A Sketch of the Life and Labors of George Whitefield

📖 The Scoop

"A Sketch of the Life and Labors of George Whitefield," by J. C. Ryle, provides a sketch of Whitefield's times, life, religion, preaching, and work. Whitefield was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He became perhaps the best-known preacher in Britain and America in the 18th century, and, because he traveled through all of the American colonies and drew great crowds and media coverage, he was one of the most widely recognized public figures in colonial America. The Anglican Church did not assign him a pulpit, so he began preaching in parks and fields in England on his own, reaching out to people who normally did not attend church. Like Jonathan Edwards, he developed a style of preaching that elicited emotional responses from his audiences. But Whitefield had charisma, and his voice (which according to many accounts, could be heard over vast distances), his small stature, and even his cross-eyed appearance (which some people took as a mark of divine favor) all served to help make him one of the first celebrities in the American colonies. Thanks to widespread dissemination of print media, perhaps half of all colonists eventually heard about, read about, or read something written by Whitefield. He employed print systematically, sending advance men to put up broadsides and distribute handbills announcing his sermons. He also arranged to have his sermons published. He first took to preaching in the open air on Hanham Mount, Kingswood, in southeast Bristol where a crowd of 20,000 people gathered to hear him. Even larger crowds-Whitefield estimated 30,000-met him in Cambuslang in 1742. Benjamin Franklin attended a revival meeting in Philadelphia and was greatly impressed with Whitefield's ability to deliver a message to such a large group. It is estimated that throughout his life, Whitefield preached more than 18,000 formal sermons, of which seventy-eight have been published.

Genre: Biography & Autobiography / Religious (fancy, right?)