Many reasons combine to make this full-scale portrait of Whitefield a biography of impressive importance. Whitefield's life provides in itself a story scarcely paralleled. From the age of 24 when he commanded the largest congregations yet seen in America, until his death 30 years later, his was the voice heard by the English-speaking world. By common consent he was the greatest preacher of the 18th Century, and of his preaching gifts J. C. Ryle wrote, "No Englishman, I believe, dead or alive, has ever equaled him." This first volume, covering the years from Whitefield's birth in 1714 to his second visit to America in 1739-40, throws new light on several aspects of Whitefield's early life and traces both in depth and with vivid simplicity the beginning of 'the Great Awakening.'

In The Man Who Preached Outside, follow the great evangelist George Whitefield as he preaches the gospel in Great Britain, crosses the Atlantic in a tall ship to America, and then returns home to preach again.Look out for a man blowing a trumpet, someone fishing, and lots more in this retelling of Whitefield’s story.These simple stories, written with 1-3 year olds in mind, have beautiful, engaging illustrations that will have your children asking you to read them over and over!

As the Protestant church carried the Reformation into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it faced numerous challenges from without and from within. Europe was witnessing dramatic changes as the medieval world began to give way to the modern. Having broken with the Roman Catholic Church, Protestants faced the prospect of ever-deepening division among its own members. But despite the numerous threats, the Reformed church pressed forward. In this series, join Dr. W. Robert Godfrey as he surveys the history of the Reformed church in the English-speaking world. You will study the Puritans from England to New England. You will also meet such notable figures as John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, and Jonathan Edwards, all of whom played major roles in the First Great Awakening.

As the Protestant church carried the Reformation into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it faced numerous challenges from without and from within. Europe was witnessing dramatic changes as the medieval world began to give way to the modern. Having broken with the Roman Catholic Church, Protestants faced the prospect of ever-deepening division among its own members. But despite the numerous threats, the Reformed church pressed forward. In this series, join Dr. W. Robert Godfrey as he surveys the history of the Reformed church in the English-speaking world. You will study the Puritans from England to New England. You will also meet such notable figures as John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, and Jonathan Edwards, all of whom played major roles in the First Great Awakening. Part 1 AD 100-600, Part 2 AD 500-1500, Part 3 AD 1500-1620, Part 5 AD 1800-1900, Part 6 AD 1900-2000 or the complete set are also available.

John Newton (1725-1807), sailor, preacher and hymnwriter, was one of the most colourful figures in the great Evangelical Revival of the 18th Century. ‘Once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa,’ he wrote for his own epitaph, ‘by the rich mercy of Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy’.It was through his correspondence that Newton fulfilled his distinctive work as ‘the letter writer par excellence of the Evangelical Revival’. His grasp of Scripture and deep personal experience, his many friends (among them, George Whitefield, William Cowper and William Wilberforce), his manifold trials, his country pastorate, his strong, clear, idiomatic style — all these factors combined to prepare the author of ‘How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds’, for the exercise of his special gift.These practical letters cover a wide variety of subjects and aim ‘to conform the believer to Christ’.

The Bible no more knows a separate class of heroes than it does of saints. Because of Jesus Christ, every christian is extraordinary and attains to glory. Yet grace so shines in some (as in the portraits of Hebrews 11), that it lightens the path of many. As A.W. Tozer could write, 'Next to the Holy Scriptures, the greatest aid to the life of faith may be christian biographies.'Iain Murray has already written on a number of Christians he specially admires. A few of them return to these pages, but with special reference to their thought - George Whitefield on Christian unity, for example. Most space, howver, is given to little-known figures, including Robert Kalley and William Hewitson who shared in 'the greatest happening in modern missions', and to Charles and Mary Colcock Jones who took much-loved slaves with them to heaven.There is much new research in these pages, and reminders of how much is missed by those who fail to read of the work of God in history. Christians who know what Christ did 'yesterday' are energized to trust and serve him today.

As the Protestant church carried the Reformation into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it faced numerous challenges from without and from within. Europe was witnessing dramatic changes as the medieval world began to give way to the modern. Having broken with the Roman Catholic Church, Protestants faced the prospect of ever-deepening division among its own members. But despite the numerous threats, the Reformed church pressed forward. In this series, join Dr. W. Robert Godfrey as he surveys the history of the Reformed church in the English-speaking world. You will study the Puritans from England to New England. You will also meet such notable figures as John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, and Jonathan Edwards, all of whom played major roles in the First Great Awakening.Part 1 A.D. 100-600, Part 2 A.D. 500-1500, Part 3 A.D. 1500-1620, Part 5 A.D. 1800-1900, Part 6 A.D. 1900-2000 or the complete set are also available.

In the 1700s, Delaware witnessed powerful movements that shaped American Christianity. Today, Stephen Nichols continues exploring this colony’s church history, from George Whitefield’s Great Awakening preaching to the rise of Methodism.

Before cars were invented, you needed a strong horse to make it to your destination on time. Today, Dr. Stephen Nichols tells the story of a husband and wife who rode for miles to hear George Whitefield preach.

On this episode of 5 Minutes in Church History, Dr. Stephen Nichols and Jeremy Vuolo discuss the remarkable influence of Martyn Lloyd-Jones and George Whitefield.

On this episode of 5 Minutes in Church History, Dr. Stephen Nichols takes us to the oldest city in Georgia, where both George Whitefield and John Wesley preached.

On this episode of 5 Minutes in Church History, Dr. Stephen Nichols explains what a joke from George Whitefield has to do with modern-day evangelicalism.

Stephen Nichols and R.C. Sproul answer questions ranging from the atonement and church history, to the dangers of Roman Catholic theology and Arminianism.

Note: Answers given reflect the views of the individual speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Dr. R.C. Sproul and Ligonier Ministries. Here is our Statement of Faith.

Stephen Nichols and R.C. Sproul answer questions ranging from the deity of Christ and the gifts of the Spirit, to church history and the future of ethnic Israel.

Note: Answers given reflect the views of the individual speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Dr. R.C. Sproul and Ligonier Ministries. Here is our Statement of Faith.

The Great Awakening was a time of great religious interest that began in New England and spread throughout the American colonies. It was spearheaded by the great preacher George Whitefield, and aided by America’s most prominent pastor and theologian, Jonathan Edwards. In this lecture, Dr. Godfrey will explain the history of this influential movement, focusing on its key figures. He will also look back to England and revisit the ministry and influence of John Wesley during this time period.

The religious climate in England in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries was cold and dry. Onto this barren landscape came George Whitefield and John Wesley, whose powerful preaching and novel methods played an important role in kindling hearts and stirring religious affection. In this lecture, Dr. Godfrey will introduce both of these men, the spiritual context within which they worked, and the results of their ministries.

The Great Awakening was a time of great religious interest that began in New England and spread throughout the American colonies. It was spearheaded by the great preacher George Whitefield, and aided by America’s most prominent pastor and theologian, Jonathan Edwards. In this lecture, Dr. Godfrey will explain the history of this influential movement, focusing on its key figures. He will also look back to England and revisit the ministry and influence of John Wesley during this time period.

The religious climate in England in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries was cold and dry. Onto this barren landscape came George Whitefield and John Wesley, whose powerful preaching and novel methods played an important role in kindling hearts and stirring religious affection. In this lecture, Dr. Godfrey will introduce both of these men, the spiritual context within which they worked, and the results of their ministries.

Since the first century, God has been pleased to send awakenings to His people, and we can learn much from how He has worked in the past as we call out to Him for awakening today. This session examines the various awakenings that have taken place in history since the Apostolic era, focusing particularly on the Reformation and the First Great Awakening. It considers the awakenings that happened as God blessed the work of the Reformers and later preachers such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.

GODFREY: The First Great Awakening was briefer. It is usually dated around 1740–1746. It tended to be in many places more emotional—outbursts, people crying out, falling down, weeping, and so on. George Whitefield was asked once: “Why don’t you control your meetings better? Why do you allow so much emotion?”—it was probably some Dutchman who asked that question. Whitefield’s response was: “No one is surprised at someone weeping at a funeral. Why should you be surprised at people weeping over the death of their own souls?” So, there was a great emotional intensity. The leadership of the Great Awakening in the British colonies . . .

DEYOUNG: He didn’t like the English any more than we did, I don’t think.

GODFREY: What I wanted to quote to Sinclair—this is all parenthetical—was Jonathan Edwards’ great statement that he looked forward to the coming of the millennium when the whole world will be as polite as Englishmen. Certain parts of Great Britain were apparently left out of that kind of vision of civilization. The outer Celtic fringe was sort of eliminated.

Anyway, the First Great Awakening was shorter, more intense, had more famous leadership, and was decidedly Calvinistic in its leadership, at least in the colonies.

The Second Great Awakening was a good bit longer. It lasted over several decades, was less often emotionally intense, and marked the beginning of a more mixed-American kind of revivalism in which some leaders were Reformed and some Arminian. Those are some of the differences between the two.

DEYOUNG: Do you find Iain Murray’s distinction in the classic book Revival and Revivalism to be a helpful marker between the two, or do we not want to be that negative toward the Second Great Awakening? I don’t think Iain Murray is negative toward it, but that sort of nomenclature indicates there were revivals that you couldn’t plan for because the Spirit came in the sovereign outpouring and work of awakening. Revival then gave way to a kind of revivalism in the nineteenth century, most egregiously with Finney’s new measures that you could plan for revival by following dedicated steps. Even in our times, we are used to people announcing a revival on a particular day—“revival this Saturday.” If only it were that easy: just hang a banner and then revival will come. So, Murray distinguishes between the Spirit-wrought surprising work of God in revival and then revivalism, which is something we think we can plan for and manufacture with just the right steps. At least in broad strokes, I’ve found it helpful to see the Second Great Awakening moving more in the revivalism direction. Is that fair?

FERGUSON: Yes, I think in the nineteenth century—maybe even more in America than in the UK—it was obvious that God used secondary means in awakening. He employed prayer, the preaching of the Word, and certain patterns that were seen to be conducive—that is to say, they were consistent with a biblical pattern of operation. However, that was turned around into, “If these are the

The wonderful, albeit absentminded, "Rabbi" John Duncan (1796–1870), professor of Hebrew at New College, Edinburgh, once read out the words of Charles Wesley's hymn "And Can It Be That I Should Gain": Long my imprisoned spirit lay Fast bound in sin and nature's night; Thine eye diffused a quickening ray; I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth, and followed Thee. My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Duncan commented quizzically, "Where's your Arminianism now, friend?" The Wesley brothers were indeed Arminian in theology (despite their conviction that many of their views were "within a hair's-breadth of Calvinism"). But at this point, Charles Wesley's expressions of praise are rooted in a theology borrowed from his Calvinist friend George Whitefield's preaching on the new birth.

Wesley bids us sing praise to God for His sovereign, liberating, prevenient, divine work on the soul that both awakens us and delivers us. When he does so, he is forced to borrow a Calvinistic frame of reference. A moment's reflection will underline how contradictory it would be to sing praise to God for something He had not done. Of course, hymns may be written to parody Calvinistic doctrine, and on very rare occasions one hears songs that celebrate "free will." But the great hymns of ages past, like their predecessors in Scripture, praise God for being God, for being sovereign, for being a saving and keeping God. To cast a critical glance sideways in the contemporary evangelical world, it is difficult to imagine what hymns of adoration and praise might be written by Open Theists (whose chief enemy appears to be Calvinism). Do we praise God for being like us in that He is neither sovereign over all things in the present nor aware of what will unfold in our future?

Most of the old hymns underscore the point that Calvinism is in its very nature doxological, and that all doxology, in fact, depends on such biblical theology. Here, for example, is the best-known hymn of Augustus Montague Toplady (1740–1778): Not the labors of my hands Can fulfill Thy law's demands; Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow, All for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and Thou alone. Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress; Helpless look to Thee for grace; Foul, I to the Fountain fly; Wash me, Savior, or I die.

This is Calvinism in poetry: such is our depravity and helplessness that "Thou must save, and Thou alone." Only these emphases that are characteristic of Calvinism can give birth to such theology as poetry. Granted, the Calvinism is more pronounced and more deliberately articulated with some

Church historian Mark Noll writes, “In many ways, the defining figure in the history of American evangelicalism is the eighteenth-century revivalist George Whitefield.” Prior to America’s declaration of independence from England, the Calvinist preacher from England turned the colonies upside down and led America to its knees in the First Great Awakening. Whitefield’s passionate preaching drew crowds in the tens of thousands as townspeople went to the fields.

Trusting the Lord to provide the increase of repentance and faith, Whitefield planted and watered with the seed of the outward call of the gospel, neither tickling the ears nor reconciling the impenitent, and going so far to say, “It is a poor sermon that gives no offense — that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher.”

In 1739, during his first of seven trips to the colonies, Whitefield caught the attention of Benjamin Franklin, who penned the following in his memoirs: “The multitudes . . . that attended his sermons were enormous, and it was matter of speculation to me, who was one of the number, to observe the extraordinary influence of his oratory on his hearers, and how much they admir’d and respected him, notwithstanding his common abuse of them, by assuring them that they were naturally half beasts and half devils. It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seem’d as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk thro’ the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.”

From London to Boston, Whitefield lifted up his eyes and saw the fields that were white for harvest (John 4:35). He preached the Word in season and out of season before the face of God, before the faces of his English countrymen, and before the very faces of those who fought for America’s independence from England. With liberty and mercy for all those who had ears to hear, the gospel took root in the fertile hearts of many, except, it seems, in the heart of Benjamin Franklin who admitted, Whitefield used “to pray for my conversion, but never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard.”

Scottish Presbyterianism, with its robust theology, disciplined government by elders, and strict piety, would significantly influence America through the waves of Scots-Irish immigrants that became the backbone of the Revolutionary era. Descended from lowland Scots, the Ulster Scots had begun settlement in northern Ireland during the reign of James VI and I, eventually organizing themselves into presbyteries within the established Irish Anglican Church. The Scots-Irish were required to pay taxes to support the established church; only in America would they eventually be free to practice their Presbyterianism within the context of complete religious liberty.

The great American Presbyterian pioneer was Scots-Irish minister Francis Makemie (1657–1708), who was ordained in 1682 by the Irish Presbytery of Laggan and departed the next year for Maryland, responding to pleas for a Presbyterian clergyman. His early American years were spent in evangelistic work in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, where he established five congregations. Makemie's designation as the "Father of American Presbyterianism" is associated with his role in the founding of the first American presbytery in 1706 in Philadelphia.

One of the reasons American Presbyterians had organized themselves was a belief that joint effort could strengthen religious toleration. Under the 1689 Toleration Act of William and Mary, Makemie and other ministers had secured Dissenter licenses. Makemie's house had been designated as an authorized preaching point in Anglican-established Virginia, but he was arrested in New York by the governor, Lord Cornbury, for illegal preaching. He was jailed and eventually tried, but was acquitted in 1707. Makemie's exoneration was a notable milestone in the advancement of religious liberty in the colonies and made Presbyterians popular with Dissenters.

Within a decade of Makemie's trial, the massive immigration of Scots-Irish would commence. Beginning in 1717, a steady stream of Ulster Scots populated the Middle Colonies, particularly the frontier in western Pennsylvania. By the time of American independence, nearly five hundred thousand Scots-Irish had come to America. The Virginia and Carolina Piedmont areas were unoccupied before 1730, but Scots-Irish settlers coming down the "Great Philadelphia Wagon Road" began to populate the backcountry. By 1750, they had moved into the South Carolina Piedmont and north Georgia. Scottish Highlanders settled along the North Carolina seaboard and coastal areas of Georgia.

The most remarkable spiritual event to shape Scots-Irish colonists in the generation preceding the Revolutionary War was the revival known as the First Great Awakening. Many Presbyterians were keen supporters of revivalist preachers George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards, who deepened American passion for freedom to worship God according to the dictates of one's conscience.

One fruit of the revival was renewed Christian piety, which many American clergy saw as central to God's blessing on the colonies. There were also millennial overtones to the Spirit's work as a sign of America's providential destiny. These elements helped create fertile soil for the American Revolution, and Presbyterian ministers utilized these themes as advocates for independence from Britain.

As Presbyterian churches in the South and Middle Colonies proliferated under the revival, the need for more clergy made a theological school imperative.