George Whitefield Quotations

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.

When our Lord says, we must be converted and become as little children, I suppose He means also, that we must be sensible of our weakness, comparatively speaking, as a little child.

It is a poor sermon that gives no offense; that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher.

But he is unworthy the name of a minister of the gospel of peace, who is unwilling, not only to have his name cast out as evil, but also to die for the truths of the Lord Jesus.

Take care of your life and the Lord will take care of your death.

Mere heathen morality, and not Jesus Christ, is preached in most of our churches.

Fight the good fight of faith, and God will give you spiritual mercies.

Press forward. Do not stop, do not linger in your journey, but strive for the mark set before you.

We are immortal until our work on earth is done.

The righteousness of Jesus Christ is one of those great mysteries, which the angels desire to look into, and seems to be one of the first lessons that God taught men after the fall.

If your souls were not immortal, and you in danger of losing them, I would not thus speak unto you; but the love of your souls constrains me to speak: methinks this would constrain me to speak unto you forever.

This discourse, and the present frame of my mind, lead me rather to speak to those, who by feeling Satan's fiery darts, know assuredly that there is a devil.

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?

At the day of judgment we shall all meet again.

To preach more than half an hour, a man should be an angel himself or have angels for hearers.

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.

Various are the pleas and arguments which men of corrupt minds frequently urge against yielding obedience to the just and holy commands of God.

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.

Although believers by nature, are far from God, and children of wrath, even as others, yet it is amazing to think how nigh they are brought to him again by the blood of Jesus Christ.

For it pleased God, after he had made all things by the word of his power, to create man after his own image.

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.

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.

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.

The reason why the Son of God took upon him our nature, was, the fall of our first parents.

Nothing is more generally known than our duties which belong to Christianity; and yet, how amazing is it, nothing is less practiced?

The Judge is before the door: he that cometh will come, and will not tarry: his reward is with him.

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.

O my brethren, my heart is enlarge towards you. I trust I feel something of that hidden, but powerful presence of Christ, whilst I am preaching to you.

No, the religion of Jesus is a social religion.

Thus was the King and the Lord of glory judged by man's judgment, when manifest in flesh: far be it from any of his ministers to expect better treatment.

Learn, O saints! From what has been said, to sit loose to all your worldly comforts; and stand ready prepared to part with everything, when God shall require it at your hand.

No, if we come in the spirit and power of our Master, in this, as in every other part of his sufferings, we must follow his steps.

But still take heed how you hear: for upon your improving the grace you have, more shall be given, and you shall have abundance.

Here then I could conclude; but I must not forget the poor negroes; no, I must not. Jesus Christ had died for them, as well as for others.

My brethren, if you were left to yourselves, you would be overcome by every temptation with which you are beset.

At sundry times, and in diverse manners, God was pleased to speak to our fathers by the prophets, before he spoke to us in these last days by his Son.

And there is still the more occasion for such an alarm, because worldly-mindedness so easily and craftily besets the hearts of men.

And that there may be always such a heart in you, let me exhort all governors of families, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, often to reflect on the inestimable worth of their own souls, and the infinite ransom, even the precious blood of Jesus Christ, which has been paid down for them.

An evil, that in any age, especially in these dregs of time wherein we live, cannot sufficiently be inveighed against.

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.

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.

God enabled me to speak with the demonstration of the Spirit, and with power.

See that you feel the truths that you speak.

Though you have sinned much, that is no reason why you should despair, but only why you should love much, having so much forgiven.

The sinner can no more raise himself from the deadness of sin than Lazarus, who had been dead four days, until Jesus came.

Be content with no degree of sanctification. Be always crying out, "Lord, let me know more of myself and of thee."

O turn to Him [Jesus Christ], turn in a sense of your own unworthiness, and be not faithless, but believing.

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.

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.

All I can say is I look for perpetual conflicts and struggles in this life, and I hope for no other peace, only a cross, while on this side of eternity.

Speak every time my dear brother as if it were your last

Ministers never write or preach so well as when under the cross.

O poor New England! There is a deep laid plot against your civil and religious liberties, and they will be lost. Your golden days are at an end. You have nothing but trouble before you. . . . Your liberties will be lost.

Although believers by nature are far from God, and children of wrath, even as others, yet it is amazing to think how nigh they are brought to him again by the blood of Jesus Christ.

The Christian world is in a deep sleep; nothing but a loud shout can awaken them out of it!

The true believer can no more live without prayer, than without food day by day.

I have just put my soul as a blank into the hand of Jesus, my Redeemer, and desired Him to write on it what He pleases; I know it will be His image.

You might as reasonably expect to find a living man without breath, as a true Christian without the spirit of prayer and supplication.

The reason why the Son of God took upon him our nature was, the fall of our first parents.

Numberless marks does man bear in his soul, that he is fallen and estranged from God; but nothing gives a greater proof thereof, than that backwardness, which every one finds within himself, to the duty of praise and thanksgiving.

Pray that I may be very little in my own eyes, and not rob my dear Master of any part of his glory.

The care of the soul is 'a matter of the highest importance;' beyond any thing which can be brought into comparison with it.

Following Christ means following him through life, following him in every word and gesture, following him out of one clime into another.

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.

Oh let us continually keep faith in exercise, till it be entirely swallowed up in the boundless ocean of beatific vision.

Give diligent heed to the things that are spoken from the Word of God.

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?

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...

Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, even persecutors, the worst of sinners: his righteousness is sufficient for them; his Spirit is able to purify and change their hearts.

Let us, therefore, not be weary of well-doing; for we shall reap an eternal harvest of comfort, if we faint not.

Oh for a thousand lives to be spent in the service of Christ.

I am never better than when I am on the full stretch for God.

God is well pleased when all our actions proceed from love, love to Himself, and love to immortal souls.

Lord help me to begin to begin.

No doubt [women of faith in the past] were reproached for His name's sake, and accounted mad women; but they had a faith which enabled them at that time to overcome the world, and by which they climbed up to heaven.

Oh that I was lowly in heart! Honor and dishonor, good report and evil report would then be alike, and prove a furtherance to me in my Christian cause.

Whole days and weeks have I spent prostrate on the ground in silent or vocal prayer.

The Lord Jesus sits in heaven, ruling over all, and causing all things to work for his children's good.

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.

Would ministers preach for eternity! They would then act the part of true Christian orators, and not only calmly and cooly inform the understanding, but, by persuasive, pathetic address, endeavour to move the affections and warm the heart.

I found by daily experience, the more I did, the more I might do for God.

A true faith in Jesus Christ will not suffer us to be idle. No, it is an active, lively, restless principle; it fills the heart, so that it cannot be easy till it is doing something for Jesus Christ.

Left to himself, man is half beast and half devil.

Let the name of Whitefield perish, but Christ be glorified

It is God alone who can subdue and govern the unruly wills of sinful men.

As Christ was born of the Virgin's womb, so must He be spiritually formed in our hearts. As He died for sin, so must we die to sin. And as He rose again from the dead, so must we also rise to a divine life.

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.

People want to recommend themselves to God by their sincerity; they think, 'If we do all we can, if we are but sincere, Jesus Christ will have mercy on us.' But pray what is there in our sincerity to recommend us to God? ... therefore, if you depend on your sincerity for your salvation, your sincerity will damn you.

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.

All our afflictions, all our temptations are to make heaven more desirable, and earth more loathsome.

Whoever reads the gospel with a single eye, and sincere intentions, will find, that our blessed Lord took all opportunities of reminding his disciples that His Kingdom was not of this world; that His doctrine was a doctrine of the Cross; and that their professing themselves to be His followers, would call them to a constant state of voluntary suffering and self-denial.

Believers keep up and maintain their walk with God by secret prayer. The spirit of grace is always accompanied with the spirit of supplication. It is the very breath of the new creature, the fan of the divine life, whereby the spark of holy fire, kindled in the soul by God, is not only kept in, but raised into a flame.

I am tired in the Lord's work, but not tired of it.

Though they have a Christ in their heads, they have no Christ in their hearts.

What could the Lord Jesus Christ have done for you more than he has? Then do not abuse his mercy, but let your time be spent in thinking and talking of the love of Jesus, who was incarnate for us, who was born of a woman, and made under the law, to redeem us from the wrath to come.

You need not fear the greatness or number of your sins.

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.

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.

Dare, dare, my dear brethren in Christ, to follow the Captain of your salvation, who was made perfect through sufferings

We can preach the Gospel of Christ no further than we have experienced the power of it in our own hearts