Thus passed two months more of this strange and eventful year. Meanwhile, Whitefield had issued his first publication. The following advertisement appeared in the _Weekly Miscellany_, July 22, 1737:--"Speedily will be published (price sixpence, or two guineas per hundred, to those who give them away), The Nature and Necessity of our New Birth in Christ Jesus, in order to Salvation--a Sermon preached in the Church of St. Mary's Redcliffe, in Bristol, by George Whitefield, A.B., of Pembroke College, Oxford. Published at the request of several of the hearers. Printed by C. Rivington, in St. Paul's Churchyard; and sold by Messrs. Harris, Senior and Junior, in Gloucester; Mr. Wilson, in Bristol; and Mr. Leake, in Bath."[95] [95] When Whitefield was closing his ministry in London, in the year 1769, he said: "The second sermon I ever made, the second sermon I ever preached, was on these words, 'If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.' I was then about twenty years and a half old. The next sermon I preached was upon 'Ye are justified;' and the next, 'Ye are glorified.'" (Whitefield's Eighteen Sermons, published by Gurney, 1771, p. 334.) The sermon, thus announced, was published on August 5th, 8vo, 28 pp. The text was, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." The four divisions were, 1. What is meant by _being in Christ_. 2. What we are to understand by being a _new creature_. 3. Produce arguments to prove _why_ we must be _new creatures_ before we can be _in Christ_. 4. Draw some inferences from the whole. At the present day, there is nothing in the sermon likely to arrest attention; but, a hundred and thirty years ago, things were different. _Then_, Whitefield's doctrine, if not new, was startling. It was seldom preached, was hardly understood, and rarely _felt_. As Whitefield himself observes, "though one of the most fundamental doctrines of our holy religion," "it was so seldom considered, and so little _experimentally_ understood by the generality of professors," that when told "they must be born again, they were ready to cry out, 'How can these things be?'" The sermon is not remarkable either for its eloquence or depth of thought. It is simply plain, earnest, practical. Two or three extracts, to illustrate Whitefield's style, may be welcome.