LETTER OF
The GOSPEL TRUTH CHARLES G. FINNEY
1858
To Julia Finney
23 January 1858
[MS in Finney Papers, Supplement # 64]
Boston 23d Jan 1858.
Dear Precious Julia
Yours of the 20th is just recd
And is Dear Mary Andrews dead.
Why was not this, you? I hope your
watching & excitement have not injured
your eyes. Did they not mistrust that her
appearing so much better on Saturday
night was the commencement of mortification.
Perhaps no treatment could have saved her.
But I should have much prefered no
treatment to either Alopathic or Hyd
ropathic. Good nursing with soothing
external application either hot or cold as
the symptoms might indicate was all that
ought to have been done. Hydropathy is
too violent a divertion of the vitality from
the seat of disease to the skin to be at all
safe. It is calling & forcing off of the
vital forces from combatting the difficulty
in the stomach & bowels, to keep up vital
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action in the surface of the body, I regard
this as a capital error. But they did
what they regarded as judicious.
I am as well as usual again. Your Mother
will speak up for herself. We have been so unwell
that I thought seriously of returning home.
We are both about our usual labors again.
We recd a letter from Miss Fallowdown to day
giving the particulars of Mrs Campbells death.
We are happy to hear of the turn your mind is
taking on the most dear & important of all subjects.
Why should you not become a Holy Ghost Christian?
Shall we not have our child wholly devoted
to Christ? I hope Mary's and Grandmoth[e]rs
death will be sanctified to that family
& to you my precious child. O that Theodore
may not die in his sins. I trust all this
will do Helen A. good. The Lord bless &
sanctify her. If I understand what you say of
Miss Tucker she expects to teach if she can get a
school. If this is her expectation we need to know
it so as to provide for other help. In regard to
Emma your Mother wishes me to say, as she can
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write but a few lines now, that she must have
a girl who can give her whole time. As Em
ma wants to go to school she will not meet
your mothers wants. If Miss Tucker does not wish
to take her former place in our family, will you
ask Emily Greenslade whether she would like
to work for us next spring, Summer & Autumn.
Let us know about this soon so that we may ma
ke arrangements accordingly. I hope you will
take care of your health so as [to] preserve your
eyes. Has Mr. Gerrish put the sheet iron
on to the little new chimney at its top?
Do you have any fire in the furnace this
winter? If so, how often, & does it smoke
when the fire is made in the furnace?
Do. the apples yet keep well? Is there any
revival at O. this winter? It is a time of
general health there? The weather is & has
been, remarkably fine here this far.
The religious interest is on the increase.
Give our kindest love & sympathy to Uncles
folks. Also our love to all who inquire
after us. The Lord bless you forever.
Love to all the family. Your aff. Father. C. G. Finney
Footnotes:
The notice of her death in The Oberlin Evangelist (20 January 1858), p. 15, reads:
D I E D:
In Oberlin, Jan'y 17, MARY, second daughter of E. W. Andrews, aged 15.
When told that she must die soon, she smiled sweetly and said, "I am ready." All through her remaining hours, she bore the blessed testimony--"I lie sweetly in my Savior's arms." During her severe sickness of ten days, her soul was so consciously stayed on Christ and sustained by his presence that she could say calmly --"I am not at all afraid to die."
Her hopeful conversion occurred at the age of twelve, at which age she joined the church--a pleasing testimony to the preciousness of early conversions.
She was the second daughter of Edward W. Andrews (d. 1899) by his second wife Delia A. Fenn Andrews. (He had had a daughter, Helen, by his first wife). Edward Andrews was a brother of Finney's first wife, Lydia. Born in Cleveland, Mary had come to Oberlin when her father moved his family there in 1853. See file on Helen Margaret Andrews in Alumni Records, Oberlin College Archives.
Theodore Alexander Andrews (1838-1893), the eldest son of Edward W. Andrews, had been a student in the College, and had graduated in 1857. He was subsequently in the book business, and ran the Cobb, Andrews Company bookstore with his brother-in-law in Cleveland. See Alumni Records, Oberlin College Archives.
Helen Margaret Andrews (1836-1915) was the eldest child of Edward and Frances Andrews. She was attending Oberlin College where she graduated later in the year. She then taught for two years as principal of the Oberlin High School. In 1860 she married Caius C. Cobb and moved to Cleveland. See Alumni Records, Oberlin College Archives.
Nathaniel Gerrish had been a resident in Oberlin since 1834. According to his son "Father almost worshiped the ground on which Finney walked" (W. B. Gerrish to Frances Hosford, 12 March 1934, in Frances Hosford Papers, Oberlin College Archives).