What Caused the Massive Crowds at the Great Awakening and Revivals in America in the 1750’s?

In 1771 there were approximately 800 Methodists in America. By 1816, that number increased to over 215,000 common people of every walk of life … and many were still slaves, although itinerant preachers such as Francis Alsbury and others petitioned President George Washington to set them all free. Bu the 1850’s Methodists exceeded 1.5 million as the established churches, brought to our shores from England and Europe, had noticeable declines in membership. Many asked then, and continue to ask today, what caused this incredible change in the course of American history?

A simple answer is these itinerant preachers, most solitary figures, and largely uneducated men, traveled on horseback on circuits ranging from 500-1000 miles in distances which they traveled monthly with nothing but a horse and saddlebags containing only their bibles and a change of clothes. They were called the CIRCUIT RIDERS and were generally not paid; but were taken in and fed by those to whom they preached.

A second answer is what these preachers revealed to the people in the furthest reaches and corners of America. Their simple message was something the colonists had never heard preached in churches anywhere. These common American learned from these preachers and were introduced to a personal relationship with Christ Jesus that could be freely obtained by them by being born again of water and spirit, thereby changing their natures from the first Adam, born of “flesh and blood.”

It was also revealed to them that such a new birth immediately provided them with the indwelling Holy Spirit of Truth to guide them … comfort them … and inform them of things to come. One such preacher drew crowds of people numbering from 8,000-30,000 at a time speaking in open fields; not buildings or churches. His name was George Whitefield and he made 17 voyages from England to America over 40 years preaching over 18,000 sermons. Whitefield and the Circuit Riders were labeled “enthusiasts,” madmen and heretics by some within the established church clergy. Some of his sermons can be read in their entirety on this website at CIRCUIT RIDERS. An excerpt from his sermon (c. 1740) provides:

“The Indwelling Spirit, The Common Privilege of All Believers” by George Whitefield

John 7:37–39 — “In the last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.  (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.”

Nothing has rendered the cross of Christ of less effect; nothing has been a greater stumbling-block and rock of offense to weak minds, that a supposition, now current among us, that most of what is contained in the gospel of Jesus Christ, was designed only for our Lord's first and immediate followers, and consequently calculated but for one or two hundred years.  Accordingly, many now read the life, sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in the same manner as Caesar's Commentaries, or the Conquests of Alexander are read:  as things rather intended to afford matter for speculation, than to be acted over again in and by us.

As this is true of the doctrines of the gospel in general, so it is of the operation of God's Spirit upon the hearts of believers in particular; for we no sooner mention the necessity of our receiving the Holy Ghost in these last days, as well as formerly, but we are looked upon by some, as enthusiasts and madmen; and by others, represented as willfully deceiving the people, and undermining the established constitution of the church.

Judge ye then, whether it is not high time for the true ministers of Jesus, who have been made partakers of this heavenly gift, to lift up their voices like a trumpet; and if they would not have those souls perish, for which the Lord Jesus has shed his precious blood, to declare, with all boldness, that the Holy Spirit is the common privilege and portion of all believers in all ages; and that we as well as the first Christians, must receive the Holy Ghost, before we can be truly called the children of God.

For this reason, (and also that I might answer the design of our church in appointing the present festival [Whitsuntide]) I have chosen the words of the text.

They were spoken by Jesus Christ, when he was at the feast of tabernacles.  Our Lord attended on the temple-service in general, and the festivals of the Jewish church in particular.  The festival at which he was now present, was that of the feast of tabernacles, which the Jews observed according to God's appointment in commemoration of their living in tents.  At the last day of this feast, it was customary for many pious people to fetch water from a certain place, and bring it on their heads, singing this anthem out of Isaiah, “And with joy shall they draw water out of the wells of salvation.”  Our Lord observing this, and it being his constant practice to spiritualize every thing he met with, cries out, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, (rather than unto that well) and drink.  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath spoken, (where it is said, God will make water to spring out of a dry rock, and such-like) out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”  And that we might know what our Savior meant by this living water, the Evangelist immediately adds, “But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.”

The last words I shall chiefly insist on in the ensuing discourse: And

First, I shall briefly show, what is meant by the word Spirit.

Secondly, That this Spirit is the common privilege of all believers.

Thirdly, I shall show the reason on which this doctrine is founded. And

Lastly, Conclude with a general exhortation to believe on Jesus Christ, whereby alone we can receive the Spirit.

First, I am to show, what is meant by the word Spirit.

By the Spirit, is evidently to be understood the Holy Ghost, the third person in the ever-blessed Trinity, consubstantial and co-eternal with the Father and the Son, proceeding from, yet equal to them both.  For, to use the words of our Church in this day's office, that which we believe of the glory of the Father, the same we believe of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, without any difference or inequality.

Thus, says St. John, in his first epistle, chap. 5, ver. 7, “There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.” And our Lord, when he gave his Apostles commission to go and teach all nations, commanded them to baptize in the name of the Holy Ghost, as well as of the Father and the Son. And St. Peter, Acts v. 3 said to Ananias, “Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?”  And ver. 4 he says, “Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” From all which passages, it is plain, that the Holy Ghost, is truly and properly God, as well as the Father and the Son.  This is an unspeakable mystery, but a mystery of God's revealing, and, therefore, to be assented to with our whole hearts:  seeing God is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should deceive.  I proceed,

Secondly, To prove that the Holy Ghost is the common privilege of all believers.

But, here I would not be understood of to receiving the Holy Ghost, as to enable us to work miracles, or show outward signs and wonders.  I allow our adversaries, that to pretend to be inspired, in this sense, is being wise above what is written.  Perhaps it cannot be proved, that God ever interposed in this extraordinary manner, but when some new revelation was to be established, as at the first settling of the Mosaic and gospel dispensation:  and as for my own part, I cannot but suspect the spirit of those who insist upon a repetition of such miracles at this time.  For the world being now become nominally Christian, (though, God knows, little of the power is left among us) there need not outward miracles, but only an inward co-operation of the Holy Spirit with the word, to prove that Jesus is the Messiah which was to come into the world.

Besides, if it was possible for thee, O man, to have faith, so as to be able to remove mountains, or cast out devils; nay, couldst thou speak with the tongue of men and angels, yea, and bid the sun stand still in the midst of heaven; what would all these gifts of the Spirit avail thee, without being made partaker of his sanctifying graces?  Saul had the spirit of government for a while, so as to become another man, and yet probably was a cast-away.  And many, who cast out devils, in Christ's name, at the last will be disowned by him.  If therefore, thou hadst only the gifts, and was destitute of the graces of the Holy Ghost, they would only serve to lead thee with so much the more solemnity to hell.

Here then we join issue with our adversaries, and will readily grant, that we are not in this sense to be inspired, as were our Lord's first Apostles . But unless men have eyes which see not, and ears that hear not, how can they read the latter part of the text, and not confess that the Holy Spirit, in another sense, is the common privilege of all believers, even to the end of the world?  “This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.”  Observe, he does not say, they that believe on him for one or two ages, but they that believe on him in general, or, at all times, and in all places. So that, unless we can prove, that St. John was under a delusion when he wrote thee words, we must believe that even we also, shall receive the Holy Ghost, if we believe on the Lord Jesus with our whole hearts. …”