleased to receive our thanksgiving." She +could say no more, though intending to express thankfulness on her +beloved father's account. The great tenderness of her uncle gratified +her, "and my husband," she adds, "has been a true helpmate and sweet +counsellor." + + + + +VIII. + +WORK AT PLASHET. + +As soon as they were settled at Plashet, Elizabeth Fry formed and +carried out various plans for the poor. She established a girls' school +for the parish of East Ham, of which Plashet is a hamlet. The clergyman +and his wife gave their help, and a school of about seventy girls was +soon busily at work. The bodily wants of the poor claimed her attention. +A depot of calico and flannel was always ready, besides outer garments. +There was a cupboard well stocked with medicines. In the winter, +hundreds of the destitute poor had the benefit of a soup kitchen, the +boiler of an outhouse being applied to this use. About half a mile off, +on the high road between Stratford and Ilford, there was a colony of +Irish, dirty and miserable, as such settlements in England usually are. +Some she induced to send their children to school, and, with the +consent of the priest, circulated the Bible among them. Once when the +weather was extremely cold, and great distress prevailed, being at the +time too delicate to walk, she went alone to Irish Row, in the carriage +literally piled with flannel petticoats for the poor women, others of +the party at Plashet walking to meet her and help in the distribution. +Her children were trained as almoners very young, and she expected them +to give an exact account of what they gave, and their reasons for +giving. She was a very zealous and practical advocate for vaccination, +having been taught by the celebrated Dr. Willan, one of the earliest and +most successful followers of Dr. Jenner. + +It was an annual custom for numbers of gipsies to pitch their tents in a +green lane near Plashet, for a few days, on their way to Fairlop Fair. +The sickness of a child causing the mother to apply for relief, led +Elizabeth Fry to visit the camp; and ever after she was gladly welcomed +by the poor wanderers, to whom she gave clothing and medicines, and +friendly faithful counsel. To those who could read she gave Bibles or +Testaments, and little books or pictures to the children. Thus she ever +abounded in good works for the benefit of others. All this she did in +intervals snatched from home duties, there being in the house a constant +succession of company and employments to occupy her. For her children +she prayed that they might grow in favour with their Heavenly Father, by +walking in humility and in the fear of God. + +Such was the routine of work and duty at Plashet for several years after +she went to live there. She had interruption from various illnesses in +her family, five of her children being ill at one time; at other times +overbusied with domestic duties, as many as eighteen, in addition to the +family, once sleeping at the house. At the time of the Yearly Meeting +she had to entertain many visitors in London at Mildred's Court. There +were also occasional visits to Norfolk, during one of which she took +active part in founding the Norfolk and Norwich Bible Society. The +meeting at which this was inaugurated in 1811 was a most successful one. +Old Bishop Bathurst spoke with much decision and liberality, and he was +supported by many of the clergy, and ministers of all denominations, the +Mayor of Norwich presiding. About £700 was subscribed at the meeting. +Mr. Joseph Hughes, one of the secretaries, who, with his venerable +colleague Dr. Steinkopff, arranged the meeting, in an account written of +it, speaks of "a devout address by a female minister, Elizabeth Fry, +whose manner was impressive, and whose words were so appropriate, that +none present can ever forget the incident, or even advert to it without +emotions alike powerful and pleasing. The first emotion was surprise; +the second, awe; the third, pious fervour." Such was the impression made +by the hearty words spoken by Elizabeth Fry. + + + + +IX. + +FIRST SIGHT OF NEWGATE PRISON. + +It was in 1813 that the attention of Elizabeth Fry was first directed to +the condition of female prisoners in Newgate. At the beginning of that +year four members of the Society of Friends had visited some persons +about to be executed. One of the visitors, William Forster, asked Mrs. +Fry if nothing could be done to alleviate the sufferings of the women, +then living in the most miserable condition. The state of the prison was +at that time disgraceful to a civilised country, even after all John +Howard's labours. There were about three hundred women, with many +children, crowded in four small rooms, badly lighted, badly ventilated, +and with no bedding or furniture. They slept on the floor, some of the +boards of which were partially raised, to supply a sort of pillow for +rest; and here, in rags and dirt, the poor creatures cooked, washed, and +lived. Prisoners, tried and untried, misdemeanants and felons, young and +old, were huddled together, without any attempt at classification, and +without any employment, and with no other superintendence than was given +by one man and his son, who had charge of them by night and by day. When +strangers appeared amongst them, there was an outburst of clamorous +begging, and any money given went at once to purchase drink from a +regular tap in the prison. There was no discipline of any sort, and very +little restraint over their communication with the outside world, beyond +what was necessary for safe custody. Oaths and bad language assailed the +ear, and every imaginable horror distressed the eye of a stranger +admitted to this pandemonium. Although military sentinels were posted on +the roof of the prison, such was the lawlessness prevailing, that even +the governor dreaded having to go to the female prisoners' quarters. + +Into this scene, accompanied only by Anna Buxton, did Elizabeth Fry +enter. Nothing was at the first visit done but giving warm clothing to +the most destitute; William Forster having told of the wretchedness +caused by the severity of the cold that January of 1813. What was then +witnessed of the sad and neglected condition of these women and children +sank deeply into the heart of the visitors, and Mrs. Fry formed the +resolution to devote herself, as soon as circumstances permitted, to the +work of prison reform, and improvement of the condition of female +prisoners. + +The work was not wholly new to her. When not sixteen years of age, she +was deeply interested in the House of Correction in Norwich, and by her +repeated and earnest persuasion she induced her father to allow her to +visit it. She never forgot her experience there, and she afterwards said +that it laid the foundation of her future greater work. + +Several years were yet to elapse before the time came for taking up +seriously the cause of prisons. These years were crowded with events of +various kinds, both in the great world and in the little world of her +own family circle. These events caused delays which we must suppose were +needed for preparing more perfectly the instrument to be used in the +great work. Every interval of time, amidst these years of busy and +disturbed life, was occupied in some active and necessary work. There +were meetings at various places, Westminster, Norwich, and also at +Plaistow, after the removal to Plashet brought the family within its +sphere. At most of the meetings she took part, both in the worship and +in visiting the poor or the sick. Then there were family cares, +troubles, and bereavements. The loss of little Elizabeth, the seventh +child, was a sore trial, a child of much promise, and with wisdom and +goodness beyond her years, early called to a heavenly home. + +Her tenth child was born on the 18th of April, 1816, for whom she thus +prayed with thanksgiving--"Be Thou pleased, O Lord God Almighty, yet to +look down upon us, and bless us; and if Thou seest meet, to bless our +loved infant, to visit it by Thy grace and Thy love; that it may be +Thine in time, and Thine to all eternity. We desire to thank Thee for +the precious gift." + +After a visit to Norfolk, in consequence of the death of the only +surviving son of her uncle Joseph Gurney; and to North Runcton, where +her elder daughters were residing; and having placed her sons at school, +she came to London, to commence the great work to which she now felt she +must devote her life. + + + + +X. + +PRISON WORK. + +Three years had passed since the first visit to Newgate in 1813. The +determination then formed to devote her life to prison-work had been +cherished ever since, though hindrances delayed the carrying out of her +purpose. Nothing but the constraining love of Christ could have thus +induced a woman of Elizabeth Fry's position and character, a woman +delicate and in feeble health, to devote herself to labours so arduous +and painful, sacrificing personal ease and domestic comfort, for the +sake of rescuing from destruction those who were sunk in vice and in +wretchedness. But she was following the example of Him who came to seek +and to save the lost. Her labour was not in vain in the Lord, for she +succeeded not only in greatly lessening the sum of human misery, but was +enabled to bring many to the knowledge and the love of the Saviour. + +[Illustration:(From the picture by J. Barrett.) MRS FRY ADDRESSES THE +FEMALE PRISONERS IN NEWGATE [Engraved by Barlow.]] + +In the years of preparation for her work, she made herself acquainted +with what had been done by others. At the suggestion of her +brother-in-law, the late Samuel Hoare, she accompanied him to Coldbath +Fields House of Correction, the neglected state of which much shocked +him. She had also visited different prisons with another brother-in-law, +the late Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, at that time occupied, with other +philanthropists, in forming a Society for reformation of juvenile +criminals. The interest was thus kept alive in her mind about the women +in Newgate, whom she again went to see about the end of 1816. On this +her second visit she asked permission to be left alone among the women +for some hours. As they flocked round her, she spoke to those who were +mothers, of the miserable state of their children, dirty and almost +naked, pining for want of proper food, air, and exercise. She said she +would like to get a school for the children, to which they gladly +assented. Then, after talking kindly to many of the women, she read to +them aloud the parable of the Lord of the vineyard, in the 20th chapter +of Matthew, making a few simple comments about Christ coming, and being +ready to save sinners even at the eleventh hour, so wonderful was His +pity and mercy. A few of the listeners asked who Jesus Christ was, so +ignorant they were; others feared that their time of salvation +was passed. + +About the school, she said she would do all she could to help them, and +get others to assist; only without their own help she could not +undertake anything. She told them to think and to talk over her plan for +the school, and left it to them to select a teacher or governess from +among themselves. On her next visit they had chosen as schoolmistress a +young woman, Mary Connor, recently committed for stealing a watch. An +unoccupied cell was given to her as the schoolroom by the governor of +the prison. On the next day, Mrs. Fry with a friend, Mary Sanderson +(afterwards the wife of Sylvanus Fox), went to open the school. It was +intended for children and young women under twenty-five, for from the +small size of the room they were obliged to refuse admission to many +older women who earnestly sought to share in the instruction. + +The poor schoolmistress, Mary Connor, proved well qualified for her +duties. She taught with the utmost carefulness and patience, and Mrs. +Fry had the satisfaction of seeing her become one of the first-fruits of +her Christian labour in the prison. A free pardon was granted to her +about fifteen months afterwards; but it proved an unavailing gift, for a +cough, which had attacked her some time before, ended in consumption. +She displayed, during her illness, much penitence and true faith, and +she died with a good hope of pardon through her Saviour. + +It was in the visits to the school, where some lady attended every day, +that the dreadful misconduct of most of the women in the female side of +the prison was witnessed, swearing, gaming, fighting, singing, dancing; +scenes so bad that it was thought right never to admit young persons +with them in going to the school. But the way in which Mrs. Fry had been +received when she went there among them alone, made her sure that much +could be done by love and kindness, in dependence on Divine help, and +with the power of the Word of God applied by the Holy Spirit. + +Eleven members of the Society of Friends, with one other lady, the wife +of a clergyman, formed themselves into an Association for the +Improvement of the Female Prisoners in Newgate. The object was stated to +be "to provide for the clothing, instruction, and employment of the +women; to introduce them to a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures; and to +form in them, as much as possible, those habits of order, sobriety and +industry, which may render them docile and peaceable while in prison, +and respectable when they leave it." + +The concurrence of the sheriffs, of the City magistrates, and the +officials of the prison must be obtained, and they were too glad to +grant full permission to the visitors; all of them at the same time +expressing doubt as to the success of the undertaking, on account of the +women not submitting to the restraints it would be necessary to impose. +Mrs. Fry had foreseen this, and had drawn up rules to be observed. On a +fixed date the sheriffs met some of the ladies' association at the +prison; the women were assembled, and asked by Mrs. Fry if they were +willing to abide by the rules. With a unanimous shout they assured her +of their resolution to obey them strictly. + +After the adoption of the rules, a visitor to the prison would scarcely +have recognised the place or the people. A matron, partly paid by the +Corporation and partly by the associated ladies, had the women, now +first divided into classes, under her superintendence. A yards-woman +acted as porter. The prisoners, who formerly spent their time wholly in +idleness or in card-playing, were now busily at work. A visitor, who +went to see the change of which he had heard, describes his being +"ushered to the door of a ward, where at the head of a long table sat a +lady belonging to the Society of Friends. She was reading aloud to about +sixteen women prisoners, who were engaged in needle-work. They all rose +on my entrance, curtsied respectfully, and then resumed their seats and +employment. Instead of a scowl, leer, or ill-suppressed laugh, I +observed upon their countenances an air of self-respect and gravity, a +sort of consciousness of their improved character, and the altered +position in which they are placed. I afterwards visited the other wards, +which were the counterparts of the first." + +In 1818 there was a House of Commons Committee, before which Mrs. Fry +gave evidence. Her statement is so remarkable as to be worth recovering +out of a long-forgotten Blue Book. In answer to questions, she told the +Committee that "There are rules, which occasionally, but very seldom, +are broken; order has been very generally observed. I think I may say we +have full power amongst them, for one of them said it was more terrible +to be brought up before me than before the judge, though I used nothing +but kindness. I have never punished a woman during the whole time, or +even proposed a punishment to them. + +"With regard to our work, they have made nearly twenty thousand articles +of wearing apparel, the generality of which, being supplied by the +shops, pays very little. Excepting three out of this number of articles +that were missing (which we really do not think owing to the women), we +never lost a single thing. They knit from about 60 to 100 pairs of +stockings and socks every month, and they spin a little. The earnings of +their work, we think, average about eighteen-pence per week for each +person. This is usually spent in assisting them to live, and helping to +clothe them. + +"Another very important point is the excellent effect we have found to +result from religious education; we constantly read the Scriptures to +them twice a day; many of them are taught, and some of them have been +enabled to read a little themselves. It has had an astonishing effect. I +never saw the Scriptures received in the same way, and to many of them +they have been entirely new, both the great system of religion and of +morality contained in them." + + + + +XI. + +OTHER BENEFICENT WORKS. + +The work so successfully accomplished in Newgate was the precursor of +similar work undertaken in other prisons, not in London only, but all +over the country. With prisons now so much better managed, and with +multitudes of workers, single or associated, striving for the welfare of +prisoners, the record of Mrs. Fry's early labours may have lost much of +its interest. But it is well to state clearly the nature of her work, +and the spirit in which it was undertaken. Nor was it only in the +interior of the prisons that her labours were carried on. At that time +the transportation of criminals to penal settlements was very largely +resorted to, and the state of convict ships was as bad as that of the +worst prisons in England. Mrs. Fry made arrangements for the classifying +of female prisoners; for obtaining superintendents and matrons; for +providing schools and work on board ship; and in many ways attending to +the welfare of the poor convicts. She used to go down to almost every +ship that left the Thames, and saw everything done that was possible for +their comfort. In one case, that of the _Wellington_ convict ship, +hearing that patchwork was an easy and profitable work, she sent quickly +to different Manchester houses in London, and got an abundance of +coloured cotton pieces. When the ship touched at Rio Janeiro, the quilts +made by the women were sold for a guinea each, which gave them money to +obtain shelter on landing, till they could get into service or find +respectable means of subsistence. The children were taught to knit, and +sew, and read; the schoolmistress and monitors being themselves chosen +from the convicts, with guarantee of reward if they continued steady. + +A more public and national benefit was the assistance given by Mrs. Fry +to those who sought revision of the penal code by Parliament. Sir Samuel +Romilly, Sir James Mackintosh, the Earl of Lansdowne, Mr. Wilberforce, +all acknowledged the help obtained in their parliamentary efforts to +amend the administration of the criminal law, in the facts and the +experience supplied by her from her long and successful efforts in +prison work. The popularity acquired by her brought all manner of +persons, the very highest in Church and in State, to seek to know her +and to do her honour. Even the aged Queen Charlotte, who had never taken +much interest in philanthropic work, and had paid undue attention to +small matters of court formalism and etiquette, was melted into +admiration of what this Quaker lady had done. On the occasion of a +public ceremony at the Mansion House, the Queen asked Mrs. Fry to be +present, and paid particular attention to her. The pencil of the artist +has left a record of this scene, as well as of the meetings in Newgate, +where she is addressing the prisoners. Some years later she was +introduced to Queen Adelaide by the Duke of Sussex, and it was the +beginning of profitable intercourse with one whom she esteemed on +account of her true piety and unbounded charity. With the Duchess of +Gloucester and others in exalted position she had frequent interviews; +and also more than once visited the Duchess of Kent, and her daughter, +then the Princess Victoria. She was always glad to meet persons of rank, +hoping to be of use to them personally, and also to increase their +interest in works of charity and of mercy. But she valued above all +aristocratic or royal recognition the good opinion of earnest and +devoted Christian workers. Of many gifts which she received, few were +more prized by her than a copy of the venerated Hannah More's _Practical +Piety_, received by her on a visit to Barley Wood, in which the author +wrote the following inscription: "To Mrs. Fry, presented by Hannah More, +as a token of veneration of her heroic zeal, Christian charity, and +persevering kindness, to the most forlorn of human beings. They were +naked and she clothed them; in prison and she visited them; ignorant and +she taught them, for His sake, in His name, and by His word who went +about doing good." + +Repeated visits to Ireland, to Scotland, and to different parts of +England, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Plymouth, and the Channel +Islands, were made at different times in her latter years; forming +Prison Associations and fulfilling various engagements. In 1825 she +wrote: "My occupations are just now multitudinous. I am sensible of +being at times pressed beyond my strength of body and mind. But the day +is short, and I know not how to reject the work that comes to hand to +do." To enumerate all the good works which she originated or supported, +would require more space than a brief memoir could allow. Societies for +visiting prisons, libraries for the Coastguard men, reformatory schools +for juvenile offenders, were among the many institutions which she +established. An excellent institution at Hackney, bearing the name of +the Elizabeth Fry Refuge, for the reception of discharged female +prisoners, will long perpetuate the memory of her useful work. + +In the summer of 1829, the family removed to a small but convenient +house in Upton Lane, adjoining the Ham House grounds, the residence of +her brother Samuel Gurney. In this place she passed most of her later +years, and from it she went out on her many expeditions in England or on +the Continent. + + + + +XII. + +VISITS TO THE CONTINENT. + +It was not till 1838, the year after the accession of Queen Victoria, +that Mrs. Fry paid her first visit to France. She saw most of the +prisons of Paris, and she had most pleasant interviews with King Louis +Philippe, the Queen, and the Duchess of Orleans. The Queen was much +pleased with the "Text Book," prepared some years before, and said she +would keep it in her pocket and use it daily. Rouen, Caen, Havre, as +well as Paris, were visited. A second journey in France, in 1839, began +at Boulogne, and thence by Abbeville to Paris. Here she again took +interest in the prisons, obtaining from the Prefect of Police leave for +Protestant ladies to visit the Protestant prisoners. Avignon, Lyons, +Nismes, Marseilles were visited, and the Protestants of the south of +France were much gratified by the meetings held at various places. With +the brothers Courtois of Toulouse they had much agreeable intercourse. +At Montauban they saw the chief "school of the prophets," where the +Protestant pastors are educated, They also went to Switzerland, enjoying +the scenery, and also the intercourse with the Duke de Broglie's +family, then at the house of the Baroness de Staël. Above a hundred +persons were invited to meet her, at the house of Colonel Trouchin, near +the Lake of Geneva. Several places were visited, and they returned by +Frankfort, Ostend, and Dover. + +[Illustration: Elizabeth Fry] + +In February, 1839, she was called to pay a visit to the young Queen +Victoria at Buckingham Palace. She went, accompanied by William Allen, +Lord Normanby, the Home Secretary, presenting them. The Queen asked +where they had been on the Continent. She also asked about the Chelsea +Refuge for Lads, for which she had lately sent £50. This gave +opportunity for Mrs. Fry thanking Her Majesty for her kindness, and the +short interview ended by an assurance that it was their prayer that the +blessing of God might rest on the Queen and her relatives. + +In the autumn of that year she went to the Continent, with several +companions, her brother Samuel Gurney managing the travelling. They saw +Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, and the great prison of Vilvorde; Rotterdam, +Amsterdam, Pyrmont, and Hameln, where there were about four hundred +prisoners, all heavily chained. The prisons in Hanover at that time were +in deplorable condition, about which, at an interview with the Queen, +Mrs. Fry took occasion to speak. + +From Hanover they went to Berlin, where a cordial welcome was received. +The Princess William, sister of the late King, was in warm sympathy with +Mrs. Fry's prison-work, and, after the death of Queen Louisa, was a +patron and a supporter of every good word and work. After Frankfort, +they went to Düsseldorf, and paid a most interesting visit to Pastor +Fliedner, at his training institution for deaconess-nurses, at +Kaiserswerth. Pastor Fliedner had witnessed the good results of Mrs. +Fry's labours at Newgate, and he had established a society called the +Rhenish Westphalian Prison Association for similar work in Germany. +Everywhere authority was given to see whatever the travellers desired, +so that this Continental journey was very prosperous and satisfactory. +They got back to England in the autumn of 1840. + +In 1841 she once more went with her brother Joseph, who was going to +some of the northern countries of Europe. She knew that such a journey +would be fatiguing to a frame much enfeebled by illness and a life of +continuous exertion, but she still had an earnest desire to work for the +good of others, if it seemed the will of her Lord and Master. "I had +very decided encouragement," she says, "from Friends, particularly the +most spiritual among them;" and so, all difficulties being removed, she +started, with her brother and two young nieces. + +The most interesting of all their North German experiences was visiting +the Prussian Royal Family, then in Silesia, whither, on leaving Berlin, +they had been invited to follow them. Mrs. Fry had always misgivings in +regard to her intercourse with exalted personages, chiefly, she herself +explained, lest in anything she said or did she might not "adorn the +doctrine of God her Saviour." But she was soon put at ease as to this, +on finding that she was coming to real Christians, as devoted as she was +to the service of the Master, for such there have generally been among +members of the House of Brandenburg. The King and Queen of Prussia were +at the time residing at Ermansdorf, and most of the Royal Family were +with them or in the neighbourhood. Addresses and conversations on +matters connected with prisons or with religious liberty were prominent +as usual, but the especial feature in the Silesian visit was the +intercourse with the poor Tyrolese refugees from Zillerthal, expelled +from their own country by the Austrian Government, and settled in +Silesia by the permission of the late King of Prussia. These people had +become converts from Romanism to the Reformed faith, by reading the +Bible and religious books. After much suffering, they were commanded to +quit their homes at short notice. The King of Prussia, on hearing of +this cruel edict, was willing to receive them all, and gave them a new +home in the domain of Ermansdorf, which they called Zillerthal, after +their native village. The Countess Reden, an excellent Christian lady, +was authorised to do everything for their comfort. She had cottages +built in the true Tyrolese style, with balconies and all the +picturesqueness of Swiss chalets. Schools were established, and every +means taken to benefit the exiled families. The good Countess Reden +arranged for Mrs. Fry meeting the Zillerthallers, who came in their +national costume, and heard words of kind and earnest counsel from the +English lady. A Moravian brother was brought a distance of forty miles +to be interpreter. + + + + +XIII. + +IN LONDON AND IN PARIS + +Not long afterwards Mrs. Fry's greatly enfeebled health compelled her +return to England. She landed at Dover on the 2nd of October. After a +short stay at Ramsgate with her husband and some of her family, she was +taken to Norfolk. There she received letters from the Countess Reden, +giving most gratifying tidings of the impressions made by her visit, and +of the practical reforms in prisons, effected by royal order since her +visit to Prussia. The chaplain of the great prison at Jauer stated that +above two hundred Bibles and Prayer-books had been purchased by the +prisoners out of their small earnings. + +In the winter of 1841, a succession of family events from time to time +occupied her attention, her strength gradually improving, till at the +beginning of 1842 she again took part in public proceedings. Sir John +Pirie was Lord Mayor that year, and Lady Pirie had been a most valued +helper of Mrs. Fry in the cause of prison reform. They were anxious to +give her an opportunity, at the Mansion House, of bringing her influence +to bear on persons of position, and Sir John invited Prince Albert to +dine there, with the most prominent members of the Government. + +It was in this year the King of Prussia made a state visit to England, +and the marked attention he showed to Mrs. Fry was much noticed. He went +to meet her at Newgate, and he also insisted on going to Upton to +dinner, where Mrs. Fry presented to the King her husband, eight +daughters and daughters-in-law, seven sons, and twenty-five +grandchildren, with other relatives, Gurneys, Buxtons, and Pellys--an +English family scene much enjoyed by the Prussian guest. Other visits +are described in her Journals, to the Queen Dowager, the Duchess of +Kent, the Duchess of Gloucester, and others of the Royal Family; having +interesting conversations about "our dear young Queen, Prince Albert, +and their little ones; about our foreign journey, the King of the +Belgians, and other matters." She often used to say she preferred +visiting prisons to visiting palaces, and going to the poor rather than +the rich, yet she felt it her duty to "drop a word in season" in high +places, and at the same time to be "kept humble, watchful, and faithful +to her Lord." + +After the fatigues of the Continental and London season, she was glad in +the summer to occupy the house of her brother-in-law Mr. Hoare at +Cromer, and when there she saw much of the residents at Northrepps Hall, +The Cottage, and other places famed far and wide for their philanthropic +associations. + +She got home to Upton Lane, and spent the winter there. The most +noticeable event mentioned is her meeting at dinner Lord Ashley, at her +son's house. "He is a very interesting man; devoted to promoting the +good of mankind, and suppressing evil--quite a Wilberforce, I think." +Such was her opinion of the good Earl of Shaftesbury in his early days. + +In the spring of 1843, feeling her health to be somewhat restored, she +surprised her friends by announcing her wish to visit Paris again, to +complete works of usefulness formerly initiated there. More than once +she saw the widowed Duchess of Orleans at the Tuilleries, the only other +person present being her stepmother the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg, +"an eminently devoted pious woman," by whom the Duchess of Orleans had +been brought up from childhood. They spoke much about the children of +the House of Orleans, and "the importance of their education being early +founded in Christian faith;" a desire which may be re-echoed in another +generation. Another important series of interviews was with M. Guizot, +then the chief statesman of France. Altogether the last visit to Paris +was a pleasant and useful expedition. + + + + +XIV. + +LAST YEARS. + +The end was now drawing nigh--the end of her busy, useful life. In June, +1843, Elizabeth Fry attended the Quarterly Meeting at Hertford, the last +time she left home expressly on religious service. She felt it her duty, +she said, "to encourage the weary, and to stir up to greater diligence +the servants of the Lord, who uses weak and foolish instruments for His +work," yet who is "made unto His people, wisdom, righteousness, +sanctification, and redemption." + +Symptoms of increasing feebleness led to her removal that autumn from +her home at Upton Lane, to various places, Sandgate, Tunbridge Wells, +and Bath, in hope of recovering her strength. But she knew that her time +for active service was over. She frequently said to those about her, "I +feel the foundation underneath me sure." Her concern was not about +herself, but about those near and dear to her. + +One of the last entries in her Journal is this: "I do earnestly entreat +Thee, that to the very last I may never deny Thee, or in any way have my +life or conversation inconsistent with my love to Thee and most earnest +desire to live to Thy glory; for I have loved Thee, O Lord, and desired +to serve Thee without reserve. Be entreated, that through Thy +faithfulness, and the power of Thy own Spirit, I may serve Thee unto the +end. Amen." + +The year 1844 was one of much trial and affliction. Her husband's only +sister died of consumption on July 2nd; a grandson of much promise was +taken off at the age of twelve by the same disease towards the end of +July; in August and September her second son and two of his young +daughters were rapidly carried off by malignant scarlet fever. In the +spring of the following year the death of her brother-in-law, Sir Thomas +Fowell Buxton, excited her tenderest feelings. In fact, there was a +succession of bereavements, which caused her to say in her Journal, +"Sorrow upon Sorrow!" and after writing the long list of deaths, she +closes the entry with these words "O gracious Lord! bless and sanctify +to us all this afflicting trial, and cause it to work for our +everlasting good; and be very near to the widow and the fatherless; and +may we all be drawn nearer to Thee, and Thy kingdom of rest and peace, +where there will be no more sin, sickness, death, and sorrow." + +As to her own health, she rallied a little after returning home from +Bath, but it was thought well to move from place to place for change of +air, and for the pleasure of communion with loved friends. The beginning +of 1845 saw her again in Norfolk, her husband and her daughter taking +her to Earlham, where she enjoyed, for several weeks, the companionship +of her brother, Joseph John Gurney, his wife, and other relatives. She +went frequently to Meeting at Norwich, drawn in her wheeled chair, and +thence ministering with wonderful life and power to those present. + +The Annual Meeting of the British Ladies Society, an excellent +organisation for visiting and caring for female convicts, although +usually held at Westminster, was this year held in the Friends' +meeting-house at Plaistow. After the meeting, which she had addressed +several times in a sitting posture, she invited those present to come to +her home, and it was felt that her affectionate words at parting were +probably the last they would hear from her in this world. + +As the year passed, it was thought that the air of the south coast might +be useful, and the house at Ramsgate, Arklow House, which proved her +last abode, was prepared for her. Her bed-chamber adjoined the +drawing-room, with pleasant views of the sea, in which she delighted. +While driving in the country, or being wheeled to the pier in a +Bath-chair, she still strove to be useful, distributing Bibles and +tracts, accompanied with a few words of kindly exhortation. Thus she was +employed till the close of her days in work for the Master. She +lingered, with gradual decay; and passed away, after a few days' illness +which confined her to bed, on the morning of the 13th of October, 1845, +in her 66th year. The last words she was heard to articulate, were "O +dear Lord, help and keep Thy servant." + +There was much sorrow when she had ended her useful life; and when she +was taken to Barking for interment, a great number of people assembled, +and a solemn meeting was held. But far beyond any local gathering, her +example will continue to speak, through all the ages, and in many a +land. There are many workers in our time in every branch of Christian +usefulness, but the name and the work of Elizabeth Fry will be for ever +remembered. + +JAMES MACAULAY, M.D. + + + + +SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON + +Lady Selina Shirley, afterwards Countess of Huntingdon, was born August +24, 1707. She died June 17, 1791. Hence her long and useful life +extended over almost the whole of the eighteenth century. She witnessed +the rise of the great evangelical revival, which, beginning with the +Holy Club at Oxford, gradually spread over the United Kingdom and the +English colonies in America. For half a century she was a central figure +in that great religious movement which affected so deeply all classes of +the community, consecrating her position, her means, her influence to +the glory and the extension of His kingdom. + + + + +I. + +EARLY YEARS. + +Lady Selina Shirley was the second of the three daughters of Washington +Shirley, who in 1717 succeeded to the Earldom of Ferrars, being the +second to bear that title. She was born at Stanton Harold, a country +seat near Ashby de la Zouch, in Leicestershire. At a very early age she +gave evidence of intelligence above the average, of a retentive memory, +and of a clear and strong understanding. She manifested when but on the +threshold of womanhood that sound common sense and keen insight into +character and the true bearing of affairs which distinguished her so +pre-eminently in mature and late life. She was serious by temperament, +and when at the age of nine years she happened to meet the funeral +cortège of a child the same age as herself, she was attracted to the +burial, and used afterwards to trace her first abiding sense of the +eternal world to the profound impressions produced upon her mind by that +service. In after life she frequently visited that grave. She was +earnest in her study of the Bible, much given to meditation, and at +times almost oppressed by her convictions of the certainty and duration +of a future state. By her station and education she was compelled to go +out into society, and to take her place in circles in which religion was +as far as possible ignored. But her prayer was that she might not marry +into a frivolous, pleasure-seeking family. + +On June 3, 1728, she became the wife of Theophilus, the ninth Earl of +Huntingdon, who resided at Donnington Park. This proved a happy union, +and even if, in later life, her husband was not always able fully to +share her beliefs and sympathise with her actions, he never threw any +obstacles in her way. + + + + +II. + +HER CONVERSION. + +At Donnington Park the Countess began the kindly and charitable deeds +for which she afterwards became so noted. Her religious feelings were +strong, and she strove earnestly to discharge fully her responsibilities +to both God and man. And yet, as she afterwards came clearly to see, she +was ignorant of the true nature of the Gospel, and she was attempting, +by strict adherence to prayer, meditation, right living, and charitable +action, to justify herself in the sight of God. But, all unknown to her, +the mighty religious awakening begun at Oxford in 1729, and publicly +preached in 1738 by Whitefield and the Wesleys, was destined to be the +cause of her spiritual awakening also. Lady Margaret Hastings and Lady +Betty Hastings, the Earl of Huntingdon's sisters, had come at Oxford +under the influence of the Methodist movement. While on a visit at +Ledstone Hall, in Yorkshire, they received great blessing under the +preaching of Benjamin Ingham, a well-known member of the Holy Club, whom +in 1741 Lady Margaret married. They both received the truth as it is in +Jesus, and were led by the influence of the Holy Spirit to labour and +pray for the salvation of their relatives and friends. In talking with +her sister-in-law one day, Lady Margaret affirmed "that since she had +known and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for life and salvation she +had been as happy as an angel." + +These words depicted an experience so different from her own that they +exerted a very abiding influence upon Lady Huntingdon's thoughts. She +felt her need, she was conscious of sin, and yet the more she strove to +attain salvation the further she seemed removed from it. "A dangerous +illness having, soon after, brought her to the brink of the grave, the +fear of death fell terribly upon her, and her conscience was greatly +distressed. She now perceived that she had beguiled herself with +prospects of a visionary nature; was entirely blinded to her own real +character; had long placed her happiness in mere chimaeras, and grounded +her vain hopes upon imaginary foundations. It was to no purpose that she +reminded herself of the morality of her conduct; in vain did she +recollect the many encomiums that had been passed upon her early piety +and virtue. Her best righteousness now appeared to be but 'filthy rags,' +which, so far from justifying her before God, increased her +condemnation. When upon the point of perishing, in her own apprehension, +the words of Lady Margaret returned strongly to her recollection, and +she felt an earnest desire, renouncing every other hope, to cast herself +wholly upon Christ for life and salvation. From her bed she lifted up +her heart to her Saviour, with this important prayer, and immediately +all her distress and fears were removed, and she was filled with peace +and joy in believing.... Her disorder from that moment took a favourable +turn; she was restored to perfect health, and, what was better, to +newness of life. She determined thenceforward to present herself to God, +as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which she was now convinced +was her reasonable service.... No sooner was her heart surrendered to +God, and her alienated affections restored to their original claimant, +than outward fruits appeared in her conversation: her renovation +introduced new light into her understanding, and new desires into her +heart and affections, and produced its effect upon her temper; not +wholly to eradicate its constitutional peculiarity, but to sanctify and +render it subservient to the glory of God and the good of souls." [1] + +The Countess on recovering from her illness, hearing that John and +Charles Wesley were preaching near by, sent them a message wishing them +God-speed and testifying to her own purpose to live entirely for the +Saviour who had died for her. Her friends failing in their attempt to +persuade her husband to exert his influence against what they considered +fanaticism, enlisted the aid of Dr. Benson, Bishop of Gloucester, who +had been Lord Huntingdon's teacher. But the bishop, as many another in +later days, found that the Countess was fully equal to giving cogent +reasons for her faith and practice. It was he who had ordained +Whitefield, and to the latter the bishop ascribed the change in her +opinion. So far from accepting the bishop's view, the Countess urged +home upon him her opinion of _his_ duty, enforcing her argument with +such apt quotations from the Bible, the Articles, and the Homilies, that +at length he left her presence openly regretting the fact that he had +ever laid his hands upon Whitefield's head. "My Lord," was the last word +of the Countess, "mark my words: when you are on your dying bed that +will be one of the few ordinations you will reflect upon with +complacence." It is pleasing to know that when on his death-bed in 1752, +this prelate sent to Whitefield, and asked to be remembered in +his prayers. + +[Footnote 1: _The Life and Times of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon_, +vol. 1. pp. 14, 15.] + + + + +III. + +HELP IN THE WORK OF WESLEY AXD WHITEFIELD. + +Although in 1738 and 1739 Wesley and his followers frequented the +Moravian meeting-house in Neville's Court, Fetter Lane, the first home +of organised Methodism in London was the Foundry in Moorfields. Lady +Huntingdon had identified herself with the Methodists, and thus was +enabled to exert great influence upon a movement, small at first, but +soon fraught with most potent consequences, the employment by Wesley of +lay evangelistic agency. Wesley had already allowed some of his lay +helpers to expound, but not to preach. Yet here, as in his strong desire +to keep the Methodist movement within the borders of the Established +Church, he was to find that his personal view, if enforced, would hinder +the work which was so manifestly of God, and with his clear common sense +he at once gave way. During 1739 Lady Huntingdon had frequently heard +Thomas Maxfield pray, and, according to her biographer, it was at her +suggestion that he began to expound the Scriptures. Wesley had been +summoned from London, and no clergyman being available at that moment, +he left Maxfield in charge, to pray with the members of the society and +to give them such helpful advice as he could. In a letter to Wesley, +written either at the close of 1739 or the beginning of 1740, Lady +Huntingdon writes of Maxfield: "He is one of the greatest instances of +God's peculiar favour that I know: he is raised from the stones to sit +amongst the princes of His people. The first time I made him expound, +expecting little from him, I sat over against him and thought what a +power of God must be with him to make _me_ give any attention to him. +But before he had gone over one-fifth part, any one that had seen me +would have thought I had been made of wood or stone; so quite immovable +I both felt and looked. His power in prayer is quite extraordinary." + +The border line between such expounding and preaching is very narrow, +and it is hardly to be wondered at that Maxfield soon found that he was +not only preaching, but doing so with the most true and certain warrant +of fitness for the office--souls were being born again under his +ministrations. On hearing such unexpected tidings, Wesley hurried back +to London, and entering his house next door to the Foundry with clouded +face, replied to his mother's question as to the cause, "Thomas Maxfield +has turned preacher, I find." Great was his surprise to receive the +rejoinder, "Take care what you do with respect to that young man, for he +is as surely called of God to preach as you are." Such testimony from +such a source could not fail to move John Wesley. He wisely heard for +himself, and expressed his judgment in the words of Scripture--"It is +the Lord: let Him do what seemeth Him good." + +Thus Methodism passed through what might have been its first great +crisis. Thus it equipped itself to keep pace with the ever-increasing +claims of its work. The quick spiritual insight of Lady Huntingdon +recognised both the need and the fitness of the hitherto +unrecognised worker. + +One of the first members of the noble band of itinerating preachers thus +called into the active exercise of their spiritual gifts was David +Taylor, a servant in Lord Huntingdon's household, who did much fruitful +evangelistic work in the villages surrounding Donnington Park. It was +this man who stood by John Wesley's side when the drunken curate of +Epworth refused him admission to what had been his father's pulpit, and +who announced to the congregation as they left the church that in the +afternoon Wesley would preach in the graveyard. And there that same +afternoon Wesley, standing upon his father's tombstone, preached to a +congregation, the like of which Epworth had never seen before, the first +of a series of sermons that afterwards became famous. + +Having thus aided one of the brothers during a critical administrative +stage, Lady Huntingdon shortly afterwards was of great service to the +other in a crisis of spiritual experience. Soon after the organisation +of the first Methodist Society, the "still" heresy developed among the +Moravian members of the Fetter Lane Chapel. This was the view, "that +believers had nothing to do with ordinances--were not subject to +them--and ought to be _still_; that they ought to leave off the means of +grace, and not go to church; not to communicate; not to search the +Scriptures; not to use private prayer till they had living faith; and to +be _still_ till they had it." [1] Wesley used all his influence and all +his persuasive power to counteract these opinions, but without avail. At +length he decided to sever all connection with those who insisted upon +acting in accordance with them, and removed Methodism to the Foundry. +Charles Wesley at first went cordially with his brother, but at a later +date he ceased attending the Foundry, and manifested signs of a desire +to return to Fetter Lane. Lady Huntingdon, for whose views he +entertained feelings of the deepest respect, remonstrated with him, and +in conjunction with John Wesley's efforts kept him from a step that +might have proved fatal to his further usefulness. In a letter written +to John Wesley in October, 1741, Lady Huntingdon writes: "Since you left +us the _still ones_ are not without their attacks. I fear much more for +your brother than for myself, as the conquest of the one would be +nothing to the other.... I comfort myself very much that you will +approve a step with respect to them your brother and I have taken. No +less than his declaring open war with them.... Your brother is also to +give his reasons for quite separating. I have great faith God will not +let him fall; He will surely have mercy on him, and not on him only, for +many would fall with him." + +[Footnote 1: _Life and Times of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon_, vol. 1. +p. 36.] + + + + +IV. + +FAMILY BEREAVEMENTS. + +Lady Huntingdon at this period of her life was called upon to endure +some very heavy domestic griefs. She had to mourn for two of her sons, +George, aged thirteen, and Fernando, aged eleven, who died of small-pox. +They were both buried in Westminster Abbey. On October 13, 1746, she +lost her husband, who was carried off by an apoplectic seizure, in his +fiftieth year. The Countess had only just passed her thirty-ninth +birthday when this last great sorrow came upon her. She herself was at +the same time tried by a long and severe illness. The effect of these +repeated and heavy afflictions was to further develop her character, and +to increase the devotion and self-sacrifice with which she gave herself +to works of benevolence and to the extension of the Saviour's kingdom. +On Lord Huntingdon's death, besides having entire control of her own +means, she became sole trustee of the children and their fortune. In +regard to the latter she proved herself a good steward; the former she +devoted very largely to the evangelistic and charitable work in which +she delighted. + +Early in 1747 she wrote to Dr. Doddridge: "I hope you will comfort me by +all the accounts you can gather of the flourishing and spreading of the +glad tidings. Oh, how do I lament the weakness of my hands, the +feebleness of my knees, and coolness of my heart! I want it on fire +always, not for self-delight, but to spread the Gospel from pole to +pole." And in other letters: "My heart wants nothing so much as to +dispense _all_--_all_ for the glory of Him whom my soul loveth." "I am +nothing--Christ is all; I disclaim, as well as disdain, any +righteousness but His. I not only rejoice that there is no wisdom for +His people but that from above, but reject every pretension to any but +what comes from Himself. I want no holiness He does not give me, and I +could not accept a heaven He did not prepare me for; I can wish for no +liberty but what He likes for me, and I am satisfied with every misery +He does not redeem me from; that in all things I may feel that without +Him I can do nothing.... To preach Christ and His blessing upon +repentance over the earth is the commission--the event must be with +Him--all else is from man and of man. May the Lord give us all such +love, to live and die to Him and for Him alone." + +At a later period in life, May, 1763, she sustained another serious +bereavement in the loss of her youngest daughter. Although only +twenty-six years of age, she had long been a great comfort to her +mother, who, writing after her death, called her "the desire of my eyes +and the continual pleasure of my heart." Many were the letters of +sympathy she received from Venn, Berridge, Romaine, Fletcher, and +others; but it was a loss that could not be replaced. But it could and +it did help to purify still more the loving and trusting heart which +could see, even as Fletcher urged, in so sore a trial, "mercy rejoicing +over judgment." One of the sayings of her daughter on that death-bed +must often have come to the mother's mind in later days, "I am as happy +as my heart can desire to be." + + + + +V. + +WHITEFIELD AS LADY HUNTINGDON'S CHAPLAIN. + +Prior to 1744, the date of Whitefield's first voyage to the American +colonies, the Countess had made his acquaintance, and had often heard +him preach. She, in common with multitudes of her contemporaries, had +come under the extraordinary spell of his pulpit oratory. In 1748, after +a four years' absence in North America, Whitefield returned to England, +and at her request Howel Harris, the famous Welsh evangelist, brought +the great preacher to Lady Huntingdon's house in Chelsea. In a reply to +a letter sent the next day, conveying the request that he would come +again, as "several of the nobility desired to hear him," Whitefield +wrote, August 21, 1748: "How wonderfully does our Redeemer deal with +souls! If they will hear the Gospel only under a ceiled roof, ministers +shall be sent to them there. If only in a church or a field, they shall +have it there. A word in the lesson, when I was last at your Ladyship's, +struck me, 'Paul preached privately to those who were of reputation.' +This must be the way, I presume, of dealing with the nobility who yet +know not the Lord. Oh, that I may be enabled, When called to preach to +any of them, so to preach as to win their souls to the blessed Jesus! I +know that you will pray that it may be so." + +Thus began the series of drawing-room services which were attended by +so many of those who were high in rank, and at which some of the most +famous incidents in Whitefield's career occurred. At these services the +Word of God often found an entrance into worldly hearts, and once and +again Whitefield tried to win for the Saviour such men as Chesterfield +and Bolingbroke. Lady Huntingdon made him one of her chaplains, and in +order to afford greater facilities for this special work, she removed +from Chelsea to a house in Park Street, and for six weeks Whitefield +carried on these special services, in addition to all his other work. +When, for his own spiritual refreshment, he left London for an +evangelistic tour to Bristol, Exeter, and Plymouth, this special work +was continued by John and Charles Wesley, and several of their +fellow-workers. + +The young Earl of Huntingdon came of age in 1750, and the Countess gave +up Donnington Park to him, removing her household to Ashby, living there +with her other children and two of the Ladies Hastings. Towards the +close of 1749 Whitefield desired, if possible, with the aid of Lady +Huntingdon, to organise the vast numbers who had been greatly blessed by +his evangelistic work, into a corporate body, like that which the clear, +practical wisdom of John Wesley had created for the societies which +looked up to him as leader. Whitefield had already seriously differed +from Wesley on the tenets of Calvinism and much trouble was to ensue in +after years from a renewal of the controversy between the two sections, +Calvinistic and Arminian Methodism. Lady Huntingdon seems to have been +attracted by Whitefield's wish and plan; though it was not at this time +destined to bear fruit. But early in 1750 she exerted herself, and with +success, to bring about a renewal of thoroughly friendly relations +between the two great leaders. On January 19 and 26, 1750, Whitefield +and Wesley took part in combined services; Wesley reading prayers and +Whitefield preaching on the former, these respective functions being +reversed on the latter date. Until Whitefield's death this harmony was +never again broken. + +At this period Whitefield paid several visits to Ashby. Here and in +London he had fellowship with Dr. Doddridge, whose MS., "from +Corinthians to Ephesians," of _The Family Expositor_, was nearly +consumed by fire at Ashby; Hervey, the author of that well-known book of +which so many have heard but so few have read, _Meditations among the +Tombs_; Madan, a lawyer who, going to hear John Wesley, in order that he +might mimic him before his companions, listened to a sermon on the text, +"Prepare to meet thy God," was converted by it, and upon his return, +said in reply to the question, "Have you taken off the old Methodist?" +"No, gentlemen, but he has taken me off!" and from that day devoted +himself to the service of God; Moses Browne, afterwards Vicar of Olney, +and many others. + +"Good Lady Huntingdon," he wrote from Ashby, "goes on acting the part of +'a mother in Israel' more and more. For a day or two she has had five +clergymen under her roof, which makes her Ladyship look like a good +archbishop with his chaplains around him. Her house is a Bethel; to us +in the ministry it looks like a college. We have the sacrament every +morning, heavenly conversation all day, and preach at night: this is to +live at Court indeed." + +Lady Huntingdon's London house continued for very many years to be a +centre of evangelistic effort on behalf of many of the highest rank and +social status in the capital. In addition to Whitefield, John and +Charles Wesley, Romaine, Madan, Venn, and others preached. Among those +who were converted by these sermons were the wife and sister of Lord +Chesterfield; the latter, Lady Gertrude Hotham, opening her house for +the preaching of the Gospel. Lady Huntingdon was no recluse. +Uncompromising as she was in every matter where religious principle was +involved, she was always ready to avail herself of the true privileges +of pleasure which her rank and position enabled her to enjoy. In this +way she cultivated the acquaintance of many of the distinguished +personages of her time. She was fond of music, and in early life had +become acquainted with Handel. In the closing years of the great +composer, the intimacy was renewed, and not long before his death she +paid him a visit, of which she has left this account: "I have had a most +pleasing interview with Handel, an interview which I shall not soon +forget. He is now old, and at the close of his long career; yet he is +not dismayed at the prospect before him. Blessed be God for the comforts +and consolations which the Gospel affords in every situation and in +every time of our need! Mr. Madan has been with him often, and he seems +much attached to him." With Giardini also, whose skill on the violin was +at that time the theme of universal admiration, Lady Huntingdon was well +acquainted. He often played at concerts of sacred music given at her +house, and those of Lady Gertrude Hotham and Lady Chesterfield. At the +request of the Countess he composed tunes for some of the hymns in +frequent use at her chapels, thus giving Horace Walpole occasion to +remark, "It will be a great acquisition to the Methodist sect to have +their hymns set by Giardini." Tomaso Giordani, another Italian, composed +at her request the old familiar tune "Cambridge," for the hymn in the +Countess's book commencing, "Father, how wide Thy glory shines!" + + + + +VI. + +LADY HUNTINGDON'S CHAPELS. + +From the appointment of Whitefield as her chaplain, Lady Huntingdon took +a commanding position in the development of that section of Methodism +which looked rather to Whitefield than to Wesley as its leader, and +which held Calvinistic views. Around the Countess gradually gathered +such fellow-workers as Romaine, Venn, Toplady, Fletcher of Madeley, and +many others equally with them aflame with love for the perishing souls +of men. Religion having become largely a mere matter of outward form +where it was not wholly ignored, great numbers of the clergy being both +ignorant of the true nature of the Gospel and very unwilling that others +should preach it, Lady Huntingdon was led to establish chapels in +different parts of Great Britain. In some parts she rented buildings; in +others she built chapels; and gradually a considerable number of places +of worship, largely originated by her, and almost wholly sustained by +her, came into being. She herself always wished these to remain +connected with the Church of England. She endeavoured to keep their +pulpits supplied with clergymen of her way of thinking, and for a time +succeeded. But the growth of the work early led her to apply the free +agency of lay preachers; and later in life the refusal of the Church of +England, upheld by the Courts, to consider her action legal in +considering them to belong to the Established Church, drove her in +self-defence to constitute her chapels into a connexion with a legal +standing and rights. The hostility on the part of many within the +Established Church of the eighteenth century, to true New Testament +ministry and practice, on the one hand expelled the Wesleyans from the +National Church, and on the other compelled Lady Huntingdon to add one +more to the dissenting bodies. + +The most noted of the churches which thus came into being were those at +Brighton, Bath, and Spa Fields. The first named stood upon the site in +North Street, now occupied by a later, larger, and more ornate +structure. Whitefield visited Brighton, first preaching there in the +open air in 1759. This led to the formation of a Christian Society, and +in 1761 Lady Huntingdon built a chapel, to defray the cost of which she +sold her jewels, realising in this way the sum of nearly £700. The +building was opened in 1761, Martin Madan conducting the first services, +and being immediately succeeded by such notable preachers as Romaine, +Berridge, Venn, and Fletcher. + +Lady Huntingdon's connection with Bath began as early as 1739, and for +the next twenty-five years she was frequently in that fashionable +resort; but it was not until 1765 that she bought the land and +established the famous Vineyards Chapel. On October 6, 1765, the chapel +was dedicated, and Whitefield preached the first sermon. "Though a wet +day," he wrote, "the place was very full, and assuredly the Great +Shepherd and Bishop of souls consecrated and made it holy ground by His +presence." Romaine and Fletcher often preached at Bath in the early +months of the chapel's history, and the latter thus referred to his +ministry: "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." + +It was in this chapel that there was the noted "Nicodemus Corner," a +seat carefully shrouded from the public gaze, where sometimes a nobleman +and sometimes a bishop heard the goodness of the Gospel. + +In this connection may be quoted the following anecdote, given in the +Life of Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, who visited Bath with her mother in +1788. She writes:-- + +"My mother grew better, she frequently took me with her to the Pump +Room, and she sometimes told me anecdotes of those she had seen there +when a child. On one occasion, when the room was thronged with +company--and at that time the visitors of Bath were equally +distinguished for rank and fashion--a simple, humble woman, dressed in +the severest garb of the Society of Friends, walked into the midst of +the assembly and began an address to them on the vanity and follies of +the world, and the insufficiency of dogmatic without spiritual religion. +The company seemed taken by surprise, and their attention was arrested +for a few moments; as the speaker proceeded, and spoke more and more +against the customs of the world, signs of disapprobation appeared. +Amongst those present was one lady with a stern yet high-toned +expression of countenance, her air was distinguished; she sat erect, and +listened intently to the speaker. The impatience of the hearers soon +became unrestrained. As the Quaker spoke of giving up the world and its +pleasures, hisses, groans, beating of sticks, and cries of 'Down, down!' +burst from every quarter. Then the lady I have described arose with +dignity, and slowly passing through the crowd, where a passage was +involuntarily opened to her, she went up to the speaker, and thanked +her, in her own name and in that of all present, for the faithfulness +with which she had borne testimony to the truth. The lady added, 'I am +not of your persuasion, nor has it been my belief that our sex are +generally deputed to be public teachers; but God who gives the rule can +make the exception, and He has indeed put it in the hearts of all His +children to honour and venerate fidelity to His commission. Again I +gratefully thank you.' Side by side with the Quaker she walked to the +door of the Pump Room, and then resumed her seat. This lady was the +celebrated Countess of Huntingdon." [1] + +[Footnote 1: _Autobiography of Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck_, vol. 1. pp. +89, 90.] + + + + +VII. + +THE COLLEGE AT TREVECCA AND CHESHUNT. + +So rapidly did places of worship multiply under the Countess's fostering +care, that very shortly after the opening of the Vineyards at Bath, the +question of supplying preachers for their pulpits became so pressing +that finally the scheme of founding a college for the training of +suitable preachers took definite shape. Lady Huntingdon had already +contributed liberally to Western College, Plymouth, Brecon College, and +Dr. Doddridge's Academy at Northampton. She held much consultation with +her most trusted advisers, Whitefield, Wesley, Venn, Romaine, and +others. All were favourable except Berridge, who, although "the most +dubious man in the world about his own judgment," yet wrote, "Will not +Jesus choose, and teach, and send forth His ministering servants now, as +He did the disciples aforetime; and glean them up when, and where, and +how He pleaseth? The world says no, because they are strangers to a +Divine commission and a Divine teaching. And what if these asses blunder +about the Master's meaning for a time, and mistake it often, as they did +formerly? No great harm will ensue, provided they are kept from paper +and ink, or from a white wall and charcoal." + +In 1768 Lady Huntingdon fixed upon an old mansion at Trevecca in +Brecknockshire, as the home of the new experiment. Her relations with +Welsh evangelistic work had long been close and helpful, and by means of +Howel Harris, Trevecca had become familiar to her. Fletcher of Madeley +was appointed President, although he was not to reside there +permanently; and Joseph Easterbrook resident tutor. Students soon began +to appear, the first on the roll being in all probability James +Glazebrook, a collier in Fletcher's parish. To Fletcher the Countess had +sent the circular describing what she wished the college to be, and +asking him, in common with all her ministerial friends, whether he could +recommend any suitable persons as students. He replied: "After having +perused the articles and looked round about me, I designed to answer +your Ladyship that out of this Galilee ariseth no prophet. With this +resolution I went to bed, but in my sleep was much taken up with the +thought and remembrance of one of my young colliers who told me some +months ago that for four years he had been inwardly persuaded that he +should be called to speak for God. I looked upon the unusual impression +of my dream as a call to speak to the young man, and at waking designed +to do so at the first opportunity. To my great surprise he came to +Madeley that very morning, and I found upon inquiry that he had been as +much drawn to come as I to speak to him." + +The man who in this remarkable way secured the recommendation and +interest of Fletcher was the first of what is now the long roll of good +and useful men whom the college has sent forth into the evangelical +ministry at home and into the great mission field of the world. + +Trevecca House was formally opened and dedicated as a theological +college on August 24, 1768, the anniversary of the birthday of the +foundress. Whitefield preached the sermon, choosing as his text Exodus +xx. 24, "In all places where I record My name, I will come unto thee and +bless thee." The next Sunday he addressed a congregation of some +thousands gathered in the courtyard of the college, from the words, +"Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is +Jesus Christ." + +From its foundation the college has combined both the literary and +theological training. While estimating literary and theological learning +at a very high value, the aim has always been first and foremost to +train earnest spiritual evangelistic preachers. The college has been +almost as much a home as a seminary. The students have always resided +within its walls, enjoying intimate relationship with each other, and +friendly intercourse with the principal. Lady Huntingdon made the +college in a very real sense her home, and the institution has never +lost the impress of her own fervent piety and the saintly benediction +bestowed upon it by Fletcher. + +From the very beginning the students combined regular preaching, either +in the village near Trevecca, or in the pulpits of the Countess's +chapels, with the prescribed courses of study. The college prospered at +once, and even Berridge bestowed his characteristic blessing upon it. "I +am glad to hear of the plentiful effusion from above on Talgarth. Jesus +has now baptized your college, and thereby shown His approbation of the +work. You may therefore rejoice, but rejoice with trembling. Faithful +labourers may be expected from thence; but if it is Christ's college, a +Judas will certainly be found among them." + +Mr. Easterbrook's stay at Trevecca was brief. He left early in 1769, +and was succeeded, on John Wesley's recommendation, by Joseph Benson, +afterwards so eminent in the Methodist movement, and the biographer of +Fletcher. But prior to his coming into residence the first anniversary +was held, and the occasion was utilised for the holding of a series of +very remarkable services. From August 20-23 crowds of people flocked to +hear sermons twice daily in the courtyard by Shirley, Fletcher, +Rowlands, Peter Williams, Howel Harris, and others. On August 24, 1769, +John Wesley administered the sacrament to his fellow-ministers, the +students, the Countess and her household. At ten o'clock "Mr. Fletcher +preached an exceedingly lively sermon in the court; when he had finished +William Williams preached in Welsh till about two o'clock. At two they +all dined with Lady Huntingdon; and baskets of bread and meat were +distributed among the people in the court, many of whom had come from a +great distance. Public service commenced again at three o'clock, when +Mr. Wesley preached in the court, then Mr. Fletcher; about five the +congregation was dismissed." "Truly," wrote Lady Huntingdon, "our God +was in the midst of us, and many felt Him eminently nigh. The gracious +influence of the Spirit seemed to rest on every soul." + +Although Fletcher did not reside at Trevecca, he frequently visited it +during the first three years of its history. "Being convinced that to be +filled with the Holy Ghost was a better qualification for the ministry +of the Gospel than any classical learning (although that too be useful +in its place), after speaking awhile in the schoolroom, he used +frequently to say, 'As many of you as are athirst for this fulness of +the Spirit, follow me into my room.' On this many of them have instantly +followed him, and there continued for two or three hours, wrestling like +Jacob for the blessing." + +Lady Huntingdon spent much of her time at Trevecca, and for some years +bore the entire cost of the college, expending upon it from £500 to £600 +a year. The lease of the property at Trevecca expired within a few +months of the Countess's death in 1791, and it having become imperative +to find a new location, the college was in 1792 removed to Cheshunt in +Hertfordshire, about twelve miles from London, where it has ever since +continued to flourish. + +During the century and a quarter of its existence Cheshunt College has +rendered good service to the Church of Christ. Among the students +educated at Trevecca were such men as John Clayton of the Weigh House +Chapel, Roby of Manchester, and Matthew Wilks of the Tabernacle. The +longer roll of those who entered after 1792 contains such names as +Joseph Sortain of Brighton, and James Sherman of Surrey Chapel, in the +ministry of the home churches; and is peculiarly rich in men who have +done and are still doing noble service in the great mission field of the +world. The flame of missionary enthusiasm has ever burnt brightly at +Cheshunt. Among the many who have gone to their well-earned rest are men +like Dr. Turner of Samoa, and James Gilmour of Mongolia. In the +succession of able and devoted workers for the Church at home and for +the heathen abroad, sent forth year by year, the good work begun at +Trevecca is still living and growing. + + + + +VIII. + +THE CALVINISTIC CONTROVERSY. + +The leaders of the great revival of the eighteenth century were divided +into two great groups, the one headed by John Wesley, the other by +George Whitefield. The Calvinism of the latter at times seemed +dangerously rigid to the former; while Whitefield sometimes spoke and +acted as though he feared that in preaching free grace Wesley lost sight +altogether of the Divine sovereignty. So sharply marked was the +divergence of view that for a time it interfered with their +co-operation. Mainly by Lady Huntingdon's influence, as we have seen, in +1750 unity was restored. For twenty years the two wings of the +evangelical army laboured harmoniously; but in 1770 the doctrinal strife +was renewed in a way and with a vehemence that separated the two +sections; although in most cases it did not affect the mutual love and +personal esteem in which the contending parties held each other. + +At the annual conference of his ministers, held in August, 1770 (the +year of Whitefield's death), John Wesley drew up his fateful minute on +Calvinism. Intended solely for the guidance of his own preachers, Wesley +apparently had not contemplated the use to which these statements might +be put in controversy; if so, they would in all probability have been +more carefully guarded. He also expected them to be considered _as a +whole_, and could hardly have foreseen the use soon to be made of +fragments torn from their context. However this may be, soon after their +publication the sky was overcast, and Wesley found himself in the centre +of an embittered theological controversy, in which, after he had in vain +striven to maintain peace by explanation and concession, he vigorously +maintained what he held to be the truth. He did this the more because +the Calvinism of the eighteenth century found itself face to face with a +dangerous Antinomianism. This was rife among the Moravians; some of +Wesley's own preachers adopted it; John Nelson fought it to the death in +Yorkshire; and it was in the face of this state of affairs that the +minute was penned. + +Lady Huntingdon from the first took great umbrage at the teaching of the +minute. She apprehended "that the fundamental truths of the Gospel were +struck at and considering Mr. Wesley's consequence in the religious +world, as standing at the head of such numerous societies, thought it +incumbent on them to show their abhorrence of such doctrines." She +further declared "that whoever did not wholly disavow them should quit +her college." + +Wesley, on the other hand, thought the time had come when it was his +duty to act the part of a faithful pastor towards the good Countess. +"For several years I had been deeply convinced that I had not done my +duty with regard to that valuable woman; that I had not told her what I +was convinced no one else would dare to do, and what I knew she would +hear from no other person, but _possibly_ might hear from _me_. But +being unwilling to give her pain I put it off from time to time. At +length I dare not delay any longer lest death should call one of us +hence; so I at once delivered my own soul by telling her all that was in +my heart." + +Lady Huntingdon on her part acted promptly and vigorously. Mr. Benson +having defended the minute, was dismissed from Trevecca. Fletcher, by +whom Benson's appointment had been arranged, visited the college in +March, 1771, preached under great difficulties, and proffered his +resignation, which Lady Huntingdon accepted at once. + +All hope of a peaceful settlement was now at an end. Lady Huntingdon +drew up a circular inviting the clergy of all denominations to assemble +at the Wesleyan Conference at Bristol in August, 1771, and protest +against the obnoxious minute. It is needful to quote some extracts from +this circular in order that the position of the Countess may be fully +perceived. "The minutes given by John Wesley we think ourselves obliged +to disavow, believing such principles repugnant to Scripture and the +whole plan of salvation under the new covenant. In union with all +Protestant and Reformed Churches we hold _faith_ alone in the Lord Jesus +Christ for the sinner's justification, sanctification, righteousness, +and complete redemption. And that He, the only wise God, our Saviour, is +the First and Last, the Author and Finisher, the Beginning and the End +of man's salvation: wholly by the sacrifice of Himself to complete and +perfect all those who believe. And that under this covenant of free +grace for man He does grant repentance, remission of sins, and meetness +for glory, for the full and true salvation to eternal life; and that +all called good works are alike the act of His free grace.... We mean to +enter into no controversy on the subject; but, separated from all party +bigotry, and all personal prejudice to Mr. Wesley, the Conference, or +his friends, do hereby most solemnly protest against the doctrine +contained in these minutes." + +The leader and champion on the part of Lady Huntingdon was the +Honourable and Rev. Walter Shirley, grandson of the first Earl Ferrars, +and her own first cousin. He was an able, fervent, eloquent man, who +both in Ireland and England had given full proof of his ministry, and at +first was left almost alone in the conflict. Wesley wrote to Lady +Huntingdon on June 19, 1771, ending with these words, "You have one of +the first places in my esteem and affection; and you once had some +regard for me. But it cannot continue if it depends on my seeing with +your eyes, or my being in no mistake. What if I were in as many errors +as Mr. Law himself? If you were, I should love you still, provided your +heart was still right with God. My dear friend, you seem not well yet to +have learned the meaning of these words, which I desire to have ever +written upon my heart, 'Whoever doeth the will of My Father which is in +heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother.'" + +As the time for the conference drew on, it became apparent that the +protestors had no standing place there. Only those who were actual +members of the conference could attend. Hence, instead of the large +number looked for, Shirley and seven others only appeared. The circular, +which perhaps was needlessly strong in its statements, had been +withdrawn the day before the conference met. Wesley allowed Shirley to +appear at the third session of the conference, and after careful +consideration a declaration was drawn up stating that as the minutes of +1770 "have been understood to favour justification by works," "we abhor +the doctrine of justification by works;" "that we have no trust or +confidence but in the alone merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, +for justification or salvation, either in life, death, or the day of +judgment. And though no one is a real Christian believer (and +consequently cannot be saved) who doth not good works when there is time +and opportunity, yet our works have no part in meriting or purchasing +our justification, from first to last, either in whole or part." Wesley +and fifty-three of his ministers signed this, John Nelson and Thomas +Olivers alone refusing. + +Shirley, on the other hand, was constrained to sign a public avowal that +"he was convinced that he had mistaken the meaning of the doctrinal +points" of the minute. Fletcher meanwhile had written his five letters +to Shirley, and the MS. was in Wesley's hands during the conference. +Unfortunately he ordered it to be printed, and then left for Ireland. +Fletcher, after learning the issue of the conference, would have liked +to stay their publication, but in Wesley's absence this could not be +done. Thus appeared the first portion of Fletcher's famous _Checks to +Antinomianism_. Into the subsequent controversy, extending over several +years, many writers were drawn, the chief being on Wesley's side, +Fletcher and Olivers; and on Lady Huntingdon's, Shirley, Toplady, +Berridge, Sir Richard and Rowland Hill. Many bitter words were written, +and much said and done that would have been far better left unsaid and +undone. But through it all even Toplady, Wesley's bitterest opponent, +could say of Olivers, "I am glad I saw him, for he appears to be a +person of stronger sense and better behaviour than I had imagined;" and +Berridge welcomed Fletcher to Everton after a twenty years' absence, +with tears in his eyes, crying, "My dear brother, how could we write +against each other when we both aim at the same thing, the glory of God +and the good of souls!" + + + + +IX. + +SPA FIELDS CHAPEL. + +In addition to the constant services held in her different London houses +by her chaplains and others, Lady Huntingdon opened and supported +several chapels in the capital. The first was leased in 1770 in Ewer +Street. The next was in Princess Street, Westminster, and was opened in +1774. Then came Mulberry Gardens Chapel at Wapping, where George Burder +sometimes and John Clayton very often preached. Towards the close of +1776 negotiations for the purchase of what was known as the Pantheon, a +large building in Spa Fields, one of "the places where Satan had his +seat," were commenced. Owing to the advice of Shirley and Toplady, the +completion of the purchase was delayed; but at length the Countess +wrote: "My heart seems strongly set upon having this temple of folly +dedicated to Jehovah-Jesus, the great Head of His Church and people. I +feel so deeply for the perishing thousands in that part of London that I +am almost tempted to run every risk; and though at this moment I have +not a penny to command, yet I am so firmly persuaded of the goodness of +the Master whose I am and whom I desire to serve, that I shall not want +gold or silver for the work." Nor did she. A company of gentlemen +secured it, fitted it up as a chapel, and on July 5, 1777, John Ryland +of Northampton preached the opening sermon. + +Unforeseen and far-reaching consequences followed hard upon the opening +of this place of worship. The Rev. W. Sellon, incumbent of St. James, +Clerkenwell, the parish in which the new chapel stood, was a pluralist, +holding no less than four ecclesiastical appointments, yielding him in +all £1500 a year. Destitute himself of any knowledge of or sympathy for +Gospel preaching, he resented this attempt to feed "the hungry sheep" of +his parish. He invoked the law against Mr. Jones and Mr. Taylor, both +clergymen of the Established Church, who were conducting the services at +Spa Fields with conspicuous success. Sellon claimed the right of +preaching in Spa Fields whenever he wished, and asserted his right to +all the moneys derived from sittings and other sources. He obtained a +verdict in the Consistorial Court inhibiting Jones and Taylor and +closing the church. To meet this state of affairs, Lady Huntingdon +acquired the building in her own right, changed the earlier name of +Northampton Chapel into Spa Fields Chapel, and appointed Dr. Haweis, one +of her chaplains, to preach. Sellon again applied to the Ecclesiastical +Courts, and obtained an inhibition prohibiting any clergyman of the +Established Church, whether Lady Huntingdon's chaplain or not, from +preaching in Spa Fields. + +Lady Huntingdon rose to the occasion. She was not the woman to allow an +altogether unworthy opposition to defeat what she felt to be God's work. +Since the law upheld Sellon, she in her turn invoked it. Under the +Toleration Act she claimed and exercised her rights. "I am reduced," she +wrote, "to turn the finest congregation, not only in England, but in any +part of the world into a Dissenting meeting." Mr. Wills and Mr. Taylor, +two clergymen who were prominent at this time among the Countess's +helpers, both determined to secede from the Established Church; and thus +once and for ever she disposed of Mr. Sellon's claims and prerogatives. +Mr. Wills became the regular minister of the church. It was in this +building that the first annual sermon of the London Missionary Society +was preached by Dr. Haweis, and for over a hundred years Spa Fields +Chapel was a centre of light and help and healing for that part +of London. + +This legal conflict had placed those numerous and able clergymen who had +been in the habit of preaching in Lady Huntingdon's chapels in a very +awkward position. They had to choose between two masters. Not +unnaturally they remained in the Established Church. Hence from 1779 +Romaine, Venn, Jones, and many others, though still in full sympathy +with the Countess's work, ceased to preach in her chapels. + +The students educated at Trevecca now rendered services of great value. +In addition to their itinerating labours, they gradually filled the +pulpits thus left vacant in the chapels. Hitherto the great majority of +them had sought ordination in the Church of England, such having always +been Lady Huntingdon's desire for them. This being no longer possible, +the first public ordination of Trevecca students took place at Spa +Fields March 9, 1783, when Mr. Wills and Mr. Taylor ordained six young +men to the work of the ministry. It was on this occasion that the +well-known Fifteen Articles, subscription to which became essential for +entrance into the college, or into any of the pulpits under Lady +Huntingdon's control, were first publicly read. + +"Lady Huntingdon never intended her chapels or societies to be organised +into a denomination--she never thought of providing for them an +ecclesiastical constitution as such. As she intended and sustained them +they were simply evangelising agencies. The spiritual necessities of her +day induced her to become a builder of chapels for Evangelical preaching +and worship. These she sustained and ruled as her own private property, +devoted by her to the service of Christ, but disposable by her own +uncontrolled will. No elements of ecclesiastical constitution or +permanence are to be found in such an agency. Nor are there in the +trusts declared after her death. The trustees of her chapels are +invested with absolute powers of government, like her own." [1] + +[Footnote 1: Address by Dr. Allon in the _Centenary Celebration of +Cheshunt College_, p. 33.] + +By her will dated January 11,1790, Lady Huntingdon bequeathed "all her +chapels, houses, furniture therein, and all the residue of her estates +and effects to Thomas Haweis and Janetta Payne, his wife, Lady Ann +Erskine, and John Lloyd." These persons were thus constituted trustees +of all her property, to administer it all to the best of their ability, +in harmony with what they knew to be her wishes. Many of the buildings +associated with her name and ministers were local trusts, so that the +power of the Connexion trustees never extended over more than a portion +of the churches which her evangelistic zeal had founded or strengthened. +It was almost inevitable that such an arrangement should be fatal to +development, and so it has proved. + +The latest sketch of Lady Huntingdon's life thus sets forth the present +position of the Connexion: "The Fifteen Articles are the bond and +doctrinal basis of administration in the Connexion; and in the words of +the Countess, written when she left the Church of England, 'Our +ministers must come recommended by that neutrality between Church and +Dissent--secession.' Beyond this the Connexion has no act of uniformity. +The worship, according to the varying needs of different localities, +may be liturgical or non liturgical. Congregations are allowed much +liberty in the form of their self-government." [1] + +[Footnote 1: _The Countess of Huntingdon and her Connexion_, edited by +Rev. J.B. Figgis, M.A., p. 48.] + +[Illustration: L: Huntingdon] + +When Lady Huntingdon died there were only seven chapels in the legal +possession of her representatives; but there were in all about one +hundred in close union with and considered as together forming her +Connexion. In the century succeeding her decease, while the number +vested in the trustees of the Connexion increased from seven to +thirty-three, the total number diminished to less than one half. Not a +few of those included in the latter half became Congregational Churches, +and remain in that fellowship up to this time. Some have been swept away +by modern improvements, and never rebuilt elsewhere. The steady pressure +of life and thought during the last half century has told rather against +the development of churches which stand apart from the life and +associations on the one hand of the Established Church, and on the other +of Nonconformity. But the mere enumeration of the chief chapels yet +remaining, either in the central or in special local trusts, is +interesting as an illustration of how the evangelising influence of Lady +Huntingdon and her preachers extended to all corners of the kingdom. +They are found at Bath, Bristol, Brighton, Canterbury, Cheltenham, Ely, +Exeter, Hereford, Kidderminster, Malvern, Margate, Norwich, St. Ives, +Cornwall, Rochdale, Swansea, Spa Fields, Tunbridge Wells, Worcester, +and Yarmouth. + + + + +X. + +CLOSING YEARS. + +Until the close of her long life of eighty-four years, Lady Huntingdon +retained much of that vigour of intellect which had marked the whole of +her career. In spiritual life also she continued to develop year by +year. In a letter written to an old ministerial friend on April 26, +1790, she says, "Here (in my heart) every wild and warm imagination, +intoxicated by pride and self-love, must end; and submit, not only to +learn of the poorest and most afflicted Man in our nature, but also to +find in Him, and in Him alone, a suitable relief for all our misery; +and, through the same medium, a free access to all divine and heavenly +wisdom, whenever a sense of our own evil renders us sufficiently +conscious of our wants. Thus faith, that faith which is the substance or +subsistence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, must +carry the day; and by it walking in the light, as God is in the light, +the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin; while His heavenly +and Divine Spirit, daily carrying us forward, leads us experimentally +into those various states which He Himself has declared to be +truly blessed." + +The decay of her bodily powers was hastened by the breaking of a +blood-vessel in November, 1790. During the ensuing illness at her house +next door to Spa Fields Chapel she said to Lady Ann Erskine, who was +continually with her, "I am well, all is well--well for ever; I see +wherever I turn my eyes, whether I live or die, nothing but victory." +From this attack she partially recovered, and for months she lingered in +a weakened state, eager up to the last for the extension of her Master's +kingdom. About a week before her death she was confined to her bed, and +during this time she was greatly interested in a scheme for sending +missionaries to the South Seas. Lady Ann Erskine and the other watchers, +who were unremitting in their attentions, heard her praying day and +night, and saying at one time, "I am reconciled in the arms of love and +mercy;" and at another, "I long to be at home; oh, I long to be at +home!" Only an hour before her death she asked, "Is Charles' letter +come?" referring to a request that had been sent to the Rev. Thomas +Charles of Bala, asking him to come and preach at Spa Fields. Almost the +last words that fell from her lips were a testimony to the strength and +clearness of her faith: "My work is done--I have nothing to do but to go +to my Father." Soon after saying these words, on June 17, 1791, she +"fell asleep in Jesus." She was buried in the family vault at Ashby +de la Zouch. + +Lady Huntingdon, whose long life thus triumphantly closed, was happy in +many ways. She possessed rank and a competency and all the social +advantages which such things involve. She was blessed with exceptional +vigour of body, of mind, and of spirit. She was happy also in the time +of her earthly life. Above all was she happy in the fact that she came +so early and so completely under the power of saving faith in the Lord +Jesus and under the renewing power of the Holy Spirit. From that time +she threw herself into God's work; and by her zeal, ability, and +consecration, quite as much as by her rank and wealth, became one of the +spiritual landmarks of a wonderful century. + +From a course which she believed to be right even John Wesley could not +move her; and on one occasion she showed her power even to the +Archbishop of Canterbury. About 1770 the prelate then holding that high +office, and his wife, gave some balls and parties which scandalised even +the gay votaries of fashion who attended them. Remonstrances which Lady +Huntingdon addressed to the archbishop, Dr. Cornwallis, through +relatives, being treated with ridicule and contempt, she appealed direct +to George III. The King and Queen received her most graciously, +conversed with her about her religious work for more than an hour, and a +few days later surprised the Archbishop by a letter requesting the +summary suppression of these "improprieties." The prelate was probably +as much astonished as shortly afterwards a lady was, who, in the King's +presence, said Lady Huntingdon must surely be insane since she had +ventured to "preach to His Grace." "Pray, madam," said the King after he +had assured her she was quite mistaken, "have you ever been in company +with her?" "Never!" "Then never form your opinion of any one from the +ill-natured remarks and censures of others." + +Fitted to shine in courts, in an age notoriously pleasure-loving, +profligate, and irreligious, she deliberately and whole-heartedly cast +in her lot with the despised people of God, "accounting the reproach of +Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." She was tried by +repeated bereavements, and she had to bear the heavy cross of a son who +lived and died in hostility to the Christian faith. But these sorrows +only deepened her trust in and her hold upon the Lord Jesus Christ. In +1747 she had written, "My heart wants nothing so much as to dispense +_all--all_, for the glory of Him whom my soul loveth." In 1791, after +forty-four long years of hard labour, steady faith, and self-sacrificing +zeal, she passed to her eternal rest, with the simple trust that He +whose glory she had so humbly and earnestly sought had glorified Himself +in her. No nobler close could have been desired for such a life than +that which God granted: "My work is done--I have nothing to do but to go +to my Father." + +RICHARD LOVETT, M.A. + + + + +RACHEL, LADY RUSSEL. + +I. + +It is not often that we find the names of person illustrious in the +annals of this world also pre-eminent in the records of the kingdom of +heaven. "Not many wise, not many noble are called;" but sometimes the +wisest and noblest appear among the truest and best of Christians. Such +were, in our English history, William, Lord Russell, patriot and martyr, +and his wife Rachel, Lady Russell, whom all agree in regarding as at +once a heroine and a saint. + +With the cause of civil and religious liberty the name of Lord Russell +will be for ever associated. He died, as he had lived, the friend of +true religion and a firm adherent of the reformed faith. He said that he +hoped his death would do more for the Christian good of his country than +his life could do. He was beheaded on Saturday, July 21,1683. Upon the +scaffold, just before his execution, he handed to the sheriffs a written +declaration, in which, after denial of the false charges on which he had +been condemned, he concludes with a prayer which shows that far higher +than mere political feelings moved him: "Thou, O most merciful Father, +hast forgiven all my transgressions, the sins of my youth, and all the +errors of my past life, and Thou wilt not lay my secret sins and +ignorance to my charge, but wilt graciously support me during the small +time of life now before me, and assist me in my last moments, and not +leave me then to be disordered by fear or any other temptations, but +make the light of Thy countenance to shine upon me. Thou art my Sun and +my Shield; and as Thou supportest me by Thy grace, so I hope Thou wilt +hereafter crown me with glory, and receive me into the fellowship of +angels and saints in the blessed inheritance purchased for me by my most +merciful Redeemer, who is at Thy right hand, I trust preparing a place +for me, and is ready to receive me, into whose hands I commend +my spirit!" + +It is of Lady Russell, the wife and the worthy partner of this good man, +that we are about to give a brief memoir in our gallery of +_Excellent Women_. + + + + +II. + +Rachel Wriothesley, born in 1636, was second daughter of Thomas +Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, by his first wife, Rachel de Ruvigny, +of an ancient Huguenot family. Her mother died during her infancy. An +elder sister, Lady Elizabeth, married Edward Noel, son of Viscount +Campden, afterwards Earl of Gainsborough. Lord Southampton married twice +after his first wife's death, but he had only one surviving daughter by +his second marriage, who being heiress of Sir Francis Leigh, afterwards +Earl of Winchester, the whole of the Southampton property was left to +the children of his first marriage, who thus became considerable +heiresses. Lady Rachel, when yet young, married Francis, Lord Vaughan, +eldest son of the Earl of Carberry, but it was an alliance rather of +acceptance than of choice on either side, and the early death of Lord +Vaughan left her free to marry again. All we know is that she possessed +the love and attachment of her husband and the respect of his family. +They had one child who died in infancy. + +In 1667, on the death of her father, she inherited the estates of +Stratton, but she passed most of her time with her beloved sister, Lady +Elizabeth Noel, at Tichfield, in Hampshire. There she became engaged to +Mr. Russell, younger son of the Earl of Bedford. They were married in +1669, but she still retained the name of Vaughan till in 1678, on the +death of his elder brother Francis, William succeeded to the courtesy +title of Lord Russell, when she assumed that of Lady Russell. + +Lord Southampton, her father, was a man of high character and great +influence. During the civil troubles he took no very decided part until +after the misfortunes of Charles I., when his loyalty overmastered all +other feelings. In the first disputes between the king and the +parliament he disapproved of the high-handed measures of the Court, and, +disliking the government of Strafford and the principles of Archbishop +Laud, he was considered to be one of the peers attached to the popular +cause. But, like Lord Falkland, he could not heartily join the party +opposed to the king, whom he accompanied to York and to Nottingham. He +was at the fight at Edgehill, and thence went to Oxford, where he +remained with the Court during the rest of the war. He was hopeless all +along of the success of the royal cause, and was ever the strenuous and +unwearying advocate of accommodation and peace. When the execution of +the misguided king took place, he was one of the four faithful servants +who obtained permission to pay the last sad duty to his remains. From +that time he retired to his seat at Tichfield, taking no further part in +public affairs. When Cromwell rose to supreme power he greatly wished +to meet Lord Southampton, but the meeting was avoided by the earl, and +he continued in retirement. His daughter was educated on strict +Protestant lines, with every predilection for the doctrines which her +mother's family, professing a faith persecuted in their own country, +were likely to encourage. Southampton, though attached to the Church of +England, was most tolerant towards Dissenters, so much so that Clarendon +in his History, while describing him as "a man of exemplary virtue and +piety, and very regular in his devotions," says, "He was not generally +believed by the bishops to have an affection keen enough for the +government of the Church, being willing and desirous that something more +might be done to gratify the Presbyterians than they thought right." +This spirit of her father was probably the source of the Christian +charity as well as piety of Lady Rachel's life, appearing in her letters +and animating her whole conduct. Or rather we may say, that both father +and daughter were influenced by the old Huguenot principles and +connection. + + + + +III. + +The Marquis de Ruvigny, head of an old family in Picardy, had long been +the leader of the Protestant cause in France; in fact, he was almost the +minister plenipotentiary of the Huguenots at the Court of Louis XIV. As +"Deputy-General of the Reformed Church," he well served the interests of +that body, both in getting a patient hearing of their grievances, and +obtaining knowledge of the designs of their enemies. He possessed the +personal favour and the support of Cardinal Mazarin, and the king +himself put confidence in Ruvigny. He was several times employed in +services of a confidential kind to the English Government, but was given +to understand that any military position or further advancement must be +purchased by a change of his religion. To this he never could consent, +being a man of sincere and enlightened piety, as well noted for his +ability, courage, and conduct. On the recall of Colbert in 1674, he was +minister plenipotentiary in England, and remained so for two or three +years, when a more pliable tool was found in a M. Courtin. He still +retained the good opinion of the French king and his advisers, for on +the revocation of the Edict of Nantes he had permission to emigrate to +England with his family, a permission granted to no other Protestant +noble. His estates, however, were confiscated, as were those of all the +_émigrés_. It was the sister of this Marquis, Rachel de Ruvigny, who +became the wife of Lord Southampton. For the family of the Ruvignys Lady +Russell always retained a warm affection. + + + + +IV. + +During the fourteen years of her happy married life with William +Russell, she was seldom parted from her husband. Their only moments of +separation were during his visits of duty to his father at Woburn, and +short absences on private or political business. The longest absence was +when Lord Russell attended a meeting of parliament summoned by the king +at Oxford. Her letters during this period are such as would be written +by a loving wife and a tender mother--happy, cheerful messages of +personal or domestic interest; yet even in these familiar epistles +displaying a character of good sense and deep piety as well as womanly +affection. "They are the most touching love-letters I have ever read," +says the editor of the published selection from her correspondence. Two +or three short bits out of many letters will suffice to show the spirit +in which she then wrote. August 24, 1680. "Absent or present, my dearest +life is equally obliging, and ever the earthly delight of my soul. It is +my great care (or ought to be so) so to moderate my sense of happiness +here, that when the appointed time comes of my leaving it, or its +leaving me, I may not be unwilling to forsake the one, or be in some +measure prepared and fit to bear the trial of the other. This very hot +weather does incommode me, but otherwise I am very well, and both your +girls. Your letter was cherished as it deserved, and so, I make no +doubt, was hers, which she took very ill I should suspect she was +directed in, as truly I thought she was, the fancy was so pretty. I have +a letter about the buck, as usual, from St. Giles's [the seat of the +Earl of Shaftesbury, in Dorsetshire]; but when you come up I suppose it +will be time enough to give order. Coming so lately from St. Giles's, I +am not solicitous for news for you, especially as Sir Harry Capel is to +see your lordship to-morrow. The greatest discourse we have is (next to +Bedloe's affidavit) Tongue's accusing of Lord Essex, Lord Shaftesbury, +and Lord Wharton, for the contrivers of the plot, and setting his father +and Oates to act their parts. This was told me by a black-coat who made +me a visit yesterday, but I hear it by nobody else. My sister and Lady +Inchiquin are coming, so that I must leave a better diversion for a +worse, but my thoughts often return where all my delight is. I am, +yours entirely, R RUSSELL." + +In a letter sent to Oxford in March, 1681, she says: "The report of our +nursery, I humbly praise God, is very good. Master [her son] improves +really, I think, every day. Sure he is a goodly child; the more I see of +others, the better he appears; I hope God will give him life and virtue. +Misses and their mamma walked yesterday after dinner to see their +cousin Alington. Miss Kate wished she might see the new-born son, so I +gratified her little person. Unless I see cause to add a note, this is +all this time, + +"From yours only entirely, R. RUSSELL." + +The postscript of this letter conveys a curious idea of the suspicion +and insecurity of the times: "Look to your pockets. A printed paper says +you will have fine papers put into them, and then witnesses to swear." + +A later letter, October 20,1681, written on Saturday night, begins: "The +hopes I have, my dearest life, that this will be the concluding epistle, +for this time, makes me undertake it with more cheerfulness than my +others." And it thus closes: "I pray God direct all your consultations; +and, my dearest dear, you guess my mind. A word to the wise. I never +longed more earnestly to be with you, for whom I have a thousand kind +and grateful thoughts. You know of whom I learned this expression. If I +could have found one more fit to speak the passion of my soul, I should +send it you with joy; but I submit with great content to imitate, but +shall never attain to any equality, except that of sincerity; and I will +ever be, by God's grace, what I ought and profess, + +"Thy faithful, affectionate, and obedient wife, + +"R. RUSSELL. + +"I seal not this till Sunday morning, that you might know all is well +then. Miss sends me word that she is so, and hopes to see papa quickly; +so does one more." + + + + +V. + +In October, 1680, Lord Russell moved in the House of Commons a +resolution that they ought to take into consideration how to oppose +Popery and prevent a Popish successor to the throne. A Bill was +accordingly brought in for excluding the Duke of York from the crown, +which passed the House of Commons, but was thrown out by the Lords, to +whom it was carried up by Lord Russell, attended by nearly the whole of +the Commons. About the same time Lords Shaftesbury, Russell, and +Cavendish presented the Duke of York to the grand jury for Middlesex at +Westminster Hall, as indictable, being a Popish recusant. In January, +1680-1, the Commons resolved that "until a Bill be passed for excluding +the Duke of York, they could not vote any supply, without danger to His +Majesty and extreme hazard to the Protestant religion." + +Things had come to this crisis after years of arbitrary power, and the +humiliation of England in its king being a pensioner of Louis XIV. As +far back as 1669 a secret treaty was made with France, Charles engaging +to declare war against Holland, France to pay the king £800,000 annually +and make a division of the conquests, of which France would have the +largest share. In 1670 Colbert mentions Charles's ratification of this +treaty, having the king's seal and signature, and a letter from his own +hand. This treaty was kept secret from his ministers, and a pretended +treaty _(un traité simulé)_ was to be promulgated, to which the +Protestant members of the Cabinet were to be parties. Colbert further +states that he was told in confidence by the Duke of York that the king +was ready to declare himself a Catholic, and that he was determined to +rule independently of any parliament. The object of Charles was mainly +to obtain money from the French king, but the Duke of York had deeper +and more dangerous plots to carry out. The marriage of the Princess Mary +to the Prince of Orange in 1677 somewhat disturbed the understanding, +but a renewal of the treaty in 1678 brought England again to lie at the +mercy of the French king. The impeachment of Lord Danby, Lord Treasurer, +for the part taken by him in these disgraceful transactions, showed that +there were still many Englishmen prepared to act for the honour and +freedom of their country. To Lord Russell most men looked as the leader +of the patriotic party, and it was determined to get him out of the way +as the chief opponent of the arbitrary power of the king and the Popish +designs of his brother, who showed the most unrelenting hatred of +Russell. It was resolved that he should be brought to trial for treason, +as compassing the overthrow of the government of the king. He was +arrested on January 26, 1683; after examination was committed to the +Tower the same day, and afterwards removed to Newgate. + +Lord Russell was found sitting in his study, neither seeking to conceal +himself nor preparing for flight. As soon as he was in custody, he gave +up all hopes of life, knowing how obnoxious he was to the Duke of York, +and only thought of dying with honour and dignity. The Earl of Essex was +at his country house when he heard of the arrest of his friend. He could +have made his escape, and when pressed by his people to fly, he answered +that "his own life was not worth saving if, by drawing suspicion on Lord +Russell, it might bring his life into danger." He was taken to the +Tower, where, it was announced, he killed himself on the morning of Lord +Russell's trial. It is more probable, as was generally believed, that he +was murdered, and the report of suicide was spread in order to +strengthen the charges against Russell. Monmouth had disappeared, but, +actuated by the same generous motive with Essex, he sent a message to +Russell, on hearing of his arrest, that "he would surrender himself and +share his fate, if his doing so could he of use to him." Russell +answered in these words: "It will be of no advantage to me to have my +friends die with me." + + + + +VI. + +The trial of Lord Russell is one of the darkest events in the annals of +our courts of law, while it is also one of the most important in the +history of England. He was tried at the Old Bailey on the charge of +conspiring the death of the King's Majesty, and of raising rebellion in +the kingdom. Every point in the legal indictment was strained, and every +artifice resorted to, in order to obtain a verdict of guilty. When it +was objected that the jury were not freeholders, the objection was +overruled, although in a recent trial, when made in the king's behalf, +it had been admitted without any difficulty. The evidence of two or +three false witnesses was received, and was made to weigh against a mass +of testimony borne by the noblest and best men of the time. Nothing +could be proved against him, except that he had been seen in the company +of Monmouth, Shaftesbury, Algernon Sidney, and others known to be +opposed to the measures of the Government. Lords Anglesey, Cavendish, +and Clifford, the Duke of Somerset, Doctors Burnet, Tillotson, Cox, +FitzWilliam, and many others testified to his mild and amiable +character, his peaceable and virtuous life, and the improbability of his +being guilty of the charges brought against him. His public services in +defence of freedom and of the Protestant religion were the real causes +of the resolution to get rid of him. Towards the close of the trial, one +of his enemies, the notorious Jefferies, made a violent declamation, and +turned the untimely end of Lord Essex in the Tower into a proof of +Russell's being privy to the guilty conspiracy. This base insinuation +evidently had effect on the jury, who brought in a verdict of guilty. +The sentence was considered by all right-minded persons as a shameful +injustice. Burnet afterwards spoke of him as "that great but innocent +victim, sacrificed to the rage of a party, and condemned only for +treasonable words said to have been spoken in his hearing." + +Among the incidents of the trial, one of the most memorable was when the +prisoner asked for somebody to write, to help his memory. "You may have +a servant," said the Attorney-General, Sir Robert Sawyer. "Any of your +servants," added the Lord Chief Justice Pemberton, "shall assist you in +writing for you anything you please." "My wife is here, my Lord, to do +it." "If my Lady please to give herself the trouble," was the civil +reply of the Lord Chief Justice. So the noble wife sat by his side +throughout the trial to assist and support her husband. + +After the condemnation she drew up and carried to the king a petition +for a short reprieve of a few weeks; but this was rejected, though the +king saw at his feet the daughter of the Earl of Southampton, the best +friend he ever had. His answer was, "Shall I grant that man a reprieve +of six weeks, who, if it had been in his power, would not have granted +me six hours? Besides," he said, "I must break with the Duke of York if +I grant it." Seeking the king's life had never been made a charge, far +less attempted to be proved, though something had been said about +attacking the king's guards. But Russell denied with his last breath any +design against the person of the king. All considerations were weak +against the passion of revenge with which the king and the Duke of York +were actuated. The Duke of York descended so low in his personal +animosity that he urged that the execution should take place before +Russell's own door in Bloomsbury Square, but the king would not consent +to this. An order was signed for his being beheaded in Lincoln's Inn +Fields, a week after the trial. It is said that at that time Southampton +House, on the north side of Bloomsbury Square, was visible from the +place where the scaffold was erected. + +Lord Cavendish generously offered to manage his escape, and to stay in +prison for him while he should go away in his clothes; but Russell would +not entertain the proposal. It was then planned that Cavendish, with a +party of horse, should attack the guard on the way to the scaffold, and +rescue the innocent victim; but this, too, was overruled, as Russell +refused to allow any lives being endangered to save his own. He prepared +to receive the stroke with meekness, and with a dignity worthy of +his name. + +On the Tuesday before his execution, when his wife had left him, he +expressed great joy in the magnanimity of spirit he saw in her, and said +that parting with her was the worst part of his pain. On Thursday, when +she left him to try to gain a respite till Monday, he said he wished she +would cease from seeking his preservation, but he did not forbid her +trying, thinking that these efforts, though unavailing, might bring some +mitigation of her sorrows. On the evening before his death he suffered +his young children to be brought by their mother for the final parting. +In this trying time he maintained his constancy of temper, though his +heart was full of tenderness. When they had gone he said that the +bitterness of death was passed, and then spoke much of the noble spirit +of her whom he had so loved, and who had been to him so great a +blessing. He said, "What a misery it would have been to him if she had +not that magnanimit of spirit, joined to her tenderness, as never to +have desired him to do a base thing for the saving of his life. There +was a signal providence of God in giving him such a wife, where there +was birth, fortune, great understanding, true religion, and great +kindness to him; but her carriage in his extremity was beyond all. He +was glad she and his children were to lose nothing by his death; and it +was a great comfort to him that he left his children in the hands of +such a mother, and that she had promised to him to take care of herself +for their sakes." + +[Illustration: PARTING OF LORD AND LADY RUSSELL. _Copied, by permission, +from the fresco in the Palace of Westminster_.] + +It should be stated that when they partook of the Communion together for +the last time, she so controlled her feelings, for his sake, as not to +shed a tear; although afterwards she wept so much that it was feared she +would lose her sight. + +The scene of the parting in prison is not only memorable in history, but +has been a favourite theme in art, and one of the frescoes in the new +Houses of Parliament commemorates it. Many poets have written about the +death of Lord Russell, among them Canning, in a supposed letter to his +friend Lord Cavendish, in which the noble character of his wife is +celebrated as well as the virtues of her husband. + +The execution took place not on Tower Hill, as usual with persons of +high rank, but in Lincoln's Inn Fields, in order that the citizens of +London might be humbled and terrified by the sight, as he was carried in +a coach to the scaffold through the City. The effect was very different +from what was intended. The death of this one man made many enemies to +the king, and though the triumph of liberty and religion was delayed for +a few years, the execution of Lord Russell did much to secure the +overthrow of arbitrary power, and the defeat of Popery in England at no +distant time. The trial took place July 13 and 14, and the execution on +July 21, 1683. + + + + +VII. + +Lord Russell died for the civil and religious liberties of his country. +All men, even those who were far from agreeing with his political +principles, agreed in regarding him as a man of probity and virtue, and +the model of a patriot. He passed through this world with as great and +general a reputation as any one of the age, and his memory will be held +in everlasting remembrance. + + "Bring every sweetest flower, and let me strew + The grave where Russell lies, whose tempered blood + With calmest cheerfulness for thee resigned, + Stained the sad annals of a giddy reign; + Aiming at lawless power, though, meanly sunk + In loose inglorious luxury." + +So sang of him the poet of the Seasons, Thomson, in his famous +apostrophe to Britannia as the land of liberty. + +One of the first Acts of King William III. after the Revolution, was to +reverse the attainder of Lord Russell. In the preamble of this Bill, +which was the second that passed in his reign, after receiving the Royal +assent, his execution was called a murder: and in November of the same +year, 1689, the House of Commons appointed a committee "to inquire who +were the advisers and promoters of the murder of Lord Russell." In the +year 1694 his father was created Marquis of Tavistock and Duke of +Bedford. The reasons for bestowing these honours were stated in the +preamble of the patent in these terms: "And this, not the least, that he +was the father of Lord Russell, the ornament of his age, whose great +merits it was not enough to transmit by history to posterity, but they +(the King and Queen) were willing to record them in their royal patent, +to remain in the family as a monument consecrated to his consummate +virtue, whose name could never be forgot, so long as men preserved any +esteem for sanctity of manners, greatness of mind, and a love of their +country, constant even to death. Therefore, to solace his excellent +father for so great a loss, to celebrate the memory of so noble a son, +and to excite his worthy grandson, the heir of such mighty hopes, more +cheerfully to emulate and follow the example of his illustrious father, +they entailed this high dignity upon the Earl and his posterity." + +The first Duke of Bedford (fifth Earl) lived till September, 1700. He +had six sons and three daughters, besides the martyred son. William, +married to the daughter of the Earl of Southampton. They had one son, +Wriothesley, who succeeded his grandfather as Duke of Bedford in 1700, +and died of small-pox, in 1711, in the 31st year of his age. Of two +daughters, the elder married William Lord Cavendish, afterwards Duke of +Devonshire, and the second married John Manners, Lord Ross, afterwards +Duke of Rutland. A third daughter died unmarried. + +A striking anecdote is recorded of King James II. addressing himself in +the time of his extremity, in 1688, to the aged Earl of Bedford, saying, +"My Lord, you are an honest man, have great credit in the State, and can +do me signal service." "Ah, sir," replied the Earl, "I am old and +feeble, I can do you but little service; but I had a son once that could +have assisted you, but he is no more." James was so struck with this +reply, that he could not speak for some minutes, and it is to be hoped +that he felt remorse for the death of Lord Russell. + +When the attainder on Russell was removed by King William III., the +same justice was done to his friend Algernon Sidney, who is united with +him in the famous lines of Thomson's patriotic remembrance: + + "With him + His friend the British Cassius, fearless lad, + Of high determined spirit, roughly brave, + By ancient learning to the enlightened love + Of ancient freedom warmed." + +Algernon Sidney, unlike Russell, was in theory not averse to +Republicanism, but the accusations are false as to his being a sceptic +or a deist, as his own dying apology attests. He says: "God will not +suffer this land, where the Gospel has of late flourished more than in +any part of the world, to become a slave of the world. He will not +suffer it to be made a land of graven images; He will stir up witnesses +of the truth, and in His own time spirit His people to stand up for His +cause, and deliver them. I lived in this belief, and am now about to die +in it. I know my Redeemer liveth; and as He hath in a great measure +upheld me in the day of my calamity, I hope that He will still uphold me +by His Spirit in this last moment, and giving me grace to glorify Him in +my death, receive me into the glory prepared for those that fear Him, +when my body shall be dissolved. Amen." These were the last words of +Algernon Sidney. It is noteworthy that the Duke of Monmouth, in his +Declaration against James II, among other things, accuses him of +ordering the barbarous murder of the Earl of Essex in the Tower, and of +several others, to conceal it; and he gave as a reason for his appeal to +arms, in his unhappy rebellion, the unjust condemnation of Sidney and +of Russell. + + + + +VIII. + +It has been remarked that the incidents in the life of Lady Russell, +apart from the one memorable public event of her husband's trial and +death, are so few and her merits confined so much to the domain of +private life and feminine duties, that her character, unlike that of +most heroines, deserves to be held up more to the _example_ than the +_admiration_ of her countrywomen. Few of her sex have been placed in +such a conspicuous situation, but fewer, after behaving with unexampled +fortitude and dignity, have shrunk from public notice, and in the sight +of God only have led unobtrusive, quiet lives in the daily performance +of domestic duties as a careful and conscientious mother and guardian of +her children. + +It is this that makes the record of her life so valuable for all time. +If she, who had such an unusual and terrible affliction, was enabled, +by the grace of God in the exercise of reason and religion, to show such +complete submission to the Divine will, and such patient continuance in +well-doing, her example is well fitted for the comfort and succour of +all who in this transitory life are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, +or any other adversity. + +One of the earliest letters, written to a friend who sought to comfort +her in her deep sorrow, reveals the noble spirit and wise resolution of +a true Christian. She says: "Fresh occasions recalling to my memory the +dear object of my affections must happen every day, I may say every hour +of the longest life I can live. But I must seek such a victory over +myself that immoderate passions may not break forth, and I must return +into the world so far as to act that part incumbent upon me, in +faithfulness to him to whom I owe as much as can be due to man. It may +be that I may obtain grace to live a stricter life of holiness to my +God, who will not always let me cry to Him in vain. On Him I will wait +till He hath pity upon me, humbly imploring that by the mighty aid of +His Holy Spirit He will touch my heart with greater love to Himself. +Then I shall be what He would have me. But I am unworthy of such a +spiritual blessing, who remain so unthankful a creature for those +earthly ones I have enjoyed, because I have them no longer. Yet God, who +knows our frames, will not expect that when we are weak we should be +strong. This is much comfort under my deep dejections." And in a letter +to Doctor Tillotson she said: "Submission and prayer are all we know +that we can do towards our own relief in our distresses. The scene will +soon alter to that peaceful and eternal home in prospect." + +It is interesting to know that one who helped to bring her to this state +of mind was the Rev. John Howe, a man noted for wisdom as well as piety, +who had been chaplain to Oliver Cromwell and to his son Richard +Cromwell. Although too long to insert in full, some sentences selected +from the letter are worthy of quotation. + +"The cause of your sorrow, madam, is exceeding great. The causes of your +joy are inexpressibly greater. You have infinitely more left than you +have lost. Doth it need to be disputed whether God is better and greater +than man? Or more to be valued, loved, and delighted in? And whether an +eternal relation be more considerable than a temporary one? Was it not +your constant sense, in your best outward state, 'Whom have I in heaven +but Thee, O God, and whom can I desire on earth, in comparison of Thee?' +(Psalm lxxiii. 25). Herein the state of your ladyship's case is still +the same, if you cannot with greater clearness and with less hesitation +pronounce these latter words. The principal causes of your joy are +immutable, such as no supervening thing can alter. You have lost a most +pleasant, delectable earthly relation. Doth the blessed God hereby cease +to be the best and most excellent good? Is His nature changed? His +everlasting covenant reversed or annulled, which is ordered in all +things, and sure, and is to be all your salvation and all your desire, +whether He make your house on earth to grow or not to grow? (2 Samuel +xxiii. 5). + +"Let, I beseech you, your mind be more exercised in contemplating the +glories of that state into which your blessed consort is translated, +which will mingle pleasure and sweetness with the bitterness of your +afflicting loss, by giving you a daily intellectual participation +through the exercise of faith and hope in his enjoyments. He cannot +descend to share with you in your sorrows; but you may thus every day +ascend and partake with him in his joys." + +After much devout reasoning of this kind, the good and wise preacher +makes a practical appeal: "Nor should such thoughts excite over-hasty, +impatient desire of following presently to heaven, but to the endeavour +of serving God more cheerfully on earth for your appointed time, which I +earnestly desire your ladyship to apply yourself to, as you would not +displease God, who is our only hope; nor be cruel to yourself, nor +dishonour the religion of Christians, as if they had no other +consolations than the earth can give, and earthly power can take from +them. Your ladyship, if any one, would be loth to do anything unworthy +of your family and parentage. Your highest alliance is to that Father +and family above, whose dignity and honour are, I doubt not, of highest +account with you." + +Mr. Howe wrote to Lady Russell without revealing his name, but she laid +to heart the excellent counsel he gave. The style of the letter, and +some special phrases in it, discovered who was the author, and Lady +Russell, as we learn from Dr. Calamy, Howe's biographer, wrote to him a +letter of warm thanks, and told him he must not expect to remain +concealed[1]. She promised to endeavour to follow the excellent advice +he had given. She often afterwards corresponded with him, and the +friendship lasted during Howe's life. + +[Footnote 1: Cf. _John Howe_, Biographical Series, No. 94 (R.T.S.).] + + + + +IX. + +In the great public affairs of the time she could not but feel interest, +and her letters abound in references to the most striking events as they +occur. Her sister, Lady Elizabeth Noel, was in Paris at the time of the +Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and describes the terrible scenes of +which she heard or witnessed. Hundreds of thousands were driven into +exile, their property seized by their persecutors; those who remained +being exposed to the cruelty of the dragonnades. Then there were the +excitements at home, following the Monmouth rebellion and the bloody +assizes where Judge Jefferies obtained his notoriety. The trial of the +seven bishops; the overthrow of the Stuart cause; the glorious +revolution of 1688 and the accession of King William and Mary; the war +in Ireland, where the de Ruvignys served under William and the Mareschal +Schomberg; the reign of Queen Anne and the Hanoverian succession under +George I.; all these historical events are referred to in Lady Russell's +correspondence which she carried on with the most notable persons of the +time. A letter of hers to King William about the King's favourable +designs for the Duke of Rutland and his family was found in his pocket +when he died. Several letters are addressed to Queen Mary. The great +Duke of Marlborough told her that if ever there appeared a chance of +Popery getting again the upper hand, he would retire from public +affairs. Even the proud Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, regarded Lady +Russell with marked deference and respect. In reference to the accession +of King William she wrote, "Regard for the public welfare carried me to +advise the princess to acquiesce in giving William the crown. However, +as I was fearful about everything the princess did while she was thought +to be advised by me, I could not satisfy my own mind till I had +consulted with several persons of wisdom and integrity, and particularly +with the Lady Russell of Southampton House, and Dr. Tillotson, +afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. I found them all unanimous in the +opinion of the expediency of the settlement proposed, as things were +then situated." + +Her friends and her country shared with her own family the heart and the +correspondence of Lady Russell. Her children she lived to see well +provided for in honourable and influential positions. Her second +daughter was married to the son of her husband's dearest friend, Lord +Cavendish, and she became the Duchess of Devonshire. The eldest daughter +was unmarried, but the third became the Duchess of Rutland. Her only +son, afterwards Duke of Bedford, was in high favour in the reign of +William and Mary, and acted as High Constable of England at the +coronation of Queen Anne. His education and training was carefully +directed by his mother. One of her letters is to his grandfather, then +Earl of Bedford, interceding with him for one of the errors of her son's +early life. He had been tempted, as many young Englishmen still are, to +gamble when on his travels, but his debt taught him a lesson which saved +him from ever after getting into trouble in this way. Lady Russell, +while pleading for his forgiveness, undertook to be answerable for the +whole loss which had been incurred. It is a sensible and +motherly letter. + +To give adequate idea of the whole correspondence would occupy much +space, and we can only briefly refer to a few of the letters at +different periods of her long life of widowhood. To Burnet, the Bishop +of Salisbury, she writes, in 1690: "When anything below is the object of +our love, at one time or other it will be a matter of our sorrow. But a +little time will put me again into my settled state of mourning; for a +mourner I must be all my days on earth, and there is no need I should be +other. My glass runs low: the world does not want me nor do I want it: +my business is at home and within a narrow compass. I must not deny, as +there was something so glorious in the object of my biggest sorrow, I +believe that in some measure kept me from being overwhelmed." + +At one time Lady Russell was in danger of losing her sight, but being +couched for cataract, she recovered sufficiently to continue her +correspondence. + +In the early years of her great loss, while at first overwhelmed in +spirit, she yet resolves, in submission to the will of God, to bear her +calamities with patience and courage. "My yet disordered thoughts," she +writes to Dr. Fitzwilliam, "can offer me no other than such words as +express the deepest sorrows, and confused as my yet amazed mind is. You, +that knew us both, and how we lived, must allow I have just cause to +bewail my loss. Who can but shrink at such a blow, till, by the mighty +aid of His Holy Spirit, we will let the gift of God, which He hath put +into our hearts, interpose. That reason which sets a measure to our +souls in prosperity, will then suggest many things which we have seen +and heard to moderate us in such sad circumstances as mine." "Can I +regret his quitting a lesser good for a bigger? Oh! if I did steadfastly +believe, I could not be dejected; for I will not injure myself to say I +offer to my mind any infirm consolation to supply this loss. No, I most +willingly forsake this world, this vexatious troublesome world, in which +I have no other business but to rid my soul from sin; secure by faith +and a good conscience my eternal interests with patience and courage +bear my eminent misfortunes; and ever after be above the smiles and +frowns of it. And when I have done the remnant of the work appointed me +on earth, then joyfully wait for the heavenly perfection, in God's good +time, when by His infinite mercy I may be accounted worthy to enter into +the same place of rest and repose where he is gone, for whom only +I grieve." + +Many letters in similar strain are preserved, to Dr. Burnet, Dr. Patrick +and other pious friends who like Dr. Fitzwilliam had sent messages of +sympathy and consolation. She often refers to the refreshment and +satisfaction she had in "endeavouring to do that part towards her +children, which their most dear and tender father would not have +omitted. These labours, if successful, though early made unfortunate, +may conduce to their happiness for the time to come and hereafter." +Attendance to these children, through childhood till they were settled +in life, she ever reckoned, "her first and chief business," but she +gradually undertook various matters of business for relatives and +friends, many of whom had recourse to one so wise, unselfish, and +sympathetic. + +[Illustration: RACHEL, LADY RUSSELL.] + +As an example of the interest she took in passing affairs, part of a +letter to Dr. Fitzwilliam, in 1689, may be quoted. After replying to +some inquiries about the Cambridgeshire clergy, which she could not +learn from Lord Bedford, "the parliament houses being so exacting of +time," she says: "You hear all the new honours, I suppose: not many new +creations, but all are stepping higher; as Lord Winchester is Duke of +Bolton; Lord Montague an Earl, still Montague; Falconbridge, who married +Mary, daughter of Oliver Cromwell, an Earl called the same; Mordaunt, +Earl of Monmouth (afterwards Earl of Peterborough); Churchill an Earl +(afterwards Duke of Mailborough); Lumley (Scarborough) made a Viscount, +Bentinck is an Earl (afterwards Duke of Portland); Sidney, a Viscount +(afterward Earl of Romney). Those that saw this and the last coronation +tell me this was much finer and in better order; and if the number of +the ladies were fewer, yet their attendance was with more application +near the Queen all the time, and with more cheerful faces by a great +deal. By what is heard from Scotland, they mean to take the example from +England. The last reports from Ireland say, that King James was moving +with his army towards the north. And yesterday Lord Burlington said, +Coleraine, a great town, was besieged by 6000 men, but that Lord Blaney +had sallied out, and so behaved himself that they had raised the siege. +D'Avaux who was the French ambassador in Holland, would not speak in +council till all the Protestants were put out. So they were, and, as +they say afterwards, discharged altogether.... + +"Lord Devonshire is to be installed at Windsor on St. George's day. My +young folks have a longing desire to see the ceremony, and they cannot +do it without a night's lodging at Windsor. If I can have that +accommodation of your house I will think it a great favour, and will go +with them, and look to your house while everybody is gone to the show. I +doubt the post can't bring me a return time enough so I am put in hopes +this may come to you by a coach; if it does, I do not question your +order to your housekeeper to let us in. In confidence of it, I think to +send to her, that I believe I shall come and ask your beds for +the night." + + + + +X. + +The following letter to her son (afterwards second Duke of Bedford), +written from Stratton in July, 1706, is throughout so wise and good, +that we give it without any curtailment. She was then past seventy years +of age, and no words could be more fitly pondered by the young, than +these from an aged and tried and experienced Christian woman. + +"When I take my pen to write this, I am, by the goodness and mercy of +God, in a moderate and easy state of health--a blessing I have +thankfully felt through the course of a long life, which (with a much +greater help), the contemplation of a more durable state, has maintained +and upheld me through varieties of providences and conditions of life. +But all the delights and sorrows of this mixed state must end; and I +feel the decays that attend old age creep so fast on me, that, although +I may yet get over some more years however, I ought to make it my +frequent meditation, that the day is near, when this earthly tabernacle +shall be dissolved, and my immortal spirit be received into that place +of purity, where no unclean thing can enter; there to sing eternal +praises to the great Creator of all things. With the Psalmist, I +believe, 'at His right hand there are pleasures for evermore:' and what +is good and of eternal duration, must be joyful above what we can +conceive; as what is evil and of like duration, must be despairingly +miserable. + +"And now, my dear child, I pray, I beseech you, I conjure you, my loved +son, consider what there is of felicity in this world, that can +compensate the hazard of losing an everlasting easy being; and then +deliberately weigh, whether or no the delights and gratifications of a +vicious or idle course of life are such, that a wise or thoughtful man +would choose or submit to. Again, fancy its enjoyments at the height +imagination can propose or suggest (which yet rarely or never happens, +or if it does, as a vapour soon vanishes); but let us grant it could, +and last to fourscore years, is this more than the quickest thought to +eternity? Oh, my child! fix on that word, eternity! Old Hobbes, with all +his fancied strength of reason, could never endure to rest or stay upon +that thought, but ran from it to some miserable amusement. I remember to +have read of some man, who reading in the Bible something that checked +him, he threw it on the ground; the book fell open, and his eyes fixed +on the word eternity, which so struck upon his mind, that he, from a bad +liver, became a most holy man. Certainly, nothing besides the belief of +reward and punishment can make a man truly happy in his life, at his +death, and after death. Keep innocency, and take heed to the thing that +is right; for that shall bring a man peace at the last--peace in the +evening of each day, peace in the day of death, and peace after death. + +"For my own part, I apprehend, I should not much care (if free from +pain) what my portion in this world was,--if a life to continue, perhaps +one year or twenty, or eighty; but then, to be dust, not to know or be +known any more,--this is a thought that has something of horror in it to +me, and always had; and would make me careless, if it were to be long or +short; but to live, to die, to live again, has a joy in it; and how +inexpressible is that joy, if we secure an humble hope to live ever +happily; and this we may do, if we take care to live agreeably to our +rational faculties, which also best secures health, strength, and peace +of mind, the greatest blessings on earth. + +"Believe the word of God, the Holy Scriptures. What most hinders faith, +I am persuaded, is ignorance of God's true nature. Look up to the +firmament, and down to the deep, how can any doubt a divine power? And +if there is, what can be impossible to infinite power? Then, why an +infidel in the world? In His Gospel the terrors of God's majesty are +laid aside, and He speaks in the still and soft voice of His Son +incarnate, the fountain and spring whence flow gladness. The idolatrous +heathen perform their worship with trouble and terror; but a Christian, +and a good liver, with a merry heart and lightsome spirit: for, examine +and consider well, where is the hardship of a virtuous life? (when we +have moderated our irregular habits and passions, and subdued them to +the obedience of reason and religion). We are free to all the innocent +gratifications and delights of life; and we may lawfully, nay, further I +say, we ought to rejoice in this beautiful world, and all the +conveniences and provisions, even for pleasure, we find in it; and +which, in much goodness, is afforded us to sweeten and allay the labours +and troubles incident to this mortal state, nay, inseparable, I believe, +by disappointments, cross accidents, bad health, unkind returns for good +deeds, mistakes even among friends, and what is most touching, death +of friends. + +"But in the worst of these calamities, the thought of a happy eternity +does not alone support, but also revive the spirit of a man; and he +goeth forth to his labour with inward comfort, till the evening of his +day (that is, his life on earth), and, with the Psalmist, cries out, 'I +will consider the heavens even the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the +stars which Thou hast ordained. What is man, that Thou art mindful of +him? or the son of man, that Thou shouldest so regard him?' (Psalm +viii.) 'Thou madest him lower than the angels, to crown him with glory.' +Here is matter of praise and gladness. 'The fool,' as the Psalmist +expresses it, 'hath said in his heart, There is no God.' Or, let us +consider the man, who is content to own an invisible power, yet tries to +believe, that when man has done living on this earth he lives no more: +but I would ask, if any of these unhappy creatures are fully persuaded, +or that there does not remain in those men at times (as in sickness or +sober thoughtfulness) some suspicion or doubt, that it may be other than +they try to think. And although they may, to shun such a thought, or be +rid of such a contemplation, run away from it to some unprofitable +diversion, or, perhaps, suffer themselves to be rallied out of such a +thought, so destructive to the way they walk in; yet, to be sure, that +man does not feel the peace and tranquillity he does who believes a +future state, and is a good man. + +"For, although this good man, when his mind may be clouded with some +calamity very grievous to him, or the disorder of vapours to a +melancholy temper, I say, if he is tempted to some suspicion, that it is +possible it may be other than he believes (pray observe) such a surmise +or thought, nay, the belief, cannot drive him to any horror: he fears no +evil, because he is a good man, and with his life all sorrow ends too: +therefore, it is not to be denied, he is the wisest man who lives by the +Scripture rule, and endeavours to keep God's laws. His mind is in peace +and tranquillity; he walks sure who keeps innocence, and takes heed to +the thing that is right. He is secure, God is his friend, that Infinite +Being; and He has said, 'Come unto Me, ye that are heavy laden, My yoke +is easy.' But guilt is, certainly, a heavy load; it sinks and damps the +spirits. 'A wounded spirit who can bear!' And the evil subtle spirit +waits (I am persuaded) to drive the sinner to despair; but godliness +makes a cheerful heart. Let not past errors discourage; who lives and +sins not? God will judge the obstinate, profane, unrelenting sinner, but +is full of compassion to the work of His own hand, if they will cease +from doing evil and learn to do well, pray for grace to repent, and +endeavour with that measure which will be given, if sincerely asked for; +for at what time soever a sinner repents (but observe, this is no +licence to sin, because at any time we may repent), for that day we may +not live to see; and so like the fool in the parable, our lamps be +untrimmed when we are called upon. Remember, that to forsake vice is the +beginning of virtue; and virtue certainly is most conducive to content +of mind and a cheerful spirit. He (the virtuous man) rejoiceth with a +friend in the good things he enjoys; fears not the reproaches of any; no +evil spirit can approach to hurt him here, or accuse him in the great +day of the Lord, when every soul shall be judged according as they have +done good or evil. Oh, blessed state! fit for life, fit for death! In +this good state I wish and pray for all mankind; but most particularly, +and with all the ardour I am capable of, to those I have brought into +the world, and those dear to them. Thus are my fervent and frequent +prayers directed,--that you may die the death of the righteous, and to +this end, that Almighty God would endue you all with spiritual wisdom, +to discern what is pleasing in His sight." + + + + +XI. + +On May 28, 1716, she wrote to her kinsman, the Earl of Galway the second +son of the old Marquis de Ruvigny. The elder son was killed at the +battle of the Boyne; King William created the brother Earl of Galway. To +him the aged lady thus wrote: "'Tis our duty to pray for and trust in +the merciful providence of God; then it shall be well in the end, in +this world or a better. I beseech God to give the consolation of His +Holy Spirit to enable you to struggle with bodily pains; your +resignation I have no doubt of, yet Nature will shrink, when the weight +is heavy, and presses hard, which will not be imputed, because it +is natural. + +"I also pray to God to fortify your spirit under every trial, till +eternity swallows all our troubles, all our sorrows, all our +disappointments, and all our pains in this life. The longest, how short +to eternity! All these ought to be my own care to improve my weak self, +as the fortitude of your mind, experiences, and knowledge does to you. +And I pray for such a portion of them in mercy to me, as may secure an +endless glorifying, to so feeble, so ignorant, so mean a creature as +myself, that I cannot be too little in my own sight. + +"If there be a regency, the intended journey to Chatsworth must be laid +aside, as I must now lay aside my pen for want of the day. I am certain +of this being a truth, that I am, + +"Faithfully and affectionately yours, + +"R. RUSSELL." + +Later letters to Lord Galway are couched in the same way, the last one +thus ending-- + +"God, for the good you do mankind, grant you some easy years to do good +upon earth before you change for a happy eternity. So does desire and +pray Lord Galway's truly affectionate cousin, and faithfully such to +gratify to the utmost of her ability, R. RUSSELL." + +The dear old lady speaks in this letter of "evening creeping upon her," +but she lingered to an extreme old age, dying on September 29, 1723, in +her 87th year. She lived to see the Protestant rule firmly secured by +the Hanoverian succession. In public affairs she continued to take +interest, but always in subservience to the higher cause of moral and +spiritual advancement. In one of her last letters she says of the son of +the king, "I have inquired from Doctor Sloane how the Prince is to-day. +He says, 'In a way to do well.' I trust, in the mercy of God, all our +divisions shall be so with time." + +One of her latest letters is dated September 4, 1716, addressed to her +second daughter, the Duchess of Devonshire: "It is to no use to murmur +that you could not be satisfied with taking the journey; the rather also +because I believe I should have done the same. It is so fine a season I +trust your return to Derbyshire will be easy; your mind would not have +been such had you not done as you did. I shall be easy with a line or +two from Lady Mary [her eldest daughter, who died unmarried in 1719] how +you got to Chatsworth. At your first coming you will have a great deal +to do, and so for the short time you can stay. I see no cause to fear, +but that all will be, as we are, quiet; it is the temper of most to +fear, or seem to do so." (She referred to the public tranquillity, of +which the rebellion of the year before had left doubts.) "The season is +exceedingly fine, not much burnt up; but the farmers, for talk's sake, +ever wishing for what they have not; but it is good walking, and that is +my best diversion. I cannot easily add any words to make this more a +diversion to you, than that I thank God I have as much health as my +years can have; and memory as yet enough to take a pleasure when I hear +of what I love most, and desire all good may be their portion; which +will afford content, while any thought whatever of good or ill remains +in the head or heart of + +"Your ever-affectionate mother, R. RUSSELL." + +The spirit in which she bore the first overwhelming passion of grief may +be best seen in the letters written by her to Doctor Fitzwilliam, who +had been chaplain at Woburn, and who afterwards returned them to Mr. +Solwood, the librarian there, by whom they were published. In 1819 +another volume of letters was published, from the originals in the +possession of the Duke of Devonshire. These range from her early married +life down to her extreme old age; and contained greater variety of +reference to the passing events of her time than are found in the Woburn +letters, which are chiefly occupied with personal feelings and +experiences. From them may be obtained as perfect a portraiture of Lady +Russell as can be desired. + +"Her letters," says Bishop Burnet, "are written with an elegant +simplicity, with truth and nature, which can flow only from the heart. +The tenderness and constancy of her affection for her murdered lord +presents an image to melt the soul." Horace Walpole says, "I have now +before me a volume of letters of the widow of the beheaded Lord Russell, +which are full of the most moving and impressive eloquence." In fact it +would be difficult to find a combination of so much good sense, tender +affection, womanly fortitude, and deep piety in any collection of +letters. It is observable also that in the whole course of these letters +there is not to be found a trace of resentment or of reflection upon any +person who had caused her husband's death. When James II. was no more +king, but a fugitive in a foreign land, she utters no word of triumph +over him, nor says that he was justly punished for his cruel crimes. +Even the inhuman Jefferies, whose violence helped to get her husband +condemned, is passed over in silence, and no reference is made to his +disgrace, and his shameful end. She had attained to such moderation of +spirit that no trace of anger appears against the unworthy instruments +that had brought overwhelming grief upon her. In nothing more than this +is the excellence of her Christian character conspicuous. + +JAMES MACAULAY, M.A., M.D. + + + + +Frances Ridley Havergal + +I. + +HER EARLY LIFE. + + "Oh, 'Thine for ever!' What a blessed thing + To be for ever His who died for me! + My Saviour, all my life Thy praise I'll sing, + Nor cease my song throughout eternity." + +[Illustration] + +Such were the words penned by Frances Ridley Havergal on an important +day in her history; and they seem to be a fit expression of the purpose +of one, the strains of whose songs shall reverberate through all ages. + +Frances Ridley Havergal was born at Astley in Worcestershire on December +14, 1836. She was the youngest daughter of William Henry Havergal, who +was rector of Astley. Her second Christian name she got from her +godfather, Rev. W.H. Ridley, and rejoiced in the fact that he was +descended from the godly martyr, Bishop Ridley. + +Her eldest sister Miriam gives a glowing description of Frances:[1] + +[Footnote 1: The quotations, when not otherwise acknowledged, are made, +and the chief of the facts taken, by kind permission of Messrs. Nisbet & +Sons, from _Memorials of Frances Ridley Havergal_.] + +"My recollection of Frances begins with the first day of her life; a +pretty little babe even then, and by the time she reached two years of +age, with her fair complexion, light curling hair, and bright +expression, a prettier child was seldom seen. At that age she spoke with +perfect distinctness, and with greater fluency and variety of language +than is usual in so young a child. She comprehended and enjoyed any +little stories that were told her. I remember her animated look of +attention when the Rev. J. East told her about a little Mary who loved +the Lord Jesus. We were all taught to read early and to repeat by our +dear mother, but as I had now left school I undertook the charming +little pupil, teaching her reading, spelling, and a rhyme (generally one +of Jane Taylor's), for half an hour every morning, and in the afternoon +twenty or thirty stitches of patchwork, with a very short text to repeat +next morning at breakfast. When three years old she could read easy +books, and her brother Frank remembers how often she was found hiding +under a table with some engrossing story. At four years old, Frances +could read the Bible and any ordinary book correctly, and had learned to +write in round hand; French and music were gradually added; but great +care was always taken not to tire her or excite the precocity of her +mind, and she never had a regular governess." + +In the year 1859 she began to write an autobiography, commencing with +her recollections of herself and her surroundings when she was four +years old. She thus writes: "Up to the time that I was six years old I +have no remembrance of any religious ideas whatever. Even when taken +once to see the corpse of a little boy of my own age (four years) lying +in a coffin strewn with flowers, in dear papa's parish of Astley, I did +not think about it as otherwise than a very sad and very curious thing +that that little child should lie so still and cold.... But from six to +eight I recall a different state of things. The beginning of it was a +sermon preached one Sunday morning at Hallow Church by Mr. (now +Archdeacon) Phillpots. Of this I even now retain a distinct impression. +It was to me a very terrible one, dwelling much on hell and judgment, +and what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God. +No one ever knew it, but this sermon haunted me, and day and night it +crossed me. I began to pray a good deal, though only night and morning, +with a sort of fidget and impatience, almost angry at feeling so +unhappy, and wanting and expecting a new heart and have everything put +straight and be made happy, all at once." + +All this time she could not bear being "talked to," or prayed with, +though she kept up a custom of going by herself every Sunday afternoon +to a quiet room, and after reading a chapter in the New Testament would +kneel down and pray; after that she "usually felt soothed and +less naughty." + +She appears even as a child to have appreciated very keenly the beauties +of nature, and in the spring of 1845 she was most anxious to be made "a +Christian before the summer comes" so that she might enjoy God's works +as she believed a Christian alone could do. + +Another soothing influence upon her spirited nature was the presence of +any one whom she felt to be more than commonly holy, "not among those +nearest and dearest to me at home," she confesses: "how perversely I +overlooked them!--but any very pious clergyman or other manifest and +shining Christian." "All this while," she continues, "I don't think any +one could have given the remotest guess at what passed in my mind, or +have given me credit for a single serious thought. I knew I was 'a +naughty child,'--never entertained any doubts on the subject; in fact I +almost enjoyed my naughtiness in a savage desperate kind of way because +I utterly despaired of getting any better, except by being 'made a +Christian,' which as months passed on, leaving me rather worse than +better, was a less and less hoped-for, though more and more +longed-for change." + +When she was nearly nine years old, Mr. Havergal was appointed to the +rectory of St. Nicholas, Worcester, and thither the family removed. Soon +after their arrival, a sermon by the curate upon the text, "Fear not, +little flock," aroused her from the feeling of self-satisfaction into +which she had drifted. Having a favourable opportunity, she unburdened +her heart one evening when alone with the curate, but he did not help +the young seeker after peace. He said the excitement of moving and +coming into new scenes was the cause most likely of her feeling worse, +and that would soon go off; then she was to try and be a good girl and +pray. So after that her lips were utterly sealed to all but God for +another few years or rather more. + +In 1848 her mother became seriously ill, and feeling that she was soon +to leave her little girl, she said to her one evening: "Fanny dear, pray +to God to prepare you for all that He is preparing for you." The sad +event which the mother thus anticipated Frances could not or would not +understand. + +But what God had prepared for her she did in some measure realise when, +a few weeks later, outside the house a funeral procession passed from +the rectory to the churchyard, and inside a little girl flung herself on +her bed with the lonely cry of a motherless heart, "Oh, mamma, mamma, +mamma!" Her bright and apparently thoughtless manner led to the idea +that she was heartless, but all the while she was heavy and sad for her +loss, and weary because she had not yet received pardon of her sins. + +Thus she went on, longing and trying to find peace, until she was +fourteen years of age. + + + + +II. + +RECEIVING "LIFE." + +On August 15, 1850, Frances went to school at Belmont. The night before +she left, her sister Ellen spoke to her of God's love, and she gave to +her the first indication of her real feelings in the words, "I can't +love God yet, Nellie!" But it was not to be so for long, however. +During the first half-year at school a "revival," as she calls it, took +place among the school girls, and she began to be more in earnest about +her soul. One night she got into conversation with a Christian +companion, and bursting into tears told her in French that she wished to +love Jesus but could not. Her companion begged her to go to Jesus and +tell Him this. Of this advice she says, "The words of wise and even +eminent men have since then fallen on my ear, but few have brought the +dewy refreshment to my soul which the simple loving words of my little +Heaven-taught schoolfellow did." But peace had not yet come into +her soul. + +At length, in February, 1851, Frances made a confidante of Miss Cook, +who in July, 1851, became her stepmother, and confessed that she desired +pardon of her sins above everything else. She thus writes in her +autobiography: "'Then, Fanny,' said Miss Cook, 'I think, _I am sure_, it +will not be very long before your desire is granted, your hope +fulfilled." After a few more words, she said, "Why cannot you trust +yourself to your Saviour at once? Supposing that now, at this moment, +Christ were to come in the clouds of heaven, and take up His redeemed, +could you not trust Him? Would not His call, His promise be enough for +you? Could you not commit your soul to Him, to your Saviour, Jesus?' +Then came a flash of hope across me which made me feel literally +breathless. I remember how my heart beat. 'I _could_ surely,' was my +response; and I left her suddenly and ran away upstairs to think it out. +I flung myself on my knees in my room, and strove to realise the sudden +hope. I was very happy at last. I could commit my soul to Jesus. I did +not and need not fear His coming. I could trust Him with my all for +eternity. It was so utterly new to have any bright thoughts about +religion that I could hardly believe it could be so, that I really had +gained such a step. Then and there I committed my soul to the Saviour--I +do not mean to say without _any_ trembling or fear, but I did--and earth +and heaven seemed bright from that moment--_I did trust the +Lord Jesus_." + +In August, 1851, she went to school at Powick Court, near Worcester; +but, owing to severe erysipelas in her face and head, she soon had to +leave, and was ordered by the doctor to discontinue all study. She spent +some time in Wales, and learnt Welsh very quickly. In November, 1852, +she went with her parents to Germany, and attended school, standing +alone as a follower of the Saviour among one hundred and ten girls. She +progressed very rapidly in her studies. Though as a rule no girl was +numbered in order of merit unless she had learnt everything (and she, +through lack of time, had not done so), yet at the end of the term on +the prize-giving day, when the names were called out, she heard with +unspeakable pleasure the words, "Frances Havergal, _numero eins_!" +(number one). The "Engländerin's" papers and conduct were so good that +the masters agreed in council assembled to break through the rule for +once and give her the place she deserved. + +Her German master at Obercassel, Pastor Schulze-Berge, thus wrote of +her: "She showed from the first such application, such rare talent, such +depth of comprehension, that I can only speak of her progress as +extraordinary. She acquired such a knowledge of our most celebrated +authors in a short time as even German ladies attain only after much +longer study." + +She returned to England with her parents in December, 1853. On July 17, +1854, she was confirmed in Worcester Cathedral. In her case this public +profession was a very real act. When asked by the bishop the solemn +question to which all have audibly to answer, "I do," the reply of her +heart was, "Lord, I cannot without Thee; but oh, with Thy almighty help, +I do." In the cathedral she composed the lines with which this sketch +begins. She always kept very solemnly the anniversary of this day. + +She continued her German, French and English studies, and wrote many +small pieces of poetry, the proceeds of which she gave to the Church +Missionary Society. In the summer of 1856 she studied Hebrew very +diligently; her knowledge and remembrance of the words of Scripture were +very remarkable; she learnt the whole of the Gospels, Epistles, +Revelation, the Psalms, and Isaiah, and later she added the Minor +Prophets to the list. + +While she thus grew in knowledge she grew also in grace. In August, +1859, she wrote: "I have lost that weary bondage of doubt and almost +despair which chained me for so many years. I have the same sins and +temptation as before, and I do not strive against them more than before, +and it is often just as hard work. But whereas I could not see why I +_should_ be saved, I now cannot see why I should not be saved if Christ +died for all. On that word I take my stand, and _rest_ there. I still +wait for the hour when I believe He will reveal Himself to me more +directly; but it is the quiet waiting of present _trust_, not the +restless waiting of anxiety and danger." That hour, in God's good +time, did come. + +In 1860 Canon Havergal resigned the rectory of St. Nicholas, Worcester, +and Frances had to give up a class of unruly lads which she had taught +with much success, one of the class becoming a minister of the Church of +England, and another a Scripture-reader. The family removed to the +country parish of Shareshill. + +In 1861 Frances K. Havergal made her home at Oakhampton, the residence +of her sister, and undertook the instruction of her two nieces. Her aim +in teaching them was to fit them for eternity, but she did not fail to +throw herself into their amusements and recreations, which she took up +with her accustomed earnestness. + +In the winter of 1865-66 F.R. Havergal visited her friends in Germany, +and spent some time with her parents at Bonn. In 1806 her nieces went to +school, and Frances left Oakhampton to reside at home. + +Once again she confesses the presence of clouds on the horizon of her +faith. "In reading, when one's heart leaps at some precious promise made +to the children of God, a cold check comes, 'Am _I_ one of them? what is +my title?' Answer: 'Ye are all the children of God by faith in Jesus +Christ.' Have I faith? Once introduce that _I_, and you get bewildered +between faith and feeling. When I go on and grapple with the difficulty, +it comes to this. As far as I know, I have come to Jesus, not once but +many times. I have knelt and literally prostrated myself before Him, and +told Him all, I have no other hope but what His _written_ word _says_ He +did and said, that I know it is true, that the salvation it tells of is +just _what_ I want, and _all_ I want, and that my heart goes out to it, +and that I do accept it; that I do not fully grasp it, but I _cling_ to +it; that I want to be His only and entirely, now and for ever." + +On September 23, 1867, she joined the Young Women's Christian +Association, and found great benefit from her membership. She showed her +practical interest in the Church Missionary and Irish Societies by +wishing to give lessons in singing and German, the proceeds of which +these societies were to have. + +On April 19, 1870, she was called upon to part with her beloved father, +after a short illness. In one of her poems she speaks of his + + "Valiant cry, a witness strong and clear, + A trumpet with no dull uncertain sound." + +Soon after his death she prepared for the press _Havergal's Psalmody_, +which was afterwards largely used in the compiling of the Rev C. B. +Snepp's hymn-book, called _Songs of Grace and Glory_, for which, she +herself wrote several hymns. In June, 1871, she accompanied her friend +Elizabeth Clay on a visit to Switzerland; there she thoroughly enjoyed +the Alpine climbing, and revelled in the grand scenery of Mont Blanc and +other snow mountains. On a subsequent visit Mont Blanc was ascended as +far as the Grand Mulets. Here her delight in the exhilarating exercise +of glissading landed her in a danger which, but for the presence of mind +of Mr. Snepp, must have ended fatally to herself and one of the guides. + + + + +III. + +LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY. + +We have now reached a time when Frances Ridley Havergal made a marked +advance in spiritual life. It was the close of 1873. She received one +day by post a little book entitled _All for Jesus_. She thus wrote about +it to the clergyman who sent it to her: "_All for Jesus_ has touched me +very much.... I know I love Jesus, and there are times when I feel such +intensity of love to Him that I have no words to describe it. I rejoice +too in Him as my 'Master' and 'Sovereign;' but I want to come nearer +still, to have the full realisation of John xiv. 21--['He that hath My +commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that +loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and manifest +Myself to him']--and to know the power of His resurrection,' even if it +be with 'the fellowship of His sufferings;' and all this, not exactly +for my own joy alone, but for others." + +In reply to a letter from the clergyman, she wrote:[1] "I know I am not +standing where I was two or three years ago. I think I first came to +Jesus when I was only fourteen years of age, and I have been 'on the +Lord's side' ever since. But of late, life has been a totally different +thing to me, unspeakably brighter; Jesus so infinitely more precious: +His service so infinitely sweeter and freer." But with this happiness +she felt that there was a fuller consecration to God's service, to which +she had not yet been able to yield herself. In a further communication +her correspondent reminded her of the truth that Jesus is able to keep +us from falling, and abiding in Him, His blood cleanseth, _i.e._ goes on +cleansing from all sin. "For conscious sin there is instant confession +and instant forgiveness." + +[Footnote 1: _Such a Blessing_, p. 13.] + +These words, though so simple, were made by the Holy Spirit a great +comfort and help to her spiritual life. She replied,[1] "I see it all, +and I _have_ the blessing. But I cannot write about it yet, not even to +you. I want first to test my gold and to count my new treasure. In two +or three weeks (b.v.) I will write and tell you all about it." + +[Footnote 1: _Ibid_., p. 15.] + +The promised letter was duly sent, and in it she says,[1] "Your words, +'His blood _goes on_ cleansing from unconscious sin,' and 'for conscious +sin there is instant confession and instant forgiveness,' seem to +include every need, and to settle all doubts and fears. Only one wants +the holiness to be deep, inner _reality_: and so, I pray to be kept from +unconscious, as well as from conscious sin. I do not want only to +_think_ I am not sinning. It is so sweet to look up to Jesus, in the joy +of His keeping, and to tell Him how one longs, not merely not to grieve +Him any more, but to please, really and truly _please_ Him, all the days +of my life. I had no idea there was such a blessing linked with being +led into this truth." In a further letter she writes, "I never hated sin +as I do now; and though I honestly thought I had given myself without +reserve to Christ in full consecration, yet I see that there was an +unconscious reserve of many little things." + +[Footnote 1: _Ibid_., p. 20.] + +The practical effect of this fuller insight into the blessings to be had +by those who yield themselves up to Jesus Christ in simple faith, "was +evident," remarks her sister, "in her daily true-hearted, whole-hearted +service for her King, and also in the increased joyousness of the +unswerving obedience of her home life, the surest test of all. To the +reality of this I do most willingly and fully testify." + +In 1874 F.R. Havergal went again to Switzerland. The first month of the +visit was spent in quietly enjoying the scenery, and becoming braced up +by the invigorating air. During the second month she began working at +various literary projects, the chief being the writing of her poem +"Thoughts of God." The composition of this was often, however, +interrupted by little acts of ministry, cheerfully undertaken on behalf +of the spiritual needs of the Swiss around her. + +She returned from Switzerland in good health, and resumed her active +work at home. At one time it was helping a young friend into light and +peace; at another, it was making an appointment to break her journey at +Willesden Station, to talk with some one in trouble. For "it will be +worth ANY fatigue if I can comfort her," was her unselfish remark. Amid +so much activity, little could she have anticipated what was so soon to +befall her. + + + + +IV. + +TRIED IN THE FURNACE OF PAIN. + +The journey was broken as arranged, though Frances R. Havergal was by +that time very ill. Through some mistake she waited an hour and a half +before the friend came, and then took her with her some miles so that +they might not lose the longed-for interview. When home was reached, she +was seized with shivering, fever set in and was pronounced to be typhoid +fever. In the middle of November, 1874, it was thought her end was near. +But prayer, continued and earnest, was made that her valuable life might +be spared, and God graciously heard and answered, and brought her back +from the gates of death. When asked afterwards if she had any fear of +dying, her answer was, "Oh no, not a shadow." "Then was it delightful to +think you were going home, dear Fan?" "No, it was not the idea of going +home, but that _He_ was coming for me and that I should _see my King_. +I never thought of death as going through the dark valley, or down to +the river; it often seemed to me a going up to the golden gates and +lying there in the brightness, just waiting for the gate to open for +me.... I never before was, so to speak, face to face with death. It was +like a look into heaven, and yet when my Father sent me back again, I +felt it was His will, and so I could not be disappointed." + +In January, 1875, she was removed to Winterdyne, where she heard of the +sudden death of her brother Henry. After a few days a relapse set in, +and her stepmother was sent for. After the fever had passed away she +suffered very severe pain. She remarked to her sister once, "Oh, Marie, +if I might but have five minutes' ease from pain! I don't want ever to +moan when gentle sister Ellen comes in. How I am troubling you all!" + +Health gradually returned to her, and with it she recommenced her active +work for the Master. + + + + +V. + +COMING FORTH AS GOLD. + +The Refiner's work in F.R. Havergal was very evident. Of this year's +illness and slow convalesence she speaks: "It has been the most precious +year of my life to me. It is worth any suffering to prove for oneself +the truth of 'when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee,' +and worth being turned back (as it seemed) from the very golden gates if +one may but 'tell of all His faithfulness.' It is so real." + +"For two or three weeks [during my illness]," she writes again, "I was +too prostrate for any consecutive prayer, or for even a text to be given +me; and this was the time for realising what 'silent in love' meant +(Zeph. iii. 17). And then it seemed doubly sweet when I was again able +to 'hold converse' with Him. He seemed too so often to send answers from +His own word with wonderful power. One evening (after a relapse) I +longed so much to be able to pray, but found I was too weak for the +least effort of thought, and I only looked up and said, 'Lord Jesus, I +am _so_ tired!' and then He brought to my mind 'rest in the Lord' with +its lovely marginal reading, 'be silent_ in the Lord;' and so I just was +silent to Him, and He seemed to overflow me with perfect peace, in the +sense of His own perfect love." + +When she was at length well enough to resume her literary work again, +she busied herself in preparing an Appendix with music to _Songs of +Grace and Glory_. She had completed it and sent it to the printers, and +was hoping to be able to commence a book which she had contemplated +writing, when she had the disappointing news that a fire at the +printers' had destroyed the stereotype plates and paper as well as the +MS.; and as she had kept no copy of the tunes, all her work had to be +done over again. This "turned lesson," as she regarded it, was accepted +with beautiful patience. + +After a visit to Newport, Monmouth, followed by one to Ashley Moor, she +spent some time in Switzerland. Here her quiet work went on among +tourists and invalids, as well as Swiss. It was on this visit to +Switzerland that she began the friendship with Baroness Helga V. Cramm, +whose painted cards blend so beautifully with her words. + +Towards the end of August, symptoms of her illness recurred, and she had +not strength to return to England until October. It was on her journey +back that the idea of her book _My King_ came to her. It was, says her +sister, at Oxford station on the way to Winterdyne. "I thought Frances +was dozing when she exclaimed, with that herald flash in her eye, +'Marie! I see it all; I can write a little book, _My King_;' and rapidly +went through divisions for thirty-one chapters." + +The writer of this short biography may here refer to a +never-to-be-forgotten hour that he spent with Frances R. Havergal. He +had sent her some lines suggested by this little book, of which she most +kindly expressed her approval, and naturally the book _My King_ formed +the subject of conversation, and she expressed her gratitude that she +had been led to write this and other of her books in chapters for each +day in the month; "for," said she, "they are read through in many cases +twelve times a year instead of being perused once and thrown aside." + +The year 1877 was passed uneventfully in paying various visits to +relatives. But though uneventfully spent, not by any means idly or +unprofitably, for her time was fully occupied with literary work. + +A little later on we get a glimpse of this busy worker in another +sphere. She had gone to Mildmay Park for rest. + +"68, Mildmay Park, October, 1877. + +"I was going away on Saturday, but caught cold at the quarterly meeting +of the Association of Female Workers, ... so I resigned myself to an +extra week here; and verily, they _do_ know how to nurse, _and_ what's +more (!) how to keep you quiet. Also, they do know how to pray! I have +learned a little, I hope, on _that_ subject this last week. What I hear +and see here is quite a new light on intercessory prayer. I thought I +knew something of its power and reality, but I see I did not know much. + +"Mrs. Pennefather took me (before my cold) to Clapton House. I only wish +every girl I care for was there; such a beautiful Christian school. I +got any amount of bright looks (as it seems they knew my books), and I +wanted exceedingly to go among them. Hearing the Principal say she would +be prevented taking their Bible class, I ventured the proposal to take +it. Afterwards, I had about a dozen all to myself in the drawing-room +for a talk with any that wanted special help. They were told to get +chairs. 'Oh!' I said, '_don't_ sit all in a row a long way off; come up +close and cosy; we can talk ever so much better then, can't we?' You +should have seen how charmed they were, and clustered niece-fashion all +round me. We did have such a sweet hour; it was rather after the +'question-drawer' manner; but all their little questions and +difficulties seemed summed up by one of them, 'we do _so_ want to come +closer to Jesus.'" + +As a help to her reading of the Bible, Frances R. Havergal joined the +"Christian Progress Scripture Reading Union," conducted by her friend +Rev. Ernest Boys, for whose magazine she acted, on one occasion, as +editor during his absence. An amusing letter details her difficulties as +editor, and she came out of them having formed this conclusion, "Never, +except as an act of sheer mercy and pity, will I be an editor." This +Reading Union was a great help to her own spiritual life, and also to +her dealing with others, as the following sentences in a letter to the +writer bears witness. "Not long ago I got five of my elder sister's +servants to join, all Christians, but easy-going ones, and the result +astonished me! It led to quite a revival of their spiritual life, and to +reading together and speaking together, and to others; and I have since +had a most beautiful letter from them full of gratitude for the _great_ +blessing which God had given them through joining. _Anything_ to get +people to read His Word! I find it continual help in corresponding with +or meeting those who have joined, and any to whom God has let me be +spiritually helpful are invariably delighted at the idea of reading with +me. It is training many young Christians into _regular_ reading." + +On May 26, 1878, F. R. Havergal's stepmother passed away. This event +broke up their Leamington home, and Frances and her sister spent some +time in the quiet of the Mumbles near Swansea. They then went to stay at +a farmhouse in Herefordshire, where, among other forms of work for the +Master, she, ever thoughtful of others, interpreted on her fingers to +the man of the house, who was quite deaf, the sermons she heard. It was +here that she wrote her poem entitled _Zenith_. + +The breaking up of the Leamington home she thought afforded a good +opportunity of practically carrying out her dedication of her silver and +gold to God's service. She had hoped to devote _herself_ to missionary +work, but her health prevented this being realised, so she sent off all +her ornaments, including a valuable jewel-case, to the Church Missionary +House in London, to be disposed of for missionary work. "I retain," she +says, "only a brooch or two for daily wear, which are memorials of my +dear parents; also a locket with the only portrait I have of my niece +in heaven, my Evelyn; and her 'two rings' mentioned in _Under the +Surface_. But these I redeem, so that the whole value goes to the Church +Missionary Society. I had no idea I had such a jeweller's shop, nearly +fifty articles are being packed off. I don't think I need tell you I +never packed a box with such pleasure." + +Towards the end of the year she joined her sister at the Mumbles. Here +she could be quiet in her "workshop," the walls of which were adorned +with pictures she had arranged herself. On her bookshelf stood her few +choice books; the last she read were, _The Earth's Formation on +Dynamical Principles_, by A.J. Ritchie, _Goodwin's Works, The Life and +Letters of Rev. W. Pennefather, The Upward Gaze_ by her friend Agnes +Giberne, and books by Rev. G. Everard. On her table was her American +typewriter; her desk and table-drawers were all methodically arranged. +It was at her study table that she read her Bible at seven o'clock in +summer and eight in winter, her Hebrew Bible, Greek Testament and +Lexicon being at hand. "Sometimes on bitter cold mornings," says her +sister, "I begged that she would read with her feet comfortably to the +fire, and received the reply, 'But then, Marie, I can't rule my lines +neatly; just see what a find I have got! If one only searches, there are +such extraordinary things in the Bible.'" + +On Christmas-day, 1878, her last Christmas upon earth, she awoke in +severe pain, and was ill for some days; but during the time she compiled +a set of Christmas and New Year mottoes, which she called _Christmas +Sunshine_ and _Love and Light for the New Year_. She was ordered rest +and felt she needed it. One remark as to her unceasing work is very +touching:--"I do hope the angels will have orders to let me alone a bit +when I first get to heaven." She was learning to use as her daily +petition the prayer her mother taught her, "O Lord, prepare me for all +Thou art preparing for me;" and this He was doing. By weakness and +sickness and by unwearying trust and unwearied labour was she being +prepared for that better rest above. + + + + +VI. + +THE MINISTRY OF SONG + +We may turn aside for a short time before we consider the last eventful +weeks of Frances Ridley Havergal's sojourn upon earth, to deal with a +subject that has been but lightly touched upon, namely, her ministry +of song. + +She had inherited from her gifted father a great talent for music. She +was a remarkably skilful performer upon the pianoforte. So retentive +was her memory that she could play without notes a large portion of the +works of Handel, Beethoven and Mendelssohn. + +[Illustration: F.R. Havergal] + +Her musical compositions were of a very high order. When she was thirty +years of age she went, while at Cologne, to show some of her +compositions to Ferdinand Hiller. After looking through them and +learning that she had had no instruction in harmony, he expressed his +surprise and delivered his verdict, the worst part first. + +He said her melodies bore the stamp of talent, not of genius. "But as to +your harmonies," he said to her, "I must say I am astonished. It is +something singular to find such a grasp of the subject, such power of +harmonisation except where there has been long and thorough study and +instruction; here I can give almost unlimited praise." She told him her +question was, had she talent enough to make it worth while to devote +herself to music as a serious thing, as a life-work? He answered, +"Sincerely and unhesitatingly I can say that you _have_." + +How spontaneous was her musical and poetical genius will be seen from +the account of the genesis of her well-known missionary hymn and tune, +"Tell it out among the heathen." She was unable to go to church at +Winterdyne one snowy morning in 1873. She asked for her Prayer-book +while still in bed, as she always liked to follow the services for the +day. On Mr. Shaw, her brother-in-law, returning from church, he heard +the piano sounding. "Why, Frances," he said, "I thought you were +upstairs." "Yes, but I had my Prayer-book, and in the Psalm for to-day I +read, 'Tell it out among the heathen that the Lord is King.' I thought +what a splendid first line; and then the words and music came rushing on +to me. There, it's all written out." She had written it out, the words +and music and harmonies complete. And her sister remarks: "Only those +who heard her could imagine the brisk ringing tone with which she sang +this tune." + +In her "Consecration Hymn" occurs the couplet-- + +"Take my voice and let me sing Always only for my King." + +And to her these were no mere words of a song. She tried to consecrate +all her singing to God's service. It was a real ministry. She strove +always to sing the very words of the Bible, as she observed that persons +could not with decency object to them, though they might have done so to +her own words. + +During a sojourn in Switzerland she was anxious to reach the people she +saw wending their way to early mass. On learning that she would sing to +them, many promised to come to her pension. She says, "First I sang to +them, and then got the girls to join in the hymn which they had +[previously] copied out. Then I read some passages.... A few went away +when I read.... You will wonder what I sang! Well, I had been singing +snatches of hymns to myself and especially 'Only for Thee,' and found +this gave immense gratification in our little pension; so I thought God +could as well give me French as English if He would, and I set to and +wrote 'Seulement pour Toi!' (as they had liked the tune so much). Only +it is quite a different hymn, making prominent the other side, He and He +_only_ is and does all for us." This hymn thus written was of good +service on another occasion. On the way from Chamounix to Great St. +Bernard Hospice, some of the passengers in the diligence sang French +songs remarkably well. Her sister says: "We listened and commended, and +then asked if they would join us in a new tune, 'Seulement pour Toi!' +Finding the driver took up the chorus in bass, Frances went outside that +he might see the words, and most heartily was it sung by all!" + +The following Sunday was spent at the hospice; and once again was her +musical talent used in proclaiming the Master's message. Her brilliant +touch upon the piano attracted the attention of the "fathers" in the +monastery, and they begged her to sing after dinner. She asked her +sister to join in prayer that the King's message might be given, and +that it might search some hearts. As there were different nationalities +present, she very simply but gracefully said she was going to sing from +the Holy Scriptures, repeating the words in German and Italian, and then +sang Handel's "Comfort ye," "He shall feed His flock," and afterwards, +"Rest in the Lord." An Italian professor of music, with many others, +thanked her, and were expressing their admiration to her sister, when +Frances bade them "good night," remarking to her sister, "You see, +Marie, I gave my message, and so it is better to come away." + +An instance illustrating the singing powers and also the friendliness of +this sweet singer is recorded by Rev. S.B. James, D.D., in his _Frances +Ridley Havergal, a Lecture Sermon_.[1] "After a garden-party in +Somersetshire where she had almost exhausted herself, she happened to +overhear her hostess's regret that the servants had not been present. +'Oh, if it is work for the Master,' she exclaimed, 'of course I can do +it.' And though she had been just stung by a bee upon the hand, and was +suffering intense pain, she threw off hat and gloves, took her seat +eagerly at the piano, and ... impressed a whole retinue of servants with +the beautiful piece from the _Messiah_, 'Come unto Me, all ye that +labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' And when it was +all done she stood up and said, 'Now I am going to tell you what _you_ +must do when you have yourselves accepted the invitation,' and she sang +out before that humble spell-bound audience, 'Tell it out among the +heathen that the Lord is King.' ... One person at least was turned to +righteousness on that musical afternoon." + +[Footnote 1: Quoted in _The Sisters_. Charles Bullock, B.D., p. 100.] + +The ministry of song of F.R. Havergal will chiefly be remembered, +however, by the goodly heritage of poetry which she has left to the +Church of Christ, and in which she being dead yet speaketh. Here it is +that her great influence is still felt. She had the happy gift of +expressing the deep breathings of the consecrated soul in whole-hearted +loyalty to the blessed Master. She strove to regard the Lord Jesus as a +real living and personal Friend. She longed to be entirely yielded up to +His service, and she put the thoughts of her heart, which had been +warmed by the indwelling Spirit, in real and genuine expressions of love +to and praise of her Master. + +She began writing verses when she was only seven years of age. + +In 1860 her poetry was so much appreciated that she received +applications from the editors of various religions magazines to supply +poetical contributions. In 1803 she received her first cheque of £10 +17s. 6d. This she sent to her father: £10 for anything he liked to +employ it on, 10s. for the Scripture Readers' collection, and 7s. 6d. +for any similar emergency. + +Her hymn "I gave my life for thee" first appeared in _Good Words_. It +was written in Germany in 1858. She had come in weary and sat down +opposite a picture with this motto. At once the lines flashed upon her +and she wrote them in pencil on a scrap of paper. Reading them over, +they did not satisfy her. She tossed them into the fire, but they fell +out untouched. Showing them some months after to her father, he +encouraged her to preserve them, and wrote the tune "Baca" +especially for them. + +The origin of the well-known hymn, 'Take my Life,' she thus +describes--"I went for a little visit of five days. There were ten +persons in the house, some unconverted and long prayed for, some +converted, but not rejoicing Christians. He gave me the prayer, 'Lord, +give me _all_ in this house.' And He just _did_! Before I left the +house, every one had got a blessing. The last night of my visit I was +too happy to sleep, and passed most of the night in praise and renewal +of my own consecration, and these little couplets formed themselves, and +chimed in my heart one after another, till they finished with '_Ever_, +ONLY, ALL, for Thee.'" + +Some six months before she died she wrote thus about this hymn, "I had a +great time early this morning, renewing the never-regretted +consecration. I seemed led to run over the 'Take my Life,' and could +bless Him verse by verse for having led me on to much more definite +consecration than even when I wrote it--voice, gold, intellect, etc. But +the eleventh couplet--" + + 'Take my love--my Lord, I pour + At Thy feet its treasure store'-- + + +"that has been unconsciously _not filled up_. Somehow, I felt mystified +and out of my depth here; it was a simple and definite thing to be +_done_, to settle the voice, or silver and gold; but 'love?' I have to +love others, and I do; and I've not a small treasure of it; and even +loving _in Him_ does not quite meet the inner difficulty.... I shall +just go forward and expect Him to fill it up, and let my life from this +day answer really to that couplet. The worst part to me is that I don't +in practice prove my love to Him, by delight in much and long communion +with Him; hands and head seem so full of other things' (which yet are +His given work), that 'heart' seems not 'free to serve' in fresh and +vivid love." + +In writing her hymns, F.R. Havergal looked up to God to give her the +ideas and words, and they were often produced very rapidly. Mr. Snepp of +Perry Bar left her leaning against a wall while he went in to visit the +boys' school, and on his return ten minutes afterwards she handed him +the well-known hymn "Golden harps are sounding," pencilled upon an +old envelope. + +A remarkable fact is recorded in connection with another hymn entitled, +"Reality, Reality, Lord Jesus Christ, Thou art to me." She was +much struck with the expression used by a working man in a +prayer-meeting--"Father, we know the reality of Jesus Christ." This +thought took hold of her and found expression in this hymn on a stormy +night at Whitby, after she had seen the life-boat put forth to a wreck, +hence the expressions, "Pilot," "Lifeboat," and "Haven." The very night +she wrote the hymn, a young Christian four hundred miles away was +pleading at a prayer-meeting, "Lord Jesus, let Thy dear servant write +for us what Thou art, Thou living, bright Reality, and let her do it +_this very night_." "While they are yet speaking, I will hear." + +Space does not permit any detailed account of her poetry. Her's were +specially songs of the inner life. She revealed in her poetic works her +own inner experience, and a perusal of them will give indications of her +own growth in holiness. + +A reader is impressed not only with the ease and brightness of her +style, but with her firm grasp of things unseen. Her poetry was not just +stringing together words, but it was the very expression of her heart. +She thus writes on this point in _The Ministry of Song_: + + "Poetry is not a trifle, + Lightly thought and lightly made; + Not a fair and scentless flower, + Gaily cultured for an hour, + Then as gaily left to fade. + + 'Tis not stringing rhymes together, + In a pleasant true accord; + Not the music of the metre, + Not the happy fancies sweeter + Than a flower-bell honey-stored. + + 'Tis the essence of existence, + Rarely rising to the light; + And the songs that echo longest, + Deepest, fullest, truest, strongest, + With your life-blood you must write." + +So did the sweet singer herself write from her own experience. + +Her hymns, which are very numerous, no less than seventy being in common +use, have been the means not only of arresting the undecided and helping +the saint, but of consoling the suffering and the doubting. So many of +her poems were the expressions of a bright faith and simple trust +shining out through storm and cloud, that others, storm-tossed and +beclouded, catch the rays and are cheered thereby. + +Although many of the poems are in a plaintive minor tone there are +occasional bursts of more cheerful strain, as in the lines on "A Merrie +Christmas," which appeared in the _Sunday at Home_. + + "A Merrie Christmas to you! + For we serve the Lord with mirth. + And we carol forth glad tidings + Of our holy Saviour's birth. + + So we keep the olden greeting, + With its meaning deep and true, + And wish a Merrie Christmas + And a Happy New Year to you. + + Oh, yes! 'a Merrie Christmas,' + With blithest song and smile, + Bright with the thought of Him who dwelt + On earth a little while, + + That we might dwell for ever + Where never falls a tear: + So 'a Merrie Christmas' to you, + And a Happy, Happy Year!" + +The beautiful and aptly chosen titles alone in many cases are most +suggestive and refreshing. Yes, Frances R. Havergal's power of giving +expression to holy aspiration and Christian loyalty and heartfelt praise +will live as long as English Hymnology lives. + + + + +VII. + +"SEEING THE KING." + +We come now to describe the closing months of this devoted life. Her +sister recalls that the New Year's greeting given to her on January 1, +1879. was, "'He crowneth the year with His goodness,' and He crowneth me +'with loving-kindness and tender mercies.' You, dear Marie, are one of +my mercies; and I do hope He will let me do something for you up +in heaven." + +The following subjects of prayer for 1878-79, found in her Bible, will +not only illustrate her method of petition, but will be helpful to other +Christians longing to excel in supplication. + +"I have greatly enjoyed the regular praying of the Lord's Prayer, and +take a petition each morning in the week. Intercession for others I +generally make at evening. I take the fruits of the Holy Spirit in the +same way and find this helpful." + + +_GENERAL_. + +MORNING. + +For the Holy Spirit. +Perfect trust all day. +Watchfulness. +To be kept from sin. +That I may please Him. +Guidance, growth and grace. +That I may do His will. +That He may use my mind, lips, pen, _all_. +Blessing and guidance in each engagement and interview of the day. + +EVENING. + +For forgiveness and cleansing. +Mistakes overruled. +Blessing on all said, written and done. +For conformity to His will and Christ's likeness. +That His will may be done _in_ me. +For a _holy_ night. +Confession. +For every one for whom I have been specially asked to pray. + + +_SPECIAL SUBJECTS_. + +SUNDAY. + +That I may make the most of Sabbath hours and gain much from the Word. + +Deliverance from wandering thoughts. _Pure_ praise. Blessing on services +and choir. + +_Hallowed be Thy name_. + +Intercessions. (Initials of many clergymen, of her brother, her +god-children, and "our servants.") + +MONDAY--"For joy and peace." + +That the life of Jesus may be manifest in me. + +_Thy kingdom come_ + +Intercession for Church Missionary Society and Irish Society. (Initials +of her eldest sister, _all_ her family, and "Oakhampton servants.") + +TUESDAY--"For longsuffering" + +That my unconscious influence may be all for Him. + +_Thy will be done_. + +Intercession for Mildmay (and initials of her brother Henry's children and +many Leamington friends). + +'WEDNESDAY--"Gentleness." + +For spirit of prayer and shadowless communion. + +_Give us this day our daily bread._ + +Intercession for the universities and public schools, for many friends, for +M.V.G.H., and E.C. + +THURSDAY--"Goodness." + +For much fruit to His praise. Soul-winning. Spirit of praise. + +_Forgive us our trespasses_. + +Local work. Swansea and Mrs. Morgan. For my sister Ellen, all at +Winterdyne, "and the servants." + +FRIDAY--"Faith." + +Wisdom to be shown more of His will and commands. + +_Lead us not into temptation_. + +For my brother and all at Upton Bishop. + +SATURDAY--"Meekness and Temperance." + +That the Word of Christ may dwell in me richly, open treasure of Thy +Word to me, fill my seed-basket. + +_Deliver us from evil._. + +For the Church of England and the Queen. (Initials of many friends.) + +A plan of work for 1879--"If the Lord will"--was sketched out, but it +was not the Lord's will that it should he accomplished, and many +subjects were not even attempted. + +On her return from London in the early part of the year, her friends +noticed the peculiar gladness of her service. She said one morning to +her sister, "Marie, it is really very remarkable how everything I do +seems to prosper and nourish. There is my 'Bruey Branch' growing and +increasing, and now the temperance work, and so many letters tell me +that God is blessing my little books." + +The "Bruey Branch" here mentioned was an effort to get children to +interest themselves in the Irish Society, and met with signal success. +It had been started two years previously with eight collectors--now +hundreds of collecting cards had gone out. + +Of her temperance work she writes a little later: "May, 1879. I haven't +taken up teetotal work, but teetotal work has taken up me! Morgan and +Scott made me accept a big handsome pledge-book in February, and somehow +the thing has fairly _caught fire_ here. One led to another, and +yesterday boys were coming all day to sign. I had twenty-five recruits +yesterday alone, and a whole squad more are coming this evening! and we +are going in for getting EVERY boy in the whole village! and now +'Please, miss, mayn't girls sign?' So I've got to open a girls' branch +as well! So work grows!" Again, "Really a wonderful little temperance +work here; all the rising generation have joined the pledge except about +twelve, and now the men want to speak to me and I am to meet them +to-night at the corner of the village (open air, having no place else) +with my pledge-book. I have got 118 pledged, and each with prayer over +it and personal talk about better things." On May 21 she met these men, +carrying with her her Bible and temperance book. While standing, heavy +clouds came up, and she was obliged to return home, wet and chilly, +though some men were still waiting to speak to her. The next day +(Thursday) she managed to get to church and received the Lord's Supper. +She was very tired with the service, and rode home on a donkey. As she +passed through the village, quite a procession of her boys followed her. +She urged her donkey boy to "leave the devil's side and get on the safe +side; that Jesus Christ was the winning side; that He loved him, and was +calling him, and wouldn't he choose Him for his Captain?" Arrived at +home, she ran in for her temperance book, and the boy signed it on the +saddle. That evening she spoke to several persons with intense +earnestness and pleading. + +The next day she was to have attended a temperance meeting and have +presented 150 cards to those who had signed her book; but the chilliness +increased, and the doctor forbade her to go out. Unable to be present +herself, she sent two messages by her sister: one to those who had +signed--"Behold, God Himself is ... our Captain;" [1] to those who had +not signed--"Come thou with us and we will do thee good." [2]--While +the meeting was going on she was busy at home stitching strong paper +tract-bags for sailors at sea, till she felt ill and had to be assisted +to her room. + +[Footnote 1: 2 Chron. xiii. 12.] +[Footnote 2: Num. x. 29.] + +On May 26 she was able to correct the proof of _Morning Stars_, on the +text, "I am the bright and morning Star;" and then, as her sister says, +the pen so long used in the service of her King was laid down. The last +passage she looked at in her Bible was the _Christian Progress_ chapter +for May 28.[1] She asked that it might be read to her, and dwelt on "Be +thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." On the +29th fever and internal inflammation rapidly came on, and she exhibited +all the symptoms of peritonitis. She suffered very severe pain; but +though the outward man was perishing, the inward man was being renewed. +On May 30, speaking of justification by faith, she said, "Not for our +own works or deservings; oh, what vanity it seems now to rest on our own +obedience for salvation, any merit of our own takes away the glory of +the atoning blood. 'Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins +in His own blood'--_that's it_." When asked if she had any fear, she +replied, "Why should I? Jesus said, 'It is finished;' and what was His +precious blood shed for? _I trust that_." + +[Footnote 1: Rev. ii. 1-10.] + +On Whit-Sunday she was better, and able to converse a little with her +brother and sister. On the following day at early dawn she made the +remark, "'Spite of the breakers, Marie, I am so happy. God's promises +are so true. Not a fear." At 8 A.M. it was thought she was departing. +The Lord's Supper was administered at her request, and when it was over +she whispered to her brother, "Frank dear, it is not the performance of +the rite, _no safety in that_; but it is obedience to His command, and +as a _remembrance_ of His dying love." When the doctor told her she +would soon be going home, she exclaimed. "Beautiful! too good to be +true!... Oh! it is the Lord Jesus that is so dear to me, I can't tell +how precious! how much He has been to me!" Afterwards she asked for "How +sweet the name of Jesus sounds!" + +To the vicar of Swansea, who visited her, she said, "Oh! I want all of +you to speak _bright, bright_ words about Jesus, oh, do, _do_! It is all +perfect peace. I am only waiting for Jesus to take me in." + +Her sufferings were very acute, and when told how patient she had been +that even the doctors noticed it, she replied, "Oh! I am so glad you +tell me this. I did want to glorify Him every step of the way, and +especially in this suffering. I hope none of you will have five minutes +of this pain." + +On Tuesday, June 3, she was evidently worse. Among the words she uttered +were these: "I am lost in amazement! There hath not failed one word of +all His promise!" Mentioning the names of many dear ones, she said, "I +want _all_ to come to me in heaven; oh! don't, _don't_ disappoint me; +tell them, 'Trust Jesus.'" When one of her sisters repeated the words of +the hymn, "Jesus, I will trust Thee," she sang the verse right through +to her tune "Hermas." Violent sickness ensued, and when it was over she +folded her hands on her heart, saying, "There, now it is all over! +Blessed rest!" + +Her sister thus describes the glorious sunset of her life on June 3, +1879, at the age of 42: "And now she looked up steadfastly as if she saw +the Lord; and surely nothing less heavenly could have reflected such a +glorious radiance upon her face. For ten minutes we watched that almost +visible meeting with her King, and her countenance was so glad, as if +she were already talking to Him. Then she tried to sing, but after one +sweet high note--'HE--,' her voice failed, and as her brother commended +her soul into her Redeemer's hand, she passed away. Our precious sister +was gone, satisfied, glorified, within the palace of her King." And so +she fell asleep, and her eyes saw the King in His beauty--that King of +whom she sung so sweetly and wrote so loyally. On June 9 they laid her +body to rest in the quiet churchyard of Astley Church in Worcestershire. + +And thus within sight of the room which saw her birth, her body lies +"until the day dawn." + + + + +VIII. + +"UNDER THE SURFACE." + +_Upon_ the surface you saw a bright, accomplished lady. She had marked +ability as a linguist. She acquired a great deal of German as a child by +carefully attending while present at the German lessons given to her +sisters. She learnt enough Greek and Hebrew to read her Hebrew Bible and +to enjoy her Greek Testament, and often brings out in her letters the +fact that she had been studying it. As we have seen, she was an +accomplished musician, and she was untiring in her literary productions. +Her books of poems comprise _Life-Chords,_ consisting of "Under His +shadow,"--"Her last poems"--"Loyal Responses," and "Her earlier poems;" +_Life Mosaic_, comprising "The Ministry of Song," and "Under the +Surface;" _Swiss Letters and Alpine Poems_, written during several tours +in Switzerland. + +Her chief prose works _Kept for the Master's Use, The Royal Invitation, +My King, Royal Commandments, Royal Bounty, Starlight through Shadows, +Morning Stars, Morning Bells, Little Pillows, and Bruey, a little Worker +for Christ_. + +_Upon_ the surface, too, you saw a woman of sound-common sense. This was +evidenced both in her writings, and her daily life. For example, she +writes thus one day: "I felt as if I rather wanted a little intellectual +bracing, as if something of contact with intellect were necessary to +prevent my getting into a weak and wishy-washy kind of thought and +language. I like intellects to rub against and have no present access to +books which would do it, so I bethought myself of seeing what +Shakespeare would do for me and I think my motive was really that I +might polish my own instruments for the Master's use." + +Again, as regards dress her sensible comment was, "If the King's +daughter is to be 'all glorious within,' she must not be outwardly a +fright! I must dress both as a lady and a Christian. The question of +cost I see very strongly, and do not consider myself at liberty to spend +on dress that which might be spared for God's work; but it costs no more +to have a thing well and prettily made." + +Yes, _on_ the surface you saw an accomplished lady, and on the surface +you saw also beaming out the fact that _under_ the surface she was a +whole-hearted Christian. This was the most marked feature in her +character. No one could be in her company five minutes without +recognising Whose she was and Whom she served. A clergyman, who knew +perhaps more of her inner life than any one else, in a letter to the +writer, says, "The two most prominent characteristics of the last five +and a half years of her life seemed to me to be her unreserved +consecration and her absolute confidence in the Lord and His Word." The +preceding chapters will have shown the reader how true an estimate this +is. The business of her life was to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever. +Of delicate health, she might have spent a large portion of her time in +fretful complainings; but she looked to her Heavenly Father to +consecrate even her sicknesses to His service. + +Her standard of Christian life was a very high one. She thus writes of a +friend: "I write to you as one who is really wanting to follow Jesus +altogether, really wanting to live and speak _exactly_ according to His +commands and His beautiful example; and where this is the standard, what +seems a little thing or nothing at all to others, is sure to be sin, +because it is disobeying His dear Word and not 'following, _fully_.'" +Her intimate knowledge of Scripture, her sound common-sense kept her +from falling into many of the errors into which some who have aimed high +in holy things have fallen. + +In a letter to her sister on this subject, she thus expresses herself: +"As to 'perfectionism' or 'sinlessness,' I have all along, and over and +over again, said I never did and do not hold either. 'Sinlessness' +belongs _only_ to Christ now, and to our glorified state in heaven. I +believe it to be not merely an impossibility on earth but an actual +contradiction of our very being, which cannot be 'sinless' till the +resurrection change has passed upon us. But being kept from falling, +kept from sins, is quite another thing, and the Bible seems to teem with +commands and promises about it. First, however, I would distinctly +state, that it is _only_ as and while a soul is under the full power of +the blood of Christ that it can be cleansed from all sin; that one +moment's withdrawal from that power, and it is again actively, because +really, sinning;... one instant of standing alone is certain fall." + +While magnifying the Saviour's power to save, she had a just estimate of +her own condition; only about two years before her death she thus +expresses herself: "I can say for myself that I feel I have deserved the +very suffering of hell for my transgression of the first great +commandment of the law ('Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,' etc.), and +for my sin of unbelief." While she aimed high, she knew full well that +she had not attained, neither was already perfect. + +"As to sanctification, that it is the work of the Holy Spirit, and +progressive, is the very thing I see and rejoice in. He has brought me +into the 'highway of holiness' up which I trust every day to progress, +continually pressing forward, led by the Spirit of God." + +The simplicity of her trust in God and His Word comes out strikingly in +her writings. She seems to have grasped the fact that Jesus Christ was +"a living bright reality," pledged to uphold and help and comfort all +who go to Him as little children. Another marked feature in her life was +her deep sympathy with others in their trouble and anxieties. And this +spirit of unselfishness enabled her in her prose writings and her hymns +to inspire something of her simple trust into those who read them with +receptive minds. + +To see under the surface of Frances Ridley Havergal's character, look +into her works, and you find the humble servant of Jesus Christ +revealed. She "walked with God," and by the attraction of a life bright +with the beauty of holiness revealing itself in her writings, she has +exercised and still exercises a great power upon Christians by lifting +them up to a higher walk with God. And many singers will doubtless join +hereafter in the song of "Moses and the Lamb" whose souls were on earth +attuned to heavenly music through the pleading words or holy example of +Frances Ridley Havergal. + +John P. Hobson, M.A. + + + + +HANNAH MORE. + +I. + +EARLY II + +Amongst the staunchest supporters of Presbyterianism in the days of +Charles II. were the Mores of Harleston, Norfolk. Glorying in the risk +incurred of proscription and imprisonment, they turned their dwelling +into a conventicle. Here the faithful gathered stealthily at midnight to +hear the Gospel preached, whilst one of the house, with drawn sword, +stood at the threshold prepared to defend with his life both minister +and congregation. From this sturdy stock sprang Jacob, the father of +Hannah More. He married a sensible, high-principled farmer's daughter. A +family of five girls was born to them, the fourth being Hannah, whose +birth occurred on the 2nd of February, 1745. + +Hannah displayed remarkable precocity. Before she was four she could +repeat the Catechism, much to the astonishment of the parish minister; +whilst startling questions about matters far beyond her age were put to +those around her. At eight her thirst for knowledge increased. Sitting +on her father's knee she listened eagerly to his recital of the brave +deeds of Greeks and Romans and the wise sayings of Plutarch. Sometimes +her father repeated orations of classic heroes, first in the original +tongue, and then in English. The interest thus excited led the child to +crave for a knowledge of Latin. Her father, although averse to girls +exceeding the limits of the three "R's" and a few accomplishments, +yielded at length to his promising daughter's desire. This early +introduction to the classics paved the way to a diligent study of Latin +in later years and of the best Latin models, which greatly helped in the +formation of her literary style. She also gained a little knowledge of +mathematics; but Euclid had to retire in favour of the less intricate +study of French. The proficiency which she afterwards acquired in this +language she owed to the assiduous tuition of her eldest sister, Mary. + +Before the age of twelve she began to scribble short essays and poems. +Her systematic education commenced on her becoming a pupil of her +sisters' boarding-school at Bristol. Here she made rapid progress, often +giving convincing proof of intellectual gifts, and before long becoming +qualified to assist in tuition. + +In her sixteenth year she was one of Sheridan's most delighted auditors +during his delivery of a course of lectures on Eloquence. She expressed +her admiration in a chaplet of verses which, finding their way into the +orator's hands, so impressed him with the fair promise they contained, +that he secured an introduction to the author. Thus originated one of +Hannah's numerous warm friendships of after life. + +Ferguson, the astronomer, was another of Hannah's early acquaintances. +From him she gained a knowledge of science; whilst he, prompted by his +high estimate of her abilities, took counsel with her respecting the +style of his literary productions. + +Her intellectual tastes were encouraged and directed, to a large extent, +by a somewhat notable Bristol man, of the name of Peach. Although a +draper by trade, his cultivated mind and excellent literary judgment +were of distinct service to his young friend. He was entrusted by Hume +with the revision of the proof-sheets of the famous History of England. + +A humorous story is related of the interest which Hannah's conversation +created in the minds of her elders. When laid aside by illness she was +attended by a noted physician, Dr. Woodward, who one day became so +absorbed in his patient's intellectual discourse that he forgot to make +the usual inquiries about her health. "Bless me!" he exclaimed, as he +went downstairs, "I forgot to ask the girl how she was!" He returned to +the bedside, and rather awkwardly put the formal question to the amused +invalid, "How are you to-day, my poor child?" + +Hannah's training in the highest principles of morality and in religion, +begun by her devoted parents, received the careful attention of her +eldest sister as long as she remained under her care; when out of her +teens, she commenced the study of theology under the guidance of Dr. +Stonhouse, a clergyman of Bristol. + +At the age of seventeen, finding that the young people in her circle +were in the habit of learning passages from plays which frequently +savoured of unhealthy sentiment, she conceived the idea of providing a +harmless substitute, and thereupon wrote a pastoral drama, _The Search +after Happiness_. A little later she produced another drama, _The +Inflexible Captive_, founded on Metastasio's opera of _Regulus_. + +Encouraged in various ways by numerous friends, on whose judgment she +could safely rely, she appears to have taken pains to qualify herself +for a literary career. She studied Latin, Italian, and Spanish, +translated from the best compositions, wrote pieces in imitation of +celebrated authors, and thus tried to cultivate her mind, and to form +the groundwork of a good and pleasing style. + +Such literary prospects, however, seemed likely to be exchanged for +those of a rural domestic life; for at the age of twenty-two she +received and accepted an offer of marriage from a country gentleman of +wealth and high character. The wedding-day was fixed, but was postponed +more than once, owing to the bridegroom's indecision. At length he lost +his chance; for the bride, yielding to the advice of friends, declined +to be trifled with any longer, and broke off the engagement. To make +some amends for his treatment, and to compensate for her resignation, at +the prospect of marriage, of her interest in the school which she and +her sister were conducting at Bristol, he settled upon her an annuity, +and at his death bequeathed her a thousand pounds. The settlement was +made without her knowledge; and it was not without the utmost difficulty +that her friends prevailed in persuading her to agree to the +arrangement. From this time forward she seems to have set her face +against matrimony, for she firmly declined other offers. + +A few years afterwards, on arriving at the age of twenty-eight, a +long-cherished wish was realised. Since childhood she had longed to +visit London. As a child her favourite amusement was to make a carriage +of a chair, and invite her sisters to ride with her to London "to see +bishops and booksellers." Through girlhood to womanhood the desire +gathered strength. In 1773 she set off with two of her sisters to pay +her first visit to the Metropolis. + + + + +II. + +IN "VANITY FAIR." + +In order to estimate the complex influences surrounding Hannah More in +London, and to appreciate the manner in which she stood the ordeal of +passing through "Vanity Fair," it is necessary to bear in mind the +social, moral, and religious aspects of the people about the middle of +the eighteenth century. + +What are now considered flagrant vices were either unnoticed or tacitly +sanctioned. Of social refinement, as we now understand the term, there +was comparatively little. Coarse jokes, swearing, and profanity were +almost as common in "polite society" as in the back streets now. The +literature of the day, excepting the writings of Addison, Johnson, +Steele, and a few others, ministered to the low tastes prevalent amongst +both the upper and the lower classes. Religion had well nigh lost all +vitality. With the majority of people it had become the subject either +of jest, sceptical hostility, or the utmost indifference. + +One of Archbishop Seeker's charges contained the following startling +statement:--"In this we cannot be mistaken, that an open and professed +disregard of religion is become, through a variety of unhappy causes, +the distinguishing character of the present age.... Indeed, it hath +already brought in such dissoluteness and contempt of principle in the +higher part of the world, and such profligate intemperance and +fearlessness of committing crimes in the lower part, as must, if this +torrent of impiety stop not, become absolutely fatal.... Christianity is +now ridiculed and railed at with very little reserve; and the teachers +of it without any at all." [1] + +[Footnote 1: Charge to clergy, 1738. See vol. v. of _Works_, Dublin, +1775.] + +The great lawyer, Blackstone, says he went from church to church to hear +noted London preachers, and it was impossible for him to tell from their +discourses whether these luminaries were followers of Confucius, +Mahomet, or Christ. George III. felt compelled to address a letter of +expostulation to Archbishop Cornwallis for giving balls and routs at +Lambeth Palace on Saturday nights, so that they ran into Sunday +morning.[2] The Church had given hardly a thought to either the +religious or secular education of the masses. Gross ignorance pervaded +the ranks of the poor all over England. Although the English Bible was +in the people's hands, it was almost a dead letter. + +[Footnote 2: This letter may be found in _The Life and Times of Lady +Huntingdon_.] + +But the voice of awakening had been heard in the land. George Whitfield, +John Wesley, and a few other brave men, whose hearts were roused by the +Spirit of God, went up and down the country proclaiming the glad tidings +of the cross, which for so long had been as an idle tale to the +English people. + +The wave of religious awakening had touched the highest circles of +London society; and when Hannah More received her flattering welcome +from fashion, wit, and genius in 1773, the spirit of indifference and +neglect had given way in a slight degree to a spirit of inquiry and +anxious concern. There was, however, no perceptible change as yet in the +utter worldliness of the times, or in the low standard of morals. + +It was a perilous thing for a young woman like Hannah More, with her +enthusiasm, talents, and general attractiveness, to be suddenly launched +in the turbid though fascinating current of London society. But the +admirable training in strict moral principles with which she had been +privileged furnished weapons of defence against the more specious +temptations which presented themselves; whilst her quick discernment +easily penetrated the thin shell of external polish covering +worthlessness of character. It was also fortunate for her that at the +outset of her London experience she became acquainted with such a +sterling man as Dr. Johnson. + +A few days after her arrival she was introduced to David Garrick and his +wife. The famous actor had seen a letter of hers to a mutual friend, +extolling one of his theatrical performances. He forthwith secured an +interview, which resulted in favourable impressions on both sides, of +amiability and intellectual powers. A very cordial friendship ensued. + +Garrick's social circle was now thrown open to Miss More. At his house +she first met Mrs. Elizabeth Montague, the authoress of an _Essay on the +Writings and Genius of Shakespeare_, a work which brought around the +writer the best literary men of the time. + +Miss More's introduction to Dr. Johnson took place at the house of Sir +Joshua Reynolds. This event, though much desired, was not without dread, +lest the great man should happen to be in one of his querulous moods. +All fear vanished on her seeing the Doctor approach with a smile on his +rugged countenance, and Sir Joshua's macaw perched on his hand. Her +surprise may be imagined when he greeted her with a verse from a Morning +Hymn of her own composition. + +The following extracts are from letters written by one of Hannah's +vivacious sisters. "Since I last wrote, Hannah has been introduced by +Miss Reynolds to Baretti and to Edmund Burke (the 'Sublime and +Beautiful' Edmund Burke!). From a large party of literary persons +assembled at Sir Joshua's she received the most encouraging compliments; +and the spirit with which she returned them was acknowledged by all +present, as Miss Reynolds informed poor us. Miss R. repeats her little +poem by heart, with which also the great Johnson is much pleased." "We +have paid another visit to Miss Reynolds. She had sent to engage Dr. +Percy (Percy's collection,--now you know him), who is quite a sprightly +modern, instead of a rusty antique, as I expected. He was no sooner +gone, than the most amiable and obliging of women (Miss Reynolds) +ordered the coach to take us to Dr. Johnson's _very own house_; yes, +Abyssinia's Johnson! Dictionary Johnson! Rambler's, Idler's, and Irene's +Johnson! Can you picture to yourself the palpitation of our hearts as we +approached his mansion? The conversation turned upon a new work of his +(the Tour to the Hebrides), and his old friend Richardson ... Miss +Reynolds told the doctor of all our rapturous exclamations on the road. +He shook his scientific head at Hannah, and said, 'She was a _silly +thing_.' When our visit was ended, he called for his hat, as it rained, +to attend us down a very long entry to our coach, and not Rasselas could +have acquitted himself more _en cavalier_. We are engaged with him at +Sir Joshua's, Wednesday evening. What do you think of us?" + +A second visit to London took place in the following year, and a +third--prolonged to six months--in 1776. From this period down to about +1789 Miss More usually spent some time every year amongst her London +friends, but chiefly with Mrs. Garrick, either at the Adelphi or at her +country residence at Hampton. + +Her "Life," written by Mr. Roberts and others, is rich with letters, +which of themselves form a striking autobiography, revealing the +writer's prominent phases of character, her steadfast adhesion to high +principles, her progress in the path of literary fame, her wearying of +fashionable society, and the gradual consecration of all her powers to +the service of God. Besides these personal matters, we get glimpses of +the notable people with whom she was brought into contact, and of the +moral and religious condition of the higher classes. These letters +conform to Hannah More's own idea of what epistolary effusions between +friends should be. "What I want in a letter," she once wrote, "is the +picture of my friend's mind, and the common course of his life. I want +to know what he is saying and doing; I want him to turn out the inside +of his heart to me, without disguise, without appearing better than he +is." We can therefore obtain a more lifelike portraiture by making +extracts from her correspondence than by attempting the task in any +other way. + +Describing her feelings in associating with persons of rank and wit, she +says:--"I had yesterday the pleasure of dining in Hill Street, Berkeley +Square, at a certain Mrs. Montague's, a name not totally obscure. The +party consisted of herself, Mrs. Carter, Dr. Johnson, Solander, and +Matty, Mrs. Boscawen, Miss Reynolds, and Sir Joshua (the idol of every +company); some other persons of high rank and less wit, and your humble +servant,--a party that would not have disgraced the table of Laelius or +of Atticus. I felt myself a worm for the consequence which was given me, +by mixing me with such a society; but as I told Mrs. Boscawen, and with +great truth, I had an opportunity of making an experiment of my heart, +by which I learnt that I was not envious, for I certainly did not repine +at being the meanest person in company...Dr. Johnson asked me how I +liked the new tragedy of Braganza. I was afraid to speak before them +all, as I knew a diversity of opinion prevailed among the company: +however, as I thought it less evil to dissent from the opinion of a +fellow-creature than to tell a falsity, I ventured to give my +sentiments, and was satisfied with Johnson's answering, 'You are +right, madam.'" + +Her conscience was uneasy from visiting the opera, and also from +attending Sunday parties, which were greatly in vogue. + +She thus wrote on this subject:-- + + "London, 1775. + "'Bear me, some god, oh, quickly bear me hence, + To wholesome solitude, the nurse of--' + +"'Sense' I was going to add, in the words of Pope, till I recollected +that _pence_ had a more appropriate meaning, and was as good a rhyme. +This apostrophe broke from me on coming from the opera, the first I ever +_did_, the last I trust I ever _shall_ go to. For what purpose has the +Lord of the universe made His creature man with a comprehensive mind? +Why make him a little lower than the angels? Why give him the faculty of +thinking, the powers of wit and memory; and, to crown all, an immortal +and never-dying spirit? Why all this wondrous waste, this prodigality of +bounty, if the mere animal senses of sight and hearing (by which he is +not distinguished from the brutes that perish) would have answered the +end as well? and yet I find the same people are seen at the opera every +night--an amusement written in a language the greater part of them do +not understand, and performed by such a set of beings!... Conscience had +done its office before; nay was busy at the time; and if it did not dash +the cup of pleasure to the ground, infused at least a tincture of +wormwood into it. I _did_ think of the alarming call, 'What doest thou +here, Elijah?' and I thought of it to-night at the opera." + +The attractions of wealth and fame had not blinded her to the need of +seeking satisfaction from a higher source. "For my own part, the more I +see of the 'honoured, famed, and great,' the more I see of the +littleness, the unsatisfactoriness of all created good; and that no +earthly pleasure can fill up the wants of the immortal principle +within." + +She was much troubled by the extravagances of fashion in dress and +adornments; and, although conforming to some extent to prevailing modes +in order to avoid singularity, which she abhorred, she always dressed +neatly and decorously, and never, through the whole of her life, wore an +article of jewellery simply for ornament. + +The following extract from a letter written by one of Hannah's sisters +shows the cordial relationships with Dr. Johnson, and his interest in +the five sisters. "Tuesday evening we drank tea at Sir Joshua's with Dr. +Johnson. Hannah is certainly a great favourite. She was placed next him, +and they had the entire conversation to themselves. They were both in +remarkably high spirits; it was certainly her lucky night! I never +heard her say so many good things. The old genius was extremely jocular, +and the young one very pleasant. You would have imagined you had been at +some comedy had you heard our peals of laughter. They, indeed, tried +which could 'pepper the highest,' and it is not clear to me that the +lexicographer was really the highest reasoner." + + + + +III. + +CHARACTERISTICS, FRIENDSHIPS, AND EARLY LITERARY WORK. + +Hannah More's flattering reception in London society, and the lively +impression which she so quickly created, will give rise to some +astonishment in the minds of many readers. She had not yet won +reputation as an authoress; she did not possess the influence of wealth +or of noble family; she was not remarkable for physical beauty; and she +had none of the brazen ingenuity of patronage-hunters, by which +admission is secured into the houses of distinguished people. She came +to London a stranger, a plain schoolmistress from Bristol, and yet in a +marvellously short time she was one of the best known characters in the +ranks of the wise and great. + +The causes of her rapid rise to distinction are not far to seek. Her +wonderful talent for conversation at once proved an attraction to both +men and women. But she was not merely a fluent talker, never at a loss +for a word, a phrase or a metaphor; had this been her crowning +recommendation, Dr. Johnson's long-standing friendship would never have +been gained. Her talk was always sensible--the outcome of a +well-furnished, retentive mind. Her judgment was sound, her +discrimination delicate, and her grasp of fundamental truths +consistently firm. She did not accommodate her opinions to meet the +exigencies of different coteries, nor was she addicted to compromise. +She was equally at ease in discussing the merits of _Rasselas_ with Dr. +Johnson, the curiosities of art with Lord Orford, Roman history with +Gibbon, and the state of the Church with Bishop Porteus. Not that she +pretended equality of learning with such men, but she had just +sufficient knowledge of various subjects to provoke a conversation, and +enough cleverness to sustain it by "drawing out" the scholar who might +be seated at her side. But this was not all. Her conversation sparkled +with wit and repartee. "The mind laughed," says her friend Zachary +Macaulay, "not the muscles; the countenance sparkled, but it was with an +ethereal flame: everything was oxygen gas and intellectual champagne: +and the eye, which her sisters called 'diamond,' and which the painters +complained they could not put upon canvas, often gave signal by its +coruscation, as the same sort of eye did in her friend Mr. Wilberforce, +that something was forthcoming which in a less amiable and religiously +disciplined mind might have been very pretty satire, but which glanced +off innoxiously in the shape of epigrammatic playfulness." + +[Illustration: ] + +Her genial disposition and good temper disarmed difference of opinion of +anything harsh or unpleasant, and formed another credential for the +prominence she attained in society. The absence of all artificiality in +sentiment and manners, when contrasted with the straining after effect +acquired by fashionably-bred ladies, also added to her attractions in +the eyes of thoughtful men. + +But whilst to these causes may be attributed her rapid rise into favour, +it was undoubtedly owing to her unswerving and unassuming piety that she +retained for so long the respect, confidence, and affection of varied +orders of mind in London society. + +At first she appears to have done little to enforce religious teaching +amongst her acquaintances. Her moral and religious principles were known +by the firm stand she took against common incentives to dissipation and +irreligion--such as card-playing and Sunday entertainments--against the +introduction of questionable topics, unseemly language, and vacuous +frivolity into conversation. Her religious influence, thus far, was +almost a silent or negative one; but it had its effect on others, and +laid the foundation of that direct searching and far-reaching influence, +which, under the Divine blessing, she wielded in later years. + +Her interest in young people was notably illustrated by her efforts to +foster the intellectual tastes of Lord Macaulay when a lad. She supplied +him with standard books, which formed the nucleus of an excellent +library, and advised him in his studies. To the child of six she thus +writes:--"Though you are a little boy now, you will one day, if it +please God, be a man; but long before you are a man I hope you will be a +scholar[1]." + +[Footnote 1: See _Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay_, by George Otto +Trevelyan, M.P., vol. 1. pp. 35, 36] + +When Hannah More began to produce books her reputation rose to literary +fame. In 1775 she wrote a romantic poem, entitled _Sir Eldred of the +Bouer_, with which was published another poem, written earlier, _The +Bleeding Rock_. In the first the element of religion was not forgotten; +and both works met with a flattering reception. Though, as we have seen, +a woman of high Christian tone, with what we should consider strange +inconsistency, she both wrote plays, which were acted, and attended the +theatre herself. + +In 1777 her tragedy, _Percy_, was brought out at Covent Garden Theatre. +One of the results of this venture was a shower of invitations to the +author of the play from a new circle of titled and distinguished people. +The play was afterwards translated into German, and performed at Vienna +with notable success. + +On the death of Garrick in 1779, Hannah More broke off attendance at the +theatre. Garrick's widow sought relief and solace in Hannah's company, +and for many years a close friendship was kept up between the two +ladies, although there could be but little intercourse on religious +matters, Mrs. Garrick being a Roman Catholic. Before the actor's death +Miss More had completed another play, _The Fatal Falsehood_, which was +afterwards performed, and which elicited almost as much applause +as _Percy_. + +Miss More's experience of fashionable life had now lasted about six +years. As her fame increased, her taste for society declined. The +constant round of dinner-parties, conversation-parties, and assemblies +of intellect and wealth, though at first full of attraction to one of +her disposition, had begun to lose its charm. Her depth of character +and her recognition of the claims of religion demanded a more +satisfactory mode of spending her time and utilising her talents. For +the next five years we find her often the guest of Mrs. Garrick, but +gradually detaching herself from fashionable circles, studying theology, +history, and science, writing poems, and engaged in other literary work. + +Her chief literary work during this period consisted of _Sacred +Dramas--Moses in the Bulrushes, David and Goliath, Belshazzar_, and +_Daniel_. She was prompted to this undertaking by a desire to provide, +not plays for the stage, but a substitute for some of the pernicious +literature of the day which fell into the hands of young people, and +also to afford instruction in the common facts of Scripture, The gross +ignorance of the Bible amongst fashionable people astonished her one +day, when Sir Joshua Reynolds told her that on showing his picture of +Samuel to some great patrons they asked him who Samuel was? The work +answered the purpose for which it was intended, and passed through +nineteen editions, receiving high commendation from Bishop Lowth and +others. Her poem _Sensibility_ was also included in this +successful volume. + +A poem, _The Bas Bleu, or Conversation_, written in a lively and +facetious strain, owed its origin to the mistakes of a foreigner who +gave the literal designation of the _Bas-Bleu_ to a party of friends who +had been humorously called the "Blue Stockings." + +At the King's request a manuscript copy of the poem was sent to him; and +Dr. Johnson went so far in his praise of the effusion as to say that +there was no name in poetry that might not be glad to own it. A little +later Miss More wrote _Florio_, a poem describing the occupation of a +young man of fashion, and his final escape from a life of pleasure to +one of usefulness. + +By the death of Dr. Johnson in 1784, Miss More lost the best friend she +ever had in London. She had been with the Doctor at his last communion +at St. Clement's Church, and saw too plainly his altered condition. +Bound to each other by strong intellectual and stronger religious +sympathies, the separation caused a void in Miss More's life which was +never afterwards filled. Theirs was a friendship born at first sight. +For more than ten years it grew and flourished, with mutual benefit and +happiness to the stern moralist and his promising _protégé_. Whilst the +rugged common-sense and sound literary judgments of the Doctor imparted +increasing accuracy and insight to his friend's views of the world and +of literature, it was the sparkle, freshness, and wit of Miss More's +conversation, and her light-heartedness of character, that often +dispelled the clouds of depression from the mental horizon of her sage +and trusty adviser, and smoothed the rough edges of his outspoken +opinions. In religion, it was probably the Doctor's uncompromising +fidelity to first principles, and to a fearless practice of truth, that +helped to fortify his "dear child," as he called Miss More, in +maintaining her integrity amidst the bewildering voices and garish +scenes of Vanity Fair. + + + + +IV. + +COWSLIP GREEN. + +About the time of Dr. Johnson's death, in 1784, Hannah More became the +possessor of a rural spot, called Cowslip Green, some ten miles from +Bristol. Here she built herself a cottage, intending to make it her +place of retirement for a large portion of each year. In the cultivation +of her garden she found leisure for reflection as well as an opportunity +to pursue a favourite occupation. + +The inroads which death had made in her circle of intimate friends, a +growing dissatisfaction with the enjoyments of London life, and +especially a keener sense of her responsibility, as a professed +Christian, than she had hitherto experienced, led to a close +self-examination, and to a scrutiny of the real motives of her life. + +The result of this testing process showed itself in various ways. During +occasional visits to London and attendance at parties she lost no +opportunity of enforcing the truths of religion. Her silent witnessing +was now exchanged for active exertion. The manners and practices of +people who were amongst her most effusive admirers sometimes met with +her indignant rebuke. Ladies of title, society beauties, and leaders of +fashion, who were unapproachable by other religious influences, she +urged in private to consider their spiritual interests. The method she +adopted was not, usually, to start religious topics, but "to extract +from common subjects some useful and awful truth, and to counteract the +mischief of a popular sentiment by one drawn from religion." Perhaps a +message which John Wesley once sent to her through a sister may have +weighed considerably in deterring her from an entire severance from the +fashionable world. "Tell her to live in the world; _there_ is the sphere +of her usefulness; they will not let _us_ come nigh them." + +Not content with personal and private reproof, advice, and entreaty, she +now devoted her pen to the denunciation of folly and vice in high +places. In her work, _Thoughts on the Importance of the Manners of the +Great to General Society_, whilst protesting against prevalent +irreligious practices and habits of dissipation, which even good people +sanctioned, she sought to arouse a sensitive regard for mutual +responsibility as set forth in the New Testament. + +In 1788 the slave trade formed a burning question in Parliament. Miss +More, intensely aroused by the descriptions presented of the horrible +traffic, found vent for her feelings in a poem on the subject. About the +same time a close friendship began with Wilberforce, which lasted to the +end of life. + +A yet more important friendship commenced at this period--one that was +destined to work a powerful influence on Miss More's life. The Rev. John +Newton, one of the leaders amongst the evangelical clergy, held the +incumbency of St. Mary Woolnoth. Attendance on his ministry led to a +correspondence and a deep friendship. John Newton was precisely the kind +of man whom Hannah More needed to assist her in spiritual progress, and +to direct her steps into paths of settled peace. Her letters to Mr. +Newton, stating her difficulties and seeking counsel, breathe the spirit +of the humble and sincere scholar of Christ. Her willingness to obey the +Master whom she professed to serve, and her earnest desire to be brought +into closer relations with God, although checked, had never been stifled +by the claims of intellect or by the attractions of the world. From this +time the work of the Holy Spirit in deepening her love for the Saviour +became more and more prominent. Turning for a time from Christian work +amongst the rich, Miss More now devoted her efforts to the improvement +of the moral and religious condition of the poor. + +About ten miles from Cowslip Green was the picturesque village of +Cheddar, the population of which was sunk in ignorance and depravity. +The incumbent lived at Oxford, and the curate at Wells, twelve miles +off. There was but one service a week, and no pastoral visitation +whatever. There were thirteen parishes in the neighbourhood without even +a resident curate. Drunkenness and utter inefficiency prevailed to a +terrible extent amongst the clergy in this district; whilst education +was a question that never troubled either the clergy or the people. + +At Cheddar Hannah and her sister Patty opened a school; and in a short +time nearly 300 children attended regularly. The sisters had to combat +strong prejudices amongst the farmers. By dint of much persuasion and +flattery the opposing forces were at length won over, even to hearty +concurrence. + +Masters and mistresses were procured for teaching reading, seeing, +knitting, and spinning, and giving religious instruction on Sundays. A +second school was shortly opened in an adjoining parish, the +vicarage-house, which had remained uninhabited for a hundred years, +having been put into repair for the purpose. + +During 1790 Miss More published a volume entitled, _An Estimate of the +Religion of the Fashionable World_. The book was quickly bought up, and +within two years reached a fifth edition. The prevailing indifference to +vital religion, the corruptions of society, the decline of domestic +piety, and the absence of religion from the education of the upper +classes were the themes treated by the writer with unsparing candour and +convincing force. + +Encouraged by her success at Cheddar, Miss More, with her sister Patty, +went further afield, and selected two mining villages on the top of the +Mendip Hills as the next scene of her labours. The difficulties here +were even greater than those at Cheddar. The neighbourhood was so bad, +we are told, that no constable would venture to execute his office +there. Friends warned the Misses More that their lives would be in +danger if they persisted in their project. The people imagined that the +sisters had come to make money by kidnapping their children for slaves. + +Undaunted by obstacles and perils, the workers persevered, until in no +less than ten parishes schools were commenced, which, before long, were +attended by 1200 children. In every parish the acquiescence of the +incumbent was first obtained before proceeding to open a school. At the +evening meetings, to which adults were invited, a simple sermon was read +by one of the sisters, and also a printed prayer and a psalm. Few +mistresses could be found who had not owed their religious impressions +to Wesleyan influence; and thus Hannah More was subsequently, though +mistakenly, thought to be a Methodist. Although influenced by the +Methodist revival, she always considered and professed herself to be a +member of the Episcopal Church. + +Whilst immersed in her village work, she was earnestly solicited to +write a popular tract that might help to counteract the baneful +influence of Jacobin and infidel publications, and infamous ballads, +which were now scattered broadcast over England. She declined the task, +doubtful of her efficiency to produce a pamphlet equal to the occasion. +On second thoughts, however, she tried her powers in secret, and issued +anonymously a lively dialogue called _Village Politics_, by "Will +Chip." The success was phenomenal. Friends ignorant of the authorship +sent her copies by every post within three or four days of publication, +begging her to distribute the pamphlet as widely as possible. In a short +time copies were to be found in all parts of the kingdom. Hundreds of +thousands were circulated in London. Such was the enthusiasm that +private persons printed large editions at their own expense, whilst the +Government sent off quantities to Scotland and Ireland. At last the +secret came out; and the author was deluged with congratulations and +thanks. Some persons of sound judgment declared that _Village Politic_ +had essentially contributed, under Providence, to prevent a revolution, +whilst others went so far as to allege that Miss More had "wielded at +will the fierce democratie of England, and stemmed the tide of +misguided opinion." + +A little later Miss More wrote another pamphlet, by way of reply to the +atheistical speech of Dupont to the National Convention, and devoted the +profits, amounting to £240, towards the relief of the French +emigrant clergy. + +In 1794, or early in 1795, she commenced the issue of tracts. This was a +form of literary work not much used in those days. The founders of the +Religious Tract Society, realising the value of this kind of work, but +considering that Miss More's tracts needed supplementing with some which +should in every case contain the simple communication of the Gospel, +began in 1799 to undertake the dissemination of religious knowledge. +Sunday schools, through the energy of Mr. Raikes, were rising in various +parts of the country; the poorer classes were learning to read; and +nothing in the shape of cheap literature was provided to meet their new +craving, except mischievous broadsheets and worthless doggerel. Hannah +More set to work to supply something healthy to amuse, instruct, and +edify the new order of readers. She produced regularly every month for +three years, three tracts--simple, pithy, vivacious, consisting of +stories, ballads, homilies, and prayers. She was sometimes assisted by +one of her sisters and two or three friends; but the burden of the work, +including heavy correspondence with local committees in almost every +district of England, fell upon her shoulders. In order to issue the +brochures at a cheap rate and to undersell pernicious publications, she +found it necessary to raise a subscription. Her appeal met with a +liberal response; and very shortly the lively tracts, with a rough +woodcut on the title-page, came by thousands from the printer's hands. +In the first year no less than two millions were sold. Amongst the +tracts were _The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, Black Giles the Poacher, +History of Mr. Fantom, The Two Shoemakers, History of Tom White the +Postilion, The Strait Gate and the Broad Way;_ and amongst the ballads +_Turning the Carpet, King Dionysius and Squire Damocles, The Honest +Miller of Gloucestershire, The Gin-Shop, or A Peep into a Prison_. + +It would be difficult to over-estimate both the direct and secondary +value of the Cheap Repository Tracts. Their beneficial influence must +have been incalculable; and for this reason they should be placed +amongst the greatest and best work of Hannah More's useful life. + +By 1798 Miss More had withdrawn almost entirely from London society, +contenting herself with a yearly visit of two months, which she divided +between Mrs. Garrick, Bishop Porteus, Lord Teignmouth, and one or two +others. Her schools occupied the best part of her time; but frequent +attacks of illness often interfered with her duties. + +In 1799 her active pen was at work again. Her third ethical publication, +_Strictures on Female Education_, came out, forming yet another +counterblast to the corrupt systems in vogue amongst the +wealthy classes. + +It would have been marvellous had Miss More escaped persecution in her +work amongst rural populations. Combating prejudices, introducing +unheard-of innovations, adopting plans which rumour stated were deeply +tainted with Methodism (and therefore bad, according to clerical and +general opinion in those days), she had to encounter at last a pitiless +storm of hostility. This violent and prolonged attack, whilst it showed +to what infamous lengths the tongues of slander, envy, and bigotry could +go in attempting to destroy a noble woman's reputation, tested to the +utmost Hannah More's fine qualities of Christian forbearance +and courage. + + + + +V. + +BARLEY WOOD, CLOSING YEAES AND DEATH. + +In 1802 Miss More removed from Cowslip Green to a house which she had +built at Barley Wood, about a mile distant. Soon afterwards her sisters, +having disposed of their house at Bath, came to live with her. For the +next twenty years, or more, friends from all parts sought her society, +and strangers of all ages and of all ranks came for advice, sympathy, +and help. Her immense correspondence occupied a very large portion of +her time. There was scarcely a person at all prominent in the religious +world who was not brought into association with her. + +Miss More's prolonged life did not close until 1833, when she had +arrived at her eighty-ninth year. The thirty-one years that remained to +her after quitting Cowslip Green was as full of work and usefulness as +the previous part of her life. It will be impossible within the space +now left to do more than indicate the chief events of this period, which +was not remarkable for any fresh departure either in educational or +religious work. Miss More had already marked out for herself two +distinct and definite lines of usefulness--the education of the poor, +and the improvement of morals and religion amongst the rich. By her +active exertion and by her busy pen she continued to pursue these two +lines of work down to the year of her death. It must be remembered that +she was a martyr during these latter years to long attacks of illness, +one of which almost completely prostrated her for two years; and when +upwards of seventy she was unable to leave the house for more than seven +years. At this period she stated that she had never been free from pain +for long together since she was ten years old. Such physical hindrances +render her persistent activity and the great work she accomplished all +the more remarkable. When not entirely incapacitated she still worked +with her pen, attended to business connected with her schools, and +received visitors in the sick room. It used to be said amongst her +friends that when she was laid aside they always expected a new +book from her. + +In 1805 she published _Hints towards forming the Character of a Young +Princess_. It was undertaken, at the request of a bishop, with reference +to the education of the Princess Charlotte. + +In 1809 her religious novel, _Coelebs in Search of a Wife_, issued +anonymously, roused universal attention. In twelve months as many +editions came out; and during the author's lifetime thirty editions of a +thousand copies each were printed in America. This was followed shortly +by _Practical Piety_, which soon ran to the tenth edition, and which +brought the author to the end of her life numerous gratifying +testimonies of its results. As a sequel to this work, _Christian Morals_ +was published in 1812, and was also widely circulated. Three years +later, when the author had entered her seventieth year, she wrote an +_Essay on the Character and Writings of St. Paul_, in two volumes, +which, notwithstanding absorbing political events, was received with the +same eagerness which greeted her former works. _Moral Sketches of +Prevailing Opinions and Manners, Foreign and Domestic_, was published in +1819, being chiefly directed against the rage for copying French customs +and manners. At the age of eighty-two she collected from her later works +her _Thoughts on Prayer_ and re-issued them in a little volume, with a +short preface. This was her last literary effort. She said to a friend +that the only remarkable thing which belonged to her as an author was +that she had written eleven volumes after the age of sixty. + +Between 1813 and 1818 her four sisters died. The last to go was Martha, +Hannah's trusty helpmeet and lieutenant in all her benevolent schemes, +and her tender consoler in many a season of sickness. Soon after this +event Miss More's long illness of seven years occurred. Unable to give +proper supervision to her servants, she was victimised in household +matters in various ways. Extravagance and misconduct at length gave rise +to scandal; and at the representation of friends Miss More reluctantly +decided to break up her establishment, and remove to another and smaller +residence at Clifton. It was with a sad heart that she left her charming +dwelling; and as she glanced back into the beautiful garden, with its +shady bowers, she exclaimed, "I am driven, like Eve, out of Paradise; +but not, like Eve, by angels." + +She lived five and a half years at Clifton, tranquilly waiting for the +end, and attending, as far as failing strength would permit, to the +distribution of her charities, the work of her schools and the +entertainment of friends. + +Almost to the last she retained unimpaired the use of her faculties. The +intellectual vivacity of early days often reappeared. During one of her +illnesses some one remarked, in allusion to the struggle of the remnant +of sin in a person recently awakened to the truth, "The old man dies +hard!" "The old woman dies hard!" exclaimed the invalid. At eighty-three +she said, "I have too many petty cares at that age when the grasshopper +is a burden. I have _many_ grasshoppers, and seem to have less time and +more labour than ever." + +Her last days were spent almost entirely in prayer, invoking blessings +on those around her and on the village work which lay so near her heart. +She said to a friend during her last illness, "To go to heaven, think +what _that_ is! to go to my Saviour who died that I might live! Lord, +humble me, subdue every evil temper in me. May we meet in a robe of +glory! Through Christ's merits alone can we be saved... Lord, I +believe--I _do_ believe with all the powers of my weak, sinful heart. +Lord Jesus, look down upon me from Thy holy habitation; strengthen my +faith, and quicken me in my preparation. Support me in that trying hour +when I most need it! It is a glorious thing to die!" No vanity or +self-praise on the ground of her life's labours ever found a place in +her thoughts. Some one began to speak of her good deeds. "Talk not so +vainly," she exclaimed; "I utterly cast them from me, and fall low at +the foot of the cross." She sank gradually, and without pain, and on +September 7, 1833, quietly passed away. + +There are few thoughtful students who will hesitate to rank Hannah More +with the leading religious and educational reformers of the eighteenth +century. In essential matters she was a kindred spirit with Whitfield, +Wesley, Raikes, and others, and worked, in the way marked out for her by +God, for the regeneration of her country. + +With regard to her books, she believed they would be little read after +her death. To a considerable extent her judgment has been verified. Her +writings were a continual seed-sowing, which later workers fertilised, +and brought to maturity. + +They were republished in eleven volumes in 1830. Besides the prominence +given to their religious or moral purpose, most of them are remarkable +for sustained fervour, persuasiveness of tone, and practical common +sense. We give a few extracts from some of the principal works, to +illustrate Hannah More's methods of appealing to the conscience and +awakening spiritual concern. + +"There are two things of which a wise man will be scrupulously +careful--his conscience and his credit. Happily, they are almost +inseparable concomitants; they are commonly kept or lost together; the +same things which wound the one usually giving a blow to the other; yet +it must be confessed, that conscience and a mere worldly credit are not, +in all instances, allowed to subsist together.... + +"Between a wounded conscience and a wounded credit, there is the same +difference as between a crime and a calamity. Of two inevitable evils, +religion instructs us to submit to that which is inferior and +involuntary. As much as reputation exceeds every worldly good, so much, +and far more, is conscience to be consulted before credit--if credit +that can be called, which is derived from the acclamations of a mob, +whether composed of 'the great vulgar or the small'"--_Christian Morals_ +(chapter xxiv.). + +"One cause, therefore, of the dulness of many Christians in prayer, is +their slight acquaintance with the sacred volume. They hear it +periodically, they read it occasionally, they are contented to know it +historically, to consider it superficially; but they do not endeavour to +get their minds imbued with its spirit. If they store their memory with +its facts, they do not impress their hearts with its truths. They do not +regard it as the nutriment on which their spiritual life and growth +depend. They do not pray over it; they do not consider all its doctrines +as of practical application; they do not cultivate that spiritual +discernment which alone can enable them judiciously to appropriate its +promises, and apply its denunciations to their own actual case. They do +not use it as an unerring line, to ascertain their own rectitude, or +detect their own obliquities." + + * * * * * + +"The discrepancies between our prayers and our practice do not end here. +How frequently are we solemnly imploring of God that 'His kingdom may +come,' while we are doing nothing to promote His kingdom of grace here, +and consequently His kingdom of glory hereafter." + + * * * * * + +"Prayer draws all the Christian graces into its focus. It draws Charity, +followed by her lovely train, her forbearance with faults, her +forgiveness of injuries, her pity for errors, her compassion for want. +It draws Repentance, with her holy sorrows, her pious resolutions, her +self-distrust. It attracts Faith, with her elevated eye,--Hope, with her +grasped anchor,--Beneficence, with her open hand,--Zeal, looking far and +wide to serve,--Humility, with introverted eye, looking at home. Prayer, +by quickening these graces in the heart warms them into life, fits them +for service, and dismisses each to it appropriate practice. Cordial +prayer is mental virtue; Christian virtue is spiritual action."--_The +Spirit of Prayer_ (chapters iii., viii., and xi.). + + "If good we plant not, vice will fill the place, + And rankest weeds the richest soils deface. + Learn how ungoverned thoughts the mind pervert, + And to disease all nourishment convert. + Ah! happy she, whose wisdom learns to find + A healthful fancy, and a well-trained mind. + A sick man's wildest dreams less wild are found + Than the day-visions of a mind unsound. + Disordered phantasies indulged too much. + Like harpies, always taint whate'er they touch. + Fly soothing Solitude! fly vain Desire! + Fly such soft verse as fans the dang'rous fire! + Seek action; 'tis the scene which virtue loves; + The vig'rous sun not only shines, but moves. + From sickly thoughts with quick abhorrence start, + And rule the fancy if you'd rule the heart: + By active goodness, by laborious schemes, + Subdue wild visions and delusive dreams. + No earthly good a Christian's views should bound, + For ever rising should his aims be found. + Leave that fictitious good your fancy feigns, + For scenes where real bliss eternal reigns: + Look to that region of immortal joys, + Where fear disturbs not, nor possession cloys; + Beyond what Fancy forms of rosy bowers, + Or blooming chaplets of unfading flowers; + Fairer than o'er imagination drew, + Or poet's warmest visions ever knew. + Press eager onward to these blissful plains, + Where life eternal, joy perpetual reigns." + + _The Search after Happiness_. + + HENRY JOHNSON. + + + + +SUSANNA WESLEY. + +I. + +PARENTAGE AND EDUCATION. + +The mother of John Wesley was the daughter of Dr. Samuel Annesley, an +eminent minister of the Church of England at the period of the great +Civil War. He resigned his charge, being one of the two thousand who, +after the Restoration, declared for Nonconformity, and preached their +farewell sermons in the Established Church, on the 17th of August, 1662. +He found his sphere in the meeting-house of Little St. Helen's, +Bishopsgate. + +Dr. Annesley's second wife, the mother of Susanna, was a woman of +eminent piety, and beloved of all who knew her. "How many children has +Dr. Annseley?" was a question asked of the eminent Puritan preacher +Manton, who had just been officiating at the baptism of one of the +number. "I believe it is two dozen, or a quarter of a hundred," he +replied. Such was the family into which the mother of the Wesleys was +born on the 20th of January, 1669. Of this crowded household, the +majority were daughters, and Susanna was the youngest of these. In her +own Journals, which form the only account of her childhood, we read of +several instances of her "preservation from accidents," and once from a +"violent death." The method of her education is not clearly stated, but +"the tree is known by its fruits." There is evidence that it was sound +and liberal, and up to the best standard of the day in any rank of +society. French and music were evidently among her attainments, while in +her letters and treatises there are abundant tokens that logic and +philosophy were also held in effective possession and use. She tells us +that which might have been expected when she says that she "was early +initiated and instructed in the first principles of the Christian +religion;" and in after days we find her giving to her son a rule which +had proved to be a blessing to her own girlhood--"Never to spend more +time in any matter of mere recreation in one day, than I spend in +private religious duties." + +The thoroughness of her own "private religious duties" is shown by the +fact that in the year 1700 she made a resolution to spend one hour +morning and evening in private devotion. This practice she kept up +through life as far as circumstances would admit. + + + + +II. + +THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. + +Soon we find Susanna Wesley studying the works of Jeremy Taylor, of the +early Puritan Divines, and the immortal Bunyan, till at length her +vigour of intellect and enterprise in reading led her into danger. By +reading Arian and Socinian authors of the period, her faith was shaken. +This, however, was not to be for long, and the manner of her recall was +marked by interesting circumstances. + +It is at this juncture that Samuel Wesley, her future husband, first +appears in the story as the friend of her soul. This young student, +seven years her senior, had himself made "proof" of Socinianism. In the +course of some literary work, he had been specially well paid for the +translation of Socinian writings from the Latin; but his strong mind +revolted from their principles, the task was resigned, and his faith +became more firmly rooted in Christ as the eternal Son of God. In this +frame of mind Mr. Wesley met Susanna Annesley, and by God's help, +succeeded in accomplishing her complete extrication from the meshes of +doctrinal error and distress. + +It can be gathered from her writings, about this time, that the salutary +change proceeded not out of complaisance to the lover, but by reception +of a fulness of light from heaven. Clearness, zeal, and love mark her +_Meditations and Disquisitions on the Holy Trinity; the Godhead and +Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ; the Personality and Work of the +Holy Spirit_. + +Another epoch in the girlhood of this remarkable young lady was the +engagement, somewhat previously, of her mind in the controversy between +the Church and Nonconformity. Here she had ample opportunity of being +well-informed, for her father's house was the resort of many able men on +both sides of the question. The result was that, with all due respect +toward her beloved parent, she, renounced his ecclesiastical views and +attached herself to the Established Church. "I was educated among the +Dissenters," she writes, "and because there was something remarkable in +my leaving them at so early an age, not being full thirteen, I had drawn +up an account of the whole transaction, under which I had included the +main of the controversy between them and the Established Church as far +as it had come to my knowledge." Clearly, Susanna Wesley is not to be +considered as having merely accepted the ecclesiastical situation, +turning "Churchwoman" by marriage. + + + + +III. + + +MARRIAGE. + +Dr. Annesley's daughters were remarkable for their personal beauty, and +from all accounts it would seem that the subject of this narrative +shared this "dower." She was of average stature and slight frame. + +"Some time, late in 1689 or early in 1690," Susanna Annesley was married +to Samuel Wesley. Mr. Wesley was at that time a curate at a salary of +£30 a year, and with his newly-wedded wife, took lodgings in London till +the autumn of 1690, when he received the living of South Ormsby, in +Lincolnshire, through the presentation of the Marquis of Normanby. + +While exercising, in his pastoral duties, a diligence and faithfulness +such as to put him for the most part above censure, the young husband +toiled hard in literary work for the support of his household, and by +various publications of a theological character in verse and prose--at +one time a metrical _Life of Christ_, at another a treatise on _The +Hebrew Points_, and chiefly by articles in Dunton's _Athenian +Oracle_--he earned the means of keeping his family at least +above distress. + +About the close of 1696 Samuel Wesley was presented to the parish of +Epworth--a place destined to be irrevocably associated with his name. +This promotion is said to have been awarded him by special desire of the +Queen, to whom he had dedicated his _Metrical and Illustrated Life +of Christ_. + + + + +IV. + +EPWORTH. + +Mr. and Mrs. Wesley, with their family of four children--one son and +three daughters, the youngest of these being an infant in arms--duly +took possession of their new sphere. The promotion proved to be a hard +parish and a humble abode. The landowners were comparatively poor, and +of small culture in mind or morals. The people were proportionately +subject to hardships in their mode of life, and were rude and even +"savage" in character, as events were soon to prove. + +There were seven rooms in the straw-roofed parsonage requiring new +furniture, which had to be procured with borrowed money--a beginning of +things that formed a grievous burden for many a day. The trade of the +place consisted chiefly in the dressing of flax, which was extensively +grown in the fields of the river-island of Axholme, in-which the village +of Epworth stood, with its population of two thousand. The parsonage +shared in this trade; but misfortunes soon came thickly. + +A fire broke out (not the one that has become so celebrated) in 1702, +and destroyed a third part of the house. Mrs. Wesley and the children +were in the study when the alarm was raised, and "the mother, taking two +of them in her arms, rushed through the smoke and flame;" another was +with difficulty saved, and happily none were lost. A year later the +rector's whole crop of flax was consumed. + +The famous fire took place in 1709. According to Mrs. Wesley's +account--"When we opened the street door, the strong north-east wind +drove the flames in with such violence that none could stand against +them. But some of our children got out through the windows, the rest +through a little door into the garden. I was not in a condition to climb +up to the windows, neither could I get to the garden door. I endeavoured +three times to force my passage through the street door, but was as +often driven back by the fury of the flames. In this distress I besought +our blessed Saviour for help, and then waded through the fire, as I was, +which did me no further harm than a little scorching my hands and my +face." The sequel is of undying interest to the Church and the world. +One sweet child, six years of age, had been left sleeping upstairs: the +father made frantic attempts to reach him by the burning staircase, but +in vain, and finally fell on his knees in the passage, solemnly +committing the child's soul to God. + +The boy, awaking after some bewilderment with the glare that looked to +him as daylight, climbed upon a chest at the window, and was seen. Men, +rightly guided, did not lose the last chance by waiting for a ladder, +but, mounting one upon the other's shoulders, some two or three in this +way saved the child, who became the famous John Wesley. + +When John had been saved, the father turned to the men who had saved the +boy, with the words: "Come, neighbours, let us kneel down; let us give +thanks to God; He has given me all my eight children. Let the house go; +I am rich enough." + +This terrible occurrence was attended by consequences which made the +noble Christian mother anxious for her children, in another way. Being +now dispersed among various households of the village for sleeping +accommodation, the little ones were, for a time, in danger of those evil +communications that corrupt good manners. From this the kindness of the +few who sheltered them could scarcely defend them, for the malice of the +many was great against their parish minister. The grounds of ill-will +and persecution were political rather than personal. It is strongly +suspected that these fires were, in every instance, the deed of +incendiaries. The rector's cattle had been mutilated. The children had +curses flung at them in the street, and on occasion of Mr. Wesley's +absence at Lincoln to record his vote, many cowardly devices were +resorted to by way of alarming the family at all hours of the night. One +new-born child had been, owing to Mrs. Wesley's exhaustion and danger, +committed to the care of a nurse. This poor woman, losing sleep by the +cruel noises purposely raised outside, at last, far in the night, fell +into a heavy slumber and "overlaid the child." Cold and dead, they +brought it to the poor mother. + +It was political spite, also, that was at the bottom of the conduct of a +creditor, who caused the rector to be arrested for debt, at the church +door, after a baptismal service, and hurried off to Lincoln Castle, +"leaving his lambs among so many wolves." In prison Mr. Wesley engaged +in an earnest work of evangelising his "brother jail-birds," as he +called them; his conduct at this period more than realising the +world-renowned picture which Goldsmith has drawn of his incarcerated +Vicar of Wakefield. Susanna Wesley now strove to support herself and her +children by means of the diary, but, fearing lest her husband should be +pining in want, she sent to him her wedding-ring, beseeching him by this +to get a little money for his comfort. He returned it with words of +tender gratitude, saying that "God would soon provide." Indeed, being by +this time regarded as a martyr to his political principles, he was +approached by some brethren of the clergy seeking to deliver him, and an +arrangement was made, after three months, by which he was liberated. + + + + +V. + +THE SCHOOL IN THE HOME. + +It would appear that, ultimately, the family of Susanna Wesley was +almost as numerous as that of her father had been. A singular want of +accuracy characterises all the records, but it is safe to say that her +children were some eighteen or nineteen in number. Death came often +during those years of persecution. John Wesley speaks of the serenity +with which his mother "worked among her thirteen children;" but ten was +the number of those who were spared to enjoy the blessing of that +enlightened, affectionate, and admirable training on her part, which has +been so fully recorded, and of which the fruits were witnessed +especially in the eminence of her sons Charles and John. She paid the +utmost attention to physical training. Punctuality in the hours of +sleep was carefully carried out from infancy through the years that +followed. The rules regarding food were all admirable, and the younger +children were early promoted to a place at the parents' own table. Mrs. +Wesley has committed all these matters to writing, and her own words are +valuable for their wisdom. "In order to form the minds of children, the +first thing to be done is to conquer the will. To inform the +understanding is a work of time, and must, with children, proceed by +slow degrees as they are able to bear it. But the subjecting the will is +a thing which must be done at once, and the sooner the better." "Then a +child is capable of being governed by the reason and piety of its +parents, till its own understanding comes to maturity." + +Again she writes: "Cowardice and fear of punishment often lead children +into lying," and accordingly, to save her own from temptation, the rule +was--"whoever was charged with a fault of which they were guilty, if +they would ingenuously confess it and promise to amend should not be +beaten." The most careful discrimination was made between inadvertent +and deliberate falsehood. + +"If they amended, they were never upbraided afterward." Kindly +commendation was regularly awarded to obedience evidently done at a +sacrifice. "When the thing crossed the child's own inclinations, and +when any of them performed an act of obedience, or did any thing with an +intention to please, though the performance was not well, yet the +obedience and intention were kindly accepted, and the child with +sweetness directed how to do better for the future." + +Recreation was liberally allowed, and outdoor physical amusements +encouraged. "High glee and frolic," so notably appearing in the +narrative that, in after days, some writers thought to turn this matter +against John Wesley, remarking that he had himself been indulged by his +mother at home in amusements which he was now prohibiting to the +students under him at college. He made the difference of age and the +demands of duty his defence, rather than any difference of principle. + +Here, surely, the motherly instinct of this remarkable woman may be of +use to-day, in clearing the line of duty in the question of amusements. + +"Your arguments against horse-races do certainly conclude against +masquerades, balls, plays, operas, and all such light and vain +diversions. I will not say it is impossible for a person to have any +sense of religion who frequents these; but I never, throughout the +course of my long life, knew as much as one serious Christian that did; +nor can I see how a lover of God can have any relish for them." + +"Take this rule--whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness +of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish +of spiritual things--in short, whatever increases the strength and +authority of your body over your mind--that thing is sin to you, however +innocent it may be in itself." + +She fixed the age of five for the teaching to a child the letters of the +alphabet; and tells us that in all cases except two, the first day saw +the conquest of the alphabet. The birthday festivities over, next +morning the child went to the schoolroom of the house, where no one must +come into the room from "nine till twelve or from two till five," while +the teacher devoted herself entirely to that one pupil. Another feature +of the method was the abolition of the study of syllables, and the +immediate and usually successful advance into words and sentences, such +as the opening verses of the Bible, "In the beginning God created the +heaven and the earth." + +"It is almost incredible," said Mrs. Wesley, "what a child may be taught +in a quarter of a year." To this period belongs the well-known +incident--when one day Mr. Wesley said to his wife while engaged in +repeating a lesson to a dull child, "I wonder at your patience: you have +told that child twenty times that same thing," and the mother +replied--"Had I satisfied myself by mentioning the matter only nineteen +times, I should have lost all my labour; you see, it was the twentieth +time that crowned the whole." + + + + +VI. + +THE CHURCH IN THE HOME. + +The children at Epworth were well grounded in the observance of Divine +worship. We may look in vain in the records of many families for +anything so deep and so beautiful as that one thing which is told of +them--that before they could kneel or speak the little ones were taught +to ask a blessing on their food by appropriate, signs. Repeating, as +soon as they were able to articulate, the Lord's Prayer morning and +evening, they were encouraged to add sentences of prayers of their own +conceiving, petitions for their parents, and requests for things of +their own earnest desire. From this period, in each case, the parental +eye was already carefully looking forward, to the time when the mind +should begin to think for itself; and to help them in this important +matter, Mrs. Wesley, remembering her own mental struggles, prepared for +her children a book of Divinity, written for their special edification. + +In due time, as the children grew a little older, days of the week were +allotted to each of them, for special opportunity of conversation with +their mother, as distinct from being catechised by her. This was for the +purpose of dealing with "doubts and difficulties." Of the well-recorded +list of days and names the "Thursday with Jacky," and "Saturday with +Charles," will mostly arrest the reader now. These days came to be +fondly treasured in the memory of all the children. + +Twenty years after John Wesley had left home, it is touching to hear him +say---"In many things you have interceded for me and prevailed. Who +knows but in this too--a complete renunciation of the world--you may be +successful?" "If you can spare me only that little part of Thursday +evening which you formerly bestowed upon me in another manner, I doubt +not it would be as useful now for correcting my heart, as it was then +for forming my judgment." + +Yet one more feature of Mrs. Wesley's plan of education was that of the +children's appointed conversations with one another, the eldest with the +youngest, the second eldest with the next in age, and so on. To this +good purpose was devoted the better space available in the rooms of the +"New Rectory," built after the fire. + + + + +VII. + +STRUGGLES WITH POVERTY. + +All this work of education, intellectual and spiritual, was conducted +under severe pressure of poverty. When Mr. Wesley received the living of +Epworth, it cost him fifty pounds to have the great seal affixed to his +title, and to remove his family to the place. This unfortunately was but +a specimen of the hard conditions under which he held his cure. + +Lord Oxford wrote to the celebrated Dean Swift, soliciting his name as a +subscriber to Mr. Wesley's book on Job--"The person concerned is a +worthy, honest man; and by this work of his, he is in hopes to get free +of a load of debt which has hung upon him some years. This debt is not +owing to any folly or extravagance of his, but to the calamity of his +house having been twice burnt, which he was obliged to rebuild. This is +in short the case of an honest, poor, worthy clergyman, and I hope you +will take him under your protection." + +A wealthy brother of Mr. Wesley professed himself quite "scandalised" at +the constant struggles of the family, and did a little for the wiping +away of the reproach, but no more. "Tell me, Mrs. Wesley, whether you +ever really wanted bread?" said the good Archbishop Sharp one day, by +way of preface to a very generous donation on the spot. "My Lord," was +the reply, "I will freely own to your grace that, strictly speaking, I +never did want bread. But then I had so much care to get it before it +was eat, and to pay for it after as has often made it very unpleasant to +me. And I think to have bread on such terms is the next degree of +wretchedness to having none at all." + +"All this, thank God," said Mr. Wesley, "does not in the least sink my +wife's spirits. She bears it with a courage which becomes her, and which +I expected from her." + +Mrs. Wesley's meditations on the matter carry with them an unchanging +serenity of mind. "That man whose heart is penetrated with Divine love, +and enjoys the manifestations of God's blissful presence, is happy, let +his outward condition be what it will. This world, this present state of +things, is but for a time. What is now future will be present, as what +is already past once was. And then, as Pascal observes, a little earth +thrown on our cold head will for ever determine our hopes and condition. +Nor will it signify much who personated the prince or the beggar, since, +with respect to the exterior, all must stand on the same level +after death." + +In a very dark hour she writes: "But even in this low ebb of fortune I +am not without some kind interval...I adore and praise the unsearchable +wisdom and boundless goodness of Almighty God for this dispensation of +His providence towards me. For I clearly discern there is more of mercy +in this disappointment of my hopes than there would have been in +permitting me to enjoy all that I desired, because it hath given me a +sight and sense of some sins which I had not before. I would not have +imagined I was in the least inclined to idolatry, and covetousness, and +want of practical subjection to the will of God.... Again, the furnace +of affliction which now seems so hot and terrible to nature, had nothing +more than a lambent flame, which was not designed to consume us, but +only to purge away our dross, to purify and prepare the mind for its +abode among those blessed ones that passed through the same trials +before us into the celestial paradise.... How shall we then adore and +praise what we cannot here apprehend aright! How will love and joy work +in the soul! But I cannot express it; I cannot conceive it." + + + + +VIII. + +A NEW DEPARTURE. + +Where the great religious movement of the last century in England is to +be traced to any human influence, the mother of John and Charles Wesley +must have a large share of the sacred honour. This will be found to +fall to her by right, not only on account of that profound religious +education she imparted to her children, but also by reason of the +peculiar direction which she gave it. Even in respect of their first +institution of assemblies for the preaching of the Gospel outside the +walls of churches or any stated places of worship, Susanna Wesley may be +discovered to have led the way. + +In the year 1711, during one of the protracted sojournings of Mr. Wesley +in London attending Convocation, and also doing business with his +publishers, his place at the parish church was supplied by a curate +whose ministrations were not particularly efficient, although, as may be +judged from things already told, the people of Epworth were not likely +to be very exacting. + +However, a notable reaction of feeling in favour of their minister had +set in since the days of the fire, and the parishioners were, many of +them, quietly attentive to Divine ordinances. Mrs. Wesley, without any +pronounced hostility on her part toward the curate, felt a deep echo of +the popular complaint in her own soul. Divine service at church had been +cut down to one diet in the morning, and hence, to save her children and +servants from temptation of mere idleness, the gifted mother felt +herself called to set up a kind of service at the parsonage. Of this +step she duly apprised her husband, saying: "I cannot but look upon +every soul you leave under my care as a talent committed to me, under a +trust by the great Lord of all the families of heaven and earth; and if +I am unfaithful to Him or to you in neglecting to improve those talents, +how shall I answer unto Him when He shall command me to render an +account of my stewardship?" + +As yet, all she had done was reading to, and instructing her own family. +But the news of this spread in Epworth, and a hunger for the Word arose. +The parents, brothers, and sisters of the servants dropped in till the +audience was about thirty or forty. The services consisted of praise, +prayer, and reading of a short sermon. At this time Mrs. Wesley's mind +was greatly stimulated by the accounts she had been perusing of the +devoted labours of two Danish missionaries in India. She felt impelled +"to do somewhat" for Christ. + +Conversation with the neighbours who had come to the parsonage-meetings +shaped itself into meetings of inquirers. She now fell back upon the +library, in quest of "more awakening sermons," which were found among +her husband's stock of Puritan authors. + +The attendance at the services now increased so as completely to fill +the rooms. At length some three or four persons, headed by the curate, +wrote to the rector in London concerning the doings of his wife and the +danger of a "conventicle." Mr. Wesley was sufficiently interested and +apprehensive to write to her and ask what had been done, and whether it +did not look "particular." To this his wife, rather glad to be +challenged, lost no time in replying; and her written explanation to the +head of the house and parish has resulted in our possessing an ample +account of the movement. "As to its looking particular," she said, "I +grant it does, and so does almost everything that is serious, or that +may any way advance the glory of God or the salvation of souls, if it be +performed out of a pulpit or in the way of common conversation." After +giving various reasons for her action, she proceeds: "Now, I beseech +you, weigh all these things in an impartial balance.... If you do, after +all, think fit to dissolve this assembly, do not tell me that you desire +me to do it, for that will not satisfy my conscience; but send me your +positive command in such full and express terms as may absolve me from +all guilt and punishment for the neglecting this opportunity of doing +good, when you and I shall appear before the great and awful tribunal of +our Lord Jesus Christ." + +[Illustration: S Wesley] + +No wonder that all opposition on the part of the rector from this +moment disappeared, and on returning to his charge he found many signs +of a happy change, and that all things were as if freshened under the +dew of the blessing of God. + + + + +IX. + +RELATION TO HER SONS. + +Susanna Wesley was the life-long counsellor of her children. + +Amid those interesting conversations which were held with each member of +the family on appointed days and hours, and which are frequently noted +in Mrs. Wesley's private meditations, we are arrested by the heading of +one of them--"Son John"--and we learn that he became a communicant at +the Lord's table at eight years of age, this important step being taken +by reason of his great seriousness and of the signs of grace that were +seen in him. + +His mother gives us another striking glimpse of him, in April 1712, when +the scourge of small-pox attacked five of the children--"Jack bore his +disease bravely like a man, and indeed a Christian without any +complaint." + +On recovering he was, through the influence of the Duke of Buckingham, +to whom his father was known, sent to Charterhouse School; but at this +period there is little or nothing recorded of correspondence with his +mother. It is tolerably clear that the reason of this was that the boy +was studious to a degree, and needed his father's injunction to see to +it that he took regular exercise in the garden. The letters of Mrs. +Wesley to her sons are best represented by those addressed to Samuel, +now twenty years of age. After having distinguished himself at +Westminster School, and won the special regard and friendship of those +two eminent men, Bishops Sprat and Atterbury, Samuel repaired to Oxford. +Following the fashion of the time, the youth had hitherto addressed his +mother as "Dear Madam." His mother disliked the phrase, but had waited +till the change should be made spontaneously to "Dear Mother," which +instantly evoked the response, "Dear Sammy,---I am much better pleased +with the beginning of your letter than with that you used to send me, +for I do not love distance or ceremony; there is more of love and +tenderness in the name of _mother_ than in all the complimentary titles +in the world... You complain that you are unstable and inconstant in the +ways of virtue. Alas! what Christian is not so too? I am sure that I, +above all others, am most unfit to advise in such a case: yet since I +love you as my own soul, I will endeavour to do as well as I can." + +Admirable advice is then given as to choice of company, with strictness +yet with charity, for "we must take the world as we find it;" and the +wholesome caution to beware "lest the comparing yourself with others may +be an occasion of your falling into too much vanity," and "rather +entertain such thoughts as these, 'Though I know my own birth and +advantages, yet how little do I know of the circumstances of others!' +'Were they so solemnly devoted to God at their birth as I was?' You have +had the example of a father who served God from his youth; and though I +cannot commend my own to you, for it is too bad to be imitated, yet +surely my earnest prayers for many years and some little good advice +have not been wanting.... If still upon comparison you seem better than +others are, then ask yourself who it is that makes you differ: and let +God have all the praise.... I am straitened for paper and time, +therefore must conclude. God Almighty bless you and preserve you from +all evil. Adieu. + +"SUSANNA WESLEY." + +It is a striking fact that Mrs. Wesley's letters to her son John are for +the most part concerning his secular affairs; the inference is not +remote that, as regards his spiritual welfare, John Wesley appeared to +his mother at all times to be in a satisfactory condition. At one time +he presses her for an opinion on Thomas à Kempis, and receives an +elaborate answer, at once philosophical and theological, in the course +of which the remark is made--"I take à Kempis to have been an honest +weak man, with more zeal than knowledge, by his condemning all mirth or +pleasure as sinful or useless, in opposition to so many plain and direct +texts of Scripture. 'Tis stupid to say nothing is an affliction to a +good man; nor do I understand how any man can thank God for present +misery, yet do I know very well what it is to rejoice in the midst of +deep afflictions. Not in the affliction itself, for then it would cease +to be one; but in this we may rejoice, that we are in the hand of a God +who has promised that all things shall work together for good, for the +spiritual and eternal good, of those that love Him." Evidently it is +from an unshaken soul the concluding words of the letter proceed--"Your +brother has brought us a heavy reckoning for you and Charles. God be +merciful to us all!" + +Much earnest and deeply discriminative advice is given to John on +occasion of his entering the holy ministry. The letter then written to +him abounds with traces of the fact that he had been in the habit of +confiding much of his mind to his mother through those years. In 1727 +she writes to him a profound and beautiful epistle, in terms which +indicate that he had made her his _confidante_ at the time, in his love +for a young lady whom he had lately met in Worcestershire. + +"What then is love? Oh, how shall we describe its strange, mysterious +essence? It is--I do not know what! A powerful something; source of our +joy and grief, felt and experienced by every one, and yet unknown to +all! Nor shall we ever comprehend what it is till we are united to our +first principle, and there read its wondrous nature in the clear mirror +of uncreated love:" + +Another letter belonging to the same year is solemnly prospective the +topic being evidently the "cares of the world." + + "'Believe me, youth (for I am read in cares, + And bend beneath the weight of more than fifty years).' + +"Believe me, old age is the worst time we can choose to mend either our +lives or our fortunes. Ah! my dear son, did you with me stand on the +verge of life, and saw before your eyes a vast expanse, an unlimited +duration of being, which you might shortly enter upon, you can't +conceive how all the inadvertencies, mistakes, and sins of youth would +rise to your view; and how different the, sentiments of sensitive +pleasures, the desire of sexes and pernicious friendships of the world +would be then from what they are now while health is entire and seems to +promise many years of life." + + + + +X + +WIDOWHOOD. + +The Rector of Epworth had been slowly mastering his difficulties with +the world. The circumstances of the family seem to have taken a +favourable turn from the year 1724, when the small living of Wroote, +four miles distant, and valued at £50 a year, was added to that of +Epworth. The family removed to Wroote, and many of Mrs. Wesley's most +interesting letters are dated from the parsonage there. Her husband +continued to toil for some years at what he meant to be his great +work--his commentary on the Book of Job--but the outer man was visibly +perishing. His now palsied hand required the services of an amanuensis. +"My eyes and my heart," he said, "are now almost all I have left; and +bless God for them!" He died on the 25th of April, 1735, in the 72nd +year of his age. + +His death was marked by many utterances of faith and of joy in God, and +by his memorable saying to his sons--"Be steady! The Christian faith +will surely revive in this kingdom. You shall see it, though I +shall not." + +It was Samuel who was now for the most part charged with the support of +his mother; but in this duty there was a generous rivalry among-her +children. The name of John appears in discharge of the last of his +father's liabilities that had been cruelly pressed upon the very day of +the funeral; and Charles writes to Samuel--"My mother desires you will +remember that she is a clergyman's widow. Let the Society give her what +they please, she must be still, in some degree, burdensome to you. How +do I envy you that glorious burden, and wish I could share it with you:" + +Mrs. Wesley having now left the "old place," settled for a little in the +neighbouring town of Gainsborough, and afterwards resided with Samuel at +Tiverton from September, 1736, till July, 1737. + +Her sons John and Charles had now set out upon their well-known Gospel +enterprise to the State of Georgia in America. Their mother signalised +the hour by a letter full of solemn and ennobling thought, in which she +allows herself but slightly to touch upon the fact of separation, and +gives her own personal version of the apostle's "strait betwixt +two"--"One thing often troubles me: that notwithstanding I know that +while we are present with the body we are absent from the Lord; +notwithstanding I have no taste, no relish left for anything the world +calls pleasure, yet I do not long to go home, as in reason I ought to +do. This often shocks me. Pray for me that God would make me better, and +take me at the best." + +The Georgian mission of her sons having ended, to her joy, in their +return home, a great work immediately opened for them in England. It now +became apparent, in their consultations with their mother, that the +views of Divine truth and even of the mode of propagating the Gospel, +which were taking possession of their minds, had to her been long and +deeply familiar as the desire of her heart. Her testimony was all the +more valuable that it was given with much caution. + +Samuel wrote to her complaining of the new ideas of his brothers John +and Charles, and appealing confidently to her verdict in the matter. He +found that she mainly coincided with the returned missionaries in those +convictions regarding the Gospel doctrines of faith and instantaneous +conversion that were so soon to move the world. + +At the same time she shared his apprehensions regarding certain things +in the work that bore an aspect of extravagance. "I should think that +the reviving these pretentious to dreams, visions, etc., is not only +vain and frivolous as to the matter of them, but also of dangerous +consequence to the weaker sort of Christians. As far as I can see, they +plead that these visions, etc., are given to assure some particular +persons of their adoption and salvation. But this end is abundantly +provided for in the Holy Scripture's, wherein all may find the rules by +which we must live here and be judged hereafter. And if, upon a serious +review of our state, we find that in the tenour of our lives we have or +do now sincerely desire and endeavour to perform the conditions of the +Gospel covenant required on our parts, then we may discern that the Holy +Spirit hath laid in our minds a good foundation of a strong, reasonable, +and lively hope of God's mercy through Christ." + +To the communications of John and Charles regarding the fresh baptism of +the Spirit that had come upon them, she wrote expressing her +thankfulness for the glad tidings, only remarking to Charles that she +thought he had surely fallen into an "odd way of thinking," in stating +that till within a few months he had no spiritual life nor any +justifying faith. "Blessed be God, who showed you the necessity you were +in of a Saviour to deliver you from the power of sin and Satan, for +Christ will be no Saviour but to such as see their need of one. Blessed +be His holy name, that thou hast found Him a Saviour to thee, my son! +Oh, let us love Him much, for we have much forgiven." + + + + +XI. + +THE FOUNDRY AT MOORFIELDS. + +Susanna Wesley came to London in April, 1739, to spend the rest of her +days in a place that had been well prepared for her. John had found a +centre at Moorfields for his work in the metropolis. Out of a disused +Government foundry had been constructed a chapel, a house for the +lay-preachers, and apartments for himself, where he wished to have his +mother come and live with him. The new home, though but scantily +furnished, proved to her a little paradise in the communion she now +enjoyed with her son, in the easy access of all her children to her, and +in the pleasure of seeing the great work and increase of the Gospel. +Here also she received in her own soul a wonderful increase of +blessing--so much surpassing all her experience hitherto as to cause her +to make the reflection that "she had scarce heard, till then, such a +thing mentioned as the having God's Spirit bear witness with our +spirit." "But two or three weeks ago, while my son Hall was pronouncing +these words in delivering the cup to me, 'The blood of our Lord Jesus +Christ which was given for thee,' the words struck through my heart, and +I knew God for Christ's sake had forgiven me all my sins." + +It caused her no apparent pain a little after to receive a letter from +her son Samuel, saying: "It was with exceeding concern and grief I heard +you had countenanced a spreading delusion, so far as to be one of +Jack's congregation. Is it not enough that I am bereft of both my +brothers, but must my mother follow too? I earnestly beseech the +Almighty to preserve you from joining a schism at the close of your +life, as you were unfortunately engaged in one at the beginning of it. +It will cost you many a protest, should you retain your integrity, as I +hope to God you will." The new joy of his mother evidently so abounded +in charity as to drown all bitterness and take away all fear of any real +separation between them. + +Samuel died in the autumn of the same year, during an illness of his +mother, and John Wesley left the house that day rather than break the +sad news to her, and one of his sisters was commissioned to do it with +all gentleness. We find nothing but sweetness and hope in the letter +which Susanna Wesley was enabled to write to her son Charles:--"Your +brother was exceedingly dear to me in this life, and perhaps I have +erred in loving him too well. I once thought it impossible to bear his +loss, but none know what they can bear till they are tried. I rejoice in +having a comfortable hope of my dear son's salvation. He is now at rest, +and would not return to earth to gain the world. He hath reached the +haven before me, but I shall soon follow him. He must not return to me, +but I shall go to him, never to part more." + +Many Christian friends continued to visit her at Moorfields; her +conversation was prized by all, and her presence on the scene and at the +centre of evangelism was a power for good. In true consistency with the +memorable season at Epworth, and her own institution of the Church in +the Home, Mrs. Wesley was privileged to give her testimony in favour of +lay-preaching. To John Wesley the field was now indeed "the world," and +his labours were multiplying past his strength. While he went from place +to place, Mr. Thomas Maxfield, "a young man of good sense and piety," +took charge of the work at Moorfields. His appointed duty extended to +"the reading and explaining of the Scriptures to bands and classes;" but +Maxfield soon went the length of public preaching, which he did with +much ability and unction. John Wesley lost no time in coming home to +check this "irregular proceeding." But his mother urged:--"John, you +know what my sentiments have been. You cannot suspect me of readily +favouring anything of this kind. But take care what you do with respect +to this young man, for he is as surely called to preach as you are. +Examine what have been the fruits of his preaching, and hear him +yourself." This was done; and John Wesley said, "It is the Lord; let Him +do what seemeth Him good. What am I that I should withstand God?" + +Thus fitly, as became her already historic part in it, Susanna Wesley +may he said to have launched the important institution of lay-preaching +in the Church that bears her name. + + + + +XII. + +LAST DAYS AND DEATH. + +The life at Moorfields, which had been, to this venerable mother in +Israel, of the character of a peaceful haven after a rough voyage, was +now drawing rapidly to a close. Her bodily illnesses much resembled +those of her husband's later years, and were, no doubt, to be in some +measure attributed to the penury and hardship she had shared with him +so long. + +But we do not hear so much about her maladies us of the many signs of +triumph over them, till by the month of July, 1742, the vital power is +ebbing low, and her daughters gather round her. The sons were out in the +field. Charles had bent over her with filial attentions, till, +concluding in his own mind that her strength would hold out for a few +days, he departed to his work, hoping soon to return. + +John Wesley was at Bristol on Sunday evening the 18th of July, and had +just ended preaching to a large congregation, when the message came that +his mother was apparently near death. + +He rode off immediately for London, which he reached on the 20th, and, +as he says in his Journal, "I found my mother on the borders of +eternity; but she has no doubt or fear, nor any desire but, as soon as +God should call her, to depart and be with Christ." She enjoyed a quiet +sleep on the evening of the 22nd, and awoke in the morning in a joyful +frame of mind. Her children heard her say, "My dear Saviour, art Thou +come to help me in my extremity at last?" + +Utterances of praise at intervals filled the hours that remained, At +four o'clock in the afternoon her son had left her for a little, that he +might snatch some hasty refreshment in the adjoining room, when he was +called back again to offer the commendatory prayer. "She opened her eyes +wide and fixed them upward for a moment. Then the lids dropped, and the +soul was set at liberty, without one struggle or groan or sigh, on the +23rd of July, 1742, aged seventy-three. We stood round the bed and +fulfilled her last request, uttered a little before she lost her speech, +'Children, as soon as I am released, sing a psalm of praise to God.'" + +There was a vast crowd at the funeral, at Bunhill Fields, on the 1st of +August. John Wesley's voice faltered as he pronounced the words, "The +soul of our dear mother here departed"--and the grief of the multitude +broke out afresh. A hymn was sung, and he then stood forth and preached +one of the most moving sermons that ever came from his lips, turning not +upon the pathos of the funeral, but upon the Bible picture of the last +judgment. Of the occasion he himself has said--"It was one of the most +solemn assemblies I ever saw or expect to see, on this side eternity." +The stone at the head of her grave was inscribed with her name, and with +verses from the pen of her son Charles:-- + + HERE LIES THE BODY + OF + MRS. SUSANNA WESLEY, + YOUNGEST AND LAST SURVIVING DAUGHTER OF + DR. SAMUEL ANNESLEY. + + In sure and stedfast hope to rise, + And claim her mansion in the skies, + A Christian hero her flesh laid down, + The cross exchanging for a crown; + + True daughter of affection she, + Inured to pain and misery; + Mourned a long night of grief and fears-- + A legal night of seventy years. + + The Father then revealed His Son; + Him in the broken bread made known + She knew, and felt her sins forgiven, + And found the earnest of her heaven. + + Meet for the fellowship above, + She heard the call, "Arise, My love!" + "I come," her dying looks replied, + And lamb-like, as her Lord, she died. + + + + +XIII. + +CONCLUSION. + +The title "Founder of Methodism," humanly speaking, must be shared +between mother and son. To many minds this will seem to have been a +question settled by the action of Mrs. Wesley at Epworth. + +But her part in the matter shows a deepening beauty from the first in +fulfilment of the words of her Journal concerning John, with special +reference to his remarkable rescue from the fire, "I do intend to be +more particularly careful of the soul of this child, that Thou hast so +mercifully provided for." + +When, at college, he and his brother, with their young companions, +owing to their living by rule, first won the name of "Methodists," amid +sneers and persecutions, his mother cheered him on. At that juncture, +subsequently, when he was in a state of hesitancy as to entering the +holy ministry, and his father had encouraged the idea of delay, his +mother said, "The sooner you are a deacon the better"--and broke the +spell of what might have been a fatal backwardness. On that evening, at +Aldersgate Street, 24th May, 1738, so memorable in the spiritual history +of Methodism, when John Wesley stood up in his newly-found fulness of +the assurance of grace, and encountered much sharp rebuke on the spot, +he had been well fortified beforehand with his mother's sympathy, +saying, "She was glad he had got into such a just way of thinking." She +also saw eye to eye with him in his position in the controversy between +Calvinism and Arminianism. + +The beginning of lay-preaching dates, as we have seen, from her support +of Thomas Maxfield, and the leading features of the mode of preaching +which John Wesley recommended to his followers may be found, long +before, in his mother's counsels to himself--"to avoid nice distinctions +in public assemblies"--to exalt Christ and the work of the Spirit. "Here +you may give free scope to your souls," and "discourse without reserve, +as His Spirit gives you utterance." Well does her son call her "in her +measure and degree a preacher of righteousness." + +So shines the bright light of Susanna Wesley all along the upbuilding of +that great Christian society which bears the name of her sons. Her +example must surely also be of special value at the present day, when, +alike in the Church and in the world, the place of woman rises in +importance, and the demand is for further opportunity of usefulness. For +the life of this gifted and saintly woman is characterised by a modesty +that is above criticism, and, at the same time, shows no lack of the +greatness of power and achievement in the work of the Lord. + +JAMES CUNNINGHAM, M.A. + + + + +MRS. HEMANS. + +Mrs. Hemans is fully entitled to a place in the ranks of Excellent +Women, not only on account of her personal character, but also on +account of the work she did--a work removed from the "stunning tide," +but not the less effectual. + +There is no doubt that Mrs. Hemans exerted a distinct influence and made +a distinct impression on the national character. She left the world +unmistakably better for her having lived in it. Many do not realise what +great abiding results flowed from her work. And one chief way in which +she was productive of so much good to her race was this: she raised the +standard of popular poetry, raised it at a time when it sadly needed +raising, to a higher level and tone. "Though she wrote so much and in an +age when Byron was the favourite poet of Englishmen, not a line left her +pen that indicated anything but a spotless and habitually lofty mind." +It was no mean achievement to establish the popularity of a poetry which +was by its purity a rebuke to much that had hitherto passed current and +received applause. + +How well she succeeded in accomplishing the ends which, as we learn in +that beautiful piece of hers, "A Poet's Dying Hymn," she had set before +herself and others who gave expression to their thoughts in verse! + + "And if Thy Spirit on Thy child hath shed + The gift, the vision of the unsealed eye, + To pierce the mist o'er life's deep meanings spread, + To reach the hidden fountain-urns that lie + Far in man's heart--if I have kept it free + And pure, a consecration unto Thee, + I bless Thee, O my God! + + * * * * * + + Not for the brightness of a mortal wreath, + Not for a place 'midst kingly minstrels dead, + But that, perchance, a faint gale of Thy breath, + A still small whisper, in my song hath led + One struggling spirit upwards to Thy throne, + Or but one hope, one prayer--for this alone + I bless Thee, O my God!" + +Many a straggler in life's perplexities found sympathy and help in the +sweet verses of this poetess. They felt that there was one struggling by +their side, one who could rest on God's promises, and could almost +insensibly "weave links for intercourse with God." + + + + +I. + +EARLY DAYS. + +Felicia Dorothea Browne was born in Duke Street, Liverpool, on the 25th +of September, 1793. She was the second daughter and the fourth child of +a family of three sons and three daughters. Her father, who was a native +of Ireland, was a merchant of good position. Her mother, whose maiden +name was Wagner, was the daughter of the Venetian consul in Liverpool. +The original name was Veniero, but as the result of German alliances it +had assumed this German form. Three members of the family had risen to +the dignity of Doge. The first six years of Felicia's life were spent in +Liverpool. Then commercial losses compelled her father to break up his +establishment in that city and remove to Wales. The next nine years of +her life were spent at Gwyrch, near Abergele, in North Wales. The house +was a spacious old mansion, close to the seashore, and shut in on the +land side by lofty hills. Surely a fit place for the early residence of +a poetess of Nature. Besides this advantage of situation, she had the +privilege of access to the treasures of a large library. The records of +her early days show her to have been a child of extreme beauty, with a +brilliant complexion and long, curling, golden hair. But her personal +beauty was not the only thing that arrested attention. Her talents and +sweetness of disposition retained the notice which her attractiveness +had obtained. The old gardener used to say that "Miss Felicia could +'tice him to do whatever she pleased." And he was not the only one who +fell under her gentle constraint. She was a general favourite. + +This girl of many hopes had no regular education. She was never at +school. Her mother's teaching and her own avidity for information were +almost her only means of instruction. Mrs. Browne was a woman of high +acquirements, both intellectual and moral, eminently adapted for the +training of so sensitive a mind. For a time the child was taught French, +English grammar, and the rudiments of Latin by a gentleman who used to +regret that she was not a man, to have borne away the highest honours at +college! A remarkable memory was of great benefit to her. Her sister +states that she could repeat pages of poetry from her favourite authors +after having read them over but once. On one occasion, to satisfy the +incredulity of one of her brothers, she learned by heart the whole of +Heber's poem of "Europe," containing four hundred and twenty-four +lines, in an hour and twenty minutes. She repeated it without a single +mistake or a moment's hesitation. Long pieces of both prose and poetry +she would often recite after having twice glanced over them. This power +of memory stood her in good stead in her later life, when physical +weakness prevented her from writing down what she had composed. Her +thoughts had to be retained in her mind, and then dictated. + +When Felicia Browne was about eleven years old she spent the winter in +London with her father and mother. But this visit had not the charm for +her that it has for most young people. She saw nothing in the metropolis +to compensate for the loss of the country. The sights and scenes of the +busy throng were not so congenial as the sights and scenes of the quiet +little Welsh home. "She longed to rejoin her younger brother and sister +in their favourite rural haunts and amusements--the nutting wood, the +beloved apple-tree, the old arbour, with its swing, the post-office +tree, in whose trunk a daily interchange of letters was established, the +pool where fairy-ships were launched (generally painted and decorated by +herself), and, dearer still, the fresh, free ramble on the seashore, or +the mountain 'expedition' to the Signal Station, or the Roman +Encampment." Town parties and town conventionalities had little in them +to gain favour in the eyes of this bonnie free country lass. Not that +she did not sometimes derive pleasure from the sights she was taken to. +Especially was she impressed by her visits to some of the great works of +art. On entering a gallery of sculpture, she involuntarily exclaimed, +"Oh, hush:--don't speak!" + + + + +II. + +FIRST POEMS. + +The first appearance in print! What an event in life is this! What a new +world it seems to open out to the writer! Felicia Browne was fourteen +years old when a collection of her poems was published. The earliest of +these early compositions was written when she was only eight years +of age. + +The volume of poems appeared in 1808. Perhaps it would have been a more +judicious course on the part of her friends if they had prevented them +from appearing. The young girl of fourteen years was by her youth +ill-fitted to face the criticisms of the literary world. + +At this time there came across her path the person whose name she was +afterwards to bear--Captain Hemans, of the King's Own Regiment. He was +on a visit in the neighbourhood of Gwyrch, and soon became an intimate +friend in the family which contained Felicia amongst its members. Before +he was called upon to embark with his regiment for Spain, an impression +had been created which three years' absence did not efface on either +side. The friends of both parties hoped that it might be otherwise, and +that nothing would come of this attachment. But their hopes were not to +be realised. + + + + +III. + +MARRIAGE. + +In 1809 the Browne family removed to Bronwylfa, near St. Asaph. Her +self-education and her literary work went on side by side. + +Captain Hemans returned to Wales in 1811, and in the following year he +was married to Miss Browne. His appointment as adjutant to the +Northamptonshire Militia caused them to take up their residence at +Daventry, a neighbourhood by its tameness strangely contrasting with her +"own mountain-land." But she was not to be long away from her old home. +The next year, on the reduction of the corps, a return was made to +Bronwylfa. Mrs. Hemans was never again, until death parted them, to +leave her mother, "by whose unwearied spirit of love and hope she was +encouraged to bear on through all the obstacles which beset her path." A +period of domestic privacy in association with literary occupation and +study followed. Five children, all sons, were given to her. One can +easily understand how many calls there were now on her, as, her marriage +being not altogether a happy one, she had to arrange the education of +her children. How well she trained them, not only in temporal wisdom, +but in the highest of all wisdom, many evidences show. We may anticipate +and insert an anecdote of one of her boys at the age of eleven. She had +been reading to him Lord Byron's magnificent address to the sea:-- + +"Roll on, thou deep and dark-blue ocean, roll." + +He listened with breathless attention, and at the close broke out with +these words--"It is very grand indeed!--but how much finer it would have +been, mamma, if he had said at the close, that God had measured out all +those waters with the hollow of His hand!" On another occasion she was +explaining to her eight-year-old boy the meaning of the title of a story +he was reading, "The Atheist." His argument was real and ready: "Not +believe in a God, mamma? Who does he expect made the world and his +own body?" + + + + +IV. + +WORK AND FRIENDS. + +The plentiful contributions from her pen were becoming increasingly +popular, and it may be added increasingly useful. There is no doubt that +she was a distinct moral power for good. + +As almost every one thinks that he or she can compose poetry, and that +better than others, it often happens that in a prize poem competition +there is no lack of persons ready to enter the lists. So it was when a +patriotic Scotchman offered a prize of £50 for the best poem on "The +meeting of Wallace and Bruce." The number of competitors was astounding, +and the mass of matter sent in overwhelming, one production being as +long as "Paradise Lost." Quality prevailed over quantity, and the award +was made to Mrs. Hemans. This was not the only occasion on which she was +adjudged the prize in a competition. In 1821 she obtained that awarded +by the Royal Society of Literature for the best poem on "Dartmoor." + +One of her poems, which was destined to be almost more useful than any +of the others, was "The Sceptic." A reviewer's testimony to the +elevating influence of the work, after complaining of the grave defect +in some of the most popular writers of the day, in that "they are not +sufficiently attentive to the moral dignity of the performances," +concludes with this encomium on Mrs. Hemans' work:--"With the promise of +talents not inferior to any, and far superior to most of them, the +author before us is not only free from every stain, but breathes all +moral beauty and loveliness; and it will be a memorable coincidence if +the era of a woman's sway in literature shall become co-eval with the +return of its moral purity and elevation." A more gratifying testimony +to the worth of "The Sceptic" was given in a visit of a stranger to Mrs. +Hemans. It occurred many years after "The Sceptic" was published; +indeed, a very short time before her death. The visitor was told that +she was unable to see him, as she was only just recovering from an +illness. He entreated for a few minutes' interview with such importunity +that it was granted to him. On his admission he explained with the +utmost feeling that the object of his visit was to acknowledge the +deepest debt of obligation; "that to her he owed, in the first instance, +that faith and those hopes which were now more precious to him than life +itself; for that it was by reading her poem of 'The Sceptic' he had been +first awakened from the miserable delusion of infidelity and induced to +'search the Scriptures.'" This was not the only time she received a +comforting assurance of this kind with regard to the poem. + +The warm friendship of the Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Luxmoore, was a +great boon to Mrs. Hemans. He was always ready with his advice and his +support; and she found them of singular benefit in her comparatively +lonely position. The bishop's palace was like a second home. There she +and her children were always welcome. Of like value was the friendship +of another who was also destined to have a place on the episcopal bench. +Reginald Heber was a frequent visitor at the residence of his +father-in-law, the Dean of St. Asaph. He soon became deeply interested +in the welfare of Mrs. Hemans. She found in him one whose counsel, +especially in literary matters, was of the utmost value. His suggestions +and encouragement supplied just what she wanted. Any one who reads his +hints with regard to her contemplated poem "Superstition and Revelation" +will know how full and painstaking was the trouble he took to assist +his friend. + +The design of the poem to which reference has just been made was a grand +one. It is best described in her own words: "Might not a poem of some +extent and importance, if the execution were at all equal to the design, +be produced, from contrasting the spirit and tenets of Paganism with +those of Christianity? It would contain, of course, much classical +allusion; and all the graceful and sportive fictions of ancient Greece +and Italy, as well as the superstitions of more barbarous climes, might +be introduced, to prove how little consolation they could convey in the +hour of affliction, or hope in that of death. Many scenes from history +might be portrayed in illustration of this idea; and the certainty of a +future state, and of the immortality of the soul, which we derive from +revelation, are surely subjects for poetry of the highest class." The +poem was commenced, but never completed. It was pressed out by other +undertakings. + + + + +V. + +THE HOME IN WALES. + +Mrs. Hemans found peculiar pleasure in reading and speaking German. "I +am so delighted," she wrote, "when I meet with any one who knows and +loves my favourite _scelenvolle_ (full of soul) German, that I believe I +could talk of it for ever." Her sister remarks that her knowledge of the +language seemed almost as if it had been born with her. + +The poetess could write humorous prose as well as serious verse. Some of +her letters written in 1822 give a very amusing description of the +inconveniences she had to put up with whilst certain alterations were +being made at Bronwylfa. She describes how at last she was driven to +seek refuge in the laundry, from which classical locality, she was wont +to say, it could be no wonder if sadly _mangled_ lines were to issue. "I +entreat you to pity me. I am actually in the melancholy situation of +Lord Byron's 'scorpion girt by fire'--her circle narrowing as she +goes--for I have been pursued by the household troops through every room +successively, and begin to think of establishing my _métier_ in the +cellar; though I dare say, if I were to fix myself as comfortably in a +hogshead as Diogenes himself, it would immediately be discovered that +some of the hoops or staves wanted repair." "There is a war of old +grates with new grates, and plaster and paint with dust and cobwebs, +carrying on in this once tranquil abode, with a vigour and animosity +productive of little less din than that occasioned by 'lance to lance +and horse to horse.' I assure you, when I make my escape about 'fall of +eve' to some of the green quiet hayfields by which we are surrounded, +and look back at the house, which, from a little distance, seems almost, +like Shakespeare's moonlight, to 'sleep upon the bank,' I can hardly +conceive how so gentle-looking a dwelling can continue to send forth +such an incessant clatter of obstreperous sound through its +honeysuckle-fringed windows. It really reminds me of a pretty shrew, +whose amiable smiles would hardly allow a casual observer to suspect the +possibility of so fair a surface being occasionally ruffled by storms." + +The lyric "The Voice of Spring" was written in 1823. It was followed by +"Breathings of Spring." The season of spring had a marked influence upon +her. It was, with all its joy and beauty, generally "a time of +thoughtfulness rather than mirth." It has been well observed that autumn +in one way is a more joyous time than spring. It reminds us that "we +shall go to them," while in spring everything seems to say "they will +not return to us." + + "But what awakest thou in the _heart_, O Spring! + The human heart, with all its dreams and sighs? + Thou that givest back so many a buried thing, + Restorer of forgotten harmonies! + Fresh songs and scents break forth where'er thou art-- + What wakest thou in the heart? + + Too much, oh, then too much! We know not well + Wherefore it should be thus, yet, roused by thee, + What fond, strange yearnings, from the soul's deep cell, + Gush for the faces we no more may see! + How are we lamented, in the wind's low tone, + By voices that are gone?" + +In 1825 there appeared one of her principal works--the one she +considered as almost, if not altogether, the best--_The Forest +Sanctuary_. It related to the sufferings of a Spanish Protestant in the +time of Philip II., and is supposed to be narrated by the sufferer +himself, who escapes with his child to a North American forest. The +picture of the burial at sea was the passage of whose merits she had the +highest opinion. + + + + +VI. + +MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. + +Another change of home took place in 1825. The new home was not more +than a quarter of a mile from the old one. Rhyllon could be seen from +the windows of Bronwylfa. It was a very different house. The former is +described as a tall, staring brick house, almost destitute of trees; the +latter as a perfect bower of roses, peeping out like a bird's-nest from +amidst the foliage in which it was embosomed. The contrast is playfully +depicted in a dramatic scene between Bronwylfa and Rhyllon. The former, +after standing for some time in silent contemplation of Rhyllon, breaks +out into the following vehement strain of vituperation:-- + + "You ugliest of fabrics! you horrible eyesore! + I wish you would vanish, or put on a vizor! + In the face of the sun, without covering or rag on, + You stand and outstare me, like any red dragon." + +And so on through many amusing and spirited lines, showing the lighter +side of the authoress's character. Her sister describes this part of her +life as perhaps the happiest of all, and this was produced to a great +extent by her seeing the happiness of others, especially that of her +boys. She was always ready to join them in their rambles and their +sports. The mornings were spent in the instruction of her children, then +in answering countless letters and satisfying the demands of impatient +editors. And this done, she would revel in the enjoyment of fresh air. +"Soft winds and bright blue skies," she writes, "make me, or dispose me +to be, a sad idler." For this reason she delighted in the rigour of +winter, as being most conducive to literary productiveness. + +A heavy sorrow was overshadowing this happy home. Between Mrs. Hemans +and her mother there was the strongest bond of affection. In her poems +there may be traced the intensity of this love. It is found in the +simple lines, "On my Mother's Birthday," when the child was only eight +years old, and, after incidentally appearing in many a poem, it is shown +in all its intensity in the "Hymn by the Sick-bed of a Mother." + + "Father, that in the olive shade, + When the dark hour came on, + Didst, with a breath of heavenly aid, + Strengthen Thy Son; + + Oh, by the anguish of that night, + Send us down blest relief; + Or to the chastened, let Thy might + Hallow this grief!" + +And if the flame of passionate affection shone out in the time of fear +and impending sorrow, no less was it seen after the dread hour had come. +What beauty there is in the lines entitled "The Charmed Picture":-- + + "Sweet face, that o'er my childhood shone, + Whence is thy power of change, + Thus ever shadowing back my own, + The rapid and the strange? + + Whence are they charmed--those earnest eyes? + I know the mystery well! + In mine own trembling bosom lies + The spirit of the spell!" + +[Illustration: Edna Hemans] + +This mother patiently bore sickness for eight months, and then passed +away. Something of what this blow meant to the loving daughter may be +gathered from her letters. But she knew where true comfort was to be +found, and in alluding to the words of another setting forth the Divine +consolation, she says, "This is surely the language of real consolation; +how different from that which attempts to soothe us by general remarks +on the common lot, the course of Nature, or even by dwelling on the +release of the departed from pain and trial." + +It was not surprising that her health, for a long time delicate, now +showed signs of an alarming nature. She often had a complete prostration +of strength, succeeded by a wonderful reaction. + + + + +VII. + +REMOVAL FROM WALES. + +The place of Mrs. Hemans in the literary world was established. As might +be expected, friendships were formed with those who had tastes in +common. Amongst the number were Miss Baillie, Miss Mitford, Mrs. Howitt, +Miss Jewsbury, and Dean Milman. From her friends she sought sympathy +rather than praise. Always appreciative of words of encouragement, she +gave back good exchange in the artless way into which she entered into +the pursuits of her correspondents. + +Her health continued to give great anxiety to her friends, and matters +were not improved by the unconquerable dislike of the patient to the +adoption of the necessary precautions and remedies. But in the midst of +all her suffering her imagination was busy. Compositions were dictated +to friends who sat by her bedside. Her amanuensis record--how the little +song "Where is the Sea" came to her like a strain of music whilst lying +in the twilight under the infliction of a blister. + +In 1828 she published the _Records of Woman_, the work into which she +said she had put her heart and individual feelings more than in anything +else she had written. One verse amongst many others indicates the +pressure put upon her feeble frame by the intensity of her activity +of mind. + + "Yet I have known it long; + Too restless and too strong + Within this clay hath been the o'ermastering flame; + Swift thought that came and went, + Like torrents o'er me sent, + Have shaken as a reed my thrilling frame." + +A severe trial was at hand. The home must again be changed and the +beloved Wales left. The marriage of her sister and the appointment of +her brother to an official post were the immediate cause. In which +direction should she turn her steps with most advantage? The choice was +determined by the consideration that at Wavertree near Liverpool she had +several attached friends, that there she would meet with advantages for +the education of her boys and also with more literary communion +for herself. + +The wrench from the "land of her childhood, her home, and her dead," was +a hard one. She wrote, telling her friends how she literally covered her +face all the way from Bronwylfa until her boys told her they had passed +the Clwyd range of hills. Then she felt that something of the +bitterness was over. + + "The sound of thy streams in my spirit I bear; + Farewell, and a blessing be with thee, green land! + On thy hearths, on thy halls, on thy pure mountain air, + On the chords of the harp, and the minstrel's free hand, + From the love of my soul, with my tears it is shed, + As I leave thee, green land of my home and my dead." + +Her love for the people of Wales was not an unreciprocated love. Many of +them rushed forward to touch the posts of the gate through which the +poetess had passed; and when, three years later, she paid a visit to St. +Asaph, came and wept over her, and entreated her to make her home among +them again. + + + + +VIII. + +WAVEETEEE. + +Wavertree had its advantages, but it certainly had its disadvantages +too. She was brought into a scene where all her precious time might have +been absorbed in the trivialities of society. She was overwhelmed with +offers of service and marks of courtesy. All the gaiety of a large town +was open to her. Gladly would she, as one who had made her mark, have +been received on all hands. But consideration of both time and +inclination demanded that her life should be spent in a more retired +way. She had a great distaste to "going out." And so the frivolous soon +gave her up, and went their own way. Her dress was not rigorously +correct; she seemed to have motives and pursuits unlike theirs. And so +they did not desire her company any more than she found satisfaction in +theirs. In the society of those with whom she had no interest in common +she well describes her state as feeling herself more alone than _when_ +alone. There was much to try her in the curiosity which prompted so many +to call upon the strange poetess; but she treated this experience in a +cheerful manner. She was pursued by albums, their possessors all anxious +to have something written on purpose for themselves. We can understand +her humorous appeal to a friend "to procure her a dragon, to be kept in +her courtyard." + +The life at Wavertree was very different from that in Wales in many +respects. She had to face the cares and vexations of domestic life, now +that she lived alone in her own house. She had to bear her part in +general society. The change was not a palatable one. "How I look back +upon the comparative peace and repose of Bronwylfa and Rhyllon--a walk +in the hayfield--the children playing round me--my dear mother coming to +call me in from the dew--and you, perhaps, making your appearance just +in the 'gloaming,' with a great bunch of flowers in your kind hand! How +have these things passed away from me, and how much more was I formed +for their quiet happiness than for the weary part of _femme célèbre_ +which I am now enacting." + +A visit to Scotland in 1829 was a great event in her life. She seemed to +gain fresh energy and vigour. Edinburgh was ready with a hearty welcome. +Admiration was in danger of degenerating into adulation; as, for +example, when a literary man, on his introduction to her, asked "whether +a bat might be allowed to appear in the presence of a nightingale." On +another occasion a man of eminence in the book world was honoured with a +visit from her. Afterwards he was asked whether he had chanced to see +the most distinguished English poetess of the day. "He made no answer," +continued the narrator, "but taking me by the arm, in solemn silence, +led me into the back parlour, where stood a chair in the centre of the +room, isolated from the rest of the furniture: and pointing to it, said, +with the profoundest reverence, in a low earnest tone. 'There _she_ sat, +sir, on that chair!'" One of the brightest parts of this bright tour was +that spent with Sir Walter Scott. The recollection of her walks and +talks with the great man was always a treasured memory. And so were the +words with which he parted from her. "There are some whom we meet, and +should like ever after to claim as kith and kin; and _you_ are one +of these." + +In 1830 Mrs. Hemans published her volume of _Songs of the Affections._ +The principal of the poems, "A Spirit's Return," was suggested as the +result of a favourite amusement--that of winding up the evenings by +telling ghost stories. A discussion arose as to the feelings with which +the presence and the speech of a visitant from another world would be +most likely to impress the person so visited. Mrs. Hemans contended that +the predominant sensation would partake of awe and rapture, and that the +person visited must thenceforward and for ever be inevitably separated +from this world and its concerns--that the soul which had once enjoyed +so strange and spiritual communion must be raised by its experience too +high for common grief to perplex or common joy to enliven. + + "The music of another land hath spoken. + No after-sound is sweet; this weary thirst!-- + And I have heard celestial fountains burst. + What _here_ shall quench it?" + + + + +IX. + +HOME IN THE LAKE COUNTRY. + +A visit to the Lakes of Westmoreland in 1830 was a source of great +enjoyment to Mrs. Hemans. The beauty of the district was one attraction, +but the prospect of sharing the society of Mr. Wordsworth was a greater +attraction. Wearied out with the "glare and dust of celebrity," she was +longing for the hills and the quiet peacefulness of the Lake country. It +is needless to say that the first poetess of Nature was charmed with the +first poet of Nature, and the poet with the poetess. Her letters were +full of expressions of delight and keen appreciation of the privilege +she was enjoying. Wordsworth was kindness itself. "I am charmed with Mr. +Wordsworth, whose kindness to me has quite a soothing influence over my +spirits. Oh! what relief, what blessing there is in the feeling of +admiration when it can be freely poured forth! 'There is a daily beauty +in his life,' which is in such lovely harmony with his poetry, that I am +thankful to have witnessed and _felt_ it." + +Mrs. Hemans, after staying a fortnight at Rydal Mount, took a little +cottage called Dove's Nest near the lake. Here she was joined by her +children, into whose pursuits she heartily threw herself. This was a +season of grateful rest to her. "How shall I tell you of all the +loveliness by which I am surrounded, of all the soothing and holy +influence it seems shedding down into my inmost heart! I have sometimes +feared within the last two years, that the effect of suffering and +adulation, and feelings too highly wrought and too severely tried, would +have been to dry up within me the fountains of such peace and simple +enjoyment; but now I know--" + + 'Nature never did betray + The heart that loved her.' + +"I can think of nothing but what is pure, and true, and kind; and my eyes +are filled with grateful tears even whilst I am writing to you." But +even to this sweet retirement she was pursued by curious tourists, +"hunting for lions in doves' nests," and by letters which threatened "to +boil over the drawer to which they were consigned." + +She had made up her mind that it was a wise step to leave Wavertree. At +one time Edinburgh was thought of as a fit place for her residence. But +finally Ireland, and not Scotland, became the home of her latter days, +one reason for this choice being that her brother would be near to give +his advice and guidance as to her sons. In 1831 she took up her abode in +Dublin, where, whilst entering very little into general society, she +much enjoyed intercourse with many kindred spirits whom she gathered +around her. Amongst her most valued friends were the Archbishop of +Dublin and Mrs. Whately, from whom she met with marked kindness. These +years in Dublin have been described as the happiest as well as the last +of her life. Heading was perhaps more than ever a delight to her, +especially of works of religious instruction and consolation. Bishop +Hall, Leighton, and Jeremy Taylor, and other old divines afforded her +great strength and refreshment, whilst the Scriptures were her daily +study and delight. Wordsworth was the poet she loved best and read +oftenest, never a single day during the last four years of her life +being passed, unless sickness prevented, without her reading +something of his. + + + + +X. + +ASPIRATIONS DURING FAILING HEALIH. + +"Nervous suffering" is a phrase that describes Mrs. Hemans' state of +health. But still her mind was busy and her pen active, especially on +subjects of a religious character. "I now feel as if bound to higher and +holier tasks which, though I may occasionally lay aside, I could not +long wander from without some sense of dereliction. I hope it is not +self-delusion, but I cannot help sometimes feeling as if it were my true +task to enlarge the sphere of sacred poetry, and extend its influence." +In 1834 _Hymns for Childhood_ and _National Lyrics_ appeared in a +collected form, and soon after the long-contemplated collection of +_Scenes and Hymns of Life_. The aim of these may be best expressed in +her own words. It was to enlarge the sphere of sacred poetry "by +associating with its themes, more of the emotions, the affections, and +even the pure imaginative enjoyments of daily life, than had hitherto +been admitted within the hallowed circle." + +Two last works were to issue from her mind and heart. The lyric +"Despondency and Aspiration" was hoped to be her best production, as it +was certainly her most laborious effort. On it she was anxious to +concentrate all her powers. It was meant to be the prologue to a +poetical work which was to be called _The Christian Temple_. It was her +purpose, "by tracing out the workings of passion--the struggle of human +affection--through various climes, and ages, and conditions of life, to +illustrate the insufficiency of any dispensation, save that of an +ill-embracing Christianity, to soothe the sorrows, or sustain the hopes, +or fulfil the desires of an immortal being whose lot is cast in a world +where cares and bereavements are many." She was never to carry out +this design. + +She dictated _Thoughts during Sickness_ in the intervals of sickness, +when concentrated thought was possible. Their shortness tells of the +shortness of those intervals. Who is not better for thinking over these +sonnets, recalling as they do a peaceful spirit of resignation and +calmness at the approach of the last hour? + + "Let others _trembling_ bow, + Angel of Death, before thee;--not to those + Whose spirits with Eternal Truth repose + Art thou a fearful shape. And, oh, for _me_, + How full of welcome would thine aspect shine, + Did not the cords of strong affection twine + So fast around my soul, it _cannot_ spring to thee." + +The last of the series is entitled a "Sabbath Sonnet." It was composed +by Mrs. Hemans a few days before her death, and dictated to her brother. +It ends in these words---fit words for the last utterances of a +Christian poet: + + "I may not tread + With them those pathways--to the feverish bed + Of sickness bound; yet, O my God, I bless + Thy mercy, that with Sabbath peace hath filled + My chastened heart, and all its throbbings stilled + To one deep calm of lowliest thankfulness." + +But we are anticipating. At the end of 1834 Mrs. Hemans was recommended +to try change of air. Most kindly Archbishop Whately placed at her +disposal his country seat of Redesdale, where she had every comfort. But +there was a comfort she had that was not of man's making or man's +giving. "Far better than these indications of recovery is the sweet +religious peace which I feel gradually overshadowing me with its +dove-pinions, excluding all that would exclude thoughts of God." + +All around her delighted to ease her suffering and to minister to her +comfort. Especially thoughtful was her faithful attendant. And well was +that attendant repaid in hearing the words which fell from her +mistress's lips. How bright was the testimony of the dying poetess! "I +feel like a tired child wearied, and longing to mingle with the pure in +heart! I feel as if I were sitting with Mary at the feet of my Redeemer, +hearing the music of His voice, and learning of Him to be meek and +lowly." "Oh, Anna, do not you love your kind Saviour? The plan of +redemption was indeed a glorious one; humility was indeed the crowning +work. I am like a quiet babe at His feet, and yet my spirit is full of +His strength. When anybody speaks of His love to me, I feel as if they +were too slow; my spirit can mount alone with Him into those blissful +realms with far more rapidity." + + + + +XI. + +"THE BETTER LAND" REACHED. + +Mrs. Hemans left Redesdale to return to Dublin, so as to be near her +physician. She could only leave her bed to be laid upon a couch. The +sufferings were great, but there was no complaint. She would never allow +those around her to speak of her state as one calling for pity. She +seemed to live partly on earth, partly in heaven. "No poetry could +express, nor imagination conceive, the visions of blessedness that +flitted across her fancy, and made her waking hours more delightful than +those even that were given to temporary repose." She would ask to be +left perfectly alone, in stillness and darkness, to commune with her own +heart and reflect on the mercies of her Saviour. Her trust in the +atonement was entire, and often did she speak of the comfort she derived +from dwelling upon that central fact. She assured a friend that the +tenderness and affectionateness of the Redeemer's character, which they +had often contemplated together, was now a source not merely of +reliance, but of positive happiness to her--"_the sweetness of +her couch_." + +As is often the case under such circumstances, her thoughts were busy +with the haunts of her childhood, the old home and the old walks. Her +memory appeared unweakened. Its powers, always so great, seemed to be +greater than ever. She would lie hour after hour, repeating to herself +chapters of the Bible and pages of Milton and Wordsworth. When delirium +came upon her, it was observed how entirely the beautiful still retained +its predominance over her mind. The one material thing that gave her +pleasure was to be surrounded with "flowers, fresh flowers." + +Often did she thank God for the talents He had entrusted to her, and +declared how much more ardently than ever her powers would have been +consecrated to His service had life been prolonged. On March 15th she +received the Holy Communion for the last time, one of her sons being a +partaker of that feast for the first time. But the end was not to come +at once. There was another flicker of life. The days that remained were +spent in pious preparation, one of her favourite occupations being the +listening to the reading of some of her most valued books. The _Lives of +Sacred Poets_ and the _Lives of Eminent Christians_, in both of which +her life was soon to be worthy of a place, were especially enjoyed. In +the latter book she earnestly recommended the perusal of the account of +the death of Madame de Mornay, as showing in bright yet not exaggerated +colours "how a Christian can die." + +On the 26th of April she dictated to her brother the last strain, the +"Sabbath Sonnet," to which reference has already been made. From this +time she began to sink slowly but steadily. On the 12th of May she was +able to read part of the 16th chapter of St. John, her favourite among +the evangelists, which was the Gospel for the day, and also the Collect +and Epistle. She delighted to hear passages from a book she dearly +loved--a selection from the works of Archbishop Leighton. "Beautiful! +beautiful!" she exclaimed. To her faithful attendant she said that "she +had been making her peace with God; that she felt all at peace within +her bosom." + +On Saturday the 16th May, 1835, she slumbered nearly all the day: and at +nine o'clock in the evening, without pain or struggle, her spirit passed +away to the "Better Land." + + 'I hear thee speak of the better land, + Thou callest its children a happy band; + Mother, oh, where is that radiant shore? + Shall we not seek it, and weep no more? + Is it where the flower of the orange blows, + And the fire-flies glance through the myrtle boughs?' + 'Not there, not there, my child!' + + 'Is it where the feathery palm-trees rise, + And the date grows ripe under sunny skies? + Or 'midst the green islands of glittering seas, + Where fragrant forests perfume the breeze, + And strange, bright birds, on their starry wings, + Bear the rich hues of all glorious things?' + 'Not there, not there, my child!' + + 'Is it far away, in some region old, + Where the rivers wander o'er sands of gold? + Where the burning rays of the ruby shine, + And the diamond lights up the secret mine, + And the pearl gleams forth from the coral strand? + Is it there, sweet mother, that better land?' + 'Not there, not there, my child!' + + 'Eye hath not seen it, my gentle boy, + Ear hath not heard its deep songs of joy; + Dreams cannot picture a world so fair-- + Sorrow and death may not enter there: + Time doth not breathe on its fadeless bloom, + For beyond the clouds, and beyond the tomb,-- + It is there, it is there, my child!' + +Her remains were laid to rest in a grave within St. Anne's Church, +Dublin. A tablet records her name, her age--forty-one years--and the +date of her death. There are added the following lines of her own:-- + + "Calm on the bosom of thy God, + Fair spirit, rest thee now; + E'en while with us thy footsteps trode, + His seal was on thy brow. + Dust to its narrow home beneath, + Soul to its place on high; + They that have seen thy look in death, + No more may fear to die." + + + + +XII. + +ABIDING WORDS. + +Though many of the productions of the gifted poetess will soon be +forgotten, there is no doubt that some will live. The subjects are those +which gain an admittance to the hearts of all classes. We have already +given in full that beautiful poem "The Better Land." There is no danger +of "Casabianca" passing into oblivion. Children delight to commit it to +memory, and are all the better for the lesson of devotion to duty they +have learnt. + + "Yet beautiful and bright he stood, + As born to rule the storm; + A creature of heroic blood, + A proud, though childlike form. + + The flames rolled on--he would not go + Without his father's word; + That father, faint in death below, + His voice no longer heard." + +Mrs. Hemans was at her best in treating of such matters as those dealt +with in "The Homes of England" and "The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers." +Any one is to be pitied who can read without admiration these lines from +the former:-- + + "The merry homes of England! + Around their hearths by night + What gladsome looks of household love + Meet in the ruddy light! + There woman's voice flows forth in song, + Or childhood's tale is told, + Or lips move tunefully along + Some glorious page of old. + + The blessed homes of England! + How softly on their bowers + Is laid the holy quietness + That breathes from Sabbath hours! + Solemn, yet sweet, the church bell's chime + Floats through their woods at morn; + All other sounds in that still time + Of breeze and leaf are born." + +There is little danger of "The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers" being +forgotten. How well the poetess indicated the, motive which led them +from their native country to the unknown land!-- + + "What sought they thus afar? + Bright jewels of the mine? + The wealth of seas, the spoils of war? + They sought a faith's pure shrine! + + Ay, call it holy ground, + The soil where first they trod! + They have left unstained what there they found-- + Freedom to worship God!" + +As an example of Mrs. Hemans' treatment of sacred subjects, we may quote +the concluding verses of "Christ's Agony in the Garden":-- + + "He knew them all--the doubt, the strife, + The faint perplexing dread, + The mists that hang o'er parting life, + All darkened round His head; + And the Deliverer knelt to pray, + Yet passed it not, that cup, away. + + It passed not--though the stormy wave + Had sunk beneath His tread; + It passed not--though to Him the grave + Had yielded up its dead. + But there was sent Him from on high + A gift of strength for man to die. + + And was _His_ mortal hour beset + With anguish and dismay?-- + How may _we_ meet our conflict yet, + In the dark, narrow way? + How, but through Him, that path who trod? + Save, or we perish, Son of God!" + +We are thankful to find that the poetess had such clear views of the +atonement as those to be met with in her _Sonnets, Devotional and +Memorial,_ for example, in "The Darkness of the Crucifixion." + +The last quotation shall be one from "The Graves of a Household," the +opening and the closing verses of a literary gem which will never lack +appreciation:-- + + "They grew in beauty side by side, + They filled one home with glee;-- + Their graves are severed far and wide. + By mount, and stream, and sea. + + The same fond mother bent at night + O'er each fair sleeping brow; + She had each folded flower in sight-- + Where are those dreamers now'? + + * * * * * + + And parted thus they rest, who played + Beneath the same green tree; + Whose voices mingled as they prayed + Around one parent knee! + + They that with smiles lit up the hall, + And cheered with song the hearth! + Alas, for love! if _thou_ wert all, + And nought beyond, O Earth." + +The lyrics of Mrs. Hemans will ever keep her memory fresh. "In these +'gems of purest ray serene,' the peculiar genius of Mrs. Hemans +breathes, and burns, and shines pre-eminent; for her forte lay in +depicting whatever tends to beautify and embellish domestic life, the +gentle overflowings of love and friendship, home-bred delights and +heartfelt happiness, the associations of local attachment, and the +influences of religious feelings over the soul, whether arising from the +varied circumstances and situations of man, or from the aspects of +external Nature." + +S.F. HARRIS, M.A., B.C.L. + + + + +MADAME GUYON + +I. + +HER BIRTH AND BRINGING-UP. + +[Illustration:] + +Jeanne Marie Bouvières de la Mothe, afterwards Madame Guyon, was born at +Montargis, about fifty miles south of Paris, on April 13, 1648. Her +father, who bore the title of Seigneur de la Mothe Vergonville, was a +man of much religious feeling. Although Jeanne was a child of delicate +health, her mother does not seem to have bestowed much trouble upon her, +sending her, when only two years and a half old, to an Ursuline seminary +a short time, and then committing her almost entirely to the care of +servants, from whom, as a matter of course, her mental and moral culture +at that highly-receptive age did not receive much attention. 'When four +years old, she was transferred to the care of the nuns in a Benedictine +convent. "Here," she says in her autobiography,[1] "I saw none but good +examples; and as my natural disposition was towards the good, I followed +it as long as I met with nobody to turn me in another direction. I loved +to hear of God, to be at church, and to be dressed up as a nun." + +[Footnote 1: _La Vie de Madame J.M.B. de la Mothe-Guyon, écrite par +elle-même,_ première partie, ch. ii., 6. The edition from which I quote +was published at Paris, in three volumes, by the "Associated +Booksellers," in 1791. See also Life by J.C. Upham (Sampson Low & +Co., 1872).] + +Now, as her opening mind drank in such instruction as came to her, she +deeply felt the claims of God upon her love and service. Under the +influence of a remarkable dream, she openly expressed her determination +to lead a religious life; and one day, with unguarded frankness, she +avowed her readiness to become a martyr for God. Her fellow-pupils at +the convent, like Joseph's brethren, did not appreciate either her dream +or her avowal. With girlish jealousy they laid her devout aspirations at +the door of pride, and proceeded to test her professions in a cruel +manner. They persuaded her that God had taken her at her word and called +her suddenly to undergo the martyrdom for which she had declared her +readiness. Her courage did not give way at their summons. So, after +allowing her a short time for preparatory prayer, they led her into a +room made ready for the purpose, where a cloth was spread on the floor, +and an older girl stood behind her, lifting a large cutlass, and +seemingly prepared to chop off the child's head. Who can wonder that at +this too realistic sight the little girl's valour gave way? She cried +out that she must not die without her father's leave. The girls +triumphantly asserted that this was a paltry excuse, and let her go, +with the scornful assurance that God would not accept as a martyr one +who had so little of a martyr's courage. + +Poor little Jeanne Marie! This unjust ordeal had a painful effect on her +joyous spirit. Child though she was, she saw clearly that, like Simon +Peter, she had been too ready and bold in her avowals of devotedness to +her Lord. She thought that by her cowardice she had offended God, and +that now there was little likelihood of winning His favour and enjoying +His support. Her health, always delicate, could not but be injured by +this unpleasant episode, and after a while she was taken home and again +left to the care of the servants. Placed a second time at the Ursuline +convent, she was happy in being under the care of her half-sister,--a +good creature, who devoted her excellent abilities to the loving +training of Jeanne in learning and piety. While here, the little girl +was often sent for by her father; and at his house, on one occasion, she +found Henrietta Maria, the widowed queen of England, who was so much +pleased with her pretty ways and sprightly answers that she tried to +induce M. de la Mothe to place his daughter in her care, intimating that +she would make her maid of honour to the princess. The father, much to +the queen's annoyance, declined the honour, and Madame Guyon, in after +years, considered that perhaps she owed her salvation to his +judicious refusal. + +At this Ursuline seminary she remained, under her sister's care, until +she was ten years old, when she was taken home again, and then placed in +a Dominican convent, where she stayed eight months. Here she was left +much to herself, but was so happy as to find an abiding companion, a +heaven-sent gift, in a copy of the Bible, which had been +"providentially" left in the apartment assigned to her. "I read it," she +says, "from morning to night; and having a very good memory, I learnt by +heart all the historical parts." Whatever were the immediate results of +this close acquaintance with the Book of books, it is certain that in +after years, when the true light had shined into her soul, her early +intimacy with the Bible was of great service to her progress, and helped +to qualify her in some measure for writing her _Explanations and +Reflections_ on the sacred volume. On her return home once more her +religious state seems to have fluctuated considerably. Family +jealousies and jars deadened the fervour of her devotion. Preparations +for her first Sacrament under her sister's guidance, and the actual +participation in that ordinance, had for a time a beneficial effect. But +the solemnity of the Supper passed away without permanent influence on +her heart. + +She was now growing up a fine tall girl, of remarkable beauty and of +equal fascination of speech and manner. Her mother became proud of her +loveliness, and took great interest in her dress and appearance. +Accomplished and attractive, she was welcome in every circle, and her +wit and gaiety made her company much sought after. Her serious +impressions passed away, and her heart was hot in the chase after +pleasure. That it was still tender and susceptible we learn from a +little incident at this period. She had gone for a walk with her +youthful companions, and during her absence a young cousin, De Toissi, +who was going as a missionary to Cochin China, called for a short time +at her father's house. On her return home she found that he had already +departed, and she heard such an account of his sanctity and of his pious +utterances that she was deeply affected and was overcome with sorrow, +crying all the rest of the day and night. Once more she sought earnestly +"the peace of God, which passeth all understanding," but sought it by +deeds of charity and by bodily austerities, instead of by the simple way +of faith. At this time, in the fervour of her devotion, she resolved to +enter a convent and become a nun. Her father, however, believed that his +daughter, whom he tenderly loved, might be truly religious without +taking such an irrevocable step. But soon--whether through some juvenile +attachment or not we cannot tell--her good desires and resolves grew +faint, she left off prayer, and lost such comfort and blessing as had +been granted her from above. "I began," she says, "to seek in the +creature what I had found in God. And Thou, O my God, didst leave me to +myself, because I had first left Thee, and Thou wast pleased, in +permitting me to sink into the abyss, to make me feel the necessity I +was under of maintaining communion with Thyself in prayer." + +In 1663 her father removed his household to Paris, and Jeanne Marie was +transferred to a larger and more brilliant arena for the display of her +beauty and accomplishments. Louis XIV. was on the throne, and Paris was +at the very height of its gaiety and celebrity. The influence of its +dissipation and distraction on the spirit of Mademoiselle de la Mothe +was of course unfavourable to religion. Her parents found themselves not +merely in a fashionable circle, but in a highly-intellectual centre. The +_grand monarque_ posed as the great patron of literature and the arts; +and society presented splendid opportunities for the exercise of the +young lady's conversational powers. She tells us that she began to +entertain extravagant notions of herself, and that her vanity increased. +In such surroundings it could hardly be otherwise. Her faith and love, +such as they were, had died away, and her devotion had dwindled down to +nothing. The dazzling world before her was in her eyes something worth +conquering; and she set herself to gain its acclamation, and was to a +great extent successful. From this high state of worldly gratification, +and low state of religious principle and enjoyment, she was aroused and +rescued in a very rough and painful manner. + + + + +II. + +MARRIED LIFE. + +Early in 1664, when not quite sixteen, Jeanne Marie de la Mothe was +given in marriage to M. Jacques Guyon, a man of thirty-eight, possessed +of great wealth, whom she had seen for the first time only a few days +before the ceremony took place. Many ladies no doubt envied her, but for +her it was an unhappy change. Several suitors had appeared, with whom +she felt she could have been content and happy; but M. Guyon's riches +and perseverance had carried the day with her parents, and marriage, to +which she had looked forward as the period of liberation from restraint, +and of freer enjoyment of the gay Parisian life, proved but the +commencement of a dreary spell of dulness and misery. Her friends, who +came to congratulate her the next day after the wedding, were surprised +to find her weeping bitterly, and, in answer to their raillery, were +told by her, "Alas! I used to have such a desire to be a nun: why, then, +am I married now? and by what fatality has this happened to me?" She was +overwhelmed with this regret, this longing to be a _religieuse_. The +sudden transition from being the admired of all beholders, "the cynosure +of neighbouring eyes," the witty belle whose every word and look were +treasured up, to the hopeless condition of a bird pining in a gilded +cage, was very hard to bear. + +The details of the poor girl's sufferings in her new home are painful to +read; but as Madame Guyon relates these early trials, she devoutly +regards them as the means employed by her Heavenly Father to wean her +affections from the world and turn them towards Himself. Beset with sore +afflictions, guarded and illtreated by a servant devoted to her +mother-in-law, cut off from the innocent pleasures of friendly +intercourse, perpetually thwarted and misrepresented, she bethought +herself of the possibility of getting help from above, and once more +turned her mind towards God and heavenly things, doing her best, +according to her imperfect light, to propitiate the Divine favour. She +gave up entirely the reading of romances, of which formerly she had been +passionately fond. The _penchant_ for them had already been deadened, +some time before her marriage, by reading the Gospel, which she found +"so beautiful," and in which she discerned a character of truth which +disgusted her with all other books. She resumed the practice of private +prayer; she had masses said, in order to obtain Divine grace to enable +her to find favour with her husband and his mother, and to ascertain the +Divine will; she consulted her looking-glass very seldom; she regularly +studied books of devotion, such as _The Initiation of Jesus Christ_, and +the works of St. Francis de Sales, and read them aloud, so that the +servants might profit by them. She endeavoured in all things not to +offend God. + +Her mind, shut off from all earthly comfort, was now driven in upon +itself. Her lengthy meditation, though it helped to give her some degree +of resignation, did not produce true peace and joy Though quite natural +under the circumstances, it was an unhealthy habit, and doubtless tended +to foster the mystic dreaming which grew upon her in riper years. +Changes of circumstances now came to her relief. Soon after the birth of +her first child, a heavy loss of property called her husband to Paris, +to look after his affairs; and she, after a while, was permitted to join +him there. This made a pleasant break in the dreary round of her married +life. She cared nothing for losses, so long as she could gain from her +stern and surly mate some token of affection and acknowledgment; and +this, though in very small fragments, she had now occasionally the +satisfaction of getting. While at Paris she had a severe illness, and +the learned doctors of the city brought her to death's door by draining +her of "forty-eight pullets" of blood. + +Sad to say, as she regained her health, her husband resumed his +moroseness and violent tempers, and her feeble strength was tried to its +utmost. But she records, "This illness was of great use to me, for, +besides teaching me patience under very severe pains, it enlightened me +much as to the worthlessness of the things of this world. While +detaching me to a great extent from myself, it gave me fresh courage to +bear suffering better than I had done in the past." When at last she +regained her health, the loss of her mother and the crosses of every-day +life served still further to solemnize her mind, and to turn her +aspirations heavenwards. She followed strictly her plan for private +prayer twice a day; she kept watch over herself continually, and in +almsgiving and other ways endeavoured to do as much good as she could. + + + + +III. + +LIGHT BREAKS IN. + +About this time a pious lady, an English exile, came to reside at her +father's house; and though she could but imperfectly understand her +devout conversation, Madame Guyon saw in her face a sweet satisfaction +which she herself had not as yet attained. Then her cousin De Toissi +arrived from the East, and, with sincere concern for her welfare, +encouraged her in her search after happiness in God. To him she +unburdened her soul, giving him a full account of all her faults and all +her wants. He tendered the best counsel he could. She now tried to +meditate continually on God, saying prayers and uttering ejaculatory +petitions. But all was in vain. The advice of these excellent persons +led her to look too much inwardly upon her own heart, instead of upward +to the Saviour as revealed in His word. So she still laboured along in +deep darkness and depression. + +It was with a sudden brilliance that light and joy broke in upon her +spirit. In July, 1668, she was once more at the parental home, to nurse +her father, who was dangerously ill. Knowing well his daughter's +unhappiness, M. de la Mothe recommended her to consult his confessor, an +aged Franciscan, who had been of service to himself. This good man, +after listening for some time to the story of her restless wanderings +after peace, said, "Madame, you are seeking outside what you have +within. Accustom yourself to seek God in your heart, and you will find +Him there." These few and simple words turned her gaze from her own +efforts and feelings to see that peace was a thing to be found not in +outward deeds but in a heart right with God; and so she was enabled to +realise the bounteous love of God, which at that instant was broadening +her heart by the Holy Spirit. The next morning when she told the old +Franciscan of the effect of his words, he was much astonished. + +"These words," she observes, "brought into my heart what I had been +seeking so many years; or rather they made me discover what was there, +but what I had not been enjoying for want of knowing it. O my Lord, Thou +wast in my heart, and didst require of me only a simple turning inward +to make me perceive Thy presence. O Infinite Goodness, Thou wast so +near, and I went running hither and thither in search of Thee, and did +not find Thee. My life was wretched, yet my happiness lay there within +me. I was poor in the midst of riches, and I was dying of hunger close +by a table spread and a continual feast. O Beauty, ancient and new, why +have I known Thee so late? Alas! I sought Thee where Thou wast not, and +did not seek Thee where Thou wast. It was for want of understanding +these words of Thy Gospel, where Thou sayest, 'The kingdom of God is not +here or there; but the kingdom of God is within you.'" [1] + +[Footnote 1: _La Vie_, première partie, ch. viii., 7.] + +There can be no doubt that her heart now realised something of the great +fundamental truth that "God is Love." She had been trying to propitiate +Him, as a Being of awful majesty and purity, by good works, strict +conduct, severe penances. Now she saw at a glance the mistakes of her +former conceptions of the Divine Being, and all her faculties drank in +the grand verity of the boundless love of God. + +Her own account of this vital change is as follows: "I told this good +father that I did not know what he had done to me; that my heart was +totally changed; that God was there, and I had no more difficulty in +finding Him; for from that moment was given me an experience of His +presence in my soul; not by mere thought or intellectual application, +but as a thing which one really possesses in a very sweet manner. I +experienced these words of the spouse in the Canticles: 'Thy name is as +ointment poured forth: therefore do the virgins love thee.' For I felt +in my soul an unction which like a healing balm cured in a moment all my +wounds, and which even spread itself so powerfully over my senses that I +could scarcely open my mouth or my eyes. That night I could not sleep at +all, because Thy love, O my God, was for me not only as a delicious oil, +but also as a devouring fire, which kindled in my soul such a flame as +threatened to consume all in an instant. I was all at once so changed as +not to be recognisable either to myself or to others. I found neither +the blemishes nor the dislikes (which had troubled me): all appeared to +me consumed like a straw in a great fire." [1] + +[Footnote 1: _Ibid_., ch. viii., 8.] + +These extracts from her autobiography are important as giving a key to +her subsequent life. We see here the intensity of her affections and +emotions, the excitability of her temperament, the tendency to wander +into regions of spiritual imagination, the liking for strong dramatic +expression, which, though not in themselves blamable, yet gave to the +outside world, and even to those about her who were open to adverse +prepossessions, false impressions as to the depth and reality of her +religion. They, close at hand, could not make the allowance which we can +easily make for the extravagances of a soul which had just emerged from +the prison gloom of depression and distrust into this realisation of the +Divine love and favour. When her enthusiastic spirit led her to subject +herself to the severest penances, she joyed in their infliction and +could not make them severe enough. And here at once comes out +prominently a primary error of judgment in this good woman at the very +outset of her Christian life. She gives us details of a specially +disgusting penance which she inflicted on herself. In this, as in the +rest of her self-imposed tortures and degradations, the impulse +manifestly came not from above, but from the mistaken imaginings of an +over-wrought mind encased in a frail and delicate frame; and these +morbid fancies were based on her intense passion for self-abasement. We +must remember that at this critical time, when she most needed counsel, +she had really no one to guide her--no one, that is, who possessed +spiritual wisdom and common sense. + +Though Madame Guyon was much absorbed in a mystical ecstasy, which she +describes as prayer without words or even thoughts, she was no mere +visionary. Her love to God, her intense devotion to her Saviour, led her +to earnest endeavours to do good to those around her. The poor and the +sick, young girls exposed to temptation, all who needed temporal or +spiritual help, were the special objects of her care and benevolence. In +leading others to Christ she was remarkably successful. She had indeed +exceptional qualifications for this missionary work. Just over twenty +years of age, her youthful beauty and grace, the tender, yearning love +which lit up her expressive features, the ready utterance and sweet +voice, and the charm of manner which never left her, were no unfitting +media to convey the tidings of mercy to many a benighted seeker after +rest and peace. + + + + +IV. + +AFFLICTIONS AND GLOOM. + +At this time she found great benefit from the counsel of her friend +Geneviève Granger, the prioress of the Benedictine convent, who +encouraged her in her determination to avoid all conformity to the +world, and to live wholly to God. She once more made progress in the +Divine life, and the trials which now came thickly upon her were the +means of blessing her soul with increase of purity and peace. Hers were +no light trials. Besides the constant annoyance from her implacable +mother-in-law and the ill-tempered behaviour of her husband, heavy +afflictions befell her. The terrible small-pox attacked her, and spoilt +her beautiful face, though it left her alive. Her cruel mother-in-law, +instead of tenderly nursing her, basely neglected her, debarred her from +medical attendance, and imperilled her life. The loss of her beauty +alienated her husband's affection--such as it was--from her, and he +became still more open to unfavourable influences. Burdened as she was +with these troubles, yet another was added. Her younger son, a lovely +boy four years of age, was carried off by the same fearful disease. Yet +in all these afflictions she showed a spirit of holy resignation. + +In the summer of 1671 she made the acquaintance of Father La Combe, who +came with an introductory letter from her half-brother Father La Mothe. +He was in search of inward peace, and Madame Guyon's counsels, the +outcome of deep thought and Divine enlightenment, were of great service +to him. The next year was marked by other trying losses. Her little +daughter, who latterly had been her one source of human comfort, died +rather suddenly. This was probably the severest trial of her life. In +the same month she lost her affectionate father. Yet in these +bereavements also she charged not God foolishly, but took them as a part +of the discipline wisely ordered to knit her soul in closer union +to Him. + +[Illustration] + +On July 22, 1672, the fourth anniversary of the day on which she first +found peace, at the suggestion of her correspondent Geneviève Granger, +she put her signature and seal to a covenant which that lady had drawn +up. "The contract," she says,[1] "ran thus: 'I N. promise to take as my +husband our Lord Jesus Christ, and to give myself to Him as His spouse, +although unworthy.' I asked of Him, as the dowry of my spiritual +marriage, crosses, contempt, confusion, disgrace, and ignominy; and I +prayed Him to give me grace to entertain dispositions of littleness and +nothingness with regard to everything else." Though we cannot consider +such covenants in general as wise in themselves, nor this one in +particular as appropriate in its language, yet for a time it seemed to +give greater strength to her holy resolutions and increased stability to +her pious frame of mind. But about eighteen months afterwards she fell +into a state of depression, or absence of joy, which lasted nearly +six years. + +[Footnote :1 _La Vie de Madame Guyon_, première partie, ch. xix., 10.] + +Probably this state of "privation," as she terms it, was in great +measure the result of physical causes. She had for many years tried her +bodily strength to the utmost by her severe self-denying treatment of +herself. And now the death of her intimate friend, the above-mentioned +Geneviève Granger, no doubt exercised a lowering effect on her spirits. +It was a testing time for her faith, and it is a signal proof of the +depth and reality of her piety that through all this trying season she +held fast her trust in God, and kept on her way, though uncheered for a +time by the joyous emotions with which she had so long been favoured. It +was well that her mind, which had been overtaxed and strained by the +intensity of her religious fervour, and by its unbroken continuity of +introspection, should be brought into a more healthful state by this +bitter tonic of joylessness. + +In 1676 her husband's health, never very good, completely broke down, +and after a long illness he died, leaving her, at the age of +twenty-eight, a widow, with three children. As the solemn hour of +parting drew near, she swept away all the wretched interference which +had helped to cloud the happiness of their married life, and, kneeling +by his bed, she begged him to forgive anything she had done amiss. The +better nature of the man now at length prevailed, and he said--what he +had never said before--"It is I who ask pardon of you. I did not deserve +you:" which was perfectly true. He left a large amount of property, but +his affairs were in a perplexing state of entanglement, and his young +widow, unused to business, had to do her best to make all straight. She +proved equal to the occasion, and soon, with her quick perception and +uncommon powers of direction and persuasion, she reduced the complicated +tangle to order, and then retired to a house of her own, where she was +free from the annoying devices of her irreconcilable mother-in-law, and +could devote herself to the education of her children, the perfecting of +her own education, and the visitation of the sick and poor. + +It was in 1680, after nearly seven years of comparative darkness and +depression, that her spiritual gloom was broken in upon by a letter +from Father La Combe, in which he took the sensible view that by this +sore deprivation God was teaching her not to lean on her state of +feeling, but to look to Him alone for comfort and strength. On the 22nd +of July--a day several times marked in her history as one of signal +blessing--her prayers were heard, and God again lifted up the light of +His countenance upon her. "On that happy day," she writes, "my soul was +fully delivered from all its distresses. It began a new life," a life of +steady peace and joy, guarded from dependence on the joy itself by the +painful experience from which she had just emerged. + +From this time forth she devoted her life to the spread of the knowledge +of the love of God. After much deliberation and consultation with +others, she left Paris in July, 1681, to commence work in the south-east +of France. The preceding winter had been passed in making necessary +preparations, in relieving the necessities of the famished poor of +Paris, and in other works of charity. + + + + +V. + +HER PUBLIC WORK. + +On that July morning, when Madame Guyon embarked on the Seine secretly, +for fear of the interference of her half-brother, she was really +embarking on the chief business of her life, the work of spreading the +doctrine of inward holiness. She had felt drawn to the district of +Geneva by a desire to give temporal and spiritual help to the poor +people at the foot of the Jura range. And now, having consulted at Paris +the Bishop of Geneva, she was making her way, in company with her little +daughter, a nun, and two servants, to the little town of Gex. Passing +through Annecy and Geneva, she reached her destination on July 23, and +took up her residence at the house of the Sisters of Charity. This was +for a time the centre of her labours of love. Besides her works of +charity, she felt impelled to tell others of the spiritual blessings +which she herself enjoyed. + +Situated as she was, a Protestant without herself suspecting it, and +that in the very heart of the Roman Catholic Church; a devout reader of +the Bible, and one who valued the ministrations of priests as advisers +and "confessors," rather than as transacting the penitent's own work for +him, her superior intelligence, and her happy art of carrying conviction +to the listeners, raised the jealousy of the clergy, just as her pure +life was a silent rebuke to all lax livers, whether monk, nun, or +priest. D'Aranthon, the bishop, had welcomed her to his diocese, and at +first received her doctrines with appreciative favour. But he was a man +easily persuaded, swayed by the last person who talked to him, and as +her opinions became more pronounced, he began to perceive that they were +dangerous to the stability of the corrupt, priest-ridden Church of which +he was an "overseer." He had appointed Father La Combe as Madame Guyon's +"director," her spiritual guide and instructor. But in practice the +position was reversed, and it was she who led La Combe into higher +regions of thought and experience, of which he soon became the +eloquent exponent. + +La Combe's preaching attracted great attention at Thonon, on the other +side of the Lake of Geneva; and the bishop was anxious lest these new +doctrines should spread, and he himself should get into trouble at Rome +on their account. He now wanted to circumscribe Madame Guyon's sphere of +influence by getting her to become prioress of a convent at Gex. He +evidently thought that by having her here under some restraint, and by +keeping her close to the duties of the cloister, he would be able to put +a stop to the propagation of her heretical opinions. But though she gave +a little too much heed to visions and dreamy imaginings, she had lost no +whit of the practical common-sense and clearness of sight which had +distinguished her in many mundane emergencies. She absolutely refused to +make over her property for the good of the sisterhood, and would not +undertake an office which would shut her up from her mission of +proclaiming far and wide, as the Divine Hand opened the way, the message +of the Saviour's love and the Holy Spirit's sanctifying power. This +refusal brought much persecution and annoyance both to herself and to +Father La Combe, who had manfully refused to obey the bishop when he +ordered him to use his influence in making Madame Guyon comply with his +expressed wishes. + +A party was now formed at Gex specially for the persecution of Madame +Guyon, and after much annoyance and suffering she felt she was +providentially called to leave a town where she had many disciples, +whose lives she had been the means of brightening and elevating. In the +spring of 1682 she crossed the Lake of Geneva to Thonon, where she +pursued the same missionary career, and was the means of raising up a +little church of believers in the midst of dense bigotry and +superstition. She never "preached" in public, but in private she +conversed and prayed with individual seekers after salvation, and at +times had conferences with several together in a small room. By these +means, and by her excellent letters, she effected an amazing amount of +good in all that region. For a time, a short and happy time, all went +rightly; but she knew only too well that persecution must ensue. It +could not but come to this good woman, who devoutly fulfilled what she +esteemed to be the lawful commands of her Church, but who took as her +highest authority and director the open Bible, explained not by priest +or friar, but by the Holy Ghost working upon her own acute intellect and +devout heart. It is worthy of notice that under her guidance several +small societies or communities were formed by poor girls who had become +decided Christians. These young people helped each other in secular +matters, and held little meetings for reading and prayer and loving +fellowship. Their associations were soon broken up by the priestly +party, as, indeed, was to be expected; the girls were deprived of +ordinary church privileges, and some of them were driven out of Thonon +altogether. Another indication of the rising tide of persecution was +that the dominant party ordered all books relating to the inner life to +be brought to them, and publicly burnt in the market-place the few which +were given up. + +At length, through the influence of her enemies, Madame Guyon received +from the bishop notice that she must go out of his diocese, and Father +la Combe was similarly warned to depart. All espostulation was in vain, +and leaving Savoy, in which her labours had been so much blessed, she +set out on a wearisome journey into Piedmont, crossing the perilous Mont +Cenis on a mule, and came to Turin. + +In spite of many annoyances, she had spent two happy years at Thonon in +work for her Divine Master; and she would have been more than human if +she had not felt, though in a spirit of sweet resignation, the wrench +which these frequent changes of habitation inflicted. No wonder that she +called to mind the pathetic words in Matthew viii. 20: "The foxes have +holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not +where to lay His head." "This," she writes,[1] "I have since experienced +to its full extent, having had no sure abode where I could remain more +than a few months, and every day in uncertainty where I should be on the +morrow, and besides, finding no refuge, either among my friends, who +were ashamed of me and openly renounced me just when there was an outcry +against me, or among my relations, most of whom have declared themselves +my adversaries and been my greatest persecutors, while the others looked +on me with contempt and indignation." + +[Footnote 1: _La Vie_, seconde partie, ch. xiv., 1.] + +At Turin she found temporary refuge and rest in the house of the +Marchioness of Prunai, but appears to have spent only a few months of +1684 in that city. She longed to return to evangelistic work in France. +Accordingly in the autumn she went to Grenoble, and had great success in +her labours, but, through the hatred of her enemies, was obliged to quit +the place secretly, leaving her little daughter in charge of her +faithful maid La Gautière. She had already commenced authorship, at +Thonon, by writing, during an interval of much-needed rest, her book +entitled _Spiritual Torrents_. At Grenoble she began her commentaries on +_The Holy Bible_, and here she published her famous work, _A Short and +Very Easy Method of Prayer_, which speedily ran through several +editions. So, by word of mouth, and by pen, she taught, and "the new +spirit of religious inquiry," as she calls it, spread and prevailed. It +was indeed the _old_ spirit of inquiry, as old as the days of the +apostles, and its basis was the principle which she clearly enunciates, +"that man is a sinner, and that he must be saved by repentance and faith +in Christ, and that faith in God through Christ subsequently is, and +must be, the foundation of the inward life." Such a bold proclamation of +Gospel truth could not but rouse the anger of the clerical party at +Grenoble. The persuasive missioner was soon the centre of a storm of +wrath and indignation, which the friendly Bishop Camus, afterwards a +cardinal, was unable to allay. Early in 1686 she left Grenoble for +Marseilles, where she hoped to find refuge for a while. But her fame had +preceded her. "I did not arrive in Marseilles," she records, "till ten +in the morning, and it was only a few hours after noon when all was in +uproar against me." + +In this excitable city she remained only eight days; but in that short +space some good was effected. Now began a series of wanderings in search +of a home. Arriving at Nice, she felt acutely her desolate state. "I saw +myself without refuge or retreat, wandering and homeless. All the +artisans whom I saw in the shops appeared to me happy in having an abode +and refuge." After a stormy voyage to Genoa, she reached Verceil, on the +Sessia, and after a stay of a few months amongst kind friends, but +precluded from public work by ill-health, she decided to return once +more to Paris, and there pursue her labours. + +Unaware of the king's despotic intolerance, she arrived in the French +capital on July 22, 1686, after an absence of five years, and soon +became the centre of an enlightened circle of friends, of high rank, who +were glad to listen to her teaching and to learn the way of the Lord +more perfectly. For a while all was quiet. But her enemies--among whom +her half-brother, Père La Mothe, was ever the most virulent--were +meantime very busy, and at length a charge was laid against her before +the king. She was seized by warrant of a _lettre de cachet_, and +consigned to solitary imprisonment in the convent of Sainte Marie, in +the suburb of St. Antoine. Louis XIV. was now posing as a defender of +the faith, and was glad to show his Catholic zeal in the punishment of a +lady who was said to hold opinions similar to those of Molinos, whom he +had recently induced the Pope to condemn. Nearly four months previously +her eloquent disciple, Father la Combe, had been committed to the +Bastille for life. + + + + +VI. + +IN PRISON. + +On January 29, 1688--the first month of a year specially dear to English +lovers of civil and religious liberty--Madame Guyon was taken to her +cell in Sainte Marie. It was a room in an upper story of the convent, +with a barred door, and an opening for light and air on one side. Here +she was shut up from her friends; her gaoler, a crabbed, hard-hearted +nun, who treated her with the greatest rigour, regarding her not only as +a heretic, but as a hypocrite and out of her senses as well. Feeble in +body and in bad health, her mind was much troubled about her beloved +daughter, whom interested persons were trying to force into a marriage +of which Madame Guyon strongly disapproved. But though, under harsh +treatment, she became very ill, and was nigh unto death, her peace and +joy proved their heavenly origin by unbroken continuance in this trying +season. As she recovered, she found occupation in writing her +autobiography, and in composing hymns and sacred poems. Amongst the +latter is the charming _cantique_ given at the end of her Life, and +beginning-- + + "Grand Dieu! pour Ton plaisir + Je suis dans une cage," + +which has been happily Englished as follows:-- + + "A little bird I am, + Shut from the fields of air; + And in my cage I sit and sing + To Him who placed me there; + Well pleased a prisoner to be, + Because, my God, it pleases Thee. + + Nought have I else to do, + I sing the whole day long, + And He whom well I love to please + Doth listen to my song. + He caught and bound my wandering wing, + But still He bends to hear me sing. + + Thou hast an ear to hear, + A heart to love and bless, + And though my notes were e'er so rude. + Thou would'st not hear the less, + Because Thou knowest, as they fall, + That love, sweet love, inspires them all. + + My cage confines me round, + Abroad I cannot fly; + But though my wing is closely bound, + My heart's at liberty. + My prison walls cannot control + The flight, the freedom of the soul. + + Oh, it is good to soar + These bolts and bars above, + To Him whose purpose I adore, + Whose providence I love, + And in Thy mighty will to find + The joy, the freedom of the mind." + +Her liberation from this imprisonment came from a remarkable quarter. +Madame de Miramion, a pious lady, often visited the convent with +charitable intent. Having heard much about Madame Guyon, she asked to +see her; and having seen her and conversed with her, she soon became her +warm friend, and pleaded her cause with Madame de Maintenon, who was now +at the height of her power and possessed supreme influence with the +king, whose wife she had become, by a private marriage, in 1685. Madame +de Miramion, having in this way procured Madame Guyon's release from her +convent prison, took her to her own house. It was a happy change for +this much-tried woman. She was once again among friends, and had the +society of her daughter. She went to St. Cyr--a royal institution for +the education of the daughters of the poorer aristocracy, in which +Madame de Maintenon took interest--to thank the great lady for her +kindness. The latter was charmed with the bright, saintly ex-prisoner, +whose devout spirit shone out in her countenance and breathed in her +fascinating speech. She had many conversations with her, and begged her +to give instruction to the girls of St. Cyr. + +It was at this time that Madame Guyon first met the great Fénelon, who +was a director of St. Cyr, as well as one of the most noted characters +of the age. She won his lasting regard. He was cheered by the warmth of +her piety and her unwavering faith, while his more logical and better +disciplined mind would no doubt moderate and tone down her excess of +introspection and rapt emotion. She spent three happy years in Paris, +consulted by many persons on religious matters, admired and honoured by +several distinguished people, and sheltered from storm in the house of +her daughter, now married to the Count de Vaux. But the sunshine was not +to last long. Godet, Madame de Maintenon's confessor and one of the +directors of St. Cyr, was possessed with a jealous hatred of his +co-director, Fénelon, and also disliked Madame Guyon. Breathing into the +mind of the great lady--who, though of Huguenot descent, was nothing if +not "orthodox"--doubts as to Madame Guyon's correctness of belief, he +caused Madame de Maintenon to withdraw her countenance from her +_protégée_, and to discontinue her own visits to St. Cyr. Now was the +time for Madame Guyon's enemies to attack her, when they saw the court +favourite's countenance withdrawn. An attempt was made to poison her, +and so far succeeded that her health was impaired for many years. + +Then Bossuet appeared on the scene. In September, 1693, he came to see +her in Paris, feeling, doubtless, that he was the man to settle all +these Pietistic commotions. At Madame Guyon's request he consented to +examine her numerous writings; and when, in the course of some months, +he had performed this task, and had also perused her MS. autobiography, +he had another long conversation with her, which brought out fully the +peculiarities of her doctrine. In this interesting discussion he seems +to have adopted a bullying tone somewhat incompatible with his +remarkably mild Christian name, Jacques _Bénigne_, and to have forgotten +the courtesy due to a lady who, whatever her errors might be in his +eyes, was one of the brightest lights and purest saints in the Roman +Catholic Church of that day. Finally, the matter became an affair of +State, and the king appointed a commission to sit, at Issy, upon her +orthodoxy--Bossuet, De Noailles, and Tronson. The two latter were +charmed with her mild and teachable spirit. But the fierce Bossuet was +not yet satisfied; and as she put herself under his special direction +for a time, he consigned her to a convent at Meaux, and at length +required her to sign certain doctrinal articles, and a decree condemning +her books. To this last, however, a qualifying clause was appended, to +the effect that she had never intended to say anything contrary to the +spirit of the Church, not knowing that any other meaning could be given +to her words. In fact, while conceding to her Church the right to +condemn whatever it did not approve in her tenets, she held much the +same position as Galileo when his theory as to the movements of our +planet was condemned as heretical, and he capped his enforced +retractation with the quiet protest, "_E pur si muove_." In her letter +to her three ecclesiastical judges, dated "in August, 1694," she +courageously tells them, "I pray you, my lords, to remember that I am an +ignorant woman; that I have written my experiences in all good faith, +and that if I have explained myself badly, it is the result of my +ignorance. As regards the experiences, _they are real_." [1] + +[Footnote 1: _La Vie_, troisième partie, ch. xvi., 6.] + +Bossuet at length appeared to be satisfied, and gave her a certificate +of her filial submissiveness to the Roman Catholic faith, and she +thought herself free to return to Paris. It was not perhaps the wisest +step to take; the bishop was displeased at it, as was also the bigoted +Madame de Maintenon. Madame Guyon went to live in privacy in a small +house in the Faubourg St. Antoine, where she hoped to be left in peace. +But her enemies got scent of her hiding-place, arrested her, and shut +her up in the Castle of Vincennes, whence, after a few weeks at +Vaugirard, she was transferred to the Bastille. + +Of her life in this famous prison we have little or no detail. Like all +its unfortunate inmates, she was forbidden to reveal its secrets; but we +gather from her own words that, amid sickness and the many hardships of +her prison life, one of her severest trials was found in the rumours +which reached her of "the horrible outcry," outside the walls, against +herself and her sympathisers. But in this dark season she held fast her +confidence in God, and her spirit found utterance and relief in some of +those songs, full of love and trust, which are included in the four +volumes of her poetical works. + + + + +VII. + +LAST YEARS. + +She was confined in the Bastille for four years, and when at last, in +1702, she was released, her health was completely ruined by the +privations she had suffered, the bitter cold of winter, and in the +warmer weather the poisonous exhalations from the stagnant waters of the +moat. When once more she issued into the sweet air of liberty, "My +afflicted spirit," she says, "began to breathe and recover itself; but +my body was from that time sick and borne down with all sorts of +infirmities." Even now, however, she was not free to go where she liked. +After a brief visit to her daughter in Paris, she was required to take +up her residence at Blois, a hundred miles south-west, and there, in +complete retirement, she spent her remaining days, still writing cheery +words of counsel to her disciples in France and other lands, and +enjoying spells of happy converse with the steadfast friends who sought +her out in her exile. + +She lived on in peace and quiet, though often in pain and weakness, for +fifteen years after her release from the Bastille. Her final release +from all earthly trials and sorrows took place on June 9, 1717, when she +had entered about three months into her seventieth year. That her +beautiful spirit of resignation was maintained to the last, and that her +faith was pure and steadfast, we have proof in these expressions in her +will, written a short time before her death: "Thou knowest that there is +nothing in heaven or in earth that I desire but Thee alone. In Thy +hands, O God, I leave my soul, not relying for my salvation on any good +that is in me, but solely on Thy mercies and the merits and sufferings +of my Lord Jesus Christ." + +We find here no trace of that reliance on the Virgin Mary, or that +frequent clamouring for her interest and intercession, which then formed +and still forms so integral a portion of the daily routine of Romish +worship. It is a remarkable feature of Madame Guyon's religious life +that, in an idolatrous age, her faith constantly soared straight up to +God, ignoring the mediation of the Virgin and the saints, and regarding +the priests themselves, not as intermediaries between Christ and her +soul, but simply as her appointed counsellors and guides on the road to +heaven. We need not wonder that such bitterness was shown towards her, +and that no effort was spared to suppress teaching so dangerous to the +very foundations of the ancient edifice of error. + + + + +VIII. + +HER TEACHING. + +On a previous page I have given extracts from her autobiography which +show pretty plainly the mistakes into which Madame Guyon fell at the +outset of her Christian career. They had their root in the idea that her +communion with God was so close and intimate that all her thoughts were +not merely devout and God-ward, but even Divine, coming direct from God. +So she fell into the Quietist error of intense introspection, looking +for guidance, not solely to the written Word, but chiefly to her own +inward impressions, or "inspirations," as she considered them to be. + +But was it at all wonderful that this good woman, brought up in the +bondage of corrupt doctrine and deeply-incrusted prejudices, should +entertain some theological errors? The only wonder is that she attained +so much of the truth, and, in that age of mingled intolerance and +licentiousness, lived a life of purity and charity, of holy aspirations +and devout performance. And though her excessive introspection is not at +all to be imitated, and many of her views are such as we with our +greater light cannot, of course, endorse, yet her mistakes in +metaphysics and in theology did not affect the beauty of her life, which +was chiefly spent in acts of charity and earnest endeavours to spread +the knowledge of her Lord and Saviour. If her benevolent efforts at +evangelisation did not always show the successful results she desired, +if disappointments crowded some of her later years, yet to her case we +can rightly apply the words of the poet: + + "Yet to the faithful there is no such thing + As disappointment; failures only bring + A gentle pang, as peacefully they say, + 'His purpose stands, though mine has passed away.'" + +Her Works, amounting in all to forty volumes, were published in Paris in +several editions. Her _Poems and Spiritual Songs_ occupy four volumes. +Some of these simple utterances of a devout heart were beautifully +translated by Cowper, and with one of the most characteristic of these +renderings this sketch may fitly be concluded:-- + + "THE ENTIRE SURRENDER. + + Peace has unveiled her smiling face, + And woos thy soul to her embrace, + Enjoyed with ease, if thou refrain + From earthly love, else sought in vain. + She dwells with all who truth prefer, + But seeks not them who seek not her. + + Yield to the Lord with simple heart + All that thou hast and all thou art; + Renounce all strength but strength Divine, + And peace shall be for ever thine. + Behold the path which I have trod, + My path till I go homo to God." + + WILLIAM NICHOLS. + + + + +ANN JUDSON. + +CHAPTER I. + +EARLY YEARS. + +[Illustration] + +Ann, a daughter of John and Rebecca Hasseltine, was born in Bradford, +Massachusetts, on December 22, 1789. The quiet daily life of the simple +New England people from whom she sprang, and amongst whom she was +brought up, was as beneficial a training for her future career as could +have been found for her. The feverish activity and never-ceasing +struggle to be first, which have now taken possession of the American +people, were then almost unknown, and the descendants of the Puritan +fathers spent their days in peaceful toil. Most of the New Englanders +were engaged in farming or small manufactures, and there was a deeply +religious spirit throughout the whole of the Northern States. + +Of the early life of Ann Hasseltine we know comparatively little. Her +family was evidently in moderately easy circumstances, and the +Hasseltine household was a happy and closely-united one. The parents, +with wise foresight, were careful to give their children as good an +education as could be obtained in the neighbourhood, and kept them at +school till well advanced in their teens. Ann was distinguished among +her sisters for her gay, joyous, and somewhat emotional temperament. +There was no half-heartedness about her, and whatever she took up she +would throw her whole soul into. As was to be expected in a community +where religious matters occupied so prominent a place, the urgent need +of a personal faith in Christ was placed before her at an early age. She +could not suppress a vague longing after something, she knew not what; +and every now and then her conscience would be aroused, and she would +quicken her efforts to be good. + +When she was sixteen, affairs reached a crisis. A series of religious +conferences had been held in Bradford during the early months of 1806, +and she regularly attended them. Each meeting deepened the impression +on her mind as to the need of a higher life. Her old amusements seemed +now utterly distasteful to her, and the fear of being for ever lost +weighed heavily on her soul. She was invited to a party by an old +friend; but her heart was too sad to care for such things, so on the +morning of the party she stole off to the house of one of her aunts, +who, she thought, might be able to help her in her trouble. Her aunt +spoke seriously to her of the necessity of obtaining salvation while she +could, and the poor girl became more downcast than ever. "I returned +home with a bursting heart," she afterwards said, "fearing that I should +lose my impressions with the other scholars, and convinced that if I did +so my soul was lost." + +She shut herself in her bedroom, refused to touch any but the plainest +food, and for some days pleaded with God for pardon. Gradually the light +came in her soul. "I began to discover a beauty in the way of salvation +by Christ," she said. "He appeared to be just such a Saviour as I +needed. I saw how God could be just in saving sinners through Him. I +committed my soul into His hands, and besought Him to do with me what +seemed good in His sight. When I was thus enabled to commit myself into +the hands of Christ, my mind was relieved from that distressing weight +which had borne it down for so long a time. I did not think that I had +obtained a new heart, which I had been seeking, but felt happy in +contemplating the character of Christ, and particularly that disposition +which had led Him to suffer so much for the sake of doing the will and +promoting the glory of His Heavenly Father." + +With so deep an experience it was only natural that the whole course of +her outward life should be completely changed. She soon made an open +profession of religion by becoming a member of the Congregational Church +at Bradford; and her friends could see the reality of her conversion by +her consistent daily walk. + +She now threw herself with greater zeal into her ordinary studies, and +this soon resulted in her being requested to take temporary charge of a +small school at Salem. When the work there was done, a teachership was +found for her in another place near at hand, and it was while thus +engaged that she became acquainted, with her future husband, +Adoniram Judson. + +Mr. Judson, who was some sixteen months her senior, was the eldest son +of a Congregational minister at Malden, near Boston, and had from his +youth been noted for possessing intellectual powers far above the +average. When a boy, he diligently read every book that he could get +hold of, and at Brown University he graduated head of his class. For a +time during his college course he became affected with the sceptical +views which were then fashionable; but the death of a friend brought +him back to the old faith, and as an outcome of his conversion he became +a student at the Theological College at Andover. + +While at college, Judson and three fellow-students had their interest +deeply aroused in the conversion of heathen nations. They petitioned the +General Assembly of their church on the matter, and solicited its advice +as to whether "they ought to renounce the object of missions as +visionary or impracticable;" and if not, what steps they should take to +translate their longings into action. + +The importance of this appeal was at once recognised by the churches, +and as an immediate consequence the "Board of Commissioners for Foreign +Missions" was formed, a society which has grown until it is now one of +the greatest missionary organisations in the world. Judson went on a +visit to England in order to expedite matters, and to consult with the +officials of the London Missionary Society. After some delay, caused by +the capture of the vessel in which he was sailing by a French privateer, +he reached London and saw the directors. They agreed to support him and +his companions should the American Board be unable to do so, and with +this assurance Judson returned to America. + +He now made Miss Hasseltine a formal offer of marriage, and she knew +that if she accepted she must of course accompany him abroad. For a time +she not unnaturally hesitated. She was asked to do what no American +woman had before attempted, and the life of a foreign missionary seemed +full of unknown horrors. It meant to leave home and probably never to +see friends or native land again, to be worn out in the unhealthy +climate of some tropical land, to suffer "every kind of want and +distress, degradation, insult, persecution, and, perhaps, a violent +death." Friends, with few exceptions, advised her to decline, and public +opinion was strongly opposed to such a "wild, romantic undertaking" as a +woman going out to the heathen. "O Jesus," she prayed in her perplexity, +"direct me, and I am safe; use me in Thy service, and I ask no more. I +would not choose my position of work or place of service; only let me +know Thy will, and I will readily comply!" + +After some weeks of hesitation she definitely made up her mind. "I have +at length come to the conclusion," she wrote, on October 28, 1810, "that +if nothing in Providence appears to prevent, I must spend my days in a +heathen land. God is my witness that I have not dared to decline this +offer that has been made me." + +Her decision surprised many of her acquaintances. "I hear," said one +lady to another, "that Miss Hasseltine is going to India. Why does she +go?" "Why, she thinks it her duty. Would you not go if you thought it +your duty?" "But," replied the first speaker emphatically, "_I would not +think it my duty_." + +On February 6, 1812, an ordination service was held at the Tabernacle +Church in Salem, when Adoniram Judson and four others were set apart for +foreign missionary work. On the previous day he and Ann Hasseltine had +been made man and wife at Bradford; and a few days later Mr. and Mrs. +Judson, accompanied by Mr. Newell and his wife, set out in the brig +_Caravan_ for Calcutta. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE ROAD TO RANGOON. + +After a four months' voyage the missionary party reached Calcutta, and +there they received a warm welcome from Dr. Carey and his +fellow-workers. They were invited to the missionary headquarters at +Serampore, a spot some few miles from Calcutta, in possession of the +Danish Government, where the Baptist missionaries resided in order to +avoid the interference of the English authorities. At that time the +British rulers of India were opposed to all missionary work, and +discouraged it by every means in their power. Foreign preachers were not +allowed to reside in India even for a few weeks, and English +missionaries were not suffered to remain unless they could obtain +special permission from the East India Company. The American +missionaries had not been many days in India before they discovered +this. They were summoned from Serampore to Calcutta, and there formally +commanded, in the name of the Company, to leave India at once and return +to America. To do this would have ruined all their plans, so they asked +and obtained permission to go instead to the Isle of France (Mauritius), +whither a vessel was about to sail. But as it would only accommodate Mr. +and Mrs. Newell, the Judsons perforce remained in Calcutta waiting for +another ship. + +They were allowed to stay in peace for a couple of months; but when the +authorities learnt that they had not yet departed, an urgent order was +issued, commanding that they should be immediately sent to England in +one of the East India Company's vessels. There seemed no possibility of +their evading the order this time, but they learned that another vessel +was just going to set out for the Isle of France. Unfortunately it was +impossible for them now to obtain permission to go there; but the +captain of the vessel, on hearing the circumstances, offered to take +them without leave. So they quietly got on board. But on the second day +of their journey down the river a Government dispatch arrived, ordering +the pilot to stop the vessel, as it had among its passengers persons +who had been ordered to go to Europe. In consequence of this demand Mr. +and Mrs. Judson were at once hurried on shore, and the ship went on +its way. + +They were landed at the village of Fultah, and here they remained for +four days, not knowing what to do. If they returned to Calcutta they +would be at once sent to England, and they could not remain where they +were for any time without discovery and arrest. Every day their +perplexity increased. The sight of a boat coming down the river or a +stranger entering the village would fill them with alarm, for they +expected at any moment to be seized by Government agents sent after +them. At the end of the fourth day relief came in a most unexpected way. +A letter was handed to Mr. Judson containing an official permit for them +to go on to the Isle of France in the vessel from which they had a few +days before been removed. How this permit was obtained, or who had sent +it to them, they could never discover; and there was no time then to +speculate on the matter. The ship was now at least seventy miles away, +in the Saugur Roads, and had probably already set out to sea. In the +hope that it might possibly have been delayed in starting, and that they +might catch it, they at once started down the river in boats. After +being rowed all night and all next day, they found on reaching the roads +that they were in time, as owing to the absence of some of the crew the +vessel had been delayed. It may be imagined how thankfully they found +themselves once more on board. + +Before leaving Calcutta an important change had taken place in Mr. and +Mrs. Judson's views about the question of infant baptism. While on the +voyage from America, Mr. Judson, knowing that he would come in contact +with the Baptist missionaries at Serampore, had studied the subject in +order to be able to defend his position to them. The result had been +that doubts had gradually arisen in his mind as to the correctness of +his own point of view, and he spoke on the subject to his wife. She +deprecated any hasty action, but they both resolved to give careful +attention to the matter. Every consideration of human interest would +have led them to cling to their old belief, for, as Mrs. Judson pointed +out, "If her husband should renounce his former sentiments he must +offend his friends at home, hazard his reputation, and, what was still +more trying, be separated from his missionary companions." + +"I hope that I shall I be disposed to embrace the truth," she wrote, +"whatever it may be. It is painfully mortifying to my natural feelings to +think seriously of renouncing a system which I have been taught from +infancy to believe and respect ... We must make some very painful +sacrifices. We must be separated from our dear missionary associates, +and labour alone in some isolated spot. We must expect to be treated +with contempt and cast off by many of our American friends--forfeit the +character we have in our native land, and probably have to labour for +our support where we are stationed." + +After prayerful consideration they both applied to Carey for baptism, +much to the surprise of the great English missionary, who had known +nothing of their struggles. This step necessarily involved their +separation from the Congregational Board of Commissioners who had sent +them out, and there was then no American Baptist Missionary Society to +which they could look for help; but Mr. Judson wrote to the American +Baptist churches stating what he had done, and appealing to them to +support him in his labours. The Baptists soon afterwards responded to +his appeal by forming a Missionary Union, and they appointed Mr. and +Mrs. Judson two of their agents. Thus was Mr. Judson an important though +indirect instrument in causing another great American denomination to +throw itself into the work of evangelising the world. + +The first news that Mrs. Judson heard on reaching the Isle of France was +that Mrs. Newell, her companion from America, had died a few weeks +previously, before even being allowed to commence the work to which she +had dedicated her life. The governor of the island had been warned about +the coming of the Americans, and advised "to keep an eye on them;" but +he gave them a warm welcome, and expressed a hope that they would settle +in the place and work among the natives and the soldiers. But the Isle +of France hardly seemed to offer a sufficiently extensive field for +their energies, and there were other places more in need of their +services. Mr. and Mrs. Judson specially wished to go to Burmah, where, +with a population of many millions, there was hardly a single Christian +teacher. But the character of the people and of the government was such +that any strangers going among them must take their lives in their +hands, Notwithstanding this they determined, after due inquiry, to go to +Penang, and thence to attempt to find access to the country. It was +necessary first to go to Madras, in order to find a vessel which would +take them eastwards. But on arriving at Madras they found that it would +be impossible to procure a passage to Penang; so they took passage in a +ship that was going to Rangoon, and after some adventures reached the +field of their future work in July, 1813. "We cannot expect to do much +in such a rough, uncultivated field," wrote Mrs. Judson, "yet if we may +be instrumental in clearing away some of the rubbish and preparing the +way for others, it will be sufficient reward." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PREPARATION TIME. + +Mr. and Mrs. Judson might well have been excused had they hesitated to +settle in Rangoon, for the prospects before them in that place were +anything but hopeful. The Emperor of Burmah was an absolute monarch, and +rumour gave him the credit of being unjust, tyrannical, grasping, +capricious and cruel. The people were described as "indolent, +inhospitable, deceitful and crafty;" and in spite of the natural wealth +of the land the majority of the inhabitants were miserably poor. This +was largely due to the fact that all property was held on the most +uncertain tenure, everything being liable to be seized at any time by +the emperor or by some of his officials. + +More than one unsuccessful attempt had been made to form a missionary +settlement in Rangoon previous to the arrival of the Judsons. Preachers +had been sent out from Serampore, and by the London Missionary Society; +but none of them had been able to occupy the field for any length of +time. When the Judsons arrived there was only one other Christian +teacher in Burmah, Mr. Felix Carey, who was then at Ava, the residence +of the emperor. Mrs. Carey, a native of the country, was staying at +Rangoon, in a house built by the Serampore Baptist missionaries, and she +welcomed the new-comers to her home, where they stayed for some months. + +The first work to which the Judsons set themselves was the study of the +Burmese tongue. This was a task of extreme difficulty, for the only part +of the language put into writing which would help them was a small +portion of a grammar and six chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel, which had +been translated by Mr. Felix Carey. Even with all the aids at present in +use, Burman is anything but easy to acquire. It has been called the +"round O language," on account of each word being made up of a number of +small circles; and to an untrained eye the words seem almost exactly +alike. "The letters and words are all totally destitute of the least +resemblance to any language we have ever met with," Mr. Judson wrote to +a friend in Salem, "and these words are not fairly divided and +distinguished as in Western writing by breaks, and points, and capitals, +but run together in one continuous line, a sentence or paragraph seeming +to the eye but one long word; instead of clear characters on paper, we +find only obscure scratches on palm leaves, strung together and called a +book. We have no dictionary and no interpreter to explain a single word, +and must get something of the language before we can avail ourselves of +the assistance of a native teacher.... It unavoidably takes several +years to acquire such a language in order to converse and write +intelligibly on the truths of the Gospel." + +Mr. and Mrs. Judson obtained a native teacher, and settled down to a +daily struggle with their task. The man was at first unwilling to have +Mrs. Judson as a pupil, thinking it below his dignity to instruct a +woman: but when he saw that she was determined to persevere he abandoned +his opposition. As the teacher knew no English and the pupils knew no +Burman, progress was of necessity very slow. "Our only mode of +ascertaining the names of objects which met our eye," wrote Mrs. Judson, +"was by pointing to them in the presence of our teacher, who would +immediately speak the names in Burman; we then expressed them as nearly +as possible by the Roman character, till we had sufficiently acquired +the power of the Burman." + +In order to get more in contact with the people, they left Mr. Carey's +hospitable roof and took up their residence in the centre of the town. +This obliged Mrs. Judson to commence housekeeping on her own account, +and consequently she had less time to devote to study; yet to her +surprise she made faster progress now than she had ever done before. She +thus described her daily life, in a letter home: "We are busily employed +all day long. Could you look into a large open room, which we call a +verandah, you would see Mr. Judson bent over his table covered with +Burman books, with his teacher at his side, a venerable-looking man in +his sixtieth year, with a cloth wrapped round his middle and a +handkerchief on his head. They talk and chatter all day long with hardly +any cessation. + +"My mornings are busily employed in giving directions to the servants, +providing food for the family, etc. At ten my teacher comes, when, were +you present, you might see me in an inner room at one side of my study +table, and my teacher the other, reading Burman, writing, talking, etc. +I have many more interruptions than Mr. Judson, as I have the entire +management of the family. This I took on myself for the sake of Mr. +Judson's attending more closely to the study of the language; yet I have +found, by a year's experience, that it is the most direct way I could +have taken to acquire the language, as I am frequently obliged to speak +Burman all day. I can talk and understand others better than Mr. Judson, +though he knows more about the nature and construction of the language." + +It was impossible to do any direct evangelistic work until the language +had been more fully mastered, and Mrs. Judson was continually spurred on +in her studies by the desire to speak to the natives about the Lord +Jesus Christ. "O Thou Light of the world," she prayed, as she realised +more fully the ignorance of the people, "dissipate the thick darkness +which covers Burmah, and let Thy light arise and shine!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A HEAVY AFFLICTION. + +[Illustration: Ann Hasseltine Judson] + +When Mrs. Judson had been in Rangoon six months she was taken somewhat +seriously ill, and it was deemed advisable that she should go to Madras, +both for the sea voyage and in order to obtain skilled Medical advice, +which could not be had in Rangoon. She met with nothing but kindness all +the way. The Viceroy granted her special permission to take a native +woman as her attendant, a thing which was deemed a very great favour +indeed, as no native woman was usually allowed to leave the country. The +captain of the vessel in which she sailed refused to accept any money +for the passage; and when she sent the physician who attended to her +seventy rupees in payment for his advice, he returned them with an +expression of pleasure in having been of any service to her. She went +back to Rangoon renewed in health, and a few months later she became the +mother of a little boy. + +For a short time the baby was the treasure of the mission-house. In +their loneliness and separation from all friends, the hearts of the +father and mother went out to their little one, and he became even more +to them than an only child usually is to its parents. The Burmans +regarded him as quite a curiosity, for he was the only purely white +infant in the place. The baby would lie quietly for hours on a mat in +the study, while his parents were poring over their books, and when work +was done they would throw the palm leaves on one side, take up the boy, +and carry him in state around the house and garden. His presence seemed +to light up the home with a new and sacred joy; but he was not to be +there long. When he had completely twined himself around his parents' +hearts he was taken away, for after a few days' illness he died when +only eight months old. + +This sore affliction was the means of drawing out much sympathy from +many of the natives. The chief wife of the Viceroy had been greatly +attracted by the little lad when he was alive, and on hearing of his +death she paid a visit of condolence to his parents, accompanied by her +official attendants, numbering some two hundred people. "Why did you not +send me word, that I might come to the funeral?" she asked, smiting her +breast and showing every sign of sorrow. The heart-broken mother replied +that her grief was so great that she did not think of it, and the Burman +lady then did her best to comfort her, and strove with warm, womanly +sympathy to make her forget her loss. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +SOWING TIME. + +For three years Mr. and Mrs. Judson devoted themselves solely to the +study of Burman, and did not even attempt any directly evangelistic +work, beyond the opportunity afforded by casual conversation with a few +individuals. They well knew that any impatient attempts to push forward +the work would probably result in closing the country against +Christianity for many years to come. + +It was not without heavy hearts that they saw the years passing away and +nothing apparently being done. They had half expected, before leaving +America, that it would require little more than a plain proclamation of +the Gospel to win converts; but a short experience of the reality of +missionary life showed them that the work was not so easy as had been +imagined. The people were careless and indifferent, and no permanent +impressions seemed to be produced upon their minds. They would listen +politely while the missionaries pleaded with them for Christ, and then +would lightly dismiss the matter with the remark that all religions +were good. + +One reason why preaching had not been attempted was because Mr. and Mrs. +Judson felt it would be well at first to devote their energies more +especially to the printing and circulation of Christian literature. In +Burmah almost every man could read, and it would be possible to reach +far more through the printed page than by public speaking. A portion of +a gospel had been translated by Mr. Felix Carey, but this was lost in a +wreck, so Mr. Judson started a fresh translation of the New Testament, +and prepared one or two tracts. In 1815 he wrote to Dr. Carey, asking if +he could print some Burmese tracts at the Serampore press; the doctor +replied that it would be far better for Judson to start a press of his +own in Rangoon, and in order that he might do so he sent him a complete +outfit, including a press, a supply of type, and other necessary stock. + +When the printing press reached Rangoon, there came with it two new +helpers, Mr. and Mrs. Hough, sent out by the American Baptist Missionary +Society. Mr. Hough had been a printer before leaving America, and so he +was able to render practical assistance almost from the day of his +arrival, by taking charge of the printing department. Two small tracts +were issued as quickly as possible, one a Summary of Christian Doctrine, +and the other a catechism; and Mr. Judson hurried on with his +translation of the New Testament. The printing of these was the first +thing of the kind that had ever been done in Burmah, and the +missionaries rejoiced that the art of printing should be introduced into +the country directly through Christianity. + +Their first serious inquirer was brought to them through these tracts. +One day in March, 1817, a man, evidently of good position, came to the +mission-house and astonished Mr. Judson with the question, "How long a +time will it take me to learn the religion of Jesus?" The surprised +missionary replied that it all depended on whether God gave him light +and wisdom, and asked how he came to know anything of Jesus. Had he been +there before? "No." Had he seen any writings concerning Jesus? "I have +seen two little books." "Who is Jesus?" Judson asked, to test his +knowledge. "He is the son of God who, pitying creatures, came into the +world and suffered death in their stead." "Who is God?" "He is a being +without beginning or end, who is not subject to old age or death, but +always is." + +Mr. Judson was delighted beyond measure to hear these words proceed +from the lips of a Burman. He handed him a tract and catechism, but +these the man had read, and specially wanted another book. Judson had +told him that he was preparing another book, but had not got it ready +yet. "Have you not a little of that book done which you would be +graciously pleased to give me?" the man asked; and Judson, thinking it +better not to let the opportunity pass by, gave him two half sheets +which had been already printed, and which contained the first five +chapters of Matthew. + +The man did not come again to them for some time, but they learned that +he was appointed governor of some villages a distance away. The +following January he had to visit Rangoon, and once more called at the +mission-house. Mr. Judson was away just then, having gone for a short +time to India, but Mrs. Judson had a long talk with him, and asked him +if he had yet become a disciple of Jesus. "I have not yet," he replied, +"but I am thinking and reading in order to become one. I cannot yet +destroy my old mind, for if I see a handsome cloth or handkerchief I +still desire them. Tell the great teacher when he returns, that I wish +to see him, though I am not a disciple of Christ." He requested more +books and then left. + +Up to this time the rulers had been most friendly, but in 1818 a little +event occurred which indicated to the missionaries what might at any +time happen. The former Viceroy had left, and a new one was appointed in +his stead. It was the time when Mr. Judson was away in India, and one +morning Mr. Hough received a command, written in most threatening +language, ordering him to at once appear at the court-house to give an +account of himself. He went, and was ordered to come next day for +examination, and the officials assured him that, "If he did not tell all +the truth about his situation in the country, they would write it with +his heart's blood." + +For two days he was subjected to a severe cross-examination, and the +officials seemed to delight in annoying and threatening him in every +possible way. He could not appeal to the Viceroy, for he was not +sufficiently acquainted with the language; so the native teacher drew up +a petition, and Mrs. Judson herself presented it to the Viceroy. He +received it kindly, and at once gave orders that Mr. Hough was not to be +troubled further. They afterwards found out that the thing had been +arranged by the minor officials, in order to extort money from the +missionaries. + +Before Mr. Judson returned a severe epidemic of cholera broke out in +Rangoon, and Mr. Hough was very anxious to take his wife and Mrs. Judson +out of the place and go back to India. It was a trying and troubled +time, and all missionary-work was necessarily at a standstill. Mrs. +Judson was very reluctant to leave Burmah, and for long refused to +depart; she had not heard from her husband for many months, and did not +know on what day he might return. But Mr. Hough was so persistent that +she at last consented, and allowed her luggage to be taken on board a +vessel, she herself following. But at the last moment, when the ship was +on the point of sailing, she felt that she could not leave, and ordered +her things to be taken back to the city again. Mr. and Mrs. Hough went +on, and she was left alone, but within a few days her husband returned, +and her greatest trouble was over. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +INQUIRERS AND CONVERTS. + +Soon after the retirement of Mr. Hough, two other missionaries and their +wives came out to Rangoon, and the Judsons felt it was time to commence +a more aggressive work. A little house of public worship, or zayat, was +erected in one of the main roads and opened to all who liked to come in. +The work had to be done very quietly, in order not to arouse the +opposition of the Government, for there was much uncertainty at the time +about the course the officials would take should any converts be made. +When the zayat was finished, Mr. Judson called together some of the +people living around, and held his first public service in the Burmese +tongue. From this time meetings were held several times a week, and +during the day Mr. Judson would sit in the house, talking and arguing +with all who chose to come in to him. + +Every Wednesday evening, at seven o'clock, Mrs. Judson met a class of +women, numbering generally from twelve to twenty. To these she would +read the Scriptures and talk in a simple way about God. "My last meeting +was very animating," she said when describing one of these classes, "and +the appearance of the females (thirteen in number, all young married +women) very encouraging. Some of them were inquisitive, and after +spending two hours seemed loth to go. One said she appeared to herself +like a blind person just beginning to see. And another said she believed +in Christ, prayed to Him daily, and asked what else was necessary to +make her a real disciple of Christ. I told her she must not only say +that she believed in Christ, but must believe with all her heart. She +again asked what were some of the evidences of believing with the heart. +I told her the manner of life would be changed, but one of the best +evidences she could obtain would be when others came to quarrel with her +and use abusive language, if, so far from retaliating, she felt a +disposition to bear with, to pity, and to pray for them. The Burman +women are particularly given to quarrelling, and to refrain from it +would be most decided evidence of a change of heart." + +During the daytime, while Mr. Judson was talking with any man who +called, Mrs. Judson would sit in another part of the place and see all +the women visitors. By this plan she was enabled to preach the Gospel to +many. What time she could spare from this work she now devoted to a +study of Siamese. A number of people in Rangoon knew only that language, +so she learned it sufficiently well to be able to converse with them, +and to translate a gospel and several tracts into their tongue. + +In 1819 the hearts of the missionaries were cheered by a native, Moung +Hau, coming out and openly professing Christianity--the first fruit +gathered after seven years of labour. Many had partly accepted their +teachings, and had been evidently impressed by their message; but up to +that time no real, definite converts had been made. + +Moung Hau soon showed that a real work of grace was progressing in his +heart. He told the missionaries that he had found no other Saviour but +Jesus Christ, from all the darkness and uncleanness and sins of his +whole life, that he could look nowhere else for salvation, and that +therefore he proposed to adhere to Christ for ever. "It seems almost too +much to believe that God has begun to manifest His grace to the +Burmans," the members of the little mission band said one to another; +but the sincerity of Moung Hau was such that they could not doubt it, +and after a time of probation he was publicly baptized. + +There were signs that this convert was only the first of an abundant +harvest. In the autumn of the same year, two more men requested baptism, +but this time the rite had to be performed privately, for the Viceroy +had begun openly to avow himself hostile to Christianity. Dark rumours +of persecution were heard, and one inquirer was summoned before the +authorities and warned to beware of what he did. So serious did matters +become that public preaching had for a time to be abandoned, and many +inquirers ceased their visits to the mission-house, and were heard of +no more. + +The missionaries thought that if they could only appeal to the Emperor, +and obtain his permission to carry on their work, all might be well +again; so after much deliberation Messrs. Judson and Colman went on a +journey to the royal city of Ava, and obtained an audience of the +Emperor. They humbly requested that his subjects might be permitted to +become Christians without incurring the wrath of the authorities; but +when the monarch heard their petition he treated it with open disdain, +and they had to return to Rangoon saddened and disappointed +beyond measure. + +The news that nothing must be expected from the Government but +persecution seemed to give strength to the three converts and to several +really earnest inquirers. When the missionaries spoke of going to +another part of Burmah, where they could have more liberty, their +disciples implored them to remain. "It is useless to remain under +present circumstances," Mr. Judson said. "We cannot open the zayat; we +cannot have public worship; no Burman will dare to examine this +religion, none can be expected to embrace it." "Teacher," one of the +converts replied, "my mind is distressed; I can neither eat nor sleep +since I find you are going away. I have been around among those who live +near us, and I find some who are even now examining the new religion. Do +stay with us a few months. Do stay till there are eight or ten +disciples; then appoint one to be teacher of the rest." Many others said +the same, and at last it was decided that Mr. and Mrs. Judson were to +remain in Rangoon, while Mr. and Mrs. Colman, the other missionaries +there at the time, should move to Chittagong, a place near at hand under +British protection, and try to form a station there. + +Within a few weeks after this, several who had long been inquirers came +and requested baptism, although they were well aware that by doing so +they were making themselves liable to death by most horrible torture. +One man, a prominent native in good circumstances, and well known as a +great orator and metaphysician, who had for a long time been arguing +with Mr. Judson about Christianity, now openly declared himself a +follower of Jesus. Others did the same, and God seemed to reward His +servants by showing them such results from their labours as they had +hardly hoped ever to obtain. + +The threats of persecution for a time ceased, and the prospects of the +mission improved in every way. By early in 1821 the number of baptized +disciples had increased to nearly twenty, and among them were several +professional men of great influence in the city and some women. Many +others, although not professed disciples, showed by their acts that they +sympathised with the Christians and would do what they could for them. + +In December, 1821, Dr. Price, a medical missionary, arrived with his +wife from America, and soon afterwards Mr. and Mrs. Hough returned. +Though the missionaries were left in comparative peace, they well knew +that severe measures might at any time be taken against them. Every now +and then there came rumblings of the threatened storm, and one of the +chief converts was obliged to flee from the city on account of +proceedings being started against him for his change of faith. + +A few months before the arrival of Dr. Price, Mrs. Judson had so broken +down in health that her husband decided to send her to America for the +long sea voyage. She first went to England, where she received a warm +welcome from many Christians, and then she proceeded to the United +States, where she spent the winter. Medical men in America were +unanimous in advising her not to return to the East, as they said her +state of health was such that she would probably die before long if she +went there. But nothing could keep her back from what she felt to be the +post of duty. "I cannot prevail on myself to be any longer from Rangoon +than is absolutely necessary for the preservation of my life," she said; +so in June, 1823, she started on the return journey, accompanied by +another missionary and his wife. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PRISONERS OF WAR. + +When Mrs. Judson reached Calcutta on her return voyage to Rangoon, she +was informed that war might break out at any time between England and +Burmah, and was strongly advised not to attempt to go on. But she was +determined to rejoin her husband at once, and finding that a vessel +would start for Rangoon in a few days, she took a passage in it. She was +not to stay long in Rangoon, however, for the Emperor had ordered Dr. +Price and Mr. Judson to take up their residence in Ava. Dr. Price was +already there, and Mr. Judson had only stayed at Rangoon to meet his +wife, on the understanding that he should set out for the capital as +soon as possible. + +The missionaries attempted to carry on their work at Ava in the same way +as they had previously done at Rangoon, but the public mind was in too +excited a state just then to permit of much progress being made. The +Emperor had for some time treated the English Government with open +disdain, and had collected an army together for the avowed purpose of +invading Bengal. He even caused a pair of golden fetters to be made, to +bind the Governor-General of India when he should be led as captive to +Ava. But before the Emperor could carry out his plan, the English took +the initiative and invaded his country. He was confident of victory, but +information was soon brought to him that the English had captured +Rangoon, and this was followed by news of various other English +victories. + +The foreign residents at Ava naturally felt that their position there +was somewhat precarious. At first the Emperor assured them that "as they +had nothing to do with the war, they should not be molested;" but when +tidings of English triumphs followed one another in rapid succession, +the attitude of the natives grew more and more menacing. + +Some Englishmen formerly in the employ of the Court were seized, and +their belongings examined. In the account book of one of them were +items recording certain sums having been paid to Mr. Judson. This money +had been given to him in exchange for circular bankers' orders, sent +from America; but the Emperor did not understand this. He concluded that +Judson had been paid to be an English spy, and at once gave orders for +the arrest of both the missionaries. + +The scene can best be described in Mrs. Judson's own words. "On the 8th +of June, just as we were preparing for dinner, in rushed an officer +holding a black book, with a dozen Burmans, accompanied by one whom, +from his spotted face, we knew to be an executioner, and a 'son of the +prison.' 'Where is the teacher?' was the first inquiry. Mr. Judson +presented himself. 'You are called by the King,' said the officer--a +form of speech always used when about to arrest a criminal. The spotted +man instantly seized Mr. Judson, threw him on the floor, and produced +the small cord, the instrument of torture. I caught hold of his arm. +'Stay,' said I, 'I will give you money.' 'Take her too,' said the +officer, 'she also is a foreigner.' Mr. Judson, with an imploring look, +begged they would let me remain till further orders. The hardened +executioner drew tight the cords, bound Mr. Judson fast, and dragged him +off I knew not whither. In vain I entreated the spotted face to take the +silver, and loosen the ropes; but he spurned my offers and immediately +departed." + +Mr. Judson was hurried away to the death prison, and his wife found +herself a captive in her own house. She was exposed to many insults from +the guard of soldiers set over her, and for three days she was unable to +go out. Then, by a judicious bribe, she obtained a certain measure of +liberty. She at once went to the governor of the city and sought to +obtain the release of her husband. This could not be gained, but she +purchased permission to see him. He crawled to the door of the prison, +as fast as his trebly-bound limbs would allow, and spoke for a minute to +her; but before they could exchange many words Mrs. Judson was +peremptorily ordered away by the jailer. + +The Government officials came again to the mission-house and seized all +the silver they could find in it; but Mrs. Judson had received warning +of their visit, and before they arrived had hid as much money as she +could. Had she not done this, she and her husband must inevitably have +starved during the following months. As it was, she had something now +with which to mollify the officials, and she succeeded in getting her +husband and Dr. Price taken out of the common prison for a time, and +placed in an open shed. + +Day by day she worked incessantly, petitioning every one of influence, +from the Queen downwards, for her husband's release. Many sympathised +with her, but one and all declared themselves unable to do anything. The +governor of the city, who had chief control of the prison, happily +became their friend, and did all he dared for them. Three times he was +informed by a near relative of the Emperor, that if he would cause all +the white prisoners to be privately put to death it would be pleasing to +the monarch; but every time he managed to avoid doing it. + +For seven months Mrs. Judson strove daily on her husband's behalf, and +spent what time she could with him in the gaol. "Sometimes," she said, +"I could not go into the prison till after dark, when I had two miles to +walk in returning to the house. Oh, how many times have I returned from +that dreary prison at nine o'clock at night, solitary and worn out with +fatigue and anxiety, and endeavoured to invent some new scheme for the +release of the prisoners." + +After her husband had been in prison for some months, she gave birth to +a little daughter, and for a few weeks was unable to get about to look +after the captives as before. During this time news came to Ava of +further great defeats of the Burmese troops, and the treatment of the +captives was at once made harsher. They were again shut in the inner +prison, among all the common malefactors of the place, and were each +bound with five pairs of fetters. The hottest season of the year had now +arrived, and the situation of the prisoners was far more terrible than +any words can describe. The room in which they were confined was +occupied by about a hundred native criminals; there was no ventilation +beyond that afforded by the cracks in the walls, and the continual +stench and heat were almost unbearable. As soon as she could get about, +Mrs. Judson built herself a small bamboo hut by the gate of the prison, +and lived there, to be as near as possible to her husband. After he had +been a month in this black hole Mr. Judson was taken ill with fever, and +after much entreaty she was permitted to move him to a little bamboo +cell by himself, and to go in daily to feed him and to give +him medicine. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +"THROUGH MUCH TRIBULATION." + +The darkest hour had not yet come! Two or three days after she had +secured the removal of her husband from the common prison, he and all +the white men were suddenly seized and hurried out of the city. Mrs. +Judson was engaged elsewhere at the time, and for some hours she was +unable to learn where the prisoners had been taken; but a servant who +had seen them leave gave her a clue, and she at once followed it up. She +deposited her books and medicines with the friendly governor, and set +out with her babe on her arm, and two orphan children she had adopted by +her side, seeking her husband. After a wearisome journey she found him +in a wretched prison at Oung-pen-la, almost dead from weakness and the +torture he had undergone on his forced march, and was greeted with the +pathetic words, so illustrative of Adoniram Judson's utter +unselfishness, "Why have you come? I hoped you would not follow, for you +cannot live here." The prison was placed in a lonely spot, far away from +any village. There was no accommodation for Mrs. Judson, and no food +could be obtained near at hand. She was refused permission to build +herself a little hut, but the jailer found her a small, dirty store-room +in his own house, and here she and the three children lived for the next +six months. Day by day she searched for food, not only for her husband, +but for the other white prisoners; and though worn out with pain and +sorrow, cheered them, looked after their every want, and continually +applied to the officials for some improvement in their lot. The untold +privations she was suffering soon told on a frame that had never been +very strong. Her two adopted children were taken with small-pox, and +when they had partly recovered the baby was also attacked. Mrs. Judson +had now to look after them in addition to her other work, and would +often spend the day attending to the prisoners, and the night in nursing +the children. The watchings and fatigue at last broke her down, and for +two months she was unable to leave her bed. She had for most of the time +no attendant except a common Bengalee cook, but this man proved an +invaluable aid. He worked almost without ceasing, nursing Mrs. Judson, +searching for provisions, and feeding the prisoners. The little baby was +in a most deplorable state. It had no nurse, Mrs. Judson could not feed +it on account of her fever, and the only way it existed was by her +husband obtaining permission from the jailer to go out for a short time +each day, carry the child around the village, and beg a little +nourishment for it from those mothers who had young children. "I now +began to think the very afflictions of Job had come upon me," wrote Mrs. +Judson. "When in health I could bear the various trials and vicissitudes +through which I was called upon to pass; but to be confined with +sickness, and unable to assist those who were so dear to me, when in +distress, was almost too much for me to bear; and had it not been for +the consolations of religion, and an assured conviction that every +additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I must have +sunk under my accumulated sufferings." + +Meanwhile the English army was daily coming closer and closer to the +capital, and Mr. Judson was taken out of prison and sent down to the +Burmese camp, to act as translator in the negotiations which were going +on between the two forces. The victorious British general, Sir Archibald +Campbell, ordered the Burmese to pay a heavy war indemnity, and to cede +a large part of their territory to the English; and he also stipulated +that all foreign prisoners who wished should be handed over to him. +Consequently the Judsons found themselves once more free, after a year +and seven months' imprisonment, and were made the honoured guests of the +English general. + +But the relief came too late, for Mrs. Judson's constitution was +completely undermined by the privations she had endured. She and her +husband settled in Amherst, a new town in British Burman territory, and +hopefully looked forward to carrying on a useful work there. They had +not been many months in the place before Mrs. Judson had a bad attack of +fever, at a time when her husband was away helping the English general. +She seemed temporarily to get better, but she had no strength left to +resist the disease, and gradually sank. "The teacher is long in coming, +and the new missionaries are long in coming," she murmured in a moment +of relief from her delirium. "I must die alone, and leave my little one; +but as it is the will of God I acquiesce in His will. I am not afraid of +death; but I am afraid I shall not be able to bear these pains. Tell the +teacher the disease was most violent, and I could not write; tell him +how I suffered and died; tell him all that you see; and take care of the +house and things until he returns." For most of the time she lay +unconscious, and on October 24, 1827, after about sixteen days of +illness, and at the age of thirty-seven, she passed away before her +husband could return. Soon afterwards her baby followed her. + +And so went home one of the noblest women who have laboured in the +mission field. Her brave spirit, her undaunted trust in God and in the +power of prayer upheld her, when the courage of the bravest men would +have failed. Not a little of the remarkable success of the work of God +in Burmah is due to the indomitable perseverance and the wise devotion +to God and to her husband of Ann Judson; and wherever the Gospel is +preached, that also which this woman hath done shall be spoken of for a +memorial of her. + +Was her life thrown away? Were the labours and sufferings she had bodily +undergone wasted? Not so. The story of her life has been and still is a +precious heritage for the whole Church militant, a lesson which ever +appeals to Christians to rouse themselves from self-seeking and +apathetic lives, and consecrate their talents to the Master's use. +Though she was taken up higher, the work in Burmah did not stop, and +before many years had passed, hundreds and thousands of the people among +whom she had laboured were professing to serve the true God; so true is +it that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." + +FRED. A. McKENZIE. + + + + +MARY LOUISA WHATELY. + +[Illustration] + +I. + +PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD. + +Mary Louisa Whately came of a distinguished family. Her father, Dr. +Richard Whately, for many years Archbishop of Dublin, was one of the +most remarkable and prominent men of the first half of the nineteenth +century, a voluminous writer, a strenuous thinker, and a statesmanlike +ecclesiastic. Her mother, Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. W. Pope of +Uxbridge, was, says Miss E.J. Whately, a woman of "grace and dignity of +character, delicacy of mind and sensitive refinement, which were united +with high powers of intellect and mental cultivation and a thirst for +knowledge seldom exceeded." [1] She was an ardent Christian, and devoted +herself to works of beneficence and Christian service among the poor, as +far as her delicate health would allow. + +[Footnote 1: _Life of Archbishop Whately_, by his daughter, vol. 1. p. +43.] + +Mary was born at Halesworth in Suffolk, of which parish her father was +then the rector, on August 31, 1824. The following year her father was +appointed Principal of St. Alban Hall, and removed with his family to +Oxford. In 1831 he accepted the Archbishopric of Dublin, and thus at the +age of seven Dublin became, what it remained for thirty years, Mary +Whately's home. She was the third of a family of five, four girls and +one boy, who all inherited something of their mother's delicacy of +constitution and a good share of their father's strength of intellect +and character. They were near enough to each other in age to share one +another's studies and games, and, living a very retired life, depended +largely on each other for companionship. For a portion of the year they +resided in the archiepiscopal palace in Dublin. But on account of the +many social demands made on him in the city, the place became +distasteful to Dr. Whately, and he engaged a charming country residence +called Redesdale, some four or five miles out of town. Here he resided +the larger portion of the year, living a quieter life than was possible +in the city, and driving into Dublin on most mornings to attend to his +official duties. In the intervals of study and the discharge of public +duty he devoted himself to his garden, in the cultivation of which he +displayed much skill and ingenuity. Redesdale was the children's home, +though the life there was occasionally varied by a stay in London (where +their father usually spent a few weeks each spring to attend the House +of Lords), at Tunbridge Wells, where they had relatives, or at the +seaside, and later by visits to the Continent. + +The Archbishop had very decided views on the training and education of +children, and his wife also, as her _English Social Life_ shows, had +thought much on the subject. One of the Archbishop's rules was that +children should never learn anything by rote. "When Mrs. Whately and I +first married," he observed on one occasion, "one of the first things we +agreed on was, that should Providence send us children, we would never +teach them anything they did not understand. 'Not even their prayers, my +lord?' asked the person addressed. 'No, not even their prayers,' he +replied." [1] Mary's education was conducted mainly by a governess, under +the superintendence of her parents. Her brother, Archdeacon Whately, +thus refers to her early life: "Our life in Ireland was on the whole a +very retired one. For the greater part of our sojourn there we saw very +little society, nor had my sisters a sufficient vent for a craving, +which in some of them was very strong, for social intercourse and active +work.... In early life she showed the germs of that vigour and energy of +character for which she was afterwards so distinguished. In all our +youthful games she was fond of taking the lead, and generally succeeded +in obtaining it.... Like most young persons of a sanguine and +imaginative temperament, she lived very much in an ideal future of her +own creation.... It was well for my sister that we were not allowed in +our younger days to read any unwholesome trash in the way of fiction. We +were not indeed unduly restricted in works of imagination, but we read +nothing which was foolish or sensational, and a higher taste than the +taste for mere stories was cultivated in us. Mary Whately had a strong +predilection for works of travels, history, and adventures. Perhaps +these tastes were a foreshadowing of her future destiny, and prepared +her for it." [2] Her sister adds, "Mary was from her earliest years +ardent and impulsive, hot-tempered and generous. She was quick at +lessons, and possessed of a retentive memory, though the active brain +and lively imagination made schoolroom routine somewhat irksome +to her." [3] + +[Footnote 1: _Life of Archbishop Whately_, by his daughter, vol. 1. p. 62.] +[Footnote 2: _The Fireside_ for 1889, pp. 817, 818.] +[Footnote 3: _Life of Mary J. Whately_, by E.J. Whately, p. 10.] + + + + +II. + +THE BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIAN LIFE AND SERVICE. + +Dr. and Mrs. Whately gave their children a careful religious and moral +training, and sought to instil into their minds the highest motives for +right doing, and to set before them a high standard of conduct. Mrs. +Whately early associated her daughters with herself in visiting among +the poor in the village of Stillorgan, which adjoined the grounds of +Redesdale, and in teaching in the village school. The poor of Dublin +also were not forgotten, and especially at Christmas time Mary shared +with her mother in the distribution of gifts among the deserving poor in +the city, and in the entertainment of many of them in the servants' hall +of the palace. + +It is not known, perhaps she could not herself tell, exactly at what +period the light of the Gospel first dawned upon her heart, but a +subsequent time at which her spiritual life was much deepened and +intensified was very marked. In 1849 the health of her brother broke +down, and he was ordered by the physicians to spend the winter on the +Continent. Mary accompanied him. They went first to Nice, but the +climate disagreeing with them, they passed on to Florence and Pisa, and +subsequently spent some time among the Waldensian valleys. This tour was +in many ways a preparation for Mary's future life. She took lessons in +painting, which was to be the chief recreation of her later years; she +attained some proficiency in Italian, which led her a few years +afterwards to engage in mission work among the poor Italians in Dublin; +and her visit to the Waldensian valleys gave her her first insight into +evangelical work abroad. But most important of all, she became +acquainted with M. Meille, a young Waldensian pastor, and his wife, +through her intercourse with whom her religious convictions became +intensified and her spiritual horizon widened. When she returned to +Dublin the great Irish famine was still continuing. The distribution of +food and other efforts to relieve the distress were occupying the +attention of all philanthropic persons. Mrs. Whately had become actively +engaged in this work, and she and her daughters henceforward took a more +prominent part in aggressive Christian work than they had hitherto done. +Famine relief paved the way for greatly extended effort to spread Gospel +knowledge among the Roman Catholic population. Industrial and Bible +schools, refuges, and other Christian institutions sprang up in various +parts of the country. Protestant missions to Roman Catholics were +greatly extended. In this work Mary Whately found opportunity for the +expression of her deepened spiritual experience. She taught in the +adult classes at the Townsend Street Mission Hall joined her sisters and +other ladies in founding a ragged school for boys--the first in +Ireland--and afterwards in instituting a work among destitute girls, +which issued in the Luke Street Girls' Home where hundreds of poor girls +were taught to live respectable and Christian lives. These various forms +of Christian service gave her tact and experience in dealing with the +poor, which proved invaluable in her subsequent work in Egypt. As her +sister says, "The Irish Church Mission work was the preparatory training +to which she always especially looked back with thankfulness. The +admirable manner of teaching and explaining Scripture employed in their +schools she felt to have been the most valuable education for her +subsequent life-work." [l] + +[Footnote 1: _Life of Mary L. Whately_, by E.J. Whately, p. 15.] + +In 1856, as she was in ill health, it was recommended that she should +spend the winter in a warmer climate. Egypt was chosen, and, accompanied +by a friend, she landed at Alexandria and proceeded to Cairo, where she +remained several months. This was her first acquaintance with what was +to be the land of her adoption. Before returning home in the spring of +1857 she made a prolonged tour in Syria and Palestine. She took much +note of the mission work carried on in various places, and so greatly +interested was she in the work among Jewesses then carried on in +Jerusalem that she had some thoughts of giving it for a time her +personal assistance. + + + + +III. + +FIRST EFFORTS IN CAIRO. + +The year 1860 was one of sorrow and bereavement to Mary Whately. She +lost first her youngest sister, then her mother. Under the strain of +nursing and sorrow her own health was seriously affected, and she was +ordered by the doctors to spend the winter in a warmer climate. Her +thoughts recurred to Egypt and her former pleasant sojourn there; +accordingly she selected Cairo as her residence, purposing in her heart +to make an attempt to bring the Gospel within reach of the Moslem women +and girls. Egypt was then very different from what it is now. Railways +were but just beginning to make their appearance, the Suez Canal was not +yet cut, European customs, now so prevalent, had scarcely begun to +invade the age-long usages of the upper classes. English residents in +Cairo and tourists up the river were alike few in number. Few outside +influences had been brought to bear on the Mohammedan population to +moderate their extreme bigotry and hatred of anything called +_Christian_--a word which they invariably associated with the picture +and image worship of the members of the Greek or Roman Church with whom +they had come in contact, or with the irreligious pleasure-seeking of +tourists, or travellers by the overland route to India. The Copts, or +descendants of the early Egyptian Christians, were almost without +exception buried in the profoundest ignorance of the Scriptures and of +Christian truth, given over to superstitious beliefs and practices, and +destitute of any real spiritual life. Education for boys was of the most +primitive character; for girls it was never thought of, nor had any +educational effort ever been made for them during the twelve centuries +which had elapsed since the rise of Mohammedanism. Christian missionary +operations were almost non-existent. The American Presbyterians had +recently commenced missionary effort, but their work was mainly, as it +still is, among the Copts, and they had not yet opened a station in +Cairo. Since 1827 indeed the Church Missionary Society had maintained a +missionary--sometimes two--in Cairo, but their work had not issued in +the formation of a Protestant Christian Church. + +"It was laid on my heart," says Mary Whately, "to try and do something +for the girls and women of the land, especially those of the Moslem +poorer classes, far the most numerous, of course. The only schools +hitherto opened for the children of the land had no scholars except from +the Copts or native Christians; others were considered quite out of +reach, and many of my friends endeavoured to dissuade me from an attempt +which was sure to end in failure, as they said. However, it seemed best +to make an effort, at all events. But it was begun in prayer, and +therefore difficulties and delays did not greatly discourage me." [l] + +[Footnote 1: _Life of Mary L. Whately_, pp. 21, 25.] + +Mary Whately, accompanied by a cousin, resided for a time with Mrs. +Lieder, of the Church Missionary Society. But in order to open a school +she had to engage a house for herself; and after great difficulties one +was secured in a suitable position. It was but a comfortless abode, and +only rude furniture and inefficient domestic help were obtainable. But +Miss Whately held outward comforts in light regard. Even in later days, +when she had built for herself a capacious and comfortable house, it was +furnished in the simplest, even rudest fashion, and all her personal +expenses were cut down to the lowest possible point, that she might have +the more to spend the work to which she gave both her heart and her +life. As as she was settled in her new house she endeavoured to make +acquaintance of her neighbours. + +Miss Whately was but just beginning to learn Arabic, and the only +assistants she could get for starting her school were a Syrian +matron--who could speak but a few words of English and read with +difficulty the New Testament--and her daughter of thirteen. Accompanied +by the Syrian matron, Miss Whately went out into the surrounding lanes +and invited the women to send their little girls to her to be taught to +read and sew. She met with many curt refusals and received many +fallacious promises; but when at last, in February 1861, a start was +made, nine little girls were present the first morning "No recruiting +sergeant," she says, "was ever so pleased with a handful of future +soldiers, for it was beating up for recruits for the Lord." [1] The +numbers gradually increased, though from time to time they were +seriously affected by the spreading of malicious reports and the +opposition of bigoted relatives and the only way to keep up the +attendance was to go round visiting to obtain recruits, and to cultivate +an acquaintance with the parents of the old scholars. In three months +the children had been reduced to some sort of order, taught the alphabet +and the way to sew; they could repeat a few texts, and sing a few hymns +with some approach to sweetness. But perhaps of more importance still, +they had learned to love and obey their teacher. Before her return to +England for the summer she took them for an early morning feast in the +public gardens of Cairo: and when the simple repast was finished, while +"the little ones danced and waved boughs in a perfect ecstacy of +merriment," the elder girls, she says, "seemed to find no pleasure so +great as following us about, pointing to the flowers, and frequently +throwing their arms round us, exclaiming, 'I love thee! I love thee +much!' with eyes really overflowing with affection. How often had it +been said 'You can make nothing of Moslem girls!' but the key of love is +wonderfully powerful, and equally so in every land in opening the doors +of young hearts." [2] + +[Footnote :1 _Bagged Life in Egypt_, new ed., p. 29.] +[Footnote :2 _Ibid_., p. 110.] + +Meanwhile the beginnings of other Christian work had been made by Miss +Whately. In the early mornings she would drive or ride a few miles out +of the city, and seating herself near to some hamlet would enter into +conversation with the women and girls, and seek to instil into their +dark minds some drops of divine truth. Much of her time also was spent +in visiting the poorer women of the city. + +When, at the end of May, both the heat of the climate and family claims +necessitated her return home, she placed her little school under the +care of a teacher whom the Society for Promoting Female Education in the +East provided. + +The following winter was passed with some friends at Pau. After a trip +to the north of Spain she spent another summer at home. In the autumn +of 1862 she again arrived in Cairo, to re-open her school, which had for +some time been suspended through the departure of the teacher. Many of +her former scholars, hearing of her return, came to give her a very +hearty greeting, and were willing to come back to school, bringing their +younger sisters with them. They had, however, forgotten nearly all they +had learned, and were at first very unruly. No assistance beyond that of +an ignorant woman to help keep order and teach a little sewing was +obtainable, while Miss Whately's still imperfect acquaintance with +Arabic increased the difficulties which are everywhere experienced in +the conduct of a ragged school. The younger children were especially +difficult to deal with. The parents of the Mohammedan children objected +to the use of pictures, being accustomed to see them the objects of +reverence on the part of the Copts and other Eastern Christians, while +the Coptic children were inclined to worship them. Amusing songs in +Arabic, suitable for young children, there were none; and when a little +marching about was attempted for the sake of variety, the mothers said, +"We send our children to _learn_, and you teach them to _play_! If that +is what they go to school for, they may as well be at home." [1] After a +time a young woman was found who could do a little teaching. Miss +Whately had to continue to give all the religious instruction herself. +Yet, despite the many difficulties, the school was firmly established +and continued to make slow but steady progress. + +[Footnote 1: _Among the Huts_, p. 269.] + +When her scholars were about to start for the "school-treat" to which +reference has been made, a little boy, looking on with envious eyes, had +exclaimed in a piteous voice, "I wish I were a girl." [1] "It was indeed +a triumph," says Miss Whately, "to the little school that it caused an +Egyptian boy even for a moment to wish himself a girl." Other boys had +expressed their desire to come to school; so, as the 'girls' school did +not meet on Sundays, Miss Whately started a Sunday class for boys. This +was all it was possible for her to do by herself. But just at that time +she became acquainted with one who, with other members of his family, +was henceforth to be closely associated With all her work in Egypt. This +was Mansoor Shakoor, a young Christian Syrian of good family and +education, who, after working for some years as teacher and evangelist +in Syria, had become agent in Cairo for the Moslem Mission Society, +recently established in England. First of all Yousif Shakoor, brother of +Mansoor, came to help her in work.[2] Later Mansoor also entered her +employ, and she maintained both the brothers from her private resources. +Thus she was provided with devoted and efficient helpers. Under their +superintendence a regular school for boys was established, and when in +1863 she again returned to England she left the charge of all her work +in their hands. On the 8th of October in that year Archbishop Whately +died, and Mary Whately's Irish home being broken up, she determined +henceforth to fix her permanent abode in Cairo. She now hired another +house near to her own residence for the accommodation of the +increasing schools. + +[Footnote 1: _Ragged Life in Egypt_, new ed., p. 167.] [Footnote 2: +_Life of Mansoor Shakoor_, pp. 58, 59.] + +Very few English people can stand the intense heat of the Egyptian +summer, and Mary Whately being disinclined in 1864 to come so far as to +England, spent a short time instead in Syria. When she returned to Cairo +she took with her to educate and train Fereedy Naseef, the young cousin +and betrothed of Mansoor Shakoor. For this young girl there sprang up in +Mary Whately's heart a deep and warm affection; she called her and +treated her as her daughter, and both before and after her marriage in +the summer of 1868 she resided under Miss Whately's roof. When in 1872 +her husband died, she still remained, and Miss Whately shared with her +the care and training of her young son and daughter, while she in return +gave great assistance in the conduct and work of the mission. + + + + +IV. + +MISSION WORK IN CAIRO AND ON THE NILE. + +Is it possible to convert Moslems to Christianity? are they ready to +receive it? No one perhaps is more competent to answer these questions +than Mary Whately, and this is what she says: "To say, as has been +sometimes rashly declared, that the Moslems are ready to receive +Christianity, and that the faith of the false prophet is crumbling away, +is what I would not venture for a moment to assert. But I can state as a +fact, that in the neighbourhood of Cairo the peasant population both men +and women, are willing, and many of them eager to _listen_ to the Word +of God when it is brought before them judiciously and discreetly, as +well as with kindness and zeal." [1] + +[Footnote 1: _More about Rugged Life in Egypt_, p. 210.] + +Subsequent experience confirmed this view, and more than twenty years +later she remarks "It is necessary to be discreet in dealing with +Mohammedans, for if the spirit of bitterness is once aroused, the door +is shut, for the time at least, against good influences." [1] To awaken +to an experience of vital religion the ignorant, superstitious, and +spiritually lifeless Copts is a difficult task; to bring to personal +faith in Christ the bigoted Moslems is more difficult still. "A Moslem's +religion," she says, "is twined up with his political, social, domestic +life so minutely, that the whole rope, as it were, has to untwisted +before he can be free from error, and the very admixture of truth in +their book makes it harder in some respects to refute than if, like the +heathen doctrines, it was all wrong throughout. Perhaps the intense +self-righteousness of Moslems is after all the hardest point about them; +their notion that in the end all who are Islam are safe strengthens +them in this belief." [2] Nevertheless, the points of contact between the +Mohammedan faith and the Christian a wise teacher can use as pegs to +hang Christian teaching upon; and this Mary Whately's previous +experience among the ignorant and bigoted Roman Catholics of Ireland +enabled her to do with much tact. When peasants said to her, "Your book +is Christian--we don't like Christian books," she would explain that it +was God's book, and that the Koran did not forbid it to be read; and +that she wanted to tell them about Seidna Eessa (the Lord Jesus), whom +Mohammed acknowledged to be a prophet. In this way many an initial +difficulty would be overcome, and the reading, with simple explanation, +of stories from the Gospels would elicit the response, "The words are +good," and the request for the gift of a New Testament. + +[Footnote 1: _Life of Mary L. Whately_, p. 109.] +[Footnote 2: _A Glimpse behind the Curtain_, p. 117.] + +[Illustration: Mary L. Whately] + +As soon as Miss Whately had settled in Egypt she began visiting the +poorer women of Cairo. Usually she was received with courtesy, and when +she became known, with gratitude; and though this work was arduous and +consumed much time, through it an entrance was made for the Gospel into +many homes. Into the houses of the rich she penetrated but seldom, +partly because her work lay in other directions, and partly because +these were occupied by numerous slave-wives, who, being chiefly +Circassians or Georgians, spoke Turkish, and did not understand Arabic. +In earlier years Miss Whately did all the visiting herself, and her +books bear abundant testimony to the skill with which she could turn the +conversation to spiritual matters; in later years she was much assisted +in it by Mrs. Shakoor and by a Bible-woman whom she employed. + +Mansoor and Yousif Shakoor engaged in similar work among men. They often +found men at the coffee-houses willing to listen to the reading of the +Scriptures. When this was put a stop to through the opposition of the +Moslem priests, a book depot was opened, which did good service for some +years. Evening meetings were also established, but these were attended +almost exclusively by Copts, though occasionally a Moslem would brave +the real danger of being present at a Christian service. + +Beside the early morning rides to which reference has been made, which +afforded opportunities for religious conversation, Miss Whately would +occasionally stay for a week or two at some farmhouse or by the seaside, +and find opportunities of teaching the people around something of the +Gospel. The following is an incident connected with this work in the +country: "At an open spot just outside the village a barber was shaving +a peasant's head, and, as usual, a group were assembled near him +chatting and smoking. Mr. Shakoor took advantage of this and resolved +to join the party of men, and get into conversation, while I went a +little further in search of some women. I soon found four or five with +some little girls, all sitting upon a dust-heap! They looked very dirty, +as well they might, but I remembered 'who can raise up the beggar from +the dung-hill and make him to sit among princes.' I saluted the poor +women in a friendly way, and though looking astonished they replied +civilly. After a little chat and a few questions on both sides, I asked +if they had ever heard about our first parents, Adam and Eve, and how +sin came into the world. They just knew the names, but no more, and were +pleased to listen while I related the story. Before I had finished, an +old woman who had come up interrupted me. A young man who was standing +near and listening, desired her not to interrupt the lady, for he could +see she was learned, and 'thou art ignorant,' he added, with more truth +than politeness. 'But you are not well placed here,' he said, pointing +to the heap on which they were seated. 'Come to the roof of my house, my +mother will show you the way, and these women can come too if they +like.' I acceded to this courteous invitation, and followed the mother +and son up the mud-brick steps leading to the rude terrace; and though +anything but clean, it was a great improvement on what we had left, and +with genuine kindliness the old woman brought out an old but +well-preserved carpet and spread it for me. The others had followed, and +sat round to hear what the stranger could have to read to them. They +really seemed interested, though sometimes interrupting me with remarks +not at all to the purpose. I managed to bring them back to the stories I +read, of course choosing the simplest possible, and trying to explain a +little as we went." [1] + +[Footnote 1: _Among the Huts_, pp. 181-184.] + +Miss Whately would occasionally make an excursion into the desert, +making the acquaintance of the wild Bedouin tribes, and reading to them +the Scriptures. "Lady," once said a Bedouin, lifting the curtain of a +tent in which she and her sister were seated, "I saw your horse at the +water, and my comrade and I are come to hear some of your book." They +listened attentively while she read to them the ninth chapter of +John's Gospel. + +An important part of her work was the missionary tours which she made +each year in the winter or early spring. The first of these journeys was +in 1861, the last within a few weeks of her death. The spiritual +condition of those she visited is thus described by Miss Whately: "The +mass of the peasants are little, if at all, different from what they +were in the days of Pharaoh. Instead of praying to gods of stone and +revering brutes, it is true they now call on the Almighty, but know +scarcely anything about Him, neither His Word nor His laws. Much of the +religion of the _fellah_ consists in prostrations, and his _spontaneous_ +prayers are usually invocations to dead men, as we see with Nile boatmen +and other labourers; when in a fatiguing work, they call on the 'Lord +Hosseen or Zeid,' &c. to 'stretch out a hand and help.' Buffaloes and +sheep are frequently sacrified at the shrines of sheiks of reputed +sanctity, or at the mosque dedicated to Lady Zeynab. A pilgrimage to +Mecca and the performance of certain ceremonies there are supposed to +cleanse the pilgrim from sin. The Copts (who form the minority of the +population) have always preserved their veneration for Scripture, but +neglected it, and were extremely ignorant, till in some degree aroused +by the efforts of missionaries to seek more after education, and to read +more of the Word of God." She proceeds thus to describe the work among +these people: "On our yearly Nile excursion we had great cause for +encouragement, both among the Copts and the far more numerous Moslems. +The coast of the river is dotted with numbers of villages--some almost +large enough to be considered towns, boasting a few houses with windows, +a mosque, and a small primitive school; others are mere hamlets, +consisting of mud huts crowded closely together, and built in and out of +the palm-trees. We brought to several of these places both medicine for +the sick and books for those who desired them, and were heartily +welcomed as the peasants' friends; indeed every year the welcome grows +warmer. Dr. Azury, the skilful medical man of the Mission, has always +numerous patients; and after their bodily ailments have been attended +to, they and their friends and neighbours assemble on the shore to hear +him read from the Bible. Mrs. Shakoor and myself are at the same time +occupied in visiting the poor women in their homes or in reading and +speaking to troops of both men and women in the open air. When we are +going to leave, the boat is besieged by men and lads asking for Bibles +or portions of Scripture, which are given to those only who can read. +The last sight as we sail away is often that of a circle gathered round +one who reads aloud to those who cannot read for themselves." [1] + +[Footnote 1: _Report of the English-Egyptian Mission_ for 1887.] + + + + +V. + +PROGRESS OF THE SCHOOLS. + +The boys' school, which had begun with a few ragged Moslem children in a +room which was little better than a stable, increased rapidly. In 1870 +the pupils numbered one hundred and sixty in daily attendance. About +half were Moslems, the rest Copts and Syrians, with one or two little +negro slaves or bronzed Nubians. Many were very poor, but some belonged +to the middle classes, and there were even a few from wealthy families, +who would ride to school on donkeys from distant quarters of the town. +The two brothers Shakoor devoted much of their time to the +superintendence of the school, and taught all the higher branches, being +assisted in writing, spelling, &c., by several native teachers. The +girls' school advanced less rapidly, because of the early marriages, +which usually withdrew the pupils about the age of twelve, and because +girls were more wanted at home than boys. In 1870 there were about a +hundred names on the roll, with an average attendance of seventy +or eighty. + +It was long Miss Whately's desire to acquire a piece of land on which to +build suitable school premises. Her desire was gratified when in 1869 +the Khedive, Ismail Pasha, at the kind suggestion of the Prince of +Wales, made her a grant of the freehold of nearly an acre of land, just +outside the old wall of Cairo, the only condition being that the +building erected on it should have a handsome front, as it would face a +main road. Considerable delay was experienced in getting the necessary +papers for making the possession secure, and it was not till 1871 that +the building was erected. Mansoor Shakoor, who had considerable +knowledge of architecture, designed it, and superintended all the +details of its erection. By its side, and separated from it only by a +garden, Miss Whately put up a house for herself, that she might be +always close to her work. About one fourth of the cost was contributed +by those who in Cairo and in England took an interest in the work of the +school, but Miss Whately herself contributed the remainder of the +outlay, amounting to about four thousand pounds.[1] + +[Footnote: 1 Letter from Mary L. Whately, _The Christian_, June 15, +1882.] + +In consequence of the extension of the work, and because this large +outlay had seriously diminished her resources, Miss Whately depended +largely on the gifts of others for means to carry on her work. After the +addition of a medical mission in 1879, the expenses of the work amounted +to some £1200 or £1300 a year, a sum which, of course, it was quite out +of her power personally to provide. £200 of this was derived from an +annual grant from the Egyptian, Government, and about £150 from paying +pupils, while occasionally grants were received from several English +societies. The new schools soon became one of the "sights" of Cairo, and +the English and American tourists who visited them contributed +considerably to the funds, while the rest of the money required was +collected in England, mainly through the efforts of members of Miss +Whately's family and the honorary secretary of her English committee. +But the difficulty of securing sufficient funds to carry on her work +efficiently was always one of Mary Whately's chief burdens, and she was +often obliged to make up deficiencies herself. During her occasional +visits to England, which latterly occurred only once in two or three +years, she was largely occupied in addressing public and drawing-room +meetings on behalf of her work. + +But to return. The new school buildings were opened in January 1872. +"All the friends and acquaintances who took any interest in education, +whether natives or Europeans, were invited to be present. The school +hall, a large and beautiful room, though very simple and without any +architectural ornaments, was adorned for the occasion with wreaths of +green leaves, berries, and flowers, such as an Egyptian winter offers in +abundance; and a table spread in an inner room with fruit and sweets to +regale the children, while coffee and sherbet were handed among the +visitors. Mr. Shakoor then spoke to the parents and friends of the +scholars, telling them how the building had been made for God's glory +and the good of the children in time and in eternity, and that with a +good secular education the knowledge of God's revealed Word in the Old +and New Testament was given to all of them." [1] Four months later +Mansoor Shakoor died, an irreparable loss to the mission, and four years +later his brother Yousif followed him. + +[Footnote 1: _Life of Mansoor Shakoor,_ p. 98.] + +From the opening of the new buildings the schools advanced rapidly. It +was soon found that the simple teaching of reading and writing to the +boys would not attract scholars, but to secure the advantage of +instruction in English and French, geography, history, and accounts, +many parents would send their boys, who were thus brought under +Christian influence. The extent to which this prevailed may be judged +from the testimony of the schoolmaster, that "of the boys brought up +under his tuition, not one had, so far as he could find, taken more than +one wife," which showed a great breaking away from the traditions of +Mohammedanism.[1] + +[Footnote 1: _The Christian_, June 29, 1888.] + +The girls received a simpler education, but with both boys and girls the +daily reading and explanation of the Scriptures in Arabic held a +prominent position, the Bible being the principal reading book in use. +"Nor is the teaching of those things that concern salvation confined +strictly to the time spent in reading Scripture. A few questions, or a +remark in the course of a secular lesson, often shows them what is the +most important of all matters in our minds. Nothing positively +controversial is taught; that is to say, no contemptuous expressions +about the religion of any of the children are allowed, and the plainest +truths of the Gospel specially set forward; but occasionally something +comes into the lesson which shows to an intelligent learner the vanity +of the superstitions around them." [1] + +[Footnote 1: _Among the Huts_, p. 116.] + +The policy of employing Egyptians or Syrians as teachers was frequently +challenged by people in England, and vigorously defended by Miss +Whately. "The schools are under my personal superintendence," she wrote +in 1885, "receiving not only daily supervision, but examination from me, +and I never gave up the teaching of any part of Scripture into other +hands, until I had truly converted as well as educated teachers as +assistants." [1] + +[Footnote 1:_The Times_, Aug. 15, 1885.] + +In 1879 pupils had to be refused for want of room, and from that time +till her death the scholars numbered nearly seven hundred. + +The period of the Arabi rebellion in 1882 was a severe testing time. +Though deliverance came at the eleventh hour, and Cairo was spared, "the +inhabitants," writes Miss Whately in her report for that year, "lived +for months in a sickening anxiety which can hardly be realized by those +who only know the general facts from the papers." Not only Jews and +Christians, but Moslems who remained faithful to the Khedive were +threatened with torture and death. Miss Whately stayed at her post long +after nearly all the Europeans had fled, and only left when the English +Consul informed her that he would be no longer responsible for her +safety. "The superintendent of the Mission Boys' School remained in +Cairo at great personal risk, to keep things together as much as +possible. The schools were not closed till the bombardment of +Alexandria, when the excited mobs in the streets made it unfit for +children to be abroad, and it soon afterwards was necessary to take away +the board with the notice of the 'British Schools,' &c." The school +buildings were used as a refuge for the homeless and persecuted, both +foreigners and Egyptians. A list of buildings doomed to pillage included +the Mission House. "The second day after the entrance of the victorious +army, the superintendent opened the school. The pupils flocked back by +degrees. At first some of the children of _Arabists_ hung back, but +began to follow the rest after a time." Miss Whately had the joy of +knowing that in the time of extremest danger many young Coptic girls, +formerly her pupils, when urged to pretend to turn Moslems to save their +lives, had replied, "No! if we die, we die in the faith of the +Messiah." [1] + +[Footnote 1:_Report of English Egyptian Mission for_ 1882.] + +Yet the same year a night school for youths of the better classes was +established. Several years previously Miss E.J. Whately had founded in +connection with the school a branch for the education of the children of +European parents in Cairo. After the rebellion these were much less +numerous, and the branch, henceforth known as the Levantine School, was +chiefly attended by Jewesses, Armenians, Syrians, and others of Eastern +race, who paid for the education they received. Among them it did good +service. Subsequently small branch mission schools were established in +Gizeh and other places. + + + + +VI. + +THE MEDICAL MISSION. + +Sympathy with the sick poor around her for whom no medical aid was +available, early led Mary Whately to dispense simple remedies and +especially to distribute medicine to relieve the terribly prevalent +ophthalmia. In this she attained considerable skill, and though her +nerves were more susceptible than others often thought, she bore bravely +the contact with dirt and the sight of suffering which these labours +entailed. "She loved to relate," says her sister, "what affectionate +gratitude was called out by these acts. The Egyptians are very sensible +to kindness, and she never forgot how a poor mason, whose hand, injured +by the fall of some part of a wall, she had daily dressed, afterwards +recognising her as he passed by her garden railing, saluted her with the +words, 'May Allah ever hold your hand, O lady!' This kindness it was +that won her a way among the poor of the city. In lanes and streets +where she had been met by pelting with dust and cries of 'Cursed +Nazarene!' she was now met by the salutation, 'Blessed be thy hands and +feet, O lady!' or similar words of welcome. 'Sitt Mariam' (literally +Lady Mary) became a household word in many mouths." [1] + +[Footnote 1: _Life of Mary L. Whately_, p. 62.] + +Miss Whately perceived that medical mission work--of which none whatever +had been attempted in Cairo--would form an excellent introduction to +Christian work among the adult population. In 1878 therefore she engaged +Dr. Azury, a skilful Syrian doctor, who had been trained in the American +Medical College at Beyrout, and who had lately married Mrs. Shakoor's +sister. Almost before the necessary premises could be secured numerous +sufferers applied for treatment. At first a small wooden room was built +by Miss Whately on her premises as a waiting room for the patients and +dispensary for the doctor; and during the first three years over four +thousand patients were cured or relieved, and many operations performed, +some of which restored sight to the blind. In 1881 a suitable building +for this branch of the Mission was erected, containing two airy waiting +rooms, one for women and children and the other for men, a consulting +room in which the doctor saw his patients, and two separate rooms, each +containing a bed or two for the reception of cases that needed constant +care. In the waiting rooms Mary Whately might be found almost any +morning reading the Bible and talking to the patients waiting their +turn to see the doctor. No compulsion was used, but an attentive hearing +was usually obtained, while a psalm or some story from the New Testament +was read and explained. As the same people would often come every day or +two for several weeks, something like continuous teaching could be +given. In this work Mary Whately greatly delighted. In any difficult +case, says a friend (_Sunday at Home_, 1889, p. 406), "'Sitt Mariam' +would take her place in the surgery, ready with a kind word and +practical assistance." An instance of the good done by the mission is +given by the same writer. "A young woman came one day weeping bitterly; +she was one of the wives of a sheik of a village some miles away, and +she was almost blind. Her husband had told her that she was no longer of +use to him, and he should divorce her. She was in a pitiable state of +distress. The doctor, by God's help, was able to cure the poor young +wife completely. She returned to her village in deepest thankfulness, +and was taken back into favour by her lord and master. Some time +afterwards she returned again, this time bringing a tall turbaned man +with her, who proved to be her husband; he was the sufferer this time, +and the good and forgiving wife had persuaded him to come and see the +doctor to whom she owed so much. After some time the man was cured, and +during his bodily treatment we may be sure that his soul was not +forgotten. He showed his gratitude by sending many from his village to +the Medical Mission; so that the seed was sown broadcast." + + + + +VII. + +LITERARY EFFORTS. + +Mary Whately, though she belonged to a book-writing family, aspired to +no literary fame. Her ten books were all the outcome of her work in +Egypt, and were written to awaken interest in it, and in some cases to +secure funds for it. She was, as a girl, the "story-teller" of the +family, and among her companions secured a reputation for her powers of +narration. This gift she turned to good account. + +"It was at her father's suggestion and by his advice that her first +book, _Ragged Life in Egypt_, was published. A friend staying in the +house had been reading to him a series of letters Mary had written her, +describing her first settlement for the winter in Cairo, the +commencement of her school, her visits among the poor, etc. He listened +with much pleasure and attention, and on his daughter entering the room +a few minutes afterwards, he said, 'Mary, you ought to publish these +papers!' Her first answer was, 'Oh! people are tired of Egypt! they have +had so many books of travels there and so many details!' 'Yes,' he +rejoined, 'but yours will be new; you have reached a stratum lower than +any foreign visitor has yet done.' This determined her to publish; and +the book was finished and brought out immediately. In 1863 the same +friend read to the Archbishop during his last illness the manuscript of +the second part, _More about Ragged Life in Egypt_. On the morning on +which the reading was finished, he took his gold pen from his pocket, +and giving it to her said, 'I shall never use this again, Mary; take it, +and go on.'" [1] + +[Footnote 1: _Life of Mary L. Whately_, pp. 55-57.] + +In 1871 she published a further account of Egyptian life and of her +mission work, under the title, _Among the Huts in Egypt_. Meanwhile in +1867 she had contributed to the _Leisure Hour_, and afterwards issued as +a volume, _The Story of a Diamond_. Another story, _Lost in Egypt_, was +written in 1881. In 1873 Miss Whately published a biography of Mansoor +Shakoor, and in 1881 she wrote _Letters from Egypt for Plain Folks at +Home_. In 1878 she published a story called _Unequally Yoked_, +illustrating the miserable lives of English women who have been +persuaded to marry Mohammedans, and in 1872 she wrote _A Glimpse Behind +the Curtain_, a story of life in the harems of Cairo. Her last book +appeared in 1888 with the title, _Peasant Life on the Nile_. With +changed names and in a slightly veiled form, it recounts the history of +some who received spiritual blessing through her mission work. All her +books are written in a simple unaffected style, and reveal an unrivalled +acquaintance with Oriental character and the Egyptian mode of life. Most +of them are illustrated by engravings from her own sketches. + + + + +VIII. + +RESULTS. + +Writing in 1861 Miss Whately said, "The reaping time is not yet." [1] Ten +years later she writes: "It is a missionary's duty to sow beside all +waters, and to lose _no_ opportunity, even if his chance of doing good +be but small. The sower of the seed has need of much patience; and +though he need not actually be _expecting_ and looking for +disappointment, as that would paralyse his efforts for good, he must yet +be prepared for it." [2] In this spirit of patience and perseverance Mary +Whately carried on her work, and though her work was largely pioneering, +she was not without encouragement. Her hand was the first to begin to +break down the wall of ignorance, prejudice, and bigotry which had for +centuries shut in the people of Egypt. She convinced thousands that the +Christian book is a good book, and Christian men and women good people, +despite the evidence to the contrary of so many in Egypt who bear the +Christian name but do not live the Christian life. The sentiments of the +people are leavened by thousands among them who in youth passed through +her schools, and there acquired an acquaintance with Scripture truth. +"Youths employed under Government, on the railways or in mercantile +houses, who have received with the secular education which has secured +their positions, a thorough knowledge of the Bible as its condition, +continually greet her after they have quite outgrown her +recollection." [3] The teachers in later years were chiefly composed of +those who had been pupils in the schools, and of whose conversion she +had no doubt. Thousands of poor sufferers were relieved by the Medical +Mission, thousands of homes made happier by the visits of herself and +her assistants. Many of the Scriptures distributed on her Nile journeys +were kept and read, and found afterwards in most unlikely places. + +[Footnote 1: _More about Ragged Life_, p. 199.] [Footnote 2: _Among the +Huts_, p. 151.] [Footnote 3: _Lost in Egypt_, preface.] + +In 1870 Miss Whately was able to tell of the first of her scholars of +whose conversion she could feel sure. In 1878 she writes of two little +boys, pupils in her school, who read the Bible at home to their old +nurse, a slave woman, during the illness which terminated in her death. +So simply did she receive the truth, that she declined to see the Mollah +or reader of the Koran, saying, "No, no, I want no one but Him whom the +boys tell me about; the boys' Saviour is my Saviour." [1] In _Peasant +Life on the Nile_ Miss Whately gives several instances of Copts who +through her efforts refused to turn Moslems, and of others who became +Christians in deed and in truth. + +[Footnote 1: _Letters from Egypt_, pp. 117, 118.] + +Instances of blessing on the work of the Mission might be multiplied. +Nevertheless the difficulty of bringing a Mohammedan to an open avowal +of Christianity always remained extremely great. Converts to +Christianity always incurred the risk of secret poisoning. Yet in the +report for 1888, penned by Miss Whately only a few weeks before her +death, she says, "The seed sown in past years is evidently taking root;" +and the accounts for that year contain the significant entry, "Clothes +for poor convert on his baptism, £2." She also gratefully acknowledged +that the reading of the books of her lending-library, largely supplied +by the Religious Tract Society, had reached more Mohammedans than any +other Christian agency. + + + + +IX. + +TWILIGHT. + +Like the twilight in the land of her adoption, the twilight of Mary +Whately's life was very brief. Her sun went down while it was yet day. +Her last years were among her busiest. She would rise very early, often +watching from her balcony the dawn break, and then would take a ride in +the fresh morning air, or go out into her garden, for, as with her +father, gardening was her delight. After a simple breakfast she would be +usually found in the dispensary by nine o'clock, reading and talking to +the patients. When they had all been cared for, she would teach her +Scripture class in the Levantine school, and afterwards visit the other +schools, or attend to some of her domestic duties. After a short rest in +the heat of the day, the remainder of the afternoon would be occupied +with receiving or paying visits, and the short evening before retiring +early to rest, when free from various forms of mission work, with +painting or reading. When burdened with the difficulties of the work, +she would often exclaim, "Why tarry the wheels of His chariot?" and the +coming of the Lord was ever the object of her lively anticipation. + +In the summer of 1888 she paid her last visit to England, taking also a +tour in Switzerland, which she greatly enjoyed. Early in the autumn she +returned to Cairo, where she was joined by her elder sister, who +frequently spent the winter with her. In February she made preparations +for her usual Nile trip. After the boat had been engaged and paid for, +she caught a cold, and was urged to defer the journey; but as this would +have caused extra expense, she declined. The excitement of the work, +which, on account of the doctor being unable through ill health to +accompany her, was unusually heavy, kept her up for the time, but on her +return to Cairo she had to retire to bed. Bronchitis set in, and in a +few days the gravest was feared. A relapse discovered weakness of the +heart, and on the morning of Saturday, March 9, 1889, her spirit fled. +Then was there, as of old, "a grievous mourning" among "the Egyptians." +No need was there to employ professional mourners to make a wailing; the +teachers and scholars, and the hundreds of poor men and women who had +learned to love her, wept aloud for her. Her body was laid to rest in +the English cemetery in Cairo, but she herself rested from her labours +among those of whom she wrote:-- + + "Oh! they've reached the sunny shore + Over there; + They will never hunger more; + All their pain and grief is o'er; + Over there. + + Oh! they've done the weary fight + Over there; + Jesus saved them by His might; + And they walk with Him in white; + Over there." + + W.R. Bowman + + + + +AGNES JONES[1] + +[Footnote 1: The extracts are made, by kind permission of Messrs. +Nisbet & Co., from _Agnes Jones_, by her sister.] + + +CHAPTER I. + +YOUTHFUL DAYS. + +A chance visitor to the Liverpool Workhouse on Brownlow Hill might be +lost in wonder at its vastness, as he looked at its streets of large +buildings and was told of its more than four thousand inhabitants. He +would scarcely imagine that those bare-looking groups of buildings +possess an historic interest. Yet to the Christian philanthropist it is +holy ground, for there, in willing sacrifice for others, were spent the +last years of the life of that saintly woman who gave the death-blow to +the old system of pauper nursing and all its attendant evils. But we are +looking at the stream as it enters the limitless ocean of eternity. We +can do that again by-and-by. Let us turn now rather to the beginning of +that stream of life and trace it onwards. + +Agnes Elizabeth Jones was born at Cambridge on the 10th of November, +1832, the 12th Regiment, of which her father was the lieutenant-colonel, +having arrived there only a few days before. + +When Agnes was about five years of age, her father's regiment, which had +previously been quartered at Cork, was ordered to Mauritius. The +wonderfully varied and beautiful scenery of this little island--a tiny +gem set in the heart of the Indian Ocean--with its curiously shaped +mountains, and tropical trees and plants, made a wonderful impression on +the mind of the child, and although she was only eleven years old when +she left, she always cherished the memory of it. + +But it was not only that her mind was roused to a keen appreciation of +the beauties around her during her residence in Mauritius. The higher +part of her nature, chiefly through the faithful teaching of one of the +French pastors on the island, was also touched, and in the young heart +there arose the longing to be safely folded in the arms of the Good +Shepherd. A sentence in one of his sermons haunted her night and +day:--"And now, brethren, if you cannot answer me, how will you at the +last day answer the Great Searcher of hearts?" An arrow shot at a +venture, it pierced her heart, and although she did not yet yield +herself fully to God, she never entirely lost the desire to be His, even +when apparently outwardly indifferent. We may well thank God for His +servant's earnest ministry, for had he been less faithful, the whole +course of that life, which was to prove so valuable in the service of +the Lord, might have been changed. + +From Madagascar, five hundred and fifty miles from Mauritius, yet its +next-door neighbour westwards in the silver sea, there came, when Agnes +was yet but seven years old, the tidings of a fearful persecution of the +Christians. The letters received at that time told of indescribably +dreadful sufferings for Christ's sake, and the sight of the Malagasy +refugees who fled to Mauritius, fired her young soul with the desire to +become a missionary. This desire, however, in her exceeding reserve, she +kept to herself. God had other purposes for her, and it was amongst her +own country people, and not in the foreign field, that He called her +to labour. + +After the return of her parents from Mauritius, the greater part of four +years was spent in a beautiful spot at the foot of the hills of the +Donegal Highlands on the banks of Lough Swilly, one of the loveliest of +the Irish lakes. This period is spoken of by her sister as one in which +she appeared utterly indifferent to spiritual things, yet some entries +in her journal indicate an intense longing after a higher life. They +certainly show that she knew the sinfulness of her own heart and the +weakness of her resolutions, and that, in common with so many reserved +natures, while hiding the true state of her feelings from others, she +was much given to introspection and inclined to magnify her faults. Such +reserved natures do not "wear their heart on their sleeve," and it +should be a comfort to parents and teachers who are anxiously watching +children to know that "things are not always what they seem," and that +many a child who seems altogether careless is in reality not far from +the kingdom. + +In January, 1848, when a little over fifteen, she was sent to school at +Stratford-on-Avon, and remained there until her father's death in 1850. +The good discipline of this school and the wise guidance of her teachers +had a most wholesome effect on the development of her character, and the +steady, indomitable perseverance in the face of difficulties which so +marked her after-life distinguished her then. By her painstaking and +close attention she made up for her want of quickness in learning. Hence +she never forgot what she had once learned. + +The actual time of her conversion seems to have been during the period +that she resided with her mother and sister in Dublin. To the earnest +man of God whose ministry they attended, the preparation of the younger +members of his flock for admission to the Lord's Supper was no +perfunctory task. He introduced her, with others of his candidates, to +one of his helpers as "anxious inquirers." So shy and reserved was Agnes +that she said but little, yet this lady remarked of her:--"In the class +her intense appetite for the living bread was so apparent, that I often +felt myself speaking to her only, her calm gentle eyes fixed on me, as +God helped me to speak." + +It is impossible for those who have definitely accepted Christ's +salvation, and who truly realise His love to perishing sinners, to be +idlers in His vineyard. We are therefore not surprised to find her soon +at work, her own particular plot being in the ragged school. Her needy +little scholars were a great interest to her. She always showed the +greatest sympathy and devotion to them, and while caring for their souls +did not forget their bodily needs. Even when on a holiday she sought and +found work amongst the poor. Indeed, distress of any kind always +appealed to her heart. + +There are some Christians who are very active in the outside world, but +who forget that the first duty of a child of God is to "show piety at +home." It was not so with Agnes Jones, for it was in the home that the +beauty of her life was most visible, and it was in the family circle +that the affection and unselfishness of her character shone most +conspicuously. Others, indeed, could plainly see the development of the +Christ-life in her, but she herself, dwelling as she did in the presence +of her Lord, was prone to judge herself harshly. Thus, with every moment +occupied, she charged herself with being lazy and negligent. + +The first step towards the great work of her life was taken while on a +visit to the Continent in 1853. During the May meetings in Paris, there +was one held on behalf of the Oeuvre des Diaconesses, one of the +branches of the Institution at Kaiserswerth on the Rhine, founded by +Pastor Fliedner. This she attended, and was then first made acquainted +with that work, which became of great interest to her, an interest which +was much strengthened by a visit to Kaiserswerth itself about two months +later. "As we drove away," she writes, "my great wish was that this +might not be my last visit to Kaiserwerth.... That visit was, I believe, +a talent committed to our care; may it not be buried." + +So full was she of the conviction that by seeing more of the work at +Kaiserswerth she would be the better fitted for her beloved work in +Ireland, that she proposed that she should go there for a week. To her +great joy her mother concurred in the proposal, and earnestly did Agnes +pray that this visit might be blessed and sanctified by God to +His glory. + +She was charmed with all that she heard and saw at Kaiserswerth, with +the love which was so manifest in all, with the intensity of purpose, +the perfect obedience, the beautiful order, the incessant work without +fuss or bustle, and above all with the spirit of prayer, which pervaded +the whole institution. Her journals show how strong was her desire to +return there for training, for she believed that "as we use means to fit +us for any earthly profession, so are we bound to use every means which +will enable us to adorn our Christian profession." Her friends, however, +knew nothing of her wishes. They were told only in the ears of her God. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +AT WORK IN THE VINEYARD. + +For some time after her return from the Continent, Agnes Jones resumed +her former work in Dublin, labouring more energetically than ever. In +1856, however, she and her mother returned to Fahan, the old home on the +shore of Lough Swilly, always a favourite spot with her, not only +because of the beauty of its scenery, but also because her beloved +father was there laid to rest. + +To the Christian who is ever on the watch opportunities for service are +never lacking, and Agnes soon found her hands full. Did a child fall +into the fire--a very common accident in that district--she must be +fetched, for so gentle yet so firm was her touch in dressing wounds that +the fame of her skill had spread for miles, and she was sent for from +far and near, to Protestants and Roman Catholics alike. Was some one +dying, still it was she who must come to smooth the pillow and speak the +words of life. + +The spiritual side of her work she never lost sight of, but made the +rest subservient to this, as a means to an end, always reading the Bible +if allowed, and following the reading by a simple but practical and +faithful explanation. She was indeed "instant in season" and out of +season. In all weathers she might be seen speeding along the lonely +mountain roads, setting off soon after breakfast, to be at work the +whole day, with the exception of the early dinner-time, and often not +returning until after dark. She was tempted, as every other worker is, +to relax her energies and to stay at home if the weather were bad, or if +she were not feeling well; but instead of yielding, she would, if a bad +headache came on, start off the earlier, that she might not lose the +chance of a visit through the pain increasing. Yet her duties at home +were never neglected. Rather than omit them, she would rise at five, +that she might anticipate the wants of others, and save her +mother trouble. + +Agnes herself, in her intense humility, considered that she was an +unsuccessful worker, and was inclined to condemn herself for lack of +zeal and earnestness. But her work was a great joy to her, and +especially did she love her happy talks with some of the aged Christians +amongst the sixty families she regularly visited. + +He is a rash soldier who ventures into the battle without a weapon tried +and proved, and he can only be an unsuccessful Christian worker who does +not make the Word of God the rule and guide of his life. To Agnes Jones +the Bible was a constant study. She was a most earnest student of God's +Word, and delighted to meditate upon it. In her journal she +writes:--"What should I be without my Bible?" And again, realising the +truth of the promise, "He that watereth shall be watered also himself," +she says:--"God's Word often comes home more strongly to my own heart as +I read to the poor, and try to make a few simple remarks." Little wonder +is it that, knowing and loving His Word as she did, Christ was to her a +very personal Saviour and Friend. Her one longing was for more and more +likeness to Him. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +FOREIGN TRAINING. + +However strong and good our wishes may be, it is never safe to force on +their accomplishment. They are never the losers who wait God's time, and +the wisest course of all is the one which Agnes Jones pursued, of +telling her wishes to God, and then, in perfect submission to His will, +leaving the issue with Him. + +It was not until seven years after her visit to Kaiserswerth that the +way was made open for her to return there. This step had been suggested +by her mother five years previously, but the filial spirit was so strong +in her that, although she eagerly desired a more thorough training for +God's service, she felt that her mother stood first, and refused to +leave her alone. Now the case was different, and she gladly seized the +opportunity. Still she was nervously fearful lest after all she should +not be following the guiding pillar. + +It was in the autumn of 1860 that she arrived at Kaiserswerth, where she +immediately entered heartily into the work. Her intention was to stay +for only a month, or at the most six weeks; but after she had been there +but a short time, the pastor so strongly represented the great advantage +it would be to her to spend the whole winter in the institution, that +she felt constrained to write for her mother's permission to do so. As +ever, she was full of prayer for God's guidance, and that whatever was +done might be only for His glory. Her mother leaving the choice entirely +with her, she decided to remain, believing that the training would be +of inestimable use to her in her future work. + +The Deaconesses' Institution at Kaiserswerth had a very small beginning. +Pastor Fliedner, having heard of Mrs. Fry's work amongst female +prisoners, was filled with longing to follow her example, and received +two discharged prisoners, whose friends had refused them, with the +object of giving them the chance of retrieving their character. He set +them to work under the personal supervision of himself and his wife. The +work soon increased, and assistance was needed. To the penitentiary were +added an orphanage, a training-school, a hospital, and a lunatic asylum. +More and more workers were drawn in, and at the time of Agnes Jones's +first visit there were fifteen branches of the institution in different +parts of the world. This number by the time of her second visit had +increased to fifty. + +The deaconesses as novices passed through every department of the work, +and received a thorough training in both nursing and household work, the +pastor wisely considering that if, when in visiting the poor, they could +render them practical help, their words would prove far more effective. +Much was made of Bible study, both public and private, and this, as well +as the _Stille Stunde_ (quiet hour), a half-hour daily set apart for +prayer and meditation, could not but tend to give a spiritual tone to +the whole work. Agnes revelled in all this, and found great happiness in +the daily routine, in spite of much which was, perhaps, somewhat +needless drudgery, such as sweeping and dusting her room, washing up +after meals, and even black-leading stoves. She had, however, well +learned the lesson that no action can be mean to the Christian if it +come in the way of duty. Sometimes, indeed, it seemed a waste of +strength to spend so much of the day in manual work, especially work +which so injured her hands that for some time she was obliged to keep +them poulticed, and was thus unable to assist in the hospital. Still she +was, as she said herself, "as happy as the day is long, and it does not +seem half long enough," in spite of a longing sometimes "for home sights +and voices." + +Soon after her arrival at Kaiserswerth, fourteen sick boys were given +into her care for twelve hours a day. This was no easy task, +particularly when she was left in sole charge of them, some being too +far recovered to lie in bed, and needing to be kept at lessons or work. +As the weeks rolled by, her work was changed, and in addition to other +employment, she instructed a number of classes in English, both in the +training-school and among the deaconesses. As for herself, she was daily +becoming more proficient in German, and in a very short time was able +easily to follow the sermon. This was a great enjoyment to her, as she +much valued the truly evangelical teaching at Kaiserswerth. + +At the end of three months of steady work, she spent a few days with an +uncle and aunt who were staying at Bonn, but the gay boarding-house life +contrasted so unfavourably with the happy Christian fellowship at +Kaiserswerth, that she was thankful to return to her duties, playfully +writing:--"The nun will not soon again leave her cell, for it was with +very nun-like feelings she met the world again." Yet she was no +misanthrope. She did not bring to God a heart which had tried earth's +pleasures and had found them wanting, nor a life jaded with pursuing +them. From the first, she had cast aside the love of worldly things, and +had chosen to be wholly the Lord's. + +During the latter part of her stay at Kaiserswerth, her duties lay +entirely in the hospital. In January she wrote:--"My duties are in the +children's hospital, all ages from two to twelve. It is a new life for +me in a nursery of sick children, and a busy one too, for every moment +they want something done for them." + +A month or so later she was appointed superintendent of the boys' +hospital, a post of peculiar responsibility and difficulty. It was one, +too, from which she shrank, holding the mistaken idea that she possessed +no powers of government. Certainly it was a position to tax the +patience, for the children were not too ill to be noisy and disobedient, +or even sometimes to unite in open rebellion, while the task was not +rendered easier by the necessity of speaking in a foreign tongue. + +Altogether she had a very busy life. She rose at 5.O A.M. every day, and +kept hard at work, with the exception of the intervals for meals and the +_Stille Stunde_ (quiet hour), until night. "The cleaning and keeping my +dominion in order is such a business," she writes. "Sweeping and washing +the floor of the three rooms every morning, two stoves which must be +black-leaded weekly, each taking an hour, weekly cleaning of windows, +tins, dinner-chests, washing-up of bandages, &c., besides the washing-up +after each of our five meals, keeps one busy." She must have been strong +in those days, for she wrote:--"I come over from the other house every +morning at six, the ground white and windows frozen over; often at three +in the afternoon the water outside is still frozen, yet night or morning +I never put on bonnet or handkerchief, unless when I go out for a walk." + +From the first the hospital patients with their varied needs were a +great interest to her. Now it is a dying man, beside whom she has to +watch, longing to minister words of comfort, yet unable to do so, +fearing that her then want of fluency in the language might trouble him +in his weakness. Yet as she heard the poor man's cry, "Lieber Heiland, +hilf mir" (Dear Saviour, help me), her prayers, too, rose for him to the +compassionate Saviour. Now it is a little boy with a bad back, terrible +sores, and a racking cough, who would let no one else touch him. "Every +night," she says, "I used to pray with Otto after they were all in bed, +and he used to put his poor little arm round my neck as I knelt beside +him; but last night (the night before he died) he said of himself, 'I +will only now pray that Jesus may take me to heaven, and that I may soon +die,' and as I had put my face near him to hear, he said, 'Lay your +cheek on mine, it does me so much good.'" + +We have seen quite enough of Agnes Jones by this time to know that she +never shrank from a duty, however repulsive. Her love for her Master, +and her desire to serve others for His sake, preserved her from any +fastidiousness. In spite of her sensitive and sympathetic nature she +could bear to witness the most painful operations without flinching, for +she kept before her mind the ultimate good which would accrue from the +present suffering. + +One day news reached Kaiserswerth of the deplorable condition of one of +the English hospitals in Syria. Sick and well, it was stated, were +crowded together in a place where rubbish of every kind was thrown, an +insanitary condition anywhere, but especially so in an Eastern climate. +Helpers, they said, were much needed. Agnes longed to step into the +breach, and in a letter to her mother she says:--"The English send +plenty of money, but hands are wanting. It is no new thought with me +that mine are strong and willing; I would gladly offer them. Could my +own mother bear to think of her child for the next few months as in +Syria instead of Germany? It is but temporary, and yet an urgent case. +My favourite motto came last Sunday, 'The Lord hath need;' if He has +need of my mother's permission to her child He will enable her to give +it. This is but the expression of a wish, and if my own mother were to +be made too anxious by the granting it, let it be as if unasked by her +own Agnes." + +Her standard of filial obedience was indeed a high one, though no higher +than the standard of God's Word. Before this, in asking permission to +remain longer at Kaiserswerth, she had written to her mother:--"Your +wishes shall be my guide, now and for the future, as long as I am +blessed with such a loving counsellor. I trust my present training in +obedience will not be lost in reference to home." + +Although she thought the whole training at Kaiserswerth invaluable she +wrote long after:--"I believe all I owe to Kaiserswerth was comprised in +the lesson of unquestioning obedience." Those who would rule must first +learn to obey, and certain it is that she would never have been fitted +to be afterwards the head of a large institution hundreds to care for +and govern, had she not so truly imbibed the spirit of obedience. + +While she had a profound admiration for Kaiserswerth, she could still +see that the life of a deaconess, shielded though it is from the world, +is not exempt from danger. Some fancy that the life of a deaconess, or +of any one similarly set apart, must be much more free from temptation +than that of any ordinary person. "I think," she wrote, "every one is as +much called on as a deaconess is to work for Him who first loved us; but +if this does not constrain us as Christians, neither will it as +deaconesses, and certainly the 'Anstalt' (Institution) is a world in +which the Martha-spirit may be found as well as in the outer world. +There are many most deeply taught Christians here, many whose faces +shine, but I should say, comparing my home life (but few have such a +home) with that of the deaconesses here, I should say that, in many +positions here, there are more, not only daily but hourly temptations." + +The fact that nursing was her vocation had for a long time been dawning +on her mind, but the way to go to Syria did not seem open, and the Lord +had other work for her. Almost by the same post there arrived two +letters, one from Mrs. Ranyard, so well known as the originator of the +London Bible Mission, suggesting that she should go and help her in the +great work of superintending and training the Bible women, the other +from a philanthropic gentleman, unfolding a plan for a proposed nurses' +home in connection with an infirmary, and asking if she, after a few +months' special training, would become its superintendent. Thus, while +one door was shut, two others unexpectedly opened to her. + +But which should she enter? This was the question which she prayerfully +debated. She wished to lay out her life to the best interest for God, +and both schemes had special attractiveness to her; the one, because of +its intensely spiritual work; the other, because of her love for +nursing, and the boundless possibilities for good there might be in +training nurses. She feared, however, that as superintendent of the +nurses' home she might be fettered in more definite Christian work. She +felt she must be left in no uncertainty on this point. In her letter +replying to the gentleman who had written to her, she said:--"You sent +me the ground plan of the building, but I would ask, is its foundation +and corner stone to be Christ and Him crucified, the only Saviour? Is +the Christian training of the nurses to be the primary, and hospital +skill the secondary object? I ask not that all should be of one +Christian denomination, but what I do ask is that Jesus, the God-man, +and His finished work of salvation for all who believe on Him, should be +the basis, and the Bible the book of the institution. If this be your +end and aim, then will I gladly pass through any course of training to +be fitted to help in your work." + +Soon after writing this letter she bade farewell to Kaiserswerth. Her +plan was to go first to London to consult with Miss Nightingale and +other friends as to her future. The seven months in Germany had been +most happy ones, and she was ever thankful for the time she had spent +there. She fully saw the great need of Christian training institutions. +In those days the Evangelical Protestant churches, unlike the Romanists, +who for many centuries had largely availed themselves of it, were not +alive to the importance of the ministry of women. There were no +institutions in England where Christian women could be trained to work +for Christ, that work of all others the most important, and some, to +secure the training they longed for, and could not get elsewhere, had +even entered Roman Catholic sisterhoods. Times are changed now, thank +God, and although there is still the need of more, there are many +institutions where Christian women can be thoroughly and efficiently +trained for service of different kinds at home and abroad. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +IN LONDON SLUMS. + +As we have already seen, Agnes Jones distrusted her power to rule. This +fact, added to her mother's dislike to her entering a hospital +determined her, for the present at least, to join Mrs. Ranyard in the +work of the Bible Mission, for she knew that while she would be +relieving her friend of some of the burden of her work she would have +ample opportunities of discovering whether she were fitted to govern. + +She was soon busy in many ways, in mothers' meetings, Bible classes, +industrial kitchens, dormitories, refuges, and in visiting with the +Bible women. In every department of that varied work she was most +helpful to Mrs. Ranyard, even taking the whole charge of the mission for +two months while the latter was absent in Switzerland. She found her +knowledge of German very useful, and turned it to the best account on +several occasions when she met with German immigrants. + +In the narrow courts and lanes of London, unthought of and unheeded by +the busy throng, she found many of the Lord's jewels who, though poor in +this world's goods and sick in body, were yet rich in faith and strong +in soul. One of these, a woman who for thirty-two years had been a +terrible sufferer, would whisper, "Blessed Jesus, in everything +suitable. Just the Saviour suitable for me." Another, whom she several +times mentions in her letters, and to whom she delighted to minister as +a nurse, a poor cripple who had only the use of her thumb, and who from +lying eighteen years in one position had terrible bed-sores, could yet +say, "I am ashamed to talk of my suffering when I think of all Jesus +suffered for me." + +[Illustration:] + +Her happy work in London was brought to a premature conclusion by a +telegram announcing that her sister was ill of fever in Rome, followed +by another begging her to go to her at once. A journey thither was not +such an easy one then as it is now, but, after arranging all her work so +as to give Mrs. Ranyard as little trouble as possible, Agnes bravely +undertook it. A heavy storm was encountered at Marseilles, where she +embarked for Italy, and this delayed her arrival in Rome, so that on +reaching there she found her sister out of danger. A cousin, however, +who had formed one of the party, had fallen ill of the same fever, and +needed careful nursing, so that she found her hands full, and, as the +recovery of both invalids was slow, she determined to give up her London +work, and devote herself to them. + +Some months were spent in Italy; but her strength, which had been +greatly tried by the work in London, again becoming enervated, and her +nursing duties being at an end, she proposed that she should go to +Switzerland and visit the deaconesses' institutions there. This plan she +carried out, and visited several of the Swiss institutions, which she +considered compared unfavourably with Kaiserswerth, both in organisation +and spiritual tone. She visited besides some of those in Germany, and at +Mannedorf had the joy of spending several days with that wonderful woman +of faith, Dorothea Trudel. + +All her experience had now gone to prove that her special gift was +hospital work, and on rejoining her mother she definitely laid before +her her wish to devote herself to the work of nursing, and with her +consent entered into a correspondence with Miss Nightingale with the +idea of entering St. Thomas's Hospital as a Nightingale probationer. + +It is very clear that all through her life she was satisfied to be doing +the "next thing," whatever that next thing should be which was pointed +out to her by the guiding of God's Holy Spirit. She never ran counter to +her mother's wishes, knowing that no blessing could be expected when the +command, "Honour thy father and thy mother," was not observed; but when +home no longer needed her, she was glad to enter the larger field to +which God had opened the way. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +HOSPITAL WARDS. + +It has been said that "every woman is by nature more or less a nurse," +but like most sayings it is by no means always true. Many who possess +the gentleness and sympathy which are so necessary in nursing the sick, +yet lack the ready nerve, deftness, and promptitude. Who has not beheld +the sad spectacle of women anxious to help, yet helpless because of +their ignorance and want of training? That will be a happy day when a +course of training in nursing, though it be but a short one, is +considered a necessary part of every woman's education. Miss Nightingale +truly says, "There is no such thing as amateur nursing ... Three-fourths +of the whole mischief in women's lives arises from their excepting +themselves from the rule of training considered needful for man." + +Agnes Jones was a "born nurse;" but although she had had many +opportunities both at Fahan and at Kaiserswerth of developing her +talent, she would not attempt to teach others what she had not +thoroughly grasped herself. The post in Liverpool, of Superintendent of +the Training School of Nurses for the Poor, was still open to her and, +in spite of her fear that she lacked the capacity to govern, had many +attractions for her, and so she said, "I determined at least to try, to +come to St. Thomas's Hospital, and to see whether in so great a work as +that of training true-hearted, God-fearing nurses, there were not some +niche for me. If every one shrinks back because incompetent, who will +ever do anything? 'Lord, here am I, send me.'" + +Let no one think that the resolve cost her nothing. As a matter of fact +it meant giving up a great deal, but to follow in the steps of Him who +freely gave up all for us, she cheerfully surrendered her lovely Irish +home for the dreary walls of a London hospital, where her companions +were, as a rule, neither Christians in the true sense of the word, nor +her equals in society. Yet who that knows the Lord Jesus as "a living +bright reality" can talk of sacrifice? To know the need of the Lord's +poor was sufficient for her, and she counted nothing too much to give up +joyfully for Him and His. Nor was this choice, which she felt to be a +life-choice, a thought but of yesterday. Not long after she went to +Kaiserswerth she had, as she herself writes, "much watching of a poor +dying man; sitting alone by him in that little room, day after day, it +went to my heart to hear some of his requests refused, and to see the +food given him, so unfitted to his state. And I sat there and thought, +'If these be the trials of the sick in an institution conducted on +Christian principles, oh, how must it be in those institutions in our +own land, where no true charity is in the hearts of most of the heads or +hands that work them!' and I then and there dedicated myself to do what +I could for Ireland, in its workhouses, infirmaries, and hospitals." She +felt too, that although she could do good service for her Lord in +ordinary Christian work, she could do still better if, possessing as she +did a God-given talent for nursing, she could, like her Master, both +speak a "word in season" and minister to the needs of the body. + +So St. Thomas's was entered, entered with the hope and prayer that both +amongst nurses and patients God would use her. And use her He did, as He +does all who cry, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me do?" and then watch for +the opportunity to do it. It was not long before she sought and gained +permission to establish a Bible class for the other Nightingale nurses, +which proved a great blessing to several of them. In her ward, too, she +was often able to speak a word for Christ to the patients. + +She was very happy in her busy life, writing, "I am so growingly happy +in it, and so fond of nay work." Of its importance she became more and +more convinced, and in a letter written from Barnet, where she was +spending a few happy days with her friends, Mr. and Mrs. Pennefather, +she says:--"_My work_, I more and more feel it, for the worst things +only make me realise how Christian and really good nurses are needed." + +But it was to Ireland that her thoughts ever turned, and it was of work +in Ireland that she was thinking even while training in London For by +this very training she hoped to be the better fitted for work in her own +beloved country. "Ireland is ever my bourn," she wrote. And again:--"My +heart is ever in Ireland, where I hope ultimately to work." + +After a year at St. Thomas's, and a short visit home, she returned to +London to take the superintendence of a small hospital in connection +with the Deaconesses' Institution in Burton Crescent. Here she had all +the nursing to do, as there were but few patients, and she had great joy +in ministering to them. "I trust," she writes in a letter to her aunt, +"I am gaining a quiet influence with my patients; they are my great +pleasure." And again: "I am very happy here among my patients, and often +feel God has sent me here; I have two revival patients; one had found +peace before she came, the other is seeking it, and to both I can talk. +Then I have a poor woman with cancer, who likes me to speak of Jesus, +whom I believe she truly loves; so you see I am not without work." + +A short time at this hospital, and a few months as superintendent at the +Great Northern Hospital, ended her work in London. The work at the +latter tried her much both in body and mind, for not only did the whole +responsibility of it rest upon her shoulders, but owing to the +inexperience of her assistants, most of the nursing devolved on her as +well. One patient who was critically ill she was obliged for six weeks +to nurse entirely both by night and day. Nervous debility was the +natural consequence of such overwork, and a deafness from which she had +suffered at Kaiserswerth so much increased that the doctor ordered her +to rest. That was not immediately possible, as there was no one to take +her place, and when at last a successor had been found, and she was able +to return home, she was so weary both in body and mind that she failed +to find her usual delight in the loveliness of Fahan. A few weeks' stay, +however, in the bracing air near the Giant's Causeway restored her to +her wonted health. + +The winter was passed at her home, resting quietly in preparation for +the work in Liverpool, of which the offer has been already mentioned. In +the spring of 1865 she left for ever the old familiar spot with its +beautiful hills and glens, and its cottages, to many of whose inmates +she had been the means of bringing comfort and peace; Liverpool, with +its needy poor and its many difficult problems, claiming her for the +last three years of her life. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AMONGST THE PAUPERS. + +In the year 1698, William III. stated in a speech that:--"Workhouses, +under a prudent and good management, will answer all the ends of charity +to the poor, in regard to their souls and bodies; they may be made, +properly speaking, nurseries for religion, virtue, and industry." But +could the good king who anticipated so many advantages from workhouses +have only seen our poor law institutions a hundred and fifty or sixty +years later, he would have been pained to learn how far they had fallen +short of his sanguine expectations. The sick and helpless were entrusted +to the care of women who, being paupers themselves, and of a low class, +and being for the most part in the workhouse through loss of character, +were found to be almost incapable of training. Rough they were, and in +many cases brutal as well, while their roughness and brutality were +intensified by the free use of intoxicants. Their language was terrible, +and not only did they quarrel constantly amongst themselves, but fights +were of frequent occurrence. + +To endure such treatment and to witness such scenes was the daily lot of +a sick pauper, who knew also that when dead he would have little better +than the burial of a dog, since it was the common custom in many +workhouses to bury corpses naked, with no covering but a few shavings +thrown over the body. Little wonder was it that the poor, when overtaken +by age or disease, shrank from the thought of entering a place which to +them seemed worse than a prison, choosing rather to die without +attention than to be treated in such a barbarous manner. + +It seems strange that it was so long after a great reformation had been +wrought in the management of our prisons that any one was found to lift +up a voice in behalf of the much enduring inmates of our workhouses. +There seemed to be no one who could spare a thought for the thousands of +sick and poor in these institutions. But it was the old story of "out of +sight, out of mind," for if only the evil had been apparent our English +nation with its love of justice would have seen it righted long before. +Workhouses were to be found all over the land, yet the public seemed not +at all curious, much less interested, in the question whether they were +properly managed or not. The guardians were often ignorant men, and were +very slow to admit visitors, perhaps from a foreshadowing suspicion of +the exposure which was in store for them, and the consequent necessity +and expense of change, so that we need not wonder that the opposition +which was called forth when first the evils of the workhouse system were +exposed was tremendous, and that the task of awakening real interest +seemed well nigh hopeless. + +In the Liverpool Workhouse the state of things was no worse than in many +others, and in many respects it was not so bad. There was a good +committee, and therefore there was nothing like the wholesale starvation +and cruelty which existed in too many other workhouses There was also +some measure of thoughtful care for the sick ones, for Agnes Jones in a +letter written after her first visit, says:--"There seemed care for the +patients too; a few plants and flowers, _Illustrated News_ pictures on +the walls, and a 'silent comforter' in each ward, not the utterly +desolate look one often meets in such places." Still, there were no +trained nurses, and it was impossible for any committee, however +zealous, to counteract all the evils of pauper nursing. The need for +reform was great, and happily for Liverpool and for the country at +large, there were not only eyes to see the need, but a mind which had +grasped the only solution of the difficulty, and a large and sympathetic +heart which prompted the hand to open wide the purse to accomplish it, +for Mr. William Rathbone, ever foremost in all schemes for ameliorating +the condition of the poor and needy, had long been alive to the +necessity of substituting for pauper nurses trained paid ones. He it was +who not only suggested the change, but offered himself to bear the whole +expense of the scheme for three years, feeling assured that by that time +the guardians would be so convinced of its practical good that they +would adopt it permanently. + +Having obtained the committee's consent to the trial of his plan, Mr. +Rathbone offered the post of lady superintendent to Agnes Jones, then at +the Great Northern Hospital in London. After consultation with Miss +Nightingale and Mrs. Wardroper, the Lady Superintendent of St. Thomas's +Hospital, and receiving their approval and also the promise of twelve +Nightingale nurses from St. Thomas's for her staff, she accepted it. +Still there was a delay of some months, which was partly due to the +nurses' need of further training, and partly to the imperative necessity +that she should have entire rest in order to recruit the strength which +had been so sorely overtaxed at the Great Northern Hospital. She did not +therefore enter on her duties until March 31, 1865. Even then she began +her new and untried work in much trembling and with great distrust of +herself, though her trust in her Saviour never failed. "It often seems +strange," she wrote, "that I, who have so little self-reliance, and +would like every step directed, am obliged to take such an independent +position; and yet I have been so led that I could not help it, and I +only trust I may be more and more led to look to the guidance of the +ever-present and all-wise Heavenly Friend." + +After her arrival she was still obliged to wait some weeks for the +advent of her staff, consisting of twelve Nightingale nurses and four +probationers. But although she was not yet in possession of the reins of +government, and so was debarred from doing anything in the way of +nursing, she was yet allowed free access to the wards, being only +prohibited to speak on religion to the Roman Catholic patients. So the +intervening time was not lost, for she found many opportunities of +bringing cheer and comfort to sad and weary hearts and of pointing lost +ones to the sinner's Saviour. Agnes Jones was not one of those who +are always + + "Seeking for some great thing to do," + +and ignoring the many small opportunities of service which lie ready to +hand. She was quite content, since the larger field was not yet open to +her, to occupy a smaller one. In a letter to her aunt she wrote very +characteristically:--"I am trying and succeeding more and more in fixing +my eyes on all the little things we shall be able to do. I believe in +this is our safety, doing the daily _littles_ as opportunity is given, +and leaving the issue with God. It is the _individual_ influence we +shall have, the individual relief and the individual help for mind and +body, that will be ours. If it is His will, He can make others see the +many littles as one great whole, or they may see nothing done, while we +have the comfort of the littles we know have been done." + +The nurses and probationers arrived in the middle of May, and then work +began in good earnest. The post of lady superintendent was by no means a +sinecure. At 5.30 every morning she might have been seen unlocking the +doors for the kitchen-women. She was often round the wards at 6.0, and +all through the busy day until 11.0 at night she was kept fully +employed, giving out stores, superintending her nurses, presiding at +meals, and visiting patients, besides all the hundred-and-one duties and +calls which fall to one in the like position. Her unselfishness was as +conspicuous as ever, and she never thought of sparing herself in any +way, her joy being to make the lives of others bright and happy. + +The patients were quick to discover the benefits of the new _régime_. +Instead of the old system of roughness and neglect, they found now a +very different order of things, as nurses, perfectly trained, with soft +voice and gentle footfall, passed from bed to bed, ministering to the +sick and dying. Interesting and helpful books for those who were well +enough to read found their way into the wards. Flowers--for Agnes +Jones, who loved intensely all God's works in Nature, had great faith in +the ministry of flowers--were there to give brightness in the midst of +depressing surroundings. Visits from friends were rendered more easy. +Christmas was made happy with special festivities. Indeed, she seemed +always to be planning something to cheer the sick under her care. She +very soon began Sunday evening Bible readings in the wards where there +were only Protestant patients. Many crowded in, even Romanists, whom she +was not allowed to invite, and listened with rapt attention, the +late-comers slipping off their shoes, lest they should disturb her. +After nearly two years' work, she commenced daily evening Bible +readings, having an attendance of from twenty to thirty, while on the +Sunday evening there were often more than a hundred. + +It was no wonder that such devotion met with a ready response from the +sad and friendless, and that her loving sympathy evoked love from the +seemingly unloving. + +Let us follow her as she passes through the wards. A thorough lady, +quiet and self-possessed, she commands respect from even the roughest, +and all look up with eager expectancy, hoping for just one word from +her. Here is an old man, whose brightening face shows how welcome are +her visits. As she stops we hear him murmur, "I never had a friend in +all my life till I came here. You are my only friend." Another, who is +drawing very near to the gates of death, taking her hand in his, +says:--"I want to take leave of you--I never told you before, but do you +remember speaking of the 'Gift of God is eternal life through Jesus +Christ our Lord?' I got that gift then." And when she has gone, a poor +man may be heard saying to the nurse:--"The lady can never know what she +has done for me ... I think I am in heaven when she comes." + +Her nurses were thoroughly one with her. How could they be otherwise +when she was so thoughtful and considerate for them? Before introducing +them to their wards, she commended them to God in prayer, asking His +blessing on them and their work. She had a Bible reading for them, but, +not content with speaking to them collectively, she would frequently +talk to them individually of the Saviour she so loved. Although she +never passed over their faults, they were sure of her ready sympathy in +their troubles, and as they poured them into her ear she would say, +"Have you told Jesus so?" + +The success of the work was an astonishment to all. The patients could +at first scarcely understand why the nurses did not swear at them like +their former ones. The police wondered as they saw women able to deal +with those whom they had found utterly untameable; while the committee +were so pleased with the success of the experiment, that, a year before +the specified time, they decided permanently to adopt the system of +trained nurses. + +But such work was not without its trials. During the first year there +was great difficulty with the ex-pauper women who were being trained, +many who seemed to be doing well returning to their drunken habits. +Dirt, disorder, insubordination, and grumbling had to be contended with. +The vilest sins were practised even by children, and so shameful was the +conduct of many of the inmates that Agnes Jones said, "I can only +compare it to Sodom, and wonder how God stays His hand from smiting." + +The isolation from home and friends was a trial in itself, while her +anxiety about her work was so great that she scarcely allowed herself a +holiday. A further trouble was that from morning till night she was +never alone. It is small cause for wonder that with such a terrible +strain, overtaxed nerves and strength should result in depression, a +fact only revealed by her journals, for to others she was ever bright, +and it was often said of her, "She is like a sunbeam." + +A life lived at high pressure cannot long continue without failing +partly or altogether, and the end came at last. In the beginning of 1868 +there was much fever and sickness of various kinds, there being three +hundred patients above the normal number, while the nursing staff was +reduced by illness. A nurse, who had been ill with bronchitis, developed +symptoms of typhus, and Agnes Jones, fearing that her life might be +sacrified, were she removed to the fever wards, gave up her bedroom to +her, sleeping herself on the floor of her sitting-room. She was soon +attacked by the same disease. For a week she progressed very favourably. +Then dangerous symptoms showed themselves, and finally inflammation of +both lungs. + +Many were the touching inquiries from the patients of "How is the lady?" +Nurses and friends watched anxiously the terrible progress of the +disease. Much prayer was made, but the Lord had need of His servant, who +had been so faithful to the trust committed to her here, for a more +perfect service; and at the age of thirty-five she passed away +peacefully into the brightness of His presence in the early morning of +February 19, 1868, the beginning to her of a glorious day which should +know no twilight gloom. + +On the following Friday, when the coffin was carried into the hall, and +placed in its case ready for removal across the Irish Channel, the +landing and stairs were filled with patients who had crept there from +the wards to see the last of one who had brought so much happiness into +their wretched lives. And when she was carried to her last resting-place +in the picturesque churchyard of Fahan, within sound of the rippling +waters of Lough Swilly, she was followed, as was fitting, by nearly the +whole population, many of whom could thank God for blessing which she +had been the means of bringing to them. + +Until the resurrection morning she might be hidden from the eyes of +those who loved her; but none who knew her could ever forget her. Hear +the testimony of one of the workhouse officials to the writer, more than +twenty-five years after, when the question, "Do you remember Miss +Jones?" was asked. "Remember her? I should think I do. I could never +forget her. She used to have a Bible class on Sunday afternoons and on a +week-day evening in that little vestry belonging to the church. She +began it for the nurses, but there were only about fifteen of them then, +and so she used to let us officers go as well if we liked. I used to +love it, for it was beautiful to see her sitting there so homely and +nice, and then she used to pray with us and expound the Scriptures. Oh, +it was a real help, I can tell you! But it was a wonder to me how she +lived those last few weeks of her life. You see the cholera broke out, +and there was a lot of fever besides, typhus and different sorts, and +she could never rest for looking after and caring for them all. Why, +I've seen her in those wards there myself between two and three o'clock +in the morning. Ah! she was a Christian, she was. Saint was the word for +her, for if ever there was a saint upon this earth, it was Miss Jones. +She seemed to me to live in heaven, and heaven was in her and about her +and all around her." + + "Only a tender love, + Stilling the restless moan, + Soothing the sufferer, + Cheering the lone. + + * * * * * + + Only a woman's heart; + Yet she forgot her care, + Finding on every side + Burdens to bear. + + * * * * * + + Humbly she walked with God, + Listening to catch His voice, + And 'twas His work for her, + Not her own choice. + + And when that work was done, + Life's quiet evening come, + What then awaited her? + Only a tomb? + + Nay, but a mansion fair + Near to the great white throne, + And the dear Master's word + Saying, 'Well done.'" + + ELLEN L. COURTENAY. + + + + +ELIZABETH, DUCHESS OF GORDON. + +I. + +EARLY DAYS. + +Just a hundred years ago there was born one who in a marked degree +endeavoured to do her duty in that state of life to which it had pleased +God to call her. That state of life was a very exalted one, with many +opportunities of doing good. The Duchess of Gordon had many talents +given to her for improvement, and she was not unmindful of the +stewardship with which she was entrusted. Her rank and wealth were held +as trusts for her Master's use. + +Dr. Moody Stuart tells us in his interesting and graphic memoir of the +last Duchess of Gordon[1], from which the following incidents are taken +(by kind permission of both author and publishers), that Elizabeth +Brodie was born in London on the 20th of June, 1794. Her father was +Alexander Brodie, a younger son of Brodie of that ilk. Amongst her +ancestors there were many remarkable men, some remembered for their +faithful service of their heavenly as well as of their earthly King. The +memory of one has passed down to posterity in the phrase "the Good Lord +Brodie." His diaries reveal a life lived in great humility and special +nearness to his Lord. Those around him found in him not only a +benevolent neighbour but also a faithful instructor in the highest +learning. His delight was to visit the sick, and to declare the love of +Christ whenever he had the opportunity. He longed for his children to be +great in grace, rather than in worldly distinction. His wish for them is +expressed in the words he left on record, that he would not be detained +"one hour from glory, to see those come of him in chief honour and place +in the world." + +[Footnote 1: _Life and Letters of Elizabeth, last Duchess of Gordon_, by +Rev. A. Moody Stuart, D.D. Messrs. J. Nisbet & Co., London.] + +The mother of Elizabeth Brodie was a member of the family of Wemyss, a +granddaughter of the Earl of Wemyss. Her father had acquired a large +fortune in India, and returned home to the large estates in +Kincardineshire which he had purchased. The little girl had soon to +experience the greatest loss that can befall a child. When she was only +six years old her mother died, leaving her alone with her father. The +next two years were spent with maiden aunts at Elgin, where she enjoyed +a liberty which was bracing to both mind and body. School life began +early. When she was only eight years old, she was sent to a boarding +school in London, one special object being to eradicate the broad Scotch +from her lip and thought. At school she became a great favourite with +both teacher and companions, already exercising that power of winning +attachment which was a feature all through her life. At the same time +she is described as having "a very independent spirit." In matters +indifferent she was ever yielding in her disposition; but it was +impossible to move her from any principle she had deliberately adopted. +Courage was another characteristic that early manifested itself. Her +groom, who had served her forty years, delighted to recall instances of +her fearlessness. On one occasion, when her party were crossing the Spey +in a pony-chaise in a boat, the bridge having been carried down by the +floods, her companion asked, "Isn't this dangerous, duchess?" "I never +see danger," was the quiet reply. + +When she was about sixteen Miss Brodie left school. The winters were now +spent in Bath, the summers in Scotland. She had launched into the +society of the world, and to a great extent she did as they did. One +reproof she received made a lasting impression. It was from the lips of +a little child who was exceedingly fond of her. Miss Brodie had joined +others in playing cards on the Sabbath. The next day, contrary to all +custom, the child kept away from her, and when asked to sit on her knee, +gave a flat refusal, adding the reason, "No, you are bad; you play cards +on Sunday." Her answer and resolution were ready: "I was wrong, I will +not do it again." And those who heard her and knew her character were +quite sure she would not do it again. + + + + +II. + +MARCHIONESS OF HUNTLY. + +Elizabeth Brodie was still very young when she entered upon the duties +and trials of married life. Between the house of Brodie and the house of +Gordon there had been a standing feud. About the middle of the +seventeenth century the youthful and impetuous Lord Lewis Gordon had +made a raid upon the property of the Laird of Brodie. He burned to the +ground the mansion and all that was connected with it, the family +escaping to the house of a cousin. This Lewis Gordon became third +Marquis of Huntly, and was the ancestor of one who made a better +conquest, the gallant Marquis of Huntly, who sought and won the hand of +Miss Brodie. They were married at Bath on the 11th of December, 1813. +The union thus formed was never afterwards regretted. When, fifteen +years later, he experienced great losses of property, his sorrow found +expression in these words, "All things are against me: I've been +unfortunate in everything, except a good wife." What that wife did for +him in spiritual as well as temporal comfort, the sequel will show. + +The Marquis of Huntly was a thorough man of the world at the time of his +marriage. And for a time his wife joined him in the fashionable circle +in which he found his chief pleasure. Both in London and in Geneva, +where they spent the greater part of the first portion of their married +life, she became very popular. But she soon realised that true joys were +not to be found in the mere attractions of society. For some years her +life cannot be described otherwise than as unprofitable. One instrument +used by God for her awakening was a Highland servant. This girl was +grieved to see that the interest of her mistress was absorbed by the +things of time, which left no room for the contemplation of the things +of eternity. She ventured to make a wise and well-weighed remark. It was +a word fitly spoken, and did not fail in its purpose. The young lady's +eyes were further opened by what she saw of the sins of the worldly +circle in which she moved. She began to realise the sentiment of her +ancestor, the good Lord Brodie:--"God can make use of poison to expel +poison: in London I saw much vanity, lightness, and wantonness." His +aspiration was also soon echoed from her own heart--"Oh, that the seeing +of it in others may cure and mortify the seeds of it in myself!" She +could not help observing the shameless vice that passed unrebuked, by +many hardly noticed. The observation gave a shock to her sensitive soul. +Her distress was great, and in her distress she turned to the right +quarter. She sought solace in the Bible. That hitherto neglected Book +enchained her attention, and she became a most diligent searcher into +its hidden truths. Some of the gay friends of the society in which she +moved found her occupied in this Bible reading. It supplied them with a +new amusement, telling how the attractive marchioness had become a +"Methodist." Hers was not the nature to be turned aside from its purpose +by a taunt. "If for so little I am to be called a Methodist, let me have +something more worthy of the name." Such was her reflection, and her +Bible reading was continued with renewed earnestness. + +In the course of that reading the work of the Holy Spirit was impressed +upon her attention. The promise met her eyes, "If ye, being evil, know +how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your +Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" "From that +time," she records, "I began to pray for the Holy Spirit." To the end of +her life she increasingly realised and brought others to realise the +paramount importance of the personal work of the Holy Spirit. Lady +Huntly could not now join in the pursuits of the world as she had +formerly done. Her husband did not fully sympathise with the change in +her views, but he saw enough of the sinful emptiness of mere gaiety to +make him refrain from insisting upon her taking part in its pursuits. +More than this, he gave every facility to her for carrying out her +wishes, even when he could not understand the spirit which was +their motive. + +When in Geneva, after her Bible reading had begun, she found a very +helpful friend in Madame Vernet. "If any one is to be called my +spiritual mother," she said, "it is Madame Vernet of Geneva." That good +Christian unfolded to her plainly the plan of salvation, showing her +first her lost condition, and then the way of redemption by Jesus +Christ. Lady Huntly was also helped by her intercourse in Paris with +Lady Olivia Sparrow and others who frequented her house for the sake of +the religious society. + +On her return from Paris the winter was passed at Kimbolton Castle, the +seat of her brother-in-law, the Duke of Manchester. That place was +memorable in her spiritual history. "I knew Christ first," she +afterwards said, "if I really know Him, at Kimbolton; I spent hours +there in my dressing-room in prayer, and in reading the Bible, and in +happy communion with Him." Lady Huntly referred to this period of her +spiritual life in these terms, some one having made the remark that deep +conviction of sin is almost invariably the beginning of the work of God +in the soul: "I did not quite agree with that statement, and do not +think it is by any means always the case. In my own case I believe that +for two years I was a saved sinner, a believer in Jesus Christ, and yet +that during all that time I did not see the exceeding sinfuluess of sin. +I believed in a general way that I was a sinner, who deserved the +punishment of a righteous God; I believed that whosoever came to Jesus +Christ should he saved; but I had no deep sense of sin, of my sin. Since +then I believe that I have passed through almost every phase of +Christian experience that I have ever read or heard of; and now I have +such a sight of my own utter vileness and unworthiness, that I feel that +the great and holy God might well set His heel on me, so to speak, and +crush me into nothing." This sense of absolute unworthiness was always a +feature of her life. "A useless log" was the term she applied +to herself. + +One means of profit which Lady Huntly much enjoyed was her intercourse +with a friend of bygone days, Miss Helen Home. They were now both +walking in the same way. The Bible readings at the house of Miss Home +were felt to be of great service. + +Lady Huntly soon introduced family prayer in her home. She felt that if +God was to be heartily served, His altar must be set up in the house. At +first she gathered together her servants and any lady visitors in the +house. But later, as we shall see, the whole establishment took part. + + + + +III. + +DUCHESS OF GORDON. + +The old Duke of Gordon, Lord Huntly's father, died in the summer of +1827. The subject of this biography became Duchess of Gordon, a title +which involved increased responsibilities and increased anxieties. +Happily she realised her position, and determined, by the help of God, +to show more clearly that, in whatever rank of life she was, she was +striving to be a faithful servant of her Heavenly Master. She felt that +she must confess Christ more boldly, that she must be more decided for +Him, however much this profession might appear singular in her +recently-acquired rank. + +A short time before leaving Huntly for Gordon Castle, she explored the +old Huntly Castle with a party of friends. The duchess was at the time +greatly bowed down by a sense of the responsibility of her changed life. +There were certain inscriptions round the ceiling of a great hall in the +old castle. No one could make them out. But whilst the duchess was +standing alone in deep thought, her companions having gone off to +examine other curiosities, the sun burst out from a cloud through one of +the broken window mullions and shone brightly on the opposite wall, and +in the light of his rays she read:-- + + TO. THAES. THAT. LOVE. GOD. AL. THINGIS. VIRKIS. TO THE. BEST. + +"It was," she used to say, "a message from the Lord to my soul, and came +to me with such power that I went on my way rejoicing." Ever after this +text was a favourite one. She always looked upon it as peculiarly her +own. Very practical was her reading of God's Word. She, indeed, expected +to find in it a word from Him. Just at the time of her setting out for +her new home she read as usual her daily portion in Bogatsky's _Golden +Treasury_. Through two leaves of the book being stuck together, she had +missed the portion appointed for the day before. But now it presented +itself to her eye--and no less surely to her heart: "Have not I +commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither +be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou +goest." Her comment was, "That was another message from the Lord, that +put strength into me." + +Many years afterwards she wrote: "It was this day sixteen years that the +text in Bogatsky was given to me from Joshua 1. 9, and truly I have +found the goodness of the Lord with me, and everything temporal that I +committed to Him He has indeed kept. It is really most wonderful when I +see trials and trouble all around me, to see how everything I prayed for +regarding my own home has been accomplished; and shall I not trust Him +for my soul, and for all that guidance I so greatly need in all that He +would have me to do? Surely He will guide me in spiritual as well as in +temporal things; and the more I cease from man, and from any child of +man, the more I shall be enabled to live simply to His glory." Another +sixteen years passed. The duchess was within a few days of her death. +She heard that a young man was in anxiety about his preparation for the +ministry. "He looks to difficulties; give him for a New Year's message +from me, Joshua 1. 9: 'Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a +good courage; neither be thou dismayed.' These words were given to me +after Duke Alexander's death, and from that day onward they have been a +help to me." + + + + +IV. + +GOOD WORKS AT GORDON CASTLE. + +The duchess did not write a regular diary. But for one week in the first +year of her residence at Gordon Castle such a record was kept. Extracts +from it may serve to give some insight into her thoughts and life. The +reader will be struck with the marked self-humiliation which was so +characteristic of this child of God. "I desired to have resolution to +commence and continue a journal, that I might obtain a clearer view of +my own heart, which I know, alas! to be deceitful above all things and +desperately wicked. Well may I say with Job, 'I abhor myself and repent +in dust and ashes.'" "A day lost though well begun; more peace, more +clear belief, but, alas! not less indifference, not less hardness of +heart; great idleness; after breakfast little or nothing done. O Lord, +deliver me from pride and vanity, and make me a humble and devoted +follower of the meek and lowly Jesus. He indeed is our peace." "Another +unprofitable day; but when, alas! is any day otherwise with me?" "Sins +of the week: unbelief proceeding from pride of reason, selfishness, +carelessness, hardness of heart, vanity, evil speaking." These extracts +are sufficient to show that there was a very severe introspection--a +very real shrinking from sin, and sense of unworthiness. Some of the +faults she lamented seemed to others remarkably absent in the duchess +Evil speaking, for example, was about the last thing she could be +accused of. There was no one more careful of the character of those with +whom she had to do. + +This short diary also shows her busily occupied in attending to members +of her household, ministering to one maid, who was sick, instructing +another in the _Shorter Catechism_. Happy was the household that had +such a mistress at its head! + +In 1830 William IV. came to the throne. The Duchess of Gordon was +selected by Queen Adelaide as Mistress of the Robes at the Coronation. +The Queen bestowed upon her many marks of favour and friendship. But the +promotion to the highest honours of the Court was not allowed to +militate against her soul's welfare. The service of the King of kings +was always put first. + +It is needless to say that the duchess was always a regular attendant at +God's house. For thirty years she made a practice of taking copious +notes of the sermons. The notes were copied out carefully during the +week. This note-taking--sometimes a slight embarrassment to the +preacher--was a great help to the hearer. As at least two sermons a week +were thus noted, there must have been a great mass of manuscript before +the thirty years were expired. Amongst those whose sermons she much +enjoyed were Mr. Howels of Long Acre, Mr. Harington Evans, and Mr. +Blunt, of Chelsea. + +Good works were promoted by the duke and duchess at the cost of much +self-denial. The duke's predecessor had left the estates heavily +burdened. The consequence was that they were put under trust, only a +limited income being allowed to the duke. This made contributions to +charitable objects less ample than they would otherwise have been. But +generous help was bestowed that cost the givers something to give. The +duchess set her heart on building and endowing a chapel in connection +with the Church of England. To render this possible the duke proposed to +sell some of his horses. For the same purpose the duchess left a golden +vase valued at £1200 to be sold. To quote her own words to explain what +resulted from this charitable idea: "The Duchess of Beaufort, hearing of +my vase, thought of her diamond ear-rings, which she got me to dispose +of for a chapel in Wales, and her diamonds made me think of my jewels; +and as the duke had always been most anxious for the chapel, he agreed +with me that stones were much prettier in a chapel wall than round one's +neck, and so he allowed me to sell £600's worth, or rather what brought +that, for they cost more than double. The chapel is going on nicely, and +I have still enough jewels left to help to endow it, if no other way +should open. I do think I may with confidence hope for a blessing on +this. It is no sacrifice to me whatever, except as it is one to the +duke, who is very fond of seeing me fine, and was brought up to think +it right." + +The strict observance of family prayer has already been referred to. A +room had been fitted up in the castle as a little chapel. The duke was +always present, and now, in the absence of the chaplain and the duchess, +used to conduct the prayers himself. In later years, when the widow +returned to Huntly Lodge, exactly at half-past nine in the morning and +evening the household assembled for prayers. Both indoor and outdoor +servants were first gathered together. The butler then came to the +duchess, and in words which we are assured were never varied by one +syllable or accent during the twenty-seven years of her grace's +widowhood and his own stewardship, announced, "They're all assembled." A +brief blessing was asked, a psalm or hymn read, the organ led the voice +of praise, a passage of Scripture was read and frequently explained. A +prayer followed, in which the duchess wished that the Queen should never +be forgotten. + +Very faithfully the duchess sought to do her duty in bringing the +interests of religion before those with whom she had to do, especially +those of her own household. "But you do not know the difficulty I have +in speaking to any one who does not meet me half way. I think if I could +see my way clearly, I might get over this painful shyness, which I then +know would be want of faith. But I cannot see that, situated as I am, it +is my duty; and moreover, I _fancy_ I have not the talent, and it is not +one which I have to account for; for I have so often done more harm than +good, even when I have prayed to be directed; indeed, I trust I have not +often had to speak without that prayer.... Oh! I do pray for more zeal +for souls, more true sense of their infinite value; for I think if I +felt it as I _see_ it, I should do more." + + + + +V. + +THE HEAVY BLOW. + +In the summer of 1835 the duke and duchess made a tour on the Continent. +Even amidst all the movements and difficulties connected with hotel +life, family prayers were not neglected. Every morning before starting +they assembled together to ask God's blessing. The duchess on this tour +had daily opportunities of reading the Bible with her husband. She was +very anxious about his soul's welfare. His testimony to his old friend, +Colonel Tronchin, at Geneva, was very significant. "Tronchin, I am a +very changed man to what you once knew me, and I owe it all to my dear +wife." She herself writes with reference to the duke--"He has done and +said many things since he came here which almost give me hope that the +Spirit of God is really at work, and that he begins to experience +something of the blessedness of those who fear the Lord." + +The greatest trial in her life was now approaching the duchess. He who +had been her support and joy for so many years was to be taken from her. +On the 27th of May, 1836, she was told by the doctors that the duke had +only a short time to live. The terrible news was of course overwhelming, +but she knew whither to turn. "I had not realised till then the +hopelessness of the case. I retired to another room and fell on my +knees; and as if they had been audibly uttered, these words were +impressed upon my heart, 'Thy Maker is thy Husband; the Lord of hosts is +His name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole +earth shall He be called,' and I rose up to meet the trial in His +strength." The next day the duke died. Full proof was given of the +sufficiency of God to support His servants in their darkest hours. Two +days afterwards she wrote--"I must tell you of the blessed consolation I +have in thinking of the perfect peace which my beloved husband enjoyed +uninterruptedly, and the presence of the Comforter from the Father and +the Son to my own soul. Pray for me. Although I feel indeed in the +wilderness, yet like her who was led there, I would desire to lean on +the arm of the Beloved One, who has truly given to me 'the valley of +Achor for a door of hope,' and who is a very present help in time of +trouble. The comfort I have is at present almost without alloy. It is +only when earthly things pull me from my resting-place that I see the +desolation of all earthly joys; and yet I am not excited, out as the +Lord has enabled me to stay my mind on Him, He has kept me in perfect +peace." When the beloved remains were removed into their last +resting-place in Elgin Cathedral, she dedicated herself afresh to God. +"When the coffin was lowered into that vault, I felt as if God had +shoved under my feet all that was most dear to me, the only one on earth +to whose love I was entitled, and that now I must live to +Himself alone." + +After her husband's death her wish was to return at once to Huntly +Lodge, where she had spent the first years of her married life, and +which was now hers by the marriage settlement. But a lease which the +tenant was unwilling to resign prevented this for a time. Accordingly +she made up her mind to travel abroad for some months. During the +winter of 1836 she lived at Pau. The return home was made the following +summer. Naturally she dreaded coming back to the now desolate home--the +same place, but all so changed. But God was good, and the grace +sufficient for the day was given. "_Huntly Lodge, 31st August_, +1837.--The Lord has been better to me than all my fears. Wagstaff (the +duke's factor), accompanied by both Mr. Bigsby (of the English Chapel at +Gordon Castle) and Mr. Dewar (minister of Fochabers), received me. My +heart was so full of the Lord's goodness, that there was no room for +bitterness; and after a few moments alone, I could not rest till we had +thanked our tender Father; Mr. Bigsby was the organ of our thanksgiving. +The three gentlemen, Annie (Sinclair), and I joined in prayer then, and +at night with all the people of house, stable, and farm; this morning +Mr. Dewar's prayer was very much what I needed. My blessed Lord Jesus is +very present, and I know I cannot come to my Father without Him. Oh, +pray that I may be more and more awakened, and never fall asleep again. +Oh, for the quickening grace of the Holy Spirit to realise continually +that blessed presence! 4th _Sept_.--My heart is full of thankfulness and +wonder as to myself. I dreaded above all things the bitterness of +desolation on my return here; and behold the Lord made His presence so +manifest that I am now, as in times past, rejoicing in His +unmerited love." + + + + +VI. + +WIDOWHOOD AT HUNTLY LODGE. + +The arrangements at Huntly Lodge were now, of course, entirely in the +hands of the widowed duchess. Essentially the motto which was the +principle of the establishment was, "As for me and my house, we will +serve the Lord." It was a matter of some doubt with her whether she +should keep up the style natural to her rank, or let the Lodge and +retire into a humbler life. After carefully and prayerfully weighing the +matter, her decision was that "position is stewardship," and that it was +her duty not to despise the high estate to which God had been pleased to +call her, but to consecrate it to His service. This determination was a +wise one. Her light was placed so that many could see its steady and +bright burning. + +The whole house was ruled in strict order, marked quietness and +simplicity prevailing. We are told that everything throughout the day +was conducted with the exactness of clockwork. The duchess rose soon +after six o'clock. The family met at breakfast at nine. Exactly at +half-past nine, as we have seen, both morning and evening, the house +assembled for family prayers. After breakfast one of the first +occupations of the duchess was to visit her old bedridden maid, to +minister to her in things both temporal and spiritual. At noon she had a +daily reading of the Bible in her room. The reading was interspersed +with conversation, and followed by prayer. She seemed to be never tired +of these spiritual exercises. The later hours of the day were occupied +with reading and other pursuits until five o'clock, when she would again +visit her invalid maid. In dealing with the poor the duchess was not +only generous but discriminating. She spared no trouble in inquiring +into the eases of distress before her. We are told that the list of two +hundred persons whose families she regularly relieved had before her +death increased to three hundred. The post was also often used as the +means of dispensing her anonymous charity. One reason why she was so +anxious to have a thoroughly capable chaplain was that he might +thoroughly examine into the deserts of applicants for help. It was not +pecuniary assistance only that was sought from the duchess. Her kindly +counsel was much valued. To quote her own words, "Though I do so need +advice and wisdom in my own matters, the most extraordinary people think +proper to consult me about the most extraordinary things, and I cannot +lose the opportunity of giving the only Christian advice they may be in +the way of receiving. May the Lord help me; oh, how constantly do I +need help!" + +The Sabbath day was indeed a holy day at Huntly Lodge. Everything that +could be done the day before was done. No fire was lighted in the +drawing-room on the Sunday, with, as we are informed, the double object +of saving unnecessary labour, and "to present no inducement for visitors +to meet together for idle conversation." The doors of the house were +locked during the hours of service, one, or at most two, servants +staying at home. No letters were received or posted on the Sabbath. +There were no arrivals nor departures of guests on that day. On a +certain Sunday morning at breakfast the duchess was surprised to hear a +carriage-and-four brought round to the door. Her immediate "What is +that?" was answered by the appearance of a young English nobleman who +had come to bid her good-bye. "Oh no," she said, "not on the Sabbath." +Affectionately she persuaded him to remain until the next day. Away from +home, on the Continent and elsewhere, she was careful that the day +should be strictly observed. So great was her interest in Sabbath +observance that she wrote a little tract on the subject. + +The duchess used to delight in surrounding herself at Huntly Lodge with +those who were specially set apart for the service of God. The ministers +from time to time assembled there, first gathering together for prayer +and conference, and then in a more open meeting, at which the duchess +and her friends were present, and finally at family worship. + +Schools for the poor were munificently founded by the Duchess of Gordon. +The schools at Huntly, which were commenced in 1839, were finished in +1843. They consisted of infant schools, schools for older boys and +girls, and also an industrial school for training fifty girls for +service. When living in Edinburgh, she built large schools in the +destitute district of Holyrood. The lady of Huntly was indeed a worthy +precursor in the great work of general education. One excellent plan of +religious instruction she adopted in her own household. A weekly class +was formed of her female domestics, She had prepared a large number of +questions. To each of the class she gave each week a slip of paper +containing one question. This was to be answered before the next +meeting. There was no one in the establishment who could help feeling +that the mistress took the deepest interest in him or her. + + + + +VII. + +ANXIETIES AND REST. + +The Duchess of Gordon had been brought up an Episcopalian. But when in +May, 1843, the great Disruption took place, when four-hundred and +seventy-four ministers of the Church of Scotland took up their cross for +Christ, resigning their earthly livings for conscience sake, the duchess +was deeply moved by this heroic act of self-denial, and eventually, +after much thought and prayer, she joined the Free Church, becoming a +member of Free St. Luke's Church. She had left the Church of England, +but she loved and honoured it to the end of her life. "I have not time +for entering into my reasons for separating from the Church of England, +but they were purely conscientious; and I believe I could never be a +blessing to the little body of English Episcopalians, if acting against +my conscience. They want God's blessing, not man's help; the latter +without the former is a curse. Put not your trust in any child of man. +But I am not against those dear friends, and can feel myself more at +liberty to help them now than before, because I am now acting openly in +all things. May the Lord Jesus enable you to look to Him, and to feel +and say with Luther, 'Lord, I am Thy sin, Thou art my righteousness.'" + +The first occasion on which the duchess partook of the Communion in +connection with the Free Church at Huntly was a memorable event. The +people assembled in large numbers. By the kindness of the Lady of +Huntly provision was made for the visitors within the precincts of the +old castle, military tents being erected for the purpose. Her own +account of the scene may well be given. "_Huntly Lodge, Aug_. 5, +1847.--Now to tell of a time I hope never to forget. Friday was the fast +day; Professor M. Laggan preached in the morning, and Mr. Moody Stuart +in the evening. For Sabbath, Dr. Russell, who arrived on Friday +afternoon, assisted to arrange a pulpit and two tents in the court of +the old castle, one for the elements, the other for our party. Oh! it +was indeed a communion: the Lord was there evidently set forth before +us, and not only set forth, but present. God the Sovereign and Judge, +God the Creator, without whom nothing was made that is made, is God the +Saviour, Immanuel, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. +There seemed truly nothing of man's making between us and the living +God; a realisation of being God's creatures, God's redeemed children, +formed for Himself, for His own glory. Mr. Dewar preached the +action-sermon, after which Mr. M.S. fenced the tables, and addressed us, +and served the first table. He told me he never so realised the oneness +of Jehovah in Three Persons. If we had seen the Heavenly Dove +overshadowing us, and heard the voice saying, 'This is My beloved Son, +hear ye Him,' we should have been doubtless overwhelmed; but could +hardly have had a more real sense of the presence of Him who made the +heavens and the earth, the trees, the grass, and the new creature in +Christ Jesus. Mr. Dewar served two tables and gave the concluding +address; and Mr. Moody Stuart again preached in the evening on Isa. 1. +18: 'Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.' +Many were much affected, and the place was so beautiful! I hope the +weather will permit our having the tents pitched again." + + + + +VIII. + +GOOD WORKS ABROAD. + +After the duke's death, his widow paid frequent visits to the Continent. +Pau was a specially favourite resort. There she found both English and +French Protestants worshipping in places utterly inadequate for the +purpose. She generously purchased a site for a church to be used by both +congregations, the lower storey being fitted up for a French Protestant +school. She also liberally subscribed towards the erection of the +church. Her good works at this place were not few. Having heard that a +man living near had broken his leg, she drove off at once to visit him, +and repeated her visits weekly. A Bible was given to him, and the result +was that his first journey on his crutches was to the Protestant service +at Pau. He was convinced that in the teaching of the Protestants alone +there was safety. The next day the children were withdrawn from the +Roman Catholic school. The excitement was great, and no little +persecution and pecuniary loss ensued to the new converts. The duchess +began her Protestant school at Pau with eight pupils. She also had Bible +classes from time to time, one being for Roman Catholic girls. A Sabbath +evening service was held by the duchess for her French servants. + +The story of Manuel Fuster, a Spanish refugee, is an interesting one. He +had been destined by his parents for the priesthood. But having fallen +into destitute circumstances, the duchess's butler had shown him +kindness and given him some work to do for the house. Full of gratitude, +when her grace passed through the courtyard, he fell down on his knees +to thank her. She told him that that homage should be paid only to the +Most High. At this interview and at many others she spoke to him about +his soul's salvation. A French Bible was given to him before she left. +On her return to Pau the next year, he was found breaking stones by the +roadside, a conversation proving that he was quite a changed man. In the +end he did good Christian service as a colporteur in France. + +In 1847 the duchess was advised to winter in the south of Europe. +Frequent attacks of bronchitis had made this course advisable. She took +up her residence at Cannes, having prospects of being useful there. And +her hope of being useful was very substantially realised. "_Cannes, +Dec_. 1847.--Constant occupation, and many, many new opportunities of +meeting with the Lord's people, and speaking of the glad tidings of +great joy, have caused the delay in writing. I now know what fine +climate is, and the country and views are beautiful; but above all there +is a field of usefulness that we could not have at Nice, and an open +door for the Gospel. Altogether, no tongue can tell the goodness of the +Lord to us. He is letting me get glimpses both of His love and His glory +in the face of Jesus Christ, such as I have never had before; and all +this with such peace in outward circumstances! Is it not marvellous? You +need not be alarmed about my 'exposition' on Saturday; I feel too deeply +my own incapacity to attempt anything beyond what I should say to an +infant school at home. The people who come to it are either the families +of the servants I employ, or of the children taught by Annie Sandilands. +We live as quietly as possible; Lord Brougham sends me the newspaper and +bouquets of flowers; other friends lend Caroline their ponies, and do +all kind things. Some young English girls come here once a week to a +Bible class, and we have meetings every other evening at the chapel at +home." The parting from her little flock at Cannes was a painful +experience. "Our children were first broken-hearted, and after we were +gone were roaring so that nothing could pacify them but Monsieur Bettets +taking them all into the drawing-room and praying with them. Those +chiefly affected were little Italians, and indeed they seem to have much +warmer feelings." + +The course of events in the life of the duchess in Scotland seems to +have been very even and not very full of startling incidents during the +last years of her life. Her personal piety was matured, and her works of +usefulness were multiplied. She much delighted in the ministry of Dr. +Rainy, who left Huntly in 1853, after a sojourn there of four years. "I +wish much you had heard our three last sermons from Mr. Rainy; I never +heard any more useful, striking and impressive. I was particularly +struck by the way he brought out the necessity of taking up the cross in +these days, in a real giving up of self, self-love, self-righteousness, +self-pleasing." + + + + +IX. + +QUICKENED SPIRITUAL LIFE. + +The year 1859 is remembered as a season of remarkable quickening of +spiritual life in America and Ireland, and later in Scotland. Such a +movement could not fail to attract the attention of the Duchess of +Gordon who, living so entirely in the presence of the Spirit, was able +to realise the workings around her. Huntly Lodge was always ready to +receive any who were busied with the spread of the good tidings. Mr. +MacDowall Grant, Mr. Brownlow North, and Mr. Reginald Radcliffe were +amongst the evangelists who were welcome visitors, as they went about +their work of love. In January, 1859, and in the following months, there +were impressive gatherings of ministers who met to bring themselves to +the attainment of a nearer walk with God, and to strive for the +awakening of their people. In January, 1860, there was a conference on a +still larger scale, twenty-four ministers staying at the Lodge, whilst +others found hospitality elsewhere. There was an unmistakable quickening +on all sides. It was suggested to the duchess by Mr. Duncan Matheson, +who had been her missionary in the district for some years, that a great +assembly might be gathered together for two or three days in one of her +parks. The matter was carefully weighed by one who shrunk from anything +like undue novelty or unsound sensationalism. But when once she was +convinced that it was God's way she hesitated no longer. What the world +would think was a light consideration with her. Invitations were sent by +the duchess to ministers and laymen of all denominations in England +and Scotland. + +The spot chosen was the Castle Park; the date, the Wednesday and +Thursday of the third week in July. There was provision made for +accommodating the expected guests in the Lodge itself and all the +adjoining houses. The duchess filled her schools with stores for the +ministers and their families, and all whom they might choose to invite. +No expense of thought or labour was spared. But there was one thing that +might have rendered all the careful arrangements of no avail. The rain +had been falling for weeks, and there seemed no prospect of its +cessation. Happily the fears were disappointed. From the time the people +began to assemble until after the forenoon train on the last day had +carried away the last of those who had lingered to the close of the +assembly, there was not a drop of rain. The great day of the gathering +was especially bright. It seemed as if God the great Creator were +specially smiling on this effort for His glory and the everlasting +welfare of His creatures. The place chosen for the gathering was most +suitable, there being two or three places like amphitheatres on which +the hearers could sit. Everything had been arranged so carefully by +those whose hearts were thoroughly in the work that the duchess was able +to note after the great gathering was over--"Truly there was not one +thing out of place or unseemly." Eternity will unfold the results. The +assembly was characterised "by much freedom and power in the speakers, +by refreshing and lively joy and thanksgiving in the Lord's people, by +the awakening of many of the dead, and by holy liberty granted to those +that were bound." The number at this meeting in 1860 was about 7000. +Meetings of a similar character were held in the three following years. +In one or more of these the number reached 10,000. About the last of the +great assemblies, the duchess wrote--"_ August_, 1863. I cannot but +wonder to see these meetings increasing in numbers and interest every +year; not as a rendezvous for a pleasant day in the country, but really +very solemn meetings, where the presence of the Lord is felt, and the +power of His Spirit manifested. I trust that I have been somewhat +awakened by the preaching of our own minister, which has been very +striking indeed." + + + + +X. + +THE END IS PEACE. + +At the beginning of 1861 the duchess was brought almost to death's door. +To use the words of her biographer, "She was visited with a severe and +all but fatal illness, which was inscribed by the Lord's own hand with +all the characters of the believer's death-bed, except that He brought +her up again from the gates of the grave, and prolonged her precious +life for three years more." So alarming was the illness that she made +all arrangements for her departure hence. Various remembrances were set +aside for her relatives and friends, and directions were given that +certain letters should be written for the promotion of the welfare of +some whose interest she had at heart. + +On the evening of her attack she asked her friend to repeat the hymn + + "One there is above all others, + Oh, how He loves!" + +She then observed that she had been depressed for some time with a sense +of her many sins, but that the Lord was now giving her tranquil and +joyful rest. She often spoke of the manner in which her soul was +comforted, and that never-forgotten night. It is thus described by Dr. +Moody Stuart, who was for many years her close friend: "There was +nothing of the nature of a dream or trance; but as she lay sleepless, +there appeared as if really before her eyes a white scroll unrolled, +glistening with unearthly brightness, and with floods of vivid light +ever flowing over it. Written at the head of the scroll, in large bright +letters of gold, she read this inscription:--'THE LORD OUR +RIGHTEOUSNESS.' All her darkness was dispelled in a moment; with the +glorious words, the Spirit imprinted on her heart and conscience the +fresh seal of the pardon of all her sins; she believed and knew that the +Lord Jesus Christ was of God made unto her 'righteousness,' and that His +blood had made her whiter than snow. Her soul entered in a moment into +perfect rest; the peace of God that passeth all understanding now kept +her heart and mind through Christ Jesus; and she rejoiced in the full +assurance that for her to die that night was to depart and be for ever +with the Lord." + +Day after day passed on, and she still lived. All her thoughts and words +were about her Lord and the spiritual welfare of those around her. Her +servants were a special care to her. As she was not allowed to see them +individually, she sent them a message that they must not be content with +trusting in a general way to the mercy of God, but that each of them +must be found in the Lord our Righteousness if they would be saved. +Throughout the illness her mind was kept in perfect peace, being +emphatically stayed upon her Lord. One can well understand how prayers +would be offered up for her by many that the valued life might be +spared, if it were God's will. + +During the time of her slow and partial recovery she occupied herself +with learning hymns. She laid up a store which became in later months a +great source of comfort to her. The hymn which she first committed to +memory was one of her chief favourites:-- + + "A mind at perfect peace with God." + +The second verse she specially valued:-- + + "By nature and by practice far, + How very far from God; + Yet now by grace brought nigh to Him, + Through faith in Jesus' blood." + +As we have said recovery was only slow and partial. She tried to learn +the lesson designed in this lengthening out of her earthly sojourn. "I +thought my life was spared," she said, "to give the opportunity of +devoting for a longer period my influence and substance to the cause of +Christ, but I see now a deeper meaning in it. There is more personal +holiness to be attained, more nearness to Christ, and more joy hereafter +through a deeper work here in my heart." + +Her old habit of early rising had of course to be abandoned. But the +hours of the early morning were well spent, especially in meditation and +intercessory prayer. As an example of the things that occupied her mind, +we may quote words spoken to her maid as she entered the room: "I awoke +very early this morning, and have been very happy and busily engaged. My +thoughts have been much occupied with three things all so different, yet +each needing God's help to-day. The first is the Queen's visit to +Aberdeen to inaugurate the Prince Consort's memorial; the second is Mr. +M.'s prayer meeting in London in a hall that had been a dancing-saloon +in his parish; and (referring to a young man formerly in her service, +but then studying for the ministry) the third is John's College +examination." + +At the end of 1863 the duchess expressed a strong wish that the +ministerial conference at Huntly Lodge should be resumed. A meeting was +held on the 13th of the following January. As she heard what had +transpired she remarked, "I liked the meeting, and had only one thing to +find fault with: some of the gentlemen prayed for me as if I was +something, and I am nothing. I must speak about that before the next +meeting." She invited all to meet again on the 10th of the following +month. She little thought that they would indeed meet on that day, but +only to lay her remains to rest. The 10th of February was to be her +funeral day. + +The fatal illness was of very short duration, and gave her little +opportunity of thought. She was sorrowing over her inability to think +when the words were given to her: "I am poor and needy yet the Lord +thinketh upon me." "Yes, that's it," was her reply; "In Thy strong arms +I lay me down." She was quoting from the following hymn, which she +frequently repeated to her friends, and which she said more than any +other expressed the present state of her feelings:-- + + "I only enter on the rest, + Obtained by labour done; + I only claim the victory + By Him so dearly won. + + And, Lord, I seek a _holy_ rest, + A victory over sin; + I seek that Thou alone should'st reign + O'er all, without, within. + + In quietness then, and confidence, + Saviour, my strength shall be, + And '_take_ me, for I cannot _come_,' + Is still my cry to Thee. + + In Thy strong hand I lay me down, + So shall the work be done; + For who can work so wondrously + As an Almighty One? + + Work on, then, Lord, till on my soul + Eternal Light shall break; + And in Thy likeness perfected, + I 'satisfied' shall wake." + +On the evening of the 29th of January the duchess attempted to ask for +something. Miss Sandilands repeated the words, "My Beloved is mine, and +I am His." "Yes," she answered. This emphatic token of assent to a truth +which was essentially her own by appropriation was the last attempt she +made to speak. She fell asleep at half-past seven on the Sabbath +evening, the 31st of January, 1864. She went to the land where time is +no more, in her seventieth year, just reaching the allotted term of +life, as she had certainly in no ordinary degree performed its +allotted work. + +There was no need of hired mourners at her funeral. The depth of real +grief was unprecedented. The sad procession was composed of many +hundreds of mourners, and of nearly seven hundred children from her +schools. The whole district was desolate and bereaved. The man was only +speaking what many another was thinking when he said, "This is the +greatest calamity that ever befell this district; of a' the dukes that +reigned here there was never one like her; there's none in this +neighbourhood, high or low, but was under some obligation to her, for +she made it her study to benefit her fellow-men; and what crowds o' puir +craturs she helped every day. And then for the spiritual, Huntly is +Huntly still, in a great degree, but the gude that's been done in it is +a' through her." + +All that was mortal of this mother in Israel was laid to rest in Elgin +Cathedral. That noble fane contained the remains of no one more loved +than she. "I can't understand how people should love me," she used to +say. Others could understand it. And now that they could love her in +person no longer, they love her memory. + +S.F. HARRIS, M.A., B.C.L. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Excellent Women, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10129 *** |