Man hath a free will to go to hell, but none to go to heaven, till God worketh in him to will and to do his good pleasure.” – George Whitefield
George Whitefield was born on December 16, 1714, in Gloucester, England. The youngest
of seven children, he was born in the Bell Inn where his father, Thomas, was a wine merchant and innkeeper. George Whitefield is considered by many as the greatest evangelist of all time. Whitefield was an astounding preacher from the beginning. Though he was slender in build, he stormed in the pulpit as if he were a giant. Within a year it was said that “his voice startled England like a trumpet blast.” At a time when London had a population of less than 700,000, he could hold spellbound 20,000 people at a time at Moorfields and Kennington Common. For thirty-four years his preaching resounded 
throughout England and America. In his preaching ministry he crossed the Atlantic thirteen times and became known as the ‘apostle of the British empire.’ He was a firm Calvinist in his theology yet unrivaled as an aggressive evangelist. Though a clergyman of the Church of England, he cooperated with and had a profound impact on people and churches of many traditions, including Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Baptists. Whitefield, along with the Wesleys, inspired the movement that became known as the Methodists. Whitefield preached more than 18,000 sermons in his lifetime, an average of 500 a year or ten a week. He died in the parsonage of Old South Presbyterian Church, Newburyport, Massachusetts on September 30, 1770. He was buried, according to his wishes, in a crypt under the pulpit of this church.
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