“My very dear Tommy,—Good-morrow! This comes to enquire how you and yours do. I am just returned from my northern circuit. It has been pleasant, and, I trust, profitable. Praise the Lord, O our souls! Everywhere the fields have been white, ready unto harvest. I am become a downright street and field preacher. I wish the city, and want of riding, may not hurt me. No nestling, no nestling on this side Jordan. Heaven is the believer’s only resting place. Mr. Joss has been much blessed here.”
If possible, Whitefield was more popular than ever, as the following extract from Lloyd’s Evening Post, of October 30, will tend to show:—
“Wednesday morning, October 28, was preached, by the Rev. Mr.Whitefield, at his Tabernacle near Moorfields, a sermon, for the benefit of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge among the Poor, by distributing Bibles and other good books, before a very polite audience of upwards of six thousand people, and above forty ministers of different persuasions. Near £200 was collected.”[591]
In reference to this remarkable service, on a busy week-day morning, Whitefield simply says: “I would reflect upon Wednesday with humility and gratitude. Lord, what am I? ‘Less than the least of all,’ must be my motto still.”
Whitefield’s text on this occasion was “Thy kingdom come.” The collection was four times larger than usual, and eighty persons became new subscribers. After his sermon, Whitefield dined with the ministers present at Draper’s Hall, and was treated with great respect.[592]
The troubles of Rowland Hill and his associates, at Cambridge, have been repeatedly mentioned, and are alluded to in the following letter, addressed “To the Rev. Mr. Fletcher, Rector of Madeley, near Bridgenorth, Shropshire”:—
“London, October 22, 1767. What more offences! Surely, my dear friend, you must have done Satan some late harm; otherwise, I think, he would not be so angry. I hope he has lost some ground in the north. Street and field-preaching were made very pleasant to me, and, I trust, they were equally profitable. Our truly noble Lady Sussex sends good news from Bath. She recovers strength apace. There is hot work at Cambridge. One dear youth is likely to be expelled. Mr. Lee is suspended without private admonition, or having a moment’s warning. What would become of us, if a hook were not put into the leviathan’s jaws? Adieu! In great haste, but greater love, I hasten to subscribe myself, my dear sir, yours in our all-conquering Emmanuel,
“George Whitefield.”[593]
The storm, which, in one of the universities, burst a few months afterwards, was already brewing. The Methodist students, both at Cambridge and Oxford, were in trouble; and Whitefield did his best to comfort and encourage them. Hence the following extracts from his letters, written at this period:—
“London, October 23, 1767. By your brother’s letter, it appears thehour of expulsion is not yet come. Surely they will not be so imprudent, or act so contrary to the laws of English liberty. I long to know what statutes they say you have broken, and what concessions have been made. Your diocesan will make a strict enquiry. I wish you could recollect all circumstances; the rise and progress of the present contest; with all the various pleadings, threats, conferences, pro and con. If confined to college, this will be a good exercise for you. You may lodge it in court, as a proof whether you understand to write plain English, or sound, practical, experimental divinity. This can do you no harm; it may do good. Do, therefore, set about it. Who knows? Sauls may yet become Pauls.”