To Hear the Bridegroom's Voice by Anthony Esolen

Illuminations

To Hear the Bridegroom's Voice

by Anthony Esolen

In September of 1770, George Whitefield, the Methodist preacher, was dying of congestive heart failure, but he prayed to God that he could preach one final sermon to the people of New England. That prayer was granted, which for Whitefield must have been quite a grace, given his passionate and animated style, and his utter conviction about the love of God. There was never anything Laodicean about that man. He suffered an attack of asthma the next day and died, a servant of God to the end.

He and the brothers Wesley had traveled the length and breadth of the colonies in the 1730s, prompting what was called the Great Awakening. During that time, Whitefield had made a fast friend of that semi-virtuous self-promoter, Ben Franklin, who never passed up the main chance when he saw it. Franklin published Whitefield's sermons, and Whitefield and the Wesleys gave to the colonies a renewed trust in the special providence of God. It would be interesting to determine how many copies of Methodist sermons were to be found in the libraries of the Founders, by comparison with copies of the social-contract dreamers Locke and Hobbes.

THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:


Anthony Esolen is Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Thales College and the author of over 30 books, including Real Music: A Guide to the Timeless Hymns of the Church (Tan, with a CD), Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture (Regnery), and The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord (Ignatius). He has also translated Dante’s Divine Comedy (Random House) and, with his wife Debra, publishes the web magazine Word and Song (anthonyesolen.substack.com). He is a senior editor of Touchstone.

Print &
Online Subscription

Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!

Online
Subscription

Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!

bulk subscriptions

Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.

Transactions will be processed on a secure server.


more from the online archives

32.4—July/August 2019

A Case of Win-Win

on Probability, Death & the Existence of God by Graeme Hunter

18.10—December 2005

A Mighty Child

on an Apostle’s Encounter with the Son’s Children by Anthony Esolen

16.10—December 2003

Calculating Christmas

on the Story Behind December 25 by William J. Tighe

calling all readers

Please Donate

"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand

"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor

Support Touchstone

00