America’s Spiritual Founding Father

The title of Thomas Kidd’s 2014 biography, George Whitefield: America’s Spiritual Founding Father, makes a bold claim regarding someone who today is largely unknown. Whitefield was a British evangelist who crossed the Atlantic Ocean thirteen times in the early to mid-1700’s preaching the gospel. Along with John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, and others, he was a leading light in a widespread revival known as the Great Awakening. Thousands would flock to hear him preach, often in the open air, always without the aid of modern voice amplification devices. Benjamin Franklin printed Whitefield’s sermons and counted the preacher among his friends.

George Whitefield died in Massachusetts in 1773, just three years prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Many historians believe the American revolution would not have taken place – or at least it would not have had the same character – had it not been for the profound influence of the ministry of Geroge Whitefield.

History is not simply the record of the political. There are economic, geographic, military, social, and religious considerations that all weave together to create the fabric of the past and the present. Fundamental concepts such as individual soul liberty, and all men being equally the creation of God are not just American political theories. These are theological ideals found in the Bible. They are the soil from which the American revolution sprang. They are the foundation upon which the United States Constitution was built. Thus it was that while he was aggressively evangelizing Britain’s New World colonies, George Whitefield was inadvertently planting seeds that would germinate into a new nation “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”

In October 1922, a few years after the closing of the First World War, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George spoke at an event dedicated to George Whitefield’s memory. He claimed that no man had done more for Anglo-American relations than the great 18^th century evangelist. Because of the influence of Whitefield’s preaching, “the moral training of America … is identical to ours.” He maintained that the principles of Whitefield’s preaching a century and a half prior moved America to come to Britain’s aid in the war. The ripple effects of Whitefield’s ministry contributed to Allied victory over the Central powers in the Great War. Yes, Britain was indebted for America’s intervention in the war. But the scales were balanced, Lloyd George suggested. America is forever in debt to Britain for the spiritual and moral legacy of George Whitefield. (Kidd, p. 259)

The founding of America. The shaping of Europe. We still live in a world that bears the imprint of Whitefield and the Great Awakening. The question is, for how long? Very few people today know who George Whitefield was. The message he preached is becoming decreasingly familiar. Men have forgotten Whitefield. Now they are forgetting Whitefield’s God.

“What are you reading?” I was asked as I was sitting in the stands waiting for a little league baseball game to begin. I showed the inquiring mother of a young player a biography of a great American president. “Oh,” she said, “History is too much for me.” I then challenged her with a question, “How can you know where you are going if you do not know where you’ve been?” She thought for a moment, and then admitted, “That is a very good question.”

President Calvin Coolidge said, “The authority of law, the right to equality, liberty, and property under American institutions, have for their foundation reverence for God. If we could imagine that to be swept away, these institutions of our American government could not long survive.”

I am afraid that in our nation many have no idea where they are headed, knowing little or nothing of that place from where they have come.

Image created with Adobe Firefly using a Public Domain image obtained here.