George Whitefield: A Biography, with special reference to his labors in AmericaBelcher, Joseph
Religion
George Whitefield: A Biography, with special reference to his labors in America
Belcher, Joseph
Whitefield, George, 1714-1770
On Monday morning, Whitefield preached at Mr. Webb's meeting-house,
the "New North," on the corner of Clark and Hanover streets. "The
presence of the Lord," he says, "was among us. Look where I would
around me, visible impressions were made upon the auditory. Most
wept for a considerable time." In the afternoon he meant to have
preached at Mr. Cheekley's, in Summer-street, but was prevented
by an accident. Just before the time for the commencement of the
service, a person broke a board in one of the galleries, of which
to make a seat; the noise alarmed some who heard it, and they
imprudently cried out that the galleries were giving way. The
house being much crowded, the whole congregation were thrown into
the utmost alarm and disorder; some jumped from the gallery into
the seats below, others fell from the windows, and those below
pressing to get out of the porch, were many of them thrown over each
other and trodden upon. Many, as might be expected, were seriously
bruised; others had bones broken; and within two days five persons
died from the injuries they had received. Mr. Whitefield's presence
of mind did not fail him; he immediately led the anxious throng to
the Common, and preached to them from the text, "Go ye out into the
highways and hedges, and compel them to come in." He says, "The
weather was wet, but above eight thousand followed into the fields."
On Tuesday morning, Whitefield visited Mr. Walter, at Roxbury. This
gentleman had been the colleague, and was now the successor of John
Eliot, "the apostle of the Indians." These two men had been pastors
of that church one hundred and six years. Whitefield was much
pleased with Walter, who, in return, was glad to hear that he, like
old Bishop Beveridge, called man "half a devil and half a beast." He
preached that forenoon at Mr. Gee's meeting-house, the "Old North,"
of which church the celebrated Dr. Cotton Mather had formerly been
pastor. The house stood in the North square, and was taken down by
the British army and burned for fuel at the siege of Boston, in
1776. The auditory Whitefield preached to that morning was not very
crowded, as the people were in doubt where he would preach. After
dining with the secretary of the province, he says, "I preached
in the afternoon at Dr. Sewall's to a thronged congregation, and
exhorted and prayed as usual at my own lodgings; at neither place
without some manifestations of a divine power accompanying the word."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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