SD722. Edward Moulton-Barrett (father) to Henrietta Moulton-Barrett
Published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 2, 367 (in part).
London,
April 29. 1830
My dearest Daddles affectionate letter I read with the greatest pleasure as assuring me of her continued thoughts of me, but with how much far more delight did I read her conviction of the saving nature of the faith that is in the finished work of the Redeemer, for this confidence is not of Man or by Man, but by the Author & Finisher of our faith, unto whom be all the praise & glory– Indeed you are very right in saying that notwithstanding the daily signs which are lifted up on all sides, altho we cannot altogether, close our eyes to them, we yet endeavor, in as far as we can, to forget them & turn again to this world as if this were our continuing city; whereas we should be always on the Watch. Forever looking out for better things to come; but so low is human Nature fallen that every circumstance appears more congenial to our Minds than a close & constant communion with our God, who to meet our necessities has condescended to manifest himself in flesh & blood, & to proclaim himself, as Christ, the elder Brother of his People as well as the way & means whereby we are accepted– Even this we will not have, no let us say we, eat & drink & to-morrow die, not as immortal spirits, we should say, let us die & tomorrow which is for eternity eat & drink into the fulness of God’s blessings reserved in heaven for them who love him– It is however our comfort that our God does in spite of every opposition from within & from without the Creature, reserve to himself the remnant according to Grace– Thus far had I written yesterday when poor Sterling came in, with whom I had so much conversation that what with the time it occupied & that which I was obliged to spend in the City I could not again sit down to this until this morning– The night before last I went to see the Baptism of 8 adults in the way of immersion, the Rite is certainly a most imposing one and conveyed to my mind some notion of the primative ordination of the Ceremony as to the burial & rising again, the baptism of the Israelites unto Moses in the Red Sea, &c– Last night I went to hear Mr McNeil and certainly so uncompromising a Sermon I never heard, I dont think it was possible to press to doctrine of Election further, it appeared to me a faithful expression of all the truths the Speaker had gathered from Scripture, Keeping back nothing either from favor or shame of Man; differing as I do on many points from this Minister of God, I do believe him to be most Honest, pure & holy whose motive as well as object is altogether not only legitimate but should be the great moving principle of all preaching, the Glory of God– Would that it would please God to send such a one into every Parish in the Kingdom– Our dear Mr Curzon you will hear on Sunday, as least so he expected when I last saw him, would I could be among you to thank God for his return and have the privilege of hearing him then– I suppose our dear Ba is now with you, may every blessing attend you all my own beloved ones– Tell Bro the meadows that were mown last year are again to be put under the Scythe with the exception of that by Mrs Barker I mean the Clover where the feeding Sheep are to be put—why if there is not Barley enough of my own to finish the sowing, they can get any where a few bushels for the purpose– I wish you had given me in your last serio-comic narrative or rather as you state it the good joke, altho much too melancholy; I think I could have bourn it at any rate after the preparation you have given me[.] I promise you when it comes not to be too much affected– What glorious weather & how much more grateful is it after such a winter as we have, so true is it that we should little value the blessing were it to be continuous. God thus in his dealings with his People brings them down in order to exalt, to take away in order to give more abundly [sic], and in what the world & indeed his own People are too apt to call a curse is but a blessing in disguise or rather a blessing follows hard upon it– Let us then be content, sit quietly under every visitation, see his Hand in every thing & praise him in all things– Tell Bro to pay the Hop Duty[.] He will find the Paper in my Room at the farm, it is under £2.
Granny is about the same– I hear Clara also continues so– Emmeline knows all I believe, yet do not be explicit with her when you write, for they do not like the disease to be much spoken of– Tell Ba I like the last verse of her lines to Miss Barrett, but they were too short– The Business is off with the Man with the Muffin, the Man being about to be married to another– I shall certainly if I am to have a voice or continue a subscriber to the School on Wellington Heath object to their being detained from going to Church or Chapel in the mornings; it is monstrous & cannot be tolerated for a moment, it is replete with every mischief & pray represent it properly to those who have to do with it that it may be immediately abandoned– Ever my beloved Children most attached & affectionate
EMB
What a scrawl!
Address, on integral page: Miss H. Barrett / Hope End / Ledbury / Herefordshire.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library, Altham Archive.
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