The great awakening : a history of the revival of religion in the time of Edwards and Whitefield

Front matter

The great awakening

THE GREAT AWAKENING.

HISTORY

Preface

During the year 1S40, public meetings were held in some places, and proposed in others, in commemoration of what Edwards called " The Revival of Religion in New En2land in 1740." This first suss;ested to the author the design of the present work. No history of that revival had ever been attempted. Its importance in itself, and in its influence on the subsequent state of the churches, was universally acknowledged. Yet opinions concerning it were various and discordant, even among evangelical ministers ; some thinking it worthy of unmixed eulogy in public celebrations, others speaking of it with only guarded and qualified commendation, and others doubting whether it should not be mentioned rather with censure than otherwise. For the last ten years,^ too, the advocates of all kinds of "measures," new and old, have been asserting that the events and results of that revival justified their several theories and practices. There was, therefore, evident need of a work, which should furnish the means of suitably appreciating both the good and the evil of that period of religious history.

The next question was concerning its possibility. Could materials be found, for the construction of such a work ? A slight investigation was sufficient to furnish an answer. The public libraries contain abundant materials, of which some account must now be given.

The leading authority is " The Christian History ;

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containing accounts of the Revival and Propagation of Religion in Great Britain and America." It was first suggested by Edwards, in the conclusion of his " Thouglits on the Revival of Religion in New England." The first number was issued March 5, 1743, and it was continued, in weekly numbers of eight pages, small octavo, for two years. It was conducted by Thomas Prince, Jr., son of the Rev. Thomas Prince, one of the pastors of the Old South Church. Letters from ministers, giving accounts of the progress and state of religion in their several parishes, compose the greater part of its contents. So far as is known, this was the first periodical for the difi'usion of contemporary religious intelligence, ever established. Similar publications were soon after commenced in London and Glasgow. When the publication of the first volume was completed, some copies, remaining in the Iiands of the publisher, were bound and oflTered for sale. This volume is not very uncommon ; and not unfrequently passes for the whole work. Both volumes are preserved, entire, in the libraries of the Boston Athenasum and the Massachusetts Historical Society. This work was published for the sake of promoting the revival, and therefore gives accounts which were then esteemed favorable, though it relates many things which no one now would commend.

Whitefield's account of his own life, his Journals and his Letters, deserve to be mentioned next. His Journals were originally published in pamphlets, of a moderate size. They appeared as often as he could find time to prepare them for the press, which was often done without sufficient care. He afterwards collected, revised, and published them as one work. In preparing this history, the original, unrevised Journals have been exclusively used ; for, as the faults in the first editions produced important effects, it is necessary to know what they were. The account of his life was prefixed to the first Journal

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that he published, and relates only to its previous years. His letters were collected after his deatii, and, with some of his sermons and other works of less importance, published in four octavo volumes.

Controversial publications of that day, too numerous to be specified individually, form a third source of information. The most able and best known of these are Edwards' " Thoughts on the Revival of Religion in New England in 1740,*' and Chauncys '• Seasonable Thoughts on the State of Religion in New England." Besides these, about one hundred pamphlets published during the revival, or soon after, have been consulted. The greater part of them have been of service, only as aids in understanduig others, by the exhibitions which they give of the spirit of the times. Something has been gleaned from the files of newspapers, preserved by the Massachusetts Historical and American Antiquarian Societies.

The records of churches ought to furnish an important class of documents ; but generally, so far as the author has been able to learn, they are either lost, or were badly kept, and furnish no valuable aid. Such has proved to be the fact, in every instance, where the absence of printed documents rendered their aid peculiarly desirable. A few papers from the files of the church in Sturbridge, furnished by the kindness of its late pastor, the Rev. J. S. Clark, is all that has been obtained from such sources. More will doubtless be found, whenever the attention of the pastors of ancient churches shall be effectually drawn to the investigation.

Town histories have usually been written by men who could find but little information on this subject, or who were unable to appreciate its importance, or who supposed such matter would not be valued by those for whom they Avrote. Yet they have contributed something.

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Backiis's '• Ecclesiastical History of the Baptists in New England " is an important authority, though it furnishes little matter peculiar to itself Backus was one of that class of Separatists which the revival brought into being, and like many others of them, became a Baptist. Of course, he gives those views of the merits of the several parties which the Separatists entertained ; and yet he is honest enough to record some faults of his own party, which are not recorded by their opponents.

Trumbull's " History of Connecticut " gives a valuable account of the revival as it was in that colony, with incidental notices of it in other places. Perhaps his personal friendship for those zealous and active revivalists, Pomroy and Wheelock, with whom he was intimate, and whom he learned to venerate in his youth, may have biased his judgment on some points. Still, he is an unusually candid writer, and his personal acquaintance with the fruits of the revival gives additional importance to his narrative.

A biography of Edwards should contain almost a complete account of the revival ; for in no other way can the influence of his mind on the country and on the world be fully shown. His biographers, however, seem not to have found the requisite materials. Yet the industry of the Rev. Dr. S. E. D wight has collected matter which throws important light on some parts of it.

The author has not been able to obtain the Life of Dr. Buel, or the Life of Gilbert Tennent, which was written by his friend President Finley. A Life of Dr. Bellamy is believed to be still a desideratum. The Memoir of Wheelock despatches the history of his labors in the revival, in a single page of vague generalities. A notice of his life and character in the American (Quarterly Register, by the Rev. Dr. Allen, contains valuable extracts from his diary during some of those labors. A

PREFACE. vii

well written and impartial history of his life and labors, with copious selections from his writings, for which materials probably exist, would be valuable. There is scarce another man of equal eminence in that age, of the peculiarities of whose character and style of promoting religion we have so little satisfactory information ; and yet there is reason to suspect that those peculiarities exerted an important influence.

The Constitutional History of the Presbyterian Church, by the Rev. Prof. Hodge, of Princeton, has been a valuable assistant. It is an elegantly written work, of great historical research, and must ever remain a standard work among those to whose communion he belongs. Yet, on some points incidentally noticed, it has appeared necessary to dissent from his conclusions.

The Memoir of Whitefield, by Dr. Gillies, and Philip's Life and Times of Whitefield, have of course been consulted. The latter has furnished some valuable facts and suggestions, especially respecting the revival in Scotland.*

• Philip asks : " By the way, what became of the Mss. and books which Prince left to the Old South Church, as the New England Library? The collection was great and valuable. Can it be true that the Mss. were destroyed by the British, except by accident ? I ask this question, because I find ' No,' in pencil mark, on the margin of my copy of .4mcr. Biog." The answer, — to use language once familiar in Great Britain, — must be " More yes than no."' During the siege of Boston, the Old South meetinghouse was used for a riding school. In the winter, a stove was placed in it, and the timber of the pews and galleries, except the gallery on one side, which was reserved for spectators, was ssed for fuel, and the library, which was kept in a room under the belfry, said to have been Prince's study, furnished paper to kindle the fires. Of course, the Mss. and pamphlets, being most convenient for that purpose, suffered most severely. Nearly all the Mss. which escaped the stove, and about 200 volumes from the library, most appropriate to such a destination, are deposited in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The remainder of the library, which contains several thousands of volumes, is kept in the Parsonage. Tt contains many old theological and other works of great value, and is still rich in pamphlets of the times in which it was collected. It was doubtless the y

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A slight inspection of these multifarious documents was enough to show, that the period of " The Great Awakening " needed to be carefully studied ; that some great idea was then extensively at work, breaking up established and venerated habits of thought, feeling and action, and producing a revolution in the minds of men, and thus in the very structure of society. The agitations of that' day had all the characteristic marks, by which such periods of human history are distinguished. The A first work of the historian, therefore, must be, to seize that great idea. He must ascertain, what was that truth, before unknown or neglected and inoperative, which, working in the minds of those who received it, and on the minds of its opposers, according to each man's situation, temperament and degree of mental and moral cultivation, produced the various phenomena of the revival. With a knowledge of that idea, we shall be able to understand the history of those times ; to appreciate the motives from which men acted ; to see how some were led into their errors, and others made their way to the knowledge of the truth ; to ascertain the kind, and estimate the amount, of good and evil influences which the revival left behind it ; to draw from a knowledge of those times, the proper lessons, both of encouragement and warning. Without it, we shall have only a labyrinth of

best collection of means for illustrating the religious history of Great Britain and America during those times, that ever existed.

" By the way," why does Philip call the Congregational Meetinghouses in Boston, " chapels ? " The term may be needed in England, to distinguish other places of worship from those of the Established Church ; but it is never used in that sense here. And why does he use italics, when he says, that a certain negro at Cambridge " had been allowed " to hear Whitefield preach .' Does be suppose that there ever was a time when the few negroes in New England were not " allowed " as free access to the preaching of the gospel, as the white inhabitants enjoyed ? The negro in question had probably been " allowed " to hear Whitefield preach " in the College," on some occasion when the public was not admitted.

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facts ; and though familiar with each, shall not understand their relations to each other, nor be able safely to derive one practical lesson from the whole.

The history of religious opinions and practices shows, ] that the most important practical idea which then received increased prominence and power, and has held its place ever since, was the idea of the " new birth," as held by * the Orthodox Congregationalists of New England, and others who harmonize with them ; the doctrine, that in order to be saved, a man must undergo a change in his principles of moral action, which will be either accompanied or succeeded by exercises of which he is conscious, and can give an account ; so that those who have been thus changed, may ordinarily be distinguished from those who have not ; from which it follows, that all who exhibit no evidence of such a change, ought to be considered and treated as unregenerate, and in the road to perdition, and therefore not admitted to the communion of the ~"^ churches. This doctrine of the " new birth," as an ascertainable change, was not generally prevalent in any j communion when the revival commenced ; it was urged as of fundamental importance, by the leading promoters ' of the revival ; it took strong hold of those whom the revival affected ; it' naturally led to such questions as the revival brought up and caused to be discussed ; its per- - versions naturally grew into, or associated with, such errors as the revival promoted ; it was adapted to provoke such opposition, and in such quarters, as the revival provoked ; and its caricatures would furnish such pictures of the revival, as opposers drew. This was evidently the right key ; for it fitted all the wards of the complicated lock.

If this work should fall into the hands of any who have not been accustomed to regard this doctrine with respect, perhaps a few words of explanation may enable them to understand better what it is, and to see that it deserves their attention.

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f~ In being a Christian, two things are implied ; the reception of the Christian system as our creed, and the conformity of our inward and outward life to its teachings. Roman Catholic missionaries, and perhaps some others who labor among the heathen, count all as converts who adopt their creed, even though they adopt it in the gross, with no knowledge of the particular doctrines contained in it. In Christian lands, most persons grow up, of course, into this kind of Christianity, and live on, without seriously inquiring whether they live as the gospel requires. Many, in the course of their lives, some in one way and some in another, are " awakened " to this inquiry. When awakened, the very thought that they know not whether they are in the way to heaven or not ; that they have lived so many years, in hourly danger of death, without once seriously considering whether they are prepared, or even preparing for it, is alarming. To noble and ingenuous minds, the thought that they have lived so long without seriously considering how they treat certain duties which many call important, and may therefore be much deeper in guilt than they ever suspected, is more alarming still. Then follows self-examination, — the deliberate comparison of their own lives, inward and outward, towards God, their neighbours and their own consciences, with the Christian standard. The result of self-examination is the discovery of guilt, or, in the technical language of practical theology, conviction \^oi sin. The discovery that we are morally worse than Ave ever supposed, is an appalling discovery. To him who makes it, — if he is not hopelessly joined with apostate spirits, and ready to say, with their leader, " Evil, be thou my good," it must be a source of anxiety. It must bring up the questions, whether reformation is possible, and if so, how ? And whether punishment is to be apprehended, and if so, whether it may be avoided, and

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how. If reformation is possible, and pardon may be obtained, the inquirer, though now a sinner, may become a holy and happy being. If not. he must be unholy and miserable for the remainder of his conscious existence, — which may be, and he has reason to suppose, will be, eternal. Such a prospect, no man, especially no one to whom it is new, can contemplate without feeUng. With such views in his mind, and corresponding emotions in his heart, the incjuirer seeks the solution of these questions in his Bible, from his pastor, or from others whom he believes to be truly pious ; and above all, calls on the Father of spirits to enlighten him. Men may tell him that his anxiety is needless ; that God is merciful, and there is no danger ; but this caimot satisfy him. He must understand the remedy for himself, and see its adaptation to his newly discovered spiritual wants. He has found in himself the spiritual wants which the Bible ascribes to man, and therefore understands those parts of the Bible better than he ever did before ; as the description of a plant is better understood, when read with a specimen before the eyes. He needs the same clear and satisfying view of the gospel remedy for sin and guilt, and of its adaptation to his spiritual wants ; and not even the words of Scripture can give him rest, till he has it ; and when it comes, it cannot fail to fill his heart with joy. He sees the way, walks in it gladly, and finds by experience that his spiritual wants are met.

Such, in substance, is the Christian experience of all real converts ; modified, however, by individual peculiarities of character and circumstances. In some, the process occupies several years ; in others, it is so rapid that some of the steps are seen only in their results ; in others still, it is repeatedly interrupted and resumed. Varieties are caused by the varieties of intellectual character and style

of thought ; of errors which the inquirer is unwilling to

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abandon : of sins which he is unwiUing to forsake ; of temptations from natural temper, from pursuits in life, from social relations, and from the intentional hindrance or assistance of others. Bodily health, from its known influence over the powers of thought and emotion, cannot fail to modify the process; which, in its turn, especially in persons of a nervous temperament, may re-act on the nerves, and through them, on itself. But in all cases the essential parts of the process are substantially the same. In every case there will be, not a mere unintelligent fright, succeeded by a joy without reason ; not a mere learning of things by rote, or taking of things for granted on the testimony of others ; but original thought, — for self-examination must be original thought ; — there will be discoveries of truth by -original thinking, and emotions appropriate to those discoveries ; all agreeable to the principles taught in the Scriptures, and leading to such a life as Christianity requires.

Now, will any one pretend, that persons who have been through this process themselves, cannot, by examination, form a reasonable judgment whether others have been through it or not ? What teacher, what school committee man, cannot ascertain whether a boy has seen for himself and understands the nature and reason of the rule for working simple addition, or whether he has only learned it by rote ? Cannot pretenders in any branch of science be detected ? Cannot one who has understood and felt the power of Milton's Paradise Lost, judge whether another has understood and felt the same, or whether he only repeats, parrot-like, some of Addison's criticisms ? If discrimination is possible in such cases as these, it must also, on the same principle, be possible for those who are qualified, to judge whether a man has made those discoveries of religious truth, and felt those emotions, which are essential to Christian experience.

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It is doubtless true, that there can be no infallibility, with fallible judges ; and that the errors of enthusiasts have done much to bring the relation of experiences into disrepute ; and that some religious men have been made iishamed to show any respect for the practice, by the sneers of those who. having no religious experience themselves, hate and despise all regard for it in others ; and that, for such reasons, the subject has received less attention than it deserves, and is not so well understood as it might be and ought to be. Still, it is no unimportant means of forming a judgment of Christian character ; and when prejudices, arising from its abuse in days of Ignorance, shall have passed away, men will be ashamed to own that they ever doubted its value.

The history of the " Great xV wakening "' is the history ~1, of this idea, making its way througli some communities where it had Allien into comparative neglect, and throuf'h others where it was nearly or quite unknown ; overturning theories and habits and forms of organization inconsistent with it, where it could prevail, and repelled by them, where it could not ; working itself gradually clear in the minds of those who received it, and leading to habits of thought and practical arrangements in harmony^J with itself. If the reader finds a true and intelligible account of its various workings, the object for which this history ought to be written, will be accomplished. Boston, December 1, 1841.

CONTEx\TS.

Chapter I

LvTRODDCTORT. — Prcvious State of Religious Opinions and Practices. — Decline of Piety. -^ Preaching of Edwards. — V " Surprising Conversions " at Northampton, and in other Places. 1

Chapter II

^ Revivals of 1730, 1740 ; at Newark, Har\'ard, Nortiiampton, New Londonderry, and New Brunswick. — Remarks on the Presbyterianism of that Age. .... 18

CHAPTER HI.

WniTF.FiF.i.i) I.N Early Life. — His Birth, Education, and Religious Experience. — His Success as a Preacher. — His first Visit to Georgia, — His Return to England, Opposition and Success. — Controversy wiUi the Bishop of London. — His Intercourse with Watts and Doddridge. — His Return to America. ....... 35

Chapter IV

/ Whitefield's Labors. — His Preaching and Success at Philadelphia, at New York, and in the Middle and Southern Colonies. ....... 51

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Chapter V

Parties in the Presbyterian Church. — Different Views of Regeneration, and Controversies growing out of thera. — Acts of the Synod in 1728, 1737, 1738, and 17:39. — Meeting of the Synod in 1740, — Tennent's Nottingham Sermon. — Meeting of the Synod in 1741. — The « Great Schism." . . 60

Chapter XII

Thl Revival im Ntw Engla.nd. — PlymoutJi. Sutton, Taunton, Middleborough, Halifax, Portsmoutli, Gloucester, Reading, Newcastle, Westerly, Northampton. . • . 159

Appemu.x TO Ch.^ptf.k XII. — ExtracLs from llie Private Journal of the Rev. Eleazer Wheolock. — E.xtracts from the Private Journal of the Rev. Ebenezer Parkmaii, of Westborough, * Mass. ....... 204

Chapter I

Introductory. — Previous State of Religious Opinions and Practices. — Decline of Piety. — Preaching of Edwards. — "Surprising Conversions " at Northampton, and in other places.

The " Great Awakening of 1740" was not confined to that year. The rehgious movement of which the events of that year were a conspicuous parti hegan at Northampton in 1734, and continued till 1742, and in many places even longer. The immediate occasion of its connnencement was a series of sermons by the elder Edwards, on the doctrine of Justification by Faith ; and among the most efficient means of carrying it on, were his sermons, proving that " every mouth shall be stopped " at the day of judgment, and that "nothing, at any one moment, keeps wicked men out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God." Edwards himself testified, that no discourses had " been more remarkably blessed, than those in which the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty with regard to the salvation of sinners, and his just liberty with regard to answering the prayers, or succeeding the pains, of mere natural men, continuing such," were insisted on. These doctrines, when handled as they were by him, are always powerful ; but, to appreciate the force with which they came upon the hearers then, w^e must consider what was then the religious state of New England, and of the world.

In the early days of New England, none but church members could hold any office, or vote at elections. This 1 is often mentioned, as evidence of the. bigotry and domineering spirit of the Puritans ; but unjustly. It was so, and always iiad been so, tiiroughout the Christian world, — except that, in most cases, rulers were hereditary, and nobody voted at all. Throughout Christian Europe, both Ivomish and Reformed, the practice was, to baptize all in infancy, and to consider them as members of the church, unless excommunicated. In childhood, they were to be taught certain forms of faith and worship, after which they were admitted to the Lord's Supper, receiving "confirmation" from the bishop, where there were bishops, and passing through an examination in the creeds and catechisms, where the government was Presbyterian. True, the ofliciating bishop or presbyter might require of the catechumen an experimental acquaintance with the truths of Christianity, and thus exclude from the Lord's table such as gave no evidence of regeneration. But such was not the practice. Exclusion from the Lord's table, — that is, excommunication, — was attended with the loss of certain civil rights, and, in most countries, followed by the infliction of punishment by the civil government. In England, a man appointed to any civil or military office must " qualify," by receiving the Lord's Supper in the established church ; and many received it to "qualify" themselves for office, who neglected it all the rest of their lives. The clergyman who withheld the Lord's Supper from one requesting it, inflicted a civil injury, and was liable to prosecution ; and, if prosecuted, must show to the court that he had good grounds for his decision, or suffer the consequences. When John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, left Georgia to return to England, a prosecution was pending against him for debarring a young lady from the Lord's Supper. Under such laws, the Lord's table must be open to all who have been baptized, who have learned the creed and catechism, and have not committed any crime which a civil court would judge " scandalous."

Such an administration of the ordinances is in perfect harmony with the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, held by the papists, and incorporated into the liturgy of the Church of England ; for if baptism is regeneration, why should not all baptized persons, not excommunicated, partake of the Lord's Supper ? Where this doctrine was not held, as in Scotland, for example, its place might be supplied by the habit of hoping that, each communicant was a regenerate person. But in order to render sncli liopes possible, it must be held tliat the dilference between the regenerate and others is not apparent to men ; that regeneration, ordinarily at least, produces no apparent change, of which the teachers and rulers of the church may expect to 6nd evidence by examination ; and that, therefore, they must regard every one as regenerate, unless some scandalous oU'ence gives evidence to the contrary. Ministers thus situated may preach on the necessity of regeneration, atid on the evidence of it wliich every one ought to find in himself, and may express their fear that some of their j)eople are not yet converted, and urge them to self-examination ; but while they are obliged, in the niosl solemn oHices of religion, to treat every one as a real convert, the force of such preaching is at least greatly diminished. Unconverted communicants will hope that they have jiasscd through that imperceptible change, will come to the I^ord's table, and even make their way into the ministry. The preaching can scarce fail, in the end, to copie into harmony with the practice.

The New England Puritans could walk in neither of these ways. They bi-licvrd, that when a man is "born again," a change is wrought in him, of which it is possible for him and others to find evidence ; that the regenerate differ from the iinregenerate by the possession of some substantial good fjtialities, which must show themselves in thought, feeling and conduct ; and they felt bound to treat all as unregenerate, in whom, on examination, no evidence of Christian piety could be found. They therefore admitted none to their communion, except such as might, " in charitable discretion," be considered regenerate j)ersons. The preface to the Cambridge riaiforni, j)ublished in 1G4S, is mostly occupied in vindicating this })ractice against the objections which it was expected to encounter in other parts of the Christian world.

This system of administering the ordinances laid the foundation for whatever is really characteristic of the " Ts'ew England style of preaching," of which so much has been said. The preacher had before him a considerable number of men, who were in no respect regarded or treated as regenerate persons ; who were regarded, both by the church and by themselves, as unrenewed, inipeiiitent men, destitute of faith, and of every Christian grace, and in the broad road to perdition. It was not merely feared or believed that the congregation contained many such persons. The church records contained the names of those who were supposed to be in the road to heaven ; and others were, by common consent, to be regarded and addressed as persons in the road to hell. Impenitence, unbelief, enmity to God, and whatever other sins are implied in these, might be, and in Christian faithfulness must be, charged home upon hearers, who would know themselves to be the persons intended, and would confess that the preacher only did his duty. Hence the New England habit of assailing hearers, either with argument or entreaty, as men who are to be brought over from opjjosition to agreement. Nor was this all. As their unconverted hearers were destitute of faith, had no eHicient belief in the word of God, it was evidently impossible to subdue them with proof-texts and expositions of Scripture. Like Paul preaching at Adiens,- they must draw argumcnis from the nature of things, and from the consciences of their hearers. Hence that "metaphysical style," which must have come into use, even if Edwards had never lived. The manner of sermonizing must naturally be very different from this, where the preacher is required to hope well concerning each of his hearers, as a child of God.