The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, Volume 1 (of 2)Tyerman, L. (Luke)
History
The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, Volume 1 (of 2)
Tyerman, L. (Luke)
Whitefield, George, 1714-1770
In such a frame of mind and heart, young Whitefield went to Georgia.
No wonder that he prospered. Half a dozen men, animated with the
spirit breathing through the foregoing preface, would at any time
move a nation, stir its churches, and reform its morals. Such men
are the gift of God, and are infinitely more valuable than all the
gold in the Church's coffers. Never did the world need them more
than it needs them now. To have them we must ask for them. "The
harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore
the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His
harvest."
_FIRST VISIT TO AMERICA._
1738.
When Wesley embarked for Georgia, on October 14, 1735, he took
with him five hundred and fifty copies of a treatise on the Lord's
Supper, and a few other books, "the gift of several Christian
friends, for the use of the settlers" in that colony.[112] When
Whitefield embarked in 1738, he had a cargo sufficient to excite a
smile, and the collection of which must have cost him considerable
thought and labour.
[112] _Evening Post_, October 14, 1735.
Besides the £1000 which he collected for the Charity Schools in
London, he also begged, privately among his friends, £306 3s. "for
the poor of Georgia." It will be seen that this was a large amount,
when it is remembered that money then was four times the value
of money now. His subscription list is notable. Excepting half a
guinea from Stroud, five shillings from Stonehouse, a guinea and
a half from Oxford, and £6 19s. sent by "the Rev. Mr. Thompson,
of Cornwall,"[113] the whole of this amount was given by friends
in Gloucester, Bath, Bristol, and London. Gloucester contributed
upwards of £44, its donors including the Bishop, £20; the Dean,
£1 1s.; six clergymen, upwards of £5; Robert Raikes, the reputed
founder of Sunday-schools, half a guinea; Lady Selwyn, five guineas;
Mr. Harris, jun., Whitefield's correspondent, a guinea; and "Madame
Granville," half a guinea.
[113] The Vicar of St. Gennys, a warm friend of the Oxford
Methodists.
Bath gave £172 9s. 6d. Of this amount Lady Cox contributed £50; her
sister, Mrs. Bridget Bethel, £100; and the celebrated Doctor Cheyne
a guinea.
London supplied upwards of £40; Bristol, the lowest of the four
cities, £38 10s. 6d., towards which the Dean of Bristol gave three
guineas, and three clergymen, Messrs. Smith, Taylor, and Probert,
four guineas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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