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FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
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 !AR <*1 1932 
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 History of 
 American Revivals 
 
 Frank Grenville Beardsley, s.t.d. 
 
 AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY 
 
 150 Nassau Street 
 BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 
 
COPYRIGHT, I904 
 BY AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The present volume makes no pretensions to 
 literary excellence, nor does it lay claim to being 
 an exhaustive or critical treatment of the subject. 
 Its purpose is to furnish within modest limits a 
 simple and straightforward account of the great 
 revivals and revival movements characteristic of our 
 national religious history. For obvious reasons 
 every revival and every individual associated with 
 revival history could not receive mention. It is 
 to be regretted, moreover, that the data at hand 
 have not warranted a fuller treatment of some 
 phases of this subject. Aside from these limitations 
 the effort has been made to give as complete a 
 narrative of our revival history as possible. 
 
 Frank G. Beardsley. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://archive.org/details/americaOObear 
 
. CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. PAGE 
 
 Introductory — The Genesis of Revivals .... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Religious Declension and Attempts at Reform . . 8 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Great Awakening 20 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Period of the Revolution 71 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Awakening of 1800 84 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Denominational Movements — The Congregationalists and 
 
 Presbyterians 108 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Charles Grandison Finney 118 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Denominational Movements — The Congregationalists and 
 
 Presbyterians — Concluded 152 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Denominational Movements — The Baptists . . .163 
 
 chapter x. 
 Denominational Movements — The Methodists . . . 181 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Denominational Movements — Concluded . . . 205 
 
 chapter xn. 
 The Great Revival of 1857 213 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Period of the Civil War 240 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Lay Movement in Revivals 254 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Organized Movements 296 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Conclusion 308 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 The Genesis of Revivals. 
 
 The history of revivals is the history of the 
 church. The great epochal movements which have 
 characterized the development of religion may 
 without impropriety be designated as revivals. In 
 accordance with customary usage the term is gener- 
 ally applied to special religious services protracted 
 for a term of days or weeks, when unusual efforts 
 are put forth to reach the unconverted for the pur- 
 pose of bringing them to repentance and winning 
 them to lives of faith and obedience. Revivals in 
 this sense of the word are of comparatively recent 
 origin and date their beginnings a little more than 
 a century and a half ago. It has been suggested, 
 however, that the annual feasts of ancient Judaism 
 corresponded in some respects to our modern 
 revivals and were a means of promoting vital 
 religion. 
 
2 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 According to the generic significance of the word, 
 it means to re-animate, to awaken new life, and 
 hence it presupposes a state of declension. But 
 since an awakened church is always a converting 
 agency, any religious awakening is a revival, 
 whether the term be applied to the work of con- 
 verting the unregenerate or to the task of bringing 
 new life to a dead and decaying church. With this 
 understanding of the term ample justification may 
 be found for the statement that revivals are as old 
 as human history. It will be interesting, therefore, 
 if not profitable, before proceeding to a delineation 
 of American revivals, to consider briefly and some- 
 what cursorily the great revivals which have char- 
 acterized the growth and development of religion. 
 
 For our earliest information upon this subject we 
 must have recourse to the sacred scriptures. The 
 Bible is a manual of revivals in so far as it is a 
 record of the successive efforts which were made 
 by patriarchs and kings, by prophets and apostles, 
 for the redemption and religious betterment of a 
 sinning world. The earliest awakening of which 
 it speaks is that tersely described as occurring in 
 the days of Enosh when men began to call on the 
 name of the Lord. Of the character and extent of 
 this revival we can only conjecture, but it was an 
 event of deepest significance, since it marks the 
 beginnings of revival history. 
 
THE GENESIS OF REVIVALS. 3 
 
 Passing on to the history of Israel we discover 
 that the Exodus, in its purpose and aims, as a 
 mighty spiritual quickening, was essentially a 
 revival. It marks an epoch in the development of the 
 chosen people, whence they were to emerge from 
 the Egyptian bondage, not only as the conquerors 
 of Canaan, but as the pioneers of a world-wide 
 religion. It was no easy undertaking, however, to 
 discipline this army of slaves and fit them for the 
 responsibilities of self-government under the the- 
 ocracy. Backslidings were frequent and periodic. 
 God's providences were soon forgotten and it often 
 became necessary to admonish and rebuke Israel 
 for her rebellion and her sins. The periods of 
 deeper religious life which followed were in reality 
 revivals. As we study further the development of 
 this people we learn that such awakenings were 
 characteristic of their national life. Interesting 
 accounts are given of spiritual quickenings in the 
 times of Joshua, Samuel, David, Elijah, Hezekiah, 
 Josiah and Ezekiel. It is difficult to conceive how 
 the Jewish nation could have been saved from 
 utter apostasy and ruin had it not have been for 
 these gracious visitations. Even these did not save 
 the chosen people from the calamity which befell 
 them in consequence of the Assyrian invasion. 
 After the captivity there were extensive revivals 
 under Ezra and Nehemiah. The awakening under 
 
4 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 Ezra resembled more closely our modern revivals 
 than any of the recorded awakenings which took 
 place during the pre-Christian dispensation. It was 
 a protracted meeting in which unusual interest was 
 displayed. Ezra preached from a pulpit of wood, 
 while the people gave heed to readings and expo- 
 sitions of the law. The effects of this revival were 
 lasting and beneficial. 
 
 With the inauguration of Christianity we find 
 that Pentecost is the emphatic date in the commence- 
 ment of the new era. The ministry of Jesus together 
 with the influence of his character upon the 
 minds of his disciples had been a work preparatory 
 to the inception of that movement which had for 
 its object the evangelization of the world. But the 
 disciples were not yet fully prepared for that work. 
 They needed the enduement with power. The gift 
 of power accompanied the advent of the Holy Spirit 
 at Pentecost. That they were then ready for their 
 great work is evident from the fact that after they 
 had received the enduement of power, under the 
 preaching of a single searching sermon by the Apos- 
 tle Peter, three thousand souls were converted to the 
 Christian faith. 
 
 By this great and notable event the Apostolic age 
 was ushered in as a great missionary and evan- 
 gelistic era. The book of Acts is a manual of the 
 revivals of that age and is replete with accounts of 
 
THE GENESIS OF REVIVALS. 5 
 
 awakenings and ingatherings under the labors of 
 Peter and Paul and other members of the apostolic 
 band. 
 
 Dr. Kirk, in speaking of the influence of Pente- 
 cost, says : 'The impulse of this revival continued to 
 be felt through four centuries, swelling like a wave 
 of the sea, steadily onward, until the battle of the 
 Milvian Bridge put the scepter in the hands of 
 Constantine, and destroyed thus the power of Pagan 
 persecution ; and then the decree of Milan pro- 
 nounced the religion of the cross the religion of the 
 empire." * 
 
 The Christianization of the Roman Empire did 
 not eliminate certain elements of paganism, the 
 reflex influence of which proved disastrous to the 
 new faith. As a consequence a night of spiritual 
 darkness settled down upon Christendom, in which 
 the church slumbered on in contented indifference 
 to the pagan ideas and corrupt practices which were 
 destroying her spiritual power. Voices of protest 
 were raised now and then, but no sweeping results 
 were attained until there came a mighty awakening 
 through the Protestant Reformation. 
 
 The Reformation was not an event unheralded or 
 unprepared for. The Crusades, resulting in the 
 commercial expansion of Europe and the revival of 
 
 * Kirk's Revival Lectures, p. 115. 
 
6 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 learning, the preaching of Wyclif, Huss, and Savon- 
 arola, and the invention of printing, were potent 
 factors in preparing the way for that tremendous 
 movement which convulsed all Europe and shook 
 to its foundations the papal throne. To Martin 
 Luther belongs the credit for having precipitated 
 the crisis which was bound to come. The hour 
 was struck when he nailed his theses upon the portal 
 of the church at Wittenberg, and that incident, 
 insignificant as it was, became one of the supreme 
 events in the world's history. Zwingli, Calvin, 
 Knox, and a host of lesser lights helped to complete 
 the work which he had begun and which resulted 
 in the spiritual quickening of Christendom. 
 
 In England the cleavage with Rome was chiefly 
 along political and ecclesiastical lines. Henry VIII. 
 through whom it was effected had been an ardent 
 Romanist, but when the pope refused to grant 
 him a divorce from Catherine of Arragon, he took 
 matters into his own hands and proclaimed himself 
 the head of the English Church. This never could 
 have been done, had there not have been a strong 
 undercurrent of Protestantism in the popular senti- 
 ment of the day. The efforts of Wyclif and his suc- 
 cessors, the humble Lollards, together with the work 
 of the Oxford Reformers, were not in vain. The 
 fruit of their labors was now manifest in the sub- 
 mission and support of the people to the reforms 
 
THE GENESIS OF REVIVALS. 7 
 
 of Henry. These reforms were not violent. A 
 change in the headship of the church was all that 
 was at first contemplated. Other changes were 
 inevitable, but the Protestantism of England partook 
 more of the character of an evolutionary process 
 rather than the more violent form of revolution. 
 
 In consequence of the persecutions of Mary, many 
 of the clergy fled to the continent, where they came 
 into contact with a type of Protestantism much more 
 radical than that of England. Especially was this 
 true at Geneva where the stern genius of Calvin 
 presided in ascetic simplicity. On their return to 
 England after the accession of Elizabeth, they car- 
 ried with them a desire for further reform. As a 
 consequence the Puritan revival was inaugurated, 
 which subsequently peopled New England with 
 colonists and thus prepared the way for the intro- 
 duction of that more vital form of religion which 
 has characterized the history of American Christian- 
 ity. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 RELIGIOUS DECLENSION AND ATTEMPTS 
 AT REFORM. 
 
 The Pilgrims and Puritans, who founded the 
 New England settlements, were men of sturdy faith 
 and character. They would have gained pre-emi- 
 nence in any age. The Old World was impover- 
 ished by their departure, but it required men of 
 such faith and such character to lay the foundations 
 of a great republic on the bleak and rugged shores 
 of New England. They were possessed of pro- 
 found convictions, — convictions which if necessary 
 would have caused them to have suffered martyrdom 
 for the principles which they avowed, — convictions 
 moreover which enabled them to lay aside their 
 ancestral traditions and the comforts of the mother 
 country to engage in the hardships of a pioneer 
 enterprise. They were men of fervid piety and 
 intense moral earnestness. But with the passing 
 away of the first generation of these men, the spirit 
 of self-sacrifice and devotion to sublime moral 
 
RELIGIOUS DECLENSION. 9 
 
 ideals was not transmitted unimpaired to their 
 immediate posterity. In fact, as time elapsed a 
 decline in religion and morality became very 
 apparent. 
 
 To the causes which were operative in producing 
 this state of declension, the church life of the period 
 contributed somewhat. Public worship consisted 
 of morning and afternoon preaching services on the 
 Lord's day, and in many places a mid-week lecture 
 was conducted on Wednesday or Thursday, which, 
 however, was not a gathering for social worship, 
 such as is our modern prayer-meeting, but was 
 similar in character to the services of the Sabbath 
 day. These services were cheerless and unattrac- 
 tive. Instruments of music were unknown. The 
 singing was confined to the chanting of Psalms 
 metrically arranged, and the number of tunes made 
 use of for this purpose was seldom to exceed five 
 or six. The sermons, often highly metaphysical in 
 character, not infrequently required two and three 
 hours for their delivery. The type of religious 
 experience inculcated was harsh and unsymmetri- 
 cal. There was nothing to lead men to an appre- 
 ciation of the beauty of religion or to set forth the 
 desirability of communion with God. The idea of 
 loving service received little or no emphasis, while 
 the religious life of the individual conformed to 
 the stern precepts of duty and fear as the ultimate 
 
io AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 standards of conduct. The doctrines taught by the 
 church were ultra-Calvinistic in character and led to 
 a practical denial of human freedom. Not yet had 
 the divines of New England learned to blend har- 
 moniously the doctrines of divine sovereignty and 
 man's free agency. With an insistence upon man's 
 absolute inability to do anything towards securing 
 salvation, there is small cause for wonder that con- 
 versions were few, and that men were coming to 
 look upon themselves as in no wise responsible for 
 their impenitence and rebellion towards God. 
 
 More potent still in its deteriorating influence 
 upon the religious life of the people was the union 
 of church and state. Church membership was 
 requisite to citizenship, churches were supported by 
 taxation, and church attendance was made com- 
 pulsory by law. Well meaning as were such pro- 
 visions, it was a fatal mistake. State churches are 
 seldom conducive to vital religion, but this was a 
 fact which New England was to learn from long 
 and bitter experience. Men cannot be made pious 
 by law, and the attempt to do so has often led to 
 serious if not amusing difficulties. There were 
 times in the history of New England when men 
 who were not in a state of grace were sorely needed 
 in public affairs, and the story is told of one saint, 
 who had been excommunicated, who "was actually 
 arrested and commanded for the love of God to 
 
RELIGIOUS DECLENSION. n 
 
 repent, because he was the only man competent to 
 lead their forces against the Indians." 
 
 Non-church members suffered keenly from ecclesi- 
 astical disabilities. According to the principles of 
 the Puritans, only the regenerate were eligible to 
 church membership. The baptized children of such 
 were in covenant relations with the church and were 
 entitled to its watch-care, but they were not admitted 
 to the full privileges of church membership until 
 they had made a public profession of regenerate 
 faith. Until such a profession was made their chil- 
 dren could neither be baptized nor enjoy the watch- 
 care of the church. Moreover only those who were 
 in full membership had any voice in the affairs of 
 the church. Truly, a strange anomaly was this! 
 Multitudes there were in New England who by 
 taxation were compelled to contribute to the sup- 
 port of the church, and by law were forced to 
 attend its services, but who could have no voice 
 either in public affairs or in the choice of a relig- 
 ious teacher, and whose children were debarred 
 from all of the privileges of the church. 
 
 To relieve the disabilities of such the famous 
 Half-Way Covenant was adopted by a "Synod of 
 elders and messengers, from all the churches in 
 the Massachusetts Colony," which convened at Bos- 
 ton in 1662, by order of the General Court of Massa- 
 chusetts, to discuss among other questions "who 
 
12 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 are the subjects of baptism?" For some time there 
 had been a growing liberalism upon the subject. 
 When the Cambridge Platform (an elaborate 
 declaration of the principles and practices of the 
 New England churches) was adopted in 1648 there 
 had been a strong sentiment in favor of lowering 
 the standards of the baptismal requirement, but out 
 of deference to a powerful minority, no decisive 
 action was taken. From this time the discussion 
 waxed warm. Many of the ablest divines of New 
 England stoutly opposed any departure from the 
 principles of their fathers, but the action of the 
 Boston Synod in 1662 was final. In accordance 
 with its provisions, persons baptized in infancy, 
 "understanding the doctrines of faith, and publicly 
 professing their assent thereto; not scandalous in 
 life, and solemnly owning the covenant of the 
 church, wherein they give up themselves and their 
 children to the Lord, and subject themselves to the 
 government of Christ and the church, their children 
 are to be baptized." The Half- Way Covenant made 
 no provision for any change in the civil status of 
 those who came within the scope of its action. This 
 was to remain as it was. While it relieved some 
 of their ecclesiastical disabilities, those who owned 
 the Covenant were not admitted to the Lord's table, 
 nor could they have any voice in the affairs of the 
 church. 
 
RELIGIOUS DECLENSION. 13 
 
 The Half- Way Covenant elicited a vigorous pro- 
 test on the part of its opponents, but the General 
 Court of Massachusetts "judged it meet to commend 
 the same unto the consideration of all the churches 
 and people," and thus it became a part of the church 
 discipline of the colony. 
 
 The effect of the Half-Way Covenant was not 
 altogether salutary. Instead of promoting vital 
 religion its tendency was to encourage moralism. 
 Those who were affected by it, instead of qualify- 
 ing themselves for church membership, were rather 
 encouraged by its provisions to rest content with 
 the privileges which it conferred. Moreover it was 
 not kept within the bounds of its original provisions. 
 "Originally its provisions applied only to church 
 members who were admitted in minority, but before 
 many years churches which adopted it construed it 
 as admitting those non church members by baptism 
 and even men of lax personal morality who might 
 desire baptism for their children." * Gradually the 
 Lord's table was opened to such as owned the 
 Covenant. By some churches it was voted that 
 "those who wish to offer their children in baptism 
 join with the church, and have a right to all the 
 ordinances and privileges of the church;" and "if 
 any have any doubts with regard to their preparation 
 
 * Dexter's Congregationalism in Literature, p. 475. 
 
14 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 for the Lord's supper, they may have the liberty to 
 stay away from that ordinance until their doubts 
 shall be removed." At a later time advocates were 
 not wanting for the theory that the Lord's supper 
 was a converting ordinance and a means of grace 
 for the unregenerate. 
 
 A general lapse in morals was the logical con- 
 sequence, and this followed by a series of disasters 
 on land and sea, in accordance with the stern ideas 
 of that age, was interpreted as a visitation from the 
 Almighty because of the iniquities of the people. 
 Early in the history of New England, an unusual 
 degree of prosperity had been enjoyed, but now 
 crops had failed repeatedly, smallpox and other epi- 
 demics had prevailed in the colonies, disastrous fires 
 had visited Boston, and violent storms at sea had 
 done great damage to shipping and had occasioned 
 the loss of many lives. King Philip's War, 1674- 
 1676, seemed to fill their cup of desolation to over- 
 flowing. One out of every twelve men of military 
 age had met death at the hands of bloodthirsty 
 savages, property was destroyed and some entire 
 towns wiped out of existence, while the debts which 
 had been incurred had brought the colonies to the 
 verge of bankruptcy. 
 
 These conditions provoked thoughtful minds to 
 serious contemplation. The General Court was 
 petitioned to order a synod. The Court responded 
 
ATTEMPTS AT REFORM. 15 
 
 and in September, 1679, a synod, which was known 
 as the Reforming Synod, convened at Boston to 
 consider ( 1 ) What are the evils that have pro- 
 voked the Lord to bring his judgment on New Eng- 
 land? (2) What is to be done that those evils may 
 be reformed? 
 
 After a careful consideration of these problems, 
 thirteen evils were specified as being the causes of 
 the disasters and calamities which had come upon 
 them. They were as follows : decay of godliness on 
 the part of professing Christians ; pride and extrava- 
 gance in dress ; neglect of baptism and church fellow-' 
 ship together with a failure to testify against Quak- 
 ers and Baptists; profanity and irreverent behavior 
 in the sanctuary; absence of Sabbath observ- 
 ance ; lack of family government and worship ; back- 
 bitings, censures, revilings and litigations between 
 church members ; intemperance, tavern haunting and 
 putting the bottle to the lips of Indians, besides, 
 adultery, lustful dress and behavior, mixed dancings, 
 gaming and idleness; dishonesty; covetousness and 
 a love of the world; opposition to reformation and 
 leniency towards sin ; a want of public spirit in caus- 
 ing schools and other common interests to languish ; 
 and finally a general unfruitfulness under the means 
 of grace and a refusal to repent. 
 
 To remedy these evils it was recommended that 
 the chief persons in church and state be careful to set 
 
16 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 a godly example; that the Cambridge Platform be 
 re-affirmed; that none be admitted to communion 
 who had not made a full profession of saving faith ; 
 that discipline in the churches be diligently enforced ; 
 that the churches be fully officered ; that the magis- 
 trates attend to the support of such officers; that 
 righteous laws should be established and enforced; 
 that churches renew their covenants with God ; that 
 the sins of the times be engaged against; that the 
 churches agree in covenanting to promote holiness 
 and a closer walk with God; that provision should 
 be made to support Harvard College and all schools 
 of learning; and that all should "cry mightily unto 
 God, both in ordinary and extraordinary manner, 
 that he would be pleased to rain down righteous- 
 ness." 
 
 The results of the Reforming Synod were salu- 
 tary but not lasting. Many of the churches solemnly 
 renewed their covenants, days of fasting and prayer 
 were appointed and in some places there were large 
 accessions to the number of communicants. Accord- 
 ing to Cotton Mather, it was followed "not only by 
 a great advancement of holiness in the people but 
 also by a great addition of converts to their holy 
 fellowship." But in most instances these additions 
 consisted of such as owned the Half-Way Covenant 
 and gave their assent thereto, so that the way was 
 opened for a repetition of those very evils 
 
ATTEMPTS AT REFORM. 17 
 
 which the Reforming Synod was designed to 
 correct. 
 
 The disasters moreover which had visited the peo- 
 ple were not averted, and in so far as they occupied 
 the public mind to the exclusion of religion they 
 served to aggravate the demoralizing tendencies of 
 the time. The loss of the old charter in Massachu- 
 setts, the seizure of the Old South meeting-house for 
 an Episcopal service, and the witchcraft delusion 
 at Salem added to the political and religious dis- 
 turbances of the day. A combination of such evils, 
 together with the spiritual desolation prevalent in 
 the New England churches, gave a gloomy aspect to 
 the closing years of the seventeenth century. 
 
 The opening years of the new century were no 
 less gloomy than the closing years of the old. In 
 1702 Increase Mather exclaimed: "Oh New Eng- 
 land, New England ! tremble, for the glory is going : 
 it is gradually departing." In 1721 he said: "Oh 
 degenerate New England ! what art thou come to at 
 this day? How are those sins become common in 
 thee that once were not so much as heard of in this 
 land?" Election and fast day sermons of the time 
 abound in similar allusions to the prevailing declen- 
 sion in religion. The leaven of the Half- Way Cove- 
 nant was performing its deadly work. During the 
 early part of the eighteenth century what was known 
 as Stoddardeanism (so named because advocated 
 
18 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 by Rev. Solomon Stoddard of Northampton, Mass. ) 
 became widely prevalent. He maintained "that 
 sanctification is not a necessary qualification to par- 
 taking of the Lord's Supper," "that the Lord's sup- 
 per is a converting ordinance," and wrote a treatise 
 in defense of the same. There was some opposition 
 to be sure, but on account of Mr. Stoddard's com- 
 manding influence his views received wide accept- 
 ance throughout New England. 
 
 With the ebb-tide in religion there had been a 
 steady decline in the morals of the people. Jonathan 
 Edwards, writing of the conditions prevalent in 
 his own parish about 1730, said: "It seemed to be 
 a time of extraordinary dullness in religion; licen- 
 tiousness for some years greatly prevailed among 
 the youth of the town; there were many of them 
 very much addicted to night walking and frequent- 
 ing the tavern, and lewd practices, wherein some 
 by their example exceedingly corrupted others. It 
 was their manner very frequently to get together 
 in conventions of both sexes, for mirth and jollity, 
 which they called frolicks; and they would often 
 spend the greater part of the night in them, without 
 any regard to order in the families they belonged 
 to; and indeed family government did too much 
 fail in the town." * Northampton furnishes a mild 
 
 * Works, Vol. III., p. 232. 
 
ATTEMPTS AT REFORM. 19 
 
 example of the conditions which were prevalent 
 throughout New England. The situation so far 
 as we are able to learn presents an ever-darkening 
 picture of the state of society and the moral condi- 
 tion of the people. 
 
 Was this state of affairs to continue? Were con- 
 ditions to wax worse and worse ? Had God forsaken 
 New England? For a time it appeared to many 
 as if he had. But the darkness of the period was 
 the darkness which precedes the dawn, a dawn that 
 was to usher in the Great Awakening, an awaken- 
 ing which was to result in the ingathering of thou- 
 sands and the spiritual regeneration, not only of 
 New England, but of the entire colonial system 
 bordering on the Atlantic, and which was to give 
 spiritual strength for the struggle for independence. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE GREAT AWAKENING. 
 
 Dark as were the conditions which preceded the 
 Great Awakening, there were not wanting rays of 
 light to give promise of brighter days. Rev. Solo- 
 mon Stoddard, whose practices evidently were bet- 
 ter than his theories, had been blessed in his pastorate 
 at Northampton, with special ingatherings which 
 he called harvests, during the years 1679, I ^3> 
 1696, 1 712, and 1 7 18. Revivals were also reported 
 at Hartford, Conn., in 1696, at Taunton, Mass., in 
 1705, and at Windom, Conn., in 1721. 
 
 The great earthquake of 1727 profoundly affected 
 the public mind and led many to inquire seriously 
 concerning the way of salvation. 
 
 That same year Rev. Gilbert Tennent, who was 
 destined to play no inconspicuous part in the Great 
 Awakening, was called to the pastorate of a Presby- 
 terian Church at New Brunswick, New Jersey. 
 There he came in contact with the fruitful ministry 
 of Rev. Theodore Frelinghuysen, who for seven 
 years had been pastor of a Dutch Reformed Church 
 in the vicinity, and whose success together with 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 21 
 
 his fraternal counsel incited the young minister to 
 a spirit of inquiry concerning his own lack of fruit- 
 fulness in ministerial labors. A sickness which 
 visited him about this time deepened these impres- 
 sions to such an extent that he resolved to be more 
 faithful and earnest in his ministry should he 
 recover. Upon his restoration to health he sought 
 both by personal work and the faithful presentation 
 of gospel truth to awaken the indifferent and arouse 
 the impenitent to a sense of their spiritual needs, 
 "which method," he said, "was sealed by the Holy 
 Spirit in the conviction and conversion of a con- 
 siderable number of persons at various times and 
 in different places in that part of the country as 
 appeared by their acquaintance with experimental 
 religion and good conversation." * 
 
 These various spiritual quickenings, which were 
 as mercy drops before the showers of refreshing, 
 would seem to indicate that the country was not 
 altogether unprepared for that tremendous wave of 
 religious influence which swept over the colonies 
 and which has become known in history as the 
 GREAT AWAKENING. So far as the human 
 origin of this Awakening is concerned, it commenced 
 in the quiet rural parish of Northampton, Mass., 
 about 1734. 
 
 * Tracy's Great Azvakening, p. 35. 
 
22 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 Rev. Jonathan Edwards, under whose preaching 
 appeared the first manifestations of revival power, 
 was born at East Windsor, Conn., October 5th, 
 1703. His father was a Congregational minister 
 and his mother was a daughter of the celebrated Sol- 
 omon Stoddard. As a child Edwards was preco- 
 cious. At six he commenced the study of Latin, at 
 ten he wrote an essay denying the materiality of the 
 human soul, and at thirteen he entered Yale College, 
 from which he graduated in September, 1720, before 
 he had quite reached the age of seventeen. During 
 his second year in college he read Locke on the 
 "Human Understanding,' , of which he said that he 
 was inexpressibly pleased and entertained; more so 
 than the most greedy miser, when gathering up hand- 
 fuls of silver and gold from some newly discovered 
 treasure. After graduation he remained two years 
 at college, studying and preparing himself for the 
 gospel ministry to which he had already committed 
 himself. 
 
 In August, 1722, he accepted an invitation to the 
 English Presbyterian Church in New York City, 
 where he labored for a space of eight months. A 
 permanent call was extended him, but the church 
 was so small and the future so unpromising that 
 he declined. During this pastorate he began a 
 markable series of resolutions for the guidance of 
 his conduct, pledging himself to do nothing which 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 23 
 
 did not tend to the glory of God. Upon relinquish- 
 ing his pastoral duties he repaired to the home of 
 his father, where several months were spent in a 
 further study of theology. In June, 1724, he re- 
 ceived an appointment as tutor in Yale College, 
 which position he filled for two years with honor 
 to himself and credit to the institution. The infirm- 
 ity of years was now resting upon his grandfather, 
 the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, so that he felt the need 
 of an assistant in his pastorate at Northampton. 
 To this position young Edwards was called, and 
 he was duly ordained as colleague with his grand- 
 father on the 15th of February, 1727. Two 
 years later, upon the death of the latter, he succeeded 
 to the full pastoral office in what was then the 
 strongest church in Massachusetts outside of Boston. 
 A short time after his ordination he was joined 
 in marriage to Miss Sarah Pierrepont of New 
 Haven, who was then but seventeen years of age. 
 The daughter of a minister, she was a young woman 
 of accomplished education and marked personal 
 beauty. The home life of this couple bordered 
 closely upon the ideal. When he visited them 
 George Whitefield was so impressed by their con- 
 jugal felicity that he wrote, "She is a woman 
 adorned with a meek and quiet spirit, and talked 
 so feelingly and solidly of the things of God, and 
 seemed to be such a helpmeet to her husband, that 
 
24 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 she caused me to renew those prayers which for 
 some months I have put up to God, that he would 
 send me a daughter of Abraham to be my wife." 
 
 For some months Edwards labored at Northamp- 
 ton without success, but in 1733 a change in the 
 attitude and demeanor of the youth was apparent. 
 There was a disposition to be guided by pastoral 
 teaching and advice, and a few months later the 
 revival commenced. 1740 is the commonly accepted 
 date for the Great Awakening, but in reality it 
 commenced in New England in 1734 and continued, 
 with some intermissions to be sure, for a period 
 of eight years. 
 
 In the spring of 1734, the minds of the people 
 were seriously turned towards the consideration of 
 eternal things by the untimely deaths of two young 
 persons in the community. Certain sermons also, 
 which Mr. Edwards preached about that time on 
 justification by faith, the justice of God in the dam- 
 nation of sinners, the excellency of Christ, and the 
 duty of pressing into the kingdom of God, greatly 
 deepened the religious impressions of his hearers. 
 
 In these sermons the doctrine of God's sover- 
 eignty was strongly insisted upon. Through the 
 fall in Adam man had lost God's favor and hence- 
 forth had no claim upon his mercy. Man is a 
 sinner by birth as well as by choice and is possessed 
 of no moral power of his own wherewith he may 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 25 
 
 turn to God or please him. God is under no obli- 
 gation to save anyone. "His sovereignty is involved 
 in his freedom to take whom he pleases, and to 
 leave whom he pleases to perish." Special grace 
 is communicated to such as he has chosen to salva- 
 tion, but all others are left to die in their sins. 
 Satisfaction must be made for the sins of those who 
 are foreordained to eternal life. Such satisfaction 
 was made in the vicarious sacrifice on the cross 
 by Jesus Christ, who suffered thereby a penalty 
 equivalent to the eternal sufferings of the elect, 
 and thus their debt was literally paid. By the 
 imputation of Christ's righteousness to the believ- 
 ing soul salvation was effected. 
 
 Such in brief were the elements of Edwards' 
 theology. The influence of such doctrines upon 
 the minds of those who had contented themselves 
 with a barren morality can better be imagined than 
 described. Men were brought face to face with 
 their sins and their indifference to the claims of 
 religion. False hopes were brushed aside, and the 
 unconverted were made to realize that works alone 
 would never save them. They were impressed with 
 the idea that their only hope of salvation was in 
 the mercy of God. As a result the hearts and 
 consciences of men were deeply moved. Within 
 a comparatively short space of time evidences of 
 converting grace began to appear. In the latter 
 
26 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 part of December, 1734, five or six persons in 
 Edwards' congregation were converted. Among 
 them was a gay young woman of somewhat ques- 
 tionable character, who had been a leader in fri- 
 volity among the young. On account of her past 
 reputation Edwards was fearful lest her conversion 
 should create prejudice and bring the work into 
 disrepute, but his fears were groundless and quite 
 the reverse took place. 
 
 "Presently upon this," wrote Mr. Edwards, "a 
 great and earnest concern about the great things of 
 religion, and the eternal world, became universal 
 in all parts of the town, and among persons of 
 all degrees and all ages; the noise among the dry 
 bones waxed louder and louder; all other talk but 
 about spiritual and eternal things was soon thrown 
 by; all the conversation in all companies, and upon 
 all occasions, was upon these things only, unless 
 so much as was necessary for people carrying on 
 their ordinary secular business. Other discourse 
 than of the things of religion would scarcely be 
 tolerated in any company. The minds of the peo- 
 ple were wonderfully taken off from the world; it 
 was treated amongst us as a thing of very little 
 consequence; they seem to follow worldly business 
 more as a part of their duty than from any dis- 
 position they had to it. . . . But though the 
 people did not ordinarily neglect their worldly busi- 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 27 
 
 ness, yet there was the reverse of what commonly 
 is : religion was with all sorts the great concern 
 and the world was only a thing by the by. The 
 only thing in their view was to get the kingdom 
 of heaven, and every one appeared pressing into it. 
 . . . There was scarcely a single person in the 
 town, either old or young, that was left uncon- 
 cerned about the great things of the eternal world. 
 Those that were wont to be vainest and loosest, 
 and those that had been most disposed to think 
 and speak slightly of vital and experimental relig- 
 ion, were now subject to great awakenings. And 
 the work of conversion was carried on in a most 
 astonishing manner, and increased more and more; 
 souls did, as it were, come by flocks to Jesus Christ. 
 From day to day, for many months together, might 
 be seen evident instances of sinners brought out of 
 darkness into marvelous light, and delivered out of 
 a horrible pit, and from the miry clay, and set upon 
 a rock, with a new song of praise to God in their 
 mouths."* 
 
 The results of this revival were most gracious. 
 Northampton then had a population numbering 
 about eleven hundred. Mr. Edwards expressed the 
 hope that above three hundred souls had been con- 
 verted in half a year. Persons of all ages, from 
 children of tender years to those who had reached 
 
 * Edwards' Works, Vol. III., pp. 233-235. 
 
28 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 extreme old age, were gathered into the fold. More 
 than a hundred were received into the church before 
 one communion. Eighty were received at one time, 
 "whose appearance, when they presented themselves 
 together to make an open, explicit profession of 
 Christianity, was very affecting to the congrega- 
 tion." Sixty more were received before the next 
 observance of the Lord's supper. All these gave 
 "sufficient evidence of the conversion of their souls," 
 although a credible confession of their faith was 
 not then required for admission to the Lord's table. 
 Such a work could not be hid. The revival spread 
 to other communities, and many came to examine 
 personally this remarkable work of grace. Even- 
 tually the revival extended to South Hadley, Suf- 
 field, Sunderland, Deerfield, Hatfield, West Spring- 
 field, Long Meadow, Enfield, Hadley Old Town, 
 and Northfield, in Massachusetts. In Connecticut 
 the revival commenced at Windsor not far from the 
 time that it began at Northampton. Thence it 
 spread to East Windsor, Coventry, Lebanon, Dur- 
 ham, Stratford, Ripton, New Haven, Guilford, 
 Mansfield, Tolland, Hebron, Bolton, Preston, 
 Groton and Woodbury. Communities in New York 
 and New Jersey were also visited with spiritual 
 quickenings. Before the revival wave had spent 
 its force it was estimated that more than a hundred 
 towns had been blessed. 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 29 
 
 As the news of this revival was circulated it 
 awakened a lively interest on the part of the friends 
 of vital religion. Many wished to learn an authentic 
 account of it, and in response to a request from 
 Dr. Colman of Boston, Jonathan Edwards wrote 
 a "Narrative of Surprising Conversions." Dr. 
 Colman forwarded the manuscript to Drs. Watts 
 and Guise of London, by whom it was published. 
 This little volume received an extensive circulation 
 on both sides of the Atlantic. A copy fell into 
 the hands of John Wesley, who read it on a walk 
 from London to Oxford. He wrote in his Journal, 
 "Surely this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous 
 in our eyes." 
 
 In 1 739-1 740 there were manifestations of revival 
 power, on a less extended scale, among the Presby- 
 terians of New Jersey. Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, 
 who afterwards became president of Princeton, 
 wrote of hopeful awakenings at Newark and in his 
 own parish at Elizabethtown. Of the latter he 
 said : "Numbers daily flocked to their pastor for 
 advice in their eternal concerns. More came to 
 see him on this errand in three months than in 
 thirty years before."* 
 
 Not long afterwards a revival of unusual power 
 commenced among the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians 
 at New Londonderry, Pennsylvania, under the min- 
 
 Sprague's Revival Lectures, Appendix, p. 284. 
 
30 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 istry of Rev. Samuel Blair. This revival was 
 entirely independent of any which had hitherto 
 occurred. During an absence of Mr. Blair in East 
 Jersey, in March, 1740, and under the preaching of 
 a neighboring minister there were such manifesta- 
 tions of concern that the people could not restrain 
 their tears, and audible groans were heard through- 
 out the house. Upon the return of their pastor 
 similar manifestations took place, so that he was 
 obliged to request them to restrain themselves, as 
 much as possible, from making any noise that 
 would hinder others from hearing what was spoken, 
 and afterwards he often had occasion to repeat the 
 same counsel. The number of awakened increased 
 rapidly, and he wrote that "there was scarcely a 
 sermon or lecture preached here through that whole 
 summer but there were manifest evidences of 
 impressions on the hearers; and many times the 
 impressions were very great and general. . . . 
 In some time many of the convinced and distressed 
 afforded very hopeful, satisfying evidence that the 
 Lord had brought them to true closure with Jesus 
 Christ, and that their distresses and fears had been 
 in a great measure removed in a right gospel way 
 by believing in the Son of God."* 
 
 A preparation for the Great Awakening in the 
 Middle Colonies, and a potent factor in promoting 
 
 * Tracy's Great Awakening, pp. 26-29. 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 31 
 
 revivals, was the famous "Log College" at Nesham- 
 iny, Pa. This institution, which was the legitimate 
 forerunner of Princeton, afforded ministerial train- 
 ing for the Tennents (Gilbert and his three broth- 
 ers), Samuel Blair, John Rowland, Samuel Finley, 
 William Robinson and other influential revival 
 preachers. The "Log College" was founded about 
 1730 by William Tennent, Sr., who had emigrated 
 from Ireland to America in 1716. He was origi- 
 nally an Episcopalian, but in 17 18 he united with 
 the Presbyterian Synod, and within a few years had 
 come to exert a far-reaching influence in that denom- 
 ination. Tennent and his four sons were ardent 
 friends of the revival. So active were they in its 
 promotion, and so powerful was their influence, 
 that in the region in which they labored it was 
 known as the Tennent Revival. 
 
 The revivals occurring in New England and the 
 adjoining colonies served as a preparation for the 
 coming of the great English evangelist and prince 
 of pulpit orators, Rev. George Whitefield, so that 
 the minds of men were as soil for the sower, when 
 he came to scatter the seeds of gospel truth, which 
 were destined to bring forth fruit, "some thirty, 
 and some sixty, and some an hundred-fold." 
 
 The life of Whitefield reads like a romance. He 
 was born at Bell Inn, in the city of Gloucester, 
 England, December 16th, 1714. His father, who 
 
32 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 had been a wine merchant and afterwards an inn- 
 keeper, died when the future evangelist was but 
 two years of age. Notwithstanding her limited 
 resources his mother determined to give him every 
 advantage within her power. As a youth he was 
 sent to the Grammar School of St. Mary de Crypt, 
 and at the age of eighteen he entered Oxford Uni- 
 versity, where he secured a position as servitor 
 in Pembroke College. With the assistance thus 
 afforded and through the kindness of friends he was 
 enabled to reach the end of his three years' residence 
 at college with but twenty-five pounds indebtedness. 
 Up to the time of his entrance at Oxford he 
 was inclined to be wayward and careless, but upon 
 commencing his college duties he altered his mode 
 of life and refusing to join in the revelry, which 
 was all too prevalent, he won for himself the repu- 
 tation of being a "singular, odd fellow." Circum- 
 stances brought him into contact with the "Holy 
 Club," or "Methodists," as they were called by their 
 fellow students. A congenial companionship was 
 thus afforded, and although he was as yet uncon- 
 verted he hoped through the influence of these asso- 
 ciations to enter upon a more satisfying religious 
 experience. For the want of better instruction he 
 indulged in such austerities as to bring upon him- 
 self a severe illness. But at length the light came, 
 and he was the first of the Oxford Methodists to 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 33 
 
 experience conversion. Soon after he left the Uni- 
 versity, and on June 20th, 1736, was solemnly 
 ordained to the work of the ministry by Bishop 
 Benson. 
 
 From his very entrance upon the ministry White- 
 field distinguished himself as an orator of unusual 
 power. Of his first sermon a complaint was car- 
 ried to his bishop that it had driven fifteen persons 
 mad, whereupon that worthy replied that "he hoped 
 the madness might not be forgotten before the next 
 Sunday." This early effort was an earnest of the 
 mighty triumphs he was to win during his more 
 than thirty years of gospel "ranging," as he was 
 wont to term his itinerary labors. His sermons 
 appealed to all classes. The effects of his preaching 
 could be seen in the white gutters made by tears 
 coursing down the cheeks of the colliers who flocked 
 to hear him at Moorfields, while in after years such 
 critics as Franklin, Garret, and Hume testified to 
 the wonderful power of his oratory. 
 
 While Whitefield was yet a student at Oxford, 
 the Wesleys had gone to the infant colony of 
 Georgia. The glowing accounts which they gave 
 of their missionary labors fired him with a desire 
 to join them. He declined a lucrative curacy which 
 was offered him in London. Charles Wesley in 
 the meanwhile had returned to England to seek 
 additional laborers for that field and through further 
 
34 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 correspondence with John Wesley, Whitefield was 
 influenced to go to that distant mission. Judged 
 from a purely human standpoint such a course 
 seemed exceedingly ill-advised. On embarking for 
 Georgia he was detained at the Downs by contrary 
 winds, and it so happened that the very wind which 
 carried Whitefield out of the Downs brought John 
 Wesley in. While his vessel was still in the offing 
 he received the following message from Wesley : 
 "When I saw God by the wind which was carrying 
 you out brought me in, I asked counsel of God. 
 His answer you have enclosed.'' Wesley decided 
 the question by lot, and the answer enclosed was 
 a slip of paper bearing the words "Let him return 
 to England." Believing, however, that his mission 
 was a divine one Whitefield continued his journey 
 to Georgia. 
 
 Before leaving England, Charles Wesley had 
 broached to him the propriety of establishing an 
 orphan house at Savannah. The unwisdom of such 
 a project for a colony barely in its infancy would 
 seem to have been apparent, and yet had it not 
 been for this orphanage Whitefield doubtless never 
 would have made America the chief scene of his 
 labors, nor is it at all likely that his remarkable 
 evangelizing tours ever would have been under- 
 taken, since they were made chiefly for the purpose 
 of raising funds for the orphan house at Savannah. 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 35 
 
 After remaining three months in Georgia he 
 returned to England to seek priest's orders and to 
 collect funds for his orphanage. The interest which 
 his preaching awakened, provoked certain of the 
 clergy to hostility. The bishop of London wrote 
 a pastoral letter warning the people against him. 
 Notwithstanding the growing opposition he went 
 forward in the path of duty, proclaiming the tid 
 ings of salvation wherever opportunity was afforded. 
 Once while preaching at Bermondsey Church, with 
 an audience of a thousand on the outside who were 
 unable to gain admittance, he said, "I had a strong 
 inclination to go out and preach to them from one 
 of the tombstones. This first put me upon thinking 
 of preaching out doors. I mentioned it to some 
 friends, who looked upon it as 'a mad notion! 
 However, we knelt down and prayed that nothing 
 might be done rashly." The churches being closed 
 against him at Bath and Bristol, his heart went 
 out to the neglected colliers of Kingswood. 
 Although the churches were denied him, the com- 
 mons were open. On February 17, 1739, he 
 preached to two hundred colliers on Rose Green. 
 He said, "I thought it might be doing the service 
 of my creator, who had a mountain for a pulpit 
 and the heavens for a sounding board; and who, 
 when his gospel was refused by the Jews, sent his 
 servants into the highways and hedges." Hence- 
 
36 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 forth field-preaching was to be a feature of his 
 work, and in this way he was able to reach throng- 
 ing multitudes whom no church could accommodate. 
 Having collected a thousand pounds for his 
 orphanage and having been ordained to the priest- 
 hood, Whitefield returned to America, reaching 
 Lewiston, Pa., October 30, 1739. Thence he jour- 
 neyed to Philadelphia. This was his first visit to 
 the Northern Colonies. Great multitudes flocked to 
 hear him. No building being sufficiently large to 
 accommodate the people, he frequently preached 
 from the gallery of the court house on Market 
 Street. It was said that "his voice was distinctly 
 heard on the Jersey shore, and so distinct was his 
 speech that every word was understood on board 
 of a shallop at Market Street wharf, a distance of 
 upwards of four hundred feet from the court house. 
 All the intermediate space was crowded with his 
 hearers."* From Philadelphia he was invited to 
 New York. Here he found all the churches closed 
 against him, except the Presbyterian Church. By 
 day he preached to great multitudes in the fields, 
 and at night to crowded auditories in the church. 
 It was said that "he left New York under a deep 
 and universal concern. Many were greatly 
 affected." 
 
 * Gillies' Memoirs of Whitefield, p. 43. 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING 37 
 
 On his trip to and from New York, he preached 
 at Elizabethtown, Maidenhead, Abington, Nesham- 
 iny, Burlington and New Brunswick. An incident 
 of this journey was his meeting with Rev. Gilbert 
 Tennent, the stern revival preacher of New Bruns- 
 wick. On his return he resumed his labors in 
 Philadelphia. Prayer meetings were instituted in 
 various parts of the city and daily preaching ser- 
 vices were sustained for many months. 
 
 From Philadelphia Whitefield journeyed over- 
 land to Savannah, preaching at Wilmington, New- 
 castle, Annapolis, Williamsburg, Charlestown and 
 other points along the way. After having laid the 
 foundations of his orphan house, he returned to the 
 city of brotherly love, preaching there and at the 
 surrounding communities with remarkable results. 
 The citizens of Philadelphia proposed to build for 
 him a large church, but he declined the offer, pre- 
 ferring to devote his energies to itinerary evan- 
 gelistic labors. Of the effects of this visit Benjamin 
 Franklin said : "The multitudes of all sects and 
 denominations that attended his sermons were enor- 
 mous, and it was a matter of speculation with me 
 to observe the influence of his oratory on his hearers 
 and how much they respected him, notwithstanding 
 his common abuse of them, assuring them that they 
 were naturally half beasts and half devils. It was 
 wonderful to see the change soon made in the man- 
 
38 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 ners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless 
 and indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all 
 the world was growing religious; so that one could 
 not walk through the town in an evening without 
 hearing psalms sung in different families in every 
 street."* 
 
 Whitefield' s next journey northward was to New 
 England, whither he had been invited by several 
 prominent ministers and laymen. It was confidently 
 expected that his coming would be attended with 
 showers of refreshing grace. Says Tracy: "There 
 is even reason to suspect that the manifestation of 
 a revival, which was already secretly at work in 
 men's hearts, was kept back for several months, 
 by the general feeling that it would take place when 
 Mr. Whitefield came and not before." It was not 
 strange therefore that his labors should have been 
 attended with results of unusual magnitude. 
 
 Whitefield reached Newport, September 14, 1740, 
 and proceeded by way of Bristol to Boston, where 
 he remained four weeks, preaching in the churches 
 of Drs. Colman and Sewall, and also upon the 
 common, where vast throngs of people flocked to 
 hear him. During his stay at Boston, he visited 
 many of the surrounding towns, including Cam- 
 bridge, where he preached before the students of 
 Harvard College. He also made a trip eastward as 
 
 * Billingsley's Life of Whitefield, p. 152. 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 39 
 
 far as Portsmouth, N. H., and York, Me., preaching 
 at several points along the way. 
 
 Of the manner of Whitefield's preaching at this 
 time a contemporary writer has given the follow- 
 ing description : "He loudly proclaims all men by 
 nature to be under sin, and obnoxious to the wrath 
 of God. He maintains the absolute necessity of 
 supernatural grace to bring men out of this state. 
 He asserts the righteousness of Christ alone the 
 cause of justification of a sinner; that this is 
 received by faith ; that faith is the gift of God ; that 
 where faith is wrought it brings the sinner under 
 the deepest sense of unworthiness, to the footstool 
 of sovereign grace to accept of mercy as the free 
 gift of God only for Christ's sake. He asserts the 
 absolute necessity of the new birth ; that this new 
 production is solely the work of God's blessed spirit; 
 that wherever it is wrought it is a permanent, abid- 
 ing principle, and that the gates of hell shall never 
 prevail against it."* 
 
 The effect of his preaching began at once to be 
 felt. Inquirers flocked to the great preacher in such 
 numbers that he scarcely had time to eat or sleep, 
 and a revival was inaugurated that continued for 
 eighteen months and the influence of which was 
 felt throughout New England and the Northern 
 Colonies. On October 12, Whitefield preached 
 
 * Quoted from Dunning's Congregationalists, p. 247. 
 
40 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 his farewell sermon to an audience of nearly thirty 
 thousand. Belcher, the royal governor, kissed him 
 farewell, and with tears in his eyes begged an inter- 
 est in his prayers. 
 
 From Boston he proceeded by way of Concord, 
 Worcester, Brookfield, and other towns to North- 
 ampton, whence he journeyed to New York through 
 Connecticut, preaching, as was his custom, at various 
 points along the way. At New Haven he tarried 
 three days. In an address before the students of 
 Yale College, he warned them of "the dreadful 
 ill consequences of an unconverted ministry." 
 Among those who were deeply impressed by his 
 words was Samuel Hopkins, who in after years 
 became one of the most noted advocates of the 
 Edwardean or New England theology and who 
 affected profoundly the theological thinking of this 
 country. Both houses of the legislature adjourned 
 to hear the noted preacher. Governor Talcott 
 embraced him, and gave God thanks for such 
 refreshings on the way to his rest. 
 
 Having preached three days in New York he 
 resumed his journey southward, reaching Charles- 
 town, December i, 1740. At New Brunswick, 
 where he had conferred with William Tennent and 
 others, it was decided that Gilbert Tennent should 
 go to Boston to carry on the work which had there 
 begun. Tennent at first demurred because of Irs 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 41 
 
 incompetency for the work, but finally after prayer- 
 ful consideration consented to undertake the task. 
 Gilbert Tennent was a powerful but less polished 
 preacher than Whitefield. Prince said of him : "He 
 seemed to have no regard to please the eyes of his 
 hearers with agreeable gesture, nor their ears with 
 delivery, nor their fancy with language; but to 
 aim directly at their hearts and consciences, to lay 
 open their ruinous delusions, show them their 
 numerous, secret, hypocritical shifts in religion, and 
 drive them out of every deceitful refuge wherein 
 they made themselves easy with the form of godli- 
 ness without the power."* He remained in Boston 
 and the vicinity two months and a half. Multi- 
 tudes of all ages and conditions were awakened 
 under his powerful preaching. Large numbers 
 united with the various churches, and many more 
 would have done so had he not discouraged them 
 from approaching the Lord's table without satis- 
 factory evidences of conversion. 
 
 After his departure the religious interest still 
 further increased. In three months' time six hun- 
 dred inquirers went to Mr. Cooper for spiritual 
 consolation, and more than a thousand visited Mr. 
 Webb on a like errand. For many months the 
 religious interest was at its highest tension, not 
 only in Boston, but throughout New England. 
 During the years 1741 and 1742 powerful revivals 
 
 * Tracy's Great Awakening, p. 115. 
 
42 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 were experienced at Natick, Wrentham, Bridge- 
 water, Taunton, Middleborough, Halifax, Glouces- 
 ter, and Reading in Massachusetts; at Lyme, En- 
 field, New Haven, and other towns in Connecticut; 
 at Portsmouth and Newcastle in New Hampshire; 
 and at Westerly, Rhode Island. Multitudes of other 
 places throughout the Northern Colonies were 
 visited with revivals of more or less power. 
 
 In some of these places the revivals were occa- 
 sioned by the visits of Tennent and Whitefield, but 
 elsewhere such awakenings seem to have been 
 brought about independently of the efforts of visit- 
 ing ministers or evangelists. 
 
 The scope of this work will not admit of a con- 
 sideration of these numerous revivals, but the char- 
 acteristics and physical manifestations of the revival 
 in the West Parish of Lyme, Conn., were so notable 
 as to deserve special mention. Rev. Jonathan Par- 
 sons, who was pastor at that time, was an ardent 
 friend of the Awakening and one of its most effi- 
 cient promoters. Gilbert Tennent had preached at 
 Lyme on his journey from Boston, but with scarcely 
 any visible results. Soon, however, there were indi- 
 cations of deep concern and a revival of unusual 
 power commenced. Mr. Parsons, under whose 
 ministrations the work was carried on, in describing 
 the effects of his preaching, wrote that "Many had 
 their countenances changed; their thoughts seemed 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 43 
 
 to trouble them, so that their loins were loosed, 
 and their knees smote one against another. Great 
 numbers cried out aloud in the anguish of their 
 souls. Several stout men fell as though a cannon 
 had been discharged, and a ball had made its way 
 through their hearts. Some young women were 
 thrown into hysteric fits. ... I was commonly 
 obliged to make several stops of considerable length, 
 and entreat them, if possible, to restrain the flood 
 of affection, that so they might attend to further 
 truths which were to be offered, and others might 
 not be disaffected. Some would after a while 
 recover themselves, and others, I am satisfied, could 
 not."* 
 
 Revs. Jonathan Edwards of Northampton, Mass., 
 Jonathan Parsons of Lyme, Eleazar Wheelock of 
 Lebanon, Benjamin Pomeroy of Hebron, Joseph 
 Bellamy of Bethlehem, and John Graham of South- 
 bury in Connecticut, and others did not confine 
 their labors to their own parishes, but were often 
 called upon to assist other pastors in special ser- 
 vices, and went from place to place, much after the 
 manner of modern evangelists, arousing the impeni- 
 tent, awakening the indifferent, causing formal 
 church members to experience great searchings of 
 heart, instructing multitudes in the way of salva- 
 tion, and otherwise promoting the revival until 
 
 * Tracy's Great Awakening, p. 138 ff. 
 
44 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 through their efforts and the efforts of a host of 
 faithful pastors, all New England was aflame with 
 a revival fervor, the far-reaching results of which 
 no one can estimate. Suffice it to say that by the 
 end of 1742 there was scarcely a parish which had 
 not in some measure enjoyed a share in the fruits 
 of the Great Awakening. 
 
 In the Middle Colonies, under the preaching of 
 the Tennents, Blair, Rowland, Finley, Dickinson, 
 and others, similar results were accomplished. In 
 these Colonies, the revival was carried on and pro- 
 moted chiefly by the Presbyterians, as a consequence 
 of which the churches of this denomination multi- 
 plied with great rapidity and received continual 
 accessions to their membership. 
 
 In the South the revival did not commence until 
 1743, and in Virginia the work was carried on 
 principally by laymen in the face of more or less 
 opposition from the Established Church. Here and 
 there throughout the province were to be found 
 men and women hungering for the bread of life, 
 who had become dissatisfied with the abuses of the 
 state church. 
 
 At Hanover there was a small company of such, 
 who, when they learned of the effects of Mr. White- 
 field's preaching at Williamsburg in 1740, were 
 very desirous of hearing him, but since he had 
 already left the colony no opportunity was afforded 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 45 
 
 them. During the year 1743, Mr. Samuel Morris, 
 one of their number came into possession of a small 
 volume of Whitefield's sermons. He invited his 
 neighbors to his home and read them in their hear- 
 ing. Meeting from Sabbath to Sabbath in this man- 
 ner, their numbers gradually outgrew the dimen- 
 sions of a private dwelling and they resolved to 
 build a meeting-house suited to their purpose. Mr. 
 Morris received invitations from several communi- 
 ties in the surrounding country to read from the 
 precious volume. Thus the revival was propagated 
 to the spiritual quickening of many throughout that 
 region. At length they were visited by Rev. Wil- 
 liam Robinson, a graduate of the "Log College," 
 who devoted his labors to the neglected districts 
 among the new settlements of Pennsylvania, Vir- 
 ginia, and North Carolina. Under his ministrations 
 a fresh impetus was given to the revival and num- 
 bers were converted. After Robinson's departure 
 Morris continued his practice of reading sermons. 
 The communities in the vicinity, to which he made 
 occasional visits, were greatly profited thereby, and 
 they in turn erected meeting-houses and chose 
 readers from among themselves. 
 
 Such in brief was the rise of English Presby- 
 terianism in Virginia. From time to time brief 
 visits were paid them by other ministers, among 
 whom were Revs. Gilbert Tennent, Samuel Finley, 
 
46 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 William Tennent, Samuel Blair, and finally the 
 noted evangelist George Whitefield. These visits 
 were attended with excellent results and many were 
 added to their numbers. But persecutions and 
 seasons of trial awaited them. Presbyterianism had 
 been tolerated among the Scotch-Irish along the 
 frontier, but no such leniency was extended to those 
 who had renounced Episcopalianism in the heart 
 of the English settlements of the province. They 
 were brought into conflict with civil authority and 
 harassed in many ways. Notwithstanding these 
 embarrassments, the feeble companies of believers 
 grew and churches multiplied, until at length Sam- 
 uel Davies came to them to minister statedly. 
 Within a short time, through his influence, seven 
 churches were granted licensure by law, to all 
 of which he ministered, dividing his time be- 
 tween them. Thus the revival was promoted, 
 Presbyterianism was caused to flourish, and the 
 work went forward with uninterrupted successes 
 until the commencement of the Revolutionary 
 struggle. 
 
 In Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia, the 
 revival received its impulse largely through the 
 visits and preaching of George Whitefield. 
 Throughout the scattered settlements of these col- 
 onies, conversions in proportion to the population 
 were numerous, and as in Virginia, the revival con- 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 47 
 
 tinued for several years until it was brought to 
 a close by the War for Independence. 
 
 In the various revivals which combined to make 
 the Great Awakening, there was little or no depen- 
 dence upon external measures as a means for pro- 
 moting a work of grace. Indeed, any great reliance 
 upon means and measures would have been esteemed 
 inconsistent with the prevailing conceptions of God's 
 sovereignty, by which he was believed to accomplish 
 his ends and purposes independently of man's agency 
 or co-operation. This, however, did not preclude 
 the idea of prayer or its importance. In searching 
 the records of the Great Awakening, we find that 
 its leaders were not only men of prayer, but that 
 their hands were stayed up by the prayers of a pray- 
 ing people. There were no protracted efforts to get 
 up a revival. Except in rare instances the services 
 were confined to the Sabbath day and the mid-week 
 lecture. Occasionally when the interest seemed to 
 demand, special services for giving religious instruc- 
 tion were appointed. "Anxious seats" were 
 unknown and inquiry meetings as we now know 
 them were unheard of. Preaching was practically 
 the only means employed for quickening the con- 
 sciences of the impenitent and for giving such 
 instruction as seemed suitable to the needs of those 
 who were inquiring the way of life and salvation. 
 
 The trend of the preaching was decidedly Calvin- 
 
48 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 istic. The sovereignty of God was the central 
 theme about which all else revolved. Jonathan 
 Edwards wrote: "I think I have found that no dis- 
 courses have been more remarkably blessed than 
 those in which the doctrine of God's absolute sover- 
 eignty 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, have been insisted on/'* 
 
 Of the extremes to which the doctrine of divine 
 sovereignty was sometimes carried we have evi- 
 dence in a sermon which Edwards preached at 
 Enfield, Conn., from the subject "Sinners in the 
 hands of an angry God." Among other things, 
 he affirmed that "God has laid himself under no 
 obligation, by any promise, to keep any natural man 
 out of hell one moment. . . . The bow of 
 God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready 
 on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your 
 heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but 
 the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry 
 God, without any promise or obligation at all, that 
 keeps the arrow one moment from being drunk with 
 your blood. . . . The God that holds you over 
 the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some 
 loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you and is 
 dreadfully provoked; . . . You hang by a 
 
 * Works, Vol. III., p. 245. 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 49 
 
 slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath 
 flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe 
 it and burn it asunder; and you have no interest 
 in any mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save 
 yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, 
 nothing of your own, nothing that you have ever 
 done, nothing that you can do to induce God to 
 spare you one moment." 
 
 Abhorrent as such doctrines are to this age, when 
 presented by a mind of such logical force and acumen 
 as that of Mr. Edwards, they were calculated to 
 be tremendously effective. There is small cause 
 for wonder that under such preaching men and 
 women were sometimes seen clinging to their seats 
 as though fearful of sliding into the pit, or that 
 there were physical manifestations at times of an 
 unusual character. 
 
 The manner in which the subjects of the Awaken- 
 ing were affected has been described by Edwards in 
 his Narrative of Surprising Conversions. First 
 they were filled with an "awful apprehension" of 
 their condition by nature and the danger they were 
 in of perishing eternally, so that they often suffered 
 painful physical effects in consequence of the agony 
 of spirit which they underwent. This was followed 
 by a sense of God's justice in their condemnation, 
 that he might justly bestow his mercy upon every 
 other person in the world and damn them to all eter- 
 
50 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 nity. Many were led to wonder that God had "not 
 cast them into hell long ago." These profound con- 
 victions were succeeded, sometimes suddenly, by a 
 "holy repose of soul in God through Christ, and a 
 secret disposition to fear and love him" and often by 
 such a sense of the greatness of God's grace and the 
 fulness of Christ as to lead to hysterical weeping 
 and laughter; "and sometimes they have not been 
 able to forbear crying out with a loud voice, express- 
 ing their admiration." 
 
 The morbid fears which preceded a hope of con- 
 version often lasted for many weeks and months, 
 sometimes leading to consequences that were disas- 
 trous. Edwards cites one instance in which despair 
 drove the individual to suicide and others, he says, 
 were tempted to do likewise. Yet no encourage- 
 ment was offered to these perplexed and despair- 
 ing souls. To have done so, according to current 
 theological conceptions, would have put an end to 
 their convictions, would have created contention and 
 strife with God because he accepted some and 
 rejected others, and would have stood in the way 
 of that humiliation before his sovereign majesty, 
 which was regarded as the first step towards sal- 
 vation. Consequently those who had become 
 impressed with their need of salvation were left 
 to wander about in spiritual darkness, groping after 
 the light, until relief came unaided, and their fears 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 51 
 
 were dissipated by hopes of God's omnipotent 
 grace. 
 
 The general effects of the Awakening were salu- 
 tary and gracious. Jonathan Parsons in writing of 
 its effects in his parish said: "Rough and haughty 
 minds became peaceful, gentle, and easy to be 
 entreated. Lowliness, long-suffering, forbearance, 
 a courteous deportment, beneficence, and tender- 
 heartedness, meekness, and moderation, to all 
 appearance, seemed to increase abundantly. And 
 to all these we observed a delight in Christian fel- 
 lowship, in breaking of bread, and in prayer. I 
 think it cannot be expected that men, in their gen- 
 eral course, should give clearer evidences of Chris- 
 tian temper formed in them, than many did in that 
 season. Their faith worked by love and discovered 
 itself in acts of piety towards God, charity and 
 righteousness towards men, and sobriety towards 
 themselves."* 
 
 Jonathan Edwards bears similar testimony to the 
 great work of grace at Northampton : "This work 
 of God, as it was carried on, and the number of 
 true saints multiplied, soon made a glorious altera- 
 tion in the town ; so that in the spring and summer 
 following, Anno 1735, the town seemed to be full 
 of the presence of God : it never was so full of love, 
 nor so full of jdy; and yet so full of distress as 
 
 * Tracy's Great Awakening, p. 142. 
 
52 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 it was then. There were remarkable tokens of God's 
 presence in almost every house. It was a time of 
 joy in families on account of salvation's being 
 brought unto them; parents rejoicing over their 
 children as new born, and husbands over their wives, 
 and wives over their husbands. The goings of God 
 were then seen in his sanctuary, God's day was a 
 delight, and his tabernacles were amiable. Our 
 public assemblies were then beautiful; the congre- 
 gation was alive in God's service, every one ear- 
 nestly intent on the public worship, every hearer 
 eager to drink in the words of the minister 
 as they came from his mouth; the assembly in 
 general were, from time to time, in tears while 
 the Word was preached; some weeping with 
 sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, 
 others with pity and concern for the souls of their 
 neighbors."* 
 
 Throughout New England a remarkable trans- 
 formation had been wrought. Young people had 
 been led to forego their frolics, night walking, 
 impure language and lewd songs. Both old and 
 young alike had abandoned drinking habits, tavern 
 haunting, profane language, and extravagance in 
 dress. The vicious had been reformed, and the 
 fashionable, great beaus and fine ladies, had for- 
 saken their vanities. The Bible and books of devo- 
 
 Works, Vol. III., p. 235. 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 53 
 
 tion had come into greater esteem, the Lord's day 
 was observed more religiously, old grudges and 
 differences had been put away, and there was a 
 general disposition to confess sins and make resti- 
 tution for wrongs that had been committed. Such 
 in substance were the effects of the revival in New 
 England as described by Edwards in his Thoughts 
 on the Revival of Religion. 
 
 In the accounts given of the revivals at New 
 Londonderry, Pa., and at Lyme, Conn., we have 
 seen that there were marked physical effects, such 
 as weeping, emotional outbreaks, hysterics and the 
 like. As the Awakening progressed these physical 
 manifestations became so marked as to create an 
 unfavorable reaction and brought the revival into 
 disrepute. In many instances the disorders which 
 had arisen were greatly magnified and malicious 
 reports were circulated to the great detriment of 
 the revival. 
 
 Writing of such reports, Rev. John Cotton of 
 Halifax, Mass., said: "Some I found to be wholly 
 groundless; others were gross misrepresentations; 
 the bad circumstances of a story were picked up 
 and related and all the good suppressed ; and some- 
 times when only one was guilty, the whole body 
 were charged; and when any particular person had 
 really done or said amiss, and was soon brought 
 to a sense of it and repentance for it, I found that 
 
54 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 the repentance did not fly an hundredth part as 
 fast as the sin."* 
 
 While this view of the situation is in the main 
 correct, it cannot be denied that the evil reports 
 were often only too true. Some of the leaders of 
 the Awakening had not always acted circumspectly, 
 and by their example had encouraged the excesses 
 and abuses which had arisen. Whitefield's con- 
 duct sometimes savored of fanaticism. His Journal 
 abounds in descriptions of the emotional effects 
 of his preaching. "Shrieking, crying, weeping and 
 wailing were to be heard in every corner." "In 
 almost every part of the congregation somebody or 
 other began to cry out, and almost all melted into 
 tears." "Some were struck pale as death, others 
 wringing their hands, others were lying on the 
 ground, and most lifting their eyes towards heaven, 
 and crying to God for mercy." He was greatly 
 influenced moreover by impulses and impressions. 
 Jonathan Edwards took him to task for this and for 
 judging others to be unconverted, but Whitefield 
 apparently did not take kindly to the wholesome 
 advice of Edwards and, as the latter thought, "liked 
 him not so well for opposing these things." 
 
 The emotionalism now prevalent in the Awaken- 
 ing led to conflicting opinions as to its value, while 
 the unguarded expressions of certain of the leading 
 
 * Tracy's Great Awakening, p. 178. 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 55 
 
 lights of the revival created more or less acerbity of 
 feeling. Both Whitefield and Gilbert Tennent had 
 declared that many ministers of the Gospel were 
 unconverted men. While there might have been an 
 element of truth in their statements, the severe 
 arraignments and unjust recriminations to which 
 they resorted were too general and too sweeping to 
 accord with the actual state of facts. There can be 
 no question that the ministry is no fit calling for un- 
 regenerate men, but Whitefield in his dependence 
 upon impulses and impressions was apt to think that 
 unless ministers met with results similar to those 
 which he witnessed in his labors, and had ex- 
 periences quite like his own, they were unconverted, 
 and he did not hesitate to pronounce them such. 
 
 The disorders which had already brought a re- 
 proach upon the revival appeared in an aggravated 
 form in connection with the labors of Rev. James 
 Davenport of Southold, Long Island. Whitefield 
 had warmly commended him and pronounced him to 
 have a closer walk with God than any man he had 
 known. Davenport went from place to place with- 
 out invitation, and depending upon impulses and 
 impressions, denounced as unconverted such minis- 
 ters as disagreed with him and exhorted their 
 flocks to desert them and follow him. Confu- 
 sion and bitterness resulted in almost every parish 
 which he visited. Congregations were divided, 
 
56 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 alienation and strife were created, the evil effects of 
 which continued for many years. 
 
 In order to suppress these evils the Connecticut 
 legislature in 1742 passed an act forbidding any 
 minister or licentiate to preach in any church not his 
 own, without the consent of its pastor and the major 
 portion of its membership, under penalty of forfeit- 
 ing the right to collect his legal salary, if a resident 
 of the colony, and liability to expulsion from the 
 colony if not. Davenport was accordingly arrested 
 and brought before the assembly, by whom he was 
 adjudged insane and sent to his parish on Long 
 Island. Not long afterwards he appeared in Boston, 
 where in accordance with his custom he denounced 
 the ministers as "unconverted" and "leading their 
 people blindfold to hell." He was arrested for utter- 
 ing slanderous statements against the ministry, and 
 although the charge was sustained by the grand 
 jury, he was pronounced non compos mentis and 
 therefore not guilty. 
 
 The following March he went to New London to 
 assist in the formation of a Separatist Church. In 
 response to intuitions which he declared he had re- 
 ceived from above, he at once began to purify them. 
 To that end he ordered wigs, cloaks, breeches, 
 hoods, gowns, rings, etc., to be brought to him that, 
 in accordance with his solemn decree, they might be 
 consigned to the flames. On Sabbath afternoon the 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 57 
 
 pile was burned, including many books which he had 
 condemned, among them the works of such authors 
 as Flavel, Beveridge, Matthew Henry, Increase 
 Mather, and even the writings of Jonathan Parsons, 
 the fervid revivalist of Lyme, Conn. As the smoke 
 of these books ascended upwards, so affirmed 
 Davenport, was ascending in hell the smoke of 
 the torments of such of their authors as had 
 died in the same belief in which the books had been 
 written. 
 
 This was the last recorded appearance of Daven- 
 port's fanaticism. A year later, having recovered 
 his reason, he published a retraction of his errors, 
 humbly confessing the wrongs of which he had been 
 guilty and acknowledging that he had been ''led 
 astray by following impulses or impressions as a 
 rule of conduct" and had neglected also "duly to ob- 
 serve the analogy of the Scripture." His retraction 
 produced but little effect upon his followers. They 
 simply denounced him and went on in the courses 
 in which he had initiated them. His chief influence 
 had been in Connecticut, where the civil authorities 
 unwisely attempted to correct by legislation and 
 civil penalties the abuses and evils which had arisen. 
 But little permanent good was accomplished in this 
 way, while the feelings on both sides of the con- 
 troversy were only intensified. The Separatist 
 churches which had been formed continued to exist 
 
58 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 for many years, until they were finally absorbed by 
 the Baptists or had returned to the denomination 
 whence they had come. 
 
 These unhappy consequences served but to aggra- 
 vate the controversy which had already arisen about 
 the revival. The agitations of the public mind over 
 questions pertaining to the Awakening were such 
 that the religious interest soon waned and the re- 
 vival was at an end. Jonathan Edwards was fore- 
 most among those who defended the Awakening, 
 and he published in its defense "Thoughts on the 
 Revival of Religion in New England," to which Dr. 
 Charles Chauncey, an able but "liberal" opponent of 
 the revival, published a rejoinder entitled "Season- 
 able Thoughts on the State of Religion in New 
 England," in which he had gathered a mass of evi- 
 dence testifying to the extravagances practised in 
 various places in connection with the Awakening, 
 and for which he condemned the work as a whole. 
 
 In 1743, at the General Convention of Congrega- 
 tional Ministers in Massachusetts, a "Testimony" 
 was published against certain "errors in doctrine" 
 and certain "disorders in practice" that had "of late 
 obtained in various parts of the land." Thirty-eight 
 votes, comprising but a small minority of the min- 
 isters in Massachusetts, were recorded in its favor. 
 As it was intended to cast discredit upon the Awak- 
 ening, it was very irritating to the friends of the 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 59 
 
 same. Accordingly the latter, under the leadership 
 of Revs. Joshua Gee, Benjamin Colman, William 
 Cooper, Thomas Prince, and Joseph Sewall, all of 
 Boston, gathered another convention at Cambridge 
 the following July. A counter "Testimony'' was 
 published affirming "that there has been a happy and 
 remarkable revival of religion in many parts of this 
 land, through an uncommon divine influence." — 
 remarkable "on account of the numbers wrought 
 upon, the suddenness and quick progress of it, 
 . . . also in respect of the degree of operation, 
 both in a way of terror and in a way of consolation ; 
 attended in many with unusual bodily effects." It 
 was admitted that "in some places many irregulari- 
 ties and extravagances have been permitted . . . 
 but who can wonder if at such a time as this Satan 
 should intermingle himself to hinder and blemish a 
 work so directly contrary to the interests of his own 
 kingdom ?" 
 
 Much has been made of the opposition to the re- 
 vival, as if it represented the better elements in the 
 churches of New England, and indeed it has been 
 asserted that the majority of ministers in Massachu- 
 setts were unfriendly to the Awakening, but if num- 
 bers are at all indicative of the true state of feeling, 
 it need only be said that the names of one hundred 
 and thirteen ministers were appended to the latter 
 document as against the thirty-eight who had placed 
 
60 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 themselves on record as discrediting the Great 
 Awakening. 
 
 On October 19, 1744, George Whitefield, accom- 
 panied by his wife, landed at York, Me., on his sec- 
 ond visit to New England. His arrival only added 
 fuel to the controversy which was now raging, so 
 that the results of his labors were slight in com- 
 parison with his former visit. He was obliged to 
 suffer not only the ill consequences of his own in- 
 discretions, but those of his followers as well, many 
 of whom had gone far beyond him in the excesses 
 of which they had been guilty. 
 
 On account of certain unguarded expressions 
 which had been published in his Journal, many who 
 formerly had been friendly towards him became 
 alienated, and were not disposed to favor his pres- 
 ence. Associations of ministers in Massachusetts 
 openly opposed him by public declarations and 
 otherwise. Harvard and Yale Colleges published 
 "testimonies" against him, and in June, 1745, the 
 General Association of Connecticut voted that "it 
 would by no means be advisable for any of our min- 
 isters to admit him into their pulpits or for any of 
 our people to attend his ministrations." 
 
 Former experience, however, had taught White- 
 field some lessons, and his deportment on this visit 
 was above criticism. He acknowledged some of his 
 former errors, and in spite of the opposition which 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 61 
 
 he encountered, his visit was attended with excellent 
 results. He remained in Boston for several months 
 and was persuaded to establish a course of six 
 o'clock morning lectures on Genesis. Multitudes 
 flocked to hear them, and his Boston friends pro- 
 posed to build for him "the largest place of worship 
 ever seen in America/' but he declined the offer in 
 order to devote his energies to itinerary evangelistic 
 labors. Although in New England, the results of 
 this visit were proportionately smaller, in Pennsyl- 
 vania, Maryland and the south, his efforts had never 
 been more successful. 
 
 In the Middle Colonies the opposition to the revi- 
 val had created a schism among the Presbyterians, 
 severing the denomination into two rival factions, be- 
 tween whom a bitterness of feeling was engendered 
 for many years. Finally in 1758, through the efforts 
 of Gilbert Tennent and others, the "Great Schism, ,, 
 as it had been called, was healed by the mutual sur- 
 render of differences, and American Presbyterian- 
 ism went forward as a united body in its work of 
 conquest and of victory. 
 
 No narration of the events of the Great Awaken- 
 ing would be complete without a further considera- 
 tion of its chiefest actors, Edwards and Whitefield. 
 The close of Edwards' pastorate at Northampton 
 was pathetic if not tragic. Gradually coming to 
 realize the evils of the Half- Way Covenant, he in- 
 
62 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 sisted upon a credible evidence of conversion, as the 
 ground for admission to church membership. This 
 provoked a controversy between himself and the 
 church. An attempt also to discipline certain 
 younger members of his church for reading books 
 which he esteemed obscene reacted unfavorably 
 against him. Confident of the justness of his posi- 
 tion, he proposed to preach a series of sermons upon 
 his views as to the qualifications for church mem- 
 bership, but this the church refused to permit. An 
 ecclesiastical council, "convened not without ele- 
 ments of unfairness/' voted "that it is expedient that 
 the pastoral relation between Mr. Edwards and his 
 church be immediately dissolved, if the people shall 
 persist in desiring it." The action of the council 
 was ratified by the church by a majority of two hun- 
 dred and fifty votes. July i, 1750, he preached his 
 farewell sermon. For some time he preached occa- 
 sionally, until prohibited from so doing by the town 
 meeting. Later in the same year with his wife and 
 ten children he removed to Stockbridge, Mass., 
 whither he had been sent as a missionary to the 
 Housatonic Indians. 
 
 The next few years were spent in self-denying 
 effort on behalf of those who came within the prov- 
 ince of his ministry. If not attended by any remark- 
 able success, his pastorate afforded greater leisure 
 for literary labors, which was improved in the prep- 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 63 
 
 aration of several volumes, the most important of 
 which was his celebrated treatise on the "Freedom 
 of the Will." In the fall of 1757, President Burr of 
 Princeton having died, Edwards was invited to be- 
 come his successor, but it was not until the follow- 
 ing January that he gave his reluctant consent to 
 assume the responsibilities of that office. He 
 soon removed to Princeton, and shortly after his 
 inauguration was inoculated for smallpox, an 
 operation which terminated fatally, March 22, 
 
 1758. 
 
 Whitefield gradually outlived the malignant oppo- 
 sition which had been aroused against him in New 
 England, to which he made subsequent visits, in 
 1754, 1764, and 1770, when he died at Newbury- 
 port, Mass., September 30. For more than thirty 
 years he had done the work of an evangelist, "post- 
 ing o'er land and ocean without rest," and had been 
 listened to with breathless interest by thronging mul- 
 titudes on both sides of the Atlantic. Although he 
 had made mistakes, he had been wise enough to cor- 
 rect them, and at the time of his death was loved 
 and honored as an apostle to the English-speaking 
 world. Even his death was not without its fruits. 
 Benjamin Randall, a godless young sailor of Ports- 
 mouth, N. H., had been an interested listener, but 
 the news of the great evangelist's death so affected 
 him that it led to his conversion. He afterwards 
 
64 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 became a minister and founded the Free-Will Bap- 
 tist denomination. 
 
 The results of the Great Awakening were mo- 
 mentous and far-reaching. Prior to this mighty 
 religious upheaval, the churches were devoid of 
 spirituality and power. Their membership in large 
 measure was composed of unregenerate persons 
 who had been drawn thither by the social and 
 political influence thus afforded, and instances are 
 on record of unconverted men who were filling the 
 pulpits of churches. Outside of the church, indif- 
 ference and irreligion were on the increase. Pro- 
 jected into these conditions, the Great Awakening 
 resulted first in the Spiritual Quickening of the 
 Churches. In the aggregate the Congregational 
 churches of New England shared most largely in 
 the fruits of the revival. According to Rev. Ezra 
 Stiles, afterwards President of Yale College, during 
 the twenty years following 1740 "an augmentation 
 of above 150 new churches has taken place, founded 
 not on separations but on natural increase into new 
 towns and parishes," bringing the whole number of 
 Congregational churches up to 530. Careful his- 
 torians have estimated that from 25,000 to 50,000 
 were added to the churches of New England in con- 
 sequence of the Awakening. The population of the 
 New England Colonies in 1750 was 340,000. 
 Assuming the smaller number of additions, which 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 65 
 
 is a conservative estimate, to be correct, more than 
 seven per cent, of the entire population of these colo- 
 nies would have been gathered into the churches as 
 a direct result of the revival. A national awaken- 
 ing of similar power at the present time would re- 
 sult in the ingathering of more than five million 
 souls. 
 
 The increase in the Presbyterian Church was pro* 
 portionately greater. From 1740 to 1760 the num- 
 ber of Presbyterian ministers in the American 
 Colonies had increased from 45 to over 100. The 
 churches had multiplied with even greater rapidity, 
 and at this time there were 41 pastorless churches 
 in Pennsylvania and Delaware alone. Although the 
 Middle Colonies were the principal seat of Presby- 
 terianism, substantial gains, as we have seen, had 
 been made in Virginia and the South. 
 
 Notwithstanding a certain amount of prejudice, 
 the Baptists had shared materially in the results of 
 the Awakening. During this period their churches 
 in New England had increased from 21 to 79. This 
 in part has been accounted for by accessions from 
 Separatist churches ; but as these were chiefly in 
 Connecticut, and only eight new Baptist organiza- 
 tions were reported in that Colony, it can readily be 
 seen that the increase of the Baptists from the Sepa- 
 ratists has been greatly overestimated. The rapid 
 extension of the denomination must be accounted 
 
66 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 for through the influence of the revival, indirect 
 though it may have been. New churches were also 
 formed at the South and the foundations laid for the 
 tremendous influence afterwards exerted by the de- 
 nomination in that section. 
 
 The Episcopalian Church was logically forced 
 into an attitude of opposition to the Awakening, so 
 that it shared but little in the results. Indirectly, 
 however, the denomination was benefited by the 
 movement. In Virginia, Devereaux Jarrat was con- 
 verted during the revival. He went to England and 
 received ordination at the hands of the bishop of 
 Chester. Returning to this country he labored dili- 
 gently for the revival of his own denomination. 
 "To him, and such as he, the first workings of the 
 renewed energy of the church in Virginia are to be 
 traced." 
 
 An impetus was given to the churches of various 
 denominations which continued to be felt down to 
 the very threshold of the Revolutionary War. 
 Whitefield's visit to New York in 1764 was attended 
 with greater results than any of his preceding visits. 
 That same year there was a remarkable revival at 
 East Hampton, Long Island, under the ministry of 
 Rev. Samuel Buell. Large numbers were converted, 
 and at one communion ninety-nine persons united 
 with the church. 
 
 From the time of the Great Awakening to the 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 67 
 
 present day, revivals have been a characteristic of 
 American Christianity. The spiritual power and 
 the remarkable influence exerted by the American 
 churches are attributable in no small degree to these 
 mighty quickenings, which like tidal waves have 
 swept over this country, gathering multitudes into 
 the church of God. 
 
 A Second Result of the Awakening was a Quick- 
 ening along Missionary and Educational Lines. At 
 Stonington, Conn., and at Westerly, R. I., there 
 were extensive revivals among the Indians, which 
 resulted in the extinction of heathenism among 
 them. In 1743, David Brainerd, a convert of the 
 revival, began his extensive missionary labors 
 among the Indians, which were interrupted by his 
 early death. Jonathan Edwards, at whose home the 
 last days of the saintly Brainerd were spent, wrote 
 his memoirs under the title of "An Account of the 
 Life of David Brainerd." A perusal of this "Life" 
 so affected Henry Martin, that he became the first 
 modern missionary to the Mohammedans, and thus 
 modern missions, in part at least, are a fruit of the 
 Great Awakening. 
 
 Among the early converts of the revival at Nor- 
 wich, Conn., was Samson Occum, a Mohegan In- 
 dian boy, aged seventeen years. A promoter of the 
 Awakening, Rev. Eleazar Wheelock of Lebanon, 
 Conn., received him into his home in 1743 for the 
 
68 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 purpose of educating him. This was the beginning 
 of a school for Indians, which developed into Dart- 
 mouth College, which was endowed in part with 
 funds secured by Occum in England. 
 
 Princeton College also owes its origin to the 
 Great Awakening. The Presbyterian party in the 
 Middle Colonies, opposed to the revival, secured an 
 enactment from the Synod, requiring a diploma 
 from a British or New England college, as a re- 
 quirement for licensure to preach. As this was 
 intended as a blow at the "Log College" of William 
 Tennent, the friends of the revival established 
 Princeton, and through the influence of Whiteneld 
 considerable funds were secured in England for its 
 maintenance. It is a significant fact also that the 
 charter of the institution was granted by White- 
 field's friend, Governor Joseph Belcher. Born as it 
 was in a revival, it is not strange that Princeton 
 should have been blessed with remarkable revivals in 
 1757 and 1762. 
 
 A third Result of the Great Awakening was its 
 Influence upon Religious and Political Liberty. In 
 New England, excepting the Colony of Rhode 
 Island, Congregationalism was established by law. 
 In New York, Virginia and the South, Episco- 
 palianism was the established religion. The expan- 
 sion of the newer denominations, particularly the 
 Baptists and Presbyterians, which the Awakening 
 
THE GREAT AWAKENING. 69 
 
 fostered, paved the way for the tolerance of conflict- 
 ing opinions and a broader conception of liberty of 
 conscience. Rival sects existing side by side and 
 openly propagating their peculiar tenets, together 
 with the following which they rallied about them, 
 led to the introduction of those principles of tolera- 
 tion, which guaranteed religious liberty to all, in so 
 far as it did not interfere with the welfare of 
 society or disturb the peace of the State. With this 
 tendency to diversity, a unifying influence was also 
 at work. The apostolate of Whitefield, the itinera- 
 tion of evangelists, while it did not conflict with 
 denominational loyalty, served to emphasize that 
 broader view of Christian fraternity, which, rising 
 above name and sect, enabled men to catch a glimpse 
 of our universal brotherhood in Christ, which has 
 been so characteristic of modern American Christi- 
 anity. 
 
 Only indirectly did the Great Awakening affect 
 the political liberties of the colonies. The religious 
 convictions of the American people, however, which 
 so largely were called into being through the revival, 
 served as a balance to the political revolution which 
 resulted in independence and prevented it from 
 being hurled into that vortex of anarchy and ruin, 
 in which the French Revolution was swallowed up. 
 War at its best is but a species of savagery, and it 
 was the results of this Awakening which conserved 
 
70 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 the principles of the Pilgrim Fathers and insured 
 their perpetuity amid the desolations and horrors of 
 the Revolutionary struggle. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 Controversy had brought a speedy end to the 
 Great Awakening in New England. The political 
 agitations which followed prevented a renewal of 
 the revival spirit, so completely absorbed was the 
 public mind in the questions of the day. The year 
 1744 was marked by the commencement of King 
 George's War, and this was followed a few years 
 later by the French and Indian War. From the 
 events growing out of the latter there culminated 
 that agitation which resulted in the American Revo- 
 lution. In the struggle for liberty the clergy bore no 
 inconspicuous part. The pulpit, especially in New 
 England, was a forum for the consideration of such 
 subjects as affected the public good. Election and 
 fast day sermons were trumpet calls to resist the 
 tyranny of parliament and king. Throughout the 
 colonies the ministry as a class were noted for their 
 ardent attachment to the cause of liberty. Many of 
 these ministers entered the army as chaplains or sol- 
 diers, and not a few of them held commissions as 
 officers in the patriot army. 
 
72 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 The all-absorbing interest of clergy and people in 
 the causes and progress of the war proved disastrous 
 to the spiritual life of the churches. Revivals were 
 practically unknown in many parts of the country. 
 In places there were occasional quickenings to be 
 sure, but for the most part they were exceptional. 
 In connection with the founding of Dartmouth Col- 
 lege a series of revivals commenced which extended 
 to several communities in that vicinity and con- 
 tinued for several years. In 1771 and 1772 there 
 was a remarkable revival at Princeton, N. J., which 
 affected profoundly the religious life of the college 
 and resulted in the conversion of many students. In 
 1772, there were revivals at Elizabethtown and 
 Newark, N. J., at Stockbridge and other points in 
 Berkshire County, Mass. At Vance's Fort in West- 
 ern Pennsylvania, through the efforts of Joseph 
 Patterson, a layman, an extensive revival occurred 
 in 1778, which resulted in the formation of the 
 Cross Creek Presbyterian Church. A portion of 
 Lyme County, Conn., was visited with a season of 
 refreshing in 1780. Awakenings were reported at 
 Thetford, Vt, and Brentford, N. H., in 1781, and 
 at Boscawan, N. H., in 1782. Yale College Church 
 at New Haven, Conn., was visited in 1783 with a 
 gracious revival, as a result of which a score or more 
 of the undergraduates united with the College 
 Church. That same year witnessed revivals at West 
 
THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 73 
 
 Simsbury, Mass., and at several towns in Litchfield 
 County, Conn. During the year 1784 there were 
 quickenings at Concord, S. C, Elizabethtown, N. J., 
 Berlin, Conn., Medway and Franklin, Mass. In 
 1785 there was an extensive awakening at East 
 Hampton, Long Island, under the ministry of Dr. 
 Samuel Buell; more than one hundred united with 
 the church within six or eight months after its com- 
 mencement. From 1 781 -1 787 there was a revival 
 movement in the churches of Cross Creek, Upper 
 Buffalo, Chartiers, Pigeon Creek, Bethel, Lebanon, 
 Ten Mile, Cross Roads, and Mill Creek, Pa. More 
 than a thousand members were added to these 
 churches. The foregoing list is not intended to be 
 exhaustive. There doubtless were other communi- 
 ties which were visited with awakenings of greater 
 or less extent. 
 
 Both the Baptists and Presbyterians in their mis- 
 sionary zeal had pushed out into the frontier bor- 
 ders and in the regions not visited by the ravages of 
 war, were meeting with marked success. As early 
 as 1765 the first Baptist churches were organized in 
 Tennessee, and in 1782 in Kentucky. The Presby- 
 terians penetrated to these regions somewhat later, 
 but by the close of the eighteenth century both de- 
 nominations were well represented on the frontier. 
 
 By far the most remarkable religious and revival 
 movement of the period was the rise and growth of 
 
74 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 Methodism. As early as 1760 a party of German 
 refugees from the Palatinate had landed at New 
 York. For a time they had sojourned in the North 
 of Ireland, where some of their number had been 
 converted to the tenets of Methodism. Among 
 them were Barbara Heck and Philip Embury, the 
 former a woman of devout piety and marked re- 
 ligious personality, the latter a class leader and local 
 preacher. For some years no attempt was made to 
 conduct religious services. Finally in 1766, through 
 the importunities of Barbara Heck, who had become 
 alarmed on account of the dangers of apostasy, 
 Philip Embury was impelled to stir up the gift that 
 was in him. A more inopportune time for the in- 
 auguration of such an enterprise could hardly have 
 been conceived. The Stamp Act had been passed 
 the preceding year and the Colonies were convulsed 
 in the throes of that agitation which was to culmi- 
 nate in the Revolution. However, the labors of 
 Whitefield had to some extent paved the way for the 
 pioneers of Methodism. The first services were held 
 at Embury's home, but within a short time a larger 
 room became necessary. Early in 1767 Capt. 
 Thomas Webb of the British Army appeared among 
 them and introduced himself as an authorized local 
 preacher. He rendered invaluable assistance to this 
 infant society and was instrumental in introducing 
 Methodism elsewhere. Larger quarters soon be- 
 
THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 75 
 
 came necessary, and the "rigging loft," celebrated as 
 the birthplace of American Methodism, was hired. 
 Services were conducted three times a week, Em- 
 bury and Webb preaching alternately. In 1768 
 Wesley Chapel was erected on John Street. In the 
 meanwhile Robert Strawbridge, an emigrant from 
 Ireland, had begun preaching in Maryland and a log 
 chapel was constructed at Sam's Creek in that 
 colony. 
 
 In 1769, in response to earnest entreaties for more 
 laborers, two itinerant preachers, Richard Board- 
 man and Joseph Pilmoor, were sent over to push the 
 work in what was proving an amazingly fruitful 
 field. In 1771 Francis Asbury, who contributed 
 more than any other to the success of American 
 Methodism, came to engage in missionary and evan- 
 gelistic activity throughout the infant settlements of 
 the New World. At the first annual conference in 
 1773 a force of ten preachers and a membership of 
 1 1 60 were reported. By 1775 the preachers had in- 
 creased to nineteen and the membership to over 
 three thousand, most of whom resided in the South, 
 which was proving remarkably well adapted to the 
 growth of this new fold. 
 
 The revolutionary contest reacted unfavorably 
 against the Methodists. Many of their preachers 
 were Englishmen, and as might have been expected 
 were loyal to the interests of the mother country, but 
 
76 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 by 1779 most of them, with the exception of Francis 
 Asbury, had left for England or Canada. Notwith- 
 standing his American sympathies, Asbury was 
 obliged to spend several months in retirement. On 
 account of their supposed attachment to the royalist 
 cause many of the American preachers were roughly 
 handled, and in some instances treated with great 
 brutality. In Maryland especially the persecutions 
 were severe. Several of the preachers were arrested 
 and fined, while others were committed to jail. At 
 length the Maryland legislature becoming convinced 
 that the advocates of Methodism had no treasonable 
 intentions, granted them permission to prosecute 
 their labors without interference. 
 
 In spite of these difficulties and embarrassments, 
 the progress of Methodism was remarkable. Dur- 
 ing only two years, 1778 and 1780, did the reports 
 show any decrease in numbers, and both of these 
 years were followed by a marked increase. The 
 societies in Philadelphia and New York flourished 
 under British occupancy. In the latter the John 
 Street Church was the only one where divine wor- 
 ship was conducted, and to its services all classes 
 flocked to hear the gospel preached in simplicity and 
 with power. At the close of the war in 1783 Asbury 
 was able to write in a triumphant strain : "We have 
 about fourteen thousand members, between seventy 
 and eighty traveling preachers, between thirty and 
 
THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 77 
 
 forty circuits. ... I admire the simplicity of 
 our preachers. I do not think there has appeared 
 another such company of young devoted men. The 
 gospel has taken a universal spread. O 
 
 America! America! It will certainly be the glory 
 of the world for religion." 
 
 All other denominations had suffered seriously 
 from the effects of the war. Congregations were 
 scattered, churches had been left pastorless and in 
 many instances entirely destitute of religious ser- 
 vices. Church buildings had frequently been dis- 
 mantled and used as stables, hospitals, or barracks. 
 The British soldiery seemed to have had an especial 
 spite against houses of worship, on account of the 
 influence there exerted in precipitating the struggle 
 for independence. Church organizations, moreover, 
 had settled down into a state of apathy and active 
 efforts for the propagation of religion had ceased. 
 Worship was universally neglected while im- 
 morality, intemperance and vice increased alarm- 
 ingly on every hand. 
 
 To complete the moral degradation of the infant 
 republic, a wave of French infidelity swept over the 
 land. At that time the American mind was pecu- 
 liarly susceptible to this form of unbelief. The 
 friendly relations, which had existed between the 
 colonies and France during the revolutionary strug- 
 gle, were favorable to the introduction of the skep- 
 
78 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 ticism then prevalent in that country. The very 
 success of the American cause predisposed the minds 
 of many to that which was a departure from tradi- 
 tional and accepted beliefs. It soon became fashion- 
 able to adopt views which avowed a disbelief in the 
 Bible, scoffed at the divinity of Christ, and looked 
 upon religion as a superstition of the past. Espe- 
 cially was this true of scholars, men who had trav- 
 eled abroad, and those who had embraced extreme 
 republican views. 
 
 The country was literally flooded with infidel 
 literature. Dr. Timothy Dwight wrote: "From 
 France, Germany and Great Britain, the dregs of 
 infidelity were vomited upon us. From the Systeme 
 de la Nature, and the Philosophical Dictionary to 
 the Political Justice of Godwin, and the Age of Rea- 
 son, the whole mass of pollution was emptied upon 
 this country. An enormous edition of the Age of 
 Reason was published in France and sent over to 
 America to be sold at a few pence per copy, and, 
 where it could not be sold, to be given away."* 
 
 The colleges of the land became infected with the 
 deadly contagion of unbelief. Lyman Beecher, in 
 describing the condition of Yale College prior to the 
 presidency of Dr. Dwight, said : "Before he came, 
 the college was in a most ungodly state. The college 
 church was almost extinct. Most of the students 
 
 * Quoted from Dorchester's Christianity in the U. S., p. 315. 
 
THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 79 
 
 were skeptical and rowdies were plenty. Wines and 
 liquors were kept in many rooms ; intemperance, 
 profanity, gambling and licentiousness were com- 
 mon. . . . Most of the class before me were 
 infidels, and called each other Voltaire, Rousseau, 
 D'Alembert, etc." 
 
 Dr. Ashbel Green, who entered Princeton in 
 1782, described a similar state of affairs in that col- 
 lege: "While I was a member of college, there were 
 but two professors of religion among the students, 
 and not more than five or six who scrupled the use 
 of profane language in common conversation, and 
 sometimes it was of a very shocking kind. To the 
 influence of the American war succeeded that of the 
 French revolution, still more pernicious, and I think 
 more general."* 
 
 Transylvania University in Kentucky, which was 
 founded by the Presbyterians, passed over into the 
 hands of infidels. Thomas Cooper, a rank free- 
 thinker, taught in Dickinson College, the University 
 of Pennsylvania, and in Columbia College, S. C. In 
 all of these institutions he scattered the seeds of un- 
 belief in the minds of his pupils. At a later time 
 there was but a single professed Christian among 
 the students of Bowdoin College. Bishop Meade of 
 Virginia said : "Infidelity was rife in the State, and 
 the College of William and Mary was regarded 
 
 * Sprague's Revival Lectures, Appendix, p. 342. 
 
80 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 as the hot-bed of French politics and religion. 
 I can truly say that then and for some years 
 after in every educated young man in Virginia 
 whom I met I expected to find a skeptic, if not an 
 avowed unbeliever."* 
 
 Multitudes of men, prominent in public affairs 
 and the councils of state, embraced the new views. 
 Washington, Patrick Henry, John Adams and 
 many others, to be sure, never had any sympathy 
 with this manifest trend of the times. Edmund 
 Randolph for a time became an avowed deist, but 
 was reclaimed to the Christian faith through the 
 prayers of a pious wife. Jefferson was a deist and 
 quite liberal in his views. His secretary of war, 
 Gen. Dearborn, was a rank infidel, and once in 
 alluding to the churches said, "So long as these 
 temples stand we cannot hope for good govern- 
 ment." Gen. Charles Lee was so violent in his op- 
 position to Christianity, that in his will he requested 
 his survivors not to bury him "in any church or 
 church-yard, or within a mile of any Presbyterian 
 or Anabaptist meeting-house." So widespread was 
 this contagion that Chancellor Kent said: "In my 
 younger days there were few professional men who 
 were not infidels, or at least were so far inclined to 
 infidelity that they could not be called believers in 
 the truth of the Bible." 
 
 * Dorchester's Christianity in the U. S., p. 316. 
 
THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 81 
 
 Infidel clubs, societies of the Illuminati, with the 
 avowed purpose of propagating infidel and revolu- 
 tionary views, were instituted in various parts of 
 the country. These societies were in communica- 
 tion with similar organizations in France and en- 
 couraged a shocking immorality. 
 
 The evils which prevailed throughout the coun- 
 try appeared in an aggravated form in the West and 
 South. Many of the early settlers of Kentucky 
 named their towns after eminent Frenchmen, as 
 Altamont, Bourbon, La Rue, Rousseau, and others 
 testify. In 1793 the Kentucky legislature voted to 
 dispense with the services of a chaplain as being no 
 longer necessary. Lawlessness seemed to be the 
 order of the day. Religion was disregarded and 
 morals were low. In many towns of considerable 
 size, no places of worship were to be found, and re- 
 ligious services were of rare occurrence. 
 
 Dark indeed were the closing years of the 
 eighteenth century. Religion was at a standstill 
 and churches were declining. Infidelity in its most 
 coarse and brutal form sneered at religion and 
 scoffed at morality. The predominant sentiment of 
 the people seemed to be: "We will not have God 
 to reign over us." Even the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church with all of its religious fervor, its apostolic 
 spirit, and its evangelistic zeal was suffering a state 
 of decline. During the three years which preceded 
 
82 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 1796 that denomination had suffered an average loss 
 of four thousand members annually. 
 
 In 1794 Devereaux Jarrat of the Episcopalian 
 Church wrote: "The present time is marked by 
 peculiar traits of impiety and such an almost uni- 
 versal inattention to the concerns of religion that 
 very few will attend except on Sunday, to hear the 
 word of the Lord. . . . The state of religion is 
 gloomy and distressing ; the church of Christ seems 
 to be sunk very low."* 
 
 The Pastoral Letter of the Presbyterian General 
 Assembly in 1798 described the situation in the fol- 
 lowing language : 
 
 "Formidable innovations and convulsions in 
 Europe threaten destruction to morals and religion. 
 Scenes of devastation and bloodshed unexampled in 
 the history of modern nations have convulsed the 
 world, and our country is threatened with similar 
 calamities. We perceive with pain and fearful ap- 
 prehension a general dereliction of religious principle 
 and practice among our fellow citizens, a visible and 
 prevailing impiety and contempt for the laws and 
 institutions of religion, and an abounding infidelity 
 which, in many instances, tends to atheism itself. 
 The profligacy and corruption of the public morals 
 have advanced with a progress proportioned to our 
 declension in religion. Profaneness, pride, luxury, 
 
 * Dorchester's Christianity in the U. S., p. 348. 
 
THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 83 
 
 unjustness, intemperance, lewdness and every 
 species of debauchery and loose indulgence abound." 
 It was the critical period in the history of Ameri- 
 can Christianity. Never since the landing of the 
 Pilgrim Fathers had the institutions of religion been 
 put to a sorer test. The result was not only to affect 
 the destinies of this nation, but of the world. 
 Should Christianity or skepticism triumph? Should 
 faith or unbelief prevail ? Christianity did triumph 
 and faith did prevail. The Awakening of 1800 
 swept back the tide of infidelity, gave strength 
 and power to the churches and made possible the up- 
 building of a great Christian nation, whose insti- 
 tutions have become the glory of the world. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE AWAKENING OF l800. 
 
 At no time since the Great Awakening had re- 
 vivals wholly ceased. There were occasional quick- 
 enings here and there throughout the country; but 
 none of them were far-reaching in their influence, 
 and in most instances they were exceptional. 
 Throughout the greater portion of the country a re- 
 ligious indifference, coupled with the growth of 
 French infidelity, had settled down like a great pall 
 over the land. But about 1790 in various portions 
 of the country, and entirely independent of one an- 
 other, signs of reviving grace began to appear. 
 
 As early as 1787 there were revivals of marked 
 power in various parts of Virginia and Georgia. 
 Among the earliest of these was that at Hampden 
 Sydney College, Va., resulting in the conversion pf 
 more than half of the students. From this center 
 the revival extended throughout Prince Edward, 
 Cumberland, Charlotte, and Bedford Counties and to 
 the Peaks of Otter. Archibald Alexander and 
 others visited Prince Edward County for the pur- 
 pose of attending these revivals. On their return a 
 
THE AWAKENING OF 1800. 85 
 
 "revival of great power commenced, which extended 
 to almost every Presbyterian church in the valley of 
 Virginia." Under the quickening influence of this 
 revival Alexander entered the ministry, and later 
 left the impress of his personality upon Princeton 
 Theological Seminary in the missionary and revival 
 spirit that has long characterized it. 
 
 The revival movement did not manifest itself in 
 New England until some time later; 1792 is the 
 commonly accepted date for the commencement of 
 the Awakening in this section of the country, 
 although there was a revival at North Yarmouth, 
 Me., the year previous, and one in 1790 at the First 
 Baptist Church of Boston, which continued for some 
 years. It is possible that there were similar mani- 
 festations in other communities, but in 1792 there 
 was an awakening of far-reaching influence at Lee, 
 Mass., under the ministry of Rev. Alvin Hyde. 
 
 Within a comparatively brief period of time the 
 revival spirit had extended to various portions of 
 New England, as a consequence of which many com- 
 munities and churches were quickened and refreshed. 
 In some respects these New England revivals were 
 peculiar. There were no great names connected 
 with them, such as the names of Edwards or White- 
 field. There were no evangelists going to and fro 
 in their burning zeal to arouse the impenitent or to 
 incite the churches to activity. The services were 
 
86 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 carried on chiefly by the pastors in their respective 
 parishes. Sometimes neighboring ministers would 
 assist one another in such services so far as was con- 
 sistent with their own duties. Notwithstanding 
 this phase of the awakening there are two names de- 
 serving of special mention, because of the important 
 role which they played during this interesting epoch 
 of American religious history. I refer to Dr. E. D. 
 Griffin and Dr. Timothy Dwight, president of Yale 
 College. 
 
 Edward Dorr Griffin, a preacher of winning per- 
 sonality and persuasive power, exerted a far-reach- 
 ing influence over the churches of New England. At 
 the time of which we write he was in the full bloom 
 and vigor of his early manhood and threw himself 
 with all the ardor of his youthful spirit into the work 
 of saving souls. Griffin was born in 1770 at East 
 Haddam, Conn., and graduated at Yale in 1790, 
 after which he studied theology under Jonathan 
 Edwards, the younger. His earliest efforts in re- 
 vival work were at the home of his father, where he 
 was tarrying in the latter part of the year 1792. 
 Finding himself the only professor of religion in a 
 family of ten, he began at once to labor for their 
 conversion. As a consequence a revival commenced 
 in that neighborhood, which resulted in the conver- 
 sion of about one hundred persons. The following 
 January he began preaching at New Salem, nearby, 
 
THE AWAKENING OF 1800. 87 
 
 where a church was gathered where there had been 
 none for more than forty years, and "about one 
 hundred were hopefully added to the Lord." 
 
 Of the revivals of the period Dr. Griffin has left 
 on record the following: "About the year 1792 com- 
 menced three series of events of sufficient im- 
 portance to constitute a new era. That year the 
 blood began to flow in Europe, in that contest which, 
 with short intervals, was destined to destroy the 
 'man of sin' and to introduce a happier form of 
 society and the glorious state of the church. That 
 year was established at Kettering in England the 
 first in the continuous series of societies which have 
 covered the whole face of the Protestant world and 
 introduced the age of missions and of active benevo- 
 lence. And that year or the year before began the 
 unbroken series of American revivals. There was 
 a revival in North Yarmouth, Me., in 179 1. In the 
 summer of 1792 one appeared in Lee, in the county 
 of Berkshire. The following November, the first 
 that I had the privilege of witnessing showed itself 
 on the borders of East Haddam, and Lyme, Conn., 
 which apparently brought to Christ about a hundred 
 souls. Since that time revivals have never ceased. 
 I saw a continued succession of heavenly sprinklings 
 at New Salem, Farmington, Middlebury, and New 
 Hartford, Conn., until, in 1799, I could stand at my 
 door in New Hartford, Litchfield County, and num- 
 
88 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 ber fifty or sixty congregations laid down in one 
 field of divine wonders, and as many more in differ- 
 ent parts of New England. By 1802 revivals had 
 spread themselves through most of the western and 
 southern States ; and since that time they have been 
 familiar to the whole American people."* 
 
 Through the influence of President Dwight, the 
 tide of infidelity described in a preceding chapter 
 was turned backwards. Timothy Dwight, a grand- 
 son of Jonathan Edwards through his mother, was 
 born at Northampton, Mass., in 1752. He was edu- 
 cated at Yale, graduating in 1769. From 1771 to 
 1777 he served his alma mater as a tutor. During 
 the revolutionary struggle he was appointed to a 
 chaplaincy in the American Army, in the service of 
 which he remained for more than a year. In 1783 
 he was ordained to the ministry and spent the next 
 few years at the head of an academy in Greenfield, 
 Conn., whence he was called in 1795 to the presi- 
 dency of Yale College, a position which he continued 
 to fill up to the time of his death in 181 7. 
 
 When he entered upon the duties of his office, the 
 college was infected with the prevalent French infi- 
 delity, and there were but few students who were 
 not contaminated by it. "The degree to which it 
 prevailed may be judged from the following fact: 
 A considerable portion of the class which he first 
 * Sprague's Lectures, Appendix, p. 359. 
 
THE AWAKENING OF 1800. 89 
 
 taught had assumed the names of the English and 
 French infidels and were more familiarly known by 
 them than their own."* Dr. Dwight invited the 
 freest discussion on the part of his students, and hav- 
 ing listened to their doubts and arguments, he 
 preached a series of sermons in the college chapel in 
 which the whole philosophy of skepticism was an- 
 swered and overthrown. Through the influence of 
 his earnest and logical preaching, a marked change 
 was soon manifest in the life of the institution. 
 This was followed in the spring of 1802 by a power- 
 ful revival during the progress of which seventy-five 
 out of about two hundred and thirty students were 
 converted and united with the church. Nearly half 
 of these gave themselves to the work of the gospel 
 ministry. The importance of such a factor in the 
 religious life of the nation cannot be overestimated. 
 As Bishop Hurst has well expressed it: "From the 
 day that the young president faced his students in 
 the chapel of Yale College, infidelity has been a van- 
 ishing force in the history of the American people." 
 A marked characteristic of the revivals of the 
 period, which by this time had extended throughout 
 all of the States of New England, was their per- 
 manency and their freedom from abnormal excite- 
 ment. The revival wave did not soon spend its 
 force. In addition to the extensive revivals inaugu- 
 
 * Dwight's Theology, Vol. I., p. 20. 
 
90 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 rated about 1792, "within a period of five or six 
 years, commencing with 1797, not less than one hun- 
 dred and fifty churches in New England were 
 visited with 'times of refreshing from the presence 
 of the Lord.' "* 
 
 In Western Pennsylvania, where apparently there 
 had been no diminution of the revival spirit during 
 the Revolutionary War, another manifestation of 
 divine power occurred in 1795, extending to the new 
 settlements north of Pittsburg. From 1802- 1804 
 the same section was visited with powerful revivals 
 which extended throughout Western Pennsylvania 
 and Northeastern Ohio. 
 
 From 1 798- 1 800 there were extensive revivals in 
 the western portion of New York. Palmyra, Can- 
 andaigua and other towns in that portion of the 
 State were visited, the revival extending throughout 
 the counties of Delaware, Otsego, Oneida and else- 
 where. The Presbyterian churches shared chiefly in 
 this work. 
 
 In Kentucky and the Southwest the great deeps 
 were broken up through the joint efforts of the 
 Methodists and Presbyterians, although the revival 
 soon became so extensive as to include nearly all of 
 the religious denominations in the State. Among 
 the earliest outpourings of which we have any ac- 
 count were those which visited Logan County, Ky., 
 
 * Tyler's New England Revivals, p. 5. 
 
THE AWAKENING OF 1800. 91 
 
 during the month of July, 1800. The services, con- 
 ducted by Rev. James McGready of the Presbyterian 
 church, were held in the open air and were attended 
 by all classes, both black and white, from within a 
 radius of more than sixty miles. A revival was in- 
 augurated, the influence of which extended far and 
 wide, for the fame of it spread abroad throughout 
 all that country. Rev. Barton W. Stone, who after- 
 wards became one of the leading lights in the sect 
 known as the Disciples of Christ, at that time was a 
 Presbyterian minister in Bourbon County, Ky., and 
 having heard of this wonderful work of grace went 
 clear across the State in the spring of 1801 to attend 
 a camp-meeting in that vicinity and to behold for 
 himself the marvelous things that God had 
 wrought. He wrote a narrative describing as fol- 
 lows the scenes which he witnessed : 
 
 "There, on the edge of a prairie in Logan County, 
 Ky., the multitudes came together and continued a 
 number of days and nights encamped on the ground, 
 during which time worship was carried on in some 
 part of the encampment. The scene was new to me 
 and passing strange. It baffled description. Many, 
 very many, fell down as men slain in battle, and con- 
 tinued for hours together in an apparently breathless 
 and motionless state, sometimes for a few moments 
 reviving and exhibiting symptoms of life by a deep 
 groan or piercing shriek, or by a prayer for mercy 
 
92 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 fervently uttered. After lying for hours they ob- 
 tained deliverance. The gloomy cloud that had cov- 
 ered their faces seemed gradually and visibly to dis- 
 appear, and hope, in smiles, brightened into joy. 
 They would rise, shouting deliverance, and then 
 would address the surrounding multitude in lan- 
 guage truly eloquent and impressive. With aston- 
 ishment did I hear men, women, and children de- 
 claring the wonderful works of God and the glori- 
 ous mysteries of the gospel. Their appeals were 
 solemn, heart-penetrating, bold, and free. Under 
 such circumstances many others would fall down 
 into the same state from which the speakers had just 
 been delivered. 
 
 'Two or three of my particular acquaintances 
 from a distance were struck down. I sat patiently by 
 one of them, whom I knew to be a careless sinner, 
 for hours, and observed with critical attention every- 
 thing that passed, from the beginning to the end. 
 I noticed the momentary revivings as from death, 
 the humble confession of sins, the fervent prayer, 
 and the ultimate deliverance ; then the solemn thanks 
 to God, and affectionate exhortation to companions 
 and to the people around to repent and come to 
 Jesus. I was astonished at the knowledge of gospel 
 truth displayed in the address. The effect was that 
 several sank down into the same appearance of 
 death. After attending to many such cases, my con- 
 
THE AWAKENING OF 1800. 93 
 
 viction was complete that it was a good work — the 
 work of God ; nor has my mind wavered since on 
 the subject. Much did I see then, and much have I 
 seen since, that I consider to be fanaticism ; but this 
 should not condemn the work. The devil has 
 always tried to ape the works of God, to bring them 
 into disrepute; but that cannot be a Satanic work 
 which brings men to humble confession, to for- 
 saking sin, to prayer, fervent praise and thanks- 
 giving, and to a sincere and affectionate exhorta- 
 tion to sinners to repent and come to Jesus the 
 Saviour." 
 
 Returning to his congregations at Cane Ridge 
 and Concord in Bourbon County, he narrated the in- 
 cidents of his visit, and so profound was the impres- 
 sion thus made that in the course of a few weeks a 
 revival commenced, during the progress of which 
 similar scenes were enacted. He wrote of this re- 
 vival : "A memorable meeting was held at Cane 
 Ridge in August, 1801. The roads were crowded 
 with wagons, carriages, horses, and footmen mov- 
 ing to the solemn camp. It was judged by military 
 men on the ground that between twenty and thirty 
 thousand persons were assembled. Four or five 
 preachers spoke at the same time in different parts 
 of the encampment without confusion. The Metho- 
 dist and Baptist preachers aided in the work, and 
 all appeared cordially united in it. They were of 
 
94 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 one mind and soul : the salvation of sinners was the 
 one object. We all engaged in singing the same 
 songs, all united in prayer, all preached the same 
 things. . . . The numbers converted will be 
 known only in eternity. Many things transpired in 
 the meeting which were so much like miracles that 
 they had the same effect as miracles on unbelievers. 
 By them many were convinced that Jesus was the 
 Christ and were persuaded to submit to him. This 
 meeting continued six or seven days and nights, and 
 would have continued longer, but food for the sus- 
 tenance of such a multitude failed. 
 
 "To this meeting many had come from Ohio and 
 other distant parts. These returned home and dif- 
 fused the same spirit in their respective neighbor- 
 hoods. Similar results followed. So low had re- 
 ligion sunk, and such carelessness had universally 
 prevailed, that I have thought that nothing common 
 could have arrested and held the attention of the 
 people/'* 
 
 After this fashion the revival extended through- 
 out the borders of Kentucky, and through Tennessee 
 into Georgia and the Carolinas, visiting the South 
 and Southwest with veritable showers of refreshing 
 grace. 
 
 In this section of the country the work was at- 
 tended with many extravagances and vagaries, 
 
 Tyler's Disciples, pp. 14, 15, 16. 
 
THE AWAKENING OF 1800. 95 
 
 which the preachers, for the most part ignorant and 
 unlearned men, did not attempt to suppress. En- 
 thusiasm ran wild. The excitements of such large 
 religious gatherings engendered physical manifesta- 
 tions of an unusual order. The preaching services 
 were attended with outcries, faintings, convulsions, 
 "falling under the power of God," hysterical weep- 
 ing and laughter, and a peculiar species of exercise 
 called the "jerks," of which more shall be said in a 
 subsequent chapter. These strange features did not 
 produce the disastrous results that they would have 
 produced in more cultured communities. Instead of 
 hindering the revival they seemed to aid it, for in 
 the regions where such manifestations took place 
 they were looked upon as the undoubted works of 
 God. As to the genuineness of the revival, notwith- 
 standing these extravagances, there can be no 
 question. Communities were transformed, while 
 the godless and profane were influenced by 
 divine grace to enter upon lives of holiness and 
 prayer. 
 
 Rev. George A. Baxter, who visited this section, 
 has left on record the following testimony : "On my 
 way I was informed by settlers on the road that the 
 character of Kentucky travelers was entirely 
 changed, and that they were as remarkable for 
 sobriety as they had formerly been for dissoluteness 
 and immorality. And indeed I found Kentucky to 
 
96 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 appearances the most moral place I had ever seen. 
 A profane expression was hardly ever heard. A re- 
 ligious awe seemed to pervade the country. Upon 
 the whole, I think the revival in Kentucky the most 
 extraordinary that has ever visited the church of 
 Christ; and all things considered, it was peculiarly 
 adapted to the circumstances of the country into 
 which it came. Infidelity was triumphant and re- 
 ligion was on the point of expiring. Something 
 extraordinary seemed necessary to arrest the atten- 
 tion of a giddy people who were ready to conclude 
 that Christianity was a fable and futurity a delu- 
 sion. This revival has done it. It has confounded 
 infidelity and brought numbers beyond calculation 
 under serious impressions." 
 
 Having traced the beginnings of this remarkable 
 awakening, which appeared quite simultaneously in 
 various remote and widely separated localities, 
 spreading until it had practically embraced the 
 whole country, it will be of interest to consider the 
 means which were employed, the services which 
 were conducted, and the doctrines that were 
 enforced to promote this work of grace, the influence 
 of which was so far reaching upon the religious life 
 of the nation. 
 
 In New England the measures made use of were 
 comparatively few and simple. There were no 
 evangelists or protracted meetings, nor were ex- 
 
THE AWAKENING OF 1800. 97 
 
 traordinary methods of any character resorted to. 
 The ministers as a rule did their own preaching, ex- 
 cept in a few instances where neighboring pastors 
 were invited to assist. In addition to the Sabbath 
 services and the mid-week lecture, prayer meetings 
 were conducted occasionally on Sabbath evenings or 
 at some convenient time during the week. In these 
 prayer meetings the laity often rendered helpful as- 
 sistance to their pastors. There were no anxious 
 seats, nor was there any attempt to influence the un- 
 converted to commit themselves in public as seekers 
 after religion. On the contrary the subjects of this 
 work were urged to make certain their hopes before 
 uniting with the church or engaging in any public 
 exercise. The principal means relied upon was the 
 preaching of the Word. The doctrines especially 
 emphasized were God's sovereignty, the immutabil- 
 ity of the moral law, human depravity, the sufficiency 
 of the atonement, the freeness of pardon through 
 Christ, the necessity of regeneration, and the duty of 
 submitting to God. 
 
 The manner in which the subjects were affected 
 corresponded to the doctrines that were preached, 
 and was not unlike that in which the converts were 
 affected during the Great Awakening, as described 
 by Edwards. In most instances there was a period 
 of distress during which the persons affected were 
 sensible of the depravity of their hearts, their un- 
 
98 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 worthiness before God, and a conviction that it 
 would be just in God were he to cast them off for- 
 ever. The transition from this state to one of joy 
 and peace in believing would sometimes be sudden, 
 but in other instances the convicted would be dis- 
 tressed for months before relief came. When the 
 converts began to hope in Christ it was generally 
 with much trembling, and "they gradually advanced 
 to a steady comfortable hope with great caution and 
 much self-examination." 
 
 In the Southwest, on account of a lack of suitable 
 edifices, protracted meetings lasting some days or 
 weeks were conducted in groves or in the open air. 
 These were largely attended by the settlers from 
 miles around. For the want of better accommoda- 
 tion the attendants would camp in the grove where 
 the meeting was held or in the woods near by, which 
 accounts for the rise of the American camp-meeting 
 about this time. Several ministers of perhaps dif- 
 ferent denominations would assist in the preaching 
 exercises, which were conducted several times daily 
 and by the light of fagots at night. 
 
 Of the character of the preaching Rev. E. B. 
 Crisman says : "The ministers dwelt, with great 
 power, continually on the necessity of repentance 
 and faith, the fullness of the gospel for all, and the 
 necessity of the new birth. They earnestly pre- 
 sented the purity and justice of God's law, the 
 
THE AWAKENING OF 1800. 99 
 
 odious and destructive consequences of sin, and the 
 freeness and sufficiency of pardon for all."* 
 
 In Kentucky and the West this Awakening was 
 preceded by seasons of earnest prayer. Christians 
 entered into a solemn covenant to spend a definite 
 portion of their time in prayer for an outpouring of 
 the Spirit of God for the salvation of men. A half- 
 hour at sunset Saturday and a half-hour before 
 sunrise on Sunday was the time generally agreed 
 upon for this purpose. 
 
 The results of the Awakening were three- fold : 
 First, the overthrow of infidelity; second, the spir- 
 itual quickening of the churches ; third, the inaugu- 
 ration of the great philanthropic and missionary 
 enterprises. 
 
 First — The Overthrow of Infidelity. The Awak- 
 ening came at the critical period in the history of the 
 American republic. It was a time of beginnings in 
 the life of the nation, a time moreover when the re- 
 ligious character of our country was suspended in 
 the balances and the destinies thereof were to be de- 
 cided for generations to come. For a while the 
 overthrow of Christianity seemed to be complete. 
 Churches were declining. Revivals were few. The 
 educated and influential almost universally regarded 
 Christianity with indifference, if not with open con- 
 tempt. Infidelity was rife and was increasing 
 
 ♦Tyler's Disciples, p. 13. 
 
ioo AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 alarmingly on every hand. In fact, all indications 
 seemed to point to a decline in that faith which had 
 animated the Pilgrim Fathers and inspired the hopes 
 of the early settlers of our country. The inception 
 of this revival at such a time cannot but be regarded 
 as one of the signal manifestations of God's provi- 
 dential dealings of which our national history 
 affords so many illustrious examples. By means of 
 its gracious influences the weak churches grew 
 strong and all the Christian activities of the land 
 throbbed with the pulsations of a new life. Every 
 condition of society was reached from the cultured 
 classes of staid New England to the untutored set- 
 tlers on the frontier of what then constituted the 
 remote West. Infidelity became a vanishing force, 
 while the religious character of the United States 
 was assured for generations to come. 
 
 One of the most important results of this revival 
 was the reclamation of the colleges of the land from 
 infidelity. As we have already seen, President 
 Dwight's masterful and discriminating survey of the 
 philosophy of unbelief and his complete refutation of 
 the same was followed in 1802 by a powerful and 
 far-reaching revival in the college over which he 
 presided. Similar awakenings occurred at Dart- 
 mouth, Williams, and various other institutions of 
 learning throughout the land, in consequence of 
 which the colleges of this country have never ceased 
 
THE AWAKENING OF 1800. 101 
 
 to be centers of Christian influence, whence have 
 flowed streams of living water to quicken and re- 
 fresh the world. 
 
 Second — The Spiritual Quickening of the 
 Churches. This revival was practically co-extensive 
 with the populated territory then embraced within 
 the United States. Commencing simultaneously in 
 several remote centers the work extended, until the 
 intervening portions of the country were embraced 
 within its scope. Besides the renewed life and ac- 
 tivity of church members, numerous additions were 
 made to the various churches throughout the coun- 
 try. It is impossible to determine with any degree 
 of accuracy the number of converts who were won to 
 the faith and gathered into the churches. The re- 
 vival was so long in its continuance, and so lasting 
 in its influence, that numerical estimates would be 
 confusing and perhaps misleading. Certain figures, 
 however, are significant. In Kentucky alone it was 
 estimated that ten thousand persons were added to 
 the Baptist churches of that State as a result of the 
 revival. From 1800 to 1803 the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church received about forty thousand acces- 
 sions to membership throughout the country, and 
 there was scarcely a religious denomination which 
 did not share in the fruits of this remarka- 
 ble revival. 
 
 More remarkable than numbers were the evi- 
 
102 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 deuces of renewed spiritual life throughout the coun- 
 try. In the West the reformation in the morals of 
 the people attracted widespread attention. In a ser- 
 mon preached before the synod of Kentucky in 1803, 
 Rev. David Rice said: "Neighborhoods noted for 
 their vicious and profligate manners are now as 
 much noted for their piety and good order. Drunk- 
 ards, profane swearers, liars, quarrelsome persons, 
 etc., are remarkably reformed." 
 
 In New England the revival was attended with 
 consequences of abiding significance. The last rem- 
 nants of the ill-advised Half-Way Covenant were 
 swept away. The perilous transition of the 
 churches from State aid to self-support was success- 
 fully made. A crisis was reached between the liberal 
 and evangelical wings of Congregationalism, which 
 resulted in the Unitarian schism. The cleavage be- 
 tween the orthodox and liberal elements in the 
 church dates back to pre-Revolutionary times, and 
 by many has been supposed to have been an out- 
 growth of the movement which produced the Half- 
 Way Covenant. Be this as it may, certain it is 
 that during the middle of the eighteenth century 
 several prominent ministers in Massachusetts were 
 avowedly Arian in their sentiments. The Awaken- 
 ing of 1800 resulted in the permanent separation of 
 these parties, thus permitting each to perform its 
 own mission without being hampered by what other- 
 
THE AWAKENING OF 1800. 103 
 
 wise would have been an irrational element in its 
 activity. More important still was the institution of 
 the mid-week prayer meeting and the establishment 
 of Sunday schools, which, having originated with 
 Robert Raikes in England, were now introduced 
 into this country, and were destined to become a 
 source of fresh life and power not only to the 
 churches of New England but to the various de- 
 nominations throughout the country. 
 
 Although the immediate consequences of the re- 
 vival differed somewhat in different localities, the 
 general results were everywhere the same. The 
 morals of the country were reformed, the churches 
 were quickened, and their influence flowed forth in 
 new channels of spiritual power, so that religion be- 
 came a more potent factor in our national life, while 
 the church as an organized force was girded with 
 strength sufficient to enter the arena and engage in 
 deadly combat with the flagrant public evils of the 
 day — duelling, intemperance and slavery. 
 
 Unlike the Great Awakening, this revival was 
 long in subsiding, and was not attended by dis- 
 astrous consequences, which were calculated to pro- 
 duce strife and dissension. In the West, to be sure, 
 there had been outcries, faintings, "falling under the 
 power of God," etc., which would not have com- 
 mended themselves to the more sober-minded 
 brethren of the East, but, occurring as they did in 
 
104 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 the newer communities and among unlettered and 
 uncultured people, these exercises not only produced 
 no ill effects but rather seemed to promote the re- 
 vival. In the East the work was characterized by 
 an entire absence of these objectionable features 
 which, in the Great Awakening, had brought about 
 an unfavorable reaction and had caused that revival 
 to come to a speedy end. 
 
 The work of grace wrought in this Awakening 
 was deep and lasting, the influences of which ex- 
 tended down to the middle of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, and were manifest in the numerous and wide- 
 spread revivals which prevailed throughout that 
 period. Rev. Gardiner Spring, D.D., speaking of 
 this phase of the revival, said : "From the year 1800 
 down to the year 1825 there was an uninterrupted 
 series of these celestial visitations spreading over 
 different parts of the land. During the whole of 
 these twenty-five years there was not a month in 
 which we could not point to some village, some city, 
 some seminary of learning, and say, 'Behold, what 
 hath God wrought !' "* 
 
 Third — The Inauguration of Great Missionary 
 and Philanthropic Enterprises. American foreign 
 missions are indebted for their origin to Samuel J. 
 Mills. Entering Williams College in 1806, in com- 
 pany with other students he instituted a missionary 
 
 * Memoirs f Vol. I., p. 160. 
 
THE AWAKENING OF 1800. 105 
 
 prayer meeting, and from this humble beginning the 
 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
 Missions was evolved in 1810. Mills was a convert 
 of the Awakening and his father was an active pro- 
 moter of the same. Judson, Rice, Nott, Newell, 
 Hall, and others who were associated with him and 
 who became the first missionaries of the American 
 Board, with scarcely an exception were converted in 
 the revival. Other missionary societies were organ- 
 ized about this time, the Baptist in 181 4 and the 
 Methodist Episcopal in 1819. 
 
 Home missions received a fresh impetus through 
 this awakening. As early as 1798 the Connecticut 
 Missionary Society was formed, the purpose of 
 which was "to Christianize the heathen in North 
 America, and to support and promote Christian 
 knowledge in the new settlements within the 
 United States." The revivals in Tennessee and 
 Kentucky gave a mighty impulse to home mission- 
 ary activity which found expression in the efforts of 
 various denominations to evangelize the growing 
 territories in the West. For the furtherance of this 
 work Bible and Tract societies were formed that the 
 light of the Gospel might be made to shine in the 
 dark places. In 1814 the New England Tract So- 
 ciety, which in 1823 changed its name to the Ameri- 
 can Tract Society, was formed, and in 18 16 the 
 American Bible Society was organized, both of 
 
106 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 which are the undoubted products of the fresh re- 
 ligious life awakened by the revival. 
 
 Greater attention was now devoted to ministerial 
 education. Theological seminaries were instituted 
 and educational societies were organized to give 
 financial assistance to pious youths who were pre- 
 paring themselves for the work of the gospel min- 
 istry. The Congregationalists, who were the 
 pioneers in Christian education, founded Andover 
 Theological Seminary in 1808 and the American 
 Education Society in 181 5. Other denominations 
 were not long behind them, and by 1827 seventeen 
 theological seminaries, under the auspices of several 
 different denominations, had been instituted in 
 various parts of the country. 
 
 The quickened spiritual life of the period gave an 
 impulse to religious journalism, which has affected 
 profoundly the religious life of our country. About 
 the year 1800 numerous monthly periodicals ap- 
 peared, and in 181 6 the Boston Recorder, the first 
 weekly religious newspaper in the world, was 
 founded in the interests of Congregationalism. The 
 same year the Religious Intelligencer was published 
 at New Haven. Others soon followed: The 
 Watchman (Baptist), at Boston in 1819; Zion's 
 Herald (Methodist), at Boston in 1822; The Morn- 
 ing Star (Free Will Baptist), Dover, N. H., in 
 1826, etc. By 1830 nearly all of the different re- 
 
THE AWAKENING OF 1800. 107 
 
 ligious denominations in the country had one or 
 more weekly journals to represent their respective 
 interests. 
 
 In view of the remarkable results which attended 
 the Awakening of 1800, its salutary and long-con- 
 tinued influence upon the religious life of the Ameri- 
 can republic, the wide scope of territory covered and 
 the numbers which were reached by its quickening 
 power, this revival was fully as remarkable as any 
 which has ever refreshed the life of the churches on 
 the American continent. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DENOMINATIONAL MOVEMENTS! THE CONGREGA- 
 TIONALISTS AND PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 The revival movements of the first half of the 
 nineteenth century were chiefly along denomina- 
 tional lines. It was an era of denominational 
 growth and development. While sectarian lines 
 were not always tightly drawn, in the main, each de- 
 nomination sought to promote and perpetuate its 
 own interests. The Congregationalists and Presby- 
 terians had much in common, both in their history 
 and in their doctrines. Both were the products of 
 Puritanism, and both adhered pretty closely to the 
 theological system of John Calvin. 
 
 It seemed logical, therefore, that they should en- 
 ter into still closer relations in what was known as 
 the "Plan of Union," an agreement entered into in 
 1 80 1 on the part of the Congregational Association 
 of Connecticut and the General Assembly of the 
 Presbyterian Church, whereby churches and mem- 
 bers of both denominations should co-operate in 
 their home missionary work throughout the new set- 
 tlements and new States, which were then springing 
 
CONGREGATIONALISTS. 109 
 
 into existence west of the Allegheny Mountains. 
 The ultimate outcome of this "Plan of Union" was 
 the Presbyterianizing of hundreds of churches in 
 these regions, which otherwise would have been 
 Congregational. It must not be supposed, however, 
 that the Presbyterians took an unfair advantage of 
 this "Plan of Union." As a real matter of fact, the 
 stronger polity of the Presbyterians seemed better 
 adapted to meet the needs of these new settlements, 
 and this coupled with an indifference to their own 
 polity on the part of the Congregationalists, 
 wrought havoc to the denominational interests of 
 the latter. 
 
 The real value of this "Plan of Union" was its 
 purpose to promote a mutual understanding and a 
 mutual co-operation of these two denominations, a 
 purpose which for many years was admirably ful- 
 filled, and if in the end it worked disastrously to the 
 Congregationalists, it displayed a magnanimity on 
 their part which stands unparalleled in religious his- 
 tory. 
 
 Aside from their home missionary activity, the 
 distinctively revival movements of these denomina- 
 tions center about certain noted men, whose services 
 were expended in behalf of the churches of both de- 
 nominations. Since the time of Whitefield there had 
 been in this country no evangelist of national reputa- 
 tion. The Awakening of 1800 had been brought 
 
no AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 about and had accomplished its results indepen- 
 dently of such workers. But during the first half of 
 the new century three evangelists of national and 
 even international renown, Asahel Nettleton, 
 Charles G. Finney, and Edward N. Kirk, labored in 
 Congregational and Presbyterian circles. 
 
 The earliest of these, Asahel Nettleton, was born 
 in North Killingworth, Conn., April 21, 1783. His 
 parents were members of the church on the Half- 
 Way Covenant plan, in accordance with which he 
 was baptized and as a child received instruction in 
 the Westminster Catechism, which he was required 
 to commit to memory. 
 
 In his youth he was often subject to religious im- 
 pressions, but these were not lasting. His first real 
 seriousness occurred in November, 1800, on the 
 morning following a Thanksgiving ball. While re- 
 flecting on the pleasures of the preceding evening, 
 the thought struck him "we must all die, and go to 
 the judgment, and with what feelings shall we then 
 reflect upon these scenes !" The impression was over- 
 whelming. His pleasures were robbed of their fas- 
 cination and he was overcome with a sense of his 
 lost condition. The world ceased to be attractive 
 and he turned his attention to a study of the Bible 
 and other religious books. This pursuit served only 
 to deepen his convictions, and at tim^s he gave way 
 to doubt and black despair. After a period of ten 
 
PRESBYTERIANS. in 
 
 months, during which he passed through a religious 
 experience as profound as that of an Augustine or 
 a Luther, he found joy and peace in believing. Said 
 his biographer : "This protracted season of convic- 
 tion gave him a knowledge of the human heart 
 which few possess; and which was doubtless in- 
 tended by God to prepare him for that pre-eminent 
 success which attended his labors as a minister of 
 Christ."* 
 
 After his conversion it became Nettleton's pur- 
 pose to go as a missionary to the heathen. To ac- 
 complish this purpose he mastered the preparatory 
 studies, privately, and in 1805 entered the freshman 
 class at Yale College. As a student he never evinced 
 any special brilliancy of mind, but such was his de- 
 vout spirit and such was his devotion to duty that 
 President Dwight said of him : "He will make one 
 of the most useful men this country has ever 
 seen." 
 
 During the winter of 1807- 1808 New Haven and 
 the college were visited with a revival, which awak- 
 ened a lively interest on the part of Nettleton, who 
 labored for the conversion of his fellow students 
 with no small degree of success. 
 
 In his junior year he became acquainted with 
 Samuel J. Mills, who was then a student at Willams 
 College. The year following Mills was a resident 
 
 * Memoirs, p. 23. 
 
ii2 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 graduate at Yale, thereby affording an opportunity 
 for mutual acquaintance and fellowship. It was the 
 intention of both to go to Andover Theological 
 Seminary at the expiration of the year, after which 
 they purposed to enter the missionary field as soon 
 as the way should open. Financial embarrass- 
 ments prevented Nettleton from carrying this plan 
 into execution. Having graduated at Yale he re- 
 mained a year as butler of the college, after which he 
 pursued his theological course privately at Milton, 
 Conn., under the direction of Rev. Bezaleel Pinneo. 
 Not long after he was licensed to preach by the West 
 Association of New Haven County. It was still his 
 purpose to spend his life as a missionary to the 
 heathen, but so conspicuous was his success in the 
 ministry that he was persuaded to defer his purpose 
 for a while, and it was not until the failure of his 
 health in 1822 that he finally relinquished all hope 
 of going to a foreign field. 
 
 For a time after his licensure to preach Nettleton 
 was engaged in missionary and evangelistic labors 
 in desolate and neglected districts in Eastern Con- 
 necticut and Rhode Island. This region had been 
 the scene of Davenport's distractions during the 
 Great Awakening. The evil results of fanaticism 
 were still apparent. If the young evangelist's labors 
 were not so successful as his subsequent efforts, the 
 experience was a valuable one and served to put him 
 
CONGREGATIONALISTS. 1 1 3 
 
 on his guard against those extravagances to which 
 youth is susceptible and was an impressive object 
 lesson against the innovations which had wrought 
 ruin to Davenport and his deluded followers. 
 
 From 181 2- 1 81 5 he labored with excellent results 
 at various places in Connecticut and New York. In 
 the summer of 181 5 he went to Salisbury and of the 
 revival there he wrote as follows : 
 
 "In 181 5, in the town of Salisbury, Conn., after 
 laboring awhile under great discouragement, there 
 were some favorable appearances. A number were 
 anxious, and a few were in awful distress of soul in 
 one village. It was taken hold of by some ignorant 
 officious hands; and they were set to groaning and 
 screaming, and alarmed all the village in my ab- 
 sence. Having heard the tidings, I hastened to the 
 spot, and with kind, but decided severity called them 
 to order. My attempts by those who had given the 
 work that turn, were considered as very obtrusive 
 and daring. It was reported all over town that a 
 revival had begun in Salisbury, and that I had put 
 a stop to it. They seemed to be much grieved and 
 shocked at my conduct. It took a number of days 
 to restore order, but when it was done, the work of 
 God advanced silently and powerfully, until all 
 classes, old and young, were moved all over town. 
 The language was, 'the fountains of the great deep 
 are broken up.' Not far from three hundred were 
 
ii4 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 numbered as the hopeful subjects of divine grace in 
 that revival."* 
 
 So great was the interest and so deep the concern 
 that religion became the all-absorbing topic of the 
 day. When Mr. Nettleton in his visitations was 
 seen to enter a house, the whole neighborhood would 
 flock thither. Mechanics would leave their shops, 
 farmers would forsake their fields, and housewives 
 would abandon their domestic duties to inquire the 
 way of salvation. 
 
 Having spent the winter at Salisbury, in the 
 spring he labored at Bridgewater, where a dead 
 church was revived and numbers were converted. 
 
 From 1816-1819 he visited successively Torring- 
 ton, Waterbury, Upper Middletown, Rocky Hill, 
 Ashford, Eastford and Bolton. In July, 1819, worn 
 out with his labors, Nettleton repaired to Saratoga 
 Springs, N. Y., in the hope of recovering his health. 
 A few weeks later he was induced to engage in re- 
 vival work in that vicinity. The whole region was 
 profoundly moved and fully two thousand souls 
 were converted. While the revival was still in prog- 
 ress Mr. Nettleton wrote an account of this work, 
 which in part was as follows : 
 
 "This region, and especially the county of Sara- 
 toga, has heretofore been as destitute of revivals of 
 religion as any part of the State. The commence- 
 
 * Memoirs, p. 71. 
 
PRESBYTERIANS. 115 
 
 ment of this work was at Saratoga Springs last 
 summer. At that place about forty have made a 
 profession of religion. These include some of the 
 most respectable characters in the village. Directly 
 south is the town of Malta. For a number of years 
 there has been no Presbyterian church in that place. 
 But for the year past there has been an interesting 
 revival among that people. A church has been re- 
 cently organized, which now consists of one hundred 
 and five members. . . . South from Malta, about 
 twelve miles, is the city of Schenectady, and Union 
 College, where I now reside with Dr. McAuley. 
 About thirty of the students have been 
 brought to rejoice in hope. Besides these we had 
 more than two hundred in our meeting of inquiry, 
 anxious for their souls. We met in a large upper 
 room called the Masonic Hall. The room was so 
 crowded, that we were obliged to request all who 
 had recently found relief to retire below and spend 
 their time in prayer for those above. This evening 
 will never be forgotten. The scene is beyond de- 
 scription. Did you ever witness two hundred sin- 
 ners with one accord in one place weeping for their 
 sins? Until you have seen this, you can have no 
 adequate conceptions of the solemn scene. . . . 
 Within a circle whose diameter would be twenty- 
 four miles, not less than eight hundred souls have 
 been hopefully born into the kingdom of Christ, 
 
n6 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 since last September. The same glorious work is 
 fast spreading into other towns and congrega- 
 tions."* 
 
 Leaving the region where he had labored with 
 such conspicuous success, in the spring of 1820 Net- 
 tleton conducted revivals at Nassau and New 
 Haven, whence the work extended to the regions 
 round about, resulting in the conversion of nearly 
 two thousand persons. 
 
 From 1 820- 1 822 he labored at North Killing- 
 worth, North Madison, Wethersfield, Newton, 
 Farmington, Pittsfield, Litchfield, and again at New 
 Haven. Numbers were converted at these various 
 places and great good was accomplished. 
 
 On May 22, 1822, he commenced evangelistic 
 services in Sommers, preaching alternately at South 
 Wilbraham, and visiting in the meanwhile Tolland 
 and other places in the vicinity. As a result of the 
 work thus inaugurated a revival visited this section 
 of Connecticut resulting in the conversion of more 
 than fifteen hundred souls. While the revival was 
 still in progress, a serious attack of typhoid fever 
 compelled his retirement for two years, during 
 which he compiled his Village Hymns, which had a 
 wide sale throughout the country. Dr. Nettleton 
 never fully recovered from this illness. His health 
 was left in such a shattered condition that he could 
 
 * Memoirs, pp. 95-97. 
 
CONGREGATIONALISTS. 117 
 
 endure but little excitement or fatigue, although he 
 labored in various parts of the country, as much as 
 his enfeebled condition would allow, until his death, 
 May 16, 1844. 
 
 Dr. Nettleton's methods were remarkably sane 
 and discriminating. He had an abhorrence of any- 
 thing that savored of fanaticism. His doctrines 
 conformed to the Calvinistic standards of the age in 
 which he lived. He emphasized a dependence upon 
 the Holy Spirit as the indispensable condition of a 
 revival. Ministers and churches were not en- 
 couraged to try and get up a revival, but when 
 sovereign grace gave indications that the set time 
 to favor Zion was come he believed in a wise and 
 faithful use of means. To this end he made use of 
 preaching, house-to-house visitation, and inquiry 
 meetings for enforcing the truth and instructing 
 seekers. The results of his work were invariably 
 lasting. Of the thousands converted under his 
 preaching, so well were they grounded in the funda- 
 mentals of the Christian faith, that very few after- 
 wards fell away into apostasy. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY.* 
 
 Charles Grandison Finney, the greatest of 
 American revivalists, was born in Warren, Litch- 
 field County, Conn., August 29, 1792. Two years 
 later his parents removed to the State of New York, 
 where his boyhood was spent in Oneida and Jeffer- 
 son Counties. He received a common school educa- 
 tion and at the age of twenty returned to his native 
 town in Connecticut to attend an academy or high 
 school. He afterwards studied law at Adams, N. Y., 
 where in due time he was admitted to the bar. 
 
 At Adams, for the first time in his life, he was 
 brought under religious influences. Hitherto his 
 religious privileges had been meager. He said: 
 "When I went to Adams to study law, I was almost 
 as destitute of religion as a heathen. I had been 
 
 * The subject of this chapter labored chiefly in Presbyterian 
 and Congregational circles, but so epoch-making was his work, 
 and so far-reaching was its influence that it could not with 
 propriety be regarded as denominational, and for that reason a 
 separate chapter is devoted to his life. 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 119 
 
 Drought up mostly in the woods. I had little regard 
 to the Sabbath, and had no definite knowledge of 
 religious truth." 
 
 Here he was brought under the preaching of Rev. 
 George W. Gale, a Presbyterian of an ultra-Calvin- 
 istic type. He was an educated man and a graduate 
 of Princeton, but to Finney his discourses were a 
 source of perplexity rather than of edification. He 
 would frequently call upon the young lawyer to en- 
 gage him in religious conversation, but such were 
 the objections which the latter raised to his theology 
 that the minister reached the conclusion that he 
 must be thoroughly hardened, and when some of the 
 members of his congregation proposed making 
 Finney the subject of prayer he discouraged the idea 
 because he believed it would be useless. 
 
 About this time Finney purchased his first copy of 
 the Bible. In his law studies, he had found frequent 
 reference to the Mosaic Institutes as an authority for 
 many of the principles of common law. His curi- 
 osity having become aroused he purchased a copy of 
 the Sacred Scriptures. A perusal of its contents 
 convinced him that it was what it claimed to be — 
 the Word of God. 
 
 The question soon came up for serious considera- 
 tion, whether he should accept Jesus Christ as his 
 Saviour, or continue the pursuit of a worldly life. 
 On a Sabbath evening in the autumn of 1821, he 
 
120 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 reached the conclusion that he would at once settle 
 the question of his soul's salvation, and if possible 
 make his peace with God. The pursuit of this ob- 
 ject served but to deepen his convictions and by 
 Tuesday night he had been brought to a condition 
 well-nigh verging on despair. The following 
 morning, as he was going to his office, an inward 
 voice seemed to reprove him with these admoni- 
 tions: "What are you waiting for? Did you not 
 promise to give your heart to God? And what are 
 you trying to do? Are you endeavoring to work 
 out a righteousness of your own?" 
 
 A consideration of these problems led to the con- 
 viction that salvation was a gift, not to be wrought 
 out by works, but to be appropriated through faith 
 in Jesus Christ. The question then seemed to be 
 put to his mind, "Will you accept it now, to-day?" 
 He replied, "Yes : I will accept it to-day, or I will 
 die in the attempt." As a place suited to his purpose 
 he sought the cover of a forest, north of the village, 
 where he had been in the almost daily habit of walk- 
 ing in pleasant weather. To escape observation he 
 skulked along under the fence, but when he reached 
 a secluded spot and tried to pray he could not. His 
 heart refused to pray, and after repeated attempts, 
 he fancied that he heard a rustling in the leaves, and 
 opening his eyes to see if any one were present, he 
 was overwhelmed with a sense of his wickedness in 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 121 
 
 being ashamed to have any human being see him on 
 his knees before God. In an agony of spirit he cried 
 aloud to God for mercy. At this juncture a passage 
 of Scripture was suggested to him : "Then shall ye 
 go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 
 Then shall ye seek me and find me, when ye shall 
 search for me with all your heart." Other passages 
 came to his mind, and for a long time he continued 
 to pray and appropriate promises continued to come 
 to his mind until with a light heart he started back 
 to his office with this thought uppermost in his 
 mind: "If I am ever converted, I will preach the 
 gospel." 
 
 On reaching town he found that the whole fore- 
 noon had passed, but having no appetite for dinner 
 he went to his office and taking down his bass viol 
 he began to play and sing some sacred songs. His 
 heart seemed so melted at the words and so freely 
 did the tears flow that he was obliged to desist. 
 The afternoon was occupied with some work in 
 moving the office and in conversation with a few 
 who came in. That evening as he sat alone in the 
 office a vision of the Lord seemed to come before 
 him, and it seemed as if he met the Saviour face to 
 face. So real did the vision appear that Finney 
 wept aloud like a child. Shortly there came upon 
 him a "mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost" and 
 wave after wave of divine influence swept over him. 
 
122 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 finally he cried out, "I shall die if these waves con- 
 tinue to pass over me." "Lord, I cannot bear any 
 more." 
 
 On the following morning, although he had not 
 yet received an assurance of sins forgiven, he re- 
 ceived a similar baptism. All his doubts were swept 
 away and the doctrine of justification by faith was 
 taught him as a present experience. He realized 
 that through faith in Jesus Christ, the consciousness 
 and guilt of sin were gone, and he felt as free from 
 condemnation as though he had never sinned. 
 
 From the moment of his conversion Finney's life 
 commenced to flow in a new channel. The practice 
 of law suddenly lost all of its attractions. That very 
 morning a deacon of the church, who had employed 
 him as his attorney in a suit, came into the office to 
 remind him that the case was to be tried at 10 
 o'clock. Finney replied that he had enlisted in the 
 service of Christ and had a retainer to plead his 
 cause, so that he must seek another attorney to at- 
 tend the suit. The deacon dropped his head, and 
 immediately went out and settled the case. He then 
 gave himself to prayer and soon entered into a 
 deeper religious experience than he had ever en- 
 joyed before. 
 
 Finney's conversion was the occasion for great 
 surprise to his acquaintances at Adams. In fact, 
 one man had said to his wife who was a praying 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 123 
 
 woman : "If religion is true, why don't you con- 
 vert Finney? If you Christians can convert Finney, 
 I will believe in religion." 
 
 The report of his conversion created such excite- 
 ment that in the evening, without any appointment 
 having been made, with one accord the people 
 flocked to the church. The building was packed, 
 but no one seemed ready to open the meeting, where- 
 upon Finney arose and narrated his experience. 
 The man who had asked his wife why they didn't 
 convert Finney was present and so agitated did he 
 become that he went home leaving his hat. An old 
 lawyer, who during the day had declared that the 
 report of Finney's conversion was a hoax, said, "He 
 is in earnest, there is no mistake ; but he is deranged, 
 that is clear." After Finney had finished his narra- 
 tive, Rev. Mr. Gale, the pastor, arose and made con- 
 fession for having discouraged the church in the pur- 
 pose of making Finney a subject for prayer, and for 
 having said on hearing of his conversion that he 
 did not believe it. 
 
 From that meeting a revival broke out, extending 
 in various directions and visiting many communities. 
 It is a significant fact also that the young people 
 with whom Finney had associated, with but a single 
 exception were converted. 
 
 True to his purpose to preach the gospel, Finney 
 entered the home of Mr. Gale, and after a pro- 
 
124 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 traded season of study was licensed to preach by 
 the Presbytery in March, 1824. 
 
 Soon after he was commissioned by a Woman's 
 Missionary Society to labor for six months in the 
 northern part of Jefferson County, N. Y. He began 
 his labors at Evans' Mills, where there was a Con- 
 gregational and a Baptist Society, but there being 
 no church edifice in the place, each society occupied 
 a large stone school-house on alternate Sabbaths. 
 For this reason he divided his labors between Evans' 
 Mills and Antwerp, a town thirteen miles distant. 
 Having preached to large congregations at Evans' 
 Mills without results, at the close of one of his Sab- 
 bath evening services he informed the people that he 
 could remain there no longer unless they would 
 receive the gospel. After explaining his position 
 somewhat, he asked all who would accept the 
 Saviour to arise, while the remainder should keep 
 their seats. As he had expected all kept their seats, 
 and after looking the audience over for a brief space 
 of time, he addressed them thus: "Then you are 
 committed. You have rejected Christ and his gos- 
 pel ; and ye are witnesses one against the other, and 
 God is witness against you all. This is explicit, and 
 you may remember as long as you live, that you have 
 publicly committed yourselves against the Saviour, 
 and said, 'We will not have this man, Christ Jesus, 
 to reign over us !' " 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 125 
 
 The people were angered and rose, en masse, to 
 leave the building. He paused and they halted to 
 see why he did not go on, whereupon he informed 
 them that he was sorry for them, and would make 
 one more appointment to preach to them, the follow- 
 ing night. All then retired except a Baptist deacon, 
 who approved Finney's course and told him that he 
 had done the very thing that needed to be done in or- 
 der to bring the people face to face with their sins. 
 Conferring thus together, they agreed to spend the 
 following day in fasting and prayer — ''separately in 
 the morning and together in the afternoon." The 
 people were greatly enraged a* what they con- 
 sidered an unfair advantage, and threats of vio- 
 lence against Finney's person were heard during the 
 day. 
 
 According to agreement, the afternoon was spent 
 in prayer by Finney and the deacon together. As 
 they prayed they were inspired with assurances of 
 victory. That evening the house was packed. Fin- 
 ney preached a powerful gospel sermon in which he 
 seemed to take it for granted that the people were 
 committed against the Lord. No reversal of their 
 former action was asked. Another appointment was 
 given out for the next evening. So deep was the 
 conviction of the people that Finney was sought 
 after several times during the night, but as he was 
 spending the night away from his customary lodg- 
 
126 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 ings and could not be found, his absence served to 
 intensify the convictions of those who were seeking 
 him. The day following he spent in visiting from 
 house to house and conversing with the people 
 about the claims of the gospel. The revival which 
 followed was a powerful one, changing the entire 
 current of the community. Almost every one was 
 converted. The tavern keeper of the village, an infi- 
 del and an outbroken sinner, was brought into the 
 fold and his place was transformed into a house of 
 prayer. The influence of this revival was felt in sur- 
 rounding neighborhoods and produced a lasting 
 effect for good. 
 
 In July, 1824, the St. Lawrence Presbytery met at 
 Evans' Mills, and among other things considered the 
 advisability of ordaining Finney. He was asked to 
 preach, which he did without preparation from the 
 text "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." 
 The sermon seemed acceptable to those present, 
 although it was the opinion of some that Finney 
 ought to confine his efforts to school-houses and 
 country districts. Little did the members of that 
 presbytery dream that this young lawyer, who had 
 lately forsaken the practice of law, was God's chosen 
 vessel to bear the tidings of salvation not only to 
 rural peoples but to the cultured and refined, that 
 they might be gathered into his kingdom. How- 
 ever, it was voted to ordain him, and in accordance 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 127 
 
 with customary usages he was solemnly set apart to 
 the work of the gospel ministry. 
 
 The first three months of his missionary labors 
 were devoted chiefly to Evans' Mills and vicinity, 
 although tokens of good were not wanting at Ant- 
 werp. Apparently the larger portion of his time 
 during the second three months was spent at the lat- 
 ter place, where a powerful revival was experienced. 
 In the outskirts of this place was a neighborhood, 
 nicknamed "Sodom," so called on account of its 
 resemblance to Sodom of old. But a single praying 
 man resided in the community, and he had been 
 nicknamed "Lot." Finney was invited to preach at 
 "Sodom" and without knowing the circumstances, 
 by a strange coincidence he selected as his text, 
 "Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will 
 destroy the city." He vividly described the condi- 
 tion of Sodom, its wickedness and the urgency with 
 which Lot was entreated to escape. His auditors 
 supposing him to be offensively personal were bit- 
 terly enraged against him. In concluding his dis- 
 course he said that he understood that they had 
 never had a religious meeting in the place before, 
 so he inferred that it must be a very ungodly com- 
 munity. Taking this as the ground for his appeal 
 and urging immediate repentance, his remarks trans- 
 formed their anger into conviction, which became 
 so intense and powerful that the congregation began 
 
128 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 to fall on their knees and cry for mercy. This, of 
 course, brought an end to the sermon. Finney asked 
 the old man called "Lot" to lead in prayer, but his 
 stentorian voice was lost amid the cries and groans 
 of agony on the part of the distressed congregation. 
 Every one seemed to be praying for himself. Hav- 
 ing an appointment elsewhere that evening, the 
 preacher gave such directions as he could and left 
 the service in the hands of "Lot." So deep was the 
 interest that the meeting lasted all night and in the 
 morning some who had not yet found peace 
 were removed from the school-house to a private 
 dwelling. The revival was as powerful as it was 
 remarkable, and from that day "Sodom" was a trans- 
 formed community. The work was permanent and 
 genuine, never to Finney's knowledge having been 
 followed by any unfavorable reaction. Other neigh- 
 borhoods were visited with gracious revivals and a 
 strong church was built up at Antwerp, which has 
 enjoyed a prosperous history down to the present 
 day. 
 
 In the spring of 1825, while on his way to White- 
 stone, Oneida County, to get his wife whom he had 
 married the October previous and from whom he 
 had been separated all winter on account of the 
 stress of his work, he stopped at Le Rayville to have 
 his horse shod. The people on learning of his pres- 
 ence begged him to make an appointment to preach 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 129 
 
 at one o'clock that afternoon in the school-house as 
 there was no church edifice in the place. This he 
 consented to do and arrangements were made for the 
 service. The house was packed and such was the 
 interest that he decided to remain that night and 
 preach again. The interest increasing at this ser- 
 vice, he made arrangements with one of the brethren 
 to take his horse and cutter and go after his wife, 
 while he continued the services at Le Rayville, where 
 a remarkable work of grace was wrought, which 
 extended over into the adjoining town of Rut- 
 land. 
 
 Some time previous to this Finney had had a pre- 
 monition that it was his duty to visit Gouverneur, 
 where considerable opposition had been manifested 
 towards his work at Antwerp. This conviction 
 having deepened, at the close of his labors at Le Ray- 
 ville he decided to go to Gouverneur, where a 
 remarkable revival resulted from his earnest presen- 
 tation of gospel truth. 
 
 Associated with Mr. Finney at Gouverneur was 
 the celebrated "Father" Nash, a Presbyterian 
 clergyman, whom he had first met at the presbytery 
 which granted him license to preach. Father Nash 
 was in a low spiritual state at that time, but in a 
 subsequent illness, to use Finney's language, the 
 Lord had given him "a terrible overhauling in his 
 whole Christian experience." Upon recovery he de- 
 
130 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 voted himself with great earnestness to the salvation 
 of souls. He possessed remarkable power in prayer. 
 It was his habit to make a "praying list," consisting 
 of the names of those for whose salvation he prayed 
 daily and often several times during the day. The 
 answers to these prayers were sometimes almost 
 miraculous, for he did not confine his list to those 
 whom he thought would be reached by the revival, 
 but the most obdurate and unlikely cases were often 
 made the subjects of prayer, with results that were 
 truly astounding. He frequently accompanied Fin- 
 ney in his labors for the purpose of sustaining him 
 in prayer. 
 
 De Kalb was next visited. Here a bitter feeling 
 had long existed between the Methodists and the 
 Presbyterians. It seems that a few years before 
 the Methodists had enjoyed a revival in which there 
 were several cases of "falling under the power of 
 God." This had awakened an opposition on the part 
 of the Presbyterians. After Finney had commenced 
 his labors, there were a number of instances of 
 "falling under the power of God." Strange as it 
 may appear all who fell "under the power" were 
 Presbyterians. This led to such confessions and ex- 
 planations that a mutual conciliation was effected. 
 Numbers were converted during this revival, and so 
 powerful was its influence that it extended as far 
 as Ogdensburg, sixteen miles distant. 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 131 
 
 Leaving De Kalb, Mr. Finney, accompanied by 
 his wife, went early in October, 1825, to Utica to 
 attend the synod of which he was a member. On his 
 return to St. Lawrence County, he was met by 
 Rev. G. W. Gale, his former pastor and theological 
 instructor, who on account of ill health had retired 
 temporarily from the ministry and was then residing 
 on a farm in the town of Western, Oneida County. 
 He importuned him to turn aside and visit him. He 
 was also urged to remain and preach the following 
 Sunday, to which he gave consent. The Presby- 
 terian church was pastorless and in a low state 
 spiritually. The interest was sc great on Sunday 
 that various meetings were appointed at surround- 
 ing school-houses during the week. In the mean- 
 while the evangelist was greatly exercised in prayer. 
 Others, he found, were in the same state of mind. 
 A Mrs. H , a frail delicate woman, was so exer- 
 cised that her husband became alarmed about her 
 condition. The following week Mr. Finney called, 
 and at the sound of his voice she entered the room 
 and with a face lit up with a heavenly radiance, ex- 
 claimed, "Brother Finney, the Lord has come! This 
 work will spread over all this region! A cloud of 
 mercy overhangs us all; and we shall see such a 
 work of grace as we have never yet seen." To her 
 husband this was unintelligible, but to Finney it was 
 an evidence of the victory of prevailing prayer. The 
 
132 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 revival spread in all directions to the outlying dis- 
 tricts and extended towards Rome and Utica. 
 
 While the revival at Western was still in progress, 
 Rev. Moses Gillet, pastor of the Congregational 
 church at Rome, proposed an exchange with Mr. 
 Finney, who gave a reluctant consent. As the Sab- 
 bath approached, he regretted the arrangement, fear- 
 ing lest the work at Western should be retarded 
 thereby. He went, however, and preached three ser- 
 mons on the Sabbath day with marked effect. The 
 following day, Mr. Gillet appointed an inquiry 
 meeting, without announcing that Mr. Finney would 
 be present, although it was privately arranged that 
 he should be in attendance at the service. The meet- 
 ing was largely attended, many of the most intelli- 
 gent and influential persons in the community 
 being present. The interest was so deep that there 
 was imminent danger of an outburst of feeling. 
 This Mr. Finney sought to avoid. In language 
 plain but forcible he directed them to Christ as their 
 only Saviour. Following his remarks he prayed in 
 a low, unimpassioned voice, and then dismissed them 
 with the caution that all should go home in silence. 
 At this juncture a young man who was present 
 fainted and there was danger of others doing the 
 same. Finney thereupon requested that the door 
 should be thrown open and that all should retire at 
 once. Shrieking was thus avoided, but the sighs 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 133 
 
 and sobs of the convicted could be heard until they 
 reached the street. 
 
 The next morning at daybreak there were numer- 
 ous calls for Mr. Finney and Mr. Gillet. After 
 breakfast they set out, and whenever they would 
 enter a house, the neighbors would rush in from all 
 sides to inquire the way of salvation. So great was 
 the interest that it seemed best to appoint a public 
 meeting of inquiry that afternoon. The house was 
 filled to overflowing. That night Finney preached 
 again and for a space of three weeks the services con- 
 tinued. Outlying districts were reached and large 
 numbers were converted. In the village of Rome 
 nearly every one of the lawyers, physicians, mer- 
 chants and principal men were brought into the 
 churches and it was estimated that five hundred per- 
 sons were converted during Mr. Finney's stay. 
 
 Up to this time Mr. Finney's work had only at- 
 tracted a local attention. But the revival at Rome 
 may be regarded as the commencement of a new era. 
 His earlier labors had been in "home missionary" 
 territory, but from this time he was to assume the 
 more important role of a general revivalist. For this 
 work he was eminently fitted by nature, and his 
 earlier labors had served as a providential prepara- 
 tion to introduce him to larger spheres of usefulness. 
 
 While the revival at Rome was still in progress 
 Mr. Finney received an invitation from Dr. Aiken 
 
134 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 of Utica to attend the funeral of a prominent elder 
 in his church. Such an interest manifesting itself 
 on this occasion he was invited to remain. A spirit 
 of prayer had come upon some of the members of the 
 congregation, one woman in particular being so ex- 
 ercised that she could not rest unless she was praying 
 for the conversion of her friends and neighbors. 
 This the revivalist took as an indication that the 
 revival had already commenced in this good 
 woman's heart, and as soon as he could, he made 
 arrangements to transfer the field of his operations 
 from Rome to Utica. Within a short time a power- 
 ful revival was effected, during the progress of 
 which more than five hundred persons were con- 
 verted. From Rome and Utica the influence of the 
 revival extended to surrounding places, to many of 
 which Mr. Finney paid brief visits. In a report to 
 the presbytery it was estimated that there had been 
 three thousand conversions as a result of these 
 revivals. 
 
 Two noteworthy incidents characterized the work 
 at Utica. While the revival was in progress, the 
 Oneida Presbytery convened with the church in that 
 city. Among its members were some who strongly 
 opposed revivals. An aged Scotch minister in 
 particular made a violent speech, denouncing such 
 efforts. His untimely words greatly shocked many 
 who were present. Fearing the ill-consequences 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 135 
 
 which might arise, several gave themselves to prayer 
 that God might counteract the effects of that speech. 
 The next morning the man was found dead in 
 his bed. 
 
 On visiting a neighboring village to preach one 
 evening, the following morning Mr. Finney was 
 invited to look through a large cotton manufactory 
 in the place. The operatives seemed greatly agi- 
 tated. On entering a large room where a number of 
 young women were employed, a girl who was trying 
 to mend a broken thread burst into tears as he 
 passed by. At the sight of her tears others were 
 similarly affected, whereupon the proprietor, al- 
 though not a Christian himself, gave orders to the 
 superintendent to "stop the mill, and let the people 
 attend to religion ; for it is more important that our 
 souls should be saved than that this factory run." 
 Within a few days nearly all in the mill were con- 
 verted. 
 
 During the summer of 1826 Mr. Finney was in- 
 vited to preach at Auburn. Notwithstanding a 
 great deal of opposition a revival was effected which 
 was quite as remarkable as any yet recorded. The 
 work spread in various directions, extending as far 
 as Skaneateles and Cayuga. The opposition at 
 Auburn, however, took such a violent turn, that 
 many of the prominent men in Dr. Lansing's church, 
 where Mr. Finney was laboring, withdrew from the 
 
136 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 congregation and organized a new church. Most of 
 them were unconverted, and it is interesting to note 
 that in 183.1, while Mr. Finney was temporarily de- 
 tained at Auburn on account of illness, a petition 
 was signed by these very men, requesting him to 
 remain at Auburn and conduct a revival in their 
 church. In the petition a note was made of their 
 former opposition, but they besought him to over- 
 look it and preach the gospel to them. In response 
 to their request he remained, with the result that 
 nearly all who formerly had so violently opposed 
 him were converted. 
 
 From Auburn the revivalist went to Troy and 
 thence to New Lebanon. For some time there had 
 been a growing opposition to the methods and work 
 of Mr. Finney. This had resulted chiefly from the 
 exaggerated statements sent to the religious press 
 by his enemies. On account of these exaggerations, 
 many of the eminent friends of revivals in New Eng- 
 land, such as Dr. Lyman Beecher, Dr. Asahel Net- 
 tleton, Dr. Joel Hawes of Hartford, President 
 Heman Humphrey of Amherst College and others, 
 became outspoken in their opposition to Mr. Finney, 
 for they believed in all sincerity that the methods and 
 measures attributed to him would work serious 
 injury to all genuine religious awakenings. As a 
 matter of fact the allegations which had been 
 brought against Mr. Finney and his work were un- 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 137 
 
 true. The opposition, however, culminated in a 
 convention held at New Lebanon, N. Y., in July, 
 1827. A series of resolutions were passed con- 
 demning the measures of which Mr. Finney and his 
 friends had been accused. In view of the fact that he 
 had never used such measures, Mr. Finney inquired 
 the purpose of the resolutions. Dr. Beecher replied 
 that they were merely prospective and calculated to 
 guard against possible abuses in the future. With 
 this understanding Mr. Finney gave approbation to 
 the resolutions, which were unanimously adopted. 
 Not satisfied, however, some of his enemies endeav- 
 ored to construe this action as a triumph over him. 
 The opposition, which did not at once subside, prob- 
 ably interfered somewhat with Mr. Finney's useful- 
 ness for a time,, but in the end it brought him into 
 greater prominence before the church as a revivalist 
 and tended no doubt to prevent excesses which 
 might have arisen. 
 
 Although the convention was characterized by 
 more or less acerbity of feeling, it did not seriously 
 affect the work then in progress. From New 
 Lebanon the revival extended to Stephentown, 
 which for a time engrossed the attention of the revi- 
 valist. In all of these places — at Troy, at Lebanon, 
 and at Stephentown, conversions were numerous 
 and lasting effects for good were accomplished. 
 
 While Mr. Finney was laboring at New Lebanon, 
 
138 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Gilbert of Wilmington, Del., paid a visit to 
 his father at that place. So deeply impressed was 
 he with Mr. Finney's work, that he gave him an 
 urgent invitation to assist him in similar efforts at 
 Wilmington. As soon as he could terminate his 
 labors at Stephentown he accepted the invitation. 
 From Wilmington he was invited to Philadelphia. 
 At first he preached there twice a week, but the 
 interest was such that he decided to devote his whole 
 time to that place. After preaching at nearly all of 
 the Presbyterian churches in the city it was thought 
 best to concentrate his efforts in some one church 
 centrally located. For this purpose a large German 
 church was placed at his disposal in the heart of the 
 city. Here he labored for many months, his congre- 
 gations often numbering three thousand persons or 
 more. Multitudes were converted and the influence 
 of his work was felt in every quarter of the city. 
 Mr. Finney was thus employed in Philadelphia, un- 
 til the winter of 1829- 1830, having spent in all a 
 year and a half in the city. 
 
 In the spring of 1829, while the revival at Phila- 
 delphia was still in progress, some lumbermen, who 
 had come down the Delaware River with their rafts 
 of lumber, attended Finney's meetings. Several of 
 these men were converted and on their return to the 
 lumber regions they made known the saving power 
 of the gospel. As a consequence a revival com- 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 139 
 
 menced which extended along- the river for eighty 
 miles, and although there was no minister among 
 them, within a space of two years fully five thousand 
 conversions were reported. 
 
 Upon leaving Philadelphia, Mr. Finney visited in 
 succession Reading and Lancaster, Pa., and Colum- 
 bia, N. Y. Showers of refreshing grace attended 
 his labors and conversions multiplied on every hand. 
 
 During the autumn of 1830, while on a visit to 
 Whitestone, N. Y., he was invited by Anson G. 
 Phelps, the philanthropist, to labor in New York 
 City. With a great deal of reluctance he accepted 
 the invitation. A vacant Presbyterian church was 
 rented on Vandewater Street, at Mr. Phelps' ex- 
 pense, but as it could be procured but for three 
 months, at the expiration of that time a Universalist 
 church on Prince Street was purchased for his use 
 by Mr. Phelps. Here he labored for many months 
 with marked success, and as the outgrowth of his 
 efforts the First Free Presbyterian Church (so- 
 called because of its free pews) was organized. 
 
 In the summer of 1831, while again visiting 
 Whitestone, Mr. Finney received an urgent invita- 
 tion to supply for a time the Third Presbyterian 
 Church at Rochester. At first he was indisposed to 
 accept the invitation. The church was in a low state 
 spiritually and a spirit of dissension seemed to pre- 
 vail among the Presbyterian churches of the city. 
 
140 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 On consulting some of his friends at Utica, in whose 
 judgment he had great confidence, he found that 
 their views coincided with his own and he resolved 
 not to go. A further and more mature considera- 
 tion of the project convinced him that the very 
 reasons for which he held back, after all were the 
 very reasons why he should go. So he went against 
 his own earlier impressions and the wishes of his 
 friends at Utica. A most remarkable awakening 
 followed. At that time Rochester numbered but ten 
 thousand inhabitants and yet in the neighborhood of 
 a thousand conversions were enumerated. All of 
 the churches in the city shared in this gracious visi- 
 tation. During that year more than twelve hun- 
 dred members were added to the churches within 
 the bounds of the Rochester Presbytery, and other 
 denominations shared in the results of the re- 
 vival. 
 
 Mr. Finney conducted two subsequent series of 
 meetings in Rochester. In 1842 while on his way to 
 Oberlin from Providence, R. I., he stopped in the 
 city for a day or two's rest before proceeding fur- 
 ther. As soon as it became known that he was in 
 the city he was besieged with numerous invitations 
 to preach. Among the earliest to approach him was 
 a judge of the highest court in the State, who as yet 
 was not converted. A little later the leading lights 
 of the legal fraternity united in a petition, requesting 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 141 
 
 him to give a course of lectures adapted to the needs 
 of lawyers. This Finney readily consented to do. 
 As a result this prominent judge was converted, and 
 so great was the influence of his example in going 
 to the anxious seat that the lawyers rose up almost 
 en masse, crowded into the aisles and made use of all 
 the available space at the front, kneeling wherever 
 they could. The influence of this revival was far- 
 reaching, extending to the various churches in the 
 city. In one of the leading Episcopalian churches, 
 seventy prominent members of the congregation were 
 confirmed, nearly all of whom had been converted 
 under Mr. Finney's preaching. During Mr. Fin- 
 ney's labors, another revival was in progress under 
 the leadership of Rev. Jedediah Burchard, but as 
 greatly different classes were reached by these men, 
 the results of this double spiritual visitation were 
 highly beneficial to the city. 
 
 During the winter of 185 5- 1856 Mr. Finney was 
 again invited to Rochester. A short time after his 
 arrival he was petitioned to give another course of 
 lectures to lawyers. He complied with the request, 
 with results similar to his preceding visit. This 
 revival was quite as marked as the two former ones. 
 There were many notable conversions, including 
 some of the most prominent personages of the city. 
 Of these revivals Mr. Finney said : "What was 
 quite remarkable in the three revivals that I have 
 
142 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 witnessed in Rochester, they all commenced and 
 made their first progress among the higher classes 
 of society, which was very favorable to the general 
 spread of the work, and to the overcoming of oppo- 
 sition." 
 
 But of these three revivals none was more re- 
 markable than that first great revival of 1831. The 
 moral atmosphere of the city was greatly changed. 
 Grog shops were closed. Crime decreased and for 
 years afterwards the jail was nearly empty. The 
 only theater in the city was converted into a livery 
 stable and the only circus into a soap and candle 
 factory. A large number of men prominent in busi- 
 ness and social life were brought into the churches. 
 It was estimated that forty promising young men, 
 who had been converted in that revival, entered the 
 ministry. Not only was Rochester and the sur- 
 rounding country greatly moved, but the influence 
 of that revival was felt throughout the length and 
 breadth of the land, even extending across the water 
 to England. One of the most widespread revivals 
 that this country has ever witnessed was inaugurated 
 thereby. Dr. Lyman Beecher afterwards spoke of 
 this revival as "the greatest work of God, and the 
 greatest revival of religion that the world has ever 
 seen in so short a time. One hundred thousand 
 were reported as having connected themselves with 
 the churches, as the result of that great revival, and 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 143 
 
 this is unparalleled in the history of the church, and 
 of the progress of religion."* 
 
 After leaving Rochester, as heretofore stated, Mr. 
 Finney conducted a second series of meetings at 
 Auburn, in the course of which more than five hun- 
 dred persons were converted. Both at Rochester 
 and at Auburn, Mr. Abel Clary, a ministerial licen- 
 tiate, was present to aid in the work. Like Father 
 Nash, Clary was a man mightily given to 
 prayer. He never attended the public services, 
 but while Finney was preaching, he was apart 
 by himself agonizing and praying for an out- 
 pouring of the Spirit of God and the salvation of 
 souls. 
 
 Buffalo and Providence were next visited with 
 showers of blessing under the great revivalist's work. 
 While laboring at Providence he received an invita- 
 tion from the Congregational ministers of Boston, 
 Mass., to conduct services in that city. It is interest- 
 ing to note that Lyman Beecher who four years 
 before had said: "Finney, I know your plan, and 
 you know I do; you mean to come to Connecticut 
 and carry a streak of fire to Boston. But if you 
 attempt it, as the Lord liveth, I'll meet you at the 
 state line, and call out all the artillerymen, and fight 
 every inch of the way to Boston, and then I'll fight 
 you there/' now received him with great cordiality. 
 
 * Finney's Autobiography, p. 300. 
 
144 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 The opposition which had culminated in the New 
 Lebanon Convention was now a thing of the past 
 and Mr. Finney's services were sought on all sides. 
 In Boston, on account of the influence of Unitarian- 
 ism, the revival was not so extensive as elsewhere, 
 notwithstanding which there were many notable con- 
 versions. Mr. Finney conducted four subsequent 
 revivals in Boston, in 1842, 1843, I ^56 and 1857. 
 The first and second of these were conducted in 
 Marlborough Chapel and the last two in the Park 
 Street Church. All of these revivals were quite ex- 
 tensive and conversions were numerous. 
 
 In 1832 Mr. Finney again went to New York 
 City, where he labored at the Chatham Street Thea- 
 ter, which had been fitted up by Mr. Lewis Tappan 
 and others for church purposes, and Mr. Finney was 
 installed as its pastor. On recovering from a serious 
 illness, he inaugurated a revival movement, preach- 
 ing nightly for twenty evenings, during which more 
 than five hundred persons were converted. Owing 
 to ill-health, the number of meetings was then 
 diminished, but the revival continued for a space of 
 two years, and as a result seven new churches were 
 organized. A growing dissatisfaction with the cen- 
 tralized polity of the Presbyterians induced Mr. 
 Finney and his friends to organize a Congregational 
 Church, for which the Broadway Tabernacle was 
 constructed. 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 145 
 
 In 1834 on account of continued ill-health, Mr. 
 Finney took a trip to the Mediterranean. An ab- 
 sence of six months found him but little improved. 
 On his homeward voyage he was greatly exercised 
 in mind over the question of revivals in America. 
 After wrestling long in prayer he was comforted 
 with the assurance that the Lord would strengthen 
 him and that all would yet be well. On his arrival at 
 New York he resumed his labors at Broadway Tab- 
 ernacle, with the result that almost immediately a 
 revival of great power commenced, which continued 
 during the remainder of his pastorate. 
 
 It was after his return to New York that he 
 delivered his celebrated lectures on revivals. These 
 lectures were first published in the New York 
 Evangelist, which had been established in 1830 to 
 promote and extend the revivals in which he had 
 engaged. During his absence abroad, its editor had 
 well-nigh destroyed the usefulness of the paper by 
 his injudicious attacks upon slavery. Mr. Finney 
 was an anti-slavery man, but he did not sympathize 
 with extreme or ultra-radical views. In order to 
 strengthen the paper these lectures, as delivered to 
 his own congregation, were reported and printed in 
 the Evangelist. Almost like magic the subscriptions 
 began to pour in and the paper soon regained its 
 former influence. The lectures were then published 
 in book form and received an enormous circulation, 
 
146 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 the first American edition of 12,000 copies being 
 sold as rapidly as they could be printed. Large edi- 
 tions were published in England and the work was 
 translated into foreign languages, and thus it be- 
 came instrumental in promoting revivals throughout 
 the world. 
 
 In 1835 Mr. Finney accepted the professorship of 
 theology at Oberlin. It was his purpose to spend 
 but a portion of his time at Oberlin, devoting the 
 balance to Broadway Tabernacle and to revival 
 work. For two or three winters he returned to New 
 York and on other occasions labored elsewhere. 
 Reference has already been made to his subsequent 
 efforts in Rochester and Boston. It also remains 
 to be said that in connection with his duties at Ober- 
 lin, he conducted extensive revivals in Providence, 
 R. I., Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio; Detroit and 
 elsewhere in Michigan; Western, Rome and Syra- 
 cuse, N. Y. ; and at Hartford, Conn. During the 
 years 1 849-1 851 he spent eighteen months in Eng- 
 land, devoting nine months to London alone. In 
 1858 he again went to England, visiting Scotland 
 also. Both of these visits were the occasion of ex- 
 tensive revivals. After i860 his health would not 
 permit him to engage in evangelistic labors away 
 from Oberlin, but in the First Church, of which he 
 continued to be pastor until within three years of 
 his death, his labors were attended with gracious 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 147 
 
 quickenings, the years i860, 1866, and 1867 being 
 characterized by notable ingatherings. 
 
 Mr. Finney's death took place August 16, 1875. 
 He retained his faculties in a remarkable degree to 
 the end. His last day on earth was a quiet Sabbath. 
 At sunset he walked out with his wife to listen to the 
 music at the opening of the evening service in the 
 church nearby. The worshipers were singing, 
 "Jesus, Lover of my Soul." He took up the words 
 and sang with the invisible congregation to the end. 
 That night upon retiring he was seized with pains 
 in the heart and when morning dawned he had 
 joined the choir invisible above. 
 
 Notwithstanding the hue and cry that at one time 
 was made over the methods and measures of Mr. 
 Finney, the means of which he made use for the pro- 
 motion of revivals were neither extravagant nor ex- 
 traordinary. He did not favor multiplying meetings 
 unnecessarily, and advised adding to the Sabbath 
 services only "as many meetings during the week as 
 could well be attended, and yet allow the people to 
 carry forward their necessary worldly business." 
 
 During his first revival at Rochester he first made 
 use of the "anxious seat" as a means to bring out 
 inquirers. The purpose of this measure was to 
 bring the unconverted to an immediate decision as 
 well as to commit themselves publicly to the service 
 of Christ. During his six years' experience as an 
 
148 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 evangelist, he had often felt the need of some such 
 measure, and after the employment of various ex- 
 pedients, the "anxious seat" commended itself to his 
 judgment as a means for the accomplishment of the 
 end desired. Thereafter he made use of the "anx- 
 ious seat" in his services, except in rare instances, 
 where through deference to local usages, it seemed 
 advisable to do otherwise. 
 
 Mr. Finney's preaching was peculiarly adapted to 
 meet the requirements of the age in which he lived. 
 The Calvinistic teachings of God's sovereignty, 
 man's inability, divine election, etc., had been so 
 emphasized as to lead to a sort of fatalism. Men 
 were taught that they could do nothing to save them- 
 selves, they must wait God's time; if he chose to save 
 them he would do so, otherwise they would perish. 
 If they were of the elect, in due time the Holy Spirit 
 would convert them, but if they were of the non- 
 elect, nothing they could do of themselves, nothing 
 any one else could do for them would avail for their 
 salvation. In consequence of such teachings an 
 alarming indifference to religion was prevalent. The 
 current doctrines were made a pretext for neglecting 
 the claims of the gospel. When approached upon 
 the subject of religion, the unconverted would reply: 
 "If we are to be saved, we shall be saved ; but if we 
 are to be lost, we shall be lost." Sin, moreover, was 
 taught as an inheritance of Adam. Men were not 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 149 
 
 sinners by choice but by birth, and hence in many 
 quarters sin came to be regarded as a calamity, for 
 which man was in no wise responsible, and sinners 
 consequently were to be pitied rather than blamed. 
 
 In contradistinction to these conceptions Mr. Fin- 
 ney taught that men were responsible for their sins; 
 they were sinners because they chose to be ; the con- 
 sequences of sin would overtake them, not on account 
 of any inherited predisposition to sin, but because of 
 their self-determined transgression of God's law, 
 and their rebellion towards him and his government ; 
 instead of waiting God's time he exhorted men to 
 immediate repentance ; God had commanded them to 
 repent, and God's command implied man's ability to 
 do so; instead of being unable to do anything of 
 themselves, sinners were required to make for them- 
 selves new hearts by meeting the requirements of the 
 Scriptures and making use of the provisions of the 
 gospel. In all of these teachings Mr. Finney did 
 not overlook the agency of the Holy Spirit. It was 
 the work of the Spirit to reprove the world of sin, 
 of righteousness, and of judgment. But, he insisted, 
 the Holy Spirit works through means and instru- 
 mentalities, and if these are made use of as pre- 
 scribed by the Word of God, the Holy Spirit will 
 use them in the conversion of men. 
 
 The enemies of Mr. Finney industriously sought 
 to give the impression that the revivals identified 
 
150 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 with his name were neither deep nor lasting, but 
 those who were best acquainted with his work have 
 given ample proof of its permanency and power. 
 While there were doubtless some among the vast 
 numbers who were converted under his ministry who 
 made a shipwreck of faith, and it would have been 
 strange if there were not, it is nevertheless true that 
 the vast majority who were converted under his 
 preaching were true to their profession, and gave 
 abundant evidence in their subsequent lives of a 
 thorough change of heart. 
 
 It is impossible to estimate with accuracy the 
 results of such a life as that of Charles G. Finney. 
 As a revivalist, as a theologian, and as president of 
 Oberlin College, he left the impress of his character 
 upon thousands of lives and contributed not a little 
 towards fashioning and shaping the Christianity of 
 the American Republic, especially in the northern 
 States, east of the Mississippi River. Dr. Cuyler 
 said of him, that he probably led more souls to Jesus 
 than any man of the nineteenth century. In round 
 numbers it has been estimated that five hundred 
 thousand persons were converted through his instru- 
 mentality. In addition to his personal labors, his 
 published sermons, Revival Lectures, Autobiog- 
 raphy, and other works were not only effective in the 
 promotion of revivals but in the conversion of many. 
 As a theological professor his influence was felt far 
 
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY. 151 
 
 and wide through the young theologues whom he 
 had helped to equip for their work and who went out 
 from the halls of Oberlin to preach the gospel and 
 promote revivals in the fields whithersoever they had 
 been called. During his long connection with the 
 college as president and professor, Mr. Finney had 
 helped to mould the lives and characters of fully 
 twenty thousand students, who went forth to influ- 
 ence society and bless the world. Thus we see how 
 impossible it is to estimate the influence of such a 
 life, an influence which is likely to abide for all time 
 to come, and the full measure of which eternity alone 
 can reveal. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 DENOMINATIONAL MOVEMENTS I THE CONGREGA- 
 TIONALISTS AND PRESBYTERIANS CONCLUDED. 
 
 Edward Norris Kirk, the Chrysostom of Ameri- 
 can evangelists, was born in New York City, August 
 14, 1802. His father was a merchant in moderate 
 circumstances, and Edward's boyhood alternated be- 
 tween his father's home in the city and the home of 
 an aunt at Princeton, N. J. The early influences 
 with which he was surrounded were decidedly relig- 
 ious, but the temptations of a great city were attrac- 
 tive, and although he was by no means vicious, the 
 boy was inclined to be wayward and intractable. In 
 later years the memory of his youthful follies was 
 invariably accompanied with the pangs of remorse. 
 At the age of fifteen he entered the sophomore class 
 of Princeton College. As a student he was distin- 
 guished neither for his scholarly attainments nor 
 for his devotion to the pursuit of knowledge, but in 
 due time he graduated at the early age of eighteen. 
 
 On his return to New York he entered the office 
 of Radcliffe and Mason, where for two years he 
 
CONGREGATIONALISTS. 153 
 
 engaged in the study of law. During this period he 
 was a member of a debating club, the purpose of 
 which was the cultivation of public speaking, and 
 which numbered among its members William H. 
 Seward, Richard V. Dey, and others who subse- 
 quently attained to prominence in public life. 
 
 This debating club was the only incident in his 
 life as a law student which seemed to give any 
 promise of the future. Otherwise his life was 
 wasted in dissipation and sin. He said : "Creed, 
 political, social, religious, I had none; whatever I 
 had might be thus expressed — 'Man's chief end is 
 to have a good time;' and I carried out my creed 
 with great consistency." If anything he seemed to 
 have an aversion to religion and was displeased at 
 the mere mention of it. The conversion of some of 
 his college friends, however, affected him pro- 
 foundly, but it was not until the commencement of 
 the year 1822 that his mind was seriously drawn to 
 the things of God. A copy of John Foster's "Essay 
 on Decision of Character" placed in his hands by a 
 friend, led to serious contemplation, and a few 
 months later, through the influence of some young 
 men's meetings conducted by Jared Waterbury, he 
 was led to give his heart to God. 
 
 His conversion became the turning point of his 
 career. The following fall he entered Princeton 
 Theological Seminary, where for four years he gave 
 
154 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 himself to earnest work in preparation for the 
 Christian ministry. In June, 1826, he was licensed 
 by the Presbytery to preach the gospel, and the next 
 two years were spent as an agent of the American 
 Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. In 
 the prosecution of his duties he visited the Southern 
 and Middle States, meeting with considerable oppo- 
 sition, because the real value of missions was not yet 
 appreciated and they were often looked upon as 
 needless and useless. The experience was a valuable 
 one, however, although he afterwards had occasion 
 to regret the lack of settled habits which this work 
 fostered. 
 
 In May, 1828, Mr. Kirk accepted an invitation to 
 supply the pulpit of the Second Presbyterian Church 
 at Albany, N. Y., for the summer while its pastor, 
 Dr. Chester, was seeking the recovery of his health. 
 Large and interested congregations flocked to listen 
 to the eloquent young preacher. A few weeks later, 
 when he was obliged to discontinue his labors, be- 
 cause his fidelity to the truth and searching presen- 
 tations of the gospel were not acceptable to certain 
 unconverted members of the congregation, a colony 
 of the spiritually minded withdrew from the mem- 
 bership of the church and formed the Fourth Pres- 
 byterian Church, to the pastorate of which Mr. Kirk 
 was at once called. Revivals crowned his ministry 
 and he became noted far and wide as a revival 
 
PRESBYTERIANS. 155 
 
 preacher, so that his services were frequently called 
 into requisition by neighboring pastors to assist 
 them in protracted efforts. In 1837, after a ministry 
 of more than eight years, Mr. Kirk resigned his pas- 
 torate. During these years there had been more 
 than a thousand accessions to his church, while he 
 had found time also to assist other churches in sus- 
 taining more than thirty revivals, during the prog- 
 ress of which multitudes were converted. 
 
 In 1839, after an absence of two years abroad, Mr. 
 Kirk entered the evangelistic field. During the suc- 
 ceeding months he labored at many of the principal 
 cities of the Eastern and New England States, in- 
 cluding Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, New 
 Haven, Hartford, and Boston. In the latter place 
 he conducted three different revivals during the two 
 years in which he labored as an evangelist. In this 
 work he was eminently successful, and many were 
 converted under his labors. 
 
 Early in 1842 Mr. Kirk accepted a call to the 
 newly formed Mt. Vernon Church of Boston and 
 commenced an evangelistic ministry which continued 
 for more than thirty years. Not a year passed dur- 
 ing all that time but what additions were made to 
 the church on confession of faith, amounting in the 
 aggregate to nearly seven hundred persons. Among 
 those who united on confession of faith was one 
 destined in after vears to lead multitudes in this and 
 
156 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 other lands to a knowledge of salvation — Dwight 
 Lyman Moody — who was won to Christ through the 
 faithful efforts of his Sunday School teacher, and 
 who after a period of probation was admitted to the 
 membership of the church. 
 
 Dr. Kirk never lost his interest in revivals and re- 
 vival movements. During the winter of 1868 he 
 delivered a series of lectures upon revivals before the 
 students of Andover Theological Seminary. These 
 lectures were afterwards published in book form and 
 received a wide circulation. 
 
 On March 27, 1874, Dr. Kirk passed on to his 
 reward, in the seventy-second year of his life and 
 after a ministry of nearly fifty years. Dr. Kirk was 
 an ideal evangelist for a cultured community. His 
 sermons, while scholarly and polished, were search- 
 ing in their analysis and powerful in their appeal to 
 the human heart. Early in life he preached extem- 
 poraneously and with great fervor, but on assuming 
 the duties of his Boston pastorate, he adopted the 
 written style, which he continued to the last. But 
 whether his language was formed in the glow of 
 delivery or in the quiet of his study, he was the same 
 man of power, the same man of prayer. 
 
 Rev. Daniel Baker, D.D., an eminent evangelist 
 of the Old School Presbyterians, was born of Con- 
 gregational parentage at Midway, Ga., August 17, 
 1 79 1. His mother dying in his infancy, he was left 
 
CONGREGATIONALISTS. 1 57 
 
 an orphan at the age of eight by the death of his 
 father. As a child he was subject to profound relig- 
 ious impressions and at an early age was converted. 
 Soon afterwards he found employment at Savannah, 
 but under the stress of temptations which he there 
 met, for a time his religious experience underwent a 
 cloud, although he often suffered from the stings of 
 conscience and the pangs of bitter remorse. Learn- 
 ing that provision had been made at Hampden Syd- 
 ney College for the support of young men having 
 the ministry in view, he determined to avail himself 
 of its privileges and prepare himself for that high 
 calling. In the summer of 181 1 he matriculated and 
 soon after united with the college church. Owing to 
 the distractions of the War of 18 12, he remained at 
 Hampden Sydney but a short time, going thence 
 with other students to Princeton, where he entered 
 the junior class in the winter session of 18 13. 
 
 For a period of forty years Nassau Hall had been 
 without a revival. Young Baker with three pious 
 companions, thinking that something ought to be 
 done for their unconverted fellow-students, estab- 
 lished a weekly prayer-meeting to offer up special 
 prayer for a revival of religion in the college. This 
 was kept up for some time without results. Finally 
 upon a fast day, Baker proposed to his room-mate 
 that they go from room to room and endeavor to 
 "break the bands of wickedness," which at length 
 
158 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 was agreed upon. That very day some six or eight 
 of the students thus visited were converted and a 
 revival of religion was inaugurated, which in the 
 course of a few weeks resulted in the conversion of 
 nearly half of the students then at Princeton. When 
 the report of this quickening was noised abroad it 
 gave a powerful impulse to revivals elsewhere. 
 
 In 1815, having graduated from Princeton with 
 honors, he decided to study theology privately at 
 Winchester, Va., assisting in a Female Academy at 
 the same time. The next few years thereafter were 
 spent in the pastorate at Harrisonburg, Va., Wash- 
 ington, D. C, and at Savannah, Ga., in all of which 
 there were fruitful revivals under his ministry. 
 
 During a great revival at Beaufort, which he con- 
 ducted while pastor at Savannah, and during the 
 progress of which more than three hundred persons 
 were converted, he decided to enter the evangelistic 
 field and was accordingly appointed a missionary by 
 the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia. He 
 entered upon his new duties in 1831, conducting pro- 
 tracted meetings at various places in the States men- 
 tioned and also in North Carolina and Florida. The 
 year following was spent in similar work in Vir- 
 ginia, after which he took up his residence in Ohio, 
 where he expected to find a permanent home. Al- 
 though he was not a pro-slavery man, nor at the 
 same time an abolitionist, the distractions over the 
 
PRESBYTERIANS. 159 
 
 slavery question were so irritating to him that 
 he abandoned his purpose and removed to Ken- 
 tucky. 
 
 After spending some time in the pastorate at 
 Frankfort, Ky., and Tuscaloosa, Ala., in the autumn 
 of 1839 he accepted an appointment as missionary 
 to the Republic of Texas. Along the line of his 
 journey he conducted protracted meetings at several 
 places with happy results. Reaching Texas early in 
 1840 he spent several months in missionary labors, 
 which while of a pioneei character were not unpro- 
 ductive of good. 
 
 Later that same year he accepted a call to the 
 church at Holly Springs, Miss., where he remained 
 until June, 1848, when he again went to Texas, for 
 the spiritual upbuilding of which he devoted the re- 
 mainder of his life. While traveling as general mis- 
 sionary he visited Huntsville in August, 1849. So 
 favorably was he impressed with the location that 
 he broached to the citizens the propriety of establish- 
 ing there a Presbyterian College. Eight thousand 
 dollars were at once subscribed and the enterprise 
 was inaugurated. The institution was named Aus- 
 tin College in honor of the great Texan pioneer. 
 During the balance of his life, until his death, 
 December 10, 1857, Dr. Baker was identified with 
 Austin College, either as its president or financial 
 agent. He visited various portions of the country in 
 
160 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 its behalf, soliciting funds for its maintenance and 
 endowment. In the midst of these arduous labors 
 he always had the salvation of men at heart, and in 
 his visits to various communities, it was no infre- 
 quent thing for him to tarry a few days and engage 
 in revivalistic labors, which invariably were produc- 
 tive of good. 
 
 Although Dr. Baker's distinctively evangelistic 
 work was confined to but a short period of his life, 
 his energies at all times were devoted to the conver- 
 sion of men. Whether laboring as pastor, revivalist, 
 missionary, college agent or president, Dr. Baker 
 was a soul winner. During his long public life it was 
 estimated that twenty thousand persons were influ- 
 enced through his instrumentality to embrace the 
 Christian faith, including many who afterwards be- 
 came ministers of the gospel in various religious de- 
 nominations. 
 
 Doctrinally Dr. Baker was an Old School Presby- 
 terian and emphasized the distinctive doctrines of 
 the Calvinistic theology, such as the divine sover- 
 eignty, gracious election, total depravity, man's ab- 
 solute inability, vicarious atonement, efficacious 
 grace, and the final perseverance of the saints. 
 
 In his revivalistic labors, Dr. Baker was never ob- 
 trusive, never sought to take the pastor's place, or 
 to set him aside. He always labored under the pas- 
 tor's direction and with his co-operation. It was 
 
CONGREGATIONALISTS. 161 
 
 said of him that he endeavored to follow but not to 
 outrun the indications of the Spirit of God. In his 
 efforts he made use of the customary methods of the 
 time, such as the anxious seat, inquiry meetings, etc., 
 and strongly insisted upon the prayer of faith. 
 
 Of others who labored in Congregational and 
 Presbyterian circles mention must be made of Jede- 
 diah Burchard, an eccentric evangelist, who was 
 popular for some years in New York and New Eng- 
 land, and Orson Parker, a wise and discriminating 
 evangelist, who did a pioneer work throughout the 
 newer States of the Middle West, besides numerous 
 evangelistic pastors, such as Lyman Beecher, Albert 
 Barnes, Edward Payson, Joel Parker and a host of 
 others, who labored diligently to promote revivals in 
 their respective fields of labor. 
 
 As a result, during the first half of the nineteenth 
 century revivals were numerous, especially after the 
 War of 1812. In 1 83 1 through the influence of the 
 great revival conducted at Rochester, N. Y., by 
 Charles G. Finney, a revival swept over the United 
 States, in which more than fifteen hundred towns 
 were blessed with showers of refreshing grace and 
 as many more felt the impulse of the movement. 
 The great cities especially were moved, and during 
 the first five months of the revival more than fifty 
 thousand persons were converted. Before the move- 
 ment had spent its force it was estimated that over 
 
1 62 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 one hundred thousand members had been added to 
 the churches. 
 
 During the closing years of the half century reviv- 
 als were less numerous and a period of spiritual 
 stagnation followed, which continued until the Great 
 Revival of 1857. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DENOMINATIONAL MOVEMENTS : THE BAPTISTS. 
 
 Although the Baptists had shared somewhat in 
 the results of the Great Awakening and to no incon- 
 siderable extent in the Awakening of 1800, as a class 
 they did not favor special efforts to promote revivals 
 of religion. The cause is not far to seek. With the 
 exception of the Freewill Baptists, who were Armin- 
 ian in theology and the ardent friends of revivals, the 
 Baptists as a rule were tinctured with the hyper-Cal- 
 vinism of the period, which looked askance upon all 
 human attempts to effect the regeneration of men. 
 God's sovereignty rendered inconsistent any man- 
 made attempts for the salvation of others. It was pre- 
 sumptuous to undertake anything of the kind. Re- 
 generation was a divine work to be wrought inde- 
 pendently of any human agency. The salvation of 
 sinners being determined by God's electing grace, 
 human efforts looking to that end were not only 
 needless but useless. God knew who would or 
 would not be saved, and in his own good time, and 
 in accordance with his own good purposes he would 
 gather the elect into his kingdom. The strength of 
 
1 64 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 the church was to "He still." As might have been 
 expected where such views gained wide acceptance, 
 as they had among many of the Baptists at the com- 
 mencement of the nineteenth century, the churches 
 were at a standstill and in many instances were 
 dying out. Sunday Schools were unknown, mis- 
 sionary activity for the conversion of the heathen 
 was scouted, and schools of theology were looked 
 upon as "minister-making machines." Exceptions 
 there were to be sure, ministers and laymen too who 
 favored missions and revivals, but it was not until 
 the first third of the century had passed that Bap- 
 tists as a class began to be aroused from this state 
 of apathy and opposition to human efforts for the 
 conversion of men. Elders Jacob Knapp and Jabez 
 S. Swan were the pioneer evangelists of the denomi- 
 nation, and through their earnest efforts, greater 
 attention was given to revivals, and the denomina- 
 tion entered upon a new era in the work of evangeli- 
 zation. 
 
 Elder Jacob Knapp was born in Otsego County, 
 N. Y., December 7th, 1799. His parents were 
 Episcopalians, and he was reared in accordance with 
 the principles of that faith. Bereaved of his mother 
 at the age of seventeen, he was led to thoughtful con- 
 templation as to his spiritual state. After a period 
 of introspection followed by profound conviction 
 which threatened his health, he at length found joy 
 
THE BAPTISTS. 165 
 
 and peace in believing. A short time afterwards he 
 witnessed the immersion of some persons who had 
 been converted at a Baptist meeting. Deeply im- 
 pressed by the ceremony, he reached the conclusion 
 that immersion was none other than the baptism of 
 the apostles, but as he was still under age he did not 
 feel at liberty to be immersed against the wishes of 
 his father. Not being able, therefore, to live up to 
 the light as he believed it his religious experience 
 went under a cloud, from which he did not emerge 
 until his immersion two years or more later. 
 
 From this time his religious life became more 
 stable, and on reaching his majority, he resolved to 
 prepare himself for the Baptist ministry. Receiv- 
 ing small encouragement, and attended with difficul- 
 ties and hardships, which would have discouraged a 
 less determined soul, the way was finally opened for 
 him to attend the Hamilton Literary and Theologi- 
 cal Institute, from which he graduated in 1825. 
 During the next eight years he preached at Spring- 
 field and Watertown, N. Y. Numerous conversions 
 attested the faithfulness of his ministry, but he was 
 not satisfied, and as the news of successful protracted 
 efforts reached his ears, he was led to look upon the 
 first eight years of his ministry as comparatively 
 wasted. Duty seemed to be calling elsewhere and he 
 became convinced that he ought to enter the evangel- 
 istic field. 
 
1 66 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 This decision was not reached without a struggle, 
 but finally yielding to the call of duty he bade fare- 
 well to the pastorate in September, 1833, an ^ en- 
 tered his new field of labor. For eighteen months he 
 labored at various places in Jefferson and Lewis 
 Counties. The churches were revived and upwards 
 of two thousand persons were converted. At this 
 time he did not confine his efforts to any particular 
 denomination, but loyalty to Baptist principles led 
 him thereafter to labor with Baptist churches only, 
 although he never discouraged the co-operation oi 
 others in his revival efforts. 
 
 From 1835 to 1839 Elder Knapp conducted suc- 
 cessful revivals in Ithaca, New York City, Utica, 
 Schenectady, Brooklyn, Rochester, and various 
 other places in the State of New York. In some 
 places he encountered great opposition because of his 
 stern denunciation of sin and his invectives against 
 certain of the prevailing evils of the day, such as 
 intemperance, gambling, and the like. Notwith- 
 standing this opposition conversions multiplied and 
 lasting effects for good were accomplished. 
 
 On the 3d of October, 1839, Elder Knapp com- 
 menced a series of meetings in Baltimore, Md., at 
 the Sharp Street Church. The Baptist cause in Bal- 
 timore and the State at that time was at rather a low 
 ebb, churches were weak, members were few, and 
 but feeble efforts were being put forth to promote 
 
THE BAPTISTS. 167 
 
 the extension of the Kingdom. Shortly after the 
 commencement of these meetings evidences of con- 
 verting grace began to appear, and for seven weeks, 
 wave after wave of salvation seemed to sweep over 
 the city. The Sharp Street Church was strength- 
 ened by the addition of more than four hundred 
 members, an indebtedness of twenty thousand dol- 
 lars was liquidated, while the other churches and 
 denominations shared in the results of this great 
 revival. The work extended in various directions 
 and it was estimated that fully ten thousand persons 
 were converted. The Baptist cause throughout the 
 State was strengthened and the number of communi- 
 cants doubled. 
 
 The Washingtonian temperance movement was an 
 indirect result of this revival, concerning the origin 
 of which Elder Knapp wrote : 
 
 "During the progress of the revival several well- 
 known drunkards had been converted. This fact 
 had enraged the rum-sellers. On the evening on 
 which I preached on temperance, two men, named 
 Mitchel and Hawkins, together with other hard 
 drinkers, were present. From the church they went 
 to the grog-shop, whose proprietor began to indulge 
 in outbursts of rage and cursing against me and my 
 preaching. After a while Mitchel got up and de- 
 clared that he could not hear Mr. Knapp abused any 
 longer ; that he believed he was doing a great deal of 
 
1 68 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 good in the city ; and turning towards the rum-seller, 
 he remarked, 'If you keep up this abuse any longer, 
 I will never drink another drop in your house, nor 
 anywhere else, as long as my name is Mitchel.' But 
 the enraged proprietor continued to deal out his 
 anathemas ; whereupon Mitchel, true to his word, 
 then and there solemnly pledged himself to absolute 
 and total abstinence thenceforth through life. 
 Hawkins and others joined with him in the pledge. 
 This was the origin of the Washingtonian temper- 
 ance movement, which swept over the country with 
 such wonderful power, and by which tens of thou- 
 sands of drunkards were reformed, and thousands of 
 families were made happy for this life and the life to 
 come."* 
 
 From Baltimore Elder Knapp went to Albany, 
 where fifteen hundred persons, including many of 
 the wealthy and influential, were converted. Thence 
 he went to the Tabernacle Baptist Church, New 
 York City. The attendance soon filled the church 
 to overflowing, and the sidewalks were often over- 
 run with people. As a consequence the revival be- 
 came a topic of the day. A reporter of the New 
 York Herald wrote up burlesque accounts of the 
 meetings, caricaturing the sermons of the revivalist 
 and distorting his expressions. This served only to 
 advertise the meetings more widely, so that scores 
 
 * Autobiography, p. ioo. 
 
THE BAPTISTS. 169 
 
 who otherwise would have manifested no interest in 
 the work, were attracted to the services, and many 
 of these were led to embrace the gospel. Thousands 
 from all classes, including the most godless and pro- 
 fane, were converted under the influence of these 
 meetings. There were four hundred accessions to 
 the Tabernacle Church, while numbers swelled the 
 membership of churches of every denomination 
 throughout the city. 
 
 In December, 1840, Elder Knapp conducted a 
 successful revival at Hartford, Conn., going thence 
 to New Haven. Here the Christians of the city, 
 irrespective of denomination, co-operated with the 
 revivalist in his work. Some hundreds, includ- 
 ing seventy students of Yale College, were con- 
 verted. 
 
 In December, 1841, after having labored with ex- 
 cellent results in Providence, R. I., Elder Knapp 
 went to Boston in response to an invitation from 
 nearly all of the Baptist pastors in the city. The 
 revival spirit had been enkindled to some extent 
 through the labors of Charles G. Finney, so that the 
 fields were already white unto the harvest, when 
 Elder Knapp commenced his labors. As a result one 
 of the most remarkable spiritual quickenings in all 
 the annals of American revivals visited Boston and 
 vicinity. As in other places, on account of his 
 scathing animadversions of Unitarianism, Univer- 
 
170 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 salism, gambling and intemperance, a great deal of 
 opposition was encountered, and on several occa- 
 sions the preacher narrowly escaped being mobbed. 
 But the opposition was overruled and the revival 
 went on to the conversion of multitudes. 
 
 Of the influence of the revival Elder Knapp said : 
 "Several of the places of amusement were closed; 
 billiard tables and bar-rooms were neglected; and 
 you could scarcely meet a man in the market or on 
 the street whose countenance did not indicate 
 seriousness, and whose language was not subdued. 
 The streets at midnight were deserted, and the still- 
 ness of the hour was disturbed only by the voice of 
 prayer or the song of praise, as they were wafted 
 from counting-house, garret, or parlor."* 
 
 As a result of the Great Boston Revival, as it was 
 called at the time, upwards of four thousand persons 
 were added to the churches, the Baptist churches of 
 the city and vicinity being strengthened by about two ' 
 thousand accessions. Elder Knapp was not alone in 
 conducting the services of this mighty spiritual 
 quickening. He had been preceded by Charles G. 
 Finney and was followed by Edward N. Kirk, who 
 labored among the Orthodox Congregationalists, 
 while John N. Maffit, the eloquent Methodist divine, 
 labored for a time in the principal Methodist Church 
 of the city. The labors of all of these men were 
 
 * Autobiography, p. 129. 
 
THE BAPTISTS. 171 
 
 highly successful, and all things seemed to combine 
 to make this revival the most remarkable, perhaps, 
 which had ever visited Boston. 
 
 After the Boston revival, Elder Knapp conducted 
 successful meetings in Lowell, Concord, Marblehead, 
 and Salem, Mass., but about this time his ministry as 
 a great revivalist culminated. He had already en- 
 countered the opposition of "lewd fellows of the 
 baser sort/' but now he was obliged to suffer from 
 "perils among false brethren." A man of marked 
 views and of unswerving fidelity to what he be- 
 lieved to be the truth, it was not strange perhaps that 
 he should have awakened antagonism on the part of 
 certain of his contemporaries. 
 
 It was charged in the first place that his work was 
 lacking in permanency. It was true that a reaction 
 followed the revival in Boston, but it was neither so 
 disastrous as to be unusual, nor could it in any sense 
 be attributed to the indiscretions of Elder Knapp. 
 The overwhelming majority of those who had pro- 
 fessed conversion remained true to their vows. 
 Deacon Asa Wilbur of Boston made an exhaustive 
 study of the facts, and proved that the five Baptist 
 churches in Boston under whose auspices the revi- 
 valist had labored, in the four succeeding years bap- 
 tized 1,058 persons, and excluded during the same 
 period 158, thus making a net gain of 51 per cent., 
 while the percentage of those excluded was but 15 
 
172 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 per cent, of the baptisms. The two remaining 
 Baptist churches in the city which did not co-operate 
 in the revival received during the same period 122 
 by baptism and excluded 36, the percentage of those 
 excluded to those received being 29 per cent. The 
 exclusions in all of these churches during these years 
 being but one and one-fourth per cent, annually of 
 their entire membership, disproved completely the 
 complaint of "spurious converts," "numerous ex- 
 clusions," etc. 
 
 Dr. Edward N. Kirk in speaking of the thorough- 
 ness of Elder Knapp's ministry said: "Complaints 
 were heard of the superficialness of the conversions 
 under his ministry. But following him as I did, in 
 1839 and 1840, in Baltimore, New Haven, and 
 Hartford, I am able to testify that in all those 
 places men's religious sensibilities had been deeply 
 moved. I found the ground ploughed for the seed, 
 and the harvest ripe for the sickle."* 
 
 The second charge was that of avarice. It was 
 alleged that he dressed and appeared so as to give the 
 impression that he was very poor in order to in- 
 crease the contributions of the benevolent minded 
 towards his support. At Elder Knapp's own 
 request the charge was investigated by his ministe- 
 rial brethren, and their verdict was that there "was 
 nothing in the case which ought to interrupt Elder 
 
 * Lectures, p. 142. 
 
THE BAPTISTS. 173 
 
 Knapp's connection with the church, or his labors as 
 a minister of the gospel." 
 
 Groundless as these charges were, they interfered 
 no doubt with his usefulness for a time, but he did 
 not suffer himself to be set aside thereby. Up to the 
 time of his death at Rockford, 111., in 1874, he con- 
 tinued to do the work of an evangelist, especially 
 among the weaker churches of the West, laboring 
 through evil as well as good report for the salvation 
 of men. If other evidence were wanting, his long 
 and faithful subsequent career as an evangelist 
 furnished a sufficient refutation of the charges 
 which had been named against him. 
 
 In its doctrinal aspects, Elder Knapp's preaching 
 was a sort of an Arminianized Calvinism. While 
 he recognized the work of the Spirit in the conver- 
 sion of men, he exhorted sinners to immediate re- 
 pentance and faith in Jesus Christ. In dealing with 
 inquirers he made use of the anxious seat, since it 
 served not only as a test of character, but also 
 enabled the individual to publicly commit himself to 
 the service of Christ, and was a source of encourage- 
 ment to others who might be seeking salvation. 
 
 Of the general results of his labors, Elder Knapp 
 said : "For a time I endeavored to keep an approxi- 
 mate account of the persons who professed conver- 
 sion in my meetings, but after my reckonings took in 
 more than one hundred thousand cases I gave up 
 
174 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 the attempt. They came in such crowds, from all 
 denominations ; so many united with other churches, 
 and so many were reported in meetings commenced 
 by me after I had left, and so many were strangers 
 from distant towns and States, sojourning for a few 
 days or weeks where I was preaching, and so many 
 other meetings sprang up from those I was holding, 
 that I found the attempt to number Israel an impos- 
 sibility, and suspected that it might be sin."* 
 
 Elder Jabez S. Swan with Elder Knapp shared 
 the distinction of being a pioneer evangelist among 
 the Baptists. He was born in Stonington, Conn., 
 February 23, 1800. In his youth he was subject to 
 serious impressions, but it was not until he reached 
 his majority that he became a Christian. After his 
 marriage he felt called of God to enter the ministry. 
 Accompanied by his wife he went to Hamilton, 
 N. Y., to pursue a course of study in the Literary 
 and Theological Institute, from which he graduated 
 in 1827. 
 
 After a three years' pastorate at Stonington, 
 Conn., he accepted a call to the church at Norwich, 
 N. Y. About two years after his settlement he at- 
 tended a four days' meeting some miles distant, 
 where there was a remarkable revival, in which a 
 hundred or more persons were converted. Im- 
 pressed doubtless with a sense of his fruitlessness in 
 
 * Autobiography, p. 190. 
 
THE BAPTISTS. 175 
 
 ministerial labors, on his return to Norwich he con- 
 fessed to his congregation his want of earnestness 
 and faithfulness in the work to which he had been 
 called. He begged the church and the unconverted 
 to forgive him. A profound impression was thus 
 made. The church was aroused and the uncon- 
 verted were deeply moved. A revival followed, in 
 which numbers were converted. From this time 
 Elder Swan was abundant in revival labors, preach- 
 ing at various places in the vicinity with excellent 
 results. Hardened sinners were converted and the 
 waste places were built up. In one of the meetings 
 not far from Norwich a whiskey distiller was con- 
 verted, and he advised with Elder Swan as to what 
 he should do. He was promptly told to "sign the 
 pledge and put out the fires." He did so and was 
 baptized, twenty-one others being baptized with him. 
 Swan remained at Norwich eight years, during 
 which more than three hundred united with his 
 church, mostly by baptism. In his revival labors, 
 moreover, he had ranged north as far as Utica, 
 south as far as Binghamton, and west to Oswego. 
 After the close of his pastorate at Norwich, Elder 
 Swan served brief pastorates in Preston, and 
 Oxford, N. Y. 
 
 In order that he might do the work of an evan- 
 gelist, Elder Swan resigned the pastorate in the fall 
 of 1 84 1 and for the next two or three years devoted 
 
176 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 his whole time to the work of conducting revivals. 
 He visited Owego, New York City, Auburn, and 
 Wellsport, N. Y., Stonington, Mystic, and New 
 London, Conn., and Albany, N. Y. In all of these 
 places he was very successful and conversions were 
 numerous. 
 
 While he was laboring at Albany the Millerite 
 excitement was at its height. Besides this he met 
 with much opposition from the Universalists. Not- 
 withstanding these hindrances a great revival com- 
 menced which went on until fourteen other pro- 
 tracted meetings were in progress at the same time, 
 as a result of which upwards of three thousand per- 
 sons were converted. 
 
 At the close of his labors at Albany Elder Swan 
 returned to the pastorate, in which he continued at 
 various places up to the time of his death, with the 
 exception of a few years as a home missionary 
 evangelist in Connecticut. In his ministerial labors 
 as pastor and evangelist, he baptized ten thousand 
 persons with his own hands, besides great numbers 
 who were baptized by other ministers or who affil- 
 iated themselves with other religious denominations. 
 
 Emerson Andrews, an evangelist of considerable 
 prominence among the Baptists, was born in Mans- 
 field, Mass., November 24, 1806. While a student 
 at an academy in Plainfield, N. H., he was converted 
 through the preaching of Asahel Nettleton. At a 
 
THE BAPTISTS. 177 
 
 later time, while a student at Union College, Sche- 
 nectady, N. Y., he united with the Baptist Church. 
 He was brought up in the Congregational Church, 
 but becoming convinced that immersion was the 
 form of baptism practised by the early followers of 
 Jesus, he went into the Baptist denomination. 
 
 In 1835 he accepted a call to the church at Lan- 
 singburg, N. Y., where he was ordained as an 
 evangelist. Not long after he was called to Rome, 
 N. Y. During a stay of two years the membership 
 of the church was doubled and he was persuaded to 
 relinquish the duties of the pastorate to enter the 
 evangelistic field. For a period of more than thirty- 
 five years with the exception of a brief pastorate at 
 Reading, Pa., he did the work of an evangelist, con- 
 ducting more than three hundred protracted meet- 
 ings, in which forty thousand persons professed con- 
 version. 
 
 The labors of these evangelists and others, such 
 as A. C. Kingsley, Lewis Raymond, etc., who had 
 entered the fields already whitened to the harvest, 
 together with the efforts of scores of faithful pas- 
 tors, had by the close of the first half of the nine- 
 teenth century brought about a wholesome revolu- 
 tion throughout the Baptist denomination, so that 
 revivals were coming to be quite as common among 
 the Baptists as in other evangelical denominations. 
 Not only was there a quickening along evangelistic 
 
178 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 lines, but the Baptists had entered upon an era of 
 expansion in missions, in benevolences, in education 
 and in the religious training of the young. As a 
 result of which the denomination had come to exer- 
 cise a profound influence upon the religious life of 
 our country and the world. 
 
 Associated in their early history with the Bap- 
 tists were the Disciples of Christ, or Campbellite 
 Baptists, as they were sometimes called. The body 
 owes its origin to the labors of Thomas Campbell 
 and especially to his son, Alexander Campbell, both 
 of whom had been connected with the Irish 
 "Seceder" Presbyterian Church, and who emigrated 
 to this country in 1807 and 1809, respectively. They 
 formed what they termed a "Christian Association" 
 in Washington County, Pa. For this organization 
 they disclaimed the character of a church, but 
 sought admission for it into the Synod of Pittsburg, 
 which was denied. Being deprived of ecclesiastical 
 standing, the "Association" was eventually trans- 
 formed into a church which was founded upon the 
 fundamental propositions of the Campbells, in 
 which they advocated the union of all Christians on 
 the basis of the overthrowal of human creeds and 
 confessions of faith, and the refusal to adopt any 
 doctrine or observance which was not expressly en- 
 joined in the New Testament. Prior to this they 
 had affirmed "Where the Scriptures speak, we 
 
THE BAPTISTS. 179 
 
 speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are 
 silent," a principle which led to the rejection of 
 infant baptism, and the acceptance a little later of 
 immersion as the only form of baptism recognized 
 by the primitive Christian church. The Campbells 
 were accordingly immersed, and the members of 
 their church soon after followed their example. 
 Having practically become Baptists, they were in- 
 vited to unite with the Redstone Baptist Association, 
 which they did and continued fellowship therewith 
 until the controversies over their distinguishing 
 views became so heated that they withdrew. They 
 then united with the Mahoning Baptist Association, 
 but this Association adjourned sine die in 1827, 
 leaving the Campbells and their churches without 
 ecclesiastical affiliations. Accordingly their work 
 about this time assumed the form of an independent 
 religious body. Others entertaining similar views 
 rallied about their standard, and the churches of 
 their order entered upon a career of prosperity which 
 has been uninterrupted from that day to this. 
 
 During the early period of their history the Disci- 
 ples were inclined to be belligerent towards other 
 sects. With their platform of Christian union on 
 the basis of the overthrowal of human creeds, they 
 regarded other religious denominations as the legiti- 
 mate fields of their endeavor, and by a system of 
 proselytism they multiplied with great rapidity 
 
180 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 through the Middle- West and South- West. Not- 
 withstanding their belligerent attitude towards 
 other denominations, and the number of proselytes 
 therefrom that they succeeded in making, the Disci- 
 ples did a great work in the evangelization of the 
 unchurched and unconverted throughout the regions 
 in which they labored, so that by the close of the first 
 half of the nineteenth century they had come to be 
 recognized as one of the important factors in the 
 religious life of our country. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 DENOMINATIONAL MOVEMENTS! THE METHODISTS. 
 
 In many respects the Methodists have contributed 
 more to the revival history of our country than any 
 other religious denomination. Although there were 
 as yet no professional evangelists among them, they 
 were emphatically evangelistic in their spirit and 
 aims. Every Methodist minister was a flaming 
 evangel to bear the gospel message, and the system 
 under which he labored afforded the widest opportu- 
 nity for the development of evangelistic gifts. The 
 circuit to which he received appointment was large 
 enough to occupy his entire time and strength, 
 otherwise he might be called upon to assist brother 
 ministers in the promotion of revivals. 
 
 The early Methodists devoted their attention 
 chiefly to the neglected classes, and to those sections 
 of country which were destitute of religious privi- 
 leges. They followed in the wake of pioneer settlers 
 to the frontier regions and to the very outskirts of 
 civilization. Wherever men and women were to be 
 
182 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 found who needed the gospel, thither these earnest 
 preachers went to inaugurate the work of evangeli- 
 zation. 
 
 The conditions of pioneer life were uninviting. 
 Log cabins or huts, warmed by fire-places and illy 
 furnished with the conveniences of life, constituted 
 the homes of the people. Deerskin and coarse home- 
 spun cloth furnished the principal materials for 
 wearing apparel, while the food was of the most 
 simple variety and prepared in the most primitive 
 manner. The hardships of such life were cheerfully 
 entered into by these pioneers of the gospel. The 
 only roads were bridle-paths, and often the only 
 guides for the venturesome traveler were trees 
 "blazed" with a hatchet blow to prevent him from 
 being lost amid the interminable mazes of the forest. 
 The bridgeless streams could only be crossed by 
 fording. With a spirit of self-sacrifice which 
 rivalled that of the apostolic age, the early advocates 
 of Methodism resolutely set their faces to the task 
 and plunged into the wilderness to carry the gospel 
 light to these distant and scattered settlements. 
 
 Not only were these pioneer evangelists con- 
 fronted with the hardships of frontier life, but they 
 were brought face to face with a religious destitu- 
 tion, which has since known no parallel in American 
 history. As widespread in its influence as was the 
 Awakening of 1800, many of the remote settlements 
 
THE METHODISTS. 183 
 
 were entirely destitute of the stated services of 
 religion. Exceptions there were to be sure, in those 
 communities which had been settled by colonies 
 from New England or the Middle States, where the 
 colonists had brought with them the customary and 
 time-honored institutions of religion. These excep- 
 tions, however, but emphasized the needs and made 
 apparent the moral destitution, which prevailed over 
 wide areas of territory within the interior of a grow- 
 ing empire. A glimpse only at these conditions is all 
 that we can attempt. 
 
 Rev. Jacob Young who went to Illinois in 1804 
 said, "The bulk of the people are given up to wick- 
 edness of every kind. Of all places this is the worst 
 for stealing, fighting and lying." 
 
 Detroit, Mich., was spoken of in 1804 as a most 
 "abandoned place." That same year Rev. Nathan 
 Bangs, who afterwards rose to prominence in the 
 M. E. Church, preached there. A Congregational 
 missionary, who had preached in the city until only 
 a few children came to hear him, bade him God- 
 speed and wished him success saying, "If you can 
 succeed, which I very much doubt, I shall rejoice." 
 But he did not succeed, nor was any Protestant 
 church organized in the territory of Michigan until 
 18 10, when a Methodist Church was organized at 
 Monroe, but it had a short existence, and no perma- 
 nent organization was effected until 18:5. 
 
1 84 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 Rev. E. B. Bowman, who went to New Orleans 
 in 1805, said of Baton Rouge and the country along 
 the way: "When I reached the city I was much 
 disappointed in finding but a few American people 
 there, and a majority of that few may be truly called 
 beasts of men. — The Lord's day is the day of gen- 
 eral rant in this city. Public balls are held, traffic 
 of every kind is carried on, public sales, wagons run- 
 ning, and drums beating; and thus is the Sabbath 
 spent. — I reached the Opelousas country, and the 
 next day I reached the Catholic Church. I was sur- 
 prised to see race-paths at the church door. Here I 
 found a few Americans, who were swearing with 
 almost every breath ; and when I reproved them they 
 told me that the priest swore as hard as they did. 
 They said he would play cards and dance with them 
 every Sunday evening after mass ; and strange to 
 tell, he keeps a race-horse and practices every abomi- 
 nation."* 
 
 In 1813 Rev. Samuel J. Mills, the father of 
 American missions, spent Sunday in a Kentucky 
 town having a population of two or three thousand 
 without being able to gather a congregation to listen 
 to a sermon from the Word of God. 
 
 In 1820 Rev. Jesse Walker visited St. Louis in 
 the interests of Methodism, and with two compan- 
 ions was unable to find lodgings. Some laughed at 
 
 * Dorchester's Christianity in the U. S., p. 381. 
 
THE METHODISTS. 185 
 
 them, while others cursed them. Leaving the city 
 in despair and having bidden adieu to his compan- 
 ions, he thus soliloquized : "Was I ever defeated 
 before in this blessed work? Never. Did any one 
 ever trust in the Lord Jesus and get confounded? 
 No; and by the grace of God I will go back and 
 take St. Louis." He went back, but it proved no 
 easy task to "take" the city. There were but a 
 handful of Protestant Christians, mostly Baptists, in 
 the city. The inhabitants were wicked and dis- 
 sipated, and it was a well-nigh hopeless problem to 
 reach them. 
 
 As late as 1830, of some portions of the West it 
 was said that a person "might travel hundreds of 
 miles and in vain look for a temple dedicated to 
 Jehovah, or a preacher of the gospel to break the 
 bread of life to its perishing inhabitants. The con- 
 sequence is that many of them, in regard to religious 
 information, are approaching a state but little better 
 than heathenism." The Middle West and South 
 especially were in a destitute condition. A Baptist 
 minister in Ohio wrote, "We visit whole neighbor- 
 hoods sometimes where there has not been a sermon 
 preached for ten or fifteen years." 
 
 Truly the Methodist Church "had come to the 
 kingdom for such a time as this." "The Metho- 
 dists," says Bancroft, "came in an age of tranquillity 
 when the feeling for that which is higher than man 
 
1 86 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 had grown dull; and they claimed it as their mis- 
 sion to awaken conscience, to revive religion, to sub- 
 stitute glowing affections for the calm of indiffer- 
 ence. They stood in the mountain forests of the 
 Alleghenies and in the plains beyond them, ready to 
 kindle in the emigrants, who might come without 
 hymn book or Bible, their own vivid sense of 
 religion."* 
 
 The genius of the denomination was remarkably 
 well adapted to the conditions then prevailing. By 
 means of its itinerant system several communities 
 could enjoy the ministrations of a single preacher. 
 Beyond all question, the circuit system was the 
 strength of early Methodism. From his conference 
 the preacher would receive an appointment to a cir- 
 cuit with perhaps no meeting house nor any of the 
 adjuncts of worship. The circuit was composed of 
 classes and preaching appointments. These classes 
 met from time to time under the leadership of a lay- 
 man, and together with the stated visits of the cir- 
 cuit-rider, as the preacher was called, often consti- 
 tuted the only religious privileges of the community. 
 At some of his preaching appointments the preacher 
 possibly would find no professors of religion, but 
 this would be considered no insuperable obstacle. 
 Under the influence of his plain and pungent preach- 
 ing he would expect soon to have an "interest" and 
 
 * Bancroft's History of the Constitution, p. 164. 
 
THE METHODISTS. 187 
 
 realize the fruitage of his labors in the conversions 
 which were almost sure to follow. The converts 
 were enrolled in classes and the most capable per- 
 sons were selected as class-leaders, whose duty it 
 was to conduct class meetings at stated times and to 
 exercise the oversight of the infant organization 
 during the absence of the "preacher-in-charge." 
 
 On almost every circuit were to be found "ex- 
 horters," who were authorized to exercise their gifts 
 in public speaking, and ''local preachers," the latter 
 of whom either were so licensed on account of their 
 gifts or else they had formerly been circuit-riders, 
 who had retired from the active service. Early in 
 the nineteenth century a circuit-rider's salary was 
 limited to eighty dollars per year, but the great 
 majority of preachers were seldom able to collect 
 their full allowance and many considered them- 
 selves fortunate if they received one-half of the stip- 
 ulated amount. Thus it came about that the early 
 preachers of Methodism were chiefly young and 
 unmarried men. Few of them cared to devote them- 
 selves to a life of celibacy. When, therefore, they 
 took unto themselves helpmates and children be- 
 gan to multiply, the itineracy was too unremuner- 
 ative to furnish adequate support, in consequence 
 of which many retired from the active service 
 and became "local preachers," among whom were 
 some of the most able men in the denomina- 
 
1 88 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 tion. They did not consider themselves relieved 
 thereby from the duty of preaching, but held them- 
 selves in readiness to respond to the call of the 
 church, without compensation, for the discharge of 
 such duties as they, in conjunction with their custom- 
 ary occupations, were able to perform. Thus 
 within the bounds of almost every circuit was to be 
 found a supply of lay-workers, upon whom the 
 "preacher-in-charge" could depend for assistance in 
 protracted efforts or to fill his appointments when 
 the interest constrained him to concentrate his ener- 
 gies for a time in a particular locality. The assistance 
 thus rendered was often of the most efficient char- 
 acter. 
 
 The circuits of the early preachers were often 
 large, sometimes extending over hundreds of miles 
 of territory and requiring from four to six weeks of 
 almost incessant traveling, generally on horseback, 
 to make the rounds of the circuit and to preach at 
 the various appointments. The following descrip- 
 tion of one of these early circuits traveled by Rev. 
 Alfred Brunson, in 1822- 1823, will afford a fair 
 idea of the arduous tasks imposed upon the early 
 itinerants : 
 
 "It extended to all the white settlements of the 
 territory (Michigan), except the one at St. Mary's, 
 the outlet of Lake Superior, which was perhaps 
 hardly white. From Detroit we went north to Pon- 
 
THE METHODISTS. 189 
 
 tiac, then but a small village. From thence we went 
 down the upper Huron, now the Clinton River, to 
 Mount Clemens, and thence down Lake St. Clair 
 and river to Detroit, and thence again to the river 
 Rouse, and up that stream some seven miles to the 
 upper settlement, thence back to the river and lake 
 road, and on to the Maumee at the foot of the 
 rapids, and thence right back on the lake road fifty- 
 eight miles to Detroit. It required four weeks to get 
 round, though we had but twelve appointments."* 
 As early as 1792 these circuits had been grouped 
 together into districts, which were placed under the 
 supervision of presiding elders. The presiding 
 eldership is a function peculiar to Methodism and 
 was practically indispensable to the early growth of 
 the church. When it is remembered that large num- 
 bers of the early preachers of Methodism were 
 young and inexperienced men without the advan- 
 tages of a theological education, numbers of whom 
 were unordained and too often with a zeal "not 
 according to knowledge," we can see how essential 
 it was to the success of the denomination, that they 
 should be placed under the supervision of judicious 
 and experienced men, who could temper their zeal, 
 correct their mistakes and help them in the develop- 
 ment of those capacities which would be of the 
 largest usefulness in the evangelization of the com- 
 
 * Dorchester's Christianity in the U. S., p. 389. 
 
i 9 o AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 munities to which they had been sent. Moreover 
 had it not been for the presiding eldership, 
 many of the infant churches of Methodism would 
 have been destitute of the sacraments and ordinances 
 of religion. The presiding elders were expected to 
 visit the circuits under their charge quarterly, for 
 the purpose of administering the Lord's supper and 
 exercising ecclesiastical supervision over the same. 
 If the preacher-in-charge was an unordained man, 
 as was not infrequently the case, the presiding elder 
 was expected to baptize any recent converts who had 
 been made and receive them into the church. The 
 services conducted on these visits were called 
 "Quarterly Meetings" and not infrequently became 
 the occasion for evangelistic effort under the direc- 
 tion of the presiding elder. 
 
 At the head of the entire itinerant system were 
 the bishops or superintendents, as they were at first 
 called. Of these there were originally two, Francis 
 Asbury and Thomas Coke, D.C.L., who were ap- 
 pointed to this office by John Wesley. Bishop Coke 
 did not remain permanently in this country, and 
 although others were subsequently elected to the 
 episcopate, up to the time of his death Asbury was 
 not only the leading spirit of his denomination, but 
 the entire oversight of the church was practically in 
 his hands. He was the typical evangelist of early 
 Methodism in America. For more than forty years, 
 
THE METHODISTS. 191 
 
 both before and including his bishopric, he made 
 lengthy itinerations throughout the country. The 
 whole region then embraced within the United 
 States comprised his parish. From Maine to 
 Georgia on the seacoast, and across the Alleghanies 
 into Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and even to In- 
 diana he traveled in the discharge of his duties, in- 
 volving an aggregate of over six thousand miles on 
 horseback every year. He presided over confer- 
 ences, annual and general, ordained ministers, and 
 with the aid of presiding elders, appointed them to 
 their circuits. Like a skillful general he marshalled 
 his hosts to victory. Much of the success of Metho- 
 dism in this country is attributable to his conspicu- 
 ous abilities as an administrator and leader of men. 
 In addition to administrative abilities he was a 
 preacher and evangelist of unusual power. To the 
 multitudes in the shady groves of pioneer settle- 
 ments he proclaimed the "unsearchable riches of 
 Christ," and to crowded auditories in the cities he 
 "shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God." 
 All classes alike were moved by his preaching and 
 it was said of him that perhaps no other man in the 
 country ever received so many into the church on 
 confession of faith as he. During the later years of 
 his life his enfeebled condition compelled him to 
 travel by carriage, but he still continued to preach 
 daily. When unable to stand, his attendants would 
 
192 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 carry him in their arms from his carriage to the 
 waiting assembly and he would preach in a sitting 
 posture. March 24, 1816, he preached his last ser- 
 mon at Richmond, Va., while on his way to Balti- 
 more to attend the general conference, which he 
 hoped once more to meet, but his desire was never 
 realized. He journeyed on to Spottsylvania, where, 
 literally worn out with his long and arduous labors, 
 he passed away, at the age of seventy-one, on 
 March 31. 
 
 It was this distinctly articulated system of church 
 government, with its sharply defined functions from 
 class leader to bishop, that enabled the apostles and 
 evangelists of Methodism to push their conquests 
 and gather their harvests in such a way as to make 
 permanent and lasting the results of their work. Of 
 course it was not the system alone that produced 
 these tremendous results. The system alone would 
 have been a vain thing. But it was the system com- 
 bined with a religious fervor and an evangelistic 
 zeal, such as no age since the apostolic has wit- 
 nessed, that made possible the marvellous triumphs, 
 the rapid growth and the wonderful progress of the 
 Methodist Church. 
 
 During this early period camp-meetings were of 
 frequent occurrence. 1799 is the commonly ac- 
 cepted date for the origin of camp-meetings. This 
 camp-meeting, held on the bank of the Red River, 
 
THE METHODISTS. 193 
 
 Ky., was under the joint auspices of the Methodists 
 and Presbyterians. Two brothers, Rev. John 
 Magee and Rev. William Magee, the former a 
 Methodist and the latter a Presbyterian, and Rev. 
 Mr. Hodges, also a Presbyterian, united in a sacra- 
 mental meeting. So large was the attendance and 
 so great was the interest that the assembly adjourned 
 to a grove near by, where a rude pulpit and stand 
 were erected from which the ministers preached 
 alternately. 
 
 While this doubtless was the origin of camp- 
 meetings west of the mountains, there is evidence of 
 similar meetings in North Carolina at an earlier 
 period. In 1791 and 1794 there were camp-meet- 
 ings in Lincoln County, N. C, attended both by 
 Presbyterians and Methodists. In 1795 a union meet- 
 ing was conducted at Bethel, N. C, where hundreds 
 were converted. These camp-meetings grew in 
 favor among the Methodists, but soon were repu- 
 diated by the Presbyterians on account of the excite- 
 ments which they engendered. There were abuses 
 no doubt, but as a means for bringing out a scattered 
 pioneer population, it is difficult to conceive how a 
 more effective measure could have been designed. 
 For miles around the whole population would turn 
 out to the number of thousands, and brought thus 
 within the influence of plain and pungent preaching 
 conversions were numerous. Not only in the 
 
194 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 western settlements and the South, but in staid New 
 England and the Eastern States, camp-meetings 
 found favor with the friends and advocates of 
 Methodism. From 1810 to 1830 such gatherings 
 multiplied rapidly, resulting in the addition of 
 thousands of members to the denomination in 
 various parts of the country. In 1820 a series of 
 remarkable camp-meetings was conducted in Ten- 
 nessee and the West. That year nearly two thou- 
 sand members were added to the Nashville district 
 as the result of such efforts. These meetings 
 brought out the most able of evangelistic preachers, 
 while the novelty of such services awakened the 
 curiosity of the people and drew an attendance from 
 all classes, including the most godless and irreligious. 
 As not infrequently happens under such circum- 
 stances, many "who came to scoff remained to pray." 
 The Methodists were the first to make use of the 
 "anxious seat," as a means of bringing out inquir- 
 ers. During the winter of 1806- 1807 there was a 
 remarkable revival in New York City, which resulted 
 in the accession of more than four hundred members 
 to the M. E. Church. So large were the congrega- 
 tions and so difficult did it become to pray and con- 
 verse with seekers, that it became necessary to invite 
 them forward to the front seats, which were vacated 
 for the purpose. The measure commended itself to 
 many, so that it not only came into general usage 
 
THE METHODISTS. 195 
 
 among the Methodists, but was widely employed by 
 other evangelical denominations and continues to be 
 an effective revival measure to the present day. 
 
 The early Methodist revivals, especially the 
 camp-meetings, were often very demonstrative and 
 were attended with physical effects the psychology 
 of which is difficult of explanation. Outcries, faint- 
 ings, trances, hysterical laughter and weeping, 
 shrieking, and "falling under the power of God" 
 were not unusual. A widespread form of such man- 
 ifestation was known as the "jerks," which Peter 
 Cartwright described as follows : 
 
 "No matter whether they were saints or sinners, 
 they would be taken under a warm song or sermon, 
 and seized with a convulsive jerking all over, which 
 they could not by any possibility avoid, and the 
 more they resisted the more they jerked. If they 
 would not strive against it and pray in good earnest, 
 the jerking would usually abate. I have seen more 
 than five hundred persons jerking at once in my 
 large congregations. Most usually persons taken 
 with the jerks, to obtain relief, as they said, would 
 rise up and dance. Some would run, but could not 
 get away. Some would resist; on such the jerks 
 were generally very severe." 
 
 "To see those proud young gentlemen and young 
 ladies, dressed in their silks, jewelry, and prunella, 
 from top to toe, would often excite my risibilities. 
 
196 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 The first jerk or so, you would see their fine bonnets, 
 capes, and combs fly; and so sudden would be the 
 jerking of the head that their long loose hair would 
 crack almost as loud as a wagoner's whip. . . . 
 There is no doubt in my mind that, with weak- 
 minded, ignorant, and superstitious persons, there 
 was a great deal of sympathetic feeling with many 
 that claimed to be under the influence of this jerk- 
 ing exercise; and yet, with many it was perfectly 
 involuntary. It was on all occasions my practice to 
 recommend fervent prayer as a remedy, and it 
 almost universally proved an effectual antidote."* 
 
 Dr. Buckley finds the psychological key to such 
 phenomena in concentrated attention accompanied 
 by strong religious emotion, which finds expression 
 in various ways according to the constitution of the 
 subject. Some find relief in tears or hysterical 
 laughter, others by becoming unconscious or losing 
 control of the muscles of the body, while still others 
 become possessed of an unusual calmness. The prev- 
 alence of any of these types in a particular locality 
 at a given time he ascribes to a sympathetic feeling 
 and also to the fact that their subjects often attribute 
 to them a divine or necessary origin. f 
 
 In order to comprehend the success of early 
 Methodism, we must not only be familiar with the 
 
 * Autobiography, pp. 48-51. 
 
 t Cf. Buckley's History of the Methodists, pp. 218, 219. 
 
THE METHODISTS. 197 
 
 system under which the denomination labored, the 
 means employed, and the manner in which the sub- 
 jects of their revivals were affected, but we must also 
 have some understanding of the men, who were the 
 instruments of this mighty work and these mighty 
 results. 
 
 The early Methodist pioneers, who carried the 
 message of salvation to the Western and Southern 
 wilds were destitute of the advantages of college or 
 theological training. The settlers into whose cabins 
 they went, themselves were without the advantages 
 of schools or education, so that liberally educated 
 men were not absolutely necessary to reach them, 
 nor would they have reached them unless they had 
 entered sympathetically into the conditions amid 
 which the pioneers lived. The early itinerants ad- 
 justed themselves to the conditions of the people, so 
 that they were fitted, although illiterate, to save and 
 uplift the hardy pioneers on the outskirts of civiliza- 
 tion. Experience was their chief teacher and their 
 efforts were under the direction of a presiding elder. 
 Often a young preacher would be placed on a large 
 circuit to assist a man of extended experience. In 
 this way the young preachers had the personal over- 
 sight and sympathy of men of large and varied ex- 
 perience. In this manner also the young minister 
 would receive the most valuable help in the develop- 
 ment of those powers which would make him in- 
 
198 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 creasingly useful in the work of the ministry. The 
 lack of education was thus supplied, imperfectly per- 
 haps, and yet many of these self-trained and self- 
 educated men would have been a credit to any 
 denomination, not only on account of their soul-win- 
 ning capacities, but because of the truly conspicuous 
 abilities which they displayed. 
 
 The one indispensable characteristic, which more 
 than all else contributed to make these men what 
 they were, was a consuming zeal for the salvation of 
 men. It was this passion for souls which influenced 
 them to withstand peril and suffer hardship, from 
 which most men would have shrunk. Wherever 
 they went they considered it a priceless privilege to 
 proclaim the gospel of Christ. If they were 
 cordially received it was taken as an evidence of 
 God's favor. If, on the other hand, they were sub- 
 jected to ridicule and unkind treatment, it was 
 esteemed as a token that God was with them, for 
 were they not taught that they that will live godly 
 in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution? A single 
 ambition inspired them and that was to lead sin- 
 ning men to One who had power to blot out their 
 transgressions and enkindle within them the divine 
 ideals of a new life. They preached the cardinal 
 doctrines of Christianity, emphasizing repentance, 
 regeneration, justification by faith, and "holiness 
 without which no man should see the Lord." The 
 
THE METHODISTS. 199 
 
 prevailing type of their theology was Arminian, but 
 as Professor Fisher has said, it was Arminianism on 
 fire. Through it all burned this unquenchable zeal 
 for the salvation of men. Every possible opportunity 
 was embraced that this end might be attained, with 
 results which often were astounding. 
 
 Of this we have a remarkable example in an ex- 
 perience of Peter Cartwright, the pioneer preacher. 
 He was returning from a session of the General 
 Conference and night had overtaken him in the 
 Cumberland Mountains. He arrived at an inn and 
 sought entertainment, but was told that they were 
 to have a dance there that evening. On receiving 
 assurance of civil treatment he decided to remain. 
 He sat quietly musing as the dance went on and 
 longed for an opportunity to preach to the people. 
 Finally he was approached by a mountain beauty 
 and invited to become her partner in the dance. 
 Without consideration he resolved on a desperate 
 experiment, and together they took the floor. As 
 the fiddler started to put his instrument in order, 
 Cartwright requested him to hold a moment and 
 then stated to the company that for years he had 
 never taken a step of any importance without first 
 asking the blessing of God upon it, and he desired 
 to ask God's blessing upon the beautiful young 
 woman and upon all that company for the kindness 
 shown to an entire stranger. Grasping the young 
 
200 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 lady's hand and dropping on his knees he began to 
 pray in real Methodist fashion for the conversion 
 of that company. Some fled, others wept and still 
 others fell upon their knees. The young woman 
 tried to get away, but so tightly did he hold her in 
 his grasp that she fell upon her knees also. Having 
 finished his prayer he arose and commenced to 
 exhort, after which he sang a hymn. The young 
 woman who had invited him to dance lay prostrate 
 crying for mercy. Thus he continued to pray, sing 
 and exhort all night, and a number were converted. 
 He remained a day or two longer with remarkable 
 results. On his departure he organized a society, 
 receiving thirty-two into membership, and made 
 arrangements to send them a preacher. The land- 
 lord was appointed class leader, and a powerful 
 revival which spread throughout all that region 
 grew out of this singular circumstance. Said Cart- 
 wright : "Several of the young men converted at 
 this Methodist preacher dance became useful minis- 
 ters of Jesus Christ." 
 
 The membership as well as the ministry were 
 intensely interested in the promotion of revivals. 
 Converted as they were in revivals it was but natural 
 that they should labor for such seasons of refresh- 
 ing. They rendered the most loyal and faithful 
 assistance to their pastors at such times, and in- 
 stances are not wanting where revivals commenced 
 
THE METHODISTS. 201 
 
 and were carried on through the unaided efforts of 
 the laity. This intense interest in revivals made the 
 early history of Methodism one continuous record 
 of revival. Each revival, as the news spread, would 
 give an impulse to revivals elsewhere, so that the 
 work would extend from community to community 
 and from settlement to settlement until a wide scope 
 of territory would be embraced by the movement. 
 
 In addition to the revivals which were the outcome 
 of their own efforts, the Methodists shared in the 
 great revival movements of the period. For exam- 
 ple, during the great Boston revival of 1 841 -1842, 
 when under the preaching of Knapp, Finney, Kirk 
 and others, more than four thousand members were 
 added to the evangelical churches of the city, the 
 Methodists received over twelve hundred members 
 on probation. But if the Methodists shared in the 
 great revival movements of the period, it must be 
 said that other denominations shared in the revivals 
 of Methodism. In all probability the accessions to 
 the various denominations from this source were 
 many times larger than the accessions to the Metho- 
 dist churches from the other great revivals of the 
 time. 
 
 Unless we except the eccentric Lorenzo Dow, dur- 
 ing the first half of the nineteenth century there was 
 but a single evangelist in the common acceptance of 
 the term throughout the Methodist communion. In 
 
202 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 1840 Rev. James Caughey, a member of the Troy 
 Conference, believing that he had been called to do 
 the work of an evangelist, asked to be relieved from 
 the duties of the pastorate. After laboring in Mon- 
 treal and the Province of Quebec, he went to Great 
 Britain, where he spent several years in the chief 
 cities of Ireland and England. It was during this 
 campaign that there came under his influence a 
 young lad who was led thereby to become a soul 
 winner himself, and that young lad has since been 
 known to the world as General William Booth of 
 the Salvation Army. In the revivals conducted by 
 Caughey in Great Britain it was estimated that 
 twenty thousand persons were converted. Return- 
 ing to America in 1848, he labored in New York 
 City, Albany, Providence, Lowell, Fall River, and 
 many other places throughout the United States and 
 Canada, with excellent results. Mr. Caughey was 
 described as plain in appearance, simple in manner, 
 straightforward in action — never presuming and 
 never out of place. He was not a great orator in the 
 usual acceptance of the term, but there was some- 
 thing about his simple and direct presentation of the 
 truth that riveted the attention of men and turned 
 their thoughts to the important concerns of the soul, 
 so that wherever he went men were soon led to 
 inquire the way of salvation. He was a man of 
 prayer and intense earnestness. He presented not 
 
THE METHODISTS. 203 
 
 only the invitations of the gospel but the threaten- 
 ings of the law. Holiness or sanctification was one 
 of his fundamental teachings, the necessity of which 
 he sought to impress upon all Christian hearts. The 
 methods which he employed and the doctrines which 
 he enforced were not dissimilar to those which pre- 
 vailed throughout his denomination. 
 
 At a little later period Rev. William Taylor, 
 afterwards Bishop, after a thrilling experience as a 
 missionary in the newly discovered gold fields of 
 California, entered the evangelistic field and was 
 successful in winning multitudes to Christ. Since 
 that time evangelists have by no means been uncom- 
 mon among the Methodists. Of evangelistic 
 preachers there never has been any lack and these 
 men, in the early days of the denomination, were 
 instrumental in the conversion of a great multitude, 
 whom no man can number. Of Peter Cartwright it 
 was said that during his more than sixty years' ex- 
 perience as a circuit rider and presiding elder, ten 
 thousand souls were converted under his ministry 
 and more than twenty thousand were received into 
 the church. Other examples, less conspicuous per- 
 haps, might be mentioned but space forbids. 
 
 As a result of the numerous revivals of early 
 Methodism the growth of the denomination during 
 this period was truly marvelous. Much of the West 
 and South was saved to Christianity. Other de- 
 
204 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 nominations to be sure had a share in the evangeliza- 
 tion of these sections, but the chief glory, beyond all 
 question, belongs to the Methodists. 
 
 During the latter portion of the first half of the 
 century, the M. E. Church became divided, chiefly 
 on account of the slavery question. The controver- 
 sies and bitterness thus engendered, retarded the 
 work of the church and added to the religious stag- 
 nation which had settled down upon the country. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 DENOMINATIONAL MOVEMENTS CONCLUDED. 
 
 In the great revivals which swept over the coun- 
 try during the first half of the nineteenth century, 
 there was scarcely a denomination which did not 
 share in the quickened spiritual life of the period. 
 Said Dr. Gardner Spring: "The period, commenc- 
 ing with the year 1792, and terminating with 1842, 
 was a memorable period in the history of the 
 American church. Scarcely any portion of it but 
 was visited by copious effusions of the Holy Spirit. 
 From north to south, and from east to west, our 
 male, and more especially our female academies, our 
 colleges, and our churches drank largely of this 
 fountain of living waters."* 
 
 Bishop Mcllvaine of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church, speaking of the influence of revivals in his 
 own denomination, said : "During this period, our 
 Episcopal churches, under a greatly extended and 
 more earnest and evangelical ministry, were in many 
 places favored of God with marked manifestations 
 
 * Humphrey's Revival Sketches, p. 214. 
 
206 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 of the power of the Spirit; bowing the hearts of 
 many persons, within a short space of time, to the 
 obedience of Christ. I have nowhere seen more 
 fruitful 'revivals of religion,' in which conversions 
 were more marked, the spiritual results more benefi- 
 cial and permanent. How many of our clergy can 
 tell of such movements under their labors, and bless 
 God for their issues of life. And how many can 
 point to revivals in Episcopal churches as marking 
 their spiritual birthdays."* 
 
 Three denominations of minor importance — the 
 United Brethren in Christ, the Evangelical Associa- 
 tion, and the Cumberland Presbyterians, all of 
 which came into existence about the beginning of 
 the century, are deserving of special mention on 
 account of the influence which they have exerted 
 upon the revival history of our country. 
 
 The earliest of these, the United Brethren in 
 Christ, owe their origin chiefly to the labors of 
 Philip William Otterbein, whom Asbury character- 
 ized as "the holy, the great Otterbein." He was 
 born June 3, 1726, at Dillenburg in the duchy of 
 Nassau, Germany, was educated at Herborn, and 
 came to America as a German Reformed missionary 
 in 1752. His first settlement in this country was at 
 Lancaster, Pa., which then had the second largest 
 German Reformed Church in the colonies. He 
 
 *Ibid., pp. 221, 222. 
 
THE UNITED BRETHREN. 207 
 
 afterwards preached at various other places in 
 Pennsylvania and Maryland, but for nearly twenty 
 years prior to his death in 18 14 he was pastor of an 
 independent German congregation in Baltimore. 
 
 During Otterbein's Lancaster pastorate he met 
 with a deeper religious experience, which led him to 
 enter upon revivalistic labors with great fervor. Not 
 alone to the congregations of which he was pastor 
 did he thus minister, but to the surrounding neigh- 
 borhoods he made frequent visits, conducting 
 evangelistic services and enlisting the co-operation 
 of the spiritually minded in these efforts for the 
 regeneration of men. 
 
 In this work he early became associated with 
 Martin Boehme, a pious Mennonite, whom he had 
 met at a great barn meeting near Lancaster. Boehme 
 was engaged in a similar work and after hearing 
 him preach, Otterbein was so impressed with the 
 similarity of their views and purposes, that he em- 
 braced him, exclaiming : "We are brethren," whence 
 the denomination at a later time is supposed to have 
 taken its name. 
 
 The labors of Otterbein and Boehme resulted in 
 the formation of a number of societies of pious be- 
 lievers in various parts of Pennsylvania and Mary- 
 land, who were not encouraged to leave the churches 
 of their birth. For their spiritual guidance and 
 instruction, teachers or preachers were appointed 
 
208 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 who visited them from time to time. Eventually 
 some form of organization became necessary, and 
 conferences were formed, the first one meeting in 
 1789. In 1800 these scattered societies were united 
 into one body which was denominated "The United 
 Brethren in Christ." An itinerant system and a 
 form of church government similar to that of the 
 Methodists were adopted, and during the period this 
 denomination did a great work in the evangelization 
 of the scattered German pioneers, though in subse- 
 quent times the work of the church has been chiefly 
 among an English-speaking population. 
 
 Although there never was any organic connection 
 between the Methodists and the United Brethren, 
 there always was the warmest sympathy and the 
 heartiest co-operation between them. A lasting 
 friendship sprang up between Asbury and Otterbein, 
 the former of whom used his influence to cause the 
 latter to accept the work with which he was so long 
 identified at Baltimore. When Asbury was set 
 apart to the office of bishop, at his request, Otter- 
 bein assisted in the ordination service, and when the 
 latter died Asbury wrote in his journal: "Forty 
 years have I known the retiring modesty of this man 
 of God, towering majestic above his fellows in 
 learning, wisdom and grace, and yet seeking to be 
 known only to God and the people of God/ 
 
 Similar in origin and purpose was the Evangeli- 
 
THE EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION. 209 
 
 cal Association. In 1790 Jacob Albright, a success- 
 ful manufacturer of brick and tile in Lancaster 
 County, Pa., met with a sore bereavement in the 
 death of several of his children. By this providence 
 and the funeral sermons which were preached, he 
 came into a sense of conviction for sin, from which 
 he ultimately found relief through the prayers and 
 exhortations of one Adam Riegel, an independent 
 lay preacher. Upon conversion Albright united 
 with the M. E. Church. Eventually he was led to 
 believe that God had called him to the evangelization 
 of the German-Americans in the country round 
 about. But the Methodists did not then contem- 
 plate a work among a foreign-speaking population, 
 and so meeting with no encouragement from the 
 church of his choice Albright was compelled to 
 organize his converts into independent societies, but 
 along lines for which the Methodists served as a 
 model. These societies eventually became known 
 as the Evangelical Association, of which Albright 
 was the first bishop, an office which he did not long 
 fill, owing to his death in 1808. But the work which 
 he inaugurated lived and was instrumental in lead- 
 ing many thousands of German-Americans to em- 
 brace the gospel of Christ. 
 
 The Cumberland Presbyterians originated in the 
 great revival which visited Kentucky and Tennessee 
 about the beginning of the century. This work, as 
 
210 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 we have seen, commenced with the labors of Rev. 
 James McGready in Logan County, Ky. The work 
 soon spread and the necessities became such that un- 
 educated men were ordained to the ministry to enter 
 the fields which had already whitened to the harvest, 
 and for the demands of which the laborers were far 
 too few. On this account and also because it had 
 permitted candidates for ordination to except certain 
 of the doctrines of the Westminster Confession, the 
 Cumberland Presbytery was dissolved by the Synod 
 of Kentucky in 1806. 
 
 After seeking in various ways for redress but in 
 vain, certain members of this exscinded Presbytery 
 reorganized the Cumberland Presbytery in 18 10 
 as an independent Presbytery, eliminating those 
 doctrines which savored of what they regarded as 
 fatalism. By 181 3 the growth had been so great 
 that the work was divided into three Presbyteries 
 and the Cumberland Presbytery was resolved into 
 the Cumberland Synod. By 1829 this Synod had 
 become a General Assembly, which accounts for the 
 origin of the church and its name. 
 
 The outgrowth of a revival, as might be expected, 
 the Cumberland Presbyterians were essentially 
 revivalistic. Camp-meetings and circuit preaching 
 were the principal means employed to reach the 
 people. The early preachers manifested an unusual 
 activity for the evangelization of the frontier settle- 
 
CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIANS. 211 
 
 merits of the south and southwest. But the evangel- 
 istic zeal of the church far exceeded its ability to care 
 for those converted under its labors, as a conse- 
 quence of which large numbers of its converts be- 
 came absorbed in other denominations. The work 
 accomplished by this denomination in the salvation 
 of men was a worthy one, and one for which the 
 Cumberland Presbyterians are deserving of honora- 
 ble mention in the annals of American revivals. 
 
 Having devoted considerable attention to the de- 
 nominational movements of the first half of the 
 nineteenth century, we are prepared to sum up the 
 results of the period. The Awakening of 1800 
 turned back the tide of infidelity, aroused the 
 churches from the lethargy into which they had 
 fallen, and gave to them a profound impulse towards 
 the work of evangelization. But much still remained 
 to be accomplished, "and there remained yet very 
 much land to be possessed." The frontier settle- 
 ments needed to have the gospel preached to them, 
 while multitudes in various portions of the country 
 were as yet uninfluenced by the churches. As a 
 result of the remarkable revivals and revival move- 
 ments from 1 800- 1 850 the religious character of the 
 country was greatly changed. At the commence- 
 ment of the century only one out of every fifteen 
 persons was connected with an evangelical church, 
 and there was but one church organization to every 
 
212 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 1740 inhabitants, but by 1850 one out of every 
 seven persons was a member of an evangelical 
 church, while there was a church organization to 
 every 895 inhabitants. The frontier settlements had 
 been evangelized and the colleges of the land had 
 been blessed with showers of refreshing grace. 
 Truly a marvelous record for so short a time. But 
 as the period came to a close the darkening shadows 
 were beginning to gather. Worldliness and indiffer- 
 ence were robbing the churches of their power and 
 revivals were rare. Happily these conditions did 
 not long prevail, but were overcome by that remark- 
 able awakening, known as the Great Revival of 
 
 1857- 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE GREAT REVIVAL OE 1 85 7. 
 
 The Great Revival of 185 7- 1858 was preceded by 
 a combination of circumstances, which from a 
 purely human standpoint would have been regarded 
 as an unfavorable preparation for an extensive 
 religious awakening. A consideration of these cir- 
 cumstances is necessary to an understanding of the 
 providential character of this remarkable work of 
 grace. 
 
 It was a time of intense political excitement. Al- 
 ready were heard the distant mutterings of that 
 fearful storm which, in all its direful fury, was des- 
 tined to burst over this fair land of ours, visiting 
 north and south alike with the desolations of an 
 internecine war. As early as the Presidency of 
 Andrew Jackson, the slavery question had begun to 
 assume proportions of national importance. The 
 rapid march of events — the founding of the ''Libera- 
 tor" by William Lloyd Garrison, the assassination of 
 Lovejoy, the work of Wendell Phillips and his co- 
 adjutors, the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, the 
 
214 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 publication of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," the Kansas- 
 Missouri warfare, and the Dred Scott decision of 
 the Supreme Court — had served to keep the slavery 
 question before the minds of the people, so that by 
 the autumn of 1857 public feeling was at fever heat 
 upon the subject. 
 
 It was a time of spiritual declension. From 1840 
 to 1845 much excitement was aroused in various 
 parts of the country on account of the views propa- 
 gated by William Miller and others in sympathy 
 with him concerning the second advent of our 
 Saviour and the end of the world. From a study 
 of Daniel and the Book of the Revelation, April 23, 
 1843, was tne date agreed upon for our Lord's ap- 
 pearing. As the time drew near the excitement in 
 numerous portions of the land became intense. 
 Great meetings were held and extensive prepara- 
 tions were made for the coming of the Lord. Ascen- 
 sion robes were prepared. Multitudes neglected 
 their work, and many who were rich generously sold 
 their goods and gave to the poor. The day arrived, 
 but it brought with it no remarkable phenomena. 
 Nothing daunted, the leaders of the movement con- 
 cluded that the time of the advent was to be March 
 22, 1844, and their deluded followers again made 
 ready for the coming of the Son of man. "The 
 specified day came, as calm and bright a harbinger 
 of spring as ever shone upon the earth. The Son of 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1857. 215 
 
 man did not appear in the clouds of heaven." Other 
 dates were set, but the results were equally disap- 
 pointing. Finally the confidence of the public be- 
 came shaken and the excitement was at an end. The 
 faith of many was staggered, not a few became 
 infidels, others passed over to materialistic views, 
 while those who returned to the churches were for 
 a time unfitted for Christian service. As a conse- 
 quence public confidence in religion became im- 
 paired, and churches were made the subject of ridi- 
 cule and abuse. Revivals were few. From 1843 
 to 1857, there were several years during which the 
 accessions to the churches scarcely equalled the 
 losses sustained by death and discipline. 
 
 The Great Revival, moreover, was preceded by a 
 period of financial and commercial prosperity unpre- 
 cedented in the history of our country. The dis- 
 covery of gold in California, the accessions of 
 territory by conquest in the Mexican War, the open- 
 ing up for settlement of vast tracts of arable land 
 throughout the west and northwest stimulated trade 
 and immigration. A great impetus was given to 
 the latter by the famine in Ireland and the revolu- 
 tions which had taken place in nearly every 
 European state. Multitudes flocked to this country, 
 drawn hither by the promise of cheap and fertile 
 lands. Thus the great west became peopled and 
 developed. Cities, territories and states grew up in 
 
216 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 rapid succession. Population increased at an enor- 
 mous ratio. Railroad building almost assumed the 
 form of a craze. Within a few years the railroad 
 mileage of the country increased fourfold. Specula- 
 tion was rife. Gigantic schemes were proposed for 
 the internal improvement of the country and 
 projects for speedy enrichment multiplied on every 
 hand. Thus it was that the "cares of this world, and 
 the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other 
 things" so preoccupied the minds of men that they 
 became utterly indifferent to the claims of religion. 
 These conditions, however, were suddenly re- 
 versed. In the autumn of 1857 the country was 
 visited with a severe financial panic, caused by exces- 
 sive railroad building, over-speculation and a wild- 
 cat currency system. Each state regulated its own 
 banking system. Some of the banks were good, 
 others were not, and as they issued their own notes 
 in accordance with the respective state laws, the 
 country became flooded with bank-notes of uncertain 
 value. Speculation in land was bolstered up by 
 means of mortgages. A crash was inevitable. 
 When it came, merchants by the thousands all over 
 the country were forced to the wall, banks failed, 
 and railroads went into bankruptcy. The financial 
 ruin of the country seemed complete. Interest on 
 first-class securities rose to 3%, 4%, and even 5% 
 a month. Upon ordinary securities no money 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1857. 217 
 
 was obtainable. Specie payments were sus- 
 pended. Manufactories were shut down and vast 
 multitudes were thrown out of employment. In 
 New York City alone thirty thousand lost employ- 
 ment on account of these stringent conditions. All 
 classes were confronted by hard times. In the 
 midst of these disasters men had time to think, and 
 when ruin stared them in the face they could find 
 refuge in God. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that the finan- 
 cial panic of 1857 was a cause of the Great Revival. 
 Adversity does not always drive men to God. "In 
 the year 1837 there was a commercial revulsion, 
 quite as widespread and unexpected as that of 1857, 
 and ten-fold more disastrous; yet there was no un- 
 usual turning to religion, no mighty movement of 
 the popular mind, no upheaving of the founda- 
 tions."* 
 
 Notwithstanding these unfavorable conditions a 
 revival commenced, which was so unpretentious in 
 its origin, but so mighty in its influence and results 
 as to be the undoubted work of God. If ever a 
 season of grace was providential in its inception, 
 pre-eminently so was the Revival of 1857- 
 1858. The down-town church problem was then a 
 pressing one in many of the churches in New York 
 City. The increasing demands of trade made heavy 
 
 * Chambers' Noon Prayer Meeting, p. 284. 
 
218 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 encroachments upon the early residence section of 
 the city. "Streets once filled with the families of 
 substantial and opulent citizens were invaded by 
 shops and warehouses, and in a short time entire 
 rows of houses, which formerly had served their 
 occupants at once for a place of business and a 
 dwelling, were replaced by stately blocks adapted 
 solely to business purposes." There seemed to be 
 no diminution of population in these down-town dis- 
 tricts, but now it was composed of a large foreign 
 element and consisted chiefly of the submerged 
 classes who apparently were beyond the reach of 
 religious influences. Consequently church attend- 
 ance decreased at an alarming ratio, and became 
 scarcely a tithe of what it had been in former days. 
 In view of these circumstances the Brick Presbyte- 
 rian Church and the Broadway Tabernacle had been 
 forced to move to more inviting districts. A similar 
 situation confronted the old North Dutch Church 
 located at the corner of Fulton and William 
 Streets. For many years it had served a purpose 
 of eminent usefulness, but at the time of which we 
 write it was suffering a state of decline. Instead 
 of removing to some other portion of the city the 
 church decided to secure the services of a lay mis- 
 sionary, and if possible reach the unchurched masses 
 which had gathered about it. 
 
 Mr. Jeremiah C. Lanphier was employed for this 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1857. 219 
 
 purpose. He was born at Coxsackie, N. Y., in 1809, 
 and for a period of more than twenty years had 
 been engaged in mercantile business in New York 
 City. In 1842 he had made a public profession of 
 religion and had united with the Broadway Taber- 
 nacle. Later he became affiliated with the Brick 
 Presbyterian Church, of which he was a member 
 when he entered the service of the North Dutch 
 Church as a lay-missionary. An eastern journal of 
 the period described him as "tall, with a pleasant 
 face, an affectionate manner, and indomitable 
 energy and perseverance; a good singer, gifted in 
 prayer and exhortation, a welcome guest to any 
 house, shrewd and endowed with much tact and 
 common sense." Relinquishing at once his secular 
 affairs, Mr. Lanphier entered heartily upon the 
 duties of his new position July 1, 1857. 
 
 It was his first effort to reach the unchurched 
 masses in that section of the city. The field was 
 divided up into districts into which Mr. Lanphier 
 went, calling upon every family and where it was 
 possible upon every individual. A neat folder, com- 
 mending the lay-missionary, giving a brief history 
 of the church and containing a description of its 
 services, was placed in the hands of these visited. 
 Bibles and tracts were distributed, and by the em- 
 ployment of all justifiable means, the missionary 
 sought to attract the masses to the church and to 
 
220 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 their Saviour. Especial attention was devoted to 
 the hotels and boarding-houses in the vicinity. 
 Pews were set apart for the use of such; the pro- 
 prietors were informed that they and their guests 
 would be welcome at the services, notices of which 
 were displayed in these places, and small cards bear- 
 ing announcements of the same were put into the 
 hands of the chambermaids for distribution among 
 the guests on the Sabbath day. 
 
 Amid the difficulties and discouragements which 
 Mr. Lanphier met, he found comfort and strength 
 in prayer. It occurred to him that it might be 
 profitable for others, especially those engaged in 
 business pursuits, to retire from their activities for 
 a brief communion with God. The noon hour 
 seemed the most feasible one, and by making the 
 services sufficiently varied in character, with the 
 understanding that persons might come or go at 
 pleasure, it was thought that such a service might 
 prove to be a source of helpfulness to all who could 
 attend. 
 
 At twelve o'clock on Wednesday, September 23, 
 1857, the room on the third floor of the Consistory 
 Building, in the rear of the North Dutch Church on 
 Fulton Street, was opened for a noon prayer meet- 
 ing. In his missionary visits Mr. Lanphier had an- 
 nounced the fact of such a meeting. Hand-bills 
 were also liberally distributed in hotels, shops, fac- 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1857. 221 
 
 tories, mercantile establishments, counting-rooms, 
 and private residences in the neighborhood. At the 
 appointed hour, Mr. Lanphier was the only one 
 present. Thirty minutes slowly passed away, when 
 finally the first attendant appeared. Others came in 
 one by one until the whole gathering numbered six 
 persons. Wednesday, September 30, at the second 
 meeting, twenty persons were present. The 
 week following, on October 7, the number had 
 increased to forty. It was not the original purpose 
 to conduct these meetings daily, but on Wednesday 
 only of each week. Between the second and third 
 meetings, after due consideration, it seemed advisa- 
 ble to make the meeting semi-weekly or daily. 
 Strange to say the purpose of so doing was antici- 
 pated at the third meeting itself, when a proposition 
 was made and carried to have the services daily. 
 
 During the weeks that followed, the increase in 
 attendance was slow but sure. Men of all classes 
 and conditions attended the service. Capitalists and 
 laborers, manufacturers and artisans, professional 
 men, merchants and clerks, butchers and bakers, 
 men from every walk in life were represented from 
 day to day. Draymen would drive up to the curb 
 stone and securing their teams, would enter the ser- 
 vice long enough for the singing of a hymn or a 
 season of prayer, and then be off to their work. 
 At first the attendance was composed of men, but 
 
222 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 gradually the gentler sex began to drop in one by 
 one until a fair proportion of the attendants were 
 women. 
 
 By the middle of January, the attendance had in- 
 creased until all three of the lecture rooms in the 
 Consistory Building were filled to overflowing, and 
 simultaneous meetings under different leaders were 
 there conducted. 
 
 As the interest increased other places were opened 
 for prayer throughout the city and Brooklyn, where 
 a daily prayer meeting had been instituted at Ply- 
 mouth Church, nearly if not quite simultaneously 
 with the Fulton Street meeting. By spring more 
 than twenty different prayer meetings had been 
 established in New York City alone. Some of the 
 largest churches in the city were filled to overflow- 
 ing, multitudes crowded into the Free Academy, and 
 the fire and police departments opened their doors 
 for the service of prayer. Merchants opened rooms 
 in their stores where their clerks could meet at 
 stated times for communion with God. In addition 
 to the noon prayer meetings, similar gatherings 
 were held at nearly all hours of the day to accommo- 
 date the convenience of every one. 
 
 Not only were these prayer meetings held in 
 different parts of the city, but preaching services at 
 unwonted times and in unaccustomed places were 
 conducted to further the interests of this great 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1857. 223 
 
 revival. Burton's Theater, on Chambers Street, in 
 the very center of New York's commercial activity, 
 was employed for this purpose. Here the thronging 
 multitudes listened to the stirring sermons and ring- 
 ing appeals of Henry Ward Beecher, Theodore L. 
 Cuyler, Robert M. Hatfield, and other eminent 
 divines of the day. Everywhere religion seemed to 
 be the common topic of conversation. An unwonted 
 activity manifested itself in all the churches of the 
 metropolis. Clergy and laity alike seemed to be en- 
 gaged in the all-important task of enforcing the 
 claims of religion and placing before men the duty 
 of repentance and the necessity of faith in Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 The publicity given to the movement in the pub- 
 lic press was an efficient means in promoting the 
 revival. Reporters were detailed to narrate the 
 progress of the meetings. Startling headlines called 
 the attention of the public to the latest "Revival 
 News" of the day, and for the time being, criminal 
 trials, politics, casualities, etc., were overshadowed 
 by the remarkable religious interest which had been 
 awakened. At one time the New York dailies pub- 
 lished several extras filled with accounts of the 
 progress of the work in various parts of the land. 
 For such a movement could not long remain local. 
 On the wings of lightning the revival spirit spread 
 to the various cities throughout the Northern States, 
 
224 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 and "daily union prayer meetings" were at once 
 established to promote the interests of religion and 
 reach the hearts of men. Brooklyn, Philadelphia, 
 Albany, Boston, Cincinnati, and Chicago, soon were 
 brought under the influence of the Great Revival. 
 
 Philadelphia was one of the first cities to be 
 reached by the revival movement. The winter pre- 
 ceding, Rev. James Caughey, the eminent Methodist 
 revivalist, conducted a notable series of meetings in 
 the city, during the progress of which some five 
 hundred persons or more were converted. This 
 served no doubt as a gracious preparation, but the 
 revival itself was a direct result of the work in New 
 York City. A young member of the Philadelphia 
 Young Men's Christian Association had attended 
 some of the early meetings at Fulton Street, and 
 thinking that a similar service might be of profit in 
 his own city, he broached the subject to some of his 
 fellow members in the Association. The proposi- 
 tion met with favor, and on November 23, 1857, a 
 noon prayer meeting was inaugurated at the Union 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. The attendance was 
 at first discouraging, never exceeding thirty-six. At 
 length it was thought best to secure a room more 
 centrally located, and the anteroom of Jayne's Hall 
 was engaged for that purpose, early in February, 
 1858. Little by little the interest and the attendance 
 increased until it became necessary to hold 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1857. 225 
 
 the service in the large hall. Within an 
 incredible space of time the seats and gal- 
 leries were filled to overflowing. For weeks there 
 was an attendance of three thousand daily at the 
 Jayne's Hall meeting. Similar meetings were in- 
 stituted at the Handel and Hayden Hall, American 
 Mechanic's, and various other places throughout the 
 city. Daily preaching services were sustained and 
 a special prayer meeting was established for the 
 firemen of the city. Early in May a big tent was 
 purchased at a cost of two thousand dollars, and dur- 
 ing the four months that it was pitched in the city it 
 had an aggregate attendance of more than one 
 hundred and fifty thousand persons. The spirit of 
 prayer seemed to pervade the city, and as a result of 
 the various services, it was estimated that ten 
 thousand persons had been converted during the 
 year, one denomination alone receiving three 
 thousand accessions and another eighteen hundred. 
 At Boston, where Charles G. Finney was laboring, 
 a daily business men's prayer meeting was instituted 
 at the Old South Church, but from the very first the 
 place was too strait for them and numerous other 
 daily prayer meetings were established throughout 
 the city. Ladies' meetings were conducted daily by 
 Mrs. Finney in the vestry of the Park Street 
 Church. The whole city was moved and the revival 
 became so general that it was impossible to make an 
 
226 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 estimate of the number of conversions that would 
 approximate the truth. Unitarians and orthodox 
 alike became interested and attended the various 
 meetings in large numbers. 
 
 In Chicago, the Metropolitan Theater was daily 
 crowded with two thousand attendants and upwards, 
 while various churches opened their doors for the 
 service of prayer. Thus the revival went on, ex- 
 tending from city to city and from state to state, 
 increasing in momentum and power as the months 
 passed by. 
 
 Besides the influence of the noon prayer meeting 
 there were other forces at work for the promotion 
 of the revival. In the late autumn of 1857 a revival 
 convention was called at Pittsburg, which was 
 largely attended by ministers and influential laymen. 
 Such topics were discussed as the obstacles in the 
 way of revivals, the means of promoting them, the 
 encouragements to seek them. A ringing appeal to 
 the churches was formulated with the request that it 
 be read from the various pulpits. It was recom- 
 mended that the official members of churches meet 
 and discuss such topics as had received considera- 
 tion at the convention, and that plans be adopted for 
 systematic visitation, in order to effect a general 
 revival. Accordingly the first Sabbath in January, 
 1858, was observed by many Presbyterian and other 
 pastors in preaching upon the necessity for a revival, 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1857. 227 
 
 and the following Thursday was set apart as a day 
 of humiliation and prayer. Soon after the Pitts- 
 burg convention, a similar gathering assembled at 
 Cincinnati with the same object in view. The influ- 
 ence of these conventions was highly beneficial and 
 an added impetus was given to revivals throughout 
 the country. 
 
 Not only did the great cities feel the throbbings 
 of this mighty movement, but there was scarcely a 
 village, or hamlet, or community throughout the 
 Northern States that was not visited with showers 
 of refreshing grace. A divine influence seemed to 
 pervade the land. The minds of men were wonder- 
 fully moved and their hearts were strangely soft- 
 ened. Those who were unaccustomed to pray or 
 attend divine worship became deeply interested and 
 could be reached with little difficulty. It was said 
 that there were towns in New England where 
 scarcely an unconverted person remained. In one 
 of Mr. Finney's Boston meetings a gentleman arose 
 and said, "I am from Omaha, in Nebraska. On my 
 journey East I have found a continuous prayer 
 meeting all the way. We call it two thousand miles 
 from Omaha to Boston ; and here was a prayer meet- 
 ing about two thousand miles in extent." 
 
 One section of the country alone was not power- 
 fully affected by this revival. Slavery seemed to 
 rest like a great pall upon the Southern States and 
 
228 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 apparently prevented this divine visitation from ex- 
 tending thither to any remarkable degree. The con- 
 tentions about the "peculiar institution" were so 
 numerous, and the public mind seemed to be so occu- 
 pied with questions relating thereto that the opera- 
 tions of the Holy Spirit were shut out and no great 
 results were realized. 
 
 If the South did not profit to any great extent in 
 this movement, its influence was felt abroad. There 
 can be no question that the great revival, which 
 visited Ireland in 1859 and extended to England 
 and Scotland, received its impulse in part from the 
 revival in America. By steamer and packet, in letter 
 and tract and newspaper, the tidings were carried 
 until a general expectancy and desire were awakened 
 on the part of the British public for a similar visita- 
 tion on that side of the water. Moreover in 1858 
 the Fulton Street prayer meeting was visited by a 
 delegation from the Presbyterian Synod of Ireland 
 for the purpose of studying this remarkable move- 
 ment that the way might thereby be prepared for a 
 work of grace among their own countrymen. The 
 following year a great revival, resembling in many 
 respects the one in America, swept over the British 
 Isles, producing similar results for good. 
 
 The characteristics of the Great Revival were 
 such as to make it absolutely unique. It stands apart 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1857. 229 
 
 both in its method and its aims from every other 
 great awakening. There were no efforts to get up a 
 revival or to arouse great public interest upon the 
 subject. None of the elaborate machinery of 
 modern revivals was made use of. There was no 
 concerted action and there seemed little likelihood 
 that the principal means used should produce results 
 of unusual magnitude. From its very inception this 
 revival was the work of God. A humble layman, an 
 ordinary man, who was laboring for the spiritual 
 welfare of others, cried out in his supplications: 
 "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" and a busi- 
 ness men's prayer meeting at the noon-tide hour was 
 the result. An inopportune time, some would have 
 said, but it became a source of blessing to thousands 
 and tens of thousands. Its influence was felt 
 throughout this broad land of ours, and tidings 
 thereof were wafted abroad to other shores to in- 
 spire men in lands afar with hope and faith that God 
 would bless them and pour out his Spirit for the 
 salvation of the people. 
 
 Providential in its origin, it was providential in 
 its continuance. Bishop Mcllvaine, in his annual 
 address before the Diocesan Convention of Ohio, 
 said : "As for myself, I desire to say that I have no 
 doubt 'whence it cometh.' So far as I have had per- 
 sonal opportunities of observing its means, and 
 spirit, and fruits; so far as I have had opportunity 
 
230 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 of gathering information about it, frorh judicious 
 minds, in various parts of my own Diocese, and of 
 the country at large, I rejoice in the decided con- 
 viction that it is 'the Lord's doing;' unaccountable 
 by any natural causes, entirely above and beyond 
 what any human device or power could produce ; an 
 outpouring of the Spirit of God upon God's people, 
 quickening them to greater earnestness in his ser- 
 vice; and upon the unconverted, to make them new 
 creatures in Christ Jesus." 
 
 This divine visitation, providential in its charac- 
 ter, was emphatically a lay revival. There was no 
 evangelist of national reputation, no minister, how- 
 ever influential, to whom credit could be given for 
 this mighty work of grace, even as the indirect 
 instrument of its accomplishment. The revival was 
 carried on independently of the ministry and almost 
 without their aid. The ministry were not ignored, 
 nor was there in any sense an opposition to them. 
 They carried on their regular services, but to greatly 
 increased congregations, which were the immediate 
 fruits of the revival, and by their preaching and 
 prayers they gave encouragement to the work and 
 co-operated in it. The laity were especially active. 
 The movement commenced with the efforts of a 
 layman, it enlisted the sympathies and energies of 
 other laymen throughout the country and was car- 
 ried on chiefly through their instrumentality. 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1857. 231 
 
 The methods employed for the furtherance of this 
 work were the distribution of tracts, personal work, 
 and the daily union prayer meetings. In some in- 
 stances, as at Burton's Theater, New York, and 
 elsewhere, preaching was employed to promote the 
 revival after it had commenced, but this was excep- 
 tional and in most cases there was but little preach- 
 ing aside from that of the regular Sabbath services. 
 The principal means relied upon were the daily 
 union prayer meetings. Said Finney : "There was 
 such a general confidence in the prevalence of prayer, 
 that the people very extensively seemed to prefer 
 meetings for prayer to meetings for preaching. The 
 general impression seemed to be, 'We have had in- 
 struction until we are hardened; it is time for us 
 to pray.' The answers to prayer were constant, and 
 so striking as to arrest the attention of the people 
 generally throughout the land. It was evident that 
 in answer to prayer the windows of heaven were 
 opened and the Spirit of God poured out like a 
 flood."* 
 
 The purpose of the original noon prayer meeting 
 on Fulton Street was not the conversion of sinners. 
 It was designed for those engaged in the active pur- 
 suits of life, that, in the midst of their cares and 
 activities, they might withdraw their minds from 
 their duties and perplexities and find spiritual re- 
 
 * Autobiography, p. 444. 
 
2^2 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 freshment in a brief communion with God. In the 
 first instance it was simply a revival of prayer. Men 
 came together to pray and wait before the Lord. It 
 was but natural for men who pray to work and put 
 forth efforts for the conversion of their fellows. 
 However much we may expatiate upon the innate 
 selfishness of men, it is none the less true that on 
 great occasions, at unusual crises, there is a higher, 
 nobler altruistic instinct which manifests itself in 
 active endeavors for the welfare of others. As the 
 interest at the Fulton Street meeting deepened, it 
 proved no exception to this general rule. Requests 
 for prayer, either on the part of unconverted persons 
 themselves or in their behalf on the part of inter- 
 ested friends, soon began to multiply, and as the 
 work went on these requests became more importu- 
 nate and more earnest. To pray and not to work 
 was impossible. As men prayed for others they 
 manifested an unwonted activity in their behalf. 
 They dealt personally with the unconverted. They 
 invited them to the meetings. They distributed 
 handbills and tracts. Time and effort were ex- 
 pended to further the interests of the revival. But 
 underlying the use of all external means and 
 agencies was the predominating spirit of prayer. 
 The recorded instances of answered prayer were 
 remarkable and volumes have been written upon the 
 subject. Throughout this work of grace the daily 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1857. 233 
 
 union prayer meetings continued to be the principal 
 means for its promotion. 
 
 A contemporary description of one of these 
 prayer meetings, that at Philadelphia, will afford 
 some idea of the chief means employed for the fur- 
 therance of this mighty revival : "There is no noise, 
 no confusion. A layman conducts the meeting. 
 Any suitable person may pray or speak to the audi- 
 ence for five minutes only. If he does not bring his 
 prayer to a close in that time, a bell is touched and 
 he gives way. One or two verses of the most 
 spiritual hymns go up, 'like the sound of many 
 waters ;' requests for prayer for individuals are then 
 made, one layman or minister succeeds another in 
 perfect order and quiet, and after a space which 
 seems a few minutes — so strange, so absorbing, so 
 interesting is the scene — the leader announces that 
 it is one o'clock, and punctual to the moment a min- 
 ister pronounces the benediction, and the immense 
 audience slowly, quietly and in perfect order, pass 
 from the hall ! Some minister remaining to converse 
 in a small room off the platform with any who may 
 desire spiritual instruction."* 
 
 There was nothing about this revival which led 
 to flagrant evils or violent abuses. There were none 
 of the exciting agitations or lamentable disorders, 
 which had characterized some of the earlier Ameri- 
 
 The Noon Prayer Meeting, p. 273. 
 
234 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 can revivals, particularly the Great Awakening. 
 Excitements there were to be sure, but not of an 
 unhealthy character. The excitement, or more 
 properly the deep interest, of the Revival of 1857 
 was brought about by the publicity given to the 
 movement through the columns of the public press 
 and in topics of conversation, all of which had a ten- 
 dency to draw the attention of the unconverted, with 
 a compelling force, to a consideration of the con- 
 cerns of the soul. Revivals have been compared to 
 spring freshets, but this revival could be compared 
 more appropriated to a May shower, gentle in its 
 influence, but refreshing and far-reaching in its con- 
 sequences. Imperceptibly almost the revival com- 
 menced, gradually it increased in interest and power 
 until the whole nation and even foreign lands had 
 felt its gracious influence. It did not subside with 
 any unfavorable reaction or as the result of an un- 
 healthy excitement. It reached the height of its 
 influence and then quietly, almost imperceptibly it 
 waned, leaving the churches and communities which 
 it had visited more spiritual, stronger in their influ- 
 ence for good, and richer in countless ways, having 
 a more abiding confidence in God who reigns above, 
 and with a more hopeful view for the ultimate con- 
 version of the world. 
 
 In every great awakening there is a tendency to 
 exalt the means employed above the instrument who 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1857. 235 
 
 makes use of such means. Such a tendency appeared 
 in this revival. There was a disposition on the part 
 of some to overlook the sovereign workings of the 
 Lord and to attribute the results to the daily union 
 prayer meetings, to the zeal of the laity and their 
 active endeavors for the salvation of men. The 
 story is told of one who said that in his estimation 
 "the great power of the church for the salvation of 
 souls, now, consisted in the union prayer meetings 
 and the union Sunday School." Another expressed 
 the opinion that the "Young Men's Christian Asso- 
 ciation had come to take religion out of the church 
 and ventilate it." Such views, if persisted in, might 
 have wrought incalculable injury to the cause of 
 Christ, but they were wisely discountenanced, so 
 that the revival came, exerted its powerful and far- 
 reaching influence, and quietly passed away, without 
 having been impaired by any appreciable ill-effects. 
 Four notable results mark the achievements of the 
 Great Revival. First, The number added to the 
 Churches. Speaking in his diocesan address of the 
 extent of the revival, Bishop Mcllvaine said : "There 
 have been, in the American churches, revivals as 
 pure and simple, and in their sphere as effective for 
 good. But we read of none of such extent ; reaching 
 at the same time so many people ; scattered over such 
 a length and breadth of territory ; appearing in so 
 many denominations of Christians, of widely sep- 
 
236 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 arated ecclesiastical institutions; leavening so many 
 colleges and other institutions of education; so 
 penetrating with one and the same influence all 
 gradations of society, from the most cultivated to 
 the most unlettered; in cities and villages, in the 
 counting-house of the merchant, in the work-shop 
 of the mechanic, in factories, in printing-offices, 
 among classes of persons usually regarded as pecu- 
 liarly removed from and fenced against the influence 
 of gospel truth. How can we witness all this, and 
 not see the hand of God and take courage, and de- 
 sire and pray for more and more of such manifesta- 
 tions of his grace?" 
 
 There was scarcely a religious denomination 
 which did not share in the gracious fruits of this 
 revival. Various estimates of the number converted 
 range from three hundred thousand to one million 
 persons. It is impossible to estimate with accuracy 
 the numerical results, but an innumerable host whom 
 no man can number were converted, most of whom 
 united with some branch of the church of Christ. In 
 the city of Philadelphia alone there were ten thou- 
 sand conversions. For a period of six to eight 
 weeks, when the revival was at its height, it was 
 estimated that fifty thousand persons were converted 
 weekly throughout the country, and as the revival 
 lasted for more than a year it becomes evident that 
 the sum total of conversions reaches a figure that is 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1857. 237 
 
 enormous. Conservative judges have placed the 
 number of converts at five hundred thousand, and 
 this estimate in all probability is approximately 
 correct. 
 
 A second result of the Revival was the Organiza- 
 tion of the Laity for aggressive service. Formerly 
 the idea had found wide acceptance that the work of 
 the church was to be done by the pastor in conjunc- 
 tion with his church officiary. In this respect the 
 influence of the revival was quite revolutionary, but 
 it was a wholesome revolution which tended to 
 magnify the usefulness of the church many-fold and 
 make it a more effective agency for good. The laity 
 were aroused as to the possibilities of their useful- 
 ness. Having witnessed the fruits of their labors in 
 this movement laymen came to realize that they had 
 a part, and by no means an unimportant part, in the 
 extension of Christ's kingdom. An awakened laity 
 infused new energy and new life into the various 
 activities of the church. Their energies became en- 
 listed to a greater extent in all phases of Christian 
 work and now found expression in the Young Men's 
 Christian Association, the Sunday School, City Mis- 
 sionary organizations, and kindred forms of activity. 
 
 The revival, moreover, served as a great training 
 school for laymen, and brought to light the abilities 
 of such men as D. L. Moody, who has left a lasting 
 impress upon the history of American Christianity, 
 
238 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 and whose life and public services will receive ample 
 consideration at its appropriate place in this narra- 
 tive. 
 
 One of the great lessons which this revival was 
 calculated to teach was that the work of the church 
 was not committed to the clergy alone nor to the 
 laity, but that both have their appropriate sphere in 
 the church and by their mutual co-operation the 
 largest results are accomplished and the greatest 
 usefulness of the church is conserved. 
 
 A third result of the Revival was the Promotion 
 of Interdenominational Fellowship. Hitherto the 
 various denominations had viewed one another with 
 feelings of mutual suspicion and distrust. But in 
 this work of refreshing there was no room for sec- 
 tarian strife or jealousy. Arminian and Calvinist, 
 Baptist and Psedo-Baptist, Congregationalist and 
 Episcopalian, the Methodist in his glowing zeal and 
 the Friend in his quiet conservatism, all had been 
 blessed. Sharing thus in the fruits of the revival, 
 they could not but magnify the things which they 
 held in common, in contrast to the differences which 
 kept them apart. 
 
 The fourth result of the Revival was a Providen- 
 tial Preparation for the Civil War. As the Great 
 Awakening enabled the feeble colonies to pass 
 through the baptismal fires of the American Revolu- 
 tion and preserved the religious institutions of the 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1857. 239 
 
 country from complete impairment in that struggle, 
 so the Great Revival of 185 7- 1858 served to prepare 
 the people and sustain them in the fearful cataclysm 
 which swept over our country in the early sixties 
 and threatened to blast forever our free institutions. 
 It is interesting to raise the question how this nation 
 could have passed through the dark and trying times 
 of war had it not been preceded by the "most extraor- 
 dinary and widespread revival ever known on 
 this continent." It was the religious influences gen- 
 erated by this revival which served to give strength 
 to the wearied soldier on his long forced marches; 
 which inspired him with courage amid the perils and 
 carnage of battle; which brought comfort and sup- 
 port to the sufferer in the hospital or the grewsome 
 prison-pen ; and which gave dying peace to many a 
 youth who sacrificed life upon the altar of his 
 country. 
 
 The revival nerved and fortified the church for 
 this fearful struggle. The church sent forth her 
 sons to the conflict, and while she gave much, 
 ofttimes her all, yet as the war progressed, there was 
 no diminution in her zeal. Her resources seemed to 
 be inexhaustible. Instead of retrenching in her mis- 
 sionary gifts and activities, notwithstanding a depre- 
 ciating currency, the power of the church to give 
 seemed only to be multiplied, while her activities dur- 
 ing the long struggle suffered no serious impairment. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE PERIOD OE THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 The Great Revival did not allay the sharpness of 
 the controversy over the slavery question. In the 
 fall of 1859 tne famous raid of John Brown 
 occurred, and a year later the election of Lincoln to 
 the Presidency brought the issue to a crisis. The 
 Southern States seceded soon after and formed the 
 Confederacy. The North still hoped for a peaceful 
 adjudication of the difficulties which imperiled the 
 life of the nation, but that hope was dissipated by 
 the attack on Fort Sumpter. From that time until 
 the fall of Richmond and Atlanta, war with its 
 scenes of carnage and disaster raged between the 
 two sections. 
 
 Such conditions could not fail to affect pro- 
 foundly the religious life of the nation. In some 
 communities every male church member capable of 
 bearing arms was at the front fighting for his 
 country. Many who were thus called away perished 
 in battle, while others became demoralized through 
 
THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR. 241 
 
 the deleterious influences of camp and army life, and 
 were lost to the churches. The war was the topic of 
 the day, the theme of conversation, and its items 
 filled the columns of the public press. Stirring news 
 of battle and tidings from the front absorbed the 
 attention of the people. But the excitements of the 
 time did not cause any appreciable decline in the life 
 of the churches. Multitudes of church records 
 throughout the Northern States testify to the fact 
 that there was not only no diminution in religious 
 interest, but that on the contrary church and Sunday 
 School attendance greatly increased. Where able- 
 bodied men had gone to the front, the aged, the 
 women, and the children filled their places and main- 
 tained the work of the church with unflagging 
 energy and undiminished zeal. 
 
 Not only were the churches at home well cared 
 for, but earnest efforts were put forth for the 
 religious welfare of those who were at the front, 
 endangered not only by the perils of war, but by 
 the temptation to immorality, laxity, intemperance 
 and vice, more or less incident to army life. Among 
 the important agencies for this purpose was the 
 Christian Commission, formed in New York City, 
 November 14, 1861, at the call of the Young Men's 
 Christian Association. The work of this Commis- 
 sion has been summed up as follows : ''From 
 November, 1861, to May, 1866, this Commission 
 
242 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 disbursed, both for the benefit of the patriot soldiers 
 of the Union and for the Confederate wounded that 
 fell into our hands, the sum of $6,291,107. We em- 
 ployed 4,859 agents, working without recompense, 
 an aggregate of 185,652 days. These agents held 
 136,650 religious services and wrote 92,321 letters 
 for the soldiers. They gave away 1,466,748 Bibles 
 (in whole or in part), 1,370,953 hymn-books, 
 8,603,434 books or pamphlets, 18,189,863 newspa- 
 pers and magazines, and 30,368,998 pages of relig- 
 ious tracts. They also greatly assisted in the opera- 
 tions of the Sanitary Commission, which expended 
 in the same time $4,924,048, making an aggregate, 
 by the two, of $11,215,155, poured out as a free-will 
 offering by a grateful country for the moral and 
 physical welfare of its brave defenders/'* 
 
 In religious zeal the South was not one whit 
 behind the North. In July, 1861, the Evangelical 
 Tract Society, corresponding to the American Tract 
 Society, was organized at Petersburg, Va. It pub- 
 lished a religious paper for soldiers, and put into 
 circulation during the war 50,000,000 pages of 
 tracts. The various denominational publishing 
 houses, private individuals, and the Bible Society of 
 the Confederate States, formed in March, 1862, 
 engaged in the work of circulating tracts, religious 
 papers, Bibles, etc. There is no means of obtaining 
 
 * Dorchester's Christianity in the U. S., p. 688. 
 
THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR. 243 
 
 accurate statistics of this work, but thousands of 
 dollars were expended, and millions of pages of 
 religious literature were put into circulation. Mis- 
 sionaries and colporters were employed to assist the 
 chaplains in ministering to the religious needs of 
 the soldiers. 
 
 By the use of such means and the co-operation of 
 praying officers a revival commenced, which became 
 so extensive and powerful as to be termed the 
 "Great Revival in the Southern Armies." 
 
 The battle-field and camp may seem a strange 
 place for a revival of religion. Instances there are 
 on record of a praying soldiery. Many eminent 
 commanders, like Washington, Wellington, Have- 
 lock and others, have been devout and earnest 
 Christians. Cromwell's "Old Ironsides" who went 
 into battle praying and chanting Psalms are often 
 referred to. But a revival in an army actually en- 
 gaged in deadly warfare was an occurrence hitherto 
 unknown in history. The influences of the camp are 
 not favorable to the cultivation of the virtues and 
 graces of religion. There is little disposition to pro- 
 mote meekness, humility, faith, and love, which con- 
 stitute the chief elements of the Christian faith. The 
 tendency is in the opposite direction. Young men 
 entering the army are withdrawn from the restraints 
 of home, the presence of praying parents, the influ- 
 ences of church and Christian society, and are sub- 
 
244 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 jected to the temptation of a thousand vices. 
 Gambling, drunkenness, lewdness, profanity, and a 
 spirit of recklessness are the besetting sins of army 
 life. The dangers incident to warfare and the car- 
 nage of battle, instead of being aids to sober reflec- 
 tion, often promote an indifference to religion and 
 a spirit of recklessness respecting this present world 
 and that which is to come. Religion, soldiers often 
 admit, may be adapted to the pursuits of peace, but 
 not to the murderous arts of war, and so the drift is 
 towards godlessness and irreligion. 
 
 In spite of these unpromising conditions a revival 
 of unusual power broke out, and extended from post 
 to post, and from camp to camp, until there was 
 scarcely a regiment or company in the Southern 
 Army which was not affected by its gracious influ- 
 ences. The first tokens of this work appeared in the 
 autumn of 1861 in the armies encamped about Rich- 
 mond. The scenes of battle often served as impres- 
 sive lessons and from the hospitals there came ex- 
 pressions of deepening interest on the part of those 
 who had been wounded. From the hospital the 
 revival spirit was carried back to the camp and each 
 new convert became an evangel to bear the gospel 
 tidings to others. The story is told of one who had 
 been converted in the hospital and on his return he 
 invited any who might be interested to join him in 
 a prayer meeting. Five were present, and from that 
 
THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR. 245 
 
 little gathering a work was inaugurated which 
 resulted in more than a hundred conversions. 
 
 As the revival extended from company to com- 
 pany, from regiment to regiment, from brigade to 
 brigade, and from camp to camp, it increased in 
 intensity and power. After Lee's invasion of Mary- 
 land and the battle of Sharpsburg, there was a mani- 
 fest increase in the religious interest of his army, 
 occasioned no doubt to some extent by a sense of the 
 perils which they had so narrowly escaped. 
 
 The first glimpses of the revival in the West were 
 seen in the year 1863, m tne army of the Tennessee, 
 where a work was inaugurated, during the progress 
 of which some thousands were converted. By mid- 
 summer the awakening had become general 
 throughout the Confederate armies. At Freder- 
 icksburg and in the armies encamped in its vicinity 
 there were gracious quickenings. Even the troops 
 in beleaguered Vicksburg were visited with seasons 
 of converting grace. 
 
 Christian Associations and Associations of Chap- 
 lains were organized in various parts of the field to 
 promote the religious interests of the soldiers. Such 
 organizations were of great value in furthering the 
 revival. But the crying need of the hour was more 
 workers. "Truly the harvests were plenteous but 
 the laborers were few." The bishops of the Metho- 
 dist Episcopal Church, South, issued an appeal to 
 
246 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 their churches for men and means to carry forward 
 this work. The response to this and similar appeals 
 was prompt and hearty. The missionary boards of 
 the various churches were enabled to employ mis- 
 sionaries and colporters to assist the regimental 
 chaplains in the work of evangelization. Sermons 
 were preached, tracts were distributed, inquiry 
 meetings were held, and the soldiers were dealt with 
 personally in regard to their spiritual welfare. To 
 this work the Presbyterians sent fifty-three mission- 
 aries, the Baptists about sixty, and the Southern 
 Methodists a score or more. 
 
 So general did the revival become that there was 
 scarcely a position in which the soldiers might be 
 placed where its spirit was not felt. In the camp, 
 on the march, and on field of battle, tokens of con- 
 verting grace appeared. The entire atmosphere of 
 the army was greatly changed. In place of the 
 oaths, coarse jests, and impure songs, so common to 
 the camp, prayers and praises and songs of Zion 
 were heard. 
 
 The Richmond Christian Advocate in describing 
 the work said : "Not for years has such a revival 
 prevailed in the Confederate States. Its records 
 gladden the columns of every religious journal. Its 
 progress in the army is a spectacle of moral 
 sublimity over which men and angels can rejoice. 
 Such camp meetings were never before seen in 
 
THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR. 247 
 
 America. The bivouac of the soldier never wit- 
 nessed such nights of glory and days of splendor. 
 The Pentecostal fire lights the camp, and hosts of 
 armed men sleep beneath the wings of angels rejoic- 
 ing over many sinners that have repented." 
 
 The revival eventually extended to the remote 
 Southwest, to the armies encamped in Arkansas. It 
 was in this section of the field that Army Churches 
 were established by Rev. Enoch Marvin, who after- 
 wards became a bishop of the M. E. Church, South. 
 
 The plan and purpose of such churches is learned 
 from the following: 
 Articles of Faith and Constitution of the 
 
 Church of the Army, Trans-Mississippi. 
 
 The Christian men of the army, believing that the 
 habitation of God by his Spirit constitutes the 
 Church, agree, for the edification and conversion of 
 their fellow-men, to organize the Church of the 
 Army, with the following articles of faith and con- 
 stitution : 
 
 I. We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New 
 Testament to be the Word of God, the only rule of 
 faith and obedience. 
 
 II. We believe in God, the Father, the Son, and 
 the Holy Ghost; the same in substance; equal in 
 power and glory. 
 
 III. We believe in the fall of Adam, the redemp- 
 tion by Christ, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. 
 
248 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 IV. We believe in justification by faith alone, and 
 therefore receive and rest upon Christ as our only 
 hope. 
 
 V. We believe in the communion of saints, and in 
 the doctrine of eternal rewards and punishments. 
 
 The Christian men who have been baptized, 
 adopting these articles of faith and constitution, in 
 each regiment shall constitute one church ; who shall 
 choose ten officers to take spiritual oversight of the 
 same. 
 
 Of the officers so elected the chaplain, or one 
 chosen by them for that purpose, shall act as mod- 
 erator. 
 
 The officers will meet once a month, and oftener 
 if necessary; and in the exercise of discipline will 
 be guided by the direction of Christ. They will keep 
 a record of the names of all the members and the 
 manner in which their ecclesiastical connection with 
 this church is dissolved. 
 
 The institution of these army churches proved a 
 source of great good. A Methodist presiding elder, 
 who was an associate chaplain, in writing of their 
 value said : "Soon after the organization of these 
 army churches in the various regiments, we were 
 visited by a gracious revival, in which hundreds 
 were converted and gathered into these army 
 churches. My position as presiding elder on two 
 large districts since the war has given me large 
 
THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR. 249 
 
 opportunity to compare the results of the work in 
 this organization. My conviction is that a much 
 larger percentage of the converts in these army 
 churches have remained faithful than is usual in 
 ordinary revival meetings."* 
 
 By January, 1865, it was estimated that 150,000 
 soldiers in the Southern Army had been converted 
 during the progress of the war. At this time it was 
 believed that more than one third of all the soldiers, 
 both officers and privates in the Confederate armies, 
 were praying men. In times of peace this revival 
 would have been accounted an extraordinary work 
 of grace. The occasion, the circumstances, the 
 events, combine to make it one of the most remark- 
 able religious awakenings in the history of American 
 Christianity. The subjects of the work were men, 
 soldiers under arms, engaged in one of the most 
 deadly and calamitous wars of all history. Under 
 ordinary circumstances the camp and battle-field 
 would have been considered the most unfavorable 
 conditions for a revival of religion, but in this 
 revival the very influences which otherwise would 
 detract seemed to be used by Providence for the 
 promotion of this truly wonderful work of grace. 
 
 The surrender of Lee at Appomattox, and Johns- 
 ton at Greensboro, put an end to the war and also to 
 the Confederate Republic. 
 
 ♦Bennett's Great Revival in the Southern Armies, p. 378. 
 
250 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 As the Great Revival of 1857 had prepared the 
 Northern States for this struggle which convulsed 
 the nation and threatened its overthrow, so too we 
 may look upon the revival in the Southern armies as 
 a providential preparation for the defeat which over- 
 whelmed them. The South had staked its all and 
 had lost. Plantations were laid waste, homes were 
 broken up, educational institutions had been sus- 
 pended, their buildings destroyed and their endow- 
 ments swept away, churches had been desecrated and 
 their services discontinued, fortunes had vanished, in 
 fact the ruin and desolation of the South seemed com- 
 plete. It is difficult to conceive how the South could 
 have borne up under the dire calamities which had 
 visited it had it not been for the influence of this 
 revival, since men never stand so much in need of 
 the consolation and sustaining power of religion as 
 in the dark hours of adversity. Were it not for the 
 hope which faith inspires they would be plunged 
 into the abyss of despair. But reconstruction came 
 and from the ashes of the old a new South has 
 arisen to fulfill its destiny and carry out its divinely 
 appointed mission. 
 
 During the war Rev. A. B. Earle, D.D., came 
 into prominence as an evangelist of national reputa- 
 tion. He was born at Charlestown, N. Y., in 181 2, 
 and commenced preaching at the age of eighteen, 
 continuing in the active ministry almost to the time 
 
THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR. 251 
 
 of his death in 1897. After a brief experience in the 
 pastorate he entered the evangelistic field. Although 
 he was a Baptist by choice he labored chiefly in 
 union revival services. During the war he con- 
 ducted successful revivals in Boston, Fall River, and 
 Springfield, Mass. ; Concord, N. H. ; Biddeford and 
 Saco, Me. ; New Haven, Conn. ; Washington, D. C, 
 and at various other places in New England and the 
 East. 
 
 The winter of 1866- 1867 was spent on the Pacific 
 coast, where it was estimated that five thousand per- 
 sons were converted under his labors. From the 
 various cities visited, expressions came of the great 
 good which had been accomplished and the marked 
 changes wrought in the morals and habits of the peo- 
 ple through these revivals. 
 
 In his use of methods Dr. Earle was eminently 
 judicious. His preaching was directed to the intel- 
 lect and will, rather than to the emotional elements 
 of man's nature. As a consequence his labors were 
 seldom if ever followed by any unfavorable reaction, 
 which is so often the case with perfervid revivalists. 
 He insisted upon the prayer of faith as the indispen- 
 sable condition to a revival. During his earlier labors 
 he employed the "anxious seat," but afterwards used 
 the "inquiry meeting," in dealing with seekers. Dur- 
 ing his long career as an evangelist Dr. Earle wit- 
 nessed the conversion of more than 1 50,000 persons. 
 
252 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 During the war Rev. E. Payson Hammond, D.D., 
 also attained to prominence in the evangelistic field. 
 After his graduation from Williams College in 
 1858, and a partial course of study at Union Theo- 
 logical Seminary, he went abroad and for a time 
 prosecuted his studies at Edinburgh. In connection 
 with his student life he supplied a church at Mussel- 
 burgh, where a revival of considerable power at- 
 tended his labors, as a consequence of which his 
 services were called into requisition in various por- 
 tions of England and Scotland. 
 
 In 1 86 1 Mr. Hammond returned to America and 
 while the war was in progress conducted notable 
 revivals in various cities throughout the Northern 
 States. In each of the following cities — Rochester, 
 Newark, Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia — there 
 were more than a thousand conversions. Often the 
 interest was so great as to overshadow the news of 
 war. Mr. Hammond was ordained as an evangelist 
 by the Presbytery of New York in January, 1863. 
 
 Since the war Dr. Hammond has prosecuted his 
 evangelistic labors with untiring energy. Besides 
 several trips abroad, he has visited nearly every 
 important city in the Union, preaching the gospel 
 with the fervor of an apostle and winning multitudes 
 to Christ. He has been especially successful in 
 reaching children and has written several small vol- 
 umes on the subject. 
 
THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR. 253 
 
 In the North and South alike the war had drawn 
 the different churches closer together. Since the 
 war the trend has continued towards Christian 
 unity, not organic unity, to be sure, but that mutual 
 fellowship and mutual toleration of differences 
 which makes possible great Christian enterprises 
 and causes the Kingdom of Christ to draw nigh 
 apace. 
 
 The return to peace was accompanied by evils of 
 no small magnitude. Immorality, luxury, extrava- 
 gance, speculation, intemperance, and crime became 
 so frequent and so violent that the periodicals of 
 the day referred to these conditions as the Carnival 
 of Crime. But with the readjustments which fol- 
 lowed the return to peace, a new era was inaugu- 
 rated, which has been characterized by Christian 
 activity, church extension, and revivals of great 
 depth and power in which the laity have borne no 
 inconspicuous part. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 
 
 The lay movement in revivals, which swept over 
 this country during the years 1875- 1877 and the 
 influence of which continues to the present day, was 
 the logical consequence of the dawning conscious- 
 ness of the importance of lay work, which had found 
 expression in the Great Revival of 1857, in the 
 growth of the Young Men's Christian Association, 
 and in the work of the Christian and Sanitary Com- 
 missions during the Civil War. The manner of car- 
 rying on the Revival of 1857 was characterized as 
 the "mass-meeting method of evangelization." In 
 the lay movement of 1875-1877 the "mass-meeting 
 methods" were abandoned and in their place was 
 substituted the most thorough organization of all 
 the activities which would make possible the con- 
 version of men. Methods were also adopted to 
 gather the fruits of these revivals and give perma- 
 nency to the results accomplished. 
 
 Identified with this movement as its chief repre- 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 255 
 
 sentative and prime mover stands the name of D. L. 
 Moody. Reared in the midst of the most unfavor- 
 able circumstances, rising from obscurity, and pos- 
 sessed of few advantages for self-improvement he 
 rose to a position of commanding influence through- 
 out the Christian world. So closely has he been 
 identified with the movement under considera- 
 tion that no characterization of it would be 
 complete without a comprehensive survey of his 
 life. 
 
 Dwight Lyman Moody was born at Northfield, 
 Mass., February 5, 1837. When the future evangel- 
 ist was but four years of age, his father, who had 
 combined the trade of masonry with that of brick- 
 making, suddenly passed away. His financial 
 affairs were in such a condition that the creditors 
 took even the kindling from the shed. To add to 
 the embarrassments of the household, a month after 
 his decease, twins were born, increasing the children 
 of the family to nine, the eldest of whom was but 
 thirteen years of age. Many a woman would have 
 sunk beneath a burden so heavy, but Mrs. Moody 
 bore up as best she could and sought to train her 
 children in the fear of God. She was a Unitarian, 
 and the only baptism which Dwight ever received 
 was at the hands of the Unitarian minister of the 
 parish, Rev. Mr. Everett, who was very kind 
 towards this fatherless family, and for a time 
 
256 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 Dwight was in his home, where he did the chores 
 for his board. 
 
 At the age of seventeen, young Moody, wearied 
 with the dull routine of such work as could be found 
 in the neighborhood of a country village, set out for 
 Boston in search of employment. In the city he had 
 two uncles who were engaged in the boot and shoe 
 business, but fearing the conceit and headstrongness 
 of the country youth, they gave him no encourage- 
 ment. After days of fruitless search and somewhat 
 humbled by his experiences, he again applied to his 
 uncles for employment. It was given on condition 
 that he should be guided by their advice and should 
 attend church and Sabbath School every Sunday. 
 He soon proved a valuable assistant in their busi- 
 ness, and within a short time was selling more goods 
 than any other clerk in the establishment. His re- 
 ligious ventures were not so promising. He attended 
 the Mount Vernon Congregational Church, in which 
 the revival fires, under the ministry of Dr. Kirk, 
 were ever glowing. As bracing as the spiritual 
 atmosphere was, the discourses to which he listened 
 were quite above the limited attainments of young 
 Moody, and he often fell asleep in his fruitless 
 efforts to follow the sermon. His experience in the 
 Sunday School was not a little discouraging. He 
 was placed in the class of Edward Kimball. The 
 lesson was in the Gospel of John. A Bible was 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 257 
 
 given him, and to the no small amusement of the 
 other members of the class, he hunted the Old Testa- 
 ment through for the book of John. The teacher see- 
 ing his embarrassment, found the place for him. 
 Moody said : "I put my thumb in the place and 
 held on; I said then if ever I got out of that 
 scrape, I would not be caught there again." Mr. 
 Kimball succeeded in holding the lad's attention 
 and later became instrumental in his conver- 
 sion. 
 
 Mr. Moody told the story of this spiritual change 
 as follows : "When I was in Boston I used to attend 
 a Sunday School class, and one day I recollect my 
 teacher came around behind the counter of the shop 
 I was at work in, and put his hand on my shoulder, 
 and talked to me about Christ and my soul. I had 
 not felt that I had a soul till then. I said to myself : 
 'This is a very strange thing. Here is a man who 
 never saw me till lately, and he is weeping over my 
 sins, and I never shed a tear about them.' But I 
 understand about it now, and know what it is to 
 have a passion for men's souls and weep over their 
 sins. I don't remember what he said, but I can feel 
 the power of that man's hand on my shoulder to- 
 night. It was not long after that I was brought 
 into the kingdom of God." 
 
 Soon after his conversion he applied for member- 
 ship at the Mount Vernon Church. In accordance 
 
258 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 with the usages of that day no person could be 
 received into a Congregational Church without first 
 giving credible evidence of conversion. Moody's ex- 
 amination did not satisfy the committee. The prin- 
 cipal question asked was, "What has Christ done 
 for you, and for us all, that especially entitles him 
 to our love and obedience?" He replied: "I think 
 he has done a great deal for us all, but I don't know 
 of anything he has done in particular." The com- 
 mittee deferred recommending him to membership, 
 and three persons were appointed to instruct him 
 further in the way of salvation. This action has 
 often been criticised, but to Mr. Moody's credit be 
 it said, he always approved the course taken by the 
 church. Ten months later he was admitted to mem- 
 bership. 
 
 In September, 1856, Mr. Moody bade farewell to 
 Boston and took his departure for Chicago, which 
 at that time was a young, but rapidly growing city, 
 and afforded well-nigh limitless opportunities for 
 Christian work. Moody had no difficulty in secur- 
 ing a position in the boot and shoe business, into 
 which he entered with the same zest which had 
 characterized hiri at Boston. He carried a letter to 
 the Plymouth Congregational Church, with the 
 interests of which he at once identified himself. He 
 hired four pews, which he filled every Sabbath with 
 young men whom he had invited to the services. He 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 259 
 
 also joined a Young Men's Mission Band at the 
 First M. E. Church, the object of which was the 
 distribution of tracts at hotels and boarding places 
 on Sunday mornings, and also the inviting of the 
 guests to attend divine worship. 
 
 Even these activities did not satisfy his tireless 
 energy, and he soon sought a class to teach at a 
 Mission School on Wells Street and Chicago Ave- 
 nue. The superintendent told him that they already 
 had twelve teachers and only sixteen pupils, but if 
 he would gather a class of his own, he might have 
 the privilege of teaching it. The next Sunday 
 Moody appeared with eighteen of the raggedest, 
 dirtiest street Arabs to be found in the city. He next 
 directed his attention to "drumming up" recruits for 
 the school, with the result that it was soon filled to 
 overflowing. In a short time he started a mission 
 of his own in North Chicago, an abandoned saloon 
 building being used for the purpose. The school 
 soon outgrew its limited quarters, and Moody ap- 
 plied to the mayor for the use of North Market Hall 
 for Sabbath School work. Frequently the hall was 
 used Saturday nights for balls, which necessitated 
 considerable work on the part of Mr. Moody and 
 his helpers Sunday forenoons in order to get the 
 building in readiness for the afternoon session. The 
 school grew and prospered, numbering in a short 
 time hundreds of pupils. The average attendance 
 
260 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 soon reached over six hundred, for the instruc- 
 tion of whom more than sixty teachers were em- 
 ployed. 
 
 The Great Revival of 1857 resulted in the forma> 
 tion of the Chicago branch of the Young Men's 
 Christian Association. Noon prayer meetings were 
 instituted early in January, 1858. Eventually these 
 meetings, which had greatly decreased in attendance, 
 were placed in charge of the Association. Finally 
 the example of a determined old Scotchman, who, 
 one day when he was the only attendant, went 
 through the exercise of hymn, Scripture reading and 
 prayer, incited Mr. Moody to action, and by personal 
 effort he induced more than a hundred to join the 
 praying band. 
 
 In the meantime he had continued in the boot and 
 shoe business. He was ambitious to become a rich 
 man and have $100,000, which was then considered 
 enough to make one independent. But in i860 he 
 decided to give up his business and devote all of his 
 time to Christian work. When asked by his em- 
 ployer how he expected to live, he replied : "God will 
 provide for me if he wishes me to keep on; and I 
 shall keep on until I am obliged to stop." Mr. 
 Moody reduced his expenses to a minimum, by giv- 
 ing up his home and sleeping on a bench in a room 
 of the Young Men's Christian Association. Friends 
 were raised up who contributed funds to meet his 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 261 
 
 necessities, and later he was appointed city mission- 
 ary, so that he was relieved from pecuniary embar- 
 rassment. 
 
 At the commencement of the Civil War the Illi- 
 nois volunteers were mobilized at Camp Douglass, 
 five miles from Chicago. At that time Moody was 
 chairman of the devotional committee of the Young 
 Men's Christian Association. Ever on the alert to 
 seize an opportunity for Christian work, with a few 
 others he engaged in active efforts to reach the sol- 
 diers who were preparing to go to the front. Army 
 hymn-books, Testaments, tracts, and religious lit- 
 erature in large quantities were circulated among the 
 soldiers. Devotional and evangelistic meetings 
 were started, and so encouraging was the work that 
 the committee issued a call for helpers. One hun- 
 dred and fifty workers, both clerical and lay, re- 
 sponded. Eight to ten meetings were conducted 
 each evening and to meet the growing demands of 
 this work a camp chapel was erected. Many through 
 these efforts were converted. When the Christian 
 Commission was organized, Mr. Moody became a 
 member of the Western Branch at Chicago. In the 
 interests of this work he often went to the front to 
 minister to the wounded, to pray with the dying, and 
 to preach salvation to soldiers on duty in the service 
 of their country. 
 
 After the capture of Fort Donelson, Camp Doug- 
 
262 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 lass was used as a prison for Confederates, ten 
 thousand of whom were kept within its con- 
 fines. Eager for the salvation of men, Mr. 
 Moody conducted evangelistic services for sev- 
 eral weeks among these captives. Many were con- 
 verted, there being sometimes thirty and forty seek- 
 ers in a single night. A Young Men's Chris- 
 tian Association was organized, the services 
 of which were continued until the parole of 
 the prisoners. 
 
 Mr. Moody was on the field to minister to the 
 wounded after the battles of Fort Donelson, Pitts- 
 burgh Landing, Shiloh and Murfreesboro. He was 
 also with the army at Cleveland in East Tennessee, 
 at Chattanooga, and was among the first to enter 
 Richmond with General Grant. These army expe- 
 riences were an invaluable training for his future 
 work and served to bring out the qualities of direct- 
 ness, promptness in meeting emergencies, and a 
 skill in organization which characterized him in his 
 subsequent labors. 
 
 Of his work in those days General O. O. Howard 
 said : "Moody and I met for the first time in Cleve- 
 land, East Tennessee. It was about the middle of 
 April, 1864. I was bringing together my Fourth 
 Army Corps. Two divisions had already arrived, 
 and were encamped in and near the village. Moody 
 was then fresh and hearty, full of enthusiasm for the 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 263 
 
 Master's work. Our soldiers were just about to set 
 out on what we all felt promised to be a hard and 
 bloody campaign and I think were especially desirous 
 of strong preaching. Crowds turned out to hear the 
 glad tidings from Moody's lips. He showed how a 
 soldier would give his heart to God. His preaching 
 was direct and effective, and multitudes responded 
 with a confession and promise to follow 
 Christ." 
 
 In the meantime he had gone right on with his 
 work in Chicago. His Sunday School in North 
 Market Hall kept increasing, until its attendance 
 averaged more than one thousand. One of the prob- 
 lems which confronted him about this time was the 
 care of those who had been converted in his mission 
 services. He advised them to unite with existing 
 churches, but coming as they did from humble 
 homes, they felt strangely out of place in the more 
 stately church edifices. They had, moreover, the 
 warmest attachment for the man who had been in- 
 strumental in their conversion. Necessity, therefore, 
 was upon him to make some provision for their 
 spiritual care. The Illinois Street Church was the 
 logical consequences. Its first building, erected at a 
 cost of $20,000, was dedicated in 1864 and was well 
 adapted to meet the needs of his growing work. 
 
 In 1865, not without some opposition, he was 
 elected president of the Young Men's Christian 
 
264 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 Association. Under his efficient leadership, Farwell 
 Hall, the first Young Men's Christian Association 
 building in the world, was erected at a cost of $159,- 
 000, and was dedicated September 29, 1867. It was 
 Mr. Moody's prayer that an influence should go 
 forth from that building which "should extend 
 through every county in the state, through every 
 state in the Union, and finally, crossing the water, 
 should help bring the world to God." Four months 
 later that building was burned. Nothing daunted, 
 and while the flames were still at work, he engaged 
 in the solicitation of funds for the erection of a new 
 building which was dedicated in 1869. 
 
 In June, 1870, at the International Young Men's 
 Association convention held at Indianapolis, Mr. 
 Moody first met Ira David Sankey. Sankey was 
 born at Edinburgh, Pa., August 28, 1840. At an 
 early age he united with the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, where his services were called into requisi- 
 tion in the choir and Sunday School. He was one of 
 the first to respond to President Lincoln's call for 
 75,000 volunteers. At the end of his three months' 
 enlistment he returned to his home at Newcastle, 
 Pa., and it is altogether likely that he would have 
 been content to have spent his life in obscurity, had 
 it not been for that chance meeting with Mr. Moody 
 at Indianapolis. He had heard of Mr. Moody's 
 activity in Sunday School and Young Men's Chris- 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 265 
 
 tian Association work and was anxious to see him. 
 When it was announced that he was to lead a Sun- 
 day morning meeting at 6 o'clock, Sankey deter- 
 mined to be present. The singing dragged, and at 
 the solicitation of a friend he arose and sang, "There 
 is a Fountain Filled with Blood." At the close of 
 the service he was introduced to Mr. Moody, who 
 abruptly asked, "Where do you live?" "In Newcas- 
 tle, Pennsylvania/' "Are you married?" "Yes." 
 "How many children have you?" "One." "I want 
 you." "What for?" "To help me in Chicago." "I 
 cannot leave my business." "You must ; I have been 
 looking for you the last eight years. You must give 
 up your business, and come to Chicago with me." 
 "I will think of it ; I will pray over it ; I will talk it 
 over with my wife." 
 
 The decision which he reached was favorable and 
 he commenced his labors with Mr. Moody about six 
 months before the Chicago fire, in which the Illinois 
 Street Church was consumed. Two months later 
 they resumed their labors in the North Side Taber- 
 nacle, which had been built to replace the church. 
 
 In 1873 ft was decided to accept an invitation of 
 three English gentlemen to visit the British Isles. 
 Plans were made that their families should accom- 
 pany them, but the very day that they were to set 
 out found them without the necessary funds. How- 
 ever, a man was raised up for the emergency, and a 
 
266 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 few hours before train time John V. Farwell, all 
 unconscious of their needs, placed in their hands a 
 check for $500. On their arrival in England, they 
 found that two of the friends who had invited them 
 had died. They accordingly telegraphed to the 
 third, who was the secretary of the Young Men's 
 Christian Association at York. He replied that 
 three months' preparation would be necessary before 
 they could commence meetings there. Undaunted 
 by this frigid reception they proceeded at once to 
 York, where they commenced their labors. At the 
 first meeting but eight persons were present. The 
 clergy were none too cordial and but few of the 
 churches were opened to them. Notwithstanding 
 these untoward conditions their efforts were re- 
 warded with two hundred and fifty conversions in 
 about a month's time. Thence they proceeded to 
 Sunderland and to other cities. The tide of popular 
 favor kept rising, but it was not until they reached 
 Edinburgh, that their work began to attract the at- 
 tention of the whole United Kingdom. Here they 
 met with a most hearty and cordial reception. Pre- 
 paratory meetings had paved the way for their ar- 
 rival and a general expectancy for a revival seemed 
 to pervade the minds of the people. At the opening 
 service two thousand persons were unable to gain 
 admittance. After a campaign of two months, three 
 thousand converts united with the various churches 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 267 
 
 of the city. Dundee and Glasgow were next visited. 
 In the latter city Dr. Andrew Bonar said that seven 
 thousand persons united with the different churches 
 as the fruits of the revival. After visiting other 
 places in Scotland they went to Ireland, where they 
 labored in Belfast and Dublin, in each of which there 
 were over two thousand conversions. Thence they 
 returned to England, and after having labored with 
 remarkable results in Manchester, Sheffield, Bir- 
 mingham and Liverpool, they repaired to London, 
 where a four months' campaign had been mapped 
 out and where efforts were to be put forth to reach 
 every quarter of the city. It was estimated that 
 2,500,000 people attended the various services dur- 
 ing this campaign. All classes of society were 
 moved as never before, and the converts were num- 
 bered by the thousands. August 6, 1875, Messrs. 
 Moody and Sankey sailed from Liverpool for their 
 native country after an absence of two years. 
 
 When the evangelists left America they were 
 comparatively unknown, but tidings of their success 
 in Great Britain had reached the country in various 
 ways, so that on their return to the United States 
 their names were household words. No sooner had 
 they reached New York than they were besieged 
 from all quarters with applications to conduct 
 evangelistic campaigns. The evangelists, however, 
 determined to spend a season in rest and recreation 
 
268 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 before taking up active work again. Mr. Moody 
 repaired to his boyhood home at Northfield, where 
 he spent the remainder of the summer in preparation 
 for his work. During the latter part of his stay, 
 assisted by Major Whittle and others, he conducted 
 services for two weeks in the Congregational Church 
 and had the joy of seeing his mother and a younger 
 brother converted. 
 
 In the meanwhile he was visited by representative 
 ministers from various parts of the country, inviting 
 him to visit their fields of labor and conduct evangel- 
 istic campaigns. Finally he decided to commence 
 his first American campaign in Brooklyn, and ser- 
 vices were commenced October 24, 1875. The 
 Brooklyn Rink had been secured, and five thousand 
 chairs were arranged to accommodate the multi- 
 tudes. Dr. Talmage's Tabernacle was used for the 
 daily prayer meetings and a choir of two hundred 
 voices was organized to assist Mr. Sankey in the 
 service of song. Enormous crowds attended the 
 services and "overflow" meetings were necessary. 
 Two thousand converts were the immediate result 
 of this campaign. 
 
 From November 21 to January 16, 1876, Moody 
 and Sankey conducted a gigantic campaign in Phila- 
 delphia. The old Pennsylvania freight depot was 
 fitted up for the services at an expenditure of 
 $40,000. Sittings for 10,000 persons were ar- 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 269 
 
 ranged and a choir of 650 Christian singers was 
 organized under the leadership of William S. 
 Fischer. The meetings opened inauspiciously. The 
 first day of the services the rain fell in torrents, and 
 the street cars on the main thoroughfare to the place 
 were stopped by the burning of the Market Street 
 Bridge the night before. Notwithstanding these un- 
 favorable circumstances there was scarcely a vacant 
 seat at the first meeting. An aggregate of 900,000 
 persons attended the various services during the 
 campaign, and it was estimated that 4,000 persons 
 were converted. At the conclusion of the campaign 
 a Revival Convention was held from January 19 to 
 20. This was attended by hundreds of ministers 
 and laymen from the city and adjoining towns. 
 Such subjects were considered as evangelistic 
 services, how to conduct prayer meetings, inquiry 
 meetings, training of converts and lay workers, how 
 to get hold of non-church goers, etc. These revival 
 conventions, which henceforth were to be a feature 
 of Mr. Moody's work, were very helpful and did 
 much to arouse churches and ministers to activity 
 along evangelistic lines. 
 
 New York City next claimed the attention of the 
 evangelists, where they labored for a space of two 
 months and a half. The principal services were con- 
 ducted in the "Hippodrome," originally built for 
 Barnum's great show, but which had been recon- 
 
2;o AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 structed for the use of the meetings. Thousands 
 were in attendance at the various services, and at the 
 closing- meeting, held exclusively for new converts, 
 3,500 were present. 
 
 The New York Times said: "Whatever philo- 
 sophical sceptics may say, the work accomplished by 
 Mr. Moody in this city for private and public morals 
 will live. The drunken have become sober, the 
 vicious virtuous, the worldly and self-seeking un- 
 selfish, the ignoble noble, the impure pure, the youth 
 have started with generous aims, the old have been 
 stirred from grossness. A new hope has lifted up 
 hundreds of human beings, a new consolation has 
 come to the sorrowful, and a better principle has 
 entered the sordid life of the day through the labors 
 of these plain men. Whatever the prejudiced may 
 say against, the honest-minded and just will not 
 forget these labors of love." 
 
 After the New York campaign, Mr. Sankey re- 
 turned to Newcastle, Pa., for the summer, while Mr. 
 Moody journeyed southward, spending two weeks 
 in meetings with his friend, Major Whittle, at 
 Augusta, Ga. Thence he proceeded to Chicago by 
 way of Nashville, Louisville, St. Louis and Kansas 
 City, holding brief meetings in these cities, which 
 were greatly blessed. At Chicago he was present 
 at the opening of his new church building on Chica- 
 go Avenue, which had just been completed at a cost 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 271 
 
 of $89,000. In August he journeyed eastward to 
 visit his mother, preaching repeatedly at Northfield, 
 Greenfield and Springfield. In September he con- 
 ducted services at Brattleboro, Vt., being assisted in 
 the service of song by P. P. Bliss. 
 
 In Chicago, where Messrs. Moody and Sankey 
 next labored, an immense wooden tabernacle had 
 been erected at a cost of $20,000, affording seating 
 capacity for 8,000 persons and with standing room 
 for 2,000 more. The meetings were a success from 
 the very start. Chicago received such a Pentecostal 
 visitation as it had never experienced before and the 
 whole Northwest felt the throbbing of a new 
 religious life. 
 
 Dr. E. P. Goodwin, writing of this work in 1894, 
 said : "The work was in every way most remark- 
 able. For not less than three or four months that 
 building was nightly crowded — and often packed to 
 repletion — especially on the Lord's day. There were 
 thousands of professed conversions. Somewhere 
 from ten to fifteen thousand, as I now recall them, 
 and a very large proportion of them men, united 
 with the various evangelical churches. If those 
 joining other churches stood as well as the two 
 hundred joining my own church, they gave good 
 evidence of being soundly converted. Very naturally 
 there were many reclaimed drunkards, and gamblers, 
 and people of depraved habits, both men and women. 
 
2jz AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 These are commonly a transient people, and not a 
 few of them, I dare say — failing of hearty fellow- 
 ship with the Lord's people and the help thus 
 received — drifted away, and may have gone back to 
 the old life. Many, I know, still stand fast and 
 honor their confession." 
 
 January 28, 1877, found the tireless evangelists 
 in cultured Boston. The evangelical Christians of 
 the city had long been praying for a revival. The 
 work preparatory to the coming of Moody and 
 Sankey augured success. A huge brick tabernacle 
 with a seating capacity for 6,000 persons, besides 
 sittings for the choir and rooms for inquirers, was 
 constructed. A great chorus choir of 2,000 voices 
 in five sections was organized under the leadership 
 of Dr. Tourjee. Several noon prayer meetings were 
 held throughout the city and a house-to-house visita- 
 tion was undertaken with more than 2,000 visitors 
 to insure success. The results of the campaign were 
 highly satisfactory. The evangelical faith received 
 such a hearing in Unitarian Boston as it had not 
 had for years. A daily paper, The Tabernacle, was 
 published to further the interests of the revival. 
 Not only was Boston deeply moved, but all New 
 England felt the influence of the new life which 
 had quickened the chief city of the old Bay 
 State. 
 
 These remarkable revivals which had visited sue- 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 273 
 
 cessively Brooklyn, Philadelphia, New York, Chi- 
 cago, and Boston, caused a wave of evangelism to 
 sweep over the land which resulted in the ingather- 
 ing of vast multitudes into the church of Christ. In 
 the cities, in the larger villages, and even in obscure 
 hamlets, "Union Gospel Meetings" were instituted 
 at which the familiar Moody and Sankey hymns 
 were sung, and methods were employed similar to 
 those which had been so signally blessed in the hands 
 of these evangelists. This work brought into promi- 
 nence several evangelists, chief among whom were 
 Rev. George F. Pentecost and Major D. \Y. Whittle 
 and their yoke-fellows, G. C. Stebbins and P. P. 
 Bliss. 
 
 Major Whittle was born at Chicopee Falls, Mass., 
 November 22, 1840. When the war broke out he 
 was employed in the office of Fargo & Co.'s Ex- 
 press at Chicago, where he had been converted and 
 had united with the First Congregational Church 
 under the ministry of Dr. W. W. Patton. He raised 
 a company, of which he was chosen lieutenant, and 
 made for himself a brilliant record in the army. He 
 was wounded at Vicksburg, but upon recovery he re- 
 entered the service, receiving an appointment upon 
 General O. O. Howard's staff, and was eventually 
 mustered out of the service with the brevet rank of 
 major. 
 
 At the close of the war he was made business 
 
274 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 manager of the Elgin Watch Company at a salary 
 of $5,000 per year. He had already become promi- 
 nent in Christian work as the superintendent of the 
 West Side Tabernacle Sunday School in connection 
 with the First Church of Chicago. About 1874, 
 through the influence of Mr. Moody, he was led to 
 relinquish his lucrative position and enter the 
 evangelistic field. 
 
 Associated with him in this work was P. P. Bliss, 
 the sweet gospel singer and the author of such well- 
 known gospel hymns as "Hold the Fort," "Pull for 
 the Shore," "Let the Lower Lights be Burning," and 
 many others. He was a native of Rome, Pa., where 
 he was married to Miss Lucy J. Young. Through 
 her influence his latent musical powers were devel- 
 oped, and through her prayers he was led to Christ. 
 Upon removing to Chicago in 1864 he united with 
 the First Congregational Church, where he served 
 as chorister and superintendent of the Sunday 
 School. He was persuaded to accompany Major 
 Whittle in his evangelistic work, and during 1874- 
 1876 they conducted successful revivals in the West 
 and South. They were preparing to follow up Mr. 
 Moody's great campaign in Chicago, when Mr. and 
 Mrs. Bliss went to Pennsylvania to spend the Christ- 
 mas holidays. After they had started on their 
 return to Chicago, they telegraphed to Major Whit- 
 tle, "We are going home to-morrow." But it was 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 275 
 
 to their heavenly home that they went, for they were 
 aboard the ill-fated train that broke through the 
 bridge at Ashtabula, O., falling- down an embank- 
 ment of seventy feet and then catching fire. Their 
 tragic death was a calamity to the cause of Christ 
 and a shock to the whole nation. 
 
 After this sad disaster George C. Stebbins and at 
 a later time James C. McGranahan assisted Major 
 Whittle in the service of song. 
 
 In the prosecution of his evangelistic labors 
 Major Whittle visited nearly all of the states in the 
 Union besides making several trips to Great Britain. 
 He was very successful and was quite as much in 
 demand as Mr. Moody. He was a patient student 
 of the Bible and very tactful in dealing with inquir- 
 ers. During the war with Spain he entered enthu- 
 siastically into the work for the soldiers, but under 
 the strain he broke down and for months suffered 
 as an invalid to pass on to his reward, March 4, 
 1901. 
 
 Mr. Moody's Boston campaign was followed up 
 by L. W. Munhall. Dr. Munhall was born at Zanes- 
 ville, O., June 7, 1843. ^ n eai "ly hf e ne went to 
 Indianapolis, where he was converted and united 
 with the Methodist Episcopal Church. During the 
 Civil War he served in the Union army, being pro- 
 moted successively to color-sergeant and regimental 
 adjutant. At the close of the war he studied and 
 
276 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 practised dentistry, but later became an evangelist 
 and was ordained by Bishop Harris. He labored 
 with Mr. Moody for a time, but has since labored 
 independently. He has conducted evangelistic 
 services in most of the leading cities of the country. 
 In this work he has met with marked success, often 
 being recalled to conduct a second, third, and even a 
 fourth series of meetings. Upwards of two hundred 
 thousand persons have been converted under his 
 ministrations, in which he has confined himself to no 
 particular denomination, but has labored along the 
 line of union revival services. 
 
 The impulse thus given to revivals by the cam- 
 paigns of Moody and Sankey together with the 
 efforts of a host of workers, both clerical and lay, 
 was of lasting benefit to the churches throughout the 
 country and contributed greatly to the enrichment of 
 the spiritual life of the nation. 
 
 The season of 1877- 1878 was spent by Moody and 
 Sankey in New England, Burlington, Vt., Man- 
 chester, N. H., Providence, R. I., Springfield, 
 Mass., Hartford and New Haven, Conn., being- 
 visited. Thousands were converted and all New 
 England felt the impulse of the revivals with which 
 these cities had been visited. 
 
 One of the most important campaigns yet under- 
 taken was conducted in Baltimore, Md., during 
 1 878- 1 879. Every evangelical denomination in the 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 277 
 
 city united in the work. Noon prayer meetings were 
 held at the Maryland Institute, and special services 
 for men were conducted at 4 P. M. in the Asso- 
 ciate Reformed Church. 
 
 While Mr. Moody was conducting this great cam- 
 paign in Baltimore, Thomas Harrison, the famous 
 Methodist "boy preacher" (so-called because of his 
 slight figure and youthful appearance), labored at 
 Madison Square in the same city and but a few 
 blocks distant. The nearness of the meetings, how- 
 ever, did not interfere with each other, and the 
 difference in methods appealed to entirely different 
 classes of people, so that Baltimore was greatly 
 blessed in this double visitation. Harrison was born 
 in Boston in 1854, studied at Talmage's Lay College 
 in Brooklyn, entered the evangelistic field about 
 1876, and has since labored with marked success in 
 various parts of the Union. 
 
 On May 26, 1879, Mr. Moody preached his last 
 sermon in Baltimore, after a protracted siege, which 
 lasted nearly eight months and during the progress 
 of which multitudes had been converted. 
 
 During the season of 1879- 1880, the evangelists 
 conducted a similar campaign in St. Louis. This 
 city was a stronghold of Romanism and presented 
 difficulties of unusual magnitude, but as a result of 
 the effort, the churches were revived, the city was 
 graciously quickened, and many were led to believe. 
 
278 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 The Pacific coast was visited in 1 880-1 881, and 
 from 1 881- 1 884 revivals were conducted in Great 
 Britain with happy results. The seasons of 1884- 
 1885, an d 1 885- 1 886, were spent in brief visits to 
 the smaller cities of America. Three days were gen- 
 erally spent in a place, the services being preceded 
 and followed by the efforts of other evangelists and 
 workers. In this way Mr. Moody was able to visit a 
 large number of cities having a population of ten 
 thousand and over in various parts of the 
 country. 
 
 In later years, in addition to his widely extended 
 labors as an evangelist, Mr. Moody devoted a great 
 deal of attention to his educational institutions and 
 the various other enterprises in which he was inter- 
 ested. 
 
 Of his schools, Northfield Seminary was opened, 
 November 3, 1879, although the first building was 
 not completed until some months later. This school 
 was designed to furnish a Christian education for 
 young women. To afford similar advantages for 
 boys and young men, Mount Hermon School was 
 opened May 4, 1881. Both of these schools are 
 equipped with many handsome buildings and annu- 
 ally attract multitudes of young people from various 
 parts of the country. 
 
 A feature of the Northfield work has been the 
 Annual Christian Workers' Conference, which origi- 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 279 
 
 nated in 1880. To this Conference, meeting each 
 summer, Mr. Moody invited from time to time the 
 foremost Christian workers of this country and 
 Great Britain to address those who annually 
 assembled from all parts of the world. At a later 
 time the Students' Conferences, meeting a little 
 earlier in the summer, were instituted. To accom- 
 modate the numerous visitors to these gatherings, a 
 large summer hotel was erected in 1890. To have 
 this building unused during several months in the 
 year did not accord with Mr. Moody's purposes, and 
 it was utilized during the winter for a Young 
 Woman's Bible Training School, in which Bible 
 study was combined with the art and practice of 
 domestic science. 
 
 More important than any of these, so far as the 
 revival history of our country is concerned, was the 
 founding of the Bible Institute for Home and For- 
 eign Missions. The purpose of this institute, which 
 was founded at Chicago in 1889, was a thorough 
 and practical study of the English Bible. It did not 
 aim to compete with theological seminaries in pre- 
 paring men for the ministry, but its object was to 
 furnish various classes of students with a thorough 
 understanding of the Bible in the vernacular. Rev. 
 R. A. Torrey, an evangelist of marked ability, was 
 placed at the head of the institute, and in accordance 
 with its original purposes he has developed and con- 
 
280 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 ducted this school until it has attained its present 
 standing of usefulness in the evangelistic world. In 
 addition to a two years' course in the Bible, musical 
 and practical courses are offered. The musical de- 
 partment aims not only to give rudimentary instruc- 
 tion, but to train and fit those who are so qualified 
 to lead choirs and conduct singing in evangelistic 
 work. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the 
 institute is the practical work department. Students 
 are assigned to various rescue missions in the city 
 to render such services as may be required, acting as 
 ushers, distributing cards, dealing with inquirers, 
 conducting the singing, etc. House-to-house visita- 
 tion is a phase of the work. Young women are 
 assigned to certain districts, which they must visit 
 regularly, while the men are assigned to the cheap 
 down-town lodgings and such places, where they 
 must come in contact with those who frequent them 
 and if possible lead them to the Saviour. Sabbath 
 services are held in the jails, and thus students are 
 brought into touch with all the varied phases of city 
 evangelization. The location of the institute has 
 proven strategic, and it has been of great value in 
 the evangelization of the city. It was especially use- 
 ful during Mr. Moody's great World's Fair Cam- 
 paign in 1893. 
 
 This was by far the most remarkable series of 
 meetings ever planned or carried into execution by 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 281 
 
 Mr. Moody. "The idea of making such a carnival 
 the scene of a widespread evangelistic effort was as 
 novel as it was daring. But the plan was under con- 
 sideration for months, and was arranged while the 
 Exposition buildings were still under construction." 
 Many there were to predict failure for such an un- 
 dertaking. It was asserted that the visitors to Chi- 
 cago at the time would come solely on account of 
 the Exposition. Discouragements Mr. Moody ex- 
 pected to meet, but the manifest needs of the situa- 
 tion far outweighed any of the discouraging features 
 that might arise. There would be a vast influx of 
 strangers into the city. Temptations of every kind 
 would lie athwart their paths. The vicious and vile 
 would ply their nefarious arts with all the enginery 
 of evil at their command. The forces for wickedness 
 in the city would be augmented by reinforcements 
 from without. While these considerations magnified 
 the difficulty of religious work at the time, they but 
 emphasized the need for a great religious campaign 
 in which the emissaries of evil should be outwitted 
 and the tables turned against them. With faith and 
 courage undaunted Mr. Moody commenced the 
 campaign. The Bible Institute served as a base of 
 operations. The city was divided into three sections 
 with the following centers — the Chicago Avenue 
 Church on the north, the First Congregational on 
 the west, and the Immanuel Baptist on the south. 
 
282 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 Great buildings in various sections of the city were 
 secured, tents were erected for services, and meet- 
 ings were held in the open air. 
 
 The Haymarket Theater was first secured. Here 
 Mr. Moody preached every Sunday until the end of 
 the campaign, with the exception of two Sundays 
 when he was absent in the east. At a later period 
 other theaters, such as the Empire, Standard, Co- 
 lumbia, Hooley's Opera House, and the Grand Opera 
 House, were made use of for various services. Sev- 
 eral places in the neighborhood of the Fair Grounds 
 were secured, and towards the close of the Exposi- 
 tion Mr. Moody had one hundred and twenty-five 
 meetings under his control. Two months before the 
 close of the Fair, Central Music Hall was secured 
 for daily services from n o'clock until i. The peo- 
 ple flocked in throngs to hear the simple gospel. 
 Said Dr. Munroe Gibson : "While the Fair Grounds 
 were quite deserted on Sundays the churches were 
 full. There was little use trying to get into the 
 churches where Mr. Moody or Mr. McNeil preached 
 unless you went an hour or two before the time, but 
 even with only a preacher of ordinary abilities the 
 church would be filled, not only in the morning but 
 also at the evening service, and it is no easy thing to 
 secure a good attendance for evening services in 
 Chicago." 
 
 Probably the most remarkable services of the en- 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 283 
 
 tire campaign were those held in Forepaugh's circus 
 tent. The circus was in Chicago in June, and Mr. 
 Moody secured the use of the exhibition tent for 
 Sunday forenoon, the manager reserving it for the 
 use of his show in the afternoon and evening. The 
 great tent had sittings for ten thousand people. A 
 circus man incredulously asked Moody if he ex- 
 pected to have three thousand hearers. The tent 
 was filled to overflowing. An eyewitness thus 
 described the scene : "The surroundings were the 
 usual circus furniture — ropes, trapezes, gaudy 
 decorations, etc., while in the adjoining canvass 
 building was a large menagerie, including eleven 
 elephants. Clowns, grooms, circus-riders, men, 
 women, and children, eighteen thousand of them, 
 and on a Sunday morning, too ! Whether the gospel 
 was ever before preached under such circumstances 
 I know not, but it was wonderful to ear and eye 
 alike." For two Sundays the circus tent was rented. 
 While such throngs crowded into the tent to hear the 
 gospel, the circus manager was obliged to cancel his 
 Sunday exhibitions because they were so poorly 
 attended. 
 
 During the progress of the Fair, meetings were 
 arranged for Germans, Bohemians, Poles, French, 
 Jews, and among the Arabs on the Fair Grounds. 
 Special meetings for various classes were conducted 
 from time to time. For the work of carrying on 
 
284 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 these many meetings, Mr. Moody called to his 
 assistance some of the foremost pastors and evangel- 
 ists in this country and Great Britain, such men as 
 Drs. A. C. Dixon, H. M. Wharton, J. Wilbur Chap- 
 man, John McNeil, Henry Varley, Thomas Spur- 
 geon, besides noted preachers from Europe, to 
 preach to their countrymen in their native languages. 
 
 In this work the Bible Institute rendered inval- 
 uable aid. Said Mr. Moody: "This campaign 
 could never have been carried on except for the Bible 
 Institute. If there was any part of the city where 
 we needed to throw a detachment we had them at 
 our command. If we only had a few hours' notice 
 we could send fifty men to that part of the city and 
 placard and ticket the whole neighborhood and fill a 
 building." 
 
 When the war broke out between this country and 
 Spain, in 1898, the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tion at once inaugurated work for the young volun- 
 teers. The Army and Navy Christian Commission 
 was formed with its work subdivided into three de- 
 partments: the executive, under the direction of 
 Colonel J. J. McCook; the general work, such as 
 Bible study, physical training, etc., under charge of 
 C. W. McAlpine; and the evangelistic under D. L. 
 Moody. The work of the latter department was four- 
 fold: (a) the placing of eminent preachers and 
 evangelists in the field to preach the gospel to 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 285 
 
 soldiers in the service of their country; (b) the in- 
 stitution of Young Men's Christian Association 
 tents in each regiment, where good reading would 
 be available and where writing materials, etc., could 
 be found; (c) the free distribution of Bibles, Testa- 
 ments, and religious literature; (d) the visitation 
 of the sick and wounded in hospitals. 
 
 Under Mr. Moody's direction, Major Whittle, 
 General O. O. Howard, Rev. A. C. Dixon, D.D., 
 Rev. R. A. Torrey, D.D., and others took the field 
 to minister to the religious welfare of the soldiers. 
 Some eight thousand soldiers were converted 
 through these efforts. It was Mr. Moody's inten- 
 tion to take the field in person in the autumn, for the 
 state of his health was such that it was unadvisable 
 for him to go south earlier in the summer, but when 
 autumn came it was unnecessary, for the issues of 
 the war were such that Spain was ready to sue for 
 peace long before the summer had ended. 
 
 Mr. Moody's last campaign was conducted in 
 Kansas City. The great Convention Hall, which had 
 a seating capacity of 15,000, was secured for the 
 purpose. A large choir of nearly a thousand voices 
 was placed under the leadership of Professor C. C. 
 Case. The services commenced November 12, 1899, 
 and were attended by thousands of people who filled 
 the spacious auditorium. For two or three days Mr. 
 Moody preached with his old-time vigor and power, 
 
286 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 but within a short time he began to show evidences 
 of exhaustion. Friday morning a physician was 
 summoned, and under his direction Mr. Moody re- 
 luctantly decided to give up the meetings and return 
 to Northfield. It was a severe trial for him to do 
 this. "It's the first time in forty years of preaching 
 that I have had to give up my meetings," he said, 
 and a little later in a low tone of voice added, "It is 
 more painful to give up those audiences than it is to 
 suffer from my ailments." Reluctantly he laid aside 
 the work he loved so well and started on his home- 
 ward journey. 
 
 For a time after his arrival at Northfield, the indi- 
 cations seemed to be favorable, but the improvement 
 was only temporary and on December 22, in the 
 presence of his wife and children, he peacefully 
 passed away. "It is my coronation day," he ex- 
 claimed, as he perceived the end approaching. 
 Among his last utterances were : "Earth is receding 
 and heaven is opening. God is calling me. Is this 
 dying? It is sweet! There is no valley here! I 
 have been within the gates !" 
 
 Four days later he was laid to rest on Round Top, 
 "the Olivet of Northfield," there to await the appear- 
 ing of his Lord, whom he loved so well, and for 
 whose second coming he so fondly hoped. 
 
 There is no means of determining with any 
 degree of accuracy the results of Mr. Moody's long 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 287 
 
 and useful life. Personally he had an aversion to 
 numbers. With characteristic bluntness he once 
 replied to a minister who asked him how many 
 souls he had led to Christ : "I don't know anything 
 about that, Doctor. Thank God, I don't have to. I 
 don't keep the Lamb's Book of Life." 
 
 It is safe to assume, however, that some hundreds 
 of thousands of conversions resulted from his labors 
 throughout the English-speaking world. He was 
 the greatest evangelist of his generation, and one of 
 the most successful soul-winners that the world has 
 ever known. In addition to his personal labors 
 account must be taken of his published sermons and 
 works in a great variety of forms, of his educational 
 enterprises, the Northfield conferences, etc. No man 
 can measure Mr. Moody's influence for good in the 
 world, for it is safe to say that millions have derived 
 inspiration and help from his life. 
 
 Mr. Moody's preaching was plain and scriptural. 
 He made large and effective use of anecdotes and 
 incidents in illustrating the truths which he sought 
 to impress, thereby reaching the hearts and con- 
 sciences of men whom no amount of argumentation 
 would have touched. He had a profound conviction 
 as to the truth of the Bible, which he accepted with- 
 out question as the unerring Word of God. It was 
 this intense conviction as to the truthfulness of the 
 divine revelation that gave force and power to his 
 
288 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 utterances and made him the effective preacher of 
 righteousness that he was. 
 
 He preached the substitutionary theory of the 
 atonement, that Christ died for us and took our place 
 that we might, by believing on him, escape the pun- 
 ishment which we deserved at the hands of an 
 offended God. He enforced the doctrines of retribu- 
 tion, repentance, restitution, and regeneration. Be- 
 hind all of his doctrinal ideas was a marvelous con- 
 ception of the love of God. The central theme of his 
 preaching, the pivot around which all else revolved, 
 was God's love for a lost and sinning world, and 
 his willingness to accept all who would come to him 
 by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Mr. Moody 
 did not appeal to men's fears, but insisted upon 
 God's love as a motive to all right action. 
 
 He insisted upon the prayer of faith and the 
 anointing of the Holy Spirit as the indispensable 
 elements to true success in winning souls. His 
 methods, while comparatively few, were systematic 
 and complete. As a skillful general he planned his 
 campaigns. Systematic visitation and meetings for 
 prayer preceded the advent of the evangelists. In 
 the public services which followed, the singing and 
 preaching of the gospel were the principal means 
 relied upon. Daily prayer meetings were a feature 
 of the work, and every reasonable effort was put 
 forth to incite ministers and laymen to activity in 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 289 
 
 the work of saving souls. Inquiry meetings were 
 conducted at the conclusion of the public preaching 
 exercises. Seekers were dealt with personally, in- 
 formal talks were given, difficulties were solved and 
 dangers pointed out. In fact such instructions were 
 given as would lead penitents to immediate accept- 
 ance of Jesus Christ. Converts were urged to unite 
 with some branch of the church of Christ, and the 
 churches were charged with the responsibility of 
 watch care over those who had been brought into 
 the fold. 
 
 It was this earnest preaching and this faithful use 
 of methods that gave Mr. Moody an influence that 
 will live. "Some day," he had said, "you will read 
 in the papers that D. L. Moody of East Northfield 
 is dead. Don't you believe a word of it! At that 
 moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall 
 have gone up higher, that is all — out of this old clay 
 tenement into a house that is immortal ; a body that 
 sin cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fash- 
 ioned like unto his glorious body. I was born of the 
 flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in 1856. 
 That which is born of the flesh may die. That 
 which is born of the spirit will live forever." 
 
 Closely identified with the lay movement in their 
 use of methods, and in the development of lay 
 activity, although not laymen themselves, are the 
 names of B. Fay Mills and J. Wilbur Chapman, 
 
290 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 without a consideration of whom this chapter would 
 not be complete. 
 
 B. Fay Mills was born at Rahway, N. J., in 1857, 
 and received his collegiate education at Lake Forest 
 University, 111. In 1886, after a brief but successful 
 experience in the pastorate, he entered upon evangel- 
 istic work, and for a period of ten years labored 
 with great success in nearly all of the leading cities 
 of the United States and Canada. 
 
 Mr. Mills' manner of working was very syste- 
 matic. An executive committee of ten or twelve 
 ministers or laymen had oversight of the campaign. 
 For several months this committee would be actively 
 engaged in preparing for the services, by interesting 
 workers, and arousing the churches ; one of the first 
 directions of Mr. Mills being, "Get to work; pray 
 and plan; make use of every means ordained by 
 God." The preliminary work was entrusted to 
 three committees, viz. : a Committee on Finance — to 
 secure funds to meet the expenses of the meetings, 
 the evangelists being provided for by free-will offer- 
 ings ; a Committee on Canvassing — to supervise the 
 work of visitation, the city being divided into dis- 
 tricts, and a personal invitation given to every 
 family in these respective districts a week before the 
 meetings commenced; a Committee on Music — to 
 organize and train as large a chorus choir as possible, 
 and to arrange for an organist throughout the ser- 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 291 
 
 vices. For the revival work proper there were also 
 three committees, viz. : a Committee on Advertising 
 — to keep the public posted as to the meetings, mak- 
 ing judicious use of the public press, bulletin boards, 
 handbills, etc. ; a Devotional Committee — to arrange 
 for two daily prayer meetings, one for men and the 
 other for women, to be held in the forenoon and 
 afternoon respectively; a Committee on Ushers — to 
 have oversight of the work for arranging for the 
 physical comfort of the audiences, the distribution 
 of decision cards at the conclusion of the preaching 
 services, and to have supervision of the personal 
 work with inquirers. This being the work entrusted 
 to the "Ushers," it was required by Mr. Mills that 
 they should not only be men of mature minds, but 
 that the most efficient and consecrated men from the 
 various churches should be selected for this work, 
 since the effectiveness of the meetings depended 
 largely upon them. 
 
 A feature of Mr. Mills' system was what was 
 known as the District Combination Plan. The city 
 in which the campaign was conducted would be 
 divided into large districts, in each of which the 
 meetings would be conducted for a specified time, so 
 that by the end of the campaign the whole city 
 would have been reached by the services. 
 
 At the conclusion of each discourse, those who 
 wished to become Christians were invited to arise. 
 
292 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 Cards bearing the following inscription were 
 placed in their hands for signature : 
 
 I have an honest desire henceforth to 
 lead a Christian life. 
 
 Name 
 
 Residence 
 
 Church or Pastor preferred 
 
 Date 
 
 An after meeting followed the public service. 
 "Ushers" were expected to invite any who had 
 signed cards, or who seemed interested to remain. 
 Difficulties were considered, objections met, and 
 such instructions were offered as would lead to im- 
 mediate decision for Christ. 
 
 So perfectly was the campaign planned and so 
 systematically was it prosecuted, that in the hands 
 of a wise leader it could hardly fail of success. 
 Thousands in the various cities visited by Mr. Mills 
 signed decision cards, although the criticism was 
 freely offered that there was a lack of permanency 
 in the results. Be that as it may, there can be no 
 question that great and lasting good was accom- 
 plished, and that many of such as should be saved 
 were led to decision in these meetings. 
 
 In recent years Mr. Mills has been identified with 
 the Unitarians, and although of late he has con- 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 293 
 
 ducted special services, they have been along lines 
 that could not be classified as evangelical. 
 
 Methods similar to the foregoing have been em- 
 ployed with marked success by J. Wilbur Chapman, 
 D.D., who for a time was associated with Mr. Mills 
 and later with Mr. Moody, as vice-president of the 
 Bible Institute, and also as a co-worker in the 
 World's Fair Campaign, and in some of his later 
 efforts in Pittsburgh and New York City. 
 
 Dr. Chapman was born in Indiana in 1859 and 
 received his collegiate education at Oberlin and Lake 
 Forest, where he was a classmate of B. Fay Mills. 
 From 1 879- 1 882 he studied theology at Lane Theo- 
 logical Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1883 ne 
 accepted a call to the Dutch Reformed Church at 
 Schuylerville, N. Y. During this pastorate he at- 
 tended a series of meetings conducted by Mr. Moody 
 at Albany, N. Y. So great was the influence of 
 these meetings and so deep was the impression made 
 upon the mind of the young pastor, that on his 
 return a revival commenced in his church, which 
 resulted in over a hundred conversions, including 
 some of the leading men of the town. In 1884 ne 
 was called to the pastorate of the First Reformed 
 Church at Albany. For five years he ministered to 
 this aristocratic and conservative church, which 
 witnessed more than five hundred conversions dur- 
 ing these years. Early in 1890 Dr. Chapman ac- 
 
294 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 cepted a call to the great Bethany Presbyterian 
 Church of Philadelphia. Eleven hundred united 
 with the church on confession of faith in a little less 
 than three years. In the meanwhile he had received 
 numerous calls to assist in evangelistic work, which 
 he did, so far as the duties of his pastorate would 
 permit. Finally he was induced to relinquish his 
 pastorate in order to devote his whole time to 
 evangelistic labors. For three years he conducted 
 successful revivals in many of the leading cities in 
 America. During all of these years the Bethany 
 Church was without a pastor. Finally after repeated 
 overtures he accepted a re-call to that church with 
 the understanding that he should devote half of his 
 time if he so desired to evangelistic work. In 1899 
 he accepted a call to the Fourth Presbyterian Church 
 of New York City. Three years later he was per- 
 suaded to lay aside his pastoral duties to devote his 
 whole time to the secretaryship of the Evangelistic 
 Committee, the General Assembly of the Presbyte- 
 rian Church in the United States of America. 
 
 In addition to his personal efforts in revival work, 
 Dr. Chapman has published several small volumes 
 of sermons, and two or three books upon the subject 
 of revivals, all of which have received a wide circu- 
 lation and have rendered invaluable service in the 
 work of evangelism. 
 
 Numerous other evangelists of national reputa- 
 
THE LAY MOVEMENT IN REVIVALS. 295 
 
 tion have labored during this period, such as Mrs. 
 Maggie Van Cott, C. H. Yatman, E. E. Davidson, 
 and Sam Jones, the eccentric Southern evangelist, 
 among the Methodists; H. G. Dewitt, A. P. Graves, 
 H. W. Brown, S. H. Pratt, and H. M. Wharton, 
 among the Baptists ; Harold F. Sayles, Major Cole 
 and many others in various denominations, of whom 
 "time would fail me to tell," besides numerous 
 evangelistic pastors who have helped to make the 
 period embraced within the years 1870- 1900 one of 
 the most fruitful periods in the history of American 
 Christianity. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ORGANIZED MOVEMENTS. 
 
 Contemporaneous with the lay movement in 
 revivals has been the expansion and development of 
 lay organizations, which consciously or uncon- 
 sciously have proven powerful factors in evangelism. 
 The earliest of such organizations was the Young 
 Men's Christian Association. This movement was 
 founded by George Williams of London, England, 
 who instituted a prayer meeting for the clerks in the 
 establishment of George Hitchcock & Co., drapers, 
 where he was employed. Similar meetings were es- 
 tablished in other mercantile houses, and June 6, 
 1844, a "Society for Improving the Spiritual Condi- 
 tion of Young Men Engaged in the Drapery and 
 other Trades" was organized. Four weeks later 
 the name was changed to the Young Men's Christian 
 Association. During the earlier years the growth 
 of the organization was slow, and it was not until 
 the latter part of 185 1 that the first American Asso- 
 ciations were formed. The earliest association on 
 this side of the Atlantic was organized in Montreal 
 
ORGANIZED MOVEMENTS. 297 
 
 December 9, 1851. On the 29th of the same month 
 the first association in the United States was in- 
 stituted at Boston. This association resulted from 
 an article written by an American student for the 
 Watchman and Reflector. This article descriptive 
 of the London Association attracted the attention of 
 a few Christian young men who corresponded with 
 the London secretary about the organization. As a 
 result the Boston Association was formed. In 1852 
 associations were organized in Buffalo, Washing- 
 ton, New York and Baltimore. 
 
 The Revival of 1857 gave a great impetus to the 
 Young Men's Christian Association. The associa- 
 tion rooms became the rallying places for large num- 
 bers of young men who had been converted and 
 furnished them an effective training school for 
 Christian work. The Civil War proved disastrous 
 to many associations on account of the excessive en- 
 listments, which depleted their numbers and forced 
 them to disband. The work of such associations 
 was not lost, for the presence of their members in the 
 army had a goodly influence upon their compatriots. 
 The work of the Christian and Sanitary Commis- 
 sions received the hearty endorsement of the Young 
 Men's Christian Association, and local associations 
 rendered efficient service in this work. 
 
 Since 1870 the growth of the organization has 
 been phenomenal. New lines of work have been 
 
298 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 developed — the railroad work, the evening educa- 
 tional classes, college association work, and the 
 Student Volunteer movement, being some of the 
 phases in which the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tion has been especially serviceable. 
 
 The Young Women's Christian Association, with 
 no small degree of success, has attempted work 
 along similar lines for young women. These organ- 
 izations have not only served as an anchor to multi- 
 tudes of young people, who might otherwise have 
 drifted, especially amid the temptations of city life, 
 but they have been instrumental also in leading 
 large numbers to embrace the Christian faith. 
 
 More potent still has been the influence of the 
 Young People's Societies. One of the problems of 
 the church life in the past was how to reach and hold 
 the young people. A tentative solution was the 
 young people's prayer meeting, a service of rather 
 ephemeral character, which was long experimented 
 with in various parts of the country, and a fair type 
 of which was described as belonging to "the spas- 
 modic variety that wilted under the heat of summer, 
 was frequently washed away, for the time being, by 
 the rains of autumn and was blockaded by the snows 
 of winter." None of the various experiments 
 seemed to quite meet the situation until the organiza- 
 tion of the Young People's Society of Christian En- 
 deavor. The first society was formed by Rev. 
 
ORGANIZED MOVEMENTS. 299 
 
 Francis E. Clark at the Williston Church, Portland, 
 Me. The church had been visited with a gracious 
 revival, among the converts of which were a number 
 of promising young people. In order to bridge the 
 gap between conversion and church membership, 
 and for the purpose of giving these young converts 
 some systematic training in Christian work, they 
 were invited to meet in the pastor's parlor, Wednes- 
 day, February 2, 1881. A constitution, which he 
 had previously drawn up, was presented for an 
 organization entitled the "Williston Young People's 
 Society of Christian Endeavor." Thirty-five boys 
 and girls appended their names to the document 
 which has become historic. They pledged them- 
 selves to be present and to take some part in the 
 weekly prayer meetings. Monthly consecration 
 meetings were a feature of the new organization, 
 and a "look-out" committee was charged with the 
 duty of looking after delinquent members and en- 
 listing new recruits. 
 
 The first public notice of this organization was 
 an article by Dr. Clark in the Congrcgationalist in 
 August, 1 88 1, entitled "How One Church Cares for 
 its Young People." The idea met with public favor, 
 and by February, 1882, there were twenty Christian 
 Endeavor Societies in different parts of the country. 
 During the earlier years of its history, the growth 
 of the organization was comparatively slow, but by 
 
3oo AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 1886 there were reported 850 societies and 30,000 
 members, "representing eight different denomina- 
 tions, distributed through thirty-three States, Terri- 
 tories, and Provinces, with seven societies in foreign 
 lands." 
 
 In 1885 the United Society was incorporated "to 
 bind the societies closer together in a common 
 interest and to provide a responsible central organ- 
 ization, through which the work of the society may 
 be carried on in the way of raising, receiving and 
 paying out money, and giving proper custody for 
 whatever property the society may acquire." The 
 expenses of this society are met by the sale of litera- 
 ture, badges, etc., no assessments being made on the 
 local societies for the purpose. 
 
 In 1887 R ev - Francis E. Clark, D.D., was chosen 
 president of the United Society and editor of Chris- 
 tian Endeavor literature. In the interest of all that 
 pertains to the welfare of this movement Dr. Clark 
 has been an indefatigable worker, compassing sea 
 and land in his efforts to extend and build up the En- 
 deavor cause. In these efforts he has received the 
 co-operation of a host of consecrated workers 
 throughout the world. 
 
 Since 1886 the growth and expansion of the En- 
 deavor movement have been remarkable, and it now 
 numbers thousands of societies and hosts of mem- 
 bers throughout the world. The work of the organ- 
 
ORGANIZED MOVEMENTS. 301 
 
 ization has been developed until it embraces temper- 
 ance, good citizenship, prison work, etc., while the 
 division of its membership into Active, Associate 
 and Honorary, and its departments for Junior, In- 
 termediate and Senior work, give the largest scope 
 to its usefulness. 
 
 Although the original purpose of the society was 
 the training and development of young people for 
 Christian service, the organization has proven a 
 mighty evangelistic agency, more than a million of 
 its associate membership having gone into the 
 various evangelical churches, influenced in part at 
 least through this organization. 
 
 In order to provide for a type of young people's 
 society which should accord with the genius of the 
 denomination, the Methodists early favored a de- 
 nominational form of organization. The earliest 
 society of this character was the Young People's 
 Methodist Alliance, which was formed on the Des 
 Plaines camp ground near Chicago, August 25, 
 1883, by Henry Date, a young lay evangelist. 
 Other organizations with a similar purpose sprang 
 into existence, so that by 1889, in addition to hun- 
 dreds of Christian Endeavor Societies throughout 
 the denomination, there were no less than five dis- 
 tinct Methodist young people's organizations. To 
 merge these organizations, a convention met at the 
 Central Methodist Episcopal Church of Cleveland, 
 
302 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 Ohio, in May, 1889, and perfected a society to be 
 known as the Epworth League. 
 
 The progress of this organization has been phe- 
 nomenal. At the first meeting of the Board of Con- 
 trol in February, 1890, it was advised that all exist- 
 ing young people's societies in the church become 
 Epworth Leagues. In 1892, by virtue of an act 
 passed by the General Conference at Omaha, the 
 Epworth League was officially endorsed and became 
 an organic part of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 It has also found a home in the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, South, and other branches of Methodism. 
 
 Other denominational movements have been or- 
 ganized, such as the Baptist Young People's Union, 
 the Luther League, the Young People's Christian 
 Union, etc., in other religious denominations. 
 
 An existence of nearly a quarter of a century has 
 proved the right of the Young People's Society of 
 Christian Endeavor and kindred organizations to 
 exist. The young people's movement is no longer 
 an experiment, but an established fact. Millions 
 have been effectively trained for service, and vast 
 multitudes have been gathered into the churches 
 through their instrumentality. 
 
 To the very romance of evangelism belongs the 
 history and work of the Salvation Army, which was 
 founded in East London, England, in 1865, by Rev. 
 William Booth, a former minister of the Methodist 
 
ORGANIZED MOVEMENTS. 303 
 
 New Connexion. The work which he inaugurated 
 prospered, and was known as the Christian Mis- 
 sion until 1878, when with the introduction of 
 military methods it was changed to the Salvation 
 Army. 
 
 The history of the Army in this country dates 
 back to the year 1880, when Commissioner Railton 
 with seven "hallelujah" lasses landed at Castle Gar- 
 den and made an "attack" on the city of New York. 
 Some time prior to this services had been held in 
 Philadelphia by a family of Shirleys who had been 
 connected with the Army in England, and had emi- 
 grated to America. Within a few months after 
 Railton's arrival corps were established in various 
 other cities, and the Army began its career of pros- 
 perity in this country, which, however, was not unin- 
 terrupted. Commissioner Railton was succeeded in 
 the command of the American forces by Major 
 Thomas E. Moore. For a time all went well, but 
 soon disturbing rumors reached International Head- 
 quarters at London, and Moore was recalled. He 
 refused to obey and withdrew from the original 
 organization, taking nine-tenths of the Army in 
 America with him. 
 
 Commissioner Frank Smith was appointed to the 
 command of the remnant which remained. He 
 rallied about him the scattered forces, and within a 
 twelve-month the American contingent of the Salva- 
 
304 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 tion Army was stronger than ever. Since that time 
 the growth of the organization has been substantial 
 and permanent. 
 
 In 1887 Ballington Booth, the second son of Gen- 
 eral William Booth, and his wife, Maude Charles- 
 worth Booth, a most accomplished woman and a 
 splendid platform speaker, were appointed to the 
 command of the American forces. They not only 
 succeeded in winning for themselves the favor of an 
 appreciative public, but through their influence and 
 self-denying efforts, the Army met with that recog- 
 nition from pulpit, press and people which it so 
 richly deserved. 
 
 It has been the constant aim of the Salvation 
 Army to reach the unchurched classes and those who 
 were beyond the ordinary religious influences of the 
 day. It has sought to rescue the drunkard and the 
 harlot, to reclaim the outcast of society, and to 
 bring the "lowest of the low" into personal touch 
 with the saving message of the gospel. For the ac- 
 complishment of this purpose it not only conducts 
 religious services, but through its rescue-homes, 
 work-bureaus, cheap lodging houses, and the em- 
 ployment of every legitimate means, it aims to ele- 
 vate and save men and women, morally and socially. 
 Untold thousands have been reclaimed to sobriety 
 and righteousness through this organization. Mul- 
 titudes of its converts, especially of the more respec- 
 
ORGANIZED MOVEMENTS. 305 
 
 table classes, have found a home in the various 
 churches, while not a few who are now in the gospel 
 ministry received their first training in Christian 
 work in the ranks of the Salvation Army. 
 
 On account of differences existing between them 
 and International Headquarters, Commander and 
 Mrs. Ballington Booth were forced to relinquish 
 their command of the American wing of the Army 
 early in 1896, and a few months later they were 
 succeeded by Frederick De Latour Tucker and his 
 wife, Emma Booth Tucker, whose recent tragic 
 death shocked the whole Christian world. 
 
 Forced to give up their command, Commander 
 and Mrs. Booth could not give up their work for 
 lost and fallen humanity. After some deliberation 
 they decided to inaugurate a new movement which 
 should be known as the Volunteers of America, with 
 a less autocratic form of government and along 
 lines slightly divergent from the work of the Salva- 
 tion Army. 
 
 A leading feature in the work of the Volunteers 
 have been their efforts in behalf of prisoners in 
 various penal institutions of the country, to which 
 Mrs. Booth has devoted a great deal of attention. 
 Hope Halls for prison graduates, as released pris- 
 oners are called, have been instituted in several 
 places to care for these unfortunates and to provide 
 for their restoration to society and respectability. 
 
3 o6 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 While other denominations have developed along 
 the line of lay activity, the Roman Catholics and 
 Episcopalians have not been idle, but have sought 
 the conversion of men by means of Missions which 
 are not dissimilar to revivals. Within recent years 
 the Parochial Missions Society for the United 
 States has been organized in the Protestant Episco- 
 pal Church with the Bishop of New York as its 
 president, and some twenty bishops in various parts 
 of the country as honorary vice-presidents. At the 
 present time a staff of more than thirty missioners 
 is employed for conducting evangelistic meetings or 
 missions. 
 
 Efforts have been made in recent years to enlist 
 the Sunday Schools in the direct work of evangeliza- 
 tion by means of an annual ' 'Decision Day," when 
 special efforts shall be made by officers and teachers 
 to influence their pupils to decide for Christ and 
 enter upon the duties of the Christian life. Not 
 infrequently such efforts are under the supervision 
 of the pastor, in whose care the young converts are 
 placed for definite instruction and training in the 
 Christian life before they are admitted to church 
 membership. 
 
 The great revivals of the period, and the various 
 organized movements for evangelization, have made 
 the years 1870- 1900 emphatically a revival era. The 
 work on the whole has not only been quiet and 
 
ORGANIZED MOVEMENTS. 307 
 
 orderly, but deep and lasting. As the century drew 
 towards its close, however, there was a diminishing 
 number of accessions to the churches, and indica- 
 tions were not wanting that the religious life of the 
 nation was suffering a decline, but with the efforts 
 now under way in various denominations, it is hoped 
 that the opening years of this new century may be 
 characterized by a sweeping revival which shall 
 greatly increase the usefulness and spiritual power 
 of the churches. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 What lessons, if any, are to be derived for com- 
 ing revivals from the revivals of the past? In all 
 true religious awakenings are to be found elements 
 which are permanent, while others are but the 
 products of the occasion. What seems to meet the 
 requirements of one age, apparently is of little value 
 in influencing the next. For example during the 
 Great Awakening preaching was the chief means 
 relied upon for the conversion of men, but in the 
 Great Revival of 1857 union prayer meetings only 
 seemed to be necessary to reach men with the influ- 
 ences of the gospel, while in the later phases of 
 revival work, the most perfect organization and the 
 most perfectly planned campaigns have been the 
 methods best suited to accomplish the results desired. 
 
 There are, however, certain elements of perma- 
 nency which have been characteristic of all true revi- 
 vals from Pentecost down to the present time. An 
 analysis of the great revivals of history shows these 
 elements to be Prayer, the Outpouring of the Holy 
 Spirit, and the Presentation of the Gospel. 
 
 I. Prayer. The first great revival of the Chris- 
 
CONCLUSION. 309 
 
 tian era was preceded by a ten days' meeting of 
 prayer. Of the disciples we are told that "these all 
 with one accord continued stedfastly in prayer," in 
 consequence of which "they were all filled with the 
 Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues 
 as the Spirit gave them utterance." As a result we 
 are informed : "there were added unto them in that 
 day about three thousand souls. And they con- 
 tinued stedfastly in the apostles' teaching, and fel- 
 lowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." 
 "And the Lord added to them day by day those that 
 were being saved." 
 
 Every true revival is preceded by its Pentecost. 
 It is possible to have revivals without preaching, 
 without churches, and without ministers, but with- 
 out prayer a genuine revival is impossible. The 
 great revival at the Kirk of Shotts, in Scotland, when 
 five hundred were converted under a single sermon 
 by John Livingstone on the 1st of June, 1630, was 
 preceded by a night of prayer. Whitefield and Ed- 
 wards, the leading lights of the Great Awakening, 
 were mighty men in prayer. Of the former it was 
 said : "He triumphed in the pulpit, because he 
 triumphed at a throne of grace. He was a powerful 
 preacher, because he was a powerful supplicator." 
 Edwards' celebrated sermon at Enfield, "Sinners in 
 the Hands of an Angry God," was said to have been 
 preceded by a whole night of prayer on the part of a 
 
3 io AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 few faithful disciples. In some portions of the 
 country, the Awakening of 1800 was prepared for 
 by days of fasting and prayer. The Revival of 1857 
 commenced with the prayers of a humble layman, 
 while the secret of success in the lives of Finney and 
 Moody is attributable to prevailing prayer. Of his 
 own experience Finney said: "Unless I had the 
 spirit of prayer I could do nothing. If even for a 
 day or an hour I lost the spirit of grace and supplica- 
 tion, I found myself unable to preach with power 
 and efficiency, or to win souls by personal conversa- 
 tion." 
 
 II. The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is this 
 which qualifies the worker, which gives force and 
 unction to his utterance, which strangely softens the 
 hearts of men and prepares their minds for the recep- 
 tion of the truths of the gospel. The gift of the 
 Spirit is needed for : 
 
 (a) The offering of an acceptable prayer for a 
 revival. "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our in- 
 firmities ; for we know not what we should pray for 
 as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh inter- 
 cession for us with groanings which cannot be 
 uttered." 
 
 (b) The presentation of the truths of the gospel. 
 "And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and 
 in much trembling. And my speech and my preach- 
 ing was not with the enticing words of man's wis- 
 
CONCLUSION. 311 
 
 dom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of 
 power; that your faith should not stand in the wis- 
 dom of men, but in the power of God." 
 
 (c) The conviction of sin. "And when he is 
 come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of 
 righteousness, and of judgment." 
 
 The Spirit usually works through human instru- 
 mentalities, and it is necessary therefore that the 
 church or some part of the church should receive the 
 divine anointing that it may successfully accom- 
 plish its mission in reaching and saving the lost. 
 
 Before Jesus left them, he gave commandment to 
 his disciples : "But tarry ye in the city of Jerusa- 
 lem, until ye be endued with power from on high." 
 This gift of power was to accompany the advent of 
 the Holy Spirit. Pentecost and its consequences 
 witness eloquently to the effects of that power. 
 Through the gift of the Spirit, the disciples who had 
 faltered at the betrayal of their Lord were made 
 strong and became tremendously effective in their 
 work for the evangelization of the world. 
 
 If these disciples who for three years had sat at 
 the feet of Jesus and learned from him the secrets of 
 success in winning men, needed the baptism of the 
 Holy Spirit, it were folly for others to hope for suc- 
 cess in the work of saving souls without seeking that 
 same gift of power which is the accompaniment of 
 the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 
 
3 i2 AMERICAN REVIVALS. 
 
 III. The Presentation of Gospel Truth. The doc- 
 trines of retribution, repentance, regeneration, God's 
 love for a sinning- world, his willingness to save, 
 faith in Jesus Christ as a Saviour, and related 
 themes must be brought vividly before the minds of 
 men. This may be done by preaching alone, as was 
 the case during the Great Awakening; by personal 
 work, the distribution of tracts, and personal testi- 
 mony, as was largely the case during the Revival of 
 1857; or it may be a combination of these various 
 methods with house-to-house visitation, the service 
 of song, the free use of the public press, etc., as has 
 been done with such eminent success in the lay move- 
 ment in revivals. Whatever may be the method, 
 there must be the presentation of the gospel of 
 Christ, which "is the power of God unto salvation to 
 every one that believeth." 
 
 Christ gave commandment to his disciples : "Go 
 ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every 
 creature." Said the Apostle Paul : "Whosoever 
 shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 
 How then shall they call on him in whom they have 
 not believed? and how shall they believe in him 
 whom they have not heard ? and how shall they hear 
 without a preacher?" One thing is essential — the 
 gospel must be preached, whether it is done from 
 the sacred desk, or in a private conversation, or by 
 a hymn appropriately rendered, or through the 
 
CONCLUSION. 313 
 
 printed page. If men are ever to be converted the 
 claims of the gospel must be enforced, "not with the 
 enticing words of man's wisdom, but in the demon- 
 stration of the Spirit and of power." 
 
 These three elements, Prayer, the Outpouring of 
 the Holy Spirit, and the Presentation of Gospel 
 Truth, constitute the invariable characteristics of all 
 true revivals from Pentecost to the present time. It 
 is safe to presume therefore that there never will be 
 revivals of any great value to the Church of Christ, 
 without relying upon these conditions which seem to 
 be indispensable. 
 
 It has been asserted that revivals are but tem- 
 poral phenomena of religious life, and must ulti- 
 mately pass away. If we believe in the final triumph 
 of the kingdom, it follows that there will come a 
 time when revivals will no longer be necessary. 
 But while there is a single impenitent child of God, 
 revivals in some form or other will be a necessity for 
 bringing such into the fold of Christ. Methods 
 which, as we have seen, do not constitute the perma- 
 nent elements in revivals, must change, in fact are 
 changing, so that revivals as we now know them 
 may pass away, but with the passing of the old 
 newer and better methods will be devised, so that 
 revivals in some form or another will survive so 
 long as there are lost men whom it is possible to 
 bring under the influences of the gospel. 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 A 
 
 Albright, Jacob 209 
 
 Alexander, Archibald 84 
 
 American Bible Society ....... 105 
 
 American Tract Society 105, 242 
 
 Andrews, Emerson . . . . . . .176 
 
 Anxious Seats . . . 47,97,147,161,173,196,251 
 
 Army Churches 247-249 
 
 Army and Navy Christian Commission . . . 284, 285 
 Asbury, Francis . . . . . . 75, 76, 190-192 
 
 Austin College 159 
 
 Awakening of 1800 . . . .83, 84-107,182,211, 310 
 
 B 
 
 Baker, Daniel, 156; conversion, 157; revival at Princeton, 
 157; revival labors, 158; missionary labors in Texas, 
 159; doctrines and measures ..... 160 
 
 Bancroft, George, quoted 186 
 
 Bangs, Nathan 183 
 
 Baptists, the . . . 65, 68, 73, 93, 101, 163, 164, 177, 178 
 
 Baptist Young People's Union 302 
 
 Barnes, Albert 161 
 
 Baxter, George A., quoted 95 
 
 Beecher, Lyman . . . .78, 136, 137, 142, 143, 161 
 
 Bible Institute, the 279. 280, 284 
 
 Blair, Samuel 30, 44, 46 
 
 Bliss, P. P 274, 275 
 
 Boehme, Martin 207 
 
 Booth, Ballington 304, 305 
 
 Booth, Mrs. Maude Charlesworth . 304, 305 
 
316 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Booth, William 
 Boston, revivals at . 
 Bowman, E. B., quoted 
 Brainerd, David 
 Brooklyn, revivals at 
 Brown, H. W. 
 Brunson, Alfred, quoted 
 Buckley, J. M. 
 Buell, Samuel . 
 Burchard, Jedediah . 
 
 Calvin, John . 
 Calvinism. 
 
 Cambridge Platform 
 Campbell, Alexander and 
 Camp Meetings 
 Cane Ridge, Ky., revival at 
 Carnival of Crime . 
 Cartwright, Peter . 
 Caughey, James 
 Chapman, J. Wilbur 
 Chauncey, Charles . 
 Chicago, revivals at. 
 Christian Commission 
 Church and State . 
 Circuit Preaching . 
 Civil War, the . 
 Clark, Francis E. 
 Clary, Abel ., 
 Coke, Thomas 
 Cole, Major 
 Congregationalists . 
 Cumberland Presbyterians 
 
 39, 4i, 85 
 
 202, 302, 
 143, 155, 169, 201, 225, 
 
 222, 
 
 Thomas 
 
 10, 47, 108, 1 
 
 66, 
 
 17, 148, 160, 
 . 12, 
 
 98, 192-194, 
 
 195, 199, 
 202, 203, 
 284, 293, 
 
 . 226, 
 241, 254, 261, 
 10, 11, 68, 
 186, 188, 
 238, 239, 24off, 261 
 
 . 299, 
 
 64, 68, 102, 106, 108, 
 209 
 
 304 
 272 
 184 
 67 
 268 
 
 295 
 188 
 196 
 
 73 
 161 
 
 7 
 163 
 
 16 
 178 
 210 
 
 93 
 253 
 203 
 224 
 294 
 
 58 
 271 
 297 
 102 
 210 
 -263 
 300 
 
 143 
 190 
 
 295 
 161 
 -211 
 
 Dartmouth College 
 Davenport, James 
 
 68, 72, 100 
 
 55-57, 113 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 3*7 
 
 Davidson, E. E 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 295 
 
 Davis, Samuel .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 46 
 
 Decision Day in the Sunday School . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 306 
 
 Dewitt, H. G 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 295 
 
 Dexter, M. H., quoted 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 Dickinson, Jonathan 
 
 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 , 44 
 
 Disciples of Christ . 
 
 
 
 91 
 
 , 178-180 
 
 Doctrines preached in revivals 
 
 
 
 
 
 24, 39, 48, 97, 08, 
 
 148, 
 
 173, 198, 288, 
 
 312 
 
 , 313 
 
 Dow, Lorenzo .... 
 
 
 
 
 201 
 
 Dwight, Timothy 
 
 
 • 78,88,89, 
 
 100 
 
 , in 
 
 E 
 Earle, A. B 
 
 
 
 250 
 
 , 251 
 
 East Hampton, Long Island, revivals at 
 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 , 73 
 
 Edwards, Jonathan, 18 ; early life, 22 ; pastorate at North- 
 ampton, 23 ; marriage, 23 ; great revival at Northamp- 
 ton, 24fT; doctrines preached, 48, 49; manner in 
 which converts were affected, 49ff ; results of the 
 revival, 51 ; close of his pastorate at Northampton, 61, 
 62 ; missionary and literary labors at Stockbridge, 62, 
 63 ; death, 63. See also . . -54, 58, 67, 85, 309 
 
 Elizabethtown, revival at 
 
 Embury, Philip 
 
 Enosh 
 
 Episcopalians . 
 
 Epworth League, the 
 
 Evangelical Association 
 
 Evangelists 
 
 See also under Finney 
 
 Exodus, the 
 
 Ezra 
 
 Moody, etc 
 
 74. 
 
 29 
 75 
 2 
 66, 68, 205, 306 
 . 301, 302 
 . 208, 209 
 43,85,96, no, 181, 230 
 
 Fanaticism in the Great Awakening .... 53 _ 57 
 Finney, Charles G., no; early life, 118; conversion, 119- 
 123; labors at Evans Mills and Antwerp, I24ff; ordi- 
 
.3i8 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 nation, 126; revival at Sodom, 127; at Le Rayville, 
 128; at Gouverneur, 129; at De Kalb, 130; at Western, 
 131; at Rome, 132; at Utica, 134; at Auburn, 135; the 
 New Lebanon Convention, 136; revivals at Wilming- 
 ton and Philadelphia, 138; labors in N. Y. City, 139; 
 revivals at Rochester, 140-143; at Boston, 143; at 
 Chatham Street Theatre, N. Y., 144; revival lectures, 
 145; professorship at Oberlin, 146; death, 147; 
 methods and measures, 147 ; doctrines, 148 ; results of 
 his labors, 150. See also . . 169, 170, 201, 225, 231, 310 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin, quoted 37 
 
 Frelinghuysen, Theodore. . . . . . .20 
 
 French and Indian War 71 
 
 French Infidelity 77, 78-81, 88, 99, 100 
 
 Gillies, John, quoted 36 
 
 Goodwin, E. P., quoted ...... 271, 272 
 
 Graves, A. P 295 
 
 Great Awakening, the. 19, 20-70, 71, 103, 104, 234, 238, 308, 312 
 
 Green, Ashbel, quoted 79 
 
 Griffin, E. D 86-88 
 
 H 
 
 Half -Way Covenant. 
 
 Hammond, E. P. . 
 
 Hampden Sydney College, revival at 
 
 Hanover, Va., revival at . 
 
 Harrison, Thomas . 
 
 Harvard College 
 
 Heck, Barbara. 
 
 Holy Spirit in revivals, the 
 
 Hopkins, Samuel 
 
 11, 13, i6 ; 
 
 17,61, 102, no 
 
 . 2^2 
 . . 84 
 
 . 44 
 
 • 277 
 16, 38, 60 
 
 • 74 
 . 310, 312 
 
 . 40 
 
 Inquiry Meetings 
 
 .47,117,161,251, 289 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 319 
 
 J 
 
 Jarratt, Devereaux 66, 81 
 
 Jerks, the 195 
 
 Jones, Sam 295 
 
 Journalism, religious ....... 106 
 
 K 
 
 King George's War 71 
 
 King Philip's War ........ 14 
 
 Kingsley, A. C 177 
 
 Kirk, E. N., no; birth and early life, 152; conversion, 
 153; entrance on the ministry, 154; revival labors, 155, 
 156; death, 156. See also . . .5, 170, 172,201, 256 
 Knapp, Jacob, 164; conversion, 165; ministerial training, 
 165; evangelistic labors, 166; revival at Baltimore, 
 166 ; origin of Washingtonian temperance movement, 
 167 ; revival at Albany, 168 ; at New York city, 168 ; at 
 New Haven, 169; at Boston, 169; culmination of his 
 ministry, 171 ; allegations brought against him, 171 ; 
 results of his labors, 173. Cf 201 
 
 Lanphier, Jeremiah .... 
 
 2l8ff. 
 
 Laymen, in revivals. 
 
 230, 237, 253, 254 
 
 Lee, Mass., revival at 
 
 . . . . 85 
 
 "Local preachers" .... 
 
 . . . . 187 
 
 Logan County, Ky., revivals in. 
 
 90-93 
 
 Log College, the .... 
 
 31-45, 68 
 
 Lyme, Connecticut, revival at . 
 
 • 42, 53 
 
 M 
 
 
 McGranahan, James C. . 
 
 • 275 
 
 McGready, James .... 
 
 91, 210 
 
 Mcllvaine, Bishop, quoted 
 
 . 205,229, 235 
 
 McNeil, John 
 
 . 284 
 
 Mather, Cotton .... 
 
 . 16 
 
 Mather, Increase .... 
 
 . 17, 57 
 
320 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Methodists, the . . 32, 74~77, 8l, 90, 93, 101, 183-204, 208 
 
 Millerism 176, 214 
 
 Mills, B. Fay ........ 290-293 
 
 Mills, Samuel J. ..... . 104, III, 184 
 
 Missions 306 
 
 Missions, Foreign 67, 104 
 
 Missions, Home ....... 67, 105 
 
 Moody, Dwight L., 156, 237, 255; early life, 255; conver- 
 sion, 257; removal to Chicago, 258; activity in Sun- 
 day School and Y. M. C. A. work, 259-264 ; Christian 
 Commission work, 261-263 ; meets Sankey, 264 ; labors 
 in Great Britain, 265-268; revival at Brooklyn, 268; at 
 Philadelphia, 268; at New York, 269; at Chicago, 271; 
 at Boston, 272; in New England, 276; at Baltimore, 
 276; at St. Louis, 277; on Pacific Coast, 278; his 
 schools and conferences, 278-280; the World's Fair 
 campaign, 280-284; labors during the Spanish-Ameri- 
 can War, 284 ; Kansas City campaign, 285 ; death, 
 286 ; results of his work, 286, 289 ; doctrines and 
 
 . measures 287-289. Cf. 393 
 
 Morris, Samuel 45 
 
 Mount Hermon School 278 
 
 Munhall, L. W 275, 276 
 
 N 
 
 "Narrative of Surprising Conversions" . . .29, 49 
 
 Nash, "Father" 129 
 
 Nettleton, Asahel, no; conversion, no, in; preparation 
 for the ministry, ill, 112; commencement of evan- 
 gelistic work, 112; revival at Salisbury, Conn., 113; 
 at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., 114-116; manner of con- 
 ducting revivals, 117. See also .... 136, 176 
 
 New Brunswick, N. J., revival at . 
 
 New England, church life in the early . 
 
 New England, settlement of 
 
 New Haven, revivals at . 
 
 New Lebanon Convention 
 
 . 20 
 
 . 9 
 
 . 7, 8 
 
 40, 42, 169 
 
 • 137, 144 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 321 
 
 New Londonderry, Pa., revival at . . . 29, 53 
 
 New York, revivals at 
 
 36, 66, 139, 143, 168, 194, 202, 22off, 269, 270 
 Noon Prayer Meetings . . . 220,224,225,231, 260 
 Northampton, Mass., revival at 21, 24-28, 51 
 Northfield Christian Workers' Conference . . . 278 
 Northfield Seminary 278 
 
 O 
 
 Oberlin College 146, 150, 151 
 
 Occum, Samson ........ 67 
 
 Otterbein, Philip W 206, 208 
 
 P 
 
 Panic of 1857 216 
 
 Parker, Joel 161 
 
 Parker, Orson ........ 161 
 
 Parsons, Jonathan 42, 43, 51, 57 
 
 Payson, Edward 161 
 
 Pentecost, a revival ....... 4 
 
 Pentecost, George F. ....... 273 
 
 Philadelphia, revivals at . . . 37, 138, 224, 236, 268, 269 
 Physical effects . 30, 42, 43, 49, 50, 54, 91, 92, 95, 103, 195-197 
 
 "Plan of Union" 108, 109 
 
 Pratt, S. H 295 
 
 Prayer in revivals 47, 97, 99, 125, 
 
 129, 131, 134, 143, 220, 227, 229, 231, 232, 251, 288, 308-310 
 Presbyterians . . . 45, 46, 61, 65, 68, 73, 85, 90, 108, 161 
 
 Presiding eldership 189 
 
 Prince, Thomas, quoted 41 
 
 Princeton College 68, 72, 79, 157 
 
 Puritan revival, the 7 
 
 R 
 
 Randall, Benjamin 63 
 
 Raymond, Lewis 177 
 
322 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Reformation, a revival, the . . . . 5, 6 
 
 Reformation in England, the . . . . . 6, 7 
 
 Reforming Synod, the 15, 16 
 
 Religious declension 
 
 8, 9, 13, 17, 18, 19, 77, 81, 82, 83, 94, 204, 215, 253, 307 
 Religious destitution at the commencement of the nine- 
 teenth century 182-185 
 
 Religious toleration 68, 69 
 
 Revival conventions ..... 226, 227, 269 
 
 Revival in the Southern Army 243-250 
 
 Revival measures 47,96,97,117, 
 
 147, 173, 229, 231, 232, 233, 254, 288, 289, 290-292, 308, 312 
 Revival of 1857 
 
 162, 212, 213-239, 250, 254, 260, 297, 308, 310, 312 
 Revivals defined ........ 1 
 
 Revivals during the Revolutionary War . . . 72-77 
 Revivals in Great Britain .... 228, 265-268 
 
 Revivals, permanent elements in ... 308-313 
 
 Revolutionary War, the . . 46, 47, 66, 69, 70, 71-83, 238 
 Rice, David, quoted ....... 102 
 
 Robinson, William 31, 45 
 
 Rochester, great revival at ... I39ff, 161 
 Roman Catholics 306 
 
 S 
 
 Salvation Army 302-305 
 
 Sankey, Ira David ....... 264, 265ff 
 
 Sayles, Harold F 295 
 
 Slavery 103, 204, 213, 240 
 
 Spring, Gardiner, quoted 104, 205 
 
 Stebbins, George C. 273, 275 
 
 Stiles, Ezra 64 
 
 Stoddard, Solomon 18, 20, 23 
 
 Stone, B. W 9^ 
 
 Sunday Schools 103,235,237, 306 
 
 Swan, Jabez, 174; entrance on ministry, 174; pastorate at 
 Norwich, N. Y., 174; revival labors . . . 175, 176 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 323 
 
 T 
 
 Taylor, William 203 
 
 Tennent, Gilbert . . . .20, 37, 40, 41, 42, 45, 55 
 
 Tenncnt, William . . . . . . 31, 40, 46 
 
 "Testimonies" on the Great Awakening . . .58, 59 
 
 Theological education 106 
 
 Torrey, R. A 279. 285 
 
 Tracy, Joseph, quoted 38 
 
 U 
 
 Union Gospel Meetings 273 
 
 Unitarians 102, 144, 226, 272, 292 
 
 United Brethren in Christ 206 
 
 Van Cott, Mrs. Maggie . . . . . .295 
 
 Volunteers of America . ; . 305 
 
 W 
 
 Walker, Jesse, quoted ....... 184 
 
 Waterbury, Jared 153 
 
 Washingtonian Temperance Movement .... 167 
 Wesley. Charles . . . . . . • 33, 34 
 
 Wesley, John 29, 34 
 
 Wharton, H. M 284, 295 
 
 Wheelock, Eleazer 43, 67, 69 
 
 Whitefield, George, 23; early life, 31; at Oxford, 32; con- 
 version, 32; commencement of his ministry, 33; goes 
 to Georgia, 34; open air preaching, 35; visit to Phila- 
 delphia and the Northern Colonies, 36 ; visit to New 
 England, 38-41 ; second visit to New England, 60, 61 ; 
 close of his life, 63. See also 
 
 42, 44, 45, 46, 54, 55, 66, 68. 74. 85. 109, 309 
 Whittle, D. W 268, 273-275, 285 
 
3 2 4 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Y 
 
 Yale College . . 22, 23, 40, 60, 72, 78, 88, 89, 100, ill, 169 
 Yatman, C. H. ........ 295 
 
 Young, Jacob, quoted 183 
 
 Young Men's Christian Association 
 
 224, 235, 237, 241, 254, 261, 262, 284. 285, 296-298 
 Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor 298-301, 302 
 Young Women's Christian Association .... 298