Note 51 — Chapter VII

Apropos of Lady Townshend, we may here observe that Horace Walpole unwittingly bears testimony to the uniform consistency of Mr. Whitefield’s creed and character. When the peace-festival was celebrated at Ranelagh, some one in the clique of wits, most likely himself, was talking of the Methodists, and said, “Pray, Madam, is it true that Whitefield has recanted?” Lady Townshend replied, “O no; he has only canted.” Walpole thought this a happy hit, little dreaming it to be a compliment to a man who might have had preferment at the time, if he would have recanted even his clerical irregularities. In a letter from Bristol dated in the December of this year, Mr. Whitefield tells Lady Huntingdon, “the Bishop behaved respectfully when I was at sacrament at the cathedral, and my old tutor, one of the prebendaries, was very cordial when I waited upon him. I told him that my judgment was (I trusted) a little more ripened than it was some years ago, and that as fast as I found out my faults, I would be glad to acknowledge them. He said, the offence the governors of the Church had taken against me would lessen and wear off as I grew moderate. Blessed be God, I am pretty easy about that; so that I can act an honest part, and be kept from trimming, I will, through the Divine assistance, leave all consequences to Him who orders all things well.”