Mr. Kinsman was also a field preacher. He preached out-of-doors, and met with very violent persecution. At one time eight or nine drummers surrounded him, beating upon their drums, and trying to drown his voice. He showed himself a worthy son of Whitefield, for he was a Christian hero whom none of these things could move.

A scene transpired at the Plymouth Tabernacle which tried his pluck, and showed he was composed of the materials of which martyrs are made. A lieutenant of the navy came to the church where he was preaching, with a part of his crew armed for a desperate assault. Having broken the windows, they entered the place in a body. Their first attempt was to extinguish the lights, and then to fall upon the people; but a person perceiving their design, drew up the chandelier to the ceiling of the building. Baffled in that direction, they fell upon the people without regard to age or sex, and beat them with their bludgeons in a merciless manner. There was a general alarm and an outcry of murder. Mr. Kinsman, with the spirit of heroism, nothing daunted, seized the lieutenant, the ringleader of the rioters, as he was drawing his sword upon him, and wrested it from his hand. He then dragged the lieutenant out of the church and took him before a magistrate, who sent him to the watch-house, where he remained over night. The next morning he was very humble, apologized for his conduct, and offered to repair all the damage he had done, having done which, he was allowed to depart.

Mr. Kinsman was unboundedly popular, and Mr. Whitefield was very partial to him, and invited him at various times to Bristol and London, where he preached to crowds of admirers.

WHITEFIELD, KINSMAN, AND THE STRANGER. Whitefield has been accused of selfishness, but there is no truth in it. He was benevolence embodied. His noble nature, his generous deeds, the princely record of his liberality, show it to be false.

When he preached at Plymouth he was the guest of Andrew Kinsman and his wife. After the toils of the Sabbath he on a Monday morning said to his friend Mr. Kinsman, "Come, let us visit some of your poor people to-day. It is not enough that we labor in the pulpit, we must endeavor to be useful out of it." They thereupon visited the abodes of the sorrowful, and ministered to the wants of the needy. Whitefield not only attended to their spiritual interests, but also to their temporal necessities. Mr. Kinsman knew his funds were very low, and he was surprised at his liberality, and ventured to remark that he thought he was too bountiful. Mr. Whitefield looked at him very seriously, and said, "My brother, it is not enough to pray and put on a serious face. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the widow and the fatherless in their affliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.' My stock, it is true, is nearly exhausted; but God, whom I serve, and whose

saints I have assisted, will, I doubt not, soon give me a supply." How true "there is that which scattereth and yet increaseth, and that which hoardeth up and tendeth to poverty?"

Whitefield's hopes were soon realized. In the evening a stranger called upon him, who, on introducing himself, said, "With great pleasure I have heard you preach. You are on a journey as well as myself, and travelling is expensive. Do me the honor to accept of this;" at the same time presenting him with five guineas. Returning to the family, Whitefield, smiling, held out the money in his hand, saying, "There, young man, God has speedily repaid what I bestowed. Let this in future teach you not to withhold what is in the power of your hand to give. The gentleman who called to see me was a perfect stranger, whose only business was to give me this sum of money.”

It was ascertained afterward that the gentleman who gave Whitefield the five guineas was not celebrated for such benevolent acts, but, on the contrary, was especially noted for his penurious disposition.

KINSMAN AND THE YOUNG CLERGYMAN.

Mr. Whitefield at one time, when about to sail for America, sent for Mr. Kinsman to come to London and preach in the Tabernacle. On his arrival he dined with Mr. Whitefield at the Tabernacle-house in company with a young clergyman. After dinner there was a tremendous storm, accompanied with thunder and lightning. As he

and the clergyman stood by the window beholding the raging elements, as there was flash after flash of lightning, and peal after peal of thunder, Mr. Kinsman, supposing the young clergyman, from his being a visitor at Whitefield's house, was a religious person, familiarly put his hand upon his shoulder, and with great solemnity and earnestness repeated the words of Dr. Watts,

"The God that rules on high,

And thunders when he please,
That rides upon the stormy sky,
And manages the seas"-

and then with peculiar pathos and confidence added, "This awful God is ours,

Our Father and our love."

These words, so appropriately introduced, so solemnly and emphatically uttered, made a deep impression upon the mind of the young minister, and led to his conversion. Mr. Kinsman preached the first sermon at the Tabernacle, and crowds of admiring ones listened to him there. His death was as peaceful as his life had been pure. dying he exclaimed with a faltering voice,

"Jesus, lover of my soul,

Let me to thy bosom fly."

When

Thus died Adam Kinsman, the spiritual son, the intimate friend, of George Whitefield, February 28, 1793, aged sixty-eight, having been fifty years in the ministry, leaving behind him a name of more value than great riches.

Whitefield and Rev. John Fletcher.

Mr. Whitefield and Rev. John Fletcher were intimately acquainted, and were excellent friends. In 1766 Whitefield invited Fletcher to come to London and preach in his chapel. Fletcher accepted the invitation, to the great delight of Whitefield, who wrote thus: "Dear Mr. Fletcher has become a scandalous Tottenham Court preacher.

Were we more scandalous more good would be done. . . . Still a shout of a king is heard in the Methodist camp." No wonder Whitefield rejoiced, for Mr. Fletcher was one of the purest and truest ministers that ever adorned the Church.

Fletcher testifies not only to Whitefield's great oratorical powers, his "divine pathos," but also to his fidelity. "How often," he says, "has that great man of God, the truly Rev. Mr. Whitefield, said to his immense audiences, 'You are warned I am clean of your blood. I shall rise up as a swift witness against you, or you against me, in the terrible day of the Lord! O remember to clear me then!' And is not this just as if he had said, 'We shall all be justified or condemned in the judgment by what we are now doing, I by my preaching, and you by your hearing?' And will any say such expressions are only flights of oratory? If they do they will touch the apple of God's eye. Mr. Whitefield was not a flighty orator, but spoke the words of soberness and truth with divine pathos, and floods of tears declarative of his sincerity."