“My very dear and honoured Lady—The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who tried Israel, and led them through many a wandering to the good land, that he might do them more good in their latter end—this faithful God hath met with you; a rod is in his hand, but that hand bears so deep a print of love, that the design of his visitation cannot be mistaken. Nor does he come without the supporting staff: he kills to make alive—he wounds to heal—he afflicts to comfort, and to do it more deeply and effectually. My hearty prayer for your Ladyship is, that you may drink the cup the Lord holds out to you as a new token of his unchangeable love. I call it unchangeable, because it is really so in its nature, though the appearances of it greatly vary, for the trial of faith. ‘I am God (says he)—I change not, therefore Israel is not consumed,’ and Shadrac is kept in the burning fiery furnace. When I think of your Ladyship’s illness, the words of Paschal often occur to my mind, and are a little relief to me. ‘Sickness (said that devoted soul)—sickness is the natural condition of Christians: they are then, as they should always be, deprived of all the good things that belong to prosperity, and surrounded with the evils of adversity: their senses and passions are mortified, their eyes are fixed upon death, and their hearts on the Prince of Life. What a blessing (added he) to be placed by the kind hand of Providence in that very state which we should choose, were we allowed our choice!’
“I have often heard your Ladyship speaking admirably upon knowing Christ, and the power of his resurrection, together with the fellowship of his sufferings. The Lord will have you improve in that heavenly knowledge, therefore he gives you so long a lesson at this time. The lesson is hard, I grant, but the Master is so loving, the science so noble, and the scholar so used to severe exercises, that it is no wonder you are placed in this highest form. No cross, no crown! The heavier the cross, the brighter the crown. I often wish I could bear your Ladyship’s burden, but check this impotent wish, by rejoicing that one who feels not only touches of sympathy, but love everlasting and almighty as Himself, bears it for you, and bears you with it. On the bosom of this dear heavenly Physician I desire to place you. There I want you to enjoy all the birth-sweets of sickness, and when patience hath had its perfect work there, I beg you may live and love till I have received my dismission; and when yours is sealed, may I be allowed to come and meet your departing soul among those whom you have made your friends with the mammon of unrighteousness and with the blessings of Gospel righteousness, and who will long to welcome you into everlasting habitations.
“Till I received Lady Anne’s letter, I often wanted to persuade myself that your Ladyship had got quite well soon after I had left Kippax, and that you were gone to London, about the death of the person I heard you speak of. I rejoice that the Lord laid the embargo upon your Ladyship among so many good nurses as I left you with I pray God reward them for their labours of love to your Ladyship, and make their bed for them when they are visited in their turn. I beg my best respects and warmest thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Medhurst, Miss Medhurst, and the dear company of your Ladyship. Their kindness and patience towards me while at Kippax have laid me under a heavy burden of obligations, which I desire gratefully to acknowledge.
“Through a mistake of our good friend Ireland,[161] dear Mr. Glascott came here the day after I arrived from Yorkshire. He stayed only one day. This stripling will throw down Goliath. I blessed that cross and accident which brought me acquainted with a young soldier that made me so ashamed of myself. Mr. Hill[162] is gone to Brighthelmstone, where I hope he will be as useful as he is in Shropshire. Captain Scott set out last Monday for York, after making a great stir for good in Shrewsbury: he hath been a prophet to several in his own country.
“I am loth to trouble Lady Anne with the request of a line, to know how your Ladyship does, yet I know not well how to give up the hope she will once more steal two minutes for it. I am, with peculiar thanks to Lady Anne for her letter, and to your Ladyship for numberless favours, my Lady, your most indebted and obliged servant,
“J. Fletcher.”
Lady Huntingdon being sufficiently recovered from her late indisposition, proceeded to Leeds for a short time, and was accompanied thither by Mr. Whitefield. The late Mrs. Deane, who resided at that time at Whitkirk, near Leeds, was considered as ranking among the higher circles. She had occasionally heard Mr. Ingham and Mr. Edwards, who had withdrawn himself from Mr. Wesley, and had built himself a place of worship, known by the name of “White Chapel,” at Leeds, where he continued to dispense the word of life for more than thirty years. Mr. Edwards mentioned Mrs. Deane to Lady Huntingdon, who, observing the marks of a penitent in her, invited her to her house, and there she became acquainted with those bright stars that then shone in England, and now shine in heaven, Messrs. Whitefield, the Wesleys, Venn, Ingham, Romaine, and other clergymen, who found a welcome in that honourable house. She had frequent opportunities of conversing with Lady Huntingdon, and of enjoying those spiritual pleasures which would naturally result from communication with one so well qualified as that excellent lady, to direct and comfort the Christian in his road to glory.
Mrs. Deane was a woman of rank, of superior education and accomplishments, and her letters and meditations afford strong proofs, that if there be any happiness separate from union and communion with God by faith in Jesus Christ, she had powers capable of discerning and enjoying it. Her writings clearly show that she did not seek satisfaction in those shadowy scenes of refined iniquity which too fatally ensnare the majority of those trifling immortals who are ranked among the rich and great. She used to say—
“People in general are seeking happiness where it can never be found—in the world and its pleasures, or else in some created being—in all which they will surely meet with disappointment. Reason and religion both teach us that to be happy we must be holy; and the experience of mind bred up in and influenced by such principles most attest the truth and importance of them. But yet, notwithstanding all his knowledge and experience concerning the reasonableness, the fitness, and the beauty of holiness, let no man trust in or think to find innate goodness in himself. Let him divest himself of all self-confidence, and entirely rely on his Saviour in every spiritual conflict; and let him be assured he will then find a strong tower of defence against every evil, and will be ready to say—
to which I humbly subscribe in heart and name.”
Mrs. Deane was nearly allied to the noble family of Charles, Viscount Irvine, of Temple Newson, on the river Aire, two miles below Leeds. His Lordship, who had succeeded to the title in 1763, had married Miss Shepherd, a lady possessed of a very great fortune. Mrs. Deane’s attachment to and affection for Lady Irvine, and every member of that honourable family, were remarkable, and always appeared so vigorous that they were constantly breaking forth in the most ardent prayers for their eternal welfare. She soon brought her Ladyship acquainted with Lady Huntingdon, and never failed to invite Lord and Lady Irvine to her house whenever the Countess was at Leeds, or at Ledstone Hall. After a sermon had been delivered with which she had been particularly edified, her love for their eternal interests naturally made her exclaim, “O that Lady Irvine and family had heard this.” She sometimes hoped well of them, and thought that Lady Huntingdon’s conversation had been blessed to Lady Irvine. In one of her letters to her Ladyship, she says—
“You will rejoice to hear that my dear Lady Irvine accompanied me to hear Mr. Charles Wesley. There was a very crowded congregation, and he preached as for eternity, and could look his hearers in the face, and say with humble confidence—‘I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men.’ The worship and service of the day altogether appeared to my dear friend most sacred, solemn, and delightful. The impressions which were made on her mind during your Ladyship’s last conversation with her have continued ever since; and I earnestly pray and hope may not pass away like the morning cloud, or like the early dew. Her judgment and understanding are enlightened, though her conscience may yet be unawakened; and though she thinks differently on some points on which your Ladyship spoke so ably, she admits the doctrine of man’s total depravity by nature, the atonement, justification by faith, the agency of the Spirit in the work of regeneration, and holiness of heart and life in order to final salvation. May the Spirit of God impress those solemn truths on her conscience and apply them to her heart with power! We often speak of your Ladyship; and my dear Lady Irvine acknowledges her obligations to you for the light and comfort which she now enjoys. Lord Irvine always mentions you in terms of great respect, and admiration of your talents and your zeal.”[163]
To return to our narrative. The Rev. Samson Occum, the Indian preacher, and Mr. Whitaker, minister of Norwich, in New England, who had arrived in this country the preceding year, to promote the interests of the Indian Charity Schools at Lebanon, had been making a tour in Scotland and collecting money for the object of their mission. At Newcastle a very considerable sum was collected, after a sermon by Mr. Wesley, who preached at the particular request of Mr. Whitaker. They visited several places in Yorkshire, and met with great success; Mr. Romaine, Mr. Venn, and Mr. Powley also advocating their cause at Leeds, Huddersfield, and Kippax. Mr. Whitefield preached at Sheffield the day after Mr. Occum and Mr. Whitaker had left it. “The Americans were gone (says he) the day before I arrived at Sheffield; I missed them by coming through Chesterfield, instead of Mansfield.” At Leeds, Mr. Whitefield and Lady Huntingdon were joined by Captain Scott, who preached to amazing crowds. His popularity was very great at this period. Many of the rich, worldly wise, and honourable could not endure such preaching; but the common people heard him gladly, and blessed God for the preaching, which they could fully understand, and were as much disposed as ever to say, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”
Mr. Whitefield proceeded to Huddersfield, and passed some weeks with Mr. Venn, but was compelled to decline Mr. Fletcher’s invitation to Madely, as stated in a letter to one of his prime favourites, Mrs. Herritage, whom he calls the “London Shunamite.”
“Leeds, Oct. 3, 1767.
“My good Shunamite—Just as your letter came I was taking pen in hand to send you a few lines. What a mercy when good news comes from town and country! And what news so good as that of the word of the Lord Jesus running and being glorified? This hath been the case with the willing, but worthless pilgrim. Everywhere the sound of his Master’s feet hath been heard behind him. Field and street preaching hath rather bettered than hurt his bodily health. But as the weather begins to break, he must look towards winter quarters. This makes it impracticable for him to go to Madely. It is too far distant. May Jesus support the suffering martyr. He will! He will!
I know this will find you a living martyr, a witness of the truths and life of Jesus, the only preparative for dying a martyr. That whether you live, you may live unto the Lord; or whether you die, you may die unto the Lord, is the earnest prayer of, dear Mrs. Herritage,
“Yours, &c., in our common Lord,
“George Whitefield.”
This was Mr. Whitefield’s last visit to Yorkshire; and it is worthy of remark that the last sermon preached by that apostolic witness in that county was delivered in the pulpit of Huddersfield church.
The ministry of the Rev. Thomas Wilson, about this period, began to attract much attention in Yorkshire. Possessed of strong faith in the divine word, a fervent love of God and Christ, and a living sense of the vast worth of men’s souls, he became a most diligent preacher, uncommonly zealous in his manner, and remarkably plain and pointed in his addresses to men’s consciences. His praise, not as a scholar indeed, but as a good minister of Jesus Christ, will long continue to be heard through a large and populous district. His simplicity and godly sincerity were admitted and admired by great numbers, who could not be prevailed upon by his tears and entreaties to forsake their sinful courses; nevertheless, he has left behind him many seals of his ministry; and many, it is believed, converted by his means, died before him in faith, and most joyfully received his spirit into the heavenly habitations. He lived down prejudice and slander in a very uncommon degree: his rule and his practice were, to overcome evil by doing good. He was eminently a man of peace—he loved it in his heart—he sought it earnestly: but this divine and amiable disposition did not damp his zeal for the cause of God, and his concern to save men’s souls. He boldly rebuked sin; he showed his abhorrence particularly to that destructive vice of drunkenness, so prevalent in manufacturing places, which robs so many of the lower orders not only of their comforts, but of the necessaries of life. He kept a watchful eye over public-houses: he felt and frequently expressed the deepest sorrow (and his regrets were not always unavailing) at the irregularities and excesses which occurred in those places, and especially on Sunday evenings. Many nights of broken rest did he pass, occupied with reflections on the depravity, blindness, and madness of sinners, who were treasuring up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath, while they despised or neglected all his warnings—his warm, vehement, affectionate appeals to their consciences.
Mr. Wilson was somewhat advanced in life when he first turned his thoughts towards the ministry; and he had not had the advantage of a regular classical education. A clergyman of Leeds, of a kindred spirit, beheld in his fervent piety the dawning of singular usefulness, and put him in the way of obtaining holy orders. He applied himself to the study of the languages, and was ordained to a curacy near Wetherby, Yorkshire. There his ardent spirit laboured diligently; and much concern about religion appeared in many of his congregation. Whilst there he received a visit from Lady Huntingdon, in one of her numerous rambles through Yorkshire, and her advice and conversation were of great benefit in exciting him to greater diligence and zeal in the discharge of the duties of his function. Some things there were, however, disagreeable to him in that situation; and on the removal of Mr. Powley to Dewsbury, Mr. Wilson, through his means, became perpetual curate of Slaighwaite.