First Hand Great Awakening Testimonies In America 1743
Book: The Christian History, containing Accounts of the Revival and Propagation
of Religion in Great-Britain & America For the Year 1743.
By: Boston, N.E. Published by S. Kneeland and T. Green, for T. Prince, junr. 1744
A foundational and exceedingly important source of the study of the Great Awakening. CBRA 152, “The leading contemporary authority was Thomas Prince, Jr. Students must still consult his weekly magazine, The Christian History. . .consisting mainly of letters from ministers on the progress and condition of religion.”
Saturday January 14. 1743. No. 46.
Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Mr. William M’Culloch in Scotland to the Rev. Mr. Prince of Boston.
Cambustang, Aug. 12. 1743.:
Rev. and dear Sir,
I thought to have written you at Large, concerning the State of religion in this Country; but I suppose this may be done by Mr. Hamilton of Baroney or some other, Only we have had two very comfortable Sacrament-Occasions here this Season; at both of which there was a vast Concourse of People. At one on the 29th of May last, there were about fourteen Hundred Communicants; At another last Lord’s-Day, about two Thousand Communicants.
Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Mr. M’Culloch to the Rev. Mr. Edwards of Northampton.
Cambustang, Aug. 13. 1743.:
Rev. and dear Sir,
The happy Period in which we live, and the Times of Refreshing from the Presence of the Lord, wherewith you first were visited in Northampton, in the Year 1736; and then more generally in New-England, in 1740, and 1741; and then we in several Places in Scotland, in 1742, and 1743; and the strong Opposition made to this Work with you and with us, check’d by an infinitely superior Power; often brings to my Mind that Prophecy, Isai. lix. 19. “So shall they fear the Name of the LORD from the West, and his Glory from the Rising of the Sun: When the Enemy shall come in as a Flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a Standard against him.” I cannot help thinking that this Prophecy eminently points at our Times; and begins to be fulfilled in the Multitudes of Souls that are bringing in to fear the LORD, to worship GOD in CHRIST, in whom his Name is, and to see his Glory in his Sanctuary. And it is to me pretty remarkable, that the Prophet here foretells they should do so in the Period he points at, not from East to West, but from West to East; mentioning the West before the East, contrary to the usual Way of speaking in other Prophecies, as where Malachi foretells, that he Name of the LORD should be great among the Gentiles, from the Rising of the Sun to the West, (Mal. 1. 11.) And our LORD JESUS, that many should come from East and West, etc. (Math. 8. 11) And in this Order it was that the Light of the Gospel came to dawn on the several Nations in the Propagation of it thro’ the World. But the Prophet here, under the Conduct of the Holy Spirit who chooses all his Words in infinite Wisdom, puts the West before the East; intending, as I conceive, thereby to signify, that the glorious Revival of Religion, and the wide and diffusive Spread of vital Christianity, in the latter Times of the Gospel, should begin in the more westerly Parts, and proceed to these more easterly. And while it should be doing so, or shortly after, great Opposition should arise, the Enemy should come in as a Flood; Satan should with great Violence assault particular believing Souls; and stir up Men to malign and reproach the Work of GOD; and, it’s like also, raise a terrible Persecution against the Church. But while the Enemy might seem, for a Time, to be thus carrying all before him, the Spirit of the LORD should lift up a Standard against him; give a Banner to them that fear Him and animate them to display it for the Truth, and make his Word mightily to prevail and bear down all opposing Power. For on what Side soever, the Almighty and Eternal SPIRIT of JEHOVAH, lifts up a Standard, there the Victory is certain; and we may be sure he will lift it up in Defence of his own Work. The Caldee Parapbrase makes the Words in the latter Part of this Verse, to allude to the River Euphrates, when it breaks over all its Banks, and overflows the adjacent Plains, thus, when Persecutors shall come in, as the Inundation of the River Euphrates, they shall be broke in Pieces by the Word of the LORD. Continue reading →