( CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE 18TH CENTURY ) - [ CHAPTER 4 ] - { PT. 3 }


 { PT.  3 } - However, I want my readers to understand that my high estimate of Whitefield's usefulness is based on a solid foundation. I ask them to notice well what Whitefield's contemporaries thought of the value of his labors. Benjamin Franklin, the well-known American philiosopher, was a matter-of-fact, calculating man, a Quaker by profession, and not likely to form too high an estimate of any minister's work. Yet even he confessed that it was wonderful to see the change soon made by his preaching in the manners of the inhabitants of Philadelphia. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious. Franklin himself, it can be remarked, was the leading printer of religious works at Philadelphia, and his readiness to print Whitefield's sermons and journals shows his judgment of the hold that George Whitefield had on the American mind. Maclaurin, Willison, and Macculloch were Scottish ministers whose names are well known north of the Tweed River, and the first two deservedly rank high as theological writers. All these have repeatedly testified what Whitefield was made an instrument of doing immense good in Scotland. Willison in particular says that God honored him with surprising success among sinners of all classes and beliefs. Henry Venn of Huddersfield was a man of strong good sense, as well as of great grace. 

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