“I have had a very comfortable winter. The people of Savannah, having no minister till lately, gladly accepted my labours; and, at Frederica, the gentlemen and soldiers of General Oglethorpe’s regiment, as well as the inhabitants of the town, received me very gladly. Major Horton[136] seems to behave well. He has a fine growing plantation. I saw barley in the ear on the 1st of March. Georgia is very healthy. Only a little child has died out of our family since it removed to Bethesda. If the inhabitants were sufficiently numerous, I think the colony is capable of as much improvement as any on the continent.” Such then were the bold and benevolent schemes of the indigent young clergyman, who, for the last eight years, had been abused and lampooned by thousands of professing Christians, of all descriptions. While they reviled, Whitefield worked. In England, Howell Harris faithfully did his utmost, as Whitefield’s _locum tenens_. He writes:―― “LONDON, _February 18, 1746_. “Since I came here, the Lord has been very kind to us. He is returning apace to the despised Tabernacle. All disputing has quite ceased, and we go on harmoniously together. We are now settling the Society in classes; and re-settling all the scattered bands. I have been through every class. Many propose to join the bands and Society. We have had a letter from Mrs. Whitefield, giving an account of the progress of the gospel in America. The Indians and negroes are baptized, twelve or fourteen in a day; and many of them are filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit.”[137] Harris was full of hope; but his hope was not realized. Whitefield’s presence among the Calvinistic Methodists was sorely needed. Cennick’s secession had been a peril and a disaster. Both people and preachers suffered loss. James Hutton, with more sourness than sanctity, observed: “Of all the crowds of the Tabernacle people that offered to come amongst us” (the Moravians), “we have found scarce two or three that are good for anything.”[138] When Cennick seceded in 1745, the Association at the Tabernacle “gave up” to him and the Moravians the Societies in Wiltshire; but some of the Societies objected to this arrangement, and, since then, had requested Whitefield’s preachers to revisit them. At the Association held in Bristol, March 7, 1746, the matter was discussed; and Howell Harris wrote a letter “to the Brethren at Fetter Lane,” endeavouring to promote a common understanding with respect to the fields of labour to be occupied by the two Societies, and with respect to transferring members from one Society to the other. James Hutton’s answer to the Association, written on behalf of “the Brethren in Fetter Lane,” was as arrogant and scolding as Harris’s letter was meek and loving. The imperious printer and publisher wrote:――