"The Lord Jesus assisted me in preaching. The melting soon began, and the power increased more and more, till the greatest part of the congregation was exceedingly moved. Several cried out in different parts, and others were to be seen wringing their hands and weeping bitterly. The stir was ten times greater than when I was here last." At Fagg's Manor, on Saturday afternoon, he preached "to many thousands, and God was pleased mightily to own his word. There was a wondrous powerful moving, but it did not rise to such a degree as when I preached here last spring. I was taken ill after preaching." After still farther labors, he retired to rest, and he says, "The Lord gave me sweet sleep, and in the morning I arose with my natural strength much renewed." This was the Sabbath, and he preached at Nottingham "to a large congregation, who seemed in no wise to regard the rain, so they might be watered with the dew of God's blessing."
On the following afternoon, at Bohemia, in Maryland, he says, "Preached to about two thousand, and have not seen a more solid melting, I think, since my arrival. Some scoffers stood on the outside, but the Holy Spirit enabled me to lay the terrors of the Lord before them, and they grew more serious. My soul much rejoiced in the Lord to see salvation brought to Maryland." On Tuesday, November 25, "came to Reedy Island, and had the wonderful presence of God in the assembly in the afternoon. Several of my dear Philadelphia friends came to take their last farewell." On Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, he preached again. "The Lord was with us every time. I was greatly delighted to see the captains of the ships, and their respective crews, come constantly to hear the word of God on shore, and join with us in religious exercises on board."
On December 1, when they sailed from Reedy Island to Charleston, he wrote in his journal, "But before I go on, stop, O my soul, and look back a little on the great things the Lord hath done for thee during this excursion. I think it is now the seventy-fifth day since I arrived at Rhode Island. My body was then weak, but the Lord has much renewed its strength. I have been enabled to preach, I think, one hundred and seventy-five times in public, besides exhorting very frequently in private. I have travelled upwards of eight hundred miles, and gotten upwards of £700 sterling in goods, provisions, and money for my poor orphans. Never did God vouchsafe me such great assistances. Never did I perform my journeys with so little fatigue, or see such a continuance of the divine presence in the congregations to whom I have preached. All things concur to convince me that America is to be my chief scene for action."
In about eight days, he arrived at Charleston, where he found there had recently been a large fire, and to improve the sad event he preached a sermon, and passed on to his own home, where he found all well, and where he made arrangements for his voyage to England, leaving on the 29th of December. On that day he narrowly escaped death. A laborer was walking behind him with a gun under his arm, which went off unawares; happily its muzzle was towards the ground, "otherwise," says Whitefield, "I and one of my friends, in all probability, should have been killed; for we were directly before, and not above a yard or two distant from it. How ought we to live in such a state as we would not fear to die in; for in the midst of life we are in death!" In the evening he preached his farewell sermon as pastor of Savannah.
On Mr. Whitefield's arrival at Charleston, in company with two gentlemen named Bryan, who had been called to suffer persecution for Christ's sake, he had the happiness of meeting his brother, the captain of a vessel from England, who gave him much interesting intelligence of the Christians in that country. Commencing with the Sabbath, he preached twice every day, in addition to expounding the Scriptures almost every evening, and expresses his gratitude for divine assistance. But though he had much to rejoice in, he had also more than one source of sorrow. Some professors of religion, of whom he had hoped well, had fallen away, and not a few of his enemies were even more enraged than formerly. Hugh Bryan had written a letter, in which, among other matters, "it was hinted that the clergy break their canons." At the request of Jonathan Bryan, Whitefield had corrected it for the press, and it was published while he was now in the city. Hugh Bryan was apprehended, and on his examination, being asked, frankly confessed that Whitefield had corrected and made some alterations in it. Writing on January 10, he says, "This evening a constable came to me with the following warrant:
"'South Carolina SS. By B—— W——, etc. Whereas I have received information upon oath that George Whitefield, Clerk, hath made and composed a false, malicious, scandalous, and infamous Libel against the Clergy of this Province, in contempt of His Majesty and His Laws, and against the King's Peace: These are therefore, in His Majesty's Name, to charge and command you and each of you forthwith to apprehend the said George Whitefield, and to bring him before Me to answer the premises. Hereof fail not, at your peril. And for your so doing this shall be your and each of your sufficient Warrant. Given under my hand and seal this tenth day of January, in the fourteenth year of His Majesty's Reign, Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and forty [one.]
"'B—— W——.'"
Whitefield gave security to appear by his attorney at the next quarter sessions, under penalty of one hundred pounds proclamation money. "Blessed be God," he says in his journal, "for this further honor. My soul rejoices in it. I think this may be called persecution. I think it is for righteousness' sake." The next morning he preached on Herod sending the wise men to find out Christ, professing a desire to worship him, but intending to kill him; persecution under pretence of religion, being his theme. The afternoon sermon was on the murder of Naboth, from which he discoursed on the abuse of power by men in authority. He says, "My hearers, as well as myself, made the application. It was pretty close." No doubt it was. In the evening he expounded the narrative of Orpah and Ruth, and exhorted his hearers to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, though his cause be never so much persecuted and spoken against.
On the following Thursday, he received several highly gratifying letters from his friends at Boston. Mr. Secretary Willard said to him, "Divers young men in this town, who are candidates for the ministry, have been brought under deep convictions by your preaching, and are carried off from the foundation of their false hopes to rest only upon Christ for salvation."
The Rev. Mr. Cooper wrote, "I can inform you that there are many abiding proofs that you did not run in vain, and labor in vain among us in this place. I can only say now in general, some have been awakened who were before quite secure, and I hope a good work begun in them. Others, who had been under religious impressions, are now more earnestly pressing into the kingdom of heaven, and many of the children of God are stirred up to give diligence for the full assurance of faith. There is a greater flocking to all the lectures in the town, and the people show such a disposition to the new Tuesday evening lecture, that our large capacious house cannot receive all that come. I am sure your visit to us has made a large addition to the prayers that are going up for you in one place and another, and I hope also unto the jewels that are to make up your crown in the day of the Lord."