Jonathan Edwards on Revival (Part 2)

Alwyn York, CCCC Historian

The opening weeks of 1735 in the village of Northampton, Massachusetts were an extraordinary time. Pastor Jonathan Edwards wrote, “A great and earnest concern about the great things of religion, and the eternal world, became universal in all parts of the town and among persons of all degrees and all ages. All other talk but about spiritual and eternal things was soon thrown by; all the conversation in all companies and upon all occasions, was upon these things only, unless so much as was necessary for people carrying on their ordinary secular business.” He reported that, “In the spring and summer following, the town seem to be full of the presence of God; it was never so full of love, nor of joy, yet so full of distress as it was then.” Nothing like it had been seen in the lifetime of any Christians then. In response to the interest that leading pastors in England had shown in this spiritual movement, Edwards wrote A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God. It became a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic.

The revival produced great excitement and rejoicing among many Christians, but it also prompted criticism from the start. The intensity of emotion witnessed during the revival struck some observers as being excessive and unhealthy. People under conviction of sin sometimes suffered weeks or months of anguish and fear about their eternal destiny. There were even suicides. The euphoria shown by people when they experienced assurance of salvation made some other people uncomfortable. They wondered if the converts had become mentally unbalanced. To defend the awakening from the charge that it was mere emotionalism or fanaticism Edwards wrote The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God.

In this book Edwards acknowledged that there was a danger of people carrying things to excess in a time of revival. But he went through the various phenomena usually used to try to discredit the revival, and argued that in themselves these things did not prove the work either to be genuinely the work of God or not. Such things as tears, trembling, groans, loud outcries, agonies of body, or failing of bodily strength might seem strange and unusual, but had biblical precedent, and did not really prove things one way or another. He argued that the presence of “great imprudences” and “sinful irregularities,” or “many errors of judgement and some delusions of Satan intermixed with the work” did not discredit the whole thing.

Edwards turned to the fourth chapter of 1 John to find the tests to determine if a spiritual movement was really from the Spirit of God. The indicators he finds in this chapter that mark a true work of the Spirit are: love of Jesus as Son of God and Savior, renouncing worldly lusts and ambitions, a love of Scripture, devotion to biblical truth, and true Christian love for God and other people. He declares these to be the “sure, distinguishing Scripture evidences and marks” of the Spirit’s work.

This book by no means brought controversy over revivals to an end. The awakening seen in Northampton and neighboring towns in 1735 was followed by the Great Awakening in the 1740’s throughout the American colonies in which George Whitefield was the outstanding figure. This spiritual movement brought even greater controversy. Edwards was led to write two more important books defending religious revivals: Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England and A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections. They remain very valuable guides for discerning the true work of the Holy Spirit in people’s lives.

(The Narrative of Surprising Conversions and Distinguishing Marks are available in a paperback entitled Jonathan Edwards on Revival from Banner of Truth.)

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