George-Whitefield-Field-Preacher

PRACTICALL V AN INDEPENDENT MINISTER 305
he registered them in the registry of the Dean and Chapter
of St. Paul, London, as ' meeting-places of certain congrega-
tions of Protestant Dissenters from the Church of England
calling themselves Independents.' He thus became the owner
of two Independent chapels, and was practically an Independent
minister, while remaining a clergyman of the Church of
England.
There was the same crush of hearers, when the place was
opened, as there had been at the Tabernacle. Many great
people came, and begged that they might have a constant
seat. A neighbouring physician called it ' Whitefield's soul-
trap,' and by that name it was commonly known among the
foolish scoffers. Among the distinguished visitors who were
accommodated in Lady Huntingdon's pew, Lord Chesterfield
might not unfrequently be seen ; and once his rigid decorum
and self-possession were as much overpowered by the eloquence
of the preacher as if he had been a peasant at a Cambuslang
preaching or a Welsh miner among a host of his countrymen
' ' shouting, Gogoniant bendith iti ! Whitefield, who was
unrivalled in description, could easily make his hearers see
with his eyes, and feel with his heart ; and on this occasion
he was giving a vivid and horrifying picture of the peril of
sinners. He carried his audience out into the night, and nigh
to a dangerous precipice, where in the feeble light might be
seen, dim and staggering, the form of an old man, a blind
beggar, deserted by his dog. The old man stumbles on, staff
in hand, vainly endeavouring to discover his way. His face
is towards the cliff ; step by step he advances ; his foot trembles
on the edge ; another moment and he will lie mangled in the
valley below, when up starts the agonised Chesterfield, crying
as he bounds forward to save him, ' Good God !
he
is gone !
Oratory so perfect and so exciting could not fail to bring
some actors among the motley throng that listened to him.
21