Note 256 — Chapter XXVII

The letters of Mr. Romaine to Mrs. Medhurst, of Kippax, published by her brother-in-law, the Rev. Thomas Wills, refer to this period and to his preaching at Derby, both at the great church and at St. Werburgh’s. “Fifteen pulpits (he says) were open, and showers of grace came down; but Mrs. Wordsworth was taken ill and obliged to go to Bath, and this broke up the party.” The late Zachary Shrapnell (a man of great piety, and the intimate friend of Lady Huntingdon) was then at the Park. In his rambles he met with a poor cottager, whose account of her own conversion, by Mr. Romaine, produced a very powerful impression on his mind. “Some time ago (she said) there was a famous man down in this country, called Mr. Romaine; he preached some miles off, and many of the neighbours went to hear him, so I thought I would go too. Accordingly away I trudged; and he had no sooner begun his discourse, but it seemed all directed to me: he opened the depravity of my heart and nature, convinced my conscience of the awful condition in which I had been living, showed me the wages of sin which was due to me, the truth of which I felt in my own soul. He then spoke of the fulness and glory of Christ, described his sufferings and passion, and the design of them, displayed the riches of his grace to the miserable and the desperate, and invited them to embrace it and be blessed. Sir, you cannot think the instantaneous and wonderful effect it had upon me. I was convinced of sin, justified by faith, and came home rejoicing; and from that day to this have never lost the sweet savour of the truths I then embraced. How I should long to hear the gentleman! Do you know him? I think they said he came from London.” Mr. Shrapnell, who was himself a convert of Romaine, was proportionately affected by this singular proof of God’s grace to him and Lady Huntingdon, and of his blessing on their endeavours. Mr. Shrapnell was the father of Major-General Henry Shrapnell, and Miss Rachael Shrapnell, who married the Rev. Thomas Tregenna Biddulph, minister of St. James’s, Bristol. The Rev. Thomas Shrapnell Biddulph, eldest son of the last-named, is a prebendary of Brecon, and a magistrate of the counties of Carmarthen and Pembroke. He married a daughter of the Rev. James Stillingfleet, prebendary of Worcester, the intimate friend of Lady Huntingdon.