Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-10-01
George VvhIteHeId.


The following paragraphs in regard To
Whitefeld's life and preaching are from an
article by VIM. Myall in the International Re
view
with no companion but his Bible, and no
| object but tho salvation of sinners from the
dreadful fate which he believed to be impend-
ing over them, he plunged foarlessly into
! trackless forests, over untrodden mountains
across unfroquented seas, through treacherous
morasses, and swamps reeking with deadly
miasma. Thirteen times he crossed the At
| lantic ocean, when steam navigation was un-
known and the perils of the deep struck ter
| ror even into Wesley. Almost as many times
he penetrated the tremendous solitude of those
majestic forests which then covered so much
even Of the eastern portion of the United
| States. Twice he preached through Ireland,
fourteen times he traversed Scotland, one
visit he made to Holland, one to the Bermu-
das, and pilgrimages innumerable into almost
every county in England. He was in the
habit of speaking in the compass of q single
week, and that not once or twice, but contin-
uously for years, generally forty, and very
many weeks sixty, hours per week, and to
audiences of many thousands of people.
John Wesley, during ministry of fifty-two
years, travelled over two hundred and fifty
thousand miles and preached over forty thou
sand sermons, making an average of about
eight hundred every year. Excepting Wesley,
it is probable that no man ever preached so
many sermons as Whtefeld. Indeed it has
been said, and the statement is warranted by
facts drawn from sources SO various and trust
worthy that they cannot be questioned, that
IF the time spent in travelling and some
brief intervals of repose be subtracted, his
whole life may be said 10 have been consumed
in the delivery of one continuous and almost
uninterrupted sermon.
There was general complaint that all labor
was practically suspended at Whitefelds APP
proach. Stores we're closed shops deserted,
factories abandoned, while rude mechanics
and unlettered laborers, neglecting the daily
toll upon which the support of their families
depended, could think OF nothing but hearing
sermons or discussing those great moral and
psychological problems which lead only into
a labyrinth of reasoning too intricate for even
an Aristotle or Bacon. So great was the
enthusiasm aroused that people sometimes
followed him on foot for sixty miles, merely
10 hear him preach. They sat and listened
unwearied until two o'clock in the morning,
regardless Of the weather, and unprotected
save by the open heavens.
Whitefeld was fully conscious of his histri-
onic powers, and cultivated them with an as
siduity which would have done credit to dis
ciple of Covent Garden or Drury Lane 1t
was not difficult for those who heard him Of
ten to distinguish between sermons which he
preached for the first time aud those which
he had repeated before and both Garrick
and Foote declared that he never reached his
greatest perfection until he had preached a
sermon forty times. Then every sentence
that was powerless had been pruned off, eve
ry gesture that did not speak to the eye was
omitted and the great preacher stood before
his vast audiences the impersonaton of q di-
vine power, armed with the wrath of Jeho-
yah, or clothed with the gentle meekness of
the Son of Man.
While preaching to a congregation of sail
ors in New York, he compared the state of
the sinner to a ship about to be lost at sea.
''How the waves arise and dash against the
ship" exclaimed he. THE air is dark, the
tempest RACES Our masts are gone, the ship
is ON her beam ends What next ?" 1.-The
long boat Take to the long boat" shouted
the sailors naively, springing to their feet.
On another occasion, while addressing a
congregation among whom were many learned
and aristocratic hearers, SO powerfully did he
expose the peril of the sinner by describing
a blind old man, deserted by his dog and crop
ing along with his cane, unconsciously draw
ing nearer and nearer to a frightful abyss,
that, just as he brought him to its brink, the
elegant and polished Lord Chesterfield, for
getting the presence he was in, exclaimed
aloud, my God, he is gone"