CHAPTER XII.

Retrospective Glances--Georgia--The Orphan House--Whitefield in London--His Ordination--The Clergy--Mr. Broughton--Countess of Hertford--Breach with Wesley--Societies for the Reformation of Manners--Methodist Societies--Tabernacle Commenced--Its History--Welsh Preachers--Moorfields--Lay Preachers--Nobility at the Tabernacle--Opposition of the Dissenters--Anecdote of Dr. Watts and Lady Huntingdon--Moravians--Sir Thomas and Lady Abney--Tabernacle Opened--Long-acre Chapel--The Hon. Hume Campbell--Tottenham-court Chapel Opened--Ned Shuter--Foote, the Player--The Minor--Lord Halifax--Duke of Grafton--Mr. Fax--Mr. Pitt--Mr. Rowland Hill--Captain Joss--Mr. Matthew Wilks--Mr. Knight--Mr. Hyatt--Mr. Whitefield’s Will--Dr. Ford--Mr. Berridge and Lady Huntingdon.

It may be well, at this point of our history, to pause and take a retrospective glance at the progress of Methodism. In 1736, Mr. Whitefield preached his first sermon at Gloucester, and he continued with zeal and energy unparalleled, and with extraordinary eloquence, to preach the Gospel. After the Society broke up at Oxford, he came to London, and, in spite of his boyish appearance, and the sneers it excited, succeeded in fixing deep and serious attention, by his first sermon preached at Bishopsgate Church. On his second visit to London crowds of hearers climbed the leads and hung on the rails of the churches, while multitudes were willing, but unable, to get near enough to hear. These scenes were new to the Church of England, which had not been troubled with the excessive popularity of its preachers since the days of Baxter, Vincent, and the Puritans. The managers of churches of which the coffers were exhausted applied to Mr. Whitefield, who preached four times on each Lord’s day, and often nine times in the week, administering the sacrament before day-break in the morning, and thus rousing thousands to a state of solicitude for their eternal happiness. He then went to Georgia, and on his return he was received with coldness by the clergy, but with extreme enthusiasm by the people. He came to England to receive priest’s orders and to collect for the Orphan-house.[109] He preached where he could, but many of the pulpits were now closed against him, as the apostle of a new sect; and the Bishop of London (Dr. Edmond Gibson) thought it necessary to write a pastoral letter, warning the people of his diocese against the Methodists.[110] Nevertheless he accepted Mr. Whitefield’s title, and gave him letters dimissory to the Bishop of Oxford (Dr. Seeker), who, in return, gave him similar letters to the Bishop of Gloucester (Dr. Benson), in virtue of which he was ordained at Oxford, in accordance with his own previously recorded prayer to God, that the same excellent prelate, at whose hands he had been ordained deacon, might make him a priest. The good Bishop, in a letter to his pupil, Lord Huntingdon, gives an account of Mr. Whitefield’s ordination, expressing his hope that the act “will give some satisfaction to my Lady, and that she will not have occasion to find fault with your Lordship’s old tutor. Though mistaken on some points, I think him (Mr. Whitefield) a very pious, well-meaning young man, with good abilities and great zeal. I find his Grace of Canterbury thinks highly of him. I pray God grant him great success in all his undertakings for the good of mankind, and the revival of true religion and holiness among us in these degenerate days; in which prayer I am sure your Lordship and my kind good Lady Huntingdon will most heartily join.”

Mr. Whitefield returned from Oxford to London, and the opposition to his preaching was increased by his expounding in societies and reading and praying in private houses, for joining in which several of the ministers threatened their parishioners with prosecution.[111]

The celebrated Countess of Hertford, afterwards Duchess of Somerset, in a letter to the Countess of Pomfret, then on the continent, observes on this part of our history--

“I do not know whether you have heard of our new sect, who call themselves Methodists. There is one Whitefield at the head of them, a young man under five-and-twenty, who has for some months gone about preaching in the fields and market-places in the country, and in London at May-fair and Moorfields, to ten or twelve thousand people at a time. He went to Georgia with General Oglethorpe, and returned to take priest’s orders, which he did; and I believe, since that time, hardly a day has passed that he has not preached, and generally twice. At first he and some of his brethren seemed only to aim at restoring the practice of the primitive Christians as to daily sacraments, stated fasts, frequent prayers, relieving prisoners, visiting the sick, and giving alms to the poor: but, upon sound ministers refusing these men their pulpits, they have betaken themselves to preaching in the fields; and they have such crowds of followers that they have set in a flame all the clergy in the kingdom, who represent them as hypocrites and enthusiasts. As to the latter epithet, some passages in Mr. Whitefield’s latest journals seem to countenance the accusation; but I think their manner of living has not afforded any grounds to suspect them of hypocrisy. The Bishop of London, however, has thought it necessary to write a pastoral letter, to warn the people of his diocese against being led away by them; though at the same time he treats them personally with great tenderness and moderation. I cannot say Dr. Trapp has done the same in a sermon which he has published, entitled, ‘The great Folly and Danger of being Righteous over-much’[112]--a doctrine which does not seem absolutely necessary to be preached to the people of the present age.”

Now came the breach between the great Methodist leaders. While Mr. Wesley was preaching in favour of perfection, and against election, Mr. Whitefield, whose Calvinistic doctrines were confirmed and enlightened by the descendants of the Puritans in America, wrote his letters against “The Whole Duty of Man,” and “Archbishop Tillotson.” Mr. Charles Wesley, who was more kind and generous, less positive and hostile to Calvinism than his brother, wept and prayed that the breach might be prevented; but John Wesley seems to have parted with his old companion with great coolness. Mr. Whitefield is said to have told him, “You and I preach a different Gospel:” then they turned one to the right hand, and the other to the left. Mr. Whitefield was only once allowed to preach in the Foundry; and “at Bristol (he says) I was forbidden to preach in the house I had founded.”

Mr. Cennick, with others of the first labourers in the cause of Methodism, having adopted Mr. Whitefield’s views, joined with him at Bristol, and assisted him to build another place at Kingswood, near that of which Mr. Wesley kept possession; so that a congregation was established there on Calvinistic principles; and the colliers, who, before Mr. Whitefield introduced the Gospel among them, were a race of semi-barbarians, now worship God with constant delight and serious attention, displaying to conviction the power of the Gospel on the rudest of the human race.

“Calvin (says Beza, in his Life of that Reformer) is turned out of Geneva, but behold a new Church rises!” These words animated Mr. Whitefield; the clergy of the Establishment were now more angry with him than ever, for avowing the sentiments of Calvin; he therefore sought a substitute for the parochial pulpits; and _societies_[113] were formed in Beech-lane, Crooked-lane, Redcross-street, Southwark, the Minories, Wapping, Dowgate-hill, Crutched-friars, and various parts of the metropolis. Many of the Calvinistic Dissenters, who perceived in his preaching the savour of their popular commentator, Matthew Henry, whose creed was the catechism composed by the Westminster Assembly of Divines, stood firmly by him in this time of trial; they procured a piece of ground in Moorfields, and erected a temporary shed to screen the auditory from cold and rain at their meetings early in the morning. This place was called a Tabernacle, in allusion to the moveable tent constructed by divine direction, for the devotions of the Israelites, while they were travelling in the wilderness. It was opened in June, 1741, but Mr. Whitefield did not like the site, because, being near the Foundry, where Mr. Wesley was preaching, it had the appearance of one altar set up against another. Great success, however, followed his exertions here; and, having obtained the aid of Messrs. Cennick, Adams, Jenkins, Smith, Stevens, Ingham, Reynolds, Edwards, Kelley, Middleton, Seagrave, Humphries, Godwin, Howel Harris, and the Rev. Daniel Rowlands, a beneficed clergyman, the congregations were kept up by variety, increased by novelty, and powerfully affected by the “Welsh fire” which was displayed in the animated addresses of these Cambrian brethren. Mr. Whitefield was thus enabled to be present at many other places where the Lord called, and new scenes of usefulness arose.

It was now that he made his grand assault on that “vanity fair,” which on holidays had assembled in Moorfields all the booths and shows of Smithfield on St. Bartholomew’s day. The idea of preaching to the mob of idlers thus collected was by many considered wildly quixotic; but we may quote his own words, to prove that his efforts were not in vain. “Soon after, _three hundred and fifty_ awakened souls were received into the society in one day; and numbers that seemed, as it were, to have been bred up for Tyburn, were, at that time, plucked as brands out of the burning.”

But not alone the lowly and the miserable; even the great and wealthy were among the congregation at the Tabernacle.

In the winter of 1742, the Earl and Countess of Huntingdon were constant in their attendance, and were often accompanied by his Lordship’s sisters, the Ladies Hastings, and occasionally by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and Catherine, Duchess of Buckingham, two of the most celebrated and remarkable women of their day; also by Lord Lonsdale[114] and others.[115]

While the noble and the lowly heard with equal reverence the preaching of the first Methodists, the leading Dissenters contemplated their proceedings with feelings of disgust and suspicion. The Rev. Risdon Darracott (minister of Wellington), and the Rev. Benjamin Fawcett (minister of Kidderminster), as well as Mr. Doddridge, were exceptions; but their reception of Mr. Whitefield, and their preaching at the Tabernacle, exposed them to the censure of their metropolitan brethren.[116] Even the amiable Dr. Watts was disposed, from the reports made to him, to judge unkindly of his friend: “I am sorry (says the Doctor) that since your departure I have had many questions asked me about your preaching in the Tabernacle, and sinking the character of a minister, and especially of a tutor, among the Dissenters, so low thereby. I find many of our friends entertaining this idea: but I can give no answer, as not knowing how much you have been engaged there. I pray God to guard us from every temptation!” This amiable man, however, took no part in the very warm censures of his Nonconformist brethren; and very soon after became the intimate friend of Lady Huntingdon and the great leaders of the Methodist body, for each of whom he entertained the highest respect and esteem.[117] During Mr. Whitefield’s absence in America, Mr. Harris chiefly conducted the affairs of the Tabernacle. On some difference with the latter gentleman, Mr. Cennick quitted the Connexion, and went over to the Moravians--a circumstance which Lady Huntingdon vainly struggled to prevent.

On Mr. Whitefield’s return from America he found his congregation much scattered. “Matters (says he) were in great confusion by reason of Mr. Cennick going over to the Moravians: but, blessed be God, we are now easy at the Tabernacle, and the word falls with might and power.” About the same period there were similar divisions in Dr. Doddridge’s congregation, at Northampton, of which frequent mention is made in his correspondence with Lady Huntingdon and Mr. Whitefield. The latter, in his reply to the Doctor, thus very feelingly notices the conduct of the brethren:--

“I thank you, dear Sir, for your solemn charge in respect to my health. But what shall I say concerning your present trial? Shall I wish you joy? Surely I may with great propriety, since an inspired writer hath said, ‘Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations.’ But, at the same time, I most earnestly sympathize with you, having had the same trial from the same quarter long ago. The Moravians first divided my family, then my parish at Georgia, and after that the societies which, under God, I was an instrument of gathering. I suppose not less than _four hundred_, through their practices, have left the Tabernacle. All this I find but little enough to teach me to cease from man, and to wean me from that great fondness which spiritual fathers are apt to have for their spiritual children. Thus blessed Paul was served--thus must all expect to he treated who are of Paul’s spirit, and are honoured with any degree of Paul’s success. Our Lord blessed you in your writings; nay, your people’s treating you as they are now permitted to do, perhaps, is one of the greatest blessings you ever received from heaven. May patience have its perfect work, and may you be enabled to sanctify the Lord God in your heart! I know of no other way of dealing with the Moravians than to go on preaching the truth as it is in Jesus, and rest upon that promise, ‘Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be plucked up.’ Doubtless there are many of God’s children in the Moravian flock; but many of their principles and practices are decidedly wrong, for which, I doubt not, our Lord will rebuke them in his own time. I thank you for your sermon. It contains the very life of preaching--I mean, sweet invitations to close with Christ. I do not wonder you are dubbed a Methodist on account of it. Last Sunday evening I preached to a most brilliant assembly indeed. They expressed great approbation, and some, I think, begin to feel. Good Lady Huntingdon is indeed a mother in Israel. She is all in a flame for Jesus. You may guess, by a word or two in this, that she hath shown me your last letter. I suppose she will write to you soon.”

Shortly after Mr. Whitefield’s return to England, matters assumed a different appearance at the Tabernacle, and he now began to think of erecting a more spacious edifice, which his enlarged soul and mighty powers of elocution filled for many years after. In the summer of 1751, Mr. Whitefield being at Lady Huntingdon’s residence at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in Leicestershire, the building of the Tabernacle was first discussed, in presence of Mr. Hervey, Mr. Hartley, Dr. Doddridge, and Dr. Stonhouse. _The design seems to have originated with her Ladyship_, who was exceedingly zealous in the cause, and who had already given largely towards the Tabernacle at Kingswood--

“I am much interested (says her Ladyship) about the intended building, and trust it will be for the glory of our common Lord, and the increase of his kingdom among men. O that very many precious souls may be there awakened, renewed, pardoned, and consecrated to God! Mr. Hervey, Mr. Hartley, Dr. Doddridge, and Dr. Stonhouse are most cordial in their approval and promise of support. May the hearts of the people of God be opened to contribute for this most desirable object! If our eye be single, and his glory and the salvation of souls our only end in view all will be well. To him I commit this cause, and my poor prayers shall be daily offered for a blessing to rest upon it.”

How unspeakably great and precious hath been the answer to these prayers!

In the winter of 1752 the subject was again renewed at Lady Frances Shirley’s residence in South Audley-street, in the month of November; and in compliance with the urgent entreaties of her Ladyship and Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Whitefield now began strenuously to exert himself in making collections. “It would have pleased your Ladyship (says he) to have seen how willingly the people gave last Lord’s-day. At seven in the morning we collected fifty pounds, in the evening one hundred and twenty-six. Blessed be God, we have now near nine hundred pounds in hand.” Still he was determined not to commence building without a sufficient sum to proceed with; therefore the foundation-stone of the Tabernacle was not laid till the 1st of March, 1753. In a letter to Mr. Charles Wesley, there is an interesting account of this event:--

“On Tuesday morning the first brick of our new Tabernacle was laid with awful solemnity. I preached from Exodus the twentieth, and the latter part of the twenty-fourth verse: ‘In all places where I record my name, I will come in to thee and bless thee.’ Afterwards we sung, and prayed for God’s blessing in all places where his glorious name is recorded. The wall is now about a yard high. The building is to be eighty feet square. It is on the old spot. We have purchased the house, and, if we finish what we have begun, shall be rent free for forty-six years. We have about eleven hundred pounds now in hand.”

As the new Tabernacle was intended to be much larger than the temporary one already mentioned, the shell of it was constructed round the other, in order that the congregation might be accommodated with a place to meet in while that part was erecting. It was opened for the preaching of the everlasting Gospel on Sunday, June 10, 1753, on which occasion Mr. Whitefield preached, in the morning, from 1 Kings viii. 11: “And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer,” &c.; and in the evening, from 1 Chron. xxix. 9, “Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly,” &c. The Tabernacle, though capable, with its surrounding galleries, of containing about four thousand persons, was crowded almost to suffocation in every part: and there, as in every other place, the Lord made manifest, by this apostolic man and his zealous colleagues, the savour of his grace.

Not long after the opening of the Tabernacle in Moorfields, application was made to Mr. Whitefield to preach twice a week, in Long-acre Chapel, then in the possession of the Rev. John Barnard,[118] who had officiated in it for some time, as a Protestant Dissenting minister. The chapel was licensed, and Mr. Whitefield had permission to use the Liturgy, if he thought proper. Looking upon this as a providential call from Him, who in the days of his flesh taught all who were willing to hear, on a mount, in a ship, or by the sea-side, and who, after his ascension, commanded his ministers, by his apostle, to be “instant in season and out of season,” Mr. Whitefield readily complied, and preached there for the first time, December 23, 1755.

The assemblies at the residences of Lady Huntingdon, Lady Frances Shirley, and Lady Gertrude Hotham, were composed chiefly of persons in the upper ranks of life, who were very importunate to have, nearer home, the blessings of the Gospel, and hoped it would prove a mercy to their neighbours; but a conspiracy was formed to remove him from Long-acre. Some soldiers and others, provided with a copper furnace, bells, drums, clappers, &c, made it their business to raise the loudest din they possibly could, from the moment he began preaching to the end of his sermon. Persons were encouraged to riot at the chapel door during the time of divine service, and insult and abuse him and the congregation after it was over. The chapel windows were repeatedly broken by large stones, which severely wounded many of the congregation. In consequence of these unwarrantable proceedings, Mr. Whitefield wrote to Dr. Zachariah Pearce,[119] Bishop of Bangor, then Dean of Westminster, and applied to a neighbouring magistrate for protection, which being immediately afforded, Mr. Whitefield thus addressed him:--

“Gratitude (says he) constrains me to send you a few lines of thanks for the care and zeal you have expressed in suppressing the late disorders at Long-acre Chapel. A better acknowledgment will, I trust, wait you at His bar, by whom kings reign and princes decree justice, and who hath instituted magistracy to be a terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well. I hear that some unhappy men have incurred the penalty inflicted by our salutary laws. As peace, not revenge, is the thing aimed at, I should rejoice if this could be procured without the delinquents suffering any further punishment. Perhaps what hath been done already may be sufficient to deter others from any further illegal proceedings, and that will be satisfaction enough.”

After preaching a few weeks at the chapel, he was prohibited from again officiating there by an order from the Bishop of Bangor. But Mr. Whitefield was not a man to be suspended from the free declaration of the Gospel by the veto of any intolerant or persecuting superior. He complained less of the veto than of the interruption which was now got up by members of the Bishop’s own vestry; of this he spoke energetically, as the following letter will show:--

“I beg the favour of your Lordship so far to interpose as to desire the persons belonging to your vestry to desist from such irregular proceedings. For my own irregularity in preaching I am ready at any time to answer; and was I myself the only sufferer, I should be entirely unconcerned, whatever personal ill-treatment I might meet with in the way of my duty. If no more noise be made on their part, I assure your Lordship no further resentment shall be made on mine. But if they persist, I have the authority of an apostle, on a like occasion, to appeal unto Cæsar. And thanks be to God, we have a Cæsar to appeal to, whose laws will not suffer any of his loyal subjects to be used in such an inhuman manner. I have only one favour to beg of your Lordship, that you would send (as they are your Lordship’s parishioners) to the above gentlemen, and desire them henceforward to desist from such unchristian, such riotous and dangerous proceedings. Whether as a chaplain to a most worthy Peeress, a Presbyter of the Church of England, and a steady, disinterested friend to our present happy constitution, I have not a right to ask such a favour, I leave to your Lordship’s mature deliberation. You will allow I have a right to do myself justice, and therefore I hope you will not be offended if I lay a plain and fair narration of the whole affair, together with what hath passed between your Lordship and myself, before the world.”

As the uproar was still continued, and the facts were so flagrant, he determined to prosecute the offenders by law. This being understood, his life was threatened; when, judging that others were concerned as well as himself, and that it was an affair that had reference to the welfare of the civil government, he, by the advice of Lady Huntingdon, consulted the Hon. Hume Campbell.[120] Alluding to these disagreeable circumstances, in a letter to Lady Huntingdon, he says:--

“My greatest distress is, how to act, so as to avoid rashness on the one hand, and timidity on the other. I have been introduced to the Earl of Holdernesse,[121] who received me very courteously, and seemed to make no objection against issuing a reward for the discovery of the letter-writer.[122] Mr. Hume Campbell advises me, by all means, to put all concerned into the Court of King’s Bench. I see no other way for me to act, than either resolutely to persist in preaching and prosecuting, or entirely to desist from preaching, which I think would bring intolerable guilt upon my soul, and give the adversary cause to blaspheme. Alas! alas! what a condition would this land be in were the Protestant interest not to prevail! Glad should I be to die by the hands of an assassin if Popery is to get footing here. I shall then be taken away from the evil to come.”

One effect of this persecution was to induce Mr. Whitefield to erect a permanent and suitable place of worship at the westend of London. The first account of his intention is contained in a letter to Lady Huntingdon, dated May 2, 1756--

“I find that all things happen for the furtherance of the Gospel. I suppose your Ladyship hath seen his Majesty’s promise of a pardon to any that will discover the letter-writer: and this brings your Ladyship the further news of my having taken a piece of ground, very commodious to build on, not far from the Foundling Hospital. On Sunday I opened the subscription, and, through God’s blessing, it hath already amounted to near six hundred pounds. If he is pleased to continue to smile upon my poor endeavours, and to open the hearts of some more of his dear children to contribute, I hope in a few months to have what hath long been wanted--a place for the Gospel at the other end of the town. This morning, God willing, I venture once more to preach at Long-acre.[123] The enemy boasts that I am frightened away; but the triumph of the wicked is short. Our people, Mr. Hume Campbell, Mr. Madan,[124] &c, are for bringing the rioters to the King’s Bench; and, perhaps, upon the whole, it may be best.”

The foundation-stone of Tottenham-court Chapel was laid with great solemnity in the beginning of June, 1756, on which occasion Mr. Whitefield was supported by three celebrated Dissenting ministers, who stood by him--Dr. Benjamin Grosvenor, Dr. Thomas Gibbons, and Dr. Andrew Gifford, assistant librarian at the British Museum. Their countenance at this period, and on this occasion, and their occasionally preaching at the Tabernacle for him, are proofs of liberality which redound much to their honour. It is, perhaps, not generally known that it was Mr. Whitefield’s intention to place this chapel under _Lady Huntingdon’s protection_:--

“We have consulted the Commons (says he) about putting it under your Ladyship’s protection. This is the answer:--‘No nobleman can license a chapel, or in any manner have one, _but in his dwelling-house_. The chapel must be private--that is, not with doors to the street, for any person to resort to at pleasure, for then it becomes public. A chapel cannot be built and used as such, without the consent of the parson of the parish; and when it is done with his consent, no minister can preach therein without license of the bishop of the diocese.’ There seems, then, to be but one way--to license it as our other houses are; and thanks be to Jesus for that liberty which we have!”

Through the liberal contributions of Lady Huntingdon and other persons of rank, the chapel advanced rapidly, and on the 7th of November, 1756, it was opened for divine worship, according to the forms of the Church of England. On this occasion Mr. Whitefield preached from 1 Chronicles iii. 11. The chapel became an object of intense interest and curiosity.[125]

“A neighbouring doctor (says Mr. Whitefield) calls the place WHITEFIELD’S SOUL-TRAP. I pray the Friend of sinners to make it a soul-trap indeed to many wandering creatures.” In a subsequent letter he adds, “At Long-acre, indeed, the word ran; and at Tottenham-court Chapel we have had some glorious earnests of future blessings. My constant work now is, preaching about FIFTEEN TIMES a-week. Conviction and conversion go on here. God hath met us at our new building. Last Sunday there was a wonderful stirring amongst the dry bones; some great people came, and begged they might have a constant seat.”

Among Mr. Whitefield’s frequent hearers at the new chapel was Shuter, the comedian, then in the height of his reputation as the representative of _Ramble_. On one occasion he was seated in the pew exactly opposite the pulpit, and while Mr. Whitefield, in his energetic address, was inviting sinners to the Saviour, he fixed his eye on Shuter, saying--“And thou, poor _Ramble_, who hast long rambled from him, come thou also. O, end thy ramblings by coming to Jesus!” Shuter was exceedingly struck, and afterwards, coming to Mr. Whitefield, said, “I thought I should have fainted--how could you serve me so?”

The Rev. Mr. Kinsman, another intimate friend of Shuter’s, tried hard to wean him from his profession. Meeting one day in Portsmouth, Mr. Kinsman said he had been preaching so often, and to such large auditories, that Dr. Fothergill advised change of air to avert a threatened illness. “And I (said Shuter) have been acting till ready to die; but, oh, how different our conditions! Had _you_ fallen, it would have been in the service of God; but in whose service have _my_ powers been wasted? I dread to think of it. I certainly had a call once, while studying my part in the park, and had Mr. Whitefield received me at the Lord’s table I never should have gone back; but the caresses of the great, who, when unhappy, want Shuter to make them laugh, are too seducing. There is a good and moral play to-night, but no sooner is it over than I come in with my farce of ‘_A dish of all sorts_,’ and knock all the moral on the head.” Being seen with Mr. Kinsman, his friends rated him as a Methodist. “A precious method is mine (said Shuter): no, I wish I were; if any be right, they are.” The attractions of his profession, however, nipped in the bud the flowers of promise which his religious friend hoped to see blooming fully.

Shuter once visited Lady Huntingdon at Bath, when performing in that city. Her Ladyship met him in the street, and, though personally unknown to him, enquired after his health, and invited him to her house. The only account of this interview which now remains is contained in a short extract of a letter from her Ladyship to Lady Fanny Shirley. Speaking of Shuter, she says:--

“I have had a visit from Shuter, the comedian, whom I saw in the street, and asked to call on me. He was wonderfully astonished when I announced my name. We had much conversation; but he cannot give up his profession for another more reputable. He spoke of Mr. Whitefield with great affection, and with admiration of his talents. He promised to come some other time, when he had more leisure for conversation. Poor fellow! I think he is not far from the kingdom.”

Another actor,[126] equal in professional eminence to Shuter, but of a very different moral character, was employed by Mr. Whitefield’s enemies to mimic and burlesque him, in a manner the most profane and ludicrous, on the stage of the Theatre Royal, Drury-lane. His success at that theatre induced him to write, and bring out at the Haymarket Theatre, his “Minor”--a ridiculous farce levelled at the Methodists. Of this miserable piece of buffoonery it may be enough to say, that he, and the agents employed at the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapel to procure materials, were so disgracefully ignorant of the inspired writings, as not to know that what they took for Mr. Whitefield’s peculiar language was that of the word of God!

A letter addressed to Mr. Garrick, written by the Rev. Martin Madan, on the intended representation of this piece, had a most extensive circulation, and Lady Huntingdon waited on the Lord Chamberlain, to apply for the suppression of “The Minor.” Her request could not immediately be granted; but his Lordship assured her that if he had had any intimation of the evil tendency of “The Minor,” previous to its being licensed, it never should have appeared. Lady Huntingdon next sought an interview with Mr. Garrick, who treated her Ladyship with the utmost deference and respect; and her remonstrances so far succeeded, that Roscius promised to use his influence in excluding it for the present, and added, that had he been aware of the offence it was calculated to give, it should never have appeared with his concurrence.

The opposition manifested towards Mr. Whitefield at Long-acre Chapel, and the representation of that wretched piece of mummery at the theatres, so far from lessening the number of his congregation, considerably increased his popularity, and brought thousands of new persons to hear the Gospel, which was the very thing he aimed at; and thus Providence gave him the victory. About this period he preached frequently at the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapel, in behalf of the poor French Protestants in Prussia, who had suffered so much from the cruelty of the Russians, when great numbers of the nobility and many of the highest officers of the crown went to hear him. The collections on these occasions amounted to upwards of _fifteen hundred pounds_; and for this disinterested act of benevolence Mr. Whitefield received the thanks of his Prussian Majesty.

Again, on the day appointed for a general fast, Mr. Whitefield preached at Tottenham-court Chapel, from Joel ii. 15, and in the evening at the Tabernacle, from Gen. vii. 1; after which collections, amounting to upwards of _five hundred and sixty pounds_, were made for the relief of the German Protestants and the sufferers by fire at Boston, for which he received the unanimous thanks of the freeholders and inhabitants of that town. On this occasion several persons of consequence were present. “It would delight you (says Lady Huntingdon) to have seen what crowds of the mighty and noble flocked to hear him. The collection was for the relief of the poor German Protestants. I invited several to come who probably would not attend his ministry on other occasions. All appeared pleased and surprised.” Lady Chesterfield, Lady Gertrude Hotham, and Lady Fanny Shirley, also took large parties of the nobility with them. Lords Halifax and Holdernesse, the personal friends of Lady Huntingdon, the latter at that moment Secretary of State, but succeeded in that office a few weeks after by Lord Bute, who was likewise present: the young Duke of Grafton, then rising rapidly into public life, and Lady Harrington, his Grace’s aunt; the Duchess[127] was prevented availing herself of Lady Huntingdon’s invitation. The Duke, now chiefly remembered as having been the subject of attack from the eloquent but rabid pen of the celebrated Junius, whose “Letters” are said to have driven him from the helm, was soon after in office as Secretary of State, and First Lord of the Treasury. To these celebrated personages may be added the names of two of the greatest men of their day, Charles Fox and William Pitt, who, with Mr. Orby Hunter, Lord Villiers, and Mr. Soame Jenyns, the admired author of a treatise on the internal evidence of the Christian religion, were to be found mingling with the crowd that thronged every part of these edifices. Few places could boast of such a constellation of transcendant genius and senatorial talent, such a brilliant assemblage of wisdom, magnanimity, and oratorical powers, as was then to be found within the walls of Tottenham-court Chapel and the Tabernacle. These congregations were long attracted by the eloquence of Whitefield alone, and he for many years was the sole minister of those chapels, which have continued almost ever since to supply a portion of the life-blood of vital Christianity to the metropolis. In 1766, indeed, he associated with himself the late Captain Joss; before speaking of whom, however, let us remind our readers of one of the most popular of the supplies at these chapels, the late Rowland Hill, who, in the summer of 1772, by his ministry in them, was the means of reviving the cause of Methodism. The distinguished situation in which he was placed held him up more than ever before public observation. His labours in the metropolis were immense, and great and small bore testimony to the power with which he spake. The displays of Gospel grace under the ministry of this faithful labourer in the Lord’s vineyard were truly surprising; and his success was, from the beginning, as great as the situation in which he stood was peculiar and eminent.

“The popularity of Mr. Hill (says Lady Huntingdon, in a letter written at this period), and the crowds that follow him wherever he is called to preach, overwhelm me with astonishment, and gratitude to the God of all grace, who hath endowed him with such gifts. He boldly proclaims the doctrines of the cross, and the word of the Lord runs and is glorified in the conversion of multitudes. Dear Captain Joss told me above a hundred wakened souls, the fruits of his preaching, have been received into the Tabernacle Society--so eminently does the benediction of our dear and precious Immanuel rest on the labours of his servant. I have attended him at Blackheath and Kensington, where the Lord blessed his testimony in a very remarkable manner. Thousands and thousands attended, and the most awful and solemn impression seemed to pervade the vast assemblies. Excepting my beloved and lamented Mr. Whitefield, I never witnessed any person’s preaching wherein there was such displays of the divine power and glory as in Mr. Hill’s. May HE who hath raised up this _second Whitefield_, with talents and zeal so distinguished, make him eminent in his day and generation, crown his message with success, and by his own Almighty power, the copious effusions of his Spirit, and the effectual manifestations of his grace to his soul, keep him faithful to the end.”

Mr. Hill’s residence was at the Tabernacle House, in Moorfields, from which he made preaching excursions in the neighbourhood of London, in addition to his labours in the metropolis itself. The effects of his addresses to the people on these occasions were extraordinary in the extreme. One individual wrote him word, for his encouragement, that the Lord had blessed the truth he had delivered to “hundreds”--nay, he might safely say, “thousands;” and earnestly entreated him to return as soon as possible, as “multitudes longed for the time when they should hear him again.” “Many (he continues) I have visited on their sick bed, blessing God for the time they heard you. Notes of thanks were put up from whole families, stirred up to seek the Lord by your ministry.”

The style of Rowland Hill’s addresses to the people was, at this period of life, extremely simple and forcible; they abounded with lucid views of the doctrines of the Gospel, mingled with sudden bursts of vivid, sublime, and sometimes singular illustrations. A specimen of this mode of appealing to the people is to be found in a preface to a little work, containing an address to those who had been converted by his ministry in London. It is dated Tabernacle House, August 27, 1772. Soon after, he proceeded to the degree of Master of Arts, at Cambridge, and visited his excellent friend and patron, Mr. Berridge, vicar of Everton, in the neighbourhood of the University. He again preached to immense crowds at the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapel after which he retired, as the winter came on, to the seat of his family in Shropshire. From his friend Captain Joss he received, whilst there, accounts of his converts in London. “We have taken (he informs him) above one hundred into society, concerning whom it may be said that you were the happy instrument of opening their eyes. There are many more with whom I have conversed, who, I sincerely trust, will be your crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord. Indeed, my dear brother, what the Lord hath done by you in London cannot but afford you matter of joy and humiliation.”

This was before Mr. Hill had obtained episcopal ordination. On the 6th of June, 1773, through the kind and unexpected interposition of Providence, he was ordained by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, _without any promise or condition whatever_, and preached his first sermon for his dear and valued friend, Mr. Rouquet, at St. Werburgh’s, Bristol, on the 8th of June, to a very large congregation. He then retired to his curacy at Kingston, in Somersetshire, and after a few months spent there, returned to London, to supply the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapel. The recollection of his early preaching in these places was cherished by him to the end of his days, with a happy retrospect of the ease with which he spoke, and the crowds who attended his ministry. In the last sermon he ever preached, delivered on March 31, 1833, he said, “O! my dear brethren, I almost wish to be made young again, if I could but see such days as when I first came and preached at Tottenham-court Chapel, and was in the habit of preaching in the streets and lanes for want of room. O! how I love to recollect what I then felt.”

To return to Captain Joss. On him Mr. Whitefield prevailed to leave the compass, the chart, and the ocean, for the service of the sanctuary. A maritime employment is not generally very favourable to religious improvement: but that God who “sitteth upon the floods can (as Mr. Whitefield said of him and Captain Scott) bring a shark from the ocean and a lion from the forest,” and “form them for himself, to show forth his praise.” His sermons, in the former years of his residence in London, were not only attended by large auditories, but with energy, to the conversion of many souls; nor did God leave him without many witnesses to the close of his ministerial labours. He generally spent four or five months in the year out of London, for the purpose of itinerating. In this period he regularly visited South Wales, Gloucestershire, Bristol Tabernacle, and, occasionally, other parts of the kingdom. In Pembrokeshire the Welsh followed him in multitudes; and on the Lord’s-day would travel from one to twenty miles round Haverfordwest to hear him. To not a few of them he became a spiritual father; and, indeed, wherever he exercised his talents, though but a few weeks, he left some seals of his ministry behind.

Mr. Whitefield and the Rev. Toriel Joss were joint ministers, till the death of the former, in 1770; soon after which event a Mr. Brooksbanks was appointed assistant preacher. How long he continued is uncertain, but most probably to the autumn of 1775, when the Rev. Matthew Wilks was admitted a minister of the Tabernacle Connexion. This venerable and respected man was called under the ministry of the Rev. William Piercy, who at that period was curate of West Bromwich, in Staffordshire, and afterwards chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon. Early discovering the intellectual powers and moral worth of Mr. Wilks, and anticipating his becoming of extraordinary use to the Church of Christ, Mr. Piercy not only manifested great personal attachment towards him, but insisted upon his devoting himself to the work of the Christian ministry. Quoting Mr. Wilks’s own words:--“To the Countess of Huntingdon’s College, at Trevecca, I _must_ and _should_ go; and, though against my inclination, I went, and closely pursued my studies.”

During the latter part of his college life, Mr. Keene, one of the executors of Mr. Whitefield, and a manager of his London chapels, paid Lady Huntingdon a visit in Wales, and heard Mr. Wilks preach part of a Sabbath in the College Chapel. The result was an invitation to London as a supply, and in the autumn of 1775 his appointment as minister of the Tabernacle connexion took place, the Rev. Messrs. Berridge, Piercy, and Joss taking parts in his ordination.

For more than _fifty years_ this venerable servant of Christ proclaimed the Gospel of his Divine Master in the pulpits of the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapel, and during this very extended period his ministry was attended by all the best proofs of a decided popularity. The benediction of the Spirit of God rested upon his labours of love, and numerous have been the Christian pastors who attributed their conversion to him, as God’s honoured instrument, many of whom have been introduced to their spheres of labour by his kind and effective patronage. He was greatly honoured of God, in being the father of several of the great schemes now in operation at home and abroad for the salvation of souls. The “Evangelical Magazine” owes its origin to the mutual efforts of the Rev. John Eyre and himself, both educated at Trevecca, and introduced into public life under the auspices of the Countess of Huntingdon. He was one of the fathers of the London Missionary Society, and preached a sermon, previous to its formation, at Tottenham-court Chapel, in the year 1795, from Ps. xliii. 3--“O send out thy life and thy truth;” which was the means of awakening a missionary spirit in the hearts of many who had the privilege of hearing it. A sermon preached at its annual meeting, at Surrey Chapel, in 1812, if not the most eloquent, was, beyond all dispute, the most ingenious and effective ever preached in its behalf; for from that sermon have arisen all the Auxiliary and Branch Societies in England and America.

For some years previous to his decease the health of Mr. Joss was in a declining state. This good man, whom Mr. Berridge used to style “The Archdeacon of Tottenham,” was removed to his eternal rest April 17, 1797. In consequence of his inability to preach as frequently as formerly, about eight years previous to his decease, Messrs. Keene and West gave the Rev. Joel Abraham Knight a cordial and affectionate invitation to settle in the Tabernacle connexion. He had been ordained to the work of the ministry in Lady Huntingdon’s Connexion, at Spa-fields Chapel, March 9, 1783, and was assistant there and master of the charity-school for some years. This respected and useful servant of Christ entered into the joy of his Lord, April 22, 1808. Some years previous to his death, the Rev. John Hyatt, then of Frome, was invited as a supply to the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapel. His talents arrested the attention of the congregations, and the declining health of Mr. Knight induced the managers to consider Mr. Hyatt as a suitable person to become a stated minister in the Connexion. This invitation was given to him with unanimity, and accepted, on his part, with cordiality. On this immense field he entered, and here for twenty years he laboured, finishing his course January 30, 1826. His venerable colleague, Mr. Wilks, survived him till January, 1829. His last audible expressions were uttered when his friend Mr. Townsend informed him that they had fulfilled his wish, and thought it would relieve his mind to know that all was arranged with Mr. Campbell to succeed him: he lifted up his hand, and exclaimed softly, “Thank God! God be praised!--that is well!”

During Mr. Whitefield’s life-time the management of his chapels was frequently committed to a few trusty friends. Amongst them we find the names of Robert Cruttenden, Esq., Charles Hardy, Esq., Robert Keene, Esq., and Mr. Beckman, a man of great integrity and worth, and often mentioned in the letters of Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Berridge. Whilst, absent in America, in 1764, the affairs of the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court Chapel were in the hands of Messrs. Keene,[128] Hardy, and Beckham. “Three such friends (says he) surely could not be picked out for the London affairs.” Two years previous to his last voyage to America he formed the determination of making a final arrangement of his chapels, and all that he possessed in England. In a letter to Mr. Keene, dated November 27, 1767, he says:--

“As another voyage, perhaps, may be the issue and result of all at last, I would beg you and dear Mr. Hardy to let me have my papers and letters, that I may revise and dispose of everything in a proper manner. This can do no hurt, come life or come death, or whether I stay at home or go abroad.”

In the order of Divine Providence there is a strange combination of circumstances, by which what is appointed is brought to pass. In the same year died Mr. Whitefield, the Rev. Howel Davies, rector of Prengast, near Haverfordwest, the head of Calvinistic Methodism in Pembrokeshire, and the Rev. Thomas Adams, minister of the Tabernacle at Rodborough, the leader of the same cause in Gloucestershire and Wilts, and Mr. Whitefield’s only surviving first fellow-labourer, to each of whom he had bequeathed a small legacy. Though the Tabernacle at Bristol was under Mr. Whitefield’s auspices, yet, strange to say, in his will we do not find the least mention of it. The trustees in London offered to befriend it, but would not accept it as a part of their charge. The Honourable James Habersham was appointed executor for his affairs in the province of Georgia, and Messrs. Hardy, West, and Keene for those in England.

Having by his will left both of his places of worship in London, his houses, library, and all things appertaining thereto, to _two_ of his executors, in survivorship, Mr. West and Mr. Keene, they were enabled, through the abundant goodness of God, to carry on the work in the same manner as in Mr. Whitefield’s life-time, without the least diminution either of the largeness of the congregations, or the visible power of God attending the ministry of those faithful men who laboured for them. Two persons could not have been more happily associated than Mr. West and Mr. Keene. They were always regular and exact in the discharge of the weighty duties that devolved upon them. An uninterrupted harmony characterized all their public transactions. It was now their study to conciliate the affections of the ministers, to promote the glory of Jesus Christ, and the spiritual interests of the congregations; and they had the happiness to see the pleasure of the Lord prosper in their hands. The late Mr. Berridge, who had a very high regard for them, when speaking of them, says:--

“Could I discover lucrative views in them, as much as I love the Tabernacle (that old bee-hive which has filled many bee-hives with her swarms), I would visit her no longer. But the more I know of the trustees, the more I am confirmed in their integrity, which they will give a proof of shortly, by adopting Dr. Ford as a third trustee.”

This was in the year 1777. From this, as well as from other circumstances, it would appear that the Doctor, being known as a preacher and trustee in Lady Huntingdon’s Connexion, was associated with Messrs. West and Keene in the Tabernacle trust. After the mournful difference between her Ladyship and Mr. Wills, in 1788, some propositions were made relative to a union between the two Connexions, but of what nature, or to what extent, we have no information. Mr. Berridge, the mutual friend of both, appears to have been a chief instrument in negotiating this affair. Lady Huntingdon being in London, in September, 1788, commissioned Mr. Berridge, then residing at the Tabernacle House, to propose the intended plan, the fulfilment of which she seems to have had much at heart. But the only document we have been enabled to procure, which throws any light on the subject, is a short letter from Mr. Berridge to her Ladyship. It is dated Tabernacle House, September 25, 1778:--

“My Lady--My ears are so deaf, that I can hear nothing without bawling, as Mr. Dupont[129] knows to his sorrow, which makes a visit very troublesome to others and disagreeable to myself. On this account I thought it more advisable to send you in a letter what has been shouted into my ears by the trustees, than to wait upon you in person, and the message I have to communicate is this: ‘When Dr. Ford returns to London, a fortnight hence, the trustees will consider of the proposal made to them by Mr. Dupont and others.’

“I was grieved to hear of Mr. Wills’s departure; but our wise Jesus can overrule this separation for his glory, as well as that between Paul and Barnabas. I return this week to Everton. May the Lord Jesus abide with you and go with me, and give us both a triumphant exit at last. So prayeth your affectionate servant,

“JOHN BERRIDGE.”

Mr. Keene died on the 30th of January, 1793. His name deserves to be recorded in the annals of the Church, as an illustrious example of holiness and zeal in the cause of God. Mr. West survived him till the 30th of September, 1796. He was in the 70th year of his age. His remains were interred under the communion-table, in a vault that contained the remains of Mrs. Whitefield, Mrs. West, and Mr. Keene. It is a singular circumstance, that Mrs. Whitefield, Mr. Keene, and Mrs. West all died on the 30th day of the month, and Mr. Whitefield and Mr. West on the 30th of September. Mr. West, by his last will, bequeathed the management of the places to Samuel Foyster, Esq., and John Wilson, Esq., both of whom are since dead. Mr. Foyster’s removal to another world took place February 2, 1805. He was one of his Majesty’s justices of the peace, and was a humble, pious, and peaceable Christian, and an ornament to his religious profession.

The ministers who supplied immediately after Mr. Whitefield’s death were Mr. Berridge, Mr. Green, Mr. Elliott, Mr. Piercy, Mr. Rowlands, Mr. Shirley, Mr. De Courcy, Mr. Hill, Mr. Owen, Dr. Peckwell, Dr. Illingworth, Mr. West--all clergymen; and Mr. Kinsman, Mr. Medley, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Scott, Mr. Titus Knight, Mr. Heath, Mr. Winter, Mr. Beck, Mr. Ashburner, Mr. Durant, and a long list of worthy clergymen and Dissenting ministers from the country, who esteemed it their privilege to preach to every large, serious, and attentive congregation, whose hearts were filled with thankfulness, and at the same time engaged in prayer for every such minister of Christ; and an unusual blessing commonly attended both the sowers and reapers. It was the desire of the managers to let the pulpits be open to every disinterested minister that might occasionally visit London, of good moral character, sound in the faith, of moderate Calvinistic principles, without distinction of parties or denominations, whose talents were suitable to preach with life and power to overflowing congregations.

Here let us pause, and lift our hearts in thankfulness to the great Head of the Church, for the plenteous harvest of immortal souls that hath been gathered to the true Shiloh in these highly-favoured chapels. The benediction of the Spirit seems to have rested in a peculiar manner on the labours of the ministers of Christ in these vast fields of usefulness. They were men of renown in their day, who, through evil report and good report, preached the everlasting Gospel, and were as distinguished by the success which crowned their labours, as by the zeal and ability with which they performed them. This noble army of confessors are now before the throne. The great Captain of Salvation hath called them to their eternal reward. May their surviving brethren catch a glowing spark of the flame of zeal which animated these men of God, imitate their excellencies, avoid their infirmities, and leave behind them a memory as blessed, and a monument as enduring, in the hearts of thousands converted by their ministrations! Such were the men “whom the Lord delighted to honour.” Happy shall we be if counted worthy to sit at their feet in Christ’s kingdom of eternal glory!