“Thank you sir for your criticism. If you knew about me what I know about me, you would have written a longer letter.”
“I believe I never was more acceptable to my Master than when I was standing to teach those hearers in the open fields. I now preach to ten times more people than I would if I had been confined to the churches.”
“Come poor, lost, undone sinner, come just as you are to Christ.”
“Lord Jesus, I am weary in Thy work, but not of it. If I have not yet finished my course, let me go and speak for Thee once more in the field, seal Thy truth, and come home to die.”
Source: Memoirs of the Rev. George Whitefield: To which is Appended an Extensive Collection of His Sermons and Other Writings
“I found by daily experience, the more I did, the more I might do for God.”
Source: George Whitefields's Journals
“Ministers never write or preach so well as when under the cross.”
Source: The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield, M.A...: Containing All His Sermons and Tracts which Have Been Already Published: with a Select Collection of Letters... Also, Some Other Pieces on Important Subjects, Never Before Printed; Prepared by Himself for the Press; to which is Prefixed, an Account of His Life, Compiled from His Original Papers and Letters
“Speak every time my dear brother as if it were your last”
“All our afflictions, all our temptations are to make heaven more desirable, and earth more loathsome.”
Source: Sermons
“Pray that I may be very little in my own eyes, and not rob my dear Master of any part of his glory.”
Source: The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield, M.A...: Containing All His Sermons and Tracts which Have Been Already Published: with a Select Collection of Letters... Also, Some Other Pieces on Important Subjects, Never Before Printed; Prepared by Himself for the Press; to which is Prefixed, an Account of His Life, Compiled from His Orignial Papers and Letters
“Give diligent heed to the things that are spoken from the Word of God.”
Source: The Revived Puritan. Select Works of ... G. W., ... Containing a Memoir of His Life, Etc. [Edited by G. B.]
“You need not fear the greatness or number of your sins.”
Source: Sermons
“Open your hearts as wide as ever you will, the Spirit of the Lord shall fill them.”
Source: Sermons of George Whitefield
“Following Christ means following him through life, following him in every word and gesture, following him out of one clime into another.”
Source: Sermons
“Our food and our rest, our trades and our labors, are to be attended to, and all the offices of humanity performed in obedience to the will of God, for the glory of Christ.”
Source: Sermons of George Whitefield
“It is easy to follow Christ when all things are safe. But your love to Jesus Christ would be seen more, if you must lose your lives, or deny your Jesus. It would be a trial of your love, when fire and faggot [a wooden stick] was before you, if you would rush into that, rather than fly from the truth as it is in Jesus. Though all things are calm now, the storm is gathering and by and by it will break; it is at present no bigger than a man's hand. But when it is full it will break and then you will see whether you are found Christians or not.”
“Indeed, I have been listed under Jesus' banner only for a few years, but I have enjoyed more solid pleasure in one moment's communion with my God than I should or could have enjoyed in the ways of sin, though I had continued to have gone on in them for thousands of years.”
Source: Sermons of George Whitefield
“I say salvation is the free gift of God. It is God's free grace, I preach unto you, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Jesus Christ justifies the ungodly. Jesus Christ passed by and saw you polluted with your blood and bid you live.”
Source: Sermons on important subjects ... With a memoir of the Author by S. Drew; and a dissertation on his character, preaching, etc., by Joseph [or rather Josiah] Smith
“You blame me for weeping, but how can I help it when you will not weep for yourselves, though your immortal souls are on the verge of destruction.”
“John Wesley tells of a dream he had. In the dream, he was ushered to the gates of Hell. There he asked, "Are there any Presbyterians here?" "Yes!", came the answer. Then he asked, "Are there any Baptists? Any Episcopalians? Any Methodists?" The answer was Yes! each time. Much distressed, Wesley was then ushered to the gates of Heaven. There he asked the same question, and the answer was No! "No?" To this, Wesley asked, "Who then is inside?" The answer came back, "There are only Christians here."”
“See that you feel the truths that you speak.”
“If an earthly king was to issue out a royal proclamation, on performing or not performing the conditions therein contained, the life or death of his subjects entirely depended, how solicitous would they be to hear what those conditions were? And shall not we pay the same respect to the King of kings and Lord of lords and lend an attentive ear to his ministers, when they are declaring, in his name, how our pardon, peace, and happiness may be secured?”
Source: Seventy-five Sermons on Various Important Subjects: In this Complete Collection is Included the Eighteen Sermons Taken in Short Hand by Mr. Gurney. And to which is Now Added, a Sermon of the Character, Preaching, &c. of the Rev. Mr. Whitefield
“God has condescended to become an author, and yet people will not read his writings. There are very few that ever gave this Book of God, the grand charter of salvation, one fair reading through.”
Source: Sermons on important subjects ... With a memoir of the Author by S. Drew; and a dissertation on his character, preaching, etc., by Joseph [or rather Josiah] Smith
“Had I a hundred hands, I could employ them all. The harvest is very great. I am ashamed I can do no more for him who has done so much for me.”
Source: The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield ...: Containing All His Sermons and Tracts which Have Been Already Published ; with a Select Collection of Letters Written to His Most Intimate Friends, and Persons of Distinction, in England, Scotland, Ireland, and America, from the Year 1734, to 1770 ; Including the Whole Period of His Ministry ; Also, Some Other Pieces on Important Subjects, Never Before Printed
“If you know Christ and him crucified, you know enough to make you happy, supposing you know nothing else. And without this, all your other knowledge cannot keep you from being everlastingly miserable.”
Source: Sermons
“Come away, my dear brethren, fly, fly, fly for your lives to Jesus Christ; fly to a bleeding God, fly to a throne of grace; and beg of God to break your heart; beg of God to convince you of your actual sins; beg of God to convince you of your original sin; beg of God to convince you of your self-righteousness; beg of God to give you faith, and to enable you to close with Jesus Christ.”
“Know, by sad experience, what it is to be lulled to sleep with a false peace. Long was I lulled asleep; long did I think myself a Christian, when I knew nothing of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Source: Memoirs of Rev. George Whitefield
“God enabled me to speak with the demonstration of the Spirit, and with power.”
Source: George Whitefields's Journals
“It is God alone who can subdue and govern the unruly wills of sinful men.”
Source: Letters of George Whitefield, for the Period 1734-1742
“Though you have sinned much, that is no reason why you should despair, but only why you should love much, having so much forgiven.”
Source: Sermons
“The sinner can no more raise himself from the deadness of sin than Lazarus, who had been dead four days, until Jesus came.”
“Let us...once and forever put an end to that lie which says that Calvinism and an interest in evangelism are not comparable.”
“Be content with no degree of sanctification. Be always crying out, "Lord, let me know more of myself and of thee."”
“He [Jesus Christ] loves to see poor sinners coming to Him, He is pleased to see them lie at His feet pleading His promises; and if you thus come to Christ, He will not send you away without His Spirit; no, but will receive and bless you.”
Source: Sermons on important subjects ... With a memoir of the Author by S. Drew; and a dissertation on his character, preaching, etc., by Joseph [or rather Josiah] Smith
“Why fear ye that the Lord Jesus Christ will not accept of you? Your sins will be no hindrance, your unworthiness no hindrance; if your own corrupt hearts do not keep you back, nothing will hinder Christ from receiving of you.”
“O turn to Him [Jesus Christ], turn in a sense of your own unworthiness, and be not faithless, but believing.”
“I offer you salvation this day; the door of mercy is not yet shut, there does yet remain a sacrifice for sin, for all that will accept of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will embrace you in the arms of His love.”
Source: Seventy-five Sermons on Various Important Subjects: In this Complete Collection is Included the Eighteen Sermons Taken in Short Hand by Mr. Gurney. And to which is Now Added, a Sermon of the Character, Preaching, &c. of the Rev. Mr. Whitefield
“Press forward. Do not stop, do not linger in your journey, but strive for the mark set before you.”
Source: Seventy-five Sermons on Various Important Subjects: In this Complete Collection is Included the Eighteen Sermons Taken in Short Hand by Mr. Gurney. And to which is Now Added, a Sermon of the Character, Preaching, &c. of the Rev. Mr. Whitefield
“It is a poor sermon that gives no offense; that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher.”
“The great and important duty which is incumbent on Christians, is to guard against all appearance of evil; to watch against the first risings in the heart to evil; and to have a guard upon our actions, that they may not be sinful, or so much as seem to be so.”
Source: Sermons on important subjects
“Mere heathen morality, and not Jesus Christ, is preached in most of our churches.”
Source: The Revived Puritan. Select Works of ... G. W., ... Containing a Memoir of His Life, Etc. [Edited by G. B.]
“To preach more than half an hour, a man should be an angel himself or have angels for hearers.”
“O that unbelievers would learn of faithful Abraham, and believe whatever is revealed from God, though they cannot fully comprehend it! Abraham knew God commanded him to offer up his son, and therefore believed, notwithstanding carnal reasoning might suggest may objections.”
Source: Sermons of George Whitefield
“And now let me address all of you, high and low, rich and poor, one with another, to accept of mercy and grace while it is offered to you; Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation; and will you not accept it, now it is offered unto you?”
Source: The Revived Puritan. Select Works of ... G. W., ... Containing a Memoir of His Life, Etc. [Edited by G. B.]
“Among the many reasons assignable for the sad decay of true Christianity, perhaps the neglecting to assemble ourselves together, in religious societies, may not be one of the least.”
Source: Sermons of George Whitefield
“For in Jesus Christ there is neither male nor female, bond nor free; even you may be the children of God, if you believe in Jesus.”
Source: Sermons on important subjects
“For it pleased God, after he had made all things by the word of his power, to create man after his own image.”
Source: Memoirs of Rev. George Whitefield
“Various are the pleas and arguments which men of corrupt minds frequently urge against yielding obedience to the just and holy commands of God.”
Source: Sermons on important subjects
“You see, my brethren, my heart is full; I could almost say it is too big to speak, and yet too big to be silent, without dropping a word to you.”
Source: Sermons on important subjects ... With a memoir of the Author by S. Drew; and a dissertation on his character, preaching, etc., by Joseph [or rather Josiah] Smith
“As for the extraordinary operations of the Holy Ghost, such as working of miracles, or speaking with divers kinds of tongues, they are long since ceased.”
Source: Selected Sermons of George Whitefield: With an Introduction and Notes by the Rev. A.R. Buckland ...
“It is very remarkable, that in the book of life, we find some almost of all kinds of occupations, who notwithstanding served God in their respective generations, and shone as so many lights in the world.”
Source: Sermons on important subjects
