deer had long since disappeared, and the greater part of the wood also; and coal mines having been discovered there, from which Bristol derives its chief supply of fuel, it was now inhabited by a race of people as lawless as the foresters their forefathers, but far more brutal, and differing as much from the people of the surrounding country in dialect as in appearance. They had at that time no place of worship, for Kingswood then belonged to the out-parish of St. Philip and Jacob; and if the colliers had been disposed to come from a distance of three and four miles, they would have found no room in the parish church of a populous suburb. When upon his last visit to Bristol, before his embarkation, Whitefield spoke of converting the savages, many of his friends said to him, "What need of going abroad for this? Have we not Indians enough at home? If you have a mind to convert Indians, there are colliers enough in Kingswood."

Toward these colliers, Whitefield, as he says, had long felt his bowels yearn, for they were very numerous, and yet as sheep having no shepherd. In truth, it was a matter of duty and of sound policy, (which is always duty,) that these people should not be left in a state of bestial ignorance; heathens, or worse than heathens, in the midst of a christian country, and brutal as savages, in the close vicinity of a city which was then in extent, wealth, population, and commercial importance, the second city in England. On the afternoon, therefore, of Saturday, Feb. 17, 1739, he stood upon a mound, in a place called Rose Green, his "first field pulpit," and preached to as many as came to hear, attracted by the novelty of such an address. "I thought," says he, "it might be doing the service of my Creator, who had a mountain for his pulpit, and the heavens for a sounding board; and who, when his gospel was refused by the Jews, sent his servants into the highways and hedges." Not more than two hundred persons gathered around him, for there had been no previous notice of his intention; and these perhaps being no way prepared for his exhortations, were more astonished than impressed by what they heard. But the first step was taken, and Whitefield was fully aware of its importance. "Blessed be God," he says in his Journal, "that the ice is now broke, and I have now taken the field. Some may censure me; but is there not a cause? Pulpits are denied and the poor colliers ready to perish for lack of knowledge."

At the second and third time the numbers greatly increas ed, till the congregation, at a moderate computation, amounted to near twenty thousand. But with what gladness and eagerness many of these despised outcasts, who had never been in a church in their lives, received the word, is above description.

"Having (as he writes) no righteousness of their own to renounce, they were glad to hear of a Jesus, who was a friend to publicans, and came not to call the righteous, but the sinners, to repentance. The first discovery of their being affected, was, to see the white gutters made by their tears, which plentifully fell down their black cheeks, as they came out of their coal pits. Hundreds and hundreds of them were soon brought under deep convictions, which (as the event proved) happily ended in a sound and thorough conversion. The change was visible to all, though numbers chose to impute it to any thing rather than to the finger of God. As the scene was quite new, and I had but just begun to be an extempore preacher, it often occasioned many inward conflicts. Sometimes, when twenty thousand people were before me, I had not in my own apprehension, a word to say, either to God or to them. But I was never totally deserted, and frequently (for to deny it would be lying against God) so assisted, that I knew by happy experience what our Lord meant by saying, 'Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. The open firmament above me, the prospect of the adjacent fields, with the sight of thousands and thousands, some in coaches, some on horseback, and some in the trees, and at times all affected and drenched in tears together, to which sometimes was added the solemnity of the approaching evening, was almost too much for, and quite overcame me."

Besides the colliers, and thousands from neighboring villages, persons of all ranks flocked daily out of Bristol. And he was soon invited to preach, by some of the better sort, in a large bowling green in the city itself. Many indeed sneered to see a stripling, with a gown, mount a table, upon what they called unconsecrated ground. And for once or twice it excited the contempt and laughter of the higher ranks, who formerly were his admirers when he preached in the churches. But God enabled him to endure the laugh, and to preach the gospel of Christ with earnestness and constancy; and was pleased to attend it with his blessing. From all quarters people flocked, under great concern about their souls. Sometimes he was employed almost from morning to night, giving answers to those who came in great distress, crying out, "What shall we do to be saved?" More assistance was wanted; he therefore wrote to Mr. John Wesley, who had never yet been at Bristol, and, having received a favorable answer, recommended him and his brother in the strongest manner to the people, and humbly prayed that the last might be first; for he was determined to pursue his scheme of the Orphanhouse, and return to his retreat in Georgia.

Mr. Wesley having come, he took an affectionate leave of his friends at Bristol, and made a second excursion to Wales, where an awakening had begun some years before, by the instrumentality of Rev. Griffith Jones, and was now carried on by the ministry of one Mr. Howel Harris, a layman. They met at Cardiff, and in company with many others went to Husk, Ponty-pool, Abergravenny, Comihoy, Carleon, Trelex, and Newport, and preached in all these places, Mr. Whitefield first in English, and Mr. Harris afterwards in Welch, to many thousands. The serious persons among them of the Free Grace Dissenters, rejoiced; but many of high-flying principles, and of another stamp, were equally enraged, and expressed their dislike by mockings and threats. All these, however, he was enabled to bear with patience, and without the least discouragement.

About the 8th of April, from Wales he went to Gloucester, the place of his birth, where a church was allowed him for once or twice, but no more. However, he preached frequently in Boothall (the place where the judges sit) and in his brother's field, to many thousands.* His concern for his countrymen, his fellow citizens, and his own relations, made him forget all bodily weakness (to which, about this time, he was frequently subject,) and he readily complied with invitations given to preach at Painswick, Chelterham, Evesham, Badsey, Stroud, Chafford, places abounding with inhabitants, and where there is ground to hope many received much spiritual benefit. To wander thus about from place to place; to stand at bowling greens, at market crosses, and in highways, especially in his own country, where, had he conferred with flesh and blood, he might have lived at ease; to be blamed by friends, and have every evil thing spoken against him by his enemies; was

* At the time of Mr. Whitefield's preaching in Gloucester, old Mr. Cole, a disscuting minister, used to say, "These are the days of the Son of Man indeed." This Mr. Cele, Mr. Whitefield, when a boy, was taught to ridicule. Being asked once by one of his congregation, what business he would be of, he said, "A minister; but he would take care never to tell stories in the pulpit like old Cole." About twelve years afterwards, the old man hearing him preach, and tell some story to illustrate the subject he was upon, and having been informed what he had before said, made this remark to one of his elders: "I find that young Whitefield can now tell stories, as well as old Cole." He was much affected with Mr. Whitefield's preaching, and so humble, that he used to subscribe himself his curate; and went about preaching after him in the country from place to place. But one evening, while preaching, he was struck with death, and then asked for a chair to lean on, till he concluded his sermon, when he was carried up stairs and died. Mr. Whitefield's reflection upon this, is, "O blessed God! if it be thy holy will, may my exit be like his !" As to Mr. Whitefield's telling stories in the pulpit, some perhaps may find fault; but, besides that he had an uncommon fund of passages, proper enough to be thus told, and a peculiar talent of telling them, it was certainly a means of drawing multitudes to hear him, who would not have attended to the truths of the gospel delivered in the ordinary manner.

"I thought it might be doing the service of my Creator, who had a mountain for a pulpit, and the heavens for a sounding board; and who when his gospel was refused by the Jews, sent his servants into the highways and hedges."

P. 38.