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Sermons of Whitefield

George Whitefield

George Whitefield (1714-1770) was an English Methodist and Calvinist preacher, one of the leading figures of the First Great Awakening in America. He was born in Gloucester and, after a basic education locally, he attended College at Oxford. There he became one of the Oxford "Methodists", experiencing conversion in 1735 and joining the Wesleys' bible study "Holy Club". Whitefield became an ordained deacon (he would later be ordained a priest) and spent time preaching and ministering both at Oxford and in London. He visited the Wesleys in Georgia before returning to London where, despite general hostility toward his work, he was able to minister with the Moravian Brethren, Methodists and other groups. From 1736 until his death, he served as an itinerant preacher in Britain and America, working with many denominations, and leading successful revival and evangelism tours. His preaching was powerful and direct, if unscholarly, and was a key element in the New England Great Awakening.

Fifty-nine sermons from one of the leading figures of the Great Awakening.

This is a collection of fifty-nine of Whitefield's sermons, and is representative of his preaching, which was to play such a key role in the First Great Awakening. Though an ordained deacon and priest in England, Whitefield's Oxford experience with the Wesleys and the general hostility of the English churches to his itinerant "fanatical" ministry, caused him to develop close ties with Wesleyan Methodists and the Moravian Brethren. Overall his theological outlook was Calvinistic, a viewpoint which was strengthened during his American ministry among Congregational and Presbyterian churches. All of these influences are clearly present in his sermons, which also express the immediacy of genuine evangelistic fervor and devotion. Whitefield's preaching – along with that of Jonathan Edwards – is historically unique and unparalleled in the history of American Christianity, the influence of which has lasted to the present day.

Sermons

Whitefield