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The scene of George Whitefield's funeral was the

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Old South First Presbyterian Church in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

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The date was October 2, 1770, and the

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funeral sermon was given by the pastor of

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the Old South Church, Jonathan Parsons, who was

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a close friend of the great Whitefield.

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Parsons' text was Philippians 121, For me to

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live is Christ, and to die is gain.

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The sermon was preached with the body of

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Whitefield lying before the pulpit in an open

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coffin.

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The church in Newburyport is the same today

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as it was in 1770 with the exception

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that the original site of the pulpit has

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been moved to a front wall of the

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church as well as the crypt containing Whitefield's

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remains.

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When I was conducting research for my two

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-volume definitive biography on Whitefield, I found the

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exact location where Whitefield's coffin stood that particular

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day in 1770.

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I sat there one afternoon meditating on the

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events of that dramatic day when Whitefield's coffin

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was the centerpiece of the broad aisle of

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the Old South Church, a church he had

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often preached in himself, the same broad aisle

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that George Washington stood in to call for

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volunteers for the first regiment of the Revolutionary

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War.

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As this year marks the tricentenary of George

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Whitefield's birth, it is important that we restudy

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the life and ministry of Whitefield, for we

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can learn much from him as well as

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learn how God moved in former times, in

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times of spiritual awakening and revival in the

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land.

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Whitefield's often comment was, let the name of

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George Whitefield perish, and perish it has, for

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few really are familiar with his great life

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and ministry.

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I would like to read for us today

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the funeral sermon delivered by Jonathan Parsons on

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that solemn day of October the 2nd, 1770.

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Here now is that sermon.

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Christ became a principle of spiritual life in

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his soul while he was an undergraduate at

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the University in Oxford.

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Before his conversion, he was a Pharisee of

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the Pharisees, as strict as Paul ever was,

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before God met him on his way to

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Damascus, according to his own declaration in his

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last sermon, which I heard him preach at

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Exeter yesterday.

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He was by means of reading, a very

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searching puritanical writer, convinced of the rottenness of

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all duties he had done, and the danger

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of a self-righteous foundation of hope.

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When he heard Christ speak to him in

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the gospel, he cried, Lord, what wilt thou

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have me to do?

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And it seems as if, at that time,

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it had been made known to him that

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he was a chosen vessel to bear the

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name of Jesus Christ through the British nation

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and her colonies, to stand before kings and

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nobles and all sorts of people to preach

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Christ and him crucified.

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From that time, the dawn of salvation had

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living power in his heart, and he had

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an ardent desire to furnish himself for the

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gospel ministry.

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To this end, besides the usual studies at

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the college, he gave himself to reading the

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Holy Scriptures, to meditation and prayer, and particularly,

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he read Mr. Henry's annotations on the Bible

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upon his knees before God.

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Since my first acquaintance with him, which is

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about thirty years ago, I have highly esteemed

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him as an excellent Christian and an eminent

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minister of the gospel.

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A heart so bent for Christ, with such

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a sprightly act of genius, could not admit

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of a stated fixed residence in one place

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as the pastor of a particular congregation, and

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therefore he chose to itinerate from place to

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place and from one country to another, which

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indeed was much better suited to his talents

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than a fixed abode would have been.

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I often considered him as an angel flying

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through the midst of heaven with the everlasting

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gospel to preach unto them that dwell on

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the earth, for he preached the uncorrupted word

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of God and gave solemn warnings against all

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corruptions of the gospel of Christ.

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The late Dr. Grosvenor, upon hearing Whitfield preach

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at Charles Square, Hoxton, expressed himself thus, that

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if the Apostle Paul had preached to this

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auditory, he would have preached in the same

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manner.

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When he came the first time to Boston,

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the venerable Dr. Coleman, with whom I had

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a small acquaintance, condescended to write to me

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that the wonderful man was come, and they

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had a week of Sabbaths, that his zeal

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for Christ was extraordinary, and yet he recommended

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himself to his many thousand hearers by his

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engagedness for holiness and souls.

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I soon had opportunity to observe that wherever

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he flew, like a flame of fire, his

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ministry gave a general alarm to all sorts

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of people, though before they had, for a

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long time, been amazingly sunk into dead formality.

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It was then a time in New England

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when real Christians generally had slackened their zeal

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for Christ and fallen into a remiss and

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careless frame of spirit, and hypocritical professors were

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sunk into a deep sleep of carnal security.

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Ministers and their congregations seemed to be at

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ease, but his preaching appeared to be from

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the heart, though too many who spake the

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same things preached as if it were indifferent

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whether they were received or rejected, we were

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convinced that he believed the message he brought

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to us to be of the last importance.

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Nevertheless, as soon as there was time for

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reflection, the enemies of Christ began to cavil

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and hold up some of his sallies as

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if they were unpardonable faults.

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By such means, he met with a storm

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as tempestuous as the troubled sea that casts

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up mire and dirt.

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Some of every station were too fond of

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their old way of formality to part with

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it for such a despised cause as living

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religion.

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But the Spirit of Christ sent home the

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message of Lord upon the conscience of some

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and shook them off from their false hopes,

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but many began to find fault and some

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to write against his evangelizing through the country

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while others threatened firebrands, arrows, and death.

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Yet God gave room for his intense zeal

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to operate and fit objects appeared wherever he

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went to engage him in preaching Christ and

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him crucified.

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In his repeated visits to America, when his

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services had almost exhausted his animal spirits and

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his friends were ready to cry, spare thyself,

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his hope of serving Christ and winning souls

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to him animated and engaged him to run

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almost any risk.

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Neither did he ever cross the Atlantic on

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an itinerating visitation without visiting his numerous brethren

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here to see how religion prospered amongst them

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and we know that his labors have been

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unwearied among us to the applause of all

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his hearers and through the infinite mercy of

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God his labors have sometimes been crowned with

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great success in the conversion of sinners and

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the edification of saints.

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And though he has often returned from the

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pulpit very feeble after public preaching yet his

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engaging sweetness of conversation changed the suspicions of

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many into passionate love and friendship.

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In many things his example is worthy of

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imitation and if anything he exceeded or came

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short his integrity zeal for God and love

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to Christ and his gospel rendered him in

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extensive usefulness more than equal to any of

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his brethren.

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In preaching here and through most parts of

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America he has been in labors more abundant

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of proving himself a minister of God in

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much patience in afflictions in watchings in fastings

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by pureness by the Holy Ghost by love

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unfeigned as sorrowful yet always rejoicing as having

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nothing yet possessing all things and God that

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comfort those that are cast down has often

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comforted us by his coming and not by

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his coming only but by the consolation wherewith

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he was comforted in us so that we

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could rejoice the more.

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His popularity exceeded all that ever I knew

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and though the asthma was sometimes an obstruction

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to him his delivery and entertaining method was

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so inviting to the last that it would

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command the attention of the vast multitudes of

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his hearers and apprehension of his concern to

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serve the Lord Jesus Christ and do good

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to the souls of men who drew many

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thousands after him who never embraced the doctrines

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he taught.

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He had something so peculiar in his manner

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expressive of sincerity in all he delivered that

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it constrained the most abandoned to think he

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believed what he said was not only true

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but of the last importance to souls and

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by adapted text deduced and instances of the

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grace of God related agreeable thereto often surprised

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his most judicious hearers.

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His labors extended not only to New England

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and many other colonies in British America but

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were eminent and more abundant in Great Britain

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many thousands at his chapel and tabernacle and

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in other places were witnesses that he faithfully

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endeavored to restore the interesting doctrines of the

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reformation and the purity of the church to

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its primitive glory.

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Some among the learned some of the mighty

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and noble have been called by his ministry

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to testify for the gospel of the grace

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of God the force of his reasonings against

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corrupt principles and the easy method he had

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of exposing the danger of them have astonished

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the most that heard him in all places

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where he preached how did he lament and

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withstand the modern unscriptural notions of religion and

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salvation that were palmed upon the churches of

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every denomination the affecting change from primitive purity

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to fatal heresy together with the sad effects

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of it in mere formality and open wickedness

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would often make him cry as the prophet

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did in another case how is the gold

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become dim and the most fine gold changed

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how has the lord covered the daughter of

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with a cloud in his anger and cast

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down from heaven to earth the beauty of

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Israel it is no wonder that this man

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of God shouldn't meet with enemies and with

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great opposition to his ministry for hell trembled

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before him it is not more than may

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be always expected of the devil that he

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should stir up his servants to load the

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most eminent ministers of Christ with calumny and

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most impudent lies and represent them as the

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filth and offscoring of all things all this

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may be and often has been done under

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a pretense of great concern for the honor

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of Christ and the preservation of the gospel

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order when satan totters and begins to fall

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he can find men enough to cry the

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church is in danger and that he knows

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is sufficient with many to hide his cloven

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foot and make him appear as an angel

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of light through a variety of such labors

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and trials our worthy friend and extensively useful

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servant of Christ Mr. Whitfield passed both in

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England and America but the Lord was his

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son to guide and animate him and his

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shield to defend and help him unto the

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end neither did he count his own life

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dear so that he might finish his course

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with joy and the ministry that he had

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received of the Lord Jesus to testify the

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gospel of the grace of God the last

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sermon that he preached though under the disadvantage

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of a stage in the open air was

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delivered with such clearness pathos and eloquence as

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to please and surprise the thousands and as

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he had been confirmed by the grace of

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God many years before and had been waiting

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and hoping for his last change he then

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declared that he hoped it was the last

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time he should ever preach doubtless he then

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had such clear views of the blessedness of

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open vision and the complete fruition of God

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in Christ that he felt the pleasures of

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heaven in his raptured soul which made his

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countenance shine like the unclouded sun