Part 1 (pages 8–21)
that the judge had been deeply impressed, but he sensed it was still too early to ask the judge to make a decision about the claims of the’ gospel.
But when several nights later Finney began to close his evening message, he feared that he had failed to persuade the large congregation, which included many lawyers. Neither had Finney noticed the judge in his customary seat. Perhaps, Finney thought, the judge had decided not to attend the meeting that night.
So when Finney, still standing in the pulpit, turned to see the judge yanking on his coat, he was quite startled. . He quickly told the congregation what the judge had said. Many people began to weep and pray, some coming for- ward and kneeling in front of the pulpit. Others held their heads down, praying fervently.
By this time, the judge.had come.around in front of Finney and knelt.down. As he did, a startled Finney noted “the lawyers arose almost en masse, and crowded into the aisles, and filled the open space in front, wherever they could get a place to kneel. The movement had begun with- out my requesting it; but I then publicly invited any, who were prepared to renounce their sins, and give their hearts to God, and to accept Christ and His salvation, to come forward, into the aisles, or wherever they could, and kneel down.” Many people came forward and knelt down. Then Finney prayed and dismissed the meeting.
Since he preached every night, Finney had not been able to take time for his usual inquirers’ meetings, held for people who wanted to ask questions and get more infor- mation about salvation. In spite of this, Finney realized, “I had been carefully laying the net around the whole executed ready for delivery, in which he quit-claimed to the Lord Jesus Christ, ‘all ownership of himself, and of everything he possessed.”
Nearly everywhere Charles Finney preached, revival broke out. Entire communities were.changed by the power of God. After Finney had:preached in those communities, saloons closed, theft stopped, and:all kinds of vice and evil came to an end. The revival fire of God swept through communities, cleansing everything in its path.
From.1825 to 1830, Charles Finney gained national attention through a spectacular series of revival meet- ings in cities in New York along the Erie Canal— Rome, Utica, Troy,.and Rochester. His success made the issues-he raised unavoidable. He was controversial due to the novel techniques he used to promote revivals: _ extended nightly. meetings, exhortations by women, and “the anxious seat” to which seekers were invited for coun- sel and ‘prayer. These. meetings. were characterized by speech that. was tough, direct, popular, and’ undeniably based on the free will of the individual. Finney is often called the forerunner of modern revivalism. He was also influential in the beginnings of urban evangelism.
It has been said.of Finney that he probably led more souls to Christ than.any other man and that he spear- headed a revival in America which altered the. course of history. Others have thought Finney to be the greatest evangelist since apostolic times.
Even if these claims are somewhat exaggerated, it is true that Finney had a tremendous impact on his age. God used him mightily. in what is. known as the Second Great Awakening. Finney also helped create a new style ae sage 1 more easily ‘und "Just: - was thi
Listas teenth centage ‘Or was he a person with'a profound reli ; gious ‘background who had‘ been: educated at One © the o [WO
of Warren arrived shortly after 1643, not long after
the state itself was settled. Situated in the lush grasslands of Litchfield County in the area known as the western highlands, the town’s inhabitants were mostly farmers and craftsmen. The grasslands provided ideal pasture for livestock. ‘
Sylvester Finney had farmed the land in Warren since he returned from fighting in the Revolutionary War. His father’s name, Josiah Finney, appears in the public records of Litchfield County some years after Sylvester’s birth date of July 26, 1701. Josiah and Sylvester’s ancestors had migrated to the colonies from England before 1639. Syl- vester’s wife, Rebecca Rice, whom he married when he came back from the war, also came from English ancestors.
In 1792, Sylvester and his wife were still living in Warren. That year, on August 29, their seventh child, a
if | 1 he first white settlers in the tiny Connecticut town pfoperty’ the had silstpurchas = ‘tion; 'then'he. witnessed ‘the. chute The primitive schools of western New York reflected their communities. They possessed few of the educational tools of Boston or other cities. of the time. Teachers were usually college students on vacation who had to teach with only a handful of books: Webster’s Blueback Speller, Hodder and Pike’s Arithmetic, and Jebedia More’s Uni- versal Geography. :
In this limited environment, Charles Finney received his early education. Despite the lack of educational and other advantages—perhaps because of this lack— Charles prospered from his spartan upbringing. He devel- oped tenacity, self-discipline, and endurance that served him well throughout his life.
At the age of fourteen, Charles entered Hamilton Oneida Academy in Clinton, New York. The academy was located just a few miles from his father’s farm. Named after Alexander Hamilton, a Revolutionary War hero and leader of the new American Republic, the school helped shape Charles.from an impressionable young boy into a confident young adult. Although he studied for only two years at the academy, Charles benefitted from the teaching of Seth Norton, the principal _and_a‘professor at the school. Norton saw his young student’s potential and encouraged him to pursue a classical education and music. As-a result, Charles became proficient in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and learned to play the violoncello quite well. With the first money he-ever earned, Charles purchased a musical instrument.
While at the academy, Charles most likely received his first religious impressions:from a missionary to the Ameri- can Indians named Samuel Kirkland. Since Kirkland lived splendid pagan—a young man _tejoicing in his strength, proudly conscious of his physical and intellectual superi- ority to all around him.”
Charles’s personal appeal to people of all ages contin- ued throughout his life. But since he was not a Christian during his teaching days, he became somewhat obnox- ious to: the local minister, the Reverend George Gale. Since the young people flocked after Charles (and his irreligious ways), the Reverend Gale sometimes found it difficult to counteract Charles’s attractive personality with the claims of the gospel.
At the outset of the War of 1812, Charles determined to join the navy. So he traveled the short distance from his home at Sackett’s Harbor. to the Sackett Harbor Naval Base.. The prevailing rumor was that the British would soon invade the country from the north by sea.
Arriving at the naval base, Charles encountered the worst moral standards he had ever witnessed. Offensive crudeness and profanity were commonplace. When a young prostitute stopped him on the street, the innocent country boy did not realize what was taking place. But when he understood the prostitute’s intentions, he began to weep, brokenhearted at her way of life. When she realized his concern for her, she began to weep as well. Although he was not a Christian, Charles had no toler- ance for dissipated’ living. Rejecting the idea of naval life, he returned to his home.
By the fall of 1812, Charles had moved t to his birth- place, Warren, Connecticut. Here, he lived with.an uncle and worked on the family farm to support himself. Since he had determined to further his education, he also studied cern for his. mother, he planned to. stay: ne: > "decided: to: enter the. law: offices’ of Squire: Benjamir
~ Wright in Adams, New. York. :
To everyone who knew him, Charles seemed to bein.
‘an enviable. position. He ‘had everything. necessary. to”
become an outstanding: lawyer: personality, intellect, and
- connections. According. to his plan, once he’ had been
admitted to’ the: bar, he would practice law. for atime and
: then go:into Politics. ‘No one doubted he: would succeed
27 : = Everyone :who knew. Charles. Finney. understood. that whenever he decided to do something, he would let noth- ing stand in his way.
After a few years, Charles became a junior law partner with Judge Wright in the Adams office. He was twenty- nine years old, and-in the little community, he. drew constant atténtion.. He was six-feet, two-inches tall and weighed one hundred eighty-five pounds. His eyes were a vivid blue, and his gaze penetrating. His.eyes added a tone of seriousness to Charles’s commanding presence. He was also known by Adams’s young people asa good dancer.
Charles still knew very little about the Christian faith, admitting he was “as ignorant of religion as a heathen.” He may have exaggerated his lack of understanding somewhat, but until that period in-his life, he had never heard any preaching of the gospel.ona regular-basis. He was-a doubter, a skeptic. The frontier boasted few spirited churches, and even fewer well-educated ministers who could present the gospel clearly so people could under- stand. Chailes -and his family were not religious rebels. They -were simply oblivious to real Christianity. But beforé long, all that would change as God began to draw Charles to Himself.
Calvinistic. I was not able to gain very much instruction from his preaching. As I sometimes told him, he seemed to me to begin in thé middle of his discourse, and to assume many things which to my mind, needed to be proved.” Charles believed, too, that “he seemed to take it for granted that his hearers were theologians, and therefore that he might assume all the great and funda- mental doctrines of the gospel. But I was rather per- plexed than edified by his preaching.”
The sermons were scholarly and wooden, and Charles had difficulty following them. Gale’s theology seemed illogical to Charles, and he told him so. To Charles’s delight, the pastor often came by Benjamin Wright’s law office on Mondays to discuss the previous day’s sermon with Charles—even though Charles was often harsh and sometimes ungracious in his criticism.
Reverend Gale seemed anxious to know what i impres- sions his sermons had made on the young lawyer. With complete honesty, Charles remarked that “I used to con- verse with him freely; and I now think I criticized his ser- mons unmercifully. I raised such objections against. his positions as forced themselves upon my attention.” One of the terms Charles wondered about was repentance. What did Gale mean by repentance? Was it a mere feel- ing of sorrow for sin? Was it altogether a passive state of mind, or did it involve a voluntary element? If it was a change of mind, in what respect was it a change of mind?
He also questioned Gale about the term regeneration. What did he mean by that word? What did such language mean when applied to a spiritual change? And what did Gale mean by faith? Was it merely an intellectual state?
: od? ? Charles ree the deep: eal ing ‘of each of these @ words—and. others, besid
conversations; but hey scented rather: to stimula amy. own . mind 0 inquiry, than ‘to, satisfy mein; fespect to: i
The. more he read. the. Bible atid attended: prayers the : more: anxious: ihe: tbeeames As. ‘he, realized 4
undetstobd! fiom: their. utterances. in, ee and. rOr other rémarks in their. ‘meetings; that:those who offered them, did not: regard them a as answered. Hf