"Still we are floating about, not knowing where we are; but our
people seem yet to have hopes of seeing Ireland. The weather now
begins to be cold, so that I can say with the Apostle, 'I am in
hungerings and thirstings, cold and fastings often.' My outward
man sensibly decayeth, but the spiritual man, I trust, is
renewed day by day. Our ship is much out of repair, and our food
by no means enough to support nature; an ounce or two of salt
beef, a pint of water, and a cake made of flour and skimmings of
the pot; but I often think of Him who preserved Moses in the ark
of bulrushes, and so long as I look upwards, my faith will not
fail."
The next day, land appeared. Their plight was pitiable. They had but
half a pint of water left. A boat was sent on shore. Provisions and
water were obtained; and Mr. McMahon, "a great country gentleman,"
sent an invitation to Whitefield to visit him, and to stay in his
house as long as he liked. "As soon as the provisions came," says
Whitefield, "we kneeled down and returned hearty thanks to our good
God, who has heard our prayers, and sent His angel before us to
prepare our way." On November 14, the ship anchored near the west
coast of Ireland, and Whitefield landed. He writes:--
"The voyage has been greatly for my good; for I have had a
glorious opportunity of searching the Scriptures, composing
discourses, writing letters, and communing with my own heart.
We have been on board just nine weeks and three days,--a long
and perilous, but profitable voyage to my soul; for, I hope, it
has taught me, in some measure, to endure hardships as becometh
a minister of Christ. My clothes have not been off (except to
change me) all the passage. Part of the time I lay on open deck;
part on a chest; and the remainder on a bedstead covered with my
buffalo's skin. These things, though little in themselves, are
great in their consequences; and, whosoever despiseth small acts
of bodily discipline, it is to be feared, will insensibly lose
his spiritual life by little and little. As for the success of
my ministry whilst on board, I shall only say, much sin has been
prevented, and one I hope effectually converted, who is to be my
fellow-traveller to England."
Mr. McMahon treated Whitefield with the genuine hospitality of an
Irish gentleman, and furnished him with three horses to convey him,
his servant, and the new convert just mentioned, from one side of
Ireland to the other.
Their first day's journey brought them to Kilrush, where they met
Captain Coc and a number of his crew, who, the night before, had
been almost wrecked. Whitefield writes: "On entering our inn, we
kneeled down and prayed; and again, at night, sung psalms, and
prayed with the captain and several of my shipmates; the first time,
I believe, the room was ever put to such a use by a ship's crew and
their chaplain."
Whilst here, undaunted by his recent privations and dangers,
Whitefield wrote to a friend in England:--
"KILRUSH, _Nov. 16, 1738_.
"I send you this to inform you of my safe arrival here. I know
you will rejoice and give thanks, and pray that my coming to
London may be in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of
peace. God has done for me more abundantly than I could dare
to ask or think. The seed of the glorious gospel has taken
root in the American ground, and, I hope, will grow up into a
great tree. America--infant Georgia--is an excellent soil for
Christianity; you cannot live there without taking up a daily
cross; therefore, I shall hasten back as soon as possible after
Christmas."
Whitefield's second day's Irish journey was from Kilrush to
Fourthfargus,[145] a distance of about thirty miles. Everywhere he
was struck with the poverty of the people, and thought the huts in
Georgia were palaces when compared with the Irish turf and mud-built
cabins. In this the cold and wet month of November, he saw many of
the people walking barefoot, some because they were destitute of
shoes, and others carrying in their hands their "clouted brogues" to
save them from wearing out. Nearly all were papists, and "seemed,"
says Whitefield, "so very ignorant that they may well be termed the
_wild Irish_."
[145] So Whitefield spells the word; but I have failed to find such
a place in Lewis's elaborate "Topographical Dictionary of Ireland."
The same also may be said of _Karrigholt_.
On Saturday, November 19, he came to Limerick, where he spent the
Sunday. Dr. Burscough, Bishop of Limerick, received him "with the
utmost candour and civility;" and, at his lordship's request, he
preached in the cathedral "to a very numerous audience, who seemed
universally affected." After sermon, the mayor sent twice to invite
him to dinner; but he "was pre-engaged to the bishop," who offered
him "the free use of his palace." "As I was eating at dinner," says
Whitefield, "I was meditating on the Divine goodness in spreading
such a table for me, when last Sunday I was in danger of perishing
with hunger. But I thought, at the same time, if this was so great
a blessing, what an infinitely greater one will it be, after the
troubles of this life, to sit down and eat bread in the kingdom of
God." The next day, when taking leave of his lordship, "the good
bishop kissed him, and said, 'Mr. Whitefield, God bless you! I wish
you success abroad. Had you stayed in town, this house should have
been your home.'"
Three days afterwards, the weather-beaten hero arrived at Dublin,
and thus completed his journey of about 200 miles across the "sister
island," remarking that there were two things for which Ireland
deserved credit,--the roads were good, and provisions cheap.
During the five days that Whitefield spent in Dublin, he visited
the celebrated Dr. Delany, who received him with the greatest
kindness. Through Delany, he was introduced to Dr. Rundle, Bishop of
Londonderry, and to Dr. Boulter,[146] the Archbishop of Armagh, both
of whom invited him to dinner. He also preached in two of the Dublin
churches--St. Werburgh's and St. Andrew's--and says, "God enabled me
to speak with power."
[146] Dr. Boulter was a remarkable man. In 1719, at the age of
forty-eight, he went to Hanover with George I., in the capacity of
chaplain, and was employed to teach Prince Frederick the English
language. During the same year, he was made Bishop of Bristol.
Five years later, he became Archbishop of Armagh, and Primate of
Ireland. He expended £30,000--an enormous sum in those days--in
the augmentation of small livings; erected and endowed hospitals,
at Drogheda and Armagh, for the reception of clergymen's widows;
supported the sons of many poor divines at the University;
contributed greatly to the establishment of the Protestant charter
schools; and, during a scarcity of food, in 1740, provided, at
his own expense, two meals a day for upwards of two thousand five
hundred distressed persons. He died four years after his courteous
kindness to Whitefield.
On November 30, he landed at Parkgate, and hurried to Nantwich,
hoping to meet with his old friend, Mr. Matthew Salmon, an Oxford
Methodist, who, three years before, had arranged to go with the
Wesleys to Georgia, but, at the last moment, was prevented by his
family.
From Nantwich, Whitefield went to Manchester, to visit another of
the Oxford Methodists, the Rev. John Clayton, by whose "judicious
Christian conversation," says he, "I was much edified." Here
he spent Sunday, December 3, and preached twice in Clayton's
church, to thronged and attentive congregations, and assisted six
more clergymen in administering the sacrament to three hundred
communicants. Five days afterwards, he arrived in London, "was
received with much joy" by his Christian friends, "joined with them
in psalms and thanksgiving," and, at night, went to a meeting of the
Moravian Society, in Fetter Lane.
At the time of Whitefield's arrival, Wesley was at Oxford; but,
hearing of his friend's return, he "hastened to London;" and says,
"On December 12, God gave us once more to take sweet counsel
together."
Strange things had happened during Whitefield's absence. The two
Wesleys had been brought into close connection with the Moravians,
and had both found peace with God through faith in Christ. Charles
had formed an intimate acquaintance with the Rev. Henry Piers, of
Bexley, and with the Delamotte family, at Blendon. For seven months,
ever since the memorable "Day of Pentecost," in the month of May,
he had sung, rejoiced, and given thanks. Wherever an opportunity
occurred, he had preached, with all the earnestness of his impulsive
nature, his newly discovered doctrine of a free salvation,
attainable at once, by simple faith in Christ. He had prayed with
half a score of condemned convicts in Newgate prison, had instructed
them, and then gone with them to Tyburn gallows. Besides occupying
the pulpits of other London churches, he had become a sort of curate
of the Rev. Mr. Stonehouse, vicar of Islington; and, on September 3,
had "preached salvation by faith" even in Westminster Abbey, where
he also "gave the cup."
John Wesley's history had been equally eventful. He had met with
Peter Bohler, and had been taught that true faith in Christ is
inseparably connected with dominion over sin, and constant peace,
arising from a sense of forgiveness--a doctrine which, at the
first, Wesley regarded as a "new gospel." He had preached, before
the University, in St. Mary's, Oxford, his memorable sermon, from
the text, "By grace are ye saved, through faith." He had spent three
months in visiting the Moravian brotherhoods in Germany. He and his
brother had waited upon Dr. Gibson, Bishop of London, to answer the
complaints his lordship had heard against them. He had drawn up
a set of rules for the regulation of the Moravian band societies
in London; and he had published his first "Collection of Psalms
and Hymns."[147] Though he had preached in several of the London
churches, his preaching, as yet, comparatively speaking, had not
created much excitement; but he was being prepared for action, and,
when the time arrived, he was ready for the battle.
[147] The following letter from Clayton to Wesley, has not before
been published:--"Salford, May 7, 1738. We feared much that you were
the author of the 'Oxford Methodists,' prefixed to Mr. Whitefield's
Sermons; but Mr. Kinchin has relieved us. It is the opinion of Dr.
Deacon, Dr. Byrom, and his brother Josiah, as well as myself, that
you had better forbear publishing, at least for a time, till your
difficulties are blown over. Dr. Byrom has the same fears about the
_poems_, as the '_Methodists_,' and doubts you are too hasty and
sanguine about them."
Whitefield arrived in London on December 8, and, on the day
following, waited on the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop
of London, and says he "met with a favourable reception." All,
however, was not smooth sailing. On December 10, he writes: "Five
churches have been already denied me, and some of the clergy, if
possible, would oblige me to depart out of these coasts." As yet,
however, all the churches were not closed against him. On the same
day, he preached in St. Helen's,[148] the church of Broughton, the
Oxford Methodist; and in the parish church of Islington, where
Mr. Stonehouse was vicar; and concluded the Sabbath by attending
a Moravian love-feast, at Fetter Lane, and spending about two
hours in prayer and singing. He found that many who had been
awakened by his preaching, twelve months before, were now "grown
strong men in Christ, by the ministrations of his dear friends and
fellow-labourers, John and Charles Wesley;" and, in his journal, he
significantly adds: "I found the old doctrine of justification by
faith only much revived. Many letters had been sent to me concerning
it, all of which I, providentially, missed receiving; for now I come
unprejudiced, and can the more easily see who is right. And who
dare assert that we are not justified in the sight of God merely by
an act of faith in Jesus Christ, without any regard to works past,
present, or to come?" So far as there is evidence to shew, this was
a doctrine which, up to the present, Whitefield had never preached.
Now, somewhat to his surprise, he found the Moravians and the Wesley
brothers preaching it continually.
[148] Charles Wesley writes: "I heard George Whitefield preach to a
vast throng at St. Helen's."
With the exception of St. Helen's in Bishopsgate Street, Christ
Church in Spitalfields, Wapping Chapel, and the parish church at
Islington, Whitefield, on his return from Georgia, was excluded
from all the London churches. A year ago, his popularity in London
was enormous. Not only the pulpits of the churches just mentioned,
but those of Cripplegate, St. Ann's (Foster Lane), the Tower,
Ludgate, Newgate, Bow Church (in Cheapside), St. Andrew (Holborn),
St. Antholin, St. Nicholas, and many others, were freely offered
him. Now, nearly all were shut against him. Why was this? Perhaps
it was partly occasioned by the imprudent publication of his two
"Journals of a Voyage from London to Gibraltar, and from Gibraltar
to Savannah"--journals full of devotion, faith, and godly zeal, but
yet containing words, phrases, and sentences which it was unwise to
print. There was nothing absolutely wrong, but occasionally there
was a modicum of pious egotism, and there were rapturous expressions
unfamiliar to Pharisaic ears, and which exposed the writer to the
malignant shafts of inferior men, who were envious of the preacher's
popularity and success. Another reason may, perhaps, be found in
the fact that Whitefield and the Wesley brothers were known to be
faithful and ardent friends. Though the Wesleys had not, as yet,
encountered any serious opposition, their newly embraced doctrine of
justification by faith only, and their intimate and open connection
with the London Moravians, had been, to many of the members of
the Church of England, an occasion of huge offence; and it is not
improbable that Whitefield's exclusion from the London churches was
partly on their account. And, further, though the terrible storm of
persecution had yet to come and burst, there were already mutterings
of its approach, and of its violence. As an antidote to Whitefield's
doctrine of the new birth, the Rev. Tipping Silvester had published
a sermon,[149] preached before the University of Oxford, the chief
point of which was that men are born again in baptism. Further, in
condemnation of Wesley's doctrine, that true faith in Christ is
inseparably attended by an assurance of the forgiveness of sins,
the Rev. Arthur Bedford, Chaplain to His Royal Highness Frederick
Prince of Wales, had printed a discourse, delivered in the church
of St. Lawrence Jewry, in which he strongly argued that, to profess
to have received such an assurance, savours of spiritual pride, and
cannot but produce bad results. It is a "grand enthusiasm;" "instead
of bringing a man nearer to heaven, it sets him farther from it, for
the whole tenor of the gospel is to teach us humility and lowliness
of mind." "If," continues Mr. Bedford, "it pleased God, by His
Holy Spirit, to give me such an assurance, I should think myself
obliged heartily to bless His name for it in private, and humbly
beg a continuance of it; but I should also think myself obliged, in
conscience to conceal it, unless I was called forth to martyrdom."
[149] On the title-page of Mr. Silvester's sermon, there is the
following: "Recommended to the Religious Societies." Of course,
it was well known that Whitefield had recently been the favourite
preacher of these Societies, both in Bristol and in London.
It is more than probable that all these things contributed to
Whitefield's being denied the use of those London pulpits from
which, only twelve months before, he had preached, to admiring
crowds, with such startling eloquence and power. But, perhaps,
the chief cause of his exclusion was the publication of an 8vo.
pamphlet, of thirty-two pages, with the following title: "Remarks
on the Reverend Mr. Whitefield's Journal. Wherein his many
Inconsistencies are pointed out, and his Tenets considered. The
whole shewing the dangerous tendency of his Doctrine. Addressed
to the Religious Societies. _Ex tuo ipsius ore te damnabo._" The
pamphlet was a weak performance, but full of venom. The writer
professes a great regard for truth and the general good of the
Religious Societies, and confesses that Whitefield's "zeal to
promote the glory of God in London had made him esteem and admire
him;" but he adds that, finding "so many inconsistencies and false
notions of religion in" Whitefield's Journal, "I could not help
endeavouring to undeceive others, since I am so much deceived in him
myself."
The "Remarks on the Journal" are scarcely worthy of quotation.
Suffice it to say that, besides accusing Whitefield of "placing
religion in perturbations of mind, possessions of God, ecstatic
flights, and supernatural impulses;" of "insinuating that he was a
peculiar favourite of heaven," and of "arriving at such a height of
enthusiasm as to cause intervals of madness,"--the zealous reviewer
of Whitefield and his religion addresses the Religious Societies as
follows:--
"I am not a stranger to those causeless divisions among you,
occasioned by Mr. Whitefield's doctrine, and others of his
stamp, which have even drove some of you into despair, and
have caused others (really pious and well-meaning people) not
to be easy in themselves, but to think their eternal happiness
forfeited, through a want of those feelings which he prescribes
as the necessary ingredient for a good Christian. I shall
leave it to you to think whether any doctrine, attended with
such melancholic and frightful consequences, can be a means of
promoting the glory of God and benefiting mankind. I doubt not
but you will think in the negative. If so, let me exhort each
of you, according to his power, to endeavour to suppress it.
The only means that I can recommend to you is to work on those
who are falling from you by gentle means; to remove from their
minds all vain expectations of these new tokens of the Spirit,
_pangs_, _feelings_, and the like; and to inform them that the
only _fruit_ of the Spirit is righteousness; and always to keep
up in them a sense that their services, being according to
their best endeavours (though imperfect), will be acceptable
with God, through the merits of Christ. This will preserve them
from despair, and be the only means to prevent those frightful
thoughts affecting the mind. But if they should at any time
afterwards present themselves, let them always keep in memory
our blessed Saviour's description of the particulars by which
every man is to be judged at the last day, where there is no
mention made of inward feelings, possessions, and the like; but
_if he was hungry, ye gave him meat_," etc. (Matt. xxv 34-40).
This was odd theology; but let it pass. There can be no doubt that
the circulation of this well-printed, if not well-written, pamphlet
created a prejudice against the young preacher; and that this, in
connection with the other circumstances already mentioned, is quite
sufficient to account for the surprising fact, that whereas, at the
end of the year 1737, Whitefield, of all the preachers in the London
churches, was the most popular, he was, notwithstanding this, almost
universally tabooed at the end of 1738, and, with few exceptions,
found all the churches closed against him.
To an aspiring, ardent spirit, like that of Whitefield, this was a
serious trial; but while it pained, it failed to paralyse the man.
To gag him was impossible. If not allowed to preach in churches,
he was determined to preach elsewhere. On Christmas Eve, besides
preaching twice in places not named, he attended a meeting of
the Crooked Lane Society, and "withstood several persons, who
cavilled against the doctrine of the new birth;" thence he "went
and expounded to a company at Mr. B----'s, in Little Britain;" and
thence proceeded to a Moravian love-feast at Fetter Lane, where he
"continued, with many truly Christian brethren, in prayer, psalms,
and thanksgiving," till nearly four o'clock on Christmas Day
morning. But even now his work was not ended. Instead of seeking
rest in bed, he went direct from Fetter Lane to Redcross Street,
and, at four o'clock, "expounded to another Society consisting of
two or three hundred people;"[150] at six, he expounded again "as
well as he could" to Crutched Friar's Society; and then, during the
same day, "without going to sleep," "preached thrice, and assisted
in administering the Christian Sacrament." Thus, in something like
six-and-thirty hours, he preached five sermons, expounded to four
Societies, and attended the exhaustingly prolonged love-feast in
Fetter Lane.
[150] Whitefield says, this was the _first_ time he "ever prayed _ex
tempore_ before such a number in public." (Whitefield's Life and
Journals, 1756, p. 114.)
How did he spend the ensuing week,--the last in the memorable
year 1738? Many a man, after such exertions, would have deemed it
his duty to have had a Christmas holiday; but if any one could
truthfully sing the lines of his friend Wesley, Whitefield could:--
"Labour is rest, and pain is sweet,
If Thou, my God, art here."
The question just propounded shall be answered partly by Charles
Wesley, and partly by Whitefield himself. The former writes:--
"1738, Tuesday, December 26. George Whitefield preached. We had
the sacrament this and the four following days. On Thursday, my
brother preached; on Friday, George Whitefield; and on Saturday,
Mr. Robson. The whole week was a festival indeed; a joyful
season, holy unto the Lord."[151]
[151] C. Wesley's Journal.