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those who are of some rank and eminence? Do ye, brethren, abound in the fruits of the Spirit, in lowliness of mind, in self-denial and mortification, in seriousness and composure of spirit, in patience, meekness, sobriety, temperance, and in unwearied, restless endeavors to do good, in every kind, unto all men? Is this the general character of fellows of colleges? I fear it is not. Rather, have not pride and haughtiness of spirit, impatience and peevishness, sloth and indolence, gluttony and sensuality, and even a proverbial uselessness, been objected to us; perhaps not only by our enemies, nor wholly without ground?.

Once more, what shall we say concerning the youth of this place? Have you either the form or the power of Christian godliness? Are you humble, teachable, advisable? or stubborn, self-willed, heady, and highminded? Are you obedient to your superiors as to parents? Or do you despise those to whom you owe the tenderest reverence? Are you diligent in pursuing your studies with all your strength, crowding as much work into every day as it can contain? Rather, do you not waste day after day, either in reading what has no tendency to Christianity, or in gaming, or in—you know not what? Do you, out of principle, take care to owe no man anything? Do you remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy? Do you know how to possess your bodies in sanctification and in honor? Are not drunkenness and uncleanness found among you? Yea, are there not of you who glory in their shame? Do not many of you take the name of God in vain, perhaps habitually, without either remorse or fear? Yea, are there not a multitude of you that are forsworn? Be not surprised, brethren; before God and this congregation, I own myself to have been of that number; solemnly swearing to observe all those customs which I then knew nothing of; and those statutes, which I did not so much as read over. either then or for some years after. What is perjury, if this is not?

May it not be one of the consequences of this, that so many of you are a generation of triflers? triflers with God, with one another, and with your own souls? How few of you spend, from one week to another, a single hour in private prayer? How few of you have any thought of God in the general tenor of your conversation? Can you bear, unless now and then, in a church, any talk of the Holy Ghost? Would you not take it for granted, if one began such a conversation, that it was either hypocrisy or enthusiasm? In the name of the Lord God Almighty, I ask, What religion are you of? Even the talk of Christianity ye cannot, will not, bear. O my brethren! What a Christian city is this? It is time for Thee, Lord, to lay to Thine hand.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770)

THE FAMOUS OPEN-AIR PREACHER

A

MAN of powerful voice and inspiring eloquence, George Whitefield adopted the habit of preaching in the open air, drawing audiences so immense that it seemed impossible for any man to make himself heard by them. A fellow-student at Oxford with John and Charles Wesley, he entered into religious fellowship with them, and soon began speaking with great power and eloquence, crowded congregations listening to him with enthusiastic attention. It was his exclusion from the churches of Bristol that set him to preaching in the open air. For some five years he maintained the Wesleyan doctrine of Methodism, but about 1741 he adopted the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination, and a break between him and Wesley took place. Much of Whitefield's ministrations took place in the American colonies, which he visited on seven different occasions, on some of which he stayed for several years. He died at Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 1770, on his seventh visit.

A WARNING AGAINST WORLDLY WAYS

[It was not the creed of the Church of England to which Wesley and Whitefield objected, but its methods and ceremonies, and their title of Methodists referred to their methodical strictness rather than to any doctrinal distinction. The sermons from which the following selections are taken, in which Whitefield openly denounces the Church of English Ministers for encouraging the wicked by their example, excited much feeling when delivered.]

My brethren, if we will live godly we must suffer persecution. We must no more expect to go to Heaven without being persecuted, than to be happy without being holy. If you lead godly lives, all the sons of Belial, all the scribes and Pharisees, will hate you and have you in reproach. They will point to you and cry, See, yonder comes another troop of his followers! There are more of his gang!" You are counted as a parcel

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GEORGE WHITEFIELD AND JOHN WESLEY

These two orators of Methodism represent a peculiar style of pulpit oratory so powerful and effective in the 18th Century. They traveled much and were greeted by immense audiences. The names of Wesley and Whitefield are honored by all Protestants, and their sermons are still read with profit.

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GEORGE WHITEFIELD

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of ignorant people, poor rabble, who are deceived by a vain young upstart babbler, by a madman, one who is running into enthusiastic notions, and endeavors to lead all his followers into his mad way of thinking. The Pharisees may wonder what I mean by talking of persecution in a Christian country; but if they had their will, they would as willingly put our feet in the stocks, shut us up in prison, and take away our lives, as they have thrust us out of their synagogues. But let not that discourage you from hearing the word of God; for Jesus Christ can meet us as well in a field as between church walls.

If you were of the world; if you would conform to the ways, manners, and customs of the world; if you would go to a play, or ball, or masquerade; the world would then love you, because you would be its own. But because you despise their polite entertainments, and go to hear a sermon in the field, and will not run into the same excess of riot as others, they esteem you as methodically mad, as fit only for Bedlam. If you would frequent horse-racing, assemblies, and cock-fighting, then you would be caressed and admired by our gay gentlemen; but your despising these innocent diversions (as the world calls them), makes them esteem you as a parcel of rabble, of no taste, who are going to destroy yourselves by being over-righteous. If you would join them in singing the song of the drunkard, they would think you a good companion; but because you are for singing hymns, and praising the Lord Jesus Christ, they think you enthusiasts. Indeed, our polite gentry would like religion very well if it did but countenance an assembly, or allow them to read novels, plays and romances; if they might go a-visiting on Sundays, or to a play or ball whenever they pleased. In short, they would like to live a fashionable, polite life, to take their full swing of pleasures, and go to Heaven when they die. But, if they were to be admitted to Heaven without a purification of heart and life, they would be unhappy there.

Is it becoming a minister of the Church of England to frequent those places of public entertainment which are condemned by all serious and good men? Is it not inconsistent with all goodness for ministers to frequent play-houses, balls, masquerades? Would it not better become them to visit the poor of their flock, to pray with them, and to examine how it stands with God and their souls? Would it not be more agreeable to the temper of the blessed Jesus to be going about doing good, than going about setting evil examples? How frequent is it for the poor and illiterate people to be drawn away more by example than precept? How frequent is it for them to say, "Sure there can be no crime in going to a play, or to an ale-house,—no crime in gaming or drinking, when a minister of our own Church does this." This is the common talk of poor, ignorant

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