“Exeter, February 25, 1749.
“I suppose you will be pleased that I am thus far in my return to London. O my friend, my friend, I come with fear and trembling. To speak to the rich and great, so as to win them to the blessed Jesus, isindeed a task. But, wherefore do we fear? We can do all things through Christ strengthening us. But why does Mr. Cruttenden think it strange that no one can be found to help me in the country? Is it not more strange that you should lie supine, burying your talents in a napkin, complaining you have nothing to do, and yet souls everywhere are perishing about you for lack of knowledge? Why do you not preach or print? At least, why do you not help me, or somebody or another, in a more public way? You are in the decline of life, and if you do not soon reassume the place, you are now qualified for, you may lose the opportunity for ever. I write this in great seriousness. May the Lord give you no rest, till you lift up your voice like a trumpet! Up, and be doing; and the Lord will be with you.”
Whitefield arrived in London at the beginning of the month of March. On his way, at Bristol, he and Charles Wesley met. Charles was to be married to Miss Gwynne a month afterwards, and wrote: “March 3. I met George Whitefield,and made him quite happy by acquainting him with my design.”[231] Whitefield spent a month in London, and was fully occupied, not only with preaching in the Tabernacle, and in the house of Lady Huntingdon, but with work that was not at all congenial to him.
At the end of the year 1748, the Rev. George White, the notorious clergyman of Colne, in Lancashire, had published his infamous “Sermon against the Methodists.” In a footnote, the fuming author, speaking of Whitefield and Wesley, said:—
“These officious haranguers cozen a handsome subsistence out of their irregular expeditions. No satisfactory account has been given us of Mr. Whitefield’s disbursements in Georgia; and, I am afraid, by his late modest insinuations, in or about the Highlands of Scotland, of the want of £500 more, he thinks the nation is become more and more foolish, and within the reach of his further impositions. It appears, from many probable accounts, that Mr. Wesley has, in reality, a better income than most of our bishops, though, now and then, (no great wonder,)it costs him some little pains to escape certain rough compliments.”[232]
This was a false, libellous attack on Whitefield’s honesty; and Grimshaw, of Haworth, and Benjamin Ingham wished him to answer it. His reply to Grimshaw was as follows:—
“London, March 17, 1749.
“My dear Brother,—What a blessed thing it is that we can write to, when we cannot see one another! By this means we increase our joys, and lessen our sorrows, and, as it were, exchange hearts.
“Thanks be to the Lord Jesus, that the work flourishes with you! I am glad your children grow so fast; they become fathers too soon; I wish some may not prove dwarfs at last. A word to the wise is sufficient. I have always found awakening times like spring times; many blossoms, but not always so much fruit. But go on, my dear man, and, in the strength of the Lord, you shall do valiantly. I long to be your way; but I suppose it will be two months first.
“Pray tell my dear Mr. Ingham thatI cannot now answer the Preston[233] letter, being engaged in answering a virulent pamphlet, entitled, ‘The Enthusiasm of the Methodists and Papists compared,’ supposed to be done by the Bishop of Exeter. Thus it must be. If we will be temple builders, we must have the temple builders’ lot; I mean, hold a sword in one hand, and a trowel in the other. The Lord make us faithful Nehemiahs, for we have many Sanballats to deal with! But, wherefore should we fear? If Christ be for us, who can be against us? ‘Nil desperandum, Christo duce,’ is the Christian’s motto. Remember me, in the kindest manner, to honest-hearted Mr. Ingham, and tell him that, in a post or two, I hope he will hear from me.”