(especially when his body was weak, and his spirits low) very trying: but still he was inwardly supported.

April 21, he again went to Oxford: and, after staying a few days with the Methodists there, came to London, where he attempted to preach in Islington church, the incumbent, Mr. Stonehouse, being a friend to the Methodists; but, in the midst of the prayers, the church warden came and demanded his license, and otherwise he forbid his preaching in that pulpit. He might, perhaps, have insisted on his right to preach, yet for peace's sake he declined; and, after the communion service was over, he preached in the church yard.

Opportunities of preaching in a more regular way being now denied him, and his preaching in the fields being attended with a remarkable blessing, he judged it his duty to go on in this practice, and ventured the following Sunday into Moorfields. Public notice having been given, and the thing being new and singular, upon coming out of the coach, he found an incredible number of people assembled. Many had told him that he should never come again out of that place alive. He went in, however, between two of his friends; who, by the pressure of the crowd, were soon parted entirely from him, and were obliged to leave him to the mercy of the rabble. But these, instead of hurting him, formed a lane for him, and carried him along to the middle of the fields, (where a table had been placed, which was broken in pieces by the crowd,) and afterwards back again to the wall that then parted the upper and lower Moorfields; from whence he preached without molestation, to an exceeding great multitude in the lower fields. Finding such encouragement, he went that evening to Kennington common, a large open place, almost three miles distant from London, where he preached to a vast multitude, who were all attention, and behaved with as much regularity and quietness as if they had been in a church.*

CHAPTER V.

From his preaching in Moorfields, &c. to his laying the foundation of the Orphan-house in Georgia, 1740.

FOR several months after this, Moorfields, Kennington common, and Blackheath, were the chief scenes of action. At a moderate computation, the auditories often consisted of above twenty thousand. It is said, their singing could be heard two

"Words cannot well express the glorious displays of Divine Grace which we saw, and heard of, and felt." MS.

miles off, and his voice near a mile. Sometimes there were upwards of a hundred coaches, besides wagons, scaffolds, and other contrivances, which particular persons let out for the convenience of the audience. Having no other method to take, he was obliged to collect for the Orphan-house in the fields, or not at all, which was humbling to him and his friends who assisted him in that work. But the willingness with which the people gave, and the prayers which they put up upon throwing in their mites, were very encouraging. In the mean while Mr. John Wesley was laboring with great zeal at Bristol, and his brother, Mr. Charles, in London and elsewhere; Mr. Ingham had been preaching in many churches of Yorkshire, Mr. Kinchin in Oxford, and Mr. Rogers in Bedfordshire. Thus the seed sown was gradually increased, and the embargo which was now laid on the shipping, gave him leisure for more journeys through various parts of England; and God was pleased to crown his labors with amazing success.

Some demur happening in Bristol, he went there for a few days, but Mr. John Wesley (who had now made progress in building the Kingswood school, and also had begun a room at Bristol in full power,) now took him along with him, and introduced him as a field preacher at Gloucester and other places. Every where the word seemed to sink deeper into the hearts of the hearers. Singing and praying were heard in Kingswood, instead of cursing and swearing; and in many other places. the fruits of righteousness evidently appeared.

Many false reports were now spread abroad concerning him. Not a journey he could make, but he was either killed or wounded, or died suddenly. One groundless fiction was continually invented after another, and the bishop of London laid hold of this occasion for publishing a charge to his clergy to avoid the extremes of enthusiasm and luke-warmness. But amidst these discouragements, he was not left without the countenance and friendship of several persons of influence.

The embargo being taken off, and upwards of a thousand pounds collected for the Orphan-house, he sailed the second time for America, August 14, 1739, with a family consisting of eight men, one boy, and two children, besides his friend Mr. Seward.

After a passage of nine weeks, he arrived at Philadelphia in the beginning of November, and was immediately invited to preach in the churches, to which people of all denominations thronged as in England.* From thence he was invited to

* "The effects produced in Philadelphia at this time by the preaching of Mr. Whitefield, were truly astonishing. Numbers of almost all religious denominations, and many who had no connection with any denomination, were brought to inquire, with the utmost earnestness, what they should do to be saved.

New York, by Mr. Noble, the only person with whom he had an acquaintance in that city. Upon his arrival, they waited on the commissary; but he refused him the use of his church. Mr. Whitefield, therefore, preached in the fields, and on the evening of the same day, to a very thronged and attentive audience in the Rev. Mr. Pemberton's meeting house; and continued to do so twice or thrice a day for above a week, with apparent success.

On his way to and from Philadelphia, he also preached at Elizabethtown, Maidenhead, Abington, Neshaminy, Burlington, and New Brunswick, in New Jersey, to some thousands gathered from various parts, among whom there had been a considerable awakening, by the instrumentality of a Mr. Frelinghuysen, a Dutch minister, and the Messrs. Tennents, Blair, and Rowland.* He had also the pleasure of meeting with the venerable Mr. Tennant as well as his sons, and with Mr. Dickinson. It was no less pleasing than strange to him, to see Such was the earnestness of the multitude to listen to spiritual instruction, that there was public worship regularly twice a day for a year; and on the Lord's day it was celebrated generally three, and frequently four times. An aged man, deeply interested in the scenes which then were witnessed, has informed the writer, that the city (not then probably a third as large as it now is) contained TWENTY-SIX Societies for social prayer and religious conferences; and probably there were others not known to him."-Memoirs of Mrs. Hannah Hodge, published in Philadelphia, 1806.

During this visit to Philadelphia he preached frequently after night from the gallery of the court house in Market Street. So loud was his voice at that time, that it was distinctly heard on the Jersey shore, and so distinct was his speech, that every word he said was understood on board of a shallop at Market Street wharf, a distance of upwards of four hundred feet from the court house. All the intermediate space was crowded with his hearers. This fact was communicated to the recorder of it by a gentleman lately deceased, who was in the shallop.

This truly pious and eloquent man, being invited to preach in the Baptist church, proclaimed the terrors of the divine law with such energy to those whose souls were already sinking under them, that a few fainted away. On this occasion, however, his error was publicly corrected by the Rev. Gilbert Tennent, who, standing at the foot of the pulpit, and seeing the effect produced on the assembly, interrupted and arrested the preacher by this address: 'Brother Rowland, is there no balm in Gilead ?—is there no physician there?' Mr. Rowland, on this, changed immediately the terror of his address, and sought to direct to the Savior those who were overwhelmed with a sense of their guilt: but, before this had taken place, numbers were carried out of the church in a state of insensibility.

"Mr. Tennent, and his brethren in presbytery, intend breeding up gracious youths for our Lord's vineyard. The place wherein the young men now study, is a log house, about twenty feet long, and nearly as many broad. From this despised place, seven or eight worthy ministers of Jesus have been sent forth, and a foundation is now laying for the instruction of many others. The work, I am persuaded, is of God, and therefore will not come to nought."— Journals, November 22, 1739.

The event has verified his judgment about this institution. It is now a large college at Princeton, New Jersey; and has already had many worthy presidents (some of whose names are well known in the learned world) such as Mr. Dickinson, Mr. Burr, Dr. Jonathan Edwards, Dr. Samuel Davies, Dr. S. Finley, and Dr. Witherspoon; men pre-eminent for mental endowments and acquisitions.

such gatherings in a foreign land; ministers and people shed ding tears; sinners struck with awe; and serious persons, who had been much run down and despised, filled with joy. Meanwhile the Orphan-house affairs went on well. The cargo brought from England, was sold for their benefit. A vessel was purchased, of which Captain Gladman was master; and a young man who had lately received serious impressions under Mr. Whitefield's preaching, willingly offered himself as mate. Many little presents were made to his family for sea stores, and the intended house. About the end of November, he took his leave of his family, and ordered them to proceed on their voyage to Savannah, while he himself, with Mr. Seward, and two more determined to go thither by land.

Numbers followed, some twenty, some sixty miles out from Philadelphia. He preached at Chester, Wilmington, Newcas tle (where he was met on the way by Mr. Ross, minister of the place) Christianbridge and Whitely Creek, where Mr. William Tennent (whose meeting house is in the neighborhood) had erected a tent for him. Here he observed new scenes of field preaching, or rather preaching in the woods, opened to him. At Whitely Creek, perhaps the congregation did not consist of less than ten thousand. Earnest invitations were given him to come and preach elsewhere; which he had great encourage ment to do, from the visible success of his labors; but he hasted to be with his family at Savannah.

In his way thither, he also preached in Maryland, at North East and Joppa, and at Annapolis, the capital, where he was received with much civility by the governor, and at Upper Marlborough.

In Virginia also, he preached at Williamsburgh, where he was courteously received by the governor, and by Mr. Blair, the commissary, whom he speaks of with great regard. When he came to North Carolina, he thought it seemed to be the greatest waste, and the most uncultivated of spots, both in a temporal and spiritual sense. Yet here, in a place called Newbern, his preaching was attended with an uncommon influence. And it was not without effect at Newton, on Cape Fear river, where were may from Scotland amongst the congregation, who had lately come over to settle in North Carolina.

Immediately on coming into South Carolina, a visible change was observable in the manners of the people. And when he came to Charleston, (which was on Saturday, January 3, 1740) he could scarcely believe but he was amongst Londoners, both in respect of gaiety of dress, and politeness of manners.

Here he soon perceived, that by field preaching he had lost his old friend the commissary, who once promised to defend