George-Whitefield-Field-Preacher

THE VICAR OF HA WORTH 267
them. An all-absorbing thing was the enjoying and teaching
those truths which had turned his own soul from sin to holiness,
and which had changed a clergyman, a mere professional, who
had entered holy orders with the unholy wish to get the best
living he could, into a loving shepherd, who sought the lambs
and the sheep by night and day, in summer and winter, in weari-
ness and painfulness, nor ever thought of his sacrifice, if so be
he might save that which was lost. Thirty times a week would
he preach in cottage or church, or on hillside ; it was an idle
week when he preached but twelve times. Neither was he
satisfied simply to preach, to get through his subject ; he would
dwell with unwearied patience on each part of his message,
loving the tenderness and mercy of which it spoke, and anxious
that the feeblest mind should also love and understand it.
' Affectionately desirous ' of his people, he would have
imparted to them, not the gospel of God only, but also his
own soul, because they were dear to him. Truer and kinder
shepherd never tended flock than this overseer of the flock
among the hills. Much has been said about his eccentricities,
but these were little noticed by his people, who lived daily in the
light of his shining purity, and received in their every sorrow
and in their every joy the sympathy of his faithful heart.
His church always presented a remarkable appearance on
the Sunday. The shepherding of the week made a full fold
that day. Weavers and farmers, shepherds and labourers, came
from the remotest parts of his wild district to hear his words of
grace and truth, and listened as if they felt the power of another
world upon their spirits. When Whitefield first visited them,
which was in September, 1749, six thousand people stood in
the churchyard to hear him, and above a thousand communi-
cants approached the table with feelings of awe and joy. So
great a number could have been collected together in this
thinly-populated district only by a strong desire to hear