with much gratification, " This will do for my son ;" and turn-
ing to him, said, " Will y oil go to Oxford, George f" To which
he immediately replied, " With all my heart !" "The die is
cast." The Rubicon is crossed, and his destiny is fixed.
Application was at once made to some influential friends, who
pledged themselves to use every exertion to secure a servitor's
place for George; whereupon he plucked up fresh courage,
returned to the Grammar School, resumed his studies with
renewed zeal, lived more prayerfully, and endeavored to pro-
mote piety and virtue among his associates'.
Although George indulged in some vicious habits and
" roguish tricks" in early life, yet possessing a warm heart and
a devout, tender disposition, he often underwent, for years
before his conversion, frequent probes of conscience, convic-
tions of sin, and deep religious impressions.
But during his first stay at the Grammar School, these
impressions seemed to decline somewhat, which, however,
during his busy life at the hotel, it pleased God to renew, and
the young hero was led with increased earnestness to seek the
salvation of his soul. Yet with all these trials, impressions and
experiences, the general course of his life up to the age of
sixteen was irreligious.
Brought up in the Episcopal Church, and having rid himself
of the pernicious influence of some immoral, alluring young
men, to which he had been exposed, with his religious impres-
sions deepened, he set out afresh to live a religious life : and
giving close attention to devotional reading, he laid aside his
novels and took up Thomas a Kempis' Imitation of Christ
26 LIFE OF WHITEFIELD.
He now attended public worship twice a day, fasted often,
prayed much in secret, and at seventeen was confirmed and
received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper every month.
WHITEFIELD GOES TO COLLEGE.
Having finished his academical course, young Whitefield,
now about eighteen years old, went to Oxford University in
1734, and was at once admitted as servitor in Pembroke Col-
lege. This was a very important step in George's life ; and to
encourage him in his laudable undertaking, a kind friend im-
mediately lent him ten pounds (which Whitefield afterwards re-
turned) to pay his matriculation fee. With these bright pros-
pects before him, our young servitor entered upon his duties at
college with a buoyant heart. In discharging his duties as
servitor, he soon found the advantages of having been trained at
a public house ; and being expert in his business, many students
soon sought his attendance, which helped to increase his in-
come ; and being aided by the liberal gifts of a generous
tutor, he was able, by strict economy, to work his way through
without being more than about twenty-five pounds in debt at the
end of three years. Although thus encouraged in the outset at
Oxford, he soon found himself much exposed to the immorali-
ties of the students, at which he was sorely vexed and terribly
shocked. Here he says, " I got acquainted with such a set of
debauched, abandoned, atheistical youths, that I went to church
only to make sport and walk about. I took pleasure in their
lewd conversation. In short, I soon made great progress in the
school of the devil." And being conscious of the danger, he
shunned their society as much as possible. The University had
not yet recovered from the moral shock received by the expul-
sion of two thousand Non-Conformists from the Established
whitefield's education and conversion. 27
Church, by the "Act of Uniformity," in 1662, and the morals at
Oxford were very low.
And says he, "I was quickly solicited to join in their excess
of riot, by several who lay in the same room. Once in particu-
lar, it being cold, my limbs were so benumbed by sitting alone
in my study, because I would not go out amongst them, that
I could scarcely sleep all night. I had no sooner received
the sacrament publicly on a week day, at St. Mary's, but I was
set up as a mark for all the polite students that knew me to
shoot at."
But among all these " rank thorns at Oxford," there were a
few lilies. There was a little " Holy Club" (so-called) at Oxford,
formed by Charles Wesley, which, in November, 1729, consisted
of only four members — John Wesley, Charles Wesley, Richard
Morgan, and Robert Kirkham. They agreed to meet and
spend three or four evenings in a week for intellectual and
moral culture. On Sabbath evenings they read the Greek Tes-
tament or something in divinity. On the other evenings they
read the Greek or Latin classics. But they soon made religion
the chief object of their meetings. In 1732 John Clayton and
J. Broughton joined them. The next year Benjamin Ingham,
James Hervey (author of the Meditations), and two or three
others were added; and 1735 George Whitefield united with
them. They now numbered about fifteen, " all of one heart and
of one mind." And either in jest or by way of derision, or
rather because they "lived by ride and method" they were called
Methodists. They were generally despised and much talked
about. " Practically they had all things common," and all be-
longed to the Established Church of England. They received
the Lord's Supper weekly, prayed and fasted much, and regu-
larly visited and instructed the poor, the sick, and the prisoners.
John Wesley, owing to his superior experience and ability, was
28 LIFE OF WHITEFIELD.
their acknowledged leader, and was called "the Curator of the
Holy Club."* Their regular habits and upright lives "were
proverbial throughout the University and the city." And
although their object, in all their voluntary privations and earn-
est efforts, " was to save their souls, and to live wholly to the
glory of God," yet they seemed to know but little or nothing
about the plan of salvation by faith in Christ. Influenced by the
mystic views of Rev. Wm. Law, says Dr. Philip, they imitated his
ascetic habits, and imbibed his spirit of quietism. Their devo-
tional habits and religious views, says Dr. Philip, when White-
field went to Oxford, will be seen from the following routine of
devotional exercises. " They interrogate themselves whether
they have been simple and recollected ; whether they have
prayed with fervor, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and on Satur-
day noon ; if they have used a collect at nine, twelve, and three
o'clock ; duly meditated on Sunday from three to four on
Thomas a Kempis, or mused on Wednesday and Friday,
from twelve to one, on the Passion."
Such was the character of the " Holy Club," among whose
society the tender heart and susceptible mind of young White-
field was thrown when he was earnestly seeking his soul's sal-
vation. His mind had been powerfully wrought upon by read-
*This, says John Wesley, was " the first rise of Methodism," from which has
grown, in about 130 years, the great and powerful Methodist Church of the United
States, Great Britain, and of the world, "which, in 1869, numbered 21,875 trav "
eling preachers; 2,901,202 members (besides probationers); 3,400,373 Sunday
School Scholars, and 5,802,404 mere hearers, making in all, 12,103,979 receiv-
ing Methodist instruction weekly." — Tyerman's Life of Wesley.
â– The name Methodist was first given to Charles Wesley and his few adherents
before his brother John joined them, which was in 1729. The epithet was not
then new, however. We hear, says Abel Stevens, of " the Anabaptists and the
plain pack-staff Methodists one hundred years before this date." Mosheim speaks
of the " Popish Methodists" in 1686. And the name was applied to a sect of Non-
conformists in 1693, respecting their views of the method or way of justification.
WHITEFIELDS EDUCATION AND CONVERSION. 20,
ing " Law's Serious Call to a Devout Life," before he went to
Oxford, and having learned about the character of the " Holy
Club," he at once longed to join it. But being a poor boy and
a servitor, he felt his inferiority, and had no way to get ac-
quainted. At last, after he had been at Oxford about a year,
the way was opened. A poor woman had attempted suicide ;
and moved with compassion, Whitefield sent an old apple-woman
to tell Mr. Charles Wesley, that he might visit her, charging
her not to tell him who sent her ; but she did ; and Mr. Wesley
having heard about Whitefield's character and habits, invited
him to breakfast the next morning. With a soul thirsting for
spiritual friends and spiritual strength, he at once thankfully
embraced the opportunity and went. Mr. Wesley perceiving
his distressed condition, endeavored to adapt his conversation
to his wants. And to encourage and give him further instruc-
tion he gave him " Professor Frank's Treatise against the Fear
of Man," and "The Country Parson's Advice to his Parishioners,"
to read at his leisure. An introduction to the " Holy Club "
soon followed, and Mr. Whitefield, like them, "began to live by
rule and method, and to pick up the very fragments of his time,
that not a moment be lost." " In a short time," says White-
field, " Charles Wesley let me have another book, entitled
' The Life of God in the Soul of Man,' and though I had fasted,
watched, and prayed, and received the sacrament so long, yet I
never knew what true religion was, till God sent me that excellent
treatise, by the hands of my never-to-be-forgotten friend. At
my first reading it, I wondered what the author meant by say-
ing, 'That some falsely placed religion in going to Church,
doing hurt to no one, being constant in the duties of the closet,
and now and then reaching out their hands to give alms to their
poor neighbors.' Alas ! thought I, if this be not religion, wJiat
is? God soon showed me (in reading a few lines further,)
30 LIFE OF WHITEFIELD.
'that trite religion was a union of the soul with God, and Christ
formed within us! A ray of divine light was instantaneously-
darted in upon my soul, and from that moment, but not till then,
did I know that / must be a new creature?
his struggle in conversion.
Thus far, being ignorant of God's righteousness, " Whitefield
went about to establish a righteousness of his own ;" but now,
like Paul, he " saw a great light ;" and being for the first time
convinced of the necessity of regeneration, and seeing and feel-
ing that he " must be born again? it was a very important crisis
in his religious experience. It was the turning point in his sal-
vation and future usefulness. He was now in the right way to
the Cross, but for the want of light and proper instruction, he
was long in reaching it. Like Saul of Tarsus, his struggle for
the new birth was unusually severe. Yet with many " agonizing
self-conflicts," he went on in it with unyielding perseverance and
great self-denial. He was so earnest in it, that he practiced
such great austerities, and acts of self-mortification, that it came
near costing him his life. During Lent "he prayed and fasted
himself almost to death." His mind and memoiy were so much
impaired, that says he, " Whenever I endeayored to compose my
theme, I had no power to write a word, nor so much as to tell
my Christian friends of my inability to do it. All power of
meditating, or even of thinking, was taken from me. My
memory quite failed me ; I could fancy myself to be like nothing
so much as a man locked up in an iron armor." " Whenever I
knelt down," he says, " I felt great pressure both on soul and
body ; and have often prayed under the weight of them till the
sweat came through me. God only knows how many nights I
have lain upon my bed groaning under what I felt. Whole
whitefield's education and conversion. 31
days and weeks have I spent in lying prostrate on the ground
in silent or vocal prayer."
And having twice failed to hand in his weekly composition, his
tutor called him to an account for his failure, and after fining
him for it, asked him the reason, whereupon says Whitefield,
" I burst into tears, and assured him it was not out of any con-
tempt of authority, but because I could not act otherwise."
Mr. Charles Wesley continued to instruct him "as he was
able to bear it," and going on in his religious duties, taking the
Sacrament every Sunday, and going to Church three times, and
to his private devotions seven times a day, during Lent, he
says, " By degrees I began to leave off eating fruits and such
like, and gave the money I usually spent in that way to the
poor. Afterwards I always chose the worst sort of food, though
my place furnished me with variety. My apparel was mean.
I thought it unbecoming a penitent to have his hair powdered.
I wore woolen gloves, a patched gown, and dirty shoes ; and
though I was then convinced that the Kingdom of God did not
consist in meats and drinks, yet I resolutely persisted in these
voluntary acts of self-denial, because I found them great pro-
moters of the spiritual life. It was now suggested to me that
Jesus Christ was among the wild beasts when He was tempted,
and that I ought to follow His example ; and being willing,as I
thought, to imitate Jesus Christ, after supper I went into Christ-
Church walk, near our college, and continued in silent prayer
nearly two hours; sometimes lying flat on my face, sometimes
kneeling on my knees. The night being stormy, gave me
awful thoughts of the day of judgment. The next night I re-
peated the same exercise at the same place." During Lent he
ate but little except sage-tea and coarse bread, and he walked
out in the mornings till part of one of his hands was black with
cold. " This," he says, " with my continued abstinence and
32 LIFE OF WHITEFIELD.
inward conflicts, at length so emaciated my body, that, at Pas-
sion week, finding I could scarce creep up stairs, I was obliged
to inform my kind tutor of my condition, who immediately sent
for a physician for me." He was sick about seven weeks, during
which his friends the Wesleys and his tutor were very kind to
him. " My tutor," he says, " lent me books, gave me money,
visited me, and furnished me with a physician ; in short, he
behaved in all respects like a father."
As he advanced in the struggle it is painful and wonderful to
see what errors and extravagances he fell into. In reading
Castanza's " Spiritual Combat," he says, " Satan so imposed
upon my understanding, that he persuaded me to shut myself
up in my study till I could do good with a single eye ; lest, in
endeavoring to save others, I should at last, by pride and self-
complacence, lose myself. When Castanza advised to talk but
little, Satan said I must not talk at all ; so that I, who used to
be the most forward in exhorting my companions, have sat
whole nights without speaking at all."
With his afflictions sanctified, Whitefield calls his seven weeks
of sickness " a gforious visitation. I trust I shall have reason
to bless God for it through the endless ages of eternity. The
blessed Spirit was all this time purifying my soul. All my for-
mer gross, notorious, and even my heart sins also, were now set
home upon me, of which I wrote down some remembrances
immediately, and confessed them before God morning and even-
ing." Fresh light having dawned upon his mind, he began to
rise out of the fog of quietism and self-righteousness. And now,
deeply feeling his sins and the need of a Saviour, and having
failed through a long series of monkish austerities to obtain
peace to his troubled soul, and being now, as it were, "shut up
to the faith" he betook himself to a more diligent study of the
Scriptures. "Though weak," (he says), "I often spent two
whitefield's education and conversion. 33
hours in my evening retirements, and prayed over my Greek
Testament and Bishop Hall's most excellent 'Contemplations'."
While thus engaged in searching the Scriptures, and searching
for Jesus with all his heart, he discovered the great doctrine of
justification by faith; and the gospel of Christ was soon made
the power of God unto his salvation.
On one occasion, with his tongue parched with fever, while
lying in bed, and searching for salvation, the Saviour's dying
words, " / thirst" were deeply impressed upon his mind. And
while dwelling on the melting scene of Calvary, as this thirst
was felt by the Saviour near His death, the thought occurred
to him, " Why may it not be so with me ? Why may I not
now receive deliverance and comfort? Why may I not now
dare to trust and rejoice in the pardoning mercy of God?"
Having recovered from a long spell of sickness, for which he
thanked God, and "having thus," says he, "undergone innu-
merable buffetings of Satan, and many months of inexpressible
trials, by night and by day, under the spirit of bondage, God
was pleased at length to remove the heavy load, to enable me
to lay hold on His dear Son by a living faith, and, by giving me
the spirit of adoption, to seal me, as I humbly hope, even to the
day of everlasting redemption. I found and felt in myself, that
I was delivered from the burden that had so heavily oppressed
me. The spirit of mourning was taken from me, and I knew
what it was truly to rejoice in God my Saviour." "I know the
place ; it may perhaps be superstitious, but whenever I go to
Oxford, I cannot help running to the spot where Jesus Christ
first revealed Himself to me and gave me the new birth. But
oh! with what joy, joy unspeakable, even joy that was full of,
and big with glory, was my soul filled, when the weight of sin
went off, and an abiding sense of the pardoning love of God, and
a full assurance of faith, broke in upon my disconsolate soul !
34 LIFE OF WHITEFIELD.
Surely it was the day of my espousal, a day to be had in ever-
lasting remembrance. At first my joys were like a spring tide,
and, as it were, overflowed the banks. For some time I could
not avoid singing psalms, wherever I was ; but my joys became
gradually more settled, and blessed be God, save a few casual
intervals, have abode and increased in my soul ever since."
He wrote this in 1756.
Thanks be to God for the conversion of Whitefield ! How
glorious , and important the event ! What a great increase of
strength it brought into the Church ! And if there is joy in
heaven over one sinner that repenteth, well might the world
have shouted, " Glory to God," when Whitefield was converted.
Mr. Whitefield had a very warm attachment for Rev. Charles
Wesley, and because his ministry was so full of profit and com-
fort to him, he always regarded him as his spiritual father ; yet
he was converted about three years before either Charles or
John Wesley. He was, therefore no doubt, the first converted
preacher of the "Holy Club," or of the " Oxford Methodists."*
Charles Wesley also had a very affectionate regard for
Whitefield. Having thus "passed from death unto life," and
feeling so overjoyed upon his conversion, Whitefield could
not rest till he wrote to his relatives, "telling them that
there was such a thing as the New Birth. I imagined they
would have gladly received it; but alas! my words seemed
* Says Tyerman, Charles Wesley was converted May 21, 1738, — and John, May
24, 1738, about eleven years after he began to preach.
Although the epoch of Methodism dates, according to John Wesley, from the
formation of the " Holy Club," or Oxford Methodists, in 1729, yet that " Club "
was not what we now call a regular organized church. The members of the
" Holy Club " were all zealous members of the Church of England. The first
Methodist church was organized by John Wesley at Moorfields, near London,
with eight or ten members, in 1739, and the corner-stone of the first Methodist
chapel was laid May 12, of the same year.
WHITEFIELDS EDUCATION AND CONVERSION. 35
to them as idle tales. They thought I was going beside
myself."
Notwithstanding the "severe ordeal of agonizing self-
conflicts," through which Whitefield passed before his con-
version, and although he regarded them as "the dealings of
God" with him, as the preparatory steps which led to his
conversion, yet, doubtless, had he enjoyed the instruction of
a converted or more spiritual guide, and have known the way
of life, his conflict most probably would have issued in conver-
sion much sooner. And yet, he delighted in those severe
austerities, and said in a letter written about this time, " There
is really more pleasure in these formidable duties of self-denial
and mortification than in the highest indulgences of the great-
est epicure upon earth." His great want at this time was light.
He was so ignorant of the nature and necessity of regeneration
that he said, " I knew no more that I must be born again in
God, born again in Christ Jesus, than if I had never been born
at all. Hence, let all learn the great importance of knowing
what to do to be saved."
CHAPTER III
HIS ORDINATION.
ROSTRATED by his severe pangs of regener-
ation, the new convert now needed rest and
a change of air. But as part of the " Holy
Club " had now left Oxford (the Wesleys being
then in Georgia), Whitefield was placed at the
head of it, with an annuity of twenty pounds,
given by Sir John Philip of London, with the
promise of ten^ more if he would stay ; but
owing to his feeble health, urged by his mother, tutor and
physician, he now left "his sweet retirement" at Oxford for a
time, and returned home to Gloucester. On reaching home
he says, " My friends were surprised to see me look and be-
have so cheerfully, after what they had heard about me." But
he soon found himself like a sheep among wolves, for they
at once began to dissuade him from his religious duties ; but
watching and praying, God enabled him to stand fast and to
triumph over all.
And now, with a deep consciousness of the "great things
God had done for him," like the newly converted Paul, he
began to pray, " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do f" With
a heart fired with zeal, he at once began to live and labor for
Christ. Deeply feeling the want of religious associates at
home, after having besought the Lord for them, he determined
"/ will endeavor either to find or make a friend" and after
(36)
HIS ORDINATION. 37
much importunate prayer about the matter, he called at the
house of Mrs. W — , to whom he had formerly read plays,
Spectators, etc., hoping as he says, " the change she now would
find in my sentiments might, under God, influence her soul.
God was pleased to bless the visit with the desired effect. She
received the word gladly, and soon became hopefully con-
verted." God also soon made him instrumental in awakening
several young persons, who, at once formed themselves into
a little society, which soon had the honor of being despised
like the " Holy Club " at Oxford.
As these, his first efforts in striving to win souls, may be
regarded as the dawn of his future zeal and success, we notice,
just here, his manner of preparing himself for the work.
" My mind being now more open and enlarged, I began to
read the holy Scriptures upon my knees; laying aside all
other books, and praying over (if possible) every line and
word. This proved meat indeed, and drink indeed, to my soul.
I daily received fresh life, light, and power from above. I got
more true knowledge from reading the book of God, in one
month, than I could ever have acquired from all the writings
of men. In one word, I found it profitable for reproof, for
correction, for instruction, every way sufficient to make the
man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished for every good
work and word." About this time, he received fresh light
and obtained clear views of the great doctrine of "Justification
by Faith only ;" while his Oxford friends still "rather inclined
to the mystic divinity?
" Burkitt's and Henry's Expositions," he says, "were of great
use to lead me into this and all other gospel truths. It is the
good old doctrine of the Church of England ; it is what the
holy martyrs in Queen Mary's time sealed with their blood."
In mixing their exercises and preparations with much secret
38 LIFE OF WHITEFIELD.
prayer, he exclaims, "Oh, what sweet communion had I daily
vouchsafed with God in prayer after my coming to Gloucester.
How often have I been carried out beyond myself when medi-
tating in the fields ! How assuredly I felt that Christ dwelt
in me, and I in Him, and hpw daily did I walk in the comforts
of the Holy Ghost, and was edified and refreshed in the multi-
tudes of peace !" Going on in his arduous labors to save souls,
he says, "I always observed that as my inward strength in-
creased, my outward sphere of action increased proportionately.
In a short time, therefore, I began to read to some poor people
twice or thrice a week. I likewise visited two other little
societies besides my own. Occasionally, as business and oppor-