[CHAPTER 3 ] - ( CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE 18TH CENTURY ) - { PT. 8 }


 { PT.  8 } - When churches and chapels were both closed to him, or were too small to contain his hearers, he was ready and willing to preach in the open air. For thirty-one-years he labored in this way, always proclaiming the same glorious gospel, and always, as far as man's eye can judge, with immense effect. In one single Pentecost Sunday week, after preaching in Moorfields, Whitefield received one thousand letters from people to the Lord's table. In the thirty-four years of his ministry, it is calculated that he preached publicly eighteen thousand times. His traveling was impressive, especially when we consider the roads and means of transportation of his time. He was familiar with perils in the wilderness and perils in the sea ( 2  CORINTHIANS  11:26 ), if ever anyone was in modern times. He visited Scotland fourteen times, and was nowhere more acceptable or useful then he was in that Bible-loving country. He crossed the Atlantic back and forth seven times in miserable, slow-sailing ships, and captured the attention of thousands in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. He went over to Ireland twice, and on one occasion was almost murdered by an ignorant Roman Catholic mob in Dublin. As to England and Wales, he traveled every part of them, from the Isle of Wight to Berwick-on-Tweed,and from the Land's End to the North Foreland. His regular ministerial work in London for the winter season, when field preaching was necessarily suspended, was something tremendous. His weekly engagements at the Tabernacle in Tottenham Court Road, which was built for him when the pulpits of the Established Church were closed, comprised the following work: Every Sunday morning, he administered the Lord's Supper to several hundred communicants at half-past six. After this, he read prayers, and then preached both morning and afternoon. Then he preached again in the evening at half-past five, and concluded by addressing a large society of widows, married people, young men, and old maids, all sitting separately in the area of the Tabernacle, with exhortations suitable to their respective situations. On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings, he preached regularly at six. On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings, he delivered lectures. 

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