are favored with. Mr. Whitefield came to Scotland in the summer of 1741, for the first time; and in many places where he preached, his ministrations were evidently blessed, particularly in the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, where a considerable number of persons were brought under such impressions of religion as have never yet left them; but they are still following on to know the Lord. However, this was only the beginning of far greater things: for, about the middle of February last, a very great concern appeared among the people of Cambuslang, a small parish, lying four miles south east of Glasgow, under the pastoral inspection of the Rev. Mr. William McCulloch, a man of considerable parts, and great piety. This concern appeared with some circumstances very unusual among us: to wit, severe bodily agonies, outcryings and faintings, in the congregation. This made the report of it spread like fire, and drew vast multitudes of people from all quarters to that place and I believe, in less than two months after the commencement of it, there were few parishes within twelve miles of Cambuslang but had some, more or fewer, awakened there, to a very deep, piercing sense of sin; and many at a much greater distance. I am verily persuaded, with your worthy brother, Mr. Cooper, in his preface to Mr. Edward's sermon, that God has made use of these uncommon circumstances to make his work spread the faster. But, blessed be God, Cambuslang is not the only place where these impressions are felt. The same work is spreading in other parishes, and under their own ministers, particularly at Calder, Kilsyth, and Cumbernaud, all to the north east of Glasgow; and I doubt not, that since the middle of February, when this work began at Cambuslang, upwards of two thousand persons have been awakened, and almost all of them, by the best accounts I have, in a promising condition; there being very few instances of impostors, or such as have lost their impressions, and many whom we are bound to think true scripture converts, and who evidence it by a suitable walk and conversation. There is evidently a greater seriousness and concern about religion appearing in most of our congregations, than formerly; a greater desire after the word; people applying themselves more closely to their duty, and erecting new societies for prayer and spiritual conference: which gives us the joyful prospect of a considerable enlargement in the Messiah's kingdom.

"My parish has likewise had some share in this good work. There have been above a hundred new communicants among them this summer, who never did partake of the blessed sacrament before; which is five times as many as ever I admitted in any former year; most of them were awakened at Cambus

lang, some of them in their own church, and in others the impressions have been more gradual, and not attended with these uncommon circumstances before mentioned. And it is to be observed, that before we admit any to the Lord's table, we particularly examine them, and are satisfied with their knowledge of the principles of religion, of the nature and ends of the sacrament, and the impressions of religion they have on their minds."*

To the same purpose is the Rev. Mr. Willison's letter to Dr. Colman, minister in Boston, dated Dundee, Feb. 28, 1743. "I must inform you a little of the work of God begun here. I told you in my last, that after Mr. Whitefield's first coming and preaching three months in Scotland, there were some beginnings of a revival of religion in some of our principal cities

at Edinburgh and Glasgow-which still continue and increase, especially since Mr. Whitefield's second coming, in June last. But, besides these cities, the Lord hath been pleased to begin a work much like that in New England, in the west of Scotland. The first parish awakened was Cambuslang; the next was the parish of Kilsyth, about nine miles north east of Glasgow; and afterwards the parishes of Calder, Kirkintilloch, Cumbernaud, Campfie, Kilmarnock, Gargunnock, and a great many others in the country. The awakenings of people have been, in a good many, attended with outcryings, faintings, and bodily distresses; but in many more the work has proceeded with great calmness. But the effects in both sorts are alike good and desirable, and hitherto we hear nothing of their falling back from what they have professed at the beginning; and still we hear of new parishes falling under great concern, here and there, though the great cryings and outward distresses are much ceased.

"The Lord, in this backsliding time, is willing to pity us, and see our ways and heal them, however crooked and perverse they have been. Oh shall not this wonderful step of divine condescension lead us all to repentance, and to go out to meet a returning God, in the way of humiliation and reformation? The magistrates and ministers in Edinburgh are beginning to set up societies for reformation of manners, and new lectures

Extract of a letter from a person of distinction to the complier. "Edinburgh, February, 1742. I would not ascribe all the revival of religion in Scotland to the instrumentality of Mr. Whitefield. At Cambuslang it began before he had been there; but in Edinburgh, and all the other places in Scotland that I heard of after dilligent inquiry, it began with his first visit. This honor he had from his divine Master, and it ought not to be taken from him. And every time he came to Scotland, it is an undoubted fact, that an uncommon power attended his ministry; and many were always brought under serious and lasting impressions."

on week days. May all our cities follow their example. There is a great increase of praying societies also in Edinburgh and other towns and villages; and in them they are keeping days of thanksgiving for the partial waterings the Lord is giving us. Those in Edinburgh send printed memorials to others through the nation, to excite them to it.*

"The greatest strangers to religion could not avoid hearing of these things, but they were very differently affected with them. Whilst some became more thoughtful and serious, many mocked, and some were even filled with rage. On the other hand, the temper and behavior of those who were the subjects of this remarkable work, were strong evidences that it came from above. Their earnest desire to be rightly directed in the way to heaven, their tender and conscientious walk, their faithfulness in the duties of their stations, their readiness to make ample restitution for any act of injustice they had formerly committed, their disposition to judge mildly of others, but severely of themselves, their laying aside quarrels and law suits, and desiring to be reconciled, and to live peaceably with all men; such amiable and heavenly qualities, especially when appearing in some who had formerly been of a very opposite character, could not fail to strike every serious observer. In short, it was such a time for the revival of religion, as had never before been seen in Scotland.

"The enmity which wicked and profane men discovered against this work, and the derision with which they treated it, is no more than what might naturally be expected. But it is not easy to account for the conduct of the seceders. These, not satisfied with forbearing to approve of it, went the length even to appoint a general fast among themselves, one of the grounds of which was, the receiving Mr. Whitefield in Scotland; and another, the delusion, as they called it, at Cambuslang and other places. And Mr. Gibb, one of their ministers, wrote a pamphlet inveighing against both in the most virulent language. Such was the bigotry and misguided zeal of the bulk of the party at that time. It is to be hoped their successors have juster views of this subject. With respect to Mr. Whitefield, the

The Rev. Mr. Macknight of Irvine, thus writes to Mr. Whitefield, June 21, 1742. "Blessed be our glorious God, there are some awakenings among us at Irvine, not only of those who have been at Cambuslang, but several others are lately brought into concern about their eternal state, and among them several children; the news of which I know will rejoice you, and hope will encourage you to visit us to help forward this great and glorious work of converting sinners."

+ The reader who wants to see the objections against the work at Cambuslang, fully refuted, may consult Mr. Robe's Letters to Mr. Fisher: and Mr. Jonathan Edwards' Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God. And, as to the argument from the goodness of the fruits, which is level to the

spring of their first opposition to him sufficiently appears from his conversation with them at Dunfermline, formerly mentioned. And the following letter, which he wrote at Cambuslang, August, 1742, and which was afterwards printed at Glasgow, gives an account of their objections and his answers, which are perfectly agreeable to the spirit of both: I heartily thank you for your concern about unworthy me. Though I am not very solcitious what the world say of me, yet I would not refuse to give any one, much less a minister of Jesus Christ (and such a one I take you to be) all reasonable satisfaction about any part of my doctrine or conduct. I am sorry that the Associate Presbytery, besides the other things exceptionable in the grounds of their late fast, have done me much wrong. As to what they say about the supremacy, my sentiments, as to the power and authority of the civil magistrate as to sacred things, agree with what is said in the Westminster Confession of faith, chap. xxiii. paragraphs 3 and 4. And I do own the Lord Jesus to be the blessed head and king of his church.

"The Solemn League and Covenant I never abjured, neither was it ever proposed to me to be abjured; and as for my missives, if the Associate Presbytery will be pleased to print them, the world will see that they had no reason to expect I would act in any other manner than I have done. What that part of my experience is that savors of the grossest enthusiasm, I know not, because not specified; but this one thing I know, when I conversed with them they were satisfied with the account I then gave of my experiences, and also of the validity of my mission; only, when they found I would preach the gospel promiscuously to all, and for every minister that would invite me, and not adhere only to them, one of them, particularly, said, 'They were satisfied with all the other accounts which I gave of myself, except of my call to Scotland at that time.' They would have been glad of my help, and have received me as a minister of Jesus Christ, had I consented to have preached only at the invitation of them and their people. But that was contrary to the dictates of my conscience, and therefore I could not comply. I thought their foundation too narrow for any high house to be built upon. I declared freely, when last in Scotland, (and am more and more convinced of it since) that they were building a Babel.* At the same time,

capacities of all, the Compiler thinks it his duty to add, that, among his acquaintance who were the subjects of that work, the fruits were generally both good and lasting.

*The event verified this conjecture. In his (MS.) notes, several years after, he makes the following remark: "Such a work, (the religious concern at Cambuslang) so very extensive, must meet with great opposition. My collections for the orphans gave a great handle; but the chief opposition was

they knew very well I was far from being against all church government (for how can any church subsist without it?) I only urged, as I do now, that since holy men differ so much about the outward form, we should bear with and forbear one another, though in this respect we are not of one mind. I have often declared, in the most public manner, that I believe the Church of Scotland to be the best constituted national church in the world. At the same time I would bear with and converse freely with all others, who do not err in fundamentals, and who give evidence that they are true lovers of the Lord Jesus. This is what I mean by a catholic spirit. Not that I believe a Jew or pagan, continuing such, can be a true christian, or have true christianity in them; and if there be any thing tending that way in the late extract which I sent you, I utterly disavow it. And I am sure I observed no such thing in it when I published it, though, upon a closer review, some expressions seem justly exceptionable. You know how strongly I assert all the doctrines of grace, as held forth in the Westminster Confession of faith, and doctrinal articles of the Church of England. These I trust I shall adhere to as long as I live, because I verily believe they are the truths of God, and have felt the power of them in my own heart. I am only concerned that good men should be guilty of such misrepresentations. But this teaches me more and more to exercise compassion toward all the children of God, and to be more jealous over my own heart, knowing what fallible creatures we all are. I acknowledge that I am a poor, blind sinner, liable to err, and would be obliged to an enemy, much more to so dear a friend as you are, to point out my mistakes, as to my practice, or unguarded expressions in preaching or writing. At the same time I would humble myself before my Master for any thing I may say or do amiss, and beg the influence and assistance of his blessed Spirit, that I may say and do so

no more.'

So much for Mr. Whitefield's difference with the seceders. But, notwithstanding all this, upon his second arrival in Scotland, June, 1742, he was received by great numbers, among

made by the seceders, who, though they had prayed for me at a most extravagant rate, now gave out that I was agitated by the devil. Taking it for granted that all converted persons must take the covenant, and that God had left the Scotch established churches long ago, and that he would never work by the hand of a curate of the Church of England, they condemned the whole work as the work of the devil, and kept a fast through all Scotland, to humble themselves, because the devil was come down in his wrath, and to pray that the Lord would rebuke the destroyer, (for that was my title.) But the Lord rebuked these good men; for they split among themselves, and excommunicated one another. Having afterwards a short interview with Mr. Ralph Erskine, we embraced each other, and he said, 'We have seen strange things.'"