own heart.

How did that burn and boil within him when he spake of the things he had made 'touching the king!' How was his tongue like the pen of a ready writer, touched as with a coal from the altar! With what a flow of words, what a ready profusion of language, did he speak to us upon the great concerns of our souls! In what a flaming light did he set our eternity before us! How earnestly he pressed Christ upon us! How did he move our passions with the constraining love of such a Redeemer! The awe, the silence, the attention which sat upon the face of the great audience was an argument how he could reign over all their powers. Many thought he spake as never man spake before. So charmed were the people with his manner of address that they shut up their shops, forgot their secular business, and laid aside their schemes for the world; and the oftener he preached the keener edge he seemed to put upon their desires to hear him again. How awfully, with what thunder and sound, did he discharge the artillery of heaven upon us! And yet, how could he soften and melt even a soldier of Ulysses with the mercy of God! How close, strong, and pungent were his applications to the conscience-mingling light and heat; pointing the arrows of the Almighty at the hearts of sinners, while he poured in the balm upon the wounds of the contrite, and made broken bones rejoice. Eternal themes, the tremendous solemnities of our religion, were all alive upon his tongue. So, methinks, if you will forgive the figure, St.

Paul would look and speak in a pulpit. In some such manner I am tempted to conceive of a seraph, were he sent down to preach among us and to tell us what things he had seen and heard above. How bold and courageous did he look! He was no flatterer; would not suffer men to settle on their lees; did not prophesy smooth things, nor sew pillows. He taught the way of God in truth, and regarded not the person of men. He struck at the politest and most modish of our vices, and at the most fashionable entertainments, regardless of every one's presence but His in whose name he spake with this authority. And I dare warrant, if none should go to these diversions until they have answered the solemn questions he put to their consciences, our theatres would soon sink and perish. I freely own he has taken my heart."

First Collection in America for the Orphans.

Whitefield having purchased five hundred acres of land about ten miles from Savannah for his orphan asylum, and provided for the temporary accommodation of the orphans in a hired house, took up his first collection in America, in furtherance of his noble undertaking, in the meeting-house of his friend, Rev. Mr. Smith, in Charleston. The amount realized was three hundred and fifty dollars. Thus was inaugurated a series of collections which, in response to Whitefield's persuasive power, called forth the noble generosity of thousands.

Whitefield and Dr. Franklin.

In 1739 Whitefield first arrived in Philadelphia, where thrilling incidents occurred and wonderful scenes transpired.

Dr. Franklin, to whom we are indebted for many anecdotes of Whitefield, related in his own peculiar style, says: "He was at first permitted to preach in some of our churches; but the clergy, taking a dislike to him, soon refused him their pulpits, and he was obliged to preach in the fields. The multitudes of all sects and denominations that attended his sermons were enormous, and it was a matter of speculation to me, who was one of thẹ number, to observe the extraordinary influence of his oratory on his hearers, and how much they admired and respected him notwithstanding his common abuse of them by assuring them that they were naturally half-beasts and half-devils."

Power of Whitefield's Voice.

Dr. Franklin says: "Mr. Whitefield had a loud and clear voice, and articulated his words so perfectly that he might be heard and understood at a great distance, especially as his auditors observed the most perfect silence. He preached one evening from the top of the Court-house steps, which are in the middle of Market-street, and on the west side of Second-street, which crosses it at right angles. Both streets were filled with hearers to a considerable distance, and, being among the hind

most in Market-street, I had the curiosity to learn how far he could be heard by retiring backward down the street toward the river, and I found his voice distinct till I came near Front-street, when some noise in that street drowned it. Imagine then a semicircle, of which my distance should be the radius, and that it was filled with auditors, to each of whom I allowed two feet square, I computed that he might well be heard by more than 30,000. This reconciled me to the newspaper accounts of his having preached to 25,000 in the fields."

Effect of Whitefield's Sermons.

"It was wonderful," says Dr. Franklin, "to see the change soon made in the manner of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that we could not walk through the town of an evening without hearing psalms in different families of every street.”

This is no mean testimony of the power and success of Whitefield's preaching in the "City of Brotherly Love," when we consider that it came from the philosophical and skeptical Franklin.

The Contrast.

"By hearing Mr. Whitefield often," says Dr. Franklin, "I came to distinguish easily between sermons newly composed and those which he had

often preached in the course of his travels. His delivery of the latter were so improved by frequent repetition that every accent, every emphasis, every modulation of voice, was so perfectly well-turned and well-placed that, without being interested in the subject, one could not help being pleased with the discourse; a pleasure of much the same kind with that received from an excellent piece of music. This is an advantage itinerant preachers have over those who are stationary, as the latter cannot well improve their delivery of a sermon by so many rehearsals."

Whitefield, Franklin, and the Collection.

Dr. Franklin having gone on one occasion to hear Whitefield preach, and perceiving that he meant to conclude with a collection, resolved that he should get nothing from him—that he would not give a farthing. He says, "I had in my pocket a handful of copper money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles of gold. As he proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give the copper; another stroke of his oratory made me ashamed of that, and determined me to give the silver; and he finished so admirably that I emptied my pocket into the collection dish, gold and all.” Was ever a greater tribute paid to the persuasive powers of any man? Whitefield had equal influence over the refined and the uncultivated, and had power over men's pockets as well as their hearts.