MEMOIRS OF THE REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD. CHAPTER I. Comprehending the period from his birth to his becoming a member of the University of Oxford. THAT eminent and singularly gifted man of God, whose life, services and character are now to be delineated, has left few memorials important to be recorded in a chapter confined to the above mentioned period of his life. Whitefield's giftsespecially those which he did not possess in common with other men-were, in an extraordinary degree, the peculiar endowments of the Preacher and of the Preacher merely. Of course, whatever was characteristic in him, or excited an interest not felt concerning ordinary men, did not appear with great power or distinctness in any other sphere or relation. Of Whitefield, the scholar, the philosopher, the theologian, little can be said, which might not as fitly be said of a common clergyman. That portion of his life, therefore, which was not passed in the ministry, or in preparation for it, contains nothing entitled to more than a brief notice. Nor does much lie open to us respecting his genealogy or family relations, that is worthy to swell the chapter. GEORGE WHITEFIELD was born at Bell Inn, in the city of Gloucester, on the 16th day of December, O. S. 1714. His great grandfather was born at Wantage, in Berkshire, and was Rector of North Ledyard in Wiltshire. Of his seven children two were sons; Samuel, who succeeded his father in the cure of Rockhampton, whither he had removed from North Ledyard and Andrew, who retired upon his estate, as a private gentleman. He had fourteen children, of whom Thomas, the eldest, was the father of the subject of these memoirs. He was first bred to the employment of a wine merchant in Bristol, but afterwards kept an inn in the city of Gloucester. In Bristol he married Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards, by whom he had six sons and one daughter. Of these George was the youngest. Being bereft of his father at the helpless age of two years, he was regarded by his mother with peculiar tenderness, and educated with more than ordinary care. In a character so unparalleled for the intensity of its religious fervor, energy and decision, it would be a satisfaction to know how far its earlier instincts and feelings corresponded with, or guided it towards its after career. Of Whitefield, little has reached the light in regard to this matter, save from his own subsequent confessions. Judged by the terrible scrutiny of his own severe standard of self-examination in after life, he was pre-eminently debased, and proved his native depravity of disposition by a series of most wantonly wicked actions; yet, his conscience was, at this time, tender enough to excite remorse and penitence for his youthful freaks, and to render him easy to be affected by religious truth. He describes himself as froward from his mother's womb; so brutish as to hate instruction; stealing from his mother's pocket, and frequently appropriating to his own use the money that he took in the house. "If I trace myself," he says, "from my cradle to my manhood, I can see nothing in me but a fitness to be damned: and if the Almighty had not prevented me by his grace, I had now either been sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, or condemned, as the due reward of my crimes, to be forever lifting up my eyes in torments." Yet Whitefield could trace early movings of his heart, which satisfied him in after life, that "God loved him with an everlasting love, and had separated him even from his mother's womb, for the work to which He afterwards was pleased to call him." He had a devout disposition and a tender heart, so far as these terms can fitly characterize unregenerate men. When he was about ten years old, his mother made a second marriage: it proved an unhappy one. During the affliction to which this led, his brother used to read aloud Bishop Ken's Manuel for Winchester scholars. This book affected George Whitefield greatly; and when the corporation, at their annual visitation of St. Mary de Crypt's school, where he was educated, gave him, according to custom, money for the speeches which he was chosen to deliver, he purchased the book, and found it, he says, a great benefit to his soul. Between the years of twelve and fifteen, he made good progress in the Latin classics, at this public school; and his native powers of eloquence began to be developed, even at that early period, in the speeches which he delivered at the annual visitations. The applause awarded to him on these occasions proably contributed to his fondness for theatrical amusements. Hence some have affected to believe, or, at least, insinuated, that he derived his oratory from the stage. This imputation is utterly untrue. It would be more proper to say, that his talents for elocution, which enabled him afterwards to become so great a performer in the pulpit, were at this time in some danger of receiving a theatrical direction. The boys at the grammar school were fond of acting plays: the master, "seeing how their vein ran," encouraged it, and composed a dramatic piece himself, which they represented before the corporation, and in which Whitefield acted a woman's part, and appeared in girl's clothes. The remembrance of this, he says, had often covered him with confusion of face, and he hoped it would do so even to the end of his life! Oratory, particularly that department of it which consists in graceful and energetic delivery, was so native to him, that he might more justly be said to communicate it to the stage than the stage to him. No sensible person who was acquainted with him, could fail to see, that his eloquence was the natural, spontaneous action of that peculiar assemblage of powers with which God had endowed him. Nevertheless, he seems to have been unconscious of his endowment, or without the means of developing it, and entering into a profession requiring it. Before he was fifteen, he persuaded his mother to take him from school, saying, that she could not place him at the university, and more learning would spoil him for a tradesman. Her own circumstances, indeed, were by this time so much on the decline, that his menial services were required: he began occasionally to assist her in the public house, till at length he "put on his blue apron, washed mops, cleaned rooms, and became a professed and common drawer." In the little leisure which such employments allowed, he composed two or three sermons; and the romances, which had been his heart's delight, gave place awhile to Thomas à Kempis. One of these sermons was dedicated to his eldest brother. When he had been about a year in this servile occupation, the inn was made over to a married brother, and George, being accustomed to the house, continued there as an assistant. His mother, though her means were scanty, permitted him to have a bed upon the ground in her house, and live with her, till Providence should point out a place for him. The way was soon indicated. A servitor of Pembroke College called upon his mother, and in the course of the conversation told C UNION THE her, that after all his college expenses were discharged for that quarter, he had received a penny. She immediately cried out, this will do for my son; and turning to him said, Will you go to Oxford, George? Happening to have the same friends as this young man, she waited on them without delay: they promised their interest to obtain a servitor's place in the same college, and in reliance upon this, George returned to the gammar school. Here he applied closely to his books, and shaking off, by the strong effort of a religious mind, all evil and idle courses, produced, by the influence of his talents and example, some reformation among his school-fellows. The impressions of religion now began to deepen upon him: and at the age of seventeen he received sacrament of the Lord's supper. He now became more and more watchful, both over his heart and conversation. He attended public service constantly, received the sacrament monthly, fasted often, and prayed frequently more than twice a day in private. Thus, at the time of completing his preparation for Oxford, we find him mainly absorbed in the great business of religion. CHAPTER II. From the time of his admission to the University of Oxford, to his embarking for Georgia, 1737. Ar the age of eighteen Mr. Whitefield was removed to Oxford; the recommendation of his friends was successful; another friend borrowed for him ten pounds to defray the expense of entering; and with a good fortune beyond his hopes, he was admitted servitor immediately. He felt the advantage of having been trained up in a public house; his skill and diligence in his occupation led many to seek his attendance; and thus, aided by the income of his services, and some few presents made him by a kind-hearted tutor, he was enabled to live without incurring debts to the amount of more than twenty-four pounds during three years. At first he was harrassed and tempted by the society into which he was thrown; he had several chamber fellows, who would fain have made him join their riotous mode of life. He however, showed his energy of resolution by sitting alone in his study till he was sometimes benumbed with cold, in order to escape their persecutions; and when they discovered his singularity of character, and his strength and fortitude in carrying it out, they abandoned him to his own course, and suffered him to pursue it in peace. |