George-Whitefield-Field-Preacher

U'HITEFIELDS ECCLESIASTICAL POSITION 175
' Whitefield, laying his hand on his heart, said : I do not find
it here.' Alexander Moncrieff replied, as he rapped the Bible
' that lay on the table : But I find it here.'
It is evident that Whitefield's ecclesiastical position for
the future is to be judged of by these three things: 1. That
he did not believe that any form of Church government was of
divine origin. 2. That his ordination to be a priest of the
Church of England did not any longer accord with his
conceptions of ordination to the ministerial functions. 3. That
he was not free to leave the Church of England ;
cast off, if the connection must cease.
he must be
The unfortunate close of the conference was a great sorrow
to Ralph Erskine, who wrote to Whitefield, and plainly, but
kindly, told him that he was ' sorrowful for being disappointed
about Whitefield's lying open to light, as appeared from his
declining conversation on that head ; and also for his coming
harnessed with a resolution to stand out against everything
that should be advanced against ' (presumably the Estab-
lished Church). Ralph must not be allowed to rest under the
shade of bigotry which the words attributed to him, ' We are
the Lord's people,' would cast over him. He may have used
the very words in that warm discussion, when the ringing
of bells and the expectation of sermon and the firmness
of Whitefield threw him into confusion ; but in calmer
moments, when meeting his seceding followers at the table
of the Lord, he could speak as became his better self, and
say, ' We are far from thinking that all are Christ's friends
that join with us, and that all are His enemies that do not.
No, indeed.' Had the Presbytery consisted only of the two
brothers and young David Erskine, the son of Ebenezer, no
disruption would have come about ; neither would Ralph
have been provoked to insinuate in a letter to Whitefield, that
the orphan-house was making him temporise. ' Indeed, dear