George-Whitefield-Field-Preacher

CHAPTER VIII
March, 1741—August, 1744
LOSS OF POPULARITY—FIRST VISIT TO SCOTLAND—CONDUCT
OF THE DISSENTERS
ON March 25, 1741, Whitefield wrote to Habersham at
the Orphanage a dark yet hopeful account of his trials.
The divisions among the Methodists affected his congregations
so greatly that from twenty thousand they dwindled down to
two or three hundred, and he was a thousand pounds in debt
for the orphans, and not worth twenty pounds of his own ; he
was even threatened with arrest for three hundred and fifty
pounds drawn for in favour of the orphan-house by his late
' dear deceased friend and fellow-traveller, Mr. Seward.' His
bookseller, who had made hundreds by him, refused to print
for him. Yet his faith never failed, neither did his charity.
He says: 'I am enabled to strengthen myself in the Lord my
God ;
' and early one morning, a morning that succeeded
earnest prayer on the night before, a friend came to inquire
if he knew where a lady of his acquaintance might lend three
or four hundred pounds. Whitefield replied :
' Let her lend
it to me, and in a few months, God willing, she shall have it
again.' All the circumstances were told her, and she cheer-
fully put the money into his hands.
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