LETTER CCCCXXXV.
To Mr. D—— A——, in London.
Edinburgh, July 30, 1742.
Dear Brother A——,
WHAT is the meaning I hear no oftner from you? It always gives me great pleasure to hear of your welfare. I write to you as often as possible. At present I am somewhat indisposed in body; but, glory be to God, the joy of the Lord is in my soul. I feel a blessing I cannot express.
July 31.
So far I wrote yesterday, but was obliged through illness to leave off.—Notwithstanding, in the pulpit the Lord out of weakness makes me to wax strong, and causes me to triumph more and more. One of the associate presbytery has published the most virulent pamphlet I ever saw, ascribing all that has been done here, and even in New-England, &c. to the influence of the devil. O how prejudice will blind the eyes even of good men. Last night some of my friends thought I was going off; but how did Jesus fill my heart! To-day I am, as they call it, much better; next post, if able, I will send you some more news. My health will not permit me to enlarge now. In less than a month, we are to have another sacrament at Cambuslang, a thing not practised before in Scotland. I entreat all to pray in an especial manner for a blessing at that time. Our blessed master is exceeding good to us. O help me to praise him for the signal unmerited mercies conferred on, dear brother A——,
Your most affectionate brother and servant in Christ,
G. W.
LETTER CCCCXXXVI.
To Mr. H—— B——, in South-Carolina.
August 6, 1742.
Dear Mr. B——,
I Have just been walking with a nobleman in his fine house, and likewise talking with him about the house not made with hands, of which you and I are heirs. Blessed be God, who has given us the earnest of an inheritance amongst all them that are sanctified. This you shall surely in a very little time be a possessor of, notwithstanding of late satan has bruised your heel. That cunning, cruel archer has shot sorely at you, that you might fall, but the Lord has been, and the Lord will be your helper. Even this shall work together for good to your own and many other souls. Our Saviour would never have given satan leave to have sifted you, had he not prayed for you, and intended to bring great good out of it. If it makes you more like a little child, and your friends and acquaintance more watchful and self-diffident, it will be very well. O dear Sir, I see every day plainer and plainer that I am nothing, have nothing, and can do nothing, and yet I can do all things through Jesus Christ strengthening me. What God has lately done for me and his church, is unspeakable. Ere long I hope to tell you face to face. In the mean time, be pleased to remember me in your prayers and praises. Accept my hearty thanks for all favours conferr’d on my orphan family. Be pleased to remember me in the kindest and most cordial manner, to all your dear relations, and believe me to be, dear Mr. B——,
Your most obliged affectionate friend, brother and servant in Christ,
G. W.
LETTER CCCCXXXVII.
To Mr. R—— S——.
Strath-martin, August 10, 1742.
Dear brother Robert,
I Can never let a letter of yours lie long unanswered. The love I bear to you and yours is unfeigned, and I continually remember you before the Lord. His word runs and is much glorified in these parts. I trust it also makes advances in your soul. How is it with you, my dear brother R——? Do you grow in grace? Is the world more under your feet than usual? Do you find a real, solid, abiding rest in Jesus Christ? Or is it only transitory and superficial? It is a very uncommon thing to be rooted and grounded in the love of Jesus. I find persons may have the idea, but are far from having the real substance. To say, “I am a poor sinner,” and to be a poor sinner indeed, are two different things. Methinks I hear my dear man say, and so they are. Well then, let us go to Jesus, and he will make us poor and yet free. Blessed be his name, I feel the power of his precious, life-giving, all-atoning blood more and more every day. I was happy when at London. I am ten times happier now. The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. How is my dear Peter? Is his heart yet established and settled upon the rock? Or is the dove only fluttering about the door of the ark? If so, may the dear Redeemer reach out his almighty and extended arm, and take him in! Dear B—— I hope grows, because he seems to see more of his heart. We shall certainly bear fruit upwards, in proportion as we take root downwards. May the eternal spirit breathe upon this letter, and bless it to your soul! O my brother, keep close to Jesus. Do not be content, unless you feel a sensible growth in your soul. Accept my hearty love from,
Ever yours,
G. W.
LETTER CCCCXXXVIII.
To P——, at London.
Strath-martin, August 10, 1742.
Dear P——,
THE great trouble which I gave you when at London, and the readiness you shewed in waiting upon a poor unworthy minister of Christ, hath made me often to pray for you, and also to hope, that in time you would be brought to love the Lord Jesus himself. I trust that time is now come, and that the glorious Emmanuel hath at length captivated and taken full possession of your heart. Will you give me leave to ask a few friendly questions? Has religion sunk out of your head into your heart? You was civilized when I was at London: Are you yet really converted? Your affections were now and then raised towards,—are they now centered in and fixed on the Lord Jesus? If you can answer these questions in the affirmative, I pronounce you a wise virgin, even wise to eternal salvation; blessed art thou among women. If not, I do not despair of you. Jesus can change the heart. Jesus can make of a proud pharisee, a poor sinner. Let you and I then, dear P——, apply to the Redeemer’s blood. He can wash us as white as snow. I feel his power every day more and more, and so do those with me. May we go on from strength to strength, till grace be swallowed up in glory. We see great days of the son of man in Scotland. May the kingdom of God come with full power over all the earth! The Lord be with you. Accept this as a token of unfeigned love, from
Your affectionate friend and servant in Christ,
G. W.
LETTER CCCCXXXIX.
To Mr. B——, at the Orphan-house.
Cambuslang, August 17, 1742.
AND has my dear brother B—— got the start of me? What, put into prison before me? I wish you joy, my dear brother, with all my heart. Had I been at Savannah, surely I would gladly have come (and if there had been need) gladly have washed your feet. I doubt not but your imprisonment was for Christ’s sake. I am persuaded, the letter from your friend that doubted, was the sorest stab of all; but all is intended to draw us from the creature, even from the new creature, and bring us nearer to the Creator, God blessed for evermore. Paul’s friends deserted, and no doubt judged him. “All they in Asia forsook me,” says he; and again, “At my first trial no man stood by me;” and what follows? but “the Lord stood by me:” and will he not, dear brother, also stand by you? I cannot help believing but that Georgia will yet be a glorious colony. The counsel of God shall stand. He surely put it into my heart to build the Orphan-house. He certainly brought you to Georgia to superintend it. He will bless you and yours. I join in blessing God with you, and in admiring how he has spread a table for my dear family in that wilderness. But what shall we say? The Lord loves to encourage faith; and since his honour is so much concerned, I am sure he will vindicate it, and never suffer his enemies to say thus of us, “There, there, so would we have it.” I am kept from the least doubting; and God only knows how many prayers of faith I have put up for you. I have often wished as it were for the wings of a dove, that I might fly unto you, and take you one by one into my unworthy arms, and weep over you with tears of love. Blessed be God, the time draws near apace. I am just now about to publish a further account of the Orphan-house, and hope shortly to collect some more money towards its support. I am blessed with far greater success than ever, and satan roars louder. You will see by what I here send, how the archers of different classes shoot at me; but the Lord (for ever adored be his never-failing love) causes my bow to abide in strength, and enables me to triumph in every place. The comforts and success the Lord gives to me, is unspeakable. Last Lord’s day, I believe there were here thirty thousand people, and above two thousand five hundred communicants. The work spreads, and I believe will yet spread. My bodily strength is daily renewed, and I mount on the wings of faith and love like an eagle. I can only cry Grace! grace! My dear brother, I feel every day more and more, that I am a poor, very poor sinner. I often wonder why Jesus suffers me to live, much more to speak for him. But he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. O free grace! Oh unparalleled love of an infinitely condescending God! Whilst I am musing, the fire kindles. Surely we shall have a happy meeting in Georgia. My Master will, I trust, come along with me. Otherwise, may I not go up hence. In the mean while, I pray him to quicken and revive your dear souls, and fill you as with new wine. Thus he deals with me and mine daily. I am retired for a day, on purpose to write letters. The Lord bless them to your dear souls, whom I love in the bowels of Jesus Christ. I wish you had told me who stood by at Savannah and brought you refreshment. Greet them, and give them particular thanks in my name. My heart is full; I know not how to stop. But I must write to the trustees, and to others. I heard nothing of the affair, till I received your letter last week. A word or two of yours to Mr. O——, I think a little too harsh; but Paul spoke once a little too harsh to the high-priest. Our Jesus will overlook this; and reward you for your imprisonment by and by. Adieu! my dear man, adieu! Forget not,
Ever yours,
G. W.
LETTER CCCCXL.
To the Honourable Trustees for Georgia.
Cambuslang, Aug. 17, 1742.
Honoured Gentlemen,
SOME letters, which I received last week from Georgia, occasion my troubling you with this, which I doubt not will meet with a candid reception at your hands. I find that Mr. H—— and Mr. B—— have been taken up by a warrant, and were imprisoned above a week, for a thing which, I believe, none of you, honoured gentlemen, will judge cognizable by the civil magistrate. It seems that Mr. B——, in a private conversation with Mr. O——, (who, I suppose, is the present minister of Savannah) told him, “He was no ‘christian’; that he wondered at the impudence of young men in subscribing articles they did not believe; and that he should think it his duty to warn his friends not to hear him.” I acknowledge that such language was too harsh; but Mr. H——, who did not say near so much, was linked in the same prosecution, and imprisoned with him. Mr. J——, who was then at Frederica, being informed of it, declared such a procedure to be illegal; and his Excellency General Oglethorp, desired my friends to lay the matter before the board of the Honourable Trustees. I being now upon the spot, they have sent to me a very particular account of what has passed; which, if you please, honoured gentlemen, I will transmit unto you, or, when I come to London, will wait upon you in person. I find also, that my friends were denied a copy of the proceedings of the court: in which, I am persuaded the honourable gentlemen to whom I am writing, will think they have been wronged. My friends require no satisfaction, but only desire such a proceeding may be animadverted upon; knowing that otherwise it will be a great discouragement to people’s settling in Georgia. I am sorry also to inform you, honoured gentlemen, that five very small children, (Swiss or Dutch) whose parents lately died in their passage from England, have had their goods sold at Vendue, and are bound out till the age of twenty-one years. This I think directly contrary to the grant given me by you, honoured gentlemen; for thereby I was impowered to take as many orphans into the house as my fund would admit of. The magistrates, I understand, have also been at the Orphan-house, and claim a power to take away the children when they please, whether the children chuse it, or complain of ill-treatment, or not. This grieves some of the children, and makes others of them insolent, who are hereby taught, that they have a power to go away when they will. This, honoured gentlemen, must be very discouraging to those who are entrusted with their education; and who, I am persuaded, aim at nothing but the glory of God, the welfare of the colony, and the salvation of the children’s souls. I suppose that the magistrates (I mean Mr. P—— and Mr. T——) have taken such a liberty from the instructions which were sent, honoured gentlemen, from you some time ago. But Mr. J—— has told them, they have misunderstood you; and his Excellency General Oglethorp I find has wrote to you, honoured gentlemen, about it. By the accounts I have, our plantation thrives well; and Mr. H—— hopes we shall do with white servants alone. I do assure you, honoured gentlemen, I will do all I can, with the most disinterested views, to promote the good of Georgia: only I beg the management of the Orphan-house, and orphans, may be secured to me and my successors for ever; and that the magistrates be not suffered to disturb us, when there is no ground of complaint. They acknowledged, when at the Orphan-house last, that the children were taken good care of, both as to their bodies and souls; and will it not then, honoured gentlemen, tend much to the welfare of the colony, that the Orphan-house should meet with all possible encouragement. His Excellency General Oglethorp has informed my friend Mr. H——, that, if I desired it, he thought you would grant me a greater tract of land, which I should be obliged to give away in a certain term of years, and that we might have our own magistrates, as have the people of Ebenezer. Whether I shall desire such a favour, I know not; but, if I should, I desire to know, what you, honoured gentlemen, would say to it. Many have applied to me to settle in Georgia; hitherto I could give them no encouragement. I wish I may be enabled to give them a great deal for the future. Indeed, honoured gentlemen, I do not desire to find fault. I doubt not but you have been prejudiced both against me and my friends. The event will shew what friends we are to Georgia. The Orphan-house will certainly be of great utility to the colony; and the children educated therein, I trust, will be the glory of the society to which they belong. They are bred up to industry, as well as to other things; and are taught to fear God, and honour the king. I am glad to hear that you have lately sent over a gentleman who (I suppose) will do justice. I think I desire nothing else; and heartily pray God to bless him, and you, honoured gentlemen, and all that are concerned in the management of Georgia affairs. I hope to be in town in about two months; in the mean while, I would beg the favour of a line by your secretary; and also entreat you, honoured gentlemen, to write to the magistrates of Savannah, to let the Orphan-house managers alone. If I or my friends should happen to say or do any thing amiss, I assure you, honoured gentlemen, you shall have all possible satisfaction given you by them, and also by, honoured gentlemen,
Your very humble servant,
G. W.
LETTER CCCCXLI.
To Mr. H——, in Georgia.
Cambuslang, Aug. 17, 1742.
My very dear Friend and Brother,
WITH a great deal of pleasure I received your letters dated May 14th, 26th, 29th, and June 1st. Blessed be God! for all his goodness, in providing for my dear family in that wilderness, by such various unexpected ways. It caused my heart to leap for joy. I find you have been wrongfully imprisoned. I should have been glad (if time had permitted) that you had wrote me word, how it has been with your soul under such a circumstance. I hope the spirit of Christ and of glory rested upon you. Glad should I have been to have sung and prayed with you; but my hour is not yet come. I have just now wrote to the trustees, and intend waiting upon them as soon as I come to London. I am persuaded the Lord will influence their hearts to do us justice. I am glad you wrote so properly to the General, and that God hath given you favour in his sight. “When a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes his very enemies to be at peace with him.” I intend sending him and Mr. Jones a letter of thanks. I owe Mr. S—— only about ninety pounds, and about a hundred and fifty more in all, upon the Orphan-house account in England. I am just publishing a further account, which I am persuaded the Lord will bless. I would not have you to undertake any business you do not like. I think the Lord has fitted you for your present station. Professor Franck held it dangerous to change persons frequently, who were entrusted with the care of the orphans. I am of your opinion as to hiring servants.—It is impossible to tell you, my dear man, what I have seen, heard, and felt since I came last to Scotland. The glorious Emmanuel rides daily on in the chariot of his gospel, from conquering and to conquer. The congregations are just like that at Fogg-Manor.—I am opposed on all sides. Dear Mr. E——’s people have lately kept a fast upon my account. The kirk presbyters also, now they see the Seceders splitting, notwithstanding I have been instrumental in God’s hands, in some degree, in stopping the secession, begin to call some of their ministers to account for employing me: but who can stand before envy? In the midst of all, my dear Master keeps me leaning upon himself, and causes me to walk in the comforts of the Holy Ghost from morning to night. I wish time would have allowed you to have wrote a little about his love, and to have abounded more in thanks for the opportune supplies which he sent you. But I am sure that my dear Mr. H—— is not wanting in either of these. I think that I see you grow in grace. I assure you, you are dearer to me than ever. My wife readily excuses your not writing, knowing what it is to be in a hurry of business. O pray that we may have a prosperous voyage to you, by the will of God. By this time I suppose you are a father. May God teach you and your wife how to order the child! I have much to say to you both, when I see you. My dear old friend, and first fellow-traveller, God has yet great blessings in store for us. He will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he with-hold from them that lead a godly life. Methinks I am conversing with you now. May God give us a happy meeting! He will, he will! For the present I must bid my dear man good night. I stole this day from public preaching, to dispatch my private affairs. All join in hearty love to, and prayers for you. Accept of the same in the most tender manner, from, my dear Mr. H——,
Your most affectionate friend, brother, and servant till death,
G. W.
LETTER CCCCXLII.
To his Excellency General Oglethorp.
Cambuslang, Aug. 18, 1742.
Honoured Sir,
I Most heartily thank you for being so kind to my family in Georgia, and for espousing my friends cause when I think they were apparently wronged. In a letter, I yesterday laid the case before the honourable trustees, not doubting but they will preserve us from oppression, and from persecution in all its shapes. I think we have only the glory of God, and the good of the colony at heart. Prejudices may be raised against us by evil reports and misrepresentations; but your Excellency is more noble than to hearken to insinuations, which are not supported by evident matters of fact. I am sure God will bless you for defending the cause of the fatherless, and espousing the cause of injured innocence. My friends, I trust, will at all times readily acknowledge any thing they may either say or do wrong; and, if I know any thing of my own heart, I would not offend any one causelessly and wilfully, for the world. In a few months I hope to see Georgia. In the mean while, I beg your Excellency to accept these few lines of thanks from, honoured Sir,
Your Excellency’s most obliged humble servant,
G. W.
LETTER CCCCXLIII.
To Thomas J——, Esq., in Georgia.
Cambuslang, Aug. 18, 1742.
Dear Mr. J——,
WITH this I send you my repeated thanks for your great kindness to my dear family. The Father of Mercies and the God of all Consolations will plentifully reward you for such well-doing. In a few months I hope to thank you in person. God hath done, and is still doing greater things for me than I am able to express. Indeed many souls have been born again, both in England and Scotland, since I left you at Georgia. I desire to cast my crown at the feet of Jesus, and to cry Grace! grace! Dear Sir, what a charming word is that? I am sure I can freely own, that all my salvation is of grace, unmerited, distinguishing, electing grace! If I could be saved by my own righteousness, I had rather be saved by the righteousness of Christ; because that way of salvation brings most glory to our glorious God. I doubt not but Mr. J—— is like-minded. May he be so more and more, and daily feel the full power of the Redeemer’s blood! Be pleased to remember me to all that are pleased to enquire after unworthy me, who am, dear Sir,
Your most obliged friend and servant,
G. W.
LETTER CCCCXLIV.
To Mrs. B——, at the Orphan-house.
Cambuslang, Aug. 18, 1742.
Dear Sister B——,
HAS the Lord called for your dear lambs? If so, I trust you have been enabled to say, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord.” I am glad to find you was so well reconciled to your dear husband’s imprisonment. It is sweet when wives are strengthened to encourage their husbands in a suffering hour. Then are they helps meet for them indeed. You do well, my dear Sister, to lament the vileness of your heart. I find more and more that my heart is desperately wicked. But, blessed be God, I have a fountain to go and wash in every moment, even the blessed fountain of the Mediator’s blood. There I can have free access; there I can wash, and daily be made clean. Indeed, my dear sister, without dissimulation, I am a poor, very poor sinner; but I am rich in Jesus, and rejoice in his great salvation from day to day. I long to see you and my dear family, to acquaint you what God hath done for my soul: and yet he is still doing more and more. He does, he will delight to honour me. I thank you for the great respect you pay me for his great name’s sake. I will endeavour not to be behind with you, and the rest of my dear friends, in humility and love. I am, my dear sister, most sincerely,
Your affectionate friend, brother, and servant in Jesus Christ,
G. W.
LETTER CCCCXLV.
To Mr. B——.
Cambuslang, Aug. 18, 1742.
Dear Mr. B——,
I Think there is a mystery in the Lord’s dealing with you and your brother. Surely he would never suffer you to be thus tempted, did he not intend to honour you by and by. What our Saviour does to us now we know not; it is enough that he hath assured us we shall know hereafter. I rejoice to hear that you have so many christian negroes. I hope they are only the first-fruits of a more glorious harvest. Though the work may be at a stop for a while, fear not; Jesus will revive his own work in his own time. Notwithstanding our blunders, imprudence, and the opposition of enemies from without, yet the counsel of the Lord shall stand, and he will set his king upon his holy hill of Zion. The Mediator’s kingdom makes glorious advances here. I cannot tell you the hundredth part. I verily believe we shall see greater things abroad. I know you pray that I may have a prosperous journey to you, by the will of God. I expect to embark for Georgia in a few months. In the mean while, you shall not be forgotten by, dear Mr. B——,
Your most affectionate friend, brother and servant,
G. W.
LETTER CCCCXLVI.
To Mrs. T——, in South-Carolina.
Cambuslang, Aug. 18, 1742.
My dear Friend,
I Am glad to hear by your sister, that you are become a despised follower of the lowly Jesus.—O glorious character! I am persuaded you had rather have that title truly applied to you, than to be empress of the universe. I long to see you, and to hear you tell what a happy change you feel. How does dear Mr. T——? Is he yet truly broken, and going hand in hand with you to heaven? Happy pair!—I know, by sweet experience, the comforts you enjoy. Death itself shall not part you. I hope, nothing that has happened to dear Mr. B—— will prove a stumbling block to your soul. Such things must be glory to him, that has said “all things shall work together for good.” My dear friends, what a mystery is the christian life? Happy those, who are acquainted with it. That it may be revealed more and more in your hearts, is the earnest prayer of, dear friends,
Your most affectionate friend, brother and servant in Christ,
G. W.
LETTER CCCCXLVII.
To Mr. H—— H——.
Cambuslang, Aug. 26, 1742.
My very dear Brother,
GLAD was I last night to receive a letter from your hands. I love your simple honest heart, and earnestly pray the dear Redeemer to give you a true, lasting, abiding rest in himself. Blessed be his name, I think I can say, through free grace, that I am in a measure entered into it, and know what it is by happy experience, to pass from glory to glory every day. My dear brother, I am opposed on every side; the archers shoot sore at me that I may fall, but the Lord is my helper. He causes my bow to abide in strength, and makes me more than conqueror through his love. The account sent with this, will shew you how often I have been enabled to preach; but with what efficacy and success, pen cannot describe. The glorious Redeemer seems to be advancing from congregation to congregation, carrying all before him. The Messrs. E——’s people have kept a fast for me, and give out, that all the work now in Scotland is only delusion, and by the agency of the devil. O, my dear brother, to what great lengths in bigotry and prejudice may good men run? Blessed be God, I can see the differences between God’s children, and yet love them from my heart. What you said about poor Wales, affected me. I laid upon my face this day, and for some time pleaded with groans unutterable, for direction in that, and several other matters of great consequence. I fear my dear brother thinks too highly of me. Indeed, I feel myself to be a poor sinner, and yet I am rich in Christ, and lean upon his bosom from morning to night; nay, all the night long. By his grace alone I am what I am; and if he is pleased to honour me so far, I should be glad to help the brethren in Wales. I am sorry to hear there has been such divisions. But dividing times generally precede settling times. Upon the receipt of your last, I wrote to Mr. O——. Last night I received his answer. He speaks very honourably of you, but thinks that you are too censorious, in condemning a whole society for the faults of but some, and too bigotted also to your own way. My dear brother will excuse this. I would not deal so freely, or take such liberty, did I not believe you would take it kindly. My brother, my soul loves you. Dear Miss Nancy wrote me word you was at my house, (I rejoiced) and that you prayed heartily for unworthy me. The Lord reward, and fill you with all joy and peace in believing! Our Lord is sovereign in his dealing with his dear children. I walk in much liberty. O free grace! Your being so exercised with inward conflicts, helps you to search hypocrites. But glory be to our heavenly Father, there is a glorious rest awaits us, and all the children of God. I think I feel a foretaste of it now; nay, I believe I feel the thing itself in a degree, and when I speak of it, I speak what I know. O infinitely condescending God! My brother, my heart is full. The Lord Jesus bless you, and fill your dear soul with all his fulness! So prays, with his whole heart,
Your most affectionate though most unworthy brother, and willing servant in Christ,
G. W.
LETTER CCCCXLVIII.
To Mrs. L——, in Bristol.
Cambuslang, Aug. 26, 1742.
Honoured Mother,
I Rejoice to hear that you have been so long under my roof. Blessed be God, that I have a house for my honoured mother to come to. You are heartily welcome to any thing my house affords, as long as you please. I am of the same mind now, as formerly. If need was, indeed these hands should administer to your necessities. I had rather want myself than you should. I shall be highly pleased when I come to Bristol, and find you sitting in your youngest son’s house. O that I may sit with you, in the house not made with hands eternal in the heavens! Ere long, your doom, honoured mother, will be fixed. You must shortly go hence, and be no more seen. Your only daughter, I trust, is now in the paradise of God. Methinks I hear her say, “Mother, come up hither.” Jesus, I am sure, calls you in his word. May his spirit enable you to say, “Lord, lo I come!” My honoured mother, I am happier and happier every day. Jesus makes me exceeding happy in himself. I hope by Winter to be at Bristol. If any enquire after me, please to tell them, I am well both in body and soul, and desire them to help me to praise free and sovereign grace. O that my dear, my very honoured mother may be made an everlasting monument of it! How does my heart burn with love and duty to you? gladly would I wash your aged feet, and lean upon your neck, and weep and pray ’till I could pray no more. With this I send you a thousand dutiful salutations, and ten thousand hearty and most humble thanks for all the pains you underwent in conceiving, bringing forth, nursing, and bringing up, honoured mother,
Your most unworthy, though most dutiful son, ’till death,
G. W.
LETTER CCCCXLIX.
To Mr. A——, in London.
Cambuslang, Aug. 27, 1742.
My very dear Brother A——,
THIS day fortnight I came to this place, to assist at the sacramental occasion with several worthy ministers of the church of Scotland. Such a passover has not been heard of. The voice of prayer and praise was heard all night. It was supposed, that between 30 and 40,000 people were assembled, and 3000 communicated. There were three tents. The ministers were enlarged, and great grace was among the people. I preached once on Saturday, once on the Lord’s Day morning, served five tables, and preached about ten at night to a great number in the Church-yard. Though it rained much, there was a great awakening. On Monday at seven in the morning, the Reverend Mr. Webster preached, and there was a very great commotion, and also in the third sermon when I preached, a very great and serious concern was visible through the whole solemnity. The Lord’s people went home much refreshed. On Thursday I preached twice at Greenock; on Friday three times at Kilbride, and again on Saturday once, and twice at Stevenson; on Sunday four times at Irvine. On Monday once at Irvine, and three times at Kilmarnock; on Tuesday once at Kilmarnock, and four times at Stewarton; on Wednesday once at Stewarton, and twice at the Mearnes; and yesterday twice at this place. I never preached with so much apparent success before. At Greenock, Irvine, Kilbride, Kilmarnock, and Stewarton, the concern was great: at the three last very extraordinary. The work seems to spread more and more. O, my friend, pray and give praise in behalf of the most unworthy wretch that was ever employed in the dear Redeemer’s service. I speak this from my inmost soul. I must cry out continually, “Why me Lord, why me?” My dear brother A——, I love you dearly in the bowels of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think I could live with you always. The Lord, I think, hath given you a meek and teachable disposition. O what is it to be as little children! I am glad to find, you so hunger and thirst after a continual abiding rest in God. Assure yourself, the Lord will fill and satisfy your soul. He is faithful, who hath promised, who also will do it. Wait, and thou shalt see and feel the salvation of God. I think I have seen it more for some days past, than in any journey before. Our Saviour loves to let us see yet greater things. O for a large heart to receive all the fulness of God! I rejoice to hear that the Lord is with you at the Tabernacle. May his glory appear, and shine in it more and more! I believe it will: I believe God will bless your school. Our Lord’s Disciples are generally too much in a hurry; at least I am. They are not content to wait. “He that believeth, doth not make haste.” O for a passive, tender, truly broken, child-like heart! that we could watch in reality, and from moment to moment hear the cry of every Christian, with every call from God, whether by his providence or spirit. It is said, that God brought and kept Abraham at his feet. O that we were always there, waiting for divine direction! Blessed be his name, I am for the most part at the feet of Jesus, and indeed he graciously teaches me moment after moment. I have many things before me now. I know brother A—— will help me by his prayers. Blessed be God, our heaven is begun here.
Your truly affectionate brother and servant in Christ,
G. W.