To Mr. S——.
Newcastle, July 14, 1753.
My very dear Sir,
BEING, through the goodness of a never-failing Redeemer, just come hither, I sit down to perform my promise by writing to you. But where shall I begin, or where shall I end? Surely the goodness of the Lord to such a wretch as I am, is unspeakable. I will inform you of a little. After leaving Leicester, I went to Nottingham, where a great multitude came to hear, and I trust good was done, though a son of Belial endeavoured to disturb us. From thence I went to Sheffield, where we had two good meetings. The congregation in the afternoon consisted of several thousands. Here some dear friends from Leeds met me, two of which were my spiritual children, and all had been blessed under the word. The next morning we set out for Leeds, and in our way preached at Rotheram and Wakefield. At the former place, I had been disturbed twice or thrice, and was almost determined to preach there no more. But we are poor judges. A person told me, [♦]“That God had made me instrumental in converting his wife and brother,” who had both been bitter persecutors, but now gladly received me under their roof. After preaching, a young man was set at liberty, who had been groaning under the spirit of bondage four years; and whilst I was baptizing a child, the Holy Spirit was pleased to baptize several, one in particular with a holy fire. What we saw, and felt, and heard at Leeds, cannot well be expressed. Thousands attended daily; and on the Lord’s-day it was computed that near twenty thousand heard at once. I preached thrice, and the next day at [♠]Burstall and Bradford, where many thousands flocked also. Many were filled as with new wine; and as for myself, I scarce knew whether I was in heaven or on earth. On Tuesday morning, though we had drank plentifully before, yet our Lord kept the good wine till the last. We had a glorious parting-blessing. At York I preached four times. Twice we were disturbed, and twice we had sweet seasons. There is a good work begun there. The prospect all around is so glorious, I almost repent that I have engaged to go to Scotland. God willing, I shall come back as fast as possible. What a pity is it that I have but one body, and that a very weak one too. Lord, magnify thy strength in my weakness, and send me where thou wilt. Here I am most kindly received. How the Lord will be pleased to deal with me, you may know hereafter. I can now only entreat the continuance of the prayers of you and yours; and with repeated thanks for repeated favours, beg leave to subscribe myself, my very dear friend,
Yours, &c.
G. W.
[♦] Ending quote not shown in original text. Transcriber added it at his best guess.
[♠] “Bunstall” replaced with “Burstall”