“Philadelphia, August 7th. Yesterday, I was taken with a violent cholera morbus, and hoped, ere now, to have been where the inhabitants shall no more say, ‘I am sick.’ But I am brought back again. May it be to bring more precious souls to the ever-blessed Jesus! This is all my desire. My poor labours seem to be crowned here, as well as at New York. I received the sacrament at church on Sunday; and have preached in the Academy; but I find Mr. Tennent’s meeting-house abundantly more commodious.”
“Philadelphia, August 15. My late sickness, though violent, has not been unto death. With some difficulty, I can preach once a day. Congregations increase rather than decrease. The time of my departure is fixed for next Tuesday; and all the following days, till Sunday, are to be employed between this and New Brunswick. Whilst I live, Lord Jesus, grant I may not live in vain!”
“Philadelphia, August 17. Were you on this side the water, you would find work enough. There is a glorious range in the American woods. It is pleasant hunting for sinners. Thousands flock daily to hear the word preached.”
“New York, September 2. Blessed be God, we have had good seasons between Philadelphia and New York. In the New Jerusalem, yet more glorious seasons await us. Some time this week, I expect to sail for Rhode Island.”
It is impossible to determine where the next three weeks were spent; but, after that, his journeys may be traced. The first of the following extracts is taken from a letter addressed to the Countess of Huntingdon. Whitefield appears to have visited New Jersey for the purpose of being present at the opening of a new session of Governor Belcher’s New Jersey College, the president and trustees of which, with almost unseemly haste, began to exercise the powersconferred upon them by the royal charter obtained from George the Second only six years before. They created Whitefield an M.A.!—a dubious honour, which the B.A. of Pembroke College, Oxford, for ten or twelve years afterwards, had good taste enough not to use.[356]
“Elizabeth Town (New Jersey), September 30. I am now at Governor Belcher’s, who sends your ladyship the most cordial respects. His outward man decays, but his inward man seems to be renewed day by day. I think he ripens for heaven apace. Last week was the New Jersey commencement, at which the president and trustees were pleased to present me with the degree of A.M. The synod succeeded. Such a number of simple-hearted, united ministers, I never saw before. I preached to them several times, and the great Master of assemblies was in the midst of us. To-morrow, I shall set out, with the worthy president,[357] for New England; and expect to return back to the Orphan House through Virginia. This will be about a two thousand mile circuit.”
In another letter, written on the same day, Whitefield says:—
“Just two months ago, I arrived at New York, from South Carolina; and, ever since, have been endeavouring to labour for the ever-loving, ever-lovely Jesus. Sinners have been awakened, saints quickened, and enemies made to be at peace with me. In general, I have been enabled to travel and preach twice a day. Everywhere, the door has been opened wider than ever.”
It has been already stated, that, about the year 1750, Georgia was placed under a kind of civil government, in lieu of the military one, which had been exercised from the time when the colony was founded; and that James Habersham, Whitefield’s first manager at Bethesda, and now a merchant at Savannah, was appointed provincial secretary. A change had become imperative. There was a general discontent among the inhabitants. They quarrelled with one another and with their magistrates. They complained; they remonstrated; and, finding no satisfaction, many of them removed to other colonies. Of the two thousand emigrantswho had come from Europe, not above six or seven hundred were left. The mischief grew worse and worse every day; until, at length, the Government revoked the grant to the trustees, took the province into their own hands, and placed it on the same footing as Carolina.[358] On August 6, 1754, his Majesty King George II., in council, appointed John Reynolds, Esq., “to be Captain General and Governor-in-Chief of Georgia;” and James Habersham, “to be Secretary and Registrar.”[359] The following letter, addressed to Habersham, refers to these events:—
“Boston, October 13, 1754.