Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-12-11

eighteenth century. His personality
is ore of the most potent in the
early life OF the American people.
Whitefield was the more remark
able because he seemed to lack most
of the gifts of leadership. His in
teliectual CT liDer was not notable. ana
his scrmcns-If we may judge from
the samples that remain in print
were mediocre, or worse. He is re-
pcit~i to have had marvellous voice,
although long a sufferer from asthma.
Day after day he held vast crowds
spellbound in the open air-twenty
thousand In Philadelphia, thirty
thousand on Boston Common and
sixty thousand on still another oc-
caSion.
Methodistic, Calvanistic Anglican
The modern note of church union
was incorporated in the career OF
Whitefield. Coming up from the
ranks of the plain people, he had a
smattering of education at Oxford,
and in his twenty-second year was
given Deacons orders in the Angli-
can Church. In 1888 on his return
from his first American visit he was
ordained a priest in the Anglican
Church, and remained in this COM
munion to the end of his life.
Whitefeld and Wesley were as
sociates in the famous Holy Club, .
tical Movement of their time. Wesley
was the greater mind and the natural
leader and organizer. Whitefield
was a fiery evangelist. The two men
separated on doctrinal grounds, be-
cause Whitefield adhered to the CAL
crees of God. They remained warm
personal friends to the end.
Criticising the Evangelist.
80 L isrI1
teenth Century is O title that is APP
piled to Whitefeld, because as he
went up and down among the Ameri-
can Colonies, he had the same effect
upon the emotions and lives of men
as the Fiery Cross had upon the High
land clans. The times seemed ripe
for a great spiritual movement such
as developed in America coincidently
with Whitefeld's career. In this
many persons see a striking analogy
to our own day, wherein the war has
deeply stirred the spiritual interest
of the people. Evangelists were
never buster or more successful in
for instance, has half a dozen re-
vivalists within her borders, all doing
work that is stirring whole communi-
ties and even cities of good size.
Whitefeld, who had a cast in his
eve and was unhappily married and
by no means n Conventional figure,
was attacked by preachers and others
as vulgar and sensational, and by his
fellow churchmen as demeaning holy
orders Throughout his ministry
Whitefield was assailed by a steady
storm of criticism on account of his
theology, his pulpit mannerisms and
his sensationalism. Yet his passion
ate preachments, which included the
vivid presentation of hell fire. did
mr. fn
that threatened America at the time
than any philosophical arguments.
Learning How He Did 1t.
In hundreds of pulpits this Sunday
the work and character of Whitetield
will be analyZed, and ''the secret of
his success" will be pointed out ac-
cording to the personal predictions
of the preacher. For more than a
century men have been dissecting
Whitefield's work and sermons, but
with. no good success. The sermons
are dreary, arid waste, which no
modern preacher would think of re-
preaching. Even the skull of White
field hes been examined, and on this
evidence they declare he was a man
of no superior intellectual ability.
The theologian, the Rev. DR.. Henry
e. DoslSer, of the Louisville Seminary,
has summarized Whitefield's charac-
terstics as follows:
when we search for the secret
of his powers, which were ineXpressi-
bly, great, we find it not in his energy,
nor in his eloquence, nor in his dra-
matte power, but in the truth he be-
lieved and which he preached. If we
were to characterize his ministry in
one word perhaps that word had best
be 'Otherworldliness.' He preached
as seeing invisible things. Or, IL we
want a more explicit statement, we
can safely say that Whitefield's whole
ministry was characterized by these
things: % A rare and ever present
devotional spirit (2) a jubilant eX-
altation of Christ; CD a tender re-
lance on the cooperation of the Holy
Spirit: (4) an unwavering fidelity to
the teachings of the Scriptures; (5) a
tender compassion with the lost, so
that he always felt himself to stand
between the living and the dead; and
Co a directness of address which
feared no man and favored none, and
which caused the arrow of the Wor,
to sink deeply in wounded soul"
Billy Sunday and WhitefcId
Quite as sensational as Whiteheld
and paralleling him in results, is q
present-day unique figure on the re-
! ligious horizon, Billy Sunday, the base
ball evangelist. Like Whitehead, he
| is a subject of common discussion
! among churchmen of all names. Also
! like Whitefleld, he is, according to
conventional canons, an utter impossi-
bility. When analyzed, no adequate
reason can be found for his success
| in having led more than a quarter OF
million persons to make profes-
! sional conversion to Christianity.
Sundays congregations are paral-
| leled only by those of Whiteheld. Like
the earlier evangelist, Sunday is fierce
| ly assailed for his unconventional Ian
guage, for his acting upon the pulpit
and for his sensationalism in general
Both men had less than the average
minister's training; both fearlessly
preached liberalism. with hell fire fol-
the impenitent. The work of botl
has been followed by ethical revivals
With the first of the year Billy Sun
day will open a nine or ten-week cam.
paign in Philadelphia, which is al.
ready attracting nationwide attention
| The local churches have made elabo
rate preparations, and upwards oi
| 1 40 600 Christians are meeting twice