CHAPTER XIX.

TIMES OF REFRESHING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, continued-AMERICA.

THE Sovereignty of God is as remarkable in the moral as in the natural world, in the bestowment of the blessings of his grace as in the gifts of his providence,— dividing to every one severally as He will."

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Thus spake God by the prophet to his people of ancient times :-"I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not, withered."+ This may often be remarked in God's bestowments of the gracious influences of his Holy Spirit for the revival and spread of true religion. Some places and people are thus visited and blessed, while others remain unvisited and unblessed. There are reasons for this, often inscrutable to us; but there are also reasons for it, sufficiently manifest to admonish and encourage us. The Divine promise is clear and certain,-"I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring; and they shall spring up * 1 Cor. xii. 11. † Amos iv. 7.

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as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel." * These beautiful and figurative terms express what is meant by a revival of religion it is the effect of an outpouring of God's Holy Spirit manifesting itself in the rapid increase of the numbers and piety of those whose hearts are converted to God and his service, and who become the means of spreading true religion in the world. "The Spirit of the Lord is not straitened," and it is as true now as it ever was: "Our heavenly Father will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask Him." We may, therefore, be sure that where the blessing is withheld from a Church or from individuals there is that in their moral condition to account for it. On the contrary, where the need of this blessing is felt, where it is "thirsted" for, where God's promise of it is really believed, and its bestowal is sought by earnest and importunate faith and prayer, it will not be long withheld. This earnest and importunate faith and prayer, it will generally be found, have preceded every remarkable revival of religion. Did this more prevail we should then have every reason to expect that the Christian Church would more extensively be visited with "times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord."

It is also to be remarked, in reference to the great * Isa. xliv. 3, 4, 5.

revival of religion which took place early in the last century, that it occurred both in the Old and New World,-in England and America,-about the same time; showing, in both cases, that it was the special work of God; the result of a glorious outpouring of his Holy Spirit, awakening and preparing the Church for better days, and for the fulfilment of her great mission of enlightening and evangelizing the world.

In attempting a sketch of this great religious movement in America it is important to notice where it first commenced. Its first manifestation was in those parts of America where the "Pilgrim Fathers," seeking an asylum from persecution, had first planted the Christian Church in New England, and originated on a religious foundation that Society which proved the germ of these mighty States, so rapidly spreading over the vast American continent. The remarks of an American divine on this are too important to be omitted here :"The Pilgrim Fathers are not to be judged by common rules; they were above the common order, as if born and trained for more than common purposes,-which indeed was the fact. God raised them up for the special exigency which they occupied and filled out,— to lay the foundation of a new social edifice, to assort and throw into form the elements of a new empire. And the religious care and faith with which they undertook and carried on and achieved their work have been alike a subject of ridicule among the profane, and of

approving admiration among those who know how to appreciate their character. And they did actually erect not only a civil, but a religious empire. The spirit of religion was infused throughout, pervaded, and characterised all their institutions. By consequence, that structure of society, framed by these men, having retained its original stamp and the same grand features, has always proved favourable to the operation of religious influence. There has always been a religious pulse in the community that could be found and easily susceptible of being quickened by the application of the proper means. It is remarkable that revivals of religion, under their American character, commenced in New England, and were, till quite recently, principally confined to that region. And their extension westward and southward I believe has generally been found in the tract of New England emigrants, or springing up under the labours of New England ministers. Such facts may be presumed to have a connexion with the original elements and peculiar frame of society, as also with the blessing of God in reward of the distinguished Christian virtues of the founders of such institutions, and of the fidelity of successive generations, in supporting them in their original spirit. It is a general and an exact truth, that the Pilgrim Fathers of New England laid the foundation of their civil and social edifice, and of their religious institutions, in tears, and prayers, and in much faith. And the experiment of two hundred

years has proved that God has regarded those tears, and remembered those prayers, and plenteously rewarded those works of faith." *

The great revival of religion in America commenced under the ministry of the eminent Rev. Jonathan Edwards, at Northampton, Mass., afterwards President of Nassau Hall, Princeton, New Jersey, and began to attract public attention in 1733. An interesting account of this from the pen of the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, published in this country, will enable us to form some estimate of the character and extent of this religious movement. Speaking of the work at Northampton, he writes:

"A great and earnest concern about the great things of religion and the eternal world, became universal in all parts of the town, and among persons of all degrees and all ages; the noise amongst the dry bones waxed louder and louder; all other talk but about spiritual and eternal things was soon thrown by; all the conversation in all companies and upon all occasions was upon these things only, unless so much as was necessary for people carrying on their ordinary secular business. The minds of people were wonderfully taken off from the world, it was treated amongst us as a thing of very little consequence; they seemed to follow their worldly business more as a part of their duty than from any disposition they had to it; the temptation now

# 66 History of American Revivals," by the Rev. Calvin Colton.