"I WOULD RATHER WEAR OUT THAN RUST OUT"

George Whitefield (1714-1770)

In a day of widespread infidelity, he was a college student who was highly religious - but lost. While most around him lived for worldly pleasures and material gain, this student strove mightily to attain his own salvation.

Church attendance, Bible study, regular fasting and privations, visiting the sick and imprisoned all led George Whitfield to the point of physical ruin until one day the scriptures opened up for him. That day in the early 1700's he underwent the New Birth, and began a lifelong mission to proclaim to the world the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Whitfield was not a pretentious man. He had a heart on fire, and only sought to learn more about his new birth and to communicate it to others. Throughout his ministry he was aware of his "impurity next to Christ's perfection," his "pride next to Christ's humility."

At a communion service he conducted on the outskirts of Glasgow, (Scotland) that was attended by between thirty and fifty thousand people, his humble question to God was: "Why me?"

At the end of his ministry he still preached as hard as ever, and it was not unusual for him to ride sixty miles in a day, preach two or three times and then ride all night to his next stop. His entire life his body was wracked with sickness, never helped by his constant driving schedule. He answered a friend's concern for his health by stating: "I would rather wear out than rust out!"

He was a man of prayer, criticized because he abandoned use of the Book of Common Prayer in favor of extemporaneous praying. The secret to his amazing ministry was his closeness to God and his burden to do God's will.

The greatest result of his ministry was a revival now known as: "The Great Awakening." This revival swept America from 1740 through the 1770's, touching and transforming perhaps hundreds of thousands of people. It had a profound effect on the ministers, with hundreds of pastors from a variety of denominations getting saved.

When America finally engaged in the struggle for independence, George Whitfield was the man who was largely responsible for having brought the nation "under God."