George-Whitefield-Field-Preacher

76
GEORGE WHTTEFIELD
accused Whitefield of false doctrine, whereupon he received a
proper answer :
' I cannot hut speak the things I know ; and I
am resolved to proceed as usual.' 'Observe his answer, then,
Mr. Register,' said he. Then, turning to Whitefield, he added :
'
I am resolved, sir, if you preach or expound anywhere in this
diocese, till you have a licence, I will first suspend, and then
excommunicate you. And what I do is in the name of the
clergy and laity of the city of Bristol.' How much truth there
was in the whole statement appeared on the afternoon of the
day that it was made. The laity of Bristol, who were said to
want the silencing of Whitefield, congregated in thousands
round St. Nicholas' Church, hoping to hear him preach ; but
the lecturer sent word that orders were given by the clergy-
man that he should not preach in his church. The societies
remained open, and the laity crowded their meetings that
night.
The second interview with the chancellor was followed by
the same action as the first, and with more encouraging results.
On the following day the journal relates :
' All the church
doors being now shut, and, if open, not able to contain half
that came to hear, at three in the afternoon I went to Kings-
wood among the colliers. God highly favoured us in sending
us a fine day, and near two thousand people were assembled
on that occasion. I preached and enlarged on John iii. 3 for
near an hour, and, I hope, to the comfort and edification of
those that heard me.' Two days afterwards he stood upon
the same spot, and preached to a congregation of four or five
thousand with great freedom. The bright sun overhead, and
the immense throng standing around him in awful silence,
formed a picture which filled him with ' holy admiration.'
It is important to know what were his feelings when he met
these immense field congregations, whose numbers had grown
from two hundred to twenty thousand, and what were the