Great Re v i v a l s and Ev a n g e l i s t s By JOHN H. HUNTER II. GEORGE WHITEFIELD (Continued) (Copyright, 1915, by John H. Hunter)
S yno psis of P revious A rticles . —George Whitefield, belieyed by many to have been the greatest preacher of the age in which he lived, was born in Gloucester, England, December 27 (new style), 1714. When he was about 18 years old a marked change came over his life and he longed to become a clergyman. He secured a servitorship at Pembroke College, Oxford. During his second year at college he became acquainted with Charles and John Wesley, and the other “Methodists,” among whom he soon became one of the most , active. Because of his remarkable diligence in Christian work and his no less remarkable gift of preaching, he was ordained in his home church in Gloucester by Bishop Benson on Trinity Sunday, 1736, when 22 years old. His preaching was greatly blessed wherever he went. In 1737 he received a letter from Charles Wesley, who had returned to England from Georgia to secure helpers, and orte from John Wesley, then in Georgia, inviting him to come and assist in the work there.
now. In March he met the Arch bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, both of whom approved of his going to Georgia. Detained for some weeks, he accepted an invi tation to preach at Stonehouse, Glou cestershire., He thus describes his ministry there: “I was received with joy, and wel comed by the parishioners in my visits from house to house. Neither church nor house could contain the peo ple who came. One night was a time never to be forgotten. It happened to lighten exceedingly. I had been expounding to many people, and some being afraid to go home, I thought it my duty to accompany them. . . . In my return to the parsonage house, whilst others were rising from their beds, and affrighted almost to death to see the lightning running along the ground, I and another, a poor but pious countryman, were in the field, praising, praying to, and exulting in our God, and longing for that time when Jesus should be revealed from
w S l P t l T HITEFIELD, though his “heart leaped within” 1 when he received the j/uWM j'ck Wesleys’ invitation, did not decide to accept it until from careful consideration of all the circumstances he felt that it was truly God’s call to him. / ‘On New Year’s day (1738) I went to Gloucester in order to hear the bishop’s opinion of the step: he approved of it. My relations were not so passive; my aged mother wept sore: others urged what pretty pre ferment I might have if I would stay at home; but at last they grew quieter.” When it became known that he was going to make the long voyage to America a new interest gathered around him and larger audiences at tended his preaching. Crowds were turned away from the churches unable to gain admittance. The mayor and corporation of Bristol invited him to preach before them, which was no small honor in those days, nor even
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