The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1880-11-06
wHITEFIELD AND WESLEY.

William Myall writes of Whiteheld
"With no companion but his Bible, and
no object but the salvation of sinners
from the dreadful fate which he believed
to be impending over them, he plunged
fearlessly into trackless forests, over un-
trodden mountains, across unfrequented
seas, through treacherous morasses and
swamps reeking with deadly miasma.-
Thirteen times he crossed the Atlantic
Ocean, when steam navigation was un-
known and the perils of the deep struck
terror even into Wesley. Almost as
many times he penetrated the tremend-
Gus solitude of those majestic forests
which then covered so much even Of the
eastern portion of the United States.-
Twice he preached through Ireland,
fourteen times he traversed Scotland,
one visit he made to Holland, one to
the Bcrmudas, and pilgrimages innumer-
able into almost every county in Eng
land. He was in the habit OF
speaking in the compass of a single
week, and that not once or twice, but
continuously for years, generally forty,
and very many weeks sixty hours FER
week, and to audiences of many thous-
ands of people.
= John Wesley, during min
stry Of fifty-two years, travelled over two
hundred and fifty thousand miles and
preached over forty thousand sermons,
making an average of eight hundred
every year. Excepting Wesley, it is
probable that no other man ever preach
Cd so many sermons rs Whiteficld. In
deed it has been said. and the statement
is warranted by facts drawn from sources
SO various and trustworthy that they
cannot be questioned, that "if the time
spent in travelling and some brief inter-
walls OF reposc be subtracted, his whole
life may be said to have been consumed
in the delivery Of one continuous and
almost uninterrupted sermon"
There was general COM
plaint that all labor was practically sus-
pended at Whitefield's approach. Stores
were closed, shops deserted, factories
abandoned, while rude mechanics and
unlettcrcd laborerS, ncglecting the daily
toll upon which the support of their
families depended, could think Of moth
ing but hearing sermons or discussing
those great moral and psychological
problems which lead only into 4 laby.
rn;h OF reasoning too intricate for even
an Aristotle or Bacon. They sat and
listened unwearied until two o'clock in
the morning, regardless of the weather,
and unprotected save by the open
heavens.
"Whitefeld was fully conscious Of his
histrionic powers. and cultivated them
with an assiduity which would have
done credit to a disciple of Convent
Garden or Drry Lane. 1t was not
difficult for those who heard him often
to distinguish between sermons which
he had repeated before and both Gar
rick and Foote declared that he had
never reached his greatest perfection un-
I'll he had preached sermon forty times.
Then every sentence that was powcrlcss
had been pruned off, every gesture that
did not speak to the eye was omitted,
and the great preacher stood before his
great audiences the impersonation Of 4
divine power, armed with the wrath Of
Jehovah or clothed with the gentle
meekncSs OF the Son OF Man.
While preaching to con-
grega,ion OF sailors in New York he
compared the state of the sinner to 4
ship about to be lost at sea. elbow the
waves arise and dash against the ship!"
exclaimed he. "'rhe air is dark, the
tempest RACES Our masts are gone.
the ship is on her beam ends? What
next ?"-'.The long boat Take to
the long boat ~ shouted the sailors
naively, springing to their feet.
"On anotheEoccasion, while address.
ing 4 congregation among whom were
many learned and aristocratic hearers,
SO powerfully did he expose the peril Of
the sinner by describing blind man,
deserted by his dog, and cropping along
with his cane, unconsciously drawing
nearer and nearer to a frightful abyss,
that, just as he brought hinlto its brink,
the elegant and polished Lord Chester
field, forgetting the presence he was in,
exclaimed aloud, "My God, he is
gone !'-/xttynahioaai Res1eac /or SEP
hm6ey.