George-Whitefield-Field-Preacher

BORN A PREACHER 33
field's case but for his wonderful powers and for that blessing
from above which went whithersoever he went. The usual
wearisome time which ability and worth spend in self-culture,
in striving with self till it is well mastered, in grappling with
prejudices, and, not improbably, with positive injustice, was a
time never known to Whitefield. He came to manhood in
youth, his sun rose to its zenith at early morn. For him to
preach was at once to spread excitement, and draw together
masses of people ; and when they came he never lost his
hold upon them. His manner always charmed, never
offended ; whereas the utmost mental power and personal
worth of many preachers can hardly sustain the patience of
their hearers through a half-hour's sermon. His thought was
always marked by good sense ; no one could be disgusted
with inanity. His emotion was always fresh, streaming from
his heart as from a perennial fountain ;
and, unless the hearer
could not feel, could not be touched by tenderness or awe, he
was sure to find his soul made more sensitive. The hearts of
most were melted in the intense heat of the preacher's fervour
like silver in a refiner's furnace.
During his stay at the Tower he preached and catechised
once a week, and visited the soldiers in the barracks and in
the infirmary daily ; every morning and evening he read
prayers at Wapping Chapel ; and on Tuesday he preached at
Ludgate prison. ' Religious friends from divers parts of the
town,' he says, 'attended the word, and several young men
came on Lord's Day morning under serious impressions, to
hear me discourse about the new birth. The chapel was
crowded on Lord's Days.'
Here a letter reached him from his old friends the Wesleys
which told all that they were doing in Georgia, and made him
long to go and join them. But difficulties stood in the way.
He had no ' outward call,' and his health was supposed to be
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