Selected Sermons Of George Whitefield (1904) [Paperback]

George Whitefield (Author), A. R. Buckland (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2009

This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

George Whitefield (1714–1770) was an Anglican Protestant minister who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain and, especially, in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally. 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. Whitefield preached his first sermon in the Crypt Church in his home town of Gloucester a week after his ordination. He had earlier become the leader of the Holy Club at Oxford when the Wesley brothers departed for Georgia. He adopted the practice of Howell Harris of preaching in the open-air at Hanham Mount, near Kingswood, Bristol. In 1738, before going to America, where he became parish priest of Savannah, Georgia he invited John Wesley to preach in the open-air for the first time at Kingswood and then Blackheath, London. After a short stay in Georgia he returned home in the following year to receive priest's orders, resuming his open-air evangelistic activities. In 1739 Whitefield began raising funds in England for the establishment of the Bethesda Orphanage, which is the oldest extant charity in North America. On returning to North America he preached a series of revivals that came to be known as the Great Awakening of 1740. He preached nearly every day for months to large crowds of sometimes several thousand people as he traveled throughout the colonies, especially New England. His journey on horseback from New York City to Charleston was the longest then undertaken in North America by a white man. Like his contemporary and acquaintance, Jonathan Edwards, Whitefield preached with a staunchly Calvinist theology that was in line with the "moderate Calvinism" of the Thirty-nine Articles. While explicitly affirming God's sole agency in salvation, Whitefield would freely offer the Gospel, saying near the end of most of his published sermons something like: "Come poor, lost, undone sinner, come just as you are to Christ." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (May 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1104463954
• ISBN-13: 978-1104463953
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,743,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, but not excellent!, July 3, 2011

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B. Eversberg (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Selected Sermons of George Whitefield (Paperback)

I cannot give this book a five star review for two reasons: 1) There are quite a few "typos." and since the book is quite pricey for its length, I am reserving the highest rating for a better edited publication. This is obviously not a criticism of Whitefield, but rather of the publishers. 2) I did not know what I learned from the very first words of the Introduction: "It is usual to hear that the printed sermons of George Whitefield do not explain his extraordinary influence as an evangelist" (paraphrase). But I quickly learned this, and heartily agree. I did know that Whitefield is considered a giant among Christian preachers, but yes, one can't really feel the power from the printed version of his sermons.

Still, the content is very good theology, and the reader will definitely not be worse off for having read this little booklet of six sermons, for a total of about 80 pages, with four pages of Introduction. My conclusion is that it's "very good, but not excellent."