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EEVIVAL 
 
 SKETCHES AND MANUAL. 
 
 IN TWO PAKTS. 
 
 BY REV. HEMAN HUMPHREY, D. D.. 
 
 PITTSFIELD, MASS. 
 
 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE 
 AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. / (, ^G 
 
 Qcjl/fa^^frt^ (^/. /z./£f? 
 
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 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the 3'ear 1859, by the American 
 Tract Society^ in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern 
 District of Xe-w York. 
 
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CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SUMMARY VIEW— TO THE DAY OF PENTECOST 
 AND THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 
 
 The history of the church a history of revivals — What is a revival of 
 religion ? — Revival in the time of Joshua — Josiah and other kings 
 — After the captivity — New Testament — John the Baptist — The 
 day of Pentecost — The apostolic age — Testimony' of Pliny and 
 Tertullian • 11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 "THE GREAT REFORMATION " —SIXTEENTH 
 AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES. 
 
 The dark ages — The Waldenses and other witnesses and martyrs — ■ 
 "The Great Reformation" in the time of Luther, Calvin, etc. — 
 Remarkable power and diffusion of the work — Scotland in 1625-8 
 — "The Stuarton sickness" — Mr. Livingstone at the kirk of Shotts 
 — North of Ireland, 1625 to 1628 — England in the days of Bunyan, 
 Alleine, Howe, etc. — Ministry of Baxter at Kidderminster 26 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 "THE GREAT AWAKENING"— EIGHTEENTH CEN- 
 TURY, ABOUT 1740. 
 
 Testimony of many as to the low state of religion — Revivals in 
 Scotland — Cambuslang in 1742— England in the days of Wesley, 
 Whitefield, Fletcher, Romaine, etc.— Lady Huntingdon and other 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 1 ' honorable women ' ' — The United States ; testimony of Danforth, 
 Edwards, Increase and Cotton Mather, Prince, Blair — Degeneracy 
 under the "Half-way Covenant" — Eevival under Edwards at 
 Northampton — Labors of Whitefield, Tennent, etc. — Extent of 
 the work — Newark and Elizabethtown — Truths chiefly urged in 
 these revivals — "Bodily exercises" — Errors and recantation of 
 Davenport — Benefits of these revivals-- 46 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE REVIVAL EPOCH ABOUT 1800. 
 
 A period of general declension — Its causes : the "Old French war ;" 
 the Bevolutionary war ; French infidelity and Bevolution — Per- 
 sonal reminiscences of the commencement of the revivals — Bella- 
 my, Edwards, Griffin, Hallock, etc. — Scriptural preaching — Dr. 
 Griffin's life and testimony — Gordon Hall and Samuel J. Mills- -94 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE REVIVAL EPOCH ABOUT 1800— Continued. 
 
 Testimony of Dr. Griffin, 1797-9— Rev. Jer. Hallock, 1798, 9— Dr. 
 
 A. Hyde, 1792— Rev. A. R. Robbins, 1799— Dr. T. M. Cooley— 
 Rev. Jos. Washburn — Dr. Samuel Shephard — Rev. Alex. Gillett — 
 Rev. Joshua "Williams — Rev. Moses Hallock — Rev. Asahel Hooker 
 — Rev. Ira Hart — Dr. Ebenezer Porter — Judge Reeve and Judge 
 Boudinot — Dr. Baldwin, and Rev. Messrs. Ledoyt and Seamans — 
 Rev. Dr. "Wood — Rev. Jesse Edson — From Rutland, Vt. — Rev. J. 
 
 B. Preston— Dr. Proudfit— Dr. Thos. De Witt— Dr. John M. Ma- 
 son — Dr. Milledoler — Dr. Griffin in Newark — Dr. Wm. Hill at 
 Hampden Sidney College — Dr. Archibald Alexander, in Va. — Dr. 
 Furman of S. C. — Rev. Jos. Stevenson and Rev. Thos. Marquis, 
 West Pa. — Dr. Davidson, in Kentucky and Tennessee — Dr. Cle- 
 land — Dr. Dwight, in Yale College — Characteristics and fruits of 
 these revivals : missionary efforts 118 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE REVIVAL EPOCH ABOUT 1800— Continued. 
 
 Revivals in 1814 — Modes of conducting them — Rev. Asahel Nettle- 
 ton — Testimony of Dr. Gardiner Spring — Bishop Mcllvaine — Dr. 
 Archibald Maclay — Dr. Hyde — Dr. Porter — Dr. Ashbel Green — 
 Dr. John McDowell— The author, at Pittsfield, 1821 206 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE REYIVAL EPOCH ABOUT 1800— Continued. 
 
 Brief notices of revivals, 1815 to 1825 — Memoranda from Nettle- 
 ton's life — Some things to be regretted — "Protracted meetings," 
 "revivalists" — Revivals in colleges and seminaries — Yale, Will- 
 iams, Mount Holyoke — Revivals on missionary ground — Sandwich 
 islands, Burmah, etc., the American Indians — The revival of 
 1858 — Prevailing worldliness of the church — Financial distress — 
 Origin of the revival — Union prayer-meetings — Rapidity of its 
 diffusion — Change in public opinion — Prayers for individuals 
 answered — Dangers to be avoided — England and Scotland — Han- 
 nah More, Newton, Fuller, Rowland Hill, etc. — Robert and James 
 A. Haldane — General summary review - 259 
 
 PAET II. 
 REVIYAL MANUAL. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "PREPARE YE THE WAT OF THE LORD." 
 
 "0 Lord, revive thy work " — "Lord, increase our faith " — Hinder- 
 ances to revivals — ' ' Take up the stumbling-blocks out of the 
 way" — The Saviour's return — " Come down ere my child die" — 
 Preaching to the church — Preaching to the impenitent — The pas- 
 tor in a revival — "Where a revival has just commenced — Inquiry 
 meetings— Conversing with the awakened and the unawakened 
 in revivals— Instruction to candidates for membership— To per- 
 sons about to join the church after a revival — To the converts in 
 a revival when they join the church 303 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BRIEF APPEALS. 
 
 " Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" — " Come unto me, and I will 
 give you rest" — "The carnal mind is enmity against God" — 
 " Strive to enter in at the strait gate "— " She was nothing bet- 
 ter, but rather grew worse " — "Go thy way for this time ; when 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I have a convenient season, I will call for thee " — " Almost thou 
 persuadest me to be a Christian" — "Commune with your own 
 heart, and be still" — "Quench not the Spirit" — "The wiles of 
 the devil" — To young converts — "He that endureth to the end 
 shall be saved" -372 
 
 REVIVAL CONVERSATIONS 
 
 BETWEEN A PASTOR AND INQUIRERS. 
 
 1. A delaying inquirer 425 
 
 2. An inquirer satisfied with preparatory work 429 
 
 3. Inquirer's plea that he had done all he could do 432 
 
 4. Plea that he has not been long enough under conviction — 434 
 
 5. Waiting for the influence of the Spirit -- -438 
 
 6. Fearing he has committed the unpardonable sin 441 
 
 7. Desponding and ready to give up hope of repentance 443 
 
 8. Indulging a trembling hope - 445 
 
 9. Afraid of religious excitement - 449 
 
 10. Excuse that he had once obtained a hope which proved fal- 
 
 lacious- - - - - 452 
 
 11. Had attended all the meetings, and was discouraged -454 
 
 12. That all his resolutions of future repentance proved futile- -455 
 
 13. Fears that the privileges enjoyed will but aggravate his 
 
 doom - - ---456 
 
 14. Excuse from the fear that hopes suddenly obtained may be 
 
 delusive - - - 458 
 
 15. Excuse from the inconsistency of professors 460 
 
 16. Gains no relief, and comes to the pastor as a last resort 462 
 
 17. Clinging to a hope that may not abide 463 
 
 18. Tests of a well-grounded hope - - 465 
 
 19. Great doctrines of the gospel urged by a caviller 468 
 
 20. Serious questions for self-examination 470 
 
INTKOBUCTION 
 
 It is now more than thirty years since it struck 
 me that a concise history of revivals from about the 
 beginning of the nineteenth century might be accept- 
 able to the churches, as a sort of Christian manual to 
 help the cause of pure and undefiled religion in the 
 present and in "the generations following." Having 
 come upon the stage just at the commencement of that 
 memorable epoch, and witnessed many revivals, I was 
 moved to inquire whether the duty of attempting to 
 gather and arrange the materials for such a history 
 to the praise of sovereign redeeming mercy devolved 
 upon me. I consulted Dr. Griffin on the subject, than 
 whom few men had larger experience in revivals. He 
 encouraged me to go on, and I made some collection 
 of the narratives which were within my reach. But 
 I soon became convinced that to do any thing like 
 justice to the glorious theme, within reasonable lim- 
 its, was a task beyond my powers, and for which I 
 then could not command the time. As professional 
 and public duties soon became more exacting and 
 arduous, I dismissed the subject, and there the matter 
 rested for more than twenty years. 
 
 After I had withdrawn from the cares and labors 
 of a public seminary, and of course had more leisure 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 for miscellaneous duties, I was requested to take up 
 the question anew, of preparing a volume of revival 
 narratives and reminiscences, reaching back to about 
 the beginning of the present century. The request 
 was from time to time renewed, by persons in whose 
 judgment I had much confidence. My answer was, I 
 am too old for such an undertaking : I could not sat- 
 isfy myself, much less hope to do justice to the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 Moreover, as I reflected upon it, although the ma- 
 terials at hand were ample, the field appeared to me 
 quite too narrow. If I said any thing, I wished to 
 go farther back and take a wider range. It seemed 
 to me that I ought to inquire how far back the his- 
 tory of revivals could be traced ; and if they were 
 found to be of very ancient date, to inquire whether 
 their essential features had been everywhere the same ; 
 and whether or not the work of redemption had been 
 carried on by the Holy Spirit chiefly by these " times 
 of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.' 7 I sus- 
 pected it would be found that religion has never flour- 
 ished and rapidly extended its saving influence, but 
 in connection with special reformations, or revivals 
 as we now call them, interrupted by longer or shorter 
 seasons of declension. 
 
 As this opened so wide and so interesting a field 
 of inquiry, I at length consented to the attempt, 
 though with many misgivings as to my being able to 
 go over so much ground, gather the materials scatter- 
 ed along the ages, and bring out a book worthy of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 being received by the churches as a small contribu- 
 tion to confirm their confidence in the desirableness 
 of more frequent and powerful revivals than have 
 yet been enjoyed. The result of these inquiries has 
 more than answered my anticipations, and will be 
 found embodied in these sketches. Going back to 
 the time of Joshua, and tracing this branch of the 
 history of redemption down through the Old and New 
 Testaments to the close of the apostolic age ; then on- 
 ward, groping my way through the dark ages, to the 
 Protestant Reformation ; and advancing still, from 
 stage to stage, down to " the Great Awakening " 
 about the middle of the last century, and the perhaps 
 still more glorious work commencing almost simulta- 
 neously with the present century, I have brought down 
 the history, or rather the brief sketches embraced in 
 the first part of this volume, to the present time. 
 
 In the second part, which I have ventured to call 
 a Revival Manual, I have first given my view of the 
 way in which revivals should be sought for and pro- 
 moted, then inserted brief practical addresses such 
 as I have been accustomed to make in seasons of the 
 outpouring of the Spirit, and closed the volume with 
 some Pastoral Conversations, out of many which I 
 have been permitted to hold with inquirers. 
 
 I have fallen far short of reaching my own ideal 
 of what such a book should be, but have " done what 
 I could :" gratefully acknowledging special obligations 
 to the several pastors and others whose communica- 
 tions, written chiefly in the memorable era of the out- 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 pouring of the Spirit about the year 1831, were re- 
 quested from them by the Rev. Dr. Sprague, and 
 embodied as an appendix to his Lectures on Revi- 
 vals. And now nothing remains but, lifting up my 
 heart in fervent thanksgivings to the Infinite Source 
 and Author of all true revivals, and imploring his 
 blessing on this feeble " essay to do good," to commit 
 it to Him who is able to make the weakest instru- 
 mentality subservient to the building up of his king- 
 dom in the world, and the accomplishing of his glori- 
 ous purposes in the awakening, conversion, and salva- 
 tion of sinners. H. H. 
 Pittsfield, April 16, 1859. 
 
PAET FXKST. 
 
 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SUMMARY VIEW— TO THE DAY OF PENTECOST 
 AND THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 
 
 The history of the church, including all the times 
 of refreshing and drought that have marked its prog- 
 ress, is identical with the history of Redemption. It is 
 a living stream, as it were, springing just outside of the 
 garden of Eden, scarcely discernible at first, but flow- 
 ing down from age to age ; sometimes sparkling in 
 the sunlight; sometimes all but swallowed up in the 
 sands of the desert ; breaking out again in the prom- 
 ised land; at one period a wide river, then a con- 
 tracted rivulet almost hidden for long reaches, and 
 widening again to keep the promise alive, when it 
 seemed to have disappeared for ever in the stagnant 
 marshes of Babylon. To drop the figure : the his- 
 tory of the church, broken off by the seventy years' 
 captivity, was renewed again when the remnant re- 
 turned to their own land, under Ezra and Nehemiah. 
 
12 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 After that, scarcely any thing is said of her till we 
 come down to the New Testament, to that remarka- 
 ble awakening which took place in the days of John 
 the Baptist, when a new and more spiritual dispensa- 
 tion was close at hand, to be introduced and carried 
 forward by the Lord Jesus Christ, as "Head over all 
 things to the church." 
 
 The first glorious era of her triumphs was that 
 which marked the apostolic age, and to which, in 
 spite of all opposition, so many chapters, full of the 
 first promise, have since been added, which promise 
 will reach its high and glorious culmination when 
 those great voices shall be heard in heaven, saying, 
 "The kingdoms of this world are become the king- 
 doms of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign 
 for ever and ever," 
 
 How, then, has this work of Kedemption been 
 mainly carried on hitherto ; and how have we reason 
 to expect it will be hereafter ? In looking back, we 
 shall find that seasons of special absorbing religious 
 interest, which by common consent are now called 
 the Revival of Eeligion, have a history. When did 
 this history begin? How far back does it date? 
 These are important questions ; but before answer- 
 ing them there is a preliminary one. 
 
 What is a Revival of Religion? What are some 
 of its phases and true characteristics ? When may it 
 be said there is a true Revival of Religion in any age 
 or part of the world ? 
 
 We answer, a temporary religious excitement, 
 however high it may rise, which does not go down 
 into the hidden man of the heart, and stir up the 
 
WHAT IS A TRUE REVIVAL? 13 
 
 depths of the soul to the earnest inquiry, " What must 
 we do to be saved?" is not a true revival of relig- 
 ion. There may be a whirlwind, and the Lord not 
 be in it. There may be great mental and physical 
 excitement where there are few or no conversions. 
 Nor where only a very few persons are about the 
 same time awakened and truly converted by the Spirit 
 of God, is there what we understand by a revival, 
 though it is the self-same Spirit that worketh so 
 mightily when hundreds are born again and seen fly- 
 ing as a cloud and as doves to their windows. As it 
 is not here and there a ripening cluster that makes a 
 vintage, nor a few sheaves that make a harvest, nor 
 a few drops that make a shower, so a few drops of 
 mercy, falling on individual souls here and there, do 
 not constitute what is usually termed a revival of 
 religion. 
 
 What is it, then ? A genuine revival is the fruit 
 or effect of a supernatural Divine influence, which 
 restores the joy of God's salvation to backsliding 
 Christians, startles the dead in trespasses and sins, 
 convinces them of their lost and perishing condition, 
 and makes them willing in the day of God's power. 
 In the church there is a genuine revival when she 
 rises and shakes herself from the dust and puts on 
 her beautiful garments, which have been laid aside to 
 her great discomfort and reproach. In a congrega- 
 tion there is a true revival when impenitent sinners 
 in considerable numbers are awakened and converted 
 within a few days or weeks, and "many are added to 
 the Lord of such as shall be saved." 
 
 In their essential nature and effects, all genuine 
 
14 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 revivals are alike. Since true religion is everywhere 
 the same in essence, so must genuine revivals be in 
 every age and in every part of the world. But there 
 may be great diversities in many respects. They may 
 be frequent, or far between. They may be isolated, 
 here and there one springing up while the wise and 
 foolish virgins all around are slumbering together; 
 or they may simultaneously occur over wide regions 
 that had long been parched by spiritual drought. In 
 like manner, a revival of religion may be more or 
 less powerful, and may continue for a longer or short- 
 er time. It may show the sovereignty of God in hav- 
 ing mercy upon whom he will have mercy, in a more 
 or less striking manner. He may send the blessing 
 by whom he will send, and may bring scores or hun- 
 dreds or thousands into the church, or only a smaller 
 number. One revival originates in a Sabbath-school, 
 and spreads over a whole congregation ; another 
 breaks out suddenly in an academy, a factory, in a 
 sailor's Bethel, or in a penitentiary. One revival 
 takes in persons of all classes, and another reaches 
 one or two classes, leaving the rest as it found them. 
 One pervades the whole town, while another is con- 
 fined mainly to the centre, or the out districts. One 
 begins among the higher classes, and another among 
 the lower ; one with the young men, another with the 
 young women, and another with one or both sexes in 
 middle life. But wherever and however, it is the 
 same Holy Spirit "turning men from darkness to 
 light, and from the power of Satan unto God." 
 
 So, again, while all genuine revivals agree in the 
 essential things, the subjects of them are variously 
 
OLD TESTAMENT TIMES. 15 
 
 wrought upon in the progress of the work. In some 
 cases, God makes a short work, drawing sinners at 
 once to the foot of the cross ; in others, convictions 
 of sin and wrath long continue before Christ is re- 
 vealed to them. In one revival the thunderings of 
 the law as it were constrain sinners to "flee from 
 the wrath to come " to the only Refuge ; in another, 
 the sweet voice of mercy sounding out from Calvary 
 by the same divine power draws them as with cords 
 of love. 
 
 Revivals may and actually do exhibit all these 
 and other different phases, modified by such agencies 
 as God is pleased to employ for his own glory in 
 building up his spiritual kingdom. 
 
 Bearing in mind these leading characteristics, and 
 divers operations by the same Spirit, the way is now 
 prepared to inquire where and how long ago did 
 these special operations of the Spirit begin, and 
 briefly to trace them down through the ages to the 
 present time. 
 
 Whether any thing like a revival took place 
 when, in the days of Enos, men began to call upon the 
 name of the Lord, we are not informed ; but when the 
 flood came, the whole earth was filled with violence. 
 
 And so after Noah, when Abraham was called, it 
 seemed as if the apostasy had again become nearly or 
 quite universal. Certain it is that he went out alone 
 as a true worshipper, "not knowing whither he went." 
 There was no organized church in the world, nothing 
 like it, till through his faith in the divine promise 
 one was established in his family ; and then Isaac 
 
16 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 and Jacob and Joseph, and others of like precious 
 faith, became heirs of the promise. 
 
 But among their posterity there was rapidly a 
 great falling away from the worship of the true God. 
 All along there was doubtless a remnant, according 
 to the election of grace ; but we do not find recorded 
 a general reformation till we come to the last chapter 
 of Joshua. Of those who were twenty years old and 
 upward when they left Egypt, all, save Joshua and 
 Caleb, had perished in the wilderness. But now the 
 time had come when there was to be a great national 
 reformation. Joshua, knowing that he must soon lay 
 down his high commission and die, gathered all the 
 tribes together at Shechem, that he might meet them 
 for the last time, and give them his dying charge. 
 
 It was a solemn and imposing uational convoca- 
 tion. All the people hastened with alacrity to meet 
 their aged and beloved chief, and to hear his parting 
 words. As the chosen captain of the Lord's hosts, he 
 had led them on from victory to victory, had divided 
 the promised land • among them according to their 
 tribes, and nothing now remained but his final charge 
 and benediction. When the hour had come, we seem 
 to see him rising in the midst of the vast assembly, 
 every whisper hushed, and every eye fastened upon 
 him, as he waved his hand and commenced his ad- 
 dress by glancing at the origin of their nation, the 
 remarkable history of God's dealings with them, from 
 the calling of Abraham down through their sore Egyp- 
 tian bondage, their miraculous deliverances, their 
 wanderings in the wilderness, and their now quiet 
 settlement in the land of promise. This done, he 
 
OLD TESTAMENT TIMES. 11 
 
 proceeded to pronounce the final charge for which he 
 had called them together. And what a charge ! 
 
 "Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in 
 sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which 
 your fathers served on the other side of the flood and 
 in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord." The appeal was 
 overwhelming. It melted down the whole of that 
 vast assembly, and they answered as one man, "God 
 forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other 
 gods." Joshua, following up the appeal, held them 
 to their promise. "Ye are witnesses against your- 
 selves that ye have chosen the Lord, to serve him. 
 And they said, We are witnesses. The Lord our 
 God will we serve, and his voice we will obey. So 
 Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, 
 and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. 77 
 
 Had the record closed here, we could not know 
 that the tribes were sincere in these solemn reiterated 
 promises, or that if they were sincere, it was not a 
 mere burst of sympathetic emotion, which soon sub- 
 sided. But the event proved that it was a great and 
 abiding national reformation, by whatever name it 
 might be called ; the most remarkable in this respect 
 on sacred record, for it is added, " When Joshua had 
 let the people go, the children of Israel went every 
 man unto his own inheritance, to possess the land. 
 And the people served the Lord all the days of 
 Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived 
 Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the 
 Lord that he did for Israel. 77 This was indeed a 
 glorious revival of true religion. 
 
 After that generation passed off from the stage, 
 
18 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 there was a great falling away under the Judges, 
 down to the time of Samuel, a period of about three 
 hundred years. Towards the close of his life there 
 seems to have been something like what we should 
 call a general awakening. The people were brought 
 under great alarm, and confessed their sin in reject- 
 ing the Lord and asking for a king. But the prophet 
 had not been long in the grave when the great body of 
 the people relapsed into their former state, or rather, 
 for the most part waxed worse and worse. 
 
 The succeeding centuries under the Kings, many 
 of whom, especially those of the ten tribes, God 
 "gave in his anger" to a people who " would not have 
 Him to reign over them," were marked by shameless 
 idolatry, high-handed, heaven-daring sins, by awful 
 prophetic warnings and denunciations, and by mar- 
 vellous divine interpositions, both in judgment and 
 in mercy. Under David and Solomon, God fulfilled 
 all the good things which he had spoken ; and in the 
 Psalms of David then sung, perpetuated his exalted 
 praises through all periods of time. But though the 
 pious Asa and Jehoshaphat reigned in Judah, and 
 Elijah seemed to have exterminated the worship of 
 Baal in Israel ; though Hezekiah, strengthened by the 
 prophecies of Isaiah, wrought a glorious and wide- 
 spread reformation; and though, "weary with for- 
 bearing," God had driven the ten tribes into captiv- 
 ity, yet Manasseh sinned beyond all who had gone 
 before him, and hope almost expired. 
 
 I do not mean to say that at any period there 
 were no true conversions; there certainly were a 
 great many. The church was kept alive from age to 
 
OLD TESTAMENT TIMES. 19 
 
 age, notwithstanding the general apostasy. In the 
 darkest time, when Elijah himself gave up all for 
 lost, and fled, he was assured that there were seven 
 thousand men in Israel who had not bowed the knee 
 to the image of Baal. 
 
 We now come to that most remarkable, though 
 temporary reformation, which took place in the reign 
 of Josiah. It commenced on this wise : In looking 
 over some ancient records, Hilkiah the high-priest 
 found the book of the law in the house of the Lord, 
 which had been for a very long time out of sight and 
 out of mind. He brought it out, and when it was 
 read in the ears of the king, he rent his clothes, and 
 trembled under its terrible denunciations. He felt 
 that something must be done at once to turn away 
 the great wrath of the Lord, which hung like a storm 
 of fire over the nation. He saw that it admitted of 
 no delay, and issued his proclamation for a general 
 gathering of the people. When the time came, he 
 went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men 
 of Judah, and all the men of Jerusalem with him, and 
 the priests and the prophets, and all the people, both 
 small and great, and he read in their ears all the 
 words of the book of the covenant which was found 
 in the house of the Lord. It was an august assembly, 
 and a most solemn occasion. It was the first step in 
 the reformation. Josiah next made a tour through 
 the kingdom, destroying all the places of idolatrous 
 worship as he went, and commanding all the people 
 to keep the passover, as enjoined in the book of the 
 law. They hastened to obey; and the sacred histo- 
 rian adds, "There was not held such a passover in 
 
20 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all 
 the days of the kings of Israel." Externally it cer- 
 tainly was a wonderful reformation ; and we have no 
 reason to doubt that many truly repented and turned 
 unto the Lord. But again there was an alarming 
 decline, which continued to increase for a hundred 
 years, till the captivity of Judah in Babylon, and 
 was not arrested till the days of Ezra and Nehe- 
 miah. 
 
 Soon after the return of the people from their 
 long captivity, there was a great reformation. The 
 people gathered themselves together in Jerusalem as 
 one man, and called upon Ezra to bring out the book of 
 the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to 
 Israel ; and he read therein from morning till midday, 
 "and the ears of all the people were attentive unto 
 the book of the law." And when he opened the book 
 in the sight of all the people, they all stood up. And 
 when he blessed the Lord, the great God, " all the 
 people answered, Amen, amen, lifting up their hands ; 
 and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the 
 Lord with their faces on the ground." And they 
 proved their sincerity by hastening to do works meet 
 for repentance. They at once restored the worship 
 of God which had fallen into disuse, and separated 
 themselves from the heathen family alliances which 
 they had formed during the captivity. This was the 
 severest test of all. 
 
 After that we hear no more of their idolatries. 
 Malachi, who lived a little later, was the last of the 
 Old Testament prophets ; and for what more we 
 know of the religious state of the Jews during the 
 
JOHN THE BAPTIST. 21 
 
 four subsequent centuries, at the close of which Shiloh 
 came, we are indebted to uninspired writers. 
 
 My object, in these rapid historical sketches from 
 the Old Testament history, has been to show that 
 God preserved the church from utter apostasy by 
 special seasons of reformation, after long intervals of 
 decline. This was the divine economy under the Old 
 Testament. 
 
 JOHN THE BAPTIST. 
 
 Passing to the New Testament, we are naturally 
 led to inquire, what evidence there is, if any, that the 
 same divine economy was still to prevail. 
 
 And first, how was it in the day of John the Bap- 
 tist ? Was there any thing under his preaching like 
 what are now called revivals? There was. "The 
 word of the Lord came unto John in the wilderness, 
 and he came into all the country about Jordan, preach- 
 ing the baptism of repentance for the remission of 
 sins," and under his fearless and rousing appeals, there 
 was a great and general excitement among all classes 
 of the people. The publicans, the soldiers, and even 
 the Pharisees and Sadducees, came to him to be bap- 
 tized, asking, " What shall we do?" It was more like 
 a national religious awakening than we have found 
 since the days of Joshua; for as Matthew testifies, 
 " Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round 
 about Jordan, went out and were baptized in Jordan, 
 confessing their sins f and though we have reason to 
 fear that in many cases it fell short of true repent- 
 ance, we can scarcely doubt, I think, that many who 
 came for baptism, were "born of water and of the 
 
22 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Spirit," and brought forth good fruits. Such a gen- 
 eral religious excitement could never have taken 
 place without a supernatural influence upon the hearts 
 of men. The instrument was John, " crying in the 
 wilderness, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is 
 at hand •" but the excellency of the power was of God. 
 It was what would now be called a general revival, 
 though by no means so pure as those afterwards in 
 the apostolic age. 
 
 THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 
 
 We pass to the glorious " ministration of the Spir- 
 it," given to " abide " with the church as the charac- 
 teristic of the Christian dispensation — a gift which 
 the Saviour promised to his disciples as better than 
 his own personal presence. The riches of this gift 
 were marvellously displayed on the day of Pente- 
 cost, when thousands were converted and baptized. 
 This wonderful scene was an earnest of what might 
 be expected under the faithful preaching of the gos- 
 pel, not of course in its visible miraculous features, 
 but in its awakening and saving power upon the 
 hearts of sinners. 
 
 This we know was followed by a remarkable se- 
 ries of revivals during the apostolic age. Thus, in 
 the fourth chapter of Acts, we read that when Peter 
 and John preached Jesus and the resurrection from 
 the dead, many who heard the word believed, and 
 the number of men was about five thousand. Again, 
 in the sixth chapter, in connection with the solemn 
 service of choosing and setting apart deacons, "the 
 word of the Lord increased ; and the number of the 
 
THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 23 
 
 disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly ; and a great 
 company of the priests were obedient to the faith." 
 In the eighth chapter, the disciples, scattered by per- 
 secution throughout the regions of Judea and Sama- 
 ria, "went everywhere preaching the word." Again, 
 chapter ninth, " As Peter passed throughout all quar- 
 ters, he came down to the saints at Lydda," and after 
 the healing of Eneas, all that saw him in Lydda and 
 Saron, "turned to the Lord." Again, chapter elev- 
 enth, " They which were scattered abroad upon the 
 persecutions that arose about Stephen, travelled as 
 far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, and spake 
 unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. The 
 hand of the Lord was with them ; and a great num- 
 ber believed, and turned unto the Lord." These 
 were all so many glorious revivals in the midst of 
 the years of the right hand of the Most High. And 
 so we may be sure it was in all the cities where the 
 gospel was planted in the primitive age. Indeed, it 
 is hardly conceivable how the gospel could otherwise 
 have so mightily prevailed in so short a time. That 
 was preeminently the revival epoch of the church. 
 
 Thus far we trace the divine economy by the un- 
 erring guide of sacred history. It was not mainly by 
 isolated conversions that the churches were built up, 
 but under the outpouring of the Spirit, turning many 
 at once from darkness to light, and from the power of 
 Satan unto God. 
 
 In tracing the history of the church down through 
 the subsequent ages, we can look for no further guid- 
 ance of the inspired record ; but the most obvious 
 analogies would lead us to expect that we should find 
 
24 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 the same footsteps of Christ travelling in the great- 
 ness of his strength along his triumphant march, till 
 he shall have subdued all things unto himself. 
 
 The revival epoch, which began on the day of 
 Pentecost, extended down through the second and 
 into the third century ; and though ecclesiastical his- 
 tory throws less light on the subject than we could 
 wish, more than enough is found in the writings of 
 the early fathers to show that the Christian religion 
 rapidly spread throughout the Roman empire, and 
 even beyond its boundaries, in spite of all the rage 
 of earth and hell to crush it out. 
 
 Pliny the younger, who was some time governor 
 of Bithynia under the bloody emperor Trajan, ear- 
 nestly dissuaded him from persisting in his persecut- 
 ing edicts against the Christians in that province, not 
 only by assuring him that they were a harmless peo- 
 ple, chargeable with no crime, "meeting together to 
 sing hymns and worship Christ as God," but that 
 they were very numerous all over the province, and 
 that the more they were punished the more they in- 
 creased. 
 
 Tertullian, who lived a century later, and died in 
 216, writing to the Roman government in vindication 
 of the new religion, as it was called, says, " Though 
 we are strangers of no long standing, yet we have 
 filled all places of your dominions, cities, islands, cor- 
 porations, councils, armies, tribes, the senate, the pal- 
 ace, the courts of judicature. If the Christians had 
 a mind to avenge themselves, their numbers are abun- 
 dant ; for they have a party, not in this or that prov- 
 
THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 25 
 
 ince, but in all quarters of the world. Nay, if they 
 were to combine and forsake the Roman empire, how 
 vast would be the loss. The world would be amazed 
 at the solitude which would ensue." 
 
 In another place he expostulates thus with the 
 persecuting governors of Africa : " If you persevere 
 in your persecution, what will you do with these 
 many thousands, both of men and women of every 
 rank and every age, who will promptly offer them- 
 selves ? Carthage itself must be decimated." 
 
 Once more, after enumerating the nations who 
 had believed in Christ, he declared that the gospel 
 had penetrated into regions which were inaccessible 
 even to the eagles of Rome. " Excellent governors," 
 he exclaims, "you may torment, afflict, and vex us; 
 your wickedness puts our weakness to the test, but 
 your cruelty is of no avail. It is but a stronger invi- 
 tation to bring others to our persuasion. The more 
 we are mowed down, the more we spring up again. 
 The blood op the Christians is seed." 
 
 Here we have undeniable evidence of the rapid 
 and wide spread of the church by the mighty power 
 of God in what would now be looked upon as a mar- 
 vellous series of revivals over many countries. The 
 main difference, compared with any thing that has 
 been witnessed in these modern times, lies in their 
 permeating immensely greater populations. Call 
 them great reformations, if you will. It is only an- 
 other name, on a vast scale, of what we mean by the 
 word revivals — turning " multitudes, multitudes," al- 
 most simultaneously, from the worship of dumb idols, 
 from the power of Satan unto God. 
 
 Rev. Sketches. 2 
 
26 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 "THE GREAT REFORMATION." 
 SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES. 
 
 During the thousand years between the fifth and 
 the fifteenth century, the annals of the true church 
 are so illegible, so interlined and interpolated, so 
 blotted by the grossest superstition, that it is difficult 
 to trace her progress by any light we have. And yet, 
 even in that long midnight of the world, the light 
 glimmered as it were upon the tops of the mountains, 
 and now and then broke out from the gloom, illumi- 
 nating the promises when it seemed as if "the mer- 
 cies of God were clean gone for ever." He who was 
 with the church in the wilderness during her forty 
 years' wanderings, did not forsake her, but kept the 
 pillar of cloud and fire over her till she emerged into 
 the glorious morning of the Protestant Reformation. 
 
 Thus the gospel was wonderfully preserved among 
 the Waldenses of Italy and the Culdees of Britain. 
 In the thirteenth century there must have been great 
 revivals, for in Bohemia alone, where the gospel had 
 won its way, there were reckoned, in 1315, no less 
 than 80,000 witnesses for the truth. So again in the 
 fourteenth century, John Wyckliff, " the morning-star 
 of the Reformation/ 7 heralded the day-spring in our 
 fatherland, and many turned to the Lord. So was it 
 also in the fifteenth century, under the labors of John 
 Huss and Jerome of Prague, and more signally still 
 
SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 2t 
 
 in the great religious revolution which a hundred 
 years later shook the Papal throne to its foundations, 
 through the instrumentality of Luther, Zwingle, Cal- 
 vin, and the other illustrious reformers of that remark- 
 able epoch. 
 
 This reformation commenced early in the six- 
 teenth century, and so rapidly did the light of the 
 gospel spread over the principalities and kingdoms 
 of Europe, so mightily did the word of God grow 
 and prevail over all opposition, that it has ever since 
 been called The Great Reformation ; and it was no 
 less than a wide-spread and glorious revival. It was 
 the reappearance of the divine economy in carrying 
 forward the work of redemption. 
 
 The night of the middle ages had been so long, 
 that it seemed as if the day would never dawn. But 
 the rising of the sun, glancing from land to land, 
 proved that " God is not slack concerning his prom- 
 ises." The prince of darkness could no longer hold 
 all the nations in bondage. " The man of sin," drunk 
 with the blood of saints and martyrs, and "exalting 
 himself above all that is called God and is worship- 
 ped," received a deadly wound, of which he has never 
 been fully healed and never will be. 
 
 The Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, under Martin Luther as the first and chief in- 
 strument, was a religious revival on a vast scale. No 
 other word so well expresses it. " Never certainly, 
 since the days of the early Christians," says Rev. Dr. 
 James W. Alexander, "was there so wide-spread a 
 concern about religion. Never were there so many 
 conversions. The published correspondence of the 
 
28 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 reformers, and particularly of Martin Luther and 
 John Calvin, shows that a large part of their time 
 was employed in giving counsel to inquiring souls. 
 All the good and great men who were the chief in- 
 struments in this amazing revival felt and avowed 
 that it was entirely of God, and that nothing but the 
 omnipotent Spirit would have produced the change 
 
 which they observed and experienced So rapid 
 
 was the progress of it, that in less than forty years, 
 in face of the united opposition of the church and the 
 empire, against all proscription, in spite of rack and 
 fagot, the principles of evangelical religion had over- 
 spread Germany, France, Switzerland, Holland, and 
 the British isles. It was an outpouring of the Spirit, 
 under which the mountains flowed down at His pres- 
 ence ; it was a converting power that was acknow- 
 ledged by tribes and nations. 
 
 "The remarkable condition of religious things 
 among our Puritan and Scottish ancestors, was the sim- 
 ple consequence of this reformation revival prosper- 
 ously carried out and made permanent. The work 
 
 of grace was upon the hearts of multitudes 
 
 North America was planted by Protestants, and 
 largely by a race of men whose activity owned evan- 
 gelical religion as its animating principle. They 
 came out from the midst of great awakenings, and 
 every arrival from the old country brought them 
 news of the revivals which took place under the Bun- 
 yans and Baxters of England. 
 
 "In Scotland, religion made its progress in a kind 
 
 of triumphal march The subjugation of a whole 
 
 people within a brief period to the principles of the 
 
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY— SCOTLAND. 29 
 
 gospel, is proof that the church was increased with 
 rapidity, and by large accessions ; in other words, 
 that there was a great revival throughout the king- 
 dom, in the modern sense of the term." 
 
 Thus, in looking back three hundred years from 
 our present stand-point upon that mighty upheaving 
 of the moral world, " known and read of all men " as 
 the Great Reformation, and making every abate- 
 ment for its not having accomplished all that could 
 have been desired, it is past controversy that it was the 
 most remarkable Christian epoch since the days of the 
 apostles. One of its main features was the resurrec- 
 tion, as it were, of the cardinal doctrine of Justifica- 
 tion by Faith alone, which being once disinterred from 
 the Popish rubbish under which it had been buried 
 for more than eight centuries, the combined efforts of 
 earth and hell have not been able to force back into 
 the old charnel-house of penances and purgatory. 
 
 SCOTLAND— KIRK OF SHOTTS, 1625-8. 
 
 The influence of the Great Reformation most dis- 
 tinctly appeared, the next century, in England, Scot- 
 land, and Ireland. In the reign of Charles I., there 
 was a great persecution of the saints in Scotland 
 who adhered to the faith of their pious fathers. The 
 king and his counsellors were determined at all haz- 
 ards to enforce Conformity there, as well as in Eng- 
 land, to the national establishment. They doubtless 
 would have prevailed, had not the Lord raised up 
 witnesses for the truth, in the spirit of John Knox in 
 the preceding century, and with much of his power. 
 To all human appearance, that cruel usurpation would 
 
30 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 have been fastened upon that kingdom, but for re- 
 markable divine interpositions, the most signal of 
 which was the great revival of vital religion which 
 began in Stewarton, in 1625, and lasted about five 
 years. 
 
 "This," says Fleming in his Fulfilling of Scrip- 
 ture, " was, by the profane rabble of that time, called 
 the Stewarton sickness; for in that parish first, but 
 afterwards through much of that country, particu- 
 larly at Irvine under the ministry of Mr. Dickson, 
 it was remarkable, where it can be said that for a 
 considerable time few Sabbaths did pass without some 
 evidently converted, or some convincing proof of the 
 power of God accompanying his word. And truly 
 this great spring tide, as I may call it, of the gospel, 
 was not of a short time, but of some years' continu- 
 ance ; yea, thus, like a spreading moor-burn, the power 
 of godliness did advance from one place to another, 
 which put a marvellous lustre on those parts of the 
 country, the savor whereof brought many from other 
 parts of the land to see its truth." 
 
 "Another token for good to the suffering church 
 of Scotland, occurred in the year 1628. At a meet- 
 ing of the Synod of Edinburgh, in the spring of that 
 year, it had been agreed upon to apply to his majesty 
 that a general fast might be held all over the king- 
 dom. The ostensible causes adduced for this pro- 
 posal, were the dangerous state of the Protestant 
 churches abroad, and the prevalence of vice and im- 
 morality at home. To these causes the Presbyterians 
 naturally added the consideration of their own suf- 
 fering state, and of the oppressive innovations im- 
 
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY— SCOTLAND. 31 
 
 posed upon the people. Much of the searching power 
 of the Holy Spirit seems to have been granted to both 
 ministers and people during their solemn fast, and 
 many felt that in humbling themselves before God 
 and making an earnest confession of sin, both national 
 and individual, they obtained strength not their own, 
 a spiritual strength preparing them for greater suffer- 
 ings, and giving earnest of final deliverance. 
 
 " In no individual instance,' probably, was the power 
 of the Spirit more signally displayed than at the kirk 
 of Shotts, on Monday, the first of June, 1630. It ap- 
 pears that John Livingstone, a young man about twen- 
 ty-seven years of age, who was at that time domestic 
 chaplain of the Countess of Wigton, had gone to at- 
 tend the dispensation of the Lord's supper at the kirk 
 of Shotts. There had been a great confluence of 
 both ministers and people from all the adjacent coun- 
 try, and the sacred services of the communion-sabbath 
 had been marked with much solemnity of maimer, and 
 great apparent depth and sincerity of devotional feel- 
 ing. When the Monday came, the large assembly of 
 pious Christians felt reluctant to part without an- 
 other day of thanksgiving to that God whose redeem- 
 ing love they had been commemorating. Livingstone 
 was prevailed upon to preach, though reluctant and 
 with heavy misgivings of mind at the thought of his 
 own unworthiness to address so many experienced 
 Christians. He even endeavored to withdraw him- 
 self secretly from the multitude, but a strong con- 
 straining impulse within his mind caused him to re- 
 turn and proceed with the duty to which he had been 
 appointed. 
 
32 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 " Towards the close of the sermon, the audience, 
 and even the preacher himself, were affected with a 
 deep, unusual awe, melting their hearts and subduing 
 their minds, stripping off inveterate prejudices, awak- 
 ing the impenitent, producing conviction in the hard- 
 ened, bowing down the stubborn, and imparting to 
 many an enlightened Christian a large increase of 
 grace and spirituality." 
 
 " It w as known/' says Fleming, " as I can speak 
 on sure ground, that nearly five hundred had at that 
 time a discernible change wrought on them, of whom 
 most proved lively Christians afterwards. It was 
 the sowing of a seed through Clydesdale, so that 
 many of the most eminent Christians of that country 
 could date their conversion, or some remarkable con- 
 firmation of their case, from that day. 
 
 " Mr. Livingstone, the honored instrument by which 
 this great work was wrought, was one against whom 
 the tyranny of the suspicious prelates had been di- 
 rected. Spottswood drove him away from his beloved 
 charge in Torphichen. But in every case of contest 
 between right and wrong, the most politic measure 
 will prove injurious to those who employ it. When 
 such men as Livingstone were driven from a parish, 
 they were compelled to extend their influence over a 
 wider sphere than would otherwise have been possible. 
 
 "Not unfrequently, as in his case, they were re- 
 ceived into the families of some of the nobility, where 
 their unassuming manners and deep personal piety 
 produced the most beneficial results, both to their pro- 
 tectors and the cause for which they suffered. In 
 this manner the ejected ministers, by their fervent 
 
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY— IRELAND. 33 
 
 and widely diffused labors, did much to prepare the 
 great body of the nation for that struggle and revul- 
 sion which was erelong to take place. 7 ' 
 
 Thus it was when, after the martyrdom of Ste- 
 phen, there was a great persecution of the church in 
 Jerusalem, the disciples " went everywhere preaching 
 the word/ 7 and many were turned unto the Lord who 
 might otherwise never have been converted. 
 
 NORTH OF IRELAND, 1625. 
 
 In 1625, there was also a remarkable revival in 
 the North of Ireland.* It took place under the 
 labors of a band of faithful ministers, most of whom 
 went over from Scotland — Brice, Glendenning, Ridge, 
 Blair, and others. 
 
 The province of Ulster, which has ever since been 
 the brightest spot on the map of Ireland, was, when 
 this reformation began, in a deplorable state of igno- 
 rance and ungodliness. A great number of those 
 who came over from England with the original pro- 
 prietors and occupied their lands, were openly pro- 
 fane and immoral, and generally inattentive to the 
 institutions of the gospel. The following descrip- 
 tion of the character of the population is given by 
 Stewart. 
 
 "From Scotland/ 7 he says, "and from England 
 not a few, yet all of them generally the scum of both 
 nations, from debt, or breaking, fleeing from justice, 
 or seeking shelter, came hither, hoping to be without 
 fear of man's justice, in a land where there was noth- 
 
 * See Dr. James S. Reid's History of the Presbyterian 
 Church in Ireland, vol. I. 
 
 2* 
 
34 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ing, or but little as yet of the fear of God. Most of 
 the people were all void of godliness, who seemed 
 rather to flee from God in this enterprise than to 
 follow their own mercy. 
 
 "Thus on all hands atheism increased and disre- 
 gard of God, iniquity abounded, with contention, 
 fighting, murder, adultery, etc. ; and as they had 
 nothing within them to overawe them, so their minis- 
 ters' example was worse than nothing ; ' for from the 
 prophets of Israel profaneness went forth into all the 
 land/ Thus it was, that when any man would have 
 expected nothing but God's judgment to have fol- 
 lowed this crew of sinners, behold, the Lord visited 
 them in admirable mercy, the like whereof had not 
 been anywhere seen for many generations." 
 
 This account is confirmed by Blair, who says, 
 " The mercy (alluded to by Stewart) consisted in the 
 band of faithful ministers who were now encouraged 
 to take their lot in Ulster, and whose labors were 
 remarkably blessed to the converting of many out of 
 so profane and godless a multitude. Seven ministers 
 constituted the first band, who labored with apostolic 
 earnestness to remove the ignorance, formality, and 
 profaneness which characterized the greater part of 
 the early colonists. Possessed of the true missionary 
 spirit, and inspired with a holy zeal to propagate the 
 gospel, they commenced with vigor the work of evan- 
 gelizing the land ; and though few in number and beset 
 with many difliculties, they were favored with an ex- 
 traordinary, if not unprecedented measure of success. 
 
 " It was not long before their labors began to be 
 visibly blessed. A remarkable improvement in the 
 
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY— IRELAND. 35 
 
 habits and demeanor of the people was speedily effect- 
 ed. The thoughtless were roused to serious inquiry 
 on the subject of religion, and the careless were 
 alarmed ; the profane were in a great measure 
 silenced, and the immoral reclaimed ; while the obsti- 
 nate opposers of the gospel were converted into its 
 willing and decided supporters. This spirit of relig- 
 ious inquiry and reformation, which in a short time 
 pervaded a considerable portion of the counties of 
 Down and Antrim, was no doubt the result of that 
 devotedness and fidelity by which the ministers in 
 this part of Ulster were so eminently distinguished ; 
 yet it appears to have first manifested itself under the 
 ministry of the weakest of these brethren, whose lim- 
 ited attainments and ill-regulated zeal were providen- 
 tially overruled for the furtherance of the gospel." 
 
 " This," says Mr. Stewart, " was the Lord's choice, 
 to begin with him the admirable work of God, which 
 I mention on purpose that all men may see how the 
 glory is only the Lord's in making a holy nation in 
 this profane land, and that it was ' not by might, nor 
 by power/ nor by man's wisdom, ' but by my Spirit, 
 saith the Lord.' 
 
 "At Oldstone, God made use of him to awaken 
 the consciences of a lewd and secure people there- 
 abouts; for, seeing their character, he preached to 
 them nothing but law, wrath, and the terrors of God 
 for sin ; and in very deed for this only was he fitted, 
 for hardly could he preach any other thing. But be- 
 hold the success : for the hearers, finding themselves 
 condemned by the mouth of God speaking in his 
 word, fell into such anxiety and terror of conscience, 
 
36 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 that they looked on themselves as altogether lost and 
 damned j and this work appeared not in one single 
 person or two, but multitudes were brought to under- 
 stand their way, and to cry out, 'Men and brethren, 
 what shall we do to be saved?' And of these were 
 some of the boldest spirits, who formerly feared not 
 with their swords to put a whole market-town in 
 affray. I have heard one of them, then a mighty 
 strong man, now a mighty Christian, say that his end 
 in coming to church was to consult with his compan- 
 ions how to work some mischief; and yet at one of 
 those sermons was he so catched, that he was fully 
 subdued. But why do I speak of him? We knew, 
 and yet know, multitudes of such men, who sinned, 
 and still gloried in it, because they feared no man, 
 yet are now patterns of sobriety, fearing sin because 
 they fear God. And this spread through the country 
 to admiration, especially about that river commonly 
 called the Sis Mile water, for there this work began 
 at first. 
 
 "These religious agitations continued for a con- 
 siderable time. The ministers were indefatigable in 
 improving the favorable opportunities thus offered for 
 extending the knowledge and influence of the gospel. 
 The people awakened and inquiring, many of them 
 desponding and alarmed, both desired and needed 
 guidance and instruction. The judicious exhibition 
 of evangelical doctrines and promises by these faith- 
 ful men was in due time productive of those happy 
 and tranquillizing effects which were early predicted 
 as the characteristics of gospel times. Adopting the 
 beautiful imagery of the prophets, the broken-hearted 
 
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY— IRELAND. 37 
 
 were bound up and comforted, the spirit of bondage 
 and of fear gave way to a spirit of freedom and of 
 love, the oil of joy was poured forth instead of 
 mourning, and the spirit of heaviness exchanged for 
 the garments of praise and thankfulness. As the 
 people emerged from the anxiety and alarm produced 
 by the stern preaching of the law, and gradually 
 experienced the hope of the gospel, they would be 
 naturally led to maintain among themselves a closer 
 religious fellowship than they had done; and this 
 proved to be the case. Hence originated those month- 
 ly meetings at Antrim which afterwards attracted so 
 much attention, and which in the mean time tended 
 materially to strengthen and consolidate the good 
 work that had been commenced. 7 ' 
 
 The men whom God employed to carry on that 
 great work were instant in season and out of season, 
 laboring to instruct their people and promote vital 
 religion, with a singleness of purpose and intensity 
 of desire and untiring diligence, which, if ever equal- 
 led, has at least been seldom surpassed. Blair thus 
 describes his ministerial labors at Bangor : " My 
 charge was very great, about six miles in length, and 
 containing above twelve hundred persons come to 
 age, besides children who stood greatly in need of 
 instruction. This being the case, I preached twice 
 every week, besides the Lord's day, on all which 
 occasions I found little difficulty either as to matter 
 or method. But finding still that this fell short of 
 reaching the design of the gospel ministry, and that 
 the most part continued vastly ignorant, I saw the 
 necessity of trying the more plain and familiar way 
 
38 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 of instructing them ; and therefore, besides my public 
 preaching, I spent as much time every week as my 
 bodily strength could hold out with in exhorting and 
 catechizing them. The knowledge of God increasing 
 among the people, and the ordinance of prayer being 
 precious in their eyes, the work of the Lord did pros- 
 per in the place. And in this we were very much 
 encouraged, both by the assistance of holy Mr. Cun- 
 ningham and by the good example of his little parish 
 of Holywood ; for knowing that diversity of gifts is 
 entertaining to the hearers, he and I did frequently 
 preach for one another, and we also agreed to cele- 
 brate the Lord's supper four times in each of our con- 
 gregations annually, so that those in both parishes 
 who were thriving in religion did communicate 
 together on all these occasions." 
 
 The religious sentiments of all these ministers 
 were those usually called Calvinistic, which at this 
 period were maintained throughout the three national 
 churches of the empire. A delightful harmony also 
 prevailed. 
 
 "Among all the ministers," says Livingstone, 
 " there was never any jar or jealousy ; yea, nor among 
 the professors, the greater part of them being Scots, 
 and some good number of very gracious English, all 
 whose contention was to prefer others to themselves ; 
 and although the gifts of the ministers were much 
 different, yet it was not observed that the people fol- 
 lowed any to the undervaluing of others. Many of 
 these religious professors had been both ignorant and 
 profane, and for debt and want, and worse causes, 
 had left Scotland. Yet the Lord was pleased by his 
 
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY— IRELAND. 39 
 
 word to work such a change, that I do not think 
 there were more lively experienced Christians than 
 were there at this time in Ireland. Being but lately- 
 brought in, the lively edge was not yet gone off them, 
 and the perpetual fear that the bishops would take 
 away their ministers made them with great hunger 
 wait on the ordinances." 
 
 The singular success which attended the preaching 
 of the word at this period, is also attested by another 
 writer, who says, "I shall here instance that great 
 and solemn work of God which was in the church of 
 Ireland about the year 1628, and some years there- 
 after, which may with propriety be said to have been 
 one of the largest manifestations of the Spirit, and of 
 the most solemn times of the down-pouring thereof, 
 that almost since the days of the apostles hath been 
 seen. Then it was sweet and easy for Christians to 
 come thirty or forty miles to the solemn communions 
 which they had, and there continue, from the time 
 they came till they returned, without wearying or 
 making use of sleep ; yea, with but little either meat 
 or drink, and as some of 'them professed, they did not 
 feel the need thereof, but went away most fresh and 
 vigorous, their souls so filled with the sense of God." 
 
 This remarkable revival in the north of Ireland, 
 of which I do not remember to have met with any 
 account till lately, so strikingly resembles in all its 
 essential features those with which I have been famil- 
 iar now for more than half a century, that the narra- 
 tive strikes me as a familiar acquaintance, and I can- 
 not doubt that it was wrought by "one and the self- 
 same Spirit." 
 
40 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 At the same time that God was so gloriously 
 reviving his work in Scotland and Ireland, about the 
 middle of the seventeenth century, he was raising up 
 a host of mighty champions for the truth in England. 
 The persecution which raged so furiously against the 
 Non-conformists, headed under the crown by such 
 instruments as Archbishop Laud and Jeffries, and 
 especially the "Act of Uniformity," passed in 1662, 
 with the "Five Mile Act," by which two thousand 
 godly pastors were forbidden to labor within five 
 miles of their own churches, was a mighty struggle ; 
 but instead of crushing and silencing the witnesses, 
 the pent-up fire broke out even in their sufferings and 
 imprisonments into a flame that was to enlighten and 
 bless all coming generations. The Lord was on their 
 side, and the. gates of hell could not prevail to blot 
 out their testimony. Many of them were driven 
 across the ocean to America, here in the wilderness 
 to bear a prominent part in laying the foundations of 
 civil and religious liberty, which have ever since been 
 the bulwark and glory of our land. 
 
 It was a great Protestant Reformation, though it 
 had not, I believe, to much extent, those distinctive 
 revival features which marked its progress in Scot- 
 land and Ireland. 
 
 Among the noble band of confessors we find the 
 names of Bunyan, Baxter, Owen, Bishop Hopkins, 
 Flavel, Alleine, Howe, and others, who have not 
 been surpassed in any age for talents, for theological 
 learning, for deep Christian experience, and for the 
 valiant defence of " the faith once delivered to the 
 
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY— ENGLAND. 41 
 
 saints." We hazard little in saying that for doc- 
 trinal, practical, and experimental religious instruc- 
 tions and authorship, it was the golden age in the 
 fatherland. What other age has produced so many 
 volumes full of the marrow of the gospel, and indit- 
 ed as it were so close on the verge of heaven ? What 
 thousands have been guided in the Way of Life by 
 Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress/ 7 and his "Grace 
 Abounding to the Chief of Sinners •" and what thou- 
 sands more have had the fulness of Christ revealed 
 to them in Flavel's "Fountain of Life" and "Method 
 of Grace." What would our own land as well as 
 Great Britain have been but for this revival period 
 in the seventeenth century? Who can tell how much 
 of the seed that was then sown sprung up in that great 
 awakening which is the subject of our next chapter ? 
 
 Of the labors of these persecuted ministers, we 
 find an illustrious example in Baxter at Kiddermin- 
 ster, where he wrote his " Reformed Pastor," a stand- 
 ard work for those who would witness the fruit of 
 revivals in any age. 
 
 Having been separated from his people in the 
 violent political agitations and confusion of the times, 
 and been brought near to death, when he wrote his 
 "Saints' Everlasting Rest," he at length resumed his 
 charge at Kidderminster. In his own account of his 
 labors among them during fourteen years, he says, 
 
 "I preached before the wars twice each Lord's 
 day; but after the war, but once, and once every 
 Thursday, besides occasional sermons. Every Thurs- 
 day evening, my neighbors that were most desirous 
 and had opportunity, met at my house and there one 
 
42 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 of them repeated the sermon; and afterwards they 
 proposed what doubts any of them had about the ser- 
 mon, or any other case of conscience, and I resolved 
 their doubts. And last of all, I caused sometimes 
 one and sometimes another of them to pray, some- 
 times praying with them myself. Once a week also, 
 some of the young, who were not prepared to pray in 
 so great an assembly, met among a few more private- 
 ly, where they spent three hours in prayer together. 
 Every Saturday night they met at some of their 
 houses to repeat the sermon of the last Lord's day, 
 and to pray and prepare themselves for the following 
 day. Once in a few weeks we had a day of humilia- 
 tion, on one occasion or other. Two days every week 
 my assistant and myself took fourteen families be- 
 tween us for private catechizing and conference, he 
 going through the parish, and the town coming to me. 
 I first heard them recite the words of the catechism, 
 and then examined them about the sense ; and lastly 
 urged them, with all possible engaging reason and 
 vehemence, to answerable affection and practice. If 
 any of them were perplexed through ignorance or 
 bashfulness, I forbore to press them any farther to 
 answers, but made them hearers, and either examined 
 others, or turned all into instruction and exhortation. 
 I spent about an hour with a family, and admitted no 
 others to be present, lest 'bashfulness should make it 
 burdensome, or any should talk of the weaknesses of 
 others ; so that all the afternoon, on Mondays and 
 Tuesdays, I spent in this ; and my assistant spent the 
 mornings of the same days in the same way." 
 
 " I have mentioned my sweet and acceptable em- 
 
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY— ENGLAND. 43 
 
 ployment ; let me, to the praise of my gracious Lord, 
 acquaint you with some of my success. My public 
 preaching met with an attentive, diligent auditory. 
 Having broke over the brunt of the opposition of the 
 rabble before the wars, I found them afterwards trac- 
 table and unprejudiced. 
 
 "Before I ever entered into the ministry, God 
 blessed my private conference to the conversion of 
 some, who remain firm and eminent in holiness to this 
 day. Then, and in the beginning of my ministry, I 
 was wont to number them as jewels : but since then I 
 could not keep any number of them. 
 
 "The congregation was usually full, so that we 
 were led to build five galleries after my coming 
 hither, the church itself being very capacious, and 
 the most commodious and convenient that ever I was 
 in. Our private meetings also were full. On the 
 Lord's day there was no disorder to be seen in the 
 streets, but you might hear a hundred families singing 
 psalms and repeating sermons as you passed through 
 the streets. In a word, when I came thither first, 
 there was about one family in a street that worship- 
 ped God and called on his name ; and when I came 
 away, there were some streets where there was not 
 more than one family in the side of a street that did 
 not so, and that did not, in professing serious godli- 
 ness, give us hopes of their sincerity. And of those 
 families which were the worst, being inns and ale- 
 houses, usually some persons in each did seem to be 
 religious. Though our administration of the Lord's 
 supper was so orderly as displeased many, and the far 
 greater part kept themselves away, yet we had six 
 
44 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 hundred that were communicants, of whom there were 
 not twelve that I had not good hopes of as to their 
 sincerity ; and those few that came to our communion 
 and yet lived scandalously, were excommunicated 
 afterwards. And I hope there were many who feared 
 God that came not to our communion, some of them 
 being kept off by husbands, by parents, by masters, 
 and some dissuaded by men that differed from us. 
 
 "When I commenced personal conference with 
 each family and catechizing them, there were very 
 few families in all the town that refused to come; 
 and those few were beggars at the town's ends, who 
 were so ignorant that they were ashamed it should 
 be manifest. And few families went from me without 
 some tears or seemingly serious promises for a godly 
 life. Yet many ignorant and ungodly persons there 
 were still among us ; but most of them were in the 
 parish, and not in the town, and in those parts of the 
 parish which were farthest from the town. Some of 
 the poor men competently understood the body of 
 divinity, and were able to judge in difficult contro- 
 versies. Some of them were so able in prayer that 
 very few ministers equalled them in order and ful- 
 ness, apt expressions, holy oratory, and fervency. A 
 great number of them were able to pray very appro- 
 priately with their families, or with others. The 
 temper of their minds, and the correctness of their 
 lives, were even more commendable than their talents. 
 The professors of serious godliness were generally of 
 very humble minds and conduct, of meek and quiet 
 behavior towards others, and blameless in their con- 
 versation. 
 
SEVENTEENTH CEtt TORY— ENGLAND. 45 
 
 11 One advantage which I had was through the zeal 
 and diligence of the godly people of the place, who 
 thirsted after the salvation of their neighbors, and 
 were in private my assistants; and being dispersed 
 through the town, they were ready in almost all com- 
 panies, to repress seducing words, and to justify god- 
 liness, and convince, reprove, and exhort men accord- 
 ing to their needs ; and also to teach them how to 
 pray, and to help them to sanctify the Lord's day. 
 Those people that had none in their families who 
 could pray or repeat the sermons, went to the houses 
 of their neighbors who could do it, and joined with 
 them ; so that some houses of the ablest men in each 
 street were filled with them that could do nothing 
 or little in their own. 
 
 "And the holy, humble, blameless lives of the 
 religious was a great advantage to me. The mali- 
 cious people could not say, Your professors here are 
 as proud and covetous as any. But the blameless 
 lives of godly people shamed opposers, and put to 
 silence the ignorance of foolish men, and many were 
 won by their good conversation." 
 
 Among the Puritan worthies was Blackerby, whose 
 memoirs were blessed in kindling to higher Christian 
 zeal the eminent Andrew Fuller, who was a leading 
 spirit in establishing the monthly concert of prayer 
 for foreign missions, and planting at Serampore the 
 first of modern missions to India. 
 
46 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 "THE GREAT AWAKENING." 
 EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— ABOUT 1740. 
 
 Precious and permanent as were the fruits of the 
 great work of God in the seventeenth century, and 
 though God all along raised up many valiant wit- 
 nesses for the truth, yet, for some fifty years, begin- 
 ning towards the close of that century, especially 
 through the disabilities enforced by the " Act of Uni- 
 formity," and the ravages of death among the cham- 
 pions of the gospel, there was a falling away in the 
 Protestant churches that became extremely alarming 
 to those who still clung to the ark of the covenant. 
 It was not so much that the Philistines threatened to 
 come and carry it away, as that the priests, who 
 should have borne it on, deserted it one after another, 
 and went over to the enemy. 
 
 Dr. Macfarlan, in his History of Revivals in the 
 Eighteenth Century, says in respect to both England 
 and Scotland, "About the end of the seventeenth and 
 the beginning of the eighteenth century most of the 
 churches were in a comparatively low state. The old 
 style of preaching was being fast laid aside, and cold 
 formal addresses, verging towards a kind of Socinian- 
 ism, were becoming fashionable." 
 
 Old Mr. Hutchison, who saw but the beginning 
 of this progress, used to say, " When I compare the 
 times before the Restoration with those since the 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 47 
 
 Revolution, I must own that young ministers preach 
 accurately and methodically; but far more of the 
 power and efficacy of the Spirit and the grace of G-od 
 went along with sermons in those days than now." 
 
 From the Restoration down to the early part of 
 the seventeenth century, both churchmen and Non- 
 conformists unite in deploring the decayed condition 
 of religion and morals.* 
 
 Bishop Burnet says, " I am now in the seventieth 
 year of my age, and as I cannot speak long in the 
 world in any sort, I cannot hope for a more solemn 
 occasion than this for speaking with all due freedom 
 both to the present and to the succeeding ages. I 
 cannot look on without the deepest concern, when I 
 see the imminent ruin hanging over this church, and 
 by consequence, over the whole Reformation. The 
 much greater part of those who come to be ordained 
 are ignorant, to a degree not to be apprehended by 
 those who are not obliged to know it. There are 
 those who have read some few books, yet many seem 
 never to have read the Scriptures." 
 
 Dr. Watts declares that there was a general decay 
 of vital religion in the hearts and lives of men, and 
 that it was common among dissenters and churchmen, 
 and a matter of mournful observation among all who 
 laid the cause of God to heart ; and he called upon 
 every one to use all possible efforts for the recovery 
 of dying religion in the world. In these sentiments 
 it is well known that his endeared friend Dr. Dod- 
 dridge fully sympathized. 
 
 Another writer says, "The religion of nature 
 * See Stevens' History of Methodism, vol. I. 
 
48 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 makes up the darling topics of our age, and the relig- 
 ion of Jesus is valued only for the sake of that, and 
 only as far as it carries on the light of nature, and is 
 a bare improvement of that kind of light." 
 
 Archbishop Seeker says, "In this we cannot be 
 mistaken, that an open professed disregard has become 
 the distinguishing character of the present age. Such 
 are the dissoluteness and contempt of principle in the 
 higher part of the world, and the profligacy, intem- 
 perance, and fearlessness in committing crimes in the 
 lower, as must, if this torrent of impiety stop not, 
 become absolutely fatal. Christianity is ridiculed 
 and railed at with very little reserve, and the teach- 
 ers of it without any at all." 
 
 Bishop Butler says, "It has come to be taken 
 for granted that Christianity is no longer a subject of 
 inquiry; and accordingly it is treated as if, in the 
 present age, this were an agreed point among all per- 
 sons of discernment, and nothing remained but to set 
 it up as a principal subject for mirth and ridicule." 
 
 Southey says, " The clergy had lost that authority 
 which may always command at least the appearance 
 of respect." 
 
 Archbishop Leighton spoke of the church as a fair 
 carcass without a spirit. 
 
 Isaac Taylor, in his history of Methodism, says 
 that when Wesley appeared, "the Anglican church 
 was an ecclesiastical system under which the people 
 of England had lapsed into heathenism, or a state 
 hardly to be distinguished from it." 
 
 Natural religion was the favorite study of the 
 clergy and of the learned generally, and included 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— SCOTLAND. 49 
 
 most of their theology. Collins and Tindall had 
 denounced Christianity as priestcraft. Whiston pro- 
 nounced the miracles to be Jewish impositions. Wool- 
 ston declared them to be allegories. Arianism, So- 
 cinianism, taught by such men as Samuel Clarke and 
 Whiston, had become fashionable among the best Eng- 
 lish thinkers. 
 
 Some of the brightest names of the times can be 
 quoted as exceptions to these remarks, but such was 
 the general condition in England. The higher classes 
 laughed at piety, and prided themselves on being 
 above what they called its fanaticism; the lower 
 classes were grossly ignorant, and abandoned to vice ; 
 while the church, enervated by a universal decline, 
 was unable longer to give countenance to the down- 
 fallen cause of truth. 
 
 The night was long and stormy ; but at length the 
 day dawned, and the clouds began to break away. 
 
 It is a fact worthy of the most profound consider- 
 ation, and of grateful praise, that God opened the 
 windows of heaven, and poured out a blessing almost 
 simultaneously on England, Scotland, and America, 
 about the year 1730. 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 To begin, as in our notice of the work in the pre- 
 ceding century, with Scotland. The habitations of 
 horrid cruelty abroad, and the abominations of immo- 
 rality at home, began to engage the public mind. 
 There were here and there encouraging indications 
 that the Sun of righteousness was about to arise upon 
 the mountains and the moors with healing in his wings. 
 
50 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Among other indications, Mr. Robe of Kilsyth 
 speaks of providential events affecting that parish, 
 and preparing the way for what followed, as early as 
 1733 ; and the direct means afterwards blessed, began 
 to be used two years before the commencement of the 
 revival. 
 
 In 1740, (three years after Whitefield's public min- 
 istry commenced in England,) Mr. Robe says, " I be- 
 gan to preach on the doctrine of regeneration. This 
 course of sermons was acceptable to the Lord's peo- 
 ple, and there was more than ordinary seriousness in 
 hearing them ; yet I could see no further fruit. But 
 the Lord, who is infinitely wise and knoweth the end 
 from the beginning, was preparing us for the uncom- 
 mon dispensation of the Spirit, which we looked not 
 for." 
 
 About the same time there were similar encour- 
 aging preparations at Cambuslang. Mr. McCulloch 
 the pastor, for nearly a twelvemonth before the work 
 began, had been preaching on those subjects which 
 tend most directly to explain the nature and prove 
 the necessity of regeneration. This was the state of 
 things in the spring and summer of 1741. The revi- 
 val which followed in Cambuslang, and spread wide- 
 ly over that part of Scotland, was as life from the 
 dead to the churches. It was unmistakably com- 
 menced and carried on by the mighty power of God ; 
 and many, both old and young, of all classes, were 
 added to the Lord. The narrative before me is so 
 deeply interesting and instructive, that I would glad- 
 ly enrich my historical sketches with copious extracts, 
 but want of space forbids. I have only room to say 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— SCOTLAND. 51 
 
 that the glorious work in its progress exhibited all 
 the leading scriptural characteristics of revivals be- 
 fore and since, under the faithful preaching of the 
 doctrines of grace set home upon the hearts of men 
 by the Holy Spirit, who worketh all things according 
 to the counsel of his own will. 
 
 As every tree is known by its fruits, so is every 
 revival. We naturally and properly inquire, What 
 are its fruits? So in this case. What were the 
 fruits of the great revival just glanced at in Scotland? 
 Mr. Macfarlan's History contains this testimony from 
 Rev. Mr. McCulloch, the faithful pastor at Cambus- 
 lang, which I have much condensed : 
 
 "First, all the persevering subjects of the work 
 agree in professing faith in Christ as the Mediator, 
 through whom alone we can come to God the Father, 
 through the power and grace of the Holy Spirit; 
 and secondly, there is evidence that in their walk 
 and conversation they adorned their Christian pro- 
 fession. They have from that time till now, or till 
 the time of their death, behaved as became their 
 Christian profession, with such exceptions as must 
 always be made in judging of imperfect creatures. 
 But besides this general statement, the following par- 
 ticulars are submitted, either on my own personal 
 knowledge, or good and credible information. 
 
 " They adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour, 
 glorify their heavenly Father, and excite others to do 
 so on their account, by practising justice and charity, 
 relative duties, public spiritedness, humility, meek- 
 ness, patience, close and diligent attendance on gos- 
 pel ordinances, heavenly-mindedness, watchfulness 
 
52 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 against sin, especially against such sin as easily beset3 
 them. 
 
 "Such as were given to cursing and swearing 
 have laid aside the practice, learning to speak the 
 language of heaven, having upon them a holy awe of 
 God and of things divine. Such as were accustomed 
 to frequent taverns, to drink, and play at cards, etc., 
 till late, or it may be morning hours, have for nine 
 years past avoided all occasions of the kind, and kept 
 at home, spending their evenings in Christian con- 
 ference, in matters profitable to their families, and 
 in secret and family devotion. He who was former- 
 ly drunken, accustomed to lie in bed till eight or 
 nine o'clock in the morning, sleeping off his night's 
 intoxication, has for these nine years been in the 
 habit of getting up at three or four o'clock in the 
 morning, of reading his Bible and other good books, 
 of being engaged in prayer or meditation, till seven 
 or eight, when he calls together his household for 
 family devotion, which is again repeated in the even- 
 ing. 
 
 "Those who were formerly covetous and selfish, 
 have acquired much of public spirit and of concern 
 for the kingdom and glory of Christ, especially in 
 the salvation of sinners ; and with this view they are 
 not only exemplary in their conduct, but useful to all 
 within their reach. They contribute cheerfully, and 
 some of them beyond their ability, at collections for 
 the interests of religion or the relief of the distressed. 
 They carefully observe seasons fixed for the concert 
 for prayer, and join in earnest supplication for the 
 further spread of the gospel and the outpouring of 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— SCOTLAND. 53 
 
 the Spirit on the churches. ' As new-born babes, they 
 desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may 
 grow thereby ;•' nocking with eagerness to hear in their 
 different localities. The weekly lecture on Thursday, 
 which was established in this place in 1742, has been 
 continued ever since, summer and winter, even in har- 
 vest, when the reapers come running from the fields, 
 where they have been toiling all day. They are care- 
 ful in their preparations for the Lord's supper, and 
 frequent in the observance. These have been indeed 
 remarkable times of communion with God. This 
 people have seen the goings of their God and King in 
 the sanctuary. They have been made to sit under 
 Christ's shadow with great delight, and his fruit has 
 been sweet to their taste. They have been feasted 
 in the banqueting-house, and his banner over them 
 has been love. 
 
 " To conclude, they abound much in prayer, 
 both secret and domestic, and also in the observance 
 of fellowship meetings. In every town or village 
 almost in this country side, where there is any com- 
 petent number of serious and lively Christians, and 
 where religion is in a thriving state, many private 
 meetings are held. Common tradesmen, who are 
 members and who work for so much a day, allow 
 their employers to deduct so much from the time they 
 are absent. Some of these meetings besides have 
 also special seasons for fasting and prayer on extra- 
 ordinary occasions, such, for example, as on receiving 
 news of heavy losses, or dangers occurring to any of 
 themselves, or of what threatens the interests of relig- 
 ion ; and on these occasions they enjoy much of the 
 
54 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 divine presence, though less, alas, than in former 
 times. 
 
 " Now to Him who is able to keep us from falling, 
 and to present us faultless before the presence of his 
 glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our 
 Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, 
 both now and for ever. Amen." 
 
 To this was added the following attestation, signed 
 by the elders of the church : 
 
 " We the undersigned, elders and members of the 
 kirk session of Cambuslang, having heard the fore- 
 going read to us by our pastor, and having maturely 
 considered the same, paragraph by paragraph, do 
 hereby make it our own, being persuaded that it con- 
 tains a just and true account of the extraordinary 
 work here in 1742, and of the comfortable and abid- 
 ing effects of it on many, probably on more than four 
 hundred, mentioned in the foregoing attestation, and 
 particularly as regards those who lived in this parish 
 until 1742, and from that time dow,n, or till their 
 death, who lived, to the best of our knowledge, as 
 becomes their profession." 
 
 The foregoing is but a hasty glance at the glo- 
 rious revival which descended from the opening 
 heavens upon Scotland, which arrested the alarm- 
 ing progress of infidelity and ungodliness, turned 
 back the captivity of scores of churches that might 
 have remained in bondage even until now* and re- 
 stored to life the doctrines of the Keformation, of 
 which John Knox was the exponent and the powerful 
 advocate. Perhaps no work in Scotland has borne 
 richer fruits than this of the eighteenth century, in 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— ENGLAND. 55 
 
 which Mr. McCulloch, Whitefield, Kobe, Bonar, Ham- 
 ilton, McKnight, Gillies, Alexander, Anderson, and 
 others of kindred spirit, bore a conspicuous part. 
 
 ENGLAND AND WALES. 
 
 Eeturning now to England and Wales, we re- 
 call the lamentations of such men as Hutchinson and 
 Burnet and Watts and Seeker and Butler over the 
 alarming prevalence of infidelity, ignorance, and im- 
 morality throughout the United Kingdom in the ear- 
 lier part of the eighteenth century. To human view, 
 the state of religion was more hopeless in England 
 than in Scotland. The Established church scarcely 
 had a name to live, save in her articles and liturgy, 
 and religion in the dissenting churches was at a very 
 low ebb. It was evident that nothing short of some 
 special interposition by the great Head of the church 
 could restore the fallen interests of Zion. 
 
 But man's extremity is God's opportunity, and 
 such an interposition was at hand. God had been 
 raising up three young men in the university of Ox- 
 ford, the two brothers John and Charles Wesley, and 
 George Whitefield, to commence and carry on the 
 work. He prepared them for it by long and sharp 
 personal convictions of their own lost estate; and 
 that they might endure hardness as good soldiers of 
 Jesus Christ, by subjecting them to the fiery ordeal 
 of scorn and persecution in the . university, and as 
 they were almost hopelessly feeling their way into 
 the ministry, after they left it. It was in Oxford that 
 they and the few others who sympathized with them 
 were contemptuously called Methodists by their un- 
 
56 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 godly fellow-students, little thinking that they were 
 giving an honorable name to one of the largest de- 
 nominations in England and America. 
 
 As the university was their Alma Mater, so was 
 the Established church of their native land. They 
 were strongly attached to her ecclesiastical polity, to 
 her liturgy, to her forms and ceremonies, and had 
 not the most distant thought of leaving her com- 
 munion. They preached in her churches till they 
 were driven out into the open fields as deluded schis- 
 matics ; and they clung to the Establishment through 
 evil report as long as they could, the Wesleys as 
 long as they lived. They never formally broke off 
 their connection, though they were forced by persecu- 
 tion to avail themselves of that liberty wherewith 
 Christ had made them free, to turn as many as possi- 
 ble to the Lord, whether within or without the pale 
 of the Established church. 
 
 As the reformation advanced, God raised up 
 Fletcher and Romaine and Madan and Berridge and 
 Shirley and Benson and Howel Harris and others, 
 to take part with them in their itinerant ministry ; 
 and so rapidly did the work spread, that, "or ever 
 they were aware," the converts had so greatly multi- 
 plied outside of the Establishment as to demand an 
 organization of some sort. Wesley could not resist 
 the pressure. The thousands were liable to be scat- 
 tered as sheep without a shepherd. They must be 
 taken . care of, or the roaring lion would come and 
 devour them ; and though he would not, even in that 
 extremity, form a new denomination, he organized 
 them under what was called the Methodist Connec- 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— ENGLAND. 57 
 
 Hon, " so mightily did the word of God grow and 
 prevail." 
 
 The history of this remarkable era of revivals 
 which commenced about 1740, and spread so widely 
 over England, Wales, and Ireland, is so fully record- 
 ed in the lives and writings of Whitefield, Wesley, 
 Lady Huntingdon, and others, that it is needless for 
 me to descend to particulars. 
 
 That there was intermingled with this work much 
 of animal excitement among the thousands upon thou- 
 sands who hung upon the lips of Whitefield and the 
 Wesleys in Moorfields, on Kensington common, and 
 other out-door stations, and who sometimes rent the 
 air with their sobs and outcries, and that the preach- 
 ers looked upon these impassioned demonstrations 
 with too much allowance, there is no room to ques- 
 tion; nor, on the other hand, can any but sceptics 
 doubt that " the power of the Highest " was there, by 
 which multitudes were arrested, convicted, and truly 
 converted. 
 
 Mysterious and trying as was the opposition these 
 distinguished preachers received from the Established 
 church of that day, I think we can see the wisdom 
 and goodness of God in permitting it. Had it come 
 entirely from without, the leaven could scarcely have 
 been infused into the great lump, where it was so 
 much needed. As the first great revival preachers 
 were churchmen, and labored within the pale of the 
 church wherever they could get an opportunity, the 
 truth found an entrance where the doors would other- 
 wise have remained closed. Some of the clergy were 
 raised from their moral depression, and gained over 
 
58 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 to "the faith once delivered to the saints," and be 
 came zealous preachers in their own parishes. The 
 evangelical element was thus infused into the churches 
 of the Establishment, or if it were already there, was 
 quickened into life, where it had long been petrified 
 by formalism. How much the large class of evan- 
 gelical churches of the Establishment in the British 
 isles are indebted to the blessed influence of that 
 "great awakening/' it were impossible to say; but 
 that there is now much more of the power of godli- 
 ness, of vital, active piety in the English church than 
 there would otherwise have been, I think all will 
 agree who candidly study the religious history of 
 that eventful period, and trace the growing evangel- 
 ism of that church down to the present time. The 
 good seed which was then sown has been springing 
 up and bearing fruit, more or less, ever since. 
 
 The Independents too, of different sects, who did 
 not fall in with the Methodists, shared in the bless- 
 ing, and some of their ablest preachers were active 
 in promoting the revival. All in all, it was a glori- 
 ous ingathering of souls to Christ, though much was 
 lost for want of able stationary pastors to bring the 
 converts into regularly organized churches, and by a 
 pious watch and care build them up in the most holy 
 faith. This Whitefield and the other evangelists 
 could not do, as they went on from place to place, 
 crying, like John in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the 
 way of the Lord." 
 
 The chief apostles of that reformation had differ- 
 ent gifts, and did not harmonize exactly in all their 
 theological speculations ; but the same spirit animat- 
 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— ENGLAND. 59 
 
 ed them and dwelt in them. Their grand and all- 
 absorbing aim was to win souls to Christ. The dif- 
 ferences between Whitefield and the Wesleys at one 
 time threatened to create a lasting alienation ; but 
 mutual forbearance and charity reconciled them. 
 They found they had no time to dispute while sinners 
 whom they might hope to save were perishing. They 
 labored and prayed together as before ; their personal 
 friendship was, if possible, more closely cemented, as 
 they went on sowing the good seed over the same 
 fields. Essentially they were of one heart and one 
 mind, till death came and took them up to that bright- 
 er world, where it is impossible not to see eye to eye, 
 or to fall into any mistakes. Whitefield preached 
 the offers of a free salvation to all, without distinc- 
 tion or exception, as earnestly as it was possible for 
 Wesley to do. So Wesley, in his prayers, rejoiced to 
 exalt God on the throne, and magnify his grace ; and 
 I never heard a Methodist pray in a revival who did 
 not. Indeed, how can any body pray that the uncon- 
 verted may be born again, without first believing that 
 they are dead in trespasses and sins; and in this 
 view of their lost condition, invoking the Holy Spirit 
 to come down in his sovereign and mighty power to 
 awaken, renew, and sanctify them? 
 
 So long as the number of converts was compara- 
 tively small, and some of the churches of the Estab- 
 lishment yet opened their doors to the revival preach- 
 ers, the necessity of outside chapels was not very 
 urgent, especially as there was so much field preach- 
 ing to the thousands without, whom the Lord stirred 
 up to press eagerly around the stands, inquiring what 
 
60 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 they must do to be saved. But as the revival spread 
 on every hand, and great numbers of converts needed 
 to be gathered into societies for regular instruction 
 and oversight, the want was severely felt. 
 
 But the mass of the converts were poor, and how 
 were the chapels to be built? Who would furnish 
 the means ? Anticipating the growing necessity, the 
 great Head of the church had been raising up help in 
 high quarters, from which the necessary aid could 
 hardly have been expected. 
 
 And just here I have been forcibly struck with 
 the remarkable coincidence between this state of 
 things and what we read of the first great revival 
 period, in the Acts of the Apostles. God then raised 
 up helpers from the higher classes, without whose aid 
 the thousands of converts, being mostly poor and sore- 
 ly persecuted, could scarcely have subsisted. Thus, 
 when Paul and Silas passed over from Troas into 
 Macedonia, and came to Philippi, they found there a 
 certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple from 
 Thyatira, whose heart the Lord opened, that she 
 attended to the things which were spoken of Paul, 
 and she constrained them to come into her house to 
 abide, which they did as long as their mission would 
 allow them to stay. Her traffic had probably made 
 her rich. Still more striking is the record in the 
 next chapter. When Paul and Silas went down to 
 Berea and preached the gospel in that city, many of 
 the Jews received the word with all readiness of 
 mind ; also of " honorable women," who were Greeks, 
 and of men not a few. These women are here called 
 honorable, as belonging to the higher classes, who 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— ENGLAND. 61 
 
 having both the disposition and the means, encouraged 
 and helped the missionaries to go on with their work, 
 when other resources must have failed. 
 
 So here, in this great revival, God raised up hon- 
 orable women just when they were most needed to help 
 the preachers, and provide places of worship for those 
 who were too poor to do it themselves. Several of 
 their names are mentioned, as Anne and Frances Has- 
 tings, Lady Mary Hamilton, Lady Gertrude Hotham 
 and Countess Delitz, sisters of Lady Chesterfield, 
 Lady Chesterfield herself, Lady Fanny Shirley, and 
 others of the aristocracy, who established the first 
 female prayer-meeting that I remember to have seen 
 noticed anywhere. Though all connected with the 
 Established church, they looked with great favor upon 
 the wonderful reformation that was going on among 
 the hitherto uncared-for masses outside, and cheer- 
 fully contributed, more or less, to help build them 
 chapels, in parts where they were most needed. 
 
 Thus many daughters did virtuously, but there 
 was one that excelled them all. This was that re- 
 markable " elect lady," the Countess of Huntingdon, 
 who was remotely related to the royal family, and 
 who moved in the highest circles. Amid all the 
 allurements and fascinating worldly prospects of her 
 exalted rank, God arrested her by an alarming sick- 
 ness, brought her to renounce all for Christ at the 
 foot of his cross, and brought her into fellowship 
 with his despised and persecuted disciples, of whom 
 the world was not worthy. While in her doctrinal 
 belief she sympathized strongly with Whitefield her 
 favorite preacher, she welcomed to her house all the 
 
62 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 prominent preachers of the other branch of the Con- 
 nection of whom Wesley was the leader ; and deem- 
 ed it an honor to number Dr. Watts, Dr. Doddridge, 
 and other dissenting ministers of the day, among the 
 warmest of her friends in the household of faith. 
 Time would fail me to reckon up her munificent char- 
 ities for building chapels, and supporting the brother- 
 hood in their self-denying labors to win souls to Christ ; 
 to speak of her boundless hospitality at home; to fol- 
 low her as she " went about doing good," and in her 
 shining upward progress towards the saints' everlast- 
 ing rest. Considering her moderate income, her con- 
 tributions, after the death of her husband, for relig- 
 ious and charitable purposes, were almost incredible. 
 They were estimated to have amounted to at least 
 $500,000. 
 
 Thus did that illustrious lady the Countess of 
 Huntingdon go on from strength to strength, serving 
 God and her generation by the will of God, till, ripen- 
 ed for the inheritance of the saints in light, she, at the 
 advanced age of eighty-four, rested from her labors, 
 and her works followed her. For what she was and 
 what she did, the reader is referred to the volume 
 entitled, " Lady Huntington and her Friends," pub- 
 lished by the American Tract Society, to Isaac Tay- 
 lor's History of Methodism, and other religious histo- 
 ries of the times. She was certainly one of the most 
 remarkable women of that or any age. Her name 
 will be had in everlasting remembrance. We can 
 hardly see how Whitefield and Wesley and the other 
 prominent leaders in that religious movement would 
 have carried on the work as they did, without her 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— AMERICA. 63 
 
 pecuniary assistance and other efficient aid. Certain 
 it is, that in all subsequent ages her name will be 
 associated with those of the most illustrious reform- 
 ers of that extraordinary revival epoch. And who 
 can doubt that when she died, she ascended to join 
 those holy women of old, whose memorial stands 
 upon the sacred record, in their eternal services and 
 songs ? 
 
 THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Leaving the fatherland and crossing the ocean, we 
 proceed to inquire what was the state of religion in 
 the American churches previous to the " Great 
 Awakening/ 7 at which we have just glanced in the 
 mother country. Certainly, when that remarkable 
 revival commenced, the churches had not sunk so low 
 here as there. From the beginning of the century, 
 we find there had been isolated revivals here and 
 there. There were verdant inclosures in the vine- 
 yard, while also the drought was wide and sore. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Danforth of Taunton, Massachusetts, 
 wrote, in 1704-5, " We are much encouraged by a uni- 
 versal and amazing impression made by the Spirit of 
 God on all sorts among us, especially on the young 
 men and women. It is almost incredible how many 
 visit me with discoveries of extreme distress of mind 
 they are in about their spiritual condition. The 
 young men, instead of their merry meetings, are now 
 forming themselves into regular meetings for prayer, 
 repetition of sermons, and singing. The profanest 
 among us seem startled at the sudden change upon 
 the rising generation. We need much prayer that 
 
64 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 these strivings of the Spirit may have a saving issue 
 and effect." 
 
 Again he writes, " My time is spent in daily dis- 
 course with the young people visiting me with their 
 doubts, fears, and agonies. Religion flourishes to 
 amazement and admiration, that so we should be at 
 once touched with soul affliction, and this in all cor- 
 ners of the place. But I hope that the deeper the 
 wound, the more sound may be the cure. I have 
 little time to think of worldly matters, scarce time to 
 study sermons as I used to do ; but find God can bless 
 mean preparations whenever he pleases that such shall 
 be most cried up and commended which I have had 
 scarce time to methodize. I sometimes think that the 
 time of the pouring out of the Spirit upon all flesh may 
 be at the door." 
 
 President Edwards mentions revivals in North- 
 ampton in 1712 and 1718, under the ministry of his 
 predecessor Eev. Mr. Stoddard. In the year 1721, 
 there was a remarkable revival in Windham, Con- 
 necticut. In 1730 and the three following years, 
 there was a considerable revival in Freehold, New 
 Jersey, under the ministry of the two Tennents, John 
 and William ; and other places might be mentioned. 
 
 Nevertheless there had been, in the early part of 
 the century, a great falling away, which we find griev- 
 ously lamented by pious ministers, who remembered 
 those better days when the candle of the Lord shone 
 upon the churches planted by the Puritan fathers. 
 
 Dr. Increase Mather, in a book entitled, "The 
 Glory departing from New England," printed in 
 1702, says, " We are the posterity of the good old 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— AMERICA. 65 
 
 Puritan Non-conformists in England, who were a strict 
 and holy people. Such were our fathers who followed 
 the Lord into this wilderness. New England, New 
 England, look to it that the glory be not removed 
 from thee, for it begins to go. tremble, for it is 
 going ; it is gradually departing. You that are aged 
 persons, that can remember what New England was 
 fifty years ago, that saw the churches in their first 
 glory, is there not a sad decay and diminution of that 
 glory? Time was when these churches were 'beau- 
 tiful as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an 
 army with banners.' What a glorious presence of 
 Christ was there in all his ordinances. Many were 
 converted, and there were added to the churches daily 
 such as should be saved. But are not sound conver- 
 sions become rare in this day, and in many congrega- 
 tions? Look into the pulpits, and see if there is such 
 a glory there as once there was. When will Boston 
 see a Cotton and a Norton again ? When will New 
 England see a Hooker, a Shepard, a Mitchell, not to 
 mention others? 
 
 "Look into our civil state; does Christ reign 
 there as once he did ? How many churches, how many 
 towns are there in New England that we may sigh 
 over them and say, the glory is gone ! And there is 
 sad cause to fear that greater departures of the glory 
 are hastening upon us; our iniquities testify against 
 us, and our backslidings are many. That there is a 
 general defection from primitive purity and piety in 
 many respects, cannot be denied. The providence of 
 God is threatening to pull down the wall which was 
 a defence to these churches." 
 
66 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Again he writes in 1721, "I am now in the eighty- 
 third year of my age, and having had an opportunity 
 to converse with the first planters of this country, 
 and having been for sixty-five years a preacher of the 
 gospel, I cannot but be in the disposition of those 
 ancient men who had seen the foundation of the first 
 house, and wept with a loud voice to see what a 
 change the work of the temple had upon it. The 
 children of New England are, or once were, for the 
 most part, the children of godly men. What did our 
 fathers come into this wilderness for? Not to gain 
 estates as men do now, but for religion, and that they 
 might leave their children in a hopeful way of being 
 truly religious. There was a famous man that preached 
 before one of the greatest assemblies that ever was 
 preached unto seventy years ago, and he told them, ■ I 
 have lived in a country seven years, and all that time 
 I never heard one profane oath, and all that time I 
 never did see a man drunk in that land.' Where was 
 that country ? It was New England ; but Oh, degen- 
 erate 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 I" 
 
 In a public lecture printed in 1706, Dr. Cotton 
 Mather says, "It is confessed by all who know any 
 thing of the matter — and Oh, why not with rivers of 
 tears bewailed ? — that there is a general and a horrible 
 decay of Christianity among the professors of it. The 
 glorious and precious religion of our heavenly Christ 
 generally appears with quite another face in the lives 
 of Christians of this day, than what it had in the 
 lives of the saints into whose hands it was first of all 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— AMERICA. 61 
 
 delivered. The modern Christianity is but too gen- 
 erally but a very shadow of the ancient." 
 
 The Rev. Thomas Prince of Boston, in a sermon 
 delivered before the General Assembly of the prov- 
 ince of Massachusetts, May 27, 1730, states as his de- 
 sign to "commemorate the righteous and wonderful 
 works of God towards us, both in our own days and 
 in the days of our fathers," and thus proceeds : " Who 
 were our fathers, and what were their distinguishing 
 characters ? The generality of them were the near 
 descendants of the first reformers in England. They 
 were born of pious parents, who brought them up in 
 a course of strict religion under the most awakening 
 preachers of those days. Under such means they 
 became inspired with a spirit of piety, and with a 
 growing zeal to reform the worship of God to the 
 most beautiful and perfect model of his own insti- 
 tutions. 
 
 "And to the great glory of God be it spoken, 
 there never was perhaps before seen such a body of 
 pious people together on the face of the earth. Their 
 civil and ecclesiastical leaders were exemplary pat- 
 terns of piety. They encouraged only the virtuous 
 to come with and follow them. They were so strict, 
 both in the church and the state, that the incorrigible 
 could not endure to live in the country, and went 
 back again. Profane swearers and drunkards were 
 not known in the land. And it quickly grew so 
 famous for religion abroad, that scarce any other but 
 those who liked it came over for many years after." 
 
 The Rev. Samuel Blair, speaking of the state of 
 religion in Pennsylvania, says, " True religion lay as 
 
68 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 it were adying and ready to expire its last breath of 
 life, in this part of the visible church, in the spring of 
 1740, when the God of salvation was pleased to visit 
 us with the blessed effusions of the Holy Spirit. I 
 doubt not that then there were some sincerely relig- 
 ious people up and down. But a very lamentable 
 ignorance of the essentials of true practical religion, 
 and of the doctrines relating thereto, very generally 
 prevailed. The nature and necessity of the new birth 
 were little known, or of the Holy Spirit opening and 
 applying the law to the conscience, in order to sav- 
 ing closure with Christ. The common notion seemed 
 to be, that if people were aiming to be in the way of 
 duty as well as they could, they imagined there was 
 no reason to be much afraid." 
 
 These lamentations over the degeneracy of the 
 times must certainly be taken with some abatements 
 from what a comparison between other periods in the 
 history of the American churches would require. 
 The primitive standard of morals and piety in the 
 first and second generations starting from Plymouth 
 rock was so high, that the declension over which 
 the fathers mourned seemed to them to have brought 
 religion to a lower ebb than it would have otherwise 
 appeared. No wonder they were alarmed. No won- 
 der they lifted up their voices like a trumpet. There 
 was "a cause" before their eyes. They had seen 
 those better days, and felt that if God did not soon 
 appear and revive his work, all would be lost. 
 
 Among the causes which led to this lax and down- 
 ward tendency of the churches, was the introduction 
 of the so-called " Half-way Covenant." It crept in 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— AMERICA. 69 
 
 gradually at first, but erelong spread widely over 
 New England. It was intended to open the door for 
 parents who were not members of the churches, and 
 who made no pretensions to personal piety, to bring 
 their children for baptism. The substance of it was, 
 a general confession of faith in the truth and inspira- 
 tion of the Scriptures, and a promise to "come up to 
 the Lord's supper as soon as they should see their way 
 clear," which most of them never did. Hence the 
 name, " Half-way Covenant." This system was intro- 
 duced as early as 1662. The consequence was, that 
 the membership of the churches in full communion 
 rapidly decreased. Having got their children bap- 
 tized, few of the parents came into full communion, 
 and hardly any of the unmarried were found at the 
 Lord's table. 
 
 To keep the churches full, the next departure from 
 the Puritan organization was to hold up the Lord's 
 supper as a converting ordinance, and thus to throw the 
 door wide open for the entrance of the unconverted. 
 The Rev. Solomon Stoddard of Northampton, with the 
 best intentions no doubt, in a sermon published in 
 1707, maintained that " sanctification is not a neces- 
 sary qualification for partaking of the Lord's supper, 
 and that it is a converting ordinance.' 7 Dr. Increase 
 Mather published an able reply to this sermon j but 
 the principles of Mr. Stoddard were adopted by the 
 church in Northampton, and soon in other parts of 
 New England. 
 
 I have dwelt the longer on the period preceding 
 the Great Awakening to show what formidable ob- 
 stacles had accumulated in the way of a revival. 
 
10 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Nothing strange was the opposition which it had to 
 encounter from the pulpit and the press ; but strange 
 indeed it would have been, if, in the progress of that 
 remarkable revival, with such hostile antecedents, 
 there had been nothing mixed with it to be regretted 
 by its warmest friends and advocates. 
 
 It would be easy to fill more than one large vol- 
 ume with the narratives and records in various forms 
 of that ever memorable revival in the American 
 churches. It was almost as life from the dead, so 
 deep was the spiritual apathy in which it found them. 
 But my notice must be extremely brief, and indeed 
 that is all which seems to be called for, since the prog- 
 gress of the work was so largely and faithfully chron- 
 icled at the time in Prince's History, Gillies' Histor- 
 ical Collections, Edwards' Thoughts on the Revival 
 of Religion in New England, published by the Amer- 
 ican Tract Society, and " The Great Awakening," an 
 octavo volume by the Rev. Joseph Tracy, of which a 
 new edition has just been issued. 
 
 The more prominent agents whom the great Head 
 of the church employed in carrying on that glorious 
 work on this side of the Atlantic, were Mr. Edwards, 
 Mr. Whitefield, Dr. Bellamy, the two Tennents, Will- 
 iam and Gilbert, President Davies, Mr. Blair, and 
 Mr. Parsons. Scores of other good ministers cooper- 
 ated with them or labored successfully without them 
 in their respective parishes, though some of the pas- 
 tors doubted whereunto it would grow, and stood 
 aloof. 
 
 Small space as I can spare for this revival, which 
 arrested the deplorable backslidings of the churches, 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— AMERICA. 71 
 
 I feel bound to magnify the grace of God by borrow- 
 ing some brief extracts from the copious narratives 
 to which I have just alluded. 
 
 As the first revival took place under the preach- 
 ing of Mr. Edwards, and as he stood at the head of 
 the most able defenders of that mighty work of the 
 Spirit, and was one of the most judicious and success- 
 ful laborers both at home and abroad, I shall first 
 make condensed extracts from his "Narrative of the 
 Revival in Northampton, in 1734," as a fair exam- 
 ple of the character of the remarkable series which 
 followed and spread so widely over the land. 
 
 " Just after my grandfather's death, it was a time 
 of remarkable dulness in religion. Many of the youth 
 were much addicted to night-walking, frequenting the 
 tavern, and lewd practices. They would often spend 
 the greater part of the night in frolics, without regard 
 to any order in the families they belonged to ; and 
 indeed family government did too much fail in the 
 town. 
 
 "But in two or three years after Mr. Stoddard's 
 death, there began to be a sensible amendment. The 
 young people by degrees left off their frolicking, and 
 thenceforward there was a remarkable reformation 
 among them. In the month of April, 1734, there 
 happened a very sudden and awful death of a young 
 man in the bloom of youth, and the sermon which was 
 preached on that occasion very much affected many 
 of the young. This was followed by the death of a 
 young married woman. In the beginning of her ill- 
 ness she was greatly distressed about the salvation of 
 her soul, but seemed to obtain satisfactory evidence 
 
72 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 of God's saving mercy before she died, and in a most 
 earnest and moving manner counselled and warned 
 others. This seemed much to affect many young per- 
 sons, and increased the religious concern on people's 
 minds. 
 
 "It was in the latter part of December that the 
 Spirit of God began extraordinarily to act in and 
 wonderfully to work among us. Very suddenly five 
 or six persons, one after another, were to all appear- 
 ance savingly converted, some of them in a very re- 
 markable manner. Presently a great and earnest con- 
 cern became universal in all parts of the town among 
 persons of all ages. The noise among the dry bones 
 waxed louder and louder. All the conversation in 
 all companies was upon spiritual things, except so 
 much as was necessary for ordinary secular business. 
 Men seemed to follow their business more as a part 
 of their duty than from any disposition to it. Relig- 
 ion was with all sorts the great concern. It was then 
 a dreadful thing among us to lie out of Christ, in 
 danger every day of dropping into hell. All would 
 eagerly lay hold of opportunities for their souls, and 
 very often met together in private houses for relig- 
 ious purposes. There was scarcely a person in town, 
 young or old, that was left unconcerned about the 
 great things of the eternal world. 
 
 " Those that had been disposed to think and speak 
 lightly of religion, were now generally subject to 
 great awakenings. The work of conversion was car- 
 ried on in the most astonishing manner. Souls did, 
 as it were, come by flocks to Jesus Christ. 
 
 " From day to day for many months might be seen 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— AMERICA. 13 
 
 evident instances of sinners being brought out of 
 darkness into marvellous light. It made such a glo- 
 rious alteration in the town, that in the following 
 spring and summer, 1735, the town seemed to be full 
 of the presence of God. It was so in almost every 
 house. Our public assemblies were then beautiful. 
 The congregation was alive in God's service, and 
 every hearer eager to drink in the words of the min- 
 ister. The assembly were in general from time to 
 time in tears, some weeping with sorrow and distress, 
 others with joy and love ; others with pity and con- 
 cern for the souls of their neighbors. Our young peo- 
 ple, when they met, were wont to talk of the dying 
 love of Jesus Christ and the glorious way of salva- 
 tion, the wonderful free and sovereign grace of God, 
 and his glorious work in the conversion of souls. 
 Those among us who had been formerly converted, 
 were greatly enlivened with fresh and extraordinary 
 incomes of the Spirit of God. 
 
 " This dispensation has also appeared very extra- 
 ordinary in the numbers of those on whom we have 
 reason to hope it has had a saving effect. We have 
 about six hundred and twenty communicants, which 
 include almost all our adult persons. I am far from 
 pretending to determine how many have been the sub- 
 jects of such mercy, but I hope that more than three 
 hundred were brought home to Christ in this town in 
 the space of half a year, and about the same number 
 of males as females.* I hope that by far the greater 
 part of persons in this town over sixteen years of age 
 
 * The population of the town was then about eleven hun- 
 dred. 
 
 Rev. Sketches. A 
 
74 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 are such as have a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ ; 
 and so, by what I have heard, I suppose it is in some 
 other places, particularly at Sunderland and South 
 Hadley. 
 
 " This has also appeared a very extraordinary dis- 
 pensation, in that -the Spirit of God has so much ex- 
 tended not only his awakening but his regenerating 
 influences, both to elderly persons and also to those 
 that are very young. It has been a thing heretofore 
 scarcely to be heard of, that any were converted past 
 middle age. But now we have as much reason to 
 think that many such have been changed, as that 
 others have been in more early years. 
 
 "It has heretofore been looked upon as a 
 strange thing, when any have seemed to be savingly 
 wrought upon and remarkably changed in their 
 childhood ; but now I suppose that near thirty were, 
 to appearance, between ten and fourteen years of 
 age, two between nine and ten, and one of about four 
 years. 
 
 " God has also seemed to have gone out of his 
 usual way in the quickness of his work, and the swift 
 progress his Spirit has made in his operations on the 
 hearts of many. Many have been taken from a loose 
 and careless way of living, and seized with strong 
 convictions of their guilt and misery, and in a very 
 little time ' all things have become new ' with them. 
 God's work has also appeared very extraordinary, 
 in the degree of saving light and love and joy that 
 many have experienced, and in the extent of it, being 
 so swiftly propagated from town to town. In former 
 times of the pouring out of the Spirit of God upon 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— AMERICA. 75 
 
 this town, though in some of them it was very remark- 
 able, it reached no further. 
 
 " The work of God seemed to be at its greatest 
 height here in March and April, at which time God's 
 work in the conversion of souls was carried on in so 
 wonderful a manner, that so far as I can judge, from 
 what I have witnessed in the progress of this work, 
 conversions have been at the rate at least of four per- 
 sons in a day, or near thirty in a week, take one week 
 with another, for five or six weeks together. When 
 God so remarkably took the work into his own hands, 
 there was as much done in a day or two as, in ordi- 
 nary times, with all endeavors that men can use, and 
 with such a blessing as men commonly have, in a 
 year." 
 
 Then follow brief notices of the work in many 
 other towns, as South Hadley, Sunderland, Deerfield, 
 Hatfield, West Springfield, Westfield, Hadley, North- 
 field, and other places, marked by the same unmis- 
 takable evidences of the Divine presence, though with 
 " diversities of operations, according to His pleasure 
 who worketh all things according to the counsel of 
 his own will." Among the places specially visited in 
 Connecticut, were East Windsor, Coventry, Lebanon, 
 Stratford, Durham, New Haven, Guilford, Mansfield, 
 Tolland, Hebron, Bolton, Preston, and Woodbury. 
 
 And so far was that glorious work, which lasted 
 several years, and was at its height about 1740, from 
 being confined to New England, that it was equally 
 powerful in many parts of New Jersey and Pennsyl- 
 vania. New York too shared in the blessing, beyond 
 which there was no West then, and the same Spirit 
 
76 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 wrought powerfully in some parts of the southern 
 states, particularly in Delaware, Virginia, and South 
 Carolina. To all human appearance, it was the salva- 
 tion of the church from an irrecoverable departure 
 from the faith once delivered to the saints. It was as 
 if the Saviour had said to his desponding disciples, 
 "Be not faithless, but believing, and ye shall see 
 greater things than these." 
 
 We have already seen that the Rev. George 
 Whitefield was one of the most zealous and success- 
 ful preachers of that day. I cannot follow him 
 through his marvellous mission, having the everlast- 
 ing gospel to preach wherever he went. It would 
 require a volume. I am happy that the American 
 Tract Society have published his life, in a volume of 
 five hundred pages. But it has seemed to me I could 
 not do less, in justice to him and to " the grace of God 
 which was in him," than to glance for a moment at 
 what he was and what he did. 
 
 It is questionable whether any preacher since the 
 days of the apostles has done so much, in a degener- 
 ate age, to rouse the churches, and "turn back their 
 captivity" from dead formalism, latitudinarian indif- 
 ference, and erroneous proclivities, and to bring them 
 into the old paths in which their Puritan fathers 
 walked, both on this side and beyond the sea. From 
 the commencement of his extraordinary career, like 
 a naming seraph as it were, he passed from city to 
 city, and from land to land, having the everlasting 
 gospel to preach ; attracting the gaze of thousands 
 wherever he went, swaying uncounted multitudes by 
 his fervid and matchless eloquence, and beyond all 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENT CJRY— AMERICA. 71 
 
 per adventure, bringing great numbers, on both sides 
 of the ocean, to the foot of the cross. 
 
 Of Jonathan Edwards, his compeer, and much 
 more in the depths of theological science, it may be 
 said that, in his great sermon on Justification by Faith 
 alone, he struck the key-note of the songs of new-born 
 souls in that revival. 
 
 Restricted as my limits are, I must not omit to 
 add a paragraph or two, from a letter of the Rev. 
 Thomas Prince, Jr., touching that great awakening 
 in Boston. 
 
 " Great numbers in this town were so happily con- 
 cerned about their souls, as we had never seen any 
 thing like it before. Our assemblies, both on lectures 
 and Sabbaths, were surprisingly increased. 
 
 " After Mr. Whitefield left, the Rev. Gilbert Ten- 
 nent came, and he seemed to have as deep an ac- 
 quaintance with the experimental part of religion, as 
 any I ever conversed with, and his preaching was as 
 rousing and searching as I ever heard. He aimed 
 directly at the hearts and consciences of his hearers. 
 His aim was to lay open the delusions of sinners, and 
 show them their numerous hypocritical shifts, and 
 drive them out of every deceitful refuge. From the 
 terrible convictions he had passed through in his own 
 soul, he had such a lively view of the divine Majesty, 
 and of the strictness, spirituality, extent, and justice 
 of his law, that the terrors of God seemed to rise 
 fresh in his mind, when he displayed and brandished 
 them in the eyes of unreconciled sinners. 
 
 "I do not recollect any crying out, or falling 
 down, or fainting, either under Mr. Whitefield's or 
 
78 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Mr. Tennent's preaching ; and though terrible preach- 
 ing may strongly work on the animal passions, and 
 frighten the hearers, rouse the soul, and prepare the 
 way for terrible convictions, yet those mere animal 
 terrors are quite different things from such convic- 
 tions as were wrought in many hundreds by Mr. Ten- 
 nent's searching ministry ; and such was the case of 
 those many scores, in several of the congregations 
 as well as mine, who came to me and others for direc- 
 tion under them. It was such a time as we never 
 knew. Mr. Cooper was wont to say, that more came 
 to him in one week, in deep concern about their souls, 
 than in the whole twenty-four years of his preceding 
 ministry. He had about six hundred different persons 
 visit him in three months' time ; and Mr. "Webb in- 
 forms me he has had, in the same space, above a thou- 
 sand. Sometimes rising of sixty bills were put up at 
 once, in public, by the awakened j and their cases rep- 
 resented were, a blind mind, a vile and hard heart ; 
 some under great temptations, some in concern for 
 their souls ; some in great distress of mind for fear 
 of being unconverted, others for fear they had been 
 all along building on a righteousness of their own ; 
 some for a long time, even for several months, under 
 these convictions ; some fearing lest the Holy Spirit 
 should withdraw ; others having quenched his opera- 
 tions, were in great distress lest he should leave 
 them for ever. 
 
 "Within six months, to the end of January, 1741, 
 there were scores joined to our communicants, the 
 greater part of whom gave a particular account of 
 the work of the Spirit of G-od on their souls and 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— AMERICA. 79 
 
 effectual calling, as is described in the Westminster 
 Assembly's Shorter Catechism. Mr. Webb, senior 
 pastor of the New North, informs me that of admissions 
 to full communion of those hopefully wrought upon in 
 this day of grace, about one hundred and sixty joined 
 his church, of which one hundred and two joined from 
 January, 1741, to 1742, and many more give good 
 evidence of grace. In this year, 1741, the very face 
 of the town seemed to be strangely altered. Some 
 who had not been here since the fall before, have told 
 me of their great surprise at the change in the gen- 
 eral look and carriage of the people, as soon as they 
 landed. One of our worthy gentlemen informed me 
 that whereas, when he used with others on Saturday 
 evening to visit the taverns in order to clear them of 
 their town inhabitants, they were wont to find many 
 there, and meet with much trouble to get them away, 
 he now found them empty of all but lodgers. Thus 
 successfully did the divine work go on in town, with- 
 out any lisp, as I remember, of a separation, either in 
 this town or province, for about a year and a half 
 after Mr. Whitefield left us." 
 
 I have exceedingly interesting accounts before me 
 of nearly simultaneous revivals in Natick, Wrentham, 
 Bridgewater, Plymouth, Sutton, Taunton, Middlebo- 
 rough, Halifax, Reading, Gloucester, Northampton in 
 1740, Raynham, Rochester, Cambridge, Plympton, 
 and other places in Massachusetts • Westerley and 
 Charlestown, in Rhode Island ; Portsmouth and New 
 Castle, in New Hampshire ; Enfield, and other towns 
 already mentioned by Mr. Edwards, in Connecticut ; 
 Newark, Elizabethtown, and several other places in 
 
80 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 New Jersey ; Philadelphia, New Providence, Notting- 
 ham, White Clay Creek, and Neshaminy, in Penn- 
 sylvania. The revival also extended to Virginia, and 
 was quite powerful in some of the counties of that 
 ancient commonwealth. 
 
 The labors of Rev. Mr. Frelinghuysen, who came 
 over from Holland in 1720, were greatly blessed in 
 New Jersey, especially among the Reformed Dutch 
 churches. 
 
 The Rev. Jonathan Dickinson of Elizabethtown, 
 New Jersey, speaking of Elizabethtown and Newark, 
 says, August 23, 1743, " In these towns religion was 
 in a low state, and there was but little of the power 
 of godliness among us till some time in August, 1739, 
 when there was a remarkable revival in Newark. It 
 was chiefly among the young people till the following 
 March, when the whole town was brought under a 
 common concern about their eternal interests ; and 
 there is good reason to conclude that a considerable 
 number experienced a saving change. The summer 
 following this awakening was sensibly abated, till in 
 February, 1741, they were again visited by the special 
 effusions of the Holy Spirit, when a plain familiar ser- 
 mon was set home with power. Many were brought 
 to see and feel that till then they had no more than a 
 name to live, and there seemed to be but very few in 
 the whole congregation who were not moved more 
 or less, though mostly among the rising generation. 
 There is good reason to believe that there were now 
 a greater number brought to Christ than in the former 
 gracious visitation." 
 
 Mr. Dickinson goes on to say that about the same 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— AMERICA. 81 
 
 time there was a powerful revival in Elizabethtown. 
 " Under the preaching of the word, there was a sud- 
 den and deep impression on the congregation. There 
 was no crying out or falling down, as elsewhere hap- 
 pened, but tears and sobbing in almost all parts of the 
 assembly. There appeared such tokens of a solemn 
 and deep concern as I never saw before in any con- 
 gregation. All our opportunities for public worship 
 were carefully attended. Numbers were almost daily 
 repairing to me for direction and assistance in their 
 eternal concerns." 
 
 In another letter written by Mr. Dickinson about 
 that time, he says, " I have still the comfortable news 
 to inform you of, that there is yet a great revival of 
 religion in these parts. I have had more young peo- 
 ple address me for direction in their spiritual con- 
 cerns in three months, than in thirty years before. 
 
 " Though so many were brought under conviction at 
 once, we had very little appearance among us of those 
 irregular heats which are so loudly complained of in 
 other parts of the land. This work was substantially 
 the same in all the subjects of it. Though some were 
 more distressed, and for a longer time than others, 
 none obtained satisfying discoveries of safety in Christ 
 till they were first brought to despair of help from 
 themselves or any of their own refuges. 
 
 " It is remarkable, that as this work began among 
 us in a time of the greatest health and prosperity, so 
 it began sensibly to wear off in a time of the greatest 
 mortality that had ever been known in the town, 
 which makes it appear more evidently to be the work 
 
 of God himself. If we may judge the tree by the 
 
 4* 
 
82 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 fruits which we have now had so long a time to ob- 
 serve — three years or more — -we have reason to sup- 
 pose that about sixty have received a saving change 
 in this congregation." 
 
 It was estimated that, at that time, the population 
 of all the colonies was about 2,000,000 ; and it was 
 believed that the number of converts amounted to 
 not less ih&njifty thousand. If so, they bore as great 
 a proportion to the whole number of inhabitants, and 
 would as much change the relative proportion of the 
 religious and irreligious, as the conversion of six hun- 
 dred thousand would now. How many were hopefully 
 born again, during the same revival in England, Scot- 
 land, and Wales, I have no means of ascertaining. 
 But it admits not of a doubt, that a great multitude 
 were " turned to the Lord." It was a mighty and 
 glorious work of the Holy Spirit, both here and there, 
 such as had not been witnessed for ages. 
 
 In looking back, it is exceedingly interesting to 
 find a revival of the cardinal doctrines of the Ref- 
 ormation, in the preaching of all the distinguished 
 ministers under whom the work was carried on. 
 However they might differ on some points, they 
 " saw eye to eye," and " their testimony agreed to- 
 gether" in every thing that was essential for bring- 
 ing sinners to repentance, and building up the churches 
 in the most holy faith. 
 
 ' Enemies there were to the truth, opposers there 
 were to the revival, scattered all over the land ; min- 
 isters there were who stood aloof from it, but the 
 preaching was evangelical. "The subjects chiefly 
 insisted on, were the sin and apostasy of mankind in 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— AMERICA. 83 
 
 Adam ; the blindness of the natural man in the things 
 of God; the enmity of the carnal mind; the evil of 
 sin; the desert of it, and the utter inability of the 
 fallen creature to relieve itself; the sovereignty of 
 God ; the way of redemption by Christ ; justification 
 through his imputed righteousness received by faith ; 
 this faith the gift of God, and a living principle that 
 worketh by love ; the nature and necessity of regen- 
 eration, and sanctification by the Holy Spirit; and 
 that without holiness no man shall see the Lord." 
 
 " The principal means of the great revival/' says 
 the " Testimony " of a large number of pastors in 
 eastern Massachusetts, printed and sent out to the 
 churches in the summer of 1745, " were the more than 
 ordinary preaching of the more important doctrines of 
 Scripture : as these, namely, The all-seeing eye, purity, 
 justice, truth, power, majesty, and sovereignty of God ; 
 the spirituality, holiness, extent, and strictness of his 
 law ; our original sin, guilt, depravity, and corruption 
 by the fall, including a miserable ignorance of God 
 and enmity against him ; our impotency and aversion 
 to turn to him, the necessity that his law should be 
 fulfilled, his justice satisfied, the honor of his holiness, 
 authority, and truth, maintained in his conduct tow- 
 ards us ; our utter impotence to help ourselves, and 
 our continual hazard of being sent into endless mis- 
 ery ; the astonishing displays of the absolute wisdom 
 and grace of God, in contriving and providing for our 
 redemption; the divinity, mediation, perfect holiness, 
 obedience, sacrifice, merits, satisfaction, purchase, and 
 grace of Christ ; the nature and necessity of regener- 
 ation to the holy image of God by the supernatural 
 
84 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 operation of the divine Spirit, with the various parts 
 of his office in enlightening our minds, awakening our 
 consciences, and wounding, breaking, humbling, sub- 
 duing, and changing our hearts. Also the nature of 
 gospel obedience and holiness, and their necessity, 
 not as matter of justification, but as the fruit and 
 evidence of justifying faith, and to glorify God and 
 enjoy him, the principal end both of our creation and 
 redemption ; and lastly, the sovereignty of the grace 
 of G-od in this whole transaction, from its original 
 purpose to its consummation in glory." 
 
 I am next constrained, in passing, to glance at 
 those "bodily exercises 77 which profit little, and 
 which in some places disturbed the regular order of 
 worship, both in public and private. It were to be 
 wished, that in a revival there should be no excite- 
 ment beyond what the truth, faithfully addressed to 
 the understanding, and applied to the heart and the 
 conscience, is calculated to produce. But the time 
 had not then come. There were nervous contortions, 
 fainting, shrieking, and other disturbances, which 
 sometimes quite drowned the voice of the preacher ; 
 which were looked upon by many as the genuine oper- 
 ations of the Holy Spirit, and of course encouraged, 
 rather than repressed. 
 
 Mr. Whitefield, in the early part of his rousing 
 ministry, undoubtedly rejoiced to witness these surg- 
 ings and outcries in the vast multitudes under his 
 preaching. Long experience and observation, how- 
 ever, very much modified his early impressions, if they 
 did not convince him that shrieks and convulsions 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— AMERICA. 85 
 
 were no certain proofs of genuine conviction. Some 
 other popular preachers evidently encouraged these 
 outbreaks, under the persuasion that they were ex- 
 cited by the mighty power of God. Even Edwards, 
 in his early experience in revivals, seems not very 
 decidedly to have discountenanced them ; but observ- 
 ing how little they profited, how soon they passed 
 away, as the morning cloud and the early dew, he 
 " stood more and more in doubt of them," and used 
 his influence to discourage them, as in his searching 
 treatise on the Affections. % 
 
 The leading ministers in Boston and many others 
 were from the first afraid of them, as calculated rather 
 to mar and bring the revival into discredit, than to 
 promote and extend it; and wherever they were 
 promptly checked, the revival went on quietly, with 
 great solemnity, and produced more genuine and 
 abundant fruit. 
 
 On the other hand, while some of the most zealous 
 and successful preachers of the day relied too much 
 upon such outward demonstrations, others went quite 
 into the opposite extreme, and set themselves to dis- 
 countenance the work and keep it out of their parish- 
 es, under the impression that if there was some good 
 in it, it was vastly overbalanced by the fanaticism 
 which it engendered and promoted. This opposition 
 was a great damper upon the revival, and great evils 
 and divisions grew out of the two extremes. As 
 religion had sunk so low when this great awakening 
 broke in upon the deep slumber of the churches, it is 
 not strange that they fell into mistakes and extremes 
 which many of the ministers afterwards saw and 
 
86 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 lamented. Notwithstanding these agitations upon 
 the surface, the undercurrent was borne on by the 
 Spirit of God, and watering the fields, produced 
 abundant harvests. 
 
 But a check was coming in from an unexpected 
 quarter, which, to a lamentable extent, arrested its 
 progress. It was not the opposition of the enemies 
 of the work. In spite of all they could do to arrest 
 it, it might have gone on indefinitely. It was not an 
 enemy but a friend who did it ; and of this he deeply 
 repented, when it was too late to repair the mischief. 
 
 In looking back upon the progress of the great 
 awakening, up to 1742, it is evident that the excite- 
 ments which attended it, and were but too much en- 
 couraged in many places, prepared the way for that 
 outburst of fanaticism which Edwards and others, 
 who had seen and rejoiced in the salvation of God, 
 so deeply deplored. 
 
 From the strong persuasion that those bodily agi- 
 tations, groans, and outcries which they had witness- 
 ed, were essential features and parts of the revival, it 
 was but a step or two more to visions and revelations, 
 when a leader should arise, of unquestioned piety, 
 whose praise was in the churches. Such a leader was 
 the Rev. James Davenport, a lineal descendant of the 
 renowned John Davenport of New Haven and Bos- 
 ton, which circumstance no doubt added to his influ- 
 ence over many predisposed minds. He was settled 
 at Southold, Long Island, and was a favorite of 
 Whitefield. He had stood high in the opinion of the 
 Tennents. Mr. Whitefield said he never knew one 
 keep so " close a walk with God ;" and Mr. Parsons 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— AMERICA. Si 
 
 of Lyme, another distinguished laborer in the work, 
 said that not one minister whom he had seen was to 
 be compared to Mr. Davenport for living near to 
 God, and having his conversation always in heaven. 
 When he had lost his balance, after performing great 
 and successful labors, he, more than any other man, 
 embodied in himself and promoted in others the ex- 
 travagances into which the revival was running. In 
 admiring the " spirit of the age," as it appeared in 
 him, men of a fanatical turn admired their own spirit. 
 Going foremost in the wrong direction, he was by 
 many regarded as a model man and preacher, by a 
 comparison with whom all others were to be judged. 
 It appears from the concurrent testimony of all 
 parties, that his influence, so far as it was felt, brought 
 the revival to a crisis. Commencing with his own 
 church, he called those whom he esteemed regenerate, 
 brother, and the others, neighbor ; the latter of whom 
 he soon forbade to come to the Lord's table. He 
 next went from place to place denouncing churches 
 that hesitated to receive him, claiming the right to 
 demand of ministers the grounds of their Christian 
 hope; and when they refused to answer, or their 
 answers were unsatisfactory, he declared them to be 
 unconverted, and warned the people against hearing 
 them. When, on a certain occasion, four ministers 
 called to see him and remonstrate against his career, 
 he broke out and vehemently lectured them as uncon- 
 verted men, blind guides, wolves in sheep's clothing, 
 and the like; and wound up by offering a prayer, 
 partly for their conversion, and partly against them. 
 Thus he went on from place to place, demanding of 
 
88 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ministers an account of their religious experience, 
 and condemning all who refused to give it. In this 
 fanatical mission, to which he nothing doubted God 
 had called him, he became more and more excited in 
 denouncing all who opposed him, encouraging visions 
 and revelations among his deluded followers, dividing 
 and breaking up churches, and bringing great reproach 
 upon the revival by leading many unwarrantably to 
 identify it with these deplorable proceedings. 
 
 The epidemic reached its crisis at New London, 
 in the month of March, 1743, where he gave out a 
 catalogue of religious books which must be brought 
 together and burned, as unsafe in the hands of the 
 people. They were accordingly carried to the wharf 
 and burned by his followers, singing round the pile 
 Hallelujah and glory to God, and declaring, that as 
 the smoke of these books ascended up in their pres- 
 ence, so the smoke of the torment of such of their 
 authors as died in the same belief, was now ascending 
 in hell. Strange to tell, among those authors were 
 Berridge, Flavel, Mather, Colman, and Sewall, not 
 even sparing Parsons, one of the most fervid revival- 
 ists. This was the last and crowning act of fanati- 
 cism, so far at least as Davenport was concerned. 
 From this time he disappears from the stage, till the 
 summer of 1744. Charity believes that this burning 
 zeal, spurning all restraint, then reached the crisis of 
 absolute mental derangement. But, blessed be God, 
 it was not to last ; and when he came to himself, he 
 the next year published, July 28, 1744, his humble 
 recantations, from which, in justice to him, I make 
 the following brief extracts : 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— AMERICA. 89 
 
 " Although I do not question at all "but there is 
 great reason to bless God for a glorious and won- 
 derful work of his power and grace, in the edification 
 of his children, and the conviction and conversion of 
 numbers in New England, in the neighboring govern- 
 ments, and several other parts, within a few years 
 past, and believe that the Lord hath favored me, though 
 most unworthy, in granting special assistance and 
 success, the glory of all which be given to Jehovah, 
 to whom the glory belongs ; yet, after frequent medi- 
 tation and desires that I might be enabled to appre- 
 hend things justly, I am fully convinced and per- 
 suaded that several appendages of this glorious work 
 are no essential parts thereof, but of a different and 
 contrary nature and tendency, which I have been in- 
 strumental in promoting by a misguided zeal ; being, 
 further, much influenced in the affair by the false spirit 
 which prompted me to unjust apprehensions and con- 
 duct in several particulars, which have been great 
 blemishes to the work of God, very grievous to some of 
 God's children, no less ensnaring and corrupting to 
 others of them, the sad means of many persons question- 
 ing the work of God, concluding and appearing against 
 it, and of the hardening of multitudes in their sins, and 
 an awful occasion of the enemy's blaspheming the right 
 way of the Lord, and very offensive to that God before 
 whom I would lie in the dust prostrate in deep humil- 
 ity and repentance, imploring pardon for the Media- 
 tor's sake, and thankfully accepting the token thereof. 
 
 " The articles which I specially refer to, and in 
 the most public manner retract and warn others 
 against, are these which follow : 
 
90 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 "1. The method I used for a considerable time 
 with respect to some ministers, in openly exposing 
 such as I feared or thought unconverted, in public 
 prayer or otherwise ; herein making my private judg- 
 ment, in which also I much suspect I was mistaken in 
 several instances, the ground of public actions or 
 conduct, offending against the laws both of justice 
 and charity. 
 
 " 2. By advising and urging to such separations 
 from those ministers whom I treated as above, as I 
 believe may justly be called rash, unwarrantable, and 
 of sad and awful tendency and consequence; and 
 here I would ask the forgiveness of those ministers 
 whom I have injured. 
 
 " 3. I confess I have been much led astray by fol- 
 lowing impulses or impressions as a rule of conduct, 
 whether they came with or without a text of Scrip- 
 ture. I am persuaded this was a great means of cor- 
 rupting my experiences in carrying me off from the 
 word of God. 
 
 " 4. I believe further that I have done much hurt 
 to religion, by encouraging private persons to a mag- 
 isterial or authoritative kind of method of exhorting, 
 which is particularly observable in many such being 
 much puffed up and falling into the snare of the devil, 
 while many others are thus directly prejudiced against 
 the work. 
 
 " And now may the holy and wise and good God 
 be pleased to guard and secure me against such errors 
 for the future, and stop the progress of those, whether 
 ministers or people, who have been corrupted by my 
 words or example; and Oh, may he grant withal, 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— AMERICA. 91 
 
 that such as by reason of the foresaid errors and mis- 
 conduct have entertained unhappy prejudices against 
 Christianity in general, or the late glorious work of 
 God in particular, may by this account learn to dis- 
 tinguish the appendages from the substance or essence, 
 that which is vile and odious from that which is pre- 
 cious, glorious, and divine, and thus be entirely and 
 happily freed from all those prejudices referred to, 
 and this in infinite "mercy through Jesus Christ ; and 
 to these requests may all Cod's children, whether 
 ministers or others, say, Amen." 
 
 That so pious and devoted a minister as Mr. 
 Davenport was believed to be by his contemporaries 
 who knew him best, and as he doubtless was, should 
 be left to bring so much distrust and reproach upon 
 the most glorious revival that the country had ever 
 enjoyed, was a mystery which will not be fully dis- 
 closed till the judgment of the great day. But it is 
 full of instruction and warning. The great Head 
 of the church may have seen that such a lesson of 
 human weakness at its best estate, should be put 
 upon record as a warning to "the generations fol- 
 lowing." 
 
 The rapid sketch which I have given of that won- 
 derful time of refreshing, almost a century and a quar- 
 ter ago, would have been one-sided and incomplete 
 if I had omitted these statements. It is due to those 
 into whose hands this epitome may fall, that they 
 should be put on their guard against such outbreaks 
 of animal excitement and enthusiasm as have marred 
 and cut short former revivals. 
 
92 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 After making every abatement, the years of the 
 " Great Awakening " were precious years of the right 
 hand of the Most High. It left the churches of New 
 England in a far sounder and better state than it 
 found them. It effectually shut the door against ad- 
 mitting unregenerate persons to the Lord's supper 
 as a converting ordinance, which Mr. Stoddard had 
 unhappily opened in his own church, and by his writ- 
 ings in others. Reasoning out of the Scriptures, Mr. 
 Edwards, in his " Terms of Communion/' showed the 
 practice to be wholly indefensible • and I am not 
 aware that any evangelical church has favored it 
 since. This was a great gain. Had the practice 
 been continued, and become universal, it would have 
 been more than a paralysis. The churches might 
 have retained their names, but as true churches of 
 Christ they would not have survived. 
 
 Another important gain was, that the revival, 
 widely extended and powerful as it was, prepared 
 the way for freeing the churches from the " Half-way 
 Covenant." Though in some quarters it held its 
 ground longer, it was very much circumscribed. We 
 shall meet with some remains of it hereafter, but dy- 
 ing out. 
 
 Another immense gain to the cause of Christ was, 
 that it greatly relieved the churches from the sopo- 
 rific influence of an unconverted ministry. It was 
 admitted that there were unconverted pastors over 
 some of the churches, and regeneration had come to 
 be thought by many no essential qualification for the 
 sacred office. It was held, that if preachers were 
 men of blameless lives they were not to be rejected 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— AMERICA. 93 
 
 though they did not profess to have been born again. 
 Some of this number were the subjects of the revival, 
 and confessed that they had preached for years with- 
 out knowing what experimental piety was. In this 
 respect the revival prepared the way for a great 
 change for the better. It is not claimed that there 
 can be any certain protection against the intrusion 
 of unconverted men into the ministry. The strictest 
 examination for the cure of souls cannot shut them 
 out, for God alone knows the heart ; but that none 
 save converted men are fit to enter the ministry, is 
 now universally held by the evangelical churches of 
 all denominations. 
 
 Moreover, the preaching in the orthodox churches 
 has, ever since this great revival, been more spir- 
 itual and discriminating than it was when it began. 
 The cardinal doctrines of universal and entire de- 
 pravity, regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and justifi- 
 cation by faith alone, with other kindred evangelical 
 topics drawn from the word of God, held from that 
 time forth a more prominent place in the ministra- 
 tions of the pulpit, than they had done for ages 
 before. 
 
 Hence, though all that could have been desired 
 was not accomplished, the good seed was sown broad- 
 cast over the land ; and though we shall find, in the 
 next period, that many hostile influences checked its 
 growth for nearly half a century, it was so far from 
 being lost where it did not spring up at once, that it 
 was to take root and grow and ripen into other har- 
 vests, with more wheat, fewer tares, and less chaff. 
 
94 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE REVIVAL EPOCH ABOUT 1800. 
 
 Passing from the glorious revival period, about 
 the middle of the last century, under the preaching 
 of Edwards, Whitefield, the two Tennents, Dr. Bel- 
 lamy, and other apostolic laborers, we find the shad- 
 ows of a long night settling down again upon the 
 churches of this land. Like Israel of old, the most 
 of them were in the wilderness about forty years, 
 and only kept alive by supplies of the heavenly 
 manna, and of the water from the Rock. From 1745, 
 to near the close of the century, the Holy Spirit with- 
 held in a great measure those copious refreshings, 
 which had turned so many parched fields into gar- 
 dens of the Lord, and made their fruit shake like 
 Lebanon. At no time, indeed, during that period 
 was it all dark, all barren. All along, here and 
 there over the wide waste, some precious revivals 
 broke out, " like streams in the desert/' to keep alive 
 the faith, and gladden the hearts of those who mourn- 
 ed over the desolations of Zion. Towards the close 
 of the period, there were more of these than I had 
 supposed, till I met with notices of several of unmis- 
 takable genuineness between 1770 and 1790 in New 
 England and the Middle States including the new 
 settlements of Western Pennsylvania, and with some 
 further south, especially as recorded in Dr. Alexan- 
 der's narrative of what he himself witnessed in South- 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 95 
 
 ern and Western Virginia, about 1790.* These were 
 the harbingers of that bright rising of the Sun of 
 righteousness, which I am now approaching in these 
 revival sketches. 
 
 It had been a long hard winter, in which the cur- 
 rent of spiritual life was all but frozen up, and it 
 seemed almost as if the winding-sheet which was 
 spread over the land would never be taken off. But 
 at the same time, precious fruits of the great harvest 
 which had been garnered remained. None of the 
 churches, I believe, that had renounced the Half-way 
 Covenant in the Great Awakening, brought it back 
 again, though it still lingered in churches which that 
 revival, if it reached them at all, left but half re- 
 formed. I found it in Fairfield, Connecticut, where I 
 was first settled, in 1807. Some other churches in that 
 county had not yet given it up. It was also found in 
 some of the Presbyterian churches, and it prevailed 
 extensively for some time longer in the eastern and 
 central parts of Massachusetts. If it still darkens 
 the half-open door of any evangelical church, I do not 
 know where it is. Other vantage ground was gained 
 in the " Great Awakening," from which the churches 
 did not slide back. 
 
 But although, when a brighter day dawned near 
 the close of the century, it was not necessary to " lay 
 again the foundation of repentance from dead works, 
 and of faith towards God," as in the preceding ref- 
 ormation, the building did not go up. Dark days 
 intervened, during which, instead of making any 
 
 * See the Life of Dr. Archibald Alexander, by Dr. James 
 W. Alexander, chs. 2, 3, 4. 
 
96 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 aggressive inroads upon the kingdom of darkness, the 
 churches lost ground. The fathers and mothers who 
 had been converted under Edwards and the other 
 rousing preachers of his day, were passing off from 
 the stage, and but few of the younger generation were 
 coming on to fill their places. Many orthodox church- 
 es might be named, into which for long years no young 
 persons, or next to none, were received. 
 
 Most of the ministers, indeed, where the great re- 
 vivals in the middle of the century had been enjoyed, 
 were sound in the faith, and preached the distinguish- 
 ing doctrines of the gospel. In obedience to the word 
 of the Lord, they kept on prophesying over the dry 
 bones; but for the most part were constrained to 
 ask, "Who hath believed our report? and to whom 
 is the arm of the Lord revealed?' 7 While they did 
 not cease to pray, " Lord, revive thy work in the 
 midst of the years, in wrath remember mercy," they 
 hardly dared to hope for so great a blessing. Such 
 was the state of things till near the close of the 
 century. 
 
 We are next to inquire, what were the causes of 
 the alarming dearth and declension just mentioned, 
 before we hail the dawn of a brighter day. In look- 
 ing back upon that period, some of these causes are 
 too obvious to be mistaken. 
 
 First came what is familiarly called, the " Old 
 French war." While we slept, the enemy, ever 
 awake and aggressive, had been skilfully drawing 
 a line of circumvallation quite round the English 
 colonies, to hem us in, by building a chain of forts 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 91 
 
 from Louisburg and Quebec on the north, by the way 
 of Detroit and St. Louis, down to the mouth of the 
 Mississippi. And now it was, that France, aided by 
 the warlike tribes of Indians whom she could enlist 
 in the bloody enterprise, sought to bring all North 
 America under the yoke of Rome. God interposed, 
 and the attempt signally failed. But the danger, 
 while it lasted, created universal alarm; and the 
 necessary defence of the frontiers demanded all the 
 force that could be raised, and absorbed the anxious 
 minds of the whole population. In this state of things, 
 it would have been strange indeed if the churches 
 had been visited by revivals — if the cause of Christ 
 had not declined, as it did. 
 
 Scarcely was that danger over, when serious diffi- 
 culties broke out between the colonists and the moth- 
 er country, and continued to increase till they issued 
 in the war of the Revolution. Here, again, it would 
 have been very remarkable if, in the midst of all 
 these agitations of the then infant settlements, revi- 
 vals had sprung up. They did not. Humanly speak- 
 ing, there was no room for them. And we know that 
 God works by means, in favorable seasons, and orders 
 events for building up his churches, as well as for 
 accomplishing his other great purposes. 
 
 When the war of Independence broke out, in 1775, 
 the state of the country was, if possible, still more 
 unfavorable to the progress of true religion. It was 
 a struggle for colonial emancipation, with one of the 
 most powerful nations of the world, which lasted 
 seven years, during which the shifting and sometimes 
 the almost despairing fortunes of the bloody contest 
 
 Eev. Sketches. f) 
 
98 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 shallowed up every other interest; so that instead 
 of revival rejoicings, were heard the confused noise 
 of the battle of the warriors, " the thunder of the cap- 
 tains, and the shouting." In such a state of things, 
 when the American armies were wading through frost 
 and blood to conquer national independence, and the 
 anxious hopes and fears of the whole people were 
 alternately swallowed up in the mighty struggle, how 
 could religion prosper ? The Spirit of God is a spirit 
 of peace, and not of war. I know that G-od is able 
 to build up his churches in the midst of wars and 
 fightings, just as he is able to awaken and convert 
 hardened sinners under the most unfavorable circum- 
 stances ; but this is not his manner. To show that 
 he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and 
 that he can carry on his work in spite of the most 
 hostile influences, he may work wonders. But how 
 few revivals have ever been witnessed in the midst 
 of a desolating war. If any, they have been extra- 
 ordinary interpositions of divine sovereignty. Some 
 may have occurred during the seven years' war ; but 
 if any, I do not know where to find the record. Cer- 
 tain I am, that that bloody contest was directly op- 
 posed, as all wars are, to the spiritual growth of the 
 churches. It left them much weaker than it found 
 them. 
 
 When it closed, and the armies were disbanded, 
 many of the officers and soldiers brought home with 
 them the dissipated and demoralizing habits of the 
 camp, such as profaneness, intemperance, and Sab- 
 bath-breaking — influences as hostile to revivals as the 
 war itself. And scarcely less so was the unsettled 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 99 
 
 state of affairs throughout the country, till the new 
 government was organized and established by the 
 adoption of the Federal Constitution. The minds of 
 the people were too much agitated and engrossed by 
 conflicting political interests, to have much room for 
 more than the ordinary routine of religious obser- 
 vances. Revivals were hardly expected anywhere 
 during those years of civil agitation, and they were 
 not enjoyed. Zion languished. While the form of 
 godliness remained in the churches, there was but 
 little of the power. 
 
 In the mean time, as might have been expected, 
 French Infidelity, which our allies brought over with 
 them, was sowed broadcast among our own officers 
 and soldiers. Aided by Paine's "Age of Reason," 
 Voltaire's assaults upon Christianity, Yolney's Ruins, 
 and other blasphemous publications, it spread rapidly, 
 especially among the upper classes. The Illuminati, 
 so called, of France and Germany, who were secretly 
 associated for the overthrow of all existing religious 
 institutions, had their affiliated societies in this coun- 
 try, enrolling not a few men of high social and politi- 
 cal standing and influence. It became fashionable, 
 in high places and low places, flippantly to prate 
 against the Bible, and sneer at things sacred and di- 
 vine. Instead of the Scriptures, French philosophy 
 claimed to be the rule of faith and life, and ignoring 
 all the " rights of God," was to usher in the glorious 
 millennium of the " rights of man." 
 
 Towards the close of that period, in 1789, broke 
 out the French Revolution, the bloodiest of all revolu- 
 tions, which was not only to sweep away the throne, 
 
100 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 and level all the civil distinctions of society, but to 
 destroy the priesthood, root and branch, abolish the 
 Sabbath, and establish the reign of liberty and equality 
 on the ruins. Though the unheard of atrocities of 
 that reign of terror sent a thrill of horror through the 
 whole civilized world, so dear was our new-born 
 liberty to us, that the very name had a charm in it, 
 which at first excited our fraternal sympathies, not- 
 withstanding our abhorrence of the fiendish atrocities 
 by which it had been sought to be acquired. 
 
 How hostile all this was to the interests of pure 
 and undefiled religion it is needless to say ; and when 
 from this point we look back to the reaction which 
 followed the Great Awakening, and then come down 
 through the revolutionary war to the return of peace, 
 which brought with it the moral camp-distemper that 
 wars always generate, and glance at the agitations 
 of the public mind which preceded the adoption of the 
 Federal constitution, who can wonder that there were 
 so few revivals, or rather, not wonder that there were 
 any during all that upheaving tempestuous period. It 
 seemed as if the floods of ungodliness must swallow 
 up the church. The few survivors who remembered 
 the days of old, when multitudes were gathered in the 
 times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, 
 were ready to ask, Are the mercies of God clean 
 gone for ever ? Will he be favorable no more ? 
 
 But just then when it seemed to grow darker and 
 darker, the night was far spent, and the day was at 
 hand. A few years before the close of the century 
 the light of a new revival epoch began to dawn. Here 
 and there a church rose and shook herself from the 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 101 
 
 dust. Sinners were awakened, and began to inquire 
 what they must do to be saved. So that when the old 
 century was departing, and the new century came in, 
 many a field that had long been languishing began to 
 rejoice under the reviving influence. Christ by his 
 Spirit came down, here and there, like rain upon the 
 mown grass, and like showers that water the earth. 
 
 It is of the commencement, and progress, and fruits 
 of that remarkable revival epoch, that I am now to 
 speak, reserving for subsequent pages a notice of the 
 remarkable work which God was effecting simultane- 
 ously in the mother country. 
 
 And here ample materials are at hand for a vol- 
 ume, in the narratives drawn up at the time by pas- 
 tors of the churches, and published in the Connecticut 
 Evangelical Magazine and other religious annals. Of 
 these I shall avail myself as far as my design and 
 limits will admit. 
 
 And here let me say, it is with no ordinary solici- 
 tude that I approach this remarkable revival epoch. 
 The theme is high ; I cannot attain unto it. Lord, 
 help my infirmities. It is a gloriously illuminated 
 chapter in the History of Redemption. It were easy 
 to collect materials more than enough- But to con- 
 dense and arrange them in the best manner ; to show 
 in what respects this revival epoch differed from those 
 in the preceding centuries, at which I have already 
 glanced ; to gather up its precious fruits, and to show 
 its bearing upon the further advancement of the Re- 
 deemer's kingdom, is a task which, so far as I know, 
 has not yet been accomplished by any one, and to 
 
102 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 which I feel myself very unequal. Nevertheless, the 
 plan which I have marked out for chronicling the 
 triumphs of the cross in these sketches, does not allow 
 me to shrink from the attempt. 
 
 When this fresh outpouring of the Spirit began, I 
 was just coming upon the stage, and God had cast my 
 lot in that part of the vineyard where the gospel had 
 been faithfully preached by ministers who were anx- 
 iously waiting for the Saviour's return. I knew them, 
 and often heard them preach, before and during the 
 revivals. Now, after more than fifty years, I have a 
 distinct recollection of their countenances, their tones 
 of voice, their earnest and solemn appeals, their going 
 out and coming in among the people. They had 
 diversities of natural gifts and acquired qualifica- 
 tions, but the same Spirit. There was no such mas- 
 sive pillar among them as Jonathan Edwards, to lean 
 upon. It was not needed. There was no Whitefield 
 to pass from town to town, from state to state, gather- 
 ing his thousands in the open air, and swaying them 
 by his soul and tongue of fire, as the trees of a forest 
 are bowed and shaken by mighty winds. There was 
 no voice like his to fill the open firmament of heaven 
 with the thunder ings of Sinai, and the melting tones 
 of Calvary. But there were Bellamys to stand upon 
 the heights and make the curses of the law reverber- 
 ate from Ebal to Gerizim, and from Gerizim to Ebal. 
 As in the primitive age, there were sons of thunder, 
 and sons of consolation among them. There was the 
 younger Edwards, a great master of logic, and mighty 
 in the Scriptures. There was Griffin having just 
 buckled on the harness, a young Melancthon, in the 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 103 
 
 ardor of his first love for Christ, majestic in stature, 
 with a voice of extraordinary flexibility and power, 
 combining some of the finest tones of the organ with 
 the softest and tenderest notes of the flute. I thought 
 then, and think now, that I never heard such a voice 
 in the pulpit. He was a great preacher in the best 
 sense of the term, and his labors, as we shall see, were 
 abundantly blessed in winning souls to Christ. And 
 then there was Hallock, quite his counterpart in some 
 respects, bred a farmer in one of the small hill towns 
 of Massachusetts; untrained in the higher schools; 
 meek as the meekest disciple, always readier to say, 
 Brother, go up higher, than to go himself; but a man 
 of good natural talents, shrewd common-sense, deep 
 humble piety, and an irrepressible longing after souls 
 in the bowels of Jesus Christ. He came late into the 
 ministry, and without the slightest pretension to pop- 
 ular address or rhetoric, became one of the most hon- 
 ored, beloved, and useful ministers of his day. No 
 one was more acceptable in that revival than he. 
 
 Nor were these more worthy or devoted than 
 many others. There were Bobbins and Backus and 
 Mills and Gillett and Perkins and Strong and Porter 
 and Hooker and Miller and Williams and Cooley 
 and Hawley and Cowles, of like precious faith, whose 
 lips the Lord touched as with live coals from off the 
 altar, whose parishes were contiguous, and whose 
 labors were abundantly blessed. Most of them be- 
 longed to the same district association. They held 
 their monthly meetings for mutual improvement and 
 prayer, in which they wrestled together and prevailed. 
 I have named them, not as more worthy to be had 
 
104 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 in everlasting remembrance than Dwight, Hyde, Cat- 
 lin, Stillman, Baldwin, Manning, Mason, Livingston, 
 Furman, Marshall, and many others of their brethren 
 in other parts of the vineyard that were copiously 
 watered by the same showers, but because I knew and 
 heard them, and witnessed the effects of their labors. 
 Their preaching was not in man's wisdom, but in 
 demonstration of the Spirit, and with power. It was 
 eminently scriptural. The ministers of that day read 
 and studied the Bible more than all other books. They 
 had received it from their Master as their only com- 
 mission, and in virtue of it, as ambassadors for Christ, 
 they besought sinners in his stead to be reconciled to 
 God. It was surprising to notice with what facility 
 they would quote chapter and verse from all parts of 
 both Testaments, without turning over a single leaf. 
 Indeed, it sometimes seemed to me as if they knew all 
 the Bible by heart ; and it is no disparagement to 
 say, that they did know much more of it than most 
 preachers do now. They had a great deal more of it 
 in their sermons. Almost all their illustrations, as 
 well as their proofs, were drawn from its rich and 
 inexhaustible treasures. " Thus saith the Lord," was 
 enough for them, let who would criticize, cavil, or 
 blaspheme. They did not shun, either from fear or 
 favor, to declare all the counsel of God, as they un- 
 derstood it, whether men would hear, or whether 
 they would forbear. They did not wreathe the sword 
 around with flowers, but left the two edges bare and 
 sharp, to cut where they would — the deeper the bet- 
 ter ; and they applied no emollients to heal the hurt 
 slightly. 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 105 
 
 The fathers of that day, of whom I am speaking, 
 whatever else any of them may have lacked, were 
 Gamaliels in the law and the prophets. They made 
 no appeals to the passions, and there were no out- 
 cries and convulsions under their preaching, as there 
 had been in the " Great Awakening." 
 
 The word of God, as our minister used it, was quick 
 and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, and 
 piercing even to the dividing asunder of the joints 
 and the marrow, and discerning the thoughts and 
 intents of the heart. Oh how we smarted under it. 
 I remember it well in my own case, and how my 
 heart rebelled against some of the doctrines which 
 my Bible and my conscience told me were true, till, 
 as I hope, I was brought to bow and submit at the 
 foot of the cross. And as it was with me, so it was 
 with multitudes of others. We complained of some 
 of Paul's hard sayings, and wondered why our minis- 
 ters dwelt so much upon them. We wanted to get to 
 heaven in some easier way. But instead of abating 
 one jot or tittle to relieve us, they pressed harder 
 and harder, driving us from one refuge to another, 
 till there was no hiding-place left. The law, which 
 we had broken times without number, we were made 
 to feel was just ; its fiery penalty hung over our heads, 
 and we must submit or die. Under such preaching 
 it was hard to get hopes ; but when embraced, they 
 were more to be relied upon, than if they had been 
 gained in some easier way. 
 
 Our spiritual guides and teachers never said to 
 us, when under awakening, "Don't be discouraged; 
 wait God's time, and he will deliver you." No, no ; 
 
 5* 
 
106 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 but, " How long will you hold out in your rebellion 
 against G-od?" They never asked us while in this 
 state, "Don't you feel better?" but, "Why don't you 
 submit to God, and cast yourselves upon his mercy, 
 embracing the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, who came 
 down from heaven on purpose to save the lost. Turn 
 ye, turn ye ; why will ye die V 
 
 I do not say that this law work, as it has been 
 appropriately called, was alike marked and pungent 
 in all cases. It was not. He who worketh all things 
 according to the counsel of his own will, opened some 
 hearts, as he seems to have opened that of Lydia, at 
 once to receive the truth in the love of it. But I am 
 quite sure, that in most cases the conversions in that 
 revival were preceded by sharp conviction of sin and 
 of deserved punishment. It was eminently a law revi- 
 val, issuing in the more abundant and abiding conso- 
 lations of the gospel. Those loved most, who felt 
 that they had been forgiven most. 
 
 As our pastors were careful not to encourage us 
 that we had passed from death unto life without good 
 scripture evidence of the change, they were very strict 
 in their examinations for church-membership. If they 
 thought any of the candidates did not give satisfactory 
 evidence of having been converted, they did not hesi- 
 tate to tell them so. In this way, not a few were 
 kept back, and solemnly exhorted to begin anew, and 
 never rest satisfied till they could obtain better evi- 
 dence. 
 
 That some real converts may, under this scrutiny, 
 have been thrown into needless alarm and distress, 
 and kept out of the church too long, is not improba- 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 10T 
 
 ble ; but others afterwards thanked their pastors, with 
 tears in their eyes, for having dealt with them so 
 faithfully, saying, We now see that we were building 
 on a false foundation ; and if you had encouraged us, 
 we should in all likelihood have settled down upon 
 it and lost our souls. On which side it is safest to 
 err, in dealing with new-born hopes, who can doubt? 
 If a person has been truly converted, no degree of 
 strictness in his examination, though it should shake 
 his hope for the time, and give him needless distress, 
 can endanger his salvation. Born of God, his seed 
 will remain in him, and a prayerful revision of the 
 ground of his hope may help in the end to strengthen 
 and establish it. Whereas, on. the contrary, too much 
 encouragement may induce one who is unconverted 
 to settle down upon a false hope and perish, who, to 
 human view; might have been saved by the faithful 
 dealing of his spiritual teacher. It is not supposable 
 that the former, when he gets to heaven, will be sorry 
 that his pastor was so strict in examining the founda- 
 tion of his hope, though it may have given him pain ; 
 but it is more than probable, that the latter may re- 
 proach his minister at the bar of God for healing the 
 hurt slightly. 
 
 In the revival of which I am now speaking, the 
 pastors called in no evangelists without charge to aid 
 them. They did all the preaching themselves, help- 
 ing one another as occasion required. This they 
 did by occasional exchanges, and oftener at weekly 
 lectures. They also sometimes went round from par- 
 ish to parish, two and two by appointment. These 
 visits by brethren who came with hearts warmed in 
 
108 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 revivals at home, were very much blessed. I remem- 
 ber them during the revival in B , where I was 
 
 brought up. One of the ministers preached at one 
 service, and the other followed with an address. In 
 the next, the order was reversed ; and this was the 
 usual way at those meetings. Besides the two regu- 
 lar services on the Sabbath, there were prayer-meet- 
 ings in the evening, (conferences they were then call- 
 ed,) which the pastors generally attended, aided by 
 some of the lay brethren. One week-day lecture 
 was preached, sometimes two, and evening meetings 
 were held at the school-houses, more or less, in the 
 out districts of the congregation. Taken altogether, 
 I think there were not so many extra meetings as 
 are common now in powerful revivals. Perhaps there 
 were not enough. Though I am not sure. Christians 
 may be so much abroad as to leave but little time 
 for home duties in the family and the closet. Is not 
 this sometimes the case? I think it is. It is easier 
 to sit and listen and enjoy the social meeting, than to 
 keep the heart in a humble and devout frame for 
 secret prayer ; and I am afraid too many Christians 
 are ready to excuse themselves for want of punctuali- 
 ty in the latter, by thinking that they make it up and 
 more by going to all the meetings. And this leads 
 me to ask, Is there not more time spent in secret 
 wrestling with the Angel of the covenant in the earlier 
 stages of revivals, than in the later? and if so, may 
 not this neglect be one principal reason why many of 
 these precious seasons are of such short continuance ? 
 The ministers of that day held no four-days\ or 
 other protracted meetings. They depended much on 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 109 
 
 the preaching of the word upon the Sabbath, for the 
 awakening- of sinners; and I believe this divinely 
 appointed means was more owned and blessed than 
 perhaps all the auxiliary services put together, impor- 
 tant and helpful as they undoubtedly were. 
 
 Those pastors had no seats set apart for the awa- 
 kened, nor did they call upon any who wished for 
 special prayer to signify it by rising in the meetings. 
 Much as they rejoiced when many were turned to the 
 Lord, they never, I believe, urged young converts to 
 come forward and take part, till they had had some 
 time to examine the foundation of their hopes ; think- 
 ing it safer than the haste and urgency which are 
 sometimes employed. There is doubtless such a thing 
 as keeping back converts so long, that through diffi- 
 dence they may be unwilling to pray and exhort when 
 their assistance in the prayer-meetings would be very 
 acceptable and edifying. This, as well as the oppo- 
 site extreme, should be guarded against. Pastors 
 want all the good lay help they can get, and every 
 genuine revival brings some men into the church who 
 may be trained up for these auxiliary services. 
 
 Before presenting from laborers in these revivals 
 more minute and detailed testimonies to their char- 
 acter and results, I am sure I shall gratify many by 
 drawing from the eloquent public discourses of Dr. 
 Edward D. Griffin, an expression of his views of this 
 great work of God, the influence of which so distinct- 
 ly characterized the whole of his brilliant career, and 
 in which he was himself one of the earliest con- 
 verts. 
 
110 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Graduating at Yale college in 1790, at the age 
 of twenty, the next year he was taken sick, brought 
 to reflection, and led to consecrate himself to Christ 
 and the ministry. He studied theology with the 
 younger President Edwards, was licensed, and in 1792 
 found himself at his father's house in East Haddam, 
 Connecticut, " the only professor of religion in a fam- 
 ily of ten." He labored for their salvation ; attended 
 a prayer-meeting in the neighborhood j and in Novem- 
 ber, while one of his sisters " was weeping in anguish 
 of spirit," he was making his appeals to those around 
 him. " That/ 7 said he, " was the beginning of Amer- 
 ican revivals so far as they fell under my personal 
 observation, and from that moment I know they have 
 never ceased." In January he commenced preach- 
 ing in New Salem, a neighboring village, where his 
 labors were blessed in " a revival of great power, and 
 a church was gathered where there had not been one 
 for more than forty years," and there and in the vicin- 
 ity " about one hundred were hopefully added to the 
 Lord." Speaking of this period, he says, "I had an 
 opportunity to see the whole field of death before a 
 bone began to move. And no one who comes upon the 
 stage forty years afterwards, can have any idea of the 
 state of things at that time."* 
 
 * Dr. Griffin, in a note at a later period, states that long 
 before the death of Whitefield in 1770, extensive revivals in 
 America had ceased ; and that revivals had been reported to 
 him in Stockbridge and other parts of Berkshire county in 
 1772, in a part of Lyme about 1780, and in several towns in 
 Litchfield county about 1783. Notices have also appeared of 
 revivals in Princeton college, under Dr. Witherspoon, in 1771, 
 1772 ; in connection with the labors of Dr. McWhorter in New- 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. Ill 
 
 In closing his sermon preached before the Ameri- 
 can Board for Foreign Missions, at Middletown, Con- 
 necticut, in 1826, he thus celebrates the grace of God 
 in this revival epoch : 
 
 " For many years the Christian world had been 
 sunk in a profound slumber in regard to the duty of 
 giving the gospel to the heathen ; but for the last 
 four and thirty years they have been waking up. He 
 who has engraven Zion on the palms of his hands — 
 who never wants means to fulfil his promises — has 
 sent his heavenly influence to rouse the Christian 
 world. He beheld the desolations of Zion, and has 
 come to rebuild her ruined walls. He heard the 
 groans of his people as, with harps on the willows, 
 they were weeping ' by the rivers of Babylon/ and 
 has come to bring them again 'to Zion with songs 
 and everlasting joy upon their heads.' Eternal thanks 
 to God for what our eyes have seen and our ears have 
 heard for the last four and thirty years. Eternal 
 
 ark, 1772; of Dr. McMillan in Western Pennsylvania, 1781- 
 1794 ; of Rev. Mr. Caldwell in Elizabethtown in 1772, and an- 
 other in the same town in 1784; Dr. Burton in Thetford, Ver- 
 mont, and Rev. Dr. Shepard, Brentwood, New Hampshire, in 
 1781 ; Dr. Wood in Boscawen, New Hampshire, 1782 ; Rev. Mr. 
 Hallock in West Simsbury, 1783 ; Dr. Smalley, Berlin, Conn., 
 Dr. Emmons in Franklin, and Rev. Mr. Sanford, Medway, Mass., 
 in 1784 ; Rev. Mr. Waddel and Rev. Mr. Marshall in various 
 parts of Georgia, 1784-1788 ; Dr. Buell in East Hampton, Long 
 Island, 1785 ; Rev. Dr. Baldwin, Boston, and Rev. Moses Hal- 
 lock, Plainfield, Massachusetts, 1790; and there were doubt- 
 less others, notwithstanding the pervading spiritual dearth. 
 The great and general work of which Dr. Griffin speaks was 
 begun in Virginia earlier than 1792, as already intimated and 
 as appears in subsequent pages. 
 
112 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 thanks to God for the increasing wonders which are 
 rapidly opening on the world. And Oh — can we re- 
 strain the bursting emotion? — for ever blessed be his 
 great and glorious name for what we have begun to 
 see in our own land. It is more than thirty years 
 since the Christians in Great Britain awoke, and they 
 have been holding on their way with increasing maj- 
 esty and glory, until that little island bestows an- 
 nually more than a million of dollars upon strangers. 
 It is fourteen years since New England broke her 
 slumbers, and now the mass of her population seems 
 drenched in the missionary spirit. I saw the day 
 cover the plains of Europe. I saw the westward- 
 travelling light spread itself over these eastern states. 
 Nine years ago I saw the rays of the morning tip our 
 Presbyterian horizon. I saw the dawn blush deeper 
 and deeper. I knew it would not all return again to 
 midnight. I knew the sun would rise. At length I 
 saw his golden limb above the eastern woods, and 
 from the course of day I knew that soon the heavenly 
 flood would cover all the plains to Arkansas and the 
 Pacific. Already the influence of heaven has dropt 
 upon the wilderness, and the yell of the warwhoop 
 is changed to notes of praise. We must not stop till 
 every Indian tongue has joined the general song. We 
 must not stop till our influence has cheered the whole 
 extent of South America. And then we must go forth 
 to the islands, and hold on our way till we meet our 
 brethren in other fields, and unite with them in com- 
 pleting the harvest of the world. 
 
 " We owe the sincerest gratitude to God for giv- 
 ing us our existence in such a day as this. Many 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 113 
 
 prophets and kings desired to see this day, and saw 
 it not. One spirit has seized the Christian world to 
 send the gospel, with a great company of its publish- 
 ers, to all the nations of the earth. Missionary and 
 Bible societies, those stupendous monuments of Chris- 
 tian charity, have risen so rapidly and in so great 
 numbers throughout Europe and America, that in 
 contemplating them we are ' like them that dream.' 
 These societies have already accomplished wonders, 
 and are constantly stretching forward to future 
 achievements beyond the reach of imagination. On 
 the burning sands of Africa, where Christian feet 
 never before trod, there is the holy band of mission- 
 aries, struggling amid dangers and deaths, to lead the 
 sable tribes of Ethiopia to stretch forth their hands 
 to God. On the plains of Hindostan, a ' consecrated 
 host' are translating the Scriptures into more than 
 thirty different languages, spoken by a population 
 greater than that of all Europe. On the borders of 
 China they have produced a version which will give 
 the oracles of God to one quarter of the population 
 of the globe. In the northern islands a nation is 
 born in a day. From the hill of Zion, from the top 
 of Calvary, they are freighting every caravan of pil- 
 grims with Bibles for all the countries of the east. 
 Certainly the angel has begun his flight through the 
 midst of heaven, ' having the everlasting gospel to 
 preach to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and 
 people.' " 
 
 In his sermon, September, 1828, at the dedica- 
 tion of the new chapel at "Williams college, of which 
 he was then president, Dr. Griffin gives a fuller 
 
114 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 expression to his views of the influence of these 
 revivals : 
 
 " In turning to the religious history of the college 
 and its prospective connection with the Redeemer's 
 kingdom, a subject opens upon us of unbounded in- 
 terest. 
 
 " The year 1792, it has often been said, ushered 
 a new era into the world. In that year the first 
 blood was drawn in that mighty struggle which for 
 more than twenty years convulsed Europe, and began 
 the predicted destruction of the apocalyptic beast. 
 In that year the first of those institutions which mod- 
 ern charity has planned, and which now cover the 
 whole face of the Protestant world, arose in Eng- 
 land.* And in that year commenced that series of 
 revivals in America, which has never been inter- 
 rupted, night or day, and which never will be until 
 the earth is full of the glory of the Lord as the waters 
 cover the sea. In pondering upon the destinies of this 
 college in illumined moments — in moments of intense 
 interest — it has been no indifferent thought, that it 
 arose into being at that punctum of time; that it 
 opened upon the world when those other institutions 
 began to open which are full of salvation — when the 
 redemption of Africa commenced at Sierra Leone 
 and St. Domingo — when that moral change began 
 which has swept from so large a part of New Eng- 
 land its looseness of doctrine and laxity of discipline, 
 and awakened an evangelical pulse in every vein of 
 the American church. 
 
 * The Baptist Missionary Society, formed at Kettering by 
 Andrew Fuller and others. 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 115 
 
 " It was my happiness to be early carried by the 
 providence of God to Litchfield county, Conn., and to be 
 fixed in that scene where the heavenly influence was 
 to send out its stronger radiations to different parts 
 of the country ; where thrice twenty congregations, 
 in contiguous counties, were laid down in one field 
 of divine wonders. There it was my privilege to be 
 most intimately associated with such men as Mills 
 and Gillett and Hallock — names which will be ever 
 dear to the church on earth, and some of which are 
 now familiar in heaven. Their voices, which I often 
 heard in the silent groves, and in the sacred assem- 
 blies which followed, and in the many, many meet- 
 ings from town to town, have identified them in my 
 mind with all those precious revivals which opened 
 the dawn of a new day upon our country. 
 
 " During the first seven years of the existence of 
 this college — in which ninety-three graduated in six 
 classes — there were but five professors of religion in 
 the institution, exclusive of two who, seven months 
 before the close of that period, were brought into the 
 church by the revivals in Litchfield county. In three 
 of those six classes there was not a single professor. 
 From the commencement in 1798 till February, 1800, 
 there was but one professor of religion in college. 
 
 " The spring of 1806 was made memorable by the 
 admission of those two distinguished youth, Goedon 
 Hall and Samuel J. Mills. Mills was the son of 
 my early friend the Rev. Samuel J. Mills of Tor- 
 ringford, was known to me from a child, and received 
 his permanent impressions in one of the most glorious 
 revivals I have ever seen, in 1798, though he did 
 
116 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 not obtain relief till the month of November, 1801. 
 He at once devoted himself to the cause of missions, 
 and with a heart glowing with this desire entered 
 upon his course of education. When he arrived in 
 this town he found himself in a revival of religion. 
 He could not fail to catch the spirit. He had joined 
 a class in which, to say nothing of the living, there 
 were such men as James Richards and Robert 
 Chauxcey Robbixs. The Spirit of God fell upon 
 the class. In the Life of Mills it is asserted, on the 
 authority of ' one of his most valued classmates/ 
 that he was much engaged before the event and dur- 
 ing its continuance, was more resorted to than any 
 other by the awakened, and was reputed the prin- 
 cipal instrument. And yet his modesty, and the 
 peculiar structure of his mind prevented him from 
 taking a conspicuous part in public meetings. 
 
 " In the course of the summer, eight or ten of that 
 class became subjects of the work, and one or two 
 others, among whom was Gordon Hall. 
 
 " ' This revival/ says the author of Mills' Life, 
 4 was among the most signal expressions of favor to 
 the church.' He alludes to the well-known fact, that 
 by means of this influence Mills prevailed to diffuse 
 through a circle of choice spirits that zeal for mis- 
 sions which actuated his own breast. On Wednes- 
 day afternoons they used to retire for prayer to the 
 bottom of the valley south of the west college ; and 
 on Saturday afternoons, when they had more leisure, 
 to the more remote meadow on the bank of the Hoo- 
 sack, and there, under the haystacks, those young 
 Elijahs prayed into existence the embryo of Amer- 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 117 
 
 ican missions. They formed a society, unknown to 
 any but themselves, to make inquiries and to organize 
 plans for future missions. They carried this society 
 with them to Andover, where it has roused into mis- 
 sionaries most that have gone to the heathen, and 
 where it is still exerting a powerful influence on the 
 interests of the world. I have been in situations to 
 know that from the counsels formed in that sacred 
 conclave, or from the mind of Mills himself, arose the 
 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 
 sions, the American Bible Society, the United For- 
 eign Missionary Society, and the African School un- 
 der the care of the Synod of New York and New 
 Jersey ; besides all the impetus given to domestic 
 missions, to the Colonization Society, and to the gen- 
 eral cause of benevolence in both hemispheres. If I 
 had any instrumentality in originating any of those 
 measures, I here publicly declare, that in every in- 
 stance I received the first impulse from Samuel John 
 Mills." 
 
118 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 THE REVIVAL EPOCH ABOUT 1800— 
 
 CONTINUED. 
 
 Havixg thus glanced at the revivals of the period 
 now under review, as I remember them, it is time to 
 let the ministers whom God honored as the instru- 
 ments speak for themselves, and tell us how far the 
 views which I have given correspond with their bet- 
 ter means of experience and observation. Their tes- 
 timony I have taken where I could find it, especially 
 from the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, which 
 sprung out of those revivals, and which contains quite 
 the fullest record, I believe, that can be found in the 
 Christian annals of the day. 
 
 In making selections from the materials within 
 my reach, I have been obliged more or less to abridge 
 those from which I have most largely drawn j but so 
 as to retain all their essential features. 
 
 From Dr. Griffin, New Hartford, Conn. 1797-1799. 
 
 " The work of divine grace among us three years 
 ago, by which nearly fifty persons were hopefully 
 added to the Lord, had not wholly ceased, when the 
 last scene of mercy and wonder commenced. 
 
 " Late in October, 1798, the people hearing of the 
 displays of divine grace in West Simsbury, were in- 
 creasingly impressed with the information. Several 
 circumstances conspired to increase out* anxiety. The 
 glorious work had already begun in Torringford, and 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 119 
 
 the cloud appeared to be going all around us. It 
 seemed as though Providence, by avoiding us, design- 
 ed to bring to remembrance our past abuses of his 
 grace. Besides, having been so recently visited with 
 distinguishing favors, we dared not allow ourselves 
 to expect a repetition of them so soon. 
 
 " This was the state of the people when, on a Sab- 
 bath in the month of November, it was the sovereign 
 pleasure of the most merciful God very sensibly to 
 manifest himself in the public assembly. From that 
 memorable day, the flame which had been kindling 
 in secret, broke out. By desire of the people, relig- 
 ious conferences were set up in different parts of the 
 town, which continued to be attended by deeply affect- 
 ed crowds, and in which the divine presence and 
 power were manifested to a degree which had never 
 before been witnessed. It is not meant, that they 
 were marked with outcries, distortions of the body, 
 or any intemperate zeal ; but only that the power of 
 divine truth made deep impression on the assemblies. 
 You might often see a congregation sit with deep 
 solemnity depicted in their countenances, without ob- 
 serving a tear or a sob during the service. Most of 
 those who were exercised, were often too deeply im- 
 pressed to eat. Addresses to the passions were avoid- 
 ed, and the aim was to come at the conscience. Lit- 
 tle terror was preached except what is implied in 
 the doctrines of the entire depravity of the carnal 
 heart; its enmity against God; its' deceitful doubt- 
 ings and attempts to avoid the soul-humbling terms 
 of the gospel ; the radical defects of the doings of the 
 unregenerate, and the sovereignty of God in the dis- 
 
120 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 pensations of his grace. The more clearly these and 
 other kindred doctrines were displayed and under- 
 stood, the more were convictions promoted. 
 
 " The order and progress of these convictions were 
 pretty much as follows. The subjects of them were 
 brought to feel that they were transgressors, yet not 
 totally sinful. As their convictions increased, they 
 were constrained to acknowledge their destitution of 
 love to God, but yet they thought they had no enmity 
 against him. At length they would come to see that 
 such enmity filled their hearts. In the first stages of 
 conviction it was not easy for the subjects to realize 
 their desert of eternal death. But afterwards, even 
 while they gave decisive evidence of being still as de- 
 void of a right temper as those wretches whose mouths 
 will be stopped by the light of the last day, their 
 conviction of this ill desert was in many instances 
 very clear. Nevertheless, even to the last, their hearts 
 would recoil at the thought of being in God's hands, 
 and would rise against him for having reserved to 
 himself to decide whether to sanctify and pardon 
 them or not. Before conviction had become deep 
 and powerful, many attempted to exculpate them- 
 selves with a plea of inability ; and like their ances- 
 tor, to cast the blame upon God by pleading, The 
 nature which he gave me, beguiled me. This was the 
 enemy's strong-hold. All who were a little more 
 thoughtful than common, but not thoroughly convict- 
 ed, would upon the first attack flee to this refuge. 
 They would be glad to repent, they said, but could 
 not, their nature and heart were so bad ; as though 
 their nature and heart were not they themselves. But 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 121 
 
 the progress of conviction in general soon removed 
 this refuge of lies, and filled them with a sense of 
 utter inexcusableness. And in every case, as soon as 
 their enmity was slain, this plea wholly vanished; 
 their language immediately became, ' I wonder I ever 
 should have asked the question, how can I repent? 
 My only wonder now is, that I could hold out so 
 long.' As soon as the heart of stone was taken away, 
 and the heart of flesh given, the subjects of this happy 
 change exhibited sentiments and feelings widely dif- 
 ferent from those above described. They were now 
 wrapped up in admiration of the laws and absolute 
 government of God, which had been the objects of so 
 much cavil and disgust. 
 
 "It would not consist with the designed brevity of 
 this narration, nor yet perhaps with propriety, to 
 detail all the interesting circumstances in the experi- 
 ence of more than a hundred persons, who have been 
 the subjects of this work. It may, however, be useful 
 to go so far into particulars as to exhibit some of the 
 distinguishing fruits of it. When asked what was 
 the first thing which composed their anxious minds, 
 they have sometimes answered, 'The thought that I 
 was in the hands of God. It seems to me, that what- 
 ever becomes of me, I cannot bear to be out of his 
 hands.' They do not found their hopes on the sug- 
 gestions of Scripture passages to their minds, or 
 dreams, or seeing sights, or hearing voices, or on 
 bliud unaccountable impulses. The Bible is to them 
 a new book. Prayer seems their delight. Their 
 hearts are peculiarly united to the people of God. 
 But the most observable part of their character is a 
 
122 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 lovely appearance of humility. A sense of their ill- 
 desert abides and increases upon them, after apparent 
 renovation; a considerable time posterior to which 
 some have been heard to say, 'I never had an idea 
 what a heart I had, till this week.' 
 
 " It is hoped that about fifty heads of families have 
 been the subjects of this work, a considerable part 
 of whom rank among the respectable and influential 
 characters in the town. The power of the almighty 
 Spirit has prostrated the stoutness of a considerable 
 number, who were the last that human expectation 
 would have fixed on to be the subjects of such a 
 change. One old man who had not been in our house 
 of worship, and probably not in any other, for more 
 than twenty years, has been arrested in his retire- 
 ment by the divine Spirit, and still remains like 'the 
 troubled sea when it cannot rest. 
 
 " It has been a remarkable season for the destruc- 
 tion of false hopes. Nearly twenty of those who have 
 lately appeared to build on the rock, have been pluck- 
 ed off from a sandy foundation. One had supposed 
 that she loved the God of providence because she had 
 some sense of his daily kindness to her and her fami- 
 ly, but was brought to see that she hated the real 
 character of God with all her heart. Another, accus- 
 tomed to contemplate moral truth in the light of a 
 clear and penetrating intellect, had mistaken the as- 
 sent of the understanding for the affections of the 
 heart. 
 
 "From observing the effects which the light of 
 God's presence had upon false hopes, a trembling re- 
 flection arose : How many such hopes will be chased 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 123 
 
 away by the opening light of eternity. The Lord 
 seemed to come to ' search Jerusalem with candles/ 
 and to find out those that were settled on their lees. 
 The church felt the shock. That same presence which 
 at Sinai made all the church, and even Moses, exceed- 
 ingly fear and quake, rendered this now a time of 
 trembling with professors in general. Nevertheless, 
 it was with most of them a season of great quicken- 
 ing, and a remarkable day of prayer." 
 
 From Rev. Jeremiah Hallock, of West Simsbury, Conn. 
 1798, 1799. 
 
 The manner in which God raised up some of the 
 laborers in these revivals is worthy of devout acknow- 
 ledgment. In Mr. Hallock's youthful days, in a new 
 settlement of Western Massachusetts, he says, "I 
 neither saw nor heard of awakenings," and "convic- 
 tion, conversion, and revivals, were terms with which 
 I was unacquainted." In 1779, at the age of twenty- 
 one, while at work alone, he was " impressed with a 
 sense of his dependence on God," and " of the sinful- 
 ness of his heart," which ere long " seemed so black 
 and polluted that he could hardly avoid crying out." 
 At length, as he afterwards wrote, " The law of God 
 appeared just, I saw myself a sinner, and Christ and 
 the way of salvation by him looked pleasant. I 
 thought it was a happiness to be in the hands of 
 God, and that I could trust my all to him. It still did 
 not occur to me that I had experienced a change of 
 heart." Soon after, as he was called to do military 
 duty, and he and his fellow-soldiers had entered a 
 barn, he "found himself surrounded by his young 
 companions and others, exhorting them on the subject 
 
124 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 of religion," " one of whom was then awakened, and 
 afterwards obtained hope." It was the beginning 
 of a revival ; meetings were appointed, and became 
 frequent, full, and solemn, and as they had no minis- 
 ter, and Mr. Hallock was the first of the apparent 
 converts, it often devolved on him to lead the meet- 
 ings. " In looking over the daily account I kept at 
 this time," he says, "I find that during March and 
 April, 1780, I attended meetings most of the even- 
 ings, went sometimes as far as six miles, and spoke in 
 them as much as a short sermon, generally from some 
 passage of Scripture." In a few months he entered 
 Dr. Dwight's school, then at Northampton, to study 
 for the ministry; and in May, 1783, went to West 
 Simsbury to study theology with a minister of his 
 acquaintance. Here he says, " A revival of religion 
 began. I believe about one hundred manifested a 
 hope. Before it commenced, the church and Sabbath 
 were almost lost ; now the church was gathered, re- 
 formed, and increased." He was abundant in labors 
 in this revival, attending and conducting religious 
 meetings, and guiding inquirers. For nearly two years 
 he labored in other places on which to some extent 
 the blessing of the Spirit descended, and it was his 
 confirmed wish to spend his life as an itinerant minis- 
 ter, but he at length yielded to the importunity of the 
 congregation in West Simsbury, and was installed their 
 pastor in 1785, continuing through life to visit other 
 churches in revival seasons, and in 1801 and 1807 
 making mission tours of three months each in Yermont. 
 The years immediately succeeding his settlement were 
 a period of darkness in the churches generally. In 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 125 
 
 1795, Dr. Griffin was settled in the adjoining parish 
 of New Hartford. They both had tasted the blessed- 
 ness of revivals, and together they mourned and wept 
 and wrestled for perishing souls and the languishing 
 interests of Zion. One or more of the groves is still 
 pointed out where they, with neighboring pastors, used 
 to retire from the world to agonize for the descent of 
 the Holy Spirit. The day of mercy was near. At length 
 the revival burst upon them, of which Mr Hallock 
 says : 
 
 " Through the course of twelve tedious years, be- 
 fore this memorable period, the religion of Jesus grad- 
 ually declined among us, the doctrines of Christ grew 
 more and more unpopular, family prayer and all the 
 duties of the gospel were less regarded, ungodliness 
 prevailed, and particularly modern infidelity had 
 made and was making alarming progress. Indeed, 
 it seemed to an eye of sense, that the Sabbath would 
 be lost, and every appearance of religion vanish. But 
 the God of Zion, who can do every thing, was pleased 
 to appear and lift up the standard of the omnipotent 
 Spirit against the enemy, and to him be all the glory. 
 
 "The first appearance of the work was sudden 
 and unexpected. The second Sabbath in October, 
 1798. I exchanged with a brother in the ministry. 
 On my return the next evening, I found a young per- 
 son under deep religious impressions. The morning 
 following I found two other youths with the one first 
 awakened, whose minds were likewise impressed. On 
 the evening of this day a sermon was preached by a 
 neighboring minister. The meeting was uncommon- 
 
126 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ly full, and the arrows of conviction reached some 
 hearts. 
 
 " The next day it was affecting to see by the ris- 
 ing of the sun, awakened youths coming to my house, 
 to know what they should do to be saved. On the 
 ensuing Sabbath, the work was visible in the house 
 of God, and the conference in the evening was full 
 and very serious. The next day, when a sermon was 
 preached by a neighboring minister, almost the whole 
 parish came to meeting, and the work appeared to be 
 going on. 
 
 " Being called one evening to visit a neighbor in 
 distress of mind, I received from her the following 
 information: 'I was sober and thoughtful when a 
 child, used to attend secret prayer, thought I loved 
 good people, and finally concluded I was a Christian. 
 But hearing that the work of God had begun among 
 us, I thought it became me to examine on what foun- 
 dation I stood, when I found I was building on the 
 sand. On Monday night, my hope perished.' I do 
 not know that I ever saw any one in bodily distress 
 manifest greater anguish. But before morning she 
 found relief, by having, as she hoped, her will bowed 
 and swallowed up in the will of God. 
 
 " The next week, on Wednesday, November 1, a 
 sermon was preached, and there were but half as 
 many present as on the week before, and we were 
 greatly afraid that all was about to decline and die. 
 This was indeed a trying hour. No fond parent ever 
 watched the fever of his child at the hour of its crisis 
 with more anxious and interested feelings, than num- 
 bers of God's praying friends watched the work of the 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 121 
 
 Spirit at this critical moment. The thoughts of its 
 going off were more dreadful than the grave. It was 
 not long, however, before it appeared that God had 
 in very deed come to carry on his work, and the 
 hearts of Zion's friends were elated with fresh hopes. 
 The solemnity of this season cannot be communicated. 
 It can be known only by experience. 
 
 "A brother in the ministry, among whose people 
 the same work had begun, told me that he had seen 
 twenty in a room, the most of them mortally sick, 
 and at the point of death, but that the scene was not 
 so impressive as to see a house filled with souls in 
 distress, sensible of impending and eternal wrath, and 
 their feet sinking in that horrible pit from whence 
 there is no redemption. An awful silence reigned, 
 unless when it was broken by the cry, ■ What shall I 
 do to be saved?' But it was not long before, as we 
 hope, one and another were brought to repentance 
 and faith. To behold poor sinners, who were but 
 yesterday on the brink of destruction and wholly 
 unreconciled to God, now brought to submit to him, 
 and to hear them sing the new song, entirely sur- 
 passed all the victories of the most famous kings and 
 generals of our world. 
 
 " The work was by no means noisy, but rational, 
 deep, and still. Poor sinners began to see that every 
 thing in the Bible was true, that they were wholly 
 sinful and in the hand of a sovereign God. The first 
 you would know of persons under awakening was, 
 that they would be at all the religious meetings, and 
 manifest a silent and eager attention. What are 
 called the hard sayings, such as the doctrines of total 
 
128 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 depravity, election, and the like, were well received. 
 Those who were once angry when these things were 
 preached, would cease to object when thoroughly con- 
 victed, and rather smite on their breasts. 
 
 " The work was now evidently on the increase. 
 Conferences were set up in every part of the parish, 
 and every week, sometimes every day, would bring 
 the animating news of some one hopefully converted. 
 Indeed, it seemed as if it would be impossible for any 
 thing to stand before the power of God, and that 
 every one must bow. However, dreadful experience 
 proves, that natural men are really morally dead: 
 they are harder than rocks, deafer than adders, and 
 more stubborn than the sturdiest oaks. That which 
 will break down the rocks, and tear up the obstinate 
 oaks, will have no effect on the carnal mind. As 
 this was the work of the omnipotent Spirit, so the 
 effects produced proclaimed its sovereign and divine 
 Author. One was taken here, and another there, and 
 often those whom we should least expect. 
 
 " One person gave me this account of his first 
 awakening. ' I was returning on such an evening 
 from a conference, where I had seen numbers under 
 concern, and heard others speak of the love of God 
 and of their hope in Christ. But nothing took hold 
 of my mind until, as I was on my way home, these 
 words sounded in my ears : ' Is it nothing to you, all 
 ye that pass by?' These words were fixed in his 
 mind, and he applied them thus : f Is it nothing to me, 
 that my neighbors and those of my age are troubled 
 about their sins, and some hopefully converted to 
 God? Have I not sins to be troubled about, as well 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 129 
 
 as they? And do I not also need conversion?' A few 
 days after, he hoped that he had received a new heart 
 from the ascended Saviour. 
 
 " I have said that before the awakening, modern 
 infidelity had made and was making alarming prog- 
 ress among us. Some who had been infidels for 
 years, are among the hopeful converts, and are labor- 
 ing to build up the faith they once sought to destroy. 
 I heard one of them say with trembling limbs, ' I am 
 the wretch who have murdered Christ. I have talk- 
 ed a great deal against the gospel, but there was 
 always something in my heart which said it was 
 true. 7 This poor man was almost in despair, but 
 after a long season of distress, he found comfort. 
 
 " At a certain conference in which the conversa- 
 tion turned on the divine purposes, the subject was 
 not attended to now for disputation, but with fear 
 and solemnity. They did not appear to be dry, unin- 
 teresting, disputable points, but divine realities calcu- 
 lated to convict the sinner and refresh the saint. 
 
 " At the close of the meeting a question was ask- 
 ed of this import : ' Does a person who is truly seek- 
 ing after God, feel afraid that any of his purposes 
 will cut him off from salvation?' The question was 
 answered in the negative ; that the divine purposes 
 were no more against prayer, than against an atten- 
 tion to common matters, and that the only reason 
 why men brought them against prayer was, their hav- 
 ing no heart to pray. 
 
 " Thus I have given some account of the work of 
 God among us. There were but few in the parish 
 who were not in a measure solemn. Almost the 
 
130 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 whole conversation, when people were together in 
 intermissions on the Sabbath, and on week-days, was 
 on religion. Even companies on training-days were 
 solemn. The number hopefully born into the king- 
 dom of God is between sixty and seventy. 
 
 " I might enlarge, but the time would fail. I have 
 endeavored to state simple facts according to the 
 best judgment of a fallible creature, with a mixture 
 of joy and fear. When I find Peter, an apostle, de- 
 ceived in Simon Magus, and hear him speaking of the 
 faith of Sylvanus, using the cautious language, 'A 
 faithful brother as I suppose ;' it makes me tremble for 
 fear how we shall hold out. I desire to be thankful 
 to God, that he has allowed me to stand and behold 
 his glorious work, though I never felt so useless since 
 I entered the ministry. God hath wrought, and to his 
 name be all the glory." 
 
 From Rev. Alvan Hyde, D. L\, Lee, Mass. 1792. 
 
 It will be observed, that the revival here record- 
 ed preceded by about six years the distinguished out- 
 pouring of the Spirit on many churches, in 1798 and 
 1799. In a letter to Dr. Sprague of Albany, pub- 
 lished in the Appendix to his Lectures on Revivals, 
 Dr. Hyde says : 
 
 " The first season of ' refreshing from the presence 
 of the Lord/ which this people enjoyed, commenced 
 in June, 1792, a few days after the event of my ordi- 
 nation. There was at this time- no religious excite- 
 ment in this region of country, nor had I knowledge 
 of there being a special work of God's grace in any 
 part of the land. The church here was small and 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 131 
 
 feeble, having only twenty-one male members. It 
 was, however, a little praying band, and they were 
 often together, like the primitive Christians, continu- 
 ing with one accord in prayer. Immediately on being 
 stationed here as a watchman, I instituted a weekly 
 religious conference, to be holden on each Wednes- 
 day, and in succession, at the various school-houses in 
 the town. These were well attended in every dis- 
 trict, and furnished me with favorable opportunities 
 to instruct the people, and to present the truths of 
 the gospel to the old and young in the most plain and 
 familiar manner. This weekly meeting has been sus- 
 tained to the present time, without losing any of its 
 interest ; and when I have been at home, has carried 
 me around the town as regularly as the weeks have 
 returned. 
 
 " With a view to form a still more particular ac- 
 quaintance with the people committed to my charge, 
 I early began to make family visits in different sec- 
 tions of the town. These visits, of which I made a 
 number in the course of a week, were improved whol- 
 ly in conversing on the great subject of religion, and 
 in obtaining, with as much correctness as I could, a 
 knowledge of their spiritual state, that my instruc- 
 tions on the Sabbath, and at the weekly meetings, 
 might be better adapted to their case. This people 
 had been for nine years without a pastor, and were 
 unhappily divided in their religious opinions. And 
 as they had been in the habit of maintaining warm 
 disputes with each other on the doctrines of the Bible, 
 I calculated on having to encounter many trials. Con- 
 trary to my expectations, I found, on my first visits, 
 
132 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 many persons of different ages under serious and 
 very deep impressions, each one supposing his own 
 burdens and distresses of mind, on account of his 
 sins, to be singular, not having the least knowledge 
 that any others were awakened. It was evident that 
 the Lord had come into the midst of us in the great- 
 ness of his power, producing here and there, and 
 among the young and old, deep conviction of sin. And 
 yet it was a still small voice. A marvellous work 
 was begun, and it bore the most decisive marks of 
 being God's work. So great was the excitement, 
 though not yet known abroad, that into whatever 
 section of the town I now went, the people in that 
 immediate neighborhood would leave their worldly 
 employments at any hour of the day, and soon fill a 
 large room. Before I was aware, and without any 
 previous appointment, I found myself, on these occa- 
 sions, in the midst of a solemn and anxious assembly. 
 Many were in tears, and bowed down under the 
 weight of their sins, and some began to rejoice in 
 hope. These seasons were spent in prayer and ex- 
 hortation, and in conversing with the anxious, and 
 with such as had found relief by submitting them- 
 selves to God, adapting my instruction to their re- 
 spective cases. This was done in the hearing of all 
 who were present. Being then a youth, who had 
 seen but twenty-four years, and inexperienced, I felt 
 weak indeed, and was often ready to sink under this 
 vast weight of responsibility. But the Lord carried 
 me along from one interesting scene to another. I 
 was governed in my movements by what appeared to 
 me to be the exigencies of the people. 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 133 
 
 "As yet there had been no public religious meet- 
 ing, except on the Sabbath. A weekly lecture at 
 the meeting-house was now appointed on Thursday; 
 and though it was in the most busy season of the 
 year, the house was filled. This lecture was con- 
 tinued for more than six months, without any abate- 
 ment of attention ; in sustaining which, I was aided 
 by neighboring ministers, and by numbers from a dis- 
 tance, who came to witness this display of sovereign 
 grace. The former disputes of the people respecting 
 religious sentiments, in a great measure, subsided, 
 their consciences seeming to testify in favor of the 
 truth. The work spread into every part of the town, 
 and was especially powerful among those who had 
 taken their stand in opposition to the small church, 
 and the distinguishing doctrines of grace. Many of 
 this class were convinced that they had always lived 
 in error and darkness, and in a state of total aliena- 
 tion from God. They were compelled, notwithstand- 
 ing their former hatred of the prominent truths of 
 the gospel, to make the interesting inquiry, What 
 shall we do to be saved ? 
 
 " The truths which I exhibited in my public dis- 
 courses, and in the many meetings between the Sab- 
 baths, were in substance the following : the holiness 
 and immutability of God, the purity and perfection 
 of his law ; the entire depravity of the heart, consist- 
 ing in voluntary opposition to God and holiness ; the 
 fulness and all-sufficiency of the atonement made by 
 Christ; the freeness of the offer of pardon, made to 
 all on condition of repentance ; the necessity of a 
 change of heart by the Holy Spirit, arising from the 
 
134 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 deep-rooted depravity of men, which no created arm 
 could remove; the utter inexcusableness of sinners 
 in rejecting the kind overtures of mercy, as they acted 
 freely and voluntarily in doing it • and the duty and 
 resonableness of immediate submission to God. These 
 are some of the truths which God appeared to own 
 and bless, and which, through the agency of the Spir- 
 it, were made ' quick and powerful, and sharper than 
 any two-edged sword. 7 
 
 "All our religious meetings were very much 
 thronged, and yet were never noisy or irregular, nor 
 continued to a late hour. They were characterized 
 with a stillness and solemnity which, I believe, have 
 rarely been witnessed. The converts appeared to 
 renounce all dependence on their own doings, feeling 
 themselves entirely destitute of righteousness, and 
 that all their hope of salvation was in the mere mer- 
 cy of God in Christ, to whom they were willing to 
 be eternal debtors. 
 
 "To the praise of sovereign grace, I may add that 
 the work continued with great regularity, and little 
 abatement, nearly eighteen months. In this time, as 
 appears from the records of the church, one hundred 
 and ten persons of different ages united themselves 
 unto the Lord and his covenant people. All these 
 were examined in the presence of the church, and 
 were received on the ground of their professing to 
 have experienced a change of heart, and to have 
 passed from death unto life. They appeared to ex- 
 hibit the fruits of the Spirit, and to exemplify the 
 religion of Jesus in their subsequent lives. The in- 
 stances of apostasy have been but few. Many of them 
 
NINETEENTH CENTUKY. 135 
 
 have finished their course, and entered into the joy 
 of their Lord. They gave evidence of enduring to 
 the end, and of departing this life in the triumphs of 
 faith. Others remain to this day, ' burning and shin- 
 ing lights ■ in the church, some in this town, and some 
 in the new settlements. 
 
 "This revival of religion produced a surprising 
 change in the religious sentiments and feelings of the 
 people, and in the general aspect of the town. It 
 effected a happy union ; a union which, to an unusual 
 extent, has continued to the present time. After the 
 shower of grace had passed over, divine influences 
 were not altogether withholden, nor did the people 
 lose their relish for religious meetings. Insulated 
 conversions to the cross and standard of the Eedeem- 
 er, strongly marked as being genuine, frequently 
 occurred. In the six following years, forty-two were 
 added to the church, including some who came from 
 other churches." 
 
 From Hev. Ammi R. Robbins of Norfolk, Conn. 
 
 "It pleased the blessed God, in the year 1767, to 
 afford some special tokens of his gracious presence to 
 the peculiar joy of the precious few who loved Zion, 
 and prayed for her prosperity. The influences of the 
 Spirit seemed to be shed down in a remarkable man- 
 ner. Many were struck with surprise, and numbers 
 were impressed with a sense of their guilty and ru- 
 ined state as sinners, and began to cry out, What 
 must we do to be saved? But alas, it was of short 
 continuance, as to its power and abiding influence. 
 About ten or twelve joined themselves unto the Lord. 
 
 "A second revival, if it may be so called, began 
 
136 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 in May, 1783, when some of God's people had been 
 remarkably stirred up to pray for the outpouring of 
 the Holy Spirit. Numbers were impressed in differ- 
 ent parts of the town, without any knowledge of each 
 other's circumstances. The seriousness became gen- 
 eral, and the distress of many visible. As the fruits 
 of this glorious work, there were added to the church 
 in November twenty-seven, in January thirteen, and 
 in March ten, making in all fifty : eighteen males, 
 and thirty-two females. 
 
 "In January, 1799, there were indications of a 
 third revival. Our assemblies were more solemn and 
 attentive. The religious people about this time hear- 
 ing of some revivals in two or three other towns in 
 the vicinity, were induced to hope and ardently pray 
 that we might have a gracious visit also. In Febru- 
 ary and March the attention became so general, that 
 it was thought proper, at the desire of many, that 
 religious conferences should be set up. They accord- 
 ingly were in four, and sometimes five different parts 
 of the town. A public lecture was also appointed to 
 be preached every Thursday. Ministers from abroad 
 generally preached on these occasions, and they were 
 undoubtedly, by the blessing of God, the means of 
 promoting the work. Yery early there were several 
 persons who were struck with the sense of their mis- 
 erable state and condition as sinners. They were 
 influential and very popular men in town, and of very 
 considerable information. They were, before this, 
 very far from all appearance of religion, much inclin- 
 ed to, and some far advanced in deistical sentiments, 
 and those of the Universalists. These being hope- 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 131 
 
 fully subdued by an omnipotent arm, and becoming 
 meek and humble in their deportment, gave a prodig- 
 ious shock to others, especially their intimates. And 
 they soon joined heart and hand to promote the work 
 by conversing with others, attending and assisting at 
 conferences ; and conducting with modesty, humility, 
 and prudence, they were used as happy instruments 
 of promoting and spreading the revival. 
 
 "In June and July, the marvellous displays of 
 divine power and grace were conspicuous beyond any 
 thing of the kind we had ever witnessed. A univer- 
 sal solemnity spread over the town, and seized the 
 minds of almost all, both old and young. Great num- 
 bers were bowed with a sense of the presence of the 
 Lord. Some rejoicing and praising God, others cry- 
 ing out in anguish of soul, 'What must we do?' Yet 
 they were by no means noisy or boisterous, but were 
 cut to the heart in silent distress. Almost every day 
 we heard of one or more who had found relief, and 
 new instances of persons impressed with a sense of 
 their guilty, wretched, and undone state. Some ap- 
 peared almost on the borders of despair, while others 
 were complaining of a hard and obstinate heart, and 
 that there could be no sinner on this side of hell so 
 vile as they. As the fruit of this revival, fifty-nine 
 males, and ninety-four females have been added to 
 the church. Others, several others, entertained hopes, 
 and we trust will come in hereafter. 
 
 "Having given this brief sketch, I hope some re- 
 marks may be useful to comfort God's people, and to 
 animate them in praying and laboring for the promo- 
 tion of Christ's kingdom. 
 
138 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 "1. It is of unspeakable importance that the means 
 of grace be nsed with impenitent sinners. Jericho's 
 walls must tumble down on the blowing of the ram's 
 horns. Naaman must wash seven times in Jordan, 
 that he may be cured of his leprosy. 
 
 "2. Those doctrines which the world call hard 
 sayings, are the most powerful means in the hands of 
 the blessed Spirit to pull down and destroy Satan's 
 strong-holds in the hearts of sinners. No preaching 
 and conversation seems so effectual to drive them 
 from their hiding places and refuges of lies, as to tell 
 them plainly, that they are eternally undone if the 
 mercy of God is not displayed in their favor ; that 
 they have not the least claim on him, and if he does 
 not have mercy, they are gone for ever; that they 
 may as well despair of helping themselves first as 
 last, and that the reason why they do not find relief, 
 is merely because they will not yield, and bow to a 
 holy sovereign God. 
 
 "3. When the subjects of this work were hopeful- 
 ly renewed, they were not usually sensible of it at 
 the time : many of them not till days afterwards. 
 They perceived indeed an alteration in their feelings 
 and views, but did not entertain a thought that it 
 was conversion. More generally they feared that 
 God had left them, and that they had lost their con- 
 victions. They had agreed in this, that it would be 
 just in God to cast them off, whatever he should do 
 with others. 
 
 " One man, nearly fifty years of age, who has been 
 a member of the church for many years, more than a 
 year ago gave up his hope entirely — concluded there 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 139 
 
 was no hope, no mercy for him — dared not come to 
 the Lord's table, and was often filled with such agony 
 that he could hardly attend to the concerns of his 
 family. Now it is hoped that his captivity is turned. 
 " Oh, let all who love our Lord Jesus Christ and 
 his cause, join as he has taught us, and with unceas- 
 ing importunity, devoutly and humbly pray, • \ Thy 
 kingdom come ; thy will be done on earth, as it is in 
 heaven.' " 
 
 From Rev. Timothy M. Cooley, D. D., Granville, Mass. 
 1798, 1799. 
 
 " For a few months previous to the late revival, it 
 was a time of great stupidity. Our youth had become 
 much addicted to sinful diversions. In one of their 
 scenes of amusement, God was pleased to frown upon 
 them in a very awful manner. Two young men were 
 seized violently ill, and carried out of the ball-cham- 
 ber. A young woman, in consequence of a cold which 
 she took on the same evening, was in a very short 
 time taken with a fever and delirium, and brought to 
 the brink of the grave. One of the young men, after 
 a short illness, died. Being told by his weeping moth- 
 er that he was dying, he replied with his expiring 
 breath, ' Oh, I cannot die, I am unprepared.' These 
 alarming dispensations of divine Providence rendered 
 the minds of the young people solemn, and gave a 
 check to their sinful pleasures. 
 
 "In the spring of the year 1798, professors were 
 much awakened and ardently desired a revival of 
 religion. I invited a number of the youth into my 
 study, and urged upon them the necessity of the one 
 thing needful. This was a very solemn meeting, and 
 
140 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 will probably be long remembered by some who were 
 present. 
 
 " On the second Sabbath in June, a very plain 
 sermon was preached from Ezek. 37 : 3, which was 
 blessed to the awakening of a number of sinners. On 
 Tuesday of the next week a number of young people 
 met for a civil visit, and the violin was introduced, 
 which instead of producing the usual hilarity, occa- 
 sioned a flood of tears. The work of the Spirit, which 
 had been for several days concealed, now burst forth. 
 It was found that numbers had for some time felt a 
 very serious concern for their future well-being, and 
 thought they were alone in it, being ignorant of the 
 feelings and resolutions of others. The glorious work 
 spread with surprising rapidity through the parish. 
 Christians were animated, sinners were awakened, 
 and scoffers were struck silent at the powerful work 
 of the Almighty. It was truly a remarkable season, 
 and the most aged had never witnessed the like be- 
 fore. A surprising change from apparent thought- 
 lessness to universal alarm took place within two or 
 three weeks. The rapidity of the work must be 
 ascribed to the all-conquering influences of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 " Those who were first impressed communicated 
 their feelings and resolutions to their relatives and 
 friends of a similar age, and urged them to join them 
 in living a new life. These private warnings were 
 the means of spreading the work. 
 
 " Their views and feelings, while under conviction, 
 were as follows : They encouraged themselves that by 
 a few weeks of seriousness and diligence in duties, 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 141 
 
 they should prepare themselves for regeneration. 
 After persevering a while, they thought their prayers 
 and cries had been sufficient to prevail with God to 
 show them mercy. They secretly found fault with 
 God for withholding his grace. The heart rose 
 against divine sovereignty. Some thought hard of 
 God for giving comfort to others, while he denied it 
 to themselves. Such exercises discovered to them 
 the total depravity of their hearts. They were before 
 convinced that they had been guilty of many outward 
 acts of sin, but now they saw something of the foun- 
 tain of pollution within. They still persevered in 
 duties, but seemed, as they expressed it, to grow 
 worse and worse. They discovered that God's law 
 justly condemned them, and that they must be rescued 
 by sovereign mercy, or suffer its awful sanction. 
 
 " The views and exercises of those who obtained 
 hope, were as follows: There was a great diversity 
 as to the manner in which divine light was let into 
 the mind, and at the same time a wonderful similarity 
 in their feelings after the admission of true light. 
 Some obtained relief by a view of the glory and 
 excellency of Christ; others were led to see the 
 excellency of the gospel plan and its fitness for sin- 
 ners ; others felt a happy and joyful submission to 
 God as a sovereign, and were willing to be entirely 
 in his hands. When God's time had come to show 
 mercy, their opposition was subdued. They had new 
 views of God, of the Saviour, of the Bible, and of 
 Christian people. Old things had passed away ; be- 
 hold, all things had become new. They felt a sweet 
 calmness of mind, but in most instances had not a 
 
142 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 thought, at the time of it, that what they experienced 
 was regeneration. It was sometimes several days 
 before they dared to hope they were new creatures. 
 They rejoiced with trembling. 
 
 " The work of the Spirit has been remarkably free 
 from enthusiasm and confusion. There have been no 
 instances of outcries under conviction, nor of enthu- 
 siastic rants of joy after receiving comfort. 
 
 " This revival has been productive of the most 
 happy effects. The Bible has been studied, and the 
 distinguishing doctrines of the gospel more thorough- 
 ly understood. God has discovered his sovereignty 
 as well as his mercy among us. Some of the most 
 gay and thoughtless have been hopeful converts, while 
 others who are more sober and moral are passed by. 
 In some instances almost whole families fled to the 
 ark of safety. In one I found seven or eight, and in 
 others five or six, who thought they could rejoice in 
 G-od. "We had the pleasing sight of four sisters offer- 
 ing themselves to unite with the church. 
 
 " It is now three years since the beginning of this 
 glorious work, and I can give a more ample testi- 
 mony to its genuineness, than I could have done 
 earlier. 'By their fruits ye shall know them.' Those 
 who have made a profession of religion, and a num- 
 ber of others who have not yet, appear to be stead- 
 fast and unmovable, and their conversation is in a 
 good measure agreeable to the gospel. Nearly one 
 half of them are in youth. They in general appear 
 to be ornaments to their profession, and by their 
 presence at our sacramental table render the com- 
 munion-season very delightful. ' The Lord hath done 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 143 
 
 great things for us, whereof we are glad. 7 Let him 
 have all the glory." 
 
 From Rev. Joseph Washburn, Farm ington, Conn. 
 
 "About the time of my ordination, in May, 1795, 
 an uncommon attention and seriousness became ap- 
 parent throughout the congregation. The divine 
 influences came down like the* dew, and like the rain 
 upon the mown grass, in still and gentle showers. 
 The work was unattended with noise or enthusiasm ; 
 it caused a general solemnity through the society, and 
 met with little or no opposition. Within the course 
 of about one year, fifty-five persons were added to 
 the church. 
 
 " In 1798, God began to appear in power and 
 great glory, in a number of towns in this vicinity. 
 Accounts of these things reached us, and became the 
 subject of conversation among Christians, but ap- 
 peared to have little or no effect. 
 
 " The first appearance of special divine power and 
 grace was in February, 1799. It began in an uncom- 
 mon attention and concern among the people of God, 
 and a disposition to unite in prayer for the divine 
 presence and a revival of religion. 
 
 " Soon after this, numbers in different parts of the 
 congregation began to inquire respecting the meet- 
 ings, and expressed a wish to attend. Persons of 
 both sexes and of almost every age, and many from 
 the distance of four or five miles, and some still fur- 
 ther, were to be seen passing through storms and 
 every other obstacle to attend the meetings. My 
 house was also the almost daily resort of youth and 
 others earnestly inquiring respecting the things of 
 
144 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 their peace. Those of the youth who were seriously 
 impressed, now reflected on their former gayety, 
 vanity, and sinful amusements with bitterness and 
 entire disapprobation. An attempt which was made 
 soon after the awakening commenced, to introduce 
 a dancing-master, rather forwarded than checked the 
 work on the minds of those who had been brought 
 under serious impressions. The open opposition also, 
 which was made by some, had a similar effect. It 
 convinced them more and more that madness is in 
 the heart of man, and that God is just in condemn- 
 ing sinners, and casting them off for ever. Sixty-one 
 have been admitted to the church in a year, from 
 August, 1799, to August, 1800. 
 
 " In the first stages of concern the subjects of this 
 work were generally most affected with particular 
 sins, and not so deeply sensible of the plague of their 
 own hearts. But as their convictions increased, they 
 obtained a clearer view of the spiritual nature and 
 extent of the divine law, and a more realizing sense 
 of the corruption of their hearts. Generally, when 
 under deep conviction, they in a greater or less de- 
 gree experienced sensible enmity and opposition of 
 heart against the character of God, particularly his 
 sovereignty in having mercy on whom he will have 
 mercy. In several instances God permitted the en- 
 mity and obstinacy of the carnal heart to be manifest- 
 ed in an awful manner, and to an astonishing degree. 
 While conscience like a gnawing worm preyed upon 
 them within, a view of the divine character and the 
 way of salvation proposed in the gospel, excited the 
 enmity of their hearts, and every instance in which 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 145 
 
 they saw any of their friends and acquaintance brought 
 apparently to embrace the gospel, filled them with a 
 kind of envy, with a pain which they could not 
 describe. 
 
 " With respect to the manner and circumstances 
 in which the hopeful converts obtained relief, and the 
 degree of their joy and peace, there has been a variety. 
 Some few were very suddenly relieved from their 
 distress, and filled with adoring and admiring views 
 of God and the divine Saviour. But the greater part 
 were brought gradually to entertain a hope that they 
 were reconciled to God. The hopeful converts in 
 general have appeared very far from a disposition to 
 think highly of themselves or their attainments, and 
 they were ready to hope the best of others, to pro- 
 mote the good of all, to discharge relative and social 
 duties, to attend carefully upon all the institutions 
 of religion, and to manifest a tender regard for the 
 salvation of souls and the advancement of the cause 
 of God in the world." 
 
 From Rev. Samuel Shephard, D. D., Lenox, Mass. 1799. 
 
 " I cannot learn from any of the first settlers, that 
 there has ever been any remarkable revival of relig- 
 ion in this town, until the month of June, 1799. At 
 the time of my ordination, in April, 1795, almost all 
 the members of the church were bowing under the 
 infirmities of age. No person who was then in early 
 life belonged to it. Not a single young person had 
 been received into it in the course of sixteen years. 
 Well might this church, like God's ancient covenant 
 people when they sat in captivity by the waters of 
 Babylon, hang its harps upon the willows, for it seem- 
 
 Rev. Sketches, *J 
 
146 ■ REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ed indeed that when the few who were rapidly has- 
 tening down the vale of years should be removed, 
 the name of Jesus in the holy ordinance of the supper 
 would scarcely be had in remembrance. 
 
 "Such were the melancholy prospects of this 
 church in the spring of 1799, while showers of divine 
 grace were falling on other parts of Zion. But in 
 the month of April, several members of the church 
 manifested great anxiety about the state of religion 
 among us, and expressed a desire that meetings might 
 be appointed for religious conference, and special 
 prayer for the outpouring of the Spirit. It was done, 
 and the second meeting was unusually solemn. At 
 the third, persons came together from every part of 
 the town. The divine authority of the Scriptures 
 was made the subject of conversation, and the appear- 
 ance of the assembly was truly affecting. Sinners 
 were brought to tremble in view of eternity, and pro- 
 fessors of religion were animated, and rendered fer- 
 vent in prayer. From that time the work became 
 more general. There was an increasing attention 
 among the young and the old for several months. 
 
 " On the twentieth of October, twenty-four persons 
 were received into the church. This was with us a 
 memorable day. But a small part of the congrega- 
 tion had ever before seen a young person brought in. 
 The language of the church to the spectators of the 
 scene then passing before them, was, 'We are jour- 
 neying to the place of which the Lord said, I will 
 give it you. Come thou with us, and we will do thee 
 good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning 
 Israel.' The infidel and the abandoned man stood 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 141 
 
 appalled, and to the friends of Zion the season afford- 
 ed a prelibation of heavenly joys. The whole num- 
 ber who have been received into the church since the 
 work began, is fifty-three. Almost two-thirds are 
 females. I will close this general account with a 
 few particular remarks. 
 
 "1. This revival was evidently the work of God. 
 To prove this, the very sudden change in the appear- 
 ance and pursuits of the people, is instead of a thou- 
 sand arguments. 
 
 "2. The revival began in the church, as I believe 
 is almost always the case when God pours out his 
 Spirit. 
 
 "3. Such a revival strikingly evinces the impor- 
 tance of all the means of grace which God has insti- 
 tuted. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the 
 word of God. 
 
 "4. The work has been attended with remarkable 
 regularity. God was emphatically in ' the still small 
 voice/ No dreams and visions, no hearing unusual 
 voices, and seeing uncommon sights, no extravagance 
 even in gestures or outcries, appeared. 
 
 "5. Among those in this town who have been 
 awakened to attend to religious truth, a remarkable 
 uniformity has occurred relative to the doctrines 
 which have been embraced, such as the total and 
 awful depravity of the human heart, the necessity of 
 regeneration or a change of heart as a preparation 
 for the enjoyment of a holy heaven, the equity of the 
 divine law in its penalty as well as precept, the di- 
 vine sovereignty in the salvation of sinners as the 
 only possible ground of hope, the necessity of gospel 
 
148 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 morality as an evidence of justifying faith, and all 
 the doctrines essentially connected with these, were 
 readily received by all with one consent. 
 
 " May a holy God, in infinite mercy, continue to 
 make manifest the glory of his power, and the glory 
 of his grace in building up Zion ; for in no other way 
 can we rationally hope to see happy individuals, hap- 
 py families, happy neighborhoods, happy societies, 
 happy towns, happy states, happy kingdoms, and a 
 happy world." 
 
 From Rev. Alexander Grillett, Torrington, Conn. 1798. 
 
 " The first special appearance of the work among 
 us, was on Wednesday evening, December 26, 1798, 
 when two lectures were preached by neighboring 
 ministers, one in the afternoon, and the other in the 
 evening. The friends of Zion present appeared to 
 receive a fresh anointing from the Lord, and to be 
 awakened to a sense of their duty. Some sinners who 
 had labored heretofore under fears about their spirit- 
 ual state, were more deeply and thoroughly impress- 
 ed, and brought to inquire in earnest, ' What must we 
 do to be saved?' Thus the important scene opened, 
 which has been truly wonderful, and expressive of 
 divine power and grace. 
 
 "The work gradually increased from that time 
 till May and June ensuing. A goodly number, we 
 charitably hope, were made the subjects of the con- 
 victing and transforming operations of the Spirit of 
 God. Forty-five have come forward, and been added 
 to the church: twenty young persons from fourteen 
 years and upward, nine males, and eleven females. 
 The proportion of the whole number is seventeen 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 149 
 
 males, and twenty-eight females. Thirty more have 
 expressed a hope that they have been born again. 
 
 "It was wonderful to see what pains persons took 
 to attend lectures and conferences. They would go 
 through storms, cold, and bad roads, to attend the 
 meetings. The impression was so great and exten- 
 sive, and the work so new and unusual, that for a 
 time the adversary was confounded. Opposers had 
 their mouths shut, and stood gazing and wondering. 
 There had been complaints heretofore of irregulari- 
 ties and enthusiasm, but this work was marked with 
 the ' still small voice/ When comfort was obtained, 
 it did not seem to arise from mere impressions on 
 the imagination, but from such a view of God and 
 divine things as they never before experienced. 
 
 "Previous to the new birth, the subjects of the 
 work have had clear convictions of the native deprav- 
 ity of their hearts. Some have been sensible of such 
 shocking feelings as these : ' Oh, how I wish there was 
 no God, heaven, or hell. I would rather be like the 
 beasts that perish, than be in the hands of such a God 
 as this!' After they had experienced the great change, 
 they appeared to themselves to be worse than before. 
 They would exclaim, 'I thought I knew something 
 of my heart before, but I knew nothing of it. How 
 can I be a Christian ? Can I be a new creature, and 
 have my heart filled with so many vain thoughts and 
 strange imaginations V 
 
 "Another conspicuous feature of the work is, that 
 when God had taken off a distressful burden, they at 
 first had no suspicions of their hearts being renewed. 
 They were rather alarmed at the apprehension that 
 
150 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 the Spirit of God had forsaken them. They were 
 ready to cry out, .'I wish I could feel as concerned 
 for myself as I have done, but I cannot.' While in 
 this state, they have been asked how the character of 
 God appeared. They readily answered, ' Great, excel- 
 lent, glorious; there is none like him. I can't wish 
 for any other Saviour besides Jesus Christ, or any 
 other way to be saved but that of the gospel.' 
 
 "The doctrines made use of in carrying on this 
 work, are another distinguishing feature of it. They 
 are the soul-humbling doctrines of the cross, which 
 exalt God, and stain all the pride of human glory. 
 The divine sovereignty, the holiness, extent, and in- 
 flexibility of the moral law, human depravity, our 
 entire dependence on God, the special agency of the 
 Holy Spirit in conviction and conversion, and mere 
 grace through Jesus Christ as the Mediator — these 
 have been kept constantly in view, and proved like 
 the fire and the hammer that breaketh the flinty rock 
 in pieces. It has been common for awakened sinners 
 to think hard of election and unconditional submis- 
 sion, and to struggle for a while against them; but 
 they were finally brought to a thorough conviction 
 that these doctrines, which were so terrible to them, 
 were their only hope." 
 
 From Rev. Joshua Williams, Harwinton, Conn. 1799. 
 
 " In the latter part of January and the beginning 
 of February, 1799, our meetings for public worship 
 were very full and more solemn than I had ever seen 
 before. On Friday, in the second week of February, 
 a lecture was preached ; the congregation was very 
 large, and the effects of the word were very visible. 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 151 
 
 Another was preached in the evening, and it is be- 
 lieved that on this and the two succeeding days more 
 than a hundred persons were awakened, and many of 
 them feelingly convicted of their total depravity 
 of heart, and absolute helplessness. It is not in my 
 power to describe the anxiety which appeared in 
 many. The more they saw of themselves, the more 
 they were convinced of their desert of endless misery. 
 Sleep almost fled from their eyes, and when they went 
 about the necessary concerns of life, their spirits were 
 loaded with sorrow and distress. Danger appeared 
 on all sides, and, * What must I do?' was a constant 
 and earnest inquiry. 
 
 u Some were wrought upon very suddenly, and so 
 as to make it evident that it was not of themselves, 
 or of man, but of God. From the 14th to the 20th 
 of April, there were eighteen instances of hopeful 
 conversion. Several were brought under distressing 
 conviction at midnight on their beds, and many in 
 such circumstances that it could not be accounted for 
 on any principle but the sovereign power and mercy 
 of God. At this time the labor of preaching was 
 easy indeed, but to detect the false hope to which 
 many were prone, was a difficult and critical business. 
 Never did I feel my own insufficiency so much as at 
 this period. On the one hand not to wound the 
 lambs of Christ's flock, and on the other not to en- 
 courage unfounded hopes, required the utmost cau- 
 tion and diligence. My usual practice was, if upon 
 examination I found marks of a false hope, to tell 
 the matter plainly. But if there were symptoms 
 of a well-founded hope, I told them they must prove 
 
152 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 it to be genuine by their future holy conduct, always 
 remembering that the heart is deceitful above all 
 things. In July, fifty-six were added on one Sabbath 
 to the church ; in September, twenty-four more, and 
 several others at different times ; making the whole 
 number one hundred." 
 
 From R,ev. Moses Hallock, Plainfield, Mass., to Rev. Jere- 
 miah Hallock, June 3, 1798. 
 
 "lam unwilling to miss the present opportunity 
 to write to you, especially as the tidings I am about 
 to convey are so glorious. It has been my favored 
 lot to see several awakenings, but the present dis- 
 plays of divine power and grace far exceed what I 
 ever before saw. At least fifty have been hopefully 
 born of God here within a few months. And be- 
 sides these, several persons appear to have obtained 
 clear and comfortable evidence of their good estate, 
 who, till these happy days, were in great doubt. The 
 church seems to be greatly quickened. There are so 
 many demonstrative proofs that the work is the work 
 of G-od, that next to none pretend to gainsay it. I 
 believe there is not a man in the town that openly 
 opposes. None have joined the church yet, but twen- 
 ty-four stand propounded. Several of these appeared 
 to be Christians before the awakening, but dared not 
 make a public profession till now. Twenty-two have 
 told their experience in the meeting-house — seventeen 
 last Friday, and five to-day — before a crowded and 
 solemn assembly. They will probably be received 
 on the first Sabbath of July, and sit down with the 
 church at the Lord's table ; and I expect that a num- 
 ber more will offer themselves before that time. 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 153 
 
 "There are two young men whose conviction has 
 been unusually long and clear, who have received 
 comfort within these few weeks. At some times they 
 almost appeared in despair. I heard one of them say, 
 with trembling limbs, ' Oh the eternity of misery that 
 is before me/' For a considerable time before they 
 hopefully submitted to the divine and sovereign will, 
 they saw and confessed the enmity of their hearts to 
 God, and how just he would be in sending them to 
 everlasting punishment. They told me that they felt 
 most obstinately opposed to the way of life by Jesus 
 Christ, and were it not that they believed in election 
 they should be in despair. These two are men of 
 bright natural parts and considerable reading, and 
 bid fair to be pillars in the church some future day. 
 These, with most of the others who have told their 
 experience, spoke of terrible opposition of heart to 
 God and clear views of his justice before regenera- 
 tion, and how captivated and charmed they after- 
 wards were both with the divine justice and mercy. 
 Let God have all the glory." 
 
 From Hev. Asahel Hooker, Groshen, Conn. 1799. 
 
 " Sundry persons, whose knowledge of the subject 
 is correct, have informed me that, previous to my 
 settlement in this place, there never was any remark- 
 able and extensive revival of religion among the peo- 
 ple ; and since I came here, almost nine years ago, 
 things have remained in a most unpromising state 
 till about the middle of February, 1799. That period 
 was rendered memorable by the commencement of a 
 work, the happy fruits of which are still apparent, 
 and which I trust will be lasting as eternity. From 
 
154 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 small beginnings it made such progress in a few 
 weeks as to have arrested general attention, while 
 great numbers were under the most serious and im- 
 pressive sense of their forlorn state as sinners. Pub- 
 lic worship on the Sabbath and all other meetings 
 were unusually attended, both as to numbers and seri- 
 ousness. It was not long before several persons 
 manifested a hope of having passed from death unto 
 life. In the month of September, twenty-five per- 
 sons were admitted to the church ; in November, forty- 
 eight ; in January, four ; making, in the whole, seventy- 
 seven. A considerable number remain who exhibit 
 the usual evidence of a new heart, who have not 
 made a public profession of their faith. The change 
 which has been wrought in many, is great and won- 
 derful. It is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our 
 eyes. 
 
 "The following brief statement will enable the 
 candid and impartial to judge for themselves whether 
 indeed it is the Lord's work. 
 
 "1. Numbers were deeply impressed before they 
 knew that others were in like circumstances. Often 
 without the intervention of any means which could be 
 distinctly recollected, the truth and reality of eternal 
 things were brought home and fastened upon their 
 minds with a sort of irresistible and impressive 
 weight, pointing them to the vast importance of flee- 
 ing from the wrath to come. 
 
 " 2. The first impressions on the minds of those 
 who were subjects of the work, did not in common 
 consist chiefly of fears of future punishment. Their 
 deepest and most painful impressions arose from con- 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 155 
 
 vietions of sin, by which they were at variance with 
 themselves, and by which it was awfully realized to 
 them, that ' there is no peace to the wicked/ Those 
 who became eventually reconciled to the truth, and 
 found a comfortable hope of their good estate, were 
 led to such an acquaintance with the plague of their 
 own hearts as convinced them, that if saved it must 
 be not by righteousness which they had done or could 
 do, but 'by the washing of regeneration and renew- 
 ing of the Holy Ghost' 
 
 "3. It is worthy of particular notice as a dis- 
 tinguishing feature of the work, that the hopeful sub- 
 jects of its saving effects, notwithstanding their fore- 
 going prejudices and opposition, have come uniformly 
 and with one consent into the great distinguishing 
 doctrines of grace. These are the doctrines which 
 seem to have been specially owned and blessed by the 
 Holy Spirit, and thence made the wisdom of God to 
 the salvation of sinners. 
 
 " 4. A considerable number had been more or less 
 immoral and irreligious in their visible conduct. 
 Several who were scoffers at the serious and uni- 
 versal strictness of pure religion, were among the 
 hopeful subjects of genuine conviction and of saving 
 mercy. A few who had endeavored to fortify them- 
 selves against fears of the wrath to come in the belief 
 of universal salvation, were convinced that they had 
 made lies their refuge. 
 
 "5. It is not common for those who entertain a 
 hope for themselves, to be very confident of their title 
 to salvation. There are few, if any, but seem at times 
 to doubt whether their names are written in heaven. 
 
156 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 "Whether all those who appear to have set out and to 
 run well for the present, will hold on their way and 
 obtain the prize of their high calling, must be finally 
 known by the event." 
 
 From Rev. Ira Hart, Waterbnry, in Middlebury, Conn. 
 1799, 1800. 
 
 " This society is but lately formed, and I am the 
 first settled minister. While, when I came, every 
 thing else appeared favorable, the spirit and power 
 of vital piety seemed almost gone. Several cases of 
 discipline existed in the church, which lay upon the 
 brethren as a heavy burden. All saw and acknow- 
 ledged the evil, and longed to have it removed ; but 
 in the general inactivity and discouragement, nothing 
 effectual had been done. The church appeared timid, 
 and some of the enemies of the cross exulted and cast 
 reproach. But our sinful fears were not realized. 
 Christ the great Head of the church caused the 
 sweet influences of his grace to break forth when we 
 expected trouble and disunion. 
 
 " Returning home from some places where there 
 were revivals, I was impressed with the idea that 
 nothing so effectually kept off the divine blessing as 
 our neglect of those cases of discipline. The church 
 were urged to proceed immediately, and were con- 
 vinced that reformation must begin at the house of 
 God." 
 
 [He goes on to show how this movement was 
 blessed in bringing the church up from its depression, 
 and awakening sinners to their danger.] 
 
 " This interposition of God/*' he says, " was too 
 striking to pass unnoticed. It showed to the church 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 151 
 
 and to all, that the way of duty is the way of safety, 
 and the way in which divine blessings are usually 
 obtained. The friends of Zion awoke, and their hearts 
 and mouths began to be open on the subject of relig- 
 ion. Cases of conviction soon occurred in different 
 parts of the society. Our lectures were seriously and 
 solemnly attended. The Sabbath was a solemn day. 
 Professors confessed with tears their shortcomings 
 in duty. They looked back with grief and wonder 
 upon themselves, and were melted down with contri- 
 tion before God. The aged and the young- were 
 agreed in saying, ' It was never so seen in Israel.' 
 
 "As several of the first cases of conviction were 
 among the youth, some of them were opposed to it, as 
 calculated to destroy their amusements. One young 
 man began profanely to ridicule those who were un- 
 der distress of mind ; but as he entered the gallery 
 on the Sabbath, God met and pierced him with a 
 sharp arrow of conviction. He stumbled to a seat, 
 and amid the horrors of a guilty awakened con- 
 science, sat trembling in view of truth and the awful 
 iniquity of his heart, and soon after testified to the 
 excellency of that Saviour and that religion which 
 he before despised. This struck the young people as 
 an admonition from heaven. They gave up their vain 
 amusements, crowded to conferences and lectures, and 
 a goodly number of them have, as we hope, been turn- 
 ed from darkness to light. It was indeed a glorious 
 season, which will long be remembered by many as 
 the time of their espousals to Christ. 
 
 " Considering the importance of a right judgment 
 of ourselves, and the extreme danger of those who 
 
158 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 settle down on a false profession, I judged it not 
 proper to encourage those who had obtained hopes, 
 to a sudden union with the church. The duty of self- 
 examination and a comparison of their views and 
 exercises with God's word were strongly urged, that 
 they might not come to the gospel feast without a 
 wedding garment. None were admitted till the sum- 
 mer of 1800, when at different times thirty-five were 
 received, and six have since been admitted. The 
 awakening has embraced persons of almost all ages, 
 from fifteen to sixty-five. Excepting seventeen young 
 persons, the rest were mostly young heads of families. 
 This gives a hopeful prospect that the rising genera- 
 tion will more extensively enjoy the great blessings 
 of family prayer and religious instruction. 
 
 "The sovereignty of God has been eminently dis- 
 played in this revival. Not those whom we expected, 
 but those whom God pleased, were called to repent- 
 ance. One is taken and another left. 
 
 " From what God has done for us, it is thought all 
 churches may learn the importance and safety of faith- 
 fully maintaining the discipline which Christ has es- 
 tablished. If it is conducted with the prudence, vigi- 
 lance, and brotherly love which the cases require, 
 the blessing of God may be confidently expected. 
 
 " One remark more. It was common for those 
 ander serious impressions to have much opposition to 
 the doctrines of grace, particularly the justice of God 
 in the eternal punishment of the finally impenitent, 
 divine sovereignty, and the electing love of God, but 
 they found no peace till those doctrines were made 
 the foundation of their hope. When reconciled to 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 159 
 
 him through the merits of his Son, they expressed 
 great surprise that they had never understood these 
 plain gospel truths before, or seen their excellency 
 and beauty." . 
 
 From Rev. Ebenezer Porter, D. D., Washington, Conn., after- 
 wards Professor in the Theol. Sem., Andover. 1803. 
 
 " Though this church had enjoyed a preached gos- 
 pel with very little interruption since its formation, 
 a period of sixty-four years, nothing that could prop- 
 erly be termed a revival of religion had ever taken 
 place till the present. Many families had no altar 
 for God. Many parents seemed to behold their dear 
 offspring going in the ways that lead to destruction, 
 without uttering one warning, or offering one prayer 
 for their eternal salvation. Out of the church was 
 to be seen a general carelessness ; in it a spirit of deep 
 slumber, a want of discipline, a want of brotherly 
 love — a want of every thing almost, but cold, cold pro- 
 fession. 
 
 " There was a glimmering hope of better things 
 for a short time, in the winter of 1801. A weekly 
 church conference was attended regularly about two 
 months, when it declined till it entirely ceased. It 
 seemed as though an offended God was about to seal 
 us up under a holy rebuke : ■ Sleep on now, and take 
 your rest/ That the only hope is the sovereign mer- 
 cy of God, I had long believed, but had never so 
 deeply felt before. Means, however, were not to be 
 neglected. 
 
 "Early in the summer of 1802, special meetings 
 were appointed for the youth. These meetings were 
 attended every other week, in the form of a theologi- 
 
160 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 cal school. At each meeting, a question in the order 
 of a system was given, accompanied with an extem- 
 pore lecture, or with notice that a sermon would be 
 adapted to the subject on the following Sabbath. At 
 the meeting succeeding that on which the question 
 was given, the papers that had been written by the 
 youth were received and read publicly. These papers 
 were so received as to have the author of each one 
 unknown to every other. With the same precaution 
 they were returned. These meetings succeeded, to 
 my joy and astonishment. They substituted solid 
 improvement for the ordinary levities of young peo- 
 ple. They excited a relish for profitable conversa- 
 tion, reading, and reflection ; they furnished the mind 
 with useful ideas, rendered the more permanent by 
 the labor of acquiring them; and what is more and 
 most important of all, they opened an avenue for the 
 solemn influence of truth, by a divine blessing, to 
 reach the conscience and the heart. A respectable 
 number usually attended on these occasions, and twelve 
 or fifteen wrote on the same question. It was sur- 
 prising to witness the progress made by them, not 
 only in correct writing, but in doctrinal knowledge. 
 
 "Near the close of the summer of 1803, several 
 persons became seriously impressed. Weekly confer- 
 ences were revived. During the winter, the opera- 
 tions of the divine Spirit were discernible in every 
 part of the society. The church, which had appeared 
 to languish as with a wasting hectic, put on the aspect 
 of returning health. Through the next spring and 
 summer, though thirteen had been added to the church, 
 we were still between hope and fear. God's people 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 161 
 
 longed for, rather than expected a revival. They 
 scarcely dared to believe that the day had indeed 
 dawned which was to succeed a night of more than 
 sixty years. But in the autumn, the Sun of righteous- 
 ness arose upon us with healing in his wings. As in 
 the valley of Ezekiel's vision, there was a great shak- 
 ing. Dry bones, animated by the breath of the Al- 
 mighty, stood up new-born believers. The children 
 of Zion beheld with overflowing hearts, and with 
 thankful tongues acknowledged, 'This is the finger 
 of God.' The work was stamped conspicuously with 
 the impress of its divine author, anddts joyful effects 
 evinced no other than the agency of Omnipotence. So 
 manifestly was it the work of God, that opposition^ 
 however it might have rankled in the bosoms of indi- 
 viduals, was awed into silence. Many old professors, 
 amidst the majesty and glory of the scene, seemed 
 unable to contain, and equally unable to express the 
 wonder and joy of their hearts. During a winter 
 unusually severe, nothing could surpass the resolution 
 with which numbers attended, to be instructed in the 
 way of salvation. From the extremity of the season, 
 apprehensions were entertained for persons of deli- 
 cate constitutions; but the people were seldom or 
 never more healthy. 
 
 ■ • As the first-fruit of this precious and memorable 
 season, fifty-four persons have been added to the 
 church, none of whom, blessed be God, have been left 
 to discredit their holy profession. 
 
 " It would be more important to delineate partic- 
 ularly the nature and fruits of this work, did it not 
 bear so strong an affinity in these respects to the 
 
162 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 revivals already described. "Without an exception, 
 its special subjects were calm in their exercises, and 
 embraced that system of religious sentiments com- 
 monly acknowledged and received in our churches. 
 
 " From the commencement of this work to its visi- 
 ble decline was more than eighteen months, and meet- 
 ings, though frequent, seemed not at all to interfere 
 with necessary temporal avocations. An increased 
 industry could easily redeem the time devoted to this 
 purpose from unprofitable or foolish pursuits. 
 
 " Before this revival more than ordinary attention 
 had been paid to the rising generation, and of the 
 number added to the church about three-fourths had 
 sprung from professing parents. Besides the meet- 
 ings of the young people, the church as a church has 
 appointed a catechizing committee to teach the chil- 
 dren. These catechizings have since been regularly 
 attended during the summer season between the ser- 
 vices on every other Sabbath. 
 
 "While infidelity is searching out every avenue 
 for infusing its deadly poison into the minds of the 
 young, is it not a matter of surprise that their relig- 
 ious instruction should not have had more share in 
 the thoughts, the conversation, and the prayers of 
 God's people ? Do not the signs of the times summon 
 ministers and Christians generally to exertions more 
 united, and more correspondent with an object of 
 such acknowledged and immense importance?' 7 
 
 From Judge Reeve of Litchfield, Conn., to Judge Boudinot 
 of Newark, New Jersey. 
 
 " In the astonishing scene that has been passing 
 at Litchfield, there has been a great diversity in such 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 163 
 
 as were awakened to a serious concern as to their 
 immortal interests, and at length have obtained a 
 hope that they have passed from death to life. All 
 had a sensible conviction of the depravity of their 
 hearts, and saw that this depravity was odious and 
 criminal, for which they deserved to experience the 
 penalties of a righteous law, which they had broken 
 in innumerable instances, and all agreed in choosing 
 to be in the hands of God; but there was a wide 
 difference in the degree of distress which took place 
 previous to experiencing that submission of will to 
 God which all felt. While some felt a violent oppo- 
 sition of heart to the law and government of a holy 
 God, it was scarcely perceivable in others. Some 
 were in distress but a few days before they received 
 relief, while others remained in sorrow for many 
 months. Instances of sudden transition from deep 
 distress to great joy, were comparatively few. In 
 most cases the subjects of this work who eventually 
 obtained hope of their good estate, after having felt 
 great anxiety of mind, and a deep sense of the odious- 
 ness of their character in the sight of God, and a 
 thorough conviction that it would be just in him to 
 cast them off for ever, seemed to lose their anxiety 
 about themselves, and it was a common thing for 
 them to complain that they were becoming stupid 
 and had lost their convictions. Yet during this state 
 of their supposed stupidity, it was remarkable that 
 their sense of the corruption of their hearts greatly 
 increased, they no longer felt any opposition to the 
 character of God, but on the contrary, it appeared to 
 them glorious because he was a sin-hating God, while 
 
164 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 at this time they had no apprehension that their 
 hearts were changed; and while their Christian 
 friends entertained the strongest hopes that they 
 were new creatures, they left them to their own re- 
 flections without informing them of their opinion con- 
 cerning them. When they began to hope, it was with 
 much trembling, and they gradually advanced to a 
 steady comfortable hope with great caution and much 
 self-examination. This has been the most usual meth- 
 od, though there have been some remarkable instances 
 of persons passing from the most pungent distress to 
 the most elevated joys, and I have never heard of a 
 case where confidence has arisen through the medium 
 of dreams, visions, or texts of Scripture coming sud- 
 denly into their minds." 
 
 Reply of Judge Boudiuot to Judge R. e e v e . 
 
 " If I was to copy your letter, and return it as 
 from myself, it would be almost in every particular 
 what has passed here. About six years ago, when 
 our worthy pastor Mr. Griffin first came to this 
 place, we had a revival of religion among us, and 
 about a hundred and thirty were added to the church. 
 After that had declined we were rather in a dull 
 state, which in August last was very low. The ad- 
 ministration of the Lord's supper was to take place 
 on the first Sabbath of September. On the Sabbath 
 preceding, it was recommended to the church to keep 
 the Friday on which the preparatory lecture was to 
 be preached as a day of humiliation, fasting, and 
 prayer that God would pour out his Spirit and revive 
 his work. If ever the verity of the words of sacred 
 writ, ' Before they call I will answer, and while they 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 165 
 
 are yet speaking I will hear/ was proved, it was in 
 this instance. The meeting was unusually full, the 
 Sabbath was peculiarly solemn. On Monday, our 
 worthy pastor went out in the morning to visit in the 
 neighborhood, without the least suspicion that any 
 thing more than common had taken place, when, to 
 his astonishment, in every house into which he enter- 
 ed, the family appeared like Cornelius of old, ready 
 to receive the words of truth, and soon melted into 
 tears. The flame at once caught the hearts of the 
 truly pious among us. The next Sabbath morning 
 a number agreed to form a society to meet at nine 
 o'clock, and spend an hour previous to going to 
 church in prayer to God, for his blessing on the 
 word. They styled themselves the Aaron and Hur 
 Society, as supporting the hands of their minister. 
 It was not long before the blessed work pervaded 
 every part of the congregation. No age was ex- 
 empted. We have had instances of persons between 
 sixty and eighty, some of whom had led what they 
 called moral lives, and trusted they were going to 
 heaven, who were brought to see that instead of be- 
 ing ' rich and increased in goods, and having need of 
 nothing/ they were ' wretched and miserable and poor 
 and blind and naked.' Others who had never troub- 
 led themselves about any of these things, were made 
 to cry out in the bitterness of their spirit, ' What 
 shall we do to be saved V 
 
 " The operations of the divine Spirit have been as 
 variable as with you. Take your own description, 
 and you have ours correctly/ 7 
 
166 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Baldwin, Boston, and Rev. Messrs. Ledoyt and 
 Seamans, Jfew Hampshire. 1790-1803. 
 
 About the time that Dr. Baldwin commenced his 
 labors in the Second Baptist church, Boston, in 1790, 
 " a revival began in which not far from seventy were 
 added to his church, and. about the same number to 
 the First church. Another revival began in 1803, 
 and continued more than two years, in which about 
 two hundred were brought into his church, and about 
 two hundred also into the First church. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Ledoyt of Newport, N. H., wrote, 
 in 1793, " It has been a long, dark, and cloudy night 
 with me and the people here • but, glory to our God, 
 the cloud is dispersing fast. His work is begun 
 among us. Newport and Croydon are greatly blessed. 
 I have baptized twenty-nine in four weeks. The work 
 appears to be going on." 
 
 In 1792, a work began in New London, N. H., 
 of which Rev. Mr. Seamans wrote, " This town con- 
 sists of about fifty families, and I hope that between 
 forty and fifty souls have been translated out of dark- 
 ness into God's marvellous light, besides a number in 
 Sutton and Fishersfield who congregate with us. Fif- 
 teen have joined the church, and I expect that a num- 
 ber more will come forward in a short time. We 
 have lectures or conferences almost every day or 
 evening in the week. Our very children meet to- 
 gether to converse and pray with each other. Some 
 things in this work have exceeded every thing I ever 
 saw before. Convictions have usually been very 
 clear and powerful, so that industrious men and 
 women have had neither inclination nor strength to 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 16? 
 
 follow their business as usual. And they freely 
 acknowledge the justice and sovereignty of God. 
 They also have desires beyond what I have ever 
 before known for the universal outpouring of the 
 Holy Spirit." 
 
 " This work continued, and the next year the 
 church, which, at its commencement, consisted of only 
 eighteen members, had increased to a hundred and 
 fifteen. Some of all ages, from seventy down to eight 
 years old, had been brought in; and what was re- 
 markable, there were at that time in this church, 
 thirty-seven men and their wives." 
 
 From Rev. Dr. Wood, Boscawen, N. H., to Rev. Dr. Justin 
 E dwards. 
 
 " When I entered on my ministry in this town, in 
 
 1781, the church consisted of but twenty members in 
 all, and the state of religion around wore a very 
 gloomy aspect. A revival of religion had hardly 
 been known. In consequence of our first revival, in 
 
 1782, which added to the church between thirty and 
 forty heads of families, I was abundantly called 
 upon to labor in the neighboring towns ; and as the 
 doctrines of grace had been but little inculcated, the 
 churches were in a very low and formal state. In a 
 number of instances I witnessed a change in senti- 
 ment, and a revival of the spirit of religion, which 
 the work that the Lord had wrought among my peo- 
 ple served greatly to strengthen and increase, till 
 nearly the whole vicinity became revolutionized. 
 
 " When I entered on the ministry, I reflected with 
 myself that if I should labor all my days, and be in- 
 strumental of the salvation of one soul, that would be 
 
168 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 more than an ample reward. But now I may say, 
 that goodness and mercy have attended me. Since 
 I came here we have been favored with seven or 
 eight seasons of the special outpouring of the Spirit ; 
 the two first and the two last were very powerful, 
 Since my settlement about four hundred and thirty 
 have been added to the church, and I should suppose 
 that three hundred of those have been or now are 
 heads of families." 
 
 Dr. Wood, in a small inland congregation, fitted 
 for college nearly one hundred students, thirty-seven 
 of whom, in 1823, had entered the ministry, and 
 others were studying in preparation. About thirty 
 obtained a hope in Christ while residing in his fam- 
 ily, and a number who there received religious im- 
 pressions, afterwards joined themselves to the people 
 of God. 
 
 From Uev. Jesse Edson. Halifax, Vermont, August, 1802. 
 
 "The first appearances of the revival began in the 
 church: professors seemed to awake from their stu- 
 pidity and coldness. The spirit of prayer was poured 
 out upon them, and from this time there began to be 
 a visible shaking among the dry bones, and a few 
 individuals were raised to spiritual life. The Holy 
 Spirit seemed to come down like a rushing, mighty 
 wind, to melt the souls of God's children, to cause 
 sinners to tremble, stubborn wills to bow, and hard 
 hearts to relent. Numbers flocked to Christ as a 
 cloud, and as doves to their windows. Fifteen were 
 received the next communion, twenty-one the commun- 
 ion following ; about sixty, in the whole. They were 
 of different ages from above fifty down to fifteen years. 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 169 
 
 " The work was remarkably free from enthusiasm 
 and disorder, and accompanied with a great sense of 
 the evil of sin. The subjects of the work were led 
 to see themselves destitute of any righteousness of 
 their own to recommend them to God ; that they 
 were totally depraved, deserving nothing from God 
 but everlasting misery, and entirely dependent on 
 sovereign grace to pluck them as brands from the 
 burning. The doctrines to which some of them had 
 been particularly opposed, became sweet and ravish- 
 ing doctrines. 
 
 " One instance somewhat singular, may be worthy 
 of note. There was a respectable man who remained 
 an attentive observer till near the close of the awak- 
 ening, without any particular operation on his own 
 mind. Going one day out of town, on a law-suit, it 
 turned in his mind that the Bible was the best law 
 book, the eternal rule of right between man and man. 
 The same thought occurred to his mind frequently 
 when going home, and when he retired for the night ; 
 but it gave him no particular alarm. When he awak- 
 ed before day, the same impression was running in 
 his mind, ' The Bible is the best law book.' He rose, 
 made a fire, and while he sat meditating upon this 
 impression, all at once his soul was filled with rapture, 
 and ere he was aware, he was ' like the chariots of Am- 
 minadib.' He beheld such glory and beauty in the di- 
 vine character as he could not describe, and his mouth 
 was immediately filled with praise. He set up family 
 duties, and continued in this sweet and comfortable 
 frame of mind for a considerable time, without think- 
 ing of its being a change of heart ; but finding his 
 
 Rev. Sketches § 
 
170 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 soul filled with love to God, drawn forth with pecul- 
 iar affection towards the brethren, and the most ear- 
 nest desire for the salvation of souls and a delight in 
 the duties of religion, he was led to hope he had be- 
 come a new man, and was admitted to the church, 
 where he has adorned his profession. 
 
 "Another was the case of a woman who was a 
 violent opposer in a former awakening ; tried to hin- 
 der her husband, who was then a sharer, from com- 
 ing forward ; opposed him in family duties, and made 
 his life exceedingly uncomfortable. She showed the 
 utmost spite against all who appeared engaged in the 
 work, and would rage as if she wanted means to vent 
 her malice. She would not attend meeting, nor read 
 the Bible, nor any good book. But God in his infi- 
 nite mercy arrested her. For several months she 
 was under the most pungent convictions. All her 
 wickedness, bitterness, enmity, and rage, appeared to 
 her to be pointed directly against God. The pains of 
 hell gat hold upon her, and she was ready to give 
 up in despair. In this extremity God met her, and 
 brought her into the glorious liberty of the gospel, 
 giving her to taste the sweets of redeeming love. 
 She found peace and comfort ; happiness was restored 
 to the family, and joy and gladness revived in the 
 hearts of God's children." 
 
 From a letter dated Rutland, Vermont. Feb., 1803. 
 
 "The Lord is making surprising manifestations of 
 his love and power among us, in subduing the hearts 
 of sinners to the sceptre of Jesus. It is such a time 
 as I never saw before. We have conferences almost 
 every evening in one part of the parish or another. 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 171 
 
 There are no outcries, but it seems like 'the still 
 small voice.' Sometimes the work seems as if it 
 would carry all before it. Opposition has been made 
 in various ways, but has been totally in vain. 
 
 "In Pittsford, the town north of this, a similar 
 work began about six months ago, since which time 
 about one hundred have made public profession of 
 religion. 
 
 " Thus, after eighteen years of deadness and dark- 
 ness, we have really a time of refreshing; for when 
 the Lord builds up Zion, he appears in his glory." 
 
 From Rev. John B. Preston, Rupert, Vt., July, 1804. 
 
 "I have been settled in the ministry here between 
 six and seven years, and till within a few months 
 past, have habitually felt that my labors were in 
 vain, and that my strength was spent for naught. 
 From year to year religion was declining, the church 
 was decreasing in numbers and graces, and iniquity 
 abounded. A little more than a year ago, the dark- 
 ness reached its height, and appeared scarcely to 
 admit the smallest beam of hope. 
 
 " In this hour of extremity, a small number of the 
 few remaining professors agreed to meet once a week 
 for social prayer. At first the number was very 
 small, sometimes not more than two or three; but 
 they appeared strong in the faith, and fervent in 
 prayer, the Spirit helping their infirmities with groan- 
 ings which could not be uttered. The meetings be- 
 came increasingly solemn, so that in September, the 
 number of religious conferences, or rather prayer- 
 meetings, in different parts of the society were multi- 
 plied to four in a week. A day of fasting and prayer 
 
112 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 was observed about this time, and attended with a 
 special degree of solemnity. 
 
 "But nothing very special occurred till some time 
 in November, when on a sudden the Spirit of the 
 Lord appeared to come down upon us like ' a rushing 
 mighty wind.' Almost the whole society seemed to 
 be shaken at once. Scarce a family could be found 
 in which there were not some inquiring what they 
 should do to be saved. Our prayer-meetings were 
 crowded, and solemn to an amazing degree. No 
 emotions more violent than shedding of tears, and no 
 appearance of wildness and disorder occurred. Noth- 
 ing appeared but a silent, fixed attention, and pro- 
 found solemnity, the most resembling my idea of the 
 day of judgment of any scene I ever witnessed. Infi- 
 delity retired, or was overcome by the bright mani- 
 festations of divine power* and grace. Several who 
 had been hardened in loose principles, were made to 
 believe and tremble. One who for a number of years 
 had been trusting to the delusive scheme of Univer- 
 salism, was constrained to say, ' I know that there is 
 one sinner who deserves eternal punishment. No 
 man can ever have that sight of his sins and sense 
 of his guilt which God has given me, and remain a 
 Universalist.' 
 
 "It is impossible fully to describe the amazing 
 change that took place among us within a few weeks, 
 and even a few days. It was glorious to ' stand still 
 and see the salvation of God.' The solemnity con- 
 tinued and increased till about the middle of Febru- 
 ary. The youth have hopefully shared very largely in 
 the blessings that have fallen upon us. Thirty-five 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 113 
 
 young men and women, the most of whom but one 
 year ago were wholly devoted to sinful amusements, 
 now sit with us around the table of the Lord. The 
 whole number of additions to the church since the 
 work. began, is eighty-four. Since it commenced, we 
 have observed not less than six days of public fasting 
 and prayer, which the Lord has manifestly crowned 
 with great success in carrying on his work among us. 
 
 "The truths which have been most evidently bless- 
 ed in this revival, have been the divine holiness and 
 sovereignty, the grace of the gospel, and the sinner's 
 total depravity and dependence. And those who 
 have obtained a hope that they were the subjects of 
 divine grace, have almost without exception appeared 
 fully, understandingly, and cordially to assent to all 
 those humbling doctrines of the Bible. 
 
 "Within little more than a year, the Spirit has 
 also been wonderfully poured out upon a number of 
 towns, and about a thousand have been added to the 
 churches of Christ in Bennington and Rutland coun- 
 ties. Bennington, Sandgate, Rupert, Dorset, Tinmouth, 
 Rutland, Brandon, Pittsford, Benson, and Orwell, have 
 shared the most largely in this shower of divine 
 grace. Not less than fifty have been added to the 
 church in each of these towns, and in several, more 
 than a hundred. Most of the other towns have shared 
 in some degree. 
 
 " In the county of Addison, several towns have 
 likewise been favored with some droppings from the 
 same cloud. In Bridport, Addison, and Weybridge, 
 there have been considerable additions. In Hebron, 
 there has been a great awakening the winter past, 
 
1T4 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 and the work now appears spreading around them. 
 No minister was ever settled there, nor church form- 
 ed, and the gospel but seldom preachec^ But the 
 Lord has been pleased to pass over to their help, and 
 to work among them for his great name's sake. 
 
 " Should not the friends of Zion be strong, and re- 
 joice in the Lord? From the east and from the west, 
 from the north and from the south, are heard songs, 
 even glory to the righteous. The voice of the Bride- 
 groom is heard in our land. The foolish and the 
 righteous are awakening from their long slumbers. 
 "When the enemy came in like a flood, then the Lord 
 lifted up a standard against him. Let saints rejoice 
 in their King : let Zion arise and shine, for her light 
 has come. The Lord is gathering in his elect from 
 the four corners of the earth. Woe to the inhabi- 
 tants thereof, who shall survive this day of the pow- 
 erful manifestations of divine grace, and be found 
 among the incorrigible number whom the Lord will 
 destroy with the brightness of his coming." 
 
 From Rev. Dr. Proudfit, of the Associate Reformed church, 
 Salem, N. Y. } to Rev. Dr. Sprague. 1796-1802. 
 
 " We have uniformly been in the habit of dispens- 
 ing the ordinance of the Supper four times in the year, 
 and so far as I recollect, have never had a sacramen- 
 tal occasion without some accession to our numbers. 
 But during this long period we have enjoyed, at dif- 
 ferent intervals, what would now be pronounced 'a 
 revival of religion.' The refreshing influences of 
 divine grace descended silently and softly upon the 
 heritage of the Lord, like the showers of spring after 
 the dreariness and barrenness of winter. A genial 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 175 
 
 warmth appeared to pervade the whole church, to 
 the joy of the generation of the righteous, and at the 
 same time, multitudes were added to the Lord by an 
 external profession of his name. 
 
 " One of these occasions occurred in the year 1796, 
 when a very unusual influence apparently accompan- 
 ied the outward dispensation of the word, sealing it 
 upon the souls both of sinners and saints. A similar 
 season occurred about six years afterwards; and an- 
 other and still more memorable visitation of the Spir- 
 it was enjoyed in the year 1815. 
 
 "During all these seasons of enlargement to my- 
 self, and of spiritual joy to the children of adoption 
 under my immediate care, and of the 'espousals of 
 others to Jesus as their husband,' no extra efforts 
 were used, no brethren from other towns were called 
 in to our aid, but the work advanced silently and reg- 
 ularly, promoted exclusively under the divine bless- 
 ing by the ordinary administration of ordinances, 
 private and public. Yet, during the whole course of 
 my ministry, I have never been favored with seasons 
 more delightful in their recollection — none the results 
 of which I anticipate with more joy on that day when 
 the final account of my stewardship will be required." 
 
 From .Rev. Dr. Thomas De Witt, New York. 
 
 "The portion of the church of Christ with which 
 I am connected, (the Reformed Dutch church in Amer- 
 ica,) has at different times, in several parts, been fa- 
 vored with gracious seasons of revival. At the time 
 of Whitefield's first labors in America, there was al- 
 ready existing a powerful, extended, and well-marked 
 work of grace, under the ministry of the Rev. Theo- 
 
176 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 dore J. Frelinghuysen, in the neighborhood of Somer- 
 ville and New Brunswick, N. J. The blessed fruits 
 of this. work were widely spread in those parts, en- 
 dured through the following generations, and may 
 yet be clearly traced at the present time. Subse- 
 quently the ministries of Dr. Laidlie at New York, 
 and Dr. Westerlo at Albany, tended greatly to ele- 
 vate the tone of evangelical sentiment and piety in 
 our churches, and were greatly blessed in the conver- 
 sion of sinners. The ministry of the late Dr. John 
 H. Livingston (from 1770 to 1810) is well remember- 
 ed as most richly evangelical, and clothed with a holy 
 unction, while the dew of heaven was upon it in suc- 
 cess. At one time for several years subsequent to 
 the revolutionary war, while alone in the field of his 
 labor, the continued dropping from on high was on 
 his ministrations, and numerous accessions were made 
 from time to time of such as afterwards exhibited the 
 character of enlightened, experimental, fruitful piety. 
 Without referring to their ministries, it may be re- 
 marked that these were the very men most distin- 
 guished among us for their clear, discriminating ex- 
 hibition of divine truth, their strict adherence to the 
 order of the gospel, their influence upon the general 
 welfare of the church, and their wisdom, zeal, and 
 fidelity in the work of the ministry." 
 
 From Rev. Dr. John M. Mason, New York, to Rev. William 
 Stoddart, of Amsterdam. 
 
 Dr. Mason was installed in 1793, and after eight 
 or ten years of ministerial labor, wrote to his friend 
 and class-mate, " My gracious Lord has not disowned 
 my feeble labors. This man and that have been 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. lit 
 
 born in our Zion. The congregation was compara- 
 tively small when it came into my hands, containing 
 not quite two hundred persons who had been admit- 
 ted to sacramental privileges. During my ministry 
 about six hundred have been added 5 and the increase, 
 I trust, owes nothing to soothing doctrines, or to 
 remissness of discipline. Had we chosen to open the 
 door to the merely civil and moral, our number would 
 have been much greater. But I wish to see Chris- 
 tians in the churches. The world and the church can 
 never unite. If we make the foolish attempt, there 
 will be a conflict, and either the one or the other 
 will be prostrated." 
 
 Of Dr. Mason's labors the late Isabella Graham 
 wrote, in 1793, " Our young Timothy is a champion 
 for the gospel of Jesus. The Lord has well girded 
 him and largely endowed him. He walks closely 
 with God, and speaks and preaches like a Christian 
 of long experience. He was ordained and installed 
 about two months ago in his father's church. for 
 a thankful heart! The Lord has done wonders for 
 me and mine ; and blessed be his name, that in a 
 remarkable manner he hedged me in to become a 
 member of this congregation, where I am led and fed 
 with the same truths which nourished my soul in 
 Zion's gates at Edinburgh; and I am helped to sing 
 the Lord's song in a strange land." 
 
 From Rev. Dr. Milledoler, President of Rutgers College, 
 New Brunswick, N. J. 1800-1812. 
 
 " Those who are born again are said, in the sacred 
 Scriptures, to be ' born of the Spirit/ and ' times of 
 refreshing ' are everywhere attributed to Him as their 
 
178 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 author. It is strange that the reality of revivals 
 should be called in question by those who read the 
 Bible, are acquainted with church history, or have 
 any knowledge whatever of the ordinary or extraor- 
 dinary operations of the Spirit of God upon the soul. 
 "I have witnessed two revivals during my own 
 ministry. The first occurred between the years 1800 
 and 1805, while I was officiating as pastor of the Pine- 
 street church, Philadelphia. The second between the 
 years 1807 and 1812, while officiating as pastor of 
 the Rutgers-street church, New York. The former 
 continued more than eighteen months ; the latter three 
 years. Both occurred under the regular administra- 
 tion of the word and sacraments. Large additions 
 were made during their continuance to the commun- 
 ion of those churches. The church in Rutgers-street 
 grew in a few years from somewhere about eighty to 
 upwards of seven hundred communicating members. 
 This work was connected with no extra means, except 
 an additional weekly lecture or prayer-meeting. It 
 was attended with no extravagant demonstrations of 
 any description whatever, but with much apparent 
 humility, with Christian affection, and there is reason 
 to believe, also, with much searching of heart, and of 
 the holy Scriptures. Of those admitted to full com- 
 munion at that time, few, if any, are known to have 
 apostatized. I do not myself recollect a single in- 
 stance of apostasy." 
 
 From Rev. Dr. Griffin, in Newark, New Jersey, to Rev. Dr. 
 Ashbel Green, Philadelphia. 
 
 "About the first of December, 1806, we were en- 
 couraged with some symptoms of revival of religion 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 1^9 
 
 in this village, but they quickly disappeared ; and in 
 March, 180T, they were renewed, but again passed 
 off. The death of Dr. McWhorter in July made a 
 great impression on the congregation, which was deep- 
 ened in the month of August through the instrumen- 
 tality of the Rev. Gideon Blackburn, who preached 
 several times here with great zeal and energy. The 
 leaven was secretly and increasingly working nine 
 months before it became evident. At a time when 
 every thing appeared to be still around us, secret 
 anxieties were preying upon a number of persons, 
 which so far from being the effect of sympathy, were 
 known only to God and themselves. In this posture 
 things remained for about a fortnight. To a few, it 
 was an hour of awful suspense. But in some of the 
 last days of August, it became apparent that the de- 
 sire for a revival was rapidly spreading in the church. 
 "As our sacramental Sabbath was approaching, 
 this church, in connection with two neighboring 
 churches, agreed to set apart the Friday preceding 
 the communion, for fasting and prayer, chiefly to make 
 supplication for the effusions of the Holy Spirit. The 
 day, which was spent in prayer, singing, and short 
 addresses to the people, was marked with unusual 
 stillness, accompanied with pleasing appearances of 
 humility, earnestness, and a sense of entire depend- 
 ence. On the following Sabbath, a number of per- 
 sons assembled at nine o'clock in the morning, to 
 spend an hour in prayer for their minister, and for 
 the blessing of God on the exercises of the day. This 
 has become the stated practice of almost all the pray- 
 ing people of the congregation. Those who attended 
 
180 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 this first meeting unexpectedly found themselves ani- 
 mated with desires unfelt before, that God would 
 that very day bring out his perfections to the view 
 of the communicants, and this he did to a degree that 
 had seldom or never been seen before. On the even- 
 ing of the following Monday, at a lecture preached 
 in a private house, evidence of the extraordinary 
 presence of God, and the actual commencement of a 
 revival of religion, was felt perhaps by every person 
 present. During that, and the following week, in- 
 creasing symptoms of a most powerful influence were 
 discovered. The appearance was as if a collection 
 of waters long suspended over the town had fallen 
 at once, and deluged the whole place. For several 
 weeks the people would stay, at the close of every 
 evening service, to hear some new exhortation. At 
 those seasons, you might see a multitude weeping 
 and trembling around their minister, and many others 
 standing as astonished spectators of the scene, and 
 beginning to tremble themselves. One Sabbath after 
 the second service, when I had catechized and dis- 
 missed the little children, they gathered around me 
 weeping and inquiring what they should do. I know 
 not but a hundred were in tears at once. The scene 
 was as affecting as it was unexpected. 
 
 " Early in September many private associations 
 for prayer were formed, and I never witnessed the 
 communication of so earnest a spirit of prayer, and 
 so general, nor observed such evident and remarka- 
 ble answers to prayer. The agonies of parents have 
 been such as to drive sleep from their eyes, and for 
 weeks together have been seemingly as great as their 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 181 
 
 nature could well sustain. And these parents, in 
 every case that has come within my knowledge, have 
 each several children who are already numbered 
 among the hopeful converts. Many professors have 
 been severely tried, and not a few have for a time 
 given themselves over for lost." 
 
 "This work, in point of power and stillness, ex- 
 ceeds all that I have ever seen. While it bears down 
 every thing with irresistible force, and seems almost 
 to dispense with human ' instrumentality, it moves 
 with so much silence, that unless we attentively ob- 
 serve its effects, we are tempted at times to doubt 
 whether any thing uncommon is taking place. The 
 converts are strongly marked with humility and self- 
 distrust. Instead of being elated with confident hopes, 
 they are inclined to tremble, and almost all are born 
 into the distinguishing doctrines of grace. 
 
 "I suppose there are from two hundred and thir- 
 ty to two hundred and fifty who hope they have been 
 born again, and many still remain under solemn im- 
 pressions. The subjects of this work are of all ages, 
 from nine years old to more than threescore and ten, 
 and of all characters, including drunkards, apostates, 
 infidels, and those who were lately malignant oppos- 
 ers, and of all conditions, including poor negroes, and 
 many of them hoary with age. While we gaze with 
 wonder and delight at these glorious triumphs of the 
 Prince of peace, and weep for joy to hear babes and 
 sucklings sing hosannas to the Son of David, we can- 
 not but join in the general response, and cry, ' Blessed 
 is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna 
 in the highest.' " 
 
182 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 In a letter of 1832, appended to Dr. Sprague's 
 Lectures on Eevivals, Dr. Griffin, giving a summary 
 view of the revivals in which lie had labored, says, 
 "The first of June, 1809, 1 was removed by the prov- 
 idence of God, and by the advice of my brethren, to 
 the Theological Seminary at Andover, and to a con- 
 nection with the infant church in Park-street, Boston, 
 as a stated preacher. The house in Park-street not 
 being finished, and the Rev. Mr. French of Andover 
 dying that summer, I took the pulpit, and supplied 
 it till winter, for the benefit of the family. It pleased 
 God to pour out his Spirit. A revival of very con- 
 siderable extent ensued, calculated to fit that atmos- 
 phere to be breathed by the sons of the prophets." 
 
 Revival in Hampden Sydney College, Virginia. 1787, 1788. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. William Hill of Winchester, Vir- 
 ginia, on a public occasion gave the following history : 
 " I lost my sainted mother when I was a youth, but 
 not before the instructions which I received from her 
 beloved lips had made a deep impression on my mind, 
 an impression which I carried with me into a college, 
 Hampden Sydney, Prince Edward county, where there 
 was then not one pious student. There I often reflect- 
 ed, when surrounded with young men who scoffed at 
 religion, upon the instructions of my mother ; and my 
 conscience was frequently sore distressed. I had no 
 Bible, and dreaded getting one, lest it should be found 
 in my possession. At last I could stand it no longer, 
 and therefore requested a particular friend, a youth 
 whose parents lived near, and who often went home, 
 to ask his pious and excellent mother to send me 
 some religious book. She sent me Alleine's Alarm, 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 183 
 
 an old black book, which looked as if it might have 
 been handled by successive generations for one hun- 
 dred years. 
 
 " When I got it I locked my room, and lay on my 
 bed reading it, when a student knocked at the door. 
 And although I gave him no answer, dreading to be 
 found reading such a book, he continued to knock 
 and beat the door until I had to open it. He came 
 in, and seeing the book lying on the bed, he seized it, 
 and examining its title, said, ' Why, Hill, do you read 
 such books ?' I hesitated, but God enabled me to be 
 decided, and to answer him boldly, but with much 
 emotion, ' Yes, I do.' The young man said, with deep 
 agitation, ' Oh, Hill, I envy you. You may obtain 
 religion, but I never can. I came here a professor 
 of religion, but through fear I dissembled, and have 
 been carried along with the wicked until I fear there 
 is no hope for me.' 
 
 " He told me there were two others who, he be- 
 lieved, were somewhat serious. We agreed to take 
 up the subject of religion in earnest, and seek it 
 together. We invited the other two, and held a 
 prayer-meeting in my room on the next Saturday 
 afternoon. And Oh, what a prayer-meeting! We 
 tried to pray, but such prayer I never heard the like 
 of. We knew not how to pray, but tried to do it. 
 It was the first prayer-meeting I had ever heard of. 
 We tried to sing, but it was in a most suppressed 
 manner, for we feared the other students. But they 
 found it out, and gathered round the door, and made 
 such a noise that some of the officers had to come and 
 disperse them. And so serious was the disturbance 
 
184 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 that the president, the late excellent Rev. Dr. John 
 Blair Smith, had to investigate the matter at prayers, 
 that evening, in the prayer hall. When he demanded 
 the reason of the riot, a ringleader in wickedness got 
 up and stated, that it was occasioned by three or four 
 of the boys holding a prayer-meeting, and they were 
 determined to have no such doings there. 
 
 "The good president heard the statement with 
 deep emotion, and looking at the youths charged 
 with the sin of praying, with tears in his eyes he said, 
 ' Oh, is there such a state of things in this college ? 
 Then God has come near to us. My dear young- 
 friends, you shall be protected. You shall hold your 
 next meeting in my parlor, and I will be one of your 
 number. 5 Sure enough we had our next meeting in 
 his parlor, and half the college were there. And 
 there began a glorious revival of religion, which 
 pervaded the college, and spread into the country 
 around. 
 
 " Many of those students became ministers of the 
 gospel. The youth who brought me Alleine's Alarm 
 from his mother, was my friend the Rev. William 
 Calhoun, still preaching in this state ; and he who 
 interrupted me in reading the work, is my venerable 
 and worthy friend the Rev. Dr. Blythe, now president 
 of a college in Indiana. Another was Rev. Clement 
 Reed of this state ; and a fifth, the late Rev. Carey 
 H. Allen of Kentucky." 
 
 This revival included among its subjects half of 
 the students in the college. It extended into neigh- 
 boring churches, and then into those more remote, 
 and was more extensive and powerful than had been 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 185 
 
 experienced in Virginia since the days of President 
 Davies, who died in 1761. Dr. Smith, the president 
 of Hampden Sydney, was greatly quickened. " Two 
 hundred and twenty persons, chiefly young people, 
 were added to the churches to which he ministered 
 within eighteen months; and the revival extended 
 over Prince Edward, Cumberland, Charlotte, and 
 Bedford counties, and to the Peaks of Otter," in the 
 Blue Ridge. 
 
 Dr. Archibald Alexander in Central Virginia. 1789, 1790. 
 
 The history of Dr. Alexander's early life in the 
 valley of Virginia, shows how great was the moral 
 dearth there prevailing in the latter part of the last 
 century, and illustrates the grace of God in raising 
 up laborers to fulfil his own purposes of mercy. 
 Though descended from a worthy Scotch Presby- 
 terian ancestry, he says of himself at the age of seven- 
 teen, in 1789, " My only notion of religion was, that 
 it consisted in becoming better. I had never heard 
 of any conversions among Presbyterians. . . . The 
 state of morals and religion after the revolutionary 
 war was very bad. 77 He engaged that year as a tutor 
 in the family of General Posey, of which a venerated 
 and pious Baptist lady was an inmate, who proved to 
 him an invaluable friend. She loved the writings of 
 Flavel, and as her eyes were weak, she often sent for 
 him to read to her. Her conversation and this read- 
 ing with other influences called his attention to relig- 
 ion, and Soame Jenyns on the Internal Evidences 
 banished the prevalent French Infidelity which was 
 assailing him. He proceeds to say : 
 
 " My services as a reader were frequently in requi- 
 
186 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 sition, not only to save the eyes of old Mrs. Tyler, but 
 on Sundays for the benefit of the whole family. On 
 one of these Sabbath evenings, I was requested to 
 read out of Flavel. The part on which I had been 
 regularly engaged was the 'Method of Grace/ but 
 now, by some means, I was led to select one of the 
 sermons on Rev. 3 : 20, ' Behold, I stand at the door 
 and knock/ etc. The discourse was upon the pa- 
 tience, forbearance, and kindness of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ to impenitent and obstinate sinners. As I 
 proceeded to read aloud, the truth took effect on my 
 feelings, and every word I read seemed applicable to 
 my own case. Before I finished the discourse, these 
 emotions became too strong for restraint, and my 
 voice began to falter. I laid down the book, rose 
 hastily, and went out with a full heart, and hastened 
 to my place of retirement. No sooner had I reached 
 the spot than I dropped upon my knees, and attempt- 
 ed to pour out my feelings in prayer, but I had not 
 continued many minutes in this exercise before I was 
 overwhelmed with a flood of joy. I was filled with 
 a sense of the goodness and mercy of God." He 
 passed through many fears, doubts, and conflicts be- 
 fore he was satisfied of his good estate, but in his 
 later years he regarded this as the period of his con- 
 version to Christ. 
 
 Hearing of the great revival above noticed in the 
 neighborhood of Prince Edward, east of the Blue 
 Ridge, he accompanied some of his fellow-students 
 and their revered instructor Rev. William Graham, 
 rector of Liberty Hall at Lexington, Rockbridge 
 county, to the scene of wonders, where he passed 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 18? 
 
 some days; attended a communion-season at which 
 multitudes were present, heard Dr. John Blair Smith 
 and others preach, saw William Hill and others of 
 the recent converts, and on their return "a revival 
 of great power commenced, which extended to almost 
 every Presbyterian church in the valley of Virginia." 
 He, with several other young men, fruits of that revi- 
 val, entered on study for the ministry ; he was licens- 
 ed to preach, October, 1791, and devoted himself to 
 labors in the destitute and frontier settlements of Vir- 
 ginia and North Carolina. A private record of texts 
 and places shows that, in the first fifteen months 
 of his ministry, he preached one hundred and fifty- 
 two sermons, and he says, " I never thought of any 
 compensation for what I did." His subsequent labors 
 and influence, especially in founding the Theological 
 seminary in Princeton, and for nearly forty years 
 diffusing a missionary and revival spirit among the 
 hundreds of its members, are well known. 
 
 From a letter of Rev. Dr. Furman of Charleston, S. C, to 
 Rev. Dr. E-ippon of London, August, 1802. 
 
 Dr. Furman gives a particular account of a large 
 union meeting held by Baptists, Presbyterians, Meth- 
 odists, and others at the Waxhaws, about one hundred 
 and seventy miles from Charleston, at which he esti- 
 mated that three or four thousand were present, and 
 about twenty ministers. 
 
 "The services," he says, "were conducted with 
 much solemnity. Many seemed to be seriously con- 
 cerned for the salvation of their souls, and the preach- 
 ing and exhortation of the ministers in general were 
 well calculated to make right impressions. Deep 
 
188 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 conviction for sin, and apprehension of the wrath of 
 God were manifested at first, and several afterwards 
 appeared to have a joyful sense of pardoning mercy 
 through a Eedeemer. 
 
 " A very considerable number had gone seventy 
 or eighty miles from the lower parts of this state to 
 attend this meeting, and since their return an extra- 
 ordinary revival has taken place in the congregations 
 to which they belong. It has spread also across the 
 upper parts of this state. Taking it for granted that 
 you have seen the publication entitled, - Surprising 
 Accounts/ by Woodward of Philadelphia, containing 
 the accounts of revivals in Kentucky, Tennessee, and 
 North Carolina, I therefore say nothing of them, but 
 only that the work in North Carolina increases 
 greatly." 
 
 Other accounts from all the states here named 
 show the marvellous displays of divine grace. In the 
 Kioka church, Georgia, in 1787, under the labors of 
 Mr. Marshall, one hundred souls were brought in, and 
 " a remarkable ingathering " in that church is record- 
 ed about 1802, "the time of the great revival which 
 prevailed in many parts of Georgia." 
 
 Revivals in Western Pennsylvania. 1778-1805. 
 
 The aged Rev. Joseph Stevenson, who entered on 
 his pastoral labors about fifty years since in "Western 
 Pennsylvania, writes : 
 
 "It may almost be said that the Presbyterian 
 church in Western Pennsylvania was born in a revi- 
 val. In 1778, Vance's fort, into which the families 
 living adjacent had been driven by the Indians, was 
 the scene of a remarkable work. There was but one 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 189 
 
 pious man in the fort, Joseph Patterson, a layman, 
 an earnest and devoted Christian, whose zeal had 
 not waned even amid the storm and terrors of war ; 
 and during the long days and nights of their besiege- 
 ment, he talked with his careless associates of an 
 enemy more to be dreaded than the Indian, and a 
 death more terrible than by the scalping-knife. As 
 they were shut up within very narrow limits, his voice, 
 though directed to one -or two, could easily be heard 
 by the whole company, and thus his personal exhorta- 
 tions became public addresses. Deep seriousness fill- 
 ed every breast, and some twenty persons were there 
 led to Christ. These were a short time subsequently 
 formed into the Cross Creek church, which built its 
 house of worship near the fort, and had as its pastor 
 for thirty-three years one of these converts, the Kev. 
 Thomas Marques. 
 
 " From 1781 to 1787, a more extensive work of 
 grace was experienced in the churches of Cross Creek, 
 Upper Buffalo, Chartiers, Pigeon Creek, Bethel, Leb- 
 anon, Ten Mile, Cross Roads, and Mill Creek, dur- 
 ing which more than a thousand persons were brought 
 into the kingdom of Christ. Considering the unset- 
 tled state of the public mind at the close of the Revo- 
 lutionary war, the constant anxiety and watchfulness 
 against the incursions of hostile Indians, the toils and 
 hardships incident to new settlements, and the scarc- 
 ity of ministers, this was a signal work of the Spirit, 
 greatly strengthening the feeble churches. 
 
 " From 1795 to 1799, another series of gracious 
 visitations was enjoyed by the churches generally 
 throughout Western Pennsylvania, extending to the 
 
190 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 new settlements north of Pittsburg. In this work 
 Dr. McMillan, the first settled pastor in Western 
 Pennsylvania, received into his church one hundred 
 and ten, Mr. Marques one hundred and twenty-three, 
 and large additions were made to many others. 
 
 " These works of grace prepared the way for the 
 larger outpouring of the Spirit in 1802 to 1804. 
 Many of the subjects of these early revivals emigrat- 
 ed to the surrounding counties, and became the ele- 
 ments of new churches, while not less than twenty 
 of those converts prepared for the ministry, and 
 were prominent laborers in the great revivals for 
 which God had thus raised them up. 
 
 " In the latter part of 1801, and the beginning of 
 1802, the meetings for social worship, and the obser- 
 vance of public ordinances throughout Western Penn- 
 sylvania became remarkable in regard both to num- 
 bers and solemnity. In the spring and summer of 
 1802, there was a great increase of prayer and expec- 
 tation of a blessing, leading many to continue all 
 night in pleadings for the Holy Spirit's presence. 
 In the autumn of 1802, the sacramental seasons in 
 the various churches were attended by large numbers 
 even from the distance of fifty miles, and deep so- 
 lemnity felt by all. It is believed that more than 
 five thousand people sometimes came together on 
 these occasions, and remained for three, four, or five 
 days, during which almost constant services were 
 maintained. 
 
 " At a communion held in Cross Roads, a great 
 multitude assembled, and nine ministers were present. 
 The meeting-house, though large, being insufficient to 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 191 
 
 contain half of the people on the Sabbath, the sacra- 
 ment was administered at the tent to about eight 
 hundred communicants, of whom forty-one were ad- 
 mitted for the first time. On Monday three minis- 
 ters preached at different places, one in the house, 
 and two in the encampment. This was a very solemn 
 day. At the close of public worship it was the desire 
 of the ministers that the people should disperse, but 
 so intense was the feeling that few would leave. 
 Many of the young people were deeply exercised, 
 frequently speaking to sinners of their lost condition, 
 of the glories of the Saviour, of the excellency and 
 suitableness of the plan of salvation, warning, invit- 
 ing, and pressing sinners to come to Christ; and all 
 this in a manner quite astonishing for their years. 
 Experienced Christians also were much refreshed and 
 comforted, and affectingly recommended the Lord Je- 
 sus and his religion to those around them. Such meet- 
 ings were held in various churches crowded with peo- 
 ple from all the surrounding country, thousands were 
 brought under deep conviction, and many hundreds 
 professed faith in Christ. 
 
 "This work extended with more or less power 
 over most of the churches in Western Pennsylvania 
 and North-eastern Ohio. It continued with little 
 abatement for two years, attesting itself to be a true 
 work of God by its blessed fruits. From that day 
 to this those churches have remained faithful wit- 
 nesses for Christ, have established schools, founded 
 colleges, trained hundreds of ministers, and sent forth 
 thousands of Christians, as the nuclei of churches 
 over the west and south." 
 
192 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 From Rev. Thomas Marques, Cross Creek church, Western 
 Pennsylvania. 1804. 
 
 "I took the charge of this congregation in June 
 1794, and preached here and in Buffalo congregation 
 alternately until 1798. During this period there was 
 in general a solemn attention, a considerable number 
 were awakened, and one hundred and twenty-three 
 were admitted to the communion, who have generally 
 supported a profession becoming the gospel. 
 
 "In 1799, the Lord poured out the gracious influ- 
 ences of his Holy Spirit on the congregation, many 
 were awakened, and twenty added to the church. 
 
 "In the spring of 1802, the Lord again revived 
 his work, and carried it on until the first Tuesday in 
 October, at which, time the Spirit seemed like a rush- 
 ing mighty wind, as on the day of pentecost. Many 
 were alarmed with a view of their own sinful condi- 
 tion, and that of others around them. 
 
 " They generally had a deep sense of their undone 
 state by nature, and their exposedness to the wrath 
 of God. It seemed as if the sins of their childhood 
 and youth all came up to their view, but especially 
 the heaven-daring sin of rejecting the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, as offered to them in the gospel. Those who 
 have obtained relief, have scriptural views of the 
 moral character of God, of the method of salvation 
 through a Redeemer, of the sufficiency of his atone- 
 ment, and the way in which God can be just and all 
 his attributes remain unspotted in saving sinners ac- 
 cording to the new covenant. They appear to acqui- 
 esce in the method of salvation through Christ, mak- 
 ing a full, free, and hearty surrender of themselves 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 193 
 
 to God and his service, embracing Christ as their 
 prophet, priest, and king, under a deep sense of their 
 need of him in all these offices, and of their entire 
 unworthiness of the least favor at his hand. 
 
 " The fruits and effects of this work evidence it 
 to be of God. Those whose tongues were dumb have 
 learned to speak the language of Canaan. Those 
 who were formerly Sabbath-breakers, scoffing at sa- 
 cred things, and guilty of other immoralities, have 
 not only forsaken their former evil practices, but 
 have become regular and sober, diligently attending 
 the ordinances of God's house, and conscientiously 
 performing the duties of religion. Those who once 
 depended upon their own attainments and good works 
 for acceptance with God, have renounced all for the 
 righteousness of Christ. Those who formerly delight- 
 ed in carnal company, merry jests, profane songs, and 
 foolish and vain conversation, now seek the company 
 of them who fear God, and delight in holy exercises 
 and spiritual communion. Those who formerly attend- 
 ed upon the preaching of the gospel either as idle 
 spectators, or to cavil at or quarrel with it, now 
 attend with a desire to know their duty, to enjoy 
 communion with God, and receive grace and strength 
 from him to enable them to live to his glory. Many 
 have, in the most solemn, sweet, and affecting manner, 
 spoken of the wisdom, love, and glory of God shining 
 in the plan of salvation through Christ. They have 
 also lamented their ignorance and want of love to him, 
 the evil of their hearts, and the total depravity of 
 their natures — have frequently expressed their desire 
 after holiness and conformity to God, and their ten- 
 Rev. Sketches Q 
 
194 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 der concern for his cause and the salvation of sinners. 
 In short, many evidence a sweet, solemn, and humble 
 disposition, equal to any thing we have ever witness- 
 ed in young converts. About one hundred have been 
 admitted to the church." 
 
 Revivals in Kentucky and Tennessee about 1800. 
 
 The " Great Revival of 1800 " is as well known 
 in Kentucky and Tennessee as in the Atlantic states. 
 Dr. Davidson, in his history of the state of the church- 
 es in Kentucky, says : 
 
 " On the eve of the nineteenth century, notwith- 
 standing the increase of ministers and churches, the 
 prospect was sufficiently gloomy to appall both the 
 Christian and the patriot. The population of the 
 state advanced with incredible rapidity, and soon 
 outstripped the supply of the means of grace. World- 
 ly-mindedness, infidelity, and dissipation threatened 
 to deluge the land, and sweep away all vestiges of 
 piety and morality. The rising generation were 
 growing up in almost universal ignorance of religious 
 obligation. The elder church-members were gradu- 
 ally dying off, and were replaced by no recruits from 
 the ranks of the young. Except a little Goshen here 
 and there, the shadow of night was gathering over 
 the land. At this juncture, when hope was ready 
 to expire, an unlooked-for and astonishing change 
 suddenly took place. This event was the Great 
 Revival of 1800, so called from its wide extent and 
 influence, and which, after all necessary allowances 
 for the disorders which deformed it, was, beyond 
 controversy, attended with signal benefits. A pre- 
 paratory work had been going on for some time prr- 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 195 
 
 vious. The zealous labors of the Yirginia missiona- 
 ries, and others of the younger clergy, were not with- 
 out effect, and there was yet a remnant in the land, 
 that had neither bowed the knee to mammon nor 
 Thomas Paine. An unusual attention to religion had 
 been awakened in the south-western section of the 
 state, in what was known as the Green River country, 
 and the Cumberland settlements, a year or two 
 previous." 
 
 A record of the Baptist churches in Kentucky 
 states, that "in the remarkable outpourings of the 
 Holy Spirit, from 1799 to 1803, in most parts of our 
 land, among different denominations, about ten thou- 
 sand were added to the Baptist churches within that 
 state, who gave evidence of genuine conversion." 
 
 Of Rev. Robert Donnell, one of the fathers of the 
 Cumberland Presbyterian church, who early entered 
 on itinerant labors in Tennessee and North Alabama, 
 and preached the gospel with fidelity and success for 
 nearly fifty years, his biographer says, " He professed 
 religion in the year 1800, in that ever memorable 
 revival of pure experimental religion in which the 
 Cumberland Presbyterian church had its origin." 
 
 It cannot be denied that in this revival, elsewhere 
 so free from nervous excitement, there were, in parts 
 of Kentucky and Tennessee, extraordinary "bodily 
 exercises," called the jerks, falling down, etc., in the 
 meetings, which the enlightened friends of the work 
 lamented, and which excited its enemies to ridicule 
 and blaspheme. But it must be remembered, that 
 these physical agitations took place at the large 
 camp-meetings, in which were gathered all the ele- 
 
196 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ments of excitement from every quarter, and which 
 were continued day and night, till the consequent 
 exhaustion of the multitudes in a great measure took 
 away the power of self-control. These remarkable 
 phenomena by no means proved that it was all fanat- 
 icism and delusion. There were beyond question 
 many true conversions. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Cleland wrote, in 1834, after wit- 
 nessing the fruits of this work for more than thirty 
 years, " The work at first was no doubt a glorious 
 work of God. Many within my knowledge became 
 hopefully pious, the most of whom continue unto this 
 present, and many have fallen asleep in Jesus. The 
 number of apostates was much fewer than I sup- 
 posed." 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Alexander said of that work, 
 " Many facts which occurred at the close of the revi- 
 val were of such a nature that judicious men were 
 fully persuaded that there was much that was wrong 
 in the manner of conducting the work, and that an 
 erratic and enthusiastic spirit prevailed to a lament- 
 able extent. It is not doubted, however, that the 
 Spirit of God was really poured out, and that many 
 sincere converts were made, especially in the com- 
 mencement of the revival; but too much indulgence 
 was given to a heated imagination, and too much 
 stress was laid on the bodily affections which accom- 
 panied the work, as though they were supernatural 
 phenomena, intended to arouse the attention of the 
 careless world." 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 197 
 
 REV. DR. DWIGHT, YALE COLLEGE— REFLECTIONS 
 ON THE WORK ABOUT 1800. 
 
 I have reserved for this place the name of one 
 whom the churches delighted to honor, Dr. Timothy 
 Dwight, president of Yale college, a fast friend of 
 revivals, as well as a renowned and beloved teacher 
 of the young men who resorted to that institution for ' 
 classical education. 
 
 To go a little further back, when Dr. Dwight 
 came into office, in 1795, many of the leading stu- 
 dents in the several classes were deeply tinctured 
 with French infidelity, and its bold champions were 
 not backward to encounter the new president, at the 
 first favorable opportunity. This was soon granted 
 them, in a discussion before him involving the truth 
 and inspiration of the Scriptures. They mustered all 
 their force, and anticipated a signal victory. The 
 day came in the class-room. It was a mortal onset 
 for them, but a proud day for the college. In the 
 summing up, he so scathingly exposed their ignorance, 
 and so triumphantly overthrew them at every point, 
 that they never wanted to measure weapons with him 
 again. From that hour infidelity lost its prestige in 
 Yale college, and has never dared openly to show its 
 head since. The victory was an incalculable gain to 
 the cause of religion in that popular seat of learning, 
 and through the agency of its graduates who entered 
 the ministry. It enthroned the president in the con- 
 fidence of the students, and prepared them to listen 
 with new interest to his admirable discourses from 
 the pulpit, which, as professor of divinity, he preached 
 in the college chapel from Sabbath to Sabbath, dur- 
 
198 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ing the period of his presidency. It was morally im- 
 possible to sit four years under such preaching, so 
 convincing in argument, so solemn and earnest in 
 appeal, and so eloquent in delivery, without being 
 instructed and profited, at least in some degree. 
 
 Nothing very remarkable, however, took place, till 
 the spring and summer of 1802, when the revival, in 
 its triumphant progress on the right hand and the 
 left, reached Yale college; and there it came with 
 such power as had never been witnessed within those 
 walls before. It was in the Freshman year of my own 
 class. It was like a mighty rushing wind. The whole 
 college was shaken. It seemed for a time as if the 
 whole mass of the students would press into the king- 
 dom. It was the Lord's doing, and marvellous in all 
 eyes. Oh, what a blessed change ! 
 
 As the fruit of this revival, so memorable in the 
 history of the institution, fifty-eight were added to 
 the college church, and others, I know not how many, 
 joined the churches at home. It was a glorious ref- 
 ormation. It put a new face upon the college. It 
 sent a thrill of joy and thanksgiving far and wide 
 into the hearts of its friends, who had been praying 
 that the waters of salvation might be poured into the 
 fountain from which so many streams were annually 
 sent out. 
 
 The triennial catalogue shows, that for many years 
 there had been but very few in the seminary prepar- 
 ing for the pulpit. In the four preceding classes, 
 only thirteen names of ministers stand against sixty- 
 nine in the next four years ; nearly if not quite all of 
 them brought in by the great revival. 
 
NINETEENTH CENTUHY. 199 
 
 Thus we see how dark were the prospects of the 
 churches when it commenced. Only thirteen from the 
 college in four years ; less than four in a year, and 
 that when there were but two or three other colleges 
 in the country, from which any additional supplies 
 could be expected. 
 
 It was indeed the bright dawn of a new Christian 
 epoch, when the heavens were opened, and poured 
 down righteousness upon Yale college, and upon 
 scores of churches ; and I may venture to say, that 
 the influence of those revivals upon the cause of vital 
 religion at home and abroad, has already surpassed 
 the most sanguine hopes of those who witnessed and 
 rejoiced in them. 
 
 At that time, when a student was converted in 
 college, or before he entered, it was taken for granted 
 by everybody, that he intended to devote his life to 
 the service of Christ in the gospel. It was so at 
 Yale, in the revival of 1802. I cannot call to mind 
 a single convert who did not at once ask, * Lord, what 
 wilt thou have me to do ¥ and who did not set his 
 heart upon becoming a preacher. Nearly all of them, 
 as the catalogue shows, entered the ministry. The 
 exceptions were very few, and mainly from causes 
 which they could not control. How different, alas, 
 from what we witness now ! If one-half of the grad- 
 uates from our colleges who profess religion enter 
 the ministry, it is about as much as the churches and 
 a perishing world are allowed to expect. I bless 
 God it was not so then. Had it been, what a loss to 
 the cause for which Christ shed his blood. And who 
 
200 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 will say that the demand for good ministers is less 
 now, than it was then ? 
 
 And why this great falling off? It is not because 
 souls are less precious, or less in danger of perishing, 
 in the middle of the nineteenth century, than they 
 were at the beginning. Is it because young men ob- 
 tain hopes easier under the preaching of the present 
 day, than they did under the ministry of Hyde, Griffin, 
 Hallock, and their contemporaries, who were so emi- 
 nently doctrinal in their discourses? I cannot help 
 thinking it is, at least in part. As he loveth much 
 to whom much is forgiven, so he who has most deeply 
 felt the plague of his own heart, and the justice of 
 his condemnation under discriminating preaching — he 
 who has most deeply felt his own perishing need of a 
 Saviour — will feel more constrained by the love of 
 Christ to enter the ministry, that if possible he may 
 save some who are under the same condemnation, 
 than if the terrors of death had not taken hold upon 
 him when he was passing through the deep waters. 
 Such were the preachers who came out of the revi- 
 vals now under review, and who were to carry for- 
 ward the work when the fathers had fallen asleep. 
 They knew what truths had taken the deepest hold 
 of their own minds, and made them the basis of their 
 ministry. 
 
 Whatever view we can take of the work of God 
 at the beginning of this century, it was a glorious 
 period in the religious history of the country. The 
 apostasies have been comparatively few, and besides 
 their rich harvests in gathering souls to Christ, those 
 revivals stand connected, in the history of Redemp- 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 201 
 
 tion, with those aggressive agencies by which He is 
 now turning our own moral wildernesses into fruitful 
 fields, and sending the gospel to all heathen lands. 
 
 When that era dawned, there were no Missionary 
 societies, foreign or domestic, no Bible societies, no 
 Tract societies, no Education societies, no onward 
 movements in the churches of any sort, for the con- 
 version of the world. At home it was deep spiritual 
 apathy ; abroad, over all the heathen lands, the calm 
 of the Dead sea — death, death, nothing but death. 
 
 All the first foreign missionaries, Hall, Newell, 
 Mills, Judson, Nott, Rice, Bingham, King, Thurston, 
 and others who entered the field a little later, were 
 converted and received their missionary baptism in 
 that revival. The American Board of Foreign Mis- 
 sions was formed in 1810, at the urgency of the first 
 band that went out from this country to India. But 
 for their earnest solicitation to be sent forth with the 
 glad tidings of the gospel upon their tongues, no such 
 Board would have been formed ; certainly not at that 
 time ; and if it had, it could not have done any thing : 
 there would have been no missionaries to send, if God 
 had not poured out his Spirit, and raised them up 
 and prepared them to endure hardness as good sol- 
 diers of Jesus Christ. In these revivals the holy fire 
 was kindled, and waked up and warmed the churches 
 to an onward aggressive movement, such as had never 
 been known in this country before. Other missiona- 
 ries soon followed under the same Board. And about 
 the same time, the Baptist Foreign Mission Board 
 was organized to sustain Judson and Rice who had 
 joined their communion, and commenced a mission in 
 
 9* 
 
202 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Burmah, which has become one of the most prosperous 
 missions of the present age. And now, behold what 
 from these small and feeble beginnings God has 
 wrought, in the four quarters of the world, and the 
 isles of the Gentiles. 
 
 From the same revival source sprang home mis- 
 sions. It began to be felt, we have a wide and fast 
 spreading population within our own borders that 
 must be cared for, aud then domestic missionary so- 
 cieties were formed to meet the want. 
 
 Nor was this enough. The churches having once 
 waked up from their long slumbers, could not rest 
 here. The destitute at home must have the word of 
 God put into their hands, and it must be sent abroad 
 with the missionaries, and translated into the tongues 
 wherein the heathen were born, that they might read 
 the wonderful works of God and be turned from dark- 
 ness to light, from the worship of dumb idols to 
 the worship of Him who made the world. Hence 
 sprang the American Bible Society, and in succession 
 its hundreds of branches and kindred institutions, that 
 are now preparing and distributing the bread of life 
 from one end of the earth to the other. 
 
 Nor yet again could the yearnings of Christian 
 benevolence, once excited, rest without still further 
 expansion. A Christian literature, in a cheap and 
 attractive form, must be created and diffused. Small 
 religious tracts must be written, printed, and scatter- 
 ed over the land; to this end Tract Societies must be 
 organized, funds must be raised, and the press be en- 
 listed. It was done, and through this ever active and 
 all-pervading agency, what hath God wrought ! 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 203 
 
 Having proceeded thus far with these aggressions 
 upon the kingdom of darkness, was there any thing 
 more to be done to pour into it the light of heaven? 
 Yes, a great deal more, and through many other 
 kindred agencies. So the Sabbath-school Union was 
 formed. The Colored population, and the Sailors 
 must be cared for, the ravages of Intemperance must 
 be arrested on the land and on the sea. 
 
 Thus the glorious cause of religion and philan- 
 thropy has advanced, till it would require a space 
 which cannot be afforded in these sketches, so much 
 as to name the Christian and humane societies which 
 have sprung up all over the land within the last forty 
 years. Exactly how much we at home and the world 
 abroad are indebted for these organizations, so rich 
 in blessings, to the revivals of 1800, it is impossible 
 to say, though much every way — more than enough 
 to magnify the grace of God in the instruments he 
 employed, in the immediate fruits of their labors, and 
 the subsequent harvests springing from the good seed 
 which was sown by the men whom God delighted 
 thus to honor. 
 
 It cannot be denied, that modern missions sprung- 
 out of those revivals. The immediate connection 
 between them as cause and effect, was remarkably 
 clear in the organization of the first societies, which 
 have since accomplished so much ; and the impulse 
 which they gave to the churches to extend the bless^ 
 ings which they were diffusing, by forming the later 
 affiliated societies of like aims and character, is 
 scarcely less obvious. Taken altogether, the revival 
 period at the close of the last century and the begin- 
 
204 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ning of the present, furnishes ample materials for a 
 long and glorious chapter in the History of Redemp- 
 tion. 
 
 What if the Spirit had not been poured out when 
 it was so greatly needed, after the long spiritual 
 drought under which the land was suffering? Or 
 what if a different character had been stamped upon 
 the revival by ignorant and fanatical preachers? 
 What if D wight and Griffin and the other ministers 
 of the day, whose testimony we have in these sketches, 
 had made it an easy matter for sinners to repent and 
 gain a hope, instead of holding up before them the 
 character of God, the strictness, justice, and terrible 
 penalty of his law, the entire and dreadful depravity 
 of their hearts, the absolute sovereignty of God in 
 having mercy on whom he will have mercy, regenera- 
 tion by the Holy Spirit, and justification by faith 
 alone — what would have been the fruits? Under 
 smooth, superficial preaching, there might have been 
 some real converts; but as the late Eev. Daniel A. 
 Clark says in one of his printed sermons, " They 
 would not have known when they were converted, 
 who converted them, or what they were converted 
 for." There is no reason to think, I am sure, that 
 under any preaching that "heals the hurt slightly," 
 the revivals, if they had taken place at all, would 
 have filled and strengthened the churches by their 
 thoroughness and the ripeness of their fruits, or their 
 influence upon the age and the world, as those of 
 which I have been speaking did. They went down 
 into the depths of the soul, searched out all the 
 deceitful hiding-places of its enmity against God, and 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 205 
 
 brought the sinner helpless and self-condemned to the 
 foot of the cross. 
 
 I have dwelt longer upon the revival epoch which 
 opened in our own land at the commencement of this 
 century, than upon any that preceded it, because I 
 was then upon the stage, and passed through those 
 remarkable years of the right hand of the Most High, 
 so that I can speak what I do know, and testify what 
 I have seen ; because I think the work was freer from 
 objectionable drawbacks, and a greater proportion of 
 those who obtained hopes held out to the end, than in 
 " the great awakening," or any preceding revival since 
 the Reformation; because there was so little of 'Lo 
 here, and Lo there, 7 to divert men's minds from the 
 state of their own hearts, and their absolute depend- 
 ence upon the Spirit of God to work in them by his 
 renewing and sanctifying power ; and because it stir* 
 red up the churches to aggressive action upon the 
 country and the world, through the combined instru- 
 mentality of missionary and other kindred societies, 
 as no former revival had ever done. 
 
 In looking back fifty years and more, the great 
 revival of that period strikes me, in its thoroughness, 
 in its depth, in its freedom from animal, unhealthy 
 excitement, and in its far-reaching influence on sub- 
 sequent revivals, as having been decidedly in advance 
 of any that had preceded it. It was the opening of a 
 new revival epoch which has lasted now more than 
 half a century, with but short and partial interrup- 
 tions — and blessed be God, the end is not yet. In the 
 next chapter I shall resume the subject, and bring 
 these sketches down to the present time. 
 
206 REVIVAL SKETCHES, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE REVIVAL EPOCH ABOUT 1800— 
 
 CONTINUED. 
 
 The great Revival of 1800, as we have seen, was 
 so quiet and orderly and free from objections, there 
 were so many demonstrable proofs of the mighty 
 power of God in arresting and converting men of 
 all classes, infidels, universalists, drunkards, profane 
 swearers, as well as multitudes of others, and there 
 was so marked a change for the better in the state 
 of society, that nobody could help seeing it. In some 
 respects, as I have already shown, its distinctive char- 
 acteristics were quite different from the Great Awak- 
 ening sixty years before, under Edwards, Whitefield, 
 and their fellow-laborers of like precious faith. As 
 there were no such outbursts of high-wrought animal 
 excitement as often disturbed public worship then, 
 so no such fanatical divisions supervened, to rend the 
 churches and bring reproach upon the cause. No 
 itinerants, flaming with zeal not according to know- 
 ledge, now sprung up to distract the churches, grieve 
 the Holy Spirit, and bring into discredit all revivals. 
 On the contrary, the most sceptical were constrained 
 to say, " This is the finger of God. It can't be man's 
 work. What we have witnessed is utterly beyond 
 all human power to accomplish." They may not have 
 been converted, though some of them were, but their 
 mouths were shut. 
 
 For some years after the revivals recorded in the 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 207 
 
 last chapter, though the work was not so general as 
 at the going out of the last, and the coming in of the 
 present century, yet there were many revivals of 
 the same marks of genuineness, showing that God 
 had not shut up the heavens, but was waiting to be 
 more earnestly inquired of, again to come down and 
 multiply the trophies of redeeming love. So that, 
 when God again more copiously poured out his Spirit, 
 it was not marked as a new epoch, but the same con- 
 tinued and extended. 
 
 It was in that interval of partial suspension, that 
 by the grace of God, I was permitted to enter the min- 
 istry. I was ordained and settled in 1807, and by 
 the help of God I continue unto this day to witness 
 what I have seen, and to give a brief sketch of the 
 revivals in this country for the last fifty years. Yery 
 brief it must be, to leave room for the Manual in the 
 second part of this volume. This I regret the less, 
 because if I had ever so much space, the narratives 
 are so recent and so ample, and are to be found in so 
 many volumes within the reach of all who take an 
 interest in the advancement of the Redeemer's king- 
 dom, that not much enlargement seems to be called 
 for. Brief sketches are now more likely to be read, 
 I think, than many repetitions of minute narratives, 
 as repetitions to a great extent they must needs be, 
 where the phases of revivals are substantially alike. 
 
 About 1814, as near as I can fix the date, from 
 my own recollection and the helps before me, the 
 clouds, laden with their rich refreshings, began again 
 to gather over more of the churches. Those who kept 
 near the throne in prayer, and had wisdom to discern 
 
208 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 the signs of the times, began to expect great things, 
 and they were not disappointed. It was as if the 
 Saviour had said, " Ye shall see greater things than 
 these." Not greater displays of divine power than 
 they had witnessed in the revivals a few years before 
 at the opening of the century, but in their longer con- 
 tinuance, if not in their wider extent. 
 
 Many of the converts in these first revivals were 
 now entering the ministry, and a few of them remain 
 even unto this day. The rest have fallen asleep. 
 I believe that not far from four-fifths of the younger 
 pastors of evangelical churches, who were especially 
 blessed during the succeeding twenty years, were 
 themselves converted under the labors of Dwight, 
 Alexander, Hyde, Griffin, Hallock, Mills, and their 
 contemporaries, many of whose names I have given in 
 a former chapter. They of course came out of the 
 best schools for learning what a genuine revival is, 
 and what preaching is most blessed in carrying on the 
 work. When they came into the same care of souls, 
 they would naturally refer back to their own experi- 
 ence and observation, when the arrows of conviction 
 were piercing their own consciences, and the inquiry, 
 What must we do to be saved ? was sounding in their 
 ears. They could not help it. They would adopt the 
 same style of preaching, and substantially the same 
 other means, as they had felt and witnessed to be 
 mighty through God to the pulling down of strong- 
 holds ; and in reviewing the history and results of their 
 labors in winning souls, we should be disappointed 
 not to find the same image and superscription en- 
 stamped upon the revivals under their own ministry. 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 209 
 
 How far this expectation has been realized, will 
 appear as I proceed with these sketches. 
 
 If I do not name so many of this second genera- 
 tion of revival preachers in our current century, nor 
 dwell so long and specifically upon their labors, as I 
 have done in the earlier period, it is not because I 
 think them inferior in talents and ministerial gifts to 
 their fathers, nor that I think them, as a body, de- 
 serving of less honor in their Master's service, but 
 because of their relative position and antecedents. 
 The pioneers in any important era of human advance- 
 ment are of course more prominent on the historic 
 page, than those who are taught by them to follow 
 in the same line and carry out their plans and prin- 
 ciples, though the latter may be as much devoted to 
 the cause as the former. So here, though the dis- 
 ciples may not have been a whit behind their masters 
 in piety, in zeal, or in ministerial qualifications to 
 serve Christ in the gospel, entering as they did into 
 the labors of their predecessors and teachers, the 
 less need be said of their labors and success in the 
 same fields. 
 
 With few exceptions, like their fathers they did 
 most of the work themselves. They recognized the 
 scripture distinction between pastors and evangelists, 
 and rejoiced that the great Head of the church was 
 raising up and sending out evangelists to preach the 
 gospel and plant churches in our new and destitute 
 settlements; but they did not seek much aid from 
 preachers without charge, since familiarly called revi- 
 valists. 
 
 At the same time they were glad of such assist- 
 
210 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ance as God in Ms wisdom might please to send them. 
 And as he in a former age raised up George White- 
 field to help the pastors wherever he went, and they 
 received him, so I must here record the grace of God 
 in raising up, and so eminently qualifying Asahel 
 Nettleton, to perform a similar service over a wide 
 region where the revivals of which I am now to speak 
 most remarkably prevailed. If there were others 
 who were equally devoted, judicious, and helpful to 
 pastors, I did not know them, and must leave it for 
 those who did to name them. Mr. Nettleton's labors 
 were so widely extended, so long continued, and so 
 remarkably blessed, that it would be impossible for 
 me, in my sketches of this period, not to refer to him 
 often, as holding a high place among those whom God 
 was pleased to honor in the conversion of souls. Pres- 
 ident Dwight, whose pupil he was, and who knew 
 him well, is reported to have said, " Nettleton will 
 make one of the most useful men this country has 
 ever seen." Of course, in the inspired sense of the 
 term, this was not prophetic ; but Dr. Dwight was 
 justly celebrated for his remarkable penetration of 
 young men's talents and character. His judgment 
 seemed to be almost intuitive, and it seldom failed. 
 
 If there has been, since the days of the mighty 
 elders in the Great Awakening, a preacher more suc- 
 cessful in winning souls to Christ within the same 
 number of years, than Nettleton, I have yet to learn 
 his name, and what he did. I cannot refer to all the 
 places where Mr. Nettleton labored, nor give the exact 
 number, but it was very large — scores, I believe, where 
 the revivals were very powerful, and most of which 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 211 
 
 sprung up in immediate connection with his untiring 
 labors. Wherever he went, as his Memoir and Ke- 
 mains by Dr. Tyler show, the Lord went with him, 
 working mightily in turning men from darkness to 
 light, and from the power of Satan unto God. His 
 great experience in revivals, his deep penetration 
 of the workings of the human heart in all the stages 
 of awakening and conviction, and with all its con- 
 flicting exercises up to a comfortable hope in Christ, 
 gave him an advantage, of which he availed himself 
 to the full extent of his powers, which I am persuaded 
 has rarely if ever been surpassed, and seldom equalled 
 in these modern times. 
 
 I verily believe that no great warrior ever stud- 
 ied military tactics with more enthusiasm, or better 
 understood the art of killing men with the sword of 
 war, then Nettleton did how to wield the sword of 
 the Spirit, to deliver them from captivity to sin and 
 Satan, and save their souls. I am sure no warrior 
 ever studied his art under so great a Teacher. No 
 matter whether Nettleton had ever met an inquirer or 
 caviller before or not, he seemed to see just where 
 he stood, and how to address him at a glance. If all 
 revivalists had the talent and wisdom and piety and 
 meekness and deep Christian experience which he 
 had, pastors with more work than they can do when 
 God is pouring out his Spirit might safely receive 
 them with open arms. But the ability to do what he 
 did as a helper, and do it so well, is granted to very 
 few. It is one of the most difficult services in which 
 an itinerant popular preacher ever engaged, to go in 
 and labor with pastors of ordinary standing, in revi- 
 
212 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 vals. It requires wisdom, prudence, and self forget- 
 fulness, which very few of that class possess, so as not 
 to do quite as much harm as good, by throwing the 
 ministers whom they came to assist into the back- 
 ground. Many a faithful pastor has been undermin- 
 ed and dismissed, unintentionally we must believe, to 
 the. great loss of the church, just in this way. Not 
 so with Nettleton. Wherever he labored, he left the 
 churches and their ministers stronger and more united 
 than he found them. This was the universal testi- 
 mony. I never knew or heard of an exception. Most 
 manifest was it, that God had raised him up and kept 
 him in this land for that very service, when he had 
 set his heart upon a foreign mission. He labored 
 with me three months in the most powerful revival 
 that we ever, enjoyed, and for whatever I know of the 
 means which G-od has been wont especially to bless 
 in reviving his work, I am more indebted to him 
 than to any other man, more than to all others put 
 together. How he was regarded by other pastors 
 with whom he labored, we shall see in their letters 
 and narratives as we proceed. 
 
 This renewed time of refreshing in the current 
 century commenced, as I have said, about 1814, and 
 as nearly as I am able to fix the dates, continued 
 about thirty years, when the ways of Zion again went 
 into mourning for a brief period, till the spirit of 
 prayer was remarkably poured out upon the cities of 
 New York, Philadelphia, and many other places, a 
 little more than a year ago, of which more in its 
 place. 
 
 From 1814 to 1845, the spiritual harvests were 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 213 
 
 more productive in some years than others — in some 
 thirty-fold, in some sixty, and in some a hundred — a 
 period which will ever be referred to as one of the 
 most extraordinary hitherto in the religious history 
 of our country. Not tens, nor scores, but hundreds 
 of churches and congregations shared in those copious 
 outpourings of the Spirit. We began to hope that 
 these showers would henceforth continue to pour 
 down righteousness, without any such intermissions 
 as had so often occurred. Oh, it would be delightful 
 to take a full survey of the great field while Christ 
 was so gloriously triumphing everywhere, and to 
 count the thronging trophies of his victories. 
 
 But my limits warn me to confine myself to briefer 
 sketches. The narratives of the revivals during the 
 period to which we have now come, if they had all 
 been fully written out, would fill many volumes. I 
 have enough before me for hundreds of pages ; but 
 all that I can do is to make a few selections from the 
 mass, which is the less to be regretted as the essential 
 leading features of these revivals, spreading over 
 about one-third of the century, bore such striking 
 resemblance, that to multiply testimonies would be to 
 repeat nearly the same things. As I leave out vastly 
 more than I shall put in, I see not how I can do 
 better than to insert the substance of a few of these 
 narratives, and then glean extracts from others as 
 they come in my way. 
 
 From Rev. Grardiner Spring, D.D., New York. 
 
 Dr. Spring, in his closing sermon in the old Brick 
 church in Beekman-street, May 25, 1856, recounting 
 the dispensations of divine grace in connection with 
 
214 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 his ministry, which commenced August 8, 1810, pro- 
 ceeds to say : 
 
 " The thought has no doubt often crossed the 
 minds of reflecting Christians, that those who have 
 occupied a place on the earth during the last fifty 
 years, have lived in a remarkable age of the world, 
 not only as it respects science and the arts, and the 
 progress of civil society, but in regard to the cause 
 of vital piety. The period, commencing with the year 
 1792, and terminating with 1842, was a memorable 
 period in the history of the American church. Scarce- 
 ly any portion of it, but was graciously 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 wa- 
 ters. It was my privilege to enter upon the course 
 of academical life not far from the meridian of this 
 bright day. There were no subjects that interested 
 my mind more deeply, when I began my ministry 
 among this people, than those revivals of religion 
 which passed over the land of my boyhood. This 
 interest increased with time and official labors and 
 responsibility, and exercised a most important influ- 
 ence upon my whole course. Sparse clouds of mercy 
 had been hovering over the congregation during the 
 first four years of my ministry, and not a few, espec- 
 ially of those in middle life, had been brought into 
 the kingdom of God. 
 
 "The year 1814 was a year of severe labor and 
 deep solicitude — as it drew towards its close, of great 
 discouragement and depression. It seemed to me 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 215 
 
 that I must abandon my post, and that neither my 
 mind, my heart, nor my health were adequate to its 
 constantly accumulating duties. My intellectual re- 
 sources seemed to be exhausted, and drained dry. 
 Many a time, after preaching, did I remain long in 
 the pulpit, that I might not encounter the faces of the 
 people as I left the church ; and many a time when I 
 left it did I feel that I could never preach another 
 sermon. Yet I labored on week after week, without 
 discovering to what extent the Spirit of God was 
 carrying forward his own noiseless work. I per- 
 ceived nothing to encourage me but an unusual en- 
 largement and urgency in prayer, a greater facility 
 in the selection of fitting themes for the pulpit, and 
 more freedom and earnestness in declaring the whole 
 counsel of God. God remarkably interposed to re- 
 lieve my mind from its depression, and gave me such 
 enlarged and delightful views of his truth, that my 
 whole ministry received a new and cheered impulse. 
 It was easy, also, to perceive that the spirit of grace 
 and supplication was being poured out upon the peo- 
 ple. The weekly prayer-meeting and the weekly lec- 
 ture were full of interest. Days of fasting and prayer 
 were occasionally observed, and a Saturday evening 
 prayer-meeting was established by the young men of 
 the congregation. Our Sabbaths became deeply sol- 
 emn and affecting ; we watched for them like those 
 who watch for the morning, and I verily believe we 
 anticipated them with greater pleasure and expecta- 
 tion than the sons and daughters of earth ever antici- 
 pated their brightest jubilee. This was the first 
 strongly marked revival of God's work among this 
 
216 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 people ; and I take this notice of it because it was so 
 emphatic an expression of God's goodness to your 
 young minister. Poor a thing as I have "been, and 
 still continue to be. it was this work of grace which 
 made me what I am — which gave me entirely new 
 views of the great objects of the ministry, and made 
 my work my joy. I loved it before, but never so 
 ardently as then. But for this early season of mercy, 
 during the summer of 1814, I do not see how I could 
 have remained among you. It was the Lord's doing, 
 and it is marvellous in our eyes. The ingathering 
 was not great, but it was the finest of the wheat. I 
 may not mentiou their names. 
 
 "This was but the beginning of days of mercy. 
 The commencement of the year 1815 was the dawn- 
 ing of a still brighter day. The last Sabbath of the 
 old year and the evening services of that Sabbath 
 will be long remembered. Eight or ten persons, dur- 
 ing the following week, were found to be awake, and 
 in earnest for their salvation. The whole winter was 
 a day of the right hand of the Most High. The cloud 
 of mercy extended itself through the following spring 
 and summer and autumn. In the month of Novem- 
 ber the Bible-class was reorganized, the Saturday 
 evening prayer-meeting was renewed, and G-od ap- 
 peared to take the work into his own hands. There 
 was complaint and hostility ; there were not wanting 
 apprehensions in the minds of some of the pastors 
 and churches in the city, that the work savored more 
 of fanaticism than intelligent and sober thought. But 
 the apprehensions were groundless. The blessing 
 was near ; the sacred influence was silent as the dew 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 211 
 
 of heaven. There was no outbreak and no disorder. 
 There was prayer. There was solemn and earnest 
 preaching. There were unexpected and unthought 
 of instances of seriousness among the gay and frivo- 
 lous, in the families of the rich as well as the poor, 
 among the immoral as well as the moral, and many 
 were the instances of conversion to God. The third 
 Thursday of January was set apart by about thirty 
 members of the church as a day of fasting, humilia- 
 tion, and prayer. It was in a private house in the 
 rear of St. Paul's, in Church-street ; and such a day 
 I never saw before, and have never seen since. It 
 was closed under strong and confident expectation 
 that God was near, and that his Spirit was about 
 largely to descend upon the people. And so it was. 
 A delightful impulse was given to the work by this 
 day of prayer. The promise was made good, 'Before 
 they call I will answer, and while they are yet speak- 
 ing I will hear. 7 The weekly lecture, attended on 
 the evening of that day, was perhaps the most solemn 
 service of my ministry. The subject of the discourse 
 was suggested by the words, ' Marvel not that I said 
 unto you, Ye must be born again.' God was with 
 the hearers and the preacher ; his Spirit moved them 
 as the trees of the forest are moved by a mighty 
 wind. There is good reason to believe that the minds 
 of more than one hundred persons were deeply im- 
 pressed with a sense of their lost condition as sin- 
 ners, and their need of an interest in Christ, on that 
 evening. Enemies were silenced ; members of other 
 churches came among us to see and mark the charac- 
 ter of the work for themselves, and all classes were 
 
 Rev. Ketches ] 
 
218 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 constrained to confess, 'This is the finger of God.* 
 Between one and two hundred attended the meetings 
 for religious inquiry and conversation, and deep so- 
 lemnity pervaded the whole people. There was great 
 eagerness for religious instruction, and great satisfac- 
 tion in the soul-humiliating and soul-encouraging doc- 
 trines of the cross. The work was rapid. The period 
 of awakening and conviction in many instances was 
 very short, so short that older Christians began to 
 doubt the genuineness of such conversions. There 
 was no reason for the doubt. Some of the brightest 
 and most enduring Christians among us were those 
 very persons whose conversion was almost as sudden 
 as that of Saul of Tarsus. The gathering of this 
 protracted harvest was rich, consisting sometimes of 
 thirty and forty, and at one communion of more than 
 seventy, filling the broad aisle of the church — a love- 
 ly spectacle to God, angels, and men. 
 
 " There have been five seasons of the especial out- 
 pouring of God's Spirit upon this people during the 
 ministry of their present pastor. They were inter- 
 spersed between the years 1812 and 1834, more or 
 less copious, but always seasons of delightful refresh- 
 ing from the presence of the Lord. If the tree is 
 known by its fruit, they are proved to have been the 
 fruit of God's Spirit. The subjects of this work of 
 grace have in almost all instances run well; they 
 have turned out intelligent and active Christians. 
 Many of them have been called to their last earth- 
 ly rest ; nor shall I forget the blessedness and the 
 blessed scenes of their last hours. Many of them 
 are ministers of the gospel, and more the wives of 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 219 
 
 ministers. Many of them are teachers and superin- 
 tendents of Sabbath-schools. Many of them are rul- 
 ing elders and deacons in other churches, while some 
 remain in the honorable fulfilment of these offices 
 among ourselves. Yery many of them are scattered 
 through this wide land, and distant churches and the 
 distant wilderness are made glad for them. I never 
 was so gratefully impressed with this fact, and with 
 the high privilege of preaching the gospel in this 
 sanctuary, as on an unexpected tour through Western 
 New York and the western states on the Upper Mis- 
 sissippi. Everywhere I met those who remembered 
 the young minister and the old Session-room. I heard 
 of the death of some far away, and it was affecting 
 to learn that in their last hours their thoughts of 
 grateful praise were turned towards these scenes of 
 mercy. 
 
 " It will be found, by an inspection of our records, 
 that after the separation of the Brick and Wall-street 
 churches, and before the installation of the present 
 pastor, the session were faithfully employed in acts 
 of painful discipline. Church discipline is not less 
 truly an ordinance of God than church communion. 
 No church can prosper that connives at heresy or 
 immorality among its communicants. This unwel- 
 come duty was faithfully pursued for several years 
 after my settlement among this people, and has been 
 discharged with perfect unanimity ever since. In 
 the early part of my ministry there were some avow- 
 ed infidels in the church, who were the disciples of 
 Paine and Palmer ; there were also avowed Univer- 
 salists; there have been from time to time immoral 
 
220 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 men and licentious, whom no means could reclaim, 
 and they have been cast out. It has often been at 
 great sacrifice of feeling, and some of interest and 
 influence, that these acts of discipline have been per- 
 formed ; but however reluctantly and cautiously, it is 
 a work which has been done." 
 
 From Bishop Mcllvaine, of the diocese of Ohio. 
 
 In closing a letter on revivals in 1832, Bishop 
 Mcllvaine says, "I owe too much of what I hope for 
 as a Christian, and what I have been blessed with as 
 a minister of the gospel, not to think most highly of 
 the eminent importance of promoting the spirit of 
 genuine revivals. Whatever I possess of religion 
 began in a revival. The most precious, steadfast, and 
 vigorous fruits of my ministry have been the fruits of 
 revivals. I believe that the spirit of revivals in the 
 true sense, was the simple spirit of the religion of 
 apostolic times, and will be more and more the char- 
 acteristic of these times, as the day of the Lord draws 
 near." 
 
 The Bishop's annual address to the convention of 
 the diocese of Ohio, in June, 1858, is chiefly devoted 
 to the subject of the revival of religion, occasioned 
 especially by " the blessed work of grace which God 
 had so mercifully, and so widely and wonderfully 
 vouchsafed to the churches of our land within the 
 few preceding months." 
 
 "It is more than forty years," he says, "since I 
 first witnessed a revival of religion. It was in the 
 college of which I was a student. It was powerful 
 and pervading, and fruitful in the conversion of young 
 men to God ; and it was quiet, unexcited, and entire- 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 221 
 
 ly free from all devices or means beyond the few 
 and simple which God has appointed, namely, ' prayer 
 and the ministry of the word.' In that precious sea- 
 son of the power of God, my religious life began. I 
 had heard before; I began then to know. I must 
 doubt the deepest convictions of my soul, when I 
 doubt whether that revival was the work of the Spirit 
 of God. Many that have labored faithfully in the 
 ministry, and are now at rest with the Lord; some 
 that are still in the work; many whose mark has 
 been strongly made upon their generation, on the side 
 of the gospel, were the subjects of that work. Till 
 Satan shall be bound, so that he cannot go about to 
 deceive and devour, a work of religion more genuine, 
 less perverted by human infirmities and devices, less 
 dishonored by the defection of such as professed to 
 have been born of God therein, is hardly to be ex- 
 pected. 
 
 "About the time of that revival, and for several 
 years after, similar blessings were enjoyed in various 
 communities of the land. They were, for the most 
 part, equally simple, exhibiting numerous and decided 
 conversions, elevating the spiritual character of Chris- 
 tians, and sending forth many faithful men to be min- 
 isters and missionaries of the gospel, at home and 
 abroad." 
 
 "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 of the power of his Spirit; 
 bowing the hearts of many persons, within a short 
 space of time, to the obedience of Christ. I have 
 
222 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 nowhere seen more fruitful 'revivals of religion/ in 
 which the conversions were more marked, the spirit- 
 ual results more beneficial 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 of them can point to revivals in Epis- 
 copal churches as marking their spiritual birthdays." 
 Proceeding to notice a period of several years of 
 apparent unfruitfulness, in which " it seemed as if the 
 preaching of the word had lost its power," he says, 
 "Then it was, just in that time of rebuke and dark- 
 ness, and apparent deep discouragement, that God's 
 hand appeared and this present work of grace began. 
 It began in our chief commercial centres, precisely 
 where the credit of religion had been most impaired, 
 and the tide against it was the strongest. It began 
 in a remarkable indication, among persons deeply 
 immersed in business cares, of a desire to meet to- 
 gether for prayer. Its progress has exhibited the 
 same simple features as its beginning. How widely 
 it has gone over our land; how it has appeared in 
 hundreds of our cities and villages almost simultane- 
 ously, reaching all classes of population ; the same 
 thing among all, silent, simple, subduing, harmoniz- 
 ing, and uniting, making people love the word of God 
 and prayer who never cared for them before, I need 
 not tell you. I rejoice to know that our churches, in 
 this diocese and in others, have largely p articipated 
 in the blessing, and are gathering more and more 
 fruit therefrom. Our diocesan college is thus favor- 
 ed. Pray for it, my brethren, that all the youth 
 therein may be turned to the Lord. Pray for our 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 223 
 
 whole church, that no part of it may be unvisited in 
 these 'times of refreshing from the presence of the 
 Lord/" 
 
 " You see a daily assemblage of intelligent people 
 gathered from the walks of business, at an hour of 
 the day which the world claims for its own interests, 
 in some lecture-room or public hall, or Sunday-school- 
 house: they pray with one another; they 'speak to 
 one another in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs ;' 
 they read a few verses of Scripture ; they exhort one 
 another. If a minister be present, as often is the 
 case, he addresses them for a few minutes : they thus 
 pass an hour ; separating as punctually at its end, as 
 they met at its beginning ; and this, added to the 
 parochial work and exercises of the churches, is all 
 the exterior instrumentality under G-od, on which 
 this remarkable movement has made its march through 
 the land. The strong tendency is, to strengthen a 
 sense of the value and necessity of the regular min- 
 istry, to enhance reverence for the old paths of gos- 
 pel truth and ordinances, and greatly to increase the 
 attendance upon the regular, sober services of the 
 Sabbath, and of the judicious, faithful pastor. 
 
 " There have been, in the American churches, re- 
 vivals as pure and simple, and in their sphere, as 
 effective for good. But we read of none of such ex- 
 tent ; 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 separated ecclesiastical institutions ; leaven- 
 ing so many colleges, and other institutions of educa- 
 tion ; so penetrating with one and the same influence 
 
224 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 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 workshop of 
 the mechanic, in factories, in printing-offices, among 
 classes of persons usually regarded as peculiarly re- 
 moved from and fenced against the influence of gos- 
 pel truth. How can we witness all this, and not see 
 the hand of God, and take courage, and desire and 
 pray for more and more of such manifestations of his 
 grace?" 
 
 One of the revivals in which Bishop Mcllvaine 
 speaks of having labored, was in the apparently very 
 unpromising field, the Military Academy at West 
 Point, about 1826. Being called upon one day by a 
 student who he thought would be as likely as any 
 other to receive in good part a word of serious ex^ 
 hortation, he presented him four tracts, two of which 
 he requested him to read for his own personal benefit, 
 and the other two to drop where some of his sceptical 
 fellow-students would be likely to find them. 
 
 The next Saturday another student called on him 
 and said, " You do not know me, sir • my name is 
 
 f and then burst into tears. For some time he 
 
 could not utter a word. " My friend," said Mr. Mcll- 
 vaine, "if, as I trust, your grief is connected with 
 religion — if you desire to become a servant of God, 
 be encouraged to open your heart to me, whose heart 
 is already open to you." "I do desire to become a 
 servant of God," said he; and deep emotion again 
 prevented utterance. He soon related that he had 
 found a tract in his room, the Death of an Infidel ; that 
 he had not considered himself an infidel, but had been 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 225 
 
 very profane, and in the habit of speaking lightly of 
 religion. He not long after gave evidence that he 
 had been born of God, and united himself to the com- 
 munion of the church. 
 
 This young man was then intent on the salvation 
 of his fellow-student through whom he had received 
 the tract ; and in a few days he brought him, leaning 
 on his arm, to Mr. Mcllvaine, who threw around him his 
 arms of Christian love. " I can hold out no longer," 
 said the student ; " this is not the first time ; I have 
 been often called ; I can hold out no longer. I will 
 be a servant of God, his grace helping me, henceforth 
 for ever." It was in reading the " Shepherd of Salis- 
 bury Plain," that he first felt his heart expanded with 
 love to God, and bursting with the spirit of prayer. 
 These two young men became active members of the 
 church of Christ; they labored faithfully in tract 
 distribution and Sabbath-schools; by one of them a 
 school of a hundred children was raised up where the 
 gospel had scarcely ever been preached ; one of them 
 established a weekly prayer-meeting among a people 
 destitute of the means of grace ; by the instrumental- 
 ity of one of them, as many as ten, who had been dread- 
 fully wicked, were hopefully converted, and so chang- 
 ed as to astonish their former companions. Both 
 consecrated their lives to the ministry of the gospel, 
 and one of them is now a bishop of the Protestant 
 Episcopal church in the distant west. 
 
 From Rev. Dr. Archibald Maclay, New York. 1809-1820. 
 
 "From February, 1809, when eighteen members 
 were constituted a Baptist church, and received the 
 right-hand of fellowship from the venerable Kev. 
 
226 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 John Williams, father of Rev. Dr. William R. Will- 
 iams, till December, 1820, 1 think it can be truly said 
 that we enjoyed a perpetual revival. We were few 
 in number, but it pleased the Lord to grant a spirit 
 of grace and supplication. We felt an ardent and 
 longing desire for the salvation of sinners, and cor- 
 responding efforts were manifested. At that time we 
 met in a large school-room in James-street, while 
 erecting our first place of worship in Mulberry-street. 
 The access to the school-room was inconvenient, but 
 it was filled to overflowing, and became the birthplace 
 of many precious souls. When we removed to our 
 new place of worship, it was immediately filled, and 
 the work of G-od in the conversion of sinners continued 
 to increase. In a few years we rebuilt, on the same 
 site, a house of double the size, and this too was filled 
 to its utmost capacity. The Lord continued to bless 
 the word, and conversions to G-od were multiplied. 
 Almost every week, I was visited by individuals anx- 
 iously inquiring, ' What must I do to be saved? How 
 shall I escape the wrath to come?' During this pe- 
 riod, I am persuaded that not less than five hundred 
 were brought out of darkness into G-od's marvellous 
 light. 
 
 "A Sunday-school was established in 1810, under 
 the instruction of Charles G-. Sommers and Joseph 
 W. Griffiths, the first that was organized in this city, 
 or so far as I know in the United States, exclusively 
 for religious purposes. We afterwards organized 
 three other Sunday-schools, one of them very large, 
 in a destitute part of the city, under the care of Mr. 
 David T. Yalentine, and all were well attended. I 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 221 
 
 taught a Bible-class of young men on Monday even- 
 ing, and a class of young ladies on Wednesday after- 
 noon. I was accustomed to preach three times on 
 the Lord's day. In the morning I usually expounded 
 the Scriptures ; expounding in this way the whole 
 New Testament and some portions of the Old, which 
 proved very profitable both to me and my hearers. 
 In the afternoon I generally preached for the instruc- 
 tion and edification of Christians, and in the evening 
 addressed more especially the unconverted. Our 
 regular lecture on Tuesday evening, and our prayer- 
 meeting on Friday evening were well attended and 
 deeply interesting. The young people also met for 
 prayer on Saturday evening. 
 
 "During the period that I was pastor of the 
 church, eighteen brethren were licensed to preach, 
 and became useful ministers of the gospel ; and six or 
 seven other brethren who were dismissed from us to 
 other churches, also became preachers. Some of these 
 are still living, and have labored in the cause of 
 Christ for nearly half a century. 
 
 " In my ministry it has been my aim to keep back 
 nothing profitable to my hearers, but to declare unto 
 them ' all the counsel of God.' The leading theme 
 of my preaching has been Christ, and him crucified, 
 as the only Saviour of lost sinners. I have shown the 
 universal and total depravity of men; that every 
 unconverted sinner is under the dominion of a carnal 
 mind, which is enmity against God and not subject 
 to his law ; that a change of heart, a heavenly birth, 
 is absolutely necessary to see the kingdom of G-od 
 and enter therein ; that the same power that created 
 
228 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 the world, and raised our Lord from the dead, must 
 quicken the sinner dead in sins, and make him alive 
 to God ; that if saved from sin and hell, it must be by 
 free, sovereign, efficacious grace, through faith in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ ; and that nothing can meet the 
 necessities of a sinner awakened to a sense of his 
 guilt by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, but what 
 satisfied divine justice, the full atonement of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 " To guard my hearers against self-deception, I 
 have insisted that true religion demands nothing 
 short of entire conformity to the image of Christ, and 
 obedience to all things that he has commanded. 
 
 " Those that were converted to God during this 
 revival, were brought generally to see and feel deeply 
 the evil of sin as committed against God, and their 
 just exposure to the wrath to come, and were led to 
 renounce all dependence on works of their own, and 
 rely alone for life and salvation on the great Ke- 
 deemer. 
 
 " Many of those who embraced the gospel at this 
 period were young. One was only seven years old. 
 She came to me in my study in great distress, asking 
 if God could save her, for she had lived seven years 
 without loving him, and all the time sinning against 
 him. She united with the church, and has lived to 
 train up a large family in the fear of God. Her grand- 
 mother found Christ after she was ninety years of age. 
 The great body of those who made a profession of 
 religion, have continued in the faith, rooted and 
 grounded in love, and have not been moved away 
 from the hope of the gospel." 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 229 
 
 From Rev. Dr. Hyde, Lee, Mass. 
 
 "In the summer of 1821, there was an increase 
 of solemnity in the church and congregation, and some 
 were known to be anxious for their souls. The church 
 often assembled for prayer, and in the month of Au- 
 gust we observed a day of fasting. The hearts of 
 many seemed to burn within them, and there were 
 increasing indications from the rising cloud, of abun- 
 dance of rain. At this interesting crisis, the Rev. 
 Asahel Nettleton spent a few days with us. He 
 preached five sermons to overflowing assemblies, and 
 his labors were remarkably blessed. The Spirit' of 
 God came down upon us, like a rushing mighty wind. 
 Conversions were frequent, sometimes several in a 
 day, and the change in the feelings and views of the 
 subjects was wonderful. 
 
 " At the suggestion of Mr. Nettleton, I now insti- 
 tuted what are called inquiry meetings, and more than 
 a hundred persons attended the first. These meet- 
 ings, as I found them to be convenient, were continued 
 through the revival ; and I have ever since made use 
 of them, as occasion required, sometimes weekly for 
 many months in succession. The church have always 
 been requested to assemble for prayer in the upper 
 room of the large school-house, in which these meetings 
 have been held. In these meetings the ruined and 
 helpless state of sinners, the exceeding wickedness 
 of their hearts, and the awful consequences of neglect- 
 ing the great salvation, have been impressed on the 
 minds of the inquirers. They have not been directed 
 to take any steps preparatory to their accepting of 
 Christ; but repentance towards God and faith in 
 
230 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Christ have been enjoined upon them as their imme- 
 diate duty and only safe course. No language can 
 describe the deep feeling which has been manifested 
 at some of these meetings. The work continued till 
 the close of the year, and the church received an 
 accession of eighty-six persons as the fruits of it. 
 
 " Between this revival, and that which took place 
 in 1827, the seasons of prayer in the church were 
 frequent, and occasionally whole days of fasting and 
 prayer which all the people were invited to attend, 
 were observed. The church also by a large commit- 
 tee visited every family in the town, and conversed 
 with parents and children on the concerns of their 
 souls, closing these interviews with prayer. This 
 has been repeatedly done, and sometimes the whole 
 has been accomplished in one day. 
 
 " On the Sabbath preceding the first day of the 
 year 1827, I invited the people, as it had been our 
 practice, to assemble at the rising of the sun in the 
 sanctuary, for the purpose of prayer and praise. Sev- 
 eral hundreds attended, and an uncommon interest 
 was evidently felt in the meeting. Another display 
 of the all-conquering grace of God commenced, which 
 was very powerful, and continued through the winter 
 and spring. In the course of a few months it was 
 found that thirty new domestic altars were erected. 
 As the fruits of this revival, one hundred and twenty- 
 five were added to the church. 
 
 " The year 1831, which was a year memorable for 
 the effusion of the Spirit in almost every part of the 
 land, this people were not passed by. For a number 
 of months the excitement was very great, and our 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 231 
 
 meetings were frequent, crowded, and solemn. Some 
 instances of conversion were more striking than any 
 I had ever witnessed. The almighty and sovereign 
 power of God was remarkably displayed, evincing 
 the truth of his own declaration, ' I will have mercy 
 on whom I will have mercy.' This revival was fol- 
 lowed by the addition of forty-four members to the 
 church. 
 
 " Of the whole number received during my minis- 
 try, six hundred and seventy-four, none have been 
 admitted under two or three months after they began 
 to hope they had passed from death unto life; and 
 many chose to wait longer. "Whenever we have been 
 favored with outpourings of the Spirit, meetings have 
 been appointed with particular reference to the young 
 converts, at which they have been freely conversed 
 with respecting the ground and reason of their hope, 
 that they might test their character by having the 
 great truths of the gospel presented clearly to their 
 view. A confession of faith has also been read and 
 explained to them, and their full assent to it has been 
 obtained, before they offered themselves to the church. 
 
 " I have never countenanced the praying of women 
 in promiscuous assemblies, whether great or small, 
 from a full conviction that the practice is contrary 
 to the spirit of the word of God. Neither have I 
 seen it to be proper, even in seasons of the greatest 
 excitement, to call upon impenitent sinners, either in 
 public or private meetings, or in the inquiry room, 
 to manifest their determination to seek religion or to 
 give any pledge that they would do it. It would be 
 a departure from the practice of Christ and his apos- 
 
232 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ties. In their preaching they inculcated repentance 
 and submission to God as the immediate duty of 
 sinners." 
 
 From the Rev. Dr. Porter, Farmington, Conn. 
 
 " The year 1821 was eminently, in Connecticut, 
 a year of revivals. Between eighty and a hundred 
 congregations were signally blessed. From the com- 
 mencement of the year a new state of feeling began 
 to appear in this town. On the first Sabbath in 
 February I stated to the assembly the tokens of the 
 gracious presence of God in several places in the 
 vicinity, and urged the duties peculiarly incumbent 
 on us at such a season. Professors of religion now 
 began evidently to awake. In their communications 
 with each other and with the world, they were led 
 spontaneously to confess their unfaithfulness ; and 
 about the same time a few without the church were 
 pungently convicted. 
 
 " In this state of things, Rev. Mr. Nettleton made 
 us his first visit. His preaching, on the evening of 
 the Lord's day, from Acts 2 : 37, was set home by the 
 power of the Spirit upon the hearts of many ; and his 
 discourse on the Wednesday evening following, from 
 Gen. 6 : 3, was blessed to the conviction of a still 
 greater number. As many zsjifty, it was afterwards 
 ascertained, dated their first decided purpose of im- 
 mediately seeking their salvation from that evening. 
 
 "At a meeting of the anxious, on the evening of 
 February 26, about a hundred and seventy were pres- 
 ent. Here were persons of almost every age and 
 class, some who a few weeks before had put the sub- 
 ject of personal piety at a scornful distance, and 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 233 
 
 others who had drowned every thought of religion 
 in giddy mirth, now bending their knees together in 
 supplication, or waiting in silent reflection for a min- 
 ister of the gospel to pass along, and tell them indi- 
 vidually what they must do. 
 
 "From this time, so rapid was the progress of the 
 work, that at the next similar meeting, March 12, a 
 hundred and eighty were present, of whom fifty sup- 
 posed that since the commencement of the revival, 
 they had become reconciled to God ; and a week after- 
 wards, I had the names of more than ninety who 
 indulged the same persuasion concerning themselves. 
 
 " The state of feeling which at this time pervaded 
 the town, was interesting beyond description. There 
 was no commotion, but a stillness in our very streets ; 
 a serenity in the aspect of the pious, and a solemnity 
 apparent in almost all, which forcibly impressed us 
 with the conviction that in very deed God was in 
 this place. Public meetings, however, were not very 
 frequent. They were so appointed as to afford the 
 opportunity for the same individuals to hear preach- 
 ing twice a week, besides on the Sabbath. Occasion- 
 ally there were also meetings of an hour, in the morn- 
 ing or at noon, in private dwellings, at which the 
 serious in the neighborhood were convened on short 
 notice, for prayer and conference. The members of 
 the church also met weekly for prayer, and common- 
 ly on the evenings selected for the meetings of the 
 anxious. From these meetings, the people retired di- 
 rectly, and with little communication with each other, 
 to their homes. They were disposed to be much alone, 
 and to take the word of God for their guide. 
 
234 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 " The topics principally insisted on in this revival, 
 were the unchangeable obligations of the divine law, 
 the deceitful and entirely depraved character of the 
 natural heart, the free and indiscriminate offers of 
 the gospel, the reasonableness and necessity of imme- 
 diate repentance, the refuges and excuses to which 
 awakened sinners are accustomed to resort, and the 
 manner, guilt, and danger of slighting, resisting, and 
 opposing the operations of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 " Among the first subjects of the work, there was 
 a large proportion of the more wealthy and intelli- 
 gent. A considerable number of youths belonging to 
 this class, had just finished a course of biblical instruc- 
 tion, for which I had met them weekly for more than 
 a year, who, with scarcely an exception, at the very 
 commencement of the revival embraced the gospel 
 which they had learned, and by their experience of 
 its power commended it to the families to which 
 they belonged. I suppose that within three months, 
 there were about two hundred and fifty persons who 
 hoped they had passed from death unto life. On the 
 first Sabbath in June, a hundred and fourteen were 
 added to the church; and at subsequent periods a 
 hundred and twenty more. Many have died, and 
 many have removed from our immediate connection ; 
 but those who remain, now constitute the chief 
 strength of the church." 
 
 From Rev. Dr. Tenney, of Wethersfield, Conn. April, 1822. 
 
 "Previous to the revival, our church consisted of 
 about two hundred and sixty members. As its fruits, 
 precisely two hundred more have been added, of whom 
 seventy-nine are heads of families. Sixty-two are 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 235 
 
 males, and thirty-two are young unmarried men. A 
 number of others have indulged hope. Generally the 
 subjects of the work still appear well. 
 
 " Some instances of conversion have been strongly 
 marked. The awakening of some has been sudden 
 and powerful, and has soon issued in triumphant 
 peace. In others it has been as the 'still small voice. 7 
 One individual who had been a total disbeliever in 
 revelation, began to examine the subject of religion 
 with all the coolness of a mathematician ; till, in the 
 course of a few weeks, the great truths of Scripture 
 bore upon his conscience with insupportable power, 
 and had almost that ' keen vibration through his soul, 
 which makes hell;' and his heart yielded to God. 
 One aged man said, If I have been born of God, it 
 was on the day when I was seventy-six years old. 
 Another said, It was the day when I was sixty-eight. 
 In one family, a mother of eleven children, who had 
 long gone to the table of Christ mourning that of 
 her great family there was not one to accompany her, 
 now hopes that eight of her children are the children 
 of God. In another family consisting of parents and 
 seven children, all have indulged hope, except one 
 son who was absent at sea. A widow, the mother of 
 seven children, some of them pious before, now has 
 hope of all the others. The whole family now belong 
 to the church. 
 
 " Greatly are we indebted to a number of neigh- 
 boring ministers whose labors were of great use. 
 Peculiar are our obligations to the Rev. Asahel Net- 
 tleton, who was much with us, and whose labors were 
 eminently blessed, reminding us of 'the chariots of 
 
236 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Israel, and the horsemen thereof.' Though in this 
 work there has been the strongest coincidence be- 
 tween the means used and the success, and between 
 the prayerfulness of Christians and the conviction 
 and conversion of sinners, yet God has displayed his 
 glorious sovereignty, as well as faithfulness. The 
 work is emphatically his. To him all the glory is 
 due. To him let it be given, now and evermore." 
 
 From Rev. Dr. Ashbel Grreen, late President of the College 
 of New Jersey at Princeton, to E,ev. Dr. Sprague. 
 
 After glancing at the earlier history of the col- 
 lege, Dr. Green says, "In the spring of 1782, when 
 I became a member of the institution, the walls of the 
 building were still perforated in a number of places, 
 the effect of the cannon balls which had passed through 
 them from the artillery of the American army, to 
 drive out a British foe that had taken shelter there. 
 
 " 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 to use profane 
 language in common conversation. To the influence 
 of the American war succeeded that of the French 
 revolution, still more pernicious. The open and 
 avowed infidelity of Paine, and other writers of the 
 same character, produced incalculable injury to relig- 
 ion and morals throughout our whole country; and 
 its effect on young men who valued themselves for 
 genius, and were fond of novel speculations, was the 
 greatest of all. Dr. Smith, then President of the col- 
 lege, told me that one man who sent his son, stated 
 explicitly in a letter that not a word was ever to be said 
 to him on the subject of religion. The youth was re- 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 237 
 
 fused admittance. The tendency to dissipation and 
 dissolute morals which had long prevailed, had risen 
 to a most fearful height when I was called to the 
 presidency in the autumn of 1812." 
 
 After two years of faithful and abundant labors 
 to effect a reformation, he perceived that " there was 
 a marked attention to the religious duties of the col- 
 lege. Every religious service was attended with a 
 solemnity that was very impressive. In the second 
 week of January, 1815, without any unusual occur- 
 rence in providence, without any alarming event, 
 without any extraordinary preaching, without any 
 special instruction, or other means that might be sup- 
 posed peculiarly adapted to interest the mind, the 
 effect became more apparent. In about four weeks 
 there were very few individuals in the college who 
 were not deeply impressed with a sense of the impor- 
 tance of spiritual and eternal things. There was 
 scarcely a room, perhaps not one, which was not a 
 place of earnest secret devotion. For a time it seem- 
 ed as if the whole of our charge was pressing into 
 the kingdom of God. The result was, that of one 
 hundred and five students, there were more than forty 
 in regard to whom favorable hopes were entertained 
 that they were the subjects of renewing grace. 
 
 "The means which were employed and blessed of 
 God in producing the revival, were chiefly the study 
 of the holy Scriptures, accompanied with comments 
 on the portion read, and practical application of the 
 leading truths contained in it. God has remarkably 
 honored and blessed his word. Appropriate ad- 
 dresses were frequently made, and the public exer- 
 
238 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 cises were conducted with a special view to religious 
 edification. 
 
 "The few youths who were previously pious had 
 for more than a year been earnestly engaged in 
 prayer for this event. When they perceived the 
 general and increasing seriousness, several of them 
 agreed to speak privately and tenderly to their par- 
 ticular acquaintances on the subject of religion ; and 
 what they said was in almost every instance not only 
 well received, but those with whom they conversed 
 became earnestly engaged in those exercises which it 
 is hoped have issued in genuine piety. 
 
 "In preaching on the Lord's day morning, sub- 
 jects were selected suited to the existing state of the 
 college ; a weekly lecture, intended for the students 
 exclusively, was given every Tuesday evening; a 
 prayer-meeting was held every Friday evening, at 
 which one of the theological professors commonly 
 made an address ; a prayer-meeting was every even- 
 ing held by the students themselves, at which a large 
 proportion of the whole college attended; smaller 
 and more select associations for prayer were also 
 formed; the individuals whose minds were anxious 
 were, as often as they requested it, carefully con- 
 versed and prayed with in private ; writings of ap- 
 proved character on doctrinal and practical religion 
 were recommended, and a short system of Questions 
 and Counsel* was drawn up by myself for the use of 
 those who appeared to have entered on a life of prac- 
 tical piety. 
 
 * These Questions and Counsel constitute No. 113 of the 
 American Tract Society's series. 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 239 
 
 "The fruits of this revival were happy and last- 
 ing ; for although a number lost their impressions, yet 
 there are a goodly number now in public life who are 
 bringing forth the fruits of that renovated nature 
 which was imparted to them by the gracious Spirit 
 of God in this revival. I once counted the number 
 of ministers of the gospel whose conversion was be- 
 lieved to have taken place at that time. I forget 
 what the number was, but I remember I thought it 
 greater than that produced on any similar occasion 
 in Nassau-hall. 
 
 "There were two other periods during my presi- 
 dency, at which hopes were excited that we were on 
 the eve of another general revival. But though the 
 favorable appearances passed away without realizing 
 this hope, it was not without leaving several monu- 
 ments of divine grace, some of them very remarka- 
 ble. May God soon grant a general revival to an 
 institution consecrated by its founders to the promo- 
 tion of science in union with piety, and in behalf of 
 which many fervent prayers, both of the living and 
 the dead, have ascended to the throne of mercy." 
 
 From Rev. Dr. John McDowell, Elizabethtown, New Jersey. 
 1812-1825. 
 
 In a letter to Rev. Dr. Sprague, Dr. McDowell 
 gives a record of revivals in 1772 and 1784; and one 
 in 1807, which apparently commenced in connection 
 with " a powerful sermon on prayer by the Rev. Dr. 
 Gideon Blackburn/ 7 and continued about eighteen 
 months, as the fruits of which about one hundred and 
 twenty were added to the church. He proceeds to 
 say: 
 
240 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 "Another revival visibly commenced in December, 
 1812. It was on a communion Sabbath. There was 
 nothing peculiarly arousing in the preaching. I was 
 not expecting such an event. I saw nothing unusual 
 in the appearance of the congregation ; and it was 
 not until after the services of the day were ended, 
 when several called in deep distress to ask me what 
 they should do to be saved, that I knew that the 
 Lord was specially in this place. This was a day of 
 such power, (though I knew it not at the time,) that 
 as many as thirty who afterwards joined the church, 
 were then first awakened. And it is a remarkable 
 circumstance, that the same powerful influence was 
 experienced on the same day in both of the Presby- 
 terian churches in the neighboring town of Newark. 
 It was also communion-season in both those churches. 
 This revival continued about a year ; and the number 
 of persons added to the communion of this church as 
 its fruits, was about one hundred and ten. 
 
 "About the beginning of February, 1817, this 
 church was again visited with a great revival of re- 
 ligion. It commenced most signally, as an immediate 
 answer to the united prayers of God's people. The 
 session, impressed with a sense of the comparatively 
 low state of religion among us, agreed to spend an 
 afternoon together in prayer. The congregation were 
 informed of this on the Sabbath, and a request made 
 that Christians would at the same time retire to their 
 closets, and spend a season in prayer for the influen- 
 ces of the Spirit to descend upon us. The season 
 appointed was the next afternoon ; and that evening 
 was the monthly concert of prayer, which was unusu- 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 241 
 
 ally full and solemn; and before the week was out, 
 it was manifest that the Lord was in the midst of us, 
 in a very special manner. Many cases of awakening 
 came to my knowledge, and the work soon spread 
 throughout the congregation. This revival was mark- 
 ed, not by the deep distress of the preceding, but by 
 a general weeping in religious meetings. There was 
 doubtless much of sympathy. A larger proportion 
 than usual of the subjects were young, and many of 
 them children. Some were long in darkness, but 
 most of them, muah sooner than in either of the former 
 revivals of my ministry, professed to have embraced 
 the Saviour. The number in the congregation who 
 appeared to be seriously impressed, amounted to sev- 
 eral hundreds. The special attention continued about 
 a year; and the number added to the communion of 
 the church was about one hundred and eighty. 
 
 "At the close of the year 1819, it pleased a gra- 
 cious God to grant to this church another season of 
 special refreshing, which continued about a year ; and 
 the number added to the communion of the church as 
 its fruits, was about sixty. 
 
 "In the early part of the year 1824, there was 
 a considerable increase of attention to the subject of 
 religion, which continued through the year 1825. 
 About sixty were added to the communion of the 
 church during this time, as the fruits of this special 
 influence. But the work did not terminate with this 
 ingathering. These were but as drops before a mighty 
 shower. About the beginning of December, 1825, 
 the work was greatly increased. It commenced visi- 
 bly on a day of fasting and prayer, appointed by the 
 
 »ev. Sketches 11 
 
242 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 synod of New Jersey, on account of the absence of 
 divine influences from their churches generally. With- 
 in a few weeks many were awakened and brought to 
 seek the Lord. This revival, with few exceptions, 
 was not marked by deep distress, and the subjects of 
 it generally, soon professed to hope in Christ. It 
 continued through the year 1826, during which time 
 about one hundred and thirty were added to the com- 
 munion of this church, as its fruits." 
 
 EEVIVAL IN PITTSFIELD, MASS., AS WITNESSED BY 
 THE AUTHOR, IN 1821. 
 
 The most extensive and powerful revival that I 
 have ever witnessed, took place in Pittsfield, Mass., 
 in the summer of 1821. We had enjoyed a cheering 
 time of refreshing the year before, which brought in 
 about fifty additions to the church; but it reached 
 very few of the prominent and influential members 
 of the congregation, and there were but few of that 
 class then in the church. That first revival had ap- 
 parently come to a close, and the fruits had been 
 mostly gathered in, before the opening of the spring 
 of 1821. The strong men had not bowed themselves 
 at the foot of the cross, and we were afraid that be- 
 fore another such season should return, many of them 
 would be in their graves. 
 
 It was about the middle of May, that the Rev. 
 Asahel Nettleton, who had been for several years 
 laboring in revivals with wonderful success, came un- 
 expectedly to make me a visit, and as he said, "to 
 rest a while;" for he was very much worn down by 
 his almost incredible labors. 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 243 
 
 His fame as a revival preacher had come before 
 him. Though he kept himself close, it soon became 
 known that he was here, and many were anxious to 
 hear him, as much from curiosity perhaps as any 
 thing else. Though I knew his need of the rest which 
 he came to find in the bosom of my family, I rather 
 urged him to gratify them by preaching once, if no 
 more. He declined, till after two Sabbaths, I think, 
 when, as I was providentially absent, the funeral of a 
 child on a week-day brought him out. There was a 
 large gathering, and I presume he saw something 
 which indicated the return of the Holy Spirit, though 
 nobody else did. The next Sabbath he preached 
 once, and it seemed evident to him at least, that the 
 Spirit was moving upon some during the services of 
 the day. These indications gradually increased, till 
 the church began to be encouraged with the hope 
 that we might have another revival, which all felt 
 was greatly needed ; for many more were left, than 
 had been taken the preceding year. Mr. Nettleton 
 saw by this time, if not before, that here was harvest 
 work to be done, and that he must not rest too long. 
 He remained with us about three months, including 
 one or two short visits to neighboring fields, which 
 were white for the reapers. 
 
 I published a narrative of the work the next year 
 in the Christian Intelligencer, the substance of which 
 I shall repeat, though I have it not now before me. 
 And I shall venture to give it more at length, than I 
 can find room for any other revival of those remarka- 
 ble years of the outpouring of the Spirit — not because 
 the number of converts was greater, or so great as in 
 
244 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 some other places, but because I was an eye-witness 
 and a coworker in the field of divine wonders ; and 
 also, as at the critical stage of the revival the great 
 adversary did his best to stop it, to show how signal- 
 ly God defeated him. 
 
 The revival did not break out suddenly, as has 
 been often the case, but there was a growing solem- 
 nity visible in the congregation, which quite early in 
 June encouraged us to let it be known, in a still way, 
 that we should be happy to meet any who might be 
 disposed to come to my house for a short meeting 
 the next evening. It was understood to be for in- 
 quirers, if there were any. A larger number than 
 we had dared to expect came, and it was noticeable 
 that most of them were from the more prominent and 
 leading families in the village. We could not help 
 regarding this as a favorable omen, most of them 
 having been passed by in the former revival. It was 
 a sort of test meeting, and from that time the work 
 advanced and spread rapidly ; but not without excit- 
 ing opposition on the part of some who were capable 
 of wielding a wide influence. 
 
 Something they thought must be done to check 
 the epidemic, before it should come into their fami- 
 lies, and get beyond control. What should it be? 
 It would not be safe to come out openly, as so many 
 were already asking what they must do to be saved. 
 St. John's day, as it was called, (June 25,) was near 
 at hand ; and it was resolved to hold, in Pittsfield, a 
 grand festival of all the masonic lodges round about. 
 We could not say that the ruling motive on the part 
 of those who sent out the invitation, was to put a 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 245 
 
 stop to the revival ; but the movement was so sudden, 
 that, taken in connection with all the circumstances, 
 it looked very much like it. 
 
 A very popular speaker, who had once been an 
 approved minister of the gospel, was engaged to come 
 and deliver the oration. We were distressed. We 
 exceedingly feared that such a gathering would divert 
 the minds of the people from the great salvation 
 which was then so freely offered ; but we could not 
 prevent it. The occasion called for earnest prayer 
 for direction, and that God would graciously inter- 
 pose and prevent the dreaded consequences. One 
 thing we could do. The orator chosen had, as I have 
 just said, once been a minister. We — Mr. Nettleton 
 and myself — addressed him a joint letter, saying we 
 understood he had engaged to come ; that there was 
 a very interesting revival in progress here, which we 
 presumed he had not heard of; that we did not write 
 to dissuade him from coming, but that we hoped he 
 would give his discourse such a shape as to interfere 
 as little as possible with the work of the Lord. He 
 came. The day was very fine. The anniversary was 
 very largely attended by the masons from all quar- 
 ters. The church was crowded. We were there, 
 and greatly relieved. The discourse was more like 
 a sermon than a popular oration. There was noth- 
 ing in it to which we could object, but a good deal 
 which was rather calculated to promote the revival 
 than to check it. We thanked God, and took cour- 
 age. 
 
 The masons were astonished. What could it 
 mean? They were so excited, that they could not 
 
246 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 help expressing their disappointment to the speaker, 
 and asking him what he meant. He excused himself 
 by saying that he had been induced to give that 
 religious shape to his address by a letter which Mr. 
 Nettleton and I had written him. This brought down 
 upon us a storm of vituperation for our interference. 
 But the Lord was on our side. He had undertaken 
 to accomplish a great work in Pittsfield, and neither 
 earth nor hell could prevent it. We could not see 
 that the masonic festival hindered the revival at all. 
 
 But the disappointment and opposition were soon 
 manifested in another form. The people of the town 
 had been in the habit, on the fourth of July, of cele- 
 brating the declaration of American Independence, 
 ever since it was declared; and at the close of each 
 festival with toasts and speeches and drums and can- 
 non, to appoint a committee to make arrangements 
 for the next year. Such a committee had been ap- 
 pointed the year before. As the revival was now 
 becoming general and powerful, we were very desir- 
 ous of having a religious celebration, and inviting 
 our friends in the county to come in and enjoy it with 
 us. I accordingly inquired of the committee whether 
 it was their intention to have the usual festive cele- 
 bration ; stating that, if it might be dispensed with 
 under the present unusual circumstances, we should 
 be glad to substitute a religious service, and that we 
 found a great many were in favor of it. The com- 
 mittee cheerfully assented to the proposal, and we 
 made our arrangements accordingly. 
 
 Thus, as to the regular arrangements, the matter 
 was settled in our favor ; and we supposed there would 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 247 
 
 be no interruption. But we were mistaken; those 
 who wanted the customary noisy celebration, deter- 
 mined not to be deprived of it. So the young men 
 resolved to have an oration and a dinner at the usual 
 hours. - How far they were encouraged by some older 
 men opposed to the revival, did not openly appear ; 
 but that they were to some extent, was not doubted 
 at the time. The oration was delivered in the fore- 
 noon, and at two o'clock our public meeting was held. 
 The meeting-house had never been filled with a more 
 serious and respectable congregation. The day was 
 fine, and a large number of our friends from abroad 
 were there. I tried to persuade Mr. Nettleton to 
 preach; but as he positively declined, I was obliged 
 to make the best preparations I could. My text was, 
 " If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." 
 John 8 : 36. 
 
 Though there was some noise outside from the 
 commencement of the services, it did not appear that 
 there was any intention to disturb us, till the sermon 
 was about half through. Becoming impatient when 
 the guests had finished their dinner, and loaded the 
 four pounder, and got primed for the toasts, they first 
 sent their band with drums and fifes to march round 
 the house, and warn us that it was time to close and 
 leave the ground. One or two gentlemen went out 
 to remonstrate, but they were disregarded. I went 
 on with my discourse, and I believe made myself 
 heard. 
 
 Finding that their martial music did not succeed, 
 they determined next to try what powder would do. 
 The first discharge was so unexpected, that it almost 
 
248 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 started the whole congregation from their seats. The 
 high-sheriff of the county, with one or two of our 
 most respectable citizens, went out to persuade them 
 to desist ; but they would not. Many within turned 
 pale, but none of the audience retired. By the third 
 round they were entirely composed, and a more sol- 
 emn assembly I never looked upon. How many 
 rounds were discharged I cannot remember, but as 
 the cannonading went on, and I drew towards the 
 close of my written discourse, it came so aptly in 
 my way that I couldn't help adding something to the 
 improvement, by contrasting the liberty wherewith 
 Christ makes his children free, with the bondage of 
 Satan's servants without. This I suppose added ten 
 or fifteen minutes to the length of my discourse, after 
 which Dr. Shepard of Lenox closed with prayer, and 
 the evening lecture was appointed from the desk. 
 The great audience then retired as if nothing had 
 happened, only more deeply impressed. 
 
 As we went out, the sheriff expressed his determi- 
 nation to make the disturbers smart for it; but I 
 begged him to do no such thing : " They have not 
 injured us, but shot themselves dead, and don't med- 
 dle with their remains : ' The Lord of hosts is with 
 us, the G-od of Jacob is our refuge.'" And so it 
 proved. It needed no enemy to spike their cannon, 
 or to scatter them. Whereas, on all former celebra- 
 tions here, the noise was kept up to a late hour in 
 the evening, the green was now entirely forsaken by 
 sundown, and the stillness of the evening throughout 
 the village was like the Sabbath. The lecture at 
 half-past seven was crowded, and unusually solemn. 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 249 
 
 It was on that occasion, that Mr. Nettleton took for 
 his text those urgent words of the angels to Lot, " Up, 
 get ye out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this 
 city ;" and so vivid was his description of that sudden 
 and awful destruction, that not a few of the audience 
 involuntarily turned their faces to the windows, as 
 if the storm of fire and brimstone had actually come 
 down upon the place. 
 
 Taken altogether, the triumph of the day and the 
 evening was truly sublime. It was wonderful to wit- 
 ness with what power the Spirit of God triumphed. 
 A new impulse was given to the revival. From that 
 time, there was no more open opposition to the work. 
 Whatever any might have felt, they were afraid to 
 show it. Some of those who had been active, if not 
 ringleaders in the disturbance, were afterwards hope- 
 fully converted. The work went on with great power 
 through the months of July and August, and extended 
 far into the autumn. It was such a summer as Pitts- 
 field never saw before, nor since. 
 
 The narrative would be quite incomplete if I were 
 to close it here. In all revivals God works by means 
 and instruments, and some may be glad to know what 
 course was here adopted. 
 
 In the first place it was fully understood between 
 Mr. Nettleton and myself, that as I was the pastor, 
 he was to be the helper, and not the main director. 
 He could not have been persuaded to make the ap- 
 pointments, and tell me when and where I should aid 
 him. He was not the man for that anywhere, and if 
 he had been, I certainly should not have come into 
 
 any such arrangement. I always consulted him as a 
 
 11* 
 
250 EEVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 matter of course, for he knew incomparably better 
 than I did, what means had been most successful in 
 the progress of revivals. But it was my parish, and 
 not his. In placing me here, the Head of the church 
 had devolved upon me a responsibility, which I did 
 not feel at liberty to throw off. And with this un- 
 derstanding, I do not believe that any two preachers 
 ever labored more harmoniously together than we 
 did. 
 
 Our general course of preaching and incidental 
 labors was as follows : Three discourses on the Sab- 
 bath, one of which was always in the evening. Two 
 public lectures on week-day evenings, preceded by a 
 short prayer-meeting a little before sundown ; occa- 
 sional lectures and prayer-meetings in the outdis- 
 tricts, one object of which was to bring as many as 
 we could to attend the central lectures ; an inquiry 
 meeting every Monday evening, and a church prayer- 
 meeting at the same hour. Besides these, a great 
 many smaller neighborhood meetings were attended, 
 connected with visiting from house to house as we 
 could find time. I also held a meeting once a week 
 with as many aged members of my flock, who were 
 not professors of religion, as I could collect, and there 
 is reason to hope that some of them were brought in 
 at the eleventh hour. 
 
 In our discourses in season and out of season, we 
 did not shun to declare " all the counsel of God," as 
 we understood it. Mr. Nettleton's preaching was 
 "not in the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in 
 demonstration of the Spirit and with power." It was 
 plain, earnest, direct, searching, driving the sinner 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 251 
 
 from all his refuges ; now making the law thunder as 
 but few preachers can, and then from a full heart 
 pouring out the melting invitations of the gospel. 
 Though there were diversities of operations, for the 
 most part the converts were led to Calvary by the 
 way of Sinai. They experienced a law work before 
 they closed in with the terms of the gospel. " When 
 the commandment came, sin revived, and they died ;" 
 and when the Spirit raised them to a new life, they 
 lived all the better for it. 
 
 The subjects of the work were chiefly heads of 
 families ; some of them below, and not many of them 
 much above middle age. They were in the midst of 
 life, and more than any equal number of the congre- 
 gation exercised a controlling influence in the com- 
 munity. Among them were our principal lawyers, 
 doctors, merchants, and men of standing and busi- 
 ness in the town. And it was very interesting to 
 notice how, as they were brought out one after an- 
 other, they went at once and reported to their friends 
 of the same class what a Saviour they had found, 
 urging them to come to the meetings and see. It 
 reminded us of the manner in which the disciples of 
 Christ were brought to him one after another, as 
 recorded in the first chapter of John. "John (the 
 Baptist) stood, and two of his disciples ; and looking 
 upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, ' Behold the Lamb 
 of God ! and they followed Jesus. One of the two 
 who heard John speak and followed him, was An- 
 drew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his 
 own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have 
 found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the 
 
252 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. The day fol- 
 lowing Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth 
 Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Philip find- 
 eth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found 
 him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did 
 write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And 
 Nathanael said unto him, Can any good thing come 
 out of Nazareth ? Philip saith unto him, Come and 
 see." So it was here, and so it ought always to be 
 in a revival. Just as soon as Andrew finds the Sav- 
 iour, he should go and bring in Peter. So Philip 
 should find Nathanael, and bring him also to Christ, 
 that they may all rejoice together in their disciple- 
 ship. 
 
 In the progress of the revival, a great many inci' 
 dents occurred which heightened the interest of the 
 work, but I have room for only two. 
 
 One Monday morning early, a colored woman 
 about forty years old came to my house bowed down 
 as if by some great calamity. " Dinah," I said, " I am 
 glad to see you ; but what is the matter ?" " Oh, I 
 don't know, but I feel dreadfully." " How long have 
 you felt so ?" " Ever since yesterday, when you was 
 preaching it seemed as if a knife was stuck right into 
 my heart." How could I help calling to mind in- 
 stantly, Peter's sermon on the day of pentecost? 
 "When they heard this, they were pricked in their 
 hearts, and cried' out, Men and brethren, what shall 
 we do?" Here was a poor woman who had been 
 brought up a slave, and could not read a word, feel- 
 ing just as they did, and using nearly the same lan- 
 guage, without knowing or suspecting it. How could 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 253 
 
 I doubt, how can anybody doubt, that if it was the 
 Spirit of God that pricked the hearts of Peter's hear- 
 ers, it was the same Spirit that seemed like a knife 
 piercing Dinah's heart; corresponding too as it did 
 with that other scripture, "The word of God is quick 
 and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword." 
 Though Dinah couldn't tell what ailed her, I soon 
 found that she was in deep distress for her soul. She 
 of course needed a great deal of instruction ; but in a 
 few weeks she was brought out of darkness into mar- 
 vellous light, joined the church, and adorned her pro- 
 fession to the day of her death. 
 
 The other was the case of an ignorant, swearing, 
 intemperate man, one of the vilest of the vile, who 
 rarely, if ever, attended public worship anywhere. 
 One Sabbath afternoon, in the midst of the revival, 
 he strayed into the church ; he could not tell why ; 
 took his seat near the door so that he could easily 
 slip out, but remained quiet till the sermon commenc- 
 ed. The words of my text were, It is the last time. 
 As he said afterwards, it struck him to the heart, 
 and threw him into the greatest agitation. His first 
 thought was, that he would go at once to the tavern 
 and drive it off with a dram. But somehow he found 
 himself fastened to his seat till the meeting closed, 
 and then he knew not where to go, or what to do. 
 The arrow had struck too deep to be extracted by 
 any but a divine hand. A scene of terrible distress 
 followed. For a number of days he was almost in 
 the horrors of despair. Prayer was offered continu- 
 ally for him, and he was assured that the mercies of 
 God were not clean gone for ever, if he would repent 
 
254 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 and cast himself upon Christ to wash away his sins. 
 How long he remained in this condition I do not 
 remember, but at length light began gradually to 
 break in upon his mind. He embraced a humble 
 hope that God had brought him up out of the horri- 
 ble pit and the miry clay, and after a probation of 
 several months he gave such evidence of a saving 
 change that he was received into the church, and as 
 those who knew him best believed, he died a true 
 penitent. 
 
 Though the revival commenced early in the sum- 
 mer, as I have already stated, none of the subjects of 
 it were received into the church till at our regular 
 communion-season, the first Sabbath in November. 
 My judgment was and still is, that as a general rule, 
 it is best that hopeful converts should take consider- 
 able time to test the genuineness of their hopes, before 
 making a public profession. It appeared to me that 
 the candidates for membership, as a body, needed a 
 good deal of instruction to prepare them for an intel- 
 ligent profession of their faith in Christ. 
 
 Accordingly, besides conversing with them indi- 
 vidually touching the reasons of the hojfe' that was 
 in them, I called them together in a body, and spent 
 several evenings in explaining to them our confession 
 of faith and covenant, article by article, and exhort- 
 ing them to be fully persuaded in their own minds, of 
 the scriptural basis of our creed, before subscribing 
 to it; and I have reason to think that no evenings 
 were more profitably spent than these. They afford- 
 ed full scope for asking and answering questions, and 
 examining proof- texts ; and I am not aware of a sin- 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 255 
 
 gle case of departure from " the form of sound words," 
 as we believed them to be, in our articles. 
 
 When the converts presented themselves for ad- 
 mission, they were examined one by one, by the pas- 
 tor and a committee, in presence of as many of the 
 church as chose to attend, to which no one of the 
 number made any objection. When the time arrived 
 for their admission, that Sabbath-day was a high day. 
 Nothing like it had ever been witnessed in the histo- 
 ry of the church. I think the number who came for- 
 ward was eighty-Jive; and to see the long broad aisle 
 filled, from the communion-table down to the door, 
 with disciples hastening as it were to meet their Mas- 
 ter for the first time at his table, was a spectacle 
 which caused the aged fathers and mothers to weep 
 for joy, and filled the great congregation with won- 
 der and awe. While there were persons of all classes 
 and different ages standing together to take upon 
 themselves the vows of their consecration, what made 
 the scene uncommonly impressive was, that there 
 were so many husbands and wives of our most influ- 
 ential families — so many men in and out of the pro- 
 fessions, who, from their position in society, would 
 have it in their power to exert so wide an influence 
 in the cause of Christ, and for the good of the town. 
 
 Though in the providence of God I was called 
 two years after to leave my beloved charge, and labor 
 in another field,* I was near enough to keep myself 
 advised of the Christian walk of that large band of 
 professors ; and having long since returned to reside 
 in Pittsfield, it affords me the highest satisfaction to 
 * The presidency of Amherst college. 
 
256 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 be able to say, that now, at the end of thirty-seven 
 years from the time of their public espousals to Christ, 
 there has not, so far as I can learn, been a single case 
 of apostasy from the faith once delivered to the saints, 
 nor of yielding to the mastery of any of those habits 
 which disgrace the Christian name, and drown men 
 in destruction and perdition. There was indeed one 
 of the number, who for a time was in great danger 
 of being brought into bondage again to bad habits 
 from which he had been reclaimed, insomuch that 
 the church stood in doubt of him, but he did not 
 utterly fall away; he was reclaimed, and gave evi- 
 dence that God had restored him from his backslid- 
 ings, and that he died in the faith. 
 
 To the foregoing account I venture to append a 
 few brief extracts of a letter to the editor of the 
 Charleston, S. C, Intelligencer, from a gentleman 
 who was present at the meeting on the fourth of 
 July. 
 
 " The opposers of the revival, finding that a relig- 
 ious celebration was agreed on, resolved to have a 
 political celebration. They occupied the church in 
 the. morning. At two o'clock they who loved the 
 Lord began to assemble in the same place. The 
 church was crowded. While the people were assem- 
 bling, and as they passed near the rioters, crackers 
 were repeatedly exploded to annoy them. The ser- 
 vice began and went sweetly on. Mr. H , pas- 
 tor of the church, took his text from John 8 : 36, " If 
 the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free in- 
 deed.' Towards the close of the sermon the word 
 fire was heard, and our ears were suddenly stunned 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 25? 
 
 by the report of a cannon. It was the attack of the 
 adversary, and well kept up. But unfortunately for 
 him, every shot preached louder than ten thousand 
 thunders. Meanwhile the drums beat, the fifers play- 
 ed as they marched back and forth before the church- 
 door, animated by the music of the cannon, and the 
 hope of a glorious triumph over the cause of God. 
 
 " Some few Christians of delicate frame and quick 
 sensibilities were agitated and alarmed, and others, 
 though not intimidated, dreaded the consequences of 
 this violent attack; but generally there were high 
 hopes that it would be overruled for good. And so 
 it was. So skilfully did the preacher allude to, and 
 apply his discourse to the conduct of the opposition 
 out of doors — such advantage did he take of every 
 blast of the cannon, and every play of the drum y by 
 some well-pointed remark — that it went like a two- 
 edged sword to the hearts of listening sinners. In- 
 deed, Mr. H afterwards informed me, that, had 
 
 he previously showed the heads of his sermon to the 
 riotors, and requested them when he reached such a 
 point to fire, and when he reached another point to 
 fire, they could not have more effectually served the 
 purpose of the discourse. One gentleman who had 
 previously been somewhat serious, told me that every 
 shot of the cannon pierced his soul — filled him with 
 indescribable horror, and by the blessing of God 
 brought him to such a hatred and detestation of sin 
 in himself and others, as constrained him quickly to 
 fly to Christ. 
 
 " I confess I trembled for the ark of God. After 
 the sermon was concluded, I went and expostulated 
 
258 REVIYAL SKETCHES. 
 
 with the ringleader, whose companion I had once 
 been in wickedness, and over whom I thought I might 
 have some influence. I sat near Mr. Nettleton, and 
 so delighted was he with the discourse, and so accu- 
 rately did he foresee the result, that whenever an 
 apt allusion dropped from the lips of the speaker, he 
 would turn round with a holy smile and whisper, That 
 is good, that is good. Nothing could be more appro- 
 priate, or more naturally rise out of the text, than 
 
 Mr. H 's description of the miserable bondage in 
 
 which those out of doors were serving their master. 
 
 " This was an eventful day for Pittsfield. From 
 that time Immanuel gathered his trophies from among 
 great and small. They who thought to crush the 
 work of God were bitterly disappointed. The fruits 
 of this revival were one hundred and forty converts. 
 Praise the Lord." 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 259 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE KEVIYAL EPOCH ABOUT 1800— 
 
 CONTINUED. 
 
 BRIEF NOTICES OF REVIVALS — 1815 to 1825. 
 
 "In the summer of 1815, there was a great revi- 
 val in the town of Salisbury, Conn. The subjects 
 were of different ages, but generally youth. As the 
 fruits of this revival, more than two hundred were 
 admitted into the churches. 
 
 " In the summer of 1816, the revival reached Tor- 
 rington. At the communion in November, the first 
 fruits were gathered into the church, and the number 
 of hopeful converts was about seventy. 
 
 " About the same time, the Holy Spirit visited the 
 town of Waterbury in a signal manner, with his con- 
 victing and converting influences. It embraced all 
 the variety of operations, from the still small voice 
 to the most powerful threatening of a broken law, 
 and embraced all ages from youth to grey hairs. 
 More than one hundred were the fruits of this revi- 
 val. 
 
 "In the fall of 1817, there was a revival in the 
 parish of Rocky Hill, Conn., as the fruits of which, 
 Dr. Chapin the pastor says eighty-four persons be- 
 came members of Christ's visible church. 
 
 " In the fall of 1818, a revival was enjoyed in the 
 small society of Ashford, and eighty -two were added 
 to the church. 
 
 " In the spring of 1819, there was a happy revival 
 
260 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 in the town of Bolton. The convictions of the sub- 
 jects of this work were deep, increased rapidly, and 
 were of short continuance. Unconditional submission 
 was urged as the ground of their acceptance with 
 God. As soon as this was exercised, in most instan- 
 ces the sinner was filled with joy, and fifty-nine were 
 added to the church. 
 
 " The same year, 1819, was a remarkable year of 
 the right hand of the Most High, in the county of 
 Saratoga, New York. The work commenced in the 
 summer, at Saratoga springs, and about forty made a 
 profession of religion, including some of the most 
 prominent persons in the village. 
 
 "About the same time, there was a remarkable 
 revival in Stillwater. In February, a hundred and 
 three were added to the church, and about a hundred 
 more were rejoicing in hope, expecting soon to be 
 received. 
 
 " In Ballston too the work was very powerful, 
 and at two communion-seasons a hundred and eigh- 
 teen were added to the church, while the work was 
 still increasing. 
 
 "In the adjoining town of Milton, the work was 
 overwhelming. In less than two months, more than a 
 hundred and fifty were brought to rejoice in hope. In 
 Amsterdam, there were about fifty hopeful conversions. 
 
 In a letter dated Union college, April 28, 1820, 
 Mr. Nettleton writes, "I have no time to relate inter- 
 esting particulars. I only add, that some of the most 
 stout-hearted and heaven-daring rebels have been in 
 the most awful distress, and within a circle whose 
 diameter is about twenty-four miles, not less than 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 261 
 
 eight hundred souls have been hopefully born into the 
 kingdom of Christ since last September. In Malta, 
 there were such displays of the power of God's Spir- 
 it in crushing the opposition of the natural heart, as 
 are very seldom seen. The Deist and Universalist, 
 the drunkard, the gambler, and the swearer, were 
 alike made the subjects of this heart-breaking work. 
 It was a place of great spiritual dearth, and like the 
 top of Gilboa, had never been wet by rain or dew; 
 but the Lord now converted that wilderness into a 
 fruitful field. A church was soon organized with 
 eighty-five members." 
 
 In the same year, 1820, was a powerful revival in 
 New Haven, and about three hundred were added to 
 the churches. It extended to most of the neighbor- 
 ing towns. Out of thirty-one congregations in the 
 county of New Haven, at least twenty-five were visit- 
 ed, during the winter and spring, with the special 
 presence of the Lord, and it was estimated that with- 
 in these limits between fifteen hundred and two thou- 
 sand souls were called out of nature's darkness into 
 marvellous light. 
 
 In North Killingworth the revival was very pow- 
 erful. It commenced about the last of August in a 
 Bible-class, and rapidly spread over the town. The 
 hopeful converts were a hundred and sixty-two, a 
 hundred and seven of whom united with the church 
 at the communion-season in January, and soon after 
 twenty-five more. 
 
 In 1822 and 1823 were many extensive revivals 
 in the eastern part of Connecticut, of which Mr. Net- 
 tleton gives the following summary view : 
 
262 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 "Most of these churches have in years past been 
 favored with seasons more or less reviving, but never 
 with such a general and powerful refreshing from the 
 presence of God. The following towns have shared 
 in the work. In Somers, one hundred and fifty have 
 been made the subjects of divine grace. In Tolland, 
 one hundred and thirty. In South Wilbraham, one 
 hundred. In North Coventry, one hundred and twen- 
 ty. In South Coventry, North and South Mansfield, 
 about one hundred in each. In Columbia, forty. In 
 Lebanon, ninety. In Goshen, thirty. In Bozrah, 
 seventy. In Montville, ninety. In Chaplin, fifty. 
 
 " The work has recently commenced, and is ad- 
 vancing with power in Hampton, and within a few 
 weeks fifty or more are rejoicing in hope. Also, 
 within a few weeks past, the Spirit of God has de- 
 scended with overwhelming power in Millington and 
 Colchester. In the former place about seventy, and 
 in the latter sixty are already rejoicing in hope. 
 They have never witnessed the like in the power and 
 extent of the work. In the above cluster of towns, 
 all contiguous, more than thirteen hundred souls have 
 hopefully received a saving change since the work 
 began. Of these, more than eight hundred have al- 
 ready made a profession of religion. In Chatham also 
 the work is interesting, and about seventy are rejoic- 
 ing in hope. The Lord has done great things for 
 Zion, whereof we are glad : and let all her friends 
 humbly rejoice, and bow, and give thanks, and exalt 
 his name together.' 7 
 
 The above items from memoranda in the life of 
 Dr. Nettleton, whose labors were extended to other 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 263 
 
 parts of the northern states, and for three successive 
 winters, 1827-1829, to Virginia, are scarcely a tithe 
 of the places where revivals spread, and where the 
 Spirit wrought mightily in the conversion of sinners. 
 Hundreds and thousands of churches, connected with 
 the various evangelical denominations in all parts of 
 the country, were visited and blessed by the gracious 
 outpourings of the Spirit, notices of which constantly 
 appeared in the weekly and other periodicals for a 
 score of years, but which the design and limits of this 
 work do not require or permit me to notice more in 
 detail. 
 
 In Central and Western New York, the revival 
 was very extensive and powerful. In Troy, Utica, 
 Auburn, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and many other 
 places, the revivals between 1820 and 1825 surpassed 
 all that had been seen before. They were noticed in 
 the religious newspapers of the day, and through 
 some other channels of religious intelligence, but I 
 have not been able to find narratives of them in more 
 permanent forms. 
 
 SOME THINGS TO BE REGRETTED. 
 
 But glorious as these revivals were, I believe 
 that in the retrospect nearly all the ministers who 
 were then on the stage can recollect some things to 
 be regretted, which were at length in some places 
 introduced, as there were in the " great awakening " 
 of the last century, and which, considering the imper- 
 fection of the best of men, are liable more or less to 
 mar every great revival. I cannot do less than glance 
 at them in these brief historical sketches. 
 
264 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 None but the decided enemies of vital religion 
 could then say, or can now say, that those mistakes 
 were so many and so wide spread anywhere as to 
 destroy the good there was in them in that remarka- 
 ble day ; though there were some things to be guarded 
 against and avoided, which in a greater or less de- 
 gree interrupted the good work, and gave some occa- 
 sion to such as sought occasion to oppose it. It could 
 not be denied that in several places the pressure was 
 for a time so high, under certain revival measures, as 
 to disturb the calm and regular action of men's minds. 
 Outbreaks of nervous excitement were so far from 
 being checked, that they were rather encouraged in 
 the prayer-meetings, if not in the more public assem- 
 blies. 
 
 It having been found that four-days' meetings 
 were remarkably blessed, they were in many cases 
 multiplied and repeated till they were fairly worn 
 out. It came to be thought, in some churches, that 
 when religion was at a low ebb, they had only to 
 arrange for a protracted meeting, and were almost 
 sure of a revival. Accordingly when four days did 
 not do it, the meetings were continued indefinitely — 
 six, ten, fifteen, twenty, and in some cases much 
 longer — till all who attended them were exhausted 
 in body and mind ; and whatever forced excitement 
 was at last produced, was unavoidably followed by 
 a speedy reaction, which left the church and congre- 
 gation in a far less impressible state than the meet- 
 ing found them. I presume that few if any of those 
 churches would now repeat the experiment of very 
 long protracted meetings. In consequence of such 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 265 
 
 failures as were witnessed, unreasonable prejudices 
 have ever since existed in some quarters against all 
 such meetings. 
 
 The great demand for preaching in western re- 
 vivals, brought out a number of zealous young men 
 with but little experience, who felt it their duty to 
 enter into the work, and help the pastors wherever 
 their services were desired. They soon took the 
 name of Evangelists, or Revivalists as they were more 
 commonly called. Some of them, in process of time, 
 became zealous overmuch. They introduced meas- 
 ures which many pastors of riper judgment and more 
 experience in revivals could not approve. And as 
 their zeal increased, they wanted to go to places 
 where they were not sent for. Nor would they be 
 hindered for want of regular invitations. Influential 
 members of the churches who sympathized with them 
 were approached, and enlisted to overrule the judg- 
 ment of their ministers, and wring from them a reluc- 
 tant consent. If the ministers would not yield, they 
 must be broken down, as the phrase was. This was 
 often attempted, and sometimes succeeded. Nor would 
 the Evangelist long consent to labor under the advice 
 and direction of the pastor. He must give up the 
 reins, and stand aside and look on, or take a subordi- 
 nate part in the revival. The consequence was, that 
 divisions were created in the churches, part holding 
 with the pastors and part with the Evangelists ; and 
 though scores of converts might be announced, some 
 churches were actually weakened, and to such a de- 
 gree that if not quite broken up, in what has since 
 been called the 'burnt district/ they have scarcely 
 
 Rev. Sketches 1 2 
 
266 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 recovered to this day. Not only were good ministers 
 driven from their congregations in this manner, but 
 such prejudices against revivals were created by 
 these extreme measures, that it has taken a whole 
 generation to remove them. 
 
 Some of these Revivalists found their way into 
 the border congregations of New England. And 
 though they did not find so free an entrance as they 
 desired, they visited and labored in towns enough to 
 test their extreme measures by the fruits ; and while 
 in looking back we do not feel warranted to say they 
 did no good, it is certain they caused many unhappy 
 divisions, and that their success was nothing like 
 what they proclaimed upon the housetops. Places 
 might be named where they counted scores if not 
 hundreds of converts, but few of whom could be 
 found, ten years after, to have joined and adorned the 
 Christian profession in any of the churches. One 
 great object was to gather in the converts as soon 
 as possible, and the consequence was, that not a 
 few petitions were erelong presented for dismissions 
 back again to the world, by persons thus hastily ad- 
 mitted. They said, We thought we were converted 
 when we joined, but are now convinced it was mere 
 animal excitement: we have no more religion than 
 we had before, and have no right to be counted as 
 Christians, and come to the Lord's table. 
 
 This is not the place to decide what ought to be 
 done in such cases. But it is obvious, upon a mo- 
 ment's reflection, that they must be extremely embar- 
 rassing. Nor is it uncharitable to express the fear, 
 that many who are thus hurried in, and who do not 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 261 
 
 ask to be released, have the form of godliness without 
 the power, and by remaining weaken the churches 
 instead of strengthening them. These were serious 
 drawbacks upon the revivals of the period now under 
 review. In some cases they put a stop to them. 
 Nevertheless, as I have already said, they were un- 
 questionably glorious years of the right hand of the 
 Most High. 
 
 REVIVALS IN COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES. 
 
 It is ground of devout thanksgiving to God, that 
 within the last fifty years our colleges have been much 
 oftener visited by the special outpourings of the Spir- 
 it, than during any former period; and that a very 
 large proportion of the most able and successful min- 
 isters and missionaries have been converted and nur- 
 tured in these institutions. In Yale, I believe there 
 have been ten revivals at least. In Williams and 
 Amherst there have been nearly as many, and others 
 have shared richly in these blessings. From what 
 sources could faithful ministers have been obtained, 
 if these institutions had not been thus visited ? 
 
 Nor must we forget to magnify the grace of God 
 in the effusions of his Spirit upon our academies, high- 
 schools, and other kindred educational seminaries, 
 both male and female. It would be safe to say, that 
 within the last forty years, there have been hundreds 
 of revivals in these nurseries of the churches and of 
 the state, the like of which have never before been 
 enjoyed in this or any other age or country. 
 
 In many of the Female seminaries especially, they 
 have been remarkable, frequent, and powerful ; upon 
 
268 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 some of the largest of them, the Spirit has been pour- 
 ed out almost every year. Among these the Mount 
 Holyoke seminary in South Hadley, Massachusetts, 
 was so highly favored under the instruction and relig- 
 ious training of that remarkable woman Mart Lyon, 
 its founder, and her associates, that I cannot refrain 
 from copying the following letter of one of the teach- 
 ers, Miss Whitman, written by request to President 
 Hitchcock in 1846, which I find in the new edition of 
 Miss Lyon's life. 
 
 " The school has been in operation nine years, and 
 each year since its commencement there has been 
 decided religious interest, unless we except the first 
 and the eighth, several times amounting to a deep 
 and extensive work of grace. Among the pupils of 
 the first year, there were but ten or twelve who were 
 not hopefully pious ; and although there was a gen- 
 eral consistency of character and deportment, and 
 great zeal in building up the new institution, there 
 was no marked religious interest. 
 
 "The second year, the number regarding them- 
 selves as unconverted was about thirty. During that 
 year, God manifested his acceptance of the consecrat- 
 ed institution, not by a visible cloud, but by a bap- 
 tism of the Holy Ghost. The work was very rapid, 
 and advanced with great power. It occurred in con- 
 nection with the fast for literary institutions. The 
 whole school bowed beneath its influence. The breath- 
 ings of the Spirit were felt in every heart. The 
 lukewarm professor and the openly irreligious alike 
 trembled for their personal safety. The light foot- 
 step, the hushed voice, and the solemn countenance 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 269 
 
 indicated the thoughts of all hearts. Many a slum- 
 bering professor awoke to newness of life. During 
 the three days succeeding the last Thursday of Feb- 
 ruary, which had been sacredly observed by the teach- 
 ers and scholars as a season of fasting and prayer, 
 about one-half of the impenitent indulged the hope of 
 having passed from death unto life. 
 
 " Saturday of the same week was a day of recrea- 
 tion. In the afternoon, nearly the whole school with 
 one accord came together, filling to its utmost capac- 
 ity the reading-room, where the meeting was held. 
 After continuous prayer for an hour, the meeting was 
 appropriately closed by one of the teachers. No one 
 rose to leave the room. The feeling pervaded the 
 circle that prayer must be continued until every soul 
 was converted. Another prayer was then offered, 
 after which the same teacher proposed that they 
 should all retire to their rooms for half an hour, and 
 then those who desired, should meet again in the 
 same place. At the end of the half hour the burden- 
 ed souls came together to plead once more for their 
 companions who were still out of Christ. But one, 
 that year, remained destitute of the Christian hope. 
 Many were the prayers offered for that halting one, 
 and in after-years it was found that praying breath 
 had not been spent in vain. She has since died in a 
 peaceful hope of divine acceptance, referring its ori- 
 gin to that second year of the Holyoke seminary. 
 
 "Thus did this young seminary receive its bap- 
 tism of the Spirit. Thus did God condescend to man- 
 ifest his acceptance of the offering. Thus did he 
 receive as his own the seminary which had been pri- 
 
270 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 vately and publicly consecrated to him by the donors, 
 the trustees, and most of all by her who, standing at 
 its head, was often heard earnestly pleading, that not 
 one of all who should enjoy its privileges down to the 
 dawn of the millennial day, should fail of eternal life. 
 "This revival gave the school that religious char- 
 acter which its founders desired. Its effects were 
 felt for several successive years, but especially in the 
 next, which was the third in the history of the semi- 
 nary. That year, all indulged the Christian hope. The 
 work was gradual, and there was a continued inter- 
 est from the first week of the school till the close of 
 the year. The presence of the Spirit was manifested 
 from the first, by attention to instruction, the tearful 
 eye, and exhibition of tenderness of feeling whenever 
 the subject of personal religion was introduced. The 
 number of cases of hopeful conversion this year was 
 nearly the same as the preceding, or about thirty. 
 The fourth year, the religious interest still contin- 
 ued, somewhat diminished in its power, yet manifest 
 through the year. Christians were not so generally 
 and deeply affected as at some former times, yet there 
 was an interesting growth and maturing of Christian 
 character ; six or eight only remained at the close of 
 the year without hope. The fifth year, our building 
 was enlarged, and our numbers greatly increased. 
 There were in many cases a decided and interesting 
 development and settling of religious principle, and 
 also several cases of hopeful conversion of an unusu- 
 ally marked character. The number expressing hope 
 was perhaps about seventeen, being nearly half who 
 entered without hope. 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 2U 
 
 "The following year, the sixth, was one rich in 
 blessing. A more careful division of responsibility 
 and labor among the teachers was made, and from 
 the commencement of the year, there was an increas- 
 ed personal effort in relation to every member of the 
 family. God crowned these efforts with abundant 
 success. From the first there was an attentive listen- 
 ing to instruction, and truth seemed to be taking a 
 deep hold of the understanding and conscience. But 
 it was not till March, that the Spirit of the Lord 
 came upon us with great power, and at once a large 
 number stood up on the Lord's side, having received 
 the breath of life. The work was sudden, rapid, and 
 powerful. We could only stand still and see the 
 salvation of God. Some cases of conversion were of 
 a very marked character, and of great interest. Of 
 the sixty-six who entered the school without hope, 
 only six remained destitute of it. The missionary 
 interest this year received a new impulse by the de- 
 parture of Miss Fisk, one of our teachers, on a foreign 
 mission, and there was an increase in the missionary 
 contributions. During the seventh year, there were 
 about thirty cases of hopeful conversion. In our last 
 term, there were about twenty, and a number have 
 occurred the present term." 
 
 During the twelve years which have since trans- 
 pired, that consecrated school of some three hundred 
 pupils has been almost equally blessed by annual 
 revivals. The spirit of the founder has rested on her 
 successors whom she trained up for the service. 
 
272 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 REVIVALS ON MISSIONARY GROUND. 
 
 While God was pouring out his Spirit so copiously 
 upon the church in this country, as we have seen, 
 he was strengthening the hands and encouraging the 
 hearts of her missionaries in foreign lands, by pre- 
 cious refreshings from the same inexhaustible foun- 
 tain. 
 
 To begin with the Sandwich islands. When the 
 first missionaries of the American Board landed there, 
 in 1820, they found the natives sunk in the most de- 
 plorable ignorance and barbarism. A more hopeless 
 missionary field could scarcely be found in the whole 
 heathen world; but G-od had gone before them, and 
 moved those wretched islanders to cast away their 
 idols, they knew not why, as the first step towards 
 receiving the gospel. Much earlier than the strong- 
 est faith had dared to anticipate, God poured out his 
 Spirit in a most wonderful manner. The missionaries 
 stood still in amazement, as they witnessed the power 
 and progress of the work. They had seen great 
 revivals in their own country, but they "never saw 
 it on this fashion." Almost the whole population was 
 simultaneously moved by an invisible mighty impulse, 
 which they could not withstand. Such a revival, it 
 is believed, had not been witnessed for seventeen hun- 
 dred years. " So mightily grew the word of God and 
 prevailed." I have no room for statistics, if I had 
 them all before me. They will be found in the re- 
 ports and correspondence of the missionaries with the 
 American Board at that period. Suffice it to say, 
 that the converts were numbered by thousands, so 
 that within a very few years a larger proportion of 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 273 
 
 the natives, hopefully born again, were received into 
 the churches, than could be numbered in any Chris- 
 tian land. The church in Hilo was for a great many 
 years, and is now the largest evangelical church in the 
 world. Several powerful revivals have been enjoyed 
 in those islands since the first and the greatest. Christ 
 has taken possession of them as a part of his inherit- 
 ance ; and how any, who claim to be Christians even 
 in the most " liberal " sense, can with this history be- 
 fore them doubt that he is able to subdue all things 
 to himself, surpasses my comprehension. 
 
 From the Sandwich islands let us pass over the 
 great seas to Burmah, where the sainted Judson en- 
 dured all the lingering sufferings of martyrdom, up 
 to the very point of the spear, from which he was 
 scarcely saved by the almost superhuman efforts of 
 his heroic wife. Next to that at the islands, the mis- 
 sion among the Karens, under the Baptist Foreign 
 Board, has, I believe, been the most prosperous of any 
 in modern times. I do not pretend to give dates in 
 these sketches, nor the number of converts from hea- 
 thenism at any of the stations. It is unnecessary to my 
 purpose, which is to show that G-od has been, and is 
 carrying on his work of saving sinners chiefly by 
 revivals where missions are planted on pagan ground, 
 as we have seen he does in Christian lands. Suffice 
 it to say, that there have been several marked revi- 
 vals among the Karens — perhaps it would come nearer 
 the actual state of things to say there has for several 
 years been a connected series of them there — in which 
 thousands have been brought out of darkness into 
 
 God's marvellous light. " Two thousand and thirty- 
 12* 
 
274 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 nine," say the Missionary Union, " were brought into 
 connection with the Aracan churches by baptism, in 
 1844. The average annual accessions in the last five 
 years exceed fourteen hundred. The number bap- 
 tized from the beginning, is sixteen thousand. The 
 number of hopeful converts through the preaching of 
 the cross of Christ by missionaries and native preach- 
 ers of this Board, is more than twenty thousand." 
 This I copy from the Retrospect of 1851, and large 
 additions have since been made to the churches. 
 What hath God wrought in pagan Burmah ! 
 
 Although no such very extraordinary success has 
 been reported from other Protestant missions, there 
 has been enough to show that " God is not slack 
 concerning his promise." There have been repeated 
 revivals in the missionary schools at Ceylon and 
 other parts of India, of the same type as in our schools 
 and academies at home. Also in the schools of our 
 missionaries among the Nestorians. There are revi- 
 vals still in progress, of greater or less extent and 
 power, as there have been for some time past under 
 the labors of the American missionaries among the 
 Armenians of Asia Minor. So also among the Zulus 
 in South Africa, as there had been long ago among 
 the Hottentots. In Western Africa too, the Meth- 
 odist, Baptist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, . and Congre- 
 gational missionaries have been cheered by special 
 refreshings poured upon their respective fields of 
 labor, from the river of God which is full of water. 
 So it has been with the Choctaws, Cherokees, and 
 other pagan tribes of our North American Indians. 
 Wherever they have been christianized, and churches 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 215 
 
 established among them, it has been by the mighty 
 power of God's Spirit in revivals. I cannot call to 
 mind an exception. So it was in the days of " the 
 apostle to the Indians " John Eliot, the Mayhews, 
 and other first missionaries to the tribes on Martha's 
 Vineyard and the New England shore. The Holy 
 Spirit was poured out, churches were established, and 
 there were at one time fifteen or twenty congrega- 
 tions of praying Indians, as the natives were then 
 called, who renounced heathenism and attended pub- 
 lic worship. 
 
 In like manner, about the middle of the last cen- 
 tury there were revivals under the labors of that 
 devoted missionary David Brainerd, whose name will 
 be had in everlasting remembrance for his labors 
 among the Indians, in the depths of their forests and 
 their barbarism at Crossweeksung and the forks of 
 the Delaware. 
 
 I might add others to this list of examples on 
 heathen ground, but I have named more than enough 
 to show that the divine economy for spreading the 
 gospel in heathen lands has been by revivals. I noth- 
 ing doubt that if they could all be chronicled in their 
 full extent since the world began, they would fill 
 some of the longest and brightest chapters in the 
 History of Redemption, down to the present hour. 
 
 THE REVIVAL OF 1858. 
 
 To return again to our own land. I have brought 
 these sketches down to about 1845, when there were 
 but few powerful revivals, and for some years these 
 sacred visits seemed to be becoming less and less fre- 
 
276 KEYIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 quent. Many churches here and there were refresh- 
 ed, and many souls brought in; but to an alarming 
 extent the young were growing up without hope and 
 without God in the world. There was increasing 
 coldness and worldly conformity in the churches. 
 From some of the watch-towers of Zion the alarm 
 indeed was sounded. There was weeping in secret 
 places over the general decline, and many prayers 
 were offered for the return of the Spirit. But to the 
 question, "Watchman, what of the night?" there was 
 no cheering answer. It was very dark, and seemed 
 to be growing darker. As in the days of the prophet 
 Israel was mad upon her idols, so we had our idols 
 of gold and silver. A money mania pervaded not 
 only all our commercial cities, but the whole country 
 more or less, involving all classes. The old paths to 
 competence by the moderate gains of industry and 
 frugality were being more and more forsaken, as no 
 longer suited to this progressive age. Speculation 
 in stocks, in city and village lots, in wild lands, in 
 paper villages and flourishing marts of business, and 
 in every thing that promised sudden and extravagant 
 gains, had reached the crisis of fever-heat, and filled 
 the dreams of thousands upon thousands with un- 
 counted treasures, with fairy mansions, and all the 
 delights of " the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, 
 and the pride of life.' 7 Would that it had been but 
 an Arabian night dream, instead of the actual every 
 day state of the scrambling multitudes. 
 
 And then such a highly inflated and insane grasp- 
 ing for riches could not fail of creating temptations, 
 to an alarming extent too strong to be resisted, in the 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 217 
 
 large business transactions of the country. Hence 
 those enormous frauds which have made the ears of 
 the nation tingle, and by which multitudes of widows 
 and orphans have been swindled out of the small 
 hard-earned investments, on which they depended for 
 their daily bread. It was painfully manifest that 
 without some check to this all-absorbing worldliness, 
 there was no reasonable prospect of such a return of 
 the years of the right hand of the Most High as we 
 had once enjoyed, under the opening heavens pouring 
 down the Holy Spirit and reviving his work. The 
 church was fast falling into the current which swept 
 madly on, and threatened, if possible, to swallow up 
 the very elect. To change the figure, we were de- 
 scending an inclined plane with all the steam on, and 
 no brakes to check the engine and save the train 
 from being dashed to pieces. 
 
 Just then, in the summer of 1857, God interposed 
 in a way which but few if any would have chosen or 
 thought of. When men were saying, " Soul, thou hast 
 much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, 
 eat, drink, and be merry f when they were building 
 their castles in the air, not easy to be numbered ; when 
 the common talk on change was of hundreds of thou- 
 sands and millions; when, in short, all were saying, 
 " To-morrow shall be as this day, and more abundant," 
 then suddenly came the crash, as if thunders from a 
 clear sky had simultaneously broken over the whole 
 land. Like a yawning earthquake, it shook down 
 the palaces of the rich, no less than the humble dwell- 
 ings of the poor, and swallowed up their substance. 
 Men went to bed dreaming all night of their vast 
 
278 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 hoarded treasures, and woke up in the morning hope- 
 less bankrupts. 
 
 Happily these overwhelming losses brought many 
 prosperous business men to a stand, who had given 
 themselves no time to think about laying up treas- 
 ures in heaven; and under the wise and merciful 
 orderings of Providence, this prepared the way for 
 a new revival epoch, differing in its commencement 
 and some of its aspects from any that had preced- 
 ed it. 
 
 It is quite too early to speak with confidence of 
 the extent and fruits of this most remarkable revival. 
 Its rise and progress have been so fully registered in 
 the religious and secular journals of the day, that 
 repetitions are not called for, if we had room for 
 them. But as I have sketched the leading character- 
 istics of former revivals which have come under re- 
 view, it is in place to inquire in what respects, if 
 any, this work differs from them. That there are 
 some striking differences must be patent to all who 
 are conversant with this branch of the history of Re- 
 demption. 
 
 1. In its commencement. How and where did it 
 begin ? The kingdom of God came not with obser- 
 vation. Such a visit at such a time was not looked 
 for. On the contrary, many feared that the financial 
 disasters of the country had so absorbed the minds 
 of the whole people both in and out of the churches, 
 as to leave no room for the concerns of the soul. But 
 it would seem that the mighty crash was just what 
 was wanted in the great marts of business and specu- 
 lation, to startle men from their golden dreams, and 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 279 
 
 lead tliem to seek for durable riches and righteousness. 
 The horseleech epidemic had spread so wide, and 
 reached such a crisis, that no ordinary means could 
 arrest it. There is no reason to believe, I think, 
 that this revival would have commenced as it did, 
 and spread as it has, if the spell which held men in 
 its embrace had not been broken by some sudden and 
 violent convulsion. It came : and the rushing throngs 
 of fortune-seekers stood still in amazement. Wall- 
 street was shattered and tottering from one end to 
 the other. Every shock threatened wider ruin, and 
 where could the merchant princes and bankers find a 
 place of refuge ? Their millions were gone or going, 
 and they had laid up no better portion. A thicken- 
 ing gloom hung over all the cities, and spread over 
 all the country. While the earth reeled, the heavens 
 were shut up. 
 
 It was just then that God put it into the heart of 
 a humble individual to propose a daily prayer-meet- 
 ing in the lower part of the city of New York, at 
 such a time as would best suit the convenience of 
 business men. At first but few attended, in a little 
 room on the third floor of the consistory of the Re- 
 formed Dutch church in Fulton-street. But "behold 
 how great a matter a little fire kindleth f soon, to 
 the astonishment of everybody, thronging multitudes 
 filled all the three rooms of that building to their 
 utmost capacity. ' It was a vast daily prayer-meeting 
 of an hour at twelve o'clock, attended by those of all 
 classes and conditions, and included great numbers 
 of business men who had never been seen in a prayer- 
 meeting before. It was the Lord's doing, and mar- 
 
280 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 vellous in all eyes. Nor could it long be confined 
 within such narrow limits. 
 
 The fire from heaven that kindled the flame there, 
 spread rapidly in all directions. The call to prayer 
 became louder throughout the city than it ever was 
 before. It daily filled some of the largest churches ; 
 it gathered thousands into one of the vast theatres ; 
 it reached the free academy; the fire and the police 
 departments opened their doors for daily prayer. 
 Rooms were opened by merchants in their stores, in 
 which their clerks met for prayer, and the waiters in 
 one of the large hotels had their daily prayer-meet- 
 ing. Even Jews participated in the great revival 
 movement, and attended the meetings in various parts 
 of the city. Such in brief was the commencement of 
 this marvellous work of the Spirit. The oldest Chris- 
 tians stood still and exclaimed, "We never saw it on 
 this fashion;" and may I not ask, who ever did? Of 
 such a simultaneous movement we have no recorded 
 example. 
 
 2. They were union prayer-meetings, attended by 
 all who chose, without respect to denominational dif- 
 ferences. This was a new feature in the revival. 
 The middle walls of partition had never before been 
 so thoroughly broken down. Evangelical Christians 
 of every name found they could come together and 
 pray for the outpouring of the Spirit without any 
 sacrifice of church order, and were astonished that 
 they had not sooner found out "how good, and how 
 pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity " 
 at the throne of grace. Oh, how it liberalized the sec- 
 tarian spirit ; how it enlarged the heart ; how it tended 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 281 
 
 to unite the whole household of faith in one common 
 brotherhood. Let it be our united prayer that Satan 
 may never more get an advantage of us, by rebuild- 
 ing the walls which have so long kept us apart to 
 our mutual discredit and loss. Have we not all one 
 Lord, one faith, one God and Father, who is above 
 all, through all, and in us all? and shall we ever 
 hesitate to unite in praying for the descent of the 
 Holy Spirit, whenever and wherever we can enjoy 
 the privilege ? 
 
 3. Another remarkable feature in this revival, is 
 the rapidity with which the spirit of united prayer 
 spread from city to city, and from state to state, 
 gathering the vast multitudes who in a few weeks 
 were everywhere seen crowding the meetings, giving 
 unmistakable evidence that God was in the midst of 
 them. His presence and power were manifest as 
 never before, in making New York, Philadelphia, 
 Cincinnati, and almost all our large cities centres of 
 this great movement, radiating the spiritual light and 
 warmth which they were the first to enjoy, upon all 
 the regions round about. Thus the united prayer- 
 meetings and the revivals spread with wonderful ra- 
 pidity to hundreds of places, from the centre to the 
 circumference. It has been variously estimated that 
 there were within one year, between three and five 
 hundred thousand converts. 
 
 4. The earth came in and helped the woman as never 
 before, since she fled from the great red dragon into 
 the wilderness. Thirty years ago, it was difficult to 
 get even a short paragraph of religious intelligence 
 into a secular city paper. Such a thing as a notice 
 
REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 of a revival, we may almost say, was never heard of 
 through, such a channel. The best that could be 
 done was chiefly accomplished with singular tact and 
 per sever ence by a minister, well and widely known at 
 that time, as bent on doing good in every possible 
 way.* At first it was a volunteer and gratuitous 
 service, collecting and writing out short articles, 
 handing them to the editors, and getting them insert- 
 ed more as special favors to the man, than to their 
 readers and patrons. Finding how much good he 
 was doing in this way, a number of religious men 
 contributed moderate sums to sustain him ; and this 
 was all that could be done to reach the masses of 
 newspaper readers. I believe I might say it took a 
 whole year to get the amount of two columns into 
 any secular city paper, when revivals in almost every 
 part of the country were going on with mighty power. 
 But how astonishing the change! Scarcely had 
 the union prayer-meetings been set up in New York, 
 Philadelphia, Boston, and other cities, when the same 
 papers, of their own accord, devoted whole closely 
 crowded columns, weekly and daily, to this new relig- 
 ious phenomenon ; vying with each other who should 
 most minutely chronicle the progress of these meet- 
 ings, and spread the news widest. In fact, for some 
 time they took the lead of the religious papers in this 
 department of general intelligence. The change was 
 so sudden and so surprising, that we could hardly 
 believe our own eyes in reading the dailies. This 
 was a great advance upon what had ever before been 
 witnessed. 
 
 * The late Rev. Austin Dickinson. 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 283 
 
 5. I believe there have been more public prayers 
 offered up by request for individuals, and more re- 
 markable answers, than in any former revival. This 
 is a step in advance, and a great encouragement for 
 the future. 
 
 At the same time I cannot help thinking that proc- 
 lamations of sudden and surprising conversions have 
 been too many, and too confident in some of the great 
 daily prayer-meetings. Some of the individuals who 
 are spoken of without qualification as brands from 
 the burning, will not hold out. It cannot be known 
 at the time who they are, but some will fall away 
 and bring distrust upon the conversion of others, and 
 upon the genuineness of the great work. Indeed, if 
 I have read the reports right, there is a much greater 
 degree of confidence expressed, as soon as awakened 
 sinners get a hope, that they are truly converted, than 
 there was in the earlier revivals of this century. 
 
 The fathers used to speak and write with caution. 
 They did not say without qualification, "We have 
 twenty, fifty, or a hundred converts f but that " so 
 many have obtained a hope ; that most of them have 
 been received into the church, and that so far they 
 appear well." They thought this the safest way. 
 They were accustomed to say, after the example of 
 Peter in his recommendation of Sylvanus, "a faithful 
 brother, as I suppose." And I confess that if the sup- 
 pose were retained in a great many cases where it is 
 left out, and if there were not so many hasty admis- 
 sions, I think the revivals would bring in a larger 
 number of true converts, and with them more strength 
 to the churches. Still, the work is glorious, and has 
 
284 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 brought a rich revenue of praise to the Redeemer. 
 Perhaps the number of the truly regenerated has been 
 larger in the last, than in any former year. That 
 the work may continue and spread, and bring still 
 greater numbers to the cross, will be the devout peti- 
 tion of all who love the cause, to God with whom is 
 the residue of the Spirit. 
 
 And just here let me say, there are some dangers 
 to be guarded against, growing out of the very re- 
 markable rise and progress of this general revival. 
 As it began outside of the church, as it were; as 
 there had not been seasons of special prayer for the 
 outpouring of the Spirit j as no such mighty works 
 as he has wrought were expected by anybody ; as 
 few ministers took an active part at first, and the 
 great union prayer-meetings have been chiefly con- 
 ducted by laymen, there is danger that the churches 
 will hope for future revivals without much prayer ; 
 that they will rely too much upon the prayer offered 
 up for them at the union meetings ; and that they 
 will think too lightly of ministers and their preach- 
 ing, and thus displease the great Head of the church 
 who has appointed " the ministry of reconciliation," 
 without whose labors his cause has never been ad- 
 vanced. However a revival may commence, and 
 seem to prosper for a time, it needs the guidance and 
 teachings of a pious and faithful pastor to guard 
 against irregularities ; to go before the flock and lead 
 them safely to the fold of the good Shepherd. 
 
 Every revival makes a great deal of work for the 
 minister. This is especially the case when, as in this 
 revival, many are suddenly arrested and hopefully 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 285 
 
 converted, who before had never given serious atten- 
 tion to the subject of religion ; and of course, have 
 yet to receive all needful instruction with regard to 
 its nature and evidences. The time allowed in these 
 daily prayer-meetings leaves little room for instruc- 
 tion into the things of the kingdom ; and as many of 
 the converts are attached to no Christian denomina- 
 tion, they are to be looked up and taught and encour- 
 aged, and led along in the way where, till now, they 
 have been almost as much strangers as if they had 
 been born in a heathen land. 
 
 I have said it is yet too early to speak with con- 
 fidence of the fruits of this revival. We cannot yet 
 compare it with former spiritual harvests. We hope 
 it will continue a great while. But it is easy to see 
 that our hopes may be disappointed. The great ad- 
 versary is no indifferent spectator. It is certain he 
 will in some way get the advantage of us, and stop it 
 if he can. There was never greater need of watch- 
 ing and praying against his devices. If he can break 
 up the union prayer-meetings, or cause them to be 
 indiscreetly conducted ; if he can induce the churches 
 of our several denominations to depend more upon 
 the prayers offered up in these meetings, than upon 
 the ministry of the word and other divinely appointed 
 means ; if he can any way " sow discord among breth- 
 ren," and lead them to scramble for the sheaves in 
 the harvest, he will certainly do it. If he can induce 
 those who are now so happily united to separate, say- 
 ing, "I am of Paul, and I of Apollos." so as to 
 leave as few as possible for " Christ," he will avail 
 himself of the advantage to the utmost ; or if he can 
 
286 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 induce the awakened to substitute dreams and visions 
 and other fanatical delusions for true conviction and 
 conversion, he will make the most of it to corrupt 
 and put an end to the good work. Our only protec- 
 tion is in the guardianship of Him who is infinitely 
 powerful to protect his church, and for his protection 
 let us now and ever devoutly pray. 
 
 ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 
 
 In dwelling so fully on the glorious work of God 
 in our own land, in the revival epoch which began 
 with the going out of the last and the coming in of 
 the present century, God forbid that I should over- 
 look or undervalue the simultaneous work He so won- 
 derfully wrought in the mother country. The terror 
 justly awakened by the rapid spread of French infidel- 
 ity not only across the channel, but across the Atlan- 
 tic, stealthily entering the minds of millions, and sap- 
 ping the very foundations of piety and hope in God, 
 was felt as deeply by Hannah More, and Bishop Por- 
 teus, and John Newton, and Dr. Bogue, and George 
 Burder, and Andrew Fuller, and Rowland Hill, and 
 others of kindred spirit, as by any in our land. To 
 roll back this flood, Hannah More for years devoted 
 her gifted pen in issuing millions of her cheap Reposi- 
 tory Tracts, so fascinating that they could not but be 
 read, and yet effectually tearing off the mask by 
 which infidelity presented herself as an angel of 
 light. This led directly to the formation of those 
 noble parent institutions in London, the Religious 
 Tract Society, and through that, the British and For- 
 eign Bible Society. The organization and efficiency 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 28T 
 
 of these institutions, of the Baptist Foreign Missionary 
 Society, the London Missionary Society, the Church 
 Missionary Society, and the kindred evangelical move- 
 ments in the mother country for spreading the gospel, 
 which have been so successfully imitated and cooper- 
 ated with on this side of the waters — all are fruits of 
 this blessed work of the Spirit graciously poured out 
 about 1792, in a period of darkness when the hearts 
 of Christians were failing them for fear ; and through 
 the same hallowed influence, their efficient labors have 
 been continued and blessed till the present hour. 
 
 And not only did these servants of God devise 
 and carry into effect these great evangelizing organi- 
 zations, but many of them labored personally in the 
 spirit and power of Whitefield and the Wesleys, full 
 of faith and of the Holy Ghost, to preach the gospel 
 to perishing thousands in the moral wastes around 
 them, under whose labors precious harvests of souls 
 were gathered. 
 
 Among the foremost of these were those two re- 
 markable men, the brothers Robert and James Alex- 
 ander Haldane of Scotland, who will be had in ever- 
 lasting remembrance for their burning zeal and untir- 
 ing labors in the service of Christ, and for the cheer- 
 fulness with which they consecrated their wealth and 
 talents to Christ in building churches — tabernacles 
 they were called — for the poor, and providing in 
 every practicable way for their religious instruction. 
 
 As an example of it, Robert sold his princely estate 
 for seventy thousand guineas, and bought into the funds 
 for the purpose of being ready to appropriate his 
 money for promoting the interests of religion. Out 
 
288 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 of the income of six thousand pounds a year, he limit- 
 ed his family to five hundred pounds — two thousand 
 dollars for himself, and twenty-eight thousand annually 
 for Christ and the church. He aided no less than 
 three hundred young men in preparation for the min- 
 istry, and in his own personal visits to Geneva was 
 blessed in giving an evangelical character to the theo- 
 logical seminary now under the care of Dr. Merle 
 D'Aubigne' and men of kindred spirit. The memoir 
 of those noble Christian brothers, an edition of which 
 the American Tract Society have just issued, is a re- 
 ligious biography of great interest, showing how emi- 
 nently God blessed their preaching and other labors 
 by the outpouring of his Spirit. I might enrich these 
 revival sketches with more copious extracts, but only 
 select a few striking passages. 
 
 "In May, 1801, James Haldane proceeded on a 
 preaching tour in the south of Scotland, and for four 
 months preached every Lord's day to large congre- 
 gations in the open air, and under a tent, and every 
 day in the neighboring towns and villages. Of the 
 good effects of these labors there was abundant evi- 
 dence. Nor did he, in 1802, seek repose, but again 
 went forth burning with zeal for Christ. Many in- 
 teresting circumstances were connected with his 
 labors in Buxton, Macclesfield, Matlock, and other 
 places, where he proclaimed the message of salvation 
 in the towns, villages, hamlets, and green hill-sides 
 of Derbyshire and Stratfordshire. Everywhere his 
 preaching was acceptable, and often was it seen that 
 the word was with power. A few years before this 
 period, Messrs. Simeon and Haldane had visited Mou- 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 289 
 
 lin, and as the result of their labors the conversion 
 of eighty persons was reported ; in the neighborhood 
 of Dunkeld a minister reported one hundred and forty- 
 Jive persons whom he had ascertained to be the fruits 
 of these itinerating labors, and in Aberfeldie fifty- 
 seven attributed their conversion under God to the 
 labors of Robert Haldane's missionaries. 
 
 " But the most remarkable revival of religion of 
 this period occurred at Breadalbane, by means of a 
 Mr. Farquharson, a catechist of lowly origin, who 
 had been recommended to Robert Haldane's class 
 of students for the ministry, on account of his earnest 
 piety and zeal. So great was the opposition to this 
 devoted catechist when he entered upon his labors, 
 that in a circle of thirty-two miles round Lochsay, 
 there were only three families who would receive 
 him, and every public-house was shut against him. 
 In spite of opposition and neglect, he went during 
 the whole winter from village to village, reading the 
 Bible and speaking the words of salvation to all who 
 would listen to him. In the early part of 1802, so 
 extraordinary a revival had been gradually brought 
 about, that one hundred persons previously ignorant of 
 the gospel, seemed to be converted. 
 
 " The accounts of success in Caithness were even 
 more delightful. While the missionaries were send- 
 ing home the intelligence from Breadalbane and else- 
 where, Mr. Cleghorn, the excellent pastor of Wick, 
 wrote of one hundred and twenty as giving evidence 
 of the power of truth ; and adds, that at Thurso the 
 gospel had been at least equally successful. 
 
 "In the spring of 1805, James Haldane, accompa- 
 
 Rev. Sketches 13 
 
290 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 nied by Mr. Campbell, made a tour by way of Perth 
 and Dunkeld into Breadalbane, and the people came 
 to hear the gospel by thousands. Mr. Peter Grant, 
 a pious preacher, says, ' The novelty of a field preach- 
 er, especially a gentleman, attracted great multitudes. 
 In a short time the whole country was in a stir, and 
 many said that we were all in a lost condition ; 
 others endeavored by argument and ridicule to ban- 
 ish their fears, but the gospel kindled a flame at that 
 time, which I hope is not yet extinguished.' 
 
 " In reference to the work which had been per- 
 formed, the late Dr. Russel has left this testimony : 
 ' By means of the movement which took place at that 
 period, there was awakened a spirit of greater relig- 
 ious zeal in various religious bodies ; a more pointed 
 manner of preaching was adopted by many. There 
 came to be more discrimination of character. The 
 empty flourish of the instrument gave place to the 
 well-defined tones and melodies which awaken all 
 the sympathies of the soul. The unfettered freeness 
 of the gospel was more fully proclaimed, while its 
 practical influence was more distinctly unfolded. In 
 the course of time there appeared an increasing num- 
 ber of evangelical ministers in the Establishment, and 
 a beneficial influence was found to operate upon other 
 denominations.' " 
 
 The foregoing is a mere glance, chiefly at the la- 
 bors and success of James Haldane in the earlier part 
 of his long ministry. He lived to see his fiftieth an- 
 niversary, and died not long after, in 1851. He was 
 for half a century a revival preacher in the best 
 sense of the term, and almost wherever he went his 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 291 
 
 labors were richly blessed. He counted it his great- 
 est privilege to spend and be spent in the service, 
 and witnessed many scenes of awakening which we 
 should call, and which truly were, genuine revivals. 
 
 Thus all along from 1800 down to the middle 
 of the century, was God here and there reviving his 
 work in Scotland, and England also, under the labors 
 of the Haldanes and other zealous evangelical preach- 
 ers; and the signs of the times, I think, now give 
 promise of approaching rich and glorious spiritual 
 harvests in those lands. 
 
 GENERAL SUMMARY REVIEW. 
 
 Here, lifting up our hearts in devout thanksgiv- 
 ing to God, let us pause and review the ground which 
 we have gone over. We have seen that seasons of 
 special religious awakening and reformation, bearing 
 all the essential features of genuine modern revivals, 
 date as far back as the time of Joshua. We have 
 seen that when that generation had passed off from 
 the stage, after ages of national degeneracy, there 
 was a great awakening, though of short continuance, 
 in the days of Josiah ; and another soon after the 
 return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, in 
 the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. After that, there 
 was another great falling away, down to the close of 
 that dispensation when Shiloh came. 
 
 Coming down to the New Testament, we have 
 seen that there was a remarkable awakening under 
 the preaching of John the Baptist, when many were 
 turned to the Lord. We have seen that there was a 
 marvellous outpouring of the Spirit on the day of 
 
292 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Pentecost, followed by a wonderful series of revivals 
 in the apostolic age. We have seen how fast Chris- 
 tianity spread over the pagan Koman empire, during 
 the second and third centuries, and went on from 
 conquest to conquest, till, in the person of Constan- 
 tine, it ascended the throne of the Cassars. 
 
 Scarcely had he descended to his marble tomb, 
 when the " Man of sin exalted himself," and reigned 
 in his stead ; and thence, entering the shadows of spir- 
 itual death, we groped our way as well as we could 
 through the midnight of a thousand years, by far the 
 longest captivity that the Christian church ever en- 
 dured — illumined, indeed, by here and there a star 
 of the first magnitude, but scarcely more than to 
 make the darkness visible. It was then that the 
 blood of the martyrs flowed to the horse-bridles, 
 and the devil no doubt congratulated himself that he 
 should be thwarted by no more revivals. 
 
 But we have seen how the glorious Reformation 
 in the sixteenth century disappointed and baffled him ; 
 spreading rapidly on every hand, and carrying dis- 
 may to the pontifical throne itself. Marvellous res- 
 urrection, from the slumbers of so many ages ! 
 
 Then, again, we have seen how God, in the next 
 century, poured out his Spirit upon the north of Ire- 
 land and the churches of Scotland and England, and 
 scattered a righteous seed across the ocean to people 
 this western land. 
 
 Coming down another hundred years, we have 
 met the " Great Awakening," which turned back the 
 captivity of Zion in England, Scotland, Wales, and 
 America. It was the most remarkable and wide 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 293 
 
 spread revival since the first promulgation of the 
 gospel. 
 
 We have next seen how, from various causes, there 
 were grievous backslidings during our revolutionary 
 war, the invasion of French infidelity, and the unset- 
 tled state of the country, till near the close of the 
 last century ; and how God then once more interpos- 
 ed by " reviving his work in the midst of the years," 
 and visiting his American heritage with an almost 
 unbroken series of revivals, down to the present time. 
 
 Thus unmistakably has it been God's method, 
 under different dispensations, and all along through 
 the ages, to carry on his work by successive outpour- 
 ings of his Spirit. 
 
 From this history of the past, we may derive in- 
 struction and encouragement for the future. We 
 cannot perhaps confidently predict, in this case, that 
 " that which hath been, shall be." But how, in view 
 of the past, can any church rest contented with only 
 such gradual additions as are ordinarily made where 
 for long years there are no revivals? Does not ex- 
 perience prove that such churches, even if their num- 
 bers are not diminished by death and removals, lose 
 much of the life and power of religion ? However it 
 may be elsewhere, I am quite sure it has been and is 
 so in this country. The exceptions, if any, are very 
 few indeed. If a church that has been running down, 
 or standing still in cold formalism, could not hope for 
 a revival, how gloomy would be its prospects for 
 coming years and generations. But with the records 
 of the past, in Bible and church history, and in view 
 of what God is now doing, how great the encourage- 
 
294 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ment that, in answer to prayer, He will revive his 
 work even where to human appearance the prospects 
 are darkest. 
 
 As God waits to be inquired of before he pours 
 out his Spirit, how earnestly ought every church to 
 pray and labor for the blessing. Yes, to labor as 
 well as to pray ; for there is much work to be done, 
 as well as much prayer to be offered. The fallow 
 ground must be broken up; the backsliding church 
 must rise and shake herself from the dust. She must 
 do works meet for repentance. She must carry her 
 Master's gracious invitation to all within her reach. 
 She must go out into the highways and hedges, and 
 compel them to come in, that his table may be filled 
 with guests. No church that is settled down on her 
 lees has any warrant to expect a revival. " Go, work 
 to-day in my vineyard," is the command. Soul-har- 
 vests are to be secured by interceding for them, to the 
 Lord of the harvest, and by cooperating with the 
 Holy Spirit, in humble subordination, as laborers to- 
 gether with him. It was the servant who went into 
 the vineyard who received the reward, and not he 
 who stayed behind, saying, I go, sir, but went not. 
 
 To crown the whole, we have seen that, beginning 
 with the apostles, all the prominent laborers in the 
 revivals for eighteen hundred years, have, in every 
 thing essential, seen eye to eye, and minded the same 
 things; as much so, as if they had all lived in the 
 same age, and labored together in the same glorious 
 cause. Though differing somewhat in the external 
 means employed, they preached the same doctrines, 
 urged the same motives to faith and repentance, and 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 295 
 
 looked for success to one and the same infinite source 
 of all wisdom and efficiency. In coming along down 
 through the centuries, it is delighful to see how they 
 agreed together, how the same Spirit was in the re- 
 vivals, awakening sinners, raising them by his quick- 
 ening and almighty power from spiritual death to a 
 new life, and working in them "to will and to do 
 according to his own good pleasure.' 7 Oh, they are 
 all divinely illuminated chapters in the history of 
 Redemption. What would the world have been with- 
 out them? How could the gospel have been spread 
 in the first ages as it was, without revivals ? And 
 so in every age they have been as life from the dead 
 to the church. 
 
 In our own country what would have become of 
 the churches, but for the " Great Awakening ;; and 
 the Revivals of 1300, and those by which they have 
 since been so often refreshed? Prom what other 
 sources could they have obtained an adequate supply 
 of faithful and godly ministers? What, without them, 
 would have been our religious condition at this hour ; 
 aye, and our temporal condition too? Who will say, 
 or believe, that there would now have been three or 
 four millions of professors, or half that number, in the 
 evangelical churches of this land? Great as are our 
 obligations of praise and thanksgiving to God for 
 giving us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, fill- 
 ing our hearts with food and gladness, who can say 
 that they are less due to him for raining down right- 
 eousness upon us, as he has done in these times of 
 refreshing. 
 
 All evangelical Christians agree that God pours 
 
296 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 out his Spirit in answer to believing prayer, and that 
 the more earnest and specific the prayer, the greater 
 the encouragement that the very thing asked for will 
 be granted. In his infinite wisdom and sovereignty, 
 God may sometimes depart from his general method 
 in carrying forward the work of redemption. We 
 have no right to say that he never pours down his 
 Spirit upon a church and congregation, till it is spe- 
 cifically and earnestly prayed for; but if there be 
 any such exceptions, I am persuaded they are very 
 few. I very much doubt whether, if we could see the 
 connection between prayer and the glorious revivals 
 that have blessed this land, we should find one that 
 was not definitely prayed for by some earnest wres- 
 tlers, or wrestler, at the throne of grace. God loves 
 to hear the petitions of his children for the blessing 
 of the Spirit, and in this richest of his gifts to grant 
 the very thing asked for, just as parents do when 
 they give bread to their children. 
 
 Now we cannot ask our heavenly Father to revive 
 his work in any place, unless we truly desire it. If 
 for any reason we are afraid that it would not be a 
 blessing, it would be scarcely less than mockery to 
 ask for it. No truly pious person could understand- 
 ingly do it. To pray aright, we must from the bot- 
 tom of our hearts desire the things we ask for. Noth- 
 ing seems plainer to me, than that this is essential to 
 true prayer. 
 
 If a church can be found in this land, or any other 
 land, where the minister and the members of it are 
 afraid of such genuine revivals as distinguish the 
 religious history of this country, they cannot honestly 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 29T 
 
 pray for them; and would it be strange if such a 
 church and congregation were passed by, when other 
 places around were visited? Would it not, on the 
 contrary, be strange if it received the blessing? Is 
 there evidence that God ever revives his work where 
 it is not wished for? If I knew that anywhere revi- 
 vals were not desired, but rather dreaded, I should 
 want no other explanation of the fact that they are 
 not enjoyed. This seems to me to be reason enough. 
 There may be individual conversions and gradual 
 additions to the churches in answer to prayer, and 
 because they are desired ; but can such glorious har- 
 vests as many of our churches have from time to time 
 been reaping be expected, if not desired, or prayed or 
 labored for? 
 
 When I was abroad more than twenty years ago, 
 and when many powerful revivals were in progress 
 here at home, I was often inquired of by ministers, 
 whether the accounts which they Kad heard were 
 true ; and what was the character, and what were the 
 fruits of these revivals. In answering these questions 
 as well as I could, I magnified the grace of God in what 
 I had myself witnessed. The impression upon some 
 minds was obviously very favorable. They desired to 
 share in the same blessing, and doubtless prayed for it 
 not in vain. There was soon after what we should 
 call a genuine revival in Dr. Reed's church in London, 
 who had travelled extensively in this country the year 
 before, and witnessed what God was doing among us. 
 And other such revivals I believe there have since 
 been in England, though not so much spoken of un- 
 der that name as they would have been with us. 
 
 13* 
 
298 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Within the last year, our brethren in England and 
 Scotland have been remarkably stirred up to the 
 establishment of church and union prayer-meetings 
 for the outpouring of the Spirit, and from the latest 
 accounts it would seem the Lord has heard and an- 
 swered. It looks very much as if revivals were now 
 springing up in various parts of the kingdom. May 
 they be increased a thousand-fold, not only there, but 
 in all the fatherlands as well as our own. Oh, how 
 delightful it will be to hear songs, " Glory to the 
 righteous," borne across the ocean on every breeze ! 
 " Though the vision tarry, let us wait for it ; because 
 it will surely come, it will not tarry." 
 
 God will work all things according to his own 
 holy and righteous will, but who can conceive that 
 all the dark and besotted millions of heathen and 
 nominally Christian lands will be brought to Christ 
 solely by the slow process of individual conversions 
 through the long succession of years and centuries? 
 As the revival which has just occurred in our own 
 land, in some of its features, differs from, and I think 
 is in advance of any former revival era, so God may 
 speedily bring up the churches to a still higher stand- 
 ard, and multiply conversions both at home and 
 abroad, beyond any thing that has yet been witnessed. 
 Every one will admit that this is possible. 
 
 I can conceive that multitudes more of the hopeless 
 classes of the wicked may be plucked from the burn- 
 ing, than in any former revival. I can conceive that 
 far greater numbers of the young may be born again, 
 than ever before, where God has poured out his Spir- 
 it. I can conceive that where whole classes have 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 299 
 
 sometimes been converted in our Sabbath and other 
 schools, all the classes may be taken in a single year, 
 or month. I can conceive that the next revival may 
 spread over the whole land ; that not a single church 
 may be passed by ; that it may find its way into both 
 houses of Congress, and pervade all the halls of leg- 
 islation, and bring our great men with all their influ- 
 ence into the churches. I can conceive that G-od 
 may give his ministers higher qualifications for their 
 work, endowing them all with a double portion of 
 his Spirit, that he may convert all our merchant-ships, 
 and all the navy, like the ship-of-war "North Caro- 
 lina," into Bethels to bear the songs of salvation with 
 our stripes and stars round the world, and that all 
 the officers and soldiers in our army may become sol- 
 diers of the cross. 
 
 The Spirit is not bound. Nothing is too hard for 
 the Lord. I can conceive that in one or more of 
 these respects the next revival may be far in advance 
 of the present, and that in as many of them as may 
 precede the millennium and bring it on, the last may 
 be the most glorious of all. Then there will be no 
 more room nor need of what we now mean by revi- 
 vals, for the churches will always remain in a reviv- 
 ed state; but I am afraid not before. Then, in the 
 thousand years promised and sure to come, all shall 
 know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. 
 
 How the successive generations will be gathered 
 into the fold of the true Shepherd and Bishop of their 
 souls, we cannot tell. Children will then be " by 
 nature children of wrath " as they are now, and will 
 just as much need to be born again by the Spirit. 
 
300 REVIVAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Whether they will be sanctified from the womb, we 
 do not know ; but if not, we have reason to think it 
 will be in yery early childhood. I cannot believe 
 they will be left for years to grow up enemies to 
 God, when with infinite ease he can convert them 
 before they begin to harden themselves in rebellion 
 against him. It seems to me it could not be the mil- 
 lennium which the Scriptures promise. All would not 
 know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. 
 
 But I make no pretensions to be wise above what 
 is written. In his own time and way, the whole 
 "earth shall be filled with the knowledge and glory 
 of the Lord." 
 
 And now, in closing these imperfect sketches, I 
 feel specially called upon to lift up my heart in de- 
 vout thanksgivings to God, that he has permitted me 
 to live in this eventful age of the world's religious 
 history ; that for more than fifty years, I have had 
 such advantages for studying the character and mark- 
 ing the progress of revivals, and laboring in them as 
 God has given me strength for the service, during a 
 pastorate of sixteen years in two rural parishes, twen- 
 ty-two years as a pastor and teacher in a public sem- 
 inary, and as a helper to my brethren in such times 
 of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. Oh, to 
 have been allowed to witness the triumphs of Zion's 
 King, travelling in the greatness of his strength, since 
 I came upon the stage ; to have been spared* to go 
 back into the ages past, and trace the footsteps of 
 the Angel of the covenant down through so many 
 
 * Dr. Humphrey, in writing this, had reached the age of 
 fourscore years. 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 301 
 
 centuries, and to bear this testimony in favor of an- 
 cient and modern revivals ; what a privilege ! It is 
 at best, but a rapid, imperfect sketch that I have 
 given. Others I am sure could have done it better, 
 What a history will that be, when some one compe- 
 tent to the task shall collect and arrange the materi- 
 als which are already so ample for a great work, and 
 which will be increased by every future revival. That 
 day will come ; and then, how much will such a his- 
 tory, recording the triumphs of the Captain of salva- 
 tion over the prince of darkness, surpass all the con- 
 quests of all the Alexanders, Csesars. and Napoleons 
 of the world ! 
 
PAET SECOND. 
 
 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "PREPARE YE THE WAT OP THE LORD.'.' 
 
 Having in the preceding sketches traced the 
 progress of true religion down through the ages for 
 more than three thousand years, and established, as I 
 think, the great fact, that the church has been restor- 
 ed from her many backslidings mainly by successive 
 reformations or revivals, in other words, by special 
 outpourings of the Spirit, the way is now prepared to 
 inquire, with devout supplications for divine guidance, 
 how such revivals are to be sought for, and by what 
 means they may be promoted. These are vital prac- 
 tical questions. 
 
 I am far from supposing that there are any exclu- 
 sive methods of promoting revivals, suited to all cases 
 and circumstances. Whatever instrumentalities may 
 
304 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 be employed, there are two conditions which must 
 never be lost sight of: 
 
 That there can never be any true revival without 
 the outpouring of the Spirit, and that it can proceed 
 no further than it is carried forward by that divine 
 influence; and 
 
 That a revival is never to be expected but in an- 
 swer to prayer. 
 
 But beyond these two conditions there is room for 
 different administrations, as there are divers opera- 
 tions by the same Spirit. Guided by the teachings of 
 the word and Spirit of God, there is room for the 
 exercise of a sound discretion, aided by the best 
 experience which the history of revivals furnishes; 
 and this is what, seeking divine assistance, I have 
 attempted in this humble manual. It is the result 
 of my own experience and observation, with the best 
 helps which I have been able to derive from other 
 sources. 
 
 "0 LORD, REVIVE THY WORK." 
 
 This prayer was offered by the prophet in a time 
 of great religious declension. The people had " slid- 
 den back by a perpetual backsliding," and he felt 
 that nothing short of a revival could save them from 
 utter apostasy. It was the greatest and most urgent 
 of all their needs. 
 
 As it was then so it is now, wherever a church is 
 in a cold backsliding state, and sinners are slumber- 
 ing on the verge of the pit. That the need is not felt, 
 that the danger is not apprehended, is so far from 
 proving that no special revival is needed, that this 
 
LORD, REVIVE THY WORK. 305 
 
 state of things in any church and congregation makes 
 a revival more necessary ; the more profound the in- 
 difference, the greater the necessity. 
 
 Is this the case, dear brethren, with you? You 
 either need a revival, or you do not. Perhaps your 
 church and congregation are large, strong, and united. 
 You have a good minister and support him well, and 
 your congregation rather increases from year to year, 
 than diminishes. You are ready to say with the 
 church of Laodicea, " We are rich and increased with 
 goods, and have need of nothing." Is this your con- 
 dition? are these your contented feelings? Then, like 
 that church, are you not spiritually "wretched and 
 miserable and poor and blind and naked;" and ex- 
 cept you repent, what will all your harmony and out- 
 ward prosperity avail? 
 
 How long is it that you have been thus settled 
 down upon your lees, sowing pillows under all arm- 
 holes? How many years since you have had a revi- 
 val? How is it with the rising generation? Are 
 they converted, or likely to be, without a revival? 
 The older members of your church are passing off, 
 and who are to fill their places, if others are not 
 " baptized for the dead?" And what are you doing? 
 Are you on your knees, praying with the prophet, 
 " Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years f 
 or are you waiting for one another, hoping that the 
 whole church will wake up, and call upon God for the 
 blessing? If waiting for this, your expectations will 
 never be realized. That time will never come. We 
 have no reason to think that all the members of any 
 church are themselves truly converted; and if not, 
 
306 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 how can all the church be expected to unite in pre- 
 vailing prayer ? 
 
 Other churches around may be as languid as you 
 are, or they may not. If they are, is that any reason 
 why you should remain so? Ought it not to awaken 
 your fears that God has forsaken the whole region, 
 saying, " They are joined to their idols ; let them 
 alone. 7 ' If, on the other hand, your neighbors are 
 rejoicing in the midst of revivals, why should you 
 not be excited and encouraged to strive for the bless- 
 ing? 
 
 How, dear brethren, would it be with you, in an- 
 other case somewhat analogous, though infinitely less 
 urgent. Suppose there was a great drought in your 
 town, consuming all your crops and threatening you 
 with famine when what you have on hand shall all 
 be eaten up; and suppose the same were the case 
 with all the region around, would it give you any 
 comfort to know that you were no worse off than 
 your neighbors ? Or if the showers were refreshing 
 their parched fields, would it not awaken and in- 
 crease your anxiety for equally copious rains? Oh, 
 with what eagerness would you watch the rising 
 clouds, and how it would distress you to see them 
 from day to day passing by upon the mountains, and 
 leaving your farms to become "powder and dust," 
 under a brazen and burning sky. 
 
 And how can you remain indifferent while a more 
 parching spiritual drought is consuming you? Will 
 you not rise as one man, and call upon God to pour 
 down the rain from the upper heavens, to revive his 
 work in the midst of the years ? 
 
LORD, INCREASE OUR FAITH. 301 
 
 "LORD, INCREASE OUR FAITH." 
 
 The disciples had faith, but on the occasion in 
 which this prayer is recorded, they seem not to have 
 had the faith necessary to work miracles in Christ's 
 name. They now felt their deficiency, and prayed 
 their Master to help them — to increase their faith, so 
 that they might be able to make full proof of its 
 power. They were brought to feel their absolute 
 dependence on Christ for the increase which they 
 needed, at the same time that they felt they deserved 
 his rebuke for their unbelief. 
 
 In like manner, Christians are absolutely depend- 
 ent on Christ to enable them to pray in faith for a 
 revival, or when it is in progress, that it may be con- 
 tinued. How often have we heard the exhortation, 
 " Pray, pray in faith, and God will certainly hear and 
 answer you." This is very true. It shall not be said 
 that such praying breath was ever spent in vain. But 
 faith is the gift of God ; and how can you pray in 
 faith, till you receive the gift? The Christian, wheth- 
 er in a revival or out of a revival, is dependent on 
 Christ for a spirit of prayer. 
 
 Every true Christian has some faith, however 
 weak and wavering, as the disciples had, and can 
 therefore pray as they did, "■ Lord, increase my faith f 
 but that faith, though less than " a grain of mustard 
 seed/' would be as much the gift of God as was the 
 strong faith of Abraham or Moses. 
 
 If this be so, what is one of the first duties of the 
 members of a church, when their graces are languish- 
 ing, and stupidity reigns throughout the whole com- 
 munity? Is it not prayer for themselves? "Lord, stir 
 
308 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 us up, give us a spirit of prayer for those who are per- 
 ishing around us. Lord, we believe thy promises; 
 help thou our unbelief. Increase our faith." This is 
 beginning at the beginning, and if you are in a cold, 
 backsliding state, what can you do ? What will your 
 prayers for a revival avail, till you have a revival 
 spirit of prayer ? And will you not earnestly ask for 
 that, as the first and essential thing? See what Da- 
 vid's penitential prayer after his fall was : " Restore 
 unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me by 
 thy free Spirit j then will I teach transgressors thy 
 ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee." 
 
 So, dear friends, when iniquity abounds, and your 
 love waxes cold, should you say, " Lord, increase our 
 faith," then will we pray earnestly and prevailingly 
 for the revival of thy work in the midst of us. Oh, 
 how much prayer for the conversion of sinners is lost, 
 for want of faith in the hearts of Christians. 
 
 HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 
 
 Are there any; and if so, what are they? That 
 there are no insuperable obstacles in the way we 
 know, for revivals have often taken place where, to 
 human view, they were least to be expected. And 
 yet there are hinderances everywhere, which nothing 
 short of divine power can overcome. These are the 
 world, the flesh, and the devil I know of none but may 
 be classed under one or the other of these three ob- 
 stacles. 
 
 1. The world, by which I mean its inbred hostility 
 to all spiritual religion, whether in individuals or 
 communities : its direct hostility, its maxims, its al- 
 
HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 309 
 
 lurements, its temptations in their wily and protean 
 forms, stand directly in the way of a revival. There 
 never would be one if the world, thus understood, 
 could prevent it. In enlightened Christian commu- 
 nities, unconverted men may profess to "be the friends 
 of true religion, and to wish to see it prosper ; but as 
 in their hearts they are opposed to it, they will, in 
 one way or another, discourage that interest and con- 
 cern in which a true revival consists. They want to 
 have things continue as they are. "We are now at 
 peace among ourselves," they say, " and why should 
 it be broken in upon? Why not let well enough 
 alone? Religion is a good thing," it may be added, 
 "but all public excitements are dangerous. These 
 revivals, as they are called, lead to enthusiasm and 
 fanaticism. They often divide churches and families, 
 and are rather to be dreaded than desired." Thus 
 do the opposers of revivals reason in their hearts, if 
 they do not think it polite to speak it openly. All 
 their influence is directly or indirectly against them. 
 This, in many places, is a very great hinderance. 
 
 And the world, ever, wise to do evil, knows how 
 to set the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and 
 the pride of life against the intrusion of revivals. It 
 holds up so many dazzling fascinations, it keeps men 
 so busy, so eager in the pursuit of pleasure, riches, 
 and display, that they have no time for any thing bet- 
 ter. It spreads out all these allurements, and hangs 
 them up in their most tempting attractions along the 
 broad way 5 and alas, with what success — drowning 
 thoughtless multitudes " in destruction and perdition." 
 How many revivals have been kept out by these hos- 
 
310 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 tile influences, will not be known till the day of judg- 
 ment; but they are certainly great hinderances. In 
 fine, whatever the world can do to hedge up the way 
 against revivals, we may rest assured will be done 
 in one way or another. But, 
 
 2. The flesh is a still more insidious and danger- 
 ous foe to revivals. There is more danger within, 
 than without. The hinderances are greater from the 
 church itself, than from the world. It is reasonably 
 expected, that those who profess religion will do 
 more to honor and promote it by their example, by 
 their consistent lives, and by their active influence 
 than any, or than all others out of the pale of the 
 church. Hinderances from this quarter are often 
 many and exceedingly grievous. Sometimes there 
 are bitter internal dissensions, which would disgrace 
 any mere worldly association. "Brother goeth to 
 law with brother." The personal friends of the par- 
 ties take sides with their respective favorites, and 
 thus the breach is widened, "as when one letteth out 
 water." The house is divided against itself. Crimi- 
 nations and recriminations are engendered and mul- 
 tiplied. The world looks on jeeringly, and exclaims, 
 "Behold how these Christians hate one another! If 
 this is religion, we want none of it. If these are some 
 of the fruits of revivals, the fewer the better." 
 
 Sometimes reproaches come from open and indulg- 
 ed immorality. Members of the church become in- 
 temperate, dishonest in their dealings, or fall into 
 other habitual transgressions of the second table of 
 the law, bringing great scandal upon their profession, 
 and are not called to account bv the church. Thev 
 
HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 311 
 
 are allowed to retain their standing, and come to the 
 Lord's table, year after year. The world looks on 
 and perhaps says, " Here you see some of the fruits of 
 a great revival, as it was called, years ago. These 
 were some of the converts. See what they have 
 come to, and see how the church winks at such scan- 
 dalous violations of their covenant, when they are 
 known and read of all men. We don't wish to see 
 any more such revivals." 
 
 Or if the church-members become so conformed 
 to the world, to its feverish passion for money get- 
 ting and show, for doubtful, if not positively sinful 
 amusements; if they strive to outshine the gay and 
 thoughtless in dress, in furniture, in parties, in equi- 
 page ; if instead of " striving against sin," they fall 
 in with the loose maxims of mere worldly men, it 
 cannot but be noticed by those who make no preten- 
 sions to piety, and thus prejudice many, not only 
 against real religion, but against all revivals, since 
 in many cases it is understood that the majority of 
 the church-members have been brought in during 
 such seasons of religious interest. 
 
 These are " works of the flesh," yielding to biases 
 within and temptations without, which are among 
 the greatest hinderances to revivals. Such churches 
 are in no condition to receive the blessing. The 
 wonder is, not that they are passed by for years and 
 years, but that they are ever visited. 
 
 3. There are still other hinderances from a great- 
 er foe than either the world or the flesh, " the wiles 
 of the devil, 11 who is sure to guard the entrance to a 
 revival by throwing every obstacle in the way, that 
 
312 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 his vast capacity and malignity can invent. Against 
 these the church cannot too vigilantly work, or too 
 earnestly pray. His devices to keep out revivals, 
 and to oppose and corrupt them in their progress, 
 are inexhaustible. If he could prevent it, there 
 never would be another. Blessed assurance, that 
 "for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, 
 that he might destroy the works of the devil ;" and- 
 He will do it. He is doing it, by various instrumen- 
 talities in the heathen world, and by revivals there, 
 as well as in Christian lands. 
 
 All these three, the world, the flesh, and the devil, 
 are positive hinderances, and if God does not inter- 
 pose, either of them is sufficient to prevent a revival. 
 
 "TAKE UP THE STUMBLING-BLOCKS OUT OF 
 THE WAY." 
 
 Having pointed out some of the main hinderances 
 and obstacles which lie in the way of revivals, I feel 
 bound to show, if I can, what is to be done to remove 
 the stumbling-blocks — how the way of the Lord may 
 be prepared, that he may come into his vineyard and 
 water it. Where great obstacles lie in the way of 
 any thing, they must be removed. This is the first 
 step. It may or may not be all that is required in 
 any given case, but it is the first thing to be done. 
 The stone that blocks the wheels must be removed. 
 Obstacles which by accident or design forbid the 
 advance of the railcars must be taken away, the track 
 must be cleared ; then they can proceed, but not be- 
 fore. So with all physical impediments ; they must 
 be removed, or in some way overcome. 
 
HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 313 
 
 The same is true in morals and religion, within 
 their legitimate spheres. Whatever hinder ances are 
 found to lie in the path, must be taken out of the 
 way. These hinderances to revivals, as we have 
 seen, are the world, the flesh, and the devil. We 
 cannot prepare the way by gaining "the friendship 
 of the world," which " is enmity with God f but by 
 his help, we can counteract its hostile influences upon 
 ourselves and others. Neither individuals nor church- 
 es can secure themselves from those outward tempta- 
 tions which war against the soul; but by the grace 
 of God, they can resist them. They can let their 
 own light so shine before men, that there shall be no 
 occasion to inquire, " What do ye more than others ?" 
 They can so withdraw from conformity to the world, 
 and so carefully shun all appearance of evil, as to 
 shut the mouths of gainsayers, and constrain them to 
 admit, that there must be a reality in religion, and 
 that revivals which produce such fruits cannot be of 
 men, but must come from a higher power. A church 
 that has let down its watch, and ceased to discipline 
 its members when they fall away and bring reproach 
 upon the cause of Christ, can repent, and purge out 
 the old leaven, and take away the reproach. A back- 
 sliding church can rise and shake herself from the 
 dust, in spite of all the opiates that the world has 
 power to administer. She can betake herself in ear- 
 nest to invite a revival, by taking up the stumbling- 
 blocks which impede the chariot of salvation. 
 
 There is no preventing our adversary the devil 
 from employing all his temptations and stratagems to 
 keep out revivals. There is nothing that he hates and 
 
 Rev. Sketches. 14 
 
3U REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 fears so much as the opening of the heavens to pour 
 down righteousness upon a languishing church, and a 
 dying congregation. With his consent, as I have said, 
 there would never be another "awakening," great 
 or small, to the end of the world. But we " are not 
 ignorant of his devices," and he can be resisted. 
 When the proper means are used to obtain the bless- 
 ing, he can no more prevent a spiritual shower from 
 descending upon the most parched enclosure of the 
 vineyard, than he can stay the bottles of heaven 
 when the dust groweth into hardness, and the clouds 
 cleave fast together. 
 
 There are no hinderances to revivals from with- 
 out or within, but may be removed or overcome. It 
 is not in wicked men or devils to fence out these vis- 
 itations from on high, to throw such stumbling-blocks 
 in the way that they cannot enter. Every tempta- 
 tion, every opposing influence, whether open or secret, 
 may be successfully resisted ; "not by might, nor by 
 power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." 
 
 THE SAVIOUR'S RETURN. 
 
 ° When Jesus returned, the people gladly received 
 him ; for they were all waiting for him." Christ had 
 crossed over the lake of Galilee to G-adara, where he 
 found a raving maniac among the tombs possessed 
 with many devils, and cast them out. How long he 
 staid there, we are not informed ; but when he came 
 back, he found the people gathered on the shore and 
 waiting for him. They had enjoyed his presence 
 and instructions and seen his miracles, and they were 
 so anxious for his return, that they resolved to be at 
 
THE SAVIOUR'S RETURN, 315 
 
 the place of landing in season to welcome him; and 
 when he came, they received him with rejoicing. 
 
 This incident is full of instruction and encourage- 
 ment, and was doubtless recorded for our learning 
 on whom the ends of the world are come. Let us 
 inquire then what is meant by waiting for Christ's 
 return, when he has been for a longer or shorter time 
 absent. 
 
 1. It implies desire. "When we wait for an absent 
 friend, it is not in a state of indifference. It is be- 
 cause we want to see him, and want to enjoy the 
 pleasure of his society. So it was with that waiting 
 company on the shore of the lake. They would not 
 have gathered there, much less would they have wait- 
 ed, if they had not wished for his return. Neither 
 can a church, that once enjoyed the special presence 
 of Christ in a revival, be said to be waiting for a like 
 blessing, if they do not earnestly desire his return. 
 Time passes. Years perhaps roll away. They some- 
 times talk about him, and profess, it may be, to lament 
 his long absence. But they are not waiting for him, 
 till they desire his return so earnestly as to pray for it. 
 Any thing short of this is not waiting for him. 
 
 2. Waiting for Christ implies hope and expectation. 
 Thus when you are waiting for a valued friend who 
 has been some time absent, you have some expectation 
 at least that he will come, though you do not cer- 
 tainly know when ; else you would not wait for him : 
 you could not ; you would have no motive to wait any 
 longer, however anxious you might be to meet and 
 welcome him. Neither could a church in a time of 
 general declension be said to wait for the Saviour's 
 
316 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 return, if they had no encouragement to expect it. 
 It is not in the constitution of the human mind, sanc- 
 tified or unsanctified, to wait for any thing without 
 hope or expectation. The multitude would not have 
 stood on the shore of Galilee, anxiously looking across 
 the water to catch the first glimpse of the boat, if they 
 had not expected it. They would have gone away, 
 or rather, they would not have come. 
 
 3. Waiting for Christ to come and revive his 
 work, implies a preparation in the church to receive 
 him. When he came back from his mission across 
 the lake, the people "gladly received him." They 
 were ready to listen to his instruction, and witness 
 his wonderful works. This was what they came 
 together for. They did not remain at home till they 
 heard that he had lauded, but went down to meet and 
 welcome him. This was their preparation. This 
 was the proof that they were anxiously waiting for 
 him. 
 
 And how do you do when you are expecting a 
 visit from a dear friend, or when you are looking for 
 some distinguished guest, and do not know at what 
 time he will come, whether to-day or to-morrow? 
 You don't put off your preparations till the coach 
 drives up to the door. You consider beforehand 
 what kind of reception he will reasonably expect, and 
 do your best to prepare for it. You would not, when 
 you met him, say, " I am very glad to see you, I have 
 been expecting and waiting for you a long time," 
 when you had got nothing ready to make him wel- 
 come and comfortable. There may be delay, but 
 there is no real waiting like that which we are now 
 
THE SAVIOUR'S RETURN. 311 
 
 considering, which does not include these three things 
 at least — desire, expectation, and some good degree of 
 preparation for the desired visit or blessing. 
 
 And now, dear brethren, how is it with you ? How 
 is it with your church? Much as we read and hear 
 of revivals, and however so many of them there may 
 be in the land, hundreds, yea, thousands of churches 
 remain unvisited, and yours may be one of the num- 
 ber. How long is it then since the Saviour made 
 you his last visit? How many years since he was 
 with you, calling sinners to repentance, and making 
 them " willing in the day of his power ?" How long 
 has he been gone, and you mourned his absence? 
 Are you waiting for him to return, as the people were 
 at the lake of Galilee ? Do you earnestly desire him 
 to come to you speedily? Does this desire ascend up 
 to his mercy-seat in earnest, persevering prayer ? Do 
 you expect him ? You may, if you ask aright ; for his 
 ear is always open, and he has bound himself by 
 great and precious promises. Have you not been 
 long in a state so cold and indifferent as almost, if 
 not quite, to give up the hope that he will ever return ; 
 and have you not very much given over asking him ? 
 
 The people of Galilee received him joyfully, be- 
 cause they were waiting for him, and prepared for 
 his return. Are you, I ask again, looking anxiously 
 out for him? If he were to return, are you prepared 
 to welcome him into your houses, and into your 
 hearts? "Would he find you waking, and looking out 
 for his return ; or would he find you saying, " A little 
 more sleep, a little more slumber, a little more fold- 
 ing of the hands to sleep?" 
 
318 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 Oh, brethren, brethren, this will not do! "It is 
 high time to wake out of sleep." Souls are perish- 
 ing, and you are answerable. Christ would ere this 
 have been with you, reviving his work, if you had 
 been waiting for him. Whose urgent voice is it but 
 his, that I seem to hear at your very threshold, " Be- 
 hold, I stand at the door, and knock. If any man hear 
 my voice, and open the door, I will come in unto him, 
 and sup with him, and he with me.' 7 And if he will 
 come to one who is waiting for him, how much more 
 if he finds all his friends waiting as he did on the 
 shore of Galilee? 
 
 "COME DOWN ERE MY CHILD DIE." 
 
 Jesus Christ was a great physician. He was so 
 regarded by the Jews at Nazareth, where he was 
 brought up. "Ye will surely say unto me this prov- 
 erb, Physician, heal thyself.' 7 They had heard of the 
 wonderful cures which he wrought in Capernaum, 
 and reproached him for not doing the same among 
 them, when they were so far from receiving and lis- 
 tening to him even with common civility, that they 
 thrust him out of the city, and sought to cast him 
 down headlong from the brow of the hill on which 
 it was built. Why should he heal their sick when 
 they would not even allow him to remain another 
 day or hour among them? 
 
 He was a physician of the bodies as well as the 
 souls of men. Of this we have the most abundant 
 testimony in the gospels. We have reason to believe 
 he wrought more bodily cures than any other physi- 
 cian ever did, or ever will. Take the following as 
 
COME DOWN ERE MY CHILD DIE. 319 
 
 examples: "At even, when the sun did set, they 
 brought unto him all that were diseased, and them 
 that were possessed with devils ; and all the city was 
 gathered at the door. And he healed many that 
 were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many dev- 
 ils." This was done at Capernaum. Mark 1 : 32-34. 
 " And Jesus went up into a mountain, and sat down 
 there/ 7 near the sea of Galilee, " and great multitudes 
 came unto him, having with them those that were 
 lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast 
 them down at Jesus' feet, and he healed them." Matt. 
 15 : 29. " And Jesus went about all Galilee, teach- 
 ing in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of 
 the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and 
 all manner of disease among the people.' 7 Matt. 
 4 : 23, 24. He was not the physician of any one city 
 or place merely. He went about doing good. He 
 travelled all over the land. He visited and healed 
 the sick wherever he was sent for, and he never lost 
 a patient. Nor did he confine his cures to the sick 
 of his own country : " His fame went throughout all 
 Syria, and they brought unto him all sick people, that 
 were taken with divers diseases and torments ; and 
 those which were possessed with devils, and those 
 which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy, and 
 he healed them." What multitudes must he have 
 cured of all sorts of diseases, during the three and a 
 half years of his public ministry, wherever he went. 
 A number of affecting incidents are recorded, of 
 which this is one : " A certain nobleman's son was 
 sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was 
 come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him, 
 
320 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 and besought him that he would come down and heal 
 his son, for he was at the point of death. Then said 
 Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye 
 will not believe. The nobleman saith unto him, Come 
 down ere my child die." And Jesus would doubt- 
 less have gone down at once, had not the nobleman's 
 faith prevented. " G-o thy way," saith he, " thy son 
 liveth." The man believed the word and went his 
 way, and that very hour the child began to amend. 
 
 Jesus no longer visits the sick, or cures diseases 
 by his visible bodily presence ; but there are now, as 
 there were then, diseases of the soul far more malig- 
 nant and alarming, and we have, if possible, still 
 greater encouragement to apply to him for healing. 
 
 Suppose there was now a terrible epidemic raging 
 all over the land, and sweeping off thousands every 
 week, and so malignant as thus far to baffle all the 
 skill of the best physicians. And suppose that in this 
 state of universal gloom and despair, we should learn 
 that a physician had just come from afar into the 
 very next town, and had already effected many won- 
 derful cures in cases of the greatest extremity; in 
 fact, curing all as soon and as fast as they applied to 
 him, and that he was just as much needed with us as 
 with them; what would you do? Would you not 
 send for him at once, urging him by every possible 
 motive to come, and give you too the benefits of his 
 skill ? If the first application did not prevail, would 
 you not dispatch messenger after messenger, urging 
 him with increasing importunity, " Come down ere 
 we all die?" I am sure you would, and so would all 
 in like circumstances, who should hear of his wonder- 
 
COME DOWN ERE MY CHILD DIE. 321 
 
 ful success. You would give him no rest as long as 
 there was a possibility of persuading him to come. 
 You could not stand and see your children die, till 
 the last effort to save them had failed. And if it be- 
 came known that he had already visited many other 
 places, with unfailing success, and had never given a 
 refusal when suitably applied to — if by any unaccount- 
 able infatuation you had delayed sending for him till 
 he was gone, leaving the pestilence still to sweep 
 on, would not all who should hear of it say, "They 
 have no one to blame but themselves. They are per- 
 ishing by their own neglect. The physician was near 
 and ready to come, but he was not invited.' 7 I know 
 that such a case can never happen. But it strikingly 
 suggests a familiar analogy, which must be still more 
 astonishing to the angels than that would be. 
 
 Jesus Christ, the great Physician, is present by 
 his Spirit, wherever there is a revival of religion. 
 Many such gracious visits he is now making, in 
 almost every part of the land. He is doing his 
 mighty works in healing multitudes who were ready 
 to perish. But the number of places yet unvisited is 
 far greater — places where there are no revivals. 
 Yours may be one of them, and the great Physician 
 may have come into your immediate neighborhood, 
 where souls were perishing, and where he is now 
 plucking them as brands from the burning. Certain- 
 ly he is not so far off, but that you can apply to him 
 without the least delay. Some of you hope, that in 
 some former visit, years ago, when he found you at 
 the point of death, he applied the balm of Gilead and 
 saved you. But in looking round over your families 
 
322 REYIYAL MANUAL. 
 
 and neighborhoods, you see that hundreds, it may be 
 thousands, are in the same danger that you were in, 
 and you know that they must perish for ever, if not 
 healed in like manner. It is a case of life and death 
 with every one of them — not of temporal, but of eter- 
 nal death. 
 
 And what are you doing ? You cannot save them. 
 None of your physicians can reach their case. It is 
 desperate beyond all human help. But there is the 
 almighty Physician, perhaps within an hour's ride, 
 multiplying his spiritual cures, and waiting to be in- 
 vited by you with the same earnestness which brought 
 him there. You " stand between the living and the 
 dead f and let me affectionately ask, What are you 
 doing ? Why are you not enjoying the blessings of a 
 revival, as well as your neighbors — as well as any 
 other church and congregation in the land? God is 
 no respecter of persons, or of places. It cannot be 
 owing to any reluctance to come, on the part of the 
 great Physician, that he has passed you by. Nothing 
 is wanting but preparation of heart, and earnest, be- 
 lieving prayer, to bring him to you. He wants to 
 come. He is only waiting for you to ask aright, and 
 he will come. As he never refused when he was per- 
 sonally going about doing good to the bodies and 
 souls of men, so now it shall never be said to those 
 who seek him, that they seek in vain. If there was 
 a mortal sickness threatening to sweep off not more 
 than one-tenth of your population, and you heard of 
 a physician anywhere within reach, who was perform- 
 ing more cures of the same disease than all others to 
 whom you could apply, though he might have lost 
 
PREACHING. 323 
 
 some patients, you would lose no time, you would 
 spare no expense to bring him to the bedside of your 
 sick friends. And now, will you, can you do less, 
 when the great majority are infected with the heart- 
 plague, which no medicine can arrest ; when there is 
 One of infinitely more than mortal skill, who stands 
 ready to come and cure all, without money and with- 
 out price? If you have no revival and they perish, 
 consider, ye professed friends of Christ, in whose 
 skirts their blood will be found. Dare you slumber 
 on and meet the answer in the great day? Can you 
 give one blameless reason why you are not now en- 
 joying a revival as well as other churches and con- 
 gregations ? 
 
 PREACHING. 
 
 Peeaching is the chief instrumentality by which 
 the way of the Lord is prepared, when religion has 
 sunk to a low ebb, and he is about to revive his work. 
 The first thing is that the church be awakened from 
 its slumbers. Till this is done, there is very little 
 hope that sinners will be awakened ; and it requires 
 an earnestness in the pulpit, a directness of appeal, a 
 sounding of alarm to professors, which shall make 
 their ears tingle. They must be dealt with plainly, 
 as standing in the way of a revival, as stumbling- 
 blocks lying in the path, instead of living witnesses 
 for Christ before the world. The guilt as well as 
 the danger of their backslidings must be faithfully 
 pointed out. They must be earnestly exhorted to 
 "repent and do their first works;' 7 to examine them- 
 selves whether they are in the faith, whether their 
 
324 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 own hopes are well founded, whether remaining as 
 they are, they can have any good evidence that they 
 are not yet in their sins. They must be told plainly 
 that there are false professors in the churches, and 
 they must be exhorted to wake and rise from the 
 dead, that Christ may give them life. They must be 
 shown that they are in a fearful degree answerable 
 for the reigning worldliness and spiritual death 
 around them. In dealing with them, the preacher 
 must use the word of God, which is sharper than a 
 two-edged sword, as the surgeon uses his knife, though 
 it cut deep into the quick. It may lead some real 
 Christians for a time to distrust and renounce their 
 hope. It probably will, but it will do them good in 
 the end, by making them more watchful and prayer- 
 ful and faithful to their covenant vows. Under such 
 a course of preaching, it may be hoped that the wise 
 virgins will be startled from their slumber, and that 
 'fearfulness will surprise the hypocrites. 7 It may 
 require more than one sermon, or two. It probably 
 will. How many, no minister can tell till he has 
 made the trial and witnessed the effect. Let him 
 not give over till he has made full proof — " line upon 
 line, precept upon precept." He must expect that 
 many of his hearers will wonder why he should dwell 
 so much upon one topic, and it will not be strange if 
 some of his best members should feel that he bears 
 too hard upon them, though they may not tell him so. 
 But if his searching appeals sink down in their hearts 
 and rouse them to prayer and action, and G-od pours 
 out his Spirit, they will be thankful that the preacher 
 did not let them alone till, by the grace of God, they 
 
PREACHING. 325 
 
 were constrained to rise and shake themselves from 
 the dust. 
 
 Said one of the most pious deacons of my church, 
 after a glorious revival which brought in nearly all 
 the most influential men in the place, " I wondered, 
 before the work commenced, why you preached so 
 long and pointedly to the church. I knew we were 
 in a cold state, and needed to be waked up, but at 
 the time it seemed almost cruel in you to lay the 
 blame of our never having had a general revival so 
 heavily upon the church ; I now see that we need- 
 ed it, and bless God, that he moved you to deal 
 so faithfully with us, both in the pulpit and out of 
 it." Some others had the same hard thoughts, and 
 were led to change their minds in the same way, after 
 they had seen and rejoiced in the salvation of God. 
 If we had all the facts, I believe it would be found 
 that nearly all of the most powerful revivals have 
 been immediately preceded by a loud and earnest 
 sounding of alarm in the ears of the churches. How 
 can any pastor of a dead church, who "travails 
 in birth" for souls, rest satisfied till, relying on 
 Divine aid, he has faithfully made the attempt ? Nor 
 should it be confined to the pulpit. The subject should 
 be kept before the mind of the church at weekly lec- 
 tures and prayer-meetings, and in private exhorta- 
 tions, till it shall be evident that she is in some good 
 degree prepared to receive a blessing. As soon as 
 that shall be the case, the prayer will go up from 
 many lips, Lord, what wilt thou have us to do ? 
 
 When a church is brought to this point, there is 
 every reason to hope that God is about to revive his 
 
326 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 work in the congregation. And then the way is pre- 
 pared for a series of pointed and rousing discourses 
 to the impenitent. Then is the time for the preacher 
 to wield " the sword of the Spirit," to lift up his voice 
 like a trumpet, to cry aloud and not spare. Just 
 here, the first thing to be aimed at is to gain the 
 sinner's attention. Failing in this, though an angel 
 were to come down from heaven and occupy the 
 pulpit, his preaching would avail nothing. It would 
 do no more good than speaking into the cold ear 
 of death. The careless sinner must somehow be influ- 
 enced to " think on his ways," to consider what his 
 actual condition is, what his relations to God are, 
 what the law requires, what the gospel offers, and 
 what must be the inevitable consequences of his liv- 
 ing as he has done, and dying in his present state. 
 I. say you must first gain his serious attention, before 
 you can hope that your preaching will do him good. 
 And how is he to be awakened? " Not by might, nor 
 by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." Never- 
 theless, it hath "pleased God by the foolishness of 
 preaching," as the Greeks stigmatized it, to awaJzen 
 sinners as well as to save them. 
 
 And in such a state of things, when a cloud of 
 mercy has come over a place, what kind of preaching 
 is wanted? What texts and subjects are best adapted 
 to wake the slumbering, and constrain them to flee 
 from the wrath to come? Not such preaching as a 
 backsliding church needs, not such as young converts 
 want, but a series of discourses upon such topics as 
 these : the entire sinfulness of the human heart in the 
 sight of a holy God; the strictness and righteous 
 
PREACHING. 321 
 
 penalty of his law ; the certainty that it will be in- 
 flicted in the awful and endless punishment of all who 
 die impenitent — leading sinners to despair of obtain- 
 ing salvation by the merit of their own works, or by 
 their own unaided strivings, be they ever so earnest ; 
 stripping them of all their vain excuses, driving them 
 from all their refuges of lies, and pointing them to 
 the cross of Christ as their only refuge. 
 
 Many of the most successful preachers in winning 
 souls to Christ have dwelt much and earnestly upon 
 these preparatory topics, as I venture to call them, 
 in the commencement of revivals. They are needed, 
 they come at the right time. This is the proper place 
 for them in the use of the means which God has ap- 
 pointed, and I see not how any minister can hope for 
 a thorough work of the Lord in the conversion of sin- 
 ners, who does not thus begin at the beginning, who 
 does not show them the desperate wickedness of their 
 hearts, who does not make the law thunder in their 
 ears, and uncover the pit of destruction before them. 
 This is what Whitefield did; this is what Wesley 
 did ; this is what Edwards did ; this is what Bel- 
 lamy, and the Tennent's did ; this is what all the most 
 successful laborers in revivals have done since their 
 day ; and I hazard nothing in saying, that the work 
 has been deep and thorough in proportion to the 
 thoroughness of the preaching in its earlier stages. 
 Sinners must be " shut up to the faith " by the flam- 
 ing sword turning every way, before they will despair 
 of help from any but an almighty arm. No man, 
 however critical his case may be, will send for a 
 physician till he believes he is sick, and then the 
 
328 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 more critical lie regards his condition, the more ready 
 will he be to use the remedies which the best medical 
 skill can prescribe. So with the sinner ; he is sick 
 unto death, but he will never apply to the great Phy- 
 sician till he feels that the case is desperate. The 
 first thing is to bring him to feel this, and to cry out 
 for help. There must be no palliations. His heart 
 must be probed to the bottom, and its corruption laid 
 bare, so that he may loathe himself in his own sight, 
 and smite upon his breast and cry out with the pub- 
 lican, " God be merciful to me a sinner." 
 
 In laying so much stress as I have done upon hold- 
 ing up the terrors of the law in the beginning of a 
 revival, and dwelling mostly for some time upon the 
 guilt and danger of impenitence, I do not mean that 
 the way of escape from the wrath to come should be 
 kept out of sight even then. The voice of mercy 
 from Calvary should be heard in the midst of the 
 loudest threatenings from Sinai. But Sinai must utter 
 its thunders. The careless multitude must be alarmed, 
 so as to cry out for help, before they will be ready 
 to receive it. While here and there the Lord opens 
 the heart of a Lydia at once to receive with joy the 
 good news of salvation, this has not been his ordinary 
 method. In the language of the old divines, there 
 must be " law work " to bring sinners to Christ. The 
 experience of Paul in this regard, has been the ex- 
 perience of multitudes who have been converted in 
 revivals : " I was alive without the law once ; but 
 when the commandment came, sin revived, and I 
 died." 
 
THE PASTOR IN A REVIVAL. 329 
 
 THE PASTOR IN A REVIVAL. 
 
 These things being premised, I will suppose, my 
 young brother in the ministry, that you and your 
 church are now in the midst of a revival, Some are 
 asking what they must do to be saved, and others are 
 beginning to rejoice in hope. It is a critical time 
 with them, and under God much may depend upon the 
 means employed. The revival may pervade the con- 
 gregation and bring many into the kingdom of Christ, 
 or it may be checked at once. Perhaps there never 
 was a revival so powerful, but that, to all human 
 view, the Spirit might have been quenched, as many 
 have been suddenly brought to a stand by unwise and 
 indiscreet proceedings. 
 
 I do not profess to have had very large experi- 
 ence. Many have oftener seen the salvation of God 
 in these blessed times of refreshing than I have, and 
 are more capable of giving advice to the inexperi- 
 enced; but it has pleased God to afford me a good 
 many precious opportunities of witnessing the pres- 
 ence and power of the Holy Spirit, in the conviction 
 and conversion of sinners. 
 
 In the thoughts which I have to throw out, and 
 the advice which I have to offer, I shall give the 
 results of my own observation and inquiries, without 
 claiming any right to mark out a course for others. 
 God has not shut up his ministers and churches to 
 any one method. A considerable range is left for the 
 choice of means according to times and circumstances. 
 In reading a hundred narratives, we might not find 
 the same features and stages of progress in any two 
 of them. As there are diversities of operation by the 
 
330 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 same Spirit, so there are diversities of means and 
 agencies, which God is pleased to own and bless in 
 reviving his work. Our part is to pray, Lord, what 
 wilt thou have us to do ? and then to follow the lead- 
 ings of his providence and Spirit. 
 
 It will sometimes be found, before the work has 
 advanced far, that something lies in the way of its 
 progress. It seems to stand stilL Those who have 
 been awakened, remain for days just about where 
 they were; and there are no new inquirers. This 
 ought to alarm the whole church. What is the mat- 
 ter ? What hinders the chariot of salvation from roll- 
 ing on ? There should be great searchings of heart ; 
 and if we could see the hearts of those who have 
 been waiting for the salvation of God as he sees 
 them, it would probably be found that there is less 
 fervent prayer than there was. Christians are in 
 danger of taking it for granted, as it were, that when 
 God has begun to pour out his Spirit in answer to 
 prayer, he will continue to carry on the good work, 
 though they should neglect this great duty and privi- 
 lege. But for this they have no warrant. Continu- 
 ance in prayer, if I may so express it, is the motive 
 power, and without which it must come to a stand. 
 But however this may be, there is some cause, some 
 letting down, some neglect of duty on the part of 
 the church, which must be searched out and repent- 
 ed of. 
 
 So, again, in the midst of a powerful revival, when 
 Christians have been long on their knees with their 
 faces bowed in the dust, the impression may be 
 stronger than ever, that God not only can, but will 
 
THE PASTOR IN A REVIVAL. 331 
 
 carry on his work and glorify himself, though their 
 prayers should cease 5 or that their supplications 
 might now give place to thanksgivings. When this, 
 or something like this feeling appears, the church 
 should be called together, not to discourage their 
 thanksgivings for what God hath wrought, but to 
 exhort them at the same time, instead of relaxing, to 
 wrestle more earnestly with the Angel of the cove- 
 nant. Indeed, judging from what I have witnessed 
 in revivals, the church needs to be often called to- 
 gether by the pastor, to keep them constantly advised 
 of the progress of the work, and of the hinderances 
 which threaten to retard it. Without some watch 
 like this, suited to the flowing and ebbing of the 
 waters of salvation, I see not how the church can be 
 expected to preserve a healthful tone of prayer, and 
 a vigorous state of action. 
 
 Again, when a revival has lasted for months per- 
 haps, and a great harvest is already in the sheaf, 
 Christians are apt to feel that it is as large as can 
 be expected in one season, and in this way to limit, 
 as it were, the Holy One of Israel. From what I 
 have seen in revivals, I am satisfied that this is a 
 common case. The impression on many minds is 
 something like this : The blessing has already been 
 larger than we could have hoped for, considering our 
 infinite unworthiness, and we regard it as a rich ear- 
 nest of what God will do for us, when he shall be 
 pleased to come and revive us again; but we must 
 wait. This may never be uttered, but such is the 
 feeling — "We must wait God's time for the conver- 
 sion of the many who are left." In this way I fear 
 
332 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 Satan often gets an advantage of the church, which 
 he could not gain in any other. I look upon it as 
 one of his stratagems, because I believe he is never 
 so busy as in revivals, and because I find nothing in 
 the Bible to warrant the impression that the work in 
 progress must needs cease, so long as there are sin- 
 ners to be brought in, but that, " contrary wise," there 
 is much encouragement to pray and work on. 
 
 When the prophet Elisha directed the king of 
 Israel to take arrows and smite upon the ground, he 
 smote thrice and stayed. Whereupon the prophet 
 was angry, and sharply chided him: "Thou should- 
 est have smitten five or six times ; then hadst thou 
 smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it; whereas 
 thou shalt now smite Syria but thrice." Final deliv- 
 erance from the invasions of that powerful enemy of 
 Israel was forfeited by stopping short when there was 
 nothing to hinder. So in a revival, what is there 
 but the want of faith and perseverance, to hinder the 
 conversion of all who are brought under its influence? 
 A hundred, perhaps, have been born again. It is 
 certainly a great and glorious work ; but why should 
 it cease, when hundreds are still impenitent and ready 
 to perish ? Is the Lord's hand shortened, that it can- 
 not save any more ? Is his ear heavy, that he cannot 
 any longer hear? Dear brethren, are you straitened 
 in him? Is it not wholly in your own bowels? You 
 say you desire the salvation of every soul ; and if so, 
 why not still use the means that have been so signal- 
 ly blessed ? Why wait for another revival ? If you 
 forfeit your privilege in this, are you sure that you 
 shall ever see another? And if another should be 
 
THE PASTOR IN A REVIVAL. 333 
 
 enjoyed in a few years, will all who are yet uncon- 
 verted live till that time? 
 
 You will say, perhaps, that in no place has the 
 whole impenitent population ever been converted in a 
 single revival. And what then? Does it prove that 
 this never can be? that it never will be? As the 
 millennium approaches, we may expect to see greater 
 things than have yet been witnessed. If we are 
 warranted to pray for the outpouring of the Spirit at 
 all, we have the same warrant to pray for the con- 
 version of many as for few. As there is no respect 
 of persons with God, so there is no limitation to the 
 promises, "Ask, and ye shall receive;" "Open your 
 mouth wide, and I will fill it ;" " If ye shall ask any 
 thing in my name, I will do it " — " any thing. 11 
 "How large the promise, how divine!" 
 
 It would certainly be very remarkable if God 
 were to convert all in a great revival. But that he 
 can, if he pleases, no praying person can doubt. 
 There seems to have been something very much like 
 it, in the apostolic age. Thus we read, that when 
 Peter passed throughout all quarters, " all that dwelt 
 in Lydda and Saron turned unto the Lord." And 
 in our own times, we have heard of revivals, if we 
 have not witnessed them, in some of our higher 
 seminaries, of the same comprehensiveness. So it is 
 not very uncommon for whole families to be taken at 
 once. Dear brethren, "be not faithless, but believ- 
 ing." Pray without ceasing. Do not let the Angel 
 of the covenant go till you have prevailed for the 
 largest blessings which he has to bestow. The fact 
 that you have already seen the salvation of God be- 
 
334 REyiVAL MANUAL. 
 
 yond all that you dared to hope for, that greater 
 numbers, it may be, have been converted than in any 
 former revival, is so far from affording any reason 
 for relaxing in prayer and efforts for the immediate 
 conversion of those who are left, that the larger the 
 gift received, the greater the encouragement to ask 
 for more. 
 
 It were easy to bring many illustrations bearing 
 on the point that the church ought never to be satis- 
 fied so long as any remain outside of the ark, hourly 
 exposed to be swallowed up by the rising deluge. 
 
 If your neighbor's house was on fire, and the fam- 
 ily were all fast asleep, or if they had been waked in 
 time to escape, and some of them had been already 
 rescued from the flames while others were still left, 
 what would you do? Would you say, we have al- 
 ready saved more than we expected, and so relax 
 your efforts to save the rest ? No. You would if 
 possible increase them, and never give over till the 
 last child was snatched from the devouring element. 
 And will you cease to pray for those who are still 
 exposed to everlasting fire, because so many have 
 been plucked as brands from the burning? 
 
 In a terrible storm, such as often happens on our 
 seaboard, a vessel is driven upon the breakers, and 
 becomes a hopeless wreck. The crew and the pas- 
 sengers are seen from the shore clinging to the 
 shrouds, and ready to be swallowed up. What is 
 to be done? The life-boat is launched. Struggling 
 through the roaring surf, and almost swamped, she 
 reaches the wreck. There are a hundred to be saved, 
 and she can take only ten. Again and again she 
 
THE PASTOR IN A REVIVAL. 335 
 
 returns, till more than half the number are landed 
 safe on the shore. But what is to become of the 
 rest? Will the hardy boatmen say, "We have saved 
 many more than we expected when we saw the dan- 
 ger. The winds and waves are more and more appall- 
 ing. It is night-fall, which increases the danger of 
 further efforts. We will go home, thankful for what 
 we have been able to do, and return early in the 
 morning, hoping to find the sea calmer, and then we 
 will bring the rest ashore." Impossible! It would 
 not be safe for any man to hint such inhumanity to 
 the most hardened sailor. And can you, dear Chris- 
 tian friends, sit down and rest satisfied for the pres- 
 ent with the rescue of less than half of your friends 
 and neighbors who were ready to perish, when, by 
 your own acknowledgment, those who are left are in 
 equal danger? 
 
 But I have not room for enlargement here. I am 
 not so vain as to feel sure that the course of preach- 
 ing which I have sketched and recommended before 
 a revival, and in the early stages of it, is better than 
 some other, when there is so much room for consult- 
 ing times and circumstances. What I have said is 
 chiefly drawn from my own experience and observa- 
 tion in revivals. It may or may not accord with the 
 larger experience of others. Let it stand upon its 
 own merits, nothing more. 
 
 It can hardly be necessary to add, that no wise 
 master-builder will indulge the idea that by laboring 
 for a revival in season and out of season, and bring- 
 ing many converts into the church, they and the older 
 
336 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 members will need little more of his help to " build 
 them up as lively stones, a spiritual house, a holy 
 priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable 
 to God by Jesus Christ.' 7 It is just here, if I mistake 
 not, that some excellent pastors are in danger of los- 
 ing half the fruits of their labors in sowing and reap- 
 ing, and shouting the harvest home. Believing that 
 all who are born again will be kept by the power of 
 God through faith unto salvation, they seem to for- 
 get that all who have lately been converted, however 
 well instructed and established in other things, are 
 but babes in Christ, and need the sincere milk of the 
 word, that they may grow thereby till they become 
 strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. 
 
 Those more especially who, till the revival, and 
 perhaps till it was far advanced, had paid no attention 
 to religion, and are brought in suddenly, as in these 
 days many are, have almost every thing to learn of 
 its doctrines, of its evidences, and of its claims. Be- 
 ing just brought into the school of Christ, now is the 
 time to teach them, till they are rooted and grounded 
 in the faith. Now they will learn faster than at any 
 other period of their discipleship, and to this end 
 they will require more teaching. 
 
 Some ministers, in their great zeal for the imme- 
 diate conversion of sinners, think it their duty to 
 preach and exhort at all times just as they do in the 
 midst of a revival, and feel as if they were doing very 
 little good, if they do not see the immediate fruit of 
 their labors in bringing sinners to Christ. Doubtless 
 they cannot be too anxious to have them brought in. 
 But they have work to do in the church, as well as 
 
THE PASTOR IN A REVIVAL. 33t 
 
 out of it. By pressing too hard after a glorious revi- 
 val, and without giving the church any time to re- 
 cover from the physical and mental exhaustion which 
 is likely to supervene, they are in danger not only of 
 increasing the exhaustion, but wearing out their own 
 remaining strength and religious susceptibilities with 
 little or no profit. Mr. Nettle ton used to say, that 
 if he was a settled pastor, he would not always be 
 preaching what would be distinctly regarded as revi- 
 val sermons, as it might disgust and harden sinners, 
 rather than convert them; and I believe he was 
 right. 
 
 Suppose there should be an interval of even four 
 or five years between two revivals, would the pastor 
 have reason to mourn that he was all that time labor- 
 ing in vain, and spending his strength for naught? 
 By no means. If he is doing the work of the Lord 
 faithfully during that interval, he may be eminently 
 useful. The husbandman is not always employed in 
 gathering in his harvests. When one is over, he pre- 
 pares his grounds for another. He sows for a new 
 crop, though he may not expect it to take root and 
 spring up at once. So the spiritual husbandman, who 
 " goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall 
 doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his 
 sheaves with him." 
 
 The interval is preeminently the time for study, 
 for imparting solid instruction, for preaching all the 
 fundamental doctrines, for convincing and confound- 
 ing gainsayers, and for building up a stable, thorough- 
 ly educated church, upon " the foundation of the apos- 
 tles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief 
 
 Rev. Sketches. 15 
 
338 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 corner-stone." It is just here that some ardent and 
 excellent ministers mistake. They exhort more and 
 better than they teach. When there is no revival, 
 they do so little to prepare for one by raising the 
 standard of piety and training up prominent mem- 
 bers for active service, that they derive not half the 
 assistance from them in prayer-meetings, Sabbath- 
 schools, and by other lay helpfulness, that they might 
 have done by thorough training. And owing to this 
 neglect, when trouble arises they have not half so 
 many strong men to lean upon as they might have 
 had. 
 
 I am persuaded that a pastor will be most and 
 oftenest blessed with genuine revivals, who, relying 
 upon divine aid, does most to prepare his church for 
 them by thorough doctrinal and practical preaching 
 in the intervals. He will have a stronger and purer 
 church than it is possible to build up without a great 
 deal of teaching, as well after the converts are re- 
 ceived into the church as before. 
 
 WHERE A REVIVAL HAS JUST COMMENCED. 
 
 " And he did not many mighty works there, be- 
 cause of their unbelief." Jesus Christ had come to 
 Nazareth, and showed the deep interest which he felt 
 in their highest welfare by teaching in their syn- 
 agogues, and healing a few of their sick. From what 
 they saw and heard, they could not dispute that his 
 motives were kind, that he had both the will and the 
 power to do them good. But they were not ready 
 to receive him. He had been brought up among 
 them as the son of a poor carpenter, one of their 
 
REVIVAL JUST COMMENCED. 339 
 
 neighbors. Whence then, they said, hath this man 
 this wisdom, and these mighty works ? and they were 
 offended in him. He was to them as " a root out of 
 a dry ground ;•" he had " no form nor comeliness " in 
 their eyes ; " when they saw him, there was no beauty 
 that they should desire him." He had already by his 
 miraculous power healed some of their sick, and was 
 ready to heal them all; but no, he was the carpenter's 
 son, and who gave him this power ? As Jesus Christ 
 never staid where he was not wanted, he left them, 
 and it does not appear that he ever returned. It was 
 not their unworthiness that cut off his kindred from 
 the blessings which he had to bestow without money 
 and without price ; it was their rejection of him. 
 " He did not many mighty works there, because of 
 their unbelief." He departed out of their coasts. If 
 any whom he would have healed were mortally sick, 
 he left them to die. 
 
 So it is now in times and places of special revival. 
 Jesus Christ by his Spirit comes into a church and 
 congregation, and shows his presence and power by 
 healing here and there a sin-sick soul ; or in other 
 words, awakening and converting a few individuals. 
 In this beginning of miracles of grace, he manifests 
 his readiness to heal all who apply to him, trusting 
 in his ability and readiness to save. 
 
 Are the churches whom he thus condescends to 
 visit, always ready to welcome him, and urge him to 
 remain with them as long as he can ? If so, what is 
 the reason that sometimes, when a revival has com- 
 menced and there have been a few conversions, he 
 departs and the work ceases? Such cases, alas, are 
 
840 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 but too frequent. Ah, he does not do many mighty 
 works there, "because of their unbelief." This is the 
 sole reason. 
 
 What then is this unbelief, that cuts them off? It 
 must be a criminal distrust of his power, or his prom- 
 ises. Nothing is wanting but that faith which takes 
 hold of the promises by earnest persevering prayer 
 to retain him. It can never be true, that any in- 
 cipient revival ceases after a very few have been 
 awakened and brought in, where the church is on 
 her knees pleading with the Saviour to stay and mul- 
 tiply the trophies of his victorious grace. She must 
 take the blame to herself, if he leaves her families 
 and neighbors unconverted. 
 
 And now, dear friends, what is our present con- 
 dition in this place ? After a long absence, in which 
 the ways of Zion have mourned, and all have been 
 ready to die, Jesus of Nazareth has returned, and be- 
 gun his mighty works among us. Here and there a 
 sinner is asking, What must I do to be saved? A 
 few, we hope, have been born again ; but what are 
 they among so many? Scores, hundreds lie in the 
 same perishing condition. What will you do ? Will 
 you treat him as his town-people did, and send him 
 away ; or will you constrain him by your prayers to 
 remain, and come into your houses and visit all your 
 neighborhoods, and cast out all the evil spirits, and 
 heal all the sick, constraining you to stand still and 
 to exclaim, What hath God wrought ! 
 
 The state of things with us is beyond expression 
 critical. Now Christ has come, and you see what he 
 can do. He has quickened some who were dead in 
 
REVIVAL JUST COMMENCED. 34 1 
 
 trespasses and sins. But the work seems to be at a 
 stand, and where is our faith? There are but few, 
 if any new cases of inquiry. Things cannot long re- 
 main as they are. It is an awful crisis. The revival 
 must receive a new impulse, or soon cease. Mani- 
 festly Christ is ready to depart, and shall we let him 
 go while so much remains to be done; while of all 
 the multitude who are sick unto death, only here and 
 there one has been healed? Shall we let him go? 
 Let us fall down before him, and plead his great and 
 precious promises. Would he have visited us as he 
 has, if he had not more blessings in store, and was 
 not ready to bestow them ? When he thus visits any 
 place, and begins to do his mighty works, there is 
 one obstacle to his leaving suddenly which he never 
 breaks over, and that is, " We will not let thee go 
 except thou bless us." Such importunity always pre- 
 vails. It will with us, if we wrestle as Jacob did. 
 Nothing but unbelief can stop the revival where 
 it is. 
 
 brethren, will you grieve the Holy Spirit to 
 depart ; will you send the blessed Saviour away, 
 leaving so many to perish whom he is ready to save ? 
 for not to persuade him to prolong his visit, when he 
 is waiting to be gracious, is virtually sending him 
 away. "And he could there do no mighty works, 
 save that he laid his hands on a few sick folk, and 
 healed them. And he marvelled at their unbelief." 
 So here, if he departs, he will leave the great body 
 of the sick, with the most terrible of all diseases, 
 " drawn unto death." How many have we reason to 
 fear have died the second death since he last came 
 
342 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 among us. ik.s he never went back to Nazareth, who 
 can tell, if he leaves as now, whether he will ever 
 return? And if he should, years hence, how many 
 of those whom he came to cure will then be in their 
 graves, and beyond the reach of salvation. 
 
 Mr. Nettleton, writing to a brother in the minis- 
 try in 1823, says, "A revival begun, is likely to sub- 
 side without the constant pressure of gospel motives 
 on the consciences of the awakened. It is obvious 
 from experience that God generally blesses far more 
 extensively the means for extending his work, than 
 he does for commencing it in the midst of surround- 
 ing darkness. As the conversion of one sinner is 
 often the means of awakening a whole family, and the 
 impulse is again felt through every kindred branch, 
 and through the village and town, so one town may 
 be the means of revival in another, and that in an- 
 other. There is as really a season of harvest in the 
 moral, as in the natural world. Neglected a few 
 days, the harvest fully ripe is lost for ever. 
 
 " So there is a crisis in the feelings of a people, 
 which, if not improved, the souls of that generation 
 will not be gathered. In the season of a revival, 
 more may be done, more often is done to secure the 
 salvation of souls in a few days or weeks, than in 
 years at other times. One sermon often does more 
 execution in a revival than a hundred out of it. And 
 I verily believe that more good may be lost for the 
 want of that one, than can be done with it, and with 
 a thousand like it, when the crisis is past. ' Say not 
 ye, there are yet four months, and then 7 — it is now, or 
 
INQUIRY MEETINGS. 343 
 
 With these views, so far as niy own observation 
 and experience have gone, I fully concur. 
 
 INQUIRY MEETINGS. 
 
 Among the means which God has signally blessed 
 in carrying forward revivals of religion, meetings for 
 personal conversation with the awakened are found 
 to hold an important place. These meetings are by 
 common consent called Inquiry meetings, in distinc- 
 tion from all others — a better name, I think, could 
 not be given them. And in the progress of a power- 
 ful revival, when large numbers are in the several 
 stages of alarm and inquiry, they are so essential, 
 that no pastor who would make the most of his 
 strength, can dispense with them. 
 
 When they were first introduced among the means 
 which God has been pleaded to own in the glorious 
 "times of refreshing from his presence," I do not 
 know. Where the Lord has poured out his Spirit, 
 good ministers have always encouraged inquirers to 
 come to them for personal conversation and advice, 
 either singly or several together ; but where a great 
 many awakened sinners have needed their attention 
 at the same time, they have found it impossible to 
 meet them all, and say even a few words to them at 
 the critical stages of their need of instruction — per- 
 haps the turning-point of their immortal destiny. The 
 question was, Can any thing be done to bring all the 
 inquirers within our reach, so that in a single hour 
 we may learn the state of fifty or a hundred anxious 
 souls, that demand our immediate attention? At this 
 critical point, God put it into the heart of somebody, 
 
344 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 no matter who or where, to invite all who were anx- 
 ious to meet their pastor at a given time and place. 
 It was found that in this way the desired object 
 might be accomplished without taking time which 
 could not be spared from other duties that always 
 press hard during a revival. In the great revivals 
 at the beginning of the present century, I neither saw 
 nor heard of such inquiry meetings as we are all now 
 familiar with. Indeed, my first acquaintance with 
 them was about 1817, it might be a little earlier, 
 when Mr. Nettleton was in the midst of his remarka- 
 ble career, going from place to place in the shining 
 armor of his mission, "the Lord working mightily 
 with him," wherever he went. He held inquiry meet- 
 ings, (anxious meetings as he called them,) and felt 
 that in the midst of a large revival he could not do 
 without them. Other highly favored servants of the 
 Lord, ever since his day, have felt so ; and such in- 
 quiry meetings as he held are now almost as firmly 
 established, where God pours out his Spirit, as special 
 meetings for prayer. 
 
 Rightly conducted, they afford the best possible 
 criterion of the actual stage of the revival, in a large 
 and scattered population. Such a meeting brings in- 
 quirers of all classes and from all quarters together, 
 enabling the pastor to feel the pulse, as it were, of 
 the whole vital action, and to judge what instruction 
 from the pulpit and lecture-room is most needed — 
 whether the work is advancing, or at a stand, or 
 declining, that he may "give to every one his portion 
 in due season." In an outpouring of the Spirit, such 
 changes often take place in a few days, that I see not 
 
INQUIRY MEETINGS. 345 
 
 how a pastor can adapt his discourses to the existing 
 state of his flock, without a general inquiry meeting 
 at least once a week, to guide him. In that room, he 
 learns more in half an hour than he could, perhaps, 
 were he to spend his whole time with individuals as 
 he might meet them elsewhere. 
 
 It is obvious at the same time, that the helpfulness 
 of inquiry-meetings will depend very much upon how 
 they are commenced, and the manner in which they 
 are conducted. Ministers are sometimes quite at a 
 loss whether there is interest enough in the congrega- 
 tion to respond to such an invitation. If there is 
 not, it might prove a hinderance rather than a quick- 
 ener towards a revival. If with a vague impression 
 that the way is prepared for such a movement in ad- 
 vance, a pastor were publicly to give out an appoint- 
 ment and nobody should come, the enemy might take 
 advantage of it, and turn it to the prejudice of relig- 
 ion. In pastoral visits the state of individual minds 
 may be so far learned as to guide the pastor aright. 
 Publicly inviting any who may wish for religious 
 conversation to call at the pastor's house or study, is 
 quite a different thing, as it involves no responsibility 
 with regard to the signs of the times. 
 
 The next question is, When an inquiry meeting is 
 appointed, who should be invited? Not all the con- 
 gregation of course. It is a meeting for inquirers, for 
 those who feel some concern for their souls ; not for 
 those who feel no anxiety, whether old or young. I 
 need not say that a great deal depends upon the so- 
 lemnity of the meeting. If you make the invitation so 
 broad, that those who are in no degree awakened 
 
 15* 
 
346 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 may come in, and they choose to come, it will be like- 
 ly to affect injuriously the real inquirers, especially if 
 their concern is not very deep; very much as bring- 
 ing a cold body into near contact with substances but 
 moderately warm, would tend to cool them down to 
 the freezing point, rather than to melt the ice. The 
 careless, in times of revival, are by no means to be 
 neglected ; but the inquiry room is not the place to 
 meet them. 
 
 I was once invited by a brother, to go into an 
 inquiry meeting and assist him. I went, and found a 
 large room full. There had been a powerful revival 
 in his congregation. In this case, hoping to reach 
 some who had stood aloof, he had made the invitation 
 very broad. I noticed at once the absence of that 
 pervading solemnity which I had been accustomed to 
 witness in such meetings • and when I came to pass 
 along from seat to seat, and converse with individu- 
 als, I found nearly as many who gave no evidence of 
 religious concern, as of the anxious ; and I was con- 
 vinced that while the former class were not likely 
 to derive much advantage from being there, their 
 presence was chilling and injurious to the latter. 
 So I think, constituted as the human mind is, it must 
 be in every case. The aphorism, " Old Adam is too 
 strong for young Melancthon," applies here in an im- 
 portant sense. In sympathetic influences which come 
 in conflict, the colder will be almost sure to prevail 
 over the warmer. 
 
 The two great objects of an inquiry meeting are, 
 to ascertain the actual state of the revival, and in a 
 very few words, to drop into the ear of the inquirer 
 
INQUIRY MEETINGS. 347 
 
 such advice as seems to be wanted at the moment. 
 Where the number is large, there is no time for ex- 
 tended conversation ; but as he passes round, the pas- 
 tor will ascertain where it is needed, and will reserve 
 such cases for personal interviews elsewhere. The 
 meeting should always be opened with a short prayer, 
 and all should be requested to kneel. Some may re- 
 gard the posture as a matter of very little conse- 
 quence ; but it is " much every way. 77 It brings down 
 stiff knees, that perhaps have never kneeled before ; 
 begets a sacred awe and reverence which pertains to 
 no other posture ; and no other posture should be en- 
 couraged at such a meeting, where there is room to 
 kneel. A few words may or may not follow the 
 prayer. Then it should be understood by the inquir- 
 ers, that they must have no communication whatever 
 with each other in the meeting ; but that they must 
 " commune with their own hearts, and be still. 77 In 
 passing round, the minister may either speak to each 
 individual, in a voice not so low but that those who 
 sit next can hear at least a part of what is said, or 
 lower it down to a whisper, so that the individual 
 alone can hear. I have witnessed both methods in 
 the inquiry room, and am decidedly in favor of the 
 latter. The former diverts the attention of those who 
 sit by, from their own alarming state, and leads to a 
 comparison of feelings, which in my judgment should 
 always and everywhere be discouraged, where the 
 great question is, "What must /do to be saved? 77 
 
 In passing from seat to seat, a few words suggest- 
 ed by the state in which he finds an inquirer, may be 
 usefully addressed by the pastor to all assembled, 
 
348 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 two or three times perhaps before he gets through, 
 closing the meeting with a short address and short 
 prayer. 
 
 Experience proves, I think, that these meetings 
 should not be very protracted ; and that they should 
 never be continued to unseasonable hours. Where 
 the congregation is large, some of them may be held 
 in the remote districts ; but it is preferable, in gen- 
 eral, to hold them in the centre, and to bring the in- 
 quirers together from all parts. It makes them ac- 
 quainted with one another, and helps to bind them 
 together in a common brotherhood. The room should 
 not be much larger than comfortably to seat as many 
 as may be expected to come. However it may be 
 accounted for, the fact is unquestionable, that there 
 will be greater solemnity in a small room well filled, 
 than in a large one where many of the seats are 
 empty. 
 
 How often such meetings should be held, depends 
 on the state of the revival — as often as once a week, 
 at least, when it is at its height, and generally early 
 in the week, so as to take advantage of whatever im- 
 pression may have been made by the preaching of the 
 word, and other religious meetings on the Sabbath. 
 
 The pastor, when there are a great many inquir- 
 ers, may feel that he needs help, and if such assist- 
 ance can be had as dealing with anxious souls re- 
 quires, let it be called in. Every minister of the gos- 
 pel ought to be qualified to take part with his brother 
 in this labor of love, but hardly any one is, till he 
 has had some experience himself in revivals. It re- 
 quires a knowledge of the workings and subterfuges 
 
CONVERSING WITH INQUIRERS. 349 
 
 of the human heart, in all the stages of awakening 
 and conviction up to the last struggle, and a quick- 
 ness of apprehension of the real state of things, which 
 must be acquired before they can be exercised. When 
 ministerial aid of the right kind cannot be had, per- 
 haps some lay brother may be found, and called in 
 and help. But it is not speaking disparagingly of 
 intelligent members of the churches to say, that very 
 few of them are qualified for this kind of service. 
 They have not had the experience which it requires. 
 They can be exceedingly helpful in many ways, but 
 not in this. But I will not enlarge. 
 
 The foregoing remarks and suggestions are chief- 
 ly the result of my own experience and observation. 
 Others may be better guides when and where inquiry 
 meetings should be held in revivals, and how they 
 should be conducted. If so, I hope they will be fol- 
 lowed. So far as I know, these meetings are a step 
 in advance of the aids which pastors had learned how 
 to avail themselves of, half a century ago. If any 
 improvements can be made, or any thing better sub- 
 stituted, I will bless God for putting it into the 
 hearts of his ministers. 
 
 CONVERSING WITH THE AWAKENED AND THE 
 UNAWAKENED IN REVIVALS. 
 
 There is much to be said by the pastor, and by 
 others outside of the inquiry room ; and very much 
 depends upon who shall say it. "A word fitly spoken 
 is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." Every 
 member of the church has something to do to help 
 forward the work. We are all, or should be, labor- 
 
350 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 ers together with God. There is no one but can 
 speak a word in season to somebody. The plea so 
 often made, " I can't do any thing, I am not capable 
 of talking with any body," will not hold. You can 
 say something. " Out of the abundance of the heart 
 the mouth speaketh ;" and God will hold you account- 
 able for what you have, for what you can do and say, 
 whether it be much or little. 
 
 It is true, indeed, there may be few members of 
 a church who are capable of conversing with sin- 
 ners in all the stages of awakening and inquiry. It 
 requires more knowledge, discrimination, and experi- 
 ence than some of the most devoted Christians pos- 
 sess. There are cases where a few words of wrong 
 instruction or advice might " heal the hurt slightly/ 7 
 might quiet the sinner's conscience with a false hope ; 
 or on the other hand, drive him almost or quite to 
 despair. But every one is capable of saying some- 
 thing to friends who remain unalarmed in the midst 
 of a revival, or who are not much interested — some- 
 thing which by God's blessing may prove the means 
 of their salvation. If you cannot go abroad, if you 
 cannot exhort your neighbors, you can at least speak 
 to the unawakened in your own households, and urge 
 them to seek the Lord while he may be found, and 
 call upon him while he is near. ^ Talents and learn- 
 ing are not at all essential, so far as this. What is 
 wanted is a warm heart, a yearning of soul which 
 can take no denial. Those who would not dare to 
 talk with inquirers, for fear of doing hurt, can go out 
 into the highways and hedges x where they will find 
 ample room for earnest exhortation, and may perhaps 
 
CONVERSING WITH INQUIRERS. 351 
 
 do as much to increase the number of inquirers and 
 converts by bringing in those who would otherwise 
 never come to the gospel feast, as if they could guide 
 inquiring souls to the cross. 
 
 It will not be denied, that in the progress of a 
 revival, all impenitent persons belonging to the con- 
 gregation, or to whom access can be gained, ought 
 to be spoken to and exhorted to avail themselves 
 of the accepted time, and the day of salvation. But 
 there must first be a preparation of heart for this 
 service, before much good influence can be expected 
 from it. No member of the church, however gifted, 
 is in a condition to urge sinners to flee from the 
 wrath to come, till his own heart glows with love 
 and compassion. His conscience may constrain him 
 to attempt the duty while he himself is not awakened, 
 but remains in a cold backsliding state ; he may force 
 himself to speak to his neighbors, but they will see at 
 once that it does not come warm from his heart, and 
 may be rather repelled than persuaded by any thing 
 he can say. The Psalmist deeply felt the necessity 
 of a penitent, heart preparation for this duty, when 
 he prayed, " Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, 
 and uphold me by thy free Spirit ; then will I teach 
 transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be convert- 
 ed unto thee." And no one can be in a right frame 
 to discharge this duty, till the joy of G-od's salvation 
 is restored to his own soul. But beware, my brother, 
 how you try to excuse yourself by pleading your own 
 coldness and spiritual leanness. It will not do. The 
 Searcher of hearts will not accept it. So far from its 
 being a good excuse, it is your own fault, and you 
 
352 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 will be held accountable for the neglect. Offer no 
 such plea. You bring yourself in guilty when you 
 say that you are not in a right state of mind to talk 
 with careless sinners, and persuade them to come in. 
 It is pleading a great sin as an excuse for shrinking 
 from an important duty. Every professor of religion 
 ought always to be in such a frame as to converse 
 freely with those who are living without hope and 
 without God in the world ; and how much more, when 
 he is pouring out his Spirit, and the kingdom of God 
 is brought so nigh to those who are ready to perish. 
 
 I have already said that it requires much judg- 
 ment and experience to converse with awakened sin- 
 ners, and lead them to Christ. But few, compared 
 with the whole number in a church, are likely to pos- 
 sess these qualifications. So that while all the mem- 
 bers may try to alarm the stupid, and ought to do it 
 to the extent of their ability, the majority cannot be 
 safely advised to go much further in the time of a 
 revival. When they find cases of real awakening, 
 they should report them at once to the pastor, or to 
 some one of his efficient helpers, that they may receive 
 such instruction and guidance as they need. A judi- 
 cious pastor will generally know who can be trusted 
 to talk with persons asking what they must do to be 
 saved, and he will feel it his duty to discourage 
 others from venturing beyond their depth as guides, 
 where mistakes might be fatal. 
 
 In all ordinary cases, the most competent mem- 
 bers of the church, in dealing with souls during the 
 critical period between their being awakened and 
 converted, ought to act under the advice and direc- 
 
CONVERSING WITH INQUIRERS. 353 
 
 tion of the pastor, and to keep him fully informed, 
 from day to day, of the progress of the work as it 
 falls under this vigilant observation; and to report 
 all difficult cases to him, that they may be promptly 
 attended to. And to aid them in the discharge of 
 their personal duties in laboring to win souls to 
 Christ, a pastor experienced in revivals will call 
 them together as occasion may require, to hear their 
 reports, and in free conversation give them the re- 
 sults of his experience to aid them in the work. 
 
 If any one should ask how often the awakened 
 ought to be conversed with, no definite answer can 
 be given. It must depend upon constantly shifting 
 circumstances. It should be often enough to mark 
 their progress step by step, and to sound the alarm 
 at once if they show signs of drawing back. But 
 there is such a thing as saying too much to an awa- 
 kened sinner, especially when he has come to the 
 turning-point — when his vain excuses have all been 
 taken from him, and he sees clearly that he ought to 
 hold out no longer. Then it is better to stand out 
 of the way, and leave him to settle the controversy 
 with God, than to say much more to him. He may 
 come to you in great distress, asking what he shall 
 do to be saved, and keep coming after you have told 
 him a great many times, till you see he is leaning 
 upon you when he ought to cast himself at once 
 upon the mercy of God in Christ. I have known 
 such cases. I believe they occur in almost every re- 
 vival. And then, "I can't help you. You have been 
 lingering much too long; I have nothing more to 
 say. You must go to the cross at once ; there is no 
 
354 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 help for you till you get there," is more likely to 
 bring him to a decision, than any thing more you 
 could say. A young man who had been religiously 
 educated, whose attention was called up in a power- 
 ful revival in college, and with whom I had often 
 conversed, sent for me late one evening, urging me 
 to come and see him, for he was on the very bor- 
 ders of despair. I had conversed with him that very 
 day, and knew that he was in great distress. It 
 seemed cruel to refuse. But I sent him word, " I 
 can do you no good. In the stubbornness of your 
 heart you are holding out against God. There is 
 but one hope left for you, which you know just as 
 well as I could tell you. You must yield yourself to 
 God, or you are lost for ever." It was hoped he gave 
 himself to Christ before morning, which it is very 
 doubtful whether he would have done, had I gone to 
 see him. It is far more likely that I' should have 
 stood in the way. And so I believe it often happens. 
 The convicted sinner often lingers, or rather holds 
 out, as long as he can find anybody to lean upon. It 
 is sometimes as much our duty to be silent and stand 
 out of the way, as at others to warn the same persons 
 to flee from the wrath to come. "He that winneth 
 souls is wise." 
 
 And here let me add, those who are active in a 
 revival should have a mutual understanding, so that 
 too many shall not converse with the same person on 
 the same day. 'While the impenitent ought by no 
 means to be neglected when God is pouring out his 
 Spirit, there is some danger of repelling them by the 
 importunity of too many brethren following in quick 
 
CONVERSING WITH INQUIRERS. 355 
 
 succession. It is better to agree upon a division of 
 labor, so that while none shall be neglected, none 
 shall have reason to complain that when they are 
 willing to be conversed with, too many come at once. 
 
 One thing further. In' looking over any church 
 and congregation, it will be found that wisdom is 
 profitable to direct who can approach this and that 
 individual to the best advantage. This depends on a 
 great variety of relations and circumstances. There 
 should be a consultation something like this : There 
 are many in the congregation who are not much if at 
 all interested, who ought to be conversed with and 
 brought in if possible; and who shall do it? Such 
 a man is prejudiced against me, but he is your friend. 
 I cannot approach him, but you can. To another, A 
 has been your intimate companion. He has confi- 
 dence in you, he will hear you when he might repulse 
 anybody else. To another, B can be approached bet- 
 ter by you than by any of us ; you see him every 
 day, and your personal relations are such that you 
 can talk with him and be more likely to influence 
 him ; and so on down to the end of the alphabet. 
 
 In how many things are the children of this world 
 wiser than the children of light. When they have a 
 favorite object to accomplish, requiring widely ex- 
 tended cooperation, with what skill do they avail 
 themselves of the social principle, and with what suc- 
 cess. Let all the members of a church be as much in 
 earnest, and act as wisely ; let them consider, in every 
 stage of a revival, what there is to be done to win 
 souls to Christ, and who can do it best ; let there be 
 no shrinking, after due consultation, from any assign- 
 
356 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 ed duty towards those who are yet to be reached and 
 brought in ; and who can doubt that God would own 
 and bless such a judicious division of labor ? 
 
 INSTRUCTION TO CANDIDATES FOR MEMBER- 
 SHIP. 
 
 It is commonly the case that sooner or later, in 
 the progress of a revival, or after its close, most of 
 the converts are received into the church together. 
 They are of different ages and classes, and do not all 
 need the same amount of religious instruction to pre- 
 pare them for membership. Some understand the 
 scriptural qualifications for membership much better 
 than others ; but none who offer themselves as candi- 
 dates, are so well prepared as not to be profited by 
 still further instruction, if judiciously given and right- 
 ly received. Next in importance, after giving the 
 heart to God, is an intelligent public profession ; and 
 no one can safely take this step without knowing 
 what are the evidences of a saving change, and bring- 
 ing his hope to the test of these evidences, as laid 
 down in the word of God. A good deal of this 
 teaching, I take it for granted, will be given to in- 
 dividuals in the pastor's study, and from the pulpit ; 
 but something more is wanted, which can better be 
 given in meetings of the candidates, called for the 
 express purpose. Such meetings save a great deal of 
 the pastor's time, for so far as the instruction is con- 
 cerned, he can as well give it to twenty or fifty, 
 assembled for that express purpose, as to an individ- 
 ual; and it is even more likely to be remembered. 
 Such topics as the following might naturally be sug- 
 gested at these meetings. 
 
CANDIDATES FOR MEMBERSHIP. 351 
 
 T/ie evidences of true saving conversion, what are 
 they? In answering this question, it is necessary 
 to go into the subject largely, guided solely by the 
 Scriptures; to point out these "signs," as President 
 Edwards calls them, distinctly, and then to exhort 
 the candidates to examine themselves by these signs, 
 whether they are in the faith. Have you comforta- 
 ble evidence that Christ is formed in you the hope of 
 glory ? If not, wait, search the Scriptures, and give 
 yourselves to prayer, till you have such evidence. 
 Christ welcomes none but true disciples to his table. 
 "Eat, friends; drink abundantly, beloved" 
 
 It is well also to take up the confession of faith, 
 and explain it to the candidates in the most familiar 
 way, so that they may understand what is the doc- 
 trinal standard of the church to which they must give 
 their assent. Neglect here has often occasioned much 
 future trouble and perplexity. No member of a church 
 should ever have it in his power to say, " The con- 
 fession of faith was never explained to me before I 
 joined the church. There are some things in it which 
 I do not believe ; and if I had known how they were 
 understood by the church, I should not have come in. 
 I should have offered myself elsewhere, and unless 
 they can be altered, I must leave the church." 
 
 Now, if in such meetings as I am recommending, 
 the meaning of every article as understood by the 
 church, had been taken up and clearly explained, no 
 such plea could have been offered ; or if it had been, 
 the answer would be, "If you misunderstood our 
 creed it was your own fault, not ours. Great pains 
 were taken to explain it, in meeting after meeting, 
 
358 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 held for that very purpose. Then was the time to 
 object if ever. There was no compulsion or con- 
 straint. After hearing a full explanation of our doc- 
 trinal platform, it was left entirely at your option 
 whether to join our church or not. Every one ought 
 to know what he believes, before he puts his hand to 
 any confession of faith. We have done all we could 
 to aid you." 
 
 It is desirable fully to explain the covenant engage- 
 ments which are assumed. It is to be feared, that a 
 great many persons stand up before God, angels, and 
 men, without any just sense of the solemn obligations 
 which they take upon themselves. It has often been 
 found useful, in meetings held for the purpose, to take 
 up and distinctly present these obligations ; and let 
 all be warned not to proceed without a full and de- 
 liberate intention, trusting in God's help, to "stand 
 to the covenant." 
 
 How many meetings with the converts it may re- 
 quire to go over all the ground embraced in these 
 recommendations, cannot beforehand be determined. 
 Let time enough be taken to do them ample justice. 
 Besides the duty of helping the candidates to make 
 a good and well-considered profession of their faith 
 in Christ, they are in a better state of mind to re- 
 ceive and be profited by such a course of instruction 
 and advice, than they will be at any future time. Too 
 much pains cannot be taken to have them " rooted 
 and grounded" in the truth, that they may adorn 
 their profession in all holy conversation and god- 
 liness. With any thing short of such a course as 
 above indicated, I have not been able to satisfy my- 
 
JOINING THE CHURCH. 359 
 
 self at the close of revivals, where the responsibil- 
 ity rested upon me, and I am persuaded that in let- 
 ting such favorable opportunities pass unimproved, 
 some ministers forego advantages for building up 
 their churches in the faith and order of the gospel, 
 which with so little labor they hardly ever enjoy. 
 
 If the converts follow on to know the Lord, and 
 add strength as well as numbers to the church by 
 an active and blameless Christian life, it is the best 
 evidence of the genuineness of their conversion. But 
 if, on the other hand, in a few weeks or months after 
 the work has ceased, those who were counted as con- 
 verts relapse into their former state, and bring forth 
 no fruit, it will be an evidence that the work was 
 superficial and not genuine, however it may have been 
 regarded at the time. By faithful instruction, as above 
 indicated, let the pastor and the officers of the church 
 clear themselves from blame, if any should come to 
 the supper without the wedding garment. 
 
 TO PERSONS ABOUT TO JOIN THE CHURCH 
 AFTER A REYIVAL. 
 
 My dear Friends — You have expressed a desire 
 to make a public profession of your faith in Christ, 
 and to be received into his church. It is well. It is 
 an unspeakable privilege. It is the duty of every 
 true disciple to put on the badge of discipleship, to 
 avail himself of all church privileges, and to witness 
 a good profession before the world. It is a great 
 step which should not be hastily taken, and yet it 
 ought not to be very long delayed by any who have 
 a comfortable hope that they have been born again. 
 
360 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 But "let a man examine himself, and so let him eat 
 of that bread and drink of that cup." You have been 
 examined and approved by the pastor and officers of 
 the church. From your own lips they have sought 
 to obtain evidence that you have passed from death 
 unto life. In this they have gone as far as they can. 
 But they cannot search your hearts. The responsi- 
 bility must rest upon yourselves. 
 
 The apostolic injunction is, " Examine yourselves 
 whether ye be in the faith : prove your own selves." 
 And again, " Let a man examine himself, and so let 
 him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he 
 that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drink- 
 eth damnation (judgment) to himself, not discern- 
 ing the Lord's body." What better proof could we 
 have, that none but true believers have a right to 
 come to the Lord's table? What then, dear friends, 
 are your evidences that you have cast off the works 
 of darkness, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ? You 
 were once alienated from God. You did not desire 
 the knowledge of his ways. You were carnally 
 minded. Like the poor man in the gospel, you were 
 blind from your birth, only in a different and far 
 more incurable sense. You saw no form nor come- 
 liness in Christ, whereby you should desire him. On 
 the contrary, whether you were conscious of it or not, 
 you said in your hearts, and in your life, by walking 
 according to the course of this world, " Depart from 
 us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." In a 
 word, you were by nature " children of wrath," " chil- 
 dren of disobedience ;" yea, " dead in trespasses and 
 
JOINING THE CHURCH. 361 
 
 This was once your deplorable and guilty state. 
 You lay helpless under the condemning sentence of 
 God's holy law, and under that condemnation you 
 might have been justly left to perish. In these most 
 alarming circumstances, you have been called to wake 
 and rise from the dead, that Christ might give you 
 life. 
 
 Now, dear brethren, what evidence have you that 
 you have passed from death unto life ? I do not ask, 
 whether you can all relate the same experience. 
 " There are diversities of operation, but the same 
 Spirit." In the exercises which go before regenera- 
 tion, there are striking differences between individ- 
 uals. Some are much more distressed than others, 
 and for a longer time before they find deliverance. 
 Upon the minds of some, the light breaks in suddenly, 
 so that they can tell the very day and hour when 
 they were brought out of darkness into marvellous 
 light. In others, it is a faint beam at first, which 
 shines more and more unto the perfect day. You 
 will never get any satisfactory evidence of your good 
 estate — I mean, any evidence that can be safely relied 
 upon — by " comparing yourselves among yourselves." 
 You must go to the Bible and compare your exer- 
 cises with that divine standard. There is no other. 
 " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hear est 
 the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, 
 nor whither it goeth. So is every one who is born 
 of the Spirit." All the truly converted are not 
 brought to Christ in the same way, or by the same 
 means. 
 
 But the change is the same in all, and is wrought 
 
 Rev. Sketches. 16 
 
S62 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 by the same almighty power. They " are born, not 
 of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of 
 man, but of God." By fervent prayer for divine illu- 
 mination, and by searching the Scriptures, you may 
 know in whom you have believed. You may have 
 the witness in yourselves, more or less clear accord- 
 ing to the earnestness of your seeking in reliance 
 upon the aid of the Holy Spirit, who alone can " take 
 of the things of Christ, and show them unto you." 
 What then do you say for yourself? You know where 
 you were once, sinking in the horrible pit and the 
 miry clay. Where do you now stand? Has Christ 
 brought you up, and placed your feet upon a rock? 
 Do you begin to feel its firmness, and rest upon it ? 
 Can you say, " One thing I know, that whereas I 
 was blind, now I see ?" Have you seen the plague of 
 your own hearts, and do you heartily repent of all 
 your sins ? Do you approve of the law of God, which 
 is holy, just, and good ? Have you been brought to 
 see the impossibility of saving yourselves, and have 
 you by the grace of God fled for refuge to lay hold 
 on the hope set before you in the gospel ? Has your 
 mind within these few weeks passed through a great 
 moral revolution? Do you love that which you be- 
 fore hated, and hate that which you loved? Do you 
 love the Bible ; do you love the prayer-meeting; do 
 you love the house of God ; do you love the brethren? 
 Time was when you saw no beauty in the Saviour, 
 that you should desire him. How is it now? Is 
 he no longer as a root out of a dry ground, but all 
 your salvation, and all your desire? Have you receiv- 
 ed him by faith as your Saviour? Renouncing all 
 
JOINING THE CHURCH. 363 
 
 other dependences, do you really trust in him, lean 
 upon Mm, love him, cleave to him as your divine 
 Teacher, your atoning Sacrifice, your Lord, and your 
 King ? In asking to be admitted into his church, have 
 you counted the cost? Have you considered that a 
 public profession of religion requires nothing less 
 than an entire consecration of body and soul, of all 
 your faculties, of all you have, of all you are, to the 
 service of Christ ; and as far as you know your own 
 hearts, are you ready to covenant with him, relying 
 on his grace to help your infirmities ? 
 
 *. These, dear friends, are some of the tests by which 
 you ought to try yourselves before you enter the 
 church. Nor will your unaided self-scrutiny be suffi- 
 cient. Let this be your constant prayer, " Search 
 me, God, and know my heart; try me and know 
 my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in 
 me, and lead me in the way everlasting." 
 
 You are all invited to come to the feast. No 
 sense of unworthiness should keep you away. The 
 sacramental table will be spread in a few days, and 
 " whosoever will, let him come." You have no fit- 
 ting garment of your own in which to come, but the 
 wardrobe is hard by ; the guest-chamber is full. An 
 essential condition of the invitation is, that each of 
 the invited shall appear in one of the robes taken 
 from that royal depository ; and Oh, fail not when 
 the King comes in to see the guests, to have on a 
 wedding garment. Without it you will be speech- 
 less when he shall inquire why this intrusion, and 
 turn you out. 
 
364 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 TO THE CONVERTS IN A REVIVAL WHEN THEY 
 JOIN THE CHURCH. 
 
 My bear Friends — You have stood up in the 
 presence of God, of angels, and men, and taken upon 
 yourselves the vows of the covenant. You have 
 voluntarily and publicly renounced the world, the 
 flesh, and the devil. You have been received into 
 the church of Christ, which is "the pillar and ground 
 of the truth. 7 ' You are " no more strangers and for- 
 eigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the 
 household of faith." You have come to your first 
 communion with the church at the table of Christ. 
 You have not by constraint, but willingly, enlisted 
 under his banner, and your enlistment is for life. 
 You have put your hands to the plough ; you have 
 opened your mouths unto the Lord, and cannot go 
 back. You think you would not for the world go 
 back, if you might. "We pray that you may every 
 one of you be "kept by the power of God, through 
 faith unto salvation." A profession of religion is no 
 sinecure. If Christ in the abounding riches of his 
 grace has called you into his kingdom, it is that you 
 at once enter into his service ; and your first inquiry 
 should be, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? Christ 
 wants no idlers among his professed followers : " Fol- 
 low me," is the word of command, by the Captain of 
 your salvation ; and who ever set such an example of 
 activity, of entire devotedness to the great objects 
 of his mission, as he did ? " Wot ye not that I must 
 be about my Father's business ?" was his reply to those 
 who would have diverted him from the great objects 
 
JOINING THE CHURCH. 365 
 
 of his mission. "It is enough for the disciple that 
 he be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord." 
 
 You are now just entering upon a religious life, 
 and as you begin you will be very apt to proceed. 
 If you set your mark high, remembering that "ye are 
 not your own/ 7 but "bought with a price," even the 
 precious blood of Christ, you will, by the aid of the 
 Holy Spirit, " witness a good profession before many 
 witnesses," and they will take knowledge of you, that 
 you have been with Jesus. If on the contrary, hav- 
 ing got into the church, you take a low stand at first, 
 instead of rising you will invariably decline, till your 
 brethren will be constrained to stand in doubt of you, 
 and the world will ask, What do ye more than others? 
 If a soldier of an earthly prince, upon his first enlist- 
 ment, by going into winter quarters instead of per- 
 forming the services of the campaign, would disgrace 
 his profession, how much more would a soldier of 
 Jesus Christ, who should consult his own ease, and 
 shrink away into his cold winter quarters, when he 
 ought to be in the field. 
 
 You will not all be called to the same services in 
 the church, or the world. The duties of the Chris- 
 tian life are many and various, and there are diversi- 
 ties of gifts. But before I proceed to enumerate 
 them, I must say something about your putting on the 
 armor of God, as you can do nothing without it. We 
 may not forget that you are new recruits, and have a 
 great deal to learn, as well as a great deal to do. 
 Some of you are quite young, and you all want a sure 
 Guide. Till this revival, you scarcely thought of it, 
 perhaps. The broad way was wide, and you had 
 
366 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 room enough, without any guide. Now, the case is 
 different. You have entered a new and untrodden 
 path. Since you began to inquire the way to heaven, 
 your pastor and other pious friends have instructed 
 and directed you, as God has enabled them, and they 
 will continue to do so. But you want an infallible 
 Guide, one that will go with you all the journey 
 through. Can you have such a guide and teacher? 
 You can. Such a one has always been at your right 
 hand, though till lately most of you felt very little 
 need of any special direction. 
 
 God might have inspired a prophet like Moses to 
 lead you through the wilderness. He might have 
 sent his angel to go before and guard you. He might 
 have given the Shekinah to shine upon every step of 
 the way to the promised land. But he has done 
 more ; how much more! He has given you " Moses 
 and the Prophets.' 7 He sent his Son, " the brightness 
 of his glory and the express image of his person," to 
 lead you in the way everlasting. And when he left 
 the world, he inspired his apostles to be your infal- 
 lible teachers and guides. And here are all their 
 teachings in this one book, the Bible, just as if they 
 were personally to return to the earth, and you could 
 hear their voices and follow them. Christ is now, as 
 it were, putting you to school, not under the law 
 to bring you to Christ, but under the Gospel, that you 
 may be trained up for his service. And the Bible is 
 your text-book. There is no such teaching in the 
 wide world as you will find here. It is put into your 
 hands' now, at your setting out, to be the man of your 
 counsel and the guide of your life. Take it along 
 
JOINING THE CHURCH. 36? 
 
 with you, dear friends, as " a light to your feet and a 
 lamp to your path." It is a. book to be read, and 
 studied, and learned by heart. In one sense, it is not 
 new, perhaps, to any of you ; but in another sense it 
 is. The letter of some portions of it may be quite 
 familiar, but to the spiritual meaning your eyes are 
 only now beginning to be opened. You need the sin- 
 cere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby 
 and gradually reach the stature of perfect men. 
 
 Do the younger of you ask how you can study the 
 scriptures to the best advantage — where to begin, 
 and how to proceed ? I answer, There is light 
 in every portion of the word, and whatever interests 
 you is profitable. If you would begin with the simpler 
 portions, take the Gospels and the Psalms ; pray over 
 every psalm, chapter, and portion as you read ; medi- 
 tate, and thus prepare your minds to grasp the more 
 difficult portions. The Bible is its own best inter- 
 preter. By comparing Scripture with Scripture, you 
 will be surprised to find how many difficult passages 
 are cleared up, and the light will shine more and 
 more upon the " things hard to be understood/ 7 if you 
 then follow on to know the Lord. 
 
 Let me advise you, in reading the Scriptures, not 
 to confine yourselves to a single chapter at a time. 
 The divisions, as we have them, are entirely arbitrary. 
 They often break off abruptly in the middle of the ar- 
 gument or narrative, so that if you leave off at the end 
 of the chapter, you lose the connection, and may forget 
 it before the next reading. In the original, there are 
 no chapters. Many of the books are not so long but 
 that they can be read at a single sitting. Read them 
 
368 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 sometimes through, as you do other small books that 
 interest you, before you close the book ; while at 
 other times, you will find it more profitable to read 
 and meditate upon short portions. Still further, it 
 will take but a moment or two to commit a text to 
 memory every morning, which may be kept in mind 
 through the day. Do this, and you will have treasured 
 up three hundred and sixty -five at the end of the year. 
 How many in ten years? No less than three thou- 
 sand six hundred and fifty ! Dear friends, will you 
 not do it, or rather a great deal more than this ? I 
 advise you to commit whole psalms and chapters of 
 the gospels to memory. It will be garnering the rich- 
 est of all treasures to aid you in prayer. It will give 
 a copiousness to your supplications, confessions, and 
 thanksgivings, which no other language can supply. 
 It was in this way that the Psalmist got his mind and 
 heart so richly stored with divine truth, that he 
 could say, " I have more understanding than all my 
 teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation." 
 
 And now, dear young converts, with your armor 
 on and the Bible in your hands, and the promised aid 
 of the Holy Spirit, what should hiuder you from 
 growing in grace and divine knowledge? What 
 other help can you need, to adorn the doctrine of 
 God our Saviour in the discharge of your religious 
 duties ? The field of Christian progress and service 
 which you are just entering, is a very wide field. 
 Your whole future lives, from this hour, should be 
 filled up in pressing toward the mark for the prize 
 of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, and doing 
 all the good you can on the way. Let me exhort you 
 
JOINING THE CHURCH. 369 
 
 to be faithful unto death, that you may receive the 
 crown. It is only those who endure to the end, that 
 shall be saved. 
 
 I can only glance at a few of the obligations which 
 your Christian profession lays upon you. Be careful 
 to recommend religion by your consistent example. 
 Without this, your profession will amount to but very 
 little. Be sure, wherever your lot may be cast, that 
 you do your part in support of the gospel, and just as 
 much more as your ability will allow, to supply the 
 lack of those who penuriously withhold their part. 
 
 Fail not punctually and devoutly to worship God 
 in his house on the Sabbath. Let nothing short of 
 some providential hinderance ever keep you away. 
 Never absent yourselves, if you can help it, from the 
 weekly prayer-meetings of the church. On this point, 
 let me be very earnest Every Christian needs the 
 quickening of such a meeting, at least once a week, 
 between the Sabbaths. So far as I can recollect, I 
 never knew an instance of apparent growth in grace, 
 by a professor who voluntarily staid away from 
 the prayer-meetings ; and I very much doubt whether 
 one in a thousand could be found. In the first place, 
 it shows a low state of religion in the soul of such a 
 church-member, and in the next place forfeits the 
 strengthening of his faith which he might have 
 received in the precious visits of the Saviour. You all 
 remember the case of Thomas — how he fell into a sad 
 state of unbelief, by being absent from the prayer- 
 meetings of his brethren, when Jesus met them and 
 comforted their desponding hearts. what a cutting 
 
 rebuke, when at the next meeting he said to Thomas, 
 
 16* 
 
3T3 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 " Reach, hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and 
 reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side ; and 
 be not faithless, but believing." Beware that you do 
 not thus expose yourselves by absence from the stated 
 prayer-meeting. One such unnecessary absence may 
 cost you the hidings of your Master's face, through 
 many a long month of doubt and declension. 
 
 Never excuse yourselves by saying, the meetings 
 are so dull and uninteresting that I derive no profit 
 from them. Are they cold and dull, whose fault is it ? 
 You ought to be there with warm hearts, to make 
 them interesting. When called on to pray, never ex- 
 cuse yourselves, though at first you should not be able 
 to offer more than a few short petitions ; if offered in 
 sincerity, depending on the Holy Spirit for help, he 
 will ere long put thoughts into your hearts and words 
 into your mouths, with a fulness and freedom of 
 utterance which you now hardly dare to hope for. 
 
 While you foster all the moral and religious inter- 
 ests of the local communities where God may appoint 
 the bounds of your habitations, and set your faces 
 as a flint against vice in every form, cast your eyes 
 abroad over the wide world lying in wickedness, 
 and ask the Lord what he will have you to do for its 
 enlightenment. Pray without ceasing for the spread 
 of the gospel, and contribute according to your 
 largest ability to Bible, Missionary, and other socie- 
 ties, organised for the purpose of turning men from 
 darkness to light, and from the power of Satan 
 unto God. 
 
 And so, dear friends, I might go on to specify 
 many more of the imperative duties of the Christian 
 
JOINING THE CHURCH. 371 
 
 life 5 but what need of proceeding further, when you 
 have your instructions so clearly written out in the 
 word of God, which he has put into your hands as 
 the man of your counsel to guide you into all truth ? 
 
 Christ has brought you into his church at an 
 eventful period of its history. It will not do for you 
 to rest where you find us in our low attainments. You 
 have more light and greater privileges than most of 
 us had when we came into the church. " Go for- 
 ward," is the command of your great and glorious 
 Leader. He requires, he expects much of you, as his 
 representatives in a sinful and gainsaying world. 
 Ye are a chosen, a highly favored generation, that ye 
 should " show forth the praises of Him who hath called 
 you out of darkness into his marvellous light." If the 
 true children of God, ye are "heirs of the righteous- 
 ness which is by faith." Therefore, " giving all dili- 
 gence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue know- 
 ledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temper- 
 ance patience, and to patience godliness, and to god- 
 liness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness 
 charity ; for if these things be in you and abound, ye 
 shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the know- 
 ledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
3Y2 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BRIEF APPEALS. 
 
 Haying glanced at the obstacles which lie in the 
 way of revivals, and what should be done to " prepare 
 the way of the Lord/' and noticed some of the means 
 which by God's blessing have been successfully em- 
 ployed in promoting them, I add brief sketches of 
 Appeals, which I have found useful in successive 
 stages of these outpourings of the Spirit. I do not 
 offer them as models to my younger brethren, much 
 less as comprehending all the topics to be introduced 
 in a revival, but as casting a little into the Lord's 
 treasury for the advancement of his blessed cause. 
 Let others contribute more largely from the richer 
 stores of their experience, and let Christ have all the 
 glory. He knows infinitely better than we do, what 
 should be done to secure the choicest and most abun- 
 dant spiritual harvests, and I doubt not those who 
 shall come after us, have yet much to learn under his 
 infallible teaching. 
 
 "SIKS, WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?" 
 
 Never was this question more earnestly asked, 
 than by the Phillipian jailor. Who he was, or what 
 had been his antecedents, we are not informed, and 
 his remarkable conversion is the last we hear of 
 him. It is not at all likely that he had ever troubled 
 himself much about religion, and least of all about the 
 new religion, which was everywhere spoken against. 
 
WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 313 
 
 He needed a great deal more instruction than could 
 be given in one night. And when he asked the all- 
 important question, " What must I do to be saved ?" 
 why did not Paul and Silas direct him to take up the 
 subject in earnest, to study the prophecies which had 
 been fulfilled in the advent, sufferings, death, and res- 
 urrection of Christ, through whose blood and right- 
 eousness alone he could be saved ? Why did they not 
 point out something which he must do preparatory to 
 a saving act of faith in Christ? Why did they not 
 allow him some little time at least for serious reflec- 
 tion and prayer ? Simply because they had no author- 
 ity for any such indulgence, and no delay was neces- 
 sary. The jailor had nothing else to do, but to repent 
 and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Then and there 
 was " the accepted time." He might die before morn- 
 ing. By one hour's delay he might lose his soul. 
 
 And so, anxious inquiring sinner, it may be with 
 you. You ask just as the jailor did, what you must 
 do to be saved ; and no other answer can safely be 
 given, but that which he received, "Believe on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." As he 
 closed in at once, both with the condition and assur- 
 ance, so may you. There is nothing more in your 
 way than there was in his — less indeed, for you are 
 far better instructed into the things of the kingdom, 
 than we have any reason to suppose he was. You 
 have had much greater advantages for knowing your 
 Master's will, than he had ever enjoyed. Why do 
 you linger ? Why do some of you come day after day 
 to your religious teachers, asking the same question? 
 They " cannot go beyond the word of the Lord, to say 
 
3T4 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 less or more." I mean, they cannot give you any other 
 answer. They cannot mention any duty which you 
 must perform before coming to Christ. The Chris- 
 tian life embraces a very long catalogue of duties. 
 But you must first become a Christian, before you 
 can perform any of them in an acceptable manner. 
 " Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." It may be good 
 in the letter, but utterly wanting in spirit. You are 
 " shut up to the faith." 
 
 G-od now commands you to repent — this hour, this 
 moment — not to-morrow. There is infinite danger 
 in the shortest delay. You are anxious. The Holy 
 Spirit is striving with you. By this one precious 
 hour's resistance, he may be grieved and depart for 
 ever. What is your life but the breath in your nos- 
 trils, which may be stopped before you leave the 
 room. Your reason too, how slight a jar may shake 
 it from its throne. " Now," anxious inquirer, " is the 
 accepted time ; behold, now is the day of salvation." 
 If some important duty were required of you, demand- 
 ing time for its accomplishment, you might delay. If 
 there was any room to doubt whether Christ will ac- 
 cept you just as you are, you might with some show 
 of reason ask for some delay to make yourself better. 
 If you were not perfectly assured that Christ will ac- 
 cept you on the terms propounded to the trembling 
 jailor, the case would be different. As it is, there is 
 not the shadow of an excuse for delay. 
 
 You would not treat an earthly benefactor as you 
 treat the greatest and best Friend you have in the 
 universe. Were you in critical circumstances, in mo- 
 mentary danger of some fatal temporal calamity, and 
 
COME UNTO ME. 375 
 
 a friend were to step in and say, do this or do that, 
 requiring ever so much effort, you would not hesitate 
 a moment, although he might possibly change his 
 mind, or be unable to fulfil his promise. But here 
 you are with the question on your lips, "What must 
 I do to be saved?" and the answer sounding in your 
 ears, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
 shalt be saved f infinite truth and almighty power 
 stand pledged to make the promise instantly good, 
 upon its cordial acceptance ; and do you yet want 
 more time ? Christ is now knocking at your door, 
 and instead of hastening to let him in, are you leav- 
 ing him to stand without till his head is filled with 
 the dew, and his locks with the drops of the night. 
 You ask what you shall do to be saved. We tell 
 you, in the very words of Scripture ; and do you still 
 remain in impenitence and unbelief? We cannot 
 leave you here. Oh, when will you close in with the 
 condition and the promise? To-day, even to-day, 
 after so long a time, if you will hear his voice, harden 
 not your heart. 
 
 "COME UNTO ME, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST." 
 
 What a blessed invitation ; and to whom was it 
 addressed? Not to the self-righteous scribes and 
 Pharisees. They would have rejected it with scorn. 
 Not to the thoughtless multitude who followed Christ 
 for the loaves and fishes. It was addressed to those 
 only, and there were probably very few, who were 
 awakened to a sense of their guilt and danger, who 
 felt the burden of their sins, and knew not where to 
 look for relief. The invitation was not confined to 
 
316 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 them, but was intended for the encouragement of all 
 sin-burdened souls, not only while Christ was here 
 in the flesh, but in all coming ages. Here then we 
 have the persons addressed ; the thing to be done ; and 
 the promise annexed, with the certainty of its fulfil- 
 ment. 
 
 1. The persons addressed: Come unto me, "all ye 
 that labor and are heavy-laden"- — you, careless and stupid 
 sinner, are not included! You are in no condition 
 to value the blessing. You feel no burden ; and till 
 you do, how can you apply for relief? " They that 
 be whole need not a physician, but they that are 
 sick." And they must believe, they must feel that they 
 are sick. Go to your neighbor, and with an anxious 
 tone and look tell him that a very distinguished phy- 
 sician has just arrived in town, and advise him to 
 send for him at once. He will stare at you, and ask 
 you what you mean. " I am not sick. I feel perfect- 
 ly well ; and why should I send for him, or any other 
 doctor ? Let those who need his prescriptions send 
 for him. It will be time enough for me when I am 
 sick." Or suppose your neighbor to be really dis- 
 eased, and in a critical state, but entirely unconscious 
 of it ; will he take your advice ? He may thank you 
 for the neighborly kindness, but he will say, " I feel 
 as well as ever." He must first be convinced that he 
 needs the physician, before he will apply to him. 
 
 Just so with the careless sinner : he is not " heavy- 
 laden ■" he feels no burden ; he wants no help ; he 
 has "need of nothing." He must feel that he is a 
 sinner, that he needs help; he must be anxious to 
 know what he must do to be saved. Till then, he 
 
COME UNTO ME. 377 
 
 excludes himself from the invitation. But, dear 
 friend, if you "labor and are heavy-laden," if you 
 feel that you are "poor and wretched, and blind 
 and naked, and in want of all things/ 7 the invita- 
 tion is meant for you. It is meant for all who feel 
 their need. You may be ready to say, "I am so 
 great a sinner, I have so long turned a deaf ear to 
 the Saviour's call, that I dare not come. How can 
 he accept me at this late hour ?" It is a sad and ex- 
 treme case, to be sure. It is a wonder that God has 
 not cut you off with all your sins upon your head ; 
 but you need not despair even now. The gracious 
 invitation is, " Come unto me, all ye that labor and 
 are heavy-laden ;" " Come now, and let us reason to- 
 gether, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scar- 
 let, they shall be white as snow ; though they be red 
 like crimsom, they shall be as wool." 
 
 2. There must be an acceptance of the invitation, 
 or it can avail nothing. You must come to Christ, 
 not bodily as those who needed healing did when he 
 was here in the flesh. This you cannot do, because, 
 after his resurrection, he ascended up above all heav- 
 ens. But you can do more ; for many who came to 
 him personally did not believe on him, received no 
 spiritual healing by it. Sinners have this great ad- 
 vantage now, that he is spiritually present in every 
 place, especially wherever there is a true revival. In 
 the sense of the invitation, you can come to him at 
 any moment. 
 
 And what is it to come ? It is to come empty- 
 handed and broken-hearted, casting away all other 
 dependencies, throwing yourself into his outstretched 
 
378 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 arms, and trusting in his righteousness and atonement 
 alone for pardon, justification, and eternal life. This 
 is the acceptance, and nothing short of this entire 
 surrender can be of any avail. You must come to 
 Christ just in this way, just as you are, or you will 
 be lost. 
 
 3. Come thus to Christ, and the promise, "I will 
 give you rest" is sure, for he is not slack concerning 
 any of his promises. He will lift off the burden from 
 your troubled conscience. He will relieve your anx- 
 ious laboring mind. He will say, Son, daughter, be 
 of good cheer ; thy sins are forgiven thee. Oh, how 
 many can testify that they have experienced the ful- 
 filment of the promise : that they could find no relief 
 till, with Bunyan's toiling pilgrim, they came to the 
 cross, and there it fell off. 
 
 And now, burdened sinner, what can we more 
 say ? What need we say more ? " The Spirit and 
 the bride say, Come ;" and will you come ? Every ob- 
 stacle is removed. There is nothing in the way but 
 your own obstinate and impenitent heart. Will you 
 come ? will you, or will you stay away and perish ? 
 
 " Come, ye weary, heavy-laden, 
 
 Lost and ruined by the fall ; 
 
 If yon tarry till yon 're better, 
 
 Yon will never come at all. 
 
 Not the righteous — 
 Sinners Jesus came to call." 
 
 "THE CARNAL MIND IS ENMITY AGAINST GOD." 
 
 What is meant here by "the carnal mind?" The 
 true answer to this question is vital ; and is too plain 
 to be mistaken by any candid reader of this chapter. 
 
THE CARNAL MIND. 379 
 
 The carnal mind is directly the opposite of the spiritual 
 mind, as in the sixth verse : " To be carnally minded 
 is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." 
 The difference in a religious sense is as great as that 
 between life and death in a natural sense. It is the 
 heart, every heart, in its natural, unregenerate state. 
 There is no life in it. Nay, more, as the state of the 
 body after death is in its decay loathsome, and as it 
 were opposed to life, so the carnal mind is enmity 
 against God — not only entirely destitute of love to 
 God, but in a state of actual and habitual hostility to 
 him, to his holy character, to his law and his govern- 
 ment. You see the language of the apostle is in the 
 superlative degree, intensitive. If he had said, the 
 carnal mind is opposed to God, is inimical to him, 
 that would have been very strong ; but it is enmity 
 itself, all enmity. 
 
 This being settled, it follows as a matter of course, 
 that it is not subject to his law, and remaining in this 
 state, cannot be. It is impossible in the nature of 
 things, just as impossible as that a man can live and 
 move so long as he is dead. An enemy may be rec- 
 onciled and become a friend. The most inveterate 
 hatred may be subdued, and give place to love ; but 
 till that radical change in the affections takes place, 
 it remains enmity, and nothing else. It is not subject 
 to the law of God, which demands the heart, " neither 
 indeed can be." 
 
 And the conclusion in the next verse irresistibly 
 follows : "So then they that are in. the flesh," in this 
 carnal state of enmity, "cannot please God." They 
 can be subdued, they can be changed, they can be 
 
380 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 brought into the opposite state, for with. God all 
 things are possible ; but till then, whatever they may- 
 do, whatever profession of attachment to him they may 
 make, he can have no pleasure in them. He can look 
 upon them only as enemies, who are not subject to his 
 law, neither indeed can be. 
 
 This, my impenitent friends, is your guilty and 
 alarming condition — every one of you. There are 
 different degrees of depravity, different degrees of 
 enmity in the natural heart ; but it is depravity, it is 
 enmity and nothing else. There is no true love to 
 God till the heart is changed. Some of you have been 
 awakened during this revival ; some of you have been 
 more or less anxious for a good while, and in your 
 unregenerate state you can do many things. You can 
 read your Bible, you can use the words of prayer, 
 you can attend all the meetings ; you can break off 
 from your easily besetting sins, and lead a blameless 
 life in the sight of men ; you may be more exact in 
 all the external duties of religion than some profes- 
 sors are ; you may persuade yourselves that you are 
 growing better ; but whatever you may do in your 
 present carnal state, you cannot please God. ' ; My 
 son, give me thy heart," is the first of his requirements ; 
 he will accept of nothing short ; and why should he ? 
 How can he ? You are in a state of rebellion. You 
 must lay down your arms. You must come to the 
 point of unconditional submission. You must feel 
 that God is right, and you are wrong ; you must close 
 in with his offers of pardon on his own terms, which 
 are nothing short of repentance, of godly sorrow for 
 sin, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
THE CARNAL MIND. 381 
 
 This, dear friends, is the true state of the case; 
 how can you help seeing it ? Do what else you will, 
 how can a holy, sin-hating God be pleased, so long as 
 you withhold your hearts, your affections from him ? 
 Reading the Bible is a duty, prayer is a duty, attend- 
 ing public worship and other religious meetings is a 
 duty, outward reformation is a duty — all that you 
 have done, and more, it was your duty to do. All these 
 externals are a part of true religion, and accepted as 
 such when the heart is right. Then they please God. 
 You could not please him without them. Though- 
 you could multiply them a hundred-fold, without faith 
 and repentance it would avail nothing. "Whatsoever 
 is not of faith, is sin." Will you say, "If this is so, 
 all my prayer and striving, whatever I do, is sin, and 
 I may just as well leave off praying and striving — 
 nay, better, as it is only making my condition worse?" 
 Do such thoughts come into your mind ? Reject them 
 at once. They are not from above, but from beneath. 
 Do you think that neglecting all these means of grace 
 would please God? You cannot believe it. You 
 know it would displease him and aggravate your guilt. 
 The truth is, you are shut up. You cannot go back 
 without infinite peril to your soul. And you cannot 
 stay where you are without adding sin to sin. You 
 cannot please God either way. Your carnal mind is 
 enmity against him, is not subject to his law, neither 
 indeed can be. You must repent. You must cast 
 yourself upon the mercy of God, as a lost sinner. 
 Your case admits of no delay. 
 
 Only one word more. Were it possible for you to 
 go to heaven, carrying with you the carnal mind 
 
382 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 which is enmity against God, what would be your 
 condition? Could you be happy there? Would it 
 be heaven to you ? Impossible. Perfect love to God 
 is heaven ; perfect enmity is hell ; and must be every 
 where, and for ever and ever. 
 
 "STRIVE TO ENTER IN AT THE STRAIT GATE." 
 
 This is a very urgent and alarming exhortation. 
 By the strait or narrow gate, is meant the entrance 
 into the kingdom of heaven, in contrast with the 
 wide gate and broad way that lead to destruction. 
 That those who make no efforts to enter, should fail, 
 is a matter of course, and they comprise the whole 
 body of careless, delaying sinners. But it is startling 
 to hear Christ say, that even many who "seek to enter 
 in, shall not be able" — shall fall short and perish, 
 after all their seeking. Why shall they not be able ? 
 What hinders ? Though the gate is narrow, it always 
 stands open till the day of grace is past. There must 
 be some strange reason or reasons, why they cannot 
 enter in and be saved. I can think of four, at least. 
 There may be others. 
 
 Our Saviour, here, does not mean to discourage 
 seeking. Far from it. In another place he says, 
 " Seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened 
 unto you." Without seeking, no one ever entered, 
 nor ever can. It must then depend upon the kind of 
 seeking, or the time, or both. 
 
 The first reason why some who seek to enter in 
 shall not be able, is, that they trust in their own good 
 works and good resolutions to save them. If their lives 
 have not been blameless, they reform. They break 
 
STRIVE TO ENTER IN. 383 
 
 off from sinful habits. They " do many things." They 
 want to be saved, and they strive to work out their 
 own salvation by the strict performance of external 
 duties, till they are ready to ask, with the young 
 ruler, "What lack I yet?" Like the Pharisees of 
 old, they " go about to establish their own righteous- 
 ness, and do not submit themselves to the righteous- 
 ness of God," to the plan of salvation which he has 
 ordained and proposed for their acceptance. This is 
 reason enough why they cannot enter. The gate is 
 not wide enough to admit them, thickly clad with 
 their own righteousness ; the thicker, the greater the 
 difficulty of entering. They must strip their rags all 
 off. That is, they must utterly renounce all depend- 
 ence upon their own righteousness as the ground of 
 justification, that they may be clothed with the robe 
 of Christ's righteousness. This way of seeking sets 
 aside the gospel plan altogether. It is seeking salva- 
 tion by the door of the law, by which " there shall be 
 no flesh justified/' 
 
 A second reason why some who seek salvation can- 
 not enter the kingdom of God, is, that they do not seek 
 in earnest. They are awakened. There is a dreadful 
 sound in their ears. They feel that they are in dan- 
 ger of being lost, and must do something. So they 
 break away from their careless associates, and betake 
 themselves to the external duties of religion. They 
 read the Bible, they punctually attend public worship 
 and listen to preaching, as they never did before. 
 They pray in secret every day perhaps, and sometimes 
 oftener. They attend prayer-meetings, and perhaps go 
 to inquiry meetings. They are seekers, and willing to 
 
384 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 have it known by their impenitent associates, from 
 whose companionship they have withdrawn. They seem 
 to be so much engaged for a time, that their pious 
 friends entertain strong hopes that they will not only 
 seek, but find — that they will press into the kingdom of 
 God. Still they do not " strive to enter in at the 
 strait gate." They are not half so much in earnest as 
 they would be if some great temporal good was to be 
 gained, and could not be secured without their utmost 
 efforts. Then you would see them in earnest; they 
 would not turn aside, or permit themselves to be 
 diverted by any minor interest, till the desired object 
 was obtained. And how can they expect to win the 
 heavenly crown, while they are so much less in 
 earnest ? " The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, 
 and the violent take it by force." 
 
 A third reason why many who seek to enter fall 
 short is that they do not persevere. For a while they 
 seem to be all engaged to obtain the prize. You 
 would think their entrance almost certain. They 
 seem to be already at the gate, and just ready to go 
 in. But they are not so near as we supposed. They 
 vacillate. They hear the word with joy, but the good 
 seed falls upon stony ground, where, though it springs 
 up and looks green, it takes no root. In the sense in 
 which Christ addressed the young ruler, they are "not 
 far from the kingdom of heaven," but they never reach 
 it, because they do not persevere. They find it so much 
 harder than they expected to get in at the narrow gate, 
 that they give it up, gradually leave off seeking, and 
 finally sink down into deeper stupidity than ever. 
 A fourth reason why many who seek to enter in 
 
STRIVE TO ENTER IN. 385 
 
 shall not be able is that they seek too late. I know 
 impenitent sinners flatter themselves that it can 
 never be too late as long as life lasts, and they point 
 us to the thief on the cross, who repented in the last 
 agonies of crucifixion. So he did, and we do not 
 deny the possibility of any sinner's conversion at the 
 last hour, on his death-bed ; but that it is then too late 
 for thousands who rely upon some such miracle of 
 grace, does not admit of doubt. Though we may not 
 know the hour when the day of grace ends, it may 
 end days and weeks, if not years, before the sinner 
 dies. There is such a thing as the unpardonable sin, 
 and it may be committed we know not how long be- 
 fore death. It was too late for Judas to seek for- 
 giveness, after he had betrayed his Master. He could 
 cast down the thirty pieces of silver, exclaiming in an 
 agony of remorse, "I have betrayed the innocent 
 blood," but it was the remorseful repentance of de- 
 spair. He went away and hanged himself. 
 
 So that awful denunciation in the first chapter of 
 Proverbs : " Because I have called and ye refused, I 
 have stretched out my hand and no man regarded, 77 
 therefore "I will laugh at your calamity, I will mock 
 when your fear cometh. Then shall they call upon 
 me, but I will not answer ; they shall seek me early, 
 but they shall not find me;' It was too late ; the di- 
 vine forbearance was exhausted. 
 
 So it may be, and so we have reason to fear it is, 
 with many hardened sinners under the gospel. The 
 time comes when it is too late to call. The die is 
 cast. Nothing remaineth but a fearful looking for of 
 judgment and fiery indignation, 
 
 Eev. Sketches. IT 
 
386 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 But aside from all this, that with many who seek 
 it will be too late, is settled by our Saviour himself 
 in the words immediately following those upon which 
 I have been speaking. Let us take them in their con- 
 nection. " Strive to enter in at the strait gate ; for 
 many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall 
 not be able. When once the master of the house is 
 risen up and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to 
 stand without and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, 
 Lord, open unto us ; and he shall answer, and say unto 
 you, I know you not whence ye are : then he shall 
 say, Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity." Ah, 
 it was too late. However long they might have been 
 seeking, the day of grace was past — the door was shut. 
 Heaven was lost. So it will be with many, we have 
 reason to fear, among us ; their seeking will be too 
 late. 
 
 You will not wonder, my friends, that I so address 
 you at this time. I could thiuk of nothing more ap- 
 propriate to the present crisis. God is pouring out 
 his Spirit. Some, we trust, have entered in at the 
 strait gate, and are rejoicing in hope. But do not 
 others of you belong to the class of seekers whose 
 case I have described ? You are not indifferent spec- 
 tators of what the Lord is doing among us. You feel 
 that you as well as your friends have a personal in- 
 terest to secure. You want to be saved. You feel 
 that you are in danger of being lost, and you are 
 seeking to enter in at the strait gate. But how? 
 What is the reason that you have not succeeded, as 
 well as others? If you are trying to establish a right- 
 eousness of your own, if you expect in the least de- 
 
STRIVE TO ENTER IN. 387 
 
 gree to merit salvation by your good works, that is 
 reason enough. Though you could multiply them 
 ever so much, though you could pile them up to the 
 skies, and live a thousand years to do it in,- it would 
 not aid you at all. The righteousness of Christ is the 
 only ground of justification before God. Good works 
 follow as the fruits — they never go before a saving 
 change as the procuring cause, or reason. " The bed 
 is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on 
 it; and the covering narrower than that he can 
 wrap himself in it." 
 
 Do you belong to another class of seekers, who 
 have given up the hope of being saved by their works, 
 but are not more than half in earnest ? Is this your 
 state, dear friend? Then you are in an evil case 
 indeed. With all your half-hearted seeking, you are 
 nothing better, but rather grow worse; for you are 
 commanded to "strive" to enter in at the strait gate, 
 which you are not doing at all. Your own conscience 
 testifies that you are not half so much in earnest as 
 you have sometimes been to secure worldly interests 
 of no comparative value. Perchance you have risen 
 early and sat up late, and ate the bread of careful- 
 ness, and deprived yourself of sleep, for fear of not 
 gaining your object. You left no stone unturned, 
 you would not rest day or night, so long as you was 
 in danger of losing your property by delay, or for 
 lack of any possible effort to secure the title. But 
 here you are seeking indeed — -reading your Bible, 
 attending meetings, and using other means of grace, 
 hoping you shall feel more, and then seek more ear- 
 nestly, and so at last obtain. Alas, you are deceiving 
 
388 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 yourself. Oh. when will you be in real earnest ? When 
 will you seek the Lord so as to find him? Now he is 
 near, and waiting to be gracious. Call upon him to 
 help you ; strive to enter in, or you will as certainly 
 perish, as if you had remained utterly indifferent to 
 this hour. 
 
 Have any of you been seeking without finding, 
 and are you tempted to give it up ? Are you already 
 beginning to relax, to say in your heart, It is of no 
 use to seek any longer; I have tried and tried to 
 become a Christian, and it does no good. "Why 
 should I wait for the Lord any longer?" Yes, you 
 have tried, but it has been in your own strength. 
 You have been seeking, but not so as to find ; and you 
 never will find, so long as you rest in mere seeking : 
 and never, if you give over. You must seek salva- 
 tion, but it must be with an earnestness which you 
 have not yet felt. You must " strive " to enter in at 
 the strait gate. The original here is a great deal 
 stronger than the translation. The word is agonize 
 to enter in. Summon all the energies of your awakened 
 soul ; let them be concentrated in the anguish of the 
 sharpest pangs of an awakened conscience. Strive 
 with all the agony of a broken and contrite heart. 
 Cast yourself at once upon the mere mercy of God, 
 through Jesus Christ, and he will save you. His 
 blood cleanseth from all sin. His arm is mighty to 
 save. perishing sinner, why do you linger, griev- 
 ing the Holy Spirit more and more every hour ? Oh, to 
 perish, after all, with those who seek to enter in and 
 shall not be able. What an infinite loss ! Infinite ; 
 infinite I 
 
CHRIST THE PHYSICIAN. 389 
 
 "SHE WAS NOTHING BETTER, BUT RATHER 
 GREW WORSE." 
 This was the pitiable condition of a woman in a 
 crowd of people on the west side of the lake of Gali- 
 lee, where they were waiting for the return of Jesus 
 from Gadara, lying on the opposite shore. She had 
 long been afflicted with a wasting disease ; had spent 
 all her living upon many physicians ; had gone from 
 one to another, still hoping for a cure, till their skill 
 was exhausted ; and " she was nothing better, but 
 rather grew worse." Despairing of any relief from 
 the physicians, she in her great extremity pressed 
 through the throng till she could touch the hem of 
 Christ's outer garment ; for she said, If I may touch 
 but his clothes, I shall be whole. 
 
 Here was a case of strong faith under the most 
 discouraging circumstances. Though she had no prom- 
 ise of a cure, and it does not appear that Christ had 
 ever seen or spoken to her before, she believed not 
 only that he had power to heal her, but that in some 
 mysterious way that power would be communicated 
 through a mere touch of the hem of his garment. 
 Great indeed was her faith, and she was not disap- 
 pointed. Straightway the fountain of her blood was 
 dried up, and she felt in her body that she was heal- 
 ed of that plague ; and how was it ? " Jesus imme- 
 diately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out 
 of him, turned about in the press, and said, Who 
 touched my clothes? Then the woman, fearing and 
 trembling, fell down before him, and told him all the 
 truth." She doubtless expected to be rebuked for her 
 temerity. But no ; He smiled upon her, and said, 
 
390 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 not woman, but, " Daughter, thy faith hath made thee 
 whole ; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague." 
 
 This remarkable incident in the life and miracles 
 of our Saviour strikingly represents the case of an 
 awakened sinner who, instead of coming directly to 
 Christ to be healed, applies first to many other physi- 
 cians for relief ; who, in other words, resorts to all 
 the expedients, uses all the means he can think of to 
 obtain peace and pardon. He has such a sense of 
 his danger that he cannot rest. He must be doing 
 something to make himself better, and conciliate the 
 favor of God. He begins to break off his sinful hab- 
 its ; withdraws from his wicked companions ; reads 
 his Bible ; attends public worship, and listens as he 
 never did before to the preaching of the word; but 
 he gets no relief: he cannot rest here; he begins to 
 call upon God, he attends the prayer-meetings, he 
 makes his feelings known to some pious friend, and 
 is resolved to do as well as he can, hoping thereby to 
 make some amends for the past, and render himself 
 more worthy of the divine favor. But neither will 
 this do. He finds no rest. Rather, his distress in- 
 creases ; and what more can he do ? He is more and 
 more afraid he shall be lost; and if the Spirit of 
 God continues to strive with him, he repeats and re- 
 doubles his efforts, reads his Bible more, prays oftener, 
 attends more meetings, and resolves to be more exact 
 in the performance of every religious duty. In this 
 way he flatters himself that he is making some prog- 
 ress towards securing the favor of God. He is sure 
 he is a great deal better than he used to be, and can- 
 not think that God will cast him off after doing so 
 
CHRIST THE PHYSICIAN. 391 
 
 many things. He says he has done all he can, and 
 tries to persuade himself that it would be unjust ; 
 especially as, if he has not done enough, he is ready 
 to do more, to make any sacrifice however great, to 
 secure the salvation of his soul. 
 
 Thus, instead of submitting himself to G-od, he has 
 all along been trying to build up a righteousness of 
 his own. He has been trusting in his outward refor- 
 mation, in his prayers, in his religious observances. 
 Or in other cases, like the young man in the gospel, 
 he is ready to say, "All these things have I kept from 
 my youth up ; what lack I yet ?" 
 
 Now I do not say that the process which I have 
 been describing is the only way in which sinners are 
 led to Christ, or are left to quench the Holy Spirit. 
 I know it is not. Such cases, however, are not un- 
 common in revivals of religion. There may be at 
 least one such person present in this meeting ; and, 
 dear friend, what shall I say to you? You have "done 
 many things." When one has failed, you have tried 
 another, x and then another. You have, so to speak, 
 applied to many physicians, and you have flattered 
 yourself that you were growing better. You probably 
 do still ; but you are not healed. You think your- 
 self nearer the kingdom of heaven than you was 
 months or weeks ago ; and so you are nearer in one 
 sense, if you ever get there — not that you are better 
 prepared for heaven. On the contrary, you are noth- 
 ing better, but rather growing worse. You are more 
 guilty, in the sight of God, than you was when first 
 awakened ; and instead of growing better, you are 
 growing worse every day. Does this startle you ? I 
 
393 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 wish it might. Do you ask how it can fre, when you 
 have broken off from bad habits, and are reading the 
 Bible and praying every day, and attending all the 
 meetings, and striving to do better, and be better ? 
 Are you ready to say, "If all I have done is to go 
 for nothing, I don't see how I can ever be saved ?" 
 Oh, my friend, you never can be saved in this way. A 
 thousand times as many prayers and tythings would 
 not save you. The fatal mistake is, that you have 
 been "going about to establish your own righteous- 
 ness." You have been building upon your own works 
 and good resolutions. 
 
 Now, I do not say that you have been growing 
 worse faster since your attention was called up, than 
 you would have done, had you remained indifferent 
 to this hour, under all the privileges that you have 
 enjoyed. I do not know. It is not for me to strike 
 the balance between the guilt of utter indifference at 
 such a time as this, and the guilt of resting where you 
 now are. But I am afraid that even a sorer condem- 
 nation awaits you, if you fall short of heaven ; for the 
 Spirit of God has been striving with you ; you have 
 not submitted to his righteousness ; and must not the 
 guilt of sinning on from week to week, or from day 
 to day under these strivings, be more aggravated ? 
 May not this be your case ? Instead of growing bet- 
 ter with all your doings, may you not have been 
 growing worse faster than ever ? I do not see how 
 it can be otherwise. Can you see ? 
 
 But suppose that, in the sight of God, there is no 
 such aggravation. Let us look at your case in the 
 most favorable light possible. You will not for a 
 
CHRIST THE PHYSICIAN. 393 
 
 moment claim that you have committed no sin since 
 your attention was first arrested. You will admit, 
 that you have sinned more or less, in thought, word 
 or deed, every day ; and if so, then you are no better 
 than when you began, but worse. It must be so ; for 
 all your sins, up to that time, stand charged against 
 you just as they were. Not one of them has been 
 truly repented of; not one of them has been pardoned ; 
 and now there is this addition to the long black cata- 
 logue. You are therefore nothing better, but have 
 rather been growing worse all the time. There is no 
 escaping from this conclusion, alarming as it is. 
 
 And now, dear friend, what will you do next? 
 How much more time will you waste in trying to 
 build up a righteousness of your own ? And suppose 
 you could build it ever so high on your sandy foun- 
 dation, what would it avail when the floods come, and 
 the winds blow and beat upon it? 
 
 Of all diseases, that of the heart is the most alarm- 
 ing and fatal. The most skilful physician can do 
 nothing with it. He cannot reach it. This is your 
 disease. Your heart is corrupt to the very core. No 
 human skill can stay the plague. Yet, blessed be God, 
 you need not despair. There is one Physician who 
 can cure you, and would have done it long ago, had 
 you felt that your case was desperate, and applied to 
 him. It is a wonder that you are not dead ; but still 
 his infinite compassion yearns over you. And will 
 you not follow the example of that poor woman, who 
 had spent all her living upon many physicians, and 
 was nothing better, but rather grew worse ? This is 
 exactly your case. Will you not, as it were, press 
 It* 
 
394 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 through the crowd this very evening, and in the exer- 
 cise of like faith touch the hem of Christ's garment, 
 that you may be healed? Do this, and virtue will 
 instantly go out of him, and he will say, Son, or 
 daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. 
 
 " And is this all ?" methinks I hear you trem- 
 blingly ask. " Casting away all my dependences, 
 may I come to Christ the great Physician, and be 
 healed at once?" Yes, this is all. Strange, incred- 
 ible as it may seem, nothing else is required. No 
 worthiness, no fitness to come. Simply "believe on 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 
 Embrace him as a divine and almighty Saviour. 
 Receive him by faith as all your salvation and all your 
 desire, and your sins shall be blotted out, in room 
 of the filthy rags cast for ever away. You shall be 
 clothed with the robe of his righteousness, be justified 
 through the merits of Christ, and have a new song 
 put into your mouth, even praise to our God. 
 
 And now, dear friend, what do you say to all this ? 
 Do you believe that the way to be saved is so clear, 
 so simple, and can you remain any longer outside of 
 the crowd that is pressing upon Jesus to be healed — 
 merely looking on and wondering, while your spirit- 
 ual disease is making steady progress towards a 
 fatal termination? It must not be. Your life, your 
 soul is too precious to be thus thrown away. You 
 must press your way through the throng, that you 
 too may touch the hem of Christ's garment and be 
 healed. Will you ; will you do it now, this very hour, 
 this very moment ? 
 
A CONVENIENT SEASON. 395 
 
 «'GO THY WAY FOR THIS TIME: WHEN I HAYE 
 A CONVENIENT SEASON, I WILL CALL FOR 
 THEE." 
 
 This, you know, was the promise extorted from 
 Felix, the Roman governor of Judea, under a ser- 
 mon delivered by Paul, the prisoner of .Jesus Christ, 
 brought to his bar by the Jews, not to preach, but to 
 be judged and condemned. It was an extraordinary 
 spectacle. There sat the judge in his purple, and 
 there stood his prisoner in bonds, and under the fierce 
 accusations of his enemies thirsting for his blood. 
 
 At the first hearing, Paul's masterly defence made 
 such an impression upon the mind of Felix, that he 
 adjourned the trial, that he might inquire into the 
 case more perfectly for a new hearing, and this was 
 the day fixed upon. He sent for Paul, and strange to 
 say, instead of going on with the trial, as the Jews 
 expected, he heard his prisoner concerning the faith 
 in Christ. It must have been a Divine impulse upon 
 the mind of this heathen judge, which gave so unex- 
 pected a turn to the hearing. And as Paul, taking 
 advantage of it, reasoned of righteousness, temper- 
 ance, and judgment, Felix trembled, and answered, 
 " Go thy way for this time : when I have a conven- 
 ient season, I will call for thee." 
 
 And why did Felix tremble before his prisoner, 
 as if he himself had been suddenly arraigned before an 
 infinitely higher bar ? It cannot be doubted that he 
 was awakened by the Spirit of God to an awful 
 sense of his guilt and danger ; nothing else could have 
 made him tremble, especially in such a public presence. 
 He trembled because he could not help it. The appeal 
 
396 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 roused his conscience, and overmastered his pride of 
 office and self-control. But alas, it did not bring him 
 to a decision to embrace Christianity, to repent of his 
 sins and put himself at once under the further teach- 
 ing of the apostle ; but so powerful was the impres- 
 sion, that he could not altogether dismiss the subject ; 
 and so, to make a compromise, he again adjourned the 
 trial, and turning to Paul, said, " Go thy way for 
 this time : when I have a convenient season, I will 
 call for thee." It is probable that he really intended, 
 at some future time, and when he should be more 
 at leisure, to receive further instruction. But there 
 is no evidence that he ever did — that the conven- 
 ient season ever arrived. The contrary is evident 
 from the fact, that though he often sent for Paul, it 
 was in some way to get money from him, rather than 
 further instruction ; and that, failing in this, when he 
 was superseded in the government by Festus two 
 years after, "willing to show the Jews a pleasure, he 
 left Paul bound." Felix, Felix, why didst thou 
 quench the Holy Spirit ? Hadst thou cherished the 
 convictions which made thee tremble, thou mightest 
 have been saved ; but ah, that fatal procrastination ! 
 The convenient season never came ; and where art 
 thou now ? 
 
 This melancholy case of Felix strikingly repre- 
 sents that of thousands who sit under the sound of 
 the Gospel ; and this is the reason why I have taken 
 it as the basis of an earnest appeal at this time. 
 Hardly any thing is more common, and nothing is 
 more dangerous, during a revival of religion, than 
 this putting off the subject to a more convenient 
 
A CONVENIENT SEASON. 397 
 
 season. I have met with many such cases ; and who 
 that has had much experience in revivals, has not? 
 A sinner is alarmed by the Spirit of God, under some 
 powerful appeal from the pulpit, and like Felix, he 
 trembles. The danger of his condition stares him in 
 the face. His guilt has been clearly set before him, 
 and his conscience testifying against him, urges him to 
 immediate repentance. There is a great struggle in 
 his mind. On the one hand, he is not ready to yield, 
 and on the other he dare not dismiss the subject for 
 ever. So he resorts to a compromise. He virtually 
 says to the Spirit, who is striving with him, " I cannot 
 yield now, I am very busy ; I will think seriously 
 of it as soon as I am more at leisure. Go thy way 
 for this time : when I have a convenient season, I will 
 call for thee." Thus he grieves away the Holy 
 Spirit. The convenient time never comes, and he dies 
 in his sins. 
 
 Fellow-sinner, is not this your case? Has not 
 God awakened you ? Have you not been urged to an 
 immediate decision ; and instead of yielding, have you 
 not tried to quiet your conscience with the hope that 
 you should find the more convenient season on which 
 Felix fatally rested? Is not this your case now? 
 Are you not saying in your heart, " Go thy way for 
 this time ;" and promising yourself that you shall 
 have a better opportunity ? If so, let me earnestly 
 expostulate with you. We cannot go our way, we 
 cannot consent to let you alone, upon a future indefinite 
 promise. Nothing can be more delusive, or danger- 
 ous. If you are not ready, after so long a time, to 
 give your heart to God, when will you be ? If you 
 
?98 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 send us away now, as Felix did the apostle, when 
 shall we call again? Shall it be to-morrow? If 
 that is too soon, shall it be next day ? shall it be a 
 week hence? When shall it be ? This trusting to a 
 more convenient season will never do. Appoint the 
 time when you will not only listen to us, bat repent 
 at the foot of the cross — and shall we then go and tell 
 our Master, that though you are not quite ready, you 
 are in a hopeful way ; that you are making some prog 
 ress ; that you have done talking about a more con- 
 venient time ; that we have your promise, that you 
 will repent to-morrow, and ? 
 
 But no ; what am I saying ? I take it all back. 
 You have no right to set us a future time, and we 
 have no right to ask it. There are many reasons 
 why no such compromise can be allowed. God says, 
 " Now " — not to-morrow — " now is the day of salvation." 
 If you wait till to-morrow, God may finally withdraw 
 his Holy Spirit, and then it will be all over with you. 
 Every hour's delay is infinitely dangerous. And 
 again, dear friend, what promise have you that you 
 shall live through- another night ; or that if spared, 
 your reason may not be taken from you by some 
 sudden and mortal sickness? Let that voice ring in 
 your ears, " Boast not thyself of to-morrow ; for thou 
 knowest not what a day may bring forth." 
 
 And still once more, the longer you delay, the 
 harder will it be to submit to Christ, to break off 
 your sins and make your peace with Him. So far 
 from getting any better prepared by delay, you are a 
 greater sinner to-day than you was yesterday, and if 
 you live, you will be a greater sinner to-morrow than 
 
ALMOST PEKSUADED. 399 
 
 you are to-day. Give your resolutions of becoming 
 a Christian at some future day to the winds. They 
 are good for nothing. They are worse. They quiet 
 and deceive you. There will be no more " convenient 
 season" than the present. 
 
 •'ALMOST THOU PERSUADEST ME TO BE A 
 CHRISTIAN." 
 
 Agrippa was the son of that Herod who behead- 
 ed John and imprisoned Peter. With the title of 
 king under the Roman emperors, he administered the 
 provincial government of Cesar ea, and several of the 
 annexed districts. Paul having been sent down un- 
 der arrest from Jerusalem, charged by the Jews with 
 the crimes of apostasy and sedition, was on the first 
 convenient day arraigned for trial ; and in so masterly 
 a manner did he defend himself before the king, that 
 when he came to make that bold and remarkable 
 appeal, "King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? 
 I know that thou believest," Agrippa was so over- 
 powered by it, that he answered Paul, " Almost thou 
 persuadest me to be a Christian." 
 
 Here we must carefully distinguish. Agrippa 
 was not even an almost Christian. Saving the con- 
 viction of the moment, he was as far from it as ever. 
 He was only almost persuaded that he ought to become 
 one. We have no reason to think he ever did. The 
 greater probability is, that he gave himself no more 
 concern about the new religion ; that he never after 
 came so near as to be " almost persuaded," but per- 
 ished in his sins. 
 
 In this, king Agrippa may be taken as the repre- 
 
400 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 sentative of a very considerable class of persons in 
 religious revivals. From a state of deep indifference, 
 they are awakened by the Spirit of God under the 
 preaching of the word. They find themselves con- 
 demned by the divine law, and that they are in dan- 
 ger of perishing, which they had never realized be- 
 fore. They see others pressing into the kingdom of 
 God. They no longer make light of the revival. 
 Their consciences tell them that they are sinners, and 
 need the salvation which the gospel offers. They 
 dare not remain where they are. They resolve to 
 take up the subject of personal religion, and yield to 
 its claims. They are accordingly punctual in their 
 attendance upon public worship. They listen to 
 preaching as they never did before. They brush off 
 the dust from their neglected Bibles, and may be 
 said to " search the Scriptures " with considerable 
 interest. They attend the prayer-meetings, and it 
 may be the inquiry meetings. They are willing to 
 be personally addressed on the great subject, and 
 their impressions of its paramount importance are 
 deepened. The thought of being left, while many of 
 their companions and others are taken, is painful and 
 alarming. They " do many things. ;; It is no pre- 
 tence. They are sincere as far as they go. It may 
 truly be said of some of this class at least, that they 
 are " almost persuaded " to be Christians, and this 
 persuasion is not a sudden impulse, as in the case of 
 Agrippa, to pass away almost as soon as felt, but 
 abiding, sometimes for days and weeks. 
 
 But alas, there they remain. The last and essen- 
 tial step they do not take. They are only almost per- 
 
ALMOST PERSUADED. 401 
 
 suaded, not quite. In the sense of Christ's address 
 to the young ruler, they are " not far from the king- 
 dom of heaven;" but like him, they remain without 
 till the door is shut. 
 
 Are there not some of this class here? I believe 
 there are. You may not in so many words have 
 classed yourselves with Agrippa, but you stand just 
 where he said he did. You are almost persuaded to 
 be Christians. At least, you think you are. You 
 have become so far interested in the present revival, 
 as to attend all the meetings and class yourselves 
 with the inquirers, and under the clear exhibition and 
 claims of the gospel you have sometimes been almost 
 persuaded, almost ready to yield your hearts to God 
 Your pious friends have been waiting and hoping to 
 see you come out of the almost to a full decision. And 
 how much longer will you stand halting between two 
 opinions? What do you expect to gain by it? How 
 great the danger that you will lose every thing. 
 You are resisting the Holy Spirit, and how long can 
 you expect he will continue to strive with you ? Oh, 
 if he should depart for ever, as he may at any mo- 
 ment, what remains but "a fearful looking for of 
 judgment and fiery indignation?" 
 
 You are now " almost persuaded ;" but what will 
 that avail in the day when God shall take away the 
 soul? What does this being only " almost persuaded "' 
 amount to, in any case? Here is an inebriate " al- 
 most persuaded" to leave off drinking. Will that 
 save him from filling a drunkard's grave ? Yonder is 
 an habitual profane swearer. Will his being " almost 
 persuaded " to break off from the habit reform him ? 
 
402 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 Will lie not keep on profaning G-od's holy name, till 
 he is quite persuaded to leave it off? The command 
 of universal obligation is, "Remember the Sabbath- 
 day to keep it holy." Will any one's being " almost 
 persuaded " to keep it, prevent his breaking it? Must 
 he not be quite persuaded? Here, again, is a person 
 who has been addicted to stealing. Will he steal no 
 more, because he is "almost persuaded 77 to leave it 
 off, and become an honest man? Who does not see 
 that such almosts fall fatally short of securing a thor- 
 ough reformation? 
 
 How much more in your case, my impenitent 
 friends, remaining as you are only " almost persuad- 
 ed 77 to be Christians. You are yet in your sins, and 
 if you go no further, you are just as certain to be shut 
 out of heaven and perish, as if you had never been 
 awakened at all. Nay more, you will have to answer 
 for quenching the Spirit, which would have "sealed 
 you unto the day of redemption. 77 In vain did the 
 man-slayer only almost reach the city of refuge, how- 
 ever near he got to it, when the avenger of blood 
 overtook him. He must actually enter the gate, be- 
 fore he could be safe. To escape the scalping-knife 
 of a savage foe in hot pursuit, the border settler 
 must reach the fort. Overtaken anywhere outside, 
 though ever so near, he is cloven down by the toma- 
 hawk. 
 
 But what can I more say? Here you are, dear 
 friends, lingering upon the " almost 77 persuasion of 
 Agrippa, and in the greatest danger of perishing as 
 he did. I beseech you not to rest another hour where 
 you stand. To be " almost persuaded 77 is only to be 
 
COMMUNE WITH YOUR HEART. 403 
 
 almost saved, and to be almost saved is to be eter- 
 nally lost ! 
 
 "COMMUNE WITH YOUR OWN HEART AND BE 
 STILL." 
 
 When sinners are awakened under the striving of 
 the Holy Spirit in a revival, and become thoroughly 
 alarmed, instead of going to their pastor at once, and 
 asking what they must do to be saved, they commonly 
 try something else first. If they are young and have 
 intimate companions, their sympathies sometimes draw 
 them more closely together than ever, long before 
 they are converted, if converted at all. It gives them 
 a sort of relief to sit down together and talk and 
 weep over their danger. And why should they not ? 
 It is a danger to which they are both alike exposed, 
 and which is much greater than they imagine. Each 
 needs help, and must have it from some quarter, or 
 perish. If there were any thing to be gained by 
 mutual weeping and condolence under such circum- 
 stances, it should be encouraged. But what good can 
 it do ? What help or encouragement can either of 
 them give to his friend ? They both lie under the 
 same condemnation, and can no more aid each other 
 than if they were condemned prisoners in chains. 
 
 Nay, the more they condole together, the greater 
 the danger that they will grieve the Spirit to depart 
 from them. Many awakened sinners have in this man- 
 ner talked and wept away their concern, and returned 
 to their former careless state. 
 
 Rather, sinner, commune with thine own 
 heart. Be much alone. Your friend, under the same 
 
404 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 condemnation, cannot help you. Pray God to show 
 you your guilt, as well as your danger. The publican 
 in the parable did not go to his brother publicans, to 
 get their sympathies and ask them to help him. He 
 knew they could not help him. He went out by him- 
 self, and when he got in sight of the temple, which he 
 dared not enter, and so burdened that he would not 
 so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, he smote upon 
 his breast and cried, " God be merciful unto me a sin- 
 ner." " Go thou and do likewise." Weeping with 
 thine impenitent friend ever so long, will do neither 
 thyself nor him any good. 
 
 But when two companions are awakened in a re 
 vival, and one of them is brought out rejoicing in 
 hope, the case is entirely different. Then he may go 
 to his friend — he cannot help going — and tell him 
 what a Saviour he has found, and try to show him 
 the way to the cross; and with the blessing of God 
 upon their renewed intercourse, he may be brought 
 into the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 I go a step further. When two bosom friends are 
 awakened about the same time, they should not talk 
 much with each other on any subject, till they have 
 made their peace with God. The reason is obvious. 
 Whatever the subject may be, though ever so suitable 
 under other circumstances, there is danger of its di- 
 verting their minds from the great salvation, not yet 
 secured, which demands all their thoughts. And the 
 same holds true, I think, in all cases. When a sinner 
 is awakened and brought to inquire what he must do, 
 till the great question is settled, till he has submitted 
 and given his heart to God, it is not safe for him to 
 
QUENCH NOT THE SPIRIT. 405 
 
 talk much on common subjects with anybody. Then 
 is the time to find and secure "the pearl of great 
 price ;" and he must not let any thing hinder him. 
 He will not if he is as much in earnest as he ought to 
 be. " The one thing needful " first, and then other 
 interests in their proper place. 
 
 "QUENCH NOT THE SPIRIT." 
 
 The Holy Spirit — by whose divine agency sinners 
 are awakened, convicted, regenerated, and sealed to 
 the day of redemption — by which also Christians are 
 sanctified, built up in the most holy faith, and "made 
 meet for the inheritance of the saints in light." To 
 quench, in the ordinary sense of the term, is to extin- 
 guish or allay, as water puts out fire, and quenches 
 thirst. In the sense here used, it is to check, to stifle. 
 
 As Jesus Christ is the only Redeemer, so the 
 Holy Spirit is the only Eenewer and Sanctifier. 
 From the highest degree of holy love, shed abroad in 
 the heart of the established believer, down to the 
 first awakening of the impenitent sinner, it is the 
 same Spirit.. And so, all along through every stage 
 of awakening and conviction, up to the new birth; 
 and after that, to the "helping of our infirmities with 
 groanings which cannot be uttered ;" it is the self- 
 same Spirit, that worketh all in all. 
 
 At every step, from first to last, the Spirit may be 
 quenched, may be checked, may be stifled, and hence 
 the necessity of the exhortation now before us. Let 
 us then inquire briefly, in what way or ways, by what 
 means the Spirit is often quenched, especially in re- 
 vivals. 
 
406 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 1. The Spirit may be quenched in the earliest 
 stage of awakening by some trifling cause, of which 
 the sinner is scarcely conscious at the time. This 
 may be your case, my friend. The Holy Spirit may 
 now be gently moving you to " think on your ways." 
 If any Christian friend, seeing you at the prayer- 
 meetings, were to ask you whether you feel any par- 
 ticular interest in the work that is going on, you 
 would probably, or you might answer, that you do 
 not. You hope you shall, but you persuade yourself 
 that as yet the exhortation, " Quench not the Spirit/' 
 does not apply to you, as you have not experienced 
 any thing of His special influence. But beware how 
 you give Satan this advantage over you. It is one of 
 his subtle devices, by which he will divert your mind 
 from the subject, if he can. With his consent, you 
 never would have bestowed a serious thought upon 
 your own salvation ; and if he can blind you to the 
 fact that the Spirit is beginning to strive with you, 
 he will most certainly do it ; for then he counts on 
 being sure of you. Cherish the divine influence, how- 
 ever faint at first, as you would a spark of fire, if you 
 had no assurance that, once extinguished, it would 
 ever be rekindled. 
 
 2. The Spirit may be quenched by the neglect of 
 opportunities. When God is pouring out his Spirit, 
 preaching is generally more direct and pungent, and 
 religious meetings are more frequent than ordinary. 
 There is no reason to doubt that many have quench- 
 ed the Spirit and lost their souls by withdrawing 
 from these means of grace, at the turning point. 
 Their attention was arrested, their interest was grad- 
 
QUENCH NOT THE SPIRIT. 40? 
 
 ually increased at the prayer-meetings, and had they 
 but held on, they might by striving, have entered in 
 at the strait gate ; but for some cause, after a while 
 they withdrew, and in so doing quenched the Spirit, 
 and sank down into deeper stupidity than ever. 
 
 I warn you, my friends, against following these 
 fatal examples. "No man having put his hand to 
 the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom 
 of heaven. God, who in his great mercy has called 
 up your attention to the claims of the gospel, does 
 not allow you to hope that you shall be saved, if you 
 turn back and neglect the means which he has ap- 
 pointed. True as it may be — and nothing is more 
 certain— that there is no saving efficacy inherent in 
 the means themselves, that the excellency of the 
 power is all of God, yet he so honors his own 
 appointed means, that those who voluntarily neglect 
 them, grieve the Spirit to leave them, just as truly as 
 if every thing depended on the means alone. Be- 
 ware then that you do not in this way quench the 
 Spirit. 
 
 3. The Spirit is often quenched by delay, by put- 
 ting off the subject to a more " convenient season." 
 Perhaps there is no temptation on which the great 
 adversary depends so much in seasons of revival, as 
 this. Resolving ever so sincerely to repent at some 
 future time, be it ever so near, is not to be depended 
 on for a moment. Every hour that you delay is at 
 your peril. You are in danger of quenching the 
 Spirit, which, if finally withdrawn, will leave you to 
 perish. You may promise every thing for to-morrow ; 
 but what will it avail, if your soul should this night 
 
408 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 be required of you ? Or if not, should the Spirit be 
 grieved by your procrastination to depart for ever, 
 what would then be your condition? It is appalling 
 to think of it. The convenient season would never 
 come. Supposing a sinner, thus forsaken, could live 
 a thousand years, and in the enjoyment of the highest 
 religious privileges, he would only be treasuring up 
 wrath against the day of wrath. No sinner ever 
 came to Christ, or ever will, without being drawn by 
 the Holy Spirit. How fearful then the danger of 
 quenching it by any delay. " Behold, now is the 
 accepted time." The promise reaches no further. It 
 contains no future time. 
 
 4. The Spirit may be quenched by the absorbing 
 demands of worldly business and cares. While indus- 
 try in some lawful occupation is a common duty and 
 necessity, there is always the greatest danger that 
 " the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, 
 and the lusts of other things, will choke the word and 
 make it unfruitful." Especially is this the case in 
 revivals. When the attention of a busy worldly- 
 minded sinner is called up to seek the pearl of price- 
 less value ; when he begins to feel that he must have 
 a better portion than this world can give, and the 
 Holy Spirit urges him to seek for it in earnest, he 
 has so much on his mind and on his hands, that he is 
 strongly tempted to put it off a little while, till he 
 can so adjust his affairs as to be more at leisure, and 
 then he will give his time and his heart to the work. 
 The moment he forms this resolution, he grieves the 
 Spirit to forsake him. It is of G-od's infinite forbear- 
 ance, if he does not in this way quench it for ever. 
 
QUENCH NOT THE SPIRIT. 409 
 
 It matters not in such cases how lawful in itself the 
 engrossing worldly business may be, it must be en- 
 tirely given up for the time being, or so arranged as 
 not to interfere with the immediate claims of the gos- 
 pel. " What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole 
 world, and lose his own soul?" Lose his own soul he 
 will, if the good seed is choked by the thorns, whose 
 end is to be burned. 
 
 5. Nor may we stop here. When a sinner is 
 under awakening, he cannot allow any thing, how- 
 ever proper or innocent it might be under ordinary 
 circumstances, to divert his mind from the one great 
 question, "What must I do to be saved?" without 
 running the fearful hazard of quenching the Spirit. 
 The human mind cannot entertain two engrossing 
 subjects at once, however lawful and proper in them- 
 selves, and do justice to either. There is a crisis in 
 the case of every awakened sinner, when the least 
 diversion of the mind may quench the Spirit, and 
 prove fatal. It may be nothing more than forming a 
 new partnership in business, or making an honest 
 lucrative bargain, or attending a social party, or 
 going out of town to visit a friend : any thing which 
 comes in between the sinner and the claims of the 
 gospel to his immediate repentance and faith in Christ 
 may quench the Spirit, and thus prove as fatal to the 
 soul as any deliberate rejection would be. And here 
 lies one of the greatest dangers. While the awaken- 
 ed sinner perhaps breaks off from ensnaring company, 
 and is on his guard against the most obvious hinder- 
 ances, he can hardly be persuaded that trifling, inno- 
 cent diversions may be equally ruinous. But they 
 
 Eev. Sketches. 18 
 
410 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 may, and probably they oftener are, than the more 
 obvious worldly attractions. 
 
 I might suggest many other cautions against 
 quenching the Spirit; but let these suffice. If G-od 
 arrested you anywhere in the broad way, if he has 
 awakened you to a sense of your guilt and danger, it 
 may be the last time, and probably will be, if you suf- 
 fer any thing to hinder you from hastening to the 
 foot of the cross in "the accepted time, the day of 
 salvation." 
 
 "THE WILES OF THE DEVIL." 
 
 That there is a fallen spirit, malignant and subtle, 
 walking about among men "seeking whom he may 
 devour," is so fully asserted in the Scriptures that 
 I need not stop a moment to prove it. He is called 
 by different names in the Bible — Angel of the bot- 
 tomless pit, Prince of darkness, Satan, Beelzebub, 
 the Serpent, the Deceiver, a Liar, the Prince of the 
 power of the air, and the god of this world. Fright- 
 ful names ; infernal agencies ; awful dangers ! 
 
 As this great adversary of God and man was 
 active in trying to counteract our blessed Saviour in 
 the great work of saving men, which he came into the 
 world to accomplish, so we may be sure he will re- 
 double his efforts to counteract the Holy Spirit in 
 seasons of special revival. In times of profound stu- 
 pidity, he need trouble himself but little about those 
 whom he has led captive at his will, for he is in no 
 danger of losing them. But when Jesus Christ comes 
 into a town, and sinners begin to inquire what they 
 must do to be saved, he is sure to be there, and to 
 
WILES OF THE DEVIL. 411 
 
 oppose the work in every possible way. However 
 mysterious it may seem, the Bible abundantly testifies 
 that he has direct access to the minds of men, and 
 knows how to turn and apply his temptations to the 
 greatest advantage. 
 
 His first object of course will be to prevent sin- 
 ners from taking any interest in the revival. To this 
 end, he will do what he can to keep them away from 
 public worship, and especially from extra meetings. 
 If he cannot keep them away, the next step is to pre- 
 vent them from treasuring up what they hear. " Then 
 cometh Satan immediately, and taketh away the word 
 that was sown in their hearts," lest they should be- 
 lieve, and be saved. This, I doubt not, is just what 
 he is doing here every Sabbath. If he does not suc- 
 ceed in this, he will persuade them that what they 
 witness is a mere temporary excitement, which will 
 soon die away. If under an alarming sermon they 
 begin to tremble, he will tell them not to be fright- 
 ened ; there is no hell to be afraid of : just as he told 
 Eve, " Ye shall not surely die ';" for he is a liar from 
 the beginning, and the father of it. If this does not 
 answer, he will persuade them to dismiss the subject 
 for the present, and take it up at a more convenient 
 time. Thousands have yielded to these and other 
 suggestions of the great Deceiver, and have perished 
 in their sins. I have no doubt of it. Nor have I 
 any doubt that there are some — I fear there are many 
 in every revival — under the same diabolical delusion. 
 And the more control Satan has over them, the more 
 stoutly will they deny that there is any thing in it. 
 God may open their eyes before it is too late ; but of 
 
412 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 all classes of impenitent sinners, none are in greater 
 danger • their feet stand on the most slippery places. 
 
 Now that some of you are awakened, you must 
 not flatter yourselves that the wily tempter will let 
 you alone. Depend upon it, he will employ all his 
 subtlety to hold you fast in his snare. If he cannot 
 hinder you from asking what you must do to be sav- 
 ed, he will put you upon such a course of " impenitent 
 doings/ 7 if he can, as will quiet your fears, without at 
 all losing his hold upon you. He will do his utmost 
 to persuade you that a person so moral and inoffen- 
 sive as you have been, cannot be in danger of being 
 lost. " God is too merciful. If you have failed in 
 any thing, repent of it. Do the best you can, and 
 dismiss your concern. Be honest and kind and sober 
 and blameless in every way, and all will be well." 
 The Deceiver, I have no doubt, is trying to quiet some 
 of you by suggesting that you are too young to be so 
 anxious. " Wait a few years, till your minds are more 
 mature, and you have had more religious instruction 
 to prepare you for taking up the subject to a great 
 deal better advantage." I am very much afraid he 
 will succeed with some of you just here. Remember, 
 that " he is a liar, and the father of it." If it suits 
 his purpose better, he will tell you that you must 
 " wait God's time " and not be discouraged ; or wait 
 till the excitement is over, so that you may take up 
 the subject calmly, and not be deceived. Or that 
 " you are so wicked, and have held out so long, that 
 God will not receive you. You might have come in, 
 but it is too late." 
 
 These are some of Satan's " devices," of which we 
 
WILES OF THE DEVIL. 413 
 
 are not ignorant. He, no doubt, employs a great 
 many others, as occasion serves him, in special sea- 
 sons of revival ; and when all fail, he will in the 
 last resort do his utmost to persuade you to settle 
 down upon a false hope. Then, though it will have 
 given him no little trouble to follow you, step by 
 step, through your alarm and convictions, he will not 
 regret it, as his object is gained at last, by your dis- 
 missing all your concern, and settling down "at ease 
 in Zion." 
 
 Oh, my friends, this is no bugbear, conjured up to 
 frighten weak women and young children. It is a 
 voice of warning from the Scriptures, against " the 
 wiles of the devil," which should make every impeni- 
 tent sinner tremble. Evil spirits are not visible to 
 mortal eyes, and they are infinitely more dangerous 
 on that account. Could you see them waiting for 
 you at the door to catch away the sermon when you 
 come out of the church, meeting you in every prayer- 
 meeting, and following you everywhere — could you 
 hear them whispering their temptations in your ears, 
 to dismiss your concern, and have no more to do with 
 the revival, it would doubtless startle you. Be on 
 your guard ; the tempter is here. He is in all places 
 of worship at such a time as this. Your only safety 
 lies in giving no place to the devil. Not content 
 with what he and his angels can do to banish your 
 concern, and drive away your convictions, he will 
 stir up his agents, some of your neighbors, your com- 
 panions perhaps, to ply you with plausible dissua- 
 sives, with ridicule, or whatever else may better suit 
 his malignant purpose. It is through such agents 
 
414 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 that Satan sometimes "is transformed into an angel 
 of light." He may deceive and destroy those, who 
 would be alarmed and resist him were he to show 
 himself in his true colors. 
 
 Depend upon it, dear friends, that whoever op- 
 poses you, or tries in any way to prevent your becom- 
 ing Christians, is an emissary of his father the devil, 
 who speaks through human organs, just as the devils 
 did when our Saviour was casting them out. Oh, 
 my dear friends, put your fingers in your ears as 
 Bunyan's Pilgrim did, and go on crying, " Life, eter- 
 nal life ! eternal life I" 
 
 "THE WILES OF THE DEVIL " — Continued. 
 
 To young Converts. 
 
 My dear Friends — On a former occasion, when 
 you were awakened by the Spirit of God, and asking 
 what you must do to be saved, I took occasion from 
 the word of God to warn you against the " wiles of 
 the devil," who is more active in times of revival 
 than ever ; and who, I felt sure, would persuade you 
 to turn back if he could. Since then, you humbly 
 trust that God in his great mercy has delivered you, 
 and brought you into " the kingdom of his dear Son." 
 Now, at last, you feel safe. This great deliverance 
 is final, you trust. For why should he hope to get 
 any advantage of you, now that you have renounced 
 him and all his works for ever? 
 
 But why should he not hope and even expect to 
 bring you into bondage again, notwithstanding you 
 have joined the church, or are about to join? How 
 does he know that you have got beyond his reach? 
 
WILES OF THE DEYIL. 415 
 
 How does he know that you have been truly regener- 
 ated ? Your being received into the church does not 
 prove it. On the contrary, he knows very well that 
 some are self-deceived, and fall away, proving that 
 notwithstanding their fair profession, they belong to 
 the class of stony-ground hearers, who "receive the 
 word with joy, and in time of temptation fall away •" 
 or to that other class, represented by the thorny 
 ground, who hear the word, and the cares of this 
 world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of 
 other things choke the word, and it bringeth no fruit 
 to perfection. Tares and wheat grow together till 
 the harvest, then to be separated, the one to be gar- 
 nered, and the other to be cast into the fire. Of the 
 ten virgins, five were foolish, and having no oil in 
 their vessels with their lamps, were shut out when 
 the Bridegroom came. And again, many will say 
 unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not eaten 
 and drunk in thy presence? and thou hast taught in 
 our streets; to whom he will say, I know you not 
 whence ye are. These are very alarming scriptures. 
 There is no reason to suppose that the devil is igno- 
 rant that there are a great many false professors in 
 church, and that he has again led them captive at his 
 will. Surely he will not relinquish the hope of lead- 
 ing church-members to apostatize, as long as he has 
 so many trophies, won back by his stratagems. 
 
 If he does not know who are really converted, and 
 who have only the form of godliness — and there is no 
 proof that he does — then why should he not tempt 
 every professed disciple to deny his Master, and hope 
 to prevail? And supposing he did know that you 
 
416 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 have been truly converted, would that infallibly pro- 
 tect you? It did not discourage him from tempting 
 our first parents, though perfectly holy as they came 
 from the Creator's hand; and he succeeded. Nay, 
 he had the amazing audacity to tempt the Lord Jesus 
 Christ himself, and to ply his temptations no less 
 than forty days in succession. What security then 
 would there be, even if he knew that you had all the 
 protection which the most eminent. Christian in the 
 world ever enjoyed ? G-od told Satan that his servant 
 Job was a perfect and an upright man. But that did 
 not discourage him. He only wanted permission to 
 put Job to the test, and having obtained it, confi- 
 dently expected to prove him a hypocrite. Failing 
 the first time, he wanted to subject him to a still 
 severer trial. It was granted to the extent of satanic 
 ingenuity and malice, simply forbiding his taking 
 away Job's life. Who then should he fear to attack ? 
 Now turn to your Bibles, and see how earnestly 
 the churches, and of course all the members of the 
 churches, are warned against the assaults of the devil, 
 and exhorted to put on the only panoply that can 
 protect them. Let me quote two or three passages : 
 " To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also — lest 
 Satan should get an advantage of us ; for we are not 
 ignorant of his devices." 2 Cor. 2:11. "Be sober, 
 be vigilant ; because your adversary the devil, as a 
 roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may 
 devour : whom resist, steadfast in the faith, know- 
 ing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your 
 brethren that. are in the world," that is, in all believ- 
 ers. 1 Pet. 5:8. He would devour every one of 
 
ENDURING TO THE END. 417 
 
 you if he could. Nothing but prayer and vigilance, 
 relying on the arm of the Lord for protection, can 
 save you. 
 
 In the sixth chapter of Bphesians you have the 
 Christian armor described piece by piece, and you 
 will want the whole suit. You cannot be safe with- 
 out every part of it. For want of a single piece of 
 this heavenly panoply, many soldiers of the cross 
 have been cast down wounded. With it, and under 
 the eye and banner of the Captain of salvation, you 
 will be sure to come off conquerors, and more than 
 conquerors. You need not fear what earth and hell 
 can do to take your crowns. Watch and pray against 
 the wiles of the devil, and with every temptation 
 God will make a way for your escape. The moment 
 you let down your watch you will find yourselves, 
 if not actually on the enemy's ground, so near the 
 lines that some of his fiery darts may reach you. 
 Therefore stand fast in the Lord, and he will be your 
 high tower and strong deliverer. 
 
 "HE THAT ENDURETH TO THE END SHALL BE 
 SAVED." 
 
 To young Converts. 
 
 My dear Friends — We have come here to get 
 our hearts warmed, and to set up our Ebenezer on 
 this spot, so hallowed by the presence and interces- 
 sion of the Holy Spirit. For many weeks past, this 
 has been our Bethel, the morning family altar of the 
 church, our Bethesda, from whose waters, agitated by 
 the angel, so many have lately come up, praising God 
 for his healing and restoring mercies. 
 
 18* 
 
418 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 A hasty glance at the few months past would 
 show what reason we have to call upon our souls and 
 all that is within us to praise the Lord for visiting us 
 in our low estate, and putting this new song into our 
 mouths. But while you, my friends, who have just 
 begun to lift up your hearts with your voices, can 
 never praise him enough for this great deliverance, 
 you may not sit down rejoicing, as if you would have 
 but little more to do than to raise your hallelujahs 
 higher and still higher to Him who hath set you 
 free. 
 
 You are now very much in the condition of the 
 children of Israel, when, in looking back upon their 
 marvellous deliverance from Egyptian bondage, and 
 the destruction of their cruel masters, they sang that 
 memorable song in the fifteenth chapter of Exodus : 
 "I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed 
 gloriously : the horse and his rider hath he thrown 
 into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and 
 he is become my salvation. Who is like unto thee, 
 Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious 
 in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou 
 in mercy hast led forth thy people ; thou hast guided 
 them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. Thou 
 shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain 
 of thine inheritance, in the place, Lord, which thou 
 hast made for thee to dwell in." 
 
 Thus did the Hebrew tribes rejoice in their de- 
 liverance, and such were their anticipations, as if they 
 had already got possession of the promised land. 
 They forgot that they had but commenced their jour- 
 ney, that the wilderness was before them, and that 
 
ENDURING TO THE END. 419 
 
 when they had sung out their song, instead of resting 
 where they were, they must go forward, encounter- 
 ing all its hardships and perils. They forgot that 
 there were enemies yet to be met, out of whose hand 
 the Lord alone could deliver them; and that there 
 was no bread and no water there. But for the mirac- 
 ulous supply which awaited them, they must all have 
 perished at the very entrance of the wilderness. They 
 must be sustained by the manna from the skies, and 
 the water from the rock, all the journey through. 
 
 So, dear friends, it is with you, rejoicing in your 
 late deliverance from a far more cruel taskmaster 
 than Pharaoh. In the overflowing of your thanks- 
 givings, you are in danger of forgetting that this is 
 not your rest, that you have only entered upon your 
 journey towards the heavenly Canaan, and that you 
 too have to go through the wilderness. While on 
 the journey, you cannot live without the supplies of 
 grace in your hearts, symbolized by the manna and 
 the water that flowed from the smitten rock. The 
 analogy all along is exceedingly striking — the de- 
 liverance in the one case from Egyptian servitude, 
 and in the other from the bondage of sin and Satan : 
 the song of triumph, the wilderness, the manna, the 
 water, the enemies to be encountered and vanquished 
 by the arm of the Lord. 
 
 Yes, dear friends, you have to pass through the 
 wilderness. There is no other way to the promised 
 land. In looking forward from your present stand- 
 point, it probably does not appear very formidable. 
 The setting out is so delightful, every thing seems so 
 easy, that you cannot understand how there can be 
 
420 REVIYAL MANUAL. 
 
 much of danger or hinderance, or hunger or thirst, 
 before you — you have safely passed through the Red 
 sea ; the cloud and the pillar of fire will lead you on, 
 and what have you to fear? You may persuade 
 yourselves that your spiritual enemies are all dead. 
 Would that they were. But some of us have entered 
 the wilderness before you. By painful experience 
 we have learned something of what you must expect, 
 and it would be unkind and unfaithful in us, not to 
 forewarn and give you the best directions in our 
 power. 
 
 First then, as the Israelites could not live without 
 food, and as the wilderness yielded nothing their 
 bread must be rained down from the skies, so it will 
 be with you. You cannot live without spiritual food. 
 You must receive that Bread which came down from 
 heaven to give life to the world. In other words, 
 you must receive supplies of grace from the infinite 
 storehouse above. You cannot advance a single stage 
 without them. And as the Israelites must gather the 
 manna every morning, so must you seek supplies every 
 day from your heavenly Father. Just as he supplies 
 your bodily wants, by giving you day by day your 
 daily bread — only one day at a time — so you must 
 ask him, day by day, for the true Bread to nourish 
 your souls. The grace which God bestows upon you 
 to-day, is no more than you need to-day, and can no 
 more be kept over than the manna could. You must, 
 as it were, gather it fresh every morning. You must 
 ask for- new supplies every day, thus availing your- 
 selves of the blessed assurance that your heavenly 
 Father is more ready to give the Holy Spirit to those 
 
ENDURING TO THE END. 421 
 
 that ask him, than earthly parents are to give bread 
 to their children. 
 
 Moreover, you must be satisfied with the Bread of 
 heaven all the way through the wilderness, and till 
 you reach the promised land. Just here the children 
 of Israel made a fatal mistake. Angels 7 food was not 
 good enough for them. They longed for the leeks 
 and onions of Egypt. They loathed the manna. They 
 lusted for flesh, and God in anger sent them the 
 quails, and the plague closely followed. He gave 
 them their request, but sent leanness into their souls. 
 So, dear friends, it will be with you if, at any stage 
 of your progress, you lose your relish for the spir- 
 itual manna, and turn back to "the beggarly ele- 
 ments " of the world. If you long for the carnal in- 
 dulgences, the follies and amusements which you have 
 left behind, " the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the 
 eyes, and the pride of life," God may grant your re- 
 quest, but if he does, he will "send leanness into 
 your souls." You will pine away and die. 
 
 Again, as the Israelites would have perished with 
 thirst, if God had not brought water out of the rock 
 for their daily and constant supply, so must you with- 
 out that living water which Christ alone can pour 
 down from the infinite fountain above, and which, if 
 you receive it, " shall be in you a well of water 
 springing up into everlasting life." As the water 
 from the smitten rock flowed along, and accompa- 
 nied the Israelites in all their marches till they got 
 through the wilderness, so Christ was with his ancient 
 church all the way, as the apostle testifies : " Breth- 
 ren, I would not that ye should be ignorant how that 
 
422 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed 
 through the sea ; and were all baptized unto Moses in 
 the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same 
 spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual 
 drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that 
 followed them, and that Rock was Christ." So, dear 
 friends, that spiritual Rock will follow you, if you 
 cleave to him. He will be to you "as rivers of water 
 in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in 
 a weary land." He will daily refresh your souls with 
 grace and strength, to go on your way rejoicing. 
 
 But after all, it is a wilderness which you have to 
 pass through, "and there are many adversaries." 
 You will have fightings without and fears within. 
 The devil, who led Christ himself into the wilder- 
 ness, will assail you with his temptations. Now is 
 the time for you, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, to 
 put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able 
 to stand against the wiles of the devil. "For we 
 wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against prin- 
 cipalities, against powers, against the rulers of the 
 darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness 
 in high places. Stand therefore, having your loins 
 girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate 
 of righteousness, and your feet shod with the prepa- 
 ration of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the 
 shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench 
 all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the hel- 
 met of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is 
 the word of God ; praying always with all prayer and 
 supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto 
 with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." 
 
ENDURING TO THE END. 423 
 
 Though these things are spoken to us in a figure, they 
 strikingly represent the Christian warfare. You will 
 have occasion for the whole suit of armor, in many a 
 sharp conflict, before you reach the fords of Jordan. 
 But if you are faithful unto death, you will come off 
 conquerors and more than conquerors, through Him 
 who hath loved you and given himself for you. 
 
 Go forward, not in your own strength, but " strong 
 in the Lord and in the power of his might." Nothing 
 else will stand you in stead a single day, for you have 
 foes within as well as without. They are your in- 
 dwelling sins, which though vanquished are not all 
 slain, and they are in correspondence with the enemy 
 without. Indeed, but for this advantage the grand 
 adversary with all his legions could have no power 
 over you : " Get thee behind me, Satan," would put 
 him to flight in a moment. When constrained to cry 
 out with Paul, " Who shall deliver me from the body 
 of this death?" may you also be able to exult as he 
 did : " Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 And now, dear brethren and friends, what more 
 shall we say? We bid you God speed with all our 
 hearts. May He who dwelt in the bush go with, guide, 
 and protect you all the journey through. The earthly 
 Canaan, flowing with milk and honey, you may never 
 see, but if you " endure to the end," you will at last 
 reach that better country, " even a heavenly," where 
 there are no foes to be driven out — where the river 
 of the water of life flows out from the throne of God 
 and the Lamb, watering all the heavenly plains — where 
 there shall be no more fighting, no more hunger, no 
 
424 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 more thirst, but where you shall find infinitely sweeter 
 refreshments than the honey of the rock, or the clus- 
 ters of Eshcol. Press on then towards the mark of 
 your high calling, singing as you go, 
 
 Guide me, thou great Jehovah, 
 Pilgrim through this barren land ; 
 
 I am weak, but thou art mighty, 
 Hold me with thy powerful hand: 
 
 Bread of heaven, 
 Feed me till I want no more. 
 
 Open wide the crystal fountain, 
 Whence the healing waters flow: 
 
 Let the fiery, cloudy pillar 
 
 Lead me all my journey through: 
 
 Strong Deliverer, 
 Be thou still my strength and shield. 
 
 When I tread the verge of Jordan, 
 
 Bid my anxious fears subside : 
 Death of death, and hell's Destruction, " 
 
 Land me safe on Canaan's side : 
 Songs of praises 
 
 I will ever give to thee. 
 
REVIVAL CONVERSATION'S, 
 
 BETWEEN A PASTOR AND INQUIRERS. 
 
 CONVERSATION I. 
 
 Inquirer. (In the pastor's study.) Are you at leisure 
 for a little while this evening ? 
 
 Pastor. I am, and am happy to see you. 
 
 I. My mind has for two or three days been consid- 
 erably exercised on the subject of religion ; and I have 
 called to see if you can help me get over some of my 
 difficulties. 
 
 P. Whatever your difficulties may be, I hope they 
 are not insurmountable. Will you have the goodness 
 to state them? 
 
 I. My father and mother are both professors, and I 
 have been instructed in religion. They took me with 
 them to public worship earlier than I can remember, and 
 I have regularly attended on the Sabbath ever since. I 
 have been taught to believe in the necessity of regener- 
 ation, not only from the pulpit, but at home and in the 
 Sabbath-school 5 and I have never doubted the reality or 
 the importance of experimental piety. I always intend- 
 ed to become religious, some time or other ; and when I 
 was a child I was alarmed more than once, under the 
 preaching of our excellent minister. But these impres- 
 sions soon wore off. When I came to college, I had a 
 
426 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 secret hope that I might be converted before I got 
 through ; and ever since this revival began I have felt 
 uneasy. Nothing has gone right. I have felt dissatis- 
 fied with myself, and with every thing about me. I am 
 not awakened, but I am unhappy. Preaching troubles 
 me ; religious conversation troubles me ; the prayers that 
 I overhear as I pass through the college entries trouble 
 me. Sometimes I resolve not to attend any of the meet- 
 ings ; but when the time comes, I cannot stay away. I 
 go, but do not feel any thing, and I cannot, except it be 
 an irresistible and unaccountable inclination to find fault 
 with the doctrines which I hear, and with professors of 
 religion : sometimes because they do not live up to their 
 profession ; sometimes because they are overmuch right- 
 eous ; sometimes because they speak to me on the sub- 
 ject, and sometimes because they do not. I am a bun- 
 dle of contradictions. I cannot analyze my own feel- 
 ings. I want to be saved, and yet I do not care any 
 thing about it ; if I did, I should not remain as I am. 
 
 P. Your case is certainly an alarming one ; and I 
 am afraid it will never be any better. According to 
 your statement, you have sinned against great light. It 
 is not for want of religious instruction that you have 
 lived so long "without hope and without God in the 
 world." And what do you think is the reason? If I 
 understand you right, you admit the infinite importance 
 of being reconciled to God. Why then do you hesitate ? 
 What hinders you from becoming a Christian this very 
 hour? 
 
 I. I do not know. I am a wonder to myself. I cer- 
 tainly wish to be saved, but what can I do ? 
 
 P. What have you done ? Have you done any thing ? 
 God has been commanding you every day, for a great 
 many years, to repent of sin and believe in Christ. Have 
 you done this ? He has been calling upon you, with all 
 
A DELAYING INQUIRER. 421 
 
 the authority and tenderness of a father, "My son, give 
 me thy heart." Have you given him your heart ? 
 
 I. Oh, you misunderstand me. I have not got so 
 far. I have told you already that I am not even awa- 
 kened ; and how can I repent ? I am somewhat trou- 
 bled, to be sure, or I should not be here. But my feel- 
 ings are all indefinite. 
 
 P. Do you think your not having got so far is any 
 valid excuse for not repenting and giving your heart to 
 God ? The question is not how far you have advanced, 
 or how you feel, but how you ought to feel. 
 
 I. I do not feel any thing. I have no sense of my 
 sins, and how can I have ? I wish I could feel as others 
 do, but it is impossible. 
 
 P. My dear young friend, do stop and think what 
 you are saying. You do not feel ! You have no sense 
 of your sinfulness ! Astonishing ! A sinner against a 
 holy God, and under condemnation, and liable every mo- 
 ment to drop into a burning, hopeless eternity — and yet 
 you cannot feel, cannot be alarmed, cannot "flee from the 
 wrath to come I" Oh, how dead you must be ! " Hear, 
 
 heavens ; and give ear, earth !" What a heart you 
 must have ! You can feel and act on every other subject 
 but this. "What would you think of a man standing still 
 on a wide prairie, while the smoke and flames were ris- 
 ing to heaven around him, were he in reply to your ex- 
 postulations to say, "I have no feeling ; I cannot be alarm- 
 ed at my situation, though I know the fire is all the 
 while approaching?" What would you think of a pris- 
 oner under sentence of death, were he to say, "I know 
 that if I am not pardoned, I must soon die ; but I cannot 
 feel enough alarmed about it to sue for pardon. I wish 
 
 1 could. I hope I shall, before the day of execution 
 arrives." How would you be shocked and distressed, to 
 hear a friend laboring under a wasting disease say, "I 
 
428 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 know my danger, but I cannot feel it. I have heard of 
 a physician who has cured thousands under the same 
 circumstances, and has never yet lost a patient ; and I 
 have no doubt either of his willingness to hasten to my 
 relief, or of the infallibility of his remedies. But I cannot 
 apply to him, I cannot send for him. I wish I felt inter- 
 est enough in the preservation of my life to come to a 
 decision ; but it is not in my power. I must wait till I 
 can feel my danger, and then I will send for the physi- 
 cian." 
 
 What would you think of such infatuation? How 
 would you be shocked at it ! And yet your own case 
 differs from these only by exhibiting still greater infatu- 
 ation. It is not your life that depends upon your feeling 
 the danger and fleeing from it, but your immortal soul ; 
 and if you had a thousand lives to lose, it would be 
 nothing in comparison with the everlasting pangs of 
 "the second death." 
 
 I. I begin to see the folly and madness of my inde- 
 cision in a clearer light than I ever did before. I have 
 delayed too long. I ought to be in earnest. I wonder 
 I am not ; but still the question returns, how can I see 
 my sins, and feel my danger, and repent ? It seems to 
 me impossible. 
 
 P. But wherein does the impossibility lie ? Is there 
 any thing in the way but disinclination, aversion to holi- 
 ness, and love of sin ? Let me now put you to the test. 
 Will you now, without any more delay, take up the sub- 
 ject of religion in earnest, and do what you can to se- 
 cure the salvation of your soul ? Tell me, my dear young 
 friend, are you ready ? 
 
 I. (After a pause.) I do not like to make any prom- 
 ise, lest I should break it ; for that, you know, would be 
 worse than not to promise at all. 
 
 P. Just stop and consider into what a maze of con- 
 
PREPARATORY WORK. 429 
 
 tradictions your deceitful heart is leading you. You 
 want to be saved ; you believe in the necessity and duty 
 of repentance, and yet you are not willing to engage to 
 do any thing, lest you should break your promise. Your 
 promise to do what ? Why, to take up the subject at 
 once, and do what you can. How much does that ship- 
 wrecked sailor want to be saved from drowning, who 
 will make no effort to reach the life-boat which is pull- 
 ing off from the shore to rescue him ? How much does 
 that sick man want to recover, who will neither promise 
 to take the only medicine that can do him any good, nor 
 take it without promising ? And how much do you want 
 to be saved from sinking into the blackness of darkness 
 for ever, when you are neither willing to pledge yourself 
 to do any thing, nor to do any thing without a pledge ? 
 How much does that prisoner want his liberty, who will 
 not come out, or even try to cast off his fetters, when 
 the door is set wide open ? 
 
 I. I cannot answer you now. I am bewildered. I 
 want time to think of the subject. I will call again. 
 
 P. You want more time ! What if you should die in 
 a fit, before you get home ? "Behold, now is the accept- 
 ed time; behold, now is the day of salvation." "Boast 
 not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a 
 day may bring forth." 
 
 CONVERSATION II. 
 
 Pastor. (In the inquiry room.) What progress have 
 you made, my young friend, since I last saw you ? Have 
 you given your heart to God ? 
 
 Inquirer. I cannot say that I have ; but I hope I have 
 made some progress. I have taken up the subject with 
 the determination to seek till I find. I used, you know, 
 to indulge in some bad habits. From these I have en- 
 
430 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 tirely broken off. I never used to pray, nor hardly ever 
 to read the Bible, nor to attend any sort of religious 
 meetings except on the Sabbath. But now I read the 
 Scriptures regularly, and pray morning and evening, 
 and I do not mean to be absent from a single meeting, 
 if I can help it. In short, I mean to perform every duty, 
 to do all I can, and I hope in this way to conciliate the 
 divine favor. 
 
 P. I am glad to hear that you have forsaken your 
 old companions in sin, that you pray and read the word 
 of God, and punctually attend on the means of grace. 
 All this is right and necessary ; but according to your 
 own account, it is merely preparatory work. You are 
 not yet a Christian, but using means to become one? 
 you are not in the ark of safety, but going towards it? 
 Now, suppose you should die before you get there, or in 
 other words, while you are taking what you seem to re- 
 gard as the preparatory steps ? What would become of 
 you ? Could you go up to the bar of God, and plead, that 
 when arrested by the stroke of death, you was doing 
 "many things," and even trying to repent ? Would such 
 a plea avail? "God now commandeth all men every- 
 where to repent ;" but when and where has he said that 
 all or any of them must try to repent ? Mere trying 
 falls just as far short of repenting, as trying to speak 
 does of speaking, or trying to walk does of walking. 
 When God requires you to do a certain thing, it is vain 
 to think of putting him off with something else, as either 
 preparatory or collateral. You must do the very thing, or 
 you lose the blessing. 
 
 You seem to think, that although you are not yet a 
 Christian, you are in a fair way to become one ; you 
 have set out, and are a good deal nearer the kingdom 
 of heaven than you was a month ago. Now, supposing 
 this were really the case, it would be madness to linger 
 
PREPARATORY WORK. 431 
 
 as you do, when the brittle thread of life may be cut at 
 any moment. If you should be within one step of repent- 
 ance when you die, you would as certainly perish as if 
 you had been ever so far off. The drowning mariner 
 who only almost reaches the plank that was thrown over 
 to save him, sinks to rise no more. The man-slayer who 
 only almost reached the city of refuge before the avenger 
 of blood overtook him, might as well have been cloven 
 down a hundred miles off. 
 
 Let me tell you, my young friend, and prove to you, 
 that instead of being better, you are at this moment 
 more sinful in the sight of a holy God, than you was 
 when this revival began. You certainly have made no 
 atonement for the sins which you had committed before 
 that time. They will stand charged against you, just as 
 if you had not bestowed a thought upon the subject of 
 religion. And have you not since committed any sin? 
 You will not, you cannot answer this question in the 
 negative. Your own conscience testifies that you have 
 sinned every day, and every waking hour. These sins 
 are added to the long black catalogue in the book of 
 God's remembrance — so that you are a greater sinner 
 to-day than you was yesterday ; and if it were possible 
 for you to live a thousand years and to spend the whole 
 time in reading and prayer without regeneration and 
 without repentance and faith, you would be vastly more 
 sinful, and of course more unworthy of pardon than you 
 are now. 
 
 I. (In a desponding tone,) I suppose it is so ; but 
 how discouraging ! According to this view of the case, 
 I might just as well have remained as I was to this hour. 
 It is all lost labor. • 
 
 P. Yes, all that you have ever done or can do to 
 weave a robe of self-righteousness, is lost labor. " The 
 bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it, 
 
432 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 and the covering" is narrower than that he can wrap him- 
 self in it." Salvation is a free gift, and not a reward 
 bestowed. "Not by works of righteousness which we 
 have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by 
 the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy 
 Ghost." God has infinite blessings to give, but none to 
 sell. He has pardons for the penitent and believing, but 
 he makes no compromises. He looks upon no other 
 righteousness, save that of his beloved Son. 
 
 CONVERSATION III. 
 
 Pastor. (In the inquiry room.) I am glad to see you 
 here once more, this evening, and hope you have come 
 with a new heart, and a new song in your mouth. 
 
 Inquirer. I wish I could say that I have ; but I do 
 not see that I make any progress at all. All my strug- 
 gling and striving does not bring me a step nearer to 
 the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 P. Indeed, I am more and more alarmed for you. 
 You have held out a great while. The Spirit of God will 
 not always continue to strive. Excuse yourself as you 
 may, the sin lieth at your own door. And why, my dear 
 young friend, will you not throw down the weapons of 
 your rebellion, and submit unconditionally to Christ ? 
 
 I. I have no power to submit, and how can I get the 
 power ? 
 
 P. Have no power to submit! What power does it 
 require to submit — to leave off contending with God — to 
 cast yourself down at the foot of his throne as a perish- 
 ing sinner ? It is the prerogative of power to resist, not 
 to submit. What woul^you think were a garrison, when 
 closely besieged and reduced to the last extremity, to 
 use this plea for not surrendering the fortress — we have 
 no power to submit ? Thousands have had no power to 
 
DONE ALL HE COULD. 433 
 
 hold out against a besieging enemy ; but who was ever 
 too weak to surrender at discretion? How strangely 
 would it sound in your ears were a perverse and rebel- 
 lious child, when under chastisement, to plead as an ex- 
 cuse for not confessing his fault and promising amend- 
 ment, that he has no power to submit ! 
 
 And yet, when God commands you to repent, to sub- 
 mit at the foot of the cross as a poor sinner, you try to 
 quiet your conscience by pleading that you have no pow- 
 er to yield. Why, the difficulty with you is, that you 
 have too much power, as you have hitherto used it. You 
 have a power of resistance which is perfectly astonishing, 
 and which nothing short of Omnipotence can overcome. 
 You have held out, day after day and week after week, 
 against motives which one would think must be enough 
 to conquer a world — against threatenings and invita- 
 tions and promises the most urgent and alluring that 
 were ever addressed to rebels under the curse of God's 
 holy law. What you need is, to have this terrible pow- 
 er of resistance overcome. All you want is the right 
 disposition, a "humble and contrite heart;" and that you 
 lack this is your own fault. 
 
 I. I cannot answer your arguments ; but although 
 I begin to see the subject in a new light, it does still 
 appear to me that I have been honest and sincere in 
 trying to do all I can ; and will not a God of infinite 
 compassion pity my weakness, and make up the defi- 
 ciency ? 
 
 P. God will never give up his rightful claims. He 
 will never cease to command, however you may refuse 
 to obey ; and if you die in your sins, he will justify the 
 reasonableness of your condemnation before the assem- 
 bled universe. Admitting the validity of your plea, 
 there will be a great wonder in the day of judgment : 
 you, of all the countless millions of the human family, 
 
 Rev. Sketches. 19 
 
434 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 will stand alone, as one that did all he could to comply 
 ■with the conditions of salvation — and yet was not saved. 
 Every one who perishes will be self-condemned. "Thou 
 hast destroyed thyself," will ring louder and louder in 
 his ears, as he sinks deeper and deeper in "the black- 
 ness of darkness for ever." 
 
 I. What more, then, can I do ? I am sure I am will- 
 ing to do every thing that God requires, cost what it 
 will. 
 
 P. No, my young friend, you are not willing. Here 
 lies the fatal mistake. You deceive yourself. You want 
 to be saved. You shrink back from the bottomless 
 gulf, upon the brink of which you are standing. You 
 would doubtless give the world, if you owned it all, for 
 the ransom of your soul ; but you will not give your 
 heart to God — you will not repent — "you will not come 
 to Christ, that you might have life." If there is any thing 
 in the way but your own obstinate and wicked heart, do 
 tell me what it is. Does God stand in the way? do I 
 stand in the way ? do any of your Christian friends ? do 
 your sinful companions ? They may try to dissuade, but 
 they cannot hinder you from coming to the cross. The 
 difficulty is within, and not without. 
 
 CONVERSATION IV. 
 
 Pastok. You will recollect, Mr. A , that I spoke 
 
 with you last evening in the inquiry meeting ; but not 
 having time to enter into your case fully, I have called 
 this morning to renew the conversation. When I urged 
 upon you the duty of immediate repentance, and entreat- 
 ed you not to delay another hour or moment, I think 
 your answer was, that you had not been under convic- 
 tion long enough. Did I understand you correctly? 
 
NOT LONG CONVICTED. 435 
 
 Inquirer. Yes, sir, you did. That is one of my diffi- 
 culties. It is scarcely three days since I began to think 
 seriously on the subject ; and having" been all my life so 
 stupid and wicked, how can I turn right about and re- 
 pent at once ? 
 
 P. How long do you think you ought to be under 
 conviction, before you repent ? 
 
 I. I cannot tell exactly ; but it seems as if a sinner 
 must have some time to think, and make up his mind, 
 before he acts. 
 
 P. Well, here is the Bible — will you turn to some 
 passage which justifies him in delaying ? 
 
 I. I have read the Bible so little and so carelessly, 
 that if there were a hundred I should not be able to find 
 them. But if I was as familiar with the Scriptures as 
 you are, I presume I could find many such passages. 
 
 P. No, my friend, not one, if you had committed every 
 word of the Bible to memory. There are texts enough 
 on the other side. " God now commandeth all men every- 
 where to repent." " To-day," even to-day, " after so long 
 a time, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart." 
 This is the current language of the Bible on the subject. 
 It does not allow you a day — no, not a moment — to obtain 
 clearer convictions of your guilt and danger before you 
 yield to Christ. But how much longer indulgence do 
 you want ? Will one day satisfy you ? will two ? will a 
 week ? 
 
 I. It seems as if I ought to repent and give my heart 
 to God in less than a week; but a day or two longer, 
 devoted to serious reflection, cannot be much compared 
 with all my life spent in sin and folly. 
 
 P. No ; but have you any promise of living a day or 
 two longer? What if God should say, "Thou fool, this 
 night thy soul shall be required of thee V What will 
 become of you? Will your waiting for more time to 
 
436 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 think of the subject save you? Besides, it seems as if 
 God was now striving with you. But what if he should 
 in anger withdraw his Spirit the next hour, and say, 
 This man is joined to his idols ; he will not forsake them 
 at once, he will not repent of sin : "let him alone !" 
 
 I. I see the danger of delay. I may die, I know, at 
 any moment, or God may leave me ; but what can I do ? 
 I am not fit to come to Christ. I want to be better pre- 
 pared before I come. 
 
 P. And when will you be any more fit than you are 
 now? What can you expect to gain by delay? Will 
 holding out against God a day or a week longer make 
 you any better? Are you not adding sin to sin, and 
 growing more and more unworthy to come, every hour 
 you live ? Will waiting cancel any of your past trans- 
 gressions ; and is not a new page written against you 
 every day in the book of remembrance ? Did the prodi- 
 gal son, "when he came to himself," wait to strip off 
 his rags and make himself more fit to return to his 
 father ; or did he go just as he was, in the last extrem- 
 ity of guilt and famine, and cry, " Father, I have sinned 
 against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy 
 to be called thy son ?" Did the publican wait to make 
 himself more worthy of divine compassion, before he 
 " smote upon his breast and cried, God be merciful to me 
 a sinner ?" 
 
 0, my friend, if you think that by waiting you can 
 make yourself any more fit or worthy of being saved, 
 you mistake the ground of acceptance altogether. Salva- 
 tion is wholly of grace. No sinner was ever accepted on 
 account of his own fitness, his own worthiness, nor ever 
 will be. " The Son of man came to seek and to save that 
 which was lost." He does not say, "Come unto me, all ye 
 that are Jit," but, "all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, 
 and I will give you rest." No, you must come just as 
 
NOT LONG CONVICTED. 431 
 
 you are, poor and wretched and blind and naked and in 
 want of all things, if you come at all. On no other terms 
 can you be received. Christ has thrones and crowns to 
 give, but not a morsel of the bread of life or a drop of 
 living water to sell. "By grace you are saved through 
 faith ; and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God." 
 
 I. Yes ; I see, I see at last, that it must be so ; but 
 I am such a great sinner, that I dare not come. I am 
 afraid Christ will not receive me. 
 
 P. That your sins are more heinous in the sight of 
 God, than you have ever imagined, I have no doubt. But 
 for whom did Christ suffer and die, if not for great sin- 
 ners — for David and Manasseh and Mary Magdalene and 
 Paul, as well as for Samuel and Josiah and Daniel and 
 John ? Are there any little sinners, in the sense which you 
 mean — any with whom God is but a little displeased ? I 
 am sure I have never met with such a one ; and if there 
 were, are the offers of salvation addressed exclusively 
 to any class of sinners ? Does Christ say to one, I invite 
 you ; and to another, I invite you to the gospel feast ; 
 but to a third, You must not come — "you are so un- 
 worthy, so great a sinner, that I cannot allow you to 
 taste of my supper ?" Does he not say to his servants, 
 " Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, 
 and bring in hither the poor and the maimed, the halt 
 and the blind, that my house may be filled ?" 
 
 I. (With great emotion.) Still, I have lived so long in 
 sin, and rejected so many offers, I am afraid he will not 
 ;eceive me. What shall I do ? 
 
 P. What shall you do ? Why, my dear sir, your duty 
 is perfectly plain. You say that you are a great snmer ; 
 and you ought to repent and trust in Christ immediately. 
 There is a subtle delusion at the bottom of your difficulty, 
 which I fear has ruined thousands of souls. You must 
 have some pledge that Christ will save you, before you 
 
438 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 come to him ; and when you have it, you are not satis- 
 fied. To all your other sins, you add the guilt of dis- 
 trust of his great and precious promises. You vir- 
 tually charge him with insincerity and falsehood. You 
 do not intend it ; but just look at the excuse, and tell 
 me, if you can, what less it amounts to. You are afraid 
 that Christ will not receive you if you do come, when he 
 tells you expressly that he will. You would be glad to 
 come, you wish to comply with his offers, but if you do 
 he will not receive you. This, it seems to me, is your 
 real position. This is the deception which you have been 
 practising upon yourself, on the very brink of destruc- 
 tion. Dare you rest here ? 
 
 I. No, no, I dare not any longer. Oh, what shall 
 I do? 
 
 CONVERSATION V. 
 
 Pastor. You see, my young friend, that many are 
 pressing into the kingdom of heaven, and I am anxious 
 to know how you feel. 
 
 Inquirer. I feel as if religion was very important, and 
 I hope I shall not be left. 
 
 P. I was afraid you did not feel much interest on the 
 subject, as I have rarely seen you at our meetings. You 
 say you hope you shall not be left. Let me ask you 
 what you are doing to obtain " the pearl of great price V* 
 
 I. I acknowledge I am not doing much — and how 
 can I ? The work is all of God, and I am waiting for 
 the influence of his Spirit. He has awakened and con- 
 verted a great many, and I hope he will, in his own 
 time, convert me. 
 
 P. But what if he should not ? Here you are, a sin- 
 ner, saying with the sluggard, "A little more sleep, a 
 little more slumber, a little more folding of the hands to 
 
WAITING FOR THE SPIRIT. 439 
 
 sleep," and resting upon a vague hope that God will 
 awaken you. What reason have you to expect it ? Has 
 he given you any promise to that effect ? Is he under any 
 obligation to save you. Will he do you any injustice 
 if he passes you by ? And if he should pass you by, what 
 will become of you ? 
 
 I. If he should, I must be lost, of course ; but I hope 
 he will not : I trust he will not. Does not the Bible 
 somewhere say, " Wait patiently for the Lord ?" and in 
 another place, "It is good that a man should both hope 
 and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord ?" 
 
 P. It does ; but you entirely misunderstand these 
 passages, if you suppose they allow you still to continue 
 in sin and unbelief. They imply an act of humble trust 
 in God, and his covenant faithfulness. How did the 
 Psalmist and other holy men of old wait for the salva- 
 tion of God ? Did they listlessly fold their arms as you 
 do and hope for the best, and sleep on ? No : just take 
 the Bible and read for yourself. They waited on God in 
 fervent and believing prayer for those blessings and de- 
 liverances which he has promised to his people. 
 
 You are waiting God's time to arrest you and bring 
 you into his kingdom. God's time ! My dear young 
 friend, what do you mean by God's time? When is 
 it — to-day, or to-morrow; now, or a week or a month 
 hence? Point me to one solitary text, if you can, which 
 justifies you in delaying one hour for God to awa- 
 ken you, or which authorizes you to expect that he 
 will come, if you thus delay. What a fatal quietus to 
 your conscience ! What a false and ruinous security ! 
 What is God's time, in the only proper meaning which 
 can be attached to the inquiry? What does he say in 
 his word ? " Behold, now is the accepted time ; behold, 
 now is the day of salvation." " God now commandeth 
 all men everywhere to repent." "Boast not thyself of 
 
440 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 to-morrow ; for thou knowest not what a day may bring 
 
 forth." What liberty or encouragement, my dear A , 
 
 do these Scriptures give you to continue in your sinful 
 unbelief ? 
 
 I. What else can I do ? I have no power to awaken 
 myself ; much less, to change my own heart. 
 
 P. That is, you mean, or ought to mean, that you 
 have at present no disposition to make religion the all- 
 important subject of inquiry — that you have no heart to 
 break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquity 
 by turning unto God — that there is in you a wicked 
 disinclination to do what God commands you to do. You 
 have power enough on the other side, in opposition to 
 God, to astonish the universe. 
 
 You are waiting, you say, for him to come and save 
 you. How are you waiting ? In the use of the means of 
 salvation which he has appointed — in reading the Scrip- 
 tures, in prayer, in devout attendance upon the preaching 
 of his word ? No ; but in the neglect of all, or nearly 
 all these duties. Is this the way in which the farmer 
 waits for the blessing of the Lord ? Does he fold his arms 
 and say, I will wait for the harvest till it pleases God to 
 bring it to me ; or does he " break up the fallow ground," 
 and sow the seed ? Were you starving, would you wait 
 for God to send the ravens to feed you, or would you 
 make every possible effort to relieve yourself? What 
 did the prodigal son do, when he came to himself? He 
 said, "I will arise and go to my father," and he went. 
 Had he remained among the swine, he would have 
 perished. How was it in the days of John the Baptist ? 
 The kingdom of heaven suffered violence, and the violent 
 took it by force. What was the answer of Christ to the 
 question, Are there few that be saved ? " Strive to enter 
 in at the strait gate ; for many, I say unto you, will 
 seek to enter in, and shall not be able." What were 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN. 441 
 
 the exhortations of his inspired apostles? "Draw nigh 
 to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your 
 hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double- 
 minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep. Humble 
 yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you 
 up?" "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the 
 dead, and Christ shall give thee light." And how is it 
 that sinners in this revival, or any other, "make their 
 calling and election sure ?" Is it not by fleeing from the 
 wrath to come, and laying hold on eternal life ? 
 
 Yours, I am sorry to say, is no uncommon case. I 
 am sure it is not too late, if you will now rise and flee 
 to the strong-hold; for you are yet a prisoner of hope. 
 Your case, though alarming, is not desperate ; I hear a 
 voice from heaven, "Let the wicked forsake his way, 
 and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; and let him 
 return unto the Lord, who will have mercy upon him ; 
 and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." 
 
 CONVERSATION VI. 
 
 Pastor. (To one in the inquiry meeting who had long 
 been in a state of extreme depression.) Is the great 
 controversy between God and your rebellious heart 
 settled ? 
 
 Inquirer. no ; and how can it ever be ? I am 
 afraid I have committed the UDpardonable sin. 
 
 P. What makes you think so ? Have you openly rid- 
 iculed and opposed the revival, and tried to stop it ? 
 
 I. If I have not, I have done that which is worse. I 
 have resisted the Holy Spirit. God has called, and I 
 have refused. He has said, " Turn you, turn you ; why 
 will you die?" and I have virtually answered, " Depart 
 from me ; I desire not the knowledge of thy ways." 
 19* 
 
442 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 P. You say you have resisted the Holy Spirit. Have 
 you done it maliciously? Have you spoken against 
 Him, and ascribed your distress to satanic, or some 
 other malignant influence, contrary to the convictions of 
 your own conscience, thus doing "despite to the Spirit 
 of grace ?" 
 
 I. I desire to be thankful that I have not yet been 
 left to pour out the wickedness of my heart in any such 
 way. The bare thought makes me shudder. But still 
 it seems to me, that for any one to hold out so long as I 
 have done, must be unpardonable — must be to sin be- 
 yond forgiveness. 
 
 P. Has the Spirit entirely abandoned you ? Have you 
 thrown off the subject from your mind, and determined 
 to think no more about it? Have you no concern, no 
 feeling ; no longer any desire to be saved in the way 
 which God has appointed? 
 
 I. Oh that I could be saved ! But my heart, my 
 wicked heart — I am sure there never was one so hard 
 as mine. I am sure it will never yield, and how can I 
 be forgiven ? 
 
 P. Your condition is indeed very alarming. I have 
 thought so for many weeks. It is certain that if you do 
 not repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you 
 cannot be saved. But I see no reason to think that you 
 have committed the unpardonable sin ; I mean the sin 
 which seals the man over from that hour to certain de- 
 struction. I believe that thousands are now in heaven, 
 who were once in the very state that you are this morn- 
 ing. They looked round for help, and none came till they 
 cast themselves unconditionally upon the mercy of God 
 through a Redeemer. Every sin has demerit and malig- 
 nity enough to destroy the soul, if unrepented of. 
 
 Far be it from me to cry, " Peace, peace," when God 
 says, "There is no peace to the wicked." You are in 
 
A DESPONDING INQUIRER. 443 
 
 great danger. You cannot resist the Spirit another mo- 
 ment without adding sin to sin, and increasing the dan- 
 ger; and if you hold out against God to the last, you 
 will as certainly perish as if you had committed the sin 
 against the Holy Ghost. All sin is alike unpardonable, 
 after death. But it is a stratagem of the great adversary 
 to persuade sinners that they are given over to final 
 reprobation, when he cannot hinder them from inquir- 
 ing and striving in any other way ; and I think this is 
 the snare in which he has caught you. Full well does 
 the subtle destroyer know, that if he can make you 
 despair of mercy — if he can hinder you from "fleeing 
 from the wrath to come," he is sure of his prey. My 
 fears are, not that you have committed the unpardonable 
 sin, but that you will not accept of pardon on the humil- 
 iating terms of the gospel. 
 
 I. Do you really believe, then, that there is still any 
 hope for me ? 
 
 P. Certainly I do. I have no doubt of it. The door of 
 mercy yet stands open. Turn, I beseech you, turn to 
 the strong-hold while you are a prisoner of hope. 
 
 CONVERSATION VII. 
 
 Inquirer. (In a desponding tone.) Do you think I 
 shall ever come to Christ ? 
 
 Pastor. I do not know. I am afraid you never will. 
 Tou have held out so long, and your heart is so hard, 
 that the prospect is exceedingly dark. I do not know 
 what more powerful motives can be addressed to you, 
 than you have resisted. You certainly have not grown 
 any better by delay. On the contrary, the habit of sin- 
 ning gains strength every day that it is indulged, and 
 of course the prospect grows darker and darker. 
 
444 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 I. What more can I do ? 
 
 P. What have you done ? 
 
 I. I have read the Bible and prayed, and attended 
 all the inquiry meeting's, and been hoping every day that 
 my heart would bow, and I should find relief ; but it all 
 does no good, and it seems as if I might as well give 
 up first as last. 
 
 P. Give up what ? Give up your heart to God ? or 
 dismiss the subject, and think no more about it ? If you 
 mean the former, you are perfectly correct. It is more 
 than time that you had given your heart to God. But if 
 you mean that you may as well give up seeking-, and re- 
 turn to your former stupidity first as last, you amaze me. 
 There is too much reason to fear that you have not yet 
 seen "the plague of your own heart." If you dismiss 
 the subject now, it will in all probability settle the 
 question for ever. You may never witness another re- 
 vival ; and if you should, it may be only to "behold, and 
 despise and wonder and perish." 
 
 I. I know it ; and when I think of it, it makes me 
 tremble. But what shall I do ? I am sure I desire to be 
 saved, and would repent if I could. 
 
 P. Do you mean, then, to cast the blame upon God ? 
 
 I. Certainly I do not. How can you think so ? 
 
 P. Does he not require, does he not command you to 
 repent and give yourself to Christ ? 
 
 I. If I believe the Bible, I must believe that he does. 
 
 P. And yet you say you would repent if you could. 
 Is not this shifting the blame off from yourself? And 
 upon whom, if not upon God — either for requiring you 
 to repent, or for not giving- you a penitent heart, in spite 
 of your resistance of the Holy Spirit ? I know, my dear 
 young friend, what you want. You want to have me en- 
 courage you ; and I would do it with all my heart, if I 
 could in faithfulness to my Master and to your precious 
 
A TREMBLING HOPE. 445 
 
 soul. You would be glad to have me say that I think 
 you will by and by repent, if you keep on as you have 
 done ; but I dare not say it. I do not see that you are 
 any nearer the kingdom of heaven than you were a month 
 ago ; and how can I encourage you ? I do not know 
 what God of his infinite mercy may do ; but all the 
 encouragement I can give, when you ask me what you 
 must do, is, " Seek the Lord, while he may be found ; 
 call upon him while he is near." " Let the wicked for- 
 sake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts : 
 and let him return unto the Lord, who will have mercy 
 upon him; and to our God, who will abundantly pardon." 
 " The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that 
 heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come ; 
 and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." 
 Indeed, what greater encouragement can you desire, 
 than is found in these and similar passages of Scripture ? 
 "I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord, to say less 
 or more." And how can you expect, or even wish to be 
 saved on easier terms than these ? 
 
 CONVEKSATION VIII. 
 
 Pastor. (In his study.) Walk in, my young friend ; 
 I have been wishing to see you for two or three days, 
 but have not found time to call at your room. When 
 you was here last, you was in great distress. You saw 
 what your duty was, but your will would not bow ; and 
 it seemed to you that there was very little, if any hope 
 in your case. Others might be saved, but your heart 
 was so hard that nothing could break or melt it ; and 
 you left me with the acknowledgment that it would be 
 perfectly just if God were to cast you off for ever. Is 
 there any change in your feelings ? 
 
446 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 Inquirer. There is a change ; but I hardly know 
 whether it is for the better or the worse. The burden 
 which bowed me down to the earth, and under which it 
 appeared to me I could not live much longer, is gone. 
 I sometimes fear that it is because I have grieved away 
 the Spirit, and I try to bring back my distress, but cannot. 
 I have been calm for the last twenty-four hours, almost 
 in spite of myself. What to make of it, I do not know. 
 
 P. Will you tell me a little more particularly what 
 the exercises of your mind have been, since our last in- 
 terview ? 
 
 I. I felt that night as if I was utterly forsaken of 
 heaven and earth. You told me you could not help me ; 
 and it did seem as if God's "mercies were clean gone 
 for ever." I went to my room, and tried to pray ; but 
 my mouth was shut, and it seemed as if the pit of de- 
 struction was opening to receive me. At length I was 
 enabled to say, " God be merciful to me a sinner ;" and 
 it seemed all at once as if there was mercy for me. 
 Several texts of Scripture came to my mind, particu- 
 larly these two : "0 Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, 
 but in me is thy help;" "Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And I cried out, 
 " Lord, I believe ; help thou mine unbelief." From that 
 moment, light gradually broke into my mind. I did not 
 then think that my heart was changed, and I am now 
 by no means sure of it, for I have had too much experi- 
 ence of its deceitfulness to trust it. But of one thing I 
 am certain: a great change of some sort has taken 
 place in my views and feelings. I do not seem to be the 
 same man I was before. Every thing appears new. 
 The sun shines brighter, the flowers are more beauti- 
 ful, the birds sing more sweetly, the mountains lift up 
 their heads in greater majesty, and all nature seems to 
 be praising God. 
 
A TREMBLING HOPE. Ul 
 
 I thought, when I was fighting against him, that he 
 was a hard master, and wished I could get out of his 
 hands. I was afraid to trust him. How strange. I do 
 not, I cannot feel so now. Every thing with him is just 
 as it should be ; his government, his law, his hatred of 
 sin, his threatenings — all, all is right. 
 
 The plan of salvation by Christ is so new, that it 
 seems as if I had never heard of it before. How won- 
 derful that God should send his only begotten Son to 
 die for sinners ! What a glorious Saviour ! And how 
 astonishing that I could have lived under the light of 
 the gospel so many years without seeing any comeliness 
 in him why I should desire him. When I think of my 
 past life, it seems too much to hope he will forgive my 
 sins ; but I do not see how I can help loving him. 
 
 P. How does the Bible appear to you ? 
 
 I. 0, quite like a new book. I have read it more or 
 less from my childhood ; so that in one sense it has been 
 familiar to me, but in another sense it has been a sealed 
 book. Every chapter I read strikes me as it never did 
 before. The words are the same, but the sense is dif- 
 ferent. The psalms and the gospels, especially, open 
 new fields of contemplation which I never thought of. 
 I used, when my mother required me to read a given 
 number of chapters every Sabbath-day, to be tired 
 of it ; but now I should be glad to read it all the 
 time. 
 
 P. How is it in respect to prayer? Your parents 
 taught you to pray when you was a child, and have been 
 urging the duty upon you ever since. 
 
 I. Yes, but it was always a task. It was mere lip- 
 service. My heart was not in it. And as I did not love 
 to pray myself, neither did I want to hear prayer. Many 
 a time have I hastened off to bed to get rid of the even- 
 ing devotions of the family. After I was awakened, as 
 
448 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 I have told you, I could not pray. I tried again and 
 again ; but every word was cold as ice, and my con- 
 science told me it was but solemn mockery. I feel very 
 differently now. Why it is, I cannot say. Whether God 
 has opened my mouth, I do not know. About one thing, 
 however, I cannot be mistaken. Prayer is no longer a 
 task, but a pleasure. I love to spread my wants before 
 God, and to make supplication to him. It may be from 
 selfish motives, or from mere temporary excitement. I 
 fear it is ; and I ask your prayers that I may not be 
 deceived. 
 
 P. Is there any change in your feelings towards 
 Christians ? 
 
 I. There is a very great change ; and yet the time 
 is so short, that I do not know whether I can place any 
 dependence upon it. I used to respect those whom I 
 thought sincere in their profession, though I confess 
 with shame that I was sometimes censorious, and se- 
 cretly pleased to find flaws in church-members. I can- 
 not say that I ever took pleasure in their society as 
 Christians ; my taste led me to choose associates of a 
 different character. How it will be hereafter, remains 
 to be proved. I have yet had no opportunity to bring 
 myself to the test. It seems — and that is all I can say — 
 as if my heart was drawn towards them as it never was 
 till now, and as if I should be more happy in their com- 
 pany than in any other. 
 
 P. If God has chosen you to salvation, and called 
 you into the kingdom of his dear Son, is it owing to any 
 worthiness in you, more than in others who are still in 
 the broad way to death ? 
 
 I. no, no ; certainly not. It is all of grace. There 
 was nothing in me which a holy God could approve — 
 nothing but wickedness and rebellion in my heart. It 
 seems to me that no other heart is so hard, so vile as 
 
FEAR OF EXCITEMENT. 449 
 
 mine has been. If saved, I am a brand plucked out of 
 the burning. 
 
 P. But you have always maintained a good moral 
 character, have you not ? How then can you look upon 
 yourself as the chief of sinners ? 
 
 I. God has indeed kept me back from open and scan- 
 dalous sins, and I was ready to thank him that I was 
 not as other men are, "extortioners, unjust," and the 
 like ; but Oh, this wicked, deceitful heart ! This is what 
 God looks at ; and who ever had one more deceitful and 
 wicked than mine ? 
 
 P. I think you take the right view of the matter, 
 and I have been greatly interested in this conversation. 
 If God has "made you willing in the day of his power," 
 it is certainly an act of free and sovereign grace ; and 
 let him have all the glory. If he has " begun a good 
 work in you," he will carry it on "until the day of Jesus 
 Christ." But, my dear young friend, it is a great thing 
 to "pass from death unto life ;" and the change in your 
 views and feelings is so recent, that it is difficult to say 
 how much reliance is to be placed upon them. You want 
 time for reflection, prayer, reading the Scriptures, and 
 self-examination. You cannot tell how you may feel a 
 few days hence. Time alone can decide the question. 
 It is infinitely more important that you should build 
 upon the right foundation, than that you should be num- 
 bered or count yourself at once with the young converts. 
 
 CONVERSATION IX. 
 
 Pastor. Understanding from one of your classmates 
 that you have expressed some interest in the revival, I 
 have called this morning to converse with you on the 
 subject. 
 
450 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 Student. It is true I have thought more about relig- 
 ion of late than usual, and for two or three days have 
 felt extremely uneasy. There is so much said about it, 
 and so much praying in every college entry, that I have 
 serious thoughts of asking leave of absence for a few 
 days, till the excitement is over. 
 
 P. Ask leave of absence ! you astonish me. How 
 dare you "flee from the presence of the Lord" at such a 
 time as this ? Nothing should induce you to think of it 
 for a moment. It would be turning your back on heav- 
 en, and might land you for ever beyond the reach of hope. 
 There cannot be greater madness than for a sinner to 
 run away from a revival, either through fear of being 
 awakened, or to throw off conviction. Many have done 
 it, and thus lost their golden opportunity ; and where 
 are they ? It argues infinitely greater infatuation for a 
 sinner to withdraw from the midst of a genuine revival, 
 for fear of being brought under its influence, than it 
 would for an inmate of a hospital, with all the livid 
 spots of a malignant plague upon him, to flee from it 
 at the very time when a physician of preeminent skill 
 was going from ward to ward and curing all who would 
 submit to his prescriptions. 
 
 S. I do not know that I shall leave at present ; but 
 I acknowledge that I am afraid of so much excitement. 
 It seems to me there is great danger that many will 
 get false hopes, who, if they would look at the subject 
 calmly and rationally, might ultimately become Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 P. Will you explain yourself? The term excitement 
 is so indefinite, that I do not know exactly what you 
 mean. Have you noticed any thing like extravagance 
 or enthusiasm in any of our meetings or elsewhere 
 among the students? Do you hear any vociferous ap- 
 peals to the passions from our preachers — any thing 
 
FEAR OF EXCITEMENT. 451 
 
 that is calculated to make fanatics, or to encourage false 
 hopes ? 
 
 S. You do not quite understand me. I have no fault 
 to find on that score. Perhaps there is as little to object 
 to in this revival as any other. But then, you know, 
 there is a great deal of feeling. Keligion is the all- 
 absorbing topic. One half the students can neither talk 
 nor think of any thing else. 
 
 P. You are quite mistaken on one point, at least. 
 The recitations are, upon an average, as good as they 
 were before the revival began, and the attention on col- 
 lege exercises is better. 
 
 S. Still, my classmates and others all around me are 
 excited, and I am getting excited also. The safest way 
 therefore, I think, is to stand still and wait till the agi- 
 tation subsides. When every thing becomes quiet again 
 in college, and I feel perfectly calm myself, I intend de- 
 liberately to take up the subject of religion as a rational 
 thing, and become a Christian. 
 
 P. Oh, my young friend, how can you deceive your- 
 self in this manner ! You would pronounce any man 
 insane who should reason on secular subjects as you do 
 upon this. You have felt interested, excited as you say ; 
 and instead of " fleeing from the wrath to come," you 
 are going to "quench the Spirit," and wait till you be- 
 come perfectly uninterested, perfectly stupid again ; and 
 after that, when the Holy Spirit is gone, and you have 
 no feeling, and there is a dead calm all around, you 
 intend to do — what? Why, to "think on your ways," 
 to repent of your sins, and flee to the ark of safety. 
 Was any thing ever more preposterous ? 
 
452 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 CONVERSATION X. 
 
 Pastor. As it is a time of great religious interest, 
 and I do not see you either in the lecture or inquiry 
 room, I have felt it my duty to call and urge you to im- 
 prove the golden opportunity while it lasts. Soon, I am 
 afraid, your unavailing and bitter cry will be, " The har- 
 vest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved." 
 
 Student. It is very kind in you to visit me. I wish I 
 could become a Christian, but it is impossible. 
 
 P. What evidence have you that it is impossible? 
 Many others are pressing into the kingdom of heaven, 
 and why may not you ? 
 
 S. Mine is a very peculiar case. I have passed 
 through several revivals, and have tried over and over 
 again to repent, but could not. I formed a thousand 
 good resolutions, but they all came to nothing, and each 
 failure left me more callous than I was before. I am 
 sure I want to be saved, but I dare not take up the sub- 
 ject again. I dare not attend the meetings, for fear my 
 distress will return, and I am sure it will do no good. 
 
 P. Who has told you that it will do no good ? Is 
 God a hard master? Is he insincere when he says, "Let 
 the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his 
 thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, who will 
 have mercy upon him?" Is it God that hinders you? 
 Is it Jesus Christ who died for you ? Or is it your own 
 wicked heart ? 
 
 S. Whatever the hinderance may be, I despair of 
 ever overcoming it. Having been baffled so often, I 
 have concluded not to try any more, especially as I 
 have once been deceived and embraced a false hope. If 
 I try again, I shall at best be deceived just as I was 
 before. I know that by sitting down and doing noth- 
 
FORMER FALSE HOPE. 453 
 
 ing, I shall be lost ; and so I shall, do what I will. Let 
 me then enjoy the present as well as I can, and think as 
 little of the future as possible. 
 
 P. Oh, my young friend, you do not know how much 
 you alarm and distress me. You talk as if you were 
 absolutely beside yourself. Because you have repeat- 
 edly tried to escape from the greatest of all dangers, 
 and have failed, you will make no further efforts. Just 
 think of it. Suppose you was in a burning house, and 
 had tried once, twice, or even ten times to escape, and 
 had been as often driven back by the flames, would you 
 give over? Would you not again and again rush tow- 
 ards the door or window, as long as life and breath 
 remained? I know you would, and so would every 
 other man in like circumstances. 
 
 Oh, N , "madness" is certainly "in your heart." 
 
 I seem to see you sitting with perfect unconcern upon 
 a sand-bank which a raging torrent is every moment 
 washing from beneath your feet. Alarmed at the dan- 
 ger, I call upon you to make for the shore instantly, 
 and your cool answer is, "I have tried more than once 
 already, and beg you will not disturb me." Others 
 gather anxiously around ; a rope is thrown within your 
 reach, and you are earnestly entreated to seize it while 
 you may ; but no, you will not put forth a finger. It 
 would be the second or third trial to save yourself, and 
 you will not make it. Nay, I am doing you great injus- 
 tice by these suppositions. You are not so indifferent 
 to the preservation of your life. I see you straining 
 every nerve up to the hundredth trial. 
 
 But when I point you to the ark of safety which is 
 floating by, and urge you to enter the open door, you 
 coolly reply, that having made several attempts and 
 failed, you have resolved to stay where you are and 
 take your chance with the world of the ungodly. When 
 
454 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 I warn you to flee from the wrath to come, and assure 
 you that Christ stands with open arms to receive you, 
 your answer is, that having more than once tried to flee, 
 you dare not try again, lest you should be equally un- 
 successful. I come to you in the midst of this glorious 
 revival, and entreat you to put yourself in the way ot 
 receiving the blessing ; but cannot persuade you to do 
 any thing, because when you have been awakened in 
 times past, you have quenched the Spirit, and said unto 
 God, " Depart from me ; I desire not the knowledge of 
 thy ways." Your poor body you would do any thing, 
 every thing to save, upon the barest possibility; but you 
 will not make one effort more to save your deathless 
 soul. If this is not infatuation, tell me by what other 
 word I can express it. 
 
 CONVERSATION XI. 
 
 Pastor. (In the inquiry room.) Are you not almost 
 tired of attending these meetings? If I mistake not, 
 you were present the first evening we met after the revi- 
 val began, and though three months or more have elaps- 
 ed, I am not aware that you have ever been absent. 
 
 Inquirer. No, sir ; I resolved from the beginning that 
 I would attend all the meetings — that I would seek till 
 I found, if there was any such thing. 
 
 P. How, my dear young friend, have you sought, and 
 what progress have you made ? Is there any change in 
 your feelings since I saw you last ? 
 
 I. I do not know that there is ; I am almost discour- 
 aged ; still I cannot bear to give it up. 
 
 P. I am discouraged too. It seems to me your case 
 is, I will not say hopeless, but it certainly is exceedingly 
 critical. I have conversed with you so much, and gone 
 
RESOLUTIONS FUTILE. 455 
 
 over the whole ground so often, both in the inquiry room 
 and in more extended interviews elsewhere, that I really 
 do not know what more to say. I cannot advise you to 
 stay away from the meetings ; and yet my heart sinks 
 within me every time I see you. You have held out so 
 long against God's most reasonable claims, that I am 
 afraid you will never yield to them. Going on as you 
 have done, if your life were to be protracted a hundred 
 years, and you were to attend some religious meeting 
 every day and every night, you would be no nearer the 
 kingdom of heaven than you are now. I cannot see that 
 you have advanced a single step for the last two months ; 
 and I believe you do not yourself think you have ; but 
 you hope you shall. When ? The probability is growing 
 less and less every day. 
 
 CONVERSATION XII. 
 
 Pastor. When I saw you last, you expressed a full 
 determination not to linger any longer, but to flee to 
 the ark of safety as soon as possible. Have you kept 
 your resolution ? 
 
 Inquirer. I do not know how to answer you. I am 
 sure I was sincere. I did intend to repent and give my 
 heart to God, and fixed the time. But alas, when it 
 came, I was not quite ready ; and so it has been with 
 me over and over again. What shall I do ? My best 
 resolutions vanish like a vapor, and come to nothing. 
 
 P. The grand adversary, I fear, understands but too 
 well how to manage you. He does not try to persuade 
 you to give up the subject at once, and think no more 
 about it, for that he knows would alarm you, and you 
 might break the snare and escape. He is too subtle for 
 that. He cares not how many good resolutions you form, 
 
456 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 if you do not keep them. You may, with his full con- 
 sent, "resolve and reresolve," provided only you "die 
 the same." And let me tell you, that in the very nature 
 of the case, you never will, you never can repent, so long- 
 as you are resolving to do it at some future time. If 
 you resolve ever so sincerely to repent to-morrow, it set- 
 tles the point that you will not repent to-night. You will 
 certainly put it off; and when to-morrow comes, you 
 will almost as certainly defer it to a more "convenient 
 season." It is the remark of an old divine, that "hell is 
 paved with good resolutions." The prodigal son could 
 not remain starving upon husks another day or hour, 
 after he came to himself. No sooner was his resolution 
 taken, than it was executed. "I will arise and go to 
 my father," not to-morrow, but immediately ; and he 
 went, and was received as a penitent child. You must 
 do as he did ; not resolve that you will return by and by, 
 but return at once. Every moment's delay is a moment 
 of danger and sin. 
 
 CONYEESATION XIII. 
 
 Pastor. I hope, my young friend, you are no longer 
 "halting between two opinions," as I found you last 
 week. Soon will the "harvest be past, and the summer 
 ended." If you continue to hesitate and linger, and 
 finally "return again to folly," the revival will leave 
 you more callous than it found you; and should you 
 perish after what you have witnessed and felt, your 
 condemnation will be more aggravated than it would 
 have been had you never enjoyed these high privileges. 
 Inquirer. I am aware of it, and would that I had 
 never enjoyed them. 
 
 P. You make me shudder. Have you then no thanks 
 
FEAR OF AGGRAVATED DOOM. 451 
 
 to render that the " kingdom of God is thus brought nigh 
 unto you ?" Does infinite tenderness and mercy deserve 
 such a return from one who is ready to perish ? 
 
 I. How can I be thankful for that which does me no 
 good, but may sink me in darker despair for ever ? 
 
 P. Whose fault is it, if, when the bread of life is free- 
 ly offered, you will not take it — if, when the waters of 
 salvation flow at your feet, you will not stoop down and 
 drink — if, when the blessed Saviour comes to the door 
 and knocks, you will not let him in? It certainly will 
 aggravate your final condemnation, that you have been 
 thus exalted to heaven, if you remain impenitent. " Unto 
 whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be re- 
 quired." 
 
 You wish you had never enjoyed such religious priv- 
 ileges. The wish comes too late. You have, enjoyed 
 them, and can never place yourself back where you was 
 before. You can hereafter, if you choose, throw away 
 your Bible, and forsake the house of God ; or if you do 
 not, you can stop your ears and harden your heart un- 
 der the means of grace j or you can flee away to some 
 remote region of darkness, where there is no Sabbath 
 and no preaching. You can go and live among the hea- 
 then, and die with them. But still it will remain true 
 that you was born of Christian parents, that you receiv- 
 ed a religious education, and that you passed through 
 this great revival. It is all recorded in " the book of 
 remembrance f and your regrets can no more alter the 
 record, than they can blot out your existence. There is 
 no way for you ever to be placed on the same level with 
 those who never enjoyed the gospel, and never witness- 
 ed a revival. If you do not repent of sin and believe in 
 Christ, it will be more tolerable for them in the day of 
 judgment, than for you. 
 
 Rev. Sketches. 20 
 
458 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 CONVEKSATION XIV. 
 
 Pastor. I have just been conversing with some of 
 
 your family, Mr. A , who feel a lively interest in the 
 
 present revival ; and if you have a few moments to 
 spare, I should esteem it a favor to talk a little with 
 you. I have always regarded you as among the best 
 friends I have in the congregation, and you are one of 
 my constant hearers on the Sabbath ; but I am not 
 aware that you have felt any particular interest in the 
 work of the Lord which he is now carrying on, not only 
 in this place, but in all the towns around us. Many of 
 your neighbors are pressing into the kingdom of heaven. 
 "Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation," 
 and I am anxious to see you also " striving to enter in 
 at the strait gate.' 7 
 
 Parishioner. I am afraid that many of them are too 
 fast. They get their hopes too quick and too easy. 
 They act as if they could do all the work themselves, 
 and repent just when they pleased. The good old doc- 
 trine of dependance and divine efficiency under which I 
 was brought up, seems to be going out of fashion. Sin- 
 ners nowadays change their own hearts, or at least 
 think they do. It was not so when I was young. They 
 were under concern for weeks or months, waiting for 
 God to renew them. I am for giving all the glory to 
 God. He is an absolute Sovereign. His time is the 
 best time, and I know of no other way but to wait and 
 hope for his salvation. 
 
 P. While it is impossible to ascribe too much glory 
 to God for his immediate and omnipotent agency in the 
 conversion of sinners, we must beware how we presume 
 upon his mercy while we fold our arms in indifference. 
 Who ever entered in at the strait gate without striving ? 
 
SUDDEN HOPES. 459 
 
 While others are asking what they must do to be saved, 
 and a " new song is put into their mouths," you congrat- 
 ulate yourself upon being more deliberate. You are 
 afraid they are too fast, and so you sit perfectly still. 
 You are afraid they are getting false hopes, and so rest 
 contented without any hope at all. When called upon 
 to give yourself to Christ, you take shelter under sove- 
 reignty and efficiency, and persuade yourself that you 
 are honoring God by waiting for him to come and do 
 what he has commanded you to do. 
 
 Pak. How can I do any thing till God gives me 
 strength? Have I not heard you say a hundred times 
 in the pulpit, that regeneration is the work of God, and 
 that he alone changes the heart ? 
 
 P. I dare say you have ; but is this all that I have 
 said? Have I not always urged upon sinners the duty 
 of immediate repentance and faith, and insisted that 
 there is no obstacle in the way but a wicked and impeni- 
 tent heart, which is so far from constituting a reasona- 
 ble excuse, that it is the very thing for which the sinner 
 will be condemned? 
 
 There is not, my friend, I will venture to say, one 
 solitary text from Genesis to Kevelation, which justifies 
 you in resting in impenitence for God to awaken and 
 give you a new heart. Your great error lies in suppos- 
 ing that you honor God by laying so much stress upon 
 the riches of his grace, as to excuse you in your present 
 indifference and unbelief. You are afraid to " flee from 
 the wrath to come, and lay hold on eternal life ; ,; you 
 are afraid to do any thing, lest you should dishonor God 
 by taking the work into your own hands. How strange I 
 You are living in habitual disobedience to every com- 
 mand of God addressed to the impenitent, and you act 
 upon calculation and principle, so that if you are ever 
 converted, the whole universe may acknowledge it to be 
 
460 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 by the mighty power of God. How preposterous ! What 
 amazing presumption ! 
 
 I tremble for you, my respected friend, as I never did 
 before. Here you are in the midst of a great revival, 
 blessing yourself that you are not carried away by im- 
 pulses, that you are a firm believer in divine sovereignty 
 and irresistible grace, and all the hard doctrines which 
 many who call themselves Christians reject. And this, 
 my dear sir, is your religion. You have no other, and 
 you do not yourself think it will save you. You hope 
 that God in his own good time will convert you. Oh, 
 how deceitful above all things is the human heart ! You 
 have been waiting now thirty or forty years for God to 
 come and save you, and have no doubt for the most part 
 kept your conscience quiet by persuading yourself that 
 you was honoring him by entertaining such high thoughts 
 of his sole prerogative in the work of regeneration. How 
 much longer will it do for you to wait ? Like myself you 
 are growing old. Grey hairs are here and there upon 
 you. Death cannot be very far off — it may be very 
 near. And if God should not awaken and regenerate 
 you, wrapt up as you are in false security, will you con- 
 sole yourself at the close of life with the reflection, that 
 you have waited patiently for him all your days, and 
 that it is not your fault if you die impenitent ? 
 
 CONVEKSATION XV. 
 
 Pastor. You must have noticed, Mr. N , that there 
 
 is a great change of late in the aspect of our congrega- 
 tion on the Sabbath, and that religion is the leading 
 topic of conversation among the people in their daily 
 intercourse. May I ask what you think of it ? 
 
 Parishioner. I hardly know what to think. I hope 
 
PROFESSORS INCONSISTENT. 461 
 
 some good will come of it, if it lasts ; but there is one 
 great obstacle in the way of my being benefited by it. 
 
 P. I am very sorry for that. Will yon have the good- 
 ness to explain yourself? 
 
 Par. Why, to be perfectly frank, then, I see so much 
 inconsistency in the members of your church, that it 
 stumbles me exceedingly, and I know of others who feel 
 just as I do. If I were a professor, I think I should try 
 to live up to it. 
 
 P. Then you believe there is such a thing as true 
 religion ? 
 
 Par. Certainly I do, and that all who profess it ought 
 to adorn their profession. 
 
 P. Do you look upon yourself as a Christian? We 
 have long been looking for your assistance on the side 
 of religion. 
 
 Par. I do not think I have ever experienced that 
 great change of which you speak so often in your dis- 
 courses. 
 
 P. Do you believe you can go to heaven without it ? 
 
 Par. I fear not ; and if professors knew what stum- 
 bling-blocks they are in the way of sinners, I am sure 
 they would not give the world so much occasion as they 
 often do to suspect their sincerity. 
 
 P. I cannot stop to debate the question whether 
 they are sincere or not. But, my dear sir, suppose the 
 worst you can possibly imagine — suppose half the mem- 
 bers of our church were rank hypocrites ; would that 
 excuse you from the duty of immediate repentance ? Do 
 not, I beseech you, live any longer upon the real or sup- 
 posed faults of professors of religion. It is poor fare for 
 a soul that is famishing, and ready to perish. We read 
 of those in the Bible who "eat up the sins of God's peo- 
 ple as they eat bread f but we never read of their being 
 nourished by it. 
 
462 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 God, my dear sir, has not set you to watch his church 
 to see how many " motes," or even " beams," you can find 
 in it. But he has given you a deathless spirit to care 
 for ; and if you do not " give all diligence," it will be lost. 
 Many who are in the church may perish ; I fear they 
 will, but that is not the question for you to settle. Were 
 the whole world to perish with you, that would not as- 
 suage the pangs of the second death. Let who will go 
 down to the pit, be entreated to flee from it, and lay hold 
 of everlasting life. 
 
 CONVERSATION XVI. 
 
 Pastor. Good morning, my young friend ; how do 
 you do ? 
 
 Inquirer. Oh, I am in very deep trouble, and have 
 come to you again as the last resort. I have read the 
 Bible a great deal for the last ten days, but it gives me 
 no light nor relief. I have attended all the meetings, 
 but it does me no good. I have prayed and prayed, and 
 prayed again, but God will not hear me. I have tried 
 to repent and cannot. I have fully resolved to give my 
 heart to God, but it will not yield to him. I would give 
 the world if I could come to Christ and be washed in 
 his atoning blood, but my efforts are all in vain. I can- 
 not move a step further. 
 
 P. And so you have come to me, who am but a poor 
 feeble, sinful worm, as the last resort. But what can I do ? 
 I cannot take you out of God's hands if I would, and I 
 would not if I could. His claims are perfectly just and 
 reasonable. His law, which you have broken, and which 
 condemns you, is a good law. He requires nothing of you 
 but what would be perfectly easy, if your stubborn heart 
 did not stand in the way. This is a great obstacle I ad- 
 mit ; but it is voluntary, it is criminal. It is just like 
 
CLINGING TO A FALSE HOPE. 463 
 
 the obstacle which hinders a disobedient child from sub- 
 mitting to the authority of his father. He is so stubborn 
 that he will not. And what would you think were he to 
 say, " I wish I could submit, but I cannot bend my ob- 
 stinate will V* Cannot ! you would reply ; what sort of 
 cannot is this ? 
 
 You have come to me as the last resort I Then you are a 
 lost man, for I cannot help you. Oh that I could per- 
 suade you to go to Him who is mighty to save, and who 
 is as ready as he is able "to save to the uttermost" 
 all who come to him. If you want instruction, I am 
 most happy to give it to the full extent of my ability ; 
 but what can I say more than I have said, both in ser- 
 mons and conversation? The case lies in a very narrow 
 compass. You are a sinner. The law condemns you. 
 You cannot deliver yourself from its awful curse. But 
 Jesus Christ can deliver you. He came down from heav- 
 en " to seek and to save that which was lost." In dying 
 on the cross, " he gave himself a ransom for all." He in- 
 vites you to come just as you are, and receive the rich 
 and free salvation of the gospel. He bids you come and 
 " buy wine and milk without money and without price." 
 You are a prodigal son, and he invites you back with all 
 the tenderness of a father. Will you return — will you 
 come and wash in the fountain which infinite love has 
 opened for sin and for uncleanness — will you accept of 
 salvation at the hand of a bleeding, dying, risen, and 
 glorified Saviour? Will you; will yoio? I can say no 
 more, I can make the terms no easier, I cannot help you. 
 [Inquirer withdraws in silence and great depression.] 
 
 CONVEKSATION XVII. 
 
 Pastor. At our last interview you spoke of a decided 
 change in your feelings, though you could not then de- 
 
464 EEVIYAL MANUAL. 
 
 termine what it was. You was beginning to indulge 
 what you called a trembling hope. Do you still retain 
 it ; and if so, does it grow stronger or weaker ? 
 
 Inquirer. I cannot say that my evidences are much, if 
 any, clearer than they were at that time. They certainly 
 are not so clear as I wish they were ; but still, I would 
 not give up what little hope I have for the world. 
 
 P. I do not know that I understand you. I suppose, 
 when you speak of your hope as weak and trembling, 
 your meaning is, that you are afraid it is not well-ground- 
 ed — that although your feelings are changed, and at 
 times you have some evidence of having " passed from 
 death unto life," still you have many doubts and fears. 
 Is this your meaning ? 
 
 I. It is ; I feel a great part of the time as if I had 
 very little if any reason to hope. 
 
 P. And yet you would not give up what little hope you 
 have for the world ? Surely, if it is a false hope, you ought 
 not to keep it for the world. The sooner such a hope is 
 renounced the better. It is infinitely dangerous to cling 
 to it. 
 
 I. But what shall I do ? I cannot think of going back 
 again into the wilderness, and commencing anew. I 
 should be the most wretched being in the world if I 
 were entirely to give up my present hope. 
 
 P. I do not undertake to decide whether your hope 
 is good or bad, sound or unsound. I only say that noth- 
 ing is so dangerous as a false hope, and that you ought 
 not to rest satisfied in your present state of doubt and 
 uncertainty for a single hour. However painful it may 
 be to find by careful self-examination that you have been 
 deceived, it is infinitely worse to settle down upon a 
 sandy foundation. 
 
 If a sinner who has embraced a false hope could 
 never by throwing it away obtain a good one, his case 
 
TRUE TESTS. 465 
 
 would be deplorable indeed. But blessed be God, this 
 is not the alternative. He may still flee to the strong- 
 hold. He may build again, and build upon, the right 
 foundation. He may repent, he may believe on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, he may embrace the offers of mercy, 
 and be saved. Many have given up their old hopes as 
 unsound and baseless, and have exchanged them for 
 that good hope, "which is as an anchor to the soul both 
 sure and steadfast." 
 
 Do not, I pray you, my friend, cling as it were with 
 a death grasp to a hope which, according to your own 
 acknowledgment, is very unsatisfactory. No man would 
 sit down quietly, ^if his estate was in like jeopardy. 
 Search the Scriptures. Examine your title. Look well 
 to your foundation. Dig deep. Be thorough and hon- 
 est in the whole process, and if you find your hope 
 brightened, strengthened, and confirmed, bless God for 
 it. But if it will not bear the test, renounce it, and 
 never rest till you obtain one that will. Many, I fear, 
 have perished in their sins, because they would not for 
 the world give up what little hope they had. 
 
 CONVERSATION XVIII. 
 
 Pastor. Do you think, my young friend, that you 
 have given your heart to God ? 
 
 Inquirer. I hardly know what to think, and have 
 come to you for instruction and advice. I dread, more 
 than death itself, the thought of settling down upon a 
 false hope. 
 
 P. Then you have some hope ; and it is indeed infi- 
 nitely important that it should be " a good hope." How 
 did you obtain it ? Will you give me a short account of 
 your religious feelings and exercises ? 
 20* 
 
466 EEVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 I. For some time after the revival commenced, I was 
 more careless and hardened than ever. I felt a strong 
 aversion to religion, and did not wish to hear any thing 
 on the subject. Strange as it may seem to you, I was 
 unwilling that others should attend to it ; and my heart 
 rose against God for passing me by and awakening 
 them, at the same time that I was prepared to resist 
 every influence upon my own heart. At length my 
 attention was arrested ; I do not know how. I became 
 anxious ; and soon began, in spite of the pride and stout- 
 ness of my heart, to feel that I was a sinner. 
 
 I tried to shake it off, but in vain. The law of God 
 thundered not only in my ear, but in my conscience. 
 Every sermon that I heard made me feel worse. I saw 
 that it was my duty to repent, to love God, and to con- 
 secrate myself to his service. But instead of yielding, 
 my heart grew more and more obstinate. Nothing could 
 move it ; neither love nor fear — neither the law nor the 
 gospel. I saw that I was justly condemned, and that 
 Christ was the only deliverer. In this extremity, I tried 
 to make terms with God. I would repent and yield to 
 him, if he would save me. I was ready to buy salvation 
 at any price ; but not to accept of it as a free, unmerited 
 gift. 
 
 Thus did I struggle like a wild bull in a net, till I 
 had no more strength left. I was in the hands of a holy 
 God, who would not relax his claims ; and I saw at last, 
 that it would be just if he were to cast me off for ever. 
 This brought me to the brink of despair. I knew not 
 which way to turn. I could not remain where I was — I 
 dared not go back, and I could not go forward. Here 
 the thought came into my mind, "I will cast myself 
 upon the mercy of God ; and if I perish, I perish." 
 
 I know not how or why it was ; but from that hour 
 I felt calm. I might be lost ; it seemed probable that I 
 
TRUE TESTS. 46? 
 
 should be. But G-od was right ; his character was glo- 
 rious ; all nature was praising him ; the plan of salva- 
 tion was wonderful — was full of love and mercy : why- 
 had I not seen and embraced it before? Christ was 
 precious. My hard heart seemed to be melted, and my 
 lips were opened in praise, About this time a gleam of 
 hope dawned upon my soul. Could it be all a dream, or 
 a delusion ? It did seem to me that if I loved any thing, 
 I loved God, and loved the Saviour, and loved Chris- 
 tians, and loved to pray. 
 
 P. You represent your heart as having been very 
 hard and obstinate at the beginning of the revival. Do 
 you think it was totally depraved ? 
 
 I. I am sure it was, if there is any such thing as 
 total depravity. 
 
 P. What, had you no love to God at all ? 
 
 I. None ; not in the least My heart was full of en- 
 mity to Him and his cause. 
 
 P. How then came you to take up the subject ? 
 
 I. It was the Spirit of God that awakened me. I am 
 sure nothing else could have arrested my attention. 
 
 P. Do you mean to say that there was a special, di- 
 vine influence upon your mind, different from what you 
 had ever experienced before ? 
 
 I. I have no doubt of it. There must have been ; for 
 I have heard the same kind of preaching for years with- 
 out being moved at all. Though the last revival was 
 more general and powerful than this has been, and 
 though I saw and heard more than I have now to excite 
 me, I remained through the whole of it almost as stupid 
 as the beasts that perish. 
 
 P. I infer, from your saying your heart was totally 
 depraved, that you believe in the necessity of regenera- 
 tion. 
 
 I. I do. 
 
468 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 P. And you hope your own heart has been renewed ? 
 
 I. I have a gleam of hope, as I remarked in the be- 
 ginning of our conversation ; but my heart is so deceit- 
 ful that I am afraid to trust it. 
 
 P. Then you obeyed the command of God and made 
 yourself a new heart, did you not ? 
 
 I. No sir ; I never obeyed any of his commands, till 
 he made me willing in the day of his power. If I have 
 a new heart, he gave it to me. It seems to me that pas- 
 sage in the thirty -first chapter of Jeremiah, which I was 
 reading this morning, suits my case exactly : " Surely, 
 after that I was turned I repented, and after I was in- 
 structed I smote upon my thigh." If I have any reason 
 to hope, I ascribe it entirely to the free grace of God, 
 from beginning to end. I was going down the broad 
 way as fast as I could, when he arrested me ; and if I 
 am saved, all the glory belongs to him. 
 
 P. These are views which it is safe for you to cher- 
 ish. But you have a great deal yet to learn. Search 
 the Scriptures. Be much in prayer to God for the illu- 
 mination of his Spirit. If he has given you a new heart, 
 and you consecrate it to his service, He will give you 
 more light, and clearer evidence of your adoption. 
 
 CONVERSATION XIX. 
 
 Pastor. I am glad to meet you this morning, Mr. 
 We are going to have a meeting in your neigh- 
 
 borhood this evening, and I hope you will attend it. 
 
 Caviller. What good will it do me, if I should ? 
 
 P. That will depend in a great measure upon your- 
 self. If you go with a sincere desire to hear the truth, 
 and treasure it up in a good and honest heart, it will do 
 you good. 
 
 C. I like your preaching pretty well when I happen 
 
DIFFICULTIES. 469 
 
 to hear it, which, you know, is not very often, and per- 
 haps, if not otherwise engaged, I may comply with your 
 invitation ; but there are some of your doctrines which 
 I do not believe. 
 
 P. I am very sorry for that, if they are true, as I 
 think they are or I should not preach them. But will 
 you be so kind as to specify some of them. 
 
 C. Why, depravity, for instance. I don't believe 
 that all mankind are totally depraved. 
 
 P. You do n't ? I thought you did. I am quite sure 
 I have heard you say very lately, and with a good deal 
 of emphasis too, that all the world is a cheat ; that you 
 can trust nobody, and that the longer you live the worse 
 opinion you have of human nature. This is carrying 
 the matter further than I do. I do not think all men 
 would overreach and defraud you, if they had the oppor- 
 tunity. On the contrary, I believe there is a great deal 
 of honesty in the world, though I at the same time be- 
 lieve that all men are by nature entirely destitute of 
 holiness, and that, in the language of Scripture, "the 
 carnal mind is enmity against God ; for it is not subject 
 to his law, neither indeed can be." You believe that 
 we are all sinners, that we ought to repent of sin, and 
 that we need pardon through Christ ; do you not ? 
 
 C. Undoubtedly. 
 
 P. Will you allow me then tenderly to ask, Have you 
 repented ; have you obtained the pardon of your sins, so 
 that if you were to die the next hour, it would be well 
 with you ? Whether you are totally depraved or not, 
 you are certainly so much depraved that you cannot be 
 saved without repentance and forgiveness. A millstone 
 of a hundred pounds will as certainly sink a man in the 
 depths of the sea as one of a thousand. 
 
 C. Well, but you hold to the necessity of regeneration, 
 as well as to repentance. You say that our hearts must 
 
410 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 be changed by the Spirit of God, or we cannot be saved. 
 Now, I do not believe that any such divine agency is 
 necessary. We are not machines to be acted upon. We 
 are free moral agents. Any man can repent and turn to 
 God when he pleases, and this, I hold, is all the change 
 of heart that is necessary. My Bible reads, "Awake, 
 thou that sleepest, and rise from the dead." And again, 
 if I am not mistaken, "Make you a new heart and a new 
 spirit ; for why will ye die V* 
 
 P. My Bible reads just so too. And by the way, you 
 do believe in total depravity as I hold it, after all. For 
 how can a sinner rise from the dead, if he is not dead, 
 but only sick, very sick if you please ? Or what need 
 can there be of his making himself a new heart, if his 
 old heart is not entirely bad? But let this pass. If 
 you will betake yourself to the task in earnest, if you 
 will awake and rise from the dead by your own power, 
 if you will at once make yourself a new heart, as you 
 are certainly bound to do, I certainly shall not object. 
 What I earnestly desire is, to see you a sincere and 
 devoted Christian. Give your heart to God without 
 waiting a moment for him to make you willing. This 
 is what you ought to do. "Repent and be converted, 
 that your sins may be blotted out." This is your imme- 
 diate duty. 
 
 CONVERSATION XX. 
 
 Inquirer. Availing myself of your kind invitation so 
 often given from the pulpit, I have called this evening 
 to ask a few questions, and get your views in regard to 
 several points on which I need instruction. 
 
 Pastor. I am very happy to see you. Will you pro- 
 pose your questions ? 
 
 I. You have often spoken during the revival of the 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 4U 
 
 distress of awakened sinners under genuine conviction, 
 in view of their guilt and danger. I have for some time 
 been indulging a trembling hope that I have passed 
 from death unto life ; but I must relinquish it if none 
 can be converted without such distressing antecedent 
 convictions, for I have never experienced them. Do 
 you think that all who are brought to Christ must pass 
 through these deep waters ? 
 
 P. I do not. On this point my own observation coin- 
 cides with what I understand to be the true scriptural 
 view of the subject. "There are diversities of opera- 
 tions, but the same Spirit who worketh all in all." A 
 great many are overwhelmed with a sense of their guilt 
 and danger. Their sins stare them in the face. The 
 law, which "worketh death," thunders so loudly in their 
 ears that they can hear nothing else. This appears to 
 have been the case with the three thousand on the day 
 of Pentecost. They were "pricked in their hearts," and 
 cried out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do ?" This 
 was the case with Saul of Tarsus. Being arrested by 
 the Lord Jesus on his journey to Damascus, he continued 
 three days in such extreme mental anguish that he nei- 
 ther ate nor drank. Before this, he "was alive without 
 the law ; but when the commandment came, sin revived, 
 and he died." So the astonished and convicted jailor at 
 Philippi "sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down 
 before Paul and Silas, and said, Sirs, what must I do to 
 be saved?" I know it is often said that these were 
 extraordinary cases ; but I have myself witnessed many 
 very much like them, as every pastor must have done 
 who has been much conversant with powerful religious 
 revivals. 
 
 On the other hand, the Spirit sometimes moves so 
 gently and sweetly on the sinner's heart, that he passes 
 through the new birth with scarcely any consciousness 
 
412 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 of its pangs. Zaccheus the publican seems to have 
 been of this number. Attracted by curiosity to see the 
 Saviour, he runs before the crowd and climbs a syca- 
 more-tree, that he may get a better view of him than he 
 could from the ground, being "little of stature." "And 
 when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said, 
 Zaccheus, make haste and come down ; for to-day I must 
 abide at thy house. And he made haste and came down, 
 and received him joyfully." A few analogous cases have 
 fallen under my own observation. Individuals becoming 
 interested in the revival, have almost immediately come 
 out "rejoicing in hope;" and some of them have worn 
 well — they have lived like Christians, and died in peace. 
 I have noticed, however, that where "the work of the 
 law" does not precede conversion, it is very apt to fol- 
 low it. He who does not see much of the plague of his 
 own heart before he passes from death unto life, will ere 
 long find himself constrained to cry out with the apos- 
 tle, " wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me 
 from the body of this death ?" 
 
 My own view of the matter is this. Where the doc- 
 trines of the gospel are distinguishingly and faithfully 
 preached, sinners are generally slain by the Taw, before 
 they find joy and peace in believing. But I do not feel 
 authorized to say that this is always the case. "The 
 wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou canst not tell 
 whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth ; so is every one 
 that is born of the Spirit." But whether the degree of 
 conviction and distress be great or comparatively small 
 before conversion, the sinner must see and feel enough 
 of his guilt to repent, and of his need of a Saviour to 
 embrace him. 
 
 Your main difficulty, if I understand it, is that you 
 have experienced so little distress in view of your sin- 
 fulness and danger. 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 413 
 
 I. It is. When I converse with others, and hear 
 them tell into what straits they were brought before 
 they found peace ; how their hearts rose against God, 
 and how they trembled in view of his power and justice, 
 I am afraid my hope is not well founded, for I am sure 
 I have not had such experience. 
 
 P. The question is not how much or how little dis- 
 tress you may have experienced. Many a sinner has 
 been awakened, without being converted. Conviction, 
 however clear or long continued, is not regeneration. 
 Some "quench the Spirit," and "draw back unto perdi- 
 tion," after painful and protracted struggles ; while 
 others, "drawn by cords of love," "hold on their way, 
 and wax stronger and stronger." Whereas you was 
 once blind, do you now see ? The true question is, Are 
 you in the ark of safety ? not whether you came in just 
 as others do. If you love G-od ; if you delight in his 
 law after the inner man ; if you truly and heartily re- 
 pent of all your sins ; if Christ is precious to you, and 
 you believe on him, and trust in him as "all your salva- 
 tion and all your desire," you need not distrust your 
 hope because you may not have had so much distress as 
 is common, but should rather "give all diligence to make 
 your calling and election sure." 
 
 I. There is another thing which sometimes leads me 
 to distrust my hope. Some of the young converts can 
 tell the hour when they were brought out ; but I cannot 
 tell the day, the week, nor even the month. The light, 
 if it shines in my heart at all, broke in so gradually that 
 I know not when it first began to dawn. If I could 
 give the date and place and circumstances of my conver- 
 sion, I should feel much more sure than I do now. 
 
 P. This is a point on which I lay very little stress, 
 one way or the other, in examining candidates for admis- 
 sion to the church. Some converts are undoubtedly able 
 
474 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 to specify the time when G-od "brought them out of 
 darkness into marvellous light." All the circumstances 
 are and for ever will be fresh in their recollection. Zac- 
 cheus, the jailor, and most of the "three thousand" were 
 evidently of this number. 
 
 But so far as my inquiries have extended, a very 
 large majority of those who adorn the Christian pro- 
 fession cannot tell when they gave their hearts to G-od. 
 They can say with happy Bartimeus, "Whereas we were 
 blind, now we see ;" but cannot be confident as to the 
 precise time when the first ray of light broke in. In 
 judging of the spiritual state of inquirers, I have often 
 been disappointed both ways. Some who came out re- 
 markably clear, and could name the day and hour of 
 their conversion, have not only "lost their first love," 
 but at length given up their hope, and returned like 
 "the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the 
 mire." On the contrary, some who are extremely dis- 
 trustful of themselves at first, and cannot date their 
 hope, gradually wax "strong in the Lord and in the 
 power of his might." It is delightful to watch their 
 progress, and see how their path, as the shining light, 
 " shineth more and more unto the perfect day." " By their 
 fruits shall ye know them." It is by leading a humble, 
 devoted, and prayerful Christian life, that one gains, and 
 gives, the best evidence that he has been born again. 
 
 I. I do not know what to think of myself, and I fear 
 I never shall. If I had not lived so carelessly the great- 
 er part of my life, I should sometimes think, that if ever 
 my heart was changed, it must have been in early child- 
 hood. I can recollect some of my feelings then, which 
 were as much like love to God and love to Christ as 
 any I have had since, if not more. Is it your opinion 
 that any are converted so early that they cannot remember 
 the time when they began to love the Saviour ? 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 415 
 
 P. I think there are some such, and that as the mil- 
 lennium approaches, there will be many more. The tes- 
 timony of Scripture seems not only to favor this belief, 
 but to require it. The prophet Jeremiah was called and 
 sanctified from the womb. So was John the Baptist. 
 There can be little doubt that Joseph and Moses and 
 Samuel and Daniel and Josiah were all converted in 
 early childhood ; and almost every pastor must have 
 found individuals among his flock, giving evidence that 
 they were converted to God in their early days. Wheth- 
 er, if you are a Christian, you was brought in at an 
 earlier or later date, I do not pretend to decide ; but I 
 fully believe, not only that all infants need to be born 
 again, but as I have just said, that some who after- 
 wards shine as lights in the world are thus early re- 
 newed by the Spirit. 
 
 I. Do you think the first holy exercises after regenera- 
 tion are in all cases alike? 
 
 P. By no means. No two cases probably are exactly 
 alike. I have found a great diversity in the experience 
 of those with whom I have conversed. One first re- 
 joices in the love of Christ. Another is overwhelmed 
 with shame and contrition in view of his base ingrati- 
 tude. Another breaks out in admiration of the infinite 
 holiness of God, and the reasonableness and purity of 
 his law. One wakes up, as it were, in a new world — 
 the sun shines brighter than it ever did before, the earth 
 looks lovelier, and all nature seems to be praising God. 
 Another has found a new Bible ; another feels his heart 
 drawn out in love to the church, and another in compas- 
 sion for impenitent sinners. For these and other diver- 
 sities of views and exercises when men are first renew- 
 ed, we cannot perhaps fully account, but I apprehend 
 they may be partly explained in this way. The thoughts 
 of different persons are directed to different objects and 
 
4T6 REVIVAL MANUAL. 
 
 truths at the time of their conversion. One is thinking 
 of the goodness of God, another of the holiness of his 
 law, another of the death of Christ, and so on ; and the 
 heart of each is naturally drawn out first towards the 
 object then in view. It is love, or it is repentance, or 
 it is faith ; and then other holy exercises follow, one 
 after another, as the appropriate objects are presented 
 to the mind. 
 
 I. I thank you for the indulgence you have granted 
 me, and hope I shall profit by your instructions. On 
 some points which were not clear to my mind, I feel 
 relieved. Allow me to ask a continued interest in youi 
 prayers, that I may not be deceived but be led into all 
 truth. 
 
 P. " Examine yourself whether you are in the faith," 
 not so much when or where you first embraced Christ, as 
 whether you have truly embraced him. Compare your 
 feelings and exercises with the Bible — with the tests 
 which you will there find, both in the Old Testament 
 and the New, in the law and the prophets, in the teach- 
 ings of Christ and his inspired apostles. Pray for the 
 teaching of the Holy Spirit, yield your whole heart and 
 soul to God, and he will guide you by his counsel, and 
 afterwards receive you to glory. 
 
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