"BASINGSTOKE, _July 20, 1739_.
"HONOURED SIR--Does Mr. Mayor do well to be angry? Alas! what
evil have I done? I honour you as a magistrate; but, as a
minister, I am obliged to have no respect of persons. Your
_apprehending_ my meetings to be unlawful, does not make them
so. There is no need of a toleration to protect me, when I do
not act unconformable to any law, civil or ecclesiastical. Be
pleased to prove that my meetings are schismatical, seditious,
or riotous, and then I will submit.
"But you say they are upon unconsecrated ground. Honoured sir,
give me leave to inform you, that God is not now confined to
places. Where two or three are gathered together in Christ's
name, there will Christ be in the midst of them. The Church, by
our ministers in their prayer before their sermons, is defined
to be, not the church walls, but a congregation of Christian
people. Such is mine.
"As for judging me, to my own Master I stand or fall. At His
dreadful tribunal I will meet you; and then you shall see what
is in the heart of, honoured sir, your very humble servant,
"GEORGE WHITEFIELD."
Notwithstanding the mayor's fulminated wrath, Whitefield went into
a field, and began to preach. He suffered no interruption worth
mentioning. Returning to the inn, he "prayed and sung psalms with
a few disciples, and then took his leave." Passing along, however,
he saw the "stage built for the cudgellers and wrestlers, and met
divers coming to the revel." He was already a mile from Basingstoke;
but, "seeing so many souls, for whom Christ died, ready to perish,
and no minister or magistrate to interpose," he at once returned,
mounted the stage, and began to shew the wrestlers, and cudgellers,
and their friends "the error of their ways." The boys huzzaed. One
of the "cudgellers" struck him with a cudgel. The crowd thronged
and pushed him. To obtain a hearing was impossible; and, hence, the
intrepid evangelist again set out for London. Perhaps it was well he
did; hence the following from a letter written to him by a Quaker:--
"BASINGSTOKE, _July 21, 1739_.
"MY DEAR FRIEND,--When I yesterday went up to thy inn, and
found thee just gone, I was sorry that I missed an opportunity
of taking my leave of thee, and of expressing the sense I had
of the presence and power of God with thee, especially in the
latter part of thy sermon, and in thy prayer after it. However,
I am truly glad that thou wert preserved out of the hands of
cruel men. Thou heardest of the threatenings of many; but the
malice of some went further. There were ten or twelve men
lying in wait to do thee a private mischief. I know this, by
the testimony of one of these very men, who boasted to me, 'We
would have given him a secret blow, and prevented his making
disturbances.'
"O thy noble testimony against the profaneness and vanity of the
age! It rejoiced me not a little. But when thou earnest to the
necessity, the nature, and the rewards of the new birth, thou
wert carried beyond thyself. The fountain of life was opened,
and flowed around amongst the living. I, for one, am a monument
of free grace and mercy. O God, how boundless is Thy love!
"My dear friend, may we finally be received up into the mansions
of glory, there to live with all the righteous generations, and
to sing with them, hallelujahs, glory, and praise, for ever and
ever. May the Ancient of Days keep thee in His arms, direct thee
by His Spirit, support, comfort, and watch over thee, is the
fervent prayer of thine in great sincerity,
"J. PORTSMOUTH."
Whitefield arrived in London on Saturday, July 21, and, in the
evening of the same day, "preached to upwards of ten thousand at
Kennington Common." During his absence, Moorfields and Kennington
Common had been supplied by Charles Wesley, and Whitefield writes:
"Blessed be God for what has been done here, since I left London,
by my honoured friend and fellow-labourer, Mr. Charles Wesley. All
love, all glory be to God for giving so great an increase!"
"Sunday, July 22. Received a letter from Mr. Ralph Erskine, of
Scotland. Some may be offended at my corresponding with him,
but I dare not but confess my Lord's disciples. Preached, at
seven in the morning, to about twenty thousand in Moorfields,
and collected £24 17s. for the school-house at Kingswood. Ye
scoffers, ye blind Pharisees, come and see, and then call
these tumultuous, seditious assemblies, if you can. Would to
God, they behaved so decently in any church in London! Went to
St. Paul's, and received the blessed sacrament. Preached in
the evening, at Kennington Common, to about thirty thousand
hearers, and collected £15 15s. 6d. for the colliers. God gave
me great power, and I never opened my mouth so freely against
the letter-learned clergymen of the Church of England. Every day
do I see the necessity of speaking out more and more. God knows
my heart, I do not speak out of resentment. I heartily wish the
Church of England was the joy of the whole earth; but I cannot
see her sinking into papistical ignorance, and refined Deism,
and not open my mouth against those who, by their sensual,
lukewarm lives, and unscriptural, superficial doctrines, thus
cause her to err."
Every day Whitefield was becoming more and more a Dissenter. The
Rev. Ralph Erskine was the head of a sect of Dissenters who had
recently seceded from the Church of Scotland. He and Whitefield were
already friendly correspondents. Erskine's letter to Whitefield
(mentioned in the above extract) is lost, but Whitefield's answer is
preserved. The following is a part of it:--
"LONDON, _July 23, 1739_.
"REVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--Yesterday, with great pleasure, I
received your kind letter. I was afraid lest I should have
offended you. If this should be the case at any time, reprove
me sharply, and I shall thank you with my whole heart. I bless
God that my sermons are approved of by you. I am but a novice in
the school of Christ; but my Master enlightens me more and more
every day to know the exceeding great riches and freedom of His
grace to all who believe in Jesus Christ.
"By this time, I hope you have seen my journal, and have given
thanks for what great things God has done for my soul. An
appendix will be printed shortly. The success of the gospel
increases daily. Opposition, also, increases daily; but as
opposition abounds, so does my inward consolation. A sermon
of mine is now being printed, which will disturb the pleasure
of preferment-loving clergy, more than ever. Mr. Wesley has
not yet received your letter. He will readily correspond with
you. He fights the Lord's battles, as doth his brother, most
courageously. A noble reformation is begun among Kingswood
colliers, near Bristol. I am now collecting money for building
them a school-house. My tenderest affections await all the
Associate Presbytery.[232] I am opposed for owning you; but to
deny our Lord's disciples, in my opinion, is denying Christ
Himself. Providence detains me here. Pray write, by next post,
to, rev. and dear sir, yours most affectionately in the bowels
of Christ,
"GEORGE WHITEFIELD."[233]
[232] The Presbytery of the new Dissenting sect.
[233] "Life and Diary of Rev. Ralph Erskine."
Mr. Erskine's reply was of enormous length, filling ten printed
octavo pages. Brief extracts from it must suffice here.
"DUNFERMLINE, _August_ 21, 1739.
"REVEREND AND VERY DEAR SIR,--I have now read your journals and
sermons, and I can assure you, with reference to the whole work
in general, and the main scope of it, my soul has been made to
magnify the Lord for the very great things He has done for you
and by you. If I speak of any things wherein we differ, it shall
only be to shew the greatness of my love to you, and also to
prevent after mistakes."
Erskine then proceeds to express a hope that there will be "a happy
union in the Lord" between the Oxford Methodists and the Associate
Presbytery, "not only in a private and personal, but even in a more
public and general way." He affirms, truly enough, that "England's
reformation from Popery, and its superstitious and ceremonial
services, however great and glorious, was far from being so full
as that of Scotland;" and he trusts, that "when a new and general
reformation shall be set on foot, more of the rags of the Romish
Church will be dropped, such as many useless rites and customs
relating to worship, which have no scriptural foundation."
Erskine next criticises Whitefield's Journal. In reference to his
fellowship with Quakers, the Scotch Reformer says: "Whatever duties
of love you perform towards these men, I will never believe you mean
or intend to justify their principles and delusive notions."