George Whitefield - Philip - XIV - Chapter 11

Required reading
Life and times of George Whitefield by Robert Philip (available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) - Read Chapter Eleven, 'Whitefield's domestic life'..

My summary
In Chapter Eleven we are told of:
- Whitefield's marriage;
- the persecution at Moorfields;
- the death of his son Isaac;
- the riots against Methodists in England;
- the successful appeal to the King's bench against the English rioters;
- an anonymous tract published by the bishops against the Methodists.

What grabbed me
I must admit I was a bit perplexed at the content of this long chapter.  It is headed 'Whitefield's domestic life' but most of the chapter deals with his continued experience of persecution.  Yes, his wife and son are mentioned but not very much.  I think Philip might have been trying to make the point that despite being married Whitefield continued on in his work.  But if this is Philip's point, it wasn't clearly made and there was a lot of extra information that, although interesting, was not emphasising the point.

But these criticisms aside, I found helpful the lesson that Whitefield derived from the death of his child. 

Once his wife was pregnant Whitefield misapplied texts concerning his son: 'Many things occurred to make me believe he was not only to be continued to me, but to be a preacher of the everlasting gospel.  Pleased with the thought, and ambitious of having a son of my own so divinely employed, Satan was permitted to give me some wrong impressions, whereby, as I now find, I misapplied several texts of Scripture.  Upon these grounds I made no scruple of declaring "that I should have a son, and that his name was to be John."  I mentioned the very time of his birth, and fondly hoped that he was to be great in the sight of the Lord.  Every thing happened according to the predictions; and my wife having had several narrow escapes while pregnant, especially by her falling from a high horse, and my driving her into a deep ditch in a one-horse chaise a little before the time of her confinement, and from which we received little or no hurt, confirmed me in my expectation, that God would grant me my heart's desire.'

But the lesson was learnt with Isaac's death: '...yet I hope what happened before his birth, and since at his death, hath taught me such lessons, as, if duly improved, may render his mistaken parent more cautious, more sober-minded, more experienced in Satan's devices, and consequently more useful in his future labours to the church of God.'

A good reminder that we must be careful to not misapply texts, particularly when it comes to predicting the future.  Better to not be a prophet, than to be a false prophet.

Next week's reading
Read Chapter Twelve, 'Whitefield at Cambuslang'.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.