On Monday morning, he breakfasted with "old Mr. Clap, and was much edified by his conversation." Of this venerable servant of Christ he says, "I could not but think, while at his table, that I was sitting with one of the patriarchs. He is full of days, a bachelor, and has been minister of a congregation in Rhode Island upwards of forty years. People of all denominations, I find, respect him. He abounds in good works; gives all away, and is wonderfully tender of little children; many of different persuasions come to be instructed by him. Whenever he dies, I am persuaded, with good old Simeon, he will be enabled to say, 'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.'" Whitefield preached, according to appointment, morning and afternoon, "in the church. It is very commodious, and I believe will contain three thousand people. It was more than filled in the afternoon. Persons of all denominations attended. God assisted me much. I observed numbers affected, and had great reason to believe the word of the Lord had been 'sharper than a twoedged sword,' in some of the hearers' souls."
On the evening of the same day he received the following note:
Reverend Sir and beloved Brother—Although mine eyes never saw your face before this day, yet my heart and soul have been united to you in love, by the bond of the Spirit. I have longed and expected to see you for many months past. Blessed be God, mine eyes have seen the joyful day. I trust, through grace, I have some things to communicate to you that will make your heart glad. I shall omit writing any thing, and only hereby present my hearty love, and let you know that I am waiting now at the post of your door for admission. Though I am unworthy, my Lord is worthy, in whose name, I trust, I come. I am your unworthy brother,
"JONATHAN BARBER."
"On reading it," says Whitefield, "I could not but think this was one of those young ministers whom God had lately made use of in such a remarkable manner, at the east end of Long Island. I sent for him, and found he was the man. My heart rejoiced. We walked out, and took sweet counsel together; and among other things, he told me that he came to Rhode Island under a full conviction that he should see me there, and had been waiting for me about a week.... What rendered this more remarkable was, I had no intention of sailing to Rhode Island till about three days before I left Carolina; and I had a great desire to put in, if I could, at the east end of Long Island, to see this very person, whom the great God now brought unto me. Lord, accept our thanks, sanctify our meeting, and teach us both what we shall do for thine own name's sake. In the evening I went to the venerable Mr. Clap's, and exhorted and prayed with a great multitude, who not only crowded into the house, but thronged every way about it. The dear old man rejoiced to see the things which he saw; and after my exhortation was over, dismissed me with his blessing."
Tuesday, we scarcely need remark, was spent by Whitefield in the work of his great Master. He preached to a vast congregation, including the members of the House of Assembly, who adjourned to attend the service; and he had very delightful evidence that his labors had already been useful. On Wednesday he left Newport, and about noon preached at Bristol, at the request of the court, which was then in session, and slept that night at a hotel on the road to Boston. On Thursday morning he set out early, and as he passed on with his friends, he says, "Found that the people were apprized of my coming, and were solicitous for my preaching; but being resolved under God, if possible, to reach Boston, we travelled on for near fifty miles, and came to Boston about eight in the evening. When we were within four miles of the city, the governor's son, several other gentlemen, and one or two ministers, waited at a gentleman's house to give me the meeting. They received me with great gladness, and told me many more would have come, had not a large funeral been in the town, or if there had been more certain notice of my arriving. This rejoiced me; for I think I can stand any thing better than this. It savors too much of human grandeur. But I must be tried every way; the Lord be my helper. After stopping a while, we went together to Boston, to the house of one Mr. Sandiford, brother-in-law to the Rev. Dr. Colman, who long since had sent me an invitation.... My heart was but low, and my body weak; but, at the request of one of the ministers, I gave thanks to our gracious God for bringing me in safety, and prayed that my coming might be in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of peace."
He slept well that night, and the next morning, he says, "I perceived fresh emanations of divine light break in upon and refresh my soul." He was visited by several gentlemen, including Josiah Willard, Esq., the secretary of the province, a man who feared God, and with whom Whitefield had for some time been in correspondence. The governor, Belcher, received him with the utmost respect, and requested frequent visits. He attended public worship at the church of England, and waited on the commissary home, who received him very courteously. As it was a day on which the clergy of that body had a meeting, he came into the company of five of them assembled together. They soon attacked him "for calling that Tennent and his brethren faithful ministers of Christ." He answered, that he believed they were so. They questioned the validity of Presbyterian ordination, and quoted from his journal his own words against him. He replied, that perhaps his sentiments were altered. They then went into a doctrinal discussion, which continued till Whitefield, finding how inconsistent they were, took his leave, resolving that they should not have the opportunity of denying him their pulpits. However, they treated him, on the whole, with more courtesy than he had lately been accustomed to receive from the ministers of his own church.
In the afternoon of the same day, he preached to a vast congregation in the Rev. Dr. Colman's meeting-house, in Brattle-street, and in the evening exhorted and prayed with such as came to his lodgings. On Saturday, in the forenoon, he discoursed to a crowded audience at the Old South church, where Dr. Sewall was pastor, the only church edifice in Boston with which Whitefield was connected which is still standing as it then was. In the afternoon he preached on the Common to about eight thousand persons, and, at night to a thronged company at his own lodgings.
On the morning of the next day, which was the Sabbath, he heard Dr. Colman preach; in the afternoon, he preached at Mr. Foxcroft's meeting-house to a vast auditory. This gentleman was the senior pastor of the First church, meeting in Chauncy-place, and the Rev. Charles Chauncy was his colleague. The church edifice was in Cornhill-square, not far from the old state-house, and was usually called the "Old Brick meeting." As this house was by far too small to contain his auditory, he almost immediately afterwards preached on the Common, to about fifteen thousand hearers; and again at night at his lodgings. He says, "Some afterwards came into my room. I felt much of the divine presence in my own soul, and though hoarse was enabled to speak with much power, and could have spoke, I believe, till midnight."
On Monday morning, Whitefield preached at Mr. Webb's meeting-house, the "New North," on the corner of Clark and Hanover streets. "The presence of the Lord," he says, "was among us. Look where I would around me, visible impressions were made upon the auditory. Most wept for a considerable time." In the afternoon he meant to have preached at Mr. Cheekley's, in Summer-street, but was prevented by an accident. Just before the time for the commencement of the service, a person broke a board in one of the galleries, of which to make a seat; the noise alarmed some who heard it, and they imprudently cried out that the galleries were giving way. The house being much crowded, the whole congregation were thrown into the utmost alarm and disorder; some jumped from the gallery into the seats below, others fell from the windows, and those below pressing to get out of the porch, were many of them thrown over each other and trodden upon. Many, as might be expected, were seriously bruised; others had bones broken; and within two days five persons died from the injuries they had received. Mr. Whitefield's presence of mind did not fail him; he immediately led the anxious throng to the Common, and preached to them from the text, "Go ye out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in." He says, "The weather was wet, but above eight thousand followed into the fields."
On Tuesday morning, Whitefield visited Mr. Walter, at Roxbury. This gentleman had been the colleague, and was now the successor of John Eliot, "the apostle of the Indians." These two men had been pastors of that church one hundred and six years. Whitefield was much pleased with Walter, who, in return, was glad to hear that he, like old Bishop Beveridge, called man "half a devil and half a beast." He preached that forenoon at Mr. Gee's meeting-house, the "Old North," of which church the celebrated Dr. Cotton Mather had formerly been pastor. The house stood in the North square, and was taken down by the British army and burned for fuel at the siege of Boston, in 1776. The auditory Whitefield preached to that morning was not very crowded, as the people were in doubt where he would preach. After dining with the secretary of the province, he says, "I preached in the afternoon at Dr. Sewall's to a thronged congregation, and exhorted and prayed as usual at my own lodgings; at neither place without some manifestations of a divine power accompanying the word."