Chapter XXVII: Part 27

“The Tabernacle has been repaired,” said he; “and I wish
to leave it unencumbered. I told my friends, I would make a
collection. Remember, it is not for me, but for yourselves――for
the place where you are to meet, when I am tossing on the water,
and in a foreign clime. The arrears are nearly £70. I hope you
will not run away. If you can say, God is my glory, you will
not push one upon another, as though you would lose yourselves
in a crowd, and say, Nobody sees me. Does not God Almighty see
you? You must excuse me. I cannot say much more. I beg you will
excuse me from a particular parting with you. Take my public
farewell. I will pray for you when in the cabin; I will pray for
you when tempests are about me; and this shall be my prayer, ‘O
God, be Thou their God! and grant their God may be their glory!’”

A few other extracts, from Whitefield’s last sermons in London, may be welcome. They are taken from the 8vo. volume, published by Gurney immediately after Whitefield’s death.[634]

“_The Devil’s Children._――‘O,’ says one, ‘I never felt the
devil.’ I am sure thou mayest feel him now. Thou art _dadda’s_
own child. Thou art speaking the very language of the devil; and
he is teaching thee to deny thy own father. Graceless child of
the devil, if thou hast never felt the devil’s fiery darts, it
is because the devil is sure of thee. He has got thee into a
damnable slumber. May the God of love awaken thee before real
damnation comes!” (p. 262.)

“_Persecution._――Our suffering times will be our best times. I
know I had more comfort in Moorfields and on Kennington Common,
especially when rotten eggs, cats, and dogs were thrown upon
me,――I had more comfort in these burning bushes than I have
had when I have been in ease. I remember when I was preaching
at Exeter, and a stone made my forehead bleed, the word came
with double power; and a labourer, wounded at the same time by
another stone, came to me and said. ‘The man gave me a wound,
but Jesus healed me; I never had my bonds broken till my head
was’” (p. 268).

“_Penitents._――I have reason to believe, from the notes put
up at both ends of the town, that many of you have arrows of
conviction stuck fast in your souls. I have taken in near two
hundred, at Tottenham Court Road, within a fortnight. God is
thus at work. Let the devil roar; we will go on in the name of
the Lord” (p. 280).

“_Self-condemnation._――I wish I could make you all angry. I am a
sad mischief-maker; but I don’t want to make you angry with one
another. Some people, who profess to have grace in their hearts,
seem resolved to set all God’s people at variance. They are like
Samson’s foxes with firebrands in their tails, setting fire to
all about them. Are any of you come from the Foundery, or any
other place, to-night? I care not where you come from. I pray
God you may all quarrel; that is, I want you to fall out with
your own hearts” (p. 289).

“_Baptismal Controversy._――It is a strange thing how bigots can
set the world on fire by throwing water at one another; and that
people cannot be baptized, without shewing that the chief thing
they have been baptized into, are the waters of strife. This is
making sport for the devil. For my part, I do not enter into the
debate about infant or adult baptism, nor yet about its mode.
I believe you might as well attempt to draw two parallel lines,
and bring them to meet at some certain place, as to bring these
learned combatants together; for, of all disputants, religious
disputants are the most obstinate and fiery” (p. 297).

“_Catholicity._――The world pretty well knows the temper of my
mind, both in respect to politics and church-government. I am
a professed avower of moderation. I don’t care whether you go
to church or meeting. I profess to be a member of the Church of
England; but, if they will not let me preach in a church, I
will preach anywhere. All the world is my parish; and I will
preach wherever God gives me an opportunity. You will never find
me disputing about the outward appendages of religion. Don’t
tell me you are a Baptist, an Independent, a Presbyterian, a
Dissenter: tell me you are a Christian. That is all I want. This
is the religion of heaven, and must be ours upon earth” (p. 310).

“_Whitefield’s Salary._――I intend to give you a parting word on
Sunday evening, and to take my last farewell in the ensuing week,
for I must have a day or two to dispatch my private business.
As this place has been repaired, and I am wishful to leave
everything clear before I go, a collection must be made for
defraying the expense incurred. The world thinks I am very rich.
A man, the other day, sent me word, that, if I did not lay £30
in a certain place, I should be killed. You yourselves, perhaps,
think I get a great deal for preaching here; and, therefore, now
that I am going away, I will tell you my stated allowance for
preaching at the Tabernacle. I have no more from this place than
£100 a year; and, yet, when I asked last night how the accounts
stood, I was told there were £50 arrears. ‘Well,’ I said,
‘ungrateful as it is to me, I will make a collection, that all
may be left free.’ There are not six people in this Tabernacle
from whom I have had the value of a guinea from last January to
the present month of August; nor have I had a guinea from all
the ordinances of the place towards bearing the expenses of my
voyage” (p. 372).

These _Whitefieldiana_ might easily be multiplied, but sufficient have been given to shew the familiar, and (as some will think) the objectionable style used by Whitefield at the close of his public ministry. His sermons now, as compared with those he published at the commencement of his career, were notably inferior. As compared with the sermons preached and printed by Wesley, they were a perfect contrast. They were neither scriptural expositions nor doctrinal disquisitions; but free and easy talk, intermixed with anecdotes, personal reminiscences, and quaint quotations. Matthew Henry’s Exposition was Whitefield’s favourite Commentary; and to this circumstance Wesley attributed the quaintness of Whitefield’s style. In the preface to his “Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament,” published in 1765, Wesley, with an obvious reference to Whitefield, says:――

“I omit” (in these Notes) “abundance of Mr. Henry’s quaint
sayings and lively antitheses; as, ‘God feeds His _birds_. Shall
He not feed His _babes_?’ I used once to wonder, whence some,
whom I greatly esteem, had so many pretty turns in preaching.
But when I read Mr. Henry, my wonder ceased. I saw they were
only copying after him: although probably without designing
it. They generally consulted his exposition of their text, and
frequently just before preaching. And, hence, little witticisms
and a kind of archness insensibly stole upon them, and took
the place of that strong, manly eloquence, which they would
otherwise have learned from the inspired writers.”

Two of Whitefield’s _last sermons in England_ were preached at Gravesend, on Sunday, September 3, 1769. Hence the following, taken from _St. James’s Chronicle_, for September 7: “On Saturday last, the Rev. Mr. Whitefield went from town to Gravesend, where he preached, on Sunday morning, in the Methodist Tabernacle, and, in the evening, in the Market Place.” Whitefield himself writes:――

“Sunday, September 3. Preached this morning at the Methodist
Tabernacle, from John xii. 32. The congregation was not very
large, but God gave me great freedom of speech. In the afternoon,
I preached in the Market Place, from Genesis iii. 13, to a much
larger, but not more devout auditory. In the outskirts, some
were a little noisy, but most were very attentive, and I was
enabled to lift up my voice like a trumpet. The evening was
spent, as the night before, with my Christian friends from
London.”

“Monday, September 4. Had my dear Christian friends on board
to breakfast with me this morning. Conversation was sweet,
but parting bitter. However, I was helped to bear up; and,
after their departure the Divine Presence made up the loss of
all.”[635]

_SEVENTH VISIT TO AMERICA._

SEPTEMBER, 1769, TO SEPTEMBER, 1770.

WHITEFIELD embarked for America on September 4th; but it was not until the end of the month that he looked his last look on glorious old England. His detentions were annoying; but they gave him the opportunity of writing last letters to his friends.[636] Extracts from these will be welcome.

To his old assistant, Thomas Adams, of Rodborough, he wrote:――

“On board the _Friendship_, (Captain Ball,) September 5, 1769.
Six in the morning. My very dear Tommy, I could not write you
whilst ashore, but drop you a few lines now I am come on board.
Just now we have taken up the anchor; and I trust my anchor
is within the veil. I have not been in better spirits for
some years; and I am persuaded this voyage will be for the
Redeemer’s glory, and the welfare of precious souls. Our parting
solemnities have been exceedingly awful. O England! England! God
preserve thee from every threatening storm!”

To a lady and her daughter, at Gravesend, who had shewn him kindness, he thus expressed his thanks:――

“September 6, 1769. God bless and reward you and your daughter!
Gravesend Bethels, I trust, will not easily be forgotten. I
am sure you do not forget to pray for a very worthless worm.
Jesus, the never-failing, ever-loving, altogether-lovely Jesus,
comforts me.”

To other friends Whitefield wrote:――

“September 7, 1769. I am comforted on every side. Fine
accommodations. A civil captain and passengers. All willing to
attend on divine worship. Praise the Lord, O my soul! I am brave
as to my bodily health. Grace! Grace!”

“September 8, 1769. O these partings! Without Divine support,
they would be intolerable. But with that, we can do even this
and everything besides, which we are called to do or suffer.
Everything turns out beyond expectation, as to bodily health,
ship accommodation, and civility of passengers. I only want
somebody with more brains about me. O the privilege and honour
of leaving a little all, for the great unfailing All, the
ever-blessed God!”

To his faithful friend, Mr. Robert Keen, Whitefield addressed the following:――

“September 8, 1769. Ebenezer! Ebenezer! Hitherto the Lord helps.
We have had contrary winds to the Downs, but not violent. The
young soldiers are not yet sick, though the ship has some motion.
I seem to be now, as I was thirty years ago. Praise the Lord,
O my soul! The care of my annual pensioners, with all money
matters, I must beg you to take wholly into your hands.”

His letter to Wesley shall be given at full length:――

“THE DOWNS, ON BOARD THE ‘FRIENDSHIP,’ _September 12, 1769_.

“REV. AND VERY DEAR SIR,――What hath God wrought _for_ us, _in_
us, _by_ us! I sailed out of these Downs almost thirty-three
years ago. O the height, the depth, the length, the breadth of
Thy love, O God! Surely it passeth knowledge. Help, help us,
O heavenly Father, to adore what we cannot fully comprehend!
I am glad to hear that you had such a Pentecost season at
the College.[637] One would hope that these are earnests of
good things to come, and that our Lord will not remove His
candlestick from among us. Duty is ours. Future things belong to
Him, who always did, and always will, order all things well.

‘Leave to His sovereign sway,
To choose and to command;
So shall we wondering own His way,
How wise, how strong His hand.’

“Mutual Christian love will not permit you, and those in
connection with you, to forget a willing pilgrim, going now
across the Atlantic for the thirteenth time. At present, I am
kept from staggering; being fully persuaded that this voyage
will be for the Redeemer’s glory, and the welfare of precious
and immortal souls. O to be kept from flagging in the latter
stages of our road! _Ipse, Deo volente, sequar, etsi non
passibus aequis._ Cordial love and respect await your brother,
and all that are so kind as to enquire after, and be concerned
for,

“Reverend and very dear sir,

“Less than the least of all,

“GEORGE WHITEFIELD.”[638]

It is a remarkable fact that, at the very time Whitefield was making his last voyage to America, Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor, Wesley’s first two missionaries to the same field of labour, were being borne, through the same storms and tempests, to their destination. Whitefield’s work in America was nearly ended; but he had prepared the way for Wesley’s preachers, and for the founding of a church, now the largest on that immense continent.

Three days before Whitefield wrote to Wesley, he and his fellow-voyagers encountered a tremendous storm. One ship, in their immediate neighbourhood, was wrecked; and, when opposite to Deal, the _Friendship_ became _wind-bound_, and was detained three weeks. This gave Whitefield an opportunity to stand once more on the shores of his native land. It so happened, that, just as the ship arrived at Deal, the Rev. Dr. Gibbons, the eminent tutor of the Dissenting Academy at Mile End, and the Rev. Mr. Bradbury, of Ramsgate, came to Deal for the purpose of ordaining a young Dissenting minister. Having ascertained that the _Friendship_ was lying in the Downs, Gibbons and Bradbury went on board, and so urgently desired Whitefield to come on shore, that, contrary to his intention, he left the ship, and attended the ordination services. Mr. Bradbury prevailed upon him to go to Ramsgate, where he preached on Friday and Saturday, September 15 and 16. These were Whitefield’s _last sermons_ in England.[639] They are referred to in the following extracts from Whitefield’s letters. Writing to Mr. Robert Keen, he said:――

“Deal, September 14, 1769. For wise reasons, we are detained in
the Downs. Who knows but it may be to awaken some souls at Deal?
A peculiar providence brought me here. Warm-hearted Dr. Gibbons
came on board to pay me a visit, was sick, lay in my state-room,
and learnt experimentally to pray for those who occupy their
business in great waters. Mr. Bradbury, of Ramsgate, and young
Mr. G――――ner, who was ordained yesterday, followed after. At
their request, I came ashore yesterday morning. The ordination
was very solemn. I have not been more affected under any public
ministrations a great while. At the request of many, I preached
in the evening to a crowded auditory; and spent the remainder of
the night in godly conversation. If the wind continues contrary,
perhaps I may make an elopement to Margate. I wish I could see
my sermon that is printed. If I die, let not the Hymn Book be
cashiered. I am glad to hear of the _Amens_ at Tottenham Court.
The ship that was lost has been taken up and brought in. The
passengers escaped in the boat. What are we that we should be
preserved? Grace! Grace!”

In another letter to Mr. Keen, Whitefield wrote:――

“Deal, September 15, 1769. Mr. Bradbury put me under an arrest,
and is carrying me away to Ramsgate. I hope to arrest some
poor runaway bankrupts for the Captain of our Salvation. For
Christ’s sake, let all means be used to keep up and increase the
Tottenham Court and Tabernacle Societies.”

In a third letter to the same gentleman, is the following:――

“Deal, September 17, 1769. I have just returned from Ramsgate,
and am going on board. Never did any creature shew greater
civility, heartiness, politeness, and generosity than Mr.
Bradbury. His friends were hearty too. I preached on Friday
and Saturday. It was hard parting this morning. I expect a long
passage, but all is well. I could not go to Margate.”

Whitefield’s congregations at Ramsgate were not large, but attentive, and the behaviour of the people delighted him.[640] Early on Sunday morning, he hastened back to Deal, went on board, and preached in the afternoon; but it was not until the Tuesday following that the ship again set sail, and even then the attempt to proceed turned out a failure. Whitefield wrote:――

“Monday, September 25. Weighed anchor last Tuesday morning,
with a small favourable gale and fine weather. So many ships,
which had lain in the Downs, moving at the same time, and gently
gliding by us, together with the prospect of the adjacent shore,
made a most agreeable scene. But it proved a very transient
one. By the time we got to Fairlee, the wind backened, clouds
gathered, very violent gales succeeded, and, for several days,
we were so tossed, that, after coming over against Brighton,
the captain turned back (as did many other ships), and anchored
off New Romney and Dungenness. Lord, in Thine own time, Thou
wilt give the winds a commission to carry us forward towards our
desired port.”[641]

It was not until nine weeks after this that Whitefield landed in America. His travelling companions were Cornelius Winter and Mr. Smith. His time was chiefly spent in writing letters, composing sermons, and reading the History of England. Whenever the weather would permit, he preached, with his accustomed energy, to the crew and passengers, all of whom treated him with profound respect. Sometimes he suffered great languor, and depression;[642] but, upon the whole, he was, at the end of his voyage, in better health than he had been for years past.[643] Arriving at Charleston on Thursday, November 30, he commenced preaching on the following afternoon, and, for ten days, continued to delight and profit large congregations. Mr. Wright, his manager at Bethesda, met him; and, on Sunday, December 10, he and his party set sail for Georgia. Hence the following, addressed to Mr. Keen:――

“Charleston, December 9, 1769. So much company crowds in, that,
together with my preaching every other day, etc., I have scarce
the least leisure. To-morrow, I set off by water to Georgia, the
roads being almost impassable by land. Mr. Wright is come to go
with me, and acquaints me that all is in great forwardness at
Bethesda.”

The voyage to Savannah was made in an open boat. Cornelius Winter writes:――“We had a pleasant passage through the Sounds, and frequently went on shore, and regaled ourselves in the woods. The simplicity of the negroes, who rowed us, was very diverting. We stopped at a plantation called Port Royal, where we were most kindly refreshed and entertained; and safely arrived at Savannah on December 14. Mr. Whitefield was cheerful and easy, and seemed to have lost a weight of care.”

At the beginning of the year 1770, Whitefield was at his beloved Bethesda, and wrote:――

“Bethesda, January 11, 1770. Everything here exceeds my most
sanguine expectations. I am almost tempted to say, ‘It is good
to be here.’ But all must give way to gospel-ranging. Divine
employ!

‘For this let men revile my name,
I’d shun no cross, I’d fear no shame.’

“I hope London friends meet with enough of this. It is bad, more
than bad, when the offence of the cross ceaseth. This cannot be,
till we cease to be crucified to the world, and the world ceases
to be crucified unto us: and, when that is the case, things are
very bad.”

Four days after this, Whitefield wrote his last letter to Charles Wesley, a letter breathing with the love of a warm-hearted friendship of more than thirty years’ continuance. It shall be given in its entirety:――

“BETHESDA, _January 15, 1770_.

“MY VERY DEAR OLD FRIEND,――I wrote to your honoured brother
from on board ship. Since then what wonders have I seen! what
innumerable mercies have I received!――a long, trying, but, I
humbly hope, profitable passage.

“My poor, feeble labours were owned in Charleston; and
everything is more than promising in Georgia. The increase of
this once so much despised colony is indescribable. Good, I
trust, is doing at Savannah, and Bethesda is like to blossom
as the rose; the situation most delightful, very salubrious,
and everything excellently adapted for the intended purpose.
All admire the goodness, strength, and beauty of the late
improvements. In a few months, the intended plan, I hope, will
be completed, and a solid, lasting foundation laid for the
support and education of many as yet unborn. Nothing is wanted
but a judicious and moderately learned single-hearted master.
Surely the glorious Emmanuel will point out one in His own due
time. Do pray. I am sure, prayers put up above thirty years ago
are now being answered; and, I am persuaded, we shall yet see
greater things than these. Who would have thought that such
a worthless creature as this letter-writer should live to be
fifty-five years old? I can only sit down and cry, ‘What hath
God wrought!’ My bodily health is much improved, and my soul is
on the wing for another gospel range.

“You and all your connexions will not cease to pray for me. I
would fain begin to do something for my God. My heart’s desire
and incessant prayer to the God of my life is, that the word of
the Lord may prosper in your hands, and run and be glorified
more and more. O to work while it is day! O to be found on the
full stretch for Him who was stretched, and who groaned, and
bled, and died for us! Unutterable love! I am lost in wonder and
amazement, and, therefore, although with regret, I must hasten
to subscribe myself, my very dear sir, less than the least of
all,

“GEORGE WHITEFIELD.

“P.S. Cordial love awaits your whole self, and enquiring friends,
and all that love the ever-living, altogether-lovely Jesus
in sincerity. I hope to write to your honoured brother soon.
Brethren, pray for us.”[644]

Sunday, January 28, was a remarkable day in the history of Bethesda. James Wright, Esq. (created a baronet in 1772), Governor of Georgia, the Council of Georgia, the House of Assembly with their president, James Habersham, Esq., and a large number of colonists, assembled at Whitefield’s Orphan House, for the purpose indicated in the following extract from the Journals of the House of Assembly:――

“COMMONS HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, _January 29, 1770_.

“Mr. Speaker reported, that he, with the House, having waited
on the Reverend Mr. Whitefield, in consequence of his invitation,
at the Orphan House Academy, heard him preach a very suitable
and pious sermon on the occasion; and, with great pleasure,
observed the promising appearance of improvement towards
the good purposes intended, and the decency and propriety of
behaviour of the several residents there; and were sensibly
affected, when they saw the happy success which has attended
Mr. Whitefield’s indefatigable zeal for promoting the welfare of
the province in general, and the Orphan House in particular.

“Ordered, that this report be printed in the _Gazette_.

“JOHN SIMPSON, Clerk.”

The article printed in the _Georgia Gazette_, and which Gillies gives in his “Life of Whitefield,” states, among other things, that “the two additional wings for apartments for students were a hundred and fifty feet each in length, and were in a state of forwardness.” Instead, however, of inserting here the official announcement of the Georgian Legislature, a letter, written the day after the rulers of the Province assembled at Bethesda, is introduced, as containing the same facts, but in greater detail. It was addressed to a friend in London:――

“SAVANNAH, _January 29, 1770, Monday morning_.

“You would have been pleased to have been at the Orphan House
Academy yesterday, where his Excellency our Governor, the Hon.
the Council, and the Commons House of Assembly, were agreeably
entertained in consequence of an invitation given them by the
Founder, the Rev. Mr. Whitefield. Everything was conducted
with much decency and order. His Excellency was received at
the bottom door by the officers, orphans, and other domestics;
and was then escorted upstairs by Mr. Whitefield, through a
gallery near sixty feet long, into a large room thirty feet in
length, with six windows, canvassed and made ready for blue paper
hangings. In a room of the same extent over against it (intended
for the library, and in which a considerable number of books is
already deposited), was prepared, on a long table and adjacent
sideboard, cold tongue, ham, tea, etc., for the gentlemen to
refresh themselves with, after their ten miles’ ride, from
Savannah. Between eleven and twelve, the bell rung for public
worship. A procession was formed in the long gallery, and moved
forward to the chapel in the following order: The orphans, in
round, black, flat caps, and black gowns; the chaplain in his
gown; the workmen and assistants; the steward and superintendent,
with their white wands; the clerk of the chapel; the Founder
in his university square cap, with the Rev. Mr. Ellington, now
missionary at Augusta, and designed to be chaplain, and teacher
of English and elocution at the Orphan House Academy; then his
Excellency, followed by his Council and the Chief Justice; then
the Speaker, succeeded by the other Commons, and a number of
gentlemen and strangers, among whom were the Governor’s two sons.
As the procession moved along, the clerk of the chapel began
a doxology, the singing of which was harmonious and striking.
At the chapel door, the orphans, officers, and domestics broke
into ranks on the right hand and the left; and, as his Excellency
with his train went up the chapel stairs, the orphans sang,――

‘Live by heaven and earth ador’d,
Three in One, and One in Three,
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
All glory be to Thee!’

“The Governor being seated fronting the chapel door, in a great
chair, with tapestry hangings behind, and a covered desk before
him, divine service began. Mr. Ellington read prayers; and then
Mr. Whitefield enlarged, for about three-quarters of an hour, on
‘The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house;
his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the
day of small things?’ (Zech. iv. 9, 10.) His whole paraphrase
was pertinent and affecting; but when he came to give us an
account of the small beginnings of our now flourishing Province,
of which he was an eye-witness; and also of the trials and
hardships, obloquy and contempt, he had undergone in maintaining,
for so long a term, such a numerous orphan family, in such
a desert; as well as the remarkable supports and providences
that had attended him in laying the foundation, and raising
the superstructure of the Orphan House Academy to its present
promising height; especially when he came to address his
Excellency, the Council, Speaker, etc., etc.,――the whole
auditory seemed to be deeply affected; and his own heart seemed
too big to speak, and unable to give itself proper vent. Sermon
being ended, all returned in the same manner as they came, the
clerk, orphans, etc., singing as they walked,――

‘This God is the God we adore,
Our faithful, unchangeable friend,
Whose love is as large as His power,
And neither knows measure nor end.
’Tis Jesus, the first and the last,
Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home;
We’ll praise Him for all that is past,
And trust Him for all that’s to come.’

“In about half an hour the bell rung for dinner. All went
down, in order, to a large dining room, intended hereafter for
academical exercises. It is forty feet long, with eight sash
windows, and the Founder’s picture, at full length, at the upper
end. Two tables, the one long and the other oval, were well
covered with a proper variety of plain and well-dressed dishes.
After dinner, two toasts were given by his Excellency, viz.,
‘The King,’ and ‘Success to the Orphan House College.’ The whole
company broke up, and went away, in their several carriages,
about five in the afternoon. One thing gave me particular
pleasure: when the Governor drank ‘The King,’ Mr. Whitefield
added, ‘And let all the people say, Amen;’ upon which a loud
amen was repeated from one end of the room to the other.

“Upon the whole, all seemed most surprisingly pleased with their
spiritual and bodily entertainment, as well as with the elegance,
firmness, and dispatch of the late repairs, and additional
buildings and improvements. The situation is most salubrious and
inviting; the air free and open; and a salt-water creek, which
will bring up a large schooner east and west, ebbs and flows
at a small distance from the house. I suppose there might be
above twenty carriages, besides horsemen; and there would have
been as many more, had not the invitation been confined, by way
of compliment, to the Governor, Council, and Commons House of
Assembly. A strange sight this, in the once despised, deserted
Province of Georgia, where, as Mr. Whitefield told us in his
discourse, about thirty years ago, scarce any person of property
lived; and lands, which now sell for £3 an acre, might have been
purchased almost for threepence.

“But I must have done. Excuse me for being so prolix.
Yesterday’s scene so lies before me, that, to tell you the truth,
I wanted to vent my feelings. If Mr. Whitefield intends, as I
am informed he does, to give a more general invitation to the
gentlemen in and about Savannah, I will endeavour to be amongst
them. Accept this hasty scribble (as I hear the ship sails
to-morrow), as a mark of my being, dear sir, your obliged friend
and servant.”

The “more general invitation,” mentioned at the close of this long letter, was issued. Hence the following extract from the _Georgia Gazette_:――

“Bethesda, January 29, 1770. A more particular application
being impracticable, the Rev. Mr. Whitefield takes this method
of begging the favour of the company of as many gentlemen and
captains of ships in and about Savannah, as it may suit to
accept this invitation, to dine with him at the Orphan House
Academy next Sunday. Public service to begin exactly at eleven
o’clock.

“GEORGE WHITEFIELD.”

Of this second assembly at Bethesda, no record now exists. Bethesda was ten miles from Savannah, a considerable distance for the rulers and legislators of Georgia to travel. They all went by Whitefield’s own invitation. They gratefully acknowledged the great service which he had rendered, not only to the Orphan House in particular, but to Georgia in general. They had “a handsome and plentiful dinner.” This could hardly be avoided, considering the distance the company had travelled; but the entertainment would have been more appropriate on a weekday than on a Sunday.[645] The new buildings were in a state of forwardness, and were tasteful, and well executed. Whitefield’s sermon was “suitable and pious.” And the behaviour of the Orphan House inmates was decent and proper. Perhaps, the official reports of the Assembly and of the _Gazette_ of Georgia were, in some respects, more eulogistic than they should have been. At all events, Whitefield’s _Sunday_ entertainment, his orphans, and Mr. Wright, the architect and builder of his additional accommodations, were unfavourably regarded by certain of his friends in England. Berridge, often his honest and hearty assistant at Tottenham Court Road, in a letter to the Countess of Huntingdon, dated May, 1771, observed:――

“Cornelius Winter, who went to Georgia with Mr. Whitefield,
says there are but few orphans in the House, and no symptoms of
grace in any. Mr. Wright has the management of the whole house,
and seems neither to have zeal nor grace enough for the work.
Mr. Whitefield made a sumptuous feast on a Sunday, for all the
better-dressed people, intending to renew this every year by
way of commemoration; but I hope you will put a stop to this
_guttling_ business. I wish the Orphan House may not soon become
a mere blue-coat hospital and grammar school. If Mr. Fletcher
would go to Georgia for a year, things might be on a better
footing. I never could relish Mr. Wright; he seems a mere
cabinet-maker, without godliness.”[646]

Berridge was dissatisfied; but it is only fair to add, that, when he thus wrote to Lady Huntingdon, he was looking at things through the spectacles of young Cornelius Winter, and that Winter was disappointed and soured because Whitefield had not done all he wished in endeavouring to obtain for him episcopal ordination.

Whitefield’s sermon on this memorable Sunday was one of his best; but want of space prevents the insertion of lengthened extracts. He expressed the opinion that the colonies in America were likely to become “one of the most opulent and powerful empires in the world.” He told his congregation that, when he first came to Georgia, “the whole country almost was left desolate, and the metropolis, Savannah, was but like a cottage in a vineyard, or as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers.” He reminded them that it had been reported to the House of Commons, that “the very existence of the colony was, in a great measure, if not totally, owing to the building and supporting of the Orphan House.” One peculiar feature of his sermon was his addressing personally and severally the different sections of his congregation. “I dare not conclude,” said he, “without offering to your Excellency our pepper-corn of acknowledgment for the countenance you have always shewn Bethesda, and for the honour you did us last year in laying the first brick of yonder wings: in thus doing, you have honoured Bethesda’s God.” Then turning to his old friend Habersham, now President of the Upper House of Assembly, Whitefield said: “Next to his Excellency, my dear Mr. President, I must beg your acceptance both of thanks and congratulation. For you were not only my dear familiar friend, and first fellow-traveller in this infant province, but you were directed by Providence to this spot; you laid the second brick of this house; and watched, prayed, and wrought for the family’s good. You were a witness of innumerable trials, and were the partner of my joys and griefs. You will have now the pleasure of seeing the Orphan House a fruitful bough, its branches running over the wall. For this, no doubt, God has smiled upon and blessed you, in a manner we could not expect, much less design. May He continue to bless you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus! Look to the rock from whence you have been hewn; and may your children never be ashamed that their father married a real Christian, who was born again under this roof!” Whitefield then proceeded to address the “Gentlemen of his Majesty’s Council,” and the “Speaker and Members of the General Assembly,” and, finally, his “Reverend Brethren,” and “the inhabitants of the colony” in general.

After his sermon, a speech was delivered by one of Whitefield’s orphans;[647] then came the “handsome and plentiful dinner;” and so ended the proceedings of the memorable Sunday at Bethesda, January 28, 1770.

Five days after this, Whitefield and his manager, Thomas Dixon, appeared “before the Honourable Noble Jones, Esq., Senior Assistant Justice for the Province of Georgia,” for the purpose of being sworn that the Orphan-house accounts, from February 9, 1765, to the present date, and which amounted on the debit side to £2,548 17s. 0½d., and on the credit side to £1,313 19s. 6¾d., “contained, to the best of their knowledge, a just and true statement of all the monies received and expended during this period. The accounts thus presented were handed to James Edward Powell and Grey Elliot, members of his Majesty’s Council for Georgia, who, after carefully examining them, swore, before Noble Jones, that they were perfectly correct; and added:――

“We find that the whole of the sums expended on account of
the Orphan House amount to £15,404 2s. 5¼d. sterling, and the
whole receipts to £12,104 19s. 1½d.; and that the benefactions
of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield to the Orphan House have, at
different times, amounted to £3, 299 3s. 3¾d. sterling; and that
no charge whatever has been made by the Rev. Mr. Whitefield,
either for travelling charges or otherwise, nor any other charge
for the salary of any person whatever, employed or concerned
in the management of the said Orphan House; and that clear and
distinct vouchers for the whole amount of the sums expended
have been laid before us, except for four articles, amounting
together to £40 1s. 1d., being monies expended and paid by the
said Mr. Whitefield on several occasions, the particulars of
which are laid before us, but no receipt had been by him taken
for the same.

“JAMES EDWARD POWELL.
“GREY ELLIOT.

“Sworn this second day of February, 1770, before me; in
justification whereof, I have caused the seal of the general
Court to be affixed.

“N. JONES.”

This is a notable document. The Orphan House had been built thirty years, and had been continuously maintained. The sum of £15,404 had been expended, and, excepting £40, vouchers for the whole of this amount were now produced. Not a penny had been paid out of the general fund to either Whitefield of any of his managers; and Whitefield himself, out of his own private means, had contributed £3299 3s. 3¾d.! As a curiosity, the following general balance sheet of receipts and expenditure, from December, 1738, to February, 1770, taken from the Orphan House’s authenticated book, may interest the reader:――

RECEIPTS. £ s. d.

Benefactions and Collections in England 4471 0 6¼
Ditto, in Scotland 978 2 5½
Ditto, in Georgia 275 5 7½
Ditto, in Charleston 567 1 9¾
Ditto, in Beaufort 16 10 7
Ditto, in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, etc. 1809 6 10½
Ditto, in Lisbon 3 12 0
Cash received for payment of boarders, cocoons,
rice, lumber, indigo, provisions, etc. 3983 19 3
The Rev. Mr. Whitefield’s benefactions, being
the sums expended more than received 3299 3 3¾
──────────────
£15,404 2 5¼
══════════════

EXPENDITURE. £ s. d.

To April 16, 1746—Sundries, per audit 5511 17 9¼
To Feb. 25, 1752, do. 2026 13 7½
To Feb. 19, 1755, do. 1966 18 2
To Feb. 9, 1765, do. 3349 15 10
To Feb. 2, 1770, do. 2548 17 0½
──────────────
£15,404 2 5¼
══════════════

During the thirty years that had elapsed since the Orphan House was built, 140 boys and 43 girls had been “clothed, educated, maintained, and suitably provided for;” and, besides these, “many other poor children had been _occasionally_ received, educated, and maintained.”

The Orphan House family now consisted of _whites_: Managers and carpenters, 9; boys, 15; girl, 1; total, 25. And of _negroes_: Men 24, of whom 16 were fit for any labour; 7 old, but capable of some service; and 1 so old as to be useless; women, 11, of whom 8 were capable of the usual labour; 2 old, but able to assist in the business of the house; and 1 almost incapable of any service; children, 15, all employed as far as their strength permitted; total, 50.

The lands granted to Whitefield, in _trust_ for his Orphan House, were a tract of 500 acres, called Bethesda, on which the Orphan House was erected; another of 419 acres, called Nazareth; a third of 419 acres, called Ephratah, on which were the principal planting improvements; and a fourth of 500 acres, adjoining Ephratah, and called Huntingdon. Besides these, three other tracts, amounting to 2,000 acres, and contiguous to the former, had been granted to him, _in trust_, for the endowment of his College.

As one object of Whitefield’s present visit to America was to start his College, or, to speak more properly, his Academy, he drew up a set of Rules, to be observed by the inmates of his establishment, of which the following is a summary:――

1. Morning Prayer was to begin constantly, every day in the year,
at half-past five o’clock. Evening Prayer every night. On every
Sunday, besides a short prayer with a psalm or hymn early in
the morning, full Prayers and a Sermon at ten; the same at three
in the afternoon; a short prayer and a hymn at half-past six in
the evening; the first Lesson to be read at dinner; the same at
supper; and a short hymn at each meal.

2. Great care to be taken, that all read, write, speak, and
behave properly.

3. All the statutes to be read to every student at admission,
and thrice a year, at Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas,
publicly.

4. No cards, dice, or gaming of any kind to be allowed, on pain
of expulsion; and no music but divine psalmody.

5. All to be taught _Bland’s Manual Exercise_, but not bound to
attend on musters or other exercises, unless on account of an
alarm.

6. No one to be suffered to run into arrears for above half a
year; and a certain amount of caution money to be paid.

7. All students to furnish their own rooms, and to sleep on
mattresses.

8. No one suffered to go to Savannah without leave.

9. Breakfast at seven; dinner at twelve; supper at six, through
all the year; and the utmost neatness to be observed and
maintained in every room.

10. All orphans and students to learn and repeat the Thirty-nine
Articles.

11. The Homilies[648] to be read publicly, every year, by the
students in rotation.

12. All to be thoroughly instructed in the history of Georgia,
and the constitution of England, before being taught the history
of Greece and Rome.

13. The young negro boys to be baptized and taught to read; the
young negro girls to be taught to work with the needle.

14. The following divinity books to be read:――The Commentaries
of Henry, Doddridge, Guise, Burkit, and Clarke; Wilson’s
Dictionary, Professor Francke’s Manuductio, Doddridge’s Rise and
Progress, Boston’s Fourfold State, and his book on the Covenant,
Jenks on the Righteousness of Christ, and also his Meditations,
Hervey’s Theron and Aspasio, Hall’s Contemplations, and other
works, Edwards’s Preacher, Trapp on the Old and New Testament,
Poole’s Annotations, Warner’s Tracts, Leighton’s Comment on the
first Epistle of Peter, Pearson on the Creed, Edwards’s Veritas
Redux, and Owen and Bunyan’s Works.

It is a singular fact, that, except reading, writing, history, and divinity, Whitefield entirely omits the education to be given. To prevent a recurrence to the subject, the future history of Whitefield’s Orphanage and Academy may here be added to the foregoing details.

By his will, Whitefield bequeathed the Orphan House and other buildings, together with all the lands already mentioned, and also all his negroes, to the Countess of Huntingdon, for the same purposes as he himself held them. The Governor and Council of Georgia had expected the property to be placed under their direction, and considerable disappointment was felt. Most, however, of the religious people in the colony were satisfied; and a letter from her ladyship to the Governor and Council reconciled even many of them to the disposition in her favour.[649] The Countess determined to send from England a president and master for the Orphan House, and, at the same time, to dispatch a number of her Trevecca students as missionaries to the Indians and to the people in the back settlements. The students, summoned from all parts of the kingdom, assembled at Trevecca, on the 9th of October, 1772. The Hon. and Rev. Walter Shirley, the Rev. Mr. Glascott, the Rev. John Crosse, afterwards vicar of Bradford, and the Rev. Mr. Piercy, rector of St. Paul’s, Charleston, met them. Public services were held daily for a fortnight. At the end of the month, Piercy and the missionaries embarked for Georgia. Piercy was to be the president of the Orphan House, the Rev. Mr. Crosse was to be the master, and the Countess’s own housekeeper was sent to regulate the household matters according to her ladyship’s direction.[650] The missionaries were welcomed by the people, and, for a brief period, affairs at the Orphan House seemed to prosper.

In the month of June, 1773, this historic edifice was burnt. Francis Asbury, one of Wesley’s missionaries in America wrote:――

“New York, July 2, 1773. Arrived the sorrowful news of the
destruction of Mr. Whitefield’s Orphan House. As there was no
fire in the house, it was supposed to have been set on fire
by lightning. The fire broke out about seven or eight o’clock
at night, and consumed the whole building, except the two
wings.”[651]

Lady Huntingdon lamented the loss, but wrote: “I could never wish it for one moment to be otherwise, believing the Lord removed it out of our way, and that it was not somehow on that right foundation of simplicity and faith our work must stand upon.”[652] Honest Berridge, of Everton, entertained the same opinion. “It excites in me no surprise,” said he, “that the Orphan House is burnt. It was originally intended for orphans, and as such was a laudable design; but it ceased to be an Orphan House, in order to become a lumber-house for human learning; and God has cast a brand of His displeasure upon it. But how gracious the Lord has been to Mr. Whitefield, in preserving it during his lifetime.”[653]

This is not the place to recite the annoyances and troubles which Whitefield’s bequest entailed on the Countess of Huntingdon. Suffice it to say, that, in 1782, during the war with England, the Americans confiscated the Orphan House estates;[654] and that, in 1800, when the place was visited by a Methodist preacher, the two unburnt wings were fast decaying. In one of them, lived a small family of whites; in part of the other, a family of negro slaves, the remainder being converted into a stable. The brick walls which formerly enclosed the whole of the Orphan House premises were levelled with the ground, and, in many places, the foundations were ploughed up. There was no school of any kind; and the whole was rented for thirty dollars per annum.[655]

“The ruins,” writes Dr. Stevens, “the only memorial of a
great and benevolent scheme, were also the memento of the
great Methodist evangelist. If the ostensible design of the
institution had failed, it had accomplished a greater result
which was destined never to fail; for it had been the centre of
American attraction to its founder, had prompted his thirteen
passages across the Atlantic, and had thus led to those
extraordinary travels and labours, from Georgia to Maine,
which quickened with spiritual life the Protestantism of the
continent, and opened the career of Methodism in the western
hemisphere.”[656]

We return to Whitefield’s history. After the auditing of his Orphan House accounts, he went to Charleston, where he remained about a month. He was now in better health than he had been for many years, and was “enabled to preach almost every day.” The establishment of his College, however, was still a great anxiety. In a letter to Mr. Keen, dated “Charleston, February 10, 1770,” he wrote:――

“I have, more than once, conversed with the Governor of Georgia,
in the most explicit manner, concerning an Act of the Assembly
for the establishment of the intended Orphan House College.
He most readily consents. I have shewn him a draught, which he
much approves of; and all will be finished on my return from the
northward. Meanwhile, the buildings will be carried on. Since
my being in Charleston, I have shewn the draught to some persons
of great eminence and influence. They highly approve of it, and
willingly consent to be some of the wardens: near twenty are to
be of Georgia, about six of this place, one of Philadelphia, one
of New York, one of Boston, three of Edinburgh, two of Glasgow,
and six of London. Those of Georgia and South Carolina are to be
qualified; the others to be only honorary corresponding wardens.”

In the same month, Wesley wrote to Whitefield; and, because the letter happened to be the last he addressed to his old friend, and because it expressed Wesley’s opinions respecting the intended College, it shall be given at full length.

“LEWISHAM, _February 21, 1770_.

“MY DEAR BROTHER,――Mr. Keen informed me some time since of
your safe arrival in Carolina; of which, indeed, I could not
doubt for a moment, notwithstanding the idle report of your
being cast away, which was so current in London. I trust
our Lord has more work for you to do in Europe, as well
as in America. And who knows, but, before your return to
England, I may pay another visit to the New World? I have been
strongly solicited by several of our friends in New York and
Philadelphia. They urge many reasons, some of which appear to
be of considerable weight; and my age is no objection at all;
for, I bless God, my health is not barely as good, but abundantly
better in several respects, than when I was five-and-twenty. But
there are so many reasons on the other side, that as yet I can
determine nothing: so I must wait for further light. Here I am:
let the Lord do with me as seemeth Him good. For the present, I
must beg of you to supply my lack of service, by encouraging our
preachers as you judge best, who are as yet comparatively young
and inexperienced;[657] by giving them such advices as you think
proper; and, above all, by exhorting them, not only to love one
another, but, if it be possible, as much as lies in them, to
live peaceably with all men.

“Some time ago, since you went hence, I heard a circumstance
which gave me a good deal of concern; namely, that the College
or Academy in Georgia had swallowed up the Orphan House. Shall
I give my judgment without being asked? Methinks, friendship
requires I should. Are there not, then, two points which come
in view――a point of mercy, and a point of justice? With regard
to the former, may it not be inquired, Can anything on earth be
a greater charity, than to bring up orphans? What is a college
or an academy compared to this? unless you could have such
a college as perhaps is not upon earth. I know the value of
learning, and am more in danger of prizing it too much, than too
little. But, still, I cannot place the giving it to five hundred
students, on a level with saving the bodies, if not the souls
too, of five hundred orphans. But let us pass from the point
of mercy to that of justice. You had land given, and collected
money, for an Orphan House. Are you at liberty to apply this
to any other purpose,――at least, while there are any orphans in
Georgia left? I just touch upon this, though it is an important
point, and leave it to your own consideration, whether part
of it, at least, might not properly be applied to carry on the
original design.

“In speaking thus freely, I have given you a fresh proof of
the sincerity with which I am your ever affectionate friend and
brother,

“JOHN WESLEY.”[658]

Wesley’s letter, though it may lack Whitefield’s gushing lovingness, is the letter of a fond and faithful friend, and fully proves that, to the last, the two great evangelists were not rivals, as some have represented them, but affectionate and confiding fellow-workers. Whitefield dearly loved Wesley, and by his actions shewed he did; and Wesley equally felt for Whitefield warm affection. “In every place,” said he, after Whitefield’s death, “I wish to shew all possible respect to the memory of that great and good man.”[659] “I believe he was highly favoured of God; yea, that he was one of the most eminent ministers that has appeared in England, or perhaps in the world, during the present century.”[660]

Early in the month of March, Whitefield returned to Bethesda, where he continued till near the end of April. In a letter to Mr. Keen, he wrote:――

“SAVANNAH, _March 11, 1770_.

“MY VERY DEAR WORTHY FRIEND,――Blessed be God, the good wine
seemed to be kept till the last at Charleston. Last Thursday”
(March 8) “I returned, and found all well at Bethesda. I am come
to town to preach this morning, though somewhat fatigued with
being on the water three nights. Upon the whole, however, I am
better in health than I have been for many years. Praise the
Lord, O my soul!”[661]

Further extracts from letters to Mr. Keen will pourtray Whitefield’s views and feelings at this period of his history. He was happy in a luxuriant wilderness.

“Bethesda, April 6, 1770. How glad would many be to see our
_Goshen_, our _Bethel_, our _Bethesda_! Never did I enjoy such
domestic peace, comfort, and joy, during my whole pilgrimage.
It is unspeakable, it is full of glory. Peace, unutterable
peace, attends our paths, and a pleasing prospect of increasing
prosperity is continually rising to our view. I have lately
taken six poor children, and purpose to add greatly to their
number. Dear Mr. Dixon and his wife are to sail next month for
Portsmouth. We part with great respect. Fain would I retain
such an old, tried, disinterested friend, in the service of the
sanctuary, and near my person; but what scheme to pursue I know
not, being so uncertain as to the path I shall be called to take.
A few months will determine: perhaps a few weeks.”