“Norwich, April 18, 1753. How does God delight to exceed the hopes, and to disappoint the fears, of His weak, though honest-hearted people! In spite of all opposition, He has caused us to triumph even in Norwich. Thousands attend twice every day, and hear with the greatest eagerness. I hope it will appear yet more and more that God has much people here.”
Whitefield returned to London on April 21st; and, for the next three weeks, was employed, not only in preaching, but in writing. The following letter deserves attention. It was addressed to David Taylor—said to have been originally footman to Lady Ingham—a good man, but unsettled, part Moravian, part Methodist, and part Inghamite—who, by his preaching, had converted large numbers of the people in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, and had formed Societies in the several counties.
“London, May 1, 1753.
“My dear David,—Do you enquire where I am? I answer, in London, longing to come to Leeds, and yet withheld by Him, whose providence ordereth all things well. Let us have a little more patience, and then, in a few weeks, I hope to have a blessed range in the north. The word ran and was glorified at Norwich. Preaching so frequently, and riding hard, almost killed me; but what is my body in comparison of precious and immortal souls?
“At present, I am engaged in a very ungrateful work; I mean, in writing against the leading Moravian Brethren. When you see it, you will know whether there was not a cause.”
Whitefield’s pamphlet was published without delay, and was entitled, “An Expostulatory Letter, addressed to Nicholas Lewis, Count Zinzendorf, and Lord Advocate of the Unitas Fratrum. By George Whitefield, A.B., late of Pembroke College, Oxford, and Chaplain to the Right Honourable the Countess of Huntingdon. London, 1753.” (8vo. 19 pp.) The letter is dated, “London, April 24, 1753;” and bears on the title-page the text, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you?”
Perhaps it ought to be premised that a great sensation had been already created in the country, by the publication of an octavo pamphlet of 177 pages, dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and entitled, “A candid Narrative of the Rise and Progress of the Hernhuthers, commonly called Moravians, or Unitas Fratrum. By Henry Rimius, Aulic Counsellor to his late Majesty the King of Prussia.” Rimius’s book was a terrible attack on Zinzendorf; and now Whitefield, wisely or unwisely, rushed into the affray. His letter begins thus:—
“My Lord,—Although I am persuaded that nothing has a greater tendency to strengthen the hands of infidels than the too frequent altercations between the professors of Christianity, yet there are certain occasions wherein the necessary defence of the principles of our holy religion, as well as the practice of it, renders public remonstrance of the greatest use and importance.
“For many years past, I have been a silent and an impartial observer of the progress and effects of Moravianism, both in England and America; but such shocking things have been lately brought to our ears, and offences have swollen to such an enormous bulk, that a real regard for my king and my country, and a disinterested love for the ever-blessed Jesus, will not suffer me to be silent any longer. Pardon me, therefore, my lord, if I am constrained to inform your lordship that you, together with some of your leading brethren, have been unhappily instrumental in misguiding many simple, honest-hearted Christians; of distressing, if not totally ruining, numerous families; and of introducing a whole farrago of superstitious, not to say idolatrous, fopperies into the English nation.”
Having asserted that, whatever might be “the principles and usages of the ancient Moravian Church,” he can find no trace of the present practices of the Moravians in the primitive churches, Whitefield continues:—