“MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,—It is now some months since I arrived here. Blessed be God! Bethesda has proved to be a house of mercy to many. Several of our labourers, as well as visitors, have been born of God here, and have given proofs of it, by bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit. Many boys have been put out to trades; and many girls put out to service. One boy, whom I brought from New England, is handsomely settled in Carolina; and another, from Philadelphia, is married, and lives very comfortably at Savannah. How so large a family has been supported, in such a colony, without any visible fund, is wonderful. I am surprised, when I look back, and see how, for these six years last past, God has spread a table in the wilderness for so many persons.
“I cannot yet say, that I have surmounted the first year’s expense, which indeed was very great; but, by the blessing of God, I doubt not, in a short time, to pay off my arrears; and then the family will be maintained at a small expense.
“My standing annual charges are now but trifling to what they have been; and my friends have raised an annual subscription sufficient for discharging them, till the family may be able to provide for itself. This, I hope, will be, in a good measure, speedily effected. We have lately begun to use the plough; and next year I hope to have many acres of good oats and barley. We have near twenty sheep and lambs, fifty head of cattle, and seven horses. We hope to kill a thousandweight of pork this season. Our garden, which is very beautiful, furnishes us with all sorts of greens. We have plenty of milk, eggs, and poultry; and make a good deal of butter weekly. A good quantity of wool and cotton has been given me, and we hope to have sufficient spun and woven for the next winter’s clothing. If the vines hit, we may expect two or three hogsheads of wine out of the vineyard.
“The family now consists of twenty-six persons. Two of the orphan boys are blind; one is little better than an idiot. But, notwithstanding, they are useful in the family; the one in the field, and the other in the kitchen. I have two women to take care of the household work, and three men and two boys employed about the plantation and cattle. A set of Dutch servants has lately been sent to Georgia; the magistrates were pleased to give me two of them. I took in a poor old widow, aged nearly seventy, whom nobody else cared to have. A valuable youngman, from New England, is my schoolmaster; and, in my absence, performs duty in the family. On Sabbaths, the grown people attend on public worship at Savannah, or at Whitebluff, a village near Bethesda, where a Dutch minister officiates. My dear friends, who have hitherto been my assistants, being married and having each one or two children, thought it best to remove, and are now comfortably settled—some at Savannah, and some elsewhere.
“Many have applied to me to erect a public school, and to take their children as boarders; but I have not yet determined. If there should be peace, it is certain that such a school would be exceedingly useful, not only for these northern parts of the colony, but also for the more southern parts of Carolina, and for Parisburgh and Frederica, where are many fine youths. I have been prevailed on to take one from Frederica, and another from Purisburg, and it may be shall admit more. For the present,considering the situation of affairs,[135] I think it most prudent to go on in making what improvements I can on the plantation, and to bring a tutor with me, from the north, in the fall, to teach a few youths the languages, and enlarge the family when affairs are more settled. The house is a noble, commodious building, and everything is sweetly adapted for bringing up youth. Here is land to employ them and exercise their bodies, and keep them from idleness out of school hours. Here are none of the temptations, to debauch their tender minds, which are common to more populous countries, or in places where children must necessarily be brought up with negroes.
“What God intends to do with the colony is not for me to enquire; but it has hitherto been wonderfully preserved; and the Orphan House, like the burning bush, has flourished unconsumed. No doubt the government has its welfare much at heart; and I intend to carry on my design till I see the colony sink or swim. The money that has been expended on the Orphan House, and Orphan House family, has been of vast service to this part of the country.
“I have had a very comfortable winter. The people of Savannah, having no minister till lately, gladly accepted my labours; and, at Frederica, the gentlemen and soldiers of General Oglethorpe’s regiment, as well as the inhabitants of the town, received me very gladly.Major Horton[136] seems to behave well. He has a fine growing plantation. I saw barley in the ear on the 1st of March. Georgia is very healthy. Only a little child has died out of our family since it removed to Bethesda. If the inhabitants were sufficiently numerous, I think the colony is capable of as much improvement as any on the continent.”
Such then were the bold and benevolent schemes of the indigent young clergyman, who, for the last eight years, had been abused and lampooned by thousands of professingChristians, of all descriptions. While they reviled, Whitefield worked.
In England, Howell Harris faithfully did his utmost, as Whitefield’s locum tenens. He writes:—
“London, February 18, 1746.