nied the labors of his servant, and without which, both scripture and experience teach us, that all external means, however excellent, are ineffectual and vain. It is here Whitefield is much to be envied, were it lawful to envy any man. When we consider the multitudes that were not only awakened, but brought under lasting religious impressions by his ministry! and the multitudes that were wrought upon in the same manner by the ministry of others, excited by his example, both in Great Britain and America, we are naturally led into the same sentiments with Mr. Wesley, in his funeral sermon ; “What an honor has it pleased God to put upon his faithful servant! Have we read or heard of any person since the apostles, who testified the gospel of the grace of God, through so widely extended a space, through so large a part of the habitable world? Have we read, or heard of any person, who called so many thousands, so many myriads of sinners to repentance? Above all, have we read, or heard of any, who has been a blessed instrument in his hand, of bringing so many sinners from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God?”

This excellent character, joined to talents so extraordinary, and to labors, which God was pleased to bless with almost unequaled success, was shaded with some infirmities. And what else could be expected in the present condition of humanity? These have been sufficiently laid open in the preceding narrative of his life. And it ought to be observed, that as there was something very amiable in the frankness and unreservedness which prevented his concealing them; so through his openness to conviction, his teachableness to confess and correct his mistakes, they became still fewer and smaller, and decreased continually, as he advanced in knowledge and experience.

In his letters, we find the following remarkable passages: "May God reward you for watching over my soul. It is difficult, I believe, to go through the fiery trial of popularity and applause, untainted. When I am unwilling to be told of my faults, correspond with me no more. If I know any thing of my heart, I love those most who are most faithful to me in this respect; henceforward, dear sir, I beseech you, by the mercies of God in Christ Jesus, spare me not. We must be helps to each other on this side eternity. Nothing gives me more comfort, next to the assurance of the eternal continuance of God's love, than the pleasing reflection of having so many christian friends to watch with my soul. I wish they would smite me friendly, and reprove me oftener than they do. I rejoice that you begin to know yourself. If possible, Satan will make us think more highly of ourselves than we ought to

think. I can tell this by fatal experience. It is not sudden flashes of joy, but having the humility of Jesus Christ, that must denominate us christians. If we hate reproof, we are so far from being true followers of the Lamb of God, that in the opinion of the wisest of men we are brutish. O my dear brother, still continue faithful to my soul-do not hate me in your heart-in any wise reprove me. You need no apology for your plain dealing. I love those best, who deal most sincercly with me. Whatever errors I have been, or shall be guilty of in my ministry, I hope the Lord will show me, and give me grace to amend."

It would be unjust to his memory not to take notice, upon this occasion, of that uniformity of sentiment, which runs through all his sermous and writings, after he was thoroughly enlightened in the truth. Indeed, when he first set out in the ministry, his youth and inexperience led him into many expressions which were contrary to sound doctrine, and which made many of the sermons he first printed, justly exceptionable but reading, experience, and a deeper knowledge of his own heart, convinced him of his errors, and upon all occasions he avowed his adherence to the thirty-nine articles of the Church of England, and the standards of the Church of Scotland, as expressly founded on the word of God. He loved his friend, but he would not part with a grain of sacred truth for the brother of his heart. Thus we see him constrained to write and print against the Arminian tenets of Wesley, whom he loved in the bowels of Christ. And it appears from several other tracts in his works, that he neglected no opportunity of stepping forth as a bold champion, in defence of that faith which was once delivered to the saints.

"He who engages himself to fight the battles of the Lord," says a minister of the gospel, "has need of uncommon strength and irresistible arms; and if he be destitute of one or the other, he vainly expects to stand in the evil day." Whitefield was exposed to a vast variety of dangers, and beset with innumerable enemies. His whole life was one continued scene of warfare, in which he wrestled sometimes with visible, and at other times with invisible adversaries. He saw it to be absolutely necessary to be furnished with weapons of celestial temper in this spiritual warfare; and he put on "the whole armor of God," with a determined resolution never to put it off, till his last conflict should be decided. This sacred panoply enabled him to grapple with his strongest enemies; and made him truly invincible in the cause of godliness.

It becomes all who are called to the sacred office of the ministry, to be faithful in the discharge of that work commit

ted to them. They are not to be as "sullen lamps, enlightening only themselves;" but as conspicuous suns, enlightening and animating all around them. Whitefield entered upon the duties of his vocation with an extraordinary degree of earnestness and zeal. He saw the difficulties of his situation, and the reproaches to which he should be exposed, by a conscientious discharge of his duty; but, persuaded of the importance of his charge, and concerned for the welfare of immortal souls. upon the very verge of destruction, he set his face like a flint against all who might oppose the truth or grace of God. Whatever his hand found to do, in any part of the sacred vineyard, it may be truly said, that he did it with all his might. As a steward of the manifold grace of God, he faithfully dispensed the word of life, according as every man had need. He was a laborious workman in his Lord's vineyard. Instant in season and out of season, he diligently performed the work of an evangelist, and lost no opportunity of declaring the truths of the gospel. It appears from a littie memorandum book, wherein he minuted the times and places of his ministerial labors, that he preached upwards of eighteen thousand sermons in the course of his ministry, which included thirty-four years and a quarter; which was somewhat more than five hundred sermons a year. The day preceding his death, he expressed a great desire to enter his eternal rest; at the same time saying, "Lord, thou knowest I am not weary of thy work, though I am weary in it!" Every duty of his sacred vocation, this apostolic man performed, with an earnestness and zeal, of which but a very imperfect idea can be given. Never weary of well doing, he counted it his greatest privilege "to spend and be spent" in ministering to the church of God, and in the service of which he sacrificed his strength, his health, and his life.

He was "a burning and shining light"-a Boanerges, and yet a Barnabas in the church of God. Whether the enemies of God appeared in the splendor of riches, or in the meanness of poverty; whether they were distinguished by their erudition, or despicable by their ignorance, he marshaled against them the most terrible denunciations of the Almighty's wrath. Unawed either by the majesty of kings, or the madness of the people, he was equally fitted to appear with Moses at an impious court, or to stand with Stephen in a turbulent assembly. The fidelity with which he performed this part of his duty, is worthy of admiration.

But while he was faithful, in proclaiming "the day of vengeance" to the wicked, e neglected not "to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that were bound." In the discharge of this favorite part of his office, he

was equally faithful as in the former. He shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God. He made Jesus the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and ending of all his ministrations. He explored the intricate mazes, and unlocked the secret recesses of the human heart. He was solicitously concerned to have his hearers thoroughly convinced that they were sinful, lost creatures, exposed to the everlasting vengeance of a righteous God. He displayed the infinitely tender love, and free grace of Jesus, in dying for apostate man. He pointed the sinner to the Lamb of God, whose blood cleanseth from all sin; whose merits are infinite, and able to save to the uttermost; and whose righteousness is sufficient to justify the ungodly. Thus, with all possible plainness and fidelity, this apostolic preacher administered the word of God, in his day and generation, whether it was a word of threatening to the careless and impenitent, or a word of consolation to the fearful and afflicted.

The inexpressible concern which he felt for the enlargement of the kingdom of Christ, and the salvation of immortal souls induced him to go forth into the highways and hedges, to publish the gospel; and anxious to do "the work of an evangelist" with all possible fidelity, he was not ashamed, that every hour and every place should bear testimony to the affectionate zeal, with which he exhorted the ignorant, the careless, and the abandoned, to "flee from the wrath to come." Considering himself as a minister of the church of Christ, he complained of no hardships, nor thought any difficulty too great to be encountered, in winning souls to Christ. He was careful to act, in every instance, consistently with his high profession. He preferred the path of duty before the lap of repose; he listened not to the suggestion of fear, nor regarded the dictates of worldly prudence; and he counted neither ease, nor interest, nor reputation, nor even life itself, dear to him. He strove to "finish his course with joy."

Such was this favored servant of God. Well may he be our exemplar. And, as a well nigh apostolic unction, fervor, and energy possessed him, so may his mantle fall on many, who shall behold his character reflected through these records.

AN APPENDIX

To the Life of Whitefield, containing some additional documents of interest concerning his life, character, and death.

THE following extract of a letter appeared in the Georgia Gazette, soon after Mr. Whitefield's death: "The consideration of public calamities is never out of season; and if properly attended to, as they ought to be, will afford matter of great improvement to the mind, that views them as happening by the permission of an unerring divine Providence. And as the loss of eminent and public spirited persons, who have signally distinguished themselves by serving their country in a free, disinterested, and generous manner, is none of the least, so it deserveth a particular regard.

"In this light, I look upon the very much lamented death of the late Rev. George Whitefield, especially in respect to Georgia; for which he has demonstrated, by every means in his power, a most uncommonly warm, affectionate, and unabating regard, for near thirty-three years past; I say, by every means in his power, because it is well known that, until within a few years past, he has been constantly loaded with a heavy debt to support and carry on his benevolent institution, the Orphan-house, which he frequently felt so severely, that had not that God, whom he faithfully served, supported him, he must have sunk under the burden: notwithstanding he was at the same time maligned, traduced, and persecuted with unrelenting virulence, as a cheat, an impostor, and a public robber, who, under the specious pretence of promoting a charitable design, was amassing great wealth to himself; all which he bore with an uncommon degree of patience; and never to my knowledge said more, at these unmerited reproaches, than that the great day would show his accusers their mistake.

"When he was the stated minister of this parish, which was before the Orphan-house was settled, his liberal heart devised liberal things; and the then inhabitants of Savannah, of the villages of Highgate and Hampstead, and of the other adjacent places; the Saltzburghers of Ebenezer, the inhabitants of Darien and Frederica, who were at that time not inconsiderable in number, all partook of his unbounded bounty to a very large amount; although he then almost denied him