appear to the first advantage, nor would Mr. Whitefield's sermons have had criminal defects, had they been revised with his own pen. In the fifth and sixth volumes of his works, all the ser. mons be ever printed are comprised. It is very easy to distinguish them which were pre-composed, from others which were preached extemporary. Of the latter, I notice Peter's denial of his Lord, and the true way of beholding the Lamb of God; Abraham's offering up his son Isaac ; Christ the believer's husband, and the resurrection of Lazarus. These and others preserve the extemporary style, and fully serve to discover the exactness of the preacher. He shines brightest with a long text, on which fancy has scope to play, and the mind has liberty to range. However exact he may appear in the page, it is impossible for the natural man, who discerneth not the things of the Spirit, to understand him. God may make the page printed, the instrument in his hand to convert the sinner, and then he will no longer ask, "Doth he not speak parables?" but till then, as living he was, so dead, he is liable to the lash of severity: but the same Providence that preserved his person, will maintain his works: and thus he being dead, yet speaketh, and will continue to speak for a great while to come. Whatever invidious remarks they may make upon his written discourses, they cannot invalidate his preaching. Mr. Toplady called him the prince of preachers, and with good reason, for none in our day preached with the like effect. It is probable I shall have occasion to make further mention of him in the course of the papers I have to communicate to 1 you. That a large measure of the Spirit with which he spake may rest upon you, and that you, with the supply of your measure of the gift of Christ, may be steadfast, unmoveable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord, until you cease to labour and enter into rest, is the prayer of, My very dear friend, LETTER T. MY VERY DEAR FRIEND, HAVING, in my last letter, taken the liberty to give my free thoughts of my ever honoured and dear friend and father, Mr. Whitefield, by whom, as an instrument in the hand of the Lord, I was brought into newness of life, I would again take up the thread of my own history. That God's people may review with gratitude what he hath done for them, their mind is to be the repository of his goodness. To Israel of old, God said by Moses, "Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee." The tongue cannot utter, nor the pen relate, if the memory do not retain. I cannot well forget the days of my youth. The period to which I am now recurring is fresh upon my mind. By refusing to join in the amusements to which I had been addicted, and by my retreat into retirement, I was taken notice of, and afforded matter for ridicule. It was visible to the whole family by the alteration of my conduct, and the sedateness of my deportment, that some change had taken place. My relation said that going to Whitefield's would keep me out of harm's way, and for a little while, he did not much object against it; but the storm of persecution soon began to arise; indeed my afflictions were many and great; but,blessed be God, they were made supportable by the comforts which refreshed my soul. Now a guide and companion was wanting to regulate my zeal, but such a one was not at hand. The good woman, however, who brought me under the word, did every thing in her power to cherish the work she had reason to hope was began, and I took sweet counsel with her. I soon became a sermon-hunter, and an admirer of all in whom I discovered the least disposition for the gospel. I began to recollect Mr. Romaine, whom I heard some years before, by straying one Thurs day afternoon, while on an errand, into St. Dunstan's, Fleet-street. I heard he preached at St. Bartholomew's, Smithfield; and going one Sunday morning there, I heard Mr. Haweis, by whom I was first and greatly comforted. O how precious was the word of the Lord to my soul that day! I feel something of it as I write, but it is more like the gathering of wind with a fan, than like the heavenly breeze which that day blew upon my soul.-Soon after this, I went to hear Mr. Hitchen, who preached at White's-row, Spitalfields, and, struck with his animating, ingenious, and critical expositions, delivered on Sabbath day mornings, I became a constant attendant for twelve months. To what to attribute it I know not, whether the novelty of the exercise, my superficial knowledge, or the magnitude of his gift, and the forcibleness of his delivery; but it appeared to me no man could excel him; hardly any one came up to him. The eager attention of a numerous auditory met and fastened upon his lively exertions; and when he closed his exercise, the people, relieving their attention, seemed to say one to another, We have heard great things to-day. Now it was that I wished to possess a Bible. I might by saving up the few pence which occasionally came to me, have bought one in time, but it was much impressed upon my mind, that I must beg one of Mr. Hitchen. The Bible which lay in the kitchen was withheld from me. I did not know that there was a book society, and when I had knocked at Mr. Hitchen's door, I was much alarmed at my presumption, and was tempted to run away. The idea of speaking to a minister, whom I held in the highest veneration, was formidable, and I was surprised at his condescension. He kindly attended to my request, and I hope I never shall forget the excellence of his advice, and the suitableness of his conversation. At the same time I consulted with him about entering into the Tabernacle society. He persuaded me to put aside this design for a while, and to be much in retirement. He also cautioned me against forming too favourable an opinion of professors from their exterior deportment, and I have frequently found the necessity of attending to it. The impression of our mind is often from God; I have found it to be so in many instances. By such an impression I became increasingly desirous to join the Tabernacle. I soon passed a favoura ble examination by Mr. Middleton, a truly excellent man of God, and was admitted. At this junc ture I begged the acquaintance of a most amiable youth, who for five years was my familiar friend. He was poor, but rich in grace. He had been renounced by his mother for his religion. Her prejudices were not to be conquered, nor her judgment to be informed; she died at enmity with him, though he sought in the most becoming manner to conciliate her affection. He died triumphantly, of a putrid fever, in which I gave him all the attendance in my power, and was affected, but not laid aside by it. He was in the time mentioned, but one, though the first of a circle of young people who met frequently in a poor woman's room, to sing, pray, and read the Scriptures together. It was a blessed retreat from the clamours of a noisy workshop, where I was exposed to cruelty and insult, from six in the morning until eight in the evening. The Bible now became my food. Whatever trials and temptations I was exposed to at this time, and they were very many, » I was comforted under them. We used to go to the house of God in company; I can never forget, how many seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord we had at the sacred supper; sometimes at St. Alban's church, Wood-street, at half an hour after six in the morning, winter and summer; but more generally at the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court chapel, at the same hour. At that time my constitution was feeble, and my clothing insufficient for the winter, but the comforts which refreshed my soul, made me superior to every thing I endured. To give scripture epithets to the places in which these seasons were enjoyed, they were Beth-els and Peni-els-they |