The New Hampshire Gazette

From the LONDON CHRONICLE

To the PRINTER.

SIR,

Broad Street, Jan. 3, 1758.

Seeing in your paper, that Mr. Whitefield
was to set Monday apart as a day of thanksgiving
for the late victories gained by the King of
Prussia over his enemies, curiosity led me in the evening
to attend at the tabernacle near Moorfields,
where to my great surprise, I found it so crowded
(though the night was one of the worst we have had
this winter) that as near as I could calculate, there
could not be less than 8000 hearers. I was indeed
much pleased with the preacher's manner of opening
the occasion of their meeting, which was followed
with a most fervent prayer for the continuance of
that peace and tranquility which we of this nation
enjoy under the mild and gracious government of our
august Sovereign, for the deliverance of his Majesty's
German dominions out of the hands of his cruel and
blood-thirsty enemies; and for alleviating the burden
of his afflictions, for the sufferings of his people
and the loss of his most pious and amiable daughter
the Princess of Caroline: he concluded with thanksgivings
for the precious life of the King of Prussia
in the day of battle. This prayer made a deep impression
on the audience, and was followed by a
hymn suited to the occasion. But what was the
most singular circumstance of all, instead of a sermon
which I expected, he produced a packet of letters,
which he told the people he had received from several
parts of Germany and from our plantations in
America, many of them directed to himself, and others
to his friends in London, giving an account of
the sufferings and cruel persecutions of our poor brethren
of the Protestant religion by their implacable
and unrelenting enemies the French.

Of the many violences he mentioned in Germany,
I can remember but few, such as the burning
the orphan house, and plundering and destroying the
houses of the peaceable inhabitants, which in many
places could only be on a religious account: for
when they were on Count Bruhl's estate, who was
the chief engine in the plot against the King of Prussia,
they laid waste the fields, and covered the roads
with the spoils of the houses; and even the hallowed
loaves and altars, they not only defiled, but after
making a large hole in the middle, filled them with
human ordure. They dragged a Lutheran parson
15 miles, tied behind a horse's tail, and many other
cruelties which shocked me. and chilled my blood to
hear. When he had read and commented as he
went on, above an hour; he gave out another hymn,
by way of relief to himself.

When this hymn was over (if I mistake not) he
produced a letter from Professor Franks, of the university
of Halle in Saxony, belonging to the King
of Prussia. And now, says he, I will read something
that shall please you.

Here he had a fine opportunity to comment on
the courage and valour of these sons of violence and
ravagers of the earth; for says he, many of them
were such cowards, that when overtaken by the country
people, they fell on their knees, crying out, Je
Suis un bon Lutherain. Thus many of these bullies
denied their religion in hopes of saving their lives,
by hypocrisy, where they had not an opportunity of
running away; three of these fine gentlemen, whom
I suppose to be Marquises, were put to flight by two
old women with broom-sticks. The whole French
German army was routed by five Prussian regiments
only.

He then told them how the Prussians were employed
in prayer & singing of hymns for some time
before the battle: and that many had their Bibles in
their hands at the time the King gave the command
to march up to the French.

Then, says he, the command was, In with your
Bibles, and out with your Swords. The Lord of
Hosts fought this battle, and gave him a compleat
victory. The King of Prussia acknowledged this
conquest to be the greatest deliverance from the
hands of his numerous enemies that the Almighty
had ever wrought for him. He further told them
that the Jews settled at Halle sung Te Deum in a
very solemn manner, and kept a day of thanksgiving
very strictly, for their deliverance from their persecutors
the Catholics, by the signal victory obtained
by the King of Prussia at Rossbach.

In the course of this lecture, which took up near
three hours, he introduced an account of his being
lately attacked by a Frenchman to know if he was
for war, for, says the Frenchman, I learn by the
foreign papers, that you have said 10,000 men
meet daily to pray for success to the Hanoverians
and Prussians.

To which he replied. No. I am not
for war, but peace; only that the French King, the
cruel oppressor of the Protestant religion will not let
them live in peace till he has been severely drubbed;
and says he, the next time you write to France, tell
them, that you know of 20,000 men in Great Britain
that meet daily to pray to God for success to
the Protestant cause, and I know that they will fight
like lions when occasion calls them, in support of
their king, country, and religion.

He then concluded with a hymn and prayer in
which he exhorted them all to put their trust in God,
and hoped that none of them would prove cowards,
or run aways if ever they were put to the trial.