{"id":2588,"date":"2018-04-10T11:43:50","date_gmt":"2018-04-10T09:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/w3.sonofcarey.com\/?p=2588"},"modified":"2024-09-03T09:12:37","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T07:12:37","slug":"the-angels-voice-the-life-of-george-whitefield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonofcarey.com\/?p=2588","title":{"rendered":"The Angel’s Voice: The Life of George Whitefield"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWho would think it possible that a person\u2026 should speak in the compass of a single week (and that for years) in general forty hours, and in very many weeks, sixty, and that to thousands\u2026\u201d Rev. Henry Venn (Quoted in multiple sources.)<\/p>\n

In 33 years of preaching, George Whitefield preached 30,000 times. That is 2-3 times per day for his entire life. Approximately 10 million people heard him speak in person. Along with numerous other preachers, among whom he was the most prominent, God used Whitefield to change the English-speaking world.<\/p>\n

Rev. 14:6-7 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 7 and he said with a loud voice, \u201cFear God, and give Him glory\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

God made Whitefield as if to prefigure the future angel He would send to the world. In that way and according to His plan, God revitalized whole countries in the English-speaking world of the 18th<\/sup> century through the work of preachers among whom Whitefield was chief.<\/p>\n

For this biography I leaned chiefly on Robert Philip’s The Life and Times of George Whitefield<\/em><\/a>. Other sources such as Dallimore’s brief, one volume work and single chapters in Murray’s Heroes <\/em>were very helpful.<\/p>\n

The Life of George Whitefield<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. 1714<\/strong> December 16, George Whitefield was born to well to do parents in Great Britain.<\/li>\n
  2. The youngest of 7 children, his father died when he was two.<\/li>\n
  3. As a child, he would act in plays with unusual skill in drama.<\/li>\n
  4. 1732<\/strong> Because the family business suffered, he was forced to enter Oxford by serving other rich students.<\/li>\n
  5. 1733<\/strong> He joined the Holy Club started by John and Charles Wesley brothers. John was 11 years older and Charles 7 than Whitefield.<\/li>\n
  6. Through the influence of the club, he practiced the most intense discipline hoping to save his soul.<\/li>\n
  7. He stopped eating fruit and gave that money to the poor. Journals<\/li>\n
  8. \u201cI chose the worst sort of food\u2026 My apparel was mean [plain].\u201d<\/li>\n
  9. When not fasting, he ate sugarless tea and coarse bread.<\/li>\n
  10. Charles Wesley invited him to breakfast and loaned him Scougal\u2019s The Life of God in the Soul of Man<\/em>.<\/li>\n
  11. 1735<\/strong> After months of doubt, fear, and fasting, he was converted at 20 years age of after reducing himself to a sickly condition.<\/li>\n
  12. 1736<\/strong> He was ordained at 21, 14 months after conversion, and preached his first sermon in the Anglican Church.<\/li>\n
  13. Almost immediately other churches requested him to come preach there as well.<\/li>\n
  14. Before he was 23 he had decided to be a missionary to America, and he was preaching more than 5 times every week.<\/li>\n
  15. 1738<\/strong> First tour of America.<\/li>\n
  16. 1739 <\/strong>When the ministers will not open up their churches for him after he returns from the US, he stands in the fields.<\/li>\n
  17. He was led by Howell Harris in this practice and he in turn led both Wesley\u2019s.<\/li>\n
  18. \u201cIt was a brave day for England when Whitefield began field preaching.\u201d Spurgeon<\/li>\n
  19. \u201cPrayer meetings were for Whitefield\u2026 the finishing school of his ministerial education. \u2026 God hangs the greatest weights on the smallest wires.\u201d Robert Philip<\/li>\n
  20. He preaches for 20,000 poor laborers at a place called Moorfields.<\/li>\n
  21. 1739<\/strong> Second preaching tour in America.<\/li>\n
  22. He meets Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Edwards.<\/li>\n
  23. Miraculous interest in the colonies. Nathan Cole wrote his famous account. (Murray\u2019s biography of Edwards, 163-164)<\/li>\n
  24. Edwards\u2019 account of Whitefield. (Ibid., 162)<\/li>\n
  25. 1740<\/strong> Begins plans for an orphanage.<\/li>\n
  26. 1741 <\/strong>Controversy with John Wesley over election.<\/li>\n
  27. The separation was initiated by Wesley, but 10 years later, they were able to minister together again.<\/li>\n
  28. 1741 <\/strong>November, 26 years old marries 36 year old Elizabeth James\u2014\u201cNo beauty, youth, or riches\u2026\u201d<\/li>\n
  29. He had already been rejected by a girl who testified that she could not take the difficult life he was called to.<\/li>\n
  30. He met and married Mrs. James within one week preaching twice per day the first week he was married.<\/li>\n
  31. After their first week together he left to preach in London.<\/li>\n
  32. 1741-1742<\/strong> Revival at Cambuslang, Scotland.<\/li>\n
  33. 1742<\/strong> Preaches again at Moorfields at 6:00 am (often he preached there at 5:00 am.).<\/li>\n
  34. He chose Moorfields at this time because it had a great fair with entertainment distracting men from thinking about their souls.<\/li>\n
  35. \u201cI was honored with having a few stones, dirt, rotten eggs, and pieces of dead cats thrown at me, whilst engaged in calling them from their favourite but lying vanities.\u201d Journals<\/li>\n
  36. His opponents sent a man with a drum, another with a trumpet, and several with whips.<\/li>\n
  37. One playwright wrote a perverse play that attacked his character and played it all through Great Britain.<\/li>\n
  38. Popular songs were written to mock him, and he would often hear children singing these songs.<\/li>\n
  39. 1743<\/strong> Trial at Hampton: Whitefield finally prosecuted those who were persecuting them.<\/li>\n
  40. At Hampton, they had thrown a Mr. Adams into the sewage pit twice because of his preaching. Many others were assaulted as well.<\/li>\n
  41. This kind of treatment fills his life and the other early Methodists who called sin by its name and boldly preached the new birth.<\/li>\n
  42. 1743<\/strong> He begins the first Methodist denomination (before Wesley).<\/li>\n
  43. 1744 <\/strong>His four-month old son dies.<\/li>\n
  44. 1744<\/strong> Whitefield is attacked by two assassins who beat him.<\/li>\n
  45. 1744-1748<\/strong> He preaches in America for the third time.<\/li>\n
  46. 1748<\/strong> For rest, he traveled to Bermuda, but preaches twice per day for a month.<\/li>\n
  47. His sermons ranged from 1 to 3 hours. People stood to listen or sat on the ground because they were overwhelmed with God and truth.<\/li>\n
  48. 1751-1752<\/strong> Fourth preaching tour of America.<\/li>\n
  49. 1752-1754<\/strong> Preaching tour through the British aisles.<\/li>\n
  50. 1754-1755<\/strong> Fifth trip to America.<\/li>\n
  51. 1755-1763<\/strong> Preaching tour through the British aisles.<\/li>\n
  52. 1757<\/strong> While preaching in Ireland, merely \u201ca few stones and clods of dirt were thrown\u201d at him during the sermon. But afterward when he tried to leave hundreds of Catholics hit him with stones and beat him until he nearly died.<\/li>\n
  53. 1763-1765<\/strong> Sixth trip to America.<\/li>\n
  54. 1768<\/strong> His wife Elizabeth Whitefield dies at 63.<\/li>\n
  55. 1769-1770<\/strong> Seventh visit to America.<\/li>\n
  56. 1770<\/strong> 30 September: He died when he was 55.<\/li>\n
  57. He preached the day before his death on 2 Cor. 13:5 and several said it was the best sermon he ever preached.<\/li>\n
  58. He preached again at home while trying to make it to bed.<\/li>\n
  59. He asked John Wesley to preach at his funeral, and Charles Wesley wrote a 536 line poem in honor of his friend.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Lessons from Whitefield\u2019s Life<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Self-denial marked his life from his childhood to death.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n