The history of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts, By a committee of the Dorchester antiquarian and historical society ...

304 HISTORY OF DORCHESTER.
sity of Oxford, and had entered into orders according to the canons of the Church of England. That
he was a remarkable preacher, none have pretended
to deny. He left England for the purpose of establishing an Orphan House in Georgia; and in order
to raise funds for this purpose and friends to the
cause, he travelled much, and went as far east as
York, in the District of Maine. He arrived in Boston September 18th, and there secured the friendship of Rev. Messrs. Colman, Sewall, Cooper, Webb,
Prince, and others. His fame had preceded him,
and there was great anxiety to hear him preach.
The next afternoon he preached at the Brattle Street
Church to a congregation of two or three thousand
persons. There was great excitement on religious
matters, which extended through the whole vicinity;
and this town suffered much by the dissensions caused thereby. The Dorchester people, as well as those
from neighboring and more distant towns, flocked
to Boston in great numbers to hear Mr. Whitfield.
He frequently preached there twice a day, sometimes
in meeting-houses, and sometimes in fields, as opportunity offered. At his farewell sermon, delivered
on Boston Common, the number estimated to be
present was from twenty to thirty thousand-nearly
twice the number of inhabitants then living in the
town. There is a tradition in the family of one of
the present owners of a part of Jones's Hill, that
Mr. W.'s voice, while preaching on the Common,
was heard by people on the hill. This is by no
means improbable, as his voice is represented as
wonderfully clear and sonorous, and under favorable