Some Remarks on a Letter from Whit field

Abstract Near the end of her life Susanna Wesley found herself in a position to defend one of her former pupils, her son John, then in the middle of a public theological controversy with his old friend George Whitefield. Whitefield (1714-1770) came under John Wesley’s influence while a student at Pembroke College, Oxford, becoming not only an ardent member of the undergraduate religious organization nick named the Holy Club but subsequently a major leader of the evangelical revival in both Britain and North America. In fact, it was the more innovative, less churchly Whitefield who introduced Wesley to field preaching in 1Tl9. Though they were able to maintain their personal friendship, a fact that partially accounted for Whitefield’s visit to the widowed Susanna Wesley while she was staying with the Halls in Wooton, a professional rivalry developed. The two men soon broke theological ranks over predestination, the Calvinist doctrine asserting that God “before the foundation of the world” irrevocably chose some for salvation (“election”), others for damnation (“reprobation”). Whitefield, whose predisposition in this di rection was abetted by his evangelistic work in Wales, Scotland, and America, be came its champion, while his former mentor steadfastly held to his birthright Arminian position, which supported divine love (though perhaps at the expense of divine power) and gave humanity a greater role in the process of salvation.