if my vile heart doth not deceive me, I offered up my whole spirit, soul and body, to the service of God's sanctuary." "Let come what will, life or death, depth or height, I shall henceforwards live like one who this day, in the presence of men and angels, took the holy sacrament, upon the profession of being inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon me that ministration in the church. I can call heaven and earth to witness, that when the bishop laid his hand upon me, I gave myself up to be a martyr for Him who hung upon the cross for me. Known unto him are all future events and contingencies; I have thrown myself blindfold, and I trust, without reserve, into His Almighty hands." Such were his feelings at the hour, and they were not belied by the whole tenor of his after life.

Bishop Benson appears to have felt a sincere regard for the young man whom he had thus ordained, little aware of the course which he was designed to run. Whitefield speaks at this time of having received from the good prelate another present of five guineas; "a great supply," he says, "for one who had not a guinea in the world." He began with as small a stock of sermons as of wordly wealth. It had been his intertion to have prepared at least a hundred, wherewith to commence his ministry;-he found himself with only one; it proved a fruitful one; for having lent it to a neighboring clergyman, to convince him how unfit he was, as he really believed himself to be, for the work of preaching, the clergyman divided it into two, which he preached morning and evening to his congregation, and sent it back with a guinea for its use. With this sermon he first appeared in the pulpit, in the church of St. Mary de Crypt, where he had been baptized, and where he had first received the sacrament. Curiosity had brought together a large congregation; and he now, he says, felt the unspeakable advantage of having been accustomed to public speaking when a boy at school, and of exhorting and teaching the prisoners and poor people at Oxford.* More than this, he

"Last Sunday in the afternoon I preached my first sermon in the church where I was baptized, and also first received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Curiosity drew a large congregation together. The sight at first, a little awed me. But I was comforted with a heart-felt sense of the Divine Presence; and as soon found the advantage of having been accustomed to public speaking when a boy at school, and of exhorting and teaching the prisoners, and poor people at their private houses, whilst at the University. By these means I was kept from being daunted over-much. As I proceeded, I perceived the fire kindled, till at last, though so young, and amidst a crowd of those who Fnew me in my childish days, I trust I was enabled to speak with some degree of gospel authority. Some few mocked, but most, for the present, seemed struck and I have since heard, that a complaint had been made to the Bishop, that I drove fifteen mad the first sermon. The worthy prelate, as I am informed, wished that the madness might not be forgotten before next Sunday."

of the voyage was still more perilous. The only thing comfortable was, that, in the midst of these trials, deep impressions were made on some that were on board. All constantly attended public worship twice, and some thrice, a day. Once the captain cried out, "Lord, break this hard heart of mine." Others were impressed; particularly one Captain Gladman, a passenger, on whom a great change was wrought, and who afterwards, at his own earnest request, became Mr. Whitefield's fellow traveler. At length, after nine weeks tossing and beating to and fro, they found themselves in Limerick harbor.*

At Limerick, Bishop Burscough received him very kindly, and engaged him to preach in the cathedral, the good effects of which he heard of many years after. From thence he went to Dublin, where he preached and was courteously received by Dr. Delany, Bishop Rundell, and Archbishop Bolton, who had heard of him from a gentleman of Gibraltar. And, after a passage of twenty-four hours from Dublin, he arrived at Parkgate, Thursday, November 30, preached twice on the Lord's day, at Manchester, and came to London the Friday following, December 8.

Here he had a conference with the Moravian brethren, who had lately come to London; and though he could not directly fall in with their way of expressing themselves, yet he heartily ⚫ agreed with them in the old Protestant doctrine of justification in the sight of God, by faith alone in the imputed righteousness of Christ; and was not a little delighted to find a great increase of the work of God, both as to light and love, doctrine and practice, through the instrumentality of Mr. Charles, and especially of Mr. John Wesley.

Some of the clergy now began to show their displeasure more and more; so that in two days five churches were denied him. And though the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishop of London, both received him civilly, it was but coldly: and the latter inquired, "Whether his Journals were not a little tinctured with enthusiasm." He replied, that they were written only for himself, and private friends, and were published entirely without his consent or knowledge, or so much as his consent being asked at all. The trustees for the colony of

"I wish I could never forget what I felt when water and other provision were brought us from ashore. One Mr. MacMahon, a country gentleman, came from his seat at midnight on purpose to relieve us, and most kindly invited me, though unknown, to his house to stay as long as I pleased." MS.

It was certainly wrong to publish them without his consent and revisal; otherwise, the publication of them was a very proper way to prevent the misrepresentation of facts, either by calumny and detraction on the one hand, of by exaggeration on the other. And it is a great pity he did not continue them. They would have been the best possible memoirs of his life. But we see how the offense given by, or taken at, some passages, might help to determine him

however, in one of Mr. Law's books, a fictitious character held up for imitation: this ideal being served him for a friend; and he had soon full satisfaction, as well as full employment, in pursuing the same round of duties as his predecessor. For the people had been taught by their pastor to attend public prayers twice a-day; in the morning before they went to work, and in the evening after they returned from it; their zealous minister had also been accustomed to catechise the children daily, and visit his parishioners from house to house. In pursuance of this plan, Whitefield allotted eight hours to these offices, eight for study and retirement, and eight for the necessities of nature; he soon learnt to love the people among whom he labored, and derived from their society a greater improvement than books could have given him.

While he was in London, some letters from Ingham and the Wesleys had made him long to follow them to Georgia; but when he opened these desires to his friends, they persuaded him that laborers were wanting at home; that he had no visible call abroad; and that it was his duty to wait and see what Providence might point out for him,-not to do any thing rashly. He now learned that Charles Wesley had come over to procure assistance; and though Charles did not invite him to the undertaking, yet he wrote in terms which made it evident that he was in his thoughts, as a proper person. Soon afterwards came a letter from John: "Only Mr. Delamotte is with me," said he, "till God shall stir up the hearts of some of his servants, who, putting their lives in his hands, shall come over and help us, where the harvest is so great, and the laborers so few. What if thou art the man, Mr. Whitefield?" In another letter, it was said, "Do you ask me what you shall have? Food to eat, and raiment to put on; a house to lay your head in, such as your Lord had not; and a crown of glory that fadeth not away." Upon reading this, his heart, he says, leaped within him, and, as it were, echoed to the call. The desire thus formed soon ripened into a purpose, for which all circumstances seemed favorable. Mr. Kinchin had been elected Dean, and must therefore reside at College; he would take upon him the charge of his prisoners: Hervey was ready to supply his place in the curacy; there were many Indians in Georgia, for their sake it was a matter of great importance that serious clergymen should be sent over: there he should find Wesley, his spiritual teacher and dear friend; a sea voyage, too, might not improbably be helpful to his weakened con stitution. Thus he reasoned, finding in every circumstance something which flattered his purpose; and having strengthened it by prayer into a settled resolution, which he knew could

never be carried into effect if he "conferred with flesh and blood," he wrote to his relations at Gloucester, telling them his design, and saying, that if they would promise not to dissuade him, he would visit them to take his leave; but otherwise he would embark without seeing them, for he knew his own weakness. Herein he acted wisely, but the promise which he extorted was not strictly observed: his aged mother wept sorely; and others, who had no such cause to justify their interference, represented to him what "pretty preferment" he might have if he would stay at home. The Bishop approved of his determination, received him like a father, as he always did, and doubted not but that God would bless him, and he would do much good abroad. From Gloucester he went to bid his friends at Bristol farewell. Here he was held in high honor the mayor appointed him to preach before the corporation; Quakers, Baptists, Presbyterians, people of all denominations, flocked to hear; the churches were as full on week days as they used to be on Sundays; and on Sundays crowds were obliged to go away for want of room. "The whole city," he said, "seemed to be alarmed." But though he says that "the word was sharper than a two-edged sword, and that the doctrine of the new birth made its way like lightning into the hearers' consciences," the doctrine did not assume a fanatic tone, and produced no extravagance in public.

He himself, however, was in a state of high toned feeling. Having been accepted by General Oglethorpe and the trus tees, and presented to the Bishop of London and the Primate, and finding that it would be some months before the vessel in which he was to embark would be ready, he went for a while to serve the church of one of his friends at Stone-house, in his native country; and there he describes the habitual exaltation of his mind in glowing language. Uncommon manifes tations, he says, were granted him from above. Early in the morning, at noon-day, evening, and midnight,-nay, all the day long, did the Redeemer visit and refresh his heart. Could the trees of the wood speak, they would tell what sweet com munion he and his christian brethren had, under their shade, enjoyed with their God. "Sometimes, as I have been walk ing," he continues, "my soul would make such sallies, that I thought it would go out of the body. At other times I would be so overpowered with a sense of God's infinite majesty, that I would be constrained to throw myself prostrate on the ground, and offer my soul as a blank in his hands, to write on it what he pleased. One night was a time never to be forgotten. It happened to lighten exceedingly. I had been expounding to many people, and some being afraid to go home, I thought it

my duty to accompany them, and improve the occasion, to sttr them up to prepare for the coming of the Son of Man. In my return to the parsonage, whilst others were rising from their beds, and frightened almost to death to see the lightning run upon the ground, and shine from one part of the heavens unto the other, I and another, a poor but pious countryman, were in the field, praising, praying too, and exulting in our God, and longing for that time when Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in a flame of fire! Oh that my soul may be in a like frame when he shall actually come to call me!"

From hence he went again to Bristol, having received many and pressing invitations, Multitudes came out on foot to meet him, and some in coaches, a mile without the city; and the people saluted and blessed him as he passed along the street. He preached about five times a week to such congregations, that it was with great difficulty he could make way along the crowded aisles to the reading-desk. "Some hung upon the rails of the organ-loft, others climbed upon the leads of the church, and all together made the church so hot with their breath, that the steam would fall from the pillars like drops of rain." When he preached his farewell serinon, and said to the people that perhaps they might see his face no more, high and low, young and old, burst into tears. Multitudes after the sermon followed him home weeping: the next day he was employed from seven in the morning till midnight in talking and giving spiritual advice to awakened hearers; and he left Bristol secretly in the middle of the night, to avoid the ceremony of being escorted by horsemen and coaches out of the town.

The man who produced this extraordinary effect had many natural advantages. He was something above the middle stature, well proportioned, though at that time slender, and remarkable for native gracefulness of manner. His complexion was very fair, his features regular, his eyes small and lively, of a dark blue color: in recovering from the measles he had contracted a squint with one of them; but this peculiarity rather rendered the expression of his countenance more rememberable, than in any degree lessening the effect of its uncommon sweetness. His voice excelled both in melody and compass, and its fine modulations were happily accompanied by that grace of action which he possessed in an eminent degree, and which has been said to be the chief requisite of an orator. An ignorant man described his eloquence oddly, but strikingly, when he said that Mr. Whitefield preached like a lion. So strange a comparison conveyed no unapt a notion of the force and vehemence and passion of that oratory which awed the hearers, and made them tremble like Felix before the apostle. For believ