The Accidental Revolutionary: George Whitefield and the Creation of America

XVI. A Political Man

185 CHAPTER A Political Man XVI During his final days in America, Whitefield could clearly see the writing on the wall—Americans would go to war for their liberties. He sympathized with the colonists. He had been “warring” with his bishops over the right to preach outdoors since his public ministry began in 1738. His war included two assassination attempts, one more averted plot on his life, and countless instances of abuse at the hands of crowds. All of this occurred in England, and each time, Whitefield knew that a bishop was behind the scenes. In America, during the most heated conflicts in 1744, there was never any violence or abuse, and religious leaders who opposed him did it publicly and honorably. Whitefield distanced himself from radicals who had encouraged church splits and defections of members. He aligned himself with moderate New Lights and reaffirmed the value of current colonial leaders and the Old Light denominations. In the end, it was the cooperation of groups within the New Light and Old Light camps that enabled a successful revolution. As Perry Miller observes, the “pure rationalism” of the Liberal [Old Light] clergy contributed to the intellectual notion of American independence, “but it could never have inspired them to fight for it.”1 As we have seen, people holding to the “popular Christianity” enthusiastically stepped forward when called to arms. Inspiring the people to fight was a task taken up by preachers like Israel Putnam and Joseph Bellamy in Connecticut , who traveled the trails blazed by Whitefield, adopting his messages with his promotion of unity, and then preaching themes like the curse of Meroz. The Accidental Revolutionary 186 XVI As Americans chose sides in 1776, with many Tories fleeing to England or Canada and most Whigs staying in America, Whitefield was spared from making a difficult choice. He loved all the groups and had spent his life working for unity, trying to reform his own denomination. Perhaps one of his most famous pulpit stories best reveals the spirit of unity he tried to share. While preaching, Whitefield would look toward heaven and call out, beginning a short “play” to make his point: “Father Abraham, whom have you in heaven? Any Episcopalians?” “No.” “Any Presbyterians?” “No.” “Have you any Independents or Seceders?” “No.” “Have you any Methodists there?” “No, no, no.” “Whom have you there?” “We don’t know those names here. All who are here are Christians—believers in Christ—men who have overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of his testimony .” “O, is this the case?” said Whitefield; “then God help me, God help us all, to forget party names, and to become Christians in deed and in truth!” If we look past the predictable simplicity of the story we can see the structural principle inside it. Whitefield promoted unity his entire life. It is what made him so loved throughout the British Empire. If unity can be achieved in religion, then where can you not achieve it with some effort? The meaning within this story was not missed by the colonists. The unification of the American colonies against the British oppression would be their only chance to survive a conflict —an idea bluntly pointed out by Ben Franklin in his “join or die” cartoon. Regarding the “side” of the colonial crisis Whitefield promoted throughout his life, Gledstone, one of his early biographers wrote, “there can be no doubt which side his converts were on and which part they played. One of the men whom [Whitefield] greatly influenced was the Rev. Alexander Craighead, and he again is said to have aroused the Presbyterian patriots who framed the Mecklenburg Declaration , which was copied only one year later by the Philadelphia Declaration of Independence.”2 The company he kept, and especially the ideas he spread throughout the colonies, leave no question as to the practical role that he played in the move to independence. The similarities between foundational ideas in Whitefield’s sermons of the 1740s and the political arguments of the 1770s are 187 XVI A Political Man striking. Not all of the revolutionary activists employed specific ideas from New Light theology, as did those who cited the curse of Meroz, but they did draw upon the Awakening worldview to separate Americans from the British and to condemn injustice and tyranny. The arguments of the activists reveal what their audiences found to be persuasive. Those arguments...