"I was in my field at work. I dropped my tool that I had in my hand and ran home to my wife, telling her to make ready quickly to go hear Mr. Whitefield preach at Middle town, then ran to my pasture for my horse with all my might, fearing that I should be too late." In this passage it is obvious there was nothing of greater importance than hearing the spiritual teachings of Mr. Whitefield. .
With Whitefield's celebrated speaking tours of the colonies there appeared an innovative style of communications that refined the social context in which public address took place. Every person wanted to hear the famous preacher and learn of his teachings. Nathan Cole described George Whitefield's appearance before four thousand listeners, " I saw before me a cloud of fogg rising; I first thought it came from the great river, but as I came from nearer to the road, I heard a noise of horses feet coming down the road and this cloud was a cloud of dust made by the horses feet; it arose some Rods into the air over the tops of Hills and trees and when I came within about 20 rods of the road, I could see men and horses sliping along in the cloud like shadows and as I drew nearer it seemed like a steady stream of horses and their riders, scarcely a horse more than his length behind another, all of a lather and foam with sweat, their breath rolling out of their nostrils every jump; every horse seemed to go with all his might to carry his rider to hear news from heaven for the saving of souls, it made me tremble to see the sight" The sheer size and difference of ethnicity and social status of the audience exceeded anything in the annals of colonial popular assembly. To organize the mass meetings, both speaker and audience altered the roles and language they customarily adopted in public worship. In the process, a new model of social organization and public address developed a model which could be applied to a broad range of social, political and religious contexts.
