ILLUSTRATIONS FACING I. Bronze statue of George Whitefield, by Dr. R. Tait II. Painting of Whitefield, at the age of twenty-seven, by III. From a drawing of Savannah, made in 1734, a little before IV. The Tottenham Court Chapel, with front addition; erected V. Second page of an autograph letter written by Whitefield 48 65 111 122 VI. News items concerning Whitefield inserted by Benjamin Franklin in his Pennsylvania Gazette of November 29, 1739, and May 1, 1740. Photographed from the Gazette in the library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Whenever Whitefield was in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, Franklin's paper was full of references to him.. 134 VII. A section of Whitefield's autograph Journal, in the Library VIII. The old Philadelphia Court House on the right. The bal- IX. On the left is the "New Building," in Philadelphia, where 146 162 162 FACING X. Whitefield's Field-Pulpit, from which he preached more than 2,000 times; now in New York, in the possession of the American Tract Society, by whose courtesy this picture was taken. The platform of the pulpit stands three feet above the ground; the entire framework can be quickly taken apart or put together. The wood is almost as sound as the day it was first cut...... 178 XI. Portrait of Whitefield, painted by Nathaniel Hone in 1768.... 185 XII. Whitefield's last portrait. Painted by Russell in 1769. XIV. The old Tennent parsonage at Freehold, just before it was XV. An eighteenth-century painting of the Old South Presbyterian Church in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where Whitefield often preached, and where he was entombed. The first house directly in the rear is where William Lloyd Garrison was born. The house just beyond is the parsonage where Whitefield died. He occupied the front second-story room, facing this way. For assistance in securing this and the following picture, and for many other courtesies, the author is deeply indebted to the Rev. A. McDonald Paterson, D.D., the present pastor of the "Old South.' XVI. The pulpit in the Old South Presbyterian Church, Newburyport, Massachusetts.... XVII. Whitefield prepared for burial. From an extremely rare broadsheet issued in Boston just after the funeral, and now in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.. 202 202 208 209 213 PREFACE VERY little has been written on Whitefield in recent years. The standard Lives are out of print, and almost nothing can be obtained in the bookmarket. This, if nothing else, would seem to justify a new study of the great preacher's career. The present volume is in no sense a full biography. Numerous details have been omitted, many of them bearing on controversial and other subjects which have little or no interest for presentday readers. Nor has the chronological method been strictly followed. The aim has been to bring together, in specific groupings, those outstanding and colorful facts which show the real Whitefield: the ProphetPreacher who left his impress on two continents; and the Man of like passions with ourselves. The sources of information are ample. Besides all that his contemporaries and later writers have told us, we have his own "Short Account" and "Further Account" of his early life, his Journals and Sermons, and 1,465 Letters from his pen; together with the many pamphlets he published between 1738 and the time of his death, which throw light on his ministry. Happily, our American historical collections are rich in original material. EDWARD S. NINDE. West Chester, Pennsylvania. |