George Whitefield - Philip - XXIII - Chapter 21 & 22

Required reading
Life and times of George Whitefield by Robert Philip (available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) - Read Chapter 21 (Whitefield and the London Moravians) and 22 (Whitefield's influence in America).

My summary
Two short chapters make up this week's reading.

Chapter 21 gives an account of Whitefield's criticisms of the London Moravians.  Most of the chapter is a letter from Whitefield to Count Zinzendorff articulating certain problems witnessed among the Moravians: 'I am constrained to inform your Lordship, that you, together with some of your leading brethren, have been unhappily instrumental in misguiding many real, simple, honest-hearted christians; of distressing, if not totally ruining, numerous families; and introducing a whole farrago of superstitious, not to say idolatrous, fopperies into the English nation.'

Chapter 22 is the first part of two chapters on Whitefield's influence in America.  We are told more of his work with his orphans and his preaching, of course.

What grabbed me
I loved the description of Whitefield's desire to learn everywhere he went: 'Indeed, every foreign place was a school, where he studied for home.  And he was an apt scholar.  It must have been a strange place indeed, where Whitefield could pick up nothing useful.  Every where his maxim was, "I would fain be one of Christ's bees, and learn to extract honey from every flower;" whilst every where was, "Alas, I am a drone, and deserve to be stung out of God's hive."'

I wish I had more of Whitefield's positive attitude to learn from every environment that God places me in.

Next week's reading
Read Chapter 23 (Whitefield's public spirit).

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