In the year 1740, Mr.
Whitefield preached at Williamsburg. Though
the little company, of which Mr. Morris was
the centre, did not enjoy the advantage of
hearing Mr. Whitefield preach, his visit
awakened interest in the man, and prepared
them to receive his writinas with favour.
Accordingly, when in 1743, a volume of his
sermons was brought into the neighbourhood,
Mr. Morris invited his friends to meet and
hear them read. A considerable number of
persons attended for this purpose every
Sabbath, and frequently on other days. Mr.
Morris' dwelling being too small to
accommodate his audience, a meeting-house was
soon erected, merely for the purpose of
reading; not being accustomed to extempore
prayer, no one of the company had courage to
attempt to lead in that-exercise. The
attention thus excited gradually diffused
itself, so that Mr. Morris was frequently
invited to distant places to read his sermons
to the people. These meetings soon attracted
the attention of the magistrates, and those
who frequented them were called upon to
account for their non-attendance on the
services of the established church, and to
state to what denomination of Christians they
belonged. This latter demand puzzled thew. not
a little. The only dissenters of whom they
knew any thing were Quakers, and as they were
not Quakers, they could not tell what they
were. At length recollecting that Luther was a
great reformer, and that his writings had been
particularly serviceable to them, they
determined to call theirselves Lutherans.
About this time, the Rev. William Robinson, on
a mission from the Presbytery of New
Brunswick, visited that part of Virginia. Ile
founded a church in Lunenburg, now Charlotte,
and preached with much success. Also in
Hanover, Mr.Morris and his friends beseeched
him to preach in their reading-house, an
invitation which he gladly accepted. "
The congregation," says Mr. Morris,
" was large the first day, and vastly
increased the three ensuin, ones. It is hard
for the liveliest imagination to form an image
of the condition of the assembly on those
glorious days of the Son of man. Such of us as
bad been hungering for the word before, were
lost in agreeable astonishment, and could not
refrain from publicly declaring our transport.
We were overwhelmed with the thoughts of the
unexpected goodness of God, in allowing us to
hear the gospel preached in a manner which
surpassed our hopes. Many that came from
curiosity were pricked in the heart, and but
few in the numerous assemblies appeared
unaffected." Soon after Mr. Robinson's
departure, the Rev. John Blair visited them,
when former impressions were revived and new
ones made in many hearts. He was succeeded by
the Rev. Mr. Roan, who was sent by the
Presbytery of New Castle, and continued with
them longer than either of the others. The
good effects of this gentleman's labours were
very apparent. He was instrumental in
beginning and promoting a religious concern,
in many places where there was little
appearance of it before. " This, together
with his speaking pretty freely of the
degeneracy of the clergy in this colony,"
says Mr. Morris, "gave a general alarm,
and some measures were concerted to suppress
us. To increase the indignation of the
government the more, a perfidious wretch
deposed that he heard Mr. Roan utter
blasphemous expressions in his sermon. An
indictment was accordingly drawn up against
Mr. R., though he had by that time departed
the colony, and some who had invited him to
preach at their houses were cited to appear
before the general court, and two of them were
fined." The indictment, however, against
Mr. Roan was dropped, the witnesses cited
against him testifying in his favour, and his
accuser fled the province. Still as the
opposition of those in authority continued,
and "all circumstances seeming to
threaten the extirpation of religion among the
dissenters," they determined to apply to
the Synod of New York for advice and
assistance. This application was made in 1745,
when that body drew up an address to the
governor, Sir William Gooch, and sent it by
Messrs. William Tennent and Samuel Finley.
These gentlemen having been kindly received by
the governor, were allowed to preach, and
remained about a week. After their departure,
the meetings for reading and prayer were
continued, though Mr. Morris was repeatedly
fined for absenting himself from church and
keeping up unlawful assemblies. - In 1747, the
opposition of the government became more
serious, and a proclamation was affixed to the
door of the meeting-house, calling on the
magistrates to prevent all itinerant
preaching. This prevented the usual services
for one Sabbath, but before the succeeding
Lord's day the Rev. Mr.Davies arrived in the
neighbourhood, having been sent by the
Presbytery of New Castle, and legally
qualified to preach according to the act of
toleration. He petitioned the general court
for permission to officiate in four meeting
houses in and about Hanover, and his request,
after some delay, was granted. III health
prevented Mr. Davies from commencing his
labours among this people as their pastor,
until the spring of 1748. In October, 1748,
three additional places of worship were
licensed. The people under his charge were
sufficiently numerous, if compactly situated,
to form three distinct congregations. In 1751,
the date of Mr. Davies's narrative, there were
three hundred communicants in these infant
churches. There were at this period two other
Presbyterian congregations, one in Albemarle,
and the other in Augusta, which were supplied
with ministers in connection with the Synod of
Philadelphia. The Presbyterians in Virginia,
in connection with the Synod of New York,
though much more numerous than those belonging
to the other Synod, were, except the churches
in Hanover, destitute of pastors. President
Davies says they were numerous enough to form
at least five congregations; three in Augusta,
one in Frederick, and one in Amelia and
Lunenburg. "Were you a bigot," says
Mr. Davies to Dr. Bellamy, "you would no
doubt rejoice to hear that there are hundreds
of dissenters in a place where a few years ago
there were not ten;* but I assure myself of
your congratulations on a nobler account,
because a considerable number of perishing
sinners are gained to the blessed Redeemer,
with whom, though you never see them here, you
may spend a blissful eternity. After all, poor
Virginia demands your compassion; religion at
present is but like the cloud which Elij ah's
servant saw." Letter of Mr. Davies to Mr.
Bellamy, dated June 28, 1751.-Gillies'
Collections, vol.
ii. p. 330. This remark
of course relates to Hanover, where President
Davies was settled. The Presbyterians in the
other counties were principally Scotch and
Irish emigrants from Pennsylvania. My
venerated father in Christ, Dr. Alexander,
remarked on part of the above narrative in
relation to the establishment of Presbyterian
congregations. While the revival was thus
extending itself through almost all parts of
the Presbyterian Church, it was perhaps still
more general and remarkable throughout New
England. In Northampton, where President
Edwards had been settled since 1726, there had
been a revival in 1734-35, which extended more
or less through Hampshire county, and to many
adjoining places in Connecticut.* In in
Virginia, that it would not be very
intelligible to Virginians. "The counties
of Amelia and Lunenburg are mentioned as the
seat of flourishing congregations; now those
counties as at present bounded have scarcely
ever had more than a sprinkling of
Presbyterian families. When Mr. Morris's
letter was written, Cumberland and Prince
Edward counties formed part of Amelia, and
Charlotte of Lunenburg, and these were the
counties in which Presbyterian congregations
were planted, and where they flourish to this
day. So also, Augusta at that time
comprehended all the great valley from
Frederick southwestward; since then,
Rockbridge on the southwest, and Rockingham on
the northeast, have been taken off and formed
into new counties. The Presbyterians of what
is now Augusta, were mostly of the old-side,
but those of Rockbridge were of the
new-side." Dr. Alexander further
remarked, "That very little is said in
the above narrative, concerning the labours of
Mr. Davies. He, in his modesty, speaks as if
Mr. Robinson had converted more souls in a few
days, than he in eight years. But I can bear
witness that, half a century after Mr.
Davies's departure, I met with numerous
Christians of eminent piety, who acknowledged
him as the instrument of their awakening.
Every spring and fall he was accustomed to
take an extensive tour for preaching. He
generally preached in the woods to numerous
congregations, and multitudes were benefited
savingly by him, of whom he never knew any
thing. He was also very attentive to the
blacks, and had many of them taught to read;
and by the assistance of the society in London
for propagating Christianity, he supplied them
with Bibles and Watts's Hymns. I knew three
old men, born in Africa, brought over when
boys, who were members of his church, and
could all read and were eminent for piety.
There is no where in print any just account of
Mr. Davies's evangelical labours in Virginia.
While he preached faithfully, he conducted
himself with so much dignity, affability, and
prudence, that he gained the high respect of
all the distinguished laymen in that part of
the State. Edwards's Narrative, &c.,
Works, vol. iv. P. 25. "The melancholy
decline of the Hanover congregation after his
removal, was owing to a variety of causes,
chiefly to the emigration of the members. Many
of the congregations in the newer parts of the
State were commenced by members of his
congregation." The spring of 1740, before
the visit of Mr. Wliitefield, there was a
growing seriousness through the town,
especially among the young people. When that
gentleman came to the place in October, he
preached four or five sermons with his usual
force and influence. In about a month there
was a great alteration in the town, both in
the increased fervour and activity of
professors of religion, and in the awakened
attention of sinners. In May, 1741, a sermon
was preached at a private house, when one or
two personswere so affected by the greatness
and glory of divine things, that they were not
able to conceal it, the affection of their
minds overcoming their strength, and having an
effect on their bodies. After the exercises,
the young people removed to another room to
inquire of those thus exercised, what
impressions they had experienced. The
altection was quickly propagated round the
room; many of the young people and children
appeared to be overcome with the sense of
divine things, and others with distress about
their sinfulness and danger, so that "
the room was full of nothing but outcries,
fainting, and such like." Others soon
came to look on many of whom were overpowered
in like manner. The months of August and
September of this year were most remarkable
for the number of convictions and conversions,
for the revival of professors, and for the
external effects of this state of excitement.
It was no uncommon thing to see a house, as
Edwards expresses it, full of outcries,
faintings, convulsions, and the like, both
from distress, and also from admiration and
joy. The work continued much in the same state
until February, 1742, when Mr. Buel came and
laboured among the people during a temporary
absence of the pastor. The effect of his
preaching was very extraordinary. The people
were greatly moved, great numbers crying out
during public worship, and many remaining in
the house for hours after the services were
concluded. The whole town was in a great and
continual commotion night and day. Mr. Buel
remained a fortnight after Mr. Edwards's
return, and the same effects continued to
attend his preaching. There were instances of
persons lying twenty-four hours in a trance,
apparently senseless, though under strong
imaginations, as though they went to heaven
and had there visions of glorious objects.
When the people were raised to this height,
Satan took the advantage, and his
interpositions, in many instances, soon became
apparent, and a great deal of pains was
necessary to keep the people from running
wild. President Edwards states, that he
considered this revival much more pure than
that of 1734-5, at least during the years
1740,. 1741, and the early part of
1742. Towards the close
of the last-mentioned year, an unfavourable
influence was exerted upon the congregation
from abroad. This remark shows that he did not
consider the scenes which he describes as
attending Mr.Buel's preaching, as affording
any reason to doubt the purity of the revival.
What he disapproved of occurred at a later
period, and had a different origin. When his
people saw that there were greater commotions
in other places, and when they heard of
greater professions of zeal and rapture than
were common among themselves, they thought
others had made higher attainments in
religion, and were thus led away by them.
These things plainly show, says Mr.Edwards,
that the degree of grace is not to be judged
by the degree of zeal or joy ; that it is not
the strength, but the nature of religious
affections which is to be regarded. Some, who
had the highest raptures, and the greatest
bodily exercises, showed the least of a
Christian temper. Though there were few cases
of scandalous sin among professors, the temper
and behaviour of some, he adds, led him to
fear that a considerable number were awfully
deceived. On the other hand, there were many
whose temper was truly Christian; and the
work, notwithstanding its corrupt admixtures,
produced blessed fruit in particular persons,
and some good effects in the town in general.*
* Letter of Mr. Edwards
to Mr. Prince, dated December 12, 1743
Christian History, No. 46, and Dwight's Life
of Edwards, p. 160. If such scenes as those
just referred to occurred in Northampton,
under the eye of President Edwards, we may
readily imagine what was likely to occur in
other places under men far his inferiors in
judgment, knowledge, and piety. Though Edwards
never regarded these outcries and bodily
affections as any evidence of true religious
affections, he was at this time much less
sensible of the danger of encouraging such
manifestations of excitement, than he
afterwards became. Nor does he seem to have
been sufficiently aware of the nature and
effects of nervous disorders, which in times
of excitement are as infectious as any form of
disease to which the human system is liable.
When he speaks of certain persons being seized
with a strange bodily affection, which quickly
propagated itself round the room, especially
among the young; and of spectators, after a
while, being similarly affected, he gives as
plain an example of the sympathetic
propagation of a nervous disorder, as is to be
found in the medical records of disease-*
There may have been, and no doubt there was,
much genuine religious feeling in that
meeting, but these bodily affections were
neither the evidence, nor, properly speaking,
the result of it. In September, 1740, Mr.
Whitefield first visited Boston, when
multitudes were greatly affected by his
ministry. Though he preached every day, the
houses continued to be crowded until his
departure. The December following, Mr. G.
Tennent arrived, whose preaching* as followed
by still greater effects. Many hundreds, says
Mr. Prince, were brought by his searching
ministry to be deeply convinced of sin ; to
have clear views of the divine sovereignty,
holiness, justice, and power; of the
spirituality and strictness of the divine law,
and of the dreadful corruption of their own
hearts, and " its utter impotence either
rightly to repent or believe in Christ, or
change 'itself;" of their utter
unworthiness in the sight of a righteous God,
of their being "without the least degree
of strength to help themselves out of this
condition." On Monday, March 2, 1741, Mr.
Tennent preached his farewell sermon, to an
extremely crowded and deeply affected
audience. "And now was a time such as we
never knew. Mr. Cooper was wont to say, that
more came to him in one week, in deep concern
about their souls, than in the whole
twenty-four years of his previous
ministry." In three months, he had six
hundred such calls, and Mr. Webb above a
thousand. The very face of the town was
strangely altered. There were some thousands
under such religious impressions as they never
knew before; and the'fruits of the work, says
Mr. Cooper, in 1741, as far as time had been
allowed to test them, promised to be abiding.
The revival in Boston seems to have been much
more pure than in most other places, and it
thus continued until the arrival of Mr.
Davenport in June, 1742. Mr. Prince says he
met with only one or two persons who talked of
their impulses; that he knew of no minister
who encouraged reliance on such enthusiastic
impressions. "The doctrinal
principles," he adds, "of those who
continue in our congregations, and have been
the subjects of the late revival, are the same
as they all along have been instructed in,
from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which
has generally been received and taught in the
churches of New England, from its first
publication, for one hundred years to the
present day; and which is therefore the system
of doctrine most generally and clearly
declarative of the faith of the New England
churches." There seems also to have been
far less extravagance in Boston than attended
the excitement in most other places. " We
have neither had," says Dr. Colman,
"those outcries and faintings in our
assemblies, which have disturbed the worship
in many places, nor yet those manifestations
of joy inexpressible which now fill some of
our eastern parts."* See for an account
of the revival in Boston, Prince's Christian
History No. 100, &c.; or Gillies, vol. ii.
p. 162. When Mr. Whitefield left Boston in
October, 1740, he went to Northampton,
preaching at most of the intervening towns.
After spending a few days with President
Edwards, as already mentioned, he proceeded to
New Haven, and thence to New York. Everywhere,
during this journey, the churches and houses
were freely opened to him, and everywhere, to
a greater or less degree, his discourses were
attended by the same remarkable effects as
elsewhere followed his preaching. Mr. Tennent
also, after leaving Boston, made an extended
tour through New England, and was very
instrumental in awakening the attention of the
people. His stature was large, and his whole
appearance commanding. He wore his hair
undressed, and his usual costume in the
pulpit, at least during this journey, was a
loose great coat with a leathern girdle about
his loins. Assembly's Magazine. As a preacher
he had few equals. His reasoning powers were
strong; his expressions nervous and often
sublime; his style diffusive; his manner warm
and pathetic, such as must convince his
audience that he was in earnest; and his voice
clear and commanding.* "When I heard Mr.
Tennent," says the celebrated Dr.
Hopkins, then a student in Yale College,
"I thought he was the greatest and best
man, and the best preacher that I had ever
seen or heard. ++ Mr. Prince of Boston, says,
"He did not at first come up to my
expectations, but afterwards far exceeded
them. He seemed to have as deep an
acquaintance with experimental religion as any
I have ever conversed with; and his preaching
was as searching and rousing as any I ever
heard." Such appears to have been the
general style of his preaching during this
tour; for the Rev. W. Fish, in giving an
account of the origin of the revival, says,
"When the ears of the people were thus
opened to hear, and their hearts awake to
receive instruction, there came a son of
thunder, Rev. Gilbert Tennent, through these
parts, by whose enlightening and alarming
discourses, people were more effectually
roused up, and put upon a more earnest inquiry
after the great salvation."§ Mr. Tennent,
in a letter to Mr. Whitefield, dated April,
1741,says that, on his return homeward from
Boston, he preached daily, ordinarily three
times a day, and sometimes oftener, (a few
days only excepted;) and that his success had
far exceeded his expectations. He enumerates
at least twenty-three towns in which he had
thus laboured, and adds that, on a moderate
calculation, " divers thousands had been
awakened."# The transient impressions,
however, made by a passing preacher would, in
all probability, have been of little avail,
had they not been followed by the laborious
and continued efforts of the settled pastors.
Such efforts were in most cases made, and the
revival soon became general through almost the
whole of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and a
considerable part of Rhode Island. In
Connecticut, the work was probably more
extensive than in any other of the colonies,
and was greatly promoted by the labours of
Messrs.Pomeroy, Mills, Wheelock, and Bellamy.
"Dr. Pomeroy was a man of real genius ;
grave, solemn, and weighty in his discourses,
which were generally well composed, and
delivered with a great degree of animation and
affection. His language was good, and he might
be reckoned among the best preachers of his
day."* Dr.Wheelock, says the same
authority, " was a gentleman of a comely
figure, of a mild and winning aspect. His
voice smooth and harmonious, the best by far
that I ever heard.
Funeral Discourse by
President Finley.++ Life of Edwards by Dwight,
p. 156. Christian History, No. 100. #Fish's
Nine Sermons, p. "4. Gillies, vol. ii. p.
132.
His preaching and
addresses were close and pungent, and yet
winning almost beyond all comparison, so that
his audience would be melted even to tears
before they were aware of it." Dr.
Bellamy "was a large man and well built,
of a commanding appearance. He had a smooth
strong voice, and could fill the largest house
without any unnatural effort. He possessed a
truly great mind; generally preached without
notes ; had some great point of doctrine
commonly to establish, and would keep close to
his subject until he had sufficiently
illustrated it, and then in an ingenious,
close, and pungent manner, would make the
application."# Such were the more
prominent promoters of this great revival. As
this work was more extensive in Connecticut
than elsewhere, so it was there attended with
greater disorders, and was more violently
opposed, and in many cases led to disastrous
separations and lasting conflicts. Severe
penal laws were enacted against itinerant
preaching ; several ministers were transported
out of the colony ; others were deprived of
their salaries or fined. The act for the
indulgence of sober consciences was repealed
in 1743, so that there " was no relief
for any persons dissention, from the
established mode of worship in Connecticut,
but upon application to the assembly, who were
growing more rigid in enforcing the
constitution." Trumbull's Connecticut,
vol. ii. p. 157.1 #Ibid. vol. ii. p. 159.
Ibid. vol. ii,
p. 173.
The Great Revival of
Religion Charles Hodge PART II
The Rev. Mr. M'Gregore,
pastor of the Presbyterian church at
Londonderry, New Hampshire, preached a sermon
on the trial of the spirits, which was
subsequently published, with a preface by
certain of the ministers of Boston. In that
preface it is said: "As the Assembly's
Shorter Catechism has been all along agreeable
to the known principles of the New England
churches, and has been generally received and
taught in them as a system of Christian
doctrine agreeable to the Holy Scriptures,
wherein they happily unite; it is a great
pleasure to us that our Presbyterian brethren
who came from Ireland, are generally with us
in these important points, as also in the
particular doctrines of experimental piety
arising from them, and the wondrous work of
God agreeable to them, at this day making its
triumphant progress through the land."The
writers say that they rejoice to add their
testimony to that of the author of the sermon,
to the same doctrines of grace, and to the
wondrous works of God.# The doctrines which
the promoters of this work teach,"says
the author, and by which he insists they ought
to be tried, to know whether they are of God,
"are the doctrines of the gospel, of the
Apostles' Creed, of the Thirty-nine Articles
of the Church of England, and of the
Westminster Confession of Faith. More
particularly these men are careful to teach
and inculcate the great doctrine of original
sin, in opposition to Pelagius, Arminius, and
their respective followers: that this sin has
actually descended from Adam, the natural and
federal head, to all his posterity proceeding
from him by ordinary generation ; that hereby
the understanding is darkened, the will
depraved, and the affections under the
influence of a wrong bias, to that degree that
they are utterly indisposed to any thing that
is spiritually good; that man, as a sad
consequence of the fall, has lost all power in
things spiritual. They teach likewise, with
due care, the doctrine of the imputation of
the righteousness of the second Adam, Jesus
Christ; that this righteousness is apprehended
and applied by faith alone, without the deeds
of the law ; that the faith which justifies
the soul is living and operative. They teach
that this faith is the gift of God; that a man
cannot believe by any inherent power of his
own. As to regeneration, they hold it to be
absolutely necessary; that the tree must be
made good before the fruit be so ; that unless
a man undergo a supernatural change by the
operation of the Holy Ghost upon his soul, or
be born of water and of spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God."* Such
were the doctrines of the promoters of this
revival, by which they wished to be tried
themselves, and to have their work tested.
Those who believe these doctrines will of
course be disposed to have confidence in these
men, and in the revival which attended their
preaching. Whereas those who reject these
doctrines may be expected to pronounce the men
nothing-doers, passivity-preachers, destroyers
of souls, and the like, and their work a mere
delusion ; unless, indeed, an exaggerated
deference for public opinion, or the amiable
prejudice of education should lead them still
to laud the men and the revival, while they
condemn the sentiments which gave both it and
them their distinctive character. The second
criterion of the genuineness of any revival is
the nature of the experience professed by its
subjects. However varied as to degree or
circumstances, the experience of all true
Christians is substantially the same. There is
and must be a conviction of sin, a sense of
ill-desert and unholiness in the sight of God,
a desire of deliverance from the dominion as
well as penalty of sin;
# Sermon on I John iv.
1, preached in Boston, Nov. 3, 1741, by Rev.
David M'Gregore. The preface above quoted is
signed by Messrs. Prince, Webb, and Cooper. *
See pp. 13, 14, of the sermon for a full
statement of these doctrines, which we have
weakened by abridging them. an apprehension of
the mercy of God in Jesus Christ; a cordial
acquiescence in the plan of redemption; a
sincere return of the soul to God through
Christ, depending on his merits for
acceptance. These acts of faith will ever be
attended with more or less of joy and peace,
and with a fixed desire and purpose to live in
obedience to the will of God. The distinctness
and strength of these exercises, the rapidity
of their succession, their modifications and
combinations, admit of endless diversity, yet
they are all to be found in every case of
genuine conversion. It is here as in the human
face; all men have the same features, -yet no
two men are exactly alike. This uniformity of
religious experience, as to all essential
points, is one of the strongest collateral
proofs of the truth of experimental religion.
That which men of every grade of cultivation,
of every period, and in every portion of the
world, testify they have known and felt,
cannot be a delusion. When we come to ask what
was the experience of the subjects of this
revival, we find, amidst much that is doubtful
or objectionable, the essential
characteristics of genuine conversion. This is
plain from the accounts already given, which
need not be here repeated. In a great
multitude of cases, the same feelings were
professed which we find the saints, whose
spiritual life is recorded in the Bible,
experienced, and which the children of God in
all ages have avowed; the same sense of sin,
the same apprehension of the mercy of God, the
same faith in Christ, the same joy and peace
in believing, the same desire for communion
with God, and the same endeavor after new
obedience. Such- however is the ambiguity of
human language, such the deceitfulness of the
human heart, and such the devices of Satan,
that no mere detail of feeling, and especially
no description which one man may give of the
feelings of others, can afford conclusive
evidence of the nature of those feelings in
the sight of God. Two persons may, with equal
sincerity, profess sorrow for sin, and yet
their emotions be essentially different. Both
may with truth declare that they believe in
Christ, and yet the states of mind there-by
expressed be very dissimilar. Both may have
peace, joy, and love, yet the one be a
self-deceiver, and the other a true Christian.
We must, therefore, look further than mere
professions or detail of experiences, for
evidence of the real character of this- work.
We must look to its effects. The only
satisfactory proof of the nature of any
religious excitement, in an individual or a
community, is its permanent results. What then
were the fruits of this revival? Mr. William
Tennent says that the subjects of this work,
who had come under his observation, were
brought to approve of the doctrines of the
gospel, to delight in the law of God, to
endeavor to do his will, to love those who
bore the divine image; that the formal had
become spiritual; the proud, humble; the
wanton and vile, sober and temperate; the
worldly, heavenly-minded; the extortioner,
just ; and the self-seeker, desirous to
promote the glory of God.* This account was
written in 1744. The convention of ministers
that met in Boston in 1743, state, that those
who were regarded as converts confirmed the
genuineness of the change which they professed
to have experienced, " by the external
fruits of holiness in their lives, so that
they appeared to those who bad the nearest
access to them, as so many epistles of Jesus
Christ, written not with ink, but by the
Spirit of the living God." # President
Edwards, in his Thoughts on the Revival,
written in 1749, says, there is a strange
alteration almost all over New England among
the young. Many, both old and young, have
become serious, mortified and humble in their
conversation; their thoughts and affections
are now about the favour of God, an interest
in Christ, and spiritual blessedness. The
Bible is in much greater esteem and use than
formerly. The Lord's day is more religiously
observed. There has been more acknowledgment
of faults and restitution within two years,
than in thirty years before. The leading
truths of the gospel are more generally and
firmly held ; and many have exhibited
calmness, resignation, and joy, in the midst
of the severest ## is true his estimate of
this work, a few years later, was far less
favorable, but be never ceased to regard it as
a great revival of genuine religion.
* Gillies, Vol. ii. P.
34. # Gillies Vol. ii. p. 252. See similar
testimonies in the Christian History, pp. 252,
286, et passim. ## Edwards's Works, Vol. iv.
p.
105. Trumbull, a later
witness, says, "the effects on great
numbers were abiding and most happy. They were
the most uniform exemplary Christians with
whom I was ever acquainted. I was born and I
had my education in that part of the town of
Hebron in which the work was most prevalent
and powerful. Many, who at that time imagined
that they were born of God, made a profession
of their faith in Christ, and were admitted to
full communion, and appeared to walk with
God." They were, he adds, constant and
serious in their attendance on public worship,
prayerful, righteous, and charitable, strict
in the government of their families, and not
one of them, as far as he knew, was ever
guilty of scandal. Eight or ten years after
the religious excitement, there was not a
drunkard in the whole parish. "It was the
most glorious and extensive revival of
religion and reformation of manners which this
country has ever known. It is estimated that,
in the term of two or three years, thirty or
forty thousand souls were born into the family
of heaven in New England, besides great
numbers in New York, New Jersey, and the more
southern provinces."* It is to be feared,
indeed, that Trumbull was led from the
favorable specimens which fell under his own
observation, and from his friendship for some
of the leading promoters of the revival, to
form a more favorable opinion of its general
results than the facts in the case would
warrant. His testimony, however, is important,
belonging as he did to the next generation of
ministers, and familiarly acquainted as he was
with some of the most zealous preachers of the
preceding period. The rise of the Methodists
in England, the extensive revival of religion
in Scotland, were contemporaneous with the
progress of the revival in this country. This
simultaneous excitement in the different parts
of the British empire, was marked every where,
in a great measure, with the same peculiar
features. It would be interesting, to trace
its history abroad, in connection with what
occurred on our side of the Atlantic. This,
however, the nature of the present work
forbids. It is enough for our purpose to know
that the revival was not confined to this
country. It was essentially the same work
here, in Scotland and in England, modified by
the peculiar circumstances of those several
countries. History of Connecticut, vol. ii. p.
263. The same estimate, as to the number of
converts, is given in a Historical Narrative
and Declaration of the rise and progress of
the strict Congregational Churches, (i e. of
the separated,) in Connecticut. Providence,
1781. If the evidence was not perfectly
satisfactory, that this remarkable and
extended revival was indeed the work of the
Spirit of God, it would lose almost all its
interest for the Christian church. It is
precisely because it was in the main a work of
God, that it is of so much importance to
ascertain what were the human or evil elements
mixed with it, which so greatly marred its
beauty and curtailed its usefulness. That
there were such evils cannot be a matter of
doubt. The single consideration, that
immediately after this excitement the state of
religion rapidly declined, that errors of all
kinds became more prevalent than ever, and
that a lethargy gradually settled on the
churches, which was not broken for near half a
century, is proof enough that there was a
dreadful amount of evil connected with the
revival. Was such, however, actually the case
? Did religion thus rapidly decline ? If this
question must be answered in the affirmative,
what were the causes of this decline, or what
were the errors which rendered this revival,
considered as a whole, productive of such
evils ? These are questions of the greatest
interest to the American churches, and ought
to be very seriously considered and answered.
That the state of religion did rapidly decline
after the revival, we have abundant and
melancholy evidence. Even as early as 1744,
President Edwards says, "the present
state of things in New England is, on many
accounts, very melancholy. There is a vast
alteration within two years." God, he
adds, was provoked at the spiritual pride and
self-confidence of the people, and withdrew
from them, and " the enemy has come in
like a flood in various respects, until the
deluge has overwhelmed the whole land. There
had been from the beginning a great mixture,
especially in some places, of false
experiences and false religion with true; but
from this time the mixture became much
greater, and many were led away into sad
delusions."* In another letter, dated May
23, 1749, he says, " as to the state of
religion in these parts of the world, it is,
in general, very dark and melancholy."
Letter to Mr. McCulloch, of Scotland, dated
March 5, 1744. Life of Edwards, p. 212. In the
preceding October, when writing to Mr. Erskine
of Edinburgh, he communicates to him an
extract from a letter to himself, from
Governor Belcher of New Jersey, who says,
"The accounts which I receive from time
to time, give me too much reason to fear that
Arminianism, Arianism, and even Socinianism,
in destruction to the doctrines of grace, are
daily propagated in the New England
colleges." # In 1750, he writes to Mr.
McCulloch in the following melancholy strain:
"It is indeed now a sorrowful time on
this side of the ocean. Iniquity abounds, and
the love of many waxes cold. Multitudes of
fair and high professors, in one place or
another, have sadly backslidden, sinners are
desperately hardened; experimental religion is
more than ever out of credit with far the
greater part; and the doctrines of grace and
those principles in religion which do chiefly
concern the power of godliness, are far more
than ever discarded. Arminianism and
Pelagianism have made a strange progress
within a few years. The Church of England in
New England, is, I suppose, treble what it was
seven years ago. Many professors are gone off
to great lengths in enthusiasm and
extravagance in their notions and practices.
Great contentions, separations, and confusions
in our religious state prevail in many parts
of the land."## In 1752, in a letter to
Mr. Gillespie, relating to his difficulties
with his congregation, he says, "It is to
be considered that these things have happened
when God is greatly withdrawn, and religion
was very low, not only in Northampton, but all
over New England."§
* Letter to Mr. Robe, of
Kilsyth. Life, p. 279. # Life of Edwards, p.
268. ##Ibid. p. 413. §Ibid. p. 467. The
church in Stonington, Connecticut, was torn to
pieces by fanaticism, and a separate
congregation erected. The excellent pastor of
that place, the Rev. Mr. Fish, a warm friend
of the revival, exerted himself in vain to
stem the torrent; "and other
ministers," he says, " that came to
our help carried on the same design of
correcting the false notions which new
converts had embraced about religion;
particularly the late judicious and excellent
Mr. David Brainerd, who, in this desk, exposed
and remonstrated against the same errors, and
told me that such false religion as prevailed
among my people, had spread almost all the
land over."* Other proofs of the fact
might easily be adduced. The Rev. John Graham,
in a sermon preached in 1745, complains that
many had gone forth who preached not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who denied
the doctrines of personal election, of
original sin, of justification by the perfect
righteousness of Christ, imputed by an act of
sovereign grace; instantaneous regeneration by
the divine energy of special irresistible
grace; and of the final perseverance of the
saints." The Pelagian and Arminian
errors," he adds, "cannot but be
exceedingly pleasing to the devil; and such as
preach them most successfully, are the
greatest instruments of supporting his kingdom
in the world, and his dominion in the hearts
of men. What necessity is then laid upon
ministers of the gospel, who see what danger
precious souls are in by the spread and
prevalence of such pernicious errors, which
are like a fog or smoke, sent from the
bottomless pit on purpose to prevent the
shining of the gospel sun into the hearts of
men, to be very close and strict in searching
into the principles of such as are candidates
for the sacred ministry." ( Sermon
preached at the ordination of Nathan Strong,
Oct. 9, 1745, by John Graham, of Southbury.)
Somewhat later, President Clap found it
necessary, on account of the increasing
prevalence of error, to write a formal defense
of the doctrines of the New England churches.
The leading features of the new divinity, of
which he complained, were, 1. That the
happiness of the creature is the great end of
creation. 2. That self-love is the ultimate
foundation of all moral obligation. .3. That
God cannot control the acts of free agents. 4.
That he cannot certainly foreknow, much less
decree such acts. 5. That all sin consists in
the voluntary transgression of known law; that
Adam was not created in a state of holiness,
but only had a power to act virtuously; and
every man is now born into the world in as
perfect a state of rectitude as that in which
Adam was created.6. The actions of moral
a(rents are riot free, and consequently have
no moral character, unless such agents have
plenary ability and full power to the
contrary. Hence it is absurd to suppose that
God should implant grace or holiness in any
man, or keep him from sin. 7. Christ did not
die to make satisfaction for sin, and hence
there is no need to suppose him to be
essentially God, but only a perfect and
glorious creature. No great weight ought to be
laid upon men's believing Christ's divinity,
or any of those speculative points which have
been generally received as the peculiar and
fundamental doctrines of the gospel; but we
ought to have charity for all men, let their
speculative principles be what they may,
provided they lead moral lives.* These
doctrines were a great advance on the Arminian
or even Pelagian errors over which President
Edwards lamented, and show what might indeed
be expected, that the churches had gone from
bad to worse. This is certainly a gloomy
picture of the state of religion so soon after
a revival, regarded as the most extensive the
country had ever known. It is drawn not by the
enemies, but in a great measure by the best
and wisest friends of religion. The preceding
account, it is true, relates principally to
New England. In the Presbyterian Church the
same rapid decline of religion does not appear
to have taken place. In 1752, President
Edwards, in a letter to Mr. McCulloch, says,
"As to the state of religion in America,
I have little to write that is comfortable,
but there seem to be better appearances in
some of the other colonies than in New
England." # He specifies particularly New
Jersey and Virginia. And we know from other
sources that, while the cause of truth and
piety was declining in the Eastern States, the
Presbyterian Church, especially that portion
of it in connection with the Synod of New
York, was increasing and flourishing. With
regard to orthodoxy, at least, there was
little cause of complaint. The only instance
on record, during this whole period, of the
avowal of Arminian sentiments by a
Presbyterian minister, was that of the Rev.
Mr. Harker, of the Presbytery of New
Brunswick; and he was suspended from the
ministry as soon as convicted. ##
* Brief History and
Vindication of the Doctrines of the Churches
of New England, with a specimen of the new
scheme of religion beginning to prevail. By
Thomas Clap, President of Yale College. New
Haven, 1755. # Life of Edwards, p. 518. ##
That there has never been any open and avowed
departure from Calvinistic doctrines in the
Presbyterian Church, while repeated and
extended defections have occurred in Now
England, is a fact worthy of special
consideration. The causes of this remarkable
difference in the history of these two
portions of the church, may be sought by
different persons in different circumstances.
Presbyterians may be excused if they regard
their form of government as one of the most
important of those causes. New England has
enjoyed greater religious advantages than any
other portion of our country. It was settled
by educated and devoted men. Its population
was homogeneous and compact. The people were
almost all of the same religious persuasion.
The Presbyterian Church, on the contrary, has
labored under great disadvantages. Its members
were scattered here and there, in the midst of
other denominations. Its congregations were
widely separated, and, owing to the scattered
residences of the people, often very feeble;
and, moreover, not unfrequently composed of
discordant materials, Irish, Scotch, German,
French, and English. Yet doctrinal purity has
been preserved to a far greater extent in the
latter denomination than in the former. What
is the reason? Is it not to be sought in the
conservative influence of Presbyterianism? The
distinguished advantages possessed by New
England, have produced their legitimate
effects. It would be not less strange than
lamentable, had the institutions,
instructions, and example of the pious
founders of New England been of no benefit to
their descendants. It is to these sources that
portion of our country is indebted for its
general superiority. The obvious decline in
the religious character of the people, and the
extensive prevalence, at different periods, of
fanaticism and Antinomianism, Arminianism, and
Pelagianism, is, as we believe, to be mainly
attributed to an unhappy and unscriptural
ecclesiastical organization. Had New England,
with her compact and homogeneous population,
and all her other advantages, enjoyed the
benefit of a regular Presbyterian government
in the church, it would, in all human
probability, have been the noblest
ecclesiastical community in the world. It is
well known that a great majority of all the
distinguished ministers whom New England has
produced, have entertained the opinion here
expressed, on the subject. President Edwards,
for example, in a letter to Mr. Erskine, said,
"I have long been out of conceit of our
unsettled, independent, confused way of church
government; and the Presbyterian way has ever
appeared to me most agreeable to the word of
God, and the reason and nature of
things." Life, p.
412. Where the
preservation of the purity of the church is
committed to the mass of the people, who, as a
general rule, are incompetent to judge in
doctrinal matters, and who, in many cases, are
little under the influence of true religion,
we need not wonder that corruption should from
time to time prevail. As Christ has appointed
presbyters to rule in the church according to
his word, on them devolve the duty and
responsibility of maintaining the truth. This
charge is safest in the hands of those to whom
Christ has assigned it.
This low state of
religion, and extensive departure from the
truth, in that part of the country where the
revival had been most extensive, is certainly
proof that there must have been something very
wrong in the revival itself. It may, however,
be said, that the decay of religion through
the land generally, is perfectly consistent
with the purity of the revival and the
flourishing state of those particular churches
which had experienced its influence. The facts
of the case, unfortunately, do not allow us
the benefit of this assumption. It is no doubt
true, that in some congregations, as in that
of Hebron, mentioned by Trumbull, religion was
in a very desirable state, in the midst of the
general decline ; but it is no less certain,
that in many instances, in the very places
where the revival was the most remarkable, the
declension was the most serious. Northampton
itself may be taken as an illustration.
"That church was preeminently a city set
upon a hill. Mr. Stoddard, during a remarkably
successful ministry, had drawn the attention
of American Christians for fifty-seven years.
He had also been advantageously known in the
mother country. Mr. Edwards bad been their
minister for twenty-three years. In the
respect paid to him as a profound theological
writer, he had no competitor from the first
establishment of the colonies, and even then,
could scarcely find one in England or
Scotland. He had also as high a reputation for
elevated and fervent piety as for superiority
of talents. During the preceding eighty years,
that church had been favored with more
numerous and powerful revivals than any church
in Christendom." * This account, though
given in the characteristically large style of
Edwards's biographer, is no doubt in the main
correct. Here then, if any where, we might
look for the most favour able results of the
revival. During the religious excitement in
the years 1734 and 1735, within six months,
more than three hundred persons, whom Edwards
regarded as true converts, were received into
the church. # In 1736, the whole number of
communicants was six hundred and twenty,
including almost the whole adult population of
the town.##
* Dwight's Life of
Edwards, p. 446. ## Edwards's Works, vol. iv.
p. 28. ##Ibid.
p. 27. The revival of
1740-2, was considered still more pure and
wonderful. What was the state of considered
still more pure and wonderful. What was the
state of religion in this highly favored
place, soon after all these revivals ? In the
judgment of Edwards himself it was deplorably
low, both as to Christian temper and adherence
to sound doctrine. In 1744, when an attempt
was made to administer discipline somewhat
injudiciously, it is true, as to the manner of
doing it, it was strenuously resisted. The
whole town was thrown into a blaze. Some of
the accused "refused to appear; others,
who did appear, behaved with a great degree of
insolence, and contempt for the authority of
the church, and little or nothing could be
done further in the affair." * From 1744
to 1748, not a single application was made for
admission to the church. # In 1749, when it
became known that Edwards had adopted the
opinion that none ought to be admitted to the
Lord's Supper but such as gave satisfactory
evidence of conversion, "the town was put
into a great ferment; and before he was heard
in his own defense, or it was known by many
what his principles were, the general cry was
to have him dismissed.## That diversity of
opinion between a pastor and his people on
such a practical point, should lead to a
desire for a separation, might not be very
discreditable to either party. But when it is
known that on this occasion the church treated
such a man as Edwards, who not only was an
object of veneration to the Christian public,
but who behaved in the most Christian manner
through the whole controversy, with the
greatest injustice and malignity, it must be
regarded as proof positive of the low state of
religion among them. They refused to allow him
to preach on the subject in dispute ; they
pertinaciously resisted the calling of a fair
council to decide the matter ; they insisted
on his dismission without making any provision
for his expensive family; and when his
dismission had taken place, they shut their
pulpit against him, even when they had no one
else to occupy it. On the unfounded suspicion
that he intended to form a new church in the
town, they presented a remonstrance containing
direct, grievous, and criminal charges against
him, which were really gross slanders.§ Life
of Edwards, p. 300. #Ibid. p. 438. # Ibid. p.
306. § Ibid., p. 421. See the whole details
of this extraordinary history, pp, 288-404.
This was not the offence of a few individuals.
Almost the whole church took part against
Edwards.* Such treatment of such a man
certainly proves a lamentable state of
religion, as far as Christian temper is
concerned. With regard to orthodoxy the case
was not much better. Edwards in a letter to
Erskine, in 1750, says, there seemed to be the
utmost danger that the younger generation in
- Northampton would be
carried away with Arminianism as with a flood;
that it was not likely that the church would
choose a Calvinist as his successor, and that
the older people were never so indifferent to
things of this nature.# The explanation which
has been proposed of these extraordinary
facts, is altogether unsatisfactory. It is
said that the custom which had long prevailed
in Northampton, of admitting those to the
Lord's Supper who gave no sufficient evidence
of conversion, sufficiently accounts for all
this ill conduct on the part of the church.
But where were the three hundred members whom
Edwards regarded as "savingly brought
home to Christ,"## within six months,
during the revival of 1744-45? Where were all
the fruits of the still more powerful revival
of 1740-42 ? The vast majority of the members
of the church had been brought in by Edwards
himself, and of their conversion he considered
himself as having sufficient evidence. The
habit of free admission to the Lord's table,
therefore, by no means accounts for the
painful facts above referred to. After all
that had been published to the world of the
power of religion in Northampton, the
Christian public were entitled to expect to
see the people established in the truth, and
an example in holiness to other churches.
Instead of this, we find them resisting the
administration of discipline in less than
eighteen months after the revival; alienated
from their pastor; indifferent to the truth,
and soon driving from among them the first
minister of his age, with every aggravating
circumstance of ingratitude and injustice. It
is all in vain to talk of the religion of such
a people.
* In one place it is
said, about twenty heads adhered to their
pastor, (Life,
p. 164;) in another,
that only twenty-three, out of two hundred and
thirty male members of the church, voted
against his dismission. p. 410. # Ibid. p.
411. Compare his Farewell Sermon. ## Works,
vol. iv. p. 28: This fact demonstrates that
there must have been something wrong in these
revivals, even under the eye and guidance of
Edwards, from the beginning. There must have
been many spurious conversions, and much false
religion which at the time were regarded as
genuine. This assumption is nothing more than
the facts demand, nor more than Edwards
himself frequently acknowledged. There is the
most marked difference between those of his
writings which were published during the
revival, and those which appeared after the
excitement had subsided. In the account which
he wrote in 1736, of the revival of the two
preceding years, there is scarcely an
intimation of any dissatisfaction with its
character. Yet, in 1743, be speaks of it as
having been very far from pure;* and in 1751,
he lamented his not having had boldness to
testify against some glaring false
appearances, and counterfeits of religion,
which became a dreadful source of spiritual
pride, and of other things exceedingly
contrary to true Christianity.# In like
manner, in the contemporaneous account of the
revival of 1740-42, he complains of nothing
but of some disorders introduced towards the
close of the year 1742, from other
congregations; whereas, in his letters written
a few years later, he acknowledges that many
things were wrong from the first. This is,
indeed, very natural. While in the midst of
the excitement, seeing and feeling much that
he could not but regard as the result of
divine influence, he was led to encourage many
things which soon brought forth the bitter
fruits of disorder and corruption. His
correspondence affords abundant evidence how
fully sensible be became of the extent to
which this revival was corrupted with false
religion. When his Scottish friends had
informed him of the religious excitement then
prevailing in some parts of Holland, he wrote
to Mr. Erskine, June 28, 1751, expressing his
anxiety that the people might be led to
"distinguish between true and false
religion; between those experiences which are
from the saving influence of the Spirit of
God, and those which are from Satan
transformed into an angel of light." He
wished that they had the experience of the
church of God in America, on this subject, as
they would need all the warning that could be
given them.
* Life, p. 168. # Ibid.
p. 465. "The temptation," he adds,
"to religious people in such a state to
countenance the glaring, shining counterfeits
of religion, without distinguishing them from
the reality," is so strong that they can
hardly be restrained from committing the
mistake. In reference to the wish of the Dutch
ministers to have attestations of the
permanently good effects of the revivals in
Scotland and America, he says, "I think
it fit they should know the very truth in the
case, and that things should be represented
neither better nor worse than they are. If
they should be represented worse, it would
give encouragement to unreasonable opposers;
if better, it might prevent a most necessary
caution among the true friends of the
awakening. There are, undoubtedly, very many
instances in New England, in the whole, of the
perseverance of such as were thought to have
received the saving benefit of the late
revivals of religion, and of their continuing
to walk in newness of life as becometh saints
; instances which are incontestable. But I
believe the proportion here is not so great as
in Scotland. I cannot say that the greater
portion of the supposed converts give reason
to suppose, by their conversation, that they
are true converts. The proportion may,
perhaps, be more truly represented by the
proportion of the blossoms on a tree which
abide and come to mature fruit, to the whole
number of blossoms in the spring." * In
another letter, dated Nov. 23, 1752, he
expresses his conviction that there was a
greater mixture of evil with good in the
revival in Holland, than the ministers there
supposed; that the consequences of not
distinguishing between true and false religion
would prove worse than they had any conception
of. He then refers to the history of the
revival here, and adds that it is not to be
expected that "the divines of Europe
would lay very much weight on the admonitions
which they received from such an obscure part
of the world. Other parts of the church of God
must be taught as we have been, and when they
see and feel, then they will believe. Not that
I apprehend there is in any measure so much
enthusiasm and disorder mixed with the work in
Holland, as was in many parts of America, in
the time of the last revival of religion
here."##
* Life, p. 459. ##Ibid
p. 508 These passages give a melancholy
account of the results of the great religious
excitement now under consideration. In the
preceding estimate, Edwards does not speak of
those who were merely awakened, or who were
for a time the subjects of serious
impressions, but of those who were regarded as
converts. It is of these, he says, that only a
small portion proved to be genuine. If this be
so, it certainly proves that, apart from the
errors and disorders universally reprobated by
the judicious friends of the revival, there
were serious mistakes committed by those
friends themselves. If it was difficult then,
it must be much more so now, to detect the
causes of the spurious excitement which then
so extensively prevailed. Two of these causes,
however, are so obvious that they can hardly
fail to attract attention. These were laying
too much stress on feelings excited through
the imagination, and allowing, and indeed
encouraging the free and loud manifestation of
feeling during public or social worship. It is
one office of the imagination to recall and
reconstruct conceptions of any object which
affects the senses. It is by this faculty that
we form mental images, or lively conceptions
of the objects of sense. It is to this power
that graphic descriptions of absent or
imaginary scenes are addressed ; and it is by
the agency of this faculty that oratory, for
the most part, exerts its power over the
feelings. That a very large portion of the
emotions so strongly felt, and so openly
expressed during this revival, arose not from
spiritual apprehensions of divine truth, but
from mere imaginations or mental images, is
evident from two sources; first, from the
descriptions given of the exercises
themselves; and, secondly, from the avowal of
the propriety of this method of exciting
feeling, in connection with religious
subjects. Had we no definite information as to
this point, the general account of the effects
of the preaching of Whitefield and others
would satisfy us that, to a very great extent,
the results were to be attributed to no
supernatural influence, but to the natural
powers of oratory. There is no subject so
universally interesting as religion, and
therefore there is none which can be made the
cause of such general and powerful excitement;
yet it cannot be doubted that had Whitefield
selected any worthy object of benevolence or
patriotism, he would have produced a great
commotion in the public mind. When therefore
he came to address men on a subject of
infinite importance, of the deepest personal
concern, we need not be surprised at the
effects which he produced. The man who could
thaw the icy propriety of Bolingbroke; who
could extort gold from Franklin, though armed
with a determination to give only copper; or
set Hopkinson, for the time being, beside
himself; might be expected to control at will
the passions of the young, the ignorant, and
the excitable. It is far from being denied or
questioned that his preaching was, to an
extraordinary degree, attended by a divine
influence. That influence is needed to account
for the repentance, faith, and holiness, which
were in a multitude of cases the result of his
ministrations. It is not needed, however, to
account for the loud outcries, faintings, and
bodily agitations which attended his course.
These are sufficiently explained by his vivid
descriptions of hell, of heaven, of Christ,
and a future judgment, addressed to
congregated thousands of excited and
sympathizing hearers, accompanied by the most
stirring appeals to the passions, and all
delivered with consummate skill of voice and
manner. It was under such preaching, the
people, as he tells us, soon began to melt, to
weep, to cry out, and to faint '. That a large
part of these results was to be attributed to
natural causes, can hardly be doubted; yet who
could discriminate between what was the work
of the orator, and what was the work of the
Spirit of God? Who could tell whether the
sorrow, the joy, and the love expressed and
felt, were the result of lively imaginations,
or of spiritual apprehensions of the truth ?
The two classes of exercises were confounded;
both passed for genuine, until bitter
experience disclosed the mistake. It is
evident that Whitefield had no opportunity of
making any such discrimination ; and that for
the time at least, he regarded all meltings,
all sorrowing, and all joy following his
fervid preaching, as evidence of the divine
presence. It is not, however, these general
accounts so much as the more particular detail
of the exercises of the subjects of this
revival, which shows how much of the feeling
then prevalent was due to the imagination.
Thus Edwards speaks of those who had a lively
picture in their minds of hell as a dreadful
furnace, of Christ as one of glorious majesty,
and of a sweet and gracious. aspect, or as of
one hanging on the cross, and blood running
from his wounds.* Great stress was often laid
upon these views of "an outward
Christ," and upon the feeling resulting
from such conceptions. Though Edwards was from
the beginning fully aware that there was no
true religion in such exercises;# and though
in his work on the Affections, written in
1746, he enters largely on the danger of
delusion from this source, it is very evident
that at this period he was not properly
impressed with a sense of guarding against
this evil. Just after stating how commonly
such mental pictures were cherished by the
people, he adds, " surely such things
will not be wondered at by those who have
observed, how any strong affections about
temporal matters will excite lively ideas and
pictures of different things in the
mind."## In his sermon on the
distinguishing marks of a work of the Spirit.
of God, he goes much further. He there says,
"Such is our nature, that we cannot think
of things invisible without some degree of
imagination. I dare appeal to any man of the
greatest powers of mind, whether he is able to
fix his thoughts on God, or Christ, or the
things of another world without imaginary
ideas attending his meditation."§ By
imaginary ideas, he means mental images, or
pictures.## "In the same connection, he
adds, "the more engaged the mind is, and
the more intense the contemplation and
affection, still the more lively and strong
will the imaginary idea ordinarily be."
* Works, vol. iv. p. 55.
# See his account of the revival in 1734-5,
written in
1736. #Works, vol. iv.
p. 55. § Ibid. vol. iii. p. 567. ##This is
plain from his own account of them. In his
work on the Affections, he says, "All
such things as we perceive by our five senses,
seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and
feeling, are external things; and where a
person has an idea or image of any of these
sorts of things, when they are not there, and
when he really does not see, hear, smell,
taste, or feel them, that is to have an
imagination of them, and these ideas are
imaginary ideas.". P. 236 of the
Elizabethtown edition. Hence, he insists,
"that it is no argument that a work is
not a work of the Spirit of God, that some who
are the subjects of it, have been in a kind of
ecstacy, wherein they have been carried beyond
themselves, and have had their minds
transported in a train of strong and pleasing
imaginations, and a kind of visions, as though
they were rapt up even to heaven, and there
saw glorious sights."Works, vol.3. p.
568. It is not to be denied that there is a
legitimate use of the imagination in religion.
The Bible often addresses itself to this
faculty. The descriptions which it gives of
the future glory of the church, and of heaven
itself, are little else than a series of
images; not that we should conceive of the
millennium as of a time when the lion and lamb
shall feed together, or of heaven as a golden
city, but that we may have a more lively
impression of the absence of all destructive
passions, when Christ shall reign on earth,
and that we may learn to think of heaven as a
state of surpassing glory. In all such cases,
it is the thought which the figure is meant to
convey, and not the figure itself, that the
mind rests upon in all truly religious
exercises. When, on the other hand, the mind
fixes on the image, and not upon the thought,
and inflames itself with these imaginations,
the result is mere curious excitement. So far
then as the imagination is used to render the
thoughts which the understanding forms of
spiritual things distinct and vivid, so far
may it minister to our religious improvement.
But when it is made a mere chamber of imagery,
in which the soul alarms or delights itself
with specters, it becomes the source of all
manner of delusions. It may still further be
admitted, that images borrowed from sensible
objects often mix with and disturb the truly
spiritual contemplations of the Christian, but
this is very different from teaching that we
cannot think of God, or Christ, or spiritual
subjects, without some pictorial
representations of them. If such is the
constitution of our nature that we must have
such imaginary ideas of God himself, then we
ought to have and to cherish them. But by the
definition, these ideas are nothing but the
reproduction and varied combinations of past
impressions on the senses. To say, therefore,
that we must have such ideas of God, is to say
that we must conceive of him and worship him
under some corporeal form, which is nothing
but refined idolatry, and is as much forbidden
as the worship of stocks or stones. It
certainly needs no argument to show that we
cannot form any pictorial representation of a
spirit, and least of all, of God; or that such
representations of Christ or heaven cannot be
the source of any truly religious affections.
what have such mental images to do with the
apprehension of the evil of sin, of the beauty
of holiness, of the mercy of God, of the
merits of Christ, or with any of those truths
on which the mind acts when under the
influence of the Spirit of God ? From the
accounts of this revival already quoted, from
the detail given of the experience of many of
its subjects, and especially from the
arguments and apologies just referred to, it
is evident that one great source of the false
religion, which, it is admitted, then
prevailed, was the countenance given to these
impressions on the imagination and to the
feelings thus excited. It was in vain to tell
the people they must distinguish between what
was imaginary and what was spiritual; that
there was no religion in these lively mental
images, when they were at the same time told
that it was necessary they should have them,
and that the more intense the religious
affection, the more vivid would these pictures
be. Under such instruction they would strive
to form such imaginations; they would dote on
them, inflame themselves with them, and
consider the vividness of the image, and the
violence of the consequent emotion, as the
measure of their religious attainments How
deeply sensible Edwards became of the evil
which actually arose from this source, may be
learned from his work on the Affections. When
an "affection arises from the
imagination, and is built upon it, as its
foundation, instead of a spiritual
illumination or discovery, then is the
affection, however elevated, worthless and
vain."Religious Affections, p. 320. And
in another place he says, "When the
Spirit of God is poured out, to begin a
glorious work, then the old Serpent, as fast
as possible, and by all means, introduces this
bastard religion, and mingles it with the
true; which has from time to time, brought all
things into confusion. The pernicious
consequence of it is not easily imagined or
conceived of, until we see and are amazed with
the awful effects of it, and the dismal
desolation it has made. If the revival of true
religion be very great in its beginning, yet
if this bastard comes in, there is danger of
its doing as Gideon's bastard, Abimelech, did,
who never left until he bad slain all his
threescore and ten true-born sons, excepting
one, that was forced to flee. The imagination
or phantasy seems to be that wherein are
formed all those delusions of Satan, which
those are carried away with, who are under the
influence of false religion, and counterfeit
graces and affections. Here is the devil's
grand lurking-place, the very nest of foul and
delusive spirits."* Religious Affections,
p. 316. If Edwards, who was facile princeps
among the friends of this revival, could,
during its early stages, fall into the error
of countenancing the delusions which he
afterwards so severely condemned, what could
be expected of Whitefield and others, who at
this time, (dates must not be neglected, a few
years made a great difference both in persons
and things,) passed rapidly from place to
place, neither making nor being, able to make,
the least distinction between the effects of
an excited imagination, and the exercises of
genuine religion? That they would test the
experience of their converts by its fruits, is
not denied; but that they considered all the
commotions which attended their ministrations,
as proofs of the Spirit's presence, is evident
from their indiscriminate rejoicing over all
such manifestations of feeling. These violent
agitations produced through the medium of the
imagination, though sufficiently prevalent,
during the revival in this country, were
perhaps still more frequent in England, under
the ministrations of Wesley, and, combined
with certain peculiarities of his system, have
given to the religion of the Methodists its
peculiar, and, so far as it is peculiar, its
undesirable characteristic. Another serious
evil was the encouragement given to loud
outcries, faintings, and bodily agitations
during the time of public worship. It is
remarkable that these effects of the
excitement prevailed generally, not only in
this country, but also in Scotland and
England. The fanatical portion of the friends
of the revival not only encouraged these
exhibitions, but regarded them as proofs of
the presence and power of the Spirit of God.*
The more judicious never went to this extreme,
though most of them regarded them with favour.
This was the case with Whitefield,.Edwards,
and Blair. The manner in which Whitefield
describes the scenes at Nottingham and Fagg's
Manor, and others of a similar character,
shows that be did not disapprove of these
agitations. He says he never saw a more
glorious sight, than when the people were
fainting all round him, and crying out in such
a manner as to drown his own voice. Edwards
took them decidedly under his protection. He
not only mentions, without the slightest
indication of disapprobation, that his church
was often filled with outcries, faintings, and
convulsions, but takes great pains to
vindicate the revival from all objection on
that account. Though such effects were not, in
his view, any decisive evidence of the kind of
influence by which they ,were produced, be
contended that it was easy to account for
their being produced by a "right
influence and a proper sense of things."#
He says, ministers are not to be blamed for
speaking of these things "as probable
tokens of God's presence, and arguments of the
success of preaching, because I think they are
so indeed. I confess that when I see a great
outcry in a congregation, I rejoice in it much
more than merely in an appearance of solemn
attention, and a show of affection by weeping.
To rejoice that the work of God is carried on
calmly and without much ado, is in effect to
rejoice that it is carried on with less power,
or that there is not so much of the influence
of God's Spirit."## In the same
connection he says, that when these outcries,
faintings, and other bodily effects attended
the preaching of the truth, he did not
"scruple to speak of them, to rejoice in
them, and bless God for them, " as
probable tokens of his presence. The Boston
ministers, on the other hand, appear to have
disapproved of these things entirely, as they
mention their satisfaction that there had been
little or nothing of such "blemishes of
the work" among their churches.§
* Fish's Sermons.
Trumbull's History, vol. ii. p. 161.
Chauncey's Seasonable Thoughts, P. 78, 93. #
Works, vol. iii. p. 563. ##Ibid. vol. IV. p.
169. § Christian History, vol. ii. p. 386
The same view was taken
of them by President Dickinson, William
Tennent, of Freehold, and many others. That
the fanatics, who regarded these bodily
agitations and outcries as evidences of
conversion, committed a great and dangerous
mistake, need not be argued; and that Edwards
and others, who rejoiced over and encouraged
them, as probable tokens of the favour of God,
fell into an error scarcely less injurious to
religion, will, at the present day, hardly be
questioned. That such effects frequently
attend religious excitements is no proof that
they proceed from a good source. They may owe
their origin to the corrupt, or at least
merely natural feelings, which always mingle,
to a greater or less degree, with strong
religious exercises. It is a matter of great
practical importance to learn what is the true
cause of these effects; to ascertain whether
they proceed from those feelings which are
produced by the Spirit of God, or from those
which arise from other sources. If the former,
we ought to rejoice over them; if the latter,
they ought to be repressed and
discountenanced. That such bodily agitations
owe their origin not to any divine influence,
but to natural causes, may be inferred from
the fact that these latter are adequate to
their production. They are not confined to
those persons whose subsequent conduct proves
them to be the subjects of the grace of God ;
but, to say the least, are quite as frequently
experienced by those who know nothing of true
religion. Instead, therefore, of being
referred to those feelings which are peculiar
to the people of God, they may safely be
referred to those which are common to them and
to unrenewed men. Besides, such effects are
not peculiar to what we call revivals of
religion; they have prevailed, in seasons of
general excitement, in all ages and in all
parts of the world, among pagans, papists, and
every sect of fanatics which has ever
disgraced the Christian church. We are,
therefore, not called upon to regard such
things with much favour, or to look upon them
as probable tokens of the presence of God.
That the bodily agitations attendant on
revivals of religion are of the same nature,
and attributable to the same cause, as the
convulsions of enthusiasts, is in the highest
degree probable, because they arise under the
same circumstances, are propagated by the same
means, and cured by the same treatment. They
arise in reasons of great, and especially of
general excitement; they, in a great majority
of cases, affect the ignorant rather than the
enlightened, those in whom the imagination
predominates over the reason, and especially
those who are of a nervous temperament, rather
than those of an opposite character. These
affections all propagate themselves by a kind
of infection. This circumstance is
characteristic of this whole class of nervous
diseases. Physicians enumerate among the
causes of epilepsy "seeing a person in
convulsions." This fact was so well
known, that the Romans made a law, that if any
one should be seized with epilepsy during the
meeting of the comitia, the assembly should be
immediately dissolved. This disease occurred
so frequently in those exciting meetings, and
was propagated so rapidly, that it was called
the morbus comitialis. Among the enthusiasts
who frequented the tomb of the Abbé Paris, in
the early part of the last century,
convulsions were of frequent occurrence, and
never failed to prove infectious. During a
religious celebration in the church of Saint
Roch, at Paris, a young lady was seized with
convulsions, and within half an hour between
fifty and sixty were similarly affected.* A
multitude of facts of the same kind might be
adduced. Sometimes such affections become
epidemic, spreading over whole provinces. In
the fifteenth century, a violent nervous
disease, attended with convulsions, and other
analogous symptoms, extended over a great part
of Germany, especially affecting the inmates
of the convents. In the next century something
of the same kind prevailed extensively in the
south of France. These affections were then
regarded as the result of demoniacal
possessions, and in some instances, multitudes
of poor creatures were put to death as
demoniacs.#
* Dictionaire des
Sciences Médicales, Article Convulsionnaire.
In this same article it is stated, that a
young woman affected with a spasmodic and
continued hiccup, producing a noise very
similar to the barking of a dog, was placed in
a hospital in the same room with four other
female patients, and in a few days they were
all seized with the same nervous disease. #
Marshal Villars says in his Memoires. "
Qu'il a vu dans les Cevennes une ville entiére
dont toutes les femmes et lea filles, sans
exception, paraissaient possédées du diable;
elles tremblaient et prophétisaient
publiquement dans les rues," etc. The
bodily agitations attending the revival, were
in like manner propagated by infection. On
their first appearance in Northampton, a few
persons were seized at an evening meeting, and
while others looked on they soon became
similarly affected; even those who appear to
have come merely out of curiosity did not
escape. The same thing was observable at
Nottingham, Fagg's Manor, and other places,
under the preaching of Whitefield. It was no
less obvious in Scotland. It was exceedingly
rare for any one to be thus affected in
private; but in the public meetings, when one
person was seized, others soon caught the
infection. In England, where these affections
were regarded at least at first, by Wesley, as
coming from God, and proofs of his favour,
they were very violent, and spread with great
rapidity, seizing at times, upon opposers as
well as friends. Thus on one occasion, it is
stated, that a Quaker who was present at one
meeting, and inveighed against what be called
the dissimulation of these creatures, caught
the contagious emotion himself, and even while
he was biting his lips and knitting his brows,
dropped down as if he bad been struck by
lightning. "The agony he was in,"
says Wesley, "was even terrible to
behold; we besought God not to lay folly to
his charge, and he soon lifted up his head and
cried aloud, "Now I know thou art a
prophet of the Lord." * Southey's Life of
Wesley, vol. I. p. 221 On another occasion,
under the preaching, of the Rev. Mr. Berridge,
a man who had been mocking and mimicking
others in their convulsions' was himself
seized. "He was," says the narrator,
"the most horrible human figure I ever
saw. His large wig and hair were coal-black,
his face distorted beyond all description. He
roared incessantly, throwing and clapping his
hands together with his whole force. Some of
his brother scoffers were calling for
horsewhips, till they saw him extended on his
back at full length; they then said he was
dead; and indeed the only sin of life was the
working of his breast, and the distortions of
his face, while the veins of his neck were
swelled as if ready to burst. His agonies
lasted some hours ; then his body and soul
were eased."* "At another
meeting," he says, "a stranger who
stood facing me, fell backward to the wall,
then forward on his knees, wringing his bands
and roaring like a bull. His face at first
turned quite red, then almost black. He rose
and ran against the wall, till Mr. Keeling and
another held him. He screamed out, "Oh!
what shall I do! what shall I do! oh, for one
drop of the blood of Christ!" As he
spoke, God set his soul at liberty ; he knew
his sins were blotted out; and the rapture he
was in seemed too great for human nature to
bear." "One woman tore up the ground
with her hands, filling them with dust and
with the hard trodden grass, on which I saw
her lie as one dead. Some continued long, as
if they were dead, but with a calm sweetness
in their looks. I saw one who lay two or three
hours in the open air, and being then carried
into the house, continued insensible another
hour, as if actually dead. The first sign of
life she showed, was a rapture of praise
intermixed with a small joyous
laughter."# These accounts, however, must
be read in detail, in order to have any
adequate conception of the nature and extent
of these dreadful nervous affections. Wesley
at one time regarded them as direct
intimations of the approbation of God.
Preaching at Newgate, he says, he was led
insensibly, and without any previous design,
to declare strongly and explicitly, that God
willed all men to be saved, and to pray that,
if this was not the truth of God, he would not
suffer the blind to go out of the way; but if
it was, he would bear witness to his word.
"Immediately one and another sunk to the
earth ; they dropped on every side as
thunderstruck." "In the evening I
was again pressed in spirit to declare that
Christ gave himself a ransom for all. And
almost before we called upon him to set to his
seal, he answered. One Was so wounded by the
sword of the Spirit, that you would have
imagined she could not live a moment. But
immediately his abundant kindness was shown,
and she loudly sang of his
righteousness."## Southey's Life of
Wesley, vol. ii. p. 238. # Ibid. vol. ii. p.
237. Southey's Life of Wesley, vol. I. p.
219.-How Wesley viewed this subject at a
somewhat later period, may be learned from the
following extract: The danger was," says
he, "to regard extraordinary
circumstances too much; such as outcries,
convulsions, visions, trances, as if they were
essential to the inward work, so that it could
not go on without them. Perhaps the danger is,
to regard them too little; to condemn them
altogether; to imagine they had nothing of God
in them, and were a hindrance to his work;
whereas the truth is, 1.God suddenly and
strongly convinced in many that they were lost
sinners; the natural consequences whereof were
sudden outcries, and strong bodily
convulsions. 2. To strengthen and encourage
them that believed, and to make his work more
apparent, he favored several of them with
divine dreams; others with trances and
visions. 3. In some of these instances, after
a time, nature mixed with grace. 4. Satan
likewise mimicked this work of God, in order
to discredit the whole work; and yet it is not
wise to give up this part any more than to
give up the whole. At first it was, doubtless,
wholly from God; it is partly so at this duty;
and he will enable us to discern how far, in
every case, the work is pure, and when it
mixes and degenerates. Let us even suppose
that, in some few cases, there was a mixture
of dissimulation; that persons pretended to
see and feel what they did not, and imitated
the cries and convulsive motions of those who
were really overpowered by the Spirit of God;
yet even this should not make us either
undervalue or deny the real work of the
Spirit. The shadow is no disparagement of the
substance, nor the counterfeit of the real
diamond." Quoted by Southey, vol. ii. p.
242. Wesley seems to have felt himself obliged
to regard these agitations as springing from
dissimulation, from Satan's influence, or from
the Spirit of God. The far more natural
solution, that they were a nervous disease,
common in all ages, during seasons of
excitement, he over looks. The Rev. Richard
Watson, in his Life of Wesley, says very
little on this subject. He evidently took much
the same view of the matter as that presented
in the above extract. "Of the
extraordinary circumstances," says he,
which have usually accompanied such
visitations, it may be said, that if some
should be resolved into purely natural causes,
some into real enthusiasm, and (under favour
of our philosophers) others in satanic
imitation, a sufficient number will remain,
which can only be explained by considering
them as results of a strong impression made
upon the consciences and affections of by an
influence ascertained to be divine by its
unquestionable effects upon the heart and
life. Nor is it either irrational or
unscriptural to suppose, that times of great
national darkness and depravity, the case
certainly of this country ,it the outset of
Wesley and his colleagues in their glorious
career, should require a strong remedy ; and
that the attention of a sleeping people should
be roused by circumstances which could not
fail to be noticed by the most
unthinking" -Life of Wesley, by Richard
Watson, p. 28.
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