Page:The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield, M.A., late of Pembroke-College, Oxford, and Chaplain to the Rt. Hon. the Countess of Huntingdon (1771 Volume 2).djvu/65

 *ing people threaten me with I know not what, if I embark at this time; but my absence hath been so long and unexpected, that come what will, I am determined to prosecute my intended voyage; and therefore whether we meet any more in the flesh, I trust we shall meet in the world of spirits, where parting, weeping, and breaking of hearts will no more disturb and try the affections of, dear Madam,

Yours in the dear Emmanuel, G. W.     LETTER DLI. To the Same.

My dear Friend,     Plymouth, June 26, 1744.

YOU see by this where I am. Doubtless you'll wonder at the quick transition from Portsmouth to Plymouth. To the former I intended going when I wrote last; but just before I took leave of the dear tabernacle people, a message was sent to me, that the captain in which I was to sail from thence, would not take me for fear of spoiling his sailors. Some interpreted this as a call from providence not to embark at this time; but I enjoined them silence 'till I had taken my leave, and then, hearing of a mast-ship that was going under convoy from Plymouth, I hastened thither, and have taken a passage in the Wilmington, Capt. Dalby, bound to Piscataway, in New-England. My first reception here was a little unpromising. A report being spread that I was come, a great number of people assembled upon the Hoe, (a large green for walks and diversions) and somebody brought out a bear and a drum; but I did not come 'till the following evening, when, under pretence of a hue-and-cry, several broke into the room where I lodged at the inn, and disturbed me very much. I then betook myself to private lodgings, and being gone to rest, after preaching to a large congregation, and visiting the French prisoners, the good woman of the house came and told me, that a well-dressed gentleman desired to speak with me. Imagining that it was some Nicodemite, I desired he might be brought up. He came and sat down by my bedside, told me he was a lieutenant of a man of war, congratulated me on the success of my ministry, and expressed himself much concerned for being de