Author: Tom Flaherty

“You must be born again.” John 3:3

John Wesley (1703-1791) was the fifteenth of nineteen children of Samuel and Susannah Wesley. His dad was an Anglican preacher and poet, but John took mostly after his mom. Susannah believed in discipline, though rigidly maintained, it was never the cruel discipline of a tyrant. The methodical way of living Susannah taught was the same intentional way John would train his disciples in the years to come.

On May 24, 1738, Wesley went to a meeting on Aldersgate Street in London, England where his life would be forever changed. Although he grew up in a godly home and had earnestly pursued God for thirteen years (he began a group known as the “Holy Club” at Oxford), he had no assurance of being right with God. That night, as Luther’s Preface to Romans was read, he felt his heart “strangely warmed,” and for the first time knew that Jesus was his Savior (not just the Savior of the world), and that his sins were forgiven.

He was so excited about being born again that this became his central message. After reading Jonathan Edwards’ account of revival in Northampton, the same types of conversions started happening in his meetings. Then his friend from the Holy Club, George Whitefield, invited him to come to Bristol where thousands were gathering in the fields to hear him preach. Whitefield needed to move on but didn’t want to abandon all the new converts. “Would Wesley take over for him?”

In a time when “enthusiasm” was frowned upon in church circles, Wesley found that wherever he went people were dramatically and often emotionally converted. He recorded that, while preaching on the text that it’s God’s will for all to be saved (2Peter 3:9), one after another would sink to the earth, “They dropped on every side as if thunderstruck.” At other times there would be a “curious prevalence of uncontrollable laughter accompanied by a shocking violence of movement.” The experiences were followed, as a rule, “by a state of religious well-being, of happiness and composure, nor was there any difficulty in resuming the business of ordinary life.”

It is estimated that John Wesley road on horseback a total of 400,000 miles between 1738-1790. He preached at least twice a day; often three or four times, and gave over 40,000 sermons in his lifetime. In England he established 240 circuits with an attendance of over 240,000, and in America he had 114 circuits with an attendance of over 57,000. He was the apostolic organizer of the first great awakening in America and his efforts are still bearing fruit today.

“You must be born again.” John 3:3

George Whitefield (1714-1770) was eleven years younger than Jonathan Edwards and was born in England, but God would use him in the American colonies to bring the spark Edwards had lit to a raging spiritual fire that would wake up souls everywhere he preached.

While reading a book lent to him in college called, “The Life of God in the Soul of Man,” Whitefield became convinced that it wasn’t religious works that made one right with God; you needed to be born again. He wrote, “A ray of Divine light was instantaneously darted in my soul, and from that moment did I know that I must be a new creature.” (George Whitefield’s Journals, pg. 47)

From that time on crowds were drawn to Whitefield’s preaching and the message that we must be born again. In 1738 he made the first of seven trips to America and started an orphanage near Savannah, Georgia. When he returned to England to raise money for his orphans, crowds were waiting to hear him preach. Although he was ordained as an Anglican minister no one offered him a pulpit, so he began preaching in the fields. Thousands came to hear him in the open air in Bristol and coal miners wept as they were converted to Christ.

When he returned to America in 1740, the reports of his popularity in England preceded his arrival in Philadelphia, so crowds quickly gathered to hear him. He preached every day for months to thousands gathered from New York City to Charleston, riding from city to city on horseback. When he was invited by Jonathan Edwards to visit Northampton, all heaven broke loose as people wailed, wept, fainted, and rejoiced as they experienced the manifestation of God’s presence during Whitefield’s preaching.

In 1740 Benjamin Franklin wrote these words about Philadelphia: “The alteration in the fact of religion here is altogether surprising. Religion has become the subject of most conversations. No books are in request but those of piety and devotion; and instead of idle songs and ballads, the people everywhere are entertaining themselves with psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.” (Pennsylvania Gazette, June, 1740)

In 1770, the 55 year old Whitefield continued preaching in spite of poor health. He said, “I would rather wear out than rust out.” His last sermon was preached in Newburyport, Massachusetts, which is where he died. It is estimated that he preached over 18,000 sermons in his lifetime primarily in England, America, and Scotland.

“Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

Between the years of 1730-1770, there was a spiritual awakening that swept over the American colonies and England. Many were used greatly by God, but none stand out so clearly as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and John Wesley. We will look at each of these over the next three days.

Jonathan Edwards was the pastor of a congregational church in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1734. He inherited the pulpit from his maternal grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, who had introduced a way for the unconverted to become members.

This reduced their Christianity to an outward form that lacked the power of an experience with God and led to an atmosphere of frivolity and immorality. So when one popular young man was stricken down with an illness that led to his sudden death, Edwards seized the opportunity. Depicting an image of strikingly beautiful flowers of the field that are mowed over and ruined by the end of the day, Edwards reminded the weeping congregation of the fleeting beauty of youth. How foolish it was to center one’s life on short-lived pleasures. How much wiser it would be to trust in Christ, whose beauty far outshone the highest earthly glory, and in whom one’s joy would be for all eternity. (A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards; pg. 46)

As this spark grew to a fire, people started meeting during the week to pray, sing, and read. Lines of awakened young people gathered at Edward’s study door seeking spiritual counsel. People in Northampton talked of almost nothing but spiritual things. They dwelt on other topics only so long as it was necessary to conduct their daily work, and sometimes even neglected their work so that they could spend more time in spiritual activities. For a time, sickness almost disappeared. Astonished by the phenomena that surrounded him, Edwards wrote a booklet called: “A Faithful Narrative of this Surprising Work of God.” Wherever this account went, similar spiritual hunger broke out.

A fire had been lit that would eventually travel far and wide in the colonies and in England. These early moves of the Spirit would pale in comparison to what would happen in the next decade through an evangelist from England named George Whitefield who God would raise up to put gasoline on these early embers.