_To the same._
_London, May 15, 1742._
_My dear Friend_,
FRESH matter of praise; bless ye the LORD, for he hath triumphed
gloriously. The battle that was begun on _Monday_, was not quite over
till _Wednesday_ evening, though the scene of action was a little
shifted. Being strongly invited, and a pulpit being prepared for me by
an honest quaker, a coal merchant, I ventured on _Tuesday_ evening to
preach at _Mary le bon fields_, a place almost as much frequented by
boxers, gamesters, and such like, as _Moor-fields_. A vast concourse
was assembled together, and as soon as I got into the field pulpit,
their countenance bespoke the enmity of their hearts against the
preacher. I opened with these words――“I am not ashamed of the gospel
of CHRIST, for it is the power of GOD unto salvation to every one that
believeth.” I preached in great jeopardy; for the pulpit being high,
and the supports not well fixed in the ground, it tottered every time
I moved, and numbers of enemies strove to push my friends against the
supporters, in order to throw me down. But the Redeemer stayed my soul
on himself, therefore I was not much moved, unless with compassion for
those to whom I was delivering my master’s message, which I had reason
to think, by the strong impressions that were made, was welcome to
many. But satan did not like thus to be attacked in his strong-holds,
and I narrowly escaped with my life: for as I was passing from the
pulpit to the coach, I felt my wig and hat to be almost off. I turned
about, and observed a sword just touching my temples. A young rake,
as I afterwards found, was determined to stab me, but a gentleman,
seeing the sword thrusting near me, struck it up with his cane, and
so the destined victim providentially escaped. Such an attempt excited
abhorrence; the enraged multitude soon seized him, and had it not been
for one of my friends, who received him into his house, he must have
undergone a severe discipline. The next day, I renewed my attack in
_Moor-fields_; but would you think it? after they found that pelting,
noise, and threatnings would not do, one of the _merry Andrews_ got up
into a tree very near the pulpit, and shamefully exposed his nakedness
before all the people. Such a beastly action quite abashed the serious
part of my auditory; whilst hundreds of another stamp, instead of
rising up to pull down the unhappy wretch, expressed their approbation
by repeated laughs. I must own at first it gave me a shock; I thought
satan had now almost outdone himself; but recovering my spirits, I
appealed to all, since now they had such a spectacle before them,
whether I had wronged human nature in saying, after pious _Bishop
Hall_, “that man, when left to himself, is half a devil and half a
beast;” or as the great Mr. _Law_ expressed himself, “a motley mixture
of the beast and devil.”――Silence and attention being thus gained, I
concluded with a warm exhortation, and closed our festival enterprizes,
in reading fresh notes that were put up, praising and blessing GOD
amidst thousands at the tabernacle, for what he had done for precious
souls, and on account of the deliverances he had wrought out for me
and his people. I could enlarge; but being about to embark in the
_Mary and Ann_, for _Scotland_, I must hasten to subscribe myself,
Yours, &c.
_G. W._
_P. S._ I cannot help adding, that several little boys and girls who
were fond of sitting round me on the pulpit, while I preached, and
handing to me peoples notes, though they were often pelted with eggs,
dirt, &c. thrown at me, never once gave way: but on the contrary,
every time I was struck, turned up their little weeping eyes, and
seemed to wish they could receive the blows for me. GOD make them in
their growing years great and living martyrs for him, who out of the
mouth of babes and sucklings perfects praise!