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Introduction

The ‘Enlightenment and pietism penetrated the world and were reaching the ‘New World’ in the early 1700’s and change was in the air. The Enlightenment was reaching to the aristocrats, the urban artisans and merchant families, because reason appealed to them largely. Pietism and evangelical Christianity which stressed the individual’s personal relationship with Christ was becoming the Christian worldview and this was attracting the urban workers and the rural folks and farmers mainly.

These are the two mainstream driving forces that would transform the New American intellect and culture in the seventeen hundred’s. This ‘Scientific Revolution’ of the sixteenth and seventeenth was challenging the two world views of the New Americas. These two world views were the ‘folk lore’ of naturalism and the Christian worldview, where the earth was the center of the universe and God and Satan both intervened in human affairs.

The Englishman philosopher John Locke, a major contributor to the ‘Enlightenment Age’, which was basically derived from empirical research and scientific reasoning to study life through the lens of the law like order of nature, the power of human reason and individual rights in a progressive society, was influencing the New America through his books (Locke) and educated migrant testimony to his writings also had influence. Locke wrote, ‘Essay Concerning Human Understanding’ (1690) and ‘Two Treatises of Government’ (the same year 1690). His writings challenged the fact that through the education of people, societies could change.

Locke advanced a revolutionary idea that political authority was not given to monarchs by God but rather that the people themselves were made by God to preserve their ‘natural rights’ to life, liberty and to land ownership. Even moreso Locke believed the people had the power to change their form of government and policies. As James Henretta and David Brody observe, “Some clergyman responded to those ideas by devising a rational form of Christianity, rejecting supernatural interventions and a vengeful Calvinistic God. Congregationalist minister Andrew Eliot maintained that “there is nothing in Christianity that is contrary to reason.” The Reverend John Wise of Ipswich, Massachusetts, used Locke’s political principles to defend the Puritans’ practice of vesting power in ordinary church members.[footnoteRef:1] [1: James A. Henretta and David Brody., America; A Concise History: Boston. 4th Ed., St. Martins. 2010. Pg. 108]

American Pietism and the Great Awakening

After the first 3 generations in the New America New England were falling outside the church membership as the Thirteen Colonies were formed and in Massachusetts the ‘Cambridge Platform of Church Discipline led by John Cotton. Puritan ministers preached that the Congregation must be Holy and maintain a purging out of the sinners so as not to be infected… “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (I Corinthians 5:7-8 KJV).”

As Jerry says, “If the church did not recover or “purge out” the sinner, he could “infect” the whole community, whence God could send his wrath down on the town in judgment.

“Maintaining social order was critical for a godly community, and ministers argued that every Puritan had a responsibility for personal piety and public duty.” Thus, church discipline was not the sole domain of pastors.[footnoteRef:2] While this was taking place among the church organizations and Christians the urban artisans, wealthy Virginia planters and affluent people such as sea merchants were Deists’, such as Benjamin Franklin… Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. Franklin was a writer (for one) and his ‘Poor Richards Almanac’ had influence throughout the Colonies among the affluent and rich on the practicality of the ‘Enlightenment’. [2: Jeremy M. Kimble., 2014. "That their souls may be saved: the theology and practice of Jonathan Edwards on church discipline." Themelios (Online) 39, no. 2: 251-267. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 5, 2016).]

Evangelicalism Begins

Many new Americans in the colonies turned to Deism but so were massive amounts of people turning to Pietism in a revival setting. A Dutch Minister was traveling through Pennsylvania, and New Jersey from church to church arousing folks with very emotional sermons and his name was Theodore Jacob Frelinghuysen. This fire continued with William Tennant and his son several years later as they led revivals throughout the mid-Atlantic among the Irish and Scots in the Presbyterian assemblies. Puritan New Englanders had grown tired and their religious zeal was all but diminished when a man named Jonathan Edwards showed up with the fire od God in the Connecticut River Valley in 1730. Revival was about to catch fire from heaven itself as brother Jonathan revved up!

Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards was born in 1703, he was the fifth child and the only son of eleven siblings. and he was a revivalist preacher and philosopher, a Congregationalist Protestant theologian. He was a Puritan, and held to Reformed theology. His New American followers later distinguished themselves from other Congregationalists as, "New Lights" thereby endorsing the Great Awakening. The "Old Lights" were opposed and considered non-revivalists. Edwards was and still is widely regarded as "one of America's most important and original philosophical theologians" of all time. Edwards' theological work was very broad in scope, but he was rooted in Reformed theology, the metaphysics of theological determinism, and the Puritan heritage.

Edwards was a hell fire and brimstone preacher and I and many of them loved him. His evangelicalism success travelled up and down the Connecticut river valley. Gerald McDermott states this about him, “Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), Arguably, he was the greatest theological mind the nearly three-centuries-old evangelical tradition has produced. The 26-volume Yale edition of his Works (73 volumes total, counting the 47 digital volumes) is one measure of his greatness. That he received more mention than any other figure in the 3-volume Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience is another.”[footnoteRef:3] One of his most famous sermons was called, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. Jonathan believed that scarring people to salvation was fine and it worked. Jonathan Edwards changed the face of the New Nation forever. Jonathan Edwards turned mainline Congregational Protestantism into Evangelical Christianity. [3: McDermott, Gerald R. 2014. "Jonathan Edwards and God's inner life: a response to Kyle Strobel." Themelios (Online) 39, no. 2: 241-250. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 6, 2016).]

George Whitfield

George Whitfield transformed the local revivals of Jonathan Edwards and the Tennent’s into a Great Awakening that reached throughout all the British colonies. George was born in Gloucester, England in 1714. He went to Oxford as a servitor (a servant basically to obtain free tuition). e was a part of the "Holy Club" at the University of Oxford with the Wesley brothers, John and Charles. He followed John Wesley, the founder of English Methodism. He came to the New America (Georgia) in 1739 and he preached all over the colonies and drew large crowds. Whitfield set aflame the colonies with the Holy Spirit.

When Benjamin Franklin heard Whitfield preach, he emptied his pockets and gave all… and it has been noted historically that Ben had some gold in his pockets. It was reported Whitfield looked as an angel and had the authority of the Holy Ghost. David Jull says this, “George Whitefield was an Anglican minister who re-popularized itinerant evangelistic sermons, even when preached outside the bounds of a church structure. Arguably he was John Wesley's forerunner (though also Wesley's student) - breaking ground and planting seeds that Wesley would harvest and gather into the Methodist Church.”[footnoteRef:4] [4: Jull, David. 2011. "GEORGE WHITFIELD AND THE GREAT AWAKENING: A PENTECOSTAL PERSPECTIVE." Asian Journal Of Pentecostal Studies 14, no. 2: 256-271. Academic Search Alumni Edition, EBSCOhost (accessed October 6, 2016).]

Whitfield led the way to the Methodist movement that John Wesley would soon delivery to the colonies. George stirred the ‘old lights’, and they were not happy about all the crying out, fainting and convulsions in these revival meetings. The ‘new lights’ were speaking in tongues and working miracles and came under attack for allowing women to speak. Thanks to a man named Charles Chauncy the Old Lights in Connecticut persuaded the legislature to not allow ‘evangelists’ to speak to churches without the permission of the Pastors. The Old Lights were thought of as unrepentant religious sinners by the New Lights and when Whitfield came back in 1744 the pulpits were closed to him.

New Lights left the Congregational churches and started one hundred and twenty-five separatist’s churches that supported the ministers through voluntary contributions… verses the Old tax supported church ministers. George Whitfield had a vision for orphans to build an Orphanage, and he did. He also invited in the Negros, preaching to them and is accredited with the Black Church Movement in the New America. George was a master of taking advantage of the printing press to get his message out, and did.

In the southern colonies, the Anglican church mainly ignored the African slaves and the enthusiasm caused by Edwards and then Whitfield caused an uproar in the Anglican church system. Until a brick layer by the name, Samuel Morris, had a big hand in the reading of George Whitfield’s writings to the blacks and his gathering. Inspired by Whitfield… Morris invited the New Lights in an Anglican church in Virginia to come out of the system that was persecuting and fighting the evangelical movement. Morris then invited Presbyterian ministers to preach and soon revival broke out among Presbyterians in the Tidewater region.

The religious pomp’s were getting angry and the governor of the state got involved in the closing down of the meetings. But God raised up the standard and soon the New Light Baptists were reaching out to the rejected common folk and revival broke out some more! It was where the first born native African Americans received the message from the on-fire Baptists! Despite the great attacks from the gentry they multiplied! By 1775 the 15% of Virginias white folk and hundreds of Black slaves had joined the Baptist churches. The Baptist movement was great in building cultural bridges to more unity with the African native Americans.

Conclusion

Right behind George Whitfield would come John Wesley. It is amazing that God raised up three very mighty men that complimented each other so well and so timely a fashion. Calvin Samuel may have said it best in just one sentence to surmise brother George Whitfield, “There have been many previous comparisons of Whitfield and Wesley. This is to be expected given their obvious similarities. They were both 18th century Oxford educated, church of England clergymen who saw the world as their parish, open fields as their pulpit, the new birth and conversion the purpose of their preaching, and communicating to massive crowds their common praxis.”[footnoteRef:5] [5: Calvin T. Samuel., 2014. "Men of One Book - A Comparison of Two Methodist Preachers, John Wesley & George Whitfield." Evangelical Quarterly 86, no. 4: 377-378. Academic Search Alumni Edition, EBSCOhost (accessed October 6, 2016). ]

May we too be inspired as these men, by the Holy Spirit of the Living God, also persuade men out from the eternal flames into the hands of a merciful and loving God.

References

Henretta, James A. and Brody, David., America; A Concise History: Boston. 4th Ed., St. Martins. 2010.

Jull, David. 2011. "GEORGE WHITFIELD AND THE GREAT AWAKENING: A PENTECOSTAL PERSPECTIVE." Asian Journal Of Pentecostal Studies 14, no. 2: 256-271. Academic Search Alumni Edition, EBSCOhost (accessed October 6, 2016).

Kimble, Jeremy M., 2014. "That their souls may be saved: the theology and practice of Jonathan Edwards on church discipline." Themelios (Online) 39, no. 2: 251-267. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 5, 2016).

McDermott, Gerald R. 2014. "Jonathan Edwards and God's inner life: a response to Kyle Strobel." Themelios (Online) 39, no. 2: 241-250. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 6, 2016)

Samuel, Calvin T. 2014. "Men of One Book - A Comparison of Two Methodist Preachers, John Wesley & George Whitfield." Evangelical Quarterly 86, no. 4: 377-378. Academic Search Alumni Edition, EBSCOhost (accessed October 6, 2016).