The Printer and the Preacher by Randy Petersen

Author:Randy Petersen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2015-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

Face to Face

“The Reverend Mr. Whitefield preached to about 10,000 people, at Kensington Common. This day he is to preach at Wapping Chapel for the benefit of the Orphan House in Georgia.”1

So wrote Ben Franklin in the Pennsylvania Gazette a year before he met this preacher. Clearly he was aware, at least vaguely, of Whitefield’s ministry and his growing fame. Ben scanned the London papers for news from the old country and printed what seemed interesting to his readers. Like any good newsman, he would have kept an eye out for “Man Bites Dog” stories—tales of the unexpected and twists on familiar themes. Ben might have been bemused by the thought of a preacher drawing crowds not in churches, but in open fields. Or maybe he just needed to fill three lines on page one.

On November 8, 1739, Ben printed this news item: “Last week the Rev. Mr. Whitefield landed from London at Lewes-Town in Sussex County, where he preached, and arrived in this city on Friday night, on Sunday, and every day since he has preached in the church. And on Monday he designs (God willing) to set out for New York, and return hither the week after, and then proceed by land through Maryland, Virginia and Carolina to Georgia.”2

Ben’s dates agreed with George’s journal. He arrived in Philadelphia on Friday, November 3, and quickly rented a room downtown, within a block or two of Ben Franklin’s printing office. He had in fact preached at Christ Church, as Ben reported, in the days since his arrival. It was the evening of Thursday, November 8 (the day the paper came out), when he began preaching from the Courthouse steps, drawing larger crowds than ever. This continued on Friday and Saturday nights.

That same November 8 issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette carried a for-sale ad:

To be sold, at the house of the Rev. Mr. Whitefield, in Second-Street (the same in which Capt. Blair, lately dwelt) the following goods: being the benefactions of charitable people In England, towards building an orphan-house in Georgia:

Brass Candlesticks, Snuffers and snuff-Dishes, four, six, eight, ten and twenty-penny Nails, Pidgeon, Duck and Goose Shot, bar Lead, Pistol Powder in quarter and half Barrels, English Duck Numb. 1, 2, 3, and 4, English Cordage, Ratling, Worming, Marline and Spun-yarn, Ruggs and Blankets, Duffills strip’d, Drills for Bed-sacking, seven eighths and three quarter Garlix, white Roles, white Hessins, Russia Hempen Ditto; narrow Lawns, Scotch Cloth, cotton Romalls, Seirsuckers, white Dimities, Carradaries, Cherconees, long Romalls, colour’d Ginghams with Trimings, Gorgoroons black, black Persian Taffities, strip’d Linseys, Swanskin Bays, broad Cloth, Shalloons, long Ells, Buttons, Buckrams, and sewing-Silk.3

Ingeniously, George was mixing charity and commerce. Using money donated for the orphanage, he had bought these goods in England and transported them to Philadelphia for the express purpose of selling them at a profit. In this way he leveraged the donations, creating even more of a bankroll for the Savannah orphan house. We can only imagine what his rented room must have looked like, or what the landlord thought as he saw the merchandise carted in.

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