TheLifeandTimesoftheReverendGeorgeWhitefieldMA 10226341

T I M E S
A N D
L I F E
O F T HE R
E VE R E N D
GE O
WH
GE
I TE F I E LD
M A
.
BY
R O B E RT P HI L I P ,
A UT H O R
OF
T h ou
T HE
ar t
E X P E R I M E N T AL
p er
mi t t e d to
T hat
s p e ak
s e r ap hi c
GU I D
ES
E TC
fo r t h ys e l f
.
R EE
man !
E TC . E T C
C TS
L O N DO N
GE OR GE VI R T UE 26, I VY L AN E P AT E R N OSTE R R OW
,
BU
'
N GAY P R I N T E D
:
BY J R AND C
.
M DCC C X X X VI I I
C HILDS
TO
J O
SHUA WI LS O N
T
S U GGE S
TE D
T HE
BY
HIS
HI S
F O UN D E R
WO R K
VE
N E R A B L E F A TH E R
AN D
TR E A S U RER
0F
I GH B U R Y
O L L E GE
AN D
N R I C H E D F R OM
HI S
IS
O WN
A L UA B L E L I BR A R Y
I N S C R I BE D
BY
HIS
O LD
FR IE ND
T H E A UT H O R
N E WI
NG ON
T
GR E E N
P R E F AC E
Wo rk i s c h i e y
THI S
far
as
fo r e ,
is m in e ,
it
i s w r on g , i n
t ell u p o n
all c
both
h u rch es
Wh i t e e l d s
wn
it i s i n h i s
t h at i s g o o d
al l
h elp
fr o m
an d e x
an d
ca
th e
R e fo r mati on t o t h e
In
r e g ar d
t o th e
c os e o f
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st
of
th e
th is
l l i fe
ac u a
t h ol i c it y
An nal s
t h er e
d o t h i s , my
to
So
littl e o f w h at
it m ay b e fo l l o w e d by s imi l ar
t r at i on s o f E v an g e l i c al P r e ac h i n g
en
I t w ill ,
t h u s li ke h i s
S h ou l d i t s h ones t
own
os e n o t a
w ill b e d e fe at e d
it
rit
i
p
At l eas t i f it fa il
co
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bje c t
mm e n d
d I ll u s
fr o m t h e d aw n
l as t
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e t c om e
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p
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b e t u r n ed t o
I n th e
p
bl ic ;
m e an
Wh ite eld s
an d ,
Li fe
I t is,
h owe v er
t h e r e fo r e m y m as s o f fac t s
go o d
ti m e
a c co u n
t by my s e l f
Wh i t e e l d
w h i ch h e w as
n o t un
t il
w il l
now
or
by
w il l
s ome
fas t
s oo n
on e
b e known t o t h e
R P
.
C O N T E NT S
C H A P TE R
WH I T E F I E L D S
A R LY L I F
E,
ED
U CA I O N
T
I N T RODU CT I ON
WH I T E FI E L D S
TO
P A GE
O R DI NAT IO N
AN D
C H A P TE R I I
LON D ON
47
C H A P TE R I I I
V O Y A G E AN D V I S I T T o G E O R G I A
.
W H I T E FI E L D S FI R S T
C H A P TE R IV
WH I T E FI E L D S FI R S T
WH I T E F I E L D S F I R S T
VI S IT S
T o T HE C
TE F I E LD I N
VI
WAL E S
1 10
13 6
C H A P TE R VI I I
WH I TE FI E L D S
B R E AC H
T E F I E L D I N S CO LAN D
T
AN D
T HE
1 74 1
C H A P TE R X
WH I T E F I E L D
WI T H WE S L E Y
C H A P TE R I X
WH I
73
97
TE FI E LD I N AM R IC A
1 739
C H A PTE R V I I
WH I
O UN T R Y
C H A P TE R
WH I
G R E AT M E A S U R E S I N L O N D O N
C H A P TE R V
55
I S S E NT ER S
2 18
252
O N TE N TS
C H AP TE R X I
WH I T E FI E L D S
OME S T I C
LI F E
264
C H A P TE R X II
WH I T E FI E L D
AT
C AM B U SL AN G
29 1
C H A P TE R X I I I
I T I N E R AT I N G
WH I T E FI E LD
306
C H A P TE R X IV
WH I T E FI E L D I T I
N E AT I N G I N AM E R I CA
R
3 19
N B E R MU D A S
C H AP TE R X V I
WH I T E F I E LD
1 744
C H APT E R X V
WH I T E FI E L D I
AN GI N G
3 46
C H A P T E R X VI I
WH I
T E F I E L D I N I R E L AN D
3 71
C H A P TE R X V I I I
C HA R A C T E R I S T I C S A Y I N G S
1 73 4
RE V
W H I T E FI E L D
3 98
XX
LI S B O N , 1 754
AN D
TH E
W H I T E FI E L D
4 17
C H A P TE R XX I
LO ND O N M O R A V I A N S
S I N F L U EN C E
I N A M E R IC A
FIR ST
C H A P T E R XX I I I
3 78
C H A P TE R XX II
1 74 5
I SITING
C H A P TE R
W H I T E FI E L D I
To
C H A PT E R X I X
WHI T E FI E L D
AGE
P U B LI C S PI R I T
P ART
44 1
O N TE N T S
XI
C H AP TE R XX IV
WH I
TE FI E L D S I N FL U E N C E I N AM E I CA
S E CO N D
C H A P TE R XX V
WH I T E F I EL D
AN D
4 73
AT
O ME
C H A P TE R
AN D E D
X X VI I
MUN D H A LL
-
C H A P T E R XX VI I I
WH I T E F I E L D S L S T
TE FI E LD
AN D
T HE
497
WH I T E F I E L D S L S T
5 07
IT INERAC Y
C H A P T E R XXX I
WH I T E FI E L D S F
UN
N O B I LI T Y
C H A P T E R XXX
ER
5 20
AL
5 35
C H A P T E R XXX II
WH I T E FI E L D S
C H A R AC T E R I S T I C S
C H A P TE R XXX II I
W H I T E FI E L D
VOY A G E
C H A P T E R XX I X
WH I
46 7
B I S HOP S
T HE
WH I T E FI E L D S L S T L AB O
WH I T E F I E L D
PAR T
AGE
C H A P T E R XX VI
P R E ACHI N G
55 2
5 73
WH I T E FI E L D S
L I F E AN D T I M E S
CH A P T E R I
WH I T E F I E L D
A R L Y L I FE
D UC A T I O N
AN D
O R D I N AT I O N
born I n Gloucestershire in the month of D ecember
1 7 14
My father and mother kept the B el l I nn
In this un
assuming manner Whiteeld commences a brief memoir o f
himself It will not however be uninteresting to add some
particulars respecting his family His great grandfather the
R e v Samuel Whiteeld born at Wantage in Berkshire was
rector o f N orth Ledyard in Wiltshire and afterwar ds o f R ock
hampton In the latter charge he was succeeded by his son
S amuel who di ed without issue T wo o f his daught ers were
married to clergymen A ndrew Wh i t e el d s grandfather was
a private gentleman and lived retired upon his estate He had
fourteen children ; T homas the eldest was the father of the
Mr T homas Whiteeld was bred to
R ev George Whiteeld
the busine ss O f a wine merch ant in Bristol but afterwar d s kept
an inn in the city o f Glouc e ster While in B ristol he married
Miss E lizabeth E dwards a lady related to the families o f Black
well and D i n m our o f that c i ty He had S i x sons of whom
George was the youngest and one daughter
Concerning his father and mother Wh iteeld writes
Th e
for mer died when I was two years ol d ; th e latter is now alive
WAs
(she died in D e cember
L I F E A ND T IM ES
in the 7 1 s t year o f her age ) and

has often told me how s h e endured fourteen weeks sickness
after Sh e brought me into the world ; but was used to s ay even
when I was an i nfant that she expe cted more comfort from me
than from any other O f her children T his with the circum
stance o f my being born in an inn has been often of service to
me in exciting my endeavours to make good my mother s ex
o f my dear Saviour who
and
so
follow
the
example
i
on s
ec
t
a
t
p
was born in a manger belonging to an inn
T his amiable solicitude to realize his mother s expectations

is the more worthy o f notice because whatever s h e was as a
mother Sh e was not distinguished as a christian T hi s seems
m or e than implied in the following I amentation extracted from
Why is my honoured mother s o solicitous
o n e of his letters
about a few paltry things that will quickly perish ? Why will
S he not come and s ee her youngest son who will endeavour to
?
be a Joseph to her before Sh e dies
Such was h i s suspense in
regard to the spiritual state of his parent and yet he gr atefully
owns the salutary inuence O f her maternal hopes upon his mind
and while afar o ff on the A tlanti c c ommemorates her tender
ness
My mother was very careful o f my education and
always kept me in my tender years (for which I never can suf
ci en t l y thank her ) from intermeddl ing in the least with the
tavern business
(T his paragraph was written o n board the
N ow these ao
E li z a be t h during the voyage to Philadelphia )
k n o wl e d g m e n t s were penned during the heat o f his zeal and the
height
his popularity ; at a period when re cent converts are
prone to speak with harshness o f their unconverted relatives
and to S ink the child in the champion towards them T his is
so common and to s ay nothing o f its cruelty so unwise that I
could not record this pleasing exception without holding it up
to general imitation
T h e servant o f the Lord must not
strive ; but be gentle to wards all apt to tea ch patient in
meekness instru cting those that oppose th emselves if God
peradventure will give t h em repentance to the acknowledging
o f the truth
Wh i t e el d s humiliating re collections o f his o wn early and
inveter ate opposition to t h e truth contributed no doubt to

,
17 5 1,
W HI T E F I E L D S
L I F E A ND T IM E S
moderate his natural impatience towards others Th e following

is his own narrative of that period
My infant years must necessarily not be mentioned ; yet I
c an rememb er such early stirrings O f corruption in my heart a s
abundantly convince me that I was conceived and born in S i n
that in me dwelleth no good thing by nature and that if God
had n o t freely prevented me by h i s grace I must have been for
ever bani shed from his presence I was so brutish as to hate
in st ruction ; and used purpos e to shun all opportuni ties o f
receiving it I soon gave pregnant proofs o f an impudent
temper Lying lthy talking and foolish j esting I was much
a ddicted to even when very young
Sometimes I used to curse
if not swear Stealing from my mother I thought no theft at
all and used to make no scruple o f taking money o u t o f her
pockets before Sh e was up I have frequently betrayed my
trust and have more than once spent money I too k in the house
in buying fruit tarts & c to satis fy my sensual appetite
N umbers o f sabbaths have I broken and generally used to b e
have myself very irreverently in God s sanctuary Much money
have I spent in plays and in the common amusements o f the
ag e
Cards and rea di ng romances were my heart s delight
O ften have I j o i ned with others in play i ng roguish tricks b ut
was gene r ally if not always h app i ly de te cted : for t hi s I have
Ofte n S in ce and do now bless and praise God

T his enumeration O f youthful vices and follies is c ertainly
minute and in one sense gratuitous but when the
design Of the confessions are duly weighed no man wi
to laugh at them except those who regard sin as a l ig h t m a t
E very candid mind must b e cons cious of seeing i t s elf in

t er
as in a glass
and every sp i r i tu a l mind
y oung Whiteeld
will n o t fa i l to deplore these early exhibitions o f depravity nor
to mark this modern exempl i cat i on o f an ancient truth T hou
makest me to posses s the iniquities o f my youth (J ob xiii

Were these acknowledgments written in the Spirit or fo r the
same purpose as R ousseau s unblushing Confessions I S hould

despise myself as well as insult t h e public were I inclined to
transcribe them Were they even calculated to suggest the
bare idea of un common S ins I sh ould not have hesita ted to
.
WH I T E F I E L D
LI F E A ND T IM E S
merge the particulars in some general C harge o f corruption :

but besides carrying their ant i d ote along with them in their
penitent i al tone and spirit they are but t o o common however
melancholy B i shop Lavington indeed a ffects great horror
and disgust at them and compares them with the confessions
of
the wild and fanatical Th er esa in his treatise O n the E n
a book to which his own
t h u s i a s m o f Methodists and Papists
description o f Wh i t e el d s confessions is far more applicable ;
so ludicrous lthy and S hameless as quite d e l e s paper an d
is S hocking to decency and modesty

Such a perfect J akes
O f ribaldry never issued from the episcopal bench ; and yet it
found an editor in the vicar of Manaccan in 1 820 I
I shall h a ve occasion more than once to refer to both t h e
bishop and the vicar In the mean time I cannot but allow
Whiteeld to S peak for himself on the subj ect o f his early life
It would be en dl ess to recount the S ins and o ffences o f m y
younger days
Th ey a r e m or e i n n u m ber t h a n t h e h a i r s of m y
My heart would fail m e at the remembrance of them
h ea d
w as I not assured that my R edeemer liveth to make i n t er c es
sion fo r me ! However the young man in the gospel might
boast that he had kept the commandments from his youth
up with shame and confusion o f fa ce I confess that I hav e
broken them all from m y youth Whatever foreseen tness for
salvation others may talk o f and glory in I disclaim any suc h
thing : if I tra ce myself from my cradle to my manhood I can
I sp ea k t h e
s e e nothing in me but a tness t o b e damned
If the Almighty had not prevented
t r u th i n C h r i s t : I l i e n ot !
m e by his grace and wrought most powerfully o n my soul
quickening me by h i s free Spirit when dead in trespasses and
S ins I had now either been sitting in darkness and in the
S hadow o f death
as the due reward o f my
o r condemned
crimes to b e for ever lifting up my eyes in torments But such
was the free gra ce o f Go d to me that though corruption worked
t r o n gl y in my soul and produced such early a n d bitter
fruits
yet I can recollect very early movings o f the blessed
Spirit upon my heart I had early some conv i ctions of sin
O nce I rememb er when some persons (as they fr equently did)
made it their bus i ness to tease me I i mmediately retir ed to
,
my room and kneeling down with many tears prayed over the
1 1 8 t h Ps alm
It appears from the narrative that on this occasion the mind
o f young Whiteeld fastened chiey upon the wor d s
I n th e
n a m e of t h e L or d w i l l I d es t r o
T
o f course he ap
his
t
h
e
m
y
plied to his t ea s i ng enemies who had compassed h i m about
like bees
a coincidence likely to be not i ced by an irritated
boy of quick perceptions E ven m en are but t o o prone when
inj ure d to appropriate the Messiah s weapons to their o wn war
fare as if revenge could b e sanctied by the use o f sa cred
language But what is pitiable in the boy is contemptible in
the man T his happened when Wh iteeld was only ten years
old ; but the following hint will account fo r the facility with
which he turned to a psalm suited to his purpose
I wa s
always fond o f being a clergyman and used frequently to imitate
the minister s reading prayers & c

Such being his favourite
habit at the time he was sure to be familiar with the i mp r e
ca t or y p s a l ms o f which so many occur in the book o f Common
Prayer
We have seen that he was addicted to petty thefts T h e
manner in which he seems to have reconciled his conscience to
them i s not peculiar to boys
P art of the money I used to
steal from my mother I gave t o the p oor and some books I pri
vat el y took from others (
for which I have since restored four
fold) I remember were books of d evot i on

When I was about t welve I was place d at a school call ed
St Mary D e Crypt in Gloucester : the last grammar s chool I
ever went to Having a good elocution and memory I was
remarked for making spee ches b efore the corporation at their
annual visitation
D uring the time o f my being at school I
was ve ry fond o f reading plays and h ave kept from school for
days together to prepare myself for act i ng them My master
seeing how mine an d my schoolfellows vein ran composed
something of this k i nd for us himself and caused me to dress
myself in girls clothes (which I had O ften done ) to act a part
before the corporation

T hus he contracted that taste for
theatrical amusements which gave rise to the well known i n
sinuation that he learned his peculiar style of oratory upon t h e
,
WH I T E F I E L D
stage T his however is not the fact : his acting was conned
to the boards of St Mary D e Crypt an d to h i s o wn chamber
But his fondness for this S pecies o f amusement wa s n o t left at
s chool Wh en seventeen years Of age he wa s n o t weaned fro m
E ven while at college he says I was n o t fully
t h i s folly
satised of the S i n o f reading plays until Go d upon a fast day
T aking a play to read a passage
wa s pleased to convince me
out o f it to a friend God struck my heart with such power that
I was obl i ged to lay it down again

How deeply he d eplored the cause an d consequences o f thi s
habit appears from the following remarks
I cannot but
observe here with much concern o f mind how this way o f
training up y outh has a natural tend ency to debauch the mind
to raise ill pass i ons an d to stu ff the memory with things as
contrary to the gospel of Christ a s darkness to light hell to
heaven
ten d ency was but too fully exempli
T h i s fatal
e d when at school
I got a cqua i nte d w i th such a s e t o f d e
b au ch e d abandoned atheistical youths that if Go d by h i s fre e
unmerited and special grace had not delivered me o u t of their
hands I S hould have s at in the scorners chair and made a
mock at S in By keeping company with them my thoughts o f
relig i on grew more an d more l i ke the i rs
I went to public
service only to make sport and walk about
I took plea
sure i n the i r lewd conversation I began to reason as they d i d
and to as k why God h ad given m e passions and not permitted
m e to gratify them ? In short I soon made great prociency
in the s chool Of the devil I a ffe cted to look rakish and was i n
T hi s
a fair way of being as infamous as the worst o f them
not oratory was what young Whi teeld learned from plays and
a cting He fell into sins of which he says
t h e i r d i s ma l ef
,
ee t s
I h a ve fel t
and
e ve r s i n c e
r
o
a
n
e
d
u
n
d
e
r
g
O f course th is progress in vice was gradual

,
D uring his
rst two years a t school he bought and rea d with much atten
tion Ken s M an u a l for Wi n ch es ter S ch ol a r s : a book com
mend ed to him by the u s e made o f it by his mother in her
affl i ct i ons He was also a dil i gent scholar and for some time
made considerable progress in the L atin classics
But the
amusements which alienated his heart fro m virtue gradually
,
L I F E A ND T I M E S
impaired h is taste for education

Before I was fteen hav
ing as I thought made su fcient progress in the classics and
at the bottom longing to b e set at liberty from the con n e
ment of a s chool I o n e d ay told my mother that S ince her
cir cumstances would not permit her to give me a U niversity
education more learning I thought would S poil me for a
t radesman and therefore I j udged it best not to lear n Latin
any longer She at rst refused to consent but my corruptions
soon got the better of her good nature Hereupon for som e
time I went t o learn to write only But my mother s circum
stances being much o n the d ecline ; and being tractable that
way I began to assist her occasionally in the public house till
at length I put o n my blue apron and my s n u er swa she d
mopscleaned rooms and in o n e word b ecame professed an d
c ommon d r a wer for nigh a year and a h alf

T hus he exchanged the connement o f a s chool fo r t h e i m
prisonment o f an inn ; and as might be expected in such a
place he was twice o r thrice intoxicated It does n o t appear
however that he was addicted to drinking
He who was
with D avid when he was foll owi ng t h e ewes big w i t h you ng
was with me here F or notwithstand i ng I was thus employed
in a common inn and had somet i mes the care of the whole
house upon my hands yet I comp osed t w o or t h r ee s er mons
an d dedicated one of them in particular to my elder brother
O ne time I remember I wa s much pressed to self examination
but found myself very unwilling to look into my heart Fr e
quently I read the Bible while sitting up at night Seeing the
boys go by to s chool h as often cut me to the heart An d a
dear youth would often come entreating me whilst serving a t
the bar to go to O xford
My general answer was I wish I
could
A fter I had continued about a year in servile employment
my mother was obl i ged to leave the inn My brother who had
been bred up for the business married ; whereupon all was made
over to him and I being accustomed to the house it was agreed
that I S hould continue there as an assistant But God s thoughts
were n o t as o ur thoughts By his good providence it happened
t h at my sister i n law and I could by no means agree and at
.
'
WH I T E F I E L D
length t h e resentment gr ew to such a height that my pr oud

heart would scarce su ffer me to S peak to her for three weeks
B u t notwithstan di ng I was much to blame yet I
together
use d to retire and weep before the Lord as H agar when ying
from Sarah little thinking that Go d by thi s means was forcing
me out o f the public business and calling me from draw i ng w i n e
for drunkards to draw water from the wells of salvation fo r the
refreshment o f his sp i ritual Israel A fter continuing for a long
time un d er this bur d en o f mind I at length resolved (think i ng
my absence would make all things easy) to go away A ccord
i n gl y by the advice o f my brother and consent Of my mother
I went to s e e my elder brother then settled in Bristol

D uring a res i dence O f two months in Bristol Whiteeld ex
e r i e n ce d som e awakenings o f conscience
O
nce
in
St
John
s
p
church he was so a ffe cted by the sermon that he resolve d to
prepare h i mself for the sacrament and decided against returning
to the inn T hi s latter resolut i on he communi cated by letter
to h i s mother ; and the former was s o strong that during his
stay in B r i stol re a di ng Th oma s a Kemp i s was his chief del i ght
A nd I was always i mpatient till the bell rung to call me to
tread the courts of the Lord s house But in the midst o f these
illuminations something surely whispered t h i s w ou l d n o t l a s t
A nd in d ee d it s o happene d F or (Oh that I coul d write it in
tears of blood !) when I left Bristol and returned to Gloucester
I changed my d evotion with my place Alas all my fervour went
I had n o inclination to go to church or draw nigh to Go d
o ff
In short my he a rt was far from him However I had S O muc h
religion left as to persist in my resolution n o t to live in the inn ;
a n d therefore my mother gave me leave though S he had but a
little inc o me to have a bed on the ground an d live at her
house till Providence should point out a place fo r me
Having now as I thought no t hing to d o it was a proper
season fo r; Satan to t empt me Much o f my time I spent in
rea d ing plays and in sauntering from pla ce to place I wa s
careful to adorn my body but took little pains to deck and
beaut i fy my soul E vil communications with m y ol d school
fellows soon corrupted my good manners By seeing their evil
practices the sens e of the d ivine presen c e I had vouchsafed
,
WH I T E F I E L D
unto me insensibly wore o ff my mind But God would let n o

thing pluck me out o f his hands t hough I was continually d oing
despite to the Spirit of grace He even gave me some foresight
o f his providing for me
O ne morn i ng as I was rea d ing a play
to my sister said I Sister Go d inten d s something fo r me
which we know not o f AS I have b een dil i gent in business I
believe many would gla dl y have me for an apprentice but every
way seems to be barred up s o that I think Go d w i ll provide
fo r me some way or other t hat we cannot apprehend
Having thus lived with my mother for some consi d erable
time a young student who was once my schoolfellow and then
a servitor o f Pembroke College O xford came to pay my mother
a visit A mongst other conversation he told her how he had
discharged all college expenses that quarter and saved a p e n n y
Upon that my mother immedi ately cried o u t Th i s w i ll d o for
T hen turning to me S he sai d
my s on 1
Wi l l you g o t o Occ
or d Ge or e ?
I repl i ed Wi th a l l m y h ea r t
Whereupon
f
g
having the same friend s that this young student h a d my mother
without delay waited o n them T hey promised their interest
to get me a servitor s place in the same college She t hen
applied to my O ld master who much approved O f my coming to
s chool again In about a week I went and r e entere d myself ;
and being grown much in stature my m aster addressed me thus :
,
,
,
see ,
Geor g e you
,
i n s t a t ur e , bu t you r be t t er p a r t
a r e a d va n ced
T his
made me blush H e
set me somethi n g to translate into L at i n and though I had
made no application to my classics for s o long a time yet I had
but o n e inconsiderable fault in my exercises T his I believe
somewhat surprised my master
Being re settled at s chool I spared no pains to go forward
in my book I learned much faster than I d i d before

But
whilst thus assi d uously preparing himself fo r college it does
not appear that he beg a n to study with an express view to the
ministry if however this was h i s O bj ect at the t i me and if he
never altogether relinquished the des i gn which the composition
o f sermons betrayed then the following events furn i sh a melan
ch o l
y insight not only into the presumption O f his own heart
but into the prevailing maxims o f that ageupon t h e subj ect o f
mus t
h a ve g on e ba ckw a r d
n e ed s
IO
L I FE
VVH I T E F I E L D S
T I M ES
AND
the christian ministry T hese must have been low and lax in
the extreme if they allowed s u ch a young man to anticipate
Ofce in the church He wa s i nd eed d il i gent in studying the
classics but he wa s at the same t ime living in the indulgence
I got a cquainted with a set o f
o f secret and open p r o i g a cy
debauched ab andoned and atheistical youthsI took pleasure
in their lewd conversationI a ffe cted to look rakish and was
in a fair way Of being as infamous as the worst of them

It is
hardly possible to conceive that while in this state he should
have contemplated the ministry a s h i s obj ect and yet there is
reason to fear that the tone of public feeling at the time was
such as to impose little check upon the morals O f ministerial
candidates
E ven n ow holy chara cter i s n o t indispensable
either i n college halls or at national altars ; and t h en as we
shall s e e it was still less so Certain it is that Wh i t e el d s
reformation was neither suggested nor enforced in the rst i n
stance by any thing moral o r religious which t h e g en er a l p r a c
t i ce of the church ins i sted upon
Whatever the l e t ter o f her
requirements c all s for in can d idates the sp i r i t of them was in
a great measure evaporated in that age
I have already said tha t W hi t e eld is S ilent upo n the subj e ct
O f h i s express d es i gn i n preparing himself for the U n i versity ;
b u t there being no evi d ence that he ever contemplate d any
other profession than the m inisterial an d it being the only o n e
for which he had evinced the shad ow o f a partiality or was
likely to succeed in under h i s circumstances we must con
olude that he had it in V iew from the beginning
Such in all
probability being the fact it m i ght b e expecte d that the bare
idea of be coming a minister would of i tself have imposed a
restraint upon h i s passions but neither its o wn solemnity
n o r the tone o f ecclesiastical feeling at t h e time had any moral
inuence upon him

I went he says to public service only
t o make S port and walk abou t

A t this time he was nearly
seventeen years of age a period o f l i fe when he must have been
capable o f understand ing what i s expected from a clergyman
A n d yet noth i ng which he s aw or heard o n th i s subj ect seems
Go d stopped
to have suggested the necessity of reformation
me w h en run ning on in a full career o f vice F or j ust as I
.
WH I T E F I E L D
L I FE
AN D TI M E S
11
was up on t h e brink of ruin He gave me such a d istaste o f their

(his companions ) principles and practices that I dis covered
them to my master who soon put a stop to their proceedings

I have been the more minute in recording this event becaus e
without clear and correct ideas o f the prevailing tone o f publi c
and ecclesiast i cal feel i ng at the time no fair estimate can b e
formed o f the spiri t in which methodism or i ginate d at O xford
T h e breaking up o f that V icious combinat i on which existed
in the school o f St Mary de Crypt produced an important
change in the morals Of Wh iteeld
Bei ng t h u s d el i ver ed
o ut of the snare of the devil
I began to be more and more
serious and felt Go d at different times working powerfully and
T his improvement o f character

c onvin cing ly upon my soul
was so evident that his friends did not fail to welcome it I t
was however but external at rst
O ne day as I was coming
down stairs an d overheard my friends speaking well of me Go d
deeply convicted me o f hypocrisy

T his timely discovery
xed his attention upon the state o f his heart and gave to his
reformation a more religious character
Being now near the seventeenth year o f my age I was r e
Olved to prepare myself for the holy sacrament which I r ece i v
ed on Christmas day I began now to be more watchful over
my thoughts words and a ctions I kept the following Lent
fasting Wednesday and F riday thirty s i x hours together My
evenings when I had done waiting upon my mother were gene
rally spent i n a cts o f devotion rea d ing D r el i n co ur t upon D eath
and other practical books and I constantly went to public worship
twice a day Being now upper boy I made some reformation
amongst my schoolfellows I was very diligent in reading and
learning the classics and in studying my Greek T estament ;
but I was n o t yet convinced o f the absol ute unlawfulness of play
ing at cards and of rea d ing and seeing plays though I b egan
to have some scruples about it N ear th i s time I dreamed
that I was to s ee God on mount Sinai ; but was afraid to meet
him T his made a great impression upon me and a gentle
woman to whom I told it said Geor g e t h i s i s a ca l l fr om God

Whatever may be thought o f the dream or of the interpretation
su ch hi n ts h ave more frequently determined t h e character and
,
'
12
L I FE
AN D
TIMES
pursuits of young men than more rational means T here is to

a sus ceptible mind a pecul i ar fasc i nat i on i n these mysterious
oracles and after all that has been sa i d O f their folly and fal
lacy they cont i nue to govern the cho i ce o f many and are still
followed as leading stars whilst sober advice is regarded as a
dull n g er pos t on the road o f l i fe In the present instance
the imaginary omens were not useless
I grew more serious
after my dream ; but yet hypocr i sy crept into every action
A s once I affecte d to look more rakish I now strove to look
more grave than I re ally was However an uncommon con
cern and alteration was visible in my b ehaviour and I O ften
used to nd fault with the lightness o f others O n e n i ght as I
was going o n an errand for my mother an unaccountable but
very strong impression was made upon my heart that I should
preach quickly When I came home I innocently told my
mother what had befallen me but she (l i ke Joseph s parents
when he told them h i s dre a m) turned short upon me crying ou t
.
W ha t
d oes t h e boy m e a n
P r i t h ee , h ol d t h y t ong u e
9
.
F or a twelvemonth I went
in a round O f duties r e cei v

ing the s a cr a ment monthly fasting frequently attending con
s t an t l y on public worship and praying Often more than twic e
a day in private O ne O f my brothers used to tell me he fear
e d this would n o t hold long and that I should forget all when
I went to O xford T his caution did me much serv i ce ; for it
set me o n praying for perseverance Being now near eighteen
years Old it was j udged proper for me to go to the U niversity Go d
had sweetly prepared my way T h e fr i ends before applied to
recommen d ed me to the m aster of Pembroke College An
other friend took up ten pounds upon bond (which I have since
repaid) to defray t h e rst expense O f entering ; and the master
contrary to all expectation admitted me serv i tor immediately

When Whiteeld entere d the U niversity of O xford that seat
of learning had not S haken O ff the moral lethargy which followed
the ej ectment of the 2 000 nonconformists T h e B a r t h ol om ew
B u s h e l un d er wh i ch those burning and shin i ng l i ghts were
place d proved an extinguisher to the zeal o f the luminaries that
struck into the orb i t o f uniformity T hose of them who retain
ed t h eir light lost their heat D uring the seventy years wh i ch
on
WH I T E F I E L D
13
h ad elapsed sin ce the expulsion of the nonconformist s the I S I S

had been changing into a D ead s e a upon the banks o f which
,
the tree o f life shrivelled int o a tree O f mere human knowledge

and in the adj acent halls the doctrines o f the R eformation were
superseded in a great measure by h i gh church principles
E ven irreligion and indel i ty were so prevalent at both U niver
sities that when the statue o f the age was ch i selled by that
moral Phi d ias B U T L E R they seem to have furni she d the model
It is come I know n o t how to be taken for granted by many
persons that C hristianity is not so much as a subj e c t of inquiry
but that it is now at length d iscovered to be ctitious an d a o
c o r di n gl y they treat it a s if in the present age t h i s were an
agreed point among all people of d iscernment and nothing r e
mained but to set it up as a princ i pal subj e ct of mirth and ridi
cule as it were by way o f reprisals for its having s o long inter
B i s h op B u t l er s An a l og y
r up t e d the pleasures o f the world
d inner conversa
S O much was this the character of the after
tions at O xford that the recent change from gross ribal d ry
to d ecorum used to be appealed to with triumph by Coleri d ge
and other modern advocates a fact which betrays the former
state of things E ven the defences of C hristianity which i ssued
from the U niversity press during that age betray the fatal
se cret that they were as much wanted fo r th e gownsmen as fo r
the public Bishop Butler says o f this state O f things It i s
come I know n o t how
but he might have known soon if he
had studi ed t h e a n a l ogy between it and the discipline O f the

colleges What else could b e expected from a nation or a uni
versity after seeing the br i ghtest ornaments of the church sacri
ce d to rites and ceremonies after seeing talents learning and
piety reckoned as the small dust in the balance when we i gh

ed aga i nst robes and forms ? After witnessing diocesan and
state patronage with d rawn and exchanged fo r penalties on s uch
r
o
u
n
d
s
it
was
n o t likely that C hrist i anity would be better
g
treate d by the nation than its fa i thful mini sters were by the
government s F r o m that time down to the year 1 7 3 4 when
Whiteeld entered at Pembroke College the motto o f the Uni
versity migh t h ave been We care less for character than for
conformity
,
l4
A di ss ol uti on o f al l b on d s en s ue d
T h e c ur b s i n v e n t e d for t h e m ul i s h m o uth
Of h e a d s tr o n g y o uth w er e b r ok en b ol ts an d b ars
Gr ew r u s t y b y di s us e ; an d m a s sy g at es
t
T i l l g o wn s
F o r g o th e i r
of
c e , o p en i n g
at
Th e t as s el l e d
l en g th
ar e
c ap , an d
A m o c k er y o f t h e
wi th
to uch ;
fo un d m er e m a s q u er ad e
t h e s p uce
b an d ,
je s t
worl d !
Such Whiteeld found the general character o f the O xford

students to be
I was quickly solicited to j oin in their excess
O f riot by several who lay in the same room O nce in p ar t i cu
lar it being cold my limbs were so benumbed by sitting alone
in my study be cause I would not go o ut amongst them that I
could s car c e S l eep all night I had no sooner received the s a
crament publicly O u a week day at St Mary s but I wa s s e t up
as a mark for all the polite students that knew me to S hoot at ;
for though there is a sacrament at the b eg i nning o f every term
at which all especially the seniors are by statute obl i ged to b e
present ; yet so dread fully has that once faithful city pl ayed
the harlot that very few masters no graduates (but the me
t h o d i s t s ) attended upon it
I quote the latter part of this extra ct not to deplore the fall
ing o ff in attendance as Whiteeld does the sacrament was
,
M o r e h on our e d i n t h e b r each , t h an th e ob s er van c e

of
the statute by such men but the breach illustrates both the
state o f discipline and o f religion at the time T here were
however some lilies among the rank thorns o f O xford O f
these solitary exceptions the Wesleys and their asso ciates were
the most exemplary T his little band had then existed during
ve years and were called in derision metho d ists T heir r e
gular habits and rigid virtue were proverbial throughout the
U niversity and the city T hey were the friends of the poor
and the patrons of the serious But with all these excellences
o f character
the Wesleys united much enthusiasm and an
almost incredible degree o f ignorance in regard to the gospel
T h eir avowed obj ect in all their voluntary privations a n d zeal
ous etfor t s was t o sa ve t h ei r sou l s a nd t o l i ve wh olly t o th e g l ory
,
WH I T E F I E L D
o
d
G
f
L I FE
AND
T IM E S
15
a noble enterprise certainly but undertaken by them

fro m erroneous motives and upon wrong principles F or any
relief which their cons ciences seem to have obtained from the
death of the Son o f Go d and the free salvation proclaimed in
virtue o f it the gospel might have been altogether untrue o r
unknown so grossly ignorant were the whole band at o n e time
A nd yet at this perio d Mr John Wesley was a fellow of Lin
coln College and teaching others N i ne years before he had
been or d ained by D r Potter who was afterwards archbishop o f
C anterbury
T his fa ct reveals o n e o f two things : either that the young
men were very inattentive to the t h eol og i ca l lectures delivered
from the divinity chair or that the lectures themselves were
very unscriptural Perhaps the fault lay partly o n both S ides
for it is highly probable that such young men would underrate
the cold systematic lectures of a professor I am led to for m
this O pinion be cause the celebrated mystic Wi l l i a m L a w wa s
at the time their oracle T hey im i tated his ascetic hab i ts and
imbibed h i s spirit Of q ui e ti sm He had said to John Wesley
who wa s likely to circulate the notion Yo u would have a phi
R el i gion
l O S Op h i cal religion but there can b e n o such th i ng
is the most S imple thi ng : i t is only We love Him because he
rst loved us
Such indenite maxims assimilated but t o o
readily with the mystic temper o f the persons they were ad
dressed to ; and silent contemplation in solitude being the
very spirit o f L A w s system Wesley and his associates were not
likely to relish argumentative theology however excellent
T h e following account o f their devotional habits will illustrate
the true character o f their religious sentiments at the time o f
Wh i t e el d s arrival from Gloucester
T hey interrogate them
selves whether they have been s i mp l e and recollecte d ; whether
they have prayed with fervour Monday Wednes d ay Friday
and o n Saturd ay noon ; if they have used a collect at nine
twelve and three o clock d uly meditated on Sunday from
three to four on T homas a Kempis or mused o n Wednesday
and F riday from twelve to on e on the Passion

T hus were
they mon ks in almost every thing except the name
It was necessary to delineate thus minutely the original cha
o
,
,
16
met h odism that i t s natural inuence upon the s us c ep

tible mind of Whiteel d may b e ant i cipated Su ffering and
smart i ng a s he d i d from vicious ind ulgence and now seriously
bent upon the m i n i stry he wa s not l i kely to associate with the
r o i g a t e o r the profane in the U niversity
n ot
He
did
God
p
gave m e grace t o withstand when they solicited me to j oin in
their excess of riot When they perceived they could not pre
vail they let me alone as a S ingular Odd fellow

H e did n o t
h owever j oin himself to the methodists at once
T h e young
men s o called were then mu ch talked o f at O xford I heard
o f and loved them b efore I came to the U niversity ; and so
strenuously defended them when I heard them reviled by
the students that they began to think that I also in time
F or above a twelvemonth my soul
S hould be o n e o f them
longed to b e a cquainted with some o f them and I was strongly
pressed to follow their good example when I saw them go
through a ri d iculing crow d to re ceive the holy eucharist at St
Mary s
How much he was prepared to enter into their peculiar spirit
when he did j oin them will appear also from the following hint
Before I went to the U niversity I met with M r L a w s Seri
o u s Call t o D evout L ife
but had not money to purchase it
Soon after my com i ng up to t h e U niversity seeing a small
edition o f it in a frien d s hand I soon procured it Go d worked
T hus like
powerfully upon my soul by that excellent treatise
two drops o f water they were quite prepared to unite whenever
they came in contact A nd this soon occurred
It happened
that a poor woman in one o f the workhouses had attempted to
c u t her throat but was happily prevented
Upon hearing o f
this and knowing that the two Mr Wesleys were ready to every
good work I sent a poor aged apple woman o f o ur college to
inform Mr Charles Wesley o f it ; charging her not to dis cover
who sent her She went ; but contrary to my orders told my
name H e having heard o f my coming to the castle and to a
parish church sacrament and having met me frequently walking
by myself followed the woman when sh e was gone away and
sent an invitation to me by her to come to breakfa st with him
th e next morning I t hankfully embraced th e opportunity My
r ac t er o f
LI F E
TI MES
AND
17
soul at that time was athirst fo r some spiritual friends to lift

up my hands when hung down and to strengthen my feeble
knees He soon discovered it an d like a wise winner o f souls
made all h i s d iscourses tend that way A nd when he put into
my hands Professor F rank s T reat i se against the F ear O f Man
and T h e Country Parson s A dv i ce to his Parishioners I took
my leave
In a short time he let me have another book entitled Th e
Life o f Go d in the Soul of Man and though I h a d faste d
watched and prayed and received the sacrament so long yet I
never knew what t r ue r el ig i on was till Go d sent me that excel
lent treatise by the hands o f my never t o b e forgotten friend
A t my rst rea d ing it I wondered what the author meant by
saying T hat some falsely placed religion in going to church,
doing hurt to no o n e being constant in the duties o f the closet
and now and then reaching out their hands to give alms to their
poor neighbours
Ala s I thought I if this be not religion what
is
Go d soon showed me for in reading a fe w lines further
,
t h a t t r ue
r e l i g i on
wa s
u n i on
the
s ou l
w i th
God
and
n s t an t a
o
f
i
a
ray
divine
lig
h
t
was
f
n e o u sl y darted in upon my soul and from that moment but not
till then did I know that I must be a new creature

T his was an important era in Wh i t e el d s experience and
if he had been left to the guidance o f the book that suggested
the necessity o f regeneration his feet might soon have stood
upon the R ock of ages He was n o w in the right track to
Calvary and with h i s anxiety to be born again would have

held o n until he had discovered that
to as many as received
Him Christ gave power to become th e sons o f God even to
them that b elieve o n his name

But unh appily Whiteeld
was not left to follow out his own convictions Charles Wesley
Ch r i s t
or
m ed w i t h i n
us,
i g n or a n t
his
own
f God
s r i g h t eou s n ess , a n d
ng a bo u t
o
i
g
to
e s ta bl i s h
interfere d with the y oung c onvert
r i g h t e ous n ess
and inoculated him with the vi r us of legality and quietism

Before Whiteeld had time to acquire from the gospel the
relief which his h eavy laden conscience longed for he was
introduced to the methodists from kind motives o n the part
of his z ealous friend no doubt ; but unh appily for himself
.
WH I T E F I E L D S L I F E
18
TIM ES
AN D
intimacy well n i gh prove d fatal to h i s l i fe and to his

reason
From t i me to time Mr Wesley permitted me to come unto
By degrees he
h im a n d instructed me as I was able to bear it
i ntroduced m e to the rest o f h i s chr i stian brethren
I now
began like them to live by rule and to pick up every fragment
of my time that n o t a moment O f it might be lost Like them
hav i ng no weekly sacrament (although the R ub r i ck requ i red it)
at o ur o wn college I received every Sunday at Christ Church
I j oined with them in keeping the stations by fasting We d n e s
days and F ridays and left no means unused which I thought
would lea d me nearer to Jesus Christ By degrees I began to
leave O ff eating fru i ts and such like and gave the money I
usually spent i n that way to the poor Afterward I always
chose t l ie worst sort of foo d though my place furnished me with
v ariety My apparel was mean I thought i t unbe coming a
penitent to have his hair powdered I wore woollen gloves a
patched gown and dirty shoes ; and though I was then c o n
v i n ce d that the kingdom o f Go d did not consist in meats and
drinks yet I resolutely persisted in these voluntary acts o f self
denial because I found them great promoters o f the S piritual
l i fe
It wa s now suggested to me that Jesus Christ was
amongst the w i l d bea s t s when he was tempted and that I ought
to follow his example and being willing as I thought to imi
tate Jesus Christ after supper I went into Christ Church walk
near our college and continued i n s i lent prayer nearly t wo
hours ; sometimes lying at on my face sometimes kneeling
upon my knees T h e n i ght being stormy it gave me awful
thoughts o f the d ay Of j u d gment T h e next night I repeated
the same exercise at the same place Soon after this the holy
season o f L ent came o n which o u r friends kept very strictly
eating no esh d uring the s ix weeks except o n Saturdays and
Sundays I abstained frequently o n Saturdays also and ate
nothing o n the other days (except Sunday) but s ag e tea without
sugar and coarse bread I constantly walked o u t in the cold
morni ngs till part of o n e of my b an d s wa s qu i te bl a ck T hi s
with my cont i nue d abstinence and inward con i cts at length
s o emaciated my bo d y that at Pass i on week nding I could
The
WH I TE F I E L D S
I FE
T IM E S
AN D
s c arce creep up stairs I was obliged to inform my kind tu tor o f
my condition who immediately sent fo r a physician to me

While it is impossible to read this catalogue o f extravagances
without pitying the wretched su fferer and h is superstitious
friends it is equally impossible to refrain from smil i ng and
frowning alternately at the gross absurdities o f qu i e ti sm and
the foolish requirements o f the R ub r i ck Many o f both are
equal outrages upon common sense t o s ay nothing of their
being unscriptural But these were n o t the only baneful e ffe cts
o f Wh i t e el d s intimacy with the methodists
T h e course o f
my studies I soon entirely changed : whereas b e fore I was
busied in studying the d r y sciences and books that went no
farther than the surfa ce I n o w resolved to read only such as
entered into the heart o f religion Meeting with C as t an z a s
Spiritual Combat in which he says that he that is employed
in mortifying his will was as well employed as though he was
c onverting the Indians
Satan so imposed upon my understand
ing that he persuaded me to S hut myself up in my study till I
could d o good with a single eye lest in endeavouring to sav e
others I should at last by pride and self complacence lose
myself When Castanza advised to talk but little Satan said
I must not talk at all so that I who used to b e the most for
ward i n exhorting my companions have sat whole nights with
out speaking a t all A gain when Castanza advised to endea
vour after a S ilent re collection and waiting upon God Satan told
me I must leave all forms and not use my voice in prayer at
T hese habits soon a ffected his college exercises al so

all
Whenever I endeavoured to compose my theme I had no
power to write a word nor so much a s to tell my christian
friends of my inability to do it All power O f meditating o r
even thinking was taken from me My memory quite failed
me A nd I could fancy myself to be like nothing so much as a
man locked up in iron armour

Having twice neglected t o produce the weekly theme his
tutor called him into the common room after ning him and
kindly inquired whether any cal amity had befallen him o r
what was the reason o f his neglect ?
I burst into tears and
assured h im t h at it was not ou t of c ontempt o f authority but
-
20
TI MES
AND
that I could n o t act otherw i se T hen at length he said he

b elieved I coul d n o t an d when he le ft me tol d a friend (as he
very well might ) that he took me to be r ea l ly m a d T his friend
hearing what had happene d from m y tutor came to me urging
the command in Scripture tp be subj ect to the higher powers
I answered Yes ; bu t I h a d a n ew r evel a t i on Lord what is
man !
D ur i ng the progress O f this dire ful malady the Wesleys were
not wanting e i ther in attention or tenderness to their unhappy
friend ; and if like Job s friends they were mi serable comfort
T hey would
e r s still their motives C laim the highest respect
have brought him water from the well O f Bethlehem at any

expense but l ike Hagar weeping over her fa i nting child in the
wild erness their own eyes were not then O pened to see that well
It is only b are j ust i ce to make this acknowledgment I hav e
exposed an d censured freely the ignorance mysticism and su
d
I
have
eplored
in
strong
terms
the
er s t i t i o n o f the Wesleys
p
intimacy which Whiteel d formed with the O xford methodists
and traced to their m ax i ms and habits as the direct cause a
great part o f his extravagances but in all this I have been
actuated by no prej udice against his friends nor do my remarks
upon metho d ism embrace the system as it now exists they are
hitherto entirely conne d to its character at O xford T hen
its inuence according to Mr John Wesley s o wn a ck n o wl ed g
ment wa s tha t o f leading h i m into the desert to b e tempted
and S hown what was in his heart

E ven D r
an d humbled
Coke says of him it is certain that he was then very little a c
T
his
is
very
O
bvious
u a i n t e d w i th true experimental religion
q
fr om the advice which he gave to Whiteeld when his case was
S O pitiable that Charles Wesley was afraid to prescribe
He
advised me to resume a ll my ex t er n a l s though n o t to d ep en d on
them in the least

N ow however wise the latter clause o f this
rule may b e the former par t i s pitiable : all Wh i t e el d s
externals included many o f the very habits which had n u

hinged his mind and ruined his health He d id however
resume them and the result was a t o f s i ckness which
con t i nued during seven weeks

H i s tutor seems to have been
the only person about him who acted wisely Charles Wesley
,
AN D
TIMES
21
referred him to chapters in A Ke mp i s : John t o the maxims of

quietism
My tutor lent me books gave me money visited
me and furnished me with a physician in short he behaved in
all respects like a father

T h e reader must not suppose however that Whiteeld him
self arraigns the impru d ence Of h i s young fri en d s ; o r that he
contrasts as I have ventured to do the i r measures w i th those of
h i s tutor : no indeed ; he recor d s both w i th eq ual grat i tude
and uni formly pronounces benedictions upon the authors E ven
when he became the opponent o f John Wesley o n the subj ect
of
free grace and m ig h t have pointed his arguments by an
appeal to the early errors o f his rival he does not so much as
h i nt at them but prefaces his letter by declaring
Wa s n a tu r e
t o sp e a k I h a d r a t h er d i e t h a n wr i t e ag a i n s t you
I however
have no such scruples o n this head : but while I shall avoid
doing injustice to the Wesleys I shall canvass as freely their
in uence upon Whiteeld as that of any other persons with
whom he came in contact T h e formation o f h i s ch a r a ct er
must be shown without regard to the l i ght in which it may
exhibit the forces that determined it
T h e seven weeks o f sickness already mentione d Whiteeld
calls a glorious visitation

T h e bless ed Spirit was all this
time purifying my soul All my former gross notorious and
even my heart sins also were now set home upon me o f which
I wrote d own som e remembrances immediately and confessed
T his exerc i se al
them before God morning and evening
though more humil i ating and mortifying than even h i s fasts and
austerities was inn i tely more useful While they led him only
to C a s t a nz a and A Kemp i sthis led him di rect to the gospel
Unable to susta i n such views of the
an d to the throne o f grace
ev i l of S i n and having fa i le d in all hi s former e fforts to remove
a sense of gu ilt by a ser i es of O bservances he was n o w sh u t up
T hough weak I Often spent two hours in m y
t o t h e fa i t h
evening retirements an d praye d over my Gr eek Tes t a m en t an d
Bishop Hall s most excellent Contemplat i ons
While thus
engaged in se arching the Scriptures he d iscovered the true
grounds o f a sinner s hope and justication T h e testimony o f
I
Go d concerning h is S o n became p ower u n t o s a l va t i on
,
22
T IM E S
AN D
found and felt in myself that I wa s d elivered from the burden

that had s o heavily oppressed me T h e sp i rit o f mourning was
taken from me and I knew what it was truly t o rej oice i n Go d
my Saviour F or some time I could not avoid S inging psalms
wherever I was ; but my j oy became gradually more settled
T hus were the days o f my mourning en d ed : after a long night
o f desertion and temptation the star which I had seen at a di s
tance before began to appear again : the day star arose in my
heart
Such is the history of Wh i t e el d s conversion : in this manner
wa s he rescued from the malignant snares of the devil and from
the blind guidance o f friends who were unconsciously strength
c u ing these snares and unintentionally enabl i ng the arch d e
T his I am aware is
c e i v er to keep th i s brand in the burning
strong language and by many will b e cons i d ered unwarrant
able but as Whiteeld will ever be a grand obj ect o f attention
in the church o f Christ and as myria d s yet unborn will stu d y
h i s character or hear of his convers i on it shall n o t be my fault
if that conversion is misun d erstood by posterity o r any thing
gathered from it in behalf o f s u ch meth o di s m as he was
led into then
I d uly appreciate the benevolence t h e z eal and the sincer i ty
but in this instance and at that time those
o f the Wesleys
virt ues rank no higher in them than the same virtues in Ma
amount to no more at Oxfor d than

h o m ed an s or Hindoos
they would at M ecca o r B en a r es N o w if instead o f the We s
leys the same number o f Wa h a bees had b een about Whiteeld
inculcating t heir simplied Islamism ; who would have ascribed
to them o r to it any u s efu l n ess 9 Both would have been
arraigned as diverting h i m from the gospel of Christ nor would
the sincerity of the Wah ab e e s o r th e self denying character of
their habits have shielde d either from severe reprehension T h e
only apology that any o n e would have thought o f o ffering for
them would have been I w ot t h a t t h r oug h i g n or a n ce ye d i d
it
In lik e manner I am quite ready to s ay of the Wesleys
I b ear them record that they h a d a zeal o f Go d ; bu t n o t a c
c or d i n
a fa ct wh i ch neutral i zes the i r O xford
g t o kn ow l e dg e
p i ety i nto well me ant superst i tion Such explanations ar e
,
LI F E A ND T I M E S
23
wanted now that devotion apart from faith and penitential feel
ing apart from the knowledge O f the truth are O ften ha i led
as conversion to Go d T his i s a sore ev i l under the s un ; and
o n e not easily touche d without s e eming to S light symptoms O f
piety I must however attempt to unmask th i s plaus i ble
form of go dl i n ess wh atever suspicions my freedom may

awaken
Whiteeld in the simplicity o f h i s heart calls the events o f
this period the d ealings O f Go d with him and recor d s

them as the gradual steps by which he was led to bel i ev e i n
Christ for r i ghteousness An d s o far as they were made i n
s t r u m e n t al in di scover i ng to him his o wn weakness
and in
weaning him from s in and vanity they were the d e ai i n g s o f
Go d
but so far as h i s maxims and habits were superstit i ous
and unscriptural God must no t be identied with them nor
even implicated in the least All the hand He had in this
part of the transaction w as that he ma d e these austerities and
superstitions their o wn punishment and prevented them from
ru i ni ng an ignorant young man S O far as t heir own natural
inuence went it increased the S pirit o f bondage and d i verted
the sinner from God s appointed remedy We have seen fro m
Wh i t e el d s own acknowledgments and Wesley s t o o that the
further such measures were pursued the further the m ethodists
were from solid relief N o w it cannot b e supposed for a mo
ment that God s dealings with the soul d ivert it from the
Saviour ; nor that any th i ng i s the work o f H i s Spirit on the
heart which lea d s to absurdities and extravagance
A nd if
this be grante d then a great part o f those things in the exp e
r i e n ce o f W
h iteel d wh i ch str i ke the mind S O forcibly lose all
their importance except a s fa ct s
A S feelings mot i ves o r
max i ms i n religion they have no weight but were while they
continue d the actual rivals o f faith and evangelical repent
ance F or any thi ng therefore which appears to the contrary
his con ver si on woul d not have been less genuine if he had
never gone through the exercise o f m i nd pro d uced by t h ese
causes
T h e horror the depression the d espair which pre
ceded his being born again were neither elementary nor n e ce s
sary parts of regeneration H umanly speaking a clear e xh i
,
24
AN D
T IM E S
bitiou o f th e plan o f salva t i on if presented to him when he

entered O xford would have reli eve d his m i n d at on c e and i n
H e was not
t r o du c e d h i m i nto the li b erty o f the sons o f Go d
ind ee d so fully prepared to prize the gospel then as when he
did believe it with the heart ; but although less humble less
in earnest at the time o f h i s arriv al even then he was
awakened to a sense o f his gu ilt and danger N o w the ques
tion is woul d not the gospel itself if it had been preached to
him at this time have effe cted a change of heart ? Would not
the glad tidings of a nishe d salvat i on addressed to him as
he was have melted humbled and converte d him without
the preliminary process he went through ? T h e only th i ng
v aluable in that process is the humbling e ffect of it ; but if
the same kind and degree of hum i lity would result from b el i ev
ing the gospel then fa i th in Christ ought to be the fi r s t step
pressed upon an awakened s i nner
I have been ind uced to throw o u t these hints because s o
m any persons imag i ne that they have no warrant fo r believing
in Christ until they experience such conv i ctions and possess
such feelings as converts l ike Whiteeld d i d T h e couse
u e n c e is that they live o n look i ng for what t h ey call
a
day
q
which shall qualify them for the exercise o f fa i th

o f power
T his false and fatal maxim must not be allowed to S helter i tself
in the example o f Whiteeld ; and that i t may not intrench
itself there I have felt it my duty to expose th e true character
It was useful ; but how ? N ot
o f his preliminary experience
by its o wn d irect i nuence that was I nj ur i ous I n every sense
but its u sefulness in humbling and in emptyi ng him o f self
dependence arose from its being overruled for good by the
Spir i t of God T his being the fact let no o n e quote Wh ite
el d s experience in proof of the necessity of going through
such a process o f awakening as he underwent T h e gospel itself
is power unto sal vation to every o n e that believeth and no
thing is r eli g i on wh i ch pre cedes t h e belief o f it except such
exercises as naturally lead to faith
Although I have grouped into one V iew the mental aberra
tions an d bodily su ffer i ngs o f Wh i teeld wh ilst a t O xford t here
were d uring the per i o d it embraces calm an d luc i d intervals
,
'
L I FE
T IM E S
AND
25
in which he combined with his studies e fforts to do good in the

city Like his fr i ends he was the friend of the poor but not
without giving o ffence to his superiors
I incurred the displeasure o f the master of the college w h o
frequently chid and once threatened to expel me if I ever
visited the poor again Being surprise d by this treatment and
overawed by his author i ty I spake una d visedly w i th my l i ps
if it di spleased him I would not My conscience
an d said
soon smote me fo r this sinful compliance I immedi ately re
e n t e d and visited the poor the rst opportunity and told my
p
companions if ever I was cal led to a s t a ke for Christ s sake I
would serve my tongue as A rchbishop Cranmer served his
h and 4 n a ke t h a t bur n fi r s t
N o r were his e fforts conned
to private houses : he constantly visited the town gaol to read
a n d pray with the prisoners
O ne instance of th is is too re
m arkable to be passed over
AS I was walking along I met with a poor woman whose
husband was then in boca r d o O xford town gaol Seeing her
much d iscomposed I inquired the cause She told me that not
being able to bear the crying of her children and having no
thing to relieve them Sh e had been to drown herself ; but was
m erc i fully prevented ; and sa i d she was coming t o my roo m to
inform me of it I gave her some immediate relief and desired
her to meet me at the prison with her husband in the after
noon She came ; and t here Go d visited them both by his
free grace She was powerfully quickened ; and when I had
done reading he came to m e like the trembling j ailer and
grasping my hand cried ou t I a m up on t h e br i n k of h el l !
Go d by
F rom this time forward both of them grew in grace
his providence soon delivered h i m from his connement
T hough notorious o ffen d ers against Go d and o n e another before
yet now they became helps meet for ea ch other in the great
work of their salvation

In the same sp i rit he also exerted h i mself o n behalf o f his
relations and fr i ends at Gloucester His discovery o f the n o
like M el an ct h on s discovery of the
c e s s i t y o f regeneration
truth led him to imagine that n o o n e could resist the e v i
dence which convinced his o wn mind
Upon this like t h e
,
26
AN D
T IM E S
woman o f Samari a when Chr i st reveale d h i mself to her at the

well I had no rest in my soul t ill I wrote letters to my rela
tions tell i ng them there w as such a th i ng a s the n ew bi r t h I
imagi ned they would have gladly received it but alas my
words seemed to them as idle tales
T hey thought I was
going beside myself

I have not been able to obtain any of the letters o n this s ub
j cet which he addressed to his own family ; but the following
extract from o n e to a friend will b e a s ufcient specimen of
their character
L est you S hould imagine that true religion consists in any
thing b esides an entire renewal of ou r nature into the image o f
God I have sent you a book entitled T h e Life o f God in the
Soul of Man written by a young but an eminent christian

which will inform you what tr ue rel i gion is and how you may
atta i n i t a s l i kew i se how wretchedly most people err i n their
sentiments about it who suppose it to be nothing else (a s he
tells u s page 3 ) but a mere model o f outward performances ;
w ithout ever considering that all our corrupt passions must b e
subdued and a complex habit of virt uessuch as meekness l o w
l i n e s s faith h Op e and the love o f Go d and o f manb e implant
ed i n t heir room before we c an have the least title to enter into
the kingd o m of Go d O ur divine Master hav i ng expressly
told u s that unless we renounce ourselves and take up o ur
cross daily we cannot be his disciples

A nd again unless
we have the S pirit of Christ we are none of h i s
T h i s advice met we are i nformed

with a cold reception
and was an ungrateful subj ect to his friend at rst ; and yet even
wh i le it was s o such were his own confused notions of rel i g i on that
he urges h i s frien d to receive the holy communion frequently

a ssuring h i m that nothing s o much bedwarfs u s in rel i gion as
stay i ng away from the heavenly banquet

A s if a man who had
no relish for the doctrine o f regenerat i on could have any rel i gion
Having thus noticed the line o f conduct which n o t wi t h
stan d i ng all his crude not i ons he pursued at O xford
I pro
c e e d n o w to record the means by which he was supported
d ur i ng h i s stay at the U nivers i ty
It w i ll be recollecte d that
his chief dependence wa s upon the emoluments of servitorship
,
L I FE
\VH I T E F I E L D S
AN D
T IM E S
Soon a fter my acceptance I went and resided and found my

h aving been used to a public house was now of service t o me
F or many o f the servitors being sick at my rst coming up
by my diligent and stea d y attend ance I ingratiated myself into
t h e gentlemen s favour S O far that many who had it in their
power chose me to be th e i r servitor T his much lessened my
expense an d i ndee d Go d w as s o gracious that w i th the pro
t s of my place an d some little presents made me by my kind
tutor for almost the rst three years I d i d not put all my rela
tions together to above 2 4 expense

When he j oined h i mself
to the metho d ists the prots o f his place were as might b e
expected diminished : a number took away their pay from
me 5 but other sources o f supply were soon O pened for him

S ome o f the methodists having left O xford about this time and
being solicitous to keep up the society wrote to Sir John
Philips of L ondon commen di ng Whiteeld to his patronage
as a proper person to stay and encourage their frien d s in gh t

ing the good ght of faith
A ccor di ngly he imme d i ately o ffered
me an annuity o f twenty pounds T o S how h i s disinterestedness
he h as prom i sed me t h a t whether I continue here or not ; and
if I resol ve to stay at
he ll give me thirty pounds a year
If that w i ll not do I may have more

In this manner was he
provi d ed fo r when h i s original resources fa i led
T h e state o f his health however compelled him to quit fo r
a time his sweet retirement at O xford S o lo n g a s he

could b e resis t ed all the persuasions o f his tutor and physician
and all the invitat i ons of his moth er to visit Gloucester T heir
u rgency at length prevailed
and he returned home
My
friends were surprised to s ee m e look and behave s o cheerfully
after the many reports they had heard concerning me

However I soon foun d myself to b e as a sheep se n t for t h
amongst wolves in sheep s clothing ; for they imme d i ately e n
d e avo u r e d to d i ssuade me from a constant use o f the means o f
grace especially from weekly abstinence a n d receiving the
blessed sacrament But Go d enabled me to resist them sted
fast i n the faith an d by keepi ng close to him in his holy ordi
nances I w as made to t riumph over all

Being unaccustomed for some time to live without Spiritual
,
28
LI F E A ND T I M E S
companions and nd ing none that would heartily j oin me

no
not on eI watche d unto prayer all the d ay long ; besee ching
Go d to raise me some religious associates in his o wn way and
time
I w i l l e n d ea vo ur e i t h e r t o fi n d or m a ke a fr i e n d had
been my resolution now for some time and therefore after i m
r t u n a t e prayer o n e day I resolved to go to the house o f o n e
o
p
Mrs W
to whom I had formerly read plays Specta t ors
Pope s Homer and such l i ke triing books hoping the altera
t i on she now would nd in my sentiments might under God
inuence her soul Go d was pleased to bless the vis i t with the
desired e ffect : sh e received the word gladly : she wanted to
b e taught the way of God more perfectly and soon b ecame a
N o t long after Go d made me i u s t r u
fool for Christ s sake
mental to awaken several young persons who soon formed them
selves into a little society and had quickly the honour o f being
despised at Gloucester as we had been b efore them at O xfor d
T hus a ll that will live godly in C h rist Jesus must su ffer perse
,
cu t i o n
A s his e fforts and usefulness during the period o f this visit

to Gloucester may be viewed as the d a wn o f his future zeal and
success it will b e proper before enumerating more instances to
record distinctly the manner in which he prepared himself fo r
d o i ng good to others
My m i nd being now more Open and enlarged I began to
read the holy Scr i ptures upon my knees ; l aying aside all
other books and praying over if possible every line and
word T his proved meat indee d and drink indee d to my soul
I daily received fresh life light and power from above I g o t
more true knowle d ge from read i ng the book o f Go d in o n e
month than I could ever h av e acqu i red from all the writings of
men In o n e wor d I fou nd i t protable fo r reproof for cor
rection for instruction ; every way su fficient to make the man
o f Go d perfe ct throughly furnished for every good work and
wor d About this time Go d was pleased t o enl i ghten my soul
a n d bring me into the knowledge o f his free grace a n d the
ne cessity of being ju st i ed i n H i s s ig h t by fa i th on ly T his
was more extraor d inary because my frien d s a t O xford had
rather inclined to the m ys ti c d i vi n i ty Burkitt s an d Henry s
,
E xpositions
AN D
T IM ES
29
were of admirable use to lead me into t h i s and all

other gospel tr uths I t i s the good ol d doctrine of the church
o f E nglan d ; it is what the holy martyrs
in Q ueen Mary s
time sealed with their bloo d

T o these habits o f reading
Whiteeld added much secret prayer
O h what sweet co m
munion had I d a i ly vouchsafed w i th God in prayer after my
coming to Gloucester ! How often have I been carried ou t
beyond myself when meditat i ng in the el d s I H o w assuredly
I felt that Christ dwelt in me and I i n Him and how d a i ly d i d
I walk in the comforts o f the Holy Ghost and was e d i e d and
refreshed in the multitude of peace
Such were Wh i t e el d s private habits while attempting to be
useful in public His zeal and su ccess will now be understood
I always observed that as my inward stren gth increased so
my outward sphere o f action increased proportionably In a
short time therefore I began to read to some poor people twice
or thrice a week I likewise visited two other little societies b e
si d es my o wn O ccasionally as business and Opportun i ty per
m i t t e d I generally visited one o r two S ick persons every day ;
and though S ilver and gold I had little o f my o wn yet in imita
tion of my Lord s disciples who entreated in behalf o f the
fainting multitude I used to pray unto Him ; and b e from
time to time inclined several that were rich in this world t o
give me money ; so that I generally had a little stock for the
poor always in my han d O ne of the poor wh om I visited in
this manner was called e ffe ctually by Go d at the eleventh hour :
S he was a woman above threescore years ol d and I really b e
lieve died in the true faith of Jesus Christ

A t my rst coming to Gloucester being used to visit the
prisoners at O xford I prayed most earnestly that Go d would
open a door for me to visit the prisoners here also Q uickly
after I dreame d that o n e of the prisoners came to be instructed
by me it was much impressed upon my heart
In the morn
I knocked but
ing I went to the door o f the county gaol ;
n obody came to open it I waite d still upon Go d in prayer ;
and in some months after came a letter from a friend at O x
ford desiring me to go to o n e P e bw or th who had broken o u t
of O xford gaol and was retaken at Gloucester AS soon as I
,
30
L IFE
T I M ES
AND
read this letter it appeared to m e that my prayer was now

answere d Imme d i ately I went to the pr i son : I met with the
person and nd i ng h im and som e others willing to hear the
wor d of Go d (having gained leave o f the keeper and two ordi
naries ) I constantly read to and prayed with them every day
I was in town I also b egged money for them whereby I wa s
enabled to release some of them and cause provision to b e dis
tributed weekly among them ; as also to put such books into
their hands a s I j u d ged most proper I cannot s ay that any
fectually wrought upon ; however
o n e o f the prisoners was e f
much ev i l was prevented many were conv i nce d and my o wn
soul was much ed i ed and strengthened in the love of Go d and
man
D uring m y stay here God enabled me to give a public tes
fo r
t i m o n y o f my repentance as to seeing and acting plays
hearing the strollers had come to town and knowing what an
egregious o ffender I had been I was st i rred up to extract Mr
Law s excellent treatise ent i tled T h e Absolute U nlawfulness
T h e printer at my request put
o f the Stage E ntertainment
a little o f it in the news for s i x weeks successively ; and Go d
was pleased to give it h i s blessing

In this manner White
eld employed himself d uring nine months and on e e ffect o f
pursuing such plans was that the partition wall o f bigotry
in his heart
I
a n d sect rel i gion was soon broken down
loved all of whatever denomination that loved the Lord Jesus
in sincerity
T his a cknowle d gment stands in his diary con
n e c t e d with an account of the b enet he derived from studying
Baxter s Cal l and Allein s

th e works of the nonconformists
Alarm accor d ed s o with his own ideas o f d elity and u n c ti on

that wherever he re cogni se d t h e i r sp i r i t he acknowledged a
brother b eloved
Upon this portion o f his history the m ind dwells with almost
unmixed delight : the only drawback i s the undue importance
attached by him to dreams and even those cons i dered as an
i n d ex to his waking thoughts are interest i ng ; reveal i ng as
they do h i s deep solicitude on behalf o f souls H i s zeal was
now according to knowledge h i S obj ect at once denite
and scriptural
his measures d i re ct and rational and his mo
,
LI F E
T IM E S
AN D
3|
truly evangelical D rawing his o wn hope and consolation

immediately from the oracles o f God he led others direct
to the same source ; shutting up to the faith those he asso
In this respect Wh i teeld presents a striking
c i a t e d with
contrast to Wesley at the commencement o f his public ex e r
tions
T h e latter although equally conscientious was so
crazed with the crude not i ons o f the mystics that when he left
O xford to v i s i t Georgia Law s Chr i st i an Perfect i on was

a lmost his text book while instructing his fellow passengers
A ccordingly the s uccess o f the two at the time was a s different
as the means which they severally a d opte d While Wh iteeld
won souls by reading the Scriptures Wesley by inculcating
the austerities o f the ascetics laboure d in vain : h e was long
esteemed an Ishmael ; for his hand was against every man
and every man s hand was against him

D uring the latter part o f Wh i t e el d s residence in Gloucester
although despised by many his friends multiplied in S pite o f

all the odium which his O pinions and practice called forth
T hey became urgent for his immediate ordination and solicit
ous to s ee him in a S phere worthy of his talents and zeal But
such were n ow his views of the ministry that he put a decided
negative upon al l their applications intrenching his refusal in
a resolution of the di ocesans not to ordain any under twenty
three years o f age

He was n o t yet twenty one T his a p
insurmountable
obj
ection
a s however soon removed
w
a r en t l
p
y
H e obtained about this time an introduction to Lady Selwyn
who h ad marked her approbation of him by a handsome present
o f money and by an immediate application to the bishop o n his
behalf T h e character s h e seems to have given of him had its
due weight with D r Benson
AS I was coming from the
cathedral prayers thinking o f no such th i ng on e of the vergers
c alled after me and said the b ishop desired t o speak w i th me
I immediately turne d b ack considering within myself what I
had done to d eserve his Lor d ship s d ispleasure When I came
to the top of the pal a ce stairs the bishop took m e by the hand
told me he wa s glad to s ee me and bid me wait a little till he
had put o ff his habit and he would return to me again T his
gave me an opportunity of praying to God for his assistance
t i ves
WH I T E F I E L D
32
L I FE
TI ME S
AN D
and adoring him for h i s provi d ence over me A t his coming

again into the room the bishop tol d me that he had heard o f
my chara cter l i ked my behaviour at church and inqu i ring my
age sa i d n o t w i t h s ta n d i ng I h a ve d ecl a r ed I w ou l d n ot or d a i n
.
y on e u n d er t h r ee a n d t w en ty, ye t I s h a l l t h i n k i t my d u ty t o
or d a i n
ou, wh en ever
ou c om e or h o l
He then made
y
y
f
y or d er s
an
me a present o f ve guineas t o buy me a book

T hus wa s the
chief external hinderance removed at once and with it his hesi
t a t i o n vanished
F rom the time I rst entered the U niversity
especially fro m the time I knew what was true and u n d e l e d
C hristianity I entertained high thoughts o f the importance of
the ministerial o fce and was not solicitous what place should b e
prepared for me but how I should be prepared for a place T ha t
s aying o f the apostle N ot a n o vi ce l es t bei ng p u ed up w i t h
vi l
and that rs t
n
o
c
n
m
n
a
o
n
h
d
e
t
t
r
i
e
h
e
a
ll
i
t
t
h
e
o
d
e
i
e
d
p
of
f
question of our excell ent ordi nation ofce D o you trust tha t
you are inwar dl y moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this
o ffice and administration ? used even to make me tremble
whenever I thought o f entering into the ministry T h e shyness
o f Moses and some other prophets when God sent them o u t in
a public capacity I thought was su ffi cient to teach me not to
run until I was called He who knoweth the hearts o f men is
witness that I never prayed more earnestly against any thing
than I did against entering into this serv i ce of the church s o
O ftentimes I have been in an agony in prayer when
soon
under convictions o f my insu fficiency for s o great a work
w i th
strong cries and tears I have frequently said L or d I a m a
o u t h o u n ci r cum ci s ed l ip s : L or d s en d m e n o t i n t o t h y vi n eya r d
y
f
A nd sometimes I had reason to think God was angry
e
t
y
with me for resistin g his will However I was resolved to pray
If God did not grant my request in
t h u s as long as I could
keeping me ou t of i t I knew his grace would be su ffi cient to
support and strengthen me whenever he sent me into the
ministry
T o my prayers I added m y endeavours an d wrote letters
to my friends at O xford beseeching them to pray to God to
disappoint my c ountry friends who were for my taking orders
a s soon as possible T heir answer was Pray we the Lord of
.
WHI TE F I E L D S
L I FE
T IM E S
AN D
33
the harvest to send thee and many more labourers into h i s har
vest
A nother ol d and worthy minister o f Christ when I
wrote to him about the meaning o f the word n ovi ce answere d
it meant a novice in grace and not in years and he was pleased
to addif St Paul were then at Gloucester he believed St
Paul would ordain me Al l this did not satisfy me I still con
tinned instant in prayer against go i ng into holy or d ers and wa s
not thoroughly convinced it was the divine will till Go d by his
providence brought me acquainted with the bishop o f Gl o u
o ester
Before I came home the news had rea ched my
friends who being fond of my having such a great man s favour
were very solicitous to know the event o f my visit Many
things I hid from t h em but when they pressed me hard I wa s
obl iged to tell them how the bishop o f his own a c cord h ad
o ffered to give me holy orders whenever I would O n which
they knowing h ow I had depended o n the declaration hi s Lord
ship had made some time ag o said and I then b egan to think
myself that if I held out any longer I should ght against
God A t length I came to a resolution by God s leave to
o ffer myself for holy orders the next E mber days

Having thus surmounted his di fculties he proceeded at
once to prepare himself for ordination H e had before satis
e d himself o f the truth o f t h e T hirty nine A rticles by com
paring them with the S criptures ; but it does not appear that
the Prayer Book as a wh ole was submitted to the same test
he seems to have taken its truth for granted T his is the m or e
remarkable b e cause in every thing else he was consc i entious
I strictly examined myself by the qualications required
for a minister i n St Paul s E pistle to T imothy and also by
every question that I knew would be put to me at the time of
my ordination Th i s latter I drew o u t in writing at large and
sealed my approbation o f it every Sun day at the blessed sacra
ment A t length T rinity Sund ay being near at hand and
having my testimonials from the college I went a fortnight
beforehand to Gloucester intending to compose some sermons
and to giv e myself more particularly t o prayer When I c ame
to Gloucester notwithstanding I strove an d prayed for several
days a nd had matter enough in my heart yet I was so restra in
34
AND
TIM ES
ed that I could n o t compose any thing at all I mentioned my

case t o a clergyman : he sa i d I was an en t h u si a s t I wrote t o
another who was exper i enced in the d i vine life : he gave me
some reasons why God might deal wi t h m e in th a t m anner ;
and withal promis ed m e h i s prayers T h e remainder o f the
fortnight I S pent in reading the several missions of the p r o
h
e t s and apostles and wrestled with Go d to give me grace t o
p
follow their good examples
About three d ays b efore the time a ppointed for ord i nation
the bishop came t o town T h e next evening I sent h i s Lord
ship an abstract of my pri vate examination upon these two
questions
D o yo u t r us t t h a t you a r e i n w a r d l y m o ved by t h e
H ol y Gh os t t o t a ke up on yo u t h i s o i ce a n d a d m i n i s t r a t i on ?
An d Ar e you ca l l ed a ccor d i ng t o t h e w i l l If o ur L or d J e s us
9
T
h
next
morning
I
waite
d
r
i
s
a
n
l
a
w
s
t
h
i
s
r
e
a
l
m
e
d th e
Ch
t
of
upon the bishop H e received m e with muc h love ; tell i ng me
he wa s glad I w as come and that he wa s satised with the
preparation I had made Upon this I took my leave abashed
with God s goodness to such a wretch but wi thal exceedingl y
rej oiced that in every circumstance he made my way into t h e
m i nistry s o very plai n b efore my face I T his I think was o n
F ri d a y
T h e day following I continued in abstinence and
prayer In the evening I retired t o a h ill near the town and
prayed fervently fo r about two hours o n behalf of myself and
those that were to be ordained with me O n Sunday morn ing
I rose early an d prayed over St Paul s E pis t le to T imothy and
more particularly over t h a t pre cept L e t n o on e d esp i s e t h y
h
When
I
went
up
to
t
e altar I could think o f nothing
ou t h
y
but S a mu el s standing a l i ttle ch ild before the L ord with a
linen ephod When the bishop lai d hi s hands upon my hea d
my heart was melted down and I o ffered up my whole spirit
s o ul
and body t o the service o f God s sanctuary I read the
gospel at the bishop s command with power and aft erward
sealed the good confession I h ad made before many witnesses
by partaking of the holy sa crament

H i s feelings and views upon t his solemn occasion are re
corded still more forc i bly in two letters t o a friend T h e rst i s
s o excell e nt t hat n o apology i s re uired fo r inserting it here entire
q
.
W H I T EF I E L D S L I FE AND T I M E S
35
Gloucester June
,
2 0t h , 1 7 3 6
My dear friend
This is a day much to be remembered O my s o ul ! for about
n o on I was solemnly admitted by good Bishop B enson before
many witnesses into holy orders ; and w as blessed be Go d !
kept composed both before and after imposition of ha n ds I
endeavoured to behave with una ffected devotion 3 but n o t suit
able enough to the greatness of the o fce I was to undertake
A t the same time I trust I answered to every question from
the bottom of my heart and heartily praye d that G od might
I hope the good of souls will be my only principle
s ay A men
of action Let come what will life o r death depth or height
I shall he n ceforward live like one who this day in the presence
of men and angels took the holy s acrament upon the profession
o f being inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon me
tha t ministratio n in the church This I b egan with reading
pr ayers to the prisoners in the c ounty gaol Whether I myself
shall ever have the honour o f styling mys elf
a prisoner o f the
Lord I know not but indeed my dear friend I can call hea
ven and earth to witness that when the bishop laid his hand
upon me I gave myself up to b e a martyr for H i m wh o hung
upo n the cross fo r me Known unto H i m are all future event s
and contingencies I have thrown myself blindfold and I trust
w i thout reserve into his almigh t y hands only I would ha v e
you observe t h a t ti ll you h ea r of m y (lyi ng for 07 i n my wor k
l
n o t be app r i z ed of al l t h e p r efe r men t t h a t i s exp e c t e d by
o
u
w
i
l
y
G W
,
'
TO
THE
SA M E
June
D ear friend
23
N ever a poor creature s e t up with s o small a stock

My intention was to make at least a hu n dred sermons
with which to begin the ministry ; but this is s o far from being
the case that I have not a single o n e by me except that which
I made for a small christian society and which I sent to a
neighbouring clergyman to convince him h ow u n t I was t o
ta k e upo n me the important work o f preaching H e k ept it fo r
D 2
7
W H IT EF I E LD
36
S L I FE AND T I M E S
a fortnight and then sent it ba ck with a guinea for the loan o f

it 3 telling me he had di v ided it into two and had prea ched it
morning and evening to his congregation With t his sermon I
"
intend to b egin Go d willing next Sunday
Help
help me my dear friend with your warmest addresses to the
throne of grace that I may not only nd mercy but gra ce t o
help in time o f need

O cease not ; fo r I must
again repeat it ceas e not to pray for
G W
,
The inte n se energy o f these appeals to God and man forms

a striki n g contrast to his rst views o f the ministry and leads
t h e mind to expect a c orresponding energy in his preaching
Being restra ined from writing I coul d not preach in the
afternoon though mu ch solicited thereto But I read prayers
to the poor prisoners 5 being willing to let the r s t act o f my
ministerial o fce b e an ac t o f charity The next morning
waiting upon God in prayer to know what he would have me to
do these words Sp ea k ou t P a u l came with great power to
my soul Immediately my heart was enlarged and I prea ched
o n the
Sunday foll owing to a v ery crowded audience with as
much freedom as though I had been a preacher for some years

The fol lowing letter illustrates the truth o f this statement
an d ex cites curiosity about the sermon itself
,
My dear friend
Glory glory glory I b e ascribed to an Almighty Tr iun e
God La st Sunday in the afternoon I prea ched my rst s er
mon in the church o f St Mary D e Crypt where I was baptized
and also rst received the sacrament o f the Lord s supper
Curiosity as you may easily guess drew a large congregation
together o n the occasion The sight at rst a little awed me
but I was comforted by a heartfelt sense of the divine presence
and soon found the unspeakable advantage o f ha v ing been accus
t o m e d to public speaking when a boy at school ; and o f exhort
ing and teaching the prisoners and poor people at their private
houses whilst at the U niversity By these means I was kept
from b eing daunted over m uch A s I proceeded I perceived t h e
,
WH I T E F I E L D
LI FE AN D T I M E S
37
re kindl ed till at last though so young and amidst a crowd

o f those who knew me in my infant childish days I trust I was
enabled to speak with some degree o f gospel authority Some
fe w moc k ed but most for the present seemed struck 3 and I
have since heard that a complaint had been made to the bishop
that I dr ove fteen mad by the rst sermon The worthy pre
late as I am informed wished that the madness might not be
forgotten before next Sunday Before then I hope my sermon
upon He that is in Christ is a new creature will b e compl eted
Blessed be G od I n o w nd freedom in writing
Glorious
Jesus !
Unl oos e my s t amm er i ng t on gue t o t el l
Th y l ov e i mmens e uns earch abl e !
,
B eing
thus e ngaged I must haste n to subscribe myself

G W
,
The sermon was o n The N ecessity and Benets of R eligious
Society from E ccles iv 9 1 2 Two are b etter than o n e

That Whiteeld should hav e chosen to co m mence his
&c
public ministry with such a subj ect can only be accounted fo r
by a reference to his peculiar circumstances The social re
l i g i o n o f the O xford methodists and o f the society he had
formed in Gloucester was a n ew t hi ng the principles o f whic h
required to be explained and defended He had to leave that
week the little ock collected during his visit They were to
be as sheep without a shepherd ; and that they might not d i s
perse on his departure he wisely vindicated the obj ect o f such
meetings and removed some o f the odium attached to them
In this point o f view the subj e ct was well chosen and quite
consistent with his determination to know nothing among men
save Jesus Christ and him crucied The sermon will be
found in the fth volume o f his works 3 bu t as it is n o t printed
from his o wn manuscript it would be unfair to quote from i t
any specimens o f his style A nd yet even in i t s present form
it breathes in no ordinary degree that freshness and warmth
which characterize all his writings It is n o t rolled from that
secr e t p l a ce o
f t h un d er which the foregoin g letters disclose
,
L I FE
38
\VI I I T E F I E L D s
AN D
T I M ES
in his bosom and which afterward pealed like the cloud o n

Sinai ; but it contains earnests of his future energy
It i s n o t generally known and this is not the place to explain
it but it is the fact that whilst Whiteeld never lost sight of
h i s ordination vows his views of the form o f episcopal ordina
tion underw ent such a change that he declared to Ralph E r
skine o f his o wn accord I knew of no other way then 3 but I
would not have it in that way again for a tho usand worlds
The letter containing this acknowledgment will be found in
the Scotch part o f his hist ory
Perhaps no mind since the apostolic age has been more
deeply a ffect ed or suitably exercised by the laying on o f
hands than Wh i t e el d s was A supernat ural unction from the

Holy O ne could hardly have produced greater m or a l e ffe cts
That high sense o f responsibility that singleness of heart that
entire and intense devotedness of soul body and spirit which
chara cterized the rst ambassadors of Christ seems revived in
him A ccordingly after reading the narrative o f his ordination
we naturally expect from Whiteeld a sort of apostolic career
This would b e anticipated were we utterly ignorant o f the r e
sult A fter witnessing at the altar a spirit wound up to the
highest pitch o f ardour throbbing and thrilling with strong
emotions and like a renovated eagle impatient to burst o ff we
naturally look fo r a corresponding swiftness o f ight and width
o f sweep 3 and feel that we shall not be surprised by any thing
which follows His u nb o s o m i n g s o f himself discl ose in his
heart a se cret place of thunder and a fountain of tears

from which we expect alternate bursts of terror and tenderness
bolts of Sinai and dew o f Hermon ; and we shall not be d i s
appointed A greeably to h i s engagement with Sir John Philips
Whiteeld returned to O xford and took out h i s bachelor s de
gree D uring his residence he resumed the care of the me
H i s stay at O xford w a s h o w
t h o d i s t society and o f the poor
ever but short He received and accepted an invitation to
o f c i a t e fo r a t ime in the chapel o f the Tower o f London
H i s rst sermon in t h e metropolis was how ever preached in
Bishopsga t e church O n entering the pulpit h i s juvenile aspect
excited a general sneer o f conte m pt 3 but he h a d n o t spoken
,
WHPTE F I E I D
LI FE AND TI M E S
39
long when t h e sneer g ave pl ac e t o universal sym pt om s o f won

der and pleasure The sermon sta mped his character at once 3
and from that time his popularity in London continued to i n
crease D uring h i s stay which only extended to t wo months
he maintai ned h i s usual habits o f v isiting the pri s oners and the
poor
About this time letters were received from t h e Wesleys and
Ingham then in Georgia Their descriptions o f the moral co n
dition of the British colonies in A merica a ffe cted his heart
powerfully and awakened in him a strong desire to pre ach the
gospel abroad I t w as an undertaking suited to his energetic and
enterprising character ; and therefore sunk deeply amongst his
tho ughts He could n o t however come to a nal determination
then and therefore he ret urned to O xford again
There
Whiteeld devoted the chief part of h i s time to the study o f
Henry s Commentary ; which seems t o have been a favourite
book amongst his asso ciates in the U ni v ersity

God says he
works by him (Henry ) greatly here

H o w highly he prized
h i s o wn C opy may b e j udged from h i s gratitude when he was
able to pay fo r it To t h e fr i e n d who furnished it he wri t es
Herewith I send yo u seven pounds t o pay fo r Mr Henry s
Commentary D ear E s q r Thorold made me a present o f ten
guineas s o that n o w (fo r e v er blessed be divine goodness !) I
can send yo u more th a n I thought fo r

In a former letter he
had said I hope to send yo u in a short time two guineas t o
wa rds paying fo r He n ry s E xposition

The study o f this invaluable work was soon interrupted by
an invitation to o f ci a t e fo r a short t ime at D ummer in Hamp
shire This was a very di fferent sphere to any he had been a o
customed The people were equally poor and illiterate 3 but he
wa s soon re conciled to them and a cknowledged that during h i s
stay he had reaped much spiritual benet

While he con
t i n u e d at D ummer he adhered rigi dl y to h i s system o f e co n o
m i z i n g time ; dividing the day in t o t h r ee equal parts 3 eight
hours for sleep and meals 3 eight fo r public prayers catechising
and visiting 3 and eight fo r s t udy and de votional retirement
While t hu s occupied in obscurity he w as not forgotten in
Londo n : a protable cura cy in t h e metropolis was o ffered t o
,
'
40
wn l r E F I E LD
L I FE AN D TIM E S
him ; but the chord touched by the S piritual wants o f Georgia

had not ceased to vibrate in his inmost soul F ro m the moment
it was struck O xford had no magnet Hampshire n o charms ,
the metropolis no fascination for the young evangelist H e
promptly and de cidedly declined the lucrative and attractive
cura cy being intent o n going abroad A nd an Opportunity of
gratifying his truly missionary spirit soon presented itself
He re ceived letters says D r Gillies

cont aining what h e
t h oug h t t o be an invitation to go to Georgia from Mr John
Wesley whose brother c ame over about this time to procure
m ore labourers The doctor might have said letters containing

what w a s an invitation
for although at a future period it
w a s insinuated that Wh iteeld had intruded himself upon the
sphere of the Wesleys in A merica the imputation is unwarrant
ed Charles Wesley both urged and encouraged him to leave
E ngland The following extracts are from a poem addressed
to Whiteeld by Charles Wesley at the time
,
S ervan t of Go d, th e summon s h ear ;

T h y M as t er c all sar i s e , ob e y !
T h e t o k en s o f hi s w il l a pp ear,
H i s p r ov i d en ce p oi n t s o ut th e way
.
=
l=
3
=
1!
C h am p i on
Je
sus
T r ead
Go
al o n e
of
t
I
Go d th y L ord
,
resol ve
d o wn t h y
c o n q ue
3
=
to
k w;
no
fo es i n J esus
r i n g an d
to
p rocl ai m ;
c on
n am e
quer, g o
T h rough r ack s an d re s p ursue th y way ;

B e m i n d ful o f a dy i n g God ;
F i n i sh t h y c ours e, an d wi n th e d ay ;
o
o
u
L k p an d s eal t h e truth with bl oo d !
This impassioned adj uration to pro ceed to A merica proves

t hat Whiteeld did n o t intrude himself on the mission n o r run
unsent Had D r Southey observed those lines he would n o t
have said that Charles did not invite him to the u n d er t ak
ing
The truth i s both brothers appealed t o him in the form
most likely to win his consent ; making the call appe a r to be
,
WH IT EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
41
from Go d
O nly Mr D el am o t t e is with me says J ohn u n
til God shall stir up the hearts of some o f his servants to come
over and help us What if thou art the man Mr Whiteeld
D o you ask me what you shall h ave ? F ood to eat and raiment
to put on 3 a house to lay y our head in such as your Lord had
not 3 and a crown o f glory that fadeth not away

This is a r ea l
invitation o r mockery 3 and precisely in that spirit which White
eld could not resist A ccordingly o n reading it his heart
he says leaped within him and as it were e choed to the call

A:c o n cur r en c e of favourable circumstances at the time enabled
him thus promptly t o embrace the proposal and embark in
the undertaking Mr Kinchin the minister of D ummer had
b een chosen dean of Corpus Christi College and was willing to
take upon him the charge o f the prisoners at O xford 3 H arvey
undertook to supply his place in the curacy 3 and in Georgia
the novel sphere o f usefulness and the warm friendship o f Wes
ley were equally attra ctive as inducements to leave E ngland
The resolution thus formed he solemnly conrmed by prayer 3
a n d that it might not be shaken by his relations at Gloucester
he wrote to assure them that u nl ess they would promise not to
dissuade him he would emb ark without seeing them Thi s
promise they gave 3 but they forgot it when he arrived His
aged mother a s might be expected wept sorely 3 and others
as D r Southey observes who had no such cause to j ustify th eir
interference represented t o him what pretty preferment he
might have if he would stay at home But none o f these thing s
moved h i m : their influence was d efeated by his o wn prayers
and by the weight o f the bishop s Opinion 3 who as usu al r e
c e i ve d him like a father approved o f his determination and
expressed his condence that God would enable him to d o much
good abroad F rom Gloucester he went to take leave o f his
friends at Bristol D uring this visit the mayor appointed him
to prea ch before the corporation : even the quakers thronged
to hear him Bu t the e ffe ct o f his farewell sermons will b e best
told in his own words
What shall I s ay ? Methinks it
would be almost sinful to leav e Bristol at this critical j uncture
The whole city seems to be alarmed Churches are as full o n
week days as t hey use to be on Sundays and on Sundays so
L I FE
\VH I T E F I E L D S
AND
TI MES
full that many very man y are obliged t o go away be caus e they
cannot come in O h that Go d would keep m e always humble
a n d fully convinced that I am no th ing without him ; and that
all the good done upon e arth God himself doth i t

The word
w as sharper than a two edged sword 3 the doctrine o f the new
birth made its way like lightning into the hearers consciences
Sanctify it Holy F ather ! to thine own glory and thy peopl e s
,
g o od f
Similar impressions were made in Bath and Gloucester and

unpre cedented collections obtained for charitable obj ects His
stay wa s however short he w as cal led up to L ondon to appear
before General O glethorpe and the tr ustees of Georgia Hav
ing been accepted by them he was presented t o t h e bishop and
primate who both highly approved o f his mission But his
depar t ure o m E ngland wa s delayed fo r some months owing t o
the vessel in which he was to sail not being ready at the time
expe cted H e therefore undertook to serve fo r a while the
church of o n e o f his friends at Stonehouse In this retirement
his communion with Go d wa s at onc e intimate and habitual
Could the trees o f the wo o d speak he says they would tell
what sweet communion he and his christian brethren had u n
der their shade enj oyed with t heir God
Sometimes as I
have been w alking he continues my soul would make such

S allies that I thought it would go out o f the body A t other
times I would be s o o v erpowered with a sense o f God s innite
maj esty that I would b e constrained to throw myself prostrate
fer my soul a s a blank in his hands to
o n the ground and o f
write o n it what he ple ase d O ne night was a time never to be
forgotten It happened to lighten e xceedingly I h a d been
expounding to many people and so m e being afraid to go home
I thought it my duty to a ccompany them and improve the o c
c asion to stir them up to prepare for the coming of the S o n o f
man In my return to the parsonage whilst others were rising
from their beds and frightened almost to death t o s ee the light
ning run upon the ground I and another a poor but pious
countryman were in the eld praising praying to and exulting
in o u r Go d and longing fo r that time when Jesus shall b e r e
vealed from heaven in aming re
O h that my soul may
,
'
W H IT EF I E L D
S L I FE AND TI M E S
43
be in a like frame when he shall actually come to call me !

He refers t o this scene in o n e o f his letters
Hon est J a m es
and I were out in the midst o f the lightning an d never wer e
more delighted in our lives May we b e as well pleased when
the S o n o f Go d cometh to j udgment

H e came glowin g from this mount o f communion t o Bristo l
again prepared to preach the gospel with n ew energy 3 and t h e
people were prepared to hear it with new interest 3 fo r s uch was
the impatience for his return that multitudes on foot and some
in coaches were waiting t o meet him a mile from the city 3 and
a still greater number welcomed him as he passed along the
streets A nd if the city was alarmed during h i s former visit it
was now electried : persons o f all ranks and denominations
crowded to hear him 3 and such was the pressure in every church
that he could har dl y ma k e h i s w ay to the reading desk
Some
hung upon the rails o f the organ loft others climbed upon the
leads o f the church and altogether made the church so hot
with their breath that the steam would fall from the pillars
like d r Op s o f rain
When he preached his farewell sermon
and said to the people that perhaps they might s ee his face no
more high and l o w young and ol d burst i n to tears Multi

tudes followed him home with tears and many with entreatie s
that he would remain in E ngland 3 but he was rm to his pur
pose and merely consented to spend the n ext day i n speak ing
with those who had been awakened under his mi n istry Th is
he did from seven in the morning until midnight when he stole
away se cretly to avoid the parade o f a public escort
After some brief intermediate visits he arrived again in L o n
d on
Here invitations to preach and administer the sacrament
poured in upon him from s o many churches and were s o pro m ptly
accepted b y him that his friends were afraid for his health ;
the crowds at e ach church b eing s o overwhelmi n g But his
answer was
I nd by experienc e that the m ore I do the more
I may d o for Go d
This was said when he was in the habit
of preaching four times o n the sabbath an d had ofte n to walk
ten or twelve m iles in going from on e church to another and
to preach ve times in the week besides Such un precedented
lab ours m ight well be a s t hey were called m ighty deeds by

.
44
WH IT EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
the n ewspapers 3 but this kind o f no t ice hurt hi s feelings In

a letter to a friend he expresses himself o n the subj ect thus
I suppose you h a ve he ard o f my mi g h ty deeds falsely s o called
by the newspapers ; for I nd some ba ckf r i en d has published
abroad my preaching four times in a day 3 but I besee ch Mr
Raikes the printer never to put me in his news again up on any
such a ccount for it is quite contrary to my inclinations and
positive orders
T o his friends however he was n o t reserved
in communicating either the extent o f his lab ours or the s ymp
toms o f their success In another letter to the same person he
writes L ast week save o n e I prea ched ten times in di fferent
churches 3 and the last week seven 3 and yesterday four times
and read prayers twice though I slept not an hour the night
before which wa s spent i n religious conversation & c God
s till works more and more by my unworthy ministry
Many
youths here sincerely love our Lord Jesus Christ 3 and thou
sands I hope are quickened strengthened and conrmed by
the word preached Last Sund ay (in St D un s t an s ) at s i x in
the morning when I gave my farewell the whole church w as
drowned in t e ars they wept and cried aloud as a mother weep
eth fo r her r s t born Since that the re is no end o f persons
coming an d weeping telling me what God has done for t heir
souls : others again beg little books and desire me t o write
their n a m es in them The time would fail me were I t o relate
how m any have been awakened and how many pray for me
The great day will discover all I

This will be more minutely
detailed in the next chapter
Having thus traced the amazing e ffects of W h i t e el d s r s t
sermons it will n ow be interesting to examine t heir general
chara cter and to ascertain what were the tru t hs which thus
Three o f these success
a rrested and aroused the public mind
ful sermons c an happily be identied with these times o f r e
freshing 3 and they may be depended on as spe cimens o f both the

letter an d the spirit o f his preaching because they were printed
from his own manuscripts : that On E a r l g P i e ty 3 that 0u
R eg en er a t i on 3
and t hat
Whoe v er will
0n I n t er cessi on
read these appeals realizing the circumstances under which they
were made will hardly wonder at the e ffect produced by them 3
.
WH IT EF I E LD
S LI FE AN D TI M E S
45
the topics of the se cond and third and the tone of all the three
are s o di fferent from the matter and manner o f sermonizing to
which the public had been long accustomed They do not sur
prise u s at all 3 b ecause happily neither the topics n o r the tone
o f them are
strange things to o ur ears
Both were however
novelties even in the metropolis at that time Whenwhere
had an appeal like the following been made in London ?
I
beseech you in love and compassion to come to Jesus
Indeed
all I s ay is in love to your souls A nd if I could b e but an i n
strument o f bringing you to Jesus I should not envy but rej oice
in your happiness however much you were exalted If I was t o
make up the l a s t o f the train o f the companions of the blessed
Jesus it would rej oice me to see you above me in glory I
would willingly go to prison o r to death for you so I could but
bring one soul from the devil s strong holds i n t o the salvation
which is by Christ Jesus Come then to Christ every one that
hears me this night Come come my guilty brethren : I b e
seech you for your immortal souls sake for Christ s sake com e
to Christ Methinks I could speak till midnight unto you 3
I am full o f love towards you Would yo u have me go and tell
my Master that you will not come and that I have spent my
strength in vain ? I cannot h ear to carry such a message to
him I would not indeed I would not b e a swift witness ag ainst
yo u at the great day o f a ccount : but if you will refuse these
gracious invitations I must do it

In this spirit (n o t very prevalent even now) Whiteeld began
his ministry A nd there is a fascination as well as fervour in
some o f his early sermons H o w bold an d beautiful is the
peroration of that o n Intercession ! Referring to the holy i m
patience o f the souls under the altar for the coming o f the
An d shall not we who are o n
kingdom of God he exclaims
earth h e often exercised in this divine employ with the glo
r i ou s company o f the spirits o f just men made perfect ?
Since
o u r happiness is s o much to consist in the communion o f saints
in the church triumphant above shall we n o t frequently inter
cede for the church militant below ; and earnestly beg that
we may b e all on e ? To provoke you to this work and labour
o f love remember that it is the n ever ceasi n g employment o f
,
16
w n I r E F I E LD
LI FE AND TI M E S
the holy and highly exalted Jesus h imsel f : s o tha t he who i s

constantly in terceding for oth ers i s doing that o n ear t h whi ch
the eternal Son o f Go d i s always doing in heaven Imagine
therefore when you are l i fting up holy hands for o n e another
that you s ee the heavens opened and the Son o f God in all his
glory as the great High Priest o f your salvation plea di ng fo r
you th e all su ffi cient merit o f hi s sa crice before the throne
Join your intercessions with H i s ! The imagination will
strengthen your faith and ex cite a holy ea r nestness in your
prayers
,
CH A PT E R
WH IT EF I E LD
II
S I N T R O D U C T I O N T O L O ND O N
W H IT EF I E LD S mini s try in London began at the Toweran
un
likely quarter for attraction o r e ffec t

The cur at e o f t h e
Tower wh o had b een h i s friend at col lege havin g o ccasion t o
o c i a t e in H ampshire for
a season invited him t o supply
during his absence Sir John Phi lips also san ctioned t h e r e
quest and j oined in it L ittle did either o f t hese good men
and s t ill less did Wh i teeld hi mself foresee the remote o r
e v en the i mm ediate consequences o f t hi s in v itation And i t i s
well they di d n o t ! F o r had they foreseen Wh i t e el d s splen
did irre g ul arities i n M o or el ds and Blackheath o r h i s spacious
tabern acles i n London o r e v en hi s moderate Cal v i ni sm the y
f
woul d n o t ha v e countenanced him H e himsel n o t wi t h s t an d
ing all hi s consti tutional bravery and cons cientious simplici t y
woul d n o t have hazarded the experiment had h e suspected t he
result
H o w little he did s o wil l b e b est told in h i s o wn words
O n We dnesday A ugust 4 t h 1 7 3 7 with fear and trembl ing I
obeyed the summons and went in the stage coach t o London ;
and t h e Sunday following in the afternoon preached a t B i
ul pit stairs a l mos t all
ent
up
the
p
s h o s g a t e church
I
A
s
w
p
seemed t o sneer at me on accoun t o f my youth But t hey
soon grew serious in the time o f my preachin g ; and after I
came down showed m e great tokens of respect blessed me as
I passed and made great inquiry wh o I was T h e question n o
o n e Co ul d answer 3 for I w as quite a stranger : and by pass i ng
speedily through the crowd re t ur ned to the Tower without
having my name dis covered

.
48
WH IT EF I E L D
S L I FE AN D TIM E S
H ere (at the Tower) I continued for the space o f two

months rea d ing prayers twice a week cate chising and preach
ing once b esides visiting the soldiers in the i n r m ar y and bar
racks daily I also read prayers every evening in Wapping
chapel
(It was n o d o ubt in going between the Tower and
Wapping chapel that his well known expression
Wapp i ng
s i n n er s
was rst forced upon him )
I preached at Ludgate
prison every Tuesday

(This also t o gether with h i s visits to
the castle at O xford will account for the frequency o f the forms
o f j udicial trial and condemnation in his sermon s to the n u
godl y )
God was pleased t o give me favour in the eyes o f
the inhabitants o f the Tower The chapel was crowded o n
Lord s days Religious friends from vari o us p arts o f the town
attended the w o rd and several y o ung men o n Lord s day morn
ing under serious impressi o ns came t o converse with me o n the
new birth
S o far all I S pleasing ; but there wa s n o thing surprising
marked Wh i t e el d s rst visit t o London That it made no
great impression on him self is evident from the perfect simpli
city with which he re c o rds its close
H aving staid in Lond o n
until Mr B came o u t o f t h e country I returned to my little
charge at O xford and waited o n m y deaconship according t o
the measure o f grace imparted t o me

E ven when he was
invited to a very protable curacy in L o ndo n and urged to

a ccept it he says
I had n o inclination to accept it A t
D ummer I soon b egan t o be as much delighted with the artless
conversation of the poor illiterate people a s I had been formerly
with the company o f my O xford friends and frequently learnt
as much by an afternoon s visit a s by a week s study

It was therefore for the sake of Georgia solely that he came
back to London
The metropolis was to Whiteeld then
merely the way t o A merica A ccordingly he did n o t seek for
engagements n or volunteer his services o n h i s arrival from
O xford
Indeed he does n o t seem to have contemplated
preaching
I foll o wed my usual practice o f reading and
praying o ver t h e word o f G o d on m y knees Sweet was this
r e t i r em en t t o my s o ul but it was n o t o f l o ng continuance
In
v i t a t i o n s were given me to preach a t several pla ces

No t
,
W H IT EF I E L D
49
however that he wa s unwilling to preach All I want to show

is that he had no de s ign s upon London and no idea o f creati n g
a sensation in it H e could not however be hid long His
former visit was not forgotten and his fame in Bristol had
rea ched the metropolis
The stewards and memb ers o f the
religious so cieties found him o u t and forced him out on b e
half o f their charity schools a work which their successors
carry o n with great delity and perseverance to this hour !
I mean no ree ction upon stewards They thus call ou t minis
ters who would otherwise shrink from publicity ; and extend
over Lo ndon the inuence of talents and piety which must
o therwise have been conned to a corner It is not their fault
if another Whiteeld has not been found out H ad there bee n
a nothe r in the empire since the nets o f religious societies wo ul d
have caught him and whenever there is another they are sure
to bring him into full notice and employment ! Whiteeld says
with great simplicity The s t ewards o f religious societies were
v ery fond of hearing me

N o wonder : he colle cted upwards of
a thousand pounds for the s chools alone

in those days says
D r Southey
a prodigious sum larger colle ctions being made
than had ever befor e been known o n like occasions

Whiteeld himself has drawn a distinction between the feel
ings with which he accepted invitations from societies and the
feelings with which he assisted clergymen o n the sabbath
I
e m br a ced the invitations to preach and assist in administering
the sacrament
With great r e l u c t a n ce I was prevailed o n to
preach a charity sermon at Wapping chapel

O n b o th o cc a
sions he was however e qually successful

So many came
to the s acrament at Cripplegate St A nne s and F oster Lane
that sometimes we were obliged t o consecrate fresh elements
twice o r thrice and the stewards found it somewhat di fcult t o
carry the o fferings to the communion table

In like manner
more was collected at Wapping chapel for the charity than
had been for many years

A t St Swithin s also instead of
ten shillings as formerly

eight poun ds were collected
This was too great a novelty then to b e concealed
N ext
morning as I was at breakfast with a friend at the Tower I read
in one o f t h e newspapers t hat there was a young gentleman g o ing
E
,
WH IT EF I E L D
50
S L I FE AND TIM E S
volunteer to Georgia had p reached at St Swithin s and col

l e c t e d eight pounds instead o f ten shillings ; thre e pounds of
which were in halfpence and that he would preach next Wed
n esd a
y before the s o cieties at their general quarterly meeting
This advertisement chagrined me very much I immediately
sent to the printer desiring he would put m e in h i s paper no
more His answer was that he was paid fo r doing it and
would not lose two shillings for any body By this means peo
ple s curiosity was stirred up more and more O n Wednesday
evening Bow church in Cheapside was crowded ex ceedingly
I preached my sermon o n E arly Piety and at the request o f
the societies printed it Henceforward for nearly three month s
successively there was no end o f people s ocking to hear the
word o f Go d
Sometimes constables were obliged to be
pla ced at the doors without and within O ne might a s it were
walk upon the people s heads Thousands went away from the
largest churches for want o f room I now preached generally
nine times a week
The people were all attention as hearing
for eternity ! The early sa craments were exceedingly awful !
O h h o w often at Cripplegate St A nne s and F oster lane
have W e seen Jesus Christ crucied and ev idently s et forth b e
fore u s
O n Sunday mornings long b efore day yo u might s ee
streets lle d with people going to church with t heir lanthorns
in their hands and hear them c o nversing about the things o f
God
By thus specifying the spot where Whiteeld preached his
rst published sermon Bow church will be r econ secm t ed in the
estimation o f many and Bow b ells sound more sweetly Suc h
is the force o f association Its l aws like those o f nature can
neither be s e t aside nor weakened O nly hallowed men can
m ake hallowed ground ; and no minister be comes hallowed t o
posterity but he that winneth souls

A ccordingly B o w
b ells remind us o f n o o n e but Whiteeld His o n e sermon i n
vests that church with more sacredness than its consecration
and with more interest than the whole series o f its corporation
sermons
There i s neither v enom nor vapou ring in this remark V isitors
from the coun t ry and from America pause even in Cheap s ide
'
WH I T E F I E L D
L I F E AND TIM E S
51
to gaze at the spire under which George Whiteeld preache d

They remember no o n e else Why ? Because no o n e else has
so preached there
that many believed
Thus it is only
the salvation of immortal souls that stamps religious i mm o r
tality upon solemn temples

A ccordingly not all the talent
and piety which graced the pulpit at Whitehall during the Pro
t e c t o r at e nor all the rank which h as been in it and around it
since , can awaken o n e sp i r i t ua l emotion o r recollection E ven
Baxter O wen and Howe can har dl y b e realized there as
ministers of the glorious gospel A ba r n where either o f them
had preached Christ to the poor and the perishing would make
o u r hearts burn within us ; but in the chapel royal they are
remembered only as great men Had Simeon of Cambridge
that Paul the aged preached there but once before singing
his N am e d i ni i t ti s he would have been more remembered by
posterity than all his late prede cessors put together It is u t
t er l y in v ain t o sneer o r reason against this law o f association
N othing gains or retains a hallowed hold upon the sympathies of
the pious but usefulness Mere talent and heartless orthodoxy
can no more endear o r dignify a church n o w than r el i cs fr o m
Rome or Jerusalem
But to return Whiteeld had so o n to pay the usual price
A s my popularity and usefulness increased
o f popularity
opposition increased proportionably A t rst many o f t h e
c lergy were my hearers and admirers
bu t some soon grew angry
and complaints were made that there was no room fo r the
parishioners and that the pews were spoiled S o me called me
a spiritual pickpocket ; and others thought I made u s e o f a
charm to get the people s money A report was spread abroad
that the bishop o f London upon the complaint of the clergy
intended to silence me I immediately waited upon h i s Lord
ship and inquired whether any complaint of this nature had
been lodged against me He answered N o I asked his Lord
ship whether any obj ection could b e made against my doc
trine ? He said N o : for he knew a clergyman who heard
me preach a plain scriptural s e rmon
I asked his Lordship
whether he would grant me a license ? He said I needed
none as I was going to Georgia
I replied Then your Lo rd
.
WH I T E F I E L D
52
L I FE AND TIM E S
ship would not forbid me

H e gave me a satisfactory answer
and I took my leave
Wh y has D r Southey stripped the bishop s courtesy of all
E vidently he thought this
i t s grace ? H e says o f the bishop
Georgia
a
happy
destination
for
n
e
whose
fervent
spirit
was
o
(
)
likely to lead him into extravagances o f doctrine as well as of
life
This is no compliment to his Lordship s wisdom what
ever it be to his policy E ven h i s policy was bad if this be
true ; for what could b e worse in principle o r policy than let
ting loose upon an infant colony an extravagant chaplain ?
Thus D r Southey has imputed to the bishop unwittingly a
heartless if n o t reckless indi fference to the religious interests
o f Georgia ; for if Whiteeld wa s dangerous even in London
where he could easily b e counteracted if not controlled h o w
much more dangerous he must have been in a distant colony !
This inference i s inevitable if there was any real danger to b e
apprehended from Wh i t e el d s doctrine o r example It is easy
to s ay that the whole force o f his enthusiasm might safe ly
expend itself in Georgia ; but D r Southey should n o t have

said this for he had j ust said before o f the disorders raised in
in truth been the oc ca
t h e colony that Charles Wesley had
sion o f them by his inj udicious zeal

But enough o f this
Southey is no doubt right in saying that the bishop was glad
and that some o f the clergy rej oiced in Wh i t e el d s de
parture as a happy riddance H e guessed well although he

reasons ill in this instance A ccordingly the bishop s satis
factory answer t o Whiteeld did not prevent some o f the

London clergy from shutting their pulpits against him
Soon
after this two clergymen sent fo r me and told me t hey would
not let me preach in their pulpits any more unless I renounced
that part o f the preface o f my sermon on Regeneration
wherein I wished that my brethren would entertain their audi
tories oftener with discourses o n the new birth This I had
not freedom to do and s o they continued my opposers

What I believe irritated some o f my enemies the more
was my fre e conversation with many o f the serious dissenters
who invited me to their houses a n d told me repeatedly that
if the doctrine o f the new birth and j ustication by faith was
WH I T E F I E L D
LI FE AN D TIM E S
53
preached powerful l y in the church there would be but few dis

senters in E ngland
Who the dissenters were that said this
cannot now be ascertained : but certainly they were not s er i ou s
d i ss en te r s n o r sound reasoners however serious they may have
been as C hristians for wherever these doctrines are powerfully
prea ched in the church there are many d i ssenters The pro
gress o f both dissent and methodism keeps pace with the
progress o f evangelical sentiment in the church and ever must
do whilst they continue evangelical Whiteeld was however
simple enough to believe what he wished and honest enough to
act accordingly i n this instance
My practice in visiting and
associating with (these dissenters) I thought was quite agr ee
able to the word of Go d Their conversation was savoury an d
I j udged
rightly says D r Southey ) that the best way to
bring them over was n o t by bigotry and railing but by m o
deration and love and undissembled holiness of life

But these reasons were o f no avail O ne m i nister called
me a p r a g ma t i ca l r a sca l and vehemently inveighed against me
and the whole body o f dissenters together

D r Southey ex
plains the serious o ffence thus taken by the clergy by s ay

ing
for the evils which puritanism had brought on this
kingdom were at that time neither forgotten nor fo r given

N o thanks to the D octor if ever they should be so ! H e has
done all he could to perpetuate their memory It will not
however live long The a ccidental evils o f puritanism like
those o f the Reformation will soon b e forgiven and forgotten
t o o in the enj oyment o f the truth and liberty which the puri
tans bought and sealed with their blood Wycliffe and Baxter
Latimer and O wen Cranmer and Howe will be associated and
enshrined names in the temple o f C hristianity when all who
have hindered thei r identication will be nameless o r named
only to be pitied and wondered at for ever
Whiteeld found pulpits in London until he embarked for
A merica N o t many indeed seem to have been shut against
him
I have been wearied almost t o death he says
in
preaching
The nearer the time o f my embarkation ap
the
more
a
ectionate
and
eager
people
grew
A
ll
f
f
r o a ch e d
p
ranks gave vent to their passion Thousands and thousands o f
,
WH I T EF I E LD
54
S LI FE AND TIM E S
prayers were put up fo r me The people w o uld run and stop

m e in the alleys o f the churches hug me in their arms and fol
Such a sa crament I never s aw b e
l o w me with wishful look s
fore a s at St D un s t an s The tears o f the communicants
mingled with the cup and had not Jesus given us some o f his
new wine our parting would have been insupportable
A t length having preached in a good part o f the London
churches collected about a t housand pounds for the charity
s chools and g o t upwards o f three hundred pounds fo r the poor
in Georgia I left London o n D ec 2 8t h 1 7 3 7 in the twenty
third year of my age and went in the strength o f God as a poor
pilgrim on board the Whitaker
CH A PTE R III
WH IT EF I E L D
S F I R S T V O Y A GE
AN D
IS IT
T HE
TO
GE O R GI A
settlement of Georgia was begun in 1 7 3 3 by a number o f

E nglish people who were brought over by General O glethorpe
O n the rst of F ebruary of that year General O glethorpe and
his colony entered the Savannah river and the same night the
tents were rst pitched where the city o f Savannah now stands
F or several days the pe ople were employed in erecting a fo r t i
cation and in felling the woods while the general marked out
t h e t o wn
The rst house was b egun o n the ninth ; and t h e
town after the Indian name of the river which ran by it wa s
called Savannah The fort being completed the guns mounted
and t h e colony put into a state o f safety the next obj e ct o f
O glethorpe s attention was to treat with the Indians for a share
o f their possessions
In his intercourse with t h e Indi ans he was greatly assisted
by an Indian woman whom he found in Savannah o f the
She had resided among the E nglish
n ame o f M ary Musgrove
i n another part o f the country and was well a cquainted with
their language She wa s o f great use therefore to G eneral
O glethorpe in interpreting what he said to the Indians and
what t hey said to him F or this service he gave her a hundred
pounds a year
A mong those who came o ver with General O glethorpe was
a man named Thomas B o s o m wo r t h who was the chaplain o r
minister o f the colony Soon after his arrival he married the
above mentioned Indian woman Mary Musgrove Unhappily
B o s o m wo r t h was a t heart a bad man although by profes s i on
He was distingui shed fo r his
h e was a minister o f the gospel
,
WH I T EF I E L D
56
S LI FE AN D TIM E S
pride and l o ve of riches and influence A t the same time he

was very artful Yet o n account of his profession he was for
a time much respected by the Indians
A t one o f the great councils o f the Indians this artful man
induced some o f the chiefs to crown M al at ch e o n e of the
greatest among them and to declare him prince and emperor
A fter this he made his wife call herself the
o f all the Creeks
eldest sister o f M al a t ch e ; and s h e told the Indians that o n e o f
her grandfathers had been m ade king by the Great Spirit over
all the Creeks The Indians believed what Mary told them ;
fo r since General O glethorpe h a d been s o kind to her they had
become very pr o ud o f her They called a great meeting o f the
chiefs together and Mary made them a long talk She told
them that they had b een inj ured by the whitesthat they were
getting away the lands o f the Indians and would soon drive
them from all their possessions She said We must assert
we must
o ur rights w e must arm ourselves against them
drive them from our territories Let us call forth ou r warriors
I will head them Stand by me and the houses which they
have ere cted shall smoke in ruins
The spirit of Queen Mary was contagious E very chief
present declared himself ready to defend her to the last dr op o f
his blood
A fter due preparation the warriors were called forth They
had painted themselves afresh and sharpened anew their toma
hawks fo r the b attle The march wa s n o w commenced Queen
Mary attended by her infamous and wicked husband the real
author o f all their dis content headed the savage throng
Before they reached Savannah their approach was an
The people we r e j ustly alarmedthey were few in
n ou n ce d
n umber and though they had a fortication and cannon they
had no good reason t o hope that they should be able to ward o ff
the deadly blow which was aimed against them
By this time the savages were in sight o f Savannah A t
this critical moment an E nglishman by the name o f N oble
Jones a bold and daring m a n rode forth with a few spirited
men o n horseback to meet them A s he approached them
he exclaimed in a voice like thunder : Ground y o ur arms !
.
WH IT E F I E LD
57
gr ound y our arm s ! not an armed Indian shall set his foot in
this town
A we struck by his lofty tone and perceiving h i m and his
c o mpa nion s ready to dash in among them they paused an d
soon after laid down their arms B o s o m wo r th and his queen
were now summoned to march into the city and it was per
mi t t e d the chiefs and other Indians to foll o w but with o ut their
arm s
O n reaching the parade ground the thunder o f fteen can
n o n red at the same moment told th em what they might e xpect
should they persist in their hostile designs The Indians were
now marched to the hous e of the president o f the council in
Savannah B o s o mwor t h was required to leave the Indians wh il e
the president had a friendly talk with them
In h i s address to them he assured them o f the k indness o f
the E nglish and demanded what they m eant by coming in this
warlike manner
In reply they t old the president that they heard that Mary
w as to b e sent over the great waters and they had come to lear n
why they were to lose their queen
F inding that the Indians had been deceived and that B o
that he had even
s o m wo r t h was the author of all the trouble
intended t o get possession o f the m agazine and to destroy the
whites the council dire cted him t o be seized and to be thr o wn
into prison
This st ep M ary resented with great S pirit Rushing forth
among the Indians S h e openly cursed General O glethorp e
although he had raised her from poverty and distress and de
cl ar e d that the whole world should know that the ground she
trod upon was her own
The warlike spirit o f the Indians being thus likely to b e r e
newed it was thought advisable to imprison Mary also This
was accordingly carried into e ffe ct A t the same time to ap
pease the Indians a sumptuous feast was m ade for the chiefs
by the p r esident who during the better state o f feeling which
seemed t o prevail t o ok occasion to explain to them the wicked
ness o f B o s o m wo r th and h o w by falsehood and cunning he had
led them to believe that Mary was really their queena de
W H IT EF I E LD
58
S LI FE A N D TI M E S
their great chiefs

Br o thers said he
it is n o such thing
Queen Mary is no other than Mary
Musgrove whom I fo und poor and wh o has been made the
dupe of the artful B o s o m wo r t h and y o u br o thers the dupes
o f b o th
The aspect of things was n o w pleasant The Indians were
b eginning t o be satised of the villany o f B o s o m wor t h and o f
the real character o f Mary But at this moment the door wa s
thrown open and t o the surprise o f all Mary b urst into the
room She had made her es cape from prison ; and learning
what was going o n she rushed fo rward with the fury o f a
tigress exclaiming as she entered Seize yo ur arms seize y our
arm s ! Remember your promise and defend y our queen
The sight of their queen seemed in a m oment to bring back
In an instant every
all the original ardour o f the enterprise
chief had seized his t o mahawk and sprung fr o m the ground to
rally at the call o f their queen
A t this moment C aptain Jones wh o was present p er cei v
ing the danger of the president and the o ther whites drew his
sword and dem anded peace The m aj esty o f his countenance
the re o f his eye and t h e glittering o f his sword told Queen
Mary what she might expect should she attempt t o raise any
higher the feverish spirit o f her subj ects
The Indians cast an eye towards Mary as if to inquire what
they should do H er c o untenance fell Perceiving his ad van
t age Captain J o nes stepped forward and in the presence o f
the Indi ans s tanding round again conducted Mary b ack t o
pris o n
A sh o rt impris o nment so far humbled b o th Bo s omwor t h
and Mary that each wr o te a letter in which they c o nfessed the
wr o ng they had done and pr o mised if released that they w o uld
conduct themselves with more pr o priety in future The people
kindl y forgave b o th and they left the city
But they did n o t perfo r m their promise A gain B o s o mwo r t h
tried t o make Mary queen and t o get p o ssession o f three large
islands cal led O s s al aw Sapelo and St Catharine s H e pre
tended that they had been given to him by the Indians Being
h o wever unable t o m ake himself master o f them he went over
s cen d an t
o f one
of
WH IT EF I E LD
59
to E ngland with Mary where he instituted a law suit for their

re covery
A t length having obtained St Catharine s island
by a j udgment o f the court he returned with his wife and
took up his residence upon that island There Mary died
Some time after B o s o m wo r t h married one o f his o wn s ervants
who did not survive him A t length he nished his o wn i n gl o
rions life and was buried between his two wives upon the island
which had given him s o much trouble

Such (it is said in A merica ) was the rst spe cimen o f a
chaplain which the Indians and colonists at Savannah had b e
fore their eyes N o wonder O glethorpe and the trustees o f
Georgia turned their eyes upon another kind o f men ! The
O xford methodists were accordingly xed upon as men who
appeared to possess the habits and qualities requisite fo r

prea ching the gospel to settlers and the Indians D r Butler
o f Corpus Christi College sounded the W e sl e ys o n the subj ect
and intr o duced them to O glethorpe This was going to the
Opposite extreme A ccordingly o n their arrival in the c olony
they soon proved their un t n es s for the religious management
of an infant settle ment They certainly me ant well and were
shamefully treated : but it is equall y true that they were both
very imprudent
D r S o uthey however implicates Charles
Wesley t o o deeply in the m utinies o f th e period : for he ought
to have known that O gleth o rpe a cquitted him o f this charge
and o ffered to build h i m a house and t o all o w him a deputy if
he would return to the colony This is j ust a s true and was
as easily ascertained as that O glethorpe who had bee n brutal
enough to give away from under Charles the ol d bedstead o n

which he lay in a fever afterwards embraced and kissed him
with cordial a ffe ction

The D octor even say s that the e xp l a
nation then given s o satised the general that hi s feelings
were entirely changed all his old love and condence return
ed
and yet he says that Charles had in truth been the c c
casion o f the disorders by his inj udicious zeal

O n the other
hand however Watson has admitted int o his answer to
Southey a vindication o f Charles Wesley from the pen o f his
daughter somewhat inconsistent with the ackn o wledgment that
the We sley s held the reins of e ccle s ia s tical discipline with a
-
60
WH IT E F I E L D
tightness unsuitable to infant colonists especially and which
tended to provoke resistance

But the chara cter o f neither brother should be j udged o f
from their career in Georgia I qu i t e ag r ee with Watson that
their integrity o f heart and the purity o f their intentions
came forth without a stain for although I have heard reports
a n d been told o f letters which implicate John in more than
imprudence I have found no o n e to authenticate the reports o r
to produce the letters Besides Whiteeld returned from
Georgia unchanged in his love o r e steem for Wesley : a c o n
e lusive proof that he found nothing to j ustif the
y
fa ma cl a m osa
N othing in his j ournals letters o r diary indicates a suspicion
(I have learnt since I wrote this paragraph that Wesley s pri
v ate j ournals o f the C a us ton a ffair have been discovered by
the Conference and that they j ustify my argument )
It was to this new colony then in danger from the Spaniards
a n d irritated by the Wesleys
that Whiteeld went fo rth so
cheerfully although solemnly H e does not indeed say that
h e knew the distracted state o f the people but it is quite evi
dent from the way in which he prepared fo r his work and from
the spirit in which he began his lab ours that O glethorpe or
some of the trustees had apprized him o f the rocks o n whic h
h i s predecessors had split
Both his hopes and his fears prove
that he was not ignorant of wha t he had to do nor of what he
h ad to undo
All his conduct and especially his utter disregard
o f Wesley s oracular
shows clearly
L e t h i m r e t u r n t o L o n d on
th at his heart was s e t upon h ealing the breaches in the colony
that thus th e benevolent and pure designs of its founders might
be carried into e ffect
In this spirit and for this purpose Whiteeld embarked for
Georgia in the latter end of D ecember 1 7 3 7 It was how
ever the end o f January 1 7 3 8 before the vessel wa s fairly o n
her way ; owing to contrary winds His re ception o n board
w a s as might be expected fro m a motley group of soldiers and
sailors o f a mixed k ind The captains of both with the s u r
geon and cadet treated him for a time as an impostor ; and
to mark their contempt for him turned the vessel into a gam
bling house during the whole rst sabbath The fact i s he
,
'
WH IT EF I E LD
h ad
S L I FE AN D TI M E S
61
begun the day before to read prayers on deck : but he

a dded to this a short sermon o n the text
I am determined to
kno w nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him cruci
ed
This gave offence The o fcers and soldiers attended
with decency and reverence to the prayers but when he told
them in the sermon what his future conduct would be they

were indignant ; and to prove it began the sabbath with the
hautboy and S pent it in card playing and blasphemy
He seems to have foreseen this burst o f Opposition ; and he
wisely escaped from it
Sunday Jan 1 Rose early in the
morning and retired to an adj acent hill with my friends to
prayer
That day however he also preached three times
(once extempore for he had only taken t wo sermons with him )
in the church at Gravesend This was not cowardice H e
himself was unwilling to leave his o wn fl ock in the ship and

he did not leave them without reading prayers again o n the
Saturday evening H e yielded however to the urgency o f his
friends and very properly
This does not appear from his journals because he would not
leave a ree ction upon a crew which afterwards treated h i m
respectfully : but it appears from his private diary D r Gil
lies says truly
It is worth while to observe with what pru
dence he was helped to behave and how Go d was pleased to
bless his patient and persevering endeavours t o d o good

This retreat from a premeditated storm w a s o n e of his pru
dent steps
In the same spirit he b egan his usual work o n b o ard o n
Monday without upbraiding Wherever there was sickness in
the ship he visited counselled and prayed When he could
not assemble the crew to prayers o n deck he read prayers and
expounded any where between decks Wh en the soldiers could
not o r would not attend he devoted himself to the religious
education of their children When he could s ay nothing to
t h e swearing o fcers he turned a l ook up o n them which they
understood Thus he was never idl e n o r unamiable
Whilst thus employed a heavy gale sprung up at t h e N ore
which created some alarm and more sickness E ven the o f
cers felt thankful that the ves s el was at the No re and n o t in
,
WH IT EF I E LD
62
the D owns (for s h e had dragged her anchor tw o

which they had been trying to reach A ccordingly they r e
quested Whiteeld to read prayers to them in the grand cabin
What a dif
o n Sunday in addition t o the service on deck
fe r en t aspect the ship wore o n the preceding sabbath ! But he
had endeared himself during the week by courtesy and kind
ness and had spent the whole morning of this sabbath in going
from hammock to hammock amongst the sea sick administer
ing s ag e t ea to them as well as good advice
He availed himself o f this favourable turn of feeling to o h
tain for himself more a ccommodation in the ship for hitherto
he had no place o f retirement for prayer or study He seems
however to have been somewhat afraid o f a refusal ; for he
o ffered the captain money for the occasional u s e o f his cabin
This was not in good taste but the captain overlooked that,and
politely granted his request
The military captain also (whom Whiteeld dreaded most)
sent him an invitation to take co ffee in his cabin He went ;
and took the opportunity of saying to him that he thought it
a little odd to pray and preach to the servants and not to the
master !
This good humoured hint he followed up by pro
posing to read a collect now and then to him and the other
gentlemen in the great cabin

A t rst the captain shook his
head ; but after a pause he said I think w e may when we
have nothing e l se to do
When the ship reached Margate another storm arose at
midnight accompanied by vivid lightning which seemed to s e t
the sea on re The long boat was lost and many of the s ol
diers taken very ill Whiteeld became literally the n ur s e of
his red coated parishi o ners a s he called the soldiers H e

superintended the making o f sage tea and broth and d is t r i
buted them amongst the s ick with his own hands
Whils t thus employed he gained the esteem of the surge o n ;
and so ingratiated himself wit h th e wives o f the soldiers that
fteen o f them agreed to meet to hear him explain the Cate
chism E ven the captains again requested him to read prayers
in the state cabin and expressed their approbation o f his

c o nduct
WH I T E F I E L D
S LI FE A N D TIM E S
63
W h ilst the vessel w as lying in the D owns h e ventur ed o ne
day to remove The Independent Whig from the captain s
pillow an d repla ce it with a book called The S ell ecei ver

N ext morning the captain came t o him smiling and asked who
had made the exchange ? Whiteeld confessed the charge
and begged his acceptance o f the book It produced a visible
change The military captain also without being again asked
requested tha t they might have public service and expounding
twice a day in the great cabin

In this manner with occasional preaching o n shore he spent
the month during which the ship was waiting for a fair wind ;
and in that time not a few o f both the soldiers and sailors b e
came very serious and the ship s company at large orderly
A t length the wind changed and sailing orders were given In
the hurry o f this m o vement Whiteeld fell d o wn the stairs o f
the steerage but received little or no hurt

In a few days
after the vessel had a very narrow escape
The men upon
deck not keeping a good look o u t an E ast Indiaman ran so
v ery near that had n o t Captain Whiting been upon deck and
b eseeched them to tack about the ship s must inevitably have
split o n e aga inst an o t h er

Altogether it was a peril ou s v o yage to Gibraltar : but al
though the s cene was new and t h e labour t rying Wh i t e el d s
patience never failed The foll o wing sketch is very charac
t er i s t i c
F eb 1 4 th May I never forget this day s mercies
since the Lord has dealt s o lovingly with me ! A bout twelve
at night a fresh gale ar o se which increased so very much by
fo ur in the morn ing t hat the waves raged horribly indeed and
broke in like a great river o n many of the poor soldiers wh o
lay near the main hatchway Friend H abersham and I knew
nothing of it ; but perceived ourselves very restless and could
not sleep at all I arose and called on God for myself and all
that sailed with me absent friends and all mankind A fte r
this I went on deck but surely a more noble and awful sight
my eyes never beheld for the waves rose more than mountain
high and sometimes came o n the quarter deck I endeavoured
all the while to magni fy God for making his power to be
known ! A nd then creeping on m y kn ees fo r I knew n o t
,
WH IT EF I E LD
64
else t o g o I went between decks and sung psalms an d

comforted the poor we t people A fter this I read prayers in
the great cabin Then I laid myself across a chair reading
But God was so good that though t hings were tumbling the
ship rocking persons falling down around me I was never more
cheerful in my life I also nished a sermon before I went to
bed though in the midst o f company

O n his a rrival at Gibraltar he was c o urte ously received and
hospitably entertained by the governor rst and then by Maj or
Sabine and General Columbine
Gillies reverses the or de r o f
this reception Sabine did not seek ou t Whiteeld until some
days after he had visited the governor B ut whilst all these
attentions gratied him he was most interested by a little
group of pious soldiers who for twelve years had b een the
m e t h od i s t s o f Gibraltar
A t rst they had a ssembled secretly
in dens and caves o f the rock for prayer and conversation
The character and spirit o f the venerable governor soon led
them however to apply for permission to build a house o f
prayer for themselves But instead o f granting this he gave
them the free use o f the church ; and there they state dl y met
fo r worship three times a day
They seem to hav e been non
conformists and thus were called n ew l ig h ts
whilst another
society o f the S cotch church were c alled dark l a n t h or n s

Besides visiting the popish chapel and preaching frequently
in the protestant church he attended the Jewish synagogue
and was agreeably surprised when o n e o f the rulers showed
him into the chief seat The rabbi had heard him preach the
day b efore against swearing and n o w thank ed h i m for his s er
m on
Whiteeld remained in the synagogue during the whole
service engaged he says in secret prayer that the veil might
b e taken from the heart o f the Jews and they gra ffed again
into their o wn olive tree

His success at Gibral tar was remarkable He says quaint ly
Samson s riddle was fullled there : o ut o f the strong came
forth sweetness Wh o more unlikely to be wrought upon than
soldiers
A nd yet amongst any s e t o f people I have not been
where Go d has made his power more known
Many that were
quite stark blind have re ceived their sight ; many that had
how
W H IT E F I E LD
fallen
S LI FE AND TIM E S
65
back have repented and turned to the Lo r d again ; many

that were ashamed to o wn Christ openly have waxen bold ;
and many saints had their hearts lled with j o y unspeakable
and full of glory

When the j ournal of this revival was rst published in E ng
land i t called forth an answer from some T G even more
foolish than any thing Tristram Land M A had written
Taking the words many that were quite stark blind have r e
c e i v e d their sight
literally he says with all gravity
This
being a thing so seldom heard o f it seems likely to b e a fa l s i ty
and that he inserted it here to have the world think that God
worked this miracle o n his a ccount !

Straws show h o w the
wind blows and therefore I will add a few specimens o f this
rst commentary o n Wh i t e el d s rst j ournal Because he
had lamented the want of the divine presence o n one occasion ;
and had rej oic e d on its return ; T G says
What he means
will puzzle any o n e for by God s being with him at one time
and n o t at another seems to infer as if he denied the omni
presence of the D eity
When Whiteeld says that he was
enlarged in intercession T G remarks A n o dd expression

this and inexplicable but it frequently o ccurs
Whiteeld
says of a dying christian His soul seems full o f God T G
observes
A n o dd expression this and needs explanation
T G concludes by re c o mmen di ng in the words o f Sylvester
That we should go to our B A P TISM for the d a t e o f our rege
n er at i o n
What must hav e been the state o f popular senti
ment and feeling when such n o nsense could obtain readers ?
And yet the authorship o f th is anonymous pamphlet was
ascribed to an ex fellow o f a college ; who alth o ugh he dis
claimed it did not obj ect to its principles o r spirit
L a nd s
,
L e t t er t o t h e R e l i g i o us S oci e t i es ,
1 739
E arly in March the vessels left Gibraltar and proceeded

,
on
their voyage : and b eing soon in the trade winds they often
j oined at the hours o f public worship O n o n e o ccasion Cap
tain Mackay after Whiteeld had preached against d runken
ness urged the men to attend to the things that had been
spoken ; telling them that he had been a notorious swearer
until he had done so and besee ching them fo r Christ s sake
-
WH IT EF I E LD
66
S LI FE AND TI M E S
t o give up their sins O n an o th e r occasi o n whilst marrying a

couple o n deck Whiteeld suddenly shut the prayer book in
the midst o f the cerem o ny because the bridegr o om had b e
haved with levity : and not until the laughter was turned into
weeping would he pr o ceed A t the cl o se he gave the bride
a Bible
The ships were n o w almost as orderly as churches when the
weather allowed of w o rship The drum summoned them to
morning and evening prayers The captains vied in kindness
and attention t o the chaplain Cards and profane bo oks were
thrown o verboard in exchange for religious books The women
in the Whitaker exclaimed What a change in our captai n !

A n oath became a strange t hing The soldiers began to learn
t o read and write and the children t o repe a t their prayers r e
This general impressi o n was deepened by the p r eva
g ul ar l y
lence of a fever o n board ; during which Captain Whiting
accompanied Whiteeld in crawling betwee n decks t o admi
nister medicine and cordials to the sailors
O ne o f the su fferers a negr o boy had neve r been baptized
Whiting pledged Whiteeld to instruct and baptize him in the
event o f his recovery The poor lad h o wever died and was
buried without the service b eing read over him The chaplain
wa s afraid to ven t ure upon such a can o nical irregularity al
though he was no believer in baptis mal regenerati o n
The
d r um however was beaten o n the o ccasi o n and an address
given to the wh ole ship s crew calling on them t o prepare for
the time when the sea shall give up its dead
Many little traits o f Wh i t e el d s character may be traced
in his j ournal s o f this voyage I o nly menti o n another
his
tact in turning every incident into a lesson for himself or others
When a sh ark was caught with ve pilot sh cl inging to its
ns he says Go t o the pilot s h thou that fo r s ak es t a fr i end in
adversity ; c o nsider his ways and be a bash ed

When a d ol
phin was caught the change o f its hues from lovely to livid r e
minds him th at j ust s o is man he o urishes for a little but
when death c o meth how quickly his beauty is gone ! A chris
tian may learn instructi o n from every thing he meets with

When dark ness came o n whilst he wa s pre a ching o n G oo d
,
WH IT EF I E LD
Friday he says
S LI FE AND
T IM E S
67
It put me in mind o f that darkness which
o verwhelmed the world when the God o f nature su ffered

The fever which o nly three or four in the ship escaped at
length laid hold upon Whiteeld and conned him to his bed
The attack though short must have been severe
fo r a week
for besides blisters and vomit he was bled three times D uring
his illness the captain gave up his own bed to him Habersha m
watched him day and night and (which delighted him m ost )
the sick between de cks whom he had perilled his life to con
sole prayed fervently for him He soon rec o vered and repaid
the kindness of all
A t length o n May 5 t h they came in sight of Savannah
river and sent o ff for a pilot and such was the j oy of all when
they came to anchor at Tyby island that h e could not help ex
claiming How innitely more j oyful will the children o f God
be when having passed through t h e waves of this troublesome
w o rld they arrive at the haven of everlasting rest !

Though
red c o ated
s till weak he preached a farewell sermon t o his
and blue j acketed parishioners as he called his military and

naval congregation It was heard with oods o f tears
Upon this voyage says Gillies

he made t h e following
r eections many years after

E ven at this distance of time
the remembrance o f the happy hours I enj oyed in religious ex
er ci s es on deck is refreshing to my s oul ; and alth o ugh nature
sometimes relented at being taken fr o m m y friends and I was
little accustomed t o the inc o nve n ience o f a s ea life yet a co n
s c i o u s n es s t h at I h a d the glory o f God and the good of s o uls in
view a fforded me from time t o time unspeakable satisfacti on

Wh iteeld was cordially welc o med at Savannah by D el am o t t e
and other friends of Wesley The magistrates also o ffered to
wait upon him to pay their respects This he declined and
waited on them ; when they agreed to build him a tabernacle
and h ou s e at F rederica and t o a ccept his services at Savannah
He was s o on laid aside ag ain however
as long as he pleased
by a return of his fever which terminated in agil e
This
attack brought him so l o w for a few days and made such an
alterati o n in his pers o n that he says
Had my fr iends seen
me at that h o ur they might have learnt n o t t o have any man s
F 2
,
W H IT EF I E LD
68
S LI FE AND TIM E S
person in admiration and n o t to think more highly o f me tha n
they ought to think

The rst thing he di d after his recovery was to visit Tom o
This w a s the
C l zi cl zi the Indian king then o n his death bed
mic c e o r king whom O glethorpe brought to E ngland in 1 7 34
and introduced t o George II H e was accompanied by his
wife and son and seven other Indians o f the Creek nation His
eloquent speech to the king and queen i s well known ; and
was so well received at court t hat he was loaded w i th presents
and even sent in one o f the royal carriages to Gravesend when
he had to embark again
He n o w lay says Whiteeld
on a blanket t hin and
meagre little else but skin and bones S en an k i his wife s a t
by fanning him with Indian feathers There was no one could
talk E nglish s o I could only shake hands with him and leave
him
A few days after Whitefi eld went again to visit Tomo
Chichi and found that his nephew T o o an o o we e could S peak
E nglish
I desired him to a sk his uncle whether he thought
he should die ; who answered I cannot tell I then asked
where he thought he should go after death ? He replied to
heaven But alas h o w can a drunkard enter there ! I then
exhorted T o o an o o we e (who is a tall proper youth) not to g e t
drunk telling him that he understood E nglish and therefore
would be punished the more if he did not live better I then
asked him whether he believed a heaven ? He said Yes I
then asked whether he believed a hell ? and des cribed it by
pointing to the re H e replied N o From whence we may
easily gather how natural it is to all mankind to believe there
is a place of happiness because they wish it to b e s o ; and o n
the contrary how averse they are to belie ve a place o f torment
because they wish it may not b e s o But God is j ust and tru e
and as surely as the righteous shall go away into everlasting
happiness so the impenitently wicked shall g o int o everlasting
punishment
D r Southey has quoted part o f this paragraph in a n o te and
W h iteeld was not so likely (as Wesley) to
prefaced it thus
have led these Indians into the right way if we may j udge from
his conference with po o r Tomo Chichi when that chief was at
,
WHIT EF I E LD
I FE AND TIM E S
69
the
point o f death
If the D octor mean that Whiteeld sh ould
have shown a dying drunkard how pardon might be obtained
instead of exclaiming
Alas how S hall a drunkard enter
heaven ! I quite agree with him He mistakes however if he

supposes that this exclamation was addressed t o the chief I t
is Whi t e el d s own private reection on the case when he wrote
an account of it ; and distinguished like all his private r e ec
tions o f a solemn kind by i t a li cs Besides it is highly i mp r o
bable that Whiteeld the man wh o had just been teaching
soldiers and sailors the way to heaven would have thus abrupt
l y shut the door o n a dying Indian ! He who warned the young
nephew w ould not forget to w o o the ol d uncle ; although the
r es ul t only and n o t the pro cess appears in his j ournal
When Whiteeld was su fciently re covered to survey the
colony the state o f the ch i l d r en a ffected him deeply The ide a
o f an orphan house in Georgi a had been suggested to him by
Charles Wesley b efore he himself had any thought o f going
abroad
and now that he saw the condition of the colonists
he said
nothing but an o rphan house can e ffect the educa
tion o f the children From this moment he set his heart upon
founding one as soon as he c o uld raise funds In the mean
time he did what he could he Opened a school for the villages
o f Highgate and Hampstead ; and o n e for girls at Savannah
He then visited the S al t zbur gh er s orphan school at E benezer ;
and if any thing was wanting to perfect his own design o r to
iname his zeal he found it there The S al t zbur gh er s them
selves were exiles for conscience sake and eminent for piety
and industry Their ministers Gr e n aw and Bol t zius we re
truly evangelical Their asylum which they had been enabled
to found by E nglish benevolence for widow s and orphans was
ourishing Whiteeld was s o delighted with the order and
harmony o f E benez er that he gave a share of his own poor s
store to B ol t z iu s for his orphans Then came the scene

which completed Wh i t e el d s purpose B ol t zi u s called all
the children before him catechised and exhorted them to give
God thanks for his good providence towards them th en pray
ed with them and made them pray after him : then sung a
psalm A fterwards the l i t t l e l a m bs ca me a n d sh ook m e by t h e
,
IO
VVH I T E F I E L D
hand
on e
by
a nd
on e
so
S LI FE
we p
AN D
a r ted
TIM E S
F r o m this m o ment
Whiteeld made his purpose his fate

A fter spending a few weeks at Savannah lab o uring as hard
as his health would permit he went to Frederica where he was
gla dl y received ; the people having had a famine o f the word
for a long season

They had no sanctuary : and t herefore he
had t o preach under a tree o r in H ab e r sh am s house This
visit although short endeared him t o all the people ; and he
had the satisfacti o n before he left t o see them sawing t imber
for a c o mm o dious place of worship until a church could be
built
His return t o Savannah was hastened by a circumstance
which Gillies overlooked O ne o f his friends (he does not say
which) had lost himself in the woods and was missing from
Tuesday t o Friday The great g uns had been red in vain t o
dire ct the wande rer Some o f the people had searched day
and night for him without success This report was sent t o
Whiteeld an d it hurried him away from F rederica H e had
the pleasure h o wever on his arrival at S avannah t o nd his
lost sheep
Here an instance o f refusing t o read the burial service o c
curred which is m o re creditable to him than its omission in
the case of the p oo r negro boy It will be best told in his own
words
I was obliged to day to express my resentment
against indelity by refusing to read the Burial O f ce over the
most professed unbeliever I ever yet met with
God was
pleased to visit him with lingering illness during which I went
to see him frequently About ve weeks ago I asked him
what religion he was o f
H e answered Religion was of s o
many sects he knew not which to choose
A nother time I
o ffered t o pray with him ; but he w o uld not a ccept it Upon
which I res olved to g o t o see him n o more But being told
two days before he died that he had an inclination t o see me I
went again and after a little conversation put the following
questions to him : D o you believ e Jesus Christ t o be God
and the o n e Mediat o r between God and man ?
He said I
believe Jesus Christ was a good man
D o y o u believe the
h oly Scrip t ures ?
I believe something of the O ld Test a
.
WH I T EF I E L D S L I FE
TIM E S
AN D
ment : the N ew I do not believe at all

D o y o u believe
sir a j udgment t o c o me ? He turned himself about and r e
plied I kn o w not what to say to that
Alas sir said I
if all these things should be true what
which words
I believe gave him great c o ncern ; for h e seemed after t o be
very uneasy grew delirious and in a day or tw o departed U n
happy manhow quickly he was convinced ! The day after
his de cease he was carried t o the ground and I refused to read
the o fce over him
but I went to the grav e and told the
people what had passed between him and me and warning al l
against indelity I asked them whether I c o uld safely say
A s our hope is this o ur brother doth ?
Upon which I b e
lieve they were thoroughly satised that I had done right

This was equally creditable to the preacher and the people
A few days aft er this event Whiteeld preached his farewell
sermon at Savannah ; it being necessary for him t o return to
E ngland How much he l o ved and was bel o ved although only
as a wayfaring man turning aside to t arry for a night may

be j udged from his o wn acc ount
I preached my farewell
sermon t o th e great grief of my dear parishioners whose hearts
were full as well as mine which we all sh o wed by many tears
But a sensible alterati o n appeared in their countenances when
I promised them solemnly b efo re G o d t o return as soon as
possible
N ext day he went t o Charleston in S o uth Car olina to e m
bark for E ngland Gillies s ays that Commissary Garden e n
treated him t o preach in the church This is tru e : but Gar
den was the e cclesi a s t i ca l n o t the civil commissary I mention
th is because his kindness t o Whiteeld wa s gre a t at rst
It
is thus rec o rded in the revised j o urnals
The bishop o f Lon
don s commissary the Rev Mr G received me very cour
t e o u sl y and o ffered me a lodging
How does Go d raise up
friends wherever I go !
Gil l i e s s account will now be better
appreciated :
Mr G thank ed him most cordially (he had
preached twice in the chu r ch ) and assured him t hat he would
defend him with his life and property should the same arbitrary
proceedings c o mmence a gainst him which Mr Wesley met
with in Ge o rgia He als o s aid s o methi n g ab out th e c olo n y
WH IT EF I E LD
72
of
Georgia which much encouraged Whiteeld ; as if he
thought its ourishing not far o ff ; and instanced Charleston
as now fteen times bigger than when he came there

This
life and fortune friend put o n a new face afterwards
Gillies sums up Wh i t e el d s labours in Georgia thus : It
had been his practice to re ad prayers and expound (besides
visiting the sick ) twice a day O n Sunday he expounded at
ve in the morning at ten read prayers and preached ; and at
three in the afternoon ; and at seven in the evening he expounded
the Church Catechism H o w much easier it is for the clergy
in E ngland S cotland and Ireland t o nd fault with such a
faithful brother in the ministry than to follow his example
The following note from Wh i t e el d s diary will explain in
some measure how he bore the hardships o f his perilous voyage
home
D uring my stay (in Georgia) the weather was most
intensely h o t burning me almost through my shoes Seeing
others do it who were as unable I determined to inure myself
to hardships by lying constantly o n the ground ; which by use
I found to be s o far from being a hardship that afterwards it
b ecame so to lie o n a bed

It was well it did : fo r all the way
home he had no b ed until he reached Ireland No r was this
his only privation o n the voyage
A t the outset they were
tossed from b ar to bar for nea rly a fo r tnight by contrary

winds Their provision began to fail before they had a e com
p l i sh e d a third o f the passage and when they reached Ireland
they were so worn out by famine and fatigue that Whiteeld
s ays they were weak and hollow eyed even in the great cabin
O n landing however he soon rallied and preached with great
power at Limerick and D ublin for some days The account o f
h i s re ception and s uccess will b e found in the chapter
White
eld i n Ireland
,
CH A PT E R I V
WH I T E F I E L D
F I R ST
GR
E A T M E A SU RE S I N L O ND O N
1 7 39
T HESE
had s o much inuence up o n his subsequent character and

career that I shall not interrupt their narrative by his o cca
s i o n al excursions into the c o untry until his position in the me
t r op ol i s i s fully understood
That was indeed inuenced by
his proceedings in Bristol and Wales but he would have b e
come a eld preacher even if he had not begun at Bristol
H e arrived in London again at the close o f 1 7 3 8 after a
perilous voyage This sudden return was forced upon him
not sought by him
I was really happy in my little foreign
cure and could have cheerfully remained among them had I
not been obliged to return to E ngland to receive priest s orders
and make a beginning towards laying the foundation of the
o rphan house A nd thusthe place where I intended to hide
myself in became through my being obliged to return for these
purposes a mean of increasing that popularity which was already
b egun
but which by me was ab s olutely unforeseen and ab s o
l u t el y undesigned
His diary at sea written amidst hurricanes and famine ill us
trates the truth o f this explanation
Had I my o wn will I
could wish myself a speedy passage that I might return the
sooner to those few sheep I have left in S avannah

It was thus
with a single eye and a simple purpose that Whiteeld returned
t o London
The rst thing he did o n his arrival was t o wait o n the
archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of London D r Gil
lies says he was coldly received by them
Whiteeld him
self says
I met with a favourable reception from both ; but
,
74
W H IT EF I E LD
was not so civilly treated by some of the clergy for ve churche s

hav e been already (in two days ) denied me However I had an
opportunity of preaching at St Helen s and at Islington to
large congregations indeed ; and in the evening (o f that rst
sabbath ) I went to a society in F etter Lane where we had
what might not be improperly called a love feast ; eating a
little bread and water and spending two hours in singing and
pr ayers
It was n o w Christmas and he spent alm o st every evening in
e xpounding to and praying with
s o cieties o f this kind O n
Christmas eve he continued the exercise until four in the morn
ing
A t six he says with his chara cteristic simplicity I
went to another in Crutched F riars and expounded as well as I
could but (no w o nder !) perceived myself a little oppressed
with d r ows i n es s
H e had been from four till s i x o clock that
morning in a large meeting in Red Cross Street which is me
m o r abl e from the fact that there for the rst t ime in his life he
ventured to pray ex temp or e

before many witnesses
He
mentions this fact in a n o te o f his diary
D e c 2 5 The rst
time I ever prayed extemp o re b efore such a number

E xt em
pore preaching soon foll o wed this prayer
O n new year s day he writes thus :
Received the holy
sacrament preached twice and expounded twice ; and found
this the happiest new year s day that I ever saw A fterwards
spent the whole night in close prayer psalms and thanksgivings
with t h e F etter Lane society

Wel l might D r Gillies say of
Whiteeld and his friends
religi o u s exercises seemed t o be
their meat and drink

A s might b e expected work of this kind o ffended many It
was shared h o wever fo r a time by some o f the clergy
Jan
5 t h H eld a conference at Islingt o n concerning m any things o f
imp o rtance with seven ministers of Jesus Christ despised me
We
t h o d i s t s whom Go d in h i s providence brought together
continued in fasting and prayer till three o clock ; and then
parted with a full conv iction that Go d was about to do great
things amongst us O h that we may be in any way instrumental
to h i s glory O h that he would make the vessels pure and holy
meet for such a dear Master s use
.
WH IT EF I E L D
S L I FE
TIM E S
AN D
S u ch were Wh i t e el d s habits and such the state o f his mind

when he went to O xford to be ordained a priest
He was
o rdained says Gillies

by his good friend Bish o p Bens o n
Bens o n deserved this epithet fr o m Wh i t e el d s biographer It
is well kn o wn h o wever that he afterwards repented for a time
o f having ever laid his hands up o n George Whiteeld
but
he repented of this repentance an d sent from his dying bed to
Whiteeld a present with a kind request to be remembered in
his prayers
The o rdi nary explanati o n o f all thi s seems to be warranted
by fact Bens o n had been tutor to Lord Huntingdon and was
thus naturally sent fo r t o reas on with the c o untess when she
be came a meth o dist Her Ladyship h o wever re asoned with the
bishop and s o plied him with articles and h o milies in fav o ur of
her creed and with the solemn responsibilities of his o wn o f ce
that she offended him
H e rose up in haste (says my au t h o
rity) t o depart bitterly lamenting that he had ever laid hand s
o n Ge o rge Whiteeld ; to wh o m he imputed though without
cause the change wrought on her Ladyship She called him
back
My L o rd said she mark my w o rds : when yo u c o me
t o your dying bed that will be one of the few o rdinati o ns y o u
will ree ct up o n with c o mplacency
A s before Whiteeld was deeply a ffected by his ordinati o n
He went fr o m the altar to the pulpit t hat very day
t o begi n
t o make proof o f his ministry and preached twice in O xford

and expounded at Carfax in the evening and attended a prayer
meeting at night
O n his return t o L o nd o n he was alternately in the pulpit
and at t hese private meetings and it is dif cult t o say which
o f the two spheres of labour had m o st inuence upon his mind
and m o vements at this time It was certainly the crowding at
church that rst suggested to him t h e idea o f preaching in the
Open air
When I was informed that nearly a thousand people
stood out in the churchyard and that hundreds returned h o me
this put me rst upon thinking of preaching without doors I
mentioned it t o some friends who looked up o n it as a m a d
motion However we kneeled do wn and prayed that nothing
might be d o ne r ashly Hear and answer 0 Lord fo r thy
76
WH IT EF I E L D
S L I FE
TIM E S
AN D
name s sake
It i s evident from this prayer that Whiteeld
himself did n o t think his design a mad motion

But still al
t hough a crowded church suggested it crowded prayer meetings
produced the spirit o f the enterprise It was by expoundi ng
and praying extemp o re that he discovered his o wn power over
himself and others ; and found o u t that the divine presence
might be calculated upon whenever the divine glory was con
s ul t e d
These Pentecostal seasons in private made him feel
through all his soul that he ought to do every thing to win souls
and that he coul d do any thing he might attempt
The inuence o f these meetings upon Whiteeld has never
been fully apprecia t ed They were to him however what the
wilderness was to John the Baptist ; the school o f his spirit
There he caught the holy and heroic impulse which prepared
him to challenge the s crib es and Pharisees any where and de
t e r m i n e d him to warn them in common with publicans and
sinners every where to ee from the wrath to come

I might
go further and without extravagance say that prayer meetings
were to Whiteeld what the third heavens were to Paul ; the
n i s h i ng school o f his ministerial education He was as much
indebted to them for his unction and enterprise as t o Pembroke
Hall fo r his learning o r as to the O xford methodists for h i s
piety or a s to Benson fo r his ordination to the priesthood (for
what o t her bishop would have laid his hands o n him then ?)
W E S L E Y also caugh t t h e primitive ame of evangelization in o n e
o f these private societies at Bristol
for until he s aw how the
Spirit moved on the face o f these meetings , he was s o tena
cions of every thing relating to clerical order and decorum that
he would have c o unted it almost a s i n to save souls ou t o f a
church
Watson without seeming at all struck by the c o i n ci
dence says
Mr Wesley rst expoun ded to a little society in
N icholas Street and n ex t d a y he overcam e h i s scruples and
preached abroad o n an eminence near Bristol to more than two
thousand persons
In all this indeed he was only following
t h e example of Whiteeld who had j ust preceded him as well
as proved both the safety and the success o f the experiment :
but still if t hese things encouraged Wesley it was the social
meeting that convinced and determined him

I hav e s i n ce
WH IT EF I E LD
he says
S LI FE AND TIM E S
77
seen abundant reason to adore the wise providence

o f Go d herein in thus making a way for myriads o f people who
never troubled any church o r were likely to do s o t o hear that
word which they soon found the power o f Go d unto salvation

These facts are as instructive as they are interesting Private
devotional meetings were t hus the cradle o f eld preaching as
surely as eld preaching was the morning star o f E ngland s
How often in grace as in nature God
s e con d reformation !
hangs the greatest weights o n the small est wires
I mean o n
wires a ccoun t ed the smallest by the wisdom of this world and
by the folly of the church for social prayer meetings are the
strongest wires in all the machinery o f the m o ral universe God
hung upon them all the weighty gifts and all the weightier
grace and glory o f P E N T E C O ST
God hung upon them all that
is great and good in the A merican revivals and all that is
amazing in the success of foreign missions It was when the
British churches were as the heart of one man in prayer that
A frican slavery was abolished throughout the British domi
nions
The sp i r i t ua l destiny of A merica n o w hangs o n her
prayer meetings
It is not a mi sn omer to call the religious societies which
Whiteeld and Wesley found in London and Bristol prayer
meetings Whiteeld often mentions the prayers he united in
before he ventured to pray extempore Bishop Hopkins and
D r Horneck were the authors of them The members met
however for other purposes They were bound by their rules
to meet weekly
fo r good discourse ; for the promotion o f
schools and catechising for the relief o f t h e poor and to dis
course only on subj ects tending t o practical holiness and to
avoid all controversy

These societies originated in 1 667 in c o nsequence o f the su c
cess o f D r H o r n e ck s m i n i stry and the morning lectures in
Cornhill which brought many young men to a very a ffecting
sense o f their sins and to a very serious way o f treating religion
The meetings were so well conducted and their in uence o n
public morals so benecial tha t on the accession o f William and
Mary they were patronized by the queen an d a few of the
bishops They gradually h o wever fell into decay Instead of
,
WH IT EF I E LD
78
forty
in London which was their number at t h e beginning o f

the eighteenth century I can only trace about ten in White
el d s j ournals in vigorous o r healthy action
In these how
ever there was evidently much vital go dl iness when Whiteeld
began to expound and pray in them E ven his devotional spirit
was improved by them as w ell as appreciated in them T hey
not only sympathized in all the fervency o f his rst love but
also fanned it into the blaz e o f apostolic zeal Could there be
better proof o f their spiritual health o r discernment ? H o w
vivi dl y and fondl y he remembered the times o f refreshing from
the presence of the Lord vouchsafed in these little sanctuaries

may be j udged from the following n o te in his diary :
O ften
have we been lled as with new wine O ften have I seen them
overwhelmed with the divine presence ; and crying ou t Will
God indeed dwell with men upon earth H o w dreadful is this
place This is no other than the house of God and the gate of
heaven
H e also published a letter to them Whilst thus
engaged and a ffected in London persecution began to assail
him O ne clergyman attacked him by a s currilous pamphlet
Thou shalt answer for me
(of which Whiteeld merely says
my L o rd and my
and others from the pulpit Gillies
says Pulpits rung with invectives against him and the parish
priests t hreatened some o f their parishioners with prosecutions
for letting him expound and pray in their houses

Whiteeld
himself however records o nly o n e instance of threatened pr o
s ecu t i o n in his corrected j ournals
Jan 30t h E xpounded
twice on D o wg at e Hill where the people pressed mightily to
come in The minister o f the parish threatens the master of
the house with a prosecution But blessed be God we breathe
in a fr ee air
I quote this mem o randum for the s ake of the cl o sing excl a
mation He had seen enough o f bigotry and intolerance in the
course o f on e month in London t o turn his attention to the
shields o f liberty Besides during that month Whiteeld had
visited some dissenting christian brethren
and onl y a week
before writing his thanksgiving for the free air o f religious

liberty he had enj oyed an interview with D r Watts at Stoke
N ewingt o n
Jan 2 4 Went to N ewingt o n t o see D r Watts
,
WH I T E F I E LD
79
wh o re ceived me most cordially

This re cord do e s n o t indeed
imply that any thing passed between him and the dissenters o n
the subj e ct o f freed o m but still the coincidence is remarkable
because n o ne of his former visits with dissenters dr ew forth any
apostrophe to liberty Then however he was only personally
assailed but now that his converts were threatened with prose
c u t i o n s nothing was more likely to lead his thoughts to the
subj ect than a visi t to D r Watts even if nothing was s aid o n
the subj ect F or Whiteeld could n o t but see that he must
soon need for himself and his adherents the wh ole panoply o f
toleration if he preached in the open air : and that he had
made up his mind to do two days befor e he penned his apos
t r op h e
Jan 2 8t h Sunday Received the sacrament at
Crooked Lane church : afterwards went and preached at Iron
m o nger s A lms houses not d o ubting but there would b e hun
dreds more than the chapel would hold I took t w o written
s ermons with me one for w i t h i n and the other fo r w i t h ou t
But to my surprise (he might have said disappointment for he
wished to g e t out !) found no more than could conveniently hear
me from the pulpit

In the course of a few days he also ex
h o r t ed the society at D o wg at e Hill particularly
not to forsake
the assembling of themselves together n otw i t h s ta n d i ng th e
people of the house had been threatened with a prosecution

Thus wherever Wh iteeld caught the love o f religious liberty
he soon b o th cherished and spread the sacred ame when into
l er an ce menaced his friends
In the space o f a fortnight from this time Whiteeld was
preachin g to the Bristol colliers on Hannam Mount at Rose
Green ; and o n the twenty se v enth o f April he preached in
Islington churchyard The churchwarden o f Islington had de
m an d e d him to produce his licence although he went t here by
the vicar s appointment to Of c i at e
F or peace sake I de
communion
cl i n e d preaching in the church ; and after the
preached in the churchyard ; being assured my Master n ow
called me out here as well as at Brist o
N ext day he writes
thus
Preached again in Islington churchyard to a congre
The
second
lesson
a t i o n nearly as large again as yesterday
g
was v e r y applicable being A cts x x v I can say with St Paul
3
80
W H IT EF I E L D
N either against the te m ple nor against C ae sar have I done any
thing 5 and yet I am cast out and reviled as an evil doer : but
the S criptures must be fu l ll ed
If they have persecuted Me
they will also persecute y ou
The people must have been
struck by this coincidence : for they had given Wh i t e el d a
collection for his orphan house amounting to 2 2 only a few
weeks before 3 and nothing had happened in the interval to d i s
qualify him for the pulpit but eld preaching 5 and that h ad
not startled the vicar The fact is S t on eh ou s e the vicar was
friendly to the methodists and disliked by the heads o f the
parish I have seen some o f his sermons the delity o f which
i s almost ferocious
A t this time too all London was ringing with the ann o unce
ment that Whiteeld would preach next day (Sunday ) in MO O R
F IE LD S
The thing being new and singular says Gillies
he found on coming o ut o f the coach an incre di ble number
o f people assembled
Many had told him that he should never
come ou t o f that place alive H e went in however between
two friends who by the pressure o f the crowd were soon parted
from him entirely and obliged to leave him to the mercy of the
rabble But these instead o f hurting him formed a lane for
him and carried him along to the middl e o f the elds where a
table had been placed (which was broken in pieces by t h e
crowd ) and afterwards back again to the wall that then parted
the upper and lower M o o r el d s 3 from which he preached with
o u t molestation to an exceeding great multitude in the lower
elds
This is not t o o oratorically told for the greatness o f the o cca
sion That was worthy o f a more graphic and glowing pen
than has yet tried to depict the scene Whiteeld himself how
ever summed up the whole matter in h i s corrected j ournals
thus
Sunday A pril 29 Begun to be yet m ore vile this day
for I preached at M o o r el d s to an exceeding great multitude :
and at ve in the evening went and prea ched at Kennington
Common where upwards o f twent y thousand people were sup
posed to be present The wind being for me it carried my voice
to the extremest part o f the audience All stood attentive and
j oined in t h e psalm and t h e Lor d s prayer s o regularly that I
,
W HIT EF I E L D
81
s carce ever preached wit h more quietness in a church

were much a ffected
Many
F o r t h i sl et m en
re
Id
Idf
s h un n o c r o s s ,
Al l h ai l ,
vi l e
my
n ame ,
ear n o sh am e ,
w el m e p ai n
L or d r e s tr ai n
r ep r o ac h , an d
On l y t h y t e r r o r s ,
co
Such was his own bulletin o f this great eld day when he
wrote for posterity for this is part o f his autobiography
When he wrote for his public j ournals he merely said Preach
e d in the morning at M o o r el d s t o an exce e ding great multi
tude
Then as if he had done no great thing he adds
Went to Christ Church and heard D r Trapp preach most
virulently against me and my friends from these words
Be n o t righteous over much
Go d gave me great serenity
o f mind ; but alas the preacher was not so cal m as I wished
him
It is remarkable that none o f his letters at this time refer to
the enterprise Two days before it he wrote to a friend To
day my Master by his providence and Spirit compelled me to
preach in the churchyard of Islington To morrow I am to
repeat that mad trick and o n Sunday t o go ou t into M o o r el d s
I preach until I sweat through and through

E ven his diary
c o ntains nothing on the subj ect but the following simple note
Words cannot well express the glorious displays o f divine
grace which we saw and heard o f and felt this day H e

had however a decided opinion upon b o th the measure and its
s u ccess
All agreed he says
that it was never seen o n
this ways b efore I hope a good inr o ad has been made into the
devil s kingdom this day L o rd n o t unt o me but unto thy
name be all the glory

J ou r n a l s
E ven all this with all the prospects which it must have
opened o f London as a S phere for vast usefulness di d n o t divert
nor divide Wh i t e el d s heart from his poor o rphans o r his
little ock in the colony 5 for o n the very day after he refused
to preach at all that he might devote himself to their interests
April 3 0 Received letters from Georgi a t his evening telling
me o f the affair s of the c olony They have a melanch oly aspe ct
,
WH IT EF I E L D
82
at present 3 but our extremity is God s opportunity
me
c a l l es t
l o, I
L or d , t h o u
me
co
says Gill ies

M o or el d s
Kennington Comm o n and Blackheath were the chief scenes o f
action A t a moderate computation the auditories often con
sisted o f above twenty thousand It is said their singing could
be heard two miles o ff and his voice nearly a mile Sometimes
there were upwards o f a hundred c o aches b esides waggons
sca ffolds and other contrivances which persons let o u t fo r the
convenience o f the audience

The rising ground o n Black
heath from which Whiteeld preached is still known as
Wh i t e el d s Mount
A fter his death o n e o f h i s n obl e fr iends
f
i r trees
I
believe
planted
it
with
Many
spots
in
the
coun
(
)
try also are thus hallowed by his name 3 and o f these none is
more hallowed than a eld at Gornal in Sta ffordshire Wh en
I visited that hill o f Z ion Wh i t e el d s park was the rs t

obj ect pointed ou t to me although the hill of Gornal is crown
ed with the most complete establishment fo r religious instru o
tion I have ever seen in a rural district The reason was ob
Whiteeld had laid the foundation o f that establishment
v i ous
A nd Gornal is j ust the spot that was sure to arrest him ! H e
could not have lo o ked down from that mount into the vast cup
o f the surrounding valley without weeping over the population
H e must have wished his mighty voice mightier that he might
h
down
to
them
all
H
e
did
what
could
cr
e
3 set a lamp upon
y
the hill
But to return to the metropolis H e was much disapp ointed
and grie ved to nd that notwithstanding all the money he had
formerly obtained fo r the London charities he w as not allowed
except in a few churches H e had
t o collect for Georgia
therefore to carry his begging case into the elds with him
Gillies says Having no other method to take he was obliged
to collect for the orphan house in the elds or n o t at all which
wa s humbli n g t o himself and to the friends who assisted him
in that work 3 but the readi ness with which the people gave
and the prayers they put up while throwing in their mites were
very encouraging
They were s o fo r he thus obtained up
wards of a th o usand pounds for his orphan hou s e He himself
F or several months after this
WH IT E F I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
83
ays
The readiness with which the pe o ple gav e is i ne xp r es s i
ble : for I think they could not have expressed more e arnest
ness or taken more pains had they all b een t o have received
an alms O ne S ign this I hope that the w o rd of G o d h as
taken hold o f their hearts

O n one occ asion he collected in M o or el d s 52 1 9 3 6 d
of which above twenty pounds was in halfpence

O n an
other a t Kennington sixteen of 47 was in copper
He
says
I was o n e o f the collectors ; and methinks it w o uld
have delighted almost any one to have seen with what e ager
ness the people came up both sides o f the eminence o n which I
stood and afterwards to the c o ach do o rs to throw in their
mites !
H e s aw however how all this would seem to the
Pharisees and anticipated them thus in h i s public j ournal :
Preached to nearly sixty thousand people in M o o r el d s and
collected 2 9 1 7 3 8 d and came home deeply humbled with a
s ense of what God had done fo r my soul I doubt not but
many self righteous bigots when they s ee me spreading ou t my
hands to o ffer Jesus Christ freely to all are ready to cry o ut
How glorious did the Reverend Mr Whiteeld look to day
when neglecting the dignity o f a clergyman he stood venting
his enthusiastic ravings in a gown and cassock and collecting
mites from the poor people ! But if t his b e vile Lord grant
that I m ay be more vile Ye sco ffers mock on : I rej oice yea
a n d will rej oice

(He calls them Pharisees in his public
j ournal 3 but in his Life he calls them bigots and scoffers )
O n this memorable day he received the rst letter fr o m
Ralph E rskine
a eld preacher o f the Scots church and a
noble soldier o f the Lord Jesus Christ as he call s him then

He had added to this record in his public j ournal O h that
all t hat are truly zealous knew o ne another !
It must greatly
strengthen each other s hands Whiteeld however did n o t

nd all he expected from this mutual kn o wledge 3 and therefore
excluded the whole re cord from h i s revised j ournals in 1 7 5 6
By that time he knew more about the E rskines ; and though
he still venerated their christian character highly he was t o o
h o nest to c ompliment their spirit
A mongst other coincidences in this mem o rable week n o ne
s
G 2
W HIT EF I E LD
84
S L I FE AND
TI M E S
gratied hi m more than the grant o f ve hundred acres o f land

t o himself and his successors for ever fo r the use of the orphan
house by the honourable trustees for Georgia
They r e
c e i v e d me with the utmost civility and agreed to every thing I
asked
This b e it remembered was done at the very t ime
when all the city was moved by his mad trick in the elds 3
and he returned the compliment to the Honourable Board by
leaving them to preach that evening to twenty thousand people
at Kennington where (j udging fr om the collection after the
sermon) he seems t o have mentioned the grant made to him in
the m orning
A t night he says
my heart was s o full
that I could not well speak I could only pour it ou t in a wfu l
O h the happiness of communion with God !

s i l e n ce
It was also at the height and heat o f this crisis that he en
gaged a passage for himself and eleven others o n board the
E lizabeth to Pennsylvania 3 that he might preach the gospel
and provide for the orphan house o n his way to Georgia s o
little was Wh it e el d s o riginal purpose affected by his p op u
l ar i t y
In fact he never l o st sight o f it fo r a m o ment 3 for the
delay in sailing arose from an emb argo
A singular incident occurred at this time which Whiteeld
has recorded at considerable length in his j ournals A young
man J o seph Periam who had read his sermon o n Regenera
tion and been impressed by it prayed s o loud and fasted s o
long and sold all he had s o literally that his family sent
him to Bethlehem mad house There he was treated as metho
d i s t i cal l y mad and as o n e o f Wh i t e el d s gang

The keepers
threw h i m down and thrust a key into his mouth that they
might drench him with medicine H e was then placed in a
cold room without windows and with a damp cellar under it
Periam h o wever found some way o f conveying a letter to
Whiteeld requesting both advice and a visit Both were
promptly given Whiteeld soon discovered that Periam was
n o t mad 3 and taking Mr Seward and some o ther friends with
him he went before the committee o f the hospital t o explain
th e case Seward seems to have been the chief speaker 3 and
he s o astounded the c o mmittee by quoting Scripture th at they
prono unced him a s mad as the y oung man ! It mus t hav e been
,
W H IT EF I E LD
S LI FE
TIM E S
AN D
85
ludicrous scene The doctors told the whole deputation

frankly that in their opinion Whiteeld and his followers were
really beside themselves

It wa s however agreed that if
Whiteeld would take Periam ou t t o Georgia a release would
b e granted Thus the c onference ended ; and the young man
went o u t as a s choolmaster at the orphan ho use
There he
was useful and exemplary to the last 3 and when he died two o f
his sons were received into the school
Whilst the embargo continued Whiteeld made some run
ning excursions into the country with great success Before
leaving London however he went to St Paul s with the F et
ter Lane society and received the sacrament as a testimony
he says that we adhered to the church of E ngland

He was
perfectly sincere in this ; but many churchmen thought it a
s t r a n g e adherence when he went from St Paul s to M o or el d s
and Kennington Common and prea ched to
people This
was a d herence to Christ and Paul only
After S pending a week about N orthamptonshire where D o d
dr i d g e received him most courteously he returned to London

and added H a ckn ey F ields to the list o f his preaching stations
There he made that tremendous attack upon the impiety o f
the l e tter l ea r n ed teachers who count the doctrine o f the new
birth enthusiasm which drew upon h i m the wrath o f the
clergy
I could not help he says exposing the impiety of
t hese vile teachers who say we are n o t now to receive the Holy
Ghost O ut of your o wn mouths I will condemn you ye blind
guides
D id you n o t at the time o f ordination tell the bishop
that youwere inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take
upon you the administration o f the church ? Surely at that
time you acted the part of A nanias and Sapphira over again
Surely says Bishop Burnet you lied n o t only unto man but
unto Go d
This is the revised fo rm of the charge A s he rst published
it he did not quote Burnet nor use the word vile

That
word he substituted for the epithet letter learned because

Warburton and others represented him as a despiser o f learning
The r s t answer given to his sermon o n Regeneration was
by Tristram Land A M curate o f St J ames s Ga r li ckh i tlze
a
WH IT E F I E LD
86
Whiteeld deemed it unworthy
notice I do not It is a
fair specimen o f the general tone o f sentiment and feeling at the
time It was written in 1 7 3 7 although not published ( for
private reasons ) until 1 7 3 9 ; by which time Whiteeld and

Wesley h a d compelled theologians at least to m a s k their bat
t er y somewhat in assailing the doctrine o f the new birth
T R I ST R A M h o wev er h a s nothing to conceal With inimitable
inanity and frankness he says to Whiteeld I hop e you ll
please to alter your practice and no longer preach up the ne
c es s i t y o f the new birth until you better understand the nature
and commencement o f it : for to tell Christians they must b e
born again who in the s ou n d es t sense were born a gain in their
A nd besides your
i nfancy i s at least a great impropriety
time would b e much b etter spent after having given s o much
j ust o ccasion o f o ffence to your brethren if instead o f rege
n eration you insist more upon repentance and amendment

You t ell your readers It is plain beyond all contradiction
that comparatively but few o f those that are born of water are
born o f the Spirit likewise 3 o r to use another S criptural way of
speaking many o f those that are baptized with water are
But
n o t ef
fe ctually at least baptized with the Holy Ghost
prithee Sir attend n o w to these few following places which I
s et before you to confront your ill

grounded assertion
Tris
tram then quotes the O f c e o f Baptism and the R ubr i ck at the
end o f it and adds triumphantly All this Sir I take to be
direct evidence against you n o t to be evaded by the word effec
tually with which you thought proper to guard your assertion
A ll the members o f our chur ch were baptized in infancy She
declares them regenerate 3 and gives hearty thanks to Go d that
it has pleased him to regenerate such infants with h i s Holy
Spirit The church supposes they have already been born again
and so does not command them to be b aptized o r born again
a se cond time : for to b e born more than once in a spiritual
sense is j ust as impossible a s to be born twice in a natural
Perhaps Sir at another opportunity I may ma k e it my
business to point out some more mistakes in your writings and
conduc t ; but if I should n o t I dare say y o u ll excuse your
humble servant Tristram L a nd

of
W H IT E F I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
87
When Wh iteeld read this letter he wrote in his diary

,
Thou shal t answer for me O Lord

H e s aw that it was
unanswerable if the O f ce o f Baptism and the Catechism be
true 3 and he was not prepared t hen to impea ch them by name
The clergy seem to have been ashamed o f the bald defence
published by this honest
F ellow o f Clare Hall Cambridge
for Wh i t e el d s next opponent o n this subj ect was no less a
person than D r Stebbing his Maj esty s chaplain in ordinary
and preacher to the hon o urable society of Gray s Inn (A t
both Gray s and Lincoln s Inn sermons against Whiteeld and
We sley seem t o have been popular amongst the lawyers and
m eans o f obtaining preferment at court
See Warb u r t o n s )
D r Stebbing s sermon entitled A Caution against Religious
D elusion went through two o r three editions in 1 7 3 9 It is

the production o f a s cholar and a gentleman 3 and s o far o f a
divine too that it is silent o n the subj ect o f baptismal regener
ation Indeed it is a dexterous attempt to prove that the
new birth is only another expression for the new man which
is t h e D octor says the gurative n ame o f practical right
e ou s n es s
This sermon the bishop o f Gloucester sent t o
Whiteeld with a kind letter o f caution and advice
The let
te r itself he answered with equal rmness and courtesy 3 but
the D octor without ceremony
D r Stebbing s sermon (for
which I thank your Lordship ) conrms me more and more in
my opinion that I ought to be instant in season and ou t of sea
s o n F or to me he seems to know n o more o f the true nature
o f regeneration than N icodemus did when he came to Jesus
by night Your Lordship may observe that he does not speak
a word of original s i n o r the dreadful consequences of o ur fall
in A dam upon which the doctrine o f the new birth is en t irely
founded N o 3 like other polite prea chers he seems to think
that St Paul s descripti o n o f the wickedness o f the hea t hen is
only to be referred to past ages whereas I afrm we are all
included under the guilt and consequences of s i n as much a s
they were 3and if any man preach any other doctrine he shall
bear his punishment whosoever he be
A gain my Lord t h e D octor entirely mistakes us when we
talk o f the sensible manifestati ons o f the Holy Gh o st In
88
WH IT EF I E LD
deed I know not that we use the word s en si bl e : but if we do

w e do not mean that God s Spirit does manifest itself to o ur
sen s es but that it may b e perceived by the soul as really as any
sensible impression made upon the body But to disprove this
the D octor bri ngs ou r Lord s allusion to the w i n d ; which is
o n e of the b est texts to pr o ve it ; for if the analogy o f o ur
Lord s discourse be c arried on it amounts to this much
that
although the operations o f the Spirit can no more b e accounted
for t han how the wind c o meth and whither it goeth yet may
they as easily be felt by the soul as the wind by the body
But he understands u s as the carnal Jews understood Christ
when He talked o f giving them that bread which came down
from heaven But the D octor and the rest o f my reverend
brethren ar e welcome to j udge o f me as they please Yet a
little while and we shall al l appear before the great Shepherd o f
o u r s o uls
We can scarcely appreciate n o w the value of this solemn and
decided stand for the truth as it is in Jesus Had Whiteeld
conceded an iota t o Stebbing he would have s t ul t i e d h i s
grand obj ect Regeneration by the Holy Spirit had to be
maintained by its champion then as Luther fought for ju s t i
cation by faith 3giving no quarter to the vulgar o r the rened
opponents o f it Stebbing s sermon could do no injury now
I t is even calculated to do real good wherever more stress is
laid upon strong emotions than upon personal holiness 3 but
then it was as much a moral g o by to the question as bap

Whiteeld had therefore no alter
t i s m was a ceremonial o n e
native but to aband o n the necessity o f spiritual conversion or to
refute Stebbing
His next opp o nent at this time was the bishop of London
who made him he says the chief subj ect matter o f a pastoral
letter That letter charges him with professing to plant and
propagate a new gospel unknown to the g e n er a l i ty o f ministers
Whiteeld very properly

a n d people in a christian country
admits the charge
Mine i s a new gospeland will be always
unknown to t h e generality if your Lordship s clergy follow
our
Lordship
s
rections
Your
Lordship
exhorts
your
clergy
di
y
t o preach justication by faith aloneand quotes the l l t h Ar
,
WH I T E F I E L D
t i cl e
of
S L I F E AND TIM E S
89
o ur church which tells us we are j ustied by faith o nly

and not for our works or deservings at the same time
your
Lordship bids them explain it in such a manner as to leav e
no doubt upon their minds whether good works are a necessary
con d i t i on of their b eing j ustied in the sight o f God
Your
Lordship in my o pinion could n o t well b e guilty o f a greater
inc o nsistency This my Lord is truly a n ew gospel ! It is
as contrary to the doctrine of the church o f E ngland as light is
contrary to darkness
This reply happily c o mmitted Whiteeld as fully upon the
question o f j usticati o n as his letter to the bishop o f Gl ou ce s
ter had upon the question o f regeneration : for until Gibson s
Letter appeared Whiteeld himself had but confused notions of
the subj ect But the bishop s errors made him aware o f his
o wn mistake s
In his early sermons he had used such expres
si o ns as
washing away the guilt o f sin by the tears of a sin
cere repentance j oined with faith in the blood of Christ 3

depending on the righteousness o f Christ imputed to and
i n h er e n t in
us ;
things necessary to qu a l ify us for being
savingly in Christ
The fact is he had not read a single
book on the doctrine of free j ustication when he began to
preach
N o wonder then he says that I was not s o clear
in some points at my rst setting ou t I think it no dishonour
to retract some expressions that dropped from my pen before
Go d gave me a more clear knowledge o f the doctrines o f gra ce
St A ustin I think did so before me

A L e tt er t o s om e C h u r ch
M em ber s qf t h e P r es by t er i a n P er s ua si on N ew Yor k 1 7 40 Both
A merican and S cotch presbyterians helped to teach him the
way o f God more perfectly at this time D r Watts als o had

some inuence upon him about this time ; although less than
he wished The D octor did not indeed take any publi c part in
t h e controversy 3 but he p r i va t e l y sustained Bishop Gibson and
thus placed him self in a false position which for ever after pre
vented him from being more than the p r i va te friend of White
eld The bishop had sent him a copy of his P astoral Letter
against Whiteeld : and in answer to it he says
Your Lord
ship s distinction o f the ordinary and extraordin ary inuences
o f the H o ly Spirit is s o very ne cessary that I think the N ew
,
'
'
WH I T EF I E LD
90
Testament cannot b e understood without it : and I wish Mr

Whiteeld would not hav e risen above any pretence t o the ordi
nary inuence unless he could have given better evidences of it
H e has acknowledged t o me in c o nversation that it is such an
impression upon his o wn mind that he knows to b e divine
th o ugh he cannot give me any convincing proof o f it
I said many things to warn him o f the danger o f delusion
and to guard him against the irregularities and imprudences
which youth and zeal might lead him into ; and told him plainly
that though I believed h i m very sincere and desiring to do good
t o souls yet L wa s not convinced o f any extraordinary call he
had to some parts o f his c o nduct and he seemed to take this
free disc o urse in a very candid manner M i l n er s L ife of Wa t ts

p 6 3 8 In an evil hour this was written ; for h o wever true it
was ill timed No m atter that the letter contains some faith
ful remonstrances to the bishop about his clergy : it contains
none against Gibson s new gospel as Whiteeld well calls

it ; and it abets him (unintentionally indeed) in confounding
regeneration with the extraordinary inuences o f the Spirit
F o r that was the real point at issue between Gibson and White
eld A cc o rdingly Gibson t o ok the letter i n good part H e
wrote thus
Good Sir it had been well fo r Mr Whiteeld if
he had taken the wise advice and cautions you gave him : b u t
from the time that men imagine themselves singled out by God
for extraordinary purposes and in consequence o f that to be
guided by extraordinary impulses and operations all human
advice is lost upon them I am with great a ffection and esteem
your very faithful servant E D M LO ND

Watts did not see the bearing of all this 3 but it s o committed
him upon the bishop s side of the question that he could not
espouse Wh i t e el d s side o f it publicly even when that was no
longer encumbered with crude notions o f impulses and i m
pressions
This incident deserves far more consideration than it has ever
re ceived It i s often asked with wonder why the orthodox
dissenters o f that time did not rally around Whiteeld and
open their pulpits to him when he was ex cluded from the
churches ? The auth o r of the Life and Ti m es o f Watts says
.
WHIT EF I E LD
91
The co Operation o f such men a s Watts and D o ddridge was

forfeited by the want of a conciliating spirit and the good will
they tendered was lost by causeless and imprudent reections
When their churches were
(on the part o f the methodists )
denounced as companies of banded formalists when their min
i s t er s were proclaimed as feeding the ock with husks instead
o f salutary food
i t is not surprising if the maj ority stood aloof
o r retired di sgusted by the exhibition o f s u ch censoriousness

But what has all this tirade against the metho di sts to do with
Whiteeld ? He never spoke in this manner o r spirit against
Watts o r D oddridge H e revered and loved both from the rst
M ilner surely does not mean when he says that Whiteeld in
middl e age saw his error that t h i s was the youthful i n t e m
er an c e he acknowledged
He
did
a
cknowledge
with
great
p
candour and self condemnation that he had spoken both hastily
and harshly o f many ministers F or this he publicly asked
pardon o f God and man But it was never o f such men as Watts
a n d D oddridge and especially not of these men he had ever
been an ac cuser Indeed both o f them had said o f him what
was not exactly kind or wise however well meant D oddridge
called him a very weak man though very honest 3 and
a little intoxicated with popularity

He might also have
fo und a more excellent way o f appeasing the brethren wh o
were angry with him for the respect he showed to Whiteeld

than by saying to Cow ard s tr ustees
I am not s o zealously
attached to him as to be disposed to celebrate him as o n e of
the greatest men of the age or to think that he is the pillar that
b ears up the whole interest o f religion among us

L e tt er s t o
This was playing too
D r Wood a n d N a t h N e a l E s q v o l iv
far into the hands of Wh i t e el d s dissenting opponents j ust as
Watts conceded too much to
Watts went s o far in his
c ourtesy t o the bishop as to tell him not only how to
make
all the Wh i t e e l d s less regarded and less dangerous to the
church but also h o w to lessen separation from the church

Induce the ministers under your care to preach and converse
E
among their people with that evangelical spirit that zeal for the
honour o f God an d the success of the gospel and with that com
passion for the souls o f men that your Lordship s o much
-
'
W H IT EF I E LD
92
approves and advises in y our pious and excellent charge

M i l n er p 6 3 9
A ll this may surprise some : but the fact i s that the dissenters
o f these times were in their o wn way almost as great sticklers
for order as the bishops F ield preaching was a s alarming to
the boa r d as to the bench The primate would have as soon
quitted his throne as a leading nonconformist his desk to
preach from a horse block or a t able in the open air Indeed
was
no
part
o f the character o f dissent in these days
a
o
n
r
ess
i
gg
N o wonder ! D issenters had been s o long persecuted even in
their se cluded and ob scure chapels that they were glad to s i t
s t i l l under their vine and their g tree 3 thankful for their own
safety and neither daring nor dreaming t o go into the high
ways or hedges It was methodism made dissent aggressive
upon the strong holds of Satan Indeed until the chief o f them
were carried by storm by Whiteeld and Wesley dissenters
must have dreaded all co operation with methodism as perilous
to their o wn peace and safety They did A ccordingly all the
remonstrances addressed to D oddridge by Coward s trustees
a n d t h e London ministers harp chiey upon the string that the
church wil l n o t think s o well of the dissenting interest if s h e s e e
it countenancing Whiteeld D oddridge nobly despised this
fear 3 but still it was long and deeply felt by many of the non
conformists This was not however their only reason They
d i d fear fo r their o wn standing with the church 3 but they feared
m ore fo r the ark o f Go d 3 which they thought was in danger of
being swallowed up in a s e a of deism if the enthusiasm of
methodism obtained countenance fro m prudent C hristians

S ee N e a l s L e tt er s t o D od d r i dg e v ol iv
D o I then regret t hat Whiteeld was not adopted by the
dissenters when the church cast him out ? N o in nowise ! They
would have spoiled him by their or d er l i n ess and he might hav e
confused them by his S plendid irregularities Ralph E rskine
well said to Whiteeld
I s e e a b eauty in the providence o f
your being in communion with the E nglish church otherwise
such great c o n u en c e s from among them had not attended your
ministry 3 n o r consequently reaped the advantage which so
many have done

F r a ser s L ife of R E r s ki n e
.
WH IT EF I E LD
93
The S cotch dis senters the Seceders ; would indeed have

gladly adopted Wh iteeld if they could have had a mon o poly
o f his labour
but they too were better without him His r e
a c t i on upon the secession in S cotland as upon the dissenters o f
E ngland multiplied and strengthened both eventually far more
than his exclusive services could have done
This di gression t hough long and somewhat ou t o f place will
be found useful in its bearings upon his future positions A t
this time however whilst doctors di ffered he carried the great
questions at issue into the midst of mu l ti t udes m u l ti tu d es i n
t h e va l l ey (f D E C IS I O N
He also preached frequently in the
church at Bexley and administered the sa crament The vicar
o f Bexley Mr Peers was much attached to him ; but was co m
p ell e d at last by the diocesan to deny him the u s e of the pulpit
But the good man went no further than the l e t t er o f the inj une
tion he employed Whiteeld in the desk and at the altar when
he could no longer admit him into t h e pulpit
Read prayers
and assisted in administering the sacrament at Bexley church
Many came from far and expe cted to hear me
The pulpit
being denied I preached in the afternoon in Justice D s yard
to about three hundred people ; and in the evening at Black
heath to upwards of twenty thousand o n these words An d
I recommended to the people the example
t h ey ca s t h i m ou t
o f the blind beggar and reminded them to prepare for a gather
ing s t or m !
A few days before this expulsio n from the pulpit at Bexley
he had introduced Mr Wesley to Bl a ckheath This a fforded h i m
great pleasure He regarded it as another fresh inroad made
into Satan s kingdom that his honoured and reverend friend
Mr John Wesley was following him in eld preaching in
London as well as in Bristol

The Lord give him ten
thousand time s more success than he has given me

N ext week when he himself went to preach at Blackheath in
the evening instead of twenty or thirty thousand people as usual
there were not o n e thousand This ar o se from a report that
Whiteeld was dead H e does not explain the report in any
Whereve r I came I
o f his j ournals 3 but merely says o f it
fo und pe ople much surprised and rej o iced t o s ee m e alive

,
W H IT EF I E LD
94
N ext night h o wever the heath was agai n s warming with

thousands
O n t h e following day he went o n a tour into Gloucestershire
D uring h i s ab sence the w o rk was carried
fo r nearly a month
honoured friend and fellow labourer Charles Wes
o n by h i s
ley
O n h i s return he s ays
The poor souls were ready to
leap for j oy at Kennington Common A t M o o r el d s

A
greater power than ever was amongst u s I collected 24 1 7 8
for the school house at Kingswood

Whiteeld little knew whilst thus o ccupied h o w narrowly
his life had escaped a t Basingstoke two days before He had
indeed b een told by one as he went o ut to prea ch in a eld
that he
should n o t go aliv e ou t o f Basingstoke 3 but he
heeded n o t the t hreat as he had claimed protection from the
m ayor H e would n o t perhaps have thought o f it again had
not a quaker at whose house he sl ept sent the following letter
I am truly glad that thou wert preserved o u t o f the hands o f
cruel and unreasonable men Thou h ear d s t o f the threatenings
o f many ; but the m alice and blind zeal o f some went further
F or hadst thou went to my friend H
to b ed o r elsewhere
towards that part of the town (which I believe was expected )
there were t en o r twelve men lying in wait to do thee a private
mischief : which I know by the testimony of one o f those very
men 3 who boasted to me
We w ou ld h a ve g i ven h i m a secr e t
bl ow a n d p r even t e d h i m m a ki ng d i s t u r ba n c es
This confession
came o u t to me in the warmth of his zeal 3 as thinking perhaps
that I could hate at least if not destroy (like him ) all that
were not o f my own party

R evi sed J ou r n a l s
Gillies has not mentioned this escape H e merely refers t o
the groundl ess ctions then aoat about Wh i t e el d s mur

der or wounds 3 for r ep or t killed o r wounded him whenever he
left London for a few days Gillies h as however marked a
coincidence which although I durst not have noticed in the
way h e has done I dare n o t altogether suppress H e says
The bishop o f London laid hold of t h i s occasion for publishing
a charge to his clergy to avoid the extremes of enthusiasm and
lukewar mness
A nd that the charge was ill timed and cal
c ul at e d to endanger Whiteeld cannot be do ubted
3 for he was
,
WH IT EF I E LD
S L I FE A N D
TIMES
95
m ade ,
as he himself says
the chief subj e ct m atter of i t
and thus held up to public odium 3 but it certainly was not
intended t o inj ure him except in his reputation and inuence
Bishops h o wev er should take care how they bark when our s
are inclined t o bite Well might Whiteeld say at this crisis
People wonder at m e that I should talk o f perse cution now
the world is become christian but ala s were Jesus Christ to
come down from he aven at t his time he would b e treated as
formerly A nd whoev er goes forth t o preach the gospel in his
Spirit must expe ct the same treatment as hi s rst apostles
m et with Lord prepare us for all events

But if he saw danger he did n o t shrink fr o m it In o ne
instance at this time he almost courted insult as well as ex
posed himself to it H aving heard that there was to b e a
h o rse race at Ha ckney M arsh he s ays
I appointed p ur
p os e ly t o preach there be cause the race was to be in the same
eld
H e did preach to ten thousand people 3 and very few
left the sermon

some who did
returned back quickly
and them he addre ssed personally
This was certainly i m
prudent The whole a ffair however passed o ff quietly
M ar yb o n e F ields and Stoke N ewingt o n Common then b e
came the chief s cene of his labours until his embarkation and
they were s cenes o f triumph Many sco ffers were arrested an d
o verpowered by the gospel and m o re formalists r o used t o ee
fr om the wrath to come
H e himself has n o t hazarded any
c o mputation of the precise numb er o f av o wed c o nverts w o n
by eld preaching in and around London ; but j udging from
the time he spent in speaking with the awakened during the
intervals of preaching and from the letters and notes he a o
knowledges the numb ers must have been great H e says in
hi s revised j ournal at t h e close o f this grand campaign to wi n
souls
Great things God h as already done : for it is u n kn ow n
how many hav e come to me under str o ng convicti o ns of their
g allen state ; desiring to be (more ) awakened t o a sense o f sin
and giving t hanks for the b enets Go d has imparted to them
b y the ministry o f his word

His last sermon before leaving
Londo n t o embark brought so many of these am o ngst the
cr o wd at Kenningt o n Comm o n and they we r e s o e x ceedingl y
,
'
WH I T EF I E L D
96
a ffe cted
that he w as almost prevented from making any ap

But whatever was the number of his
p l i ca t i on o f the subj ect
c o nverts then T O P L AD Y who was n o t inclined to give an ex
a
A re there many that be
g g er at e d answer to the question
?
saved
gave Whiteeld credit fo r having b een in the course
o f his entire ministry

u seful t o
t en s o f th o usands besides
himself
,
CH A PT E R V
W H IT EF I E L D
S F I R ST V IS ITS
TO
THE
C O UN TR Y
W H A T E V ER disadvantages may attend the mode in which I

trace the rst labours and in u ence o f Whiteeld the divisions
I h ave adopted will enable the reader to follow him without
e ffort or confusion and to j udge fairly o f e ach of his successive
S pheres 3 many o f which were very dissimilar however much
alike were the e ffects of his preaching in them Besides it is
much easier t o realize the changes which passed upon his S pirit
as he moved from country to country and from S pot to S pot in
the glory or gloom o f circumstances than to realize places
however vividl y characterized ; for they seldom gave a cha
r ac t er to his preaching
I mean that he did not ex actly adapt
himself to lo calities 3 but came into a new eld in the S pirit he
had left the o l d o n e H e preached the common salvation

every where although with varied power A ccording to the
brook in the way he lifted up the head

H e came to
London under the Bristol impulse ; and he embarked for
A merica under the London impulse This is evident from his
j ourn als He had no plans but for winning souls 3 and these
although they could never b e s e t aside by circumstances could
b e inamed by them A ccordingly whils t the vessel was de
t ai n ed in the river or o n the coast he was never i dl e
Wherever
he could land he preached 3 and when o n board he read prayers
and expounded daily ; j ust as might be expected fr om a man
fresh from the impulses o f London
His work in E ngland a s distinguished from London and its
immediate vicinity began o n h i s return from Georgi a ; and
then he was full o f his o rphan school : an in s tituti o n which if
,
WH IT EF I E LD
'
98
it di d little for the colony led him to do much for the mother
country ! Huma nly S peak ing but for that school and the col
lege he intended to graft upon it Whiteeld would never have
tr aversed E ngland as he did nor V isited S cotland s o often It
compelled him to travel and inspired him to preach It was
h i s h o bby certainly ; but by riding it well he made it like
the white horse o f the A pocalypse the means of going forth
conquering and to conquer

H aving been ordained a priest at O xford and received a
liberal benefaction from the bishop o f Gloucester for Georgia
h i s rst visit was to Windsor
There he could nd only a
s chool roo m to expound in 3 but such was the impression made
by his address that he ex claimed on leav i n g N ot unto me O
Lord not unto me 3 but unto thy name be all the glory
N ext morning he went to Basingstoke and expounded to
about a hundred very attentive hearers in the dining room o f
the inn 3 but o n the evening of the next day the crowd outside
was noisy and thre w stones at the windows This roused
Wh i t e el d s zeal and the curiosity o f the town O n the fol
lowing day he had thre e large rooms nearly lled 3 and
although some interrupted him many were s o struck and over
awed that they said they would never Oppose
A t th is time he visited and revisited D u mmer where he had
once been s o useful and happy amongst the poor

I found
says he that they had not forgotten their former love We
took exceeding sweet counsel prayed and sang psalms and eat
o u r bread with gladness and singleness o f heart
H o w did
Jesus comfort us by t h e way ! JII ons t r a r e n egu eo s en t i o t a n
Lord melt down my frozen heart with a sense of thy
t um !
unmerited love
From D ummer he went to Salisbury and there visited an
but found no opportunity

o l d disciple Mr Wesley s mother 3
He then went to Bath with the hope of preach
fo r preaching
ing in the abbey church for the orphan house the trustees
having obtained leave of the bishop 3 but D r C would not
permit him
He was pleased (s o Whiteeld expresses it) to
,
S ee L ett er 5 1
Works
vol
W H IT E F I E LD
S LI F E A N D TIM E S
99
give me an absolute refusal to preach either on that o r any

other occasion without a positive or d er from the king o r the
bishop I asked him h i s reasons He said he wa s n o t obliged
to give me any I therefore withdrew and reached Bristol

There a welcome awaited him 3 and he felt the di fference
?
Who c an express the joy with which I was re ceived
It
was not lo n g however unmixed j oy H e w a s refused the u s e
The
o f Redcli ffe church although he had the promise o f it
clergyman pretended that he could n o t lend his church with
out a spe cial order from the chancellor

Whiteeld with h i s
usual promptitude put this excuse to the test at once
I im
mediately waited o n the chancellor who told me frankly that
he would neither give positive leave nor would he p r oh i bi t any
o n e that S hould lend me a church 3 but he would advise me to
withdraw to some other place till he heard from the bishop
and not to preach o n any other o ccasion I asked him his rea
sons He answered
Why will y o u press so hard upon me ?
The thing h as given gene ra l dislike I replied N ot the orphan
house 3 even those that disagree with me in other particulars
approve of that A nd as for the gospelwhen was it preached
Without dislike
Soon after this I waited upon the reverend the dean who
received me with great civility When I had shown him my
Georgia accounts and answered him a question or two about
the colony I asked him whether there could be any j ust o b
e c t i o n against my preaching in churches for the orphan house ?
j
A fter a pause fo r a considerable time he said he could n o t
tell Somebody knocking at the door he replied Mr White
eld I will give you an answer some other time n o w I expect
comp any
Will you be pleased to x any time Sir said I
I will send to you says the dean 0 christian simplicity
whither art thou ed
Whiteeld himself ed that afternoon to the N ewgat e o f
Bristol and obtained the j ailer s permission to preach there to
the prisoners
I preached a sermon on the Penitent Thief
and collected fteen shillings for them

O n the following
sabbath he preached at St Wer bur gh s church to a large au
d i en ce
E ven St M ary Redcli ffe was open t o him s oo n th o ugh
,
'
W H IT EF I E LD
I OO
S LI FE AND TI M ES
not fo r a collection
Blessed b e God I thought ye s terday
I should n o t have the use o f any pulpit 3 but God has the hearts
The ol d effects accompanied this

o f all men in his hands
n e w visit
to Bristol
Great numbers were melted down
Thousands could not nd room

H e thus veried a prediction
which had b een sent from London to Bristol by some raving
Whiteeld has s e t the town o n re and now he
blasphemer 3
is gone to kindle a ame in the country I think the devil in
hell is in you all

The ame wa s ki ndl ed in Bristol 3 and the devil had cer
t a i n l y something to do with tho se who tried to extinguish it
The chancellor t old me plainly that he intended to stop my
proceedings
I have sent fo r the registrar here Sir to take
down your answers
H e asked me by what authority I
preached in the d i o ce s s o f Bristol without a licence ? I an
I thought that custom wa s grown obs olete Why pray
s wer e d
Sir did not yo u ask the clergyman who preached for yo u last
?
?
Thursday this question
H e said that was n o thing to me
D r Southey says that Wh i t e el d s reply to the chancellor was
given without the slightest sense of its impropriety or its irre
levance
But where is i t s irrelev ance ? It is certainly quite
a d r em whatever it may be as etiquette when curates argue
with chancellors 3 and in all respects it is more gentlemanly
than t h e chancellor s wh a t i s t h a t t o you

That is r eal
vulgarity
The D octor narrates the remainder o f this high church
scene with more discrimination
The chancellor t hen read
to him those canons which forbade any minister from preaching
in a private house Whiteeld answered he appreh ended they
did not apply to professed ministers o f the church of E ngland
When he w as informed o f his mistak e he said There i s also
a canon forbidding all clergymen to frequent taverns and play
at cards : why i s not that put in execution ? A nd he added
that notwithstanding these canons he could not but S peak the
things he knew and that he was resolved to proceed as usual

N ow if the D octor pleases Whiteeld is a s u np ol i te as the
apostles were t o the chancellor o f the Jewish sanhedrim ! His
answer was written down and the chancellor th en s aid I am
,
WHIT EF I E LD
1 0]
res olved Sir if yo u preach o r expound any where in this d i o ces s

t ill you have a licence I will rst suspend and then ex co m mu
m c at e you
With this declaration o f war they parted : but
the advantage was wholly o n the S ide o f Whiteeld ; for the
S ou t h ey s Wes l ey
d ay o f e cclesiastical dis cipline was gone by
Wh iteeld says they parted politely
H e waited upon me
very civilly to the door and told me What he did was in the
n ame of the clergy and laity (l a i ty inde ed ! o f the city o f Bris
)
tol ; and so we parted
Immediately I went and expounded
at N e wg a t e as usual
The u n usu a l as might be expected soon followed this Bar
t h ol o m ew day in Bristol
Ej e cted from the churches White
eld beto o k himself to the elds at once
All the churche s
being n o w shutand if open n o t ab le to contai n half that came
t o hear I went to Kingswood amongst the colliers

Ther e
he took his station upon Hannam Mount on Rose Green and
preached not as D r Gillies says from the sermon o n the
m ount but from John iii 3 o n regeneration his favourite s ub
The
other
text
was
on
I thought
e ct
a s ub s e u en t occasion
q
j
(says he ) it woul d be doing the service o f my Creator who h ad
a mountain for his pulpi t and the he avens for his sounding
board 3 and who when his gospel was refused by the Jews sent
h is servant s into the highways and hedges

In thus renewing a practice which as D r Southey says had
not been seen in E ngland since the dissolution o f the monastic
orders and by commencing it at Kingswood Wh iteel d da red

not a little danger The colliers were numerous and utterly
uncultiv ated They had no place of worship F e w ventured
to walk even in their neighb o urhood 3 and when provoked they
were the terror o f Bristol B u t none o f these things moved
Whiteeld although he was told them all by his timid friends
The fa ct is the chancellor had told him something he dreaded
more than ins ult that he must b e si l en t ; and that he could
Instead o f insult o r opposition at Kingswood
n o t endure
h o wever
the barb ar ous people
although they had never
been in a church showed him no small kindness

His rst
who heard him
audience amounted to nearly two thousand
with great attenti o n and dec o rum fo r nearly an hour His
,
W H IT EF I E LD
1 02
A N D TIM E S
L I FE
third audience i n creased to ve thousand ; and thus t hey went

O n on e
o n increasing to ten fourteen and twenty thousand
e
s u n shone
these
o
ccasions
he
says
The
d
a
a
n
the
s
f
w
o
y
very bright and the people standing in such an awful manner
around the mount in the profoundest silence lled me with
holy admiration Blessed b e God for such a plentiful harvest
Lord do thou send forth more labourers i nto thy harvest

Although Whiteeld had thus drawn the swor d against t h e
ob solete canons o f the church he had not thrown away t h e
s cabbard 3 for on the morning o f the very next day he waited

again o n the chancellor and showed him a letter he had
received from the bishop of London
A fter usual saluta
tions I asked why he did n o t write to the bishop acc o rding to
his promise ? I think he answered h e was to blame I then
insisted on h i s proving I had preached false doctrine and r e
minded h im of his threatening to excommunicate me in t h e
name of the clergy and laity of the city of Bristol But he
would have me thinkthat he had said no such thing 3 and co n
fessed that to this day he had neither heard me preach nor
read any of my writings

Thus it seems Whiteeld was
charged with heresy and threatened with excommunication
and that by a chancellor o n mere hearsay evidence This reply
to Whiteeld was surely not given without the slightest sense
o f i t s i In r O r i e t
S ou t h ey s IV es l ey
p p
y or its irrelevance !
H e wrote an account of this shameful affair to the bishop o f
Bristol
To day I showed your Lordship s letter to the chan
c ell o r who (
notwithstandi n g he promised not to prohibit my
preaching fo r the orphan
house if your Lordship w a s only n eu t er
in the a ffair ) h as inuenced most of the clergy to deny me their
pulpits either o n that or any other o ccasion Last week he
charged m e with false doctrine To day he i s pleased to for
get that he said so H e also threatened to excommunicate me
fo r pre aching in your Lordship s d i o c e s s
I o ffered to take a
licence bu t w as denied If your Lordship as k what evil I have
done I answer none 3 save that I visit the religious societies
preach to the prisoners in N ewgate and to the poor col
liers at Kingswood who they tell me are little better than
hea t hens
I am charged with bei n g a dissenter ! although
,
WH IT E F I E LD
1 03
many are br ou ght to church by my preaching and not o n e

taken from it
I am sorry t o give your Lordship this trouble but I thought
proper t o mention these particulars that I might know of y o ur
Lordship wherein my conduct is exceptionable

A copy o f
this letter he sent to the chancellor with the following note ;
The enclosed I sent to the bishop o f Bristol : be pleased to
peruse it and s ee if any thing contrary to truth is there related

H o w the m atter ended I know n o t ; ex cept that there was
a n end to Wh i t e el d s preaching in the churches o f Bristol
That led however to what he calls h i s beg i n n i ng t o beg i n

t o be a preacher
I hasted to Kingswood A t a moderate
computation there were above ten thousand people The trees
and hedges were full Al l was hush when I began The sun
sh o ne bright and God enabled me to preach with great power
and s o loud that all (I was told) could hear me Blessed b e
God Mr
S poke rightthe re is kindled in the country
May the gates o f hell never be able to prevail against it
To
b ehold such crowds standing together in such awful S ilence and
to hear the echo o f their S inging run from o n e end o f them to
the other was v ery so lemn and striking How innitely more
solemn and striking will the general assembly o f the spirits o f
j ust men made perfect be when they j oin in singing the song
o f Moses and the Lamb in heaven A s the scene was new and
I had j ust began to b e an extempore preacher it often o cca
s i o n e d many inward conicts
Sometimes when twenty thou
sand people were b efore me I had not in my o wn ap p r eh e n
But I was never
s ion a word to say either to God o r them !
totally deserted ; and fre quently (for to deny it would be to S i n
against God) s o ass isted that I knew by happy experience
what o ur Lord meant by saying O ut o f his belly shall o w
rivers o f l iving waters
The gladness and eagerness with
which these poor despised outcasts who ha d never been in a
church in their lives received the tru th is beyond description !
Having no righteousness o f their o wn to ren ounce they were
glad to hear o f a Jesus who was the friend o f publicans and
c ame not to call the righteous but S inners to r epentance The
rst disc o very of their being affected was t o see the wh i te
,
'
WH IT EF I E LD
1 04
made by their tears which plentifully fell down their

black faces 3 black as they came o u t of the coal pits Hundr eds
and hundreds o f them were soon brought under deep conviction
which as the event proved ended in a sound and thorough con
v ersion The change was visible to all 3 though numbers chose
t o impute it to any thing rather than the nger of Go d

N either the bishop nor the chancellor threw any hinderance
in the way o f this mighty work Would they had helped it
on !
What an e ffect would have been produced had the bishop
preached to the colliers in the cathedr al ! They were in his
di o c e s s though without both a fold and a shepherd ; and he
was more responsible to God for them than fo r the di gnity o f
the episcopal throne where the traditions of men had seated
him Prelacy if above the work of an evangelist is beneath

the acceptance o f good men
Though somewhat embarrassed at rst by his novel situa
ti o n Whiteeld soon found himself in his native element In
churches however large there was not r oom for his mighty
voice 3 and thus not full scope for his mightier feelings Both
were cramped although he knew it n o t until the horizon was
their circle and the r m am e n t their roof Immensity above
and around him expanded his spirit to all its width in all its
warmth 3 whilst the scenery touched all his sensibilities Then
he knew both his power and his weakness
The Open r m a
ment abov e me says h e

the prospect of the adj acent elds
with the S ight o f thousands and thousands some in coaches
some on horseback and some in the trees and at times all
a ffe cted and drenched in tears together 3 to which sometimes
was added the solemnity o f the approaching evening was
almost too much for me and quite overcame me

In recording this impressiv e scene D r Southey n o t wi t h
standing all his recolle ctions o f Bristol s cenery has not ascribed
to it any part o f the impression made by Whiteeld upon the
people H e does not s ay o f him as o f Wesley that he him
self perceived that n a t u r a l inuences operated upon the multi
tude lik e the pomp and circumstances o f Romish worship
and ye t Whiteeld although less rened than Wesley wa s
equally alive to the inuence of scenery and seasons 3 and o ften
g u t t er s
W H IT EF I E LD
1 05
ch o se situations as bold as the amphitheatre of Gwen ap o r a s

beautiful as the groves o f H ep t en s t al Watson never wrote
with greater severity nor with more truth than when he ex
posed the fallacy o f ascribing the e ffect of Wesley s preaching
t o picturesque scenery
It is not upon uncultivated minds
he j ustly says
that such scenes Operate strongly
Besides
we are n o t informed how similar e ffects were produced when
n o rocks reared their frowning heads and when the se a was too
far o ff to mix its murmurs with the preacher s voice 3 when no
ruined castl e nodded over the scene and when the birds were s o
provokingly timid as to hasten away to an undisturbed solitude

Whiteeld could turn both scenery and circumstances what
ever they were to good account
O n o n e o ccasion whilst
preaching at the Bristol glass houses he says
I he ard many
people behind me hallooing and making a noise 3 and supposed
they were set on to disturb me by somebody I bless God I
was n o t in the least moved but rather increased more in strength
When I was done I inquired the cause of the no rse I found a
gentleman
being drunk had taken the liberty to call me a
that I ought to be whipped at cart s tail 3 and
d og and s ay
o ffered money to any that would pelt me Instead o f that the
boys and people near b egan to cast stones and dirt at him
This retaliation Whiteeld reprobated in strong terms before
he left the ground 3 slyly reminding the people however o f the
sorry wages the devil gives his servants

Some days after he
visited this ungentlemanly disturber to condole with him upon
his punishment The visit was well re ceived and they parted
very friendl y
J ou r n a l s
A fter some hasty trips into Wales from Bristol he went to
his native city where the congregations were s o large that the
clergyman refused him the church o n week days He there
fore preached in his brother s eld to the crowd He felt

deeply for Gloucester and threw all his soul into his sermons
that he might save some where he was born

To day
he says
I felt such an intense love that I could hav e almost
wished myself accursed (anathema) fo r my brethren according
to the esh
Such was his zeal to win souls in this city that
he preached alternately in the B o o t h all and t h e elds almost
,
WH I T EF I E LD
1 06
every d a y during h i s visit This encroachment upon the time

o f the people drew upon him the charge o f encouraging idle
ness 3which w i th h i s usual readiness though n o t with his
usual prudence he retorted by saying Ye are idle ye are i dl e
sa
y the P haraohs of this generation 3 therefore ye s ay L e t u s
H e w a s however permitted by the

g o a n d w or s h ip t h e L or d
bishop to baptize an old quaker in the church o f St Mary D e
Crypt where he himself had been baptized : and there he di d not
conne himself to the book 3 but giving way to the emotions
awakened by the font where he himself had been presented b e
fore the Lord in infancy h e poured o u t his heart in a free and
fervent exhortation to the s pe ct ators 3 proving the necessity
o f the new birth from the O ffi ce

F rom Gloucester he went to Cheltenham where his acquaint
ance with the S ewa r d family b egan although they had to fol
low him to the bowling green and the market cross the churches
being all shut against him A nd O xford to which he went
next completed and sealed this expulsion
The vice chan
where Whiteeld was ex

cell o r came in person to the house
H ave you Sir a name in
h o r t i n g and accosted him thus
any book here ? Ye s Sir said I 3 but I intend t o take it o u t
soon
H e replied Yes and you had best take yourself o u t too
What do you mean by
o r otherwise I will lay you by the h ee l s
going about and al ienating the people s affe ctions from their
proper pastors ? Your works are full o f v anity and nonsense
You pretend to inspiration If ever you come again in this
manner among these people I will lay you rst by the heels
and these shall follow
It does not appear that Whiteeld
returned any answer to this paltry threat A few days after it
he preached in M o o r el d s : and fro m that moment he cared
nothing about chancellors o : vice chancell o rs when they stood
in the Way of the gospel
In the course o f his short excursions into the country whilst
the emb argo prevented him from sailing he visited Olney where
he was not a little comforted by meeting as a eld preacher

Mr R
o f Bedford who had b een both expelled and i m p r i
s o n e d fo r preaching th e Scriptur al doctrines of j ustication and
regeneration
I believe says Whiteeld we are the rst
.
WHIT E F I E LD
1 07
professed ministers O f the church of E ngland that were so soon

and without cause excluded every pulpit Whether ou r bre
t h r e n can justify such conduct the last day will determine

A n ea r l i e r day determined the question ! The people o f Bedford
had made up their minds upon it at the time : for thousands
assembled regularly around the windmill to hear their expelled
minister preach from the stairs 3

Mr R
as
S pulpit
Whiteeld calls it J our n a l s
D uring this j ourney he visited N orthampton 3 but although
courteously received by D r D oddridge he had to preach
upon the common from the starting post

Indeed he was
n o t w e l c o me to the D octor s pulpit
even when he did preach
there after wards D oddridge was s o far from seeking his
preaching that he took all the steps he could prudently venture
o n to prevent it
Th e D odd r i dg e D i a r y a n d C or r e sp on de n ce
The clergy having thus shut their pulpits against him and the
dissenters n o t Opened theirs to him the country magistrates
followed in the train o f his Opponents and even the inn keepers
were afraid to admit him A t Tewk esbury he found four con
stables waiting to apprehend him and the whole town in alarm
Happily a lawyer in the crowd demanded a sight of the war
rant ; and the constables having none Whiteeld determined
to preach at all hazards though beyond the liberties o f the town
He d i d preach in the evening in the eld Of a neighbouring
gentleman and t wo o r three thousand people attended N ext
morning he waited on o n e of the town baili ffs and meekly r e
The baili ff told
m o n s t r a t e d against the attempted outrage
him that the whole council were against him 3 and that a j udge
had declared him a vagrant whom he would apprehend
It was now a crisis 3 and Whiteeld determined to bring the
question to an issue H e claimed the protection of the laws
The baili ff s ans wer was equivocal
If you preach here to
morrow you shall have the constables to a t t en d you

Whether
this was a threat or a promis e he knew not and cared n o t He
did preach next day in another eld to s i x thousand pe ople 3
but s aw no constables to molest or attend him
The reports of this a ffair spread in all forms ; alarming his
friends fo r h i s safety and preparing his enemies for his approach
A t Basingstoke the mayor (a butcher ) sent him a warning by
,
W H IT EF I E LD
1 08
the hands o f a constable This led to an amusing correspond

ence as well a s to interviews between the parties 3 in which the
mayor boast ed o f what he would d o
although he was a
butcher 3 and Whiteeld told him what he ought to do as a

magistrate
It was the time o f the revel at Basingstoke and many o f the
people were riotous Whiteeld however preached in a eld
although he was unprotected and even told that he would not
come o u t alive Indeed it was confessed some days after by
give him
o n e of the ringleaders that a party were pledged to
a se cr e t bl ow and prevent his disturbances

He was however
only grossly insulted
The fact is the magistrates and the booth keepers were afraid
that he would spoil the revel : and he evidently intended to
preach at the fair although he did not exactly say S O 3 for he
repeate dl y urged the mayor to prevent the scenes o f cudgelling
and wrestling which were going forward F ailing in this he
set ou t to go to London ; but when he s aw the stage for the
cudgellers and wrestlers he could not proceed
The following account of his mad prank is too charac

t er i s t i c o f him to be suppress ed although he himself erased it
fro m his j ournals
A s I passed by on horseback I saw a
stage 3 and as I rode further I met divers coming to the revel ;
which a ffe cted me s o much that I had no rest in my spirit
A nd therefore having ask ed counsel o f God and perceiving an
unusual warmth and power enter my soul though I was gone
ab o ve a mile I could n o t b ear to s e e s o many dear souls for
whom Christ had died ready to perish and n o minister or ma
Upon this I told my dear fellow travellers
g i s t r a t e interpose
that I was resolved to follow the example o f Howel Harris in
Wales (he had j ust come from a tour with him in Wales ) and
to bear my testimony against such lying vanities let the con
sequences as to my o wn private person be what they would
They immediately consenting I rode back to town got upon
the stage erected for the wrestlers and began t o show them the
error of their ways Many seemed ready to hear what I had
to s ay ; but o n e more zealous than the rest fo r his master and
fearing conviction ev ery time I attempted to speak set the b o ys
o n repeating their h uz z a h s
.
W H IT EF I E LD
1 09
My soul I perceived was in a sweet frame willing to be

o ffered up s o that I might save some of those t o whom I was
about t o speak : but all in vain ! While I was o n the stage
o ne st ruck me with his cudgel which I received with the u t mos t
l ove
A t last nding the devil would not permit them to give
m e audience I got o ff and after m uch pushing and thronging
me I got o n my horse
with unspeakable satisfaction w ithin
m yself that I had n o w begun to attack the devil in his
strongest holds and had borne my testimony against the detest
able diversions o f this generation

O r ig i n a l J o ur n a l s
The reason why Whiteeld excluded this event from his r e
vised j ournals was p erhaps the tremendous severity of the
following ree c t ions
Ye masters in Israel what are ye
doing ? Ye magistrates that are gods in Scripture why Sleep
ye ? Why do ye bear the sword in vain ? Why count ye me a
troubler in Israel and why say ye I teach people to be idle
when ye connive at if not subscrib e to such hellish meetings
as these which not only draw people from their b odily work
but directly tend to destroy their precious and immortal souls
Surely I S hall appear against you at the judgment seat of
Christ 3 for these diversions keep people from true Christianity
as much as pagan i sm itself A nd I doubt not but it will r e
quire as much courage and p o wer to divert people from these
things as the apostles had to exert in converting the heathen
from dumb idols However in the strength o f my Master I
will now enter the lists and begin an o ffensive war with Satan
and all his host If I perish I perish
I shall h ave the testi
mony o f a good conscience : I shall b e free from the blood o f
all
It is easier to nd fault with the severity of this i n
v ec t i ve than to prov e that any lower tone o f feeling could have
sustained any man in grappling with such national enormities
Whiteeld struck the rst blow at them and thus led the way
to their abandonment 3 an issue which may well excuse even the
wildre of his zeal
Such was his position in London and the c o untry when he
sailed for A merica the second time H e then left en ough fo r
the nati o n t o think ab out until his return
,
'
CH A PT E R V I
\VH I T E F I E L D
WA L E S
IN
T HE
following singular account of the commencement o f method
i s m and dissent in Wales is translated from the T r ys o r v a by

J o h n es
In th e reign o f James I a clergyman of the name of
Wroth was vicar of Llanvaches in Monmouthshire Being of a
j oyous temper and like most o f h i s co un t r ym e n p a s s i o n a t el y fond
o f music
he w a s sometimes carried beyond the bounds of pro
O n o n e o ccasion a gentleman with
p r i e t y by this enthusiasm
whom he was on terms o f intimacy having presented him with
a new harp xed a day o n which in company with some friends
he would visit him and hear him perform upon it The day ap
pointed came and Wroth was anxiously expecting his v i s i t o r wh e n
a messenger appeared to inform him that his friend was no more !
This incident a ffected him s o deeply that repenting the levity
Of his youth fro m a gay clerical troubadour he be came all a t
once a sad but zealous d ivine With these impressions he de
t er m i n e d to commence preaching to his congregation a practice
the n almost unknown in the churches o f the principal ity A s
a preacher he soon distinguished himself S O much that the
Welch peasantry ocked from all the neighbouring counties to
hear him His audience being frequently too numerous for
h i s church to contain o u such occasions he was in the habit
It is said that Sir Lewis
o f addressing them in the churchyard
Mansel o f Margam a man illustrious for his exalted religious
and patriotic zeal was often o n e o f h i s congregation
The irregularity alluded to at last exposed him to the
censure o f his diocesan who o n one occasion asked him in
anger h o w he could vindicate his infringement of the rules o f
,
WHI T EF I E LD
S L I F E AN D TI M E S
111
the church ? T0 this reprimand Wroth replied by appealing

with tears in his eyes to the religious ignorance which prevailed
throughout the country and to the necessity o f employing every
means to d i ssipate it : by which answer the bishop is said to
have been deeply a ffected E ventually however by refusing t o
read the Book o f Sports and by the general tenor of his co n
duct he rende red himself s o O bnoxious to the dignitaries o f the
church that he was deprived o f his b en e c e After his e xp ul
sion he continued to preach in secret to his ol d followers and
at last he formed from amongst them a regular di ssenting co n
F rom Llanvaches the
g r e g a t i o n on the independent model
opinions o f i t s pastor soon spread themselves into the remotest
corners of Wales during h i s life this village wa s regarded as
the rallying point of the Welch nonconformists Wroth never
t h el e s s seems to have cherished to the last some feeling of affe c
tion towards the church o f which he had once been a minister 3
for o n his death which occurred in 1 6 4 0 he wa s buried at h i s
o wn request under the threshold of the church o f Llanvaches
D uring the civil wars which broke o u t soon afterwards the
independents were n o t only tolerated but predominant
In
Cromwell s time an attempt was made to get rid o f every thing
like an establishment and to substitute a few itinerant minis
ters in its place The modicum o f preachers proposed to be
given by this plan Of e conomical piety was S ix to a county 3 it
wa s lost in the House Of Commons by a maj ority of t wo voices
It wa s felt however that the bright thought was too pre cious
t o be dis carded without an experiment 3 and accordingly it
was partly carried into e ffect in Wales under Hugh Peters and
V avasor Powel and a conscation of church property in that
country ensued to an enormous amount 3 fo r unhappily under
all the various forms of civil and e cclesiastical polity which have
prevailed in E ngland t he Welch church h as been treate d as a
fair eld fo r experiments no less inj urious to the general cause
o f religion than to Wales
In the times o f the Stuarts dissent from the episc opal
church became once more an Obj e ct o f persecution ; but the
ministers o f the Welch nonconformists still continued to travers e
the wild hills o f the principality braving all dangers for the sake
,
W H IT EF I E LD
1 12
their few and scattered followers Their congregations still

o ccasionally met but it was in fear and trembling generally at
midnight o r in woods and caverns amid the gloomy recesses o f
the mo untains
A t the revolution these dissenters exhausted their strength
by controversies amongst themselves o n the rite Of baptism 3 o n
which subj ect a di fference of opinion had long existed amongst
them though persecution had prevented them from making it
a ground o f disunion Till the breaking o u t o f methodism
their cause continued to de cline
In the year 1 7 3 6 there were only S ix dissenting chapels
in all N orth Wales In this year an incident occurred which
forms an interesting link b etween the history o f the early
Welch dissenters (the followers of Wroth ) and that o f the me
t h o d i s t s connecting together the darkening prospects o f the
former and th e rst symptoms o f that more powerful impulse
whic h was communicated by the latter
O ne Sunday Mr
Lewis Rees a dissenting mi n ister from South Wales and father
o f the celebrated author o f the Cyclop a
e dia visited Pwllheli a
town in the promontory o f Ll eyn in C aernarvonshire and o n e
o f the few places in which the independents still p o ssessed a
chapel A fter the service the congregation colle cting around
him complained bitterly that their numbers were rap idly di
minishing that the few who yet remained were for the most
part poor and that every thing looked gloomy to their cause
To which the minister replied The dawn Of true religion is
again breaking in South Wales a great man named Howel
Harris has recently risen up who goes about instructing the
people in the truths o f the gospel
N or w a s he mistaken either
in h i s anticipation that dissent was o n the eve o f bursting forth
with tenfold vigour in Wales nor in the m an from whom he
expected this result : the rst elements o f methodism were al
ready at work 3 Howel Harris was its founder and o n e o f its
most distinguished champions P roperly S peaking the history
of methodism is the history o f dissent in Wales before enter
ing however upon this interesting subj ect it will be ne cessary
to give a cursory view of the state o f the church in Wales at the
time of its origin as hardl y a doubt can be entertained that the
of
WHIT EF I E LD
1 13
predisposing causes to methodis m were to be found in the i n

e ffi ciency o f the establishment
The following i s a translation of an A ccount of the State o f
Religion in Wales about the middle o f the E ighteenth Century
It was taken from the mouth of a very ol d Welch methodist
and published in 1 7 9 9 in the T r ys or va a Welch peri o dical
edited by the Rev Thomas Charles Of Bala ; and I have high
authority for asserti n g that the descriptions it affords are in no
respect exaggerated
J oh n es
In those days says the narrator the land was dark i n
deed ! Har dl y any O f the lower rank s could read at all The
morals of the country were very corrupt ; and in this respect
there was no di fference between gentle and S imple layman and
clergyman
Gluttony drunkenness and licentiousness pre
v ailed through the whole countr y N o r were the operations of
the church at all calculated to repress these evils From the
pulpit the name of the Redeemer was hardly ever heard 3 nor
was much mention m ade of the natural sinfulness of man nor O f
the inuence o f the Spirit O n Sunday mornings the poor were
more constant in their at tendance at church than the gentry ;
but the Sunday evenings were spent by all in i dl e amusements
E very sabbath there was wh at was called A ch war en gamp
a sort of sport in which all the young men of the neighbourhood
had a trial o f strength and the people assembled from the
surr ounding country to s e e their feats O n Saturday night par
t i cu l ar l y in the summer the young men and maids held what
they called Singing eves (n o s w e i t h i an cann) ; that is they
met together and diverted themselves by singing in turns to the
harp till the dawn o f the sabbath In this town they used to
employ the Sundays in dancing and singing to the harp and in
playing tennis against the town hall In every corner of the
town some S port or other went on till the light of the sabbath
day had faded away In the summer interludes (a kind of
rustic drama) were performed gentlemen and peasants sharing
the diversion together A s e t o f v agabonds called the b obl
walking
people
used
to
traverse
the
country
begging
d
d
er
d
e
(
g
)
with impunity to the disgrace of the law of the land
Such th en was the state o f Welch society and the Welch
.
1H
WI I I T E F I EL D
L I FE AN D TI M E S
church in the middle of the last centu r y ; and it is a singular

instance of the impression left by the vice and levity o f this
period that the sounds o f o ur national instrument are still asso
c i a t e d in t h e minds o f many with the extravagances of which
it was formerly an accompaniment th ough apart from a dven
t i t i ou s associations its S imple and pensive tones are certainly far
more c ongenial with devotional feeling t han with levity o r with
of
I
have
frequently
heard
that
the
late
Mr
Charles
o
jy
Bala was s o much under the sway o f these re colle ct ions t hat
it was quite painful to him to remain in a room in which an y
o n e was playing upon the harp
A t rst sight nothing would appear more improbable than
that methodism sh ould nd proselytes among a people s o gay
and thoughtless as the Welch of that period ; o r that the jo y
o u s group which assembled at Bala o n a Sunday evening s hould
become as was shortly afterwards t h e c ase a l ea d i n g congrega
tion o f modern puritans But the religion o f the Welch and
their fondness for national music arose from the same cause
an e arnest and imaginative fr ame of mind A disposition to
melancholy disguised by external gaiety o f manner i s charac
t er i s t i c o f all Celtic nations
,
As
b e am
T h o ugh t h e
o er
t h e fa c e
s tr e am
of
th e
wa ters m ay gl ow
run s i n darkn es s an d col dn ess b el ow
With all their s o cial Sprightliness the Welch were then a

superstitious and consequently a gloomy race The inuence
o f the church had confessedly done little to civilize the people 3
they still retained many habits apparently derived from pagan
ism and n o t a few o f the practices of popery Their funerals
like those o f the Irish were s cenes o f riot and wassail When
t h e methodists rst came int o N orth Wales the peasantry ex
pressed their horror of them and their o pinions by the truly
popish gesture o f crossing their foreheads 3 they als o paid great
veneration to a tale called B r en dd wyd Mair (Mary s dream )
obviously a popish legend Children were taught even within
my recollection t o r epeat a rhyme like the following as s o on as
they had been put into bed at night :
,
WH I T E F I E LD
T h ere
ar e
An d four
fo u
an g el s
co n e r s
th e r e
God bl es s
m y b ed ,
to
ar e S r ea
p
M at th e w, M ar k , L uk e
and
tI
t h e b ed th a
1 15
d;
J oh n ;
lie
on
S o me o f their customs and notions were extremely fanciful

O n t h e Sunday after a funeral each relation o f the de c eased
knelt on his grave exclaiming N evo e d d iddo (literally H ea
ven to him ) that is May he soon reach heaven
This i s
plainly a relic of the popish custom o f praying the soul o u t o f
purgatory If chi ldr e n died before their parents the parent s
regarded them as so many candles to light them t o paradise
When Wesley came int o Wales he found the ignorance o f the
p eople s o grea t that he pron ounced t hem as little versed in
the principles o f Christianity as a Creek o r Cherokee Indian
T0 this declarati o n he adds the striking expression that n o t wi th
standing their superstition and ignorance the people were ripe
for the gospel and most enthusiastically anxious to avail th em
selves of every Opp o rtunity o f instruction 3an interesting proof
that the necessary tendency of the corruptions of the Welch
church to produce the consequences which have since ensued
was s ui ci en t l y obvious even to the cursory V iew o f a stranger
It was quite clear then to those who lived while methodism
was yet in its infancy in Wales that the country was ab o ut t o
become the scene o f a great religious change There was evi
d en t l y a movement in the minds of the peoplea longing for
the extension of their spiritual advantages which would ulti
mately lead them o ut from the establishment u nl ess provided
with food from within In such a state Of popular feeling to
wards existing institutions whether civil o r e cclesiastical it
Often happens that the most trivial deviation from o rdinary
routine becomes the basis Of a series o f innovations and serves
to impart an impetus and a dire ction to the dormant elements
It is only by keeping these considerati ons steadily
o f disunion
in view that we can clearly comprehend t h e early history o f
methodism in Wales and avoid the confused ideas that are
sometimes entertained as t o t h e conduct o f th o se with whom it
c ommenced and the exact date o f its c o m mencement The
.
WH IT EF I E LD
1 16
real truth is that the separation o f th e Welch methodists fr o m

the church took place by insensible degrees The rst s ym p
tom w as an unusual and somewhat irregular zeal in a certain
body of clergy in the church itself 3 and these rst faint traces
which probably at the t ime excited l ittle
o f irregularity (
notice ) gradually and in the course o f generations widened
into a broad line o f demarcation It was in this manner that
the breaking ou t of methodi sm was u n db ub t edl y hastened by
the exertions of two eminent divines whose only intention was
t o infuse new vigour into the established church I mean the
Rev Rhees Pritchard and the Rev Gri ffith Jones
The former who is familiarly known to his countrymen under
the name o f V icar Pritchard was vicar of the parish o f
L l an d d yvr i in C a er m ar t h e n s h i r e in the time O f James the
First and Charles the F irst
O f the particulars o f his life little is known except that
whilst he stood high in the estimation o f his coun t rymen as a
preacher he was at the same time an Obj ect Of peculiar favour
with the ruling powers of the day
honours which his coun
t r ym e n in recent times have rarely seen enj oyed by the same
individual Though like Wroth he is said to have attracted
numerous congregations and to have occasionally preached in
h i s churchyard still he had the good fortune to be made chap
lain to the E arl o f E ssex received from James the F irst the
living o f Ll an e di and eventually became chancellor o f the
d i o ce s s o f St D avid s
A s a proof of his charitable disposi
tion and of his anxiety t o enlighten his countrymen we are
informed that he gave a donation of twenty pounds a year
charged upon land to establish a school in h i s parish of Ll an d
d yvr i and also a house for the s choolmaster
This endowment
(no insignicant o n e in those days ) went o n prosperously for
some time but o n the death o f the founder s son Thomas
Manwaring s on o f D r Manwaring bishop o f St D avid s who
had married the vicar s granddaughter took possession o f
the land belonging to the s chool undertaking to pay the school
master himself which he did fo r a year o r t wo and then with
held from it all support His biographer adds that in 1 682
the land wa s still in the possession of the Manwaring fa mily
,
WH IT EF I E LD
1 17
and that the school house had been swep t away by an inunda
tion o f the river T yr vi
But the veneration still felt in Wales fo r the memory o f
V icar Pritchard is mainly attributable to a small volume o f
poems which are not a little remarkable as a summary o f
christian doctrine and duty at once simple poetical and con
cise N o book except the Bible has been there s o much and
so enthusiastically studied : its author may j ustly be styled the
Watts o f his native country 3 and notwithstanding the unhappy
divisions that have S ince his day distracted her the undiminish
ed popularity of his little book proves that there is even yet no
schism in the principality as far as the D ivine Poems of
V icar Pritchard are concerned
A fter the poet s death his works were collected and pub
l i sh e d by Stephen Hughes a worthy nonconformist who zeal
and the
o u sl y disseminated them through C ae rm a r t h e n s h i r e
adj acent parts o f South Wales In almost every cottage where
the Scriptures were to be found the vicar s little volume o c
c up i e d a place beside them : it b ecame a class book in every
school and its most striking passages passed into proverbs
among the peasantry
Hence at the beginning of the last
century a S pirit had S prung up in certain districts o f South
Wales that formed a strong contrast t o the general ignorance
which at that time pervaded the principality The e ffect of
poetry o n minds left unoccupied by other reading has in all
ages been remarked : thus we are told that the great Bishop
Bull when bishop of St D avid s was s o much struck with the
impression made o n the minds of the people by the writings o f
V icar Pritchard that he expressed a wish to be buried in the
same grave with him
Gr i ffi th Jones wa s born at Kilrhe di n als o in the county o f
!
Caermarthen
E ven in his b o yho o d he evinced a strong
sense o f religion which has sometimes though erroneously
been thought incompatible with the unformed views and elastic
S pirits o f o ur earlier years Like Bishop Heber he might
j ustly be termed a religious child Whilst yet a b o y at C aer
-
T r ys orva,
vo l
ii
W H IT EF I E LD
1 18
m ar t h e n
S LI FE AND TIM E S
school he was in the habit o f retiring fr o m the pas

t imes of his play fellows for the purpose o f se cret prayer
In
the year 1 7 09 he was ordained by Bishop Bull 3 o n which o c
casion he experienced marks of peculiar kindness and app r ob a
tion from that illustrious prelate the recollection o f which con
tin n ed ever after a source o f gratitude and delight t o him In
1 7 1 1 he was presented to the living o f Llandeil o Ab er co wyn
and in 1 7 1 6 Llanddo wror was added to it by the patron Sir
John Phillips o f Picton Castle in Pembrokeshire with whom
he was connected by marriage
H i s cons t itution w as naturally delicate and he describes
himself as having been in early youth so much a fflicted with
asthma that he could not walk a cross a room without pain and
di f culty 3 but h i s was a mind which seemed capable o f impart
ing a portion O f i t s o wn energy even to his debilitated frame 3
as he advanced in life this inrmity in a great measure for
sook him ; and of this we have ample proof in the various la
bours he accomplished
The fame of Gri fth J o nes chiey rests on an institution
he devised for the di ffusion o f education in Wales still known
under the name o f the Welch Circulating Schools The m ain
feature of this plan is the instruction of the people by means o f
itinerant s choolmasters
It was rst suggested t o h im by t h e
following train o f circumstances O n the Saturday previous to
sacrament Sunday it was h i s practice to assemble his o ck to
gether and read to them the service of the church
A t the conclusion of the se cond lesson he would ask in a
mild and familiar tone if any one present wished an explana
tion o f any part o f the chapter they had j ust heard 3 and on a
di f cult verse being mentioned he would expound it in plain
and simple language adapted to the capacities o f his hearers
O n the day following b efore admitting communicants to the
sacrament he used to examine them on their ideas of christian
doctrines and as to their general moral conduct O n these
occasions his church was generally crowded : numbers came
from the neighbouring districts and it frequently happened that
twenty o r thirty persons were publicly examined by him before
re ceiving the communion But he found that t hose who were
,
WHI T EF I E LD
1 19
likely to derive most benet from this plan o f instructi o nmen

who had grown up in ignorancewere deterr ed from attending
by a consciousness Of their inability to answer the questions
that might be put to them
To remedy this he made a p r ac
tice of xing the Saturday before the sacrament Sunday for
the di stribution among the poor o f the bread purchased by the
money collected at the previous sacrament Having by this
means brought them together he arranged them in a class
and proceeded t o ask them a few easy questions with an a ffa
bi l i t y and kindness o f manner that immediately removed al l
embarrassment and reserve 3 and pursuant to an arrangement
he had previously m ade these questions were answered by some
In a little time the humble r
of the more advanced S cholars
classes be came willing and constant attendants at the altar
A nd for the purpose o f still fu rther grounding his ock in reli
gions knowledge he was in the habit o f requesting the m t o
c ommit to memory every month a certain portion o f the Bible
Thus it became a regular custom among his poor parishioners
to repeat each a verse o f Scripture on receiving the bread pur
chased with the sacrament m o ney
This system o f examination had the e ffect of a ffording h i m
a very clear insight into the notions and attainments of the
pe asantry th e result o f which was an Opinion that preaching was
calculated to convey only vag u e and imperfect v iews to the
minds o f the poorer classes unl ess c o mbin ed with catechising
and other methods o f instruction
F ollowing up these i m
pressions he was led to consider the incalculable benet that
would result were a well organi zed system o f s chools extended
over the whole surface o f his native country These were the
steps by which he arrived at the rst conception o f that noble
machinery which he soon afterwards s et in motion A t rst
it would seem that he looked upon his plan rather in the
light Of a favourite day dream than as a proj e ct which had t h e
slightest chance of success N evertheless he had too m u ch
mor al chivalry t o despair
too much of t hat imaginative
love o f enterprise without which n o great impression has ever
been made o n the people with whom he had to deal A ccord
i ngl y a beginning was made In the year 1 7 30 the r s t sch o ol
,
WH IT E F I E LD
1 20
was founded with the sacrament money o f the parish of Ll an d

d o wr or 3 and it answered s o well that a second was established
shortly afterwards 3 and this again was attended with such ad
mirable e ffects that several benevolent individuals both in
Wales and E ngland were induced to support the scheme with
a liberality that enabled their founder to realiz e his fondest an
t i c ip a t i o n s
The Society for promoting Christian Knowledge
voted h i m a very generous donation of Bibles and other book s
Thus supported the s chools continued rapi dl y to increase
from an account published in A ugust 1 7 4 1 that i s about ten
years after their commencement it appears that the number o f
s chools in exis tence during the past year had amounted to 1 28
and the number o f persons instructed in them to 7 5 9 5 The
plan o n which Grifth Jones pro ceeded was simpl y this : he
rst engaged a body o f schoolmasters and then di stributed
them in different directions over the country The duty o f
these men was to teach the people to read the S criptures in the
Welch language to catechise them to instruct them in p s al
m ody and to promote their religious advancement by every
means in their power They were sent in the rst instance to
t h e nearest town o r village where their as s istance had been r e
quested 3 and then having taught all who were desirous of
instruction they were to pass o n to the next district where a
similar feeling had been manifested In the course o f time
they were to revisit the localities whence they had at rst
started and res ume the work of education anew o n the youth who
had sprung up in their absence ; and thus mak ing a continual cir
cuit o f the whole country t o present to every generation as it arose
t h e means of knowledge and the incentives to virtuous principle
Grifth Jones seems to have be en in h i s day the most p Op u
lar and indefatigable pre acher in the principality H e was in
c onsequence often solicited by h i s clerical brethren with appl i
cations to preach in their pulpits with which he was in the habit
o f c omplying by making a ki n d Of tour through the neighbour
ing districts o f South Wales and preaching in the churches as
he passed Like Wroth and V i car P ritchard he would some
times forsake the pulpit fo r the tombstone o r the green sward
when he found the church too small fo r his audience
,
W HIT EF I E LD
12 1
He generally managed to make these excursions during the

E aster and Whitsun week as he had a greater chance at these
seasons of falling in with some o f those scenes of pu gnacious
uproar and drunken frolic which were at that time s o much in
vogue in his native country and which it was always his Obj ect
When he met with o n e of these rustic carnivals
t o discourage
he would attempt to disperse it with all the arguments he could
employ ; and we are told by an individual who frequently a o
companied him on these o ccasions that though the beginning
Of his address was generally received with looks of anger and
churlish disdain its conclusion was always marked by symptoms
o f strong emotion and by an expression of reverence and awe
from the whole assembled multitude The great number o f
persons whose conversion (and I use the word in the sense of a
change not o f Opinion but o f conducta fundamental moral
revolution o f the motives O f the heart ) i s traceable to him fur
nishes a strong additional proof that there was something p e
c ul i ar l
impressive
in
the
eloquence
o f Grifth Jones
His
y
biographer has very forcibly described the distinctive excellence
a
ae
l
o f his pulpit oratory by saying it was
v
g
g ar ar y g yd wy
bod that is it possessed a g r a sp on t h e con s ci en ce 3 and he
adds that the commencement o f his discourses were generally
familiar and unadorned ; but that as he went on his S pirit
seemed to kindl e and burn g wr e s o g i a t h an i aw with his s ub
e ct
Indeed his merits as a preacher seem to have been held
j
in high estimation beyond the limits o f his native country ; for
it is an interesting incident in his history that at o n e period o f
his life he received an invitation from the Society for the P r o
a g a t i o n o f the Gospel in F oreign Parts to be come one of the i r
p
missionaries Ultimately as we have seen he decided that his
path of duty lay in the humble land of his birth
A fter accomplishing a variety o f labours which might hav e
seemed quite incompatible with his delicate health and estab
l i s h i n g his favourite s chools in al m o s t e v er y parish o f Wales
this excellent man breathed his last in the month o f April 1 7 6 1
leaving behind him in the religious regeneration and the reli
gions gratitude of a nation o f mountaineers a memorial which
will be envied m o s t by th o se wh o are at once the greatest and
-
'
WHI T EF I E LD
1 22
the h umblest o f mankind and which will endure when the osten
t at i o u s monuments o f worl dl y power shall melt away lik e the
b aseless fabric of a vision
It may now b e asked s ays J oh n es

with what degree o f
propriety the ris e of di ssent in Wales can b e conne cted with
the name o f Gri fth J o nesa m an wh o se whole life was spent
in exerti o ns to render the establishment impregnable against
di s sent on the o n e hand and the more fearful encroachments o f
si n ignorance and superstition on the o ther ? O ne answer only
can b e given : it is a melancholy trutha truth nevertheless
but too well s anctioned by experience that a few pious minis
ters are the weakness and not the strength o f an establishment
when the maj ority o f its ministers are sunk in indifference to
their sacred duties The zeal o f the few only serves t o cast into
darker shade the apathy o f the many 3 and by raising the moral
sentiment o f the people t o make them more sensitively i n t ol e
rant o f the abuses that surround them It is upon this principle
o nl y that we can explain whence it was that metho di sm broke
o u t rst and most extensively in that divisi o n o f Wales where
the poems of Rhees Pritchard and the scho ols o f Grifth J o nes
had exerted the m o st powerful inuence A nd hence it was
that s o many of th ose clergymen who had been connected with
the latter became eventually the missionaries o f methodism 3
and it may also b e remarked that the irregularities o f the m e
t h o d i s t clergy which led in the end to systematic itinerancy
appear to have begun by the practice of preaching from church
to church which they seem to have adopted in imitation o f
Gri f th J o n es s E aster and Whitsun circuits

Wh i t e el d s connexion with Howel H arris o f Tr ev e cc a led
to results which deserve to b e traced step by step It began
by a letter from Whiteeld 3 which has happily been preserved
at T r ev e c ca
London D e c 1 7 3 8 My dear brother Though
I am unknown t o yo u in person yet I have long been united to
you in spirit 3 and have been rej oiced to hear how the good
pleasure of the Lord prospered in your hands

Go o n go
o n 3 H e that sent
you will assist comfort and protect yo u and
make you more than conqueror through his great love I am a
living m o nument o f t hi s trut
I l o ve you and wish you
,
WH IT EF I E LD
1 23
may be the spiritual father of thousands and shine a s the sun in

the kingdom o f yo ur heavenly F ather O h how I shall j oy to
meet yo ua t the j udgment seat H o w you would honour me
if you would send a line to your a ffecti o nate though unworthy
brother G W
Harris s answer was prompt and c o rdial I am happ y t o b e
able to furnish extracts from it
Glamorgan Jan 8 th 1 7 3 9
D ear brother I was most agreeably surprised last night by a
letter from you The chara cter yo u bear the spirit I see and
feel in your work an d the close union of my soul and S pirit to
yours will not allow m e to use any apology in my return to you
Though this is the rst time o f our correspondence yet I can
ass ure you I am no stranger t o you When I rst heard o f you
and your labours and succe ss my soul was united to yo u and
engaged to send addresses to heav en on your behalf When I
read your diary I had some uncommon inu ence o f the divine
presence shining upon my poor soul almost continually A nd
my soul was in an uncommon manner drawn o ut o n your a c
co unt but I little thought our good Lord and Master intended
I S hould ever s e e y o ur hand writing

(In his j ournal Harris
wrote
A bout this time I heard from a friend that came from
London o f a young clergyman namely Mr Whiteeld that
preached four times a day and was much blessed In hearing
this my heart was united to him in such a manner that I never
felt the like connexion with any o n e before but yet I had n o t
the least prospe ct of ever seeing him 3 b eing informed that he
had gone beyond s ea to A merica I was agreeably surprised
in the beginning of January by a letter from him : he having
providentially heard o f me wrote to me to encourage m e to go
I was at this time greatly distressed in respect to my itin
on
c rary way o f pre aching yet I prose cuted my work with the
utmost
Sure n o person is under such Obl igations
to advance the glory o f free goodness and grace as this poor
prodigal
himself
O h how ravishing it is to hear o f the
divine love and favour to London ! A nd to make your j oy
greater still I have some more good news t o send you fro m
Wales There is a great revival in Cardiganshire t hrough o n e
Mr D R o wlands a church cle rg yman wh o has been much
,
WH IT EF I E LD
1 24
S LI FE AND TIM E S
owned and blessed in C ae r m ar t h en sh i r e also We have also a
sweet prospect in Bre c o nshire and part Of Monmouthshire

I hint this in general as I could not testify my lov e any
way more agreeably to your soul than to l et you kno w how the
interest o f o ur good gracious and dear Saviour prospers here
abouts
Were you to come to Wales it would not b e labour
in v ain I hope the faithful account I have giv en you will ex
cite you to send again a line to him that would b e sincerely
yours in Jesus Christ whilst H H

In this way Whiteeld and Howel H arris attracted each
other How much t hey inuenced each other also will b e best
told in their o wn words In the mean time however I must
give som e account o f Howel 3 for he is too little known D r
Gillies knew him merely as one Howel Harris a layman 3

and the D o ctor s editors and annotators have n o t amplied this
a ccount Of him
Howel H arris was born at T r evec ca Brecknockshire in 1 7 1 4
H e was intended for the church by his family 3 and had at
tering prospe cts o f patronage Up to the twenty r s t year o f
his age he had however n o serious views of hi s character o r
H is rst thoughtfulness w a s a wak
o f his destined profession
ened in Talgarth church by a sermon o n the negle ct o f the
sacrament H e had b een a very irregular attendant and thus
was conscience struck when the clergyman ex claimed If yo u
are unt t o visi t the table of the Lord you are unt to visit the
church you are unt to live you are unt to die

F rom this time h i s vague convictions deepened and settled
into vital principles O n the very day whilst going home after
the sermon he met with a person whom he had o ffended and
both confessed the o ffence and begged forgiveness F or a time
however he was the victim o f great mental angu ish Remorse
darkened and depressed his spirit although he h a d abandoned
all his ol d sins and solemnly resolved to make the service o f
Go d the k ey stone o f his conduct

Happily fo r himself he
did not forget the souls o f others whilst brooding over his o wn
fears : but as s o on as he caught a glimpse o f his way t o the
cros s he began to instruct and invite his neighbours to ee fr o m
the wrath to c o me In this w o rk he found s o mu ch c o mfort
.
W HIT EF I E LD
for
S LI FE AND TIM E S
1 25
himself and saw so much go o d done by it that it became
the s ole o ccupation o f his life

In N ovember 1 7 35 he went t o O xford to nish h i s studies
with an express vie w to ordination : but he was S O much dis
gusted with the immorality Of the University that he staid
only o n e term H e returned h o me and renewed his visits and
exhortations in the cottages o f the p o or and commenced eld
preaching A nd such was the e ffe ct that in the course O f a
year
S O many had become e mbu ed with serious impressions
that he began to form them into religious societies
In the
formation Of these associations he says

I followed the rule s
o f D r Woodward in a work written by him o n that subj ect
Previously to this no societies o f the kind had been founded
either in Wales o r E ngland The E nglish meth o dists had n o t
become famous as yet although as I afterwards learnt several
o f them in O xford were at that time under strong religious i n
Harris had organized thirty of these societies before

u en ces
Wh iteeld o r Wesley visited Wales : not however as dissent
ing or methodist congregations 3 nor indeed with any view o f
their ever separating from the church The r evival o f religion
in the church was his avowed Obj ect from the rst and his pro
fessed obj ect through life
Whiteeld and Howel Harris met fo r the rst time at Car
di ff in 1 7 3 9 3 j ust whils t the former was glowing with the r a
collecti o ns O f what he had seen and felt amongst the colliers at
Bristol ; and whilst the latter was girding himself for a new
campaign in Wal es O n his way from Bristol to Cardiff
Whiteeld was delayed by contrary winds at the N ew Passage
A t t h e i nn he s ays
there was an unhappy clergyman who
w o uld n o t go over in t h e passage boat because I was in it
Alas thought I this very temper would make heaven itself n u
pleasant to that man if he s aw me there I was told that he
charged m e with being a dissenter I s aw him soon after
shaking h i s elbows over a gaming table I heartily wish those
who charge me causelessly with s chism and being righteous
over much would c o nsider that the canon o f o ur church forbids
the clergy to frequent taverns to play at cards or dice o r any
other unlawful games Their indulging themselves in these
things is a s t umbl i ngbl o ck t o th o usands
,
W H I T EF I E LD
1 26
A t Cardiff Wh iteeld preached in the town hall fr om the
j udges seat Harris was there

A fter I came from the seat
he says
I was much refreshed with the sight o f Mr H o wel
Harris ; whom though I knew n o t in person I have l o ng loved
and have often felt my soul drawn o u t in prayer in his behalf
A burning and S hining light h as he been in those parts ;
a barrier against profaneness and immorality and an i n d efat i
gable promoter o f the gospel of Jesus C hrist A bout three o r
four years God has inclined him to go about doing good H e
Twice he h a s applied
i s now about twenty v e years o f age
(being in every way qualied) fo r holy orders ; but was refuse d
A bout a month a g o he offered himself again but was put o ff
Upon this he was and is resolved to go on in h i s work ; and
indefatigable zeal has he sho wn in h i s Master s service ! F o r
these three years (as he told me with h i s o wn mouth) he has
discoursed alm o st twice every day fo r three o r four hours toge
ther H e has b een I think in seven counties and has made
it his business to go to wakes & c t o turn people from lying
vani ties Many aleho use people d dl er s and harpers D eme
t r i u s like sa dl y cry o u t against him fo r S poiling their business
He has been made the subj ect o f many sermons has been
threatened with public prose cutions and had c o nstables sent to
apprehend him
But G o d has blessed him with inexible
courage ; and he still goes o n from conquering to conquer
Many call and o wn him as their spiritual father H e discourses
generally in a eld ; but at other times in a h o use 3 fr om a
w all a table o r any thing else
H e has established nearly
thirty societies in South Wales and still h i s sphere o f action is
enlarged daily H e is full o f faith and the Holy Gh o st He is
o f a most catholic spirit ; love s all wh o love the Lord Jesus
Christ 3 an d therefore he is styled by bigots a dissenter He
is contemned by all that are lovers o f ple asure more than lovers
o f God ; but God has greatly blessed his pious endeavours
When I rst saw him my heart was knit closely to him
I wanted t o catch some o f h i s re and gave him the right hand
of fellowship with my wh ole heart A fter I had saluted him
and given an exhortation to a great number Of people who fol
lowed me to the inn we spent the remainder o f the evening in
taking sweet counsel together and telling o ne an o ther what God
-
W HIT EF I E L D
S LI FE AND TIM E S
1 27
had d o ne fo r our s o uls A divine and str o ng sympathy s eemed

t o be between us and I was resolved to promote his interest
with all my might A cc o rdingly we to o k an a cc o unt Of the
sev eral s o cieties and agreed on such m easures as seemed most
c o nducive t o promote the common interest o f our Lord Blessed
b e Go d there seems a noble S pirit gone ou t into Wales ; and
I believ e that ere long there will b e more visible fruits o f it
What inclines me strongly to think S O i s that the partition
wall o f bigotry and party spirit is broken down and ministers
ferent communions j oin with o n e heart and
an d teachers o f di f
o ne mind t o carry on the kingdom o f Jesus Christ The Lord
make all the christian world thus minded 3 for until this is d one
we must I fear despair o f any great refo rmation in the church
o f God
A ny thing that w o uld lessen the impre s si o n of these con cl ud
ing remarks w o uld b e ill timed and in b ad taste 3 but still it
would b e improper even if it were p o ssible to forget that this
fall o f the partition wall o f big o try and party S pirit has like
the fall o f popish Babylon been t oo o ften celebrated before the
time by sanguine and cath olic men It is n o w nearly a century
since Whiteeld said that it was fallen Go o d m an ! he thought
the whole wall had surely given way whenever he found an u n
expe cted breach i n it at which he could enter with the gospel
even if he was pelted with the broken fragments S O other
g oo d men thought and said during the n ovel ty o f Bible and
Missi o nary S o cieties Then not only was the partition wall
de clared t o be fallen but big o try was registered in the bills o f
m o rtality and said t o b e buried for ever A nd yet e ven now
that there is a far nobler spirit Of reformati o n gone forth in the
chur ch than ever Whiteeld saw o r than the rst friends o f ou r
great s o cieties anticipated the wall is higher than ever and ha s
o f late had a cap p i n o f broken glass and rusty spikes laid upon
g
it There is indeed a sense in which like Babylon it is some
what fallen 3 but the great and nal fall there o f is yet t o
c o me in the case o f both N either will fall h o wever like the
walls o f Jerich o at o ne crash n o r by o n e crisis 3 alth ough both
will be o verthr o wn by o ne pr o cessb y bearing ar o und them the
ark o f the c o venant with the s ound o f its o wn trumpets
.
1 28
WH IT EF I E LD
I t i s when s uch men as George Whiteeld and H o wel Harris

meet and blend their hallowed res to set a whole princi
al i t
that the wall o f bigotry is S haken by the
p
y in a blaze
numbers which climb over from both S ides to hear the gospel
F rom the mom ent these champions of the cross j oined issue in
C ardi ff Wales b egan t o b e evangelized In 1 7 1 5 the number
o f dissenting chapels was only 3 5 3 in 1 8 1 0 it amounted to
9 5 4 3 in 1 83 2 to more than 1 400
They are still multiplying ;
and lately the debt upon them so far as they are independent
h as b een wiped o ff by a burst o f

the voluntary principle
What then must hav e been the spiritual state o f Wales at
the beginning o f the last c entury ? In 1 7 1 5 there were only
3 5 dissenting chapels and about 85 0 churches in all the
principality
Whiteeld says o f his rst interview with Howel H arris I
doubt not b u t Satan envied o u r happiness 3 but I hope by the
help o f God we S hall make h i s kingdom shake God loves to
do great things by we ak instruments that the power may be o f
God and n o t o f man

Before leaving Cardiff Whiteeld preached again in the
t o wn hall to a large assembly
My dear brother Harris s a t
cl o se by me I di d not Ob serve any s co ffers within ; but with
as to trail a dead
o u t some were pleased t o honour m e s o far
But blessed be Go d my voice
fo x and hunt it about the hall
prevailed This being done I went wi th many Of my hearers
amongst whom were two worthy d issenting ministers to public
worship ; and in the second lesson were these remarkable
w o rds The high priests and the s cribes and the chief o f the
people s o ught to destroy him 3 but they could n o t nd what
they might do to him 3 for all the people were attentiv e to him
In the afternoon I preached again without any disturbance
o r s cof n g In the evening I talked for above an hour and a
half with the religious so ciety and never did I s e e a congrega
tion m o re melted down The love o f Jesus touched them to
the quick Most of them were dissolved in tears They came
t o me after weeping bidding m e farewell and wishing I c o uld
continue with them longer Thanks b e to God for such an
entrance int o Wales
I wrestled with Go d for them in prayer
W H IT EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
1 29
and blessed His holy name for sending me int o Wales I hope
these are the r s t fruits o f a greater harvest if ever it should
please God t o bring me back from Georgia F ather thy will
be done
F riday March 9
Left Cardi ff about s i x in the morning
and reached N ewport about ten where many came from Ponty
p o ol and other parts to hear me The minister being asked
and readily granting us the pulpit I preached with great power
to about a thousand people I think Wales is excellently well
prepared fo r the gospel o f Christ They have I hear many
burning and S hining lights both among the dissenting and
church ministers 3 amongst whom Mr Gri f th Jones shines in
particular N o less than fty charity s chools have been ere ct
ed by his means without any settled visible fund ; and fr esh
ones are setting up every day People make nothing of coming
twenty miles to hear a sermon E ven so Lord Jesus A men
O n the following day Whiteeld returned from this short ex
baptized with Welch re and

cur s i o n to Bristol again
renewed his labours amongst the Kingswood colliers with ex
He could not however fo rget
t r ao r d i n ar y power and success
the Welch tears which had entreated him to stay longer Ao
co r d i n gl y on the 4 t h o f A pril he visited Husk and Pontypool
and was met by Howel Harris again A t Husk The pulpit
b eing denied I preached upon a table under a large tree t o
some hundreds and God was with us of a truth O n my way
to Pont yp ool I was informed by a man that heard it that
Counsellor H did me the honour t o make a public motion to
Judge P to stop me and brother Howel Harris fro m going
about teaching the people Poor man he put me in mind o f
Tertullus in the A cts 3 but m y hour is not yet come I hav e
scarce begun m y testimony F or my nishing it my enemie s
must have power over me fr o m above Lord prepare me for
that hour
This rep o rt did not prevent the curate o f Pontyp o ol from
welcoming Whiteeld to his pulpit H e also read prayers fo r
him A fter the sermon it was found that so many had come
to hear who could n o t nd room in the church that another
serm o n was loudl y called for

I went he says and p r each
.
130
W II I T E F I E L D
LI FE AND TIM E S
ed to all the people in the eld I always nd I have most

power when I S peak in the Open air ; a proof t o methat God
I betook myself t o rest
i s pleased with this way o f preaching
full o f such unutterable pea ce as no o n e can conceive but those
wh o fee l it
A pril 5 th All the way from Pontypool to A bergavenny I
could think o f nothing S O mu ch a s Joshua going from city to
city and subduing t h e devoted nations Here I expected much
opposition having been informed that many intende d to disturb
me But God impressed an awe upon all 3 s o that although
I di d
t here were many opposers no o n e dared to utter a w o rd
not S pare the s co ffers
A fterwards we retired and sung a
hymn 3 and some ladies having the curiosity to hear us I took
that Opportunity o f dissuading them against balls and assem
blies A fter wards I learnt that they were the mistresses of
the assemblies in A bergaven ny I hope G o d int ended them
good ?
A pril 6 t h Rea ched C ar l e on a town famous for having
thirty British kings buried in it and producing three martyrs
I chose particularly to come hither b ecause when Howel Harris
was here last some of th e baser sort beat a dr um and huzzaed
around him to dist urb him Many thousands came to hear 3
but G od su ffered them n o t t o move a tongue although from the
very same place and I prayed for Howel Harris by name as I
do in every place where I hav e preached in Wales I believe
the s co ffers fe l t me to som e purpose
I w as carried ou t
beyond myself
O h that the love o f Christ would melt them
down !
In the afternoon we s et ou t fo r T r el ek ten miles fr o m Car
leon ; but the Welch miles b eing very long we could not reach
it till almost dark ; S O that many o f the people who had been
waiting for me were returned home The church being denied
I stood o n a horse block before the inn and preached to those
who were left b ehind 3 but I could n o t speak with such fr eedom
a s usual 3 for my body was weak through the fatigue o f the
past day
A t the close o f this se cond short excursion into Wales
Whiteeld ex claims
O h how swiftly t his week h as glided
.
W H IT EF I E LD
S L I FE A ND TI M E S
13 1
ay ! To me it has been but as o n e day How do I pity

those who complain that time hangs o n their hands
Let them
but lo ve Christ and S pend their whole time in his service and
they will nd but few melancholy hours

D r Gillies says that in these tours Howel Harris preached
after Whiteeld in Welch H e does not mean o f c o urse in
t h e churches 3 and Whiteeld does not mention any Welch ser
mons Harris followed up however the labours o f his new
friend with great power
I thank Go d fo r his goodness t o
brother Howel Harris I thank you for informing m e o f it 3

says Whiteeld in a letter written whilst he was o n his way to
A merica In another from Philadelphia to Harris himself he
writes thus
I congratulate yo u o n your success at Mon
mouth By divine permission in about a twelvemonth I hope
to mak e a se cond u s e o f your e ld pulpits
O ur principles
agree as fa ce answers t o face in the water Since I saw you
Go d has been pleased to enlighten me more in that comfortable
doctrine o f election A t m y return I hope to b e more explicit
than I h av e been God forbid that we sh o uld shun to declare
the whole counsel of God

The people of Wales are much upon my heart I long to
hear how the gospel ourishes among yo u How prospers your
inward m an ?
Being always doingn o do ubt you grow in
grace May you increase with all the increase of God A s
fast as I can ou r Welch friends shall hear from me Salute
them most a ffe ctionately in my name P ut them in mind o f
the freeness and eternity o f God s electing love and be instant
with them to lay hold on the perfect righteousness o f Christ by
faith Talk to them 0 talk to them even till midnight of
the riches of His all s u f ci en t grace Tell them 0 t ell them
what he has done for their souls and how earnestly he is now
interceding for them in he aven Show them in the m ap o f the
word the kingdoms o f the upper world and the transcendent
glories o f them ; and assure them all S hall be theirs if they b e
lieve o n Jesus Christ with their whole heart Press them t o
believe o n Him immediately Intersperse prayers with y o ur
exhortations and thereby call down re fr o m heaven even the
re of the Holy Ghost
aw
K 2
W H IT EF I E LD
132
To
S LI FE AN D
w e e t en
s o ft e n , s
T IM E S
re ne
an d
An d m el t th em i nt o l ov e
Speak every time my dear brother as if it were your last

w eep o ut if possible every argument and compel them to cry
Behold how he l oveth us
Remember meremember m e
in your prayers as being ever ever yours
Thus White field fanned th e

Welch re from time to
time In another letter from Boston he says A nd is dear
brother Howel H arris yet aliv e in body and soul ? I rej oice
in your success May yo u mount with wings like eagles ! Yo u
shall not b e taken nor hurt till the appointed hour be come I
hope your conversation was blessed to dear Mr We s ley Oh t h at
the Lord may batter down his free will (scheme ) and compel
him t o o wn His sovereignty and everlasting love
God is
working powerfully in A merica He lls me with His presence
Gra ce grace D ear brother H yours eternally

In another from Philadelphia he says Your letter written
nearly a t welvemonth ago came t o my hand this aft ernoon
My soul is knit to you We both speak and think the same
things The Lord be with your spirit Jesus manifests forth
h i s glory daily in these parts
His word is like a re and a
hammer Last week I s aw many quite struck down A merica
ere long will be famous for Christians Little did I think that
I should preach in all the chief places Of A meric a 3 but that is
now done
Glory be to rich free and sovereign grace
The
Lord vouchsafe to us a happy meeting O Wales thou art
dear to my soul ! E xpect another j ournal shortly But wait
till w e come to glory fully to s ee and hear what Go d has d o ne
for your a ffectionate brother

When Whiteeld returned to E ngland he continued t o urge
On Howel Harris to abound in the work o f the Lord by

every event that encouraged himself
I want to see you fac e
to face I wish you could come up to London imme di ately and
stay whilst I am in the country O r ratherg o and preach at
Bristol Gloucester and Wiltshire for about a fortnight an d
then come up to Londo n O ur congregations are large and S O
l emn
I never had greater freedom in preaching I am glad
,
LI FE
VVH I T E F I E L D S
AN D
TI M E S
brother R o wland is with yo u Go on in the strength of ou r

dear Lord and you shall s e e Satan like lightning fall from
heaven
May the Lord hide your precious soul under the
shadow of his Almighty wings
You need not fear my believing
any reports t o your disadvantage Cease not to pray for yours
eternally
In the same spirit he wrote to him from E dinburgh the mo
ment that the fire began to kindle in S cotland
My very
dear brother H arris though my eyes be di m and my body calls
for rest I would fain send you a line before I g o (t o rest ) I
hope God is beginning such a work here a s he is now carrying
o n in N ew E ngland
N ight and day Jesus lls me with h i s
I have preached twice and talked and walked much to
love
day M y dear man good night
He did not conceal from his friend the results o f his inte r
views with the A ssociate Presbytery n o r his Opinion o f their
spirit
My heart is much united to you I utterly d i s ap
prove o f some persons separating principles Satan now turns
himself into an angel o f light and stirs up God s children t o
temp t me to come over to some particular party The A ss o
ciate Presbytery have been hard upon me but I nd no free
dom any longer than I continue j ust as I am and evangelize to
all I know not that I di ffer from yo u in one thing God i s
doing great things here I t would make your heart leap fo r
j oy to be now in E dinburgh I question if there be not up
wards o f 3 00 in this city seeking after Jesus E very morning
I have a constant lev eeo f wounded souls I am quite amaze d
when I think what God hath done here in a fortnight I a m
only afraid lest the people should idolize the instrument and
in whom alone I desire
n o t look enough to the glorious Jesus
to glory Congregations consist o f many thousands N ever
d i d I see so many Bibles nor people loo k into t hem with such
attention when I am expounding Plenty of tears o w from
the hearers eyes The love o f Christ quite strik es me dumb
I must away (to
O grace grace Let that be my song
A s might b e expected Whiteeld did not fail to appeal
to Howel Harris from the vantage ground of C a m bu s l a ng
Along with a copy o f his j ournal o f that memorable awakening
.
WH IT EF I E L D
134
S LI FE AND TIM E S
he wrote thus
The account sent with this will show you h o w
oft en I hav e b een enabled to preach but with what e f ca cy
and successpen cannot describe The glorious Redeemer
seems advancing from congregation to congregation carrying
all before him The Messrs E rskine s people have kept a fast
for me 3 and give o ut that all the work now in S cotland is
only delusion and by the agency o f the devil
O my dear
brother to what lengths in bigotry and prejudice m ay good
men run
I bless God I can see the di fferences between God s
children and yet love them from my hear t
hat you s ay
ab o ut poor Wales a ffe cted me I am sorry to hear there have
been such divisions But dividing times generally pre cede set
tling times I should be gl ad to help the brethren in Wales
My brother my heart is full
Wh i t e el d s letters o n these subj ects were not conned to
Howel Har ris Both from A merica and S cotland he wrote to
other Welch friends in the church and amongst the dissenters 3
and thus spread the tidings o f the revivals and o f their reaction
The following extract from a letter to a cler g yman in Wales i s
highly characteristic o f Whiteeld
God is on my sideI will
o f or do unto me
The dear
n o t fear what men nor devils s a
y
E rskines have dressed me in very black colours Mr Gi bb s s
pamphlet will show you how black D ear men I pity the
Writing I fear will be in vain O h fo r a mind divested of all
sects names and parties I think it is my o n e simple aim to
promote the kingdom o f Jesus without partiality or hypocrisy
indenitely amongst all I care not if the name of George
Whiteeld be banished o u t of the world s o that Jesus be ex
alted in it Glory to His great name we have seen much o f
his power and greatness in S cotland Last sabbath and Mon
day great thingsgreater than ever were seen at Kilsyth ! I
preach twice every day with great power and walk in liberty
and love A t the same time I see and feel my vileness and
take the blessed Jesus to be my righteousness and my all

To another clergyman in Wales he wrote from P hiladelphia
thus
When I rst saw you at Cardi ff my heart rej oiced to
hear what God had done for your soul You were then under
some displeasure from y o ur re c t or (if I mistake not ) for speak
.
WH IT EF I E L D
13 5
ing the truth as it is in Jesus E re now I hope yo u have had

Rej oice my dear bro
th e honour o f beingquite thrust o u t
ther and be exceeding glad ; for thus was o u r Lord and Saviour
served before you N aked thereforefollow a naked Christ
F reely you have re ceived freely give If you pre ach the gos
pel yo u shall live o f the gospel Though you go o u t without
scrip o r shoe yet shall you lac k nothing Rather than you shal l
want ravens those birds o f prey shall b e commanded to feed
you If we go forth in the spirit o f apostles we shall meet with
apostolical su ccess
Stir up then the gift of God which is
within yo u Be instant in season and o u t o f season D ebase
man and exalt Jesus Self righteousness overturn overturn '
The people of Wales (at least the common people ) will re ceiv e
yo u gla dl y
Whiteeld not only stirred up labourers thus in Wales he
als o watched over their safety when their labours brought them
into trouble A c cordingly when some of the fellowship meet
ings were indicted as conventi cles he appealed at once to the
c andour and j ustice o f the bishop of Bangor
I assure your
Lordship it is a critical time for Wales Hundreds if not
thousands will go in a body from the church if such proceed
ings are countenanced I lately wrote them a letter dissuading
them from separating from the church 3 and I write thus freely
to your Lordship be cause o f the excellent spirit of moderation
discernible in your Lordship

Some of these details violate the order o f time but they pre
serve what is bettera conne cted view o f the i mp u l s es which
White field got and gave in Wales 3 and will enable the reader
to appreciate their inuence up o n future movements and events
in the principality
.
VI I
CH A PT E R
WH IT E F I E L D
IN
A M ER I C A
W H E N thi s c o ntinent was discovered by the E nglish it lay

within the limits o f that vast territory which the pope although
himself ignor ant o f its existence conferred on Spain
and in
these times papal grants were h oly ground

A c cordingly
H enry VI I was afraid to coloniz e it H enry VIII had not
tim e E dward VI had not power Queen Mary had not i n
Elizabeth had not spirit She sanctioned but never
cl i n a t i o n
se conded the attempt o f Raleigh in V irginia The credit o f
c olonizing N orth A merica b elongs to J ames I H e had b efore
tried the experiment o f colonial towns in the highlands o f S cot
l and i n o rder to improve the clans ; and although it did n o t
answer all his expe ctations it c o nrmed him in the policy of
the system Unh appily his e cclesiastical policy was not e qually
wise He derided and denounced the puritans and noncon
fo r m i s t s
A nd alas bishops as cribed this t o i n sp i r a t i on and
even Lord Bacon j ustied it
A mongst many wh o ed from this tyranny t o the continent
fo r refuge w as the congregational church o f the grea t and
good John Robins o n In 1 6 09 they settled i n Leyden and
rem ained for som e years But the unhealthy climate and espe
determined them t o
c i al l y the unhallowed sabbaths o f the city
emigrate to A merica
This resolution was n o t adopted hastily nor without much
prayer The exiles felt for their children ; and shrunk from
the danger o f their being absorbed in the mass o r assimilated
to the morals o f a foreign nation A nd what gave irresistible
e ffect to all their ordinary motive s was they felt it t o b e their
,
WH IT EF I E L D S L I FE
AND TIM E S
137
supreme duty to spread the gospel am o ngst the heathen and to

perpetuate the S criptural system o f christian churches
It is not to the credit of D r Robertson that he withheld the
fact of their missionary spirit He says with an ill concealed
sneer They began to be afraid that all their high attain
ments in spiritual knowledge would be lost ; and that the per
fe e t fabric o f policy which they had erected would dissolve and
b e consigned to oblivion if they remained longer in a strange
land
The historian understood the character o f Charles
V
but he was incapable o f appreciating the character o f John
Robinson and his church even alth o ugh the Scotch m artyrs
furnished a clue to it It requires however more than philo
sophical discrimination t o discern mental or moral greatness in
the zeal of poor men for unpopular truth The character o f
the rst nonconformists must remain a mystery t o mere phi
l o s o ph er s until the N ew Testament become
The Book o f the
Church
A brief sketch o f the character and principles o f the found
ers o f the rst A merican churches will j ustify this remark
N ow that Hume and writers o f his stamp should designate the
Plymouth pilgrims weak or wild fanatics is only what might
b e expected N or is it at all surprising that even Robertson
should call them enthusiast s and Brownists It is however a
matter both of surprise and regret that such an historian as
Grahame should hav e called them B r own i s ts in the face of a
solemn inj unction which he himself transcribes and in which
Robinson disavows the name as a brand for making religion
odious
E ven B ayl i e the bitter enemy of the rst dissenters
declares that Robinson was the principal overthrower of the
Brownists and b ecame the father o f independency

H o r n iu s
also distinguishes the independents from the Brownists and
calls them R obi n s o n i an s
Governor Winslow also in his
Grounds of planting N ew E ngland s ays t h at the Brownists

were settled in A msterdam and would hardly hold communion
with the pe ople o f Leyden

Besides there is a work o f
Robinson s which bears the following title
A Just and N e
A
pology
f
o r certain Christians no less c on t um e l i ous l
c es s a r
y
y
than comm o nly called Br o wnists o r Barr o wists

,
WH IT EF I E L D
13 8
fact
seems
to
e
that Robinson had been at rst a
b
Th
stricter dissenter than the generality of the nonconformists 3
and by publishing his Justication of Separation from the
Church of E ngland in answer to Bernard s Separatists
Schism which was chie fly directed against the Brownists he

thus subj ected himself to the cha r ge o f being o n e o f them But
b oth his spirit and his system were o f a far higher order H e
was in the best sense o f the name an independent o r co n
e
r e g a t i o n al i s t
What he was as a s cholar and a divine may b e j udged from

his masterly answer to Bernard and from his signal triumph
over the successor o f A rminius at Leyden The university o f
Leyden prevailed on Robinson to accept the challenge o f E pis
and he s ilenced the impugner o f Calvinism In such
c o p iu s
estimation was he held at Leyden that all the rank and talent
o f the city attended his funeral and agreed t o his interment in
the chancel o f their principal church
Such was the man wh o formed t h e sentiments and the cha
r a c t er of the men who formed the rst church in N ew E ng
land He himself was prevented from j oining them there
by the intrigues o f a faction in the V irginian company in this
country ; but his mantle and spirit were carried there by his
elder and members A nd nobly did they exemplify the princi
ples of their pastor
What these principles were is n o t matter o f conj ecture A s
to faith the pilgrims held the doctrinal articles o f the reformed
churches 3 and accordingly admitted to communion in their
o wn church the pious members o f all protestant churches who
chose to unite with them
This open communion and unshackled freedom o f conscience
were however peculiar t o the independents
The puritans
who colonized Massachusetts Bay availed themselves at rst
o f these privile ges ; but they did not extend them so fr eely
when they settled their own churches
A greeably to the spirit o f the church in which they were
educated they soon began to govern religion instead o f s ub
mitting t o be governed by it 3 and thus pra ctical intolerance wa s
grafted upon speculative liberty as slavery still is o n A merican
,
r epublicanism
AND TI M E S
139
The puritans were much upbraided fo r this

by the church o f E ngland whilst her o wn o ffsets in the southern
provinces o f A merica could hardl y subsist ; but when they o h
t ai n ed a legal settlement s h e so o n fenced them by a sacra
mental test
E ven handed j ustice however has n o t yet been rendered to
the A merican puritans Both eulogy and censure are still t o o
unqualied
Their errors were the universal errors o f thei r
age 3 whereas their virtues were peculiar to themselves God
indeed sifted three nations that he might s o w N ew E ngland
with the nest wheat

M a g n a li a
A sketch o f the rise and progress of religi o n in A merica will
illustrate this Its origin although o f re cent date was coeval
with the disco v ery o f the rock o f Plymouth The pilgrims had
formed themselves by covenant into a church and a state
even before they landed and thus Plymouth became a settle
ment and a sanctuary o n the same day The voice o f praise
and prayer rst awoke the echoes of its forests ; and before a
tree w a s cut for fuel o r climb ed for food tears o f gratitude had
anointed the rock as an EB E N E ZER
Webster a member of congress has depicted this scene with
great power and pathos
The morning that beamed on the
rst night of their repose saw the pilgrims already established
in their country There were political institu tions and civil
liberty and religious worship
Poetry has fancied nothing in the wanderings o f her o es so
distinct and characteristic Here was man indeed unprotect
ed and unprovided for o n the shore o f a rude and fearful wil
derness but it was politic intelligent and educated man
E very thing was civilized but t h e physical world Institutions
containing in substance all that ages had done fo r human
g o vernment were established in a forest Cultivated mind was
to act o n uncultivated nature 3 and ore than all a government
and a country were to commence with the very rst foundations
laid under the d ivine light of the christian religion Happy
auspices of a happy futurity ! Who could wish that his coun
try s existence had otherwise begun ? Who would desire to go
Wh o would wish for an origin o h
back to t h e ages of fable
.
WH IT EF I E L D
1 40
s cu r e d
in the darkness of antiquity

Who would wish for other
emblazoning of his country s heraldry or other ornaments o f
her genealogy than to be able to s ay that her rst existence
was with intelligence 3 her rst breath the inspiration o f liberty ;
her rst principle the truth o f divine religion ?
In a similar spirit W H E L P L EY o f N ew York says
O n the
day they felt the rm earth for weal o r for wo e they adopted it
as their country ; they looked o ff to the surrounding hills and
snow clad ranges and felt that these must henceforth be their
h orizon ; they surveyed the deep and frowning forest with its
savage tenantry and resolved to subdue and make it the abode
of pure religion ; they looked along t h e far sounding shore and
resolved to explore its depths and islands and point ou t to their
children the pla ces o f cities and the marts o f commerce they
looked up to the broad heavens where dwelt their covenant
Go d and in prayer resolved to build Him a house for his wor
ship wherever under these heavens like Jacob they rested on
their pilgrimage
V ivid and t o uching as these pictures are they are perhaps
surpassed as to e ffe ct by the simple j ournals of the pilgrims
themselves ; from which P R I N C E drew the materials and in a
great measure the l anguage o f his A nnals a book almost
unknown n o w in this country
1 62 0 D ec 20
This morning after calling on Heaven for
guidance they go ashore again to pitch o n some place for i m
mediate settlement A fter viewing the country they conclude
to settle on the main on a high ground fa cing the bay ; a sweet
brook running under the hill with many delicate springs O n
a great hill they intend to fortify which will command all
round ; whence they may see across from the bay to Cape Cod
A nd here being twenty in number they rendezvous this even
ing 3 but a storm rising it blows and rains hard all night 3 con
t i n u e s so tempestuous for t wo days that they cannot get aboard
and have nothing to shelter them
2 1 st
D ies Richard Br e t t er i g e the rst who dies in this
harbour
2 3 d A s many g o ashore a s can ; cut and carry timber fo r
a common building
WH IT EF I E L D S LI FE
AN D TI M E S
2 4t h
141
Lord s day O ur people ashore are alarmed with

the cry of savages 3 expe ct an assault but continue quiet
A nd this day dies Solomon Martin the sixth and last who dies
this month
2 5 t h Monday They go ashore again felling timber sawing
riving carrying Begin to erect their rst house about twenty
foot square for their common use to receive them and their
goods Leaving twenty to keep a court of guard the rest return
aboard a t evening But in the night and next day another
sore storm of wind and rain
2 8t h Thursday
They g o t o work on the hill ; reduce
themselves t o nineteen families ; measure out their lots and
draw for them
Many grow ill o f grievous colds from the
great and many hardships they had endured They see great
smokes o f res made by Indians about s i x o r seven miles o ff
3 1 s t Lord s day
The generality remain aboard the ship
almost a mile and a half o ff Some keep the sabbath for the
rst time in t h e place of their building
1 6 2 1 Jan 9 t h We labour in building ou r town in two
divide by lot the ground we
r ow s of houses for greater safety
build o n agree that every man builds his o wn house that they
may make more haste
H aving the maj or part of o u r people
1 3 th Saturday
ashore w e purpose there to keep the public worship to morrow
1 4 th Lord s day morning at s i x o clock the wind being
very high we o n shipboard see o ur rendezvou s in ames and
fear the savages had red it nor can w e come to help for want
o f the tide till seven o clock : at landing nd that the house
was red by a spark in the thatch

3 l st The people aboard s ee two savages but cann o t come
t o speak with them
F eb 9 t h This afternoon our house for sick people is set
on re by a spark lighting on the roof
About this time the Indians get all the p a wa ws (magicians )
o f the country together for three days in a horrid and devilish
manner to curse and execrate us with their conj urations wh ich
assembly they hold in a dark and dismal swamp

Such was their rst winter 3 and before the return o f spring
WH IT E F I E L D
1 42
disease
famine had swept o ff one half o f them The s ur

vi vo r s too instead o f being able to devote themselves to plant
ing and building had to spend the greater part o f their time
in defending their persons and property from the savages
Still the pilgrims neither repented n o r repined

Sp r i ng
they s ay p u ts n ew l ife i n t o u s
Al l t h e s u mm er n o w a n t
We t ou r h ouses a g a i n s t w i n t er ; a r e i n h ea l th a n d h a ve a ll
or
t h i ng s i n p l en tg
P r i n ce
An n a l s
A t this time they had no minister Mr Brewster the elder

o f the church conducted their worship until Mr Robinson
But whilst they were looking
s hould b e able to j oin them
an d longing for his arrival a fa cti o n in the Plymouth company
at home were intriguing to prevent him from leaving Leyden
This faction seem to hav e had for their obj ect the introduction
o f epis copal forms into the worship o f the colony A ccordingly
in 1 62 4 they sent o u t as their tool Lyford a minister who had
lost his chara cter in Ireland O n his arrival the pilgrims say
He appears exceedingly complaisant and humble ; sheds many
tears blesses God that had brought him to see our faces We
giv e h i m the b est entertainment we can We make him larger
allowance than any others A t his desire we receive him into
o u r church 3 when he blesses Go d for the opportunity and
freedom of enj oying his ordinances in purity

That purity
Lyford soon tampered with H e i n s i s t ed upon administering
the sacrament in the episcopal form and o n using the liturgy
N or was this the worst part o f his conduct H e caballed with
some unprincipled adventurers who had come ou t to betray the
colony and usurp its government The plot was however de
The governor pursued the ship which brought Lyford
t ec t e d
o u t and arrested his letters
O n his ret urn the g o vernor sum
m o n ed a general court and charged Lyford and his party with
the plot They denied it H e then produced Lyford s letters
and confounded the traitors before all the assembly
Incredible as it may seem such was the leniency o f the c o urt
that Lyford was even restored to his o f ce upon a profession o f
repentance
made with tears before the church But the s e
tears like the former were hypocritical ; for in less than a
month he wrote another letter to betray the government 3 and
.
WH I T EF I E L D
1 43
wa s dete cted again Cotton Mather says of Lyford

O n this
he was banished from the plantation and went into V irginia
where he shortly after ended his o wn life

Soon after this
the pilgrims s ay
We h ea r s a d n ews ; ou r d ea r p a s t or M r
,
R o bi n son , i s d ea d ; w h i ch
t h i ng s
co u ld
bu t
n ot
ca s t
T hese
w i t h g r ea t s or r ow
r ea t
g
p erp l ex i ty ; ye t , be i ng
s t r i kes u s
us
i n to
t o
f a l l h um a n h op es a n d h elp , w h en we
l ow es t , t h e L or d s o h e lp s u s, a s t h a t we a r e n o t
s t r ip
are
n ow
on l y up
at
the
h e l d , bu t
This rise was n o t however great nor rapid 3

for at the end of ten years the population o f Plymouth was
only three hundred persons
Such was the rise o f religion in A merica Its pr o gress at
this early period was o f course by the accession o f pious set
t l e r s from E urope and by the inuence o f the rst churche s
upon the worldly settlers In the former case the progress was
great Charles I was then upon the throne and Laud beh i n d
it and their well known measures compelled the puritans and
nonconformists to choose between exile and chains Many o f
them preferred the former A ware o f this the R ev M r White
o f D orchester organized a colony for Massachuse t t s Bay which
obtained a royal charter N eale by a stra n ge mistake says
that free liberty o f conscience was granted by this charter

A n improbable gift from the iron hand o f Charles The deed
itself contains no permission o f the kind Such a s it was how
ever it soon drew into the colony eighteen hundred persons ;
many o f whom were wealthy and most o f them respectable
Several eminent ministers also accompanied them These emi
grants laid the foundations o f Boston Charlestown D orchester
and other towns ; in each o f which a church was formed A nd
such was their prosperity and peace that crowds continued to
pour into the country
Whilst this inux was proceeding the small p o x broke out
amongst the Indians and swept o ff s uch multitudes that whole
tribes were annihilated Providence by thus evacuating the
country was supposed to indicate his appropriation o f it to the
E nglish The vacated space proved however a temptation ;
because its best districts being far asunder they drew the set
t l e r s t oo far o ff fr o m ea ch o ther
It was however this dispersion
beg i n t o r i s e
WH I T E F I E I D
1 44
LI FE
TI M E S
A ND
that led to the adoption o f a representative syste m o f g o vern

ment in N ew E ngland
It cannot surprise any one to hear that amongst so many
emigrants s o suddenly thrown together and all passing at onc e
from bondage to full lib erty o f conscience there should have
b een some di fferences of religious opinion There were how
ever far fewer than coul d b e expe cted 3 and these were conned
in every instance to v ery few persons The celebrated Roger
Williams was the chief disturber o f the harmony of the infant
ch urche s but with all h i s singularities he was a noble minded
and right hearted man H e understo o d religious liberty better
than the puritans ; and to his spirit and rmness in resisting
the j urisdiction of magistrates in religion N ew E ngland is chiey
indebted for her charter o f cons cience
Whilst the Massachusetts colony was thus advancin g similar
motives and causes led to the settlement o f Connecticut and
N ewhaven ; in both o f which the S criptures were adopted as
the s ol e code of law and religion A c olony was also planted
in N ew Hampshire and Main 3 but by men o f another spirit
It made no progress for som e years until it came under the
j urisdiction o f the Massachusetts colony Indeed all the colo
nies about this time retrograded during a disastrous war with
the Indians Charles had also forbidden further emigration
from E ngland without permission H e had even de cided o n
taking away the Massachusetts charter and o n remodelling the
government agreeably to his own mind The meeting o f the
long parliament however furnished him w ith o ther work But
whilst this event saved their charter at the time it likewise put
a stop to emigration ; there b eing then no intolerable pressure
upon conscien ce Whilst that pressure lasted however two
hundred thousand British subj e cts had settled in N ew E ngland ;
and
had b een expended upon it : a sum says R o
which no principles inferior in force to those where
b er t s o n
with th e puritans were animated could have persuaded men to
lay out on the uncertain prospe ct o f nding subsistence and
enj oying freedom

D uring the Protectorate alth o ugh no great accession w a s
made to the population o f N ew E ngland great favour was shown
.
W H IT EF I E L D
1 45
to the colonies 3 o r rather they were allowed to take great

liberties beyond their charter They formed the confedera cy o f
the States and struck a coinage of their own Whether these
steps were approved o r overlooked amidst the crowd o f nearer
events is not known Cr omwell however formed a plan for the
colonists which happily was plausible only to himself When
he had conquered Jamaica he o ffered to transport to it the
churches o f N ew E ngland that they might resist popery in the
centre o f the new world In this enterprise s o chara cteristi c
o f its author Cromwell pledged himself to support them with
the whole weight of his authority and inuence They had
however the wisdo m to decline his proposals without incurring
his displeasure
About this time a better direction was given t o their zeal
and new energy infused into their Indian missions by the spirit
with which parliament incorporated the Society for propagating
the G o spel in N ew E ngland ; and especially by the suc cess o f
Eliot N o great accession o f numbers or strength was made to
the infant churches however until the restoration of Charles II
restored the old system at home Then the A ct o f Uniformity
threw into their arms another large group of pilgrims in the
spirit and power of the P lymouth fathers They knew also

h o w to avail themselves o f the crisis created by the Bartholo
mew bushel at home ; and promptly invited some o f the brightest
stars which it had covered to arise and shine in the western
hemisphere A nd many o f them obeyed the summons E ven
D r O wen was likely to have accepted a call t o be pastor of the
rst church in Boston had not the king laid an embarg o upon
him
However much therefore we may deplore the A ct of U n ifo r
m ity it became the axe which cut down the p r i n cip l e of u n i for
m ity in this country
What the cause of religious liberty lost
here for a tim e it more than regained in A merica
When these victims o f the A ct of Uniformity arrived in A me
rica there were forty ourishing churches in N ew E ngland
The emigrants however had hardly time to become i n co r p o
rated with them o r to taste the cup o f their sweet fell owship
when the fatal Indian war broke out And such we re its r a
,
W H IT E F I E L D
1 46
vages that nearly s i x hundred men who were the strength both
f
A nd even this
o f the churches and o f the colony w ere cut o f
overwhelming loss was aggravated by a succession of harassing
measures from hom e which almost ruined the trade of the colony
until the Revolution
The Revolution in E ngland forms an epoch in the e cclesias
tical as well a s the ci vil history o f A merica F rom that time
t h e churches of N ew E ngland began to provide fo r the spiritual
wants o f the southern provinces 3 and thus stirred up the bishop
o f London to send a commissary into Maryland wh o obtained
an act o f t h e provincial legislature for a legal establishment
o f episc o pacy there
There w as howev er at this time a blot upon the character
o f N ew E ngland which
if it had n o t been copied from O ld
E ngland would call fo r severe animadversion The imputation
o f witchcraft was a c companied by the p revalent belief o f its
reality ; and the lives of many weak persons were sacriced to
a blind zeal and a superstitious credulity Still more persons
have been put t o death for witchcraft in a single county o f
E ngland than all who suffered in A merica Besides the chief
j udge Sewall with more wisdom than our H ale confessed soon
after th e S in o f these sentences in a penitential p aper which
he gave in to h i s minister to b e read publicly on a fast day
H i s diary also deplores and condemns them
N othing very memorable o ccurs in the history o f religion
from this time until the revival at N orthampton ; ex cept its
steady progress amongst some o f the Indian tribes and the
noble though abortive e ffort of Berkley to provide for them all
by h i s proj ected college at Bermuda
The remarkable revival o f religion u nder the ministry o f
Jonathan E dwards was as t i mel y as it wa s signal H e himself
in narrating it has said as little as possibl e of the long and deep
decay of vital godliness which preceded it That sad decay
h a s however but too many vouchers

It began to appear
says Prince in 1 660 : in 1 67 0 it was visible and threatening :
in 1 6 80 it was bewailed bitterly by the fe w o f the rst gener
ation wh o remained
Governor Stoughton in a sermon which he prea ched at Bos
,
WH IT EF I E L D
1 47
before he r esigned the pulpit for the bench proclaimed it

in the presence of the ministry and the magis tracy that since
the death o f the Massachusetts fathers many had become like
J o ash aft er th e death o f J eh o i ad a rotten hypocriticaland a
l i e ! In 1 683 the venerable Torrey o f Weymouth also preach
ed a sermon before the legislature and which he entitled A
There i s says he
P l ea for t h e L ife (f d y i ng R e l ig i on
already a great death upon religion 3 little more left than a
name to liv e It is dying as to the B E I N G o f it by the general
failure of the work o f conver si on

In 1 7 00 Mather published
his V indication o f the O rder o f the Gospel in N ew E ngland 3

in which he solemnly a frms
that if the begun apostasy
should proceed as fast the next thirty years as it has done these
last it will come to that in N ew E ngland (except the gospel
itself depart with the order o f i t ) that churches must be gather
ed o ut o f churches
President Willard also (the eloquent de
n o un c er of the prosecutions for witchcraft
published
in
the
)
same year his searching sermon Th e P er i l s of t h e Ti m es d i s
Whence he asks is there such a prevalency o f

p l a yed
s o many immoralities amongst professors ?
Wh y s o little suc
cess o f the gospel ? How few thorough conversions t o be o b
It hath been he adds

served 3 h o w scarce and seldom !
a frequent observation that if o n e generation begins to de
cline the next that follows usually grows worse 3 and so o n
until God pours ou t his Spirit again upon them

Such was the melancholy state o f things which followed the
death o f the rst puritans and nonconformists in N ew E ngland
The second generation grew up n o t indeed in ignorance nor in
avowed unbelief but in a heartless formality which itself r e
l ax e d more and more as their fathers went down to the grave
N o r was this falling o ff conned to th e large t owns
It took
pl a ce even in such remote and obscure towns as N orthampton
There after th e death o f the celebrated Stoddard who had
during his ministry ve signal revivals o r as he called t hem
ve harvests an extraordinary deadness in religion crept in

Politics divided the peopl e and pleasure absorbed the youn g
F amily dis cipline was generally neglecte d and licenti ousness
t o n,
W H IT EF I E L D
1 48
rapi dl y spreading The sabbath evening b e came the chief s e a

son o f mirth and dissipation
This last circumstanc e led E dwards to preach a very solemn
er m o n o n the subj e ct 3 not however that he held the e ve n i ng
They began their sabbath o n the
o f the Lord s day sa cred
S aturday e vening and closed it with the afternoon o f Sunday
It was therefore t h e evil tendency o f passing from the sanc

t u ar y to the t avern and the dancing green that led him to r e
monstrate H e saw how the custom was defeating all his o wn
labou rs and defying parental authority to check it ; and he
singled it ou t and threw all his soul into the assault against it
H e had also planned with the better disposed parents o f his
ock to take private measures for suppressing the evil But
such was the e ffect of the sermon o n the young themselves that
they anticipated the wish both o f their parents and pastor
and abandoned at once and entirely their amusements o n the
s abb ath evening
This was the rst step towards the great revi val at N orth
ampton E dwards then persuaded the young people to spend
t hese evenings in little meetings for social prayer and reading
In this also he succeeded These meetings began too at a time
when some sudden and awful deaths had made a deep and
solemn impressio n in the town But still he seems to have
expected nothing extraordinary to evolve from these symptoms
The A rminian controversy was raging around him at the time
and he in c o mmon with his pious friends was more afraid o f
its inuence than encour a ged by these tokens for good

Indeed E dwards instead o f expecting or attempting to pro
duce a signal revival o f religion seems to have thought only o f
H e began to preach boldly
d efe n d i n g its great fou ndations
the sovereignty and freeness o f grace more with a view to keep
er r or o u t o f his church than with the hope o f
winning souls
by the truth A c cordingly he himself was as much if not
more surprised than an y o n e when the great awakening began
H e however preached the truth from l or e t o it and not fo r
victory 3 and the E ternal Spirit wrought mightily by it
This series o f simple facts has been too much overlooked in
various accounts o f The work of Go d in N orthampt o n

It
.
WH IT EF I E L D
1 49
was in nowise got up on the part o f E dwards as its enemie s

have insinuated ; nor was it so separated from rational means
as some o f its rash friends pretended It certainly well de
serves to be called wonderfuleven miraculous b ecause the
same truth had never triumphed s o gloriously in A merica b e
fore 3 but the means which the Spirit thus blessed were a s na
tural and orderly as philosophy herself could select o r arrange
whilst s h e kept the Bible Open A ccordingly D r Watts and
D r Guyse did not hesitate to call it Th e r en ew a l of t h e mi r a
,
f Gi d eon s fl eece
cl e o
The chief chara cteristics o f this work at its commence

m ent were a melting down of all classes and ages in ov e r
whelming solicitude about salvation ; an absorbing sense o f
eternal realities which b anished all vain and useless conversa
tion 3 a self ab asement and self condemnation which acquitted
God of all severity whatever he might do 3 a spirit of secret
and social prayer which redeemed time for itself under all cir
a concern for the souls o f o thers which
c u m s t an c e s ; and
watched fo r all opportuni ties o f doin g good It can only sur
prise s ciolists that this awakening s o sudden and solemn
should have agitated the body whilst thus agonizing the mind
It produced in many instances loud outcries and in some i n
stances convulsions The loudest cr i es were not however s o
loud as the shrieks of V oltaire o r V olney when the prospect o f
eterni t y unmanned them What E dwards said of those who
in his time resolved the physical e ffect into mental delusion
a
b
e
applied
to
all
who
e
cho
their
opinion
I
question
if
y
they would behave themselves be t ter if they ;were equally
sensible o f their guilt and danger as sinners

N ot that E d
wards was the advocate o f these things ; but he was too good
a philosopher to consider them incompatible with sense or sin
c er i t
a dist e m
y ; and too honest to allo w them to b e called
per c aught from Whiteeld and Tennent as some insinuated

He candidly a cknowledges they h a d appeared before White
eld a r rived Indeed they did not appear under his minis
try a t all
,
B u t, w h a t i s th e
Whatever were the a ccidental extravagances which marked this
ch a
t o t h e w h ea t,
sa i t h
th e L or d
WI I I T E F I E L D
150
LI FE AND TIM E S
work at any period o f i t s progress its permanent results were
Holiness to the Lord

Perhaps a b etter pr o of of the substantial character o f these
conversions cannot b e given than the single fact that most o f
them stood the severe test o f E dwar d s s Treatise o n Religious
A ffections
a work which if as generally read here as it was
there would tempt a large portion o f o ur a cknowledged con
verts to unchristianize themselves
There was noise in the
new stream o f religious feeling which broke o u t at N o r t h amp
t o n 3 and noisy streams are said to be shallow ; but this o n e must
have b een an exception to the proverb see i ng I t sustained that
weighty book upon its bos om
Besides whoever will duly examine E d war d s s N arrative

will nd to his surprise and pleasure all the usual varieties of
experience which show themselves in our o wn churches in the
succession o f single converts H e was honoured to gather at
once what we collect slowly But with this exception and its
natural consequences the history o f any hundred o f t rue con
verts won at wide intervals will present almost all the varieties
o f case which were cr o wded into the rst year of the revival
Wide and great as this revival was however it did not pene
trate N ew E ngland at large until Whiteeld and Tennent
spread it In many leading places the ne cessity or the genuine
ness o f such a work was doubted and denied The churches in
general were still in a Sardian or Laodicean state
D r Holmes says in h i s A merican A nnals that the zeal

which had characterized the churches in N ew E ngland at an
earlier period had previous to Wh i t e el d s arrival subsided
a n d a calm perhaps lethargic state ensued
The discourses
from the desk though evangelical were not impassioned

Shurtle ff of N ew H ampshire in his defence o f Whiteeld says
o f the state o f the churches at this time
N o serious christian
could behold it without a heavy heart and scarce without a
weeping eye ; t o s ee the solid subst antial piety for which o ur
ancestors were j ustly renowned havin g long languished under
sore decays brought s o l o w and seemingly j ust ready to give
up the ghost
E dwards says o f the colleges
It certainly has
sometimes been s o with o ur colleges that instead o f b eing
,
W H IT EF I E L D
AN D TIM E S
LI FE
15 1
plac es of the greatest advantage fo r true piety o ne cannot

send a child thither without great danger o f his being infected
as to his morals
D r C h aun cy denies this charge in un qu al i
e d terms 3 but when he proceeds to disprove it the only
argum ent he adduces is that during twenty years he had
never known H arvard College under be tt er circumstances in
point o f religion good order and learning than at this day

What it really was may perhaps be gathered from the fact
that Whiteeld in his Letter to the students when they b ecame
serious says It was no small grief to me that I was obliged
to say o f your college that you r li g h t w a s d a r kn ess
yet
are ye now become light in the Lord N ow w e may expe ct a
reformation indeed since it is b eginning at the house o f Go d

In regard to the general state o f the churches even D r
C h aun cy cannot e ffe ctually conceal the low ebb o f spiritual reli
gion at this time In spite of all his special pleading it betrays
itself througho ut the whole series o f his Seasonable Thought
o n the State o f Religion in N ew E ngland

A t the close o f
that strange book he acknowledges
that d i s or d er ly wa l ke r s
have been su ffered to take their course without the administra
tion of those censures which are proper to the kingdom of Jesus
Christ Have they n o t been left to themselve s to a c t
they
please without public notice any more than if they sustained
?
no relation to the church o f Go d
It is equally painful to review o r rec o rd these melancholy
facts It is however necessary to do both in order to form a
j ust estimate of the spirit the chara cter and e ffe cts o f White
eld s preaching in N ew E ngland He went there n o t t o spy
o u t t h e nakedness of the land nor to search for declensions 3
but to be refreshed amongst the des cendants of the good old
puritans
It was therefore with as much surprise as regret
that he found the ne gold of puritanism dim

Indeed
it was n o t until D r C h aun cy and others began to caricature the
revivals that Whiteeld began to suspect the spirituality o f the
minist r y His correspondence with D r Colman and Mr Cooper
of Boston and his re corded mem o rials o f all the devoted minis
ters he met with prove that he was inclined and even s olicitous
to be pleased with N ew E ngland
,
1 52
WH IT E F I E L D
Whiteeld had however seen enough in Philadelphia t o

convince him t hat both the matter and spirit of his preaching
in E ngland were equally wanted in A merica H e a ccordingly
wielded in N ew York and Boston all the spiritual and S plendid
weapons which he had employed at London and Bristol The
e ffect at Boston was am azing O ld Mr Walter the successor
o f E liot
the apostle of the Indians said
It w as puritanism
revived
Such was the interest ex cited by h i s preaching that
his farewell sermon was attended by
persons
A nd
during his visit it was testied by the rst authorities in the
city that m any o f the careless were awakened and more o f the
lukewarm quickened
S uch a power and presence o f Go d
with a preacher and in religious assemblies s ays D r Colman
I never saw before

E very day gi v es me fresh proofs o f
Christ speaking in him A small s e t o f gentlemen amongst us
when they saw the a ffe ctions o f the p eople s o moved under his
preaching would attribute it only to the force o f sound and ges
tures But the impressions o n many were s o lasting and have
been so transforming as to carry plain signatures o f a divine
hand going along with him

All this was if possible ex ceed
ed a t N orthampton when Whiteeld visited Jonathan E dwards
and reminded his people o f the days o f o l d

It was say s
Gillies like putting re to tinder

Similar suc cess attended
his ministry in the town and college o f N ewhaven In the lat
t er it overthrew the self righteousness o f the celebrated H op
kins and fanned into a ame the zeal of D A V I D B R A I N ER D a
name that needs no epithet
In like manner at Harvard College the e ffect was great
The honourable Secretary Will ard says in a letter to White
eld That which forebodes the most lasting advantage is the
new state o f things in the college where the impressions o f reli
gion hav e been and still are very general 3 and many in a
j udgment of charity brought home t o Christ D ivers gentle
men s sons that were sent there only for a more polite educa
tion are n o w so full o f z eal for the cause of Christ and o f love
to souls as to devote themselves entirely to the studies of
divinity
D r Colman also informed Whiteeld of this fact
A t Cambridge the college i s entirely changed ; the student s
,
W H IT EF I E L D
1 53
are full o f God and will I h ope come o ut blessings in their

generation ; and I trust are s o now to each other M any o f
them are now we th ink truly born again and several o f them
happy instruments o f conversion to their fellows The voice o f
prayer and praise lls their chambers 3 and sincerity fervency
and j oy with seriousness o f heart s i t visibly o n their faces I
w as told yesterday that not s even o f a hundred remain u n af
I know h o w the good tidings will a ffe ct you God
fe c t ed
give you like j oy every where in the fruit of your labours Thus
Whiteeld was then to the churches and colleges what Wash
i n g t o n was afterwards t o the states
Such w ere the results of h i s rst visit t o N ew E ngland
A nd it deserves S pe cial notice that they were a c companied with
none o f the ex t r a va g a n ces which marked the revival soon
after Much has been written on the subj e ct o f the subse quent
e ffe c t s of this mighty impulse 3 but after deliberately weighing
the works on both sides I am fully persuaded that Whiteeld
himself has given the most j udicious view o f the whole matter
O n his return to Boston in 1 7 4 5 he writes thus : Some c c
casions o f o ffence had undoubtedly been given whilst I was
here (before ) and preached up and down the country N o
thing however appeared but a pure divine power working
upon converting and transforming people s hearts o f all
ranks without any extraordinary phenomena attending it
Good Mr Tennent su cc eeded me : numb ers suc ceeded him
Le cture upon lecture was s et up in various pla ces O ne minis
ter called to another to help to drag the gospel net A nd by
all the ac counts I can have from private information or good
Mr P rince s weekly history one would have imagined the mil
l e n n i um was coming indeed
But in this mixed sta t e o f things
wildre will necessarily blend itself with the pure re that
comes from God s altar This the enemy long waited for A t
last it brok e o u t and spread itself A nd it must be confess
ed by the instrumentality o f many good souls both among
clergy and laity ; who mistaking fancy fo r faith and ima
n a t i o n for revelation were guilty of great imprudence
i
A ll
g
i s laid to me a s being the p r i m um m o bi l e though there w a s
not s o muc h as the appearance of any thing of this nature when
,
WH I T EF I E L D
15 4
S L I FE AN D T I M E S
I left N ew E ngland last B ut m augre all my p o or labours
are yet attended with the usual blessings

That Whiteeld has fairly characteriz ed the r s t aspe ct o f
this work will b e seen from the following public testimony by
thre e o f the principal ministers in Boston ; Prince Webb
Cooper It came out the year after his rst visit
The wondr o us work o f God at this day making its tri
u m p h an t progress through the land has forced many men o f
clear minds strong powers considerable knowledge and rmly
rivetted in A rminian and Socinian tenets to give them all up
at once and yield to the adorable sovereignty and i r r e s i s t i b i
l i t y o f the divine Spirit in h i s saving operations o n the souls
o f men
F or to s e e such men as these some o f them o f
licentious lives long inured in a course o f vices and of high
spirits coming to the preaching o f the word 3 some only o u t of
curiosity and mere design to get matter o f cavilling and banter 3
all at once in o pposition to their inward enmity resolutions
and resistances to fall under an unexpe cted and hated power 3
to have all the strength o f their resolution and r esistance taken
away 3 to have such inward views of the horrid wickedness n o t
only of their lives but o f their hearts with their exceeding great
and immediate danger of eternal misery as has amaz ed their
souls and thrown the m into distress unutterable yea forced
them to cry out in the assemblies with the greatest ago nies :
and then in two o r three days and sometimes sooner to hav e
such unexpe cted and raised views o f the innite grace and love
o f God in Christ a s have enabled them to believ e in him ; lifted
them at once o u t o f their distresses 3 lled their he arts with
admiration ; and joy unspeakable and full of glory breaki n g
forth in their shining countenances and transporting voices to
the surprise o f those about them and t o s ee them kindling up
at onc e into a ame of love to God an utter detestation of their
former courses and vicious habits ; yea by such a detestation
that the very power o f these habits re ceive at once a mort al
wound in short to see their high spirits on a sudden humbled 3
their hard hearts made tender ; their aversion to the Holy Ghost
now turned into a powerful and prevailing bent to contemplate
Him a s revealed in Christ 3 to labour to be like Him in holi
,
WH IT EF I E L D
1 55
ness ; t o pl ease and honour him by a universal and glad co n

formity to his will and nature 3 and to promote his holy king
dom in all about themloving them forgiving them asking
forgiveness o f them 3 abounding in acts of j ustice and charity
in a meek and condescending carriage towards the meanest and
aspiring after higher sanctity
A nd to see other gentlemen o f the like parts knowledge
and principles 3 and of sober j ust and religious lives as far as
mere reason with outward revelation is able to carry them 3
and prepossessed against this work as imagined enthusiasm ;
yet at once surprised to nd themselves entirely destitute o f
that inward sanctity and supreme lov e to God which the gos
pel teaches as absolutely needful 3 to nd t hemselves no more
than conceited Pharisees who had been working out a righteous
ness for their o wn j ustication 3 and to have a clear discovery
o f their inward enmity to Ch r ist and to the nature and way o f
redemption by him 3 with the vileness o f their hearts and lives
which they had never seen before in short to nd themselves
yet unrenewed in the spirit o f their minds and under the heavy
wrath and curse o f God ; to lose all their former condence 3
give up their beloved s chemes ; t o see themselves undone and
helpless and sink into great distress : and then condemning
themselves as guilty wretches humbly lying at the foot o f ab s o
l ute and sovereign grace looking up to Christ as the only Me
d i at or to re concile them t o God to j ustify them wholly by his
o wn righteousness and to enlighten sanctify and govern the m
by his Holy Spirit 3 and there to wait till they nd a new and
mighty life and power come into their souls enabling them to
embrace trust in and love this divine Redeemer 3 rej oice
with satisfaction in him 3 and perform every kind o f duty both
to Go d and man with ple asure and with quite another spirit
than before
Whil st such were the moral e ffe cts o f this A merican Pente
cost well might the eloquent Parsons o f B y el d s ay to t h e
mockers and opposers Whilst yo u stand amazed at the rings
of the wheel as thi ngs too high and dreadful for you 3 whilst yo u
know n o t what to make o f the e ffusions o f the Holy Spirit but
a r e stumbling at every thing amiss 3 beware lest that come upon
,
WH IT EF I E L D
15 6
you which is spoken o f by the prophets Behold ye despisers

and wonder and perish
D ear immortal souls I besee ch and
persuade you by the mercies of God an d the astonishing lov e
o f the Lord Jesus Christ that yo u would not sacrice the oper
by means o f
a t i o n s of the blessed Spirit to your o wn prej udice
o u r imperfections
When Whiteeld saw the r s t fr uits of this harvest he wisely
pressed into the eld as h i s successor Gilbert Tennent The
A merican Biographical D ictionary says of Tennent H e was
born in Ireland and brou ght to this country by his father ; by
whom also he was educated fo r the ministry A s a preacher
he was in h i s v igorous days equalled by but few H i s reason
ing powers were strong 3 h i s language forcible and often Sublime 3
and his manner of address warm and earnest His el oquence was
however rather bold and awful than soft and persuasive H e
Whe n
w as most pungent in his addresses to the conscien ce
he wished to alarm the sinner he could represent in the most
awful manner the terrors of the Lord With adm irable dex
t e r i t y he exposed the false hope o f the h yp ocrite and searched
the corrupt heart to the bottom

Such was the m an whom
Whiteeld chose to take his place in the A merican valley o f
vision when the dry bones began to shake A nd he entered
o n his new sphere with almost rustic simplicity 3 wearing his
hair undressed and a large great coat girt with a leathern gir
dl e
But his lofty stature and grave aspect dignied the
whole H e had been remarkably useful in his former station
in N ew Jersey ; and now in N ew E ngland his ministry was
hardly less successful than Wh i t e el d s had been Much of the
happy chang e which we hav e j ust r eviewed is ascribed by
Whiteeld himself to the instrumentality o f Tennent
He
a ctually shook the country a s with an earthquake Wherever
he came hypocrisy and pharisaism either fell before him o r
gnashed their teeth against him Cold orthodoxy also s t arted
from her downy cushion to imitate o r to denounce him F o r
like E lij ah on Carmel he made neutrality an impossibility
A ccordingly the attack upon him soon began in the true spirit
o f mortied pride by arraigning h i s m o t i ves
It commenced in
t h e Boston news paper in the form of a letter 3
o f which D r
,
WH IT EF I E L D
1 57
who was then the A merican S a ch ever el l was no

doubt the author A t least he has made it h i s own by repub
l i s h i n g it without note or comment
Pray Sir let me put it
to your conscience 3 was not the reason o f your travelling s o
many miles (3 00) to preach the gospel in this place founded o n
the insufficiency o f the ministers here for their ofce Had yo u
not some suspicion that they were not converted ? P erhaps you
only thought that yo u might do a deal more good ? I s n o t this
This is a specimen of the letter to Ten
too near to vanity 7
nent 3 and in the same spirit C h aun cy assailed the character
and motives of Whiteeld and criticized the N arrative and
V indicati on o f the Work o f God by E dwards By his own

confession he travelled farther to collect the m aterials o f his
book a gainst what he called the new light than Tennent

did to guard that light The book itself was answered by vari
o u s writers 3 but the best reproof it called forth was a d mi n i s
t er e d by a v enerable lady who had been converted under the
m m I s t r y o f F l av el
N ew light ! s h e exclaimed ; it may
be new to such as never saw it before 3 but it is what I s a w fty
years ago from good Mr Fl avel

C h aun cy s principal charge against Whiteeld i s
that he
seldom preached without saying something ag ainst unconverte d
ministers
The rst error I would take notice o f he s a ys
is that which supposes ministers if n o t converted incapable of
being instruments o f spiritual good to men s souls Mr White
eld very freely vented this error H e said the reason why
congregations have been so dead is because they have dead men
preaching to them
But conversion says C h au n cy does
not appear to be a l i ke necessary for m inisters in their p u bli c
capacity as o i cer s of the church as it is in their private c a
a ci t
If this was untenable ground the D octor was still
p
y
m ore unfortunate when he attempted to vindicate his brethren
by quoting from Cotton Mather Mather says
N 0 man b e
comes a minister or a communicant in ou r churches until he
hath been severely examined about his r eg en er a t i on as well as
conversation
BA C K U S in his History of the American Bap
?
s
o
tists answers this appeal in a few words
Wh en was it
This testimony wa s given in 1 69 6 H ow does it prove that their
practice remained the s a me in 1 7 40
C h aun cy,
WH IT EF I E L D
1 58
These animadversions upon the conduct and writings o f D r

C h au n cy are necess ary b ecause his in u ence was great and
eventu ally benecial F or whilst h i s work o n The State o f
Religion is contemptible in many respects and especially in

all that regards Wh iteeld and Tennent it is invaluable as an
antidote to the extravagances o f conduct and s entiment which
in seasons o f high and general excitement the weak and the i g n o
rant are s o prone to fall into It is only bare j ustice to make
this acknowledgment ; fo r D r C h aun cy has embodied in the
work the best sentiments o f o u r best divines u pon the subj ect
o f the operations and fruits of the Holy Spirit
A nd these well
selected extracts are such an antidote to his o wn poison that
they could n o t have failed to correct the rashness and folly o f
others
It was howeve r the poison which operated rst The r ep r e
s e n t at i o n s o f the party of which the D octor was the champion
produced edicts of synod and assembly wh ich made the Say
brook platform all but a s ca ffold Ministers who sh ould preach
out o f their o wn parishes without permission were subj ect to
b e treated as vagrants and to be banished from the c o
lony 3 and if they returned to pay the expenses o f their

transportation 3 besides b eing imprisoned until they should give
a bond o f 1 00 not to o ffend again

BA C K US The full force
o f these s a d measures was conned chiey to Connecticut : and
t he re D r F inlay the successor o f President D avies was t h u s
treated
Such was the state o f things in N ew E ngland on Wh i t e el d s
s eco n d visit
But neither the acts of assembly n o r the example
o f th e leading ministers could prevent the people from w el co m
ing him with ac clam ation They voted h i m int o some of the
churches which would otherwise have been shut against him 3
and prevailed on him to preach early in the morning as he had
done in Scotland These morning lectures were soon so p Op u
lar that it became proverbial in Boston that between early
rising to hear Whiteeld and the use o f ta r wa ter the physicians
w ould have no practice
D uring this visit he made an exten
sive tour in N ew E ngland with great success A t the close o f
it he says in his j ournal
We saw great things The o ck
ing and power that attended the word was like unto that seven
.
W H IT EF I E L D
S LI F E AND TI M E S
1 59
years ago Weak a s I was and have been I was enabled to

travel eleven hundred miles and to preach daily I am now
going to Georgia to winter

This preliminary sketch Of A merican e cclesiastical history
although it anticipates not a few Of Wh i t e el d s movements in
the western world will enable the reader to appre ciate both
their wisdom and necessity when they are recorded at length
and in their order from h i s j ournals
The question Wh y did Whiteeld go to A merica in the rst
instance ? has never been satisfactorily answered I have r e
corded in his early life some Of his views and feelings o n the
subj ect without attempting to account for them o r to explain
them
They are remarkable
H e uniformly speaks o f his
obj ect as a great work 3 and represents himself as a strip
ling going forth like D avid against Goliath

H e prays m o st
fervently for such a deep humility well
guided zeal a n d burn
ing love a s should enable him to defy men and devils even
if they did their worst

N ow all this is rather to o much to
b e applied exclusively to the claims of an infant colony 3 except
indeed he foresaw what it would become eventually F oresight
of th is kind however was n o t natural to him Whiteeld did
n ot
see afar O ff into the progress of societ y or the bearings
O f colonization
H e Opened no long nor current accounts with
Time but only with E ternity How his doings would tell upon
future ages and generation s h e seems never to have calculated
His immediate obj e ct was to win souls ; and his nal obj e ct to
present them before the throne with exceeding j oy

Such being the cast Of Wh i t e el d s mind as well as Of his
spirit a new and destitute colony could absorb him as fully as
the hope O f being another apostle o f the Indians or another

E L I O T did Wesley That brilliant hope does n o t seem to have
dazzled Whiteeld at all A t least I h ave searched in vain for
any distinct proof that the example O f E liot inspired him o r
that the sanguine expectations of the Wesleys were shared by
him N O where does he express hopes of great success n o r
explain his errand (as they did) by a desire to save h i s soul

Whatever he anticipated or intended in reference to the Indians
o n the b ank s of the Savannah he said but little 3 and that little
.
W H IT EF I E L D
1 60
only to an Indian trader in condence 1 82 L e t He may how

ever have cherished fond expectations although he did n o t
u tter them as the Wesleys did
N ot that he was more prudent
than his friends In general Wh iteeld thought a l oud It is
possible however that his reference to the prophecy I will
make thee the head O f the heathen m

mean
more
than
mee
t
s
a
y
the eye I am not making a mystery o f his silence It is easily
explained by the single fact that he went out intending to
return to E ngland in the course Of th e year to take priest s
orders
H e could not therefore anticipate much success from
s o short a visit to A merica
Besides his silence i s only too
easily accounted for by the or a cu l a r summons to return imme
d i a t el y which Wesley addressed to him as their vessels met
and passed in the Channel What I mean to say therefore is
that nothing but the future results o f his A merican enterprise
can explain its origin It was the burden o f the Lord upon
his S pirit 3 deeply felt but not fully understood by himself at
the time nor ever perhaps in this world O nly He who seeth
foresaw the bearings of Wh i t e el d s

t h e end from the b eginning
mission to Georgia upon A merica We can now see many Of
the reasons why the Spirit did not su ffer him to remain in
E ngland : A merica needed him in a sense he did not suppose and
to an ext ent s h e herself did not suspe ct 3 and the reasons o f his
mission are n o t all unfolded yet It had much inuence upon
the re cent revivals in that country when they began 3 and is
likely to have still more as they proceed In the mean tim e
by a curious coincidence t h e new revivals in A merica are as
sailed under the shelter Of high sounding compliments to the
Old Wh at D r C h au n cy denounced as wild extravagance in
the times Of Whiteeld Calvin Colton eulogizes as prudent
zeal in his Reasons for preferring E piscopacy

The truth
o r the merits o f Colton s parting charges against his former
connexions I am unable to appreciate 3 but it i s pleasing to nd
that the episcopal church allows a new champion to compliment
Old revivals She ought not however to plume herself o n the
compliments paid to her O R D ER S at the expense o f the E ng

lish independents by Colton By what infatuation could he
have s o forgotten all he saw and heard o f us as t o tell A me
.
W HIT EF I E L D
16 1
ric a that we prefer r ecogn i ti on t o ordinati o n ? It is the very

that leads to the dis
s a cr e d n ess in which we hold the latter
tinction
Whiteeld as we have seen arrived at Georgia in 1 7 3 8
When able to look about him says D r Gillies he found

every thing bore the aspect Of an infant colony ; and what was
more discouraging still he s aw it was likely to continue so by
the n ature o f its constitution The people were denied the u s e
o f both rum and slaves
This Whiteeld wrote and this
Gillies recorded without any comment Indeed Whiteeld
considered th e denial of rum and slaves as more than a m i sfo r
tune to the colony Hence he adds (after stating that female
heirs were not allowed to inherit lands ) so that in reality to
pla ce a people there o n such a footing was little better than to
tie their legs and bid them walk The s cheme was well meant
at home ; but as too many years experience evidently proved
it was absolutely impra cticable in S O hot a country abroad

How di fferently would Whiteeld write if alive now
But
then he was not wiser than his times o n the subj ect O f Slavery
Indeed he soon became a slave owner when he founded his
orphan house at Georgia I have seen the inventory in his
o wn hand writing of the dead and live sto ck bel o nging to that
establishment In that document carts cattle and slaves are
described and valued with equal formality and n on ch a l a n ce
I might have concealed this fact n o w that there are A mericans
who may e m ploy it in their own j ustication : but I have n o t
hid it 3 because even they cannot hide from themselves the fact
that Whiteeld ought never t o have held a slave It was not
like himselfi t was unworthy o f him to do s o S O it is Of every
A m erican christian
I w o t that through ignorance he did it
a s did their and our fathers
H e would not do it now Who does
not
instinctively feel this ? H o w di fcult it is to believe that
ever Ge o rge Whiteeld could have written the following words
In his memorial to the governor o f Georgia for a grant of lands
a con
t o found a college he urges his reque s t by stating that
s i d e r abl e sum of money is intended speedily to be laid o ut in
purchasing a large number o f negroes

In his mem o rial to
the ki n g praying fo r a charter to the intend ed col l eg e h e pledges
,
W H I T EF I E L D
1 62
himself t o give up his trust and make a free gift o f all lands
negroes goods and chattels which he now stands possessed o f
in the province o f Georgia for the present founding and t o
wards the future support o f a college to be called Bethesda

He makes a similar appeal to t h e archbishop o f C anterbury 3
informing him that the number o f negroes young and ol d is
about thirty 3 and proving to him tha t by laying o u t only a
t housand pounds in purchasing an additional number o f negroes

t h e income o f the college would be
easily and speedily aug
m en t ed
In his o wn printed account of the state o f the orphan
house in 1 7 7 0 he thus classes the negroes 3 men 2 4 women 1 1
children 1 5 In the college rules drawn up by himself although
n o t unmindful O f the coloured br anches o f his family he makes
a st r ange disti nction : The young negro boys to be baptized
and taught to read The young negro girls to b e taught to
work with the nee dl e

L or d w h a t i s ma n
Whiteeld did not however forget the negroes i n his preach
It was not uncommon for h i m to clo s e his s er mons thus
i ng
I must not forget t h e poor negroes ; no I m ust not ! J esus
C hri s t died for them a s well a s fo r others
N o r do I menti o n
you last b ecause I despise your s o uls ; but b ecause I w o uld
have what I sh all s ay mak e the deeper impression o n y o ur h eart s
O h that yo u would s eek the Lo r d to be y o u r righ t eous n ess !
Wh o knows but he may b e found of you ? F or in C h rist Jesus
there is neither male nor female bond nor fr ee 3 even y o u may
be the children o f God if you believe in Jesus D id you never
read Of the eunuch belonging to the queen o f C andac e
a negro
like yourselves H e believed The Lord was h i s righteou s
ess
H
e
was
bapti
ed
D
O
you
also
believe
and y o u s hall
z
n
be saved Christ Jesus i s the sa m e now as he was yesterday
and will wash yo u in his own blood GO home thenand
turn the words int o a prayer and entreat the Lor d to b e
E ven so come Lord Jesus come quick
you r righteousness
l y into all o ur s o uls
A men Lord Jesus A men and A m en
,
Whiteeld embarked for Philadelphia with a family consist

ing Of eight men o n e boy and two children besides his zealou s
and mun i ce n t friend Mr Seward ; leaving the bish op Of L on
,
AND TIM ES
1 63
don and whoever else it might concern to digest as they could
t h e blunt and bold answer to the

Pastoral Letter 3 a Letter
which Gibson ought not to have written and Watts n e ver to
have sanctioned : for its moral ex cellences and j ust discrimina
tions however well meant were mixed up with maxims s u b
ve r s i ve o f the gospel Of the grace o f God
This conviction
Wh iteeld proclaimed before
people at Blackheath o n
the day the letter appeared ; and he wrote in his diary that
night after going On board the following not e : I felt great
freedom in mysel f and could not but take notice o f a mistake
his L o rdship O f London was guilty Of 3
for he exhorts h i s
clergy so to explain the doctrine Of j ustication by faith alone
as to make o ur g o od works a n ecessa r y con d i t i on of i t St Paul
pronounces a dre adful anathema against those who j oin faith
and works tog ether in order to their being j ustied in the sight
I pray God that all preachers may b e freed fr om s o
o f God
tremendous a sentence ! And let all the people say A men and
A men
I mention this fact again be cause it gave Wh iteeld a n ew
point to contend for which much improved his views O f the
point he began with 3 for at rst he almost put regeneration
in the room Of j ustication 3 as well as preached t o o little of the
truth by which the Spirit regenerates the soul
The delay of the vessel in t h e river enabled him to answer
the bishop b efore s ailing ; and the new question abs o rb ed h i m
in thought and reading throughout the voyage N ot how
ever S O as to di vert him fr o m the duties o f a ship chaplain
These he discharged with the same delity as formerly 3 but as
they did n o t make so much dem and upon his time he gave h i m
to reading
s elf
A mongst the books which helped him mightily at this time
were Jonathan Warne s C h u r ch of E ng l a n d Al a n t u r n e d D i s
sen t er
and Ar mi n i a n i sm t h e ba ck door t o P op er y
I have
not b een able to Obtain these two 3 but as they are chiey c o m
p o sed O f extracts from D r E dwards P r ea ch er their character
is no secret 3 and it loses nothing o f its point in the hands o f
Warne if I may j udge from his pamphlet entitled
The
dreadful D egeneracy o f the Clergy the means t o pr o mote Irre
,
W H I T EF I E L D
1 64
A theism and Popery which he drew from E dwards

an d d edicated to Whiteeld
Warne was thus the r s t dissenter who wrote o n Wh i t e el d s
behalf The compliment also was well timed and well j udged ;
for it sustained him against the bishop by the testimony Of the
fathers and martyrs o f the church ; and brought the puritans
under his notice
Warne tells Whiteeld to go on in the
name of the Lord 3 for the truths submitted him (with

which his o wn preaching i s delicately identied)
are to
b e found sparkling up and down in the labours o f o ur godly
reformers and holy martyrs like s o many diamonds of the
greatest lustre and are the bases o f all sound religion both in
heart and life

It wa s well for Whiteeld that he had s tudied Warne s spe
c i m e n s o f the reformers and puritans
before he reached N ew
E ngland : they enabled him to adj ust his phraseology in the
pulpit t o the form o f sound words in the States ; and pre

pared him to retract and explain expressions in his printed
sermons which t h e descendants of the p uritans were n o t slow
nor ceremoni o us n o r wrong in condemning
A nother thing which helped to clear and simplify his o wn
views o f the gospel during t h e voyage was the discussion he
carried o n with a quaker who preached oc casionally in the
c abin and always against the ou t wa r d Christ His do ctrine of
the i n w a r d Christ and h i s confoun d ing o f the inward light with
the Spirit led Whiteeld to confess and contend that the
outward righteousness O f Christ imputed to u s is the s ole foun
tain and cause of all the inward communications re ceived from
the Spirit
In other respects his voyage had not much interest It was
however s o useful to himself that he said o n reviewing the
knowledge he h ad a cqu i r e d during it
I w ould not but hav e
come this voyage for a th ousand worlds

O ne O f the fruits o f it
w as his Letter to the Religious Societies in E ngland and
Wales lately s e t o n foot 3 a pamphlet which had no ordinary

inuence upon their faith and patience It is founded upon H eb
x 2 3 which he translates thus : Having been washed in the
body with pure water let us hold fast the mutual and uniform
l ig i on ,
WH IT EF I E L D
1 65
pr o fession o f the hope , with o ut wavering ; fo r H e is faithful
that hath promised

The letter bears date Sept 2 2 ; and presents a remarkable
contrast to his o wn hopes o n that day as these appear in his
diary
not t hat he himself was in despair 3 but he felt ,he s ays
something Of that which A dam felt when he was turned out of
Paradise ate but little and went mourning all the day long
A ccordingly he does not mention the letter nor intimate that
he had done any thing but weep bitterly

This arose from the overwhelming dis coveries he had m ade
o f the plagues o f his o wn heart and Of the depths o f Satan
It happily reminded him however o f Luther s experience
that he never undertook any fresh work but he was visited
e ither with a t of S ickness or with some strong temptation
May I follow him he says as he did Christ

Th us hum
bled improved and encouraged to p ersev er e in his work he
arrived at Philadelphia after a passage of nine weeks 3 and after
having had he says a legion o f devils cast out of his heart by
the power of Christ

His welcome at Phil adelphia was cordial Both ministers
and laymen o f all denominati o ns visited him and invited h i m
to preach He was especially pleased to nd that t h e y pre
ferred sermons when n ot delivered within the church walls

It was well they did ; for his fame had rea ched the city before
he arrived and thus collected crowds whi ch no church could
c o ntain
The court steps became his pulpit 3 and neither
he nor the people wearied although the cold winds o f No vember
blew upon them night after night
O ld Mr Tennent o f N es h am i n y (the father o f t h e Ten
ments ) came t o visit an d hear him 3 and thus paved his way to
N ew Brunswick where he be came acquain ted with Gilbert the
oldest s o n o f the good ol d man as Whiteeld always called

him Gilbert Tennent and George Whiteeld were j ust the
Both w e re popular and both had
m en to meet at this t ime
been perse cuted
A c cordingly they understood and app r e
Tennent readily entered into White
c i at e d each other at once
el d s views 3 and Whiteeld nobly despising all the abomina
ble imputati o ns which t h e w o rld cast up o n Tennent identied
.
WH I T E F I E L D
166
himself with him in A merica ; and t old E ngland that he wa s

a s on Of thunder whose prea ching must either c o nvert o r
enrage hypo crites

J ou r n a l s
This was no ordinary magnanimity 3 for at the time Ten
ne u t s nam e was loaded with reproach and the grossest imm o
r al i t i es were attributed to him
He o u t
Am er i ca n B i og D i c t
lived them all however and closed a life Of sign al usefulness by
a death Of signal peace
H o w much Whiteeld was both struck and humbled by h i s
preaching will b e seen from the following re cord
N ever
before heard I such a searching sermon H e went to the bot
tom indeed and did not daub with untempered mortar H e
convinced m e more and more that we can preach the gospel of
Christ no further than we have experienced the power Of it i n
our hearts I found what a ba be and n ovi ce I was in the things
o f God
D i a ry
A fter preaching together in various places they went to
N es h am i n y t o visit th e good ol d patriarch ; and to see the
log h o use (so like the schools o f t h e ancient prophets
where
Mr Tennent had by himself trained for the ministry Rowland
C ampb ell Lawrence Beatty Robinson and Samuel Blair b e
sides his o wn four sons Whiteeld was delighted with the
s cene and predicted the result o f the patriarch s enterprise :
The devil will certainly rage against th e work but I am per
s u ad e d it will n o t co m e t o n ought
It did n o t I t be cam e
Princetown College
A t N ew York Whiteeld was refused the use of both the
church and the court house The commissary of the bishop he
says was full o f anger and resentment and denied me the
He said they did n o t
u s e of his pulpit before I asked for it
want my assistance I replied If they preach the gospel I wish
t hem good luck : I will preach in the elds ; for all places are
alike t o me
S o they were for in the afternoon he preached
in the elds and in the evening in Mr (afterwards D r ) Pem
b erton s meeting house (D r Pemb erton published a funeral
sermon o n the death o f Whiteeld
He was then at Boston
having been dismissed from N ew York by a cabal o f ignorance
and bigotry )
,
WH IT EF I E L D
1 67
Whiteeld did n o t excite much public attention in N ew

York at this time nor indeed o n any subsequent visit until
1 7 6 4 when he prea ched there seven weeks with great accept
ance and success Still even his rst labours were not in vain
Pemberton wrote to him at Philadelphia that many were
deeply a ffected ; and some who had been loose and p r o i g at e
were ashamed and set upon thorough reformation

The
printers also at both places applied to him for sermons t o pub
lish 3 assuring h i m that hundreds had called for them and that
thousands would purchase them This request he complied
with and gave o ut (I use h is o wn expression without know
ing its m eaning ) two ex te mp or e discourses to b e published

His o wn Opinions Of this tour of which N ew York and Phi
l ad el p h i a were the centres are expressed in stronger language
than I can illustrate from my documents ample as they are
It is unknown he says
what deep impressions have been
wrought upon the hearts o f hundreds Many poor S inners
hav e I trust been called home and great numbers are under
strong convictions A n Opposer told me I had unhinged many
I believe it
g ood s or t of pe o ple
O ne proof Of the impression he made was given in t h e pre
s ents he received fo r his orphan family
They sent me but
ter sugar ch o colate pickles cheese and our for my orphans ;
and indeed I could alm o st say they w o uld pluck out their o wn
eyes and give me O h that what Go d says O f the church o f
P hiladelphi a m ay now b e fullled in the city called after her
I kn ow t h y w or ks
name
This readine ss to aid him in his favourite enterprise de
t er m i n ed him to go to Georgia by land that he might col
le ct by the way Seve ral entered heartily into this plan and
purchased a l Op (which he called the S avannah ) to send o n
the family by s e a
O n leaving Philadelphia with Seward nearly twenty gentle
men o n horseback accompanied him ; and before they rea ched
Chester two hundre d more had come to meet him O n his
arrival the j udges sent him word that they would defer their
meeting until his sermon was o ver 3 and the clergyman nding
the church would be t oo s mal l (for nearly a th o usand people had
,
1 68
WH IT EF I E L D
come from Philadelphia ) prepared a platform for him fr o m

which he addressed an immense assembly
A mongst other places which he visited o n this tour was
Whitely Creek where he be came a cquainted with William
Tennent ; and met with what hardly gratied him less a
Welch family who had heard him at Cardi ff and Kingswood
before they emigrated I I I vain any o n e else begged o f him to
b e their guest 3 he would go no where but to the H ow el s The
name accounts for th eir fascination ; it was associated with
Wales Bristol and Howel H arris
Whiteeld b ecame much attached to William Tennent It
w a s from him he received the well known reproof agai n st i m
patience for heaven They were dining with Governor Living
ston o n e day and Whiteeld being much exhausted by severe
labour expressed a hope that he should soon enter into his
rest H e appealed also to Tennent if that was n o t h i s com
fort ? Tennent replied What do you think I should s ay if I
were to send my man Tom into t h e eld to plough and at noon
should nd him lounging under a tree complaini n g of th e heat
and begging to be dis charged from his hard service ? What
S hould I s ay ? Why that he was an idle lazy fellow and
that his business was to do the work I had appointed him

This would have been a powerful rebuke from any o n e It was
In early life he had lain in a
p ec u l i a r from William Tennent
t rance which was s o like death that his funeral was prepared
and with di ffi culty prevented The physician having heard that
the esh under the arm had quivered when the body w as laid
o u t insisted upon a delay of three days
A t the close o f that
time no change had taken place 3 and t herefore the family
re solved to inter the corpse But still the physician hesitated
H e begged for another hour 3 then for half an hour 3 then fo r a
quarter Of an hour : and j ust as this last period was expiring
whilst he was moistening the swollen tongue the eyes Opened
and a groan was uttered H e persevered 3 and in the course O f
a few hours Tennent revived but with the loss Of all his former
ideas His mind was a bl a n k for nearly a year in reference to
all his past life He had however a vivid impression o f having
b een in heaven during his trance 3 and for three years after
,
WH IT EF I E L D
1 69
the s ounds he seemed to have heard in glory were never out o f

his ears Indeed all through his future life he was a heavenly
minded christian This was the m an who reproved Whiteeld 3
and the e ffe ct was increased by the fact t hat Tennent was a
champion for civil and religious liberty as well as a conscious
heir Of glory Am er i ca n B i og D i e t
In th e course Of this tour towards Georgia Whiteeld had
to endure considerable privations and peril in riding through
the woods O n o n e occasion he heard the wolves howling
like a kennel Of hounds near to the road O n another he

had a narrow escape in trying to cross the Potomac in a storm
H e had also to swim his horse once owing to the oods 3 for
it was n o w the depth of winter O ne night Seward and he lost
themselves in the woods o f South Carolina and were much
alarmed at seeing groups o f negroes dancing around great res
N O real inj ury however was sustained from the j ourney not
w ithstanding all its hardships
H e arrived at Charleston in good health and high spirits
Here says Gillies he soon found that by eld preaching

he had lost his Old friend the commissary who once promised
to defend h i m with life and fortune

The commissary had
shame enough to keep out O f the way whilst Whiteeld staid 3
and the curate said he could not admit him into the pulpit
The people however had not for
whilst Garden w as absent
gotten him All the town were clamorous for him to preach
some where A ccordingly he accepted invitations to both the
F rench church and the independent chapel
The congregations were large and polite 3 but presented an
a ffected n er y and gaiety of dress and deportment which he
says I question if the court end o f London could exceed

Before he left however there was what he calls a glorious
alteration in the audience

Many wept ; and the light and
airy had a visible concern in their faces Such was their urgency
to hear more that they won him back from the boat after he
had gone to the shore to sail for Georgia and prevailed o n him
to prea ch again
Here he formed an intimate friendship with the independent
minister J o siah Smith 3 the rst native o f South Carolina wh o
.
WH IT EF I E L D
170
receiv ed a literary degree M i ll er s R e tr osp ec t Smith pub

l i s h e d a remarkable sermon soon after entitled
Th e C h a
l
n
i
a ll
W
h
i
t
e
d
i
m
a
r
t
i
r
e
r
ese
ted a n d
r a c i e r a n d P r ea ch i ng o
e
f
f
p
y p
Strange as this title is both D r Colman and Mr

s upp o r t ed
Cooper o f Boston united in writing a recommendatory preface
t o it A nd no wonder ; it wa s worthy o f their sanction I do
not know o f any thing written s ince which denes and defends
the character o f Whiteeld better The text is J ob xxxii
l7
I said I will answer also my part I also will S how mine
opinion
H e begins by saying
My design from this text
is to S ho w my impartial Opinion o f that s o n Of thunder who
lately gra ced and w armed this desk ; and would have been an
ornament I think to the best pulpit in the province

(This was
a hit as well as a hint to Commissary Garden ) The plan Of the
s ermon is stated thus : The s cheme I propose i s F irst To
give my Opinion o f the d oc t r i n es he insisted o n and so well
established Second T o speak something of the m a nn er o f his
preaching Third T O O ffer my sentiments upon his personal
c h a r a c t er
Lastly T o give you my thoughts what Providence
seems to have in its v iew in raising up men of t his ST A M P in
o u r day 3 almost every where spoken against yet cr o wded afte r
a n d j ustly admired
Smith s defence o f Wh i t e el d s doctrine is m asterly His
a ccount o f his m a n n er is the b est I have ever met with
He
is certainly a nished preacher A noble negligence ran through
his style The passion and ame of his expressions will I trust
b e long felt by m any My pen cannot des cribe his action and
gestures in all their strength and decencies
H e appeared to me in all his discourses very deeply affected
and impressed in his own he art How did t h a t burn and boil
within him when he spake o f the t h m g s he had made touch
ing the King ! H ow was his tongue like the pen of a ready
writer touched as with a coal from the altar ! With what a ow
Of words what a ready profusion Of language did he speak to
us upon the great concerns o f our s ouls In what a aming light
did he set our eternity b efore us ! How earnestly he pressed
Christ upon us How did he move o ur passions with the c o n
straining love o f su ch a Redeemer The awe the silencethe
WH IT EF I E L D
17 1
attenti o n which s at upon the face o f the great audience was an

argument how he could reign o ver all their powers Many
thought he spake as never m an spake b efore him S O charmed
were the people with his manner o f address that they shut up
th eir shops forgot their se cular business and laid aside their
s chemes for the world 3 and the oftener he preached t h e
keener edge he seemed to put upo n their desires to hear him
again
How awfullywith what thunder and soun d did he dis
charge the artillery O f heav en upon us ! A nd yet how could he
soften and melt even a s oldier Of Ulysses with the mercy of God !
How close strong and pungent were his application to the con
s cience 3 mingling light and heat 3 pointing the arrows o f the
Almighty at the hearts of S inners while he poured in the bal m
up o n the wounds Of the co n t i i t e and made broken bone s r e
j oice E ternal th emes the tremendous solemnities Of our reli
gion were all a l i ve upon his tongue
S O methinks (if you will
forgive the g ur e ) St Paul would l ook and s peak in a pulpit
In s o me such manner I am tempted to conceive o f a seraph were
he sent down to preach among us and to t ell us what things he
had seen and heard above
How bold and courage o us did he l o ok He was n o at t er er 3
would not su ffer men to settle o n t heir lees 3 did not prophesy
smooth things n or s e w pillow s H e taught the way of G o d in
truth and regarded not the pers o n of m en H e struck at the
politest and most modish o f o ur vices and at the most fashion
able entertainments regardless o f every one s presence but His
in whose name he spake with this authority A nd I dare war
rant i f none should go to these div ersions until th ey have an
s we r e d the solemn questions he put t o their consciences o ur
theatre would so o n sink and perish I fr eely o wn he has taken
my heart
In a n o te to this serm o n Smith states that 6 00 were con
tributed in Charleston to the orphan house when Whiteeld
returne d
H e left Charleston in an Open canoe with ve negr o rowers
In their way says Gill ies

a nd rea ched Savannah in safety
they lay for the rst time in the w oo ds upon the gr o und
,
'
WH IT EF I E L D
172
near a large re which keeps O ff the w ild b easts

A n em
blem says Whiteeld

of the divine love and presence keep
ing O ff evils and corruptions from the soul

H e found Georgi a
much deserted and depressed 3 but w as much pleased with the
tra ct o f land which H abersham had sele cted as the site o f the
orphan house I t was about ten miles distant from Savannah
and included five hundred a cres O n the 2 4 t h o f J anuary 1 7 4 0
he took formal possession Of his lot and called it Bethesda
the House Of Mercy

N ext week he laid o u t the ground plan
o f the buil d ing ; and employed many workm e n who would other
wise have left the c olony In the mean time he hired a large
house and took in twenty four orphans Thus he incurred a t
o nce the h e avy responsibility O f a large family and a larger i n
encouraged he says by the example of Professor

s t i t ution 3
F ranck
Many years after o n reverting to this undertaking
he said I forgot to re colle ct that P r ofess o r Franck built in
Glaucha in a populous country and that I was building at the
very t a i l of the world where I could e x pe ct the least supply
and which the b adness Of the constitution (o f the colony ) which
I expected ev ery day to be altered re ndered it by far the most
expensive part O f all his Maj esty s dominions But had I r e
c ei v e d m o re and v entured less I should have su ffered less and
others more
It was well for the colony however and b etter
fo r the world that he did
forget to re collect all t his By
committing himself upon Bethesda he was co m pelled like Paul
when he espoused the cause of the p o or s ain t s in Jerus alem t o
visit the churches every where
H aving laid the foundation o f the orphan house he left S a
vannah to provide a s he could for forty orphans and about
sixty servants and workmen 3 fo r such was the number depend
ent on him H e however had no fears n o r misgivings Of heart
N ear a hundred m ouths he writes at the t ime are daily to

be supplied with food ; the expense is great ; but o ur great and
good God will I am persu aded enable me to defray it A s yet I
am kept from the least doubting The more my family increases
the more enlargement and comfort I feel Set thy almighty
a t to it O g racious F ather and for thine own name s sake
convince us more and m o re that th o u never wilt forsake those
,
AND TI M E S
173
wh o put their trust in thee

O n reviewing this passage fteen
years after he wrote
Hitherto blessed b e God I have not
been disappointed o f my hope

R e v J o ur n
Philadelphia was the rst place where he pleaded the cause
and he
o f the orphan house after having c ommenced the work
succeeded alth ough not in the churches The commissary told
him that he would lend the church no more to him
Th e
el d s a r e Op en was his laconic ans wer ; and eight thousand

people replied to his call that night and ten thousand next day
poor o r
O n the sabbath morning he collected 1 1 0 fo r his
phans 3 and then went to church where the commissary

preached a sermon o n j ustication by work s Whiteeld had
b een recognised at church 3 and accordingly was expected to
He did 3 and colle cted 80
answer the sermon in the evening
more fo r Bethesda
Money was however the least part o f his success Many
s o uls were both awakened and won N egroes came to him
?
asking H av e I a soul
Societies fo r prayer and mutual edi
ca t i o n were set up in various parts o f the city
S coffers were
silent o r o nly muttered their c urses over t h e punch bowl in ta
verns because s ays he I did not preach up m o re morality !

S e wa r d relates an anecdote in his j ournal at this t ime which
deserves to b e extracted
A drinking club whereof a clerg y
man was a memb er had a negro boy attending them who used
to mimic people for t heir diversion Th e gentlemen had him
mimic our brother Whiteeld 3 which he was very u nwilling to
d o (Whiteeld had just published an appeal o n behalf of the
negroes ) 3 b u t they insisting upon it he sto o d up and said I
S peak the truth in Christ I lie not 3 u nl ess you repent you will
all be damned
This unexpected speech broke up the club
which has never met S ince

S e w a r d s J o ur n a l
A t this time Whiteeld and Se ward became acquainted with
A nthony Benezett the philanthropist H e was a quaker but
he confessed to them with tears that the society in general
were in a state Of carnal se curity This led Whiteeld t o be
v e r y plain and powe r ful in exposing their err o rs The couse

h
i
m
t
at
many
Of
them
forsook
Benezett
evi
u en ce was
h
q
d en t l y caught something o f Whi t e el d s spirit if I may judge
WH IT EF I E L D
17 4
from his subsequent history I t was at this amiable philan

t h r o p i s t s funeral when hundreds of weeping negroes stood
round that an A merican O ffi cer said
I would rather b e An
t h o n y Benezet t in that co fn than George Washington with all
his fame
Ame r B i og
The simplicity Of Seward at this time is amusing H e was
A nd he
n o t only Wh i t e el d s Boswell b ut also his trumpeter
makes no secret of his being the writer Of the paragraphs
and advertisements which t hen appeared in the newspapers
O ne o f them which he sent from Philadelphia to the N ew York
paper is worth quoting for the facts it contains
We hear
fr o m Philadelphi a that since Mr Wh i t e el d s preaching there
the dancing school and c o ncert room have been shut up as
inconsistent with t h e doctrines o f the gospel 3 at which some
gentlemen were s o enraged that they broke Open the door I t
is most extraordinary that such devilish diversions S hould be
supported in that city and by some o f that very sect whose rst
principles are an utter detestation Of them ; as appears from
Willia m Penn s N 0 Cross n o Crown 3 in wh ich he s ays
E very step in a dance is a step to hell
It was Seward himself who had taken away the keys Of the
assembly rooms that all the pe ople might come t o hear White
eld H e Obtained the keys from the keeper o n prom is ing to
meet all consequences A cc o rdingly he was threatened with
a ca ni ng and g o t well abused ; which quite delighted him It
o ught however to be known that Seward was hurried away
into rash zeal o n this occasion by nding a son Of P E NN o n e Of
the proprietors Of the assembly house This would have pro
vo k e d even an E nglish quaker a s well as a methodist
J our n a l
p 6 He had however to provide fo r th e dancing master s
family
He did also a better thin g at this time :
A greed
with Mr Allen for ve th o usand acres O f land on the forks o f
the D elaware 3 the conveyance to be m ade to Mr Whiteeld
and after that assigned to me as security for my money
This purchase was chiey made for the benevolent design o f a
negro school S i milar t o the orphan h o use Seward however
did n o t liv e t o carry his design into e ffe ct He died before
Whiteeld returned to E ngland
.
"
WH I T EF I E L D S LI FE
AND TI M E S
17 5
A fter v isiting various places and producing every where a

great impression Whiteeld arrived at N ew York where he
was met by William Tennent He had howev er overtaxed
his strength by labour and lost his appetite H e did n o t there
fore create a great sensation there at this time ; at least not
equal to that in other places H is audiences however were
never under seven o r eight thousand persons and he Obtained
3 00 for Bethesda
It is very a ffecting to read his diary at this time : he was s o
unwilling to give way to his sufferings and s o unable to do j us
tice to his burning z eal He made a desperate e ffort at Long
Island to reach his usual pitch ; but almost sunk under it as
he turned to the ministers exclaiming
Oh t h a t w e w er e a l l
I
a a me (
y r e
O n his way t o Philadelphia again he revived ; having had
the assista nce and society O f the Tennents and some refreshing
sleep which he says

my body much wanted
This rally
was opportune 3 for the whole city was moved at his coming
He t o o was moved with indignation o n hearing that a n t i n o
m i a n i s m had been charged against the tendency Of h i s doctrine
A ccordingly he cleared himself from the aspersion with great
spirit in his rst sermon

I a bh or the thoughts o f it he
said 3 and whosoever entertains the doctrines o f free grace in
an honest heart will nd them cause h i m to be fruitful in every
good word and work

In this loathing abhorrence O f an t i n o
m i a n i s m Rowland Hill always appeared to me to inherit the
m an t le and spirit o f Whiteeld and to remember that he i nh e
rited them His well known sarcas m It is a n a s ty religion

did more execution upon that monster Of the mire than any
weapon I have seen wielded The look and the tone in which
this was uttered justied as they were by his own holy charac
ter were irresistible The h i t struck as wit and stuck as wis
dom Whiteeld having repelled the charge of antinomianism
in Philadelphia had next to j ustify his zeal That wa s attacked
o n the following sabbath in church whilst he himself was pre
sent The clergyman took for hi s text I bear t hem record
they have a zeal fo r Go d but n o t acc o rding to knowledge

It
was an unfortunate selection for the a ccuser ; and Whiteeld
,
'
176
TI M E S
AN D
turned th e context upon him with tremendous point and p o wer

in the evening before an audience of twenty thousand
I
could have wished he had considered the ne xt words
for they
being ignorant Of God s righteousness and going about t o es t ab
lish their ow n righteousness hav e not submitted themselves to
the righteousness o f God F or Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth
Rom x 3 4 That
b
esides
many
other
converts
came
to
tell
n ight f fty n eg r oe s
i
him what Go d had done for their souls

N ext day he set out for D erby and found when he came to
the ferry that people had been crossing over a s fast as two
boats could carry them ever since t h r ee o clock in the morning

Many O f them followed him to Chester and Wellington also and
almost wore him out by their claims upon his time and strength
They were not however inconsiderate O f his Obj e ct they gav e
him much and promised him more for his orphans
Whilst in Ches t er county a n ew feature was added to the

e ffects o f his ministry It had Often been accompanied by the
deep silence O f awe and the silent tears of penitence both i n
E ngland and A merica : b ut it never produced paroxysms o f
crying o r conviction Something of this kind certainly hap
pened at Bristol 3 for Wesley appeals with triumph to outward
signs similar to those produced there by himself although
Whiteeld says nothing about them in h i s j ou rnals ; which

says Southey
assuredly he would have done had he been con
v i n ce d with Wesley that these ts were the immediate work o f
The only t hing Of the kind however which Whiteeld

Go d
mentions before the scenes at N ottingham a n d F og s Manor
o ccurred at Philadelphia whilst he w as settling o n e o f his
societies b u t not preaching It was a female society comp o sed
Of many who had j ust b een awakened by his prea ching When
therefore he met them and pro ceeded to organize and exhort
them their unexpected number and ne w position overcame them
Their cries might be heard at a great distance

Still this
was all A nd it t ook only a d evo t i on a l form for he adds
When I had done prayer I thought properto leave them at
their devotions
But this was far exceeded at N ottingham
I h a d not spoke l o ng when I perceived numbers m elting A s
,
WH IT EF I E L D S LI FE AN D TIM E S
177
I p r oceeded the inuence increased till at last both in the

m o rning and afternoo n thousands cried ou t so th at they almost
drowned my voice O h what strong cryings and tears were sh ed
and poured forth after the clear Lord Jesus ! Some fainted 3 and
when they g o t a little strength would hear and faint again
O thers cried o u t in a manner almost as if they were in the sharp
est agonies o f death A nd after I had nished my last dis
course I myself was s o overpowered with a sense Of God s love
that it almost took away my life

N ext day even this commotion was exceeded at F og s Manor
Look where I would most were drowned in tears The word
was sharper than a two edged s word Their bitte r cries and
tears were enough t o pierce the hardest heart O h what di f
fer en t visages were then to be seen ! Some were struck pale as
death others lying on the ground o thers wringing their hands
others sinking into the arms Of their friends and most lifting
up their eyes to heaven and crying o u t to God for mercy I
could think Of nothing when I looked at them s o much as the
great day ! They seemed like persons awakened by the last
trump and coming o u t o f their graves to j udgment
Remarkable as all this is it admits o f some explanation al
though Gillies passed i t over N ow in both instances Wh ite
eld accompanied by T en n en t and Blair rode away fr o m the
scene to the distance of t wen ty miles immediately after these
sermons and sensati o ns : a self eviden t proof that they ap pr e
hended n o danger from the paroxysms They rode too sing
ing psalms and hymns by the way

N ow they were not men
who would h ave abandoned the conscience str uck nor sung as
they left them had there been any symptoms o f bodily or men
tal disease at all ominous Both W Tennent and Blair were
emphatically nursing fathers and Wh i t e el d s heart was mad e

o f tenderness
It is thus eviden t that he did not consider the
pe ople t o be unnaturally nor unduly excited
Besides they were not altoge ther unprepared fo r the appeals
of Whiteeld Bla ir who was the minister at F og s Manor
was himself a p o werful preacher and had been crea t ing a strong
impression throughout the county fo r some time The Ten
n en t s als o had c o Operated in preparing the way o f the Lord
,
'
W H IT EF I E L D
178
Whiteeld went to their eld Of labour because a go o d w o rk
had begun i n it by their lab o ur s He had therefore good

ground t o s o w in : and he fel t this when he saw twelve
thousand pe ople assembled in a desert place where he did
not expe ct so many hundreds

I was surprised he says
to see such a great multitude gathered together at s o S hort
warning
A nd they themselves must hav e been surprised
at their o wn numbers These facts lessen the mystery Of the
commotion without diminishing its real interest It was as
at Pentecost men wh o had c o me from all quarters t o w or
sh i
that were cut to the hear t ; and many Of whom had
p
smote o n their breasts before they heard the P e t er O f

E ngland s P entecost
Whilst Whiteeld was thu s moving about from place t o place
he wrote the following letters in order to Obtain a wife 3 and it
will not be wondered at n ow that they defeated their own wise
purpose by their unwise form
,
TO
MR
On
AN D
b oard
th e
fr o m
M RS
S avann ah , b oun d
Georgi a, Ap ri l
t o Ph i l a
d el ph i a
4 th , 1 740
My dear Friends
I nd by experience that a mistress is ab solutely ne cessary
for the due management Of my increasing family and t o tak e
of
f some Of that care which at present lies up o n me
Besides
I shall in all prob ability at my next return from E ng l a n d
bring more women with me 3 and I nd unless they are all
truly gracious (or indeed if they are ) without a superior mat
ters cannot b e carried o n as be c o meth the gospel of J esus
Christ It hath been therefore much impressed upon my heart
that I sh ould marry in order to have a help m eet for me in the
work whereunto o ur dear Lord Jesus hath c alled me This
comes (like Abr a h a m s servant t o R ebeka h s relati o ns) to kn o w
Whether you think your daughter M i ss E
is a proper per
son t o engage in such an undertaking ? If s o 3 whether y o u
will b e pleased to give me leave to propose marriage unt o her ?
You need not be afraid Of sending me a refusal F or I bless
,
WH IT E F I E L D
1 79
G o d if I kn o w any thing Of my o wn heart I am fre e fr o m that

fo olish passion wh ich the w o rld calls love I write o nly because
I b eliev e it is the will o f Go d tha t I should alter my state 3 but
your denial will fully c o nvince me that your daughter is n o t
the person appointed by God for m e H e knows my heart 3 I
w o uld n o t m arry but for him and in him fo r ten thousand
world s Bu t I hav e sometimes thought M i ss E
would b e
my help mat e 3 fo r Sh e has Often been impressed on my heart
I sh o uld think myself safer in y o ur family b e cause S O many O f
you love t h e Lord Jesus and consequently w o uld b e more
watchful over my precious and immortal s o ul A fter str o ng
crying and tears at the thr o ne o f grace for dire cti o n and after
unspeak able troubles with my o wn heart I write this
Be
pleased t o spread the lette r before the L o rd ; an d if you think
this motion to b e o f him b e plea s ed t o deliver t h e enclosed t o
y o ur daughter 3i f n o t s ay n o thing o nly let me kn o w y o u di s
approve of it and that s h all satisfy de ar Sir and Madam
Y o ur obliged friend and servant in Christ
G W
,
TO
M ISS
On
b o ar d
th e
S avannah , Ap ri l 4 th , 1 740
Be n o t surprised at the contents of this

t h e letter sent
t o y o ur hon o ured father and m o the r will a cquaint you with t h e
D O you think y o u could underg o the fatigues that
r easons
must ne cessarily attend being j oined t o o ne wh o is every day
liable t o be called o ut to su ffer for the sake of Jesus Christ ?
C an you bear to leave your father and kindred s hou s e and t o
trust o n him (wh o feedeth the young ravens that call upon him )
for y o ur o wn and children s support supp o sing it s h o uld pleas e
him to bless y o u with any ? C an you bear the inclemencies Of
C an
t h e air b o th as t o c o ld and heat in a foreign climate
y o u when y o u have a husband b e as th o ugh yo u had n o ne and
willingl y part with him even for a l o ng season when his L o rd
and Master shall call him forth to preach the g o spel and com
mand him to le ave y o u behind ? If after seeking to God for
directi o n and s earching your heart you can say I can do all
N 2
WH IT E F I E L D
1 80
those things through Christ strengthening me what if you

and I were j oined together in the Lord and you came with me
at my return from E ng l a n d t o b e a help meet for m e in the
?
m anagement Of the orphan house
I have great reason to b e
lieve it is the divine will that I should alter my condition and
have Often thought you were the person appointed for me I
shall still wait O n God for direction an d heartily entreat him
that if this m otion b e n o t o f him it m ay come t o nought
I
write thus plainly be cause I trust I write n o t from any other
principles but the love Of G o d I S hall make it my business to
call o n the Lord Jesus and would advise you to consult both
him and your friend s
for in o rder to attain a blessing we
should call both the Lord Jesus and his disciples to the mar
r i a e I much like the manner o f I s a a c s marrying with R e
g
be ka h ; and think no marriage can succeed well unless both
parties concerned are like minded with To bi a s and his wife I
think I can call the God Of Abr a h a m I sa a c and J a cob to wit
ness t hat I desire t o take yo u my sister to wife not for l ust
but uprightly 3 and therefore I hope he will mercifully ordain
if it b e h i s blessed will we sh o uld be j oined together tha t we
m ay walk as Z a ch a r y and E l i sa be th did in all the ordinances
I make no great profession to yo u b e
o f the Lord blameless
cause I believe y o u think me sincere The passionate ex
pressions which carnal courtiers u s e I think ought t o b e av o id
ed by th o se who m arry in the Lord I can o nly pr o mise by the
help o f G o d to keep my matrimonial v o w and to do what I
can towards helping you fo rward in the great work Of your s al
v ation
I f you think marriage will be any way prej udicial to
your b etter part be S O kind as to send me a denial I would
You need not b e afraid o f
n o t be a snare to yo u fo r the world
S peaking your mind I trust I love you only for God and desire
to b e j oined to y o u only by his command and for his sake
With fear and much trembling I write and shall patiently tarry
the Lord s leisure till he is pleased t o incline you dear Miss
E
to send an answer t o
Your affe ctionate brother friend
and servant in Christ
G W
WH IT EF I E L D
181
Whiteeld returned to Savannah with colle c t ions for B e t h e s

da to the amount o f 500 in money and g o ods O n his way
he preached at Lewis Town to what he calls a s una ffe cted a
congregation as he had seen in A merica N ext day however

he compelled the p oli tes t of them to weep whilst he pictured
the trial O f Abraham s faith 3a favourite and ef cient se r mon
with him : but he adds (what other ministers have found only
too true ) Alas when I came to turn from the creature to the
Creator and to talk o f God s love in sacricing h i s only begot
ten Son their tears I Observed dried up I told them o f it 3
and could n o t but hence infer the dreadful depravity Of human
nature that we can weep at the su fferings Of a martyr a mere
man like ourselves 3 but when are we a ffected at the relation o f
?
the su fferings o f the Son of God
His reception at Savannah on t his occasion deserves parti
c ul ar attention
It engraved the orphan house upon his heart
as with the pen of a diamond 3 and wa s for ever vivi dl y present
to him wherever he went afterwards
A nd n o wonder i t
will be said after r eading his own a ccount o f this welcome
O h what a sweet meeting I had with my dear friends ! What
God has prepared for meI know not : but surely I cannot
well expe ct a greater happiness till I embrace the saints in
glory ! When I parted my heart was ready to break w ith sor
row 3but n o w it almost burst with j oy O h how did ea ch in
turn hang upon my neck kiss and weep over me with tears o f
j oy ! An d my own soul was so full o f a sense of God s love
when I embraced o n e friend in particular that I thought I
should have expired in the place I felt my soul so full O f a
sense of the divine goodness that I wanted words to express
myself Why m e L o rdwhy me
When we came t o public worsh ip young and Old were all
dissolved in tears A fter service several Of my parishioners
all my family and the little children returned home crying
along the street and some could not avoid praying very loud
Being very weak in body I laid myself upon a bed 3 but
nding so many in weeping condition I rose and betook m y
self to prayer again But had I not lifted up my voice very
highthe groans and cries Of the children w o uld have prevented
,
WH IT EF I E L D
1 82
being heard This continued for near an hour 3 till at last

nding their concern rather increase than abate I desired all to
retire Th en some o r other might b e heard praying earnestly
in every c o rner o f the house
It happened at this time to thunder and lighten which
added very much t o t h e s olemnity o f the night N ext day the
concern still c o ntinued especially a mong the girl s I mention
the orphan s in particular that their benefactors may rej oice in
what G o d is doing fo r their s o uls

This was j ust the scene to inspire and determ i ne Wh iteeld
to live o r die for the orphan h o use A ccordingly the memory
o f it followed him like his shadow wherever he went
His family had now increased t o a hundred and fty persons
H e therefore visited Charlest o n again to plead their cause
anew But by thi s time Commissary Garden was ready t o
stake his fo rtune and life against him H e began by abus

ing Whiteeld and the meth o di sts in their presence by a ser
mon as virulent unorthodo x and inconsistent as ever was de
livered 3 and ended by refusing him the s acrament

This insult had its natural e ffe ct It s o di sgusted s everal o f
Wh i t e el d s friends that they w o uld not receive the sacrament
from Garden This led to sacraments in a private h o use 3 and
there Baptists church folks and presbyterians all j oined t o
gether and received according t o the church o f E ngland 3 ex
c e t i n g t wo
who desired t o hav e it sitting
Garden then
p
cited Whiteeld t o appear i n an e cclesiastical c o urt for not
reading the Comm o n Prayer in the presbyterian meeting house
at Charle s ton H e accordingly did appear and appealed a o
cording to law t o his M aj esty s c o mmissi o ners for reviewing
appeals H e wrote als o to the bishop o f L o ndon inquiring
Whether the commissary Of South Carolin a had power to
exercise any j u di cial authority over him or any o ther clergyman
not belonging to the province

Garden had in fact suspend
ed h i m from the ministry
H e had therefore no alternative
but to submit o r to lay his case before the high court o f chan
cery 3 which he did Strange t o s ay this suspension and his
appeal against it were afterwards pleaded against him in the
syn o d o f Glasgow when t hey met anent employing Mr
my
WII I TE F I E L D
L I FE AND TI M E S
1 83
Whiteel d in the pulpit s o f the church o f Scotland O ne

member o f the syn o d however (prob ably D r E rskine ) a s ked
indignantly F o r what was Whiteeld suspended ? Wh y for
n o oth er crime than o mitting t o use a form o f prayer prescribed
in the co mmuni o n book when o f ciating in a p r es by ter i a n co n
g r e g at i o n ! A nd shall a meeting o f presbyterian ministers pay
?
any regard t o a s entence which had s uch a foundation
No twithstandin g this suspension he c o ntinued preaching
wherever he c ould in the province until the excessive heat o f
the seas o n c o mpelled him to sail fo r N ew E ngland H e em
bark ed for Rh o de Island intending to go by land t o B o st o n ;
and such was the sp r i ng of his constitution th at the S h o rt vo y
a g e c o mpletely restored him alth o ugh he h ad o ften b een all but
d ea d befo re he left
O n his arrival at N ewp o rt he met with a new fri end Mr
Clap whom he describe s thu s
A n aged dissentin g mini s ter ;
H e l o ok ed
bu t the most venerable man I e ver saw in my life
like a goo d ol d puritan and ga ve me an ide a o f what s t a mp th o se
men were wh o rst s ettled in N ew E ngland His countenance
was very heavenly ! H e rej oiced much t o see me and prayed
m o st a ffe cti o nately for a blessing on my coming t o Rhode
Island Whilst at his table I could not but think that I was
sitting with o ne o f the patriarchs

Whiteel d has not o ver
rated n o r o ver c oloured the p atriarch o f Rh o de Island Clap
had some singularities 3 but his zeal to pr o m o te t h e kn o w
ledge o f Christ and the intere s ts o f the gospel c ast a lustre
O ver all his character Amer i ca n B i og Children servants

and slaves were obj e cts Of his special care 3 and b eing a
bachelor he gave away all his income to the po o r and the
perishing I mention this t o di stinguish h i m (in this coun
try) from Clap the president of Yale College who opp o sed
Whiteeld
A fter preaching with great suc cess o n Rhode Island he r o de
and was met by the govern o r s son and o ther
o n to Boston
gentlemen fo ur m iles (n o t t en as Gillies says ) from the city
A t this time Jonathan Belcher was governor o f Massachu setts 3
a man equally distinguished for piety and polish H e o wed his
h o n ours t o the fav o u r able impressi o n made by his high chara c
.
W H IT E F I E L D
1 84
ter and addre s s up o n the Princess Sophia and her son (after
wards George II ) when in E ngland ; and he regained them
when they were lost through calumny by vindicating himself
b efore the throne where they had been c o nferred Princetown
College o wes much to Belcher 3 an d he was much indebted to
Whiteeld for the impulse which made him its chief patr o n
and benefactor
H is splendid h o spitalities and s tyle were in
their palmy state when Whiteeld rst vi s ited B o s t on Wil
lard also the secretary Of Mas s achusetts was a man Of high and
holy character H e wa s the son Of V ice President Willard O f
H arvard College 3 the author o f th e rst theological fol i o print
ed i n A merica and o n e Of the chief Opponents o f trial for wi t ch
craft The son inherited the father s spirit
S uch were the statesmen who welcomed Whiteeld to Bos
ton S o me Of the ministers also were not less em m en t D r
Colman his rst friend had been when in E ngland the friend
o f Howe
C al am y Burkitt and M rs Rowe then Miss Singer
Indeed he had a ca s te o f Howe in his demeanour and S pirit
Cooper also his colleague was a man who wanted only the
visit o f Whiteeld in o rder t o b e a Whiteeld 3 which as a
revivalist he s oo n b ecame Webb too wa s no ordinary man
D r E liot who was his colleague for eight years sa i d o f him
that he was o n e Of the best O f C hristians and o n e o f the b est
o f minister s
F oxcroft als o d eserves a high pla ce in the reli
g i o u s annals o f B o ston and in the list o f Wh i t e el d s A merican
D r Ch au n cy his colleague being witness H e pub
friends 3
l i sh e d
A n A pology for Whiteeld in 1 7 4 5 a s well as a ser
mon o n his Labours in 1 7 4 0 D r Cha nn e y says o f F o x

croft His writings bear testim o ny to his unfeigned piety and
evince clearness o f conception C opiousness Of invention liveli
ness Of imaginati o n and s o undness o f j udg m ent

F un er a l
,
S er m on
:1
Prince the annalist was another O f the Bost o n sta r s which
fought in their courses for Whiteeld and revivals a some

what e ccentric star indeed when j udged of by the plan Of his
Chronological History Of N ew E ngland which begins at the

creation of the world and ends with t h e arrival Of Govern o r
Belcher
Still he was evidently a man Of great research and
,
1 85
eruditi o n as well as o f ardent piety D r C h aun cy (no mean

j udge in t h e matter ) r egarded him as next to Cott o n Mather
in learning By the way what became o f the MSS and books
which Prince left to the Old south church as The N ew E ng
land Library
The collecti o n was great and valuable Can
it b e true that the MS S were destroyed by the British
?
except by accident
I ask this question because I nd No
in pencil mark on the margin of my copy o f Am er B i og
Gee also deserves honourable mention am ongst the friends
o f Whiteeld
He had b een in early life the colleagu e o f D r
Cotton Mather A fter the D octor s death his son Samu el b e
came the colle a gue of Gee and continued so until they di ffered
o n the subj ect o f revivals 3 Of which Gee was both a wise and
warm advocate He seems t o have had with some o f Cole
r idge s genius all his indolence and love o f talking The j udi
c i ou s and cautious D r Sewall also was one Of th e rst to wel
come Whiteeld t o his pulpit and his condence
Thus Whiteeld fell int o the best hands at B o st on N othing
gratied him more h o wever than his interviews with Ol d Mr
Walter the colleague and successor of the apostolic Eliot at
R oxbury
The pastorship of that church had been conned to
these t wo patriarchs a hundred and six years at this time
Whiteeld says o f Walter

he was a good Old puritan
He
returned Whiteeld the c ompliment on hearing him preach at
the governor s table 3 s aying o f the sermon It was puritanism
revived
D r Colman said of this intervie w that it was the
happiest day he ever saw in his life

O ne remark o f Walter s
pleased Whiteeld very much : I am glad to hear said the
that you call man half devil half beast

o l d apostle
N either the g o v ern o r n o r the doctors o f Boston however
could get Whiteeld into the church The commissary treated
him politely and introduced h i m to his clergy but would n o t
admit h i m into the pulpit ; he therefore preached in all the
large chapels and when they b ecame t oo small for the audiences
he bet o ok himself to the Common and there renewed the s cenes
o f M o o r el d s and Blackheath
A melanch oly catastrophe arose from fright at o n e Of the
chapels The place wa s crowded t o excess b ut there had been
,
WH IT EF I E L D
1 86
nothing to create alarm

yet o n a sudden all the people were
in an uproar ; and s o unac countably surprised that s o me threw
themselves out o f the windows ; others ou t of the galleries ;
others trampled o n one another : s o that ve were actually killed
and many dangerously w ounded

This awful uproar was at its
height when Whiteeld reached the chapel : and alth o ugh he
saw s o me the victim s Of it he had presence O f mind enough to
call o ff the peopl e t o hear him o n the C ommon This restored
condence Th o usands followed h i m to the elds and listened
with deep attention whilst he impr o ved this humbling p r o
v i d en c e
It did humble h i m I have no doubt o f its being
the chief consideration which made him write in his j ournal
o n leaving Boston
I had such a sense o f my own vileness upon
my soul that I wondered people did not stone me

N ot that
he could blame himself at all for the catastrophe z but it made
him feel his o wn n oth i ngn ess before G o d and thu s before man
als o A ccordingly in a letter to Howel Harris at this time
he predicted with great accuracy the reverse s o f his o wn p op u
l ar i t y in Lond o n :
My coming t o E ngland will try my delity
to my Master Those that befo re I supp o se w o uld have plucked
o u t their eye s for me n o w I suspe ct will be very s h
and
avoid
y
me
This had no reference to the calamity at Bost o n 3 but
that had opened his eyes to the precariousness o f p opularity
H e saw how any token Of j udgment in connexion with his mi
n ist r
y might be turned into an obj ection against his d o ctrines
n o w that he had assailed Wesley
The calamity did not a ffe ct his popularity at Bost o n O n the
day after he preached twice in Mr Gee s chapel t o immense
a udiences
H e then visited Cambridge College and prea ched
b efore the professors and students and a great number of the
neighbouring ministers What was the cl ose application he
made o f the sermon to the tutors and students may be easily

j udged from the horror he felt a t an unconverted ministry I t
w a s however t o o unqualied bad as the spiritual state of Cam
bridge was at the time A ccordingly he afterwards begged
pardon fo r his rashness i n taking things upon hearsay

But
whilst some took o ffence his Boston friends including the
gove rn or seem t o have taken the warning well They all met
,
9)
W H IT EF I E L D
1 87
him next day at the governor s table Before di nner his E x

c el l e n c y thanked him privately with tears and after dinner sent
h i m in the state carriage thr o ugh the city to the place where he
had to preach O n the following s abbath he collected in two
Of the chapels upwards Of 1 000 currency for his orphan house
In t h e e x cursi o ns he mak e thr o ugh Massachusetts White
eld met a t Ipswich with a venerable descendant of Rogers o f
D edham wh o himself Was a descendant o f R o gers the martyr
T h e hallowed ass o ciations which enshrined this h o ary h ead
were not lost up o n him
H appy l o t
he exclaimed as he
looked back t o the Ol d man s ancestors and ar o und up o n his
promising sons Whiteeld inherited the spirit o f the R o g er s s 3
but he felt that he had not their mantle
O n his return to Bost o n the public interest wa s higher than
ever A rep o rt that he had been p o isoned lled t h e city
T wenty thousand people therefore attended h i s rst sermon
A nd both in the elds and in the chapels all seemed melted
and many acknowledged themselve s won by the gospel O ne o f
his m o st effectual serm o ns at Webb s chapel was o ccasioned by
the touching remark O f a dying boy who had heard him the day
befor e The b o y was taken ill after the sermon and said
I

want t o go to Mr Wh i t e el d s God 3 and e x pired This
touched the secret place o f both the thunder and the tears of
Whiteeld
It encouraged me t o speak to little o nes : but
fected when I said
o h h o w were the Ol d pe o ple a f
Little chil
dren if your parents wi ll n ot c o me to Christ d o yo u come and
go to heaven with o ut them
A fter thi s awful appeal n o
w o nder that ther e were but few dry eyes

O nly a White
eld howeve r c o uld have drawn t ea r s by it In the generality
O f lips it would harden
not soften w o rldly parents 3 and only
sho ck a ffectionate children
In this state Of mind Whiteeld set out to visit Jonathan
E dwards at N orthampton H e was not allow ed to quit Boston
privately The govern o r took him in the state carriage to the
ferry ; and as he entered the boat embraced him and bade him
farewell with many tears Belcher could not b e satised with
e ven this courtesy H e crossed the country and met him again
at Marlb o r o ugh Worcester and Leicester O n parting nally
WH IT EF I E L D
1 88
his E xcellency said to h i m in private

Mr Whiteeld go o n
in stirring up the ministers 3 for reformation must b egin at the
house O f God A nd do not spare rulers n o not the ch i ef of
them any more than ministers

I have o ften thought whilst reviewing the sweeping and
severe invectives which Whiteeld S O bitterly repented that no
mall part o f the blam e lay at the governor s door A charge
like this uttered with tears and entreaties was enough t o m i s
lead a cooler man than George Whiteeld I must therefore
say Of it what he said o f his o wn conduct It was well meant
but it did hurt

T o his credit for impartiality however he
did not spare the governor himself ; but before leaving N ew
E ngland wrote to hi m thus faithfully ; I thought y our E xcel
leney wanted a more clear V iew of y o ur own vileness and of the
all su f ci en cy o f Jesus Christ I mean a more experimental
view : for what is all head knowledge without that o f the heart ?
It only settles people more upon their lees May God give you
to see and to follow the simplicity Of the blessed Jesus ! H O
n o u r e d Sir I make no apology for this freed o m 3 your E xcel
l en cy ba d e me not S pare rulers no n o t the chief of the m

Whiteeld has Often been charged with attering himself upon
the attentions paid to him by the great this is o n e instance in
which he did not atter the great in return
O n his arrival at N orthampton that cra dl e Of revivals he
was at h o me at once with Jonathan E dwards
Their m eeting
as Gillies says was like putting re to tinder

S O it was in
the best sense E dw ar d s s family and ock soon glowed with
the warmth O f their rst love and melted to their rst penitence
But whilst these two eminent ministers esteemed and even
loved each other as servants o f God E dwards did not think
that Whiteeld regarded him as a c ond en t i a l friend exactly
The fact is E dwards had caution ed him upon the subj ect o f
impulses and guarded him against the practice of j udging others
to be unconverted This was touching sore places at the time
Whiteel d seems to have winced a little with impatience under
the metaphysical pr obe o f E dwards 3 but to have conceded no
thing then They parted however with mutual love 3 and
whatever di fference existed between their theories of impulses
.
WHI T EF I E L D
1 89
both s o on rej oiced equally in a glori ou s p r o gres s o f the w o rk
o f God at No rth ampt o n t hat year S er en a D wig h t s L ife of
E dwa r d s
O n the way from No rthampt o n t o Wi n dsor Whiteeld had a

narrow escape his h o rse shrunk back at a br oken bri d ge 3 and
when urged forward threw him over it H e fell upon his face 3
but providentially in the sand not in the water He was stunned
for a time and bled a little ; but next day he preached twice
His evening service was at E ast Windsor where Jonathan
E d war d s s venerable father was minister H e was much pleased
with this family
Mr E d war d s s wife wa s as aged I believ e
as himself 3 s o that I fancied I was S itting in the house o f Z a
ch a r i as and E lizabeth
His visit t o N ewhaven als o deserves t o be rec o rded It had
n o t a little to do with the c o nversion Of the celebrated D r
Samuel Hopkins the n a student 3 although not s o much con
n e c t e d with it as the subsequent appeals Of Brainerd to him
Hopkins says that he was s o mewhat impressed by what
Whiteeld said b o th in public and private and that he jus
in his own mind whilst m any condemned h i m
t i ed him
fo r his severe attacks upon the

mixed dancing and frolicking
then s o prevalent in N ew E ngland H op ki n s s M em oi r s Would
t hat all the H o pkinsians in A merica were H op ki n s i a n in that
articl e of their father s creed that it is both the duty and i n
t er es t of the A merican State to emancipate all their A frican
slaves
Whilst at N ewhaven Whiteeld dined at the c ollege with
Principal Clap 3afterwards his Opponent Clap s dislike to
h i m seems t o have begun with their rst interview
A t table
Whiteeld atta cked the scheme o f an unconverted ministry
and showed its ill consequences without ceremony He ap

pears also to have hinted at h i s o wn scheme Of supplying faith
ful men
to the A merican churches from Britain to be o r
d ained by th e Tennents
This was certainly t h e subj ect then discu ssed at N ewhaven
H all 3 and the spirit O f the discussion o n the part of Wh iteeld
may b e conj e ctured from the evening note in his diary
Oh
that Go d may quicken minister s O h that t h e Lo rd may make
,
WH IT EF I E L D
190
all ames o f holy re ! Come Lord Jesus ; c o me quickly
A men and A men

In general Wh i t e el d s evening reecti o ns emb o dy the spirit
Of the day : and o n this day his spirit was t oo warm for Clap
temperament Clap although a good man would have sympa
t h i ze d more with a N ewton o r a P aley than with a aming
evangelist H e c o uld construct an or r er y for A merica 3 but he
c o uld n o t elevate the stars o f her churches
H e could refute
i n d el s and heretic s 3 but he could n o t revive formalists
The g o vern o r although very Ol d sympathized more t han the
pr o fe s sor with Whi t e el d s zeal H e said t o him after sermon
I am gl ad Sir t o s ee you and heartily glad to hear you

His heart was so full that he c o uld not speak mu ch The tears
trickled d o wn his aged cheeks like drops Of rain

H e was
thankful t o God he said for such r efr esh in g s on the way t o
o u r rest : food does us g oo d when we eat it with an appetite

O n leaving N ewhaven he th undered o ut at Stamford and
Rye the Opinions against unc o nvert ed mini s ter s which he had
broached at college and the e ffe ct wa s tremend ou s
All
hearers were ready t o cry ou t

A t dinner tw o ministers with
tear s i n their eyes publicly c o nfessed that they had laid h ands
o n two yo u ng men without so m uch as asking w hether they
were b o rn again o f God or not ?

O ne aged minister confessed
in private that he had never fel t the power Of the d o ctrines
o f grace o n his soul although he had preached the m l o ng

What Whiteeld himself thought o f the attacks he thus made
upon an unregenerate ministry during his tour in N ew E ngland
is but to o evident from a letter to his friend H abersham dated
I am glad
o n the v ery day he was wi t h Clap a t N e wh av e n
G o d is s courging o ut the children O f Belial You Often heard
me s ay H e would do so
All were n o t the children Of Belial
whom Whiteeld s c o urged at this time 3 but still it is as i m
possible to doubt the need o f the s courge as it is t o approve O f
its sweeping str oke s Those wh o di d not deserve them would
not have got them had every converted minister been faithful
t o his unc o nver t ed brother H ad all the S piritual men done
their duty to the formalists Whiteeld wo uld have been the
rst t o h o n o ur them
us
'
WH IT EF I E L D
19 1
H e now dire cted his step s again towards N ew York His

former visit to that city disapp o inted him He c o uld not forget
this by the way
My heart was somewhat dej ected I told
Mr N oble (his compani o n) I expected but little movings in
N ew York 3 but Mr N oble bid me expect great th ings from
God 3 and told me o f several wh o were as he hoped savingly
wrought upon by my ministry when there last

A cc o rdingly
the impressi o n was great for N ew Yorkthen It made him
cry out in his chamber Lord why did I doubt
Under his
rst sermon a few cried o ut ; and even his friend N oble could
hardl y refrain
O n the sabbath h o wever he was much dej ected b efore
F o r near half an hour I could only
the evening sermon
lay before the Lord saying I wa s a miserable sinner and
wondered that Christ would b e graci o us to such a wretch
AS I went to meeting I grew weaker 3 and when I came into
the pulpit I c o uld have chosen t o be silent rather than
speak
A S might b e expected th is self emptying was followed by a
rich uncti o n fr o m o n high
A fter I was begun the whole
c o ngregation was alarmed Crying weeping, and wailing were
t o be heard in every corner 3 and many see n falling into the
arms Of their friends My own soul was carried o ut till I c o uld
scarce S peak any m o re

Still the Common was n o t needed at
N ew York
N ext day he went t o Staten Island o n his way back to Phila
delphia 3 preaching by turns with Gilbert Tennent A t Bas
k e r r e d g e a poor negro w o man who had been converted under
his serm o n somewhat embarrassed as well as pleased him by
her gratitude She insisted upon g o ing along with him (t o
Savannah I supp o se ) and told him that her master had con
sented to let her go He says I bid her go home and with
a thankful heart serve her present m aster

A t N ew Brunswick he found if not a warmer a more i n u
friend in A aron Burr afterwards the president of N ew
en t i al
Jersey College ; one O f the master spirits o f his age and country
Whiteeld owed much to this friendship besides t h e degr ee o f
A M in 1 7 5 4 I t was mainly through Burr s inuence that
.
'
19 2
WH IT EF I E L D
Gilbe r t Tennent was induced to g o to Boston to water the seed

Whiteeld had s o wn there
AS they drew nearer Philadelphia they had a m o st p r ovi d en
tial es cape
There were two creeks in the way much swollen
with rain In o ne Of them t wo o f my fellow travellers in all
probability must have perished had not a woman cried out and
bid us stop A man (as I afterwards found) wh o had been
touched by my ministry hearing my voice came and swam o ur
horses over the other creek and c o nducted us safe over a very
narrow bridge
O n his arrival at Philadelphia he found a h o use 1 00 feet
long and 7 0 broad building for him t o preach in He op en ed
it although the roof was not o n ; and continued t o preach in it
every day until the sn o w (it was n o w the middle o f N ovember)
drove him to the chapels again O ne aftern o on whilst preach
ing against reasoning unbelievers h i s sermon m ade but little

impression o n the people A n indel caught at this failure Of
e ffect 3 an d said to o n e O f Wh i t e el d s friends What ! Mr W
?
could n o t make the people cry this afternoon
A good
reason for it (said his friend ) he was preaching against deists
and you know they are a hardened ge n eration

He was not
however always s o unsuccessful amongst the P hiladelphian i n
d el s
B r o ck d en t h e recorder who had long b een almost an
a theist w a s induced t o steal into the crowd at night to hear
him for once The sermon was o n N icodemus s visit to Christ
He s aw
B r o ck d en s visit to Whiteeld had a similar motive
a s he afterwards confessed that

the doctrine did people good
When he came h o me his wife (n o t kn o wing where he had been)
wished that he had heard what she had been hearing He said
nothing A nother and an o th er Of h i s family came in and made
the same remark He burst into tears and said I have been
hearing him and approve Of his sermon

Whiteeld after
wards knew him as a christian with the spirit O f a martyr

His tour was now closing O n reviewing it b efore he sailed
for Charleston he says
Stop O my soul and look back
with gratitude o n what the Lord hath done for thee during this
ft h day since I
excursion It is n o w I think the seventy
arrived at Rh o de Island My body was then weak 3 but the
,
WH IT EF I E L D
19 3
Lord has renewed its strength I have been enabled t o preach

I think a hundred and seventy ve t imes in public besides
exhorting frequently in private I hav e t ravelled upwards o f
eight hundred miles and gotten upwards o f 7 00 sterling in
money & c for the Georgia orphans N ever did Go d vouchsafe
me greater comforts N ever did I perform my j ourneys with so
little fatigue n o r see s o much Of the divine presence in t h e
congregations
In this spirit he arrived at Bethesda and found all his family
well F or some time h e was much Occupied with making his
arrangements for sailing to E ngland ; and having completed
them and taken a sorrowful and a ffectionate leave Of his

family he went to Savannah t o take leave there also O n t h e
way he narrowly escaped being shot by a labourer who was
walking with a gun under his arm only two yards behind him
The gun went O ff unawares 3 but its mouth was towards the
gr ound
O therwise he says
in all probability I and one
o f my friends must have been killed

Whilst at Charleston waiting for a vessel he re ceived many
inspiring letters from his Boston friends informing him o f the
amazing progress O f conversion in t h e city and throughout the
province He re ceived also a copy O f the following letter
To all and singular the con s t a bl es o f Charlesto n W H ERE A S
I have re ceived information o n oath that George Whiteeld
clerk hath m ade and composed a fa l se m a l i ci o us sca n d a l ous
and i nfa m ou s L IB E L against the c l er gy o f this province in con
t empt o f his Maj esty and his l aws and against the king s
peace zT H E S E are therefore in his Maj esty s name to charge
and command you and ea ch O f yo u forthwith to apprehend the
said George Whiteeld and bring him b efore me & c & c & c
Given under my hand and seal B W

This mandate referred to a Letter which Whiteeld had
only r evi sed for the press It was written by one o f his friends
and had j ust come o u t o n h i s arrival at Charleston The writer
was apprehended and meanly (Whiteeld says frankly
confessed that corrections and alterations had been made

by Whiteeld
I have n o t seen the Le t ter Wh i t e el d s a cc o unt o f it is
o
,
WH IT EF I E L D
19 4
that it h i n te d that the clergy break the canons

If thi s wa s
all he might well write with emphasis in his diary I think
t h i s may b e called P ER S E C UTI O N ! I think it is for righteousness
sake
H e went before t h e magistrate at o nce and gave security for ap
pearing by attorney under a penalty O f 1 00 proclamation money
H e became his own attorney however before he left E ven next
d a y he preached in the morning upon Herod s stratagem to
kill Christ : in the afternoon o n the murder o f N aboth That
he did not spare the persecutors is evident

My hearers he
says as well as myself made application I t wa s pret t y close
I especially di rected m y dis course to men in authority and
S howed them the heinous sin Of abusing their power

N either
the commissary n o r the magistrat e slept o n a b ed o f roses that
nigh t P ublic Opinion was against them The people s o over
loaded him with sea stores for his voyage that he had to send
much Of t h e stock t o Savannah
N ext day January 1 5 t h he
embarked fo r E ngland o n board t h e Minerva and arrived at
F alm outh early in March
O n t h e sabbath following he wa s
again o n Kennington Commonbut with not above a hun
dred t o hear him
C H A PT E R
W H IT EF I E L D
V III
S B RE A C H WI TH WE S L EY
W H IT EF I E L D S absence from London extended from Augus t

1 7 3 9 to March 1 7 4 1 ; during which as we have s een he
founded his orphan house traversed A merica with varied suc
c ess
and revived the revivalists o f N orthampton as well as
caught the spirit O f Jonathan E dwards and the Old puritans o f
N ew E ngland
O n his re t urn he soon found o ccasion for all the faith and
patience he had acquired in A merica They were both tried to
the utmost for a time His o wn a ccount o f the new and u n ex
What
p e c t e d situation he found himself in is very touching
a trying scene appeared here ! In my zeal during my j ourney
through A merica I had written two well meant though ill
j udged letters against E ngland s two great favourites The
whole D uty of M an and A rchbishop Tillotson who I said
knew no more about religion than Mahomet The Moravians
had made inroads o n o u r societies Mr John Wesley som e
way or other had been prevailed o n to preach and print i n
favour O f perfection and universal redemption 3 and against
election a doctrine which I then thought and do now b elieve
was taught me o f God 3 and therefore could n o t possibly recede
from
Thinking it my duty so to do I had written an answer at
th e orphan house which though revised and much approved
by some good divines had I think some t o o strong expression s
a bout absolute reprobation which the apostle leaves rather t o
be inferred than expressed The world was angry at me for the
former and numbers of my o wn S piritual children for the lat ter

,
WH IT E F I E L D
196
O ne that got some hundreds o f pounds by my sermons r e

fused to print fo r me any more A nd o th ers wrote to me that
Go d would destroy me in a fortnight and that my fall was as
great a s Peter s Instead o f having thousands to attend me
s carce o n e o f my spiritual children came to see me from morn
ing t o night O nce o n Ke nnington Com mon I had n o t above
a hundred to hear me
A t the same time I was much embarrassed in my outward
circumstances
A thousand pounds I owed fo r the orphan
house Two hundred and fty pounds bills drawn o n Mr
Seward were returned upon m e I wa s also threatened to b e
arrested for two hundred pounds more My travelling expenses
also to b e defrayed A family o f a hundred to be daily main
t ai n e d four thousand miles o ff in the dearest place o f the king s
dominions
Ten thousand times would I rather have died than part
with my old friends It would have melted any heart t o have
heard Mr Charles Wesley and me weeping after prayer that
if possible the breach might be prevented
O nce but no
more I preached in the F O U N D E R Y a place which Mr John
Wesley had procured in my absence All my work was to beg i n
again
N ever had I preached in M o or el d s on a week day : but
in the strength of God I began o n Good F riday and continued
twice a day walki ng backward and forward from L e ad enh al l
fo r some time preaching under o n e O f the trees ; and had the
m or t i ca t i o n to see numbers o f my spiritual children who but
a twelvemonth ago would have plucked ou t thei r eye s for me
running by me whilst preaching disdaining s o much as t o look
a t me 3 and some o f them putting their ngers in their ears
that they might not hear o n e word I said
A like scene Opened at Bristol where I was denied preach
i n g in the house I had founded
Busybodies On both S ides blew up the co als
A breach
ensued But as both sides di ffered in j udgment not in affec
tion and aimed at the glory of o u r common Lord (though we
hearkened too much to tale bearers o n both S ides ) we were kept
from anathematizi n g ea ch o t her and went o n in o ur usual way 3
,
WH I T EF I E L D
19 7
bein g agreed in On e poin t endeav o uring to conv ert s o uls to the
ever blessed Me d iator

Gillies re cords all t his without comment o r explanation
Watson in his Li fe o f Wesley sums up the whole history Of

the breach in a single paragraph Southey expla i ns the real
grounds o f the rupture but with equal contempt for Wesley s
doctrine o f p erfe ction and for Wh i t e el d s doctrine of election
The separation o f Wh iteeld and Wesley led howev er to r e
sa lts t o o momentous to b e thus treated Whilst therefore I
have no incl ination to revive controversies whi ch time has laid
asleep nor to perpetuate pai nful recolle ctions of good men I
mus t register i n s t r uc t i ve facts however O ffensive they may b e
to the adherents o f Calvinistic o r Wesleyan methodism The
breach betwe en their fo unders m ay well tea ch a solemn lesson
to both
N either Whiteeld nor Wesley appears to have understood
C alvinism when they began to preach the o n e for and the
other against it Indeed Whiteeld assured Wesley when
t hey began to di ffer that he had never read a page o f C alvin 3
and if Wesley read him through the same spectacles he wore
when reading the works o f Calvini sts o f whom he wrote thus
to Whiteeld N O baptist o r presbyterian writer I have read

knew any thing Of the li berties Of Christ
his knowledge of
the question may well be doubted Wh i t e el d s retort o n this
o cc asi on although sharp was n o t uncourteous : What ! nei
ther Bunyan H enry F l av el H al ybu r t o n n o r any O f the N ew
E ngland and S cots divines (kno w any thing Of t h e liberties of
Christ ? ) See dear Sir what narrow spiritedness and want O f
charity aris e o u t o f your principles 3 and then do not cry o ut
against ele ction any more o n a ccount o f its b eing destructive
o f meekness and l o v e
An s w er t o l Ves l ey s S er mon on F r ee
,
Gr a ce
The serm o n which led to thi s contr o versy had a curious or i

gin The Wesleys had threatened (perhaps playfully at rst )
to d rive John Calvin o u t o f Bristol

This led some o n e to
charge Wesley in a letter with not prea ching the gospelb e
cause he did not pr each up election 3 a charge which at the
time was equally applicable t o Whiteeld : fo r alth o ugh hi s
,
39 8
W H IT E FI E L D
reed was s o mewhat Calvinistic from the rst he did n o t

preach up election until Wesley b egan to preach it down Thi s
is no conj e cture H e appeals to Wesley hi m self thus
F or
Christ s sake if possible dear Sir never speak against electio n
in your sermo n s 3 no o n e can s aythat I ever mentioned it in
public discours es whatever my private sentiments may be
F o r Christ s sake let us not b e divided amongst ourselves
N othing will s o much prevent a division as your being s ilent
o n t h a t head
Wesley met this solemn adj uration and many like it by the
mock solemnity Of drawing lots to determine the questio n
o f silence o r assault
The l o t was
preach and print 3 and
he did b o th forthwith H e did not p ublish however until
Whiteeld had gone to A merica So far he yielded to his
friend s remonstrances contenting himself for a time with call
ing ele ction a doctrine Of devils

This sortilege was practised at Bristol 3 and it reminded
Whiteeld o f the wrong lot which Wesley had formerly

drawn whe n their vessels were in sight in the Cha nn el Ac
t
in
answering
the
sermon
Whiteeld
old
the
c o r d in l
l
o
t
g y
story of the lot letter H e has b een much blamed for publish
ing this private transaction Indeed he blames himself heavily
I t was done with compunction at the time 3 and afterwards he
thus deplored it : My mentioning Mr Wesley s casting a lot
o n a private o ccasion known only to God and ourselves has
put me to great pain It was wrong in me to publish a private
transaction to the world 3 and very ill j udged to think the glory
Of God coul d be promoted by exposing my friend unnecessarily
F or this I have asked both God and him pardon years ag o
A nd though I believe both have for g iven me yet I believe I
shall never be able to forgive myself As it was a public fault
I think it shoul d be publicly acknowledged 3 and I thank a kind
Providence for giving me this Opportunity Of doing it

An s wer
t o L a vi n g t on
D r Southey s a ys truly that this manner o f r e
ferring to the subj e ct does Whiteeld honour

I feel this :
and yet unless Wesley s feelings were very much w ou n d ed by
the disclosure I do not s e e the necessity o f so much self co n
d emn at i o n and self abasement
F or my o wn part at least I
c
W H IT EF I E L D
19 9
should have preferred either mor e o r l ess confession o n t h e o c

casion
Whiteeld played at sortilege as well as Wesley
although in another way His Letter wa s not like the sermon
written in Obedience to a d r a wn lot ; but still it was deter
mined by a m ys t i c reason He says
I am apt to think o n e
reason why God should s o su ffer you to be deceived w as that
hereby a sp eci a l Obligation should b e laid on me faithfully to
declare the Scriptural doctrine Of ele ction

What is this but
?
impulse ver s us lot
F or at the time Whiteeld was incapable
o f declaring that doctrine faithfully if he mean by faithfully
Scriptural ly This he proved by declaring i n his Letter that
without doubt the doctrine o f election and reprobation must
stand or fall together
a fallacy he soon s aw through
A
lot to preach against ele ction could not be a greater fallacy
than a special call to contend for reprobation Well might

Wesley if he had understood the sovereignty Of gra ce have
retorted on Whiteeld : he contented himself however with
tearing the Letter before his congregation
I will j ust do what
I believe Mr Whiteeld would were he here himself he tore
i t in pieces
E very person present followed his example
,
S ou th ey
Wes l ey
Who else believes that Whiteeld would have thus torn h i s

N one but those who believe that Wesley would
o wn Letter ?
have torn his lot when he drew it Whiteeld m ight i n

deed have torn the printed copy because it wa s printed without
h is consent and published in his absence by O f c i o us friends 3
but in the sense Of retracting it he would no more have torn it
than he would have torn the Thirty nine A rticles It was a
pitiful pretence although a dexterous S hift to s ay that he woul d
have been his o wn exe cutioner H e w as quite capable o f tear
ing Wesley s lot had that been surreptitiously thrust upon

his friends to bias t heir j udgment ; fo r he was as o h a n d as
he was warm and hon est whenever he deemed t h e honour o f
God at stake
It is because I never heard that Wesley humbled himself at
a ll for this summary and insulting treatment of the Letter that
I think Whiteeld too hu mble fo r his treatment o f the l o t I
think with D r South ey that it does h i m honour 3 but as
W H IT EF I E L D
2 00
S L I FE AN D
Tl MES
Wesley was evidently more mortied than hurt by the disclosure

and as he amply retaliated I do not s e e where the d i sh on our
wo uld have been had the humiliation been less Whiteeld
had not published the Letter nor was he aware o f its publica
t ion D r Southey i s quite corre ct in saying that although it
was certainly intended fo r publication yet there seems to
have b een a hope in Wh i t e el d s mind that the e ffect which its
perusal would produce might render publication needless

Thus Wesley might have ta k en the s t i ng o u t of it by humbling
himself for drawing lots but a s he did n o t tear h i s l o t along
with the Letter it w as not very unfair to let the world know
something o f the secr e t o f his attack o n Calvinism Indeed I
doubt if it would have been honest to the public o r fair to
the cause o f truth to have concealed this process o f sortileg e
altogether I do not even see h o w Whiteeld could have dealt
so gently with Wesley as by simply stating the facts H e
could not forget in answering the sermon that the author o f it
b elieved himself d i vi n el y warranted to publish it That s u p
posed warrant had to be invalidated By what ? If n o t by
fa cts who does n o t see that a r g um en ts would have implied
Y
heavier ree ctions upon V e sl e y s j udgment and subj ected him
to the suspici o n o f a presumption worse than that o f the old
lottery
This transa ction was made s o much o f at the time that I
could not as an historian hush it up n o r as an umpire treat it
as Whiteeld has done It roused as may be supposed the
partisans o f the two creeds and created that alienation which
Whiteeld h as s o feelingly des cribed in h i s account of the r e
c ep t i o n he met with o n his return from A merica
Some of the C alvinistic party were very imprudent A co u r t
thrust himself and his high Calvinism upon the
o f London
Wesleys meeting s ; demanding the opportunity of setting them
fight o n t h e subj ect o f ele ction ; and prophesying when r e
fused that his proclamation of them a s false prophets would
throw them all into confusion A t Kingswood also C e n n i ck
divided the society and headed the Calvinists against the We s
leys D r Southey calls him a certain John C e n n i ck

who
had great talents for popular speaking 5 and gives o nly Charles
,
WH IT EF I E L D
S LI FE
AN D
TI M E S
201
Wesley s picture of him C e n n i ck was both a wiser and a bet

ter man than the Wesleys painted him when he withstood
them to the face at Kingswood Until then John Wesley held
him a friend as his own soul and o n e who l ay in his
bosom
Charles Wesley conrms this by an appeal to C en
nick s knowledge of it : I need n o t s ay h o w well he loved
It was n o t be cause this love was t o o hot that it did not

yo u
last Charles upbraided h i m fo r ingratitude and treachery
and John excomm unicated hi m with others fo r lying and slan
dering thus
I John Wesley by the consent and ap p r ob a
tion of the Band Society in Kingswood do declare the persons
above mentioned to be no longer members thereof N either
will they be s o accounted until they shall openly confess their
fault & c & c Wh a t was this tremendous fault ?

D i s s em
In
bling lying and slandering says the excommunicator
gratitude and treachery says his brother Heavy charges it

must be allowed ; and if true well deserving all the chastise
ment they me t with
The truth of t h e charges a s they a ffect C en n i ck the friend
and fellow labourer o f Whiteeld must be examined Hap
pily this is easily done 5 for Wesley rested th e proof of pri
vate a ccusations u pon the copy o f a lette r from C e nn i ck to

Whiteeld When C en n i ck denied that he had ever privately
accused him Wesley produced the letter in the society and

said Judge brethren
So s a y I Here is the letter
I
sit solitary like Eli waiting what will become o f the ark : and
while I wail and fear the carrying o f it away from among my
people my trouble increases daily How glorious did the gos
pel seem once to ourish at Kingswood ! I sp ake of the ever
lasting love of Christ with sweet power But now brother
Charles is suffered to open his mouth against this t ruth while
the frighted sheep gaze and y a s if no shepherd was am ongst
them It i s j ust a s if Satan was n o w mak ing war o n the saints
0 pray fo r the distressed
in a more than common way
l ambs yet left in this place that they faint not Surely they
would for the y hav e nothing whereon t o rest but their o wn
faithfulness who n o w attend on sermons With universal r e
demption brother Charle s n o w pleases the world Brother
.
WH I T EF I E L D
2 02
John follows him in every thing I believe no atheist can more

preach against predestination than they : and all who b elieve
election are counted enemies to God and c alled s o Fly dear
brother lI am as alone I am in the midst o f the plague
If God give thee leavemake haste I
N ow where is the lie o r the slander in all this ? N o where
except it be in the charge that all who believe election are
counted enemies to God and called s o

A nd even this charge
although not literally is substantially true F or although nei
ther John nor Charles would have called any good man who let
t hem alone an enemy o f Go d for believing ele ction both would
and must have counted the very best man such s o far as he
tried to spread the doctrine o f election at the F o un d er y o r at
Kingswood How could they re ck on otherwise whilst they
held themselves to b e the fr i en d s of God by enmity to C alvinism ?
Their forbearance with the s i l en t Calvinists in the society was
b ecause they were silent
I am no admirer o f C en n i ck s letter I think the st yle and
S pirit of it quite as bad as Wesley s sermon 5 which a frms that
the doctrine in question directly tends to destroy that holiness
which is the end of all the ordinances o f God 5 and has a

direct and manifest tendency to overthrow the whole christian
religion
The only difference between this railing and that of
C e n n i ck is that C enn i ck s is applied to t wo men by name and
Wesley s is an attack upon all men who preached the doctrine
This is not however the whole case
The chief charge
a gainst C e n n i ck is that he
supplanted Wesl ey in his own
house ; stealing the hearts of the people from him This as
s e r t e d betrayal o f trust Charles depicted in the darkest colours
N ow it is true that Wesley placed C en n i ck a s o n e of the mas
ters in the Kingswood school 5 and true that the s chool was
Wesley s o wn house in the sense o f i t s being chiey built

and furnished by him O n the other hand it i s equally true
that Whiteeld originated t h e school ; obtained the gift of a
piece o f ground fo r it 5 laid the foundation stone o f it 5 and co l

l e c t e d s o much money fo r it that
the roof was ready t o b e
put up before he left E ngland However truly therefore in
a legal sense it wa s Wesley s o wn house inasmuch as he

.
WH IT EF I E L D
S LI FE
A ND
TI M E S
2 03
lone was resp o nsible for all the debt upon it an d thus the
possessor of the deeds 5 it was morally Wh i t e el d s o wn house
t oo
A c cordingly Wesley b equeathed it to his brother and
Whiteeld by will the moment the responsibility devolved the
property o n him
C e n n i ck was not ignorant o f these facts and ought not to
have b een u n i n u en ce d by them H e was indeed Wesley s
Why then
servant 5 but he was also a conscientious C alvinist
did he n o t resign says Charles

rather than gainsay his
employer ? Why I a sk did his employer undertake the com
l
e t i o n o f Wh i t e el d s school and then turn it into an A rminian
p
nursery in Wh i t e el d s absence The servant did all he could
to sustain the views of i t s founder in the absence of i t s nisher 5
and the nisher did all he could to supplant the Calvinisti c
views o f i t s absent founder Whiteeld never would have left
it to Wesley to carry forward had this design b een avowed
C en n i ck knew this 5 and therefore he was just as conscientiou s
in opposing A rminianism in the place as Wesley in opposing
Calvinism in it In a word if the one alienated some hearts
from Wesley the other alienated m a ny he arts from Whiteeld
I was denied preaching in the house I had founded at Bristol

says Whiteeld
These are indeed pitiful transactions on both S ides but they
were the transactions which brought on the rupture of the s o ci e
ties 5 and are t hus essential t o its e xplanation C en n i ck also
as the chosen coadj utor o f Whiteeld afterwards deserved vin
d i c at i o n from the bitter invec t ives and aspersions of Charle s
Wesley s letter and from t h e e cclesiastical ba n o f John Wesley
a n d the
Band Society in Kingswood
O n reviewing his cha
r a c t er and career the late Mr Wilks o f the Tabernacle ex
O my soul come thou into his secret 5 into h i s
claimed
assembly mine honour be thou united ! He says o f C en n i ck

AS to success I n h i s labours perhaps there was not one in h i s
day except Whiteeld m ore highly honoured in t his particular
His language w a s not with the enticing words of men s wisdom 5
yet his doctrine and address were powerful and found access to
the hearts o f tho usands H i s career was short 5 but if life may
be e s t i m a fcd by the comparative quantity of good produced in it
a
WHI T EF I E L D
2 04
S LI FE AND TIM E S
then this truly active S piritual and useful man may be said t o
have lived to a good old age A good understanding an open
temper and tender heart charac terized the man His christian
qualities were not less d istinguishable If una ffected humility
deadness to the world a life of communion with Go d and a
cheer ful reliance on a crucied Saviour constitute the real
h e was o n e in an eminent degree
christian
H e possessed a
sweet simplicity of S pirit with an ardent zeal in the cause of his
d ivine Master
P r efa ce t o C e n n i ck s S er m ons 2 vols by
,
M a t th e w I/Vi l lcs
C e n n i ck
own a ccount of his expulsion by the W e sl eys is

highly creditable to his heart ; and as it palliates very much
the conduct o f Mr Wesley and is not much known (the pam
phlet being rare ) I gladly insert it It is the 44 t h Section o f
a Life o f C e n n i ck written by himself 4 t h E dition
About
Christmas 1 7 40 a di fference in doctrine broke o u t between the
Mr Wesleys and me 5 they believ ed and taught many things
which I thought not according to the gospel neither to mine
o wn experience : and in a v ery little time while I was preach
ing in several parts of Wiltshire Mr John Wesley took the e n
tire possession o f Kingswood s chool and I was forbid to preach
there any more 5 neither from that time did I A nd not long
after when I and some o f the colliers had met apart to consider
o n these things and to lay them before the Lord the rest of the
society who held Mr Wesley s doctrines were s o o ffended
that they would n o t let Mr Wesley r es t till he p u t me and
those few who believed my word o u t o f the society 5though
I believe a g a i n s t h i s will When we separated we were in
numb er twelve men and twelve women In a short time we s o
increased our company that we were ab o ut a hundred and
twenty In many villages o f Wiltshire the word was received
gladly
To the m the di fferences were never once known
till Mr Whiteeld came from A merica and j oined the brethren
with me ; neither after they knew it (the di e r en ce ) did it mak e
any stir as it were in all that country

The breach between Whiteeld and Wesley led soon to the
ere ction o f a new house a t Kingswo od and o f a large tempo
rary shed called a Tabernacle in L o ndon The latter was
W H IT EF I E L D
2 05
built by ce r t aI n fr e e g r a ce dissenters as Gillie s ca lls the m

Th is phrase does n o t enable us to identify them with any o f the
three denominations Perhaps it refers to Wh i t e el d s d e
n i t i o n of
free grace indeed in his Letter to Wesley
fr ee b e cau s e not free to a l l b u t fr e e b e c au s e God may with
hold o r give it to whom and when he pleases

But whoever
the dissenters thus characterized were th eir timely help soon
enabled him to turn the tide which had s e t in against him It
realized for him what had much refreshed him when all his

work was to begin again
Beza s hint in the life o f Calvin ;
Calvin is turned o u t o f Geneva 5 but behold a new church
arises !
D r Gil lies says
A fresh awakening im mediately
began Congregations grew exceedingly large and at the
p eop l e s desire he sent fo r Messrs C en n i ck Harris Seagrave
Humphrie s & c to assist

In the country also and especially
in E ssex (rst at Braintree ) the ol d scene o f multitudes
m ul titu des in the v alley o f decision began to be renewed A nd

it was with no ordinary pleasure he then visited the many towns
in E ssex and Suffolk such a s D edham Halstead Ipswich & c
from which the pilgrim fathers o f N ew E ngland came 5 and the
counterparts o f which he had found in A merica perpetuating
there the names and recollections of the mother country
I know of few studies s o fraught and fragrant with delight
now that we know N ew E ngland as tracing in Mather s Mag
nalia upon his old maps the rst A merican e d i ti on o f Old

E ngland I shall never forget h o w sa cred I felt that line o f
E nglish towns to be when I visited them as the antitypes o f
the M a g n al i an maps 5 nor the interest taken by the old families
o f the district whilst I pointed out to them the coincidences
and congratulated them on t h e connexion I myself indeed
would n o t pas s over Runnymede to visit the cradles o f the pil
grim fathers 5 but no A merican christian ought to visit Runny
mede until he h a s been at D edham if he lov e his c ountry
Wh i t e el d s momentary reverses in London did not as m ay
be supposed at all lessen his fame in S cotland nor prevent the
E rskines from urging upon him his promise to visit that coun
try There the Wesleys were c o nsidered as sadly left to
themselves
E rskine ) if not as s o mewhat de men t ed when
-
WH IT E F I E L D
2 06
S L I FE AND
IM E S
they quarrelled with Wh i t e el d s Calvinism and avowed them

selves A rminians There was also more than enough in S cot
land then o f an A rminianism n o t redeemed like that o f the
Wesleys by holy zeal o r sterling piety to render an eloquent
Calvinist a welcom e visitor to the godly ministers o f both the
kirk and the se cession Had Whiteeld therefore wanted
other letters o f commendation t o them than his o wn character
and fame ; or needed any thing to conrm the condence he had
wo n by h i s o wn letters and j ournals 5 his rej ection at the F oun
dery would have se cured him a welcome both at D unfermline and
in E dinburgh
Thi s he found o n his arrival but lest his ol d and still dear
friend Wesley should suspect him o f accepting any honour at
h i s expense he renewed his correspondence with him when his
honours in Scotland were at their height The following letter
from A berdeen is delightful : Reverend and dear brother I
have fo r a long time expected that you would have sent an an
swer to my last 5 but I suppose yo u are afraid to correspond
with me be cause I revealed your secret about the l o t Though
much might b e said for my doing it yet I am sorry now that
any such thing dropped from my pen
a n d I h u m bl y a s k p a r d on
I nd I l o ve you as much a s ever 5 and pray God if it be his
blessed will that we m ay all b e united together
It hath been for some days upon my h ea r t to write to you
May God remove all obstacles that n o w prevent o ur union !
Though I hold particular electionyet I o ffer Jesus freely t o
every individual soul You may carry s an c t i ca t i o n to what
ever degrees you will ; only I cannot agree that the i n being o f
s i n is to be destroyed in this life
O my dear brother the Lord has been much with me in
S cotland I I I about three weeks I hope to be at Bristol May
all disputings cease and each o f us talk o f nothing but Jesus
and Him crucied ! Th i s i s my r es ol u t i on The Lord be with
your S pirit I am with o ut dissimulation ever yours L e t t 3 6 3

The only l etter o f Wesley s o n this subj ect that I know o f
i s n o t like the abov e It concludes thus
T h e general tenor
both o f my public and private exhortations when I touch there
o n a t all as even my enemies k n o w if they would testify is
WH IT EF I E L D
S L I FE AN D TI ME S
207
Spare the young man even Absalom for my

S ou t h ey s
Wes l ey This is D avid s language but not D avid s spirit It
is sarcasm more than sympathy ; as t h e whole strain o f the
letter shows D r Southey j ustly s ays Wesley felt m o re r e
s ent m e n t
than he here thought proper t o express
I bi d
Whiteeld had however been as d i c t a t or i a l in some o f his
remonstrances at the beginning o f the controversy as Wesley
was sarcastic at the close O n o n e o ccasion he wrote thus :
D ear brother Wesley what mean you by disputing in all your
letters May Go d give yo u to kno w y ourself and then yo u
will not plead for absolute perfection nor call election a doc
trine o f devils My dear brother take heed ! See that you are
in Christ a new creature Beware of a false peace Remember
you are but a ba be in Christif so much Be humble Talk
little Pray much If you will dispute stay till you are master
o f the subj e ct ; otherwise yo u will hurt the cause you would
defend
Whatever truth there may be in this tirade it is more
than defeated by its unhallowed form Such an appeal could
only exasperate N o t however in this style generally di d
Whiteeld appeal to his brother and friend It was more usual
with him to write thus : Why will you dispute I am willing
to go with you to prison and death 5 but I am n o t willing to
oppose you
D o not oblige me to preach against you : I had
rather die
D ear dear Sir 0 be n o t offended ! F or Christ s
sake be not rash Give yourself to reading Study the cove
nant of grace D own with your carnal reasoning Be a little
child 5 and then instead o f p a wn i ny your salvation as you have
done in a late Hymn Book if the doctrine o f universal r ed em p
tion be not t rue you will compose a hymn in praise o f sovereign
distinguishing lov e
I lov e and honour you for Christ s sake 5 and when I come
to j udgmentwill thank you b efore men and angels for wha t
you have under God done for my soul There I am persuaded
I S hall s e e dear Mr Wesley convinced o f election and ever l a s t
ing love A nd it often lls me with pleasure to think how I
shall behold you casting your crown at t h e feet o f the Lamb
and as it were lled with a holy blushing for opposing the
divine s o vereignty as y o u have done But I hope the Lord will
3,
WH IT EF I E L D
208
this before yo u go hence O h h o w do I l o ng for that

day !
(It is somewhat amusing to nd this passage the rst
Southey j ust after his declaration that
o n e quoted by D r
Wh i t e el d s written compositions are nearly worthles s )

H aving given these specimens o f the spirit of both parties in
this breach it is only bare j ustice to Whiteeld to state strongly
the trying circumstance s he was in when Wesley ca t with him
Southey truly and tenderly says Many things combined to sour
him at this time

Seward on whose life and fortune he had
calculated for the sake of Georgia was j ust dead and had left
him nothing H e was deeply in debt for the orphan house and
more deeply pledged H e was in danger o f being arrested every
day for 4 5 0 whilst he had not twenty pounds in the world
and hardly a friend to help him He was all but hissed by the
multitude who formerly were almost ready t o cry Hosann a

when they saw him in the streets His heart was t or n by the
pressure of strife at home and by the prospect o f distress abroad
I S it any wonder that he should have b een betrayed into hasty
and even some harsh reections upon \Vesley ? Could he think
well o f the doctrine o f p e rfect i on whilst its champion and

adherents were s o i mp erfec t a s to leave him to sink or swim as
i t might happen
True 5 he had given his o l d friend great pro
vo cation by turning the laugh against his lottery 5 and all men
resent an exposure o f their weakness more than an inj ury to
their property : but sti ll Wesley could have a fforded to wait
Whilst Whiteeld was in danger o f impris o nment for debt and
well nigh overwhelmed with disappointments This was just
the time for a perfe ctionist to heap coals of re upon the
head o f an enemy ; and to p a w n something upon the truth o f
universal love a s well as h i s salvation upon the truth o f uni
versal redemption
Whiteeld would have pawned the F O U N
D ERY had it b een h i s to save and soothe Wesley had he c o me
from A merica embarrassed and bowed down with Care Who
does n o t s e e and feel this
It i s painful b u t it i s v ery ne cessary to place the matter in
this light 5 fo r if the faults o f such men are hushed up such
faults will be repeated and perpetuated by men who have fewer
redeeming qualities F uture quarrels are not to be prevented
S how
yo u
WH IT EF I E L D
2 09
by forgetti n g th e past It is by seeing how u n seeml y strife b e

tween great brethren is that little brethren learn t o dread its
beginnings He is throwing back the progress of brotherly love
in the church who wo uld bury in oblivion or veil in vague g e
the sharp contention between Wh iteeld and
n er al i t i e s
Wesley Like Paul and Barnabas they can a fford to hav e i t
a l l told without sustaining any material loss o f fame or i n u
ence They are just the men whose faults should be transmitted
to posterity that posterity may not glory in men nor think
more highly o f them than they ought to think 5 and that S imilar
men of like passions may not run into like extremes He is
not therefore the best friend o f peace o n earth whatever b e

hi s love for Whiteeld or Wesley who would throw a veil over
the rashness of the former o r over the selshness o f the latter
o n this occasion
Whiteeld was rash H e lis tened to ta le bearers who pu t
the w o rs t construction upon W e sley s hard words against Cal
He
vi n i s m and harsh treatment of the Kingswood Calvinists
rashly promised n o t t 6 preach against him and as ras hly threat
He wept with Charles and
ened to oppose him every where
s colded John In a word the y were as he says only kept
from anathematizing each o ther for a time 5 s o di vided were

they in j udgment although n o t exactly alienated in a ffection
This is indeed a humiliating exhi bition : but how full of
warning it is
The oracle
ye are brethren which had so
often fallen upon their ear and their heart lik e music from
heaven fell unheeded o n both for a time although both were
absorbed with equal zeal for the glory o f God and the salvation
But whilst the sp i r i t o f their breach was thus d ep l o r
o f souls
able i t is imposs ible to deplore the breach itself It fell o u t to
the furtherance of the gospel

Wesley for es a w this a s well
The case is quite plain There are bigots
a s prayed for it :
both for and agains t predestination Go d is sending a message
to those on e i t h e r s ide but neither will recei ve it unless from
Therefore for a time you are
o n e who is of their ow n opinion
Wh i t e e l d s
suffered t o be o f o n e Opinion and I of another
h ea r t responded to this although his acuteness did not discern
it s o fully :
The great day will discover why the L o rd per
.
WH IT EF I E L D
2 10
mits dear Mr Wesley and me to be o f a di fferen t way o f think

ing A t pr esent I shall make no inquiry int o t h at matter b e
ond
the
a
ccount
he
has
given
o f it
I
hearti
y
pray
God
to
l
y
hasten the time when we shall b e cl o sely unit ed in principle
and j udgment as well as in heart and a ffe c tion : and then
I care n o t if I go w i th him to prison
S hould the Lord call to i t
F or like Paul and Silas I h Op e we shall sing
o r to death
praises t o God and count it o u r highest ho n our to su ffer fo r
Christ s sake and to lay down o ur liv es fo r the brethren

.
P r efa ce t o
Wes l ey
A L e tt er t o
A n earlier day than the great day disc o vered why White
eld and Wesley were permitted both to di ffer and divide It
was a happy thing for the world and the church that they were
n o t o f o n e Opinion : for had they been united in either extreme
truth would have made less progress A s j oint A rminians they
would have spread Pelagianism ; and as j oint Calvinists they
would have been h yp er though not antinomian It was well
therefore that they modied each o ther fo r they were tw o
suns which could n o t have xed in
on e
m eri d i an ,
with o ut setting o n re the whole co urse of s o und theolo g y In

their respective spheres h o wever they were equally blessed
notwithstanding the di fference o f their creeds on some points
This is n o t inexplicable when it is remembered that they agreed
t horoughly in exalting the Saviour and in honouring the E ter
A nd their m od e o f honouring the Spirit deserves
n al Spirit
p articular attention They sought and cherished H i s u n ct i on
for themselves as well as enforced the ne cessity of His opera
tions upon o ther s A nd until preaching b e itself a d e mon
as well as in humble de
s t r a t i on of the Spirit and o f power
p en d en ce upon the Spirit its e ffe cts will n o t b e very great n o r
remarkably good I t will win but few souls t o Christ and even
t heir chara cter will n o t in general rise high in the beauty o f
holiness nor in the zeal o f love They may j ust keep their nam e
and their place in the church o f the living Go d 5 but they will
n o t be to Him nor t o his church
fo r a name and an everl as t
ing S ign
.
WH IT EF I E L D
211
Ther e i s much m o re connexion between the piety of a church

and the spirituality o f its minister than appears at rst sight ;
and between his preaching and the conversion of sinners than
is usually kept in view A minister not spiritually minded
both quenches the Spirit o n the altar o f renewed hearts and
prevents the sacred re from reaching the altar o f unregenerated
hearts He who is not a sweet savour of Christ m a kes hi m
a savour of death unto death inevitably

o f the second
s e lf
death to the unde cided 5 and o f spiritual deadness to the church
It was n o t in this sense that Paul was a savour o f both life
and death during his ministry The lost m a d e him what he
became to them 5 by turning int o death the v ery truth which
quickened the saved : for i t was the s ame fragrance o f t h e
knowledge of Christ which proved the sav o ur o f death unto

dea t h to the former that proved the savour of life unt o life to
the latter Paul did as much and said as much and prayed as
much and all in the same spirit too fo r the impenitent as for
the considerate 5 for despisers as for penitents Both saw and
heard in his preaching the sa me demonstration o f the Spirit
and of power
H e stood before each class equ ally the ambas
sador o f Christ and beseeching both alike to be reconciled unto
Go d So did Baxter E dwards Whiteeld and the Wesleys
Whene ver they were the savour of death unt o death they were
m a d e so by th o se who perished under their ministry
Such
men might therefore without presumption o r impr udence ap
ply to themselves the apostolic m axim
We are unto Goda
sweet sav o ur of Christ in them that are saved and in them that
perish
Such ministers woul d not indeed say this without
adding Who is su ffi cient for these things
n or with o ut weep
ing whilst they said to the other we ar e a savour o f death
unt o death 5 but they could not blame themselves with the
bl o od o f souls It was n o t their fault that any were lost wh o
heard them 5 for they extended the golden sceptre o f me rcy as
freely and frequentl y and fervent ly to the heedless and the
hardened as t o the thoughtful o r the timid
This i s a very different case fr o m that of a m inister wh o
preaches the g o spel without the dem o nstration of t h e Spirit o r
powe r H e make s him s elf the sav o ur of death unt o deat h t o
,
WH IT EF I E L D
2 12
S L I FE AN D TI M ES
others even when he teaches the kn o wledge of Christ 5 be

cause he breathes not the fr agrance o f that kn o wledge He
therefore has n o right to throw himself u pon the apostolic
maxim when h i s ministry is unsuccessful It is unsu ccessful
because it is u n sa vour y It brings n o sinners to life because i t
is lifeless : for it is the s a vour o f the knowledge o f Christ
tha t God maketh manifest in every place 2 C or ii 1 4 5

and that savour cannot breathe fr o m the lips e r looks of a
minister unless h i s heart bu r n with love t o Christ and i mm or
t al souls
I t is high time that the church o f Christ should c o nsider n o t
o nly the duty o f depending o n the Spirit but also the import
and the importance o f the demonstration o f the Spirit in

preaching That is m o re than the demonstration o f orthodoxy
It is more than the demonstration o f either sound s cholarship o r
hard study I t is even m o re than the demonstration o f mere
sincerity and delity Sincerity may be cold and delity harsh
E ven zeal may b e party rivalship o r pers o nal vanity 5 whilst
it seems holy re searching o nly for incense t o the glory of
Go d and the Lamb T o preach in demonstration o f the Spirit
is even more than bringing o ut the mind o f the Spirit faith

fully and full y The real meaning o f His oracles may be honestly
given and yet their true S pirit neither caught n o r c o nveyed
What the Spirit saith unto the churches may be repeated t o

the churche s without evasion o r faltering 5 but i t will not b e
heard as His counsel or consolation unless it is S poken with
something o f his own love and solemnity He is the Spirit of
power and o f gra ce and o f love as well as the Spirit o f truth
and wisdom ; and therefore He is but half copied in prea ch
ing when o nly his m ea n i ng is given That meaning lies in His
mind n o t merely as truth nor as law nor as wisdom but also
as sympathy sol icitude and love for the souls it is addressed
unto The words o f the Spirit are spirit and li fe ; and there
fore the s ou l as well as the substance of their meaning is essen
tial to faithful prea ching They can har dl y b e said to be the
words o f the Holy Ghost when they are uttered in a S piritless
o r lifeless mood
This will be more o bviou s by looking at the truth a s it is
,
2 13
in Jesus
In Him it is g r a ce as well as truth All his heart
and soul and strength breathes and burns in his words His
H e explains the great salva
m ot i ves are part o f his meaning
tion t hat he may endear and enforce its claims at the same
time He makes us feel that he feels more for our souls than
words can express He compels us t o see a beaming of earnest
ness in his eye and t o hear a beating of intense solicitude in his
heart and to re cognise a xe d n e s s o f purpose in all his manner
The real pleading o f the
unspeakably beyond all he says
Saviour with S inners begins where his wor d s end H is weep
i ng s i l e n ce after speaking as never man spake tells more o f his
love to souls than all his gracious words We feel that he feels
he has gained nothing by his preaching unless he has wo n
souls H e leaves upon every mind the conviction that nothing
can please him but the h ea r t ; and that nothing would please
N o man ev er rose o r
hi m so much as giving him the heart
can rise from reading the entreaties o f Christ without feeling
that Christ is in earnestis intentis absorbed t o seek and
save the lost
The apostles evidently marked this with great attenti o n and
C opied it with much success when they became ambassadors
for Christ by the ministry o f reconciliati o n Then they

did more than deliver the truth He taught They tried to
utter it with His solemnity tenderness and unction They
tried t o put themselves in C h rist s stead when Christ was

no longer on earth to besee ch men to be re conciled unto God
This was the demonstration o f the Spirit !

Saying what
Christ did was not enough for them : they lab o ured to say it a s
he did ; or in the spirit and for the purpose he had preached
the gospel Thus the truth was in them as it was in Jesus 5

n o t merely as true but also as impressive persuasive and ah
sorbing They spoke the truth as he had done in the love
o f it
and with love t o t h e s ouls it was able to make wise un t o
salvatio n
An d this is n o t imp o s sible even n o w alth o ugh ap o st olic i n
spiration be at an end The best part o f the Spirit s i n u
s u ces l ove t o the gospel and imm o rtal s ouls
is yet attainable
and as easily attained a s any o ther ministerial qualicati o n A
.
W H IT EF I E L D
2 14
S L I FE
AN D
TI M E S
minister ought to b e as much ashamed and m o re afraid of

being u n bap ti z ed with the Holy Ghost and re as o f being i g
norant o f the original languages of the Holy S crip tures Men
wh o can demonstrate the problems of E uclid or the imp o rt o f
Greek o r Hebrew idioms have n o e x cuse if t hey are unabl e t o
preach with the demonstration o f the Spirit and power The
s ame attention t o the latter dem o nstrati o n which they gave t o
the former would fdl the m with the Holy Gh o s t and re the m
with holy z eal
N othing is s o si mp l e although n o thing b e s o s ublime a s
preaching the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from
heaven
A ny prayerful and thoughtful minister may preach
in this S pirit 3 for it neither includes nor excludes great talents
learning o r ingenuity
A n unction from the Holy O ne can
subordinate the mightiest and wealthiest minds to the one
grand obj ectwatching fo r souls 5 and it can render s ub s e r
vient and successful the m o st ordinary powers o f mind The
acute reasonings o f Wesley and the warm hearted remon
s t r an c e s and b eseechings o f Whiteeld were equally useful b e
c ause equally demonstrations o f the Spirit In like manner
many o f their uneducated col leagues turned many to right
and are themselves now turned into stars which

e o u s n es s 5
shall S hine fo r ever in the r m am e n t o f the church in both
worlds The secr e t o f this succes s in winning souls was the
s ame in both classes o f preachers 5
their heart their s o ul
their all was in their work Truth had the force o f divine
truth the re o f eternal truth and the glory o f saving truth
up o n their minds
Their hearts were fu l l (whether holding
much o r little ) o f heavenly treasure 5 and they held it as h ea
ven l y treasure and poured it o u t as s tewards who had to account
for i t in heaven and to review their stewardship of it through
eternity
A cc o rdingly both regular congregations and pro
m i s cu o u s mobs whatev er they thought o f the o fce or t h e
talents o f these itinerants felt that they were o n r e t o watch
for and win so uls 5 and were c o mpelled to acknowledge that
even men who had never been at the University had been
with Jesus and were indeed

moved by the Holy Ghost
A n o ther way in which the apo stle s caught and kept up the de
,
p
.
m o nstrati o n o f the Spirit in their preaching was by trying to

bes eech men to be reconciled unt o God j ust as G o d himself
might be s upp o sed t o plead with them were H e t o b o w t h e
heavens and come down as a minister o f reconciliati on This
was a b old attempt ! E ven i ts sublimity and benevolence can
n o t hide its boldness
however they may excuse it
As
th ough God did bes eech you we pray you in Christ s stead b e
ye reconciled unto God

A rchangels would hardly have v en
t u r e d to go s o far as the apostles in thus trying to r ep r es en t
both Go d and the Lamb as re concilers It was however an
attempt to win s ouls as wise and humble as it was s ublime or
bold There was no presumption nor ostentation n or pretence
in it They magnied their o i ce o nly that they might h um
ble themselves the more deeply and discharge its duties the
more faithfully The attempt to copy Go d was also the bes t
way of relieving themselves from the fear o f man and thei r
best security against all triing temporizing and di splay in the
work o f God A s his representatives there would o f course
b e no airs nor a ffectation in their m anner o f preaching ; n o
parade of novelty or learning in their matter 5 n o taint of bit
Thus by adopting Him a s
t er n e s s o r harshness in their spirit
their model they were sure t o preach better than any other ex
ample could have taught them 5 for whilst i t bound them to
soberness and solemnity it left them free to speak in thunder
when the conscience was to be roused 5 and in metaphor when
attention was to be won or relieved ; and with all the fo r m s o f
eloquence whenever their subj ect inspired
,
Th o ugh ts
wh i ch breath e
or
words t h at b urn
Ye s ; this divine standard equally lofty and lovely left them

at full l iberty to ransack creation for gures 5 time fo r facts 5
heaven for motives 5 hell for warnings 5 and eternity for argu
ments : binding them only to make the whole bear directly
consistently and supremely up o n their o n e grand obj ect r e
o f the cr o ss : for
the
world
unto
God
by
the
bl
o
od
c o n c i li n
g
whilst that was all and all as the nal end o f their ministry
they might warrantably and legitimately employ in the pursuit
o f it every t o ne and term i mage and em o ti o n in which Go d
,
WH IT EF I E L D
2 16
himself had ever appealed to the hopes or fears o f man A o

c o r d i n g l y there was much that was g o dl i ke in their preaching
They could not o f course realize fu lly n o r imitate far the
m anner o r the S pirit in which God would plead his o wn cause
were He to preach his own gospel : b ut s till their rea s o ni ng s
were n o t u nlike His m anifold wisdom 5 nor their appeals n u
worthy o f His paternal tenderness 5 n o r their remonstrances
inconsistent with His j udicial authority There was a ne de
monstration o f the Spirit in the boldness o f Peter in the
sublimity o f Paul and in the heavenl ines s o f John
It w as to this beseeching as in the stead o f Christ and
God that Paul referred when he b esought the E phesians to

pray fo r him that utterance might be given him to speak
boldly as an ambassador though in bonds ought to S peak

H e meant more than not being silent o r ashamed ; more tha n
rising superior to circumstances and danger H e meant also
speak ing with equal demonstration o f the Spirit and power in
peril as in peace 5 in Rome as in Jerusalem 5 befo re C aesar a s
b efore the sanhedrim
In nothing perhaps did Whiteeld keep Paul m o re b efo re
him than in this strong solicitude to speak as he ought t o
speak
N o phrase occurs s o often in his j ournals as preach
ed with much power 5 with some power

He does not venture
to call even his greatest efforts a demonstration of the Spirit 5
but the word power o ccurs s o uniformly that it tells plainly

what he w a s thinking about after all sermons which produced
a visible e ffect H i s enemies said he was complimenting his
They little knew his heart and still less the
o wn sermons
an unction o f the Spirit ! T o

h um i li ty which springs from
prev ent unnecessary misunderstanding however he explained
his meaning thus in a n o te t o his revised j ournals : By the
word power I mean all along no more nor no less than en
largement o f heart and a comfortable frame given me from
above 5 by which I wa s enabled to speak with freedom and
cl ea rness and the people were impressed and a ffected thereby

This is only explainingnot r etracting nor qualifying H e
knew and tens o f thousands felt that God was with him of a
truth making the gospel reb o und from his heart t o their heart s 5
.
"
L I FE
\VH I TE F I E L D S
TI M E S
AN D
m elting
them by warming him 5 winni ng thei r s o uls by ab s o rb

ing his soul with the glories o f salvation
Happily thi s S pirit cannot b e i m i t a t ed in preaching It may
be imbibed and breathed by any devotional and devoted minis
ter ; but it cannot be copied N o tones looks n o r tears can
demonstrate the presence o f the Spirit in a sermon if the
preacher has not been i n t h e Sp i r i t before coming to the

pulpit N either the melting n o r the kin dling of men but half
devoted o r but half hearted in devotion can melt down or wield
a n audience
by the gospel 5 because the Holy Spiri t will n o t
honour ts and starts o f delity The minister must be a holy
temple unto the Holy Ghost who would have that Spirit speak
to the hear t s o f men by him N ever does a preacher dupe him
self o r endanger others more than when he imagines that t h e
Spirit will give power to the gospel amongst his people whilst i t
has n o t power upon himself God makes ministers a blessing
to others by blessing themselve s rst He work s i n them in
o rder to work by them
I throw ou t these hints not t o ministers but t o private
C hristians who know what it is to pray in the Spirit and what
it is to see di vine things in the light of eternity Prea ching
with the Holy Gho s t sent down from heaven is just what pray
ing in the Holy Ghost is 5 not form n or forcing n or copying 5
but t h e ou tp ou r i ng o f a heart penetrated with the greatness of
the great salvation and absorbed with t h e solemn r esp on s i b i l i
ties involved i n the hope o f salvation D id such hearers sustain
such preachers by prayer and esteem and c o Operation there
would be far more demonstration o f the Spirit in the evangelical
pulpits of the land and many who n o w content themselves with
d ep en d i ng on the Holy Spirit would b e compelled to cultivate
the fe l l ow sh ip of that Spirit instead of merely c omplim enting h i s
po wer
,
CH A PT E R I X
WH IT E F I E L D
I N S C O TL AND
174 1
state
religion in S cotland at this time will b e best nu

d e r s t o o d as well as most fairly represented by a brief view o f
the rise and progress o f the Se cession That s econ d Reforma
tion in S cotland brought into full light and play all the good
and evil o f the national church I s hall therefore state the
facts j ust as they now challenge and defy investigation I
have never seen the n a l appeals o f the A ssociate Synod inva
l i d at ed ; and therefore I employ their o wn words
The Secessi o n is regarded both by its frien ds and its ene
mies as a highly important event in the hi story Of the church
of S cotland However Slight and accidental the circumstances
by which it was immedi ately occasioned may appear it un
questionably arose from a general state o f matters in the church
naturally tending towards such a crisis D ivine P rovidence
whose Operations ar e often apparently slow but always sure
and progressive had been gradually paving the w ay for an open
division calculated notwithstanding all its accompanying evils
to prevent the utter extinction of religious principle and free
dom in the land and to advance the interests o f truth and
piety A torrent o f corruption which threatened the over
throw of every thing sacred in doctrine and valuable in privi
lege was proceeding to S O great a height that enlightened and
conscientious men were impressed with the necessity o f bold
and decisive st eps
The prevalence o f th o se err o ne o u s tenet s and o ppressive
T HE
WH IT EF I E L D
2 19
measure s which gave rise to the Secession may be traced back

to the defects attending the settlement Of ecclesiastical a ffairs
at the era o f the Revolution 1 688 That era was truly glo
rions ; and in no quarter Of the British empire were its blessings
m o re necessary o r more sensibly experienced than in S cot
land R eligious as well as civil rights and liberties were the n
restored t o a nation which under t h e tyrannical sway of
Charles II and James V II had been m o s t cruelly degraded and
Oppressed E piscopacy was abol i shed ; t h e presbyterian wor
ship and government r e established ; pastors who had been
ej ected from their churches in 1 66 1 were replaced ; and the
l aw Of patronage though n o t absolutely annulled was so modi
e d and in consequence so gently administered that it was
s carcely felt as a grievance
But while the Scottish presbyterians had much cause for
gratitude and j oy they had at the same time several sources o f
regret The omission o f an act formally asserting C hrist s sole
headship Over the church and expressly condemning the royal
supremacy which had been assumed under t h e two preceding
reigns was deeply lamented N or was it an inconsiderable evil
that in co m pliance with the wishes o f t h e court about three
hund red o f the prelatical incumbents some Of whom had even
been a ctive agents in the work o f persecution were upon easy
terms permitted to retain their stations in the parishes of
Scotland and to S it in the e cclesiastical courts A ttached in
many instances to unscriptural doctrines no less than to epis
O Op al i a n forms o f worship and discipline these men could n o t
fail to obstruct the e fforts of those faithful ministers who at
tempted to prom o te the cause o f evangelical truth and practical
religion A mong those ministers themselves there were com
a n d zeal
few
who
displayed
all
that
magnanimity
ar a t i v el
p
y
which the interests o f the Redeemer s kingdom required ; and
the exercise o f which o n that momentous occasion might have
proved incalculably advantageous to vital Christianity in their
o wn days and in succeeding ages
O wing to the pusillanimity
o f som e clergymen and the waywardness of others lamentable
symptoms Of degeneracy in principle and practice were di s
cern i bl e within a sh o rt period aft e r the happy Rev o lution
The
,
220
AN D TIM E S
worthy H al yb u r t o n a ccordingly amid the triumphant e x

pressions of christian faith and hope which he uttered o n his
death bed in 1 7 1 2 deplo red in the strongest terms the grow
ing apostasy o f the times and in particular that indi fference
to the peculiarities o f the gospel and to the power o f godliness
which prevailed among a great proportion of the clergy H e
ex claimed for example
O h that the ministry of S cotland
m ay b e kept from destroying the church o f S cotland O h that
I could Obtain it o f them with tears of blood to b e concerned
fo r the church ! Shall we b e drawn away from the preci ou s
gospel and from Christ
F r a ser s E r s ki n es
The Secession did n o t originate in any dissatisfaction with
the professed principles o f the church o f Scotland which
se ceders venerate as a pre cious summary of divine truths
the most valuable inheritance they have received from thei r
fathers and which they are anxious to transmit in pur ity to
their chil d ren But for some time b efore they were expelled
from the communion o f the national church a tide of defection
had been owing in fr o m the prevailing party in her j udi
c a t or i e s which while it S pared the erroneous in doct r ine and
the irregular in conduct bore down the christian people con
tending for their religious privileges and th o se minister s wh o
testied fa i t hi l l y against e cclesiastical misconduct
A professor o f divinity in on e o f the Universities taught
that the souls o f children are as pure and holy as the soul of
A dam was in his original condition b eing inferior to him only
as he was formed in a state o f maturity ; and that the light o f
nature including tradition is suf cient to teach men the way
o f salvation
F or these doctrines subversive Of the rst prin
c i p l e s o f C hristianity a pro cess was instituted against him in
which it was clearly proved that he was chargeable with teach
ing publicly these and other errors But S O far from being sub
e c t e d to the censure he deserved he wa s permitted to retain h i s
j
place in the University and the church 5 and the General As
s e mbl
y were satised with dec l aring that s o me o f his Opinions
were not evidently founded o n the word o f G o d nor ne cessary
to be taught in divinity and prohibiting him from publishing
such sentiments in future
,
WH IT EF I E L D
22 1
Marrow of Modern D ivinity teaches that God in the

gospel makes a gift o f the Saviour to mankind as S inners war
ranting every o n e who hears the gospel to believe in him fo r
salvation ; that believers are entirely freed from the law as a
covenant o f works ; that good works are not to be perfor med
by believers that they may Obtain salvation by them
In the
unqual ied condemnation Of these principles the General A S
S e m bl y materially condemned some o f the m o st important d o c
t rines of the gospel such as the unlimited extent o f th e gospel
call and the free grace of God in the salvation of sinners
F or a short time afte r the revival o f the law o f patronage in
1 7 1 2 such as received presentations were b ackward to a ccept
o f them and the church courts were unwilling to pr o ceed t o
t heir settlement where Oppositi o n was made by the people of
the vacant charge But presentees and j udicatories became
gradually less s crupul o us and several settlements afterwards
took place in reclaiming congregations which g av e plain evi
dence that the rights of the members O f the church would b e
no longer regarded The little inuence which might occa
s i o n al l
y be left to the people in the choice of their ministers
was destroyed by an act o f the General A ssembly passed i m
med iately before the commencement o f the Secession This
a ct pr o viding that where patrons might negle ct or decline t o
exercise their rights the minister should be chose n by a ma
jor i t y of the elders and heritors if protestant was u n con s t i t u
t i o n al l y passed by the A ssembly a s a great maj ority o f the
presbyteries wh o gave their opinions upon the subj e ct were
decidedly hostile to the measure
Many pious and faithful ministers were grieved by these
defections ; but b eing deprived by the prevailing party in the
A ssembly o f the lib erty o f marking their disapprobation i n the
minutes o f the court no method of main t aining a good co n
s cience remained except testifying against defection in their
public m inistrations This method was adopted ; and for a
public condemnation of these corruptions by the Rev E benezer
E rskine 1 7 3 2 a pr o cess was instituted against him which ter
m i n a t e d 1 7 33 in rst suspending him and three o f his brethren
t h e Rev M es s rs William Wil s o n Ale x ander M o ncrie ff and
The
W H IT EF I E L D
2 22
S L I FE
TI M E S
AN D
James F isher who had j oined him from the exercise o f the
ministerial o ffi ce and afterwards 1 7 40 dissolving their relation
to their congregati o n s and the nati o nal church

D r Wa ug h s
,
The valuable order o f husbandmen who constituted a very

considerable portion o f the Se cession were at this period o f
the t h ird generation in descent from the covenanters who lived
towards the latter end o f the seventeenth century 5 to whom their
country owes a deep debt o f gratitude for their pious zeal their
patient su fferings and their sev ere long protracted and ulti
mately successful struggle with a despotic and persecuting g o
Like their ancestors whose memory for the most
v er n m en t
part they warmly cherished and venerated b esides being zeal
they were distinguished by frugal habits
o u s presbyterians
simple manners and an ardent regard for evangelical doc t rines
In addition to a regular and exemplary attendance o n the pub
lic ordinances of di vine w o rship they faithfully performed the
exercises of devotion in their families and laboured with patri
archal diligence to instil into the minds o f their children and
domestics the principles O f sound doctrine and a holy life The
strict and regular observance of the duties of family religion
appears to hav e b een one chief cause o f the high eminence in
S criptural knowledge in sobriety o f manners a s well as in every
domestic virtue for which the northern part o f Great Britai n
was then j ustly celebrated The patriarchal S implicity o f man
ners which about the middle of the last century S O especially
characterized S cottish husbandmen was calculated in a high
degree to foster deep a ffections and a sober but manly earnest
ness both Of principle and deportment ; and it may b e fairly
stated as one o f the happy privileges o f the Secession church
tha t s o large a number o f its ministers have S prung fr o m this
virtuous and valuable order of men
But the religious order o f the family was the distinguishing
trait The whole household assembled in the hall (or kitchen )
in the morning before breakfast for family w o rship and in the
evening b efore supper
The goodm an o f course led their
devotions every o ne having his Bible in his hand Th is was
the s tated c o urse even in seed tim e and harvest between ve
,
WH IT EF I E L D S L I FE AND TIM E S
223
and
six in the morning wa s the h our o f pra yer in thes e b usy

seasons
O n sabbath all we n t t o church h o wever great the distance
except one pers o n in turn to take care Of the house or younger
children and others to tend the cattle After a late dinner on
their return the family assembled around the master who rst
catechised the children and then the servants E ach was r e
quired to tell what he remembered of the religious services they
had j oined in at the house o f God 5 each repeated a portion o f
the Shorter Catechism 5 and all were then examined o n heads of
divinity from the m o uth o f the master Throughout the whole
o f the sabbath all worl dl y concerns except such as necessity o r
mercy required to b e attended to were strictly laid aside 5 and
nothing was allowed to enter into conversation save subj ects o f
religion
Such were the principles and
D r Wa ug h s L ife
character of th e Seceders and they were c o mmon in the kirk s
which possessed evangelical ministers
A mongst other steps taken by the E rskines in o rder t o
strengthe n the Secession was their o ver t ure to Whiteeld
F raser s a ccount of thi s n eg o ci at i o n is upon the whole the most
candid and complete that we possess It hardly shows however
all the urgency o f the E rskines t o secure a m on op oly of White
el d s inuence
Ralph s letter to him of A pril 1 0 1 7 4 1 c on
tains more than F raser has quoted The followi ng appeals are
o mitted : Come if possible dear Whiteeld come and co me
There is no face o n earth I would desire m o re
t o u s a ls o
e arnestly t o see Yet I w o uld desire it on ly in a way that I
think would tend most to the advancing of o ur Lord s kingdom
and the reformation work among our hands Such is the situ
ation of a ffairs am ong us that unless you came with a design to
meet and abide with us particularly o f the A ssociate P resbytery
and t o make your public appearances in the places especially o f
their concern I would d r ea d the consequences o f your coming
lest it should seem equally to c ountenan ce our perse cutors
Your fame w o uld occasion a ocking to you to whatever side
t
e
and
if
it
sh
o
uld
be
in
heir
pulpits
as
n
o
doubt
som
turn
o
u
5
y
o f them wo uld urge we kn o w h o w it w o uld be improve m aga i ns t
u s I kno w n o t with wh o m y o u c o uld safe l y j oin y o ur s elf if n o t
.
'
WII I T E F I E L D
224
L I FE AND TI M E S
us
To all such
Ol ip h a n t s Wh i t efi e l d E d i n 1 82 6
appeals Wh i t e el d s answer was I come only as an o ccasional
preacher to preach the simple gospel to all that are willing to
hear me of whatever denomination I write this that there
may be no misunderstanding between us L e t t er s With this

key the following documents from F raser will be as intelligible
a s they are interesting
Mr E rsk ine sustained a heavy disappointment when Wh ite
eld refused to co Operate with him in the manner asked and
expected
Having received favourable a ccounts respecting
the characte r and doctrine o f this celebrated man and the ex
t r ao r d i n ar y success o f his ministry in E ngland and A merica he
a ffectionately invited him t o make a visit to Scotland and to
unite his e fforts with those o f t h e A ssociate P resbytery in pro
A letter from Mr
m o t i n g the interests o f truth a nd go dl iness
E rskine to Mr Whiteeld a S hort hand copy o f which we have
discovered in his 3 8t h N ote book throws some light on the views
a n d motives which inuenced h i m and his brethren in giving
him that invitation
Several expressions are illegible
We
F r a ser s L ife of E r s ki n e
give the foll o wing extracts
w ith
H ill d o wn ,
ar D unbar, June
ne
1741
Rev and very dear brother

I inclined much to have written you as s o on as I heard of
your return to E ngland 5 but I was at a loss for want o f a d i r e c
tion till I re ceived yours from Bristol o f the l 6 t h of May which
was very acceptable Though I have not yet seen your last
j ournal yet I have heard of it and o f the great things God h a s
done for y o u and by you in the A merican world and at home
also in this island o f the sea 5 which brings that doxology to
mind Thanks be unto Go d who al ways causeth us to triumph
in Christ and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by
us in every place
May yo u b e enabled more and more to be
j oyful in his salvation and in the name o f your God to set up
your banner The banner which Go d has given you to display
because of truth is far m o re glorious than that of (Admiral ) V
non B ut I know that you are disposed t o say N ot I but the
,
AND TIM E S
22 5
grace Of God in me 5 N ot unto u S but unto thy name be the

glory
How desirable would it be to all the S incere lovers of Jesus
Christ in Scotland to see him travelling in the greatness o f hi s
strength among us also in yo ur ministrations
Truth falls in
o u r streets
E quity cannot enter into o ur e cclesiastical courts
A s o ur A ssembly di d l a st year ej ect us from o ur churches and
exclude us from o ur ministry and legal mainten ance fo r lifting
up our reformation testimony 5 s o from al l I can hear they have
this year in May last appointed several violent intrusions
to be made upon christian co ngregations 5 whereby the ock o f
Christ is scattered more and more upon the mountains ; fo r a
stranger will they not follo w who know the Shepherd s voice
The wandering sheep come with their bleatings to the A ssociate
Presbytery 5 whereby o ur work is daily increasing in feeding
and rallying o u r Master s ock s cattered and o ffended by the
established church
F rom this S ho rt glimpse o f the state o f matters among us
o u will easily s e e what reason the A ssociate Presbytery have t o
y
sa
Come
over
to
Scotland
and
help
us
come
up
to
the
help
of
5
y
the Lord against the mighty ; fo r the enemy comes in like a
ood but I h Op e the Spirit o f the Lord will lift up a standard
against him We hear that Go d is with you of a truth and
therefore we wish for as intimate a connexion with you in the
Lord as po ssible for building up the fallen tabernacle o f D avid
in Britain 5 and particularly in S cotland when yo u shall be sent
to u s This dear brother and no party views is at the bottom
o f any proposal made by my brother Ralph in his own name
and in the name o f his associate brethren It would be very
unreasonable to propose or urge that yo u S hould incorporate as
a member o f o u r Presbytery and wholly embark in every branch
o f o ur reformation unless the F ather of lights were clearing
your w ay thereunto ; which we pray he may enlighten in his
time so as you and we may s ee eye to eye A ll intended by us
at present is that when you come t o Scotland your w ay may
b e such as not to strengthen the hands of o ur corrupt clergy and
j udicatories who are carrying o n a course o f defection worrying
o u t a faithful ministry from the land and the p o wer o f religion
W H IT E F I E L D
226
F ar b e it f rom us t o limit y o ur great

with it
Master s commission to preach the gospel to every creature
We ourselves preach the gospel to all promis cuously who are
willing to hear us But w e preach not upon the call and i n vi
t at i o n o f the ministers but o f the people which I suppose is
y our o wn practice n o w in E ngland 5 and should this als o b e
your way when you come to S cotland it could d o the A ssociate
Presbytery no manner o f harm But if besides you could nd
freedom to company with u S to preach with us and for us and
to accept o f o u r advices in your work while in this country it
might contribute much t o weaken the enemy s hand and to
strengthen ours in the work o f the Lord when the strength o f
the battle is against us
These things I only propose with all submission The Lord
himself I pray and hope will direct yo u to such a course and
conduct as shall be for his o wn glory and the e d i ca t i o n Of his
church every where and particularly among us in S cotland
We in this country are generally a lifeless lukewarm and up
sitten generation What a blessing would it be to us if your
visit should be attended with such fruits and e ffe cts as at Bos
t o n 5 an account o f which I have read in your last to my brother
R alphwhich yields great m atter o f thanksgiving
I am truly sorry for the Wesleyansto see them so far left
to themselves I hav e seen your letter t o them and praise the
Lord o n your behalf who enables you t o stand up so valiantly
for the truth and with so much light and energy May his
truth be more and m ore your shield and buckler
I am your unworthy and a ffe ctionate brother
EB E N E Z ER E R S K I N E
1
This letter had been preceded by one from Ralph E rskine

the br o ther and coadj ut o r o f E benezer
D unfermline A ug
,
2 1, 1 739
Reverend and very dear Sir

Yours dated July 2 3 r d was most acceptable ; and I would
have answered it by the rst post as you propose but that as
it lay ab o ut eight days in my h o use b efore I was at home to
,
WH I T E F I E L D
-
L I FE AND TI M E S
22 7
receive it s o I delayed a few days thereafter as I was to meet

with m y brethren o f the A sso ciate Presbytery t o whom I com
m un i c a t e d your line and Mr William S eward s and at the
same time gave to each o f them a C opy o f your last j ournal as
a present fro m you I received nine o f them at Burntisland
where we then were I received also much about the same
t ime six o f your last sermon o n John v ii 37 5 some o f which with
A nd
s ome of the former I also gave to some o f the brethren
as I return yo u hearty thanks for these presents so my brethren
received them as tokens o f that love and kindness which you
express in such a ffectionate terms in the close o f your letter to
m e as gave them very m uch pleasure and satisfaction and
tended to incre ase and iname their love more and more to you
Your being opposed for owning us and your maintaining such
a regard for us give ground to hope and expect that you will
re ceive no inform ation about u s to o u r disadvantage unless o r
until you have account thereof from ourselves since you have
laid such a foundation o f kindly correspondence with us
I have some acquaintance with Mr D avidson in E dinburgh
whom you mention and wa s glad to hear he had sen t you Mr
Boston s books However he has not had s o much communi
c ation with u s as I hear he has with yo u si nce he b egan to
sway towards the independent or congregational way which h e
has fo r some time been active to promote though otherwise I
hope a good and well disposed man Meantime by whatever
hand yo u please to send any print (expecting by the rst occa
sion to s e e the appendix if published ) it can scarce fail to come
s afe if but dire cted a s your letters are I have given orders to
send y o u the prints relating to ou r public a ffairs in the A sso
ciate P resbytery ; and in case o f your absence they are to come
to Mr Seward or Mr John Wesley
I have now read your j ournals and sermons 5 and I can assure
u
with
reference
to
the
whole
work
in
general
and
the
main
o
y
s cope o f it my soul h a s been made t o magnify the Lord for the
very great things he has done fo r yo u and by yo u 5 and I rej oice
t o see you ascribe all to the free grace o f God in Christ and that
he h a s s o remarkably raised you up t o testify against the errors
a n d corr uptions of the times to rouse and aw aken a s ecure gene
,
22 8
W HIT EF I E L D
ration and t o bring such a number of sinners from darkness t o

light and from the power o f Satan unto God If I shall speak
o f any particulars wherein we di f
fer it shall only be to S how
the greatness o f my love to you by the gre atness of the freedom
I u s e with you 5 also to prevent after mistakes and to promote
unfeigned love which can both cover a multitude of i n r m i t i es
a n d overlook a nu m b er o f di f
ferences not by quite concealing
them which might bring love under a suspicion but by a
fr iendly mentioning of them which may prove it to b e without
di ssimulation
Though we desire to cover with the mantle o f love all the
differences betwixt you and u S that ow from your education in
the church o f E ngland and adore the merciful providence o f
God who h as so far enlightened and qualied you and your
brethren to b e witnesses for him and instruments of reforma
tion yet we hope the more this work i s o f Go d the more will
it tend t o bring about a happy union in the Lord betwixt you
and u s not only in a priv ate and personal but even in a more
public and general way My brethren and I that have had
o ccasion here to confer about you see a beauty in the provi
dence o f your b eing in communion with the E nglish church
O therwise such great c o n u e n ce s from among them had n o t
attended your ministry nor consequently re ceived the benet
o r reaped the advantage which s o many o f them have done
A nd though innite wisdom has made and m ay yet make this
an alluring bait to draw them forth yet as E ngland s reforma
tion at rst (from popery and its superstitious and ceremonial
services ) however great and glorious was far from b eing so
full as that o f some other protestant churches particularly that
o f S cotland 5 s o we would fain hope that when a new and general
reformation shall be s e t on foot some more at least o f the rags
o f that Romish church shall be dropt such as (
abstracting at
present from the subj e ct o f church government) many useless
rites and customs relating t o worship which have no S criptural
foundation This is what some o f the most pious and learned
divines o f your communion have wished to s e e reformed know
ing that many o f these were retained at rst only under the
view of reforming gradually and from some prudential consider
,
WH IT E F I E L D
a t i o ns
2 29
and knowing also that the continued retaining o f these

things which the reforming fathers designed gradu ally to cast
o ff has b een more stumbling to the friends than ever it was
gaining to t h e enemies o f the Reformation Therefore though
Providence at present be making a good use o f your being a o
cording to your light of that way yet when you are beginning
as it were to lay a new foundation may the Lord in due time
enable yo u to guard against such things as m ay afterwards
prove a hinderance to a multitude o f tender Christians their
holding communion with you as has been the case formerly
P r i n cip i i s obs t a is a caution most necessary in many cases
What the great and famous reformer Luther retained from his
original Romish education proved a s a d dividing snare among
the protestant churches ; and S ince by the good b an d o f God
upon you you are s o well occupied in dashing down bigotry and
party zeal I hope the hint I here give you on this head will
be the more agreeable The rst and main business no doubt
is to lay the foundation o f saving faith by preaching the pur e
truth s an d precious doctrines o f the everlasting gospel which
(glory to God) you are so busy about and we I hope are j oin
ing heart and hand with yo u
V ery dear Sir if you and your brethren whom I honour and
esteem in the Lord as his eminent witnesses shall j udge the
freedom I have here used already to b e rash o r unseasonable
the least challenge o f this sort from yo u shall b e to me as ex
c el l e n t o il which shall not break my head ; for I think I would
choose to su ffer many miseries rather than choose to o ffend you
But hoping my freedom shall rather b e taken a s a m ark o f
that kindness o f which my heart i s full I proceed to tell yo u
what may be re ckoned exceptionable in the last j ournal th ough
at the same time the wonders o f divine gra ce therein re corded
were most savoury to me and to all I have spoken with upon
it and will I hope stir up many to prayer and praise Your
opinion about the business o f the attorney h as I hear been
written o f to you already and therefore I shall say nothing o f
it The correction you gave to your Opinion o f its unlawfu lness
by adding
at least exceedingly dangerous satised me
Some have thought your love and charity extended a little t o o
5
WH IT EF I E L D
bey o nd the Scripture r ule in some instances 5 such as J o ur

nal last page 5 9 t h where you s ay the quakers notions about
walking and being led by the Spirit you think are right and
good Unless they b e quakers o f another stamp than the rest
whose dangerous tenets are inconsistent with the right notion
o f b eing led by the Spirit while beside other things they deny
j ustication by the imputed righteo usness o f Christ o r his
a ctive and passive obedience re ceived by faith to b e the only
ground o f j ustication before God 5 and while thus they cannot
receive Jesus Christ they consequently cannot wal k in him
n o r b e led by his Spirit who is the Spirit o f truth testifying o f
Christ according to the revelation made o f him in the word
which they contradic t Whatever duties o f love yo u perfor m
towards these men I will never believe you mean o r intend t o
j ustify their principles and delusive notions
There is a passage in the same book page 83 d that ha s
b een i m p r o ven against us and our secession from the jud i cat o
ries 5 which yet when I read it over again seems to S how to
me how much you are o f o ur mind and that you would take the
same course had you b een in the same situation Yo u very
j ustly I think express your dissatisfaction with three o f your
brethren that w ere driven to deny Christ s visible church upon
earth and S how that nee dl ess separation from the established
church would no doubt be attended with ill consequences 5 and
you j udge o f the state o f a church n o t from the pra ctice of its
members but from its primitive and public constitution H enc e
to me it would seem that if even the plurality o f its members
meeting j udicially S hould contradict its primitive and publi c
constitution you would see t to leave the m and cleave to the
s aid constitution ; which is the case with us in o u r se cession
from the present j udicatories of the established church of Scot
land Such seem to be the defects it is true o f your eccle
s i as t i c al government in E ngland that unless in the case o f
a convo cation you can never boast of an ecclesiastical and ju
d i ci al cleaving unto n o r complain o f a j udicial seceding from
the primitive public constitu t ion But as I make no question
but in that case you would nd (as matters are at present
stated in E ngland) there would be defections of the same sort
fa r
WH IT EF I E L D
23 1
with you as there are with us and consequently that you would
see need to take the same course that we Of the A ssociate Pres
b yt e r y do 5 so while yo u want the same advantages for seeing
clearly when it is that defections are b ecome national and j udi
c i al
and when there is a universal practical departure from
the S criptural principles o f the church you profess yourselves to
be o f it is a question how far it is consonant with the word of
Go d to maintain close communion with those of that church
who are either subverting its primitive public constitution o r
Openly and avowedly denying the foresaid principles
Since right communion is founded o n union in the truth
at least by some Open profession o f it which most o f your
clergy seem to have little o f while they excommunicate you
and your brethren from the u s e o f their churches 5 however well
ordered this also is in providence for good yet it discovers
them to b e what they ar e Yo u likewise add that s o long a s
the A rticles o f the :church o f E ngland are agreeable to S crip
ture you resolve to preach them up without either bigotry or
party z eal This I heartily approv e Of and this is the case with
us also We preach up and defend doctrinally and j udicially
those articles o f the church o f Scotl a nd agreeable to the S crip
tures which the j udicatories are letting go Hence I conclude
o u seem to b e j ust o f o u r mind as to separation from an
y
established church We never declared a se cession from the
church of S cotland but o n the contrary only a secession from
the j udicatories in their course o f defection from the primitive
and covenanted constitution to which we stood also bound by
A nd hence to this day we never
o ur or di nation engagements
did quit o ur charges or congregations to which we were ordain
ed by the imposition of the hands o f our several respective pres
b yt e r i es nor did we ever design unless we were obliged by v i o
lence o r compulsion so to do
A s to y o ur sermons dear Sir I am ashamed you should
mention my approbation o f them as if it were o f any sigui
The general strain o f your doctrine I love admire
c an cy
and relish with all my soul and hope through the blessing of
God it will do much service A nd as to some particular ex
pressions which I mysel f c ould n o t have used my love to yo u
,
232
WH I T EF I E L D
and my view of the countenance o f Heaven with you made m e

to put such a favourable gloss upon them as to discern no od ds
b etwixt you and us But since I am using all the kind freedo m
I can I shall give you some instances
A lmost Christian penult page
We shall then look back
o n o ur past S incere and hearty services which have procured u s
so valuable a reward
This I could by no means interpret as
if you meant it to the detriment Of the doctrine of heaven s
being a reward of grace in Christ Jesus and not o f debt to our
services or o f eternal life its being the gift of God through
Jesus Christ our Lord
Sermon o n Justication by Christ at the close
D O but
labour to attain that holiness without which no man shall s e e
the Lord and then though your sins b e as s carlet they shall b e
white as snow
I could by no means think that this was i n
tended any way to thwart the doctrine o f free remission o f sin s
by the blood and righ t eo usness o f Christ o nl y which i s the s ub
e c t o f the pre ceding sermon 5 o r to make s an c t i ca t i o n o r la
j
b o ur i n g after holiness which is the fruit and evidence to be the
root ground c ause o r condi tion o f forgiveness N o ; I take
y our view to be that in this way o f labouring to attain holiness
people would evidence to themselves and others that th ey were
pardoned persons in Christ or that they could not maintain
the knowledge o r assurance o f it but in this way o f holiness
Sermon o n Phil iii
p age 1 4
H e has passed from
death to life and S hall never if he stir up the gift o f God that
is in him fall into condemnation
This if here I did not
interpret as favouring the A rminian error against the certainty
o f the perseverance o f saints that are on ce s avingly united to
Christ by faith of the operation o f God and passed from death
to life 5 but rather viewed it as favouring the gospel doctrine
concerning the connexion betwixt the means and the end and
the necessity o f the o n e in order to the other though both are
secured by promise to a b eliever in Christ
I was told by o n e that in some part o f your works you
S peak of j ustication by the act of believing ; but as I n o t l ce d
n othing o f this in the prints s o I a frmed that you had not S O
learned Christ as to put the A rminian cr ede r e o r an y thing
,
7 0
WI I I TE F I E L D
L I FE AND TIM E S
2 33
done by us or wrought in u s in the room of Christ and h i s

righteousness o r o f his ob edie nce and satisfaction which alone
re ceived by faith I was sure from your writings you would o wn
to be the only matter and ground o f j ustication
A gain though I could not u s e the E nglish of your B on e
D e us because profane persons here sometimes swear in these
terms yet as I know it i s common among your writers s o I
j udge nothing i s intended by it but a note of astonishment
Though some o f these remark s are perhaps but triing and
not so material as others o f them I have noted all down that
I may keep nothing back from you that in the least o ccurred
to my mind of any seeming dissonancy betwixt us in words
Yet I j udged that under various ways of speaking we meant
the same thing and point at the same end 5 and I can s ay b e
fore the Lord I not only approve o f your sermons and j ournals
but see much matter o f praise to Go d for them I s e e much of
the glory and maj esty o f Go d and many o f the stately steps
and goings o f our mighty King Jesus in them and have at times
with tears o f j oy adored his name for what he is doing for you
and by you and I pray for the continuance and advancement of
that work of Go d I rej oice that the Lord s work is going on
with you and that days o f power continue May it do s o till all
the powers o f darkness give way to it and till every D agon fall
b efore the ark o f Go d !
Your way of arguing against the apostatizing clerg y of your
church in your last sermon even from the instances dra wn out
o f your service book m ay b e to them I think
arguments a d
May the Lord bless it for their conviction and for
h omi n e m
awakening them out o f their spiritual lethargy
When I consider how you and your brethren are stirred up
o f God to such a remarkable way o f witnessing for him in E ng
land against the corruptions and defections of that church and
when we o f the A sso ciate P resbytery have been called forth in
a j udicial way to witness against the corruptions and defe ctions
o f the church o f S cotland and both at a j uncture when popish
powers are c o mbining together against us and desolating j udg
ments are j ustly threatened from Heaven there is perhaps
more in the womb o f providence relating to o u r several situa
,
W H IT E F I E L D
23 4
tions and successes therein than we are aware of What he

If he be
u oth w e know not now but w e may know hereafter
gathering his birds together before a storm according to the
call Z eph i 1 3 and Isa xxvi 2 0 2 1 glory t o him who doth
all things well
We have lately b een attending se veral sacramental solem
n i t i e s in o u r b r e t h r e n s congregations where vast multitudes of
people were assembled at the tents without doors as well as in
the church and I never found more of the presence of God
than at some o f these o ccasions The Spirit Of God was some
times remarkably poured o u t and I hope the power o f the Lord
E nemies gnash with their
was present to heal many souls
teeth as they do with yo u but the Lord carries o n his work
My brethren salute you most a ffe ctionately they love and respect
you in the Lord N ow very dear Sir I have in this long letter
opened my very heart unto yo u and told you the very worst
thought that ever entered into it concerning you ; which I
could n o t hav e done if it were not lled with love to you
A nd it l o ves you b ecause you love Christ and he loves you and
honours you 5 and I hope he will spare and hon o ur you more
and more to b e a happy instrument in his hand for advancing
his kingdom and pulling down the throne o f iniquity May the
weapons of your warfare be more and more mighty thr o ugh
G o d for that end
I am Rev and dear Sir
Yo urs most a ffe cti o nately in our blessed Immanuel
RA L P H E R S K I N E
.
I salute the worthy Sewards and Wesleys in
th
Lord
This long and open hearted epistle a fforded great satisfaction t o

Whiteeld 5 as appears fr o m the following extract o f his reply
-
R EV
W H IT EF I E L D ,
TO
MR
A L P H ER S K I N E
Savannah Jan
,
1 6 t h , 1 7 40
Rev and dear Sir

With much pleasure though not till last week I re ceived
your kind a ffectionate letter I thank you fo r it with all my
.
W H IT EF I E L D
S LI FE AND TIM E S
23 b
s o ul and pray God to reward you for this and all o ther your
works o f faith and labours o f love You may depend o n my
not being prej udiced against you o r your brethren by any evil
report They only endear you to m e more and more 5 and
were your enemies to represent you as black as hell I should
think you were the more glorious in the sight O f Heaven Your
sweet criticisms and remarks on my j ournal and sermons were
exceedingly acceptable and very j ust I assure yo u dear Sir
I am fully convinced o f the doctrine of election free j ustication
and nal perseverance My observations on the quakers were
only i ntended for those particular persons with whom I then
conversed The tenets of the quakers in general about ju s t i
Your adversarie s
ca t i on 1 take to be false and unscriptural
need take no advantage against you by any thing I have written
fo r I think it every minister s d uty to declare against the cor
r up t i o n s of that church to which they belong and not to look
upon those as true members of their communion who deny its
public constitutions
This is your case in S cotland and ours
in E ngland I s e e no other way for us to act at present than to
go o n preaching the truth as it is in Jesus 5 and then if o ur
brethren cast us ou t God will direct us to that course which is
most conducive to his glory and his people s good I think I
have but o n e Obj ection against your proceedingsyour i n
sisting only o n presbyterian government exclusive o f al l other
ways o f worshipping God
Your welfare is much upon my
heart ; and as I am enabled I make menti o n o f you in my
prayers
Your weak unworthy brother
and fellow l ab o urer in Christ
G E O RGE W H I T EF I E L D
,
In a letter Of nearly the same date addressed to Mr Gilbert

Tennent Whiteeld alluding to the above communication says
Since my arrival here I have received a sweet endearing and
instructive letter from Mr Ralph E rskine

A bout two months however prior to the receipt o f this en
dearing letter Whiteeld had despatched three letters from
Philadelphia 5 o ne to the A ssociate Presbytery a se cond to
.
W H IT E F I E L D
23 6
of
E benezer E rskine and a third to Ralph 5 in all
which he
solicits information about the constitution and covenants o f the
S cotch kirk and especially about the C a m er on i a n s : a bishop
having called the seceders by that name and thus made h i m
somewhat j ealous of their S pirit In subse quent letters also
he repeats his determination to be qu i te n e u t er o n the sub
ec t o f church government and reform in S cotland
j
Thus never were men more prepared to love and welcome
each other than Whiteeld and the E rskines H e thought the
A ssociate Presbytery a little too hard upon him and Ralph
t o o much o n their side in pressing him to j oin t h em wholly 5

but otherwise he had great condence in both brothers and
they in him O n his arrival in E dinburgh he ac cordingly resisted
all applications made to him to preach there b efore he went to
D unfermline although they were made to him by persons o f the
rst distinction in the city In a letter to a friend he says I
determined to give the E rskines the r s t o ffer o f my poor mi
n i s t r a t i o n s as they gave me the rst invitation to S cotland

Ralph says of him he c ame to me over the
L e tt 3 3 7 v o l 1
belly o f va s t Opposition
Whiteeld says
I was received
very l ovi ng ly at D unfermline

So far the interview was mutually gratify ing Whiteeld was
surprised and delighted when he preached in the meeting house
t o an immense assembly by the rustling o f a host o f Bibles all
at once as he gav e out his text :

a scene he says
I never
w as witness to before !
and Ralph was equally pleased wi th
the sermon and the preacher He wrote next day to E benezer
thus 5 The Lord is evidently with him 5 and to A dam Gibb

(whose S pirit seems to have b een suspicious o f Whiteeld from
the r s t ) I have many pleasant things to s a y of him
I see
the Lord is with him

Indeed Ralph did every thing wise and kind in order to bring
o n a happy meeting between Wh i t e el d and the Presbytery
H e prepared E benezer for t his by informing him that White
eld had owned to him o n the subj ect of his ordination that
he would not have it again in t h a t way fo r a thousand worlds 5
b ut then he knew no other way

F r a ser s L ife of R E r s ki n e
p 3 2 6 To Gibb he wrote He designs and d es i r es to meet
,
WII I T E F I E L D
L I FE AND TI M E S
23 7
with the brethren I expect he will call for you

Whilst Ralph
thus conciliated the brethren he was equally candi d in telling
them what they had to expect : A S to his preaching he de
clares he can refuse no 0 11 to preach w h oever gives it : were it
a Jesuit or a Mahometan he would embrace it for testifying
a a i n s t them
I nd (to Gibb ) his l i g h t leads him to
g
preach even at the cal l of those against whom he can freely tes
t i fy
I hope yo u will inform Mair and Hutton
F r a ser 3 2 7
Such were the preliminary steps to an interview and negocia
tion which D r Gillies (himself o f the church party ) has ab
r u tl
as a conference to
p y intro d uced and hastily dismissed
set Whiteeld right about church go vernment and the solemn
league and covenant

It certainly was about these points 5 but
as certainly n o t for the s a lce o f these points apart fr om the s p i
ritual p urposes they were intended to answer Besides neither
the church government nor the solemn league and covenant
were the inventions o r the peculiarities o f the Se cession Whe
ther good bad o r indi fferent things they were the p l a tfor m of
the kirk o f Scotland Willison o f D undee sustained by a num
ber of the clergy testied as loudly at the time against de
nying the lawfulness o r obligation o f our national covenant
engagements as E rskine and h i s brethren S tr u t h er s s H i s t

A nd who does n o t see that D r Gillies and his party
S co t l a n d
had they been n e g o ci a t i n g with Whiteeld to j oin them would
j ust have begun as the A sso ciate Presbytery did by setting him
?
right about the same points
Indeed Willison of D undee
did press the same points upon Whiteeld by letter 5 and r e
c e i v e d from him much the same answer he gave to the seceders
I wish you would not trouble yourself o r m e in writing about
the corruptions o f the church o f E ngland Yo u seem not satis
e d methinks unless I Openly renounce the church o f E ngland
and declare myself a presbyterian Your letter gave me some
little concern I thought it breathed a sectarian spirit to which
I hoped dear Mr W wa s quite averse I have shown my free
d o m in communicating with the church of S cotland and in bap
L e tt
I ca n g o n ofur t h er
t i z i n g children in their own way
p 429
Thus the Se cessi o n were n o t the only sticklers fo r presbyte
.
WH IT EF I E L D
238
r ian i s m
They made it however what the clergy did n o t the

His o wn account of the
c on d i t i on of employing Whiteeld
n eg o c i a t i o n with the Presbytery altho u gh graphic i s rather t oo
humoursom e for the gravity of history when the facts a ffect a
body o f Christians Whilst therefore I admire the c andour o f
F raser in giving Wh i t e el d s half playful letter rst I prefer to
give the Presbytery s own narrative rst ; because the t r an s ac
tion involves their chara cter most and b e cause their subsequent
att a cks on Whiteeld were far more inexcusable than their treat
ment o f him at D unfermline
The of cial minutes o f this conference are I am afraid irre
c o v e r ab l
That they did exist i s however evident from
y lost
a letter to Gibb from Ralph E rskine requesting a copy o f them
I expe cted b efore this time a copy o f the conversation we had
with Mr Whiteeld in this place I have some o ccasions that
require my having it Therefore please send me if yo u can a
copy with t his post

F r a ser s L ife
This letter makes it highly probable that the following or i
al memorandum written about the time by E benezer E rskine
i
n
g
is substantially correct S O far as it goes It w a s copied verb a
tim from th e short hand characters o f E rskine in a note book
re cently discovered by F raser
H er e foll ows a n a ccou n t of a
c on ve r s a t i on h e l d w i t h M r
Wh i te e l d a t D unfer m l i n e Wed n es
,
d a y , Aug 5 t h , 1 7 4 1
w e r e M es sr s R a lp h
.
Th e m i n i s t er s
E ben ez er E
and
o
rs
t h e P r es byt e r y p
r es e nt
ki n e , M r M on cr i e
.
,Mr
Gi bb M essr s Th oma s a n d J a m es M a i r M r C l a r ks on 5 a n d t w o
e l d er s n a m e l
r J a m es Wa r d l a w a n d Ill r J oh n 111 o w br a
M
y
y
,
We b eing advertised to be here this day by a letter from

Mr Ralph E rskine who had formed the t r ys t with Mr Wh ite
eld ; M r Ralph s letter bearing that Mr Whiteeld desired
the conference & c and th at he had yielded s o far to him as t o
his episcop al or dination that he would not take it again for a
thousand worlds 5 but at the time he knew no better
Upon Tuesday night when we arrived at the place we
waited upon Mr W at Mr E rskine s house ; where and when
w e had som e conversation about several things relating t o the
state o f a ffairs in the church
Wednesday forenoon the ministers and elders above men
,
WH IT EF I E L D
t i on ed,
23 9
met with Mr Whiteeld in consequence of a letter from

Mr Ralph E rskine desiring they would have a conference with
him : and they having met as above a motion was made that
Mr E benezer E rskine pray before they entered upon conversa
tion AS Mr Whiteeld showed an inclination to proceed to a
conference about toleration fo r a time it was proposed that
seeing toleration o f all se cts by a church is an Opin ion of his as
supported by some s criptures i t was thought t to consider
what is that form o f government Christ has laid down in his
word
A nd agreeably to this Mr Whiteeld put the question
Whether presbyterian government be that which is agreeable t o
the pattern shown in the mount ? A nd supposing that it is
if it excluded a toleration o f such as independents anabaptists
and episcopalians among whom are good men
Mr E benezer E rskine said to him Sir God has made you
an instrument o f gathering a great multitude o f souls to the
faith and profession o f the gospel of Christ throughout E ngland
and in foreign parts and now it is t that you should b e co n
s i d e r i n g how that body i s to b e organized and preserved 5 which
cannot b e done without following the example o f Paul and Bar
nab as who when they had gathered churches by preaching the
gospel visited them again and orda ined over them elders in
every city ; which you cannot do a l on e without some two o r
three met together in a j udicative capacity in the name o f the
Lord
Unto all which Mr Whiteeld replied (how like him !)
that he reckoned it his present duty to go o n in preaching the
gospel with o ut proceeding to any s uch work
It was urged that i t might please the Lord to call him (by
death ) ; and in that case there being none other the ock might
be S cattered and fall into the hands of grievous wolves without
any to care for them H e said that he being o f the communion
had none to j oin him in that work 5
o f the church o f E ngland
and t hat he had no freedom to separate from the church of
E ngland until they did cast h i m o u t or excommunicate him

Here unhappily E rskine s memorandum closes 5 and to h i s
honour it contains no reections upon the spirit o f Whiteeld
although he said s o me sharp things which must have been not
.
2 40
AND TI M E S
a little trying to the patience o f stanch presbyterians N either

Whiteeld nor the Presbytery however were so calm as they
appear in this still life picture 5 D r J am i es o n himself b eing the
j udge When he anim adverted upon Rowland Hill s Journal
o f a Tour in S cotland
he said That after a good deal o f rea
soning (there was some r a i li ng too ) as to a particular form of
church government being pres cribed in S cripture Mr White
eld laying his hand o n his h ea r t said I do not nd it here
Mr A Moncrie ff who was o f a warm temper giving a r ap o n
the Bible which was lying on the table said But I nd it
here
The D octor adds O n t his if I mistake n o t the co n
versation terminated ; and it has still been asserted that the
proper ground o f their giving up any connexion with Mr White
eld washis denial that any particular form o f church govern
ment was of divine authority ; and declaring his resolution to
m aintain this in his public ministrations

So thought and
wrote D r J am i es on who was not there not so however did
Whiteeld think o r write I keep o u t o f the question still his
it has
p l a yfu l letter as it is called because F raser says that
been eagerly appealed to by writers who wished to expose the
A ssociate Presbytery to ridicule and contempt

Besides it
was a letter to N oble o f N ew York in answer to o n e about a new
synod by the Tennents 5 and thus had a p urp os e t o answer in
A merica which warranted what F raser calls i t s indications
o f Wh i t e el d s
constitutional vein for humour
N one o f
these obj ections if they b e such lie against the following letters 5
which were written weeping and to men who knew the facts
o f the D unfermline conference
N ow o n the e ig h th day after it
Whiteeld wrote thus to o n e o f the sons o f E benezer E rskine
at Stirling : The treatment I met with from the A ssociate
Presbytery was n o t altogether such a s I expected It grieved
me as m uch as it did you I could scarce refrain from bursting
into a ood o f tears I wish all were like minded with your
honoured father and uncle : m atters would not then be carried
o n with so high a hand
Such violent methodssuch a narrow
way o f actingcan never be the way to promote and enlarge
the kingdom of our blessed Jesus
It surely must b e wrong to forbid even o ur h ea r i ng those
.
WH IT EF I E L D
24 1
who l o ve our Lord Jesus in S incerity and have also been owned
o f him
Christ w o uld not hav e done s o
Supposing the scheme o f government for which the A sso
ciate P resbytery contend to be S criptural 5 yet forbearance and
long suffering is to be exercised towards such as may differ from
them I am verily persuaded there is no such form of govern
ment prescribed in the book o f God as excludes a toleration
Were the A ssociate Presbytery
o f all other forms whatsoever
scheme to take e ffe ct they must o u t of conscience if they acted
consistently restrain and grieve if n o t persecute many o f God s
children who could not possibly come in to their measures 5 and
I doubt not but their present violent methods together with
the corruptions of the A ssembly will cause many to b ecome
independents and set up particular churches o f their own
This was the e ffect o f A rchbishop Laud s acting with so high a
hand and whether it be presbytery or episcopacy if managed
in the same manner it will be productive of the same e ffects
Blessed be God I have not so learned Christ ! L e t t 3 4 7

Would any man in his senses have written thus to D avid E r
skine had there been nothing more viole nt at D unfermline than
M o n cr i e ff s r ap o n the table 5 or had nothing been insisted upon
but the divine auth ority o f presbytery ? This letter both i m
plies and asserts the avowal of intolerance o n the part o f all but
the E rskines and even they wanted to shackle Wh ite eld with
all the links o f their own chain of exclusiveness Ralph forgot
himself so far as to suspect and insinuate in a letter that
Whiteeld t emp or i z ed for the sake o f the orphans This fact
does not appear in the previous jot ti ng s whi ch S how t h e s cope
o f that letter 5
(Fraser 5) but it appears in the dignied and i a
d i g n an t answer :
Indeed dear Sir you mistake if you think I
temporize on ac co unt o f the orphans Be it far from me ! I
a bh o r the very thought o f it
I proceed now j ust as I have
done ever since I came out in the ministry

L et t 3 5 0
E ven the jott i ng s charge Whiteeld (i n sorrow indeed)
with coming h a r n essed with a resolution t o stand out agains t
every thing that might be said against

and with n o t
5
lying open to light but declining conversation o n that
head
N ow whatever this mean the answer is unequivocal :
R
,
WH IT EF I E L D
2 42
I thank you for y o ur kind letter I believe it proceeded from

love ; but as yet I cannot think the solemn league and cove
nant any way binding upon me You seem to think I am not
open to light That I may give you satisfaction on that head
I am willing to confer with Mr W
at Perth o n Thurs
day Sept 3 rd I bi d Whiteeld takes no notice of the charge
coming harnessed to the conference Perhaps E rskine

of
softened it in the letter If this was not the case then White
eld did not condescend to notice it Something equivalent
however was in the letter E rskine says o f it to Gibb
I
have sent Mr Whiteeld this day a letter wherein I used m uch
plainness with him o n account o f his declining conversation
with us upon church government and upon the i nuen ce I
dreaded he i s now under 5although all my plainness was in th e
most kindly way

F r a ser p 3 3 5
Fraser refe rs this inuence and harnessing to prej udices
infused into Wh i t e el d s mind against the ministers o f the Se
cession and the cause in which they had embarked at the very
moment of h i s rst landing in Scotland

In proof o f this he
quotes the fact that Whiteeld wa s met and entertained at
E di nburgh by D r Webster and some o f his brethren 5 from
whom he learned the state o f church prej udices and parties in
Scotland
There can b e no doub t of the truth of this It is
however equally true that he found the A ssociate Presbytery
to b e as i n t ol er a n t as their enemies had represented them : and
if any thing worse was said against them in his hearing it did
not prevent him from visiting them nor from treating them as
brethren in Christ E ven in his playful letter (which I n o w
subj oin) there is as much kindl iness as humour
.
TO
MR
TH O M A S N O B L E A T
,
NEW
Y O RK
E dinb urgh A ug
,
8th , 1 7 4 1
My dear brother
I have written you several letters 5 and I rej oice to hear
that the work o f the Lord prospers in t h e hands o f Messrs Ten
h ents & c 5 am glad they intend to meet in a synod by them
selves
Their catholic spirit will do good
The Associ a te
P r es by t er y here are s o conned that they will n o t so much as
,
WH IT EF I E L D
S LI FE AND TIM E S
2 43
hear me prea ch unless I only will j oin with them M r Ralph

E
indeed did hear me and went up with m e into the
pulpit of the C a n o ng a te church The people were ready to
shout fo r j oy ; but I believe it gave o ffence to his associates
I met most o f them according to appointment on Wedn es d a y
lasta set o f grave venerable men They soon agreed t o form
themselves into a presbytery and were proceeding to choose a
m oderator I ask ed them for what purpose ? They answered
to discourse and s e t me right about the matter of church g o
I replied they
v e r n m en t and the solemn league and covenant
might save themselves that trouble for I had no scruples about
it ; and that settling church government and preaching about
the solemn league and covenant wa s n o t my plan I then told
them something o f my experience and how I wa s led o u t into
my present way o f acting O ne in particular said he was deeply
a ffected ; and the dear Mr E
desired they would have
patience with me for that having b een born and bred in E ng
l a n d and ne v er studied the point I could n o t be supposed to be
O ne
s o perfectly acquainted with the nature of th eir covenants
much warmer than the rest immediately replied that no i n
d ul g en ce was to be S hown me 5 that E ng l a n d had revolted most
with respect to church gover nment 5 and that I born and edu
could not but be acquainted with the matter now
c a t e d there
in debate
I told him I had never yet made the solemn league
and covenant the o bj ect o f my study being too busy about mat
ters as I j udged o f greater importance Several replied that
every pin of the tab ernacle was preciou s I said that in
every building there were outside and inside workmen 5 that
the latter at present was m y province 5 that if they thought
themselves called to the former they might proceed in their o wn
way and I S hould proceed in mine I then asked them seriously
what they would have me to do 5 the answer was that I was not
desired to subscribe immediately to the solemn league and co
venant ; but to preach only fo r them till I had further light
I asked why only for them ? Mr Ralph E
said they
were the Lord s people
I then asked whether there were no
other Lord s people but themselves ? and supposing all others
were the devil s people they certainly had more need to be
R 2
.
WH IT EF I E L D
2 44
S LI FE AND TIM E S
preached to and therefore I was m o re and more det er m ined to

go o u t into the highways and hedges ; and that if the pope him
self would lend me his pulpit I would gla dly proclaim the right
Soon after this the company
e o u s n e s s o f Jesus Christ therein
broke up 5 and on e o f these otherwise venerable men i mm e d i
ately went into the meeting ho u se and preached upon these
words Watchman what of the night ? Watchman what o f the
night ? The watchman said The morning cometh and also the
I attended 5
night if ye will inquire inquire ye 5 return come
but the good man s o S pent himself in the former part of his ser
mon in talking against prelacy the common prayer book the
surplice the rose in the hat and such like externals that when
he came t o the latter part o f his text to invite poor s inners to
Jesus Christ h i s breath was s o gone that he could scarce be
heard What a pity that t h e last was not rst and the rst
last ! The consequence o f all this was an Open brea ch I r e
tired I wept I prayed and after preaching in the elds s a t
down and dined with them and t hen took a nal leave A t
table a gentlewoman said S he had heard that I had told some
people that t h e A ss o ciate Presbytery were building a B a bel
I said Madam it is quite true ; and I believe the B a be l will
soon fall down about their ears but enough o f this Lord
what is man what the best o f men but men at the best ? I
think I have now seen an end o f all perfection O ur brethren
in Amer i ca blessed be Go d have not S O learned Christ Be
pleased to inform them O f this letter

,
N ow certainly had it n o t been fo r the u s e made of this letter

by the enemies of the Secession who interpreted the prophecy
and wielded the wit o f it wantonly i t requires no apology It
is as true as it is graphic 5 not perhaps to the very letter of the
s cene but to the S pirit o f it It j u st embodies in lively forms
the very ideas suggested by the pre ceding details E ven the
prophe cy in it was su ffi ciently fullled to accredit the foresight
o f Whiteeld
E nough o f what was
Babel in the synod
soon fell down about their ears

The division of the S e ce s
sion in 1 7 4 7 into burghers and antiburghers with the bitter
con troversy it originated was mo r e than enough to j ustify the
,
WH IT EF I E L D
S L I FE
AN D
TI M E S
prediction E ven Fraser applies t o t hat sharp contention fa

ther Paul s proverb that In verbal contentions the smallness
o f the di f
ference Often nourishes the obstinacy of the parties
It was not therefore necessary to rebut Wh i t e el d s prophecy
even if it was uttered with oracular solemnity by the fact

t h at the edice o f the Secession has now lasted for almost a
cen tury and was not so obnoxious to the frowns o f He aven
as th at g ood m a n imagined
Had tha t
F r a ser s E E r s ki n e
good man seen it as it now subsists he would have been as
ready as F raser or J am i e s o n to say
the S ecession church has
become a fair strong and extensive fabric i n no great danger
I bi d
o f soon tumbling into ruin s
The b ad use made of th is far famed letter by Sir Harry Mon
crie ff and others in order to ridicule the Secession and carica
ture its venerable founders has tempted F raser to nd more
fault with the letter than it is really chargeable with o r than
he could j ustify H ence he has quoted from a Revie w o f Sir
Harry s Life in The Christian Repository the unchristian

assertion that no one who knew any thing of Ralph E rskine
will for a moment beli eve that he would have said o f the Se
ceders we are the Lord s people
It is believed by many
who kno w and believe that Ralph E rskine a year befor e this
time and many times in later years said We are far from
thinkin g all are Christ s friends that j oin with us o r that all
are His enemies that do not N o indeed ! This w ould be to
cast o ff all that have Christ s image unless they have ou r
image t o o
F r a s er
There is so much candour cha racterizes F raser s version o f
these transactions t hat I am unwill ing to criticize his narrative
It is however impossible to a gre e with him in his conclusion
that considerate and unbiassed judges will see cause o n the
whole to concl ude that Mr Whiteeld and the A ssociate Pres
b yt e r y parted in a manner which has left n o credit to e i th er
party
N either the manner nor the spirit o f Wh i t e el d s part
ing reects an y discredit upon him
In E dinburgh the issue o f this n eg o ci a t i o n was waited fo r
with more than curiosity The clergy welcomed Wh i t e el d s
return to their pulpits in the city as a triumph to the kirk and
.
WH IT EF I E L D
24 6
it was a triumph at the time AS such however he cared no

thing about i t H e forgot equally the j oy o f the kirk and the
m or t i ca t i o n o f the chapel in seeking the triumphs o f the cross
Whilst churchmen were pluming themselve s on their gain and
se ceders trying to despise their loss he was singing with Paul
N o w thanks be unto God wh o always c auseth us to triumph
in Christ and maketh manifest by us the savour of His know
ledge i n every place

I t was manifested in E dinburgh and
be came the savour o f life unto life to very many in all ranks
F o r some weeks he preached twice o r thrice every day in the
churches and renewed in the orphan house park the scenes o f
M oo r el d s and Blackheath
H e obtained also 5 00 for h i s
orphans in money or goods
The latter was a timely help to him How much he fel t this
will b e b est told by himself In a letter to M r Habersham he
says
O my dear friend how faithful is the Lord Jesus ! H e
has enabled m e to pay my brother and Mr N oble s bill of 300
I have sent you 7 0 worth Of di fferent sorts of goods to be d i s
posed o f and the money applied to the orphan house I have
sent also six hundred yards Of cloth a present o f my own to
make the boys and girls gowns and coats Yo u will nd some
d a ma s k t a bl e c l ot h s which I desire you will sell they being t o o
goo d in my opinion for our use

Whiteeld could not appre ciate the mor a l value o f this last
gift ; but all S cotchmen well understand the sacrice made by
S cotchwomen in thus contributing damask n ap p er y ! It w as
next to parting with their wedding ring H ad b e known this
he would not have sold the table cloths 1
Such presents i n money or goods were new things in E din
burgh then and of course misrepresented by many Some
were alarmed lest he should impoverish the country
His
answer to all insinuati o ns o f this kind was I value them not
in the least My largest donations are from the rich and s ub
s t an t i al
The mites which the lower sort o f the people hav e
given will not prevent them from paying their debts nor impo
v arish their families

When however it was proposed to make
a contribution in E dinburgh for himself although p r i va te ly he
changed his t o ne and said
I know noth ing o fand w ill n o t
.
AND TIM E S
247
admit of any such thing ! I make no purse Wh at I have I

give away
P oor ye t ma ki ng m a ny r i ch shall be my mott o
still
L e tt er
Wh i t e el d s o wn accounts of the success o f the gospel in
E di nburgh at this time although a mi ng are n o t exaggerated
D r Muir who witnessed the e ffect says
Upon the whole we
h Op e there i s such a ame kindled as shall never be e xt i n
The
ministers
are
learning
to
speak
with
n ew
h
d
u
i
e
s
g
tongues
The only drawback upon the fol
E d i n M emoi r
lowing accounts is an appearance o f vanity when the nobility
are menti o ned ; and o f attery when they are addressed D r
Southey says truly that Wesley would n o t have written in this
strain : but it is equally true that Jeremy Taylor and D r

D onne wrote bot h le t ters and dedications quite as fulsome and
more servile 5 and which might well provoke disgust and i n
dignation were not the real genius and piety of the writers b e
yond all doubt

S ou t h ey s We s l ey p 3 6 0 vol 2
To H abersham Whiteeld writes from E dinburgh thus
God is pleased to bless my ministrations here in an abundant
manner The little childr en in the hospitals are much wrought
upon Saints have been stirred up and e di e d and many others
I believe trans lated from darkness to light The good that
has been done is inexpressible I am intimate with three no
bl em en and several ladies of quality who have a great liking
for the things of God I am n o w writing in an earl s house
(Melville ) surrounded by ne furniture ; but glory be to free
grace my soul is in love only with Jesus

To C e nn i ck he wrote This day Jesus enabled me to preach
s e ven times ; notwithstanding I am as fresh as when I arose in
the morning Both in the church and park the Lord was with
The girls in the hospital were exceedingly a ffected O ne
o f the mistresses told me that she is now awakened in the
morning by the voice of prayer and praise ; and the master o f
the boys says that they meet together every night to sing and
pray T h e presence o f Go d at the ol d people s hospital was
reall y very wonderful The Holy Spirit seemed to come down
like a rushing m ighty wind The mourning of the people was
like the weeping in the valley o f Hadadrimm o n E very day I
.
AN D TIM E S
2 48
hear o f some fresh good wrought by the power of God I scarc e
know how to leave Scotland

Thus the rich and the poor the young and the ol d not only
heard him gladly but melted down alike under his preaching ;
and thati n S cotland where the melting mood is not predo
minant A nd then Wh i t e el d s doctrine was not n ew to them
as a people as it was to the E nglish Why therefore do we
see nothing of this kind now up o n a large scale in either E ng
land o r Scotland ? The gospel is widely and faithfully preach
ed i n both 5 but n o t with remarkable success in either This
is not satisfactorily explained by saying that a greater blessing
ministry than follows ours
The fact
a t t e n de d Wh i t e el d s
i s that the outpouring of the Spirit on his audiences was p r e
which we
c ed ed by an unction o f the Spirit o n his o wn soul
hardly understand and still less cultivate What a h ea r t he
had in E dinburgh ! He do e s n o t inde ed always describe its
emotions in good taste ; but alas for the man and especially
the minister who can read the bursts and outpourings o f George
Whi t e el d s heart without shame or without feeling his o wn
heart bur n to share them !
N ight and day Jesus lls m e
with his lov e

The love o f C hrist strikes me quite dumb
I wal k continually in the c o mforts o f the Holy Ghost
My heart is melted do wn with t h e love of J e s u s

I de
spair n o t of seeing S cotland like N ew E ngland

I want a
thousand ton g ues to set o ff the great Redeemer s praise

I
am daily waiting for the coming o f the Son of God

I every
morning feel my fellowship with Christ and he gives me all j oy
and peace in believing

The S ight 1 have o f God by faith
ravishes my soul : how I S hall be ravished when I see him face
to face
I would l eap my seventy years and y into His
presence
All this i s as burning as abrupt H e lived and
moved and h ad his being in this warm and pure element 5 and
thus preached not only in dependence on the Holy Spirit but
in d emon s t r a ti on O f the Spirit and in power

Thus the holy
o il which anointed s o m any under him had rst b een poured o n
his own head I hav e endeavoured to ill ustrate this fact in
another part of the volume In the mean time however I can
n o t quit
this hint without solemnly reminding myself and
.
WH IT EF I E L D
S LI FE AND TIM E S
2 49
o ther s t hat we can b e Wh i t e el d s in un cti on although not in

energy o r eloquence 5 we can walk with God as he did although
unable to go about doing good upon his scale

The results o f his rst visit to E dinburgh are thus summed
up by himself : Glory b e to God ; he is doing great things
here I walk in the continual sunshine o f his countenance
N ever did I see so many Bibles nor people look into them with
such attention when I am expounding P lenty o f tears o w
from hearers eyes I preach twice daily and expound at pri
vate houses at night ; and am employed i n speaking to souls
under distress great part o f the day E very morning I have a
constant l evee of wounded souls many o f whom are quite
slain by the law I have a lecture in the elds attended not
only by the c o mmon people but persons o f great rank I hav e
reason to think some o f the latter sort are coming to Jesus I
am only afraid lest people should idolize the instr u ment and
not look enough to Jesus in whom alone I desire to glory

S cotland and espe cially E dinburgh owes much to t his visit
A ny check it gave to the Secession for a time was more than
c ounterbalanced by the impulse it gave to the establishment
The evangelical clergy had as much need o f a commanding
ally as the A ssociate Presbytery ; and in general as well de
served the weight and fame of Wh i t e el d s name That name
drew o n their side some o f the peerage who would never have
followed him into a chapel 5 and thus strengthened the hands
of
t h e wi l d men
(as the evangelical party were called ) when
they were but weak
E dinburgh should never forget this
N ext to Knox Whiteeld deserves a monument o n the Calton
Hill as the s econ d reformer o f the metropolis But for him
the moderate party would have held the ascendant in it I d o
therefore hope that at least no S cottish champion o f the gos
pel will imitate some in E ngland by trying to prove that White
eld had little or no inuence upon the revival of evangelical
preaching in the e stablishment If any do try there I can o nl y
sa
as
I
do
here
their f a th er s knew better and posterity will
y
l a ug h at them
Ven n s L ife of Ven n
A s a counterpart to the sermon against Whiteeld in the
m eeting h o use by one o f the A ss o ciate Presbytery t h e foll o w
,
250
L I FE AND TIM E S
ing s cene in the kirk at Aberdeen may instruct as well as

amuse D r Southey has told the story well 5 but Whiteeld
tells it be t ter
A t my rst coming
Aber d een O ct 9 1 7 4 1
here things looked a little gloomy 5 for the magistrates had
b een s o prej udiced against me by o n e Mr Bisset that when a p
plied to they refused m e the u s e of the kirk yard to preach in
This Mr Bisset is colleague with one Mr O at whose repeated
invitation I came hither Though colleagues of the same co n
f
f
they
are
very
di
erent
in
their
natural
tempers
r e at i o n
g
g
The o n e is what they call in S cotland o f a s weet bl ood ed the
o t her o f a choleric disposition Mr B is neither a seceder
n or quite a kirk man 5 having great fault to nd with both
Soon after my arrival dear Mr 0 took me to pay my r e
H e was prepared for it 5 and immediately pull
s p e c t s to him
ed o u t a paper containing a number o f insignicant questions
which I had neither time nor inclination to answer The next
morning it b eing Mr O s turn I lectured and preached The
magistrates were present The congregation was very large
and l ig h t a n d l ife/
l e d a l l a r ou n d
In the afternoon Mr B o ffi ciated I attended He begun
his prayers as usual 5 but in the m idst o f them naming m e by
name he entrea t ed the Lord to forgive the dishonour that had
been put upon him by my being suffered to preach in that pul
pit A nd that all might know what reason he had t o put up
such a petition about the middle of his sermon he n o t only

urged t hat I was a curate o f the church of E ngland (had
Whiteeld b een an archbishop or bishop Bisset would hav e
beg u n his prayers against him ) but also quoted a pass a ge o r two
o u t o f my rst printed sermons which he said were grossly
A rminian
Most o f the congregation seemed surprised and chagrined
especially his go o d natured colleague Mr O 5 who immediately
after sermon an d without consulting me in the least stood up
and gave notice that Mr Whiteeld would preach in about hal f
an hour Th e interval b eing s o short the magistrates returned
into the sessions house and the congregati o n patiently waited
big with expectation o f hearing my resentment

A t the time app o inted I went up and t o ok no o ther notice
.
W H IT EF I E L D
of
25 1
the g o od man s ill timed zeal than t o observe in s o me part

o f my discourse that if the good o l d gentleman had seen some
o f my later writings
wherein I had corrected several o f my
fo rmer mistakes he would not have expressed himself in such
strong terms
The people being thus di verted from controversy with man
were deeply impressed with what they heard fro m the word o f
God All was hushed and more than solemn ! O n the mor
row the m agistrates sent for me expressed themselves quite
concerned at the treatment I had met with and begged me to
accept the freedom o f the city B ut o f this enough

Dr
Southey j u s tly says
this triumph Whiteeld obtained as
much by that perfect self command which he always possessed
in public as by his surpassing oratory

Bisset s hostility did not end here nor conne itself to White
eld N ext year he assailed the S cotch clergymen who had
employed the E nglish cu r a t e and charged them with caressing
Whiteeld as it would seem to br ea k the seceders B i sse t s

L et t er on C omm u n i on w i t h a P r i es t of t h e C h u r ch of E ng l a n d
Thus it was not the A ssociate Synod alone who attributed the
friendship of the kirk for Whiteeld to selsh motives
O ne thing o ccurred in E dinburgh which pleased Whiteeld
very much A fter preaching in the orphan house park a large
company came to salute him A mongst the rest a ne portly
quaker took him by the hand and said Friend George I a m
a s t hou art
I am for bringing all to the life and power o f the
ever living Go d ; and therefore if thou wilt not quarrel with
m e about my h a t I will not quarrel with thee about thy gown

I know some ex quakers who would s ay t hat Whiteeld would
not have been so much pleased if he had known the mys ter y o f
the h a t in quakerism
C H A PT E R X
WH IT EF I E L D
AN D
D ISS E N T ER S
THE
NE ITH ER the revivals in Scotland n o r the riots in E ngland

won for Whiteeld the sympathy o f the London ministers
Bradbury lampooned him Barker sneered at him D r Watts
was silent ; and Coward s trustees were i n sol en t to D r D od
d r i d g e be cause he gave him some countenance at N orthampton
There was a deeper cause for all this than their dread o f his
enthusiasm They were then in treaty with some o f the bishops
in order to revive that scheme o f C O M P RE H E N S I O N which Bates
Manton and Baxter tried to negociate with S t il l in g e e t ; but
which Clarendon even whilst in banishment had inuence
enough at home to defeat although the bill in favour o f it was
drawn up by Lord Chief Baron Hale Ti l l otson s L ife
The C l a r en d on party were not dead nor idle when the sub
e c t o f the comprehension was revived by Chandler and D od
j
Warburton who knew t he m
d r i d g e with A rchbishop Herring
well foretold the issue thus even when the prospect was bright
est befor e curtain ; I can tell yo u o f cer ta i n s ci en ce that not
the l ea s t alteration will be made in the e cclesiastical system

The progress o f this a ffair will explai n
L e t t er t o D od d r i dg e
both the shyness and the sharpness of the London ministers
towards Whiteeld They could n o t have n e g o ci a t ed with him
and the archbishop at the same time Indeed they had no
wish to be identied with any of his measures
It belongs to history to tell this matter gravely : I prefer the
g r ap h i c sketch o f its origin and progress given in the following
letters The rst letter is from Barker to D oddridge
As
,
AND TI M E S
25 3
for the comprehension s o much talked o f in town and country

the utmost o f the m atter is this M r Chandler while his
meeting place was shut up made a visit to his friends at N o r
wich and there happened to hear the bishop give a charge to
his clergy which he thought not very candid O ne expression
appeared to h i m invidious vi z that the heads o f the rebellion
were presbyterians as appeared by those lords in the Tower
sending fo r presbyterian confessor s Upon Mr Chandler s r e
t urn to London he wrote a letter to D r Gooch co m plaining o f
his charge and particularly o f that expression This letter was
written very handsomely and it brought a very civil respe ctful
answer After Gooch came to town Chan dl er at his desire
made him a visit in which they had much discourse ; and
amongst other things there was talk o f a comprehension This
visit was followed at Gooch s desire with another when the
bishop o f Salisbury was present who soon discovered his shrewd
ness but said O ur church Mr Chand ler consists of three
parts
doctrine discipline and ceremonies as to the last they
should be left indi fferent as they are agreed on all hands to be
as to the second o ur discipline said he is s o bad that no o n e
knows how or where to mend it : and as to the rst what is
your obj ection ? H e answered Your Articles my Lord must
b e expressed in Scripture words and the A thanasian creed be
discarded
Both the bishops answered they wished they were
rid of that creed and had no obj ection to restoring the A rticles
into S cripture words ; but wh at sh al l w e do about reordination
To this Mr Chandler made such a reply as he j udged p r Op er ;
but I think granted more than he ought : he said none o f us
would renounce his presbyterian ordination but if their Lord
ships meant only to impose their hands o n us and by that rite
recommend us to public service in their society o r constitution
that perhaps might be submitted to but when he told me this
I said perhaps notno by no means 3 that being in my opi
nion a virtual renunciation o f o u r ordination which I app r e
hend not only as good but b etter than theirs
The two bishops
at the c o nclusion of the visit requested Mr Chandler to wait o n
the archbishop which he did and met Gooch there by accident
The archbishop received him well and being told by Go o ch
,
WH IT E F I E L D
25 4
S L I FE AN D TIM ES
what Chandler and he had been talking o n viz a co mp r eh en

sion said A very good thing 3 he wished it with all his heart ;
and the rather b ecause this was a time which called upon all
good men to unite against indelity and immorality which
threatened universal ruin 3 and added he was encouraged to
hope from the piety learning and moderation o f many dissent
ers that this was a proper time to make the attempt But
may it please your Grace said Gooch Mr Chandler says the
A rticles must b e altered into the words of S cripture A nd why
not ? replied the archbishop 3 it is the impertinences o f men
thrusting their words into articles instead o f the words o f Go d
th at have o ccasioned most of the divisions in the christian
church from the beginning o f it to this day The archbishop
added that the bench of bishops seemed to b e of his mind 3 that
he should be glad to see Mr Chand ler again but was then obl i g
ed to go to court A nd this is all I hav e smiled at some who
seem mightily frighted at this a ffair are v ery angry with Mr
Chandler and cry o u t We won t be comprehendedwe won t
be comp r eh e n d ed
O ne would think they imagined it was like
bei n g electried or ino culated for the small pox But most o f
your fault n d er s I apprehend are angry with Mr Chan dl er for
an expression he used in the se cond visit When urging the ex
p e d i en c y o f expre ssing the A rticles in S cripture words he said it
was for others not himself he suggested this his conscience not
b eing dist urbed by them a s they now stood for he freel y owned
himself a m od er a t e C a l vi n i s t
Six months after this D oddridge himself had an interview
with Herring and found at rst that although the archbishop
had most candid sentiments o f his dissenting brethren he had
no great z ea l fo r attempting any thing in order to introduce
them into the church 3 wisely foreseeing the di f culties with
which it might be attende d D odd r i dg e s L e t ter s He was n o t

likely to have zeal for it He had not zeal even fo r the or th od ox
J o r t i n concludes his formal and inated
o f his own church
sketch o f him thus 3 he was willing to think the bes t of other
What this means m ay perhaps be guessed

p eople s principles
from the primate s letters to D uncomb e 3 o f which the follow
ing is o n e specimen
I a bh or every tendency to the T R I N IT Y
,
WHIT EF I E LD
25 5
controversy The manner in which it is always c o nducted is
the disgrace and ruin o f C hristianity

When D oddridge s a w that the comprehension scheme as
proposed by Chan dl er did not suit Herring he suggested a
sort of medium between o ur present state and that of a p erfec t
coalition
I mentioned he says
acknowledging o ur
churches as u n sch i sma t i ca l ; by permitting their clergy to o f
ciate amongst u s if desired and dissenting ministers to o f ci at e
in churches It struck him as a new and important thou ght
He told me more than once that I had suggestedwhat he
should lay up in his mind for further consideration

N ext year however D oddridge learned from Sir Thomas
Birch that although several of the bishops endeavoured to
have White s Third Letter (s ee T o wg oo d) suppressed as un
friendly to comprehension Sherlock insisted upon having a ll
obj ections brought o ut at o nce

Good D oddridge however
still cherished hopes for his own plan ; and accordingly culti
v a t e d intim a cy with the heads of the ch urch so closely th a t the
very men who censured him for risking the comprehension at
rst by countenancing Whiteeld came at last t o insinuate that
he paid more court to eminent members of the establishment

tha n wa s prudent However this may be he rej oiced with Lady
Huntingdon at the sa me time that the mighty the noble the
wise and t h e rich assembled at her house t o hear White
eld
How D oddridge acted and was censured in reference to
Whiteeld when the vision o f a comprehension dawned upon
some o f the leading dissenters o f 1 7 43 will b e best told by the
secretary of Coward s trustees N athaniel N eal E sq o f Million
Bank
It was with the utmost concern that I received the inform
ation of Mr Wh i t e el d s having preached last week in your
pulpit and that I attended the meeting o f Coward s trustees
this day when that matter was canv assed and that I n o w nd
myself obliged to apprize you o f the very great uneasiness which
your conduct herein has occasioned them
The many characters you su stain with s o much h o nour and
in which I reverence you s o highly make me ashamed and the
.
W H I T EF I E LD
2 56
character I s ustain of your friend ma k es it extremely irksome

for me to express any sentiments as min e which may seem to
arraign your conduct 3 but when I ree ct in how disadvantageous
a light your regard to the methodists has for some considerable
time placed yo u in the opinion o f many whom I have reason to
believe yo u esteem amongst your most j udicious and hearty
friends and what an advantage it has given agains t yo u to your
secret and avowed enemies o f either o f which facts I believe
you are not in any j ust degree sensible I could run any hazard o f
your censure rather than that you should remain unapprized of
these facts
You cannot b e ignorant how obnoxious the imprudences
committed o r alleged to be committed by some o f the method
i s t s have rendered them to great numbers o f people 3 and
th ough indeed supposing they have a spirit of religion amongst
them to be found no where else so that a man would for his
and at any temporal hazard take his l o t amongst
o wn sake
them 3 yet if besides their reputation for a forward and indis
and an unsettled inj udicious way of thinking and
cr e e t zeal
b ehaving t hey hav e nothing to distinguish t hem from other
serious and devout Christians surely every man would cho o se to
have a s l ittle concern with them as possible
But in the case of such a public character and so extensive
a province for t h e servi ce o f religion as yours it seems to m e a
point well worth considering whether supposing even the ill
opinion the world entertains o f them to be groundless it is a
right thing to risk such a prospect as Providence h a s opened
before yo u o f eminent and distinguished usefulness for the sake
o f any good you are likely to do amongst these people
F or my o wn part I have had the misfortune of observing
and I must not conceal it from you that wherever I have heard
it mentioned that D r D oddridge countenanced the m ethodists
and it has been the subj ect of conversation much oftener than I
could have wished I have heard it constantly spoken o f by h i s
friends with concern as threatening a great diminution o f his
usefulness and by his adversaries with a sneer o f triumph
The trustees are particularly in pain for it with regard to
your academy 3 as they know it is an obj ection made t o it by
,
WH I T EF I EL D
LI FE AND TI M E S
25 7
s o me pers o ns in all appearance seriously and by othe r s craft ily 3

and yet they are almost afraid o f giving their thoughts e ven in
the most private manner concerning it lest it should be made
an occasion o f drawing them into a public opposition t o the
methodists as they are likely to be in some measure by your
letter to Mr Mason (excusing your p r e xi n g a recommendation
of a book of theirs without the advice o f the trustees ) which
letter they have desired me to inform you has given them great
o ffence
What weight these considerations will or ought t o have with
y o u I cannot determin e; as I have thrown them together in a
good deal o f haste I am afraid lest I should have said any thing
i n such a manner as may j ustly give you o ffence : this however
I am sure o f that you will not read any such line with more
pain than that in which I wrote it If I have used any assum
ing language my heart did not dictate it 3 if I have betrayed
any earnestness o r warmth unbecoming the deference due t o
your superior j udgment impute it to the pass ionate regard I
b ear to so gr eat and so valuable a character : if o n the other
hand I have s aid any thing worthy your consideration I a m
persuaded it will have its weight notwithstanding any d i s a d v an
tage from the mode of saying it and the person who says it
especially when I assure you that that alone which you may
nd in it becoming the sincerity and a ffection of a friend and
the respect and veneration due to a man of em i nent lear n ing
and piety has the approbation o f
Reverend and dear Sir
Your most a ffectionate and faithful humble servant
N A TH AN I E L N E AL
,
The answer to this rst letter from the Cowa r d trust D od

d r i d g e himself did not trouble h imself t o preserve
A second
came
The candid re ception you gave my last of the 1 1 t h instant
I impute principally to your o wn condescending and friendly
disposition and next to th e credit yo u gave to that simplicity of
intention with which it was written and wherein alone I can in
any way b e sure that it was not defective
,
W H IT EF I E LD
258
S LI FE
TIM E S
AN D
I am not insensible Sir that the respect many of your

people bore to Mr Whiteeld and your o wn acquaintance with
him must have made it a matter o f di f culty fo r yo u entirely to
have avoided showing him some polite regards o n his coming to
N orthampton ; and I greatly rej oice in being furnished with s o
particular an a ccoun t o f the circumstances attending h i s visit
that may enable m e to s ay yo u were s o far at that time from
seeking his preaching in your pulpit that you took several steps
and indeed all that you thought you could prudently venture on
and such as might if they had suc c eeded hav e b een sufcient to
ha ve prevented it ; which I doubt not will and I am sure ought to
have some weight with those who censure this step o n the ground
I could only wish that I were able to m ake
o f impr udence
t hese circumstances known as far as that censure is likely t o
extend
I should be very sorry Sir if you h ad any j ust reason to
apprehend that what has been written to you on this subj ect by
any o f your friends was intended to have any weight o n the
footing o f authority They ought to b e ashamed o f wishing for
any greater inuence over you than what their arguments backed
by the a ffection which all who deserve the name o f your friends
s o j ustly entertain will give them
A nd it is in that condence
that you will not think me vain or s o weak as to wish any greater
for myself that I venture to write another word to you on this
subj ect
A nd there is o n e th i ng which your letter gives me an occasi o n
to suggest for your present consideration with regard to your
apprehensions of the growth o f indelity which I am abundantly
satised are too well founded ; and that is whether the e n t h u
s i a s m and extravagances of w ea k christians hav e not furnished
o u t some o f t h e most specious pleas as well as splendid triumphs
of indelity ? The pamphlet of Christianity n o t founded o n
A rgument alone su f ciently convinces me that they have 3
inasmuch as that pamphlet was cal culated to serve the interests
both o f enthusiasm and deism actually m ade both enthusiasts
and deists and raised a doubt not yet as I apprehend fully
cleared whether the world was obliged to the o n e o r other of
these parties for that ex ce l l en t performance If en thusiasts
,
W H IT EF I E LD
S LI FE A ND TI M E S
2 59
therefore by their principles are laying a foundation o f deism

however they may abhor it in their intentions it surely behoves
us to s e e to it that we give them no assistance in that work ;
and t h e rathe r as deists are watching for every possible a dvan
tage o f this kind A remarkable instance o f which was acci
dentally mentioned to me very lately In a late conversation in
a mixed company o f deists the counten ance which a cer t a i n
eminent divine had given to some reputed e nthusiasts was men
t i o n e d by one of the deists in support o f this position that the
most learned and considerable among christian divines who
were really honest men were enthu siasts You may certainly
depend on the truth of this relation

The answer to this also is not preserved A t hi r d came
,
M illion Bank , D ec l 0t h , 1 7 4 3
.
I am sorry y ou appear s o apprehensive in your last letter

lest I should interpre t what yo u said in your rst too unfavour
ably of the methodists and Mr Whiteeld as it conrms me in
my fears of your attachment to them but whatever my wishes
were in that respect you may be assured I could never venture
to represent you as indi fferent to them whe n I read your com
m en d a t i o n o f his sermon fo r i t s excellence and o ratory and r e
member the low incoherent stu ff I used to hear him utter at
Kennington Common
Whilst I continued oppressed and hurt with t h ese r e ec
tions your excellent sermon for the County Hospital came in to
my relief The piety the j ustness of the sentiments and a rgu
ments t h e manly graceful diction and the b enevolent spirit
that runs through the whole o f it both amazed and charmed
me It must have extor t ed from any heart less acquainted with
your disposition for public usefulness than I am a devout ej a
culation that Go d would never permit such talents to co m e
under a wrong d irection o r su ffer the disadvan t ages they must
necessarily submit to if engaged amongst men of weak heads
and narrow gloomy sentiments who may and ought t o be pitied
and prayed for and better informed as opportunity allows but
whom no rules of piety or prudence will oblige us to make our
friends and con d an t s
,
WH I T E F I E L D
260
LI FE AN D TIM E S
There are letters shown about town from several ministers

in the west which m ake heavy complaints of the disorders occa
O ne o f them
s i o n e d by Whiteeld and Wesley in those parts
speak ing of Mr Whiteeld calls him h on es t cr a z y confi d en t
Whiteeld These letters likewise mention that some minis
ters there who were your pupils have given them countenance 3
and yo u can har dly conceiv e the disrespe ct this has oc c asio ned
several ministers and other persons in town to S peak o f you with
Whether you are aware o f this I know not 3 and I am sure if I
did not esteem it a mark o f sincere friendship I would not g 1 ve
y o u the uneasiness o f hearing it

The answer to this letter D oddridge preserved and I w o uld
perpetuate
,
N A TH AN I E L N E A L
TO
E SQ
I am truly sorry that the manner in which I spoke o f M r

Whiteeld in my last should give you uneasiness I hope I did
not assert his sermon to have been free from its defects 3 but I
must b e extremely prej udi ced indeed if it were s uch wild i n
coherent stu ff as yo u heard o n Kennington Co mmon N or does
i t see m at all difcult to account fo r this 3 for that prea ched
here which I believe was o n e of his more elaborate and per
haps favourite discourses might deserve to be spoken o f in a
di fferent manner What I then said proceeded fr om a princi
ple which I am sure you will not despise : I mean a certain
frankness o f heart which would n o t allow m e to seem to think
more meanly o f a man to whom I once professed some friendship
than I really did I must indeed look u pon it as an u nhappy
circumstance that he cam e to N orthampton j ust when he did
as I perceive that in concurrence with other circumstances it
h as lled town and country with astonishment and indignation
N or did I indeed imagine my character to have been of such
great importance I n the world as that this little incident should
have been taken s o much notice o f I believe the true reason
is that for n o other fault than my not being able to go so far as
some o f my brethren into t h e new ways o f think ing and speak
ing I have long had a multitude of enemies wh o have been
.
WH I T E F I E L D
LI FE AND TIM E S
26 1
watching fo r some o ccasion against me 3 and I thank God t hat

they hav e hitherto with all that malignity o f heart which some
of them have expressed been able to nd no greater '
A s for you dear Sir I must always number you amon g my
most a ffectionate and faithful friends 3 and though the human
heart i s not s o formed that it is agreeable to hear ourselves
spoken o f with disrespect yet I am well assured that the writing
the information you gav e me was among the instances of your
gr e atest kindness You kno w Sir that a fear to offend God
by doing as most s e lf prudent people do has ge n erally been
esteemed a weakness : and my cons cience testies that those
actions of mine which have been most reproached have pro
ce e d e d from that principle
It is impossible to represent to you
the reason at least t h e excuse I have had and esteemed a
reason unless I could give you an a ccount o f the several cir
c u m s t an ce s in which I have successively been placed for these
few past years If I could I believe yo u would be less incli ned
to blame me than yo u are 3 though I am sensible your censures
are very moderate when compared with those o f many others
I had indeed great expectations fro mthe methodists and
Moravians I am grieved from my very hear t that s o many
things have occurred among them which have been quite u njus
a n d I assure you faithfully they are such as would have
t i abl e
occasioned me to have dropped that intimacy o f correspondence
which I once had with them A nd I suppose they have also
produced the same sentiments in t h e archbishop o f Canterbury
who to my certain knowledge received Count Z inzendorf with
open arms and wrote o f his being chosen the Mora v ian bishop
as what was done plaudente toto c ce l e s t i choro
I shall al
ways b e ready to weigh whatever can b e said against Mr
Whiteeld as well as against any o f the rest : and though I
must have actual demonstration before I can admit him to be a
dishonest man and though I shall never be able to think all he
has written and all I hav e heard from him nonsense yet I am
n o t so zealously attached to him as to be disposed to celebrate
him as one o f the greatest men of the age o r to think that he
is the pillar that bears up the whole interest o f religion among
us
A nd if this m o deration of sentiment towards him will n o t
,
WH I TE F I E LD
2 62
appe ase my angry brethren as I a m sensible it will n o t abate

the enmity which some have for m any years entertained to
wards me I must acquiesce and b e patient till the day o f the
Lord when the secrets o f all hearts shall b e made manifest 3 in
which I do from my heart b elieve that with respec t to the part
I have acted in this a ffair I shall n o t b e ashamed
I had before heard from some o f my worthy friends in the
west of the o ffence which had been taken at two o f my pupils
there for the respect they showed to Mr Whiteeld 3 and yet
they are both persons o f eminent piety H e whose na m e is
chiey in question I mean Mr D arracott i s o n e o f the most
devout and extraordinary men I ev er sent o u t 3 and a person
wh o has within these few years been highly useful to numbers
o f his hearers
Some of these who were the most abandoned
characters in the place are n o w become serious and useful chris
tians 3 and he himself has honoured his profession when to all
around him he seemed o n the borders of eternity by a behaviour
which in such awful circumstances the best o f men might wish
Mr F awcett labours like wise at Taunton ;
t o b e their o wn
and his zeal s o far as I can j udge is inspired both with love
and prudence Yet I hear these men are reproached be cause
t hey have treated Mr Whiteeld respectfully ; and that o n e o f
them after having had a correspondence with him for many years
ad m itted him into h i s pulpit I own I am v ery thoughtful when
these things will en d in the mean t ime I am as silent as I can
b e ! I commit the matter to God in prayer and earnestly beg
h i s d i r e c t i o n t h a t he would lead me in a plain path
Sometimes
I think the storm will soon blow over and that things will r e
turn again to their natural course I am sure I see no danger
that an y of my pupils will prove methodists : I wish many of
them may not run into the contrary extreme It i s really Sir
with some confusion that I read your encomiu m upon my ser
mo n : I am sensible it is some consolation to me amidst the
uneasiness which as you conclude other things must give me
I hope o ur design will go o n though it has not at present t h e
su ccess I could have wished The dissenters do their part but
I a m sorry to s ay the neighbouring clergy are exceedingly d e
cient in theirs
D odd r i dg e
,
W H I T EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
2 63
N eal was n o t the only person o f inuence amongst the dis

senters who was alarmed at D o ddr i dg e s liberality D r Jen
n i n g s assailed him for prefacing a book of Mason s 3 by which
his friends were given by name he says

to be ba i ted by
the methodists as their opposers

A t the same time also
Mr Blair wrote to him begging h i s opinion o f Wh i t e el d
a
man he says more railed at by some and idolized by others
than any person I ever knew in my life

His friend Barker
also told him that he had thought it needful to warn his hearers
to avoid the errors o f Whiteeld and his followers So little
did good m en appreciate o r understand Whiteeld at this time !
CH A PT E R X I
WH IT EF I E L D
S D O M E STI C LI FE
is indeed almost a mi sn om er to call Wh i t e el d s conj ugal

life domestic His engagements lik e Wesley s were i n co m
patible with domestic happiness as that i s understood by do
A ccordingly their kind and degree o f home
m es t i c men
enj oyment he neither expe cted n or proposed t o himself All
that he wanted was a help meet who could sympathize in h i s
absorbing public enterprises as well as in his personal j oys and
sorrows 3 and a home where he might recruit after labour and
exhaustion A nd such a wife and a home he deserved as well
as needed H e mistook sadly however when he sought for
such a wife in the ranks o f widowhood then There were no
m i ss i on a r i es widows
in these days
A young female o f
eminent piety and zeal might have fallen in with his habits and
plans and even found her chief happiness in sustaining his
mighty and manifold undertakings like Paul s P h cnb e : but a
widow who had been a housekeeper (her o wn )

many
years and that in the retirement o f A bergavenny in Wales

could hardly b e expected to unlearn the domesti c system o f
the country nor to become a heroine for the world Both
Whiteeld and Wesley forgot this obvious truth and married
widows
H o w much Wesley smarted for this oversight is as proverbial
as it is painful Mrs Wh iteeld had none o f Mrs Wesley s
faults
She had however no commanding virtues running in
grand parallel with any o f the noble features o f her husband s
character 3 and thus because she was not prominently a help to
him , she seems to have been reckoned a hinderance by the
IT
WH I T E F I E L D
LI FE AND TIM E S
26 5
g o ssips and busybodies who watched M r s Wesley These in
their fears for their o wn de a r minister s comfort watched

Mrs Whiteeld also lest he should b e made as unhappy as his
o l d friend !
The tattle o f such spies is beneath contempt It has how
ever found some countenance from a quarter which no impar
tial judge can overlook o r underrate Cornelius Winter in the
letters which form the substance o f his Life by Jay o f

Bath h a s said expressly that Whiteeld was not happy in
his wife 3 that she certainly did not behave as she ought 3
and that her death set his mind much at rest

N ow what
ever this sweeping charge means i t came from a man of the
highest character O f Cornelius Winter Matthew Wilks used
to s ay I am never in this man s company without being r e
minded of P a r a d i sa i ca l innocence
Rowland Hill also al
though he did not give Winter credit for all the candour Jay
has done did not hesitate to say o f h i m that he w ould m ake
the worst d evi l of any man in the world 3 meaning that he

was the most un l i ke the devil All this is so true that Win
ter s accoun t o f Mrs Wh iteeld h a s acquired currency although
it is neither conrmed nor illustrated by a single document o r
line from any other writer s o far as I can learn I t will no
doubt surprise some h o wever who have formed their Opinion
o f her from this single sour ce to b e informed that Winter s
opportunity of knowing her from personal observation was
very short Whiteeld was married to her before Winter was
born She died in 1 7 6 8 N o w Winter says that Berridge i n
t r o d u c e d him to Whiteeld by letter in F ebruary 1 7 67 J a y s
A nd even then he did not become o n e of the
L ife of Wi n t er
family until his delity was proved

Thus he had not two
years t o j udge 3 and even this brief space occurred when Mrs
Whiteeld was breaking down Unl ess therefore he received
his information from Whiteeld himself (and he does not say
Win ter must b e deemed for once rash at least
This is a painful conclusion ; but it is inevitabl e except o n
the supposition that the sweeping charge was made against her
by her husband But his rst report of her is that Mrs
James alth ough o nce gay i s now a despised follower of the

,
WH I T E F I E L D
266
LI FE AND TI M E S
Lamb
In like manner throughout a long series o f
Gi ll i es
his letters he uniformly styles h er his dear partner or
dear fellow pilgrim o r dear yoke fellow o r dear wife

H e also tells with evident delight how s h e assisted the sailors
to make ca r t r i dg es when their v essel was preparing for b attle
H e also praises her as his ten
o n the voyage to A merica
der nurse whilst he was ill at Toronto He often j oins her

name with his o wn in sending salutations to Lady Huntingdon
Mr Hervey and other dear friends In July 1 7 68 he writes
thus from E dinburgh
tender love to all particularly to my
dear wife
In the same month (s h e died in A ugust) he writes
My wife is as well as can be expe cted Both
t o another friend
o f us descending in order to a scen d
,
9,
Wh er e
rr
p ai n , an d s o o w c e a s e,
n
c al m, an d jo y, an d p eace
S i n , an d
An d all i s
Is it likely that the m an wh o wrote thus of his wife from rst

to last would have said o f her afterwards to Winter a com
p ar at i ve stranger what would have warranted Winter t o throw
so dark a cloud over her memory ?
I have given Winter credit for a lon ge r opp o rtu nity of ob
serving her t han he himself pretends to hav e had

Thrice
he says
it pleased the Lord to lay him upon a bed of sick
ness
after he became one o f the family
Then
eight
months o f his short opportunity were spent in Bristol for the

r ecovery o f his health
This is not all the subtra ction to be
m ade from the time
A se cond visit t o Bristol held four
Besides when he returned to London he had to

m onths
bury t h e dead at Tottenham Court chapel

J a y s L ife
N ow certainly whatever m ay be thought o f Winter s high cha
r a ct e r it is impossible to attach much importance to his facili
ties for observation : they were both few and small 3 and he
ought to have said so instead o f leaving the fact to be thus
found o ut by comparing s cattered dates and calculating long
intervals o f absence
A great deal indeed may be learnt in a short time in any
family where all is not right between husband and wife 3 and if
Winter whilst a bachelor had all th o se delicate and n oble per
,
WH IT EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
267
c o nj ugal love which he exe m

plied when he b ecame
a husband long observation wa s n o t necessary in order to en
able his ne eye to see exactly how matters stood between Mr
and M r s Whiteeld
I have felt it to be my duty to scrutinize this only re corded
stigma upon Mrs Whiteeld 3not b ecause I question the
general truth o f it so far as Winter was a witness
but b e
cause i t passes for more than I thin k he ever intended The
Wh i t e el d s so far as I can j udge neither lived nor loved like
Mr and Mrs Winter They were n o t unhappy in the sense
Mr and Mrs Wesley were s o 3 but still their c o mmunion of
S pirit o r oneness o f soul was not what Cornelius Winter nor I
could conscientiously c all domestic happiness
I say this be cause I cannot forget the s t r a ng en ess to say the
least of Wh i t e el d s text whe n he preached his wife s funeral
sermon
It was
F or the creature was made subj ect to
vanity 3 not willingly but by reason o f Him wh o hath subj ected
the same in hope Rom viii 2 0 Gi lli es

N ow even if he
dwelt upon the context there was still an implication anything
but complimentary to her memory In like manner his letter
to T o r i al J o s s o n her death is more pious than tender
The
late very unexpected breach i s a fresh proof that the night soon
cometh when no man can work Pray where may I fi n d t hat
great promise made to Abraham after Sarah s death ? May it
b e fullled in you whilst your Sarah is yet a l i ve I Sweet b e
I nd it s o
r eav e m en t s when God himself lls up the void
There was no promise great or sm all given on that
L e tt er s
o ccasion
O n the other hand I nd a letter a year after her death in
which he says to a friend I feel the loss of my right hand
daily ; but right hands and right eyes must be parted with for
Him who doeth all things well

This acknow
L e t t er 1 406
ledgment Winter had access to when he said that her death s et
Wh i t e el d s mind much at rest

He might als o have read
as well as myself the following references to the early and mid
dle parts of their domestic history Whiteeld wrote thus
from on board the Wilmington in 1 7 4 4 : All except myself
seem ready for re and sm oke
My wife after having d ressed
p t ion s
ce
of
'
WH IT EF I E LD
268
herself to prepare for all events set about m aking cartridges

whilst the husband wanted t o go into the h ol es of the ship
hearing that was the chaplain s usual pl ace

A ft er reco ver ing
from an attack of colic which seemed likely to terminate in
mortal convulsions at Y o rk in the same year he sang with
gratitude
,
wi fe an d fr i en d s sto od we epi ng by
I n t ear s res ol ve d t o s ee m e di e
My
In a subsequent letter he bears testimony t o her usefulne s s

and zeal : My dear wife is fully employed in copying my let
ters We do not however forget ou r dear London and E ng
lish friends We pray for them often and cannot help wishing
some may com e over into this delightful wildern ess (Pisca
In 1 7 4 7 he wrote from Charles

taqua) 3 it is a fruitful eld
ton to Wales My dear yoke fellow is in Georgia Blessed be
God she is well and prospers in soul and body We hope to
live and have o ur hearts warmed with o u r Welch friends ere
we go hence and b e no more

In the same year he wrote thus
We le ad a m o ving life but I trust we move
o f her to a friend
heavenward
We are more than happy
We go o n like
two happy pilgrims leaning o n o ur Beloved

In 1 7 4 8 when
he s ailed from Bermudas t o E ngland he wrote I intend to
return to beloved A merica next year which is one reason why
I leave my dear yoke fellow behind O h that I knew how it was
with her ! But I see God will make those he loves to live by
faith and not by sense

In 1 7 49 he says We are both well
and surrounded with mercies on every side
only ungrateful
ill and hell deserving I want a grateful and humble heart !
A t a later period 1 7 54 I nd him writing from Lisbon thus :
Yo u will n o t forget to visit m y w i d ow w ife Blessed b e God
her Maker is her Husband ; and ere long we shall S i t down to
gether at the marriage supper o f the Lamb

In 1 7 5 6 he
says I have no thoughts at present o f her ever seeing the
orphan house again We S hall ere long see heaven Some ante
pasts o f it we are favoured with already

L e tt er s
But enough more than enough is now presented to prove
that Winter s un q ualied state ments were unwarranted
I
,
WH IT E F I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
2 69
must however add that they are to me unacc o untable unless

he meant only the period whilst he was a witness o f the White
eld family and unless he made his own experience the standard
by which he tried their conjugal love 3 and this he has not said
I must therefore leave the case of Whiteeld ver su s Winter to
t h e verdict of time
Wh i t e el d s marriage did not interrupt his w o rk nor damp
his ardour In a fe w days after his success in Wales made
him exclaim Go d has been pleased to work by my hands
since I have been here 0 stupendous l o ve 0 innitely con
descending God ! He was married o n the l l t h o f N ovember

1 7 4 1 and before the end of the month he was electrifying Bris
tol as in the days of o l d

We have a growing church here
again It had been checked for a time by the breach between
Wesley and C enn i ck
Yesterday and several other times
the Lord hath lled many as with new wine Sometimes I hav e
s carce known whether I have been in the body or ou t of the
body It is a good thing t o know how to manage a m a n ifes t a
t i on aright 3 nature so frequently and artfully blends with grace !
The more grace I receive the more I desire to lie as a po o r
very poor sinner at the feet of the wounded Lamb

In this S pirit he came to Gloucester where by a particular
providence o n e o f the churches was again Opened to him ; St

John s The ol d incumbent who had been his grand op
poser formerly was dead 3 and the new minister had n o t taken
possession of the pulpit 3 and therefore the churchwardens paid
their townsman the compliment o f a church to preach in b e
cause he was newly married H e preached twice o n the s ab
bath with unspeakable power 3 and then upon a h i ll six
miles o ff and at night at Stroud There was he says a n e w
awakening and revival o f the work o f God

We shall never
know he exclaims
wh at good eld preaching has done till
we come to j udgment
A t Str o ud and Painswick he ew as on eagles wings he says
with wondrous power and every sermon was blessed

Whilst thus darting o ff every now and then from his home he
sent word to Gilbert Tennent that Mrs Whiteeld alth o ugh
rich in fortune nor beautiful in person was a true
n either
,
'
'
27 0
WH IT EF I E LD
child o f God who would not for the world hinder him in
God s work
The Lord hath given m e a daughter of Abra
h am
he says to another A merican friend
In F ebruary 1 7 42 Whiteeld returned t o L o ndon where
life and power soon ew all around him again ; the R e
deemer getting himself victory daily in many hearts

The
renewed progress of the gospel at this t ime in London he calls
emphatically the Redeemer s s ta t e l y s t ep s

Well he might 3
fo r during the E aster holidays

Satan s booths in Moor
el d s poured o u t their thousands to hear him
This deter
mined him to dare all hazards on Whit Monday the great gala
day of vanity and vice there Gillies account of this enterprise
although not incorrect nor uninteresting is very incomplete
considering the fame o f the feat at the time The following
a ccount is from the pen of Whiteeld himself ; and written
whilst he was reporting at home and abroad h i s marriage
F or many year s from o n e end o f M o o r el d s to the other
booths o f all kinds have been ere cted for mountebanks players
puppet shows and such like With a heart bleeding with com
passion for s o many thousands led captiv e by the devil at his
will o n Wh i t M on d a y at s i x o clock in the morning attended
by a large congregation o f praying people I ventured to lift up
a standa r d amongst them in the name o f Jesus o f N a z a r e t h
Perhaps there were about ten thousand in w aiting n o t fo r me
but fo r Satan s instruments to amuse them Glad w a s I t o nd
that I had for once as it were got the start o f the devil I
mounted my eld pulpit 3 almost all ocked immediately around
it I pre ached on these words AS M os es lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness s o shall the S o n o f man b e lifted up & c
They gazed they listened they wept ; and I believe that many
felt themselves stung with deep conviction for their past sins
All was hushed and solemn Being thus encouraged I ven
t u r e d o u t again at noon ; but what a scene ! The elds the
whole elds seemed in a b ad sense of the word all white ready
n o t for
the Redeemer s but Beelzebub s harvest All his
agents were in full motion drummers trumpeters merry an
drews masters o f puppet S hows exhibiters of wild beasts
players & c & c all busy in entertaining their respective audi
WH IT EF I E LD
211
tories I suppose there could not b e less than twenty o r th irty

thousand people My pulpit was xed o n the opposite sid e
and immediately to their great m or t i cat i o n they found the
number o f their attendants sadly lessened Judging that like
Saint Paul I should now be called as it were to ght with
beasts at E p h esus I preached from these words : Great is
Yo u may easily guess th at there
D i a n a Of the E p h es i a n s
was some noise among the craftsmen and that I w as honoured
with ha ving a few stones dirt rotten eggs an d pieces of dead
cats thrown at me whilst engaged in calling t h em from their
favourite but lying vanities My soul wa s indeed among lions 3
but far the greatest par t of my congregation which was very
large seemed for a while t o be turned into lam bs This e n
co u r ag e d me to give notice that I would preac h again at s i x
o clo ck in the evening I came I s aw but whatthousands
and thousands more than before if possible still more deeply
engaged in their unh appy diversions 3 but some thousands
amongst them waiting as earnestly to hear the gospel
This Satan could not brook O ne o f h i s choicest servants
was exhibiting trumpeting on a larg e stage 3 but as soon as the
people s aw me in m y black robes and my pulpit I think all t o
a m an left him and ran to me F o r a while I was enabled to
lift up my voice like a trumpet and many heard the j oyful
sound God s people kept praying and the enemy s agents
made a kind of a roaring at some distance from ou r camp A t
length they approached nearer and the merry andrew (attend
ed by others who complained that they had taken many pounds
less that day o n a ccount o f my preaching) got up upon a man s
S houlders and advancing near the pulpit attempted to slash me
with a long heavy whip several times but always with the v i o
lence o f his motion tumbled down Soon afterwards they got
a recruiting serj eant with his drum & c to pass through the
congregation I gave the word o f command and ordered that
w ay might be made for the king s of cer The ranks Opened
while all marched quietly through and then closed again
F inding t hose e fforts to fail a large body quite o n the Opposite
side assembled together a n d having got a large pole for their
s t andard advanced t o wards us with steady and formidable steps
.
W H IT EF I E LD
27 2
S LI FE AND TIM E S
till they came very near the skirts of o ur hearing praying and
almost undaunted congregation
I s aw gave w arning and
prayed to the Captain o f o u r salvation for present support and
deliverance
H e heard and answered 3 for j ust as they ap
p r o a ch e d u s with looks full o f resentment I know not by what
accident they quarrelled among themselves threw down their
staff and went their way leaving however many o f their com
pany behind who before we had done I trust were brou g ht
over to j oin the besieged party I think I continued in praying
preaching and singing (for the noise was too great at times to
preach ) about three hours
We then retired to the Tabernacle with my pockets full of
notes from persons brought under concern and read them amidst
the praises and spiritual acclamations of thousands who j oined
with the holy angels in rej oicing that so many sinners were
snatched i n such an unexpected unlikely place and manner o u t
Of the v ery j aws o f the devil This was the beginning o f the
Tabernacle society Three hundred and fty awakened souls
were received in o n e day and I believ e the number of n o tes ex
c e e d e d a thousand 3 but I must have done believing yo u want
to retire to j oin in mutual praise and thanksgiving to G o d and
the Lamb
Fresh m atter o f praise ; bless ye the Lord for he hath
triumphed gloriously The battle tha t was begun o n M on da y
was not quite over till Wednesday evening though the s cene
o f action was a little shifted
Being strongly invited and a
pulpit being prepared for m e by an honest quaker a coal mer
chant I ventured o n Tu es d a y evening to preach at M a r y l e B ow
F i e l ds a place almost as much frequented by boxers gamesters
and such like as M oorj t e l ds A vast concourse was assembled
together and as soon as I got into the eld pulpit their coun
t en an ces b espoke the enmity of their hearts against the preacher
I Opened with these words
I am not ashamed o f the gospel of
Christ fo r it is the power of God u nto salvation to every o n e
that believeth
I preached in great j eopardy ; fo r the pulpit
being high and the supports not well xed in the ground it
tottered every time I moved and numbers o f enemies strove to
push my friends against the supporters in o rder to throw me
,
WH IT E F I E L D
S L I F E AN D
T IM E S
27 3
down But the Redeemer stayed my soul o n himself therefor e

I was not much moved unl ess with compassion for those to
whom I was delivering my Master s message which I had reason
to think by the strong impressions that were made was welcome
to many But Satan did not like thus to be attacked in his
strong holds and I narrowly es caped with my life for as I was
passing fr o m the pulpit to the coach I felt my wig and hat to
be almost O ff I turned about and Observed a sword j ust touch
ing my temples A young rake as I afterwards found wa s de
t er m i n e d to stab me but a gentleman seeing the sword thrust
ing near me struck it up wit h his cane and so the destined
victim pr o videntially escaped Such an attempt excited abhor
r en ce 3 the enraged multitude s oon seized him an d had it not
b een for o ne o f my friends who received him into his house he
The next day I r e
must have un d erg o ne a severe discipline
?
but
would
you
think
it
after
newed my attack in M oor e l ds 3
they found t hat pelting noise and threatenings would not do
o n e of the m er r y a n d r e ws g o t up into a tree very near the pulpit
and shamefully exposed himself before all the people S u ch a
beastly a ction quite abashed the serious part of my auditory 3
whilst hundreds of another stamp instead o f rising to pull down
t h e unhappy wretch expressed their approbation by repeated
laughs I mu st o wn that at rst it gave me a shock I
thought Satan had ou tdone himself But re covering my spirits
I appealed t o all since they had now such a spectacle before
t hem whether I had wr onged human nature in saying after
pious Bishop Hall that man when left to himself was half a
beast and half a devil 3 o r as the great Mr Law expressed
h i mself a motley mixture of beast and devil
Silence and attention being thus gained I concluded with
a warm exhortation and closed our festival enterprises in read
ing fresh n o tes that were put up praising and blessi ng God
amidst thousands at the Tabernacle for what he had done for
precious souls and o n a ccount of the deliverances he had wrought
o ut for me and his people I could enlarge ; but being ab o ut
t o embark in the M a r y a n d An n for S cot l a n d I must hasten
to a cl o se but I cannot help adding that several little b o ys and
gir l s wh o were fo nd of S itting round me o n the pulpit while I
.
27 4
W H IT E F I E LD
preached and handing to me people s notes though they were

often pelted with eggs dirt & c thro wn at m e never once gave
way ; but on t h e contrary every time I was struck turned up
t heir little weeping eyes and seemed to wish they could receive
the blows for me God m ake them in their growing years great
and living martyrs for him who out of t h e m o uths Of babes and
sucklings perfects praise
L e t ter s
In this way Whiteeld signalized his marriage 3 verifying t o
his wife the assurance he had given her that he would not
preach a sermon less nor travel a mile fewer than formerly
A nd S h e h a d no o ccasion to regret that he did not take her
with him in his S hort excursion s around Lond on ; for however
good a rider he w as he was a bad driver The rst time he
took her o u t in a chaise he drove into a ditch

My wife he
says to a friend
has bee n in trying circumstances partly
I m ean myse lf
through the unskilfulness o f a chaise driver 3
Being advised to take her o ut into t h e air I drove her as well
as myself through inadvertency into a ditch F inding that we
were fallings h e put her hand acr o ss the chaise and thereby
preserved us both from b ein g thrown out T h e ditch might be
about fourteen feet deep 3 but blessed be Go d though all that
s aw us falling cried ou t They are killed yet through innit e
mercy we re ceived no great hurt The pla ce was very narrow
near the bottom and yet the horse went down as though let
down by a pulley A s tander b y ran down and catched hold o f
i t s head to prev ent its going forwards
I got upon its back
and was drawn o u t by a long whip whilst my wife hanging b e
tween the chaise and the bank was pulled up on the other side
by two o r three kind assist ants Being both in a c o mfortable
frame I must own to my shame that I felt rather regret than
thankfulness in escaping what I thought would b e a kind o f a
B ut 0 amazing love we
t r a n s l a t i on to our wished for haven
were so strengthened that the chaise and horse being take n up
and our bruises being washed with vinegar in a neighbouring
house we went o n o u r intended way and came home rej oicing
in God o ur Saviour N ot expecting my wife s connement for
some time I intend m aking a sh o rt excursion and then yo u
may expect further news
W H IT EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM ES
27 5
It must n o t be supposed that the chaise was his o wn He

was so poor at this time that he had to bor r ow furniture for his
house This may surprise some ; but it is only t o o true
I
thank yo u a thousand times fo r your great generosity he write s

to a friend in lending m e some furniture 3having little of
my own I know wh o will repay you

L et t 5 46
E ven this is not all the fact concerning his poverty Almost
immediately after the baptism o f h i s s o n he wrote to the same
friend My dear wife and little o n e will come to Gloucester
for I nd it beyon d my circumstances to m aintain them here
But why t alk o f wife and little one ? Let all b e absorbed in
the thoughts o f the love su fferings free and full salvation o f
the innitely great and gloriou s E mmanuel In respe ct to
other things at present this is the habitual language o f my
heart
.
r e si g n ;
Th y g ift s , i f c al l e d for ,
Pl ea s e d t o re c e i ve , pl eas e d t o r e s t o re
Gi ft s
Th e
ar e
th y
Gi ver
work
o nl y
to
It
s h al l
d ore
b e mi n e ,
It was well he was thus minded ; for he had s o on t o give up

his Isaac The j ourney to Gloucester proved fatal to the child :
and yet how s l ig h t ly he refers t o the p o verty which r endered
that j ourney necessary ! His narrative o f the event is very
touching in all respects
Who know s what a day may bring forth ? Last night I
was called t o sacrice my Isaac 3 I mean t o bury my only child
and son about four months ol d
Many things o ccurred to
make me believe he was n o t only to be continued to me but to
be a preacher of the everlasting gospel
Pleased with the
thought and ambitious o f having a son of my o wn so divinely
employed Satan was permitted to give me some wrong i m
pressions whereby as I n o w nd I misapplied several texts of
S cripture Upon these grounds I made no scruple o f de claring
that I should have a son and that his name was to be J oh n
I menti o ned t h e very time of his birth and fondly hoped that
he was t o be great in the sight of the Lord E very thing hap
pened according t o the predicti o ns 3 and my wife having had
.
27 6
W HI T EF I E LD
S LI F E AN D TI M E S
several narrow escapes while pregnant especially by her fallin g

from a hi gh horse and my driving her into a deep ditch in a
o n e h o rse ch a ise a little b efore t h e time o f her connement and
from which we re ceiv ed little or no hurt conrmed me in my
expect ation that God w ould grant me my heart s desire I
would observe t o you that t h e child was even born in a room
whi ch t h e master of the house had pr ep ared as a prison for his
wife fo r coming to hear m e With j oy w o uld she often look
and staples and chai n s which were xed in
upon t h e bars
o rder to keep her in A bout a week after his birth I publicly
baptized him in the Tab erna cle and in the c o mpany of thousands
A
s olemnly gave him up to that God who gave him to me
hymn t o o fon dl y composed by an aged widow a s suitable t o
t h e o c casion wa s sung and all went away big with hopes o f t h e
child s b eing hereafter to be employed in t h e work o f God ;
but how soon are all their fond and as the event hath proved
t heir ill grounded expectations blasted a s well as mine ! House
keeping being expensive in London I t hought it best to send
both parent and child t o A bergavenny where my wife had a lit
tle house o f my o wn the furniture o f which as I thought o f soon
embarking for Ge o rgia I had partly sold and partly given
away In their j ourney thither they stop p e d at Gloucest e r at
the Bell Inn which my brother now keeps and in which I was
born T h ere my beloved was cut o ff with a stroke Upon my
coming here without knowing what had happened I inquired
concerning the welfare of parent and child ; and by the answer
found that the o wer was cut down I immediately called all to
j oin in prayer in which I blessed the F ather Of mercies for
giving me a s o n continuing it to me so long and taking it fro m
me so soon All j oined in desiring that I would decline p reach
ing till the child was buried ; but I remembered a saying o f
good Mr Henry that weeping must n o t hinder sowing and
therefore pre ached twice the next day and also the day follow
ing ; o n the evening o f which j ust as I was closing my sermon
the b ell struck out for the funeral A t rst I must a cknow
ledge i t gav e nature a little shake but looking up I recovered
strength and then concluded with saying that this text o n
whi ch I h ad been prea chi n g namely A ll things worked toge
,
W HIT EF I E LD
27 7
ther fo r go o d to them that love Go d made me as willing to

go o u t to my son s funeral as t o hear o f his birth O ur part
ing from him was solemn We kneeled down prayed and shed
many tears but I hope tears o f resignation : and then as he
died in the house wherein I was born he was taken and laid in
the church where I was baptized rst communicated and rst
preached All this you may eas ily guess threw m e into very
solemn and deep ree ction and I hope deep humiliation ; but I
was comforted from that passage in the book o f Kings where
is re co rded the death of the Shunammite s child which the pro
phet said the Lord had hid from him 3 and the woman s
Is it well with
a nswer likewise t o the prophet when he asked
thee ? Is it well with thy husband ? I S it well with thy child 1
A nd she answered I t i s wel l
This gave me no small satis
faction
I immediately preached upon t h e te x t the day follow
ing at Glouces ter and then hastened up to London preached
upon the s ame there 3 and though disappointed o f a li vi ng
preacher by the death o f my son yet I h Op e what happened b e
fore his birth an d since at his death hath taught me such les
s ons as if duly improved may rend er his mistaken parent more
c autious more so ber minded more experienced in Satan s de
v ices and co nsequently more useful in his future labours to the
Thus Out of the eater comes forth sweet
c hurch of Go d
ness
N ot doubting but o ur future life will be o n e continued
explanation o f this bl essed r i dd l e I com mend myself and you
t o the unerring guidance of God s word and Spir i t

Happily for himself Whiteeld had the prose cu t i o n o f t h e
Hampton rioters to provide for at this time Th is compelled
him to bestir himself in visiting and corr esp o ndi ng in order to
obtain money to meet the expe n ses o f the trial He took a right
view of that outra g e when he said much depends on o u r g e t:
Colonel Gardiner (n o w his friend) entere d

t ing the victory
into this V iew o f the case and sustaine d h im So did many
o ther inuential men A l ady also i n Wales subs cribed ve
pounds towards the expenses The Welch As sociation were
very generous according to their circumstances 3 and the

Tabernacle friends had a glorious fast at which they collected
for the assistance of thei r su ffer ing brethr e n
a bove sixty pounds
'
W H I T EF I E LD
27 8
at Hampton
The following is his o wn account of The (Igg
casion Process and Issue o f the Trial at Gloucester Mar ch
.
O n Thursday evening I came hither from the Gloucester

assizes where I have b een engaged in a trial between some o f
those who are called methodists and some violent rioters
Perhaps this news may a little startle you and put y o u upon
inquiry (as it hath done s o me others ) How we came to go to
law with ou r adversaries when it is ou r avowed principle to
su ffer patiently for the truth s sake ? I will tell you my dear
friend : though perhaps there is n o thing in the world more
abused than the law and there are very few that go to law o u t
o f a proper principle 3 yet we hold that there is a proper use of
it and the l aw i s good when used lawfully Whether or no we
have used it lawfully in the present case I shall leave m y
friend to j udge after I have told him the motives that induced
The m ethodists you know are every where

u s t o engage in i t
a ccounted enthusiasts in the worst sense o f the word 3 but
th o ugh they are accounted such yet they would not be en t h u
N ow we look upon it to be o n e species o f en
s i as t s in reality
t h u s i as m to expe ct to attain an end without making use o f
proper means We also think that believers S hould be very
careful not to b e fond o f suffering perse cution when they may
avoid it by making application to the high powers We are
likewise o f opinion that good christians will b e g ood subj ects
and consequently it is their duty as much as in them lies t o
put a stop to every thing in a rightful way that may prove de
structive to the king o r the gov ernme n t under which they live
Christian ministers in particular w e think ought to consider
the weakness of people s grace and in pity to precious souls
do what they can to remove every thing out o f the way that
m ay discourage o r prevent poor people s hearing the everlasting
gospel These considerations my dear friend for some t ime
past have led me to examine whether the m eth od i s t s in gen eral
(and I myself in particular ) have acted the part of good sub
e ct s
and
j
udicious
christian
ministers
in
so
long
neglecting
to
j
make an application to the superior courts and putting in exe
c u t i o n the wholesome laws of the land in order to prevent th o se
,
WHI T EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TI M ES
279
many dreadful outrages which have been committed against us

I need not descend t o particulars O ur Weekly H i s tory is full o f
them 3 and before that came o u t several o f o u r brethren both
in E ngland and Wales have received much damage from time
to time and been frequently in great hazard o f their lives
Wiltshire has been very rem arkable for mobbing and abusing
the methodists 3 and for about ten months last past it has also
p revailed very much in Gloucestershire especially at Hampton
where o ur friend Mr A dams has a dwelling house and has
been much blessed to many people This di spleased the grand
e nemy o f souls who stirred up many of the baser sort privately
e ncouraged by some o f a higher rank to come from time t o
t ime in great numbers with a low bell and horn to beset the
h o use and beat and abuse the people
About the beginning of July last their opposition seemed
F or several day s they assembled in
t o rise to the highest
g r eat bodies broke the windows and mobbed the people to
s uch a degree that many expe c ted to b e murdered and hid
themselves in holes and corners to avoid the rage o f their ad
O nce when I was there they continued from four
v er s ar i e s
in the afternoon till midnight rioting giving loud huz z as cast
ing dirt upon t h e hearers and making proclamations That no
a nabaptists presbyterians & c should prea ch there upon pain
o f being rst
p u t into a tan pit and afterwards into a brook
A t another time they pulled one or two women do wn the stairs
by the hair o f their heads An d on the l 0th o f July t hey came
to the n umber Of near a hundred in their usual way with a
l o w bell an d horn about v e in t h e afternoon forced into Mr
A dams s house and demanded him down the stairs whereon he
was preaching took him o u t o f his house and threw him into a
tan pit full o f noisome things and stagnated water O ne o f o ur
friends named Williams asking them If they were not ashamed
they put him into the same pit
t o serve an innocent man s o ?
twice and afterwards beat him and dragged him along the
kennel Mr A dams qu ietly returned home and betook him
s elf to prayer and exhorted the people to rej oice in su ffering
for the sake o f the gospel In about half an hour they came
t o the house again dragged h i m down the stairs and led hi m
.
WH IT EF I E LD
2 80
away a mile and a half to a place called Bourn Brook and th en

threw h i m in A stander b y fearing he might be drowned
j umped in and pulled him o u t 3 whereup o n another o f the
rioters immediately pushed him into the pool a second time
and cut his leg against a stone so that he went lame for near
a fortnight Both the constable and j ustices were applied to
but refused to act and seemed rather to countenance the mob
bing hoping thereby m e th od i sm (as they called it) w o uld be put
a stop to at least at Hampton F o r a season they gained their
end There was no preaching fo r some time the people fear
ing to assemble o n a c co unt o f the violence o f the mob
Upon my return to town I advised with my friends what to
do We knew we wanted to exercise no revenge against the
rioters and yet we thought it wrong that the gospel should b e
stopped by s u ch persons when the government under which we
lived countenanced no such thing ; and also that it was absurd
to thank God for wholesome laws if they were not to be made
We knew very well that an apostle had told us t h at
use of
magistrates were ordained for the punishment o f evil doers 3
and that they bear n o t the sword in vain We were also fear
ful that if any o f our bre t hren should be murdered by future
riotings (as in all probability t hey might ) we should be ac ces
sary to their death if we neglected to tie up the rioters hands
which was all we desired to do Besides we could not look
u pon this as allowed persecution since it was not countenanced
by the laws of the land and we might have redress from these
rioters and inferior m ag i s t r a t es b y appealing to C ms ar whose real
friends and loyal subj ects we j udged ourselves not to b e if we
su ffered his laws to b e publicly trampled under foot by such
notorious rioting 3 and which though begun against the metho
dists might terminate in open rebellion against King George
F or these and such like reasons we thought it o ur duty to
move for an information in the King s Bench against ve of the
ringleaders and xed upon the riot which they made o n Sun
day July l 0t h when they put Mr A dams and Williams int o
the tan pit and brook But before this was done I wrote a let
ter to o n e whom they called Captain desiring him to inform his
associates That if they w o uld a cknowledge their fault pay fo r
,
WH IT EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
28 1
curing a b o y s arm which was broken the night I was there

and mend the windows o f Mr A dams s house we would readily
pass all by ; but if they persisted in their resolutions to riot
we thought it our duty to prevent their doing and others r e
c ei vi n
g further damage by moving for an information against
them in the King s Bench
I also sent a copy of this letter to
a minister o f the town and to a j ustice of the peace with a let
ter to each from myself : but all in vain The rioters sent me
a most insolent answer wrote me word They were in high
S pirits and w ere resolved there should be no more preaching in
Hampton
F inding t h em i r r ecl a i m a bl e we moved the next
ter m for a rule o f court in the King s Bench to lodge an i n
formation against ve o f the ringleaders for the outrage com
m i tt e d violence O ffered and damage done to Mr A dams and
Williams on Sunday July l 0t h The rioters were apprized of
it appeared by their counsel and prayed the rule might be en
l ar g e d till the next term
It was granted In the mean while
they continued mobbing broke into Mr A dams s house o n e
Saturday night at eleven o clock when there was n o preaching
made those that were in bed get up and searched the oven cel
lar and every c o rner of the house to see whether they could
nd any methodists Some time after they threw another
young man into a mud pit three times su ccessively and abused
the people in a dreadful manner
The next term came o n We proved o ur accusations by
twenty si x a fdavits 3 and the defendants making no reply the
rule was made absolute and an information led against them
To this they pleaded n ot g ui l ty 3 and according to the method
in the Crown O fce the cause was referred to the assize held
at Gloucester March 3 d Thither I went and o n Tuesday
morning last the trial came on It was given o ut by some
that the methodists were to lose the cause whether right or
wrong
And I believe the defendants depended much on a
supposition that the gentlemen and j ury would be prej udiced
against us We were easy knowing that o ur Saviour had the
hearts o f all in his hands Being aware o f the great co n s e
u
e n c e s o f gaining o r losing this trial both in respect to us and
q
the nation we kept a day of fasting and prayer through all t h e
,
'
WH IT EF I E LD
2 82
societies both i n E ngland and Wales O ur S cotch friends also

j oined with us and cheerfully committed o u r cause into His
hands by whom kings reign and princes decree j ustice We
had about thirty witnesses to prove the riot and facts laid down
in the information O ur counsel opened the cause (a s I heard
being not present when the trial begun) with much solidity and
sound reas oning : they showed that rioters were not to be
reformers 3 and that his Maj esty had no where put the reins o f
g overnment into the hands o f mobbers o r made them j udge or
j ury O ne of them in particular with great gravity reminded
the gentlemen o n the j ury of the advice o f Gamaliel a doctor
o f the law re corded A cts v 3 8 39
Refrain from these men
and let them alone 3 for if this counsel or this work be o f men
it will come to nought 3 but if it be o f God ye cannot over
throw i t lest haply ye be found even to ght against God
O ur witnesses were then called I came into court when the
second witness was ex amining
Mr A dams and four more
(three of which were not called methodists ) s o clearly proved both
the riot and the facts laid t o the charge of the defendants that
the j udge was o f opinion there needed no other evidence The
counsel for the defendants then rose and exerted a good deal of
oratory and I think said all that could well be said to make
the best of a bad matter O ne urged that we were e n t h u
s i a s t s and o u r principles and practices had such a tendency to
infect and hurt the people that it was right in his Opinion for
an
y private person to stand up and put a stop to us 3 and who
e ver did s o was a friend to his country
H e strove to i nu
ence the j ury by telling them that if a verdict was given
a gainst the defendants it w
ould cost them t wo hundred pounds 3
that the defendants rioting was not premeditated ; but that
c oming to hear Mr A dams and being o f
fended at h i s doctrine
a sudden quarrel arose and thereby the unhappy men were led
into the present fray which he could have wished had not h ap
pened ; but h o wever it did not amount to a riot but only an a s
saul t
Their other counsel then informed the j ury that they
would undertake to prove that the methodists began the tumults
rst
H e was pleased also to mention me by name and a c
q u ai n t e d the court that Mr Whiteeld had been travelling
.
WHIT EF I E LD
fr o m
283
c o mm o n to comm o n making the people cry and then

picking their pockets under pretence o f colle cting money fo r
the colony o f Georgia 3 and knowing that Glo u cestershire was
a populous country he at last came there That he had now
several curates o f which Mr A dams was o n e who in his
preaching had found fault with the proceedings o f the clergy
and said if the people went to hear them they would b e
damned H e added that there had lately b een such a mobbing
i n Sta ffordshire that a regiment of soldiers was sent down to
s uppress them ; insinuating that the methodists were the a u
thors 3 that we had now another cause o f a like nature de
pending i n Wil t shire ; and that we were not o f that mild pa cic
S pirit as we would pretend to b e T his and much more to the
same purpose t hough foreign to the matter in hand pleased
many of the auditors who expressed their satisfa ction in hear
ing the methodists in general and me in particular thus lashed
by frequent laughing The eyes of all were upon me O ur
Saviour kept me quite easy I thought of that verse o f Horace
,
Hi e m ur us ah en eu s
N il
T e r t ul l us
co n s ci r e si bi ,
n ul l a
es to,
p al l e s cer e
c ul p a .
accusing Paul came also t o my mind and I looked

upon myself as highly honoured in having such things S poken
against me falsely for Christ s great name s sake To prove
what the defendants counsel had insinuated they called up a
young man who was brother t o one of the defendants and o n e
of the mob
He swore point blank that Mr A dams said
if people went to church they would b e damned ; and if they
would come to him he would carry them to Jesus Christ He
swore also that the pool into which Mr A dams was thrown
H e said rst that
w as no deeper than half way up his legs
there were about ten Of them that came to the house o f Mr
A dams 3 and then he swore that there were about threescore
He said there was a low bell and that one o f the defendants
did ask Mr A dams to come down o ff the stairs but that none
of them went up to him ; upon which Mr A dams willingly
obeyed went with them brisk ly along the street and as he
wo uld hav e represented it put himself into the tan pit and
WH IT E F I E LD
2 84
pool and so came out again H e said also some other things 3
but throughout his whole evidence appeared s o agrantly false
that o n e of the counsellors said it was enough to make his
hair stand on end
The j udge himself wished he had had
so much religion as to fear an oath S O he went down in dis
grace Their se cond evidence was an aged woman mother to
She swore that her so n did g o up
o n e o f the defendants
the stairs to Mr A dams and that Mr A dams tore her son s
coat and would have broken his neck down stairs But she
talked s o fast and her evidence was s o palpably false that s h e
Their third
w as sent away in as much disgra ce as the other
and last evidence was father to o n e who was in the mob though
The chief he had to s ay was that
n o t o n e o f the defendants
when Mr A dams was coming from the pool one met him and
said Brother h o w do you do ? Upon which he ans wered
that he had re ceived no damage but had been in the pool
and came o ut again S O that all their evidences however co n
t r ar y to o n e another yet corroborated ours and proved the riot
The book was then given to a j ustice
o u t of their own mouths
who had formerly taken up Mr C en n i ck fo r
o f the peace
preaching ne ar Stroud and had lately given many signal proofs
that he w as no friend t o the methodists But he intending to
speak only about their characters and the counsel and j udge
looking upon that as quite impertinent to the matter in hand
he was not admitted as an evidence Upon this his Lordship
with great candour and impartiality summed up t h e evidence
and told the j ury that he thought they should bring all the
defe ndants in guilty ; for o ur evidences had su fciently proved
the whole o f the information and also that the riot was preme
d i t at ed
H e said that in his Opinion the chief o f the de
fendants evidence was incredible 3 and that supposing the me
t h o d i s t s were heterodox (as perhaps they might b e ) i t belonged
to the e cclesiastical government to call them t o an ac count ;
that they were subj e cts and riotous men were not to be t heir
reformers
He also reminded them of the d r e adi l ill co n s e
q u en ce s o f rioting at any time much m o re at such a critical
time as this 3 that rioting was the forerunner o f and might end
In rebellion ; that it was felony with o ut benet of clergy t o
.
WH IT EF I E L D
S L I F E AND
TI ME S
2 85
pull d o wn a meeting house 3 and for all he knew i t was high

treason to pull down even a brothel That this in formation
c ame from the King s Bench 3 that his Maj esty s j ustice s
th ere thought they had sufcient reason to grant it ; that
the matters contained in it had been evidently proved before
them and consequently they should bring all the defendants
in guilty
Upon this the j ury were desired to consider o f
their verdict There seemed to be some little demur amongst
them His Lordship perceiving it informed them They had
nothing to do with the damages (that was to be referred to the
King s Bench ) they were only to consider whether the defend
ants were guilty or not
Whereupon in a few minutes they gave a verdict for the pro
guilty of t h e whole
s ecu t or s and brought in all the defendants
information lodged against them
I then retired to my l o dg
ings kneeled down and gav e thanks with some friends to o ur
all conquering E mma n u el
A ft erwards I went to the inn
prayed and returned thanks with the witnesses exhorted the m
to behave with m eekness and humility to their adversaries and
after they had taken proper refreshment sent them home r e
In
the
evening
I
preached
o n those words o f the
o i ci n g
j
psalmist By this I know that thou favourest me since thou
hast n o t su ffered mine enemy to triumph over me
God was
pleased to enlarge my heart much I was very happy with my
friends afterwards and the next morning set o u t for L o ndon
where we have had a blessed thanksgiving season and from
whence I tak e the rst Opportunity O f sending you as m any par
t i cul ar s of the occasion progress and issue of our trial as I can
well recollect What report his Lordship will be pleased t o
m ake o f the case and how the defendants will b e dealt with
c annot be known till next term 3 when I know I shall appriz e
you of it as also of o ur behaviour towards t hem I n the mean
while let me entreat you to give thanks to the blessed Jesus in
o ur behalf and to pray that his word may have free course may
run and be gloried and a stop be put t o all such rebellious
proceedings
Th e Tr i a l i n a L e t t er t o a F r i en d
Whiteeld had also at this t ime to put some w r i ter s as well
A n an o nymous pamphlet O n
as ri o ter s upon their defence
-
WH I T EF I E LD
2 86
the Conduct and Behaviour o f the Methodists had obtained

no small sanction from the bishops Indeed th e bishop o f Lon
don was reported to be the author o f it T h e obj ect o f it was
to prove the methodists to b e dangerous to both church and
state and to obtain an A ct of Parliament against them which
would stop their eld preaching and conventicles o r compel
them to secure themselves by turning dissenters

The Toler
ation A ct it a rgued did n o t permit their irregularities : and
besides they were en t h u s i a s t s ! Parts o f this pamphlet seem
to have b een printed and handed about secretly at rst as
Strict
inj
unctions
l
e r s o f the pulse o f the religious societies
ee
f
were given to every o n e who was intr usted with any o f them
not to lend them nor let them go out o f his hands

White
eld however obtained a sight o f them 3 and nding that they
c o ntained not only charges against himself but a deep design
against religious liberty he a d ver t i sed in the newspapers and
demanded their speedy publication that he might answer them
b efore he went to A merica H e followed up this advertisement
by a private letter to the bishop o f London
M y Lord s i m
l
bec
o
mes
the
followers
of
Jesus
Christ
and
therefore
I
i
c
i
t
p
y
think it my du t y to trouble your Lordship with a few lines con
cerning the anonymous papers which have been handed about
in the societies A s I think it my duty to answer them I sho uld
b e glad to be informed whether the report be true that your
Lordship composed them that I m ay the better know h o w to an
swer them A sight also o f o n e Of the C opies if in your Lordship s
keeping would much oblige

H is Lordship sent word by the
b earer that Whiteeld should hear from him 3 but he forgot

his promise Whiteeld heard from the printer not from the
prelate
Sir my nam e is O wen I am a printer in A men
Corner I have had orders from several of the bishops to print
for their use such numbers of the O bservations (with some few
additions ) as they have respe ctively bespoken I will not fail
to wait o n you with on e copy as soon as t h e impression is
nished
O wen kept his word H e did n o t venture h o w
ever to put his name o n the title page o f the pamphlet to le t
the world know where o r by whom it was printed

It came
into the world says Whiteeld in a letter to the bishop lik e

,
WH IT EF I E L D
287
a dropt child that nobody cares to o wn A nd indeed who can

b e blamed for d i s o wn m g such a libel ? A more notorious libel
has not been published

L e tt
Whiteeld was fully j ustied in branding the pamphlet thus
It charged the methodists with making open inroads o n the
national constitution 5 with p r e t en d i ng to be members o f the
national church , with being Open d e er s o f government
H i s answer
as well as breakers o f the canons an d rubrics
to this Whiteeld addressed very properly to The bishop
of London and the other bishops concerned in the publica
tion o f such charges ; taking for his motto the appropriate

words
F a l se w i t n ess es d i d u se up : t h ey l a i d t o my ch a r g e
They did not sit down s o easily as they

t h i ng s I kn e w n o t
rose up ! They told the religious societies clandestinely that
methodism was unlawful and Whiteeld told the world openly
that this mode o f attack was like N er o setting re to Rome
and then charging it o n the christians

I cannot think h e
says that such a way o f proceeding will gain your Lordships
any credit from t h e publico r any thanks from the oth er
bishops who have n o t interested themselves in this a ffair and
who I believe are more N O B L E than to countenance the publi
cation o f any such performance

This bold retort upon anonymous slanderers astounded both
the slaves and the sycophants o f superiors

Prebendary
Church the vicar o f Battersea was h or m ed to nd the head s
o f the church made a ccountable for a libel they had adopted
if not indorsed This i s the worthy to whom Bolingbroke said
Let me tell yo u seriously that the greatest miracle in the
w orld is the subsistence o f C hristianity and its preservation a s
a religion when the preaching o f it is committed to the care o f
such unchristian wretches as yo u

This tremendous rebuke
does not I think imply all that the word w r e t ch means It
refers t o principles n o t to morals I am led to this conclusion
because Whiteeld treats Church respectfu lly in answering h i s
pamphlet and because the following is the true account of the
pre bendary s intervie w with t h e peer Church found Boling
broke reading C alvin s Institutes o n e day and was surprised
Y o u have caught me said the V iscount

reading John Cal
,
WH I T EF I E L D S L I FE AN D TIM E S
288
vin H e was indeed a man o f great parts profound sense

and vast learning H e handles the doctrines o f grace in a very
masterly manner
(Strange language from Bolingbroke ! But
he had been hearing Whiteeld at Lady H un t i n g d o n s the week
before )
D octrines o f grace
exclaimed Church the doc
trines o f grace have s e t all mankind by the ears

I am su r
prised s aid Bolingbroke to hear you say s o wh o profess to

believe and preach C hristianity Those doctrines are certainly
the doctrines o f the Bible ; and if I believe the Bible I must
believe them
Then came the well known rebuke I have
quoted This is the anecdote as the Countess o f Huntingdon
was wont to tell it and she had it from the lips of B o lingbr o ke
,
I would not have referred to the prebendary o r his pamphlet

had he not become the s cap e g oa t for the bishops he vindicated
There is quite as much o f the gospel in his letter to White
eld as i n their charges to their clergy
The only thing
amusing in Church s letter is its conclusion
H e charge s
Whiteeld with glaring inconsistency in blaming the clergy
Yo u have been m or e culpable than any o f
for n o n residence
them he says in reference to Wh i t e el d s residence at Georgia

He then proceeds to count the times and the length o f e ach
time that Whiteeld was at his post This was pitiful know
ing as he did wh y the chaplain o f the colony travelled Well
might Whiteeld say in answer to this charge
I wish every
n o n resident could give as good an account o f his non residence
as I can give of mine When I was absent from my parishioners
I was not loitering nor living at ease but begg i ng for them and
theirs and when I returned it was not to ee ce my ock and
then go and spend i t upon my lusts o r to lay up a fortune for
myself and my relati o ns

L e t t er t o C h ur ch
Wh i t e el d s letter to the bishops called forth another cham
pion o f the clandes t ine papers ; a Pembroke College man who
called himself a gentleman al though he took a motto from

that vilest of all vulgar books The Scotch Presbyterian Elo
u en c e
H e did not fail in imitating his original H e nds
q
in Wh i t e el d s letter instead o f the arguing o f the true saint
the wh eed l i ng o f the w o man the daring of the r ebel ; the pert
,
W H IT E F I E LD
2 89
ness of t h e cox com b t h e e vasions o f the jes u i t ; and the bitter

maliciousness o f the big o t He classes him with Bonner and
Gardiner as a r e brand minister o f wrath and with Crom
well whom he calls the Wh i t e e ld o f the last century

Why ? Be cause he artfully compounded churchmen and dis
senters
It will b e a n eternal monument o f your disgrace
he says that dissenters lived peaceably according to the na
t i o n al constitution and preached in licensed places until you
pois o ned and corrupted them by your ev il communications

Would he had ! But unfortunately for the dissenters the n
Wh i t e el d s in uence had brought o nly t wo int o t h e elds as
fellow helpers with him in the gospel
H e does not appear t o have noticed this Pembroke gentl e
man ; but he renewed his attack upon the bishops when h e
went to sea O n his voyage he wr o te a se c o nd letter to them
They had made the anonymous pamphlet their o wn by printing
and circulating it at their own expense and he held them a o
countable for its d oct r i n es as well as its politics It had i m
d
justication
by
faith
and
he
stretched
them
o n Luther s
u
n
e
p g
rack ; and o n what must have been m o re annoying to t heir
Lordships the fact that this doctrine was s i ng l ed ou t by E d
ward V I and E liz abeth to b e p r i n cip a lly taught to the people ;
F irst b ecause it is the chi efest cause and means o f o ur peac e
with God ; second that ministers m ight go with a r i g h t f oot
2
o
5
i
to
the
g
o
spel
th
i
rd
be
cause
it
s the best way
t
o
p
(
)
and fourth be caus e
di scover and suppress Romish antichrist
such bishops as do by terms o f error schism o r heresy hin
der this m a i n lig h t o f God s word fr o m the pe ople are t h e
c h i fes t t r a i t or s in the land ; traitors to God traitors to thei r
e
king traitors to their own souls and bodies and traitors to the
whole country
Gibson remembered this homily
H om i ly
when he said
Justicatio n by faith alone is asserted in t h e
strongest manner by o u r church
but he forgot it when he
added
I hope our clergy explain it in such a manner as to
leave no doubt whether good work s are a necessary con d i ti on o f
being j ustied in the sigh t o f God

P a s t or a l L e t te r
F rom this vantage gr o und Whiteeld assailed both C hi l
l i n g wor t h and the auth o r o f

The Wh ole D uty o f M an a s
.
o 7r 0
WI I I T E E I E L D
29 0
LI FE AN D
T I M ES
traitors to this a r ti cu l us s t a n ti s a u t ca u de n ti s e ccl es i ce

The
latter he said had shown only H a lf t h e D uty of M a n
an d
universal obedience a necessary con

t h e former had made
dition o f j ustication In like manner whilst he b egged par
d o n o f the public for saying that Tillotson knew no more of the
gospel than Mahomet (a comparison by the w ay which he
had borrowed ) he repeated that the good archbishop in turn
ing people s minds to moral duties without turning them to the
doctrine o f j ustication by faith erred from the faith

.
I n i di t i n S
c
cy ll a m,
v ul t vi tar e
q ui
Ch ar i b di n
He did not embarrass their Lordships less o n the subj ect o f r e

generation T h eir adopted champi o n had said
If there be
such a thing as a sudden instantaneous change

If there
be says Whiteeld
does he not lay an axe to the very root
If the child b e actually regenerated
o f the baptismal o f ce ?
when the minister S prinkles it the change must b e instantaneous
and sudden If there be any such thing ! D o your Lordships
assent thereto A n instantaneous change is the very essence o f
baptismal regeneration that D I A N A of the present clergy

H e concludes this bol d appeal thus If the whole bench of
bishops command us to speak no more o f this doctrine we take
it to be an u ng od ly admonition Whether it b e right in the
sight of Go d to ob ey man rather than God j udge ye
S econ d L e t t e r
These were the public affairs which diverted Whiteeld from

h i s private sorrows
The o h a n d and unceremonious style in
which they are told can only o ffend those who venerate t i tl es
more than truth It may b e vastly unpolite to treat bishops in
this straightforward way when they pervert the gospel : it i s
however ap os t ol i ca l to pay neither deference nor respect to an
angel if he preach another gospel than Paul s This Ga th er

col e a ffa ir of the bishop o f London cannot be to o bluntly told
if such affairs are to be put down Binney told the l a s t one s o
well that there will b e fewer Gat h er col es patronized in the
next century
-
C H A PT E R X II
W H IT E F I E L D
A T C A MB US L AN G
W H IT EF I E L D wen t in the power o f the Spirit fr o m the Pentecost

a t M o o r el d s to the Pente cost at C ambuslang and Kilsyth in
S cotland His return t o the north was however wormwood
and gall to some o f the A sso ciate Presbytery A dam Gibb
e specially signalized himself o n the rst sabbath o f Wh i t e el d s
labours in E dinburgh by publish ing a WA R N I N G against coun
t en an c i n g his m inistrations
This pamphlet is s o strange a n d
now so rare that I must preserve some specimens of it as me
m o r i al s o f t h e provocation as well as opposition given to White
el d by t h e seceders o f that day Most ch e er i l l y however do
I prefa ce them with F raser s de claration that the violence then
dis covered by individual members o f the Presbytery h as n o t
only been sincerely deplored by their successors in ofce ; but
that they themselves lived to repent o f the rancour into which
the heat o f controversy had at rst b etrayed them

E ven
Gibb it is said wished o n his death bed that n o copies o f h i s
pamphlet were on the face of the e arth ; and said if he could
re c all every copy he would burn them My copy was presented
by D r E rskine t o D r Ryland who wrote the following note
upon it
A Bitter Warning against Mr Whiteeld by Mr
Gibbs the Se ceder H e became more moderate afterwards
and spoke respe ctfully o f Mr H ervey s writings and Mr
W alk er s o f Trur o
I am quite willing that these fa cts should
be borne in mind whilst th e foll o wing astounding charges are
read
This man M r Ge o rge Whiteeld ) I h ave n o scruple t o
,
W HIT EF I E LD
29 2
loo k upon a s o n e o f the fa l se C h r i s ts o f whom the church is

forewarned Matt xxiv 2 4 It is no unusual thing with him
in his j ournals to apply unto himself things said o f and by the
Christ o f God
I look upon him in his public ministrations
to be o n e o f t h e m o st fa t a l rocks wh e reon many a r e now split
t ing
That he is no m inister o f Christ appears from the
m anner wherein t h at ofce he bears i s conveyed to him H e
derives it from a diocesan bishop wh o derives his o f ce from the
king and the king profess es n o t to b e a church o f c er

Mr
Whiteeld in swearing the oath o f supremacy has sw o rn that
Christ i s not supreme and s ole Head of the church He will not
allege that he hath yet vomited that spiritual poison

His u n i
ve r s a l love proceeds o n the e rroneous and h o rrid principle that
God is the lover o f all souls and the God o f all churches
The
horror of this is still more awful be cause he hales in our Lord
and his apostles to patronize t his catholic spirit

H e break s
o ff a piece of the glass o f truth and turns his b ack o n the r e
m a i n d er : thus though he hold up that piece o f the glass I say
before his face h e cannot s ee the t r ue Christ b ecau s e his back
is toward Him S o then the doctrine o f grace M r Whiteel d
retains cannot p o ss ibly discover the t ru e Christ because his
b ack i s toward him in ou t i ng away the doctrine that dis covers
Chris t a King o f a visible kingdom

The doctrine o f gra ce
he publishes
is carried o ff fro m its true po s ture connexi o n
and use and applied to a d i a boli ca l purp o se ; vi z to create a
Christ in people s imaginations as a competiti o n with the tru e
Christ
The hor r or o f this s cene strikes me almost dumb
I must halt and give way to s o me awful idea s that I cannot
vent in language
,
Ob s t up ui ,
s t e t er un t que c omae, et
Vo x fa ucib us h aesi t
The pr oper and designing author o f his schem e is n o t M r

Whiteeld but Satan : and thus our contendi ngs against Mr W
must b e proportioned not to his design but Satan s ; while
hereof he is an e ffectual though blinded tool

A s for the
gentleman himself while he is under a very ruinous delusion
and thereby gathering up o n him hi s o wn bl oo d and the bl oo d
WH IT EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
29 3
of multitudes this his condition loudly require s the pity o f al l

that know him A nd I know o f no way wherein this can b e
rightly exercised without avoiding company with him that he
may be a sh a med 2 Thess iii 1 4 In this manner it is that we
are called to exercise l ove to his person and desire o f his reco
very : for as his unwarrantable and woeful ministrations must
be idolatrous so idolaters Wh i t e e l d s U slay their o wn chil
dren
The complex scheme o f Mr W s doctrine i s diaboli
cal as proceeding through diabolical i n u e n ce and applied to a
diabolical use against the Mediator s glory and the salvation of
men
What shall b e the pro cedure o f God in such a dis
mal case ? Can His j ustice s l eep now ? N o
Forasmuch
as Mr Wh i t e el d s followers do a s such seek after a Christ
convictions and conversions that are really idols it is therefore
to be fearfully expected that God will in j udgment answer them
a cc o rdingly and send them an i d ol Christ and i d ol conversions
God s great executioner Satan must
a ccording to their lust
He will ap e the
b e e mp l o ye d in the producing of such e ffects
work of God s Spirit

The doctrine o f i mp r essi on s which
Mr W i s at pains to teach is a very n e cessa r y part of Satan s
doctrine
Hence Satan while kindling men s fancies mus t
c arry them o u t under strong and blind impulses frights freaks
raptures visions boastings bl unders & c

All this as it stands here seems mere rant and raving In
the pamphlet however it is blended with much a cute reasoning
u pon the subj ect of t h e Ki ng sh ip of Christ
Gibb s grave charge
against Whiteeld was that he preached Christ only as a S a
v i o ur : n o t meaning however that he did n o t enforce holiness
o f life ; b ut that he taught a latitudinarian s cheme of church
polity the tendency of which was to make men s cep t i cs as to
the discipline and government of the house of Go d A nd there

is some truth in this Whiteeld knew little and cared less
a bout the vi s i bl e form of the kingdom o f Christ in the world
All his c oncern was to s e e H i s spiritual kingdom set up in the
hearts o f individuals But whilst it is well that this was h i s
chief obj ect it was well too that others laid more stress than
himself upon church government Gibb laid too much ; but
Whiteel d we nt to an equally unscriptural e x treme A ccord
,
WH I TE F I E L D
29 4
LI FE AN D TIM E S
Wh i t e el d s societies in general subsided int o other
i n g l y,
churches especially in A merica

It must not b e supposed that Gibb p r ed i cted the scenes o f
Cambuslang o r Kilsyth It was ch eap prophesying on July 2 3 r d
the for eig n er (White

1 7 4 2 that a lying spirit working by
strong impulses frights freaks and
el d ) would prod uce
visions
The e ffe cts thus exaggerated had begun at Cam
b u sl an g in the winter of 1 7 4 1 under the ministry of M C ull o ck
the pastor o f the parish
His hea r ers in c o nsiderable num
bers were on di fferent occasions so violentl y agitated while he
prea ched regeneration as to fall down under visible paroxysms
But nothing can be more certain than that
o f bodily agony
the unusual events had been a subj ect of general observation
and inquiry for many months before Whiteeld had ever been
at Cambuslang It is impossible to identify their commence
ment with his labours by any fair examination o f the facts as
they occurred
S i r H en r y M on cr i ef We l wood s L ife of D r
.
rs
ki n e
Whiteeld did not lessen the e ffect however when he went

and thus Gibb s tirade being well timed to Wh i t e el d s visit
seemed prophe cy for the W A R N I N G and the WO RK came before
t he public at large together It wa s this coincidence that gave
s o much point and currency amongst the seceders to the prover
bi al maxim that the wark a t C a u mu s l a ng w a s a w a r k 0 t h e
d e e vi l
Seceders were not the only persons however that said
that Whiteeld cast ou t devils by the p o wer of Beelzebub
Bishop Lavington concludes his examination of the enthusiasm
o f methodists thus :
If there b e any thing in it exceeding the
powers o f nature any thing beyond the force o f distemper or
o f imagination and enthusiasm artfully worked u
any
thing
;
p
beyond the reach o f j uggle and imposture (which I take not
upon me to a ffirm or deny in that case I s ee n o reason against
conclud ing that it i s the work o f some evil spirit a sort of ma
L a vi ng t on p
g i c al operation o r other d i a bol i ca l illusion
3 9 8 P ol wh e l e s E d
A gain : We know that in the latter days
d e m on s should be the authors of many surprising t hings God
permitting Satan to work upon the a ffections of false prophets
and evil men

Thus prelate and presbyter were
I bi d 2 1 7
,
WH IT EF I E L D
S LI FE AN D
T IM E S
29 5
equally vulgar and virulent upon this subj e ct ; and therefore

o ught t o b e placed together at the bar of posterity
Thus caricatured and denounced Whiteeld cam e to C am
He came
b usl a n g ; a parish four miles distant from Glasgow
by the special invitation of Mr M C ull o ck the minister o f the
parish to as sist at the sacramental o ccasion with several wor
thy ministers o f the church of S cotla nd

Gillies says h e
preached no less than three times upon the very day o f his
arrival to a vast body o f people although he had preached that
The last o f these exercises he began
s ame morning at Glasgow
at nine at night continuing until elev en when he said he had
observed such a commotion among the people as he had never
seen in A merica Mr M C ul l o ck prea ched after him til l past
o n e in the morning
and even then they could hardly persuade
the people t o depar t All night in the elds migh t be heard the
voice o f praise and prayer

Whiteeld said to a friend before going to this sa cramental
s ervice
I am persuaded I shall have more p ow er since dear
Mr Gibb hath printed such a bitter pamphlet

H e did n o t
miscalculate
O n Saturday he says
I preached to above
twenty thousand people In my prayer the power of God came
down and was greatly felt In my two sermons there was yet
more po wer O n sabb ath s carce ever was such a sight seen in
S cotland There were undoubtedly upwards o f twenty thou s and
people A brae o r hill near the mans e of Cambuslang seemed
formed by Pr o vidence for containing a large congregation
Two tents were s e t up and the holy sacrament was administered
in the elds The communion table wa s in the eld M any mi
nisters attended to preach and assist all enlivening and enlivened
by o n e another
When I began to serv e a table the power o f God was felt
by numbers ; but the people crowded s o upon me that I was
obliged to desist and go to preach at o n e o f the tents whilst
the ministers served the rest o f the tables God was with them
O n Monday morning I preached to near
a n d with his people
as many as before but such a universal stir I never saw before !
The motion ed as swift as lightning from o n e end o f the audi
t o ry t o an o ther You might have s een th ousands bathed in
,
WH I T E F I E LD
29 6
t ears
LI FE AND TI M E S
Some at the same time wringing their hands others

almost swooning and others crying o ut and m o urning over a
pierced Saviour
But I must n o t attempt t o describ e it In the afternoon
the concern again wa s v ery great Much prayer had been pre
f
f
put
up
to
the
L
o
rd
A
ll
night
in
di
erent
c
o
mpanies
v i ou sl
y
o u might have heard pers o ns praying t o and praising God
y
The children of God came from all quarters It was like t h e
passover in J o s i ah s time We are to have another sacrament
in imitation o f Hezekiah s pass o ver in about two or three
months
The Messrs E rskines and their adherents (would
you have thought it hav e appointed a public fa s t to humble
themselves am o ng other things for my b eing received in Sc o t
land and for the d e l usi on as they term it at Cambuslang and
other places and all t his be cause I would not consent to preach
only for t hem till I had light into and could take the solemn
league and covenant To what lengths may prej udice carry even
g o od men !
L e t t er s
Before the n ext sacrament he was suddenly t aken ill The
e ffo rts and the excitement overcame h i m for a sh o rt time
My
friends thought I was going o ff : but h o w did Jesus ll my heart !
T o day I am as they call it much better
In the pulpit t h e
Lord out o f weakne ss makes me wax strong and causes m e t o
triumph more and more

I feel the power of His precious
live giving all atoning bl o od more and more every day I was
happy when in London I am t en times happier n o w The
Lord hath done great things for us where o f w e are glad

When the sec o nd sa crament came the s cenes o f the rst were
renewed
Mr Wh i t e el d s serm o ns says M r M C ull o ck
were attended with much power ; particularly on sabbath night
about ten A very grea t but de cent weeping and mourning was
o bservable throughout the audit o ry While serving some tables
he appeared to b e so lled with the lov e of Go d as t o be in a
kind of transp o rt This second o ccasion did indeed much excel
the former not only in the numb er o f ministers and people but
which is the main t hing in a much greater increase of the power
and special presence o f God The lowes t estimate o f numbers
with which Mr Whiteeld agrees and he has been used to great
,
WII I T E F I E L D
LI FE AND TI M E S
29 7
multit udes makes them upwards of thirty thousand

The
n umber o f communicants appears to have been about three
thousand Some worthy o f credit and that had Opportunities to
know give it as their opinion that such a blessed frame fell upon
the people that had they possessed means t o obtain t oken s
(tickets o f admission t o the sacr ament ) there w o uld have bee n
a th ousand m o re
Some wh o attended
R obe s N a r r a t i ve
de clared they w o uld not for a world have b een absent from this
solemnity O thers cried No w let thy servants depart in peace
since ou r eyes have seen salvation here
O thers wishing if it
were the will of God t o die where they were attending Go d in
his ordinances with o ut e ver returning to the world

I bi d
It will be seen from these extra cts that Whiteeld did not ex
aggerate the p ower under which he spoke although he states it
in str o ng terms A gain therefore let him bear witness
Such
a c o mmotion surely was never he ard of especially at eleven at
n ight
F or about an hour and a half there was s uch weeping
so many falling into deep distress as is inexpressible The
people seem to b e slain by scores They are carried o ff and
come int o the house like soldiers w o unded and carried o ff a eld
o f battle
Their cries and agonies are ex ceedingly a ffe cting
This occurred at the rst sacrament O f the second he says
People sat unwearied till tw o in the morning You could
s carce walk a yard without treading o n some either rej oicing
in Go d for mercies received o r crying o u t for more Thousands
and thousands hav e I seen before it was possible to catch it by
sympathy melted down under the word and p o wer of Go d

.
L e tt er s
Sir Henry Moncrie ff Wel woo d in his Life of D r E rskine

says F rom this time (Wh i t e el d s v isit ) the multitudes who
assembled were more numerous t han they ever had been or
perhaps than any congregation e ver b efore assembled in S cot
land
The religious impressions made o n the people were
apparently much greater and more genera
These were engrossing s cenes They did n o t however divert
Whiteeld from any of the ordinary duties o f life or g o dl in es
at the ti m e Some sp y did indeed insinuate that he gave but
little time t o s ecret d ev o ti o n at night after preaching In an
,
WH IT EF I E LD
29 8
swer to this charge he said I think n o t my S pirit in bondage

if through weakness o f body or frequency o f preaching I can
not go to God at my usual s e t times It is not for me to tell
how often I use secret prayer If I did not use i t i f in o n e
sense I did not pray without ceasing it w o uld be difficult for
me to keep up that fram e o f mind which by the di vine blessing
I daily enj oy God knows my heart : I would do every thing I
could to satisfy all men and give a reason of t h e hope that is in
me with m eekness and fear ; but I cannot satisfy all that are
waiting for an occasion to nd fault Let my Master speak for
me
L e t t er s
He redeemed time to write the following letter to his mother
also from C ambuslang
Honoured mother I rej oice to hear
Blessed b e God
t hat you have been s o long under my roof
that I have a house for my honoured mother to come to Yo u
are heartily wel come to any thing my h ouse a ffords as long a s
you please If need was indeed these hands should administer
to your ne cessities I had rather want myself than you should :
I shall be highly p leased when I come to Bristol and nd you
sitting in your youngest son s house O h may I s i t with you in
the house not made with hands eternal in the heavens E re long
your doom honoured mother will be xed Yo u must shortly
go hence an d b e no more Y o ur only daughter I trust is now
in the paradise o f God Methinks I hear her s ay Come up
hither
I am sure Jesus c alls you by h i s word May His Spirit
enable you t o s a y Lo I come O h that m y dear mother may
be made an everlasting monument o f free and sovereign gra ce !
How does my heart bur n with love and duty to you ? Gladly
would I wash your aged feet and lean o n your neck an d weep
and pray until I could pray no more

Besides this and many other private letters he wr o te fr e
quently to his coadj utors at the Tabernacle and to his managers
at Georgia Indeed at this time his responsibilities for t h e
orphan house pressed heavily u pon his spirits
I yet o we
upwards of 2 50 in E ngland and have nothing towards it How
i s the world mistaken about my circumstances ! Worth nothing
myself
embarrassed for others
and yet looked upon to ow
in riches ! O ur extremity is God s opportunity

S o it was !
,
W H IT EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
29 9
Before he left Scotland he could s ay

Blessed b e God I o we
nothing now in E ngland o n the orphan house account What
is due is abroad A t E dinburgh I collected 1 28 at Glasgow
1 2 8 in all about 300
Since I have been in E ngland we
have got near 1 5 00 The Lord will raise up what we further
need
Thus no relative duty was neglected notwithstanding the
multiplicity of his public engagements He even found tim e
at Cambuslang (j ust the spot for the task !) to write his letter
entitled A Vi n d i ca t i on a n d C onr ma t i on of t h e R ema r ka bl e
Wor k of God i n N ew E ng l a n d ; being remarks on a late
pamphlet entitled The State of Religion in N ew E ngland
since the Rev G Wh i t e el d s arrival there ; in a Letter to a
Minister o f the Church o f Scotland

This pamphlet like
Gi bb s Warning was intended to depreciate both Whiteeld

and his work in S cotland In answering it however he wisely
left the work at Cambuslang to vindicate itself and conned
h i s explanations to N ew E ngland ; that t h e revivals there might
in nowise depend upon those in Scotland for their j ustication
H e also proved pretty fully although witho ut bringing home
the fact to any one that the pamphlet was a l ter ed in S cotland
to suit a purpose A nd there are dates o f S cotch publications
in it which could n o t have been known in Boston when it was
written Hence he asks How could that gentleman (the au
thor ) s e e at Boston o n May 2 4 t h that E dwards Sermon was
reprinted in Scotland ; which was not done till June following ?
I myself was chiey concerned in publishing it

Besides the great awakening at Camb uslang at this tim e
there was another similar at Kilsyth which Whiteeld visited
also
A s might be expected both were misrepresented by
formalists and bigots The seceders Whiteeld says Taki n g
it fo r granted that Go d had left the S cotch established church
long ago and that he would not work by the hands o f a curate
o f the church o f E ngland c o ndemned the whole work as t h e
work of the devil ; and kept a fast throughout al l Scotland to
humble themselves because the devil was come down in great
wrath and to pray that the Lord would rebuke the destroyer
for t h a t was my title

O lip h a n t s M e mo i r s
,
WHIT EF I E LD
3 00
S LI FE AND TIM E S
The A ssociate P resbytery in their hot zeal to depreciate the

conversions confo unded them like Lavington with t h e extra
v agance o f fanatics and impostors
C a m i z a r s and the rs t
quakers They issued from D unfermline an A ct o f Presbytery
a n e n t a public fast
o f which Mr Robe o f Kilsyth says
It i s
the m o st h ea ven d a r i ng paper that hath been published by any
set o f men in Britain these t hree hundred years past

This is
a bold charge It was not however advanced in a bad spirit 3
as the following appeals and explanations abundantly show
My dear brethren (of the Secession ) my heart s desire and
prayer to God for you is that he may open your eyes to s ee
the many mistakes you labour under Whatever bitter name s
you give us and however you magnify yourselve s against us
we tak e all patie n tly ; and there are thousands of witnesses
tha t we return you blessing fo r cursing We would lay our
bodies as the ground and as the street for you to go over if it
could in the least c o ntribute to remove your prej udices and
advance the kingdom o f our dear Redeemer

This is humble an d e ar n e s t pleading ; and so far as the word
we includes Mr Robe and the leaders o f the revival t h e

pleading is honest It must not h o wever be considered as a
s pecimen of the S pirit o f the clergy in general
towards the
seceders This being understood I proceed with the appeal
You declare the work o f God to be a delusion and the work
o f the grand de ceiver
N ow my dear brethren for whom I
tremble have you been at due pains to know the nature and
?
circumstances o f this work
(Their A ct was issued whilst the
work was going o n ) H ave you taken the trouble to go to any
o f these places where the Lord h a s a ppeared in his glory and
maj esty ? Have you s o much as written t o any o f the ministers
to receive information o f it ? Is it not amazing r a sh n ess with
o ut inquiry o r trial
to pronounce that a work o f the devil
which fo r any thing you know m ay be the work o f the innitely
good and holy Spirit 7
My dear brethren can yo u nd in your hearts after all the
prayers you have put up in public a n d private fo r the outpour
ing o f the Spirit upon t his poor church and land to deny that it
i s He when he i s come Will ye be s o fearless can yo u be
,
WH IT EF I E LD
3 01
cruel to thou s ands o f perishing sinners who begin to y t o

Jesus Christ as a cloud and as doves to their windows as in
the most solemn manner with lifted up eyes and hands to pray
that there may be a restraint u pon the inuences o f the Holy
Spirit and that this outpouring of His grace may be withdrawn
?
an d n o t spread over the length and breadth of the land
R o be s P r efa ce
It is impossible n o t to ask an d that with strong emoti o n too
after reading such remonstrances
h o w could such good men
as the E rskines withstand these appeals ? N o w it is n o t easy
to explain this anomaly without seeming to palliate its enor
mity It admits however o f some explanation The E rs
kines o n raising the standard of Reformation in Scotland
planted it upon the mount o f the solemn league and covenant
arguing that Go d would carry o n his work only in a way o f
solemn covenanting as in the days of their reforming fore
fathers
With this prin
R E r s ki n e on Wi tn essi ng for God
c i pl e Whiteeld had n o sympathy ; for whether right o r wrong
he did not understand it H e would not therefore submit t o it
The reformers also laid it down as a maxim that little truths

(at such a time ) were like the little p i n n i ng s of a wall as n e
that it was a false conversion

ces s ar
y as the great stones
which draws men o ff from a n y of the ways of Go d
that
aversion from and Opposition to the testimony o f the t i me

was opp o sing God R a lp h E r s ki n e s S er m on s 2 n d vol fol i o
A ll this as they understood it Whiteeld rej ected and there
fore they rej ected him and defamed his principles in order to
defend their own
I shall S how yo u in eight o r ten p ar t i cu
lars said Ralp h in a sermon what another God and what

another Christ is appearing in the delusive spirit o f this time
brought in by the instr umentality o f the for ei g n er (Wh iteeld) ;
o f whom we had some grounds for very favourable thought s
an d expectations till we understood him more i l l y and found
h i m in several respects a s t r a ng er to our God and setting up
S er mon s fol i o
a n o t h e r God
The chief gr o und o f this charge however hollow is plausible
The A sso ciate Presbytery were asserting the legislative su
The
evils
they
were
co n
r e m a cy o f Christ as King o f Z i o n
p
so
W H I T EF I E LD
3 02
tending against in the kirk had grown o u t of a long disregard

to this sacred principle N ow Whiteeld s i d ed with the minis
ters who however good in other respe cts did n o t testify

against the violations o f this principle but against the S e ce s
sion who avowed and advo cated it H ence he w as identied
a n d denounced with the enemies o f church refo rm
He had
j oined their ranks and therefore he had to share in their r e
buke as well as to su ffer for mortifying the Presbytery It was
thus the E rskines w ere tempted to Oppos e and impugn the r e
v i v al s at C ambuslang and Kilsyth
These revivals checked
the ki n d of reformation which the E rskines were chiey plead
ing for They saw and felt this and hence they said Satan
seems content that Christ should preach providing He do not
reign nor rule knowing that h i s doctrine will not b e long un
corrupted if His g over n m en t can be overturned

S e r m on s
The power and policy o f hell is at work to bring any attempt
at reformation under contempt

Thus t h e se ceders
I bi d
could n o t imagine that any thing could be another work o f
God which was visibly and virtually hindering that work o f
God which they had so solemnly espoused and which was s o
much needed at the time It be came therefore a solemn duty
as they supposed to p o ur contempt and obloquy upon conver
sions which were pouring doubt upon the necessity and value
o f church reform
That must be a wrong conversion says
Ralph
that hath no tendency to the p u bl i c g o od but a ten
deney t o Oppose a public reformation

S er m on s
The d ep i c t i ng power als o o f Wh i t e el d s oratory s o unlik e
S cotch reasonings gave the E rskines another handle against
him Cornelius Winter says of him It was not without great
pathos you may be sure he treated upon the su fferings of the
Saviour H e was very ready at that kind o f painting which
frequently answered the end o f r ea l s cenery A s though Geth
semane were within sight he would say stret ching o u t h i s
hand
Look yonder
What is it I s ee ? It is my agonizing
Lord ! A nd as though it were no difcult matter to catch
the s oun d o f the S aviour praying he would exclaim Hark
hark do you n o t hear ?
Yo u may suppose that as this o c
bu t n o ;
c ur r ed frequent ly the e ffi cacy o f it was destr oyed
,
WH I T E F I E I D
L I FE AND TI M E S
3 03
th o ugh we often knew what was coming it was a s new to us as
though we had never heard it before

J a y s L ife of Wi n t er
Such painting Ralph E rskine had witnessed and the e ffect o f it
upon the people led him to s ay They see a beautiful and glo
r i o u s person presented to their imagination o r to t heir bodily
eye What a d evi l instead of Christ i s this !

N ever I
think did Satan appear as an angel o f light s o evidently a s in
the delusive S pirit now spreading

S e r m on s
O n the other hand Robe and some o f h i s brethren founded a
theory upon the v ivid images thus produced ; and arg ued that
imaginary ideas of Christ as man belonged to saving faith
o r at least were helpful to the faith of His being God man

Ralph E rskine replied to t his theory in a work e n
F r a ser
titl ed
F aith no F ancy o r a Treatise o f Mental Images
Well might F raser say of this book
it is not every where
level to mere o rdinary capacities

It is not indeed It proves
however that the author was a man o f extraordinary capacity ;
and could be as much at home amongst the depths of metaphysics
as amongst the heights of poetry or devotion It is said t hat
Reid found in this work the principles o n which he afterwards
built his System o f the Philosophy o f the Human Mind If he
did happily he did not draw the sp i r i t of h i s philosophy from it
The treatise certainly displays an extraordinary degree of
metaphysical acuteness
but if it prove any thing against such
mental image s as Whiteeld created and Robe commended it
for they are cham
s t ul t i e s the author s
GO S P E L S O NN E TS
bers of imagery
It is not necess ary to illustrate t his r e t or t
to those who have read both the poetry and the philosophy o f
Ralph E rskine ; and the point Of it c o uld not be explained to
those who have n o t read both Suf ce it to s ay that h i s s on
nets refute his system and have survived it although they are
often as fa n ta st i ca l as they are d evotional
It is amusing to read the charges and disclaimers of th e parties
in Scotland up o n the subj ect o f religious liberty The A sso
ciate Presbytery gravely charged the revivalists in t h e kirk
with pleading for a boundless toleration and liberty o f co n
s cience
no great crime as we now j udge N ot so however
did the revivali s ts of that day deem it The imputation roused
,
W H IT EF I E LD
304
S LI FE AND TIM E S
then however the S cotch blood o f even t he kind heart ed and
?
li b eral Robe
Where and when did we that
he exclaims
I k now none of my brethren ever did it and I am so far con
scious o f my innocence that I insist upon your making your
charge good If you d o n o t as I am sure yo u cannot it is no
pleasure t o me that you give reason to the world to re ckon you
How true it i s that nations are

s l a n d er er s
-
wl y wi se
sl o
an d
m eanly
j ust
and that even g o od men ar e seldom wiser than their times !

Wh i t e el d s visits would have been a blessing to Scotland had
they led to nothing but a canvassing o f the rights o f con
s cience for he was far a h ea d o f b o th parties o n the subj e ct o f
religious liberty
A nother handl e against the Cambuslang and Kilsyth revivals
was the physical e ffects o f the awakening
We have couva l
instead o f convicti o ns said E rskine H e might and

s i on s
ought to have kn o wn th at this was not true o f on e in s ix o f the
converts
They are greatly mistaken who imagine that all
those wh o have been observably awakened have come under
faintings tremblings o r other bo d ily distresses These have
been by far the fe wes t n umber

N otwithstanding this
R obe
assurance from the principal witness the E rskines went o n to
confound the exceptions with the rule in thes e c o nversions
E ven in 1 7 6 5 the editor o f Ralph s Sermon s kept up this mis
representation and said in a note
the subj ects o f the extra
ordinary work were strangely agitated by st r ong convulsions
fearful dist o rtions foamings and faintings

This is caricature
not history In 1 7 42 the instances o f conversion carried o n
in a calm silent quiet m anner fo r six months are the more
Wh i t e el d s visit o c
numerous and unquestionable
R obe
curred in this period Besides even Ralph E rskine himself
could n o t always prevent though he reproved
clamorous
noise under his o wn ministry F A ITH N O F AN C Y Ap p en d i x

t o P r efa ce
But these e ffe cts have been su f ciently explained
in the A merican department o f this volume
It would be wrong after having quoted so Often from Ralph
E rsk i ne s Sermons were I not to s ay even Of the serm ons which
W HI TE F I E L D
S L I F E AND
IM E S
3 05
most disgure d with tirades against Wh iteeld and the r e

v i val s that they are full o f evangelical tr u th and aming with
love to immortal s ouls and as faithful to t h e c o nscience as any
that Whiteeld preached at Cambu slang Indeed had they
been prea ched o n the br a e h ea d at the great sacrament there
E rskine would as surely have s lain h is hun d reds as White
eld did h is thous an ds

ar e
CH A PT E R X III
WH IT EF I E L D
I TI N ER A TI N G
ON
retu r ning fr o m Cambuslang to London Whiteeld found
says Gillies the Tabernacle enlarged and a new awakening

b egun AS might be expected he was j ust in the right spirit
fo r turning both facilities to the best a ccount
Remembering
the u n ct i on he enj oyed in S cotland he wrote t o a friend o n
arriving at L o ndon I feel i t I feel it n ow and long to preach
a gain !
When he did he s o on had o ccasion to inform o n e of
his Cambuslang c o mpanions O ur glorious E mmanuel blesses
m e in like manner now he has brought me to E ngland

This ourishing state o f the Tabernacle society now equally
large and harmonious enabled him t o forget all his old g r i ev
a n oes
and to renew his w o nted S pirit towards the Wesleys
They were then triumphi ng gloriously at N ewcastle and he
heartily rej oiced in their success H e wr o te to o n e o f their

friends thus
I am dead to p a r t i es now and freed fr o m the
pain which on that account once disturbed the peace of my
soul I redeem time fr o m s leep rather than your letter should
n o t b e answered
His letters at this time are full o f a holy impatience to get
o u t o f his
winter quarters pleasant as they were and t o e n
ter upon a fresh campaign

His ol d friends in the country
and especially in Wale s were crying out for him to do there
what he had d o ne in Scotland He could not however gratify
them at once Persecution had begun to harass so m e o f his
coadj utors in Wales and Wiltshire and therefore he kept upon
his vantage ground in Lond o n to expose and defeat it A o
c or d in l
alf
he
appealed
thu
s
to
the
bish
o
p
of
Bangor
o
n
beh
g y
,
WH IT EF I E LD
307
f C enn i ck ,
who had been shamefully used in that dio cese

In Wales they have little fellowship meetings where some
well meaning people meet together simply t o tell what God
hath d o ne for their souls In some o f these m eetings I believe
Mr C used t o tell his experience and to invite h is companions
to come and be happy in Jesus Christ He is therefore indicted
a s holding a conventicle ; and this
I nd is the c a s e of one if
not t wo more N ow my Lord these persons thus indicted
as far as I can j udge are loyal subj ects to his Maj esty and true
friends t o and attendants upon the church o f E ngland service
Yo u will see by the letters (I send with this ) h o w unwilling
A nd yet if all those acts against per
t hey are to leave her
were pu t in ex
s o ns meeting to plot against church and state
what must they do ? They must be
e cu t i o n against t h e m
I assure your Lord
o bliged to declare thems elves dissenters
Hundreds if not thousands
s hip i t is a cr i t i ca l time for Wales
will go in a body from the church if such proceedings are coun
I lately wrote them a letter diss uading them from
t e n an c e d
s eparating from the church ; and I write thus freel
y to your
Lordship be c ause I w o uld n o t have such a re kindl ed i n o r
0 this letter the bishop r e

your
Lordship
s
diocese
T
r
o
m
f
t urned a prompt and polite answer promising to hear both sides
What he d i d eventually I know not However six m o nth s
fi culty though he carried
a fterwards Whiteeld found some di f
his point in preventing a separation from the church in Wales
as we shall s o on see
The next case o f persecution which he had to resist came
to him from Wiltshire It was o f a kind not alt o gether cured
by another century o f the march o f intellect

It was this
The ministers of Bramble S eg er y Langley and many others
have strictly forbidden t h e overseers and churchwardens to let
s (C enn i ck i t es have any thing out of the
an
o f the C
y
parish ; and they obey them and tell the poor if th ey cannot
stop them fr o m following any other way (than the church !)
they will fa mi sh them Several of the poor having large fami
lies hav e already been denied any hel p Some out o f fear de
nied they ever came (to the conventicle ) and others have been
m a d e to pr o mise they will come n o m o re whilst t h e m o st part
o
WH IT EF I E LD
3 08
S L I FE A ND TI M E S
come at the loss o f friends and all they have When the offi
cers threatened some to take away their pay they answered If
you s ta r ve us we will g o ; and rather than forbear we will live
on
g r a ss like kine
These facts in this form Whiteeld submitted to the bishop
of O l d Sarum ; telling h i s Lordship plainly that if C
left the
church
hundreds would leave it with him
The e ffect as
usual is n o t known The only thi n g certain is that both per
s e c u t i o n and petty annoyance went o n in most quarters
Whiteeld having done what he c o uld by letters left Lon
d o n to visit these disturbed districts and attend the associa
tions o f the Welch methodists O n h i s way he preached at
H ampton Comm o n to about t welve thousand

Gillies does
not mention the o ccasi o n It was this
A man was hung in
chains there that day

A more miserable S pectacle says
Whiteeld I hav e not seen I preached in the morning to a
great auditory about a mile O ff from the pl ace o f execution I
intended doing the same after the criminal was t urned o ff ; but
the weather was very violent Thousands and thousands came
but through misinformati on kept on the t op
a n d staid to hear
o f the hill while I preached at the b o ttom

F rom this he went to D ursley o n e of the seats of p er s e c u
tion t o dare the consequences ; but al t hough the mob had
taken down an itinerant on the sabbath before
no one was
p e rmitted to touch 9r molest him

The word came (upon
them ) with a most gloriously convincing power

He then
went to h i s T U M P again at H ampton

I cannot tell yo u he
s ays
what a sol emn occasion that was ! They do indeed
hang o n m e to hear the word It ran and was gl o ried
P reaching in Gl o ucestershire now is like preaching at the
Tabern a cle
A fter preaching at Bristol and Bath he went to Waterford
in South Wales and there presided at the r s t A ssociation of
the Welch C alvinistic Methodists All who kno w how much
W ales owes t o the meetings o f this uni on and how Often and
signally they have been Pentecostal s cenes well a ccounting for
if n o t excusing the shouts of Gog u nnya n t ben dyi t t i will
learn with pleasure that Whi t eeld opened the A ssociati o n

.
W HIT EF I E LD
Gi lli es
3 09
I opened with a close and solemn disc o urse on

walking with God Afterwards we betook ourselves to bu s iness ;
settling the a ffairs of the societies till about two in the morn
ing
N ext day they sat till midnight
Al l acknowledged
Go d was with them

Thus began that which eventually i m
mortalized B a l a (bach and sainted C h a r l es
In the spirit o f this meeting he went to Card iff and agai n
made the greatest sco ffers quiet

But at Swanse a the e ffect
was s o great that he wrote o ff to a friend after prea ching
!
a
t
k
n
Swansea is
I never preached with a more convincing
e
power F ree grace for ever !

Fr o m this he went to Caer
m ar t h en and preached fro m

the t op of the C R O SS
The
great sessions were then sitting

The j ustices he says de
sired I would stay till they rose and they would come A c
co r d i n gl
y they did and many thousands more and several
people o f quality
He was still more pleased howeve r with
an audience o f several thousand souls at Je fferson because

very like the Ki ng sw ood c olliers and at Ll as s i vr an
t hey were
because he had as it were a M oor el d s congregation and
chiey be cause J er usa l em sinners bring most glory to Christ

Whilst thus in what he calls a new and very unthought o f
world a clergyman in the neighbourhood of Larn preached

against him by name o n the sabbath day much a n d violently
This defeated its o wn purpose To his surprise o n crossing t h e
ferry at Larn o n e vessel red a salute and several hoisted their
ags as tokens o f respe ct and w elcome
D uring this itineracy in Wales he travelled he says
four
hundred miles in three weeks spent three days in attending two
associations preached about forty times visited about thirteen
towns and passed through seven counties L e t t 5 1 4 A t the

close of this tour his rst question to himself w as Where shall
I go next
He was at a loss to determine
A visit to York
shire would b e very agreeable Perhaps E xeter and Cornwall
may b e the next places That i s d r y ground I love t o range in
such places
He determined however to make rst o n e more
attack upon the prince of darkness in M o or el d s This he did
and o n e of its e ffects was that he was enabled to remit 2 5 to
Georgia in addition to 1 00 sent out by his br o ther s S hip a lit
WH I T EF I E LD
3 10
S LI FE AND
TIMES
tle before
Grace grace he exclaims in his letter to Haber
sham I have paid all that is due in E ngland and have sent you
2 5 by the bearer
God willing I will remit you more soon
After a few weeks he left London again for Gloucestershire
to
strengthen the persecuted or to share the br un t with Cen
nick o f who m he was very fond He thus des cribes h im at this
time :
He is truly a great soul ! one o f those weak things
which God has chosen to confound the strong Such a hardy
worker with his hands an d h e ar t y preacher at the same time I
have s carce k nown All call him a second Bunyan

H aving
c o untenanced and consoled C en n i ck he went to Brist ol O n
his arrival he learnt that the king had fought and conquered i n
Germany Whiteeld did not know before that G E O RGE had
j oined the army He therefore said with his characteristic
simplicity and loyalty I had observed fo r some time past when
praying for him th a t whether I would o r not ou t came this
petition Lord cover thou h i s head in the day of battle Whil e
praying I wondered why I prayed s o ; not knowing he was gone
to ght This gave me condence

He had need
L et t 1 2 4
o f it
fo r hi s own day o f battle was at hand
A letter came t o
him from his itinerant at Hampton urging him to pla ce himself
in the brea ch The appeal a s will b e seen was not likely to b e
lost on Whiteeld
O n sabbath mornin g says the writer
about twenty of the so ciety met In the afternoon the mob
c ame to my house demanding me to come down I asked by
what authority they did so ? They swore they would have me
Then said I you shall s o they took me to the l i me p i t (for
S kins ) and thre w me in But o h what a power o f God was o n
my soul ! I thought with Stephen the heavens opened to my
sight an d the Lord Jesus was ready to receive me I believe
my undaunted courage shook some of them I told them I
should me et them a t the j udgment seat and then their faces
would gather palene ss They let me ou t and I came hom e
and prayed with the people wh o were t here A fter that I ex
h o r t ed
And when I was concluding the mob came again and
took me to a br ook to throw me in t here They told me they
would let me go if I would forb ear preaching fo r a month I
would make n o such promise So forward I went O ne o f the m
.
WH IT E F I E LD
S L I FE AND
T I MES
311
threw me in and I went to the bottom but came up again with

my hands c l a sp ed t o gether I did n o t desire to come o u t until
they fetched me A ccordingly in j umped o n e or tw o Of the m
and took me o u t But then o n e maliciously and cowar dly pushed
me in again and much cut and bruised o n e of my legs agains t
a stone Some o f the others were going to throw h i m in for
doing s o I came home talking with them Many seemed t o
repent o f what they had done and promised to molest me n o
more The ch i ef says he will in nowise touch me again Many
advise us to prose cute them : but if they are quiet I am c o n
tent and can say fr o m the heart F ather forgive them
I
Th om a s
s h ould be glad if you would b e here next S unday
,
Ad a m s
Whiteeld was soon o n t h e spot !

O n Thursday I cam e
here and expected to b e atta cked ; be cause I had heard tha t
the mob had threatened that if ever I came there again they
would have a piece o f my black gown to make ap r on s with N o
s o oner had I entered the town but I heard and s aw the signals
such as blowing of h or n s and ringing o f be ll s for gathering t h e
mob M y soul w as kept quite easy I preached on a large
glass plat I nished j ust as the ringleader o f the mob broke
in upon us O ne of them called me c owa r d I then went to the
house and preached o n the stair case to a large number of seri
o u s souls
but the troublers in Israel soon came in to mock and
mob us But feeling what I never felt before as I have very
little natural courage strength and power from above I leaped
down stairs and all ran away before me However they c o n
t i n u ed making a noise about the house till midnight ; abusin g
the poor pe ople as they went home and as we hear they br oke
o n e young lady s arm in two pl a ces
Hearing th a t t wo o r three clergy men were in the town o n e
Of who m was a j ustice o f the pea ce (query o f the wa r
I wen t
to them : but alas
they laid the cause o f all the grievance a t
m y door but by the help o f my Go d I S hall persist in preach
ing and in e nc o uraging those t o do so who are moved by t h e
Holy Ghost A s I came o ut from the clergymen two of the
unhappy mobbers were particularly ins olent and huzzaed us out
o f t o wn L e t us rej o ice and b e exceeding glad fo r n o w I
,
W H IT EF I E LD
3 12
humbly hope I b egin to be a di s ciple o f Jesus Christ since t o
s af er for Him i s giv en unto me
Whiteeld had to appeal unto C aesar for j ustice in this

case The trial o f the H ampton riot ers came o n very soon after
the sudden death o f his only son ; and as the preparation and
bustle of the a ffair diverted him somewhat from brooding upon
his l o ss I have connected the report with his domestic life
A bout this time a motion was made at on e o f the associations
in Wales whilst Whiteeld was present t o separat e from t h e
e stablished church This grieved him much although it was
m ade only by
a few contracted S pirits as he calls them
By far the greater part m o st strenuously Opposed it and

because they enj oyed such great
a greed to g o o n as usual
liberty under the mild and paternal government o f his Maj esty
Thus with all his attachment to the church Whiteeld was too
honest to ascribe any o f his liberty to her government His
d enition o f liberty at this association is characteristic of him
self and his coadj utors
the privilege of ranging up and down
preaching repentance to those multitudes who come neither t o
church nor meeting but who are led from curiosity to follow us
into the el ds a privilege which very few ex er ci se now how
ever m any would contend for it The crushing of Sidmouth s
bill w a s not followed by much eld prea ching
In the course o f his itinera cy this year Whiteeld visited
E xeter twice and created a stir which turned the bishop into
a p a mp h l et eer Lavington h ad heard of the enthusiasm o f
the methodists and now he s a w it It drew ten thousand of

his ock o u t to Southern Bay a n d several o f his clergy o u t of
their stalls into the elds to hear Whiteeld Some of the
latter however
went o ff when the Lord made way fo r
himself into the he arts o f the people

Having introduced this
l eaven int o the city Whiteeld left it to ferment for two months
and then ret u rned determined to be all heart and all humility
at the same time

The result was the common people began
to feel and even some o f the p ol i t e were much a ffe cted although
in the elds This will a ccount for Lavington s tirades against
itinerant pre aching The bishop had the insolence to insinuate
t hough n o t the boldness t o s ay that the metho di st preacher s
,
WH IT EF I E LD
3 13
a s well as S t An th on y were attended with a sturdy set o f fol

lowers as their guards armed with clubs u n der their clothes
menacing and threatening such a s should dare to S peak lightly
o f their apostle
I n the same
I have often h ea r d it a ffi rmed
mean spirit Lavington chose to forget that itineracy had bee n
practised by other churches than St A nthony s Knox provided
for it in Scotland in his F irst Book o f Discipline

Queen
E lizabeth appointed twelve to travel continually By the way
who pockets the s a l a r y o f the church itinera cy now ; for t h e
w or k is neglected ? Whiteeld knew both the legitimacy o f
his o ffi ce and the need o f it and therefore persisted in E xeter
u ntil the bishop s aw nearly
a third part o f the city attending
o n the word prea ched in the elds ; and until he himself

c o uld say I am here as in S cotland and N ew E ngland Praise
to fre e grace ! Here is work enough for months The weather
is favourable r a ng e therefore I must and will
L ett
O n the morning of the last day o f h i s visit he went to O ttery
to preach in the market place : but j ust as he named his text
the bel l s rang He then went t o the elds and the people ran
a fter him
in dr o ves
O n his way one of the clergymen with
the same zeal as the bell ringers questioned his auth o rity and
denounced the meeting as illegal and as a riot
I answered
him pertinently as I thought and showed my authority by
preaching from these words G O ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature
N ext day he went to Biddeford and was much pleased t o
nd there a clergyman nearly eighty years of age who had lately
preached three times in o n e day and rode forty miles : but says
Whiteeld he is not above on e year ol d in the s chool o f Christ
D ear Hervey he says

laid the blessed foundation whilst a
curate here Such was the E dinburgh like e ffect o f a sermon

in the dissenting chapel that he wrote o ff t o the Tabernacle
I cannot think o f n es t li ng in London I am more and more
convinced that I should go from place to place

A ccordingly
instead o f nestling he ew into Cornwall and alighted once again
in a ch u r ch at St Gennis
Many many prayers it seems
had been put up by the good re ctor and others fo r an out
p o uring o f God s blessed Spirit

They were an s wered
.
WH I T E F I E L D
3 14
A rr o ws o f c o nvicti o n ed s o thick and fast and such a univer s al

weeping prevailed from one en d of the congregation to the other
that good Mr J
could not help g o ing from seat to seat
to comfort the wounded souls

A fter preaching some t ime in
Cornwall thus he said But I must away t o Biddeford j ust to
give Satan a n oth er stroke and then return the way I came to
the great metropolis
It was now winter

but the L o rd he says
warms my
heart
In this spirit he came to Birmingham
There he
heard of the mobs which had b een stirred up a t Wednesbury
against the VVeSl eyan s by a sermon in the church ; o f which
Wesley says I never heard s o wicked a sermon delivered with
such bitterness o f voice and manner

Its e ffect a s is well
known was almost murder Ill as A dams was treated at Hamp
t o n i t was mercifully compared with the en d like assault upon
Wesley Whiteeld went to Wednesbury and was well re ceived
I c annot tell you he says what a sweet melting t ime there
was Many were in tears

N ext day however whilst preach
ing at Mare Green in the neighbourhood
several clods were
thrown o n e o f which fell o n his head and another struck his

ngers whilst he was praying H e then returned to Bi r mi n g
ham and prea ched to m any thousands o n a comm o n with
great e ffect
When he went o n the gr o und a regiment o f
soldiers were exercising but the o ffi cers when they saw him
dismissed them and promised that there sh o uld b e n o dis
,
t ur b an c e
Whiteeld cl o sed this itinera cy by a visit to his Old friend

M r Williams o f Kidderminster
In his house he recognised
a sweet savour am o ngst the v isitors

o f good Baxter s
doctrine works and discipline remaining until this day

That
s av our he did n o t nd in Baxter s church ; its bells were r ung
whilst he wa s preaching and that by men who had pr o mised
not to d o so
O n his return t o Lo nd o n Whiteeld had to sustain the loss
of his child to prosecute the Hampton ri o ters and t o answer
some pamphlets a s well as to prepare for revisiting A merica In
June 1 7 44 he engaged his passage fr o m P o rtsmouth ; but the
captain o f t h e ve ss el refused t o let him o n b o ard when t h e ti m e
.
WHIT EF I E LD
3 15
to sail came lest he should spoil the sailors

He had there
fore to go to Plymouth for a vessel
Whilst at Plymouth he had a very narrow escape fr o m being
m ur d e r e d
O n the night o f his arri val a bea r and dr u m were
paraded o n the ground where he was expected to preach He
did not therefore preach that night N ext night he did ; and
after returning to his inn some ruffians under the pretence of a
hue and cry w arrant broke into his room and insulted him
This led him to remove to private lodgings A gain he preached
and visited the French prisoners without any thing happening
to awaken fear or suspicion That night however h i s landlady
informed him that a well dressed gentleman desired to speak
with him
Imagining he says
that it was s o me N i cod e
m i t e I desired him to be brought up
H e came and sat down
by my bedside told me he was a lieutenant of a man of war
congratulated me o n the success of my ministry and expressed
himself much concerned from being detained from hearing me
He then asked me if I knew him ? I answered no He r e
plied his n ame was C a d og a n I rej oined I had seen one Mr
Cadogan formerly an Offi cer at Georgia about a fortnight ago
Upon this he immediately rose up uttering the
a t Bristol
most abusive language ; calling me dog rogue villain ; and beat
me most unmercifully with h i s gold headed cane A s you kno w
I have n o t much natural courage guess how surprised I was !
Being apprehensive that he intended to shoot or stab me I
underwent all the fears of a sudden violent death
It providentially happened that my hostess and her daughter
hea r ing me cry mu r d er rushed into the room and seized him
by the collar However he immediately dise ngaged himself
fr om them and repeated his blows uponme The cry of mur
der was repeated ; which putting him in some terror he made
towards t h e chamber door from whence the good woman pushed
him down stairs
A t the bottom a secon d cried o ut Take courage I am
ready to help yo u
A ccordingly whilst the other was escaping
he rushed up and nding o n e o f the women coming down h e
took her by the heels and threw her upon the stairs by which
he r back was almost broken By this time the neighbourho od
,
WH IT EF I E LD
3 16
S LI FE AND TIM E S
alarmed Unwilling to add to it I desired the do o rs to b e
shut and retired to rest

This mysterious a ffair Whiteeld did not prose cute fo r al
though much urged to do s o

I am b etter employed he says
being greatly blessed in preaching the gospel I was well
paid fo r what I h ad suffered ; curiosity having led perhaps
two thousand more than ordinary to s e e and hear a man that
had like t o have been murdered in his b ed Thus all things
work for the furtherance of the gospel
wa s
T h u s S at an t h war t s ,
an d
m en
An d y e t t h e th i ng t h ey th wart ,
bj e ct
e ffec
The only explanation o f this outrage t hat I kn o w o f only
rendered it more mysterious

I had he says some parti
It seems four
c ul ar information about the late o d d adventure
gentlemen came to the house o f one of my friends kindl y in
quiring fo r me and desiring to know where I lodged that they
might come and pay their respects H e dire cted them Some
time afterwards I received a letter info rming me that the writer
an eminent attorney at N ew York
w as a nephew to Mr S
that he had the pleasure of supping with me at his uncle s house
and desired my company to s up with him and a few more friends
at a tavern I sent him word that it w as not customary for m e
to s up o u t at taverns but should b e glad o f his company ou t
o f respect to h i s uncle to eat a morsel with him at my lodgings
H e came We s upped ; and I Observed that he looked around
him frequently an d seemed very a bs en t But having no s u s
p i c i o n I continued in conversation with him and my other
friends until w e parted
T H IS I now nd was to have been the a ssa ss i n O n being
interrogated by h i s companions on his return to the tavern
about what he had done he answered that b eing s o civilly used
he had not the h ea r t to touch me Upon which as I am in
formed the perso nwho assaul t ed me laid a wager of t e n g u i n ea s
that he would do my business fo r me Some s ay that they took
h i s s w or d from him
which I suppose they did for I s aw and
felt only the weight o f his cane

The de s erved Odium of this dastardly attack must be equally
,
W H IT E F I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
3 17
divided between E ngland and A merica That the vol u

nteer
assa s sin was an A merican there can b e no more doubt than
that the bravo wa s an E nglishman Whiteeld could not have
mistaken the former Indeed it was out o f respect to the

uncle in N ew York that he welcomed the nephew without
hesitation
He availed himself adr o itly of the notoriety t hus given t o
him in Plym o uth to divide public attention with the bishop of
the diocese wh o was there at the time conrming
Could
you think it he says I hav e been preachin g a conrmation

sermon ? D o you ask me where ? In a qu a ker s eld A s I saw
thousands o cked to the church to have the bishop s hand i m
posed upon t hem I thought it not improper t o let them have a
word o f exhortation suitable to the o ccas ion

This conrmation sermon produced on e g oo d e ffect equal at
leas t to any that resulted from the conrmation itself The
late Rev Henry Tanner then a y oung man and a ship builder
had j ust come to P lym o uth in search o f employment at the
(lock
Wh i t e el d s powerful voice from the eld arrested his
attention and that o f his fellow workmen They deemed him
mad and determined to cap si z e him from his block N or was
this all they went n o t only to thr o w him down from his stand
but with their pockets full of st o nes to injure the mad parson
D r H a w ker s L ife of Ta n n er
Tanner s resolution failed him when he saw Whiteeld with
open arms and gushing tears entreating poor lost sinners to
come t o Christ He went home mu ch impressed and resolved
to hear the prea cher again next evening He did The text
was
Beginning at Jerusalem
Whiteeld dep i c ted t h e
cruel murder o f the Lord of life there Then turning to t h e
spot where Tanner stood he said
You are reecting o n the
cruelty o f these inhuman butchers wh o imbrued their hands in
innocent bl o od
A t this moment hi s eye fell upon Tanner and
his lips said

The convicted sinner was
T hou art the man
forced to cry Go d be merciful to me

Wh iteeld saw the
e ffect and me t the em o tion with a bur s t of tenderness which
cheered the penitent A nother sermon o n Jacob s vision o f
the Be t hel ladder led Tanne r up t o t h e Lamb slain in the
.
WH IT EF I E LD
3 18
S L I F E AN D
T IM E S
midst of the throne and thus gave h i m both j o y and peace i n

believing
The advances he made from this time in religious knowledge
were great and rapid
They eventually en
a n d experience
c ou r ag e d and enabled him to preach the everlasting gospel to
others This he did with such success th a t even D r Hawker
(that strange compound o f spirituality and absurdity) a cknow
l edges that Tanner seldom preached o n e sermon i n vain
Tanner s frequent prayer was that he might die in his M aster s
work His petition was granted He broke down in the pulpit
b efore he could nish his sermon ; and soon fell asleep in Je s us
L ife by H a w ker
This was not the only good e ffect o f Wh i t e el d s detention at
Plymouth Some o f the very persons who Opposed him at rst
o ffered him a piece o f ground surrounded with walls fo r a
society house
N o wonder fo r he came from the docks every
evening
with great companies singing and praising God
A s he was now about to leave for A merica he com
L e t t er s
m u n i ca t e d the glad tidings Of this new Opening t o C enn i ck and
wrote to those who had most inuence over him
Brother
C e n n i ck m us t come to these parts soon

O ne thing he wrote
for his encouragement was that the ferrymen who were like
Lev i at the re ceipt o f custom would take nothing of the multi
tude who came to hear him preach They said
God forbid
that we S hould s el l the word o f G o d

Thus preserved and
blessed he embarked for A merica with two N ew E ngland
friend s
,
CH A PT E R X I V
WH IT EF I E L D I TI N ER A TI N G
1 7 44
IN
A M ER I C A
IN
the b eginning o f A ugust 1 7 4 4 Whiteeld embark ed

th ough in a poor state o f health and after a tedious passage of
eleven w eeks arrived at York

Gi lli es
H e sailed from Ply
mouth with nearly a hundred and fty ships under severa l con
v o ys
It was however full six weeks before t hey reached
the Western islands This was owing to the want o f wind
When t h e wind did spring up o n e o f the vessels which missed
stays dr o ve right upon his ship striking her mainsail into the
b o wsprit Whi t e el d s vessel being large sustained little dam
age ; but the other received a blow which disabled and well
nigh sunk her The cries and groan s of her crew he says
were a wfu l !
He had b een singing a hymn o n deck when the c o u cu s
sion took place This fact with the news o f the c o ncussion
was communicated to the c o nvoy It drew ou t he says the
remark
This is your praying and be damned ! with many
sayings of the like nature H e adds this I must o wn shocked
me more than the striking o f the ship

It did n o t however
stop n o r intimidate him
I called my friends t o gether and
broke ou t into t hese w o rds in prayer ; Go d of the sea and God
Sho w
o f the dry land this is a night o f rebuke and blasphemy
t hyself O G o d and take us under thine o wn immediate p r o t e c
tion Be thou our C o nvoy and make a di fference between
t hose who fear thee and th o se that fear thee not

Pr o vidence s oo n made a di ffe r ence N ext day a violent
,
WH IT EF I E LD
320
E uroclydon arose
which b attered and sent away o ur convoy
White
L e t ter s
s o that we s aw him no more all the voyage
no loss but when two strange s ail
field at rst thought this
appeared in the distance and preparation was made for action
by mounting guns slinging hammocks o n the sides o f the S hip
he (being naturally a
a n d encircling the masts wi t h chains
coward as he says ) found it formidable to have no convoy

The vessels were however only part o f t heir o wn eet This
was a pleasant discovery to more than the skulking chaplain in
the h ol es o f the ship
The captain o n clearing the cabin said
After all this is the best ghting
You may b e sure I c o n
curred praying t hat all our conicts with spiritual enemies
might a t last terminate in a thorough cleansing and an eternal
purication o f the d e l ed ca bi n o f ou r hearts

L e tt e r s
N o other accident o ccurred during the voyage I t s tedious
ness overcame his patience however when he saw the port I n
order to land a few hours sooner than the vessel he went o n
b o ard a smack in the bay but darkness coming on sh e missed
her course and was tossed about all night Unfortunately too
and he was so hungry that he could
s h e had no provisions
have gnawed the very b oards

Besides this he was su ffering
from ner vous cholic

Altogether he was thoroughly morti
e d un til a man lying at his elbow in the cabin began to talk
of
one Mr Whiteeld for whose arrival the n ew l i g h ts in N ew
E ngland were watching and praying

This he says
made m e take courage I continued undiscovered ; and in a
few hours in answer I trust to new light prayers we arrived
safe
H e was re ceived at York by a physician once a notorious
deist who had been conv erted under his ministry This was a
signal p r ovidence : for in about half an hour after he entered t h e
doctor s house he b ecame racked with cholic and co nvulsed
from the waist t o the toes

A total convulsion was app r e
hended by the physician He himself dreaded d eli r i u m and
implored his weeping wife and friends n o t to be surprised i f
he uttered any thing wrong

Both fears however were soon
allayed : but he was brought s o low that he could n o t bear
the sound o f the t read of a foot or the voice of friends

F o ur
,
WH I T EF I E LD
32 1
days elapsed before nature could be relieved and for week s he

had to be car r ied like a child
The fact is he had eaten
eagerly of some p ot a toes during his gnawing hunger on

board the smack and they had remained on the stomach undi
gested They were n o t even discoloured when they were

removed
When Whiteeld recovered the excellent though e ccentric
Moody the m inister o f York called upon him and accosted h i m
thus :
Sir you are rst welcome t o A merica ; s econdly to
N ew E ngland ; thirdly to all faithful ministers in N ew E ng
land ; fourthly t o all the good people in N ew E ngland ft hl y
to all the good people of York ; and sixthly and lastly to me
dear Sir less than the least o f all

This w el come was followed
by an urgent request for a sermon Whiteeld hesitated for a
time but good ol d Mr Moody did not give him the benet
of his own favourite maxim When you know n o t what to do
you must n o t do you know not what This however he
did He preached and immediately after went over the ferry
to Portsmouth A S might be expected he caught cold and was
again br ought to t h e gates of death Three physicians attended
him during the night
With his usual simplicity he says My pains returned ; but
what gave me most concern was that notice had been given o f
my being to preach next evening I felt a divi n e life d i s ti n c t
from my animal life which made me as it were laugh at my
pains though every one thought I was taken with death
My dear York physician was then about t o administer a me
di oine I o n a sudden cried o u t D octor my pains are sus
pended : by the help o f God I 11 go and preach
and then come
home and die With some diffi cult y I reached the pulpit All
looked quite surprised as though they s aw o ne risen from t h e
dead Indeed I was as pale as death and told them they must
l o ok upon m e as a dying man come to bear my dying testim o ny
t o the truths I had formerly preached to them A ll seemed
melted and were drowned in tears The cry after me when I
left the pulpit was like the cry o f sincere mourners when attend
ing the i n er al o f a dear departed friend Upon my comi ng
h o me I was laid on a bed upon the ground near the re and
,
WH I T EF I E LD
3 22
S LI FE AND TIM E S
But God was pleased t o order

I heard them y
it o therwise I gradually re covered

Gillies h as added to this a ccount an interesting anecdote
from some of Wh i t e el d s papers
A poor negro woman insisted
upon seeing the invalid when he began to recover She came
in and s a t down on t h e ground and looked earnestly in his face
She then said in broken accents
Massa you j u st go to
heaven s gate But Jesus Christ said Get you down get yo u
down you must n o t come here yet go rst and call some more
poor negroes
I prayed to the Lord that if I was to live this
might b e the event

Gi l l i es
H e thought himself dying indeed when he wa s laid n ear

the re after preaching But when he recollected the life and
power which spread all around whilst expecting to stretch
into eternity he said

I thought it was worth dying for a
In three weeks after he was able to go to

t h ousa n d times !
Boston though still very weak H i s arrival was announced
thus in P rince s Christian History : The Rev George White
eld was s o far revived as to b e able to set ou t fr o m Portsmouth
to Bost o n whither he came in a very feeble state the Monday
evening after since which he h a s been able to preach in several
o f our largest houses o f public worship with great and growing
success H e comes with the same extraordinary spirit o f meek
ness sweetness and universal benevolence as b efore In oppo
s i t i o n to the spirit o f separati o n and bi o t r
g
y he is still for hold
ing communion with all protestant churches In Opposition to
e n t h u s i a s m he preaches a close adherence to the Scriptures a nd
the necessity o f trying all impressions by them and o f rej ecting
as delusions whatever is not agreeable to them In opposition to
a n t i n om i a n i s m he preaches up all kinds o f relative and religi o us
dutiesthough to be performed in the strength of Christ and
in S hort the doctrines o f the church o f E ngland and of the rst
fathers Of this country A s before he applies himself to the
u n d er s t a n di n
f
o f his hearers and then to their a f
ections
A
nd
g
the more he preaches the more he convinces peopl e of their
P r i n ce
mistakes about him and increases their satisfaction
This defence was not needless at the time Both calumny and
caricature had b een busy at Boston against Whiteeld Har
sa
H e i s g on e
WHIT EF I E LD
S L I FE AND
TI M ES
3 23
vard C ol lege and h a lf p en n y squibs called

testimonies
united against him A good Old puritan of the city said o f the
testimonies
they do n o t w eig h much
this was equally true
o f the more learned charges from the college
A ccordingly
neither w eig h ed with the public They soon o ffered t o build
for Whiteeld the l a r g es t place o f worship that was ever seen
in A merica
This he declined He did n o t de cline however
when the people vo t ed him into the pulpits o f their shy pas
tors
This led him to s ay in reference to the o l d j oke that
the lord brethren o f N ew E ngland could tyrannize as well as the
lord bishops o f Ol d E ngland

Well is it at present that the
people are lord brethren ; for they have passed votes o f invita
tion t o me to preach in the pulpits
Had he been h i mself at
the t ime however he would have gone into t h e elds
The c oolness and shyness o f many ministers did not surprise
him n o w When he was the guest o f Governor Belcher o n his
former visit to Boston he quite understood the ci vi l n od o f
the clergy at table and s aid at the time many who are n o w
extremely civil will turn o u t my open and avowed enemies
They did ; and he said n o w

I have b een no false prophet
Still he fel t the di fference when the clergy freed from r e
straints appeared i n p ur i s n a tu r a l i bus

L e t t er s
He found
tha t the good old man (Moody) j udged t o o much by h i s own
honest feelings when he welcomed him to a l l the faithful
ministers of N ew E ngland
But Wh iteeld soon forgot all
who forgot h i m at Boston when the high sheri ff who was once
the leader o f the persecution began to hear him and espe cially
w hen his spiritual levees for the awakened became crowded

a man
A t o n e o f them a very singular Bostonian visited him
o f ready wit and racy humour who delighted i n pre aching over
a bot t l e to his boon companions H e had gone to hear White
eld in orde r to get up a n ew tavern harangue
but when he
had caught enough o f the sermon for his purpose an d thus
wanted to quit the church for the inn he fo und his endeavours
to get out fruitless he was s o pent up

Whilst thus xed and
waiting for fresh matter o f ri di cule he wa s arrested by the

go spel That night h e went to Prince full of horror and longing
to beg pard o n of Whiteeld Prince encouraged him to visit
Y 2
-
W H IT EF I E LD
32 4
S LI FE AND TIM E S
the preacher Whiteeld says of him

by the paleness pen
s i v e n e s s and horror o f his countenance I guessed he was the
man of whom I had been apprized
Sir can you forgive me ?
he cried in a low but plaintive voice I smiled and said Yes
Sir very readily
Indeed you cannot he said when I tell
you all
I then asked him to s i t down ; and j udging that he
had sufciently felt the lash of t h e law I preached the gospel
unto him
This with other remarkable conversions gave i n
creased energy and inuence to his preaching in Boston
My
bodi ly strength he says i s recovered and my s o ul m o re t han

eve r in love with a crucied Jesus
A t this time the Cape Bret on expedition was c o mmitted to
his friend Colonel P epperell ; the rst and last native o f N ew
E ngland created a baronet of Gre at Britain F or his success
at the S iege of Louisburgh which led to this unusual honour
P epperell was not a little indebted to Whiteeld
He gave him
a rallying motto for his ag and preached to his soldiers before
It is p ai n i l to recollect this patronage o f war
t hey embarked
by a minister of peace
H e himself did not easily get over his
s cruples of conscience H i s friend Sherbourne the commissary
o f the war had to tell him that if he refused men would not
enlist This made him sleep and pray o n the subj e ct It
w as however Lady Pepperell who vanquished him by assuring
him that God enabled her to give up the general to the ex
ed i t i on
for His glory and the good o f the country
He
p
preached o n the surrender o f Louisburgh
So also did Mr
P rince
The latter published his sermon Alas both have had
too many imitators
Whiteeld was now h i mse lf again and b egan t o move south
ward hunting for souls O n his way to Philadelphia he had
the privilege (to him unspeakable !) o f preaching by a n inter
preter to some converted Indians and o f seeing nearly fty
young o nes in o n e scho ol learning the A ssembly s Catechism

This was at o n e o f Brainerd s stati o ns and thus doubly inter
esting to him
His reception at Philadelphi a was very attering The place
erected fo r him o n h i s former visit was ourishing and its ma
nagers offered him 800 a year with liberty t o travel s i x m o nths
,
WH IT EF I E LD
3 25
a year wherever he chose if he would b ec o me their pastor

This pleased him although he declined the offer at once H e
w as more pleased however to learn that after his former visit
there were so many under soul sickness that even Gilber t

Tennent s feet were bl i s te r ed with walking from place to place
to see them
When he went into V irginia he was agreeably surprised t o
nd a re kindled there by a volume o f h i s sermons which
had been brought from Glasgow to Hanover
It fell into the
hands o f Samuel Morris says Whiteeld

he read and found
benet H e then read them to others They were awakened
a n d convinced
O ther labourers were sent for and many both
whites and negroes were converted t o the Lord

Gi l li es
Wh i t e el d s version o f this event is too brief The following
version is from the lips of Morris himself in 1 7 5 1 It was taken
down by Mr D avies o f Hanover his minister
In 1 7 40
Whiteeld preached at Wil l i am sb ur gh ; but we being S ixty
miles distant he left the colony before we could hear him I
invited my neighbours in for ty t h r ee to hear a book o f his s er
mons A considerable number met to hear every sabbath and
My d welling house soon became too small to
on week days
contain the people whereupon we determined to build a meet
ing house merely for r ea d i ng for having never been accus
t o m e d to social extempore prayer none o f us durst attempt it
Many were convinced o f their undone condition and could n o t
help crying o u t and weeping bitterly
When the report was spread abroad I was invited to several
places at a distance to read these sermons and by this means
the concern was propagated About this time our absenting
ourselve s from the established church contrary it was said to
the laws of the land was taken notice of and we were called
upon to say what d en omi n a t i on we belonged to ? We knew but
little o f any except quak ers and were at a loss what name to
assume A t length re collecting that Luther was a noted r e
fo rmer and that his books had been o f special service to us we
called ourselves L u t h er a n s ; and thus we continued till Provi
dence sent us that zealous and laborious minister Mr Robinson
Afterwards M r Roan came speaking pretty freely ab o ut the
,
W HIT EF I E LD
326
S L I FE
TI M E S
AN D
degeneracy o f the clergy I wa s tried fo r letting him preach in

my house A fterwards I was repeate dl y ned in court for ah
senting myself from church Messrs Tennent and Blair then
visited u s When they were gone Mr Whiteeld came and
prea ched four o r ve days which was the happy means o f giving
us further encouragement and o f engaging others to the Lord
especially among ch u r ch people who re ceived the gospel more
readily from him than from ministers o f the presbyterian deno
mination
In 1 7 4 7 there were four
M or r i s s N a r r a t i ve
chapels in and a round Hanover which had sprung from the
o f sermons taken in short hand from White
m u s t a r d s eed
el d s lips at Glasgow
A mongst the con verts in this quarter who s a w Whiteeld
was deaf and d umb Isaac Oliver He had been so from his
birth A nd yet he could represent the cru cixion with such s ig
n
i ca n t signs that any one could understand his meaning H e
could also converse in si g n s at home about the love of Christ
until he was transported to rapture and dissolved in tears
Many incredible things are told o f Oliver It is evident how
ever that he was what he was called a miraculous monument
It is enough to s ay in proof o f th is that
o f Almighty grace
Blair of F og s Manor thought him truly gra cious

Robin
as they called
s o n the rst minister o f the Hanover L u t h er a n s (
themselves ) seems unknown by A merican biography A nd yet
his s u Oces s in Kent county and Queen A nne s was astonishing
O h he did much in a little time says D avies to Bellamy ;

and who would not choose such an expeditious pilgrimage
?
through the world
In Maryland also about Somerset coun
t y there was
a most glorious display o f grace under his
ministry
Many instances of his former usefulness came under White
el d s notice in N ew E nglan d
H e was much pleased with a
negro who had been his chaise driver when he rst visited
Cambridge The negro had been a l l ow e d to hear him in the
college ! The sermon w a s an invitation to the weary and
heavy laden
It took such a hold upon poor S a m bo that he
repeated it in the kitchen when he came home C ooper o f
B o st on was so satised with h i s conversion and Whiteeld s o
.
WH I T EF I E LD
3 27
plea sed with it that Sambo was soon admitted t o the L o rd s

table
A nother bra n d pl u cked from the burning ought n o t t o be
forgotten A son of Mackintosh the rebel consign ed to per
p e t u al imprisonment by George I had settled in N ew E ngland
O ne o f his daughters a lady o f fortune heard Whiteeld at
Prince s meeting in Boston She was arrested and won She was
soon ripe fo r heaven O n her death bed she cried out fo r her
Mr Whiteeld ; but soon stopped saying Why
s ou l fr i e n d
should I d o s o ? He is gone about his Master s work and in a
little time we shall m eet to part no more

Whiteeld had a
high opinion of her piety and his interest in her was enhanced
by a S ignal escape fro m some bribed r uf an s who attempted to
transp o rt her and her sister to Scotland that their uncle might
seize o n an estate o f a thousand a year H i s t C ol l
There were at this time not less than twenty ministers in the
neighbourh o o d of Boston who did not hesitate to call Whit e
eld t heir spiritual father ; thus tracing their conversion t o his
ministry O ne of them wh o went merely to pick a hole in
his coat (to nd fault ) said Go d picked a h ol e in my heart
and afterwards healed it by the blood o f sprinkling

A lthough Whiteeld trav elled eleven hundred miles during
this itineracy in A merica I have found it impossible to trac e
him much ex cept by letters which merely state his health or
his happiness : and even his letters at this time are both few
and brief They leave however a conviction that he was i n
as Gillies says
to return no more to his native coun
cl i n e d
try
N ew E ngland had evidently wo n his heart and for a time
almost weaned him from O ld E ngland and Sco t land too When
he left it for N orth Carolin a he said God only knows what a
cross it was to me to leave dear N ew E ngland s o soon I hope
death will n o t be s o bitter t o me as was parting with my friends
Glad shall I be to be p r a yed thither a gain before I s e e my
native land ! B ut future things belong to God I would j ust
be where He would have me although in the uttermost parts of
the earth I am now hunting for poor lost sinners in t hese
u ng osp e l i z ed wilds
This expressi o n
hunting for s o uls
o cc ur s s o Often in
W H I T EF I E LD
3 28
Wh i t e el d s A merican letters that I long thought it was his
from his fondness of it I am now inclined t o think that

he borrowed it from Brainerd s converted Indians ; some of
whom we r e very zealous to win the souls o f other r ed men
But however this may b e the expression is c ommon still amongst
the Indians
A n o l d hunter once said to me
When my
soul was caught by Jesus Christ I gave up the chase o f beasts
to hunt for more souls t o Jesus The old traders called me an
but I knew better and hunted fo r my new Master

i d l e fellow
This was Wh i t e el d s favourite work
I would not but be
thus employed he says

for millions o f worlds
He did n o t however forget Bethesda When he had pleaded
its cause over N ew E ngland he visited it and added a L a ti n
school to the orphan house His South C arolina friends also
enabled h i m to purchase a plantation in aid o f it o f six hun
d red and forty a cres o f excellent land with a good house barn
and o u t houses and sixty acres of ground ready cleared fenced
and t fo r corn rice and every thing necessary for provisions
except s l a ves ! They gave him only on e

Having found Bethesda prosperous he started for Maryland
where he found thousands who had never heard o f redeeming
gra ce
This roused him anew
The heat tries my wasting
tabernacle he said but through Christ strengthening me I
intend persisting until I drop

He did persist although some
discouraged him ; and he had soon to s ay in answer to their
?
question
Have M a r yl a n d er s also received t h e grace o f God
A mazing love Maryland is yielding converts to Jesus The
gospel is moving southward The harvest is promising The
time o f singing o f birds is come

His circuit in this quarter
extended over three hundred miles besides some visits in Penn
sylvania The s ecr et o f this mighty e ffort w as t his
thousands
and thousands are ready to hear the gospel and nobody goes
o u t scarcely but myself
N o w is the t ime fo r stirring
The
time for s i tt i ng is coming in no meaner place (O amazing love
t han at the right hand o f the Lamb o f God
Let u s s e e what
we can do for pre cious and immortal souls

I t was such con
siderations a s these that inspired Whiteeld an d determined
h i m t o die g hting
own ,
WHIT EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
3 29
A fter this tour he went to P hiladelphia much exhausted

But still he preached although his convulsions returned and
the whole frame of his nature seemed to b e shocked
I have he says almost always a continual burning fever

With great regret I have omitted preaching on e night (to
oblige my friends ) and purpose to do s o once more that they
may not charge me with murdering myself But I hope yet to
die in the p u lp i t o r soon after I come o u t of it N ext Monday
I purpose to set out for N ew York to s e e if I can gain strength
It is hard work to be silent but I must be tried every way

O n his arrival at N ew York he said
I am as willing to
hunt for souls as ever I am n o t weary of my work

N ext
day he was at his work again !
I have preached t o a very
large auditory and do n o t nd myself much worse for it

He
did s o again with success Then he said I shall go to Bos
ton like an a r r ow o u t o f a b o w if Jesus strengthen me I am
resolved to preach and work for H im until I can preach and
work no more I have been u pon the water three or four days
and now eat like a s a i l or

H e went to Boston and there co n
r e a t i o n s were larger than ever ; and what was better
ar
g g
ro ws o f conviction ed and stuck fast and Opposers mouths
were stopped
This good news he se n t to Tennent in order
to tempt h i m to make another trip there adding I am
determined to die ghting though it be o n my s tu mp s

He
had j ust heard o f the sudden but happy death o f his aged and
excellent friend D r Colman
In these j ourneyings and vicissitudes Whiteeld never forgot
the Wesleys They had sent him word tha t they were more
moderate with respect to s i n l ess perfection than when he left

E ngland ; and he returned the compli m ent by assuring them
that he would never preach for o r against reprobation

Some o n e had written to him charges against Charles Wesley
H e immediately sent word to him o f them adding
I do not
believe them Love thinks no evil of a friend Such are you
I love you most dearly

t o me
He returned again to Maryland ; and as his N ew York friends
were anxious about his health he wrote to them from B o he
mia In o n e o f t hese le t ters to an a ged veteran wh o m he
,
W HIT EF I E LD
3 30
S LI FE AND TIM E S
c o uld not expect to see again he s ays (referring to the Jewish

tradition ) Honoured Sir may He who ki ss ed a wa y the soul
o f his beloved Moses appoint a J oshua to succeed you when
H e calls you up into the mount to die

His o wn health was
still very uctuatin g even when he reached N orth Carolina
I am here he says hunting in the woods these ungospel

I z e d wilds for sinners
It i s pleasant work though my body is
weak and crazy B u t after a short f er men t a t i on in the grave
it will be fashioned lik e unto Christ s glorious body
The
thought o f this rej oices my soul and makes me long to l e ap
my seventy years
I sometimes think a l l will go to heaven b e
fore me Pray for me as a dying man ; but oh pray that I
may not go o ff as a s n uf I woul d fain di e blaz i ngnot with
human glory but with t h e love o f Jesus

A t this time a very
little riding fatigued him much and thus his progress was both
slow and p a inful H e preach ed however with great power ;
cheered from stage to stage by the hope that the conversion o f
N orth Carolina sinners would be glad news in heave n

In the autumn o f 1 7 4 7 he sailed again for Georgia F rom
this time until he went to Bermudas for a change of climate in
1 7 48 I am unable to trace him
The only thing melancholy in this sketch of Wh i t e el d s his
t o ry in N e w E ngland during his v isit i s the conduct of the
president and professors o f Harvard College ; and that was
worse than it appears from the anecdotes I have told They
published a testimony against him in which they said We
look upon Mr Whiteeld as an uncharitable censorious and
slanderous man
In proof of this they refer to his m on s tr ous
reections on A rchbishop Till o t s on whom they s ay D r In
crease Mather called great and good

They forgot to s ay
that Mather whilst he S poke highly of Tillotson s character
and spirit constantly warned the students against his books

They testied against his extempore preaching also
because
it is impossible any man can manage an argument instructive to
t h e mind or cogent t o the reasonable powers

thus H e
meekly said
Indeed gentlemen I love study and delight to
meditate Preaching without notes costs as much if not more
cl o se and solemn th ought as well as c o nde nce in G o d than
,
WH IT EF I E LD
33 1
with notes
They had also the audacity t o say that it i s
n o t unlikely indeed to be suspe cted that he is an antinomian
yea stronger in the antinomian scheme than most o f the pro
fes s o r s of that heresy

In answer to this charge b e appealed
as he well might to the tenor and tendency o f his preaching
and reminded them that the l ap s u s l i ng u ce from which they
argued had been retracted publicly before t hey wrote
His itinerant way of preaching comes in as might be ex
strongest language o f
p e c t e d to be testied against in the
t h e learned doctors
They dene an itinerant to b e one that
stands ready to prea ch the gospel to any congregation that may
call him
Whiteeld says at once
I ow n t h e ch a r g e Were
not Knox Welch Wishart and several o f the go o d o l d p ur I
?
tans itinerant preachers
They also repeated the ch a rge o f Clap o f Yale College that
he came into N ew E ngland to turn o u t the generality o f their
ministers and to replace them with ministers from E ngland
Ireland and Scotland

Such a thought Whiteeld says
never entered my heart ; neither as I know o f has my
prea ching any such tendency

This s ol emn denial ought to b e
held de cisive o n this point I did not know o f it when I wrote
the account o f his interviews with Jonathan E dwards
Their closing charge against Whiteeld was t hat the
coming in o f h o t me n disturbing the churches was wholly
owing to his inuence and example

This refers o f cours e to
the Tennents and the heat o f their memory is n o t yet ex
h au s t e d in A merica ! Gilbert Tennent will be remembered
a n d revered long after all the co ld m e n o f Harvard are forgot
ten A s Whiteeld said thousands will thank him for coming
into N ew E ngland t hrough all the ages o f eternity

Having
said this he left the cold men in his own way
if pulpits
should be shut the elds are open and I can go without the
camp This I am used to and glory in If I have done your
society any wrong in my j ournal I ask forgiveness
If you
have inj ured me in the testimony you published against m e (as
I really think yo u have ) it is forgiven already without asking
L e t t er t o H a r va r d C oll eg e , C a m br i dg e
Whilst in N ew E ngland Whiteeld wrote his lette r o n

,
the
W H IT EF I E LD
332
bishop o f L i t ch el d s charge to h i s clergy This charge was

delivered in 1 7 4 1 but not published until 1 7 44 It was ther
fore a d e l i be r a t e attack on methodism Indeed in a sub s e
quent charge printed in 1 7 46 now before me his Lordship r e
if the false doctrines
fers his clergy to it assuring them that
o f the methodists prevail they must unavoidably create a
general disorder in o ur constitution ; and if so fav o ur the r e
turn o f popery itself

The bishop D r S m al br o k e was a bet
ter s cholar than this p r op h ecy indic a tes H e had grappled with
Whiston o n A rianism with Bentley o n the authority of the
primitive Complutensian and with Woolston o n miracles It
was not however a very formidable matter to grapple with him
when the subj ect was the g r a ce o f the Holy Spirit S m al br ok e
c ertainly believed that there is a Holy Ghost but n o o n e c o uld
well b elieve less about His work and witness
It will har dl y b e credited now but it is only t o o true that a
bis hop prea ched and his clergy called for the publication o f
the following sent iments
The indwelling and inward wit
n es s i n
the
Spirit
are
all
extraordinary
gifts
belonging
o
f
on l
g
y
to apostolical and primitive times and consequently all preten
sions to such favours in these last days are vain and en t h u
s i a s t i cal
The Spirit spoken of as helping o u r i n r m i t i es in
prayer was the Spirit acting in the i n sp i r ed person who had
t h e gift o f prayer and who in that capacity prayed for the wh ol e
assembly It is h e (not the Holy Spirit) that maketh inter
cession with God for private christians with groanings which

cannot be uttered ! The Searcher o f hearts knowing the
m ind o f the Spirit

means that God knows the i n t en t i on s of
the inspired prayer l eader ! Preaching in the demonstration
o f the Spirit
means no more than proving Jesus to be the
M essiah by proofs o u t o f the O ld Testament and by miracles

N o wonder Whiteeld could not forget these perversions of
truth and soberne ss in A merica They haunted him o n his
voyages and whilst he was hunting in the woods He sent
over an answer to the charge addressed t o the clergy who call
ed for its publication ; not to the bishop because I hear he
says that he is very aged

I wish I c o uld say that either the episcopal bench o r the
WH IT EF I E LD
3 33
dissenting boa r d had answered it also They knew better than

Whiteeld that S m al b r ok e although an old man was a sturdy
p ole mi c and in no danger o f death o r illness from hard blows
But the bench slumbered They could w or r y Whiteeld or
Wesley for an extravagant word but they would n o t even bark
when a bishop sapped the very vitals o f Christianity Pope cer
t ai nl y knew his men when he said
,
s ai n t
in
cr a p e,
is t
wi ce a s ai nt i n l awn
A man in l a wn then might s ay almost any thing with impunity

if it was only well said or argued with a show o f learning
Happily it is not so now Such a theologian as S m al br ok e
would not be left to the lash o f methodists or dissenters ; he
would be chastised by some o f his o wn clergy o r rebuked by
some o f the bench It is needless to analyze or characterize
Wh i t e el d s answer to the bishop It is enough to say that it
is full o f the great doctrines o f the Reformation E ven where
it pleads for t o o much o f the direct witness o f the Spirit it is
m o re than excusable for had not Whiteeld and the Wesleys
said both str o ng and startling things o n this subj e ct when both
the work and witness o f the Spirit were denied and denounced
from high place s those in l ow places would not have listened
o r n o t br ought a pressure fr o m without up o n the hierarchy

,
CH A PT E R XV
WH IT EF I E L D
B ER MU DA S
IN
isles o f Bermuda are more associated in the public mind

with the memory o f good Bishop Berkeley and the poetry o f
Waller than with Whiteeld They were probably indebted to
Berkeley s example fo r Wh i t e el d s v isit
In 1 7 2 1 the Va n ess a o f Swift b equeathed her fortune t o

Berkeley This was soon followed by his deserved elevation t o
the deanery o f D erryworth eleven hundr ed pounds per an
num N ever was preferment better b estowed He had long
cherished the design o f evangelizing the A merican Indians by
means o f a college in the Bermudas No w he issued pr Op o s al s
for it in London ; offering to resign his preferment and to de
vot e his life t o the instruction o f young A mericans an d s t ip u
lating for only a hundred a year t o himself This noble d i s i n
Government gav e him a
t er e s t e d n es s wo n patronage at rst
grant o f
and he sailed t o carry h i s plans into e ffect
H e was n o t sustained by the ministry however in the way he
expected H e therefore made presents o f his library to the
clergy o f Rhode Island and to Yale College T o the latter
alth o ugh not at all episcopalian he gave a thousand volumes
besides his estate at N ewp o rt where he wrote his Minute
Philosopher
Berkeley then returned to Ireland and in 1 7 7 3 was made
bishop of Cloyne It is almost impossible in the presence of
these fa cts to remember either his Plat o nism o r his idealism
He was a great and a good man A tterbury might well s ay o f
him So much understanding s o much knowledge s o much
innocence and such humility I did not think had been the
porti o n o f any but a ng el s till I saw this gentleman

T HE
WH IT E F I E L D
335
These facts as wel l as the climate drew Whiteeld t o Ber

mudas where he met with the kindest reception and for about
a month preached generally twice a day traversing the island
from one end to the other His activity treatment and success
will best appear from the following extracts fr o m his manuscript
j ournal o f that period
The simplicity and plainness of the people together with
the pleasant situation of the island much delighted me The
Rev Mr Holiday minister o f Spanish P oint received me in a
most a ffe ctionate christian manner ; and begged I would make
his house my home
In the evening I expounded at the house
which was very commodious
o f Mr Savage at Port Royal
and which also he would have me make my home I went with
Mr Savage in a boat lent us by Captain
to the town of
St George in order to pay our respe cts to the governor All
along we had a most pleasant prospect of the other part of the
island but a more pleasant on e I never saw O ne Mrs Smith
of St George s for whom I had a letter of recommendation
fr o m my dear o l d friend Mr Smith o f Charlestown received
About noon with o n e o f the council and
m e int o her house
Mr Savage I waited upon the governor H e re ceived us cour
t eou sl y and invited us to dine with him and the council a t a
tavern We accepted the invitati o n and all behaved with great
civility and respect A fter the governor rose fr om table he
desired if I stayed in t o wn o n the Sunday that I w o uld dine
with him at his own house
Sunday March 20 Read prayers and preached twice this
day t o what were esteemed here large auditories i n the morn
ing at Spanish Point church and in the evening at Brackish
Pond church about two miles distant from each other In the
afterno o n I spoke with greater freedom than in the morning ; and
I trust not altogether in vain All were attentivesome wept I
dined with Colonel Bu t t er el d o n e o f the council ; and re ceived
several invitati o ns to other gentlemen s houses May God bles s
and reward them and incline them to open their hearts to r e
A men and A men !
c e i ve the Lord Jesus
Wednesday March 2 3 D ined with Captain Gibbs and
we n t fr om thence and exp o unded at the h ouse o f Captain
,
WH IT E F I E LD
3 36
S LI FE AND TIM E S
at H unb ay about two miles distant The company

was here also large attentive and a ffected O ur Lord gave m e
utterance I expounded on the rst part o f the 8t h chapter o f
Jeremiah A fter le cture Mr Riddle a counsellor invited me
t o his h ouse as did Mr P aul an aged presbyterian minister to
his pulpi t which I complied with upon condition the report was
true that the governor had served the ministers with an i njun c
tion that I should n o t preach in the churches
F riday March 2 5 Was prevented preaching yesterday by
the rain which continued from morning till night but this af
t er n oo n God gave me another opportunity o f declaring his eter
nal truths t o a large company at the house of o n e Mr B
S
wh o last night sent me a letter o f invitation
Sunday March 2 7 Glory b e to God ! I h ope this has
been a protable sabbath to many souls it has b een a pleasant
Both m orning and afternoon I preached to a large
o n e to mine
au d itory fo r Bermudas in Mr Paul s meeting house which I
suppose c o ntains about four hundred A bundance of negroes
and many others were in the vestry porch and ab o ut the
h o use Th e word Seemed t o b e clothed with a convicting p o wer
and to make its way int o the hearts o f the hearers Between
serm o ns I was entertained very civilly in a neighbouring house
Judge Bascom and three more o f the council came thither and
each gave me an invita tion to his house How does the Lord
make way for a poor s tranger in a strange lan d !A fter the
s ec o nd serm o n I dined with Mr Paul ; and in the evening ex
pounded to a very large company at Counsellor Riddle s My
body was s o mewhat we ak ; but the Lord carried m e through and
caused me t o go t o rest rej oicin g May I thus g o to m y grave
wh en my ceaseless uninterrupted rest S hall begin
Monday March 28 D ined this day at M r s D or r el s
m o ther
and
i n l aw t o my dear friend the Rev Mr Smith
afterwards preached to more than a large house full o f peopl e
on Matthew ix 1 2 Towards the c o nclusi o n o f the sermon the
hearers began to be more a ffected than I have yet seen them
Surely the Lord J esus will give me some seals in this island !
Grant this 0 Redeemer for thy innite mercy sake
Thursday March 3 1 D ined o n Tuesday at C ol o nel C o r
l e,
'
W HIT EF I E LD
3 37
and on Wednesday at Colonel Gilbert s b o th of the

council and found by what I could hear that some good had
b us i er s
if Go d will work ? Went to an island this afternoon called

Ireland upon which live a few families ; and to my surprise
found a great many gentlemen and other people with my
friend Mr Holiday who came from di fferent quarters to hear
me Before I began preaching I went round to see a most r e
markable cave which very much displayed the exquisite work
manship o f Him who in his strength setteth fast the mountains
and is girded about with power
Whilst I was in the cave
quite unexpectedly I turned and s aw Counsellor Riddle who
with his s o n came to hear me and whilst we were in the boat
told me that he had b een with the governor who declared he
had no personal prej udices against meand wondered I did n o t
come to town and prea ch there for it was the desire o f the
people ; and that any house in the town the court
house not
excepted S hould b e at my service Thanks b e to Go d for so
much favour ! If his cause requires it I shall have more H e
knows my heart I value the favour o f man no further than as
it makes room for the gospel and gives me a larger s cope to
promote the glory o f God There being no capacious house
upon the island I prea ched for the rst time here in the Open
air All heard very attentive ; and it was very pleasant after
sermon to see so many boats full of people returning from the
worship o f Go d I talked s eriously t o some in o u r o wn boat
a n d sung a psalm in which they readily j oined
Sunday A pril 3 P reached twice this day at Mr Paul s
meeting house as o n the sabbath but with greater freedo m
and power espe cially in the morning ; and I think to as great
if not greater auditories D ined with Colonel H ar vy another
where many came to
o f the council visited a sick woman
hearand expounded afterwards to a great company at Cap
tain John D o r r el s M r s D or r el s s o n who with his wife cour
t eo u sl y entertained me and desired me to mak e his house my
hom e S o true is that promise o f ou r Lord s t hat whosoev er
leaves father and mother house o r lands shall have in this life
a hundredfold with persecution and in the w o rld t o come life
,
W H I T E F I E LD
33 8
everlasting
Lord I have experienced the o ne : in thy go od
time grant that I m ay experience the other als o
Wednesday A pril 6 Preached yesterday at the h o use of
Mr A nthony Smith o f Baylis Bay with a considerable degree
of warmth ; and rode afterwards to St George s the only town
on the island The gentlemen o f the t o wn had sent me an i n
and he with several others came
v i t a t i o n by J udge Bascom
to visi t me at my lodgings and informed me that the governor
desired to s ee m e A bout ten I waited upon his E xcellency
who received me with great civility and told me he had no oh
e c t i o n against my person
o r my principles having never
j
ye t
heard me ; and he knew nothing in respe ct to my conduct in
moral life that might prej udice him against me ; but his i n
s t r u c t i o n s were
to let none preach in the island unless he had
a written license to preach some where in A merica o r the West
Indies ; at the same time he acknowledged that it was but a
matter o f mere form I informed his E xcellency that I had
been regularly inducted to the parish o f Savannah that I was
ordained priest by letters dimissory from m y lord o f London
and under no church censure from his L o rdship ; and would
always read the church prayers if the clergy would give me the
use o f their churche s I added further that a minister s pulpit
was looked upon as his freehold and that I knew o n e clergy
man who had denied his own diocesan the use of his pulpit
But I told his E xcellency I was satised with the liberty he
allowed me and would not act contrary to his inj unction I
then begged leave to be dismissed be cause I was obliged to
preach at eleve n o clock His E x cellency said he intended to
do himself the pleasure to hear me A t eleven the church bell
rung
The church Bible prayer book and cushion were sent
to the town h o use The governor several o f the council t h e
minister o f the parish and assembly men with a great number
o f the town s people
assembled in great order I was very
sick through a cold I caught l ast night ; but read t h e church
prayers The rst lesson was the 1 5 th chapter o f the l s t book
o f Samuel
I preached o n those words
Righteousness ex
al t e t h a
f
Being
weak
and
faint
and
a
icted
much
nation
with the head ache I did not do t hat j ustice to my s ubj ect I
WHIT EF I E L D
S L I F E AN D TIM E S
339
o metimes am enabled t o d o but the Lord s o h elped me that

a s I found afterwards the governor and the o ther gentlemen
expressed their approbation and acknowledged they did not ex
N o t unto me Lord ! not unto
p ect to be so well entertained
me but unto thy free grace be all the glory
A fter sermon D r F
b s and Mr P
t the c olle ctor
came to me and desired me to favour them and the gentlemen
o f the town with my company to dinner
I accepted the i nvi
t at ion
The governor and the pres ident and Judge Basco m
were there All wondered at my speaking so freely and uently
without notes The governor asked whether I used minutes ?
I answered N o H e s aid it was a great gift A t table his E x
c ell e n c
y introduced something of religion by asking m e the
meaning o f the w o rd H AD E S ? S everal other things were started
about free will A dam s fall predestination & c to all which
Go d enabled me to answer s o pertinently and taught me to
mix the u t i l e and d u l ce so together that all at table seemed
highly pleased S hook me by the hand and invited me to their
respe ctive houses The governor in particular asked me to
dine with him o n the morrow ; and D r F
b s o n e of h i s
particular intimates invited me to drink te a in the afternoon
I thanked all returned proper r e spects and went t o my lodgings
with some degree of thankfulness for the assistance vouchsafed
me and ab ased before God at the consideration o f my unspeak
abl e unworthiness In the afternoon about ve o clock I ex
pounded the parable o f the prodigal s o n t o m any people at a
private house ; and in the evening had liberty to S peak freely
and closely to thos e that supped with me O h that this may
be the beginning of go od g o spel times to the inh abitants of this
town ! Lord teach me to deal pr udently with the m and cause
them to melt under thy word !
Friday April 8 P reached yesterd ay with great clearne s s
and freedom t o about fourscore people at a house o n D avid s
Island over against St George s Townwent and lay at Mr
Holiday s who came in a boat to fetch meand this day I
heard him preach and read prayers after which I to ok the s a
crament from him H o nest man he would have made me a d
minister and o i ci at e 3 but I chose n o t t o d o it lest I should
3 40
LI FE AND TIM E S
bring him into trouble after my departure However in the

afternoon I preached at Mr Todd s in the same parish to a
very large company indeed The Lord was with me My hea rt
w a s warmand what went from the heart I trust went to the
heart ; for many were a ffe cted O h that they m ay b e conv erted
also
Then will it be a good F riday indeed to their souls
Sunday A pril 1 0 D ined and conversed yesterday very
agreeably with Judge Bascom who seems to have the greates t
insight into the difference between A rminian and Calvinistical
schemes of any one I have met with upon the island I n the
afternoon I visited a paralytic ; and this day preached twi ce
again at Mr Paul s meeting house The congregations were
rather larger than ever and the power o f God seemed to be
more amongst them I think I s e e a visible alteration for t h e
better every Lord s day Blessed be God I n the evening I
expounded at Mr Joseph D o r r el l s where I dined to a very
large company ; then went to his kinsman s my usual lodging
who with his wife and other
o n Saturday and Sunday evenings
friends seemed kinder and kinder daily Good measure press
ed down and running over m ay the Lord both a s to spirituals
and temporals return into all their bosoms I
Saturday A pril 1 6
Preached since Lord s day at ve
di fferent houses to concerned and a ffected congregations at
di fferent parts of the island but was more indisposed o n e night
after going to b ed than I had been for some time
O n two of
the days o f this wee k I dined with the president and Captain
Spafford one o f the council both o f whom entertained me with
the utmost civility
Sunday A pril 1 7
Still God magnies his power and
goodness more and more This morning we had a pleasing S ight
a t Mr P a u l s meeting house
I began to preach and the p e o
ple to hear and b e a ffected as in days o f ol d at home Indeed
the prospect is encouraging Praise the Lord O my soul
A fter preaching twice to a large congregation in the meeting
house I at the desire o f the parents preached in the evening a
sermon at the funeral o f a little boy about ve years of age
A great number o f people attended and the Lord enabled me
s o t o spea k
as to a ffect m any o f the hearers Blessed be the
.
WH IT EF I E LD
341
L o rd for this day s work

N ot unto me O L o rd ! n o t unto me
but unto thy free grace be all the gl o ry
Sunday April 2 4 The last week being rainy I preached
o nly ve times in private houses and this day but once in the
meeting house ; but I hope neither times without effect This
evening expounded at Counsellor Riddl e s who with the other
gentlemen treat m e with greater respect every day Colonel
Gilber t o n e o f the council has lent me his horse during my
stay ; and Mr D orrell this morning informed me o f a design
the gentlemen had to raise a contribution to help m e to dis
charge my arrears and support my orphan family Thanks be
given t o thy name O God ! Thou knowest all things ; thou
knowest that I want to owe no man any thing but lov e ; and
provide for Bethesda after my de cease Thou hast promised
thou wil t full the desire o f the m that fear thee I believe
Lord help my unb elief that thou wilt full this desire of my soul
E ven so A men
Saturday April 3 0 Preached S ince Lord s day two funeral
sermons and at ve di fferent houses in di fferent parts of the
island to still larger and larger auditories an d perceived the
people to be a ffected more and more Twice or thrice I preach
ed without doors Riding in the sun and preaching very ear
n es t l
so that this evening I was obliged
y a little fatigued one
to lie down fo r s o me time F aint yet pursuing must be my
motto still
S unday May 1 This morning was a little sick ; but I
trust God gave us a happy beginning of the new month I
preached twice with power espe cially in the morning t o a ve ry
great congregation in the meeting house and in the evening
having given previous notice I preached about four miles dis
tant in the elds to a large company of negroes and a number
o f white people who came to hear what I had to say to them
I believe in all near fteen hundred people A s the sermon
was inte n ded for the negroes I gave the auditory warning that
my discourse would be chiey directed to them and that I
should endeavour to imitate the example of Elij ah who when
he was about t o raise the child contracted himself t o its length
The negr o es seemed very sensible and attentiv e
When I
W H IT EF I E LD
3 42
asked i f they all did not desire to g o to heaven ? o n e of the m

with a very audible voice said Yes s i r
This caused a little
smiling ; but in general every thing w as carried o n with great
d ecency and I believe the Lord enabled me so to discourse a s
t o touch the negroes and yet n o t t o give them the least um
brage to slight or behave imperiously to their masters If ever
a minister in preaching need the wisdom of the serpent to be
j oined with the harmlessness o f the dove it must b e when dis
c oursing to negroes V ouchsafe m e this fav o ur O God fo r thy
dear Son s sake
Monday May 2 Upon inquiry I found that s o me o f the
n egroes did not like my preaching bec ause I told them o f their
cursing swearing thieving and lying
O ne or t wo o f the
worst o f them as I was informed went away Some said they
would not go any more They liked Mr M
r b etter fo r
he never told them Of these things ; and I said their hearts
were as black a s their faces They expected they said to hear
m e speak against their masters
Blessed be God that I was
directed not to say an y thing this rst time to the masters at
all though my text led me t o it It might have been o f bad
consequences to tell them their dut y or charge the m too
roundly with the neglect o f it before their S laves They would
m ind all I said to their masters and perhaps nothing that I
said to them E very thing is beautiful in its season Lord
t each m e always that due season wherever I am called to giv e
However others
e ither black o r white a portion o f thy word !
o f the poor creatures I hear were very thankful and came home
to their masters houses saying that they would s t rive to s i n
no more Poor hearts
These di fferent acc o unts a ffected me ;
and upon the whole I c o uld n o t help rej oicing to nd that thei r
consciences were so far awake
Saturday May 7 In my conversation these two days with
some o f my friends I was diverted much in hearing several
things that passed among the poor negroes since my preaching
to them last Sunday O ne o f the wome n it seems said that
if the book I preached o u t o f w a s the b est book that was ever
bought at London s h e was sure it had never all tha t in it
w hich I spoke to the negr oes
The o l d man who S poke out
,
'
WII I T E F I E L D
l o ud
L I FE AND TI M E S
3 43
last Sunday and said ye s when I asked them whether

all the negroes would not go to heaven ? being questi o ned by
somebody why he spoke o ut s o ? answered That the gentle
m an put the question once o r twice to them and the other fools
had n o t the manners to mak e m e any answer till at last I
seemed to point a t him and he was ashamed that nobody should
a nswer me and therefore he did
A nother wondering wh y I
said negroes had black hearts ; was answered by his bla ck
brother thus ; A h thou fool ! dost thou not understand it ?
He means black with sin
Two more girls were overheard by
their mistress talking about religion : and they said They
knew if they did not repent they must be damned
Fro m all
which I infer that these Bermudas negroes are more knowing
t han I supposed ; that their consciences are awake and co n s e
quently prepared in a good measure for hearing the gospel
preached unto them
Sunday May 8 This also I trust has been a good sab
bath In t h e morning I was helped to preach powerfully t o a
melting and rather a larger congregation than ever in M r
Paul s meeting house and in the evening t o almost as large a
congregation o f bl a ck and white as last Sunday in the elds
near my hearty friend Mr Holiday s house To see s o many
bla ck fa ces was a ffe cting They heard very attentively and
s o me of them now began to weep May God grant them a
go dl y sorrow that worketh repentance not to be repented o f
F riday May 1 3 This afternoon prea ched over the corps e
o f Mr
Paul s el dest s on about t wenty four years o f age ; and
by all I could hear and j udge of by conversing with him he
d i d indeed die in the Lord
I visited him twice last Lord s
day and was quite satised with what he said though he had
n o t much of the sensible presen ce of God
I nd he was a
preacher upon his death bed : fo r he exhorted all h i s comp anion s
t o love Christ i n sincerity and blessed his brother and sister
and I think hi s father and mother j ust before his departure
A great many people attended the funeral
I preached on
Luke viii 1 3 A nd when the Lord s aw her he had compassio n
o n her and said unto her Weep not
Many were a ffected i n
the appl icati o n o f my dis c o urse ; and I trust so m e will b e i n
WH IT EF I E LD
3 44
S L I FE
AN D
TI M E S
by this y o ung man s good ex ample to rememb er their

Redeemer in the days o f the i r youth Grant it O Lord for
thy dear Son s sake
Sunday May 1 5 Praise the Lord O my soul and all that
i s within me praise his holy n ame
This morning I preached
m y farewell ser m on at Mr Paul s m eeting housei t was quite
full ; and as the president said above one hundred and fty
whites besides blacks w ere round the house A ttention s a t
and when I came to take my leave o h ! w hat a
o n every face
sweet una ffected weeping was there to b e seen every where I
b elieve there were few dry eyes The negroes likewise without
doors I heard weep plentifully My o wn heart was a ffected ;
and though I have parted with friends s o often yet I nd every
fresh parting almost unmans m e and very much a ffects my
heart S urely, a great work i s begun in some souls at Bermudas
Carry it o n O Lord ! and if it b e thy will send m e t o this dear
p eople again E ven s o Lord Jesus A m en !
A fter sermon I dined with three o f the council and o ther
gentlemen and ladies at Captain Bascom s and from thence
we went to a funeral at which Mr M
r preached and after
that I expounded o n o u r Lord s t r an s g u r a t i o n at the house of
Harvey sister to dear Mr Smith o f Charlestown
o n e Mrs
The house was ex ceeding full and it was supposed above thre e
hu n d red stood in the yard The Lord enabled me to lift
up my voice like a trumpet Many wept Mr M
r re
turned from the funeral with me and attended the le cture as
did the three councillors with whom I conversed freely May
God reward them and all the dear people o f the i s land fo r those
many favours conferred o n me who am t h e chief o f sinners and
less than the least o f all saints
Sunday May 22 Blessed be Go d the little leaven thrown
into the three measures of meal begins to ferment and work
almost every day fo r the week past I have conversed with
souls loaded with a sense o f their sins and as far as I can j udge
really pricked to the heart I prea ched only three times but
to alm o st thre e times larger auditories than usual Indeed the
elds are white ready unto harvest God has been pleased to
bless privat e visits Go where I will upon the least n o tice
d u c ed ,
WHI T EF I E LD
3 45
houses are crowded and the poor souls that follow are soon
drenched in tears This day I took as it were another fare
well A s the ship did not sail I preached at Somerset in the
morning to a large congregation in the elds ; and expounded
in the evening at Mr Harvey s ho use round which stood many
hundreds o f people But in the mo rning and evening how did
the poor souls weep
A bundance of prayers and blessings were
put up for my s afe passage t o E ngl and and speedy return to
Bermudas again May they enter into the ears o f t h e Lord of
Sabaoth ! With all humility and thankfulness o f heart will I
here O Lord s e t up my E ben ez er ; for hitherto surely thou has t
helped me ! Thanks b e to the Lord for sending me hither I
have been received in a m anner I dared not expect ; and hav e
met with little very little opposition indeed The inhabitants
seem to be plain and open hearted They have loaded me with
provisions for my sea store ; and in the several parishes by a
private voluntary contribution have raised me upwards of O N E
H U N D R E D P O U N D S sterling
This will pay a little o f Bethesda s
debt and enable me to make such a remittance to my de a r
yoke fellow as may keep her from being embarrassed o r too
much beholden in my absence Blessed be God for bringing
me o u t of my embarrassment by degrees ! May the Lord reward
all my benefactors a thousandfold I hear that what was given
was given exceedingly heartily and people only lamented that
th ey could do no more
Transmitting to Georgia the contributions he had received
and fearing a relapse if he had returned to A merica in the heat
o f the summer ; and also being much pressed to return to E ng
land M r Whiteel d took his passage in a br i g and arrived safe
in twenty eight days at D eal and the next evening July 6 he
came to London having been absent near four years
,
CH A PT E R XV I
R AN G I N G
\VH I T E F I E L D
I N 1 7 4 8,
after an ab sence o f four years Whiteeld returned to

his native land ; not exactly from choice but because he was
afraid to risk his restored health in A merica again during the
heat of July H e embarked at Bermudas in June o n board
the Betsey ; and lived as he expresses it like people that
c ame from the continent n o t from an islands o bountiful were
his friends
H is appetite was however somewhat spoiled o n e
day The Betsey was chased by a large F rench vessel and
shot at thrice
We gave up all fo r lost ! We were almost
defenceless I was dressing myself to receive our vi si tor s In
the mean time o ur captain cried The danger is over
The
F renchman turned abo ut and left uS In the C h annel we expect
such alarms daily

D uring the voyage he abri d ged and endeav o ured to g osp e l i z e
Law s Serious Call
and nished a revisal o f his own j our
n al s : but he was not allowed to prea ch o n board
This h e
says m ay spare my lungs but it grieves my heart

It seems
he co ul d not write with much composure
The reason he
a ssigns for this is
We have four g en t l ewomen o n b o ard ; s o you
may guess how it is
His o wn private review of his sayings d oings and writings
up t o this time I have re corded in The Specimens o f White
eld a t the close o f this volume It is equally humble and

honest ; and i t led to many i mp r ovemen t s in his c o nduct and
spirit towards the opponents o f truth and godliness
The prospect o f home led him n aturally t o anticipate the
pleasure o f seeing his aged and beloved m o ther He had been
,
WHI T E F I E L D
S LI FE AN D
TIMES
34 :
l o ng absent and she was s o p o or that he di d n o t kn o w when

he wrote where she resided H e added t o the prayer for her
O h that I may see you laden with holiness and bearing fruit
in o l d age the request Let m e know whether yo u stand i n
n ee d of any thing
There was a contemporary clergyman o f
notoriety S t er n e who could weep over a dead ass an d a caged
starling who nei t her prayed nor felt for his aged mother al
though she was in d istress : but Sterne was a w i t not a
methodist !
O n his arrival in Lond o n Whiteeld was welc o med by thou
sands with a j oy which well nigh overcame them and himself
t o o O ne cause of this j oy was that a large ch ur ch was o pen t o
him on his return It wa s St Bartholomew s where he had a
multitude s
t h ous a n d c o mmunicants o n the rst s abb at h b e s i d e s
ocking to hear
H o w di fferent from the re ception he me t
with o n his former return from A merica The fa ct is both h e
a n d the Wesleys were now wiser m en
He was not however without his cares o n this o ccasion
H is outward a ffairs were far behindhand A ntin o mianism had

made sad havoc in the religious societies during his absence
I came he says a t a cr i ti ca l j uncture O ne of the h yp er par

t y threatened to rival him in M o or el d s a sphere which these
z ealots have seldom coveted Whiteeld sent him word
The
elds are no doubt a s free to yo u as to another God send yo u
a clear head and a c l ea n heart I intend preaching there o n
Sunday evening
He did ; and found M o o r el d s as white t o
harvest as ever
In other respects also he had soon the satis
fa ction o f seeing
things take a good turn in London
A t this time he renewed his intimacy with Hervey who wa s
n o w popular a s a writer ; and that not undeservedly
It has
been fashionable o f late to denounce his or i d style : a n d so
far as this prevents Her vey from be coming a m ode l to young
prea chers or imaginative writers it i s a good fashion It is
ho wever bad so far as it prevents the young from reading his
works o r from yielding to their inspiration They cannot b e
read without interest by the young Both the M editations
and Theron and A spasio have an irresistible charm t o them
They lay hold up o n the heart at once and are neve r fo rg o tten
so
W H IT E F I E LD
3 48
The secret o f this fascination is their sympathy with visible

Hervey
n ature as you ng eyes see it and y o ung hearts enj oy it
r eec ts the heavens and the earth to them in the broad and
brilliant forms which haunt their o wn dream s Who does n o t
remember this
True we ce ase to read Hervey and learn to
nd fault with his style but which o f us would have relished
o r read
in early life the ch a s t er works on piety which now
charm us ? E ven ou r taste for the s i mp l e is the rea ction of the
gorgeous I owe this passing tribute to H ervey My love o f
nature was made religious by him A nd had I never tried to
imitate him I should never have formed a puritanical style for
m yself
The s econ d reformation in this country o wes much to Hervey
H e was the M el an ct h o n of it by his writings They suited a s
Whiteeld says of them the taste of the polite world

They
rened the taste o f the methodists also The former read them
b ecause they were owery ; t h e latter b e cause they were savoury
The o n e looked at grace through their medium with less pre
j udice ; the other at nature with more delight than formerly
Whiteeld s aw this twofold inuence o f H ervey s works and
wisely said nothing against their style when they were submitted
t o his revision
A mongst all Wh i t e el d s converts no one has been more
useful than Hervey as a writer That he w as one of them is
certain although seldom remembered In a letter to White
eld h e says
Your j ournals and sermons and especially that
sweet sermon o n What think ye of Christ ? were a mean o f
bringing me to the knowledge o f the truth

B r own s M e m oi r s
s i
This
will
a
ccount
for
the
deference
he
paid
to
his
e r ve
H
p
of
y
ritual father and for the eulogium he pronounced on him at D od
dr idg e s :
I never beheld he said s o fair a copy of o ur Lord
such a living image o f the Sav iour ; such exalted delight in God ;
such unbounded benevolence t o man such steady faith in the
divine promises such fervent zeal for the divine glory and al l
this without the least moroseness o f humour o r extravagances
o f b ehaviour
but sweetened with the m o st engag i ng cheerful
ness of temper and regulated by all the sobriety of reason and
wisdom o f Scripture : insomuch that I cann o t forbear applying
,
WH IT EF I E L D
S L I FE
TIM
E
S
N
D
the wise man s encomium o n an illustrious w o man t o this emi

nent minister of the everlasting gospel J Many sons have done
virtuously but thou excellest them all
It was not in return for this compliment but before it that
Wh iteeld introduced Her vey s works into A merica and r e
o i c e d in their popularity
The author he said i s my o l d
j
friend ; a most heavenly minded creature o n e o f the rst me
t h o d i s t s who is contented with a small c u r e and gives all he
has to the poor We corresp ond with though we cannot s e e
e ach other
Gillies says that Whiteeld left a blank in his
manuscripts thus
Here a character of Hervey
and adds
What a pity he did n o t write it down
D oddridge also was
not ashamed to preface a work of Hervey s although Warburton
called it a weak rhaps o dy and said it would degrade the
D octor
A t this time his acquaintance with the Countess o f Hunting
don commenced She had engaged Howel Harris to bri n g h i m
to Chelsea as soon as he came ashore

H e wen t and preached
twice in her drawing room in a manner that determined her t o
invite some o f the nobility to hear him
A S she had from this time much inuence upon his fut ure
movements the following masterly sketch of her history and
character will tell best here It is by a descendant of D od
d r i d g e who h a t es Calvinism
The Right Honourable Selina Countess D owager of Hunt
i n g d o n second daughter and o n e of the coheiresses of Wash
i n g t o n second E arl of F e r r ar s was born A ugust 1 3 t h 1 7 07 and
married in the year 1 7 2 8 to Theophilus E arl o f Huntingdon by
whom s h e had issue four sons and three daughters : o f these
only one the Countess o f Moira survived their mother whose
death occurred in 1 7 9 1 at t h e age o f eighty four and after a
widowhood of forty v e years
Upon the decease o f her mother the Countess o f Moira
re ceived an a ccession t o her income of fteen hundred pounds
per annum and her s o n Lord Rawden a bequest o f two thou
sand t wo hundred pounds Lady Huntingdon also left an an
n ui t
o f a hundred a year to her friend Lady A nn E rskine and
y
the sum o f four th o usand pounds t o be disposed o f in charitable
W H I T E F I E LD
3 50
S LI FE AN D
TI MES
gifts at the di rection of the E arl o f D artm o uth Sir Richard

Hill and her chaplain Mr Haws The residue o f her fortune
was bequea t hed fo r the support of S ixty four chapels which S he
had contributed to establish throughout the kingdom
F ew characters have been more erroneously estimated by
the world than that o f Lady Huntingd o n She was in fa ct
neither the gloomy fana t ic the weak visionary n o r the abstracted
d evot ee which di fferent parties have delighted to paint her
The circumstance o f her having forbade the publication o f
her papers and her retired mode o f life for even her charities
were principally distributed through the medium o f her chap
lains were the causes which ba ffled the curiosity o f those wh o
felt desirous o f discovering the motives which could t empt a
woman to resign t h e allurements o f station and to devote in
addition to what is mentioned in her will at leas t a hundred
thousand pounds given during her life for the extension o f p e
c ul i ar religious Opinions without any view towards that personal
distinction which has been t oo Often a leading inducement with
the founders o f new sects
In the absence o f circumstantial detail all that r emains is t o
collect the few personal traits which are here and there acci
dentally mentioned and t o unite them with facts of public noto
r iet
Having thus c o mbined these scattered rays their con
y
d en s e d light at once reveals the actual character o f this remark
able woman ; and we perceive her pecul iarities t o have arisen
from the blight o f domestic sorrow acting upon a mind swayed
to a great extent by the imagination and therefore highly
susceptible o f religious impressions
In the spring day o f her life there was little to distinguish
Lady Huntingdon from the many charming and intelligent young
women who ev er grace the courtly circle in which she moved
She w a s naturally gay and the quickness of her dispositi o n ren
dered her sprightly and amusing ; but it does not appear that
her gaiety tended towards dissipation o r that her conversational
talents amounted to wit How far her religious education had
been attended to is not indicated but there is no reason to sur
mise that it was defective and had not her maternal and con
jugal a ffections s u ffered from the shock o f family bereavem e nts
,
WH IT EF I E L D
35 1
her character would prob ably have remained n o t les s w o rthy

b u t far less remarkable than it is at present
The loss o f children and the death o f her l o rd which o ccurred
before the charms o f existence had with her been subdued by
the lapse o f time gave a blow to the elasticity o f her mind fro m
which it never re covered When the rst paroxysm of grief had
subsided her exhausted feelings natu rally sought a refuge i n
devotion ; and it is only to b e regretted that under the melan
ch ol
y impressions of the period her mind the more deeply i m
b i b e d the Calvinistic tenet s

N o t ex a c t ly 1)
A n a ffecting incident shows that at this time she still r e
t ai n e d the fond re collections o f human regard in all their wonted
intensity Lady Huntingdon had a ne bust of herself pla ced
upon the tomb o f her de ceased husband 3 and it is but justic e t o
observe that the widowed bosom in which his memory w as en
shrined ever remained as cold t o earthly passion a s the insen
s ible marble Whose gentle smile amid the symbols o f death
seemed eloquent with immortality
F or some years the religi o us views of Lady Huntingd on
were th o se of the church o f E ngland ; she was pious and b one
volent in an eminent degree as her letters in this work evince
but her sentiments w ere unmarked by pe culiarity A s might
h o wever hav e been expe cted the spirit stirring eloque nce o f
Wh iteeld caught her attention and she be came o n e o f his m o st
determined proselytes and doubtless felt delighted t o obtai n
so important a wi t n e s s to a reality o f her e l ec ti on Be this as it
m ay under his inuence although she never renounced the doc
trines of episcopacy yet she embraced se ctarian views i n co mp a
tible with its practice and well being 5 s h e end o wed chapels and
sanctio ned an independent for m o f worship
O f the results to which her conduct in such respe cts was
likely to lead she was doubtless unconscious and i n fact acted
from t h e impressions produced up o n her mind by the interested
parties around her
She was indeed so much the child o f
emotion that she is related t o have described herself a s like a
ship before the wind carried o n by an impulse she could n o t
resist or describ e
The inuence o f Whiteeld an d his fr iend s o ve r the mind
,
WH I T EF I E L D
3 52
Lady Huntingdon was most apparent from the year 1 7 48

when he becam e her chaplain That inuence was however
s o guardedly employed that the natural vigilance o f her chara c
ter was fully exercised in plans for the propagati o n o f the highly
Calvinistic ideas she had e spoused It was not until the year
1 7 6 8 that she opened her college near Talgarth in South
Wales fo r the education o f serious and godly young men and
such a s she believed had a d i vi n e ca ll
Besides this a cademy
the whole expense of which she defrayed she was deeply inter
e s t e d in the missionary s chemes then in motion ; and that s h e
might the b etter uphold the ca u se reduced her style o f living far
b elow what her station in society demanded ; and even exhausted
her income to such an extent that she was not able to a fford
charitable relief in some cases o f the utm o st necessity that were
brought under her notice
Her death o ccurred on the 1 7 th o f June 1 7 9 1 and wa s
marked with the serenity o f the christian and the humble con
d e n ce o f a saint
A s the awful moment was appr o a ching she
said My w o rk is done and I have nothing to d o but to g o t o
my F ather
(This was h e r Calvinism !)
The romantic turn o f her feelings was as strongly marked
during her last illness a s i n an y former peri o d of her life She
desir e d t h at her remains might b e dressed in the suit o f white
silk which s h e wore at the opening of the chapel in Goodman s
F ields and in speaking o f death said It was like putting o ff
her cloak
When the blood vessel burst which was the com
m e n c e m e n t o f her ill n ess o n being a sked how s h e did by Lady
A nn E rsk ine she observed I am well all is well well for ever !
I s e e wherever I turn my eyes whether I live o r die nothing
but victory A nd a day o r s o before her de cease she remarked
The Lord has been present With my spirit this m orning in a
remarkable manner what H e me ans t o convey to my mind I
know n o t ; it may b e my approaching departure My soul is
n i es
H mnp /
lled with glory I am in the element o f heaven
Such was Lady Huntingdon
She soon brought aro und
Whiteeld some o f the stars of the court Chestereld and
a whole circle of them attended and having heard once desired
they might hear h i m a gain

I therefore preached again he
o
'
WH IT EF I E L D S
s ay s
LI FE
AN D
TI M E S
3 53
in the evening and went home never more surprised at

an
All behaved quite well and were in some
y thing in my life
degree a ffected The E arl of Chestereld thanked me and said
Sir I shall n o t tell you what I shall tell others how I approve
o f you
o r words to this purpose
A t last Lord Bolingbroke
came to hear ; sat like an a r ch bi sh op and was pleased to say
I had done great j ustice to the divine attributes in my dis
c o urse (Hume also was present ) Soon afterwards her Lady
ship removed to town where I generally preached twice a week
to very brilliant auditories Blessed be God not withou t e ffe c
tual success o n some

Gi l li es Bolingbroke invited White
eld to visit him ; which he did and found him both candid
and frank A nd the impression made upon him may be j udged
by his saying to the Countess You m ay command my pe n
when you will It shall b e drawn in your service F or admit
ting the Bible to be true I shall have little apprehension o f
maintaining the doctrines o f predestination and grace against
all your revilers

All the nobility also accepted with pleasure
and surprise C opies of Wh i t e el d s sermons O n recording this
he s ays
Thus the world turns round In all time o f wealth
good Lord deliver me

Lord Bath and others had given him
money fo r the orphan house O ne of the P rince of Wales s
favourites a privy counsellor o f the king o f D enmark and seve
ral persons of rank dined and drank tea with him
The manner in which he refers to this introduction amongs t
the great has been quoted against him as a proof o f vanity
Why should it ? True ; he says in his letters to Wesley and
other private friends the noble the mighty the wise have
b een to hear me
These are also the very words which
Lady Huntingdon employed in her letters to D oddridge at the
time Was s h e va i n or attered be cause sh e rej oiced that a
?
Be
do o r was opening for the nobility to hear the gospel
sides t his new sphere did not divert him from any o f his ol d
work nor at all change his spirit o r purposes
A t the very
crisis o f this elevation he said to Wesley
My attachment
to A merica will not permit me to abide long in E ngland
If I formed societies I should but w eave a P en el op e s web I
intend therefore to go about preaching the gospel to every
2 A
,
W HI T E F I E L D
354
creature
A ccordingly he was o ff to S cotland in a few
days
O n his arrival at E dinburgh he found a M oor e l d s congre
A t Glasgow also the
g a t i o n as to numbers to welcome him
prospects were still more encouraging Many at both places
came to inform him o f their conversion o n his former visits
C ambuslang also kindled again All this wa s too much for
some of the kirk folks now that the Seceder s were quarrelling
amongst themselves The synod o f Glasgow and A yr deb ated
a motion tending to prohibit ministers from employing White
eld
b ecause he was a p r i es t o f the church o f E ngland ;
because he had not subscribed the for m u l a b ecause the scheme
o f the orphan house was chimerical and the m on ey collected for
it not fully accounted for l The rst count in t h e indictment is
not s o heavy now D r Chalmers i s the champion o f the E ng
lish priesthood The charge was better met however by the
clergyman who said at the synod If Bishop Butler S h erlock
o r Se cker were in Scotland I should welcome them to my pul
pit and in this I should imitate Rutherford as rm a presby
terian a s any o f us who employed Usher There is no law of
Christ and no act o f assembly prohibiting m e to give my pul
pit to any episcopal o r anabaptist o r independent minister if
o f sound principles in the fundamentals o f religion
O ur church
expressly enj oins A rt 1 3 that great tenderness i s to be used to
foreign protestants
Gi l li es
Wh i t e el d s personal chara cter was nobly and indignantly vin
d i ca t e d by D r E rskine H e appealed to the a d a vi t o f the magis
trates o f Georgia in the Philadelphia Gazette in proof o f the h o
nest application o f the money collected fo r the orphan house and
cried s h a me upon presb yterians who could obj e ct to Whiteeld
a s a suspended minister whilst his only fault was refusing to
u s e the communi o n bo o k in a presbyteri an chapel

The result
o f the debate was

the decent burial o f the motion
It
was however supported b y thirteen Twenty seven voted for
employing Whiteeld in the pulpits o f the kirk Gillies says
truly Upon the whole the attacks inform ed the synod o f the
falsehood o f many a spersions thrown o u t against him : and thus
what was intended for his reproach turned ou t to his honour

,
WHI TEF I E LD
L I FE AND T I M E S
3 55
Whiteeld him s elf says o f these c o nclaves Tw o syn o ds and

o ne presbytery br o ught me upon the carpet ; but all has w o rked
for good
The more I was bl a cken ed the more the Redeemer
comforted me If my enemies show themselve s I am persuaded
J esus will bless me to his people more and more

A mongst
the charges then advanced against him in order t o inj ure h im
in the estimation o f the p o or o n e was that he was sent and paid
by government to preach against the P r e t en d er ! This charge
came with an ill grace fr om both the Kirk and the Secession
Both preached against the Pretender as much as he did ; with
o nly this di fference that the fo rmer had pay an d. the latter
thanks while he had neither
It was I think abou t this t ime that Wh iteeld had another
interview with Ralph E rskine Their l a s t was in 1 7 5 0 It was
short but a ffecting O n parting E rskine embraced him and
said We have seen strange things They had both seen s tr a ng e

things ! Whiteeld had seen him s elf traduced by ministers
of a kirk which had gla dl y played him o ff against the Secession :
and E rskine had seen himself excluded by the presbytery o f
D unfermline whilst his o wn s on John sat in j udgment upon
him It is not true that John pronounced the sentence o f ex
communication on his father Gibb did that It is h o wever
true t hat the good ol d man said
It was a sword piercing
E rskine and
m y heart to see J oh n n y sitting with them
White fi eld might well embrace as brethren after these strang e
things E r ski n e s L ife This rec o nciliation went n o further
The other Seceders kept up the ol d clam o ur against h i m b e
c ause he did not preach up the covenant
and he gave his
old answer I preach up the c o venant o f grace

N otwithstanding all these attempts t o lower him in public
e s t imation his o l d friends in Scotland st oo d by him The go dl y
ministers n o t only encouraged his a t tempts t o serve the N ew
Jersey college ; but also entered into his spirited (though i m
prudent ) design o f turning the o rphan h ouse int o a college
O n his return to London he resumed his lectures at Lady
great ones as he calls t hem Thirty

H un t i n g d o n s to the
and s o metimes sixty pers o ns o f rank attended although the
newspapers were full o f strange lying accounts o f hi s recep
2 A 2
,
W HIT E F I E LD
3 56
tion in S c o tland H e availed himsel f of this influence to fo r

ward his intended college fo r which his plea wa s
If some
such thing b e not done I cannot s e e how the southern part s will
b e provided with mi n isters for all are afraid to go over

On
this ground he appealed to the trustees o f Georgia ; reminding
the m that he had expended 5 000 upon the orphan house beg
gi n g them to relieve it as a charitable institution fr o m all quit
rent and taxes ; and especially to allow him slav es
Wh i t e
h a n d s he said had left his tract of land uncultivated

Whilst thus pleading for his own seminary he did not forget
N e w Jersey
H e wrote to Mr P emberton If yo u or some
other popular minister come over and make an application in
person a collection might be re commended by the general as
s e m bl y and large contributions b e raised from private persons
If o n e o f the I n d i a n s was brought over
and a proposal made to
f
some
o
the
conv
erted
Indians
in
the
college
i t would
u
ca
t
e
ed
certainly be of service
Thus he had our be s t missionary p l a n s
as well as spirit a century ago
H aving set these schemes o n foot he went to Bristol ; and
attended the s a crament at the c athedral next day The bishop
he says
behaved respe ctfully to him H e visited also his
and met with the o l d
o l d tutor now o n e of the prebendaries
kindness o f O xford Those who have had a kind tutor will quite
understand the following account o f the intervie w
I told him
t hat my j udgment (as I trust) was a little more ripened than it
was some years ago and that a s fast as I found o u t my faults
I sh o uld be glad to acknowledge them He said the o ffence of
t h e g o vernors o f the church would l essen and wear o ff as I grew
Whiteeld did not tell the D octor how little he

m ode r a te
c ared fo r such moderation as the gov ernors of that day required :
but he wrote to Lady Huntingdon o n the subj ect o f t h ei r fa
v our
I am pretty easy about that If I can but act an honest
part and be kept fr om t r i mm i ng I leave all consequences to
H i m who orders all things well

O n his return to L o ndon he found his assemblies at the
Countess s brilliant indeed and Bolingbrok e still o n e in

t hem
It was n ow winter and some o f his noble friends from
Scotland j oined them H e felt n o t only deep interest in Boling
,
WH IT EF I E LD
35 7
br oke but had much hope of him at o n e time ; owing to his
de clared satisfaction with the doctrines o f grace

Who knows
?
he says
what Go d may do
If Bolingbroke was h oa x i ng
Whiteeld it is to his everlasting disgrace If he w a s not it
was no small item in his advantages that Go d gav e h i m a place
in Wh i t e el d s heart and praye r s The place h e held there
had proved the means o f salvation to many Two o r three o f
the nobility were won to C h rist at this time
Still they could not keep him from itinerating In a few
weeks he was at Bristol again

I long t o take the e l d he
said to t h e Countess and he did not take it in vain
There
was a great stirring among the dry bones at Kingswood and
Bristol Many new converts were wo n O ne o f them was a
counsellor wh o was s o much a ffe cted that his style o f counsel
ling others to hear Whiteeld led his wife to suspect him of
madness
A t Plymouth also where he had s o many enemies formerly
he found a Tabernacle had been built in his absence to which
he was welcomed He became the guest o f a married couple
who claimed him as their spiritual father
Plymouth he says
seems quite a n ew place t o me

H e was much amused there
to learn that he had been called a Roman catholic
If I am
a Roman catholic he said the pope must have given me a
l a rg e dispensation
The married couple were the Ki n s ma n s ; so o n the useful

as well as the intimate friends o f Whiteeld Mr Kinsm a n
b ecame a popular prea cher a t the Tabernacle in London H e
preached the r s t sermon in the present Tabernacle His fame
and success at Bristol were such that Whiteeld was in the
habit of calling Bristol
Kinsman s Amer i ca
in allusion to
his o wn foreign labours His eloquence also must have bee n
considerable ; for S h u t er the comedian was fond o f hearing
him P oor Shuter once told Kinsman a sad story He had
b een a cting F a ls t a in London s o oft en that the physicians
ordered him t o Plymouth for change o f air Kinsman t o o had
been sent home after a hard campaign at the Tabernacle Both
had been wrought out

Had you died said Shuter
it
w o uld have been in the service of the best o f ma s ter s but had
,
'
WHI T E F I E LD
3 58
S L I FE AND
T IM E S
I it w o uld have been in th e service o f the devil O Sir do

you think I S hall ever b e ca l l ed again ? I certainly waswhilst
studying my part in the park and had Mr White field let me
come t o the sacrament with him I never S hould have gone back
again But the caresses o f the great are insnaring
Poor
things they are unhappy and they want Shuter to make them
laugh O Sir for such a life as your s ! B ut when I hav e you
I shall be Richard the Third again That is what they call a
good play ; as good as some sermons A nd there are so m e
striking moral things in it But after it I S hall come in again
with my farce A D ish o f all S o rts and kn o ck all t hat o n t h e
head F ine r efor mer s we are !

It was on Shuter as R a m bl e that Whiteeld xed his eye
while inviting sinners o f all
o n e m o rning at T o t t e n h am Court
classes to Christ and said
A nd thou poor Ramble who
O h end thy
h a St long rambled from Him come thou also
ramblings and come to Jesus

Cornelius Winter says
Shuter was exceedingly struck and com ing unt o Whiteeld
said
I th o ught I sh o uld have fainted how could you serve
me s o
A t Plym o uth also when asked if he was a methodist
he said Mine is a ne m e t h od is it not ? A methodist ! no
I wish I was If any are right they are

Whiteeld found in Plymouth and its neighb o urh oo d many
proofs that his former visit had been very useful N ext to the
conversion o f Kinsman n o case pleased him s o much as that o f
a young man now a preacher who had then a s cen d ed a tree

to hear and mock His levity had drawn the n o tice o f White
eld who exclaimed Come down Z acch eus come d o wn and
receive the Lord Jesus Christ
The word was backed with
power H e heard came down believed and n o w adorns the
gospel
L e tt er t o L a dy H un t i ng d on
H e had also the pleasure a t this time to ad mi nister the s a
crament to a whole family who had no pastor

It wa s an
a ffecting sight he says

two parents presenting two d augh
ters and a s o n in the most solemn manner for the rst time
to b e communicants I re ceived them with all j oy

It was not all sunshine however in D evonshire H e was
rudely treated at T avi s t o ck The rabbl e brought a bull and
.
W HIT EF I E L D
S L I FE
TI M E S
AN D
3 59
dogs and created much disturbance whilst he was praying

He managed however to preach do wn the uproar A t E xeter
also a man came prepared to knock him o n the head with a
stone whenever the sermon should furnish an o ffensive ex
pression He s tood with the stone in his hand He could nd
no fault The sermon soon interested him s o that the stone
dropped from his hand Then his heart melted A fter the
service he went to Whiteeld and said with tears
Sir I
came to break y o ur head ; but God h as given me a broke n
heart
Whiteeld n o w returned to Lond o n in high health after an
itineracy in the west o f 600 miles He came back however
with a kind o f fear and trembling les t his health should

break down in the city and thus unfit him to speak t o the
great and the noble so as to win them to Jesus

But he soon
rid himself o f this fear by his o l d maxim
I throw myself
The bishop o f E x e t er s
bli n dfo l d into my Master s hands
The E nthusiasm o f the Methodists and Papist s
p a mp h l e t also
compared came ou t at this time and created a stir which

helped him to forget his fears He began immediately to an
swer it and made greater e fforts than ever to ingratiate the
truth with the arist o cracy
But this kind of work did not
suit him
He was equally out o f his element at his o wn desk and in
Lady H un t i n g d o n s drawing room A ccordingly in a month
he was too ill to hold a pen H e therefore started o ff o n a n ew
itineracy and by the t ime he reached P ortsmouth he was him
self again The night after his arrival he preached to many
thousands ; and with such power in spite o f disturbance that
the chief opposer was conquered and received him into his
house with tears o f shame and j oy Indeed many who a fe w
days before had been speaking all manner o f evil o f him were
soon urgent with him to prolong his visi t But Wales was wait
ing for h i m and he could not stay long
In the Principality he had soon the pleasure as in the days of
Jesus r iding on in the chariot o f the everlasting g o
o l d to s ee
pel
He n o w found all towns open and all j ustices and magis
trates civil O n s o me o ccasions his a udience am ounted to twenty
.
WH IT EF I E L D
3 60
thousand persons H e himself comput ed the wh ole nu mber h e

addressed in eight Wel ch counties at mor e than a hundre d
thousand ; and adds I think we have n o t had one d r y meet
ing
S o c o mplete was his ascendancy in Wales now that
n o t a dog stirred a tongue during his circuit o f eight hun

dred miles F rom this vantage ground he made a powerful
appeal t o Hervey in the hope o f drawing h i m into t h e elds
Had you seen the simplicity of so m any dear souls I am per
s u ad e d you would have said S i t a n i m a m ea ca m m e t h od i s t i s

But Hervey was t o o weak for eld work Whiteeld himself
broke down after this mighty e ffort and was for some days at
the gates of the grave

H e returned t o London to welcome his wife h o me fr o m Ber
mudas O n her arrival he learned that his character had been
aspersed in the island by o n e o f the clergy But whilst he did
not overlook this calumny altogether he merely sent o u t the
following answer
I am content t o wait until the day o f j udg
m ent for the clearing up o f my character and after I am dead
I desire no other ep i t ap h than this H er e l i es Geor g e VV hi t e
e l d
Wh a t s or t of a ma n h e wa s t h e g r ea t da y w i l l d i scover
H e then arranged his London a ffairs and started again for the
elds
O n his arrival at Brist ol he was told that the bishop o f W
?
Wells
(
) had charged him with p erj ur y at the pump rooms
The bishop had not however used the word perj ury H e had
only left others to give a name to h i s picture o f violated ordi
nati o n vows Indeed the question had a p a r l i a men t a r y settle
ment o n both sides Whiteeld said that he vowed to obey
only g od l y admonitions
A nd the bishop mean t nothing
personal
In a few days after Wh iteeld s et o ut for E xeter by way of
Wellington A t this time he does not appear to have kn o wn
D arracott whom he afterward designated
Th e S t a r of t h e
Wes t
transferring the title from its rst owner Hieron In
deed he would have rode thr o ugh Wellingt o n without stopping
had not a woman rec o gnised him in the street She implored
him to alight and give the people a sermon When he com
plied she soon S pread the news and a great company ca me
.
WH IT EF I E LD
361
to hear him H e was s o pleased that he preached next day t o

a still larger audience It d o es not appear that D arracott a t
tended either sermon
H e made ample amends h o wever af
.
t er war d s
O ne reas o n of Wh i t e el d s visit to the west at this time wa s

(although perhaps he hardly acknowledged it to himsel f) t o s e e
how his letter to the bishop o f E xeter had b een received H e
found in his own circle there that it had been much blest
H e learnt also that my lord o f E xe t er had said he wrote
like an honest man and has recanted several things
but
added Lavington he g oes on in the same way yet

He did
H e went to E xeter and appeared in the el d s again T h e
bishop therefore threatened another pamphlet
Lavingt o n
could do m o re against methodists than write A b out this time
he threatened to strip the g o wn from o n e of his own clergy who
was methodistical and countenanced Whiteeld The bishop
was saved the trouble That moment the clergyman stripped
himself saying
I can preach the gospel without a g o wn
and retired Lavington was then glad to send for him and
soothe him b ut he indemnied himself for this condescension
by publishing immediately the sec o nd part o f his E nthusiasm
compared
Whiteeld had good reason a s well as great pro
vocation to say o f both parts The bishop h as served the me
t h o d i s t s a s the bishop o f Constance served J oh n H uss when he
ordered painted devils to be put round his head before burning
him
He did not answer him H e did better He went to
E xeter accompanied by a rural dean to preach the gospel as
usual ; and divine influence accompanied the word

This
he says is I think the best way to answer th o se who Oppose
themselves
H e preached there twice o n the same day In
the evening the bishop and s everal o f his clergy stood near t o
him and s aw ten thousand people awe struck by his appeals
They saw also three large stones t hrown at his head in s u c
cession by a furious drunkard one of which cut him deeply ;
but neither the high priest nor his Levites interfered altho ugh
o n e o f their own parishioners also was felled to the ground at
the same time L e t t er t o L a dy H
N ext week he returne d to London and fo und s o me o f the
W HI T E F I E L D
3 62
pi o us peeresses waiting to receiv e the sa crament from him He

spent a fe w days at home and then started o ff for Yorkshire
There he visited Gr i msh a w at Haworth and administered the
sacrament to above a thousand communicants in the church
When he preached the churchyard was crowded O n a future
o ccasion when prea ching in the church he had such a high
opinion o f the past o r that he took for granted the piety o f the
o ck
N o no Sir said good Grimshaw aloud the half of
them are not converted by the gra ce of G o d Speak to them
faithfully
It is easy t o conceive t h e e ffect o f such an appeal
It was j ust the kind and manner o f appeal to
o n Whiteeld
set him o n re It would have disconcerted almost any other
man ; but it was vantage ground to him
H e went from Haworth to Leeds at the invitation he says
of one o f Mr Wesley s preachers and by all his people

He
was also introduced into their pulpit at N ew castle by Charles
Wesley who meeting him by the way turned back to aecom
pany him This gratied him so much that he preached fo ur
times in their r oo ms at N ewcastle but he was obliged at last
to go into the open air to meet the crowds A t Leeds both
the crowds and the comm o ti o n were immense So much s o
that he returned ba ck upon it after visiting s o me o ther parts o f
Y o rkshire and Lancashire
D uring this tour he won to Christ many o f the men wh o
laid the foundations o f not a few of the ourishing churches in
these counties H e met however with as much rude treat
m ent here and there in both as sent him home praying Lord
give m e a pilgrim heart fo r my pilgrim life

O n his arrival in L o ndon he found many urgent invitations
awaiting him from Ireland ; and the C o rk riots had awakened
his sympathies for the su fferers ; but although he used his i n u
ence on their behalf with the great and sent them word o f this
he was afraid lest a visit might b e deemed an intrusi o n upon the
Wesleyan sphere Besides the P R I M A T E of Ireland wished to
give him preferment a thing he did not wish fo r
He was now in winter quarters
but he was not idle nor
useless To use his o wn words the glory o f the L o rd lled
the tabernacle and the shout o f a King was in the camp from
.
W H IT E F I E LD
S LI FE
TI M ES
AN D
3 63
week t o week
Thousands th ou sands cr o wded t o hear
E very day als o he heard o f instances o f conversi o n
O ne i n
stance pleased him very much It was that o f a boatswain who
before hearing him knew no more ab out divine truth than the
wh i s t l e he blew on b o ard
He particularizes also a boy o f el even
years o f age a woman o f e i g h ty and a baker who had been a
J er us a l em S inner
A t this time his intended col lege o ccupied much o f his atten
tion H e wrote in all dire ctions in order to make friends to
the plan His usual appeal was
We propose having an ac a
demy or college at the orphan house The house is large ; it
will hold a hundred My h ea r t I trust is larger and will hold
ten th o usand
Still his heart was in A merica London did n o t he says
agree with his outward man

RAN G I N G seems my pro
vince and methinks I hear a voice behind m e saying Th i s is
the way walk in it My he art e choes back Lord let thy pre
sence go along with m e and then send me where thou pleasest

Tha t A meric a would have pleased h i mse lf best is evident fro m
the following apostrophe
In the midst o f all A merica d ea r
A merica ! is not forgotten I b egin to count the days and to
say to the months Fly fast away that I may spread the gospel
net o nce more in dear A merica
This is delightful It must
b e gratifying to A merican christians to b e thus reminded of the
pla ce which their country held in Wh i t e el d s heart a century
ago It is gratifying t o m e to tell them that we did not learn
from Whiteeld but from the revivals and missionary spirit in
their ow n churches to say

A merica d ea r A merica
When
will they f ul l our j oy and b e likeminded with u s o n the subj ect
o f S lavery
Surely no o n e will qu o te Whiteeld against us
A n o ther obj ect lay near to Wh i t e el d s heart It was during
this winter s quarters that he formed the design o f identifying
Lady Huntingdon with his societiesthe on ly plan he ever laid
for perpetuating them H e s a w her a D or ca s at that dead
place
A shby P lace and felt that she might and ought to b e
a P h azb e She had used her inuence at his solicitation with
t h e court and the government o n behalf of the su fferers in t h e
C o rk riots and had readily patronized such p oo r or persecuted
.
W H I T EF I E L D
36 4
ministers a s he brought under her notice All this and th e

want o f a leader led him to seek her patr o nage especially for
his societies in the west end o f the town
How he Op en ed t he subj ect to her I have been unable to di s
cover I t d o e s not seem however t o have b een ill re ceived :
fo r she desired the public prayers o f the Tabernacle for herself
at the time
not
o
f
course
in
reference
o
this
atter
and
t
m
(
Whiteeld read t hat part o f her letter t o the people and i n
formed her that thousands heartily j oined in singing the fol
lowing verses for her Ladyship
,
Gl adl y
we
ray for th os e
w o l dl y h on o ur sh i ne
j oi n
to p
r
Wh o r i ch wit h
Wh o d ar e t o o wn a S av i o u r s ca us e
An d i n t h at h at e d ca us e t o j o i n :
Ye s w e w o ul d p r a i s e T h e e th a t a fe w
,
L o v e T h e e, t h o u g h r i c h
an d n o
bl e t oo
r i n th y r i gh t h and
C r own h er en d e avo ur s w i th s u cces s
Am o ng th e g r e at o n e s m ay s h e s t an d
A w i t n e s s o f th y ri gh t eo us n es s
U p h ol d th i s
sta
T i l l m an y
no
bl es j o i n
t h y t r ai n ,
An d t r i umph i n th e L a mb th at
s sl a i n
A ll this wa s in bad taste o n both sides however well meant

In the same letter he said to her A l ea de r
o r meekly taken
is wanting This honour hath been put upon your Ladyship
by the great Head o f the church : an honour conferred on few
but an earnes t o f o n e to be put on your Ladyship before men
and angels when time shall be no more That yo u may every
day add t o the S plendour o f your future crown by always ab o und
ing in the work o f the Lord is the fervent prayer of
H o w much leader means in this document o r how far if
at all it refers to the Tabernacle I cannot j udge
In the midst o f all these attentions from and to nobility
Whiteeld did not forget nor overlook his aged m o ther A
woman had neglected t o procure fo r him some things he had
order ed fo r b er A week s delay was thus occasioned T h e
m o men t he disc o ve r ed this he wr o te
I S hould never fo rgive
,
WHI T EF I E LD
myself,
365
was I by negligence o r any wrong c o nduct to give yo u

a m o ment s nee dless p ain A las how little I have done for you !
Chr ist s care for his mother excites me to wish I could do any
thing for you If you would have any thing m o re br ought pray
write honoured mother
O n this o ccasion he reminded her of his age
To m o rr o w it
will be t h i r tyg i ve years since you brought unworthy me into
O h that my head were waters and mine eyes foun
t h e world
ta ins o f tears that I might bewail my barrenness and unfruitful
ness in the church of Go d

About the same time he wrote
thus to Lady Huntingdon
N ext Sat urday I am t hirty ve
years o l d : I am ashamed to think how little I d o o r suffer
for Christ
F ye upon me fye upon me
These anecdotes are I kn o w l i t t l e ; but they reveal much o f
W h i t e el d s real character : and surely his deep self ab asement
before God may b e allowed to balance his self complacency in
the patronage o f the countess and her elect ladies

H is
c o mpliments to them admit o f no excuse They are almost as
many and fuls o me as the a t t er i e s which used to be addressed
to the royal and noble patrons o f Bible Societies Those who
remember that incense and the assemblies which o ffered it will
hardl y wonder however much they deplore that a p oo r meth o d
ist burnt more incense to rank than was wise or seemly
Whiteeld was n o t con s t i t u t i on a lly humble bold o r unam
bi t i ou s
It took twice seven years o f pretty close intimacy
with con temp t he says to make contempt an agreeable com

panion to him Like Paul he had to l ea r n contentment
I
di d not like t o p a rt with my pretty character at rst
It was
death to b e despised ; and worse t han death to think o f being
laughed at by all Go d knows how to train us up g r a du a ll y for
the war H e often makes me h ol d as a lion ; but I believe
there is not a pers o n living more timorous by nature I nd
a love o f power sometimes intoxicates even God s dear ch ildr en
It is much easier for me to obey than govern This makes m e
y from that which at o ur rst setting o u t we are too apt to
court I cannot well buy humility at t oo dear a rate L e t t er s

A t this time Whiteeld was n o t unkn o wn at court n o r his
elect ladie s unn o ticed by the king O n o ne o ccasi o n Lady
,
WH I T E F I E LD
3 66
S LI FE AND TIM E S
Chestereld appeared in a dress with a br o wn gr o und and s il
ver owers o f fo reign manufacture The king came up to her

smiling signicantly H e then laughed a l ou d and said
I
know who chose that gown for you M r Whiteeld : I hear
Her
Lady
o u have attended o n him for a year a n d a half
y
ship confessed she had and avowed her approbation o f him
She als o regretted deeply afterwards that Sh e had not said more
whilst she had such an opportunity The se cretary of state
also assured him that no hurt was designed by the state to
the methodists H e had gone to the secretary accompanied
by a d i ssen t i ng minister Mr G (query D r Gifford ?) t o Open
the case o f the Irish brethren The outrages committed upon
them brought him nearer to t h e dissenters and the Wesleyans
They had n o w a common cause A ccor d ingly he was invited
t o preach in the Wesleyan chapel Mr Wesley read the prayers
for h i m and next time White fi eld re ad t h em b efo r e Mr Wes
ley preached and then united with him in administering the
This delighted him much
O h fo r l o ve and gra
s acrament
he exclaims
I hav e n o w preached thrice in Mr
t i tude
Wesley s chapel and God was with us o f a truth

H e was n o w tired o f Londo n and relapsing int o his old c o m
plaints The fact is he had grown el d s i ck fo r that was h i s
home sickness A c cordingly he started for the west of E ng
land again and although rain and hail pelted him in his eld
pulpits he preached about twenty times in eight or nine days

The moment he was in his o wn element he saw every thing in
his ol d lights Hen ce he says E very thing I meet with seems
to carry this v o ice with i t
G o thou and preach the gospel ;
b e a pilgrim on earth hav e n o party or certain dwelling place
My heart e choes back L o rd Jesus help me to do or su ffer thy
will When thou seest m e in danger o f n es t l i ng
i n pityi n
tender pity put a t h or n in my nest to prevent me from it

Whils t at Bristol Charles Wesley talked with him a bou t
preaching in the new Wesleyan r o om but it does not appear to
have been much desired A ccordingly Whiteeld says
I
s a i d bu t li tt l e
H e found however a larger sphere He was
allowed to preach from the win do w o f Smith s Hall and thus
many thousands heard him
,
TIM E S
AN D
F r o m Brist ol he went to Wellingt o n and became the wel c o me

guest of D arrac o tt whom he calls a aming and successf ul
preacher of the gospel

Good D arracott had j ust lost three
,
lovely chil d ren Two of them had died o n the Saturday even
ing before the sacrament but says Whiteeld weeping did

n o t prevent s owing
He preached the next day and administered
as usual O ur Lord strengthened him ; and for his three natural
gave him above t h i r ty spiritual children ; and he is lik ely to
h ave many more H e has ventured his little all for Christ :
and last week a saint died who left him and his heirs 200 in
?
land D id ever any o n e trust in Go d and was forsaken
This interview with D arracott who had also su ffered much
r ep r oa ch in the service o f Christ and an interview with Pearsall
o f Taunton who had been a preacher o f righteousness before
Whiteeld was born had an inspiring inuence upon him
I
he says fo r the
beg a n to take the eld again at h i s dwelling
S pring ! I begin t o beg i n to spend and be spent for Him wh o
S hed his o wn dear heart s blood for me He m akes r a ng i ng
exceedingly pleasant I want more tongues more bodies more
souls for the Lord Jesus Had I ten thousand H e S hould
have them all

In this state o f mind he v i sited many parts o f
D evonshire and Cornwall A t Gwi nn o p he preached to a large
audience although the clergyman had preached a virulent ser
m o n against him in t h e morning
This worthy had said on
Saturday
N o w Whiteeld is c o mingI m ust put o n m y o l d
armour
He did Whiteeld says
It did but little e xe cu
tion because not S cr ip tu r e p r oof ; c o nsequently not o ut o f
God s armoury I preached to many thousands The rain dr o p
ped gently up o n our bodies an d the grace o f God seemed to fall
like a gentle dew sprinkling rain upon o ur souls

Thus in
Cornwall an unthought of and unexpe ctedly wide d oo r was
opened H e preached in many churches and the p o wer o f God
came down so that even the ministers were overcome Such
was the ying o f doves to their windows there that he ceased
for a time to long for the wings of a dove t o ee away to A merica
H e returned t o London m uch improved in health and S pirits ;
an d having rested a few days he visited D oddr idge and Her
v ey
in order to pr o m ote a public subscription for the N ew
.
368
LI FE AN D T IM E S
Jersey college D oddridge entered warmly into the plan ; nobly

hazarding all the c o n s equences of associating with the man whom
the Coward trust despised Whiteeld appreciated his kind
ness
I thank you a th o usand times h e says
for your
kindness and assure y o u it is reciprocal Gla dl y S hall I call
up o n y o u again at N orthampton
In t his letter he informed
the D o ctor that Lady Huntingdon was to write to him tha t
night and thus playfully prepared him for her news : She is
C an you guess
The ki n d people o f
s t r a ng e l y employed now
A shby stirred up s o me o f the baser sort to riot before her Lady
ship s d oo r whilst the g o spel was preaching S o me o f the peo
ple narrowly escaped being murdered in their way home The
j ustice has ordered to bring the o ffenders before him

To her
Ladyship he said o n this o ccasion
I trust y o u will live to
see many o f these Ash by s t on es bec o me children to Abraham

Soon after this he went again into Yorkshire A t Rother
ham he says
S atan rallied his forces The crier was em
ployed to give n o tice of a bear baiting You may guess who
was the bea r H o wever I preached twice The drum was
heard and several watermen attended with great staves The
constable was struck and tw o o f the m o bbers apprehended but
rescued afterwards But all this does not come up to the ki n d
usage o f the people o f A shby
She feld and Leeds he found
Lancashire however he still
t o b e a new and warmer climate
found to be but col d t o him
All was quiet at Manchester and
he humbly hoped some had enlisted
but no great impres
s i o n was made although th o usands attended Liverpo ol he did
at this time A t B olt on a drunkard stood up to
n o t visit
preach behind him and the wife o f the person who lent him
the eld twice attempted to s ta b the workman who put up the
stand for him This roused him and he bore down all oppo
siti o u by a torrent o f eloquence which quite exhausted him In
the night h o wever s ome o f the B ol t on er s g o t into the barn and
stables where his chaise and h o rses were put up and ou t both
s hamefully
This he c alled Satan S h o wing h is teeth
F rom this quarter he went into Cumberland ; new ground t o
him A t Kendal
such entrance was made as could n o t have
been expected
The impressi o n was s o great under his rs t
.
WH IT E F I E LD
369
ermo n that he c o uld n o t forget it when he left and therefore
he returned to c o nrm the s o uls of the disciples

A t Ulver
ston als o much good was d o ne

There he says
Sat an
made some small resistance : a clergyman who looked more
like a bu t ch er than a minister came with tw o o thers and charged
a constable with me But I never saw a poor creature sent o ff
in such disgrace
Further particulars o f this northern itineracy would only
present S imilar alternations of insult and suc cess H e preached
above ninety times and to a hundred and forty thousand
people o n this route from L o ndon to E dinb urgh where he

arrived in the b e ginning o f July
H e was received s a ys Gillies a s usual in the m o st tende r

a n d l o ving manner ; preaching genera l ly twice a day t o great mul
t i t u d e s whos e seriousness and earnest desire to hear him made
him exert himself beyond hi s strength

By preaching always
twice (he says ) and once thrice and oncefou r times in a day
I a m quite weakened ; but I h Op e to recruit again I am burn
ing with a fever and have a violent cold : but Christ s presence
m akes m e smile at pain and the re o f His love b urns up al l
fe ver s whatsoeve r
Wh i t e el d s o wn estimate o f th is visit to S cotland was very
high H e says
I shall have reas o n to all eternity to bless
Go d for it I h a ve reason to think that many are under c o n
vi c t i o n s
and am a ss ur ed o f hundreds having received great
b enet and cons olati o n N ot a dog moved his tongue all the
while I was there and many enemies were g l a d t o be at peace
with me O h that I may spring afresh
O n his return to L o ndon he was received with great j oy both
at the Tabernacle and West Street D uring his stay Hervey
came up on a visit and resided with him and Wesley met with
them o ccasionally AS may be supposed they had much sweet
fell o wship
But even that could not divert him from the elds
long It was n o w autumn ; and therefore he resolved to w o rk
h ard before going into winter quarters
Chatham owes much to
this resolution ! The awakening produced by his visit he calls
as pr o mising a work as in almost any part of E ngland It re

acted als o upon Sheerness There a few pi o us people won the con
s
13
WH IT E F I E LD
370
S LI FE AND TIM E S
of g oo d S h r u bsol e and drew him on step by step t o rea d

and pray amongst them until h e b ecame a minister although
without relinquishing his o ffi ce in the dock yard In reference
to this he said I am ac counted a phenomenon there never
having been a preaching m aster mast maker before However
I know there has been a preaching C a rp e nter o f the most ex
alted rank and this blessed person I am resolved by the grace
H e did Mr Sh r ub sol e wrote

o f Go d to imitate while I live
a Pilgrim s Progress in which he has drawn the character

of Whiteeld with great a ccuracy and sustained it with much
e ffect under the name F e r vi d a s H e wrote also an elegy o n White
eld s death quite equal to any thing o f the kind which appeared
His Pilgrim o r Christian Memoirs pre

o n that occasion
sents perhaps a fairer and fuller V iew o f the state o f religion in
E ngland at this time than any other contemporary book I hope
it is n o t o u t o f print ! It was the rst bo o k which drew my a t
tention to the Ti mes o f Whiteeld It was lent to me whilst a
student at Hoxton College by the late W Sh r ub s ol e E sq of
the Bank o f E ngland ; the son o f the auth o r in every sense
and o ne of my earliest and kindes t friends when I was a
stranger in a strange land

I never enter the Bank o f E ng
land without remembering with a thrill o f grateful emoti o n the
sweet evenings I spent there in his chambers and in his family
circle
There I obtained my rst glimpses of E nglish society
(and I shall never forget them ) on my arrival in the metropolis
fr o m the mountains and solitudes o f A b erdeenshire
I feel
oun
There I heard for the rst
y
g again in rec o rding this fact
time i n s tr umen ta l music and musical science combined with
divine w o rship ; and n o w I never hear them without remem
b ering h o w all my Sc o tch prejudices against this c o mbinati on
were charmed away at the Bank chamber s o f M r Sh r ub s ol e
d e n ce
CH A P T E R XV I I
WH IT EF I E L D
IN
I R E L AND
W H I T EF I E L D S c o nnexi o n with Ireland
to o slight t o impress
an y character up o n the r eligion o f the c o untry or even to give
an impulse to it His preaching won s o uls but it set in m o
tion no evangelizing enterprise except the itineracy of the cele
b r at e d John C en n i ck who ob tained fo r the methodists in I r e
land the nick name o f s wa dd l er s by a Christmas sermon His
text was Ye shall n d the bab e wrapped in swaddl ing clothes
lyi n g in a manger
A catholic who was present and to whom
the language of Scripture was a novelty says D r Southey
thought this so ludi crous that he called the prea cher a swad
dl er in derision ; and this unmeaning word became the nick
name o f the methodists and had all the e ffe ct of the most op
r ob r i o u s appellation
It
had
indeed
When
persecution
arose
!
p
against the Wesleys and their adherents the watchword o f the
mob was F ive pounds for a s waddler s head !
A nti swad
dl e r s was a name ch o sen for themselves by the popish party

and even av o wed by them at the trial o f the rioters A public
notice was posted up at the E xchange with the writer s name
a ffixed to it in which he o ffered to head any mob that would
pull down any house that should harbour a swaddler A nd
houses were demolished and much furniture destr o yed N or
was this all In Cork Butler s mob fell upon men and women
o l d and young with club s and sw o rds and beat and wounded
them in a dreadful manner E ven the mayor t old one o f the
complainants whose house was b eset and ab o ut to be pulled
down that if he w o uld not turn the preachers out he must

tak e whatever he might get
The sheri ff also sent a po o r
was
W H IT EF I E LD
372
S LI FE AND
TIM ES
wo m an to Br i d ewell fo r expressing regret at s eeing t h e vagab ond

ballad singer Butler going about in the dress o f a clergyman
with the Bi ble in o n e hand and ballads in the other M oor e s
Mr Wesley himself describes what he calls
L ife of Wes l ey
Cork persecution thus

breaking t h e houses o f h i s Maj es
ty s protestant subj ects destroying their goods S poiling o r
tearing the very clothes from their ba cks striking bruising
wounding murdering them in the streets dragging them
through the mire without any regard to age o r s ex ; not sparing
even those o f tender years n o nor women though great with
child ; but with m o re than pagan or Turkish barbarity de
stroying infants that were yet unborn

These enormities were well nigh over before Whiteeld visit
ed Ireland The higher powers had interfered when they found
that the l ow er were nearly a s low as Butler Whiteeld found
the benet o f the shield which Wesley s o much needed a n d s o
nobly wo n
H e had however prea ched in Ireland before
Wesley visited it ; which was in 1 7 4 7 In 1 7 3 8 Whiteeld
touched there o n his return from A merica weak and weary
after a tedious and famishing voy a ge When he landed from
the vessel we had he says but half a pint o f water left

and my stoma ch was ex ceeding weak through long abstinence
Most o f us begin to b e weak and look hollow eyed My clothes
have not been O ff except to change all the passage Part of
the time I lay o n Open de ck part o n a chest and the remainder
o n a bedstead covered with my bu f

falo s S kin
He was wel
comed at a strong castle where he says I asked the s e r

vant fo r water and S he gave me milk and brought forth butter
in a lordly dish A nd never d i d I make a more c o mfortable
m eal !
A fter resting for a day o r tw o at Kilrush t o renew his
strength he went to Limerick where the bishop D r Burs
cough re ceived h i m with much hospitality and candour H i s
Lordship requested him to prea ch in the ca t hedral o n Sunday
and o n parting with him ki ssed him and said Mr Whiteeld
Go d bless yo u ; I wish you success abroad ; had you staid in
t o wn this house should have been your home

This welcome
was the more gratifying b ecause his sermon had agitated the
WH IT E F I E LD
people
373
In walking about the town next day all the inha
b i t an t s
he says seemed alarmed and looked most wishfully
at me as I passed along
The contrast in his circumstances
a lso
a ffe cted him very deeply
Good Go d ! he exclaims
where was I o n Saturday last ? In hunger cold and thirst
ing but n o w I enj oy fulness of bread and all things convenient
for me
God gran t I may not J e s h u r un like wax fat and
kick
Perhaps it is more di fcult to know how to abound tha n
how to want
From Limerick he went t o D ublin where he preached twice
in the churches t h e second time t o such a rivetted crowd that
he calls it
like a London c o ngregation
Here also the
bishops were neither afraid nor ashamed of him The primate
o f all Ireland invited him to dinner and told him that he heard
Of him from Gibraltar The bishop o f Londonderry also was
equally kind Wh iteeld felt all this deeply and rej oiced with
trembling
D earest J esus he exclaims grant me humility ;
so shall thy favours not prove my ruin

Such was his rst reception in Ireland His second in 1 7 5 1
although upon the whol e favourable was n o t like unto it

H e was now a eld preacher and j ust hot from Wales where
he had been preaching twice a day over a space o f 5 00 miles
H e began his lab our in D ublin and found at once large c o n
as fo r eternity
In Limerick and Co rk
g r e g a t i o n s hearing
also his commanding eloquence overawed the Old persecutors
The public cry was Methodism is revived again
but it wa s
the signal o f welcome n o t o f war as formerly A t this time h e
was both very weak in body and subj ect t o daily vomiting
D uring this visit he preached eighty times and with great s u c
cess
Providence says he
has wonderfully prepared my
way and overruled every thing fo r my greater acceptance
E very where there s eem s a shaking among the dry bones and
t h e t rembling lamps o f God s people have b een supplied with
fresh o il The word ran and was gloried

Hundreds
say s D r Southey
prayed for h i m when he left Cork ; and
many o f the catholics said that if he wo uld stay they w ould
leave their priests

O ne cause of Wh i t e el d s popularity at thi s time wa s tha t
W H IT EF I E LD
374
S LI FE AND TIM E S
he meddl ed not with Irish politics

He condemned all poli
says D r Southey as below the children of Go d but

t ics
why did the D octor add
alluding apparently to the decided
manner in which Wesley always inc ulcated ob e d ience t o gove r n
ment as o ne o f the duties of a christian ; making it his b o ast
that wh o ever be came a good meth o dist became at the same
Was Whiteeld less loyal than Wesley ?

t ime a good subj ect
When ? Where ? N o t in Ireland certainly I have n o w b e
fore me the letter which j usties the D octor in hinting tha t
Whiteeld seems to have regarded the conduct of Wesley and
B ut
his lay preachers in Ireland
with n o fav o urable eye
wh y should this be interpreted to mean their politics chiey o r
at all ? D r S outhey quotes from Whiteeld as if he had said
that some d r ea dfu l o ffences had b een given by the Wes

l e y an s
and argues as if they had been political o ffences
Wh iteeld himself says
I nd th r ough the m a ny o ffences
that have lately been given matters (among the methodists )
were br ought to a l o w ebb but now the cry is Meth o dism is
revived again
Thanks be to Go d that I have an Opportunity
o f S howing my disinterestedness and that I preach not for a
party o f my o wn but for the common interest of my blessed
M aster
Your Ladyship (the letter is to Lady Huntingdon)
would Smile to see how the wise have been catched in their
o wn craftiness
N ow this j usties the hint that Whiteeld
seems to have regarded their conduct with no favourable eye

Indeed it is the severest thing I know o f that he says in co n
n e x i o n with Wesley s name

for that he meant him by the
w ise caught in their o wn craftiness

is obvious It is not ap
parent however that he alluded t o the decided m anner in
which Wesley inculcated obedience to government

That in
fact wa s not a m atter of policy but o f vital p r i n cip l e with
Wesley an d Whiteeld too Wesley had however lines o f
policy which Whiteeld was j ealous o f and opposed t o n o t
without reason
Wh i t e el d s last visit t o Ireland was in 1 7 5 7 when he nearly
lost his life afte r pr eaching at O xm in t on Green This was
The church was not unfriendl y to him In
p op i s h outrage
deed o n e o f th e bishops sai d to a noble man wh o told Whi te
.
WH IT EF I E L D
fi eld,
3 75
I am glad he is c o me t o rouse the people

E ven the
primate solicited him t o accept of some c o n s iderable church
preferment which he de clined

D e C our cy
P referments , h on our s , e ase , h e d e e me d but l oss,
Vi l e an d c on te mpti bl e, for J es us cr o ss :
I n ur d t o
s can
dal
i nj u i e s ,
an d
T o h i m t o l iv e w as Ch r i s t ; t o
p a i n,
d i e was g ai n
D e C onr oy s E leg y
.
His o wn na r rative of the outrage is as interesting as it is cir

Many attacks have I had from S atan s children
c u m s t an t i al
but yesterday you w o uld have thought he had been permitted
t o give me an e ffe ct ual p a r t i ng blow I had once o r twice ven
t ur ed o ut t o O xm i n t o n Green a large place like M o o r el d s
s ituated very near the barracks where the O rmond and Liberty
boys that is the high and low party boys generally assemble
every Sunday to ght ea ch other When I was here l a s t the
c ongregations were very numer o us and the word seemed to
c o me with power and no noise nor disturbance ensued This
encouraged me to give notice that I would preach there again
I went through the barra cks the door o f which opens into the
Green and pi t ched my tent near the barrack wallsnot doubt
ing o f the protection or a t least interpositi o n of the o fcers
and soldiery if there should b e o ccasion But how vain i s t h e
help of man V ast was the multitude that attended We sang
prayed and prea ched withou t molestation o nly n o w and then
a few stones and clods o f dirt were thrown at me
It being war time I exhorted as is my usual practice my
hearers n o t o nly to fear God but to honour the best o f kings
and after sermon I prayed for success to the P r ussi a n arms
A ll being over I thought to return home the way I came but
t o my great su r prise a ccess was denied s o that I had to go
near half a mile from o ne end o f the Green to the other through
hundreds and hundreds o f p ap i s t s & c
F inding me unat
tended (for a soldier and four methodist preachers who came
with me h ad fors o ok m e and e d ) I was left t o their mercy
But their mercy as you may easily guess was perfect cruelty
V olleys of hard stones came fr o m all quarters and every step I
t oo k a fre s h s t o ne made m e r eel backward s and forwards till I
WHIT EF I E L D S
376
was al mo st b r eathl ess and all over a g or e o f bl oo d M y str ong

beaver hat served me a s it were fo r a scu l l cap for a while but
a t last it was kn o cked o ff and my head left quite defenceles s
I received many blows and wounds o n e was particularly large
and near my temples I thought o f Stephen and as I believe d
that I re ceived more blows I was in great h o pes th at like h i m
I should b e despatched and go O ff in this blo od y triumph to t h e
immediate presence o f my Master But providentially a minis
ter s house lay next d oo r t o the Green with great di f culty I
staggered t o the door which was kindly opened to and shut
upon m e S o me o f t h e m ob in the mean time having broke
part o f the b o ards o f the pulpit int o large S plinters th ey bea t
and w o unded my servant grievously in his head and arms an d
then came and drove him from the door F or a while I con
tinned S peechless panting for and expecting every breath t o
be my last T wo or three of the hearers my friend s by s o m e
means or other g o t admission and kind ly with weeping eye s
washed my blo o dy w o unds and gave m e s o methi n g t o smell t o
and t o drink
I gradually revived but s oo n found the lady o f
t h e house desired my absence for fear the h o u s e S hould b e
pulled d o wn What to d o I knew n o t b eing near tw o miles
from Mr W
s pla ce ; s o me advised one thing and s o m e
another A t length a carpenter o n e of the friends that came
in o ffered me his wig and coat that I might go o ff in dis
guise I accepted o f and put them on but was soon ashamed
o f not trusting my Master t o secure m e in my pr o per habit
and threw them o ff with disdain
I determined t o g o ou t
(S ince I found my presence was s o tr o ublesome ) in my pr ope r
habit ; immediately deliverance came
A methodist preacher
with two fr iends brought a c o ach ; I leaped into it and r o de
in gospel triumph t hr o ugh the oath s curses and imprecati o ns
o f whole streets o f papists unhurt
though threatened every
s tep of the gr o und
N one but th o se who were S pectators o f t h e
s cene can fo rm an idea o f the a ffecti o n with which I was r e ceived
by the weeping m ourning but n o w j oyful meth o dists A chris
tian surgeon was ready to dre s s ou r w o unds which being d o ne
I went into the preaching pla ce and after giving a w o rd of ex
hortation j o ined in a hymn O f praise and thanksgiving t o H i m
.
WHI T E F I E LD
377
wh o make s our extremity hi s opp o rtunity wh o s till s the noise

o f the waves and the madness of the most malignant people
The next morning I set o u t for Port A rlington and left my
persecut o rs to His mercy who o ut of persecutors hath often
made preachers That I may be thu s revenged of them is my
hearty prayer
,
CH A PT E R XV III
WH I T E F I E LD
S C H A R A C T E R ISTI C
17 34
C O N TE N TM EN T
1 7 45
To
AYINGS
I nd all uneasiness arise s fr o m havin a

therefore I would de s ire to will o nly what G o d
g
will Of my ow n
wills
C O ND ITI O N
Alas that any o n e should inquire after such
a wretch as I am A s for my quality ; I was a poor mean
drawer (tapster) but by the gra ce o f God I am now intended
A s for my estate ; I am a servitor A nd as
fo r the ministry
to my conditi o n and circumstances ; I have n o t (of my own) where
to lay my head But my friends by God s providence minister
daily to me : and in return for such unmerited unspeakable
blessings I trust the same go o d Being will give me grace to
dedicate myself without reserve to his serviceto spend and be
S pent for the welfare o f my fello w creatures and in endeavour
ing to pr o mote the gospel o f his Son as m uch as lieth in my poor
Wh i t e el d s early purpose turned out an accurate

power
prophecy H e became what he wished t o be and did what he
designed
Catch an ol d christian without humilityif you
H U M I LIT Y
can ! It is nothing but this esh o f ours and those cursed seeds
o f the
p roud apostate which lie lurking within us that make us
think ourselves worthy o f the air we breathe When o ur eyes
are Opened by the in uence o f divine grace we then S hall begin
to think o f ourselves as we ought to think even that C hrist is
all in all and we less t h an nothing

IN E X P ER I E N C E
O h let us young inexperienced soldiers b e
always upon o ur guard The moment we desert our post the
.
WH I T EF I E LD
379
enemy rushes in and if he can but s o divert ou r eyes fr o m look

ing heavenward (often ) he will soon so blind us that we shall
not look towards it at all A great deal may b e learnt from a
little fall
EX AM PLE
The degener a cy o f the age is not the least oh
e c t i o n a gainst advances in piety
It is true indeed that i n
j
stan ces o f exalted piety are rarely to b e met with in the presen t
age : o n e would think if we were to take an estimate o f ou r
religion from the lives o f most o f its professors that C hristianity
was nothing but a dead letter But then i t i s not o ur religion
but ourselves tha t is to blame for this
Such were some o f Wh i t e el d s rst principles when he

b egan to study at O xford How well they lasted and how much
they in uenced him all thr o ugh life will appear e qually fr o m
his history and fr o m their frequent recurrence in other and
more powerful forms in this sket ch o f his governing maxims
The sketch its elf I have made with some care in order to illus
trate both his talents and piety tha t those who speak o f him
may j udge Of him from his sayings as well as from his do
ings
Had D r D oddridge reviewed the following Miscellany
he would have retra cted the charge o f
o f Wh i t e el d s maxims
weakness he made against him and heigh tened all his eulo
But D oddridge saw
g i u m s o n the piety and zeal Of his friend
Whiteeld chiey if not only when Whiteeld had preached
away all his strength and S pirits in the great congregations

and could speak only o f his work and warfare Thus he j udged
o f his talents as a Scotch minister did o f his devotion when he
was j aded by hard labour Posterity will n o w j udge o f both
for themselves from the following S pecimens o f both
S E L F RE N U N C I A TI O N
What is there so monstrously terri
ble in a doctrine that is t h e constant subj ect o f o ur prayers
whenever we put up that petition Thy will be done o n earth as
it is in heaven
The import o f which seems to b e this
that
w e do every thing God wills and nothing but what he willeth
that we do those things he willeth only because he willeth This
cannot indeed be done in a day We hav e not only a n ew house
t o build up but als o an ol d o n e to pull down

T E M P T A TI O N
We nd o ur Savi our wa s led int o the wil
,
WH IT E F I E L D
3 80
derness before he entered upon his public mini s try : and s o must
we too if we would tread in his steps

P R A YER S R E Q U E ST E D
If P aun cefo r t s petitions fo r me S h o uld
run in this manner I sh o uld b e thankful zThat God should
nish the go o d work he has begun in me that I m ay never seek
nor be fond o f worldly preferment but may employ ev ery mit e
o f those talents it shall please God to intrust m e w ith to His
glory and the church s good ; and likewise that the endeavours
o f my friends to revive p u re religi o n in the w o rld m ay meet with
proper success
C O N S E C R A TI O N
I can call heav en and earth t o witness that
when the bishop laid his hand upon me I gave myself up a mar
tyr to him wh o hung upon the cross for me Known unto h i m
I have thrown myself
ar e all fu t ure events and contingencies
bli n dfol d and I trust without reserve into His almighty hands
It wa s my in t ention to have at least a hun
F I R ST S ER M O N
d red serm o ns with which t o begin my ministry : I have not a
single o n e by me except o n e whi ch I sent t o a neighbouring
clergymant o c o nvince him how unt I was t o tak e upon m e
the important work o f preaching He kept i t a fortnight and
then sent it ba ck with a guinea for the loan t elling m e he had
prea ched it m o rning and evening t o his c o ngregati on by divid
ing it
R EPR O A C H
Strange that any o ne should let a little r e
proa ch deprive them o f an eternal crown ! Lord what is man !
In a S hort time we S hall have praise enough Heaven will e cho
with the applaus e given t o the true followers o f the Lamb

A W I FE S PO R T R A I T
I live in hopes o f seeing you and y o ur
wife again (gr o wing in grace ) in E ngland You told me Sh e
desired I would draw her picture but alas S he has applied to
an improper limner However th o ugh I cannot describe what
she is I can tell what Sh e ought to b e zMeek patient long
suffering obedient in all things n o t self willed not soon angr y
no brawler swift to hear slow to speak and ready t o every good
word and w o rk But I can no more I dare not go on in telling
another what sh e ought to b e when I want S O much myself ;
o nly th is I kn o w when possessed o f th o se good qualities before
menti o ned Sh e will then be a s happy a s her heart can wi s h

.
WHIT EF I E L D
S L I F E AND TI M E S
381
MI R A C L E S
What need is ther e for the m n o w that we
s ee greater miracles every day done by the power o f God s
?
D O not the spiritually blind now see ? A re n o t the S pi
word
ritually dead n o w raised and the leprous souls now cleansed
and have not the poor the gospel preached unto them A nd if
we have the thing already which such miracles were only i n
tended to introduce why S hould we tempt God in requiring fur
ther signs
He that hath ears to hear let h i m hear
WA R N I N G
God forbid I S hould be called at the great day
to say that my dear Mr
put h i s hand to the plough and
turned back unto perdition Good Go d ! the thought strikes
Return r e
m e as thoug h a dar t was shot through my liver
turn My dear friend I cannot part from you for ever D O n o t
S peak peace to your soul when there is no peace D o not turn
factor for the devil D o not prejudice or hurt my brother and
thereby add to the grief you have already occasioned

ZEA L
I love those that thunder o u t the word The chris
tian world is in a deep S leep N othing but a loud voice can
awaken them out of it

Z E A L AN D P R U D E N C E
Had we a thousand hands and tongues
there is employment enough for them all people are every where
ready to perish for lack of knowledge A S the Lord has been
pleased to reveal his dear Son in u s o h let us stir up that gift o f
God and with all boldness preach him to others F reely w e
have re ceived freely let us give : what Christ tells us by his
Spirit in our cl o sets that let us proclaim o n the house top He
who sends will protect us All the devils in hell shall not hurt
us til l we have nished ou r testimony A nd then if we S hould
seal it with imprisonment or death well will it be with us and
happy shall we be evermore ! But the proof o f o u r sincerity
will be when we come to the trial I fear for no o n e so much
a s myself
I M P A TI E N C E
I want to l eap my seventy years I long t o
be dissolved to be with Christ Sometimes it arises from a fear
Some
o f falling knowing what a body of S i n I carry about me
times from a prospect of future labours and su fferings I am out
A t others I am
o f humour a n d wish for death as E lij ah did
temp t ed and then I l o ng t o be freed from temptati on s But it
.
WHI T E F I E L D
3 82
is not thus always : there are times when my s o ul hath s uch

foretastes o f God that I lon g m o re eagerly to be with him and
the frequent prospect o f the happiness which the S pirits o f just
men made perfect now enj oy o ften carries me as it were into
another world
B U N Y AN
A nd oh what s weet commu ni o n did he enj oy in
Bedfo rd gaol ! I really believe a minister will learn m o re by
o ne m o nth s c o nnement than by a year s study

The light that has been given us is not to b e put
B L ASTS
under a bushel but on a candlestick Satan indeed by blast s
If
o u r light b e the
O f er s e c u t i o n w il l do all he can t o put it o u t
p
light o f Christ those blasts will only cause it to S hine the brighter
F R I E ND S
N othing gives me more comfort next to the
assurance of the eternal continuance o f God s love than the pleas
ing reecti o n of having so many christian friends to watch with
I wish they would smite me friendl y and reprove me
m y soul
oftener than they do I would force my pr o ud heart t o thank
them
CAND O U R
Success I fear elated my mind I did not b e
have towards y o u and other ministers o f Christ with that h u
m il i t y which became me
I freely confess my fault I o wn m y
self to b e but a novice Your charity dear Sir will excite you
to pray th at I may not through pride fall into the condemnation
o f the devil D ear Sir shall I come o ut int o the world again
o r not ? Must I venture myself once more among r ebr an d s
arrows and death ? Methinks I hear you reply Yes if you
come forth in the strength o f the Lord God and make mention
Of his righteousness only
It is my desire s o to do I w o uld
have Jesus all in all Like a pure crystal I would transmit all
the light he poureth upon me

H U MI LIT Y
If possible Satan will make u s t o think more
highly of ourselves than we ought to think I can tell this by
fatal experience
It is not sudden ashes of j oy but having
the humility o f Christ Jesus that must denominate us chris
tians If we hate repr o of we are s o far fro m being true fol
lowers O f the Lamb of G o d that in the Opinion Of the wisest o f
m en we are brutish
IN GE N I O US F ID E LI T Y
The principles which I maintain
,
WHIT E F I E LD S
L IFE
T IM E S
AN D
3 83
are purely Scriptural and eve r y way agreeable t o the Church of

What I have been chiey concerned about
E n g l a n d A rticles
i s lest any should rest in the bare S peculative knowledge and
not experience the p ower of them in their own hearts What
avails it Sir if I am a pat r on for the righteousness o f Jesus
Chris t in behalf o f another if a t the same time I am self
I am t hus j ealous I trust with a godly
r ighteous myself ?
j ealousy because I s ee so many self deceivers among my a c
quaintance There is o n e in particular (whom I love and fo r
whom I most heartily pray ) who approves o f my doctrine and
hath heard it preached many years past but I could never hear
him tell o f his experiences or o f what God has done for his
soul He hath excellent good desires and intentions but I think
he wants something more : Lord for thy innite mercy s sake
grant he may know himself even as he is known ! I need n o t
tell Mr D
who this dear friend i s you are intimately
acquainted with him yo u love him as you do your o wn heart
you are never out o f his company O dear Sir be not angry
Methinks I hear you by this time making an application and
saying Then I am t h e man
True dear Sir I confess you
are But love love for your better part your soul your pre
cion s soul this love constrains me to use this freedom You
are more noble th an t o take it ill at my hands I could not bear
e ven to suspect that you deceived yourself dear Sir and n o t
tell you such a suspicion was in my heart That God m ay
powerfully convince yo u o f self righteousness and clothe you
with the righteousness o f h i s dear S o n ; that he may ll you
with his gra ce and thereby t you for and at last t ranslate you
to his glory is the hearty prayer o f
dear Sir
your most obliged and a ffectionate friend
and humble servant
G W
CA TH O LI C IT Y
I wish all names among the s aints o f Go d
were swallowed up in that o ne o f ch r i s t i a n I long for pro
fe s s or s t o leave o ff placing religion in saying I am a church
man I am a dissenter
My language to s uch i s Ar e yo u of
Christ
If s o I l o ve you with al l my heart
,
W H IT E F I E LD
3 84
S E L F KN O WL E D GE
My heart is like E zekiel s temple the
further I search int o it the greater abominati ons I disc o ver ;
but there is a fountain opened for S i n and all uncleanness

G O D L Y J E A L O US Y
There is nothing I dread more than
having my heart drawn away by e arthly Obj e ct s When that
time comes it will be over with m e indeed ; I must then bid
adieu to z eal and fervency o f S pirit and in e ffect bid the Lord
Jesus to depart from me F or alas what room can there be for
?
God when a rival hath t aken possessi o n o f the heart
My
blo o d runs cold at the very thought there o f I cannot indee d
I cannot away with it

WO ND ER
AS for my own part I Often stand astonished
at the riches of free distinguishing grace and I often fe el m y
self s o great a sinner that I am tempted to think nothing can
be blessed which comes from such unhallowed hands and lips ;
but yet the Lord is with me and attends his word with mighty
power
A SSU R AN C E
The r o ot o f the matter is twisted r o und every
faculty of the soul which daily is supp o rted with this assurance
that Christ can n o more forsake the soul he l o ves than he can
forsake himself
C O N FE SS I O N
A ll that people d o say of me a ffects me but
little because I know worse of m yself than they can s ay con
cerning m e My heart is desperately wicked Was Go d t o
leave me I should be a remarkable sinner

ZEA L
N ature would sometimes cry o u t Spare thyself
but when I am o ffering Jesus to poor sinners I cann o t forbear
exerting all my powers O h that I had a th o usand lives my
dear Lord Jesus S hould hav e them all

A FF LI C TI O N
Well may God a fflict me ; I richly deserve
it and when he brings me low nothing grieves me S O much as
to think that I should be so froward as to oblige the Go d o f lo ve
to strike me with his rod But oh the goodness o f the Lord !
His rod as well as sta ff do comfort an d build up my soul I
would n o t but be tried for ten thousand worlds Blessed be Go d
I am enabled to clasp the cross and desire to glory in nothing
m ore
L UTH ER
I nd Luther s obs erv a tion to be true : Times
WH IT EF I E LD
3 85
of reformation are times of confusion a s yet the churches in
A merica are quiet but I expect a sifting time ere long

A M ER I C A
I am more and more in love with the good ol d
puritans ; I am pleased at the thoughts of sitting down hereafter
with the venerable Cotton N orton Elliot and that great cloud
o f witnesses which rst crossed the western ocean for the sake
At
o f the gospel and the faith once delivered to the saints
present my soul is so lled that I can scarce proceed

PA R LI A M E N T
Though I scarce know an oak from a hickory
o r one kind o f land from another I am s u b p mn a e d to appear
b efore parliament to give an a ccount o f the condition o f the
province o f Ge o rgia when I left it

A SSU R AN C E
A s for assurance I cannot but think all who
are truly converted must know that there was a time in which
they closed with Christ : but then as so many have died only
with an humble hope and have been even under doubts and
fears though they could not but be looked upon as christians
I am less positive than once I was lest haply I S hould condemn
some o f God s dear children The farther we go in t h e s p i
ritual life the more cool and rational shall we be and yet more
truly zealous I speak this by experience

H O L Y FI RE
I desire that none o f my wildre may b e
mixed with the pure re o f holy zeal coming from God s altar
I think it my d u t y t o wait to go on S imply in preaching the
everlasting gospel and I believe we shall yet s ee the salvation
o f God
FI E L D P RE A C H I N G
E very o n e hath his proper gift F ield
preaching is my plan In this I am carried as o n eagles
w i ngs
P H A R IS EE S
I nd no such enemies to the cr o ss of Christ
as those who keep up t h e form o f religion and are orthodox i n
their notions but are ignorant o f an experimental acquaintance
with Jesus
P U NN I N G
O nce in my sermon I said O h that N ew E ng
land was full o f new creatures
C A TH O LI C S P I R IT
I talk freely with the Messrs Wes
ley though we widely di ffer in a certain point Most talk o f
a catholic S pirit but it is only till they have brought people
.
W H IT EF I E LD
3 86
into the pale o f their o wn church This is downright secta

H o w can I a c t consistently unless I
r i a n i s m n o t catholicism
receive and love all the chil dr en of Go d whom I e steem to be
such o f whatever denomination they may b e ? Why should we
?
I t h in k
dispute when there i s no probability Of convincing
t his i s n o t giving u p the faith but ful lling o ur Lord s new
command Love o n e another and o u r love i s but feigned
unless it produces proper e ffe cts I am persuaded the more
the love Of Go d is shed abroad in o u r hearts the more all nar
s o far as
r o wn es s Of S pirit w ill subsi d e and give way : besides
P rej udi ces j ealousies
we are narrow spirited we a r e uneasy
and suspicions make the soul miserable s o far a s they are e u
.
t er t ain ed
Those wh o are n o t soli dl y established in the love

o f Go d will fall t o o much in love wi t h the outward form o f their
par ticular church b e it what it w ill B u t as the love o f Go d
gets the ascendency the more they w il l be like him and h is
holy angels and consequently rej oice when souls are brought t o
Jesus whatever instruments may be made use o f for that pur
p o se If t herefore some that y o u and I know are t o o conned
d
o n o t preach more
I
believe
is
much
the
case
if
they
o
o
t
a
s
(
)
frequen t ly and abound more in good works ; I think it is for
want o f having t heir hearts more inamed with t h e love o f Go d
and their graces kept in more constant exercise T o stir up
the g ift o f Go d that i s in us i s an apostolical injunction ; and
if we do n o t keep upon ou r watch we shall fall into a false still
ness N ature loves eas e and a s a blind zeal Often prompts us
t o speak t o o much s o tepidity and lukewarmness Often cause us
to speak t o o little D ivine wisdom alone i s protable to dire ct
and I would b e very cautious h o w I speak lest I should take
t o o much upon me
B I G O T RY
D isputing with bigots and narrow spirited people
will n o t do I intend henceforward to s ay less t o them and
pray more and more to o u r Lord fo r them
Lord enlarge
their hearts is my continual prayer fo r such wh o are S O strait
ened in their o wn bowels Blessed b e Go d this partition wall
i s brea k ing down daily in some o f o u r o l d friends hearts in
London I exhort all t o g o where they can prot most I
ZEA L
WH IT EF I E L D
3 87
preach what I believe to be the truth and then leave it t o the

Spirit o f Go d to make t h e application When we have done
this I think we have gone to the utmost bounds o f o ur com
mission
L I FE AN D D E A TH
Why are you re conciled to life ? B e
cause I can d o that fo r Jesus on earth which I cannot d o in
heaven : I mean h e made instrumental in bringing some poor
weary heavy laden sinners t o nd rest in his blood and right
and indeed if o ur Saviour w as to o ffer either t o tak e
e ou s n es s
me now o r to stay only to take o n e sinner more I would desire
to stay to take him with m e

D E V O TI O N
Morning and evening retirement is certainly
exceeding good but if through weakness of body o r frequency
o f preaching I cannot go to God in my usual s e t times I think
my S pirit is not in bondage It is not for me to tell how often
I use secret prayer ; if I did n o t u s e it nay if in one sense I
did not pray without ceasing it would be di ffi cult fo r me to
keep up that frame of soul which by the divine blessing I
daily enj oy If the work o f God prosper and your hands h e
come more full you will then dear Sir know better what I
mean But enough of this God knows my heart ; I would do
every thing I possibly could to satisfy all men and give a rea
son o f the hope that is in me with meekness and fear ; but I
cannot satisfy all that are waiting for an occasion to nd fault :
I therefore despair of doing it

our Lord could not
You are but a sinner and Jesus died for
B U T A S I NN ER
sinners Come and welcome to Jesus Christ

G O D S WO RK
I have been faulty in looking too much to
foreign help and despising that which God had given me
When our Lord was to feed the multitude he would n o t create
new bread but multiplied the loaves that were already at hand
Ye need not send them away give y e them to eat said he :
Work with
s o say I to my dear brethren at the Tabernacle
the materials you have In doing the work God will teach
you how to do it E xperience will grow up with the work
itself Thus Go d hath dealt with me and s o he continues to
deal
L UTH ER AN D CA L V I N
Mr Wesley I think i s wrong in
,
W H IT EF I E L D
3 88
some things and Mr Law wrong also ; yet I believe that both
Mr Law and Mr Wesley and others with whom we d o n o t
agree in all things will shine bright in glory It i s best there
fore fo r a gospel minister simply and powerfully t o preach those
truths he has been taught o f God and to meddle a s little a s
possible with those who are children of God though they S hould
di ffer i n many things This would keep the heart s weet and at
the same tim e n o t betr ay the truths o f Jesus I have tried both
the disputing and the quiet way and nd the latter far prefer
able to the former I have not given way to the Moravian
brethren o r Mr Wesley or to any whom I thought in an
error n o n o t fo r an hour But I think it best n o t to dispute
when there is no probability of convincing I pray yo u for
Christ s sake to take heed lest your spirit should be imbitter
ed when you are speaking o r writing for God This will give
your adversaries advantage over you and m ak e people think
your passion is the e ffect of your principles Since I have been
in E ngland this time Calvin s example has been very much
pressed upon me Yo u know how Luther abused h i m A s we
are o f Calvinistical principles I trust we shall in this respect
imitate C alvin s practice and show all meekness to those who
may oppose
PO V ER T Y
How is the world mistaken about my circum
stances worth nothing myself embarrassed fo r others and ye t
looked upon to o w in riches ! O ur extremity is God s Op
.
p or t u n i t y
H E AD AND H E A R T
Though principles are n o t to be rested
in yet it i s a good thing to have a clear head as well as a clean
heart Some people make nothing o f principles but why are
they s o zealous in propagating t heir o wn

JUDGI NG
D o not think t hat all things the most rened
christian in the world does is right or that all principles are
wrong because some that hold them are t o o imbittered in their
spirits It is hard for good men when the tr uths O f Go d are
Opposed to keep their temper espe cially at the rst a ttack
N othing but the all conquering blood of the dear Redeemer
can destroy the wildre in the heart

U S E F U L N E SS
I have the pleasure often to go without the
.
W H IT EF I E L D
3 89
camp and to bear a little of his sacred reproach and I prefer it

t o all the treasures in the world
Weak as I am my Jesus
makes me more than conqueror through his love
He has
brought mighty things to pass here and gotten himself t h e vi c
tory in many hearts I tr ust there is not a d a y passes but some
poor creature or another i s plucked a s a brand out o f the burn
ing I wish I could hear Go d was more in the camp

P ER S E C UTI O N
I had once the honour o f being publicly ar
fo r not r eading the Common P rayer in a meeting
r a ig n ed
house A t another time I was taken up by a warrant fo r cor
r e c t in
Shall our clergy
g a letter wherein were these words
break the canons ? The prosecutions were unj ust ; but there is
o ur glory
I remember when Socrates was about to su ffer h i s
friends grieved that he su ffered unj ustly What ! says he would
you have me su ffer j ustly ? If we are bu ffetted for our faults
and take it patiently says a greater than Socrates we are not
to glory ; but if we are reproached for Christ and su ffer as
christians happy are we
I think our present su fferings are
for him
S E L F KN O W L E D GE
I know what a dreadful thing it is to
carry much sail without proper ballast and to rej oice in a false
liberty J o y oating upon the surface o f an u n m or t i ed heart
is but of short continuance It pu ffs up but doth n o t edify I
thank o u r Saviour that he i s showing us here more Of o ur hearts
and more o f his love

C H R IST S L IB R A RY
O h that I c o uld lie lower ! then should I
rise higher Could I take deeper root downwards then S hould
I bear more fruit upwards I want to be poor in spirit I want
to be meek and lowly in heart I want to have the whole mind
that wa s in Christ Jesus Blessed be h i s name for what he has
given me already Blessed be his name that out of his fulness
I receive grace for grace
O h that my heart was Christ s
library
I would n o t have o n e thief to lodge in my Redeemer s
temple
Lord scourge o u t every thief is the daily language
of my heart The Lord will hear my prayer and let my cry
come unto him

MA X I M
When I discover a new corruption I am as thank
ful as a sentin el keeping watch in a garrison would be at S pying
,
W H IT EF I E L D
39 0
a straggling enemy come near him I stand not ghting with

it myself in my own strength but run immediately and tell the
Captain of my salvation By the sword o f his Spirit he soon
destroys it and makes me exceeding happy This is what I call
a simple looking to Christ I know o f no o ther e ffectual way
o f keeping the old man down
after he has gotten his deadly
blow
M E L AN C T H O N
A s Luther said to M el an ct h o n N i m i s es
n ull u s
You ar e kept in bondage by a false humility It is
good to see ourselves poor and exceeding vile but if that S ight
and feeling prevent o u r looking up to and exerting ourselves
for ou r dear S av iour ; it become s criminal and robs the soul of
much comfort I can speak this by dear bought experience
How often have I been kept from speaking and acting for God
by a S ight o f my o wn unworthiness ! but now I see that the
more unworthy I am the more t to work for Jesus be cause he
will get much glory in working by such mean instruments and
the more he has forgiv en me the more I ought to love and serv e
him F ir e d with a sense o f his unspeakable loving kindness I
dare to go o ut and tell poor sinners that a Lamb was slain for
them ; and that he will have mercy on sinners as such o f whom
indeed I am chief
W H I T EF I E L D S T UM P
I preached to about ten thousand o n
Hamp ton Comm o n at what the people now call Wh i t e el d s
Tump because I pre ached there rst I cannot tell you what a
solemn o ccasion that wa s I perceive a great alteration in the
people since I was in these parts last They did indeed hang
It ran and was gloried

o n me to hear the word
RA MS H O R N S
The rams horns are so unding about Jeri
cho surely the towering walls will at length fall down But
we must have patience H e that believeth doth not make
haste The rams horns must go round seven times

J ER US A L E M S I N N ER S
I purpose once more to attack the
prince o f darkness in M o o r el d s when the holidays come
Many precious souls have been captivated with Christ s love in
that wick ed place Jerusalem sinners bring most glory to the
Redeemer
O R P H AN S C H O O L
I think I could be sold a s la ve to serv e
.
WH IT EF I E L D
S LI F E AN D TI M E S
39 1
at the galleys rather than you and my dear orphan family should
want
O LD C O LE
I must acquaint you of the following ane cdote
o f the old Mr Cole a most venerable dissenting minister whom
I was always taught to ridicule and (with shame I write it) used
when a b o y to run into h i s meeting house and cry Old Cole
Being asked once by one o f his congrega
o ld Cole ! ol d Cole
tion what business I would be o f I said A minister but I
would take care never to tell stories in the pulpit like the o l d
Cole
About twelve years afterwards the ol d man heard me
preach in o n e of the churches at Gloucester ; and o n my telling
some story to illustrate the subj ect I was upon having been
inform e d what I had before said made this remark to o n e o f his
elders I nd that young Whiteeld can now tell stories as
well as Ol d Cole
Being a ffected much with my prea ching he
was as it were be come young again ; and used to s a y whe n
coming to and returning from Barn These are days of the Son
o f man indeed !
N ay he was so animated and so humbled
that he used to subscri b e himself my cu r a t e and went about
preaching after me in the country from place to pla ce But o n e
evening whilst preaching he was struck with death and then
asked for a chair to lean on till he concluded h i s sermon when
he was carried up stairs and died O blessed God ! if it be
thy holy will may my exit be like his
The Tump at Hamp
ton had been Cole s stand before it was called Wh i t e el d s
Tump
P A R TY
Those who think I want to make a party or to
disturb churches do n o t kno w me I am willing t o hunt in the
woods after S inners and according to the present temper of my
mind could b e content that the name of George Whiteeld
should die if thereby the name of my dear Redeemer could be
exalted Indeed I am amazed that he employs me at all But
what S hall we say ?
He hateth putting away therefore I am
n o t consumed
Grace sovereign free grace ! S hall be all my
,
so ng f
B E H I ND TH E C U R T A I N
Satan hath desired to have yo u
that he may sift yo u as wheat but surely Jesus prays fo r you
though as it were behind the curtain

.
W H IT EF I E LD
3 92
T H E R OD
0 h ap p y
T h at b r oug h t me
r od,
to
n ear er
my Go d
I think I can s ay it is good to bear the yoke of affliction in

youth It teaches one to keep silence and weans us from a too
great attachment to all sublunary enj oyments I have a few
strokes of my F ather s rod from time to time as well as you
But I nd that his r o d as well as his sta ff do comfort I am a
naughty child and want much correc t ion ; but he that wounds
heals also and in glory we S hall nd that his loving correction
hath made us great O glory ! It i s yonder in V iew ; Jesus
stands at the top of the ladder to receive us into it

C O L O N E L GA R D I N ER
The noble Colonel Gardiner once
a thriving soul in a healthy body
O r however
w ished me
it may be with the o n e I earnestly pray that the other may
prosper Sick ness i s often m ade u s e of as a means in the hands
of an all gracious F ather t o ripen our graces and t us fo r hea
ven Thro ugh grace I can say it is good for me to be sick
though I am afraid I am too impatient to be gone Well ! H e
till then may I
t ha t cometh will come and cannot tarry long
b e resigned and work the works o f him that sent me whilst it
i s day before the night cometh when no man can work

R E S I G N A TI O N
My schemes are so frequently dis concerted
that I would willingly put a blank into his hands to be lled up
j ust as he pleases But this stubborn will would fain avoid
swallowing some wholesome bitter sweets which the all gracious
P hysician reaches o u t unto me
N evertheless through grace
the prevailing language o f my heart i s N ot my will but thine
be done
C AND O U R
Alas alas in h o w many things have I j udged
and a cted wron g I have been t o o rash and hasty in giving
characters both o f places and persons Being fond o f Scripture
language I have Often used a style too apostolical and at the same
time I have b een too bitter in my zeal Wildre has been mixed
with it and I nd that I frequently wrote and S poke in my o wn
spirit when I thought I was writing and S peaking by the assist
ance of the Spirit o f Go d I have lik ewise t o o much made i n
ward impressions my rule o f a cting and t o o soon and too ex
,
W H IT EF I E L D
393
p l i c i tl y
published what had been better kept in longer o r told

after my death By these things I have given some wrong
touches to God s ark and hurt the blessed cause I would defend
and also stirred up needless opposition This h as humbled me
much S ince I have been o n board and made me think o f a say
ing o f Mr Henry s Joseph had more h on es ty than he had
A t the same
p ol i cy o r he never would have told hi s dreams
time I cannot but bless and praise and magnify that good and
gracious God who lled me with so much o f his holy re and
carried me a poor weak youth through such a torrent both of
popularity and conte m pt and s e t S O many seals to my unworthy
ministrations I bless him for ripening my j udgment a little
more for giving me to see and confess and I hope in some de
gree to correct and amend some o f my mistakes

P O P UL A R IT Y
It is too m u ch fo r o n e man to be received a s
I have been by thousands The thoughts o f it lay me low but
I cann ot get l o w enough I would willingly S ink into nothing
before the blessed Jesus my All in All

N O B I LIT Y
Paul preached privately to those that were of
reputation This must be the way I presume o f dealing with
the nobility who yet know n o t the Lord O h that I may b e
enabled when called t o preach to any of them so to preach a s
t o win their souls to the blessed Jesus

T o D R D ODD R I D GE
The Moravians rst divided my fa
mily then my parish at Georgia and after that the s o cieties
which under Go d I wa s an instrument of gathering I suppose
n o t less t han four hundred through their practices have left
the Tabernacle But I have been forsaken otherwise I hav e
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 o r S peak to me though they
must o wn at the great day that I was their S piritual father
All this I nd but little enough to teach me to cease from man
and to wean me from that too great fondness which S piritual
fathers are apt to have for their spiritual children Thus blessed
Paul was served ; t hus must all expect to b e treated who are o f
P aul s S pirit and are honoured with any considerable degree o f
Paul s success But I have generally observed that when o n e
d o or of usefulness is shut another opens

,
WH IT EF I E L D
39 4
SA MU E L
S urely (says the prophet that w as sent to anoint
o n e o f Jesse s sons
He
) the Lord s anointed is before me
guessed sev eral times but always guessed wrong till little
D avid was sent for who was thought nothing Of A nd if a pro
phet was mistaken when thus sent in a peculiar manner and
no doubt particularly engaged in prayer for direction is it any
wonder that we should nd ourselves mistaken in many thing s
even when we h ave been most earnest with God for guidance and
?
dire ction Go d Often guides us by disappointments
Yo u know me t o o well to j udge I have many
S E C RE TS
secrets May the secret o f the Lord be with me and then I
care not if there were a window in my heart fo r all mankind to
s e e the uprightness o f my intentions

MA X I M
Li k e a pure crystal I would transmit all the glory
Go d is pleased to pour upon me and never claim as my o wn
what is his sole property

A N GE LS
A s we advance in the divine life we shall be more
and more conformed to those ministering spirits who though
waiting o n us below do always behold the face o f o ur heavenly
F ather above
L UTH ER
How wa s Paul humbled and struck down before
he was sent forth to preach the everlasting gospel ! P rayer
temptation and meditation says Luther are necessary ingre
dients for a minister If God teach us humility it must be
as Gideon taught the men o f Succoth by thorns

B L O SS O MS
I have always found awakening times like S pring
times many blossoms but not always s o much fruit

Yo u j udge right when you say It is your
PO P UL A R IT Y
Opinion that I do not want to make a sect o r s et myself at the
head o f a party
N o let the name o f IVh i t e eld die S O that
the cause of Jesus Christ may live I have seen enough o f p o
p ul ar i t y to be S ick o f it and did n o t the interest of my blessed
Master require m y appearing in public the world should hear
but little o f me henceforward But who can desert such a cause ?
Who for fear of a little contempt and su ffering would decline
t h e service of such a Master ? O h that the Lord Jesus may thrust
o u t many
many labourers into h i s harvest ! Surely the time
must come when many o f the priests also shall be obedient t o
the word I wait fo r thy salvation O Lord !
.
W HIT EF I E L D
S LI FE AND TIM E S
395
C O M P L I M EN T
Luther observed that he was never em
ployed in any new thing but he was beset with some t em p t a
tions or visite d with a t o f sickness
I only wish I could bear
it for your Ladyship but then your crown would not be so
bright nor the inward purity o f your heart so great

N A TU RE
N ature is a mere Proteus and till renewed by the
Spirit o f God th o ugh it may S hift its s cene will be only nature
still
A P RE TT Y C H A R A C T ER
I wish the beloved physician was
more re conciled to the cross I am persuaded let him s ay what
he pleases that a too great attachment to the world makes him
reason as he does in many things Well h e is in good hands
He must either come o r be dragged to the cross That pretty
character o f his must be crucied and slain ; and as well as
others he must be content (as Mr Gur n all expresses it) to
go to heaven in a fool s co at
THE KING
Lately his Maj esty seeing Lady Chestereld
at court with a grave gown pleasantly asked her whether Mr
Whiteeld advised her to that colour
O h that all were clothed
in the bright and spotless robe of the Redeemer s righteousness
How beautiful w o uld they then appear in the sight of the King
o f kings !
S E L F K N O W L E D GE
O h that I may learn fr om all I s e e to
desire to be nothing and to think it my highest privilege to be
an assistant to all but the head o f none ! I nd a love o f power
sometimes intoxicates even God s o wn dear children and make
t he m to mistake passion fo r zeal and an overbearing spirit for
an authority given them from above F o r my o wn part I nd
it much easier to obey than govern and that i t is much safer to
be trodden underfoot than to have it in one s power to serve
others s o This makes me y from that which at o u r rst set
ting o ut we are too apt to Court Thanks be to the Lord o f al l
lords for taking any pains with ill and hell deserving me ! I can
not well buy humility at t o o dear a rate

T H E H O L L O W S Q U A RE
A s long as we are b el ow if we have
not o n e thing to exercise us we shall have another O ur trials
will n o t be removed but only changed Sometimes t roubles
come from with o ut sometimes from within and sometimes
.
W H IT EF I E LD
39 6
fro m both together Sometimes professed enemies and some

times nearest and dearest friends are su ffered to attack u s
B ut C hrist is the believer s h oll ow s qu a r e ; and if we keep
close in that we are impregnable H ere only I nd my refuge
Garrisoned in this I can bid deance to men and devi l s Let
who will thwart des ert o r overrea ch whilst I am in this strong
hold all their e fforts j oined with the prince o f darkness to dis
turb o r molest me are only like the throwing cha ff against a
brass wall
A G O O D S O LD I ER
I am called forth to battle ; remember
a poor cowar dl y soldier and beg the Captain of o u r salvation
that I may have the honour to die ghting I would have all
my s cars in my breast Methinks I would not be wounded
running away o r sk ul k ing into a hiding place It is n o t for
ministers o f Christ to ee o r be afrai d A nd yet alas lWell
,
n i l d e sp er a n d u m C'h r i s t o d uci
PR E A C H ER S
It has long since been my j udgment that it
.
would be best for many o f the present preachers to have a tutor

a n d retire fo r a while and be content with preaching n o w and
O therwise I fear
t hen till they were a little more improved
;many who now make a temporary gure for want of a proper
foundation will run themselves o ut of breath will gr o w weary
o f the work and leave it

H EAV E N
O h what amazing mysteries will be unfolded
when e ach link in the golden ch ain of providence and grace
shall be seen and scanned by b ea t i e d S pirits in the kingdom o f
heaven ! Then all will appear symmetry and harmony and
even the most intricate and seemingly most contrary dispensa
tions will be evidenced to b e the result of innite and co n s um
mate wisdom power and lov e Above all there the believer
will s e e the innite depths of that mystery o f g o dliness God
manifested in the esh and j oin with that blessed choir who
with a restless unweariedness are e ver singing the song of Moses
and the Lamb

T HE S C O T C H
Though I preached near eighty times in
I reland and Go d was pleased to bless h i s word yet Scotland
seems t o be a n e w world t o me To s e e the people bring s o
many Bibles turn to every passage when I am expounding
,
WH IT EF I E L D
39 7
and han g as it were upon me to hear every w o rd is very

,
c o u r ag i n g
eu
L E TT ER S
I must have a li qu zd C h r i s t i in all my letters
U P R I G H T N E SS
I am easy having no scheme n o design of
supplanting or resenting but I trust a single eye to promote
the common salvation without s o much as attempting to set up
a party fo r myself This is what my soul abhors Being thus
minded I have peace ; peace which the world knows nothing
o f and which al l must necessarily be strangers to who are fond
either o f power or numbers God be praised for the many strip
pings I have met with : it is good fo r me that I have been sup
planted despised cens ured mal igned j udged by and separated
from my nearest dearest friends By this I have found the
faithfulness of him who i s the Friend of friends by this I have
been taught to wrap myself in the glorious E mmanuel s ever
lasting righteousness and to be content t hat H e to whom all
hearts are Open and all desires are known now sees and will
let all see hereafter the uprightness o f my intentions towards
all mankind
UN B E LI EF
Unbelief i s the womb o f misery and t h e grave
Had we faith but as a grain of mustard seed how
o f comfort
should we trample the world the esh the devil death and
hell under foot ! Lord increase o u r faith ! I know you s ay
A men E ven so Lord Jesus A men and A men !
PO LI C Y
Worldly wise men serpent like so turn and wind
t hat they have many ways to slip through and creep o u t at
which simple hearted single eyed souls know nothing o f and if
they did could not follow after them Honesty is the best
policy and will in the end (whether we s eek it o r not ) get the
better o f all
Such was the progress o f Wh i t e el d s opinions and maxims
during t h e rst t en years o f his ministerial life I need not say
that these samples are not from his sermons They are all sp e
c i m e n s of the spirited hints he was scattering o ver the world by
his letters and c o nversation
C H A PT E R XI X
WH IT EF I E L D
RE V IS ITI N G
IT
was a maxim with Whiteeld to ret urn back in a few days

if possible upon new spots where his rst or second sermon had
O n t h e s ame principle he often
m ade a visible impression
revisited the chief s cenes of his early labours
conrming t h e
souls of the disciples and confronting h i s enemies In refer

ence to h i s avowed converts he cherished much godly j ealousy
as well as brotherly love He did n o t like o n e o f his friends
pretend to know when persons are j ustied

It i s a lesson
he says
I have n o t yet learnt There are s o many stony
ground hearers which receive the word with j oy that I have de
t er m i n ed to suspend my j udgment till I know the tree by its
fruits
In like manner when he reports i n d i vi d u a l cases o f
sudden arrest under the gospel it is common for him to s ay I
shall wait until we see h o w the physic works

Thus whilst he had o t h er reasons which compelled him to
travel and revisit mu ch he wa s also impelled by solicitude for
the stedfastness and consistency o f his widely scattered c o n
verts He would have looked well to the state of his herds and
ocks (although perhaps not so well ) had he had no orphan
house to sustain and no college in contemplation Witness his
countless letters
What are they in general but the o v er o w
ing o f his p a s t or a l love and watchfulness for and over the soul s
whom he deemed committed to his charge ?
In this spirit he left Ireland to revisit Sc o tland in 1 7 5 1 to
talk with the w i n ter a s well as with the s umm er saints

He
landed at Irvine where he preached before the magistrates at
t heir o w n request
N ext day the whole city of Glasgow was
,
WH IT EF I E L D
S LI FE AND TIM E S
89 9
moved at h i s coming
Thousands attend every mornin g and
evening They seem never to b e weary I am followed more
than e v er Scotland seems (still ) to be a N ew world to me To
see the people bring s o many Bibles and turn to every passage
as I am expounding and hang upon me to hear every word is
very encouraging
He abruptly breaks o ff this letter to the
Countess by saying I could enlarge but am straitened Some
ministers wait for m e

These were M a c L a u r i n Scott Mac
C ull o ch & c who delighted t o visit him at his friend N i ven s
Mac Laurin was
n ear the Cross after the labours of the day
both the guardian and champion o f his reputation in public
and private and t herefore gave Whiteeld no rest nor himself
either until he cleared up all ying reports H e would get at
the facts o f the case even if he tried his friend s patience
Whiteeld often smiled at the S cot ch scrutiny of this great and
good man It left no stone unturned when there was a calumny
to overturn o r a mistake to re ctify
I t was not howev er for this purpose chiey that these good
men sought his company They admired and enj o yed his con
These were sprightly and could b e h u
v e r s a t i o n al talents
m o u r s o m e and as he thought aloud and had seen much o f real
life his company was equally instructive and enlivening espe
t
over
his
li
h
supper
He
hen
unb
ent
the
bow
c i all
t
of h is
g
y
S pirit until it cooled from the friction of the burning arrows he
shot during the day
A seat at N iven s table was then an
honour as well as a privilege Gillies says truly O ne might
challenge the sons o f pleasure with all their wi t good humour
and gaiety to furnish entertainment so agreeable A t the same
time every part o f it w a s not more agreeable than it was useful
and edifying
H e was much pleased to nd whil e at Glasgow that D in
widdie the brother i n law of Mac C ul l o ch of Cambuslang had
been appointed governor of V irginia This had an important
bearing on the work Whiteeld began there He himself states it
thus
In that province there has been for some years past a
great awakening especially in Hanover county and the coun
ties adj acent
A s the ministers o f the establishment did not
favour the work and the rst awakened persons put themselves
.
W H IT EF I E L D
4 00
under the care o f the N ew York synod the poor people were
from time to time ned and very much harassed for n o t a t
tending o u the church service and as the awakening was sup
posed to be begun by the reading of my books at the instiga
tion o f the council a proclamation was issued o u t to prohibit
itinerant preaching However before I left V irginia one Mr
D avies (afterwards President) was licensed and settled over a
congregation Since that the awakening h as increased s o that
Mr D
writes
that o n e congregation is multiplied to
se ven
He desires liberty to license more houses and to preach
occasionally to all as there is no minister but himself This
though allowed o f in E ngland is denied in V irginia which
grieves the people very much The commissary i s o n e of the
council and with the rest of h i s brethren I believe no friend to
the dissenters The late lieutenant
governor was like minded
i s raised up to succeed him
I therefore think that Mr D
in order to befriend t h e church of God and the interest o f
Christ s people They desire no other privileges than what dis
senting protestants enj oy in our native country This I am
persuaded your brother i n law will be glad t o secure them

O n revisiting E dinburgh the only thing he d i d deplore wa s
that Mr Wesley intended to s et up societies in Scotland
upon his o wn plan This he thought imprudent 3 and he

said s o He had before warned Wesley that the Scotch did
not want him that neither his sentiments n or his system would
suit the north even if he preached like an angel

Wesley
would not believe this and tried both but the experiment for
A nd it deserved to be s o so far
h i m was a complete failure
as he conducted it for he li bel l ed and ca r i ca t ur ed the people
True ; they heard him coldly : n o t more s o however than his
o wn people at the F oundery would have listened to one o f the
Cambuslang Calvinists
Besides his very resolution to avoid
all controversial points wa s however well meant unwise in a
country where he wa s so well known to be an A rminian It
created suspicion if n o t disgust when they found that he k ept
back his notorious peculiarities The people would have listen
ed t o them and disputed them one by one with him and counted
him a p a w ley ch i el had he come o ff wi t h the best o f the argu

,
WH I T EF I E L D
4 01
ment But he was silent and they suspe cted him of blinking
the questions at issue between them This is the real secret
o f Wesley s failure
H is very candour seemed artice to the
S cotch
So far they misunderstood him and thus did him inj ustice
H e also misunderstood and misrepresented them They were
not unfeeling multitudes because h e could n o t move them

The same multitudes had wept and rej oiced under Wh i t e e l d s
preaching He could bring them o u t o n w eek days as well as
miserably
o n sabbath although Wesley found his congregation
small and said it v eried what he had often heard that the
S cotch dearly lov e the word of the Lord o n the Lord s day
F or what did Wh i t e el d s week day congregations ver ify 9 A t
this time as well as formerly he had t o say I now preach
twice daily to many thousands Many o f the best rank attend
0 E dinburgh E dinburgh surely thou wilt never be forgotten
by me
The longer I stay the more eagerly both rich and
poor attend on the word preached Perhaps for near twenty
eight days together in Glasgow and E dinburgh I preached to
ne a r
saints every day
In like manner when he took
his leave at Glasgow numbers set ou t from the c o untry by
t wo o r three o clock in the morning

Whiteeld left Scotland in the autumn to revisit Georgia ;
becoming again as he calls himself a fl oa t i ng p i lg r i m

In
deed he w as t for nothing but oating at the time He had
been mu ch reduced at E dinburgh by vomitings of blood and
though his j ourney to London recruited him somewhat he went
on board the A ntelope v ery weak His voyage wa s however
short and easy and he arrived at Georgia in good health His
S pirit also was much cheered by the ourishing condition of the
orphan h o use and the at tering prospe ct of a college n o w m ade
plausible by the grant o f a tract of excellent land B u t whilst
enj oying all this he heard of the death of D r D oddridge at
Lisbon and started o ff to his old work with new diligence H e
says D r D oddridge I nd is gone Lord Jesus prepare m e
t o foll ow after ! I intend t o beg i n for as yet I have done no
thing O h that I may begin in earnest It is a new year Go d
quicken my tardy pace and help me t o d o m u ch work in a little
2 D
.
WH IT EF I E L D
4 02
time This is my highest ambition

Under this impulse he
revisited South Carolina H e durst n o t however risk the heat
o f the summer in A merica and therefore he returned to E ngland
in the spring
Whilst resting for a little in L o ndon he revised s o me o f
H ervey s manuscripts This he called o n his own part hold
ing up a candle to the s u n

With his usual tact ho wever he
foretold their fate
N othing but your s cen er y can s creen you
S E L F will never bear to die though slain in so g en teel a man
n e r with o ut showing som e resentment against its a r tfu l mur
derer
But reviewing did not suit him : he rose up from his
desk exclaiming O h that I could y from pole to pole pub
E ven the transfer o f Georgia
l i sh i n g the everlasting gospel
from trustees into the hands o f government at this time and
all the prospe cts which the change opened for t h e colony could
n o t detain him in London
H e was invited to revisit Ireland ; but as it was for the pur
pose of organizing the Calvinistic methodists he refused
I
hate to head a party I t is absolutely inconsistent with my
other business t o take upon m e the care of societies in v arious
parts
H e therefore revisited Bristol where he preached
n ine times in four da y s to congregations almost equal in num
bers to his M o o r el d s audiences
O ld times revived again
Much good was done The last evening it rained a little but
n o ne moved I was w et and contracted a cold and hoarseness
but I trust preaching will cure me again

It did In the
course o f the next fortnight he preached twenty times and tra
vel l e d three hundred miles o n horseback in Wales
H e also
attended an association at which nine clergymen and nearly
forty other labourers were present His interview with these
brethren was inspiring as well as refreshing to him
All was
harmony and love

He left them more resolved than ever to
e xpose the wine and milk of the gospel to sale and to ex

p o stulate with sinners t o come d own to the price and be willing
to be saved by grace
O n his return to L o nd o n he wrote amongst many other let
ters o n e to D r F r a n kli n F ranklin as well as Hume admired
him and for much the same reason
his genius and power as
'
WH IT EF I E L D
403
an orat o r They cared about equally little fo r the grand T R UTH

which red his eloquence and made him w i se to win souls It
is painful to state this but it is o nly t o o true F ranklin was
ind eed friendly to the moral and philanthropic tendency o f
Wh it e el d s doctrine and had abandoned the rabid indelity
of Shaftesbury and Collins but still all the C hristianity he p u t
into his own epitaph was only the hope o f a resurrection ; and
all he put into his confession a few weeks before h i s death i n
answer to President Stiles wa s that he had doubts as to the
divinity o f Jesus o f N azareth and thought his system of reli
gion although the best not free from various corrupting
changes
In this opinion he claimed kindred with m os t of
the dissenters in E ngland ! To the credit o f D r Priestley he
contradicted F ranklin and set the A mericans right on thi s
p o int
Whiteeld tried to set F ranklin right up o n a m o re imp o rtant
p o int ; t hat divine change o f heart witho ut which no man can
en t er heaven
I nd he says
that you gr o w more a nd
more famous in the learned world A s you have made a pretty
considerable progress in the mysteries o f electricity I would
now humbly recomm end t o your diligent unprej udiced pursuit
and study the mystery of the new birth It is a most impor
tant and interesting study and when mastered will richly an
swer and repay yo u fo r all your pains O ne at wh o se bar we
are shortly to appear hath solemnly decl ared that without it we
cannot enter the kingdom of heaven You will excuse thi s
freed o m I must have a l i qu i d C h r i s ti in all my letters I am
yet a willing pilgrim for his great name s sake

This honest
letter ought to have delighted the philosopher in his cl o set even
more than the eulogium he heard whilst standing behind t h e
bar of the House o f Lords when C H A TH A M said of him Frank
lin i s o n e wh o m E urope holds in high estimation for his know
ledge and wisdom o ne who is an hon o ur not t o the E nglish
nation only but to human nature

The A merican Biographical D ictionary has d o ne al l it
h o nestly could to rescue the mem o ry o f this great patriot fro m
the charge o f being friendly to indelity

It quotes an i n
stance i n which he rebuked a youth wh o was treating religi o n
2 D 2
.
W H IT EF I E L D
4 04
vulgar prej udice an d who had appealed to him for coun

F ranklin said emph atically
Yo ung m an it is bes t
t e n an c e
to believe
Hume once said to L a Roche O h that I had
never doubted
Such expressions prove nothing but the su s
re
the
scepti
cal
Besides
there
could
have
b
een
no
f
i
c
i
o
n
s
o
p
l i g i o u s t on e about F ranklin if a raw witling could thus have
dared t o appeal to him agains t religion
The most ingenious v indication of him I have ever seen is
in the sketch o f his history in the A merican N ational Portrai t
Gallery
With such a l ife as F ranklin led we should per
haps o ffer an inj ury t o religion in supposing him as some have
done an enemy to its prevalence or a stranger to its benign i n
fluence
This is plausible but hollow H i s l ife in P aris will
not sustain the argument True 3 he said there th at his s u c
cess as a n eg o c i a t or would have convinced him of t h e b eing
and government o f a D eity had he ever b efore been an atheist
E qually true it i s however that as a philosopher he was often
the compa ni o n o f both a theists and i n d el s Besides what was
b e upon his death bed ? The best s aid o f him then is
that
he was afraid he did not b ear his pains as he ought and wa s

grateful for the m any blessings he h a d re ceived from t h e S u
preme Bein g who had raised him from a humble origin to s uch
c on s i d er a t i on a m on
m
n
In
a
word
he
was
not
e
s o un c h r i s
g
tian in h i s creed as unitarians he only d ou bt ed what they deny
the divinity o f the Saviour
F ranklin died in 1 7 9 0 Wh i t e el d s letter to him was in
1 7 52
Their acquaintanceship seems to have commenced when
the claims o f the orphan house were rst pleaded in P h i l ad el
phia Then F ranklin alth o ugh he approved o f the obj ect r e
fused to contribute t o it when applied to in private be cause he
disapproved o f the situation He went to hear Whiteeld
therefore resolved to giv e nothing He had however in hi s
pocket a handful of copper three o r four dollars and ve p i s
toles in gold A s the sermon began to kindle F ranklin began
to soften and was willing to give the C opper The next stroke
won the silver 3 and the nishing stroke was s o admirable he
says that I emptied my pocket wholly into the collector s d i sh
gold and all This is a good story 3 but he tells a still bet
as a
WH IT EF I E L D
4 05
ter one of his friend Hopkinson He had gone empty handed

th at he might be sure to give nothing But he was melted too
and tried to borrow money of a quaker The quaker s answer
was A t any other time friend I would lend thee freel y : but
n o t n o w ; for thee seems to me to be o u t o f thy right senses

This is un l i ke a quaker ! A nd it was unlike a christian for
F ranklin to say
The request was f or t un a t ely made to perhaps
the only man in the company who had the r mn ess not to be
a ffected by the preacher

It is no pleasure to me to write thus F ranklin wa s White
el d s friend and the friend of liber t y and humanity ; but his
h a lf h omag e to C hristianity S hould be rej e cted by her friends
She needs not the compliments o f a lm os t christians Indeed
they only tend to prev ent inquirers from be coming a l tog e t h er
like P aul It is all very well when indelity is to be p ut down
to appeal to the great cloud of scientic philosophical and poet
ical witnesses who h ave complimented Revelation ; but when
C hristianity i s to be enforced it is worse than useless to appeal
to great names who only believed the half of it What minister
would tell young men that they m ight safely stop at the points
where such doubters as F ranklin stood still ? N o t any able
Let Unitarianism take (and

m inister o f the N ew Testament
welcome all the philosophers and poets she can prove to have
been A rians
With what satisfacti o n the mind turns from such men to fol
l o w Whiteeld to Lutterworth where he was drawn by t h e
m ag n e t i c memory o f Wycli ffe o n his way from London to visit
Scotland again There a protestant is at home The interest
of this hallowed spot was if possible enhanced to W h i t e el d
at least he w as prepared to enj oy i tb y meeting o n the way to
it o n e of D o dd r i d g e s students who had been converted at
O lney four years before from a bitter s co ffer to be a young
evangelist He felt this to be a call to go forward in his

work He did ; and prea ched twice in the famous Wycli ffe s
parish with such e ffect that before he reached Scotland he

received a letter informing h i m that he had wo n souls in the
reformer s parish How enviable his associations with Lutter
worth ! My own were sadly disturbed when I passed through
-
WH IT EF I E L D
4 06
S L I FE A N D TI M E S
it I had watched the m or n i ng s ta r from the window of the

mail a s it lingered and smiled over the tower o f the church 3
and had pleased myself all night long with the hope o f being
able to drink of the bro ok into which Wy cl i e s ashes were

thrown The guard however would n o t allow me to run down
the hill whilst the horses were changing I was more than
mortied ; but he was inexorable When 10 he dis covered
that o n e o f the fresh horses wanted a shoe ; and there was no
other horse in the stable

C all the blacksmith he cried in
thunder O ff I ran that moment down the hill rej oicing in the
a ccident
I leaped the hedge and rea ched the brook A las
it was c o vered with yea s ty s cum from the dye houses or manu
factories upon its banks I could n o t drink
It was then only
three o clock in the morning I tasted the water however by
laving up a handful where the S lime was least o ffensive My
reader will pardon t his digression when h e remembers old F U L
L E R s climax
This brook conveyed the a sh es o f Wycli ffe int o
the A von 3 the A von into the Severn ; and the S evern into the
main s ea and thus the reformer s ashes b ecame emblems o f his
d o ctrine which shall spread from the rivers t o the ends o f the
earth
Wh i t e el d s associations were less sublime at Leicester H e
had t ur n ip s thrown at him whilst prea ching his rst sermon
A t his second however

all was hushed and he heard
afterwards that good wa s done

Then he revisited N ewc as
tle 3 and there he was as it were a r r es ted to stay

A ccord
i n g l y he preached four times and
a whole shower of blessings
descended from heaven on the great congregation

This led
to a secon d arrest and the shower was repeated I use his o wn
strong l anguage concerning Leicester and N ewcastle because
he afterwards told Lady Huntingdon that he had received
brav e news from both places

These arrests by the way m ade him d u e in S cotland His
invitations to revisit E dinburgh and Glasgow had been very
strong 3 and he was nothing loth to comply
I love s t a t e t o o
well especially in Scotland not to take it upon me as often as
possible by mounting my despised throne

There is t r u th
as well a s playfulness in this c o nfessi o n Wh iteeld did l o ve a
-
'
WH IT EF I E L D
4 07
little s t a te n o w and then who does not ? E dinb urgh wa s his

throne and coronets graced it N one o f these things however
estranged or diverted him from humbler spheres or lessened
his interest in men of low estate

A ccordingly his letters
to the Countess at this time whilst they report briey the
abundance o f the better sort who came o ut to hear him

twice a day in common with the multitude dwell chiey upon
the case o f a poor h i g h l a n d schoolmaster who had been very
useful am o ngst the young Gaels 3 and up o n the claims o f a poor
student who had not the means of nishing his ministerial edu
cation In none o f his letters at this time is there a n y refer
ence to the personal honours paid to him although they were
neither few nor small What he mentions with most compla
ce n c
is
an
account
he
had
received
of
a
oz en young men
d
y
that were awakened under his ministry ten years ago and
who were now useful preachers This was emphatically good
news to Whiteeld ; for although he was not far sighted he
s aw clearly all the bearings o f his own favourite maxim tha t
every student s name is l eg i on ;

catching him is catching
thousands 3 helping him helping many

This maxim (in a better for m) deserves the consideration
and adoption of both ministers and wealthy christians Who
can calculate how many souls have been won or what trains of
good hav e been set in p erp e t u a l motion by the young m en
whom the Thorntons and especially the Simeons and Wilsons
o f E ngland
the H al d an es of S cotland and the B e t h un e s o f
A merica took by the hand and s u stained at college
The r e
on o f that good is already bright upon
the
s ea o f glass
e
c
t
i
before the throne and it will increase in S pace and splendour

there until the end o f time and then shine a s the stars for
ever and ever

Go t h ou and do likewise ! O r if unable to
bear the entire expense o f a student unite some o f your friends
with you In like manner each o f the voluntary churches in
large towns S hould sustain a young evangelist I have tried
the experiment and my little ock have always come to my
help
T o the p o or s t udent who appl i ed to him fo r advice White
eld wrote
Go d willi ng I shall not b e un m in d ful o f you
,
4 08
WH IT EF I E L D
Like myself he had neither silver nor g old enough o f his o wn 3

but he hadfr i en d s and he pleaded the case with them He seems
also whilst in E dinburgh at this time to have aimed much to
c a t ch students 3 many o f whom from the classes as well as from
t h e divinity hall came daily to hear him
This was the case at
Glasgow when he revisited it There indeed his audiences
were even greater than at E dinburgh
A n event had occurred at the General A ssembly this year
which called forth Wh i t e el d s characteristic vein o f humour
The assembly had deposed Gillespie the founder o f the R E L I E F
Presbytery
I wish Mr Gillespie j oy he said : the P O P E
is turned p r es byt er i a n How blind is Satan ! What does he
get by casting o u t Christ s servants ? I expect great good will
come o u t of these confusions Mr Gillespie will do more good
Wh i t e el d s j okes are
in a week now t han before in a year
n o t t wo edged swords which cut both ways at once
but if his
sarcasm against the Secession cut deep this o n e against the
Kirk cut deeper The B a bel story and the B a byl on stor y
therefore if told at all again should be told together in j ustice
to Wh i t e el d s impartiality
Both however had better be
dropped when the A ssembly and the Synod contend a t all
O n leaving S co t lan d Whiteeld revisited several o f his ol d
stations in Yorkshire Lancashire and Cheshire in a state of
mind s o heavenly and absorbed that he scarcely knew at times
he says whether he had been in heaven o r on earth

D uring
three weeks of such preaching he never had more encourage
m ent S ince the Lord o f the harvest sent him o u t
A gale of
divine inuence every where attended it

This does not rest
o n his o wn testimony only
H is Leeds friends brought him
back from Sh e i el d again to make hay whil e the su n shone

It was n o w N ovember : but the weather was uncommonly
favourable 3 and therefore he thought it a pity to go into
winter quarters whilst work could be done in the elds

He
was however d r i ven in soon by rain and sickness He expect
ed d eath in the coach b etween N orthampton and London
When he reached home he found his wife had almost a s much
need o f a n urse as himself N ext day however he set himself
to reconsider the claims of Ireland and again refused to go over
,
WH IT EF I E L D
4 09
to head a party In a few days al s o he resumed his c o rre

s o n d e n ce with Hervey ; and in a week he was absorbed with
p
the a ffairs of Georgia 3 writing now a short letter to a m anage r
o f the orphan house and anon a long o n e to

on e
d ea r N a t
of the orphans By D ecember he was longing to range York
shire again and to revisit Leeds

N ight nor day he could not
forget the scenes he witnessed there although he was n o w hear
ing every day o f fresh awakenings in the Tabernacle

A t this time Charles Wesley consulted him o n a delicate
subj ectseparation from John ; some o f whose measures he
could not fall in with His letter I have never seen It em
b ar r as s e d Whi t eeld
H e knew not what to say Something
however rendered it necessary fo r him t o say t hat he thought
John still j ealous o f him and his proceedings But lest this
should inj ure John with Charles he said also
The connexion
between yo u and your brother hath been s o close and your
attachment to him so necessary to keep up his interest that I
w o uld not willingly for the world do or s ay any thing that may
s eparate such friends
I have seen an end o f all p erfect i on
More might be said were we face to face
Wesley was some
what j ealous o f Whiteeld at this time A n ew Tabernacle was
now o n the carpet 3 and for a long time the nobility had smiled
Wesley felt this H e could have taken their
o n Whiteeld
smiles more coolly than Whiteeld 3 but he could not sustain
their neglect philosophically It was howev er the con tr as t n o t
t h e loss that mortied him
When Whiteeld agreed to the plan o f a new Tabernacle
he resolved he says
o n the principle that burnt childr en
dread the re not to begin till h e had 1 000 in hand and
then to contract at a certain s um for the whole

H is
nge r s had been burnt at Bethesda 3 and he told his friends s o
They took the hint and soon raise d upwards of 9 00 ; and by
the time the foundation stone was laid the contributions amount
ed to 1 1 00 Whiteeld himself laid the stone 1 s t March
1 7 5 3 on the ol d spot and preached from E xod xx :2 4
To the credit of the Wesleys his kind but honest letter to
Charles n o t only prevented their rupture but also led to a loan
of their Sp i t al el d s chapel when the old Tabernacle was pulled
.
WH IT EF I E L D
4 10
down Whiteeld returned this compliment by rem o nstrating

with o n e of his preachers against giving O ffence or creating
j ealousies amongst the friends o f Wesley
When the time of the year came that he c o uld sing Lo the
winter is past he quitted winter quarters

The time o f the
singing o f birds and the voice of the turtle in the land called
for t h his voice t o o H e revisited No rwich for a few days in
A pril H e says that he triumphed there in spite of all oppo
What the Opposition was I do not know O ne part o f

s i ti on
the triumph Whiteeld did not know on earth The late F U L
L ER o f Kettering was wont to tell the following anecdote which
he had from the lips o f the person A young man who had gone
o ut in the morning o n a frolic with a party of his companions
would have his for tu n e told by a gipsy they met She predict
ed for him a good ol d age and lots of children and g r an d ch il
H e b eliev ed the prophecy and res olved to store his
d ren
mind with such knowledge as would make young folks l i ke an
Let me see he said what I can a cquire rst ?

o l d man
0 here is the famous methodist preacher Whiteel d 3 he is to
prea ch to night they s ay I will go and hear him

F rom thes e
strange motives he really went to hear The sermon was o n
John s appeal to the Sadducees and Pharisees to ee from the
wrath to come
Whiteeld said he described the S a d d u
Then the P h a r i
c e a n character : but that did not touch me
that s h o c k me a little A t length he abruptly broke o ff
sa i c
then burst into a ood o f tearsthen lifting up his hands
he cried with a loud voice 0 my H E A RER S t h e wrath is to co me
the w r a th is to come
These words sunk into my heart like
lead in the waters I wept I went alone These words fol
l o wed me wherever I went F or days and weeks I could think
Of little else but the awful words The wrath is to comeis to
come
F uller said the young m an became a considerable
preacher
Wh i t e el d s work an d reward during his revisits in 1 7 5 3 were
much as usual for him like that o f nobody else I can scarcely
b elieve my o wn eyes as I read the d istances dates and numbers
o f his
audiences in his memoranda 3 connected as these are
with frequent and even startling attacks o f sickness If he had
,
WH IT EF I E L D
411
not eagle s wings his strength was certainly renewed like the
e agle s even in a physical sense
Having Opened the new Tabernacle and preached in it for a
short time ( weeping in secret however to get back to York

shire ) he set o u t again for the north Some of his Leeds c o n
verts m et him by the way to hurry him o ff from She feld H e
w ou ld st o p at Rotherham however because the insults he had
formerly received there had tempted him to return no more
Then he thought no good was done N ow he found the chief
family of his bitter persecutors c o nverted to G o d and ready

H e be came their guest
t o welcome him under their ro o f
Rotherham had signalized itself by h o stility to Whiteeld
Both his person and character had been assailed there 3 and by
none more than the late Thorpe of M asb o r ough then a young
man He was in the habit Of meeting his boon companions in
the alehouse to mimic Whiteeld and turn religion into mock
ery O ne evening Thorpe and three others laid a wager which
o f them c o uld imitate him in the highest style at an o ff hand
sermon from the rst text which should turn up on Opening
the Bible The bu ffoonery o f the three soon failed and Thorpe
spru n g o n the table saying I shall b eat you all hollow

The
Bible was handed to him He opened it at random His eye
fell on the words
E x cept ye repent ye shall all likewise
perish
He uttered them without fear or hesitation But that
moment his conscience smote him It burst into ames It
compelled him to preach repentance to himself and all the club
H e went on in spite Of himself until his o wn hair stood o n end
with horror and all the bacchanals were blanched with terror
N ot a word was s aid Of the w ag er when he came down He
walked o ut in awful silence
Soon after this he j oined the
Wesleyans and w a s sent o u t by Wesley himself as a preacher
who wisely stationed him at Rotherham H e afterwards be cam e
an independent
When Whiteeld arrived at Leeds he found that neither
reports nor his own hopes of his past success were exagge rated
Twenty thousand assembled to hear him on the sabbath and
many fruits of his former ministry were presented to him Such
was his el e va t i on O f s o ul n o w that he s aw nothing impossible
WH IT EF I E L D
4 12
'
which
it was proper t o attempt by the preaching of the gospel 3

for even Yor k could n o t resist the fas cination o f h i s eld preach
ing The methodist thinned o u t the Minster and overawed
the mob Indeed s o great was h i s success at this time in York
shire that he exceedingly regretted his engagement to visit
S cotland H e had heard that poor S cotland was d e a d again

notwithstanding the power o f the reviv als 3 and therefore he
was afraid to breathe a cold atmosphere now that he was on re
amidst a people full o f re and enj oying perpetual C a m
He kept his promise however ; and found

bu s l a n g seasons
S cotland not so dead as it was reported Both the rich and the
poor thronged to hear him twice every day at E dinburgh
A ttention s a t upon all faces and friends came round like bees
importuning him to stay another week

It was the same at
Glasgow There the ow n er of the play house wa s m ade s o n u
e asy by a sermon against theatrical amusements that he pulled
the roof O ff the building to put an end to them s o far a s he was
concerned This was laid hold of by Wh i t e el d s enemies and
held up as the act of his mobs H e says The devil owed me
a g r udg e for S peaking against the play house

That grudge
appeared in the following form in the N ewcastle Journal
We
are informed that Mr Whiteeld the itinerant being at Glas
gow and preaching near the play house l a t elg bui l t inuenced
the mob so much against it that they ran directly from before
him and pulled it down to the ground Several o f the rioters
are since taken up and committed to gaol

This was all a lie
The lately built house wa s only a temporary booth supported
by the old walls o f the bi sh op s palace 3 a strange spot it will
b e said for a thea t re Perhaps not in Scotland ! I recollect
however to feel it more than strange at Chester to nd that
part of the abbey had been turned into a theatre ! I shrunk
fr o m the d es ecr a t i on notwithstanding all my S cot ch prej udices
Whiteeld came back upon York and Leeds o n leaving Scot
land ; and again what he saw and felt

was inexpressible
The parting a t Leeds w as s o overpowering that he did not r e
cover the shock for some time A t H aworth also they had a
sacrament at which t h i r tyg i oe bottles of wine were used What
a day for good Grimshaw ! I s ay g ood ; for with all his e c cen
,
WH IT EF I E L D
t r i c i t i es ,
S LI FE
AN D
T IM E S
4 13
he was a noble minded man H e made the wilderness

blossom as the rose around him A nd Go d did not forget his
labours of love His p r od ig a l son was restored to him in heaven
This young man was re claimed ; and said o n his death bed
What will my father say when he sees me in heaven ?
Altogether this wa s perhaps Wh i t e el d s most successful
campaign in E ngland although I am unable to illustrate it by
a detail of facts In the space o f three months he travelled
about twelve hundred miles and preached a hundred and
eighty sermons to many very many thousands of souls
The partings in Yorkshire he says

nearly ki lle d me
H e does not write thus except when parting from those he
hoped to meet in heaven Whenever he S peaks strongly of suc
cess I have found that he had strong reasons O rdinary s uc
cess never i n am es n o r inates his language
Having rested a few days in London he started again to make
the most o f the autumn whilst it lasted He went rst into
N orthamptonshire where a new s cene o f usefulness opened

to him It was the s e ason o f their fea s t s in that county H e
says in his own o ff hand style
If I mistake not some o f their
feasting was spoiled

H e did not mistake I once s aw a v e
n e r ab l e patriarch there sitting smoking his evening pipe under
a hoary sycamore who remembered having seen Whiteeld at
this time He had no re collection o f the sermon ; but his eye
brightened when he told me how the people made him and the
other boys keep quiet My friend George Bennet E s q the
missionary traveller will recollect this scene under the sycamore
tree near Long B u ckb e y We must however have loved the
Old man even if he had not seen Whiteeld 3 for like Si m eon
he had seen Jesu s
O n leaving N orthamptonshire Whiteeld revisited Bir m i n g
ham 3 and there souls ed to the gospel like doves to their
windows
A t Gor n al l (a place I have already described ) he
heard o f a whole company who had been awakened by
reading his sermons

B ut con ver s i on s were not his only reward
in this quarter Many aged believers blessed him O ne said
to him
I was comforted when yo u were here last and n ow I
can g o more ch eerf ul to heaven

A nother who had been long
-
WH IT EF I E L D
4 14
a pilgrim said o n rst hearing him

Why this is j ust the old
story o f ft y ve years ago

Upon the whole he was much
cheered by his su ccess in Sta ffordshire H e would not however
give his j udgment upon it until he came as he expresses it to
c r os s
p l oug h the ground again
H e now went into Cheshire where his way was prepared
by the usefulness which had sprung from his books A ccord
i n gl y at Chester a gre at concourse together with some Of the
clergy attended 3 and the most noted reb el in the town was
s o alarmed under the sermon that he could n o t sleep night o r
day for some time afterwards A t Wrexham however and at
N antwich he was stoned whilst preaching 3 b ut providentially
he got o ff pretty free although some o f his friends were
much pelted
I met he says
with a little rough treat
ment (he calls it ap os tol i c treatment in o n e letter) 3 but what
have p i lg r i ms to expect better in the wilderness

H e found
better at Liverpool There another convert won by his printed
sermons met h i m o n landing and to o k him home and convened
great numb ers to hear him
It was now N ovember and he returned to L o nd o n 3 but not
for winter quarters In a few days he was in his native coun
ty
at the house o f a nineteen years friend one o f t h e al
dermen o f Gloucester That house he says was made a B e t h el
to h i m 3 and never before had he such freedom in prea ching
to his townsmen Altogether this new freedom was s o pleas
ant to him that he resolved to take Gloucestershire again o n
his way home O n his arrival in Bristol he fo und his usual
welcome and what surprised him m orethat n o t a few o f the
quality and one o f C ws ar s household wished to hear him at his
brother s great h o use

He preached to them twice O n the
sabbath following he opened the new Taberna cle at Bri st ol
It is large he says but not half large enough Would the
place contain them I believ e as many would attend as in London

It was now cold weather 3 but he was unwil ling to return t o
his metropolitan nest
Winter quarters h e says
the
word w i n ter almost shocks me

H e therefore went into
Somersetshire
How much he enj oyed this detention from
L o nd on and the w o rk that detained him let the following ne
,
,
.
WH IT EF I E L D
4 15
memorial tell : A t seven in the evening I preached in the

Open air to a great multitude All was hushed and exceeding
l y solemn
The stars shone exceedingly bright Then if ever
I s aw by the eye o f faith Him who calleth them all by their
names My soul was lled with a holy ambition and I longed
to b e o n e of those wh o shall shine as the stars for ever and
ever My hands and my body were cold ; but what are o u t
ward things when the soul within is warmed by the love o f
God O h that I may die in the eld

The scene o f this apos
t r oph e I once visited
The air was equally coldthe stars
equally bright all nature the same 3 but there was no Wh i te
eld ! I had only fty persons t o preach to However my
soul within was not cold

Whilst thus reluctant to giv e in Whiteeld heard o f the ill
ness Of Wesley and forgot every thing but his dying friend
The disease was said to be galloping c o nsumpti o n and he

threw up all his engagements and hastened to L o ndon H e
also wrote to both brothers before he could set o u t To poor
Mr Charles he wrote thus

The Lord help and support you
A wife a friend a brother all ill together ! Well this is our
comfortall things shall work together for good to them that
love God May a double spirit o f the a scen d i ng E lij ah descend
and rest upon the s ur vi vi ng E lisha T O morrow I lea ve Bristol

The letter from which these lines are transcrib ed enclosed
one to Wesley himself written as Whiteeld says o ut of the
fulness Of his heart
The news and pr o spect o f your ap
I
pity
m
r o a ch i n g diss o lution hath quite weighed me down
p
y
self and the church 3but not you A radiant throne await s
you and ere long you will enter into your M aster s j oy Yon
der He stands with a massy crown ready to put o n your head
amidst an admiring throng of saints and angels But I poor
I who have been waiting for my dissolution these nineteen
years must be left b ehind to grovel here below
Well this
is my comforti t cannot be long until the chariots will be sent
even for worthless me If prayers can detain youeven you
shall not leave us yet But if t h e decree is gone fo rth that you
ust
now
fall
asleep
in
J
e
s
u
S
may He kiss your soul away and
m
give yo u to die in the embra ces of triumphant love If in the
WH IT E F I E L D
4 16
land o f the living I hope to pay my last respects to you next

week If notfarewell ! My heart is too big Tears trickle
down too fast A nd I fear you are too weak for me to enlarge
May underneath you b e Christ s everlasting arms I commend
you to his never failing mercy and am your most a ffe ctionate
sympathizing and a fflicted younger brother in the gospel

Well might and well did Wesley say in his funeral sermon
for Whiteeld
He had a heart susceptible o f the most
generous and the most tender fr iendship : I have frequently
thought that this o f all others was the d i s ti ng ui s h i ng part o f
h i s character
F u n er a l S er mon
Whilst Wesley continued in dan ger Wh iteeld remained in
almost agonizing suspense 3 praying and inquiring inquiring
and praying again and always dreading to hear the worst

It
was however his friend s u sef ul n ess to the church and the
world which made him thus solicitous 3 for when he heard that
his lungs were inj ured he said to Lady Huntingdon I cannot
wish him to survive his usefulness It is p oor living to b e
nursed
A t this time a s t or m o f persecution broke upon s o me
quarter o f his vineyard and an appeal was made to his sympa
thy by the su fferers He did sympathize with them ; but told
them should the present illness o f dear Mr Wesley issue in
his death that will be a storm of a far more t h r ea t en i ng na
ture
Happily for the world and the church Wesley was
spared nearly forty years longer
Whiteeld was cheered in his winter qu arters this year by
the visit Of his friends Tennent and D avies o f A merica who
had come over to collect for the college of N ew Jersey He
entered with all his soul into their Obj ect and threw all his i n
He also obtained in prospe ct o f his
u e n c e upon their side
return to Georgia t wen ty t w o p r i z es as he calls the orphans

whom he had selected to go with him He then prepared to sail
The next chapter Contains his ow n a ccount of Lisbon 3 and is
worthy of deep notice at this time whilst p 0p er y is softened by one
class of politicians and libelled (if that be possible ) by another
It is curious that l i vi ng popery made Whiteeld forget
during his visit d ea d D oddridge at Lisbon : at least I have
found no letter yet that shows any visit to his tomb
,
CH A PT E R XX
IvVH I
L ISB O N
IN
T E F I E LD
17 54
T HE
following letters were written about a twelvem o nth ag o

and are now sen t into the world at the earnest desire o f many
If an innitely condescendin g Go d shall vouchsafe to bless t h e
perusal o f them to excite in any either at home or abroad a
more obediential and zealous thankfulness for the civil and reli
o
u
s
liberties
we
enj
oy
o
r
i
mak e them any way instrumental in
3
g
stirring up my fellow prote stants and dear countrymen to exer t
themselves more vigorously at this critical j uncture against
those who if conquerors would quickly r ob us of those inva
l u abl e blessings I shall not repent that the publication o f them
was consented t o by courteous reader thy Willing servant for
Christ s sake G W
By this time I supp o se you have heard of my having been
at Lisb o n and are wondering what led me thither especially
since m y last informed you Of my intenti o n to go t o Georgia by
way o f N ew York This was really my design at the time of
my writing 3 but being afterward called by Providence to take
with me several orphan children I thought it most advisable to
go and settle them and my other domestic a ffairs at the orphan
house rst 3 that I might visit the northern parts of A merica
with more ease and freedom in my own mind I t happened that
the Success Captain Thompson bound for Port Royal South
Carolina (which is not very far from Georgia ) was then almost
ready to sail I sent for the owner and nding t hat the ship
wa s to touch at Lisbon to unload s o me wheat it o ccasioned a
little demur ; but upon second thoughts believing it might be
serviceable to me as a preacher and protestant to see s o mething
2 E
,
WH IT E F I E L D
4 18
Of the superstitions of the church of Rome I took my passage

and embark ed in the Success the 7 t h of March O n the 1 4 th
w e reached Cape F i n i s t er r e 3 o n the 1 5 th came in sight Of the
Burlings 3 and o n t h e 1 6 t h anchored safe before Bellem about
four miles distant from Lisbon city the metropolis o f Portugal
A s I knew nobody there and had formed but an indi fferent idea
o f the inhabitants from the ac count that had been given me o f
them I had purposed within myself to keep o n board and go
ashore only now and then in the day time But Providence so
ordered it that a gentleman of the factory who had heard me
himself and whose brother had been awakened under my mi
n ist r
y several years ago immediately upon hearing o f my ar
rival sent me an O ffer o f h i s house during my stay I thank
fully accepted i t 3 and S pe cial leave being pro cured for my going
a shore I was carried in a chaise and pair fr om Bellem to Lis
bon A new scene both in respect to the situation o f the place
th e fashion of the buildings and t h e dress Of the inhabitants
presented itself all the way But what engaged my attention
most was the frequency of c r u ci x es and little images of the
V irgin Mary and other real o r reputed saints which were placed
almost in every street or xed against the walls o f the houses
almost at every turning with lamps hanging before them To
these I observed the people bow as they passed along 3 and near
some o f them stood several little companies singing with great
earnestness This seemed to me very odd and gav e m e an idea
o f what further e cclesiastical curiosities would probably fall in
my way if I should b e detained any time here These expecta
tions were quickly raised 3 for n o t long aft er my arrival at my
new lodgings (where I was received and entertained with great
gentility hospitality and friendliness ) upon looking out of the
window I s aw a company o f priests and friars bearing lighted
wax tapers and attended by various sorts o f people some o f
which had bags and baskets o f victuals in their hands and
others carried provisions upon their shoulders on sticks between
two A fter these follo wed a mixe d multitude singing with a
very au di ble voice and addressing the V irgin Mary in their
usual strain Or a p r o n obi s
In this manner they proceeded
t o the priso n where all was deposited for the use Of the p o or
,
WH I T EF I E L D
4 19
persons conned therein But a far more pompous procession

o f the like nature (
as a stander b y informed me ) passed by a few
days after In this there were near three hundred F ranciscan
friars many o f which (besides porters hired fo r the purpose )
were loaded with a variety o f food ; and those wh o bore n o bur
den carried either ladles o r spoons in their hands Sights of
this nature being q uite a novelty to me I was fond of attending
as many o f them as I could Two things concurred to make
th em more frequent at t his j uncture viz the se as on o f Lent
and an excessive drought whi ch threatened the total destru o
tion o f the fruits o f the earth F or the averting s o great a j udg
ment and for the imploring the much longed for blessing O f
rain daily processions had b e en made from one convent o r an
other for a considerable time O ne o f these I saw It was
looked upon as a pretty grand one being made up o f the Car
m el i t e friars the parish priests and a great number O f what they
call the brothers o f the order who walked t wo by tw o in divers
habits holding a long and very large lighted wax taper in their
right hands A midst these was carried upon eight or ten men s
S houlders a tall image o f the V irgin Mary in a kind o f man s
attire ; for I think she had a very ne white wig o n her head
(a dress s h e often appears i n ) and was much adorned with j ewels
and glittering stones A t some distance from the lady under a
large canopy of state and supported likewise by six o r eight
persons came a priest holding in his hand some noted relic
A fter him followed several thousands of people j oining with the
friars in singing E a n d em ca n t i l en a m or a p r o n o bi s all the
way Still rain was denied and still processions were co n
tinned A t length the clouds began to gather and the mercury
in the barometer fell very much
Then was brought o u t a
wooden image which they s ay never failed It was the gure
Of our blessed Lord clothed with purple robes and cr o wned with
thorns I think they call him the LO R D O F TH E P AS S I O N Upon
his shoulders he bore a large cross under the weight of which
he was represented a s stooping till his body bent almost double
H e was brought from the Le Grass convent in very great pomp
and pl aced in a large cathedral church Being on board at that
time I lost this sight ; but the subsequent evening I beheld the
2 E 2
.
4 20
AN D TIM E S
Seigneur xed on an eminence in a large cathedral church near

the altar surrounded with wax tapers of a prodigious size He
was attended by many noblemen and thousands Of spectators
o f all ranks and stations who crowded from every quarter a n d
i n their turns were admitted by the guards to come within the
rails and perform their devotions
This they expressed by
kneeling and kissing the Seigneur s heel by putting their left
and right eye to it and then touching i t with their be ads which
a gentleman in waiting received from them and then returned
again This s cene was repeated for three days successively ;
and during all this time the church and space before it was s o
thronged with carriages and people that there was s carce any
passing The music o n this o ccasion was extremely soft and
the church was ill uminated in a very striking manner The
third day in the forenoon it rained and soon after the Seigneur
was conducted home in as great splendour and much greater
rej oicing than when he was brought forth A s my situation
was very commodious I s aw the whole ; and afterwards went and
heard part o f the sermon which was delivered before him in the
church to which the Seigneur belonged The prea cher was full
o f a ction 3 and in some part of his discourse (
as one who under
stood Portuguese informed me ) pointing to the image he said
N o w he is at rest
He went o ut in j ustice but is returned in
mercy
A nd towards the con clusion he called upon the people
to j oin with him in an extempore prayer This they did with
great fervency which was expressed not only by repeating it
aloud but by beating their breasts and clapping their cheeks
and weeping heartily To complete the solemnity immediately
after the delivery of the blessing all on a sudden from the place
near which the image stood there was heard a most soft and
thing symphony o f music 3 which being ended the assembly
broke up and I returned to my lodgings n o t a little a ffe cted to
see so many thousands led away fr om the simplicity o f the gos
pel by such a mixture o f human artice and blind superstition
o f which indeed I could have formed no idea had I not been an
eye witness o f it mys elf This concern was still increased by
w hat I heard from some Of my fellow passengers who informed
me that about eleven one night after I came aboard they not
,
L I FE AND TI M E S
42 1
only heard a friar preaching most fervently before the Seigneur

but als o s aw several companies of penitents brought in lashing
and whipping themselves severely H o w little unlike this to
those wh o cut themselves with knives and lancets and cried o u t
from morning till night O B aal hear u s ! Methinks I hear
you say A nd had I been present I should have wished for the
spirit o f an E lij ah to Hush my friendI am content to guess
at the rest till we meet In the mean while let us comfort o ur
selves with this thought that there is a season approaching
when the Lord Go d o f Elij ah will himself come and destroy
this and every o ther S pecies of antichrist by the breath o f his
mouth and the brightness o f his appearing even by the all
conquering manifestations o f his eternal Spirit Whether as
men christians and protestants w e have not more and more
reason to pray night and day for the hastening o n of that glo
r i ou s and long wished fo r period you will b e better able to j udge
when I send yo u (as I purpose to do if I have time ) a further
account o f a Lent procession or two o f which I wa s also a spe c
tator A t present I can only beg a continual remembrance at a
throne o f grace as being my dear friend
Thoug h some other business demands my attention yet I
must not forget the promise made you o f a further account of
the processions I saw at Lisbon Some o f those already men
t i o n e d were ex t r a or d i n a r y by reason o f the great drought 3 but
that which is t o be the subj ect o f my present letter was an a n
n ua l o n e 3 it being always customary at Lisbon to exhibit some
procession o r another every F riday in Lent
A n intelligent
protestant who stood near me w as so good as to be my inter
preter o f the dumb S how as it passed alongI say dumb S how
for you must k now it was chiey made up o f waxen o r wooden
images and carried on men s shoulders through the streets i h
tending to represent the life and death o f St F rancis the found
er o f o n e Of their religious orders
They were brought o u t
from the F rancis can convent and were pre ceded by three per
sons i n scarlet habits with baskets in their hands in which
they received the alms o f the spectators for the benet of the
poor prisoners
A fter these came two little boys in parti
coloured cl o thes with wings xed o n their S h o ulders in imita
,
WH IT E F I E L D
422
ti o n o f little angels Then appeared the gure of St F rancis

very gay and beau like as he used t o b e before h i s conversion
In the next he was introd u ced u nder conviction and co u se
quen tly stripped o f h i s n er y Soon after this was exhibited an
im age o f o u r blessed Lord himself in a purple gown with long
black hair with St F rancis lying before him to receive h i s i m
mediate orders Then came the V irgin Mother {h or r es co r e
e
r
e
n
s
) with Christ her Son at her left hand and S t F rancis
f
making his Obeisance to both Here if I remember aright he
m ade h i s rst appearance in his friar s habit w ith his hair cut
short but not as yet shaved in the crown o f h i s head A fter a
little space followed a mitred cardinal gaudily attired and b e
fore him lay S t F rancis almost prostrate in order to be c o n
rmed in his O ffice Soon after this he appears quite m e t a mo r
p h o s e d into a monk his crown shorn his habit black and his
loins girt with a knotted cord Here he prays to o u r Saviour
hanging on a cross that the marks o f the wounds in h i s hands
feet and side might be impressed o n the s ame parts of his
body The prayer is granted ; blood comes from the hands
feet and side and the saint with great devotion receives the
impressions This was represented by red waxen strings reach
ing from those parts o f the image to the corresponding parts of
St F r an ci s s body Upon this he b egins to do wonders ; and
therefore i n a little while he was carried along holding up a
house which was j ust falling This miracle they s a y was per
formed (if my information b e true ) at Madrid but the parti
A t length the father
cul ar s of its history I have forgotten
dies and is brought forth lying in his grave
But 10 ! the
briers and nettles under which he lay are turned into ne and
fragrant owers
A fter this he is borne along upon a bier
covered with a silver pall and four friars lamenting over him
H e then appears for the last time but with an increase Of power 3
for he wa s represented as drawing tormented people o u t o f pur
a
u
with
his
knotted
cord
which
o
may well imagine
t
o
r
a
s
g
y
y
the poor souls catched at and took hold of very eagerly A t
length came a gorgeous friar under a splendid canopy bearing
in his hand a pie ce o f the holy cross After him followed two
more little winged boys and then a long train o f fat and well
.
WH IT EF I E L D
4 23
fav o ured F ranciscans with their ca l ce i s fen es tr a ti s as E rasmus

calls them 3 and so the procession ended Methinks I hear yo u
say It is full time A nd so say I fo r as the sight itself dis
gusted me s o I am persuaded the bare narration o f it though
ever so short cannot be very pleasant to yo u who I know abhor
every thing that savours o f superstition and idolatry We will
therefore take our leave Of St Francis whose procession was in
the day time 3 but I must tell you it is only to inform you of
a nother o f a much more awful and shocking nature which I
saw afterwards by night It was about ten O clock when being
deeply engaged i n conversation with my kind host in came an
E nglishman and told me in all haste that he had seen a tr ain
o f near two hundred penitents passing along and that in all pro
b abi l i t y I might be gratied with the s ame sight if I hastened
to a place whither he w o uld conduct me I v ery readily obeyed
the summons and as curiosity quickened my pace we soon
came up with some of those poor creatures who were then making
a halt and kneeling in the street whilst a friar from a high
cr o ss with an image o f our Lord crucied in his hand was
preaching to them and the populace with great vehemence
Sermon being ended the penitents who had already been prea ch
ed to went forwards and several companies followed after with
their respective preaching friars at their head bearing cr u ci xe s
These they pointed to and brandished frequently and the
hearers as frequently beat their breasts and clapped their cheeks
A t proper pauses they stopped and prayed ; and one O f them
more zealous than the rest before the king s pal ace sounded
o u t the word
The peni
p e n i t en t i a through a speaking trumpet
tents the mselves were clothed and covered all over w ith white
linen vestments only holes were made fo r their eyes to peep
All were bare footed and all had long heavy chains
o u t at
fastened to their ancles which when dragged along the street
made a dismal rattling : but though alike in dr ess yet in other
respects there was great variety amongst them ; for some car
ried great stones o n their backs and others dead men s bones
and sculls in their hands Some bore large and seemingly very
heavy crosses upon their shoulders whilst others had their
a rms extended quite wide or carried a b o w full o f swords with
,
WH IT EF I E L D
4 24
the points do wnwards Most of them whipped and lashed them

selves some with cords and others with at bits Of iron It
being a moonshine night I c o uld s ee them quite well 3 and i n
deed some Of them struck so hard that I perceived that their
backs (left bare o n purpose t o b e slashed) were quite red and
swollen very much by the violence and repetition Of the blows
Had my dear friend been there he would have j oined with me
in saying that the whole s cene was horrible s o horrible that
being informed it was to be continued till morning I was glad
to return from whence I came about midnight H ad yo u been
with me I know you would have j oined in praising and grate
fully adoring the Lord of all lords n o t only for the great wo n
der o f the Reformation but also for that glorious deliverance
wrought o ut for us in stopping Of o ur late unnatural rebellion
O h with what a mighty Spirit and power from o n high must
Luther Calvin M el an c t h o n Zu i n g l i u s and those glorious R e
formers be necessarily endued wh o dared r st openly to oppose
and stem such a torrent o f superstition and spiritual tyranny
A nd what gratitude o we we to him who under God was i n s tr u
mental i h saving us from the return o f such spiritual slavery
and such blind Obedience to a papal power ! T O have had a
cardinal for ou r kinga cardinal if not born yet from his i n
fancy nursed up at Romea cardinal o n e of whose sons is ad
v an c e d to the same e cclesiastical dignity and both under the
strongest obligations to support the interest o f that church
whose superstitions as well as political state principles they
have sucked in and imbibed even from their infancy But
blessed be Go d the snare is broken and we are delivered O h
fo r protestant practices to be added t o protestant principles !
O h for an obediential acknowledgment to the ever blessed God
for our repeated deliverances
But alas pardon me my dear
friend I stop to weepadieuI cannot enlarge but leaving you
to guess from what source my tears ow I must hasten to sub
scribe myself
Providence still detains us at Lisbon and therefore I know
Truly as
yo u will b e inquiring what more news from thence
extraor d inary as everfor I have now seen the solemnities of a
Holy Thursday which is a very high day in this metr opolis
.
WH IT EF I E L D
4 25
and pa r ticularly r emarkable for the grand illuminations o f the

churches and the king s washing twelve poor men s feet
Through the interest of a friend I got admittance into the gal
lery where the ceremony was performed It was large and
hung with tapestry ; o n e piece Of which represented the humble
Jesus washing the feet of his disciples Before this upon a
small eminence sat twelve men in black A t the upper end
and several other parts o f the gallery were S ideboards with gold
and silver large basons and ewers most curiously wrought 3 and
near these a large table covered with a variety of dishes all
cold set o ff and garnished after the Portuguese fashion P ublic
high mass being over his Maj esty came in attended with his
nobles who seemed to me to look like s o many Roman senators
T h e very a ct of washing the feet I did n o t get in time enough
to s e e 3 but that being ended sev eral o f the young noblemen
served up the dishes to the king s brother and uncles 3 thes e
again handed them to his Maj esty who gave (I think ) twelve of
them in all to each poor man E very thing was carried o n with
a great deal of decency and go o d humour The young noble
men served very cheerfully their seniors looked quite pleased
and the king and his royal relations behaved in a very polite
easy manner Upon the whole though as you may easily guess
it was not an exa ct copy Of the tapestry yet as the poor men s
clothes and food when sold came to about t en moidores and a s
there was little mixture o f superstition in it I cannot s ay but I
was as well pleased with my morning s entertainment as with
any thing I had m e t with since my arrival I believe the whole
took up near two hours A fter dinner we went to s e e the
churches but the magnicence and sumptuousness o f the fu r n i
ture on this occasion cannot well be expressed Many of them
were hung with purple damask trimmed with gold In o n e o f
t hem there was a solid S ilver altar of several yards circum
ference and near twelve steps high 3 and in another a gold o n e
still more magnicent o f about the same dimensions Its basis
was studded with many precious stones and near the top were
placed silver images in representation o f angels E ach step
was lled with large silver candlesticks with wax tapers in
them which going up by a regular as cent till they fo rmed them
W H IT EF I E L D
426
-
selves into a pyramid m ade a m o st glittering and splendid

blaze The great altars als o of the other churches were illu
m i n at e d most profu sely and silver pots o f articial owers with
a large wax taper between each were xed all round several o f
them Between these were large paintings in black and wh ite
representing the di fferent parts o f ou r Saviour s passion A nd
in short all was so m agnicently s o superstitiously gr and that
I am persuaded several thousands o f pounds would not defray
the expenses o f this o n e day G0 which way you would no
thing was to b e seen but illuminations within an d hurry with
o ut
F or all pe rsons the crowned heads the mselves not ex
c e t e d are obliged on this day to visit seven churches o r altars
p
in imitation as is supposed o f ou r Lord s b eing hurried from
o n e tribunal to another before he w a s condemned to b e hung
upon the cross I s aw the queen pass by in great state to visit
three of t hem V elvet cushions were carried b efore her Ma
j esty and boards laid along the streets for herself and retinue
to walk upon Guards attended before and behind and thou
sands O f spe ctators stood o n each side to gaze at them as they
passed along Being des i rous o f seeing the manner o f their en
trance we got into the last church before they came It was
that of St D omingo where wa s the gold altar b efore mentioned
and at which her Maj esty and train knelt about a quarter o f an
hour
All the whi l e the D ominican friars sung most sur
B ut as I stood near the altar over against th e
p r i s i n gl y sweet
great door I must confess my very inmost soul was struck with
a se cret horror when upon looking up I s a w over the front of
the great window o f the church the heads of many hundred
Jews painted o n canvass who had been condemned (by what
they call the Holy Inquisition) and carried out from that church
to be burnt S t range way this o f co m pelling people to come
in ! Such was n o t thy method 0 meek and compassionate
Lamb of God ! Thou camest not to destroy men s lives but
to save them But bigotry is as cruel as the grave It knows
n o remorse
F rom all its bitter and dire e ffects good Lord de
liver u s But to return to the queenhaving performed her
devotions she departed and went in a coach o f state I believe
d irectly from the church to her palace and without doubt s uf
,
WHIT EF I E L D S LI FE
ci en tl y
AN D TIM E S
42 7
fatigued F or besides walking thr o ugh the streets to

the several churches her Maj esty also and the princesses had
b een engaged in waiting upon and washing the feet of twelve
poor women in as public a manner as the king In o ur walk
home we met his Maj esty with his brother and two uncles
attended only with a few noblemen in black velvet and a fe w
guards without halberts I suppose he was returning fr om his
last church and as o n e may well imagine equally fatigued with
his royal consort and daughters When church and state thus
combine to be nursing fathers and nursing mothers to s up er s t i
tion is it any wonder that its credit and inuence is s o di ffusiv e
among the populace
0 Britain Britain hadst thou but zeal
proportionable to thy knowledge and inward purity adequate
to the simplicity of thy external worship in what a happy and
god like situation wouldst thou be
H ere I could weep again
A gain I leav e yo u to guess the cause 3 and if I c an send yo u one
more letter o f a like n a ture before we leav e this place i t is all
y o u must expe ct from
A fter the news sent you in my last I thought our Lisbon
c o rrespondence would entirely hav e been put a stop to F or
upon returning to my lodgings (as weary I believe as others
that had been running from church to church all day ) word was
sent me that o u r ship would certainly sail next morning This
n ews I o wn was not altogether agreeable to m e b e c au s e I wanted
H o wever I made
t o s e e the conclusion o f the Lent s olemnities
ready 3 and having despatched my private a ffairs the over night
w as conducted very early in the morning by my kind h o st
d o wn to Bellem where the ship lay We parted The wind
pr o mised to b e fair 3 but dying away I very eagerly went ashore
o nce more But h o w was the scene changed ! Before all used
to be noise and hurry : n o w all was hushed and shut up in t h e
N o clock o r b ell had bee n
m o st awful and profound silence
heard since yesterday noon and s carce a person w as to b e see n
in the street all the way to Lisbon About two in the afternoon
we got to the place where (I had heard some days ago ) an ex
t r ao r d i n ar y s cene w as to be exhibited
Can you guess what i t
w as ? Perhaps not Why then I will tell yo u
It was the
crucixion Of the Son o f God represented partly by dumb i m
.
42 8
WH IT EF I E L D
ages and partly by living pers o ns in a large church bel o nging

to the conven t Of St D e Beato
Several thousands crowded
into it ; some o f which as I was told had been waiting there
ever since six in the morning Through the kind interposition
and assistance of a protestant o r two I was not only admitted
into the church but was very commodiously situated to vie w
the whole performance We had not waited long b efore the
curtai n was drawn up Immedi ately upon a high sca ffold hung
in the fron t with black baiz e and behind with silk purple dam
ask laced with gold was exhibited to o ur view an image o f the
Lord Jesus at full length crowned with thorns and nailed on a
cross between two gures o f like dimensions representing the
two thieves A t a little distance o n the right hand was placed
an image Of the V irgin Mary in plain long ru f es and a kind
Of wido w weeds H er veil was purple silk and she had a wire
glory round her head A t the foot o f the cross lay in a mourn
ful pensive posture a living man dressed in woman s clothes
who personated Mary Magdalene 3 and n o t far off stood a young
man in imitation o f the b eloved dis ciple H e was dressed in a
l oo se green silk v esture and bob wig His eyes were xed on
the cross and his two hands a little extended O n each side
stood two sentinels in bu ff with
n ear the front o f the stage
formidable caps and long beards ; and dire ctly in the front stood
a nother yet more formidable with a large target in his hand
We may suppose him to be the Roman centurion To complete
t h e s cene from b ehind the purple hangings came o u t about
twenty little purple vested winged boys two by two e ach bear
ing a lighted wax taper in his hand and a crimson and gold cap
on his head A t their entrance upon the stage they gently
bowed their heads to the S pectators then kneeled and made
Obeisance rst to the image on t h e cross and then to that o f
the V irgin Mary When r i sen they bowed to each other and
then took their respe ctive places over against o n e another o n
steps assigned for them at the front o f the stage O pposite to
this at a few yards distance stood a black friar in a pulpit hung
in m ourning F or a while he paused and then breaking s i
lence gradually lifted up his voice till it was extended to a
pretty high pitch though I think scarce high enough for so
,
LI FE AN D TI M E S
4 29
large an a uditory A fter he had proceeded in his discourse

a bout a quarter o f an hour a confused noise was heard near the
front great door ; and upon turning my head I s aw four long
bearded men tw o Of which carried a ladder on their shoulders
and after them followed two more with large gilt dishes in their
hands full Of linen spices & c
These (as I imagined) were
the representatives o f N icodemus and Joseph o f A rimathea
O n a signal given from the pul pit they advanced towards the
steps of the sca ffold But upon their very rst attempting to
mount it at the watchfu l centurion s n o d t h e observant soldiers
made a pass at them and presented the points Of their j avelins
directly to their breasts They are repulsed Upon this a let
ter fro m Pilate is produced The centurion reads it shakes his
head and with looks that bespoke a forced co m pl i an c e b eck o n s
to t h e sentinels t o withdraw their arms Leave being thus Oh
t ai n e d they ascend 3 and having paid t heir homage by kneeling
rst to the image o n the cross and then to the V irgin Mary
Still the prea cher con
t hey retired to the back o f the stage
t inn ed declaiming or rather (as was said) explaining the mourn
Magdalene persists in wringing her hands and vari
ful scene
whilst
Joh
seemingly
o u sl
expressing
her
personated
sorrow
n (
3
y
regar dl ess o f all besides ) stood gazing o n the cr u cied gure
By this time it was near three o clock and therefore proper for
the s cene to begin to close The ladders are ascended the
superscription and crown o f th o rns taken O ff long white rollers
put round the arms of th e image and then the nails kn o cked
o u t which fastened the hands and feet
Here Mary Magdalene
looks most languishing and John if possible stands more thun
der struck than before The orator lifts up his voice a n d al
most all the hearers expressed concern by weeping b eating their
breasts and smiting t heir cheeks A t length the body i s gently
let down Magdalene eyes it and gradually rising receives the
feet into her wide S pread handkerchief 3 whilst John (who
hitherto stood motionless like a statue ) as the body came nearer
the ground with an ea g er n es s that bespoke the intense a ffection
o f a sympathizing friend runs towards the cross seizes the upper
part o f it into his clasping arms and with his disguised fellow
m ourner helps to bear it away
And here the play should end
.
W H I T EF I E L D
4 30
was I n o t afraid you would b e angry with me if I did not give

you an account o f the last act by telling y o u what b ecame o f t he
corpse after it wa s taken down Great preparati o ns were made
for its interment It wa s wrapped in li n en and S pices & c and
b eing laid upon a bier richly hung was afterwards carried round
the churchyard in grand procession The image o f the V irgin
Mary was chief mourner and John and Magdalene with a whole
troop of friars with wax tapers in their hands followed after
D etermined to see the whole I waited its return 3 and i n about
a quarter of an hour the corpse was brought in and deposited
in an Open sepul chre prepared for the purpose ; but not before
a priest accompanied by several O f the same order in sple ndid
vestments had perfumed it with incense sung to and kneeled
b efore it John and Magdalene attended the Obsequies 3 but the
image o f the V irgin M a ry was carried away and placed upon the
front o f the stage in order to b e kissed adored and worshipped
by the people This I saw them do with the utmost eagerness
and reverence
A nd thus ended this Good F riday s tragi
comical superstitious idolatrous droll A droll which whilst
I s aw a s well as n o w whils t I am des cribing it excited in me a
high indignation Surely thought I whilst attending o n such
a scene o f mock devotion if ever now is the dear Lord Jesus
crucied afresh ; and I could then and even now think of no
other ple a for the poor beguiled devotees than that which s u f
fer i n g Innocence put up himself for his enemies when actually
hanging upon the cross v i z F ather forgive them fo r they
know not what they do
There was but o n e thing wanting to
raise one s resentment to the highest pitch and that was for
o n e of the soldiers to have pierced the S ide of the image upon
the cross This in all prob ability you have heard hath actually
b een done in other places and with a little more art might I
think hav e been performed here
D oubtless it would h ave
a fford ed the preacher as go o d if not a better Opportunity Of
working upon the passions o f his auditory than the taking down
the superscription and the crown of thorns and wiping the head
w ith a blooded c l oth and afterwards exposing it to the view Of
the people 3 all which I saw done before the body was let down
But alas my dear friend h o w mean is that eloquence and h o w
,
WH IT EF I E L D
43 1
entirely destitute o f the demonstration Of the Spirit and Of a

divine power must t hat oratory necessarily be that stands in
need o f such a train o f superstitious pageantry to render it i m
pressive
Think you my dear friend that the apostle Paul
used or needed any such ar t i c es to excite the passions o f the
people of Galatia amongst whom as he himself informs us
Jesus Christ was crucied and evidently set forth ? But thus
it is and thus it will b e when simplicity and spirituality are
banished from o u r religious O ffices and artice and idolatry
seated in th eir room I am well aware that the Romanists deny
the charge o f idolatry ; but after having seen what I have seen
this day as well as at sundry other times S ince my arrival here
I cannot help thinking but a pers o n mus t b e capable of making
more than metaphysical distinctions and deal in very abstract
ideas indeed fairly to evade the charge If weighed in the
balances of the sanctuary I am positiv e th e scal e must turn o n
the protestant side But such a balance these poor people are
not permitted to make use of D oth not your heart bleed fo r
them ? Mine doth I am sure 3 and I believe would do so more
and more was I to stay longer and see what they call their hal
l el ujah and grand devotions on E aster day
But that s cene is
d enied me
The wind is fair and I must away F oll o w me
with y o ur prayers and believ e me to be
,
CH A PT E R XX I
WH I T EF I E L D
AN D
L O ND O N M O R A V I AN S
T HE
A LTH O U GH Whiteeld derived neither the good nor the evil

from the Moravians that Wesley did his personal history would
b e incomplete and his Times would lack a slight feature o f
their true character were I to pass over his connexion with that
singular people
then s o i ll represented in some respects in
London It is however with great reluctance I touch the sub
e ct
I
am
dissolving
far
a
which
has
often
soothed
s
o
c
a
h
r
m
(
j
)
and cheered me when I have been soured o r saddened by looking
too closely at human nature O h what have the tyrants o f con
s cience t o ans wer for ! Truly oppression makes a wise man
mad
H ad the rst quakers been free to follow the Lamb by
the lamp o f the N ew Testament and to rej ect R oma n can
dles they and their posterity might have been as useful to the
church as they have been to th e world In like manner had
t h e Bohemian church n o t been deprived o f Huss and Jerome
nor denounced for reading Wycliffe the descendants o f her
martyrs might have had no startling singularities o f sent iment
o r ceremony
The Moravians were drawn into both b ecause
their fathers were driven int o unnatural and trying positions
which inevitably created fancies and called forth rhapsodies
Time happily has so pruned both the wild luxuriance and
the worldly policy o f Moravianism that it is almost impossible
to believ e now that M ol th er ever taught the doctrines o r
N i t s ch m an n ever sung the hymns or Zi n z e n d o r ff ever sanction
ed the practices i n London which Whiteeld and Wesley ex
posed These things however ought not to be forgotten Their
memory is the safeguard against their rec urrence It is wanted
,
WH IT EF I E L D
S LI FE AND TIM E S
43 3
as ba lla s t by the Moravian church 3 j ust as all churche s

need to remember the blots upon their es cutcheon D r Southey
says few religious communities m ay l o o k back upon their h is
tory with s o much satisfaction as the united brethren

This
is true o f their general history ; but it is equally true that their
va a r i es i n London did them no credit
These rst alarmed
g
and then alienated bo th Watts and D oddridge as we ll as White
eld and Wesley
D oddridge w as right t o o in supposing that
they pr o duced the s ame sentiments in the archbishop o f Can
t er bu r y
Potter c o uld forgive much to a people whom he r e
cognised as an apostolical and epis copal church 3 but he see ms

to have doubted eventually whether Zin z en d or ff was elected
th eir bishop p l a u d en t e t ot o coe l es t i ch or o

A t least his arms
were n o t so Open to him as at rst A nd it was well for the

Moravians that go o d men both took and sounded an alarm
from the exposures made by R i m i u s It taught them as D r
Southey well says

to correct their perilous error in time 3
an d since
they have continued not merely to live without re
proach but to enj oy in a greater degree than an y other sect the
general good Opini on of every other religious community Both

Wesley and Whiteeld c o ntributed not a little to this improve
ment by the inuence they had over Ingham D ell am o t t e and
Gambold and by their writings The manner in which White
eld dealt with the s ubj ect will be best seen in his own letter t o
to o
Z i n z e n d or ff
He remonstrated thus with t h e Count as the lord adv o cate

of the U N IT A S FR A T R UM
F or these many years past I hav e
been a silent and I trust I can s ay an impartial Observer o f the
progress and e ffects o f Moravianism both in E ngland and A me
rica 3 but such shocking thing s have b een lately brought t o o u r
ears and o ffences have swelled to such an eno rmous bulk that
a real regard for my king and my country and if I am n o t
greatly mistaken a disinterested love for t h e ever blessed
Jesus that King o f kings and the church which he hath pur
chased with his o wn bl oo d will not su ffer me to b e silent any
longer
P ardon me therefore m y Lord if at length though with great
regret as the Se archer o f hearts knows I am constrained to i n
2 F
,
WH IT EF I E L D
43 4
form your Lordship that yo u together with some o f your l ea d

i ng br et h r e n hav e been unhappily instrumental in misguiding
many real simple honest hearted christians ; o f distressing if
not totally ruining numer o us families 3 and introducing a whole
farrag o o f superstitious n o t to say idolatrous fopperies int o the
E nglish nation
F or my o wn part my Lord n o twithstanding the folio that
was published (I presume under your Lordship s direction)
about three years ago I am as much at a loss as ever t o know
what were the principles and usages o f the ancient Moravian
church 3 but if s h e w a s originally attired in the same garb in
which s h e hath appeared o f late amongst many true hearted
though deluded protestants she is n o t that simple apostoli c al
church th e E nglish brethren were made to believe about twelve
years ago Sure I am that we can nd n o trace s o f many of
her present practices in the yet more ancient I mean the primi
tive churches and which we all know were really under an 1 m
mediate and truly ap o stolical inspe ction
Will your Lordship be pleased to give me leave t o des cend
to a few particulars ? Pray my Lord what instances have we
Of the rst christians walking round the graves o f their deceased
friends o n E aster day attended with hautboys trum pets F rench
horns violins and other kinds of musical instruments ? O r
where have we the least mention m ade of pictures o f parti
c ul ar pers o ns being brought into the rst christian assemblies
and o f c andles being placed b ehind them in o rder to give a
transparent view Of the gures ? Where was it ever known
that the picture of the ap o stle Paul representing him handin g
a gentleman and lady up t o the S ide o f Jesu s Christ was ever
introduced int o the primitive lov e feasts ?
O r d o we ever hear my L o rd o f incense o r something like it
being b urnt for Paul i n o rder to perfume the room before he
made his entrance am o ng the brethren
O r can it be supposed
that he wh o together with Barnabas s o eagerly repelled the
L y cao n i an s when they brought o xen and garlands in order to
sacrice unto them w o uld ever have su ffered such things to b e
done for him without expressing h i s abhorrence and detestation
o f them
A nd yet your L o rdship knows both these have been
,
WH IT EF I E L D
435
done for you and su ffe r ed by you without your having shown
a s far as I can hear the least dislike
A gain my Lord I beg leave to inquire whether we hear any
t hing in S cripture o f el d er es s e s o r deac o nesses Of the apos
t ol i cal churches seating themselves before a table covered with
articial owers and against that a little altar surrounded with
wax tapers o n which stood a cross composed either of mo ck o r
real diamonds or other glittering stones
A nd yet your Lord
s hip must be sensible this was done in F etter Lane chapel fo r
M r s Hannah N i t s ch m an the present general el d er e s s o f your
congregation with this addition that all the S isters we re seat
clothed in white and with German caps 3 th e organ also
cd
illuminated with three pyramids of wax tapers each o f which
wa s tied with a red riband 3 and over the head of t h e general
e l d er es s wa s placed her o wn picture and over that { h or r e s c o
A goodly sight this
r efer e n s ) the picture Of the S o n o f Go d
my Lord for a company o f E nglish protes t ants to behold !
Alas ! to what a long series o f childish and s uperstitious devo
tions and unscriptural impositions must they have been h a
b i t u at e d before they could sit silent and tame S pectators o f
such an antichristian s cene Surely had Gideon though but
an O ld Testament saint been present he would have risen and
pulled down this as he formerly did his father s altar O r had
even that meek man Moses been there I cannot help thinking
but he would have addre s sed your Lordship partly at least i n
the words with which he addressed h i s brother A aron What
d i d this pe ople unto thee that tho u hast introduced such super
s t i t i o u s customs among them ?
A like scene t o this was exhibited by the single brethren in
a r o om Of their house at Hatton Garden
O ne of them who
helped to furnish it gave me the following account The oor
was covered with s and and mo s s and in the middl e Of it w as
paved a star o f d iffei en t coloured pebbles upon that was placed
a gilded dove which spouted water ou t o f i t s mouth into a v e s
s el prepared for i t s re ception
which was curiousl y de cked with
articial leaves and ags ; the r o om was hung with moss and
shells Th e Count his s on and son in law in honour Of whom
all thi s was done with Mrs Hannah N i t s ch m an and Mr Peter
2 F 2
,
W H IT EF I E L D
43 6
S L I FE AND T I M E S
Boehler and some other labourers were present These were

seated under an alcove supported by columns made o f paste
boar d and over their heads was painted an oval in imitation o f
marble containing the ciphers o f Count Zi n z e n d o r ff s family
Upon a side table wa s a little altar covered with shells and o n
e ach side o f the altar was a bloody heart o u t o f o r near which
proceeded ames The room was illuminated with wax tapers
and musicians placed in an adj acent apartment while the com
p any performed their devotions and regaled themselves with
sweetmeats co ffee tea and wine A fter this the labourers de
parted and the single brethren were admitted in I am told
that most if n o t all of these leading persons were present also
at the celebration o f Mrs H annah N i t s ch m an s birth day
But this is n o t all ; I have another question to prop o se to
your Lordship P ray my Lord did any of the apostles or
leaders o f the primitive churches ever usurp an authority n o t
only over people s consciences but their properties also ? O r
d raw in the members of their respective congregations to d i s
pose O f whole patrimonies at once or to be bound for thousands
A nd
o f pounds more than they well knew they were worth ?
yet your Lordship knows this has been done again and again in
order t o serve the purposes of the brethren for several years
last past 3 and that too at o r very near the time when in order
to procure an act in their favour to go abroad (which now ap
p ears to be rather a s che m e t o settle at home ) they boasted t o
an E nglish parliament how immensely rich they were
Your Lordship cannot but be sensible that at this present
time you stand indebted to sundry persons to the value o f forty
thousand pounds sterling ; and unless some of your brethren
had agreed to stay s ix years for about twenty thousand pounds
due to them 3 (though after the expiration of that term a s they
have no security in all prob ability they will be just where they
are now 3) and if the other creditors also upon consideration o f
some bonds given and mortgages made for principal and i n
t e r e s t had not agreed t o stay four y ears for twenty o n e thou
sand pounds more m any of t h e E nglish brethren wh o o u t of I
k now n o t what kind o f infatuation h ave n o t only given their all
but have been bound fo r thousands more than they are able t o
,
WH IT E F I E L D
43 7
pay must either have immediately beco m e bankrupts and

thereby the creditors perhap s n o t have had a shilling in the
pound o r have been obliged to shut up their shops go to prison
or b e t urned out into the wide world to the utter ruin of them
selves and families
I have been told of a very sin g ular expedient made use Of by
Mr Peter Boehler One o f the b r e t h r e n s bishops in order to
strengthen the faith and to raise the drooping spirits of Mr
William Bell who hath been unhappily drawn in (with several
others ) to be one of their agents It was this : I t being Mr
Bell s birth day he was sent fo r from his house in N evil s Al
ley F etter Lane 3 but for a while having had some words with
Mr Boehler he refused to come : at length he complied and
was introduced into a hall in the same alley where was placed
an articial mountain which upon singing a particular verse
was made to fall down and then behind it wa s discovered an
illumination representing Jesus Christ and Mr Bell sitting
v ery near o r embracing each other 3 and o ut o f the clouds was
also represented plenty o f money falling round Mr Bell and the
Saviour This story appeared to me s o incredible at the rst
hearing that though I could not doub t the veracity o f the r e
later yet fearing he might be misinformed I sent for him again
and he assured me that Mr Bell told this story hi m self some
time ago in company and a person of good reputation o f that
company related it to an acquaintance o f mine
May God
grant him and all others who have been undesigne dl y concern
ed a more sure and stable prop for their faith even his o wn
word in whi ch he causes his people to trust ! Then and not till
then even upon the greatest emergency they m ay without any
fanciful representations boldly s ay Who art thou 0 great
m ountain ? before the Lord Jesus o u r all conquering Z er ubb a
b el t h o u shal t be come a plain
The distress and ang uish o f mind that hundreds have been
involved in upon this very account i s I believe unspeakable
A nd the bare reection upon it whilst I am writing m akes my
heart almost to bleed within me Who wh o but themselves
my Lord can tell the late perplexity of their minds who have
been alrea d y arrested o r obliged t o break O ff their r espective
,
WH IT EF I E L D
43 8
partnerships ? O r what w o rds can express the great c oncern

which Mr F reeman and Mr Thomas Grace must have been
necessarily under when they found that bills had been drawn
in their name unknown to them t o the v alue o f forty eight
thousand pounds ? A nd h o w pitiable my Lord must the pre
sent circumstances o f young Mr Rhodes be who t o stop a
little o f the above mentioned gap w as prevailed o n (your
Lordship kno ws by whom ) about eighteen months ago t o sell
his estate of ab o ve four hundred pounds a year and went or
was sent o ff very lately as I am assured t o France (leaving a
desti t ute mother behind him ) and only with twenty v e pounds
for the payment o f which he left his watch bureau h o rse and
s addle !
These are but a few instance s my Lord amongst many i n
deed t o o too many that might be given
The b r et h r en s
agents and those concerned with them can best tell what hor
rid equivocations untruths and low ar t i c e s have been used to
procure money at high interest wherever it was to b e had in
order to keep up the b r et h r en s credit ; and in that poor lam e
m anner it hath been kept up fo r a considerable time Was t h e
whole scene to b e opened I believe every o ne w ould b e o f
opinion that su ch an e cclesiastical proj ect nev er was heard o f
before in any part O f his Maj esty s dominions
O f this my Lord the Royal E xchange hath long since rung ;
and if the same part hath been acted abroad how many fami
lies must have b een ruined there and how many more may yet
b e ruined in order to ll up the present E nglish chasm 3 and
consequently what loads o f guilt must needs lie at the door o f
somebody ! Surely the Lord Of all lords whose eyes are like
a ame of re and who requires truth in the inward parts
will one day or other visit for these things by bringing to light
t h e hidden things o f darkness and thereby m aking manifest t h e
counsels Of the he art !
I need n o t inform your Lordship that Babels are generally
su ffered to b e built pretty high before Go d comes down to
confound the language of the builders If knaves are employ
ed (as commonly they are ) God s honour is concerned to d i s
cover them A nd if any o f his own children are undesignedl y
.
WH IT EF I E L D
S L I FE
AN D
TIM E S
drawn in (which is frequently the ca s e ) he wh o hath pr o mised

n o t t o su f
fer them to be tempted above what they are able to
bear will in mercy s o me way o r o ther rebuke the tempter
and make a way for them t o escape It is true this in publi c
concerns may sometimes expose them to a little worldly c o n
tempt and for a while they may seemingly be crushed u nder
the rubbish o f the fallen fabric but even this shall work t o ge
ther fo r their good ; and happy will it be for them if after all
they at length learn this important le s son That it is danger
ou s
upon any pretence whatsoever t o g o fr o m the written
word o r give up their c o nsciences to the guidance o f any man
or body o f men
under heaven
This your Lordship well
knows is what weak and unstable s o uls are t o o apt t o do 3 and
artful and designing men who are fond o f power es pe cially if
natural ly they are o f an ambitious turn Of mind easily catch
at the pleasing bait But honesty my Lord will be found to
be the best policy after all 3 and therefore God forbid that any
who call themselves the followers o f the Lamb sh ould gl o ry in
any t h ing save the cross o f Christ
A t present I S hall add no m o re but e arnestly s ay A men to
that part o f the b r e t h r en s litany however exceptionable in o ther
respects F rom untimely proj ects and from unhappily b eco m
ing great keep us o ur good Lord and
This controversy had o n e e ffect which Whiteeld did not an
t i c i p a t e nor can I fully explain 3 it led C enn i ck to quit him and
to go over to the Moravians a proof however that the Mora
vians a s a body were not perverted by their leaders A large
party went over with C onnick o n this o ccasion 3 am o ngst wh o m
was Mrs Greeneld o n e o f Queen C aroline s ladies
She is
the person called in Whi t e el d s Letters one o f C aesar s house
hold
H e visited her at St James s Palace and fo und her
Indeed she had ; for the palace was then

r e a d y t o s h ow ou t
But whilst he th ought she would m ake a
r i ng i ng about her
glorious martyr if Sh e stood rm he s aw the peril of her posi
tion and said t o h er friend Lady Huntingdon
Till Mrs
Greeneld can meet with company really in e arnest the closer
She retired
s h e keeps to her God and her book the better
from the c ourt o n a pensi on 3 and th ough she j o ined the M o
,
WH I T EF I E L D
440
continued to co rr esp o nd w ith W h iteel d and to

Sh e als o parted with
h e ar him at the house of the Countess
her favourite servant to furnish the Tabernacle house in Bris
tol with a suitable housekeeper I Ought to add that White
el d s letter to Z i n z en d or ff
c ured m any o f t h e fopp e ries and
faults it expo s ed
i
r av an s ,
sh e
CH A P T E R XX II
WH IT EF I E L D
I N F LU E N C E I N A M ER I C A
FI RS
P AR
W H IT EF I E L D S former visits to A merica although not un wel

c o me t o her spiritual churches were in some measure unsought
for by th em as churches I mean he c o nsulted his o wn sense
of duty and the interest of his orphan house and the urgency
Of private friends rather than public Opinion on either side o f
the A tlantic O n the present o ccasion besides his ordinary
reas o ns for ranging A merica he had many pressing invitations
to cr o ss plough his ol d grounds and to water where he had
planted He had also a h om e reason H e wished to come back
upon E ngland and S cotland again in the power of an Am er i ca n
unction 3 a savour he had found to b e Of life unto life in all

his m ovements through his native land Hence he said o n hi s
v oyage
After a short tour through A merica I h Op e to see my
native country and b egin to beg i n to ramble after poor sinners
again
It wa s there he learnt to range and there he di s
covered how m uch he cou l d range as well as h o w much good
ranging did 3 and therefore he was unwilling to forget the lesson
A nd no wonder H ad he not hunted in the A merican woods
and wilds he would not have done nor dared what he attempted
at home Indeed every foreign place wa s a school where he
studied for home A nd he was an ap t s cholar It must have
been a strange place indeed where Wh iteeld could pick up
nothing useful E very where his maxim w a s I would fain b e
and learn to extract h o ney from every
o n e o f Christ s bees
ower 3 whilst every where his feeling wa s Alas I am a
d r on e and deserve t o be s tung o u t of God s hive
WH IT EF I E L D
442
H e arrived in safety with his orphans at Bethesda after an

easy voyage 3 and found himself at the head o f a family of a
hundred and s i x m embers black and white all dependent

upon his personal e fforts and inuence But he had no fears
H e regarded his charge as a stewardship o f Providence and
hoped and begged acc o rdingly nothing doubting
H aving
arranged his household he started to his work and traversed
Carolina It was now high summer 3 and besides the oppressiv e
heat
great thunders violent lightnings and heavy rains
frequently beat upon h i m as he j ourneyed from town to town 3
but his health improved and his spirits rose as he advanced
O ne reason of this was that he chiey travelled by night
In
S pite o f thunder lightning rain and heat God is pleased he

says to hold my soul in life and t o let me see his glorious
work prosper in my unworthy hands

O ne part o f this pros
p er i t y was the conversion Of a clergyman and the prospect o f
a faithfu l successor to Smith at Charlestonfrom B eth esd a !
This was the rst student sent forth from the orphan
hou s e
I can give no account o f him but he must have had consider
able ministerial talent to commend himself to J o siah Smith s
ock
The reader rememb ers h i s serm o n o n Wh i t e el d s
character
H aving fully preached the gospel in the regi o ns Of Car o

lina he went to N e w York and Philadelphia and found at both
prej udices removed and a more e ffectual d o or than ever for

labour A t this time however he seems to have lost his h or se ;
and thus to have been dependent upon his friends for convey
an ce s
H e had been so before and remembered that neither
all h o rses n or all drive r s were alike To o n e o f his former wh ip s
I have no horse 3I will
he wrote You must bring a chaise 3
once more venture your throwing me down

This was on the
way to Phil adelphia There he was thrown down suddenly but
not from a chaise He was seized with a violent ch ol er a m or
bus and soon brought to t h e gates of death

H e had he said
all his cables o u t ready to cast a n ch or within the p o rt o f
eternity : but he was soon at s ea again 3 although only able to

preach once a day fo r some time When he was himself again
and look ed at the glorious range fo r hunting in the A merican
woods he wa s at a loss what hand t o go to : A ffecti o n i n

,
WH IT EF I E L D
4 43
a ffection cries aloud A way t o N ew E n gland d ea r N ew

E ngland directly P r o vidence and the circumstances o f the
southern provinces point directly to V irginia

Whilst thus
undecided he visited h i s o l d friend Governor Belcher and found
h i m an improved and ripening pilgrim no w willing to depart
and be with Christ The venerable governor enj oyed this visit
m uch 3 and found it as conducive to h i s own peace as his patron
age and s t a t e coa ch had formerly been to Wh i t e el d s popularity
It was now the N ew Jersey co mmen cem en t and the president
and trustees of the college presented Whiteeld with the de
gree of M A He was pleased with this mark o f their respect
from the senate : but much more pleased with the synod o f
ministers
I was mu ch refreshed he says with the com
pany o f the whole synod : such a number Of simple hearted
united ministers I never s aw before
I preached t o them
several times and the great Master of assemblies was in the
midst of us
By their counsel he determined to visit N ew E ngland rst
and to return through V irginia t o Georgia 3 a circuit of about
two thousand miles 3 but not at all intimidating to him O n

looking at it he said
The Redeemer s strength will be m or e
than suffi cient

President Burr accompanied him to N ew
E ngland and s aw at Boston morning after morning three o r
four thousand people hanging in breathless silence o n the lip s
Whiteeld himself
o f the preacher and weeping silent tears
calls it a lovely s cene and says he n ever saw a m o re effe c
tual door opened for the gospel

Sinners have been awak
ened saints quickened and enemies m ade at pe ace with me
Grace grace ! Surely my coming here was of God ! C o nvi c
tions d o fasten and many souls are comforted

Such wa s the
crowd at the e arly sermons t hat he had to get in at the wi n
In a letter to
d ow s of the chapels in order to reach the pulpit
the Countess he says A t Boston the tide ran full as high as
ever your Ladyship knew it at E dinburgh o r in any part o f
S cotland
Before leaving Bost o n he heard with unspeakable satisfaction
that h i s friend Habersham was appointed secretary to the new
governor o f Georgia
I wish you j oy he wrote to him
May t h e King of kings enable yo u t o
o f your n e w honour
t ense
WH IT EF I E L D
444
discharge your trust a s becomes a good patriot subj ect and

christian Yo u have now a call I think to retire from business
and to give up your time to the public

His complete triumph
in Boston opened for him a wider and wider door all around
H e hardly knew where to go rst or how to go fast enough in
order to meet the public demand H e seems on o n e occ a sion
to have let down or over ridden his horse in his haste 3 but he
knew the owner 3 obtained another 3 and sent word I left the
horse a little lame at Long Island with o n e who i s called S a i n t
D ick A ll hail such reproach

O n his j ourney northward he was able to preach t wme o r
thrice every day : and h i s success will b e b est j udged from h i s
own account fo r h e never speaks strongly without strong reason
What have I seen ? D agon falling every where b efore the ark 3
enemies silenced o r m ade to o wn the nger of God 3 and the
friends o f Jesus triumphing in his glorious conquests
A
h u n ch e d t h part cannot be told
We h ad s carce o n e d r y meet
ing
When he c ame near to P ortsmouth the end of his north
ern boundary he w as overwhelmed with humility as well as j oy
by the cavalc ade which came o u t to meet and welcom e him
H e says o f them they were t o o m any 3 and o f the whole ex

d
i
i
o n so far
e
t
It
seems
to
m
e
the
o
important
one
I
was
m
s
t
p
ever engaged in
H e now turned back

to preach all the way to Georgia 3 a
j ourney of sixteen hundred miles This had no terrors to him
H e called it
a ride and sai d N i l d esp er a n d u m C h r i s t o
Little I regret to s a y is to b e found

d u ce a u sp i ce Ch r i s t o
in either his memorand a o r letters to illustrat e this ride except
proofs t h at many o f h i s hearers must have ridden forty or fty
miles in order to reach the line of his itinera cy F rom the
manner also in which he was re ceived at every town and from
the multitudes who assembled it is evident that great ex ertions
had b een m ade to prepare them fo r h i s coming and to enable
him to keep h i s appointments This thr o ws no small light
upon the inuence he now had in A merica It was felt t o be
a privilege every where to forward him o n h i s mission after
a godly sort and to t e l eg r ap h the wilderness before him

and rich and poor answered the signal s 3 churches and chapel s
Opened t o t hem
,
LI FE AN D TI M E S
4 45
When he rea ched Charleston he had the pleasure o f see

ing the student from Bethesda o rdained there I t does not
appear whether he took any part in the ordination or not
He merely says that it was solemn H e was not less pleased
however on t his o ccasi o n to nd that o n e of the p l a yer s of
Charleston had been snat ched as a brand from the burning

H i s health failed again n ow
His o l d vo m itings returned
with violence and his S pirits sunk with h i s strength H e there
fore emb arked for E ngland in the fond hope that the voyage
would recruit him for h i s F a ther s business 3

fo r which he
says
I a m a poor pilgrim willing to give up all that is near
and dear to m e o n this side eternity
This brief chapter is merely preparatory t o on e on the same
subj e ct Wh i t e el d s inuence in A merica would however
fi ll a volume 3 were it traced in all its bearings and o u goings
from the rst rousing o f her churches down through the pro
gress of her revivals This cannot perhaps be done by any
British writer Indeed it would be imprudent t o attempt the
task on this side o f the A tlantic We do n o t know enough
O f the men who caught and carried o n the inuence which
Wh i t e el d s ministry had upon the public mind ; to tell where
their inuence began or where h i s ended We should thus b e
for ever in danger o f a scribing t o o much to him and too little
to them We s e e only the m ighty impulses which he gave ;
and not the men n o r the measures by which they were turned
to immediate account o r transmitted to posterity F or after
all they w
ere but i mp u l ses o n the public mind They were
indeed many and mighty an d good and unparalleled : and
j ust because they were all this there must hav e been mu ch of
this goodness and greatness about the agency which wrought
with them and by them The a ct i on taken upon them

(to use an Americanism ) was one chief ca u se of their ex
tensiv e and enduring usefulness
I have n o t dared there
fore to bring together the proofs of Wh i t e el d s inuence in
A merica which might b e collected and embodied from the
results of al l his visits : b u t have simply given illustrations of
it fr o m t w o of them 3 and these perh aps n o t t h e most i n
,
ue n t i a l
CH APT E R XX III
W H IT EF I E L D
S P UB LI C S P I R IT
return from A merica t h e rst thing he took no t ice
says Gillies
was the success of religion in h i s native
of
country
H e w as delighted to nd the poor methodists a s
lively as ever ; the g o spel preached with power in many churches ;
some fresh ministers almos t every week determining to know
nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucied ; and many at
Oxfor d awakened to the knowledge o f the truth

Almost the rst thing he did o n his arriv al was to us e his
inuence with the Marquis of L o thian for a d ip l oma to h i s
friend President Burr o f N ew Jersey His Lordship applied to
the university of E dinburgh 3 and the senate consented at once ;
requiring only an a ccount of Mr Burr s l iterature

This
Whiteeld sent to the Marquis 3 assuring him that the favour
done to the president would endear h i s Lordship t o the
good people in A merica

I suppose the degree o f D D was
sent seeing i t was thus re adily promised : it is not noticed
however in t h e A merican Biographical D iction ary

There
the president is styled M r Burr to the end Of the chapter
How is this ? Was the diploma lost o r not sent ou t ? O r was
the president to o modest to ad opt the title ? I put this ques
tion because all the A merican diplomas which are not ackno w
ledged in this country are neither lost nor unappre ciated They
are n o t all used 3 but n o ne of them are lightly esteemed by their
possessors They never can b e s o unless the future issue o f
degrees becomes promiscuous and A merica will surely respe ct
herself too much to permit this
Whiteeld had at the Tabernacle on his return what he
ON h is
WH IT EF I E L D
calls
447
but by this time there were other cler

and
as
in
L
o
ndon
wh
o
reached
the
gospel
faithfully
m
e
n
3
p
gy
that was the only thing he cared for it made he says his call
to go a br oa d still m o re clear
Indeed s o little did he like
London as a sphere of labour and s o much did he j udge o f
spheres by their destitution that he wished t o return to A merica
this year without ranging E ngland o r S cotland Hence he
says Methinks I could set out for A merica t o morrow though
I have not yet entered upon my country range

L e tt 1 5 3 4
But if he loved A merica most E ngland loved herself more
and drew him with the cords Of love into Gloucestershire

and Bristol again H e went als o to Open the N orwich Taber
n acl e at the request of the Countess ; and there he so turned
the tide o u t o f the Wesleyan channels that he deemed it n e ces
sary to apprize his friend Wesley o f the fact and to assure him
that there were no p a r ty designs on foot A t rst and for a
long time the N orwich Tabernacle was distinguished amongst
the Countess s chapels as o n e Of the mos t promising In 1 7 7 7
the Hon Walter Shirley spent s o me time at it and had eight
hundred communicants in fellowship He said Of them Their
experience lives and c o nversation are s o excellent that there
is nothing like it in the whole kingdom

This once o ur i sh
ing pl a ce the t r u s tees have managed t o break up In 1 83 6 the
great body Of the c o ngregation retired t o another sanctuary
When Whiteeld returned t o London he was g oa d ed by n o t
a few to engage in contr o versy with the Wesleys again His
measures at N orwich seem t o have b een misrepresented to them
Instead however he preferred to wait until he c o uld converse
with Wesley face t o face

I have n o time for contr o versy
he says He redeemed time however at this crisis to write a
grateful letter to his Ol d tutor at O xford ; begging his prayers
and blessing him for his ins t ructions and counsels
A t this time the encroachments o f the F rench upon the
British colonies in A merica awakened his j ealousy H e saw
more than civil liberty at stake H e trembled for the ark o f
God A ccordingly when he heard that his ol d friend Colonel
P epperell was in the eld again t o resist the enemy he wrote to
Lady P an inspiring letter ; and o ne t o the colonel ch allenging
g ol d e n s ea s on s
,
W H IT EF I E L D
44 8
S L I FE A N D TIM E S
him t o meet him Often at the throne o f grace in prayer fo r suc
cess against popish tyranny and a r bitrary p o wer

In like
manner when he s et o u t on h i s northern tour he carried this
s ubj e ct with him like h i s shadow through Yorkshire an d Lan
c as h i r e
A t this time he says
next to Jesus my king and
country were upon my heart I hope I shall always think it my
bounden duty next t o inviting sinners t o the blessed Jesus to
e xhort m y hearers to exert themselves against the rst ap
p r o a ch e s o f popish tyranny O h that we may be enabled to pray
and watch against antichrist in o u r h ea r ts ; for there after all
lies the most dangerous man o f s i n

With all h i s partiality indeed love to Leeds Whiteeld was
s adly dis concer t ed there when he found that his fr iends with
had built a large chapel
He s aw at a
o u t h i s knowledge
glance that it would create an awful separation amongst the
societies 3 and lost no ti m e in writing o ff t o Wesley that they

might try to prev ent a breach Both the plan and the spirit
Of this undertaking s o vexed him that he exclaimed
Oh
this self love this self will i s t h e d evi l of d evi l s

This he
wrote to Lady Huntingdon ; a proof that p a r ty was not their
Obj ect
D uring two months he prea ched twice o r thrice a day to
still greater numbers than b efore 3 inviting them to Christ and
exhorting them to pray for King George and the dear friends
in A merica
O n h i s return to London he heard that the
A merican ladies were making the soldiers coa ts 3 and he wrote
to b e
o ff immediately to urge h i s own female friends there
some Of the most active in this labour of love

N otwithstanding his immense labours o n this tour he gre w
fat : but it was disease not strength Sore throat set in and
w a s followed by an inammatory quinsey which assumed alm o st
a fatal aspect O ne physician prescribed silence and warmth 3
and he promised to be very obedient

He was so for a few
days Then anoth er physician pres cribed a p erp e tua l blister 3

this proposal roused him and he s oon tried his Old remedy
perpetual pr ea ching
It was o f course painful 3 but he said
When this grand catholicon fails it i s all over with me

In
this he j udged aright of h i s o wn constitution
,
W H IT EF I E L D
4 49
Whilst compelled to take t h e m ed i c i n e of si l en ce the sad

news of the earthquak e at Lisbon arrived A t t h e time it was
doub tful whether death o r life would be the issue o f the quinsy
but he forgot his o wn su fferings when told o f the public cala
mity :
Blessed b e Go d he said
I am ready ; I know that
my Redeemer liveth O h that all in Portu gal had kn own this
Then an earthquake would only be a r um bli ng chariot to c arry
the soul to God Poor Lisbon ! h o w soon are thy riches and
superstitious pageantry swallowed up !

O ne almost regrets
that Whiteeld was unable to preach o n this catastrophe His
vivid re collections o f Lisbon with his deep sense o f its super
s t i t i o n s would have enabled him to render the scene visible to
the eye as well as overpowering t o the heart and conscience
This reection j ust reminds me that I have seen nothing in all
his memorand a o r letters o f h i s o wn well known h er oi sm at the
time o f the earthquak e in London H e preached then in the
parks at midnight to trembling thousands 3 and presented to
the m in his o wn composure a sublime illustration o f the peace
which passeth all understanding

So did Charles Wesley at
the Fo un d er y I quite agree with Wats o n that it is difcul t to
say which was the nobler spe ctacle Charles Wesley in th e
chapel or Whiteeld in the Open air at mi dn i g h t ; and both
triumphing in God whilst the earth shook and trembled ! H o w
could methodism fail t o commend itself then to the public mind ?
D oddridge also signalized himself in London by a sermon o n
the earthquake which produced a t h r i l l i ng effect amongst the
dissenters O ne of its fruits was the formation Of The Lon
don Religious Book Society by Benj amin F o r t t E sq 3 then

a B r i ti sh th ough not a F oreign Bible Society 3 for its Obj ect was
to distribute Bibles Testaments and other books g r a ti s
among the poor and particularly to send such books to the
country
That this society originated from the sermon is
evident from F o r t t s letter to the preacher : If the world
re ceives any advantage from this design I think it is indebted
under God to D r D oddridge for it 3 as the sacred fervour
which animated your addresses from the pulpit when last in
town kin dled a spark o f the same benevolence to the souls Of
men in the breast of o ne who could n o longer retain his desires
,
2 G
W H IT EF I E L D
4 50
f usefulness
within the compass o f his own small abiliti es with
o u t exciting others to the same views

D odd r i dg e s D i a r y
19 2
vo l iv
In the winter o f 1 7 5 5 Whiteeld was applied t o by his
friends who resided near the theatres to preach regularly at a
chapel they had licensed in Long A cre
It was hazardous
ground ; but he did not hesitate a moment H e engaged to
prea ch twice a week and read prayers

O n the rst night
Hundreds went away wh o could
t h e chapel was overowing
B ut he was soon disturbed
The sons of Tubal
n o t get in
and Cain as he called the rioters ser en a d ed him every night
with bells drums clappers and a copp er f ur n a ce as a kettle

These men were hired by subscription although some
d r um
of them were s ol d i er s to annoy and insult him It became
th erefore ne ce ssary t o arrest some o f them as rioters These
the bishop o f B
sent for and inquired of them w h er e
Whiteeld lived ? This surprised him 3 fo r he t hought his
This bishop h o wever neither knew it

h ous e p r e tty p u bli c
nor t h e law o f the land 3 fo r he sent him a p r oh i bi t i on although
the chapel was duly licensed and unconsecrated
Whiteeld took the episcopal bull by the horns at once 3

but with the greatest courtesy H e began by telling the bishop
I thought I might i n n ocen t ly preach the lov e of a crucied
Redeemer
and fo r His sake loyalty to t h e best o f princes
sovereign King George without giving any jus t
o ur dread
O ffence to Jew or gentile
much less to any bishop or oversee r
o f the church of God

He ended by telling his Lordship I
hope yo u will not l o ok upon it a s con tuma cy if I persist in p
s e cut i n
g my design till I am more particularly apprized wherein
I have erred
I trust the irregularity I am charged with (if
called to answer for it) will appear j ustiable to every lover o f
E ng l i sh liberty 3and what is a l l to me be approved at the
awful and impartial tribunal Of the great Shepherd and Bishop
of souls
Whilst waiting for an answer to this letter White
eld took up the case o f the persecuted F rench protestants and
collected 80 for them at the Tabernacle He had likewise
the gratication o f nding that one o f the su bs cr i ber s to the riots
h ad been arrested by the g o spel at Long A cre and was n o w
o
WH IT EF I E L D
45 1
weeping to s ee him A o nce conrmed deist also had b e
come as a little child

The next time Whiteeld preached in Long A cre all was
hushed 3 and he publicly ascribed the peace to the bishop s

intervention It was o nly a pause in the st o rm The rioters
contented themselves with making odd noises in an adj oin
ing h o use whilst a s ea o ld was preparing for the full ourish
and chorus of such instruments of r efor ma t i on as a copper
furna ce bells drums clappers marro w bones and cleavers and
large stones of a pound weight to break the windows

This
volley was planted and played o ff against the chapel in the yard
Of his Lordship s overseer by some o f his Lordship s vestry and
parishioner s This fact Whiteeld told him L ett 1 1 22 1 1 2 4 3
and added C on e o f your Lordship s r el a t i on s can acquaint
y o u with many more particulars 3 and if you would be so good
as ride to O s house yo u would s e e such a sca ffold (if not taken
down ) and such costly preparations fo r a noise upon it that
must make the ears o f all that shall hear it t o tingle I have
only o n e favour t o beg of your Lordship that yo u will send to
the gentlemen as they are your parishioners and desire them
henceforward to desist from such riotous and dangerous pro
c e e d in s
Indeed my Lord it is more than noise It de
g
ser es no milder a name than premeditated rioting

His Lordship s answer to these appeals seems to have been
respectful t o Whiteeld but useless to the o ccasion He quoted
canons instead of quelling the riots ; and threw doubts upon
the lease and license o f the chapel instead o f displacing the
overseer o f the parish H e had admonished some o f the rioters
whilst they merely ser ena d ed the congregation 3 but when they
sadly wounded some o f the hearers he sailed out o f the dif
cul t y upon a raft of canonical technicalities
But he mistook
his man when he quoted canons and Scripture to stop White
eld from preaching the gospel H e told him at once that the
former were mere br u ta fu l mi n a which ought to b e s et at

deance like the w i t h s of the Philistines whenever they stood
in the way o f preaching against s i n the pope and the devil

That he declared he would do at all hazards o f pains and p e
A nd as to the apostolical canon against trenching on
n al t i es
2 G 2
,
"
WH IT E F I E L D
4 52
anoth er man s line o f things Whiteel d reminded h i m of t h e

welcome Philip H enry had fro m the vicar at Bro ad O aks t o
throw a handful o f seed now and then into his eld 3 there
this I humbly conceiv e i s the
i s work enough for us both
case n o t o nly o f your L o rdship but o f every minister s parish
in London and ev ery bishop s d i o c es s in E ngland

This faithful appeal to principle and conscience did n o t pre
v ent Whiteeld from clearing up t o his Lordship the legal
claims of the chapel to protection It had been regularly li
censed in the Commons for a dissenting minister Barnard ; and
the certicate was in the hands Of C ul ver wel l To these men
he referred the bis hop The unhallowed noises went o n

however and lives were endangered by the stones thrown in at
the windows 3 one o f which nearly struck Whiteeld himself
He n o w felt that private letters were merely ch i l d s p l a y wh en
public liberty and s afety were thus outraged 3 and therefore he
apprized the bishop that he would throw the whole affair before
the world His Lordship thought that this implied the pub
l i cat i o n o f his letters 3 and claimed his privilege as a p e er t o
prevent it H e had n o o c casion Wh iteeld was a gen t l ema n
as well as a christian H e therefore m ade a nal appeal to the
b ishop for prote ction and told him he w o uld trouble him no
m ore
The o utrages went o n and b ecame s o agrant th at p r oseca
and was contemplated
When the
t i on s eemed inevitable
rioters heard o f this they threatened his life O ne man went
up to him in the Tabernacle pulpit 3 and o ther s sent him
menacing letters
denouncing a certain sudden unavo i dable
s t r oke unless he desisted from preaching an d from pursuing
the o ffenders by law

O ne o f these letters he sent to the
gov ernment 3 who at o nce O ffered a reward and h i s Maj esty s
pardon to any o n e who woul d discover the writer This pleased
him o f course 3 but it also embarrassed him
M y greatest
distress is h e said t o Lady Huntingdon to act so as to avoid
F o r his
rashness on the one hand and timidity o n the other
o w n sake he woul d not h ave stirred in it ; but viewing it as
the cause o f civil and religious liberty he wisely let the l aw

tak e i t s course at the ha zard o f his o wn life by assassination
AND TIM E S
4 53
The preparations for bringing the matter into the King s Bench
s eem however t o have stopped the evil
The annoyances at Long A cre led him to plan Tottenham
Court chapel The sabbath after he had taken the ground he
Obtained nearly 600 t o wards the building He intended to
put it under the prote ction o f Lady Huntingdon 3 but found o n
consulting D octors Commons that no nobleman could license
a chapel
for himself if the public were to b e admitted to it
It was begun i n May and opened in N ovember 1 7 5 6 and
licensed as the other h o use s o f p r ayer

Having laid the fo undation o f To t t en h am C o urt and shown
himself again at Long A cre to the enemy Wh iteeld went to
Bristol ; but not to rest although the cares and labours o f the
winter and spring had nearly w o rn o u t both his s trength and
spirits Still he preached as usual in that quarter and then
returned to London t o keep P en t ecos t at Long A cre 3 that n o
frightened away
o n e might suspe ct him o f having b een
A fter visiting Ken t he set out again for S cotland preaching by
the way to still greater audiences than ever A t Leeds and
York he found many tr o phies o f redeeming love whic h had

been won at former visits Such was the effect of two sermons
he now preached at Burstall that several hundreds rode eight
miles with h i m in the evening s i ng i ng and praising God
L e tt 1 1 46
.
A t E dinburgh W h iteeld received more than his usual wel

come Politicians no w thronged to hear him and the ne ws
papers lauded him for his spirit stirring exposures o f popish
tyranny and arbitrary p o we re

He preached twice every day
in the O rphan Hospital Park and blended with almost every
s ermon rousing appeals to the protestantism courage and loy
alty o f the Scotch H e also pleaded the cause of the poor
Highlanders at the close of one s ermon and collected 6 0 fo r
them
O n his way back to London he had at Leeds what he calls
the We l ch night 3 a meeting peculiarly solemn and refresh

After it he braced his nerves by a tour o f m oun t a i n
i ng
But it was
p r ea ch i ng in company with his friend Grimsha w
these cold countries
n o w late in O ctober and as he found
,
WH IT EF I E L D
45 4
bringing on his last year s disorder and being (he says sigmi
grown ver y prudent he came to London to open

c a n t l y)
T o t t en h am Court chapel H e had however another errand to
London The new governor o f Ge o rgia had sent for him from
the north t o consult with him before s ailing H e met him
and was s o much delighted that he Wrote o ff t o Bethesda to
prepare them for a s t a t e visit
Waited upon his E xcellency
and gave him and all whom he pleases to bring an invitation
to Bethesda D ear Mrs C will mak e pr oper provision

This
He wanted t o have m i li ta r y honours paid to the
wa s not all
governor
H ave you persons enough to ex er ci se before him ?
C an they receive him under a r ms ?
Whiteeld was thinking
o f his intended C O L L EGE
whilst thus ingratiating himself with
the governor
A t this time Cudworth (no a n ti n omi a n as Moore ignorantly
calls him in his Life of
having embroiled Hervey
with Wesley wrote a pamphlet against what he calls
Some
F undamental Mistakes in Wh i t e el d S Sermons 3 and as Her
to put ou t and put in whatever he

v e y had allowed him
pleased in his let t ers to Wesley he seems to have sought his
sanction to this attack o n Whiteeld also Mason charged
him with saying that Hervey O ffered to p r efa ce the pamphlet
This Whiteel d wrote to H ervey

I as much believe as
that I am at R ome
Perhaps he was wrong ! T h e pamphlet
sustaine d H ervey s own theory of ap p r op r i a t i ng faith and s e t
M a r sh a l l against Whiteeld ; and s o far Hervey may have
countenanced Cudworth who was now the champion of Theron
and A spasio
Herve y s posthumous letters do not clear up this
fact I ndeed Cudworth had t o o much t o do wi t h t h ei r publi
cation t o leave any light o n the subj ect ! It is however
curious that from this time there is n o letter o f Whiteeld to
Hervey th at I can nd ; nor any notice in others o f Hervey s
death But the series o f Wh i t e el d s letters abo ut this time
very incomplete He was n o w preaching f teen times a wee k
in London and daily occupied with the converts caught in his
S O UL T R A P as some D octor designated the n e w chapel He

welcomed the nickname and prayed that Wh i t e el d s Soul
Trap might catch m any wa n derers I t nearly caught poor
WH IT EF I E L D
455
Shuter the player He always attended at this time and brought

many with him Some of the nobilit y also became stated hearers
and took seats in the chapel
In 1 7 57 Whiteeld planned his visit t o Scotland t o fall at the
time o f the General A ssembly But before leaving London he
placed the scheme o f his college in the hands of Lord Halifax
He seems o n his arrival to have attended the sittings of the
A ssembly 3 and Gillies says Perhaps a hundred m inisters at a
time attended his sermons

Thirty of the ministers honoured
him with a p ubl i c entertainment and Lord Cathcart his Maj es
ty s commissioner invited him to his own table This was
wormwood and gall to the high churchmen Some of them had
the ins olence to remonstrate with C athcart o n the impropriety
It would give of
o f inviting Whiteeld to meet the clergy
t
o
the
church
they
said
His
Lordship
spurned
their
n ce
!
e
f
paltry o verture with indignation Gi l l i es Whiteeld preach
ed he says j ust fty times o n this visit : that was about as

much in a month as some o f t he s e clergymen did in a year !
S u ch a con t r a st could hardly endear his company to half d ay
l abourers
A t Glasg o w Whiteeld preached in the High Church yard
with equal success and collected money for the poor H e then
w ent to Ireland and was stoned (as w e have seen ) o n O xman
for speaking against the papists in
town Green 3 not he says
particular but for exciting all ranks to be faithful to King
Je s us and to o ur dread s o vereign King George 3 and because

he prayed for the King of Prussia In the o t her parts o f Ire
land he found hunting for souls to be delightful sport when
the heart is in it
The welLk n o wn E d wa r d s o f Leeds was
converted under the sermon at O xm an t o wn Green The Irish
Liberty Boys used t o call him their s wa d d l i ng John

O n his return to London he found that the governor o f
Georgia had visited Bethesda and promised to communicate h i s
sentiments to Lord Halifax concerning i ts being enlarged i n
to a college
but the press ure of p ublic a ffairs deterred him
from applying to the government There were bad news from
A merica about the eet and therefore he kept a fas t day at

h i s chapels
,
45 6
WH IT EF I E L D
His health n o w failed sa dly H e was brought to live o n the

short allowance o f prea ching but once a day and thrice on the
S unday
very short allowance for h i m ! O nce however h e
broke through the restraint and preached three times on the
success of the King of Prussia 3 which he s ays somewhat r e
c over e d
him after he had been for a week at the gates o f the
grave ! H e was not able to atte mpt great things this winter
Tottenham Court wa s however his B e th el as he calls it ; and
as it was then surrounded by a beautiful piece of ground he
formed the plan of an almshouse for twelve godly widows 3

as a standing monument that the methodists were not against
good works
This charity he soon carried int o e ffect His
thoughts however were not conned to home
Although
broken down in health and spirits by weakness and want of
rest he watched the a ffairs of Prussia with intense interest and
assured the German pr o testants through Pr o fessor Franck that
we looked o n their distresses as ou r own

In the spring of 1 7 5 8 he went into the west o f E ngland and
visited Wales 3 but he was s o feeble that he could not bear to
drive nor ride in a o n e horse chaise
He was obliged to give
it up The roads shook it and it S hook h i m nearly to pie ce s
E very thing he says

wearies this shattered bark now !
A friend interfered and purchased a close chaise for him

advancing the money until he could conveniently repay it He
felt this kindness deeply because by no other means could he
hav e itinerated
I would not he says
lay o ut a single
farthing but for my blessed Master : but it is inconceivable
what I have undergone these three weeks I n ever wa s so be
!
O
h
f
o
r
a
to
carry
my
weary
carcass
to
the
wished
or
e
a
r
e
h
e
s
f
for grav e !
D uring all this tour he w as unable to sit up in
company even once 3 yet he Often preached to ten o r fteen
thousand people and made their tears o w like water from the
rock
His views of himself at this time were more than
usually humble 3 and that is saying a great deal to those who
hav e read his letters before this time He said to Lady Hun
t in g d on
O h I am sickI am sicksick in body ; but i n
n i t el
Bless
y more s o in m ind to see s o much d r os s in my soul
ed be Go d there is O ne who will s i t as a r e n er s re to purify
.
WH IT EF I E L D
45 7
the sons o f L evi I write o ut of the bur n i ng bush

Christ is
there ! Christ is there !

In the summer he went north again 3 but was Often ready
to tur n back through extreme weaknes s even before he reach
ed N orthampton There however he took the eld again
Preaching in B i sh op B u/nya n s pulpit at Bedford had ral

lied his S pirits My eye rests at this moment upon a fragment
o f that hallowed pulpit 3 and I hardly know whether it is mos t
associated in my mind with B u n ya n in his strength or with
This I know I often s e e them
l/Vh i t e e l d in his weaknes s
both leaning over it and r ep r ovi ng me
This year Whiteeld lost by death some of his earliest and
dearest friends 3 Hervey P resident Burr Governor Belcher
and Jonathan E dwards Their death and his own dying life
made him long to depart

When he reached E dinburgh he
expected death after every sermon

Yet he preached twice
a day in general and that to immense auditories O n o n e o c
casion he collected upwards Of 200 fo r the orphan hospital
H e also preached thanksgiving sermons for the victories at
C r e v el t Cape Breton and on th e defeat o f t h e Russians
He
allowed nothing to escape h i m unimproved The r a ces came on
at E dinburgh and he consented t o preach t o the people to run
the race set before them
Well might he s ay This preaching is a s t r a ng e restorati ve

Still it did restore him H e was unable t o visit private friends
and was a djour n i ng to see them until they met in heaven
but he says i t w i l l n ot d o !
H is health was in fact i m
proving by hard lab o ur H e therefore wen t to Glasgow and
laboured harder than ever

I am put o ut to se a again he
said 3 a n d if to take some more p r i z es I shall rej oice There

is good reason to believe that he took many in S cotland o n this
o ccasion
O ne thing which gav e him additional inuence
amongst the poor in Glasgow was the zeal with which he plead
ed the cause o f the Highland families whose fathers were serving
the king in A merica
Whiteeld never perhaps was more over come than now in
parting from his fr iends H e called the day of his farewell to
Sc o tland the ex ecu ti on d a y
not however that he despaired
.
458
WH IT E F I E L D
of
seeing i t again ; but that h i s friends were like Paul s at

Miletus In fact he w a s almost h i mself again for a little
when he go t into Yorkshire
Then the idea o f winter
quarters was as painful as ever He resolved that nothing
but change o f weather should driv e him into them

He
could not help feeling however that he must s o on retire
L o rd prepare
from the elds 3 and therefo re he prayed
me for winter trials : they are preparatives for an e t er n a l
summer
In 1 7 5 9 Whiteeld had th e satisfaction to clear o f all his
debts fo r the orphan house

Bethesd a s God he said lives
for ever and is faithful and all su ffi cient

He t herefore
wished much to visit A merica ; but he could not nd supplies
to reli e ve him from h i s chapels in London This pained him
Strange
he says that nobody will relieve me that I may
once more ee to A merica

N o o n e did and he returned to
S cotland H e became fa t by the way and his friends co n g r a
t ul a t e d him o n the prospe ct of a new lease of life 3 but he did
not atter himself o n be coming corpulent : so did D arracott
a little before he died he said It is m uch to be regretted

that p a i n ti ng s Of Whiteeld multiplied at this time It cannot
b e wondered at b ecause his friends c o uld not but feel that h i s
life was precarious Still these portraits c o nv ey no idea of the
m a n who awed the multitude in M o o r el d s and electried the
nobility at Lady H u n t i n g d o n s Some of them especially N a
thaniel Hone s are faithful likenesses o f Whiteeld when dis
ease made him corpulent 3 and thus they are the Whiteeld
but not the W h iteeld o f t h ei r fathers
o u r grandfathers knew
I defy any one t o ass o ciate the e mot i on s o f the Old or o f the new
world with the p u r sy parson o f these gures 3all o f them
born o u t o f due season
Whiteeld was s l en d er in per
s o n until h e b egan to sink in strength Indeed were there not

reason to suppos e that the r s t portrait o f him was transmuted
by the trade into a H er vey when Theron and A spasio became
popular I should have m ade it the frontispie ce to this volume
It and t h e o n e I have adopted as the m e d i um between the rst
and last are the portraits which Whiteeld himself presented
to his friends In regard to the others he sai d he should h a t e
L I FE
\VH I TE F I E L D S
AN D
TI M E S
himself if he were the s our looking creature they represent

ed h i m to be J a y s L ife Qf Wi n ter
I mention this here because on his visit t o E dinburgh this
year (I think ) the governors o f the o rphan h o spital had his
likene s s taken and hung up in the hall as a mark o f their
respect and gratitude to him for the colle ctions he m ade fo r
the charit y O n this o ccasion he collected 2 1 5 for the orphan
hospital
What was though t of his p ol i ti ca l inuence at this time
may be best told perhaps in the language o f the newspapers
O ne of them says
The Rev Mr Whiteeld has been preach
ing here and at Glasgo w H e has pre ached nearly a h un d r ed
times 3 and yet his congregations were always increasing
Whatever this b e o wing toevery body must j udge fo r them
selves but it is certain that he conti nually ex erted all his rhe
toric in stirring up zeal for his God his king and his country
in this time o f danger ; and he seemed particularly pleased as
were thousands more that he had an Opportunity o f preaching
a thanksgiving sermon to a most thronged auditory o n account
o f the glorious victory lately vouchsafed t o Prince F erdinand
over the F rench

E d i n Aug 1 7 59
D uring this visit to the n o rth he had an Opportunity o f de
A Miss Hunter
a young
m o n s t r a t i n g his disinterestedness
lady of considerable fortune m ade a f ul l o ffer of her estate
both money and lands amounting to about
This gift
he promptly refused E ven when it was o ffered not fo r his
own use but for his orphan house he absolutely refused it

Gillies says he himself had the facts from undoubted au
There is a similar anecdote o f Wesley and i t is
th or i ty
equally authentic
Indeed they resembled each other very
much in their disinterestedness ; and left all their enemies as
silent o n this subj ect as Wesley did t h e Cumberland guide
who asked him what he m a d e a year by s o many preachings ?
Whiteeld was not much pleased with the state o f religion in
S cotland on this visit

It is a dead time indeed here he
says 3 little o r no stirring among the dry bones I preach
and people o ckas usual but Scotland is n o t London The
Redeemer is doing w o nders there
E very post brings fresh
-
4 60
WH I I E F I E L D
'
good news
H e solved this di fference to himself by saying
God s Spirit blows when and where it l i s t e t h g forgetting

that his o wn S pirit was a little t o o political at the time H e
did not suspect this ; but he felt that the l a ng u or o f the

north was infectious and hastened back to London lest it s hould
take hold o n his o wn already to o languid heart

Much of this lang uor arose from sudden corpulency That
broke in upon him he says

like an a r med man
Lab o ur
c o uld n o t keep it down n or abstinence check it This both
pained and alarmed him
I dread a corpulent body O h that
m y heart may not w ax gross at the same time ! I would fain
not ag ; but rather begin to begin in t h e l a tter stages o f my
road
In this spirit he entered upon his Winter campaign in
London during which he edited a new edition o f Samuel
Clarke s Bible which next t o holy Henry s was his favourite

Commentary It well deserved t o be s o I t had the j oint sanc
tion o f O wen Baxter Bates and Howe C al a m y says that
the most eminent divines o f the church o f E ngland als o used
it and that one o f the highest rank r e c o mmended it t o y o ung
divines at their ordination

The care and commendation best o wed o n Clarke s C om m en
tary by Whiteeld and the heartiness with which he identied
himself i n the preface a s a small cedar with the tall cedars
conciliated the dissenters I mean

they n o w
o f o u r Lebanon
saw that he had on e faith with themselves and their fathers
an d thus their fears o f novelty and fanaticism were allayed
They now began t o read and hear h i m by the light o f a B a r tko
This and the intimacy he had formed with
l om ew candlestick
D r Gi fford whilst memorializing government on behalf o f
religious liberty in Ireland gave him his fi r s t hold upon the
condence o f the regular dissenters ; and it became a strong
hold and is likely to be lasting The manner in which it b e
came s tr ong is interesting Whiteeld made no advances to
the dissenters nor they t o him H e was n o dissenter i n theory
and in practi ce he s e t Lady Huntingdon against all proposals
But he did not s et his c on ver ts against
fo r dissenting chapels
dissent They were n umerous in all quarters o f E ngland ; and
in dissenting churches :
t hus many of them be came h i s epistles
WH IT EF I E L D
46 1
fo r having t o apply for s acra m ental fell o wsh ip t o pastors who

examined both the creed and experience as well as the moral
character of communicants they revealed Wh i t e el d s princi
pl es while stating their o wn ; and thus brough t h ome t o the
o rt h o d o x pa s t o r s and churches the fact that God had delighted
t o honour Whiteeld beyond all men This truth had thefor ce
of truth amongst all the evangelical nonconformists Their
churches were strengthened and their hearts cheered by the
fruits of his ministry The consequence has been that for half
a cent ury his name has been associated and enshrined with the
names of their real fathers as if he had been on e of them N o
b u t all pious dissenters fe el
o n e would call him a dissenter
that he belonged to them s o much ascendency has love to the
A nd this
i m ag e of Christ above party zeal in their churches
feeling is the same towards the ca th ol i c stars of the establish
m ent
It is not dissenters who distinguish be cause of r i tu a l s
between O wen and Hughes o f the Bible Society ; Carey and
H eber o f India Wilberforce and Philip o f A fr ica ; Simeon o f
C ambridge and Morrison o f China The church herself being
the j udge must allow that her best ministers never live un
loved nor die unwept by the evangelical dissenters Wha t
bishop who loves the truth as it is in Jesus is n o t as much
loved for the t ruth s sake by pious n o nc o nfo rmi s ts as by pious
churchmen
In the spring o f 1 7 60 Whiteeld enlarged his new chapel
and celebrated the event by collecting upwards o f 400 for the
Prussian protestants who had been stripped and peeled by the
Russians at C o steiu and N i e wm ar k Two hundred of this s u m he
remitted to F ranck and part o f it he kept until he should hear
fr o m the Professor himself h o w it could be best applied There

is good reason to suppose as Gillies says that Whi teeld r e c ei v
ed the thanks o f the king of Prus s i a for this act A nd yet this
w as the time chosen by the London stage to caricature and insult
him ! I will no t condescend to characterize The M I N O R

It is
enough to say that it was written by the miscreant F oote He
had mimicked Whiteeld and been applauded for it by the Lon g
A cre rioters and therefore D rury Lane employed him to bring
The M in o r
Madan r em o n s t r ated with Garrick against
o ut
,
WH I T E F I E LD
462
the outrage but in v ain The fact i s Wh i t e el d s Soul Trap

was thinning ol d D rury The experiment was tried at E din
burgh also to c o unteract his influence there But there it failed
O n the se cond night o f the performance only ten women were
present O n the following sabbath the principal clergyman
denounced the outrage on truth and decency
H o w base and
ungrateful said Baines

is such treatment o f the dead !
Whiteeld
was
then
dead
and that too s o very nigh t o a
(
family o f orphans the r ecor d s o f wh o se hospital will transmit
Mr Wh i t e el d s name to posterity with honour when the
memory of others will rot

The H yp ocr i te by Isaac Bicker
steth was an experiment o f the same kind C antwell was i n
If George I V did not know
t en de d to burlesque Whiteeld
this when he commanded the comedy and roared and rolled
with immoderate laughter at Liston in Mawworm the public

knew it P r efa ce t o Cu m ber l a n d s ed i ti on
The play h o w
ever can neither b e acted nor published now without dis claim
ing as an absurd noti o n that Cantwell was intended for Mr
Wh i t e el d that eloquent pious th o ugh e ccentric man

This sounds well : but the critic forgot that both his author
and himself connect C antwell and Mawworm with the Taber
Whiteeld himself cared very
n a el e and Tottenham Court
little about the attacks of the theatre When they began
he merely said Satan is angry All hail such contempt !

His autumnal tour in Yorkshire this year br ought o n a
severe cold which hung upon h i m through the winter
At
times he was unable to write a letter But a destructive re at
Bost o n and the increasing distress of th e German pr o testants
roused him and he collected for the m in one day nearly 600
in his own chapels The e ffor t was to o much for his strength
Gillies says he grew w o rse and worse s o that in April 1 7 6 1
he was brought to the gates o f death

O ne cause o f this was
that he was much s h a ken although n o t much hurt o n a j ourney
from Bristol whilst thus weak H e w a s ret urning post haste
to London and once the chaise was overturned and once he had
to leap o ut though going very fast

In the mids t o f these troubles B er r i dg e o f E verton came t o
h i s help n o acquisiti o n if D r Southey be the j udge He says
WH I T E F I E L D
LI FE AN D TI M E S
46 3
Berridge was bu ffoon a s well as fanatic

The late Simeon o f
C ambridge did n o t think so when he prea ched his funeral
sermon Clare Hall did n o t think him either when it pre
sented him to the V icarage o f E verton What is meant by his
having been lately M od er a t or o f C ambridge (as Whiteeld

calls him ) I do n o t know ; but the o ffi ce is surely proof that
the o fficer was neither buffo o n n o r fanatic O ne thing I do
know
that the m emory o f Berridge is fr ag r a n t throughout
and around C ambridgeshire That would have b een a d a r k
district but for him until Simeon arose so far as the church
was concerned E ven the dissenters in that quarter owe much
I
o f their increase and energy to the inuence o f Berridge
who care nothing about either church or dissent any further
than they care for the s ou l s o f men and the s up r ema cy o f Christ
shall never forget the churches o r the chapels which owed to
himthe fo rmer their p o ssession o f the glorious gospel ; and
the latter their origin and the gospel too I traced both wi t h
e qual patience and remember them with equal plea s ure
I am not evading the charge o f bu ffoonery which S o uthey
has advanced Berridge was such another w ag as Rowland
H ill He was not however such a bu ffoon a s South nor such
a punster a s D r D onne nor such a satirist as Lavington His
wit never wounded a penitent nor hardened a sinner It d i s
t u r b e d many a solemn drone and mortied t h e self righteous
but it never intimidated the humble nor led the weak to co n
found methodism with hypocrisy It was indeed unm erciful to
A rminianism and thus u nj ust t o Wesley There I l oa t h e as
well as lament it It is not s o inexplicable however as it i s
unpardonable Fletcher and Wesley li belled C alvinism as
heartily as Berridge and Topl ady caricatured A rminianism
The style di ffers but the s t i ng is the same The Mr F r y
ba be o f the A rminian Magazine is j ust a s vile and vulgar a

caricature as the o l d F ox o f the Gospel Magazine Fletcher s
Royal Proclamation of free g r a ce and fr ee wr a th dated from

Genev a and signed by his Maj esty s se cretaries for the p r e
d es t i n a r i a n department Calvin Crisp and Rowland Hill is
quite as indefensible as Toplady s g en ea l ogy of atheism In
deed they are equally disgraceful Apart however fr o m its
.
4 G4
W HIT E F I E LD
o ccasional pers o nalities the wit o f Berridge as a preacher de

serves all the benet o f Southey s generous concessions o n
Wh i t e el d s o ccasional playfulness
Minds of a cer ta i n power
will sometimes express their str o ngest feelings with a levity
at which for ma l i s ts are shocked and which d u l l men are wholly
unable t o understand But language which when coldly repeat
ed might seem to b o rder up o n irreverence and burlesque has i t s
e ffect in popul ar preaching when the intention o f the speaker is
pe r fectly understood : it is suited to the great m ass o f the people
it is fe l t by them when better th ings would have produced no
impression and it is borne away when wiser arguments w o uld
have been forg o tten

S ou t h ey s Wes l ey
B er r i d g e s was j ust a mind o f this

certain order F ew
men had more right to say to those wh o did not understand his
o u been born a wit
u
must
hav
e
borne
with
vei n h ad
o
y
y
it He was constitutionally m e r cu r i a l and his perfect scholar
ship as a cl a ss i c enabled him to give p oi n t to piquant thoughts
for he was equally familiar with A ristotelian and A rist ophanic
Greek and there will b e s o me buffoonery whenever the latter
is understo o d He did n o t how ever
,
Woo a gri n wh er e h e
ul d wi n a s oul
sh o
H e often caused a smile that he might create a tear : a hazard

Row
o u s if n o t an unwarrantable experiment in the pulpit
land H ill often ventured upon it ; but he did n o t approve of it
Indeed he was o ften surprised as well as grieved that he had
created a laugh H e did not suspect that many o f his phrases
were ludicrous I re collect once when travelling with him to
inquire into the truth o f certain s a l li es I had heard ascribed t o
him He denied the whole of them : but at the same time he
told me some that were true which to my S cotch taste were

even more ex t r a vag a n t than those he disclaimed But enough
o f this
had Berridge been either fanatic o r bu ffoon Whiteeld
would not hav e called him an angel o f the churches indeed

much less employed him as his o wn s ubstitute at Tottenha m
Court where s o many persons o f both rank and talent attended
A t thi s ti me Whiteeld wi s hed m uch t o g o int o Sc o tland
.
WH I T EF I E LD
465
gain ; not that he had much hope o f recovery but he thought
that a desirable place to go to h ea ven from

He was not
able to undertake the j ourney : he therefore tried the e ffect of
bathing at Plymouth and then o f the air at Bristol These
recruited h i m a little and stirred up an ambition to be em
pl o yed again
but his rst sermon o n his return to London
threw h i m back He be came exceedingly n er vou s ; a kind o f
su ffering to which he had formerly been a stranger A las h o w
m any like myself will s e e unutterable emphasis in his simple
account of this : I now kn ow what nervous disorders are !

Happy thos e who can say with him
Blessed be Go d they
were contracted in His service and I do not repent

In the autumn he went into Yorkshire by gentle stages n o t
preaching but travelling in order to preach
and his York
shire friends were considerate enough n o t to tempt him into the
pulpit often By the end o f O ctober therefore he could bear
to ride sixty miles a day in a post chaise quite well

On
reaching E dinburgh however he became much worse Silence
the bitter cup o f continued silence as he calls the medical

pr ohibition against preaching was now forced upon him ; b ut
with the assurance from four o f the principal physicians of the
city that it would recover him A ccordingly he drunk it for
a month and then preached once o n n ew year s day This eu
His nerves also began to brace again by riding ;
c ou r ag e d him
although he fell o ff on e day and pitched o n his head He
merely says of this accident
I h ad a violent fall upon my
head but was neither surprised nor hurt

H aving thus preached once without inj ury and not being i n
t e r d i c t e d from preaching again in a week after at E dinburgh
he caught at the prospect o f resuming his delightful work
Wh o knows who knows

with rapture
he exclaims
I
may again see Plymouth
He was able to return to London
and his rst work there was to read all his letters from the
German protestants and to c o nsult with Z i e g e nh ag a n for their
further relief But whilst planning for tha t he had to bestir
himself again for Georgia O ne o f his agents had drawn upon
him ; and he was now p e n n yl es s and very unequal to the task
o f begging
H o w could you he says to the agent dra w
a
W HI T EF I E LD
4 66
S L I FE
TI M E S
AN D
The Bri s
large a sum as 1 4 7 Lo rd help me
o n me
tol friends had not collected for the German sufferers and he
carried his case there Its urgency roused him and he preach
ed four or ve times a week without hurt and with great

success This w o und up h i s S pirit to its o l d pitch and led him
H o w gladly
to look at the el d s again as his proper sphere
he exclaims
would I bid adie u to ceiled houses and v aulted
r o ofs ? Mounts are the best pulpits and the heavens the best
sounding boards O h fo r power equal to my will ! I would y
from pol e to pole publishing the glorious gospel

O n his return t o London he was soon overcome by cares and
labo ur and obliged to S pend the month of June in Holland in
order to prepare himself for t h e d og da ys at home The visit
had the desired e ffect A ll his ol d times revived again o n

h i s return to E ngland But n e w troubles awaited him Travel
ling was essential to his health and inj uri o us to his chapels :
he had therefore to devolve the management o f them upon
t rustees and to make the best arrangements he could for their
This he a ccomplished with great di ffi culty and then
s upply
started for S c o tland ; intending to sail from Greenock t o V ir
ginia
O n his way t o the north he wrote in t h e intervals of public
labour his answer to War bu r t on s attack o n methodism an
account o f which will be found in the chapter Whiteeld and
the Bishops
H e intended it to be in the event o f his not
seeing E ngland again
a p a r t i ng testimony for the good ol d
puritans and the free g race dissenters because the bishop had
sa dl y maligned them
A t E dinburgh he soon broke down
again and h ad t o drink anew the bitter cup o f silence for six
weeks
It restored him howeve r ; and he went in bris k
spirit s t o embark fo r A m erica

for
so
CH A PT E R XX I V
WH IT EF I E LD
S I N F L U E N C E I N A M ER I C A
S E CO N D
P AR
June 1 7 6 3 Whiteeld sailed from S cotland fo r R ap an a ch ,

in V irginia The voyage was pleasant but tedious H e was
but it did him good The length
t we l ve weeks o n the passage
o f time wore o u t the painful impressions which had been cre
ated by his solicitude for the Tabernacle and Tottenham Court
The order and harmony o n board also added to the bracing
and tranquillizing e ffect o f the voyage

I enj oyed he says
that quietness which I have in vain sought after fo r some
years o n shore
H e had sailed with but little hopes o f fur
ther public usefulness owing to his a s t h ma but after being

s i x weeks at s e a
he wrote to a friend Who knows but o ur
?
latter end may ge t incre as e
H e was however afraid o f pre
s u m i n g and added
If not in public usefulness Lord Jesu s
let it be in heart holiness ! I know who says A men I add
A men and A men

O n his arrival he found many Christian friends o f whom he
had never heard before waiting to welc o me him They

were the fruits of his former visit to V irgini a ; and the more
welcome to him because he was n o t very sure that he had wo n
any souls upon the voyage It was with great diffi culty how
ever that he preached to them ; his breathing was s o bad al
though his general health was b etter At Philadel phia also a
still higher gratication awaited him not less than forty n ew
o f various denominat ions

visited him ;
c r e a t ur e ministers
some o f them young and bright witnesses for Christ He
heard also th a t sixteen students had been converted la s t year
IN
L I FE
V HI T E FI E LD S
V
TIM E S
AN D
at N ew Jersey college This was medicine to him fo r eve r y

thing but his asthma ; and even that he tried to forget for n o w
the L u th er a n s in P hiladelphia thronged to hear the friend o f the
German protestants A c cordingly he pre ached t wice a week
and with remarkable success amongst all ranks
H e w anted much to go to Georgia ; but the physicians ah
until he should gain strength H e
s ol u t el y prohibited him
therefore went to N ew Jersey college to fan the ame h e
had kin dl ed amongst the students ; and had four sweet s e a
sons there which resembled o l d times His spirits rose at

the sight of the young soldiers who were to ght when he fell
Thus cheered he went o n to N ew York It was now winter ;
and cold weather and a warm heart always suited him best
H e therefore was able to preach thrice a week for seven weeks
Such a ocking o f all ranks he says I never saw before a t
N ew York
This ock ing was not conned to the sanctuary
Many of the most respectable gentlemen and merchants went
home with him after his sermons to hear something more
o f the kingdom of Christ

Such was his inuence as a philan
t h r Op i s t also that although prej udices ran high against the
Indians because of a threatened insurre ction i n the south he
colle cted 1 2 0 for the Indian school at Lebanon This with
the numerous conversions under his sermons made h i m s ay
We are trying to echo back from A merica the Gog u nn i a n t
o f Wales
Thus he found N ew York n ew York indeed to
him
Soon after he visited the Indian s chool at Leban on then
under D r Wheelo ck The sight o f this promising nursery
for future missionaries inspired him All his o l d plans for its
extension expanded I am inclined to think from a full com
parison o f dates that he arranged o n the sp ot with Wheelock or
Whitaker the mission o f O CC UM to Britain o n behalf of the
Indian seminary
It was certainly Wh i t e el d s plans and
pledges which brought Whitaker and O ccum here and it was
his inuence which won Lord D artmouth to b e the patron of the
college at Hanover which W h e el o ck very properly called
D artmouth
But this subj ect w ill come up again
In 1 7 6 4 Whiteeld came to Boston and was received with
.
WH IT EF I E LD
4 69
the usual warmth o f a ffection

A gain he saw there the
Redeemer s s ta tely steps in t h e grea t congregation

Small p o x
were ho wever raging so in the city that he deemed it prudent
to move about in the adj a cent to wns The Bostonians bore with
this for some weeks but when they heard that he was likely to
slip o ff to the south they brought him back by fo rce
They
sent he says
a gospel hue and cry after me and really
It was not so m uch to their credit that

br oug h t me back
they begged earnestly for a s i x o clock morning le cture when

the y got him back He seems to hav e been unable to comply
with t heir cruel request but he declined with rel u ctance He
preached fo r them however thrice a week fo r some time and
such was the n umber o f converts discovered after his farewel l
sermon that his friends a ctually proposed t o send after him
a book f u ll of names of the multitude who were cl a morous
for his return although he was eeing for his life The h ea t
alone had compelled him to leave It wa s now summer and he
b egan to sink again What could he do b ut y ? The good
Bostonians assured him that their summers had lately become
much cool er than formerl y and that he might safely risk t h e i r
dog days now ! H e t ried to believe them until he had hardly
br e a t h enough to say farew ell
His parting with them tried
him much
It has been heart break ing he says
I cannot
s t a n d it
They acted more considerately when his visit com
m en ce d
Then
a t a meeting o f the freeholders and other
inhabitants o f the town o f Boston it was unanimously voted
that the tha n ks of the town be given to the Rev George White
eld for his charitable care and pains in collecting a considerable
sum o f money in Great Britain fo r the distressed su fferers by
the great re in Boston 1 7 6 0 A respectable committee was
appointed to wait o n Mr Whiteeld to inform him o f the vote
and present him with a copy thereof B os t on Gaz e t t e F e br ua r y
1 7 64
Urgency like that at Boston was employed with him at N e w

H aven college He had preached to the students and taken
his leave but such was the impression that they sent the pre
s id e n t after him to entreat for another
u a r t e r of an hour s
q
exhortation
He co m pl ied o f course : and the e ffect was
,
WH IT E F I E LD
47 0
he called the cr ow n o f the expedition

He
L e t t er s
spent the summer in and around N ew York without su ffering
m uch from the heat
O ften a h u n d r ed carriages might be seen
in the streets around whatever chapel he preached in This
pleased him : but twice he got into the e ld s again ; and then
he ex claims
We s a t under the Redeemer s shadow with great
delight
In September he went to Philadelphia again ; and the e ffect
he says was great indeed

It made him ex claim
Grace
grace !
H e was also much gratied at N assau Hall where
he prea ched at Commencement Both the governor and ex
governor o f the state with the principal gentlemen o f the city
attended and the p r ovos t o f the col l ege read prayers for him
The trustees also sent him a vote o f thank s for his services and
the countenance he gave to the institution About this time a
picture of him was taken by an A merican artist who could n o t
nish the drapery owing to an attack o f ague Whiteeld must
have been pleased with it ; fo r he sent it to E ngland to be nished
hu n g up in the Tabernacle parlour

There is a
a n d then
painting there imperfect in its drapery which has often as
the gure is so u n w i el dy and so unlike all my ol d
t o u n d e d me
prints U ntil this moment I could not account for its enormous
obesity It is I now suspect the original he sent from Phila
delphia fo r he was then much swollen H e calls it in his
letter my s h a d ow
I should like t o have s een his s mi l e when
he used these words ! H e must hav e b een very ill if he was
grave then
H e was well enough however to cross plough V irginia again
D uring this itineracy he found here and there in places as
unlikely as R O M E itself groups o f new lights formed and led

o n by a wealthy planter in the state
This he calls grace
indeed
They also met him in a body to identify themselves
publicly with him
The chara cter and result o f this camp
m e eting at Lockwoods I do not know : but such was his o wn
Opinion o f the prospects i n Vi r g i n i a at large t hat he wrote home
t hus :
Surely the L on d on er s who are fed to the full will not
envy the poor souls in these parts I almost determine to come
back in the spring t o them from Georgia
what
WH IT EF I E LD
47 1
He spent the winter at Bethesda How ourishing he found

it will b e best told in h i s o wn words
Peace and plenty
reign at Bethesda All things go on successfully God ha t h
given m e great favour in the sight o f the governor council and
a ssembly A memorial was presented for an additional gran t
o f lands
consis ting o f two t housand acres It was i mm e d i
ately complied with Both houses addressed the governor in
behalf o f the intended college A w a r m answer was given ;
and I a m n o w putting all in repair and getting every thing
ready for that purpose E very heart seems to l eap for j oy at
the prospect o f its future utility to this and the neighbouring
colonies H e t hat holdeth the stars in his right hand will
direct i n due time whether I shall directly embark for E ng
land or take o n e t our more to the northward I am in delight
ful winte r quarters (for o n ce !) His E X C E L L E N C Y dined with
me yesterday and expressed his satisfaction in t h e warmest
terms Who knowshow many youths may be trained up fo r
the service o f the ever loving and altogether lovely Jesus ?
Thus far however we may s et up our E benezer Hitherto the
bush hath been burning but not consumed

O n transcribing this sentence I was about t o say Alas
the con s um i ng re is kindling

when the re collection o f Ber
ridge s Opinion o n t h e eventual fate o f Bethesda checked me
H e thought it a good thing th at that bush was consumed and
thus prevented from becoming a nursery for unconverted minis
ters But this subj ect will occur again
In the spring of 1 7 6 5 Whiteeld began to prepare again for
his wilderness range

H e was tired o f ceiled houses and
crowded tables
These he says I leave to others a morsel
and a little b i t o f cold meat in a wood is a most
o f bread
luxurious repast to me H e left Georgia however with great
regret o n some accounts It was all a l i ve t o hear him It
such a s cene o f a ction then that wo rds
was in his opinion
could not express the facilities for usefulness which it pre

sented B ut both O ld and N ew E ngland were clamorous fo r
his return to them All the way from Charleston to P hila
delphia the lo ud and piercing cry w as
F or Christ s sake
and prea ch the gospel to us

E ven in Ch arlest o n o f
s tay
.
W HIT E F I E L D
47 2
S L I FE A N D TI M E S
which he often said its motto i s C h a s t en ed but n o t ch a ng ed

(referring to its calamitous visitations by storms ) he w as de
t ai n ed a week longer than he intended by the urgency of the
mayor and the principal gentlemen o f the town Indeed he
calls h i s parting from it and Bethesda
a ffecting cutting
and awful
So it was t o him every where : for he doubted
very much whether it was his d u ty to move homewards But
he had laid the foundation of h i s college and the superstructure
depended u pon his inuence at home Besides the h ea t soon
de cided the question when he rea ched Philadelphia In a few
days he could s carcely move He even dreaded the motion o f
a ship when he was compelled to embark for E ngland ; but he
said
If it S hake this tottering frame to pie ces it will be a
In this spirit he sailed and reached
t r a d i ng voyage indeed !
home s o speedily t hat he could hardly believe his o wn senses
when he found himself there in twenty eight days
In this second illustration as in the rst o f Wh i t e el d s i n
u en c e in A merica there is (it will be seen) no selection o f
facts from any former o r subsequent visits but merely the de
I have already stated my reasons for not
t ails o f the moment
going into the general estimate o f his inuence in the n ew
world Let some o f my A merican friends show this out The
instead o f being j ealous will be thankful to s e e
o l d world
Whiteeld as we now s e e Luther Knox and Latimer in his
amidst t h e A arons and Hurs who sustained his
o w n place
hands and the J o s h u as who carried on his work and warfare It
is worthy o f A merican christians that whilst they would feel at
a loss between two of their patriarchsone o f whom had shaken
hands with George Washington and the other with George
Wh i t e el dwith which to shake hands r s t they would vene
rate most a veteran who had known both A gain I tell them
that I have n o t dared to do Whiteeld full justice in referenc e
t o their father land because I was afraid o f doing inj ustice to
their fathers who acted with him and followed after him I
devolve the duty therefore upon A merica
Let her giv e
Britain the Tr a ns a t l a n t i c Life and Times o f Whiteeld !
,
CH A PT E R XXV
W H IT EF I E L D
B ISH O P S
AN D T H E
WH I TE F I E LD s deliberate and nal opinion of
th e
episc o pate a s
an o rder or as an o ffi ce is very doubtful Until I read his
solemn declaration to the E rskines that he would not be epis
c op all y ordained again fo r a thousand worlds I had seen nothing
to warrant even a suspicion o f the kind E ven now I know of
nothing to illustrate that declaration It is not repeated in any
of his letters It is not reported in any popular anecdote o f his
preaching or c o nversation The dissenters had no idea of his
doubts o n this head and his episcopalian friends regarded him
as a s ou n d although irregular churchman upon the whole It
is thus evident that he was very silent upon t h e subj ect B e
sides although he was present at several ordinations of another
kind he took no part in any of them He preached in the
evening at D eal aft er D r Gibbons and other ministers had o r
dained a pastor there He also spent the afternoon with them
greatly to his o wn ed i cat i o n he says All this is proof that he
did not doubt the validity o f their ordination ; but n o t proof
that he p r efer r ed their way The strongest thing I know him
to have said o f that way is
The prayer put up in t h e very
act of laying on o f hands by D r Gibbons was so a ffecting and
the looks and behaviour of those that j oined so s erious and
solemn
that I hardl y know when I was more struck under
any one s ministration
Several very important questions
were asked and answered before and a solemn charge given
after imposition of hands

Thus he th ought felt and wrote
o n this subj ect t h i r ty years after what he said to the E rskines
about his o wn ordination He sh o wed h o wever no preference
,
WH IT EF I E LD
47 4
during all that time to either presbyterian o r congregational o r

d in at io n
What therefore ought we to think o f his strong lan
guage to the E rskines ? Was it a hasty assertion never r e
?
?
e
a
e
d
o
f
D
id
he
repent
it
a
s
a
rash
saying
With my
t
p
knowledge of Whiteeld I cannot think that he kept silence
from either policy o r repentance He had indeed no policy
except that o f trying to do the greatest s um o f good
My own conviction i s that he had neither xed nor denite
opinions upon the subj ect of episcopacy He was for it and
against it j ust as it was for and against the work o f evangelizing
the country H e thought highly of episcopal power when i t
aided or protected faithful preaching ; and m ea n ly when it
hindered the gospel If a bishop did good o r allowed good to
b e done Whiteeld venerated him and his o ffi ce too : but he
despised both whenever they were hostile to truth o r zeal I
have no obj ection to s ay whenever they were hostile to his ow n
sentiments and measures
The question comes thus within a
narrow compass Were his measures and sentiments o r those
Gibs o n compro
o f t h e hostile bishops the more apostolical ?
m i s e d the apostolic doctrine o f regeneration ; Lavington cari
c a t ur e d it ; S m al l b r o k e all but denied the Work of the Spirit ;
and Warburton evaporated divine inuence
Whiteeld sus
t a i n e d the doctrine o f the Reformation o n the subj ect ; and
however his modes o f expression v aried his invariable meaning
was that it is Christ i n the heart that is the hope o f glory I t
was this apostolic maxim which m ade him at rst and kept
him to the end a faithful e cho o f the supreme oracle
Mar
v el not that I say unto

They
yo u Ye must be born again
may be prelates but they are not bi sh op s of the church o f
Christ wh o either Oppose or explain away this oracle
To
honour such masters in Israel is to dishonour Christ A nd as
to respe cting their oi ce no twithstanding their errors that is
drawing a distinction equally unwise and unwarrantable What
honest man would respect an unj ust j udge o r an ignorant phy
?
It is high time to
s i c i an beca u se of their professional titles
put an end to this nonsense Bishop is a name o f offi ce in the
Bible be cause it is a name o f creed and character and there
fore ought never to be conceded to any man whose creed and
,
WH I TE F I E L D
LI FE AN D TIM E S
47 5
cha r acter are not apostolical wh o ever may c o nfer it up o n him

O rdination can no more make a worl dl y m an a bishop than a
diploma can make an ignorant man a physician or a theologian
Wh i t e el d s sentiments o n this subj ect came o u t most fully
i n his exposure o f Warburton
H e did not spare him as he
did S m all b r ok e for although no match fo r Warburto n as a
s cholar o r a reasoner his sp i r i t compelled the wrangler to cal
culate consequences I have never seen the or ig i n a l form o f
the bishop s pamphlet o n the grace of the Spirit ; but as serm o ns
it is evidently softened and qualied in h i s works The me
m ory o f D oddridge had perhaps some inuence upon him
N ot much however When I read his letters to D oddridge I
can hardly believ e my o wn re collections o f his works ; and when
I read his works I can hardly b elieve that he wrote the letters
I regret this discrepancy : for Warburton if the most i m p u
dent man o f the age was a mighty man of valour and warred
well against the twin scepticism o f Bolingbroke and Middl e
ton I select him therefore that the p oi n t o f Wh i t e el d s
argu m ent may b e felt
It penetrates
the j oints o f h i s
armour even
The following remonstrances are not addressed to the l evi a
Whiteeld was probably afraid
t h a n o f the Legation himself
to put a hook in his j aws by a direct e ffort and therefo r e

he caught him with holy guile by addressing a private friend ;
probably Keen e o n e o f the rs t managers of the Tabernacle
However profound and unintelligible our author s c o mments
may be yet when he comes to show the reasonableness and t
ness o f an abatement or total withdrawment o f divine inuenc e
in these last days he speaks intelligibly enough
O n the
Spirit s rst descent upon the apostles he found their minds
rude and uninformed strangers t o all celestial knowledge pre
u d i c e d in favour of a carnal law and utterly averse to the dic
j
tates o f the everlasting gospel The minds o f these he illu
m i n a t e d and by degrees led into all truths ne cessary for the
professors o f the faith t o know or for the propagators o f it t o
teach
Secondly the nature and genius o f the gospel
Tr ue !
were so averse to all the religious institutions o f the world that
the whole strength of human prej udices was set in Opposition to
,
476
W H IT EF I E LD
it To overcome the obstin a cy and violence of th o se prej udices

nothing less than the power of the Holy O ne was s ui ci en t
Good I
A nd thirdly and lastly there was a time when the
powers o f this world were combined together for its d e s t r uc
tion A t such a period nothing but superior aid from above
could support humanity in sustaining s o great a conict as that
which the holy m artyrs encountered with j oy and rapture the
horrors o f death and torment E x cel l en t ! But what follows ?
A cc o rdi ng to o ur author
.
T e m p o r a m ut an t ur ,
m ut amur i n i l li s,
n os e t
But now (a dreadful bu t it is !) the profession o f chris

t i an i t y is attended with ease and honour
and we are now it
seems so far from b eing rude and uninformed and utterly
averse to the dictates of the everlasting gospel that whatever
there may be of prej udice it draws another way
C on s e
quently a ru le Of faith b eing now established the conviction
which the weight o f human testimony and the concl usions o f
human reason a fford us o f its truth are abundantly suffi cient to
and therefore it mu s t
s upport us in o u r religious perseverance
certainly be a great m ark o f fanaticism to expect such divine
communications as though no such rule of faith was establish
ed ; a nd also as highly presumptuous o r fanatical to imagine
that rule to be s o obs cure as to need the further assistance o f
the Holy Spirit to e xplain his own meaning
This yo u will s ay my dear friend is going pretty far and
indeed supposing m atters to b e as this writer represents them
I do not see what great need we have o f any es t ablished rule
at all at least in respe ct to practice since corrupt nature is
abundantly sufcient o f itself to help u s to persevere in a reli
gion attended with ease and honour A nd I v erily believe that
the deists throw aside this rule o f faith entirely not barely on
account of a deciency in argument to support its authenticity
but because they daily see s o many who profess to hold this
established self denying rule o f faith with their lips persever
ing all their lives long in nothing else but an endless and insa
tiable pursuit after worldly e ase and honour But what a total
ignorance o f human nature and of the true unalterable geniu s
WH I T EF I E L D
LI FE AND TI M E S
47 7
of the everlasting gospel doth our author s arguing discover !

F or supposing my dear friend that this o r any other writer
should undertake to prove that the ancient Greeks and Romans
were born with sickly disordered and crazy bodies but that
w e in modern days being made of a rmer mould and being
blessed with the established rules o f Galen and Hippocrates
need now no further assistance from any present physician
either to explain o r apply those rules to o ur present ails and
corporeal distresses though we could not without the help o f
some linguis t superior t o ourselves s o much as understand
the language in which those authors wrote Supposing I say
any o n e was to take it into his head to write in this manner
would he not b e j ustly deemed a dreaming enthusiast o r real
fanatic ? A nd yet this would be just as rational as to insinuate
with our author that we who are born in these last days hav e
less depravity in ou r natures less enmity to and less prej udic e
against the Lord Jesus Christ and less need of the divine
teachings o f the Blessed Spirit to help us to understand the
true spiritual meaning o f the holy Scriptures than those who
were born in the rst ages o f the gospel F or as it was former
l y so it is now the natural man discerneth n o t the things o f
Because they can only be spiritually
t h e Spirit ; and why ?
discerned
But when is it t hat we must believe this author ?
for p 7 3 he talks o f some o f the rst christians who were
in the happy circumstance o f being found innocent when they
were led into th e practice o f all virtue by the Holy Spirit
A nd what occasion for that if found innocent ? But how inno
cent did the Holy Spirit n d them ? D oubtless j ust as innocent
as it nds us conceived and born in s i n
But by this time my dear friend I imagine yo u would b e
glad to know a gainst whom these br u t a fu l m i n a this un s cr ip
tural artillery is levelled O ur author shall inform you : A l l
modern pretenders to divine inuence in general and you m ay
b e assured the p oor m et h od i s t s (those scourges and eye sores
letter learned professors ) in p a r t i cu
o f formal self righteous
lar
To expose and set these off in a ridiculous light (a
method that Julian after all his various tortures found most
e ffe ctual ) this writer run s from D an t o Beersh eba gives us
WHI T EF I E LD
47 8
qu o tation upon quotation o ut o f the Rev Mr John Wesley s

j ournals and to use his o wn simile u pon another occasion by a
kind o f E gyptian husbandry draws together whole droves of
obscene animals o f his o wn formation who rush in furiously
and then trample the j ournals and this s ect al ready every
where spoken against under their feet In reading this part of
his work I could not help thinking o f the papists dressing J oh n
H uss in a cap of painted devils before they delivered him up
to the secular arm F o r o ur a uthor calls the Rev Mr John
Wesley paltry mimic S piritual empiric spiritual martiali s t
meek apostle new adventurer
The methodists according to
him are modern apostles the saints new missionaries il lu
m i n a t e d doctors this se ct o f fanatics
Methodism itself is mo
dern saintship
Mr Law begat it and Count Zi n ze n d or ff
rocked the cradle ; and the devil himself is m an midwife t o
their new birth
A nd yet this is the m an my dear fr iend who
in his preface to this very book lays it down as an invariable
maxim That truth is never so grossly inj ured or its a d vo
cates so dishonoured as when they employ the foolish arts of
sophistry buffoonery and personal abuse in its defence
By
thy o wn pen thou shalt be tried thou hapless mistaken a d vo
cate o f the christian cause N ay not content with dressing up
this meek apostle this spiritu al empiric these new missionaries
in bear skins in order to throw them o u t to b e baited by an ill
natured world he proceeds to rake up the very ashes o f the
dead ; and like the witch o f E ndor as far as in him lies a t
tempts to bring up and disquiet the ghosts o f o n e o f the most
v enerable sets o f men that ever lived upon the e arth ; I mean
the good ol d puritans : F or these (says o u r author ) who now
go under the name o f methodists in the days o f our forefathers
under the rm reign o f Queen Elizabeth were called pre
c i s i an s
but then as a precious metal which had undergone its
trial in the re and left all its dross the sect wi t h great pr o
r i et
changed
its
name
a
very
likely
thing
to
give
them
(
y
p
selves a nick name indeed) from precisian to puritan Then
in the weak and distra cted times o f Charles I i t ventured
t o t hrow o ff the m ask and under the new name o f inde
pendent b ecame the chief a gent o f all the dreadful disorders
.
WH IT EF I E LD
47 9
which terminated that unhappy reign

S o tha t a ccordi n g to
this author s heraldic genealogical ction methodism is the
younger daughter to independency and now a methodist is an
apostolic independent (God grant he may always deserve such
a glorious appellation ) but an independent was then a Maho
metan methodist
Pages 1 421 4 4 What ! an independent
a Mahometan methodist ? What ! the learned D r O wen the
great D r Goodwin the amiable Mr Howe and those glorious
worthies who rst planted the N ew E ngland churches Mah o
metan methodists ? Would to God that n o t only this writer
but all who now profess to prea ch Christ in this land were not
only almost but altogether such Mahometan methodists in r e
S pect to the doctrine of divine inuence as they were ! F o r I
will venture to a ffi rm tha t if it had not b een for such Maho
metan methodists and their successors the free grace dis
senters we should some years ago hav e been in danger o f sink
ing into Mahometan methodism indeed ; I mean into a chris
t i an i t y destitute o f any divine inuence manifesting itself in
grace and knowledge and void o f any spiritual aid in spiritual
distresses But from such a Christianity good Lord deliver
this happy land ! The design o u r author had in view in dra w
ing such a parallel is easily seen through D oubtless to ex
pose the present methodists to the j ealousy o f the civil g o
F or says he p 1 42 We see methodism at present
v er n m en t
under a well established government where it is obliged t o wear
a less audacious look To know its true ch ar a c t er we should
see it in all its fortunes
A nd doth this writer then in order
to gratify a sinful curiosity o f seeing methodism in all its for
tunes desire to have the pleasure o f seeing the weak and d i s
tracted times o f Charles I brought back again ? O r dares he
insinuate that because as he immediately adds o ur country
hath been p roductive o f every strange thing that we are in the
least danger now o f any such distracting turn since we have a
king upon the throne wh o in his rst most gracious speech t o
both houses o f parliament declared he would preserve the A ct
o f Toleration inviolable ? A nd that being the case blessed
be God we are in no danger o f any return of such weak and
distracted times either from the apostoli c independents Mah o
9
WH IT EF I E L D
480
S LI FE AND TIM E S
metan methodists o r any religious se ct o r party whatsoever

My dear friend if this is not gibbeting up names with un r eg e
I know not what is But
n er a t e malice to everlasting infamy
it happens in this as in similar cases whilst men are thus busy
in gibbeting up the names o f others they unwittingly like
H aman when preparing a gallows for that apostolic independent
that Mahometan methodist Mordecai all the while are only
erecting a gibbet for their o wn
But methinks I see you now begin to be impatient to know
(and indeed I ha ve neither inclination nor leisure at present to
pursue ou r author any further) who this can b e that takes such
gigantic strides ? I assure yo u he is a perfect Goliath in the
retinue o f human learnin g Will you guess
Perhaps D r
Taylor of N o r wi ch N o h e i s dead C ertainly not a ch urch
man ? Yes a member a m inister a dignitary a bishop o f the
church o f E ngland and to keep yo u no longer in suspense it
is no less a man than D r Warburton the author o f The
D ivine Legation o f Moses and now William Lord Bishop o f

Gloucester I know you are ready to s ay Tell it not in Gath
publish it not in the streets Of A skelon
But my dear friend
what can be done ? His Lordship hath published it himself :
nay his book hath j ust gone through a second impression ; and
that you may see and j udge for yourself whether I have wronged
his Lordship or not (as i t is not very weighty ) I have sent yo u
the book itself Upon the perusal I am persuaded you will at
least be thus far o f my opinio n that however d ecu s e t t u ta me n
is always the motto engraven upon a bi s h op s m i t r e it is not
always most certain though his Lordship says it is p 202
that they are written o n every p r e l a t e s br ea s t 9 A nd how can
this prelate in particular b e said t o be the or n a me n t and s afe
f
a
d
o
u
r
the church o f E ngland when his principles are a
g
directly contrary to the o ffices of that church over which he is
by divine permission made overseer as light i s contrary to dark
ness ? Yo u know my dear friend what our ministers are taught
to say when they baptize : I beseech you to call upon God
the F ather through our Lord Jesus Christ that o f his boun
t e o u s goodness he will grant to this child that thing which by
nature he cannot have
But what says his Lordship ? All
.
W H IT EF I E LD
48 1
inuence exceeding the p ower of h u ma n i ty is miraculous and

therefore to abate o r b e totally withdrawn now the church is
perfectly established
What say they when they catechise ?
My good child kn o w th is that thou art n o t able to do these
things o f thyself nor to walk in the commands o f God and t o
serv e him without h i s sp eci a l g r a ce
But what says his Lord
ship ? A rule o f faith being now established the conviction
which the weight o f h u ma n t es t i m on y and the conclusions o f
h u m a n r e a son a fford are abundantly su f cient to support us in
What says his L o rdship himself
o ur religious perseverance
when he conrms children thus cate chised ? Strengthen them
w e beseech thee O Lord with the Holy Gh o st the Comforter
and daily increase in them thy manifold gifts and grace the
spirit o f wisdom and understanding the spirit o f counsel and
ghostly strength
But what says his Lordship when he speaks
A ll aids in spiritual distresses as well
his o wn sentiments 7
as those which administered help in corporeal diseases are n o w
ab ated o r totally withdrawn What says his Lordship when he
ordains ?
D ost thou trust t hat thou art inwardly moved by
the Holy Gh o st ? then receive thou the Holy Ghost
What says his Lordship when pronouncing the blessing
The peace o f Go d which passeth all understanding keep your
hearts and minds in the knowledge and lov e o f God
But
what says his Lordship when retired to hi s study ? All super
natural inuence manifesting itself i n grace and knowledge is
miraculous and t herefore t o cease under a perfe ct establish
ment
What says
But I check myself ; for the time would
fail m e was I to urge all those quotations that might be pro
d u c e d o ut of the articles homilies and public o ffices to c o n
front and invalidate the whole ten o r and foundation of his Lord
ship s performance But how it is consistent w ith th at wisd o m
which is from ab o ve (and by which his Lordship attempts to
arraign try and condemn the Reverend Mr John Wesley ) to
subscribe t o and make use of public o fces in the church and
then as publicly deny and c o ntradict them in the press I leave
to his Lordship s more calm and deliberate consideration Sure
I am if weighed in the same balance his Lordship would be
found equally wanting at least Indeed d uring the wh ole trial
,
WH IT EF I E LD
4 82
I could s carcely refrain breaking o u t into the language of the

eunuch o f Queen C andace t o Philip the evangelist Speaketh
the prophet this of himself o r o f some other man ?
I hope
my dear friend yo u kno w me better than t o suspe ct I thus r e
tort upon his Lordship in order to throw dust in your eyes to
prevent your seeing what his Lordship may j ustly except against
in the conduct o f the meth o dists in general or in the j ournals of
the Reverend Mr John Wesley in particular Whatever that
indefatigable labourer m ay think o f his y o u know I have long
since publicly acknowledged that there were and doubtless
though n o w sent forth in a m o re correct attire there are yet
many ex cep t i on a bl e p a ss ag es in my j ournals A nd I h Op e it will
be one of the constant employments o f my declining years to
humble myself daily before the most high God for the innu
m e r abl e mixtures o f corruption which have blended themselves
with my feeble but I trust sincere endeavours whether from
the press o r pulpit to promote the Redeemer s glory and the
eternal welfare o f precious and immortal souls A nd I assure
you that if his Lordship had contented himself with pointing
out
o r even ridiculing
any such blemishes or imprudences o r
yet still more important mistakes in my o wn or any o f the
methodists conduct or performan ces I should have stood e n
t i r el y silent
But when I Observed his Lordship through almost
his whole book not only wantonly throwing ab o ut the arrows
and r eb r an ds o f s c urrility buffoonery and personal abuse but
at the same time on account o f some unguarded expressions and
indis cretions o f a particular s e t o f honest though fallible men
taking o ccasion to wound vilify and totally deny t h e all pow
e r ful standing operations o f the blessed Spirit by which alone
his Lordship or any other man living can be sanctied and sealed
to the day of eternal redemption I must own that I was con
strained t o vent myself t o you as a dear and intimate friend in
the m anner I have done Make what use of it you please per
haps hereafter I may trouble you with some further remarks

,
L e t t er
I t was a signicant S ign of the times that Payne the ao

comptant general of the Bank of E ngland wr o te an answer to
Warburton I ought also to add that the bishop c o uld p er sec ute
,
WH IT EF I E LD
4 83
as well as rail This ought to be known be cau s e he appears

somewhat a mi a bl e in his c o rrespondence with D oddridge and
the unclean beasts in his own

n o t a little faithful in exp o sing
ark A dams o f Stinchc o mbe near Gloucester was the friend
He was an inrm man but zealous
o f Whiteeld and V enn
Warburton had been his patron but when he began to itinerate
and t o preach for Lady Huntingdon at Bath the bi shop insist
ed i n his own style upon strict residence at h o me
I shall
insist he says up o n your constant residence in your parish

n o t so much for t h e good yo u are likely t o do there as to pre
vent the mi sch i ef you m ay d o by r ambling about to other places
Y our bishop and (though y our fanatic c o nduct has alm o s t made
me ashamed t o o wn it) your patron W GL O U C E ST E R

A dams rem onstrated and proved that during three years he
had only been three m o nths non resident He argued als o that
h e had accepted Stinchcombe a living of 3 6 per annum in pre
ference to o n e of 80 because he was unable to give i l l ser
vice All this was in v ain He was a methodist Warburton
therefore (with o ut a d i vi n e legation ) replied If I indul ged
o u in giving your parish o nly one service on Sunday I hereby
y
r evoke that indulgence and insist upon your giving them full
service
N i ch ols
It might have been unsafe then to defy such legates when
they interdicted itineracy ; and even n o w an i nr m man could
do n o good by rambling but l e t some men o f renown take t h e
e l d and their gowns are as safe as any mitre o n the bench
Mitres must n o w lead on the evangelizati o n of the c ountry o r
follow cardinal s hats t o R o me
.
'
CH A PT E R XXV I
W H IT E F I E LD
S L A ST L A B O U R S A T H O M E
A L TH O U GH Wh i t e el d s last days were n o t his best days

either at home o r abroad they were both happy and useful days
The very e ven i ng o f his life includes more labour and succe ss
than the w h ol e day o f ordinary men After Opening the C oun
t e s s s chap el at Bath the care o f his o wn chapels in London
quite absorbed him for s o me months H e could neither range
n o r revisit
b ecause o f the di f culty of supplying his pulpits
Besides he was t o o weak t o do now as he had d o ne

He
thought himself t o nly t o stand by an ol d g u n o r two in a
garris o n instead of leading the battle But such thoughts
did not last long in his mind His o l d ambition s oo n r e

turned whenever his strength o r spirits rallied for a day A
v ery Slight improvement in his health w o uld make him exclaim
Who knows but this feeble arm may yet b e strengthened to
annoy the enem y
In the spring o f 1 7 6 6 he was assisted by Occum the Indian
preacher who came o ver with Whitaker to collect for D r
Wheelock s college He was much pleased with O c cum s spirit
and with his preaching for both the noble and the p oo r heard
him gla dly and c o ntributed liberally Whiteeld threw all his
s o ul into this enterprise and nearly a thousand pounds were
so o n raised for it E ven the king through the inuence o f
Lord D artmouth contributed t o the fund O c cum as well as
his obj e ct deserved this welc o me He w as a superior man and
a popular preacher in his o wn country both in the woods and in
the cities H e died in 1 7 9 2 at N ew Stockbridge and was fol
lowed to the grave by t hre e hun d red weeping Indians
WHIT EF I E LD
485
In the spring and summer of 1 7 6 6 Whiteeld pai d s ome visits

to Bath and Bristol fo r the benet o f the waters and in the
hope o f making excursions But both the weather and his health
were bad and he could seldom preach in these cities except
at si x in the morning But even at that hour he had large
audiences
Two things pleased him much at this time He had g o t
F l e t ch er O f Madely into his pulpits at London and had formed
an acquaintance with R owl a n d H i ll O f the former he said
D ear Mr Fletcher is be come a s ca n d a l ous Tottenham Court
preacher
Were we more s candalous m o re good would be
done
Still the shout of a King is yet heard in the methodist
camp
This was particularly the case in Bath before White
eld returned to winter quarters The nobility crowded to hear
him ; and whatever e ffect his sermons had upon them many of
the poor were e ffectu ally called Such was however the ap p a
r e n t impression o n all ranks that he left Bath longing and pray
ing that God would open his way again int o a l l the towns in
E ngland
This prayer was n o t granted : but God enabled Whiteeld to
quicken the zeal o f stronger men H e heard o f four methodist
parsons being the guests o f o n e o f his friends ; and exclaimed

F ou r m ethodist parsons i t is enough to set a whole king
dom o n re when Jesus says
Loose them and let them g o
This message was followed up by an appeal to them which mus t
have been fel t :
Indeed and indeed my dear and honoured
friends I am ashamed o f myself I blush and am confounded
s o very little have I done o r su ffered for Jesus ! What a poor
g ur e shall I make amongst the saints confessors and martyrs
around His throne with o ut some deeper s ig n a tur es o f his divine
impress without more sca r s o f christian honour ! To morrow
I intend to t ake the sacrament upon it that I w i ll begin to begin
to be a christi an
It was appeals o f this kind which made the
Romaines and V enns (nothing loth bestir themselves ; and
which brought around Whiteeld the Shirleys and D e Courcys
o f the time
A nother way in which he helped o n at this time
the work he had begun was by prefacing a new edition o f Bun
yan s Work s ; and thus reviving public attenti o n t o the ol d
,
W H IT EF I E LD
48 6
S LI FE AND TIM E S
puritans by grouping their names with those o f the reformers

a process equally fair and wise
They li bel the reformers wh o
think them at all lowered by identifying O wen Baxter o r Bun
yan with them
These men dwell in the s a me mansion in
heaven with Latimer Jewel and Usher Let therefore all
who believe their identity maintain it The c o nvicti o n will s o on
enthrone itself in the public mind in spite of all the e fforts
made to keep up a distinction There is no real distinction
They were only d istinct bill o ws o f the on e sea o f protestant
reformation Their di fferences were mere foa m which the hal
cyon wings o f time and truth will soon obliterate O r if there
be a bench in he aven Bunyan is an archbishop
In the spring of 1 7 6 7 Whiteeld visited Cambridge and
N orwich and preached with something of his ol d power for
some time He left London intending a l a r g e plan of opera
tions
but his inward fever returned upon him and check
ed him Lady Huntingdon then took him t o Rodbor o ugh by
easy stages and he was soon in the el d s again This encon
raged him t o venture into Wales also fo r he had great faith in
the thirty year o l d methodistical medicine o f preaching in

the op en air ; and the Welch liked him best in that element
Thousands o n thousands therefore now met him ar o und his
e l d t h r on e and light and life ew in all directions as in

the days o f ol d This was ho wever m o re than he could stand
long Both the w o rk and the reward were too much for his
strength to sustain He was soon as thankful to be again o n
as he had been to get t o

t hi s side o f the Welch mount ains
the o th er side of them although they r u ng with the cry
E vermore give this bread o f life

In the summer he returned to Lond o n weak but lively ; and
nding that some lay men had not been unacceptabl e n o r un su c
c e s s ful in his pulpits
the itch for itinerating returned up o n
him he says to a degree not curable o u t o f heaven
and
t herefore he prepared t o g o int o Yorkshire again up o n
a
blessed methodist e l d s t r ee t preaching plan

H e now pre
ferred streets to elds I do not know why Perhaps he was
afraid o f sudden attacks o f illness and wished t o be near medi
cal help However that may be he had t o exclaim at alm o st
,
WH IT EF I E LD
S LI FE
TIM E S
AN D
4 87
very s tage O ld meth o dism is the thing H a l l el uja h ! Good
Old work g oo d old seasons

Both were improved at this time
by the c o mpany and help o f Captain S cot t wh o often preached
for him
This Yorkshire tour improved his heal t h notwithstanding all
the fatigue he went through ; because he travelled much and
always o n horseb ack
He w as therefore afraid of London
where he had much labour and no riding It tempted him to
n es t l e he said
and his favourite maxim was N O nestling no
nestling o n t hi s side Jordan

O n his arrival at home he
preached for the Religious Book Society at the Tabernacle and
afterwards dined with them at D rapers H all O n this occasion
(and it was b o th the rst and the last) almost all the dissenting
mi ni sters o f London heard him and met him at dinner He
was pleased and they seem to have been S o too for the colle e
tion amounted to 1 05 and eighty new subs cribers were o h
t ai n e d
It is thus unity of heart i s produced by uniting hands
in work which cannot be carried on without peace and good
will But for this society Whiteeld and the London ministers
as a body would hardly have known each other except by name
This fact should not b e forgotten by the dissenters It was at
this d oor Whiteeld and they entered into the fellowship and
u nity o f the Spirit
A nd what has been the e ffect ? His me
mory is an enshrined star and his name a watch word in all
their orthodox churches
A t this time he had m uch labour and more care pressing
upon him The question of his college at Bethesda was coming
to a crisis and he had a little college o f ou t c a s t s (as he calls
some false and ckle brethren) to reclaim from error and apos
tasy In regard to the former he began by memorializing the
king ; informing his Maj esty that there was no seminary for
academical studies southward of V irginia and thus no stimulus
to improvement in Georgia that he had expended twelve
t housand pou nds upon Bethesda and th us laid a foundation for
a college if a charter like that o f N ew Jersey were granted
H e then sent through Lord D artmouth a draught o f the char
ter to the archbishop o f Canterbury His Grace sent it to
the pre mier and the premier sent it back requiring that the
e
W H IT EF I E LD
488
head of the college should be an episcopalian and its prayers

e stablished forms not very m od es t requisitions in a case where
the m on ey came chiey o ut of the pockets o f A merican and
British dissenters Whiteeld explained and pleaded this fact
until his patience was worn o u t he then very properly begged
leave to inform his Grace that he would trouble him no more
but turn t h e ch ar i t y into a more gener o us and useful channel
A ccordingly he resolved says Gillies in the mean time to

add a public academy to the orphan house and wait for a more
favourable opportunity for making a fresh application for a char
ter upon a broad bottom

That Opportunity he never found
His failure to obtain a charter however pitiable o r paltry in its
causes cannot surprise those who kno w the history o f the char
ter of the London university N early a century was required
to make the state wiser than it wa s in the days o f Whiteeld ;
and even that l o ng period has not improved the liberality o f the
church much O xford still frowns and C ambridge does not
smile upon the cal l for op en doors There are however men
in both universities who would be glad to s e e t hem open ; and
men out o f both who will not stop their S E S A M E be cause a

charter has b een w on fo r the London university In the mean
time (and I record it with pleasure and gratitude ) a dissenter
may nd more than courtesy at the libraries when he has occa
sion to V isit them for literary purposes I have found O xford
more noble than R ed cr oss Street
Whiteeld having failed to obtain a charter fo r a college
abroad opened an u n ch a r t er ed o n e at home T r ev e c ca in
Wales This was a timely me asure ; fo r O xford had j ust ex
p ell e d s i x p r a yi ng students and thus proved to Lady Hunting
don that i t would b e no nursery for the k ind of ministers she
wanted A nother col l eg e w as also a prac t ical comment upon
V ice Chancellor D ur ell s edict ; which w as more intelligible to
the heads o f houses than either Wh i t e el d s solemn remon
They could c o m
s t r a n c e s o r the S H A V E R S sarcastic rebukes
prehend a methodist seminary better than methodistical de
fences o f extempore prayer Whilst therefore the spirit stirring
pamphlets o f Whiteeld and M Go wan placed the heads o f
h ouses before the public as t h e persecutors o f godly students
,
W H IT EF I E LD
489
T r e ve cca
placed before them a specimen o f reacti o n which they

had not foreseen
I a m not willing to ente r at present up o n the hist o ry o f the
Countess s college There is n ow an o pportunity o f rest o ring it
to its original purpose and spirit It ought not to be the least
amongst the s chools of the prophets n or the last in aggressive
evangelization It o ught to h ave been t o Whiteeld and its
fo under what E lisha was t o E lij ah the heir o f both their mantl e
and spirit but it h a s long had neither A s the college o f the
existing Connexion it is perhaps all that c o uld b e fairly

expected ; but as the Whiteeld seminary it is n o thing I
could s ay much on t his subj e ct and I w i l l say much should
I be spared to publish The History o f Methodism as a R e
formation i f nothing is done t o give efciency to Cheshunt
In the mean time I n o t only forbear but fondly hope that I may
have no occasion to remonstrate There remains enough o f the
Whiteeld leaven in the l u mp t o ferment the whole if well
managed and there are s o me managers W hi te e l d i a n in their
spirit I charge them before God and the Lord Jesus Christ
and the elect angels and many witnesses to make Cheshunt

what the Countess and Whiteeld intended and anticipated !
They expected to hear m o re o f it in heaven
than they have
heard They ought to have heard m o re They s h a l l hear more
Let their j oy be fullled soon
It has been too long p o stponed
Besides Cheshunt needs o nly a c omma n d i ng man in its t h eol o
g i c al chair in order to renovate it : and if any m i n u ti ae of its
o l d rules stand in the way o f such a man o r in the way o f stu
dents what is a departure from such f or ms compared with a
departure from its original spirit and design ?
I have a right to be thus explicit o n this subj ect I am as
responsible for the fa c ts conce rn ing the original design of this
college a s the trustees are for its funds ; and I will deal a s
honestly with them I know that the endowments o f T r e ve c ca
I refer only therefore to Cheshunt s
d ied with the Countess
inheritance o f what can never die the n a m es o f Lady Hunt
These are more pre cious than
i n g d o n and George Whiteeld
the gold o f O phir and their possession involves higher and
holier resp o nsibilities than much ne g old c o uld bring with
.
WH IT E F I E L D
49 0
it Thi s is my sol e reason fo r speaking at all ; and therefo r e I

have spoken o ut
Whilst engaged in maturing the c ollege at T r eve cca and
opening chapels for the Countess Whiteeld lost his wife O n
this subj ect I have n o thing to add t o a former chapter except
that his own health and spirits declined afterwards Still he
preached alth o ugh often bringing up bl oo d when he came down
from the pulpit
It will be gratifying t o the reader to learn that T r eve cca s o
l o ng holy ground and so intimately asso ciated with the name
and labours o f H o wel Harris , is ab o ut to become a theological
seminary fo r the Welsh Calvinistic methodists
Let them
r ea l i z e the designs of Whiteeld and do
u s t i ce to the me
j
mory o f Harris Some will watch vigilantly and I for one how
h i s memory is treated when Tr e ve c ca is again made a college
He bel o ngs t o o much to the e cclesiastical history o f his country
to be forgotten o r misrepresented This hint will be understood
by my friend John E lias and n o t l o st I h Op e o n s o me o f his
friend s in the principali ty
.
CH A PT E R XXV II
WH IT EF I E L D
E D MU ND H A LL
AN D
well kn o wn expulsi o n of six students from O x ford in

1 7 6 3 was thus announced in the St James s Chronicle
On
F riday last six students b elonging to E dmund Hall were ex
p el l e d the University after a hearing o f several hours before
Mr V ice Chancellor and some of the heads o f houses for hold
ing methodistical tenets and taking upon them to pray read
and expound the Scriptures and singing hymns in a private
house The (principal ) o f the college (D r D ixon) defended
their doctrines from the Thirty nine A rticles o f the established
church and spoke in the highest terms o f the piety and e x em
pl ar i n ess of their lives : but his motion was overruled and sen
tence pronounced against them O ne of the heads of houses
present observed that as these six gentlemen were expelled
for having too mu ch religion it would be very proper to inquire
into the c o nduct of s o me who had t o o li tt l e Mr (the V ice
Chancellor ) D urell was heard to tell the chief accuser that the
U N I V E R S IT Y was much o bli g e d to him for his good work
The for m as well as the facts of this O xford bu l l deserves
preservation because it will b e the l a s t o f its race : fo r now
public opinion w oul d soon expel from the university of ch r i s t i a n
fellowship any number o f heads of houses who should repeat
this act o f tyranny That great tribunal has j ust pron ounced
t h e sentence of unqualied condemnati o n against the late p ap i sh
O xford Tracts and neither the chancellor nor the vice

chancellor could obtain were they to try any mitigati o n of the
sentence The tracts are u np r o t es ta n t and therefo re unpopular
The hisses and yells of the raw witlings o f O xfo rd against
T HE
WHIT EF I E LD
492
S LI FE AND TIM E S
dissenters at the late installation were the mere ebullitions o f

political folly and prove nothing against the university but the
wan t o f good manners o n g a l a days : whereas the tracts prove
the want of go od the ol o gy ; a defect not so easily remedied as
ill breedi ng
I t is o n e way o f remedying both to keep up for a time the
names and the acts of the conclave who excluded six O x o nians
fo r extempore prayer and kept in o n e who was pr o ved guilty o f
ridiculing the miracles o f Mose s and Christ
A n o ther way
f
h
which
I
prefer
i
s
to
perpetuate
the
names
o
t
e wise and
(
)
good men who protested against these outrages on truth de
h
and
consistency
O
xford
was
never
without
some
A
c en c
y
Her cloud o f witnesses is not great ; but it is S plendid
d i el s
enough to inspire both hallowed recollections and high antici
I
have
felt
and
enj
oyed
this
whilst
musing
in
her
i
on s
a
t
p
Cloisters and halls O ften hav e her r ed eem i ng spirits gathered
around my o wn spirit in such numb ers and radiance that I
forgot every thing but the service Sh e had rendered to the R e
formation and the power she could apply t o the defence and
di ffusion o f the gospel O h that she were wise to win souls !
She has won all kinds o f fame but the immortality o f leading o n
the evangelization o f the world If I am not her enemy in
writing thus
then she has no enemies amongst orthodox dis
senters Their eyes are upon both universities n o t to divide
the popish spoil n o r to divert the national endowments into
sectarian channels o r foreign enterprises ; but to secure for all
who can p a y for it free access to all the literature and s cience
o f C am and Isis
The ju n to wh o expelled Matthews Jones Shipman Kay
Middleton and Grove were D rs D urell Randolph Fothergill
N owell and the senior proctor A tterb ur y
They evidently
feared a n ew edition o f Whiteeld and Wesley These men
who had turned the world upside down and the church i n
side o u t had begun with reading praying and expounding in
private houses and if two did s o much damage t o the Old s ys
tem what might not s i x do ? To prevent this danger each
of them fo r the cr i m es above menti oned was deemed wor

thy o f being e xpelled t h e H all
I therefore by my visitoria l
,
WH IT EF I E LD
49 3
p o wer said the vice chancell o r

do hereby pr o nounce them
expelled
This was the for m o f the bull !
Middlet o n in his
E cclesiastical Memoir
laments that
the archives o f O xford S h o uld preserve the entry o f a r e

c o rd which seemed u n su i t a bl e to the character of a great pro
testant c o mmunity in the eighteenth century but its unsuit
ableness is j ust the reason for its preservation Were it not in
the archives it would hardly be credited now ; and the next
century would deem it a mere calumny
A m o ngst the writers who exposed the folly and infamy of this
decree was D r Horne afterwards bishop o f N orwich
He
nobly defended the students whilst Sir Richard Hill lashed
and M Go wan s h a ved their judges But neither this defence
n o r that volunteered at the trial by tw o heads of houses pre
v ented D r No well the principal o f St Mary s Hall from at
tempting to j ustify the expulsion H e had even the e ffrontery
t o plead d r un ken n ess as Welling s excuse for ridiculing the
miracles
Whiteeld rebuked this c o nclave with much severity ; but in
a bette r spirit than the bar o net or the Shaver His letter to
D urell o n the o ccasion is scarce n ow and as it is n o t likely to
be reprinted I subj oin s o me spe cimens o f it They are n o t
h o wever the best as remonstrance alth ough the best as history
Wh iteeld never wr o te better than on this occasi o n
It h ath gladdened the hearts o f many and a ffo rded matter o f
unc o mmon j oy and th ank sgi ving t o the F ather o f mercies and
Go d o f all consolation t o hear that for some time past there
hath been a m o re than c o mmon religious c o ncern and zeal for
pr o moting their own and others salvation among some o f the
What a pleasing pr o spect hath hereby
sons qf t h e p r op h e ts
been opened of a fu ture blessing t o the rising generation ! A
blessing which we well hoped would be not less salutary and
benecial t o the moral than the new cruse of salt was t o part
o f the natural world which the prophet E lisha when com
plaint was made t hat the water was naught and the gr o und bar
ren cast into the spring of waters with a Thus saith the L ord
There shall n o t be fr o m thence any more dearth o r b arren l and :
s o the wate rs were healed unto this day
-
WH I T E F I E LD
49 4
S LI FE
TI M E S
AN D
But alas h o w is this general j oy damped and the pleasing

prospect alm o st totally e clipsed by a late melancholy s cene ex
h i b i t e d in that v ery place fr o m whence as from a fountain
m any o f their preachers frequently and expressly pray that pure
streams may for ever ow to water the city o f the living God
Yo u need n o t b e told reverend Sir what plac e I mean ; it was
the fam o us university o f Oxfor d
N or need I mention the
s cene exhibited it was a tribunal a visitatorial tribunal ere ct
ed i n E d m un d H a l l Six pious students who promised to be
the salt o f the e arth and the lights of the world entire friends
t o the doctrines and liturgy o f our church by a citation pre
v i o u sl y xed upon the college do o r were summoned to appear
b efore this tribunal
They did appear ; and as some were
pleased to term it were tried conv icted and to cl o se the s cene
in the chapel o f the same hall (conse crated and set ap art for
nobler purp o ses ) had the sentenc e o f expulsion publicly read
d pronounced against them
an
So severe a sentence in an age when almost every kind o f
pr oper discipline is held with so lax a rein hath naturally ex
cited a curiosity in all that have heard o f it t o inquire o f what
n o table crime these delinquents m ay have been guilty to de
s erve such unc o mmonly rig o rous treatment But how will their
c urio s ity be turned int o indignation when they are told that
they were thus rigorously handled fo r doing n o evil at all and
that no fault could be found in them s ave in the law o f t heir
God
It i s true indeed o ne article o f impe achment was that
s o me o f them were o f t r a des before they entered into the uni
versity
But what evil o r crime w o rthy of expulsion can there
b e i n that ? T o b e called fr o m any th o ugh the meanest m e
chani e e mploy t o the study o f the liberal arts where a natural
genius hath been gi ven was never yet l ooked upon as a r e
pr o ach to o r diminution o f any great and public character
whatsoever P r qfa n e h i s t or y affords us a variety o f examples o f
the greatest heroes who have been fetched even from the plough
to command armies and who performed the greatest exploits fo r
their c o untry s g o od A nd if we examine s a cr ed h i s t or y we
S hall nd that even D avid after he was an o inted king looked back
,
"
WH IT EF I E L D
S LI FE A ND TIM E S
49 5
with s weet c o mplacence to the rock from whence he wa s hew n

and is n o t ashamed to leave it u pon re c o rd that God took
him away fr o m the sheep folds as he was foll o wing the ewes
great with young o nes
and as though he l o ved t o repeat it
he took him (says h e ) that he might feed Jacob his people
and Israel his inheritance
But why speak I of D avid ? when Jesus o f N azareth D avid s
Lord and D avid s King had for his reputed father a carpe nter
and in all probability as it was a common proverb among the
Jews that he who did not teach his s o n a trade taught h i m
to b e a thief he w o rked at the trade of a carpenter himself
F o r this indeed he was repr o ached and maligned ; Is n o t this
?
?
said they the carpenter s s o n nay Is n o t this the carpenter
B u t who were thes e m aligners ? The greate st enemies to the
power o f g o dliness which the w o rld ever saw the scribes and
Pharisees that generation o f vipers as John the Baptist
calls them who upon every o ccasion were spitting o u t their
ven o m and sho o ting forth their arrows even bitter w o rds
against that Son o f man even that Son o f G o d wh o to di splay
his s o vereignty and confound the wisd o m o f the worldly wise
chose po o r shermen to be his apostles ; and wh o se chief o f the
ap o stles though bred up at the feet o f Gamaliel both before
and after his call t o the apostleship lab o ured with his o wn
hands and w o rked at the trade o f a tent maker
If from such exalted and more distant we des cend t o m o re
m o dern and inferior characters we shall nd that very late not
t o say ou r present times furnish us with instances o f some even
of o u r d ig n i t a r i es who have b een called fr o m trades that tended
t o help and feed the body not only to higher employs o f a spi
ritual nature but even t o preside o ver th o se that are intrusted
with the care of soul s A nd wh o kn o ws but s o me of these y o ung
students though originally mechanics if they had been su ffered
to have pursued their studies might have either climbed after
them to s o me preferment in the church or been advanced t o
s o me o f ce in that university from which th ey are n o w expelled ?
O ne o f the present reverend and w o rthy pr o ct o rs we are told
wa s formerly a lieutenant in the army and a s such a military
empl o y was n o impediment t o his being a minister or pr o ct o r it
,
WH IT E F I E L D
49 6
S LI FE AN D TI M ES
m ay b e presumed that being formerly o f trade s c o uld have been

n o j ust impediment t o these y o ung men b ec o ming in process o f
time true g o spel ministers and good s oldiers o f Jesus Christ
Their b eing ac customed to prayer whether with or with o ut a
form w o uld by n o means disqualify them fo r the private o r pub
lic dis charge of their ministerial functi o ns F or if i t did what
sinners what g r ea t sinners m us t t h ey ha v e b een who prayed in
'
an extemp o re way b efore any fo rms o f prayer c o uld b e printed
Why also are n o t s ome few o thers expelled for extempore
,
s w ea r i ng 2
Le t t
O f the six exiles fr o m E dmund Hall E rasmus Middlet o n

was the m o st distinguishe d H e was sustained at Cambridge
by F uller the banker a dissenter and ordained in Ireland by
the bishop o f D owne In Scotland he married a branch o f the
ducal family o f Gord o n In London he became curate t o R 0
m aine and C adogan and compiled his well kn o wn B i o g r ap h i a
E vangelica
The F uller family presented him in his o ld age
with the living o f Tur vey in Bedfo rdshire
-
CH A PT E R X XV III
WH IT EF I E L D
S L A ST
VO Y
A GE
M AN Y things conspired to enable Whiteeld to embark again

fo r
A merica without suspecting that he was not likely to return

Both his health and spirits were unusually good He had
often raised his ol d w a r cr y F ield preaching eld preaching
for ever
and followed it up with the shout E benezer Hal
l el ujah Pentecost
His
o n the spots o f his former tri umphs
chapels in London als o were well provided with acceptable sup
plies and his a ffairs at Ge o rgia all prosperous Indeed he
appears to have had nothing to v ex him but the heavy expense
incurred for coa ch h i r e i n making his last excursions It had
mounted very high he says ; and m eans must be found to
save the late great expense

This proves that he exp ect e d to
return ; and none of his letters at the time indicate any m i s g i v
ings o f heart or breathe even his usual longing for heaven
I
am brave as to my bodily health and have n o t been in better
spirits for years is his own account of himself when he went

o n board the F r i en d s h i
and of his prospects he said I am
p
persuaded this voyage will be for the Redeemer s glory and the
welfare of precious and immortal souls

It wasbut not in
the way he anticipated Cornelius Winter s account o f his g e
n eral tone o f mind and body agrees on the whole with White
el d s own account o f himself
H e had occasional seasons o f
remarkable lowness and languor at sea but he was able to

spend much o f his time in close study o f the History of E ng
land and in preparing sermons and was in better health at the
end of the voyage than he had been after the generality o f his
fo rmer voyages
,
2 K
W H IT EF I E LD
49 8
Thus the only thing which really oppressed him o n leaving

was the pain of parting from h i s friends for a time But this
was noth ing new with him What he said now he had said
often ; O h these partings without a divine support they would
be intolerable Talk n o t o f taking p er s on a l leave : you know
my m a ke Paul could stand a wh ipp i ng but not a weeping
farewell
L e tt er s
The parting scene at the Tabernacle and Tottenham Court
was awful and seems to have been repeated fo r he s ays in his
own manuscript j ournal that he preached o n the vision o f J a
cob s ladder at both p laces and Winter says that The Good
Shepherd was his farewell sermon Indeed Whiteeld him
self in a letter calls this his last sermon

Thus there must
have been more last words than his j ournal records He
himself was disgusted with the manner in which this fare
well sermon was reported and printed Well he might as to the
latter if the rst edition was like the sec o nd which is now b e
fore me Still with all its faults it is ch a r a c t er i s t i c and
t herefore I will give some specimens of it as few persons have
ever seen it
The text is John x 27 2 8 These words it will be r ecol
l e c t e d were uttered by Christ at the feast of dedication
This
festival says Whiteeld was o f bare h uma n invention and

yet I do not nd that o u r Lord preached a g a i n s t it A nd I
believe t hat when we see things as we ought we shall not err
t er t a i n o ur auditories about rites and ceremonies
but about t h e
grand thing It is the glory of me th od i s ts that whilst they have
b een preachin g forty years there has not been (that I know o f)
o n e sin le pamphlet published by them about the non essentials
g
o f religion
O n the words
My S heep hear my voice and they follow
me he says
There are but tw o sorts o f people Christ do e s
not say A re you an independent a baptist a presbyterian o r
are you a church of E ngland man ? N or did he ask A re you a
m e t h od i s t 9
The Lord divides the whole world into sheep and
goats O sinners yo u are come to hear a poor creature tak e
his last farewell : but I want yo u to forget the creature and his
preaching I want to lead fu r t h e r than the Tabernacle e ve n
,
WH IT EF I E LD
S LI FE AND
T IM E S
49 9
t o m o unt Calvary to see with what expense o f blood Jesus

Christ purchased his o wn
N ow before I go any further
will you be s o good before the w or l d gets into your hearts t o
inquire whether yo u belong to Christ or not ? Surely the world
did not get into your hearts before you rose from your beds !
Many o f you were up sooner than usual

The
sermon
wa s
(
preached at s even o clock in the morning )
I hope the world
does not get into your hearts before n i n e M an woman sinner !
put thy hand upon thy heart and say didst thou ever hea r
?
Christ s voice s o a s to follo w him
Speaking of the restoration o f wandering sheep he said I
once heard D r Marryatwho was n o t ashamed o f m a r ke t l a n
a
sa
u
e
God has a great dog to fetch his
g
g
y at Pinner s Hall
sheep back when they wander
He sends the devil after them
to bark at them ; but instead o f barking them further O ff he
barks them ba ck to the fold

O n the subj ect of the ministry he said I am sure I never
prayed s o much against my i n r m i t i e s as against going into
Howev er some m ay come to preach here
h ol y orders so soon
and there and I know not how much they are concerned
but I am sure it concerned me greatly I have prayed hun
dreds o f times that Go d would not let me go so soon I r e
memb er once at GloucesterI know the roomand I cannot
help looking up at the window whenever I am there and going
by : I kno w the bed S ideI know the oor o n which I have
been prostrate for weeks together crying I cannot go I am a
novice I shall fall into the c o ndemnation of the devil Yet I
wanted to be at O xford I wanted to stay there three o r four
ears
that
I
might
make
a
hundred
and
fty
sermons
at
lea
s
t
y
for I wished to set up with a stock in trade I remember wrest
ling praying groaning striving with Go d ; and said I am n u
done unt t o speak in thy name my God send me n o t A fter
I had written to all my friends t o pray against the bishop s
solicitation these words came into my mind
My sh eep hea r
my voice and none shall pluck them o u t o f my hand
then I
said Lord I will go s end me w h en tho u wilt

The following remarks are very characteristic
N one S hall
pluck them out o f my hand this implies that there is alway s
,
2 K 2
WHI T EF I E LD
5 00
S LI FE AND TIM E S
somebody p lu cki ng at Christ s sheep The lust o f the esh is

plucking ; the pride o f life is plucking ; and the devil is con
but nothing shall pluck them out o f
t i n u al l y plucking at them
my hands I have bought them and am gone to heaven t o pre
pare a place for them

S er m on
This sermon was preached at the Tabernacle o n the morning
o f the day he went to Gravesend to emb ark
The companions
o f his v oyage were Smith and Cornelius Winter
His o wn
account o f their services to him during the voyage is
Mr
Smith hath really behaved very well and been handy and atten
tive The same may be said o f Mr Winter

This he said at
the end of the voyage Whilst o n board he wrote to a friend
concerning them
I only want somebody about m e that hath
a little more br a i n s but we must have o ur bu t s in this t rying
imperfect state
This I have no doubt contains the real
s ecr e t of Rowland Hill s mode of explaining Winter s account of
Wh i t e el d s temper ; as the version o f a worthy but weak
man
It is well known by many that Rowland Hill empowered
me to contradict with all the authority o f his own name Win
ter s picture o f Wh i t e el d s temper ; and to explain it by Win
ter s want of brains I have done neither because v ery little
h i s t or i ca l impo rtance belongs to the knowledge o f either party
Both knew Whiteeld late in life and not long and only after
his nerves were shattered Wesley s opinion is o f more value
than th a t o f both He knew him from t h e beg i n n i ng and sai d
at the end
How fe w have we known o f so ki n d a temper
Wh i t e el d s temper in his last days was n o t
F u n er a l S er mon
so bland as Rowland Hill thought nor so hasty as Cornelius
Winter said The former had therefore no occasion to refer
Winter had
t h e picture drawn by the latter to m or t i ca t i o n
br a i n s as well as ne feelings whatever might have been the
development of them at sea The good man was t o o Often s i ck
there to be very clever for it was his rst voyage but White
el d s thirteenth : a fact which quite explains the impatience o f
the latter and the Opinions O f the former
I have touched this contested point b ecause more has been
made o f it o n both sides than was at all ne cessary N either
Hi ll nor Winter had any personal acquaintance with Wh iteeld
WH IT EF I E LD
S L I FE A ND TIM E S
5 0f
ntil 1 7 6 7 and he died 1 7 7 0 This fact should have moderated

the opinions of both Wilberforce said without knowing this
fa ct
E ven Winter s account detracts little from the sum o f
Wh i t e el d s excellences
D r Reed s epithet at his grave
t h a t ser ap h i c m a n !
will for ever absorb both the compli
ments of Hill and the complaints of Winter and j ust be caus e
it is historically true o r borne out by the whole tenor o f his life
These dates give ho wever gre at importance to Winter s
account o f Wh i t e el d s preaching : for if it was s o commanding
and melting during the few years he heard him what must it
have been when it awed M o o r el d s and agitated Blackheath
Whilst they were thronged with tens o f thousands
I feel reluctant I confess to enter upon this l a s t voyage I
have j ourneyed so long in visio n with Whiteeld and so Often
when I could enj oy little else that I shrink from the near pros
pe e t of parting with him Perhaps my readers share this feel
ing with me If so they will n o t regret to l i ng e r with me
whilst he was detained on the coast He was accompanied to
Gravesend by a very large party in coaches and chaises and
next day preached two sermons there N o t i n the church
however as formerly
That was refused to him
Wi n t er
This fact creates in my mind an association with that church
which is any thing but what I enj oy when I V isit Gravesend
This is not my fault nor can other vis itors b e blamed if they
feel as I do True ; I am thus teaching visitors to recollect the
pitiable fact I avow the design This is one way o f bringing
into dis credit the worse than syn ag og ue big ot r y which exclu d es
from national churches men who are the glory of the nation
Shame upon the folly and e ffrontery which can shut them upon
stars that Christ is not ashamed to hold in his right hand !
A nd equal shame upon any chapel if such the re be that would
not welcome an evangelical clergyman even if he were a bishop
in t o its pulpit and at its communion table !
o r an archbishop
The tide o f public opinion is setting in to this point strongly
and directly ; and I for o ne both go with it and try to help it
True ; many are trying to turn it Well ; they will only
on
strengthen it The tide o f public opinion is slow upon e ccle
s i a s t i c al channels ; but then i t has no r eu x except to gather
u
W H IT EF I E LD
5 02
strength It can a fford to be Slow for it is sure Let n o t the

spirit o f these remarks b e called l evel l i ng : it is e l eva t i ng if
there b e no arbitrary nor unnatural distincti o ns in the church o f
the r s t born in heaven Besides who does not s e e that the
rst bishop who S hall preach in a dissenting or methodist cha
pel or preside at a missionary sacrament in Z ion or Surrey will
win more golden Opinions for his church fr o m all the good and
wise in the world by that on e act o f duty than by a thousand
acts o f power It is in vain now t o dream o f uniting the three
kingdoms o r any one o f them in the fellowship o f on e churc h
but all pro t estants may b e gradually united in the fell o wship o f
the Spirit if th eir leaders will only s e t the ex ample
A specimen o f this catholicity occurred at D eal whilst White
eld s vessel was detained by contrary winds D r Gibbon o f
London and Mr Bradbury o f Ramsgate had come there to
ordain a student The D octor o n hearing that Whiteeld was
in the bay went o n board and spent a day with him Brad
bury and the young minister also visited him and urged him to
b e present at the ordination and to preach after it H e did
both ; and as we have seen with great delight to himself and
others Winter who accompanied him says
I hope I shall
never forget the solemnities of that day

\Vh a t would have
b een thought o f Whiteeld had he refused or of Gibbon and
the dissenters had they n o t inv ited him to b e present ? Just s o
i s thought o f the ex c l us i ves by the thinkers who are destined to
pilot the church o f Christ o u t Of the narrow seas of party into
the Pacic of catholic communion Whiteeld tells an ane o
dote o f D r Gibbon s warm hearted visit to him o n board

which may be applied to good men who forget this The D octor
be came s e a
sick and was obliged to lie down for some time in
the state cabin

There says Whiteeld he learnt more
experimentally to p r a y for those who do business in the great
waters
Like many others the D octor had cared less for
seamen than he ought : but sickness made him sympathizing
So it is in this matter : something is always occurring in the
exclusive system to s i cken good men and thus t o teach them to
pray with the understanding and the heart Thy will be done
o n earth as it i s in heaven
Whoever regrets t h e frequency of
.
W H IT EF I E LD
503
that prayer in the church service I do not It will pull down

the middle wall o f partition soon : and it is in the mean time
the protest o f the church (however unconsciously) against that
wall She thus denounces at the font the altar and the grave
her o wn bigotry
D uring the month Whiteeld was tos sed about o n the c o ast
he preached whenever he could land and paid his usual atten
tions to all o n board T h e voyage was both l o ng and danger
but n o t unpleasant H e arrived at Charleston in such
o us
health that he preached o n the v ery day he landed The fact
is his spirits were elevated by the welcome he received and
e specially by the good news which awaited him from Ge o rgia
The increase o f the colony was incredible and the governor
Wright h ad laid the foundation of tw o wings to the orphan
house for the accommodation of students

All this wound up
his hopes and spirits until he forgot that he was in the body
A nd the impulse w as bo t h increased and prol onged when he
s aw Bethesda in its glory The governor council and assembly
attended in a body at the academy chapel to hear him preach
for the college They then surveyed and approved the new
buildings ; each of which was a hundred and fty feet long
and exe cuted with ta ste and in a masterly manner

A fter
wards the whole party dined with him in the hall o f the orphan
house
at a hands ome and plentiful table
and testied both
their gratitude and satisfaction N o r was this all The c o m
mons house o f assembly voted the warmest thanks t o h i m for
his truly generous and disinterested b enefactions to the pr o
vince
Georg i a Ga z e tte All this was done after a sermon
in which he avowed that as far as lay in his power Bethesd a
s hould always be upon a br oa d bottom

All denominations
have freely given he said

all denominationsall the
continent shall re ceive equal benet from it S er m on

The inspiring e ffect o f all this was that his health was better
than it had been fo r many years and his strength e qual to the
task o f every day preaching His mor a l strength was such that
he annihilated his o wn name in the deed of settlement for
the college that trustees might accept the o f ce of wardens
without suffering c o ntempt fo r being connected with him !
.
W H IT EF I E L D
504
S LI FE A ND
TI MES
Thus it was n o t pretence nor mere exclam ation when he said

years before this t ime
Let the name of George Whiteeld
peris h if God be gloried

A s I have often said he only spoke
strongly when words could not fully express all he felt and
meant But his name will be imperishable j ust by the littl e
c are he took to ma ke it so for he did imperishable work with
N o man
o u t calculating upon any lasting reward in this world
indeed ever understood less or proved more the truth of the
s acred oracle He that loseth his life for my sake shall save it
Bethesda was now to him a Goshen a Bethel

He was
It is good to be here but he said i n
alm o st tempted to s ay
stead
N o n es t li ng o n this side eternity : all must give way
gospel ranging
This was his resolu
t o that divine employ
tion even while he could s ay N ever did I enj oy such domes
tic peace comfort and j oy during my whole pilgrimage It is
unspeakable and full o f glory !

Strong as this language is he
used still stronger on leaving the institution although fondly
and fully expe cting to return to it :
O Bethesda my Bethel
m y Peniel ! My happiness is inconceivable
H alleluj ah Hal
l el ujah ! Let chapeltab ernacle earth
heaven rebound with
H alleluj ah ! I can no more My heart is too big to add more
than my ol d name Less than the least o f all G W L e t ter s

The vigour and versatility of his mind at this time may be
estimated by the sp eech which he wrote for o n e of the o rphans
to deliver after the sermon before the governor and council I
venture to ascribe the authorship o f it to Whiteeld because
the document was found in his o wn hand writing by D r Gillies
This assumption involves I am aware the awkward fact that
he paid some compliments to himself But the spee ch would
have been unnatural and unacceptable if while complimenting
the patrons o f the institution it had passed by the founder
H ad Whiteeld not made the orp h a n boy thank him who else
in the assembly would have accepted public thanks It is how
ever for its beautiful simplicity I quote the do cument
When I consider where I stand
T H E O R P H A N S S P EE C H
and before whom I am about to speak no wonder that previous
to my rising a trembling seized my limbs ; and now when risen a
throbbing seizes my heart and as a consequence of b o th sham e
,
WH IT E F I E L D
505
and c o nfusion c o ver my face F or what am I (a po o r un l e t ter ed

o rp h a n unlearned al most in the very rudiments of my mother
tongue and totally unskilled in the persuasive arts of speaking
that I should be called to speak before such a venerable
august assembly as is this d ay convened under Bethesda s roof ?
B ut when I reect that I stand up at your command reverend
Sir to whom under Go d I owe my little all and when I fur
ther reect o n the w elL k n o wn candour o f those that compose
this venerable and august assembl y m y trembling begins to
abate my throbbing ceases and a gleam o f hope breaks in that
the tongue o f the s t a in m er er will in some degree be able to
speak plainly
But where S hall I b egin and how express the various emotions
that within the last hour hav e alternately agitated and affected
m y soul ? If the eye as I have b een taught to think is the
l ooki ng g l a ss of the soul and if the outward gestures and earnest
attention are indications expressive o f the inward commotions
and dispositions o f the human heart ; then a heartfelt compla
c en cy an d j oy hath possessed the souls of many in this assembly
whilst the reverend founder hath been giving from the pulpit
such a clear succinct and yet withal a ffecting account of the
rise and progress o f this o rphan house academy and o f the low
estate o f this now ourishing colony when the rst brick of this
edice was laid All hail that happy day which we now co m
memorate when about thirty t wo years ago in faith and fervent
prayer the rst brick of this edice was laid Many destitute
orphans were soon taken in and without any visi ble fund in the
dearest part o f his Maj esty s dominions more than fty labo ur
ers were employed and honourably paid and a large orphan
family for these many years hath been supported clothed and
brought up in the nurture and admonition o f the Lord O h could
these walls speak could every chamber every corner of this
fabric speak what agonizing supplications what inwrought
energetic pr ayers would they tell us they had been witness to
and also o f the blessed fruits of which we are now partakers !
Behold ! a once infant deserted despised colony not only lifting
up its drooping head and in some degree overtopping at least
for trade and increase and extent of commerce vying with s o me
,
WH IT EF I E LD
506
S LI F E AND TIM E S
its neighbouring provinces Behold the once despised insti

t ut i o n
(the very existence of which was for many years denied )
through the indefatigable industry unparalleled disinterested
ness and unwearied perseverance o f its reverend founder ex
panding and stretching i t s wings not only to receive a larger
number o f helpless orphans like myself but to nurse and cherish
many o f the present rising generation training them up to b e
ornaments both in church and state F or ever adored b e that
Providence that pow er and goodness which hath brought mat
ters to such a desirable and long expected issue
Thanks
thanks be rendered to your E xcellency fo r the counten ance you
h av e always given to this benecial plan for laying the rst
brick of yonder wings this time t welvemonth and for the favour
Thanks to you Mr
o f your company on this our anniversary
P resident who have long been a fellow helper in this important
work and have now the pleasure O f seeing the fruit o f all your
l abours Thanks to the gentlemen o f his Maj esty s honourable
council and to the memb ers o f the general assembly who so
warmly re commended the utility of this institution Thanks to
you Sir who rst Opened it by preaching Thanks to you who
left your native country and without fee o r reward have for
m any years laboured and watched over us in the Lord Thanks
to all who have this day honoured us with your presence A nd
above all thanks more than an orphan tongue can utter o r
orphan hearts conceive be under God rendered unto you
most honoured Sir who have been so happily instrumental in
the hands o f a never failing G o d in S preading hi s everlasting
g o spel
of
CH A PT E R XXI X
WH I T EF I E L D
N O B I LIT Y
THE
AN D
WH I T E FI E L D never sought the patronage of the great n o r ever

employed it for any personal end To the credit o f his rst
noble friends Lothian Leven and Rae they sought his friend
ship because they admired his talents and appre ciated his cha
r a c t er
They were won by the preaching which w o n the multi
tude and when they wrote to him he answered them j ust as he
did any o n e else who sought his counsel or prayers courteously
and faithfully He paid them indeed the current compliments
o f his times
and if these ever amount to attery in appearance
they are followed by w a r n i ng s which no real a t t e r er would
hav e dared to whisper In his rst letters to the Marquis of
Lothian he said You do well my Lord to fea r lest your con
vi c t i o n s should wear O ff Your Lordship is in a dangerous situ
ation i n the world

Come then and lay yourself at the fee t
o f Jesus
A s for praying in your fa mi ly I entreat you my
Lord not to neglect it Yo u are boun d to do it A pply to
Christ for strength to overcome your present fears They are
the e ffects of pride o r indelity o r o f both

These are n o t
unfair specimens o f Wh i t e el d s correspondence with the Scotch
nobles who honoured him with their condence Upon som e
o f the E nglish noblemen who were bro u ght to hear h i m by
Lady Huntingdon his inuence was equally great and good
A mongst h i s friends were also honourable women not a few

I wish I could s ay of his compliments to them all that I have
said o f his general inuence upon their order
but I cannot
I cannot even qualify after long rej udging the opinion I have
given o f his letters to them True they needed and deserved
,
WH IT EF I E L D
508
str o ng c on s olation in order t o resist the str o ng temptation s

pre s ented by a frivolous court a witty peerage and a learned
bench in favour o f a formal religion N othing but the j oy o f the
Lord could have sustained them in such a S phere Whiteeld
j udged well therefore in not plying the peeresses with the same
w a r n i ng s he addressed to the peers
Happiness in religion was
t h e best security fo r their holiness
They could not b e l a ug h ed
o u t o f a good hope through gra ce
Wit and banter may make
t h e fear o f perishing seem a weakness or a fancy
but they can
n o t m ake h O e peace o r j oy seem absurd
N either the rough
p
j ibes o f Warburton n o r the polished sarcasms of Chestereld
a n d Bolingbroke could touch the c on s ci ous n e ss o f peace in b e
l ieving or o f enj oyment in secret prayer in the hearts o f those
p eeresses who had found at the cross and the mercy seat the
h appiness they had sought in vain from the world Whiteeld
knew this and ministered to their comfort What I regret
therefore is that he mingled more compliment with consolation
than was wise o r seemly E ach o f the twelve manner o f ripe

fruits o n the tree o f life requires to be served up in its ow n
leaves
and needs no other garnishing
But if Wh i t e el d s letters t o the peeresses were not always
manly his l ec t ur es to the brilliant circle at Lady Hunting
d on s were evidently as faithful as they were eloquent
The
well known Countess o f Su ffolk found them so Lady Guildford
prevailed o n Lady Huntingdon t o a d m i t this b eauty to hear
Whiteeld H e however knew nothing o f her presence H e
drew his bow at a v enture : but every arrow seemed aimed at
her She j ust managed to sit out the service in S ilence and
when Whiteeld retired she ew into fury ; abused Lady H un
t i n g d o n to her face and denounced the sermon as a deliberate
attack o n herself In vain Lady Betty Jermain tried to appease
the b eautiful fury o r to explain her mistake In v ain o l d
Lady Bertie and the D u chess dowager o f A ncaster commanded
her silence She maintained that s h e had been insulted She
was compelled however by her relative s who were present to
apologize to Lady Huntingdon H aving d o ne this with a bad
grace sh e left to return no more
Horace Walpole unwittingly has borne testim o ny to the faith
3
WH IT EF I E L D
5 09
fulness of Whiteeld in the case o f E arl F errers

That i m
pertinent fellow Whiteeld he says told his enthusiasts in
his sermons that my Lord s heart was s ton e

So it was and
harder than the nether millstone

H e treated Whiteeld
courteously ; but evinced a reckless contempt for relig ion
Walpole s o wn ac count o f F errers proves this
It would hardly b e worth while t o notice this h o rrible a ffair
were it not for the sake of the striking con t r a s t between White
eld and Theophilus Lindsay whe n they successively tried to
comfort Lady Huntingdon under her calamities Her son had
imbibed the principles o f Chestereld and Bolingbroke ; and
her heart brooded in anguish upon his eternal prospects The
Lindsays suggested to her the p os si bi l i ty o f a te m porary hell
Whiteeld visited and prayed for her wret ched nephe w F errers ;
but spoke all the truth of h i s character and planted no ctions
upon his grave
Hora ce Walpole again unwittingly bears testimony to the
uniform consistency o f Wh i t e el d s creed and chara cter When
the peace festival wa s celebrated at Ranelagh some o n e asked
in the clique o f wits (most likely himself ) H as Whiteeld r e
9
Lady Townshend replied O no ; he has only ca n t ed
c a n te d
Walpole thought this a happy hit ; little dreaming it to b e a
compliment to a man who might hav e had preferment at the
time if he would have recanted even his clerical irregularities
This is t h e original play upon the words cant and re cant
which have lately been s o happily applied to an ex patriot b y
Lord John Russell
The following ane cdote o f Whiteeld was communicated by
the Countess o f Huntingdon to the late Barry R A and sent
by him to me I give it in his own words
Some ladies called
On e Saturday morning t o pay a visit to Lady Huntingdon and
during the visit her Ladyship inquired o f them if they had ever
heard Mr Whiteeld preach ? Upon being answered in the n e
g at i v e she said I wish you would hear him he is to preach t o
morrow evening at such a church o r chapel the name o f which
the writer forgets (nor is it material ) they promised her Lady
ship they would certainly attend They were as go o d as their
w o rd ; and upon calling on the M o nday m o rning o n her Lady
.
WH IT E F I E L D
5 10
hip she anxiously inquired if they had heard Mr Whiteeld o n

the previous evening and h o w they liked him The reply was
O my Lady o f all the p reachers we ever heard he i s the most
strange and unac countable A mong other preposterous things
(would your Ladyship believe i t ) he declared that Jesus Christ
w a s s o willing to receive S inners that he did not obj ect to receiv e
even the devil s ca s t a w a ys N ow my Lady did you ever hear
o f such a thing S ince you was born
To which her Ladyship
made the following reply
There is something I a cknowledge
a little singular in the invitation and I do n o t recollect to hav e
ever met with it before but as Mr Whiteeld is b elow in the
parlour we ll have him up and let him answer for himself
Upon his com ing up into the drawing
room Lady Huntingdon
said Mr Whiteeld these ladies have been preferring a very
heavy charge against you and I thought it best that you should
come up and defend yourself : they s ay that in your s ermon last
evening in speaking o f the willingness of Jesus Christ to receive
S inners you expressed yourself in the following terms that S O
ready was Christ to re ceiv e sinners who came to him that he
was willing to receive even the devil s castaways M r White
eld immediately replied I certainly my Lady must plead
guilty to the charge : whether I did what was right o r otherwise
your Ladyship shall j udge from the following circumstance
D id your Ladyship notice abo ut half an hour ago a very modest
single rap at the door It was given by a poor miserable look
ing aged female who requested to speak with me I desired
her to b e shown into the parlour when s h e accosted m e in the
following manner
I believe Sir yo u preached last evening
Ye s I did
at such a chapel
Ah Sir ; I was accidentally
p assing the door of that chapel and hearing the voice of some
o n e preaching I d i d what I hav e never b een in the habit o f do
ing I went in and one o f the rst things I heard you s ay was
that Jesus Christ was s o willing to receive S inners that he di d
not obj e ct to receiving the devil s castaways N ow Sir I have
been o n the town for many years and am so worn out in his ser
vice that I think I m ay with truth be called o n e o f the devil s
castaways do you think Sir that Jesus Christ would receive
me ?
M r Whiteeld assured her there was not a doubt o f i t
s
W H IT E F I E L D
5 11
if she was but willing to go t o h i m F rom the sequel it appe ared

that it was the case and that it ended in the sound conversion
of this poor creature and Lady Huntingdon was assured from
most respectable authority that the woman left a very charming
testimony behind her that though her sins had been o f a crim
son hue the atoning blood o f Christ had washed them white as
snow
I S hall not soon forget the rst u s e I made o f this ane cdote
It was handed to me j ust as I was about to attend the a n n i ver
sary o f the F emale P enitentiary I told it there and was pleased
although in nowise surprised to s e e te ars owing down the
chee k s o f the noble chairman and o f honourable women not a
fe w
I mention this fac t because it is only by such fa c t s t h at
some minds can be wo n over to think well o f Penitentiaries I
long questioned their policy E ven when I became o n e of the
se cretaries o f the Liverpool F emale Penitentiary I was n o t sure
that I was doing right But I soon knew better when the cor
respondence of the institution with parents cam e before me
Indeed I o we to the con ver ts in that house of mercy and espe
of
my
own
mind
from
c i all y to the late Betsy Kenyon the r e l i e
f
the haunting suspicion that it would b e impossible to forget
even in heaven what certain brands plucked from the burning
had been I found it impossible however to r emem ber even on
earth what that wonderful miracle o f grace and martyr o f suf
fer i n g had been although I knew well her former horrible his
tory Then understood I the promise
They shall be as though
God had n o t cast them o ff

Saints and a n gels will so resemble
each other in the b eauty o f holiness that there will be nothing
to distinguish them but the di fference o f their new song I ex
press I am quite sure the cherished re collections o f many o f t h e
greatest and best in the land in thus recording the h a ll ow i ng
inuence Of Betsy Kenyon s character and spirit Her wings
were covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold
There ought to be in every large town a female mission t o seek
o u t and bring home the outcasts
Afem a l e m i ssi on
Ye s ; the church o f Christ ourished
most when women laboured with P aul in the gospel

Phil iv 3 He did not indeed suffer them t o speak i n the
,
'
5 12
WH IT E F I E LD
church ; but he both employed them to speak ou t o f it and ap

H e has
p l au d e d their c o Operation in spreading the gospel
emblazoned their names equally with C L E M E N T S
in the book
o f life
and in the N e w Testament The other apostles also
and all the primitive churches gratefully a ccepted and a cknow
ledged female agency That agency was prolonged in the Western
church until the eleventh and in the E astern until the end o f the
twelfth century The form o f prayer used at the ordination of
the d e a con n e s s is preserved in the A postolic Constitutions

A re we wiser o r stronger than the wise and apostolic master
builders o f the church that we can evangelize the world with
o u t the c o operation which apostles welcomed and martyrs h o
n o ur e d
and the fathers immortalized ? S ee C l em Al ex a n d
a n d Ter t u ll i a n d e Vi r g i n n )
True ministers and missionaries
have freer and fuller access now to all classes than the apostles
and evangelists N either the j ealousies n or the restraints of
the E ast exist in the West What then ? A las with all o ur s u
p eri o r facilitie s the gospel is not brought home to all classes !
There are even hinderances to the spread o f it in the metropolis
which no ma n can surmount Thousands yea tens of thou
sands o f females in London must perish for lack o f kn o wledge
unl ess the agency of WI D O WS be employed to pluck the brands
from the burning ! T o this extent they hav e been perishing
and involving to a still greater extent the ruin o f y o ung men
for ages N O ministry yet has penetrated the haunt s of female
vice o r the hovels o f female ignorance N o r eg u l a r ministry
can reach them e ffe ctually E ven Whiteeld and Wesley could
only skirt their borders Public opinion would not sanction any
man to g o further at present It would snatch the cl oa k o f
character from him even if he kept his innocence like J O S E P H
His good would b e evil spoken o f were he as p ure and prudent
as an angel Ministers cannot do nor dare all that their Master
did H e could pass like light unc o ntaminated through any
medium H e could defy public Opinion or overpower it by
miracles whenever it was shocked at his condescension to a
woman that was a sinner

N o christian man can run such
risks with safety O nly christian widows can follow the Lamb
fully in the regenerati o n o f life in this regi o n o f the S hado w o f

,
WH I T EF I E LD
and
5 13
they can follow Him with equal s afety and suc

cess The ap o stles o f the Lamb knew this and employed them
The apostolic churches knew this and made deaconesses o f
many o f their h oly w i d ows A nd P R IS C I L L A t oo as well as her
husband was thanked by Paul in the name of all the churches
o f th e gentiles
for her services
This is not the place to reason this question in I must how
ever remind the churches of Britain and A merica that they
hav e in the w i d owh ood o f their fellowship a sisterhood which
can be safely and e fciently employed in this work It would
also help many who are widows indeed as well a s save s o uls
from death
It will b e seen from the anecdote which led to these remarks
that Whiteeld was not ashamed n o r slow to avo w before any
rank that his commission extended to the chief o f sinners
A nd it is t o the credit of Lady Huntingdon and her pious friends
that they were not ashamed of the gospel in this form They
rej oiced in some conversions particularly that o f Colonel
G umley which astonished D oddridge as much as the conver
sion of Colonel Gardiner N o wonder therefore if Horace
Walpole wondered when Gumley became a methodist

The
wit s end
and could only explain the pheno
w i t was at his
menon by ascribing to Whiteeld the fascinations of Garrick
E ven Chestereld wondered and o ffered his chapel at Bretby
H all in D erbyshire t o such ministers as Lady Huntingdon might
introduce t o it She soon introduced Whiteeld to Bretby ;
and he soon rendered t h e Hall chapel too small Bretby park
had to accommodate the audience Whiteeld was followed by
Romaine who was not a el d preacher The crowd had there
fore to catch what they could hear in the court o f the hall
whilst he spoke only from the pulpit Both preachers were
ho wever made very useful on this occasion Rom aine himself
says o f it We had a m o s t refreshing time ; fteen pulpits Open
showers o f grace came down ; sinners in great numbers were
awakened and believers comforted

L e t t er s
These fteen pulpits were not open to Whiteeld He was
too i r r egu la r for the D erbyshire cl ergy He had h o wever
th at it became go od policy to a dmit
r ou sed their pe o ple so
d eath
WHI T E F I E LD
5 14
Romaine There was also a better reason It was a new thing

to nd Chestereld patronizing religion and therefore wise to
make the most o f his sanction whilst he was in the humour
Romaine also did well in con tinuing regular But for that he
would have been less useful It enabled h im to introduce the
gospel into churches where there was no leaven in the whole
lump E ven in D erby he found his way into the great church
although the may o r and the churchwardens and the A rian
clergy Opposed him
Soon after this Lady Huntingdon summoned Whiteeld and
Romaine to preach at the Opening of her chapel in Bath White
eld complied o f course : but Romaine pleaded o ff N ot how
ever from any reluctance to preach with his friend I s ay de
Romaine gloried in the friendship of
l i b e r at el yh i s friend
Whiteeld and cheerfully followed him in the chapels Of the
Countess
It was the clai m o f Brighton he pleaded against
Bath
Why should Bath have all and poor Brighton none ?
I am at your command to go or stay

The fact is her Lady
ship had invited all her chief clerical friends to the dedication
and Romaine thought that he might well be ex cused especially
as he was then labouring with great success at Brighton The
chapel was Opened therefore by Whiteeld and the re ctor of
Pewsey the s on o f the celebrated Alderman Townsend o f Lon
don They were soon succeeded by Madan and Romaine
These services produced a great sensation at Bath
The
chapel itself w as attractive E ven Horace Walpole said of it
It is very neat with t r ue gothic windows I was glad to see
that luxury is creeping o n them before persecution They hav e
boys and girls with charming voices that sing hymns in parts
A t the upper end is a broad h a u tp a s o f four steps advancing in
the middle A t each end of the broadest par t are two eagles
with red cushions fo r the parson and clerk Behind them rise
three more steps in the midst o f which is a third eagle for a pul
pit S carlet arm chairs to all three O n either hand a balcony
fo r elect ladies
Wa lp ol e s L e t ter s
There was something else which Walpole did n o t know o f
a seat for bishops
It was often o ccupied too
The witty and
e ccentric Lady Betty C ob b e the daughter i n law o f the A rch
.
WH I T EF I E L D
S LI FE AN D
IMES
5 15
bishop o f D ublin called this curtained seat The N i cod em i te
corner
She delighted in smuggling in bishops t o see and
hear the methodists unseen D r Barnard the Bishop o f D erry
went thus often It was he wh o ordained M ax el d to help
Wesley that that g oo d man might not work himself to death

O f this chapel Whiteeld says
It is a beautiful original ;
D ear Mr Romaine hat h

e xtremely plain and equally grand
been much owned in it In 1 7 66 he and Romaine preached

it alternately to splendid audienc es A mongst others who
heard the m with prot was Lady Glenorchythe S el i na o f
S cotland for L ady Huntingdon was her model alth ough her
biographer seems to have forgo t ten the fact She derived great
spiritual benet and caught her inspiration in the cause of Go d
from the example and the chaplains of the countess It was
through her al so that Lord and Lady Sutherland were intr o
d u ce d into this circle when they fled from the grave of their
eldest daughter to seek relief in the amusements o f Bath
They were led however to hear Whiteeld and continued to d o
The y were in the prime o f life
s o until their untimely death
and their funeral sermon at the chapel drew out all the nobility
and produced a deep impression
The D uchess dowager o f
Sutherland if alive still knows that Whiteeld ministered to
her su ffering parents when she was an uncons cious infant A
remarkable circumstance aggravated this bereavement t o the
family The deat h o f Lady Sutherland had been concealed
from her mother and only that of Lord Sutherland communi
c at ed
Lady Alva hastened from the north to Bath to be with
her daughter She met by the way t wo hearses and learnt that
they were carrying Lord and Lady Sutherland t o be interred i n
the royal chapel at Holyrood E va n R eg
A nother impressive scene took place at Bath on the death
H e died says Whiteeld

lik e
o f the E arl o f Buchan
the patriarch Jacob He laid his hands o n and blessed his
children ; assured them o f his personal interest in Jesus
called mos t gloriously o n the Holy Ghost ; cried H app y
The co ffi n wa s removed

h ap p y as long as he could S peak
from Buchan House to the chapel where it lay a week White
eld pre a ched t wice a day and all the family b es ides the o the r
,
WH IT EF I E LD
5 16
rank in the city attended The scene must have been solemn at
the funeral service In the morning the fa m ily attended an
early sacrament and seated themselves at the feet of the
corpse whilst communicating This was followed by a S pecial

address to them and closed by the sublime benediction The
Lord bless yo u and keep you the Lord lift up the light of his
countenance upon yo u ; the Lord cause his face to shine upon
They then retired t o Lady H un

y o u and give yo u peace
t i n g d o n s house until eleven o clock when the public service
began The chapel was more than crowded

N early three
hundred tickets signed by the young earl were given o u t to the
nobility and gentry All was hushed and solemn A t tention
and deep and almost universal impressions
s a t on every face
were made whilst Whiteeld preached the funeral sermon

The lik e s cene and if possible more solemn w a s exhibited
in the evening and repeated during ve days He says o f it

A li ke I never expect to see on this side eternity ! Surely the
death o f this noble earl thus improved will prove the life of
many
It did A mongst others who publicly avowed them
selves was the young earl This drew upon him the laugh and
lash o f all the wits and witlings o f the rooms ; but he stood
impregnable as a rock
These were n o t the rst fruits of Wh i t e el d s ministry at
Bath amongst the gre at He had often preached to t hem at
the residence o f Lady Gertrude Hotham the sister o f Chester
eld She was one o f his rs t converts when he began to preach
at Lady H un t i n g d o n s in London and her o w n eldest daughter
w as amongst the rst of them at Bath
Miss Hotham died
early but happy There is in the second volume o f Wh i t e el d s
Letters a beaut iful narrative of his last interview with her
H e wanted her n o t to sit up in bed whilst he prayed with her
because she w as very weak

I can rise t o take my p h ys i o
?
S he said ; shall I not rise to pray
The letter is addressed
to the Countess of Moira the eldest daughter o f Lady Hunting
d o n ; of whom Horace Walpole says
The queen o f the me
t h o d i s ts got her daughter named lady of the bedchamber to the
princesses ; but it is all o ff again because s h e will not let her
play ca r d s on Sunday
.
W HI T EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
5 17
The Countess D elitz one o f the daughters of the D uchess

o f Kendal and the sister o f Lady Chestereld was another gem
in Wh i t e el d s crown whom he prized highly She had much
inuence upon her nephew Sir Charles Hotham when h i s a c
complished wife died suddenly He had often heard Whiteeld
at h i s mother s house in Bath and had n o t drunk the poison of
h i s uncle Chestereld : but he was n o t a de cided character
until he was made a lonely widower F rom that time he deed
all the sneers o f th e court and dared to be si ng u l a r ly good

He had also some good inuence upon the young E arl of Hun
H e was made groom o f the bedchamber
t i n g d o n for a time
but he never reco v ered the S hock o f his wife s
t o George III
death He soon relinquished his o f ce and died This was a
severe blow to his mother Lady Gertrude now old and lonely
It led to her own death in a painful manner She had been
absorbed whilst reading at night and the candles set re to h e r
head dress It spread rapidly to her neck and breast The
wounds were so man y that it required an hour and a half every
day to dress them Her composure astonished A dair the s ur
geon He used t o tell her that she d eser ved heaven

This
alone discomposed her
She replied with holy indignation
that there was no m erit b u t in Christ and told A dair that if
either of them escaped eternal death it must b e through the

blood and righteousness of the Lamb o f God This account o f
her death bed was given by her friend the late Lady Maxwell
of E dinburgh
Such were Wh i t e el d s trophies in the Chestereld family
H e won souls in it upon the right hand and the left of the
earl ; thus leaving him no excuse for making the exchange of
worlds
His countess made a better
a l eap
i n the da r k
choice Lady Chester eld was a natural child o f George I
F or years she was a leading star at court and in all the spheres
Great therefore was their consternation when they
o f folly
saw her after hearing Whiteeld lay all her honours and i n
E ven the king forgot royal
uen ce at the foot o f the cross
decorum s o far as to laugh a l oud in her face at the simplicity o f
her dress There was nothing to laugh at in it but the chast
ness o f its beauty Chestereld h i m s el fh ad bought it at great
,
WH IT EF I E LD
5 18
S LI FE AND TIM E S
e xpense o n the continent ; and the earl had certainly quite as

much taste as the king
Pulteney al so th e E arl o f Bath and t h e well known political
antagonist of Sir Robert Walpole was deeply impressed under
Wh i t e el d s ministry at the same time as the Countess of Ches
H e attended Tottenham Court chapel regularly fo r
t er el d
some years and was a m un i c en t benefactor to the orphan
house Both Lady Huntingdon and Lady F anny Shirley were
his intimate friends Whatever therefore may b e thought o f
his political character he must have been rather more than
But amongst the peers
m or a l to have secured their esteem
none stood higher in Wh i t e el d s estimation fo r piety or pru
dence than Lord D artmouth
Geor g e III conrmed this
estimate o f D artmouth s character
Queen Charlotte also
thought him o n e o f the best of men

The king said to D r
Beattie the essayist o n Truth
They call h i s Lordship an
e n t h u s i a s t ; but surely he says nothing o n the subj ect of religion
but what any christian may and o ug h t to s ay

John N ewton
thought s o D artmouth was his patron : and to him he a d
dressed the rst twenty s i x letters o f the C a r d ip h on i a

It
was a t return N ewton had been refused ordination by the
A rchbishop of York : (not a very a r ch refusal certainly !) and
D artmouth prevailed on D r Green the Bishop o f Lincoln to
ordain h i m ; and then gave him the curacy of Olney How
much the church of Christ owes to this act of kindness
N ew
ton s early association with the dissenters an d h i s methodism
would have S hut him o u t o f the church : for it was well k nown
that Brewer of Stepney recommended him to the dissenters o f
Warwick o n the removal o f Ryland as a prob ationer H e
preached also in Yorkshire amongst the dissenters This a o
counts for the archbishop s refusal N ewton forg o t as well as
forgave him ; but he never forgot nor concealed h i s connexion
with Warwick Long after his settlement at Olney he Oft en
said The very name of Warwick ma k es my heart leap with
j oy There m y mouth was rst opened There I met some
sweet encouragement o n my entrance into the ministry

Thus
he loved the people although he had been an unsuccessful can
didat e
It is well he was so ! H e would have been lost
.
WH IT EF I E LD
5 19
amon gst the dissenters I mean of course that his p r ea ch i ng

talents would have given him no distinction amongst them
E ven his p en they did not want They welcomed his writings
as they do every thing which is spiritual in common with all
the friends of truth and godliness ; but they needed them not
for themselves
They read and praised them that the church
might prot by them This is not the case n o w N ewton is
read by them for their o wn ed i c a t i o n also and be cause he was
eminently useful in t h e church Then they read him that he
m i ght be useful and because there were few N ewtons in the
church and still fewer D artmouths or Thorntons to patronize
them
I have already mentioned D artmouth s patronage of the col
lege for the A merican Indians It is n o t so generally known
that he was one o f the chief pa t rons o f evangelical preaching
at the Lock chapel in London He and Baron Smythe gave
the full weight o f their rank and inuence to tha t hill o f
Z ion
o n which the dew of heaven has s o often a n d long de
s cended
That inuence was not small
D artmout h stood
high at c o urt ; and Smythe besides being the s on of Leicester s
eldest daughter was Lord Chief Baron o f the E xchequer
Both were the particular friends of V enn also The latter gave
him the living of Yelling in Huntingdonshire ; and Lady Smythe
bequeathed to his s o n the advowson o f Bidborough in Kent
It was thus Lady Huntingdon a n d Whiteeld leading each
other alternately and always acting together drew o u t and
brought into notice the little but faithful band of clergymen
who became the s a l t o f the church of E ngland Yes ; t h ey
found out and brought forward t hese good men and won fo r
them the patronage which enabled them to do go o d a s well a s
created for them t h e element in which they lived moved and
They were indeed independent students o f
h a d their being
the word o f God
but methodism made them s o This fact is
disp uted It cannot however be disproved Why then should
it be called in question ? It is a s impossible to separate the
improvement o f the church from the direct in uence o f White
eld and Wesley as to separate her c o rruptions from the name
of Laud
,
C H A P T E R X XX
W HIT EF I E LD
S L A ST I TI N ER A C Y
W H I LST Whiteel d was rej oicing over Georgia applications

,
were pouring in upon h i m from all quarters to hasten again t o

the cities and wildernesses Of A merica H e h ardly knew which
c all wa s loudest o r which way to turn himself H e went

however rst to Philadelphia after having pre ached the gospel
fully in Savannah O n his arrival he found he says pulpits
towards him
h earts a ffe ctions as open and enlarged as ever
Philadelphia could n o t have giv en him a more cordial welcome
had s h e even foreseen that she was t o s e e his face no m ore : for
all the churches as well as the chapels were willingly opened to
him and al l ranks vied in ocking to hear him This free
access to the episcopal churches delighted him much wherever
it o c curred H e never fails to record both his gratitude and
gratication when he obtain s on any tour access even to o n e
church It always did h i m g ood too I have often been struck
with this whilst tracing his steps
True he was at h om e
wherever there were souls around him ; but he was most at
home in a church ex cept indeed when he had a mountain fo r
his pulpit and the heavens for his sounding board and half a
county fo r his congregation Then neither St Paul s nor
Westminster had any attractions for him The fact i s White
eld both admired and loved the Liturgy H e had the spirit o f
its compilers and o f its b est prayers in his o wn bosom and
therefore it was no for m to him It had been the channel upon
which the rst mighty spring tides o f his devotion owed and
the chief medium o f his communion with heaven when he was
most successful at T o t t en h a m Court and Ba t h A ll his great
,
W H IT E F I E LD
S L I FE
TIM E S
AN D
521
days of the Son of Man there were associated with the

church service H e was therefore most in his element wi th
it although he was Often equally and more successful w i t h ou t
it A ccordingly it would be d i fcult to say whether the g o s
pel triumphed most at this time in the churches o r the chapel s
o f Philadelphia
His prayers fo r the outpouring o f the Holy
Spirit went in an equally dire ct line to heaven and were

equally answered whether with or without book
He was now in such good health and S pirits that he preach
ed twice every sabbath and three or four times a week although
the heat was set t ing in D uring an excursion o f a hundred and
fty miles in the province also he was able t o preach every day
and t o bear up bravely

Indeed he was s o much better
than he had been for m any years that he indulged the hope
of returning to Bethesd a in the autumn and o f sailing to E ng
land again
In this state Of m ind and body he arrived at N ew York and
found not only congregations larger than e v er but also such

a host of invitations from all quarters that he sent the bu n d l e
t o E ngland as a curiosity These numerous and loud calls
shoo k his purpose o f returning to Georgia in the autumn
I
yet keep to my intended plan he says but perhaps I m ay not
see Georgia until Christmas

A tempting prospect was now
held out t o h i m o f f r es h w or k at Albany Gre at Burring

This was
t o n N orfolk Salisbury Sharon and N ew Windsor
rendered irresistible by the offer Of Kirkland the O neid a mis
to accompany him and to take him to a great con
s i o n ar y
It does n o t appear however that he

g r ess o f the Indians
went to the O neida congress There are i n d e e d t h e names o f
some Indian towns in his notes of this tour but no mention is
m ade o f Indians
Whiteeld as might be expected enj oyed m u ch the scenery
during h i s sail to A lbany especially in the
o f the Hudson
pass between the Catskill mountains and n o t less when he
visited the Cohoes the falls o f the Mohawk at Schene ctady
A t both he could only exclaim O thou w on d er w or ki ng God !

(The scenery o f A merica will not long be unkno wn in Britain I
have seen Bartlett s gl o ri ous sketches of it ; and s o me o f t h e en
,
522
W H I T EF I E LD
S LI FE AN D TIM ES
gravings are now before me in the same style as those o f Beattie s

Switzerland Scotland and Waldenses The verbal descriptions
likewise are equally graphic The religious public here want
such a work in order to understand and appreciate Reed and
C o x and in order to sympathize with Washington Irving in
their enthusiastic admiration o f Transatlantic beauty and sub
limity I need not say that I am n o t p uj i ng the work even
when I add that it is passing t hrough the press under my own
eye I have all the reward I wish for in being the r s t reader
o f an illustrative work
worthy of A merica and wanted in
Britain It will enable many like myself to trace with the
eyes o f the underst anding the steps o f Brainerd and White
eld o f Reed and Cox and o f all tourists who are worth
following )
I am unable to point o u t Wh i t e el d s route from Albany back
to N ew York It embraced a circuit o f more than ve hun
dred miles and o ccupied him during the whole of the month o f
July All that he himself records of i t
and it is the l a s t entry
in his memorandais Heard afterwards that the word ran
and was gloried Grace grace !

His last letter but on e to
his friend Keene is a little more explicit
All fresh work
where I have been Congregations have been very large a t
The divine inuence hath been as at rst
t e n t i v e and a ffe cted
O h what a s cene of useful ness is opening in various parts o f the
new world ! Invitations crowd upon me both from ministers
and pe ople and from m any many quarters A very peculiar
providence led me lately to a place where a horse stealer was
executed Thousands attended The poor criminal had sent
The sheri ff
m e several letters o n hearing I was in the country
allowed h i m t o come and hear a sermon under an adj acent tree
Solemn solemn ! After being by himself about an hourI
walked half a mile with h i m to the gallows A n i n s t r uc t i ve
walk ! His heart had been softened befor e my rst visit I
went up with him into the cart He gave a short exhortation
I then stood on the co fn ; added I tr ust a word in season
prayed and took my leave E ffectual go o d I trust was done
Grace grace !
F rom N ew York he went t o Boston in the middle o f Sep
WH IT EF I E LD
52 3
N ever was the w o rd received

tember and again had to say
with greater eagerness than n o w
All Opposition seems to
cease for a while I never was carried through the summer s
heat so well
All this encouraged him to start again upon
another circuit
He therefore went to N ewbury but was
obliged to return suddenly in consequence of an attack o f
cholera in the night Still he was not alarmed for his general
health He soon rallied again and set o ff to N ew H ampshire
to begin to b egin as he said anew

I have now to transcrib e the l a s t letter he wrote to E ngland
It is d ated from Portsmouth seven days before he died and a d
dressed to his friend Keene one o f the managers of the Taber
My very dear friend yo u will see by the many i n
macle
v i t a t i o n s what a door is Opened for preaching the e verlasting
gospel I was so ill on Friday that I could not preach although
thousands were waiting to hear Well ; the day o f release will
S hortly come but it does not seem ye t ; fo r by riding sixty
miles I am better and hope to preach here to mo r ro w I trust
m y blessed Master will accept o f these poor e fforts to serve him
O h for a war m heart O h to stand fast in the faith to quit ou r
selves like men and b e strong !

This prayer was answered
but his hope to see all dear friends about the time proposed
was not realized
A t P orts mouth how ever he preached daily from the 2 3 r d
to the 2 9 t h o f September besides once at Kittery and O ld York
O n Saturday morning September 29 he set o u t for Boston
but before he came to N ewbury P ort where he had engaged to
preach next morning he was import uned to preach by the way
at E xeter A t the last he preached in the open air to a o
commodate the multitudes that came to hear him no house
being able to contain them He continued his discourse nea r
two hours by which he was greatly fatigued ; notwithstanding
which in the afternoon he s et o ff fo r N ewbury P ort where he
arrived that evening and soon aft er retired to rest being Satur
day night fully intent o n preaching the next day His rest
was much broken and he awoke many times in the night and
complained very much o f an Oppression at his lungs breathing
with much di f culty
A nd at length about six O cl o ck o n
,
WH IT EF I E LD
52 4
S LI FE AND TIM E S
the Lord s day morning he departed this life in a t o f the

asthma
Mr Richard Smith who attended Mr Whiteeld from E ng
land to A m erica the last time and was his consta n t companion
in all his j ourneyings while there till th e time o f h i s decease
has given the following particular account o f his death and
interment :
O n Saturday September 29 1 7 7 0 Mr Whiteeld rode
from Portsmouth to E xeter (fteen miles ) in the morning and
preached there to a very great multitude in the elds It is
remarkable that before he went out to preach that day (which
proved to be his last sermon ) Mr Clarkson senior observing
him more uneasy than usual said to him Sir you are more t
to go to bed than t o preach
To which Mr Whiteeld answer
ed True Sir but turning aside he clasped his hands toge
ther and looking up said
Lord Jesus I am wea ry i n thy
work but n o t qf thy work If I hav e not yet nished my
course let me go and speak for thee once more in the elds
seal thy truth and come home and die
H is last sermon was
from 2 Cor xiii 5
E xamine yourselves whether ye b e in
the faith prove y o ur own sel ves : know ye not your o wn selves
how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates
He
dined at C aptain Gillman s After dinner Mr Whiteeld and
Mr P arsons rode to N ewbury I did not get there till tw o
hours after them I found them at supper I asked Mr White
eld how he felt himself after his j ourney He said he was
He ate
t ired therefore he supped early and would go to bed
a very little supper talked but little asked Mr Parsons to dis
charge the table and perform family duty and then retired up
stairs He said t hat he would sit and read till I came t o
him which I did as soon as possible and found him reading
in the Bible wit h D r Wa t t s s Psalms lying open before him
H e asked me for some water gruel and took about h alf his
usual quantity ; and kneeling down by the bed side closed the
evening with prayer A fter a little conversation he went to
rest and Slept till two in the morning when he awok e me and
asked for a little cider ; he drank about a wine glass full I
asked him how he felt fo r he seemed to pan t for breath H e
,
WH I T E F I E L D
L I FE AND
T IM E S
5 25
t old me hi s asthma was coming on him again ; he must hav e

two or three days rest Two or three days riding without
preaching would set him up again
Soon afterwards he asked
me to p ut the window up a little higher (though it was half up
all night ) for s aid he I cannot breathe but I hope I shall
b e better by and by ; a good pulpit sweat to day m ay give me
relief : I shall be better after preaching
I s a id to him I
wished he would not preach so often H e replied I had rather
I then told him I was afraid he took
w ea r o u t than r u s t o u t
cold in preaching yesterday He said he believed he h a d
and then sat up in the bed and prayed that God would be
pleased to bless h i s preaching where he had been and also bless
his preaching that day that more souls might b e brought to
Christ and prayed for direction whether he should winter at
Boston or hasten t o the southwardprayed for a blessing o n
his Bethesda college and his dear family therefor Tabernacle
and chapel congregations and all connexions o n the other side
o f the water
and then laid himself down to sleep again This
was nigh three o clock A t a quarter past four he waked and
said My asthma my asthma is coming on ; I wish I had not
given ou t word to preach at H av er ill o n Monday ; I don t think
I shall b e able but I shall s ee what to day will bring forth If
I am no better to morrow I will tak e two o r three days ride
H e then desired me to war m h i m a little gruel and i n break
ing the r e wood I waked Mr Parsons who thinking I knock
ed for him rose and came in He went to Mr Wh i t e el d s
bed S ide and asked h i m how he felt himself H e answered I
am almost su ffocated I can scarce breathe my asthma quite
chokes me
I was then not a little surprised to hear how quick
and with what di f culty he drew h i s breath He g o t o ut of
bed and went to the open window fo r air This was exactly at
ve o clock I went t o him and fo r about the space o f v e
minutes s a w no danger only that he had a great difculty in
breathing as I had often seen before Soon afterwards he
turned himself to me and said I a m d yi ng
I said I hope
Sir He ran to the other window panting for breath but
not
could get no relief It was agreed that I should go for D r
Sawyer and on my c o ming back I saw death on h i s face ; an d
WH IT EF I E L D
52 6
S L I F E AN D TIM E S
he again said I a m d yi ng
His eyes were xed his under lip
drawing inward every time he drew breath ; he went t o wards
the window and we o ffered him some warm wine with lav ender
drops which he refused I persuaded him t o sit d o wn in the
chair and have his cloak on he c o nsented by a S ign but could
not speak I then offered him the glass o f warm wine ; he took
half o f it but it seemed as if it would have stopped his breath
entirely In a little time he brought up a cons iderable quantity
o f phleg m and wind
I then began t o have some small hopes
Mr Parsons said he thought Mr Whiteeld breathed more
freely than he did an d would re cover I said N o Sir he is
certainly dying
I w as continually e mployed in t aking the
phleg m o u t o f his mouth with a handkerchief and b athing his
temples with drops rubbing hi s w r i s ts & c to give him relief
if possible but all in vain ; his han d s and feet were as cold a s
clay When the doctor came i n and saw h i m in the chair
leaning upon my breast he felt his pulse and said He is a dead
m an
Mr Parsons said I do n o t believe it ; you must do
something d o ctor ! He said I cannot ; he is now near his
last b reath
A nd indeed S O it was ; for he fetched but one
gasp and stretched o u t hi s feet and breathed no more This
was exactly at six O clock We continued rubbing his legs
hands and feet with warm cloths and bathed him with spirits
for some time but all in vain I then put him into a warm
b ed the do ctor standing by and often raised him upright c o n
t i n u e d rubbing him and putting spirits to his nose for an h our
till all hopes were gone The people came in crowds to see him :
I begged th e doct o r to shut the do o r

S mi t h
Thus Whiteeld died I need not the apocalyptic voice fr o m
heave n in o rder t o write nor do yo u in order t o exclaim

Blessed are the dead wh o die in the Lord from henceforth :
Ye a s aith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and
their works do follow them
but the very readiness with which
we utter a l l this oracle at his death b ed sh o uld lead us to i n
s
uire
why
we
tter
only
it
at
the
death
bed
of the
u
o
f
a
r
t
q
p
righteous in general I must fo r my own sak e if not fo r y o ur
s ake also meditate o n this
3
WHI T EF I E L D
LI FE AN D TI ME S
mb er,
m an m e t h i s fat e
I n th e
Wh ere th e g o od
52 7
ch a
I have n o t o ften troubled you with formal ree ctions in this

work There was no need o f them whilst Whiteeld could
speak for himself But he is now dead and although he yet
S peaketh his language needs an interpreter who u nderstands

both it and the oracle I have j ust quoted
The blessedness o f dying in the Lord is a privilege under
stood and appreciated by all real christians
E ven almost
christians see at a glance how sweet it must be to sleep in
Jesus Yea the very B A L AAM S o f the church wh o l o ve gai n
more than godliness feel what they s ay when they ex claim fr o m
time t o time Let me die the death of the righteous and let
my last end be like his

A ccordingly the oracle
Blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord has passed into a p r over b
the truth o f which no o n e doubts and the sweetness o f which all
a cknowledge
It is a remark able fact however that the last clause of tha t
o racle has not be come pr o verbial except in its application t o
v ery eminent and useful christians
We say o f all who die in
J esus
they rest from their labours
but of how few we add
with any great emphasis o r emotion
their wor ks do foll o w
them
Rev xiv 1 3 He must have been if not a s econ d
Whiteeld at least a very devoted man o f whom w e say with
triu m ph or pleasure or even without faltering hesitation Hi s
works do follow him

I t is worthy o f spe cial notice that this hesitation was for e
s een
and provided against when the o racle was rst given t o
the church John says
I he ard a voice fro m heaven saying
unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the L o rd
from henceforth
That heavenly voice however said no
more ventured no further
It was the Holy Ghost wh o
Yea saith the S P I R IT
a dded the other parts of the oracle :
that they may rest from their labours and their works do fol
low them
Instances o f this kind o f addition to the amoun t
o r the m o mentum of an o racle are n o t uncommon Hence
Paul when warning the Hebrews by the fate of the church in
the wilderness added to the counsel Harden n o t y our heart s

,
5 28
W H IT EF I E LD
S LI FE AN D
T IM E S
the appeal
The Holy Ghost saith T o day if ye will hear his
voice Heb iii 7 In like manner the Saviour when expound

ing the l a w o n the mount added t o his quotations o f t h e law
his own inj unctions ; prefaced thus

But I say unto yo u
M att v 2 0
Such was the r u l e in the revelation of some truths Its r ea
s on is n o t however so easily explained in the case of the dead
as in the case o f the living It was a ne measure for giving
e ffect to the tremendous warnings addressed to the Hebrews to
make Paul fall back fo r a time into the shade until the Holy
Ghost himself said

I sware in my wrath
After that the
apostle s Take heed brethren and his Let us fear could

not be wondered at nor fairly obj ected to however solemnly u t
t er e d n o r however warmly enforced
Perhaps this hint will furnish a clue to the reason why the
Holy Spirit t ook up the subj e ct of future blessedness where the
voice from heaven stopped H e conrmed that voice so far as
it went
Yea saith the Spirit they are blessed who die in
the Lord
Then he added an explanation o f that blessedness
which comes better from himself surely than it could have
come from the lips o f either saints o r angels in heaven They
indeed could hav e gone a little further than they did and might
have said (the former from their own experience and the latter
from long observa t ion ) the dead in Christ r es t from their la
but it would hardly have becom e saints or angels to
h our s
complete t h e explanation of celestial bliss by adding
their
w or ks do follow the dead which die in the Lord

Indeed the
more they understood this truth then the less they would v en
ture to s ay about it
i t is s o sublime and amazing ! Besides
it was then s o n ew that no o n e in heaven could well understand
it The fruits and e ffe cts o f the works o f those who had slept
in Jesus were but j ust beginning to follow them The r ea c t i on
o f their works o f faith and labours of love was only coming into
operation o n earth ; and thus only a kind of its r s t fruits

had rea ched heaven so that even those who had turned many
unto righteousness by watching to wi n souls whilst here had

n o idea then o f the number o f soul s they h a d wo n by wat ching
They know better n o wand they knew s o on after t h e death o f
,
WHIT EF I E L D
S LI FE AND TIM E S
5 29
John that t heir labour had not been in vain in the Lord : but
when the apocalypti c oracle was rst given they were n o t t t o
c o mplete it either from their o wn knowledge or from their o wn
S pirit I meanthey were too much absorbed with a heaven
all new to themwith their o wn personal enjo ym ent and espe
c i al l
wi
h
the
presence
the
Lamb
slain
t
f
t o think about their
o
y
r e l a t i ve usefulness o n earth
They had su ng nothing about
their works and thought nothing about them in heaven ex
cept to blush for their fewness and imperfections ; and there
fore they s a i d nothing about the fruits which followed when
they cried d o wn from their thr o nes o f light and mansions o f
glory to John Write Blessed are the dead which die in the
L o rd from hencefo rth

H ere they stopped at once Then
But the eternal Spirit did n o t let
t here was silence in heaven
the matter rest here He carried o n and completed the revel a
Having wrought all their works in
t I o n o f that blessedness
them
having created them anew in Christ Jesus unto g o od
works
and having wr ought by them in gl o rifying Christ on
earth the H oly Spirit w o uld n o t did n o t conceal the sublime
fact that the works o f s uch w o rking men do foll o w them into
heaven in their fruit s and e ffe cts as s u r ely as their bodies will
follow their s o uls into heave n
This is o n e go o d reason for the peculiarity o f the o racle It
is not however the only o ne w o rthy o f n o tice There is in the
church o n earth s o methin g o f the same spirit which kept the
church in heaven si l en t o n the subj ect o f w o rks I am aware
that we have other reasons for saying nothing ab o ut our w o rks
tha n th o se had wh o m J ohn saw O urs are fewer and feebler
than theirs
Some indeed do nothing arduous or expensive in
the service o f God o r for the go o d o f mankind Many only
w o rk enough to prove that they are u n wi lli ng t o work But
such if they are in the church o f Christ are certainly n o t of it
O n the o ther hand h o wever it is equally true that in g eneral
the active the benevolent and the enterprising d o not allo w
themselves to take any higher views o f their best works de
l i b er a t el y than a s proofs o f faith love or sincerity
If their
well doing prove that t heir faith is unfeigned they are quite
satised E ven when they cannot d o ubt the usefuln ess o f their
,
WH IT E F I E LD
5 30
labours o f love n or hide from themselves the fact that G o d h as

h o noured their humble e fforts t o save s o me they are only stirred
up to watch the more lest after having preached to others they
themselves should turn o u t c astaways lest in keeping the
vineyards o f others their own should be neglected Yes it i s
this more than the dread o f legality o r o f self c o mplacency
which makes many a faithful servant a fraid to call his service
works He sees clearly in the best o f it s o much that is bad
in manner and worse in S pirit that he is more ashamed of his
good works than Pharisees are of t heir evil works
Go o d
or
faithful servant is the l a s t name o f a christian which h e
thinks of appropriatin g t o himself H e is even more than co n
tent he is grateful if he can hope to escape the br a n d i ng name
wicked and slothful servant

H e well understands and ap
proves what o n e o f Wh i t e el d s friends a devoted minister
said o n his death b ed
I have been throwing into on e heap all
my bad works and my good works and carrying b o th to the foot
o f the cross
Thus it is that the rewardableness of well doin g has hardly
any place in the actuating creed o f a real christian whateve r
theoretic credence he m ay give to it H e m ay even b e eloquent
speaking o f the works o f Paul Luther Bunyan Baxter White
eld and Wesley following them to heaven in forms o f good
and as sources o f j oy and yet b e more than silent in his o wn
case although quite sure that his o wn labour has n o t been i n
v ain in the Lord
This is real humili t y as well as modesty Is it h o wever a s
w i se as it is humble
as s criptural as it is modest ? N ot if
M oses was right i n h avm g
respect to the re c o mpence o f r e
ward
not if D aniel was right in s aying that they wh o tur n
m any to righte o usness shall
shine as the stars for ever and
ever
not if Paul was right in anticipating his converts as his
crown and j oy in the day o f the Lord It will not weaken the
force of this argument to add
n o t if Whiteeld was right in
keeping before himself and his fellow labour e rs the prospect o f
presenting many souls before the throne
H e h un t ed for
souls as well as watched to win s o uls because he allowed him
self to s e eindeed set hi mself t o studyh o w the children

,
WH I T EF I E LD
53 1
G o d gav e him a s seals to his ministry w o uld inc r ease h i s bless

There are many ne
e d n e s s when he rested from his labours
specimens o f this inspiring h Op e in his letters to the Wesleys
the Tennents and the Welch itinerants
I see you with t h ou
is a frequent appe al to them A nd

s a n d s around you i n gl o ry
so distinctly and habitually did he realize this scene that even
when writing against Wesley he closed his rem o nstrance by
saying
When I c o me to j udgment I will thank you b efore
men and angels for what you h ave under G o d d o ne fo r my soul

E ven all this however d o es not come up to the fu ll import
what the Spirit saith unto the churches

His Yea their
of
works do follow them includes more than the immediate fruits

It embraces also all the successi o n of remote
o f their labour
good which their example l abour and inuence might o ri
?
i
n a t e and prolong
A
nd
who
can
calculate
o
r
trace
that
o
u
t
g
N o o n e understood this a r i t h m e t i c less than Whiteeld H e
was all alive to the immediate numbers he could gather into the
fo ld o f Christ H e even revelled in the prospect o f meeting
them o n the right hand o f the great white throne and o f
S pending his eternity with them in heaven ; but he did not cal
culate the c o nsequences o f their individual o r j oint inuence
upon their contemp o raries or even upon their posterity I n
deed the ap o stles themselve s did not allow their eye to run far
along the line of their remote inuence E ven they could not
look stedfastly to the E N D

We can see the names of the
twelve apostles of the Lamb o n the twelve foundations o f

both the earthl y and the heavenly Jerusalem ; and can trace
P aul planting and A pollos watering yet ; and can hear all the
dead in Christ still speaking to the living ; and thus can n u
d er s t an d h o w their w o rks are s t ill following them and will con
tinn e to follow them until the end o f time and even how the y
will b e their o wn reward through eternity : but the workmen
c o uld n o t foresee all this It only began to break upon these
g o od and faithful servan ts when they entered into the joy o f
their Lord ; and then they were so absorbed with the pre
sence o f their L o rd himself that they could not take their
eyes o ff fr o m Him for a moment t o look at any thing beyond
the immediate children they had to present befo re his thr o ne
,
5 32
WH IT E F I E LD
I t becomes the church however n o w that she h a s the means

o f c al culating how her well doing in the service o f God can
multiply and prolong itself from age t o age as well as spread
itself over th e w o rld
to search o ut diligently what is the
mind o f the Spirit in His Yea the works o f the dead who
die in the Lord do follow them

The workmen rest from
their labour
but their works are k ept up and carried on and
even carried o ut as works which they b egan : and therefore
all the dead in Christ are personally interested in all the good
now doing in the world and in all the glory which that good is
bringing in to Go d and the Lamb : for those who rest from
their labours enter into the joy o f their L o rd which is the
many sons H e brings to glory
N o o n e is prepared or preparing to enter into the real j oy
o f heaven
who is doing nothing to win souls to Christ o n
e arth N o o n e can die i n the Lord or enter heaven at all
who has no w or ks to follow him there N o wonder ! F o r no
christian i s s o poor nor so busy nor s o weak as t o b e unable
to work for God The weakest and the poorest are able to do
work which neither earth n o r hell can destroy o r stop and which
will be their reward through eternity
What christian cannot p r a y heartily and habitually for the
coming o f the kingdom of Go d ? Many o f the dead in Christ
could do nothing else for his gl ory That was en oug h however
to prepare them to enter into the j oy of their Lord ; for that
connected them with all the grand instrumentality which saves
souls This i s too little considered
I am not conscious o f
b eing particularly insensible to the natural or the m o ral s u bl i m e ;
but I frankly confess that I see and feel more sublimity in a
prayer
meeting
for
the
S
pread
of
the
gospel
than
in
the
ves t r
y
most splendid meetings in E xeter H all I would rather have
b een o n e in the rst n a m el ess groups o f tw o o r three who
m eet together in the n ame o f Christ to pray in the travail o f
their souls that he might see the travail o f His soul and be
satised than have been the inventor o f the platform I feel

m u ch m ore sure that prayer meetings will prolong themselves
than that sp eech meetings will keep their place o r their power
Prayer shall b e made for Christ continuall y
and those who
beg a n it s c o ncerts in Britain and A m erica will never be s epar
,
,
.
W H IT EF I E LD
533
ated fr o m it s continuance
Their work has been followi n g
them every year since they died in new and larger meetings
fo r intercession and in the answers not only to th eir o wn
prayers but t o all the prayers which t heir example has thus
called forth They now see the golden censer o f the High
Priest waving before the throne wi t h a greater weight o f prayer
a n d emitting a larger cloud o f incense than it did when they
rst entered heaven They n o w see the prayers of all saints
setting in lik e a S pring tide upon all the chann els coasts and
bays o f the di vine purposes ; here oating the smaller v essels
beginning t o
o f prophecy o ver the ba r o f time ; and there
he av e a o at the largest and the heaviest o f the p r Op h e t i c ee t
and every where rising t o the h i g h w a t er mark o f e ffectual fer
vent prayer
I S not this their w o rk fol l owi ng them ? This prayerfulness
in o ur times was set in m o tion by their example j ust as their
prayerfulne ss wa s called forth by the example o f the rst
prayer m eetings at Jerusalem N o w yo u and I can carry on
this good work o f intercession and supplication however little
else we can do We may b e b o th good and faithful servants i n
this department of lab o ur and thus be prepared t o enter into
the j oy O f our L o rd
I t is not S plendid w o rks alone that bring glory to Christ o r
tha t follow christians int o heav en in forms o f reward The
simple domestic piety o f Abraham Hannah and E unice in
training up their chil dr en in the nurtu r e and admonition of the
Lord was w o rk which in its inuence is followi n g them still
and will follo w them until the la s t pi ous family on earth c o m
l
ete
the
wh
o
le
family
in
heaven
F
or
what
pious
father
or
p
mother has n o t been inuenced and encouraged by their ex
Thus the father o f t h e F aithful and the
a mple and success ?
mothers o f Samuel and Timothy set in m o tion a system o f
parental well d o ing which has never st opped entirely since
and which will work o n until the end o f time and through
e ternity b e a s visible in its e ffe cts as the results of the ministry
0 parents what a work which w o uld fol
o f re c o nciliati o n
l o w y o u like your shado w y o u may d o for Go d by teaching
y o ur children t o l o ve the Savi o ur ! F or wh o can calculate along
the line o f p o s te r ity t h e Sp r ead ing inuen c e o f one pi o us family
.
5 34
W HIT EF I E LD
o r even o f on e pious child ? O nly think h o w y our own family

may ramify in the next generation and how it may blend age
after age with o ther families ; carrying into them all a sweet
sav o ur o f Christ along with yo ur revered memory until there
be actually a little n a t i on o f your descendants rej oicing in the
God o f their fathers ? But neglect your son o r leave your
d aughter s principles t o chance and you may set in motion a
course of ruin which shall never stop and be a fountain which
s hall originate a stream o f evil and woe that may run widening
and wasting through time and eternity !
In th o se lights how in n ite are the c o nse quences of Sunday
scho ols ! They are n o w giving a tone and a character to the
rising generation o f the poor which will t e ll fo r ever upon the
present and future chara cter of the nation and also upon the
bliss of heaven
That teaching when well conducted is a
work the fruits o f which will follow holy teachers wherever
they follow the Lamb in heaven It will never stop until all
S hall kn o w the Lord and even then that grand consumm ati o n
will b e in n o small measure the fruit o f it and thus the reward
o f all wh o s o w and o f all who reap
In like manner you may work a w o rk for your n eig h bour

h ood which shall impress an imperishable character upon its
habits and spirit Yo u may make and leave it a n ur ser y for
holiness fr om which y o u may be regaled every year until the
end o f time even in Paradise by r os es from the wilderness and
O nly s o w plant and water to the
m yr t l es from the desert
Spirit and in due season and through enduring cycles yo u
shall reap not only life everlasting but also the fu l l joy o f that
life by entering fully int o the j oy o f your Lord
This is the right improvement o f the death o f Wh iteeld I t
would be as easy to write n e things upon the subj ect as to
read them ; but I envy not the taste nor the cons cience that
c o uld be satised with u np r a c ti ca l truths at th e death bed o f
the most practical man who has appeared since t h e days of P aul
I feel that my readers and myself may be Whi t e el d s in s ome
t h i ng ; and therefore I h ave written n o t for fame but in order
to b e useful A ccordingly although you ca n n ot admire yo u
will remember This is all I want
,
'
C H A PT E R
WH IT EF I E LD
X XXI
S F UN ERA L
R I C H AR D S M ITH S acc o unt o f the fu neral like that of the death

bed o f Whiteeld needs n o commendati o n but only some
additions
The Reverend M r Pars o ns at whose h o use my d ea r master
d ied sent for Captain F e t com b and M r Bo ad m an and others
o f his elders and deacons a n d they took the whole care o f the
burial upon themselves prepared the vault and sent for the
bearers
S mi t h
D r Gillies says E arly next mo rning M r Sherburn o f P o rts
mouth sent Squire Clarkson and D r Haven with a message to
Mr Parsons desiring that Mr Wh i t e el d s remains might b e
buried in his own n ew tomb at his o wn expense : and in the
e vening several gentlemen from Bost o n c ame t o M r Pars o ns
desiring the body might be carried there But a s Mr White
eld had repeate dl y desired to b e buried before Mr Parsons
pulpit if he died at N ewbury P o rt Mr Pars ons th o ught him
s elf obliged t o deny b o th of thes e requests

Parsons in a n ote t o his funeral serm on says A t o ne O cl o ck
all the bells in the t o wn were tolled fo r half an h o ur and all the
v essels i n the harbour gav e thei r pr o per signals of m o ur n ing
A t tw o o clock the bells tolled a second time A t three t h e
bells called t o attend the funeral The Reverend D r Haven o f
Portsm outh and the Reverend Messrs Roger s o f E xeter Jewet
and Chandler o f Rowley M o ses Parsons of N ewbury and Bas s
o f N ewbury Port were pall bearers
M r Pars o ns and his fa
mily with many o the r r e spectable pe rs o n s foll o wed t h e c o rp s e
in m ourning
WH IT EF I E LD
5 36
The procession was o nly o ne mile and then the c o rp s e was

carried into the presbyterian church and placed o n the bier in
the broad alley wh en Mr Rogers made a very s uitable prayer
in the presence of ab o ut si x thousand person s within the walls
o f the church while m any th o usands were o n the
A fter s inging on e of Wat t s s hymns
the c o rpse was put into
a n e w tomb which the gentlemen o f the c o ngregati o n had had
p repared for that purpose and befo re it wa s s ealed Mr Jewet
gave a suitable exhortati o n

P a r son s
M any ministers o f all persuasi o ns came t o the h o use of the
Reverend M r Parsons where several of them gave a very par
t i cul a r acc o unt o f their rst awakenings under his ministry
several years ago and als o of many in their congregati o ns
that t o their kn o wledge under Go d o wed their conversion
wholl y to his coming among them often repe ating the blessed
seas o ns they e nj oyed under his pre aching : and all said that
this last visit was attended with mo re power than any other ;
and that all Opposition fell befo re him Then o ne and another
o f them would pity and pray for his dear Tabernacle and chapel
congregations and it was truly a ffecting t o hear them bemoan
A merica and E ngland s loss
Thus they continued for tw o
hours conversing about his great usefulness and praying that
God w o uld s catter his gi fts and drop his mantle among them
When the corpse was placed at the foot of the pulpit close to
the vault the Rev D aniel Rogers made a very affecting prayer
and openly confessed that under God he owed his c o nversion t o
the labours o f that dear man o f Go d wh o se precious remains
now lay before them Then he cried ou t O my father my fa
ther
then stopped and wept as though his heart w o uld break
and t h e people weeping all through the plac e Then he r ecov
ered and nished his prayer and sat down and wept
Then
o ne of the deac o n s gave out that hymn
,
Wh y d o w e m ourn d eparte d fr i en ds ?
s o me o f the people weeping s o me singing and

,
T h i s c h urch was th en (I h op e i s
A llen
D i et
no w
one of th e
&c
so
o n alternately
l arg est i n Ameri ca
WH IT E F I E L D
S L I F E AND TI M E S
5 37
The Rev Mr Jewet preached a funeral disc ourse and made an

a ffe ctionate addr ess to his brethren t o lay to heart the death o f
that useful man o f Go d ; beggi n g that he and they might be
upon their watch tower and endeav o ur t o foll o w his blessed ex
ample The corpse was then put into the vault and all co n
cluded with a S hort prayer and dismissi o n o f the people who
went weeping through the streets t o their respective places of
ab o de
S mi th
The melancholy new s o f Mr Wh i t e el d s de cease arrived
in London o n Monday N ovember 5 1 7 7 0 by the Boston Ga
zette and also by several letters from different c o rrespondents
at B o st o n to his worthy friend Mr R Keene ; wh o re ceived
likewise by th e same post two letters written with his o wn
hand when in good health o n e seven and the other ve days
before his death Mr Keene ca used the mournful t idings to b e
published the same night at the Tabernacle and the foll o wing
evening at Tottenham C o urt chapel
His next step was to
consider of a proper person to deliver a funeral discourse when
it occurred to his mind that he had many times said t o Mr
Whiteeld If you should die abr o ad wh o shall we get t o preach
your funeral serm o n ? Must it be your old friend the Rev John
Wesley ?
A nd his answer constantly was H e i s t h e ma n
Mr Keene therefore waited o n Mr Wesley on the Saturday
following and he promised to preach it o n the L o rd s day N o
to an extra o rdinary crowded and
v e mb er 1 8 which he did
mournful auditory ; many hundreds b eing o bliged t o go away
who could not possibly get within the doors
In both the chapel and Tabernacle the pulpits & c were hung
w ith black cloth and the galleries with ne black baize E s
cutcheons were a f xed to the fronts o f the pulpits and on each
the motto on
o f the adj o ining houses hatchments were p ut up
which was M ea vi ta sa l us et g l or i a Ch r i s ta s
A t the expira
tion o f s i x months the m o urning in each place o f worship and
the escutcheons in the vestries were taken down The hatch
ments remained twelve months when o ne wa s taken down and
placed in the Tabernacle and the o ther over a neat marbl e
m o nument erected by Mr Whiteeld fo r hi s wife in To ttenham
,
'
WH IT EF I E L D
53 8
S LI FE AND TIM E S
Court chapel with a spac e left for an inscription respecting

himself after his decease a s he wi sh ed t o be i n t er r ed i n t h e s a me
va u l t
had he died in E ngland
A c c o rdingly the following
epitaph was w r itten by the Rev Titus Knight o f Halifax in
Yorkshire
,
I n M emory
T h e R ev
GE OR GE
of
WH I T E F I E LD
Ch ap l a i n t o t he R ig ht H on our a ble t he C ount es s
Wh o s e S oul
Wa s
t ak e
now
t o E mman uel
l i es i n th e
f H un t i ng don
mad e me et for Gl ory,
On th e 30th
An d wh o
A M
of
Bo s om,
S ep t emb er , 1 770 ;
Grave
si l ent
at
N ewb ury Po r t,
n ear
B os t on ,
I n N E W E N GL AN D ;
T h ere
d ep o si t ed i n h op e
of a
L i fe
H e was
R e surr ecti on t o E tern al
j oyful
an d
Gl ory
M an emi n en t i n P i ety,
Of a H uman e , B en ev ol ent ,
an d
H i s Zeal i n th e C ause
of
Ch ari tabl e Di sp o si ti on
God was Si ng ul ar
H i s L ab our s i n d efati g abl e ;

And h i s S ucces s i n p reach i n g t h e Gosp el
a s t o ni s h i n g
r emark abl e and
He
d ep arte d th i s
I n th e F ifty si xth
Li fe,
Year of h i s Ag e
And, l ik e h i s M aster, was b y
s om
e deSp i s d ;
r l ov d an d p r i z d :
B ut t h ei rs sh al l b e th e ev erl a st i n g cr own
N ot wh om t h e worl d but J esus C h ri st will o wn
L i k e H i m, b y m any
o th e s
This tribute i s as like Knight as the foll o wing epitaph i s like

D r Gibbons
,
WH IT EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
5 39
I n R eve r end um Vi rum
GE OR GI UM WH I TE F I E L D,
L ab ori bus
v er o
s acr i s ol i m ab un dan t em ; n un c
c oel es t em e t
i mm or tal em
vi t am cu m
ut
b ene s p er atur
ag en t e m,
Chr i s ta
E PI TAP H I M ,
(Auctor e T H O M AS GI B B ON S S T P )
.
E l ec t um et di vi n um
I ng
His
en i o
O p i bu s
vas,
WH I T E FI E L DI
p ol l en s , di vi t i i s q ue
fui s ti
s acr i s :
p op ul o l on g e l e t eq u e t r ibuti s ,
T an d em p er fr uer i s l aeti t i a s up er um
I uq u e h a
ud ent e m i ni s trum
E xp er tum i n mul ti s a ssi duumqu e b onu m :
E cc e mea p ortus et cl ara p al atia c oel i
nc
i n t ast i , D omi n o p l a
D el i ci i s p l en i s
o mni a ap er t a
r or es qu e os s
a s epul ta manent
T R AN S L AT I ON
A v ess el
dul ce r ub en tem
D um m at uti n am S t el l am, q uam

Vi vi c os
ti bi
ch os en an d
divi n e r epl ete

,
Wi th n at ure s g i fts an d g r ace s ri ch er s tores

T h ou WH I T E F I E L D wast : t h es e th ro ugh t h e worl d di sp ens d
I n l on g l ab o ri ous t r a
v el s th ou a t l eng th
H as t r e ach d th e r eal ms o f rest t o wh i ch t h y L o rd
H as w el co m d th ee wi th hi s i mmen s e appl aus e
Al l h ai l my s ervant i n th y var i ous t rus t s
F o un d vi g il ant an d fai th ful ; s ee th e p ort s
S ee t h e et ern al ki ng d om s of t h e ski es
Wi th all th ei r b oun dl ess gl ory b oun dl es s joy
Op en d for t h y r ecep t i on an d th y bl i ss !
,
M e an t i m e, th e b o dy i n i ts p e ac e ful
'
c ell ,
wai ts th e s tar
Wh o s e l ivi n g l ustres l ea d th at p r omi s d m orn
Wh o s e vi vi fyi ng d ews th y moul d er d c orse
S h al l v i si t and i mmort al l ife i n spi re
R ep os i ng fr o m i t s t oil s,
The following lines are part o f a poem on Mr Whiteeld

written by a n eg r o s er va n t g i r l seventeen years o f age belong
ing to Mr J Wheatley o f B o s t o n They are better than D e
C ou r cy s E legy
.
W H I T EF I E L D S LI FE AND T I M E S
5 40
H e p ray d th a t gr ac e i n every h ear t mi gh t
l on g d t o s e e A m er i c a ex cel ;
d wel l
He
He
g d i t s o th t o l et th e g ac e di i ne
an d i n th e i
fut u e a cti on sh in e
c h ar
Ari s e,
y u
r
s
H e o er d wh a t h e di d h i msel f rece iv e
A great er gift n ot God h i ms el f can give
H e u r g d t h e n e ed of i t t o ev ery on e ;
I t was n o l ess th an G o d s c o e qual S on
T ak e H i m y e wr e t ch e d for y our onl y go o d ;
T a k e H i m y e s t arv i n g s oul s t o b e y our fo od
Ye th irs ty come t o th i s l ife gi vi n g s tr eam
Ye p reach ers t ak e h i m for y our joy ful th eme
T ak e H i m my d ear Amer i can s h e s ai d
B e y our co mpl ai n t s i n hi s ki n d b o so m l ai d
T ak e H i m y e Afr i cans h e l ongs fo r y o u ;
'
I M P AR T I AL S AV I OU R , i s h i s titl e d ue
I f y o u w i l l ch o o s e t o w al k i n grac e s ro a d ,
You sh al l b e son s , an d i n gs, and p r i e s ts t o
.
G re a t
God
r ev e r e
T h y n ame and th us con d ol e th y gr i ef s i n cere
N e w E ngl an d sure d oth feel ; t h e o rp h an s s mar t
R eveal s t h e true sens ati o ns o f hi s h ear t
H i s l on el y T ab ern acl e s ee s n o more
A W h it e el d l an di n g o n th e Briti sh sh or e
T h e n l et us v i e w h i m i n yo n a zure s k i es
L et ev ery m i n d w ith th i s l ov d o bje c t ri s e
T h ou t o mb sh al t sa fe r e tai n t h y s acre d trus t
T ill l ife di v i ne reani mates h i s dus t

C oun t es s
w e A mer i can s
Cowper s tribute to the memory of Whiteeld al th ough well

k now n must n ot be omitted here
,
(b eneath wel l soun di ng Greek

p o e t mus t n o t s p eak )
L E U C O NO M US
I sl ur
a n ame , a
p i ll ori ed o n i n famy s h i gh s tage

An d b or e th e p el ti ng s c orn o f h al f an ag e
T h e v ery butt o f sl an d er an d t h e bl o t
F o r ev ery d ar t th a t m al i ce e ver sh o t
T h e m an t h a t men ti on e d hi m at o n c e d i smi ss d
All mercy fr o m h i s l i p s an d s n eer d an d h i s s d
H i s c ri m es w ere s uch as S o d o m n ev er k n ew
An d p erjur y s t o o d up t o s wear all true
H i s ai m wa s m i s ch i e f an d h i s z e al p r et ence
H i s s p eech r eb ell i on agains t common s ens e :
S t oo d
W H I T EF I E L D
LI F E
TI M ES
AN D
54 1
A k nav e, wh en tri e d on h on es ty s pl ai n rul e ,

An d wh en b y th a t o f re as on , a mer e fool
T h e wo rl d s b e s t c omfor t was , h i s d o o m was p as s d,
Di e wh en h e mi gh t, h e mus t b e d amn d at l as t
N ow, t ru th , p erfo rm th i n e of c e , w aft a s i d e
ur ta in drawn by p rejud i ce an d p ri d e
R ev eal (th e man i s d e ad ) t o w on d ri n g ey es
T h i s m or e th an m on s t er i n h i s p ro p er gui s e
H e l ov d th e worl d t h a t h a t e d h i m ; t h e t ear
Th e
p on
s c an d al
Th a t d r o p p d
h i s B ibl e was
s n c er e
f s t r ife,
As s ai l d b y
, an d t h e t o n gu e o
H i s o nl y an sw er w as a b l a mel es s l ife :
An d h e th a t forge d , an d h e th a t th rew, t h e
H ad e a ch a br o th er s i n t eres t i n h i s h ear t
dart
u s l ove o f C h ri s t an d s t eadin ess un b r i b d

W ere c o p i e d cl os e i n h i m an d wel l t ran s crib d
H e fo l l ow e d P aul
h i s z eal a ki n dre d fl am e
H i s ap o s t ol i c ch ar ity t h e s am e
L ik e h i m c r oss d ch eerful l y t emp es t uous s eas
F orsak i n g coun t ry kin dr e d f i en d s an d e as e
L i k e h i m h e l ab our d and l i k e h i m c o n t en t
T o h ear it s u er d sh ame wh ere er h e w e n t
Bl ush cal umny an d writ e up on h i s t omb
I f h on es t eul ogy can sp are th e e ro om
T h y d e e p r e p en t ance o f t h y th ous an d l i es
W h i ch ai m d at h i m h av e p i erc e d th o ffend ed ski es ;
Pa l
An d
s ay,
Bl o t
o ut
my si n,
Ag ains t th i n e i mage, i n
d, d epl or d ,
t h y s ai n t, O L o d !
co n fes s
A merica did n ot fail to mark her ve neratio n for Whi t e el d s

memory It was not alo n e at N ewbury Port t hat good men
made great lamentation over him

D istant places vied with
both N ewbury and London in this t ribut e of esteem and s or
row Winter says to Jay
You have n o conception o f the
e ffect of Wh i t e el d s death up on the inhabitan ts of the province
All the black cloth in the s tor es was bought u p
o f Georgia
the pulpit and desks of the church the branches the organ
loft t h e pews o f the governor and council were covered with
black The governor and council in deep mourning conv ened
at the state house and went in procession to church and were
received by the organ playing a funeral dirge Two funeral
sermons were preached by Mr E llingt on and Zubl y

Wi n t er
W H I T EF I E L D
5 42
L I FE AND TI M E S
has quoted largely from E llington s sermon H e

did not kno w that it was comp osed by Cornelius Winter
I
was desired to compose it says Winter and h e does not add

that he declined the task I therefore conclude that he was
the real author Indeed it is like Winter and creditable to
him so far as the sentiment and spirit of it go A nd it is n o t
less creditable to E llington that he p r ea ch ed the sermon Very
few clergymen would hav e consented to utter such truths at
that time It is not necessary to repeat these truths here It
is enough to say that they were a transcript o f the creed and
heart of Cornelius Winter and thus they are a key to the heart
There is however on e expression in the s er
o f E llington
mon which I hesitate to interpret

It is well known Elling
ton says that Whiteeld had opportunity long since to enj oy
Was it then more than a joke when

ep i s cop a l emolument
the king suggested to the bench that they might s top White
?
A bishopric
el d s preaching by making a bishop of him
was o f course o u t of the question : but it is quite certain that
he might have had what D e Courcy calls considerable pre
ferment from the court as well as from the primate o f

Ireland
D r Gillies has preserved numerous specimens o f the funeral
sermons preached o n this o ccasion in E ngland and A merica ;
But they are t o o many to be record
a n d I could add to them
ed and too similar to b e distinguished Their s i m i l a r i ty is
h owever their most instructive and interesting characteristic
I t both proves and illustrates the fact that Wh i t e el d s charac
ter and career left the s a me impressio n upon ministers o f dif
d men o f dissimilar talents and temperament
fer en t churches an
Wesley and Toplady might have written their sermons at the
same desk and compared notes before preaching them R o
maine migh t have exchanged pulpits with D r Pemberton o f
B oston and Ven n and N ewton with Brewer of Stepney o r D r
Gibbons They all bear the same testimony and breathe the
same spirit at the grave o f Whiteeld
It was n o t Top l a dy but W E S L E Y that said o f him His fun
d am en t al point w a
s Give God all the glory o f whatever is good
in man : set Christ as high and man as low as possible in the
Dr
G illies
WH IT EF I E LD
S L I FE A ND TIM ES
5 43
.
busi n es s of salvation All merit is in t h e blood o f Christ and
all power in and from the Spirit of Christ

It was not Wes l ey
but T O P L AD Y that said H e was a true and faithful son o f the
church o f E ngland an d invincibly asserted her doctrines to the
last and that not in a merely d oc tr i n a l waythough he was a
most excellent systematic divine but with an unction o f power
from God unequalled in the presen t day

It was not a
Look at the public loss !
p r es by t eri a n but R O M A I N E that said
O h what has the church su ffered in the setting o f that bright
star which had shone so gloriously in our hemisphere ! We
have n on e left to succeed him ; none of his gifts ; none any
thing l i ke him in usefulness

It was not a m e t h od i s t but
VE NN that said
We are warranted to a f rm that scarce any
o n e of (Christ s ministers since the apostles days has exceeded
)
scarce any o n e has equalled Whiteeld F or such a life and
such a death though in tears under o ur loss we must thank
God We mus t rej oice that m i ll i ons heard him so long so
often and to so much good e ffect

It was not a di ssen ter but
J O H N NEW T O N t hat said
What a ch ange has taken plac e
throughout the land within little more than thirty years The
doctrines o f grace were seldom heard from the pulpit and the
life and power o f religion were little known A nd how much
for the better) has been owing to G od s bless
o f this ch a ng e (
ing on Whi t e el d s labours is well k nown to many who hav e
lived through this period and can hardly b e denied by those
who are l ea s t willing to allow it

Thus contemporary chur ch
m en thought and wrote o f their o wn a ccord when Whiteeld
died : but since t h ey died his mighty and happy inuence upon
'
the church may it seems
b e controverted
It m a y : but
the evangelical clergy should remember th at they themsel v e s
are considered by some of their superiors as p r oof s of the
mighty inuence of Whiteeld and Wesley upon t h e church
V enn and Sidney forget that the anti evangelical party ascribe
to methodism both the rise and progress o f evangelical religion
in the church Thus the bli n d see clearly what some o f the
children o f light try to conceal

The following letter written o n the death of Whiteeld suits
my limits and design better than formal extr acts fr o m t h e
.
WH IT E F I E L D
5 44
S L I FE A N D TIM E S
funeral sermons I do not know who was the au thor of it

but whoever he was it will b e resp onded to by all warm hearts
177 1
A great man is fallen in o ur Israel
the R ev Mr
Whiteeld is no more ! he has left his charge his ock and
gone to mansions o f blessedness
I may safely say a great man a great christian a humble
follower of the divine Redeemer and a zealous defender o f t h e
do ctrines o f grace died when Whiteeld closed h i s eyes That
voice which was lifted up like a trumpet and ew around the
sacred roof proclaiming salvation through the dying Jesus
teaching a sinful world the Saviour s n ame is n ow lost in per
That man whose labours i n the cause o f Go d
p e t u al silence
have been more abundant has ceased from his work That
eminent minister o f the N ew Testament that son of thunder to
the careless and secure that cheering so n o f consolatio n to the
weary and h eavy l a d en who has been distinguished as the happy
i n strument of bringing strayed S heep to the fold of Go d is gone
to experience the truth of his d o ctrines ; and will on e day ap
pear with all those who h ave been s avingly brought to the k now
ledge of Jesus by his means at t h e right ha n d of Go d to give
an account of the ministry he received from him ; and in t h e
presence of a surrounding world say L ord her e am I and the
childre n thou hast give n me
It is an al i ct i ve awful and alarming providence to the
church of G od A great light extin guished a bright star set
and a n umerous people deprived o f their pastor Who S hall
supply his place ? Who s h el l with that pathetic language
strength of argument and force o f pers uasio n c ompel sinners
Wh o shall animate o ur asso
to part ake of the gospel feast
fuse a spirit of ca n dour charity and modera
c i at i o n s and di f
tion throughout our assemblies
Who shall declare the glories
the riches the freeness the fulness o f that complete sal v ation
which Messiah nished ? Who shall exhort by precep t and
example to that steady uniform constant character which
adorns the professi on of the gospel ? Who S hall re commend a
life o f fellowship and communio n with the F ather S on and
Spirit as the most desirable blessing and build up the saints in
I am s t op p ed by the mouth
their most holy faith ? Wh o sh all
.
WHIT EF I E LD
5 45
of h i m who says Shall I not do what I will with my o wn ? I s

it not my prerogative to take and leave as seemeth me good ?
I demand the liberty o f disposing my servants at my own plea
sure He hath not slept as others do It is your s to wait and
trust mine to dispose and govern O n me be the care of minis
ters and churches with me is the residue o f the SpiritI set
my labourers to work and when I please I take them to the
rest I have appointed for them My power is not diminished
my arm not shortened my love n o t abated and my faithfulness
still the same I know my sheep and they shall n o t stray into
forbidden pastures for want o f a shepherd to feed them with
knowledge and understanding
With these thoughts my passions subside my mind is soft
ened and satised But n ow for the wings o f faith and divine
contemplation to view him among the celestial throng par
taking o f the happiness sharing the j oys of yonder blissful
regionsascribing salvation to H i m who loved and washed h i m
in his bloodhaving on that perfect robe o f immaculate right
havin g o n his
e o u s n e s s wrought o u t by the dear Redeemer
head a crown of never fading glory and palms o f eternal vi c
to ry in his handsdrinking at t h e fountain head 0 f blessedness
and refreshing himself continual ly at that river which ows in
swee t murmurs from the right hand of the Maj esty o n high
for ever out o f the reach o f s candal and reproachwhere c a
l um n y can never penetrate and the wicked cease from troubling
where Go d even his o wn Go d wipes away all tears fro m his
eyes where he will for ever bask in the boundless fruition of
eternal love continually receiving o u t of the divine fulness fresh
supplies of glory for glory from which o n earth h e had c o m
munication o f grace for gracesees the King in his beauty r e
j oices in the b e at i c vision follows the Lamb wheresoever he goes
and with those who are redeemed from among men rests in
the closest embraces o f his Lord
,
An d n o w h i s v o i c e i s l o s t i n d ea th ,
P r ai se w il l e mpl oy h i s n obl e s t p ow r s ,
Wh il e l ife, or th ough t, o r b e ing l as t,
Or i mmor tal ity

2
en
dures
WHIT EF I E L D
46
Here we must take o u r leave 6 f the dear departed saint

till the happy time takes place when we shall put o ff this body
and enter the connes o f unmolested j oy
A nd c h ! in what
elevation o f happiness and renement of felicity S hal l we awake
up in the likeness and express image of that Go d wh o has loved
u s and called us with an holy calling ! Yet let us be persuaded
o f this that when the important period commences when the
surprising signs a n d descending i nhabitants of heav en proclaim
t h e second coming o f our glorious Immanuelwhen the heavens
o pen and disclose his radiant glory the archangel s trump shall
sound the Lord himself descend with a shout and the dead in
Christ arise glorious and immortalleave corruption W eakness
and dishonour behind themw e shall with him and all the
ra nsomed race ascend to mans i ons of glory bliss and i m m o r
tali t y and j o in that universal chorus
,
v er gl o ri ous Ki n g !
B orn t o re d e e m an d s tro n g t o s av e :
S ay , L i v e for
T h en
a sk
An d
m o n s t er,
th e
w h er e
th y
W h ere
s ting
v i ct or y b oas ti ng grave ?
5 t hy
But my dear Sir this awful dispensation demands a suit

able improvement The death o f ministers and mankind in
general are s o many mementos
Be ye also ready is their
solemn language Come then 0 my soul examine with impar
t i al i t y thy state
N othing but an ~interest in the perfectly
nished innitely glorious and everlastingly suffi cient salvation
o f Jehovah Jesus
can be o f any avail can be any real ground
o f consolation when the grim tyrant stares thee in the fa ce
May thy evidence be clear th y faith strong and thy hope o n
tiptoe that when th e Bridegroom comes and summons thy at
tendance thou mayst with j oy answer Lord I come
Should not the death o f o n e and another of God s people
give fresh wings to our souls make life less pleasant and heaven
more desirablewean ou r a ffe ctions from t h e beggarly enj oy
m ents o f time and sense and make us long to dwell where
Jesus reveals h i s beauties glories and matchless excellence
face to fa ce ? Here o n earth we have some faint glimmerings ;
and o h ! how ought we to prize the m as they are drops from
,
W H IT E F I E LD
5 47
the ocean but the ravishing blaze is reserved for the upper and
better world
Though o ur interviews in the church militant are very
sweet yet they are very S hort The world s ten thousand baits
the devil s insnaring wiles but above all the esh with its
legions o f corruptions enslave the soul and deaden o ur relish
for divine things 0 happy day ! 0 blessed hour when Christ
shall have all his enemies under h i s feet and death itself b e
swallowed up o f lifewhen we shall get within the enclosures o f
the N ew Jerusalem and go out no more for ever !
If faithful ministers are so soon removed from us how
should we prize them while we have them ! O h let us never
give ear to much less be the means o f promoting the malevo
lent whispers o f slander ; but esteem them very highly in love
for their work s sake ! Should it not be o ur constant care and
studious concern through divine grace to improve by every
sermon we hear that the end o f all ordinances may be obtained
even an increase in love t o Jesus and fellowship with him ?
That this desirable end m ay be answered let us be earnest and
frequent in ou r address to the throne o f grace for ministers
and people th a t God m ay b e gloried by bringing home sin
ners to himself and in the e d i cat i on of saintsthat each stone
in the spiritual fabric may be e d i e d and built up upon the
foundation Christ Jesus till the top stone is brought forth with
shoutings Grace grace unto it !
The clock strikes twelve and tells me to conclude But
how can I do it without commendi n g yo u to that God whose
power alone i s able to keep you from falling and at last present
you faultless before the presence o f his glory with e xceeding
j oy ? May he give you continual assurances o f his grace mercy
and love in his lower courts thereby making th em a heaven
upon earth and cause you at last to j oin the general a ssembly
and church o f the r s t born whose names are written in heaven
This is t h e hearty u n feigned and constant prayer of him who
is with great esteem and a ffec t ion

The following eulogium is fro m the pen o f Toplady
I deem
myself happy in having an opportunity of thus publicly avowing
the inexpressible esteem in which I held this wonder ful man ;
.
5 48
W H IT EF I E LD
and the affe ctionate veneration which I must ever retain for the
memory of one whose acquaintance and ministry were attended
with the most important spiritual benet to me and t o tens o f
thou sands beside
It will not be saying t o o much if I term him T H E A P O STL E
O F T H E E N GL I S H E M P I R E in point o f zeal for God a long course
o f indefatigable and incessant labours unparalleled disinterest
ed n e s s and astonishingly extensive usefulness
He would never ha v e quitted even the walls o f the church
had not either the ignorance o r the malevole n ce of some who
ought to have known better compelled him to a seeming
separati o n
If the absolute command over the passions o f immense au
d i t o r i es be the mark o f a consummate orator he was the greatest
If the strongest good sense the m o st generous ex
o f t h e age
pansions of heart the most artless but captivating a ffability the
most liberal exemptions from big o try the purest and most
transpicuous integrity the brightest cheerfulness and the
promptest wit enter into the compo sition o f social ex cellence
he was o n e o f the best companions in the world
If to be s t e d fas t immovable always abounding in the work s
o f the Lord ; if a union of the mos t br i lliant with the most
solid ministerial gifts ballasted by a deep and humbling e xp e
r i e n c e o f grace and crowned with t h e most extend e d success in
t h e conversion o f sinners and e d i ca t i o n o f saints be signatures
George Whiteeld cannot but
o f a commission from heaven
stand highest on the modern list of christian ministers
E ngland has had the honour o f producing the greatest men
At the head o f
in almost every walk o f useful knowledge
these are A rch bishop B R AD WAR D I N the prince o f divines
M I LT O N the prince o f poets ; N E W T O N the princ e O f p hi
l o s op h er s ; W HIT EF I E LD t h e prince of preachers

Strong as this language i s the sober statements of Cornelius
Winter both illustrate and j ustify it I therefore shall quote
freely from them in the next chapter In the mean time I add
only his Opinion of To pl ad y s compliment
Whatever i n vi
die us remarks they may make upon his wr i t ten discourses t hey
Mr Toplady called him the
c annot inv alidate his preachi n g
,
W H IT EF I E LD
5 49
prince of preachers and with good reason for none in our day
preached with the like e ffect

J a y s Wi n t er
Wh i t e el d s successors were very unlike himself except in
piety and sentiment and yet they nobly sustained the inuence
This was cer
o f both the Tabernacle and Tottenham Court
t a i n l y the more easy because the stated congregations had never
been ac customed to enj oy much O f Whi t e el d s presence but
still it was an arduous task to succeed h i m Mr Wilks was
however quite equal t o that task His wis dom kep t the ock
which Wh i t e el d s eloquence wo n He knew the way t o the
understandi ng and the conscienc e j ust as well as Whiteeld knew
V
the way to the heart H e could dive as far i n t o men as V h i t e
eld could draw them ou t of themselves If t h e lat ter could rouse
If Whiteeld made
o r melt the m the former co uld r i ve t them
the m feel Wilks made them think Mr Hyatt h ad more o f
Wh i t e el d s tremendous energy
H e had perhaps a l l his
thunder although but lit t le o f his lightning o r showers He
was howe v er eminently useful in the conversion O f sinners If
Wilks fed the o ck Hyatt guarded and augmented it In a
word they were both good shepherds and each great in his own
way
The body o f Whiteeld like that o f Moses although n o t hid
has been the subj ect o f sharp contention and has called forth
railing accusa t ions

In 1 7 9 0 it was reported in L o n
s om e
don that the body w as entire and uncorrupted

In 1 801
Mr Mason o f N ewbury Port contradicted this in a le tter to
We found the esh he

t h e editor O f the Gospe l Magazine
says
totally consumed although the gown cassock and
bands with which he w as buried were almos t the same as if j ust
U n t il this contradiction appeared the

put into t he coffi n
ignorant welcomed a miracle in the case the s cie n tic referred
it t o antiputrescent applications ; and the j ealo u s charged the
sexton with supplying fresh bodies from time to time
The facts of the case are these : In 1 7 84 Mr Brown o f E p
ping F orest v isited N e wb ur y Port ; and having heard there
that Whi t e el d s body was entire he went with his wife to

s e e it
A lantern and candle being pro v ided we descended
O ur guide led me to dear Mr Whi t e el d s
into the tomb
,
W HIT EF I E LD
5 50
S LI FE AND TIM E S
co f n He opened the lid down to his breast I never felt so

over a corpse His body was perfe ct I felt his cheeks and his
breast : the Skin immediately r ose after E ven his lips were
not consumed n o r his nose He did not look frightful at all
H is skin was considerably discoloured blackish thron gh dust
and age His gown was not much impaired nor his wig
I turned to look at Mr P ar s bn s who died seven years after
him : but t here was only a promiscuous S how of bones clean
and dry
I do but give yo u the matter o f fa c t I am well assured t h e
body o f Mr Whiteeld was not embalmed He particularly
ordered it should not The body is open to every visitor

.
B r ow n
L e t t er
This l ooks like truth D r Southey also has quoted from

some o n e whom he does not name the following words O ne
o f the preachers told me the body o f Whiteeld was not yet
u t ri ed
but several other corpses are j ust in the same state at
p
N ewbury Port owing t o the c a s t quantities of n i tr e with which
the earth abounds there

This is qu oted t o prove that the
report does not seem to have originated in any intention t o
deceive
Thus there wa s evidently much truth in it in 1 7 84 ;
whereas in 1 7 9 6 when Mason s aw t h e body it might be equally
true that the esh was totally consumed

The skull i s I
understand very p erfect still
I t will surprise and grieve n o t a few o n both sides o f the At
lantic when I tell them that the bo n es o f Whiteeld are not
entire Part of h i s r i g h t a r m was sent to this country I hope
i t is n o t here still If I thought it were not returned I should
feel inclined to tell the A merican ambassador where to nd it
and to urge him to demand it in the nam e of his country
A bout two years a g o a visitor in London invited me to see
a curiosity sure to g r a t ify m e

H e mistook my taste I
went and he placed on the table a long narrow box ; defying
me to guess its contents I had no need to guess or hesitate
I said It contains the right arm o f G eorge Whiteeld and I
could n a m e both the thief and the re ceiver I have known for
ten y ears that it was in your possession but my organ o f ven e
r a t i on is larger th an that of my curiosity ; and
there fore I
.
W H IT EF I E LD
55 1
never hinted at my knowledge although I have often visited

you o n the banks o f the Thames and seen all your other memo
rials o f Whiteeld and re ciprocated all your other feelin gs
I o we it to my friend to add if the r eli c be still

t owards him
in E ngland that it could not be in be t t er hands than those it
was rst committed to Still I would if I could give com
as solemnly and aut h o r i t a

m a n d m e nt concerning the bones
O ne thing I promise : I will conceal
t i v el y as dying Joseph
the name of the spoiler (for I have read his letter ) if the spoil
should be returned
The following ins cription was copied by D r Reed from the
S plendid monument erected by Mr Bartlett at N ewbury Por t
to the memory of Whiteeld
,
T H I S C E N OTA P H
Is
e ec e
w ith
affe c
ti on a t e Ven era ti on,
T o th e M e m o r y
T h e R ev
B or n
at
G E O R G E W H ITEF IE LD
G l ouces t er E n gl an d
,
E d uca te d
of
D ecemb er 1 6, 1 7 14,
rdai ne d 1 73 6
I n a M i ni s try o f T h i r ty four Ye ars
H e cro s s e d th e A tl an ti c T h i rt een tim es
And pr each e d mo re th an E i gh t e en T h ous an d S erm ons
As a S ol d i e r o f t h e C ross h umbl e d ev out ar d en t
H e pu t on t h e wh ol e A rmour o f Go d ;
Pre fe rr ing th e H o n our o f C h r i s t t o h i s o wn I n t ere s t R e p os e
R ep uta ti o n a n d L ife
As a C h r i s ti an O ra tor h i s d e e p P i e ty d i s in te res te d Zea l an d v i vi d
at
O xfor d Un i v ers ity ;
I m ag in a tio n ,
G av e un exampl e d E n ergy
k utt
to h i s l o o
er anc e , an d ac
ti on
p opul ar i n h i s E l o quen ce
N o o th er un in s p i r e d m an ev er p reach e d t o s o l arge ass embl i es
O r en force d th e s i mpl e Truth s o f th e G o sp el by M o ti v es
S o p e rsua s iv e an d aw ful an d w ith an I n uen ce s o p ow erful
B ol d , fe
rven t pungen t
,
an d
r s of h i s
On th e H ea t
He
S udd enl y
H ear ers
d i e d o f A s th ma
S e p t e mb er 3 0, 1 770
h i s L ife o f un p aral l el e d L ab ours
,
xch an gi ng
F o r h i s E t ern al R es t
R eed
a nd
M a th es on s Vi s i t
CH A PTE R XXX II
W H I T EF I E L D S
H AR A C TE R I ST I C S
I F O R E S A W from the commencement o f this work that I was

incapable o f imbodying the chara cter o f Whiteeld at the end
in a form which would satisfy myself I therefore kept back
n othing for the sake o f nal e ec t ; but a l lowed him at every step
to appear all he was at the time and place H i s chara cteristics

have thus come o u t like the stars n o w o n e by on e and anon in
constellations and all in their season

In this form they have
kept alive my o wn interest in both his L ife and Times whilst
writing these pages ; and therefore I see no necessity and feel
n o inclination to try my hand at a formal portrait
Whiteeld
paints h i mself upon every eye that follows him The only dif
cul t y felt in trying to realize this mighty angel of the e v erl a s t
ing gospel as he ies in the m i dst of heaven arises from the
g ur e he presents in almost all the portraits which have aecom
a
n i e d his works hitherto
Indeed until I saw the full length
p
engravings of him from pictures taken when he was in his
prime I found it impossible to associate with his form (ex cept
in the case o f his uplifted hands and eyes ) j ust ideas o f his spirit
This diffi culty is n o w remove d and by no stratagem
The
portrait in this volume is a faithful copy (except in length and
s cenery) o f the original engraving t aken from Russell s picture
o f him as he appeared in M oo r el d s in all his glory
I hav e another reason for not trying t o imbody the whole
character o f Whiteeld : it would present an i n i m i t a bl e exam
ple and thus defeat o n e great purpose I had in writing his
life His image as a whole is not calculated to multiply itself
Happily this is not the fa ct in regard to some features o f it
,
W HIT EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
5 53
Some o f them like queen bees are each capable o f producing

a whole hive Indeed it is impossible t hat any conscientious
minister o f the gospel can contemplate Whiteeld in this vo
lume without setting himself to imitate him in something :
whereas no one would dream o f even trying to imitate him in
all things A t least I ne v er s aw the man who could be a s econd
Whiteeld Rowland Hill wa s not that S P E N C E R from all I
could learn in Liverpool during eleven years occupation of his
pulpit seems to have approached nearest to t he pathos and fas
c i n a t i o n of Whiteeld ; but he had evidently none of his co m
manding maj esty
I studied Whiteeld until I understood him and therefore
I have instinctively recognised whatever resembled him in all
the popular preachers of my time James of Birmingham has
o ccasionally reminded me of his alternate bursts of tenderness
and terror in all but their rapidity ; Rowland Hill O f h i s of
h a n d strokes o f power ; and Spring o f N ew York his of
h ea r t unction when it fell like d e w copiously and calmly
Baptist N oel also has reminded me of this Robert N ewton has
some of Wh i t e el d s oratory but none of his high passion
Irving had nothing o f him but his voice Cooper of D ublin
when in his prime and preaching in the Open air has enabled
me to conceive how Whiteeld commanded the multitude in
M o or el d s
I must add although I shall not b e generally
understood
that Williams O f the Wern and my friend Christ
mas E vans of Wales and Billy D awson of Yorkshire have
oftener realized Whiteeld to me than any other preachers of
my time : and ye t these three men do not resemble him nor
ea ch other in mind o r body ; but they can l ose themselves eu
This is
t i r el y as he did in tender and intense love to souls
what is wanted ; and it will t ell by any voice or style and from
any eye or stature Rowland Hill knew and loved one minister
in Scotlandt h e late Cowie of Huntlyfor his resemblance to
Whiteeld I do not wonder at this It was Wh i t e el d s like
ness to Cowie that rst won my heart I saw in the busts and
read in the books o f George Whiteeld the express image of
G eorge Cowie the pastor o f my boyhood
I was not twelve
years ol d when he died : but the maj estic music o f his voice is
,
WH IT EF I E LD
5 54
yet in my ear and the angelic benevolence of his countenance

yet before my eye I could weep yet as I wept when I did
I wept Often then be cause he was bathed
n o t understand him
in tears o f love I loved him because he loved me for my
father s sake when my father died H e then be came a father
unto me Whether he bequ ea th ed m e to D r Philip I do not
know : but I can nev er forget that in his house D r Philip
adopted me This he did in the true sp i r i t o f adoption ! I
o w e every thing in early life to this
E ven in mature life I
feel the benet o f it every day
I must not dismiss this reference to Cowie yet It will help
n o t a few to realize Whiteeld
I h ave O ften roused the vener
able Rowland Hill in his old age from absence and depression
when he was not likely to b e h i m self in the pulpit o r o n the
platform by a timely reference to o ur Old friend Mr Co wie

This never failed to quicken him I was to him so associated
with Huntly that he Often called me M r H u n t ly The public
are thus indebted t o m e for not a few o f Rowland Hill s last
and best eulogiums on Whiteeld H e had seen him personi
e d in Cowie and I kept the image before the good Old man
whenever I met him in public o r private The secr e t was this
The chief cause o f Mr Cowie s ex comm un i ca t i on from the anti
burghers was his cooperation with Mr Hill and itinerants of
his stamp ; and I had b een Mr Cowie s li t t l e servant o n the
day he defended himself before the synod
It was a h i g h day
to me until I found him condemned I had carried fro m his
library to the top of his pulpit stairs the books he intended t o
uote
from
and
handed
them
to
him
as
he
required
them
It
q
was a long defenc e but I felt no weariness although I did not
understand a word of its real merits There was L a t i n in i t and
he had begun to teach me Latin and thus I expe cted to under
A nd then it was a perfect stream
s tand the spee ch some day
o f eloquence owing now softly as the B oggie and anon impe
the rivers which encircle H untly I
t uo u s l y as the D o ver n
was sure t hat n obody could answer him ; and so vexed when
they tried that I could have thrown a book at t h e head of the
moderator and even two o r three at some o ther heads of the
synod
True this was worse than foolish in a boy ; but still
,
WH IT EF I E LD
5 55
it was not more foolish than ol d men inging censures at the

head o f a champion who was t h e Whiteeld o f the north A t
this moment I do n o t feel that I was the greatest sinner in that
assembly
I thus allo w my recollections o f Cowie to revel in their own
v iv idness be cause they will explain what I have ventured to
call my knowledge o f Whiteeld

I mean that I met in the
sermons and vei n Of Whiteeld the image O f my rst friend
and pastor and Rowland Hill who knew both parties attested
the likeness This fact must be my apology fo r the many i n
stances i n this volume in which I g oss ip about Whiteeld as if
I had b een brought up at his knee There is no a ffectation in
this whatever ipp an cy it may hav e betrayed me into I have
been all along at h om e be cause in company with C O WI E B e
sides only a character which speaks for itself belongs to bio
graphy and he is no biographer of i t who does n o t speak in its
o wn style
I have often heard it asked and argued whether Whiteeld
would be p op u l a r now were he alive ? The late D r Ryland
used to maintain that he would be as popular as ev er ! The
D octor was right so far as Wh i t e el d s manner and unction
were concerned Holy en er g y can never b e unpopular Holy
N atural eloquence
d a r i ng will al ways wield the multitude
will nd an ech o for ever in the human heart however the truth
it utters may be evaded or disliked All ministers who cannot
command attention are u n n a t ur a l in something Wh i t e el d s
sermons however would n o t draw ou t the same crowd n o r the
same classes n o w that they did at rst His d oct r i n e as well
as his manner was a n ovelty then even in L ondon to the mul
They had never heard o f regeneration but at the bap
t itu d e
t i s m al font and t h a t told them of its beginning and completion
in the same breath
Too little importance however has bee n attached to White
eld s m a n n er of preaching This is n o t h i s fault H e made
H e comme n ded the study
n o secret o f his attention to delivery
o f oratory to t h e A merican colleges and p r ovided fo r it at B e
thesda and rebuked the negle ct o f it at O xford He was n o t
ashamed to quote Sh er i d a n s lectures in remonstrati n g w i t h
.
WH IT EF I E LD
5 56
D urell
Sorry am I to nd s o true what a celebrated orator

takes the liberty o f saying in the U niversity o f O xford if I
That the state o f pulpit elocution in gener al in
m istake not
the church o f E ngland is such that there never was perhaps
a rel igious sect o n earth whose hearts were so little engaged in
the act o f worship as the memb ers o f th at church T o be
pleased we must feel and we are pleased with feeling The
presbyterians are moved ; the methodists are moved ; they go
to their meetings and tabernacles with delight
The very
quakers are moved : whilst much the greater part o f the mem
bers o f the church o f E ngland are either banished from it
through disgust o r reluctantly attend the service as a disagree
able duty
Thus far Mr Sheridan
Whiteeld even quotes Betterton the player and afrms that
the stage would soon be deserted if the actors spoke like
preachers
Mr Betterton s answer to a worthy prelate is
worthy o f lasting regard When asked how it came to pass
that the clergy who S poke Of things r ea l a ffected the people s o
little and the players who spoke of things barely i m ag i n a r y
affected them s o much he said My Lord I can assign but
o n e reason ; we players speak o f things imaginary as though
they were real and too many of the clergy speak o f things real
as though they were imaginary
Thus it was in his a n d all
know i t is too much the case in o ur time Hence it i s , that
even on o ur most important occasions the worthy gentlemen
concerned in our public churches generally nd t hemselves more
obliged to m u si ci a n s than the preachers ; and hence it i s no
doubt that upon o u r most solemn anniv ersaries after long pre
vions notice has been given and when some even of o u r lords
S piritual do preach perhaps n ot two lords t emp or a l come to hear
them
L e t t er t o D u r e l l
Wh i t e el d s own maxim was to preach as Apelles painted
for E T E R N I T Y
He was rst struck with this maxim at the table
the great D r D e
o f A rchbishop Boulter in Ireland where
lany said to him

I wish whenever I go up into a pulpit to
look upon it as the last time I shall ever preach or the last time
the people may hear

H e never fo r g e t this He Often said
Woul d ministers preach fo r eternity they would then act the
.
WH I T EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
557
part o f true christian orators and n o t only calmly and coolly i n

form the understanding but by persuasive pathetic address e n
d eav o u r to move the a ffections and warm the heart
To a ct
otherwise bespeaks a s a d i g n or a n ce of h um a n n a t u r e and s u ch
an inexcusable indolence and indifference in the preacher as
must con s t r a i n the hearers to suspect whether they will o r not
th at t h e preacher let him b e who he wil l on ly d ea l s i n t h e
,
a l se co mm er c e o
u n el t
tr u th
This pointed and perpe t ual reference to e t ernity in his prea ch

ing did not divert Whiteel d from a due regard to time He
was an ardent admirer if not imita t or of the character given
as he calls
o f o n e o f the German ReformersB u co l sp h e r a s
him I do not know him unless B u ch ol c e r u s the young friend
o f M el an c t h o n (T hea t Vi r
E r u d ) be referred to ; and I doubt
whether it coul d b e said o f him Vi vi d u s c u l tu s e i vi d i occu l i
But whoever he was

o i vi d ce m a n u s
d en i gu e om n i a r i c i d a
Whiteeld re cognised a li v ing e x e m pl i c at i on Of him in some
of the Romish priests at Lisbon I must go further and say
that Whiteeld felt it his d u ty to obey the commands given to
some o f the prophets4 0 smite with the hand stamp with the
foot and lift up the voice like a trumpet as well as to beseech
with tears Winter says O f him his freedom in the us e of his
passions often put my pride to the trial I could hardly bear
such unreserved u s e of tears and t he scope he gave to his feel
ings ; for sometimes he exceedingly wept stamped loudly and
passionately and was frequently s o overcome that for a few
seconds you would suspect he never could recover ; and when
he did nature required some little time to compose herself I
hardly ever knew him go through a sermon without weeping
more o r less and I truly believe his were tears o f sincerity
His voice was Often interrupted by his a ffections ; and I have
Yo u blame me for weeping ; b u t
heard hi m say in the pul pit
h o w can I help it when yo u wil l not weep for yourselves al
th ough your immortal souls are on the verge o f destruction ;
a n d for aught I know
yo u are hearing your last sermon and
may never more have an opportunity t o have Christ Offered to
,
'
yo u
I have known him avail himself o f t h e formality of the j udge
WH IT EF I E LD
5 58
S LI FE AND TIM E S
putting o n his bl a ck cap to pronounce sentence With his eyes

full o f tears and his heart almost too big to admit of speech
he would say after a momentary pause
I am now going to
put o n my con d emn i ng cap Sinner I M U ST do it ! I m us t pro
nounce sentence l Then in a strain of tremendous eloquence
he would repeat our Lord s words D epart ye cursed and
not without a very powerful description o f the nature o f that
curse
But it was only by hearing him and by beholding
his a t t i t ud e a n d t ea r s that a person could well conceive o f the
e ffect
It deserves spe cial n otice that Whiteeld whether he stamp
ed Or wept whether he seemed a l i e n o r lamb was uniformly
s o l e m n and allowed nothing to seem at varia n ce with his deep
solemni ty
N othing awk ward nothing careless appeared
about him in the pulpit nor do I ever recollect his s t um bl i ng on
a word Whether he frowned o r smiled whether he looked
gra v e o r placid it was n a tu r e a cting in him

This
Wi n ter
care over his words tones and gestures sustained his o wn
solemnity and communicated it to others They neither s aw
nor heard any thing to weaken the impression There was no
levity in his lively sallies and no dulness in his reasonings and
no departure from the sp i r i t Of his mission even when he used
market language
He made all modes of address bear upon
every accent o f his voice spoke to
s o l em n e f
fect
F or t h i s
the ear ; every feature of his face every motion of his hands
every g esture spoke to t h e eye ; so that the most dissipated and
Gi l l i es
thoughtless found their attent ion invol untarily xed
E ven when he created a momentary smile it was to relieve the
heart from the tension o f an ordinary solem n ity that he might
strain it up to an extraordinary pitch
There was thus much a r t in Wh i t e el d s preaching : I mean
the art o f studying to be perfectly n a t ur a l in all things pertain
ing to real life and godliness He left nothing to a ccident that
he could regulate by care in his delivery Hence practised
speakers and shrewd Observers could tell at once whene v er he
delivered a sermon for the r s t time
F oote and Garrick
maintained that his oratory was not at its full height unti l he
had repeated a discourse forty times F ranklin says By he ar
.
WHIT EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
5 59
'
ing him often I came to distinguish easily between sermons

newly composed and those he had preached often in the course
o f his travels
His delivery o f the latter was so improved by
frequent repetition that every accent every emphasis every
modulation of voice was s o perfectly tuned and well placed that
w i t h o u t being interested in the subj e ct (F ranklin like alas !)
a pleasure
o n e could not help being pleased with the discourse
o f much the same kind with that received from an excellent
piece o f music
D r Southey sho ws that he understands sp ea k
i n g as well as writing by his remarks o n Wh i t e el d s oratory
It was a great advantage but it was not the only o n e nor
the greatest which he derived from repeating his discourses
and re citing instead o f reading them Had they been delivered
from a written copy (only think O f Whiteeld r ea d i ng !) o n e

delivery would have been like the last : the paper would have
operated as a sp e ll from which he could not depart
invention
Slee ping while the utterance followed the eye But when he
had nothing before him except the audience whom he was ad
dressing the j udgment and the imagination as well as the me
mory were called forth T h e s e parts were omitted which had
been felt to come feebly from the tongue and fall heavily on the
ear ; and their pl ace was supplied by matter newly l a i d i n in
the course Of his studies o r fr esh from the feeling o f the mo
ment They wh o lived with him could trace him in his s er
mons to the book which he had last been reading o r the s ub
But
the
salient
e c t which had re cently taken his attention
j
points Of his oratory were not p r ep a r ed passage s they were
bursts of passion like j ets o f a GE Y S E R when the spring i s i n
full play
S o u t h ey s Wes l ey
D avid Hume beheld one o f these je t s Of the Tabernacle
Geyser and wondered despised and perished
He pronounced
Whiteeld the most ingenious preacher he ever heard ; and
said it was worth going twenty miles to hear him
O nce after
a solemn pause he thus addressed his audience
The attend
ant angel is j ust about to leave the threshold Of this sanctuary
and ascend to he aven A nd shall he ascend and not bear with
him the news of o n e sinner among all this multitude reclaimed
from the error of his ways
T0 give the gre ater e ffect to this
,
W H IT EF I E LD
5 60
ex clamation Whiteeld stamped with h i s foot lifted up his

hands and eyes to heaven and cried aloud Stop Gabriel
stop ere yo u enter the sacred portals and yet carry with you
the news Of o n e sinner converted to God
How gladly Gabriel
would have carried to the th rone the news of Hume s con v er
sion and told it to his mother in her mansion Of glory ! B u t
Gabriel did not report Hume s words in heaven although they
were thus complimentary
This address wa s accompanied with
such animated yet natural a ction that it surpassed any thing I
ever s aw o r heard in any other preacher

D r Southey says
that this
ight o f oratory is not in the bes t taste
Where
will he nd a better He himself has quoted worse from White
eld without nding fault But on a question o f t a s te I will
n o t attempt t o arbitrate between two historians of acknowledged
tact This ight of oratory will however keep itself for e v er
o n all the wings o f the wind even if both j udges had found fault
with it It will also be a lasting illustration of the odd but
not unapt expression o f the ignorant man who said that
Whiteeld preached like a lion

no unapt notion says D r
Southey o f the force and vehemence and passion Of that e r a
tory which awed the hearers and made them tremble like F eli x
b efore the apostle

Such was the ma n n er of the preacher whose spirit has spoken
fo r i t self t hroughout all this volume and I now ask was that
cooled o r carnalized by Wh i t e el d s
sp i r i t ever trammelled
attention t o the gra ces o f pulpit eloquence D id the study o f
oratory estrange him from his closet o r lessen h i s dependence
on the Holy Spirit o r divert him from living habitually in the
light o f eternity and the D ivine presence ? N o man ever lived
nearer to God o r approached nearer to the perfection o f oratory
H e was too devotional to be cooled by rules and too natural to
b e spoiled by art and too much in earnest to win souls to neg
lect system H e sought o u t acceptable tones and gestures
and looks as w ell as a cceptable words

Was Whiteeld
right
Then how ma n y like myself are far wrong ! Let the
rising ministry take warning A wkwardness in the pulpit is a
s i n monotony a sindulness a sinand all of them sins agains t
t he welfare of immortal souls
These be it ever remembered
,
W H IT E F I E LD
561
invent t o o many excuses already fo r evading the claims of the

gospel do not therefore place yourself ST UD E N T among their
reasons for rej ecting it It is as easy to be graceful in gesture
and natural in tone a s to be grammatical Yo u would not dare
to v iolate grammar dare n o t to b e vulgar or vapid in manner
Your spirituality o f mind is t o o low and your communion with
God too slight and your love of the truth t o o cold if they can
b e endangered by culti v ating an eloquence worthy o f the pulpit
Wh i t e el d s manner fascinated all ranks I lately visited o n e
Of his converts now a pilgrim o f nearly a century and a poor
v illager who was never fty miles from home I went to see
whether ol d F a t h er M ea d o f Chinnor in O xfordshire co uld
re cognise Whiteeld in one of my old prints To my surprise
the veteran himself was not unlike the portrait Before Opening
it therefore I asked him whether he remembered Wh i t e el d s
person ? The old man brightened at the question and said
Ay sure he was a j olly bra v e man and what a l ook he had
when he put o u t h i s right hand thus to rebuke a disturber as
tried to stop him under the pear tree The man had been v ery
threatenin g and noisy but he could not stand the look O ff he
rode and Whiteeld said There he goes empty barrels make
most din
F ather Mead both smiled and wept a s the vision
threw him unconsciously into the very attitude and aspe ct of the
prea cher I then asked him whether he e v er saw Whiteeld
now in his d r ea ms H e paused a s if struck by the questio n
A t length he said
N o ; but he was a j olly brave man and
I then asked if he had e v er heard any

s i c h a look with him
preacher since that reminded him o f Whiteeld ? His S peaking
face sparkled as he looked to his ow n pastor (who was with me )
and said
Some reminds me of George
Whiteeld seems
his perpetual d a y d r ea m for although almost a pauper he has
not parted with the books which Whiteeld wrote or edited I
found him reading one Of them and S i n g l n g o f mercy and
j udgment
This little incident will d o more than ill ustrate th e emphatic
hints o f Cornelius Winter He characterizes Wh i t e el d s ora
tory as we have seen with great success ; as the following Sp e
c i m e n s will still further prove
,
WHI T EF I E LD
5 62
S LI FE AND TIM E S
A s though it were n o di f cult matter t o catch the sound o f

the Saviour praying he would ex claim Hark ! hark ! do n o t
Y
o u may suppose tha t as this occurred fr e
o u hear him
y
f
f
uently
the
e
i cacy o f it w as destroyed ; but no ; though we
q
often knew what wa s coming it wa s as new to u s as though we
h ad never heard it b efore
That beautiful apostrophe used by the prophet Jeremiah
O earth earth earth hear t he words of the Lord wa s very
subservient to him and never used impertinently
H e abo unded with anecdotes which though n o t always r e
cited verbatim were very j ust as t o the matter of th em O ne
fo r i n s t an ce l remember tending to illustrate the e i c a c y o f
prayer though I ha v e n o t been able to meet with it in the
E nglish history i t w a s the case o f the London appren t ices
before Henry VIII pleading h i s pardon of their insurre ction
The monarch mo v ed by their S ight and their plea Mercy !
mercy ! cried Take them away I cannot bear it

The ap
plication you may suppose w a s that if an earthly monarch o f
Hen r y s des cription could be s o moved h o w forcible is the s i n
ner s plea in the ears o f Jesus Christ The case O f two Scotch
m en i n the convulsion of the state at the time O f Charles II
subserved his design ; who unavoidably obliged to pass some of
the troops were conceiving o f their danger and meditating what
method was to b e adopted to come O ff safe one proposed the
wearing of a scull cap the other supposing that would imply
distrust o f the providence of God was determined to proceed
bare headed The latter being rs t laid hold of and being
interrogated A re yo u for the covenant ? replied Ye s and
being further asked What covenant ? answered The cove
nant of g r a ce by which reply eluding further inquiry he was
let pass the other n o t answering satisfactorily re ceived a blow
wit h the s abre which penetra t ing through the cap struck him
dead In the application Mr Whiteeld warning against vain
condence cried Beware o f your scull caps
But here like
wise the description upon paper wanting the reality a s e x e m
l
i
conveys but a very faint
e d by him wi t h voice and motion
p
idea However it i s a disad v antage which must be submitted
t o especi al ly a s coming from my pen
,
WHI T EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
5 63
The difference Of the t i mes in which Mr Whiteeld made

h i s public appearance materially determined the matter O f h i s
sermons and in some measure the manner of h i s address H e
dealt far more in the explanatory and doctrinal mode of preach
ing o n a sabbath day morning than perhaps at any other time
and sometimes made a little bu t by no mea n s improper S how
o f learning
If he had read upon astronomy in the course Of the
week you would be sure to discover it H e knew how to con
v ert the centripetal motion of the heavenl y bodies to the dispo
sitiou o f the christian toward Christ and the fatal attraction of
the world would b e very properly represented by a reference to
the centrifugal Whatever the world might think o f him he
had his charms fo r the l earned as well as for the unlearned ;
and a s he held himself to be a debt o r both to the wise and to
the unwise each re ceived his due at such times The peer and
the peasant alike went away satised
A s thou gh he heard the voice o f God ever sounding in his
ears the important admonition Work while it is called to day
this w a s his work in Lond on a t one period of h i s life A fter
administering the Lord s supper to several hundred communi
cants at half an hour after s i x in the morning reading the rst
and second service in the desk which he did with the greatest
propriety and preaching full an hour he read prayers and
preached in the afternoon previous to the evening service at
half an hour after v e and afterwards addressed a large society
in public His afternoon sermon used to be more general and
exhortatory In the evening he drew h i s bow at a venture vin
d i c at e d the doctrines o f grace fenced them with articles and
homilies referred to the martyrs zeal and exemplied the power
o f divine grace in their su fferings by quotations from the v ene
rable F ox Sinners were then closely plied numbers of whom
from curiosi t y coming to hear a sentence or two were Often
compelled to hear the whole sermon How many in the judg
men t day will rise to pro v e that they heard to the sal v ation o f
t he soul
Perhaps Mr Whiteeld never preached greater s ermons
than at s i x in the morning fo r at that hour he did preach win
ter and summer on Mondays Tuesdays Wednesdays and
.
W H I T EF I E LD
564
Thursdays A t these times h i s congregations were of the se l ect

des criptio n and young m e n re cei v ed admonitio n s similar with
what were given in the society and were cautioned while they
neglect the duty required from them under the bond O f an i n
denture not to anticipate the pleasures and advantages of future
life
H i s style w as n o w colloquial with little use of motion ; per
and al l comprehended
t i n e n t expositions with suitable remarks
within the hour
Christian experience principally made the
subj ect o f Monday Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday even
ing lectures ; when frequently having funeral sermons to preach
the character and experience O f the dead helped to eluci d ate the
subj e ct led to press diligence in the christian course to reect
upon the blessing Of fai t h on earth and gl ory in heaven Mr
Whiteeld adopted the custom of the inhabi t ants of N ew E ng
land i n their b est days of beginning the sabbath at s i x o clock
o n Saturday evenings
The custom could n o t be Observed by
m any but it was convenient to a fewa few compared with the
multitudes but abstractedly considered a large and respectable
company N ow ministers of every description found a peculiar
pleasure in relaxing their minds from the fatigues Of study and
were highly entert ained by his pe culiarly excellent subj e cts
which were s o suitable to the auditory that I believe it w as
seldom disappointed It was an Opportunity pe culiarly suited
to apprentices and j ourneymen in some businesses which allowed
o f their leaving work sooner th an o n other days and availing
themselves at least o f the sermon from which I also o ccasion
ally obtained many blessings Had my memory been retentive
and I had studiously treasured up h i s rich remarks how much
more easily might I have met your wishes and have answered
.
T h i s s o c i e ty,
i s tin g o f s ev er al h un dr ed s o f wi d ows m ar r i e d p e o p l e
y oung m en, an d sp in s t ers pl ac e d s ep ara t el y i n t h e area o f t h e T ab ern acl e
u s e d a ft er s erm o n t o r e c e i v e fr o m M r W h it e el d i n t h e c o l l o qu i al s ty l e
v ari ous exh or t ation s c o mp ri s e d i n sh or t s en t en c es an d suitab l e t o th ei r
v a r i o us s t ati on s T h e p rac ti ce o f Ch r i s ti an i ty i n al l i t s bran ch e s wa s t h en
u s ual l y i n cul ca t e d , n o t w ith o ut s o m e p er ti n en t an ecd o t e o f a c h ar ac t e r
w or th y t o b e h el d u p fo r an exampl e an d i n wh o s e c o nd uc t t h e h i n t s r e
c o m m en d e d w er e ex em p l i e d
c on s
L I FE A N D TI M E S
565
the design o f this letter

But though I have lost much o f the
letter of his sermons the savour of them yet remains The p e
e nli e r ta l ents he possessed subservient to great usefulness
can
be but faintly guessed from his sermons in print ; though as
formerly Go d h as made t h e reading o f them useful I have n o
doubt but in future they will have their use The eight een
taken in short hand and faithfully transcribed by Mr Gurney
have been supposed to do discredit to his memory and there
fo re they were suppressed But they who ha v e been accustomed
to hear him may collect from them much o f his ge n uine preach
ing They were far from being the best specimens that might
have been produced He pre ached many o f them when in fact
he w as almo s t i n cap a bl e o f preaching at all

Wi n te r
A fter all the grand secret o f Wh i t e el d s power was a s we
have see n and felt h i s d evot i on a l spirit Had he been less
prayerful he would have been less powerful He was the prince
o f prea chers w i t h ou t the v eil because he was a Jacob
within
H i s face shone when he came down from the mount

the veil
because he had been l ong alone with God upon the mount It
was this won fo r him the title s er ap h i c
not in the scholastic
but in the angelic sense of the term But he was a h um a n
seraph and thus burnt o u t in the blaze o f his o wn re What
h e often ascended in it a s t h e A ngel o f the covenant
then
did in th e ame Of Manoah s sacrice and always did w on
d r o us ly
when he descended He was so Often at the throne
and always s o near it that like the apocalyptic angel he came
down clothed with its rainbow

Wh i t e el d s L E TT E R S also illustrate both his character and
success as a minister They are many and v aried and easy ;
and must have been very useful Like the bu ll e ti n s of a gene
ral t hey were chiey written o n the eld O f battle ; and thus
came to his friends associated a n d enshrined with his victories
N O matter therefore what they are as episto lary writing ; they
came from the conquering hero o f the day to those who

were praying for and expecting him to go o n from conquering
to conquer How gratifying yea h o w inspiring therefore the
briefest and baldest o f them must have been as well as the
longest and best to those who re ceived t hem They were all
.
W H IT EF I E LD
5 66
them that he had them in his heart and that h i s soli

c i t u d e and friendship fo r them followed him like h i s shadow
where v er he went and whatever he was doing This i s the true
light in which to read h i s letters and in this light the wonder
is that they are s o many and so good
The man is to be pitied
who can criticise them and so i s he who can read them without
being refreshed by them for they are only surpassed by Luke s
A cts Of the A postles

Wh i t e el d s public character was fully sustained by his pri
vate habits
His v ein Of humour never betrayed him into
levity nor his exhaustion into excess at the social or the do
H e sat down Often of course to sumptuous
m e s t i c table
Indeed he could n o t avoid a s u c
t ables whilst travelling
cession o f such feasts E nemies howe v er j udged of his eating
by the s cale o f cooki ng in the houses Of his hosts His co r p u
leney was thus ascribed to good living

This needs no r efu
Indulgence
t at i o n to any one who understands public speaking
is incompatible with unction if not with energy also Corne
lius Winter has thought proper however to defend Whiteeld
and therefore it is my duty to quote the defence
He wa s
H i s table was
u nj ustly charged with being given to appetite
never spread with variety
A cow h e e l was h i s favourite dish
How surprised would
a n d I have known him s a y cheerfully
the world be if they were to peep upon D r S q ui n t um and s e e
only a cow heel upon his table
H e w a s however a g e n t le
whether by himself o r having but a
m a n ; and therefore
second his table must be elegantly spread though it produced
Gillies says
He was remarkable
b ut a l e af and a cheese
even to a proverb for moderation in eating and drinking

This w i se attention to etiquette he carried into all his habits
It was a maxim with him that a minister should be literally
He was neat in the extreme in his person and every
sp o t l es s
thing about him He said he did not t hink he could die easy
if he thought his g l oves were o ut o f their place N o t a paper
might b e o u t of its place or put up irregularly E ach part o f
t h e furniture also must b e in its place before we retired to rest
There w as no rest after f ou r in the morning nor sitting up after
t e n in the evening
He was s crupulously exact to bre ak up
proo fs
to
WH I T E F I E L D
LI FE AN D TI M E S
5 67
parties in time
In the height of a conversation I ha v e heard
him s ay abrup t l y We forget ourselves : come gentlemen i t i s
high time fo r al l good folks to be at home

J a y s Wi n t e r
Gillies who knew him in his prime says
His person wa s
gra ceful a n d well proportionedhis stature above the middle
size his complexion very fairhis countenance manly H i s
eyes were o f a dark bl ue and very sprightly He had a s qu i n t
with o n e Of them H i s deportment was decent and easy with
fness o r formality
o u t the least sti f
and his engaging polite
manner made his company uni v ersa l ly agreeable

Wh i t e el d s last W I L L also deserves a place amongst h i s cha
It was brought from A merica to E ngland by
r ac t er i s t i c s
Winter He felt it to be a s a cr ed trust for during a storm in
which all the sails were blown away and all the masts bending
and all the dead lights up his chief earthly concern wa s that
he had Wh i t e el d s will
I felt sorry he says that by m y
being lost his executors would be kept in suspense

Both ar
rived safe but the chief property B ethesda was soon destroyed
o r alienated
It was I think Berridge who said on hearing of
the extinction of the orphan house college that God set re to
it in order to save the founder from b ecoming the father of a
race o f unconverted ministers

This is a jus t view of its fate :
for by admitting young men to study for the ministry before
their piety or call was ascertained it was both unt and u n wo r
thy to be a nursery to the church of Christ
The fol l owing are the documents published by the executors
Mr Wh i t e el d s exec utors having re ceived the probate of his
will F ebruary 6 1 7 7 1 Mr Keene who was well acquainted
with the whole o f his a ffairs published it wi th the fol l owing
introduction
A s we make no doubt the numerous friends o f the Rev Mr
George Whiteeld will be glad of an Opportunity Of seeing a
genuine copy of his last wi l l and testa ment his executors ha v e
favoured us with a copy of the same transmitted to them from
the orphan house in Georgia and which they have proved in
the Prerogative Court of Canterbury A nd as it was Mr
Wh i t e el d s cons t ant declaration he never meant to raise either
a purse o r a party it is to be remarked t hat almost the whole
.
WH IT E F I E LD
5 68
he died possessed o f came to him within two o r three

years of hi s death in the following manner v i z : M r s Thomson
0
0
Tower
Hill
bequeathed
him
5
b y the death of his
f
o
wife (including a bond of
he got 7 00 M r Whitmore
b equeathed him 1 00 and Mr Winder 1 00 A nd it i s highly
probable that had he lived t o reach Georgia from his last
northern t our he would have lessened the above sums by dis
posing O f them in the same noble and disinterested manner
that all the public o r private sums he has been intrusted with
have been
In the name o f the F ather Son and Holy Ghost three per
sons but one Go d ; 1 George Whiteeld clerk at present
residing at the orphan house academy in the province o f
Georgia in N orth A merica b eing through innite mercy in
m ore than ordinary bodily health and a perfectly sound and
composed mind knowing the certainty o f death and yet th e
uncertainty O f the time I shall be called by it to my long wish
in man
e d fo r home do make this my last will and testament
ner and form following vi z
I mp r i m i s l n sure and certain h Op e Of a resurrection to
eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ I commit my body
to the dust to be buried in the most plain and decent manner
and knowing in whom I have believed being persuaded that he
will keep that which I have committed unto him in the fullest
assurance of faith I commend my soul into the hands o f the
ever lo ving altogether lovely never failing Jesus o n whos e
complete and everlasting righteousness I entirely depend for the
j ustication of my person and acceptance of my poor worth
less though I trust sincere performances at th at day when he
shall come in the glory O f his F ather his o wn glory and the
glory of his holy angels t o j udge both the quick and dead In
respect to my A merican concerns which I have engaged in
simply and solely for his great name s sake I leave that build
ing commonly called the orphan house at Bethesda in the
pro v ince o f Georgia together with all the other buildings lately
ere cted thereon ; and likewise all other buildings lands negroes
books furniture and e v ery other thing whatsoever which I
n o w stand possessed O f in the province o f Georgia aforesaid t o
s um
WH IT EF I E LD
5 69
that elect lady that mother in Israel that mirror Of true and
u n d e l e d religion the Right Honourable Selina Countess dow
ager of Huntingdon desiring that as soon as may b e after my
decease the plan of the intended orphan house Bethesda c ol
lege may b e prosecuted if not practicable o r eligible to pursue
the present plan of the orphan house academy o n its old found
ation and usual channel ; but if her Ladyship should b e called
to enter her glorious rest before my deceaseI bequeath all the
buildings lands negroes and every thing before mentioned
which I n o w stand possessed o f in the province Of Georgia
aforesaid to my dear fellow traveller and faithful invariable
friend the Honourable James Habersham president of h i s
Maj esty s Honourable Council and should he survive her
Ladyship I earnestly recommend him as the most proper per
s o n to succeed her Ladyship or to act for her during her Lady
shi p s life time in the orphan house academ y With regard to
my outward a ffairs in E ngland ; whereas there is a buildi n g
commonly called the Tabernacle set apart many years ago for
divine worship I give and bequeath the said Tabernacle with
the adj acent house in which I usually reside when in London
with the stable and coach house in the yard adj oining together
with all books furniture and every thing else whatsoever that
shall be found in the house and premises aforesaid ; and also the
building commonly called Tottenham Court chapel together
with all the other buildings houses stable coach house and
every thing else whatsoever which I stand possessed Of in that
part o f the town to my worthy trusty tried friends D aniel
West E sq in Church Street Sp i t al el d s and Mr Robert Keene
woollen draper in the Minories or the longer survivor of the
two
A s to the monies which a kind Providence especially of
late in a most unexpected way and unthought o f means hath
v ouchsafed to intrust me withI give and bequeath the s u m of
1 00 sterling to the Right Honourable the Countess do wager O f
Huntingdon aforesaid humbly besee ching her Ladyship s a o
c e t a n c e of s o small a mite a s a pepper corn acknowledgment
p
fo r the undeserved unsought fo r honour her Lad yship conferred
upon me in appointing m e less than the least of all to be o n e
o f her Ladyship s domestic chaplains
,
570
L I FE AND TIM E S
I t e mI
gi ve and bequeath t o my dearly beloved friend the

Honourable James Habersham aforesaid my late wife s gold
watch and 1 0 for mourning
to my dear o l d friend Gabriel
Harris E s q o f the city o f Gloucester who re cei v ed and boarded
me in his house when I was helpless and destitute abo v e thirty
ve years a g o I give and bequeath t h e sum of 50 t o my
humble faithful servant and friend Mr A mbrose Wright if in
my service and employ either in E ngland or A merica o r else
where at the time o f my decease I give and bequeath the s um
o f 5 00 to my brother Mr Thomas Whiteeld I give and
bequeath the su m o f 5 0 t o be given him at the discretion o f
Mr Robert Keene to my brother in law Mr James Smith
hosier in the city o f Bristol I gi v e and bequeath the sum o f
5 0 and 3 0 also for family mourning t o my niece Mrs
F rances Hartford O f Bath I give and bequeath the s u m Of 5 0
and 20 fo r family mourning
to Mr J Crane now a faithful
steward at the orphan house a cademy I give and bequeath the
s um of 4 0
to Mr Be nj amin Stirk as an acknowledgment o f
his past services at Bethesda I give and bequeath the s um o f
1 0 fo r mourning to Peter E dwards n o w at the orphan house
academy I give and bequeath the s u m o f 5 0
to William
Trigg at the same place I give and bequeath the s u m Of 50
both the sums aforesaid to be laid o ut or laid up for them at
the discretion o f Mr A mbrose Wright to Mr Thomas A dams
Of Rodborough in Gloucestershire my only sur v iving rst fel
low labourer and beloved much in the Lord I give and bequeath
the s u m of 5 0
t o the R e v Mr Howel D a v ies o f Pembroke
shire i n South Wales that good soldier of Jesus Christ
to
Mr T o r i al J o s s Mr Cornelius Winter and all my other dearly
beloved present stated assistant preachers at Tabernacle and
Tottenham Court chapel I give and bequeath 1 0 each fo r
mourning
to the three brothers O f Mr A mbrose Wright Ann
the wife of his brother Mr Robert Wright now faithfully and
skilfully labouring and serving at the orphan house a cademy I
give and bequeath the s um o f 1 0 each fo r mourning
to Mr
Richard Smith n o w a diligent attendant o n me I give and b e
u e a t h the s u m Of 5 0 and all my wearing apparel w h i c h I
q
s h al l hav e wi th me in my j ourney through A merica o r o n my
,
WH IT EF I E LD
S LI FE AND TIM E S
57 1
voyage to E ngland if it should please an all wise Go d to shorten

my days i n e i t h er o f those situation s F inally I giv e and b e
u e a t h the s u m of 1 00 to be distributed at the discretion Of
q
my exe cutors hereinafter mentioned fo r mourning amo n g my
the poor widows at Tottenham Court
o l d London servants
chapel and the Tabernacle poor especially my Old trusty d i s
interested friend and servant M r s E lizabeth Wood All the
other residue if there be any other residues o f monies goods
and chattels or whatsoe v er prots may arise from the sale o f
any books or any manuscripts that I may leave behind I give
and bequeath to the Right Honourable the Countess dowager
or in case o f her Ladyship being deceased a t
o f Huntingdon
the time of my departure to the Honour able James Habersham
E s q before mentioned after m y funeral expenses and j ust
debts are discharged towards paying Off any arrears that may
b e due o n the account of the orphan house academy o r for an
nual prizes as a reward fo r the best three orations that shall be
made in E nglish o n the subj e cts mentioned in a paper annexed
to this my will A nd I hereby appoin t the Honourable James
H abersham E sq aforesaid to be my executor in respe ct to my
a ffairs in the province o f Georgia and my trusty tried dearly
beloved friends Charles Hardy E s q D aniel West E sq and
Mr Robert Keene to be executors of this my last will and tes
ta ment in respect o f my a ffairs in E ngland beggin g ea ch to
accept of a mourning ring
To all my other christian benefactors and more intimate
acquaintance I lea v e m y most hearty thanks and blessing
assuring the m that I am more and more convinced o f the un
doubted reality and innite importance o f the grand gospel
truths which I have from time to time delivered and am s o far
from repenting my delivering them in an itinerant way that
had I strength equal to my inclination I would preach them
from pole to pole ; not only because I have found them to be the
power Of God to the sal v ation o f my O WI I soul but be cause I am
as much assured that the great Head o f the church hath called
me by h i s word providence and Spirit to act in this way as that
the s un shines at noon day
A s for my enemies and misj udging
friends I most freely and heartily forgive t hem and can only
-
W H IT EF I E LD
572
S LI FE AND TIM E S
add t hat the last tremendous day will only discover what I
have been what I am and what I S hall b e when time itself
shall be n o more and therefore from my inmost soul I close all
by crying C o me L or d J es us come qu i ckly e ven s o L or d J es us
,
Amen
a nd
Amen
GE O R GE
W H IT EF I E LD
This wa s written with the testator s own hand and at h i s

desire and in his presence sealed signed and deliver
ed a t the orphan house academy in the province of
Georgia before us witnesses Ann O D omini March 22
1 7 70
R O B E R T B O LT O N ,
Signed
D IX O N
C O R N E LI U S W I N T E R
T H O MAS
N B I also leave a mourning ring t o my honoured and

de ar friends and disinterested fellow labourers the Rev John
and Charles Wesley in token o f my indissoluble union with
them in heart and christian a ffection notwithstanding o u r dif
ference in j udgment about some particular points o f doctrine
Grace be with all them of whatever denomination that love our
Lord Jes us o ur common L ord in sincerity
GE O R GI A Secretary s O fce
A true copy taken from the original in this O fce examined

and certied : and I do further cer t ify t hat t h e same was duly
proved ; and the Hon James H abersham o n e of the exe cutors
therein named was duly qualied as executor before h i s E xcel
leney James Wright E s q governor and ordinary o f the said
province this l 0t h day of D ecember 1 7 7 0
T H O M A S M O O D I E D eputy Secretary
,
CH A PT E R XXX I I I
W HI T EF I E L D
PR
EAC H I NG
volume would be incomplete for my purpose without

some spe cimens of Whi t e el d s preaching That requires to
be i l l u s tr a ted as well as analyzed now that th e man and h i s
message and his success are fully before us It i s also n eces
sary to preserve some S pecimens of his sermons in this record of
his life be cause his sermons as such will hardly perpetuate
themselves His n a me may continue to sell them ; but even
already they are but seldom read N O minister quotes from
them except when an anecdot e of Whiteeld brings in some
stroke o f power o r pathos ; and no student hears o r thinks o f
them as models Indeed they are n o t models for the p u lp i t
but when it stands in the elds ; and even there it must be
surrounded by thousands before any man could wield the glit
tering sword o f W h iteeld with e ffect
Besides ; there is not much to be learnt from his sermons
now Their best maxims are but c omm on p l a ce t o u s They
were however both n e w and strange things to the generality
Of his hearers He was as much an or ig i n a l to them a s
Chalmers is to us A nd let it never be forgotten that White
eld and Wesley comm on p l a ced in the public mind the great
truths of the Reformation in simple forms and familiar wor d s
If they added nothing to the theology Of their country that
was either original or valuable they threw ol d truths into new
proportions and wide circulation This is forgotten by those
who say with a sneer that there is n o t h i ng in their sermons
I have Often heard this said by men who never gave cur r en cy
to a single maxim nor bi r t h to a thought worth preserving
T HIS
57 4
L I FE
T IM E S
AN D
Such critics should be silent T heir newer modes o f thinking

and writing will never common place themselves in the world o r
the church
There is o n e peculiarity about Wh i t e el d s sermons which
h i s critics have n o t pointed o ut and which I should like to
commend if I could do s o wisely I mean
h i s modest eg o t i s m
in preaching H e is for ever speaking o f himself when he
touches any experimental point o r grapples with a di f culty
T hen he Opens his own heart in all its inmost recesses and de
tails the process by which his o wn mind wa s made up ; and
both without even the appearance o f vanity o r o f a voluntary
humility
It is all done with the artless simplicity of child
hood H e th i nks a l oud about himself only to enable others to
know what to th i nk about their own perplexities d i lemmas and
temptations H e shows them h i s o wn soul merely to prove
that no strange thing has befallen their souls

N othing is s o unl i ke Wh i t e el d s egotism however as the
wh ining confessions of a certain cl i que o f preachers who talk
much abou t the plagues and lusts of their o wn hearts T hey
are theological R ousseaus o r Montaignes foami n g o ut their
N othing is so disgusting as
o wn shame if not glorying in it
such obtrusive egotism It is indeed unbl ushing effrontery
to h a w k moral disease thus White eld spoke o f himself in
the strong language of the S criptures ; but he did not go into
deta i ls when applying it to himself except in the rst sketch o f
his life 5 and that he carefully pruned in a subsequent edition
T h e following passage is a fair specimen o f his egotism
D o n o t s ay that I preach despair I despair o f no o n e when
I consider how Go d had mercy on such a wretch as I who w as
running in a full career to hell I was b a s t i ng thither ; but
Jesus Christ passed by and stopped me Jesus Christ passed
by while I was in my bloo d and bid me live T hus I am a
monument o f God s free grace and therefore my brethren I
d espair o f none o f yo u when I consider I s a y what a wretch I
w as
I am n o t speaking now o ut of a false humility o r a pre
tended sanctity as the Pharisees call it N o ; the truth i n
Chr i st I speak 3 and therefore men and devils do your worst
I have a gracious Master who will protect me It i s H i s work
.
LI FE
T IM E S
AN D
57 5
I am engaged in and Jesu s Christ will carry me ab ove their
rage
Wor ks
T h e following extracts will illustrate his vivacity and v eh e
m ency to any o n e who will consider t h e scope they a fford for
the i ndulgence of both It must however be borne in m i nd
that his face was a language and his intonation music and his
a ction passion S O much was this the case that GA R R I C K said
o f him he could m ake men weep o r tre mble by h i s v aried u t
Mesopotam i a
t e r an c e s o f the wor d
Peter said unto Jesus Mas
P E T ER O N T H E H O L Y MO U N T
ter it is good for us to be here and let us make three taber
n a cl e s 3 one fo r thee and o n e for Moses and o n e fo r E lias : n o t
knowing wha t he sai d
Peter when he had d rank a little o f
Christ s new wine speaks l i ke a person intoxicated ; he w a s
overpowere d w i th the brightness o f the man i festat i ons
Let
u s m ake three tabern a cles 3 o n e for thee and one for Moses and
It is well added not know i ng What he said
o n e for E lias
Master i t is good fo r u s to be here
T h a t he should cry o u t
in such good company and in s o glorious a cond ition i s no
wonder 3 which of us all would not hav e b een apt t o do the
same ? But to talk o f building tabernacle s an d one fo r Christ
and o n e fo r Moses and o n e fo r E lias was saying something fo r
which Peter himself must stand reprov ed Surely Peter th ou
wast not quite a wake ! T hou talkest like o n e in a dream If
thy Lord had taken thee at thy word what a poor tabernacle
woul d st thou have had in comparison o f that house not made
with hands eternal in the heavens in which thou hast long
since dwelt n o w the e arthly house of the tabernacle o f thy
b ody is d issolve d ! What ! build tabernacles below and have
the crown before thou hast borne the cross ? 0 Peter Peter !
Master spare thyself sticks too t o o closely t o thee A nd why
so selsh Peter ? Carest thou not for thy fellow disciples that
are below who came not u p w i th thee to the m ount ? carest
tho u n o t fo r the prec i ous souls that are a s sheep having no
shepherd and must per i sh fo r ever unless thy Master descends
from the mount to teach and to d i e for t hem ? wouldst thou
thus eat thy spiritual morsels alone ? Besides i f tho u ar t for
build i ng tabernacles why m ust t here b e three o f them o n e fo r
,
WH I T E F I E L D
576
LIFE
AN D
TI MES
Christ and o n e fo r Moses and o n e fo r E lias ? are Christ and

the prophets d i vided d o they n o t sweetly harmonize and
agree in o n e did they not prophesy concerning the sufferings
o f thy L ord as well as o f the glory that should follow
Alas
h o w unlike is their conversation to thine ! Moses and E lias
cam e down to talk of su ffering and thou ar t dreaming of build
ing I know not what tabernacles Surely Peter thou art so
high upon the mount that thy head runs giddy
However in the midst o f these i n r m i t i e s there was some
thing that b espoke the honesty and i ntegrity o f h i s heart
T hough he knew not very well what he said yet he wa s not s o
stupid a s his pretended successor at R ome H e does not fall
down and worship these two departe d saints neither d o I hear
h i m s ay to either O r a p r o
he h a d not s o learned Chr i st 3
no he applies himself d i rectly to the Head he said unto Jesus
A n d though he was fo r
Master it is good fo r u s to be here
building yet he would n o t build without his Master s leave
Master let us build 3 o r a s St Mark words it W i lt thou
that we build three taberna cles one for thee and one for Moses
and o n e for E lias
I do not hear h i m ad d and o n e for
James an d o n e for John and o n e fo r Peter N o he would
willingly stay ou t with the m upon the mount though it was in
the cold and dark night so that Christ and his heavenly at
T h e sweetness o f such a heavenly
t e n d an t s were taken care o f
vision would more than compe n sate for any bodily su ffering
that m i ght be the consequences o f their longer abode there
N ay further he does not desire that either Christ or Moses o r
E lias should have any trouble in building 3 neither does he
say L e t my curates James and John build whilst I s i t i dle and
lord it over my brethren ; but he says L e t u s build 3 he will
work as hard if not harder than either o f them and desire to
be d istinguished only by h i s act i v i ty enduring hardness an d
his zeal t o promote the welfare o f their common L ord and
Master
D id Moses and E lias appear i n
O L D A ND I N F I R M S A I N T S
glory
A re there any ol d saints here ? I doubt n o t but there
are a consi d erable number
A nd are any o f you afra i d o f
death ? D o any o f you carry about with you a bo d y that we i ghs
,
WH I T E F I E L D
LI F E A ND
TI M ES
577
d own
your immortal soul ? I am sure a poor creature is preach

ing to you that every day drags a crazy load along But come
believers come ye children o f Go d come ye a ged de crepit
saints come and tram ple upon that monster death A s thou
goest over yonder church yard d o as I know an old excellent
christian in Maryland di d ; go sit upon the grave and medi
tate upon thi ne o wn dissolution
T hou mayst perhaps hav e
a natural fear o f d ying ; the body and the s oul do n o t care to
part w i thout a little sympathy and a groan ; but 0 look yon
d e r look up to he ave n s e e there thy Jesus thy R e d eemer and
learn that thy bo d y is to be fashioned hereafter l i ke unto
Christ s mos t glorious bo d y T hat poor body which i s n o w sub
ec t to gout and gravel and that thou canst scarce d rag along ;
j
that poor body which hinders thee so much in the spir i tual life
will ere long hinder thee no more : it shall b e put i nto the
grave 3 but though it b e sown in corruption i t shall be raised
in i ncorrupt i on ; though it be sown in dishonour it shall b e
raised aga i n in glory T his consideration made blessed Pau l
to cry o u t 0 death where i s thy st i ng ? O grave where is
thy victory ?
T h y soul and bo d y shall b e united together
T hose
again and thou shalt be for ever with the L ord
knees o f thine which perhaps are hard by kneeling in prayer 3
that tongue of thine which hat h sung hymns to Christ 3
those hands o f thine which h ave wrought for God ; those feet
which have ran to Christ s ordinances ; shall all in th e twinkling
o f an eye
b e changed 3 and thou shalt be able to stand under
an e xceeding and an eternal weight o f glory Come then ye
believers in Christ look beyond the grave come ye dear ch i l
dren o f Go d and however weak and s ickly ye are now s ay
Blessed b e Go d I shall soo n have a body strong full of vigour
and o f glory
But a s this speaks comfort t o s aints it speaks terror to s i n
ners to all persons that live and die out o f Chr i st It i s the
opinion o f Ar ch b i s h Op U sher that as the bodies o f the saints shall
be glorie d s o the bo d ies o f the damned shall be deformed
A nd if this b e true alas what a poor gure will the ne ladies
cut who die Without a Christ
What a poor figure will the
n e gentleman cut in the morning of the resurrection that now
,
578
LI FE A N D T I M E S
d resses
up h i s body and at the same time neglects to se cure an

i nterest in Christ and eternal h appiness ! It is th e O pinion
likewise of A rchbishop U sher that damned souls will lose all
the good tempers they had here 3 s o that though God gave n u
regenerate people a constitutional meekness good nature and
cour a ge for the b enet o f the commonwealth 3 yet t h e u s e o f
these things b eing over and they having died without Christ
and it being impossible there will b e an appearance of good in
hell their good tempers wil l be for ever lost If this be s o it
i s an awful considerat i on 3 a n d I think persons who love their
bodies should also hence take care to se cure the welfare of
their souls
H E A R C HR I S T
D id the F ather say T his is my beloved
Son hear him ? T he n l et every o n e of o u r hearts e cho to this
testimony given of Christ T h i s i s my belove d Saviour
D id
Go d s o love the world a s to send his only begotten Son h i s
well b eloved Son to preach to u s T hen my dear friends H ea r
What God said seventeen hundred years ago imme
H im
d i a t el y by a voice from heaven concerning his S o n upon the
mount that same thing Go d says to y o u imm e d iately by his
Hear him
If ye never heard him before hear him
w ord
H ear him s o as to take him to be your P i Op h e t Priest
now
a n d your King 3 hear him s o a s to take him to be your God
and your all Hear him to d ay ye y o uth while it is called t o
day ; hear h i m n o w lest Go d should cut yo u O ff before yo u
have another invitation to he a r h i m 3 hear h im wh i le he c ries
Come unto me 3 hear him while he opens h i s hand and his
heart 3 hear him while he knocks at the door o f your souls lest
D
epart
depart
ye
cursed
into
u should hear him saying
o
y
everlasting re prepared for t h e devil and h i s angels
Hear
him ye o l d and grey headed ; hear him ye that h ave o n e foot
in the grave 3 hear him I s ay : and if ye are dull of hearing
b eg o f God to Open the e ars o f your hearts and your blind
eyes 3 beg of Go d that yo u may hav e an enlarged a n d a b el i ev
ing heart and that ye m ay know what t h e L ord God saith
concerning yo u Go d will resent it he will avenge himself on
H e is
h i s adversar i es i f yo u do n o t hear a blessed Saviour
God s S o n he is God s beloved Son 3 he came upon a great
,
'
W H IT EF I E LD
S L I FE
TI M E S
AN D
579
errand even to shed h i s precious blood for sinners 3 he came to

cleanse you from all s i n and to save you with an everlasting
salvation Y e who have heard him h ea r h i m a g a i n ; still go
on
believ e in and obey h i m and by and by yo u shall hear him
saying Come ye blessed of m y F ather re ceive the kingdo m
prepared for you from the foun d ation o f the world
B E S EE C H I N G S I N N E R S
O my brethren my heart i s enl arged
towards you I trust I feel someth i ng of that hi d den but power
ful presence of Christ wh i lst I am preach i ng to y o u In d ee d
it i s sweet it i s ex ceedingly comfortable All the harm I wish
y o u who without cause are my enemies i s that y o u felt the like
Believe me though it would be hell to my soul to return to a
natural s t ate again yet I would willingly change states w i th
you for a little while that you might know what it i s to hav e
Christ dwelling in your hearts b y fai th
D o n o t turn your
backs 3 do n o t let the devil hurry yo u away 3 be not afra i d o f
convictions ; do not think worse of the doctrine because preached
without th e church walls O ur L ord in the days o f h i s esh
preached o n a mount in a ship and a eld ; and I am per
Indeed we
s u a d e d many have felt his gracious presence here
D o not rej ect the kingdom o f Go d
S peak what w e know
against yours elves 3 be s o wise as to receive o ur witness I ca n
n o t I w i l l n o t let you go ; stay a l i tt l e let us reason together
However lightly yo u may esteem y our souls I know o ur Lor d
has s e t an unspeakable value o n them He thought them wor
thy of his most pre cious blood I besee ch you therefore 0
sinners be ye re conciled to God I hope you d o not fear b eing
accepted in the B eloved Behol d he calleth you 3 behold he
prevents an d follows yo u with h i s mercy a n d hath sent forth
his servants into the h i ghways a n d hedges to compel yo u to
come in R emember then that at such an hour o f such a d ay
in su ch a year in this place you were all t old what you ought to
think concerning Jesus Chr i st If you n o w perish it will not
be for lack of knowle d ge I am free from the blood o f you all
Y ou canno t s ay I have like legal preachers been requiring yo u
to make brick withou t straw I hav e not bidden you to m ake
yourselves saints and then come to God 3 but I have o ffere d
you salvation o n a s cheap terms a s you can desire I have
,
580
W H IT EF I E LD
O ffered
S LI F E A N D TI M E S
Christ s whole wisdom Christ s whole righteousness

Christ s whole s an c t i c a t i on and eternal redemption if you will
but believe o n him If yo u s ay you cannot believe you s ay
right 3 for faith as well as every other blessing i s the gift o f
Go d but then wait upon God and who knows but h e may have
mercy on thee ? Why do we not entertain more loving thoughts
o f Christ ?
O r do you think he will hav e mercy on others and
not o n you ? But are you not sinners ? A nd did not Jesus
Christ come into the world to s av e sinners If you s ay you a r e
the chief of sinners I answer that will be no h inderance to your
salvation ; i n deed it will not if yo u lay hold on him by faith
R ead the evangelists and s ee how kindly he b ehaved to his dis
Go
tell
my
brethren
c i l e s who fled from and denie d him 3
p
says he He did n o t say Go tell those traitors 3 but Go tell
my brethren and P e t e r 3 a s though he had said Go tell my
brethren in general and poor P e te r in p a rticular that I am
risen O comfort his poor drooping heart tell him I am r e
co n c il e d to h i m 3 bid him weep no more so bitterly : for though
with oaths and curses he thrice denied me yet I have died for
his sins I am risen again fo r h i s j ustication 3 I freely forgive
him all T hus slow to anger and o f great kindness was ou r
all merciful High Priest A nd do you think he has changed his
n ature and forgets poor sinners now h e is exalted to the right
hand o f Go d ? N O he is the same yesterday to day and fo r
ever and sitteth there only to make intercession for us Come
then ye h arlots 3 com e ye publicans ; come ye most aban
do med of sinners come and believe o n Jesus Christ T hough
the whole world despise you and cast you out yet he will not
d isdain to take yo u up
0 amazing 0 innitely condes cending
love ! even yo u he will not b e ashamed to call his brethren
How will yo u es cape if you negle ct such a glorious o ffer o f sal
vation ? What would the damned spirits now in the prison of
hell giv e if Christ was so freely O ffered to t h eir souls
And
why are n o t we l ifting up our eyes in torments ? D oes any o n e
o u t of th i s great mult i tu d e dare s a
d
he
does
not
deserve
amna
y
tion ? If not why are we left an d others taken away by death ?
What is this but an instance of God s free gra ce and a sign o f
his good will towards us ? Let God s goodness lead us to r e
yo u
W H IT EF I E LD
S LI FE
p en t an c e ! 0 let
penting ! T hough
TI M E S
AN D
58 1
there be j oy in heaven over some o f you r e

we are in a e l d I am persuaded the blessed
angels are hovering n o w around us and do long as the hart
panteth after the water brooks to sing an anthem at your con
v ersion Blessed be God I hope their j oy will be fullle d
A n a wf ul s i l en ce appears amongst us I have good hope that
the words which the L ord has enabled me to speak in your ears
th i s day have n o t al together fallen to the ground Y our tears
and deep attention are an evidence that the Lor d Go d is
amongst us o f a truth Come ye Phar i sees come and see i n
spite of your fanatical rage and fury the L ord Jesus is getting
himself the victory A nd brethren I speak the truth in Christ
I lie not 3 i f o n e soul O f you by the blessing o f God be brought
to think savingly o f Je sus Christ th i s day I care not if my
e nemies were permitted to carry me to prison and put my feet
fast in the stocks as soon as I have delivered this serm o n
Brethren my heart s desire an d prayer to God is that yo u may
b e saved F or this cause I follo w my Master wit h out the camp
I care not h o w much of his sacred reproach I b ear so that some
I rej oice
o f you be converted fro m the errors o f your ways
yea and I will rej oice Y e men ye devils do your wo r s t the
Lord who sent will support me A nd when Christ who is ou r
life and whom I have now been prea ching shall appear I also
together with his despised little ones shall appear with him in
glory A nd then what will yo u think o f Christ
I know wha t
you will think of him Yo u will think him t o be the fairest
a mong ten thousand : you will t h en think and feel him to be a
j ust and s i n
avenging Judge Be ye t hen persuaded t o kiss
him lest he b e angry and so you b e banished fo r ever fro m the
presence o f the Lord B ehold I come to you as the angel did
to L o t
F lee flee fo r your lives ; haste linger no longer in
your spiritual Sodom for otherwise you will be eternally d e
stroyed N umbers n o doubt there are amo n gst yo u that may
regard me no more than Lot s son s i n law regarded him I am
persuaded I seem to some o f you as o n e that mocketh : but I
speak the truth in Christ I lie not 3 as sure as re a n d brimstone
was rained from the L ord o u t of heaven to destroy Sodom and
Gomorrah so surely at the great day shall the vials of God s
,
5 82
W H IT E F I E LD
S LI FE A N D
Ti
mE s
wrat h b e poured o n you if you do not think seriously o f and act

agreeably to the gospel o f the Lord s Christ Behold I have
told you before 3 and I pray God all you that forget him may
seriously think o f what h a s b een said before he pluck you away
and there be none to deliver you

CH R IST LE S S S I N NE RS
My friends I trust I feel somewhat of
a sense o f God s distinguishing lov e upon my heart 3 t herefore
I must diver t a little fro m congratulating believ ers to invite
poor Christless sinners to come to him and accept o f his right
A las my heart almos t bleeds !
eo u s n e s s that they may hav e life
What a multitud e o f precious souls are now b efore me ! how
shortly mus t all b e ushered into eternity ! and yet 0 cutting
t hought ! w as Go d now to require all your soul s how fe w compa
r at i v e l y speaking coul d really s ay T h e Lord o ur righteousness !
An d think you 0 s i n n e r s that yo u will be able to stand in
the day o f j udgment i f Christ be n o t your righteousness N o ;
that alone i s the wedding garment in which you must appear
O Christless sinners I am distressed for you the desires o f my
soul are enlarged O h that this may b e an accepted time that
the Lord may b e your righteousness ! F o r whither would yo u
ee if death should nd you naked Indeed there is no hiding
yourselves from h i s presence T h e pitiful g leaves of your own
righteousness will not cover your nak edness when Go d shall
call you to stand before him A dam found them i ne ffe ctual
and s o will yo u O think o f death ! 0 th i nk o f j u d gment !
Y et a little while a n d t i me shall b e no more ; and then what
will become of you if the Lord be not your r i ghteousness ?
T hink you that Christ will spare yo u ? N o he that forme d yo u
will have no mercy o n yo u If you are n o t of Christ i f Chris t
be n o t your righteousness Christ himself shall pronounce you
damned A nd can you bear to think o f being damned by Christ ?
Can you bear to hear the Lord Jesus say to you D epart from
me ye cursed i nto everlasting re prepared for the devil and
h i s angels ?
C an you live think you in everlasting burnings ?
Is your es h brass and your bones iron ? what if they are ? hell
re that re prepared for the devil and h i s angel s will heat
them through and through A nd can you b e a r to depart from
C h rist ? O h that he art pier c ing t h ough t Ask those holy souls
,
WH I T E F I E L D
LI F E
TI M E S
AN D
5 83
who are at any time bewailing an absent God who walk in dark
ness and see no light though but a few days or hours 3 ask them
wh at it is to lose a sight and presence o f Christ ? See how they
seek him sorrowing and go mourning after him all the day long !
A nd if it is so dreadful t o lose the s ensible presence o f Christ
only for a day what must it be to be banished from him t o all
eternity
But thus it mus t be if Christ be n o t your righteousness
for God s j ustice must be satised 3 a n d unless Christ s right
e o u s n e s s i s imputed and appl i e d to y o u here you must hereafter
be satisfying the divine j ustice in hell torments eternally ; nay
Christ hi m self shall condemn you to that place O f torment A nd
how cutting is that thought ! Methinks I see poor trembling
Christless wretches standing before the bar o f God crying o u t
Lord if we must b e damned let some angel o r some archangel
pronounce the d am n a t o r j, sentence but all in vain Christ
himself shall pronounce the irrevocable sentence Knowing
therefore the terrors o f the Lord let me persuade you to close
with Christ and never rest till yo u can s ay T h e Lord our
righteousness
Who knows but the Lord may hav e mercy
on nay abundantly pardon yo u Beg o f Go d to g i ve yo u fa i th 3
and if the L ord give you that yo u w ill by i t receive Chr i st
with his righteousness and his all Yo u need n o t fear the great
ness o r number of your sins F or are you sinners ? s o am I
A re you the chief of sinners ? s o am I A re you backsl i ding
sinners ? s o am I A nd yet the Lord (for ever a d ored b e h i s
rich free and sovereign grace ) the L ord is my righteousness
C ome then 0 you ng men who (as I a cte d once myself) are play
i n g the prodigal and wandering away afar o ff from your heavenly
F ather s house come home come home and leave your swine s
trough F eed no longer on the husks of sensual del i ghts : fo r
Christ s sake arise and come home ! your heavenly F ather n o w
calls you See yonder the best robe even the righteousness of
his d ear Son awa i ts you See it view it again and again Con
sider at how dear a rate it was purchased even by the blood of God
Consider what great need you have o f it Y ou are lost undone
damned for ever without it Come then poor guilty prodigals
come home : indeed I will not like the elder brother in t h e
,
WH I TE F I E L D
5 84
LI FE A ND T IM E S
gospel be a n gry ; no I will rej oice with the angels in heaven

A n d oh that Go d wo ul d n o w bow the heavens and come down
D escend 0 Son o f Go d d es cen d ; and as thou hast shown in m e
such mercy 0 let thy blessed Spir i t apply thy righteousness to
some young prodigals now before thee and clo t he their naked
souls with thy best robe !
P L E A D I N GS
My text is introduced in an awful m anner
V erily I s a y unto yo u 3 and what Jesus said then he says n o w to
you and to me and to as many as sit under a prea ched gospel
and to as many as the Lord o u r Go d shall call L e t me exhort
y o u to s e e whether ye are converted 3 whether such a great and
alm i ghty change has passe d upon any o f your souls A s I told
y o u before s o I t ell you again ye all hope to go t o heaven and
I pray Go d Alm i ghty ye may b e all there When I s e e such a
congregation as this i f my heart is in a proper frame I feel
myself re a dy to lay down my life to b e i nstrumental only to
save o n e soul It makes my heart bleed within me it makes
me sometimes most unwilling to preach lest that word that I
hope will do goo d may increase the damnation o f any and per
haps o f a great part o f the aud i tory through their own unbelief
Giv e me leave to deal faithfully w ith your souls I have your
dead warrant in my hand : Christ has sai d it Jesus will stand
to it ; it is like the laws o f the Me d es and Persians it altereth
not Hark O man ! hark O woman ! he that hath ears to
hear wh a t the L ord Jesus Chr i st says Verily I s ay unto you
E xcept ye b e converted a n d be come a s littl e children y e shall
not enter into the kingdom o f heaven
T hough this i s Satur
day night and ye are now preparing fo r the sabbath for wha t
o u know you may yet never liv e to s e e the sabbath
Y
ou
y
have h a d awful proofs o f this lately 3 a woman died but yester
day a man died the day before another was killed by some
thing that fell from a house and it may be in twenty four hours
more many of yo u may b e carried into an unalterable state
N o w then for God s sake fo r your own souls sake if ye have
a m ind to dwell with God and cannot bear the thought o f
dwelling in everlasting burning before I go an y further silently
put up o n e prayer o r s ay Amen to the prayer I would put i n
your m ouths 3 Lord search me and try me 3 Lord examine
,
my heart and let my conscience speak ; 0 let me know whe

ther I am converted or not ! What say ye my dear hearers ?
what s ay ye my fello w sinners what say ye my guilty brethren ?
H a s Go d by his blesse d Spirit wrought such a change in your
hearts ? I do not a sk yo u whether Go d h as ma d e you angels ?
that I know will never be 3 I only a s k yo u whether ye have
any well grounded hope to think that God h as made you new
creatures in Christ Jesus ? s o renewed and change d your na
tures that yo u can say I humbly h Op e that as to the habitual
temper and tend ency o f my m i n d that my heart is free from
wickedness ? I have a husband I hav e a wife I have also ch il
dren I keep a s h Op I mind my business 3 but I love these crea
tures fo r God s sake and do every thing for Christ and if God
was now to call me away according to the habitual temper o f
my mind I can s a y L or d I am ready ; and however I love the
creatures I hope I can s ay Who m have I in heaven but thee ?
whom have I in heaven O m y God and my dear R e d eemer
that I desire in comparison o f thee
C an you thank Go d fo r
the creatures and s ay at the same time these are not my
Chris t ? I speak in plain language you kn ow my wa y of p r e a ch
i ng : I do not want to play t h e orator I do not want to b e
counted a s cholar 3 I want to speak s o as I may reach poor peo
ple s hearts What s ay ye my dear hearers ? A re ye sens i ble
o f your weakness
D o ye feel that ye are poor m i serable blind
and naked by nature ? D o ye give up your hearts your a ffe c
tions your wills your understanding to be gui d e d by the Spirit
of Go d as a little child gives up its hand to b e guided by its
?
parent A re ye little i n your o wn eyes D o ye think meanly Of
?
yourselves A nd do yo u want to learn something new every
day ? I ment i on these marks because I am apt to bel i eve they
are more adapted to a great ma n y o f your capacities A great
many of you have not that flowing of a ffection ye sometimes
had therefore ye are for giving up all your evidences a n d
mak i ng way for the devil s coming into your heart Yo u are
not brought up to the mount as ye used to be therefore ye co n
c l u d e ye have no grace at all
But if the Lord Jesus Chr i st
has empt i ed thee and humbled thee if he i s giving thee to s e e
and know that thou art nothing ; though thou art not grow i ng
,
W H IT E F I E LD
5 86
upward thou art growing downward 3 and though thou hast n o t

s o much o y yet thy heart is emptying to be more abundantly
j
replen i shed by and by
T his m ay be esteemed as enthusiasm and m adness and as a
design to undermine the established church N o ; Go d i s my
j udge I should rej oice to s e e all the world adhere to her A rti
cles 3 I should rej oice to see the ministers o f the church of
E ngland preach up those very A rticles they have subscribed t o 3
but those ministers who do preach up the A rticles are esteem
ed a s madmen enthusiasts s chismatics and underm i ners o f the
establ i shed church ; and though they say these things o f me
blessed be Go d they are without foundation My d ear bre
t h r e n I am a friend t o her A rticles I am a friend to her Homi
l i es I e m a friend to her Liturgy ; an d i f they did n o t thrust
me o u t of their churches I would rea d them every day : but I
d o n o t conne the Spirit o f God there 3 fo r I say it again I
love all that lov e the Lord Jesus Christ and e steem h i m my
brother my friend my spouse 3 aye my v ery soul is knit to
that person T h e spiri t o f perse cution wil l never indeed it will
never make any to lov e J esus Christ T h e Pharisees m ake this
to b e m adness s o much a s to mention persecution in a christian
co untry ; but there is as much the spirit o f perse cution now in
the w orld as ever there was their will is as great but blessed
b e Go d they w ant the power 3 otherwise h o w soon would they
s end m e to prison m ake my feet fast in the stocks yea would
think they did God service in killing me and would rej oice to
take away my life

M O U N T MO R I A H
T hey came to the place o f which God
had told Abraham H e built an altar there and laid t h e wo od
in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him o n the altar
upon the wood
A nd here let u s paus e awhile and by fai t h take a view o f
the place where the father has laid him I doub t not but the
blessed a n gels hovered round the altar and sang Glory b e to
Go d in the highest fo r giving such faith to man
Come all
ye tend er hearte d parents who know what it i s to look over a
d y i ng child : fancy that you s a w the altar erected before you
a n d the wood la i d in order
and the belov e d Isaac bound upon
,
W H I T EF I E LD
S LI FE A N D TI ME S
5 87
it : fancy that you saw the aged parent standing by weeping

F or why m ay we not suppose that A braham wept since Jesus
himself wept at the grave o f Lazarus ? O h what pio u s endear
ing expressions p assed now a l ternately between the father and
the s o n ! Josephus records a pathetic speech made by each
whether genuine I know not : but meth i nks I s e e the tears
trickle down the patriarch A braham s cheek s ; and out of the
abundance of the heart he cries A d ieu ad i eu my s o n 3 the
Lord gave thee to me and the L or d calls the e aw ay ; blessed
b e the name of the L ord : a d i eu my Isaac my only s on whom
I love as my o wn soul ; adieu ad i eu
I s e e I saac a t the sa m e
time meekly resigning himself into his heavenly F ather s hands
and praying to the Most High to strengthen his earthly parent
to strike the stroke But why do I attempt to describe what
either s o n or fa ther felt It is impossible : we may indeed form
some faint idea of b u t shall never fully comprehend it t ill we
come and sit down with them in the kingdom o f heaven and
hear them tell t h e pleasing story over again H asten O L or d
that blessed time ! 0 let thy kingdom come I s e e your hearts
a ffe cted I s e e your eyes weep A nd indeed who can refrain
weeping at the relation o f such a story ? But behold I show
hid
under
the
sacrice
o u a mystery
o f A braham s only s o n
y
which unless your hearts are hardened must cause you to weep
tears o f love and that plentifully t o o I would willingly hope
you even prevent me here and are ready to say It is the love
o f Go d in giving Jesus Christ to die for o ur sins
P E TER
Spiritual sloth as well as spiritual pride helped to
throw this apostle down T h e Sun that glorious Sun O f r i ght
Satan
e o u s n es s was n o w about to enter into his last e cl i pse
who had left him for a season or till the season o f his passion
is now t b e permitted to bruise his heel again T his is his
hour an i n ow the powers o f darkness summon and exert their
strongest and united e fforts A hymn is a prelude to his d read
ful passion F rom the communion table the Saviour retires to
the garden A horrible dread and inexpressible load of s o r
r o w b egins to overwhel m and weigh d own his innocent soul
See how he falters ! Se e
H i s body can scarcely sustain it
how his hands han g down and his knees wax feeble under the
.
588
W H IT EF I E LD
S LIFE
AN D
TI M E S
amazing pressure
He is a fflicted and oppressed indeed Se e
s e e 0 my soul how he sweats
B u t what is that which I s e e ?
B L O O Dd r op s of bloodg r ea t drops of blood falling to the
ground A las was ever sorro w like unto this sorrow
H AR K
what is that I hear ? O h dolorous complaint
F ather if it b e
possible let this cup pass from m e
H A R K ! he speak s again
A m azing ! the Creator complains to the creature ; My soul is
exceeding sorrowful even unto death tarry yo u here and watch
with me
A nd now he retires once more B u t s e e h o w his
agony increases hark ! h o w he prays and that too yet more
earnestly : F ather if it b e poss i ble let this cup pass fro m
me
A nd will his heavenly F ather leave h im comfortless ?
No
A n angel (0 happy h i ghly favoured angel is sent from
heaven to strengthen him But where is Peter all this while
We are tol d that the holy Jesus took him with James and
John into the garden S urely he will n o t leav e his Lord in
such deep distress ! What is he doing ? I blush to answer
Alas ! he is sleeping : nay though awakened once by his a g o
Lord with a Simon Peter sleepest t hou ? what !
n i z i ng
couldst thou not watch with me o n e hour ? yet his eyes not
withstanding his profession o f constancy and care are heavy
with sleep L ord what is man
Wor ks
,
I have now nished my portraiture o f Whiteeld

aware not ne 3 but it is faithful s o far as I know
,
T HE
B UNG AY
R I N TE D
END
BY J
AN D C
C H I L DS
It is I am
,
WO RKS
NE W AND VAL UABL E
OF
L IST
P U BL I SHE D
GE OR GE V I RTU E , L ONDON
BY
In
p o s t 4to
r i ch l y
gi
lt
awr en ce.
L E T T E R S F R O M U D E R A B R I D GE , AN D
yi reN P WI LLI S E sq auth o r o f C anadian S cenery P encil lings by t h e Way
& c Wi th T en E n g ravin g s and a Po r t rait o f t he A u t h o r en g raved by L e wi s
.
P OE MS
I nk lings o f Ad
after a P ai n ti n g
.
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V o lumes 4 to cl o th gi l t 3 3
AM E R I C AN SC E N E R Y ;
AN D R I V E R I LL U S T R A T IO N S O F T R AN SAT L AN T I C NA T U R E
r1 9
mp i i
S plend i d V i e ws and M ap (w ith Po rtrait o f M r Bar t let t ) fr o m D raw in g s by W H Bartlet
d o n S t eel in the rst s t yle o f t he A r t ; wi th D es c rip t ive L e tt er press o f ea c h V ie w b N
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In T wo
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VI LLI s , E s q
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I U T AT ED EDITIO N O F T HE S C O TTI S H C HI EFS

In
Vo umes demy
beau tifully printed and nea tly d o ne up i cl oth 1 I S
T H E SC O T T ISH CHI E F S
W i th a N w P reface an d N ot es b y t he A u t h o r and 1 9 S c en i c I llus tra t i o n
y M I SS J AN P
gn tt T t le P a g es and P o r trai t b y H arl o we
A NEW AND LL S R
T wo
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8vo
,
OR T E R
Three V o lumes p o s t 8 cl oth 1 1 1 6d

C I T Y O F T H E MAGYA R ;
I N S T I UT IO N S By M I SS P ARDO au th o r o f T he C i ty o f the S ul t an
In
Th e
THE
UN G AR Y
AN D H E R
T
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J P S M I D D H o mer to n R J S R M A N S urrey C hapel R J O N E Y L eeds
J H ARR I S D D (auth o o f
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W B C OLLY R D D P e c k
ham
M amm o n )
J D A V I S Brist o l
J A J A M S Birmingham I S A M U L R A N S O M H ackney
F A C x L L D H ackney
G C OLL I S O N D D H ackney
J A M S P AR S O N S Y o rk
J E G OOD Go sp o rt
L S LL D L iverp oo l
T B INN Y W eigh H o use
G L GG Brist o l
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J O S I A P RA V icar o f S t
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T H E C O I I A GL R S I R I E IND
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principal S cenes o f o ur S avi o ur s M inistry T ranslated fr o m the F rench o f M o ns i eur A lph o ns
th
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P
L amartine M ember o f the F rench A cademy b y T
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T he series c o mprises t he fo ll owing Wo rks
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f Ch r i t i i ty
A ppend i x c o ntaining an A n lysis o f the
the U nreas o nableness o f prescr i bing t o o ther
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M en s F aith and the I iqui ty o f persecutin g
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J ohn P ye S mith D D
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A cc o unt o f P aganism under t h F irs t C hristian B hop H o
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lm
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L ife o f the A uth o r by the R
W J o ne
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P
I llu st a t e d b y the H istoric al C hr o n o l o gi cal an d Ge ne al o gi c
w E dition r e is e d b R
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a L i fe of th e A uth or by R O
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B U N Y AN S P I L GR I M S PR O GR E S S
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W i th
la t e L ord B ish op of W orc e st e r With P r e fa tor y Remark s b y t
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T H E B A S KE T O F F L O WE R S ;
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b y t h e e ditor of
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W H A T I S AN E GG W OR TH ?
the B le ssin g s of P ro id e nc e A T al e for Chi l d ren W ith 8 I ll ustr a ti ons
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V I L L A GE D I A L O GU E S
F a r me r L itt le w orth T h o ma s N e w ma n R
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A M T h ir t y th i r d E dition w ith e ntirely N w D al o gue s a nd E n la r geme nts
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I n T w o V o lume s
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P EA R LS O F GR E A T P R I C E ;
Cha r a ct e rs a n d T h o ugh ts s ele ct e d fro m t he W o r k s of t he
,
I n royal 1 8m o cl oth le tt e r e d
B E DE LL
TH Y WILL BE D ON E ;
th e L e p e r of A ost a A T ale of R e si gn a tion With I ll ustr a tions
,
I n 1 6m o c l oth gi l t
5.
I n 32m o cl oth gi l t
the s ame A u h or i n fool sc a p 8 cl oth 6

T H E R E LI GI O U S W A R S OF F RAN C E
W i th F rontisp ie ce an d Vign e tte
Access i on f H e n ry II to the P ea c e f V er ins
By
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T I M E S

born I n Gloucestershire in the month of D ecember

(she died in D e cember

in the 7 1 s t year o f her age ) and

was born in a manger belonging to an inn

T his amiable solicitude to realize his mother s expectations

inveter ate opposition to t h e truth contributed no doubt to

moderate his natural impatience towards others Th e following

Ofte n S in ce and do now bless and praise God

E very candid mind must b e cons cious of seeing i t s elf in

makest me to posses s the iniquities o f my youth (J ob xiii

same purpose as R ousseau s unblushing Confessions I S hould

merge the particulars in some general C harge o f corruption :

is S hocking to decency and modesty

the minister s reading prayers & c

fold) I remember were books of d evot i on

before the corporation

I was obl i ged to lay it down again

O f course th is progress in vice was gradual

impaired h is taste for education

c ommon d r a wer for nigh a year and a h alf

length t h e resentment gr ew to such a height that my pr oud

I went to s e e my elder brother then settled in Bristol

unto me insensibly wore o ff my mind But God would let n o

in my book I learned much faster than I d i d before

in a fair way Of being as infamous as the worst of them

inuence upon him

t o make S port and walk abou t

was up on t h e brink of ruin He gave me such a d istaste o f their

them to my master who soon put a stop to their proceedings

T his improvement o f character

deeply convicted me o f hypocrisy

woman to whom I told it said Geor g e t h i s i s a ca l l fr om God

pursuits of young men than more rational means T here is to

in a round O f duties r e cei v

contrary to all expectation admitted me serv i tor immediately

h ad elapsed sin ce the expulsion of the nonconformist s the I S I S

the tree o f life shrivelled int o a tree O f mere human knowledge

had studi ed t h e a n a l ogy between it and the discipline O f the

piety reckoned as the small dust in the balance when we i gh

Such Whiteeld found the general character o f the O xford

M o r e h on our e d i n t h e b r each , t h an th e ob s er van c e

a noble enterprise certainly but undertaken by them

and F riday from twelve to on e on the Passion

met h odism that i t s natural inuence upon the s us c ep

vail they let me alone as a S ingular Odd fellow

soul at that time was athirst fo r some spiritual friends to lift

till then did I know that I must be a new creature

Calvary and with h i s anxiety to be born again would have

them that b elieve o n his name

interfere d with the y oung c onvert

and inoculated him with the vi r us of legality and quietism

intimacy well n i gh prove d fatal to h i s l i fe and to his

s c arce creep up stairs I was obliged to inform my kind tu tor o f

my condition who immediately sent fo r a physician to me

T hese habits soon a ffected his college exercises al so

man locked up in iron armour

that I could n o t act otherw i se T hen at length he said he

have brought him water from the well O f Bethlehem at any

and S hown what was in his heart

them in the least

rule may b e the former par t i s pitiable : all Wh i t e el d s

externals included many o f the very habits which had n u