The next day, Whitefield wrote to James Hutton, the London Moravian, as follows:—
"Savannah, June 7, 1740.
"My dear, dear Brother,—With great comfort, I received your long wished-for letter. Let all former misunderstandings between me and your friends be entirely forgotten. I always pitied your parents, and most earnestly prayed for them and you.
"O what wonderful things is God doing in America! Savannah also, my dear Savannah, especially my little orphans, now begin to feel the love of Jesus Christ. I arrived here two days ago, in an hour quite unexpected by my friends. How did we weep over one another for joy! Perhaps I may never feel the like again, till I meet the sons of God in glory. I prayed with three of the girls before I went to church, and I prayed also with my other dear friends. When we came to church, the power of the Lord came upon all. Most of the children, both boys and girls, cried bitterly. The congregation were drowned in tears. When I came home, I went to prayer again. It would have charmed your heart to have heard the little ones, in different parts of the house, begging Jesus to take full possession of their hearts. The same power continues to-day. For near two hours, four or five of the girls have been before the Lord weeping most bitterly. God blesses me in everything I undertake. Our Orphan House comes under better regulations every day, and I am persuaded will produce some true followers of Jesus Christ.
"My dear brother, may the Lord be with you! For Christ's sake, desire brother Wesley to avoid disputing with me. I think I had rather die, than see a division between us; and yet, how can we walk together, if we oppose each other? Adieu! Dear James, with much tenderness, I subscribe myself ever yours,
"George Whitefield."
Whitefield was in a sort of amazed and wondering ecstasy. Six days later he wrote the following to a minister at New York:—
"Savannah, June 13, 1740.
"Reverend and dear Brother,—Many of the dear children of God are too apt to confine God to this or that particular way of acting; whereas He is a sovereign agent, and His sacred Spirit bloweth when, and where, and how it listeth. When an uncommon work is to be done, no doubt, He will work upon His chosen instruments in an uncommon manner. What the event of the present general awakening will be, I know not. I desire to follow my dear Lord blindfold, whithersoever He is pleased to lead me.
"Wonderful things have been done ever since my arrival at Savannah. Such an awakening among little children, I never saw before. Oh, my dear brother, how ought such manifestations of God's glory to quicken our souls, and excite us to lay ourselves out more and more in the service of the best of masters, Jesus Christ! Every day, He fills me with Himself, and sometimes brings me upon the confines of eternity. Methinks, I often stand upon Mount Pisgah, and take a view of the heavenly Canaan, and then long to be gathered to my people. But my work is scarce begun. My trials are yet to come. What is a little scourge of the tongue? what is a thrusting out of the synagogues? The time of temptation will be when we are thrust into an inner prison. But, 'if Thou, O dearest Redeemer, wilt strengthen me in the inner man, let enemies plunge me into a fiery furnace, or throw me into a den of lions!' In the meanwhile let us all keep a close walk with Jesus.
"I am, etc.,
"George Whitefield."
Towards the end of the month, Whitefield visited the settlement of the Saltzburgh refugees, at Ebenezer. He writes:—
"Wednesday, June 25. Went on Monday to Ebenezer, and returned to Savannah this evening. Surely there is a difference, even in this life, between those who serve the Lord, and those who serve Him not. All other places of the colony seem to be like Egypt, where was darkness, but Ebenezer, like the land of Goshen, wherein was great light. I walked near four miles in almost one continued field, covered with a most plentiful crop of corn, pease, potatoes, etc., all the product of a few months' labour. But God gives the labourers a peculiar blessing. They are unanimous, and the strong help the weak. I had sweet communication with their ministers. Our sister Orphan House there is blessed by their means; and yesterday was set apart as a day of thanksgiving for some assistance, lately sent the little ones, from Germany and Savannah.
At this period, Philip Henry Molther, the Moravian preacher, was occasioning great excitement in the meetings bf the Brethren in London. Molther's views of the means of grace were, to say the least, extremely confused and foggy. Both the Wesleys felt it their duty to expose his heresy. Charles writes:—"A new commandment, called 'stillness,' has repealed all God's commandments, and given a full indulgence to corrupted nature." There were also disputes respecting a fitness to believe in Christ, and other matters, which it is needless to refer to here.[352] While the contention was proceeding, James Hutton wrote to Whitefield on the subject; and Whitefield's reply is too valuable, and too appropriate to the state of things at the present day, to be omitted.
"Savannah, June 25, 1740.
"Dearest James,—Your last letter I received on Saturday. Blessed be God, that our friends preach up poverty of spirit, for that is the only foundation whereon to build solid abiding comfort. The stony ground received the word with joy; but how did those hearers stand in the day of temptation? It is very possible that the heart may have much joy floating on the top of it, and yet be as hard as the nether millstone. Hence it is that so many, who boast of rest in their flashes of joy, are self-willed, impatient of reproof, despisers of others in a mourning state, and wise in their own conceits. The believer who has a truly broken and contrite heart hangs upon God, and thinks before he speaks. This is the state which I want all our friends to arrive at. How can they stand, who never felt themselves condemned criminals? who were never truly burdened with a sense, not only of their actual but of original sin, especially the damning sin of unbelief? who were never brought to see and heartily confess, that after they had done all, God might, notwithstanding, deny them mercy; and that it is owing solely to His sovereign love in Christ Jesus that we can have any hopes of being delivered from the wrath to come?
"For preaching in this manner, I like Messrs. Tennents. They wound deep before they heal. They know that there is no promise made but to him that believeth; and, therefore, they are careful not to comfort over-much those who are convicted. I fear I have been too incautious in this respect, and have often given comfort too soon. The Lord pardon me for what is past, and teach me more rightly to divide the word of truth for the future!
"I am, etc.,
"George Whitefield."
One of the clerical friends of Whitefield and of the two Wesleys was the Rev. George Stonehouse, Vicar of Islington, who sold his living, and became a Moravian. The following letter was addressed to him:—