27
December 1714 A.D. Mr. (Rev.) George Whitfield was born.
Wikipedia affords a glimpse
with some useful book recommendations.
|
George
Whitefield
|
|
.jpg)
Renowned English open
air preacher and evangelist.
|
|
|
Born
|
|
|
Died
|
|
George Whitefield (December 27 [O.S. December 16] 1714 – September 30, 1770), also known as George
Whitfield, was an English Anglican preacher who helped
spread the Great Awakening
in Britain, and especially in the American colonies.
Born in Gloucester, England, he
attended Pembroke College, Oxford, where he met the Wesley brothers. He was one
of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical
movement generally.[1] In 1740,
Whitefield travelled to America where he preached a series of revivals that
came to be known as the "Great Awakening". He became perhaps the
best-known preacher in Britain and America during the 18th century, and because
he traveled through all of the American colonies and drew great crowds and
media coverage, he was one of the most widely recognized public figures in
colonial America.
Contents
- 1 Early life
- 2 Evangelism
- 3 Revival meetings
- 4 Benjamin Franklin and Whitefield
- 5 Travels
- 6 Death
- 7 Relation to other Methodist leaders
- 8 Democracy
- 9 Advocacy of slavery
- 10 Works
- 11 Veneration
- 12 References and sources
- 13 External links
Early life
The Old
Bell Inn, Southgate Street, Gloucester.
Whitefield was born at the Bell Inn,
Southgate Street, Gloucester in England. Whitefield was the 5th son (7th child)
of Thomas Whitefield and Elizabeth Edwards who kept an inn at Gloucester.
At an early age, he found that he had a passion and talent for acting in the
theatre, a passion that he would carry on through the very theatrical
re-enactments of Bible stories that he told during his sermons. He was educated
at the Crypt School, Gloucester, and Pembroke College,
Oxford.[2]
Because Whitefield came from a poor
background, he did not have the means to pay for his tuition. He therefore
entered Oxford as a servitor, the lowest rank of
students at Oxford. In return for free tuition, he was assigned as a servant to
a number of higher ranked students. His duties included waking them in the
morning, helping them bathe, taking out their garbage, carrying their books and
even assisting with required written assignments.[3] He was a part of
the 'Holy
Club' at Oxford University
with the Wesley brothers, John and Charles. An illness, as well as Henry
Scougal's The Life of God in the Soul of Man influenced
him to cry out to the Lord for salvation. Following a religious conversion, he became very passionate for preaching his new-found faith. The Bishop
of Gloucester ordained him a deacon.
Evangelism
Whitfield preached his first sermon at
St Mary de Crypt
Church[4] in his home town
of Gloucester a week after his ordination. He had earlier become the leader of
the Holy Club at Oxford when the Wesley brothers departed for Georgia. He
adopted the practice of Howell
Harris of preaching in the open-air at Hanham Mount, near Kingswood, Bristol.
In 1738 he went to Savannah,
Georgia, in the American colonies, as parish priest. While there
he decided that one of the great needs of the area was an orphan house. He
decided this would be his life's work. He returned to England to raise funds,
as well as to receive priest's orders. While preparing for his return he
preached to large congregations. At the suggestion of friends he preached to
the miners of Kingswood, outside Bristol, in the open air. Because he was
returning to Georgia he invited John Wesley to take over his Bristol
congregations, and to preach in the open-air for the first time at Kingswood
and then Blackheath, London.
Whitefield accepted the Church of
England's doctrine of predestination but disagreed with the Wesley brothers'
views on the doctrine of the Atonement, Arminianism. As a result Whitefield did what his friends hoped he would not do—hand
over the entire ministry to John Wesley.[5] Whitefield formed
and was the president of the first Methodist conference. But he soon
relinquished the position to concentrate on evangelical work.
Three churches were established in
England in his name: Bristol, and two churches in London: "Moorfields
Tabernacle"; and "Tottenham
Court Road Chapel". The society meeting at the
second Kingswood School
at Kingswood, a town on the eastern edge of Bristol, was eventually also named Whitefield's
Tabernacle. Whitefield acted as chaplain to Selina, Countess of
Huntingdon, and some of his followers joined the Countess of
Huntingdon's Connexion, whose chapels were built
by Selina, where a form of Calvinistic Methodism similar to Whitefield's was
taught. Many of Selina's chapels were built in the English and Welsh counties, and one was erected in London—Spa
Fields Chapel.
In 1739, Whitefield returned to
England to raise funds to establish the Bethesda Orphanage,
which is the oldest extant charity in North America. On returning to North
America in 1740, he preached a series of revivals that came to be known as the Great Awakening of 1740. In 1740 he engaged Moravian
Brethren from Georgia to build an orphanage for Negro children on
land he had bought in the Lehigh
Valley of Pennsylvania. Following a theological disagreement, he dismissed them but was unable to
complete the building, which the Moravians subsequently bought and completed.
This now is the Whitefield House in the center of the Moravian settlement of Nazareth.He preached nearly every day for months to large crowds of sometimes
several thousand people as he traveled throughout the colonies, especially New
England. His journey on horseback from New
York City to Charleston was the longest then undertaken in North America by a white man.
Like his contemporary and
acquaintance, Jonathan Edwards, Whitefield preached staunchly Calvinist theology that was in line with the "moderate Calvinism" of the Thirty-nine Articles.[6] While explicitly
affirming God's sole agency in salvation, Whitefield freely offered the
Gospel, saying at the end of his sermons: "Come poor,
lost, undone sinner, come just as you are to Christ."[7]
Revival meetings
The Anglican Church did not assign him
a pulpit, so he began preaching in parks and fields in England on his own,
reaching out to people who normally did not attend church. Like Jonathan Edwards, he developed a style of preaching that elicited emotional responses from
his audiences. But Whitefield had charisma, and his voice (which according to
many accounts, could be heard over five miles), his small stature, and even his
cross-eyed appearance (which some people took as a mark of divine favor) all
served to help make him one of the first celebrities in the American colonies.
Thanks to widespread dissemination of
print media, perhaps half of all colonists eventually heard about, read about,
or read something written by Whitefield. He employed print systematically,
sending advance men to put up broadsides and distribute handbills announcing
his sermons. He also arranged to have his sermons published.[8] A crowd Whitefield
estimated at 30,000 met him in Cambuslang in 1742.
Benjamin Franklin and Whitefield
Benjamin
Franklin attended a revival meeting in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania and was greatly impressed with Whitefield's ability to
deliver a message to such a large group. Franklin had previously dismissed, as
an exaggeration, reports of Whitefield preaching to crowds of the order of tens
of thousands in England. When listening to Whitefield preaching from the
Philadelphia court house, Franklin walked away towards his shop in Market
Street until he could no longer hear Whitefield distinctly. He then estimated
his distance from Whitefield and calculated the area of a semicircle centred on
Whitefield. Allowing two square feet per person he computed that Whitefield
could be heard by over thirty thousand people in the open air.[9][10]
Franklin admired Whitefield as a
fellow intellectual but thought Whitefield's plan to run an orphanage in
Georgia would lose money. He published several of Whitefield's tracts and was
impressed by Whitefield's ability to preach and speak with clarity and enthusiasm
to crowds. Franklin was an ecumenist and approved of Whitefield's appeal to members of many denominations, but
it is unknown if Franklin was converted. While Franklin did not publicly
express conversion, his belief in a personal God is evident in his famous
speech at the Constitutional Convention where he recited the verse that not a
single sparrow falls to the ground without God's notice; how then could the
Constitution convention hope to succeed without God's careful oversight?[11] After one of
Whitefield's sermons, Franklin noted the:
"wonderful...change
soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or
indifferent about religion, it seem'd as if all the world were growing
religious, so that one could not walk thro' the town in an evening without
hearing psalms sung in different families of every street."[12]
A lifelong close friendship developed
between the revivalist preacher and the worldly Franklin. Looking beyond their
public images, one finds a common charity, humility, and ethical sense embedded
in the character of each man. True loyalty based on genuine affection, coupled
with a high value placed on friendship, helped their association grow stronger
over time.[13]
Travels
Whitefield is remembered as one of the
first to preach to the enslaved. Phillis Wheatley
wrote a poem in his memory after he died. In an age when crossing the Atlantic
Ocean was a long and hazardous adventure, he visited America seven times,
making thirteen Atlantic crossings in total. It is estimated that throughout
his life, he preached more than 18,000 formal sermons, of which seventy-eight
have been published[14] In addition to his
work in America and England, he made fifteen journeys to Scotland—most famously to the "Preaching Braes" of Cambuslang in 1742—two to Ireland, and one each to Bermuda, Gibraltar, and the Netherlands. He also came to
America in 1738 following John Wesley's departure to serve as chaplain to the
Georgia colony at Savannah.
Death
Whitefield died in the parsonage of Old
South Presbyterian Church,[15] Newburyport,
Massachusetts, on September 30, 1770, and was buried, according to his
wishes, in a crypt under the pulpit of this church. A bust of
Whitefield is in the collection of Gloucester
City Museum & Art Gallery.
George
Whitefield's grave in the crypt of Old South Presbyterian Church, Newburyport,
Massachusetts between Jonathan Parsons and Joseph Prince.
It was John
Wesley who preached his funeral sermon in London, at
Whitefield's request.[16] (Wesley's Journal
entry for Nov. 10, 1770)
Relation to other Methodist leaders
In terms of theology, Whitefield,
unlike John Wesley, was a supporter
of Calvinism. The two differed on eternal election, final perseverance, and
sanctification, but were reconciled as friends and co-workers, each going his
own way. It is a prevailing misconception that Whitefield was not primarily an
organizer like Wesley. However, as Wesleyan historian Rev. Luke Tyerman states,
"It is notable that the first Calvinistic Methodist Association was held
eighteen months before Wesley held his first Methodist Conference."[17] He was a man of
profound experience, which he communicated to audiences with clarity and
passion. His patronization by the Countess of
Huntingdon reflected this emphasis on practice.
Democracy
The First Great Awakening democratized religion by redressing the balance of power between the
minister and the congregation. Rather than listening demurely to preachers,
people groaned and roared in enthusiastic emotion; new divinity schools opened
to challenge the hegemony of Yale and Harvard; personal experience became more
important than formal education for preachers. Such concepts and habits formed
a necessary foundation for the American Revolution.[18][19]
Advocacy of slavery
In the early 18th century, slavery was outlawed in Georgia.
In 1749, George Whitefield campaigned for its legalisation, claiming that the
territory would never be prosperous unless farms were able to use slave labor.[20] He began his
fourth visit to America in 1751 advocating slavery, viewing its re-legalisation
in Georgia as necessary to make his plantation profitable.[21] Partly through his
campaigns and written pleas to the Georgia Trustees, it was re-legalised in
1751. Whitefield purchased slaves, who then worked at his Bethesda Orphanage.
To help raise money for the orphanage, he also employed slaves at Providence
Plantation. Whitefield was known to treat his slaves well; they were
reputed to be devoted to him, and he was critical of the abuse of slaves by
other owners.[22] When Whitefield
died, he bequeathed his slaves to the Countess of Huntingdon.[23] His attitude
towards slavery is expressed in a letter to Mr B. written from Bristol 22 March
1751:
As for the lawfulness of
keeping slaves, I have no doubt, since I hear of some that were bought with
Abraham's money, and some that were born in his house.—And I cannot help
thinking, that some of those servants mentioned by the Apostles in their
epistles, were or had been slaves. It is plain, that the Gibeonites were doomed
to perpetual slavery, and though liberty is a sweet thing to such as are born
free, yet to those who never knew the sweets of it, slavery perhaps may not be
so irksome. However this be, it is plain to a demonstration, that hot countries
cannot be cultivated without negroes. What a flourishing country might Georgia
have been, had the use of them been permitted years ago? How many white people
have been destroyed for want of them, and how many thousands of pounds spent to
no purpose at all? Had Mr Henry been in America, I believe he would have seen
the lawfulness and necessity of having negroes there. And though it is true,
that they are brought in a wrong way from their own country, and it is a trade
not to be approved of, yet as it will be carried on whether we will or not; I
should think myself highly favoured if I could purchase a good number of them,
in order to make their lives comfortable, and lay a foundation for breeding up
their posterity in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You know, dear Sir,
that I had no hand in bringing them into Georgia; though my judgement was for
it, and so much money was yearly spent to no purpose, and I was strongly
importuned thereto, yet I would not have a negro upon my plantation, till the
use of them was publicly allowed in the colony. Now this is done, dear Sir, let
us reason no more about it, but diligently improve the present opportunity for
their instruction. The trustees favour it, and we may never have a like
prospect. It rejoiced my soul, to hear that one of my poor negroes in Carolina
was made a brother in Christ. How know we but we may have many such instances
in Georgia ere it be long? [24]
Works
Whitefield's sermons were widely
reputed to capture his audience's enthusiasm, and many of them as well as his
letters and journals were published during his lifetime. He was an excellent
orator as well, strong in voice and adept at extemporaneity. His voice was so
expressive that people are said to have wept just hearing him allude to
"Mesopotamia". His journals, originally intended only for private
circulation, were surreptitiously published by Thomas Cooper. This led James
Hutton to publish a version with Whitefield's approval. Exuberant and "too
apostolical" language resulted in great criticism and his journals ceased
publication after 1741. Although Whitefield prepared a new installment in
1744–45, it wasn't published until 1938, and nineteenth century biographies
refer to an earlier manuscript. Whitefield published A Short Account of
God's Dealings with the Reverend George Whitefield in 1740, which covered
his life up to his ordination. In 1747, he published A Further Account of
God's Dealings with the Reverend George Whitefield, covering the period from
his ordination to his first voyage to Georgia. In 1756, a heavily edited
version of his journals and autobiographical accounts was released.
After his death, John Gillies, a Glasgow friend, published a memoir and six volumes of works, comprising
three volumes of letters, a volume of tracts, and two volumes of sermons.
Another collection of sermons was published just before he left London for the
last time in 1769. These were disowned by Whitefield and Gillies, who tried to
buy all copies and pulp them. They had been taken down in shorthand, but
Whitefield said that they made him say nonsense on occasion. These sermons were
included in a nineteenth-century volume, Sermons on Important Subjects,
along with the "approved" sermons from the Works. An edition
of the journals, in one volume, was edited by William Wale in 1905. This was
reprinted with additional material in 1960 by the Banner of Truth Trust. It
lacks the Bermuda journal entries found in Gillies biography and the quotes
from manuscript journals found in nineteenth century biographies. A comparison
of this edition with the original 18th century publications shows numerous
omissions—some minor and a few major.
Whitefield also wrote several hymns.
In 1739, Charles Wesley composed a hymn,
"Hark, how all the welkin rings”. In 1758, Whitefield revised the opening
couplet to Hark, the Herald
Angels Sing[25]
Veneration
Whitefield is honored together with Francis
Asbury with a feast
day on the liturgical
calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA)
on November 15.
References and sources
References
1.
Jump up ^ Mark A. Noll, The Rise of
Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys (2010)
4.
Jump up ^ Heighway, Carolyn. Gloucester:
a history and guide. Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing Limited, 1985, p.
141. ISBN 0-86299-256-7
5.
Jump up ^ Warren W. Wiersbe, "50
People Every Christian Should Know", pp. 42–43. (2009) ISBN 978-0-8010-7194-2.
8.
Jump up ^ Harry S. Stout, The Divine
Dramatist: George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evangelicalism(1991).
9.
Jump up ^ The Autobiography of
Benjamin Franklin, pp. 163–164. Applewood Books, Bedford, MA, ISBN 978-1-55709-079-9
10. Jump up ^ Peter Charles Hoffer, When
Benjamin Franklin Met the Reverend Whitefield: Enlightenment, Revival, and the
Power of the Printed Word (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011). 156 pp.
12. Jump up ^ The Autobiography of
Benjamin Franklin, pp. 104–108; Samuel J. Rogal, "Toward a Mere Civil
Friendship: Benjamin Franklin and George Whitefield." Methodist History
1997 35(4): 233–243. 0026-1238
13. Jump up ^ H.W. Brands, The First
American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (2000), pp. 138–50
16. Jump up ^ Wesley, John (1951). The
Journal of John Wesley.
Online: Moody Press / Chicago. p. 202.
17. Jump up ^ Arnold A Dalimore, George
Whitefield: God's Annointed Servant in the Great Revival of the Enlightened
Century. Crossway: 1990. p. 130
18. Jump up ^ Nancy Ruttenburg,
"George Whitefield, Spectacular Conversion, and the Rise of Democratic
Personality." American Literary History 1993 5(3): 429–458.
0896-7148
19. Jump up ^ Jerome Dean Mahaffey,
"The Accidental revolutionary: George Whitefield & the Creation of
America." '(Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2011) ISBN 978-1-60258-391-7
20. Jump up ^ Arnold Dallimore, George
Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the Eighteenth
Century (1980), Volume 2
21. Jump up ^ Frank Lambert, Pedlar in
divinity: George Whitefield and the Transatlantic Revivals, 1737–1770. pp.
204–205. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-691-03296-2
22. Jump up ^ Pollock, John, "George
Whitefield: The Great Awakening", Published by Christian Focus, 2009, ISBN 1-84550-454-2, ISBN 978-1-84550-454-0
23. Jump up ^ Edward J. Cashin, Beloved
Bethesda : A History of George Whitefield's Home for Boys (2001)
25. Jump up ^ bowler,
Gerry. "“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, UM Today, University of
Manitoba, December 29, 2013
Sources
- Armstrong, John H. Five Great Evangelists: Preachers of Real Revival. Fearn (maybe Hill of Fearn), Tain: Christian Focus Publications, 1997. ISBN 978-1-85792-157-1
- Bormann, Ernest G. Force of Fantasy: Restoring the American Dream. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1985. ISBN 978-0-8093-2369-2
- Dallimore, Arnold A. George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the Eighteenth-Century Revival (Volume I). Edinburgh or Carlisle: Banner of Truth Trust, 1970. ISBN 978-0-85151-026-2
- Dallimore, Arnold A. George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the Eighteenth-Century Revival (Volume II). Edinburgh or Carlisle: Banner of Truth Trust, 1980. ISBN 978-0-85151-300-3
- Gatiss, Lee (ed.) The Sermons of George Whitefield (2 Volumes) [1] ISBN 978-0-85190-084-1
- Johnston, E.A. George Whitefield: A Definitive Biography (2 volumes). Stoke-on-Trent: Tentmaker Publications, 2007. ISBN 978-1-901670-76-9
- Gillies, John and Whitefield, George Memoirs of the Rev. George Whitefield: to which is appended an extensive collection of his sermons and other writings: E. Hunt, 1853 (full text online)
- Kenney, William Howland, III. ″Alexander Garden and George Whitefield: The Significance of Revivalism in South Carolina 1738-1741″. The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 71, No. 1 (January 1970), pp. 1–16.
- Kidd, Thomas S. The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-300-15846-5
- Lambert, Frank. Pedlar in divinity: George Whitefield and the Transatlantic Revivals, 1737–1770. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-691-03296-2
- Mahaffey, Jerome. Preaching Politics: The Religious Rhetoric of George Whitefield and the Founding of a New Nation. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1-932792-88-1
- Mahaffey, Jerome. The Accidental Revolutionary: George Whitefield and the Creation of America. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2011. ISBN 978-1-60258-391-7
- Mansfield, Stephen. Forgotten Founding Father: The Heroic Legacy of George Whitefield. Nashville: Cumberland House Publishing (acquired by Sourcebooks), 2001. ISBN 978-1-58182-165-9
- Noll, Mark A. The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys (2010)
- Philip, Robert. The Life and Times of George Whitefield. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2007 (reprint of 1837 edition). ISBN 978-0-85151-960-9
- Reisinger, Ernest. The Founder's Journal, Issue 19/20, Winter/Spring 1995: "What Should We Think Of Evangelism and Calvinism?". Coral Gables?: Founders Ministries.
- Stout, Harry S. The Divine Dramatist: George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evangelicalism. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991. ISBN 978-0-8028-0154-8
- Whitefield, George. Journals. London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1978. ISBN 978-0-85151-147-4
- Whitefield, George, et al. The Works of George Whitefield on CD-ROM (compilation). Weston Rhyn: Quinta Press, 2001. ISBN 978-1-897856-09-3
External links
 |
Wikiquote has a collection
of quotations related to: George Whitefield
|
 |
Wikisource has
original works written by or about:
|
- Bust of Whitefield at Gloucester City Museum & Art Gallery.
- Biographies, Articles, and Books on Whitefield.
- Lesson plan on George Whitefield and the First Great Awakening
- 59 Sermons by George Whitefield at the 'Asia-Pacific Institute of Biblical Studies (APIBS)' "103 Classic Seremons – Library"
- 38 Sermons by Whitefield at the 'Reformed Sermon' Archive
- George Whitefield's Journals project – Project to publish a complete edition of Whitefield's Journals
- History of Old South at Newburyport, Massachusetts
- George Whitefield preaches to 3000 in Stonehouse Gloucestershire
- George Whitefield at Find a Grave
No comments:
Post a Comment