Whitefield’s sermon on this memorable Sunday was one of his best; but want of space prevents the insertion of lengthened extracts. He expressed the opinion that the colonies in America were likely to become “one of the most opulent and powerful empires in the world.” He told his congregation that, when he first came to Georgia, “the whole country almost was left desolate, and the metropolis, Savannah, was but like a cottage in a vineyard, or as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers.” He reminded them that it had been reported to the House of Commons, that “the very existence of the colony was, in a great measure, if not totally, owing to the building and supporting of the Orphan House.” One peculiar feature of his sermon was his addressing personally and severally the different sections of his congregation. “I dare not conclude,” said he, “without offering to your Excellency our pepper-corn of acknowledgment for the countenance you have always shewn Bethesda, and for the honour you did us last year in laying the first brick of yonder wings: in thus doing, you have honoured Bethesda’s God.” Then turning to his old friend Habersham, now President of the Upper House of Assembly, Whitefield said: “Next to his Excellency, my dear Mr. President, I must beg your acceptance both of thanks and congratulation. For you were not only my dear familiar friend, and first fellow-traveller in this infant province, but you were directed by Providence to this spot; you laid the second brick of this house; and watched, prayed, and wrought for the family’s good. You were a witness of innumerable trials, and were the partner of my joys and griefs. You will have now the pleasure of seeing the Orphan House a fruitfulbough, its branches running over the wall. For this, no doubt, God has smiled upon and blessed you, in a manner we could not expect, much less design. May He continue to bless you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus! Look to the rock from whence you have been hewn; and may your children never be ashamed that their father married a real Christian, who was born again under this roof!” Whitefield then proceeded to address the “Gentlemen of his Majesty’s Council,” and the “Speaker and Members of the General Assembly,” and, finally, his “Reverend Brethren,” and “the inhabitants of the colony” in general.

After his sermon, a speech was delivered by one of Whitefield’s orphans;[647] then came the “handsome and plentiful dinner;” and so ended the proceedings of the memorable Sunday at Bethesda, January 28, 1770.

Five days after this, Whitefield and his manager, Thomas Dixon, appeared “before the Honourable Noble Jones, Esq., Senior Assistant Justice for the Province of Georgia,” for the purpose of being sworn that the Orphan-house accounts, from February 9, 1765, to the present date, and which amounted on the debit side to £2,548 17s. 0½d., and on the credit side to £1,313 19s. 6¾d., “contained, to the best of their knowledge, a just and true statement of all the monies received and expended during this period. The accounts thus presented were handed to James Edward Powell and Grey Elliot, members of his Majesty’s Council for Georgia, who, after carefully examining them, swore, before Noble Jones, that they were perfectly correct; and added:—

“We find that the whole of the sums expended on account of the Orphan House amount to £15,404 2s. 5¼d. sterling, and the whole receipts to £12,104 19s. 1½d.; and that the benefactions of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield to the Orphan House have, at different times, amounted to £3,299 3s. 3¾d. sterling; and that no charge whatever has been made by the Rev. Mr. Whitefield, either for travelling charges or otherwise, nor any other charge for the salary of any person whatever, employed or concerned in the management of the said Orphan House; and that clear and distinct vouchers for the whole amount of the sums expended have been laid before us, except for four articles, amounting together to £40 1s. 1d., being monies expended and paid by the said Mr. Whitefieldon several occasions, the particulars of which are laid before us, but no receipt had been by him taken for the same.

“James Edward Powell.
“Grey Elliot.

“Sworn this second day of February, 1770, before me; in justification whereof, I have caused the seal of the general Court to be affixed.

“N. Jones.”

This is a notable document. The Orphan House had been built thirty years, and had been continuously maintained. The sum of £15,404 had been expended, and, excepting £40, vouchers for the whole of this amount were now produced. Not a penny had been paid out of the general fund to either Whitefield of any of his managers; and Whitefield himself, out of his own private means, had contributed £3299 3s. 3¾d.! As a curiosity, the following general balance sheet of receipts and expenditure, from December, 1738, to February, 1770, taken from the Orphan House’s authenticated book, may interest the reader:—

Receipts.£s.d.
Benefactions and Collections in England447106¼
Ditto, in Scotland97825½
Ditto, in Georgia27557½
Ditto, in Charleston56719¾
Ditto, in Beaufort16107 
Ditto, in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, etc.1809610½
Ditto, in Lisbon3120 
Cash received for payment of boarders, cocoons, rice, lumber, indigo, provisions, etc.3983193 
The Rev. Mr. Whitefield’s benefactions, being the sums expended more than received329933¾
£15,40425¼
Expenditure.£s.d.
To April 16, 1746—Sundries, per audit 5511179¼
To Feb. 25, 1752, do.2026137½
To Feb. 19, 1755, do.1966182 
To Feb. 9, 1765, do.33491510 
To Feb. 2, 1770, do.2548170½
£15,40425¼

During the thirty years that had elapsed since the Orphan House was built, 140 boys and 43 girls had been “clothed, educated, maintained, and suitably provided for;” and,besides these, “many other poor children had been occasionally received, educated, and maintained.”