“You will please to let the enclosed be delivered as directed.They and you will excuse brevity by reason of the frank.[266]
“My wife joins me in respects to you and your children. I am, your friend and servant,
“William Holland.”[267]
To return to Whitefield. In the midst of his benevolent endeavours to assist the poor Methodists at Cork, Whitefield, with his characteristic kindliness, was caring for the welfare of persons of another class. The following was written to Mr. Habersham, formerly his manager at Bethesda, and who still took a profound interest in his Orphan House.
To understand the letter, it must be added, that, though, from the first settlement of Georgia, the province had been under a military government, the trustees, about this period, established a kind of civil government, and committed the charge to a president and four councillors. Mr. Stephens was now the president. In 1751, the province was divided into eleven districts; a colonial assembly of sixteen members was inaugurated at Savannah; Henry Parker was made president; and James Habersham provincial secretary. As yet, slavery was not formally introduced, but it practically existed. The term for which European servants had been engaged being now generally expired, the difficulty of procuring labour was met by permitting the coloniststo hire negroes from their owners in South Carolina.[268]
“London, January 18, 1750.
“My very dear Mr. Habersham,—Blessed be God, for dealing so favourably with my dear families, and for giving the prospect of such a plentiful crop! I take it as an earnest, that the Lord Jesus will be the Lord God of Bethesda, and will let the world see that designs founded on Him shall prosper.
“I shall not wonder to hear, by-and-by, that you are president. O that you and I may be clothed with humility, and that the more we are exalted by others, the more we may be abased in our own eyes! O that something may now be done for the poor negroes! A good beginning is ofvast consequence. Pray stir in it, and let us exert our utmost efforts in striving to bring some of them to the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This night, I have agreed to take little Joseph and his sister. All their relations are desirous that I should have them, as they will be but poorly provided for here. I think they have a kind of natural right to be maintained at Bethesda. I suppose, in your next, you will acquaint me with particulars concerning their father, and how he has left his affairs. I hear there is a little infant, besides the other two. I would willingly have that likewise, if it could be kept till it is about three years old. I hope to be rich in heaven, by taking care of orphans on earth. Any other riches, blessed be God! are out of my view. If the crop answers expectation, I would have the poor of Savannah reap the benefit. Pray let one barrel of rice be reserved for them.
“We have had a blessed winter here. I am pretty well in health, but my wife is ill.”
On Friday, February 2nd, Whitefield arrived at Gloucester, where he spent the next ten days. Daily, he preached either in the city or in its vicinity. “Some young fellows,” says he, “behaved rudely; but that is no wonder; the carnal mind is enmity against God.” To Colonel Gumley, who had been converted under his preaching at Lady Huntingdon’s, and who was the father of the Countess of Bath, he wrote, on February 8th:—