Selected Sermons of George Whitefield

It is usual to say of George Whitefi eld’s printed sermons that they do not explain his unparalleled influence as a preacher. The criticism marks the high expectation of the reader, and warns us to look beyond the preacher’s words for the secret of his power. Other men have outshone Whitefield in force of reasoning, in charm of diction, in all the literary qualities of the sermon-writer. Other men have been as sincere in their faith, as eager in their ministry, as clear in their statement of the Gospel message; but they were not used, as Whitefield was, to change the lives of thousands in Great Britain and America. Remembering with reverence the power which alone can make preaching effective, it may still be worth our while to see what circumstances and qualities offer, on viii INTRODUCTION

the human side, an explanation of Whitefield’s success.

The times were favourable to a ministry delivering such a message as that of Whitefield and in such a manner. The eighteenth century is often blamed beyond its deserts. Whitefield’s contemporaries, both amongst Churchmen and Nonconformists, included men of piety and zeal as well as of learning and orthodoxy. The Church of Butler, of Seeker, of Gibson, of Sherlock and of Waterland could not lack worthy leaders; nor were the ranks of the clergy at large without men of real devotion. But the period was one of moral depravity and decaying faith. Arianism, developing into Socinianism, infected Church and Nonconformity alike. Theological learning was of little repute. The Universities had sunk into intellectual obscurity. The observance of the Lord’s Day and the practices of religion had decayed. The type of preaching most common was that of the written sermon composed of cold and polished phrases which left the hearer untouched.

The preaching of the men who began the

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Evangelical Revival came with the freshness of a new message, and the very message which the times so sorely needed. If they reasoned, in terms that were sometimes lurid, of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come, they declared with no less conviction the love of God and the forgiveness of sins through the finished work of Jesus Christ. If Whitefield’s sermons are read in the light of the times in which they were delivered, their influence will seem less surprising than the absence of some qualities that make for greatness may suggest.

Regard must be had also to the circumstances under which Whitefield often preached. He began his ministry at Gloucester in the church which still stands in the same street with the inn (now the Bell Hotel) at which he was born. His early fame in London, won as a young deacon ordained below the canonical age, came from sermons preached in churches. But when pulpits were closed against him, and when churches were all too small for the congregations which gathered to hear him, he began to preach in the open air. Vast crowds gathered around him at Moorfields, even when violence and ribaldry did their worst to drown his voice.^ At Kingswood, near Bristol, an audience of 200 colliers grew day by day till 20,000 hearers were assembled. Once, in America, he accompanied a repentant criminal to the gallows, and preached, standing upon the coffin in the execution cart. Amidst the acute terror produced by the earthquake of 1775 he preached at midnight to a vast assembly in Hyde Park. His last address was delivered at night on the staircase of the house in which he died, whilst the bedroom candle burned to the socket in his hand. Whitefield has told us, in the preface to his edition of a sermon by Foxe, the martyrologist, on what authority he acted. ‘Our Lord has given us a universal commission: “Go ye, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” When thrust out of the synagogues, a mountain, a ship were His pulpit, and the heavens were His sounding-board. Thus Latimer, Cranmer, Ridley, and Mr John Foxe, the famous

See Tyerman’s Lt/e of Whitefield, i. 554-57, for WTiitefield’s account of his Moorfields experiences in 1742.

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martyrologist, preached. And who needs to be ashamed of such unexceptionable examples? ’ Gpen-sJft” preaching has long been too familiar to excite the interest it did in the days of Whitefield and John Wesley; but never since their days has it been so powerful an evangelistic agent.

But we shall find a further explanation of Whitefield’s success, on the human side, in the manner and method of the preacher. His voice was an organ of singular power and beauty. Franklin, by experiment, reached the conclusion that Whitefield could be heard in the open air by 30,000 persons. A born orator, Whitefield had even at school been chosen for his ’ good elocution and memory ’ to speak before the Corporation at their annual inspection. He recalls, as a young preacher, the advantage he derived from this early training; he commended the study of oratory to others; and he deplored the absence of any such training amongst candidates for the ministry of the Church. His own oratory was dramatic to the last degree. Unsupported

Quoted by Tyerman, ii. 418.

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by transparent sincerity and a passionate love of souls, it would have been intolerable. Employed by Whitefield, it appeared beyond criticism. Some of his sermons were, in substance, delivered again and again, revised with scrupulous care as the test of delivery disclosed weaknesses or new opportunities, and, apparently, gaining rather than losing in power from their repetition. Franklin says that such sermons gave * a pleasure of much the same kind with that received from an excellent piece of music’ But, after all, far more than justness of emphasis, and musical cadences, and appropriate modulations of the voice, there appealed to hearers the zeal of the man. There was conviction in every sentence. Whitefield preached not to charm the ear, but to win souls. His hearers knew it, and felt the urgency of his appeal. Mr Lecky with justice observes that ’ of no other preacher could it be more truly said that he preached as a dying man to dying men.’

This combination of oratorical power, with a passionate yearning for souls, would of itself

England in the Eighteenth Century II. ix. 569.

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explaf!! the immediate impression created by Whitefield’s ministry. Before he had been many months ordained London crowded to hear him. * One might, as it were, walk upon the people’s heads. Thousands went away from the largest churches for want of room.... The people were all attentive, as hearing for eternity.’ So he wrote himself, and without exaggeration. This early interest was sustained throughout Whitefield’s career. The * common people heard him,’ as they had heard his Master, ’ gladly ‘; but more fastidious judges also bore witness to his power. At the Countess of Huntingdon’s house at Chelsea Bolingbroke was amongst his hearers, and ’ was much moved at the discourse.’ David Garrick is reported to have exclaimed, ‘I would give a hundred guineas if I could say “Oh!” like Mr Whitefield.’ 2 David Hume bore even more striking testimony ^: — ‘Towards the close of one of Whitefield’s sermons at Edinburgh, after a solemn pause, the preacher broke the silence with this appeal

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