Glimpses of Christian History Presents Pastwords #13: Farewell Sermon, on the Duty of Thankfulness by George Whitefield ©2007

WHITEFIELD, GEORGE. Thankfulness for Mercies received a necessary Duty. A Farewell Sermon, Preached To the Officers, Soldiers and Sailors, and rest of the Ship’s Crew on their Arrival in America. Wherein The Business of Soldiers and Sailors, are briefly, but distinctly Spiritualized. By George Whitefield, A.B. of Pembroke College Oxford. Glasgow, Printed by Alexander Miller. MDCCXLI. [1741] Text: Psalm cvii. 30, 31. Then are they glad, because they are at Rest, and so he bringeth them unto the Haven where they would be. O that Men would therefore praise the Lord for his Goodness, and declare the Wonders that he doth for the Children of Men!

George Whitefield (1713-1770) famous English preacher, evangelist. “In his kind Whitefield is supreme among preachers, sharing his eminence only with Latimer. Others might be more learned, even more stylish, but none was more eloquent or more moving...Like open-air preachers before him, like the friars and like Latimer, his work abounds with vivid colloquial phrases and apt, familiar analogies.”–Arthur Pollard in Douglas: Intl. Dict. Christ. Church, p1044.

or these four Months, my good Friends we have now been upon the Sea in this Ship, and have occupied our Business in the great Waters. At God Almighty’s Word, we have seen the stormy Wind arise, which hath lifted up the Waves thereof. We have been carried up to the Heaven and down again to the Deep, and some of our Souls melted away, because of the Trouble; but I trust we cried earnestly unto the Lord, and he delivered us out of our Distress. For, he made the Storm to cease; so that the Waves thereof were still. And now we are glad, because we are at Rest, for God hath brought us to the Haven where we would be. Oh that you would therefore praise the Lord for his Goodness, and declare the Wonders that he hath done for us, the unworthiest of the Sons of Men!

O THAT you would therefore praise the Lord for his Goodness, and by your Lives declare, that you are truly thankful for the Wonders he hath shewn to us, who are less than the least of the Sons of Men.

I say, declare it by your Lives. For to give Him Thanks barely with your Lips, while your Hearts are far from him, is but a mock Sacrifice, nay an Abomination unto the Lord.

This was the End, the royal Psalmist says, God had in view, when he shewed such Wonders from Time to Time to the People of Israel, that they might keep his Statutes and observe his Laws, cv. 44. and this, my good Friends, is the End God would have accomplished in us, and the only Return he desires us to make him, for all the Benefits he hath conferred upon us.

O THEN let me beseech you, give God your Hearts, your whole Hearts, and suffer your selves to be drawn by the Cords of infinite Love to honour and obey him.

Assure yourselves you never can serve a better Master; for his service is perfect Freedom, his Yoke when worn alittle while, exceeding easy, his Burthen light; and in keeping his Commandments there is great Reward, Love, Peace, Joy in the Holy Ghost here, and a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away thereafter.

You may indeed let other Lords have Dominion over you, and Satan may Promise to give you all the Kingdoms of the Word, and the Glory of them, if you will fall down and Worship him; but he is a Liar, and was so from the Beginning; and has not so much to give you, as you may tread on with the Sole of your Foot; or could he give you the whole World, yet that could not make you happy without God. It is God alone, my Brethren, whose we are, in whose Name I now speak, and who has of late shewed us such Mercies in the Deep, that can give solid lasting Happiness to your Souls; and he for this Reason only desires our Hearts, because without him we must be miserable.

But God forbid that any of those should ever suffer the Vengeance of eternal Fire, amongst whom I have for these four Months been Preaching the Gospel of Christ, but yet thus must it be, if you do not improve the Divine Mercies; and instead of your being my Crown of Rejoycing in the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ, I must appear as a swift Witness against you.

But, Brethren, I am persuaded better Things of you, and Things that accompany Salvation, though I thus speak.

Blessed be God, some Marks of a partial Reformation at least, have been visible amongst all you that are Soldiers. And my weak.. tho’ sincere Endeavours to build you up in the Knowledge and Fear of God, have not been altogether in vain in the Lord.

Swearing, I hope, is in a great Measure abated with you; and God I trust has blessed his late Visitations by making them the Means of awakening your Consciences, to a more sollicitous Enquiry about the Things which belong to your everlasting Peace.

Fulfil you then my Joy, by continuing thus minded, and labour to go on to Perfection. For I shall have no greater Pleasure than to see or hear that you walk in the Truth.

Consider, my good Friends, you are now, as it were entering on a new World, where you will be sorrounded with Multitudes of Heathens; and if you take not heed to have your Conversation honest amongst them, and to walk worthy the Holy Vocation wherewith you are called, you will act the the Hellish Part of Herod’s Soldiers over again; and cause Christ Religion, as they did his Person, to be had in Derision of those that are round about you.

Consider firther, what peculiar Privileges you have enjoyed above many others that are entering on the same Land. They have had, as it were, a Famine of the Word, but you have rather been in Danger of being surfeited with your spiritual Manna. And therefore, as more instructions have been given you, so from you Men will most justly expect the greater Improvement in Goodness.

Indeed I cannot say I have discharged my Duty towards you as I ought. No, I am sensible of many Faults which I have been guilty of in my ministerial Office, and for which, I have not failed, nor, I hope, ever shall fail to humble myself in secret before God. However, this I can say, that except a few Days that have been spent necessarily on other Persons, whom God immediately called me to write and minister unto, and the two last Weeks wherein I have been confined by Sickness, all the while I have been aboard, I have been either actually engaged in, or preparing myself for instructing you. And though you are now to be committed to the Care of another (whole Labours I heartily beseech God to bless amongst you) yet I trust I shall at all Seasons, if Need be, willingly spend, and be spent, for the Good of your Souls, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I should be loved.

As for your Military Affairs, I have nothing to do with them. Fear God and you must Honour the King. Nor am I better acquainted with the Nature of that Land which you are now come over to protect; only this I may venture to affirm in general, that you must necessarily expect upon your Arrival at a new Colony, to meet with many Difficulties. But your very Profession teaches you to endure Hardship; be not therefore faint-hearted, but quit yourselves like Men, and be strong, Numb. xiv. Be not like those cowardly Persons, who were affrighted at the Report of the false Spies, that came and said, that there were People as tall as the Anakims to be grappled with; but be ye like unto Caleb, and Joshua all Heart; and say, we will act valiantely, for we shall be more than Conquerors over all Difficulties, thro’ Jesus Christ that loved us. ___Above all Things, my Brethren, take heed and be ware of Murmuring, like the perverse Israelites, against those that are set over you; and learn, whatsoever State you shall be in, therewith to be content, Phil. iv.

As I have spoken to you, I hope your Wives also will suffer the Word of Exhortation.

Your Behaviour on Shipboard, especially the first Part of the Voyage, I chuse to throw a Cloak over; for to use the mildest Terms, it was not such as became the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. However of late, blessed be God, you have taken more heed to your Ways, and some if you have walked all the while, as become Women professing Godliness. Let those accept my hearty Thanks, and permit me to intreat you all in general, as you are all now married, to remember the solemn Vow you made at your Entrance in to the Marriage State; and see that you be subject to your own Husbands, in every lawful Thing: Beg of God to keep the Door of your Lips, that you offend not with your Tongues; and walk in Love, that your Prayers be not hindred. You that have Children, let it be your chief Concern, to breed them up in the Nurture and Monition of the Lord. And live all of you so holy and unblameable, that you may not so much as be suspected to be unchast; and as some of you have imitated Mary Magdalene in her Sin, strive to imitate her also in her Repentance.

As for you that are Sailors, what shall I say? How shall I address my self to you? How shall I do that which I so much long to do --touch your Hearts? Gratitude obliges me to wish thus well to you. For you have often taught me many instructive Lessons, and reminded me to put up many Prayers to God for you, that you might receive your Spiritual Sight.

The continual Danger you are in of being over-whelmed by the great Waters; the many Opportunities you have of beholding God’s Wonders in the Deep; the happy Retirement you enjoy from worldly Temptations; and the daily Occasions that are offered you to endure Hardships, are such noble means of promoting the Spiritual Life, that were your Hearts bent towards God, you would account it your Happiness, that his Providence has called you, to go down to the Sea in Ships, and to occupy your Business in the great Waters.