About the Author of the quote of
the day: George Whitefield
October 12, 2004
“It is better to wear out than to rust
out.” George Whitefield
In 1737, when only a twenty-two year old Oxford
graduate, George Whitefield's voice startled England like a trumpet
blast. Attacked by clergy, press and mob alike, Whitefield nevertheless
became the most popular and influential preacher of the age. At
a time when London had a population of less than 700,000, he could
hold spellbound 20,000 people at a time at Moorfields and Kennington
Common. For thirty four years his voice resounded throughout England
and America. A firm Calvinist in creed yet unrivalled as an aggressive
evangelist; slim in person yet storming in preaching as if he were
a giant; a clergyman of the Church of England yet crossing the Atlantic
thirteen times and becoming the 'apostle of the England empire';
a favorite preacher of coal miners and London roughnecks yet an
equal favorite of peers and scholars; weak and broken in body yet
preaching his last sermon'until the candle which he held in his
hand burned away and went out in its socket'; the name of George
Whitefield scarce knows a parallel."The most extraordinary
man of our times",declared Lord Bolingbroke. "Often as
I have read his life", wrote C. H. Spurgeon,"I am conscious
of distinct quickening whenever I turn to it. He lived. Other men
seemed to be only half-alive; but Whitefield was all life, fire,
wing , force.My own model, if I may have such a thing in due subordination
to my Lord, is George Whitefield; but with unequal footsteps must
I follow in his glorious track."
