In course of time, Whitefield came to Yorkshire; and Ingham and Batty accompanied him throughout the county, and occasionally preached with him. They were also his companions into Lancashire and Cheshire. He preached four times at Aberford, the place of Ingham’s residence; and everywhere immense crowds attended him. The tour was a triumphal one; and, moreover, the two old Oxford friends were reunited. In one place, Whitefield mounted a temporary scaffold to address the thousands who stood before him; and, with a solemnity peculiarly his own, announced his text,—“It is appointed unto men once to die; but after this the judgment.” No sooner had the words escaped his lips, than a terrifying shriek issued from the centre of the congregation. Grimshaw hurried to the place where Whitefield stood, and shouted,—“Brother Whitefield, you stand among the dead and dying,—an immortal soul has been called into eternity,—the destroying angel is passing over the congregation,—cry aloud and spare not.” A few moments elapsed, and Whitefield re-announced his text; when another loud shriek was heard; a shriek which, in this instance, came from the spot where the Countess of Huntingdon and Lady Margaret Ingham were standing. A _second_ person had dropped down dead. Consternation was general; but Whitefield proceeded with the service, and, in a strain of tremendous eloquence, warned the wicked to flee from the wrath to come.[107] Who can adequately conceive, and paint the scene just mentioned? Whitefield on a platform,—thousands assembled before him,—two in the midst of them, in an instant, struck with death,—the Incumbent of Haworth rushing to the preacher with his irrepressible exclamation,—and two noble ladies, with Ingham at their side, gazing at the awful spectacle, their souls thrilled with feelings which no language can describe. And yet, if not in regard to the death occurrences, in point of solemn sublimity and religious grandeur, Whitefield’s life was full of such scenic facts.