Philadelphia, May 30, 1747.
My dearest Brother,
HAD I strength equal to my will, you should now receive from me a very long letter; but at present I have such a fever upon me, that I can scarce send you a few lines. However I will try. Your dear letters in August last came to my hands last Lord’s-day.—They variously affected me, and put me on the search, whether I had neglected writing to my very dear man. Upon enquiry, I found that I wrote to you about the same time as I wrote to Mr. J——, and brother S——, and four or five times since. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am not suffered to forget old love and old friends. Indeed you are very dear to me,—all of you very dear to me still. I thank you ten thousand times for all expressions of your tender love, and for your steadiness in the truths and cause of Christ; and hope sometimes that your prayers will draw me to England more speedily than I imagine. But what shall I say, my dear friend? Here are thousands and thousands in America who as to spiritual things know not their right hand from their left; and who are ready to hear the gospel from my mouth. Since my coming this time from Georgia, I have been within these five weeks a circuit of 400 miles, and every where found the fields white ready unto harvest. Nobody goes out scarcely but myself. As you are in England and Wales, the power of religion I trust will be kept up; and though my coming should be delayed some time longer, yet when I am sent, it will be with the greater blessing. I am daily finishing my outward affairs, and shall think my call clearer home, when I have provided for the support of the Orphan-house. The generous benefactor’s letter pierced my heart, made me to shed tears of love, and to put up many prayers for him. I sent him a letter from Charles-Town under cover to Mr. B——. If the person be unknown, I see no impropriety in printing my letter in the Daily Advertiser or Evening Post. I am glad you have printed my letter to the Litchfield clergy, and want to know what effect my sermon on the rebellion has had. Our Lord has blessed it much in these parts. I shall be glad when the great Head of the church unites dear brethren again. I trust nothing shall be wanting on my part when I come over. An union before perhaps may not be so well. However, I leave it to you, my dear Sir, and think that the bar being taken away against people’s coming to the tabernacle, may be one good step towards it. I wait upon the Lord. As his grace increases in the heart, I am sure his children will grow less positive and more child-like, yet more steady. O my dear man, I could write all night long, but am so giddy by hard riding and preaching constantly in the heat of the day, that I must defer being more particular till another opportunity. I hope my dear wife will supply all my deficiencies. Remember me in the tenderest manner to all. Bid them to pray me to England; and in the mean while, they may assure themselves they are not forgotten by, my very dear brother,
Yours, &c.
G. W.
LETTER DXCVI.
Philadelphia, June 1, 1747.
My dear Mr. H——,
I Make no apology for troubling you with the inclosed. I hear you have taken the Tabernacle outward affairs into your hands. I am glad of it, and pray the Lord of all Lords to make you a faithful steward of his manifold gifts. You will remember me most tenderly to dear Mrs. H——, and to all friends. Perhaps I may see you yet before I die. God is delivering me out of my embarrassments by degrees. With the collection made at Charles-Town, I have purchased a plantation and some slaves, which I intend to devote to the use of Bethesda. When a sufficient fund for the future support of that house is raised, so that it may not lie as a dead weight upon me when absent, I shall think my call clearer to England. At present I have full work here; the congregations yesterday were exceeding large, and for this month past I have been preaching to thousands in different places. I am sick and well, as I used to be in England; but the Redeemer fills me with comfort, and gives me to rejoice in his salvation day by day. I am determined in his strength to die fighting, and to go on till I drop. He is a Jesus worth dying for. Once more, remember us to all. We remember you, and am, as much as as ever, dear Mr. H——,