At this crisis, and when hope was ready to expire, an unexpected and astonishing change took place. This was the GREAT REVIVAL at the opening of the present century, which, for its wide extent and influence, its sudden prostration of infidelity in every quarter, and its lasting effects, has never been equaled in any period or country since the apostolic age.

This revival commenced without any connection with the ordinary means, or the labors of any extraordinary person. Hardly can it be said that Christian ministers or churches were watching, mourning and praying, for spiritual apathy and worldliness prevailed.

About the same period, and in different parts of the United States and of this Valley especially, without any apparent connection, a series of revivals began, indicative of a great and gracious outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The work commenced simultaneously in the northern, middle, southern and western states, but in a manner far more sudden and overwhelming in the west.

Some manifestations of divine power and mercy were made under the preaching of the Rev. James McGready, pastor of a Presbyterian church in Logan county, Kentucky. Mr. McGready had been a pastor in North Carolina, and following some of his congregation, removed to Kentucky in 1796. He was a man quite different in temperament from the cold formalists already noticed. He was a son of thunder, both in matter and manner, an uncompromising reprover of sin in every form. The awful terrors of the law lost none of their severity in falling from his lips; while the doctrine of divine mercy in the gospel descended like genial showers on the thirsty earth under his ministrations. Regeneration, repentance, and faith in Christ, were with him favorite topics; and an anxious and general concern pervaded the minds of his hearers. In 1797 and 1798, considerable seriousness prevailed within the range of his ministrations, but soon subsided, a result, which Mr. McG., doubtless with justice, ascribed to the preaching of Rev. Mr. __ who was visiting in that neighborhood; and the ridicule he cast on excited feelings.(13)

Mr. McGready drew up, for such of his brethren as would agree, a written covenant, solemnly pledging them, by their signatures, to observe a monthly fast, and concerts of prayer (each person in private or in the family,) at twilight and sun rise. These measures were alarming innovations on old Presbyterian orthodoxy and staid formalism. This was not enjoined in the Westminster Confession of Faith, nor in the Large or Shorter Catechism; hence Mr. McG. was introducing "new measures." In the summer of 1799, the revival commenced anew under his ministrations, and continued to increase and spread in all directions for three or four years.

About the same time (1799) a singular incident occurred in the vicinity of Nashville, Tenn. A lad of eight or ten years of age, son of a Mr. McCorkle, accompanied his sister to a sacramental meeting, at some distance from their father's house, where it pleased the Lord to visit him in mercy. When he returned home he told a lad of his own age what he had experienced, and his resolution to live the life of a Christian. "Hitherto," said he, "you and I have been companions; but unless you alter your course, we must be separated hereafter, for I am determined to serve the Lord."

This conversation produced a direct and powerful effect on the mind of the other, who ran home to his father's house, and threw himself on the bed in great distress. His father and mother, who were Christian professors, were alarmed, and dispatched a messenger for Mr. McCorkle, for their son expressed a strong desire to see Davis McCorkle, the boy who had conversed with him. Mr. McCorkle came with his son, and the whole party were so amazed to hear these boys talk in rapturous language of the pardon of sin, and salvation through Christ, while each wept profusely, that they notified the neighbors to collect for a prayer-meeting. To prevent disorder by the crying of the boys, they put them into a back-room with a person to keep them there. During the social meeting Mr. McCorkle related the circumstances of the conversion of his son, and his conversation with the other boy, when the people expressed their desire to hear the boys talk. They were introduced to the company, and each, in turn, related with tears of joy what God had done, and in truly evangelical language, expressed their dependence on the righteousness of Christ for pardon and salvation. The people were affected deeply, and many in the settlement were converted.

In this manner the revival commenced in the "Cumberland Settlements," as that district was called, from which it spread throughout Middle Tennessee. Camp-meetings were held in 1800 and 1801, where sometimes ten and twelve thousand persons would assemble, and great multitudes were converted. In this district the revival was principally among Presbyterians and Methodists. There was an unpleasant altercation, at that period, in the Baptist Association, called then Mero District, and this work did not enlarge their churches as greatly as in other parts.

In the summer and autumn of 1800, a copious outpouring of the Holy Spirit commenced in the same sudden and unexpected manner in Woodford county, then the heart of Kentucky, chiefly among Baptists. Richard Cane, and several other preachers, were honored instruments in the work after the revival commenced.

During the previous winter and spring, and in the same sudden and powerful manner, a revival commenced in the settlements along the Ohio, near the mouth of the Kentucky River, among Baptists and Methodists. The late Rev. John Taylor gives an affecting account of a train of most depressing exercises in his own mind, and then of a meeting he held in a worldly and irreligious neighborhood, at Bulletsburg, where a wedding party, with infares, mirth and dancing, had been the business the preceding week. But a single baptism had occurred in the church for five years, and the person had to be excluded in two months. Mr. Taylor had been on a visit to Clear Creek Church, in Woodford county, where he had been a pastor some years previous, and came back, mourning over his own backslidings in heart, exclaiming -- "Wo is me! that I sojourn in Mesech; that I dwell in the tents of Kedar (Ps. cxx. 5.) Under great depression and misgivings, he preached, on the occasion alluded to, from Rom. x. I: "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved." To use his own language -- "Soon after I began, my feelings exceeded everything I ever felt in public speaking."(14) He wept profusely while he drew a comparison between the Jews rejecting Christ, and his irreligious neighbor, and the whole congregation "lifted up their voices and wept!" From this meeting the revival spread through the settlements along the Ohio, and across that river into the Northwestern Territory.

Here, then, were four points in Kentucky and Tennessee where this revival commenced simultaneously, and without concert. A fifth instance is given in a letter from Colonel Robert Paterson, of Lexington, Ky., Sept. 25, 1801:

"On the first of May, at a society, on the waters of Fleming Creek, on the east side of Licking, a boy under twelve yea! of age became affected in an extraordinary manner, publicly confessing and acknowledging his sins, praying for pardon through Christ, and recommending Jesus Christ to sinners, as being ready to save the vilest of the vile. Adult persons came affected in like manner. The flame began to spread; the Sabbath following, a number became affected at Mr. Campbell's meeting-house." In this manner the work began, and spread through the settlements in the eastern part of Kentucky.

About the same time, the late Rev. B. W. Stone, hearing of the great revival in Logan county, under the labors of Mr. McGready, made a visit, attended a great camp-meeting for several days, and witnessed the "falling exercise," and other nervous affections. He returned to his congregations at Cane Ridge and Concord, where the revival commenced, in Bourbon county. Every writer has described the scenes of the great camp-meeting held at Cane Ridge, the same year, in August, where from 12,000 to 20,000 people gathered from every quarter, even from remote settlements in the Northwestern Territory. At this spot and time was the culminating point of the excitement, and the nervous agitations.

The late Rev. Gideon Blackburn, D. D., then of Blount county, East Tennessee, Sept. 25, 1800, gave a sketch of the commencement of the revival in a Magazine published in the city of New-York. He says: "In the years 1798 and 1799, my labors were attended with the least success; Christians appeared cold and indifferent; fewer impressions were made than formerly; the youth became more dissolute; and levity and dissipation prevailed. About the latter end of March, and the first of April, 1800, a striking alteration appeared among the people; religion became more the topic of conversation than usual; more attention was paid to the preaching of the Word; our assemblies were crowded."

At a sacramental meeting in May, the work of grace was signally manifested, and in the course of the summer the revival prevailed extensively in East Tennessee.

We have given these details, to show clearly under what circumstances this work began. In effect it was greater than any we have ever witnessed or heard described. Many thousands of wicked persons were converted, and several hundred ministers of the gospel raised up, who were qualified to be pioneers in the frontier settlements, and in a few years they were scattered through all the states and territorial governments of this Valley. At a period when the whole population did not exceed half a million, and the territory of this great Valley, was regarded as scarcely deserving the attention of the American Congress; -- before the foot of a Missionary, sustained by his brethren abroad, had pressed its fertile soil; -- before a Sunday-school had been established for its destitute children; -- before a tract had been circulated, or a Bible provided for its remote and famishing population, the mighty power of God was displayed by this wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Some of the characteristic influences and effects of this series of revivals must be noticed.

1st, Infidelity received its death-blow during that period. Multitudes of strong-minded men, proud in their habits of free-thinking, were converted in so sudden and impressive a mode as to perplex and confound their associates. In all the preachers, who engaged in this great work, however deficient in education, moderate in natural talents, or illogical in argument, there was one trait of character prominent in all their ministrations. They gave most convincing proof of their earnestness and sincerity; that they fully believed all they uttered.

We have heard men of intellectual power speak of this fact repeatedly. The preachers, generally, made no effort at skillful argumentation; and did not attempt to prove the Bible to be the Word of God, or Christianity a divine verity; but they preached its most common-place truths to the consciences of all classes. Their intonations of voice, impressive gestures, impassioned expostulations, and frequent weeping, went direct to the feelings and hearts of their hearers. We have heard men say, who went to the meeting infidel scoffers, hardened in sin, and determined to resist every serious impression, that in an instant, and before they had been on the ground ten minutes, their consciences were arrested, and their minds :filled with indescribable emotions; that they had not time to recollect the objections with which their minds had been fortified against the truth of the Bible. Others could not tell of any process of reasoning in their own minds, by which they came to a knowledge of the truth. They would speak of being overwhelmed and borne down with a consciousness of the reality and power of eternal things. An instantaneous and deep conviction of their exceeding sinfulness and guilt, and their just condemnation by the divine law, would be the description given by others. Equally sudden and irrepressible would be their views of God's pardoning mercy, through Christ Jesus, in removing all guilt, and filling their minds with indescribable joy and rapture. We have conversed with some persons of a reflecting and meditative turn, in a great degree devoid of emotion, who described their conversion from unbelief and sin as more gradual, and attended with more thought; who appeared to have proceeded, step by step, from one refuge to another, without hope and consolation, until in the hour of despair they were led to trust in Christ, and after much doubt and hesitation were enabled to lay hold of the promises.

Most of the meetings were held in the air, under the shade of forest trees, and were attended by great numbers, from many miles around. They were often continued for many days in succession, by the spontaneous act of the people, who would come from ten to thirty and forty miles. Hospitality prevailed, and those from a distance received a hearty welcome to the houses and tables of those near. Camp-meetings, at this period, were the natural result of circumstances; a convenient mode of accommodating large numbers. People in the southwestern states are accustomed to "camp out," in their migrations and visits to the market-towns; in hunting and exploring expeditions; and hence there was nothing incongruous that the same people should provide temporary shelters and other accommodations at protracted meetings. Their houses of worship were small and inconvenient, and could not hold a tenth part of those who came. We have attended many camp-meetings, held by Baptists and others, in the frontier states, where the same order prevailed as about a church edifice.

2d. Bodily Exercises. -- These were various, and called by different names. Most of the early writers on this subject were men who remained skeptical of Christianity, as certain physicians did; or else those whose education, confirmed habits and temperament made them suspicious of all kinds of preternatural excitement. As already intimated, some of the Presbyterian clergy were so orthodox and formal as to oppose and repudiate every species of excitement, as contrary to their notions of true religion. Some of the writers gave narratives of excesses from hearsay, or a casual and temporary visit to some camp-meeting, under circumstances that precluded an unbiased judgment, and all impartial statement of the facts. Others were actors in the scenes, and attributed the whole to the direct agency of GOD. Conflicting statements are found in the various publications; some things, were grossly exaggerated; other things, equally necessary to a correct solution, entirely overlooked.

Dr. Davidson, to whose general accuracy as an historian we have heretofore given our attestation, (15) makes some unfortunate mistakes on this subject. He speaks of Rev. B. W. Stone, (one of the "New Lights,") as "the ringleader" in these bodily exercises, and mentions his falling on his knees in prayer, and that he was followed by his whole congregation, while Mr. McP. was speaking. Mr. Stone states that the minister was through, that he had preached against the revival because of these bodily agitations. So far from being a ringleader, Mr. Stone was remarkable for calm, mild, serious deportment, and left in his published writings his own views on such nervous agitations.

In our investigation of this subject, we have carefully examined the various statements made, and opinions given. It has been our fortune to witness similar bodily exercises in and out of religious meetings, at a later period, and several hundred miles from the scenes of the revivals of 1801. And we perceive nothing very strange or unphilosophical in most that have occurred, when we have expunged the exaggerations, and contemplated the facts with due regard to the stand-points of the different narrators.

We witnessed the "falling exercise" in a time of great religious excitement in the State of Connecticut. (1807-1808.) It has occurred at other times, under the ministrations of Whitfield, Wesley, Erskine, Edwards, Bellamy, Davenport, and many others; -- under Calvinists, Arminians and Moderates. The term used in Kentucky and Tennessee to express it, was, "struck down." The person affected would suddenly lose all muscular or nervous energy, fall helpless, and in many instances lie for hours in a state resembling somnambulism, with the exception of being deprived of the power of locomotion. Some would be unconscious of every thing around the, the external senses suspended, and could not be aroused by pinching, shaking, pricking, or the application of burnt feathers and volatile ammonia to their nostrils. Their condition resembled what some term mesmeric sleep, or a person under the effect of chloroform. Some retained their consciousness, and answered questions, of which they retained recollection on recovery. Others had no consciousness.

This exercise was not confined to females, or illiterate enthusiasts. Men of strong and cultivated minds, and habits of self-control, who had never quailed in battle with Indians, or feared the face of man, who came to the ground hardened unbelievers, with the resolution of resisting every serious impression, would fall in an instant, like helpless infants. They stated afterwards that their minds, suddenly and unaccountably, became overwhelmed with a sense of their sinful and lost condition, their just condemnation, and that they could not stand. Their physical powers failed them suddenly. From this state they would sometimes arise with shouts and exclamations of praise to God, for mercy and the pardon of sin through Christ. Or, as was quite common, they would break forth into the most solemn and impassioned exhortations to their fellow-sinners to turn from their evil ways and receive Christ, who is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him.

Numerous individual cases might be given on valid testimony, but we have room for but one or two as illustrations of many others.

At a meeting in Kentucky were two young ladies, well educated, but worldly, and who had ridiculed others in distress. They both fell at the same moment, each with a piercing cry of agony, and lay for more than an hour apparently lifeless. Their mother, an intelligent and pious Baptist, was alarmed, fearing they would not revive. At length, both showed signs of recovery, by praying loud and earnestly for mercy, and then relapsed into the same death-like state; their countenances covered with gloom. In a short time the face of one was irradiated with joy, and she cried out "precious Jesus;" rose up and spoke of the love of God, the preciousness of Christ; and in language appropriate and impassioned, exhorted her young friends to repent of sin and be saved through Christ. Soon afterward her sister arose and expressed herself in a similar manner. They were baptized, were pious and exemplary members of the church, and lived to be mothers in Israel.

Devout and orderly Christian professors fell from a deep consciousness of danger of their unconverted friends; parents would be in a state of agony for their irreligious children, and fall. In fine, we see no mystery in the falling exercise, provided it is admitted, that the mind may be suddenly overwhelmed by the consciousness of the truth of God, through the mighty influence of the Holy Ghost.

Those who weigh the impressions and emotions of gospel truth on the mind by one metaphysical scale, who cannot endure any excitement in others above their own passionless temperament, who never had a muscle agitated, or a nerve affected by the unseen workings of the inner man; who, though they permit persons to faint, fall, and even die, under the pressure of sudden and overwhelming calamity, or from ecstasy of joy on other subjects, nevertheless fancy that all extraordinary excitements, in one's view of guilt and danger in religion, are fanaticism, will not accord with our theory. And, doubtless, such persons will philosophize and criticise [sic] away the agitations of Pentecost, or resolve them into some eastern myth. We prefer a more common-sense view of the subject; -- that at the period we are reviewing, God saw fit to glorify his own name, and prostrate effectually the enemy that threatened to control this Valley, by the mighty working of his Holy Spirit in a revival, so sudden and so powerful on the minds of thousands, that nervous and muscular power gave way, and bodily agitations were produced. And we cannot perceive any valid objection to this theory. The mistake made by a small number of enthusiastic preachers, entirely unacquainted with such physical effects, was in taking the effect for the cause, and increasing instead of allaying the paroxysms by injudicious measures.

Much has been said about jerking, rolling, running, dancing and barking exercises. We resolve all these apparently diverse exercises into the "jerks." These were various spasmodic affections, either in a single member of the body, as the head or limb, or an affection of the whole system. All classes of people, religious and irreligious, became affected in particular districts during the great revival. Some, while standing or sitting, would be so affected that the head would jerk backwards and forwards with great rapidity and force. Others would be taken with this spasmodic affection and whirl around, or jerk forwards. The "running exercise," as some called it was nothing more than an honest effort of the party to run from the place of excitement. This disease was not confined to religious meetings, but afflicted persons at other times, in public and private. Some would be thrown down by the spasm, and roll on the ground involuntarily, and hence those who were illy qualified to discriminate, called this the "rolling exercise." A person affected with the jerking spasms, especially in the head and neck, and making an effort to resist, would make an involuntary noise, that to some spectators seemed like barking. A worthy old Presbyterian minister in East Tennessee, retired from the meeting-place to the woods for private devotion, where he was seized with the jerking spasms. He caught hold of a sapling to prevent falling, and as his head jerked back, he uttered sounds. He was seen in this position by a mischievous wag, who reported he was barking up a tree. Involuntary laughter was confined to religious people, and was not frequent. Some religious people were afflicted with jerking, which terminated in a paroxysm of loud laughter. This relieved them from the spasm, and in some congregations, it was indulged first as a mode of relief and next as a "heavenly exercise."

The "dancing exercise" generally commenced with jerking, and was confined to professors of religion. When they commenced dancing the jerking would cease. "A heavenly smile" appeared in their countenances while they were in the ecstasy. The motions were sometimes quick and at other times slow, and the persons affected continued to move in a direct line, backward and forward, between the people, usually singing in a low mellifluous tone until exhausted, when they would fall prostrate, unless caught by their friends.(16)

Shouting, with the exercise of leaping or jumping, and clapping the hands, has been more common, and probably belongs to a class of persons of excitable temperament, in every age, and under all kinds of religious influence, true and spurious. We have witnessed it under a great variety of circumstances, but never during a cold, formal state of religion. Like all the other exercises described, it is involuntary, but is generally indicative of deep, religious emotions. We have known persons break out in a paroxysm of shouting and praising God, under preaching and exhortations, but far more frequently under animating singing. It gives us no uneasiness; for the time being we close speaking, until the paroxysm is over, and then resume the "thread of discourse." Persons when conversing in private, in the most decorous and Christian-like manner, about Jesus Christ and his salvation, especially when they have heard of the unexpected conversion of some friend, have shouted and clapped their hands in joyous ecstasy.

An instance occurred under our observation, which we give as a sample of this bodily affection. It occurred in Missouri, about thirty years since. The residence of a family rather advanced in intelligence and habits of order for that period, was one of our resting and preaching stations. The gentleman, lady and two daughters were members of the church, and family worship, instruction and reading the Scriptures were habitual. He had been in public life, a member and sometimes speaker of the territorial legislature; a man of sound intellect, and entire self-command. His wife was an amiable and correct Christian, and had died the year preceding the occurrence. The daughters were accustomed to read the Scriptures, and were modest, retiring and amiable young women. They had seen seasons of religious excitement, and several times, under strong emotions, had shouted. On this occasion the preacher stood in the porch, the men sat under the trees in the yard, and the females occupied the rooms. The sermon was on the sacrifice of Christ; -- his sufferings for sinners. Both the daughters sat near the speaker in the porch, and one held her sister, a motherless babe, about fifteen months old, in her arms. The closing hymn began:

			"Alas! And did my Saviour bleed."

In singing, the congregation arose, and all who could make a musical noise, sung, while the preacher gave out the lines. The third stanza was read:

                    "Was it for crimes that I have done,
                         He groan'd upon the tree?
                         Amazing pity! grace unknown!
                         And love beyond degree!" 

As the speaker pronounced the last line, the one who held the babe let the little creature fall on the floor, and commenced clapping her hands, shouting, and exclaiming: "Glory to Jesus who died for our sins," which she repeated several times. The singing ceased, and the congregation was dismissed. The paroxysm continued for four or five minutes, when she apparently fainted, and by the females who held her was laid on the bed in the room. The first sign of returning consciousness was an expression of alarm, and an inquiry, what made the child cry so? We stood by the bed with others, and had every facility to examine the case. On inquiry, she gave assurance that the last recollection she retained was an overwhelming sense of the grace of Christ, the Mediator, dying for sinners. The doctrine of the discourse and of the hymn was fixed deep in her mind. The next impression she recollected was lying on the bed and hearing the child cry. She had no recollection of letting it fall, of speaking, or shouting. To her mind the time was but a moment, whereas it was ten minutes. The people being accustomed to such scenes, were composed, and departed with the same quietude as if the meeting had closed in the ordinary way.

These bodily affections were not universal, but general, in the great revival; and in a few localities, and at some great meetings, were increased by the injudicious measures of a few zealots. With Baptists they were less frequent than with Presbyterians and Methodists.

It is the concurrent opinion of all who have investigated the subject, that these bodily agitations were involuntary. And we ask, in all sober earnestness, what harm is there in such nervous excitements? We have never heard of an instance of death, or of permanent disease, or even of insanity, occurring from these affections. Nor do they lessen the piety and faithfulness of Christian professors. Scarcely anyone regards them as evidence of a gracious state, and why should any suspicions be excited unfavorable to the real piety and consistent walk of professors? In some instances, persons of feeble vital power and failing health have been restored, probably on the same principle that the galvanic battery gives relief. Such agitations in a religious meeting may disturb those who are strangers to such things; and a nervous preacher, who is interrupted by the barking of a dog, or the crying of a child, in a frontier settlement, would have a peculiar spasm of his own from witnessing such scenes. Such excitements occur very seldom during sermon. It is in singing, exhortations, and the narrations of religious experience, they more commonly occur. Fastidious persons attempted to stop them during the great revival; ministers gave lectures and admonitions in Kentucky, and did no good, but some evil. Their nature is now well understood; nobody mistakes such exercises for gracious affections.

3d. Effects of the Great Revival. -- Our Saviour has given a rule of judging: "Ye shall know them by their fruits." This revival, as we have said, was a death-blow to infidelity throughout this Valley. Not a few continued infidels and scoffers, but they were shorn of their strength. So many of their number had been converted, some of whom became efficient preachers of the gospel, that infidelity could no longer boast. It was a turning scale in public morals A great and manifest change was wrought. We have once alluded to the wild and reckless habits south of Green River, in Kentucky.(17) For more than a quarter of a century that part of the state has been distinguished for its moral and religious influence.

We have confined these remarks in a great measure to Kentucky and Tennessee, but every part of the Mississippi Valley to this day feels the effects. In all the migrations of people from those states, a due proportion have been church members and preachers of the gospel, and they have sown the seed of truth and righteousness wherever they have gone. The additions to the churches were great. The Baptist churches, in Kentucky and Tennessee, received by baptism more than ten thousand converts in four years, and many who were converted in that period, entered the ministry some years after. There can be no reasonable doubt, after deductions have been made for irregularities and fanaticism, the cause of truth and righteousness gained immeasurably from this series of revivals. No ordinary measures of pastoral supervision and pulpit lectures, by a "stated ministry," could have roused up the public mind, and called out to protracted meetings such numbers of infidel scoffers and irreligious persons, and produced such direct and overwhelming effects in so short a period.

It was the Lord's doings, who came forth in the majesty of his power, to vindicate his own gospel, and save this Valley from moral desolation. The kingdom of Christ ,vas in imminent peril; therefore "His arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness it sustained him." And yet, the same description of meetings, and the same course of action, might be inappropriate, incongruous, and even injurious, under other circumstances. Providence is a safe glide in such matters to those who have the discernment to trace his footsteps, and the prudence and humility to follow the pathway marked out.

Our statistics are imperfect for a series of years following, but from annual returns to Baptist associations, and from other sources, we learn the exclusions from churches were not more numerous, in proportion to the numbers baptized, than in large ingatherings in other times and places. If, after a series of years, not more than ten per cent are excluded from churches, it is a favorable sign of progress. And in Baptist churches, and in those also of the other sects, discipline was kept up without inconvenience. A season of declension followed, but the number of church members was not lessened, but continued to increase.

Two mistakes were made by our denomination, which should be attributed, not to the preternatural excitement; but to former habits and inexperience. There was no one to show them "a more excellent way." No provision was made for bringing out and training young ministers. There was so much fear of "men-made preachers," as the phrase was, that proper means were neglected to encourage and bring forward gifts, and especially to obtain the necessary education for efficient pastors. Besides, no advancement was made in sustaining pastors in each church. Monthly pastoral services, with occasional preaching by others on the intervening Sabbaths, remained the custom. And when this fact is kept in view, we have additional evidence of the extent and the genuineness of the work on individual minds: that with such limited instruction and imperfect pastoral supervision, such a multitude of converts, so suddenly changed, lived Christian lives, and died in faith and hope of salvation. And now, after half a century has passed away, we find in every state aged men and women who speak with deep emotions and remembrance of the GREAT REVIVAL, in which they were, in a sudden and unexpected way, arrested in their sins and adopted into the family of God, and became heirs of immortal life.

                 Rock Spring, Ill., August, 1852.

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Endnotes for Part Two
13. The sermons of a majority of the Presbyterian clergy in Kentucky, at that period were made up of abstract doctrines, derived from their creed rather the Scriptures, and as unsuitable for the perishing sinner, conscious of his condition, as the skeleton frame of the ox would be for the refreshing of the starving multitude. They were dry bones - very dry. The gospel preached by Mr. McGready, like that exhibited by Baptists, was living breath that came down from heaven. It was Jesus Christ in all his fullness and grace, tendered to the people with a melting heart and a weeping eye. The words exhibited were the words of Christ; they were spirit and life.
14. John Taylor, The History of Ten Churches, p. 135.
15. Christian Review, 1848, Vol. xiii: pp. 449-451.
16. We cannot place the same implicit confidence in the "Diary" of Rev. John Lyle, kept in the period of the revival, as does the historian of the Presbyterian churches in Kentucky. The state of his mind, the decided and active measures to suppress all excitements, which made him unpopular, and the opposition he met from his own brethren, all tended to magnify, unconsciously, in his mind, the agitations and their dangerous tendencies. He drew the shades of the picture without its lights.
17. The late Governor Edwards, of Illinois, who in early life lived and attended all the courts in that part of Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, gave us a verbal picture of the moral desolation that prevailed before the revival, and the great change in the habits of the people afterwards.
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[From microfilm copy at Northern Kentucky University, Steely Library. This essay includes pp. 501-514. Transcribed and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

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