Preface: Lightning from a Cloudless Sky
The gospel was to be recovered for nations and God had prepared Whitefield to preach it.1
—Iain H. Murray
If I could be anyone in church history, I would be George Whitefield. I say this not because of his great oratorical skills or his worldwide fame, but primarily because of his consuming evangelistic zeal. Preeminently, Whitefield has instilled within me a passion for preaching.
Through Martin Luther, I have been motivated to strive for greater boldness for the truth. From John Calvin, I have gained a greater desire to preach the Scripture in a sequential, expositional manner. Through Jonathan Edwards, I have been challenged in terms of discipline in Christian living. From Charles Spurgeon, I have learned the necessity of an intense gospel focus in every sermon. But when it comes to George Whitefield, I have been captivated by his unmatched zeal in proclaiming the gospel message to the ends of the earth.
In this book, it is my desire to unveil the heart of a man who burned to accomplish the work of God. My sincere hope is that George Whitefield’s example will rekindle your passion for taking the name of Christ to the nations. I pray that this book will move a new generation of gospel preachers to advance into the fields of the world white for harvest. But before we examine the life and ministry of this extraordinary man, let me first establish the historical setting in which he lived.
The eighteenth century for the English-speaking world was a monumental period of spiritual awakening. Martyn Lloyd-Jones called this time “the greatest manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit since apostolic days.”2 This era proved to be an unprecedented season of evangelistic endeavor and spiritual renewal. Its effects spanned two continents and were especially dramatic given the spiritual lethargy that permeated the church and culture of that day. This season proved to be nothing less than a “second reformation.”
Since the seventeenth century, gospel preaching had waxed cold throughout Europe, but especially in England. The state church was already in spiritual decline. Presbyterianism had weakened, and the General Baptists began a slippery descent from Arminianism to Unitarianism.
Several factors caused these days of drought. Many churches no longer required a regenerate church membership and were careless in whom they admitted to the Lord’s table. Puritanism suffered a devastating blow when Parliament passed the Act of Uniformity in 1662, which permanently divided the Church of England from all other Protestants, thereafter known as Dissenters.3 Under Charles II, this decree determined a more Catholic-like form of public prayers, the priesthood, the sacraments, and other rites in the Church of England. Puritan ministers were required to abandon their original ordinations and be reordained under this new form of the state church.
This brewing crisis came to a head on August 24, 1662, St. Bartholomew’s Day, when two thousand Puritan ministers were ejected from their churches. In a single day, the greatest generation of gospel preachers was discharged from the pulpit and forbidden to preach. These Puritan ministers suffered even greater restrictions with the passing of the Conventicle Act in 1664. They were banned from preaching in the fields or conducting private worship services in the homes of parishioners. Further restriction came with the Five Mile Act in 1665, which barred ejected ministers from coming within five miles of their former churches or any city or town.
This persecution was lifted in 1689 by the Toleration Act under William and Mary, but by this time, most of the leading Puritan ministers had already died. Forbidden from being buried in English churchyards, many Puritan pastors were entombed in a separate Nonconformist cemetery in Bunhill Fields, outside of London. Included in this despised cemetery were such notables as John Bunyan, John Owen, Isaac Watts, and Thomas Goodwin. Considered outcasts and deemed unworthy, these men of God were buried outside the city limits. Puritan influence had ebbed sharply.
At the same time, many highly esteemed Anglican pulpits taught a moralistic, legalistic corruption of justification by faith. This doctrinal decline left the English church with little appetite for the preaching of the Word. Any burden for the lost had waned. Like the Apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane, English ministers had left off watching and were lulled into a deep sleep. Biblical convictions were replaced with the prevailing secular philosophies. There was a virtual famine in the land for the hearing of God’s Word.
It was into this spiritual void that God raised up the English evangelist George Whitefield. Like lightning from a cloudless sky, Whitefield stepped onto the world stage as the most prolific herald of the gospel since the days of the New Testament. God empowered Whitefield to become a blazing lamp set on a hill in the midst of Satan’s empire of darkness.
This powerful figure of unusual gospel fervor stood at the headwaters of an Evangelical resurgence. His thundering voice was the catalyst for spiritual awakening, as his preaching took the British Isles by storm and electrified the American colonies. By his evangelistic zeal, he stoked the flames of revival until they spread to the hearts of countless men and women. It can be argued that by his preaching, the British Isles were saved from the equivalent of the French Revolution. And on the other side of the Atlantic, a nation would be birthed in the wake of his gospel proclamation.
Given the many ailments plaguing the church today, this present generation needs a strong dose of George Whitefield. As we look at modern Christianity, there is much for which to be thankful, especially in light of the Reformed resurgence of recent years. However, it has become a trend for many in this movement to retreat into a Calvinistic cloister, having little impact upon the world around them. Whitefield, through his intense engagement with the world and fervent proclamation of the gospel, has much to teach us concerning what desperately needs to be recovered.
We have too many mild-mannered apologists lecturing in pulpits today. The need of this hour is for red-hot proclaimers of God and His saving grace, not for mere philosophical explainers. It is all too easy to become ensnared in the web of social and political concerns that displaces our primary duty to preach Christ. What needs to be recovered in this hour is Whitefield’s deep belief in the sovereign grace of God, coupled with a zealous desire to call the lost to repentance and faith in Christ. Whitefield saw that the greatest need of humanity is to have right standing before God. As Whitefield fulfilled his God-given call to passionately summon a lost and dying world to believe in the gospel, so must we do the same.
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Before we proceed to consider George Whitefield, I must thank the publishing team at Reformation Trust for their commitment to this Long Line of Godly Men Profile series. I remain grateful to Chris Larson, who has been instrumental in overseeing this series. I remain thankful for the ongoing influence of my former professor and current friend, Dr. R. C. Sproul.
I am indebted to Christ Fellowship Baptist Church of Mobile, Alabama, which I serve as senior pastor. I cannot imagine that any other pastor has ever received as much encouragement to serve Christ on such a far-reaching scale as I have. I am extremely grateful for the support of my fellow elders and congregation, who continuously encourage me in my extended ministry abroad.
I want to express my gratitude for my executive assistant, Kay Allen, who typed this document, and Dustin Benge and Keith Phillips, fellow pastors at Christ Fellowship, who helped prepare this manuscript.
I thank God for my family and for their support in my life and ministry. My wife, Anne, and our four children, Andrew, James, Grace Anne, and John, remain pillars of strength for me.
May the Lord use Whitefield’s example, whether you are a layperson or a preacher, to embolden your own commitment to the cause of Christ and to the furtherance of His gospel. In these days, when there is a crying need for boldness both in the pulpit and the pew, may we see the restoration of Christ’s church to her pristine purity through a new reformation.
—Steven J. Lawson
Mobile, Alabama
August 2013