1 00:00:00,310 --> 00:00:04,090 In this series of meetings, it's our desire 2 00:00:04,090 --> 00:00:07,410 not only to present the Word of God, 3 00:00:07,490 --> 00:00:09,090 but to tell you what God has done 4 00:00:09,090 --> 00:00:12,650 in our own times for his people in 5 00:00:12,650 --> 00:00:13,410 answer to prayer. 6 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:18,040 Now, of course, you cannot read the history 7 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:23,080 of the American settlement without considering the Puritans. 8 00:00:24,180 --> 00:00:30,940 After the Puritan movement in Britain, after the 9 00:00:30,940 --> 00:00:34,660 return of Charles II, there was a moral 10 00:00:34,660 --> 00:00:35,800 decline. 11 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:41,060 London had a population of 600,000, and 12 00:00:41,060 --> 00:00:45,520 100,000 owed their livelihood to strong drink. 13 00:00:46,380 --> 00:00:49,880 One house in every six was a tavern. 14 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:55,920 A Frenchman visiting England said bluntly, the English 15 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:56,860 have no religion. 16 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:01,280 The reaction against Puritanism had been so strong 17 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,840 that the people went wild in their enjoyment 18 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:06,500 of sin. 19 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,020 Blood sports were all the rage. 20 00:01:11,940 --> 00:01:15,240 They had boxing barehanded. 21 00:01:16,960 --> 00:01:19,440 A man could keep his thumb out, and 22 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:21,720 if he gouged out the eye of his 23 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,620 opponent on his cheek, that was loudly applauded. 24 00:01:26,300 --> 00:01:29,560 Crowds would go to see criminals hanged at 25 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:30,320 Tyburn Hill. 26 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:35,740 Drunkenness was epidemic, profanity of the very worst 27 00:01:35,740 --> 00:01:36,300 kind. 28 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:42,600 The theater was so filthy, it was generally 29 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:44,720 operated alongside a brothel. 30 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:47,940 The novel was a mass of trash. 31 00:01:49,180 --> 00:01:53,900 It's rather interesting, when the first dirty novel 32 00:01:53,900 --> 00:01:55,720 came out in our own time, do you 33 00:01:55,720 --> 00:02:00,720 remember a book called Forever Amber by Kathleen 34 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:01,240 Windsor? 35 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:04,640 Why, that was very mild compared to the 36 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:05,700 trash they have today. 37 00:02:06,540 --> 00:02:10,500 It was based, however, upon that very period 38 00:02:10,500 --> 00:02:14,280 in England when sex was treated as a 39 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:14,600 joke. 40 00:02:15,460 --> 00:02:19,320 A godly Bishop of the Church of England, 41 00:02:20,260 --> 00:02:22,440 the Bishop of Chester, said to one of 42 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:25,460 his clergymen, I have to rebuke you, sir, 43 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:27,100 for being drunk so often. 44 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:30,780 The man stammered an apology. 45 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:33,440 He said, I'm never drunk at communion. 46 00:02:34,540 --> 00:02:37,400 He always was sober when he conducted a 47 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:38,300 communion service. 48 00:02:39,540 --> 00:02:46,960 Like people, like king, the king had seventeen 49 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:47,920 illegitimate children. 50 00:02:49,300 --> 00:02:51,980 It was one of the sneers that some 51 00:02:51,980 --> 00:02:54,220 men owed their title to the fact that 52 00:02:54,220 --> 00:02:56,940 the king wished to honor their father for 53 00:02:56,940 --> 00:02:59,840 some deed he had performed for the good 54 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:00,400 of the nation. 55 00:03:01,620 --> 00:03:03,700 In other cases, they owed their title to 56 00:03:03,700 --> 00:03:05,880 the fact that he had already dishonored their 57 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,180 mothers, and he gave titles to his illegitimate 58 00:03:09,180 --> 00:03:09,620 children. 59 00:03:11,540 --> 00:03:15,340 That was the condition in Britain at that 60 00:03:15,340 --> 00:03:15,720 time. 61 00:03:16,300 --> 00:03:18,140 In Scotland, it was much the same. 62 00:03:18,900 --> 00:03:21,540 What about the so-called free churches, the 63 00:03:21,540 --> 00:03:22,140 two centers? 64 00:03:22,860 --> 00:03:25,700 They had lost their power and were slipping 65 00:03:25,700 --> 00:03:27,860 into a kind of Unitarianism. 66 00:03:28,820 --> 00:03:33,340 The Presbyterian Church of England lost its Calvinistic 67 00:03:33,340 --> 00:03:36,540 zeal and went into Unitarianism. 68 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:40,800 Across the Atlantic were the godly Puritans who 69 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:41,880 had settled New England. 70 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:45,740 But one of their great leaders preached a 71 00:03:45,740 --> 00:03:49,400 sermon on Ichabod, the glory has departed from 72 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:50,100 New England. 73 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:55,200 Religion was dying in the American society. 74 00:03:56,300 --> 00:03:59,060 It was at this time that God intervened 75 00:03:59,060 --> 00:04:02,800 and poured out his spirit in a worldwide 76 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:03,320 awakening. 77 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:06,800 I intend to tell you briefly about that 78 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:07,260 movement. 79 00:04:09,700 --> 00:04:13,480 Some people think that John Wesley and George 80 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:17,640 Whitefield started a movement which finally touched all 81 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:18,800 of the English-speaking world. 82 00:04:19,180 --> 00:04:22,320 But actually, the movement began long before the 83 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:23,560 conversion of John Wesley. 84 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:30,500 The movement began about 1727, and strangely enough, 85 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:32,640 in two places far apart. 86 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:36,520 One was in Germany at a place called 87 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:37,060 Hernhut. 88 00:04:38,420 --> 00:04:43,440 Count Nicholas Zinzendorf was a godly, pietist Lutheran. 89 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:48,100 At that time there were refugees fleeing persecution 90 00:04:48,100 --> 00:04:52,120 in Central Europe, and he made room for 91 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:53,960 them in his estates in Saxony. 92 00:04:55,100 --> 00:05:02,620 Some were Lutheran, some were Bohemian, some were 93 00:05:02,620 --> 00:05:06,880 Sassanian, some were Calvinist, some were Zwinglian, and 94 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:08,820 they were bickering among themselves. 95 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,220 In fact, Nicholas Zinzendorf spent most of his 96 00:05:13,220 --> 00:05:16,300 time trying to keep the peace between these 97 00:05:16,300 --> 00:05:17,460 bickering Christians. 98 00:05:18,540 --> 00:05:21,860 But he challenged them, and they decided they 99 00:05:21,860 --> 00:05:25,440 would bury the hatchet, and they would start 100 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:26,860 a time of prayer. 101 00:05:28,340 --> 00:05:31,520 And in due course, the Spirit of God 102 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:36,300 moved upon those people at Hernhut and sent 103 00:05:36,300 --> 00:05:39,360 what we call the Moravian Revival. 104 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:43,980 It was on the 12th of May, 1727, 105 00:05:44,740 --> 00:05:47,380 that the group of settlers promised they would 106 00:05:47,380 --> 00:05:48,680 try and live in peace. 107 00:05:49,300 --> 00:05:51,480 And there came what was called in those 108 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,600 days an effusion of the Holy Spirit. 109 00:05:55,700 --> 00:05:57,920 We would say an outpouring of the Holy 110 00:05:57,920 --> 00:05:58,280 Spirit. 111 00:05:58,500 --> 00:06:01,060 Now notice, that word is scarcely ever used 112 00:06:01,060 --> 00:06:01,460 today. 113 00:06:02,420 --> 00:06:05,240 It's true that tonight someone prayed that there 114 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:07,240 might be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 115 00:06:08,060 --> 00:06:10,440 But even today, most people are concerned for 116 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:13,360 individual blessing, not for an outpouring on the 117 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:14,340 whole body of Christ. 118 00:06:15,500 --> 00:06:20,480 In late July, these brethren decided to establish 119 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:25,560 a watch, a prayer watch, at this hill 120 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:26,460 near Hernhut. 121 00:06:27,780 --> 00:06:30,280 And they read the first epistle of John, 122 00:06:30,460 --> 00:06:33,060 if we confess our sins, he's faithful and 123 00:06:33,060 --> 00:06:35,120 just to forgive us our sins and to 124 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:37,300 cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 125 00:06:38,340 --> 00:06:43,320 At the main congregation at Bethelsdorp, on August 126 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:47,060 the 10th, the pastor who was leading the 127 00:06:47,060 --> 00:06:50,120 service was overcome with a sense of the 128 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:51,300 presence of God. 129 00:06:52,100 --> 00:06:54,660 And he and the people continued in prayer 130 00:06:54,660 --> 00:06:59,540 and singing, in supplication and weeping, till after 131 00:06:59,540 --> 00:06:59,960 midnight. 132 00:07:01,220 --> 00:07:05,640 Another Pentecost had begun, and the results were 133 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:08,740 that the gospel began to travel to the 134 00:07:08,740 --> 00:07:09,940 far ends of the world. 135 00:07:11,780 --> 00:07:13,620 Now what is interesting is this, at the 136 00:07:13,620 --> 00:07:18,200 same time, 1727, in the colony of New 137 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:23,040 Jersey, at a place called New Brunswick, that's 138 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:27,180 where Rutgers University is situated, there came a 139 00:07:27,180 --> 00:07:30,120 visitation of God's Holy Spirit through a Dutchman. 140 00:07:31,420 --> 00:07:34,000 His name was Theodor Freilinghausen. 141 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:37,760 He was minister to these Dutch settlers in 142 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:38,320 New Jersey. 143 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:42,000 You know, of course, in the Reformed denominations, 144 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:46,640 communion is a quarterly arrangement, and in those 145 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:49,220 days people traveled long distances so as to 146 00:07:49,220 --> 00:07:51,660 be able to take part in communion, and 147 00:07:51,660 --> 00:07:53,740 they would have two or three days of 148 00:07:53,740 --> 00:07:55,340 preparation for the event. 149 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:01,440 Theodor Freilinghausen took advantage of the opportunity to 150 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,880 engage in what he called Eucharistic evangelism. 151 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:06,440 You say, what is that? 152 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:09,680 He preached before communion, and he preached such 153 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:14,040 texts as, whoever eats and drinks unworthily, eats 154 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:16,820 and drinks damnation to his own soul. 155 00:08:18,100 --> 00:08:19,780 Some of the older people were indignant. 156 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:21,880 They said, our previous dominion didn't treat us 157 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:22,360 like that. 158 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:24,980 But the young people were greatly convicted. 159 00:08:25,580 --> 00:08:29,040 The result was a revival began, a moving 160 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:32,659 of God's Holy Spirit, which spread all over 161 00:08:32,659 --> 00:08:33,840 the American colonies. 162 00:08:34,820 --> 00:08:38,500 But let's consider, first of all, what happened 163 00:08:38,500 --> 00:08:39,700 on the other side of the Atlantic. 164 00:08:40,860 --> 00:08:45,600 That movement that began in prayer, 1727, continued 165 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:46,920 and gained strength. 166 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:51,980 Now at Oxford, there was a group of 167 00:08:51,980 --> 00:08:57,040 young Anglicans, high churchmen, who met for prayer 168 00:08:57,040 --> 00:08:57,800 and devotion. 169 00:08:58,700 --> 00:09:01,920 They were sometimes called the Bible Moths, other 170 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:05,360 times they were nicknamed the Methodists, the Holy 171 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:05,740 Club. 172 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,280 The reason they were called Methodists was they 173 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:10,060 went to communion every day. 174 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:13,300 They were so methodical about their religion—it was 175 00:09:13,300 --> 00:09:16,480 a religion of works—that they were nicknamed Methodists, 176 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:19,580 a nickname that stuck to them long time 177 00:09:19,580 --> 00:09:20,260 afterwards. 178 00:09:21,300 --> 00:09:24,680 One of their leaders was John Wesley, and 179 00:09:24,680 --> 00:09:27,600 he read to these members of the Holy 180 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:31,500 Club Jonathan Edwards' Narrative of the Surprising Work 181 00:09:31,500 --> 00:09:34,040 of Grace at Northampton, Massachusetts. 182 00:09:34,900 --> 00:09:36,900 That was 1734. 183 00:09:37,860 --> 00:09:39,620 It was some time later that he read 184 00:09:39,620 --> 00:09:40,220 the account. 185 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:43,800 This stirred their hearts to pray for a 186 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:45,240 visitation of God's Spirit. 187 00:09:45,380 --> 00:09:48,680 The first to be converted was George Whitfield. 188 00:09:49,380 --> 00:09:51,460 It shows that the Lord has a sense 189 00:09:51,460 --> 00:09:51,940 of humor. 190 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,780 He reached into a tavern at Gloucester and 191 00:09:55,780 --> 00:09:59,280 picked a young man, George Whitfield, who went 192 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:02,120 to Oxford and worked his way through school. 193 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:05,740 Now, Oxford was a university meant for the 194 00:10:05,740 --> 00:10:08,320 sons of the wealthy and the noble and 195 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:09,220 sons of the clergy. 196 00:10:10,100 --> 00:10:12,100 But George Whitfield was a son of a 197 00:10:12,100 --> 00:10:15,320 tavernkeeper, and he went there and worked as 198 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:17,120 a servant to the other students. 199 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:20,460 He worked so hard that he was such 200 00:10:20,460 --> 00:10:23,420 a methodical Christian that he had a nervous 201 00:10:23,420 --> 00:10:23,900 breakdown. 202 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:27,020 He broke down in health, and while he 203 00:10:27,020 --> 00:10:29,520 was in bed, he read a book by 204 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:33,420 Henry Scougall called The Life of God in 205 00:10:33,420 --> 00:10:37,120 the Soul of Man, in which Scougall said 206 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:40,440 religion doesn't consist in doing things. 207 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:43,440 It is union with God. 208 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:46,900 This made him indignant because he had spent 209 00:10:46,900 --> 00:10:51,400 most of his current time doing things. 210 00:10:51,420 --> 00:10:55,040 But it led to his conversion, and ultimately 211 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:57,420 to the conversion of John Wesley. 212 00:10:59,020 --> 00:11:02,200 George Whitfield made his way to the American 213 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:02,820 colonies. 214 00:11:03,540 --> 00:11:05,880 In those days, navigation was not a very 215 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:06,920 exact science. 216 00:11:07,860 --> 00:11:10,360 His ship was headed for Philadelphia, but landed 217 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:12,120 somewhere in North Carolina. 218 00:11:12,620 --> 00:11:14,380 The wind blew it out of its course, 219 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:16,200 and he made his way up to Philadelphia 220 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:17,240 by horseback. 221 00:11:18,010 --> 00:11:21,260 In the meantime, John Wesley applied for a 222 00:11:21,260 --> 00:11:24,560 chaplaincy in the colony of Georgia. 223 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:29,820 He was always very unfortunate about womenfolk. 224 00:11:31,060 --> 00:11:33,640 He fell in love with an English girl 225 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:37,540 in Savannah, but he was so pedantic he 226 00:11:37,540 --> 00:11:39,280 couldn't bring himself to propose. 227 00:11:39,420 --> 00:11:41,220 He was so unsure of what the Lord's 228 00:11:41,220 --> 00:11:42,140 will might be. 229 00:11:43,220 --> 00:11:46,140 Perhaps he felt romantic stirrings and thought they 230 00:11:46,140 --> 00:11:50,140 were too carnal, but the girl waited for 231 00:11:50,140 --> 00:11:52,240 him, and then when he didn't seem to 232 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:54,100 be willing to propose to her, she married 233 00:11:54,100 --> 00:11:54,800 somebody else. 234 00:11:55,700 --> 00:11:56,800 What did John Wesley do? 235 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:00,740 He excommunicated her. 236 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:03,060 He wouldn't allow her to come to communion. 237 00:12:05,180 --> 00:12:07,640 Her husband demanded an explanation. 238 00:12:08,560 --> 00:12:11,080 John Wesley said, I have refused communion to 239 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:13,120 her because she is a hypocrite. 240 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:15,880 What do you mean my wife is a 241 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:16,220 hypocrite? 242 00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:18,540 Well, he said, obviously she loves me, but 243 00:12:18,540 --> 00:12:19,280 she married you. 244 00:12:22,140 --> 00:12:25,960 The result was the husband went to the 245 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:28,540 governor Oglethorpe and swore out a warrant for 246 00:12:28,540 --> 00:12:29,680 John Wesley's arrest. 247 00:12:30,700 --> 00:12:34,800 John Wesley got on horseback, didn't stop riding 248 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:36,680 until he got to Philadelphia and caught the 249 00:12:36,680 --> 00:12:38,020 first ship back. 250 00:12:39,020 --> 00:12:40,920 That was prevenient grace, of course. 251 00:12:41,220 --> 00:12:42,400 It made him one of the world's great 252 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:45,600 horsemen, and that was used in his journey. 253 00:12:45,780 --> 00:12:47,120 He was still a horseman until he was 254 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:48,300 83 years of age. 255 00:12:49,500 --> 00:12:52,120 But he was always rather unfortunate about the 256 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:52,840 opposite sex. 257 00:12:52,940 --> 00:12:54,520 After that he kept away from them, but 258 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:56,820 then, as we might say in the vernacular, 259 00:12:56,980 --> 00:13:00,360 one snuck up on him and nursed him 260 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:03,080 while he was sick, and he married her, 261 00:13:03,540 --> 00:13:04,980 and what a time she gave him. 262 00:13:05,540 --> 00:13:09,900 On board the ship he met Moravian missionaries. 263 00:13:09,900 --> 00:13:12,780 At that time the Moravians had missionaries in 264 00:13:12,780 --> 00:13:16,180 Greenland, in the Carolinas, in South Africa, and 265 00:13:16,180 --> 00:13:16,720 in India. 266 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:19,200 Why did they get that running jump? 267 00:13:19,940 --> 00:13:24,020 Because from the revival at Hern Hood, 1727, 268 00:13:24,620 --> 00:13:29,380 they maintained nonstop a prayer meeting for a 269 00:13:29,380 --> 00:13:30,180 hundred years. 270 00:13:30,780 --> 00:13:32,640 It put them in the advance of all 271 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:33,940 other Protestant Christians. 272 00:13:34,780 --> 00:13:35,940 Wesley came back. 273 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:38,240 He wrote in his diary, I went out 274 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:41,880 to convert the Indians, but who shall convert 275 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:42,360 me? 276 00:13:43,100 --> 00:13:45,880 Twenty years afterwards he wrote in the margin, 277 00:13:46,340 --> 00:13:47,920 this was too severe a judgment. 278 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:52,000 After all, when Wesley went to Georgia, he 279 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:55,660 was a Christian, he was a Protestant, he 280 00:13:55,660 --> 00:13:56,520 was an Anglican. 281 00:13:57,640 --> 00:13:59,520 In a certain way he was evangelical. 282 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:02,220 But he lacked one thing. 283 00:14:03,100 --> 00:14:05,920 He did not have the assurance of salvation. 284 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:11,100 On the 24th of May in 1738, that's, 285 00:14:11,100 --> 00:14:16,380 remember, eleven years after the outpouring of the 286 00:14:16,380 --> 00:14:19,720 Holy Spirit in New Jersey and in Germany, 287 00:14:20,900 --> 00:14:24,740 he attended Evensong in St. Paul's Cathedral, and 288 00:14:24,740 --> 00:14:27,620 the choir sang, Out of the deep have 289 00:14:27,620 --> 00:14:29,080 I called unto thee, O Lord. 290 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:30,580 He was deeply moved. 291 00:14:30,660 --> 00:14:32,780 He went to a Moravian prayer meeting on 292 00:14:32,780 --> 00:14:35,620 Aldersgate Street, and there he heard someone read 293 00:14:35,620 --> 00:14:38,300 Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. 294 00:14:39,260 --> 00:14:42,740 While he was describing the change which God 295 00:14:42,740 --> 00:14:44,920 works in the heart through faith in Christ, 296 00:14:45,460 --> 00:14:48,340 I felt my heart strangely warmed. 297 00:14:48,780 --> 00:14:51,560 I felt that I did trust in Christ, 298 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:54,520 Christ alone, for my salvation. 299 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:57,320 And an assurance was given me that he 300 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:00,680 had taken away my sins, even mine, and 301 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:03,080 saved me from the law of sin and 302 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:03,440 death. 303 00:15:04,220 --> 00:15:08,200 In other words, he experienced what he believed 304 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:08,820 in his head. 305 00:15:09,620 --> 00:15:12,340 That was the secret of the first Great 306 00:15:12,340 --> 00:15:12,800 Awakening. 307 00:15:13,660 --> 00:15:17,880 Whitefield and Wesley and Selina Curtis of Huntington 308 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:21,440 and the other leaders preached that you may 309 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:23,280 know that you're a child of God. 310 00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:26,220 It was not merely a theological proposition. 311 00:15:27,140 --> 00:15:29,980 Wesley, in his journal, he kept a remarkable 312 00:15:29,980 --> 00:15:30,460 journal. 313 00:15:31,180 --> 00:15:33,340 He began to pray with all his might, 314 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:36,920 and then he testified openly to all there 315 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:38,700 what he now first felt in his heart. 316 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:40,700 It was the first time in his career 317 00:15:40,700 --> 00:15:42,360 that he knew he was a child of 318 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:42,640 God. 319 00:15:43,540 --> 00:15:48,000 Now, on the 14th of February, 1739, George 320 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:51,120 Whitefield went down to his boyhood home, Bristol, 321 00:15:51,460 --> 00:15:54,520 the second largest town in Britain. 322 00:15:56,140 --> 00:15:58,960 A malicious report preceded him, so the churches 323 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:00,740 closed their doors against him. 324 00:16:01,580 --> 00:16:05,140 Whitefield turned to the open air and began 325 00:16:05,140 --> 00:16:06,460 to preach in Kingswood. 326 00:16:06,460 --> 00:16:09,900 It was a rendezvous for the worst people 327 00:16:09,900 --> 00:16:10,560 of Bristol. 328 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:14,920 The coal workers there, the colliers, as they 329 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:19,160 called them, were ignorant, violent, brutal, blasphemous, drunken, 330 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:19,880 and criminal. 331 00:16:20,660 --> 00:16:22,840 They met there to get drunk, to gamble, 332 00:16:22,940 --> 00:16:23,520 and to fight. 333 00:16:24,540 --> 00:16:26,100 But he began to preach to a couple 334 00:16:26,100 --> 00:16:28,580 of hundred, and before long he had 20 335 00:16:28,580 --> 00:16:29,560 ,000 people. 336 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:34,260 John Wesley was asked to substitute for him. 337 00:16:35,180 --> 00:16:37,740 Wesley was such a high churchman at the 338 00:16:37,740 --> 00:16:40,660 time, he said in his diary he thought 339 00:16:40,660 --> 00:16:42,140 it was a sin to preach in the 340 00:16:42,140 --> 00:16:42,660 open air. 341 00:16:43,860 --> 00:16:46,040 But Whitefield said, try it, you'll like it. 342 00:16:46,780 --> 00:16:49,720 So he tried it, and on the 31st 343 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:54,660 of March he arrived in Bristol, and he 344 00:16:54,660 --> 00:16:56,920 said, I should have thought the saving of 345 00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:59,100 souls almost a sin if it had not 346 00:16:59,100 --> 00:16:59,860 been done in church. 347 00:17:01,100 --> 00:17:03,579 But 24 hours later, that would be on 348 00:17:03,579 --> 00:17:07,099 the 1st of April, All Fools' Day, he 349 00:17:07,099 --> 00:17:09,359 preached in the open air, as he said, 350 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:12,040 making a bright succession of appeals to the 351 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:13,660 reason, the conscience, and the heart. 352 00:17:14,380 --> 00:17:15,780 He was a very methodical man. 353 00:17:16,700 --> 00:17:19,380 And then he said, I propose to preach 354 00:17:19,380 --> 00:17:21,200 here next Sunday. 355 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:23,200 And now the work had begun. 356 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:26,780 He formed his converts into societies within the 357 00:17:26,780 --> 00:17:27,480 Church of England. 358 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:30,900 This was the beginning of the great Methodist 359 00:17:30,900 --> 00:17:31,680 movement. 360 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:35,200 Now in the meantime, Whitefield went up to 361 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:35,960 London to preach. 362 00:17:36,940 --> 00:17:38,880 25th of April he began in London. 363 00:17:39,140 --> 00:17:41,460 Only one church was willing to receive him, 364 00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:44,720 St. Mary's Islington, because the vicar there had 365 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:46,680 been a member of the Holy Club, had 366 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:47,940 been converted through them. 367 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:52,200 But the vicar was overridden by church wardens. 368 00:17:52,220 --> 00:17:54,440 They said he shall not use the church. 369 00:17:55,100 --> 00:17:57,920 So he took to the churchyard, and that 370 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:00,740 began his great open-air meetings in London. 371 00:18:02,340 --> 00:18:04,220 He used to go to Kennington Common and 372 00:18:04,220 --> 00:18:05,100 Clapham Common. 373 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:08,360 The crowds that attended were 25,000. 374 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:10,160 People came in their carriages. 375 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:14,400 Enterprising businessmen set up booths and sold food 376 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,480 to people who walked long distances to get 377 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:18,700 there, because in those days there were no 378 00:18:18,700 --> 00:18:19,760 trains to carry them. 379 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:22,100 There was a great deal of opposition. 380 00:18:23,300 --> 00:18:26,200 But now Whitefield and Wesley were preaching to 381 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:28,320 multitudes up and down Britain. 382 00:18:29,380 --> 00:18:31,640 Now as I said once before, I used 383 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:34,740 to think that John Wesley, like George Whitefield, 384 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:36,920 was such a genius of an evangelist that 385 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:39,820 strong men, for the first time hearing him, 386 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:42,020 broke down and wept before God. 387 00:18:42,380 --> 00:18:44,200 But I find that the secret was not 388 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:46,020 so much that, as the fact that when 389 00:18:46,020 --> 00:18:50,260 the Holy Spirit was outpoured upon these godly 390 00:18:50,260 --> 00:18:53,800 men, the same Holy Spirit fell in convicting 391 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:58,440 power upon the multitudes of unchurched people in 392 00:18:58,440 --> 00:18:58,700 Britain. 393 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:01,280 It wasn't long before there was opposition. 394 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:04,520 Clergy of the Church of England would stir 395 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:06,900 up mobs to stone them. 396 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:09,760 Wesley always kept his composure. 397 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:11,680 He'd take out his handkerchief and wipe away 398 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:14,380 the blood from his face, and just continue 399 00:19:14,380 --> 00:19:14,820 preaching. 400 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:18,860 He was superb in his courage and unruffled 401 00:19:18,860 --> 00:19:20,140 in his composure. 402 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:22,800 But this continued for quite a while. 403 00:19:23,940 --> 00:19:25,740 Now how can we sum it up? 404 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:30,400 A high church historian, Canon Overton, said, it 405 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:33,140 would be no exaggeration to say that morally 406 00:19:33,140 --> 00:19:38,060 and spiritually, the dominant religious power, both inside 407 00:19:38,060 --> 00:19:40,000 and outside the Church of England at the 408 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:43,140 close of the 18th century, was the one 409 00:19:43,140 --> 00:19:45,680 that had been evoked by the evangelical revival. 410 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:48,380 What effect did it have upon the nonconformists, 411 00:19:49,180 --> 00:19:51,280 what we would call free churches, not the 412 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:52,000 state church? 413 00:19:52,460 --> 00:19:54,980 Let me just give you an idea. 414 00:19:56,260 --> 00:20:01,660 In 1740, the number of permanent places of 415 00:20:01,660 --> 00:20:07,600 worship registered by dissenters, Baptists, Congregationists, and others 416 00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:10,040 had dwindled to twenty-seven. 417 00:20:10,900 --> 00:20:13,240 Twenty-seven in the whole country. 418 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:17,580 The number of temporary chapels was 506. 419 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:21,120 After sixty years, in other words, at the 420 00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:24,320 end of the 18th century, the number of 421 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:27,980 permanent chapels had increased from twenty-seven to 422 00:20:27,980 --> 00:20:31,240 nine hundred and twenty-six, and the temporary 423 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:34,380 ones increased from five hundred and six to 424 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:38,180 three thousand four hundred and ninety-one. 425 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:41,180 By the way, Whitefield had a great reception 426 00:20:41,780 --> 00:20:42,540 in Scotland. 427 00:20:43,260 --> 00:20:45,180 Now John Wesley was honored in Scotland. 428 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:48,420 Several Scottish cities gave him what they called 429 00:20:48,420 --> 00:20:50,820 the freedom of the city, honoring him as 430 00:20:50,820 --> 00:20:51,580 a great man. 431 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:54,880 But they didn't take him so warmly as 432 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:57,700 they did to George Whitefield, because George Whitefield 433 00:20:57,700 --> 00:20:58,940 was a brother Calvinist. 434 00:20:59,740 --> 00:21:03,680 In 1742, Whitefield arrived in Scotland. 435 00:21:03,700 --> 00:21:05,500 It is very interesting that he was invited 436 00:21:05,500 --> 00:21:08,960 to Scotland by a seceding group of Presbyterians, 437 00:21:09,260 --> 00:21:13,900 the seceding church, led by the Erskine brothers. 438 00:21:14,980 --> 00:21:17,300 When he arrived, they wanted to ordain him. 439 00:21:18,340 --> 00:21:21,040 But Whitefield said, my good brethren, I am 440 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:21,640 ordained. 441 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:23,840 I am ordained by the Church of England. 442 00:21:24,860 --> 00:21:27,340 They said, but that's not true Presbyterian ordination. 443 00:21:28,220 --> 00:21:29,540 Well, they said, that's too bad. 444 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:31,580 Well, they didn't know what to do. 445 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:33,600 Then they decided, all right, we will license 446 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:33,860 him. 447 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:35,560 So they gave him a license. 448 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:37,420 They wanted to do everything in order. 449 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:41,480 In the meantime, a man called William McCullough 450 00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:45,040 in the big dead church of Scotland had 451 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,300 heard of Whitefield's remarkable ministry in the American 452 00:21:48,300 --> 00:21:51,600 colonies, and invited him to come to Cambuslang, 453 00:21:51,860 --> 00:21:54,660 outside Glasgow, to preach there at a communion 454 00:21:54,660 --> 00:21:55,240 service. 455 00:21:55,900 --> 00:21:58,160 What he saw far outdid what he had 456 00:21:58,160 --> 00:21:59,020 ever seen in America. 457 00:21:59,620 --> 00:22:01,740 He preached at two, at six, and at 458 00:22:01,740 --> 00:22:05,640 nine p.m., to crowds of twenty and 459 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:06,300 thirty thousand. 460 00:22:06,860 --> 00:22:08,680 And then the ministers had to work for 461 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:11,520 hours dealing with seekers after God. 462 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,300 On Saturday, July the fourth, July the ninth, 463 00:22:16,500 --> 00:22:19,460 Whitefield preached to twenty thousand on the preaching 464 00:22:19,460 --> 00:22:22,420 braise on the hills, a little amphitheater of 465 00:22:22,420 --> 00:22:22,720 hills. 466 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:25,800 And then on the fifteenth of August, McCullough 467 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:29,820 and twelve assisting Presbyterian ministers held a second 468 00:22:29,820 --> 00:22:31,820 communion with thirty thousand attending. 469 00:22:32,700 --> 00:22:36,760 So now they're having revival in Scotland as 470 00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:38,480 well as in England. 471 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:42,000 They also had great revival in Wales, but 472 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:43,240 there isn't time to tell you of all 473 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:43,460 this. 474 00:22:43,460 --> 00:22:46,300 You're much more interested in what happened on 475 00:22:46,300 --> 00:22:47,360 this side of the Atlantic. 476 00:22:48,360 --> 00:22:52,700 I wish I could have heard George Whitefield 477 00:22:52,700 --> 00:22:53,120 preach. 478 00:22:54,380 --> 00:22:56,340 You know, that man had such a voice 479 00:22:57,060 --> 00:22:59,620 that when those little sailing ships would sail 480 00:22:59,620 --> 00:23:02,400 across the Atlantic, they formed a V on 481 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:06,160 Sundays, like ducks going across the pond if 482 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:06,960 it was a nice Sunday. 483 00:23:07,060 --> 00:23:09,460 It took, of course, many, many weeks to 484 00:23:09,460 --> 00:23:10,940 sail the Atlantic on those days. 485 00:23:12,100 --> 00:23:15,380 And George Whitefield would conduct divine worship for 486 00:23:15,380 --> 00:23:17,680 the fleet from the first ship. 487 00:23:18,500 --> 00:23:21,220 The captain would line up the passengers and 488 00:23:21,220 --> 00:23:23,800 the crews on each ship, and he would 489 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:25,080 preach to the whole fleet. 490 00:23:26,460 --> 00:23:28,960 His enemy said he could reduce an audience 491 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:31,640 to tears by the way he pronounced the 492 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:32,840 word Mesopotamia. 493 00:23:33,780 --> 00:23:35,820 That was an exaggeration, of course. 494 00:23:36,780 --> 00:23:38,520 Now, I told you the first sign of 495 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:42,200 revival was in New Jersey in a Dutch 496 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:43,680 Reformed congregation. 497 00:23:44,180 --> 00:23:47,080 It's rather interesting that not only did the 498 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:49,800 great revival of the 18th century begin in 499 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:53,440 a Dutch Reformed congregation, but the great revival 500 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,660 of 1858 began in a Dutch Reformed congregation 501 00:23:56,660 --> 00:23:57,560 in Manhattan. 502 00:23:58,780 --> 00:24:00,960 Now this is rather significant because the Dutch 503 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:04,200 Reformed are a very sober people, not easily 504 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:04,960 carried away. 505 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:08,240 You could describe them as Presbyterians with a 506 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:09,300 little extra starch. 507 00:24:13,050 --> 00:24:15,590 There was an Irishman just north of Philadelphia 508 00:24:15,590 --> 00:24:18,550 at a place called Neshemany, had built a 509 00:24:18,550 --> 00:24:19,350 log college. 510 00:24:19,490 --> 00:24:22,850 His name was Tennant, William Tennant. 511 00:24:22,930 --> 00:24:24,130 He was from the north of Ireland. 512 00:24:24,850 --> 00:24:27,390 He had four sons in the ministry, and 513 00:24:27,390 --> 00:24:29,110 one of them, Gilbert Tennant, went up to 514 00:24:29,110 --> 00:24:32,010 New Brunswick to become pastor of the Presbyterian 515 00:24:32,010 --> 00:24:32,950 congregation there. 516 00:24:33,530 --> 00:24:36,410 They were English-speaking, or rather Scotch-Irish. 517 00:24:36,770 --> 00:24:39,030 They spoke English the way the Scotch-Irish 518 00:24:39,030 --> 00:24:39,830 spoke English. 519 00:24:40,770 --> 00:24:43,270 And the revival spread from the Dutch to 520 00:24:43,270 --> 00:24:46,690 the Scotch-Irish, and then made a sweeping 521 00:24:46,690 --> 00:24:51,010 move throughout Presbyterianism in Pennsylvania. 522 00:24:51,890 --> 00:24:54,090 It communicated itself to the Baptists. 523 00:24:54,470 --> 00:24:57,950 At that time, the Baptists had only 500 524 00:24:57,950 --> 00:24:59,410 members in the colonies. 525 00:25:00,770 --> 00:25:03,110 Today, they claim something like 20 million. 526 00:25:03,970 --> 00:25:06,590 So apparently this revival did them some good. 527 00:25:07,610 --> 00:25:09,870 I remember once I was speaking at Forest 528 00:25:09,870 --> 00:25:13,470 Home when a minister, a Presbyterian minister, came 529 00:25:13,470 --> 00:25:15,010 to me and said, you know Orr, it's 530 00:25:15,010 --> 00:25:17,810 all right to talk about revival to Nazarenes 531 00:25:17,810 --> 00:25:21,510 and Baptists and Pentecostals, but we in the 532 00:25:21,510 --> 00:25:25,070 Presbyterian church believe in an educated ministry and 533 00:25:25,070 --> 00:25:26,510 an orderly service. 534 00:25:27,710 --> 00:25:28,750 I said, where did you learn this? 535 00:25:29,450 --> 00:25:31,270 He said, I'm a Princeton man. 536 00:25:32,210 --> 00:25:33,930 I said, that's very interesting, because you know, 537 00:25:34,330 --> 00:25:36,570 this long college that was started by the 538 00:25:36,570 --> 00:25:40,610 Presbyterian revivalists in this great revival grew until 539 00:25:40,610 --> 00:25:42,710 it became the College of New Jersey, and 540 00:25:42,710 --> 00:25:44,710 today it's known as Princeton University. 541 00:25:45,490 --> 00:25:49,490 Now the revival jumped from the South up 542 00:25:49,490 --> 00:25:51,670 to the North, broke out in Northampton, Massachusetts 543 00:25:51,670 --> 00:25:54,790 under Jonathan Edwards, and there were phenomenal things 544 00:25:54,790 --> 00:25:55,070 there. 545 00:25:55,550 --> 00:25:57,750 Now most people remember Jonathan Edwards by one 546 00:25:57,750 --> 00:25:58,130 sermon. 547 00:25:58,270 --> 00:26:01,310 I remember once I took a course, the 548 00:26:01,310 --> 00:26:03,330 time I was doing my doctorate in education 549 00:26:03,330 --> 00:26:04,490 at UCLA. 550 00:26:05,290 --> 00:26:07,710 The professor was Jewish, and one evening he 551 00:26:07,710 --> 00:26:10,650 thought the class needed some entertainment, so he 552 00:26:10,650 --> 00:26:14,050 read some extracts from Jonathan Edwards' sermon on 553 00:26:14,050 --> 00:26:15,990 Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, 554 00:26:16,370 --> 00:26:18,790 and they laughed at some of the wise 555 00:26:18,790 --> 00:26:20,070 cracks he made about this. 556 00:26:20,190 --> 00:26:21,590 I raised my hand afterwards. 557 00:26:21,730 --> 00:26:24,770 I said, do you know, sir, how many 558 00:26:24,770 --> 00:26:27,850 of Jonathan Edwards' sermons are still extant? 559 00:26:28,710 --> 00:26:29,870 He said, no, Dr. Roth. 560 00:26:30,570 --> 00:26:34,210 I said, about 506, and that's the only 561 00:26:34,210 --> 00:26:35,290 one of its kind. 562 00:26:36,090 --> 00:26:37,790 But of course, the world likes to make 563 00:26:37,790 --> 00:26:41,430 fun of Jonathan Edwards because of his sermon, 564 00:26:41,870 --> 00:26:43,610 Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. 565 00:26:43,790 --> 00:26:48,250 It doesn't suit the easygoing temper of today. 566 00:26:49,650 --> 00:26:53,910 The revival spread from Northampton, Massachusetts to other 567 00:26:53,910 --> 00:26:57,890 parts, but then in 1740 Whitfield came across 568 00:26:57,890 --> 00:27:02,500 the Atlantic for another visit, and that was 569 00:27:02,500 --> 00:27:06,460 the crisis, the climax of the Great Awakening, 570 00:27:06,620 --> 00:27:07,260 as it's called. 571 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:10,780 In Britain it's called the Evangelical Revival, but 572 00:27:10,780 --> 00:27:12,800 I think we ought to mark it by 573 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:16,640 saying the Evangelical Revival of the 18th century, 574 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,420 or the Great Awakening of the 18th century, 575 00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:22,340 because some people have never heard of any 576 00:27:22,340 --> 00:27:22,600 other. 577 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:24,860 That's all they know about it. 578 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:28,300 Now, as far as this work is concerned, 579 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:32,460 Whitfield began preaching the vast crowds. 580 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:35,160 Do you know that when he was preaching 581 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:39,440 at the Custom House Steps in Philadelphia, people 582 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:43,500 would gather across the Delaware in Camden, New 583 00:27:43,500 --> 00:27:44,680 Jersey, to listen to him? 584 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,000 Of course, that would be a calm Sabbath 585 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,300 evening, it would not do during a storm, 586 00:27:50,380 --> 00:27:52,220 but of course there were no factory noises 587 00:27:52,220 --> 00:27:54,460 and no automobiles and so forth. 588 00:27:55,580 --> 00:27:56,900 He was a remarkable preacher. 589 00:27:57,920 --> 00:27:59,820 Not only that, but he had a great 590 00:27:59,820 --> 00:28:00,960 burden for education. 591 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,740 I've read some of the stories about Whitfield's 592 00:28:04,740 --> 00:28:06,060 visit to Philadelphia. 593 00:28:06,660 --> 00:28:09,440 One of his great admirers was not a 594 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:11,780 professing Christian, Benjamin Franklin. 595 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:17,200 He was a deist, but he admired George 596 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:17,680 Whitfield. 597 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,780 You'll find at the statue of George Whitfield 598 00:28:20,780 --> 00:28:25,240 outside the University of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin's tribute 599 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:26,160 to his integrity. 600 00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:31,040 One evening, Benjamin Franklin went to hear Whitfield. 601 00:28:32,140 --> 00:28:33,820 He had argued with Whitfield. 602 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:37,820 Whitfield wanted to start an orphanage in Savannah. 603 00:28:38,740 --> 00:28:42,240 Franklin said, look, Philadelphia is the center of 604 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:43,980 the colonies, it's the biggest town. 605 00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:46,320 What do you want to start an orphanage 606 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:47,460 way down there for? 607 00:28:47,780 --> 00:28:50,000 Start it here and bring the orphans from 608 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:51,260 Savannah or from Boston. 609 00:28:52,500 --> 00:28:53,640 Build your orphanage here. 610 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:56,420 But Whitfield said, the Lord has spoken to 611 00:28:56,420 --> 00:28:58,080 me, and he wouldn't argue. 612 00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:01,000 So Franklin said to himself, he's getting nothing 613 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:01,620 from me. 614 00:29:03,020 --> 00:29:06,020 Now, in the course of the address, Franklin 615 00:29:06,020 --> 00:29:08,540 said he perceived that Whitfield was going to 616 00:29:08,540 --> 00:29:11,740 take up an offering for his project, and 617 00:29:11,740 --> 00:29:13,480 he had determined to give him nothing. 618 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:20,000 In his pocket, he had a gold five 619 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:25,040 dollar piece, and several silver dollars, and a 620 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:26,420 certain amount of copper. 621 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:31,340 But he said as he proceeded, his heart 622 00:29:31,340 --> 00:29:33,060 softened a little bit, and he decided to 623 00:29:33,060 --> 00:29:34,620 put the copper in the offering. 624 00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:39,280 And as he proceeded, he changed his mind 625 00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:41,080 again and decided to give the silver as 626 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:41,380 well. 627 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:45,580 And finally, when Whitfield finished with a plea 628 00:29:45,580 --> 00:29:48,800 for the orphans, he put gold, silver, and 629 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:50,900 copper and everything in the plate. 630 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:54,780 I heard a variation of that story. 631 00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:57,780 I haven't been able to document it, but 632 00:29:57,780 --> 00:30:01,440 there was a Scotsman standing alongside Benjamin Franklin, 633 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:04,660 and he showed him his pockets. 634 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:07,180 He pulled the lining of his pockets out 635 00:30:07,180 --> 00:30:09,600 and said, I've come here with empty pockets 636 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:11,820 because that man can get money out of 637 00:30:11,820 --> 00:30:12,300 a stone. 638 00:30:14,260 --> 00:30:18,040 And he ended up borrowing a dollar from 639 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:19,760 Benjamin Franklin to put in the offering. 640 00:30:22,030 --> 00:30:23,390 Now, what was it like? 641 00:30:24,630 --> 00:30:25,970 He went to New York. 642 00:30:26,270 --> 00:30:28,890 Gilbert Tennant said, I never saw such attentive 643 00:30:28,890 --> 00:30:31,870 audiences in all my life. 644 00:30:31,990 --> 00:30:34,990 All that Whitfield said was demonstrative of light 645 00:30:34,990 --> 00:30:35,490 and power. 646 00:30:35,490 --> 00:30:38,230 The people's eyes were fixed on him, and 647 00:30:38,230 --> 00:30:39,810 their ears hung upon his words. 648 00:30:40,270 --> 00:30:41,870 Then he came back to Philadelphia through New 649 00:30:41,870 --> 00:30:44,210 Jersey, preaching to vast concourses. 650 00:30:44,430 --> 00:30:45,390 Then he went up to Boston. 651 00:30:46,290 --> 00:30:49,190 Now, I remember in 1950, Billy Graham called 652 00:30:49,190 --> 00:30:51,170 me from the Bellevue Hotel in Boston. 653 00:30:52,150 --> 00:30:55,170 He had preached in Boston Common to 15 654 00:30:55,170 --> 00:30:55,990 ,000 people. 655 00:30:56,510 --> 00:30:58,690 But at that time, Boston had a population 656 00:30:58,690 --> 00:30:59,670 of over two million. 657 00:31:00,410 --> 00:31:03,930 But in Whitfield's day, when Boston had a 658 00:31:03,930 --> 00:31:06,810 population of less than 20,000, he preached 659 00:31:06,810 --> 00:31:10,630 as big crowds as Billy Graham ever had—vast 660 00:31:10,630 --> 00:31:11,170 crowds. 661 00:31:12,550 --> 00:31:16,270 One of the Boston ministers, Benjamin Coleman, wrote 662 00:31:16,270 --> 00:31:18,450 to Isaac Watts, the hymn writer in England, 663 00:31:18,970 --> 00:31:23,530 and said, a year later, our meetings flourish, 664 00:31:24,650 --> 00:31:29,690 Sabbaths are joyous, our churches increase, our ministers 665 00:31:29,690 --> 00:31:31,570 have new life and spirit in their work. 666 00:31:32,550 --> 00:31:36,030 These showers of blessing continued for 18 months 667 00:31:36,030 --> 00:31:38,250 after Whitfield's visit. 668 00:31:39,570 --> 00:31:42,470 In Boston, 30 new congregations came together. 669 00:31:43,190 --> 00:31:45,450 Out of a population of 300,000 in 670 00:31:45,450 --> 00:31:47,410 New England, 30,000 were converted. 671 00:31:48,470 --> 00:31:53,350 The Congregationalists formed 150 new congregations in 20 672 00:31:53,350 --> 00:31:54,630 years following the Revival. 673 00:31:55,230 --> 00:31:57,230 And the moral improvement of New England was 674 00:31:57,230 --> 00:32:00,010 so great that it was the most glorious 675 00:32:00,010 --> 00:32:03,030 and extensive revival of religion and reformation of 676 00:32:03,030 --> 00:32:05,550 manners that the country had ever known. 677 00:32:06,050 --> 00:32:08,430 There were some debit items. 678 00:32:09,310 --> 00:32:11,870 One of Whitfield's admirers was a man called 679 00:32:11,870 --> 00:32:13,430 James Davenport. 680 00:32:14,650 --> 00:32:17,090 During the Revival, there was some emotion, so 681 00:32:17,090 --> 00:32:20,390 he tried to promote emotion, tried to work 682 00:32:20,390 --> 00:32:22,190 up things, and worked up a lot of 683 00:32:22,190 --> 00:32:24,750 excesses, brought the movement into discredit. 684 00:32:25,730 --> 00:32:28,790 But I think everyone who has studied the 685 00:32:28,790 --> 00:32:31,210 history of this country would agree that one 686 00:32:31,210 --> 00:32:33,710 of the formative influences, one of the greatest 687 00:32:33,710 --> 00:32:37,010 of all in the formation of the Republic, 688 00:32:38,130 --> 00:32:42,110 was the great awakening that climaxed in 1740. 689 00:32:42,930 --> 00:32:44,250 How long did it last? 690 00:32:44,930 --> 00:32:49,290 Well, perhaps you could say that from 1727 691 00:32:49,290 --> 00:32:52,170 it lasted 50 years. 692 00:32:52,310 --> 00:32:54,810 That takes you to 1776. 693 00:32:55,610 --> 00:32:57,050 Isn't that a significant year? 694 00:32:58,010 --> 00:32:59,830 You say, why would that affect it? 695 00:33:00,670 --> 00:33:02,450 Sad to relate, there was a lot of 696 00:33:02,450 --> 00:33:03,010 dissension. 697 00:33:03,910 --> 00:33:07,890 The Anglicans, Episcopalians, and the Methodists supported the 698 00:33:07,890 --> 00:33:08,530 mother country. 699 00:33:09,490 --> 00:33:12,210 The Baptists, the Congregationalists, the Lutherans, and the 700 00:33:12,210 --> 00:33:15,090 Presbyterians supported the Revolution largely. 701 00:33:15,370 --> 00:33:18,070 The Quakers and the Mennonites were very neutral. 702 00:33:18,870 --> 00:33:20,810 They used to burn each other's churches down, 703 00:33:21,570 --> 00:33:24,130 which rather hurt the ecumenical goodwill. 704 00:33:24,950 --> 00:33:28,390 And so the Revival had declined by the 705 00:33:28,390 --> 00:33:29,230 time of the war. 706 00:33:30,270 --> 00:33:34,190 Conditions got to be the worst in the 707 00:33:34,190 --> 00:33:36,970 history of the American settlement, but that's another 708 00:33:36,970 --> 00:33:39,690 story, and I'll tell you that on another 709 00:33:39,690 --> 00:33:40,190 occasion. 710 00:33:41,010 --> 00:33:43,170 Now, why do I tell you these things? 711 00:33:43,910 --> 00:33:48,090 It's because it seems to be a pattern 712 00:33:48,090 --> 00:33:48,970 of God's working. 713 00:33:50,250 --> 00:33:55,970 When conditions get to be deplorable, and God's 714 00:33:55,970 --> 00:33:59,130 people cry out to him for intervention, he 715 00:33:59,130 --> 00:34:02,770 answers their prayers by outpouring his Holy Spirit 716 00:34:02,770 --> 00:34:07,690 and sending another renewal of Christian life that 717 00:34:07,690 --> 00:34:11,989 sweeps back the tide of unbelief and immorality. 718 00:34:12,530 --> 00:34:14,090 Surely we need that today.