Social Changes in Northampton During the 1730s
In the early 1730s, the cultural climate of Northampton was beginning to change. The hostilities with the French and Indians during Dummer’s War (another outbreak from a war in Europe which had ended in 1727) had forced more communal farming as people stayed closer together for better protection. That meant there was less land available for young men to safely strike out on their own.
Marriage was postponed among young couples because there was less room to begin new families. Children lived under the authority of their parents into young adulthood.
Jonathan Edward’s Pastoral Efforts for Moral Revival
Jonathan decided to bring the parents together to have them agree to call for godly behavior in their own homes. The young men and women seemed to hear with new ears.
Jonathan’s strong preaching against the sinful lifestyles of the young people in his town was balanced by a greater compassion for their souls. No doubt it was all covered with much prayer and the seeking of God’s guidance for change. It should be no surprise, then, that the first Great Awakening began with the younger generation.
Funeral Sermons That Sparked Spiritual Awakening
After the sudden death of a young man in April 1734, Jonathan preached a funeral message that encouraged those present to turn away from their sinful lifestyles and focus instead on their eternal rewards. He spoke from the text of Psalm 90:5-6, which talks about God’s protection, rather than from other passages depicting an angry, wrathful God.
“If one was to die so young, what would he have to show for his life?” Jonathan preached. “How unreasonable is it for one who is so much like the grass and flower of the field… to spend away the prime of his opportunity in levity and vain mirth in inconsideration and pursuit of carnal and sensual delights and pleasures…
Confronting Youth With the Reality of Death
“If you should die in youth, how shocking would the thought of your having spent your youth in such a manner be to them that see it? When others stand by your bedside and see you gasping and breathing your last or come afterward and see you laid out dead by the wall and see you put into the coffin and behold the awful visage which death has given you, how shocking will it be to them to think this is the person that used to be so vain and frothy in conversation, this is he that was so lewd a companion, this is he that used to spend of his time in his leisure hours so much in frolicking?”
Prayer Meetings Transforming the Community
It wasn’t long until the reports of changed lives began to pour in as young people began to “awaken” to their need for a Savior, just as people had after the Great Earthquake. Another death, along with another funeral message, continued the renewal of spiritual interest. Evenings of “frolicking” were traded for prayer meetings, and soon the great majority of the community, young and old alike, attended such meetings.
It was an interesting parallel to Wesley’s “United Societies,” though it seems quite impossible that the Puritans of New England had ever heard of the Wesley brothers, especially since it would be another five years before the Wesleyan revival broke out in England.
Hymns, Music, and Revival Expression
During this time, only the Psalms were sung in corporate praise and worship. Jonathan encouraged the “new singing” of hymns by men such as Isaac Watts in these outside meetings. Watts didn’t care for the church music of his day; he found it poorly written and difficult to sing, being simply the Psalms set to music. Although he thought hymns should be doctrinally sound, he didn’t believe they needed to be exact renderings; rather, they could be paraphrases of Scripture or even simply based on a scriptural theme.
Watts wrote many well-known hymns, such as “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” Jonathan loved music and believed it was a way for the people to release the emotional enthusiasm they experienced. Written in three-part harmonies and accompanied by instruments, these hymns were something new; the traditional Psalms were usually sung according to however each person felt led and thus rarely sounded like a “joyful noise.”
The revival grew further when a young woman known as “one of the greatest company-keepers in the whole town” came to Jonathan and told him the story of her conversion. TO BE CONTINUED …
Tale Tuesday 052
Date: 15th August, 2023
Title: : Jonathan Edward: The First Tremors of the Great Awakening
Source: God’s Generals: The Revivalists
Author: Roberts Liardon
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