George-Whitefield-Field-Preacher

23- GEORGE WHITEFIELD
written word, yet it is every Christian's duty to be guided by
the Spirit in conjunction with the written word.'
At the end of eleven weeks the Wilmington came within
sight of port. The long confinement had made Whitefield im-
patient to land; and, with some friends, he eagerly and, in spite
of remonstrance, transferred himself from the ship to a little
fishing-smack that had come alongside, and which, it was said,
would distance the ship by several hours. His haste delayed
him. It soon grew dark, the pilots missed the bar of York
harbour, and the smack and its passengers were tossed about
all night. Exposure increased the pain of a severe attack of
nervous colic, from which he had been suffering for some
time. He was also so hungry that he could almost have
gnawed the boards of the boat, and perhaps wood might have
done him no more harm than the raw potatoes, the only food
on board, of which he partook freely. It pleased him, as he
lay shivering, to hear a fisherman, in answer to a question
about what was going on ashore, say that the ' New-lights '
were expecting one Mr. Whitefield, and that the day before
many had been praying for his safe arrival. Towards morning
the men found the inlet, and Whitefield was received into the
house of a physician, formerly a notorious Deist, but con-
verted at Whitefield's last American visit. Half an hour after
his arrival he was put to bed, racked with nervous colic, con-
vulsed from his waist to his toes, and a total convulsion
was expected every moment. As his wife and friends stood
around him, weeping, he begged them not to be distressed.
Fearing that he might fall into a delirium, and say things that
were wrong, he told them—so anxious was he never to exert
a baneful influence—that such a thing must not surprise
them. Happily the worst did not come, yet for four days
he could not bear the sound of a footstep or of a voice.
As soon as he was somewhat better, the minister of York,.