In the October, 1887 edition of The Presbyterian Quarterly Robert L. Dabney published an article with the title, ‘Spurious Religious Excitements’.1 His biographer, Thomas Cary Johnson, said: ‘This paper ought to be read by most ministers once a year.’2 We believe that the ninety-one years since its publication have served to prove the truth of [...]
Accounts of Revival
A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God – Section I by Jonathan Edwards
The Narrative is divided into three sections: I. A General Introductory Statement, II. The Manner of Conversions Various, Yet Bearing a Great Analogy, III. This Work Further Illustrated in Particular Instances. Rev. and Honored Sir, Having seen your letter to my honored Uncle Williams of Hatfield, of July 20, wherein you inform him of the [...]
A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God – Section II by Jonathan Edwards
SECTION II. The Manner of Conversion Various, Yet Bearing a Great Analogy. I therefore proceed to give an account of the manner of persons being wrought upon; and here there is a vast variety, perhaps as manifold as the subjects of the operation; but yet in many things there is a great analogy in all.-Persons [...]
A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God – Section III by Jonathan Edwards
SECTION III. This Work Further Illustrated in Particular Instances. But to give a clear idea of the nature and manner of the operation of God’s Spirit, in this wonderful effusion if it, I would give an account of two particular instances. The first is an adult person, a young woman whose name was Abigail Hutchinson. [...]
An Account of the Revival of Religion in Northampton in 1740 – 1742 by Jonathan Edwards
As Communicated in a Letter to the Rev. Thomas Prince of Boston, MA Evidently intended for publication, this letter was entitled ‘The State of Religion at Northampton in the County of Hampshire, About 100 Miles Westward of Boston’. It was published in The Christian History, I (Jan. 14, 21, 28, 1743), and also in Dwight’s, [...]
Adding to the Church: During the Eary American Period by Richard J. Bauckham
FOR the purpose of this paper, the ‘early American period’ is intended to cover the New England colonies from c. 1630 to c. 1660, i.e. it begins with the years of the great migration in the 1630s and covers the first generation of the great New England divines: Thomas Hooker (who arrived in New England [...]
Revival Terminology in History by Richard Owen Roberts
A number of years ago in a book entitled Revival, I gave the following definition of that term: ‘Revival is an extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results.’ While that phrase conveys the fundamental concept of revival, over the intervening years I have come to the conviction that one single word describes revival [...]
