CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE 18th CENTURY - ( CHAPTER 4 ) - { PT. 11 }


 ( CHAPTER  4 )  -  { PT.  11 }                                  FOR ANOTHER THING, WHITEFIELD WAS AN ESPECIALLY BOLD AND DIRECT PREACHER. He never used that indefinite expression we, which seems so common to English pulpit oratory and which only leaves a hearer's mind in a state of hazy confusion. He met men face to face, like one who had a message from God to them: I have come here to speak to you about your soul. The result was that many of his hearers often used to think that his sermons were meant particularly for them. He was not content, as many are, with sticking on a small piece of application at the end of a long sermon. On the contrary, a constant vein of application ran through all his sermons. This is for you, and this is for you. His hearers were never let alone.  ANOTHER OUTSTANDING FEATURE OF WHITEFIELD'S PREACHING WAS HIS REMARKABLE POWER OF DESCRIPTION. The Arabians have a proverbs that says, He is the best orator who can turn men's ears into eyes. Whitefield seems to have had a distinct ability to do this. He dramatized his subject so fully that it seemed to move and walk before your eyes. He used to draw such vivid pictures of the things he was portraying that his hearers believed they actually saw and heard them. One if his biographers described such an occasion: On one occasion, Lord Chesterfield was among his hearers. The great preacher, in describing the miserable condition of an unconverted sinner, illustrated the subject by describing a blind beggar. The night was dark, and the road dangerous.    

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