Seymour, Aaron Crossley Hobart
"The life and times of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, Vol. 1 of 2" by Seymour is a religious biography and historical account written in the mid-19th century. It charts the life and influence of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, a central patron of the eighteenth‑century evangelical revival, using original letters, anecdotes, and the testimonies of contemporaries such as George Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley. The volume frames her personal faith within the wider history of English Protestantism, showing how she founded chapels, supported ministers, and connected courtly society with the burgeoning Methodist movement.The opening of this work explains its purpose: to preserve the Countess’s papers, present a full memoir after a long deferential silence, and do so without sectarian spirit, drawing widely from sources while emphasizing a candid, devotional tone. A sweeping introduction surveys the church’s drift from apostolic simplicity through medieval corruption, the Reformation’s recovery of justification by faith, and subsequent English decline into formalism, polite ethics, and anti-evangelical apathy—setting the stage for the Oxford Methodists and their “irregular” field-preaching, lay agency, and national awakening. It argues that Selina’s unique social position helped carry the Gospel to the nobility while others reached the poor, and highlights her courage, catholicity, and organizing energy. The narrative then begins with extensive family history—the Shirley, Fe…
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