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CHAPTER IX.

IN 1739 Whitefield took his second voyage to America, and, after a passage of nine weeks, landed at Philadelphia. His visit caused a wonderful ferment. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, who printed his sermons, says:

Benjamin
Franklin and
Whitefield.

"He was at first permitted to preach in some of our churches, but the clergy, taking a dislike to him, soon refused him their pulpits, and he was obliged to preach in the fields. The multitudes of all sects and denominations that attended his sermons were enormous, and it was a matter of speculation to me, who was one of the number, to observe the extraordinary influence of his oratory on his hearers, how much they admired and respected him, notwithstanding his common abuse of them, by assuring them they were naturally half beasts and half devils.

"It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of the inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk through the town in an evening, without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.*

* Ebenezer Turrel objected to the revival on this account :-"I can't see thro' ministers introducing hymns of human composition into great and mixed assemblies, especially when more than half the people know not what is to follow; and this, if it be a fault, is aggravated when it is a stranger that does it. To sing them, or the Psalms of David, about the street and in ferryboats, looks as like pharissism as one egg is like another, and it must be owned that such as follow this practice in the evening, yea, late in the night, which they can show no precept for, tends to disturb the families, and has been the cause of much sin in the neighbourhood." The prisoners at Philippi were disturbed in a similar manner, Acts vi. 25.

"And it being found inconvenient to assemble in the open air, subject to inclemencies, the building of a house to meet in was no sooner proposed, and persons appointed to receive contributions, than sufficient sums were soon received to procure the ground and erect the building, which was one hundred feet long and seventy broad, and the work was carried on with such spirit as to be finished in a much shorter time than could have been expected."

According to his custom, Whitefield wrote incessantly to his friends in England, entreating their prayers on his behalf:

66

Oh lift up your hands," he says, November 10, 1739, “in the congregation of the faithful, that I may willingly, if need be, resist unto blood; but not with carnal weapons. Taking the sword out of the hand of God's Spirit, I fear, has once more stopped the progress of the gospel. The Quakers, I think, have left us an example of patient suffering, and did more by their bold, unanimous, and persevering testimonies, than if they had taken up all the arms in the kingdom."

Orphans

In connection with this preaching campaign, Whitefield was anxious to promote two and slaves. special objects of practical benevolence, in relation to destitute orphans and neglected slaves.

"The settlement of Georgia," Franklin says, "had been but lately begun, but instead of being made with hardy, industrious husbandmen accustomed to labour, the only people fit for such an enterprise, it was with families of broken shopkeepers and other insolent debtors, many of indolent and idle habits, taken out of the jails, who being set down in the woods, unqualified for clearing land, and unable to endure the hardships of a new settlement, perished in numbers, leaving many helpless children unprovided for. The sight of their miserable situation inspired the benevolent heart of Mr. Whitefield with the idea of building an Orphan House there, in which they might be supported and educated. He preached up this charity, and made large collections."

In a letter to the secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, Whitefield writes:

"I am going to take up land for erecting and maintaining a negro school in the Province of Pennsylvania. I need not acquaint you, Rev. Sir, of the pitiable condition the poor negroes are in, and what hopes may be entertained of improving their minds, if due care be taken early to breed them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. To me Pennsylvania seems to be the best province in America for such an undertaking, the negroes meet there with the best usage, and I believe many of my acquaintance will either give me or let me purchase their young slaves at a very easy rate. I intend taking up a tract of land far back in the country, and to return to England about the latter end of the year, or in the beginning of the next, in order to raise up subscriptions, and to bring over assistants for that work." *

This bold and energetic course of action exposed Whitefield to the censure of the Anglican Clergy, who were "filled with indignation."

"Whitefield," writes Mr. Currie from Radnor, July 7, 1740, "has lately spent his efforts among us to rob us of our characters and then of our hearers. This strolling preacher, what by a musical force, by an agreeable delivery, the Anglican Hostility of a brazen forehead, impertinent asseverations, un- Clergy. charitable assertions, and impious imprecations upon himself—if what he says be not true-has raised such a confusion among the people of this province as I believe will not be laid in haste, and which (I am most troubled about) has made a great rent in all the congregations belonging to the Church of England. The generality of my hearers, not only run after, but adore him as an oracle from heaven."+

“Mr. Whitefield," writes Mr. Howie, Oxford, in Pennsylvania, July 17, 1740, "has been twice in this province, preaching in fields and commons, and has done a great deal of harm, and undoubtedly will ruin the Missions in this Quaker Government, if special authority from home does not interpose to put a stop to his mad career."

Mr. Ross, in a letter dated Newcastle, August, 1740, circulated a little gratuitous scandal, in the * American Col. Ch. Hist., College, Pennsylvania.

+ Amer. Col. Ch. Collect., Virginia, p. 207. Fulham MSS., unbound.

hope of arresting the ardent and philanthropical. evangelist.

"The storm," he says, " is not quite allayed at Philadelphia, where I bore my testimony, in a sermon I preached against the proceedings of this indefatigable impostor in gown and cassock. The main incendiary, it is expected, will return into these parts ere long; but his principles, pride, and spite, are so fully discovered, and particularly his amassing such vast sums, and therewith supporting a company of young fellows Gratuitous and gadding young women, who follow him to Georgia, instead of applying the charities for his little orphan house to their proper ends-has given so general an offence that I am persuaded his conduct on this point will sink his credit as fast as his plausible talent of haranguing the populace has raised him in the opinion of the giddy multitude."

scandal.

Franklin bears honourable testimony to the contrary

Franklin's testimony.

"Some of Mr. Whitefield's enemies affected to suppose that he would apply these collections to his own emolument; but I, who was intimately acquainted with him, being employed in printing his sermons and journals, never had the least suspicion of his integrity, but am to this day decidedly of opinion that he was in all his conduct a perfectly honest man; and methinks my testimony in his favour ought to have the more weight, as we had no religious connection."

Mr. Cummings is desperate and alarmed at the prospect before him. He writes to the

secretary :

"REV. AND DEAR SIR,-The Bishop's Commissary, Mr. Garden, in So. Carolina, has lately prosecuted the famous Mr. Whitefield there upon the 38th Cannon *; but he has appealed home. I hope the Society will use their interest to have justice done him. His character as a clergyman enables him to do the greatest mischief. He thereby fights against the Church under

* Canon.

her colours, and, Judas-like, betrays her, under pretence of friendship, for which reason the Dissenters are exceeding fond of him-cry him up for an oracle, and in return he warmly exhorts his proselytes from the Church to follow them as the only preachers of true, sound doctrine. I am fully persuaded he designs to set up for the head of a sect; and doubt not but that he is supported underhand by deists and Jesuits, or both. He and his companion, Mr. Seward, have purchased 5000 acres of land about sixty miles distant hence." *

Whitefield rejoiced in this senseless commotion :

"I find," he said, "the more I am opposed, the more the work of God goes on. As it was formerly, so it is now-the Church is like a field, the more it is mowed, the more it grows."

In New York, the only pulpit open to Whitefield was that of Ebenezer Pemberton; but he received an earnest invitation from Northampton and the ministers of Boston. Jonathan Edwards writes:

"NORTHAMPTON, IN NEW ENGLAND,

"Feb. 12, 1739-40.

Letter of

Jonathan

Whitefield.

"REV. SIR,-My request to you is, that in your intended journey through New England the next summer, you would be pleased to visit Northampton. I hope it is not wholly from curiosity that I desire to see and hear you in this place; but I apprehend from what I have Edwards to heard, that you are one that has the blessing of heaven attending you wherever you go, and I have a great desire, if it may be the will of God, that such a blessing as attends your warfare and labours may descend upon this town, and may enter mine own house, and that I may receive it in my own soul. Indeed, I am fearful whether you will not be disappointed in New England, and will have less success here than in other places. We who have dwelt in a land that has been dis

* Amer. Col. Ch., etc.-MSS. of S. P. G. Letter Book, vol ii. Bearcroft,

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