“Returning to Leeds, I met my brother Whitefield, and was much refreshed by the account of his abundant labours. I waited on him in our Room, and gladly sat under his word.”
Again: “Sunday, October 10. At Birstal, my congregation was less by a thousand or two, through George Whitefield preaching to-day at Haworth.”
“Monday, October 11. Hearing Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Grimshaw were returning to our watch-night, I waited for them at their lodgings, with zealous, humble, loving Mr. Crook. It rained so hard, that Mr. Whitefield was agreeably surprised, at eight, to find our House as full as it could cram. They forced me to preach first; which I did from Zech. xiii.: ‘The third part I will bring through the fire.’ My brother George seconded me in the words of our Lord: ‘I say unto all, Watch.’ The prayers and hymns were all attended with a solemn power. Few, if any, went unawakened away.”
“Manchester, Monday, October 25. Here I rejoiced to hear of the great good Mr. Whitefield has done in our Societies. He preached as universally as my brother. He warned them everywhere against apostacy; and strongly insisted on the necessity of holiness after justification, illustrating it with this comparison: ‘What good will the king’s pardon do a poor malefactor dying of a fever? So, notwithstanding you have received forgiveness, unless the disease of your nature be healed by holiness, ye can never be saved.’ He beat down the separating spirit, highly commended the prayers and services of our Church, charged our people to meet their bands and classes constantly, and never to leave the Methodists, or God would leave them. In a word, he did his utmost tostrengthen our hands, and deserves the thanks of all the churches, for his abundant labour of love.”[411]
The author of “The Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon” states, that, in his itinerancy through Lancashire, Whitefield was accompanied by the Revs. Messrs. Grimshaw, Ingham, and Milner, and that, among other places, they visited Manchester, Stockport, and Chinley.[412] From an old manuscript ‘History of Methodism in Leigh,’ it appears, that Whitefield also visited Shackerley, where, at that time, a large number of Unitarians were located, the disciples of Dr. Taylor, the divinity tutor of the Unitarian Academy at Warrington. The writer relates, that, Whitefield preached on Shackerley Common, and that a man, a mile distant, leaning upon a gate, distinctly heard many of his sentences, was convinced of sin, and soon converted.
Whitefield’s own account of his labours in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire, is extremely meagre. On his return to London, from what he calls his “thousand miles’ northern circuit,”[413] he wrote to the Countess of Huntingdon, as follows:—
“London, October 27, 1756.
“I wrote you a few lines, not long ago, from Leeds. Since then, I have been in honest Mr. Grimshaw’s and Mr. Ingham’s rounds, preaching upon the mountains to many thousands. One, who was awakened three years ago, is gone to heaven, and desired to be buried in the spot where she was converted. The sacrament at Mr. Grimshaw’s was awful; and the watch-night at Leeds exceeding solemn. I would have continued my circuit, but I found that preaching so frequently in those cold districts was bringing on my last year’s disorder. Being, therefore, grown very prudent, I am come to open our new chapel in Tottenham Court Road. Lord, what am I, that Thou shouldest suffer me to put a pin in Thy tabernacle! Never did I know the fields more ready unto harvest, than I have seen them in the north.”
Builders, in former days, were more expeditious than at present. Whitefield’s chapel was neither a small nor a flimsy structure, and yet, only half a year after its commencement, it was ready for being opened!
Whitefield was now in his “winter quarters,” where he remained for the next six months;—an unusually long periodfor him to spend in London. The following extracts from his letters will, it is hoped, interest the reader:—