And now, dear Mr. C——, I have in some measure unbosomed my heart. What shall I say more? Pray for me both in public and private; give thanks, as well as pray, especially for the mercies of this voyage. Dear Sir, adieu till I come on shore, which I hope will be very speedily, being now in soundings; then you shall hear again, God willing, from
Your truly affectionate friend, brother, and servant,
G. W.
LETTER CCLXXII.
To Mr. J—— H——.
London, March 25, 1741.
My dear Sir,
I Wrote to you immediately on my coming on shore. We arrived at Falmouth last Wednesday was sevennight, and got here the Sunday following.—Blessed be God, we had a summer’s passage. Many of our friends, I find, are sadly divided, and, as far as I am able to judge, have been sadly misled. Congregations at Moorfields, and Kennington Common, on Sunday, were as large as usual.—On the following week days, quite contrary: Twenty thousand dwindled down to two or three hundred. It has been a trying time with me. A large orphan family, consisting of near a hundred, to be maintained, about four thousand miles off, without the least fund, and in the dearest part of his Majesty’s dominions; also, above a thousand pounds in debt for them, and not worth twenty pounds in the world of my own, and threatened to be arrested for three hundred and fifty pounds, drawn for in favour of the Orphan house, by my late dear deceased friend and fellow-traveller Mr. S——. My Bookseller, who, I believe, has got some hundreds by me, being drawn away by the M——ns, refuses to print for me; and many, very many of my spiritual children, who, at my last departure from England, would have plucked out their own eyes to have given to me, are so prejudiced by the dear Messrs. W.’s dressing up the doctrine of Election in such horrible colours, that they will neither hear, see, nor give me the least assistance: Yea, some of them send threatening letters, that God will speedily destroy me. As for the people of the world, they are so imbittered by my injudicious, and too severe expressions against Archbishop Tillotson, and the Author of the old Duty of Man, that they fly from me as from a viper; and what is most cutting of all, I am now constrained, on account of our differing in principles, publicly to separate from my dear, dear old friends Messrs. J—— and C—— W——y, whom I still love as my own soul: But, through infinite mercy, I am enabled to strengthen myself in the Lord my God. I am cast down but not destroyed, perplexed but not in despair. A few days ago, in reading Beza’s Life of Calvin, these words were much pressed upon me, “Calvin is turned out of Geneva, but, behold a new church arises!”—Jesus, the ever loving, altogether lovely Jesus, pities and comforts me. My friends are erecting a place, which I have called a Tabernacle, for morning’s exposition. I have not, nor can I as yet, make any collections; but let us not fear.—Our heavenly Father, with whom the fatherless find mercy, will yet provide; let us only seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all other necessary things shall be added unto us. In about a fortnight, though I scarce know an oak from a hickery, or one kind of land from another, I am subpœna’d to appear before parliament, to give an account of the condition of the province of Georgia, when I left it. This, I suppose, is occasioned by the party, which hath been so inveterate against the honourable the trustees, whom they accuse of misemploying the public monies. The event, which undoubtedly will be in favour of the trust, you may know hereafter. In the mean while, believe me to be
Yours most affectionately,