George Whitefield: The Voice That Emptied Franklin's Pockets

Benjamin Franklin came to the meeting with his mind already made up. He would not put one coin in the collection. Then the preacher began to speak. By the end, even the gold was gone, and the most famous skeptic in America walked home with empty pockets and a head full of wonder.

The preacher was George Whitefield, and in the year 1740 he was turning the American colonies upside down. Only twenty-five years old. English. Barely off the boat. But God had given him a voice like nothing anyone had heard. Franklin paced off the distance one day and figured thirty thousand people could hear that voice at one time.

Whitefield preached in open fields, on courthouse steps, from the back of a wagon, two and three and four times a day until his shirt was soaked through and his voice gave out. From Georgia all the way up to Maine. To rich and poor, free and enslaved, churchgoer and scoffer. And when he came to Jonathan Edwards's church in Northampton, Edwards wept through the whole sermon, and Edwards's wife Sarah noticed the secret. He aims more at affecting the heart, she said.

In this five-minute Take 5 devotional, Pastor Rodney Coe shares the story of George Whitefield (1714-1770), the open-air evangelist of the First Great Awakening, and what one young Englishman's voice can still teach us about Romans 10:17 today.

Scripture: Romans 10:17

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Heaven is closer than you think. Lift up your day.

Transcript

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Benjamin Franklin came to the meeting with his mind already made up. He had heard about the young preacher drawing crowds out in the Philadelphia streets, and he wanted to see the spectacle for himself. But Franklin was a skeptic about religion and he was nobody's easy mark. So he decided before he ever left the house that he would not put one coin in the collection. Then the preacher began to speak, and somewhere in the next few minutes, Franklin felt his resolve start to slip. He dropped his copper into the plate. Before the sermon was over, he had given up the silver too. By the end, even the gold was gone, and the most famous skeptic in America walked home with empty pockets and a heart full of wonder. Stay with me, you're gonna want to hear the rest of the story. His name was George Whitefield, and in the year 1740 he was turning the American colonies upside down. He was the last man you would have picked to shake a continent. Only 25 years old, English, barely off the boat, but God had given him a voice like nothing anyone had heard. It carried so far that Franklin, ever the scientist, once paced off the distance while Whitefield preached and did the arithmetic. He figured 30,000 people could hear that voice at one time, and he walked away believing every story he had ever read about the great orators of the ancient world. Whitefield would not stay behind a pulpit. He preached out in the open air, in fields and on courthouse steps and from the back of a wagon. He preached two and three and four times a day, from Georgia all the way up to Maine, until his shirt was soaked through and his voice gave out. And he preached to anybody who would stand still long enough to listen. Rich and poor, free and enslaved, churchgoer and scoffer, nobody was beneath the reach of the gospel. One October he came to Northampton and preached in the church of a quiet little pastor named Jonathan Edwards. Edwards wept through the whole sermon, and Edward's wife, Sarah, a sharp woman who was not easily impressed by anybody, wrote down what she noticed about this young Englishman. He makes less of the doctrines than our American preachers generally do, she said, and aims more at affecting the heart. She did not mean it as a complaint. She meant it as the highest praise she could give. Whitefield eventually packed up and left Northampton, but the fire he carried did not leave with him. Within a year it had spread down the Connecticut River and reached a sleepy little town called Enfield, where Edwards himself would preach, the most famous sermon in American history. Did you catch what Sarah Edwards noticed? She did not say Whitefield was the smartest man in the room. She said he aimed at the heart. That is still how God works. The Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. That is Romans 10 17. Faith travels on a voice. It always has. Somebody has to be willing to open their mouth and say it out loud. Now you may never preach to 30,000 people. Most of us never will. But there is somebody in your life right now who is waiting to hear from you. The neighbor across the fence, the grandchild in the back seat, the friend who keeps asking the same hard questions and has nobody to answer them. God spread a great awakening through a young man who simply would not stop talking about Jesus. He can do plenty with your ordinary voice too, if you will aim it at a heart. And that, friend, is how God lifts up your day.