George Whitfield, an English clergyman, born in 1714, was educated at Oxford, where he received the degree of B.A, and where he became acquainted with Charles Wesley, and was an enthusiastic member of the club which gave rise to Methodism.  He was soon ordained, and commenced his remarkable missionary career.  Upon the urgent invitation of John Wesley, who was in Georgia, he embarked for America, but soon returned to solicit funds for a proposed orphan asylum.  He made five subsequent visits of America, preaching in all the large cities, also in those of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and made a journey to Holland.  He met with great opposition from the clergy, and being shut out of the churches, was first to introduce open-air services.  Having differed from the Wesley’s in some belief, they finally separated, which gave rise to the two classes, Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists.  He still continued his laborious  efforts, sometimes speaking three and four times a day for weeks, until his death, in 1770, at Newburyport, Mass., while preparing for a seventh missionary tour in America.