with notes." They had also the audacity to say, "that it is not unlikely, indeed to be suspected, that he is an antinomian;" yea, "stronger in the antinomian scheme than most of the professors of that heresy." In answer to this charge he appealed, as he well might, to the tenor and tendency of his preaching, and reminded them that the lapsus linguæ from which they argued had been retracted publicly before they wrote.

His "itinerant way of preaching" comes in, as might be expected, to be testified against in the "strongest" language of the learned doctors. They define an itinerant to be "one that stands ready to preach the gospel to any congregation that may call him." Whitefield says at once," I own the charge. Were not Knox, Welch, Wishart, and several of the good old puritans, itinerant preachers?"

They also repeated the charge of Clap, of Yale College, that he came into New England " to turn out the generality of their ministers, and to replace them with ministers from England, Ireland, and Scotland." "Such a thought," Whitefield says, "never entered my heart; neither, as I know of, has my preaching any such tendency." This solemn denial ought to be held decisive on this point. I did not know of it when I wrote the account of his interviews with Jonathan Edwards.

Their closing charge against Whitefield was, that "the coming in of hot men, disturbing the churches, was wholly owing to his influence and example." This refers, of course, to the Tennents, and the heat of their memory is not yet exhausted in America! Gilbert Tennent will be remembered and revered, long after all the cold men of Harvard are forgotten. As Whitefield said, "thousands will thank him for coming into New England, through all the ages of eternity." Having said this, he left the cold men in his own way :-" if pulpits should be shut, the fields are open, and I can go without the camp. This I am used to, and glory in. If I have done your society any wrong in my journal, I ask forgiveness. If you have injured me in the testimony you published against me, (as I really think you have,) it is forgiven already, without asking." Letter to Harvard College, Cambridge.

Whilst in New England, Whitefield wrote his letter on the

bishop of Litchfield's charge to his clergy. This charge was delivered in 1741, but not published until 1744. It was, therefore, a deliberate attack on methodism. Indeed, in a subsequent charge, printed in 1746, now before me, his Lordship refers his clergy to it; assuring them, that "if the false doctrines of the methodists prevail, they must unavoidably create a general disorder in our constitution; and if so, favour the return of popery itself." The bishop, Dr. Smalbroke, was a better scholar than this prophecy indicates. He had grappled with Whiston, on Arianism; with Bentley, on the authority of the primitive Complutensian; and with Woolston, on miracles. It was not, however, a very formidable matter to grapple with him, when the subject was the grace of the Holy Spirit. Smalbroke certainly believed that there is a Holy Ghost; but no one could well believe less about His work and witness.

It will hardly be credited now, but it is only too true, that a bishop preached, and his clergy called for, the publication of the following sentiments :-" The indwelling and inward witnessing of the Spirit, are all extraordinary gifts, belonging only to apostolical and primitive times; and consequently all pretensions to such favours in these last days, are vain and enthusiastical." The Spirit spoken of as helping our infirmities in prayer, "was the Spirit acting in the inspired person, who had the gift of prayer, and who in that capacity prayed for the whole assembly. It is he (not the Holy Spirit) that maketh intercession with God for private christians" with groanings which cannot be uttered! The Searcher of hearts "knowing the mind of the Spirit," means that "God knows the intentions of the inspired" prayer-leader! Preaching in "the demonstration of the Spirit," means no more than proving "Jesus to be the Messiah, by proofs out of the Old Testament," and by miracles!

No wonder Whitefield could not forget these perversions of truth and soberness in America. They haunted him on his voyages, and whilst he was hunting in the woods. He sent over an answer to the charge, addressed to the clergy who called for its publication; not to the bishop, "because I hear," he says, "that he is very aged."

I wish I could say, that either the episcopal bench, or the

dissenting board, had answered it also. They knew better than Whitefield, that Smalbroke, although an old man, was a sturdy polemic, and in no danger of death or illness from hard blows. But the bench slumbered. They could worry Whitefield or Wesley for an extravagant word; but they would not even bark when a bishop sapped the very vitals of christianity. Pope certainly knew his men when he said,

"A saint in crape, is twice a saint in lawn.”

A man in lawn then, might say almost any thing with impunity, if it was only well said, or argued with a show of learning. Happily, it is not so now. Such a theologian as Smalbroke would not be left to the lash of methodists or dissenters; he would be chastised by some of his own clergy, or rebuked by some of the bench. It is needless to analyze or characterize Whitefield's answer to the bishop. It is enough to say, that it is full of the great doctrines of the Reformation. Even where it pleads for too much of the direct witness of the Spirit, it is more than excusable; for had not Whitefield and the Wesleys said both strong and startling things on this subject, when both the work and witness of the Spirit were denied and denounced from "high places," those in low places would not have listened, or not brought "a pressure from without" upon the hierarchy.

CHAPTER XV.

WHITEFIELD IN BERMUDAS.

THE isles of Bermuda are more associated in the public mind with the memory of good Bishop Berkeley, and the poetry of Waller, than with Whitefield. They were probably indebted to Berkeley's example for Whitefield's visit.

num.

In 1721, the " Vanessa" of Swift bequeathed her fortune to Berkeley. This was soon followed by his deserved elevation to the deanery of Derry-worth eleven hundred pounds per anNever was preferment better bestowed. He had long cherished the design of evangelizing the American Indians, by means of a college in the Bermudas. Now, he issued proposals for it in London; offering to resign his preferment, and to devote his life to the instruction of young Americans, and stipulating for only a hundred a year to himself. This noble disinterestedness won patronage at first. Government gave him a grant of £10,000; and he sailed to carry his plans into effect. He was not sustained by the ministry, however, in the way he expected. He, therefore, made presents of his library to the clergy of Rhode Island, and to Yale College. To the latter, although not at all episcopalian, he gave a thousand volumes, besides his estate at Newport, where he wrote his "Minute Philosopher."

Berkeley then returned to Ireland, and in 1773 was made bishop of Cloyne. It is almost impossible, in the presence of these facts, to remember either his Platonism or his idealism. He was a great and a good man. Atterbury might well say of him, "So much understanding, so much knowledge, so much innocence, and such humility,-I did not think had been the portion of any but angels, till I saw this gentleman.”

These facts, as well as the climate, drew Whitefield to Bermudas, where he met with the kindest reception, and for about a month preached generally twice a day, traversing the island from one end to the other. His activity, treatment, and success, will best appear from the following extracts from his manuscript journal of that period.

"The simplicity and plainness of the people, together with the pleasant situation of the island, much delighted me. The Rev. Mr. Holiday, minister 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 lent us by Captain, 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, but a more pleasant one I never saw. One Mrs. Smith, of St. George's, 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 at a tavern. We accepted the invitation, and all behaved with great civility and respect. After the governor rose from 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! Amen and Amen!

Wednesday, March 23. Dined with Captain Gibbs, and went from thence and expounded at the house of Captain