“Why rage the heathen? and vain things Why do the people mind? Kings of the earth do set themselves; And princes are combin’d To plot against the Lord, and His Anointed, saying thus, ‘Let us asunder break their bands, And cast their cords from us.’
He, that in heaven sits, shall laugh; The Lord shall scorn them all. Then shall He speak to them in wrath, In rage, He vex them shall. Yet, notwithstanding, I have Him To be my King appointed: And over Sion, my holy hill, I have Him King anointed.”
It ought to be added that, immediately after the publication of Whitefield’s pamphlet, the Rev. Jonathan Edwards issued a very able and exhaustive treatise on the same subject, with the title, “Some Thoughts concerning the present Revival of Religion in New England, and the way in which it ought to be acknowledged and promoted. By Jonathan Edwards, A.M., Pastor of the Church of Christ at Northampton.” This was first published in Boston, New England; and, in 1743, was reprinted in Edinburgh. (12mo. 221 pp.)
In some of the hostile publications already mentioned, Whitefield had been attacked respecting his Orphan-house collections; and probably this, and other reasons, led him to publish the following: “A Continuation of the Account of the Orphan House in Georgia, from January, 1741, to June, 1742; to which are subjoined some Extracts from an Account of a Work of a like Nature, carried on by the late Professor Francke, in Glaucha, near Halle, in Saxony. By George Whitefield, A.B., late of Pembroke College, Oxford. Edinburgh: printed by T. Lumisden and J. Robertson; and sold by J. Traill, Bookseller, in the Parliament Close. 1742.” (18mo. 86 pp.)
Whitefield’s Preface, dated “September 22, 1742,” contains the following curious paragraph――a paragraph which, of course, will shock both teetotallers and the members of the Anti-Slavery Society:――
“Once I am clear of all arrears, the Orphan House will be supported at a very easy expense. The last Parliament have altered the constitution of the colony of Georgia, in two material points: they have allowed the importation of rum, and free titles to the land. If they should see good hereafter to grant a limited use of negroes, Georgia must, in all outward appearances, be as flourishing a colony as South Carolina.”