Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Worcester Methodism: Its Beginnings; A Paper Read Before the N. E. M. E. Historical Society, and the Worcester Society of Antiquity
If Tyerman be right in his classification of Oxford Methodists, then the first Methodist sermon in Worcester was preached Wednesday, October 15th, 1740, by George Whitefield. Journeying from Boston to Northampton, he had reached Worcester at 8 P.M. on the 14th, and, with Governor Belcher, who had accompanied him from Marlborough, was the guest of Colonel John Chandler, 2d, perhaps at that time the foremost citizen of the place. The picture of the Royal Governor in his sixtieth year, thus enraptured by the glowing eloquence of the young Whitefield, not yet twenty-six, is an interesting one. Says the latter in his journal: "Wednesday, Oct.15. - Perceived the Governor to be more affectionate than ever. After morning prayer, he took me by himself, kissed me, wept, and exhorted me to go on stirring up the ministers; 'for, ' said he, 'reformation must begin at the house of God.' As we were going to meeting, says he, 'Mr. Whitefield, do not spare me any more than the ministers, no, not the chief of them.' I preached in the open air on the common, to some thousands; the word fell with weight indeed; it carried all before it. After sermon, the Governor said to me, 'I pray God I may apply what has been said to my own heart.'"
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