In the mid-eighteenth century, John Wesley and George Whitefield became famous through their revivalistic preaching. Although based on a Scripture, it differed from Reformed preaching in that it was not exegetical and did not place as much emphasis on correct grammatical, historical, and theological contexts. Instead, Wesley and Whitefield developed topics and presented applications for their listeners. Sin, grace, and reconciliation with God were their favorite themes. Wesley united this message with a zeal for sanctification. This style of preaching was directed particularly toward the poor, resulting in a tremendous movement for social and political justice.
Toward the middle of the eighteenth century, two men became known who have made illustrious the English preaching of their day. Whitefield and Wesley were both Oxford men and used their cultivation in that preaching to the masses that had been the glory of the Puritan period. Whitefield and Wesley began to preach to the human conscience, and thus felt no need of confining their discourse to the cultivated and refined. This preaching to the conscience must be seen as the reaction to an age of skepticism.
The Men behind the Preaching
The biographies of Whitefield are full of instruction. The sermons we have were mere preparations, which in free delivery were so filled out with the thoughts suggested in the course of living speech, and so transfigured and glorified by enkindled imagination, as to be utterly different from the dull, cold thing that here lies before us.
The sermons of Wesley require study and will reward it. As printed, they were commonly written out after frequent delivery. They are too condensed to have been spoken, in this form, to the colliers and the servant girls at five o’clock in the morning. But they must be in substance the same that he habitually preached, and they present a problem. Wesley had nothing of Whitefield’s impassioned oratory. He spoke with simple earnestness and remained quiet while his hearers grew wild with excitement.
What was the secret? Where the hidden power? We can only say that it was undoubting faith and extraordinary force of character, together with a peculiarity seen also in some generals on the field of battle, that their most intense excitement makes little outward noise or show, yet subtly communicates itself to others. No one can repeatedly make others feel deeply who does not feel deeply; it is only a difference in the way of showing it. Of course, this subtle electricity resides in the soul of the speaker much more than in the recorded discourse. But read carefully these condensed and calm-looking sermons, and see if you do not feel the power of the man and find yourself sometimes strangely moved.