river to pass over but the river Jordan, I remember I told you you so; and as the Orphan-house was then to be given, I thought, out of my hands, I then intended to retire into some little corner, and pray when I could not preach, my spirits were so low, and my nerves and animal frame so weak, but God, of his infinite mercy, has renewed my strength, and is pleased to raise my spirits, so that I find my heart is willing to go here or there, wherever God shal call.

The Orphan-house being turned into a college, is a matter of great consequence; you that have not been in America cannot tell, but I heartily wish, (I am neither a prophet, nor the son of a prophet,) and hope none of us will ever be driven to America for an asylum, where God's people were driven from this land an hundred years ago: clouds are growing thick, and if a spirit of moderation does not prevail among governors and governed, what but confusion must happen to persons who strive one with another, and are making sport for the devil by destroying one another? May the great and gracious God avert every impending storm; and by diffusing a spirit of moderation, and of a sound mind, and by keeping his people close to himself, avert those storms, those terrible judgments, that we have reason to expect from our repeated provocations. I am going now to settle the Orphan-house upon a proper basis; I go now in the fall, that I may be in Georgia in the winter, which is fine weather there. The twenty-fifth of March is the anniversary of the day on which I laid the first brick of the Orphan-house; by that time, I hope, all the buildings will be finished, and the plantation settled; and then I hope to go and preach along the continent to New England, and from thence I intend, if God permit me, to return to my dear London and English friends again.

I have blessed news from the Orphan-house: one writes me word, Would to God you could send a thousand such as you have sent, Mr. Dixon and his wife, that have been old servants there; Mr. Wright, Mr. Crayne, and Mr. Wright's brother, and those that have been employed with them to carry on the work of the Lord; and I cannot think but God intends to lay a foundation for a blessed seminary for Christ: Lord Jesus, hear our prayers upon that account.

Now, I must come to the hardest part I have to act; I was afraid when I came out from home, that I could not bear the shock, but I hope the Lord Jesus Christ will help me to bear it, and help you to give me up to the blessed God, let him do with me what he will. This is the thirteenth time of my crossing the mighty waters; it is a little difficult at this time of life; and though my spirits are improved in some degree, yet weakness is the best of my strength: but I delight in the cause, and God fills we with a peace that is unutterable, which nobody knows, and a stranger intermeddles not with: into his hands I commend my spirit; and I beg that this may be the language of your hearts, Lord, keep him, let nothing pluck him out of thy hands. I expect many a trial while I am on board, Satan

always meets me there; but that God who has kept me, I believe will keep me. I thank God, I have the honour of leaving every thing quite well and easy at both ends of the town; and, my dear hearers, my prayers to God shall be, that nothing may pluck you out of Christ's hands. Witness against me, if I ever set up a party for myself; did ever any minister, or could any minister in the world say, that I ever spoke against any one going to any dear minister? I thank God, that he has enabled me to be always strengthening the hands of all, though some have afterwards been ashamed to own me. I declare to you,

that I believe God will be with me, and will strengthen me; and I believe it is in answer to your prayers, that God is pleased to revive my spirits: may the Lord help you to pray on. If I am drowned in the waves, I will say, Lord, take care of my London, take care of my English friends, let nothing pluck them out of thy hands.

And as Christ has given us eternal life, O my brethren, some of you, I doubt not, will be gone to him before my return; but, my dear brethren, my dear hearers, never mind that; we shall part, but it will be to meet again for ever. I dare not meet you now, I cannot bear your coming to me, to part from me; it cuts me to the heart, and quite overcomes me, but by and by all parting will be over, and all tears shall be wiped away from our eyes. God grant that none that weep now at my parting, may weep at our meeting at the day of judgment; and if you never were among Christ's sheep before, may Christ Jesus bring you now. O come, come, see what it is to have eternal life; do not refuse it; haste, sinner, haste away may the great, the good Shepherd, draw your souls. Oh! if you never heard his voice before, God grant you may hear it now; that I may have this comfort when I am gone, that I had last, that some souls are awakened at the parting sermon. O that it may be a farewell sermon to you; that it may be a means of your taking a farewell of the world, the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life. O come, come, come, to the Lord Jesus Christ; to him I leave you.

And you, dear sheep, that are already in his hands, O may God keep you from wandering; God keep you near Christ's feet; I do not care what shepherds keep you, so as you are kept near the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls. The Lord God keep you, lift up the light of his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen.

1

THE

CHARACTER, PREACHING, &c.

OF THE

REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD,

IN A SERMON PREACHED AT CHARLESTOWN, SOUTH CAROLINA, MARCH 26th, 1740, BY JOSEPH SMITH, V. D. M.

JOB Xxxii. 17.-I said, I will answer also my part; I also will shew my

opinion.

son

My design from this text, is to shew my impartial opinion of that " of thunder," who has lately graced and warmed this desk; and would have been an ornament, I think, to the best pulpit in the province.— Happy shall I think myself, if I can only clinch the nails this great master of assemblies has already fastened. Like Elihu, the gallant youth before us, "I am now full of matter; the spirit within me constraineth me: my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles; I will speak, that I may be refreshed." Others have freely spoken their sentiments of the wondrous man before me; and I have heard the defaming, as well as the applause, of many. "I said, therefore, I will answer also my part; I will also shew my opinion." In this I design no offence-nor would I give flattering titles to any man, lest my Maker should take me away.

The scheme proposed is,

I. To shew my opinion of the doctrines he insisted upon, and well established.

II. To speak something of the manner of his preaching.

III. To offer my sentiments upon his personal character.

Lastly. To give my thoughts, what Providence seems to have in its view in raising up men of this stamp, in our day, almost every where spoken against--yet crowded after, and justly admired.

That ministers of the Gospel are called "masters of assemblies," see Paul's Annotations on Eccl. xii. 11,

I. I shall give you my opinions of the doctrines he insisted upon among us.

To speak more generally

They were doctrines, I am of opinion, agreeable to the dictates of reason; evidently founded upon scripture; exactly correspondent with the articles of the establishment; of great use and necessity in forming the Christian life, which I had early imbibed from the best writers and systems; from which I had never yet seen reason to recede-and which, therefore, you are witnesses I have not failed to introduce and inculcate in the course of my ministry among you.

To be more particular;

One of the doctrines, which he has hardly passed over in silence, in any single discourse, is that of original sin; a truth so manifest in scripture, that I am almost of opinion it is impossible any sincere, diligent, and unprejudiced inquirer should miss it-for it is written in sun-beams, that a man may run and read.

By original sin, I mean nothing less than the imputation of Adam's first sin to all his posterity, by ordinary generation; which imputation is the resultance of his being constituted to act for them in the extensive capacity of a legal representative; the consequence of which is, that inherent corruption of nature, and those sinful propensities, we are now born with into the world. As to the point of imputation, it is a doctrine, it must be confessed, of more intricacy; about which, it is therefore possible, a wellmeaning man may labour under some scruples, while, perhaps, he allows the depravity of human nature; though I must beg leave to express my surprise, that any person of judgment should maintain this depravity, and not immediately discover its necessary connection with imputation, and how impossible it is to secure the justice of God, without having recourse to it for, certainly, the corruption of human nature, so universal and inseparable, is one of the greatest punishments that could be inflicted upon the species; and that it is inflicted, appears from hence, that "God made man at first upright," Now, if there be no previous imputation, to lay a legal foundation for this punishment, then God has inflicted an evident punishment upon a race of men perfectly innocent, and which had neither sinned personally, nor yet by imputation; and thus, while we imagine we honour the justice of God by renouncing imputation, we, in fact, pour the highest dishonour upon that sacred attribute. This, I fear, is the grand reason why the adversaries of original sin labour so hard to explode the depravity of nature; for, should they once admit that, they are conscious they must admit imputation too. I say, I fear this is the grand reason. How else is it possible a man should question a truth, written, in capitals, upon the moral world? a truth we feel in every power of our souls! what we read upon our own hearts-and is, indeed, stamped upon universal nature, within our horizon; and which the more righteous any man is, the more he feels and groans under. We need not wonder, then, our late incomparable preacher should insist upon original sin, when we consider not only in what an incontestable manner he proved it, but of what vast importance it must be. For, to give my opinion freely, I cannot think, I cannot see, how the Christian scheme can be consistent with itself, or supported with honour, without this basis. I look upon it, not merely as a doctrine of the scriptures, the great fountain of truth, but a very fundamental one; from which, I hope, God will suffer none of you to be enticed by any sophistry of the subtle disputers of this world, or charms of language.

But to proceed:

For

Another doctrine we have lately had, in the warmest language, impressed upon us, is that Pauline one, of justification by faith alone. And here you will remember how the preacher vindicated himself from all suspicions of Antinomian error, and opening a door to licentious manners; for while, on the one hand, he earnestly contended for our justification as the free gift of God, by faith alone in the blood of Christ, an article of faith delivered to the saints of old-so, on the other hand, he took special care to guard against the licentious abuse of it, and would not make void the law, when he asserted that good works were the necessary fruits and evidences of true faith; telling us plainly, and with the clearest distinction, that a man was justified these three ways; meritoriously by Christ, instrumentally by faith alone, declaratively by good works. And believe me, my brethren, this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and the writings of the apostles. when Abraham believed God, was not it (his faith) imputed to him for righteousness? And yet was not Abraham, our father, justified by works, when he had offered Isaac, his son, upon the altar? How shall we, then, reconcile this? Why, very easily. The act of this faith justified him through Christ, and the offering of Isaac justified that faith; the first in the sight of God, the other in the sight of man. In justification faith precedes, works follow after; for if works precede, or had any causal influence in our justification, we might seem to have whereof to glory before God. But here it is the free gift of God, and boasting for ever excluded. God, when he justifies a man, never finds, but makes him holy, without any previous merit, of which there can be no shadow in an apostate creature. No; "By grace ye are saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." And, could I live the most exact life ever man lived; could I even excel the virtues of the pious preacher himself; could I produce as many good works as the saints, in all ages, collected together, I would not, for ten thousand worlds, put my justification upon them; I would only consider them as bright and pleasant evidences of the truth of my faith in Christ. Good works are valuable things; God forbid we should lisp a word against them in their proper place; we plead for them, we press the practice of them, as incumbent upon all Christians; but we cannot allow them any share in our justification before God. They may prove we are justified; but they cannot justify us. No, verily Not by works of rignteousness, which we have done, but of his own mercy, God saveth us." Hitherto, then, our preacher is orthodox in his doctrine, which both excludes licentiousness, establishes the law, and exalts free grace-the evident design and language of the gospel; and which, I am of opinion, every minister of Christ should earnestly contend for: because the sinner must first see himself naked, before he will come to Christ for his white raiment-the pure and fine linen, which is the righteousness of the saints, and which I counsel you all to buy of him.

Regeneration was another great doctrine which the excellent man much insisted upon; hardly a single sermon but he mentioned it, sometimes more than twice; and one, and perhaps the best of his discourses, was ex professo upon this subject. Nor can any man be surprised, that a minister of the New Testament should so heartily espouse a principle which our Lord himself began to speak, and asserted as a fundamental point of Christianity, indispensably requisite to eternal life; and this with so much vehemency, and earnest repetition. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, (from above,) he cannot see the kingdom of God."