George Whitefield: The spark of the Great Awakening.
...became members of the clergy, but Whitefield’s grandfather was a business man, and his father was proprietor of the Bell Inn in Gloucester. For the first sixteen years of his life, Whitefield had seen the good and the terrible side of life at the Bell Inn. While the other children worked, Whitefield attended school; his mother saw the potential in him and made sure that he was equipped to fulfill it. At the age of eight years old, Whitefield’s mother remarried and at the age of fifteen Whitefield had to drop his studies to work in order to support his family. Instead of being tragic, this experience ended up being a good one. Whitefield learned to associate with people on all different ranks of life. Whitefield worked during the day and studied the bible at night in hopes of going to Oxford. As time went on the husband left, his older brother took over control of the Inn; but there was no longer any money to send Whitefield to school with. Over time, Whitefield learned that he could go to school as a “servitor,” at the age of seventeen he left for Oxford with much inspiration. In 1792, two years before the Massachusetts revival began, George Whitefield entered Oxford university. Whitefield was extremely devoted to religion, and he constantly visited prisons and poorhouses in search of god’s grace. A servitor lived on whatever bare minimums that provided to them. In the beginning, many students tried to get Whitefield to join there party life, but he resisted on every occasion. Whitefield breezed along in his studies, but longed for spiritual leadership. His friends over at Pembroke College started to call him a “Methodist,” which was then a derogatory name given to members of the Holy Club. The Holy Club was a meeting of Oxford students led by the great John Wesley. To other students, their way of life seemed ridiculous, and the word “Methodist” hinted that they lived a mindless method. Members of the Holy Club saw the pressure as motivation to go throughout life. The Holy Club was strongly devoted to the Church of England and knew its history and rules better than anybody else. The Holy Club also took great responsibility in educating the youth, teaching them to avoid bad influences and encouraging them to live good and righteous lives. The Holy Club was great, but the one problem that people saw with their practice is that, theirs was a work-based righteousness; Others were accustomed to the idea that you did not have to work for your salvation. Whitefield became aware of his inner yearning to know god more and more, but he did not know where to turn. Whitefield read tenaciously and came upon a book written long ago by Henry Scougal, entitled “The Life of God in The Soul of Man.” Scougal defined true religion as the union of the soul with god, or in the words of the apostle, it is to have “Christ formed within us.” From Scougal’s teachings Whitefield learned what an amazing grace it is, that it is possible for the life of God to dwell in the soul of man. This book however ended up driving Whitefield to the extreme. At lent in 1775, Whitefield decided to eat only a little bit of bread and sage tea. He prayed outside even on the coldest days to the point that even one of his hands started to turn black.When Whitefield went back home, he maintained the daily schedule of the Holy Club, but for a different reason, he did it to keep him focused on living his life for God. Soon money came in bit by bit; a vicar asked him to preach. The vicar enjoyed the sermon so much, he gave Whitefield a pound. Whitefield then got an opportunity to head the Holy Club after John Wesley’s family went to Georgia to be missionaries. During Whitefield’s leadership, the church packed out and the streets filled with people trying to get in to his sermons. Whitefield did not start to shake the world up until the former members of the Holy Club invited him tome speak at their churches.When Whitefield returned to Gloucester, thousands began to come to his services. Gradually Whitefield started to move away from the philosophy of the Church of England which was; if you live a good and quiet life and you go to church, you are saved. Missionary work was another strong point of George Whitefield’s life. While John Wesley’s efforts were often wasted, Whitefield was very successful; Because of his work with the common people back home, he knew how to relate w...