LETTER OF
The GOSPEL TRUTH CHARLES G. FINNEY
1831
To Fanny Gulick
14 November 1831
[MS in Gulick Papers, Houghton Library, Harvard University.]
Boston 14th Nov. 1831.
My Dr. Mrs. Gulick.
As the missionaries for your
Island are about to leave Boston, I must improve
this opportunity to write a line & let you know
that I rember you & greatly desire to see your
face once more in the flesh.but probably that
will never be. I never saw your husband but he
will have heard you speak of me probably, so that he
will know who I am. But if he should not have heard of
me you can tell him where you saw me. I trust you
will always remember where you first had an interview
with me. I am confident that the circumstances of
that meeting will remain in my memory as long as
our souls exist. If you have not heard of the unpar
alleled revival of God's work in America, you will
receive intelligence by the present conveyance. I say
unparalleled, because there is no account on record,
that I know of, of so great a work in so short a
time every having occured in this fal[l]en world.
I should think not far from 100 000 souls
have passed from death unto life in the U.S.
within one year. "The Spirit of the Pilgrims" 2 months
since said 60000, but my opinion is that the
estimate is too low, he not possing full means of
information, & multitudes have been converted since.
The work is still spreading & increasing & the
publick mind is becoming more & more awake
to the things of Eternity. There has been a great
change in publick sentiment in relation to
revivals & the best "measures" otfo promoting them.
[page 2]
The stereotyped theology & measures of the church is
at length undergoing a revision & O, My Dr.
Sister do you & your Husband pray with strong
crying that we may all be driven to the bible.
I want to converse with you much about your spiritual
state. You are a Missionary to the heathen. & how does
your own soul progress. In attending to the hearts of
others I hope you dont neglect your own. I hope also
that your husband does not become mechanical &
professional in the discharge of the high & holy duti[e]s
of his awful station. O. the danger & the sin of
ministers, how insincere & hollow their hearts often are
in the exercise of those hallowed functions that pertain
to their office. In this I speak from experience &
perhaps you Dr. Mr. G. will think it wrong that I should
think [suppose] that others resemble me in these hateful
particulars. O that there were no evidence that they
do. I have never recd a letter from you nor heard
directly from you since I saw you at Utica. I was
pleased when I heard that God had opened the
door for your entrance to the Missionary field.
& now are you too busy to write me a long letter
& give me an outline of the dealings of God with
you since your comnsion? I should have written
to you before but have been greatly overwhelmed with
multiplied duties. Am now preaching almost every
day & have many other duties pressing hard upon
me. Such multitudes of letters to read & write
that you must not expect long letters from me.
Will not your husband write me also for your
[page 3]
sake. I should be delighted to see him
or hear from him. Father Nash is I
believe at present in Oneida County N.York.
He is nearly worn out. O how he wd be
gratified to see you. He prays much, I
have no doubt, for you & your mission.
His spirit of prayer remains I believe
unabated. I have written to D.r Judd &
wife. & shall expect to receive by the first
conveyance your lengthy replies.
Direct your letter to Boston to the
care of Dr. Wisner. (Rev. B.B. Wisner D.D.). if
the ship by which you send is comming to B.
But if to N.York. Direct to the care of
Arthur or Lewis Tappan. or to A.G. Phe
If the ship is going to Philadelphia direct
to the care of Thomas Elmes Esqr. Or to
Caspar Schaeffer M.D. Letters directed to
any of these persons will be forwarded
immediately. I wish you would give Dr. Judd
an abstract of these directions as I forgot
to mention them in my letter to him.
'Tis uncertain how long I stay in Boston.
My family are with me: we are in usual
health Mrs F. joins in love. Do let us
pray more for each other. The great opposition
to western men & measures that so much prevailed
when you left America has ceased in a great
measure & the good work goes on. Your Brother
C. G. Finney
[written along the margin]
P.S. I have been so often interrupted since I began this
letter that perhaps the haste & confusion in which it has
been written will render it nearly unintelligible
[written along the margin of page 1]
P.S. I am not certain that I spell your husbands name
right. I dont know his christian name. Shall direct to you but
am not certain how you spell your name Frances or Fanny.