George Whitefield: The Life & Times of the Great Evangelist of the 18th Century Revival – 2 vol set (Arnold Dallimore)

 George Whitefield

The Life & Times of the Great Evangelist of the 18th Century Revival (2 vol set)

One of the most important biographies of a Christian man ever written. Makes for thrilling family reading, as the life story of this magnificent evangelist is a story hardly paralleled in history. You can count on one hand the men used as powerfully as Whitefield, since the time of the Apostles.

Whitefield preached to the largest congregations ever seen in American. Vol. 1 covers from his birth in 1714 to 1740, his 2nd visit to America, showing us the glorious work of God in The Great Awakening

God’s accomplishments through George Whitefield are to this day virtually unparalleled. Even during his lifetime, Whitefield was considered “the most brilliant and popular preacher the modern world has ever known.” In the wake of his fearless preaching, revival swept across the British Isles, and the Great Awakening transformed the American colonies.

When Whitefield died at age 55, he had preached 30,000 sermons. His hearers included not only the poor and the uneducated, but prominent English aristocrats and American statesmen such as David Hume and Benjamin Franklin.

Christians today continue to take courage from Whitefield’s humility and deep spirituality. A founder of Methodism, he yielded his leadership to John Wesley rather than risk splitting the movement, thus revealing his fervent commitment to the gospel of Christ rather than to personal plans or hopes.

Contents of Volume 1:

Introductory

• On Knowing Whitefield
• Spiritual and Moral Conditions in England before the Revival

Part I: The Years of Preparation

• 1) Whitefield’s Ancestry
• 2) George, the Boy of the Bell
• 3) Oxford, the Holy Club, and conversion
• 4) Ordination – Divine and Human

Part II: The Youthful Ministry

• 5) Preaching that startled the nation
• 6) The Sermons of a youth
• 7) Lasting results
• 8) Military chaplain
• 9) Developments in England
• 10) The Conversion of the Wesleys
• 11) Colonial missionary

Part III: The Period of Transition

• 12) The offense of the cross
• 13) Howell Harris
• 14) Into the open air
• 15) John Wesley becomes an open-air preacher
• 16) Into the open air in London
• 17) John Cennick
• 18) The beginnings of Wesley’s Movement
• 19) Signs and wonders
• 20) Whitefield – right and wrong
• 21) An Affair de Coeur at Blendon Hall
• 22) Charles Wesley becomes an open-air preacher
• 23) The Methodist Movement in 1739
• 25) The Doctrines of Grace
• 26) Making the acquaintance of America
• 27) A house of mercy in the woods of Georgia
• 28) A proposal of marriage
• 29) The Spring tour – Philadelphia and New York
• 30) Whitefield and the American Negro
• 31) The Summer tour – Charleston and the surrounding area
• 32) The Fall tour – New England
• 33) Contending against an unconverted ministry
• 34) Joy and sorrow amid the harvest
• Appendix

Volume 2: (scroll down for table of contents of Vol 2):

The 2nd volume of this incomparable biography, covering 1741-1770. Tells of the great doctrinal conflict with the Wesleys and serious division within Methodist ranks, followed by preaching tours of Scotland which were immensely fruitful.

Despite their doctrinal clashes, John Wesley did Whitefield’s funeral and there declared: “Have we ever read of heard of any person since the Apostles who testified to the gospel of the grace of God so widely, and to so large a part of the world?”

God’s accomplishments through George Whitefield are to this day virtually unparalleled. Even during his lifetime, Whitefield was considered “the most brilliant and popular preacher the modern world has ever known.” In the wake of his fearless preaching, revival swept across the British Isles, and the Great Awakening transformed the American colonies.

When Whitefield died at age 55, he had preached 30,000 sermons. His hearers included not only the poor and the uneducated, but prominent English aristocrats and American statesmen such as David Hume and Benjamin Franklin.

Christians today continue to take courage from Whitefield’s humility and deep spirituality. A founder of Methodism, he yielded his leadership to John Wesley rather than risk splitting the movement, thus revealing his fervent commitment to the gospel of Christ rather than to personal plans or hopes.

Contents of Volume 2:

• Introduction: On the Common Concept of Relations between Wesley and Whitefield

Part IV: The Controversy

• 1) Wesley enters into the Leadership of the Movement
• 2) Whitefield meets the supreme trial of his life
• 3) Whitefield’s Reply to Wesley’s Sermon
• 4) Rebuilding the Work

Part V: The Calvinistic Evangelist of Two Continents

• 5) Scotland
• 6) Marriage
• 7) Storming Satan’s Strongholds
• 8) Cambuslang
• 9) Seeking Reconciliation with Wesley
• 10) Organizing the Work
• 11) Trials and Triumps
• 12) The Great Awakening
• 13) Healing the Wounds of the Work in America
• 14) Laboring in the Gospel under a crushing load of debt
• 15) Bermuda
• 16) Dissensions and Rivalries in England

Part VI: The Helper of All the Revival

• 17) “Let the name of Whitefield perish!”
• 18) The Gospel to the Great
• 19) A Closer look at one year of Whitefield’s life
• 20) The Loss of Howell Harris
• 21) The Evangelical party in the Church of England
• 22) Whitefield’s Moravian Letter: right or wrong?
• 23) Helping Wesley
• 24) Two New Tabernacles
• 25) The fifth visit to America
• 26) The death of John Cennick
• 27) Tottenham Court Road Chapel
• 28) At the mercy of the mob in Ireland
• 29) Sunshine and shadow

Part VII: The Years of Failing Strength

• 30) The invalid
• 31) To America again – the sixth visit
• 32) Whitefield and Franklin
• 33) Last labors in Britain
• 34) Whitefield as seen through the eyes of a young assistant
• 35) Last labors in America

Part VIII: Death and Commemoration

• 36) Absent from the body, present with the Lord
• 37) The memory of the just
• 38) The measure of the man
• Appendix
• Supplement: A Letter to Rev. Mr. John Wesley in Answer to his sermon entitled ‘Free Grace’.

About the Author

Arnold A. Dallimore (1911-1998) was born in Canada of British parents. He was pastor of the Baptist Church at Cottam, Ontario, for almost twenty-four years. During his studies at Central Baptist Seminary, Toronto, he was awakened to a life-long interest in the great evangelist George Whitefield, whose biography he was to write. He also wrote biographies of Edward Irving, forerunner of the charismatic movement, Susannah Wesley and C. H. Spurgeon.