Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, was a remarkable woman in her time. She was born in 1707 to aristocracy, suffered loss, family disputes, and bad health. She married the ninth earl of Huntingdon, descended from kings, and was part of royal social circles. Her early traditional life gave no indication of her extraordinary activities later in life.
She was raised in the Church of England, but had not experienced personally God’s grace. Revival came to England in the 1730s with preaching from John Wesley and George Whitefield. The Countess heard their message and experienced conversion. She became an evangelist herself, engaging anyone she met – high or lowly standing – about the Gospel. She invited preachers to her house to teach her guests. She became passionate. And she examined her beliefs and actions to live out her Christian convictions.
She believed that generosity and charity were not individual actions, but a way of living. She visited debtor’s prison and personally paid off what was owed by inmates, freeing them. She reached out to coal miners, offering them help. Through the chaplains she sponsored, she helped needy people, giving away today’s equivalent of millions of dollars. She practiced what she read: “When I gave myself up to the Lord, I likewise devoted to Him all my fortune.”
Decades before William Wilberforce and his circle made abolition of the slave trade a national cause, Selina opposed slavery. She sponsored black authors and activists.
She helped found a college called Trevecca for training preachers that was eventually incorporated into Westminster Collge, Cambridge University. The students didn’t pay anything to attend. Many were poor. The Countess paid their expenses from her own pocket and raised support for their education. Trevecca graduates became some of the most influential pastors of their time. She sponsored 64 chapels in England. The school also produced missionaries. The Countess sponsored missionaries to the East Indies, Africa, America, and the South Pacific.
She corresponded with George Washington about founding a college in America for Native Americans. She used property she inherited to found the Bethesda Home for Boys in Georgia.
Selina’s conversion transformed her; God transformed her life. And she lived out the grace she received as thoroughly and generously as she could.
(Source: Mere Believers by Marc Baer)
"She believed that generosity and charity were not individual actions, but a way of living."
It is amazing how many times Christians come to this very same conclusion. They realize intuitively that this kind of socioeconomic system is the very best kind, just as did the first century church members, yet they reject it in favor of the evils of capitalism. Charitocracy is better...charitocracy is the family of God in action.
Posted by: Louis Kuhelj | November 07, 2014 at 03:22 AM
There is nothing like an authentic conversion to make people want to give joyfully.
Posted by: eMatters | November 07, 2014 at 07:20 AM
Louis just curious what you mean by the "evils of capitalism"? Are you saying that charitocracy or socialism is the path our government should take or are you saying that giving to others is what responsible Christians should do? If it's socialism that you are pointing to then it isn't charity it's oppression. Charity is voluntary not forced giving by the actions of the government.
Posted by: 2oldstroke | November 07, 2014 at 07:27 AM
2oldstroke
First, let me answer that communism is not what I am promoting here. Though Greg has done so in the past...but only within the context of a family. He made it clear in one of his broadcasts that he approves of certain aspects of communism being applied in a family, where it does in fact work. It cannot work on the level of a country. I actually agree with him on this point that it can apply to families, but the point Greg missed was that the first century Church was in fact a family and thus many of the practices within communism, worked just fine within a family community(of course we are talking about the family of God here). I think that this is what was being illustrated in Acts 2:44-45. This kind of thing actually knit the community together as a family. The competitive nature of capitalism tears family structures apart because that is its nature. That is what makes it fundamentally evil and is at odds with an attitude of charity...it is at war with it. That is why capitalism is the amplifier of the basest of the human nature...greed, selfishness...etc. The example in Acts was one of cheerful giving to those of the community in need, not oppression and repression, but a reminder to those of the community of their moral responsibility to each other and then acting on the basis of that moral responsibility. It is just like the decision making and the will of god that Greg often harps upon. When you see an opportunity to do good...just do it. Capitalism is not the path to achieving that which Greg teaches on his show. It never can be.
Posted by: Louis Kuhelj | November 08, 2014 at 11:58 AM