George Whitefield (1714 - 1770)
While George Whitefield is not strictly a Puritan, he lived in the 1700s and the Puritans lived in the 1600s, he is certainly their greatest son. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones called, him "England's greatest preacher;" and J.C. Ryle said, "No Englishman, I believe, dead or alive, has ever equaled him."
Until Arnold Dallimore's 1200 page biography of Whitefield was published in 1970, there was no definitive biography on him, rather instead much mis-information.
George Whitefield was not a writer, he did not start a church or denominational movement, he was "only" an itinerant preacher. His goal was to present the Gospel to as many people as possible by itinerant preaching. He did however write many personal letters and tracts on specific issues, like his letter to John Wesley, "Why Preach Electing Grace," but the vast majority of his several thousand sermons were never written down. It would have been impossible to record them, as he often preached several times a day, virtually seven days a week, for over thirty years, often preaching in one place, then traveling to another, and preaching again the same day - he literally preached himself into the grave, even lamenting in his last letter, written just days before he died, "I trust my blessed Master will accept of these poor efforts to serve him. O for a warm heart! O to stand fast in the faith, to quit ourselves like men, and to be strong!" and signing the letter, "Less than the least of all - George Whitefield."
Dallimore thoroughly presents the man: his theology (Evangelical Calvinism), his message (Christ's sovereign grace to save sinners), and his method (itinerant preaching). Dallimore's book is a must read for any one who wants to extend Christ's kingdom! Why? Because he presents Whitefield as an eminent example of one who zealously preached the Gospel of Sovereign Grace, with a passion for souls; we should study his life and emulate it.
From Wikipedia:
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.[1][2] 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 England parish; 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 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.
In his early years, opposition to him arose because of his evangelical positions on the new birth, holy living, and unregenerate ministers. He was not permitted to preach in certain churches, where the minister opposed evangelical truth. This coupled with his desire to preach to those outside the churches pushed him into open-air preaching, to the open markets, fairs, and carnivals of his day, saying after his first experience, "Blessed be God! I have now broken the ice! I believe I was
never more acceptable to my Master then when I was standing to teach those hearers in the open fields. Some may censure me, but if I thus pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ."
After being forbidden to preach at St. Mary's in Islington, he went out into the church yard and preached there, afterward saying, "God was pleased so to assist me in preaching, and so wonderfully to affect the hearers, that I believe we could have gone singing hymns to prison. Let not the adversaries say I have thrust myself out. No; they have thrust me out. And since the self-righteous men of this generation count themselves unworthy, I go out into the highways and hedges, and compel harlots, publicans and sinners to come in, that my Master's house may be filled."
Why was Whitefield so used of God? We could use a standard reformed reply incorporating God's will and sovereignty, but that is to ignore the fact and truth that we are responsible, volitional beings, whom King Jesus commanded to make disciple in all the world by preaching; warning us to count the cost of salvation, which is death to self and self's desires saying, "whosoever will save his life, shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it," and commending those who forsake all for Him and His Gospel saying, "Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life."
George Whitefield did that; he counted the cost, and considered it wise to "give up what he could not keep, to gain what he could not lose," daily laboring more abundantly than all others (I Cor. 15:10), and I dare say, God used him because he actively sought out opportunities to preach Christ, and he preached till he dropped.
Moody said, "The world has not seen what God can do through a man who has wholly given himself to God." We get a glimpse of that in Whitefield.
He numbered his days, and applied his heart unto wisdom (Ps. 90:12), being wise as a winner of souls (Prov. 11:30). It is at these points that we need, desperately need, to imitate Whitefield.
Among the Kingswood coal miners of England, a crowd so rough and dirty, few dared go among them, yet as God the Spirit worked life and faith within their hearts, Whitefield testified that tears washed white tracks down their coal dust dirtied faces. At Moorefields, and also Kennington Commons, (amusement park areas like our Coney Island - Great Adventure Park, full of thugs, harlots, pickpockets and worse), he endured peltings of rotten eggs and fruit, a dead cat, and rocks, while preaching to 10,000 and 20,000, and at times even 30,000 people. By comparison, how weak we are, who faint when a muffled snicker or muted comment is made against us. We cry "religious persecution" and want our rights protected.
Whitefield knew the only right he had as a Christian was the privilege, to take up his cross daily and follow Jesus Christ, speaking promiscuously his Master's message.
Could it be we reap so little, because we sow so little? We should imitate Whitefield in his zealous courage.
Whitefield came from a family having many Oxford graduates, and ministers in the Church of England. His parents owned and operated an inn and boarding house, and this was George's place of early learning and experience. He attended Oxford, and was a prominent member of the religious society called "The Holy Club," so named because of their works-oriented mind set of earning heaven by ascetic living. But he became dissatisfied with the "Club" in part by reading "The Life of God in the Soul of Man," by Henry Scougal, which presents the true Christian experience of God living within a man, not the erroneous notion of man working his way to heaven.
Whitefield said, "Reading that book, God showed me that I must be born again, or be damned. I learned that a man may go to church, say his prayers, receive the sacrament, and yet not be a Christian. How did my heart rise and shudder, like a poor man that is afraid to look into his account-books, lest he should find himself bankrupt. Shall I burn this book? Shall I throw it down? Or shall I search it? I did search it; and, holding the book in my hand, thus addressed the God of heaven and earth: Lord, if I am not a Christian, if I am not a real one, for Jesus Christ's sake, show me what Christianity is that I may not be damned at last! God soon showed me, for in reading a few lines further, that true religion is a union of the soul with God, and Christ formed within us. A ray of Divine light was instantaneously darted in upon my soul, and from that moment, but not till them, did I know that I must become a new creature."
Whitefield went through times of spiritual struggle, but finally during a solitary walk at Oxford in 1735, God spoke to him. Whitefield said, "God was pleased to remove the heavy load, to enable me to lay hold of His dear Son by living faith, and by giving me the Spirit of adoption, to seal me even to the day of everlasting redemption."
Late in life, as he looked back on this momentous occasion Whitefield declares, "I know the place! It may be superstitious, perhaps, but whenever I go to Oxford I cannot help running to that place where Jesus Christ first revealed himself to me and gave me the new birth."
Do not stand in awe of George Whitefield, walk in his steps!
I would heartily recommend any written material by George Whitefield, as he wrote with great conviction and persuasion. There are several volumes of his sermons which were committed to print, and obviously I would also recommend Arnold Dallimore's biography to anyone looking to be stirred up to serve Christ more self-sacrificially and zealously.
God used a man named George Whitefield, who simply put Christ first and obeyed, to accomplish great things for His kingdom.
Arnold Dallimore "George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the Eighteenth-Century Revival - Volume I and Volume II"
Henry Scougal "The Life of God in the Soul of Man"
https://dn720408.ca.archive.org/0/items/lifeofgodinsoulo00scou/lifeofgodinsoulo00scou.pdf
19 August 2025
