George-Whitefield-Field-Preacher

82 GEORGE WHITEFIELD
preached agreeably to Scripture ; but the only answer was to
appoint another clergyman to the post of chaplain—for shame
forbade his denying the poor unfortunates all religious aid.
This disappointment was cause for great rejoicing to the
expelled Methodist, who wrote in his journal :
' Some preach
Christ out of contention, and others of goodwill : however,
Christ is preached.'
His persecution had ample compensation in the new power
of which he had become conscious, and in the new opening
for labour which he had found since his arrival in the west, the
fields giving him room enough for any congregation, and the
people delighting to meet him there in all weathers, even the
cold and snow of March not being able to keep them away.
At Bath, at Bristol, and in the neighbouring villages, he was
daily engaged in preaching to thousands—in the churches if he
could gain admission to them, and if not, then under the May-
pole or in the fields, or in any open space where the people
had a right to assemble. Then it was that he felt the wonder-
ful influence which pervades mighty audiences, possessed with
one concern, bending their attention to one subject, and
engaged in one common service. His favourite congregation
was the Kingswood one, which met on the Sunday. The
crowds standing in awful silence, and the echo of their singing
running from side to side, was, he says, very solemn and strik-
ing. Weariness and sickness often oppressed him, yet he
always found strength when the task faced him. He was
already beginning to learn the curative properties of effort,
and to trust for invigoration to what exhausted him. Then,
too, there was popular sympathy on his side. He had but to
take his stand anywhere, and an audience was before him.
When Newgate was closed, and his sister's room, where he had
been accustomed to address a congregation as early as six
o'clock on Sunday morning, could not accommodate a fourth