A Murderous Attack
A Murderous Attack
The war between France and England made it too dangerous to sail. However, George found a room in Plymouth, where he could wait for a ship that would sail with a naval convoy as an escort. Elizabeth had not yet come.
George spread his letters from the orphanage on the small table in his new lodging, and read the letter from young Martha again. “Mr. Whitefield, I am so sorry to tell you this,” Martha wrote, “but I fear I have not been a very good girl all this week. Mrs. Henning says she shall give me no supper again, if I do not take better care not to tear my dresses. I confess that I forgot all about my dress when I chased that old pig, Rumbles out of the garden. I think I should not have tried to ride him. Do you know, Sir, how slippery a pig can be? If I had not fallen off I would not have tumbled into the wire the gardener left by the fence so he could repair it, and I would not have torn my dress. Mrs. Henning says young ladies shouldn’t be riding pigs anyway. I will try to remember that. If only I didn’t forget so much. Like walking is better than running on muddy paths, the rooster will peck you if you chase him, and lots of things like that. I do ask Jesus to forgive me. Do you think he is tired of me too like Mrs. Henning?”
George’s laughter was loud enough for his landlady and her daughter to hear in their downstairs apartment. “Ah, precious child,” he whispered at last, “a little girl may forget again and again, but Jesus will never stop loving you, little one.” George wrote to young Martha, finished his evening work, read and prayed, and was ready for bed. While he waited for his ship he would put the time to good use and preach throughout Plymouth in the open air. Tomorrow he would begin. The gentle knock at his door surprised him.
“Mr. Whitefield, there is an officer from his Majesty’s navy come to see you. Shall I bring him up, sir?” his landlady called.
“Yes, thank you, do let him come.” Like many another the man was probably coming for counsel, George thought. When the officer entered he shut the door behind him and took the chair George showed him. “What may I do for you, Sir?” George asked. The man seemed to think for a little, and then stood. George did not notice the gold headed cane in his hand until it came swinging towards his head.
“Dog, rogue, villain,” the stranger said with each swing of his cane at George. The blows coming down on him did not stop, and George knew his attacker had no intention of stopping them. As he fell to the floor, and tried to shield his face, he cried out, “Murder, help, murder!”
The landlady and her daughter hearing his shouts came rushing up into the room. “Stop, stop that,” the landlady cried grabbing at the attacker’s collar. Her daughter screamed and held on to the man’s coat, but he quickly threw them both off, and went back to beating George. Suddenly a second attacker rushed into the room and pushed the landlady and her daughter out and down the stairs. But before he could join the first attacker the neighbors who had heard the screams and shouts burst into the house to help. The assailants fled out the window and across the roof. George was badly bruised, but thankfully no bones were broken. To the trembling landlady and her daughter George said, “May the Lord greatly reward your bravery and courage tonight. I believe those men meant to murder me.” George wrote of the event to Marcus giving full credit to his landlady and her daughter for their bravery. No one knew who his assailants were, but now the people of the town insisted on guarding George on his way back to the rooming house each evening after his preaching in the fields. For six weeks as he waited for the ship George preached and ministered to all who came from far and near to hear the Word of God.
Sometimes George had almost no time to eat or rest. As always he rose at four in the morning to read and pray, and tried to go to bed by ten when he could. “I marvel at the hunger of people for God in so many places,” George wrote to a friend.
One evening the sea of people before him stretched away far beyond the wooden platform where he stood. As he prayed a hush began to spread like waves across the sea of faces. When George began to preach, his voice reached to the very edges of the crowd, so that no one left because they could not hear. But this night someone who hadn’t even come, heard him.
A young shipwright named Tanner and his friends could hear George’s preaching voice where they stood, a good distance away from the crowds. Young Tanner who cared nothing for God was ready to bring this preacher down just for the sport of it. “Come on lads,” he said, “fill up your pockets with some good fat stones and let’s go get him.” Eagerly, the others followed his lead.
As they drew near the hushed crowds and tried to press their way through, they were quickly separated from each other. The shipwright found himself tightly wedged before and behind just as George spoke the words from the Bible story in Acts: “Thou bringest certain strange things to our ears, we would know what these things mean.” Tanner began to listen. The next night he returned alone, and inside he knew the preacher’s message was for him. He left knowing he needed God’s mercy. The following night Tanner came back again, and this time as he listened he found the mercy of God. He wrote a note to tell George of his new faith and confessed how he had come to the first meeting with a pocket full of stones and an empty heart. George read the note, once more amazed at God’s work. When he heard from Tanner the shipwright years later, it was to tell George that he was now the minister at the newly built Tabernacle of Exeter.
At last Elizabeth arrived. “Elizabeth!” he cried in welcome as her coach rolled to a stop. He soon embraced her small frame in his arms, and kissed her cheek. “Now that you are here I can hardly wait to begin our sea journey. It will do us both good.”
The first ship George hoped to take to America refused him. “Sir, I do not want you aboard preaching and ruining my sailors,” the Captain said. When another ship arrived George felt thankful when its captain gladly welcomed them aboard.
Elizabeth lifted her face to get a good look at him. “You look weary, dear husband. I’m glad you will be on board ship where you can rest. But you know this is my first journey across the Atlantic Ocean, and I can scarce believe it! You will have to answer a dozen questions for me surely.”
George laughed and took her arm. “If it is only a dozen, why then I shall be glad to do my best,” he said. “I plan to fill you in with all the news coming from Bethesada, including the letters from the children. You will love Bethesda, Elizabeth, and everyone there will love you.” The light in Elizabeth’s eyes told him she already loved the little ones waiting for them in Georgia.