Sketches of the Life and Labours of the Rev. George Whitefield: To Which Are Added Two Discourses, Preached in the Year 1729 (Classic Reprint)

by George Whitefield

Excerpt from Sketches of the Life and Labours of the Rev. George Whitefield: To Which Are Added Two Discourses, Preached in the Year 1729

But is it not desirable that these symbols should now be reduced to intelligible words, so that the multitude at large may read and understand? The Life of White field, the common benefactor, should be accessible to the common capacity. His own earnest wish, indeed, was, Let the name'of Whitefield perish, if the name of God be but exalted - and it was in this spirit that he lived, laboured, and died, neither seeking to advance his own reputation, nor to form a party that should be called by his name, but only earnest that the Redeemer might be all in all. But these are the very men whom God most highly honours, and whose history the world ought chieﬂy to study. And the time, we trust, is at hand, when Whitefield will be the revered and honoured of men, as well as the approved servant of his heavenly Master. Every succeeding generation since his own day has more sensibly felt and more distinctly appre ciated the blessing which his mission has conferred; and soon, we trust, the desire will be universal, of having before our eyes the movements and the example of that bright evangelist of modern Christendom, by whose labours our fathers were so highly blessed, and the fruits of which we have so happily inherited.

To write such a work as we desire, and which would be truly worthy of the title of a life of Whitefield, would require talent of no ordinary character, combined with the study and research of years. For only think of the districts and lands he traversed, the sermons he preached, the impressions he produced. Within the short space of thirty years, the toils and events of three ages of common life seem to be comprised. Eng land should furnish one Life of him, in which a long detail would be given of his apostolic range through all her diversified classes, from the glittering ornaments of the court of George II., to the mob of Moorfields, and the colliers of Kingswood. The principali of Wales would have another, in which she would tell of his wel come visits among her mountains, and the awakenings his sermons occasioned upon her benighted, but suscep tible, population. Scotland could furnish the entire of a third Life, and not the least remarkable or interesting, telling of effects he had wrought upon her strong hard intellect and iron nerves, such as no Englishman had produced since the days of Edward I. And America - the land of his last labours and his tomb - how much he toiled for her, and how much these toils were blessed, before she boldly plunged into her perilous conﬂict for independence, and raised aloft her star-spangled banner! So many lands to be consulted; so many narratives to be woven into one whole; so many effects to be traced in the subsequent history, not only of the Church, but the sects of every country to which his energies were successively devoted - in all this, there 18 work for the whole life-time of some future able and laborious biographer; and 0, that he may address himself to the task in the Spirit of him whom he seeks to com memorate, and write as Whitefield preached!

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Paperback, 322 pages

Published October 22nd 2018 by Forgotten Books (first published July 19th 2015)

George Whitefield

George Whitefield (1714 - 1770)

Also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican preacher who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally. He became perhaps the best-known preacher in Britain and America in the 18th century, and because he traveled through all of the American colonies and drew great crowds and media coverage, he was one of the most widely recognized public figures in colonial America.

Whitefield was an astounding preacher from the beginning. Though he was slender in build, he stormed in the pulpit as if he were a giant. Within a year it was said that "his voice startled England like a trumpet blast." At a time when London had a population of less than 700,000, he could hold spellbound 20,000 people at a time at Moorfields and Kennington Common. For thirty-four years his preaching resounded throughout England and America. In his preaching ministry he crossed the Atlantic thirteen times and became known as the 'apostle of the British empire.' He was a firm Calvinist in his theology yet unrivaled as an aggressive evangelist. Though a clergyman of the Church of England, he cooperated with and had a profound impact on people and churches of many traditions, including Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Baptists. Whitefield, along with the Wesleys, inspired the movement that became known as the Methodists. Whitefield preached more than 18,000 sermons in his lifetime, an average of 500 a year or ten a week. Many of them were given over and over again. Fewer than 90 have survived in any form.

George Whitefield also known as George Whitfield, was an Anglican itinerant minister who helped spread the Great Awakening in Great Britain and, especially, in the British North American colonies.

He was a very influential figure in the establishment of Methodism. He was famous for his preaching in America which was a significant part of an 18th century movement of Christian revivals, sometimes called "The Great Awakening."

While explicitly affirming God's sole agency in salvation, Whitefield would freely offer the Gospel, saying near the end of most of his published sermons something like: "Come poor, lost, undone sinner, come just as you are to Christ"

He died in the parsonage of Old South Presbyterian Church, Newburyport, Massachusetts on September 30, 1770. He was buried, according to his wishes, in a crypt under the pulpit of this church.

George Whitefield was born in Gloucester in 1714. At eighteen he entered Pembroke College, Oxford, and soon became a member of a religious group that included John Wesley and Charles Wesley. The group became became known as the Holy Club or the Oxford Methodists.

In 1735 John Wesley and Charles Wesley became missionaries in Georgia, America. Whitefield followed three years later and was appointed minister at Savannah. Whitefield and Wesley returned to England and settled in Bristol and gave sermons in the open-air. However, whereas Wesley built a Methodist Chapel in Bristol Whitefield decided to go back to Georgia where he made extensive preaching tours.

When he returned to England, the Countess of Huntington appointed him her chaplain and built and endowed many chapels for him. He made seven evangelistic visits to America and spent the rest of his life in preaching tours of Britain.

Whitefield made the last of his seven evangelistic visits to America in 1769. George Whitefield died near Boston in 1770.

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