Page:The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield, M.A. (1771 Vol 1).djvu/479

 we have good times here. I am kept in great liberty. Be pleased to desire all to accept of hearty love from, dear Sir,

Your most affectionate friend and servant, G. W.    LETTER CCCCLXXXV. To the Earl of .

My Lord,     London, Nov. 23, 1742.

SINCE I wrote to your Lordship, I have received a comfortable packet of letters from Georgia, giving me an account of my family's safe return to their Bethesda. The deliverance of Georgia from the Spaniards, one of my friends writes me, is such as cannot be parralleled, but by some few instances out of the Old Testament. I find that the Spaniards had cast lots, and determined to give no quarter. They intended to attack Carolina, but wanting water they put into Georgia, and so would take that Colony in their way. But "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." Providence ruleth all things. They were wonderfully repelled and sent away, before our ships were seen. Surely remembered the prayers of the poor orphans, and the earnest cries which have been put up on their behalf. I find they now live at a smaller expence. They hunt and shoot for a good part of their food. Their crop gives them a considerable quantity of peas, potatoes, &c. and they kill some of their own stock. There has been a great sickness at Savannah: Some of the labourers have been taken off, but none of the children, as I hear, have died as yet. I hope this will find your Lordship perfectly recovered, and your honoured consort, Lady, and all your Lordship's family, rejoicing in. He is pleased to give me much of his love, and to bless me every day. Several of our friends in Wales have been unjustly excommunicated. I have sent two letters, and have received kind answers from the Bishop of Bangor. Perilous times, perhaps, are coming on; but this is my comfort, "the gates of hell shall never prevail against the church of ." Hoping for a line from your Lordship, if it be not too much trouble, I subscribe myself, my Lord,

Your Lordship's most obedient, obliged humble servant, G. W.