THE POWER MESSAGE OF

BY DAVID LITTLEWOOD s the eigh teenth cen tury opened, spiritual and moral condi- Ations in England had sunk to an all-time low. Follow- ing the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the country plunged heed- lessly into a course of god- lessness, drunkenness, im- morality, and gambling. The was almost totally de- prived of good men since the ejection of nearly 2,000 ministers who would not submit to the notorious ‘Act of Unifor- mity’ of 1662. Deism – the teaching that God is merely the First Cause and THE HOLY CLUB man is therefore free to live as he likes – had dis- whole temper of English America at a time when met John and Charles placed the God of the society and restoring sea travel was immensely Wesley and became a . much of the church to life hazardous. member of the ‘Holy Living conditions were and vitality. People high said of him: "Have we Club’ of Oxford ‘Method- appalling in the cities, and low were infused with ever heard of anyone who ists’. The members of the with gin drinking epi- a new moral zeal which called so many thousands, Holy Club were a group of demic and crime rampant, reformed the prisons and so many myriads of sin- earnest young men, seek- even though there were ing to earn their salvation 160 offences which car- by works of personal pi- ried the death penalty. The weight of sin lifted ety. As yet they knew Public hangings were nothing of salvation by times of festivity; gam- and his soul was flooded grace, and it appears bling, gaming, and alcohol Whitefield went further were steadily destroying than most in his search for all vestiges of family life. with unspeakable joy. peace with God, almost In 1738, however, this tor- wrecking his health with rent of impiety was ar- penal laws, abolished the ners, to repentance?" the rigours of religious rested by the voice of a 22 slave trade and gave the Whitefield was born in a asceticism. year-old clergyman, first impulse to popular Gloucester tavern, the Bell However, in 1735, in George Whitefield, de- education. Inn, in 1714. His father the midst of great personal claring the gospel of George Whitefield was died when he was two searching, the light of sal- Christ with such fervour God’s primary instrument years old, and his mother vation by faith alone came and power that soon no of revival in the awaken- had the misfortune to re- to Whitefield. The weight church could hold the ing which took place on marry to a man who of sin lifted and his soul multitudes that flocked to both sides of the Atlantic squandered the family es- was flooded with un- hear him. The lone voice in the 18th century. Al- tate, leaving them quite speakable joy. Later, other was soon joined by others though others – like the poor. members of the Holy – including John and Wesleys – contributed im- Although knowing Club, including the – and a measurably, there is no nothing of salvation, the Wesleys, were to come tremendous move of question that Whitefield young George was set on into a similar experience. God’s Spirit went through was the spearhead of the being a clergyman and Whitefield was ordained the land and spread across revival. In 34 years of pub- entered Oxford as a ‘ser- in 1736 by the of the Atlantic to the Ameri- lic ministry, he preached vitor’ (a poor student who Gloucester, Dr. Benson, can colonies. A religious more than 30,000 times, earned his living by serv- and preached his first ser- revival burst forth, in a often to immense crowds, ing students who were mon in St. Mary de Crypt, few years changing the and made seven trips to well off) in 1732. Here he Gloucester, a few days later. His hearers were so struck by ing twenty sermons a fear of harming the re- As Whitefield got older, his his eloquence that someone com- week. vival. However, the con- health began to decline. However, he plained to the Bishop that By now a major evan- troversy was now well kept up his rigorous itinerary, even Whitefield had driven fifteen gelical awakening was un- joined, and, when in his last years. Sometimes he people mad! The Bishop replied he derway, but Whitefield Whitefield arrived back in would be so weak he had to be car- "wished the madness might not be felt impelled to go back to England, he found Wesley ried to his preaching point, where he forgotten before next Sunday." America. So in 1739 he in charge of the movement would wait for the Holy Spirit to From this time on, Whitefield left much of the work he he had begun and many of move upon him, and then, divinely would preach to packed buildings had begun in the hands of his former followers had strengthened, would again preach and huge crowds. He had wonder- his friends, John and deserted him. with great power. ful gifts of natural eloquence, at- Charles Wesley, and de- Deeply in debt because of He sailed for America for the tested by unbelievers such as the parted again for Georgia. his obligations to the or- last time in 1769, and in September actor Garrick, the philosopher In America, despite much phanage in America, 1770 preached his final sermon in Hume, and the American diplomat, opposition from the estab- Whitefield set about re- Exeter, near Boston. On being told, Benjamin Franklin. Garrick once lished church, Whitefield covering support and heal- "Sir, you are more fit to go to bed said he would give 100 guineas to was soon preaching to ing the rifts in the evan- than preach," he lifted his heart and be able to say, ‘Oh’ with the elo- huge crowds in the open gelical community. His said, "Lord Jesus, I am weary in Thy quence of Whitefield. His voice air. During his two years friends built a huge build- work but not weary of it." He then had extraordinary carrying power, in the colony, his preach- ing known as ‘The Taber- preached a two hour sermon on "Ex- and could be clearly heard by amine yourselves, whether ye be in crowds numbering 30,000 or more the faith," in a field. in the open air. For all this, his Above all, Whitefield Later that evening, feeling very preaching was simple, totally Bible ill, he was about to retire when a based, and easily understood by the carried an extraordinary small crowd gathered at the house common people. Above all, requesting he preach to them. The Whitefield carried an extraordinary anointing from God as evangelist who could never say no anointing from God as an evange- to sinners, preached Christ to them list, which revealed sin and often until the light from his candle ex- made people cry out in repentance. an evangelist, which pired. It was symbolic of his own life In 1738, Whitefield made his first which had by then burnt out for God. journey to America, where he es- revealed sin and often That night Whitefield suffered a fa- tablished an orphanage in Georgia. tal attack of asthma and died. On his return, he found huge made people cry out in George Whitefield was not just a crowds gathered to hear him great preacher but a great man, com- preach, but churches were closing repentance. pletely sold out for Christ. Although their doors to his message. he was undoubtedly the initial leader Whitefield now did the unthinkable ing sparked what has be- nacle’ on the Moorfields, of the Methodist movement, and the – he started to preach in the open come known as ‘The Great and here for the next initiator of many of its innovations, air! At Kingswood, Bristol, he Awakening’, with fires of twelve years, Whitefield he deliberately chose to hand the preached to the miners, and soon revival burning wherever would help to set the pace leadership over to Wesley rather than crowds of 20,000 rough, near-hea- the young evangelist went. of revival as he pioneered see the movement divided. When then people were responding to the During this visit he met a whole new direction – asked why he didn’t form a move- gospel of Christ. Whitefield him- some of America’s most the training and use of lay ment which bore his name, he re- self movingly describes how "the prominent preachers, in- ministers as preachers and plied, "Let the name of Whitefield first discovery of their being af- cluding Gilbert Tennant evangelists. perish, but Christ be glorified." He fected was to see the white gutters and Jonathan Edwards. From his base in Lon- did not desire human recognition or made by the tears which plentifully Edwards commented on don, Whitefield travelled adulation, but rather to put his ex- ran down their black cheeks as they the effect of all over England and sev- traordinary gifts to serve the cause came out of the coal pits." Whitefield’s preaching: eral more times to of Christ. It was at Bristol that Whitefield "The congregation was ex- America. In 1742, a tre- His life is a reminder of how, in introduced the newly-converted traordinarily melted by mendous revival shook times of godlessness and sin in the John Wesley to field preaching. each sermon, almost the Cambuslang in Scotland, nation such as we are experiencing Wesley, like most of the Anglican whole assembly being in where, as he preached to today, God can raise up a man as a church, was initially shocked by tears for a great part of the a vast crowd, Whitefield shining light and an instrument of such ‘disorder’, but soon proved time……..there was a observed "for about an revival. It also should reminds us, himself a worthy companion to great alteration in the town, hour and a half there was however, that revival is always an Whitefield. Wesley’s incredible both as to the revival of such weeping, so many offence, particularly to the religious organisational abilities helped form professors [of religion] and falling in deep distress, establishment, and that no evange- the societies which were to become the awakening of others." and manifesting in differ- list was more shocking to many of such a feature of early On his return to En- ent ways…..The people his contemporaries than Whitefield. ‘’. gland in 1741, Whitefield seemed to be smitten in Those who long for God to raise up From Bristol, Whitefield faced the supreme trial of scores. They were carried ‘another Whitefield’ should remem- moved to London, where he his life. The revival had off and brought from a ber that such a man would always preached to huge crowds at spread wonderfully, but a field of battle." be on the radical cutting edge of Moorfields, a place of riotous en- sad division had arisen In 1741, Whitefield modern , and would be tertainment, and Kennington Com- within its ranks over the married Elizabeth James, just as offensive to our religious sen- mon, the scene of hangings and Arminian-Calvinist con- a widow ten years his se- sibilities as Whitefield was in his gibbetings. At such places gathered troversy. There were obvi- nior. The marriage, al- day. Even so, Lord, do it again! the worst characters in all London, ous faults on both sides, though not as disastrous as A complete study of Whitefield’s life and it took enormous courage for but the rift was initially John Wesley’s, does not is found in a superb, two-volume bi- a field preacher to brave the hos- provoked by John appear to have been very ography, ‘George Whitefield’ by tility of the mob for the sake of the Wesley’s publishing of his successful for either part- Arnold Dallimore (Banner of Truth). gospel. In spite of the dangers, field anti-Calvinist views. ner, and was visited with This is one of the great modern bi- preaching became the pattern for Whitefield had begged him sorrow when their only ographies. Whitefield’s life’s work, travelling to keep such controversies child, John, died in in- from place to place, often preach- out of the public arena for fancy.