Part 1
NARRATIVE
OF SURPRISING CONVERSIONS
By Jonathan Edwards
(1736)
Source: The Works of President Edwards, vol. 3, New York, 1879, pp. 231-272
https://archive.org/details/workspresidente16edwagoog/page/n5/mode/2up
Formatted, corrected, modernized, and annotated by William H. Gross www.onthewing.org Feb 2022
TO THE REV. DR. COLMAN.
Rev and Honored Sir:
Having seen your letter to my honored uncle Williams, of Hatfield, of July 20, in which you inform him of the notice that has been taken of the late wonderful work of God in this, and some other towns in this county, by the Rev. Dr. Watts 1 and Dr. Guyse of London,2 and the congregation to which the last of these preached on a monthly day of solemn prayer; and you also inform him of your desire to be more perfectly acquainted with it by some of us who are on the spot. Having been since informed by my uncle Williams, that you desire me to undertake this, I would now do it in as just and faithful a manner as it lies in me.
I suppose the people of the county in general, are as sober, and orderly, and grand a sort of people as in any part of New England. And I believe they have been preserved the freest by far, of any part of the country, from error and a variety of sects and opinions. Our being so far within the land, at a distance from seaports, and in a corner of the country, has doubtless been one reason why we have not been so corrupted with vice as most other parts. But without question, the religion and good order of the country, and their purity in doctrine, under God, is very much owed to the great abilities and eminent piety of my venerable and honored grandfather, Rev.
Solomon Stoddard. I suppose we have also been the freest of any part of the land, from unhappy divisions and quarrels in our ecclesiastical and religious affairs — till the late lamentable Springfield contention.3
Being greatly separated from other parts of the province, and having comparatively little intercourse with them, we have from the beginning till now, managed our ecclesiastical affairs within ourselves. It is the way in which the country, from its infancy, has gone on by the practical agreement of all, and the way in which our peace and good order has been maintained up to now.
The town of Northampton has been standing about eighty-two years, and now has about two hundred families. They mostly dwell more compactly together than any town of such a size in these parts of the country. This probably has been an occasion that both our corruptions and reformations have been more swiftly propagated from time to time, from one to another throughout the town. Take the town in general, and so far as I can judge, they are as rational and understanding a people as most I have been acquainted with. Many of them have been noted for religion, and have been particularly remarkable for their distinct knowledge in things that relate to heartreligion, and Christian experience, and their great regards for it.
I am the third minister that has been settled in the town. The Rev. Mr. Eleazar Mather, who was the first, was ordained in July, 1669. He was one whose heart was much in his work, abundant in labors for the good of precious souls. He had the high esteem and great love of his people, and was blessed with no small success. The Rev. Mr. Stoddard, who succeeded him, came first to the town the November after Mather's death, but was not ordained till September 11, 1672, and died February 11, 1728-9. So that he continued in the work of the ministry here from his first coming to town, near sixty years. And even as he was eminent and renowned for his gifts and grace; so he was blessed from the beginning with extraordinary success in his ministry, in the conversion of many souls. He had five "harvests" as he called them. The first was about fifty-seven years ago; the second
about fifty-three years; the third about forty; the fourth about twenty-four; the fifth and last about eighteen years ago. Some of these times were much more remarkable than others, and the ingathering of souls more plentiful. Those that were about fiftythree, and forty, and twenty-four years ago, were much greater than either the first or the last. But in each of them, I heard my grandfather say, most of the young people in the town seemed to be mainly concerned for their eternal salvation.
After the last of these, came a far more degenerate time (at least among young people) — I suppose more than ever before. Mr. Stoddard, indeed, had the comfort before he died, of seeing a time when there was no small appearance of a divine work among some, and a considerable ingathering of souls, even after I was settled with him in the ministry, which was about two years before his death. And I have reason to bless God for the great advantage I had by it. In these two years, there were nearly twenty people whom Mr. Stoddard hoped to be savingly convened; but there was nothing of any general awakening. Most of them at that time seemed to be very insensible to the things of religion, and engaged in other cares and pursuits. Just after my grandfather's death, it seemed to be a time of extraordinary dullness in religion. For some years, licentiousness greatly prevailed among the youth of the town. Many of them very much addicted to night-walking,4 and frequenting the tavern, and lewd practices, in which some exceedingly corrupted others by their example. It was frequently their manner to get together in conventions of both sexes, for mirth and jollity, which they called frolics. And they would often spend the greater part of the night in them, without any regard to order in the families they belonged to. And indeed, family government too much failed in the town. It had become customary with many of our young people to be indecent in their carriage at meeting, which doubtless would not have prevailed to such a degree, if it had not been that my grandfather, through his great age (though he retained his powers surprisingly to the last), was not so able to observe them. There had also long prevailed in the town, a spirit of contention between the two parties into which they had been divided
for many years, and by which they maintained a jealousy of one another. They were prepared to oppose one another in all public affairs.
But in two or three years after Mr. Stoddard's death, there began a tangible amendment of these evils. The young people showed more of a disposition to hearken to counsel. By degrees, they left their frolicking, grew observably more decent in their attendance of public worship, and there were more who manifested a religious concern than there used to be.
At the latter end of the year 1733, there appeared in our young people a very unusual flexibleness and yielding to advice. It had been too long their way to make the evening after the Sabbath,5 and after our public lecture, to especially be the times of their mirth and companykeeping.6 But a sermon was now preached on the Sabbath before the lecture, to show the evil tendency of the practice, and to persuade them to reform it. And it was urged on heads of families, that it should be something agreed upon among them, to govern their families, and to keep their children at home at these times. And along with this, it was more privately moved that they should meet together the next day, in their several neighborhoods, to know each other's mind. Accordingly, this was done, and the motion was complied with throughout the town. But parents found little or no occasion to exercise their government in the case, because the young people declared they were convinced by what they had heard from the pulpit. They were willing, of themselves, to comply with the counsel that had been given. And it was immediately, and I suppose almost universally complied with. There was a thorough reformation of these disorders from then forward, which has continued ever since.
Immediately after this, there began to appear a remarkable religious concern at a little village belonging to the congregation, called Pascommuck, where a few families were settled; it was about three miles distance from the main body of the town. At this place, a number of people seemed to be savingly worked upon. In the April
following, in 1734, there happened a very sudden and awful death of a young man in the bloom of his youth. Being violently seized with a pleurisy, and taken immediately with delirium, he died in about two days. This (together with what was preached publicly on that occasion) greatly affected many young people. This was followed with another death of a young married woman, who had been considerably exercised about the salvation of her soul before she was ill. She was in great distress in the beginning of her illness; but seemed to have satisfying evidences of God's saving mercy to her, before her death. So that she died very full of comfort, in a most earnest and moving manner, warning and counselling others. This seemed to contribute much to the solemnizing of the spirits of many young people; and there began to visibly appear more of a religious concern on people's minds.
In the fall of the year, I proposed it to the young people, that they should agree among themselves to spend the evenings after lectures, in social religion. And to that end, they should divide themselves into several companies to meet in various parts of the town. This was done accordingly. Those meetings have since continued, and the example imitated by older people. This was followed with the death of an elderly person, which was attended with many unusual circumstances, by which many were greatly moved and affected.
About this time began the great noise that was in this part of the country, about Arminianism, which seemed to appear with a very threatening aspect upon the interest of religion here. The friends of vital piety trembled for fear of the outcome; but contrary to their fear, it seemed to be strongly overruled for the promoting of religion. Many who looked at themselves as being in a Christless condition, seemed to be awakened by it. They feared that God was about to withdraw from the land, and that we would be given up to heterodoxy, and corrupt principles, and that their opportunity for obtaining salvation would then be past. And many who were brought to doubt a little about the truth of the doctrines they had been taught up till then, seemed to have a kind of a trembling fear with their doubts, lest they be led into bypaths, to their eternal undoing. They
seemed to inquire with much concern and engaged minds, what was indeed the way in which they must come to be accepted with God. Some things were then said publicly on that occasion, concerning
justification by faith alone.
Great fault was found with meddling with the controversy in the pulpit by such a person at that time. And though it was ridiculed by many elsewhere, it proved to be a word spoken in season here. It was most evidently attended with a very remarkable blessing of heaven to the souls of the people in this town. They received from it a general satisfaction with respect to the main thing in question, which they had trembling doubts and concern about. And their minds were engaged more earnestly to seek that they might come to be accepted by God, and saved in the way of the gospel, which had been made evident to them to be the true and only way. And then, in the latter part of December, the Spirit of God began to extraordinarily set in, and to wonderfully work among us. Very suddenly, one after another, there were five or six people who were, to all appearance, savingly converted, and some of them were worked upon in a very remarkable manner.
Particularly, I was surprised with what was related by a young woman who had been one of the greatest company-keepers in the whole town. When she came to me, I had never heard that she had become in any way serious. But by the conversation I then had with her, it appeared to me that what she gave an account of, was a glorious work of God's infinite power and sovereign grace; and that God had given her a new heart, truly broken and sanctified. I could not then doubt it, and have seen much in my acquaintance with her since to confirm it.
Though the work was glorious, I was still filled with concern about the effect it might have on others. I was ready to conclude (though too rashly) that some would be hardened by it, in carelessness and looseness of life; and would take occasion from it to open their mouths in reproaches of religion. But it was the reverse, to a wonderful degree. God made it, I suppose, the greatest occasion of awakening to others, of anything that ever came to pass in the town.
I have had abundant opportunity to know the effect it had, by my private conversation with many. The news of it seemed to be almost like a flash of lightning on the hearts of young people all over the town, and on many others. Those people among us, who used to be furthest from seriousness, and I most feared would make an ill-use of it, seemed to be greatly awakened by it. Many went to talk with her concerning what she had encountered; and what appeared in her, seemed to be to the satisfaction of all who did so.
Immediately upon this, 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 people of all degrees, and all ages. The noise among the dry bones grew louder and louder. All other talk except about spiritual and eternal things was soon thrown aside. All the conversation in all the gatherings, and on all occasions, was on these things only, except what was necessary for people to carry on their ordinary secular business. Other discourse than about the things of religion, would scarcely be tolerated in any group. The minds of people were wonderfully taken off the world; that was treated among 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 seemed to lie on that hand, to neglect worldly affairs too much, and to spend too much time in the immediate exercise of religion. This was exceedingly misrepresented by reports that were spread in distant parts of the land, as though the people here had wholly thrown aside all worldly business. and turned entirely to reading and praying, and similar religious exercises.
But though the people did not ordinarily neglect their worldly business, there was then the reverse of what is common. Religion was the great concern with all sorts of people, and the world was only a by-the-by thing. The only thing in their view was to get the kingdom of heaven, and everyone appeared to be pressing into it. The earnestness of their hearts in this great concern could not be hidden; it appeared in their very countenances. It was then a dreadful thing among us to be outside of Christ, in danger every day
of dropping into hell; and what people's minds were intent upon, was to escape for their lives, and to flee from the wrath to come. (Luk 3.7) All would eagerly lay hold of opportunities for their souls; they were often inclined to meet together in private houses for religious purposes. And such meetings, when appointed, were usually greatly thronged
There was scarcely a single person in the town, either old or young, who was left unconcerned about the great things of the eternal world. Those who were usually the most vain and loose, and those who had been most disposed to think and speak negatively about vital and experiential religion,7 were now generally subject to great awakenings. And the work of conversion was carried on in a most astonishing manner, and increased more and more. Souls, as it were, came by flocks to Jesus Christ. From day to day, for many months together, there might be seen evident instances of sinners brought out of darkness into marvellous light, and delivered out of a horrible pit, and from the miry day, and set upon a rock, with a new song of praise to God in their mouths. (Psa 40.2)
This work of God, as it was carried on, and the number of true saints multiplied, soon made a glorious alteration in the town. So that in the spring and summer following, in 1735, the town seemed to be full of the presence of God. It was never so full of love, nor so full of joy; and yet so full of distress as it was then. There were remarkable tokens of God's presence in almost every house. It was a time of joy in families on account of salvation being brought to them; parents rejoicing over their children as new-born, and husbands over their wives, and wives over their husbands. The goings of God were then seen in his sanctuary. God's day was a delight, and his tabernacles were amiable. (Psa 84.1) Our public assemblies were then beautiful; the congregation was alive in God's service, every one earnestly intent on the public worship; every hearer eager to drink in the words of the minister as they came from his mouth. The assembly in general was in tears from time to time, while the word was preached. Some were weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and concern for the souls of their neighbors.
Our public praises were then greatly enlivened. God was then served in our psalmody, in some measure, in the beauty of holiness. It has been observable that there has been scarcely any part of divine worship in which good men among us have had grace so drawn forth, and their hearts so lifted up in the ways of God, as in singing His praises. Our congregation excelled all that I ever knew before, in the external part of the duty. The men generally carried regularly, and well, three parts of music, and the women a part by themselves. But now they were evidently inclined to sing with unusual elevation of heart and voice, which made the duty pleasant indeed.
In all gatherings on other days, on whatever occasions people met together, Christ was to be heard of and seen in their midst. Our young people, when they met, usually spent the time talking about the excellency and dying love of Jesus Christ, the gloriousness of the way of salvation, the wonderful, free, and sovereign grace of God, His glorious work in the conversion of a soul, the truth and certainty of the great things of God's word, the sweetness of the views of his perfections, etc. And even at weddings, which formerly were merely occasions of mirth and jollity, there was now no discourse of anything but the things of religion, and no appearance of anything but spiritual mirth.
Those among us who had been formerly converted, were greatly enlivened and renewed with fresh and extraordinary incomings of the Spirit of God; though some much more than others, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. (Eph 4.7) Many who before had labored under difficulties about their own state, now had their doubts removed by a more satisfying experience, and by clearer discoveries of God's love.
When this work of God first appeared, and was so extraordinarily carried on among us in the winter, others round about us didn't seem to know what to make of it. There were many who scoffed at and ridiculed it; some compared what we called conversion to certain distempers. But it was observable by many who occasionally came among us from abroad, those with disregardful hearts, that what they saw here cured them of such a temper of mind. Strangers were
generally surprised to find things so much beyond what they had heard, and were eager to tell others that the state of the town could not be conceived of by those who had not seen it. The notice that was taken of it by the people who came to town on the occasion of the court, who sat here in the beginning of March, was very observable. And those who came from the neighborhood to our public lectures, were for the most part remarkably affected. Many who came to town, on one occasion or other, had their consciences struck and awakened, and went home with wounded hearts, and with those impressions that never wore off, till they had hopefully a saving result. And those who before had serious thoughts, had their awakenings and convictions greatly increased. There were many instances of people who came from abroad on visits, or on business, who had not been long here before. To all appearance, they were savingly worked upon, and partook of that shower of divine blessing that God rained down here, and they went home rejoicing — till at length, the same work began evidently to appear and prevail in several other towns in the county.
In the month of March, the people in South Hadley began to be seized with deep concern about the things of religion. Very soon this became universal, and the work of God has been very wonderful there — not much, if anything, short of what it has been here, in proportion to the bigness of the place. About the same time, it begin to break forth in the west part of Suffield (where it has also been very great), and it soon spread into all parts of the town. It next appeared at Sunderland, and soon overspread the town. I believe it was, for a season, not less remarkable than it was here. About the same time it began to appear in a part of Deerfield, called Green River. And afterwards, it filled the town; and there has been a glorious work there. It also began to be manifest in the south part of Hatfield, in a place called the Hill; and after that, in the second week in April, the whole town seemed to be seized, as it were at once, with concern about the things of religion. And the work of God has been great there. There has also been a very general awakening at West Springfield, and Long Meadow. And in Enfield there was, for a time,
a pretty general concern among some who before had been very loose people. About the same time that this appeared at Enfield, the Rev. Mr. Bull of Westfield informed me, that there had been a great alteration there, and that more had been done in one week there than in the seven years before.
Something of this work likewise appeared in the first precinct in Springfield, principally in the north and south extremes of the parish. And in Hadley old town, there gradually appeared so much of a work of God on souls, that in another time it would have been thought worthy of much notice. For a short time there was also a very great and general concern of like nature at Northfield. And wherever this concern appeared, it did not seem to be in vain. In every place, God brought saving blessings with him, and his word attended with his Spirit (as we have every reason to think) did not return void. It might well be said at that time, in all parts of the country: Who are these who fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows? (Isa 60.8)
What other towns heard of and found in this, was a great means of awakening them. So too, our hearing about such a swift and extraordinary propagation, and the extent of this work, doubtless served to uphold the work among us for a time. The continual news kept alive the talk of religion. It greatly quickened and rejoiced the hearts of God's people, and greatly awakened those who looked at themselves as still left behind. It made them more earnest that they also might share in the great blessing that others had obtained.
This remarkable outpouring of the Spirit of God, which thus extended from one end to the other of this country, was not confined to it, but many places in Connecticut have partaken in the same mercy: for instance, the first parish in Windsor, under the pastoral care of the Reverend Mr. Marsh, was thus blessed about the same time as we in Northampton, while we had no knowledge of each other's circumstances. There has been a very great ingathering of souls to Christ in that place, and something considerable of the same work began afterwards in East Windsor, my honored father's parish. In times past, it had been a place favored with mercies of this nature,
above any on this western side of New England, except Northampton. There were four or five seasons of the outpouring of the Spirit to the general awakening of the people there, since my father's settlement among them.
There was also, during the last spring and summer, a wonderful work of God carried on at Coventry, under the ministry of the Reverend Mr. Meacham. I had an opportunity to converse with some of the Coventry people, who gave me a very remarkable account of the surprising change that appeared in the rudest and most vicious people there. The same thing was also very great at the same time in a part of Lebanon, called the Crank, where the Reverend Mr. Wheelock, a young gentleman, has recently settled. And there has been much of the same at Durham, under the ministry of the Reverend Mr. Chauncey; to all appearances, it is no small ingathering of souls there. And likewise among many of the young people in the first precinct in Stratford, under the ministry of the Reverend Mr. Gould; where the work was much promoted there as it was here, by the remarkable conversion of a young woman who had been a great company-keeper.
Something of this work appeared in several other towns in those parts, as I was informed when I was there the last fall. And we have since been acquainted with something very remarkable of this nature at another parish in Stratford, called Ripton, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Mills. And there was a considerable revival of religion last summer at New Haven old town, as I was once and again informed by the Rev. Mr. Noyes, the minister there, and by others — and by a letter which I very recently received from Mr. Noyes, and also by information we have had otherwise. This flourishing of religion still continues, and has lately much increased. Mr. Noyes writes that many this summer have been added to the church, and particularly mentions several young people who belonged to the principal families of that town.
There has been a degree of the same work at a part of Guilford; and very considerable at Mansfield, under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Eleazar Williams; and an unusual religious concern at Tolland; and
something of it at Hebron and Bolton. There was also no small effusion of the Spirit of God in the north parish in Preston in the eastern part of Connecticut, which I was informed of, and saw something of it when I was at the house last autumn, and in the congregation of the Rev. Mr. Lord, the minister there. He came up here with the Rev. Mr. Owen of Groton, in May of last year, to see the work of God here. Having heard various and contradictory accounts of it, they were careful when they were here, to inform and satisfy themselves. And to that end, they particularly conversed with many of our people , which they declared to be entirely to their satisfaction, and that what had been told to them wasn't even half of it. Mr. Lord told me that when he got home, he informed his congregation of what he had seen, and they were greatly affected by it. That proved to be the beginning of the same work among them, which prevailed till there was a general awakening, and many instances of people who seemed to be remarkably converted. I have also recently heard that there has been something of the same work at Woodbury.
But this shower of Divine blessing has been still more extensive. There was no small degree of it in some parts of the Jerseys, as I was informed when I was at New York (in a long journey that I took at that time of the year for my health). I was told by some people from the Jerseys, whom I saw — especially the Rev. Mr. William Tennent, a minister. He seemed to have such things much at heart, and told me of a very great awakening of many people in a place called the Mountains, under the ministry of one Mr. Cross; and of a very considerable revival of religion in another place under the ministry of his brother the Rev. Mr. Gilbert Tennent; and also at another place, under the ministry of a very pious young gentleman, a Dutch minister, whose name as I remember, was Freelinghousen.
This seems to have been a very extraordinary dispensation of Providence. God has in many respects, gone out of and much beyond his usual and ordinary way. The work in this town, and some others around us, has been extraordinary on account of the universality of it, affecting all sorts, sober and vicious, high and low, rich and poor, wise and unwise. It reached the most respectable families and
people, to all appearances, as much as others. In former stirrings of this nature, the bulk of the young people have been greatly affected; but old men and little children have been so now. Many of the last work have, of their own accord, formed themselves into religious societies, in different parts of the town. A loose and careless person could scarcely find a companion in the whole neighborhood. And if there was anyone who seemed to remain senseless or unconcerned, it would be spoken of as a strange thing.
This dispensation has also appeared extraordinary in the numbers of those on whom we have reason to hope it had a saving effect. We have about six hundred and twenty communicants, which includes almost all our adult people. The church was very large before; but people never thronged into it as they did in the recent extraordinary time. Our sacraments were eight weeks apart, and I received into our communion about a hundred before one sacrament, and eighty of them at one time whose appearance, when they presented themselves together to make an open, explicit profession of Christianity, was very affecting to the congregation. I took in nearly sixty before the next sacrament day. And I had very sufficient evidence of the conversion of their souls through divine grace — though it is not the custom here, as it is in many other churches in this country, to make a credible relation of their inward experiences, the ground of admission to the Lord's Supper.
I am far from pretending to be able to determine how many have lately been the subjects of such mercy. But if I may be allowed to declare anything that appears to me probable in a thing of this nature, I hope that more than three hundred souls were savingly brought home to Christ in this town, in the space of half a year (how many more I don't guess), and about the same number of males as females. By what I heard Mr. Stoddard say, this was far from what has been usual in years past, for he observed that in his time, many more women were converted than men. Those of our young people who are on other accounts most likely and respectable, are I hope, mostly truly pious and leading people in the way of religion. Those who were formerly looser young people, have generally, to all
appearance, become true lovers of God and Christ, and spiritual in their dispositions. And I hope that by far the greater part of people in this town above sixteen years of age, are those who have the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And by what I heard, I suppose it is so in some other places, particularly at Sunderland and South Hadley.
This has also appeared to be a very extraordinary dispensation, in that the Spirit of God has so much extended not only His awakening, but His regenerating influences, both to elderly people, and also those who are very young. It has been a thing rarely heard of before, that any were converted past middle age. But now we have the same ground to think that many such people have been savingly changed in this time, as that others have been saved in their early years. I suppose there were upwards of fifty people in this town over forty years of age; and more than twenty of them over fifty; and about ten of them over sixty; and two of them over seventy years of age.
It has previously been looked at as a strange thing, when any seem to be savingly worked on, and remarkably changed in their childhood. But now, I suppose nearly thirty were thus apparently worked on between ten and fourteen years of age, two between nine and ten, and one of them about four years of age. And because, I suppose, this last one will prove most difficult to believe, I will afterward give a particular account of it. The influences of God's Spirit have also been very remarkable on children in some other places, particularly at Sunderland and South Hadley, and the west part of Suffield. There are several families in this town that are all hopefully pious. Indeed, there are several numerous families in which, I think, we have reason to hope that all the children are truly godly, and most of them have recently become so. And there are very few houses in the whole town, into which salvation has not recently come, in one or more instances. There are several negroes 8 who, from what was seen in them then, and what is discernible in them since, appear to have been truly born again in the recent remarkable season.
God also seems to have gone out of his usual way in the quickness of his work, and the swift progress his Spirit has made in his operation
on the hearts of many. It's wonderful that people should be so suddenly, and yet so greatly changed. Many have been taken from a loose and careless way of living, seized with strong convictions of their guilt and misery, and in a very little time, old things have passed away, and all things have become new with them.
God's work has also appeared very extraordinary in the degrees of the influences of his Spirit, both in the degree of awakening and conviction, and in the degree of saving light, love, and joy that many have experienced. It has also been very extraordinary in the extent of it, and its being so swiftly propagated from town to town. In former times of the outpouring of the Spirit of God on this town, even though it was very remarkable in some of them, it reached no further than this town. The neighboring towns all around continued unmoved.
The work of God's Spirit seemed to be at its greatest height in this town, in the former part of the spring — in March and April — at which time God's work in the conversion of souls was carried on among us in a wonderful a manner. In looking back, so far as I can judge from the particular acquaintance I have had with souls in this work, it appears to me probable that it was at the rate of at least four people a day, or near thirty a week, taking one with another, for five or six weeks together. When God in so remarkable a manner took the work into his own hands, there was as much done in a day or two, as is done in a year at ordinary times, with all the endeavors that men can use, and with such a blessing as we commonly have.
I am very sensible how apt many would be, if they should see the account I have given here, to quickly think to themselves that I am very fond of making a great many converts, and of magnifying and aggrandizing the matter. They may think that for lack of judgment, I take every religious pang and enthusiastic conceit as a saving conversion. I don't wonder much if they are apt to think so. And that is for this reason: I have forborne publishing an account of this great work of God, though I have often been put upon to do it. But having now as I thought a special call to give at least an account of it, upon mature consideration, I thought it might not be beside my duty to
declare this amazing work (as it appeared to me) to indeed be divine, and to conceal no part of its glory. I am leaving it with God to take care of the credit of His own work, and running the risk of any censorious thoughts that I might entertain to my disadvantage. But, so that distant people may have as great an advantage as possible to judge for themselves about this matter, I would be a little larger, and more particular.
I therefore proceed to give an account of the manner of people being worked upon. And here there is a vast variety, perhaps as manifold as the subjects of the operation; yet in many things there is a great analogy in all.
People are first awakened with a sense of their miserable condition by nature, the danger they are in of perishing eternally, and that it is of great importance to them that they speedily escape and get into a better state. Those who before were secure and senseless, are made sensible of how much they were on the way to ruin in their former courses. Some are more suddenly seized with convictions. It may be by the news of others' conversion, or something they hear in public or private conference; their consciences are suddenly struck, as if their hearts were pierced through with a dart. Others have awakenings that come upon them more gradually. They begin at first to be somewhat more thoughtful and considerate, so as to come to a conclusion in their minds, that it is their best and wisest way to delay no longer, but to make use of the present opportunity. And accordingly they have set themselves to seriously meditate on those things that have the most awakening tendency, with a purpose to obtain convictions. And so their awakenings have increased till a sense of their misery has a fast hold of them, by God's Spirit setting in with it. Others who, before this wonderful time, had been somewhat religious and concerned for their salvation, have been awakened in a new manner, and made sensible that their slack and dull way of seeking was never likely to attain their purpose. And so they have been roused to a greater forcefulness for the kingdom of heaven.
These awakenings, when they have first seized on people, have had two effects:
One was that they have brought them immediately to quit their sinful practices, and the looser sort have been brought to forsake and dread their former vices and extravagances. Once the Spirit of God began to be so wonderfully poured out in a general way through the town, people were soon done with their old quarrels, backbitings, and intermeddling with other men's matters; the tavern was soon left empty, and people kept very much at home; none went abroad unless on necessary business or some religious account; and every day seemed in many respects like a Sabbath day.
The other effect was that it put them on earnest application to the means of salvation: reading, prayer, meditation, the ordinances of God's house, and private conference. Their cry was, What shall we do to be saved? The place of resort was now altered: it was no longer the tavern, but the minister's house. That was thronged far more than the tavern had ever been.
There is a very great variety as to the degree of fear and trouble that people are exercised with, before they obtain any comfortable evidences of pardon and acceptance with God. Some, from the beginning, are carried on with abundantly more encouragement and hope than others. Some have had ten times less trouble of mind than others, in whom the issue yet seems to be the same. Some have had such a sense of the displeasure of God, and of the great danger of damnation, that they couldn't sleep at nights. Many have said that when they laid down, the very thought of sleeping in such a condition had frightened them. They have scarcely been free from terror while asleep, and they have awakened with fear, heaviness, and distress still abiding on their spirits. It has been very common that the deep and fixed concern that has been on people's minds, has had a painful influence on their bodies, and disturbed their animal nature.
The awful apprehensions that people have had of their misery, have for the most part been increasing the nearer they approached deliverance. Though they often pass through many changes and
alterations in the frame and circumstances of their minds, they sometimes think they are wholly senseless. They fear that the Spirit of God has left them, and that they've been given over to judicial hardness. Yet they appear very deeply exercised about that fear, and are in great earnest to obtain their conviction of salvation again.
Together with those fears, and that exercise of mind which is rational, and which they have just ground for, they often suffer many needless distresses of thought (in which Satan probably has a great hand) to entangle them, and block their way. Sometimes a distemper 9 of melancholy has been evidently mixed in. When that happens, the tempter seems to take great advantage of it, and he puts an unhappy bar in the way of any good effect. One doesn't know how to deal with such people.10 They turn everything that is said to them the wrong way, and most to their own disadvantage. And there is nothing that the devil seems to lay hold of so much, as a melancholy temperament, unless it is the real corruption of the heart.
But it has been very remarkable that there has been far less of this mixture of melancholy in this time of extraordinary blessing, than there usually was in people under awakenings at other times. For it is evident that many who before had been exceedingly involved in such difficulties, now seemed to be strangely set at liberty. Some people who for a long time before, had been exceedingly entangled with peculiar temptations of one sort or another, and unprofitable and hurtful distresses, were soon helped over those former stumblingblocks that hindered any progress towards saving good. Convictions have worked more kindly; and these people have been successfully carried on in the way to life. Thus Satan seemed to be restrained till the latter end of this wonderful time, when God's Spirit was about to withdraw.
Many times, people under great awakenings were concerned because they thought they were not awakened, but still miserable, hardhearted, senseless, sottish creatures, and sleeping on the brink of hell. The sense of the need they have to be awakened, and of their comparative hardness, grows on them with their awakenings; so that
they seem to themselves to be very senseless, when indeed they were most sensible. There have been some instances of people who have had as great a sense of their danger and misery as their natures could well subsist under, so that a little more would probably have destroyed them. Yet they expressed that they were much amazed at their own insensibility and sottishness 11 in such an extraordinary time as it then was.
People are sometimes brought to the border of despair; it looks as black as midnight to them a little before the day dawns in their souls. There have been a few instances of people who have had such a sense of God's wrath for sin, that they have been overborne, and made to cry out under an astonishing sense of their guilt. They wonder that God suffers such guilty wretches to live upon the earth, and doesn't immediately send them to hell. And sometimes their guilt so stares them in the face, that they are in exceeding terror for fear that God will instantly do that. But more commonly, the distresses under legal awakenings 12 have not been to such a degree. In some, these terrors don't seem to be as sharp as before, when they were near comfort; their convictions haven't seemed to work so much that way. Rather, they seem to be led further down into their own hearts, to a further sense of their own universal depravity and deadness in sin.
The corruption of the heart reveals itself in various exercises in times of legal conviction. Sometimes it appears in a great struggle, like something roused by an enemy — Satan, the old inhabitant of the heart, seems to exert himself like a serpent disturbed and enraged. Many in such circumstances have felt a great spirit of envy towards the godly, especially towards those who are thought to have been recently converted — and most of all toward acquaintances and companions when they are thought to be converted. Indeed, some have felt many heart-risings against God, and murmurings at his ways of dealing with mankind, and his dealings with themselves in particular. It has been much insisted on, both in public and private, that people should have the utmost dread of such envious thoughts which, if allowed, exceedingly tend to quench the Spirit of God, if not to provoke Him to finally forsake them. And when such a spirit has
largely prevailed, and people have not so earnestly strived against it as they should have done, it seems to exceedingly hinder the good of their souls. But in some other instances where people have been very terrified at the sight of such wickedness in their own hearts, God has brought good to them out of evil; and has made it a means to convince them of their own desperate sinfulness, and to bring them away from all self-confidence.
The drift of the Spirit of God in his legal strivings with people, has seemed most evidently to be to make way for, and to bring to, a conviction of their absolute dependence on his sovereign power and grace, and on the universal necessity of a Mediator. He does this by leading them more and more to a sense of their exceeding wickedness and guiltiness in His sight — the pollution and insufficiency of their own righteousness; that they cannot in any way help themselves; that God would be wholly just and righteous in rejecting them, rejecting all that they do, and in casting them away forever — though there is a vast variety as to the manner and distinctness of people's convictions of these things.
As they are gradually, more and more convinced of the corruption and wickedness of their hearts, they seem to themselves to grow worse and worse, harder and blinder, and more desperately wicked — instead of growing better. They are ready to be discouraged by this, and oftentimes never think they are so far from good, as when they are nearest to it. Under the sense which the Spirit of God gives them of their sinfulness, they often think they differ from all others. Their hearts are ready to sink with the thought that they are the worst of all, and that no one ever obtained mercy who was as wicked as they.
When the first awakenings begin, people's consciences are commonly most exercised about their outward vicious 13 course, or other acts of sin. But afterwards, they are much more burdened with a sense of heart-sins: the dreadful corruption of their nature, their enmity against God, the pride of their hearts, their unbelief, their rejection of Christ, the stubbornness and obstinacy of their wills, and the like. In
many, God makes much use of their own experience in the course of their awakenings, and their endeavors after saving good, to convince them of their own vile emptiness and universal depravity.
Very often under their first awakenings, when they are brought to reflect upon the sin of their past lives, and they have something of a terrifying sense of God's anger, they set themselves to walk more strictly, and to confess their sins, and perform many religious duties, all with a secret hope of appeasing God's anger, and making up for the sins they committed. Oftentimes, on first setting out, their affections are moved, and they are full of tears in their confessions and prayers, which they are ready to make much of — as though they were some sort of atonement, and had the power to move corresponding affections in God too. Hence, they have big expectations for a while, of what God will do for them; and they conceive that they are growing better rapidly, and will soon be thoroughly converted. But these affections are only short-lived, as they quickly find that they fail. And then they think to themselves that they have grown worse again. They don't find the prospect of being converted will be as soon as they thought. Instead of being nearer, they seem to be farther off; they think their hearts have grown harder. And by this means, their fears of perishing greatly increase.
But though they are disappointed, they renew their attempts again and again. But still, as their attempts are multiplied, so are their disappointments; all fail. They see no token of having inclined God's heart to them; they don't see that He hears their prayer at all, as they expected He would. And sometimes there have been great temptations arising from this, to stop seeking, and to yield up the cause. But as they are still more terrified with fears of perishing, and as their former hopes of prevailing upon God to be merciful to them fail in great measure, their religious affections have sometimes turned into heart-risings against God — because He would not pity them. And it seems to have little regard to their distress and piteous cries, and to all the pains they take. They think of the mercy that God has shown to others — how soon, and how easily others have
obtained comfort, and those too who were worse than them, and haven't labored as much as they have. And sometimes, they have had even dreadful and blasphemous thoughts in these circumstances.
But when they reflect on these wicked workings of heart against God — if their convictions are continued, and the Spirit of God is not provoked to utterly forsake them — they have more distressing apprehensions of the anger of God towards those whose hearts work in such a sinful manner about Him. It may be that they have great fears that they have committed the unpardonable sin,14 or that God will surely never show mercy to them because they are such vipers; and so they are often tempted to quit in despair.
But then — perhaps by something they read or hear about the infinite mercy of God, and the all-sufficiency of Christ for the chief of sinners — they have some encouragement and hope renewed. But they think that as yet they are not fit to come to Christ; they are so wicked that Christ will never accept them. And then it may be that they set themselves on a new course of fruitless endeavors in their own strength to make themselves better, and still meet with new disappointments. They are earnest to inquire what they should do. They don't know if there is something else to be done in order to obtain converting grace, that they haven't done yet. It may be that they hope they are somewhat better than they were — but then the pleasing dream all vanishes again. If they are told that they trust too much in their own strength and righteousness, that they cannot unlearn this practice all at once, and they do not yet find the appearance of any good — then it all looks dark as midnight to them. Thus they wander about from mountain to hill, seeking rest and finding none. When they are beat out of one refuge they fly to another, till they are, as it were, debilitated, broken, and subdued with legal humblings. In this state, God gives them a conviction of their own utter helplessness and insufficiency, and reveals the true remedy in a clearer knowledge of Christ and his gospel.
When they begin to seek salvation, they are commonly profoundly ignorant of themselves. They're not sensible of how blind they are,
and how little they can do towards bringing themselves to see spiritual things aright, and towards putting forth gracious exercises in their own souls. They're not sensible of how remote they are from love to God, and other holy dispositions, and how dead they are to sin.15 When they see unexpected pollution in their own hearts, they go about trying to wash away their own defilements, and make themselves clean. They weary themselves in vain, till God shows them it is in vain, and that their help is not where they've sought it, but elsewhere.
But some people continue wandering in such a kind of labyrinth, ten times as long as others, before their own experience will convince them of their insufficiency. And so it appears not to be their own experience only, but the convincing influence of God's Spirit with their experience, that attains the effect. And God has of late abundantly shown that He doesn't need to wait to have men convinced by long and often repeated, fruitless trials. For in multitudes of instances, He has made a shorter work of it. He has so awakened and convinced people's consciences, and made them so sensible of their exceedingly great vileness, and given them such a sense of His wrath against sin, that it quickly overcame all their vain self-confidence, and has borne them down into the dust, before a holy and righteous God.
There have been some who have not had great terrors, but have had a very quick work. Some of those who have not had so deep a conviction of these things before their conversion, have had much more of it afterwards, it may be. God has appeared far from limiting himself to any certain method in his proceedings with sinners under legal convictions. In some instances, it seems easy for our reasoning powers to discern the methods of divine wisdom in His dealings with the soul under awakenings. In others, his footsteps cannot be traced, and his ways are past finding out. And some who are less distinctly worked upon, in what is preparatory to grace, appear no less eminent in gracious experiences afterwards.
There is no greater difference, in different people, than with respect to the time of their being under trouble. Some are but a few days, and others go on for months or years. There were many in this town, before this effusion of God's Spirit upon us, who had been for years (and some for many years) concerned about their salvation. Though probably not thoroughly awakened, they were still concerned to such a degree as to be very uneasy; so as to live an uncomfortable, disquieted life; and so as to continue in a way of taking considerable pains about their salvation. But they had never obtained any comfortable evidence of a good estate. Now, in this extraordinary time, they have received light; but many of them were some of the last. They first saw multitudes of others rejoicing with songs of deliverance in their mouths, who seemed wholly careless and at ease, and in pursuit of vanity, while they themselves had been bowed down with exceeding concern about their souls. Indeed, some had lived licentiously; and they continued so, until a little before they were converted. Then they grew up to a holy rejoicing in the infinite blessings that God had bestowed upon them.
Whatever minister has a similar occasion to deal with souls in a flock that is under such circumstances as this flock was in the last year, I cannot help but think he will soon find himself needing to greatly insist that God is under no manner of obligation to show mercy to any natural man whose heart is not turned to God. And to insist that a man can claim nothing, either in absolute justice or by free promise, from anything he does, before he has believed on Jesus Christ, or has begun true repentance in Him. It appears to me that if I had taught any other doctrine to those who came to me under trouble, I would have taken a most direct course to utterly undo them. I would have directly crossed what was plainly the drift of the Spirit of God in his influences upon them.16 For if they had believed what I said, it would either have promoted self-flattery and carelessness, and so put an end to their awakenings — or else cherished and established their contention and strife with God, concerning his dealings with them and others. It would have blocked their way to that humiliation before the sovereign disposer of life and
death, by which God usually prepares them for his consolations. And yet those who have been under awakenings, have oftentimes plainly stood in need of being encouraged, by being told of the infinite and all-sufficient mercy of God in Christ. And they need to be told it is God's manner to come after personal diligence, and to bless His own means. This is to ensure that awakenings and encouragements, fear and hope, may be duly mixed and proportioned to preserve the person's mind in a just medium between the two extremes of selfflattery and despondence — both of which tend toward slackness and negligence, and in the end to false security.
I think I have found that no discourses have been more remarkably blessed, than those which insist on the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty with regard to the salvation of sinners, and His just liberty with regard to answering the prayers, or succeeding the pains of mere natural men, continuing as such. I never found so much immediate saving fruit, in any measure, of any discourses I have offered to my congregation, as those taken from the words in Rom 3.19: "That every mouth may be stopped" 17 — endeavoring to show from this, that it would be just for God to forever reject and cast off mere natural men.
In those in whom awakenings seem to have a saving result, the first thing that commonly appears after their legal troubles, is a conviction of the justice of God in their condemnation, in a sense of their own exceeding sinfulness, and the vileness of all their performances. In giving an account of this, they expressed themselves variously. Some said that they saw God was sovereign, and might receive others and reject them; some that they were convinced God might justly bestow mercy on every person in the town, and on every person in the world, and yet damn themselves to all eternity; some, that they see God may justly have no regard for all the pains they have taken, and all the prayers they have made; some, that they see that if they were to seek, and take the utmost pains all their lives, God might justly cast them into hell in the end, because all their labors, prayers and tears, cannot atone for the least sin, nor merit any blessing at the hands of God; some have declared
themselves to be in the hands of God, and that He can and may dispose of them just as he pleases; some, that God may glorify Himself in their damnation, and they wonder that God allowed them to live so long, and had not cast them into hell long ago.
Some are brought to this conviction, by a great sense of their sinfulness in general — that they are such vile wicked creatures in heart and life. Others have the sins of their lives set before them in an extraordinary manner — multitudes of these sins coming just then fresh to their memory, and being set before them with their aggravations. Some have their minds especially fixed on some particular wicked practice they have indulged; some are especially convinced by a sight of the corruption and wickedness of their hearts; some from a view they have of the horridness of some particular exercises of corruption which they had during their awakening, and by which the enmity of their heart against God has been manifested; some are convinced especially by a sense of the sin of unbelief— the opposition of their hearts to the way of salvation by Christ, and their obstinacy in rejecting Him and His grace.
There is a great deal of difference in people's ability to see this distinctly. Some who don't have as clear a sight of God's justice in their condemnation, still mention things that plainly imply it. They are disposed to acknowledge that God is just and righteous in his threatenings, and that they deserve nothing. Many times, though they didn't have so particular a sight of it at the beginning, they have very clear discoveries of it soon afterwards, with great humblings in the dust before God.
Commonly people's minds immediately before this discovery of God's justice are exceedingly restless, and in a kind of struggle and tumult, and sometimes in sheer anguish. But generally, as soon as they have this conviction, it immediately brings their minds to a calm, and a previously unexpected quietness and composure. And most frequently, though not always, the pressing weight then upon their spirits is taken away, and a general hope arises that at some time or other God will be gracious — even before any distinct and particular discoveries of mercy. Often they then come to a conclusion
within themselves, that they will lie at God's feet, and await His time. They rest in that, not being sensible that the Spirit of God has now brought them to a frame in which they are prepared for mercy. For it is remarkable that when people first have this sense of the justice of God, rarely in the time of it, do they think anything of its being that humiliation which they have often heard insisted on, and others experience.
In many people, the first convictions of the justice of God in their condemnation, which they take particular notice of — and probably the first distinct conviction that they have of it — is of such a nature, that it seems to be above anything merely legal. Even if it is after legal humblings, and a great sense of their own helplessness, and of the insufficiency of their own duties, yet it doesn't appear to be forced by mere legal terrors and convictions. Rather, it is from a high exercise of grace, in saving repentance and evangelical humiliation. For there is a sort of satisfaction of soul in it, in the attribute of God's justice, as displayed in His threatenings of eternal damnation to sinners. Sometimes, upon discovering it, they can scarcely keep from crying out, It's just! It's just! — Some express themselves, that they see the glory of God would shine bright in their own condemnation; and they are ready to think that if they are damned, they could take God's side against themselves, and would glorify his justice in this. And when it is this way, they commonly have some evident sense of free and all-sufficient grace, even if they give no distinct account of it. But it is manifest by that great degree of hope and encouragement that they then conceive, even if they were never so sensible of their own vileness and ill-deservings as they are at that time.
Some, when they're in such circumstances, have felt that sense of the excellency of God's justice, appearing in the vindictive exercises of it against such sinfulness as theirs was. And they've had such a submission of mind in their idea of this attribute — and of those exercises of it, together with an exceeding loathing of their own unworthiness, and a kind of indignation against themselves — that they have sometimes almost called it a willingness to be damned. Though it must be confessed that they didn't have clear and distinct
ideas of damnation, nor does any word in the Bible require such selfdenial as this. But the truth is, as some have more clearly expressed it, that salvation has appeared too good for them — that they were worthy of nothing but condemnation. And they couldn't tell how to think of salvation's being bestowed on them, fearing it was inconsistent with the glory of God's majesty that they had so contemned and affronted.
That calm of spirit that some people have found after their legal distresses, continues some time before any special and delightful manifestation is made to the soul of the grace of God as revealed in the gospel. But very often, some comfortable and sweet view of a merciful God, of a sufficient Redeemer, or of some great and joyful things of the gospel, immediately follows, or follows in a very short time. And in some, the first sight of their just desert of hell, and of God's sovereignty with respect to their salvation, and a discovery of His all-sufficient grace, are so near, that they seem to go together, as it were.
These gracious discoveries that are given, from which the first special comforts are derived, are in many respects quite varied. More frequently, Christ is distinctly made the object of the mind, in His allsufficiency and willingness to save sinners. But some have their thoughts more especially fixed on God, in some of his sweet and glorious attributes manifested in the gospel, and shining forth in the face of Christ. Some view the all-sufficiency of the mercy and grace of God; some chiefly the infinite power of God and his ability to save them, and to do all things for them; and some look most at the truth and faithfulness of God. In some, the truth and certainty of the gospel in general is the first joyful discovery they have. In others, it is the certain truth of some particular promises; in some, the grace and sincerity of God in his invitations. Commonly, this is some particular invitation in the mind; it now appears real to them, that God does indeed invite them. Some are struck with the glory and wonderfulness of the dying love of Christ; and some with the sufficiency and preciousness of his blood, as it was offered to make an atonement for sin; and others with the value and glory of his
obedience and righteousness. In some, the excellency and loveliness of Christ chiefly engages their thoughts; in some his divinity, that he is indeed the Son of the living God; and in others, the excellency of the way of salvation by Christ, and the suitableness of it to their necessities.
Some have an apprehension of these things so given, that it seems more natural to them to express it by sight or discovery; others think that what they experience is better expressed by the realizing conviction, or by a lively or feeling sense of heart — meaning, I suppose, nothing more than what is merely circumstantial or gradual.
Often in the mind, there is some particular text of Scripture that holds forth some gospel ground of consolation; sometimes it is a multitude of texts, gracious invitations and promises flowing in one after another, filling the soul more and more with comfort and satisfaction. And comfort is first given to some while reading some portion of Scripture; but in some it is attended with no particular Scripture at all, either in reading or meditation. In some, many divine things seem to be revealed to the soul, as it were, at once; others have their minds especially fixed on some one thing at first, and afterwards a sense is given of others; in some it is with a swifter succession, and in others a slower one; and sometimes with interruptions of much darkness.
The way that grace seems sometimes first to appear after legal humiliation, is in earnest longings of the soul after God and Christ — to know God, to love him, to be humbled before him, to have communion with Christ in his benefits. These longings, as they express them, seem evidently to be of such a nature that they can arise from nothing but a sense of the superlative excellency of divine things, with a spiritual taste and relish for them, and an esteem of them as their highest happiness and best portion. Such longings as I speak of, are commonly attended with firm resolutions to pursue this good forever, together with a hoping, waiting disposition. When people have begun in such frames, commonly other experiences and
discoveries have soon followed, which have yet more clearly manifested a change of heart.
It must be confessed that Christ is not always distinctly and explicitly thought of in the first tangible act of grace (though most commonly he is). But sometimes he is the object of the mind only implicitly. Thus sometimes when people have evidently seemed to be stripped of all their own righteousness, and to have stood self-condemned as guilty of death, they have been comforted with a joyful and satisfying view that the mercy and grace of God is sufficient for them; that their sins, however great, will be no hinderance to their being accepted; that there is mercy enough in God for the whole world, and the like. When they give no account of any particular or distinct thought of Christ, but the account they give is duly weighed, and they're asked a little about it, it appears that the revelation of the mercy of God in the gospel is the ground of their encouragement and hope. And it appears that it is indeed the mercy of God through Christ, that is revealed to them, and that it is depended on in Him, and it is not in any way moved by anything in themselves.