THE REVIVAL IN THE NEW WORLD.
[BY THE EDITOR.]
The labours of Whitefield had a remarkable influence upon the extension
of the Great Revival in the colonies of America. In these days of
mammoth steamships and rapid railways, equipped with drawing-room
coaches, travelling has become a pleasant pastime; but a century and a
half ago, when the sailing vessel and the old lumbering stage-coach were
the most rapid and the chief means of public conveyance, and when these
were often uncertain and irregular, subjecting the traveller to frequent
and annoying delays, if not disappointments, it must have been a
formidable undertaking to cross the Atlantic and to journey through a
new country, almost a wilderness, such long distances as from Georgia to
Massachusetts. Yet Whitefield, with a zeal and a holy desire in “hunting
for souls,” made seven visits to America, crossing the ocean in
sailing-vessels thirteen times (“one voyage lasting eleven weeks”), and
travelled on his preaching tours almost constantly. In one of these
visits he went upwards of 1,100 miles through this then sparsely settled
country, and endured hardships and exposures from which a far stronger
and more vigorous constitution might well shrink.
As in England, so in the American colonies, the decay of vital godliness
which preceded the great awakening had been long and deep. It began in
the latter part of the 17th century, and its progress was observed with
alarm by many of the notable and godly men of the day. Governor
Stoughton, previous to resigning the pulpit for the bench, proclaimed,
at Boston, that “many had become like Joash after the death of
Jehoiada—rotten, hypocritical, and a lie!” The venerable Torrey of
Weymouth, in a sermon before the legislature, exclaimed, “There is
already a great death upon religion; little more left than a name to
live. It is dying as to the being of it, by the general failure of the
work of conversion.”
Mather, in 1700, asserts: “If the begun apostasy should proceed as fast
the next thirty years as it has done these last, it will come to that in
New England (except the gospel itself depart with the order of it) that
churches must be gathered out of churches.” President Willard also
published a sermon in the same year on “The Perils of the Times
Displayed,” in which he asks, “Whence is there such a prevalency of so
many immoralities amongst professors? Why so little success of the
gospel? How few thorough conversions to be observed; how scarce and
seldom! * * * It has been a frequent observation that if one generation
begins to decline, the next that follows usually grows worse; and so on,
until God pours out his spirit again upon them.”
It was thirty years before the dawn of the great awakening began to
appear, even in the colony of Massachusetts; but there were many godly
men in various portions of the American colonies who had not yet bowed
the knee to the Baal of worldliness, and who earnestly sought, by great
fidelity in the presentation of the truth, to arrest the evil tendency
of the times. Among them was that greatest of American theologians,
Jonathan Edwards. Beholding the melancholy state of religion, not only
at Northampton, but in the surrounding regions, and that this evil
tendency was corrupting the Church, he began to preach with greater
boldness, more especially with the purpose of keeping error out of the
Church than with the design of awakening sinners. He was a man, however,
whose convictions were exceedingly strong, and who preached the truth,
not simply for the purpose of gaining a worldly victory, but because he
loved the truth and the Spirit wrought mightily by it. A surprising work
of grace attended his preaching. There was a melting down of all classes
and ages, in an overwhelming solicitude about salvation; an absorbing
sense of eternal realities and self-abasement and self-condemnation; a
spirit of secret and social prayer, followed by a concern for the souls
of others; and this awakening was so sudden and solemn, that in many
instances it produced loud outcries, and in some cases convulsions.
Doubtless this great awakening was as much a surprise to Edwards as to
those to whom he ministered. Naturally, such a wonderful work could not
be confined to Northampton alone; it began to extend to other places in
the colony. Remarkable and widespread as this work of grace was,
however, it does not seem to have penetrated through New England
generally, until after the arrival of Whitefield. The effect of
Whitefield’s preaching in Boston, says his biographer, was amazing. Old
Mr. Walter, the successor of Eliot, the apostle to the Indians, declared
it was Puritanism revived. So great was the interest that his farewell
sermon was attended by twenty thousand persons. “Such a power and
presence of God with a preacher, and in religious assemblies,” says Dr.
Colman, “I never saw before. Every day gives me fresh proofs of Christ
speaking in him.” And this interest, great as it was, seemed, if
possible, exceeded at Northampton when Whitefield met Edwards and
reminded his people of the days of old. A like success attended
Whitefield’s ministry in the town and college of New Haven, and at
Harvard College the effect was remarkable. Secretary Willard, writing to
Whitefield, says: “That which forebodes the most lasting advantage is
the new state of things in the college, where the impressions of
religion have been and still are very general, and many in a judgment of
charity brought home to Christ. Divers gentlemen’s sons that were sent
there only for a more polite education, are now so full of zeal for the
cause of Christ and the love of souls as to devote themselves entirely
to the study of divinity.” And Dr. Colman wrote Whitefield, of
Cambridge: “The college is entirely changed; the students are full of
God, and will, I hope, come out blessings in their generation, and I
trust are so now to each other. The voice of prayer and praise fills
their chambers, and sincerity, fervency, and joy, with seriousness of
heart, sit visible on their faces.”
On his return to Boston, in 1745, Whitefield himself gives a similar
testimony in regard to the remarkable results of the Revival. He was
followed in his labours there by Gilbert Tennent, a Presbyterian from
New Jersey. That this was not an overdrawn picture of the work may be
inferred from a public testimony given by three of the leading ministers
in Boston, the Rev. Messrs. Prince, Webb, and Cooper. Among other
things, they said, “The wondrous work of God at this day making its
triumphant progress through the land has forced many men of clear minds,
strong powers, considerable knowledge, and firmly riveted in * * * *
Socinian tenets, to give them all up at once and yield to the adorable
sovereignty and irresistibility of the Divine Spirit in His saving
operations on the souls of men. For to see such men as these, some of
them of licentious lives, long inured in a course of vice and of high
spirits, coming to the preaching of the Word, some only out of
curiosity, and mere design to get matter of cavilling and banter, all at
once, in opposition to their inward resolutions and resistances, to fall
under an unexpected and hated power, to have all the strength of their
resolution and resistance taken away, to have such inward views of the
horrid wickedness not only of their lives but of their hearts, with
their exceeding great and immediate danger of eternal misery as has
amazed their souls and thrown them into distress unutterable, yea,
forced them to cry out in the assemblies with the greatest agonies, and
then, in two or three days, and sometimes sooner, to have such
unexpected and raised views of the infinite grace and love of God in
Christ, as have enabled them to believe in Him; lifted them at once out
of their distress; filled their hearts with admiration and joy
unspeakable and full of glory, breaking forth in their shining
countenances and transporting voices to the surprise of those about
them, kindling up at once into a flame of love to God in utter
detestation of their former courses and vicious habits,” fairly
characterises this wonderful work of God.
Gilbert Tennent, who was pressed into the field by Whitefield, was born
in Ireland, and brought to this country by his father, and was educated
for the ministry. As a preacher he was, in his vigorous days, equalled
by few. His reasoning powers were strong, his language was forcible and
often sublime, and his manner of address warm and earnest. His eloquence
was, however, rather bold and awful than soft and persuasive, he was
most pungent in his address to the conscience. When he wished to alarm
the sinner, he could represent in the most awful manner the terrors of
the Lord. With admirable dexterity he exposed the false hope of the
hypocrite, and searched the corrupt heart to the bottom. Such were some
of the qualifications of the man whom Whitefield chose to continue his
work in America. He entered on his new labours with almost rustic
simplicity, wearing his hair undressed and a large great-coat girt with
a leathern girdle. He was of lofty stature and dignified and grave
aspect. His career as a preacher in New Jersey had been remarkable, and
now in New England his ministry was hardly less successful than that of
Whitefield. He actually shook the country as with an earthquake.
Wherever he came hypocrisy and Pharisaism either fell before him or
gnashed their teeth against him. Cold orthodoxy also started from her
downy cushion to imitate or to denounce him. So testifies the author of
the “_Life and Times of Whitefield_.”
Whitefield’s first reception in New York was not particularly
flattering. He was refused the use of both the church and the
court-house. “The commissary of the Bishop,” he says, “was full of anger
and resentment, and denied me the use of his pulpit before I asked him
for it.” He replied, “I will preach in the fields, for all places are
alike to me.” At a subsequent visit he preached there seven weeks with
great acceptableness and success. Even his first labours were not wholly
in vain. Dr. Pemberton wrote to him that many were deeply affected, and
some who had been loose and profligate were ashamed and set upon
thorough reformation. The printers also at New York, as at Philadelphia,
applied to him for sermons to publish, assuring him “that hundreds had
called for them, and that thousands would purchase them.” Of his later
visit he says, “Such flocking of all ranks I never saw before.” At New
York many of the most respectable gentlemen and merchants went home with
him after his sermons to hear something more of the kingdom of Christ.
“At Philadelphia,” says Philip, in his Life and Times of Whitefield,
“his welcome was cordial. Ministers and laymen of all denominations
visited him, inviting him to preach. He was especially pleased to find
that they preferred sermons when not delivered within church walls. It
was well they did, for his fame had reached the city before he arrived
and this collected crowds which no church could contain. The court-house
steps became his pulpit, and neither he nor the people wearied, although
the cold winds of November blew upon them night after night.” Previous
to one of his visits in Philadelphia, a place was erected in which
Whitefield could preach, and its managers offered him £800 annually,
with liberty to travel six months in a year wherever he chose, if he
would become their pastor. Though pleased with the offer he promptly
declined it. He was more pleased to learn that in consequence of a
former visit there were so many under soul-sickness that even Gilbert
Tennent’s feet were blistered with walking from place to place to see
them.
Of his work in Maryland he writes, that he found those who had never
heard of redeeming grace. The harvest is promising. “Have Marylanders
also received the grace of God? Amazing love. Maryland is yielding
converts to Jesus; the Gospel is moving southwards.”
He frequently visited New Jersey (Princeton) College, and there won many
young and bright witnesses for Christ. Hearing that sixteen students had
been converted at a former visit, he again went thither to fan the flame
he had kindled among the students, and says that he had four sweet
seasons which resembled old times. His spirits rose at the sight of the
young soldiers who were to fight when he fell.
Although at times prejudice ran high against the Indians, Whitefield
espoused their cause as a philanthropist, and preached to them through
interpreters at the Indian school of Lebanon, under Dr. Wheelock, where
the sight of a promising nursery for future missionaries greatly
inspired him. And at one of the stations maintained by the sainted
Brainerd, he preached, found converted Indians, and saw nearly fifty
young ones in one school learning a Bible catechism. In the Indian
school at Lebanon he became so interested that he appealed to the public
and collected £120 at one meeting for its maintenance. Wherever he went
he saw the Redeemer’s stately steps in the great congregations which he
addressed.
If there was any one point about which Whitefield’s interest centered in
America, it was in the orphan asylum which he aided in establishing in
Georgia. This was his “Bethesda.” The prosperity of the orphan home was
engraved upon his heart as with the point of a diamond, and it was ever
vividly present to him wherever he went. At one of his visits on parting
with the inmates he says: “Oh, what a sweet meeting I had with my dear
friends! What God has prepared for me I know not; but surely I cannot
expect a greater happiness until I embrace the saints in glory! When I
parted my heart was ready to break with sorrow, but now it almost bursts
with joy. Oh, how did each in turn hang upon my neck, kiss and weep over
me with tears of joy! And my own soul was so full of the sense of God’s
love, when I embraced one friend in particular, that I thought I should
have expired in the place. I felt my soul so full of the sense of Divine
goodness that I wanted words to express myself. When we came to public
worship, young and old were all dissolved in tears. After service
several of my parishioners, all of my family, and the little children
returned home crying along the street, and some could not avoid praying
very loud. Being very weak in body I laid myself upon a bed, but finding
so many in a weeping condition I rose and betook myself to prayer again,
but had I not lifted up my voice very high the groans and cries of the
children would have prevented me from being heard. This continued for
near an hour, till at last, finding their concern rather to increase
than to abate, I desired all to retire. Then some or other might be
heard praying earnestly in every corner of the house. It happened at
this time to thunder and lighten, which added very much to the solemnity
of the night. * * * I mention the orphans in particular, that their
benefactors may rejoice at what God is doing for their souls.”
It is evident that Whitefield had a very tender heart towards all
children. One of his most effective sermons at Webb’s Chapel, Boston,
was occasioned by the touching remark of a dying boy, who had heard him
the day before. The boy was taken ill after the sermon, and said, “I
want to go to Mr. Whitefield’s God”—and expired. This touched the secret
place of both the thunder and the tears of Whitefield. He says, “It
encouraged me to speak to the little ones, but oh, how were the old
people affected when I said, ‘Little children, if your parents will not
come to Christ, do you come and go to heaven without them.’” After this
awful appeal no wonder that there were but few dry eyes.
Another remarkable evidence of the extent and power of the Revival, and
of the versatility of Mr. Whitefield’s talents, is shown in the effect
produced upon the negro mind. The intensest interest prevailed among
even the poorest slaves. Upon one occasion Whitefield was very ill, and
in the hands of the physician to the time when he was expected to
preach. Suddenly he exclaimed, “My pains are suspended; by the help of
God I will go and preach, and then come home and die!” With some
difficulty he reached the pulpit. All were surprised, and looked as
though they saw one risen from the dead. He says of himself, “I was as
pale as death, and told them they must look upon me as a dying man come
to bear my dying testimony to the truths I had formerly preached to
them. All seemed melted, and were drowned in tears. The cry after me
when I left the pulpit was like the cry of sincere mourners when
attending the funeral of a dear departed friend. Upon my coming home, I
was laid upon a bed upon the ground near the fire, and I heard them say,
‘He is gone!’ but God was pleased to order it otherwise. I gradually
recovered. At this time a poor negro woman insisted upon seeing him when
he began to recover. She came in and sat on the ground, and looked
earnestly into his face; then she said, in broken accents: “Massa, you
jest go to hebben’s gate; but Jesus Christ said, ‘Get you down, get you
down; you musn’t come here yet; go first and call some more poor
negroes.’” Many colored people came to him asking, “Have I a soul?” Many
societies for prayer and mutual instruction were set up. Mr. Seward, a
travelling companion of Whitefield,; relates that a drinking club,
whereof a clergyman was a member, had a negro boy attending them, who
used to mimic people for their diversion. They called on him to mimic
Whitefield, which he was very unwilling to do; but they insisted upon
it. He stood up and said:—“I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not,
unless you repent you will all be damned.” Seward adds, “This unexpected
speech broke up the club, which has never met since.”
At Savannah, Charleston, and other southern cities, the Great Revival
had a remarkable success. Josiah Smith, an Independent minister of
Charleston, published a sermon on the character and preaching of
Whitefield, defending his doctrines, his personal character, and
describing his manner of preaching. Of Whitefield’s power he says: “He
is certainly a finished preacher; a noble negligence ran through his
style; the passion and flame of his inspiration will, I trust, be long
felt by many. How was his tongue like the pen of a ready writer, touched
as with a coal from the altar! With what a flow of words, what a ready
profusion of language did he speak to us upon the concerns of our souls!
In what a flaming light did he set _our_ eternity before us! How
earnestly he pressed Christ upon us! The awe, the silence, the
attention, which sat upon the faces of the great audience was an
argument, how he could reign over all their powers. Many thought he
spake as never man spake before him. So charmed were the people with the
manner of his address that they shut up their shops, forgot their
secular business, and the oftener he preached the keener edge he seemed
to put upon their desires to hear him again. How awfully—with what
thunder and sound—did he discharge the artillery of heaven upon us!
Eternal themes, the tremendous solemnities of our religion were all
alive upon his tongue. He struck at the politest and most modish of our
vices, and at the most fashionable entertainments, regardless of every
one’s presence but His in whose name he spake with this authority. And I
dare warrant if none should go to these diversions until they had
answered the solemn questions he put to their consciences, our theatres
would soon sink and perish.” Mr. Smith adds that £600 were contributed
in Charleston to the orphan house.
The wonderful quickening which the Great Revival gave to benevolent and
charitable enterprises deserves at least a passing allusion. Besides
sending forth into mission work such men as David Brainerd, and even
Jonathan Edwards himself, it also laid the foundation more securely of
many of our Christian colleges, and of not a few of our orphan asylums.
Whitefield founded his Bethesda upon a tract of land covering about 500
acres, ten miles from Savannah, and laid out the plan of the building,
employed workmen, hired a large house, took in 24 orphans, incurred at
once the heavy responsibilities of a large family and a larger
institution, encouraged, as he says, by the example of Professor
Francke. Yet on looking back to this first undertaking he said: “I
forgot that Professor Francke built in a populous country and that I was
building at the very tail end of the world, which rendered it by far the
most expensive part of all his Majesty’s dominions; but had I received
more and ventured less, I should have suffered less and others more.” He
undertook to provide for his 40 orphans and 60 servants and workmen with
no fears nor misgivings of heart. “Near a hundred mouths,” he writes,
“are daily to be supplied with food. The expense is great, but our great
and good God, I am persuaded, will enable me to defray it.” He spent a
winter at Bethesda in 1764, and of the success of his orphanage he says,
“Peace and plenty reign at Bethesda; all things go on successfully. God
has given me great favour in the sight of the governor, council, and
assembly. A memorial was presented for an additional grant of land
consisting of about 2,000 acres, and was immediately complied with.
Every heart seems to leap for joy at the prospect of its future utility
to this and the neighbouring colonies.”
This great religious movement did not progress without stirring up much
bitterness. It was even asserted by President Clap, of New Haven, that
he came into New England to turn out the generality of their ministers,
and to replace them with ministers from England, Ireland, and Scotland.
“Such a thought,” replies Whitefield, “never entered my heart, neither
has, as I know of, my preaching any such tendency.” It is said of one
minister that he went merely to pick a hole in Whitefield’s coat, but
confessed that God picked a hole in his heart, and afterward healed it
by the blood of Christ. After one of his visits not less than twenty
ministers in the neighbourhood of Boston did not hesitate to call
Whitefield their spiritual father, tracing their conversion to his
preaching. These men immediately entered upon a similar work, spreading
the great awakening throughout that colony.
In the progress of this work under Whitefield and others, there were
frequent outbursts of wit and grim humor. Thus when pastors were shy of
giving Whitefield and his associates a place in their pulpits and the
people voted to allow them to preach in their churches, Whitefield said,
“The _lord_-brethren of New England could tyrannize as well as the
_lord_-bishops of Old England.” The caricatures issued from Boston in
regard to the work were designated as half-penny squibs; and a good old
Puritan of the city said, “they did not weigh much.”
Of the religion of America Whitefield writes: “I am more and more in
love with the good old Puritans. I am pleased at the thought of sitting
down hereafter with the venerable Cotton, Norton, Eliot, and that great
cloud of witnesses who first crossed the western ocean for the sake of
the sacred gospel and the faith once delivered to the saints. At present
my soul is so filled that I can scarce proceed.” Again he writes: “It is
too much for one man to be received as I have been by thousands. The
thoughts of it lay me low but I cannot get low enough. I would willingly
sink into nothing before the blessed Jesus—my all in all.” And again, “I
love those that thunder out the Word. The Christian world is in a deep
sleep, nothing but a loud voice can awaken them out of it. Had we a
thousand hands and tongues there is employment enough for them all.
People are everywhere ready to perish for lack of knowledge.” To an aged
veteran he writes from North Carolina, “I am here hunting in the
woods—these ungospelized wilds—for sinners. It is pleasant work, though
my body is weak and crazy. But after a short fermentation in the grave,
it will be fashioned like unto Christ’s glorious body. The thought of
this rejoices my soul and makes me long to leap my seventy years. I
sometimes think all will go to heaven before me. Pray for me as a dying
man, but, oh, pray that I may not go off as a snuff. I would fain die
blazing—not with human glory, but with the love of Jesus.” Such was the
spirit filling the great souls of those who were God’s instruments in
spreading the revival in America. Mr. Whitefield died at Newburyport,
Massachusetts, Sept. 30, 1770, having preached the day before at Exeter,
and his body rests in a crypt or tomb beneath the Presbyterian church at
that place.
Of the effects of the Great Revival in America, Dr. Abel Stevens says,
“The Congregational churches of New England, the Presbyterians and
Baptists of the Middle States, and the mixed colonies of the South, owe
their late religious life and energy mostly to the impulse given by his
[Whitefield’s] powerful ministrations.” * * * In Pennsylvania and New
Jersey, where Frelinghuysen, Blair, Rowland, and the two Tennents had
been labouring with evangelistic zeal, he was received as a prophet of
God, and it was then that the Presbyterian Church took that attitude of
evangelical power and aggression which has ever since characterized it.
A single incident will illustrate the effect of the Revival upon
unbelievers and skeptics. A noted officer of Philadelphia, who had long
been almost an atheist, crept into the crowd one night to hear a sermon
on the visit of Nicodemus to Christ. When he came home, his wife not
knowing where he had been, wished he had heard what she had been
hearing. He said nothing. Another and another of his family came in and
made a similar remark till he burst into tears and said, “I have been
hearing him and approve of his sermon.” He afterwards became a sincere
Christian with the spirit of a martyr.
These etchings of a few scenes and fewer facts indicate the scope, the
depth, and the sweep of the Great Revival of the 18th century in
America. No attempt has been made to sum up its results, nor has it come
within the purpose of this work to give an inward history of the
movement, nor to explain the philosophy of it. These intricate questions
may be left to philosophers; the Christian delights to know the facts;
he will cheerfully wait for the future life to unfold all the mystery
and philosophy of the plan and work of salvation. Then, as Whitefield
exclaims, “What amazing mysteries will be unfolded when each link in the
golden chain of providence and grace shall be seen and scanned by
beatified spirits in the kingdom of heaven! Then all will appear
symmetry and harmony, and even the most intricate and seemingly most
contrary dispensations, will be evidenced to be the result of infinite
and consummate wisdom, power, and love. Above all, there the believer
will see the infinite depths of that mystery of godliness, ‘God
manifested in the flesh,’ and join with that blessed choir, who, with a
restless unweariedness, are ever singing the song of Moses and the
Lamb.”
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APPENDIX A (PAGES 9 AND 97).
The Puritans were men whose minds had derived a peculiar character from
the daily contemplation of superior beings and eternal interests. Not
content with acknowledging, in general terms, an overruling Providence,
they habitually ascribed every event to the will of the Great Being, for
whose power nothing was too vast, for whose inspection nothing was too
minute. To know him, to serve him, to enjoy him, was, with them, the
great end of existence. They rejected, with contempt, the ceremonious
homage which other sects substituted for the pure worship of the soul.
Instead of catching occasional glimpses of the Deity through an
obscuring veil, they aspired to gaze full on his intolerable brightness,
and to commune with him face to face. Hence originated their contempt
for terrestrial distinctions. The difference between the greatest and
the meanest of mankind seemed to vanish, when compared with the
boundless interval which separated the whole race from Him on whom their
own eyes were constantly fixed. They recognized no title to superiority
but His favor; and, confident of that favor, they despised all the
accomplishments and all the dignities of the world. If they were
unacquainted with the works of philosophers and poets, they were deeply
read in the oracles of God. If their names were not found in the
registers of heralds, they were recorded in the Book of Life. If their
steps were not accompanied by a splendid train of menials, legions of
ministering angels had charge over them. Their palaces were houses not
made with hands; their diadems crowns of glory which should never fade
away. On the rich and the eloquent, on nobles or priests they looked
down with contempt, for they esteemed themselves rich in a more precious
measure, and eloquent in a more sublime language—nobles by right of an
earlier creation, and priests by the imposition of a mightier hand. The
very meanest of them was a being to whose fate a mysterious and terrible
importance belonged, on whose slightest action the spirits of light and
darkness looked with anxious interest, who had been destined, before
Heaven and earth were created, to enjoy a felicity which should continue
when heaven and earth should have passed away. Events which
short-sighted politicians ascribed to earthly causes, had been ordained
on his account. For his sake empires had risen, and flourished, and
decayed. For his sake the Almighty had proclaimed His will by the pen of
the Evangelist, and the harp of the prophet. He had been wrested by no
common deliverer from the grasp of no common foe. He had been ransomed
by the sweat of no vulgar agony, by the blood of no earthly sacrifice.
It was for him that the sun had been darkened, that the rocks had been
rent, that the dead had risen, that all nature had shuddered at the
sufferings of her expiring God.
Thus the Puritan was made up of two different men: the one all
self-abasement, penitence, gratitude, passion; the other proud, calm,
inflexible, sagacious. He prostrated himself in the dust before his
Maker, but he set his foot on the neck of his king. In his devotional
retirement, he prayed with convulsions, and groans and tears. He was
half maddened by glorious or terrible illusions. He heard the lyres of
angels or the tempting whispers of fiends. He caught a gleam of the
Beatific Vision, or woke screaming from dreams of everlasting fire. Like
Vane, he thought himself entrusted with the sceptre of the millennial
year. Like Fleetwood, he cried in the bitterness of his soul that God
had hid His face from him. But when he took his seat in the council, or
girt on his sword for war, these tempestuous workings of the soul had
left no perceptible trace behind them. People who saw nothing of the
godly but their uncouth visages, and heard nothing from them but their
groans and their whining hymns, might laugh at them. But those had
little reason to laugh who encountered them in the hall of debate, or on
the field of battle. These fanatics brought to civil and military
affairs a coolness of judgment and an immutability of purpose which some
writers have thought inconsistent with their religious zeal, but which
were in fact the necessary effects of it. The intensity of their
feelings on one subject made them tranquil on every other. One
overpowering sentiment had subjected to itself pity and hatred, ambition
and fear. Death had lost its terrors and pleasure its charms. They had
their smiles and their tears, their raptures and their sorrows, but not
for the things of this world. Enthusiasm had made them stoics, had
cleared their minds from every vulgar passion and prejudice, and raised
them above the influence of danger and of corruption. It sometimes might
lead them to pursue unwise ends, but never to choose unwise means. They
went through the world, like Sir Artegal’s iron man Talus with his
flail, crushing and trampling down oppressors, mingling with human
beings, but having neither part nor lot in human infirmities, insensible
to fatigue, to pleasure, and to pain, not to be pierced by any weapon,
not to be withstood by any barrier.—_Macaulay’s Essay on Milton._
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APPENDIX B (PAGE 21).
“‘The Vicar of Wakefield’ is a domestic epic. Its hero is a country
parson—simple, pious and pure-hearted—a humourist in his way, a little
vain of his learning, a little proud of his fine family—sometimes rather
sententious, never pedantic, and a dogmatist only on the one favorite
topic of monogamy, which crops out now and then above the surface of his
character, only to give it a new charm. Its world is a rural district,
beyond whose limits the action rarely passes, and that only on great
occasions. Domestic affections and joys, relieved by its cares, its
foibles, and its little failings, cluster around the parsonage, till the
storms from the outward world invade its holiness and trouble its peace.
Then comes sorrow and suffering; and we have the hero, like the
patriarchal prince of the land of Uz, when the Lord ‘put forth His hand
and touched all that He had,’ meeting each new affliction with meekness
and with patience—rising from each new trial with renewed reliance upon
God, till the lowest depth of his earthly suffering becomes the highest
elevation of his moral strength.”
--------------
APPENDIX C (PAGE 28).
The most interesting phases which the Reformation anywhere assumes,
especially for us English, is that of Puritanism. In Luther’s own
country, Protestantism soon dwindled into a rather barren affair, not a
religion or faith, but rather now a theological jangling of argument,
the proper seat of it not the heart; the essence of it skeptical
contention; which, indeed, has jangled more and more, down to Voltairism
itself; through Gustavus Adolphus contentions onward to
French-Revolution cries! But on our island there arose a Puritanism,
which even got itself established as a Presbyterianism and national
church among the Scotch; which came forth as a real business of the
heart; and has produced in the world very notable fruit. In some senses
one may say it is the only phase of Protestantism that ever got to the
rank of being a faith, a true communication with Heaven, and of
exhibiting itself in history as such. We must spare a few words for
Knox; himself a brave and remarkable man; but still more important as
chief priest and founder, which one may consider him to be, of the faith
that became Scotland’s, New England’s, Oliver Cromwell’s. History will
have something to say about this for some time to come!
We may censure Puritanism as we please; and no one of us, I suppose, but
would find it a very rough, defective thing; but we, and all men, may
understand that it was a genuine thing; for nature has adopted it, and
it has grown and grows. I say sometimes that all goes by wager of battle
in this world; that _strength_, well understood, is the measure of all
worth. Give a thing time; if it can succeed, it is a right thing. Look
now at American Saxondom; and at that little fact of the sailing of the
Mayflower, two hundred years ago, from Delft Haven, in Holland! Were we
of open sense, as the Greeks were, we had found a poem here; one of
nature’s own poems, such as she writes in broad facts over great
continents. For it was properly the beginning of America: there were
straggling settlers in America before, some material as of a body was
there; but the soul of it was first this. These poor men, driven out of
their own country, not able well to live in Holland, determined on
settling in the New World. Black, untamed forests are there, and wild,
savage creatures; but not so cruel as star-chamber hangmen. They thought
the earth would yield them food, if they tilled honestly; the
everlasting Heaven would stretch there, too, overhead; they should be
left in peace, to prepare for Eternity by living well in this world of
time; worshipping in what they thought the true, not the idolatrous way.
They clubbed their small means together; hired a ship, the little ship
Mayflower, and made ready to set sail. In _Neal’s History of the
Puritans_ is an account of the ceremony of their departure; solemnity,
we might call it, rather, for it was a real act of worship. Their
minister went down with them to the beach, and their brethren, whom they
were to leave behind; all joined in solemn prayer that God would have
pity on His poor children, and go with them into that waste wilderness,
for He also had made that, He was there also as well as here. Hah! These
men, I think, had a work! The weak thing, weaker than a child, becomes
strong one day, if it be a true thing. Puritanism was only despicable,
laughable then; but nobody can manage to laugh at it now. Puritanism has
got weapons and sinews; it has fire-arms, war navies; it has cunning in
its ten fingers, strength in its right arm: it can steer ships, fell
forests, remove mountains; it is one of the strongest things under this
sun at present!—_Carlyle on Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in
History._
--------------
APPENDIX D (PAGE 36).
It has been said of Lady Huntingdon that “almost from infancy an
uncommon seriousness shaded the natural gladness of her childhood,” and
that, without any positive religious instruction, for none knew her
“inward sorrows,” when she was a “little girl, nor were there any around
her who could have led her to the balm there is in Gilead,” she devoutly
and diligently searched the Scriptures, if haply she might find that
precious something which her soul craved.
During the first years of her married life (she was married at the age
of 21 and in the year 1728), “her chief endeavor * * * was to maintain a
conscience void of offense. She strove to fulfill the various duties of
her position with scrupulous exactness; she was sincere, just and
upright; she prayed, fasted and gave alms; she was courteous,
considerate and charitable.”
Her husband, Lord Huntingdon, had a sister, Lady Margaret Hastings, who,
under the preaching of Mr. Ingham, in Ledstone Church in Yorkshire, was
converted. Afterwards, when visiting her brother, these words were
uttered by her: “Since I have known and believed in the Lord Jesus for
salvation, I have been as happy as an angel.” The expression was strange
to Lady Huntingdon—it alarmed her—she sought to work out a righteousness
of her own, but the effort only widened the breach between herself and
God. “Thus harassed by inward conflicts, Lady Huntingdon was thrown upon
a sick bed, and after many days and nights seemed hastening to the
grave. The fear of death fell terribly upon her.”
In that condition the words of Lady Margaret recurred with a new
meaning. “I too will wholly cast myself on Jesus Christ for life and
salvation,” was her last refuge; and from her bed she lifted up her
heart to God for pardon and mercy through the blood of His Son. “Lord, I
believe; help Thou mine unbelief,” was her prayer. Doubt and distress
vanished and joy and peace filled her bosom.—_From “Lady Huntingdon and
her Friends.” Compiled by Mrs. Helen C. Knight._
--------------
APPENDIX E (PAGE 71).
“It is easier to justify the heads of the restored Clergy upon this
point [want of uniformity or unity in the Church of England], than to
excuse them for appropriating to themselves the wealth which, in
consequence of the long protracted calamities of the nation, was placed
at their disposal. The leases of the church lands had almost all fallen
in; there had been no renewal for twenty years, and the fines which were
now raised amounted to about a million and a half. Some of this money
was expended in repairing, as far as was reparable, that havoc in
churches and cathedrals which the fanatics had made in their abominable
reign; some also was disposed of in ransoming English slaves from the
Barbary pirates; but the greater part went to enrich individuals and
build up families, instead of being employed, as it ought to have been,
in improving the condition of the inferior clergy. Queen Anne applied
the tenths and first fruits to this most desirable object; but the
effect of her augmentation was slow and imperceptible: they continued in
a state of degrading poverty, and that poverty was another cause of the
declining influence of the Church, and the increasing irreligion of the
people.
A further cause is to be found in the relaxation of discipline. In the
Romish days it had been grossly abused; and latterly also it had been
brought into general abhorrence and contempt by the tyrannical measures
of Laud on one side, and the absurd vigor of Puritanism on the other.
The clergy had lost that authority which may always command at least the
appearance of respect; and they had lost that respect also by which the
place of authority may sometimes so much more worthily be supplied. For
the loss of power they were not censurable; but if they possessed little
of that influence which the minister who diligently and conscientiously
discharges his duty will certainly acquire, it is manifest that, as a
body, they must have been culpably remiss. From the Restoration to the
accession of the House of Hanover, the English Church could boast of
some of its brightest ornaments and ablest defenders; men who have
neither been surpassed in piety, nor in erudition, nor in industry, nor
in eloquence, nor in strength and subtlety of mind: and when the design
for re-establishing popery in these kingdoms was systematically pursued,
to them we are indebted for that calm and steady resistance, by which
our liberties, civil as well as religious, were preserved. But in the
great majority of the clergy zeal was awanting. The excellent Leighton
spoke of the Church as a fair carcass without a spirit; in doctrine, in
worship, and in the main part of its government, he thought it the best
constituted in the world, but one of the most corrupt in its
administration. And Burnet observes, that in his time our clergy had
less authority, and were under more contempt, than those of any other
church in Europe; for they were much the most remiss in their labors,
and the least severe in their lives. It was not that their lives were
scandalous; he entirely acquitted them of any such imputation; but they
were not exemplary as it became them to be: and in the sincerity and
grief of a pious and reflecting mind, he pronounced that they should
never regain the influence which they had lost, till they lived better
and labored more.”—_Southey’s Life of Wesley._
--------------
APPENDIX F (PAGES 73 AND 98).
“The observant Frenchman to whom we have several times referred, M.
Grosley, says of the ‘sect of the Methodists,’ ‘this establishment has
borne all the persecutions that it could possibly apprehend in a country
as much disposed to persecution as England is the reverse.’ The light
literature of forty years overflows with ridicule of Methodism. The
preachers are pelted by the mob; the converts are held up to execration
as fanatics or hypocrites. Yet Methodism held the ground it had gained.
It had gone forth to utter the words of truth to men little above the
beasts that perish, and it had brought them to regard themselves, as
akin to humanity. The time would come when its earnestness would awaken
the Church itself from its somnolency, and the educated classes would
not be ashamed to be religious. There was wild enthusiasm enough in some
of the followers of Whitefield and Wesley; much self seeking; zeal
verging upon profaneness; moral conduct, strongly opposed to pious
profession. But these earnest men left a mark upon their time which can
never be effaced. The obscure young students at Oxford in 1736, who were
first called ‘Sacramentarians,’ then ‘Bible moths,’ and finally
‘Methodists, to whom the regular pulpits were closed, and who went forth
to preach in the fields—who separated from the Church more in form than
in reality—produced a moral revolution in England which probably saved
us from the fate of nations wholly abandoned to their own
devices.”—_From Knight’s History of England._
--------------
APPENDIX (PAGES 97 AND 98).
(_See Appendix A and F._)
--------------
--------------
APPENDIX (PAGE 114).
“The ‘two brothers in song’ (John and Charles Wesley) began their issue
of ‘Hymns and Sacred Songs’ in 1739, and continued at intervals to
supply Christian singers for half a century. Thirty-eight publications
appeared one after the other: now under the name of one brother, now
under that of the other; some with both names, and others nameless. The
two hymnists appear to have agreed that, in the volumes which bore their
joint names, they would not distinguish their hymns.”—_The Epworth
Singers and other poets of Methodism, by the Rev. S. W. Christophers,
Redruth, Cornwall._
--------------
APPENDIX (NOTE, PAGE 118).
The God of Abraham praise,
Who reigns enthron’d above;
Ancient of everlasting days,
And God of love:
Jehovah—great I Am—
By earth and Heavens confest;
I bow and bless the sacred name,
For ever bless’d.
The God of Abraham praise,
At whose supreme command
From earth I rise, and seek the joys
At His right hand:
I all on earth forsake,
Its wisdom, fame and power,
And Him my only portion make,
My Shield and Tower.
The God of Abraham praise,
Whose all-sufficient grace
Shall guide me all my happy days,
In all my ways:
He calls a worm His friend!
He calls Himself my God!
And He shall save me to the end,
Thro’ Jesus’ blood.
He by Himself hath sworn!
I on His oath depend,
I shall, on eagle’s wings up-borne,
To Heaven ascend;
I shall behold His face,
I shall His power adore,
And sing the wonders of His grace
For evermore.
Tho’ nature’s strength decay,
And earth and hell withstand,
To Canaan’s bounds I urge my way
At His command:
The wat’ry deep I pass,
With Jesus in my view;
And thro’ the howling wilderness
My way pursue.
The goodly land I see,
With peace and plenty bless’d;
A land of sacred liberty,
And endless rest.
There milk and honey flow,
And oil and wine abound,
And trees of life forever grow,
With mercy crown’d.
There dwells the Lord our King,
The Lord our Righteousness,
Triumphant o’er the world and sin,
The Prince of Peace;
On Sion’s sacred heights
His Kingdom still maintains;
And glorious with the saints in light,
Forever reigns.
He keeps His own secure,
He guards them by His side,
Arrays in garments white and pure
His spotless bride.
With streams of sacred bliss,
With groves of living joys,
With all the fruits of Paradise
He still supplies.
Before the great Three—One
They all exulting stand;
And tell the wonders He hath done,
Thro’ all their land:
The list’ning spheres attend,
And swell the growing fame;
And sing, in songs which never end,
The wondrous name.
The God who reigns on high,
The great Archangels sing,
And “Holy, holy, holy,” cry,
Almighty King!
Who was, and is, the same!
And evermore shall be;
Jehovah—Father—great I Am!
We worship Thee.
Before the Saviour’s face
The ransom’d nations bow;
O’erwhelmed at His Almighty grace,
Forever new:
He shows His prints of love—
They kindle—to a flame!
And sound through all the worlds above,
The slaughter’d Lamb.
The whole triumphant host
Give thanks to God on high;
“Hail, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!”
They ever cry:
Hail, Abraham’s God—and _mine_!
I join the heavenly lays,
All might and majesty are Thine,
And endless praise.
Thomas Olivers, the author of the above hymn, lived to see the issue of
at least thirty editions of it.
--------------
APPENDIX (PAGE 118).
THE LAST JUDGMENT.
BY THOMAS OLIVERS.
Come, immortal King of Glory,
Now in Majesty appear,
Bid the nations stand before Thee,
Each his final doom to hear,
Come to judgment,
Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come.
Speak the word, and lo! all nature
Flies before Thy glorious face,
Angels sing your great Creator,
Saints proclaim His sovereign grace,
While ye praise Him,
Lift your heads and see Him come.
See His beauty all resplendent,
View Him in His glory shine,
See His majesty transcendent,
Seated on His throne sublime:
Angels praise Him,
Saints and angels praise the Lamb.
Shout aloud, ye heavenly choirs,
Trumpet forth Jehovah’s praise;
Trumpets, voices, hearts and lyres!
Speak the wonders of His grace!
Sound before Him
Endless praises to His name.
Ransom’d sinners, see His ensign
Waving thro’ the purpled air!
‘Midst ten thousand lightnings daring,
Jesus’ praises to declare;
How tremendous
Is this dreadful, joyful day.
Crowns and sceptres fall before Him,
Kings and conquerors own His sway,
Fearless potentates are trembling,
While they see His lightnings play:
How triumphant
Is the world’s Redeemer now.
Noon-day beauty in its lustre
Doth in Jesus’ aspect shine,
Blazing comets are not fiercer
Than the flaming eyes Divine:
O, how dreadful
Doth the Crucified appear.
Hear His voice as mighty thunder,
Sounding in eternal roar!
Far surpassing many waters
Echoing wide from shore to shore:
Hear His accents
Through th’ unfathom’d deep resound:
“Come,” He saith, “ye heirs of glory,
Come, the purchase of my blood;
Bless’d ye are, and bless’d ye shall be,
Now ascend the mount of God;
Angels guard them
To the realms of endless day.”
See ten thousand flaming seraphs
From their thrones as lightnings fly;
“Take,” they cry, “your seats above us,
Nearest Him who rules the sky:
Favorite sinners,
How rewarded are you now!”
Haste and taste celestial pleasure;
Haste and reap immortal joys;
Haste and drink the crystal river;
Lift on high your choral voice,
While archangels
Shout aloud the great Amen.
But the angry Lamb’s determin’d
Every evil to descry;
They who have His love rejected
Shall before His vengeance fly,
When He drives them
To their everlasting doom.
Now, in awful expectation,
See the countless millions stand;
Dread, dismay, and sore vexation,
Seize the helpless, hopeless band;
Baleful thunders,
Stop and hear Jehovah’s voice!
“Go from me,” He saith, “ye cursed—
Ye for whom I bled in vain—
Ye who have my grace refused—
Hasten to eternal pain!”
How victorious
Is the conquering _Son of Man_!
See, in solemn pomp ascending,
Jesus and His glorious train;
Countless myriads now attend Him,
Rising to th’ imperial plain;
Hallelujah!
To the bless’d Immanuel’s name!
In full triumph see them marching
Through the gates of massy light;
While the city walls are sparkling
With meridian’s glory bright;
How stupendous
Are the glories of the Lamb!
On His throne of radiant azure,
High above all heights He reigns—
Reigns amidst immortal pleasure,
While refulgent glory flames;
How diffusive
Shines the golden blaze around!
All the heavenly powers adore Him,
Circling round his orient seat;
Ransom’d saints with angels vying,
Loudest praises to repeat;
How exalted
Is His praise, and how profound!
Every throne and every mansion,
All ye heavenly arches ring;
Echo to the Lord salvation,
Glory to our glorious King!
Boundless praises
All ye heavenly orbs resound.
Praise be to the Father given,
Praise to the Incarnate Son,
Praise the Spirit, one and Seven,
Praise the mystic Three in One;
Hallelujah!
Everlasting praise be Thine!
--------------
APPENDIX (PAGE 120).
ROCK OF AGES—IN LATIN.
BY W. E. GLADSTONE.
Jesus, pro me perforatus,
Condar intra Tuum latus,
Tu per lympham profluentem,
Tu per sanguinem tepentem,
In peccata me redunda,
Tolle culpam, sordes munda.
Coram Te, nec justus forem
Quamvis totâ si laborem,
Nec si fide nunquam cesso,
Fletu stillans indefesso:
Tibi soli tantum munus;
Salva me, Salvator unus!
Nil in manu mecum fero,
Sed me versus crucem gero;
Vestimenta nudus oro,
Opem debilis imploro;
Fontem Christi quæro immundus
Nisi laves, moribundus.
Dum hos artus vita regit;
Quando nox sepulchro tegit;
Mortuos cum stare jubes,
Sedens Judex inter nubes;
Jesus, pro me perforatus,
Condar intra Tuum latus.
--------------
APPENDIX (PAGE 236).
From the “Memoirs of Howard, compiled from his diary, his confidential
letters, and other authentic documents, by James Baldwin Brown,” it
appears that in the year 1755, on a voyage to Portugal, the vessel in
which he was, was captured by a French privateer, and carried into
Brest, where he and the other passengers, along with the crew, were cast
into a filthy dungeon, and there kept a considerable time without
nourishment. There they lay for six days and nights. The floor, with
nothing but straw upon it, was their sleeping place. He was afterwards
removed to Morlaix, and thence to Carpaix, where he was two months upon
parole. At the latter place “he corresponded with the English prisoners
at Brest, Morlaix and Dinnan; and had sufficient evidence of their being
treated with such barbarity that many hundreds had perished; and that
thirty-six were buried in a hole at Dinnan in one day.”
Through his benevolent and timely interference on their behalf, when he
himself had regained his freedom, the prisoners of war in these three
prisons were released and sent home to England in the first cartel
ships.
Till the year 1773 it does not appear that he was actively engaged in
any philanthropic work on behalf of prisoners. In the year 1730 there
had been a commission of enquiry in the House of Commons on the state of
prisons, and condition of their inmates, but nothing seems to have
followed from it, and it was not till March, 1774, when Howard received
the thanks of the House for the information which, he communicated to
them on the subject, that the great work assumed shape. In 1773, having
been appointed sheriff of Bedford, the distress of prisoners came under
his notice. He engaged himself in a most minute inspection, and the
consequence was the devotion of every faculty of his existence to the
correction of the abuses existing in similar institutions as the friend
of those who had no friend.
In that Christlike work he continued till his death, on 20th January,
1790, at Cherson, Russian Tartary, having in the meantime inspected
prisons in England, Scotland and Ireland, France, Holland, Flanders,
Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the
Netherlands, Malta, Turkey, Prussia and Russia.
--------------
APPENDIX (PAGE 253).
At Michaelmas time, 1791, Mr. Buchanan was admitted a member of Queen’s
College, Cambridge, having left London on the 24th October. He was then
25 years of age. In consequence of a letter from his mother he attended
the preaching of John Newton, with whom he kept up a correspondence when
at college. In one of his replies to Mr. Newton he wrote: “You ask me
whether I would prefer preaching the Gospel to the fame of learning? Ay,
that would I, gladly, were I convinced it was the will of God, that I
should depart this night for Nova Zembla, or the Antipodes, to testify
of Him. I would not wait for an admit or a college exit.” Some time in
the year 1794, the first proposal appears to have been made to him to go
out to India, and on this occasion he wrote Mr. Newton, saying, “I have
only time to say, that with respect to my going to India, I must decline
giving an opinion. * * * It is with great pleasure I submit this matter
to the determination of yourself and Mr. Thornton and Mr. Grant. All I
wish to ascertain is the will of God.” In a subsequent letter he wrote,
“I am equally ready to preach the Gospel in the next village, or at the
end of the earth.”
After taking his degree of B.A., he was ordained a deacon by the Bishop
of London on 20th September, 1795, when he became Mr. Newton’s curate,
which he held till March, 1796, when he was appointed one of the
chaplains to the East India Company. Soon after, he received priest’s
orders, and on 11th August, 1796, sailed from Portsmouth, England, for
Calcutta, where he landed 10th March, 1797. In May following he
proceeded to the military station of Barackpore. But it was not till the
beginning of the present century that he fairly developed his plans for
the extension of the Redeemer’s Kingdom in India.—_From Memoirs of Rev.
Claudius Buchanan._
--------------
APPENDIX (PAGE 254).
In the month of September, 1794, a paper was published in the
_Evangelical Magazine_, urging the formation of a mission to the heathen
on the broadest possible basis. The writer of that paper was the Rev.
David Bogue, D.D., of Gosport, Hampshire, and two months after its
appearance a conference, attended by representatives from several
Evangelical bodies, was held to take action in the matter. The result
was an address to ministers and members of various churches, and the
appointment of a committee to diffuse information upon the subject.
Thereafter, and in September, 1795, a large and influential meeting,
extending over three days, at which the Rev. Dr. Harris preached from
Mark xv: 16, and the Rev. J. Burder and the Rev. Rowland Hill and many
others took part. At that meeting the society was formed, and it was
resolved, with reference to its agents and their converts, “That it
should be entirely left with those whom God might call into the
fellowship of His Son among them, to assume for themselves such a form
of church government as to them shall appear most agreeable to the Word
of God.”
The Rev. David Bogue, D.D., has therefore well been styled “the father
and founder” of the institution.
--------------
APPENDIX (PAGE 256).
At a meeting held in Leeds, 5th October, 1813, it was resolved to
constitute a society to be called “The Methodist Missionary Society for
the Leeds District,” of which branches were to be formed in the several
circuits, whose duty it should be to collect subscriptions in behalf of
missions and to remit them to an already existing committee in London.
It was from this point that, by general consent, the origin of the
Wesleyan Missionary Society is reckoned.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INDEX.
Academy, Doddridge’s, 29
Lady Huntingdon’s, 257
Aftermath, 260
Age before the Revival, The 32
Albert, Prince, 120
Alleine, Rev. Joseph, 197
Allen, Ebenezer, Governor of Martha’s Vineyard, 226
America, Awakening in, 28, 73, 85, 281
American Baptist Missionary Union, 256
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 255, 256
American Revival, 28, 73, 85, 281
Sunday-school Union, 256
Amusements, 15
Anabaptists, 52
Ancaster, Duchess of 37, 41
Anecdotes, 17–20, 37, 39, 41, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 69, 70, 72, 76,
82–84, 87, 89, 94, 96, 100, 103, 109, 112, 113, 115, 116, 125, 129,
130, 133–135, 137, 138, 140, 143–145, 148, 151, 153, 158, 159, 161,
166, 172, 177, 183, 194, 198, 200, 202, 218, 234, 236, 239, 243,
245, 247, 255, 256, 266, 288, 291, 293, 294, 298, 300, 301
Aram, Eugene, 147
Armenianism, 60
Arrests, 102
Atheism, Prevalence of, 15
Austrian Exiles, 28
Baptist Missionary Society, 250
Union, American, 256
Band-Meetings, etc., Origin of, 100
Basle Evangelical Mission, 256
Baynham, James, 195
Baxter, Richard, 266
Benson, Bishop, 69, 70
Bernard of Clairvaux, 114
Cluny, 114
Berridge, John, 150, 157, 169, 177, 270
Bible, The, the Power of God, 7, 279, 286
Reverenced, 277
Translated for India, 253
Bible Society, The 186, 189, 191, 256
Blomfield, Bishop, 18
Bloomfield, 197
Blossoms in the Wilderness, 180
Bogue, David, 254, 257, 320
Bolingbroke, Lord, 41, 60, 180
Borlase, Dr., 102
Boston in 1730, 232
Elm, 275
State of Society in, 282
Bradford, Joseph, 138
Britain’s Obligations to Missions for India, 254
British and Foreign School Society, 256
_British Quarterly_, 52, 92
Brontë Family, 160
_Bruised Reed_, 266
Buchanan, Claudius, 178, 190, 253, 254, 319
Buckingham, Duchess of, 38, 39
Bunyan, John, 160
Burke, Edmund, 236
Butler, Bishop, 22
Byron, 117
Calvin’s Institutes, 61
Calvinistic Methodists, 101
Campbell, John, 178, 190
Captains of Ships in 18th Century, 221, 224
Cardigan, Lady, 42
Carey, William, 250
Carlyle, Thomas, 28, 305
Cennick, John, 123
Chatsworth, 49
Cheerfulness and Joy Significant of Revival, 98, 99, 101, 109, 124
Chesterfield, Lord, 41, 180
Christian Remembrances, 123
“_Christian World Unmasked, The_; _Pray Come and Peep_,”, 158
Christianity, Effect of, 98, 185
Chrysostom, 52
Church of England, Evangelical Party in, 269
Religion in, 15, 18, 233
Disabilities against Members of, 258
Opposition to Methodism, 99
Opposition to Revival, 22, 70, 156, 159, 172, 270
Southey on the Clergy of the, 308
Church Signs and Counter-signs, 99
Church’s, Rev. Thomas, Denunciation of Evil, 21
Chubbs, 180
Church Missionary Society, 255
City Road Chapel, 91
Clapham Sect, 184, 189, 191
Clarkson, Thomas, 190
Clergy, Corruption of, 18
Coates, Alexander, 153
Colman, Dr., Testimony of, 285
Colliers, The, 75
Collins, 180
Colston, Edward, 218
Colston’s School, Bristol, 218
Compton, Adam, 198
Congregationalism, 170
Controversialists of Revival, 117, 119
Conversions, 219, 234, 238, 258, 266, 267, 284, 290
Cornwall, 116, 131, 171
Cottage Visitation, 50
Cowper, William, 126, 178, 207, 211
Cradle of London Methodism, 91
Crime in 18th Century, 14, 16, 21, 242
Criminals, Condition of, 200, 237, 239, 244
Criminal Law in 18th Century, 14, 237, 242, 244, 247, 248, 259
Danish Hymns, 131
Missionary Society, 250
Darkness before Dawn, 7, 107
Dawn, First Streaks of, 24
Deaf and Dumb Asylum, 258
Defoe, 177, 216
Deism, Prevalence of, 15
Derby, Earl of, 129
Dissenters, Disabilities of, 258
Dissent in, Boston, in 1730, 232
Divine authority of the New Testament, The, 255
Doddridge, Philip, 28, 31, 110, 113, 126, 267
his Academy, 29
his Friends, 36, 58
his Hymns, 29
Drawing-Room Preaching, 37, 38, 40
Effect of, 43
Drury Lane, 155
Dying Words, 169, 261, 262, 300
East India Company, 191
Economy of Charity, 210
_Edinburgh Review_, 69, 184, 253
Education, Neglect of, 16
Spreading, 257
Edwards, Jonathan, 28, 275, 283, 296
Effect of Rejection of Gospel, 7
Eighteenth Century Revival, 9, 277
Emerson, quoted, 12
England and France Contrasted, 23, 180
England, State of Religion in, 23
Epitaphs, 156, 197, 212, 268
Episcopal Board of Missions, Methodist, 256
Protestant, 256
Epworth, 43, 53, 94, 97
Essays on Ecclesiastical Biography, 184
Everton, 156
Excitement of the Revival, 68
Executions at Tyburn in 1738, 14
Exiles in England, 28
Experiences of Christians expressed in Song, 128
Eyre, Jane, 160
Fair-Preaching, 83
Fenwick, Michael, 137
Ferrars, Lady, 40
Field-Preaching, 68, 89, 101, 104
First Day or Sunday-school Society, 256
Flaxley, 197
Fletcher of Madsley, 149
Florence, 7
Foote, the Actor, 154
Founders of London Missionary Society, 254
Foundry, The Moorfields, 91
France, 7, 180
Free Church of England, 101
French Protestants in England, 25
Fry, Elizabeth, 237, 258, 278
Gambold, John, 50, 64
Garrick, David, 155, 172
George II, 181
George IV, 158
Gerhardt, Paul, 113
German Empire, 7
Hymns, 131
Germain, Lady Betty, 41
Gisborne, Thomas, 192
Gladstone, W. E., 119, 317
Gloucestershire, 183, 193, 213
God’s Method of Diffusing the Truth, 12, 13
Goethe, 28, 305
Goldsmith, 21
Gospel Preached in Song, 114
Grant, James, 126
Sir Robert, 192
Gregory, Alfred, 196
Greenfield, Edward, 102
Griggs, Joseph, 126
Grimshaw, William, 160, 169, 178, 270
Guthrie, Dr., 158
Gwennap Pit, 103, 275
Haime, John, 151
Hamilton, Duchess of, 41
Lady Elizabeth, 243
Sir William, 179
Hardcastle, Joseph, 191
Hardships, 221
Harris, Howell, 272
Harvard College, Religion in, 285
Hastings, Lady Margaret, 170, 171
Haweis, Thomas, 254
Haworth, 160
Haymarket Theatre, 154
Helmsley, 119
Herbert, George, 110
Hervey, James, 50, 57, 60
Writings, 63
Hey, James (Old Jemmie o’ the Hey), 198
Hill, Rowland, 120, 159, 170, 254
Holy Club, The, 51, 54, 57, 60, 65, 170
Spirit, The, the Power, 85
Hooper, John, 195
Hopper, Christopher, 151
Horne, Dr., 66
Hospitality in New England, 225, 229, 231
Hostility to Revival, 21, 32, 61, 77, 288
Howard, John, 236, 318
Hymns, 115, 118, 119, 122, 125–130, 203, 311, 313
Character of, 127, 131
Influence of, 98, 99, 101, 109, 112, 129
of Doddridge, 29, 110
of Watts, 29, 31, 110
of Wesley, 112
Hymnists of the Revival, 109, 121, 123, 126, 192
Huddersfield, 169
Huguenots, The, 24, 98
Descendants in England, 26
Influence on Revival, 26
Settlement in England, 26
Huntingdon, Lady, 20, 35, 46, 50, 64, 66, 69, 91, 101, 124, 135, 143,
148, 155, 159, 169, 172, 183, 254, 257, 261, 307
Huntingdon, William, 276
Hupton, Job, 127
Independents, 256
Indians, Cause of, Espoused by Whitefield, 290
Ingham, Benjamin, 50, 170
Itinerancy, by Wesley, 93
Itinerant Preachers, 116, 160
Jay, William, 184
Jenner, Dr. Edward, 195
Johnson, Samuel, 55
Joss, Toriel, 149
Juvenal, 52
Kempis, Thomas à., 55, 59
Kingsbury, William, 254
Kirk, John, Author of “Mother of the Wesleys”, 44
Lackington, 154
Lancashire, 131
Independent College, 257
Lanterns, New Lights and Old, 48
Lavington, Bishop, 70
Law, William, 53
Lay Preaching, 132, 136, 139, 147–149, 151
Lecky on the Effect of the Revival, 10
Lee, Jesse, 275
Literature, State of, at beginning of 18th Century. How Affected by
Revival, 16, 269
Livingstone, 255
Local Preachers, 136
Wesley’s Reasons for, 136
London Missionary Society, 191, 254, 255, 319
Love of Souls, 101, 185, 186, 281
Luther, 7, 57, 110, 114, 179
Lyttleton, Lord, 17, 40, 42
Macaulay, 86, 97, 99, 189
Tribute to Puritans, 9, 97, 303–305
McOwan, Peter, 130
Mann, Sir Horace, 40
Mansfield, Lord, 172
Marlborough, Duchess of, 37, 39, 42
Marshman and Ward, 253
Martyrs, 195
Maxfield, Thomas, 115, 134
Melcombe, Lord, 42
Methodism, 182, 257, 275, 278
in New England, 275
Methodists acknowledged, 177, 256
and Puritans Compared, 98
Methodists and Quakers, 278
Methodist Band-Meetings, etc., 100
Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society, 256
Methodists, Beginning of, 45, 52, 80, 91
Calvinistic and Wesleyan, 101
Methodists, Creed of, 100
Early, 98, 102, 309
Effect of, 35, 129
Efforts of Earliest, 257
Expelled from Oxford, 66
Growth of, 40, 170
in United States, 275
Held as Opposed to Church of England, 66, 70, 94, 99
Hymnals, 32
Manifestations of, 85
Origin of Name, 52, 60, 309
Regarded as Enemies, 21, 70, 94, 99, 139, 143, 144, 233, 309
Methodists, Sects of, 276
Middleton, 180
Milton, 110
_Minor, The_, 154
Mission Enterprises, 186, 250, 256
to Africa, 191, 255
to China, 255
to India, 190, 253
to Madagascar, 255
to South Seas, 255
Missionary Societies, 250, 256, 320
Moffat, Robert, 191, 255
Molière, 155
Montague, Duchess of, 42
Montgomery, James, 118
Moorfields, London, 84, 91, 134, 149, 233
Morality at Beginning of 18th Century, 16
Moravians, The, 35, 64, 113, 170, 250, 256
More, Hannah, 178, 210
Morgan, 50
Mystery of Life, The, 65
Napoleon at St. Helena, 255
Nash, Beau, Overcome by Wesley, 87
Nelson, John, 139
Netherlands Missionary Society, 256
Newman, John Henry, 269
Newton, John, 123, 126, 149, 174, 190, 216, 217, 270
Noel, Baptist, 259
Nonconformists, Religion Among, 15
Oliver, John, 115
Olivers, Thomas, 115, 125, 311, 313
One-eyed Christians, 183
Orphan Asylum in Georgia, 291, 296
Oxford, 48, 65
Forecasting Future of Union, 48
Oxford Methodists, 49
Society, 54
Parson, John, 151
Perronet, Edward, 125
Persecution, 102, 139, 143, 270
Philadelphia Adult and Sunday-school Union, 256
Pilgrim’s Progress, The, 219, 236
Pitt, William, 42, 266
Politics Influenced by Revival, 258
Pope, 38
Portraits of Revivalists, 154, 271
Power of Song, 114
_Practical View of Christianity_, 266, 267
Prayer, 102
Preacher and Robbers, The, 151
Preaching at Beginning of 18th Century, 61
by Laymen, 132, 136, 139, 147, 148, 149, 151
in Drawing-Room, 37, 38, 40
Effect of, 7, 98, 99, 101, 107, 139, 143
Prejudices Against Lay Preachers, 132
Prison Philanthropy, 199, 217, 234, 236, 241, 246, 248, 258, 318
Promoting Christian Knowledge, Society for, 250
Propagation of Gospel, Society for, in New England, 250
Propagation of Gospel, Society for, in Foreign Parts, 250
Protestant Episcopal Board of Missions, 256
Puritans, The, 8, 9, 35, 52, 98, 303, 305
Macaulay’s estimate of, 9, 97, 303
and Methodists Compared, 98
Quakers, The, 35, 231, 278
_Quarterly Review_, 125, 126
Quietists, 55
Quixote, the Spiritual, 154
Raikes, Anne, 213
Raikes, Robert, 183, 193, 194, 196, 201, 211, 214
at Windsor, 202, 208
House at Gloucester, 213
Raymont of Pegnafort, 93
Reciprocation the Soul of Methodism, 100
Redruth, Cornwall, 103
Reformation, The, 8
Reign of Terror, 181
Rejection of Gospel, its Effect on Nations, 7
Religion, State of
at Beginning of 18th Century, 10, 22, 23, 107
State of and After Revival Contrasted, 13, 277
Religious Tract Society, 191, 256
Repeal of Test and Corporation Acts, 258
Revival, The, Anecdotes of (See Anecdotes.)
Revival Beacons, 184
Becomes Educational, 193, 257, 278
Beginning of, 24, 28, 35, 39, 49, 57, 73, 181, 186
Cheerfulness and Joy of, 98, 99, 101, 109, 124
Conservative, 86
Dawn of, 24, 48, 49
Depth of, 277
Done Most for Well-being of Mankind, 280
Effect on Literature, 260
Effect of on World at Large, 279, 293
Effects of, 8, 10, 13, 107, 115, 129, 132, 147, 166, 171, 180, 183,
186, 258, 259, 260, 269, 277, 279, 285, 293, 296, 300
Evangelical in England, 8, 271,
Fair-Preaching, 83
Field-Preaching, 68, 89, 101, 104
Foremost Names in, 46, 154
Fruit of, 180, 186
Revival, Growth of, 73, 265
Hostility to, 21, 22, 32, 61, 77, 94, 102, 154, 156, 159, 172, 288,
298
Importance of, 10
in Wales, 272
in America, 275, 281, 288, 295, 300
at Kingswood, 77
Lay Preaching, 132, 135, 139, 147, 148, 149, 151
Sects Formed, 276
Singers of, 109, 121, 123, 126, 192, 310
Spiritual, 114, 285
Revivalist Portraits, 154, 271
Richmond Legh, 267
Ridicule of Revivalists, 154, 253, 298
Rise and Progress in the Soul, 267
Ritual Absent in Revival, 114
Rock of Ages, 119
Rockingham, Lady, 40
Rogers’ Lives of Early Preachers, 151
Romaine, William, 149, 172
Roman Catholics, 133, 145, 193
Romelly, Sir Samuel, 26
Romish Stories and Incidents in Work of Wesley, 133, 145
Romney, Earl, 259
Rosary, The, 99
Rowlands, 272
Sabbath Observance, 17, 229
Sacred Song, Power of, 109, 113, 127
Sailors’ Hardships, etc., 221, 224, 240
_Saints Everlasting Rest_, 267
Salvation by Grace the Grand Doctrine of the Revival, 60, 186, 270, 284
Sandwich Islands, 255
Sandys, 110
Sarton, William, 195
Saunderson, Lady Frances, 37
Savonarola, 7
Schools, Sunday, 16, 196–199, 201, 204
School, Sunday, Commended, 207, 208
Effect of, 201, 215
First Day or Society, 256
Growth of, 208, 209, 215
Scott, Captain Jonathan, 149
Thomas, 269
Walter, Sir, 117
Sects Rising from Revival: Bible Christians of West of England, 276
Primitive Methodists Of the North, 276
New Connection Methodists, 276
United Free Church Association, 276
Selborne, Lord, Referred to, 125
Sharp, Granville, 190
Shaw, Robert, 169
Ships of 18th Century, 220
Shirley, Lady Fanny, 64
Mr. (Lady Huntingdon’s Cousin), 20
Sidney, Sir Philip, 110
Simeon, Charles, 269
Singers of the Revival, 109, 121, 123, 126, 192, 310
Slave Abolition, 186, 211, 265, 278
Smiles, Dr., referred to, 24
Smith, Adam, 207
Sydney, 184, 253
Society, State of, at beginning of 18th Century, 10, 16, 24, 75, 277,
282, 294
State of and after Revival, Contrasted, 13, 277
Somerset, Duchess of, 36
Songs Used in Great National Movements, 109
Southey, 71, 83, 89, 93, 115, 130, 133, 146, 147, 157, 166, 249, 276,
308
Spain, 7
Spencer, 52
St. Ambrose, 117
St. Ann’s, Black Friars, London, 174
St. George’s, Hanover Square, London, 172
Stage Libels against the Revivalists, 154
Staniforth, Sampson, 151
Stanhope, Earl, Testimony to Wesley, 10
Starting Point, The, of Modern Religious History, 181
Steam Engine, The, 12
Steele, Miss, 126
Stephen, Sir James, 83, 184, 191, 192, 269
Sir George, 192
Stevens, Dr. Abel, 27, 83, 182, 216, 249, 262, 300
Stocker, John, 127
Stock, Thomas, 204
Story, George, 147
Stratford, Joseph, 196
Streaks of Dawn, First, 24
Suffolk, Countess of, 40
Swedenborg, 276
Swedish Missionary Society, 250
Taylor, Isaac, 45, 83, 128
Teachers, Character of at Beginning of 18th Century, 17
Te Deum, 114
Teignmouth, Lord, 189, 254
Tennent, Gilbert, 286, 287, 290
“_The Last Judgment_”, 118
Thomson, Mr., The Vicar of St. Gennys, 70
Thornton, John, 190
Ticket, The, 99
Told, Silas, 216, 257
his Preaching and his Work, 235
Toleration Act, 258
Toplady, Augustus, 119, 121
Tottenham Court Chapel, 120, 150
Townshend, Lady, 37
John, 258
Lord, 42
Tractarian Movement, The, 48
Tract Societies, 186, 191
Trevisa, John De, 193
Trimmer, Sarah, Mrs., 209
Trophies of Revival, 115
Turnpikes in England, 93
Tyerman, Mr., referred to, 27, 43, 249
Tyndale, William, 183, 193
Venn, Henry, 169
Vicar of Wakefield, 21, 267, 305
Voltaire, 51, 180
Wales, 272
Walker, Samuel, 171
Walpole, Horace, 39, 43, 79, 83, 154
Walsh, Thomas, 135, 145
Warburton, Bishop, on Wesley, 22
Ward and Marshman, 253
Watson, Richard, 158
Watt, James, 12
Watts, Isaac, 29, 110, 122, 128
Friends of, 36
his Mother, 26
Hymns of, 29, 113
Literary Labors, 29
Waugh, Alexander, 254
Welsh Preaching and Preachers, 275
Wesleyan Methodists, 101
Missionary Society, 256, 320
Wesleyan Societies, 170, 182
Wesleyanism, Historians of, 182
Wesley, Charles, 45, 50, 57, 118, 121, 128, 265
Wesley, John, 21, 26, 46, 50, 53, 80, 92, 122, 136, 165, 179, 182, 207
as an Administrator, 82, 86
and Church Polity, 82, 86
and Bradford, 138
and Fenwick, 137
and Nelson, 145
and Silas Told, 217, 233, 237, 249
and Walsh, 146
and Whitefield Compared, 69, 80, 86, 87, 89, 148
and Field-Preaching, 89
Wesley, John,
and Methodists Regarded as Enemies, 21, 94, 99
and Hervey’s Teaching, 59
at Epworth, 43, 53, 94, 95
at the Foundry, Moorfields (City Road Chapel), 91
at Glasgow, 11
at Gwennap Pit, 103
at Oxford, 50, 53
at York, 96
Compared with Calvin, 69
Conversion, Time of, 58
Creed, 100
Death of, 262
Early Religious Experiences, 53
Effect of His Preaching on Himself, 82
Effect of His Preaching on Others, 82, 87, 96, 114
Estimate of by Macaulay, 86, 89
Expelled from Church of England, 68, 69
Expelled from Oxford, 65
Hymns, 112, 113, 114, 124, 126
Influence of, 10, 26, 182
Itinerancy, 93
on Sabbath-Schools, 208
Parish, the World, 91
Power over Others, 82, 87, 137
Preaching in Epworth Church-yard, 95
Restrictions on Lay Preachers, 134
Tomb, 262
Translations, 113
Victory of, over Nash, 87
Wesley, Samuel, 43, 53
Susannah, 44, 134
her Sayings, 45
Weston, Favel, 58, 62
Wilberforce, William, 178, 189, 191, 254, 258, 265, 266
Wilderness, Blossoms in, 180
Wilks, Matthew, 254
Winter, Cornelius, 184, 257
Wiseman, Cardinal, 131
White, Rev George, Vicar of Colne, 71
Whitefield, George, 32, 46, 52, 60, 69, 73, 86, 122, 148, 165, 179,
184, 195, 258, 270, 284
and the Children, 292
Among the Indians, 290
and the Poor Woman, 56
and Wesley Compared, 69, 80, 86, 87, 89, 148
and the Recruiting Sergeant, 84
Among the Nobility, 36, 38, 41, 79
Among the Roughs, 83, 115
at Boston, New England, 284, 285
at Cambridge, New England, 28
at Harvard, 285
at Kingswood, Bristol, 73
at Princeton, 290
at Gloucester, 73
at New Haven, 285
at Oxford, 49, 54
at the Tower of London, 73
Compared with Luther, 69
Description of his Preaching During Thunder Storm, 79
Early Religious Experience, 55
Whitefield, George,
Effect of his Preaching on Himself, 80, 81, 294
Effect on Others, 43, 76, 79, 82–84, 87, 115, 284, 294, 295, 301
First Meeting Charles Wesley, 56
in Georgia, 291
Journeys, 281
in New York, 288
in America, 73, 85, 281
in Wales, 272
in London, 81
in Maryland, 290
in Moorfields, London, 84
in Philadelphia, 289
on Toriel Joss and Newton, 149
Preaching of, 73, 295
on Religion in America, 299
Orphan Asylum in Georgia, 291, 296
Regarded as a Fanatic, 83
Ridiculed, 154
The First in the Opening of the Methodist Movement, 80
Treatment of Those Who Opposed Themselves to Him, 78, 298
Watts’ Blessing of, 32
Williams, John (Martyr of Erromanga) 255
Woolston, 180
Work Done in the Revival, 66
Wyclif, John, 193
Xavier, Francis, 93
York, Wesley at, 96
Yorkshire, 131, 139, 160, 170
Yorkshire, Apostles of, 139
Young Cottager, The, 267
Zinzendorf, Count, Hymns of, 113, 171
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● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ Several footnote references just said “See Appendix.” without
specifying which (there are 15.) The references have been resolved
as well as was possible.
○ Some footnotes had no references to them in the text. These were
assumed to be additional material for the entire page, or pages,
and a reference was created.
○ Some index entries were reformatted to be more consistent with the
majority of the entries.
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).