George-Whitefield-Field-Preacher

84
GEORGE WHITEFIELD
The time when he must leave the city was near ; and that
his work might not fall to the ground, or come to a stand after
his departure, he again and again requested Wesley to come
from London and carry it on ; but Wesley could not be sure
that he ought to go. His inclination was not towards Bristol,
and on resorting to his practice of bibliomancy, many passages
' of Scripture had a sinister meaning. This was one : Get thee
up into this mountain, and die in the mount whither thou
goest up, and be gathered unto thy people.' His journey was
next proposed to the society in Fetter Lane. Charles could
not bear the mention of it ; but an appeal to a Bible, opened
at haphazard, brought him under the power of these strong
words :
' Son of man, behold I take from thee the desire of
thine eyes with a stroke ; yet thou shalt not mourn or weep,
neither shall thy tears run down
; ' and thinking that they were
a voice from heaven, he held his peace. Still, the brethren
were not satisfied, and, to settle the difficulty, an appeal was
made to the lot. This said he must go. Many wanted a
Divine confirmation of this supposed Divine announcement,
and the rest consenting to the suggestion, a Bible was opened
thrice, and some strange passages were hit upon ; one was
' this : And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in
the city, even in Jerusalem.'
The journal of Whitefield contains the following entry for
Saturday, March 31st: 'I was much refreshed with the sight
of my honoured friend, Mr. John Wesley, whom I desired to
come hither, and whom I had now the pleasure of introducing
to my friends, he having never before been at Bristol. Help
him, Lord Jesus, to water what Thy own right hand hath
planted, for Thy mercy's sake.' Wesley writes in his journal
'Saturday, 31st. In the evening I reached Bristol, and met
Mr. Whitefield there. I could scarce reconcile myself at first
to this strange way of preaching in the fields, of which he set