George Whitefield: A Biography, with special reference to his labors in America

Some time before this, the people of Boston had proposed to build for Whitefield "the largest place of worship ever seen in America," in which he should regularly preach; but, as usual, he feared this plan would abridge his liberty of itinerating: he thanked them for their offer, but decidedly declined to accept it. As his bodily strength increased, he began to move southward, and went through Rhode Island and Connecticut, preaching to thousands generally twice a day. He says, "Though there was much smoke, yet every day I had more and more convincing proof that a blessed gospel fire had been kindled in the hearts both of ministers and people."

About this time occurred a fact which delightfully shows how the enemies of this admirable man were often converted into friends. A colored trumpeter belonging to the English army resolved to interrupt him while delivering a sermon in the open air. For this purpose he went to the field, carrying his trumpet with him, intending to blow it with all his might about the middle of the sermon. He took his station in front of the minister, and at no great distance from him. The crowd became very great, and those who were towards the extremity pressed forward, that they might hear more distinctly, and caused such a pressure where the poor trumpeter stood, that he found it impossible at the time when he intended to blow his trumpet, to raise the arm which held it, by which means he was kept within the sound of the gospel as effectually as if he had been chained to the spot. In a short time his attention was powerfully arrested, and he became so deeply affected by the statements of the preacher, that he was seized with all the agonies of despair, and was carried to a house in the neighborhood. After the service, he was visited by Mr. Whitefield, who gave him suitable counsels, and from that time the trumpeter became a greatly altered man. So true is it in reference to the omnipotent and gracious Being,

"Hearts base as hell he can control,

And spread new powers throughout the whole."

While preaching at Boston, he was delighted to observe that the sheriff, who had heretofore been the leader of the persecution against him, now began to hear him preach; and his pleasure was vastly increased, when he saw the crowds come around him to inquire as to their highest interests.

Among these crowds was a somewhat remarkable gentleman of that city. He was a man of ready wit and racy humor, who delighted in preaching over a bottle to his ungodly companions. He went to hear Whitefield, that he might be furnished with matter for a "tavern harangue." When he had heard enough of the sermon for his purpose, he endeavored to quit the church for the inn, but "found his endeavors to get out fruitless, he was so pent up." While thus fixed, and waiting for "fresh matter of ridicule," the truth took possession of his heart. That night he went to Mr. Prince full of terror, and sought an introduction to ask pardon of the preacher. Whitefield says of him, "By the paleness, pensiveness, and horror of 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,' he said, 'you cannot when I tell you all.' I then asked him to sit down; and judging that he had sufficiently felt the lash of the law, I preached the gospel to him." This, with other remarkable conversions, gave increasing energy and influence to his preaching in Boston. "My bodily strength," he says, "is recovered, and my soul more than ever in love with a crucified Jesus."

Another illustration may also be here given of the meekness and gentleness which usually characterized our evangelist in his intercourse with his brethren. In his later visits to New England, it was Whitefield's usual practice to spend a few days with Dr. Hopkins. On one of these occasions, after preaching for the doctor on the Sabbath, the next day he proposed a ride into the country for exercise. During the ride, Whitefield spoke with regret of the views of their "good brother Edwards on the subject of the witness of the Holy Spirit." "Ah," asked Dr. Hopkins, "and what is the error?" Here Whitefield made a long pause; and Hopkins continued the conversation: "Do you believe, Mr. Whitefield, that the witness of the Spirit is a direct communication from God?" "I cannot say that I do," was the reply. "Well, do you believe that Christians have any other witness of the Spirit than that afforded by the testimony of their own holy affections?" "I cannot say that I do," Mr. Whitefield again replied. "Do you believe it to be any thing more or less," continued Hopkins, "than the Spirit producing in the heart the gracious exercises of repentance, faith, etc.?" "No, that is precisely my view of it," said Whitefield. "And that is precisely the view of good father Edwards," pleasantly returned Dr. Hopkins. Whitefield frankly acknowledged his error, and rejoiced that there was no disagreement on the subject.

CHAPTER X.
FROM HIS LEAVING NEW ENGLAND TILL HIS ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND – LABORS IN THE MIDDLE AND SOUTHERN STATES – THE BERMUDAS.
1745-1748

Leaving New England, Whitefield proceeded first to New York, where he preached as he had formerly done, and found that the seed sown in past days had produced much fruit. Proceeding still southward, on his way towards Philadelphia, arriving in New Jersey, he says, "I had the pleasure of preaching by an interpreter to some converted Indians, and of seeing nearly fifty young ones in one school, near Freehold, learning the Assembly's Catechism." A blessed awakening had before this time been begun and carried on among the Delaware Indians, by the ministry of David Brainerd; no such work had been heard of since the days of the apostolic Eliot in New England.

Arriving in Philadelphia, Whitefield was rejoiced to find that his friend Gilbert Tennent was still blessed with success in his labors. Many, he says, were under "soul-sickness," and Tennent's health suffered much with walking from place to place to see them. The gentlemen connected with the new house in which Tennent preached, were, as well as Tennent himself, desirous of securing at least a portion of Whitefield's labors, and offered him eight hundred pounds a year, if he would become their pastor, and labor with them six months in the year, travelling the other six months wherever he thought proper. He thanked them, but declined.

Not unfrequently have we been told by frigid critics of the inferior character of Whitefield's printed sermons. But have they not looked too much for the beauties of style, and overlooked the simple energy of their scriptural truths? Even these printed sermons have, under God, accomplished wonders. In the year 1743, a young gentleman from Scotland, then residing at Hanover, in Virginia, had obtained a volume of Whitefield's sermons preached in Glasgow, and taken in shorthand, which, after a gentleman of Hanover, named Hunt, the father of a distinguished Presbyterian minister of that name, had studied with great personal benefit, he invited his neighbors to visit his house to hear read. By their plainness and fervor, attended with the power of God, not a few became convinced of their lost condition as sinners, and anxiously inquired the way of salvation. The feelings of many were powerfully excited, and they could not forbear bitter and violent weeping. The intelligence spread, curiosity prompted the desire of many others to attend such remarkable services; and one and another begged for admission, till the houses were crowded. Numbers were pricked to the heart; the word of God became quick and powerful; and, "What shall we do?" was the general cry. What to do or say the principal leaders knew not. They themselves had been led by a still small voice, they hardly knew how, to an acquaintance with the truth; but now the Lord was speaking as on mount Sinai, with a voice of thunder; and sinners, like that mountain itself, trembled. It was not long before Christians had the happiness to see a goodly number healed by the same word that had wounded them, and brought to rejoice in Christ, and his great salvation. "My dwelling-place," said Mr. Morris, one of their number, "was at length too small to contain the people, whereupon we determined to build a meeting-house merely for reading. And having never been used to social prayer, none of us durst attempt it." This reading-house, as it was called, was followed by others of like character, and the number of attendants and the power of divine influence were much increased. Mr. Morris, as the report spread, was invited to several places at a distance to read these sermons. The phrase, "Morris' reading-house," has come down by tradition to the present age, as well as important details of the opposition of the magistracy and other classes, who sought, but in vain, to stop the progress of the work.

Such was the origin of the Presbyterian church at Hanover, where, in after-days, William Robinson and President Davies accomplished such mighty triumphs, and where the sacred cause still flourishes.

Whitefield does not seem to have been made acquainted with these facts till he now arrived in the colony, and saw the happy effects which had been produced by the labors of the Rev. Messrs. Robinson, Tennent, Blair, and others. Of the visit of Whitefield among them, one of them writes, "Mr. Whitefield came and preached four or five days in these parts, which was the happy means of giving us further encouragement, and engaging others to the Lord, especially among the church people, who received his doctrine more readily than they would from ministers of the Presbyterian denomination." We may add here, that in 1747 there were four houses of worship in and around Hanover, which had sprung from the "mustard-seed" of the sermons taken in shorthand from Whitefield's lips at Glasgow.

Among the converts in the south who met Whitefield, was Isaac Oliver, who was both deaf and dumb, and had been so from his birth. Notwithstanding these great disadvantages, he could both feel and evince his strong feelings by the most significant and expressive signs. He could, for instance, so represent the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, as to be understood by every one; and among his own friends he could converse about the love of Christ in the language of signs, till he was transported in rapture and dissolved in tears. He was much beloved for his eminent piety.

Whitefield had not, during any portion of this time, forgotten Bethesda. The public had warmly sustained it, and he now went forward to see to its affairs, and to add to the orphan-house a Latin school, intending, indeed, before a long time to found a college.

The following account of the orphan-house in 1746, was written by Mr. Whitefield in the form of a letter to a friend, and published as a small pamphlet. We transcribe it from "White's Historical Collections of Georgia," published in 1854:

"Provide things honest in the sight of all men." – Rom. 12:17

"Bethesda, in Georgia, March 21, 1745-6.

"Some have thought that the erecting such a building was only the produce of my own brain; but they are much mistaken; for it was first proposed to me by my dear friend the Rev. Mr. Charles Wesley, who, with his excellency General Oglethorpe, had concerted a scheme for carrying on such a design before I had any thoughts of going abroad myself. It was natural to think that, as the government intended this province for the refuge and support of many of our poor countrymen, numbers of such adventurers must necessarily be taken off, by being exposed to the hardships which unavoidably attend a new settlement. I thought it, therefore, a noble design in the general to erect a house for fatherless children; and believing that such a provision for orphans would be some inducement with many to come over, I fell in with the design, when mentioned to me by my friend, and was resolved, in the strength of God, to prosecute it with all my might. This was mentioned to the honorable trustees. They took it kindly at my hands, and wrote to the bishop of Bath and Wells for leave for me to preach a charity sermon on this occasion in the Abbey church. This was granted, and I accordingly began immediately to compose a suitable discourse. But knowing that my first stay in Georgia would necessarily be short, on account of my returning again to take priest's orders, I thought it most prudent first to go and see for myself, and defer prosecuting the scheme till I came home… When I came to Georgia, I found many poor orphans, who, though taken notice of by the honorable trustees, yet, through the neglect of persons under them, were in miserable circumstances. For want of a house to bring them up in, the poor little ones were tabled out here and there; others were at hard services, and likely to have no education at all.

"Upon seeing this, and finding that his Majesty and Parliament had the interest of the colony much at heart, I thought I could not better show my regard to God and my country than by getting a house and land for these children, where they might learn to labor, read, and write, and at the same time be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Accordingly, at my return to England, in the year 1738, to take priest's orders, I applied to the honorable society for a grant of five hundred acres of land, and laid myself under an obligation to build a house upon it, and to receive from time to time as many orphans as the land and stock would maintain. As I had always acted like a clergyman of the church of England, having preached in a good part of the London churches, and but a few months before collected near a thousand pounds sterling for the children belonging to the charity schools in London and Westminster, it was natural to think that I might now have the use at least of some of these churches to preach in for the orphans hereafter more immediately to be committed to my care. But by the time I had taken priest's orders, the spirit of the clergy began to be much imbittered. Churches were gradually denied me, and I must let this good design drop, and thousands, and I might add ten thousands, go without hearing the word of God, or preach in the fields. Indeed, two churches, one in London, namely, Spitalfields, and one in Bristol, namely, St. Philip's and Jacob, were lent me on this occasion, but those were all. I collected for the orphan-house in Moorfields two hundred and fifty pounds one Sabbath-day morning, twenty-two pounds of which were in copper. In the afternoon I collected again at Kennington Common, and continued to do so at most of the places where I preached. Besides this, two or three of the bishops, and several persons of distinction contributed, until at length, having gotten about a thousand and ten pounds, I gave over collecting, and went with what I had to Georgia. At that time multitudes offered to accompany me; but I chose to take over only a surgeon and a few more of both sexes, that I thought would be useful in carrying on my design. My dear fellow-traveller William Seward, Esq., also joined with them. Our first voyage was to Philadelphia, where I was willing to go for the sake of laying in provision. I laid out in London a good part of the thousand pounds for goods, and got as much by them in Philadelphia as nearly defrayed the families' expenses of coming over. Here God blessed my ministry daily…

"January following, 1739, I met my family at Georgia, and being unwilling to lose any time, I hired a large house, and took in all the orphans I could find in the colony. A great many also of the town's children came to school gratis, and many poor people that could not maintain their children, upon application, had leave given them to send their little ones for a month or two, or more as they could spare them, till at length my family consisted of between sixty and seventy. Most of the orphans were in poor case, and three or four almost eaten up with lice. I likewise erected an infirmary, in which many sick people were cured and taken care of gratis. I have now by me a list of upwards of a hundred and thirty patients, which were under the surgeon's hands, exclusive of my own private family. About March I began the great house, having only about one hundred and fifty pounds in cash. I called it Bethesda, because I hoped it would be a house of mercy to many souls. Many boys have been put out to trades, and many girls put out to service. I had the pleasure, the other day, to see three boys work at the house in which they were bred, one of them out of his time, a journeyman, and the others serving under their masters. One that I brought from New England is handsomely settled in Carolina; and another from Philadelphia is married, and lives very comfortably in Savannah. We have lately begun to use the plough, and next year I hope to have many acres of good oats and barley. We have nearly twenty sheep and lambs, fifty head of cattle, and seven horses. We hope to kill a thousand weight of pork this season. Our garden is very beautiful, furnishes us with all sorts of greens, etc., etc. We have plenty of milk, eggs, poultry, and make a good deal of butter weekly. A good quantity of wool and cotton have been given me, and we hope to have sufficient spun and wove for the next winter's clothing. The family now consists of twenty-six persons. Two of the orphan boys are blind, one is little better than an idiot. I have two women to take care of the household work, and two men and three boys employed about the plantation and cattle. A set of Dutch servants has been lately sent over. The magistrates were pleased to give me two; and I took in a poor widow, aged near seventy, whom nobody else cared to have. A valuable young man from New England is my schoolmaster, and in my absence performs duty in the family. On Sabbaths, the grown people attend on public worship at Savannah, or at White Bluff, a village near Bethesda, where a Dutch minister officiates. The house is a noble, commodious building, and every thing sweetly adapted for bringing up youth. Georgia is very healthy; not above one, and that a little child, has died out of our family since it removed to Bethesda."

A tabular statement follows this account, giving full particulars of the eighty-six children who to that period had been admitted into the establishment.

Old newspapers, as daguerreotyping the facts, and even the feelings of any particular period, are sometimes invaluable. In New York, as everywhere else, Whitefield had his enemies, and many charges were brought against him. But that there were those who took a strongly favorable view of his character and conduct, is very clear from an extract we give from "The New York Post-Boy," of April, 1746: "Mr. Whitefield's excellent parts, fine elocution, and masterly address; his admirable talent of opening the Scriptures, and enforcing the most weighty subjects upon the conscience; his polite and serious behavior, his unaffected and superior piety, his prudence, humility, and catholic spirit, are things which must silence and disarm prejudice itself. By these qualifications of the orator, the divine, and the Christian, he has not only fixed himself deeper in the affections of his former friends, but greatly increased the number wherever he has preached; and made his way into the hearts of several who, till this visit, had said all the severe things against him that enmity itself seemed capable of."

From this period, this paper especially noticed the various movements of this apostolic man; his arrivals in the city, his engagements in it, his departures from it, and the places of his destination, were all given with the minutiæ with which even the movements of monarchs are recorded.

It was not without its use that the organs of the public thus expressed their high sense of his character. In 1745, suspicions were whispered abroad as to the entire integrity of this excellent man in the appropriation of the funds collected for Bethesda. But happily for all parties, the magistrates of Savannah published in the Philadelphia Gazette an affidavit, that they had carefully examined Mr. Whitefield's receipts and disbursements, and found that what he had collected in behalf of the orphans, had been honestly applied, and that besides, he had given considerably to them of his own property.

Having done what he could at Bethesda, feeling his health failing him, needing resources for his orphans, and urged on by his love of preaching, Whitefield was soon again in the field, far away from his home. In the autumn of 1746, we find many passages in his journals and letters like these, while in Maryland: "I trust the time for favoring this and the neighboring southern provinces is come. Everywhere, almost, the door is opened for preaching, great numbers flock to hear, and the power of an ascended Saviour attends the word. For it is surprising how the Lord causes prejudices to subside, and makes my former most bitter enemies to be at peace with me… Lately I have been in seven counties in Maryland, and preached with abundant success." At Charleston, South Carolina, he writes, January 1747, "The Lord Jesus is pleased to give me great access to multitudes of souls." A few weeks later, he writes from the same place, that Bethesda was never in a better condition; that he had opened a Latin school there during the winter, and that he hoped yet to see ministers furnished from Georgia.

In April, we again find him in Maryland, as he writes on the twenty-fifth of that month from Bohemia, in that province, and speaks of the success of Mr. Samuel, afterwards President Davies, in Virginia, but adds that a proclamation had been issued in that state against itinerants, so that he himself was shut out of it. In the middle of May he exults, "Maryland is yielding converts to the blessed Jesus. The gospel seems to be moving southward. The harvest is promising. The time of the singing birds is come;" and five days afterwards he says, "I have been now a three hundred miles' circuit in Maryland, and through one or two counties in Pennsylvania. Everywhere the people have a hearing ear, and I trust some have an obedient heart."

On the first of June we find him in Philadelphia, from whence he writes, "At present I have full work here. The congregations yesterday were large, and for this month past I have been preaching to thousands in different places." During the whole of this month his health was in a very critical state. Here we have a few sentences from his pen, as given on different days: "I am sick and well, as I used to be in England; but the Redeemer fills me with comfort. I am determined, in his strength, to die fighting… I have almost a continual burning fever. With great regret I have omitted preaching one night to oblige my friends, and purpose to do so once more, that they may not charge me with murdering myself. But I hope yet to die in the pulpit, or soon after I come out of it… Since my last, I have been several times on the verge of eternity. At present I am so weak that I cannot preach. It is hard work to be silent, but I must be tried every way."

Sickness did not interrupt Whitefield's labors, if he could move or preach at all. "I am determined," he says to Gilbert Tennent, "to die fighting, though it be on my stumps." He was soon after at New York, Newport, Portsmouth, and Boston. At New York he writes, "I am as willing to hunt for souls as ever. I am not weary of my work." On the next day he writes, "I have preached to a very large auditory, and do not find myself much worse for it." He did so again with success. He then says, "I shall go to Boston like an arrow out of a bow, if Jesus strengthen me. I am resolved to preach and work for Him until I can preach and work no more. I have been upon the water three or four days, and now eat like a sailor." He went on to Boston, where he heard of the sudden but joyful death of his venerable and excellent friend Dr. Colman. He adds, "My reception at Boston and elsewhere was like unto the first. Arrows of conviction fled and stuck fast. Congregations were larger than ever, and opposers' mouths were stopped."

After again making short visits to Philadelphia and Bohemia, Whitefield, according to previous arrangements, went to spend the winter in North Carolina. Before he left Bohemia, however, he wrote to his friends at New York, who were intensely anxious about his health, but he could only say it was yet fluctuating. Even so was it when he arrived in North Carolina, yet he writes, "I am here, hunting in the woods, these ungospelized wilds, for sinners. It is pleasant work, though my body is weak and crazy. But after a short fermentation in the grave, it will be fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body. The thought of this rejoices my soul, and makes me long to leap my seventy years. I sometimes think all will go to heaven before me. Pray for me as a dying man; but Oh, pray that I may not go off as a snuff. I would fain die blazing– not with human glory, but with the love of Jesus."

Such was his weakness, that his journey to Bathtown, in North Carolina, was long and slow. Even a short ride was fatiguing and painful. Still, he preached with considerable power; cheered on from stage to stage by the hope that the conversion of "North Carolina sinners would be glad news in heaven." His letters indicated lively hopes of an extensive revival, but his expectations were not fully realized. His health was still exceedingly feeble, and his physicians ordered him to try a change of climate. He accordingly embarked for the Bermudas, where he landed, March 15, 1748.

The Bermudas are a group of four small islands lying about nine hundred miles east of Georgia. The largest of the islands is called St. George's, with a capital of the same name; the climate is remarkably fine, and well adapted for the temporary residence and recovery of invalids. Here Whitefield met with an exceedingly kind reception, and remained on the island with great benefit to his health, more than a month. We scarcely need to say that he was not idle during his residence here, but traversed the island from one end to the other, generally preaching twice a day. A few passages from his journal will best show the facts.

"The simplicity and plainness of the people, together with the pleasant situation of the island, much delighted me. The Rev. Mr. Holiday, minister of Spanish Point, received me in a most affectionate, Christian manner; and begged I would make his house my home. In the evening, I expounded at the house of Mr. Savage, at Port Royal, which was very commodious; and which also he would have me make my home. I went with Mr. Savage in a boat to the town of St. George, in order to pay our respects to the governor. All along we had a most pleasant prospect of the other part of the island; a more pleasant one I never saw. Mrs. Smith, of St. George, for whom I had a letter of recommendation from my dear old friend Mr. Smith, of Charlestown, received me into her house. About noon, with one of the council and Mr. Savage, I waited upon the governor. He received us courteously, and invited us to dine with him and the council. We accepted the invitation, and all behaved with great civility and respect. After the governor rose from the table, he desired, if I stayed in town on the Sunday, that I would dine with him at his own house.

"Sunday, March 20. Read prayers and preached twice this day, to what were esteemed here large auditories – in the morning at Spanish Point church, and in the evening at Brackish Pond church, about two miles distant from each other. In the afternoon I spoke with greater freedom than in the morning, and I trust not altogether in vain. All were attentive, some wept. I dined with Colonel Butterfield, one of the council; and received several invitations to other gentlemen's houses. May God bless and reward them, and incline them to open their hearts to receive the Lord Jesus.

"Wednesday, March 23. Dined with Captain Gibbs, and went from thence and expounded at the house of Captain F – le, at Hunbay, about two miles distant. The company here also was large, attentive, and affected. Our Lord gave me utterance. I expounded the first part of the eighth chapter of Jeremiah. After lecture, Mr. Riddle, a counsellor, invited me to his house; as did Mr. Paul, an aged Presbyterian minister, to his pulpit; which I complied with upon condition that the rumor was true, that the governor had served the ministers with an injunction that I should not preach in the churches.

"Sunday, March 27. Glory be to God! I hope this has been a profitable Sabbath to many souls; it has been a pleasant one to mine. Both morning and afternoon I preached to a large auditory, for the Bermudas, in Mr. Paul's meeting-house, which I suppose contains about four hundred. Abundance of negroes, and many others, were in the porch, and about the house. The word seemed to be clothed with a convincing power, and to make its way into the hearts of the hearers. Between sermons, I was entertained very civilly in a neighboring house. Judge Bascom, and three more of the council, came thither, and each gave me an invitation to his house. How does the Lord make way for a poor stranger in a strange land. After the second sermon I dined with Mr. Paul; and in the evening expounded to a very large company at Councillor Riddle's. My body was somewhat weak; but the Lord carried me through, and caused me to go to rest rejoicing. May I thus go to my grave, when my ceaseless and uninterrupted rest shall begin.

"Thursday, March 31. Dined on Tuesday at Colonel Corbusier's, and on Wednesday at Colonel Gilbert's, both of the council; and found, by what I could hear, that some good had been done, and many prejudices removed. Who shall hinder, if God 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 different quarters to hear me. Before I began preaching, I went round to see a most remarkable cave, which very much displayed the exquisite workmanship of Him, who in 'his strength setteth fast the mountains, and is girded about with power.' While I was in the cave, quite unexpectedly I turned and saw Councillor Riddle, who, with his son, came to hear me; and while we were in the boat, told me that he had been with the governor, who declared he had no personal prejudice against me, and wondered I did not come to town and preach there, for it was the desire of the people; and that any house in the town, the court-house not excepted, should be at my service. Thanks be to God for so much favor. If his cause requires it, I shall have more. He knows my heart; I value the favor of man no farther than as it makes room for the gospel, and gives me a larger scope to promote the glory of God. There being no capacious house upon the island, I preached for the first time here in the open air. All heard very attentively; and it was very pleasant, after sermon, to see so many boats full of people returning from the worship of God. I talked seriously to some in our own boat, and sung a psalm, in which they readily joined.