Comparative Thoughts on Race and Slavery of John Wesley and George Whitfield

This paper attempts to evaluate and analyze how John Wesley and George Whitefield, both of whom were used greatly of God and who had similar beginnings to their ministry, have such polar positions on the anthropological issue of race and slavery.   This will be accomplished first by detailing a biographical sketch of both men's lives including: their early lives, the Holy Club, their conversion experiences as well as a synopsis of their ministries focusing on their relationship with each other and their significance and contribution to the Kingdom of God.   Next, this paper will look at Wesley's theological position on slavery, what motivated him to take an anti-slavery stance and his argument in opposition of it.   This will be followed by Whitefield's theological position on slavery including what motivated him to take a pro-slavery stance as well as an analysis on his arguments in favor of slavery. Lastly there will be an evaluation of each person's position followed by some concluding thoughts on Wesley and Whitefield as it relates to this subject matter.

History of John Wesley

  John Wesley, born June 17, 1703, was the fifteenth of nineteen children born to Samuel and Susanna Wesley.   Samuel, John's father, while gifted and scholarly, was a rather pedestrian Anglican priest in the rectory of Epworth.   He was constantly in financial troubles, which, for a short time, caused him to be imprisoned.   Additionally, he was not on good terms with his parishioners and would retreat annually to London for Convocation, sometimes for months at a time.   JC Ryle said of him, "he was a man of more book-learning and cleverness than good sense."  

On the other hand, Susanna, John's mother, is one of the greatest Christian mothers in history.   Her father was a well-known reader of Puritan theology and this significantly influenced her in the rearing of her children.   She took the responsibility of raising them as a sacred trust from God, saying in a letter to Samuel, "I cannot but look upon every soul you leave under my care as a talent committed to me under a trust by the great Lord of all the families both of heaven and earth."   She spoke of how she cared for her household and raised her children in a letter to John at his request.   In it, she detailed what she referred to as "principle rules I observed in educating my family." These included particulars on piety and devotion to the Lord, conquering a child's will, little tolerance for crying, keeping the children in order with a rigorous schedule, and a list of by-laws by which the household operated.   There can be no doubt that Susanna's personal devotion to the Lord had a significant impact on John's ministry.  

Although John's early life was somewhat quiet, there is one event that must be noted.   One evening, at the age of five, John awoke to find the house on fire.   He was the only one left inside.   As the flames grew hotter and consumed more and more of the house, he moved to the window.   When the crowd below spotted young John standing in the second story window, a strong man put another on his shoulders and positioned himself underneath John.   He was saved from the fire at the very moment that the roof collapsed inward.   His father, with his house and all of his books and writings destroyed said, "Come, neighbors!   Let us kneel down!   Let us give thanks to God!   He has given me all eight children.   Let the house go.   I am rich enough." Susannah believed that God had saved John for a great work and John always viewed himself as "brands plucked from the burning", which references Zechariah 3:2.  

At age seventeen, in 1720, John began the undergraduate program at Oxford University and was elected to Christ Church.   Ryle notes that John's correspondence with his father and mother during his first few years at Oxford clearly demonstrates the inner battle that Wesley was having over spiritual matters.   "They all show more or less absence of spiritual light and clear views of the gospel."   Yet, through his transparency with his parents, it is clearly understood that he felt true religion was serious business.   In 1726, Wesley was elected Fellow of Lincoln College.   In the eight years that followed, 1726-1734, John resided at Oxford.   During this time, he gradually began to get involved with his brother Charles, who was student at Christ Church, in doing good for others.   Then, in November of 1729, he began to gather a group together of young, like-minded men to study the Greek New Testament.   This group initially began with four attendees but they were later joined by four more, including the young George Whitfield.   They committed themselves to helping those less fortunate by visiting prisoners, helping the poor, distributing Prayer books and Bibles, helping neglected children go to school as well as engage in the intense study of the Scriptures in the original languages.   Because these actions were so out of the box for the time in which they lived, they received much ridicule and persecution, being called "Methodists" and a "Holy Club."   John formed habits from his experiences over these eight years that would last him for rest of his life.

Following his time at Oxford, Wesley accepted the opportunity to be a missionary in Georgia to the Indians.   His time in Georgia was wrought with failure and confusion that left him feeling defeated and uncertain of his own soul.   Wesley records in his journal, only a day after he had landed in Georgia on February 6, 1736, a conversation with a pastor, Mr. Spangenberg, which is most relevant to understanding the process leading to John Wesley's conversion: "I soon found what spirit he was of and asked his advice with regard to my own conduct.   He said, " My brother, I must first ask you one or two questions.   Have you the witness within yourself?   Does the Spirit of God bear witness with your spirit that you are a child of God?" I was surprised, and knew not what to answer.   He observed it and asked, "Do you know Jesus Christ?" I paused and said, "I know He is the Saviour of the world."   "True," replied he; "but do you know he has saved you?"   I answered, I hope He has died to save me."   He only added, "Do you know yourself?" I said, "I do."   But I fear they were vain words " (italics mine).  

After two years, Wesley, defeated and happy to leave, boarded a ship to sail back to England.    On the voyage home, a great storm arose that threatened the lives of all on board. John was struck by the peace demonstrated by the Moravian missionaries during this.   Over the course of the journey, Wesley recorded, "I went to America, to convert the Indians; but oh!   Who shall convert me?   Who, what is he that will deliver me from this evil heart of mischief?"   Once in England, Wesley would continue a relationship with the Moravians and to study the Scriptures fervently.   All of this led up to the defining night in 1738 where at a society meeting on Aldersgate Street, John sat listening to a reading of Luther's preface to the Epistle of Romans.   He says of this night, "About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed.   I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death." In the days that would follow his conversion, the enemy would tempt him that it was not real but he did not waiver and his response would simply be to cry out to God and flee the temptations.  

Now that Wesley was converted and sure of his conversion, he set his efforts on the salvation of others.   Soon Wesley received an invitation from a former "Holy Club" member, George Whitefield, who was now a famous preacher dividing his time between his parish in Georgia and England.   Though Wesley was unconvinced at first of Whitefield's methods of preaching outdoors, this soon changed and the two spent much of their early years of ministry preaching together.   Whitefield played a strategic role in Wesley's life early on after his conversion.   The two worked together with great success preaching to crowds that have been estimated to be over twenty thousand.   Soon, Wesley became the leader of the movement.   After much success in ministering together, the two decided to go their separate ways due to the substantial disagreement on the doctrine of predestination and free will.   Whitefield preferred the view of Calvinism while Wesley favored the view of Armenianism and thus the two decided to follow their own convictions and separate without fueling a controversy.            

While Whitefield would found a new denomination, Wesley had no interest to do such.   Gonzalez says the purpose of Wesley "was to awaken and cultivate the faith of the masses in the Church of England, as Pietism was doing for German Lutheranism."   It was never Wesley's intent to depart from the Church of England and he demonstrated this in that he remained an Anglican minister until he died.   Further evidence can also be seen in that he was careful to never allow his preaching to conflict with the time of the Anglican services and always viewed that 'Methodist' meetings existed to prepare an individual for the worship service and the taking of communion.   The 'societies' that Wesley organized were called 'Methodists' because they adhered to his methods.   This will be further discussed in the section on Wesley's contributions.

A biographical understanding of Wesley must include what took place on New Year's Eve in 1738 at the Fetter Lane Chapel, a Moravian congregation in London.   Each year the congregation would gather for a "Watch Night" service, have a meal together, take communion, read a Scripture and have a time of prayer.   Whitefield would later describe what happened next as "a Pentecostal season indeed."   While little details are known about the evening, what is understood is that the New Year was ushered in with the people of that chapel praying and the power of God coming upon the group.   At this time, Wesley had been a Christian for less than a year and was longing for a still deeper experience.   His wish came true that night.   He describes it by saying that at "about three in the morning, as we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground.   As soon as we recovered a little from the awe and amazement at the presence of His majesty, we broke out with one voice, 'We praise Thee, O God, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.'"   This night has been claimed as the beginning of the Methodists Revival.

Wesley's involvement in revival can be found during The Evangelical Awakening in Britain, otherwise known as the Methodist Revival.   During his life, he traveled and preached almost every week, being motivated that if there was breath in his lungs, he was to preach the gospel somewhere.   He led The Evangelical Awakening in Great Britain with his preaching ministry in the open fields, his publishing's, his equipping of others to preach the gospel, and an unwavering focus on the purpose of always sharing the gospel.   The unusual ability to both preach and organize, coupled with an immeasurable zeal, positioned Wesley to be the leader of this revival.   Ensley comments that "there have been other revivals which, for a brief period, have approached the Wesleyan achievement in intensity.   The Great Awakening in America rivaled it in its effects on education and public affairs.   But what evangelist can claim such permanent consequences and continuing life for his labors as the little Oxford don who left his classroom to save the souls of miners and shopkeepers of eighteenth century England."    

History of George Whitefield

            George Whitefield was born at the Bell Inn that his father owned in Gloucester, England on December 16, 1714, the youngest of seven children.   Both Thomas and Elizabeth Whitefield, George's parents, came from economically comfortable living situations.   His father passed away when he was just two years old and upon his father's passing, Elizabeth took even greater measure than before to care for Whitefield and ensure that he received the best possible education.   His first biographer, Dr. Gilles of Glasgow, says, "He was regarded by his mother with peculiar tenderness, and educated with more than ordinary care."   At an early age, he was placed in a school called "The College" which was in association with Gloucester Cathedral.   When he was twelve, he entered the school called St. Mary de Crypt, which was attached to the Whitefield's parish.   It was here that he received his first experience at public speaking as he was chosen to deliver speeches before the City Council.   From early in his life, he admired and even imitated the prayers of clergyman demonstrating that he may want to be a minister one day.   Not as much is known about the early life of George Whitefield when compared to John Wesley.     

            In autumn of 1732, at the age of eighteen, Whitefield began attending Pembroke College at Oxford University.   At this point, Whitefield was under financial strain and had to take the position of a servitor to meet college expenses.   This means he "waited on tables and rendered "the fellows" and "gentlemen commoners" special services and performed other duties as assigned."   Before Whitefield ever arrived at Oxford, he had heard of the Holy Club and was somewhat associated with its purpose and principles.   Within a year of being at Oxford, Charles Wesley, John Wesley's brother, befriended him and soon he joined the Holy Club.   He recorded in his journal his deep respect for the members of the Holy Club and how he happened to meet the Wesley's:

"For above twelvemonth my soul longed to be acquainted with some of them, and I was strongly pressed to follow their good example, when I saw them go through ridiculing crowds to receive the Holy Eucharist at St. Mary's.   At length, God was pleased to open a door.   It happened that a poor woman in one of the workhouses attempted to cut her throat, but was happily prevented.   Upon hearing of this and knowing that both the Mr. Wesley's were ready to every good work, I sent a poor apple-woman of our college to inform Mr. Charles Wesley of it, charging her not to discover who sent her.   She went; but, contrary to my orders, told my name.   He having heard of my coming to the castle and a parish-church sacrament, and having met me frequently walking by myself, followed the woman when she was gone away, and sent an invitation to me by her, to come to breakfast with the next morning."     

It is hard to read the above quote without seeing the sovereign hand of God orchestrating the beginning of the relationship between the Wesley's and Whitefield that would bring an awakening to most of the English speaking world.   As stated earlier, the members of the Holy Club were ridiculed and called 'Methodists.'   The reason for this is because of "their methodical system of life, extending to practically every phase of daily experience."   The overriding principle of the Holy Club was "to live by rule, and to pick up the very fragments of my time, that not a moment of it might be lost."   This was to be true in all things whether it was the extra theological studies in the original languages that they assigned each other above their regular school assignments or reading to the poor and helping those who were in economically desperate situations.

            While the Holy Club was significant in establishing relationships and disciplines that would last a lifetime, for all of its good works and methods, it fell short at the fundamental purpose of understanding a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus.   In May of 1735, at the age of twenty, after weeks of sickness caused by the Holy Spirit's conviction, George Whitefield was converted.   He records that "I cast myself down on the bed, crying out, 'I thirst! I thirst!'   Soon after this, I found and felt in myself that I was delivered from the burden that had so heavily oppressed me.   The spirit of mourning was taken from me, and I knew what it was truly to rejoice in God my Saviour..." His conversion experience took place three years before John Wesley's.   Ryle says of his conversion, "the doctrines of free grace, once thoroughly grasped, took deep root in his heart, and became, as it were, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.   Of all the little band of Oxford Methodists, none seem to have got hold so soon of clear views of Christ's gospel as he did, and none kept it so unwaveringly to the end."     

            While Whitefield did not yet see himself fit to be ordained into the ministry with the Church of England, this did not prevent the offer from coming to him.   In 1736, at the age of twenty-two, Whitefield was ordained and admitted his holy orders by Bishop Benson of Gloucester.   Immediately he preached his first sermon in his home church where he had grown up and then in July of 1736, graduated from Oxford with his Bachelor of Arts degree.   Directly after this, he would preach all over London and from this point forward, Whitefield's popularity exploded and his ministry was stamped with the favor of God.   Ryle says that "whether on week-days or Sundays, wherever he preached, the churches were crowded, and immense sensation was produced."

            As was mentioned earlier, it was Whitfield that started the open air preaching style.   This monumental shift in evangelistic methodology and preaching began in London on April 27, 1739 and would characterize his.   From this defining point he would spellbind crowds in both America and England making him a strategic influence in both The First Great Awakening in America and The Evangelical Awakening in Britain.   He would conduct seven preaching tours to America and would die at the age of fifty-five while touring the American colonies.   During his life, he would have close relationships with Jonathan Edwards, William Tennant, Benjamin Franklin and David Hume.   Jonathan Edwards's wife, Sarah, said of him, "He makes less of the doctrines than our American preachers generally do and aims more at affecting the heart.   He is a born orator.   A prejudiced person, I know, might say that this is all theatrical artifice and display, but not so will anyone think who has seen and known him."                    

Their contributions and significance to the Kingdom of God

The contributions and significance of these two men to the Kingdom of God is unparallel.   Charles Haddon Spurgeon said of the two, "if there were wanted two apostles to be added to the number of the twelve, I do not believe that there could be found two more fit to be so added than George Whitefield and John Wesley."   "John Wesley averaged three sermons a day for fifty-four years preaching all-told more than 44,000 times. In doing this he traveled by horseback and carriage more than 200,000 miles, or about 5,000 miles a year."   The significance of his ministry can scarcely be understood.   Hundreds of thousands must have been delivered under his preaching.   Over 550 itinerant preachers and over 1500 local pastors, most of whom Wesley personally raised up, were influenced under this man's ministry.   His writing ministry includes a four-volume commentary on the whole Bible, a dictionary of the English language, a five-volume work on natural philosophy, a four-volume work on church history, histories of England and Rome, grammars on the Hebrew, Latin, Greek, French and English languages, three works on medicine, six volumes of church music, and seven volumes of sermons and controversial papers. He also edited a library of fifty volumes known as "The Christian Library."  

Retirement was never an option as he continued to preach well into his eighties.   At the age of eighty-three, he became frustrated with his own humanity in that he could not write more than fifteen hours a day without hurting his eyes.   At age eighty-six, he again became faced with his mortality having to admit that he could only preach twice a day but, amazingly, in this year, he preached at every shire in England and Wales.   John Wesley died in 1791 in his eighty-eighth year of life and his sixty-fifth year of ministry.   JC Ryle says of his death, "He had always enjoyed wonderful health and never hardly knew what it was to feel weariness or pain till he was eighty-two.   The weary wheels of life at length stood still, and he died of no disease but sheer old age."  

Like Wesley, the contributions of Whitefield are almost impossible to measure.   In his lifetime, between his ordination in 1736 and his death in 1770, he would preach at least 18,000 times to almost 10 million listeners.   He could command the attention of tens of thousands of individuals with his dramatic and emotional preaching style and could project his voice so that crowds of twenty-five and thirty thousand could hear him clearly.   It has been said that he was a Calvinist who preached like an Arminian.   He began the field preaching out of opposition that rose against him in the established church.   This was "probably the Lord's means to extend the reach of revival to the forgotten masses of the land."   His contributions include his unique style of preaching, his success on both sides of the ocean, his ability to cross denominational lines because of his focus on the simplicity of the gospel, his use of laity in his ministry and the orphanage he opened called "House of Mercy" in Georgia.  

The theological position of Wesley on slavery

            Up to this point in the paper, all consideration has been focused on understanding the lives and contributions of John Wesley and George Whitefield.   From this juncture forward, the focus will be on evaluating the theological stance and how these positions impacted their ministries.  

            Evidence of John Wesley's attitude toward the institution of slavery became evident rather early in his ministry and was formulated during the two years he spent in Georgia.   There is no evidence in these early years of any "general ethical condemnation of slavery on Wesley's part" but rather he spent much of his efforts focusing on improving the situation of the slave and seeking to share the gospel and introduce the basics of Christianity to them.   During his time in Georgia, it is clear that he ministered to both slave and free, even going as far as holding services just for slaves without prejudice.   While there is no evidence of a protest against slavery during this early period of Wesley's ministry, his "emancipation of the blacks in the religious and ecclesiastical realm, motivated by his doctrine of creation and soteriology rather than by eschatology, laid the foundation for his later opposition to and rejection of slavery."  

            It was not until after 1770 that John Wesley began to lead a charge against slavery.   "The first Methodist conference in the United States in 1780 proclaimed its opposition to slavery as "contrary to the laws of God, of man, and of nature, and injurious to the society," adding "that it contradicts the instructions of conscience and pure religion and does that which we would not wish others to do to us or our folk."   The "theological manifesto", motivating the Methodist proclamation, came from a 1774 publication by Wesley entitled Thoughts on Slavery , in which he clearly demonstrates an anti-slavery position.   This would be his defining work against slavery and the development of this piece would be the theological sword he would wield the rest of his life.   "For Wesley as a theological writer it is noteworthy that here he deployed the concept of creation as his decisive argument.   With this concept he was able to develop directly humanitarian, legal and ethical themes and in this way forge a link with the general spirit of his age."

            The shape or design of Wesley's argument in Thoughts on Slavery begins by defining slavery and providing a synopsis of the rise and extreme prejudice against blacks and their origins, style of life, and character.   It is important to note that this is not a purely emotional piece or a work solely based on Wesley's two-year experience in Georgia but rather it was written "using the best methods of eighteenth century scholarship, plus logic and common sense, he makes his case and adds to it the gospel of Jesus Christ." The second section focuses on " what kind of country it is from which the Negroes are brought; what sort of men, of what temper and behaviour are they in their own country."   In this section Wesley concludes by painting a true picture of the good people from the coast of Africa.  

Upon the whole, therefore, the Negroes who inhabit the coast of Africa, from the river Senegal to the southern bounds of Angola, are so far from being the stupid, senseless, brutish, lazy barbarians, the fierce, cruel, perfidious savages they have been described, that, on the contrary, they are represented, by them who have no motive to flatter them, as remarkably sensible, considering the few advantages they have for improving their understanding; as industrious to the highest degree, perhaps more so than any other natives of so warm a climate; as fair, just, and honest in all their dealings, unless where white men have taught them to be otherwise; and as far more mild, friendly, and kind to strangers, than any of our forefathers were.

The third section of Wesley's treatise is considered the heart of his argument.   It is here that Wesley focuses on the horridness of slavery by describing " what manner are they generally procured, carried to, and treated in, America."   One is given an insight into the process of becoming a slave from the time of ones capture in their homeland to the journey to the States.   He comments on how it is a wonder that any of them survived and could handle being sold and treated inhumanely by their new masters.   The vivid language used by Wesley, which is a strategic part of his appeal, is enough to move most to tears and action.   An example of this dramatic use of words can be seen in his description of what happens to a slave once he or she arrives in America:

When the vessels arrive at their destined port, the Negroes are again exposed naked to the eyes of all that flock together, and the examination of their purchasers. Then they are separated to the plantations of their several masters, to see each other no more. Here you may see mothers hanging over their daughters, bedewing their naked breasts with tears, and daughters clinging to their parents, till the whipper soon obliges them to part. And what can be more wretched than the condition they then enter upon? Banished from their country, from their friends and relations forever, from every comfort of life, they are reduced to a state scarce anyway preferable to that of beasts of burden. In general, a few roots, not of the nicest kind, usually yams or potatoes, are their food; and two rags, that neither screen them from the heat of the day, nor the cold of the night, their covering. Their sleep is very short, their labour continual, and frequently above their strength; so that death sets many of them at liberty before they have lived out half their days.

Wesley concludes one of the subsections by asking this question: Did the Creator intend that the noblest creatures in the visible world should live such a life as this?   He continues on in another section with an implicit argument based on natural law where he demonstrates how mercy and justice cannot be reconciled with slavery.   Natural law, based in Anglo-Saxon protestant tradition, surpassed positive law and "was endowed to every person, of whatever race, religion, or nationality."   The most fundamentally essential part of Wesley's argument was that slavery was a denial of human rights because it reduced an individual to the status of a tool or an animal.   To put this in theological terms, slavery is a denial of the imagio dei in a person.   Section five is Wesley's action plan to do away with the institution of slavery by adding "a few words to those who are more immediately concerned, whether captains, merchants, or planters."     

            The fight against slavery is one that Wesley championed until his life on earth was complete.   It is quite interesting that the last letter he ever penned was to a young William Wilberforce, who then was only thirty-two.   It is not a long letter but yet wisdom seems to spill out with each carefully chosen word.   It is really a letter of insight from an old warrior of God's kingdom who is about to cross the finish line to a young solider in Christ just beginning the race.   As one reads this, it is obvious that Wesley is grounded in a theological conviction that slavery is vile and against God and that he has a holy calling to stand against this evil.   This is clearly demonstrated in the first half of the letter:

DEAR Sir,--Unless the divine power has raised you up to be Athanasius contra mundum , I see not how you can go though your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy, which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature.   Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils.   But if God be for you, who can be against you?   Are all of them together stronger than God?   O be not weary of well doing!   Go on, in the name of God and in power of His might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.     

In this letter, Wesley communicates first and foremost that unless one is called of God, one will not endure the task and secondly, that slavery is a 'scandal of religion' and of 'human nature'.   That is to say that slavery rejects the imagio dei of an individual and views them as nothing less than an animal or a tool to be used and then discarded.   Here we see Wesley consistently adhering, to the end of his life, to his theological argument of creation that was so prevalent in Thoughts on Slavery .      

The theological position of Whitefield on slavery

            In one of the first mentions of slavery in association with Mr. Whitefield, according to his earliest biographer John Gillies, takes place in April of 1740.   As has been discussed, Whitefield invited Wesley to join him in open air preaching and part of this reason was due to the fact that Whitefield would divide his time between both England and America and he therefore needed a man like Wesley to help continue this new method in his absence.   One of the projects or ministries that Whitefield undertook in the States was the building of an orphanage in Georgia.   His traveling companion, Mr. William Seward, demonstrates in his journals that slaves were needed to work the orphan house.  

            While much of Whitefield's success in the First Great Awakening took place in Maryland and further north, he did have followers in the south, primarily in South Carolina and Georgia.   The Bryan family of St. Helena Parish, South Carolina was greatly affected by Whitefield and this relationship helped to form a network for him of evangelicals in the south.   The Bryan family owned slaves and under the guidance of Whitefield were convinced that the gospel was for all, white or black.   They therefore sought to share their faith with their slaves and to reform the institution of slavery.   This further demonstrates the attitude of Whitefield in favor of the institution of slavery.   The relationship with the Bryans would last for over ten years.   Part of the support given by this family was to oversee the survival and expansion of Whitefield's Bethesda Orphanage near Savannah, Georgia.   Bethesda soon became a serious force in Georgia becoming the largest civil employer of the colony providing jobs, education and religious services.  

            Whitefield soon sought, with this new network of evangelicals, to reform the institution of slavery so that slaves all over the South may hear the gospel.   "Led by George Whitefield, evangelicals proposed that bonds people be allowed to convert to Christianity and to receive education as well as humane treatment."   Many times the response was not what they had hoped for as an overriding apprehension among planters or plantation owners led to a rejection of reform in fear that "their bond people would move from religious training to religious rights and perhaps on to desiring civil or political rights." The rare occasions that planter did allow their slaves religious instruction they were made to understand not to equate baptism with freedom.  

            Whitefield's attitude toward the treatment of slaves during this time is best demonstrated in a letter he wrote in early 1740 entitled, "To the inhabitants of Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, concerning their Negroes."   He communicates that as he traveled through their regions he was "touched with a fellow-feeling of the miseries of the poor negroes."   His heart is broken because of the "cruelty of the poor negroes."   Further on in the letter Whitefield speaks of how the slaves are treated by stating, "Your dogs are caressed and fondled at you tables; but your slaves who are frequently styled dogs or beasts, have not an equal privilege.   They are scarce permitted to pick up the crumbs which fall from their master's tables."   In a more detailed description of their treatment he speaks of how they have been cut with knives, stabbed with forks and had their backs scourged, some to the point of death.   Much of the rest of the letter continues to point out the evils of ill-treatment and that slave owners should understand the severity of and correct this evil.   What is of particular concern for this paper is a statement Whitefield makes about half way through the letter: "Whether it is lawful for Christians to buy slaves, I shall not take upon me to determine..."   A short time after the writing of this, Whitefield himself became a slave owner for, as seen above, the purposes of working in his orphanage.  

            When his orphanage project was still in its infancy stages, Georgia law did not allow for one to own slaves.   In 1736, several of the finest citizens of Savannah, which includes George Whitefield, petitioned to the Trustees of Georgia for the institution of slavery to be made legal.   In Whitefield's own presentation of his reasoning and support for slavery at this time seems to be motivated by the fact that "many poor orphans were there already, and the number was likely soon to be increased..." As is continually demonstrated throughout his life, Whitefield's motivations for owning slaves was to justify, in his own thinking, the good end of caring for the down and out.   This is again seen in that in the mid 1740's, he had a slave plantation called 'Providence', which again, was for the purposes of financially aiding Bethesda Orphanage.  

            Throughout his life it appears that his convictions over the issue of slavery varied from reform for the purposes of evangelism and humane treatment to the institution itself being wrong.   This variation is demonstrated in a letter he wrote:

However..., it is plain to a demonstration, that hot countries cannot be cultivated without negroes .... And though it is true, that they are brought in a wrong way from their own country, and it is a trade not to be approved of, yet as it will be carried on whether we will it or not; I should think myself highly favoured if I could purchase a good number of them, in order to make their lives comfortable, and lay a foundation for breeding up their posterity in a the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Thus it is evident from the foregone paragraphs that Whitefield supported slavery to whatever extent and owned slaves throughout his life even though it appears he had a moral dilemma with the institution at times.   He had gone from owning no slaves and writing a scathing letter to slave owners about the treatment of them to only a year later petitioning the Trustees of Georgia to make slavery legal because his orphanage would not survive without their labor.   Years later wrote that "Georgia never can or will be a flourishing province without Negroes being allowed."   Finally, in his death, he willed all his possessions, including his slaves, to the Countess of Huntingdon.

Whitefield felt there was some biblical precedence for the institution of slavery, though it is merely his attempt to put the square peg of slavery in the round hole of Scripture.   The only argument he sought to biblically justify this position was in referring to Old Testament patriarchs and that what was right for Abraham could hardly be wrong for him.   He said at one point, "I here of some [slaves] that were bought with Abraham's money."   Other than this brief reference, there is no reason to assume he felt there was any other theological justification for slavery.   His argument relies, as has been seen, on practical reasons based in ministry objectives rather than principle based on the Scriptures. Therefore we can only assume that he allowed his theology and preaching to take a back seat to his practices supported by his graded absolutist argument.    

Concluding thoughts on Wesley and Whitefield as it relates to the issue of slavery

            In reading for this paper, all authors who dared to discuss in any depth the institution of slavery and George Whitefield did so always with the precursor of his pure intentions or attempt to have right motivation, as if his motives justify his means.   One author stated that "Whitefield was a child of his time, and he must be seen in that light.   If slaves were treated kindly and were given the Christian gospel, Whitefield, and many eighteenth-century professing Christians (what of Jonathan Edwards?) saw nothing incongruous in the institution."