"SAVANNAH, _January 22, 1740_.
"MY HONOURED FRIEND AND BROTHER IN CHRIST,--I have experienced
many inward trials since I last saw you; but I find they work
continually for my good. I have received a sweet, endearing,
instructive letter from Mr. Ralph Erskine. I have answered it,
and told him you promised to write about the necessity of a
catholic spirit. Dr. Colman[312] also has favoured me with a
loving epistle. I have read his sermons since I saw you. They
are acute and pointed, but I think not searching enough by many
degrees. I love writers that go to the bottom. I hope to be
with you at the Synod; but I sometimes doubt whether I shall
have sufficient matter given me to preach upon. Michael and the
dragon, I hear, are carrying on war most bravely in England. I
really believe we shall not die, till we see the kingdom of God
come with power. The affairs of the Orphan House are in great
forwardness. I have much to say, but time and business will not
permit. Blessed be God, eternity is at hand, and then we shall
have time enough. I have read some of your books to my great
profit. I want to be taught the way of God more perfectly, etc.
"GEORGE WHITEFIELD."
[312] The Rev. Benjamin Colman, D.D., was born at Boston, New
England, in 1673. At the age of twenty-two, he embarked for London,
and was taken prisoner by a French privateer. On being released,
he proceeded to England, where he became acquainted with Howe,
Calamy, Burkitt, and other ministers of distinction. In 1699, he
returned to Boston, and was appointed the first minister of the
church in Brattle Street, where he continued to officiate until his
death in 1747. He was neither a Presbyterian nor an Independent,
but something between the two. His learning, talents, piety, and
usefulness secured him universal respect; and he certainly was one
of the most distinguished ministers in New England.
An extract from another letter, belonging to this period, deserves
insertion. It was addressed "to the Inhabitants of Maryland,
Virginia, and North and South Carolina."
"SAVANNAH, _January 23, 1740_.
"As I lately passed through your provinces, I was touched with a
fellow-feeling of the miseries of the poor negroes. Could I have
preached more frequently among you, I should have delivered my
thoughts in my public discourses; but, as business here required
me to stop as little as possible on the road, I have no other
way to discharge the concern that lies upon my heart than by
sending you this letter. How you will receive it, I know not;
but, whatever be the event, I must inform you, in the meekness
and gentleness of Christ, that I think God has a quarrel with
you, for your cruelty to the poor negroes. Whether it be lawful
for Christians to buy slaves, I shall not take upon me to
determine;[313] but sure I am it is sinful, when bought, to use
them worse than brutes; and, I fear, the generality of you, who
own negroes, are liable to such a charge; for your slaves, I
believe, work as hard as the horses whereon you ride.
[313] Soon after this, Whitefield became a slave-owner.
"These, after they have done their work, are fed and taken
proper care of; but many negroes, when wearied with labour in
your plantations, have been obliged to grind their own corn
after they return home.
"Your dogs are caressed and fondled at your tables; but your
slaves, who are frequently styled dogs or beasts, have not
an equal privilege. They are scarce permitted to pick up the
crumbs which fall from their masters' tables. Nay, some, as I
have been informed by an eye-witness, have been, upon the most
trifling provocation, cut with knives, and have had forks thrown
into their flesh: not to mention what numbers have been given
up to the inhuman usage of cruel task-masters, who, by their
unrelenting scourges, have ploughed upon their backs, and made
long furrows, and, at length, brought them even to death itself.
"I hope there are but few such monsters of barbarity suffered
to subsist among you. Some, I hear, have been lately executed
in Virginia for killing slaves; and the laws are very severe
against such as murder them.
"Perhaps it might be better for the poor creatures themselves
to be hurried out of life, than to be made so miserable as
they generally are in it. Indeed, considering the usage they
commonly meet with, I have wondered that we have not more
instances of self-murder among them, or that they have not more
frequently risen in arms against their owners. Virginia has
been once, and Charleston more than once, threatened in this
way. And, though I pray God the slaves may never be permitted
to get the upper hand, yet, should such a thing be permitted by
Providence, all good men must acknowledge the judgment would be
just. Is it not the highest ingratitude, as well as cruelty,
not to let your poor slaves enjoy some fruits of their labour?
Whilst I have viewed your plantations cleared and cultivated,
and have seen many spacious houses built, and the owners of
them faring sumptuously every day, my blood has almost run
cold within me, when I have considered how many of your slaves
had neither convenient food to eat, nor proper raiment to put
on, notwithstanding most of the comforts you enjoy were solely
owing to their indefatigable labours. The Scripture says, 'Thou
shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn.' Does
God take care of oxen? And will He not take care of negroes?
Undoubtedly He will. 'Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for
your miseries that shall come upon you.' Behold, the provision
of the poor negroes, which have reaped down your fields, which
is by you denied them, 'crieth, and the cries of them which have
reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.'"
Whitefield's letter to the slave-owners was printed, and, as will
soon be seen, its bold speaking brought him into trouble. Meanwhile,
in his church at Savannah, he not only continued to preach on
his favourite subjects, justification and the new birth, but he
announced that he would administer the sacrament on all Sundays and
holidays. On February 3, in his sermon, he denounced the clergy as
"slothful shepherds and dumb dogs," and declared his opinion that
"the author of 'The Whole Duty of Man' had sent thousands to hell."
This created another feud; and, as if this were not enough, on March
7 he quarrelled with Mr. Norris, the late minister at Savannah, and
charged him with preaching false doctrine, with fiddling, and with
playing at cards with ladies, and told him he should never again
assist him in administering the sacrament.[314]
[314] "Journal of Proceedings in Georgia," by William Stephens, Esq.
Vol. ii. 1742.
Of course, Whitefield was also busily occupied with his Orphanage.
He writes:--
"Tuesday, January 29. Took in three German orphans, the most
pitiful objects, I think, I ever saw. No new negroes could look
more despicable, or require more pains to instruct them. Were
all the money I have collected to be spent in freeing these
three children from slavery, it would be well laid out. I have
also in my house near twenty more, who, in all probability, if
not taken in, would be as ignorant of God and Christ as the
Indians. Blessed be God, they begin to live in order.
"Wednesday, January 30. Went with the carpenter and surveyor,
and laid out the ground whereon the Orphan House is to be built.
It is to be sixty feet long, and forty wide. The foundation is
to be brick, and is to be sunk four feet within, and raised
three feet above the ground! The house is to be two stories
high, with a hip-roof: the first ten, the second nine feet high.
In all, there will be near twenty commodious rooms. Behind are
to be two small houses, the one for an infirmary, the other
for a workhouse. There is also to be a still-house for the
apothecary; and, I trust, before my return to England, I shall
see the children and family quite settled. I find it will be an
expensive work; but it is for the Lord Christ. He will take care
to defray all charges. The money that will be spent, on this
occasion, will keep many families from leaving the colony. There
are near thirty working at the plantation already, and I would
employ as many more, if they were to be had.
"Monday, February 4. Met, according to appointment, all the
magistrates, who heard the recorder read the grant given me by
the trustees, and took a minute of their approbation of the same.
"Monday, February 11. Took in four fresh orphans, and set out,
with two friends, to Frederica, in order to pay my respects to
General Oglethorpe, and to fetch the orphans in the southern
parts of the colony.
Seventeen days were spent in this journey to the south of Georgia;
but, before following Whitefield, further extracts from his letters
may be welcome. To Mr. William Delamotte, who had joined the
Moravians, and who, with Benjamin Ingham, was converting hundreds in
Yorkshire,[315] Whitefield wrote as follows:--
"Savannah, January 31, 1740. Blessed be God, for the good report
I hear of your zeal for our dear Immanuel. Go on. I am persuaded
the pleasure of the Lord will prosper in your hands. God blesses
the affairs of the Orphan House. The work is large, but we have
omnipotence for our support. I believe I shall take in near
fifty children. Fear not to speak the truth: if driven out of
England, here is a noble range for you in America."
[315] "Memoirs of James Hutton," p. 47.