matriculating on 7 Nov. 1732. Among his contemporaries was William Shenstone the poet. He had pecuniary aid from Lady Elizabeth Hastings [q. v.], through whom probably began his connection with Selina Hastings, countess of Huntingdon [q. v.]
Before going to Oxford he ‘had heard of and loved’ the Oxford methodists. His introduction to Charles Wesley (1707–1788) [q. v.] was brought about by his sending Wesley notice of a case of attempted suicide. Charles Wesley lent him books; he first ‘knew what true religion was’ through reading ‘The Life of God in the Soul of Man’ (1677), by Henry Scougal [q. v.] He copied the methodist practices, but was not actually admitted to the ‘society’ till 1735, in which year he dates his conversion. At Gloucester, where he spent the latter half of that year, he formed ‘a little society’ on the methodist model. On 20 June 1736 he was ordained deacon at Gloucester by Martin Benson [q. v.], preached his first sermon at St. Mary de Crypt on 27 June, and graduated B.A. in July. The removal of the Wesleys gave him the lead of the few remaining Oxford methodists. During a visit to London he conceived the idea of joining the Wesleys in Georgia, but was dissuaded by friends. His first sermon in London was on 8 Aug. at St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, where he captivated an audience inclined at first to sneer at his youthful looks. For a few weeks (November to December 1736) he officiated for Charles Kinchin (1711–1742) at Dummer, Hampshire, and had the offer of ‘a very profitable curacy in London,’ which he declined, though in debt, having made up his mind (21 Dec.) for Georgia (Charles Wesley, Journal, 1849, i. 59). James Hervey (1714–1758) [q. v.] succeeded him at Dummer. Bishop Benson, whom he consulted on New Year's day 1737, approved his design. It was not carried out for a year, spent in missionary preaching, chiefly in the west of England and London. For two months he was in charge of Stonehouse, Gloucestershire (his farewell sermon, 10 May 1737, was edited, 1842, by J. G. Dimock, from a manuscript discovered in that year). The popularity of his preaching was extraordinary; his first printed sermon ran through three editions in 1737. He was in constant request for charity sermons.
On 30 Dec. 1737 he went on board the Whitaker, which did not leave the Downs for Georgia till 2 Feb. 1738. John Wesley, who reached Deal the day before, would have stopped him, but did not use the opportunity of meeting him (see Wesley, John, and Whitefield's Works, 1771, iv. 56, for Wesley's recourse to lot on this occasion). He made a fortnight's stay at Gibraltar, where, after seeing high mass, he ‘needed no other argument against popery.’ The governor, Joseph Sabine (1662?–1739) [q. v.], showed him much attention. Among the garrison he found a religious society, known as ‘new lights;’ others, belonging to the church of Scotland, were known as ‘dark lanthorns.’ The journals of his voyage out, sent to James Hutton (1715–1795) [q. v.], were printed (1738) by T. Cooper. Hutton deprecated the publication as surreptitious; it is more close to the original than Hutton's own issue, which ran through four editions in the same year. Whitefield's journals were too egotistic for publication, and they prejudiced the methodist cause. Their issue set an example followed, with more judgment, by John Wesley, who began to publish his journals in 1740. Whitefield's Georgia mission had more apparent success than Wesley's; he was a younger man, much more eloquent, and unconcerned with disputes about churchmanship; moreover, he was provided with funds ‘for the poor of Georgia.’ He sympathised with the colonists, denied by the trustees ‘the use both of rum and slaves.’ But he bears emphatic testimony to the fact that ‘the good which Mr. John Wesley has done … is inexpressible’ (Journal). Whitefield struck out a line of his own by establishing schools and projecting an orphan house. To collect money for this scheme, and to obtain priest's orders, he left for England on 28 Aug. On his return he spent a fortnight in Ireland, well received by Bishops Burscough and Rundle and Archbishop Boulter. He was ordained at Christ Church, Oxford, on 14 Jan. 1739 by Martin Benson, acting for Secker, and on letters dimissory from Edmund Gibson [q. v.], bishop of London, who accepted as title Whitefield's appointment by the Georgia trustees as minister of Savannah. Lady Huntingdon interested herself in his ordination, and brought aristocratic hearers to his preaching, among them the famous Sarah, duchess of Marlborough.
Like Wesley, Whitefield attended the Moravian meetings in Fetter Lane; unlike Wesley, he paid visits to leading dissenters; Isaac Watts [q. v.] received him ‘most cordially.’ He got into trouble by preaching at St. Margaret's, Westminster, in the afternoon of Sunday, 4 Feb. 1739. Morgan, the Friendly Society's lecturer, being out of town, had engaged John James Majendie to supply his place. Not knowing this, the stewards had sent for Whitefield. Majendie was rudely superseded; of this Whitefield, who wished to retire in his favour, was innocent; but the matter gave rise to much angry writing
