It was on the 17th of this month long ago, in the year 1791, to be exact, a woman of no mean birth - Selina, Countess of Huntingdon - departed this life to find eternal rest in the presence of Jesus Christ her Saviour. Although she was born a Lady and lived a Countess of one of the most influential houses in England, the Countess of Huntingdon died in poverty. A few months before her death she left her only will and testament. "I do hereby declare", she wrote, "That all my present peace and my hope of future glory depend wholly, fully and finally upon the merits of Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour. I commit my soul into His arms unreservedly as a subject of His sole mercy to all eternity."

To the Countess of Huntingdon, this was life's treasure and eternity's hope. And so thankful to God had she been to receive this treasure and this hope, that she counted all else but dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ her Lord; a knowledge that had eluded her for a good part of her life.

It really all begins when the young Lady Selina is a child of 9 years old. Up to that time she was always looked upon as completely free from care, as most children of that are. But, in her 9th year something took place that was to leave its impression on her and completely change her whole outlook for many years to come. She is out walking with her sisters when suddenly they come upon a funeral procession. The coffin is small, and Selina asks one of the villagers by the side of the road who it is that has died. "It is a child", she was told; and there immediately rushes into her mind an entirely new conception of life that she has never before considered ? that children die.

Was it a boy or a girl, she enquired further. It was a girl, she was told. "What age was she?" "She was nine!" Her sisters look at Selina with eyes full of meaning. She too is a girl of nine; and into the young Lady Selina's heart and mind there floods the stark reality of the truth that she is a citizen of eternity. In her room that evening she thought and thought of what she had seen and heard, and her young mind searched for some foundation on which she could base her hope of happiness in that world which is to come as well as in this present one in which she lived. She had no one to turn to; even the Church of her day was formal and hypocritical, and in that ninth year of her life the Lady Selina had fallen heir to a fact that was going to haunt her for many years yet. Often she would go to that lonely grave of the unknown 9-year old girl, and there she would pray for an answer to her quest, but none was forthcoming.

The years that follow see the Lady Selina, now a young woman scrupulously doing everything in her power to merit favour with her God above; but she is plagued with the knowledge of her own sinful heart. "My best righteousness", she later wrote, "now appeared to be but filthy rags, which, so far from justifying me before God, increased my condemnation. I saw that ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God". See the picture that she gives of herself as she lies across her bed, bejewelled and elegant in the evening dress that she had worn at the ball from which she had just fled to pour out her heart before God and confess her utter poverty in His sight. "… My heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked", she cries out before Him; but, she is still without Christ, and, therefore, without hope in this world, or hope for the one to come.

But hope was soon to dawn! She is now married; she is now the Countess of Huntingdon, and she has two sisters-in-law who have decided to set out for an evening's entertainment by going to listen to a certain "field preacher" called George Whitfield. With his friends, this man is turning England upside down, and within an hour, the Lady Margaret – one of Selina's sisters-in-law, yields to the claims of Christ in her life. She tells her experience to the Countess ? "Everything has changed", she says, "since I trusted Christ for salvation!" SINCE I TRUSTED CHRIST FOR SALVATION! The Countess thought, and as she turned to the Word of God, she read these lines… "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ". On what foundation could she rest her hope of happiness for the eternal world? That had been her life-long quest and question. At last, here was the answer… "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ". The day began to dawn, one of her biographers tells us. All her distresses and fears were immediately removed, and she was filled with joy and peace in believing. She determined thence forward to present herself to God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which, she was now convinced, was her reasonable service.

Never was a vow fulfilled more literally, more completely and more cheerfully, it has been said, than the vow that the young Countess registered on that memorable day. Every penny that she had in her private income she devoted to the spread of the revival under the Wesleys and George Whitfield. These men had been forbidden to preach in the majority of the churches, remember, and so the Countess of Huntingdon built attractive chapels throughout the country for the ejected preachers. Into her home she invited the revival preachers to preach to her guests, and these included Princes and statesmen, poets and actors, authors and peers. You can hardly find one distinguished name in the annals of the times, it has been said, but you will find that name also among the Countess of Huntingdon's guests. On three evenings a week she crowded her home with the elite of the land; but, on almost every morning and afternoon of the week she visited the poorest and meanest cottages of England. For as long as her money lasted she built her churches all over the country, and when her money was all gone, she sold her jewels to build more.

Thus she died in poverty as far as this world's treasure is concerned, but there was laid up for her "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory". From that memorable day when she was a child of 9 she had sought that city "whose builder and maker was God:" but she knew not the foundation on which that city was built until the Lord in His appointed time enlightened the sacred page of His Word to her… "Other foundations can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ".

"I do hereby declare that all my present peace and my hope of future glory depend wholly, fully and finally upon the merits of Jesus Christ my Lord…"

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One of the Countess of Huntingdon's favourite chapters of the Bible, even before her conversion, was the first chapter of First Corinthians. After her conversion, she often rejoiced in verse 26 of that chapter … "Not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called," it says.

"Oh how I thank God for that little letter 'm', she used to say; supposing I had read "not ANY noble are called!"

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The Wicket Gate Magazine "A Continuing Witness". Internet Edition number 37 – placed on line July 2002 Wicket Gate contact address – Mr Cliff Westcombe cw@wicketgate.co.uk If you wish to be notified when each new edition goes on line please send an e-mail to the above address Magazine web address – www.wicketgate.co.uk Labelled with ICRA