The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, Volume 2 (of 2)Tyerman, L. (Luke)
History
The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, Volume 2 (of 2)
Tyerman, L. (Luke)
Whitefield, George, 1714-1770
WHEN Whitefield arrived in Edinburgh, a minister told him, that,
though seven months had elapsed since his departure, scarcely one of
his converts had “fallen back, either among old or young.”[1] This
was a remarkable fact; but there was also another, equally deserving
notice. As already shewn, up to the time of Whitefield’s first visit
to Scotland, the churches of that country, like those of England,
were in the most deplorable condition. In many instances, ministers
were unfaithful; in most instances, congregations were dead; and, as
it respects the outside populace, it is not an extravagance to say,
that, speaking generally, they were almost entirely regardless of
religion, and were steeped in worldliness, frivolity, and vice. In the
interval, however, between Whitefield’s first and second visits, a most
marvellous work of God had taken place. How far Whitefield’s labours
and influence, in 1741, had contributed to this, it, perhaps, would be
presumptuous to say. So far as it concerns the cause of Christ, this is
of little consequence. Every reader of the unvarnished facts will form
his own opinion on the subject. Many of these facts have been already
given; and others must now be mentioned. Cambuslang was then a small
parish, about four miles from Glasgow; and here Whitefield had preached
with amazing power and success only a few months before. The minister
of Cambuslang――the Rev. William McCulloch――was a man of “genuine piety,
and of considerable capacity; but had nothing particularly striking
either in the manner or substance of his preaching.”[2] During most
of the year 1741, he had strongly pressed on his congregation the
nature and necessity of the new birth. In the third week of February,
1742, three days were specially employed in prayer. On the fourth day,
Thursday, February 18, “about fifty persons came to Mr. McCulloch’s
house, under convictions and alarming apprehensions respecting the
state of their souls, and desiring to speak with him.” After this,
numbers of others daily resorted to him, and he soon found it necessary
to preach a sermon every day, and, after the sermon, to spend some
time with the penitents, “in exhortations, prayers, and singing of
psalms.” In less than three months, more than three hundred were
converted. Though the parish was of small extent, and most of the
people lived within a mile of Mr. McCulloch’s church, not fewer than
twelve “societies for prayer” were begun by the converts. In the month
of April, the Rev. Mr. Willison, one of Whitefield’s correspondents,
visited the place, and wrote: “The work at Cambuslang is a most
singular and marvellous outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I pray it may
be a happy forerunner of a general revival of the work of God, and a
blessed means of union among all the lovers of Jesus.”
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