leave off eating fruits and such like, and gave the money I usually spent in that way to the poor. Afterwards I always chose the worst sort of food, though my place furnished me with variety. Then he detected spiritual pride in this kind of humility, and began to seclude himself, even from his religious friends, to leave all for Christ's sake. At last Charles Wesley came to his room, warned him of the danger he was running into if he would not take advice, "and recommended me to his brother John, Fellow of Lincoln College, as more experienced than himself. God gave me," says Whitefield, teachable temper; I waited upon his brother, who advised me to resume all my externals, though not to depend on them in the least, and from time to time he gave me directions as my pitiable state required." 66 a espousals, a day to be had in everlasting remembrance. At first my joys were like a spring tide, and as it were overflowed the banks. Go where I would, I could not avoid singing of psalms almost aloud. The buoyancy of returning health settled again into the natural and wholesome course of life, or as Whitefield wrote, "Afterwards it became more settled, and, blessed be God, saving a few casual intervals, have abode and increased in my soul ever since." Samuel Wesley, the elder, died in 1735, when the age of his son John was thirty-two, and George Whitefield's age was about twenty-one. After his father's death, John Wesley came to London to present to Queen Caroline the Dissertations upon Job, which the old gentleman had scarcely lived to finish. Soon after this the Lent came on, which our friends kept very strictly, eating no flesh during the six weeks, except on Saturdays and Sundays. I abstained frequently on Saturdays also, and ate nothing on the other days (except on Sunday) but sage-tea without sugar, and coarse bread. I likewise constantly walked out in the cold mornings, till part of one of my hands was quite black. This, with my continued abstinence, and inward conflicts, at length so emaciated my body, that at Passion week, finding I could scarce creep upstairs, I was obliged to inform my kind tutor of my condition, who immediately sent for a physician to me. This caused no small triumph amongst the gownsmen, who began to cry out "What is his fasting come to now?" But, however, notwithstanding my fit of sickness continued six or seven weeks, I trust I shall have reason to bless God for it through the endless ages of eternity. It was at the end of the seventh week from the beginning of this illness that Whitefield felt like Christian when his burden fell in presence of the Cross. The weight of sin went off; and an abiding sense of the pardoning love of God, and a full assurance of faith broke in upon my disconsolate soul. Surely it was the day of my To the close of his life it was a delight of John Wesley when he came to London to pay a visit to the old school-buildings and playground of the Charterhouse, where he had been under-fed and fagged, but not the less had left the place peopled for all his after days with happy recollections of a boy's life among boys. As Wesley advanced in years and grew in spiritual life, outward austerity abated, and his gentleness of heart must have made pleasant to the boys of a new generation these occasional visits from an old Carthusian who was making great stir in the world. Times had changed since the first old Carthusians-twenty-four monks of a rigid order were settled here in a priory built upon ground bought for interment of the plague-stricken in 1349, and in which there had actually been buried fifty thousand of the victims of that memorable pestilence. The dissolved priory, with a great house built on its site by the Duke of Norfolk, was bought of the Duke of Norfolk's son by Thomas Sutton, and refounded by him in James I.'s reign as a school for boys and a home for eighty decayed gentlemen-in this country the noblest private benefaction of its day or any day before it. The history of the place itself might join with his own boyish recollections of it in making for John Wesley a visit to Charterhouse always one incident of a return to London. Soon after his return to London, in the year 1735, Wesley's attention was drawn very strongly to James Oglethorpe's plan of a settlement in Georgia. James, third son of Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe, was born in the year 1689, completed his early education at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and appears then, while still very young, to have served as a gentleman volunteer abroad, before entering the English army as an ensign in 1710. In 1714 he was Captain-Lieutenant of the first troop of the Queen's Life Guards, and afterwards he served abroad as aide-de-camp to Prince Eugene. In 1718 he returned to England, and soon afterwards, on the death of a brother, succeeded to the family estate at Westbrook, near Godalming. In October, 1722, he entered Parliament as member for Haslemere. In 1729, he began his career of beneficence as a reformer of prisons. A friend of Oglethorpe's who fell into poverty had been carried to a sponging-house attached to the Fleet Prison. While he could fee the keeper, he was allowed the liberty of the rules; when he could do so no more, he was forced into the sponging house, at a time when small-pox raged among its inmates. Oglethorpe's friend, an accomplished man, had never had small-pox, and pleaded for his life that he might be sent to another sponging-house, or to the jail. His petition was refused; he was forced in, caught small-pox, and died, leaving a large family in distress. The member for Haslemere then brought the subject before Parliament, obtained a Jail Committee, and was named its chairman. Painful disclosures were made in the reports of the committee, and some vigorous action was taken upon them. is to the labour of this Jail Committee in 1729 that James Thomson referred in the following passage then added to his "Winter," a poem which had been first published in 1726, followed by "Summer" in 1727, "Spring" in 1728, and "Autumn" in 1730; when the four poems were collected as "The Seasons," and followed by the closing Hymn.' It was then that 66 It Thomson added his tribute to the labours of Ogle thorpe's Jail Committee in 1729: And here can I forget the generous band, Unpity'd, and unheard, where misery moans; At pleasure mark'd him with inglorious stripes; 1 See "Shorter English Poems," pages 364, 365. O great design! if executed well, The borderland in North America between the English province of South Carolina and the Spanish province of Florida was a debatable ground on which there had been schemes for forming a new colony from England, as one of the schemes said, "in the most delightful country of the universe." Such scheming suggested to Oglethorpe a plan of his own that he had energy and ability enough to carry out. He would form a colony on this ground, south of the Savannah River, for the restoration to social happiness and usefulness of ruined gentlemen who had in this country become poor debtors. With this object in view, Oglethorpe obtained the support of men with influence and money, and procured, in June, 1732, a charter for the settlement of the proposed colony, which was to be called Georgia, in honour of King George II. Parliament granted £10,000; and the associates who formed the corporation caused themselves to be shut out by their charter from all personal profit. All obtained money was to be applied to the maintenance, transport, and establishment of the selected colonists, on fertile land that cost them nothing and would repay abundantly their labour. Oglethorpe to explain his scheme, thus tells who were A pamphlet published by James to be THE FIRST COLONISTS OF GEORGIA. Let us cast our eyes on the multitude of unfortunate people in this kingdom, of reputable families and liberal education: some undone by guardians, some by lawsuits, some by accidents in commerce, some by stocks and bubbles, some by suretyship; but all agree in this one circumstance that they must either be burthensome to their relations, or betake themselves to little shifts for sustenance which, it is ten to one, do not answer their purposes, and to which a welleducated person descends with the utmost constraint. These. are the persons that may relieve themselves and strengthen Georgia by resorting thither, and Great Britain by their departure. I appeal to the recollection of the reader-though he be opulent, though he be noble-does not his own sphere of acquaintances furnish him with some instances of such 2 Matthew xxv. 31-45. persons as have been here described? Must they starve? What honest heart can bear to think of it? Must they be fed by the contributions of others? Certainly they must, rather than be suffered to perish. I have heard it said, and it is easy to say so, 'Let them learn to work; let them subdue their pride, and descend to mean employments; keep alehouses, or coffee-houses, even sell fruit, or clean shoes, for an honest livelihood.' But alas! these occupations, and many others like them, are overstocked already by people who know better how to follow them than do they whom we have been talking of. As for labouring, I could almost wish that the gentleman or merchant who thinks that another gentleman or merchant in want can thrash or dig to the value of subsistence for his family, or even for himself; I say I could wish the person who thinks so were obliged to make trial of it for a week, or-not to be too severe-for only a day. He would then find himself to be less than the fourth part of a labourer, and that the fourth part of a labourer's wages could not maintain him. I have heard a man may learn to labour by practice; 'tis admitted. But it must also be admitted that before he can learn he may starve. Men whose wants are importunate must try such expedients as will give immediate relief. 'Tis too late for them to begin to learn a trade when their pressing necessities call for the exercise of it. Prisons were visited by a committee of the trustees of the colony, to obtain the discharge of poor debtors who deserved their help. Another committee selected colonists, who were put through military drill, that they might be able to hold their own in their new home, and serve also the political purpose of fixing an unsettled frontier. There was to be no slavelabour in the colony. When the first shipload of colonists, thirty-five families, numbering one hundred and twenty persons, was ready to sail from Gravesend, Oglethorpe resolved to give up ease at home, and go with them to secure the success of his undertaking. Having made it a condition that he should receive no payment in any form, he was empowered to act as a colonial governor, and left for Georgia in November, 1732. The writer of a published account of a voyage from Charleston to Savannah, in March, 1733, thus tells how he found the governor laying the foundations of his colony: Mr. Oglethorpe is indefatigable, and takes a vast deal of pains. His fare is indifferent, having little else at present but salt provisions. He is extremely well beloved by all the people. The title they give him is Father. If any of them are sick, he immediately visits them, and takes great care of them. If any difference arises, he is the person who decides it. Two happened while I was there and in my presence; and all the parties went away to outward appearance satisfied and contented with the determination. He keeps a strict discipline; I neither saw one of his people drunk nor heard one swear all the time I have been here. He does not allow them rum, but in lieu gives them English beer. It is surprising to see how cheerfully the men go to work, considering they have not been bred to it. There are no idlers here; even the boys and girls do their part. There are four houses already up, but none finished; and he hopes, when he has got more sawyers, to finish two houses a week. He has ploughed up some land, part of which is sowed with wheat, which is come up and looks promising. He has two or three gardens, which he has sowed with divers sorts of seeds, and planted thyme, with other pot-herbs, and several sorts of fruit-trees. He was palisading the town round, including some part of the Common. In short, he has done a vast deal of work for the time, and I think his name deserves to be immortalized. The eight tribes of the Lower Creek Indians who were settled beside Oglethorpe's colony were very friendly. They were well-grown men, great hunters, and worshippers without idolatry of a Supreme Being whom they called Sotolycaté, He-who-sittethabove. They welcomed the white brothers who offered friendship, and believed they had come for the good of the red brothers, to whom they could bring knowledge. One of the chiefs, Tomo Chachi, said at the treaty-making: When these white men came, I feared that they would drive us away, for we were weak; but they promised not to molest us. We wanted corn and other things, and they have given us supplies; and now, of our small means, we make them presents in return. Here is a buffalo skin, adorned with the head and feathers of an eagle. The eagle signifies speed, and the buffalo strength. The English are swift as the eagle, and strong as the buffalo. Like the eagle they flew hither over great waters, and, like the buffalo, nothing can withstand them. But the feathers of the eagle are soft, and signify kindness; and the skin of the buffalo is covering, and signifies protection. Let these, then, remind them to be kind, and protect us Having successfully laid the foundations of the state of Georgia, James Oglethorpe returned to England in the spring of 1734, bringing with him Tomo Chachi, with his wife and nephew, and some other native chiefs. They reached England in June. Tomo Chachi went to court, and presented eaglefeathers to King George II. Poems were written, and the Gentleman's Magazine offered a prize for a medal to commemorate Mr. Oglethorpe's benevolence and patriotism. They were introduced also to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and to him Tomo Chachi expressed the desire of his people for religious knowledge. After a stay of four months in England these natives were sent home to spread the impression they had received of English culture and of English kindness. Their coming had also in this country drawn friendly attention to their people, and Oglethorpe's desire now was to bring the Gospel home to them. John Wesley's father had received personal kindness from Oglethorpe, who also at this time put down his name as a subscriber for seven large paper copies, at three guineas each, of the old gentleman's "Dissertationes in Librum Jobi," with a portrait of the author seated in the character of Job. In the last year of his life, Samuel Wesley, the elder, wrote from Epworth, on the 6th of July, 1734, "Honoured Sir, may I be admitted, while such crowds of our nobility and gentry are pouring in their congratulations, to press my poor mite of thanks into the presence of one who so well deserves the title of Universal Benefactor of Mankind. It is not only your valuable favours, on many accounts, to my son, late of Westminster" (Samuel, the eldest son), “and myself, when I was a little pressed in the world, nor your extreme charity to the poor prisoners; it is not these only that so much demand my warmest acknow ledgements, as your disinterested and unmovable attachment to your country, and your raising a new colony, or rather a little world of your own, in the midst of a wild wood and uncultivated desert, where men may live free and happy, if they are not hindered by their own stupidity and folly, in spite of the unkindness of their brother mortals." In August, 1735, John Wesley, being in London, after his father's death, with copies of the Latin Dissertations on the Book of Job, was urged by a friend, Dr. Burton, of Corpus Christi College, who was one of the trustees for the colony of Georgia, to aid Oglethorpe in his good work, by going out as missionary to the settlers and Indians. He was introduced to Oglethorpe by Dr. Burton, hesitated, but was persuaded even by his widowed mother to assent. Wesley then took counsel with William Law, the author of the "Serious Call," whose counsel in a former time had influenced his life. William Law, born in Northamptonshire in 1686, was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, but had been prevented by some scruples from taking orders. He lived a retired life until his death in 1761, and acquired great influence as a writer on religious subjects. His most popular book was "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life." John Wesley depended much upon Law's counsel in the earlier part of his career, but afterwards thought his religious teaching insufficient. Having now taken advice from Law, Wesley agreed to go to Georgia with his brother Charles and two young men, one of them another of the young Oxford Methodists, Benjamin Ingham. Charles Wesley had meant to spend his life as a college tutor, but was now ordained, and went to Georgia, as secretary to the governor. In October, 1735, Oglethorpe and the Wesleys sailed from England with two vessels carrying 220 carefully selected English emigrants, and about sixty Salzburgers who had been expelled by their Roman Catholic Government, and other poor Protestants from Germany, among whom were twenty-six Moravians, led by David Nitschmann. The Moravians went to join some of their brethren from Herrnhut, who had gone out the preceding year. The calm and simple piety of these Moravians drew John Wesley into close companionship with them. They never resented injury or insult, and were without fear of death. In a storm that set many screaming, and made Wesley fear because he doubted whether he was fit to die, the Moravians calmly sang their psalms. "Are you not afraid?" Wesley asked one of them. He replied, "I thank God, no.' "Are not your women and children afraid?" No; They our women and children are not afraid to die." From the Moravians Wesley drew lasting impressions of what the spirit of a religious community should be and could be. At Savannah, John Wesley observed their behaviour in the settlement. "We were in one room with them," he says, "from morning to night, unless for the little time spent in walking. were always employed, always cheerful themselves, and in good humour with one another. They had put away all anger, and strife, and wrath, and bitterness, and clamour, and evil speaking." John Wesley had been unwilling to part from his friends in England, but in Georgia he wrote, "From ten friends I am awhile secluded, and God hath opened me a door into the whole Moravian Church." John Wesley drew attentive congregations to his preaching in Savannah, and caused them to abstain from fine dressing for church and come in plain clean linen or woollen. He and one of his friends taught each a school. Some of the boys in the other school went barefoot, and were looked down upon by those who were shod. Wesley asked his friend to change schools for a time, and astonished the boys of the school tainted with vanity by coming among them himself without any shoes and stockings. A little persistence in this lesson caused bare feet to be no longer a mark for scorn. The Wesleys abstained from meat and wine, and caused some difficulty by their asceticism, by insisting upon baptism with immersion and by rigid adherence to the letter of the rubric of the English Church; but John was also forming the most serious of his parishioners into a society for strictest observance of religious duties. His conscientious strictness caused John Wesley at last to leave Georgia. He had been tempted to wish for marriage with the niece of the chief magistrate of Savannah. The young lady for a time courted him by affecting tenderness of conscience that called for ghostly counsel, but at last gave up the thought of becoming Mrs. Wesley, took another husband, and then became, in the chaplain's opinion, so worldly that, on one Sunday, he publicly refused to admit her to the communion. This caused much scandal in Savannah, and the lady's husband obtained a warrant against John Wesley for defamation of character. The case was prolonged, and managed with the purpose of obliging Wesley to quit Georgia, and he was thus really driven to leave the colony, after having preached there for a year and nine months. When he arrived at Deal, early in February, 1738, he had been absent from England two years and four months. George Whitefield had just left Deal for Georgia, and narrowly missed meeting Wesley. Whitefield, during Wesley's absence in Georgia, and after the illness which left him with a sense of religion. happier than it had been, although not less intense, was helped by a Sir John Philips, in London, with promise of an annuity of £30 a year if he stayed in Oxford and carried on the work which otherwise might fail through the departure of John and Charles Wesley. For change of air while seeking complete recovery from illness, he went home to Gloucester, where he still visited the poor and prayed with the prisoners. Dr. Benson, Bishop of Gloucester, observed him and asked his age. It was little more than twenty-one, and although he had resolved not to ordain any below the age of twentythree, the bishop ordained Whitefield, helped him with a little money, and let him return to Oxford, with the annuity from Sir John Philips in place of a cure. But now that Whitefield was ordained, occasions arose for his preaching, and when he preached, his youth and fair presence-for when young, he was slender, somewhat tall, fair, and well-featured, with dark blue eyes-aided the charm of his native eloquence and devout zeal towards the spiritual. He called upon his hearers to be born again, and shape God's image within themselves, in musical accents, with charm of a graceful manner and fit action, while none could doubt that his whole soul, full of love to God and man, was uttering itself from his lips. Often his tears flowed and his body quivered with emotion; always he preached with power, "like a lion," as one said, like a prophet who does not doubt that the message he delivers is from God. When at last he had been moved by letters from those men of his Oxford community who had gone to preach in Georgia, Whitefield resolved to follow them and join their work. He parted from his friends at Gloucester, and preached in Bristol to larger congregations on the week-days than at other times could be gathered on Sundays. When he went a second time to Bristol, he was met by a crowd a mile out of the city, led in with rejoicing, and blessed as he passed through the street. In London, constables had to be placed at the door of churches to control the throng that pressed to hear the heavenly-minded youth. He preached for the charity children, and added to their funds a thousand pounds. He was embraced in church aisles, beset for his autograph in religious books, and at his last sermon in London, before he left for Georgia, the congregation wept aloud. Whitefield landed at Savannah on the 7th of May, 1738, and then wrote in his journal, Though we have had a long, yet it has been an exceeding pleasant voyage. God, in compassion to my weakness, has sent me but few trials; and sanctified those he hath sent me. I am now going forth as a sheep amongst wolves; but he that protected Abraham when he went out not knowing whither he went, will also guide and protect me; and therefore I cannot close this part of my journal better than with Mr. Addison's translation of the 23rd Psalm: "The Lord my pasture shall prepare, And feed me with a shepherd's care; His presents shall my wants supply, And guard me with a watchful eye: My noon-day walks he shall attend, And all my midnight hours defend. "When in the sultry glebe I faint, "Though in the paths of death I tread, "Though in a bare and rugged way Addison had died in 1719, aged forty-seven. Arrived at Savannah, Whitefield took the place of Wesley, sat by the death-bed of Tomo Chachi, taught there, and visited for a few days Frederica, at the other end of the colony. At the end of August Whitefield left Savannah, with a promise to return. He went home to receive priest's orders, and obtain money for an Orphan House. The congregation at Savannah had grown, and although he had service twice a day, there was never a night in which the church-house was not nearly full. On the voyage home, storms and contrary winds delayed the vessel, and caused its officers to lose their reckoning. Provisions failed, and daily rations were reduced to an ounce or two of salt beef, a pint of water, and a cake made of flour and skimmings of the pot. Upon this Whitefield wrote in his diary :— Blessed be God for these things, I rejoice in them daily. They are no more than what I expected, and I know they are preparatives for future mercies. God of His infinite mercy humble and try me, till I am rightly disposed to receive them. Amen, Lord Jesus, amen. It pities me often to see my brethren, lying in the dust, as they have done these many weeks, and exposed to such straits; for God knows both their souls and bodies are dear unto me. But thanks be to God, they bear up well, and I hope we shall all now learn to endure hardships, like good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Sunday, Nov. 12.-This morning the doctor of our ship took up the Common-Prayer Book, and observed that he opened upon these words, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed his people." And so indeed He has, for about 8 o'clock this morning news were brought that our men saw land, and I went and was a joyful spectator of it myself. The air was clear, and the sun arising in full strength, so that 'tis the most pleasant day I have seen these many weeks. Now know I that the Lord will not always be chiding, neither keepeth He his anger for For these two or three days last past, I have enjoyed uncommon serenity of soul, and given up my will to God. And now He hath brought us deliverance. From whence I infer, that a calmness of mind, and entire resignation to the Divine will, is the best preparative for receiving divine mercies. Lord, evermore make me thus minded! ever. As soon as I had taken a view of the land, we joined together in a prayer and psalm of thanksgiving, and already began to reflect with pleasure on our late straits. Thus it will be hereafter the storms and tempests of this troublesome world will serve to render our haven of eternal rest doubly agreeable. The land seen was the coast of Ireland. On the 8th of December, 1738, George Whitefield reached London again, and he ends the section of his journal published in 1739, which tells these experiences, with the following HYMN. Shall I, for fear of feeble man, Awed by a mortal's frown, shall I Conceal the Word of God most high. |