£ibrar;p of Che ti>eolo0ical ^emmarjo 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 The Estate of 
 Harold McAfee Robinson, D.D. 
 
 UBRARY OF PRINCETON 
 
 r 
 
 JUL 1 1 2005 
 
 THEOLOGICAL SEMINAR 
 
 BX 9178 .W5 S45 1904 
 Whitefield, George, 
 
 1714-1770. 
 Selected sermons of George 
 
 Whitefield 
 
( 
 
Zbe TOlotiyg (great Setmong. 
 
 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 
 
 After the painting by Hone. 
 
SELECTED SERMONS OF 
 
 GEORGE WHITEFIELD 
 
 With an Introduction and 
 by the 
 
 Rev- A. R BUCKLAND, M.A 
 
 Morning Preacher at the Foundling Hospital 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 THE UNION PRESS 
 
 1122 CHESTNUT STREET 
 
 t904 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 Introduction : Whitefield as a Preacher vii 
 
 I. The Necessity and Benefits of Religious 
 
 Society ..... i 
 
 (Eccles. iv. 9-12.) 
 
 II. Regeneration ..... 33 
 (2 Cor. V. 17.) 
 
 III. A Penitent Heart the Best New Year's 
 
 Gift ...... 60 
 
 (Luke xiii. 3.) 
 
 IV. The Almost Christian . . .94 
 
 (Acts xxvi. 28.) 
 
 V. Glorifying God in the Fire . . 120 
 
 (Isa. xxiv. 15.) 
 
 VI. Jacob's Ladder : A Farewell Sermon . 142 
 
 (Gen. xxviii. 12-15.) 
 
GEORGE WHITEFIELD 
 
 Born at Gloucester, Dec. i6, 17 14. 
 
 Entered as a Servitor at Pembroke College, Oxford, 1732. 
 
 Ordained Deacon, 1736. 
 
 First Visit to America, 1738. 
 
 Ordained Priest, 1739. 
 
 First Open- Air Sermon at Moorfields, April 29, 1739. 
 
 Second Visit to America, 1739-41. 
 
 Third Visit to America, 1744-48. 
 
 Fourth Visit to America, 1751-52. 
 
 Fifth Visit to America, 1754-55. 
 
 Sixth Visit to America, 1763-65. 
 
 Last Sermon in England prior to last Embarkation for America, 
 
 Sept. 16, 1769. 
 Last Sermon in America, Sept. 29, 1770. 
 Died at Newburyport, Mass., Sept. 30, 1770. 
 
^ INTRODUCTION 
 
 WHITEFIELD AS A PREACHER 
 
 It is usual to say of George Whitefi eld's 
 printed sermons that they do not explain his 
 unparalleled influence as a preacher. The 
 criticism marks the high expectation of the 
 reader, and warns us to look beyond the 
 preacher's words for the secret of his power. 
 Other men have outshone Whitefield in force 
 of reasoning, in charm of diction, in all the 
 literary qualities of the sermon-writer. Other 
 men have been as sincere in their faith, as 
 eager in their ministry, as clear in their 
 statement of the Gospel message ; but they 
 were not used, as Whitefield was, to change 
 the lives of thousands in Great Britain and 
 America. Remembering with reverence the 
 power which alone can make preaching 
 effective, it may still be worth our while to 
 see what circumstances and qualities offer, on 
 
viii INTRODUCTION 
 
 the human side, an explanation of Whitefield's 
 success. 
 
 The times were favourable to a ministry 
 delivering such a message as that of Whitefield 
 and in such a manner. The eighteenth century 
 is often blamed beyond its deserts. Whitefield's 
 contemporaries, both amongst Churchmen and 
 Nonconformists, included men of piety and 
 zeal as well as of learning and orthodoxy. 
 The Church of Butler, of Seeker, of Gibson, 
 of Sherlock and of Waterland could not lack 
 worthy leaders ; nor were the ranks of the 
 clergy at large without men of real devotion. 
 But the period was one of moral depravity 
 and decaying faith. Arianism, developing 
 into Socinianism, infected Church and Non- 
 conformity alike. Theological learning was 
 of little repute. The Universities had sunk 
 into intellectual obscurity. The observance 
 of the Lord's Day and the practices of religion 
 had decayed. The type of preaching most 
 common was that of the written sermon com- 
 posed of cold and polished phrases which left 
 the hearer untouched. 
 
 The preaching of the men who began the 
 
INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 Evangelical Revival came with the freshness 
 of a new message, and the very message which 
 the times so sorely needed. If they reasoned, 
 in terms that were sometimes lurid, of right- 
 eousness, temperance and judgment to come, 
 they declared with no less conviction the love 
 of God and the forgiveness of sins through 
 the finished work of Jesus Christ. If White- 
 field's sermons are read in the light of the 
 times in which they were delivered, their 
 influence will seem less surprising than the 
 absence of some qualities that make for great- 
 ness may suggest. 
 
 Regard must be had also to the circumstances 
 under which Whitefield often preached. He 
 began his ministry at Gloucester in the church 
 which still stands in the same street with the 
 inn (now the Bell Hotel) at which he was 
 born. His early fame in London, won as a 
 young deacon ordained below the canonical 
 age, came from sermons preached in churches. 
 But when pulpits were closed against him, and 
 when churches were all too small for the 
 congregations which gathered to hear him, he 
 began to preach in the open air. Vast crowds 
 
X INTRODUCTION 
 
 gathered around him at Moorfields, even when 
 violence and ribaldry did their worst to drown 
 his voice.^ At Kingswood, near Bristol, an 
 audience of 200 colliers grew day by day 
 till 20,000 hearers were assembled. Once, 
 in America, he accompanied a repentant 
 criminal to the gallows, and preached, standing 
 upon the coffin in the execution cart. Amidst 
 the acute terror produced by the earthquake 
 of 1775 he preached at midnight to a vast 
 assembly in Hyde Park. His last address was 
 delivered at night on the staircase of the house 
 in which he died, whilst the bedroom candle 
 burned to the socket in his hand. Whitefield 
 has told us, in the preface to his edition of a 
 sermon by Foxe, the martyrologist, on what 
 authority he acted. ' Our Lord has given us 
 a universal commission : " Go ye, and preach 
 the Gospel to every creature." When thrust 
 out of the synagogues, a mountain, a ship 
 were His pulpit, and the heavens were His 
 sounding-board. Thus Latimer, Cranmer, 
 Ridley, and Mr John Foxe, the famous 
 
 ^ See Tyerman's Lt/e of Whitefield, i. 554-57, for WTiitefield's 
 account of his Moorfields experiences in 1742. 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 martyrologist, preached. And who needs to be 
 ashamed of such unexceptionable examples ? ' ^ 
 Gpen-sJft" preaching has long been too familiar 
 to excite the interest it did in the days of 
 Whitefield and John Wesley ; but never since 
 their days has it been so powerful an 
 evangelistic agent. 
 
 But we shall find a further explanation of 
 Whitefield's success, on the human side, in the 
 manner and method of the preacher. His 
 voice was an organ of singular power and 
 beauty. Franklin, by experiment, reached the 
 conclusion that Whitefield could be heard in 
 the open air by 30,000 persons. A born 
 orator, Whitefield had even at school been 
 chosen for his ' good elocution and memory ' 
 to speak before the Corporation at their 
 annual inspection. He recalls, as a young 
 preacher, the advantage he derived from this 
 early training ; he commended the study of 
 oratory to others ; and he deplored the absence 
 of any such training amongst candidates for 
 the ministry of the Church. His own oratory 
 was dramatic to the last degree. Unsupported 
 
 ^ Quoted by Tyerman, ii. 418. 
 
xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 by transparent sincerity and a passionate 
 love of souls, it would have been intolerable. 
 Employed by Whitefield, it appeared beyond 
 criticism. Some of his sermons were, in 
 substance, delivered again and again, revised 
 with scrupulous care as the test of delivery 
 disclosed weaknesses or new opportunities, 
 and, apparently, gaining rather than losing in 
 power from their repetition. Franklin says 
 that such sermons gave * a pleasure of much 
 the same kind with that received from an 
 excellent piece of music' But, after all, far 
 more than justness of emphasis, and musical 
 cadences, and appropriate modulations of the 
 voice, there appealed to hearers the zeal of the 
 man. There was conviction in every sentence. 
 Whitefield preached not to charm the ear, but 
 to win souls. His hearers knew it, and felt 
 the urgency of his appeal. Mr Lecky with 
 justice observes that ' of no other preacher 
 could it be more truly said that he preached 
 as a dying man to dying men.' ^ 
 
 This combination of oratorical power, with a 
 passionate yearning for souls, would of itself 
 
 ^ England in the Eighteenth Century^ II. ix. 569. 
 
INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 explaf!! the immediate impression created by 
 Whitefield's ministry. Before he had been 
 many months ordained London crowded to 
 hear him. * One might, as it were, walk upon 
 the people's heads. Thousands went away 
 from the largest churches for want of room. . . . 
 The people were all attentive, as hearing for 
 eternity.' So he wrote himself, and without 
 exaggeration. This early interest was sus- 
 tained throughout Whitefield's career. The 
 * common people heard him,' as they had 
 heard his Master, ' gladly ' ; but more fasti- 
 dious judges also bore witness to his power. 
 At the Countess of Huntingdon's house at 
 Chelsea Bolingbroke was amongst his hearers, 
 and ' was much moved at the discourse.' ^ 
 David Garrick is reported to have exclaimed, 
 ' I would give a hundred guineas if I could 
 say " Oh ! " like Mr Whitefield.' 2 David 
 Hume bore even more striking testimony ^ : — 
 'Towards the close of one of Whitefield's 
 sermons at Edinburgh, after a solemn pause, 
 the preacher broke the silence with this appeal 
 
 ^ Sou they 's Life of Wesley, chap. xxv. ^ Tyerman, ii. 355. 
 
 ' Quoted in J. P. Gledstone's Life of Whitefield, pp. 378-9. 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 to his audience : " The attendant angel is just 
 about to leave this threshold, and ascend to 
 heaven ; and shall he ascend and not bear 
 with him the news of one sinner, among all 
 this multitude reclaimed from the error of his 
 ways ? " To give the greater effect to this 
 appeal, the preacher stamped with his foot, 
 lifted up his hands and eyes to heaven, and 
 cried aloud, " Stop, Gabriel ! stop, Gabriel ! stop 
 ere you enter the sacred portals, and yet carry 
 with you the news of one sinner converted to 
 God ! " Hume said that this burst of oratory 
 was accompanied with such animated, yet 
 natural, action, that it surpassed anything he 
 ever saw or heard in any other preacher.' 
 
 Not less decisive is the evidence of Ben- 
 jamin Franklin. He disapproved of White- 
 field's design to build an orphan home in 
 Georgia. But — to take up his own narrative 
 — ' I happened, soon after, to attend one of 
 his sermons, in the course of which I perceived 
 he intended to finish with a collection, and I 
 silently resolved he should get nothing from 
 me. I had in my pocket a handful of copper 
 money, three or four silver dollars, and five 
 
INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 pistoles in gold. As he proceeded, I began 
 to soften, and concluded to give the copper. 
 Another stroke of his oratory made me 
 ashamed of that, and determined me to give 
 the silver ; and he finished so admirably, that I 
 emptied my pocket wholly into the collector's 
 dish, gold and all ! At this sermon there was 
 also one of our club, who, being of my senti- 
 ments respecting the building in Georgia, and 
 suspecting a collection might be intended, had, 
 by precaution, emptied his pockets before he 
 came from home. Towards the conclusion of 
 the discourse, however, he felt a strong inclina- 
 tion to give, and applied to a neighbour who 
 stood near him to lend him some money for 
 the purpose. The request was made to perhaps 
 the only man in the company who was not 
 affected by the preacher. His answer was, 
 "At any other time, friend Hopkinson, I 
 would lend thee freely ; but not now, for thee 
 seems to me to be out of thy right senses." ' ^ 
 
 Perhaps no one was ever more dramatic in 
 the pulpit than Whitefield. ' In some such 
 manner,' said the Rev. Joseph Smith, in a 
 
 ^ Gillies' Life of Whitefield, p. 302. 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 sermon preached at Charlestown in 1740, 'I 
 have been tempted to conceive of a seraph, were 
 he sent down to preach among us, and to tell 
 us what things he had seen and heard above.' ^ 
 He described the Last Judgment in the terms 
 of an actor in it. His picture of a ship over- 
 taken by a tempest at sea worked up to 
 this climax : ' Our masts are gone ! The ship 
 is on her beam-ends ! What next ? ' ' The 
 long-boat ! Take to the long-boat ! ' shouted 
 his audience of sailors. He illustrated the 
 perils of sinners by the picture of a blind man, 
 deserted by his dog, stumbling feebly over a 
 desolate moor, and at last hovering upon the 
 very edge of a precipice. * Good God ! He 
 is gone ! ' exclaimed Lord Chesterfield. 
 
 Chesterfield, Hume, Bolingbroke, Garrick — 
 these are strange witnesses to a preacher's 
 power. Let us end by quoting one of another 
 order, John Newton : ' I bless God that I have 
 lived in his time. Many were the winter 
 mornings I have got up at four, to attend his 
 Tabernacle services at five. I have seen Moor- 
 fields as full of lanterns at these times as I 
 
 ^ Sermons on Important Subjects (Ed. 1828), p. 796. 
 
INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 suppose the Haymarket is full of flambeaux on 
 an opera night. As a preacher, if any man 
 were to ask me who was the second I ever had 
 heard, I should be at some loss ; but in regard 
 to the first, Mr Whitefield exceeds so far every 
 other of my time, that I should be at none.' 
 
 * Whitefield,' says Canon Overton,^ ' was a 
 preacher and nothing more.' Mr Lecky puts 
 the case with a greater fairness when he says ^ 
 that ' the position of a roving evangelist was of 
 all others that for which both the genius and 
 the disposition of Whitefield were most suited.' 
 To be such a preacher ' and nothing more ' 
 might satisfy the ambition of any man. 
 
 The text of the following sermons is, with 
 some slight omissions and the correction of 
 one or two obvious errors, that of the Sermons 
 on Important Subjects, published by Henry 
 Fisher, Son, & P. Jackson in 1828. 
 
 A. R. BUCKLAND. 
 
 ^ The Evangelical Revival, p. 32. 
 
 2 England in the Eighteenth Century, II. ix. 567. 
 
I 
 
 THE NECESSITY AND BENEFITS OF 
 RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 1 
 
 * Two are better than one ; because they have a good reward 
 for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his 
 fellow : but woe to him that is alone when he falleth ; for 
 he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, 
 then they have heat : but how can one be warm alone ? And 
 if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him ; and a 
 threefold cord is not quickly broken.' — Eccles. iv. 9-12. 
 
 Among the many reasons assignable for the 
 sad decay of true Christianity, perhaps the 
 neglecting to assemble ourselves together, in 
 
 ^ Preached in the Church of St Mary de Crypt, Gloucester — 
 the church in which Whitefield was baptised, where he had 
 first received the Holy Communion, and contiguous then to the 
 school in which he had been educated — on the afternoon of 
 June 27, 1736. Mr Tyerman (i. 51) thinks it 'probably the 
 same sermon he afterwards preached before the Religious 
 Societies, at one of their quarterly meetings, in Bow Church, 
 London. ' A large crowd, drawn together, Whitefield tells us, 
 by curiosity, filled the church at Gloucester. The results of the 
 sermon were remarkable : ' A few mocked, but most for the 
 present seemed struck ; and I have since heard that a complaint 
 has been made to the Bishop that I drove fifteen mad.' On the 
 following day the Bishop sent the young preacher five guineas 
 — 'a great supply for one who had not a guinea in the world.' 
 
2 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 religious societies, may not be one of the least. 
 That I may therefore do my endeavour to- 
 wards promoting so excellent a means of 
 piety, I have selected a passage of Scripture, 
 drawn from the experiences of the wisest of 
 men, which being a little enlarged on, and 
 illustrated, will fully answer my present design ; 
 being to show, in the best manner I can, the 
 necessity and benefits of society in general, 
 and of religious society in particular. 
 
 ' Two are better than one,' etc. 
 
 From which words I shall take occasion to 
 prove. 
 
 Firsts The truth of the wise man's assertion, 
 * Two are better than one,' and that in reference 
 to society in general, and religious society in 
 particular. 
 
 Secondly^ To assign some reasons why two 
 are better than one, especially as to the last 
 particular, i. Because men can raise up one 
 another when they chance to slip : ' For if 
 they fall, the one will lift up his fellow.' 
 2. Because they can impart heat to each 
 other : ' Again, if two lie together, then they 
 have heat ; but how can one be warm 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 3 
 
 alone?* 3. Because they can secure each 
 other from those that do oppose them : ' And 
 if one prevail against him, two shall withstand 
 him ; and a threefold cord is not quickly 
 broken.' From hence, 
 
 Thirdly, I shall take occasion to show, the 
 duty incumbent on every member of a religious 
 society.^ 
 
 And Fourthly, I shall draw an inference or 
 two from what may be said ; and then conclude 
 with a word or two of exhortation. 
 
 I. I am to prove the truth of the wise 
 man's assertion, that, ' two are better than one, 
 and that in reference to society in general, and 
 religious societies in particular.' 
 
 And how can this be done better, than by 
 showing that it is absolutely necessary for the 
 welfare both of the bodies and souls of men ? 
 Indeed, if we look upon man as he came out 
 of the hands of his Maker, we imagine him to 
 be perfect, entire, lacking nothing. But God, 
 
 ^ Religious Societies for mutual edification and for co-opera- 
 tion in good works, originated amidst the profligacy of the 
 Restoration. They increased in number and influence after the 
 Revolution of 1688. In 17 10 there were forty-two in London 
 and Westminster alone. They flourished also at Oxford, 
 Nottingham, Bristol, Gloucester, and elsewhere. 
 
4 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 whose thoughts are not as our thoughts, saw 
 something still wanting to make Adam happy. 
 And what was that ? Why, an help meet for 
 him. For thus speaketh the Scripture : * And 
 the Lord God said. It is not good that the man 
 should be alone, I will make an help meet for 
 him.' 
 
 Observe, God said, ' It is not good,' thereby 
 implying that the creation would have been 
 imperfect in some sort, unless an help was 
 found out meet for Adam. And if this were 
 the case of man before the fall ; if a help was 
 meet for him in a state of perfection ; surely 
 since the fall, when we come naked and 
 helpless out of our mother's womb, when our 
 wants increase with our years, and we can 
 scarcely subsist a day without the mutual 
 assistance of each other, well may we say, ' It 
 is not good for man to be alone.' 
 
 Society, then, we see, is absolutely necessary 
 in respect to our bodily and personal wants. 
 If we carry our views farther, and consider 
 mankind as divided into different cities, 
 countries, and nations, the necessity of it will 
 appear yet more evident. For how can com- 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 5 
 
 munities be kept up, or commerce carried on, 
 without society? Certainly not at all, since 
 Providence seems wisely to have assigned a 
 particular product to almost each particular 
 country, on purpose, as it were, to oblige us to 
 be social ; and hath so admirably mingled the 
 parts of the whole body of mankind together, 
 * that the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no 
 need of thee ; nor again, the hand to the foot, 
 I have no need of thee.' 
 
 Many other instances might be given of the 
 necessity of society, in reference to our bodily, 
 personal, and national wants. But what are all 
 these when weighed in the balance of the sanc- 
 tuary, in comparison of the infinite greater 
 need of it with respect to the soul ? It was 
 chiefly in regard to this better part, no doubt, 
 that God said, * It is not good for the man to 
 be alone.' For, let us suppose Adam to be as 
 happy as may be, placed as the Lord of the 
 creation in the paradise of God, and spending 
 all his hours in adoring and praising the blessed 
 Author of his being ; yet as his soul was the 
 very copy of the divine nature, whose peculiar 
 property it is to be communicative, without 
 
6 WHITEFIELD^S SERMONS 
 
 the divine all-sufficiency he could not be com- 
 pletely happy, because he was alone, and 
 incommunicative, nor even content in paradise, 
 for want of a partner in his joys. God knew 
 this, and therefore said, ' It is not good that 
 the man shall be alone, I will make a help 
 meet for him.' And though this proved a fatal 
 means of his falling, yet that was not owing to 
 any natural consequence of society ; but partly 
 to that cursed apostate, who craftily lies in wait 
 to deceive ; partly to Adam's own folly, in rather 
 choosing to be miserable with one he loved, 
 than trust in God to raise him up another 
 spouse. 
 
 If we reflect, indeed, on that familiar 
 intercourse our first parent could carry on 
 with heaven in a state of innocence, we shall 
 be apt to think he had as little need of society, 
 as to his soul, as before we supposed him to 
 have in respect to his body. But yet, as God 
 and the holy angels were so far above him on 
 the one hand, and the beasts so far beneath 
 him on the other, there was nothing like 
 having one to converse with, who was ' bone of 
 his bone, and flesh of his flesh.' 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 7 
 
 Man, then, could not be fully happy, we see, 
 even in paradise, without a companion of his 
 own species ; much less now he is driven out. 
 For, let us view him a little in his natural 
 estate now, since the fall, as 'having his 
 understanding darkened, his mind alienated 
 from the life of God ; as no more able to see 
 his way wherein he should go, than a blind 
 man to describe the sun ; that notwithstanding 
 this, he must receive his sight ere he can see 
 God : and that if he never sees him, he never 
 can be happy. Let us view him in this light 
 (or rather this darkness), and deny the 
 necessity of society if we can. A divine 
 revelation we find is absolutely necessary, we 
 being by nature as unable to know as we are 
 to do our duty. And how shall we learn, 
 except one teach us ? But were God to do 
 this Himself, how should we, but with Moses, 
 exceedingly quake and fear ? Nor would the 
 ministry of angels in this affair be without too 
 much terror. It is necessary therefore (at 
 least God's dealing with us has showed it to 
 be so) that we should be drawn with the cords 
 of a man ; and that a divine revelation being 
 
8 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 granted, we should use one another's assistance, 
 under God, to instruct each other in the 
 knowledge, and to exhort one another to the 
 practice, of those things which belong to our 
 everlasting peace. This is undoubtedly the 
 great end of society intended by God since 
 the fall, and a strong argument it is why ' two 
 are better than one,' and why we should ' not 
 forsake the assembling ourselves together.' 
 
 But farther, let us consider ourselves as 
 Christians, as having this natural veil, in some 
 measure, taken off from our eyes, by the 
 assistance of God's Holy Spirit, and so 
 enabled to see what He requires of us. Let 
 us suppose ourselves in some degree to have 
 tasted the good word of life, and to have felt 
 the powers of the world to come, influencing 
 and moulding our souls into a religious frame ; 
 to be fully and heartily convinced that we are 
 soldiers listed under the banner of Christ, and 
 to have proclaimed open war, at our baptism, 
 against the world, the flesh, and the devil ; 
 and have, perhaps, frequently renewed our 
 obligations so to do by partaking of the 
 Lord's Supper ; that we are surrounded with 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 9 
 
 millions of foes without, and infested with a 
 legion of enemies within ; that we are com- 
 manded to shine as lights in the world, in 
 the midst of a crooked and perverse generation ; 
 that we are travelling to a long eternity, 
 and need all imaginable helps to show, and 
 encourage us in, our way thither. Let us, I 
 say, reflect on all this, and then how shall 
 each of us cry out. Brethren, what a necessary 
 thing it is to meet together in religious 
 societies ! 
 
 The primitive Christians were fully sensible 
 of this, and therefore we find them continually 
 keeping up communion with each other : for 
 what says the Scripture ? ' They continued 
 steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and 
 fellowship,' Acts ii. 42. Peter and John 
 were no sooner dismissed by the great 
 council, than they haste away to their com- 
 panions. * And being let go, they went to 
 their own company, and reported all that the 
 chief priests and elders had said unto them,' 
 Acts iv. 23. Paul, as soon as converted, 
 tarried three days with the disciples that 
 were at Damuscus, Acts ix. 19. And 
 
lo WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 Peter afterwards, when released from prison, 
 immediately goes to the house of Mary, 
 where there were great multitudes assembled, 
 praying, Acts xii. 1 2. And it is reported 
 of the Christians in after-ages, that they 
 used to assemble together before daylight, to 
 sing a psalm to Christ as God. So precious 
 was the cofnmunion of saints in those days. 
 
 If it be asked what advantages we shall 
 reap from such a procedure now ? I answer, 
 much every way. ' Two are better than one ; 
 because they have a good reward for their 
 labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up 
 his fellow : but woe to him that is alone 
 when he falleth ; for he hath not another to 
 help him up. Again, if two lie together, then 
 they have heat : but how can one be warm 
 alone ? And if one prevail against him, two 
 shall withstand him ; and a threefold cord is 
 not quickly broken.' 
 
 II. Which directly leads me to my second 
 general head, under which I was to assign 
 some reasons why ' two are better than one,' 
 especially in religious society. 
 
 I. A man in his present condition cannot 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY ii 
 
 always stand upright, but by reason of the 
 frailty of his nature cannot but fall. One 
 eminent reason why two are better than one, or, 
 in other words, one great advantage of religious 
 society, is, * that when they fall, the one will 
 lift up his fellow.' 
 
 And an excellent reason this, indeed ! For 
 alas, when we reflect how prone we are to be 
 drawn into error in our judgments, and into 
 vice in our practice ; and how unable, at least 
 how very unwilling, to espy or correct our 
 own miscarriages ; when we consider how 
 apt the world is to flatter us in our faults, 
 and how few there are so kind as to tell us 
 the truth : what an inestimable privilege 
 must it be to have a set of true, judicious, 
 hearty friends about us, continually watching 
 over our souls, to inform us where we have 
 fallen, and to warn us that we fall not again 
 for the future ! Surely it is such a privilege 
 (to use the words of an eminent Christian), 
 we shall never know the value thereof till we 
 come to glory. 
 
 But this is not all ; for supposing that we 
 could always stand upright, yet whosoever 
 
12 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 reflects on the difficulties of religion in general, 
 and his own propensity to lukewarmness and 
 indifference in particular, will find that he must 
 be zealous as well as steady, if ever he expects 
 to enter the kingdom of heaven. Here then 
 the wise man points out to us another excellent 
 reason why two are better than one. ' Again, 
 if two lie together, then they have heat ; but 
 how can one be warm alone ? ' Which was the 
 next thing to be considered. 
 
 2. A second reason why two are better than 
 one, is, because they can impart heat to each 
 other. 
 
 It is an observation no less true than 
 common, that kindled coals if placed asunder 
 soon go out, but if heaped together quicken 
 and enliven each other, and afford a lasting 
 heat. The same will hold good in the case 
 now before us. If Christians kindled by the 
 grace of God unite, they will quicken and 
 enliven each other ; but if they separate and 
 keep asunder, no marvel if they soon grow 
 cool or tepid. If two or three meet together 
 in Christ's name, they will have heat : but how 
 can one be warm alone ? 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 13 
 
 Observe, ' How can one be warm alone ? ' 
 The wise man's expressing himself by way of 
 question implies an impossibility, at least a 
 very great difficulty, to be warm in religion 
 without company, where it may be had. 
 Behold here, then, another excellent benefit 
 flowing from religious society ; it will keep us 
 zealous, as well as steady, in the ways of 
 godliness. 
 
 But to illustrate this a little farther by a 
 comparison or two. Let us look upon our- 
 selves (as was above hinted) as soldiers listed 
 under Christ's banner ; as going out with * ten 
 thousand, to meet one that cometh against us 
 with twenty thousand ' ; as persons that are to 
 ' wrestle not only with flesh and blood, but 
 against principalities, against powers, and 
 spiritual wickednesses in high places.' And 
 then tell me, all ye that fear God, if it be 
 not an invaluable privilege to have a com- 
 pany of fellow-soldiers continually about us, 
 animating and exhorting each other to stand 
 our ground, to keep our ranks, and manfully 
 to follow the Captain of our salvation, though 
 it be through a sea of blood ? 
 
14 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 Let us consider ourselves in another view, 
 before mentioned, as persons travelling to a 
 long eternity ; as rescued by the free grace 
 of God, in some measure, from our natural 
 Egyptian bondage, and marching under the 
 conduct of our spiritual Joshua, through the 
 wilderness of this world, to the land of our 
 heavenly Canaan. Let us farther reflect how 
 apt we are to startle at every difficulty ; to 
 cry, ' There are lions ! There are lions in the 
 way ! There are the sons of Anak ' to be 
 grappled with, ere we can possess the promised 
 land ! How prone we are, with Lot's wife, to 
 look wishfully back on our spiritual Sodom, or, 
 with the foolish Israelites, to long again for the 
 flesh-pots of Egypt ; and to return to our 
 former natural state of bondage and slavery. 
 Consider this, my brethren, and see what a 
 blessed privilege it will be to have a set of 
 Israelites indeed about us, always reminding 
 us of the folly of any such cowardly design, 
 and of the intolerable misery we shall run into, 
 if we fall in the least short of the promised 
 land. 
 
 More might be said on this particular, did 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 15 
 
 not the limits of a discourse of this nature 
 oblige me to hasten, 
 
 3. To give a third reason, mentioned by the 
 wise man in the text, why two are better than 
 one ; because they can secure each other from 
 enemies without : ' And if one prevail against 
 him, yet two shall withstand him : and a three- 
 fold cord is not quickly broken.' 
 
 Hitherto we have considered the advantages 
 of religious societies, as a great preservative 
 against falling (at least dangerously falling) 
 into sin and lukewarmness, and that too from 
 our own corruptions. But what says the wise 
 son of Sirach ? ' My son, when thou goest to 
 serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation :' 
 and that not only from inward, but outward 
 foes ; particularly from those two grand adver- 
 saries, the world and the devil : for no sooner 
 will thine eye be bent heavenward, but the 
 former will be immediately diverting it another 
 way, telling thee thou needest not be singular 
 in order to be religious ; that you may be a 
 Christian without going so much out of the 
 common road. 
 
 Nor will the devil be wanting in his artful 
 c 
 
1 6 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 insinuations or impious suggestions, to divert 
 or terrify thee from pressing forwards, * that 
 thou mayest lay hold on the crown of life.' 
 And if he cannot prevail this way, he will try 
 another : and, in order to make his temptation 
 the more undiscerned, but withal more success- 
 ful, he will employ perhaps some of thy nearest 
 relatives or most powerful friends (as he set 
 Peter on our blessed Master), who will always 
 be bidding thee to spare thyself; telling thee 
 thou needest not to take so much pains ; that 
 it is not so difficult a matter to get to heaven 
 as some people would make of it, nor the way 
 so narrow as others imagine it to be. 
 
 But see here the advantage of religious 
 company ; for supposing thou findest thyself 
 thus surrounded on every side, and unable 
 to withstand such horrid (though seemingly 
 friendly) counsels, haste away to thy com- 
 panions, and they will teach thee a truer and 
 better lesson ; they will tell thee that thou 
 must be singular, if thou wilt be religious ; and 
 that it is as impossible for a Christian, as for a 
 city set upon a hill, to be hidden ; that if thou 
 wilt be an almost Christian (and as good be 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 17 
 
 none at all) thou mayest live in the same idle, 
 indifferent manner as thou seest most other 
 people do ; but if thou wilt be not only almost, 
 but altogether a Christian, they will inform thee 
 thou must go a great deal farther ; that thou 
 must not only faintly seek, but ' earnestly strive 
 to enter in at the strait gate ' : that there is 
 but one way now to heaven, as formerly, even 
 through the narrow passage of a sound con- 
 version : and that in order to bring about this 
 mighty work, thou must undergo a constant, 
 but necessary discipline of fasting, watching, 
 and prayer. And, therefore, the only reason 
 why those friends give thee such advice, is, 
 because they are not willing to take so much 
 pains themselves ; or, as our Saviour told Peter 
 on a like occasion, because they savour not the 
 things that be of God, but the things that be 
 of men. 
 
 This, then, is another excellent blessing 
 arising from religious society, that friends can 
 hereby secure each other from those who 
 oppose them. The devil is fully sensible of 
 this, and therefore he has always done his 
 utmost to suppress, and put a stop to, the 
 
1 8 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 communion of saints. This was his grand 
 artifice at the first planting of the gospel, to 
 persecute the professors of it, in order to 
 separate them. Which, though God, as He 
 always will, overruled for the better ; yet it 
 shows what an enmity he has against 
 Christians assembling themselves together. 
 Nor has he yet left off his old stratagem, 
 it being his usual way to entice us by 
 ourselves, in order to tempt us ; where, by 
 being destitute of one another's help, he 
 hopes to lead us captive at his will. 
 
 But, on the contrary, knowing his own 
 interest is strengthened by society, he would 
 first persuade us to neglect the communion 
 of saints, and then bid us ' stand in the 
 way of sinners,' hoping thereby to put us 
 into the seat of the scornful. Judas and 
 Peter are melancholy instances of this. The 
 former had no sooner left his company at 
 supper, but he went out and betrayed his 
 Master ; and the dismal downfall of the latter, 
 when he would venture himself amongst a 
 company of enemies, plainly shows us what 
 the devil will endeavour to do, when he gets 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 19 
 
 us by ourselves. Had Peter kept his own 
 company, he might have kept his integrity ; 
 but a single cord, alas ! how quickly was it 
 broken ! Our blessed Saviour knew this full 
 well, and therefore it is very observable that 
 He always sent out His disciples two by two. 
 
 And now, after so many advantages to be 
 reaped from religious society, may we not 
 very justly cry out with the wise man in 
 my text, * Woe be to him that is alone ; for 
 when he falleth, he hath not another to lift 
 him up ! ' When he is cold, he hath not a 
 friend to warm him ; when he is assaulted, 
 he hath not a second to help him to withstand 
 his enemy. 
 
 III. I now come to my third general head, 
 under which was to be shown the several duties 
 incumbent on every member of a religious 
 society, as such, which are three. i. Mutual 
 reproof; 2. Mutual exhortation; 3. Mutual 
 assisting and defending each other. 
 
 I . Mutual reproof. ' Two are better than 
 one ; for when they fall, the one will lift up 
 his fellow.' 
 
 Now, reproof may be taken either in a 
 
20 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 more extensive sense, and then it signifies 
 our raising a brother by the gentlest means, 
 when he falls into sin and error ; or in a 
 more restrained signification, as reaching no 
 farther than those miscarriages which un- 
 avoidably happen in the most holy men 
 living. 
 
 The wise man in the text supposes all of 
 us subject to both : ' For when they fall 
 (thereby implying that each of us may fall), 
 the one will lift up his fellow.' From whence 
 we may infer that * when any brother is 
 overtaken with a fault, he that is spiritual 
 (that is, regenerate, and knows the corruption 
 and weakness of human nature) ought to 
 restore such an one in the spirit of meekness.' 
 And why he should do so, the apostle subjoins 
 a reason — ' considering thyself, lest thou also be 
 tempted ; ' that is, considering thy own frailty, 
 lest thou also fall by the like temptation. 
 
 We are all frail, unstable creatures ; and it 
 is merely owing to the free grace and good 
 providence of God that we run not into the 
 same excess of riot with other men. Every 
 offending brother, therefore, claims our pity 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 21 
 
 rather than our resentment ; and each member 
 should strive to be the most forward, as well 
 as the most gentle, in restoring him to his 
 former state. 
 
 But supposing a person not to be overtaken, 
 but to fall wilfully into a crime ; yet who art 
 thou that deniest forgiveness to thy offending 
 brother? 'Let him that standeth take heed 
 lest he fall.' Take ye, brethren, the holy 
 apostles as eminent examples for you to learn 
 by, how you ought to behave in this matter. 
 Consider how quickly they joined the right 
 hand of fellowship with Peter, who had so 
 wilfully denied his Master : for we find John 
 and him together but two days after, John 
 XX. 2. And verse 19, we find him assembled 
 with the rest. So soon did they forgive, so 
 soon associate with their sinful, yet relenting 
 brother. ' Let us go, and do likewise.' 
 
 But there is another kind of reproof incum- 
 bent on every member of a religious society, 
 namely, a gentle rebuke for some miscarriage 
 or other, which, though not actually sinful, 
 yet may become the occasion of sin. This 
 indeed seems a more easy, but perhaps will 
 
22 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 be found a more difficult point than the 
 former ; for when a person has really sinned, 
 he cannot but own his brethren's reproof to 
 be just ; whereas, when it was only for some 
 little misconduct, the pride that is in our 
 natures will scarce suffer us to brook it. But 
 however ungrateful this pill may be to our 
 brother, yet if we have any concern for his 
 welfare, it must be administered by some 
 friendly hand or other. By all means then 
 let it be applied ; only, like a skilful physician, 
 gild over the ungrateful pill, and endeavour, 
 if possible, to deceive thy brother into health 
 and soundness. ' Let all bitterness, and wrath, 
 and malice, and evil-speaking be put away 
 from you.' Let the patient know his recovery 
 is the only thing aimed at, and that thou 
 delightest not causelessly to grieve thy brother ; 
 then thou canst not want success. 
 
 2. Mutual exhortation is the second duty 
 resulting from the words of the text : ' Again, 
 if two lie together, then they have heat' 
 
 Observe, the wise man supposes it as 
 impossible for religious persons to meet 
 together, and not to be the warmer for 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 23 
 
 each other's company, as for two persons to 
 lie in the same bed, and yet freeze with 
 cold. But now how is it possible to com- 
 municate heat to each other, without mutually 
 stirring up the gift of God which is in us, by 
 brotherly exhortation ? Let every member 
 then of a religious society write that zealous 
 apostle's advice on the tables of his heart : 
 * See that ye exhort and provoke one another 
 to love, and to good works ; and so much 
 the more, as you see the day of the Lord 
 approaching.' Believe me, brethren, we have 
 need of exhortation to rouse up our sleepy 
 souls, to set us upon our watch against the 
 temptations of the world, the flesh, and the 
 devil ; to excite us to renounce ourselves, to 
 take up our crosses, and follow our blessed 
 Master, and the glorious company of saints 
 and martyrs, ' who through faith have fought 
 the good fight, and are gone before us to 
 inherit the promises.' 
 
 A third part, therefore, of the time wherein 
 a religious society meets, seems necessary to be 
 spent in this important duty ; for what avails 
 it to have our understandings enlightened by 
 
24 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 pious reading, unless our wills are at the 
 same time inclined and inflamed by mutual 
 exhortation to put it in practice? Add also, 
 that this is the best way both to receive and 
 impart light, and the only means to preserve 
 and increase that warmth and heat which each 
 person first brought with him ; God so ordering 
 this, as all other spiritual gifts, that ' to him 
 that hath (that is, improves and communicates 
 what he hath) shall be given ; but from him 
 that hath not (or does not improve the heat he 
 hath) shall be taken away even that which he 
 seemeth to have.' So needful, so essentially 
 necessary, is exhortation to the good of 
 society. 
 
 3. Thirdly^ The text points out another duty 
 incumbent on every member of a religious 
 society — to defend each other from those that 
 do oppose them : ' And if one prevail against 
 him, yet two shall withstand him ; and a 
 threefold cord is not quickly broken.' 
 
 Here the wise man takes it for granted that 
 offences will come, nay, and that they may 
 prevail too. And this is no more than our 
 blessed Master has long since told us. Not, 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 25 
 
 indeed, that there is anything in Christianity 
 itself that has the least tendency to give rise 
 to or promote such offences : no, on the con- 
 trary, it breathes nothing but unity and love. 
 
 But so it is, that ever since the fatal sentence 
 pronounced by God, after our first parents' fall, 
 ' I will put enmity between thy seed and her 
 seed,' he that is born after the flesh, the 
 unregenerate, unconverted sinner, has in all 
 ages ' persecuted him that is born after the 
 Spirit ' : and so it always will be. Accordingly 
 we find an early proof given of this in the 
 instance of Cain and Abel ; of Ishmael and 
 Isaac ; and, of Jacob and Esau. And, indeed, 
 the whole Bible contains little else but a 
 history of the great and continued opposition 
 between the children of this world and the 
 children of God. The first Christians were 
 remarkable examples of this ; and though those 
 troublesome times, blessed be God, are now 
 over, yet the apostle has laid it down as a 
 general rule, and all who are sincere experi- 
 mentally prove the truth of it, that ' they that 
 will live godly in Christ Jesus, must (to the end 
 of the world, in some degree or other) suffer 
 
26 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 persecution.' That therefore this may not 
 make us desert our blessed Master's cause, 
 every member should unite their forces in order 
 to stand against it. And for the better effecting 
 this, each would do well, from time to time, to 
 communicate his experiences, grievances, and 
 temptations, and beg his companions (first 
 asking God's assistance, without which all is 
 nothing) to administer reproof, exhortation, or 
 comfort, as his case requires : so that ' if one 
 cannot prevail against him, two shall withstand 
 him ; and a threefold (much less a many-fold) 
 cord will not be quickly broken.' 
 
 IV. But it is time for me to proceed to the 
 fourth general thing proposed — to draw an 
 inference or two from what has been said. 
 
 I . And first, if ' two are better than one,' and 
 the advantages of religious society are so many 
 and so great ; then it is the duty of every true 
 Christian to set on foot, establish, and promote, 
 as much as in him lies, societies of this nature. 
 And I believe we may venture to affirm, that if 
 ever a spirit of true Christianity be revived in 
 the world, it must be brought about by some 
 such means as this. Motives surely cannot be 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 27 
 
 wanting, to stir us up to this commendable and 
 necessary undertaking; for, granting all hitherto 
 advanced to be of no force, yet methinks the 
 single consideration, that great part of our 
 happiness in heaven will consist in the communion 
 of saints, or that the interest as well as piety 
 of those who differ from us is strengthened 
 and supported by nothing more than their 
 frequent meetings ; either of these considera- 
 tions, I say, one would think, should induce us 
 to do our utmost to copy after their good 
 example, and settle a lasting and pious 
 communion of the saints on earth. 
 
 Add to this, that we find the kingdom of 
 darkness established daily by such like means ; 
 and shall not the kingdom of Christ be set in 
 opposition against it ? Shall the children of 
 Belial assemble and strengthen each other in 
 wickedness ; and shall not the children of God 
 unite and strengthen themselves in piety? 
 Shall societies on societies be countenanced for 
 midnight revellings, and the promoting of vice, 
 and scarcely one be found intended for the 
 propagation of virtue? Be astonished, O 
 heavens, at this ! 
 
2 8 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 2. But this leads me to a second inference ; 
 namely, to warn persons of the great danger 
 those are in, who, either by their subscriptions, 
 presence, or approbation, promote societies of a 
 quite opposite nature to religion. 
 
 And here I would not be understood to mean 
 only those public meetings which are designed 
 manifestly for nothing else but revellings and 
 banquetings, for chambering and wantonness, 
 and at which a modest heathen would blush to 
 be present ; but also those seemingly innocent 
 entertainments and meetings, which the politer 
 part of the world are so very fond of, and 
 spend so much time in ; but which, not- 
 withstanding, keep as many persons from a 
 sense of true religion, as doth intemperance, 
 debauchery, or any other crime whatever. 
 Indeed, whilst we are in this world, we must 
 have proper relaxations, to fit us both for the 
 business of our profession and religion. But 
 then, for persons who call themselves Christians, 
 that have solemnly vowed, at their baptism, to 
 renounce the vanities of this sinful world ; that 
 are commanded in Scripture ' to abstain from 
 all appearance of evil, and to have their con- 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 29 
 
 versation in heaven ' ; for such persons as these 
 to support meetings, which (to say no worse of 
 them) are vain and trifling, and have a natural 
 tendency to draw off our minds from God, is 
 absurd, ridiculous, and sinful. Surely two are 
 not better than one in this case ; no, it is to be 
 wished there was not one to be found concerned 
 in it. The sooner we forsake the assembling 
 ourselves together in such a manner, the better ; 
 and no matter how quickly the cord that holds 
 such societies (was it a thousand-fold) is broken. 
 
 But you, brethren, have not so learned Christ ; 
 but, on the contrary, like true disciples of your 
 Lord and Master, have, by the blessing of God 
 (as this evening's solemnity abundantly testifies), 
 happily formed yourselves into such societies, 
 which, if duly attended on and improved, cannot 
 but strengthen you in your Christian warfare, 
 and ' make you fruitful in every good word and 
 work.' 
 
 What remains for me but, as was proposed 
 in the last place, to close what has been said, 
 in a word or two, by way of exhortation, and 
 to beseech you, in the name of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, to go on in the way you have begun. 
 
30 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 and by a constant, conscientious attendance on 
 your respective societies, to discountenance vice, 
 encourage virtue, and build each other up in 
 the knowledge and fear of God. 
 
 Only permit me to * stir up your pure minds, 
 by way of remembrance,' and to exhort you, 
 * if there be any consolation in Christ, any 
 fellowship of the Spirit,' again and again to 
 consider, that as all Christians in general, so 
 all members of religious societies in particular, 
 are in an especial manner as houses built upon a 
 hill ; and that therefore it highly concerns you 
 to walk circumspectly towards those that are 
 without, and to take heed to yourselves that 
 your conversation in common life be as be- 
 cometh such an open and peculiar profession 
 of the gospel of Christ ; knowing that the eyes 
 of all men are upon you, narrowly to inspect 
 every circumstance of your behaviour ; and 
 that every notorious, wilful miscarriage of any 
 single member will, in some measure, redound 
 to the scandal and dishonour of your whole 
 fraternity. 
 
 Labour therefore, my beloved brethren, to 
 let your practice correspond to your profession : 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY 31 
 
 and think not that it will be sufficient for you 
 to plead at the last day, Lord, have we not 
 assembled ourselves together in Thy name, 
 and enlivened each other by singing psalms, 
 and hymns, and spiritual songs ? For verily I 
 say unto you, notwithstanding this, our blessed 
 Lord will bid you depart from Him ; nay, 
 you shall receive a greater damnation, if, in the 
 midst of these great pretensions, you are found 
 to be workers of iniquity. 
 
 But God forbid that any such evil should 
 befall you ; that there should be ever a Judas, 
 a traitor, amongst such distinguished followers 
 of our common Master. No, on the contrary, 
 the excellency of your rules, the regularity of 
 your meetings, and more especially your pious 
 zeal in assembling in such a public and solemn 
 manner so frequently in the year, persuade me 
 to think that you are willing, not barely to 
 seem, but to be in reality, Christians ; and 
 hope to be found at the last day, what you 
 would be esteemed now, holy, sincere disciples 
 of a crucified Redeemer. 
 
 Oh, may you always continue thus minded ! 
 and make it your daily, constant endeavour, 
 
32 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 both by precept and example, to turn all your 
 converse with, more especially those of your 
 own societies, into the same most blessed spirit 
 and temper. Thus will you adorn the gospel 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ in all things : thus 
 will you anticipate the happiness of a future 
 state ; and by attending on, and improving, 
 the communion of saints on earth, be made 
 meet to join the communion and fellowship of 
 the spirits of just men made perfect, of the holy 
 angels, nay, of the ever-blessed and eternal God 
 in heaven. 
 
 Which God of His infinite mercy grant 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord : to Whom, 
 with the Father and the Holy Ghost, three 
 Persons and one God, be ascribed, as is most 
 due, all honour and praise, might, majesty, and 
 dominion, now and for ever. Amen. 
 
II 
 
 REGENERATION^ 
 
 If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.' — 2 Cor. v. 17. <\y^ 
 
 The doctrine of our regeneration, or new birth 
 in Christ Jesus, though one of the most funda- 
 mental doctrines of our holy religion ; though 
 so plainly and often pressed on us in sacred 
 writ, ' that he who runs may read ' ; nay, though 
 it is the very hinge on which the salvation of 
 each of us turns, and a point too in which 
 all sincere Christians, of every denomination, 
 agree ; yet it is so seldom considered, and so 
 little experimentally understood, by the gener- 
 ality of professors, that were we to judge of 
 the truth of it by the experience of most who 
 call themselves Christians, we should be apt to 
 imagine they had ' not so much as heard ' 
 
 ^ ' The second sermon I ever made, the second sermon I ever 
 preached,' says Whitefield, 'was on this text.' This sermon 
 was preached at the Church of St Mary RedclifFe, Bristol, and 
 was pubHshed in August 1737. 
 
 33 
 
 W 
 
34 
 
 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 whether there be any such thing as regenera- 
 tion, or not. 
 
 It is true, men for the most part are ortho- 
 dox in the common articles of their Creed ; 
 they believe ' there is but one God, and one 
 Mediator between God and men, even the 
 man Christ Jesus ' ; and that there is no other 
 name given under heaven, whereby they can 
 be saved, besides His : but then, tell them they 
 must be regenerated, they must be born again, 
 they must be renewed in the very spirit, in the 
 inmost faculties of their minds, ere they can 
 truly call Christ ' Lord, Lord,' or have an 
 evidence that they have any share in the 
 merits of His precious blood ; and they are 
 ready to cry out with Nicodemus, ' How can 
 these things be ? ' or with the Athenians, on 
 another occasion, * What will this babbler say ? ' 
 He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange 
 doctrines, because we preach unto them 
 Christ, and the new birth. 
 
 That I may therefore contribute my mite 
 towards curing the fatal mistake of such per- 
 sons, who would thus put asunder what God 
 has inseparably joined together, and vainly 
 
REGENERATION 35 
 
 think they are justified by Christ, or have their 
 sins forgiven, and His perfect obedience im- 
 puted to them, when they are not sanctified, 
 have not their natures changed and made holy, 
 I shall beg leave to enlarge on the words of 
 the text in the following manner. 
 
 Firsts I shall endeavour to explain what is 
 meant by being in Christ : ' If any man be in 
 Christ.' 
 
 Secondly, What we are to understand by 
 being a new creature : 'If any man be in 
 Christ, he is a new creature.' 
 
 Thirdly, I shall produce some arguments to 
 make good the apostle's assertion. And, 
 
 Fourthly, I shall draw some inferences from 
 what may be delivered, and then conclude with 
 a word or two of exhortation. 
 
 First, I am to endeavour to explain what is 
 meant by this expression in the text, ' If any 
 man be in Christ' 
 
 Now a person may be said to be in Christ 
 two ways. 
 
 First, Only by an outward profession. And 
 in this sense, every one that is called a Chris- 
 
2,6 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 tian, or baptised into Christ's Church, may be 
 said to be in Christ. But that this is not the 
 sole meaning of the apostle's phrase before us, 
 is evident, because then every one that names 
 the name of Christ, or is baptised into His 
 visible Church, would be a new creature. 
 Which is notoriously false, it being too plain 
 beyond all contradiction, that comparatively 
 but few of those that are ' born of water ' are 
 ' born of the Spirit ' likewise ; to use another 
 spiritual way of speaking, many are baptised 
 with water who were never baptised with the 
 Holy Ghost. To be in Christ, therefore, in 
 the full import of the word, must certainly 
 mean something more than a bare outward 
 profession, or being called after His name. 
 For, as this same apostle tells us, * All are not 
 Israelites that are of Israel ' ; so when applied 
 to Christianity, all are not real Christians that 
 are nominally such. Nay, this is so far from 
 being the case, that our blessed Lord Himself 
 informs us, that many who have prophesied or 
 preached in His name, and in>His name cast 
 out devils and done many wonderful works, 
 shall notwithstanding be dismissed at the last 
 
REGENERATION 37 
 
 day with, * Depart from Me, I know you not, 
 ye workers of iniquity.' — It remains, therefore, 
 that this expression, * if any man be in Christ,' 
 must be understood in a 
 
 Second and closer signification, — to be in 
 Him so as to partake of the benefits of His 
 sufferings. To be in Him not only by an out- 
 ward profession, but by an inward change and 
 purity of heart, and cohabitation of His Holy 
 Spirit. To be in Him, so as to be mystically 
 united to Him by a true and lively faith, and 
 thereby to receive spiritual virtue from Him, 
 as the members of the natural body do from 
 the head, or the branches from the vine. To 
 be in Him in such a manner as the apostle, 
 speaking of himself, acquaints us he knew a 
 person was, ' I knew a man in Christ,' a true 
 Christian ; or, as he himself desires to be in 
 Christ, when he wishes, in his Epistle to the 
 Philippians, that he might be found in Him. 
 This is undoubtedly the proper meaning of the 
 apostle's expression in the words of the text ; 
 so that what he says in his Epistle to the 
 Romans about circumcision, may very well be 
 applied to the present subject : that he is not 
 
38 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 a real Christian who is only one outwardly ; 
 nor is that true baptism which is only outward 
 in the flesh. But he is a true Christian who is 
 one inwardly, whose baptism is that of the 
 heart, in the Spirit, and not merely in the water, 
 whose praise is not of man, but of God. Or, 
 as he speaks in another place, ' neither circum- 
 cision nor uncircumcision availeth anything (of 
 itself), but a new creature.' Which amounts 
 to what he here declares in the verse now 
 under consideration, that if any man be truly 
 and properly in Christ, he is a new creature. 
 Which brings me to show, 
 
 Secondly^ What we are to understand by 
 being a new creature. — And here it is evident 
 at the first view, that this expression is not 
 to be so explained as though there were a 
 physical change required to be made in us ; 
 or as though we were to be reduced to our 
 primitive nothings, and then created and 
 formed again. For, supposing we were, as 
 Nicodemus ignorantly imagined, to enter a 
 * second time into our mother's womb, and be 
 born,' alas ! what would it contribute towards 
 rendering us spiritually new creatures? Since 
 
REGENERATION 39 
 
 * that which was born of the flesh would be 
 flesh still ; ' we should be the same carnal 
 persons as ever, being derived from carnal 
 parents, and consequently receiving the seeds 
 of all manner of sin and corruption from them. 
 
 No ; it only means that we must be so 
 altered as to the qualities and tempers of our 
 minds, that we must entirely forget what 
 manner of persons we once were. As it 
 may be said of a piece of gold that was once 
 in the ore, after it has been cleansed, purified, 
 and polished, that it is a new piece of gold ; 
 as it may be said of a bright glass that has 
 been covered over with filth, when it is wiped, 
 and so become transparent and clear, that it 
 is a new glass ; or, as it might be said of 
 Naaman, when he recovered of his leprosy, and 
 his flesh returned unto him like the flesh of a 
 young child, that he was a new man : so our 
 souls, though still the same as to essence, yet 
 are so purged, purified, and cleansed from their 
 natural dross, filth, and leprosy, by the blessed 
 influences of the Holy Spirit, that they may 
 be properly said to be made anew. 
 
 How this glorious change is wrought in the 
 
40 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 soul cannot easily be explained : for no one 
 knows the ways of the Spirit, save the Spirit 
 of God Himself. Not that this ought to be 
 any argument against this doctrine ; for, as 
 our blessed Lord observed to Nicodemus, when 
 He was discoursing on this very subject, ' The 
 wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest 
 the sound thereof, but knowest not whence it 
 Cometh, and whither it goeth ' ; and if we are 
 told of natural things, and we understand 
 them not, how much less ought we to wonder 
 if we cannot immediately account for the 
 invisible workings of the Holy Spirit ! The 
 truth of the matter is this : the doctrine of 
 our regeneration, or new birth in Christ Jesus, 
 is hard to be understood by the natural man. 
 But that there is really such a thing, and that 
 each of us must be spiritually born again, I 
 shall endeavour to show under my 
 
 Third general head, in which I was to 
 produce some arguments to make good the 
 apostle's assertion. 
 
 And here one would think it sufficient to 
 affirm, — Firsts that God Himself, in His holy 
 Word, has told us so. Many texts might be 
 
REGENERATIOISJ 41 
 
 produced out of the Old Testament to prove 
 this point ; and, indeed, one would wonder 
 how Nicodemus, who was a teacher in Israel, 
 and who was therefore to instruct the people 
 in the spiritual meaning of the law, should be 
 so ignorant of this grand article, as we find he 
 really was, by his asking our blessed Lord, 
 when He was pressing on him this topic. How 
 can these things be? Surely he could not 
 forget how often the psalmist had begged of 
 God to make him a * new heart,' and 'to renew 
 a right spirit within him ' ; as likewise, how 
 frequently the prophets had warned the people 
 to make them ' new hearts ' and new minds, 
 and so turn unto the Lord their God. 
 
 But not to mention these and such-like texts 
 out of the Old Testament, this doctrine is so 
 often and plainly repeated in the New, that, as 
 I observed before, he who runs may read. For 
 what says the great Prophet and Instructor of 
 the world Himself : ' Except a man (every one 
 that is naturally the offspring of Adam) be born 
 again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter 
 into the kingdom of God.' And lest we should 
 be apt to slight this assertion, and, Nicodemus- 
 
42 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 like, reject the doctrine, because we cannot 
 immediately explain ' how this thing can be,' 
 our blessed Master therefore ajRfirms it, as it 
 were, by an oath, * Verily, verily, I say unto 
 you,' or, as it may be read, I the Amen ; I, 
 who am Truth itself, say unto you, that it is 
 the unalterable appointment of My Heavenly 
 Father, that ' unless a man be born again, he 
 cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' 
 
 Agreeable to this are those many passages 
 we meet with in the Epistles, where we are 
 commanded to be * renewed in the spirit,' or, 
 which was before explained, in the inmost 
 faculties of our minds ; ' to put off the old man, 
 which is corrupt ; and to put on the new man, 
 which is created after God, in righteousness 
 and true holiness ' ; that * old things must pass 
 away, and that all things must become new ' ; 
 that we are to be ' saved by the washing of 
 regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy 
 Ghost.' Or, methinks, were there no other 
 passage to be produced besides the words of 
 the text, it would be full enough, since the 
 apostle therein affirms, that ' If any man be in 
 Christ, he is a new creature.' — Now, what can 
 
REGENERATION 43 
 
 be understood by all these different terms of 
 being born again, oi putting off the old many and 
 putting on the new, of being renewed in the 
 spirit of our minds, and becoming new creatures ; 
 but that Christianity requires a thorough, real, 
 inward change of heart ? Do we think these 
 and such-like forms of speaking are mere 
 metaphors, words of a bare sound, without any 
 real solid signification ? Indeed, it is to be 
 feared, some men would have them interpreted 
 so ; but, alas ! unhappy men ! they are not to 
 be envied in their metaphorical interpretation : 
 it will be well if they do not interpet themselves 
 out of their salvation. 
 
 Multitudes of other texts might be produced 
 to confirm this same truth, but those already 
 quoted are so plain and convincing that one 
 would imagine no one should deny it ; were 
 we not told there are some, ' who having eyes 
 see not, and ears hear not, and that will not 
 understand with their hearts, or hear with their 
 ears, lest they should be converted, and Christ 
 should heal them.' But I proceed to a — 
 
 Second argument ; and that shall be taken 
 from the purity of God, and the present 
 
44 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 corrupt and polluted state of man. God is 
 described in Holy Scripture (and I speak to 
 those who profess to know the Scripture) as 
 a Spirit ; as a Being of such infinite sanctity, 
 as to be of ' purer eyes than to behold 
 iniquity ' ; as to be so transcendently holy, 
 that it is said * the very heavens are not clean 
 in His sight ; and the angels themselves He 
 chargeth with folly.' 
 
 On the other hand, man is described (and 
 every regenerate person will find it true by his 
 own experience) as a creature altogether ' con- 
 ceived and born in sin ' ; as having ' no good 
 thing dwelling in him ' ; as being ' carnal, 
 sold under sin ' ; nay, as having a ' mind 
 which is at enmity with God,' and such-like. 
 And since there is such an infinite disparity, 
 can any one conceive how a filthy, corrupted, 
 polluted wretch can dwell with an infinitely 
 pure and holy God before he is changed, 
 and rendered in some measure like Him ? 
 Can He who is of purer eyes than to behold 
 iniquity dwell with it ? Can He in whose 
 sight the heavens are not clean, delight to 
 dwell with uncleanness itself? No, we might 
 
REGENERATION 45 
 
 as well suppose light to have communion with 
 darkness, or Christ to have concord with Belial. 
 — But I pass on to a — 
 
 Third argument, which shall be founded on 
 the consideration of the nature of that happi- 
 ness God has prepared for those that unfeign- 
 edly love Him. — To enter indeed on a 
 minute and particular description of heaven 
 would be vain and presumptuous, since we 
 are told that ' eye hath not seen, nor ear 
 heard, neither hath it entered into the heart 
 of man to conceive, the things that are there 
 prepared ' for the sincere followers of the holy 
 Jesus, even in this life, much less in that which 
 is to come. However, this we may venture to 
 affirm in general, that as God is a Spirit, so 
 the happiness He has laid up for His people 
 is spiritual likewise : and consequently, unless 
 our carnal minds are changed and spiritualised, 
 we can never be made meet to partake of that 
 inheritance with the saints in light. 
 
 It is true, we may flatter ourselves, that 
 supposing we continue in our natural corrupt 
 estate, and carry all our lusts along with us, 
 we should, notwithstanding, relish heaven, were 
 
46 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 God to admit us therein. And so we might, 
 was it a Mahometan paradise, wherein we 
 were to take our full swing in sensual delights. 
 Since its joys are only spiritual, and no 
 unclean thing can possibly enter those blessed 
 mansions, there is an absolute necessity of our 
 being changed, and undergoing a total renova- 
 tion of our depraved natures, before we can 
 have any taste or relish of those heavenly 
 pleasures. 
 
 It is, doubtless, for this reason, that the 
 apostle declares it to be the irrevocable decree 
 of the Almighty, that ' without holiness (with- 
 out being made pure by regeneration, and 
 having the image of God thereby reinstamped 
 upon the soul), no man shall see the Lord.' 
 And it is very observable, that our Divine 
 Master, in the famous passage before referred 
 to, concerning the absolute necessity of regen- 
 eration, does not say, Unless a man be born 
 again, he shall not, but * unless a man be 
 born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom 
 of God.' It is founded in the very nature of 
 things, that unless we have dispositions wrought 
 in us suitable to the objects that are to enter- 
 
REGENERATION 47 
 
 tain us, we can take no manner of complacency 
 or satisfaction in them. 
 
 For instance, what delight can the most 
 harmonious music afford to a deaf, or what 
 pleasure can the most excellent picture give 
 to a blind, man ? Can a tasteless palate relish 
 the richest dainties, or a filthy swine be pleased 
 with the finest garden of flowers ? No : and 
 what reason can be assigned for it ? An 
 answer is ready : Because they have neither 
 of them any tempers of mind correspondent or 
 agreeable to what they are to be diverted with. 
 
 And thus it is with the soul hereafter : for 
 death makes no alteration in the soul, than 
 as it enlarges its faculties, and makes it 
 capable of receiving deeper impressions either 
 of pleasure or pain. If it delighted to con- 
 verse with God here, it will be transported 
 with the sight of His glorious majesty here- 
 after. If it were pleased with the common 
 saints on earth, it will be infinitely more so 
 with the communion and society of holy 
 angels, and the spirits of just men made 
 perfect in heaven. But if the opposite of all 
 this be true, we may assure ourselves, the soul 
 
48 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS - 
 
 could not be happy, were God Himself to 
 admit it (which He never will do) into the 
 regions of the blessed. — But it is time for me 
 to hasten to the — 
 
 Fourth argument, because Christ's redemp- 
 tion will not be complete in us, unless we 
 are new creatures. If we reflect, indeed, on 
 the first and chief end of our blessed Lord's 
 coming, we shall find it was to be a pro- 
 pitiation for our sins, to give His life a 
 ransom for many. But, then, if the benefits 
 of our dear Redeemer's death were to extend 
 no farther than barely to procure forgive- 
 ness of our sins, we should have as little 
 reason to rejoice in it, as a poor condemned 
 criminal, that is ready to perish by some fatal 
 disease, would have in receiving a pardon 
 from his judge. For Christians would do well 
 to consider, that there is not only a legal 
 hindrance to our happiness, as we are breakers 
 of God's law, but also a moral impurity in 
 our natures, which renders us incapable of 
 enjoying heaven (as hath been already proved), 
 till some mighty change have been wrought 
 in us. 
 
REGENERATION 49 
 
 It is necessary, therefore, in order to make 
 Christ's redemption complete, that we should 
 have a grant of God's Holy Spirit to change 
 our natures, and so prepare us for the enjoy- 
 ment of that happiness our Saviour has pur- 
 chased by His precious blood. Accordingly,' 
 the Holy Scriptures inform us, that whom 
 Christ justifies, or whose sins He forgives, 
 and to whom He imputes His perfect obedi- 
 ence, those He also sanctifies, purifies, and 
 cleanses, and totally changeth their corrupted 
 natures. As the Scripture also speaketh in 
 another place, ' Christ is to us justification, 
 sanctification, and then redemption.' But — 
 
 Fourthly^ Proceed we now to the next gen- 
 eral thing proposed, to draw some inferences 
 from what has been delivered. And — 
 
 First, If he that is in Christ be a new creature, 
 this may serve as a reproof for those who 
 rest in a bare performance of outward duties, 
 without perceiving any real inward change 
 of heart. — We may observe a great many 
 persons to be very punctual in the regular 
 returns of public and private prayer, as likewise 
 of receiving the Holy Communion, and perhaps 
 
so WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 now and then too in keeping a fast. But here 
 is the misfortune : they rest barely in the use 
 of the means, and think all is over, when they 
 have thus complied with those sacred institu- 
 tions ; whereas, were they rightly informed, 
 they would consider that all the instituted 
 means of grace, as prayer, fasting, hearing and 
 reading the Word of God, receiving the blessed 
 sacrament, and such like, are no farther service- 
 able to us, than as they are found to make us 
 inwardly better, and to carry on the spiritual 
 life in the soul. It is true, they are means ; 
 but then they are only means ; they are part, but 
 not the whole of religion: for if so, who more 
 religious than the Pharisee ? He fasted twice 
 in the week, and gave tithes of all that he 
 possessed, and yet was not justified, as our 
 Saviour Himself informs us, in the sight of God. 
 You perhaps, like the Pharisee, may fast 
 often, and make long prayers ; you may, 
 with Herod, hear good sermons gladly. But 
 yet, if you continue vain and trifling, immoral 
 or worldly-minded, and differ from the rest of 
 your neighbours barely in going to church, or 
 in complying with some outward performances, 
 
REGENERATION 51 
 
 are you better than they ? No, in no wise ; 
 you are by far much worse : for if you use 
 them, and at the same time abuse them, you 
 thereby encourage others to think there is 
 nothing in them, and therefore must expect to 
 receive the greater damnation. But — 
 
 Secondly, If he that is in Christ be a new 
 creature, then this may check the groundless 
 presumption of another class of professors, who 
 rest in the attainment of some moral virtues, 
 and falsely imagine they are good Christians, 
 if they are just in their dealings, temperate in 
 their ciiet, and do no hurt or violence to any 
 man. But if this were all that is requisite to 
 make us Christians, why might not the heathens 
 of old be good Christians, who were remarkable 
 for these virtues ? or St Paul before his conver- 
 sion, who tells us that he lived in all good 
 conscience ? But we find he renounces all 
 dependence on works of this nature, and only 
 desires to be found in Christ, and to know the 
 power of His resurrection, or have an experi- 
 mental proof of receiving the Holy Ghost pur- 
 chased for him by the death, and ensured and 
 applied to him by the resurrection,of Jesus Christ. 
 
52 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 The sum of the matter is this : Christianity 
 includes morality, as grace does reason ; but if 
 we are only mere moralists, if we are not in- 
 wardly wrought upon, and changed by the 
 powerful operations of the Holy Spirit, and 
 our moral actions proceed from a principle of 
 a new nature, however we may call ourselves 
 Christians, we shall be found naked at the 
 great day, and in the number of those who 
 have neither Christ's righteousness imputed to 
 them for their justification in the sight, nor 
 holiness enough in their souls as the conse- 
 quence of that, in order to make them meet 
 for the enjoyment of God. Nor, 
 
 Thirdly, Will this doctrine less condemn 
 those who rest in a partial amendment of 
 themselves, without experiencing a thorough, 
 real, inward change of heart. — A little acquaint- 
 ance with the world will furnish us with 
 instances of no small number of persons, who, 
 perhaps, were before openly profane ; but 
 seeing the ill consequences of their vices, and 
 the many worldly inconveniences it has reduced 
 them to, on a sudden, as it were, grow civilised ; 
 and thereupon flatter themselves that they are 
 
REGENERATION 53 
 
 very religious, because they differ a little from 
 their former selves, and are not so scandalously 
 wicked as once they were : whereas, at the 
 same time, they shall have some secret darling 
 sin or other, some beloved Delilah or Herodias, 
 which they will not part with ; some hidden 
 lust, which they will not mortify ; some vicious 
 habit, which they will not take pains to root 
 out. But wouldest thou know, O vain man ! 
 whoever thou art, what the Lord thy God 
 requires of thee? Thou must be informed, 
 that nothing short of a thorough sound con- 
 version will fit thee for the kingdom of heaven. 
 It is not enough to turn from profaneness to 
 civility ; but thou must turn from civility to 
 godliness. Not only some, but ' all things 
 must become new ' in thy soul. It will profit 
 thee but little to do many things, if yet some 
 one thing thou lackest. In short, thou must 
 not only be an almost, but altogether a new 
 creature, or in vain thou boastest that thou art 
 a Christian. 
 
 Fourthly, If he that is in Christ be a new 
 creature, then this may be prescribed as an 
 infallible rule for every person, of whatever 
 
54 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 denomination, age, degree, or quality, to judge 
 himself by ; this being the only solid founda- 
 tion whereon we can build a well-grounded 
 assurance of pardon, peace, and happiness. We 
 may indeed depend on the broken reed of an 
 external profession ; we may think we are 
 good enough, if we lead such sober, honest, 
 moral lives, as many heathens did. We may 
 imagine we are in a safe condition, if we attend 
 on the public offices of religion, and are con- 
 stant in the duties of our closets. But unless 
 all these tend to reform our lives, and change 
 our hearts, and are only used as so many 
 channels of divine grace : as I told you before, 
 so I tell you again, Christianity will profit you 
 nothing. 
 
 Let each of us therefore seriously put this 
 question to our hearts : Have we received the 
 Holy Ghost since we believed ? Are we new 
 creatures in Christ, or no ? At least, if we are 
 not so yet, is it our daily endeavour to become 
 such ? Do we constantly and conscientiously 
 use all the means of grace required thereto ? 
 Do we fast, watch, and pray ? Do we, not 
 lazily seek, but laboriously strive to enter in 
 
REGENERATION S5 
 
 at the strait gate? In short, do we renounce 
 our own righteousness, take up our crosses, 
 and follow Christ ? If so, we are in that 
 narrow way which leads to life ; the good seed 
 is sown in our hearts, and will, if duly watered 
 and nourished by a regular persevering use 
 of all the means of grace, grow up to eternal 
 life. 
 
 But, on the contrary, if we have only heard, 
 and know not experimentally, whether there 
 be any Holy Ghost ; if we are strangers 
 to fasting, watching, and prayer, and all the 
 other spiritual exercises of devotion ; if we are 
 content to go in the broad way, merely because 
 we see most other people do so, without once 
 reflecting whether it be the right one or not ; 
 in short, if we are strangers, nay, enemies 
 to the Cross of Christ, by lives of worldly- 
 mindedness and sensual pleasure, and thereby 
 make others think that Christianity is but an 
 empty name, a bare formal profession ; if this 
 be the case, I say, Christ is as yet dead in vain 
 to us. We are under the guilt of our sins, 
 and are unacquainted with a true and thorough 
 conversion. 
 
S6 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 But, beloved, I am persuaded better things 
 of you, and things that accompany salvation 
 though I thus speak ; I would humbly hope 
 that you are sincerely persuaded, that he who 
 has not the Spirit of Christ is none of His ; 
 and that unless the Spirit which raised Jesus 
 from the dead dwell in you here, neither will 
 your mortal bodies be quickened by the same 
 Spirit to dwell with Him hereafter. 
 
 Let me, therefore (as was proposed in the 
 las^ place), earnestly exhort you, in the name 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, to act suitably to 
 those convictions, and to live as Christians, 
 that are commanded in holy writ, to ' put off 
 their former conversation concerning the old 
 man, and to put on the new man, which is 
 created after God in righteousness and true 
 holiness.' 
 
 It must be owned, indeed, that this is a 
 great and difficult work ; but, blessed be God, 
 it is not impossible. Many thousands of 
 happy souls have been assisted by a divine 
 power to bring it about. And why should 
 we despair of success? Is God's hand 
 shortened, that it cannot save ? Was He the 
 
REGENERATION 57 
 
 God of our fathers ; is He not the God of 
 their children also? Yes, doubtless, of their 
 children also. It is a task likewise that will 
 put us to some pain ; it will oblige us to part 
 with some lust, to break with some friend, to 
 mortify some beloved passion, which may be 
 exceeding dear to us, and perhaps as hard to 
 leave, as to cut off a right hand or pluck out 
 a right eye. But what of all this ? Will not 
 the being made a real living member of Christ, 
 a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom 
 of heaven, abundantly make amends for all 
 this trouble ? Undoubtedly it will. The 
 setting about and carrying on this great and 
 necessary work, perhaps may, nay, assuredly 
 will, expose us also to the ridicule of the 
 unthinking part of mankind, who will wonder 
 that we run not into the same excess of riot 
 with themselves ; and because we deny our 
 sinful appetites, and are not conformed to this 
 world, being commanded in Scripture to do 
 the one, and to have our conversation in 
 heaven, in opposition to the other, they may 
 count our lives folly, and our end to be without 
 honour. But will not the being numbered 
 
58 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 among the saints, and shining as the stars for 
 ever and ever, be a more than sufficient 
 recompense for all the ridicule, calumny, or 
 reproach, we can possibly meet with here ? 
 
 Indeed, were there no other reward attending 
 a thorough conversion, but that peace of God, 
 which is the unavoidable consequence of it, 
 and which, even in this life, ' passeth all 
 understanding,' we should have great reason 
 to rejoice. But when we consider that this is 
 the least of those mercies God has prepared 
 for those that are in Christ, and become new 
 creatures ; that this is but the beginning of an 
 eternal succession of pleasures ; that the day 
 of our deaths, which the unconverted, un- 
 renewed sinner must so much dread, will be, 
 as it were, but the first day of our new birth, 
 and open to us an everlasting scene of happi- 
 ness and comfort ; in short, if we remember, 
 that they who are regenerate and born again, 
 have a real title to all the glorious promises of 
 the Gospel, and are infallibly certain of being 
 as happy, both here and hereafter, as an all- 
 wise, all-gracious, all-powerful God can make 
 them ; methinks, everyone that has but the 
 
REGENERATION 59 
 
 least concern for the salvation of his precious 
 and immortal soul, having such promises, such 
 a hope, such an eternity of happiness set before 
 him, should never cease watching, praying, and 
 striving, till he find a real, inward saving 
 change wrought in his heart, and thereby doth 
 know of a truth, that he dwells in Christ, and 
 Christ in him ; that he is a new creature, 
 therefore a child of God ; that he is already 
 an inheritor, and will ere long be an actual 
 possessor, of the kingdom of heaven. — Which 
 God of His infinite mercy grant, through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. 
 
Ill 
 
 A PENITENT HEART THE BEST NEW YEAR'S 
 GIFT 
 
 ' Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.' — 
 Luke xiii. 3. 
 
 When we consider how heinous and aggra- 
 vating our offences are in the sight of a just 
 and holy God, that they bring down His wrath 
 upon our heads, and occasion us to live under 
 His indignation ; how ought we thereby to be 
 deterred from evil, or at least engaged to study 
 to repent thereof, and not commit the same 
 again ! But man is so thoughtless of an eternal 
 state, and has so little consideration of the 
 welfare of his immortal soul, that he can sin 
 without any thought that he must give an 
 account of his actions at the day of judgment. 
 Or if he, at times, has any reflections on his 
 behaviour, they do not drive him to true re- 
 pentance. He may, for a short time, refrain 
 from falling into some gross sins which he had 
 
A PENITENT HEART 6i 
 
 lately committed ; but then, when the tempta- 
 tion comes again with power, he is carried 
 away with the lust : and thus he goes on 
 promising and resolving, and in breaking both 
 his resolutions and his promises, as fast almost 
 as he has made them. This is highly offensive 
 to God, it is mocking Him. 
 
 My brethren, when grace is given us to 
 repent truly, we shall turn wholly unto God ; 
 and let me beseech you to repent of your sins, 
 for the time is hastening when you will have 
 neither time nor call to repent ; there is none 
 in the grave, whither we are going ; but do 
 not be afraid, for God often receives the 
 greatest sinner to mercy through the merits of 
 Christ Jesus ; this magnifies the riches of His 
 free grace ; and should be an encouragement 
 for you, who are great and notorious sinners, 
 to repent, for He will have mercy upon you, 
 if you through Christ return unto Him. 
 
 St Paul was an eminent instance of this : 
 he speaks of himself as ' the chief of sinners,' 
 and he declares how God showed mercy unto 
 him. Christ loves to show mercy unto sinners, 
 and if you repent. He will have mercy upon 
 
62 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 you. But as no word is more mistaken than 
 that of repentance, I shall, 
 
 I. Show you what the nature of repentance is. 
 
 II. Consider the several parts and causes 
 of repentance. 
 
 III. I shall give you some reasons why re- 
 pentance is necessary to salvation. And, 
 
 IV. Exhort all of you, high and low, rich 
 and poor, one with another, to endeavour after 
 repentance. 
 
 I. Repentance, my brethren, in the first 
 place, as to its nature, is the carnal and 
 corrupt disposition of men being changed into 
 a renewed and sanctified disposition. A man 
 that has truly repented, is truly regenerated : 
 it is a different word for one and the same 
 thing ; the motley mixture of the beast and 
 devil is gone : there is, as it were, a new 
 creation wrought in your hearts. If your re- 
 pentance is true, you are renewed throughout, 
 both in soul and body ; your understandings 
 are enlightened with the knowledge of God, 
 and of the Lord Jesus Christ ; and your wills, 
 which were stubborn, obstinate, and hated all 
 
A PENITENT HEART 6;^ 
 
 good, are obedient and conformable to the will 
 of God. Indeed, our deists tell us, that man 
 now has a free will to do good, to love God, 
 and to repent when he will : but indeed there 
 is no free will in any of you, but to sin ; nay, 
 your free will leads you so far, that you would, 
 if possible, pull God from His throne. 
 
 This may, perhaps, offend the Pharisees ; 
 but (it is the truth in Christ which I speak, I 
 lie not) every man by his own natural will hates 
 God ; but when he is turned unto the Lord 
 by evangelical repentance, then his will is 
 changed ; then your consciences, now har- 
 dened and benumbed, shall be quickened and 
 awakened ; then your hard hearts shall be 
 melted, and your unruly affections shall be 
 crucified. Thus, by that repentance, the 
 whole soul will be changed, you will have 
 new inclinations, new desires, and new habits. 
 
 You may see how vile we are by nature, that 
 it requires so great a change to be made upon 
 us, to recover us from this state of sin ; and 
 therefore the consideration of our dreadful state 
 should make us earnest with God to change 
 our condition, and that change true repentance 
 
64 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 implies. Therefore, my brethren, consider how- 
 hateful your ways are to God, while you con- 
 tinue in sin ; how abominable you are unto 
 Him, while you run into evil. You cannot be 
 said to be Christians while you are hating 
 Christ, and His people. True repentance will 
 entirely change you, the bias of your souls will 
 be changed, then you will delight in God, in 
 Christ, in His law, and in His people ; you 
 will then believe that there is such a thing as 
 inward feeling, though now you may esteem it 
 madness and enthusiasm ; you will not then be 
 ashamed of becoming fools for Christ's sake ; 
 you will not regard being scoffed at ; it is not 
 then their pointing after you and crying, * Here 
 comes another troop of His followers,' will 
 dismay you ; no, your soul will abhor such 
 proceedings, the ways of Christ and His people 
 will be your whole delight. 
 
 It is the nature of such repentance to 
 make a change, and the greatest change that 
 can be made here in the soul. Thus you see 
 what repentance implies in its own nature ; 
 it denotes an abhorrence of all evil, and a 
 forsaking of it. I shall now proceed. 
 
A PENITENT HEART 65 
 
 II. To show you the parts of it, and the 
 causes concurring thereto. 
 
 The parts are, sorrow, hatred, and an entire 
 forsaking of sin. 
 
 Our sorrow and grief for sin must not spring 
 merely from a fear of wrath ; for if we have 
 no other ground but that, it proceeds from 
 self-love, and not from any love to God ; and 
 if love to God is not the chief motive of your 
 repentance, your repentance is in vain, and not 
 to be esteemed true. 
 
 Many, in our days, think their crying, God 
 forgive me ! or, Lord have mercy upon me ! or 
 I am sorry for it ! is repentance, and that God 
 will esteem it as such : but indeed they are 
 mistaken ; it is not the drawing near to God 
 with our lips, while our hearts are far from 
 Him, which He regards. Repentance does not 
 come by fits and starts; no, it is one continued 
 act of our lives ; for as we daily commit sin, so 
 we need a daily repentance before God, to 
 obtain forgiveness for those sins we commit. 
 
 It is not your confessing yourselves to be 
 sinners, it is not knowing your condition to be 
 sad and deplorable, so long as you continue in 
 
66 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 your sins : your care and endeavours should 
 be, to get the heart thoroughly affected there- 
 with, that you may feel yourselves to be lost 
 and undone creatures, for Christ came to save 
 such as are lost ; and if you are enabled to 
 groan under the weight and burden of your 
 sins, then Christ will ease you and give you 
 rest. 
 
 And till you are thus sensible of your misery 
 and lost condition, you are a servant to sin and 
 to your lusts, under the bondage and command 
 of Satan, doing his drudgery : thou art under 
 the curse of God, and liable to His judgment. 
 Consider how dreadful thy state will be at 
 death, and after the day of judgment, when 
 thou wilt be exposed to such miseries which 
 the ear hath not heard, neither can the heart 
 conceive, and that to all eternity, if you die 
 impenitent. 
 
 But I hope better things of you, my brethren, 
 though I thus speak, and things which accom- 
 pany salvation ; go to God in prayer, and be 
 earnest with Him, that by His Spirit He would 
 convince you of your miserable condition by 
 nature, and make you truly sensible thereof. 
 
A PENITENT HEART 6^ 
 
 Oh, be humbled, be humbled, I beseech you, 
 for your sins ! Having spent so many years 
 in sinning, what canst thou do less, than be 
 concerned to spend some hours in mourning 
 and sorrowing for the same, and be humbled 
 before God ? 
 
 Look back into your lives, call to mind thy 
 sins, as many as possibly thou canst, the sins 
 of thy youth, as well as of thy riper years ; see 
 how you have departed from a gracious Father, 
 and wandered in the way of wickedness, in 
 which you have lost yourselves, the favour of 
 God, the comforts of His Spirit, and the peace 
 of your consciences ; then go and beg pardon 
 of the Lord, through the blood of the Lamb, 
 for the evil thou hast committed, and for the 
 good thou hast omitted. Consider, likewise, 
 the heinousness of thy sins ; see what very 
 aggravating circumstances thy sins are attended 
 with, how you have abused the patience of 
 God, which should have led you to repentance ; 
 and when thou findest thy heart hard, beg of 
 God to soften it, cry mightily unto Him, and 
 He will take away thy stony heart, and give 
 thee a heart of flesh. 
 
68 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 Resolve to leave all thy sinful lusts and 
 pleasures ; renounce, forsake, and abhor thy 
 old sinful course of life, and serve God in 
 holiness and righteousness all the remaining 
 part of life. If you lament and bewail past 
 sins, and do not forsake them, your repentance 
 is in vain, you are mocking of God, and 
 deceiving your own soul ; you must put off 
 the old man, with his deeds, before you can 
 put on the new man, Christ Jesus. 
 
 You, therefore, who have been swearers 
 and cursers, you, who have been harlots and 
 drunkards, you, who have been thieves and 
 robbers, you, who have hitherto followed the 
 sinful pleasures and diversions of life, let me 
 beseech you, by the mercies of God in Christ 
 Jesus, that you would no longer continue 
 therein, but that you would forsake your evil 
 ways, and turn unto the Lord, for He waiteth 
 to be gracious unto you. He is ready. He is 
 willing, to pardon you of all your sins. Do 
 not expect Christ to pardon you of sin, when 
 you run into it, and will not abstain from 
 complying with the temptations ; but, if you 
 will be persuaded to abstain from evil and 
 
A PENITENT HEART 69 
 
 choose the good, to return unto the Lord, and 
 repent of your wickedness, He hath promised 
 He will abundantly pardon you. He will heal 
 your backslidings, and will love you freely. 
 
 Resolve now this day to have done with 
 your sins for ever ; let your old ways and you 
 be separated ; you must resolve against it, for 
 there can be no true repentance without a 
 resolution to forsake it. Resolve for Christ, 
 resolve against the devil and his works, and go 
 on fighting the Lord's battles against the devil 
 and his emissaries ; attack him in the strongest 
 holds he has, fight him as men, as Christians, 
 and you will soon find him to be a coward ; 
 resist him, and he will fly from you. 
 
 Resolve, through grace, to do this, and your 
 repentance is half done : but then take care 
 that you do not ground your resolutions on 
 your own strength, but in the strength of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ ; He is the way. He is the 
 truth, and He is the life ; without His assistance 
 you can do nothing, but through His grace 
 strengthening thee thou wilt be enabled to do 
 all things ; and the more thou art sensible of 
 thy own weakness and inability, the more 
 
70 WHITEFIELD^S SERMONS 
 
 ready Christ will be to help thee ; and what 
 can all the men of the world do to thee when 
 Christ is for thee ? Thou wilt not regard what 
 they say against thee, for thou wilt have the 
 testimony of a good conscience. 
 
 Resolve to cast thyself at the feet of Christ 
 in subjection to Him, and throw thyself into 
 the arms of Christ for salvation by Him. 
 Consider, my dear brethren, the many invita- 
 tions He has given you to come unto Him, 
 to be saved by Him ; God has ' laid on Him 
 the iniquity of us all.' Oh, let me prevail with 
 you, above all things, to make choice of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, resign yourselves unto Him, 
 take Him, oh, take Him upon His own terms ; 
 and whosoever thou art, how great a sinner 
 soever thou hast been, this evening, in the 
 name of the great God, do I offer Jesus Christ 
 unto thee ; as thou valuest thy life and soul, 
 refuse Him not, but stir up thyself to accept of 
 the Lord Jesus, take Him wholly as He is, for 
 He will be applied wholly unto you, or else 
 not at all. Jesus Christ must be your whole 
 wisdom, Jesus Christ must be your whole 
 righteousness, Jesus Christ must be your 
 
A PENITENT HEART 71 
 
 whole sanctification, or He will never be 
 your eternal redemption. 
 
 What though you have been ever so wicked 
 and profligate, yet if you will now abandon 
 your sins, and turn unto the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 thou shalt have Him given to thee, and all thy 
 sins shall be freely forgiven. Oh, why will you y 
 neglect the great work of your repentance ; do 
 not defer the doing of it one day longer, but 
 to-day, even now, take that Christ who is freely 
 offered to you. 
 
 Now, as to the causes hereof, the first cause 
 is God ; He is the Author, ' we are born of 
 God,' God hath begotten us, even God, the 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ; it is He that 
 stirs us up to will and to do of His own good 
 pleasure : and another cause is, God's free 
 grace ; it is owing to the ' riches of His free 
 grace,' my brethren, that we have been pre- 
 vented from going down to hell long ago ; it is 
 because the compassions of the Lord fail not, 
 they are new every morning, and fresh every 
 evening. 
 
 Sometimes the instruments are very unlikely : 
 a poor despised minister or member of Jesus 
 
72 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 Christ may, by the power of God, be made an 
 instrument in the hands of God of bringing 
 you to true evangelical repentance ; and this 
 may be done to show that the power is not in 
 men, but that it is entirely owing to the good 
 pleasure of God ; and if there has been any 
 good done among any of you, by preaching 
 the Word, as I trust there has, though it were 
 preached in a field, if God has met and owned 
 us, and blessed His Word, though preached by 
 an enthusiastic babbler, a boy, a madman ; I 
 do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice, let foes say 
 what they will. I shall now, 
 
 Thirdly^ Show the reasons why repentance 
 is necessary to salvation. 
 
 And this, my brethren, is plainly revealed to 
 us in the Word of God, * The soul that does not 
 repent and turn unto the Lord, shall die in its 
 sins, and their blood shall be required at their 
 own hands.' It is necessary, as we have sinned, 
 we should repent : for a holy God could not, 
 nor ever can, or will, admit anything that is 
 unholy into His presence : this is the beginning 
 of grace in the soul ; there must be a change 
 in heart and life, before there can be a dwelling 
 
A PENITENT HEART 73 
 
 with a holy God. You cannot love sin and 
 God too, you cannot love God and Mammon ; 
 no unclean person can stand in the presence 
 of God, it is contrary to the holiness of His 
 nature ; there is a contrariety between the holy 
 nature of God and the unholy nature of carnal 
 and unregenerate men. 
 
 What communication can there be between 
 a sinless God and creatures full of sin, between 
 a pure God and impure creatures ? If you 
 were to be admitted into heaven, with your 
 present tempers, in your impenitent condition, 
 heaven itself would be a hell to you ; the songs 
 of angels would be as enthusiasm, and would 
 be intolerable to you ; therefore you must have 
 these tempers changed, you must be holy as 
 God is : He must be your God here, and you 
 must be His people, or you will never dwell 
 together to all eternity. If you hate the ways 
 of God, and cannot spend an hour in His 
 service, how will you think to be easy to all 
 eternity, in singing praises to Him that sits upon 
 the throne, and to the Lamb for ever ? 
 
 And this is to be the employment, my 
 brethren, of all those who are admitted into 
 
74 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 this glorious place, where neither sin nor sinner 
 is admitted, where no scoffer ever can come, 
 without repentance from his evil ways, a 
 turning unto God, and a cleaving unto Him. 
 This must be done before any can be admitted 
 into the glorious mansions of God, which are 
 prepared for all that love the Lord Jesus 
 Christ in sincerity and truth. Repent ye then 
 of all your sins. Oh, that it were in my power, 
 I would place all of you, yea, you my scoffing 
 brethren, and the greatest enemy I have on 
 earth, at the right hand of Jesus ; but this I 
 cannot do : however, I advise and exhort you, 
 with all love and tenderness, to make Jesus 
 your refuge : fly to Him for relief. Jesus died 
 to save such as you ; He is full of compassion ; 
 and if you go to Him, as poor, lost, undone 
 sinners, Jesus will give you His Spirit ; you 
 shall live and reign, and reign and live, you 
 shall love and live, and live and love, with this 
 Jesus to all eternity. 
 
 I am, Fourthly, to exhort all of you, high 
 and low, rich and poor, one with another, to 
 repent of all your sins, and turn unto the Lord. 
 
 And I shall speak to each of you ; for you 
 
A PENITENT HEART 75 
 
 have either repented, or you have not, you are 
 believers in Christ Jesus, or unbelievers. 
 
 And first, you who never have truly repented 
 of your sins, and never have truly forsaken 
 your lusts, be not offended if I speak plainly 
 to you ; for it is love, love to your souls, that 
 constrains me to speak : I shall lay before you 
 your danger, and the misery to which you are 
 exposed, while you remain impenitent in sin. 
 And oh, that this may be a means of making 
 you fly to Christ for pardon and forgiveness ! 
 
 While thy sins are not repented of, thou art 
 in danger of death ; and if you should die, you 
 would perish for ever. There is no hope of 
 any who live and die in their sins, but that 
 they will dwell with devils and damned spirits 
 to all eternity. And how do we know we 
 shall live much longer? we are not sure of 
 seeing our own habitations this night in safety. 
 What mean ye, then, being at ease and 
 pleasure while your sins are not pardoned ? 
 As sure as ever the Word of God is true, if 
 you die in that condition, you are shut out of 
 all hope and mercy for ever, and shall pass 
 into easeless and endless misery. 
 
^e WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 What are all thy pleasures and diversions 
 worth ? They last but for a moment, they are 
 of no worth, and but of short continuance. 
 And sure it must be gross folly, eagerly to 
 pursue those sinful lusts and pleasures, which 
 war against the soul, which tend to harden the 
 heart, and keep us from closing with the Lord 
 Jesus ; indeed, these are destructive of our 
 peace here and, without repentance, will be of 
 our peace hereafter. 
 
 O the folly and madness of this sensual 
 world ! Sure if there were nothing in sin but 
 present slavery, it would keep an ingenuous 
 spirit from it. But to do the devil's drudgery ! 
 And if we do that, we shall have his wages, 
 which is eternal death and condemnation. Oh, 
 consider this, my guilty brethren, you that 
 think it no crime to swear, to drink, or to scoff 
 and jeer at the people of God ; consider how 
 your voices will then be changed, and you, 
 that counted their lives madness, and their end 
 without honour, shall howl and lament at your 
 own madness and folly, that should bring you 
 to so much woe and distress ! Then you will 
 lament and bemoan your own dreadful con- 
 
A PENITENT HEART ^^ 
 
 dition : but it will be of no signification ; for 
 He that is now your merciful Saviour will then 
 become your inexorable Judge. Now He is 
 easy to be entreated ; but then, all your tears 
 and prayers will be in vain : for God hath 
 allotted to every man a day of grace, a time 
 of repentance, which, if he does not improve, 
 but neglects and despises the means which are 
 offered to him, he cannot be saved. 
 
 Consider, therefore, while you are going on 
 in a course of sin and unrighteousness, I 
 beseech you, my brethren, to think of the 
 consequence that will attend your thus mis- 
 spending your precious time ; your souls are 
 worth being concerned about : for if you can 
 enjoy all the pleasures and diversions of life, 
 at death you must leave them ; that will put 
 an end to all your worldly concerns. And 
 will it not be very deplorable, to have your 
 good things here, all your earthly, sensual, 
 devilish pleasures, which you have been so 
 much taken up with, all over ? and the thought 
 for how trifling a concern thou hast lost eternal 
 welfare, will gnaw thy very soul. 
 
 Thy wealth and grandeur will stand in no 
 
78 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 stead ; thou canst carry nothing of them into 
 the other world : then the consideration of thy 
 uncharitableness to the poor, and the ways 
 thou didst take to obtain thy wealth, will be a 
 very hell unto thee. 
 
 Now you enjoy the means of grace, as the 
 preaching of His word, prayer, and sacraments ; 
 and God has sent His ministers out into the 
 fields and highways, to invite, to woo you to 
 come in. But they are tiresome to thee, thou 
 hadst rather be at thy pleasures. Ere long, 
 my brethren, they will be over, and you will 
 be no more troubled with them. But then 
 thou wouldest give ten thousand worlds for 
 one moment of that merciful time of grace 
 which thou hast abused ; then thou wilt cry 
 for a drop of that precious blood which now 
 you trample under your feet ; then you will 
 wish for one more offer of mercy, for Christ 
 and His free grace to be offered to you again ; 
 but your crying will be in vain : for as you 
 would not repent here, God will not give you 
 an opportunity to repent hereafter ; if you 
 would not in Christ's time, you shall not in 
 your own. 
 
A PENITENT HEART 79 
 
 In what a dreadful condition will you 
 then be? What horror and astonishment 
 will possess your souls ? Then all thy lies 
 and oaths, thy scoffs and jeers, at the 
 people of God, all thy filthy and unclean 
 thoughts and actions, thy misspent time in 
 balls, plays, and assemblies, thy spending 
 whole evenings at cards, dice, and masquerades, 
 thy frequenting of taverns and alehouses, 
 thy worldliness, covetousness, and thy un- 
 charitableness, will be brought at once to thy 
 remembrance, and at once charged upon thy 
 guilty soul ! And how can you bear the 
 thoughts of these things ? Indeed I am full 
 of compassion towards you, to think that 
 this should be the portion of any who now 
 hear me. These are truths, though awful 
 ones ; my brethren, these are the truths of 
 the Gospel ; and if there were not a necessity 
 for thus speaking, I would willingly forbear : 
 for it is no pleasing subject to me, any more 
 than it is to you ; but it is my duty to show 
 you the dreadful consequences of continuing 
 in sin. I am only now acting the part of a 
 skilful surgeon, that searches a wound before 
 
 G 
 
8o WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 he heals it. I would show you your danger 
 first, that deliverance may be the more readily 
 accepted by you. 
 
 Consider, that however you may be for 
 putting the evil day away from you, and are 
 now striving to hide your sins, at the day 
 of judgment there shall be a full discovery 
 of all ; hidden things on that day shall be 
 brought to light ; and after all thy sins have 
 been revealed to the whole world, then you 
 must depart into everlasting fire in hell, which 
 will not be quenched night and day ; it will 
 be without intermission, without end. Oh, 
 then, what stupidity and senselessness hath 
 possessed your hearts, that you are not frighted 
 from your sins ! The fear of Nebuchadnezzar's 
 fiery furnace made men do anything to avoid 
 it ; and shall not an everlasting fire make 
 men, make you, do anything to avoid it ? 
 
 Oh, that this would awaken and cause you 
 to humble yourselves for your sins, and to beg 
 pardon for them, that you might find mercy 
 in the Lord ! 
 
 Do not go away, let not the devil hurry 
 you away before the sermon is over ; but 
 
A PENITENT HEART 81 
 
 stay, and you shall have Jesus offered to you, 
 who has made full satisfaction for all your sins. 
 
 Let me beseech you to cast away your 
 transgressions, to strive against sin, to watch 
 against it, and to beg power and strength 
 from Christ, to keep down the power of those 
 lusts that hurry you on in your sinful ways. 
 
 But if you will not do any of these things, 
 if you are resolved to sin on, you must expect 
 eternal death to be the consequence ; you 
 must expect to be seized with horror and 
 trembling, with horror and amazement, to 
 hear the dreadful sentence of condemnation 
 pronounced against you : and then you will 
 run, and call upon the mountains to fall on 
 you, to hide you from the Lord, and from the 
 fierce anger of His wrath. 
 
 Had you now a heart to turn from your 
 sins unto the living God, by true and unfeigned 
 repentance, and to pray unto Him for mercy, 
 in and through the merits of Jesus Christ, there 
 were hope. But at the day of judgment thy 
 prayers and tears will be of no signification ; 
 they will be of no service to thee ; the Judge 
 will not be entreated by thee : as you would 
 
82 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 not hearken to Him when He called unto 
 thee, but despised both Him and His ministers, 
 and would not leave your iniquities ; therefore, 
 on that day He will not be entreated, not- 
 withstanding all thy cries and tears ; for God 
 Himself hath said, * Because I have called, and 
 you refused ; I have stretched out My hand, 
 and no man regarded, but ye have set at 
 nought all My counsel, and would have none 
 of My reproof ; I will also laugh at your 
 calamity, and mock when your fear cometh 
 as desolation, and your destruction cometh 
 as a whirlwind ; when distress and anguish 
 cometh upon you : then shall they call upon 
 Me, but I will not answer, they shall seek Me 
 early, but they shall not find Me.' 
 
 Now, you may call this enthusiasm and 
 madness ; but at that great day, if you repent 
 not of your sins here, you will find, by woeful 
 experience, that your own ways were madness 
 indeed ; but God forbid it should be left 
 undone till then ! seek after the Lord while 
 He is to be found ; call upon Him while He 
 is near, and you shall find mercy ; repent this 
 hour, and Christ will joyfully receive you. 
 
A PENITENT HEART 83 
 
 What say you ? Must I go to my Master, 
 and tell Him you will not come unto Him, 
 and will have none of His counsels ? No ; 
 do not send me on so unhappy an errand : 
 I cannot, I will not tell Him any such thing. 
 Shall not I rather tell Him you are willing to 
 repent and to be converted, to become new 
 men, and take up a new course of life ? This 
 is the only wise resolution you can make. 
 Let me tell my Master that you will come 
 unto and will wait upon Him : for if you do 
 not, it will be your ruin in time, and to 
 eternity. 
 
 You will at death wish you had lived the 
 life of the righteous, that you might have died 
 his death. Be advised, then ; consider what 
 is before you, Christ and the world, holiness 
 and sin, life and death : choose now for your- 
 selves ; let your choice be made immediately, 
 and let that choice be your dying choice. 
 
 If you would not choose to die in your 
 sins, to die drunkards, to die adulterers, to 
 die swearers and scoffers, live not out this 
 night in the dreadful condition you are in. 
 Some of you, it may be, may say. You have 
 
84 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 not power, you have no strength : but have 
 not you been wanting to yourselves in such 
 things that were within your power? Have 
 you not as much power to go to hear a 
 sermon, as to go into a playhouse, or to a 
 ball, or masquerade ? You have as much 
 power to read the Bible, as to read plays, 
 novels, and romances ; and you can associate 
 as well with the godly, as with the wicked 
 and profane. This is but an idle excuse, 
 my brethren, to go on in your sins ; and if 
 you will be found in the means of grace, 
 Christ hath promised He will give you strength. 
 While Peter was preaching, the Holy Ghost 
 fell on all that heard the word : how then 
 should you be found in the way of your duty ! 
 Jesus Christ will then give thee strength ; He 
 will put His Spirit within thee ; thou shalt 
 find He will be thy wisdom, thy righteousness, 
 thy sanctification, and thy redemption. Do 
 but try what a gracious, a kind, and loving 
 Master He is, He will be a help to thee in 
 all thy burdens : and if the burden of sin 
 be on thy soul, go to Him as weary and 
 heavy laden, and thou shalt find rest. 
 
A PENITENT HEART 85 
 
 Do not say, that your sins are too many and 
 too great to expect to find mercy. No ; be 
 they ever so many, or ever so great, the blood 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ will cleanse you from 
 all sins. God's grace, my brethren, is free, 
 rich, and sovereign. Manasseh was a great 
 sinner, and yet he was pardoned ; Zacchaeus 
 was gone far from God, and went out to see 
 Christ, with no other view but to satisfy his 
 curiosity ; and yet Jesus met him, and brought 
 salvation to his house. Manasseh was an 
 idolater and murderer, yet he received mercy ; 
 the other was an oppressor and extortioner, 
 who had gotten riches by fraud and deceit, 
 and by grinding the faces of the poor : so did 
 Matthew too ; and yet they found mercy. 
 
 Have you been blasphemers and persecutors 
 of the saints and servants of God ? So was 
 St Paul, yet he received mercy. Have you 
 been common harlots, filthy and unclean 
 persons? So was Mary Magdalene, and yet 
 she received mercy. Hast thou been a thief? 
 The thief upon the cross found mercy. I 
 despair of none of you, however vile and 
 profligate you have been ; I say, I despair 
 
86 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 of none of you, especially when God has had 
 mercy on such a wretch as I am. 
 
 Remember the poor Publican, how he found 
 favour with God, when the proud, self- conceited 
 Pharisee, who, puffed up with his own righteous- 
 ness, was rejected. And if you will go to Jesus, 
 as the poor Publican did, under a sense of your 
 own unworthiness, you shall find favour as he 
 did : there is virtue enough in the blood of 
 Jesus to pardon greater sinners than He has 
 yet pardoned. Then be not discouraged, but 
 come unto Jesus, and you will find Him ready 
 to help in all thy distresses, to lead thee into 
 all truth, to bring thee from darkness to light, 
 and from the power of Satan unto God. 
 
 Do not let the devil deceive you, by telling 
 you, that then all your delights and pleasures 
 will be over. No ; this is so far from depriving 
 you of all pleasure, that it is an inlet unto 
 unspeakable delights, peculiar to all who are 
 truly regenerated. The new birth is the very 
 beginning of a life of peace and comfort ; and 
 the greatest pleasantness is to be found in the 
 ways of holiness. Solomon, who had ex- 
 perience of all other pleasures, yet saith of the 
 
A PENITENT HEART 87 
 
 ways of godliness, ' That all her ways are 
 ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are 
 paths of peace.' Then sure you will not let 
 the devil deceive you ; it is all he wants, it is 
 that he aims at, to make religion appear to be 
 melancholy, miserable, and enthusiastic : but 
 let him say what he will, give not ear to him, 
 regard him not, for he always was and will be 
 a liar. 
 
 What words, what entreaties, shall I use, to 
 make you come unto the Lord Jesus Christ ? 
 The little love I have experienced since I have 
 been brought from sin to God, is so great, that 
 I would not be in a natural state for ten 
 thousand worlds ; and what I have felt is 
 but little to what I hope to feel ; but that 
 little love which I have experienced, is a 
 sufficient buoy against all the storms and 
 tempests of this boisterous world : and let men 
 and devils do their worst, I rejoice in the 
 Lord Jesus, yea, and I will rejoice. 
 
 And oh, if you repent and come to Jesus, I 
 would rejoice on your accounts too ; and we 
 should rejoice together to all eternity, when 
 once passed on the other side of the grave. 
 
88 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 Oh, come to Jesus ! The arms of Jesus Christ 
 will embrace you ; He will wash away all your 
 sins in His blood, and will love you freely. 
 
 Come, I beseech you to come, unto Jesus 
 Christ ! Oh, that my words would pierce to the 
 very soul ! Oh, that Jesus Christ was formed 
 in you ! Oh, that you would turn to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, that He might have mercy upon 
 you ! 
 
 I would speak till midnight, yea, I would 
 speak till I could speak no more, so it might 
 be a means to bring you to Jesus. Let the 
 Lord Jesus but enter your souls, and you shall 
 find peace which the world can neither give 
 nor take away. There is mercy for the greatest 
 sinner amongst you ; go unto the Lord as 
 sinners, helpless and undone without it, and 
 then you shall find comfort in your souls, and 
 be admitted at last amongst those who sing 
 praises unto the Lord to all eternity. 
 
 Now, my brethren, let me speak a word of 
 exhortation to those of you who are already 
 brought to the Lord Jesus, who are born again, 
 who do belong to God, to whom it has been 
 given to repent of your sins, and are cleansed 
 
A PENITENT HEART 89 
 
 from their guilt ; and that is, Be thankful to 
 God for His mercies towards you. Oh, admire 
 the grace of God, and bless His name for ever! 
 Are you made alive in Christ Jesus ? Is the 
 life of God begun in your souls, and have you 
 the evidence thereof? Be thankful for this 
 unspeakable mercy to you : never forget to 
 speak of His mercy. And as your life was 
 formerly devoted to sin, and to the pleasures of 
 this world, let it now be spent wholly in the 
 ways of God; and oh, embrace every opportunity 
 of doing and of receiving good. Whatsoever 
 opportunity you have, do it vigorously, do it 
 speedily, do not defer it. If thou seest one 
 hurrying on to destruction, use the utmost of 
 thy endeavour to stop him in his course ; show 
 him the need he has of repentance, and that 
 without it he is lost for ever ; do not regard his 
 despising of you ; still go on to show him his 
 danger : and if thy friends mock and despise, 
 do not let that discourage you ; hold on, hold 
 out to the end, so you shall have a crown 
 which is immutable, and that fadeth not 
 away. 
 
 Let the love of Jesus to you, keep you also 
 
90 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 humble ; do not be high-minded, keep close 
 unto the Lord, observe the rules which the 
 Lord Jesus Christ has given in His Word, and 
 let not the instructions be lost which you are 
 capable of giving. Oh, consider what reason 
 you have to be thankful to the Lord Jesus 
 Christ for giving you that repentance you 
 yourselves had need of; a repentance which 
 worketh by love. Now you find more pleasure 
 in walking with God one hour, than in all your 
 former carnal delights, and all the pleasures of 
 sin. Oh, the joy you feel in your own souls, 
 which all the men of this world, and all the 
 devils in hell, though they were to combine 
 together, could not destroy. Then fear not 
 their wrath or malice, for through many 
 tribulations we must enter into glory. 
 
 A few days, or weeks, or years more, and 
 then you will be beyond their reach, you will 
 be in the Heavenly Jerusalem ; there is all 
 harmony and love, there is all joy and delight ; 
 there the weary soul is at rest. 
 
 Now we have many enemies, but at death 
 they are all lost ; they cannot follow us beyond 
 the grave : and this is a great encouragement 
 
A PENITENT HEART 91 
 
 to us not to regard the scoffs and jeers of the 
 men of this world. 
 
 Oh, let the love of Jesus be in your thoughts 
 continually ! It was His dying that brought 
 you life ; it was His crucifixion that paid the 
 satisfaction for your sins ; His death, burial, and 
 resurrection that completed the work ; and He 
 is now in heaven, interceding for you at the 
 right hand of His Father. And can you do 
 too much for the Lord Jesus Christ, who has 
 done so much for you ? His love to you is 
 unfathomable. O the height, the depth, the 
 length and breadth, of this love, that brought 
 the King of Glory from His throne, to die for 
 such rebels as we are, when we had acted so 
 unkindly against Him, and deserved nothing 
 but eternal damnation. He came down and took 
 our nature upon Him ; He was made flesh, 
 and dwelt among us. He was put to death on 
 our account ; He paid our ransom. Surely this 
 should make us love the Lord Jesus Christ ; 
 should make us rejoice in Him, and not do as too 
 many do, and as we ourselves have too often, 
 crucify this Jesus afresh. Let us do all we can, 
 my dear brethren, to honour Him. 
 
92 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 Come, all of you, come, and behold Him 
 stretched out for you ; see His hands and feet 
 nailed to the Cross. Oh, come, come, my brethren, 
 and nail your sins thereto ; come, come and see 
 His side pierced. There is a fountain open for 
 sin, and for uncleanness ; oh, wash, wash, and be 
 clean. Come and see His head crowned with 
 thorns, and all for you. Can you think of a 
 panting, bleeding, dying Jesus, and not be filled 
 with pity towards Him ? He underwent all 
 this for you. Come unto Him by faith ; lay 
 hold on Him ; there is mercy for every soul of 
 you that will come unto Him. Then do not 
 delay ; fly unto the arms of this Jesus, and you 
 shall be made clean in His blood. 
 
 Oh, what shall I say unto you, to make you 
 come to Jesus? I have showed you the 
 dreadful consequence of not repenting of your 
 sins ; and if, after all I have said, you are 
 resolved to persist, your blood will be required 
 at your own hands. But I hope better things 
 of you, and things that accompany salvation. 
 Let me beg of you to pray in good earnest for 
 the grace of repentance. I may never see 
 your faces again ; but at the day of judgment 
 
A PENITENT HEART 93 
 
 I will meet you. There you will either bless 
 God that ever you were moved to repentance ; 
 or else this sermon, though in a field, will be as 
 a swift witness against you. Repent, repent, 
 therefore, my dear brethren, as John the Baptist, 
 and our blessed Redeemer Himself earnestly 
 exhorted, and turn from your evil ways, and 
 the Lord will have mercy on you. 
 
 Show them, O Father, wherein they have 
 offended Thee ; make them to see their own 
 vileness, and that they are lost and undone 
 without true repentance ; and oh, give them 
 that repentance, we beseech of Thee, that they 
 may turn from sin unto Thee, the living and 
 true God. These things, and whatever else 
 Thou seest needful for us, we entreat that Thou 
 wouldest bestow upon us, on account of what 
 the dear Jesus Christ has done and suffered ; 
 to whom, with Thyself and Holy Spirit, three 
 Persons, and one God, be ascribed, as is most 
 due, all power, glory, might, majesty, and 
 dominion, now, henceforth, and for evermore. 
 Ame7i. 
 
IV 
 
 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN 
 
 'Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.' — Acts 
 xxvi. 28. 
 
 V These words contain the ingenuous confession 
 
 of King Agrippa, which having some reference 
 to, it may not be improper to relate the sub- 
 stance of the preceding verses, with which the 
 words are so closely connected. 
 
 The chapter out of which the text is taken, 
 contains an admirable account which the great 
 St Paul gave of his wonderful conversion from 
 Judaism to Christianity, when he was called 
 to make his defence before Festus, a Gentile 
 governor, and King Agrippa. Our blessed 
 Lord had long since foretold, that when the 
 Son of Man should be lifted up, ' His disciples 
 should be brought before kings and rulers, 
 for His name's sake, for a testimony unto 
 them.' And very good was the design of 
 Infinite Wisdom in thus ordaining it. For 
 
THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN 95 
 
 Christianity being, from the beginning, a 
 doctrine of the Cross, the princes and rulers 
 of the earth thought themselves too high to 
 be instructed by such mean teachers, or too 
 happy to be disturbed by such unwelcome 
 truths ; and therefore would have always 
 continued strangers to Jesus Christ and Him 
 crucified, had not the apostles, by being 
 arraigned before them, gained opportunities 
 of preaching to them ' Jesus and the resur- 
 rection.' 
 
 St Paul knew full well that this was the 
 main reason why his blessed Master permitted 
 his enemies at this time to arraign him at a 
 public bar ; and therefore, in compliance with 
 the divine will, thinks it not sufficient, barely 
 to make his defence, but endeavours at the 
 same time to convert his judges. And this 
 he did with such demonstration of the Spirit 
 and of power, that Festus, unwilling to be 
 convinced by the strongest evidence, cries out 
 with a loud voice, ' Paul, much learning doth 
 make thee mad.' To which the brave apostle 
 (like a true follower of the holy Jesus) meekly 
 replies, ' I am not mad, most noble Festus, 
 
 H 
 
g6 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 but speak forth the words of truth and 
 soberness.' 
 
 But in all probability, seeing King Agrippa 
 more affected with his discourse, and observing 
 in him an inclination to know the truth, he 
 applies himself more particularly to him. 
 ' The king knoweth of these things ; before 
 whom also I speak freely, for I am persuaded 
 that none of these things are hidden from 
 him.' And then, that if possible he might 
 complete his wished-for conversion, he, with 
 an inimitable strain of oratory, addressed 
 himself still more closely, ' King Agrippa, 
 believest thou the prophets ? I know that 
 thou believest them.' At which the passions 
 of the king began to work so strongly, that 
 he was obliged in open court to own himself 
 affected by the prisoner's preaching, and 
 ingenuously to cry out, ' Paul, almost thou 
 persuadest me to be a Christian.' 
 
 Which words, taken with the context, 
 afford us a lively representation of the 
 different reception which the doctrine of 
 Christ's ministers, who come in the power 
 and spirit of St Paul, meets with nowadays 
 
THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN 97 
 
 in the minds of men. For notwithstanding 
 they, like this great apostle, ' speak forth the 
 words of truth and soberness,' and with such 
 energy and power that all their adversaries 
 cannot justly gainsay or resist ; yet, too 
 many, with the noble Festus before mentioned, 
 being, like him, either too proud to be taught, 
 or too sensual, too careless, or too worldly- 
 minded to live up to the doctrine, in order to 
 excuse themselves, cry out, that ' much learning 
 (much study, or, what is more unaccountable), 
 much piety hath made them mad.' And 
 though, blessed be God ! all do not thus dis- 
 believe our report, yet amongst those who 
 gladly receive the Word, and confess that we 
 speak the words of truth and soberness, there 
 are so few who arrive at any higher degree of 
 piety than that of Agrippa, or are any farther 
 persuaded than to be almost Christians, that I 
 cannot but think it highly necessary to warn 
 my dear hearers of the danger of such a state. 
 And therefore, from the words of the text, 
 shall endeavour to show these three things : 
 Firs^, What is meant by an almost Chris- 
 tian. 
 
98 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 Secondly, What are the chief reasons why 
 so many are no more than almost Christians. 
 
 Thirdly, I shall consider the ineffectualness, 
 danger, absurdity, and uneasiness which attends 
 those who are but almost Christians ; and then 
 conclude with a general exhortation, to set all 
 upon striving not only to be almost, but 
 altogether Christians. 
 
 I. And, First, I am to consider what is 
 meant by an almost Christian. 
 
 An almost Christian, if we consider him in 
 respect to his duty to God, is one that halts 
 between two opinions ; that wavers between 
 Christ and the world ; that would reconcile 
 God and Mammon, light and darkness, Christ 
 and Belial. It is true, he has an inclination to 
 religion, but then he is very cautious how he 
 goes too far in it : his false heart is always 
 crying out, Spare thyself, do thyself no harm. 
 He prays, indeed, that ' God's will may be 
 done on earth, as it is in heaven.' But not- 
 withstanding, he is very partial in his obedience, 
 and fondly hopes that God will not be extreme 
 to mark everything that he wilfully does 
 
THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN 99 
 
 amiss ; though an inspired apostle has told 
 him, that ' he who offends in one point is guilty 
 of all.' But chiefly, he is one that depends 
 much on outward ordinances, and on that 
 account looks upon himself as righteous, and 
 despises others ; though at the same time he 
 is as great a stranger to the divine life as any 
 other person whatsoever. In short, he is fond 
 of the form, but never experiences the power 
 of godliness in his heart. He goes on year 
 after year, attending on the means of grace, 
 but then, like Pharaoh's lean kine, he is never 
 the better, but rather the worse for them. 
 
 If you consider him in respect to his 
 neighbour, he is one that is strictly just 
 to all ; but then this does not proceed from 
 any love to God or regard to man, but only 
 through a principle of self-love : because he 
 knows dishonesty will spoil his reputation, 
 and consequently hinder his thriving in the 
 world. 
 
 He is one that depends much upon being 
 negatively good, and contents himself with the 
 consciousness of having done no one any harm ; 
 though he reads in the Gospel, that 'the 
 
loo WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 unprofitable servant was cast into outer dark- 
 ness,' and the barren fig-tree was cursed and 
 dried up from the roots, not for bearing bad, 
 but no fruit. 
 
 He is no enemy to charitable contributions 
 in public, if not too frequently recommended : 
 but then he is unacquainted with the kind 
 offices of visiting the sick and imprisoned, 
 clothing the naked, and relieving the hungry 
 in a private manner. He thinks that these 
 things belong only to the clergy, though his 
 own false heart tells him, that nothing but 
 pride keeps him from exercising these acts of 
 humility; and that Jesus Christ, in the 25th 
 chapter of St Matthew, condemns persons to 
 everlasting punishment, not merely for being 
 fornicators, drunkards, or extortioners, but for 
 neglecting these charitable offices : ' When the 
 Son of Man shall come in His glory. He shall 
 set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats 
 on the left. Then shall He say unto them 
 on the left hand. Depart from Me, ye cursed, 
 into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and 
 his angels : for I was an hungered, and ye 
 gave Me no meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave 
 
THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN loi 
 
 Me no drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took 
 Me not in ; naked, and ye clothed Me not ; 
 sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not. 
 Then shall they also answer Him, saying. 
 Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or 
 athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in 
 prison, and did not minister unto Thee ? Then 
 shall He answer them, saying. Verily, I say unto 
 you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the 
 least of these, ye did it not to Me. And these 
 shall go away into everlasting punishment' I 
 thought proper to give you this whole passage 
 of Scripture at large, because our Saviour lays 
 such a particular stress upon it; and yet it is 
 so little regarded, that were we to judge by the 
 practice of Christians, one should be tempted 
 to think there were no such verses in the 
 Bible. 
 
 But to proceed to the character of an almost 
 Christian : — If we consider him in respect of 
 himself, as we said, he was strictly honest to 
 his neighbour, so he is likewise strictly sober in 
 himself: but then both his honesty and 
 sobriety proceed from the same principle of a 
 false self-love. It is true, he runs not into the 
 
io2 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 same excess of riot with other men ; but then 
 it is not out of obedience to the laws of God, 
 but either because his constitution will not 
 away with intemperance ; or rather because he 
 is cautious of forfeiting his reputation, or un- 
 fitting himself for temporal business. But 
 though he is so prudent as to avoid intemper- 
 ance and excess, for the reasons before men- 
 tioned; yet he always goes to the extremity of 
 what is lawful. It is true, he is no drunkard ; 
 but then he has no Christian self-denial. He 
 cannot think our Saviour to be so austere a 
 Master, as to deny us to indulge ourselves in 
 some particulars : and so by this means he is 
 destitute of a sense of true religion, as much 
 as if he lived in debauchery, or any other 
 crime whatever. As to settling his principles 
 as well as practice, he is guided more by the 
 world than by the Word of God : for his part, 
 he cannot think the way to heaven so narrow 
 as some would make it ; and therefore con- 
 siders not so much what Scripture requires, as 
 what such and such a good man does, or what 
 will best suit his own corrupt inclinations. 
 Upon this account he is not only very cautious 
 
THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN 103 
 
 himself, but likewise very careful of young 
 converts, whose faces are set heavenward ; and 
 therefore is always acting the devil's part, and 
 bidding them spare themselves, though they 
 are doing no more than what the Scripture 
 strictly requires them to do : the consequence 
 of which is, that he suffers not himself to enter 
 into the kingdom of God, and those that are 
 entering in he hinders. 
 
 Thus lives the almost Christian : not that I 
 can say I have fully described him to you ; but 
 from these outlines and sketches of his char- 
 acter, if your consciences have done their proper 
 office, and made a particular application of 
 what has been said to your own hearts, I cannot 
 but fear that some of you may observe some 
 features in his picture, odious as it is, too 
 nearly resembling your own ; and therefore I 
 cannot but hope that you will join with the 
 apostle in the words immediately following the 
 text, and wish yourselves ' to be not only 
 almost, but altogether Christians.' 
 
 II. I proceed to the second general thing 
 proposed : to consider the reason why so many 
 are no more than almost Christians. 
 
104 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 I. And the first reason I shall mention is, 
 because so many set out with false notions of 
 religion ; though they live in a Christian 
 country, yet they know not what Christianity 
 is. This perhaps may be esteemed a hard 
 saying, but experience sadly evinces the truth 
 of it ; for some place religion in being of this 
 or that communion ; more, in morality ; most, 
 in a round of duties, and a model of perform- 
 ances ; and few, very few, acknowledge it to 
 be, what it really is, a thorough inward change 
 of nature, a divine life, a vital participation 
 of Jesus Christ, an union of the soul 
 with God ; which the apostle expresses by 
 saying, * He that is joined to the Lord is one 
 spirit' 
 
 Hence it happens that so many, even of the 
 most knowing professors, when you come to 
 converse with them concerning the essence, the 
 life, the soul of religion, I mean our new birth 
 in Jesus Christ, confess themselves quite 
 ignorant of the matter, and cry out with 
 Nicodemus, ' How can this thing be ? ' And 
 no wonder then, that so many are only almost 
 Christians, when so many know not what 
 
THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN 105 
 
 Christianity is : no marvel, that so many take 
 up with the form, when they are quite strangers 
 to the power of godliness ; or content them- 
 selves with the shadow, when they know so 
 little about the substance of it. And this is 
 one cause why so many are almost, and so few 
 are altogether Christians. 
 
 2. A second reason that may be assigned 
 why so many are no more than almost 
 Christians, is a servile fear of man : multitudes 
 there are, and have been, who, though awakened 
 to a sense of the divine life, and having tasted 
 and felt the powers of the world to come ; yet 
 out of a base sinful fear of being counted 
 singular, or contemned by men, have suffered 
 all those good impressions to wear off. It is 
 true, they have some esteem for Jesus Christ ; 
 but then, like Nicodemus, they would come to 
 Him only by night : they are willing to serve 
 Him ; but then they would do it secretly, for 
 fear of the Jews ; they have a mind to see 
 Jesus, but then they cannot come to Him 
 because of the press, and for fear of being 
 laughed at and ridiculed by those with whom 
 they used to sit at meat. 
 
io6 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 But well did our Saviour prophesy of such 
 persons, ' How can ye love Me, who receive 
 honour one of another ? ' Alas ! have they 
 never read, that * The friendship of this world 
 is enmity with God ' : and that our Lord 
 Himself has threatened, ' Whosoever shall be 
 ashamed of Me or of My words, in this wicked 
 and adulterous generation, of him shall the 
 Son of Man be ashamed, when He cometh in 
 the glory of His Father, and of His holy 
 angels ? ' No wonder that so many are no 
 more than almost Christians, since so many 
 ' love the praise of men more than the honour 
 which cometh of God.' 
 
 3. A third reason why so many are no more 
 than almost Christians, is a reigning love of 
 money. This was the pitiable case of that 
 forward young man in the Gospel who came 
 running to our blessed Lord and, kneeling 
 before Him, inquired what he must do to 
 ' inherit eternal life ' ; to whom our blessed 
 Master replied, ' Thou knowest the Command- 
 ments, Do not kill. Do not commit adultery. 
 Do not steal ' ; to which the young man 
 replied, ' All these have I kept from my youth.' 
 
THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN 107 
 
 But when our Lord proceeded to tell him, 
 ' Yet lackest thou one thing ; go, sell all that 
 thou hast, and give to the poor ' ; he was 
 grieved at that saying, and went away sorrowful, 
 ' for he had great possessions ! ' 
 
 Poor youth ! he had a good mind to be a 
 Christian, and to inherit eternal life, but thought 
 it too dear, if it could be purchased at no less 
 an expense than of his estate ! And thus 
 many, both young and old, nowadays, come 
 running to worship our blessed Lord in public, 
 and kneel before Him in private, and inquire 
 at His Gospel, what they must do to inherit 
 eternal life : but when they find they must 
 renounce the self- enjoyment of riches, and 
 forsake all in affection to follow Him, they 
 cry, ' The Lord pardon us in this thing ! We 
 pray Thee have us excused.' 
 
 But is heaven so small a trifle in men's 
 esteem, as not to be worth a little gilded earth ? 
 Is eternal life so mean a purchase, as not to 
 deserve a temporary renunciation of a few 
 transitory riches ? Surely it is. But however 
 inconsistent such a behaviour may be, this 
 inordinate love of money is too evidently the 
 
io8 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 common and fatal cause why so many are no 
 more than almost Christians. 
 
 4. Nor is the love of pleasure a less un- 
 common or a less fatal cause why so many 
 are no more than almost Christians. Thousands 
 and ten thousands there are who despise riches, 
 and would willingly be true disciples of Jesus 
 Christ, if parting with their money would make 
 them so ; but when they are told that our 
 blessed Lord has said, ' Whosoever will come 
 after Me must deny himself,' like the pitiable 
 young man before mentioned, ' they go away 
 sorrowful ' : for they have too great a love for 
 sensual pleasures. They will perhaps send for 
 the ministers of Christ, as Herod did for John, 
 and hear them gladly : but touch them in their 
 Herodias, tell them they must part with such 
 or such a darling pleasure, and with wicked 
 Ahab they cry out, ' Hast thou found us, 
 O our enemy ? ' Tell them of the necessity 
 of mortification and self-denial, and it is as 
 difficult for them to hear, as if you were to bid 
 them ' cut off a right hand or pluck out a right 
 eye.' They cannot think our blessed Lord 
 requires so much at their hands, though an 
 
THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN 109 
 
 inspired apostle has commanded us to 'mortify 
 our members which are upon earth.' And who 
 himself, even after he had converted thousands, 
 and was very nearly arrived to the end of his 
 race, yet professed that it was his daily practice 
 to * keep under his body, and bring it into 
 subjection, lest, after he had preached to others, 
 he himself should be a castaway.' 
 
 But some men would be wiser than this 
 great apostle, and chalk out to us what they 
 falsely imagine an easier way to happiness. 
 They would flatter us, we may go to heaven 
 without offering violence to our sensual 
 appetites ; and enter into the strait gate 
 without striving against our carnal inclinations. 
 And this is another reason why so many are 
 only almost, and not altogether Christians. 
 
 5. The fifth and last reason I shall assign 
 why so many are only almost Christians, is 
 a fickleness and instability of temper. 
 
 It has been, no doubt, a misfortune that 
 many a minister and sincere Christian has 
 met with, to weep and wail over numbers of 
 promising converts, who seemingly began in 
 the Spirit, but after a while fell away, and 
 
no WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 basely ended in the flesh ; and this not for 
 want of right notions in religion, nor out of 
 a servile fear of man, nor from the love of 
 money, or of sensual pleasure, but through an 
 instability and fickleness of temper. They 
 looked upon religion, merely for novelty, as 
 something which pleased them for a while ; 
 but after their curiosity was satisfied they 
 laid it aside again : like the young man that 
 came to see Jesus with a linen cloth about his 
 naked body, they have followed Him for a 
 season, but when temptations came to take 
 hold on them, for want of a little more resolution, 
 they have been stripped of all their good 
 intentions, and fled away naked. They at 
 first, like a tree planted by the water-side, 
 grew up and flourished for a while ; but having 
 no root in themselves, no inward principle of 
 holiness and piety, like Jonah's gourd, they 
 were soon dried up and withered. Their good 
 intentions are too like the violent motions of 
 the animal spirits of a body newly beheaded, 
 which, though impetuous, are not lasting. In 
 short, they set out well in their journey to 
 heaven, but finding the way either narrower or 
 
THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN iii 
 
 longer than they expected, through an un- 
 steadiness of temper, they have made an 
 eternal halt, and so ' returned like the dog 
 to his vomit, or like the sow that was washed 
 to her wallowing in the mire ! ' 
 
 But I tremble to pronounce the fate of such 
 unstable professors, who, having put their 
 hands to the plough, for want of a little more 
 resolution, shamefully look back. How shall 
 I repeat to them that dreadful threatening, 
 ' If any man draw back, My soul shall have 
 no pleasure in him ' ; and again, ' It is 
 impossible (that is, exceeding difficult at least) 
 for those that have been once enlightened, 
 and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and the 
 powers of the world to come, if they should 
 fall away, to be renewed again unto repent- 
 ance.' But notwithstanding the Gospel is so 
 severe against apostates, yet many that begun 
 well, through a fickleness of temper (oh, that none 
 of us here present may ever be such!), have been 
 by this means, of the number of those that turn 
 back unto perdition. And this is the fifth, and 
 the last reason I shall give, why so many are 
 only almost, and not altogether Christians. 
 I 
 
112 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 III. Proceed we now to the third general 
 thing proposed, namely, to consider the folly 
 of being no more than an almost Christian. 
 
 I. And the first proof I shall give of the 
 folly of such a proceeding is, that it is ineffec- 
 tual to salvation. It is true, such men are 
 almost good ; but almost to hit the mark, 
 is really to miss it. God requires us ' to 
 love Him with all our hearts, with all our 
 souls, and with all our strength.' He loves 
 us too well to admit any rival ; because, so 
 far as our hearts are empty of God, so far 
 must they be unhappy. The devil, indeed, 
 like the false mother that came before Solo- 
 mon, would have our hearts divided, as she 
 would have had the child ; but God, like 
 the true mother, will have all or none. ' My 
 son, give Me thy heart,' thy whole heart, is the 
 general call to all : and if this be not done, 
 we never can expect the divine mercy. 
 
 Persons may play the hypocrite ; but God 
 at the great day will strike them dead (as 
 He did Ananias and Sapphira by the mouth 
 of His servant Peter), for pretending to offer 
 Him all their hearts, when they keep back 
 
THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN 113 
 
 from Him the greatest part. They may 
 perhaps impose upon their fellow-creatures 
 for a while ; but He that enabled Ahijah to 
 cry out, ' Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam,' 
 when she came disguised to inquire about her 
 sick son, will also discover them through their 
 most artful dissimulations ; and if their hearts 
 are not wholly with Him, appoint them their 
 portion with hypocrites and unbelievers. 
 
 2. But. secondly, What renders a half-way 
 piety more inexcusable is, that it is not only 
 insufficient to our own salvation, but also very 
 prejudicial to that of others. 
 
 An almost Christian is one of the most 
 hurtful creatures in the world : he is a wolf 
 in sheep's clothing ; he is one of those false 
 prophets our blessed Lord bids us beware of, 
 in His Sermon on the Mount, who would 
 persuade men that the way to heaven is 
 broader than it really is ; and thereby, as it 
 was observed before, ' enter not into the king- 
 dom of God themselves ; and those that are 
 entering in they hinder.' These, these are 
 the men that turn the world into a lukewarm 
 Laodicean spirit ; that hang out false lights, 
 
114 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 and so shipwreck unthinking benighted souls 
 in their voyage to the haven of eternity. 
 These are they who are greater enemies to 
 the Cross of Christ than infidels themselves: 
 for of an unbeliever everyone will be aware ; 
 but an almost Christian, through his subtle 
 hypocrisy, draws away many after him ; and 
 therefore must expect to receive the greater 
 damnation. 
 
 3. But, thirdly, As it is most prejudicial to 
 ourselves and hurtful to others, so it is the 
 greatest instance of ingratitude we can express 
 towards our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. 
 For did He come down from heaven, and 
 shed His precious blood, to purchase these 
 hearts of ours, and shall we only give Him 
 half of them ? Oh, how can we say we love 
 Him, when our hearts are not wholly with 
 Him ? How can we call Him our Saviour, 
 when we will not endeavour sincerely to 
 approve ourselves to Him, and so let Him 
 see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied ! 
 
 Had any of us purchased a slave ^ at a most 
 
 ^ Whitefield himself bought in 1747, towards the support of 
 his orphan-house, a plantation and slaves in South Carolina. 
 
THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN 115 
 
 expensive rate, and who was before involved 
 in the utmost miseries and torments, and so 
 must have continued for ever, had we shut up 
 our bowels of compassion from him ; and was 
 this slave afterwards to grow rebellious, or deny 
 giving us but half his service ; how, how 
 should we exclaim against his base ingrati- 
 tude ! And yet this base ungrateful slave 
 thou art, O man, who acknowledgest thyself to 
 be redeemed from infinite unavoidable misery 
 and punishment by the death of Jesus Christ, 
 and yet wilt not give thyself wholly to Him. 
 But shall we deal with God our Maker in a 
 manner we would not be dealt with by a man 
 like ourselves ? God forbid ! No. Suffer 
 me, therefore, 
 
 To add a word or two of exhortation to you, 
 to excite you to be not only almost, but alto- 
 gether Christians. Oh, let us scorn all base 
 and treacherous treatment of our King and 
 Saviour, of our God and Creator. Let us 
 not take some pains all our lives to go to 
 
 He defended on biblical grounds the lawfulness of slave- 
 holding. (See Diet. Nat. Biog. Ixi. 90 ; and see Stevens's 
 The Slave in History, pp. 154-5.) 
 
ii6 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 heaven, and yet plunge ourselves into hell at 
 last. Let us give to God our whole hearts, 
 and no longer halt between two opinions : if 
 the world be god, let us serve that ; if pleasure 
 be a god, let us serve that ; but if the Lord, 
 He be God, let us, oh, let us serve Him alone. 
 Alas ! why, why should we stand out any 
 longer? Why should we be so in love with 
 slavery, as not wholly to renounce the world, 
 the flesh, and the devil, which, like so many 
 spiritual chains, bind down our souls, and 
 hinder them from flying up to God ? Alas ! 
 what are we afraid of? Is not God able to 
 reward our entire obedience ? If He is, as 
 the almost Christian's lame way of serving 
 Him seems to grant, why, then, will we not 
 serve Him entirely ? For the same reason 
 we do so much, why do we not do more ? 
 Or do you think that being only half religious 
 will make you happy, but that going farther 
 will render you miserable and uneasy ? 
 
 Alas ! this, my brethren, is delusion all over; 
 for what is it but this half piety ^ this wavering 
 between God and the world, that makes so 
 many, that are seemingly well disposed, such 
 
THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN 117 
 
 utter strangers to the comforts of religion ? 
 They choose just so much of religion as will 
 disturb them in their lusts, and follow their 
 lusts so far as to deprive themselves of the 
 comforts of religion. Whereas, on the contrary, 
 would they sincerely leave all in affection, and 
 give their hearts wholly to God, they would 
 then (and they cannot till then) experience the 
 unspeakable pleasure of having a mind at unity 
 with itself, and enjoy such a peace of God, 
 which even in this life passes all understand- 
 ing, and which they were entire strangers to 
 before. 
 
 It is true, if we will devote ourselves entirely 
 to God, we must meet with contempt ; but 
 then it is because contempt is necessary to 
 heal our pride. We must renounce some 
 sensual pleasures ; but then it is because those 
 unfit us for spiritual ones, which are infinitely 
 better. We must renounce the love of the 
 world ; but then it is that we may be filled 
 with the love of God : and when that has 
 once enlarged our hearts, we shall, like Jacob 
 when he served for his beloved Rachel, think 
 nothing too difficult to undergo, no hard- 
 
ii8 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 ships too tedious to endure, because of the 
 love we shall then have for our dear Redeemer. 
 Thus easy, thus delightful will be the ways of 
 God even in this life. But when once we 
 throw off these bodies, and our souls are filled 
 with all the fulness of God, oh, what heart can 
 conceive, what tongue can express, with what 
 unspeakable joy and consolation shall we then 
 look back on our past sincere and hearty 
 services ! Think you then, my dear hearers, 
 we shall repent we had done too much ; or 
 rather think you not, we shall be ashamed that 
 we did no more ; and blush we were so 
 backward to give up all to God ; when He 
 intended hereafter to give us Himself? 
 
 Let me therefore, to conclude, exhort you, 
 my brethren, to have always before you the 
 unspeakable happiness of enjoying God. And 
 think withal, that every degree of holiness you 
 neglect, every act of piety you omit, is a jewel 
 taken out of your crown, a degree of blessed- 
 ness lost in the vision of God. Oh, do but 
 always think and act thus, and you will no 
 longer be labouring to compound matters 
 between God and the world ; but, on the 
 
THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN 119 
 
 contrary, be daily endeavouring to give up 
 yourselves more and more unto Him ; you will 
 be always watching, always praying, always 
 aspiring after farther degrees of purity and 
 love, and consequently always preparing your- 
 selves for a fuller sight and enjoyment of that 
 God, in whose presence there is fulness of joy, 
 and at whose right hand there are pleasures for 
 evermore. Amen ! Amen ! 
 
V 
 
 GLORIFYING GOD IN THE FIRE 
 
 'Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires.' — Isaiah 
 xxiv. 15. 
 
 You have oft, my dear hearers, let me tell you, 
 met with affliction ; and I believe you may 
 persuade yourselves affliction is at hand, which 
 makes such deep impressions, when sent and 
 blessed by heaven, as to thaw the very heart. 
 Faith, like some glasses to view objects near 
 us, sets them in so strong a light, that we 
 cannot help being affected with the weight of 
 the impression ; hence the prophets, when 
 under a divine impulse, foresaw things at a 
 distance ; spoke and wrote of them as though 
 actually present. ' They sung both of judg- 
 ment and mercy,' in such strong and persuasive 
 strains, as to convince of the reality of their 
 existence. 
 
 Isaiah, who had a courtly education, being 
 probably brother to a king, seems to excel in 
 
GLORIFYING GOD IN THE FIRE 121 
 
 this kind of speaking ; a person of good natural, 
 as well as acquired abilities, which being 
 tempered by the Holy Ghost, made him a 
 kind of an angel, of an orator, of a writer, and 
 a prophet. When he penned this chapter, he 
 probably foresaw the dreadful calamities coming 
 on the land ; and so strong was his persuasion, 
 that he writes as though he saw the things 
 taking place. ' Behold (says he), the Lord 
 maketh the earth empty, maketh it waste, 
 and turneth it upside down, and scattereth 
 abroad the inhabitants thereof How much 
 is expressed in a few words ! * As with the 
 people, so with the priests,' who, perhaps, on 
 account of their situation in the Church, might 
 think they should be exempted ; but if the 
 priests sin with the people, they shall be 
 punished with the people. ' As with the 
 servant, so with his master ; as with the maid, 
 so with her mistress ; as with the buyer, so 
 with the seller ; as with the lender, so with the 
 borrower ; as with the taker of usury, so with 
 the giver of usury to him.' So you see that 
 the visitation would be universal ; that it should 
 fall on all sorts of people. 
 
122 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 Ver. 3. ' The land shall be utterly emptied 
 and utterly spoiled ' : probably, by a foreign 
 foe taking advantage of the domestic confusions, 
 who shall destroy the fruits of the earth. Some 
 may think, perhaps, that this will never come to 
 pass ; but saith Isaiah, ' The Lord hath spoken 
 it' It pleased God the nation should be devoted 
 to a dreadful stroke : ' The earth mourneth and 
 fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth 
 away, the haughty people of the earth do 
 languish,' whose crimes, one would think, 
 would never be brought to punishment, on 
 account of the eminence of their stations ; 
 they thought themselves out of danger, but 
 they shall feel the common scourge : * For the 
 earth also,' as in the fifth verse, * is defiled 
 under the inhabitants thereof; because they 
 have transgressed the laws, changed the 
 ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant.' 
 
 God did not strike without a cause ; for 
 the earth groaned, as it were, under the sins 
 of the inhabitants, for their neglect of religion, 
 for disowning God, for turning their back on 
 the Most High. ' Therefore hath the curse 
 devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein 
 
GLORIFYING GOD IN THE FIRE 123 
 
 are desolate ' (ver. 6). He does not say it shall 
 be, but it is done. ' The inhabitants of the 
 earth are burned,' with dreadful fire of con- 
 suming vengeance, ' and few men left' All 
 the merry-hearted, that minded nothing but 
 jollity and mirth, even ' they do sigh. The 
 joy of the harp ceaseth ; they shall not drink 
 wine with a song ; strong drink shall be 
 bitter to them that drink it. The (very great) 
 city (the metropolis) is broken down ; every 
 house is shut up, that no man may come in.' 
 The inhabitants forsake it, their houses are 
 left, shut up, because they are afraid some 
 foreign power should come to their destruction. 
 ' There is a crying for wine in the streets ; all 
 joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is 
 gone ' : no plays, no routs, no assemblies 
 now ; ' the city is left desolate,' the court not 
 excepted ; desolation herself takes her seat, 
 and ravages there. ' The earth shall reel to 
 and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed 
 like a cottage ; and the transgression thereof 
 shall be heavy upon it ; and it shall fall, and 
 not rise again.' 
 
 What an amazing scene is this ! Enough 
 
124 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 to fill us with horror, even at this distance of 
 time and place ! But is there no way for 
 escape ? Is there no light breaking through 
 this dark shade ? Blessed be God, there is ; 
 look at ver. 13, you will find in the midst of 
 dangers, God shall lend His presence. ' When 
 thus it shall be ' (pray mind that) ' in the midst 
 of the land among the people,' what follows ? 
 * there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, 
 and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage 
 is done ' ; there shall be a few godly people 
 left, let the devil do what he will ; but there 
 will be but few. You know, after the people 
 have gathered the fruits from the tree, they 
 shake it to bring down the remainder ; and 
 after reaping of corn, there are a few gleanings : 
 so the Lord says, it shall destroy most people, 
 yet in so discriminating a way, that God's people 
 should be safe. 
 
 I cannot well recollect how Archbishop 
 Usher applies this ; but this I am sure he 
 says, there will certainly come a time when 
 the world will undergo the greatest scourge 
 that ever it felt, which shall chiefly fall on the 
 outward-court worshippers, upon those that 
 
GLORIFYING GOD IN THE FIRE 125 
 
 know not God ; God will take particular care 
 of securing His own ; and when the wicked 
 are all destroyed, the Christians shall go to a 
 little city, and there shall dwell in Goshen, till 
 God shall call home His ancient people the 
 Jews. 
 
 So God will take care of His people, that 
 they shall be safe : pray look to ver. 1 4, ' they 
 shall lift up their voice ' ; what, to cry ? 
 No, they have done with prayers, they have 
 done with fasting ; they have lifted up their 
 voice, and often exhorted their neighbours to 
 ' flee from the wrath to come ' ; but now they 
 shall sing for the majesty of God ; when all 
 people are mourning, they shall rejoice. And 
 at the great day, when Jesus Christ pronounces 
 the wicked damned, ' Depart, ye cursed,' God's 
 people will then lift up their voices with majesty 
 and triumph. 
 
 Some years ago, being present at the trial of 
 a very vile person at the Old Bailey, and being 
 in suspense whether he would be brought in 
 guilty or no, when the word ' guilty ' came, and 
 the people heard of it, they did in effect give 
 an eclat to it. Whether just or unjust, I thought 
 
126 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 it was an emblem of that awful day, when all 
 the angels of God and His saints shall say 
 Amen ; when God consigns the wicked to 
 hell : God grant this may not be any of your 
 case ! 
 
 Says the prophet, ' They shall cry aloud 
 from the sea ' : some of them may be on the 
 other side of the water, gone abroad, while 
 others stay at home ; but whether at home or 
 abroad, though they have been banished by 
 persecution, though they have been driven to 
 the other side of the water, which has been the 
 case of many persons before now, ' yet they 
 shall cry aloud ' ; they shall find the same God 
 abroad as they did at home. 
 
 A judge said to a good old Christian that 
 was persecuted in Charles II.'s time, ' I will 
 banish you to America ' ; says she, ' Very well, 
 you cannot send me out of my Father's country.' 
 They shall cry aloud from the sea, ' Wherefore 
 glorify ye the Lord in the fires ' ; if this is the 
 case, the prophet draws the inference : what 
 must they do under these circumstances ? why, 
 they must study how to glorify God in the 
 fires, not how to escape or run away from Him, 
 
GLORIFYING GOD IN THE FIRE 127 
 
 but how to glorify Him ; ' wherefore,' saith He, 
 ' glorify Me,' glorify Me, the Lord, ' in the 
 fires'; not the fire, in the singular number, 
 but in the plural number, fires. 
 
 We are, my brethren, very much mistaken, 
 if we allow ourselves to think we have but one 
 fire to go through. 
 
 These words imply, in order to bring them 
 home to ourselves, that all God's people must 
 be put into the fires. Fire sometimes denotes 
 the love of God, sometimes the work of the 
 Holy Ghost, and very often it denotes affliction ; 
 therefore the apostle talks of a ' fiery trial ' ; 
 and let it be of whatever kind it will, let it 
 be upon mind, body, or estate ; whether it 
 comes from friend or foe, or whether it comes 
 immediately from the hand of God Himself 
 upon the soul, it may well be compared to 
 fire, for you all know that fire scorches : God 
 expects, when He strikes, that we should feel. 
 Of all things in the world to be avoided, a 
 stony heart, or a stupidity under God's afflict- 
 ing hand, is most to be deprecated. I suppose 
 you have heard of the Stoics, with whom the 
 Apostle Paul disputed in the place of public 
 
128 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 traffic in Athens. Paul did not take a walk to 
 Change to talk on trade ; he went to talk about 
 Jesus Christ, if he could meet with one to talk 
 with. I wish the clergy took no other walks 
 but these. 
 
 Everything is to be tried by fire ; we may 
 talk what we please, but we shall never know 
 what metal we are made of, till God puts us 
 into the fire. It is very easy talking what we 
 can bear, and what we can do, but let God lay 
 His hand on us, and we shall see what we are. 
 We are apt to find fault, and be peevish with 
 our friends and relations, under such circum- 
 stances ; they are apt to say. You should be 
 patient, and patient, and patient ; ah ! put 
 these reprovers into the same furnace, and see 
 how patient they will be : they say, There is 
 no putting old men's heads upon young men's 
 shoulders ; and there is no putting old heads 
 upon souls young in experience. The devil 
 knew very well how it was when he said, 
 ' Hast Thou not made an hedge about Job, 
 and about his house, and about all that he 
 hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the 
 work of his hands, and his substance is in- 
 
GLORIFYING GOD IN THE FIRE 129 
 
 creased in the land ; but put forth Thy hand 
 now, and touch all that he hath, and he will 
 curse Thee to Thy face.' So we should all do, 
 if God were to leave us to ourselves, and our 
 faith is not of the right sort. 
 
 How shall we know if our faith is good ? 
 We often pray, Lord, give us Abraham's faith, 
 but never pray, give us Abraham's trial at the 
 same time. I was once in Scotland, at a great 
 man's house, where several rich people were, 
 that knew Jesus Christ : God having blessed 
 my labours at a former visit, I was desired by 
 the nobleman to pray ; and I remember, I 
 prayed the Lord to give us great faith and 
 patience :— -' Oh,' said Satan, as strong as if he 
 had spoke to me, ' do not pray for that, for 
 thou shalt have great trials.' ' Oh,' said I, ' if 
 that be the case, I will turn the devil's prayer 
 against himself ' ; and I prayed, ' O Lord, give 
 us great grace, and never mind what trials.' 
 Often, when we are under temptations, God 
 takes us at our words : ' Oh,' says one, ' what a 
 prayer I had, I prayed for faith and patience ; 
 I was upon the mount, and never thought of 
 coming down, and feeling a storm again.' 
 
I30 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 Fire, my brethren, not only burns and 
 purges, but you know it separates one thing 
 from another, and is made use of in chemistry 
 and mechanical businesses. What could we 
 do without fire ? It tries metal, to purge it. 
 God Almighty knows, we are often purged 
 more in one hour by a good sound trial, than 
 by a thousand manifestations of His love. It 
 is a fine thing to come purified, to come 
 pardoned, out of the furnace of affliction ; it 
 is intended to purge us, ' to separate the 
 precious from the vile, the chaff from the 
 wheat ' ; and God, in order to do this, is 
 pleased to put us into one fire after another, 
 which makes me love to see a good man under 
 afflictions, because it teaches something of the 
 work of God in the heart. 
 
 I remember, some years ago, when I first 
 preached in the north of England, at Shields, 
 near Newcastle, I went into a glass-house, and 
 standing very attentive, I saw several masses 
 of burning glass, of various forms. The work- 
 man took one piece of glass and put it into 
 one furnace, then he put it into a second, and 
 then into a third. When I asked him, ' Why 
 
GLORIFYING GOD IN THE FIRE 131 
 
 do you put this into so many fires ? ' he 
 answered, *0h, sir, the first was not hot enough, 
 nor the second, and therefore we put it into 
 the third, and that will make it transparent.' 
 
 Taking leave of him in a proper manner, it 
 occurred to me, this would make a good 
 sermon. Oh, thought I, does this man put this 
 glass into one furnace after another, that we 
 may see through it ? Oh, may God put me into 
 one furnace after another, that my soul may 
 be transparent ; that I may see God as He is ! 
 My brethren, we need to be purged. How 
 apt are we to want to go to heaven upon a 
 feather bed ! many go lying upon beds of pain 
 and languishing, which is the King's highway 
 thither. You know there are some ways in 
 London called the king's road, and they are 
 finely gravelled, but the King's road to heaven 
 is strewed with crosses and afflictions. We 
 are all apt to think well of being Christians ; 
 it is very pretty talking of being Christians, 
 till we are put into one furnace after another. 
 * Think it not strange,' saith the apostle, * con- 
 cerning the fiery trial which is to try you.' 
 What must I do ? Why, since I must be in 
 
132 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 the fire, I must thank my corruptions for it ; 
 God will not put you or me into the fire if 
 there were not something to be purged away ; 
 the grand thing is to learn to glorify God in 
 the fire. * Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in 
 the fire.' 
 
 When do we glorify Him ? When we 
 endeavour to get such grace from the Lord 
 that we may not dishonour Him when we are 
 under the cross, and therefore we glorify God 
 in the fire when we quietly endure it as a 
 chastisement for our sins. If you keep watch 
 now, and live near to God, you will never find 
 that you are put into a fire, but you first 
 brought yourselves into it ; and I do verily 
 believe from my heart that our sin is always 
 to be seen in our punishment. If any man 
 part from a child that he loves dearly, upon 
 examination he will say, ' I find, now the crea- 
 ture's gone, that the ivy twined too much 
 about the oak.' And then he turns off ; ' Ah ! ' 
 says he, ' God has met with me now.' And 
 you will find in all the Old and New Testa- 
 ment, that the afflictions of God's people were 
 suitable to their faults : Jacob was over-per- 
 
GLORIFYING GOD IN THE FIRE 133 
 
 suaded by his mother to get the blessing by a 
 lie ; but he was a simple-hearted poor creature. 
 Some persons think nothing of a lie ; if they 
 can but get by it, they do not mind it ; but an 
 honest man will shun it. Jacob argues with 
 his mother against it ; 'Oh/ says she, ' the curse 
 be on me, my son ! ' Oh, dreadful ! for a good 
 woman to say so. Doubtless, she was per- 
 suaded God would give Jacob the blessing, 
 but she took a wrong way to obtain it ; she 
 might have waited for the blessing to come 
 with a blessing. How did God punish Jacob ? 
 Why, in a night afterwards poor Jacob was 
 imposed upon by a wrong wife, he got a Leah 
 instead of a Rachel. The poor creature was 
 imposed upon there, and so all along almost 
 to the end of his life ; he had a furnace of 
 affliction. Happy they who pray in the fur- 
 nace, ' Lord, let me know why Thou dost con- 
 tend with me.' Therefore God sends this 
 message to Eli by Samuel, ' The thing that 
 thou knowest,' seems to me to refer to his too 
 great lenity to his sons : ' the thing that thou 
 knowest ' ; thou dost not act like a magistrate. 
 These sons were the means of bringing a judg- 
 
134 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 ment on his house, and breaking their father's 
 neck. God Almighty keep us from bringing a 
 rod upon ourselves ! 
 
 We glorify God in the fire, when we bear it 
 patiently. It is a dreadful thing when we are 
 saying with Cain, ' My punishment is greater 
 than I can bear ' ; but the language of a soul 
 that glorifies God in the fire is this, * Shall I, 
 Lord, shall I, a sinful man, complain for the 
 punishment of my sins ? ' It is a glorious thing 
 when we can say with a good man, one of 
 whose particular friends told me more than 
 once, that when he was racked with pain, and 
 groaning all night with trouble, he would often 
 say, ' Lord, I groan ; Lord, I groan ; Lord, I 
 groan ; but. Lord Jesus, I appeal to Thee, 
 Thou knowest I do not grumble.' Then we 
 glorify God in the fire, when, though we feel 
 pain and anguish, we at the same time say, 
 ' Lord, we deserve this and ten thousand times 
 more.' 
 
 We glorify God in the fire also, when we are 
 really and fully persuaded, God will not put us 
 in the fire but for our good, and His own 
 glory. I am afraid some people think God 
 
GLORIFYING GOD IN THE FIRE 135 
 
 does as some cheating apothecaries, that bring 
 five things when they need not bring but one, 
 especially when they have some silly patients 
 that love to be taking physic ; they send one 
 after another, when, perhaps, the best thing 
 would be to throw them all away. So we 
 think of God ; but it is a mistake ; He never 
 sends one but what is necessary, and something 
 to be purged away. 
 
 We glorify God in the fire, when we say, 
 * Lord, do not let the fire go out till it has 
 purged away all my dross.' Then we glorify 
 God when we wish for the good of the fire, and 
 not to have it extinguished ; when the soul can 
 say, * Here I am, my God, do with me as 
 seemeth good in Thy sight. I know I shall 
 not have one stroke but Thou wilt give me a 
 plaster, and let me know wherefore Thou con- 
 tendest with me.' 
 
 We glorify God in the fire, when we are 
 content to say, * I know not what God does 
 with me now, but I shall know hereafter.' Do 
 you tell your children that are five years old 
 the reason of things ? No. And do you 
 think God will tell us ? ' What shall this man 
 
136 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 do ? ' said the disciple ; * What is that to 
 thee?' saith Christ, 'follow thou Me.' You 
 glorify God in the fire, when you are content 
 to walk by faith, and not by sight. 
 
 You glorify God in the fire, when you are 
 not grumbling, but humbly submitting to His 
 will : a humble spirit walks not in sulkiness 
 and stubbornness. There are some spirits too 
 stout, they will not speak. When that awful 
 message was brought to Eli, what does he say, 
 ' It is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him 
 good ' ; let my children be killed, whatever be 
 done, it is the Lord's doing ; only, Lord, save 
 my soul at last. 
 
 We glorify God in the fire, when in the 
 midst of the fire we can sing God's high 
 praises. Thus the children of Israel glorified 
 the Lord ; the song of the three children in the 
 fiery furnace is a sweet song, as are all that are 
 made in the fire : ' O all the works of the Lord, 
 praise and magnify Him for ever ! ' 
 
 Then we glorify God in the fire, when we 
 rejoice in Him, when we not only think, but 
 know it best, and can thank God for striking 
 us ; can thank God for whipping us ; can bless 
 
GLORIFYING GOD IN THE FIRE 137 
 
 God for not letting us alone ; thank God for 
 not saying, ' Let him alone ' : this is to glorify 
 God in the fire. * Not only so,' saith the 
 apostle, ' but we glory in tribulation, knowing 
 that tribulation worketh patience.' 
 
 In a word, we glorify the Lord in the fire, 
 when we have in exercise, patience, meekness, 
 humility ; learning more to distrust ourselves, 
 having a deeper knowledge of our own weak- 
 ness, and of God's omnipotence and grace. 
 Happy when we can look back and say, ' Thus 
 have I been enabled to glorify God in the fire.' 
 Who can put his hand to his heart, and say, ' I 
 have glorified God in the fire as I ought ? ' 
 Instead of that, I am afraid the soul must say, 
 that instead of being thankful and resigned, ' I 
 have been fretful ; and because I will not find 
 fault with myself, nor let the world know I find 
 fault with God, I find fault with all about me.' 
 Did you never find yourself in such a humour 
 when your spirits were low ? I heard a good 
 man once speak on those words, ' They shall 
 bring forth fruit in old age' : 'Oh, the fruit,' said 
 he, ' is peevishness ' ; I thought it was the infir- 
 mity of old age, the fruit of which ought to be 
 
138 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 heavenly-mindedness, deadness to the world, 
 and a liveliness to God. 
 
 My brethren, let us humble ourselves to- 
 night, and let us be ashamed and abashed 
 before God, and wonder He hath not struck us 
 into hell when we have been complaining the 
 fire was too hot. Let us weep, let us weep, 
 let us weep for our stubbornness. Happy they 
 who are used to be put into the fire betimes ! 
 ' It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his 
 youth.' Some years ago, when I was at the 
 Orphan-house, they told me they were going 
 to yoke two steers together, one sturdy and 
 old, the other a little one ; on which they no 
 sooner put the yoke, but he kicked once or 
 twice, and then bore it very well. Oh, thought 
 I, it is a good thing to have the yoke betimes. 
 
 Are any of you now in the furnace, are any 
 of you troubled, or can any of you say, * I have 
 no trouble ? ' A calm is sometimes the fore- 
 runner of a storm ; thank God, you are not in 
 the fire ; surely you have been in the fire. 
 There is the devil's fire, the fires of ' the lust of 
 the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of 
 life ' ; God help you to come out of these fires. 
 
GLORIFYING GOD IN THE FIRE 139 
 
 lest they damn your souls for ever. You must 
 be put either in the devil's fire or God's fire, 
 and the devil's fires are hottest, because there 
 is no God to support under the trouble they 
 bring upon the soul. Oh, what a dreadful thing 
 it is to be in the devil's fire continually, and to 
 go out of the fire of the devil here to burn with 
 the devil in hell hereafter !- 
 
 If there are any of you in this case. Lord 
 Jesus Christ shorten them, Lord Jesus Christ 
 sanctify His afflictions to His people, as He did 
 to one of the prisoners last Wednesday ! 
 How sweetly he behaved ! While the others 
 were cursing and swearing, tossing up who 
 should sit on the right hand in the cart, he 
 was glorifying God, thanking God he was sent 
 there, and going to be executed. ' God,' saith 
 he, ' hath stopped me ; I might have gone on in 
 sin to ruin. Oh, send to my father, go to him, 
 warn him to " flee from the wrath to come." ' 
 Oh, remember, fire hardens as well as softens ; 
 and if you are not better by afflictions, you 
 will be worse ; and, indeed, you will know you 
 cannot come out of the furnace as you went 
 in, you will either be hardened or else be 
 
I40 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 purified ; and if this be the case, the Lord 
 Jesus Christ help you to bear the fire now, 
 that you may never be cast into the fire of hell. 
 God haste you ; hasten, you that are out of the 
 devil's fire, to flee ; flee, ye weary souls, to Jesus 
 Christ ; flee to the Lamb of God, from hell to 
 heaven, as far as you can from these hellish 
 fires, to the fire of His blessed merit and love. 
 Happy you that have got into Christ's fire ! 
 Happy you that have found His fires in your 
 souls ! I believe many souls have ! The Lord 
 Jesus Christ help you to glorify Him in 
 whatever fires He shall be pleased to send 
 you, and into whatever furnaces He shall be 
 pleased to put you. We shall then sing ' the 
 Church triumphant,' much better than we sing 
 to-night ; we shall see Jesus Christ ready to 
 help us when we are in the furnace. Oh, that 
 this thought may make every poor sinner say, 
 ' By the help of God, I will be a Christian ; by 
 the help of God, if I must burn, it shall be 
 burning with the love of Christ. I will say 
 then, O Lord, glorify Thyself by snatching me 
 as a brand from the devil's fire.' Oh, that this 
 might be the cry of every heart ! 
 
GLORIFYING GOD IN THE FIRE 141 
 
 I am going to ask a favour of you to-night 
 which I never did before, and perhaps, may 
 not again for some time. I have had com- 
 plaints made to me by the persons that take 
 care of the poor, that the poor's stock is very 
 low ; though I cannot speak on Sunday 
 night, yet I will speak a word to the poor 
 on Wednesday evening. There are numbers 
 of poor that are ready to perish, and if you 
 drop something to them in love, God will take 
 care to repay you when you come to judgment. 
 We shall not only glorify God by a submission 
 to His will when He is putting us in the fire, 
 but in doing any good, when we lay all the 
 glory at the foot of Jesus ; which God grant 
 for Christ's sake. Amen. 
 
VI 
 
 JACOB S LADDER : A FAREWELL SERMON 
 
 ' And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, 
 and the top of it reached to heaven : and behold the angels of 
 God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord 
 stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy 
 father, and the God of Isaac : the land whereon thou liest, to 
 thee will I give it, and to thy seed ; and thy seed shall be as 
 the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the 
 west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south : and in 
 thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be 
 blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in 
 all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into 
 this land ; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that 
 which I have spoken to thee of^' — Genesis xxviii. 12-15. 
 
 The wise man observes, that ' in the multitude 
 of dreams there are many vanities,' being often 
 the effects of a peculiar disorder of body, or 
 owing to some disturbance of the mind. They 
 whose nervous system has been long relaxed, 
 who have had severe domestic trials, or have 
 been greatly affected by extraordinary occur- 
 rences, know this to be true by their own 
 experience. But however this may be, there 
 
 have been, and possibly may be still, dreams 
 142 
 
JACOB'S LADDER 143 
 
 that have no manner of dependence on the 
 indisposition of the body, or other natural 
 cause, but seem to bring a divine sanction 
 with them, and make peculiar impressions on 
 the party, though this was more frequent 
 before the canon of Scripture was closed 
 than now. 
 
 God spake to His people in a dream, in 
 a vision of the night ; witness the subject of 
 our present meditation, a dream of the patriarch 
 Jacob, when going forth as a poor pilgrim 
 with a staff in his hand, from his father's 
 house, deprived of his mother's company and 
 instruction, persecuted by an elder brother, 
 without attendants or necessaries, only leaning 
 on an invisible Power. I need not inform you 
 in how extraordinary a way he got the blessing, 
 which provoked his brother to such a degree, 
 as determined him to be the death of Jacob, as 
 soon as ever his aged father had dropped. To 
 what a height did this wicked man's envy rise 
 when he said, ' The days of mourning for my 
 father will soon come.' And what then ? 
 ' Why, though I have some compassion for 
 the old man, and therefore will not lay violent 
 
144 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 hands upon my brother while my father is 
 alive, yet I am resolved to kill him before my 
 father is cold in his grave.' This is the very 
 spirit of Cain, who talked to his brother, and 
 then slew him. This coming to the ears of 
 his mother, she tells the good old patriarch her 
 husband, who, loving peace and quietness, takes 
 the good advice of the weaker vessel, and 
 orders Jacob to go to his mother's brother, 
 Laban, and stay a little while out of Esau's 
 sight (perhaps out of sight, out of mind), and 
 by and by probably, said he, thou mayest 
 come to thy father and mother again in peace 
 and safety. Jacob, though sure of the blessing 
 in the end, by his father's confirmation of it, 
 yet prudently makes use of proper means ; 
 therefore he obeyed his parents : and woe, woe 
 be to those who think a parent's blessing not 
 worth their asking for ! Having had his 
 mother's blessing, as well as his father's, 
 without saying, ' I will try it out with my 
 brother, I will let him know that I am not 
 afraid of him,' he views it as the call of God, 
 and, like an honest, simple pilgrim, went out 
 from Beersheba towards Haran. Was it not 
 
JACOB'S LADDER 145 
 
 a little unkind in his parents not to furnish 
 him with some necessaries and conveniences ? 
 When the servant was sent to fetch a wife for 
 Isaac, he had a great deal of attendance ; why 
 should not Jacob have it now ? His father 
 might have sent him away with great parade ; 
 but I am apt to believe this did not suit 
 Jacob's real pilgrim spirit. He was a plain 
 man, and dwelt in tents, when, perhaps, he 
 might have dwelt under cedar roofs ; he chose 
 a pilgrim's life, and prudence directed him to go 
 thus in a private manner, to prevent increasing 
 Esau's envy, and giving the fatal blow. 
 
 Methinks I see the young pilgrim weeping 
 when he took his leave of his father and 
 mother. He went on foot, and they that are 
 acquainted with the geography of the place, 
 say that the first day of his journey he walked 
 not less than forty English miles. What 
 exercise must he have had all that way ! No 
 wonder, therefore, that by the time the sun 
 was going down, poor Jacob felt himself very 
 weary, for we are told, ver. 11,' that he lighted 
 upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, 
 because the sun was set.' There is a particular 
 
146 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 emphasis to be put upon this term, ' a certain 
 place ' ; he saw the sun going down, he was a 
 stranger in a strange land. 
 
 You that are born in England can have very 
 little idea of it, but persons that travel in the 
 American woods can form a more proper idea, 
 for you may there travel a hundred and a 
 thousand miles, and go through one continued 
 tract of tall green trees, like the tall cedars of 
 Lebanon. And the gentlemen of America, 
 from one end to the other, are of such an 
 hospitable temper, as I have not only been 
 told, but have found among them upwards of 
 thirty years, that they would not let public 
 houses be licensed, that they may have an 
 opportunity of entertaining English friends. 
 May God, of His infinite mercy, grant this 
 union may never be dissolved ! 
 
 Well, Jacob got to a certain place, and 
 perhaps he saw a good tree that would serve 
 him for a canopy. However, this we are told, 
 he tarried there all night because the sun was 
 set, and he took of the stones of that place, 
 and put them for his pillow, and laid down in 
 that place to sleep ; hard lodgings for him who 
 
JACOB'S LADDER 147 
 
 was used to lie otherwise at home ! I do not 
 hear him say, ' I wish I were got back to my 
 mother again, I wish I had not set out ' ; but 
 upon the hard ground and hard pillow he lies 
 down. I believe never poor man slept sweeter 
 in his life, for it is certainly sweet sleep when 
 God is near us ; he did not know but his 
 brother might follow and kill him while he 
 was asleep, or that the wild beasts might 
 devour him. In America, when they sleep in 
 the woods — and I expect to have some such 
 sleeping times in them before a twelvemonth 
 is over — we are obliged to make a fire to 
 keep the beasts from us. I have often said 
 then, and I hope I shall never forget it, when 
 I rise in the morning, this fire in the woods, 
 that keeps the wild beasts from hurting us, 
 is like the fire of God's love, that keeps the 
 devil from hurting us. Thus weary and 
 solitary he falls asleep, and sweetly dreams 
 — ' and behold.' I do not remember many 
 passages of Scripture where the word ' behold ' 
 is repeated so many times in so short a space 
 as in the passage before us. Doubtless, the 
 Lord would have us particularly take notice 
 
148 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 of it, even us upon whom the ends of the 
 world are come. ' Behold, a ladder set upon 
 the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven ; 
 and behold the angels of God ascending 
 and descending on it. And behold the 
 Lord stood above it ' ; so here are three 
 ' beholds ' in a very few lines. Was there 
 anything very extraordinary in that ? Perhaps 
 the deists would say, * Your patriarch v^as 
 tired, and dreamed among other things of a 
 ladder.' Yes, he did ; but this dream was of 
 God ; and how kind was He to meet him 
 at the end of the first day's journey, to 
 strengthen and animate him to go forward 
 in this lonesome pilgrimage ! 
 
 This ladder is reckoned by some to denote 
 the providence of God. It was let down as 
 it were from heaven, particularly at this time, 
 to poor Jacob, that he might know that, 
 however he was become a pilgrim, and left 
 his all, all for God's glory, that God would 
 take care for his comfort, and give His angels 
 charge over him, to keep him in all his ways, 
 which was denoted by the angels ascending 
 and descending upon the ladder. Some 
 
JACOB'S LADDER 149 
 
 think that particular saints and countries 
 have particular guardian angels, and therefore 
 that the angels that ascended were those 
 that had the particular charge of that place, 
 so far as Jacob had come ; that the angels 
 that descended were another set of angels, 
 sent down from heaven to guard him in his 
 future journey ; perhaps this is more a fancy 
 than the Word of God. However, I very much 
 like the observation of good Mr Burkitt,^ 
 ' Why should we dispute whether every 
 individual believer has got a particular angel, 
 when there is not one believer but has got 
 guards of angels to attend him ? ' which are 
 a great deal better than a great many servants, 
 that prove our plagues, and, instead of waiting 
 upon us, make us wait upon them. 
 
 But, my dear hearers, I do not know one 
 spiritual commentator but agrees that this 
 ladder was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ ; 
 and that as Jacob was now banished from 
 his father's house, and while sleeping upon 
 
 1 The Rev. William Burkitt (1650- 1703), vf\\ost Expository 
 Notes, with Practical Observations on the New Testament, 
 published in 1724, were frequently reprinted during Whitefield's 
 life. 
 
ISO WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 a hard, cold stone, God was pleased not only 
 to give him an assurance that He would be 
 with him in the way, but gave him a blessed 
 sight of Jesus Christ, in whom Jacob believed. 
 
 A ladder, you know, is something by which 
 we climb from one place to another ; hence, 
 in condescension to our weak capacities, God 
 ordered a ladder to be let down, to show us 
 that Christ is the way to heaven ; ' I am the 
 way, the truth, and the life ; I am the door,' 
 says He ; ' neither is there salvation in any 
 other, for there is no other name given under 
 heaven whereby we must be saved.' 
 
 The deists, who own a God, but deny His 
 Son, dare go to God out of Christ ; but 
 Jacob is here taught better ; how soon does 
 God reveal the Gospel unto him ! Here is 
 a ladder, by which God preaches to us. If 
 you have a mind to climb from earth to 
 heaven, you must get up by the Son of God ; 
 no one ever pointed out a proper way to 
 heaven for us but Himself. When Adam 
 and Eve fell from God, a flaming sword 
 turned every way to keep them from the 
 tree of life ; but Jesus alone is a new and 
 
JACOB'S LADDER 151 
 
 living way, not only to the holy of holies 
 below, but into the immediate presence of 
 God ; and that we might know that He was 
 a proper Saviour, the top of it reached to 
 heaven. If it had stopped short, Jacob might 
 have said, ' Ah ! the ladder is within a little 
 way of heaven, but does not quite reach it ; 
 if I climb to the top, I shall not get there, 
 after all.' But the top reached to heaven, 
 to point out the divinity and exaltation of 
 the Son of God ; such a Saviour became us, 
 who was God, God over all, blessed for 
 evermore. And therefore the Arian scheme 
 is most uncomfortable and destructive ; to 
 talk of Christ as a Saviour that is not God, 
 is no Christ at all. I would turn deist 
 to-morrow, if I did not know that Christ 
 was God : ' but cursed is the man that builds 
 his faith upon an arm of flesh.' If Christ 
 be God, the Arians and Socinians, by their 
 own principles, are undone for ever ; but Jesus 
 Christ is very God and very man, begotten 
 (not made) of the Father : God, of His 
 infinite mercy, write His divinity deep in our 
 hearts ! 
 
152 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 The bottom of the ladder reached to the 
 earth ; this points out to us the humiliation 
 of the blessed Lord. For us men He came 
 down from heaven ; we pray to, and for, a 
 descending God. All the sufferings which 
 our Lord voluntarily exposed Himself to 
 were that He might become a ladder for 
 you and me to climb up to heaven by. 
 ' Come down from the cross,' say they, ' and 
 we will believe Thee ' ; if He had, what would 
 have become of us ? Did they believe on 
 Him when He was dead, buried, and risen 
 again ? No. Some people say, ' If Christ 
 were here, oh dear, we should love Him ' : 
 just as much as they did when they turned 
 Him out of doors, when He came down 
 before. If He had come down from the 
 cross, they would have hung Him up again. 
 Oh, that you and I might make His cross 
 a step to glory ! 
 
 As the top of the ladder pointed out His 
 exaltation, the bottom His humiliation, the 
 two sides of the ladder being joined together, 
 point out the union of the Deity and manhood 
 in the person of Christ ; and that as this 
 
JACOB'S LADDER 153 
 
 ladder had steps to it, so, blessed be God, 
 Jesus Christ has found out a way whereby 
 we may go, step after step, to glory. The 
 first step is the righteousness of Christ, the 
 active and passive obedience of the Redeemer ; 
 no setting one foot upon this ladder without 
 coming out of ourselves, and relying wholly 
 upon a better righteousness than our own. 
 Again, all the other steps are the graces of 
 the blessed Spirit ; therefore, you need not 
 be afraid of our destroying inward holiness 
 by preaching the doctrine of the imputation of 
 Christ's righteousness ; that one is the founda- 
 tion, the other the superstructure ; to talk of 
 my having the righteousness of Christ imputed 
 to my soul, without my having the holiness of 
 Christ imparted to it, and bringing forth the 
 fruits of the Spirit as an evidence of it, is only 
 deceiving ourselves. I would never preach upon 
 imputed righteousness, without speaking of in- 
 ward holiness, for if you do not take a great deal 
 of care, you will unawares, under a pretence of 
 exalting Christ, run into Antinomianism, depths 
 that Calvin never went into ; probably you will 
 imbitter other spirits that do not agree with 
 
154 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 you, and at the same time hurt the fruits of 
 the Spirit. May God give you clear heads, 
 and at the same time warm hearts. 
 
 On the ladder, Jacob saw the angels of God 
 ascending and descending. What is that for? 
 To show that they are ministering spirits, sent 
 forth to minister to them that shall be heirs of 
 salvation ; therefore we find them attending 
 upon Christ. We do not hear much of them 
 after the canon of Scripture was closed ; but 
 as soon as ever Christ was born, the angels 
 sang. Till then we never hear of their singing 
 below, as far as I can judge, since the creation. 
 Then the sons of God shouted for joy. When 
 Eve reached out her hand to pluck the fatal 
 apple, and gave to Adam, earth groaned, and 
 the angels hung, as it were, their harps upon 
 the willows ; but when Christ, the second 
 Adam, was born, the angels sang at midnight, 
 ' Glory to God in the highest' I pray to God 
 we may all die singing that anthem, and sing 
 it to all eternity. 
 
 After His temptation, they came and minis- 
 tered to Him, as some think, food for His body, 
 and wished Him joy and comfort in His soul : 
 
JACOB'S LADDER 155 
 
 and in His agonies in the garden an angel 
 strengthened Him. After His resurrection, 
 two appeared again, one at the head and 
 another at the foot of His sepulchre, to let 
 those that looked into the sepulchre know that 
 they would not only wait upon the head, but 
 the foot ; and the angels are glad to wait upon 
 the meanest of the children of God. When 
 our Lord departed, a cloud received Him out 
 of their sight, which probably was a cloud of 
 angels. Having led His disciples out of the 
 city, He blessed them, and then away He went 
 to heaven ; may that blessing rest upon you 
 and your children ! 
 
 This intimates that God makes use of angels 
 to attend His people, especially when they are 
 departing into eternity. Perhaps, part of our 
 entertainment in heaven will be, to hear the 
 angels declare how many millions of times they 
 have assisted and helped us. Our Lord says : 
 angels do there behold the face of the Father 
 of His little ones ; and therefore I love to talk 
 to the lambs of the flock ; and why should I not 
 talk to them whom angels think it their honour 
 to guard ? And if it were not for this, how 
 
156 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 would any children escape the dangers they 
 are exposed to in their tender age? It is 
 owing to the particular providence of God 
 that any one child is brought to manhood ; 
 therefore I cannot help admiring that part of 
 the Litany, in which we pray, that God would 
 take care not only of the grown people, but of 
 children also: God take care of yours both in 
 body and soul. 
 
 But what gave the greatest comfort to Jacob 
 was that the Lord was on the top of the 
 ladder ; which I do not know whether it would 
 have been so, if Jacob had not seen God there. 
 It comforts me, I assure you, to think, that 
 whenever God shall call for me, I shall be 
 carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. And 
 I have often thought that whenever that time 
 comes, that blessed, long longed-for moment 
 comes, as soon as ever they have called upon 
 me, my first question will be to them, ' Where 
 is my dear Master ? Where is Jesus ? Where 
 is that dear Emanuel, who has loved me with 
 an everlasting love, and has called me by His 
 grace, and has sent you to fetch me home to 
 see His face? ' 
 
JACOB'S LADDER 157 
 
 But I believe you and I shall have no occa- 
 sion to ask where He is, for He will come to 
 meet us ; He will stand at the top of His 
 ladder, to take His pilgrims in ; so God was at 
 the top of the ladder, pray mind that. He 
 appears not sitting, as He is often represented 
 in heaven, but standing : as much as to say, 
 * Here, here, Jacob, thy brother wants to kill 
 thee ; here thou art come out without a servant, 
 art lying upon a hard bed, but here I am 
 ready in order to preserve thee ; I stand above, 
 and I see thy weariness, I see the fatigue and 
 hardships thou hast yet to undergo, though 
 thou dost not see it thyself; thou hast thrown 
 thyself upon My providence and protection, and 
 I will give thee the word of a God, that I will 
 stand by thee.' ' The Lord stood above ' ; if 
 He had said nothing, that would have been 
 enough to have shown His readiness to help. 
 
 But God speaks, behold-, well might this be 
 ushered in with the word behold \ a ladder set 
 on the earth, and behold the angels of God 
 ascending and descending on it ; and, above 
 all, behold God speaking from it ! What doth 
 He say? ' I am the Lord God of Abraham thy 
 
158 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 father. Oh ! happy they that can say, ' The 
 Lord God of my father ' ; happy you that have 
 got fathers and mothers in heaven. 
 
 I remember, about twenty-five years ago, 
 as I was travelling from Bristol, I met with a 
 man on the road, and being desirous to know 
 whether he was serious or not, I began to put 
 in a word for Christ (and God forbid I should 
 travel with anybody a quarter of an hour 
 without speaking of Christ to them). He told 
 me what a wicked creature he had been ; ' But, 
 sir,' says he, ' in the midst of my wickedness, 
 people used to tell me, you have got a good 
 many prayers upon the file for you ; your 
 godly father and mother have prayed very 
 often for you.' And it was the pleasure of 
 God he was wrought upon, and brought to 
 Christ. Lay in a good stock for your children, 
 get a good many prayers in for them ; they 
 may be answered when you are dead and gone. 
 
 ' I am the God of Abraham thy father,' not 
 thy grandfather ; to put him in mind what an 
 honour God would put upon him, to make him 
 as it were the father of the Church. Though 
 you may have instructors, says Paul, you have 
 
JACOB'S LADDER 159 
 
 but one father : ' and the God of Isaac : the 
 land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, 
 and to thy seed.' Amazing, amazing ! you 
 know very well, when persons buy or come to 
 an estate, they usually take possession of it by 
 some ceremony, such as receiving or taking up 
 a piece of dirt, or twig, in their hand, as a sign 
 of their title. Now, says God, ' Poor Jacob, 
 thou dost little think that this very spot of 
 ground that thou liest on to-night, cold and 
 stiff, I intend to give to thee, and thy posterity, 
 for an inheritance.' 
 
 Oh, my brethren, give all to God, and God 
 will give all to you. Who would have thought 
 of this ? probably Jacob did not. It is as if 
 God took a pleasure in seeing His dear children 
 lie on such a hard ground. If he had been on 
 a feather bed, he might not have had such a 
 visit. Thou shalt have now a God to lean 
 upon, 'to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, 
 which shall be as the dust of the earth, and 
 thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to 
 the east, and to the north, and to the south ; 
 and in thee and in thy seed shall all the 
 families of the earth be blessed.' Thus did 
 
 M 
 
i6o WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 heaven balance the loss of the comforts of his 
 father's house, by the discovery of his and his 
 offspring's prosperity, by an interest in the 
 promised seed. 
 
 My particular circumstances call me to 
 observe, and I believe God has done it on 
 purpose to encourage me, that faith, resting on 
 the promise, is easily resigned to the loss of 
 present good ; whereas worldly hearts consider 
 prosperity as a portion ; they do not care if the 
 devil take them hereafter, so they have it now ; 
 and that makes carnal people wonder how we 
 can give up things in this world, for the sake 
 of those not yet born ; but it is to glorify God, 
 and lay a foundation for others' happiness. 
 Here God gives Jacob to know, that hereafter 
 his seed should spread on the east, west, north, 
 and south, his branches should multiply, and 
 at last from his loins should Jesus Christ come ; 
 what for ? 'In whom all the families of the 
 earth should be blessed ' : God Almighty grant 
 we may be blessed in Him ! 
 
 Then if Jacob should say in his heart, hast 
 thou no promise for me ? here is another behold 
 comes in : ' Behold, I am with thee, and will 
 
 I 
 
JACOB'S LADDER i6i 
 
 keep thee in all places whither thou goest.' 
 What a word is this ! thou hast nobody with 
 thee, nothing but a staff (he could not carry 
 much upon his back, like a poor soldier with a 
 knapsack behind, and a little bread in his 
 pocket). Well, saith God, 'I do not despise thee 
 because thou art destitute, but I love thee the 
 better for it ; thy brother Esau longs to kill 
 thee, but if Esau stabs thee, he shall stab thy 
 God first ; I will not only be with thee now, 
 but I will watch every step thou takest, I will 
 be with thee in all places whither thou goest.' 
 As much as to say, ' Jacob, thou art a pilgrim, 
 thy life is to be a moving life, I do not intend 
 thou shall settle and keep in one place ; thy 
 life is to be a life of changes, thou art to move 
 from place to place, but I will be with thee 
 in all places whither thou goest, and thereby 
 it shall be known that I am Jacob's God, and 
 also by My bringing thee again into this 
 land.' He not only assures him of a success- 
 ful journey, whither he was now going, but 
 promises to bring him back once more to 
 see his dear father and mother, and relations, 
 again : * I will bring thee back to this land ' ; 
 
1 62 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 and to confirm his faith and hope, the great God 
 adds, ' I will not leave thee till I have done 
 that I have spoken to thee of ; that is, all the 
 good He had just now promised. Some people 
 promise, but they cannot do it to-day, and 
 they will not do it to-morrow. I have known 
 the world, and have rung the changes of it 
 ever since I have been here ; but, blessed be 
 God, an unchangeable Christ having loved His 
 own, He loved them to the end ; ' I will not 
 leave you till I have performed all things I 
 have promised you ' : may this promise come 
 upon you and your children, and all that God 
 shall call. 
 
 Thus spake the great Jehovah to poor 
 Jacob, just setting out to a strange land, 
 knowing not whither he went. But now God 
 speaks not only to Jacob, but He speaks to 
 you ; and, blessed be the living God, He 
 speaks to me also, less than the least of all ; 
 and as my design is (though I cannot tell but 
 this may be the last opportunity) to speak 
 something to you about my departure ; yet, 
 brethren, my grand design in preaching to you 
 is, to recommend the Lord Jesus Christ to 
 
JACOB'S LADDER 163 
 
 your souls ; and before I go, to make a 
 particular personal application. Give me 
 leave, therefore, to ask you, it may be the last 
 time I may ask many of you, Whether you 
 have ever set your foot upon this blessed 
 ladder, the Son of God ? I ask you in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the name of 
 the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, did you 
 ever set your foot, I say, upon this ladder? 
 that is, did you ever yet believe on Jesus 
 Christ, and come to Him as poor lost sinners, 
 relying upon no other righteousness than that 
 of the Son of God ? 
 
 Perhaps, if you were to speak, some of you 
 would say, 'Away with your ladder ' ; and what 
 will you do then ? Why, say you, * I will 
 climb to heaven without it.' What ladder will 
 you climb upon ? ' Oh, I think to go to heaven 
 because I have been baptised.' That ladder 
 will break under you ; what, a ladder made of 
 water, what are you dreaming of? No : 'Oh, I 
 think I shall go to heaven, because I have done 
 nobody any harm.' What, a ladder made of 
 negative goodness ! No : ' I think to go,' you 
 will say, ' by good works ' : a ladder made of 
 
1 64 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 good works, that has not Christ for its bottom, 
 what is that? 'I think,' say you, 'to go to heaven 
 by my prayers and fastings.' All these are good 
 in their place ; but, my brethren, do not think 
 to climb to heaven by these ropes of sand. If 
 you never before set your foot on Christ, this 
 blessed ladder, God grant this may be the 
 happy time. 
 
 I have been praying before most of you 
 were up, I believe, that God would give me a 
 parting blessing. I remember, soon after I 
 left England last, that a dear Christian friend 
 told me that there was one woman, who came 
 only out of curiosity, that dated her conversion 
 from hearing my last sermon. And, I bless 
 God, I never once left England, but some poor 
 soul has dated their conversion from my last 
 sermon. When I put on my surplice, to come 
 out to read the second service, I thought it was 
 just like a person's being decently dressed to go 
 out to be executed. I would rather, was it the 
 will of God it should be so, than to feel what I 
 do in parting from you, that death would put 
 an end to all ; but I am to be executed again 
 and again, and nothing will support me under 
 
JACOB'S LADDER 165 
 
 the torture, but the consideration of God 
 blessing me to some poor souls. Do pray for 
 me, ye children of God, that God would give 
 us a parting blessing. God help you, young 
 people, to put your foot on this ladder ; do 
 not climb wrong. The devil has got a ladder, 
 but it reaches down to hell ; all the devil's 
 children go down, not up : the bottom of the 
 devil's ladder reaches to the depths of the 
 damned, the top of it reaches to the earth ; 
 and when death comes, then up comes the 
 devil's ladder, to let you down. For God's 
 sake, come away from the devil's ladder ; 
 climb, climb, dear young men. Oh, it delighted 
 me on Friday night at the Tabernacle, when 
 we had a melting, parting sacrament ; and it 
 delighted me this morning to see so many 
 young men at the table ; God add to the 
 blessed number ! Young women, put your 
 feet upon this ladder ; God lets one ladder 
 down from heaven, and the devil brings another 
 up from hell. 'Oh,' say you, ' I would climb up 
 God's ladder, I think it is right, but I shall be 
 laughed at ' : do you think to go to heaven 
 without being laughed at? The Lord Jesus 
 
1 66 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 Christ help you to climb to heaven. Come, 
 climb till you get out of the hearing of their 
 laughter. Oh, trust not to your own righteous- 
 ness, your vows, and good resolutions. 
 
 Some of you, blessed be God, have climbed 
 up this ladder, at least are climbing. Well, I 
 wish you joy ; God be praised for setting your 
 feet on this ladder ; God be praised for letting 
 down this ladder. I have only one word to 
 say to you : for Jesus Christ's sake, and your 
 own too, climb a little faster ; take care the 
 world does not get hold of your heels. It is 
 a shame the children of God do not climb 
 faster ; you may talk what you please, but 
 God's people's lukewarmness is more provoking 
 to Him than all the sins of the nation. We 
 cry out against the sins of the land, would to 
 God we did cry out more of the sins of the 
 saints ; ' I will spew you out of my mouth, 
 because you are lukewarm,' says Christ. If 
 any of you say you cannot climb because 
 you are lame-footed, look to Jesus Christ, my 
 dear friends, and your affliction shall make you 
 climb. And if any of you are coming down 
 the ladder again, the Lord Jesus Christ bless 
 
JACOB'S LADDER 167 
 
 the foolishness of preaching to help you up 
 again. 'Oh/ say you, 'I am giddy, I shall fall'; 
 here, I will give you a rope, be sure lay hold 
 of it ; just as the sailors do when you go 
 aboard a ship, they let down a rope, so God 
 lets down a promise. Climb, climb, then, till 
 you have got higher, into a better climate, and 
 God shall put His hand out by and by, when 
 you get to the top of the ladder, to receive 
 you to Himself Blessed be the living God, I 
 hope and believe I shall meet many of you by 
 and by. 
 
 And now, my brethren, it is time for me to 
 preach my own funeral sermon ; and I would 
 humbly hope that, as a poor sinner, I may put 
 in my claim for what God promised Jacob ; 
 and I do put it in, with full assurance of faith 
 that God will be with me. I am now going 
 for the thirteenth time to cross the Atlantic. 
 When I came from America last, I took my 
 leave of all the Continent, from the one end of 
 the provinces to the other, except some places 
 which we had not then taken. I took my 
 leave for life, without the least design of 
 returning there again, my health was so bad ; 
 
i68 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 and the prospect of getting the Orphan-house 
 into other hands made me say, when I first 
 came over, ' I have no other river to go over 
 than the river Jordan.' 
 
 I thought then of retiring, for I did not 
 choose to appear when my nerves were so 
 relaxed, that I could not serve God as I could 
 wish to do ; but as it hath pleased God to 
 restore my health much, and has so ordered it 
 by His providence, that I intend to give up the 
 Orphan-house, and all the land adjoining, for 
 a public college, I wished to have had a public 
 sanction, but his grace the late Archbishop 
 of Canterbury put a stop to it. They would 
 give me a charter, which was all I desired, 
 but they insisted upon, at least his grace and 
 another did, that I should confine it totally to 
 the Church of England, and that no extempore 
 prayer should be used in a public way in that 
 house, though Dissenters, and all sorts of 
 people, had contributed to it. I would 
 sooner cut my head off than betray my trust, 
 by confining it to a narrow bottom ; I always 
 meant it should be kept upon a broad bottom, 
 for people of all denominations, that their 
 
JACOB'S LADDER 169 
 
 children might be brought up in the fear of 
 God. 
 
 By this means the Orphan-house reverted 
 into my hands ; I have once more, as my 
 health was restored, determined to pursue the 
 plan I had fixed on ; and, through the tender 
 mercies of God, Georgia (which about thirty- 
 two years ago was a desolate place, and when 
 the land, as it was given me by the House of 
 Commons, would have been totally deserted, 
 and the colony have quite ceased, had it not 
 been for the money I have laid out for the 
 Orphan-house, to keep the poor people to- 
 gether), that colony is rising to a most 
 amazing height. I had news last week of 
 the great prosperity of the negroes ; and I 
 hope by the twenty-fifth of March, which is 
 the day, the anniversary day, I laid the first 
 brick, in the year 1739, I say, I hope by 
 that time all things will be finished, and a 
 blessed provision will be made for orphans and 
 poor students that will be brought up there ; 
 it will be a blessed source of provision for the 
 children of God in another part of the world. 
 
 This is a grand design I am going upon ; 
 
lyo WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 this is my visible cause. But I never yet 
 went to them, but God has been pleased to 
 bless my ministration among them ; and 
 therefore, after I have finished the Orphan- 
 house affair, I intend to go all along the 
 Continent by land (which will keep me all 
 the winter and spring), and when I come to 
 the end of it, which will be Canada and New 
 England, then I hope to return again to this 
 place. For, let people say what they will, I 
 have not so much as a single thought of 
 settling abroad, on this side eternity. And 
 I am going in no public capacity ; I shall set 
 out like a poor pilgrim, at my own expense, 
 trusting upon God to take care of me, and to 
 bear my charges ; and I call God to witness, 
 and I must be a cursed devil and hypocrite, 
 to stand here in the pulpit, and provoke God 
 to strike me dead for lying, I never had the 
 love of the world, nor ever felt it one quarter 
 of an hour in my heart, since I was twenty 
 years old. I might have been rich : but 
 though the Chapel is built, and I have a 
 comfortable room to lie in, I assure you I 
 built it at my own expense, it cost nobody 
 
JACOB'S LADDER 171 
 
 but myself anything. I have a watch - coat 
 made me, and in that I shall lie every night 
 on the ground, and may Jacob's God bless 
 me ! 
 
 I will not say much of myself, but when I 
 have been preaching, I have read and thought 
 of those words with pleasure, ' Surely this is 
 the house of God. And I will bring thee 
 again to this land.' Whether that will be my 
 experience or not, blessed be God, I have a 
 better land in view. And, my dear brethren, 
 I do not look upon myself at home till I land 
 in my Father's kingdom ; and if I am to die 
 in the way, if I am to die in the ship, it comforts 
 me that I know I am as clear as the sun, that 
 I go by the will of God : and though people 
 may say, ' Will you leave the world ! Will you 
 leave the Chapel ? ' Oh, I am astonished that 
 we cannot leave everything for Christ ; my 
 greatest trial is, to part with those who are 
 as dear to me as my own soul ; and however 
 others may forget me, as thousands have, and 
 do forget me, yet I cannot forget them. 
 
 And now may Jacob's God be with you ; 
 oh, keep close to God, my dear London friends ; 
 
172 WHITEFIELD'S SERMONS 
 
 I do not bid you keep close to Chapel ; you 
 have done so always. I shall endeavour to 
 keep up the Word of God among you in my 
 absence : I shall have the same persons that 
 managed for me when I was out last, and they 
 sent me word again and again, by letter, that 
 it was remarkable that the Tottenham Court 
 people were always present when ordinances 
 were there. 
 
 You see I went upon a fair bottom ; I might 
 have had a thousand a year out of this place, 
 if I had chose it : when I am gone to heaven 
 you will see what I have got on earth.^ I do 
 not like to speak now, because it may be 
 thought boasting ; but I am sure there are 
 numbers of people here, if they knew what I 
 have, would love me as much as they now hate 
 me. When we come before the great Judge 
 of quick and dead, while I stand before Him, 
 God grant you may not part with me then, it 
 will be a dreadful parting then, it will be worse 
 
 ^ Whitefield died worth about ;^I400, mainly derived from 
 legacies. He left ;!^I330 in legacies to various friends and 
 servants. The Orphan - house, the Tabernacle, and the 
 Tottenham Court Road Chapel were regarded as only held 
 in trust by him. (See Tyerman, ii. 608-9.) 
 
JACOB'S LADDER 173 
 
 then, to go into the fire, to be among the devil 
 and his angels ; God forbid it ! God forbid it ! 
 God forbid it ! Oh, remember that my last 
 words were, come, come to Christ ; the Lord 
 help you to come to Christ ; come to Christ, 
 come to Jacob's God ; God give you faith like 
 Jacob's faith. 
 
 You that have been kind to me, that have 
 helped me when 1 was sick, some of whom are 
 here, that have been very kind to me, may 
 God reward you, my friends, and God forgive 
 my enemies ; God, of His infinite mercy, bless 
 you all. You will be amply provided for, 
 I believe, here. May God spread the Gospel 
 everywhere ; and may God never leave you, 
 nor forsake you. Even so. Lord Jesus. Amen 
 and Amen. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. 
 

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