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obliged to go away because they cannot come in. Oh that God would keep me always humble, and fully convinced that I am nothing without him; and that all the good done upon earth God himself doth it."-"The word was sharper than a two-edged sword; the doctrine of the new-birth made its way like lightning into the hearers' consciences. holy Father! to thine own glory and thy people's good."

Sanctify it,

Similar impressions were made in Bath and Gloucester, and unprecedented collections obtained for charitable objects. His stay, was, however, short: he was called up to London to appear before General Oglethorpe, and the trustees of Georgia. Having been accepted by them, he was presented to the bishop and primate, who both highly approved of his mission. But his departure from England was delayed for some months, owing to the vessel in which he was to sail not being ready at the time expected. He therefore undertook to serve, for awhile, the church of one of his friends at Stonehouse. In this retirement his communion with God was, at once, intimate and habitual. Could the trees of the wood speak, he says, they would tell what sweet communion he and his Christian brethren had, under their shade, enjoyed with their God. "Sometimes as I have been walking," he continues, "my soul would make such sallies, that I thought it would go out of the body. At other times I would be so overpowered with a sense of God's infinite majesty, that I would be constrained to throw myself prostrate on the ground, and offer my soul as a blank in his hands, to write on it what he pleased. One night was a time never to be forgotten. It happened to lighten exceedingly. I had been expounding to many people, and some being afraid to go home, I thought it my duty to accompany them, and improve the occasion, to stir them up to prepare for the coming of the Son of Man. In my return to the parsonage, whilst others were rising from their beds, and frightened almost to death to see the lightning run upon the ground, I and another, a poor but pious countryman, were in the field, praising, praying to, and exulting in our God, and longing for that time when Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire.' Oh that my soul may be in a like frame when he shall actually come to call me! " He refers to this/ scene in one of his letters. "Honest James and I were out in the midst of the lightning, and never were more delighted in our lives. May we be as well pleased when the Son of God cometh to judgment."

He came glowing from this mount of communion to Bristol again, prepared to preach the gospel with new energy; and the people were prepared to hear it with new interest; for such was the impatience for his return, that multitudes on foot, and some in coaches, were waiting to meet him, a mile from the city; and a still greater number welcomed him, as he passed along the streets. And if the city was alarmed during his former visit, it was now electrified persons of all ranks and denominations crowded to hear him; and such was the pressure in every church, that he could hardly make his way to the reading desk. "Some hung upon the rails of the organ loft, others climbed upon the leads of the church, and altogether made the church so hot with their breath, that the steam would fall from the pillars like drops of rain." When he preached his farewell sermon, and said to the people that perhaps they might "see his face no more," high and low, young and old, burst into tears. Multitudes followed him home with tears, and many with entreaties that he would remain in England; but he was firm to his purpose, and merely consented to spend the next day in speaking with those who had been awakened under his ministry. This he did from seven in the morning until midnight, when he stole away secretly to avoid the parade of a public escort.

After some brief intermediate visits, he arrived again in London. Here invitations to preach and administer the sacrament poured in upon him from so many churches, and were so promptly accepted by him, that his friends were afraid for his health; the crowds at each church being so overwhelming. But his answer was, "I find by experience that the more I do, the more I may do, for God." This was said when he was in the habit of preaching four times on the Sabbath, and had often to walk ten or twelve miles in going from one church to another, and to preach five times in the week besides. Such unprecedented labours might well be, as they were, called "mighty deeds" by the newspapers; but, this kind of notice hurt his feelings. In a letter to a friend he expresses himself on the subjest thus: "I suppose you have heard of my mighty deeds, falsely so called by the newspapers; for I find some back-friend has published abroad my preaching four times in a day; but I beseech Mr. Raikes, the printer, never to put me in his news again upon any such account, for it is quite contrary to my inclinations and positive orders." To his friends, however, he was not reserved in

communicating either the extent of his labours, or the symptoms of their success. In another letter to the same person he writes, "Last week, save one, I preached ten times in different churches; and the last week, seven; and yesterday four times, and read prayers twice, though I slept not an hour the night before, which was spent in religious conversation, &c. God still works more and more by my unworthy ministry. Many youths here sincerely love our Lord Jesus Christ; and thousands, I hope, are quickened, strengthened, and confirmed by the word preached. Last Sunday, (in St. Dunstan's,) at six in the morning, when I gave my farewell, the whole church was drowned in tears: they wept and cried aloud, as a mother weepeth for her first-born. Since that, there is no end of persons coming and weeping, telling me what God has done for their souls: others again beg little books, and desire me to write their names in them. time would fail me, were I to relate how many have been awakened, and how many pray for me. The great day will discover all!" This will be more minutely detailed in the next chapter.

The

Having thus traced the amazing effects of Whitefield's first sermons, it will now be interesting to examine their general character, and to ascertain what were the truths which thus arrested and aroused the public mind. Three of these successful sermons can, happily, be identified with these "times of refreshing;" and they may be depended on, as specimens of both the letter and the spirit of his preaching, because they were printed from his own manuscripts: that "On Early Piety;" that "On Regeneration; "` and that "On Intercession." Whoever will read these appeals, realizing the circumstances under which they were made, will hardly wonder at the effect produced by them; the topics of the second and third, and the tone of all the three, are so different from the matter and manner of sermonizing, to which the public had been long accustomed. They do not surprise us at all; because, happily, neither the topics nor the tone of them are "strange things to our ears." Both were, however, novelties, even in the metropolis, at that time. Whenwhere had an appeal like the following been made in London? "I beseech you, in love and compassion, to come to Jesus. Indeed, all I say is in love to your souls. And if I could be but an instrument of bringing you to Jesus, I should not envy but rejoice in your happiness, however much you were exalt

ed. If I was to make up the last of the train of the companions of the blessed Jesus, it would rejoice me to see you above me in glory. I would willingly go to prison or to death for you, so I could but bring one soul from the devil's strong holds, into the salvation which is by Christ Jesus. Come then to Christ, every one that hears me this night. Come, come, my guilty brethren: I beseech you for your immortal souls' sake, for Christ's sake, come to Christ! Methinks I could speak till midnight unto you; I am full of love towards you. Would you have me go and tell my Master, that you will not come, and that I have spent my strength in vain? I cannot bear to carry such a message to him! I would not, indeed I would not, be a swift witness against you at the great day of account: but if you will refuse these gracious invitations, I must do it."

In this spirit (not very prevalent even now) Whitefield began his ministry. And there is a fascination as well as fervour in some of his early sermons. How bold and beautiful is the peroration of that on Intercession! Referring to the holy impatience of "the souls under the altar," for the coming of the kingdom of God, he exclaims, "And shall not we who are on earth, be often exercised in this divine employ with the glorious company of the spirits of just men made perfect? Since our happiness is so much to consist in the communion of saints, in the church triumphant above, shall we not frequently intercede for the church militant below; and earnestly beg, that we may be all one? To provoke you to this work and labour of love, remember, that it is the never-ceasing employment of the holy and highly exalted Jesus himself: so that he who is constantly interceding for others, is doing that on earth, which the eternal Son of God is always doing in heaven. Imagine, therefore, when you are lifting up holy hands for one another, that you see the heavens opened, and the Son of God in all his glory, as the great High Priest of your salvation, pleading for you the all-sufficient merit of his sacrifice before the throne. Join your intercessions with His! The imagination will strengthen your faith, and excite a holy earnestness in your prayers."

CHAPTER II.

WHITEFIELD'S INTRODUCTION TO LONDON.

WHITEFIELD'S ministry in London began at the Tower-an unlikely quarter for attraction or effect. The curate of the Tower, who had been his friend at college, having occasion to officiate in Hampshire for a season, invited him to supply during his absence. Sir John Philips also sanctioned the request, and joined in it. Little did either of these good men, and still less did Whitefield himself, foresee the remote, or even the immediate, consequences of this invitation. And it is well they did not! For had they foreseen Whitefield's splendid irregularities in Moorefield's and Blackheath, or his spacious tabernacles in London, or even his moderate Calvinism, they would not have countenanced him. He himself, notwithstanding all his constitutional bravery and conscientious simplicity, would not have hazarded the experiment, had he suspected the result.

How little he did so, will be best told in his own words. "On Wednesday, August 4th, 1737, with fear and trembling I obeyed the summons, and went in the stage coach to London; and the Sunday following, in the afternoon, preached at Bishopsgate church. As I went up the pulpit stairs, almost all seemed to sneer at me, on account of my youth. But they soon grew serious in the time of my preaching; and after I came down, showed me great tokens of respect, blessed me as I passed, and made great inquiry who I was. The question no one could answer; for I was quite a stranger: and, by passing speedily through the crowd, returned to the Tower without having my name discovered.

"Here (at the Tower) I continued for the space of two months, reading prayers twice a week, catechising and preaching once, besides visiting the soldiers in the infirmary and barracks daily. I also read prayers every evening in Wapping chapel." (It was, no doubt, in going between the Tower

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