The Letters of the Duke of Wellington to Miss J. 1834-1851

e end of a week. He was detained longer than he had anticipated, and meanwhile reflection appears to have made Miss J. doubt the propriety of her meeti

ubmit to another interview. As this at length approached I was led to dread it and consequently to meditate on what The Will of the Lord might be. Whilst thus employed and looking up for help and guidance, these blessed promises came, 'In Me is the Help

or a Newspaper, thereby learning that he arrived the day before, consequently that in two hours I could prevent a visit. As the time he mentioned as that of his stay from Town had doubly elapsed I concluded he would in all probability call that day and thus subject me to another trying visit, if immediate measures were not taken to prevent

, Jan. 1

th by your visits,-visits which under present circumstances I cannot feel justified in receiving, as they are of so different

e, who, however honorable and noble, occasionally seems to forget he is confided in by a Being who feels herself entitled even in the sight of God, not only to the appellation of virtuous, in the strictest acceptation o

ntly admit that all the world are as nothing in comparison with you,-I consider it equally my duty to add that however dear God may have made you to me-(and I feel it is His Work, Why or Wherefore time must explain) you are as nothing in co

ould at pleasure bring the heavens down under your feet or turn the Sun out of his course, since both would be more likely than that I could even for a single moment forget the high en

self demand, I will not intrude upon your time further than to assure you that should any spiritual

of purer eyes than to behold iniquity) and Who looketh into the deepest recesses of the hu

s Most fait

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.

as a strong contras

Jan. 1

aid to you the second day that I saw you; and if you recollect it you will not be surprised

u for what you hav

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stance, brought forth from Miss J. a reply th

Jan. 1

s high an honor on a Prince in bestowing my hand on him as he could on me in receiving it-but if it be really possible that I have mistaken Your Grace's feelings I should only degrade my own by adding more than that I deliver you into His Hands that "judgeth righteously" who declares to His children the following words-"Ye are the temples of the Holy

submit the foregoing scriptures to your prayerful consideration and subscribe myself that w

ant of

.

nt, disgraceful enquiry, one I could not degrade my pen or self by giving place on paper, however Your Grace may and have degraded yourself by utterance of the same, I should at the moment such escaped your lips have spurned you from me as a serpent whose sting was capable of producing not only instantaneous but Eternal death! Such a horror should I have had of one who u

d not in His wrath strike you dead at my feet. I beg to remind you of my answer which ought, yea, must in itself have convinced you at the time of my misunderstanding your meaning-it being in the following words-"If it be the will of God;" for surely you could never for a moment suppose it to be His will whose purity is such

our part. And why thus hesitatingly? you would ask. Because I was not and am not quite satisfied that under any circumstances the regenerate soul can be justified in th

in the utter nothingness such empty things deserve, I should have hesitated until I perceived in you that change of heart so necessary to salvation, without which "no ma

n the Blood of the Lamb-and that consequently the present-and if I mistake not the greatest sin as far as thought may be concerned in God's sight, it being of so aggravated a nature arising from the consideration of the motives which first actuated me to address you and afterwards receive Your Grace-namely, your eternal happiness-may never be laid to your charge. In order that such may not be the case it will be necessary that you should experience that "Repentance unto life not to be repented of" which, if felt, would bring with it an unhesitating desire to apologize with remorse and anguish for t

Christ and a

.

venly Father, strengthen me in the 'inner man' more and more, I beseech Thee, to endure this and any other trial Thou in Thine unerring wisdom mayest see fit; anxious for nothing but to fulfil Thy will in all things, knowing that the path of duty is the path of peace: also that it is through 'much tribulation we must

nworthy to rank among that blessed number described by the angel to Saint John as having 'come out of much tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of The Lamb.' This may stand as the greatest trial I ever had! Yet I am so wonderfully upheld, agreeably to the gracious promise previously given, that I can hardly believe such degrading circumstances exist! Oh! What an awful thing that one so high in power is afraid to do that which can call forth the gaze and disapprobation of a sinful, dying, misjudging world, yet fearless of committing the most dreadful crime before Him 'Who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.' O may the letter just about to be sent be permitted to sink deep into his rebellious soul calling it from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto

apologizing in every way I could expect, considering all circumstances, for occasioning my displeasure. Oh! how gracious is the Lord of Heaven and

, but one regrets that the accusation was not dismis

Jan. 1

y you. Believe me; it is the thing of all others that I would wish to avoid! And that there is nob

me Eve

since

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n expressed in this manner. It is evident that to her mind, the Duke had been trifling with her. His kindly reception of her efforts to promote his "everlasting welfare" had raised hopes that wo

hing unreasonable in the expectation. The latter considered herself no whit inferior to the Duke in

on for His Glory, or in other words to show forth His power.... I attach so little importance to rank or worldly grandeur, that I should

en from herself. Throughout, her declaration is that her sole aim in life has invariably been, "Glorify Thyself in Me!" By her elevation to a position where

using him to shine forth gloriously in His adorable service. As in that case the erroneous impressions in my mind would in all probability have been verified, I looked forward to becoming as 'a city set on a hill which cannot be hid,' conceiving such exaltation would admit of showing forth His praises openly before men. But I doubt not that I am far happier th

lacking in open protestations of devotion. Miss J. herself remarks that the Duke's letters were always cautiously written. He was too much a man of the world to run the risk of compromising himself in bl

Duke seriously intended to marry Mi

ought to obey are those dictated to us by our social relations. What would be said, if I, a man of

Miss J.

here was not a moment during our acquaintance when if I had not been by the Grace of God what I was an

passion to Miss J. Perhaps her vanity was as deeply touched as her heart; but those who knew her best d

writes, with the diffuseness and

ror from the thought that I could be thus enquired of without being clearly comprehended), I replied to the same in the following words, 'If it be the will of God,' not supposing for a moment, as expressed, that such an enquiry could be made of one with God's Holy Book before me, to which I had been attracting his attention with all the reverence an

n up to good works and pious meditations, and still later her confirmed ill-health, heightened her unworldliness, and rendered it more tha

farther from the Duke's thoughts than to make himself the butt of popular ridicule by taking a wife forty-five years younger than himself, and of retired even though perfectly respectable social position. Besides that, it can hardly be wondered at if the Duke, a man free from binding domesti