Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1859 edition. Excerpt: ... A lecture delivered before the Church of England Young Meni Society, in Freemasons' Mall, London, Jan. 26th, 1852. There are some men, whose greatness no person of common sense thinks of disputing. They tower above the rest of mankind, like the Pyramids, the Parthenon, and the Colosseum, among buildings. Such men were Luther and Augustine, Gustavus Adolphus and George Washington, Columbus, and Sir Isaac Newton. He who questions their greatness, must be content to be thought very ignorant, very prejudiced, or very eccentric. Public opinion has come to a conclusion about them--they were great men. But there are also great men whose reputation lies buried under a heap of contemporary ill-will and misrepresentation. The world does not appreciate them, because the world does not know their real worth. Their characters have come down to us through poisoned channels. Their portraits have been drawn by the ill-natured hand of enemies. Their faults have been exaggerated. Their excellencies have been maliciously kept back and suppressed. Like the famous sculptures of Nineveh, they need the hand of some literary Layard to clear away the rubbish that has accumulated round their names, and show them to the world in their fair proportions. Such men were Vigilantius and Wickliffe. Such men were Oliver Cromwell and many of the Puritans. And such a man was George Whitefield, about whom I have now to speak. There are few men whose characters have suffered so much from ignorance and misrepresentation of the truth, as Whitefield's. That he was a famous Methodist, and ally of John Wesley, in the last century j that he was much run after by ignorant people for his preaching; that many thought him an enthusiast and fanatic, --all this is about as much as most..