[219] "Pictoral Handbook of London."
[220] The Rev. Jacob Rogers had been curate of St. Paul's, Bedford. Whitefield says, "he has lately been thrust out of the synagogues for speaking of justification by faith, and the new birth, and has commenced a field-preacher. Once he was shut in prison for a short time; but thousands flock to hear him, and God blesses him more and more. I believe we are the first professed ministers of the Church of England, who, without cause, are excluded from every pulpit." A year afterwards, Mr. Rogers joined Ingham, in Yorkshire; and, finally, became a Moravian. (See "The Oxford Methodists," pp. 115, 116, and 122.)
[221] Bishop Butler, the celebrated author of "The Analogy of Religion, natural and revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature." The bishop's "benefaction for Georgia" was five guineas.
[222] Charles Wesley, who seems to have been present, designates the congregation "an innumerable multitude." The Craftsman, of June 9, says, On Sunday night, Mr. Whitefield preached his farewell sermon at Kennington Common, and collected £34 5s. for the Orphan House in Georgia. The total sum collected by him for several charities is as follows:—For the Orphan House, £966; for the poor in general, £150; for erecting a church for the Saltzburghers, £77; total, £1193.
[223] The Rev. Henry Piers was a warm-hearted friend of Whitefield and the Wesleys; and a more detailed account of him may be given hereafter. At present, suffice it to say, that, nine days after this service at Bexley Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury expressly forbad Mr. Piers to allow either Whitefield or the Wesleys to preach in his church again. Mr. Piers obeyed the letter of this injunction—that is, his pulpit was closed against them; but not his reading desk, nor his communion place.
[224] "Oxford Methodists," p. 85.
[225] For an elaborate account of the French Prophets, see Southey's Life of Wesley, chapter viii.
[226] This sermon afterwards was published, and entitled "Free Grace." It occasioned a breach in Whitefield's and Wesley's friendship, as will be seen in subsequent pages.
[227] Methodist Magazine, 1849, p. 165.
[228] Dr. Tucker rose to great eminence by his numerous publications, which, oddly enough, were principally on political and commercial subjects. He died in 1799, aged eighty-eight.