Brief Biography of George Whitefield - Essay Example

George Whitefield:
Introduction:
George Whitefield who is known not by many today happened to be a prominent person in the 18th century as a religious scholar. Whitefield’s date of birth was 16 December 1714 (ccel.org). He was largely known as the “marvel of the age” (“Christian History”). Whitefield was blessed with an unusual power of oratory. With the use of this power, Whitefield commanded a lot of people on two continents through his preaching. According to an estimate, Whitefield has preached as many as 10 million listeners for a minimum of 18000 times (“Christian History”). He died in 1770 (Orentas). Whitefield was specifically popular among the poor and the illiterate lot for his wonderful power of oratory, so they gathered in large numbers to listen to him.
A brief history of George Whitefield:
In his childhood days, Whitefield would often skip school in order to prepare himself for the on-stage performances that made part of his school’s co-curricular activities. He was a big fan of plays and had read hundreds of them. In the later years of his life, Whitefield retreated from acting and spared theatrical performances altogether, yet the practice he did in the early years of his life was sufficient to inculcate the qualities of a potential preacher in him.

How Whitefield got into preaching:
Whitefield joined Pembroke College, Oxford after his school was over. It was the very college where Whitefield joined a community of pious “Methodists”. Those Methodists introduced themselves to others as “the Holy Club”. Wesley brothers, namely Charles and John were the leaders of this group. Having joined the Holy Club, Whitefield felt a change inside himself and his concerns for the religion and its teachings grew manifolds. As a result of his increased association with the religion, Whitefield took the decision of serving as a missionary in the colony of New Georgia aside from the Atlantic Ocean. “Fight the good fight of faith, and God will give you spiritual mercies” (Whitefield cited in “BrainyQuote”).
The qualities of George Whitefield:
1. The oratory power:
The most distinguishing quality of George Whitefield was that he was blessed with a magical oratory power by nature. He did not know it from the start, but soon as he began to make speeches in front of the public, Whitefield realized that people in the crowd hung on every single word that he uttered. He had an unusual way of portraying the characteristic features of various characters in the Bible. There used to be great realism in his speech. While making the speech, Whitefield used to cry and dance. He spoke at the top of his voice. David Garrick, who used to be one of the most popular actors in the UK in those days said, “I would give a hundred guineas if I could say 'Oh' like Mr. Whitefield” (“Christian History”).
Once, it so happened that he was speaking about eternity. While making the speech, he suddenly paused, looked sideways, and screamed, “Hark! Methinks I hear [the saints] chanting their everlasting hallelujahs and spending an eternal day echoing forth triumphant songs of joy. And do you not long, my brethren, to join this heavenly choir?” (“Christian History”).
2. Gathering of the mass:
Whitefield knew the magic of gathering people in no time. Crowds that he used to address often exceeded the entire population of the cities in which he would make the speech. Whitefield made a tour to America in 1739 with the intention to preach. His first stop in America was Philadelphia which was the world’s most cosmopolitan city. To hear his speech, so many people gathered that even the most spacious churches in Philadelphia could not accommodate them. The crowd in Philadelphia had some 8000 people in it. In order to address them all at one time, Whitefield had taken them outdoors. Often, Whitefield himself became surprised to see the volume of listeners and would think how scattered crowds managed to gather so quickly to listen to him.
3. The leader for the poor:
A vast majority of the listeners of Whitefield were totally illiterate and came from poor financial backgrounds. They loved Whitefield because he was very down-to-earth in his mannerism and dealt them with respect. He used to wear a clerical costume as he walked through the crowd of poor and told them of the virtues of poverty. He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Shepherd). The poor thought of Whitefield as a loving and caring person. Read More