George whitefield biography sermons

“Who would think it possible that a person… should speak in the compass of a single week (and that for years) in general forty hours, and in very many weeks, sixty, and that to thousands…” Rev. Henry Venn (Quoted in multiple sources.)

In 33 years of preaching, George Whitefield preached 30,000 times. That is 2-3 times per day for his entire life. Approximately 10 million people heard him speak in person. Along with numerous other preachers, among whom he was the most prominent, God used Whitefield to change the English-speaking world.

Rev. 14:6-7 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 7 and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory…”

God made Whitefield as if to prefigure the future angel He would send to the world. In that way and according to His plan, God revitalized whole countries in the English-speaking world of the 18 century through the work of preachers among whom Whitefield was chief.

For this biography I leaned chiefly on Robert Philip’s The Life and Times of George Whitefield. Other sources such as Dallimore’s brief, one volume work and single chapters in Murray’s Heroes were very helpful.

The Life of George Whitefield

1. 1714 December 16, George Whitefield was born to well to do parents in Great Britain.
2. The youngest of 7 children, his father died when he was two.
3. As a child, he would act in plays with unusual skill in drama.
4. 1732 Because the family business suffered, he was forced to enter Oxford by serving other rich students.
5. 1733 He joined the Holy Club started by John and Charles Wesley brothers. John was 11 years older and Charles 7 than Whitefield.
6. Through the influence of the club, he practiced the most intense discipline hoping to save his soul.
7. He stopped eating fruit and gave that money to the poor. Jou

George Whitefield (1714–1770)

Calvinistic Methodist; born in Gloucester, England, Dec. 27, 1714; died in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Sept. 30, 1770. He was the son of an innkeeper. At the age of twelve he was placed in the school of St. Mary de Crypt at Gloucester, and in 1732, after a year's intermission of his studies so that he might be drawer of liquor in the inn (kept by his mother since his father's death in 1716), he entered Pembroke College, Oxford. The religious impressions which he had felt on different occasions had been deepened while he was at school the second time, and at Oxford he fell in with the Wesleys, joined the "Holy Club," and observed its rules rigorously, being the first of the Oxford "Methodists" to profess conversion (1735). His health being impaired, he left Oxford for a year, returning in March, 1736.

On June 20, 1736, Bishop Benson ordained him. Whitefield preached his first sermon the following Sunday. It was at the ancient Church of Saint Mary de Crypt, the church where he had grown up as a boy and was consequently well known.

He described this occasion later:

“...Some few mocked, but most for the present, seemed struck, and I have since heard that a complaint was made to the bishop, that I drove fifteen people mad, the first sermon.”

He took his B.A. in the same year. He spent much time among the prisoners in Oxford, preached in London and elsewhere and speedily rose to great prominence as a pulpit orator. He continued in active service until the end, preaching for two hours at Exeter, Mass., the day before his death, while it was his regular custom to preach every day in the week, often two and four times daily.

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/freegrace/library/Whitefield/whitefieldbiog.html

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English cleric and preacher (1714–1770)

"George Whitfield" redirects here. For the American football quarterback, see George Whitfield Jr.

George Whitefield (; 27 December [O.S. 16 December] 1714 – 30 September 1770), also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican minister and preacher who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement. Born in Gloucester, he matriculated at Pembroke College, Oxford in 1732. There, he joined the "Holy Club" and was introduced to John and Charles Wesley, with whom he would work closely in his later ministry. Unlike the Wesleys, he embraced Calvinism.

Whitefield was ordained after receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree. He immediately began preaching, but he did not settle as the minister of any Church of Englandparish; rather, he became an itinerant preacher and evangelist. In 1740, Whitefield traveled to British North America where he preached a series of Christian revivals that became part of the First Great Awakening. His methods were controversial, and he engaged in numerous debates and disputes with other clergymen.

Whitefield received widespread recognition during his ministry; he preached at least 18,000 times to perhaps ten million listeners in the British Empire. Whitefield could enthrall large audiences through a potent combination of drama, religious eloquence, and patriotism. He used the technique of evoking strong emotion, then using the vulnerability of his enthralled audience to preach.

Early life

Whitefield was born on 27 December [O.S. 16 December] 1714 at the Bell Inn, Southgate Street, Gloucester. Whitefield was the fifth son (seventh and last child) of Thomas Whitefield and Elizabeth Edwards, who kept an inn at Gloucester. His father died when George was only two years old, and he subsequently helped his mother with the inn. At an early age, he found that he had a passion and talent fo

George Whitefield was born at Gloucester in 1714. His mother kept the Bell Inn, and appears not to have prospered in business; at any rate, she never seems to have been able to do anything for her son’s advancement in life. Whitefield’s early life, according to his own account, was anything but religious; though, like many boys, he had occasional prickings of conscience and spasmodic fits of devout feeling. He confesses that he was ‘addicted to lying, filthy talking, and foolish jesting’, and that he was a ‘Sabbath-breaker, a theatre-goer, a card-player, and a romance reader’. All this, he says, went on till he was fifteen years old.

Poor as he was, his residence at Gloucester procured him the advantage of a good education at the Free Grammar School of that city. Here he was a day-scholar until he was fifteen. The only known fact about his schooldays is this curious one, that even then he was remarkable for his good elocution and memory, and was selected to recite speeches before the Corporation of Gloucester at their annual visitation of the Grammar School.

At the age of fifteen Whitefield appears to have left school, and to have given up Latin and Greek for a season. In all probability, his mother’s straitened circumstances made it absolutely necessary for him to do something to assist her in business and to get his own living. He began, therefore, to help her in the daily work of the Bell Inn. ‘At length’, he says, ‘I put on my blue apron, washed cups, cleaned rooms, and, in one word, became a professed common drawer for nigh a year and a half.’ This, however, did not last long. His mother’s business at the Bell did not flourish, and she finally retired from it altogether.

An old school-fellow revived in his mind the idea of going to Oxford, and he went back to the Grammar School and renewed his studies. At length, after several providential circumstances had smoothed the w