“Gloucester,December 6, 1748.“Honoured Gentlemen,—Not want of respect, but a suspicion that my letters would not be acceptable, has been the occasion of my not writing to you these four years last past. I am sensible, that in some of my former letters, I expressed myself in too strong and sometimes in unbecoming terms. For this I desire to be humbled before God and man. I can assure you, however, that, to the best of my knowledge, I have acted a disinterested part. I have simply aimed at God’s glory, and the good of mankind. This principle drew me first to Georgia; this, and this alone, induced me to begin and carry on the Orphan House; and this, honoured gentlemen, excites me to trouble you with the present lines.“I need not inform you, how the colony of Georgia has been declining, and at what great disadvantages I have maintained a large family in that wilderness. Upwards of£5000 have been expended in that undertaking;and yet, very little proficiency has been made in the cultivation of my tract of land; and that entirely owing to the necessity I lay under of making use of white hands. Had negroes been allowed, I should now have had a sufficiency to support a great many orphans, without expending above half the sum that has been laid out. An unwillingness to let so good a design drop induced me, two years ago, to purchase a plantation in South Carolina, where negroes are allowed. This plantation has succeeded; and, though I have only eight working hands, in all probability, there will be more raised in one year, and with a quarter of the expense, than has been produced at Bethesda for several years past. This confirms me in the opinion, I have long entertained, that, Georgia never can be a flourishing province, unless negroes are employed.“But, notwithstanding my private judgment, I am determined, that, not one of mine shall ever be allowed to work at the Orphan House till it can be done in a legal manner, and with the approbation of the Honourable Trustees. My chief end in writing this, is to inform you, that, I am as willing as ever to do all I can for Georgia and the Orphan House, if either a limited use of negroes is approved of, or some more indentured servants be sent from England. If not, I cannot promise to keep any large family, or cultivate the plantation in any considerable manner.“I would also further recommend to your consideration, whether, as the Orphan House is intended for a charitable purpose, it ought not to be exempted from all quit-rents and public taxes? And, as most of the land on which the Orphan House is built is good for little, I would humbly enquire, whether I may not have a grant of five hundred more acres, not taken up, somewhere near the Orphan House?“If you, Honourable Gentlemen, are pleased to put the colony upon another footing,—I mean in respect to the permission of a limited use of negroes,—my intention is to make the Orphan House, not only a receptacle for fatherless children, but also a place of literature and academical studies. Such a place is much wanted in the southern parts of America, and, if conducted in a proper manner, must necessarily be of great service to any colony. I can easily procure proper persons to embark in such a cause.”From such a pen, this is a strange production. Whitefield, with his large heart, urging the introduction of slavery into the province of Georgia, and almost threatening to abandon his Orphan House unless his proposal be granted! Whitefield’s honour is best cared for by saying as little about the incident as possible.Having spent five days at Gloucester, during which he preached five times, and received the sacrament at the cathedral; and having similarly employed himself for a week at Bristol, Whitefield, at the request of the Countess of Huntingdon, returned to London on December17th, andresumed his ministry in the Tabernacle, and in the mansion of her ladyship.“I am now,” he wrote, “thirty-four years of age; and alas! how little have I done and suffered for Him, who has done and suffered so much for me!Thanks be to His great name for countenancing my poor ministrations somuch.”215A letter toDr.Doddridge,to whom Whitefield had submitted his Journals forrevision,216may properly close the year 1748,—a year, which, like all previous ones of his career, had been thronged with adventures and striking incidents.“London,December 21, 1748.“Reverend and very dear Sir,—I was glad, very glad, to receive your letter, dated November7th, though it did not reach me till last night. I thank you for it a thousand times. It has led me to the throne of grace, where I have been crying, ‘Lord, counsel my counsellors, and shew them what Thou wouldest have me to do!’ Alas! alas! how can I be too severe against myself, who, Peter-like, have cut off so many ears, and, by imprudences, mixed with my zeal, have dishonoured the cause of Jesus! I can only look up to Him, who healed the high-priest’s servant’s ear, and say, ‘Lord, heal all the wounds my misguided zeal has given!’ Assure yourself, dear sir, everything I print shall be revised. I always have submitted my poor performances to my friends’ corrections. Time and experience ripen men’s judgments, and make them more solid, rational, and consistent. O that this may be my case!“I thank you, dear sir, for your solemn charge in respect to my health. Blessed be God! it is much improved since my return from Scotland, and I trust, by observing the rules you prescribe, I shall be enabled to declare the works of the Lord.“But what shall I say concerning your presenttrial?217I most earnestly sympathise with you, having had the same trial from the same quarter long ago. The Moravians first divided my family; then my parish, in Georgia; and, after that, the Societies which I was an instrument of gathering. I suppose not less than four hundred, through their practices,have left the Tabernacle. But I have been forsaken in other ways. I have not had above a hundred to hear me, where I had twenty thousand; and hundreds now assemble within a quarter of a mile of me, who never come to see or speak to me, though they must own, at the great day, that I was their spiritual father. All this I find but little enough to teach me to cease from man, and to wean me from that too great fondness, which spiritual fathers are apt to have for their spiritual children. But I have generally observed, that, when one door of usefulness is shut, another opens.Our Lord blesses you, dear sir, in yourwritings;218nay, your people’s treating you as they are now permitted to do, perhaps, is one of the greatest blessings you ever received from heaven. I know no other way of dealing with the Moravians, than to go on preaching the truth as it is in Jesus, and resting upon the promise, ‘Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be plucked up.’ Seven years will make a great alteration. I believe their grand design is to extend their economy as far as possible. This is now kept up by dint of money, and, I am apt to think, the very thing, by which they think to establish, will destroy their scheme. God is a gracious Father, and will not always let His children proceed in a wrong way. Doubtless, there are many of His dear little ones in the Moravian flock; but many of their principles and practices are exceeding wrong, for which, I doubt not, our Lord will rebuke them in His own time.“But I fear that I weary you. Love makes my pen to move too fast, and too long. Last Sunday evening, I preached at the other end of the town, to a most brilliant assembly. They expressed great approbation; and some, I think, begin to feel. Good Lady Huntingdon is a mother in Israel. She is all in a flame for Jesus.”Whitefield’s remarks concerning the Moravians may, perhaps, seem somewhat harsh; but they were not untrue, and will prepare the reader for other critiques hereafter.Whitefield mentions his “brilliant assembly” in the mansion of the Countess of Huntingdon. In a letter to the Countess of Bath, he wrote, “It would please you to see the assemblies at her ladyship’s house. They are brilliant ones indeed. The prospect of catching some of the rich, in the gospel net, is very promising.I know you will wish prosperity in the name of theLord.”219No wonder that, after one of his first services at Lady Huntingdon’s, Whitefield said,“I went home, never more surprised at any incident in mylife.”220Such congregations were unique. Nothing like them had heretofore beenwitnessed. There were gatherings of England’s proud nobility, assembled to listen to a young preacher, whose boyhood had been spent in a public-house; whose youth, at the university, had been employed partly in study, and partly in attending to the wants of fellow-students, who declined to treat him as an equal; and whose manhood life, for the last thirteen years, had been a commingling of marvellous popularity and violent contempt,—a scene of infirmities and errors, and yet of unreserved and unceasing devotion to the cause of Christ and the welfare of his fellow-men. Such was the youthful preacher,—a man of slender learning, of mean origin, without Church preferment, hated by the clergy, and maligned by the public press. Who were his aristocratic hearers? The following list is supplied by the well-informed author of “The Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon”:—Lady Fanny Shirley, who had long been one of the reigning beauties of the court of George the First; the Duchess of Argyll; Lady Betty Campbell; Lady Ferrers; Lady Sophia Thomas; the Duchess of Montagu, daughter of the great Duke of Marlborough; Lady Cardigan; Lady Lincoln;Mrs.Boscawen;Mrs.Pitt; Miss Rich; Lady Fitzwalter; Lady Caroline Petersham; the Duchess of Queensbury, daughter of the Earl of Clarendon, and celebrated for extraordinary beauty, wit, and sprightliness, by Pope, Swift, and Prior; the Duchess of Manchester; Lady Thanet, daughter of the Marquis of Halifax, and wife of Sackville, Earl of Thanet; LadySt.John, niece of Lady Huntingdon; Lady Luxborough, the friend and correspondent of Shenstone, the poet; Lady Monson, whose husband, in 1760, was created Baron Sondes; Lady Rockingham, the wife of the great statesman, a woman of immense wit and pleasant temper, often at court, and possessed of considerable influence in the higher circles of society; Lady Betty Germain, daughter of the Earl of Berkeley, and through her husband, Sir John Germain, the possessor of enormous wealth; Lady Eleanor Bertie, a member of the noble family of Abingdon; the Dowager-Duchess of Ancaster; the Dowager-Lady Hyndford; the Duchess of Somerset; the Countess Delitz, one of the daughters of the Duchess of Kendal, and thesister of Lady Chesterfield; Lady Hinchinbroke, granddaughter of the Duke of Montagu; and Lady Schaubs.Besides these “honourable women not a few,” there were also the Earl of Burlington, so famed for his admiration of the works of Inigo Jones, and for his architectural expenditure; George Bubb Dodington, afterwards Lord Melcombe, a friend and favourite of the Prince of Wales, and whose costly mansion was often crowded with literary men; George Augustus Selwyn, an eccentric wit, to whom nearly all the currentbon-motsof the day were attributed; the Earl of Holderness; Lord (afterwards Marquess) Townshend, named George, after his godfather, George the First, a distinguished general in the army, member of Parliament for Norfolk, and ultimately a field-marshal. Charles Townshend, now a young man of twenty-three, whom Burke described as “the delight and ornament of the House of Commons, and the charm of every private society he honoured with his presence;” LordSt.John, half-brother to Lord Bolingbroke; the Earl of Aberdeen; the Earl of Lauderdale; the Earl of Hyndford, Envoy Extraordinary to the King of Prussia; the Marquis of Tweeddale, Secretary of State for Scotland; George, afterwards, Lord Lyttelton, at one time member for Okehampton, and secretary of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and who had recently published his well-known book, “Observations on the Conversion ofSt.Paul;” William Pitt, the distinguished first Earl of Chatham; Lord North, in his twenty-first year, afterwards First Lord of the Treasury, and ultimately Earl of Guildford; Evelyn, Duke of Kingston; Viscount Trentham (a title borne by the Duke of Sutherland); the Earl of March (one of the titles of the Duke of Richmond); the Earl of Haddington; Edward Hussey, who married a daughter of the Duke of Montagu, and was created Earl of Beaulieu; Hume Campbell, afterwards created Baron Hume; the Earl of Sandwich, subsequently ambassador to the court of Spain, First Lord of the Admiralty, and Secretary of State for the Home Department; and Lord Bolingbroke, the friend of the Pretender, a man of great ability,—a statesman, a philosopher, and an infidel.Gillies adds to this long list the name of David Hume,who had recently returned from Italy in great chagrin, because the people of England “entirely overlooked and neglected” his “Inquiry concerning Human Understanding.” It is said that Hume considered Whitefield the most ingenious preacher he ever listened to, and that twenty miles were not too far to go to hear him. “Once,” said the great infidel, “Whitefield addressed his audience thus: ‘The attendant angel is about to leave us, and ascend to heaven. Shall he ascend and not bear with him the news of one sinner reclaimed from the error of his way?’ And, then, stamping with his foot, and lifting up his hands and eyes to heaven, he cried aloud, ‘Stop, Gabriel, stop, ere you enter the sacred portals, and yet carry with you the tidings of one sinner being saved.’ This address surpassed anything I ever saw or heard in any other preacher.”The Earl of Chesterfield and the Earl of Bath have been previously noticed as being among Whitefield’s hearers. One more name must be mentioned. Lady Townshend was one of Whitefield’s earliest admirers. Her wit and eccentricities were notorious. Of course she was a member of the Church of England; but Horace Walpole tells a story of George Selwyn detecting her crossing herself and praying before the altar of a popish chapel. Alternately, she liked and disliked Whitefield. “She certainly means,” said Walpole, “to go armed with every viaticum—the Church of England in one hand, Methodism in the other,and the Host in hermouth.”221Whitefield had the moral courage to tackle even this eccentric lady; and, towards the close of 1748, wrote to her as follows:—“Yesterday, good Lady Huntingdon informed me that your ladyship was ill. Had I judged it proper, I would have waited upon your ladyship this morning; but I was cautious of intrusion. My heart’s desire and prayer to God is, that this sickness be not unto death, but to His glory, and the present and eternal good of your precious and immortal soul. O that from a spiritual abiding sense of the vanity of all created good, you may cry out,—‘Begone, vain world, my heart resign,For I must be no longer thine:A nobler, a diviner guestNow claims possession of my breast.’Then, and not till then, will your ladyship with cheerfulness wait for the approach of death. It is a true and living faith in the Son of God that can alone bring present peace, and lay a solid foundation for future and eternal comfort. I cannot wish your ladyship anything greater, anything more noble, than a large share of this precious faith. When, like Noah’s dove, we have been wandering about in a fruitless search after happiness, and have found no rest for the sole of our feet, the glorious Redeemer is ready to reach out His hand and receive us into His ark. This hand, honoured madam, He is reaching out to you. May you be constrained to give your heart entirely to Him, and thereby enter into that rest which remains for the happy, though despised, people of God.”The foregoing weresome, not all, of Whitefield’s aristocratic hearers. Others will be mentioned hereafter. The gatherings, in Chelsea and in North Audley Street, were profoundly interesting spectacles; and never, till the day of judgment, when all secrets will be unfolded, will it be ascertained to what extent the preaching of the youthful Whitefield affected the policy of some of England’s greatest statesmen, and moulded the character of some of its highest aristocratic families. Who will venture to deny that, in some of these families, the effects of Whitefield’s ministry is felt to the present day? Let us pursue his history.Whitefield continued his correspondence with Hervey and Stonehouse. On January 13, 1749, he wrote to the former as follows:—“The prospect of doing good to the rich, who attend the house of good Lady Huntingdon, is very encouraging. I preach there twice a week, and yesterday Lord Bolingbroke was one of my auditors. His lordship was pleased to express very great satisfaction. Who knows what God may do? He can never work by a meaner instrument. I want humility, I want thankfulness, I want a heart continually flaming with the love of God.“I thank you for your kind invitation to your house and pulpit. I would not bring you or any of my friends into difficulties, for owning poor, unworthy, hell-deserving me; but, if Providence should give me a clear call, I shall be glad to come your way. I rejoice in the prospect of having some ministers in our church pulpits who dare own a crucified Redeemer. I hope the time will come when many of the priests will be obedient to the word.”It is a humiliating fact, that Whitefield, an ordained clergyman, and under no official censure, was not able to avail himself of Hervey’s invitation without the probability of involving his gentle friend in trouble; and it is a beautifultrait in Whitefield’s character, that, however great the gratification of preaching in a church might be, he was unwilling to indulge himself in such a pleasure at the expense of any of his friends.Dr.Stonehouse occasioned Whitefield sorrow and anxiety. The Doctor was a sincere, earnest, and devout Christian, but he was afraid of being branded as a Methodist; and, for the same reason, he was afraid of being known as one of Whitefield’s friends. Hence the following, written four days after the date of the letter just quoted:—“The way of duty is the way of safety. Our Lord requires of us to confess Him in His gospel members and ministers. To be afraid of publicly owning, associating with, and strengthening the hearts and hands of the latter, especially when they are set for the defence of the gospel, is, in my opinion, very offensive in His sight, and can only proceed from a want of more love to Him and His people. You say, ‘We are most of us too warm;’ but I hope you do not think that being ashamed of any of your Lord’s ministers is an instance of it. Thanks be to God! thatMr.Hervey seems, as you express it, ‘to court the enmity of mankind.’ It is an error on the right side. Better so than to be afraid of it. The Lord never threatened to spew any church out of His mouth for being too hot; but, for being neither hot nor cold, He has. It is too true, my dear sir, ‘we have but few faithful ministers;’ but is keeping at a distance from one another the way to strengthen their interest? By no means. To tell you my whole mind, I do not believe God will bless either you or your friends, to any considerable degree, till you are more delivered from the fear of man. Alas! how were you bowed down with it, when I saw you last! And your letter bespeaks you yet a slave to it. O my brother, deal faithfully with yourself, and you will find a love of the world, and a fear of not providing for your children, have gotten too much hold of your heart. Do not mistake me. I would not have you throw yourself into flames. I would only have you act a consistent part, and not, for fear of a little contempt, be ashamed of owning the ministers of Christ. After all, think not, my dear sir, that I am pleading my own cause. You are not in danger of seeing me at Northampton. I only take this occasion of saying a word or two to your heart. You will not be offended, as it proceeds from love. I saluteMr.Hervey, and dear Doctor Doddridge, most cordially.”Towards the end of January, Whitefield set out, from London, to the west of England, where he spent the next five weeks. By appointment,he and Howell Harris held an “Association” atGloucester,222where, he says, “affairs turnedout better than expectation.” From Gloucester, he proceeded to Bristol, where he employed the next ten days.Whitefield was singularly devoid of envy. On leaving London,his place at Lady Huntingdon’s was occupied by his friendWesley,223whose preaching secured her ladyship’s approval.Robert Cruttenden also introduced theRev.Thomas Gibbons,D.D.,224a young man of twenty-eight, who, at this time, was the officiating minister of the Independent Church at Haberdashers’ Hall. Cruttenden, in a letter to Whitefield,told him that their two hours’ interview with the Countess had been exceedinglypleasant.225With his large heart, Whitefield was delighted by such intelligence as this, and wrote to her ladyship as follows:—“Bristol,February 1, 1749.“I am glad your ladyship approves ofMr.Wesley’s conduct, and that he has preached at your ladyship’s. The language of my heart is, ‘Lord, send by whom Thou wilt send, only convert some of the mighty and noble, for Thy mercy’s sake!’ Then I care not if I am heard of no more. I am, also, glad your ladyship approves ofMr.Gibbons. He is, I think, a worthy man. By taking this method, you will have an opportunity of conversing with the best of all parties, without being a bigot, and too strenuously attached to any. Surely, in this, your ladyship is directed from above. The blessed Jesus cares for His people of all denominations. He is gathering His elect out of all. Happy they who, with a disinterested view, take in the whole church militant, and, in spite of narrow-hearted bigots, breathe an undissembled catholic spirit towards all.”In the same month, Lady Huntingdon wrote to Whitefield a cheering account of the death of one of his noble converts:—“My last,” says she, “mentioned the sudden illness of my LordSt.John. A few days after, her ladyship wrote to me in great alarm, and begged me to send some pious clergyman to her lord.Mr.Bateman went. His lordship enquired for you, to whom he said he was deeply indebted. His last words toMr.Bateman were: ‘To God I commit myself. I feel how unworthy I am; but Jesus Christ died to save sinners;and the prayer of my heart now is, God be merciful to me a sinner!’ His lordship breathed his last about an hour afterMr.Bateman left. This, my good friend, is the firstfruits of that plenteous harvest, which, I trust, the great Husbandman will yet reap amongst the nobility of our land. Thus the great Lord of the harvest has put honour on your ministry. My Lord Bolingbroke was much struck with his brother’s language in his last moments. O that the obdurate heart of this desperate infidel may yet be shaken to its very centre! May his eyes be opened by the illuminating influence of Divine truth! May the Lord Jesus be revealed to his heart as the hope of glory and immortal bliss hereafter! I tremble for his destiny.He is a singularly awfulcharacter.”226Whitefield’s preaching in Bristol was again successful.“The power of the Lord,” he writes, “attended the word, as in days of old, and several persons, who never heard me before,were brought under greatawakenings.”227On February8th, he proceeded to Exeter, where he found the Society affairs in great confusion; but, winter though it was, and though his health was far from being vigorous, he began to preach in the open air. Large crowds assembled; and, he says,“I trust real good wasdone.”228He also preached at Bovey-Tracey, where he “found several poor simple souls;” and at Marychurch, where there were about a score of converted people who had been greatly persecuted. At Kingsbridge, at eight o’clock at night, he found a thousand people assembled in the street, and at once commenced preaching, from the words, “I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work.” He writes:—“I preached in the street. The moon shone. All were quiet; and, I hope, some began to think of working out their salvation with fear and trembling. The next morning, I preached again. Four ministers attended. Our Lord was pleased to make it a fine season. I had the pleasure of hearing, that, by two or three discourses preached at this place about five years ago, many souls were awakened. One young man, then called, has become a preacher. He was in a tree, partly to ridicule me. I spoke to him to imitate Zaccheus, and come down and receive the Lord Jesus. The word was backed with power. He heard, came down, believed,and now adorns thegospel.”229On February 15, Whitefield arrived atPlymouth,230being escorted, the last ten miles of his journey, by a cavalcade of his “spiritual children,” who had gone out to meet him. He found “many hundreds, in the tabernacle, waiting to hear the word;” and, though the hour was late, he immediately commenced preaching. Here he remained a week. The following was addressed to Lady Huntingdon:—“About two thousand attend every night. Last Sunday evening, in the field, there were above five thousand hearers. Affairs bear a promising aspect. I hear much good has been done at Bristol. Everywhere, fresh doors are opening, and people flock from all quarters. Prejudices subside, and strong impressions are made on many souls. I have not been so well, for so long a season, for many years, as I have been since I left London: a proof, I think, that the Lord calls me into the fields.”Whilst at Plymouth, Whitefield wrote several letters, full of interest, but too long for insertion here. To Lady Betty Germain, he said:—“Of the honourable women, ere long, I trust there will be not a few who will dare to be singularly good, and will confess the blessed Jesus before men. O with what a holy contempt may the poor despised believer look down on those who are yet immersed in the pleasures of sense, and, amidst all the refinements of their unassisted, unenlightened reason, continue slaves to their own lusts and passions! Happy, thrice happy, they who begin to experience what it is to be redeemed from this present evil world! You, honoured madam, I trust, are one of this happy number.”To the Countess of Delitz, he wrote:—“Your ladyship’s answering my poor scrawl was an honour I did not expect. Welcome, thrice welcome, honoured madam, into the world ofnew creatures! O what a scene of happiness lies before you! Your frames, my lady, like the moon, will wax and wane; but the Lord Jesus will remain your faithful friend. You seem to have the right point in view, to get the constant witness and indwelling of the Spirit of God in your heart. This the Redeemer has purchased for you. Of this, He has given your ladyship a taste. O that your honoured sister may go hand in hand with you! Wherefore doth she doubt?”It has been previously stated that, on Whitefield’s arrival at Bermudas, he was warmly welcomed by the Church clergyman, theRev.Mr.Holiday. Unfortunately,Mr.Holiday’s friendship was shortlived. Hence the following:—“Plymouth,February 20, 1749.“I did not thinkMr.Holiday’s friendship would hold long. It will be time enough for me to speak to him, when I see Bermudas again, which I propose doing as soon as possible. Meanwhile, I would observe that, if I am a Roman Catholic, the pope must have given me a very large dispensation. Surely,Mr.Holiday has acted like one, to pretend so much friendship, and yet have nothing of it in his heart. But thus it must be. We must be tried in every way. As for any secrets that I told him, he is very welcome to reveal them. You know me too well to judge I have many secrets. May the secret of the Lord be with me! and then I care not if there was a window in my heart for all mankind to see the uprightness of my intentions.“I am now in the west, and have begun to take the field. Great multitudes flock to hear. I find it is a trial, to be thus divided between the work on this and the other side of the water. I am convinced I have done right in coming over now; but I keep myself quite disengaged, that I may be free to leave England the latter end of the summer, if the Lord is pleased to make my way clear. I long to have Bethesda a foundation for the Lord Jesus. If I can procure a proper person, of good literature, who will be content to stay two or three years, something may be done.”Before his departure from Plymouth, Whitefield preached at Tavistock; where, he says, “I was rudely treated; for, whilst I was praying, some of the baser sort brought a bull and dogs, and disturbed us much; but I hope good was done.”On reaching Exeter, he wrote to his friend Robert Cruttenden, once a minister of Christ, then an infidel, and now re-converted:—“Exeter,February 25, 1749.“I suppose you will be pleased that I am thus far in my return to London. O my friend, my friend, I come with fear and trembling. To speak to the rich and great, so as to win them to the blessed Jesus, isindeed a task. But, wherefore do we fear? We can do all things through Christ strengthening us. But why doesMr.Cruttenden think it strange that no one can be found to help me in the country? Is it not more strange that you should lie supine, burying your talents in a napkin, complaining you have nothing to do, and yet souls everywhere are perishing about you for lack of knowledge? Why do you not preach or print? At least, why do you not help me, or somebody or another, in a more public way? You are in the decline of life, and if you do not soon reassume the place, you are now qualified for, you may lose the opportunity for ever. I write this in great seriousness. May the Lord give you no rest, till you lift up your voice like a trumpet! Up, and be doing; and the Lord will be with you.”Whitefield arrived in London at the beginning of the month of March. On his way, at Bristol, he and Charles Wesley met. Charles was to be married to Miss Gwynne a month afterwards, and wrote: “March 3. I met George Whitefield,and made him quite happy by acquainting him with mydesign.”231Whitefield spent a month in London, and was fully occupied, not only with preaching in the Tabernacle, and in the house of Lady Huntingdon, but with work that was not at all congenial to him.At the end of the year 1748, theRev.George White, the notorious clergyman of Colne, in Lancashire, had published his infamous “Sermon against the Methodists.” In a footnote, the fuming author, speaking of Whitefield and Wesley, said:—“These officious haranguers cozen a handsome subsistence out of their irregular expeditions. No satisfactory account has been given us ofMr.Whitefield’s disbursements in Georgia; and, I am afraid, by his late modest insinuations, in or about the Highlands of Scotland, of the want of£500 more, he thinks the nation is become more and more foolish, and within the reach of his further impositions. It appears, from many probable accounts, thatMr.Wesley has, in reality, a better income than most of our bishops, though, now and then, (no great wonder,)it costs him some little pains to escape certain roughcompliments.”232This was a false, libellous attack on Whitefield’s honesty; and Grimshaw, of Haworth, and Benjamin Ingham wished him to answer it. His reply to Grimshaw was as follows:—“London,March 17, 1749.“My dear Brother,—What a blessed thing it is that we can write to, when we cannot see one another! By this means we increase our joys, and lessen our sorrows, and, as it were, exchange hearts.“Thanks be to the Lord Jesus, that the work flourishes with you! I am glad your children grow so fast; they become fathers too soon; I wish some may not prove dwarfs at last. A word to the wise is sufficient. I have always found awakening times like spring times; many blossoms, but not always so much fruit. But go on, my dear man, and, in the strength of the Lord, you shall do valiantly. I long to be your way; but I suppose it will be two months first.“Pray tell my dearMr.Ingham thatI cannot now answer thePreston233letter, being engaged in answering a virulent pamphlet, entitled, ‘The Enthusiasm of the Methodists and Papists compared,’ supposed to be done by the Bishop of Exeter. Thus it must be. If we will be temple builders, we must have the temple builders’ lot; I mean, hold a sword in one hand, and a trowel in the other. The Lord make us faithful Nehemiahs, for we have many Sanballats to deal with! But, wherefore should we fear? If Christ be for us, who can be against us? ‘Nil desperandum, Christo duce,’ is the Christian’s motto. Remember me, in the kindest manner, to honest-heartedMr.Ingham, and tell him that, in a post or two, I hope he will hear from me.”What Whitefield, for want of time, could not undertake was accomplished by the redoubtable Grimshaw, who, in an 8vo. pamphlet of 98 pages,cudgelled White almostunmercifully.234Whitefield was answering Lavington. Notwithstanding the recantation extorted from him by the Countess of Huntingdon, only six months before, the irritable prelate could neither forget nor forgive the publication of the fictitious charge that has been already mentioned; and now he vented his anger by issuing anonymously the first part of “The Enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists compared.” (8vo. 82pp.) No good end would be served by lengthened quotations from this scolding pamphlet. The Bishop of Exeter was too angry to be polite. Suffice it to say, that, so far as Whitefield is concerned, Lavington’s attacks are founded upon incautious and improper expressions in Whitefield’s publications—expressions most of which Whitefield himself had publicly lamented and withdrawn, or modified. The pith of the bishop’s pamphlet is contained in his last paragraph but one. Theitalicsin the following quotations are his lordship’s own:—“Thisnew dispensationis acompositionofenthusiasm,superstition, andimposture. When the blood and spirits runhigh, inflaming the brain and imagination, it is most properlyenthusiasm, which isreligion run mad; whenlow and dejected, causing groundless terrors, or the placing of thegreat duty of manin little observances, it issuperstition, which isreligion scared out of its senses; when any fraudulent dealings are made use of, and any wrong projects carried on under the mask of piety, it isimposture, and may be termed religion turnedhypocrite.”The title of Whitefield’s answer was as follows: “Some Remarks on a Pamphlet, entitled, ‘The Enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists compared;’ wherein several mistakes in some parts of his past writings and conduct are acknowledged, and his present sentiments concerning the Methodists explained. In a letter to the Author. By George Whitefield, late of Pembroke College, Chaplain to the Right Honourable the Countess of Huntingdon. ‘Out of the eater came forth meat’ (Judgesxiv.4). London: printed by W. Strahan, 1749.” (8vo. 48pp.)The title-page indicates the contents of Whitefield’s pamphlet. He honestly acknowledges his errors by insertingthe letter already given, under the date of “June 24, 1748,” and which, with very little alteration, had been published in Scotland, before Lavington’s malignant ridicule had been committed to the press. Three brief extracts, from Whitefield’s “Remarks,” will be enough. In reply to the accusation of claiming to be inspired and infallible, Whitefield says:—“No, sir, my mistakes have been too many, and my blunders too frequent, to make me set up forinfallibility. I came soon into the world; I have carried high sail, whilst running through a whole torrent of popularity and contempt; and, by this means, I have sometimes been in danger of oversetting; but many and frequent as my mistakes have been, or may be, as soon as I ammade sensible of them, they shall bepublicly acknowledged and retracted.”Again, having stated what are the doctrines of the Methodists, Whitefield writes:—“These are doctrines as diametrically opposite to the Church of Rome, as light to darkness. They are the very doctrines for which Ridley, Latimer, Cranmer, and so many of our first reformers burnt at the stake. And, I will venture to say, they are doctrines which, when attended with a divine energy, always have made, and, maugre all opposition, always will make, their way through the world, however weak the instruments, who deliver them, may be.”Then, again, the object at which Whitefield and his friends were aiming is thus described:—“To awaken adrowsyworld; to rouse them out of theirformality, as well as profaneness, and put them upon seeking after apresent and great salvation; to point out to them aglorious rest, which not only remains for the people of Godhereafter, but which, by aliving faith, the very chief of sinners may enter into even here, and without which the most blazing profession is nothing worth—is, as far as I know, the one thing—the grand and common point, in which all theMethodists’endeavours centre. This is what some of all denominations want to be reminded of; and to stir them up to seek after the life and power of godliness, that they may be Christians, not only inword and profession, but inspiritand intruth, is, and,through Jesus Christ strengthening me, shall be the onesolebusiness of my life.”Answers to Bishop Lavington were also written by Wesley, and by theRev.Vincent Perronet. On the bishop’s side there was published, “A Letter to theRev.Mr.George Whitefield, occasioned by his ‘Remarks on a Pamphlet, entitled, The Enthusiasm of the Methodists and Papistscompared.’” (8vo. 59pp.) Among other railing accusations, the author charges the poor Methodists with making their followers mad; and broadly asserts that some of them have committed murders in Wales, and are now hanging in chains for their crimes. Whitefield was represented as having “a windmill in his head,” and going “up and down the world in search of somebody to beat out his brains.” It is a curious fact, however, that the pamphleteer attacked theRev.Griffith Jones, who had recently published his Welsh Catechism, more virulently than he attacked Whitefield. The same gentleman (he calls himself a “Layman”) published a second pamphlet, with the title, “A Second Letter to theRev.Mr.George Whitefield, occasioned by his Remarks upon a Pamphlet, entitled, The Enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists compared. In this,Mr.Whitefield’s claim to the doctrine of the9th,10th,11th, and12thArticles of the Church of England is examined; as also that of his greatMr.Griffith Jones, of Landowror, to the doctrine of the17thArticle; together with some further account of the fire kindled by them both in North and South Wales.” (8vo. 111pp.) The writer was a man of learning, and, though a layman, was well acquainted with theology. The fault of his productions is their bitterness, and their publication of false and even obscene stories. He charges the Welsh Methodists with the practice of adultery, and with holding the doctrine that fornication among themselves was not a sin. He asserts that “Most of the Methodist teachers in Wales are become Father Confessors;” and that one of them, Will Richard, a cobbler, “when he forgives the sins of any person, delivers the party a paper, which, upon its being produced, will procure him or her admittance into heaven.” There are other stories too impure to be reproduced.It may be added, that such was the public importance attached to the production of Lavington and the reply of Whitefield, that theMonthly Review, for 1749, devoted not fewer than twenty-eight of its pages to an examination of them.Whitefield’s “Remarks” being finished, he wrote to his friend Hervey, as follows:—
“Gloucester,December 6, 1748.“Honoured Gentlemen,—Not want of respect, but a suspicion that my letters would not be acceptable, has been the occasion of my not writing to you these four years last past. I am sensible, that in some of my former letters, I expressed myself in too strong and sometimes in unbecoming terms. For this I desire to be humbled before God and man. I can assure you, however, that, to the best of my knowledge, I have acted a disinterested part. I have simply aimed at God’s glory, and the good of mankind. This principle drew me first to Georgia; this, and this alone, induced me to begin and carry on the Orphan House; and this, honoured gentlemen, excites me to trouble you with the present lines.“I need not inform you, how the colony of Georgia has been declining, and at what great disadvantages I have maintained a large family in that wilderness. Upwards of£5000 have been expended in that undertaking;and yet, very little proficiency has been made in the cultivation of my tract of land; and that entirely owing to the necessity I lay under of making use of white hands. Had negroes been allowed, I should now have had a sufficiency to support a great many orphans, without expending above half the sum that has been laid out. An unwillingness to let so good a design drop induced me, two years ago, to purchase a plantation in South Carolina, where negroes are allowed. This plantation has succeeded; and, though I have only eight working hands, in all probability, there will be more raised in one year, and with a quarter of the expense, than has been produced at Bethesda for several years past. This confirms me in the opinion, I have long entertained, that, Georgia never can be a flourishing province, unless negroes are employed.“But, notwithstanding my private judgment, I am determined, that, not one of mine shall ever be allowed to work at the Orphan House till it can be done in a legal manner, and with the approbation of the Honourable Trustees. My chief end in writing this, is to inform you, that, I am as willing as ever to do all I can for Georgia and the Orphan House, if either a limited use of negroes is approved of, or some more indentured servants be sent from England. If not, I cannot promise to keep any large family, or cultivate the plantation in any considerable manner.“I would also further recommend to your consideration, whether, as the Orphan House is intended for a charitable purpose, it ought not to be exempted from all quit-rents and public taxes? And, as most of the land on which the Orphan House is built is good for little, I would humbly enquire, whether I may not have a grant of five hundred more acres, not taken up, somewhere near the Orphan House?“If you, Honourable Gentlemen, are pleased to put the colony upon another footing,—I mean in respect to the permission of a limited use of negroes,—my intention is to make the Orphan House, not only a receptacle for fatherless children, but also a place of literature and academical studies. Such a place is much wanted in the southern parts of America, and, if conducted in a proper manner, must necessarily be of great service to any colony. I can easily procure proper persons to embark in such a cause.”
“Gloucester,December 6, 1748.
“Honoured Gentlemen,—Not want of respect, but a suspicion that my letters would not be acceptable, has been the occasion of my not writing to you these four years last past. I am sensible, that in some of my former letters, I expressed myself in too strong and sometimes in unbecoming terms. For this I desire to be humbled before God and man. I can assure you, however, that, to the best of my knowledge, I have acted a disinterested part. I have simply aimed at God’s glory, and the good of mankind. This principle drew me first to Georgia; this, and this alone, induced me to begin and carry on the Orphan House; and this, honoured gentlemen, excites me to trouble you with the present lines.
“I need not inform you, how the colony of Georgia has been declining, and at what great disadvantages I have maintained a large family in that wilderness. Upwards of£5000 have been expended in that undertaking;and yet, very little proficiency has been made in the cultivation of my tract of land; and that entirely owing to the necessity I lay under of making use of white hands. Had negroes been allowed, I should now have had a sufficiency to support a great many orphans, without expending above half the sum that has been laid out. An unwillingness to let so good a design drop induced me, two years ago, to purchase a plantation in South Carolina, where negroes are allowed. This plantation has succeeded; and, though I have only eight working hands, in all probability, there will be more raised in one year, and with a quarter of the expense, than has been produced at Bethesda for several years past. This confirms me in the opinion, I have long entertained, that, Georgia never can be a flourishing province, unless negroes are employed.
“But, notwithstanding my private judgment, I am determined, that, not one of mine shall ever be allowed to work at the Orphan House till it can be done in a legal manner, and with the approbation of the Honourable Trustees. My chief end in writing this, is to inform you, that, I am as willing as ever to do all I can for Georgia and the Orphan House, if either a limited use of negroes is approved of, or some more indentured servants be sent from England. If not, I cannot promise to keep any large family, or cultivate the plantation in any considerable manner.
“I would also further recommend to your consideration, whether, as the Orphan House is intended for a charitable purpose, it ought not to be exempted from all quit-rents and public taxes? And, as most of the land on which the Orphan House is built is good for little, I would humbly enquire, whether I may not have a grant of five hundred more acres, not taken up, somewhere near the Orphan House?
“If you, Honourable Gentlemen, are pleased to put the colony upon another footing,—I mean in respect to the permission of a limited use of negroes,—my intention is to make the Orphan House, not only a receptacle for fatherless children, but also a place of literature and academical studies. Such a place is much wanted in the southern parts of America, and, if conducted in a proper manner, must necessarily be of great service to any colony. I can easily procure proper persons to embark in such a cause.”
From such a pen, this is a strange production. Whitefield, with his large heart, urging the introduction of slavery into the province of Georgia, and almost threatening to abandon his Orphan House unless his proposal be granted! Whitefield’s honour is best cared for by saying as little about the incident as possible.
Having spent five days at Gloucester, during which he preached five times, and received the sacrament at the cathedral; and having similarly employed himself for a week at Bristol, Whitefield, at the request of the Countess of Huntingdon, returned to London on December17th, andresumed his ministry in the Tabernacle, and in the mansion of her ladyship.
“I am now,” he wrote, “thirty-four years of age; and alas! how little have I done and suffered for Him, who has done and suffered so much for me!Thanks be to His great name for countenancing my poor ministrations somuch.”215
A letter toDr.Doddridge,to whom Whitefield had submitted his Journals forrevision,216may properly close the year 1748,—a year, which, like all previous ones of his career, had been thronged with adventures and striking incidents.
“London,December 21, 1748.“Reverend and very dear Sir,—I was glad, very glad, to receive your letter, dated November7th, though it did not reach me till last night. I thank you for it a thousand times. It has led me to the throne of grace, where I have been crying, ‘Lord, counsel my counsellors, and shew them what Thou wouldest have me to do!’ Alas! alas! how can I be too severe against myself, who, Peter-like, have cut off so many ears, and, by imprudences, mixed with my zeal, have dishonoured the cause of Jesus! I can only look up to Him, who healed the high-priest’s servant’s ear, and say, ‘Lord, heal all the wounds my misguided zeal has given!’ Assure yourself, dear sir, everything I print shall be revised. I always have submitted my poor performances to my friends’ corrections. Time and experience ripen men’s judgments, and make them more solid, rational, and consistent. O that this may be my case!“I thank you, dear sir, for your solemn charge in respect to my health. Blessed be God! it is much improved since my return from Scotland, and I trust, by observing the rules you prescribe, I shall be enabled to declare the works of the Lord.“But what shall I say concerning your presenttrial?217I most earnestly sympathise with you, having had the same trial from the same quarter long ago. The Moravians first divided my family; then my parish, in Georgia; and, after that, the Societies which I was an instrument of gathering. I suppose not less than four hundred, through their practices,have left the Tabernacle. But I have been forsaken in other ways. I have not had above a hundred to hear me, where I had twenty thousand; and hundreds now assemble within a quarter of a mile of me, who never come to see or speak to me, though they must own, at the great day, that I was their spiritual father. All this I find but little enough to teach me to cease from man, and to wean me from that too great fondness, which spiritual fathers are apt to have for their spiritual children. But I have generally observed, that, when one door of usefulness is shut, another opens.Our Lord blesses you, dear sir, in yourwritings;218nay, your people’s treating you as they are now permitted to do, perhaps, is one of the greatest blessings you ever received from heaven. I know no other way of dealing with the Moravians, than to go on preaching the truth as it is in Jesus, and resting upon the promise, ‘Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be plucked up.’ Seven years will make a great alteration. I believe their grand design is to extend their economy as far as possible. This is now kept up by dint of money, and, I am apt to think, the very thing, by which they think to establish, will destroy their scheme. God is a gracious Father, and will not always let His children proceed in a wrong way. Doubtless, there are many of His dear little ones in the Moravian flock; but many of their principles and practices are exceeding wrong, for which, I doubt not, our Lord will rebuke them in His own time.“But I fear that I weary you. Love makes my pen to move too fast, and too long. Last Sunday evening, I preached at the other end of the town, to a most brilliant assembly. They expressed great approbation; and some, I think, begin to feel. Good Lady Huntingdon is a mother in Israel. She is all in a flame for Jesus.”
“London,December 21, 1748.
“Reverend and very dear Sir,—I was glad, very glad, to receive your letter, dated November7th, though it did not reach me till last night. I thank you for it a thousand times. It has led me to the throne of grace, where I have been crying, ‘Lord, counsel my counsellors, and shew them what Thou wouldest have me to do!’ Alas! alas! how can I be too severe against myself, who, Peter-like, have cut off so many ears, and, by imprudences, mixed with my zeal, have dishonoured the cause of Jesus! I can only look up to Him, who healed the high-priest’s servant’s ear, and say, ‘Lord, heal all the wounds my misguided zeal has given!’ Assure yourself, dear sir, everything I print shall be revised. I always have submitted my poor performances to my friends’ corrections. Time and experience ripen men’s judgments, and make them more solid, rational, and consistent. O that this may be my case!
“I thank you, dear sir, for your solemn charge in respect to my health. Blessed be God! it is much improved since my return from Scotland, and I trust, by observing the rules you prescribe, I shall be enabled to declare the works of the Lord.
“But what shall I say concerning your presenttrial?217I most earnestly sympathise with you, having had the same trial from the same quarter long ago. The Moravians first divided my family; then my parish, in Georgia; and, after that, the Societies which I was an instrument of gathering. I suppose not less than four hundred, through their practices,have left the Tabernacle. But I have been forsaken in other ways. I have not had above a hundred to hear me, where I had twenty thousand; and hundreds now assemble within a quarter of a mile of me, who never come to see or speak to me, though they must own, at the great day, that I was their spiritual father. All this I find but little enough to teach me to cease from man, and to wean me from that too great fondness, which spiritual fathers are apt to have for their spiritual children. But I have generally observed, that, when one door of usefulness is shut, another opens.Our Lord blesses you, dear sir, in yourwritings;218nay, your people’s treating you as they are now permitted to do, perhaps, is one of the greatest blessings you ever received from heaven. I know no other way of dealing with the Moravians, than to go on preaching the truth as it is in Jesus, and resting upon the promise, ‘Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be plucked up.’ Seven years will make a great alteration. I believe their grand design is to extend their economy as far as possible. This is now kept up by dint of money, and, I am apt to think, the very thing, by which they think to establish, will destroy their scheme. God is a gracious Father, and will not always let His children proceed in a wrong way. Doubtless, there are many of His dear little ones in the Moravian flock; but many of their principles and practices are exceeding wrong, for which, I doubt not, our Lord will rebuke them in His own time.
“But I fear that I weary you. Love makes my pen to move too fast, and too long. Last Sunday evening, I preached at the other end of the town, to a most brilliant assembly. They expressed great approbation; and some, I think, begin to feel. Good Lady Huntingdon is a mother in Israel. She is all in a flame for Jesus.”
Whitefield’s remarks concerning the Moravians may, perhaps, seem somewhat harsh; but they were not untrue, and will prepare the reader for other critiques hereafter.
Whitefield mentions his “brilliant assembly” in the mansion of the Countess of Huntingdon. In a letter to the Countess of Bath, he wrote, “It would please you to see the assemblies at her ladyship’s house. They are brilliant ones indeed. The prospect of catching some of the rich, in the gospel net, is very promising.I know you will wish prosperity in the name of theLord.”219
No wonder that, after one of his first services at Lady Huntingdon’s, Whitefield said,“I went home, never more surprised at any incident in mylife.”220Such congregations were unique. Nothing like them had heretofore beenwitnessed. There were gatherings of England’s proud nobility, assembled to listen to a young preacher, whose boyhood had been spent in a public-house; whose youth, at the university, had been employed partly in study, and partly in attending to the wants of fellow-students, who declined to treat him as an equal; and whose manhood life, for the last thirteen years, had been a commingling of marvellous popularity and violent contempt,—a scene of infirmities and errors, and yet of unreserved and unceasing devotion to the cause of Christ and the welfare of his fellow-men. Such was the youthful preacher,—a man of slender learning, of mean origin, without Church preferment, hated by the clergy, and maligned by the public press. Who were his aristocratic hearers? The following list is supplied by the well-informed author of “The Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon”:—
Lady Fanny Shirley, who had long been one of the reigning beauties of the court of George the First; the Duchess of Argyll; Lady Betty Campbell; Lady Ferrers; Lady Sophia Thomas; the Duchess of Montagu, daughter of the great Duke of Marlborough; Lady Cardigan; Lady Lincoln;Mrs.Boscawen;Mrs.Pitt; Miss Rich; Lady Fitzwalter; Lady Caroline Petersham; the Duchess of Queensbury, daughter of the Earl of Clarendon, and celebrated for extraordinary beauty, wit, and sprightliness, by Pope, Swift, and Prior; the Duchess of Manchester; Lady Thanet, daughter of the Marquis of Halifax, and wife of Sackville, Earl of Thanet; LadySt.John, niece of Lady Huntingdon; Lady Luxborough, the friend and correspondent of Shenstone, the poet; Lady Monson, whose husband, in 1760, was created Baron Sondes; Lady Rockingham, the wife of the great statesman, a woman of immense wit and pleasant temper, often at court, and possessed of considerable influence in the higher circles of society; Lady Betty Germain, daughter of the Earl of Berkeley, and through her husband, Sir John Germain, the possessor of enormous wealth; Lady Eleanor Bertie, a member of the noble family of Abingdon; the Dowager-Duchess of Ancaster; the Dowager-Lady Hyndford; the Duchess of Somerset; the Countess Delitz, one of the daughters of the Duchess of Kendal, and thesister of Lady Chesterfield; Lady Hinchinbroke, granddaughter of the Duke of Montagu; and Lady Schaubs.
Besides these “honourable women not a few,” there were also the Earl of Burlington, so famed for his admiration of the works of Inigo Jones, and for his architectural expenditure; George Bubb Dodington, afterwards Lord Melcombe, a friend and favourite of the Prince of Wales, and whose costly mansion was often crowded with literary men; George Augustus Selwyn, an eccentric wit, to whom nearly all the currentbon-motsof the day were attributed; the Earl of Holderness; Lord (afterwards Marquess) Townshend, named George, after his godfather, George the First, a distinguished general in the army, member of Parliament for Norfolk, and ultimately a field-marshal. Charles Townshend, now a young man of twenty-three, whom Burke described as “the delight and ornament of the House of Commons, and the charm of every private society he honoured with his presence;” LordSt.John, half-brother to Lord Bolingbroke; the Earl of Aberdeen; the Earl of Lauderdale; the Earl of Hyndford, Envoy Extraordinary to the King of Prussia; the Marquis of Tweeddale, Secretary of State for Scotland; George, afterwards, Lord Lyttelton, at one time member for Okehampton, and secretary of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and who had recently published his well-known book, “Observations on the Conversion ofSt.Paul;” William Pitt, the distinguished first Earl of Chatham; Lord North, in his twenty-first year, afterwards First Lord of the Treasury, and ultimately Earl of Guildford; Evelyn, Duke of Kingston; Viscount Trentham (a title borne by the Duke of Sutherland); the Earl of March (one of the titles of the Duke of Richmond); the Earl of Haddington; Edward Hussey, who married a daughter of the Duke of Montagu, and was created Earl of Beaulieu; Hume Campbell, afterwards created Baron Hume; the Earl of Sandwich, subsequently ambassador to the court of Spain, First Lord of the Admiralty, and Secretary of State for the Home Department; and Lord Bolingbroke, the friend of the Pretender, a man of great ability,—a statesman, a philosopher, and an infidel.
Gillies adds to this long list the name of David Hume,who had recently returned from Italy in great chagrin, because the people of England “entirely overlooked and neglected” his “Inquiry concerning Human Understanding.” It is said that Hume considered Whitefield the most ingenious preacher he ever listened to, and that twenty miles were not too far to go to hear him. “Once,” said the great infidel, “Whitefield addressed his audience thus: ‘The attendant angel is about to leave us, and ascend to heaven. Shall he ascend and not bear with him the news of one sinner reclaimed from the error of his way?’ And, then, stamping with his foot, and lifting up his hands and eyes to heaven, he cried aloud, ‘Stop, Gabriel, stop, ere you enter the sacred portals, and yet carry with you the tidings of one sinner being saved.’ This address surpassed anything I ever saw or heard in any other preacher.”
The Earl of Chesterfield and the Earl of Bath have been previously noticed as being among Whitefield’s hearers. One more name must be mentioned. Lady Townshend was one of Whitefield’s earliest admirers. Her wit and eccentricities were notorious. Of course she was a member of the Church of England; but Horace Walpole tells a story of George Selwyn detecting her crossing herself and praying before the altar of a popish chapel. Alternately, she liked and disliked Whitefield. “She certainly means,” said Walpole, “to go armed with every viaticum—the Church of England in one hand, Methodism in the other,and the Host in hermouth.”221Whitefield had the moral courage to tackle even this eccentric lady; and, towards the close of 1748, wrote to her as follows:—
“Yesterday, good Lady Huntingdon informed me that your ladyship was ill. Had I judged it proper, I would have waited upon your ladyship this morning; but I was cautious of intrusion. My heart’s desire and prayer to God is, that this sickness be not unto death, but to His glory, and the present and eternal good of your precious and immortal soul. O that from a spiritual abiding sense of the vanity of all created good, you may cry out,—‘Begone, vain world, my heart resign,For I must be no longer thine:A nobler, a diviner guestNow claims possession of my breast.’Then, and not till then, will your ladyship with cheerfulness wait for the approach of death. It is a true and living faith in the Son of God that can alone bring present peace, and lay a solid foundation for future and eternal comfort. I cannot wish your ladyship anything greater, anything more noble, than a large share of this precious faith. When, like Noah’s dove, we have been wandering about in a fruitless search after happiness, and have found no rest for the sole of our feet, the glorious Redeemer is ready to reach out His hand and receive us into His ark. This hand, honoured madam, He is reaching out to you. May you be constrained to give your heart entirely to Him, and thereby enter into that rest which remains for the happy, though despised, people of God.”
“Yesterday, good Lady Huntingdon informed me that your ladyship was ill. Had I judged it proper, I would have waited upon your ladyship this morning; but I was cautious of intrusion. My heart’s desire and prayer to God is, that this sickness be not unto death, but to His glory, and the present and eternal good of your precious and immortal soul. O that from a spiritual abiding sense of the vanity of all created good, you may cry out,—
‘Begone, vain world, my heart resign,For I must be no longer thine:A nobler, a diviner guestNow claims possession of my breast.’
‘Begone, vain world, my heart resign,For I must be no longer thine:A nobler, a diviner guestNow claims possession of my breast.’
‘Begone, vain world, my heart resign,
For I must be no longer thine:
A nobler, a diviner guest
Now claims possession of my breast.’
Then, and not till then, will your ladyship with cheerfulness wait for the approach of death. It is a true and living faith in the Son of God that can alone bring present peace, and lay a solid foundation for future and eternal comfort. I cannot wish your ladyship anything greater, anything more noble, than a large share of this precious faith. When, like Noah’s dove, we have been wandering about in a fruitless search after happiness, and have found no rest for the sole of our feet, the glorious Redeemer is ready to reach out His hand and receive us into His ark. This hand, honoured madam, He is reaching out to you. May you be constrained to give your heart entirely to Him, and thereby enter into that rest which remains for the happy, though despised, people of God.”
The foregoing weresome, not all, of Whitefield’s aristocratic hearers. Others will be mentioned hereafter. The gatherings, in Chelsea and in North Audley Street, were profoundly interesting spectacles; and never, till the day of judgment, when all secrets will be unfolded, will it be ascertained to what extent the preaching of the youthful Whitefield affected the policy of some of England’s greatest statesmen, and moulded the character of some of its highest aristocratic families. Who will venture to deny that, in some of these families, the effects of Whitefield’s ministry is felt to the present day? Let us pursue his history.
Whitefield continued his correspondence with Hervey and Stonehouse. On January 13, 1749, he wrote to the former as follows:—
“The prospect of doing good to the rich, who attend the house of good Lady Huntingdon, is very encouraging. I preach there twice a week, and yesterday Lord Bolingbroke was one of my auditors. His lordship was pleased to express very great satisfaction. Who knows what God may do? He can never work by a meaner instrument. I want humility, I want thankfulness, I want a heart continually flaming with the love of God.“I thank you for your kind invitation to your house and pulpit. I would not bring you or any of my friends into difficulties, for owning poor, unworthy, hell-deserving me; but, if Providence should give me a clear call, I shall be glad to come your way. I rejoice in the prospect of having some ministers in our church pulpits who dare own a crucified Redeemer. I hope the time will come when many of the priests will be obedient to the word.”
“The prospect of doing good to the rich, who attend the house of good Lady Huntingdon, is very encouraging. I preach there twice a week, and yesterday Lord Bolingbroke was one of my auditors. His lordship was pleased to express very great satisfaction. Who knows what God may do? He can never work by a meaner instrument. I want humility, I want thankfulness, I want a heart continually flaming with the love of God.
“I thank you for your kind invitation to your house and pulpit. I would not bring you or any of my friends into difficulties, for owning poor, unworthy, hell-deserving me; but, if Providence should give me a clear call, I shall be glad to come your way. I rejoice in the prospect of having some ministers in our church pulpits who dare own a crucified Redeemer. I hope the time will come when many of the priests will be obedient to the word.”
It is a humiliating fact, that Whitefield, an ordained clergyman, and under no official censure, was not able to avail himself of Hervey’s invitation without the probability of involving his gentle friend in trouble; and it is a beautifultrait in Whitefield’s character, that, however great the gratification of preaching in a church might be, he was unwilling to indulge himself in such a pleasure at the expense of any of his friends.
Dr.Stonehouse occasioned Whitefield sorrow and anxiety. The Doctor was a sincere, earnest, and devout Christian, but he was afraid of being branded as a Methodist; and, for the same reason, he was afraid of being known as one of Whitefield’s friends. Hence the following, written four days after the date of the letter just quoted:—
“The way of duty is the way of safety. Our Lord requires of us to confess Him in His gospel members and ministers. To be afraid of publicly owning, associating with, and strengthening the hearts and hands of the latter, especially when they are set for the defence of the gospel, is, in my opinion, very offensive in His sight, and can only proceed from a want of more love to Him and His people. You say, ‘We are most of us too warm;’ but I hope you do not think that being ashamed of any of your Lord’s ministers is an instance of it. Thanks be to God! thatMr.Hervey seems, as you express it, ‘to court the enmity of mankind.’ It is an error on the right side. Better so than to be afraid of it. The Lord never threatened to spew any church out of His mouth for being too hot; but, for being neither hot nor cold, He has. It is too true, my dear sir, ‘we have but few faithful ministers;’ but is keeping at a distance from one another the way to strengthen their interest? By no means. To tell you my whole mind, I do not believe God will bless either you or your friends, to any considerable degree, till you are more delivered from the fear of man. Alas! how were you bowed down with it, when I saw you last! And your letter bespeaks you yet a slave to it. O my brother, deal faithfully with yourself, and you will find a love of the world, and a fear of not providing for your children, have gotten too much hold of your heart. Do not mistake me. I would not have you throw yourself into flames. I would only have you act a consistent part, and not, for fear of a little contempt, be ashamed of owning the ministers of Christ. After all, think not, my dear sir, that I am pleading my own cause. You are not in danger of seeing me at Northampton. I only take this occasion of saying a word or two to your heart. You will not be offended, as it proceeds from love. I saluteMr.Hervey, and dear Doctor Doddridge, most cordially.”
“The way of duty is the way of safety. Our Lord requires of us to confess Him in His gospel members and ministers. To be afraid of publicly owning, associating with, and strengthening the hearts and hands of the latter, especially when they are set for the defence of the gospel, is, in my opinion, very offensive in His sight, and can only proceed from a want of more love to Him and His people. You say, ‘We are most of us too warm;’ but I hope you do not think that being ashamed of any of your Lord’s ministers is an instance of it. Thanks be to God! thatMr.Hervey seems, as you express it, ‘to court the enmity of mankind.’ It is an error on the right side. Better so than to be afraid of it. The Lord never threatened to spew any church out of His mouth for being too hot; but, for being neither hot nor cold, He has. It is too true, my dear sir, ‘we have but few faithful ministers;’ but is keeping at a distance from one another the way to strengthen their interest? By no means. To tell you my whole mind, I do not believe God will bless either you or your friends, to any considerable degree, till you are more delivered from the fear of man. Alas! how were you bowed down with it, when I saw you last! And your letter bespeaks you yet a slave to it. O my brother, deal faithfully with yourself, and you will find a love of the world, and a fear of not providing for your children, have gotten too much hold of your heart. Do not mistake me. I would not have you throw yourself into flames. I would only have you act a consistent part, and not, for fear of a little contempt, be ashamed of owning the ministers of Christ. After all, think not, my dear sir, that I am pleading my own cause. You are not in danger of seeing me at Northampton. I only take this occasion of saying a word or two to your heart. You will not be offended, as it proceeds from love. I saluteMr.Hervey, and dear Doctor Doddridge, most cordially.”
Towards the end of January, Whitefield set out, from London, to the west of England, where he spent the next five weeks. By appointment,he and Howell Harris held an “Association” atGloucester,222where, he says, “affairs turnedout better than expectation.” From Gloucester, he proceeded to Bristol, where he employed the next ten days.
Whitefield was singularly devoid of envy. On leaving London,his place at Lady Huntingdon’s was occupied by his friendWesley,223whose preaching secured her ladyship’s approval.Robert Cruttenden also introduced theRev.Thomas Gibbons,D.D.,224a young man of twenty-eight, who, at this time, was the officiating minister of the Independent Church at Haberdashers’ Hall. Cruttenden, in a letter to Whitefield,told him that their two hours’ interview with the Countess had been exceedinglypleasant.225With his large heart, Whitefield was delighted by such intelligence as this, and wrote to her ladyship as follows:—
“Bristol,February 1, 1749.“I am glad your ladyship approves ofMr.Wesley’s conduct, and that he has preached at your ladyship’s. The language of my heart is, ‘Lord, send by whom Thou wilt send, only convert some of the mighty and noble, for Thy mercy’s sake!’ Then I care not if I am heard of no more. I am, also, glad your ladyship approves ofMr.Gibbons. He is, I think, a worthy man. By taking this method, you will have an opportunity of conversing with the best of all parties, without being a bigot, and too strenuously attached to any. Surely, in this, your ladyship is directed from above. The blessed Jesus cares for His people of all denominations. He is gathering His elect out of all. Happy they who, with a disinterested view, take in the whole church militant, and, in spite of narrow-hearted bigots, breathe an undissembled catholic spirit towards all.”
“Bristol,February 1, 1749.
“I am glad your ladyship approves ofMr.Wesley’s conduct, and that he has preached at your ladyship’s. The language of my heart is, ‘Lord, send by whom Thou wilt send, only convert some of the mighty and noble, for Thy mercy’s sake!’ Then I care not if I am heard of no more. I am, also, glad your ladyship approves ofMr.Gibbons. He is, I think, a worthy man. By taking this method, you will have an opportunity of conversing with the best of all parties, without being a bigot, and too strenuously attached to any. Surely, in this, your ladyship is directed from above. The blessed Jesus cares for His people of all denominations. He is gathering His elect out of all. Happy they who, with a disinterested view, take in the whole church militant, and, in spite of narrow-hearted bigots, breathe an undissembled catholic spirit towards all.”
In the same month, Lady Huntingdon wrote to Whitefield a cheering account of the death of one of his noble converts:—
“My last,” says she, “mentioned the sudden illness of my LordSt.John. A few days after, her ladyship wrote to me in great alarm, and begged me to send some pious clergyman to her lord.Mr.Bateman went. His lordship enquired for you, to whom he said he was deeply indebted. His last words toMr.Bateman were: ‘To God I commit myself. I feel how unworthy I am; but Jesus Christ died to save sinners;and the prayer of my heart now is, God be merciful to me a sinner!’ His lordship breathed his last about an hour afterMr.Bateman left. This, my good friend, is the firstfruits of that plenteous harvest, which, I trust, the great Husbandman will yet reap amongst the nobility of our land. Thus the great Lord of the harvest has put honour on your ministry. My Lord Bolingbroke was much struck with his brother’s language in his last moments. O that the obdurate heart of this desperate infidel may yet be shaken to its very centre! May his eyes be opened by the illuminating influence of Divine truth! May the Lord Jesus be revealed to his heart as the hope of glory and immortal bliss hereafter! I tremble for his destiny.He is a singularly awfulcharacter.”226
“My last,” says she, “mentioned the sudden illness of my LordSt.John. A few days after, her ladyship wrote to me in great alarm, and begged me to send some pious clergyman to her lord.Mr.Bateman went. His lordship enquired for you, to whom he said he was deeply indebted. His last words toMr.Bateman were: ‘To God I commit myself. I feel how unworthy I am; but Jesus Christ died to save sinners;and the prayer of my heart now is, God be merciful to me a sinner!’ His lordship breathed his last about an hour afterMr.Bateman left. This, my good friend, is the firstfruits of that plenteous harvest, which, I trust, the great Husbandman will yet reap amongst the nobility of our land. Thus the great Lord of the harvest has put honour on your ministry. My Lord Bolingbroke was much struck with his brother’s language in his last moments. O that the obdurate heart of this desperate infidel may yet be shaken to its very centre! May his eyes be opened by the illuminating influence of Divine truth! May the Lord Jesus be revealed to his heart as the hope of glory and immortal bliss hereafter! I tremble for his destiny.He is a singularly awfulcharacter.”226
Whitefield’s preaching in Bristol was again successful.
“The power of the Lord,” he writes, “attended the word, as in days of old, and several persons, who never heard me before,were brought under greatawakenings.”227
“The power of the Lord,” he writes, “attended the word, as in days of old, and several persons, who never heard me before,were brought under greatawakenings.”227
On February8th, he proceeded to Exeter, where he found the Society affairs in great confusion; but, winter though it was, and though his health was far from being vigorous, he began to preach in the open air. Large crowds assembled; and, he says,“I trust real good wasdone.”228He also preached at Bovey-Tracey, where he “found several poor simple souls;” and at Marychurch, where there were about a score of converted people who had been greatly persecuted. At Kingsbridge, at eight o’clock at night, he found a thousand people assembled in the street, and at once commenced preaching, from the words, “I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work.” He writes:—
“I preached in the street. The moon shone. All were quiet; and, I hope, some began to think of working out their salvation with fear and trembling. The next morning, I preached again. Four ministers attended. Our Lord was pleased to make it a fine season. I had the pleasure of hearing, that, by two or three discourses preached at this place about five years ago, many souls were awakened. One young man, then called, has become a preacher. He was in a tree, partly to ridicule me. I spoke to him to imitate Zaccheus, and come down and receive the Lord Jesus. The word was backed with power. He heard, came down, believed,and now adorns thegospel.”229
“I preached in the street. The moon shone. All were quiet; and, I hope, some began to think of working out their salvation with fear and trembling. The next morning, I preached again. Four ministers attended. Our Lord was pleased to make it a fine season. I had the pleasure of hearing, that, by two or three discourses preached at this place about five years ago, many souls were awakened. One young man, then called, has become a preacher. He was in a tree, partly to ridicule me. I spoke to him to imitate Zaccheus, and come down and receive the Lord Jesus. The word was backed with power. He heard, came down, believed,and now adorns thegospel.”229
On February 15, Whitefield arrived atPlymouth,230being escorted, the last ten miles of his journey, by a cavalcade of his “spiritual children,” who had gone out to meet him. He found “many hundreds, in the tabernacle, waiting to hear the word;” and, though the hour was late, he immediately commenced preaching. Here he remained a week. The following was addressed to Lady Huntingdon:—
“About two thousand attend every night. Last Sunday evening, in the field, there were above five thousand hearers. Affairs bear a promising aspect. I hear much good has been done at Bristol. Everywhere, fresh doors are opening, and people flock from all quarters. Prejudices subside, and strong impressions are made on many souls. I have not been so well, for so long a season, for many years, as I have been since I left London: a proof, I think, that the Lord calls me into the fields.”
“About two thousand attend every night. Last Sunday evening, in the field, there were above five thousand hearers. Affairs bear a promising aspect. I hear much good has been done at Bristol. Everywhere, fresh doors are opening, and people flock from all quarters. Prejudices subside, and strong impressions are made on many souls. I have not been so well, for so long a season, for many years, as I have been since I left London: a proof, I think, that the Lord calls me into the fields.”
Whilst at Plymouth, Whitefield wrote several letters, full of interest, but too long for insertion here. To Lady Betty Germain, he said:—
“Of the honourable women, ere long, I trust there will be not a few who will dare to be singularly good, and will confess the blessed Jesus before men. O with what a holy contempt may the poor despised believer look down on those who are yet immersed in the pleasures of sense, and, amidst all the refinements of their unassisted, unenlightened reason, continue slaves to their own lusts and passions! Happy, thrice happy, they who begin to experience what it is to be redeemed from this present evil world! You, honoured madam, I trust, are one of this happy number.”
“Of the honourable women, ere long, I trust there will be not a few who will dare to be singularly good, and will confess the blessed Jesus before men. O with what a holy contempt may the poor despised believer look down on those who are yet immersed in the pleasures of sense, and, amidst all the refinements of their unassisted, unenlightened reason, continue slaves to their own lusts and passions! Happy, thrice happy, they who begin to experience what it is to be redeemed from this present evil world! You, honoured madam, I trust, are one of this happy number.”
To the Countess of Delitz, he wrote:—
“Your ladyship’s answering my poor scrawl was an honour I did not expect. Welcome, thrice welcome, honoured madam, into the world ofnew creatures! O what a scene of happiness lies before you! Your frames, my lady, like the moon, will wax and wane; but the Lord Jesus will remain your faithful friend. You seem to have the right point in view, to get the constant witness and indwelling of the Spirit of God in your heart. This the Redeemer has purchased for you. Of this, He has given your ladyship a taste. O that your honoured sister may go hand in hand with you! Wherefore doth she doubt?”
“Your ladyship’s answering my poor scrawl was an honour I did not expect. Welcome, thrice welcome, honoured madam, into the world ofnew creatures! O what a scene of happiness lies before you! Your frames, my lady, like the moon, will wax and wane; but the Lord Jesus will remain your faithful friend. You seem to have the right point in view, to get the constant witness and indwelling of the Spirit of God in your heart. This the Redeemer has purchased for you. Of this, He has given your ladyship a taste. O that your honoured sister may go hand in hand with you! Wherefore doth she doubt?”
It has been previously stated that, on Whitefield’s arrival at Bermudas, he was warmly welcomed by the Church clergyman, theRev.Mr.Holiday. Unfortunately,Mr.Holiday’s friendship was shortlived. Hence the following:—
“Plymouth,February 20, 1749.“I did not thinkMr.Holiday’s friendship would hold long. It will be time enough for me to speak to him, when I see Bermudas again, which I propose doing as soon as possible. Meanwhile, I would observe that, if I am a Roman Catholic, the pope must have given me a very large dispensation. Surely,Mr.Holiday has acted like one, to pretend so much friendship, and yet have nothing of it in his heart. But thus it must be. We must be tried in every way. As for any secrets that I told him, he is very welcome to reveal them. You know me too well to judge I have many secrets. May the secret of the Lord be with me! and then I care not if there was a window in my heart for all mankind to see the uprightness of my intentions.“I am now in the west, and have begun to take the field. Great multitudes flock to hear. I find it is a trial, to be thus divided between the work on this and the other side of the water. I am convinced I have done right in coming over now; but I keep myself quite disengaged, that I may be free to leave England the latter end of the summer, if the Lord is pleased to make my way clear. I long to have Bethesda a foundation for the Lord Jesus. If I can procure a proper person, of good literature, who will be content to stay two or three years, something may be done.”
“Plymouth,February 20, 1749.
“I did not thinkMr.Holiday’s friendship would hold long. It will be time enough for me to speak to him, when I see Bermudas again, which I propose doing as soon as possible. Meanwhile, I would observe that, if I am a Roman Catholic, the pope must have given me a very large dispensation. Surely,Mr.Holiday has acted like one, to pretend so much friendship, and yet have nothing of it in his heart. But thus it must be. We must be tried in every way. As for any secrets that I told him, he is very welcome to reveal them. You know me too well to judge I have many secrets. May the secret of the Lord be with me! and then I care not if there was a window in my heart for all mankind to see the uprightness of my intentions.
“I am now in the west, and have begun to take the field. Great multitudes flock to hear. I find it is a trial, to be thus divided between the work on this and the other side of the water. I am convinced I have done right in coming over now; but I keep myself quite disengaged, that I may be free to leave England the latter end of the summer, if the Lord is pleased to make my way clear. I long to have Bethesda a foundation for the Lord Jesus. If I can procure a proper person, of good literature, who will be content to stay two or three years, something may be done.”
Before his departure from Plymouth, Whitefield preached at Tavistock; where, he says, “I was rudely treated; for, whilst I was praying, some of the baser sort brought a bull and dogs, and disturbed us much; but I hope good was done.”
On reaching Exeter, he wrote to his friend Robert Cruttenden, once a minister of Christ, then an infidel, and now re-converted:—
“Exeter,February 25, 1749.“I suppose you will be pleased that I am thus far in my return to London. O my friend, my friend, I come with fear and trembling. To speak to the rich and great, so as to win them to the blessed Jesus, isindeed a task. But, wherefore do we fear? We can do all things through Christ strengthening us. But why doesMr.Cruttenden think it strange that no one can be found to help me in the country? Is it not more strange that you should lie supine, burying your talents in a napkin, complaining you have nothing to do, and yet souls everywhere are perishing about you for lack of knowledge? Why do you not preach or print? At least, why do you not help me, or somebody or another, in a more public way? You are in the decline of life, and if you do not soon reassume the place, you are now qualified for, you may lose the opportunity for ever. I write this in great seriousness. May the Lord give you no rest, till you lift up your voice like a trumpet! Up, and be doing; and the Lord will be with you.”
“Exeter,February 25, 1749.
“I suppose you will be pleased that I am thus far in my return to London. O my friend, my friend, I come with fear and trembling. To speak to the rich and great, so as to win them to the blessed Jesus, isindeed a task. But, wherefore do we fear? We can do all things through Christ strengthening us. But why doesMr.Cruttenden think it strange that no one can be found to help me in the country? Is it not more strange that you should lie supine, burying your talents in a napkin, complaining you have nothing to do, and yet souls everywhere are perishing about you for lack of knowledge? Why do you not preach or print? At least, why do you not help me, or somebody or another, in a more public way? You are in the decline of life, and if you do not soon reassume the place, you are now qualified for, you may lose the opportunity for ever. I write this in great seriousness. May the Lord give you no rest, till you lift up your voice like a trumpet! Up, and be doing; and the Lord will be with you.”
Whitefield arrived in London at the beginning of the month of March. On his way, at Bristol, he and Charles Wesley met. Charles was to be married to Miss Gwynne a month afterwards, and wrote: “March 3. I met George Whitefield,and made him quite happy by acquainting him with mydesign.”231Whitefield spent a month in London, and was fully occupied, not only with preaching in the Tabernacle, and in the house of Lady Huntingdon, but with work that was not at all congenial to him.
At the end of the year 1748, theRev.George White, the notorious clergyman of Colne, in Lancashire, had published his infamous “Sermon against the Methodists.” In a footnote, the fuming author, speaking of Whitefield and Wesley, said:—
“These officious haranguers cozen a handsome subsistence out of their irregular expeditions. No satisfactory account has been given us ofMr.Whitefield’s disbursements in Georgia; and, I am afraid, by his late modest insinuations, in or about the Highlands of Scotland, of the want of£500 more, he thinks the nation is become more and more foolish, and within the reach of his further impositions. It appears, from many probable accounts, thatMr.Wesley has, in reality, a better income than most of our bishops, though, now and then, (no great wonder,)it costs him some little pains to escape certain roughcompliments.”232
“These officious haranguers cozen a handsome subsistence out of their irregular expeditions. No satisfactory account has been given us ofMr.Whitefield’s disbursements in Georgia; and, I am afraid, by his late modest insinuations, in or about the Highlands of Scotland, of the want of£500 more, he thinks the nation is become more and more foolish, and within the reach of his further impositions. It appears, from many probable accounts, thatMr.Wesley has, in reality, a better income than most of our bishops, though, now and then, (no great wonder,)it costs him some little pains to escape certain roughcompliments.”232
This was a false, libellous attack on Whitefield’s honesty; and Grimshaw, of Haworth, and Benjamin Ingham wished him to answer it. His reply to Grimshaw was as follows:—
“London,March 17, 1749.“My dear Brother,—What a blessed thing it is that we can write to, when we cannot see one another! By this means we increase our joys, and lessen our sorrows, and, as it were, exchange hearts.“Thanks be to the Lord Jesus, that the work flourishes with you! I am glad your children grow so fast; they become fathers too soon; I wish some may not prove dwarfs at last. A word to the wise is sufficient. I have always found awakening times like spring times; many blossoms, but not always so much fruit. But go on, my dear man, and, in the strength of the Lord, you shall do valiantly. I long to be your way; but I suppose it will be two months first.“Pray tell my dearMr.Ingham thatI cannot now answer thePreston233letter, being engaged in answering a virulent pamphlet, entitled, ‘The Enthusiasm of the Methodists and Papists compared,’ supposed to be done by the Bishop of Exeter. Thus it must be. If we will be temple builders, we must have the temple builders’ lot; I mean, hold a sword in one hand, and a trowel in the other. The Lord make us faithful Nehemiahs, for we have many Sanballats to deal with! But, wherefore should we fear? If Christ be for us, who can be against us? ‘Nil desperandum, Christo duce,’ is the Christian’s motto. Remember me, in the kindest manner, to honest-heartedMr.Ingham, and tell him that, in a post or two, I hope he will hear from me.”
“London,March 17, 1749.
“My dear Brother,—What a blessed thing it is that we can write to, when we cannot see one another! By this means we increase our joys, and lessen our sorrows, and, as it were, exchange hearts.
“Thanks be to the Lord Jesus, that the work flourishes with you! I am glad your children grow so fast; they become fathers too soon; I wish some may not prove dwarfs at last. A word to the wise is sufficient. I have always found awakening times like spring times; many blossoms, but not always so much fruit. But go on, my dear man, and, in the strength of the Lord, you shall do valiantly. I long to be your way; but I suppose it will be two months first.
“Pray tell my dearMr.Ingham thatI cannot now answer thePreston233letter, being engaged in answering a virulent pamphlet, entitled, ‘The Enthusiasm of the Methodists and Papists compared,’ supposed to be done by the Bishop of Exeter. Thus it must be. If we will be temple builders, we must have the temple builders’ lot; I mean, hold a sword in one hand, and a trowel in the other. The Lord make us faithful Nehemiahs, for we have many Sanballats to deal with! But, wherefore should we fear? If Christ be for us, who can be against us? ‘Nil desperandum, Christo duce,’ is the Christian’s motto. Remember me, in the kindest manner, to honest-heartedMr.Ingham, and tell him that, in a post or two, I hope he will hear from me.”
What Whitefield, for want of time, could not undertake was accomplished by the redoubtable Grimshaw, who, in an 8vo. pamphlet of 98 pages,cudgelled White almostunmercifully.234
Whitefield was answering Lavington. Notwithstanding the recantation extorted from him by the Countess of Huntingdon, only six months before, the irritable prelate could neither forget nor forgive the publication of the fictitious charge that has been already mentioned; and now he vented his anger by issuing anonymously the first part of “The Enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists compared.” (8vo. 82pp.) No good end would be served by lengthened quotations from this scolding pamphlet. The Bishop of Exeter was too angry to be polite. Suffice it to say, that, so far as Whitefield is concerned, Lavington’s attacks are founded upon incautious and improper expressions in Whitefield’s publications—expressions most of which Whitefield himself had publicly lamented and withdrawn, or modified. The pith of the bishop’s pamphlet is contained in his last paragraph but one. Theitalicsin the following quotations are his lordship’s own:—
“Thisnew dispensationis acompositionofenthusiasm,superstition, andimposture. When the blood and spirits runhigh, inflaming the brain and imagination, it is most properlyenthusiasm, which isreligion run mad; whenlow and dejected, causing groundless terrors, or the placing of thegreat duty of manin little observances, it issuperstition, which isreligion scared out of its senses; when any fraudulent dealings are made use of, and any wrong projects carried on under the mask of piety, it isimposture, and may be termed religion turnedhypocrite.”
“Thisnew dispensationis acompositionofenthusiasm,superstition, andimposture. When the blood and spirits runhigh, inflaming the brain and imagination, it is most properlyenthusiasm, which isreligion run mad; whenlow and dejected, causing groundless terrors, or the placing of thegreat duty of manin little observances, it issuperstition, which isreligion scared out of its senses; when any fraudulent dealings are made use of, and any wrong projects carried on under the mask of piety, it isimposture, and may be termed religion turnedhypocrite.”
The title of Whitefield’s answer was as follows: “Some Remarks on a Pamphlet, entitled, ‘The Enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists compared;’ wherein several mistakes in some parts of his past writings and conduct are acknowledged, and his present sentiments concerning the Methodists explained. In a letter to the Author. By George Whitefield, late of Pembroke College, Chaplain to the Right Honourable the Countess of Huntingdon. ‘Out of the eater came forth meat’ (Judgesxiv.4). London: printed by W. Strahan, 1749.” (8vo. 48pp.)
The title-page indicates the contents of Whitefield’s pamphlet. He honestly acknowledges his errors by insertingthe letter already given, under the date of “June 24, 1748,” and which, with very little alteration, had been published in Scotland, before Lavington’s malignant ridicule had been committed to the press. Three brief extracts, from Whitefield’s “Remarks,” will be enough. In reply to the accusation of claiming to be inspired and infallible, Whitefield says:—
“No, sir, my mistakes have been too many, and my blunders too frequent, to make me set up forinfallibility. I came soon into the world; I have carried high sail, whilst running through a whole torrent of popularity and contempt; and, by this means, I have sometimes been in danger of oversetting; but many and frequent as my mistakes have been, or may be, as soon as I ammade sensible of them, they shall bepublicly acknowledged and retracted.”
“No, sir, my mistakes have been too many, and my blunders too frequent, to make me set up forinfallibility. I came soon into the world; I have carried high sail, whilst running through a whole torrent of popularity and contempt; and, by this means, I have sometimes been in danger of oversetting; but many and frequent as my mistakes have been, or may be, as soon as I ammade sensible of them, they shall bepublicly acknowledged and retracted.”
Again, having stated what are the doctrines of the Methodists, Whitefield writes:—
“These are doctrines as diametrically opposite to the Church of Rome, as light to darkness. They are the very doctrines for which Ridley, Latimer, Cranmer, and so many of our first reformers burnt at the stake. And, I will venture to say, they are doctrines which, when attended with a divine energy, always have made, and, maugre all opposition, always will make, their way through the world, however weak the instruments, who deliver them, may be.”
“These are doctrines as diametrically opposite to the Church of Rome, as light to darkness. They are the very doctrines for which Ridley, Latimer, Cranmer, and so many of our first reformers burnt at the stake. And, I will venture to say, they are doctrines which, when attended with a divine energy, always have made, and, maugre all opposition, always will make, their way through the world, however weak the instruments, who deliver them, may be.”
Then, again, the object at which Whitefield and his friends were aiming is thus described:—
“To awaken adrowsyworld; to rouse them out of theirformality, as well as profaneness, and put them upon seeking after apresent and great salvation; to point out to them aglorious rest, which not only remains for the people of Godhereafter, but which, by aliving faith, the very chief of sinners may enter into even here, and without which the most blazing profession is nothing worth—is, as far as I know, the one thing—the grand and common point, in which all theMethodists’endeavours centre. This is what some of all denominations want to be reminded of; and to stir them up to seek after the life and power of godliness, that they may be Christians, not only inword and profession, but inspiritand intruth, is, and,through Jesus Christ strengthening me, shall be the onesolebusiness of my life.”
“To awaken adrowsyworld; to rouse them out of theirformality, as well as profaneness, and put them upon seeking after apresent and great salvation; to point out to them aglorious rest, which not only remains for the people of Godhereafter, but which, by aliving faith, the very chief of sinners may enter into even here, and without which the most blazing profession is nothing worth—is, as far as I know, the one thing—the grand and common point, in which all theMethodists’endeavours centre. This is what some of all denominations want to be reminded of; and to stir them up to seek after the life and power of godliness, that they may be Christians, not only inword and profession, but inspiritand intruth, is, and,through Jesus Christ strengthening me, shall be the onesolebusiness of my life.”
Answers to Bishop Lavington were also written by Wesley, and by theRev.Vincent Perronet. On the bishop’s side there was published, “A Letter to theRev.Mr.George Whitefield, occasioned by his ‘Remarks on a Pamphlet, entitled, The Enthusiasm of the Methodists and Papistscompared.’” (8vo. 59pp.) Among other railing accusations, the author charges the poor Methodists with making their followers mad; and broadly asserts that some of them have committed murders in Wales, and are now hanging in chains for their crimes. Whitefield was represented as having “a windmill in his head,” and going “up and down the world in search of somebody to beat out his brains.” It is a curious fact, however, that the pamphleteer attacked theRev.Griffith Jones, who had recently published his Welsh Catechism, more virulently than he attacked Whitefield. The same gentleman (he calls himself a “Layman”) published a second pamphlet, with the title, “A Second Letter to theRev.Mr.George Whitefield, occasioned by his Remarks upon a Pamphlet, entitled, The Enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists compared. In this,Mr.Whitefield’s claim to the doctrine of the9th,10th,11th, and12thArticles of the Church of England is examined; as also that of his greatMr.Griffith Jones, of Landowror, to the doctrine of the17thArticle; together with some further account of the fire kindled by them both in North and South Wales.” (8vo. 111pp.) The writer was a man of learning, and, though a layman, was well acquainted with theology. The fault of his productions is their bitterness, and their publication of false and even obscene stories. He charges the Welsh Methodists with the practice of adultery, and with holding the doctrine that fornication among themselves was not a sin. He asserts that “Most of the Methodist teachers in Wales are become Father Confessors;” and that one of them, Will Richard, a cobbler, “when he forgives the sins of any person, delivers the party a paper, which, upon its being produced, will procure him or her admittance into heaven.” There are other stories too impure to be reproduced.
It may be added, that such was the public importance attached to the production of Lavington and the reply of Whitefield, that theMonthly Review, for 1749, devoted not fewer than twenty-eight of its pages to an examination of them.
Whitefield’s “Remarks” being finished, he wrote to his friend Hervey, as follows:—