Volume 2 — WHITEFIELD’S LAST FOUR YEARS IN GREAT BRITAIN. From July 7, 1765, to September 5, 1769. (continued 3)

“Baptismal Controversy.—It is a strange thing how bigots can set the world on fire by throwing water at one another; and that people cannot be baptized, without shewing that the chief thing they have been baptized into, are the waters of strife. This is making sport for the devil. For my part, I do not enter into the debate about infant or adult baptism, nor yet about its mode. I believe you might as well attempt to draw two parallel lines, and bring them to meet at some certain place, as to bring these learned combatants together; for, of all disputants, religious disputants are the most obstinate and fiery” (p. 297).

“Catholicity.—The world pretty well knows the temper of my mind, both in respect to politics and church-government. I am a professed avower of moderation. I don’t care whether you go to church or meeting. I profess to be a member of the Church of England; but, if they will not let me preach in a church, I will preach anywhere. All the world is my parish; and I will preach wherever God gives me an opportunity. You will never find me disputing about the outward appendages of religion. Don’t tell me you are a Baptist, an Independent, a Presbyterian, a Dissenter: tell me you are a Christian. That is all I want. This is the religion of heaven, and must be ours upon earth” (p. 310).

“Whitefield’s Salary.—I intend to give you a parting word on Sunday evening, and to take my last farewell in the ensuing week, for I must have a day or two to dispatch my private business. As this place has been repaired, and I am wishful to leave everything clear before I go, a collection must be made for defraying the expense incurred. The world thinks I am very rich. A man, the other day, sent me word, that, if I did not lay £30 in a certain place, I should be killed. You yourselves, perhaps, think I get a great deal for preaching here; and, therefore, now that I am going away, I will tell you my stated allowance for preaching at the Tabernacle. I have no more from this place than £100 a year; and, yet, when I asked last night how the accounts stood, I was told there were £50 arrears. ‘Well,’ I said, ‘ungrateful as it is to me, I will make a collection, that all may be left free.’ There are not six people in this Tabernacle from whom I have had the value of a guinea from last January to the present month of August; nor have I had a guinea from all the ordinances of the place towards bearing the expenses of my voyage” (p. 372).

These Whitefieldiana might easily be multiplied, but sufficient have been given to shew the familiar, and (as some will think) the objectionable style used by Whitefield at the close of his public ministry. His sermons now, as compared with those he published at the commencement of his career, were notably inferior. As compared with the sermons preached and printed by Wesley, they were a perfect contrast. They were neither scriptural expositions nor doctrinal disquisitions; but free and easy talk, intermixed with anecdotes, personal reminiscences, and quaint quotations. Matthew Henry’s Exposition was Whitefield’s favourite Commentary; and to this circumstance Wesley attributed the quaintness of Whitefield’s style. In the preface to his “Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament,” published in 1765, Wesley, with an obvious reference to Whitefield, says:—

“I omit” (in these Notes) “abundance of Mr. Henry’s quaint sayings and lively antitheses; as, ‘God feeds His birds. Shall He not feed His babes?’ I used once to wonder, whence some, whom I greatly esteem, had so many pretty turns in preaching. But when I read Mr. Henry, my wonder ceased. I saw they were only copying after him: although probably without designing it. They generally consulted his exposition of their text, and frequently just before preaching. And, hence, little witticisms and a kind of archness insensibly stole upon them, and took the place of that strong, manly eloquence, which they would otherwise have learned from the inspired writers.”

Two of Whitefield’s last sermons in England were preached at Gravesend, on Sunday, September 3, 1769. Hence the following, taken from St. James’s Chronicle, for September 7: “On Saturday last, the Rev. Mr. Whitefield went from town to Gravesend, where he preached, on Sunday morning, in the Methodist Tabernacle, and, in the evening, in the Market Place.” Whitefield himself writes:—

“Sunday, September 3. Preached this morning at the Methodist Tabernacle, from John xii. 32. The congregation was not very large, but God gave me great freedom of speech. In the afternoon, I preached in the Market Place, from Genesis iii. 13, to a much larger, but not more devout auditory. In the outskirts, some were a little noisy, but most were very attentive, and I was enabled to lift up my voice like a trumpet. The evening was spent, as the night before, with my Christian friends from London.”

“Monday, September 4. Had my dear Christian friends on board to breakfast with me this morning. Conversation was sweet, but parting bitter. However, I was helped to bear up; and, after their departure the Divine Presence made up the loss of all.”635