Of Pigsties & Palaces
The Elect Lady—Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. 1707-1791
The grey dawn broke over the residence of the Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. Job like in her life's experiences, this illness looked as though it could be her last. Her personal chaplain George Whitfield, who had preached in all of her houses to most of her noble friends, now moved purposefully towards the window. Cracking it open, the voices below of (1)thousands of admirers came prayerfully to the end of their petitioning hymn:
Uphold this star in thy right hand
Crown her endeavors with success;
Among the great ones may she stand,
A witness of thy righteousness,
Till many nobles join Thy train And triumph in the lamb that's slain.
Eighteenth century England was a hard and brutal world to live in. Alcohol and poverty proved a malevolent mix for the masses of the lower classes. There was many a highway man roaming the heaths along the roads into London. Poverty, inequality and drunkenness became a heady cocktail for violence. However, it was not only Whitfield and Wesley that feared not the mobs whilst loving the masses and preaching Christ to the forgotten and poverty stricken. Selina, since her conversion, had become very active and compassionate amongst the poor, visiting them and praying for them in their sickness with such love and concern that when they died, they left their children to her as a legacy that they might be cared for by the Countess!
However, it must be remembered that not only did Selina care for the lowly, but also cared for the high and the mighty. Selina was a regular visitor to the Royal Court, even appealing at one point directly to the king concerning the lifestyle of the then Archbishop and his wife. Her witness indeed was to both to pig sties and palaces. However Selina was more than a kind benefactor. She was a woman of great vision, zeal, courage, continuance, sacrifice, understanding, and discernment. Though an unfortunate participatory in the Calvinistic and Armenian controversy raging at the time between Wesley and Whitfield, they both had nevertheless preached in her pulpits and at her college, along with other famous Evangelical preachers of the day such as such as, Fletcher, Harris, and Toplady. From her thorough theological comprehension, the Countess was a Calvinist of ardent fervor, and was no stranger to fighting for her beliefs. She was very courageous concerning her beliefs. The Upper Class did not mingle with the minions in education, society, health or amenities. The Evangelical preachers call to conviction, confession and repentance may have been well understood and received by the masses, but on the whole it was rejected by the nobility. Indeed the then Duchess of Buckingham did not believe that people with 'blue blood' had to listen to such humiliating truths. Sneering at the then growing sect of the Methodists she wrote, (2) "Their doctrines are most repulsive and strongly tinctured with impertinence and disrespect towards their superiors, in perpetually endeavoring to level all ranks, and do away with distinctions. It is monstrous to be told that you have a heart as sinful as the common wretches that crawl the earth….." It took a woman of courage like Selina to place the claims of Christ before such people. (3)She used to say she thanked God for the letter 'M' in 1 Cor 1:26 "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." NKJV (4) "It is estimated that through the tireless efforts of the Countess of Huntingdon no less than 200 chapels and mission stations were opened. In 1828 forty years after her death, there were some 35,000 people regularly attending these places of worship, cared for by 72 officiating ministers."
The Elect Lady—Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. 1707-1791
The grey dawn broke over the residence of the Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. Job like in her life's experiences, this illness looked as though it could be her last. Her personal chaplain George Whitfield, who had preached in all of her houses to most of her noble friends, now moved purposefully towards the window. Cracking it open, the voices below of (1)thousands of admirers came prayerfully to the end of their petitioning hymn:
Uphold this star in thy right hand Crown her endeavors with success;
Among the great ones may she stand,
A witness of thy righteousness,
Till many nobles join Thy train And triumph in the lamb that's slain.
Eighteenth century England was a hard and brutal world to live in. Alcohol and poverty proved a malevolent mix for the masses of the lower classes. There was many a highway man roaming the heaths along the roads into London. Poverty, inequality and drunkenness became a heady cocktail for violence. However, it was not only Whitfield and Wesley that feared not the mobs whilst loving the masses and preaching Christ to the forgotten and poverty stricken. Selina, since her conversion, had become very active and compassionate amongst the poor, visiting them and praying for them in their sickness with such love and concern that when they died, they left their children to her as a legacy that they might be cared for by the Countess!
However, it must be remembered that not only did Selina care for the lowly, but also cared for the high and the mighty. Selina was a regular visitor to the Royal Court, even appealing at one point directly to the king concerning the lifestyle of the then Archbishop and his wife. Her witness indeed was to both to pig sties and palaces. However Selina was more than a kind benefactor. She was a woman of great vision, zeal, courage, continuance, sacrifice, understanding, and discernment. Though an unfortunate participatory in the Calvinistic and Armenian controversy raging at the time between Wesley and Whitfield, they both had nevertheless preached in her pulpits and at her college, along with other famous Evangelical preachers of the day such as such as, Fletcher, Harris, and Toplady. From her thorough theological comprehension, the Countess was a Calvinist of ardent fervor, and was no stranger to fighting for her beliefs. She was very courageous concerning her beliefs. The Upper Class did not mingle with the minions in education, society, health or amenities. The Evangelical preachers call to conviction, confession and repentance may have been well understood and received by the masses, but on the whole it was rejected by the nobility. Indeed the then Duchess of Buckingham did not believe that people with 'blue blood' had to listen to such humiliating truths. Sneering at the then growing sect of the Methodists she wrote, (2) "Their doctrines are most repulsive and strongly tinctured with impertinence and disrespect towards their superiors, in perpetually endeavoring to level all ranks, and do away with distinctions. It is monstrous to be told that you have a heart as sinful as the common wretches that crawl the earth….." It took a woman of courage like Selina to place the claims of Christ before such people. (3)She used to say she thanked God for the letter 'M' in 1 Cor 1:26 "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." NKJV (4) "It is estimated that through the tireless efforts of the Countess of Huntingdon no less than 200 chapels and mission stations were opened. In 1828 forty years after her death, there were some 35,000 people regularly attending these places of worship, cared for by 72 officiating ministers."
Though at the time Oxford and Cambridge were still the only places where men could train for the ministry, Trevecca house near Talgarth in Breconshire was set up by the Countess and had more than 150 preachers passing through it, dispatching them all over England and even to the Americas! Indeed Missionaries sent to the southern state of Georgia in 1772, though there primarily to preach to the Indians and set up a (5)college for the Indian nations became instrumental along with Whitfield, in the conversion of many Africans then in the south. Following their emancipation some 2000 are reported to have left for Sierra Leone in 1792. (6) At least half of them were associated with the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion. A group of Connexion churches still exist today in Sierra Leone and are in fellowship with the remaining Chapels of the Connexion in England. Paul had his (7) Lydia, and Whitfield his Countess. Maybe today many pastors are still in need of godly and powerful patronage? Possibly we should be praying that more fish shall be caught, and found to have (8) money in their mouths, and mercy in their gills. (9) "The story is told of a bishop who complained about the Countess's Ministers who had created some kind of sensation in his diocese. His majesty offered a solution -"Make bishops of them-- make bishops of them." The prelate replied: "that might be done, but please your Majesty, we cannot make a bishop of Lady Huntingdon." At that point the Queen interposed, "It would be a lucky circumstance if you could, for she puts you all to shame."
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Sources:-
Sources:-
(1) Gilbert w Kirby, The Elect Lady (The Trustees of the Connexion. Stanley L Hunt (printers) Ltd, Northants England 1972) 29
(2)Ibid, 18.
(3)She was thankful that the text did not read: not any nobles are called as opposed to not Many nobles are called. Gilbert w Kirby, The Elect Lady (The Trustees of the Connexion. Stanley L Hunt (printers) Ltd, Northants England 1972) 54
(4)Ibid, 59
(5)Ibid, 60
(6)Acts 16:14 One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. NIV
(7)Acts 16:40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia's house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left. NIV
(8)Matthew 17:27 "But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours." NIV
(9)Gilbert w Kirby, The Elect Lady (The Trustees of the Connexion. Stanley L Hunt (printers) Ltd, Northants England 1972) 36
Very good stories~~ Thanks for ur sharing~~!! ........................................
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