Cross-eyed brought a great awakening to the United States
George Whitefield was once a religious celebrity in America preaching to swooning crowds of thousands of parishioners
Today in History
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In recent days many of us have heard a lot of the loved Christmas carol, Hark The Herald Angels Sing. But few people know the song was originally written as “Hark how all the welkin rings.”
Those were the words penned by English clergyman Charles Wesley, a founder of the Methodist Church. When he showed the hymn to George Whitefield, a friend and fellow Oxford student, Whitefield suggested the word “welkin” — meaning the heavenly firmament — was a bit antiquated.
Whitefield rewrote the verse in its more familiar form, an astute move since the song remains a favourite in the festive season repertoire to this day.
In the 18th century Whitefield was famous in Britain and America, with thousands flocking to hear his sermons where he would whip crowds into a frenzy almost befitting a modern day rock star. Enormously influential in his time, his name is little known today, partly because of his antiquated views on slavery.
Whitefield was born three centuries ago today, on December 27, 1714 in Gloucester, England. The fifth son of an innkeeper he was born at the Bell Inn. At that time inns were often used for performances by travelling players and young Whitefield became such a devotee of theatre that he would often skip school in favour of reading plays and practising for plays he would put on with other children.
Yet he proved to be a bright student, diligently reading the Bible at night despite his strabismus (cross-eyed vision). Through his personal study efforts he gained entry to Oxford. To pay for his tuition he signed on as a servitor, the lowest class of student, attending classes but also doing menial tasks for full fee paying students, including helping them study, cleaning their rooms and even helping them bathe.
At Oxford he met the Wesley brothers Charles and John, joining their Holy Club, which organised prayer sessions, Bible study and charitable acts outside class hours.
When the Wesleys left for America in 1735 Whitefield became leader of the club.
He graduated in 1736, was ordained a priest and began preaching in Gloucestor. Even as a skinny cross-eyed lad in his 20s, Whitefield made an impression, combining his passions for theatre and for God to give very theatrical sermons. He projected his voice and acted out parts of Bible stories.
In 1738 he made his first visit to the US where he found a need for orphanages. Determined to make the building of orphanages in America his life’s mission, he returned to England to raise funds and was asked to give an open air sermon to miners at Kingswood near Bristol. It was the first of many electrifying outdoor sermons.
He returned to the US in 1740 where his series of sermons had such an influence it is generally called the start of the “Great Awakening”, a spiritual revival in America. Many preachers responded to his sermons, which eschewed ritual and formalities in favour of encouraging a more personal experience of God for parishioners.
Stories began to circulate about his miraculous ability to be heard by crowds of tens of thousands of people, some claimed he held an audience of 80,000 spellbound.
When American publisher, writer, scientist and inventor Benjamin Franklin heard this, he was sceptical and attended one of Whitefield’s meetings, walking away from the preacher until he could no longer clearly hear him speaking. He then calculated the distance and determined that Whitefield could have been heard by about 30,000 people. Whitefield made a point of preaching to slaves and had once been a passionate advocate for the abolition of slavery.
That changed, however, when he became a landowner in Georgia in the US and he began to argue in favour of slavery. In 1748 he wrote “Georgia never can or will be a flourishing province without negroes [sic] are allowed ... I am as willing as ever to do all I can for Georgia and the orphan house, if either a limited use of negroes is approved of, or some more indentured servants sent over. If not, I cannot promise to keep any large family, or cultivate the plantation in any considerable manner.”
Despite this black mark, he is still widely honoured in Britain and the US as a pioneer of evangelism. He died in 1770 of a respiratory complaint and was buried in the crypt of Old South Presbyterian Church, Newburyport, Massachusetts. Thousands of people attended his funeral.
John Wesley said of his friend “We have none left to succeed him; none of his gifts; none anything like him in usefulness.”
troy.lennon@news.com.au