Gifford admired Whitefield and after the evangelist’s death, published a book of 18 of his sermons. In his preface to them, Gifford wrote as follows: “This poor orphan’s plea is that it attempts to preserve the genuine remains of the one who has incontestably proved himself the destitute orphan’s friend”.
Now all this should strike you as odd. Since when did an 18 th century Particular Baptist pastor fill in for an ordained Anglican priest-evangelist? And what did Gifford mean by emphatically calling himself an orphan? The answers to these perplexities will become clearer when we understand Gifford’s story.
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