IxV South Carolina, 119 



Graham, and the defense by Andrew Rutledge. The 

 authority of the court was denied, and exceptions in 

 writing tendered ;t in recusation of the judge " (recusa- 

 tio judicis). These exceptions were repelled by the 

 court, and Mr. Whitefield then lodged an appeal to 

 his majesty in the high court of chancery. During 

 this visit, and even while the trial was progressing, 

 his ministerial labors were abundant, and he preached 

 almost daily in Charleston and the surrounding coun- 

 try. Fully occupied with bis Master's work, Mr. 

 Whitefield, after forwarding his appeal, soon ceased 

 to take any active interest in the matter, and it was 

 therefore never tried, but allowed by the authorities 

 to die of neglect. Accordingly, at the end of twelve 

 months, the commissary, in the exercise of an author- 

 ity which his bishop never attempted to use, though 

 Mr. Whitefield had preached in the fields near Lon- 

 don, and all over England, issued his decree against 

 him, in which, after reciting that his frequently preach- 

 ing in Dissenting meeting-houses without using the 

 prescribed forms of prayer had been proved by Hugh 

 Anderson, Stephen Hartley, and John Redman, he 

 continued in a cloud of high-sounding words: 



Therefore we, Alexander Garden, the judge aforesaid, having 

 first invoked the name of Christ, and setting and having God alone 

 before our eyes, and by and with the advice of the reverend persons, 

 William Guy, Timothy Mellichamp, Stephen Kowe, and William 

 Orr, Avith whom in that part we have advised and maturely delib- 

 erated, do pronounce, decree, and declare the aforesaid George White- 

 field, clerk, to have been at the times articled, and now to be, a priest 

 of the Church of England, and at the times and days in that part 

 articled to have officiated as a minister in divers meeting-houses in 

 Charleston, in the province of South Carolina, by praying and 

 preaching to public congregations, and at such times to have omit- 

 ted to use the form of prayer prescribed in the Common Book, or 

 Book of Common Prayer ; or, at least, according to the laws, canons. 



