CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

  { PT.  6 } - The news about Whitefield's open-air preaching soon spread. The number of hearers rapidly increased until the congregation amounted to many thousands. His own account of the behavior of these neglected miners, who had never been in a church in their lives, is deeply touching. He wrote to a friend: Having no righteousness of their own to renounce, they were glad to hear of a Jesus who was a friend to publicans, and who came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. The first discovery of their being affected was the sight of the white gutters made by their tears, which plentifully fell down their black cheeks as they came out of their coal pits. Hundreds of them were soon brought under deep conviction, which, as the event proved, happily ended in a sound and thorough conversion. The change was visible to all, though many people chose to impute it to anything other than the finger of God. As the scene was quite new, it often occasioned many inward conflict

  { PT.  5 } - After preaching for a few months in Cloucestershire, and especially at Bristol and Stonehouse, he sailed for America in the latter part of 1737, and continued there about a year. The affairs of this orphan house, it can be noted, occupied much of his attention from this period of his life until he died. Although well-intentioned, it seems to have been a design of very questionable wisdom, and certainly brought Whitefield a world of anxiety and responsibility to the end of his days. Whitefield returned from Georgia in the latter part of the year 1738, partly to obtain priest's orders,which were conferred on him by his old friend Bishop Benson, and partly on business connected with the orphan house. Soon, however, he discovered that his position was no longer what it was before he sailed for Georgia. The majority of the clergy were no longer favorable to him, but regarded him with suspicion as an enthusiast and a fanatic. They were especially opposed to him preaching t

{ PT.  4 } - Almost immediately after his ordination, Whitefield went to Oxford and earned his bachelor degree. He then began his regular ministerial life by undertaking temporary duty at the Tower Chapel in London for two months. While there, he preached continually in many London churches of Islington, Bishopsgate, St Dunstan's, St Margaret's, Westminster, and Bow in Cheapside. From the very beginning, he obtained a degree of popularity such as no preacher, before or since, has probably ever reached. Whether on week-days or Sundays, the churches were crowded wherever he preached, and an immense impression was made. The plain truth is that a really eloquent, extemporaneous preacher, preaching the pure gospel with most uncommon gifts of voice and manner, was at that time entirely unique in London. The congregations were taken by surprise and carried by storm. From London, George Whitefield went for two months to the village of Dummer, a little rural parish in Hampshire, near Ba

  { PT.  4 } - Whitefield's first sermon was preached in the very town where he was born, at the church of St. Mary-le-Crypt, in Gloucester. His own description of it is the best account that can be given: Last Sunday, in the afternoon, I preached my first sermon in the church of St. Mary-le-Crypt, where I was baptized and also first received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Curiosity, as you may easily guess, drew a large congregation together upon this occasion. The sight awed me a little at first, but I was comforted with a heartfelt sense of the divine presence. I soon found the unspeakable advantage of having been used to public speaking when a boy at school, and of exhorting the prisoner and poor people at their private houses while at the university. By these means I was kept from being overly daunted. As I proceeded, I perceived the fire kindled, until at last, though so young and amid a crowd of those who knew me in my childish days, I trust I was enable to speak wi

  { PT.  3 } - Whitefield wrote: Above all, my mind being now more opened and enlarged, I began to read the Holy Scriptures upon my knees, laying aside all other books, and praying over, if possible, every line and word. This proved food indeed to my soul. I daily received fresh life, light, and power from above. I got more true knowledge from reading the Book of God in one month than I could ever have acquired from all the writings of men. Once he understood the glorious liberty of Christ's gospel, Whitefield never turned again to asceticism, legalism, mysticism, or strange views of Christian perfection. The experience received by bitter conflict was most valuable to him. Once he thoroughly grasped the doctrines of free grace, they took deep root in his heart, and became, as it were, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Of all the little band of Oxford Methodists, none seem to have gotten hold so soon of clear view of Christ's gospel as he did, and none kept it so unwaveri

  { PT.  2 } - His journal explains that for two or three years before he went to the university, he had been having some religious convictions, but from the time he entered Pembroke College, these convictions quickly grew into definite Christianity. George Whitefield diligently attended all means of grace within his reach. He spent his spare time visiting the city prison, reading to the prisoners, and trying to do good. He became acquainted with the famous John Wesley and his bother Charles, and a little band of like-minded young men, including James Hervey, the well-known author of Theron and Aspasio. These were the devoted party to whom the name Methodists was first applied because of their strict method of living. At one time he seems to have greedily devoured such books as Castanuza's Spiritual Combat and writings by Thomas a Kempis, and he was in danger of becoming a semi-Roman Catholic, an ascetic, or a mystic, and of placing all of her religion in self-denial. He says in hi

  { PT.  1 } - Who were the men who revived true religion in England a hundred years ago? What were their names so we can honor them? Where were they born? How were they educated? What are the main facts of their lives? What was their special area of labor? I want to provide some answers to these questions in the present and future chapters. I feel sorry for the person who has no interest in such matters. The instruments used by God to do His work in the world deserve a close inspection. The person who would not care to look at the rams horns that blew down Jericho, the hammer and nail that slew Sisera, the lamps and trumpets of Gideon, or the sling and stone of David, might reasonably be considered a cold and heartless person.I hope that all who read this book want to know something about the English evangelists of the eighteenth century. The first and foremost person whom I will name is the well-known George Whitefield. Though not the first in order, if we look at the date of his bir

  { PT.  11 } - THE REFORMERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CONSTANTLY TAUGHT THE UNIVERSAL NECESSITY OF HEART CONVERSION AND BEING MADE A NEW CREATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. - They proclaimed everywhere to the crowds they addressed, You must be born again! They never taught that people become children of God by baptism, or that they can by children of God while practicing the will of the devil. The regeneration that they preached was not a dormant, passive, lifeless thing. It was something that could be seen, recognized, and known by its effects.                                                                                THE REFORMERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ALSO CONSTANTLY TAUGHT THE INSEPARABLE CONNECTION BETWEEN TRUE FAITH AND PERSONAL HOLINESS. They never for a moment taught that church membership or religious profession was the slightest proof of anyone being a true Christian if he lived an ungodly life. A true Christian, they insisted, must always be known by his fruits, and these

  { PT.  10 } - This, in fact, was the main point in almost all their sermons. They never taught the modern doctrine that Christ's death was only a great example of self-sacrifice. They saw in it something far higher, greater, and deeper than this. They saw in it the payment of man's mighty debt of God. They loved Christ's person, they rejoiced in Christ's promises, and they urged people to walk after Christ's example. But the one subject above all others concerning Christ that they delighted to dwell on was the sin-atoning blood that Christ shed for us on the cross.                                                                                  THE REFORMERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CONSTANTLY TAUGHT THE GREAT DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. They told people that faith was the one thing needful in order to obtain a saving interest in Christ's work for their souls. They taught that before we believe, we are dead and have no part in Christ, and that the mom