First of all, I can take no credit for the digitizing of these sermons. That was so graciously done by:
Chris Wareham
Spearfish, SD 57783
e-mail: cwareham@blackhills.com (until 12/29/96)
In addition, I obtained the source files for the sermons, in flat ASCII format, from The Christian Classics Ethereal Library. There is a ton of good stuff there; you'd do yourself well to browse it if you've never been there.
Lastly, the above image of George Whitefield was garnered from The Hall of Church History, which is quite a site. This is another "must-see" site. It's kind of like Disney World — Timewise, you can only really afford a one-day pass, but you want to get the five-day pass to take the time to see it all. Work your way through it slowly, you won't be disappointed.
The 59 sermons of George Whitefield in this archive are taken from the following sources:
Sermons 1 through 57 are from The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield [microform]. Published by E. and C. Dilly, 1771-1772, London.
Sermons 58 and 59 are from Select Sermons of George Whitefield With an Account of His Life by J.C. Ryle, Published by The Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1990.
Why take the time to reformat some old sermons from some guy who lived 250 years ago? Well, George Whitefield (pronounced "WHIT-field") was not the average run-of-the-mill preacher. I find Whitefield unique because he was a staunch calvinist, theologically, and he believed quite strongly in election. However, he was one of the most passionate evangelists of the Great Awakening.
Whitefield preached in fields to thousands of people at a time. He couldn't preach in church buildings, because they never had enough seating capacity.
In short, Whitefield offers a good example of the passion for souls that we calvinist types so often lose. He reminds us to be passionate about the Lord's work; and to let nothing get in the way of answering the call of the Lord.
Want to know more about George Whitefield? Check out George Whitefield: Lightning Rod of the Great Awakening by Dr. Rimas J. Orentas.
If demand seems appropriate, I may look into the possibility of digitizing George Whitefield's Journals (currently published by Banner of Truth Trust) and placing the text in this archive as well — but that may just be a pipe dream.
If you have any questions about these sermons or their contents, I'd love to try to answer them. You can contact me via email at rbrannan@oakharbor.net.
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