George Whitefield by Dallimore Vol 1
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Whitefield has taken over Spurgeon as my favorite historical figure to read. "He who walks with wise men will be wise" (Proverbs 13:20). We all would be wiser if we walked with Whitefield for at least one biography. I read Dallimore's one volume summary of Whitefield's life and had to read the two volume account. I just finished the first volume and am now going through the second volume.
Dallimore does a wonderful job painting Whitfield's life as well as the times and figures surrounding the great awakening. In first volume, in addition to telling the story of Whitefield, Dallimore gives short bio sketches of the Wesleys, Howell Harris, John Cennick, and many others in shorter sketches. He also details the rise of the Wesleys on the achievements/ministry of Whitefield and the disagreements between them (which is a fascinating side story).
I'll give an extremely brief summary of the first volume and then highlight a couple character traits that we should emulate in Whitefield.
Dallimore recounts Whitefield's parents, early life (little is known) and conversion; his meteoric rise to prominence through his preaching ministry in England which is cut short by a mission trip to Georgia; his evangelistic and organizational successes in Georgia; his return to England to raise funds to build an orphanage in Georgia; his unprecedented success in open-air preaching throughout England raising funds for the orphanage, all the while seeing communities change through the preaching of the Gospel (at this point the crowds were in the tens of thousands when he preached); his return to the States to start the orphanage which included two North to South preaching tours of the States, leaving awakening and Gospel change in scores of communities up and down the east coast in his wake.
The changes that God brought about through Whitefield's preaching are remarkable and, it could be argued, unprecedented since Paul. He definitely enjoyed unprecedented numbers of people that heard him preach; however, he also saw societies spring up from the people who were born again in these meetings. One example would be Boston. In his second trip to Boston at his final message, over 20,000 people came to hear the Gospel. What makes this astounding is that the whole city of Boston only had a population of 12-14,000. Dallimore goes on to document the long lasting effects of Whitefield's preaching in Boston. These were lasting changes because the inner nature of large segments of the population was changed. Large percentages of people were give a new nature by faith in Jesus Christ. Their motivations, desires, and entire lives changed. So the communities and cities were changed as well. It was a spiritual tidal wave of Gospel change. A poem was written chronicling this dynamic throughout New England and could be said of many other regions in which the Lord spread the wave of Gospel awakening.
"So the flood of emotion deep and strong
Troubled the land as it swept along,
But left a result of holier lives,
Tenderer mothers and worthier wives.
The husband and father whose children fled
And sad wife wept when his drunken tread
Frightened peace from his roof-tree's shade,
And a rock of offence his hearthstone made,
In a strength that was not his own, began
To rise from the brute's to the plane of man.
Old friends embraced, long held apart,
By evil counsel and pride of heart;
And penitence saw through misty tears,
In the bow of hope on its cloud of fears,
The promise of Heaven's eternal years,
The peace of God for the world's annoy,
Beauty for ashes and oil of joy" (John Whittier).
One benefit of having close friends is learning from their strengths. Whitefield had many obvious strengths and abilities that the Lord used to change history. I want to expand on two that were prominent in this first volume and then list a few others.
• Humility and Graciousness Amidst Unparalleled "Success"
Humility/Graciousness
This is one of the traits that made Whitefield so winsome to me as a person. Having such great talents in public speaking and such success in leadership and following it would have been a temptation to be puffed up. But we see the opposite in Whitfield in most situations. This is a testimony to the God whom the man served. Only God can change a heart and make it humble and gracious. You can only live out the meekness Jesus demanded when Jesus is living through you.
His graciousness was evidenced in his attitude toward Wesley. Although Wesley was his senior in age, Whitfield was Wesley's senior spiritually. While Wesley was still trying to grasp whether or not he knew Christ, Whitefield was preaching Christ to an audience that was regularly in the thousands. Wesley went to Georgia to reach the heathen and found out that he too was an unbeliever. Whitfield went to Georgia to preach the Gospel and found again an abundant harvest. Whitfield prodded and pleaded Wesley to follow him in open-air preaching. Wesley only reluctantly agreed.
Whitefield's gracious spirit to Wesley is illustrated in Kingswood, Whitefield's first abundant harvest. We see no sectarian spirit in Whitfield, no jealousy to keep a grasp on those who came to Christ through his evangelistic efforts. Kingswood was a coal-mining town that was disregarded by most of English society. The people there were looked down on; they were born, lived, and died in a dirty place mining coal amid the holes of the earth. There were no schools or churches. Because there were no churches, Whitfield knew he could not be criticized for preaching outside of a church building, so Kingswood was Whitfield's first experiment in open air preaching. And the Lord abundantly put His stamp of approval. Within just a month thousands met weekly for worship there. The coal mining town was revolutionized by the Gospel and scores of people met there from adjoining towns and villages to hear the Gospel preached.
"The first discover of their being affected was to see the wihte gutters made by their tears which plentifully fell down their balck cheekds, as they cam out of their coal pits. Hundreds and hundreds of them were soon brought under deep convictions, which, as the event proved, happily ended in a sound and thorough conversion. The change was visible to all . . . " (pg. 263-264).
At this time Whitefield had to return to Georgia to found an orphanage so he needed someone to help tend this large flock of people in England. He appealed to Wesley and Wesley reluctantly agreed. It was through this group of people that Wesley was able to gain a following that would form a denomination. He did it largely through preaching things that Whitefield disagreed with. He preached total perfection and trumpeted predestination as the devil's doctrine. The sowing of discord grieved Whitefield and he appealed to Wesley on numerous occasions not to make these issues a matter of fellowship. And yet Wesley continued to promote himself in this way, even sending sermons to be published in the States where Whitfield ministered that disagreed with his positions.
It is so refreshing to read how Whitefield appealed to Wesley during these times. He is so gracious and self-abasing even though Wesley's entire success had begun through Whitefield's efforts.
"Dear, honored Sir, if you have any regard for the peace of the church, keep in your sermon on predestination. But you have cast a lot! Oh! my heart, in the midst of my body, is like melted wax. The Lord direct us all!
. . . Indeed, I desire you all the success you can wish for. May you increase, though I decrease! I would willingly wash your feet . . .
. . . Oh, wrestle, wrestle, honoured Sir, in prayer, that not the least alienation of affection may be between you and your obedient son and servant in Christ,
George Whitefield" (Pg. 387).
What a flood of cold water this would throw on most of our squabbles in churches and Christian fellowships if this type of gracious spirit were always displayed in debate! Contrast this with Wesley's published sermon on Free Grace which was written against a doctrine which he knew Whitefield held with conviction:
"This is the blasphemy clearly contained in the horrible decree of predestination! And here I fix my foot. On this I join issue with every assertor of it. You represent God as worse than the devil; more false, more cruel, more unjust" (pg. 311).
Whitefield approached the emotionally charged line in the sand with grace and kindness. He appealed to his elder friend not to print such factious words in their fellowship within the church of England that had larger Gospel battles to fight like the new birth itself.
Amid unparalleled "Success"
Success in ministry can only be measured by Jesus, the Head of the church. Nevertheless, few folks have had such a wide sphere of influence through preaching than Whitefield. Where he went, thousands gathered to hear the Gospel, people were turned to faith in Jesus as Savior and their lives changed forever.
I want to quote the scene of Whitefield coming to town as told by Nathan Cole who came to hear Whitefield preach in a field in New England. This quote is worth the price of the book.
"Now it pleased God to send mr whitefield into this land & . . . i longed to see & hear him . . . & then one morning all on a Suding there came a messanger & said mr whitefield . . . . is to preach at middletown this morning at 10 o'clock i was in my field at work i dropt my tool that i had in my hand & run home and throu my house and bad my wife to get ready quick to go and hear mr whitefield preach at middletown & run to my pastire for my hors with all my might fearing i should be too late to hear him & took up my wife & went forward as fast as i thought ye hors could bear & when my hors began to be out of breth i would get down and put my wife on ye saddel and bid her ride as fast as she could & not Stop or Slack for me except i bad her & so i would run until i was almost out of breth & then mount my hors gain . . . fearing we should be too late to hear ye Sarmon for we had twelve miles to ride dubble in little more than an our.
i saw before me a cloud or fog i first thought of from ye great river but as i came nearer ye road i heard a noise something like a low rumbling thunder & i presently found out it was ye rumbling of horses feet coming down ye road & this Cloud was a Cloud of dust made by the running of horses feet it arose some cords into ye air over the tops of ye hills and trees & when i came within about twenty rods of ye road i could see men and horses slipping along - it was like a steady streem of horses and their riders scarcely a hors more than his length behind another - i found a vacance between two horses to slip in my hors & my wife said law our cloaths will be all spoiled and see how they look - & when we gat down to ye old meeting hous thare was a great multitude it was said to be 3 or 4,000 & when i looked towards ye great river i see ye fery boats running swift forward and backward - when i see mr whitefield come up upon ye scaffold he looked almost angellical a young slim slender youth before thousands of people and with a bold undainted countenance & m y hearing how god was with him everywhere as he came along it solemnized my mind and put me in a trembling fear before he began to preach for he looked as if he was Clothed with authority from ye great [G]od and a sweet solemnity past upon his brow and my hearing him preach gave me a heart wound & by [G]ods blessing my old foundations was broken up & i see my righteousness would not save me" (pg. 541)
The crowds that Whitefield spoke to would have puffed up most men. But the Lord showered His grace on this young man in his early 20's to actually exhibit a sprit of meekness and humility.
• Tireless Preaching of the Gospel Amidst Opposition
Whitefield preached the Gospel tirelessly and the Gospel brought saving faith in the hearts of the hearers. This dynamic did not sit well with the spiritually apathetic and often unregenerate clergy of his day.
Tireless Preaching
The strenuous schedule and physical exhaustion that I come across in the biographies of days gone by puts our current clergy to shame (I'm no exception). Our business hours mentality of ministry should be shot and buried six feet under. Usually Whitefield's first sermon was at 6 am and it seems most days he preached at least two more times. For years he rose at 4:00 am.
Dallimore quotes another biographer here:
"Sometimes he was almost dead with heat and fatigue. Thrice a day he was lifted up upon his horse, unable to mount otherwise; then rode and preached, and came in and laid himself along tow or three chairs.
Whitefield's career permitted him hardly a day of what could be called repose, till he found it in the grave at 56 . . . We repeatedly find him, during a state of languor which sometimes sunk him quite down to illness, prosecuting such a course of exertions, as would have been enough to reduce most strong men to the condition; for example, preaching in his ardent and exhausting manner, to vast auditories, several times a day, a number of days successively, when his debility was such that he could not, with much help, mount his horse, to go to his appointed places."
The Lord gave Whitefield great strength to labor long in many different harvest fields for His glory.
Preaching of the Gospel
The Gospel is almost a tag word today that is used to such an extent that it is loosing it's meaning. It is the Good News of Jesus. Whitefield rejoiced to preach this Good News evangelistically. To read an account of a sample schedule of his preaching engagements in one week read pages 289-290.
Amid Opposition
The Church of England was a career path for many - similar to that of the path of a lawyer of that day. It was understood that the minister would be moral, but not overly so. And so the youthful passionate appeals for conversion and the necessity of a life that matched that conversion was like fingernails screeching on a chalk board. It woke them up, yes, but when they woke, they were angry!
Everywhere Whitefield went he faced the opposition of the clergy of the Church of England. In fact, in Charlston, SC the Church of England leadership was so against Whitefield that he tried to take away his ordination. Although Whitefield spoke out against the unregenerate clergy and was not afraid to name names in pointing out the wolves in sheep's clothing, he carried no bitterness or ill-will toward these men.
Listen to his journal entry concerning Commissary Garden in Charleston:
"I did not feel the least resentment against him. No; I pitied, I prayed for him; and wished from my soul that the Lord would convert him as He once did the persecutor Saul" (pgs. 519-520).
The opposition did not change his attitude toward others and it also did not deter his efforts. This is but one example of the repeated attacks upon him and his character - most of which he did not even take time to answer.
Few Quotes:
"I began to read the Holy Scriptures on my knees, laying aside all other books, and praying over, if possible, every line and word. This proved meat indeed and drink indeed to my soul. I daily received fresh life, light and power from above. I got more true knowledge from reading the Book of God in on e month than I could ever have acquired from all the writings of men" (pg. 81).
"'I know not what to do,' he wrote to Stonehouse, 'for the want of a clock in the house' - a severe inconvenience for one who would allow no moment to be lost, but was still too poor to own a watch" (pg. 119).
"It is but for God to speak the word and the lion is turned into a lamb" (Whitefield on regeneration of obstinate men pg. 380).
"Ask yourselves again and again, whether you would preach for Christ if you were sure to lay down your lives for so doing" (pg. 400)
"Study, therefore, brethren, your hearts as well as books" (pg. 400).
"Press them to believe on Him immediately! Intersperse prayers with your exhortations, and thereby call down fire from Heaven, even the fire of the Holy Ghost,
To soften, sweeten and refine,
And melt them into love.
Speak every time, my dear brother, as if it were your last" (pg. 408).
Whitefield has taken over Spurgeon as my favorite historical figure to read. "He who walks with wise men will be wise" (Proverbs 13:20). We all would be wiser if we walked with Whitefield for at least one biography. I read Dallimore's one volume summary of Whitefield's life and had to read the two volume account. I just finished the first volume and am now going through the second volume.
Dallimore does a wonderful job painting Whitfield's life as well as the times and figures surrounding the great awakening. In first volume, in addition to telling the story of Whitefield, Dallimore gives short bio sketches of the Wesleys, Howell Harris, John Cennick, and many others in shorter sketches. He also details the rise of the Wesleys on the achievements/ministry of Whitefield and the disagreements between them (which is a fascinating side story).
I'll give an extremely brief summary of the first volume and then highlight a couple character traits that we should emulate in Whitefield.
Dallimore recounts Whitefield's parents, early life (little is known) and conversion; his meteoric rise to prominence through his preaching ministry in England which is cut short by a mission trip to Georgia; his evangelistic and organizational successes in Georgia; his return to England to raise funds to build an orphanage in Georgia; his unprecedented success in open-air preaching throughout England raising funds for the orphanage, all the while seeing communities change through the preaching of the Gospel (at this point the crowds were in the tens of thousands when he preached); his return to the States to start the orphanage which included two North to South preaching tours of the States, leaving awakening and Gospel change in scores of communities up and down the east coast in his wake.
The changes that God brought about through Whitefield's preaching are remarkable and, it could be argued, unprecedented since Paul. He definitely enjoyed unprecedented numbers of people that heard him preach; however, he also saw societies spring up from the people who were born again in these meetings. One example would be Boston. In his second trip to Boston at his final message, over 20,000 people came to hear the Gospel. What makes this astounding is that the whole city of Boston only had a population of 12-14,000. Dallimore goes on to document the long lasting effects of Whitefield's preaching in Boston. These were lasting changes because the inner nature of large segments of the population was changed. Large percentages of people were give a new nature by faith in Jesus Christ. Their motivations, desires, and entire lives changed. So the communities and cities were changed as well. It was a spiritual tidal wave of Gospel change. A poem was written chronicling this dynamic throughout New England and could be said of many other regions in which the Lord spread the wave of Gospel awakening.
"So the flood of emotion deep and strong
Troubled the land as it swept along,
But left a result of holier lives,
Tenderer mothers and worthier wives.
The husband and father whose children fled
And sad wife wept when his drunken tread
Frightened peace from his roof-tree's shade,
And a rock of offence his hearthstone made,
In a strength that was not his own, began
To rise from the brute's to the plane of man.
Old friends embraced, long held apart,
By evil counsel and pride of heart;
And penitence saw through misty tears,
In the bow of hope on its cloud of fears,
The promise of Heaven's eternal years,
The peace of God for the world's annoy,
Beauty for ashes and oil of joy" (John Whittier).
One benefit of having close friends is learning from their strengths. Whitefield had many obvious strengths and abilities that the Lord used to change history. I want to expand on two that were prominent in this first volume and then list a few others.
• Humility and Graciousness Amidst Unparalleled "Success"
Humility/Graciousness
This is one of the traits that made Whitefield so winsome to me as a person. Having such great talents in public speaking and such success in leadership and following it would have been a temptation to be puffed up. But we see the opposite in Whitfield in most situations. This is a testimony to the God whom the man served. Only God can change a heart and make it humble and gracious. You can only live out the meekness Jesus demanded when Jesus is living through you.
His graciousness was evidenced in his attitude toward Wesley. Although Wesley was his senior in age, Whitfield was Wesley's senior spiritually. While Wesley was still trying to grasp whether or not he knew Christ, Whitefield was preaching Christ to an audience that was regularly in the thousands. Wesley went to Georgia to reach the heathen and found out that he too was an unbeliever. Whitfield went to Georgia to preach the Gospel and found again an abundant harvest. Whitfield prodded and pleaded Wesley to follow him in open-air preaching. Wesley only reluctantly agreed.
Whitefield's gracious spirit to Wesley is illustrated in Kingswood, Whitefield's first abundant harvest. We see no sectarian spirit in Whitfield, no jealousy to keep a grasp on those who came to Christ through his evangelistic efforts. Kingswood was a coal-mining town that was disregarded by most of English society. The people there were looked down on; they were born, lived, and died in a dirty place mining coal amid the holes of the earth. There were no schools or churches. Because there were no churches, Whitfield knew he could not be criticized for preaching outside of a church building, so Kingswood was Whitfield's first experiment in open air preaching. And the Lord abundantly put His stamp of approval. Within just a month thousands met weekly for worship there. The coal mining town was revolutionized by the Gospel and scores of people met there from adjoining towns and villages to hear the Gospel preached.
"The first discover of their being affected was to see the wihte gutters made by their tears which plentifully fell down their balck cheekds, as they cam out of their coal pits. Hundreds and hundreds of them were soon brought under deep convictions, which, as the event proved, happily ended in a sound and thorough conversion. The change was visible to all . . . " (pg. 263-264).
At this time Whitefield had to return to Georgia to found an orphanage so he needed someone to help tend this large flock of people in England. He appealed to Wesley and Wesley reluctantly agreed. It was through this group of people that Wesley was able to gain a following that would form a denomination. He did it largely through preaching things that Whitefield disagreed with. He preached total perfection and trumpeted predestination as the devil's doctrine. The sowing of discord grieved Whitefield and he appealed to Wesley on numerous occasions not to make these issues a matter of fellowship. And yet Wesley continued to promote himself in this way, even sending sermons to be published in the States where Whitfield ministered that disagreed with his positions.
It is so refreshing to read how Whitefield appealed to Wesley during these times. He is so gracious and self-abasing even though Wesley's entire success had begun through Whitefield's efforts.
"Dear, honored Sir, if you have any regard for the peace of the church, keep in your sermon on predestination. But you have cast a lot! Oh! my heart, in the midst of my body, is like melted wax. The Lord direct us all!
. . . Indeed, I desire you all the success you can wish for. May you increase, though I decrease! I would willingly wash your feet . . .
. . . Oh, wrestle, wrestle, honoured Sir, in prayer, that not the least alienation of affection may be between you and your obedient son and servant in Christ,
George Whitefield" (Pg. 387).
What a flood of cold water this would throw on most of our squabbles in churches and Christian fellowships if this type of gracious spirit were always displayed in debate! Contrast this with Wesley's published sermon on Free Grace which was written against a doctrine which he knew Whitefield held with conviction:
"This is the blasphemy clearly contained in the horrible decree of predestination! And here I fix my foot. On this I join issue with every assertor of it. You represent God as worse than the devil; more false, more cruel, more unjust" (pg. 311).
Whitefield approached the emotionally charged line in the sand with grace and kindness. He appealed to his elder friend not to print such factious words in their fellowship within the church of England that had larger Gospel battles to fight like the new birth itself.
Amid unparalleled "Success"
Success in ministry can only be measured by Jesus, the Head of the church. Nevertheless, few folks have had such a wide sphere of influence through preaching than Whitefield. Where he went, thousands gathered to hear the Gospel, people were turned to faith in Jesus as Savior and their lives changed forever.
I want to quote the scene of Whitefield coming to town as told by Nathan Cole who came to hear Whitefield preach in a field in New England. This quote is worth the price of the book.
"Now it pleased God to send mr whitefield into this land & . . . i longed to see & hear him . . . & then one morning all on a Suding there came a messanger & said mr whitefield . . . . is to preach at middletown this morning at 10 o'clock i was in my field at work i dropt my tool that i had in my hand & run home and throu my house and bad my wife to get ready quick to go and hear mr whitefield preach at middletown & run to my pastire for my hors with all my might fearing i should be too late to hear him & took up my wife & went forward as fast as i thought ye hors could bear & when my hors began to be out of breth i would get down and put my wife on ye saddel and bid her ride as fast as she could & not Stop or Slack for me except i bad her & so i would run until i was almost out of breth & then mount my hors gain . . . fearing we should be too late to hear ye Sarmon for we had twelve miles to ride dubble in little more than an our.
i saw before me a cloud or fog i first thought of from ye great river but as i came nearer ye road i heard a noise something like a low rumbling thunder & i presently found out it was ye rumbling of horses feet coming down ye road & this Cloud was a Cloud of dust made by the running of horses feet it arose some cords into ye air over the tops of ye hills and trees & when i came within about twenty rods of ye road i could see men and horses slipping along - it was like a steady streem of horses and their riders scarcely a hors more than his length behind another - i found a vacance between two horses to slip in my hors & my wife said law our cloaths will be all spoiled and see how they look - & when we gat down to ye old meeting hous thare was a great multitude it was said to be 3 or 4,000 & when i looked towards ye great river i see ye fery boats running swift forward and backward - when i see mr whitefield come up upon ye scaffold he looked almost angellical a young slim slender youth before thousands of people and with a bold undainted countenance & m y hearing how god was with him everywhere as he came along it solemnized my mind and put me in a trembling fear before he began to preach for he looked as if he was Clothed with authority from ye great [G]od and a sweet solemnity past upon his brow and my hearing him preach gave me a heart wound & by [G]ods blessing my old foundations was broken up & i see my righteousness would not save me" (pg. 541)
The crowds that Whitefield spoke to would have puffed up most men. But the Lord showered His grace on this young man in his early 20's to actually exhibit a sprit of meekness and humility.
• Tireless Preaching of the Gospel Amidst Opposition
Whitefield preached the Gospel tirelessly and the Gospel brought saving faith in the hearts of the hearers. This dynamic did not sit well with the spiritually apathetic and often unregenerate clergy of his day.
Tireless Preaching
The strenuous schedule and physical exhaustion that I come across in the biographies of days gone by puts our current clergy to shame (I'm no exception). Our business hours mentality of ministry should be shot and buried six feet under. Usually Whitefield's first sermon was at 6 am and it seems most days he preached at least two more times. For years he rose at 4:00 am.
Dallimore quotes another biographer here:
"Sometimes he was almost dead with heat and fatigue. Thrice a day he was lifted up upon his horse, unable to mount otherwise; then rode and preached, and came in and laid himself along tow or three chairs.
Whitefield's career permitted him hardly a day of what could be called repose, till he found it in the grave at 56 . . . We repeatedly find him, during a state of languor which sometimes sunk him quite down to illness, prosecuting such a course of exertions, as would have been enough to reduce most strong men to the condition; for example, preaching in his ardent and exhausting manner, to vast auditories, several times a day, a number of days successively, when his debility was such that he could not, with much help, mount his horse, to go to his appointed places."
The Lord gave Whitefield great strength to labor long in many different harvest fields for His glory.
Preaching of the Gospel
The Gospel is almost a tag word today that is used to such an extent that it is loosing it's meaning. It is the Good News of Jesus. Whitefield rejoiced to preach this Good News evangelistically. To read an account of a sample schedule of his preaching engagements in one week read pages 289-290.
Amid Opposition
The Church of England was a career path for many - similar to that of the path of a lawyer of that day. It was understood that the minister would be moral, but not overly so. And so the youthful passionate appeals for conversion and the necessity of a life that matched that conversion was like fingernails screeching on a chalk board. It woke them up, yes, but when they woke, they were angry!
Everywhere Whitefield went he faced the opposition of the clergy of the Church of England. In fact, in Charlston, SC the Church of England leadership was so against Whitefield that he tried to take away his ordination. Although Whitefield spoke out against the unregenerate clergy and was not afraid to name names in pointing out the wolves in sheep's clothing, he carried no bitterness or ill-will toward these men.
Listen to his journal entry concerning Commissary Garden in Charleston:
"I did not feel the least resentment against him. No; I pitied, I prayed for him; and wished from my soul that the Lord would convert him as He once did the persecutor Saul" (pgs. 519-520).
The opposition did not change his attitude toward others and it also did not deter his efforts. This is but one example of the repeated attacks upon him and his character - most of which he did not even take time to answer.
Few Quotes:
"I began to read the Holy Scriptures on my knees, laying aside all other books, and praying over, if possible, every line and word. This proved meat indeed and drink indeed to my soul. I daily received fresh life, light and power from above. I got more true knowledge from reading the Book of God in on e month than I could ever have acquired from all the writings of men" (pg. 81).
"'I know not what to do,' he wrote to Stonehouse, 'for the want of a clock in the house' - a severe inconvenience for one who would allow no moment to be lost, but was still too poor to own a watch" (pg. 119).
"It is but for God to speak the word and the lion is turned into a lamb" (Whitefield on regeneration of obstinate men pg. 380).
"Ask yourselves again and again, whether you would preach for Christ if you were sure to lay down your lives for so doing" (pg. 400)
"Study, therefore, brethren, your hearts as well as books" (pg. 400).
"Press them to believe on Him immediately! Intersperse prayers with your exhortations, and thereby call down fire from Heaven, even the fire of the Holy Ghost,
To soften, sweeten and refine,
And melt them into love.
Speak every time, my dear brother, as if it were your last" (pg. 408).
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