Volume 2 — Footnotes. (continued 2)

600 – “Life and Times of Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., pp. 78–81.

601 – March 25, 1768.

602 – This was absolutely false. (Lloyd’s Evening Post, March 30, 1768.)

603 – A letter, in Lloyd’s Evening Post, March 30, 1768, says it was “utterly false.”

604 – “Life and Times of Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i., p. 425.

605 – “Boswell’s Life of Johnson.”

606 – In the Journal of his second visit to America, Whitefield remarked, “When the spirit of prayer began to be lost, then forms of prayer were invented.” There is more truth in this than some will be willing to allow.

607 – Lloyd’s Evening Post, March 23, 1768.

608 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., p. 126.

609 – This edition of the “Letter” to Dr. Durell was in 12mo., 47 pp.

610 – Macgowan’s pamphlet on the same subject.

611 – “Life of Rowland Hill.” By Sidney, p. 44.

612 – Gillies’ “Life of Whitefield.”

613 – Christian Miscellany, 1856, p. 218.

614 – Some years ago, when the chapel was seriously injured by fire, this monument was destroyed.

615 – “Annual Register,” 1769, p. 110.

616 – Gillies’ “Life of Whitefield.”

617 – Gillies’ “Life of Whitefield.”

618 – “Whitefield’s Eighteen Sermons,” transcribed by Gurney, p. 199.

619 – There can be little doubt that this was the portrait by Hone, of which the engraving in the present volume is a copy. The Royal Academy was founded in 1768, and Hone was one of its first members.

620 – Wesley’s Journal.

621 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., p. 128.

622 – His wife.

623 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., p. 27.

624 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., p. 27.

625 – Whitefield preached again in the evening, and also on the day following, when his text was 1 Thess. ii. 11, 12. (Gillies’ “Memoirs of Whitefield.”)

626 – Lloyd’s Evening Post, July 31, 1769.

627 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., p. 129.

628 – August 9, 1769.

629 – Captain Joss was now in Bristol. (Whitefield’s Works, vol. iii., p. 392.)

630 – Lloyd’s Evening Post, August 28, 1769.

631 – “Two Farewell Sermons, by Rev. G. Whitefield, 1770;” and “Eighteen Sermons, by Rev. George Whitefield, 1771.”

632 – In the crowds who listened to Whitefield’s last sermons in London, was a youth, seventeen years of age,—George Burder, afterwards a devoted and useful minister of Christ, the originator of the Religious Tract Society, secretary of the London Missionary Society, editor of the Evangelical Magazine, and author of the well-known “Village Sermons.” Burder’s conversion has been attributed to the ministry of Whitefield and Fletcher of Madeley. (“Jubilee Memorial of the Religious Tract Society,” p. 24.) In his Journal, he wrote:—“1769. August. About this time, I heard Mr. Whitefield preach several sermons, particularly his two last in London; that at Tottenham Court chapel on Sabbath morning, and that at the Tabernacle on Wednesday morning at seven o’clock. I remember a thought which passed my mind, I think, as I was going to hear his last sermon, ‘Which would I rather be, Garrick or Whitefield?’ I thought each, in point of oratory, admirable in his way. I doubt not conscience told me which was best. I wrote Mr. Whitefield’s sermons in shorthand, though standing in a crowd.” (“Life of Rev. George Burder,” by his Son.)

633 – Gillies’ “Memoirs of Whitefield.”

634 – It has been already stated, that, the publication of this volume led to great unpleasantness. Joseph Gurney was a bookseller, in Holborn, opposite Hatton Garden. From an 8vo. pamphlet of eight pages, published at the time, and entitled, “J. Gurney’s Appeal to the Public,” it appears, that, on November 13, 1770, an agreement was made between Gurney and Mr. Keen, whereby Keen bound himself to “recommend and authenticate” Gurney’s publication, and Gurney agreed to give to Keen a shilling upon every copy sold. Gurney drew up an advertisement, which Keen engaged to have read in the pulpits of the Tabernacle and Tottenham Court Road chapel; but his engagement was not fulfilled. When the printing of the volume was nearly completed, Gurney sent the first nine sermons to Keen, and, a few days afterwards, met Mr. Hardy, who told him the “sermons were like the ravings of a madman, and were utterly unfit for publication.” Messrs. Keen, Hardy, and West offered to pay Gurney all the money he had spent, on condition that the sermons should not be issued to the public; but Gurney refused the offer. Mr. Kinsman read a notice from the Tabernacle pulpit, that, such a volume was about to be published, but stated that the “sermons were not Mr. Whitefield’s, either in sentiment or expression;” though, as Gurney alleges, Kinsman had previously acknowledged “the sermons were as delivered by Whitefield, but that Whitefield’s discourses, of late years, were very unfit for the press without undergoing considerable alterations.” Gurney had another angry interview with Keen and Hardy. The latter, on September 14, 1771, published the advertisement, printed, as a foot-note, in Whitefield’s collected Works, vol. iii., page 406. Gurney, however, persisted in publishing his book, but announced that if any purchasers were of opinion the “sermons were not genuine,” he would return to them their purchase money. He sold upwards of six hundred copies, but “not a single buyer expressed the least dissatisfaction.”

635 – Gillies’ “Memoirs of Whitefield.”

636 – With one or two exceptions, the whole of these letters were subscribed, “Less than the least of all, George Whitefield.”

637 – Wesley had recently joined in the services held in connection with the Countess of Huntingdon’s Academy at Trevecca. These services extended from the 18th to the 24th of August. The scene was memorable. Besides the Countess and a number of her aristocratic friends, there were present eight clergymen of the Church of England, a host of Welsh exhorters, the students, and an immense concourse of communicants and spectators. On leaving Trevecca, Wesley set out for Cornwall, so that he had no opportunity of a final hand-shake with his old friend, embarking for America.

638 – Arminian Magazine, 1783, p. 274.

639 – “Memoirs of Cornelius Winter,” p. 88.

640 – Gillies’ “Memoirs of Whitefield.”

641 – Gillies’ “Memoirs of Whitefield.”

642 – “Memoirs of Cornelius Winter,” p. 89.

643 – Whitefield’s Works, vol. iii., p. 408.

644 – “Life of Charles Wesley,” vol. ii., p. 244.

645 – Still, if the drinking of toasts had been omitted, there was nothing more objectionable in Whitefield’s gathering, than is sometimes witnessed among English Methodists at the present day; when a whole cavalcade wend their way, on the holy Sabbath, to some country town, to be present at the opening of some new meeting-house, and to be charmed and profited by some popular preacher.

646 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., p. 255.

647 – Whitefield’s Works, vol. iii., p. 501.

648 – Whitefield intended to publish a new edition of the Homilies, and wrote a preface and compiled a number of prayers and hymns to be bound up with them. He strongly urged the reading of the Homilies from the pulpits of the Established Church, in accordance with the direction given in the Thirty-fifth Article, and very justly argued that, if this were done, “the desk and pulpit would not so frequently contradict each other.” (See Whitefield’s Works, vol. iv., pp. 441–454.)

649 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., p. 256.

650 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” pp. 259–267.

651 – “Asbury’s Journal,” vol. i., p. 78.

652 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., p. 263.

653 – “Memoirs of Cornelius Winter,” p. 144.

654 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., p. 269.

655 – Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 1825, p. 841. It is right to add, that the authorities of Savannah, out of respect to Whitefield’s memory, secured what they could of the ruined property, and invested the proceeds in a school, which yet flourishes. (Belcher’s “Biography of Whitefield,” p. 458.)

656 – Stevens’ “History of the Methodist Episcopal Church,” vol. iii., p. 50.

657 – Boardman commenced the itinerancy in 1763, and Pilmoor in 1765.

658 – “Wesley’s Works,” vol. xii., p. 149.

659 – Ibid., vol. iii., p. 400.

660 – Ibid., vol. xi., p. 289.

661 – A strange rumour was circulated, at this time, in the London newspapers, that Whitefield had returned to England. Lloyd’s Evening Post, of April 2, announced, “Saturday, March 31, arrived in town, the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield, from Georgia.”

662 – It is a noticeable fact that two of Whitefield’s oldest fellow labourers died in the same year as himself,—the Rev. Howell Davies, “the head of Calvinistic Methodism in Pembrokeshire,” and faithful Thomas Adams, the leader of the same cause in Gloucestershire and Wilts. (“Memoirs of Cornelius Winter,” p. 147.)

663 – Jesse Lee, who became a Methodist preacher in America, twelve years after Whitefield’s death, says in his “History of the Methodists in America” (p. 36), “In the year 1770, Mr. Whitefield passed through Philadelphia, and, calling on our preachers who were in that city, expressed to them his great satisfaction at finding them in this country, where there was such a great call for faithful labourers in the vineyard of the Lord. His labours, as an itinerant preacher, had been greatly blessed to the people in America; and, thereby, the way was opened for our preachers to travel and preach in different parts of the country.”

664 – Evangelical Magazine, 1807, p. 292.

665 – Wakeley’s “Anecdotes of Whitefield,” p. 358.

666 – Methodist Magazine, 1811, p. 788.

667 – In the Pennsylvania Journal, a letter was published, bearing date “Portsmouth, September 28, 1770.” The writer said, “Last Sunday morning came to town, from Boston, the Rev. George Whitefield; and, in the afternoon, he preached at the Rev. Dr. Haven’s meeting-house: Monday morning, he preached again at the same place, to a very large and crowded audience. Tuesday morning, a most numerous assembly met at the Rev. Dr. Langdon’s meeting-house, which, it is said, will hold nearly 6,000 people, and was well filled, even the aisles. In the evening, he preached at the Rev. Mr. John Rodgers’ meeting-house in Kittery; and yesterday, at the Rev. Mr. Lyman’s, in York, to which place a number of ladies and gentlemen from town accompanied him. This morning (Friday) he will preach at the Rev. Dr. Langdon’s meeting-house in this town.” (Belcher’s “Biography of Whitefield,” p. 433.)

668 – Gillies’ “Memoirs of Whitefield.”

669 – Lee’s “History of American Methodists,” p. 36.

670 – Wakeley’s “Anecdotes of Whitefield.”

671 – Belcher’s “Biography of Whitefield,” p. 435.

672 – St. James’s Chronicle, November 8, 1770.

673 – Methodist World, February 1, 1870.

674 – Methodist World, Feb. 1, 1870.

675 – Stevens’ “History of Methodism,” vol. i., p. 466.

676 – There can be but little doubt that the disease which terminated Whitefield’s life was angina pectoris.

677 – Gillies’ “Memoirs of Whitefield.”

678 – “Funeral Sermon,” etc., by Rev. Jonathan Parsons, p. 28.

679 – Ibid.

680 – Ibid.

681 – Stevens’ “History of Methodism,” vol. i., p. 467.

682 – “Funeral Sermon,” etc., by Rev. Jonathan Parsons, p. 31.

683 – Whitefield’s friends, at Boston, intended to have him buried there. Hence the following, from a letter dated “Boston, October 2, 1770”:—“A number of gentlemen set out from hence, early this morning, for Newbury Port, which is forty miles from Boston, in order to make the necessary preparations for conveying the corpse of the Rev. Mr. Whitefield to this town, where he is to be interred, agreeable to his own request.”

684 – Wakeley’s “Anecdotes of Whitefield,” p. 385.

685 – Winter’s “Memoirs,” p. 104.

686 – Belcher’s “Biography of Whitefield,” p. 447.

687 – Gospel Magazine, 1802, p. 12.

688 – Southey’s “Life of Wesley,” vol. ii., p. 379.

688 – Wakeley’s “Anecdotes of Whitefield,” p. 399.

690 – Wakeley’s “Anecdotes of Whitefield,” p. 400.

691 – Evangelical Magazine, 1839, pp. 443, 590.

692 – Wakeley’s “Anecdotes,” p. 389.

693 – The Methodist (New York), Sept. 12, 1863.

694 – In 1834, the Rev. Andrew Reed, D.D., of London, and the Rev. James Matheson, D.D., of Durham, visited America as a deputation from the Congregational Union of England and Wales; and, in 1835, a similar deputation, consisting of the Rev. Dr. Cox, and the Rev. Dr. Hoby, was sent from the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland. Both the deputations entered Whitefield’s sepulchre, and have left descriptions of what they saw and felt; but for want of space, their reports cannot be inserted here.

695 – Methodist Recorder, Dec. 27, 1867.

696 – Wakeley’s “Anecdotes,” p. 396.

697 – Lloyd’s Evening Post, February 11, 1771.

698 – Whitefield’s adulations, especially of those belonging to the higher classes of society, were often objectionable. Southey, noticing one of his letters to the Countess of Huntingdon, remarks: “Wesley would not have written in this strain, which, for its servile adulation, and its canting vanity, might well provoke disgust and indignation, were not the real genius and piety of the writer beyond all doubt. The language, however, was natural in Whitefield, and not ill suited for the person to whom it was addressed.” (Life of Wesley.) This animadversion is somewhat strong; but, a few passages in Whitefield’s letters to the nobility, almost justify the Poet-Laureate’s critique.

699 – Peter Edwards was one of Whitefield’s orphans, and, at the anniversary of laying the foundation of the Orphan House, on March 27, 1771, delivered a long address to the Governor of Georgia, many members of the Council, and a great number of the principal inhabitants of the province, assembled together in the Orphan House chapel, which on this day was opened, and solemnly dedicated to the service of God. The Rev. Edward Ellington, minister of the parish of St. Bartholomew, in South Carolina, read prayers, and preached a sermon from Matt. xviii. 20. Divine service being ended, the young gentlemen of the recently commenced academy recited passages from some of the best English authors; and the day’s proceedings were concluded with a speech from the tutor, Mr. Edward Langworthy. (“Whitefield’s Works,” vol. iii., pp. 503–509.)

700 – Lloyd’s Evening Post, February 6, 1771.

701 – In a foot-note, Titus Knight makes a statement which was doubtless true, though almost incredible; namely, that even after the arrival of the news of Whitefield’s death, Foote’s execrable comedy, “The Minor,” was acted in the theatre at Edinburgh.

702 – De Courcy, in the preface to his “Elegiac Lines,” remarks: “What a pattern of flaming zeal, and faithfulness in the ministry, was this servant of the Lord! With what unabated assiduity, fortitude, and patience, did he persevere in holding forth the word of life! How great was his disinterestedness of spirit! With what a catholic, loving heart did he embrace all of all denominations, who loved the Lord Jesus in sincerity!” In a foot-note to his poem, the author relates that, in his sermons, Whitefield often said, “The moment I leave the body, and plunge into the world of spirits, the first question I shall ask will be—Where’s my Saviour?”

703 – An elegy was published in the New York Gazette, of October 19, 1770, from which the following lines are taken:— “Methinks, I see him in the pulpit stand, With graceful gesture and persuasive hand; Whilst, with attention deep, the list’ning throng Admire the words proceeding from his tongue, Struck by his arrows, harden’d sinners start, Their looks betray the anguish of their heart With terror fill’d, to God they lift their eyes, And fill His ear with penitential sighs.”

704 – Gillies’ “Memoirs of Whitefield.”

705 – Ibid.

706 – Ibid.

707 – The following appeared in one of the London newspapers:—“We hear that, on Sunday next, funeral sermons, on the death of the late Rev. Mr. Whitefield, who, it is said, died worth £30,000, will be preached at all the Methodist meeting-houses in and about London, particularly the Tabernacles in Tottenham Court Road and Moorfields. Yesterday, a caveat was entered at Doctors Commons by a principal creditor of the late Rev. Mr. George Whitefield.”

708 – Lloyd’s Evening Post of November 19, 1770, remarked: “The front of the gallery round the chapel was quite covered with black cloth, as were the pulpit, reading-desk, and communion-table, which had escutcheons of Mr. Whitefield’s arms and crest. The many thousands who attended was almost incredible, who, being clothed in black, chiefly out of respect to their much-loved minister, together with the hanging, had a most uncommon appearance.”

709 – Wesley had a reason for thus referring to himself and his brother Charles. At his Annual Conference, held in London within the last four months, he had announced his Theses, shewing in what way he and his preachers had “leaned too much toward Calvinism.” This hugely offended the Countess of Huntingdon and her friends, and led to the bitterest controversy in Wesley’s history.

710 – This was a dignified rebuke administered to the infamous Samuel Foote, and the admirers of his profane and filthy “Minor.”

711 – Lloyd’s Evening Post, March 1, 1771.

712 – Stevens’s “History of Methodism,” vol. i., p. 467.

713 – Gospel Magazine, 1771, p. 80.

714 – Mr. Zubley was first minister of the Presbyterian Church at Savannah, and entered upon his charge in 1760. He originally came from Switzerland, and preached in English, German, and French, as occasion required. He was a man of great learning, and died in 1781.

715 – Dr. Cooper was converted by Whitefield’s instrumentality, and became one of the most popular preachers in America. One of the publications of the period, in describing the scene in Brattle Street Church, when Cooper preached Whitefield’s funeral sermon, said: “Pews, aisles, and seats were so crowded, and heads and shoulders were in such close phalanx, that it looked as though a man might walk everywhere upon the upper surface of the assembly, without finding an opening for descending to the floor.”

716 – Mr. Brewer preached in Spitalfields, from Psalm xxxvii. 37; and Mr. Skelton, one of Wesley’s seceded itinerants, in Maid Lane, Southwark, from Acts xiii. 36. (Old Newspaper.)

717 – As a curiosity, the following may be added: “Yesterday morning, about eight o’clock, a man, mounted on a stool, at the Seven Dials, preached a funeral sermon on the death of his dear master, Mr. George Whitefield.” (Lloyd’s Evening Post, Monday, Nov. 12, 1770.)

718 – Cornelius Winter says that he himself composed and wrote the sermon preached by Mr. Ellington. (“Memoirs of Cornelius Winter,” p. 104.) The letters attached to Mr. Ellington’s name suggest the thought that Winter was also the publisher of the sermon.

719 – New Spiritual Magazine, 1783, pp. 849 to 851.

720 – “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i., p. 92.

721 – Lloyd’s Evening Post, December 19, 1770.

722 – Belcher’s “Biography of Whitefield,” p. 446.

723 – Lloyd’s Evening Post, June 20, 1772.

724 – At the founding of the Royal Academy, in 1768, Nathaniel Hone was chosen one of the members, and maintained his reputation till his death, in 1784. The portrait in the second volume of this work is a faithful representation of a very fine engraving, published in 1769, and taken from the painting by Hone. The portrait in the first volume is copied from an engraving, published, by the authority of Whitefield himself, in his “Christian’s Companion, or Sermons on several subjects,” in 1739. (12mo. 335 pp.)

725 – Another testimony may be welcome. The celebrated Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to a gentleman in Georgia, wrote:—“I cannot forbear expressing the pleasure it gives me to see an account of the respect paid to Mr. Whitefield’s memory by your Assembly. I knew him intimately upwards of thirty years. His integrity, disinterestedness, and indefatigable zeal in prosecuting every good work, I have never seen equalled, and shall never see excelled.” (Belcher’s “Biography of Whitefield,” p. 447.)

726 – Rev. John Angell James.

727 – The Rev. Abel Stevens, LL.D.

728 – The following statistics are all taken from “The Methodist Almanac, for 1876; edited by W. H. De Puy, D.D.,” and published, under the direction of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church.