Mr. [Isaac] Backus refers the most important event of his life to a very
interesting period in the history of New England, the time of the Great
Awakening. Previous to this Awakening
there had been a sad declension. Many
persons had been educated for the ministry and had undertaken to perform its
sacred duties while strangers to renewing grace, and therefore in many places
the peculiar and efficacious truths of Christianity had been imperfectly taught
or entirely overlooked. "We have
long," says Jonathan Edwards, "been in a strange stupor; the
influences of the Spirit of God upon the heart have been but little felt, and
the nature of them but little taught." "No serious Christian," writes
another, "could behold it without a heavy heart, and scarce without a
weeping eye, — to see the solid, substantial piety, for which our ancestors
were justly renowned, having long languished under sore decays, brought so low,
and seemingly just ready to expire and give up the ghost."
It must, however, be remarked, as an
evidence of remaining life, that Christians were deeply conscious of the stupor
and coldness complained of. There were,
moreover, during this period, several local revivals which served to awaken a
general desire in the hearts of believers for a "time of refreshing from
the presence of the Lord." The
"Narrative of Surprising Conversions," prepared by Jonathan Edwards,
and giving an account of the glorious work of God at Northampton, in 1734, did
much to spread and strengthen this desire. In the spring of 1735, before the
publication of this narrative, two ministers of Connecticut, namely, Mr. Lord
of Norwich, and Mr. Owen of Groton, had visited that place, "that they
might see, and hear, and form a judgment for themselves. They conversed with Mr. Edwards, and with many
of the people, to their great satisfaction. They declared that the work exceeded all which
had been told, or that could be told. On
their return, they reported what they had heard and seen, to their own people,
on whom it had a great effect. It
appeared, to be a means of beginning a similar work in Norwich, which in a
short time became general." In many
other places the people of God were refreshed by his presence, and throughout
New England there seems to have been a growing desire on the part of Christians
for a genuine revival.
It is not therefore strange that good
men in Boston, "where religion was at a very low ebb," heard with
peculiar interest of Whitefield's success as a preacher of the Gospel in the
southern colonies and in his native land, and sent him earnest invitations to
visit New England. Sailing from
Charleston, South Carolina, in answer to their call, he landed at Newport,
Rhode Island, on the fourteenth day of September, 1740, and at once began his
labors. Thousands hung upon his words; and
these words were accompanied by "the demonstration of the Spirit and of
power." From Newport he proceeded
to Boston, where he remained about ten days, and preached the truth to
multitudes with astonishing effect. From
that city he extended his journey eastward to York, Maine, finding everywhere
on his way eager listeners to the word of life. Retracing his steps, he labored once more a
short time in Boston, and then directing his course toward the west, he visited
Edwards in Northampton. Passing thence through Connecticut, he preached in a
large number of towns, and the power of God was signally manifested in turning
sinners unto Himself. Meanwhile,
revivals commenced in many places which he was unable to visit. Religion became the principal topic of
conversation. Faithful pastors redoubled
their efforts and urged upon the attention of their hearers with unwonted zeal
the most affecting and pungent truths of revelation. Godly persons were encouraged by the
remarkable success of the Gospel, to pray with more confidence for the
outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon themselves and their friends. Many, too, of the ungodly were led to believe
that the present was their only day of grace. Trumbull, in his history of
Connecticut, after describing at length the peculiarities of this religious
awakening, thus proceeds: "Notwithstanding the unreasonable and powerful
opposition made to the work of God at this time, and all the clamor which was
made about errors and disorders, it was the most glorious and extensive revival
of religion, and reformation of manners, which this country ever experienced.
It is estimated that in the term of two or three years thirty or forty thousand
souls were born into the family of heaven in New England." There has never, probably, been a time since
the settlement of New England, when the minds of her people were so generally
and so intensely directed to the characteristic doctrines of Christianity. The preaching of such men as Edwards and
Bellamy and Whitefield and Tennant and Wheelock and Pomeroy, was in the main
Calvinistic and highly discriminating. It
led to self-examination and deep conviction of sin. The law was exhibited in all its breadth and
spirituality, until the unconverted hearer felt himself to be a guilty
"sinner in the hands of an angry God." Salvation was declared to be a free gift, an
effect of sovereign, electing, infinite love.
These doctrines are very repugnant to
the natural heart, and can be received by those only who understand the
exceeding sinfulness of sin. Yet they
take strong hold of the awakened mind, and when applied by the Holy Spirit,
lead it into the presence of God and fill it with peace and strength
indescribable. Under the influence of
such preaching the transition from death to life was often strongly marked. "As their convictions were powerful, and
their distress, in some instances, almost intolerable; so their light and joys,
on a change of heart, were unusually great. They appeared to rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory.” Sometimes the
overpowering emotions of the soul produced strange agitations in the body. Yet these bodily changes were not regarded as
proofs of inward grace; they were deprecated rather than desired. Still, by the friends of the revival they were
neither ascribed to Satanic agency nor thought to be inconsistent with the
gracious operations of God's Spirit. Jonathan
Edwards refers to imprudences and sinful irregularities, to transports and
ecstasies, to errors in judgment and indiscreet zeal, to outcries and faintings
and agitations of body, but he nevertheless finds the clearest indications of a
work of God, even in the hearts of some who were thus carried away by the
strength of their emotions. And after a
careful examination of the evidence, few will dissent from his opinion. 1
In my next
post, we will look at Backus’ own recounting of his conversion to Christ.
Christ, not man, is King!
Dale
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