The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1871-07-01

| other knowledge OF their author, the accounts
| which have been handed down Of the effects that
attended his preaching could scarcely seem 9th.
erwise than incredible In speaking of the printed
| sermons, his latest and mos: sympathiziny biog.
rapher is constrained TO confess 'their tameness,
"their feeble thought and unpublished language
ct nothing is better attested than the immense
effects, unparalleled, believed, in the history
OF eloQuence, which were produced by their de.
| livery. The preaching tours of Whitefeld-and
his life was little less than succession of them
were often like triumphal professions, in which
be was escorted by bands Of enthusiastic horse.
men from place to place, and awaited at every
halt by crowds vi insatiate listeners, who could
meyer have enough of his unprecedented orato-
ry. Audiences of ten, twenty, and even thirty
thousand, used to hang for hours on his lips !;
sometimes troopihg together from the whole
countryside long before daylight to hear him !;
sometimes through pelting rain, or far into the
night, standing around him as if entranced, and
unable to tear themselves away; and over these
vast multitudes his power was supreme, and at
his will he hushed them into awe-s,ricken 81.
lence, or melted them into passionate weeping,
or drew from them cries and groans that at
times almost drowned his voice.
Wherever he went it was the same. The
rude Somersetshire GOLFERS, among whom he
first tried open-air preaching, were moved to
tears by his appeals. The rabble of Moorfelds,
arrested in the midst of theii coarse sports. were
held subdued and charmed by the spell of bis
tervid oratory, and then poured out their cop.
pers for the support OF his orphanage in such
abundance that the collection was heavier than
single man could carry home. Among the 60.
Der Scotch the enthusiasm excited by his preach
ing WAS no less. On one OCCASION to give
specimen, we are told that, as the night darken-
ed over his vast audience, his word went through
1t like shot piercing regiment OF soldiers, cast
ing many to the ground, groaning and fainting
beneath the vehemeacs of their emotions
Crossing the Atlantic dozen times, he preached
throughout the length and breadth of the British
settlements of North America, and almost eve
rywhere with the same surprising results
There, too, his word smote like a hammer, and
pierced like sword to fail Of melting his con.
gregatiOn into tears was a rare occurrence,
which, once happening in Philadelphia while he
was preaching against the Deist 70 dry subject,
was the talk of the town. and the cemmoner
result was that numbers OF his hearers were VIC.
lently affected, and cried out in uncontro liable
agony OF spirit, or with visagss pale as death fell
fanting into tho arms of their friends The CD.
position that he occasionally met with only
brought out more strikingy the power of his
speech. Those who came with set purpose to
scott aad to hinder coon felt themselves over.
powered by the irresistible power of his voice,
ah4 eitueE sldyeu 10 listen or SUNK
away disappointed of their sport.
Nor were they only the ignorant and excitable
that yielded to the extraordinary fascination Of
Of his oratory No shrewder listener ever stood
in trent OF him than the celebrated Benjamin
Franklin; and how little even he was able to
resist the charm is shown by the amusing story
which he tells Of himself. Whitefield had con.
suited Franklin about the locality of his yropos.
ed orph .house, but had refused to act upon his
advice; and the refusal had determined Frank.
lin not to subscribe. II happened soon AFTER
said Franklin, "tO attend one of his sermons, in
course of which l perceived he intended TO fin.
ish with collection, and silently resolved he
should get nothing from me- had in my peck.
ct handful of copper money, three or four sil.
yer dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As he
proceeded, began to soften, and concluded to
give him the copper. Another stroke of his or.
atory made me ashamed of that, and determin.
ed me to give the silver, and he finished so ad.
miiably that emptied my pocket wholly into
the collectors dish, gold and ALL II any one
could have resisted the spell, one would have
thought it must have been Chesterfield; yet
even of him it is related thst on one occasion
when Whitefeld was describing blind man
cropping his way unawares toward a precpise,
till he stumbled on the edge in the act Of taking
the fatal step over, the Peer could not help
springing forward in an agony from his seat, ex.
claiming, Good God he is gone"
w hat was the secret OF his extraordinary pow.
err! The answer may be summed up, We think,
in this brief form,-that Whitefeld's strength
lay In the concurrence OF two elements of his
nature the lower, his magnificent dramatic
faculty; the higher, his passionate love for every
sinful soul that heard the Gospel from his lips.
lie delivery was superior to the matter Of his
discourses; the mans heart was above his for.
NAL iptal iaotu T-o,,
ing; much of his theology was narrow, some of
it even revolving and moustrous But the phil
anthrOpy that burned in his breast and the ora.
torical expression that was given to it by his
whole demeanor and delivery were alike incom.
parable, and in their combination they were ir.
resAtible.
Garrick was acting while Whitefeld was
preaching; and it would have been high tri.
butte to the latter's dramatic faculty to have
called him the Garriok of the pulpit. But the
discrimination of the public paid him still
higher compliment, by styling Garrick the
Whitefeld of the stage. This faculty of the
great preacher aided by every natural gift
that could lend it force. To fine person, an
expressive countenasce, and a sweet rich voice,
of compass and fexibility enough to express
every emotion, and of power to reach thirty
thousand hearers at once in the open air, were
added an emotional temperament, which would
at one moment break out into passionate weep
ing, and at another flash into lofty indignation,
or melt into contagious tenderness, and q felici-
ty of gesture which seconded every phrase, and
brought before his audience each scene that he
described almost as wildly as if it had been
present to their eyes. We have seen how the
fastidious Peer was startled out of his selfpos-
session by the orators pictorial power; and many
will recollect the similar anecdotc of congrs.
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