date of “August 14th, 1753,” the very time when Whitefield
was preaching in the “Orphan House” at Newcastle, Wesley
wrote: “I willingly accepted the offer of preaching in the
house lately built for Mr. Whitefield, at Plymouth Dock.
Thus it behoveth us to trample on bigotry and party zeal.
Ought not all who love God to love one another?” (Wesley’s
Works, vol. ii., p. 287.)
333 – The original Society Book of the Osmotherley Methodists
still exists, and contains the following entry: “1753.
August 21st. Mr. George Whitefield preached here in the
evening.” From a manuscript “History of Methodism in
Barnardcastle,” it appears that, at this time, Whitefield
also paid a visit there. On arriving, he enquired if
there were any religious persons in the town. “Yes,”
was the prompt reply, “There are the _Lilty Pattens_”――a
nickname given to the Barnardcastle Methodists, from the
circumstance that they went to their meeting-house in
_pattens_. He preached in a yard, out of the Horse Market,
from Ezekiel xxxiii. 11.
334 – The _Newcastle Journal_, of August 11, 1753, contained a
paragraph to this effect.
335 – This was one of Wesley’s Societies. In fact, Whitefield’s
former friends, the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, had no
Societies in the north of England; nor had Whitefield
himself.
336 – This is only true in the sense that Whitefield had not
been in this part of the kingdom until now. John Bennet
and others had already formed Methodist Societies in all
the places mentioned, except, perhaps, Wrexham.
337 – Twelve months before, when Wesley was at Chester, there
was great disturbance; and, a few days after his departure,
the mob destroyed his meeting-house.
338 – Probably this was John Newton, then a tidewaiter at
Liverpool, but afterwards curate of Olney, and rector of
St. Mary, Woolnoth, London.
339 – Probably William Darney, one of Wesley’s itinerants.
340 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii.,
p. 343.
341 – It is a curious fact that this remarkable man was
sometimes almost fascinated by Whitefield’s preaching.
On one occasion, when the great preacher was representing
the sinner under the figure of a blind beggar, whose dog
had broken from him, and who was groping on the brink
of a precipice, over which he stepped, and was lost,
Chesterfield was so excited by the graphic description,
that he bounded from his seat, and exclaimed, “By heavens,
the beggar’s gone.” It is also related, that when it was
proposed in the Privy Council that some method should be
used to stop Whitefield’s preaching, Chesterfield, who
was present, turned upon his heels, and said, “Make him
a bishop, and you will silence him at once.”
342 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii.,
pp. 378–380.
343 – The centenary services of this venerable edifice were held
on November 25th, 1853, when a sermon was preached by the
Rev. John ♦Angell James, and addresses were delivered
by the Revs. G. Smith, Henry Quick, J. Glanville, and Dr.
Joseph Beaumont; the whole of which were published, in a
12mo. volume of 159 pages.
344 – Mrs. Grinfield, one of the ladies who attended on Queen
Caroline.
345 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii.,
p. 381.
346 – _Arminian Magazine_, 1779, p. 318
347 – A Methodist from Leeds,――one of Charles Wesley’s most
devoted friends. When Charles was summoned to London,
on account of his brother’s illness, Mr. Hutchinson, who
was staying at Bristol, for the benefit of his health,
resolutely determined to bear him company. He died,
at Leeds, seven months after this, on which occasion
Charles Wesley composed two beautiful hymns. In a letter
to his wife, dated “Leeds,” Charles exclaims, with his
characteristic ardour, “I have been crying in the chamber
whence my John Hutchinson ascended. My heart is full of
him, and I miss him every moment; but he is at rest.”
(C. Wesley’s Journal.)
348 – “Life of C. Wesley,” vol. ii., p. 33; and Whitefield’s
Works, vol. iii., p. 45.
349 – “Life of C. Wesley,” vol. ii., p. 33.
350 – Hodge’s “Presbyterian Church in the United States,”
part ii., p. 243.
351 – Ibid.
352 – Mr. Davies kept a diary, from which the following extract
is made:――“Wednesday, Dec. 26, 1753. Mr. Whitefield
having sent us an invitation to make his house our home
during our stay here, we were perplexed what to do, lest
we should blast the success of our mission among the
Dissenters, who are generally disaffected to him. We at
length concluded, with the advice of our friends and his,
that a public intercourse with him would be imprudent in
our present situation; and we visited him privately this
evening. The kind reception he gave us revived dear Mr.
Tennent. He spoke in the most encouraging manner of the
success of our mission, and, in all his conversations,
discovered so much zeal and candour, that I could not but
admire the man as the wonder of the age. When we returned,
Mr. Tennent’s heart was all on fire, and, after we had
gone to bed, he suggested that we should watch and pray;
and we arose and prayed together till about three in the
morning.” (Wakeley’s “Anecdotes of Whitefield,” p. 258.)
353 – According to the “_old style_,” Whitefield was born on
December 16th. In 1751, an Act of Parliament was passed
for the adoption of the “_new style_” in all public and
legal transactions; and ordered that the day following the
2nd of September of the year 1752 should be accounted the
14th of that month. This explains the seeming discrepancy
in Whitefield’s letter.
354 – Gillies says, Whitefield took twenty-two destitute
children with him.
355 – Vol. xii., p. 479.
356 – No doubt, New Jersey College had legal authority to confer
the degree: but, under the circumstances then existing,
the degree was worthless. The first time that M.A. was
attached to Whitefield’s name in England was in 1763.
This was done in his “Observations” on the Bishop of
Gloucester’s book; but it is right to add that the
pamphlet was printed by Whitefield’s friends, _after_ he
had embarked for America.
357 – The Rev. Aaron Burr, President of New Jersey College.
358 – “Account of European Settlements in America, 1778,”
vol. ii., p. 270.
359 – _London Magazine_, 1754, p. 381.
360 – Sir William Pepperell, the Cape Breton hero.
361 – Whitefield’s Works, vol. ii., p. 419.
362 – “Life of Charles Wesley,” vol. ii., p. 67.
363 – A charter to found a college was granted by the Governor
of New Jersey on October 22, 1746, and Mr. Dickinson
was appointed president. Dickinson, however, died a year
afterwards, and before the charter was carried into
operation. Besides this, the provisions of the charter
were not liked; and hence, in 1748, Governor Belcher
obtained a new one from George II., Burr was chosen
president, a commencement was made, six students graduated,
five of whom became ministers. (Hodge’s Presbyterian
Church in the United States.)
364 – Burr had married one of Edwards’s daughters.
365 – A fast-day sermon, on the encroachments of the French,
published in 1755.
366 – Mr. Burr died three years after this. One of his two
children became vice-president of the United States.
367 – The publication of these letters has been already noticed.
368 – Mrs. Bevan was the widow of Arthur Bevan, Esq., who, for
fourteen years, represented Carmarthen in Parliament. She
was converted under the ministry of the famous Griffith
Jones. For twenty years after his death, she supported
his schools in Wales, and in her will left £10,000 to
perpetuate their good effects. She was an elegant and
accomplished woman; and, at every visit, Whitefield was
wont to preach in her house at Bath. (“Life and Times of
the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i., p. 454.)
369 – Ibid., p. 195.
370 – Cennick died exactly a week before this letter was written.
371 – “Memoirs of Rev. Cornelius Winter.” By William Jay.
372 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii.,
pp. 336, 337.
373 – Whitefield’s Works, vol. iii., p. 132.
374 – Ibid., p. 136.
375 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii.,
p. 344.
376 – “The Oxford Methodists,” p. 290.
377 – This was afterwards published, with the following title:
“An Epistle to the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield: written in
the year 1755. By Charles Wesley, A.M., late student of
Christ Church, Oxford. London, 1771.” (8vo. 8 pp.)
378 – The place at Bradford where Whitefield preached was “in
an open part of the town, near the water-side. His texts
were, John iii. 14, and 1 John iii. 8.” (“Memoirs of John
Fawcett, D.D.,” pp. 15–17.)
379 – There had been a schism among the Leeds Methodists.
A considerable number had seceded; John Edwards had
formed them into a separate Society; and, probably, the
meeting-house Whitefield mentions was intended for Edwards
and his congregation. Wesley’s first chapel in Leeds was
built two years afterwards, in St. Peter’s Street.
380 – Wesley’s Societies. Except the Societies formed by
Ingham and his friends in the West Riding of Yorkshire,
Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, none others
existed in the north of England.
381 – The Long Acre chapel does not now exist. In Charles Street,
a few yards from Long Acre, there is a building called
“Whitefield’s Presbyterian Church;” but its minister,
the Rev. C. J. Whitmore, tells me it is not the chapel in
which Whitefield preached.
382 – Wilson’s “Dissenting Churches in London,” vol. iii.,
p. 365.
383 – Whitefield’s Works, vol. iii., p. 166.
384 – A popular, and also persecuted preacher, who had
died forty-three years before. He was the son of a
clergyman, ejected for nonconformity in 1662. In 1709,
Dr. Sacheverell’s mob attacked Daniel’s meeting-house, in
New Court, Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields, broke all the windows,
and burnt the pulpit and all the pews. His sermons, like
Whitefield’s, contained many pertinent and useful stories.
385 – On the earthquake at Lisbon.
386 – “Letters from Dr. Thomas Herring.” (12mo. pp. 355.)
387 – Whitefield’s Works, vol. iii., p. 16.
388 – _London Magazine_, 1756, p. 89.
389 – See a pamphlet, entitled “A Brief View of the Conduct of
Pennsylvania for the Year 1755.”
390 – Even the _Monthly Review_――no friend to Whitefield――in
its number for March, 1756, wrote concerning Whitefield’s
“Short Address”: “Mr. Whitefield here makes good use of
the influence he has acquired over the common people, by
endeavouring to animate them, at this critical juncture,
with a lively sense of the duty they owe to their God,
their king, and their country. It is with sincere pleasure
we find that this seasonable exhortation has had so
considerable a spread as to occasion a demand for three
editions; the first of which did not appear till after the
late general fast.”
391 – Whitefield’s Works, vol. iii., p. 158.
392 – _Gospel Magazine_, 1831, p. 563.
393 – The almshouses and the minister’s house do not now exist.
In “Whitefield Street,” and annexed to the chapel, a
commodious Day and Sunday school has been built. In one
of the chapel vestries there is a large original portrait
of Whitefield, without, however, the painter’s name. The
likeness is not a pleasing one. On each side of the chapel
is a burial ground, now closed.
394 – MS. Letter by John Pawson.
395 – “Centenary Commemoration of the Opening of Tottenham Court
Chapel,” p. 5.
396 – _New Spiritual Magazine_, 1783, p. 20.
397 – _Home Missionary Magazine_, 1827, p. 35.
398 – Its name is “Whitefield Tabernacle,” and connected with it
are “Whitefield Tabernacle Schools,” for boys, girls, and
infants.
399 – Wilson’s “Dissenting Churches,” vol. iii., p. 118.
400 – Sydney’s “Life of Rev. Samuel Walker,” p. 329.
401 – Ibid., p. 436.
402 – _St. James’s Chronicle_, March 16, 1768.
403 – Doubtless, Whitefield’s “Short Address to Persons of all
Denominations.”
404 – _Evangelical Magazine_, 1803, p. 51.
405 – The following is taken from the _London Magazine_ for
1756, p. 402:――“August. At Maidstone late assizes, Mr. John
Lauder, an officer in a regiment of foot, was tried for
killing, with his sword, in the heat of passion and liquor,
William Forster, a post-boy. Mr. Lauder behaved very
decently at his execution.”
406 – Whitefield’s old friend, Benjamin Ingham, was now resident
at Aberford, about five miles from Tadcaster. (“The Oxford
Methodists,” p. 139.)
407 – One of Whitefield’s texts was, “Wherefore, glorify ye
the Lord in the fires” (Isa. xxv. 14), in illustrating
which he was wont to say: “When I was, some years ago,
at Shields, I went into a glass-house, and saw a workman
take a piece of glass, and put it into three furnaces
in succession. I asked, ‘Why do you put it into so many
fires?’ He answered, ‘Oh, sir, the first was not hot
enough, nor the second, and therefore we put it into
the third; that will make it transparent.’ ‘Oh,’ thought
I, ‘does this man put this glass into one furnace after
another, that it may be made perfect? Then, O my God!
put me into one furnace after another, that my soul may
be transparent!’” (Belcher’s “Biography of Whitefield,”
p. 370.)
408 – “Memoirs of John Fawcett, D.D.,” p. 19.
409 – _Methodist Magazine_, 1819, p. 56.
410 – Whitefield’s Works, vol. iii., p. 190.
411 – C. Wesley’s Journal.
412 – Vol. i., p. 266.
413 – Whitefield’s Works, vol. iii., p. 191.
414 – “Life of Rev. Henry Venn,” p. 24.
415 – Whitefield’s Works, vol. v., p. 275.
416 – This is hardly correct. Whitefield and the Wesleys
administered the sacraments, in London, Bristol, and other
places. Their unordained preachers, however, were not
allowed to do this until many a long year afterwards.
417 – Meaning the Methodist clergymen.
418 – “Life of Garrick,” by Fitzgerald.
419 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i.,
p. 208.
420 – “Memoirs of Cornelius Winter,” p. 26.
421 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i.,
pp. 207, 208.
422 – _Scots’ Magazine_, 1757, p. 260.
423 – “Annals of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland,
from 1739 to 1766,” vol. ii., p. 373.
424 – “Annals of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland,
from 1739 to 1766,” vol. ii., p. 394.
425 – Ibid., p. 102.
426 – _Scots’ Magazine_, 1757, p. 260.
427 – Thomas Rankin’s MS. Journal.
428 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii.,
p. 154.
429 – Ibid., p. 158.
430 – The “Ormond Boys” were in favour of the popish pretender,
and were so designated after the arch-traitor, the Duke
of Ormond. The “Liberty Boys,” of course, were their
opponents.
431 – Frederick, King of Prussia, was rendering England
important service; for while the English were fighting the
French in America, he was fighting and conquering them in
Europe. “The wonderful battle of Rossbach,” says Voltaire,
“was the most inconceivable and complete rout mentioned
in history. Thirty thousand French and twenty thousand
Imperial troops there made a disgraceful precipitate
flight before five Prussian batallions and a few squadrons.”
In England, Frederick was styled the “Protestant hero;”
his birthday was kept as a holiday; public subscriptions
were proposed for him; and Parliament granted him a
subsidy of £670,000 per annum to enable him to prosecute
the war.
432 – Christopher Hopper was now one of Wesley’s preachers
in Dublin. In his autobiography, Christopher is silent
respecting Whitefield’s perilous adventure.
433 – Most of Whitefield’s biographers, and some writers of
the History of Methodism, say John Edwards, of Leeds, was
converted under Whitefield’s sermon on Oxmanton Green.
This is an egregious blunder. John Edwards was converted,
and was himself a Methodist preacher, many a long year
before this. As a rule, I refrain from noticing the errors
of previous biographers.――L. T.
434 – Whitefield was strongly urged to visit America. In an
hitherto unpublished letter, by the Rev. James Davenport,
dated, “Hopewell, January 17, 1757,” the writer says:
“Pray come to see our dear America once more, as soon
as you can. You cannot tell what God might do at this
juncture. Many, no doubt, would rejoice greatly. Oh, my
dear brother, that there were a heart in our land, under
our present dangers and distresses, to turn to God! Then
we might, in the Lord’s strength, soon drive out our
temporal enemies, and come off more than conquerors over
our spiritual ones. I hope you remember our agreement to
pray for each other, in secret, every Sabbath morning.
Oh, how sweet are the thoughts of heaven, where we may
converse, and rejoice, and praise, and enjoy and glorify
God, our Father, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, without any
stop, world without end. My soul joins with yours in
saying, ‘Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly! Amen!’”
435 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i.,
p. 428.
436 – Dr. Talbot, in 1767, became vicar of St. Giles’s, Reading.
He was an able preacher, and remarkable for the gift of
prayer. When Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury, was dying,
Talbot visited him. “You will pray with me, Talbot,” said
Secker. Talbot rose and went to look for a Prayer-Book.
“That is not what I want now,” remarked the Archbishop:
“kneel down by me, and pray for me in the way I know you
are used to do.” Dr. Talbot died, on the 2nd of March,
1774, in the 57th year of his age, in the house of his
friend, the great philanthropist, William Wilberforce.
(_Evangelical Magazine_, 1815, pp. 393–400.)
437 – Lord Dartmouth succeeded to the earldom in 1750, being
then about twenty-five years of age. In 1755, he married
the only daughter and heiress of Sir Charles Gunter
Nicholl. Shortly after his marriage, he became the
intimate friend of Lady Huntingdon, to whom he was
introduced by the Countess of Guildford. It was in Lady
Huntingdon’s house, that he first became acquainted with
Whitefield, the Wesleys, Romaine, Jones, Madan, etc.
George the Third appointed him principal Secretary of
State for the American department, which office his
lordship afterwards exchanged for that of Lord Keeper of
the Privy Seal. Some years later, he was made Lord Steward
of His Majesty’s Household. He contributed largely towards
Whitefield’s Orphan House. He was the early patron of
the Rev. Moses Browne; obtained ordination for the Rev.
John Newton; and was celebrated by Cowper, in his poem on
Truth:――
“We boast some rich ones whom the gospel sways,
And one who wears a coronet and prays.”
438 – _Evangelical Magazine_, 1815, p. 394.
439 – Ibid., p. 395.
440 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i.,
p. 431.
441 – Fletcher, of Madeley, was ordained in 1757.
442 – Whitefield’s Works, vol. iii., pp. 220, 221.
443 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i.,
p. 219.
444 – Miss Gideon was the daughter of Sampson Gideon, Esq.,
of Belvidere House, Kent, and sister of the first
Lord Eardley. She was converted in the drawing-room of
Lady Huntingdon. (“Life and Times of the Countess of
Huntingdon,” vol. ii., p. 3.)
445 – Whitefield’s Works, vol. iii., p. 232.
446 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i.,
p. 228.
447 – _Evangelical Magazine_, 1803, p. 333.
448 – “Memoirs of Robert Robinson,” p. 25.
449 – _Evangelical Magazine_, 1803, p. 535.
450 – _Scots’ Magazine_, 1758, p. 388.
451 – _Scots’ Magazine_, 1758, p. 609.
452 – There can be little doubt that this was Wesley’s chapel,
in St. Peter’s Street. It was built in 1757.
453 – The _Daily Advertiser_, of October 27, 1758, says: “We
hear that, for this month past, the Rev. Mr. Whitefield
has been preaching twice a day, to very large audiences,
in various parts of Yorkshire, Lancashire, and
Staffordshire, and is expected in town this week.”
The same journal, on the following day, announced, “On
Thursday evening (October 26), the Rev. Mr. Whitefield
came to town, from Scotland and the north of England; and
will preach to-morrow at Tottenham Court chapel, and at
the Tabernacle in Moorfields.”
454 – Whitefield’s Works, vol. iii., pp. 246–250.
455 – _New Spiritual Magazine_, 1783, p. 164.
456 – Wesley’s Journal.
457 – C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. ii., p. 219.
458 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i.,
p. 307.
459 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i.,
p. 314.
460 – _Scots’ Magazine_, 1759, p. 378.
461 – Ibid.
462 – Cadogan’s “Life of Rev. W. Romaine,” p. 37.
463 – Gillies’ “Life of Whitefield.”
464 – Calamy’s “Nonconformist’s Memorial,” vol. i., p. 237.
465 – Free’s edition of Wesley’s Second Letter.
466 – See “Life and Times of Wesley,” vol. ii., p. 343.
467 – Whitefield’s text, at Tottenham Court Road, was Hosea xi.
8, 9; and the collection £222 8s. 9d. At the Tabernacle,
his text was Psalm lxxx. 19; and the collection £182 15s.
9d. (Gillies’ “Life of Whitefield.”) The Rev. John Newton
stated, that, at one of these services, after the sermon,
Whitefield said, “We shall sing a hymn, during which those
who do not choose to give their mite may sneak off.” None
of the congregation stirred. Whitefield ordered all the
doors to be shut but one; at which he himself held the
plate. (“Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,”
vol. i., p. 92.)
468 – C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. ii., p. 235.
469 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i.,
p. 408.
470 – Lady Huntingdon also was now in Yorkshire. Whitefield
joined her, at Ingham’s, at Aberford. Great confusion
prevailed in Ingham’s Societies. The Countess and
Whitefield tried to restore peace; but their efforts
were ineffectual. Sandemanianism produced a schism. Out
of eighty flourishing Societies, only thirteen continued
under Ingham’s care. (“Oxford Methodists,” p. 145.)
471 – Whitefield’s Works, vol. iii., pp. 260–263.
472 – Cook’s “Memoirs of Foote;” and “Biographica Dramatica.”
473 – Boswell’s “Life of Johnson.”
474 – The Duke of Devonshire was Lord Chamberlain.
475 – _Lloyd’s Evening Post_, July 14, 1760.
476 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i.,
p. 209.
477 – _Monthly Review_, July, 1760.
478 – Ibid., August, 1760.
479 – _Lloyd’s Evening Post_, Nov. 24, 1760.
480 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i.,
p. 209.
481 – Madan did not attach his name to his letter, but signed it,
“Anti-Profanus.”
482 – It might be added, that portraits――hideous ones――of
Whitefield were published, with the offensive words
“Dr. Squintum” underneath them. One lies before me.
483 – _Monthly Review_, November, 1761.
484 – Gillies’ “Life of Whitefield.”
485 – Gillies’ “Life of Whitefield.”
486 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i.,
p. 210.
At and about this period, Whitefield made several other
collections for the suffering Protestants in Germany, the
aggregate amount of which was upwards of £1500. For this,
he received the thanks of the King of Prussia, Frederick
the Great. (“Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,”
vol. i., p. 209.) The freeholders of Boston, also, held
a meeting, at which they passed a vote of thanks to
Whitefield for the assistance he had rendered them.
(Gillies’ “Life of Whitefield.”)
487 – _Lloyd’s Evening Post_, March 27, 1760.
488 – Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 177.
489 – Gillies’ “Life of Whitefield.”
490 – _Monthly Review_, March, 1762.
491 – Thomas Adams, to whom Whitefield, in his last will and
testament, bequeathed £50, and whom he therein described
as, “my only surviving first fellow-labourer, and beloved
much in the Lord.”
492 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i.,
p. 281.
493 – Whitefield’s Works, vol. iii., p. 281.
494 – _Gospel Magazine_, 1771, p. 65.
495 – _Wesleyan Protestant Methodist Magazine_, 1831, p. 29.
496 – Query? Mr. Beckman, on whose death, Whitefield
subsequently preached a sermon. (See Eighteen Sermons, by
Whitefield, taken in shorthand by Joseph Gurney, 1771.)
497 – _Evangelical Magazine_, 1796, p. 518.