18. The Gospel to the Aristocracy in England 157
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The Gospel to the Aristocracy in EnglandThe aristocracy of eighteenth-century England were not a people likely to be attracted by the gospel. The lives of most were characterized by godlessness; yet all made much of their practice of the politeness of high society and the maintenance of their professed superiority over mere commoners. They possessed, in general, vast inherited wealth and titles, but drunkenness, gambling, and immorality were their frequent activities,
Of course, as in any class, certain of these titled elite were different. Outstanding in this regard was the Countess of Huntingdon. Since her earliest days Lady Huntingdon had remained aloof from the coarser pleasures of her peers, and she had trusted that her self-righteousness would obtain her salvation. But this assurance left her when she lay on a sickbed. In a great sense of her need she then called upon God, crying, "Lord! I believe! Help thou mine unbelief!" She cast herself upon Jesus Christ and was brought into the full assurance of salvation.
Lord and Lady Huntingdon had attended Whitefield's ministry since its beginning. But Lord Huntingdon shortly passed away, and following his death Lady Huntingdon came into a new and deep devotion to the things of God. She became a true student of the Scriptures and a woman of believing prayer.
Although Whitefield had given over the leadership of Calvinistic Methodism, another door now opened to him. Lady Huntingdon first indicated her acceptance of his ministry and her agreement with his doctrinal position by appointing him one of her chaplains. Secondly, she asked him to preach to a company of the aristocracy whom she invited to her home. Despite the tremendous weight of the task, he complied, and such was his ministry that several of his hearers expressed the desire that the occasion be repeated. In response Lady Huntingdon arranged for him to preach to them twice a week, and her drawing room constantly overflowed with these richly bejeweled, highly perfumed, and elegantly dressed members of the nobility.
These hearers may mean little to the readers of today, but we notice them and certain of their attainments in order that we may recognize something of the burden Whitefield faced in this ministry. A partial listing is as follows:
Lady Fanny Shirley, who had long been one of the reigning beauties of the Court of George the First; the Duchess of Argyle; Lady Betty Campbell; Lady Ferrers; Lady Sophia Thomas; the Duchess of Montagu, daughter of the great Duke of Marlborough; Lady Cardigan; Lady Lincoln; Mrs Boscawen; Mrs Pitt; Miss Rich; Lady Fitzwalter; Lady Caroline Petersham; the Duchess of Queensbury, daughter of the Earl of Clarendon, celebrated for her extraordinary beauty, wit, and sprighthness by Pope, Swift and Prior; the Duchess of Manchester; Lady Thanet, daughter of the Marquis of Halifax; Lady St. John; Lady Luxborough, the friend and correspondent of Shenstone, the poet; Lady Monson; Lady Rockingham, the wife of the great statesman, a woman of immense wit and pleasant temper; Lady Betty Germain, through her husband Sir John Germain the possessor of enormous wealth; Lady Eleanor Bertie, the Dowager-Duchess of Ancaster; the Dowager-Lady Hyndford; the Duchess of Somerset; the Countess Delitz, sister of Lady Chesterfield; Lady Hinchinbroke, granddaughter of the Duke of Montagu; and Lady Schaubs.
Besides these 'honourable women' there were also a similar number of men: the Earl of Bubington, famed for his architectural expenditure; George Bubb Doddington, afterwards Lord Melcombe, a friend and favourite of the Prince of Wales, and whose costly mansion was often crowded with literary men; George Augustus Selwyn, an eccentric wit, to whom nearly all the bon-mots of the day were attributed; the Earl of Holderness; Lord (afterwards Marquis) Townshend, named George after his godfather, George the First, a distinguished general in the army, a member of Parliament and ultimately Field Marshall; Charles Townshend, whom Burke described as 'the delight and ornament of the House of Commons, and the charm of every private society he honoured with his presence'; Lord St. John, half-brother to Lord Bolingbroke; the Earl of Aberdeen; the Earl of Lauderdale; the Earl of Hyndford, Envoy Extraordinary to the King of Prussia; the Marquis of Tweedsdale, Secretary of State for Scotland; Lord Lyttleton, Secretary of Frederick, the Prince of Wales; William Pitt, the distinguished First Earl of Chatham; Lord North, First Lord of the treasury; Evelyn, Duke of Kingston; Viscount Tretham; the Earl of March; the Earl of Haddington; the Earl of Beaulieu; Baron Hume; the Earl of Sandwich, subsequently Ambassador to the Court of Spain, First Lord of the Admiralty and Secretary of State; the Earl of Chesterfield, and Lord Bolingbroke, a man of great ability, a statesman, a philosopher and an infidel.1
Seldom in England's history did a gospel preacher stand before so distinguished, fastidious, and critical an audience.
Whitefield testified, "I go with fear and trembling, knowing how difficult it is to speak to the great so as to win them to Jesus Christ. But divine grace is sufficient for me." We visualize him as he came before this company, weak in himself, but strong in the assurance of being sent of God and of standing as His ambassador. He was also aware of the spiritual need of his hearers, for despite their wealth, many of them were in bondage to the habits of sin, and some were enfeebled by age and soon to leave the bounds of time and enter upon eternity. His words flowed forth with melting compassion as he proclaimed the "good tidings of great joy"—the gospel of Jesus Christ.
His message was planned to reach the intellect first, and after lodging certain basic truths there, to arouse the emotion and move the will.
Lord Bolingbroke, after hearing him for the first time, came to him and declared that he "had done great justice to the divine attributes." And in a later letter to Lady Huntingdon he stated,
Mr Whitefield is the most extraordinary man of our times. He has the most commanding eloquence I ever heard in any person; his abilities are very considerable—his zeal unquenchable and his piety and excellence genuine. . . .2
Likewise the Earl of Chesterfield, himself a renowned orator, declared,
Mr Whitefield's eloquence is unrivalled—his zeal inexhaustible; and not to admire both would argue a total absence of taste. .. .3
The Earl of Bath, one of the most powerful Parliamentary figures of the century, after hearing Whitefield for the first time, came to him greatly moved and arranged that he visit him. Following that visit, the Earl associated himself with the company that met regularly at Lady Huntingdon's. Similarly, Lord St. John became a believer under Whitefield's preaching. But he shortly passed from earth, and Lady Huntingdon, following his victorious death, in a letter to Whitefield remarked, "This, my good friend, is the firstfruits of that plenteous harvest which, I trust, the great Harvestman will yet reap amongst the nobility of our land."4
Under Whitefield's ministry Lady Chesterfield also experienced a changed heart and a transformed life. She was "one of the finest private musicians of her day" and was the friend of such men as Handel and Giardini. But she willingly forsook her association with high society and bore the reproach of the world because of her testimony to Christ. The last time she attended the Royal Court she was wearing a dress brought by Lord Chesterfield from abroad. But the King came to her and remarked, "I know who chose that gown for you—Mr Whitefield. I hear you have attended on him this year and a half." To which she replied, "Yes, I have, and I like him very much." He walked away, but she would have liked to say more.
Whitefield's influence reached into the royal family, particularly in the person of Frederick, the Prince of Wales. But when the prince had been under gospel influence for some two years he was overtaken by death. Lady Huntingdon stated, "He had frequent argument with my Lord Bolingbroke, who thought his Royal Highness fast verging toward Methodism.. . . The Prince went more than once privately to hear Mr Whitefield, with whom he was much pleased."5
David Hume, widely-known today for his agnosticism, was also one of Whitefield's hearers. Hume declared, "Mr Whitefield is the most ingenious preacher I ever heard. It is worth going twenty miles to hear him." He also reported that as Whitefield was closing one of his sermons,
He then, in the most simple but energetic language, described what he called the Saviour's dying love to sinful man, so that almost the whole assembly was melted into tears. This address was accompanied with such animated yet natural action that it surpassed anything I ever saw or heard in any preacher.6
Whitefield also sought to influence various of the aristocracy by writing to them. For instance to Lord Rae, a military officer, he stated, "Can I wish your Lordship anything greater than that you may be a good soldier of Jesus Christ? It is a blessed thing to be engaged in fighting his battles." Likewise to Colonel Gumley, father-in-law to Lord Bath, he wrote, "The news of your conversion hath reached the ears of many of the great ones in Scotland. May the Lord Jesus keep you steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in his work." And in reply to a letter received from a countess, Whitefield said, "Your letter speaks the language of a soul which has tasted that the Lord is good, and hath been initiated into the Divine life. Welcome, honoured Madam, into the world of new creatures."
Lady Huntingdon conducted a steady witness for Christ among these titled acquaintances. She was a born leader and at times proved inflexible, but she was also a gracious and humble Christian. Moreover, she had come into clear doctrinal convictions, embracing a Calvinism like that of Whitefield. Her belief is evident in a letter she wrote to the Rev. Henry Venn, who had manifested an uncertain concept of "the doctrines of grace." Her letter reads,
O, my friend! we can make no atonement to a violated law—we have no inward holiness of our own—the Lord Jesus is the Lord our righteousness.
Cling not to such beggarly elements—such filthy rags—mere cob webs of Pharisaical pride—but look to him who hath wrought out a perfect righteousness for his people.
You find it a hard task to come naked and miserable to Christ. . . . But if you come at all you must come thus. . . . There must be no conditions—Christ and Christ alone must be the only Mediator between God and sinful men—no miserable performances may be placed between the sinner and the Saviour. Let the eye of faith be ever directed to the Lord Jesus Christ; and I beseech him to bring every thought of your heart into captivity to the obedience of our great High Priest.7
Two of the great ladies, after hearing Whitefield in a certain chapel, assured Lady Huntingdon he had declared that the love of Christ for sinners was so strong "he would accept even the devil's castaways." The ladies questioned the wisdom of his statement, and therefore Lady Huntingdon brought them to him and asked about the matter. He replied that it was true, but went on to report that following that utterance an elderly woman had called on him and had told him she was passing the door of the chapel when she heard him say, "Christ would receive even the devil's castaways." "Such," she confessed, "am I. Do you think He will receive me?" Whitefield assured her He would if she was but willing to go to Him. This interview ended in a thorough conversion, and Lady Huntingdon discovered that this poor woman's life thereafter was remarkable for its purity and that at her death she left a clear testimony that Christ had indeed washed away her crimson stains.
Whitefield's ministry was well-suited to the colliers of Kingswood and the slaves of America, and yet he equally influenced such minds as Franklin and Belcher in America, and Bolingbroke, Chesterfield, and indeed this company of the learned and dignified, the aristocracy, in England.