Whitefield, George (1714-1770)

George Whitefield (1714-1770)

Revivalistic preacher

Sources

Transatlantic Revivalist. George Whitefield was an Anglican minister who scorned theology for whatever message would spark the conversion of people of all religious persuasions in England, Scotland, Ireland, and America. He used the increased ease of travel and the communications network of the eighteenth century to spread his message through a series of transatlantic revivals that became the Great Awakening in America. He preached the same sermons wherever he traveled, polishing them after each performance according to the reactions of his audiences. One of the first to capitalize on the emerging transatlantic press, he published his journals, sermons, and letters; directed his secretary to send press releases to newspapers, publicizing his tours and then giving his version of what had transpired on them; and inspired evangelical magazines that sprang up to extol his amazing successes. In public he subsumed his privately sweet and gentle personality beneath such dramatic preaching that it engendered an unearthly egoism in a man who was committed to bring salvation to all. He left a scorched earth in his wake, created by the fires of revivalism and the hot anger of those who saw only the excesses. The Great Awakening in America can ultimately be traced to this one man.

A Natural Preacher. Whitefield was born in 1714 in Gloucester, England, the son of innkeepers. He was a mediocre student but excelled in drama. At Oxford he met John and Charles Wesley (who founded Methodism), experienced conversion, and joined their pious circle. Following his ordination in 1736, he preached his first sermon and was amazed at the result, reporting that “I drove 15 mad.” He had found his calling, and news of Whitefield’s ability spread by word of mouth. Wherever he preached, crowds materialized out of nowhere. He began to preach in the fields, an innovation that delighted his listeners and forced him to employ a more powerful voice and style than even he thought possible. He also learned that by attacking the clergy, who had closed their pulpits to him, he could draw even larger crowds. A marvelous performer, he acted out his parts, used thunderstorms to punctuate his sentences, and created imaginary dialogues with biblical characters in sonorous tones that carried to the farthest edges of the crowd. He shouted, stomped, sang, and always wept. His cross-eyed stare (the result of a childhood case of measles) was viewed as a sign of supernatural presence which allowed him to keep one eye on heaven and the other on hell. His message was simple: “Repent and you will be saved.” He neither understood theology nor considered it to be important in his mission of driving people to seek salvation. In the words of a young Maryland man, “he has the best delivery with the worst divinity that I ever mett with.”

The Grand Itinerant. Whitefield began his traveling preaching career in America in order to raise money for an orphanage which he and the Wesley brothers had established in Georgia. When he arrived in Philadelphia in 1739, his reputation had preceded him, and the inhabitants rushed to meet this “boy preacher” who had attained such fame before he was twenty-five years old. Through Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and New England he went, attracting large crowds and attacking clergy. Whitefield moved across the colonial landscape in a brilliant flash that lasted one month. He wintered in Georgia, but composed press releases to insure that he was not forgotten. In April 1740 he returned to Philadelphia and even captured the wily Benjamin Franklin with his oratory. Then he returned to Georgia for a well-publicized confrontation with Anglicans there, which kept his name in the news. In September he embarked on another tour of New England and then was off to Scotland, sparking revivals there.

Extremist Imitators. By 1744 Whitefield’s meteoric rise to fame was ending. Many other preachers now gave sermons out of doors, mobs materialized and drowned out even his powerful voice, and former supporters either condemned his extremism or took it further. Gilbert Tennent adopted his attacks against ministers and brought them to new heights; James Davenport turned his dramatic techniques into a parody; lay preachers proliferated, mouthing whatever their audiences wished to hear; and churches splintered into vitriolic factions. Even the newspapers turned against him, matching his press releases with unfavorable comments by his opponents. Many blamed Whitefield for causing all of this disorder.

Apologies. It was an older, wiser, and more sober Whitefield who returned to America in 1745. He apologized to everyone for his youthful egotism that had inadvertently unleashed all of this disorder and abuse of godly ministers. His heart had been in the right place, he maintained; it was just that his dramatic flair had gotten out of hand. He continued his evangelical tours, but in a less confrontational manner. His revivals became routine and even acceptable to society; more time was spent in quiet and pious conversations with individuals; and slaves became an object of his attention. He preached his last sermon in Boston on 29 September 1770, died at its conclusion, and was buried there.

Sources

Frank Lambert, “Pedlar in Divinity”: George Whitefield and the Transatlantic Revivals, 1737–1770 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994);

Harry S. Stout, The Divine Dramatist: George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1991).