George Whitefield and the Great Awakening - Essay Example

George Whitefield and the Great Awakening. George Whitefield (1714-1770) was the most traveled preacher of the gospel up to his time and many feel hewas the greatest evangelist of all time. He made 13 trips across the Atlantic Ocean, thus, over two years of his life were spent on board -and these were the times when sea travel was rather primitive. (Dallimore I 14, 19, 124). In his book, "Five Great Evangelists", John Armstrong writes, "George Whitefield impacted the eighteenth century religious scene with such effect that the mark he left still profoundly influences evangelical Christianity... Undoubtedly, he was a massively effective popular preacher. He moved the masses as no-one before him and hardly anyone since. His life is filled with instruction for Christians today." He spoke to some ten million people, and it is said his voice could be heard a mile away. It is estimated that throughout his life, he preached more than 18,000 formal sermons and if less formal occasions are included, that number might rise to more than 30,000. In addition to his ministry in Great Britain (for 24 years) and America (for 9 years), he made 15 journeys to Scotland, 2 to Ireland, and one each to Bermuda, Gibraltar, and The Netherlands (Armstrong 9, 22). He may have been the best-known Protestant in the whole world during the eighteenth century. Certainly he was the single best-known religious leader in America of that century, and the most widely recognized figure of any sort in North America before George Washington (Noll 91). Early years in England. George Whitefield was born in the Bell Inn where his father, Thomas, was a wine merchant and innkeeper. It was the largest and finest establishment in town, and its main hall had two auditoriums, one of which was used to stage plays. But when he was only two tragedy struck this young prosperous family, George's father died (Dallimore I 17-19; Armstrong 12). When the lad was 8 years of age his mother remarried, but the union was tragic, and the inn was almost lost due to financial difficulties. While the other children worked, George's mother saw his ability and made sure he attended the St. Mary de Crypt Grammar School in Gloucester from the age of 12. He was a gifted speaker, had a great memory, and often acted in the school plays, he was proficient in Latin and could read new Testament Greek. However, at the age of 15 George had to drop his studies and worked for a year and a half to help support the family. It seemed tragic, but it was a good experience for George to experience real life. He learned to associate with people from all ranks of society, he worked by day and at night, he read the Bible and dreamed of going to Oxford. In time the husband left, and George's older brother took back control of the inn. But there was no longer any money to send George to college with. For a time he and his mother were heartbroken. But over time they learned that he could go to Oxford as a "servitor," and at age 17 he left for the University with great eagerness. In 1732 he entered Pembroke College at Oxford in November. As a "servitor" he lived as a butler and maid to 3 or 4 highly placed students. He would wash their clothes, shine their shoes, and do their homework. A servitor lived on whatever scraps of clothing or money they gave him. He had to wear a special gown and it was forbidden for students of a high rank to speak to him. Most servitors left rather than endure the humiliation. In 1733, George became a member of the Holy Club led by John and Charles Wesleys (this group of students followed certain "methods" for religion, that were centered on careful reading of the Bible). His mates at Pembroke College had begun to call Whitefield a "Methodist," which was the derogatory word they used to describe members of the Holy Club. To other students their disciplined way of life looked foolish, and the word "Methodist" implied that they lived by a mindless method, like windup robots (Dallimore I 21-49). Charles Wesley loaned him a book, "The Life of God in the Soul of Man", written by the Rev. Henry Scougal. From this book he learned that all his good things, which he thought earned him God's favor, were of no account at all. What he needed was to have Christ formed "within" him that is to be born again (Davis 86). This book drove Whitefield crazy. It was because he did not know how to be born again. So he tried to do so with all his efforts. He stopped eating certain foods and gave the money saved to the poor, he wore only a patched gown and dirty shoes, he would spend all night in fervent sweaty prayer, and he would speak to no one. Finally he was so sick, emaciated, and weak, he could not even climb the stairs to leave his room. Finally a physician was sent for and he was confined to bed for 7 weeks. In May, 1735, he returned home for 9 months to recuperate, there he founded a small society which met nightly. The Bishop of Gloucester took notice of this exceptional young man and offered to ordain him as soon as the orders came. Whitefield graduated from Oxford University in 1736. During that same year, he became an ordained preacher within the Church of England. (Dallimore I 52-68). Preaching. Whitefield's first sermon was at the Church of Saint Mary de Crypt, in Gloucester. Then he served London, Oxford and Bristol. He preached in some of the principal churches of London and soon no church was large enough to hold those who came to hear him. He had received a good offer to preach in London, he struggled to accept and live a nice life, or to suffer hardship in an American colony. When thousands flocked after him, George Whitefield set sail for America. (Davis 102). The first trip to America. George Whitefield finally arrived in America in May, 1738. In fact, many of the settlers of Georgia were debtors released for prisons, they had no education, no knowledge of farming, and poor health. Many thought the colony would fail. Whitefield believed otherwise: he brought there provision, medicine, and food, which was distribute to the poor, he also helped the orphaned children. The preacher brought two teachers with him to establish a school, and urged others to be raised as well. However, in September, 1738, he had to return to England, hearing of the controversies which raged about his ministry while he was gone. Whitefield spoke from the pulpit with fervor and power. And soon, no church could hold the multitude that flocked to hear him. No one could preach or even sound like Whitefield. His voice was like a trumpet, which could be muted or played to its full power. It was excellent in melody and range, and his messages were emphasized with graceful gestures. Those days, the Church of England was comfortable with the message that if you are good quiet, and show up to church you are saved. As soon as Whitefield's preaching became nationally and even internationally recognized, some in the Church began to persecute him as an "enthusiast". In London he found that 5 churches were now closed to him. Whitefield then began to entertain an idea of preaching in the open fields. In February, 1789, Whitefield deliberately set out for Kingswood, near Bristol. The first day 200 people came to hear him, the next day 2000 were listening, the next Sunday there were 10,000, and once the crowd was estimated at 23,000. Another popular place was an open tract known as Moorfields, near London where crowds up to 80,000 at one time gathered to hear him preaching. (Dallimore I 87-115). The second trip to America. In August 1739 Whitefield set sail for America, when the Bishop of London denounced George Whitefield. This time he took with him about $4,000 to build an orphanage. In October he landed near Philadelphia, where once more than 35,000 gathered to hear him. There Whitefield became friends with Benjamin Franklin. He admired the preacher, and became his American publisher. Franklin estimated that Whitefield could be clearly heard by up to 30,000 people in an open space. He was thus convinced of the legendary crowds who had gathered in England could indeed hear him. From Philadelphia Whitefield went to New York, on Sunday afternoon 20,000 people came to listen to him. Then, a journey to Georgia started. On his way through Maryland and Charleston, South Carolina, he preached to thousands with even the judges postponing their business until his sermon was over. His first order of business in Savannah, Georgia, was to start building an orphanage, for which a large house for a temporary habitation for the homeless waifs was rented. In March, 1740, the first brick of the main building was laid. Whitefield named it Bethesda, meaning "house of mercy". After that he sailed up to New England in September, 1740, for his first of three trips to that area. His arrival at Newport, Rhode Island, is often called the focal point of "the First Great Awakening". In Boston some 8,000 assembled in the morning and some 15,000 in the evening. Several times Whitefield spoke to the faculty and students of Harvard, four times he delivered his speech in Northampton, Massachusetts. In just forty-five days he preached over one hundred and seventy-five sermons to tens of thousands of people, leaving the region in a spiritual uproar, marking one of the most remarkable periods of American Christianity (Dallimore II 84, 93-101 ; Seward 28-99). Whitefield made seven trips to America, lasting from half a year to four years. Much of Whitefield reputation rests on the sensation he created in the colonies during his second journey, where he along with Edwards and Gilbert Tennant, served the Great Awakening at its peak. As Whitefield arrived in America, a number of regional revivals were under way. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania William Tennant and his four sons preached the new birth to Presbyterians. In New Jersey Theodore Frelinghuysen spread revival throughout the Dutch Reformed Church. In Virginian there was the minister and hymn writer Sam Davies. In the backwoods of Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Jersey, the missionary David Brainerd spread the word to native Americans on horseback. They all served wonderfully within geographic or denominational boundaries, but it was Whitefield that God would use to tie them all together. Whitefield preached to Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Catholics, Quakers, and Moravians. He was the first man to so clearly cut across all denomination barriers by preaching the simple truth of the gospel. America had been populated by numerous sect, each trying to live a purer life to the Lord, than did their parent church. George Whitefield seemed to be reversing this trend, and huge crowds gathered to hear him from Providence to Baltimore (Stout 181). Whitefield's second trip was finished in January, 1741, and he returned to England in March. There he found that John Wesley was diverging from Calvinist doctrine and holding to a moderate Arminianism. Thenceforth, Whitefield was considered the unofficial leader of Calvinistic Methodism. Later Wesley and Whitefield were reconciled as friends, though not in theological opinion, and Wesley preached a sermon of warm commendation after Whitefield's death. Whitefield believed in the Calvinist view of predestination, that only those that God chose to save would be saved by Him, whereas the Wesleys believed in the Arminian view that anyone who decided that they wanted to be saved could work to achieve their salvation. Calvinists also believed that once a man obtains salvation, it can never be lost and Arminians believed that people who are saved must work to keep it because if they backslide they can lose it. Whitefield also criticized John Wesley for trying to take advantage of the emotions of his audience. Whitefield warned that such preaching would "take people from the written work and make them depend on visions, convulsions, more than on the promises and precepts of the Gospel In all cases Holy Writ must be the ground of authentic faith" (Davis 33; Stout 96). However, it should be mentioned that, in fact, Whitefield was much more interested in preaching than in theology. Although he affirmed the doctrines of predestination, election, and the definite atonement - all themes of traditional Calvinism - he confessed in letter to John Wesley early in his career that he had never read anything Calvin wrote; his doctrines were from Christ and His apostles, he was taught them of God (Noll 91, 92). Whitefield was a Calvinist who did not believe in a natural human capacity to choose God. But he did believe that God's grace made it possible for even the humblest individual to take a place alongside the greatest of the saints. It was this sense of divine purpose that made Whitefield an effective preacher and a model to other aspiring revivalists in America (Noll 112). In July, 1741, he made his first of fourteen trips to Scotland. In 1742, a tremendous revival shook Cambuslang in Scotland, where, as he preached to the crowd of 100,000 (that was the largest audience he ever addressed), Whitefield observed "for about an hour and a half there was such weeping, so many falling in deep distress, and manifesting in different ways..The people seemed to be smitten in scores. They were carried off and brought from a field of battle." In Wales he met his wife-to-be, Elizabeth James, an older widow. In October, 1743, the only son was born, named John, who died at age four months. Sometimes people's reaction to Whitefield's ideas was inadequate, for example, in 1744 he was beaten by a man until he was almost unconscious. Then, he was also accused of misappropriating funds which he had collected, which sounded absolutely improbable: he sold all his possessions to pay a debt for his orphanage. Friends even loaned him the furniture when he lived in England. In fact, when he died he was a pauper with only a few personal possessions. The third trip to America was made from 1744 to 1748. On his way home he also visited the Bermudas. The fourth trip was made from October, 1751, to May, 1752. In 1753, while traveling in England he was struck on the head by stones and knocked off a table upon which he had been preaching. Afterwards he said a phrase he would often repeat: "We are immortal till our work is done". In 1754 the fifth journey to America started, where he stayed from May, 1754, to May, 1755. Whitefield brought there twenty two orphans. On the way to the colonies he spent four weeks Lisbon, Portugal, which shows, that the geography of his activity was rather large. In 1756 Whitefield almost met death. He was preaching on a green near Dublin, but the audience started to behave aggressively: stones and dirt were hurled at him, afterwards he had to walk nearly a half a mile alone under the shower of stones, he was practically covered with blood. Also in 1756 Whitefield opened the Congregational Chapel bearing his name on Tottenham Court Road, London. His sixth trip to America was made from 1763 to 1765. He also visited Holland and Spain. His wife Elizabeth James died in August, 1768, and Whitefield preached the funeral sermon. In September, 1769, the preacher started on his last, seventh, voyage to America. During this visit he made arrangements for his orphanage to be converted into college. He spent the winter months of 1769-70 in Georgia, then, with the coming of spring he started north. In May Whitefield arrived in Philadelphia, traveling on to New England. July was spent preaching in New York and Albany and places along the way. In August he reached Boston. In September 1770 preached his final sermon in Exeter, near Boston. On being told, "Sir, you are more fit to go to bed than preach," he replied, "Lord Jesus, I am weary in Thy work but not weary of it", He then preached a two hour sermon in a field. From Portsmouth, New Hampshire, he went to Newburyport, Massachusetts. The evening he arrived there he was feeling very ill, he was about to go straight to bed, when a small crowd gathered at the house requesting he preach to them. The evangelist who could never say no to sinners, preached Christ to them until the light from his candle expired. It was symbolic of his own life which had by then burnt out for God. That night Whitefield suffered a fatal attack of asthma and died. His last words were, "I am dying". The funeral was held on October, 2 at the Old South First Presbyterian Church. Thousands of people were unable to even get near the door of the church (Dallimore II 20-197). Today, looking at the life of the great preacher, one can understand that Whitefield's greater significance was his innovative approach to preaching. He was not a good organizer, as the Wesleys were, but Whitefield did know how to address plain people in plain language. As a youth Whitefield had been drawn to the stage, an aspiration he renounced after his conversion. But he remained an actor nonetheless, with an unusual sensitivity to what it takes to secure an audience. He appealed to the heart, he knew how to play on emotions, and he was casual in the extreme about denominational differences. He also knew how to exploit the rising tide of newsprint and he even engaged in what would today be called "publicity stunts" (Noll 92, 93). Whitefield did not read his sermons like so many ministers of his century but rather spoke directly to the audience. His style drove home the message that it was not formal education or prestige in society that mattered most but the choice of the individual for or against God (Noll 112). There seems to be nothing unusual in content about his printed sermons: their titles are quite obvious: for example, "Walking With God", "The Great Duty of Family Religion", "The Necessity and Benefits of Religious Society", "Satan's Devices", "Christ - the only Rest for the Weary and Heavy-Laden", "The Power of Christ's Resurrection" (Whitefield 14, 19, 35, 44, 89, 108). However, his oratory put great life into them. Whitefield's sermons were full of emotion and were very charismatic. He always spoke with authority and with powerful wording. He believed strongly in what he preached and the people soon therefore believed in what he did as well (Stout 178). He could paint word pictures so vividly that thousands could listen to him breathlessly and stare through tear-filled eyes as he spoke. Once, in Boston he described a storm at sea, at the very height of the "tempest", a sailor jumped to his feet and shouted, "To the lifeboats, men, to the lifeboats!" Audible cries of the audience often interrupted the messages. Whitefield himself wrote that he had driven fifteen people mad during his first sermon (Dallimore II 49). In all these ways Whitefield contributed to the more democratic and popular style of Christianity in America. And these qualities made him a much-respected figure in his own day. Many others in America and Britain also had a chance to hear Whitefield, for it is estimated that he preached 15,000 times during his thirty-three-year career (Noll 93) - that is more than 10 sermons a week over a period of 34 years. Whitefield became an agent for new forms of social order. His ministry represented the strongest possible demonstration of a new confidence in the religious powers of the people. Perhaps, most important for later American history was the new model of leadership that emerged during the Awakening. He (as well as other traveling evangelists) encouraged laypeople to perform religious duties for themselves and not to rely on an elite clergy or magistrates. These local revivals stimulated considerable renewal in the American churches. To be sure, revivals did not halt the general trend of secularization in colonial society, but provided new energy, new recruits, new concern for preaching to the unconverted, and new impetus for dealing with marginalized members of society (Noll 111). Harry Stout summarized Whitefield's revolutionary approach: "instead of invoking authority as a means of popular control and influence, Whitefield would make himself popular and, on the basis of that popularity, claim authority and status" (Stout 17). The Great Awakening, undoubtedly, was America's first truly national event. The 13 colonies were no longer 13 scattered settlements - they were growing and expanding rapidly. George Whitefield gave the Great Awakening new life through his charismatic preaching and revivals. Many preachers copied his techniques and became successful preachers as well. His Calvinist views became very popular during that time period. He attracted many converts and followers who continued to spread his message even after he was gone. The concept of new birth, which Whitefield strongly advocated, became a very commonplace view during the Great Awakening (Dallimore 19). During a time period in history, when the world was going through many changes and through a religious awakening, George Whitefield did much to contribute to the way religion in the colonies was practiced. He also brought about many new ideas that through his popularity and skill gained in prevalence and changed the way many viewed faith and religion. Works cited. 1. Armstrong, John H. Five Great Evangelists. Christian Focus Publications, Ross-shire, G.B., 1997. 2. Dallimore, Arnold A. George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the Eighteenth-Century Revival, Vol.1. The Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh and Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1970-1980. 3. Dallimore, Arnold A. George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the Eighteenth-Century Revival, Vol.2. The Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh and Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1970-1980. 4. Davis, William. George Whitefield's Journals (1734-1741). Florida: Scholars Facsimiles and Reprints, 1969. 5. Noll, Mark A. A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1992. 6. Seward, William Henry. Journal of a voyage from Savannah to Philadelphia and from Philadelphia to England. London: J. Oswald, 1740. 7. Stout, Harry S. The Divine Dramatist: George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evangelicalism. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1991. 8. Whitefield, George. Selected Sermons of George Whitefield. Pennsylvania: Hazell Watson and Viney Limited, 1985. Read More