The Most Popular Man in Colonial America

by Tamera Lynn Kraft

There were many men of great achievement in Colonial America in the years before the Revolutionary War. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and the Adams brothers were becoming known for their criticism of taxes. The Wesley brothers preached throughout America and had a great following. Even George Washington had made a name for himself during the French and Indian War. But the most popular man in 1700s America was George Whitefield, the fiery Great Awakening revivalist that changed the colonies forever.

Well known actor of the time, David Garrick said, "I would give a hundred guineas, if I could say 'Oh' like Mr. Whitefield." Newspapers called him the "marvel of the age".  When he preached for the first time in Philadelphia, even the largest churches couldn't hold the crowds of 8,000 people every night. Every city he preached in would bring out crowds larger than the population of the city. He was also one of the first to allow slaves to attend his meetings. It is estimated in his lifetime he preached 18,000 sermons to over ten million people.

Benjamin Franklin was one of the crowd who attended the services in Philadelphia and was greatly impressed. Franklin was a deist and believed God didn't personally interfere in the lives of men. Even though he never converted, he became a lifelong friend of Whitefield's and even handled the publicity for the evangelistic crusades. After one of Whitefield's messages, Franklin wrote, "wonderful... change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seem'd as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk thro' the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street."

Even though he was popular, Whitefield did face opposition. Some complained about him allowing slaves at his meetings. Some Calvinists were angry with his close relationship with the Wesley Brothers, strong Armenians. Others felt his emotionalism and appeal for everyone to have a personal relationship with Christ was over the top. When he first started preaching in England, the leaders of the Anglican Church wouldn't even assign him a pulpit. That's when he began preaching in open fields and parks. Through it all, the great response to the Gospel every time Whitefield preached drown out any backlash. Of the opposition, he said, “the more I am opposed, the more joy I feel.”

He was in no way an ordinary Anglican preacher. His messages were powerful. He was said to portray Bible characters in a realistic way. Jonathan Edwards's wife, Sarah, remarked, "He makes less of the doctrines than our American preachers generally do and aims more at affecting the heart. He is a born orator." During the revival service. Once while preaching about eternity, he stopped and said, "Hark! Methinks I hear [the saints] chanting their everlasting hallelujahs, and spending an eternal day in echoing forth triumphant songs of joy. And do you not long, my brethren, to join this heavenly choir?"

The spiritual revival Whitefield ignited, the Great Awakening, became one of the most formative events in American history and forged the spiritual character and unity or the soon to be nation. His last sermon, in 1770 shortly before his death, was given at Boston Commons before 23,000 people, the largest gathering in American history to that point.

How a Native American Brought the Great Awakening to Indians

by Tamera Lynn Kraft

Samson Occom was born in a wigwam in 1723, part of the the Mohegan tribe near New London, Connecticut. His parents were Joshua and Sarah Ockham. He was a direct descendant of Uncas, a famous Mohegan chief. The Mohegan lived as nomads and traveled often.

At the age of 16, Occom heard his first sermon during the Great Awakening. His mother Sarah was one of the first Mohegan converts. Samson was stirred by what he heard and began to study English so he could read the Bible for himself. A year later he became a Christian under the preaching of James Davenport. He started going to a school for Indians and white boys started by evangelist Eleazar Wheelock. He spent four years at Wheelock’s school and was a gifted student, but poor eyesight prevented him from going to college.

He taught school and ministered to the Montauk Indians for eleven years. He used many creative methods including singing and card games as teaching devices. When Azariah Horton, the white Presbyterian minister to the Montauk, retired, Samson took his place as pastor. Samson married Mary Fowler in 1751, and  they had ten children.

Samson was paid by the church but received a much smaller salary than the white men doing the same job. To make ends meet, he bound books and carved spoons, pails, and gunstocks for his white neighbors. Despite the prejudice he faced, Samson was ordained in 1759 by the Presbyterian Church, one of the first Native Americans to be ordained.

His passion was to share the Gospel with other Native Americans and was commission by the Scotch Society of Missions to preach to the Cherokee in Georgia and Tennessee. Fighting among the Cherokee and white settles put those plans on hold, so instead Samson went to New York to preach among the Oneida.

In 1765 Samson traveled with George Whitefield, Great Awakening preacher, during his sixth preaching tour in the colonies. Later that year, he traveled to England with Nathaniel Whitaker to raise money for Wheelock’s Indian Charity School. Over the next two years, he preached over 200 sermons in England and was well received. He raised over 11,000 pounds, the most ever raised for a ministry in the colonies. While in England Samson visited with John Newton, writer of Amazing Grace, and received an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh which he politely declined.

When he returned to America in 1768, Samson found that Wheelock had failed to care for his wife and children as Wheelock had promised. Samson’s family was living in poverty. The rift widened when he learned Wheelock had used the money he’d raised to move the school to New Hampshire and decided to exclude Indians. Wheelock renamed the school Dartmouth.

Samson was a prolific writer throughout his lifetime. He kept a diary from 1743 to 1790 about his work that became an historic document. In 1772, Samson preached a temperance sermon at the execution of a Native American who murdered a man while he was drunk. That sermon became a best seller. He also wrote and published hymns. He is recognized as the first Native American to become published.

When Samson became a defender of land claim of the Montauk and Oneida against speculators, false rumors were spread that he was a heavy drinker and not even a Mohegan. Although these reports were untrue, he lost the support of his denomination and several missionary societies. He wrote an autobiography to defend himself, but it did little good.

Throughout the 1770s and 1780s, Samson preached among the Mohegan and other tribes in new England. After the Revolutionary War, he settled in Brothertown, New Yourt on a reservation for New England Indians where he establish the first Indian Presbyterian Church. As he gather wood to finish the church building in 1791, he died.

His legacy continued after his death through his children, students, and converts who also ministered to Native American. Two students later became authors like their teacher.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

One of the carols/hymns that Colonial Americans sang after moving away from the Puritan banning of Christmas celebrations was "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" by Charles Wesley.

Charles Wesley

Wesley was the youngest of eighteen children born to a Church of England minister and his wife. He wrote an average of ten verses every day for more than fifty years, estimated at almost 9,000 hymns.

The original version of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” wouldn't be recognizable to many listeners today, because, when Wesley published this hymn in 1739, its first words were "Hark! How All the Welkin Rings," and it was sung in a slow and solemn way to the tune of his Easter hymn, “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.” You see, for Wesley, Christ’s birth was inextricably connected to His death and resurrection, and he wanted to make that point by using the same tune for both songs.

Wesley's brother, John, and other friends often altered Charles’s works when they thought it would serve a good purpose. "Welkin," which means "vault of heaven," was already an antiquated word in the second quarter of the eighteenth century. The evangelist George Whitefield thought the word "welkin" would confuse people and changed the first line of Wesley's hymn to "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and included it in his own anthology of hymns published in 1753.

In the preface to the 1780 edition of Hymns and Sacred Poems, John Wesley expressed his disfavor toward people who changed his music saying, “Many gentlemen have done my brother and me (though without naming us) the honour to reprint many of our Hymns. Now they are perfectly welcome so to do, provided they print them just as they are. But I desire they would not attempt to mend them; for they really are not able. None of them is able to mend either the sense or the verse. Therefore, I must beg of them one of these two favours; either to let them stand just as they are, to take them for better or worse; or to add the true reading in the margin, or at the bottom of the page; that we may no longer be accountable either for the nonsense or for the doggerel of other men.”

In 1840, Mendelssohn composed a cantata to commemorate Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press, and it is music from this cantata that the English musician William H. Cummings adapted to fit the lyrics of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”—the version we are most familiar with today.




Here's a link to an older version --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjYobIhPUVI

and this is the modern version --
http://www.yourepeat.com/watch/?v=SFjMPaOBzXc

Susan F. Craft is the award-winning author of a Revolutionary War romantic suspense, The Chamomile. Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas will release two of her post-Revolutionary War books -- Laurel on January 12, 2015, and Cassia on September 14, 2014.

The Great Awakening Influences the American Revolution

 

In the 1730s and 1740s, a spiritual fervency swept the American colonies. It was called the First Great Awakening. Fiery ministers like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield preached about having a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ and a standard of personal holiness. Many cast off the religious traditions of relying on the religious leaders to tell people what God wanted and started searching the Scriptures and seeking their own relationship with Jesus. Even many church goers had salvation experiences. This caused a revolution in the church, but that was only the beginning of more than one revolution.

Whitefield preached at both Harvard and Yale. At Harvard, it was reported, “The entire college has changed. The students are full of God.” Whitefield became so popular that he drew daily crowds of 8,000 people. In Boston, he drew a crowd of 23,000, larger than the entire population of Boston at the time. Even Benjamin Franklin wrote about the impact of his preaching. He was the cultural hero of the day.

The impact was huge. In New England alone, 25,000 to 50,000 people joined the church and claimed to have salvation experiences. When Jonathan Edwards preached “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, people held on to the posts of the church for hear they would go to Hell before they had a chance to repent. Many universities sprang up for the purpose of training ministers. The colonies united under the umbrella of revival.

It affected the political thought in the colonies as well. People became more democratic believing that the church should be self-governed, not governed by the state. It also welcome people from every walk of life. The church became a melting pot elevating all members of society as equals. As the colonies united in democratic thought, the Church of England – the Anglican Church, sought to crush this awakening causing a divide between England and the colonies.

Founding fathers were also influenced by the Great Awakening:

• John Adams studied at Harvard and considered becoming a minister.
• Samuel Adams was deeply impacted and sought a political revolution to separate the church from England’s influence.
• Benjamin Franklin and George Whitefield were friends. Some believe Franklin might have become a Christian in latter life.
• James Madison was very devout and fought for freedom of religion and checks and balances in government because of the depravity of man.
• John Witherspoon published several books on the Gospel.
• Although there’s no direct connection between George Washington and the Great Awakening, we know that Washington was a devout Christian who even wrote a prayer book.
• 54 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were devout Christians. Only Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were not.
• The first act of the Continental Congress was to pray. They prayed at the beginning of every session, and they prayed before voting to declare independence and signing the Declaration of Independence.

The Great Awakening started a spiritual revival that led to the American Revolution and the birth of modern democracy.

The First Great Awakening Changed America

In the mid 1700s, traveling evangelists like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and John Wesley preached along the countryside of the British colonies, and the seeds were planted for America to become a great nation.

It really started almost 100 years earlier, in 1630, when John Winthrop, one of the Pilgrims, preached a sermon entitled A City on a Hill. The text for the verse was Matthew 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Winthrop said that God ordained the colonies in America to be that city on a hill. They were the New Jerusalem that would evangelize the world with the Gospel.

Over the next eighty years, colonists forgot those awesome words and had drawn away from God. Church attendance was at an all time low, and few felt Christianity played a major role in their lives. Church service were dry and dull, and most who did go to church did so out of religious duty.

When these preachers came on the scene it changed America for the better. They were fiery, emotional, and commanded attention. When Jonathan Edwards preached Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God, it was reported members of the congregation held on to the church beams fearing the wrath of God and the fire of Hell. Conviction spread all over the colonies, and people responded by having a "born again" experience with God that changed their lives forever.

Many denominations rose up during this awakening including Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists. Christians now felt they could have a personal experience with God and learn Scripture and doctrine for themselves instead of only relying on church leaders. Congregational leadership was determined by the congregations, not by church headquarters.

One of the biggest changes that took place during this awakening was that everyone was included. Slaves and poor men came to the meetings and were saved. It created a national unity and identity that later set the stage for the American Revolution where men fought for One Nation Under God. not a nation ruled by a denomination or a state church. The colonies had learned that the people decide on the leaders that rule them instead of letting the rulers dictate their nation's politics and religion.

The Slander of the Serpent, George Whitefield

"What child of God can expect to escape slander, when God himself was thus slandered even in paradise?" George Whitefield, The Seed of the Woman, and the Seed of the Serpent

"For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:5

George Whitefield no doubt experienced slander. Rotten eggs and dead cats thrown at him did not stop his ministry. He stirred the hearts of men to follow Christ, and the enemy took him to task.

When sick nigh to death, a friend told him he should go to bed. Instead, this man of God prayed, "Lord Jesus, I am weary in Thy work, but not weary of it. If I have not yet finished my course, let me go and speak for Thee once more and seal Thy truth, and come home to die." And then he preached.

Today, we'd call such a person a fanatic. The media would mock him because of his fervor for the Lord. The morals he sought for his listeners to maintain would be scoffed at. Indeed, even today's government would all but call him a bigot for the stance he took on sin.

"Among the many heinous sins for which this nation is grown infamous, perhaps there is no one more crying, but withal more common, than the abominable custom of profane swearing and cursing."

Those words George Whitefield spoke may have fit the world then. How much more now? And how would some in the media take him to task if he spoke those words now? Probably they would just laugh and claim freedom of speech...that freedom covers all profane things coming from the mouth or pen, right? Hmm. With freedom comes responsibility.

Did you know he preached a sermon titled "The Heinous Sin of Drunkenness"? Seems to be be drunk these days is a badge of honor, even among the Christians. And yet he quoted Ephesians 5:18 "Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." And how would people respond today if he should preach such a sermon?

Yet, he did and God used him mightily to change the course of the colonies...to prepare the hearts of the men and women who would become patriots and birth this great country. If perhaps we had men like Whitefield today who did not fear preaching against sin and for the Gospel from the pulpit, I wonder if the course of our nation would change; if we might find ourselves free from the tyranny of sin and the lack of morality of a secular society.

I wonder what God thinks about our nation as it stands now, not only slandering His good name in its conduct with other nations and within itself, but systematically removing Him from every part of our society.

"Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people." Proverbs 14:34

George Whitefield, "God Convert You"

George Whitefield

"God convert you more and more every hour of the day; God convert you from lying in bed in the morning; God convert you from lukewarmness; God convert you from conformity to the world!" 

George Whitefield

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." Romans 12:1-2

To convert means to change from one state to another. The life of a Christian is one of endless growth. God, through His Holy Spirit works in your heart to change you to be more Christ-like...if you are willing to let Him.

How often we get caught up in the things of this world. We watch TV until all hours of the night so that we are too tired to rise before work and spend time with God. We allow our days to be filled with the pursuit of wealth and recreation, claiming that tomorrow we'll witness of God's work to the person dying today.

We listen to those who tell us the Bible is no longer relevant, that we cannot know God, that there are many ways to heaven. And because we listen, we become ignorant of God's love and our purpose in life, which is to bring Him pleasure and glory. We, in the end, conform to the world.

We need men like George Whitefield, moved by the Holy Spirit, to stand up and speak truth--God's truth, which is absolute and worth discovering. We need to stop listening to those who wish to tickle our ears with their false ideas of God, appealing to our flesh rather than to our spirit.

How can we do this?

First, be certain of our salvation. Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins, was buried, and rose again so that you might have life? Have you fully committed your life to Him?

Second, we must block off a time each day to spend with God, in His Word, in worship, and in prayer. Then guard this time with great fierceness. Don't let anyone or anything steal it away from us.

Third, we must determine to search the Scriptures daily to know God and all He wants us to know. Search God's Word, comparing Scripture with Scripture, studying it as a whole with each section a part of something greater than itself. The Bible is the only book we need. Yes, there are plenty of good study books that can be of help, but we don't want to approach God solely through another man. Would you approach your husband through another woman? We can approach God on our own. We must seek Him on our own with boldness.

Fourth, we must convert. In other words, we must put in practice what we learn from our study of God's Word. We must let His Word and His Holy Spirit work mightily within us so that we can live the new life He has given us to its fullest, with an ever-increasing intimacy with our Saviour.

Do you have a personal Bible study, separate from that of another's work?