Commissary Garden had done his utmost to silence the young evangelist, but had failed. Whitefield arrived again in Charleston on August 21; and, though in feeble health, he preached, during his brief sojourn, once every day, and twice on Sundays. He writes:—
"The audiences were more numerous than ever. It was supposed that not less than four thousand were in and about the meeting-house, when I preached my farewell sermon. Being denied the sacrament at church, I administered it thrice in a private house; namely, yesterday, yesterday seven-night, and this morning. Never did I see anything more solemn. The room was large, and most of the communicants were dissolved in tears. Surely Jesus Christ was evidently set forth before us. Baptists, Churchmen, and Presbyterians, all joined together, and received according to the Church of England, excepting two, who desired to have it sitting. I willingly complied, knowing it was a thing quite indifferent."
Of course all this was scandalous in the eyes of Mr. Garden; but to keep Whitefield within the grooves of church order was impossible. Having, for the present, finished his work at Charleston, he again embarked, and proceeded to Rhode Island. During the voyage, he wrote the following letter to "The Right Reverend Father in God, Edmund Lord Bishop of London."
"On board the Savannah, September, 1740.
"My Lord,—Although your lordship has been pleased to caution the people against running into those extremes, to which your lordship apprehended my doctrine would lead men; yet I am persuaded that will not any way influence your lordship as to the contents of this letter. The one single point which it contains, is this query, Whether the commissary of South Carolina has power given him, from your lordship, to exercise any judicial authority against me, or against any other clergyman, who does not belong to his province?
"The reason of my putting this question, I suppose, your lordship will be apprised of, before this reaches your lordship's hands. I have been lately cited to appear in an ecclesiastical court, erected by the Rev. Mr. Garden, for not reading the Common Prayer in the meeting-house, which, unless I would be silent, I was obliged to preach in at Charleston, because the commissary would not let me have the use of his church. I appeared; and have appealed, according to law, to four of His Majesty's commissioners for reviewing appeals, to know whether the commissary ought not to have accepted a recusatio judicis, which I lodged in the court. This, I suppose, they will determine. I only desire your lordship's explicit opinion, whether Mr. Garden, (supposing he has power over his own clergy) has authority to erect such a court to arraign me, belonging to the province of Georgia. The bearer hereof will give me your lordship's answer; in favouring me with which, your lordship will oblige your obedient son and servant,
"George Whitefield."
It is doubtful whether the words "obedient son and servant" were quite appropriate. At all events, it is certain, that, there had been several things in the past career of the "obedient son and servant," of which his lordship disapproved. The reply of Bishop Gibson has not been published; but that the impeachment by Commissary Garden's court caused Whitefield considerable thought, if not anxiety, is evident from another letter, which Whitefield sent to a friend in London, probably by the same messenger as conveyed the letter addressed to his Diocesan. He writes:—
"The bearer brings the authentic copy of my appeal. I sent you another copy from Carolina. Be pleased to keep this I have now sent, till you hear of my coming to England. If I come in the spring, I will lodge it myself; if not, be pleased to lodge it for me, and I will pay all expenses."
Whitefield landed at Newport, in Rhode Island, on Sunday evening, September 14, and immediately became acquainted with the "Rev. Mr. Clap,[362] who had been the minister of a Dissenting congregation in the island upwards of forty years. "He was," says Whitefield, "the most venerable man I ever saw. He looked like a good old Puritan. His countenance was very heavenly, and I could not but think, whilst at his table, that I was sitting with one of the patriarchs. People of all denominations respect him. He abounds in good works; gives all he has away; and is wonderfully tender of little children. He rejoiced much to see me, and prayed most affectionately for a blessing on my coming." Whitefield and this venerable Dissenting minister waited on the clergyman of the Church of England, and desired the use of his pulpit. The request was granted, and, on the two succeeding days, Whitefield read prayers and preached in the consecrated edifice, "at ten in the morning and three in the afternoon." The congregations were very large; and, at the conclusion of the afternoon service of the second day, more than a thousand people followed the young evangelist to the house where he lodged. "I therefore," says he, "stood upon the threshold, and spake for near an hour on these words, 'Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.' It was a very solemn meeting. Glory be to God's great name!"
On Wednesday, September 18, Whitefield arrived at Boston, then the capital of New England.[363] This is not the place to write the remarkable history of this English settlement It has been estimated that more than twenty-one thousand emigrants settled in New England prior to the year 1640. The majority of these were Puritans, or Congregationalists; and Cotton Mather says four thousand were Presbyterians. Of the two thousand ministers cast out of the Church of England by the Act of Uniformity, in 1662, a considerable number fled for refuge to this distant colony. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, drove hundreds of thousands of French Protestants from their native country; and of these not a few became New Englanders. To a great extent, the population consisted of godly refugees. A good general idea concerning the religious denominations of the settlement as a whole, may be gathered from Oldmixon's description of Boston in the year 1708. "Boston," says he, "is the capital of New England, and the biggest city in America, excepting two or three on the Spanish continent. There are abundance of fine buildings in it, public and private: as the court-house, market-place, Sir William Phip's house, and others. There are several handsome streets. It contains ten or twelve thousand souls; the militia consisting of four companies of foot. There are three parish churches, a French church, and two meeting-houses in the city. The Old Church, North Church, and South Church belong to the Presbyterians, who are the Church of England as by law established; the French church belongs to the French Protestants; and the meeting-houses, to a congregation of Church of England men and Anabaptists."
As to the creed of these miscellaneous religionists, there cannot be a doubt that, speaking generally, it was Calvinistic, and quite in harmony with those views of election and final perseverance which Whitefield had embraced. In such a colony, Wesley would have been branded as a heretic; whereas Whitefield was warmly welcomed as a friend, whose faith was gloriously orthodox.