The National Register.
London, England, 1813-07-25 00:00:00

TUE NATIONAL REGISTER.

JITT,Y 25.

THE
MINISTERIAL CHARACTER
OF THE LATi3
REV. WILLIAM HUNTINGTON, S. S.
fIF

NEW PROVIDENCE CHAPEL, GRAYS•INN-LANE.

Continued frem oa last.
Persecution P.t drt.ve Mr. Huntington to '!:vanes Ditton,
svlicr:! he was fit -t compelled. (6) embark in the servilely laborious
oecenation of coal-lieuving. This 'appears to bave been thai ;,recine
pot tion of his existence &luring which he fe!t most rli,gitst, to
which lie never reverts without some expres-ion of Indignant grief..
Ystwitiistaniling the great alvi,itage he sus)cciptently reaped front
the utere circumstance of l& Living been .'.ice a coal-heaver, by
intimatin4 to rlic world flint " coal-heaving was hard
voth, tool that coal•h:'av crs r«piii,s'. t ter food titan ()mph ill rids,"
an'inot'a ithstolding spiritual manifestations he t4et e eNperienced,
during illness at once 41.acions as trying ; yet, bek attic the peoWe
of the piacc, contuniaing hint on account of his eniployment, which
ignorant met: !,iri .:;aturally would, rejected his ministry, he appears
to I:ave considered 'fumes I)itton as deserN Mg only of anathemas,
and consigns its inhabitants to illimitable rtprobrition. How tar the
preacher was jc.,t;tie.: in the indulgence of ,sitch a -spi; li-Awsver
provoked, must be dotermiiied by the "omniscient at the
Grand Assize," to whom he himself has made his 1.-nit appeal ! Put
cue (;nnuot licip observing, ih the ineint ti!..eie, that this conduct rely
distantly approximates to that I)ivine 13citirr, ho in the midst of
pig:l.:cot remembers mercy, and whose benitlernec exttnils even to
the .11A the nntitankful.

It it as is:bile at Mines Ditton, baked; that the Rev. William
Huntington eaperieneeil those particular picincintions which evi-
dcntly Oetermi:ted his eour4c throngh life. " After preacliing at
Wooking, one evening,' says he "and having an infant very ill, I told
my dame that I would tie alone that night, &c. Accord'argly I went
into anut!mer led, and fell hit!) a very soand sleep : when I dreamed.
and, behold ! in my dream I thouglit I heard the Lord call to me
with a very shrill, distinct voice, saving.--Son cf n:an ! sea ef man !
proi,heny ; son (!/ man, pr;:iih;•sg ! 1 att,WCreti Lard w?iat S a!! I
prophrsy! 1' voice ea:ac again, saying—Prophesy upon the thick.
10q,,,,h5. I immediately awoke; and felt a con.f,:rtable power on my
heart, and thought the voice awned tresh in my ear.. 1 got up
immediately and traced my Bible, to sec 1 mild find those words
there ; thiuking that, if I mild, I should co:whale the dream to be
font God. I soon found the words, (Ezekiel 31. 3. 17. 2:3.) and
perceived the thick banizlis to be men ; but what the conimaad
could mean, I could not then tell " Shortly after; howe'ver, says Mr.
H. while ruminating upon' the conduct of the people to him, " it was
suddenly impressed on my mind to leave Thames Dillon and take a
house in London ; that I shonld leave there little places in the coun-
try, (he was ordained at Woaking just then,) and preach in the
great metropolis, where hearers were more Lemercus ; that this
was the meaning of the srords that came to me in the v;'slon. U.;
der this impulse I found myself very happy,. and was. thankful to-
God for my intended removal ; it seemed, to me, so clearly to he of
him." Alter some co:Ault:thin with tiiends, he accordingly took a
house, and fixed himself in Landon. Timr far his vision appeared
true. The next thing he had to oiosc..-ve. whethrr the boughs
were thick or not " I then'hulieved," adds Mr. 11. " that the other
part of the vision would be nalletl, though all the %rod I shonld
oppose it ; and having opened a laQa:r chap. I than I preached in at
first, this seemed still to caat:rm it more and more." He not only
s' lived to see the boughs too tOick for the chapel to contain them,'
but also the erection of a second temple} after the first had been
burned, luxuriantly tided With these prophetic boughs.*

• " When I

oiwnly ttot►ib
01.0113

he Lord," obscivc
iv u* intb:a els

our pruacher,

His views respecting preaching are explicitly detailed by him.
Raving been kept constantly dependant on Providence; he Was satis•
tied of hi 3 never being intended " to be a preacher to the rich; "
nor had he any reason to suppose that ha was designed "for a
preacher to please pharisees," since he dared not place any confidence
in the nor even in the traits of faith ; but he believed that God
intended he " should preach faith," having preserved him dependant
by faith, both for spiritnal and temporal supplies.. God, be was
persuaded, had commissioned liim to he "a minister to the igporant,it
by sending him to preach, and giving many seals to his minis-
try, before he could read a chapter in the Bible with propriety ;
8114 46 to the poor," likewise, because he was peat without a penny iut
his pocket, and because the many sears of his ministry consisted
chiefly of the poor, both in town kind country." The vanity, there-
fore, of worldly wisdom7-tlix excellency of divine knowledge—the
uncertainty of worldly. riches----the preciousness of faith's weidth-E-
-the bitssed religioo ol' Jesas- the insoftleiency of human inventions
—"all these" declared Mr. Iluntington, "seem to be some of the
thing= belonging to the tic-pd %%inch is committed to my triist.7
Coutidently as he defivtied himself to the poor of the household of
/aid), Mr. Houtin:ton ?Atli s one dilfwulty simunoned up courage
to preach in the metropolis. Conscious that he was destitute of
learniug, fearing that he not be able to arenithietself with
any degree of propriety, ioe:w lug nothing eves of the grammar
of his native tongue, and app...elienive ot being exposed to
the scourging lash of every critic, we find that he la:omit-ell nutter
touch distress of mind for many week=, acciltit of his want of
abilities. He preached fir,t at Marghi-et-street Chapel, ,:cats Cu:A:-
dish square, pursuant to advertisement w!lere, notwithstanding his
own mis•e:vings, ove young min was emiteiripateril from an heinoes
error by the fir!,t disenorselhat vered, and afterwards became
a preacher, w '' has been isist rinacittal in others." Another
sphere t% as meantime opet:ing for hilt v.-it:cos. Disgusted v.-ith the
errors that were iiiternailiately li-tete:led it: Margaret-street Chapel,
Mr Huntington, it seems, secretly desired to have a•clialvd ot nit;
own, though lie felt almost hopeless at stein; this wish brought
about by one, so mean and poor as himself. "However," lie lA-
serves" God sent a p: rson, unknown to me, to look at a certain spot,
who afterwards took nay to look at it ; but I trembled at the very
thought of such an undo taking. Then, God stirred up a e.,ise
to offer to build the chapel, :111,1 to manage the work without fee or
reword : —God drew the pal on his iniagioation, while he was
hearing me preach aso mom I then took the ground ; this persou
executed the plan ; and the chapel sprung up like a mushroom."

plea..ed ; at whidi I did not wonder, as lie was an Arminian of the Ar.,
or a l'haulsee tit the l'lvtrisecs. I told him, however, !hat I
should pr.iphery unto thousands before 1 died ; soon alter, the
doiirs begao to he orned to receive my message. 1V hell dn.; appeared,
and 1 had Ie t the slavish empiiiyment of civil cat others iilijected
to toy master, against such a le:low as me taking tip tite office ot a mi-
nister. 11i, answer was—` Lea him alone ; I mice heard him Any that
he should propiecy to thous,:nds before he died ; let us see wh..,liier
this prophecy comes to pass or not.' Many professors and piss( ssurs of
grace opposed aa well as did the world : son e, from a principle of
jealousy ; others, from a principle of loVe, leaning 1 should run bi-fore
I was.sent : but they knew not the impulse I w.ts under. In Answer to
my petiiiors, the Lord applied these words to my heart, and gave me a
stroll', faith in Ihem : A non's g,;ji inakcth roam for him, and I)rngcth
him In fore great ma. Al length, I wais led to see that I must be %c sled
from the church, as well :is from the world." -
His first priestlike livery was made Ma of an old black coat and
waistcoat!. given him by some gent Letue:t who Lad 1:1% fled hint to preach
at Mitchain ; " my usual appearance (says Mr. 11.) being more like the
ploughman, or the. fisherman. As it had been repotted tl.al a coal.
heaver was coating to preach there, a great mans; people ga-
thered together to hear me. A After I had finished my discourse, a Lady
came to me, and gave me a new book, and blessed one ; u bile a Gen..
tleman put a letter into my hand, inclosiog a guinea and faur
with these words written--4 Tahe this, as Irmo the hand of the Lord,
for thelabourei i 4 worthy of his hire.' These kind provideiices of (.3141
did wonderfully endear the Lord lo me, and brougEt me to live by the
fan of him for a supply of all my wants."