George-Whitefield-Field-Preacher

WHITSUNTIDE IN MOORFIELDS 1S1
His work now lay in Bristol, where he began 'a general
monthly meeting to read corresponding letters,' and between
that place and London— the same district in which he won his
first successes in itinerant preaching ; and everywhere the
desire to hear the truth was more intense than ever. Finally,
he went to London, taking his wife with him, and probably
lodged with some Methodist friend, one carefully chosen, as he
was careful about the houses he went to, nor was it every one
who could have his presence. To one London brother who
wanted to have him and his wife, he replied :
' I know not what to say about coming to your house ; for brother S
tells me you and your family are dilatory, and that you do not rise sometimes
till nine or ten in the morning. This, dear Mr. N , will never do
for me ; and I am persuaded such a conduct tends much to the dishonour
of God, and to the prejudice of your own precious soul. Be not slothful
in business. Go to bed seasonably, and rise early. Redeem your precious
time ; pick up the fragments of it, that not one moment may be lost.
Be much in secret prayer. Converse less with man, and more with
God.'
To this wise circumspection, and the fact that he was always
the guest of men of undoubted piety or of untarnished repu-
tation, may in part be ascribed his triumph over all the base
slanders of his enemies.
He spent the winter 1741-42 mostly in preaching in his
wooden tabernacle, London. Everything was helping to
prepare him for another of those daring religious forays of
which he is the most brilliant captain ; this was the enterprise
he attempted—to beat the devil in Moorfields on Whit-
Monday. The soldier is the best historian here :
' London, May 11, 1742.
' With this I send you a few out of the many notes I have received from
persons who were convicted, converted, or comforted in .Moorfields during
the late holidays. For many weeks I found my heart much pressed to deter-