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The Great Awakening
Selected Stories & Teachings From The
History Of Revival
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Portrait of Jonathan Edwards, a
key leader in the First Great Awakening. Pastor, scholar, theologian, Edwards
analyzed revival to discern what is truly a work of God among his people.
MANY OF THE EARLY PURITANS
and pilgrims arrived in America with a fervent faith and vision for establishing
a godly nation. Within a century the ardor had cooled. The children of the
original immigrants were more concerned with increasing wealth and comfortable
living than furthering the Kingdom of God. The same spiritual malaise could be
found throughout the American colonies. The philosophical Rationalism of the
Enlightenment was spreading its influence among the educated classes; others
were preoccupied with the things of this world. When Theodore Frelinghuysen, a
minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, came to begin his pastoral world in New
Jersey during the 1720's, he was shocked by the deadness of the churches in
America. He preached the need for conversion, a profound, life-changing
commitment to Christ, not simply perfunctory participation in religious duties.
Presbyterian Gilbert Tennent was heavily influenced by Frelinghuysen and brought
revival to his denomination. Tennent believed the deadness of the churches was
in part due to so many pastors never having been converted themselves. His book
On the Dangers of an Unconverted Ministry caused quite a stir!
Looking for special seasons
In 1727, about the time that Frelinghuysen and Tennent were seeing revival in
New Jersey, Jonathan Edwards went to Northampton, Massachusetts to become
assistant minister to his grandfather Solomon Stoddard. Stoddard had ministered
at Northampton almost sixty years and during that time had seen five periods of
revivals or "harvests," as he called them. Stoddard recognized that a church
goes through periods of spiritual refreshing and depression: There are some
special Seasons wherein God doth in a remarkable Manner revive Religion among
his People. God doth not always carry on his work in the church in the same
Proportion...there be times wherein there is a plentiful Effusion of the Spirit
of God, and Religion is in a more flourishing Condition.
Enter Jonathan Edwards
In the 1730's, when Jonathan Edwards became minister at Northampton, he found
only spiritual deadness in the church. He was concerned about the immorality of
the young people and began visiting them in their homes. In 1734 he preached a
series of sermons on justification by faith alone. "By December," wrote Edwards,
"the Spirit of God began extraordinarily to set in. Revival grew, and souls did
as it were come by floods to Christ." Over a six month period, Edwards recorded
three hundred conversions. He wrote a book, Narratives of Surprising
Conversions, describing the revival and its effects on the life of the town.
By their fruits
In his Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, Edwards emphasized that
true religion must affect the heart. In The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of
the Spirit of God, Edwards taught from I John 4 what the evidences of a true
revival and work of the Spirit would be. The individual would be confirmed in
the truth of the gospel, that Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior of people
(vs. 2-3). The convert would avoid sin and worldly lust (vs. 4-5). He would have
a greater regard for the Holy Scriptures, accepting their truth and divine
origins (v. 6). Finally, his life would evidence a love to God and his fellow
man (vs. 6ff.) Edwards' printed works describing and analyzing the revival in
Northampton were read throughout the American colonies and Britain. They
stimulated ministers on both sides of the Atlantic to begin praying and looking
for revival.
The people came en mass
George Whitefield, an Anglican evangelist and friend of John and Charles Wesley,
not only travelled throughout Britain bringing the gospel of Christ, but he also
made seven trips to America between 1738 and 1770. He was probably the most
well- travelled man in the colonies and drew large crowds wherever he spoke.
Widespread revival was most clearly seen during his second journey (1739-1741).
As he toured the colonies, he would daily preach to large crowds in the open
air; the crowds were too large for the churches.
Ben on George
Benjamin Franklin was fascinated with
Whitefield's speaking ability and the effects his teaching had on the people.
Though Franklin never openly became a Christian himself, he did become a friend
of Whitefield's and his publisher in America. He was impressed with the change
Whitefield's gospel preaching brought on society. Franklin wrote that It was
wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From
being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world
were growing religious, so that one could not walk through the town in an
evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.
Thomas Prince of Boston founded the
first regularly published magazine in America, The Christian History, to report
the news of the revival in the colonies.
America reinvigorated
The Great Awakening in America in the 1730's and 1740's had tremendous results.
The number of people in the church multiplied, and the lives of the converted
manifested a true Christian piety. Denominational barriers broke down as
Christians of all persuasions worked together in the cause of the gospel. There
was a renewed concern with missions, and work among the Indians increased. As
more young men prepared for service as Christian ministers, a concern for higher
education grew. Princeton, Rutgers, Brown, and Dartmouth universities were all
established as a direct result of the Great Awakening. Some have even seen a
connection between the Great Awakening and the American Revolution - Christians
enjoying spiritual liberty in Christ would come to crave political liberty. The
Great Awakening not only revived the American church, but reinvigorated American
society as well. (GLIMPSES #39)
GLIMPSES is
published 12 times per year by Christian History Institute, Box 540,
Worcester, PA 19490. Telephone 610-584-1893 Fax 610-584-4610. Ken Curtis,
Editor.
Writer, Diana Severance, Klein,TX I.S.D. Copyright 1992 by Christian
History Institute.
All rights reserved.
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