George Whitefield: a biography, with special reference to his labors in America

Chapter I

MORAL STATE OF GREAT BRITAIN IN THE EARLY PART OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY — WHITE- FIELD, FROM HIS BIRTH TO HIS FIRST SERMON.

1714-1736.

Low state of religion in Great Britain and its dependencies when Wbitefield appeared — His birth in Gloucester — Hooper — Raikes — WhitefiekTs early life — His entrance at the university of Oxford— Becomes connected with the Wesleys and other Methodists— Illness and mental trials — Relief — Preparation for the ministry— Return to Gloucester — Ordination—First sermon 13

Chapter II

WHITEFIELD'S SUCCESS AS A PREACHER IN ENG- LAND—FIRST VISIT TO AMERICA.

1736-1738

Whitefteld's return to Oxford — Usefulness there — Visits London — Great popularity — Georgia — His anxiety as to duty — Invited to Georgia by the Wesleys — Preparation and departure — Preaching and excitement at Deal — Labors and success on board — Arrival and labors at Gibraltar — Interesting incidents on the voyage — Sickness and recovery — His reception at Savannah — Visit to an Indian king — Origin of the Orphan asylum — Visit to Frederica — Return to Savannah — Visit to Charleston — Treatment by Garden—Embarkation for Europe— Stormy voyage— Arrival in Limerick—Journey to London— Meeting with the trustees of Georgia—Ordination as priest— Return to London— First extempore prayer— First idea of open-air preaching 40

Chapter III

OPEN-AIR PREACHING- IN ENGLAND AND WALES- ERECTION OF THE TABERNACLE IN LONDON.

1738, 1739.

Whitefield's visit to Bristol — New opposition — Interviews with the chancellor of the diocese — Preaching at Kingswood — Large congregations— Preaching at Bristol — Labors in Wales with Howel Harris — Gloucester- -Old Mr. Cole — Return to London — Conflict with Bishop Warburton and others — Moorfields— Kennington Common — Blackheath — Anecdotes — Erection of the Tabernacle —New Tabernacle — Certificate — Visit to Norwich — Conversion

of Robert Robinson — Preaching at the West End of London

Liberality of Whitefield's congregations — Attendance of the nobility on Whitefield's ministry — Architecture of Tabernacle and Tottenham Court road chapel - 71

Chapter IV. Whitefield's Second Visit To America. 1739, 1740

Joseph Periam's release by Whitefield from Bedlam Whitefield's

arrival at Philadelphia — Preaches to vast crowds in the open air — Testimony of Dr. Franklin and others — Account of the Log College— William Tennent, Sen.— Whitefield's own account of his preaching at Philadelphia — Subsequent discovery of the conversion of Dr. Rodgers — Whitefield's first visit to New York

Description of him by one of his hearers — Sermons in New Jersey—Old Tennent church— Places of preaching at New York

Address to sailors — Letter to Pemberton — Interview with Gilbert Tennent — Some of Whitefield's sermons printed — Departure from Philadelphia — Sermons on his journey to Savannah Arrival and reception at Charleston — Departure for Savannah — Dangers of the way — State of things in Georgia — Whitefield revisits Charleston — Controversy with Commissary Garden — Lays the foundation-stone of the Orphan house — Sermon by Smith on the character of Whitefield 97

CHAPTER Y.

CONTINUATION OF HIS SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA.

1740.

Feebleness of Whitefield's health — Again visits Charleston, Philadelphia, etc. — Extent of his former success — Extracts from Seward's journal — Extracts from newspapers — Whitefield's letter to England — His correspondence on marriage — Birth and death of his son — His funeral sermon for his wife — Franklin and others on Whitefield's eloquence — Anecdote — Extract from the New England Weekly Journal — Return to Savannah — Manner of his reception — Activity at Savannah — Again visits Charleston — Cited into the Commissary's court — Various examinations — Whitefield's appeal to the Court of Chancery— Interview with the Commissary — Usefulness at Charleston — Sails for New England 129

Chapter VI

WHITEFIELD'S FIRST VISIT TO NEW ENGLAND. SEPTEMBER TO NOVEMBER, 1740.

State of religion in New England — Testimony of Prince — Dr. I. Mather — Dr. Jonathan Edwards' success — Prevalence of prayer — Whitefield's arrival and labors at Newport — Interview with Clap — Honeyman — Letter from Barber — Journey to Boston — Interview with the Commissary and the clergy — Preaches at Brattle-street, Old South church, New North, Common, Poxbury, Old North, Cambridge, First church — Interview with Governor Belcher — Roxbury — Hollis-street — Old South church — Brattle-street — Marblehead — Salem — Ipswich — Newbury — Hampton — Portsmouth — York — Return to Boston — Frequent preaching — Invitation to children — Interesting conversation with a child — Anecdote of juvenile usefulness — Remarks on an unconverted ministry — Whitefield's character of Boston — Preaches at Concord, Sudbury, Marlborough, Worcester, Leicester, Brookfield, Cold Spring, Hadley, Northampton — Revival there — Whitefield's opinion of Mr. Edwards and family — Important interview — Preaching at East Windsor, Westfield, Springfield, Suffield — Opinion of Mr. and Mrs. Edwards, Sen. — Relinquishment of appointments to preach — Visit to New Haven — Interview with Principal Clap — Departure from New England — Whitefield's character of it — Conversion of Mr. Emerson — Prince's account of Whitefield's visit — Dr. Baron Stow on its results — Anecdote, 148

Chapter VII. Labors In New York And The Middle And South- Ern States

1740, 1741.

Whitefield's arrival and labors at New York, Staten Island, and Newark — Mr. Burr — Meeting with Gilbert Tennent — Visit to Baskinridge — Tennent's preaching in Cross' barn — Whitefield preaches in the new house at Philadelphia — Franklin's advice to Gilbert Tennent — Remarkable instances of conversion — Success in Philadelphia — Apostrophe in a sermon — Visit to Gloucester, Greenwich, Cohansey, Salem, Newcastle, Fagg's Manor, Bohemia— Sails from Reedy island to Charleston — Arrival at Bethesda — Remarkable escape from death — Prosecution at Charleston — Preaching — Letters from Boston— Departure for England — Separation from Messrs. Wesley — Difficulties in London — Triumph— Howel Harris 196

Chapter VIII

FIRST AND SECOND VISITS TO SCOTLAND— LABORS IN ENGLAND AND WALES. 1741-1744.

Scheme of comprehension — Account of Rev. John Cennick — Voyage to Scotland — Letter to Rodgers — Visit to Erskine — Preaching in Edinburgh — Labors at Glasgow — His sermons printed — Return to England— Letter from McCulloch — Renewed glance at Edinburgh — Public attention deeply riveted — Execution of a convict — Improvement of the event in a sermon — Conversion of a mimic — A drunken sergeant — Miss Hunter — Marquis of Lothian — Conduct of Rev. Mr. Ogilvie — Second visit to Scotland— Cambuslang — Kilmarnock — Glance at subsequent visits — Orphan-house park, Edinburgh — Glasgow — Increasing reputation— Extracts from letters — Anecdotes — Visit to Wales — Letters from America — Visit to Gloucester, Strand, Tewkesbury — Encouraging- news from America — Success in London — Awakening at the Tabernacle — Visit to Gloucester and its neighborhood — South Wales — Return to London — Bristol — Exeter — Mr. Saunders — Conversion of Thomas Olivers — Birmingham — Kidderminster— Health — Assizes at Gloucester — Plymouth — Deliverance from assassination — Conversion of Mr. Tanner — Visits to the poor — Anecdote — Embarkation for America 222

Chapter IX. Whitefield's Second Visit To New England

1744, 1745.

Incidents of the voyage from England — Prayer heard — General alarm — Whitefield's illness — Arrival at York — Threatening sickness — Rev. Mr. Moody — Preaching at York and Portsmouth — Apparent danger of death — Departure for Boston — Constant preaching there — Chelsea — Maiden — Prince's account of his preaching and conduct — Objections made to his administration of the Lord's supper — Changes in New England — Opposition to Whitefield in Connecticut, New Haven, Massachusetts, Harvard College — Large meeting in his favor at Boston — Number of signatures to the testimony — Progress of revival — Proceedings of Harvard College — Whitefield's defence — Subsequent act of the College — Expositions at Boston, Ipswich, Portland, Exeter — Expedition against Cape Breton — Sherburne's request — Sermon to the soldiers — Refusal of chaplaincy — Conversion of a colored trumpeter — Of a noted scoffer — Anecdote of Whitefield and Dr. Hopkins - 254

Chapter X. Labors In The Middle And Southern States

THE BERMUDAS.

1745-1748.

Whitefield's preaching in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia — Liberal offer declined — Usefulness of his printed sermons in Virginia— Preaches at Hanover — Isaac Oliver — Visit to Bethesda — His account of the Orphan-house — His character as given by the New York Post-boy — Public testimony as to Whitcfield's integrity— Preaching tour in Maryland — Visit to Charleston — Success of his preaching in Maryland — Visits New York, Newport, Portsmouth, Boston — Return to Philadelphia — Bohemia — Journey to North Carolina — Embarkation for the Bermudas — His progress and labors — Honored by the governor and others — Usefulness among the negroes — Summary of his proceedings in the Bermudas— Kindness of the people there — Voyage to England — His labors on the voyage — Arrival at Deal - 277

Chapter XI. Labors In England And Scotland- Chaplain

TO LADY HUNTINGDON.

1748, 1749.

Triumphs and trials in London — Becomes chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon — Complimented by the great — Bolingbroke and Rev. Mr. Church — Rev. James Hervey — Honors conferred on Whitefield — Falsehoods of Horace Walpole — Charged with vulgarism— Defence — Third visit to Scotland — Return to London — Visit to the west of England — Conversions in Gloucestershire — Tour in Cornwall — Brilliant assemblies in London — Excursion to Exeter and Plymouth — Rev. Andrew Kinsman — Return to London— Decline of health and visit to Portsmouth and Wales — Arrival of Mrs. Whitefield from the Bermudas — Visit to the north of England — Popularity there — Intensely interesting services — Rev. W. Grimshawe — Solemn instances of mortality — Return to London for the winter — Usefulness 301

Chapter XII

LABORS IN GREAT BRITAIN— FOURTH VISIT TO AMER- ICA—NEW TABERNACLE IN LONDON, AND TABER- NACLE AT BRISTOL.

1750-1754.

Efforts made by Whitefield for Bethesda — His ardent love for America— Love to his mother — His mourning for sin— Dr. Doddridge

— London ministers — Interview with Doddridge and Hervey — Earthquake in London — Bishop Home's sermon — Universal consternation— Preaching of Whitefield at midnight in Hyde park — Whitefield and his friends at Court — Journey to Bristol — Taunton— Rev. R. Darracott — Preaching at Rotherham, Bolton, Ulverston — Conversion of Mr. Thorpe — Edinburgh and other places in Scotland — Testimony of Hume — Second visit to Ireland— Opposition on Oxmantown Green — Usefulness in Ireland — Rev. John Edwards — Fourth voyage to America — Interview with Lady Huntingdon — Moravians — Lady Huntingdon's testimony— Letter to Dr. Franklin — Itinerant labors — Revision of manuscripts — Erection of the new Tabernacle — Again itinerates — Dedication of the Tabernacle at Bristol — Somersetshire — Condolence on Mr. Wesley's sickness — Visit of Messrs. Davies and Tennent to England— Whitefield's fifth voyage to America- -323

Chapter XIII

FIFTH VISIT TO AMERICA- RENEWED LABORS IN aREAT BRITAIN — TOTTENHAM COURT-ROAD CHAP- EL.

1754-1763.

Whitefield's arrival and proceedings in Lisbon — Lands at Beaufort, S. C. — Voyage to New York — New Jersey — Interview with William Tennent — Accompanies President Burr to New England — Popularity at Boston — Correspondence with Habersham — Portsmouth— Rhode Island — Franklin's narrative of a drummer and Whitefield — Powerful address in Virginia — Pleasant interview at Charleston — Embarks for England — Arrival at New Haven — His feelings on arriving in England — Labors at the Tabernacle — Love for America — Journey to Bristol, Gloucestershire, Norwich— Returns to London — Reproof from Grimshawe — Serious illness — Earthquake at Lisbon — Tottenham Court-road Chapel — Conversion of Mr. Crane — Publication of "A short Address" — Personal character of Whitefield's preaching — His servant — Shuter — Violent persecution — Interference of government — Journey to Bristol — Lines on a chair — Journey to Kent, north of England, Scotland — Meeting at Leeds — Interview with the new governor of Georgia — Prosperity of Tottenham Court — Journey to Scotland — Ireland — Returns to London — 111 health — Anecdote — Another visit to Scotland — Death of friends— Debts of Bethesda paid — Renewed visit to Scotland — Visit to Brighton — Foote's mimicry — Activity — Sails on h"s sixth voyage to America- --350

I

CONTENTS.

Chapter XIV Sixth Visit And Labors In America— Renewed Labors In Great Britain

1763-1767.

Improvement of Whitefield?s health — Friends in Virginia — Proceedings in Philadelphia — New Jersey — A collegiate hearer — New York — Letter from Boston Gazette — Opposition of Seabury — Arrival and preaching at Boston — Public thanks to him — Leaves Boston — New Haven — New York — New Jersey College — Philadelphia—Virginia— South Carolina — Bethesda— Proceedings of the government — Prosperity of the Orphan-house — Thoughts of returning to England — Still detained in America — Sails for England — Arrival there — Dedicates a church at Bath — Returns to London — Sickness — Interest in American affairs — Rev. Samson Occum — Labors with Mr. Whitaker in England — Success — Whitefield?s journey to Bristol — Success in London — Mr. Joss becomes his colleague — Rev. Rowland Hill — Whitefield again visits Bath and Bristol — Mr. Fletcher's sermons in London — Preface to Bunyan's works — Whitefield in Whales and Gloucestershire— North of England — Disappointed in obtaining a charter for Bethesda - - -375

Chapter XV

HIS LAST LABORS IN GREAT BRITAIN — COLLEGE AT TREVECCA— EARL OF BUCHAN— TUNBRIDGE WELLS.

1767-1769.

Letter to Keen — Whitefield preaches before the Book Society — Change in his style and manner of preaching — Expulsion of six students from Oxford— Whitefield's letter to the Vice-chancellor— Usefulness of the expelled young men — Letter to a gentleman at Wisbeach— To Captain Scott— To Hon. and Rev. Walter Shirley — Death and funeral services of the Earl of Buchan — Whitefield's last visit to Edinburgh— Death of Mrs. Whitefield— White-field's own sickness — Dedication of the college at Trevecca — Improvement of his health — Letter to Mr. Shirley — Letter of Dr. Franklin to Whitefield— WhitefiehTs remarks on it— Dedication of church at Tunbridge Wells — Contemplated voyage to America — His last sermon — Account of Rev. George Burder — Messrs. Wilson— Embarkation of Whitefield— Detained in the Downs — Ordination and preaching at Deal — Anecdote of Dr.

Gibbons— Clears the Channel— Arrival at Charleston 400

1*

Chapter XVI. Seventh Visit And Last Labors In America"^

DEATH.

Arrival at Bethesda — Its prosperity — Honors paid him by the legislature— Letter at Charleston — Plan of the proposed college — Visits Philadelphia — Preaches at Burlington, New York, Albany — Attends an execution — Visit to Sharon — Conversion of Mr. Randall — Visit to Boston — Letters to Messrs. Wright and Keen — Letter in Pennsylvania Journal — Arrival at Exeter — Anecdote— Vast congregation — Delivers his last sermon — Account of it — His solemnly interesting appearance — Rodgers' Journal — Journey of Whitefield to Newburyport — Alarming illness — Death — His remarks to Dr. Finley — Arrangements for the funeral— Its solemn services — Cenotaph 423

Chapter XVII. Testimonies And Facts Illustrative Of White- Field's Character

Funeral sermon by Dr. Cooper — Respect shown to his memory in Georgia — Whitefield county — Sermon by Rev. Mr. Ellington — Arrival of the news in London — Sermon by Rev. J. Wesley — Rev. John Newton — Anecdote — Reply of Bacon the sculptor — Visits to his tomb — Old man in Ipswich — Whiteficld's indifference to his reputation and ease — Institution at Georgia — Laborious life — Extraordinary voice — Use of common facts — Anecdotes — His solemnity of manner — Testimony of an American preacher — Of Winter — Anecdotes — Sermons in storms — Appearance in the pulpit— Character of his printed sermons — His devotional spirit — Visiting the sick — Intercourse with society — Neatness -445

Chapter XVIII. Character Of Whitefield As A Pre Acher— Cen- Tennial Commemorations

Prominence given by him to the truths of salvation — His ardent glow of feeling — His direct address — His habitual dependence on the Spirit of God — Dealt with men as immortal beings — Dr. Hamilton's estimate of Whitefield — Comparison of Whitefield and Wesley — Centennial commemorations — Hymns by Mr. Condcr — Usefulness — Bristol Tabernacle — Mr. James' sermon — Character of Whitefield's ministry, by Mr. Glanville - - -479

Preface

The excellent Matthew Henry has very truly said, " There are remains of great and good men, which, like Elijah's mantle, ought to be gathered up ana preserved by the survivors — their sayings, their writings, their examples ; that as their works follow them in the reward of them, they may stay behind in the benefit of them.77

Influenced by this and kindred sentiments, the compiler of this volume has devoted no small labor to gather from every source to which he could gain access, whatever appeared to him important to be known respecting the most distinguished uninspired preacher perhaps of any age or country. Whatever may be the faults of the work, to use the language of the Eev. Dr. Campbell, one of the present pastors of Whitefield's churches in London, in reference to a short sketch he had himself prepared of our great evangelist, " It will serve to bring him and his apostolic labors before the minds of vast multitudes of the rising generation, to whom both are all but unknown ; and this is far from unimportant. Whatever tends to fix the minds of men afresh upon the character of Whitefield is, and it always will be, something gained to the cause of true religion. The contemplation of that character is one of the most healthful exercises that can occupy a Christian heart,

12 PREFACE.

or a Christian understanding. It is an admirable theme for ministerial meditation. It tends equally to humble, to instruct, and to encourage ; to excite love to Christ, zeal for his glory, and compassion for the souls of men. What Alexander and Csesar, Charles XII. of Sweden and Napoleon the first, are to those of the sons of men who have not yet ceased to 'learn war/ that Whitefield and Wesley are to those who aspire to eminent usefulness as ministers and missionaries of the cross.77

In the preparation of this memoir, the compiler has sought to collect together incidents which might interest and instruct, especially in connection with Whitefield's labors in America ; to present him as much as possible in his own dress ; and to use the facts of his life to excite and cherish his own spirit, so far as he had the spirit of Christ. Facts reflecting on the reputation and feelings of others have been used only as the interests of truth seemed to demand.

It would have been easy to place on almost every page an array of authorities, and to give here a long list of friends to whom the writer has been indebted for aid ; but the sole object of the volume is the honor of Christ in the salvation of men, and that this may be accomplished, we pray that the blessing of Heaven may rest upon it.

Philadelphia, 1857.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD.

Chapter I

MORAL, STATE OF GREAT BRITAIN IN THE EARLY PART OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— WHITE- FIELD FROM HIS BIRTH TO HIS FIRST SERMON.

That we may have a clear and comprehensive view of the labors and success of George Whitefield, it is important that we consider the moral condition of Great Britain and its dependencies when the Head of the church brought him on the field of action. The latter part of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries presented in that country a scene of moral darkness, the more remarkable as it so soon succeeded the triumph of evangelical truth which distinguished the seventeenth century, and which is perpetuated in a religiousJiterature that will bless the world. Causes had long been at work which produced such insensibility and decline as to all that is good, and such a bold and open activity in evil, as it is hoped the vvm$ ftfi^^^ffifiy avert from his churches in all future time. The doctrine of the divine right of kings to implicit obedience on the part of their subjects ; the principle of piiffitly. s&™ tml of the minds of men in religious matters ; and clerical influence, sustained by kingly authority, in favor of sports on the Lord's day, together with the evil examples of men high in rank and power, had produced their natural results on the masses of the people, and make it painful, even at this distant period, to survey the scene.

Nor were these all the evils of that day. The expulsion from their pulpits, by the "Act of Uniformity/7 of two thousand of the most able and useful of the clergy in England, had led to great ignorance and neglect of religion ; and though men like Leighton and Owen, Flavel and Baxter, with Bunyan and a host of others, had continued, in spite of opposing laws, to preach when they were not shut up in prison, and to write their immortal practical works, by the time of which we are speaking they had been called to their eternal reward, leaving very few men of like spirit behind them. Thus infidelity, profligacy, and formalisjjul^ost nr>i'vp|;g^]1y prevailed.

The low state of religion in the established church at that time may be learned from the Rev. Augustus M. Toplady, himself one of its ministers, who died in 1778. In a sermon yet extant he says, "I believe no denomination of professing Christians, the church of Rome excepted, were so generally void of the light and life of godliness, so generally destitute of the doctrine and of the ^fflfiPpftf-t1^ gospel, as was the church of England, considered as a body, about fifty years ago. At that period a converted minister in the establishment was as great a woMeras a comet ; but now, blessed be God, since that precious, that great apostle of the English empire, the late dear Mr. Whitefield, was raised up in the spirit and power of Elias, the word of God has run and been glorified ; many have believed and been added to the Lord all over the three kingdoms ; and blessed be his name, the great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls continues still to issue his word, and great is the company of preachers, greater and greater every year."

If it be said that Toplady, as he belonged to a different school of theology from that which then generally prevailed, could scarcely be expected to be impartial, we ask leave to transcribe a few lines from Bishop Butler, who within six months of Whitefield's ordination wrote thus : " It is come, I know not how, to be taken for granted by many persons, that Christianity is not so much as a subject of inquiry ; but that it is now at length discovered to be fictitious. And accordingly they treat it as if in the present age this were an agreed point among all people of discernment ; and nothing remained but to set it up as a principal subject oj^mirth and ridicule, as it were by way of reprisals for its having sq loflg interrupted the pleasures of the world." Bishop Warburton, who commenced his ministry a tew years belore Whitefield, and who cannot be charged with enthusiasm, says, "I have lived to see that fatal crisis, when religion hath lost its hold on the minds of the people/'

Many other witnesses might be brought to testify that error and worldly mindedness had made mourn ful havoc among the clergy, and that spiritual religion had been almost buried injbrms and ceremonies. A recent writer has well described the state of religion in the established church at that time, as only to be compared to a frozen or Daisied carcass. " There/'

says this Episcopal clergyman, " were the time-honored formularies which the wisdom of the reformers had provided. There were the services and lessons from Scripture, just in the same order as we have them now. But as to preaching the gospel, in the established church there was almost none. The distinguishing doctrines of Christianity — the atonement, the work and office of Christ and the Spirit — were comparatively lost sight of. The Vast majority of sermons ; were miserable moral essays, utterly devoid of any i thing calculated to awaken, convert, save, or sanctify souls." Southey, a biographer of Wesley, who assuredly will not be accused of too strong a tendency to evangelical truth, is compelled to say, " A laxity of opinions as well as morals obtained, and infidelity, a plague which had lately found its way into the country, was becoming so prevalent, that the vice-chancellor of the university at Oxford, in a programma, exhorted the tutors to discharge their duties by double diligence, and had forbidden the under-graduates to read such books as might tend to the weakening of their faith."

There were undoubtedly some learned and conscientious bishops at this era. Such men were Seeker and Gibson, Lowth and Home, Butler, and others. But even the best of them seem sadly to have misunderstood the requirements of the day they lived in. They spent their strength in writing apologies Jor Christianity, and contending against infidels. They cculd not see that without the dirq^t .preaching of the essential doctrines of the gospel, their labors must be Badly defective. The man who dared to preach the doctrines of the Bible, and in harmony with the Articles and Homilies of his church, was set down as an enthusiast or fanatic.

Among those who had dissented from the established hierarchy, and who were untrammelled by the impositions of secular authority, the state of vital godliness was also unhappily very low. The noble spirits of early non-conformity had passed from earth, or crossed the Atlantic to the frozen shores of New England, and a race of men had sprung up, some of whom retained the tenets of orthodoxy, but had lost its power ; while others reposed on comfortable endowments, and lulled themselves, or were drawn by favorable breezes, into the cold elements of Arianism and Socinianism. As persons in the frozen regions are said to sleep longer and more soundly than others, so did they ; and a more terrific blast of the trumpet of the gospel was required to rouse and awake them from their spiritual slumbers. Happily indeed for the world, and for the church in it, there were some exceptions. Watts and Guyse and Doddridge, and their pious associates in different parts of the land, were laborers together in " God's husbandry," and ceased not to cultivate it with affectionate faithfulness and care ; and wherever their labors extended, the plants of grace grew and flourished. Darracott, " the star of the west," threw his mild rays over the vales of Somerset ; and in the north also a few faithful men were found.

Nor have we even now said all that should be written as to the character of those times. The highest personages in the land then openly lived in ways contrary to the law of God, and no man rebuked them. Profligacy and irreligion were reputable and respectable. Judging from the description we have of men and manners in those days, a gentleman might have been defined as a creature who got drunk, gambled, swore, fought duels, and violated the seventh commandment, and for all this very few thought the worse of him.

Those too were the days when the men whom even kings delighted to honor were such as Bolingbroke, Chesterfield, Walpole, and Newcastle. To be an infidel, to obtain power by intrigue, and to retain it by the grossest and most notorious bribery, were considered no disqualifications even for the highest offices. Such men indeed were not only tolerated, but praised. In those days too, Hume, an avowed infidel, put forth his History, and obtained a pension. Sterne and Swift then wrote their talented, but obscene books ; both of them were clergymen, but the public sawlittle inconsistency in their conduct. Fielding uud Smollett were the popular authors, and the litcary taste of high and low was suited by Roderick Random. Peregrine Pickle, Joseph Andrews, and Turn Jones. These authors were ingenious heathen philosophers, assuming the name of Christians, and forcibl^jmganizing Christianity for the sake of pleasing the world.

Turning to Scotland, we find that the bold proclamation of the discriminating truths of the gospel which characterize the preaching of Knox, Welsh, and others, was being rapidly laid aside, and cold formal addresses, verging towards a kind of Socinianism were becoming fashionable. Old Mr. Ht/tcMnson, minister of Kilellan, in Renfrewshire, who saw but the beginning of this sacl change, used to say to Wodrow the historian, "When I compare the times before the restoration with those since the revolution, I must own that the young ministers preach accurately, and methodically ; but there was far more of the power and efficacy of the Spirit and of the grace of God went along with sermons in those days than now. For my own part — all the glory be to God — I seldom set my foot in a pulpit in those days, but I had notice of the blessed effects of the word." It is true, that even then there were a few faithful witnesses for God in Scotland, such as the brothers Erskine, in the Secession church ; but for the most part, coldness, barrenness, and death prevailed. The people knew not God, and were strangers to the lyjyjjjjijig influence and power of the gospel. •

The Arianism of England had been carried to the north of Ireland, and finding a state of feeling suitable to its reception, it took root and grew up, so as to characterize a distinct section of the Presbyterian church, then and still distinguished by the name of the Remonstrajjj; Synod. The south and west of Ireland were subjected to a blight not less withering, though of a different kind, and which continued much longer — continued, to a great extent, throughout the whole of the last century. The clergy were usually sons of the gentry, and accustomed to their sporting, drinking, j&yL^tous habits. They had no preparation for ministerial duties but a college degree ; and no education, either literary or moral, which had not been obtained among wild young men at the university. According to the interest which they happened to have, they passed at once from college to ministerial charges, and again mixed in all the dissipations of the districts where these lay. Ignorant of the truth, they and their congregations were satisfied with some short moral discourse. Many of the people were almost as ignorant of the Scriptures and scripture truth as the inhabitants of Hindostan. The Catholic priests meanwhile were at work among the people, and they had many to help them. The sick and the dying were watched ; their fears were wrought upon ; they were told of the power which the priests had, of the influence possessed by the Virgin, and much about the old church; and as soon as any seemed to give way, on whatever point, the priest was sent for, who plied them anew, and seldom failed in succeeding with the poor ignorant people. They were now ready to receive absolution ; but he had farther conditions to propose. The whole family must submit to be rebaptized, or at least promise to attend mass — and this also was not unfrequently gained ; the Protestant clergyman being all the while at a distance, neither knowing nor much caring what was going on. In this way great numbers of the lower and middle classes of the Protestants went over to the church of Rome. Throughout whole districts the Protestant churches were almost emptied, and many of those in rural districts were allowed to fall into ruins.