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Letters of Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon at Bridwell Library

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Letter to The Revd. Mr. [Thomas] Haweis, at the Countess of Huntingdon's, Vineyards

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Title	Letter to The Revd. Mr. [Thomas] Haweis, at the Countess of Huntingdon's, Vineyards
Post Date	March 6, 1790
Author	Huntingdon, Selina Hastings, Countess of, 1707-1791.
Recipient	Haweis, Thomas, 1734-1820
Date	1790-03-06
Physical Description	4 pgs total; 3 pgs text; 1 pg address
Dimensions	24 x 39 cm.
Address To	Bath
Country To	England
Address From	Spa Fields, London
Country From	England
Transcriber	Wanda Smith
Plain Text Transcription	Letter 116 [Handwritten] Mar 6 1790 [Address panel:] To The Revd Mr Haweis at the Countess of Huntingdon's Vineyards, Bath My very dear Friends With thankfulness of heart I read your Most kind letter & I have seen two Youngmen that are happy to have in view before them your Plan & will be rejoiced to be under your kind & faithful inspection & now my dear sir nothing remains but a very privet Boarding house near Bath (as may be) for to attend your Ministry. I am gladly the bond servant for all that Can be wanting in every article belonging to them. I wish tenderly to avoid so Base a Censure as to have it even but supposed I mean to burden any while the little all of mine can be so gloriously offered and in this light makes all but as a small dust of the Balance that such a worm Can do. Waf [i.e. Waugh] and Price, the two young men only waite to set off for Bath as soon as my orders reach them, their present employ is in taking Care for me of a small Chapel in a dismal dark corner, they are approved & the encrease yield hopes - Masters at Bath may be obtained to keep them Close for improvement which your kindness best Can direct by the Masters you appoint over them, for this I must be wholly Obliged to your kind Care for me; I Consider Myself Much so, for any part you take to help My few & evil days in that only Point life is made supportable by the Willing Services of my latest Breath. Your Choice in avoiding all Laymen and Committee men I agree to I Can’t know mankind so little but to be sure from Experience’d difficultys, all for ease must gladly escape if possible what I can’t but in strict Conscience be (in My particular situation) bound to be thankful to God for & this while reflecting on my various states of distress from that Variety of Policy, pride & secret Iniquity that has abounded for forty five or near fifty years [p. 2] & when this reformation begunl What Mixtures for Misery arose even to drive poor Whitefield & myself even to my wits end, and this while its importance at all hazards was to have its j lace if, we Heant the ~eace of our own Souls or the knowledge of truth then under a state of Jewish Ignorance overriding [? Overturning, overrunning?] this Kingdom, The little Influence I had soon became for me an object for any declining cause; here I suffered from Perplexity & Pitty to all, as a painful Witness Meaning Myself for truth only – great & never to be forgotten mercys daily follow’d my weak Labours & to avoid you trouble the Conclusion made necessity With many prayers and tears at last been subject & brought up this resolve to [_______] _____ disinterestedly the rising state of discipline in the Primitive Church here I fell upon the Great Council of Jerusalem Acts 6 & found all I wanted the Ministers & the Laymen’s appointment as one for all temporal care, for the churches & the others for the "word of God & prayer" as the purpose & means of life & salvation to all thus as the work has been so immensely encreasing ever since & my unhappy lott but too evidently proved where Competence [?] has been the most invariably placed. I have been thankful in the midst of distress that however things have gone the Lord keeps peace so universally—that even as the late most horrid offence encreases to be known, the Lord keeps the minds of the peoples in just abhorrence so much as to render greater love & compassion towards me. As to my Welsh Friends, faithful I have found them & not by Purchase for now twenty-four years one & ever the same willing to do & suffer with me * that while Mr Wills slip unknown to me gain [?] the highest disgust to all of them by his seceeding – I have many Congregations very dear to me in Wales & which no Conditions can separate me from, as I do Certainly know the most pure Gospel is preached among them. My English ministers will be received among them the English parts of Wales & that above others, & their most eminent of four ministers of the Church of England as my own heart. What but must dispose all I know of Justice [p. 3] to honour & esteem such that all United Powers Calls for the most faithful services alike in all Places for the same End--& a body of able Ministers assisted by heads of those vast numbers of Congregation for Carrying forward the One purpose of the Gospel appears the one mean of Peace & Safety & that most universally—[following is her mission] I am a poor Individual called in faithfulness to take care of some hundred thousand souls. This sacred obligation I am under & if the Lord does not raise faithful servants for them—How great distress if none, none help me. I am the responsible & honoured servant for the whole work for ministers & people &, except your Generous services, I know of none like minded that is able either by many difficulties of large familys, & c. & c. which my joy while I have it to give is as the Cup of Cold Water only here is many Gospel shops[?] opened to the shame and reproach of [text wanting] Profession Call’d Christian & in the hands of the Lord I [text wanting] to clear myself solely trusting to his promise—“Grace and Glory [illegible] & no good thing will be withheld from them that walk uprightly” & thus my d[ea]r friend as far as I do know without reserve I have mentioned as all I know & think & that without exposing the vilest of men Living while in the Characters of Ministers & as of the Servants of Jesus Christ. The Post hurries me or I have yet so much to say yet & first keep honest Sheppard & Ford with my Christian love there [?] present to board the Young men, & by the first post my d[ea]r friend let me know when you expect them, as they are much alive about it—if you Can get Bath properly supplied, I rather you did it; if not, I will write to De Courcy from Shrewsbury to fix it, but Your Choice I would prefer—to send me Canneford’s direction—Jones is just arrived & happy with Bristol’s Prospect. Jay[?] I find to be married to Davis the Clergyman’s[?] daughter & I think he would unite heartily with us if wisely applied to, but this to your judgment only. [p. 4 written across the address panel] A thousand Loves attend you both, do let me hear from you. My heart (low as it is) is made glad by every word you write & where my thanks & Gratitude can begin or end I know not. To you the Lord Bless & reward is my daily prayers of your Unworthly, every affectionate & obliged Friend, S. Huntingdon Spa Fields March 6, 1790 Forgive this scrawl but not minute is left for Correction. D[ea]r Lady Ann’s love attends you both. Postmarked from London, March 6, 1790. Evidence of black wax seal remains. Written with a sharply trimmed pen.
Catalog Link	http://libcat.smu.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=196976
Unique Identifier	Huntingdon 03061790
Digital Resources Type	Image
Digitization Date	Digitized: 2011
Digital Publisher	Bridwell Library, Special Collections; Perkins School of Theology; Southern Methodist University
Rights	Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Head of Special Collections of the Bridwell Library.
Decade	1790-1799
Location (Box, Folder)	Box 2, File 08