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Preaching that is bold, direct, and most loving.

JC Ryle comments on the preaching of George Whitefield:

Whitefield was a singularly bold and direct preacher. he never used that indirect expression "we," which seems so peculiar to English pulpit oratory, and which only leaves a hearer's mind in a state of misty confusion. He met men face to face, like one who had a message from God to them, "I have come here to speak to you about your soul." The result was that many of his hearers used often to think that his sermons were specially meant for themselves. He was not content, as many, with sticking on a meagre-tail-piece of application at the end of a long discourse. On the contrary, a constant vein of application ran through all his sermons. "This is for you, and this is for you." His hearers were never let alone.

May the LORD raise up more Whitefield's in our day to passionately, directly, and faithfully address the hearers with the truth of Holy Scripture.

Source: J. A. Caiger, "Preaching — Puritan and Reformed" in Puritan Papers Volume 2: 1960-1962, ed. by J. I. Packer (Philipsburg; P&R Publishing, 2001), 183.

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