George Whitefield and the Great Awakening Revival

American Minute with Bill Federer

Seven times he preached in America, to crowds sometimes over 25,000.

He spread the Great Awakening Revival, which helped unite the Colonies prior to the Revolutionary War.

Ben Franklin wrote in his Autobiography that his voice could be heard almost a mile away:

“He preached one evening from the top of the Court-house steps… Streets were filled with his hearers…

I had the curiosity to learn how far he could be heard by retiring backwards down the street…and found his voice distinct till I came near Front-street.”

This was Evangelist George Whitefield. Ben Franklin continued his description:

“Multitudes of all denominations attended his sermons…

It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants.

From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk thro’ the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.”

Sarah Edwards, the wife of Jonathan Edwards, wrote to her brother in New Haven concerning the effects George Whitefield’s ministry:

“It is wonderful to see what a spell he casts over an audience by proclaiming the simplest truths of the Bible…

Our mechanics shut up their shops, and the day laborers throw down their tools to go and hear him preach, and few return unaffected.”

George Whitefield had attended Oxford with John and Charles Wesley, who began the Methodist movement.

In 1733, when he was converted, George Whitefield exclaimed:

“Joy-joy unspeakable-joy that’s full of, big with glory!”

When Whitefield confronted the established churches, doors were closed to him, so he resorted to preaching out-of-doors. Crowds grew so large that no church could hold the number of people.

Ben Franklin helped finance the building of an auditorium in Philadelphia for Whitefield to preach in, which was latter donated as the first building of the University of Pennsylvania.

A bronze statue of George Whitefield is on the University’s campus.

The Great Awakening Revival resulted in the founding of Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, Rutgers and Columbia Universities.

Franklin printed Whitefield’s journal and sermons, which helped spread his popularity.

In one sermon, George Whitefield proclaimed:

“Never rest until you can say, ‘the Lord our righteousness.’ Who knows but the Lord may have mercy, nay, abundantly pardon you?

Beg of God to give you faith; and if the Lord give you that, you will by it receive Christ, with his righteousness, and his all…

None, none can tell, but those happy souls who have experienced it with what demonstration of the Spirit this conviction comes…”

George Whitefield continued:

“Oh, how amiable, as well as all sufficient, does the blessed Jesus now appear! With what new eyes does the soul now see the Lord its righteousness! Brethren, it is unutterable…

Those who live godly in Christ, may not so much be said to live, as Christ to live in them….They are led by the Spirit as a child is led by the hand of its father…

They hear, know, and obey his voice….Being born again in God they habitually live to, and daily walk with God.”

George Whitefield’s influence was so profound, that when there was a threatened war with Spain and France, Ben Franklin drafted and printed a General Fast for Pennsylvania, December 12, 1747:

“As the calamities of a bloody War, in which our Nation is now engaged, seem every Year more nearly to approach us…there is just reason to fear that unless we humble ourselves before the Lord & amend our Ways, we may be chastised with yet heavier Judgments.

We have, therefore, thought fit…to appoint…the seventh Day of January next, to be observed throughout this Province as a Day of Fasting & Prayer, exhorting all…to join with one accord in the most humble & fervent Supplications;

That Almighty God would mercifully interpose and still the Rage of War among the Nations & put a stop to the effusion of Christian Blood…”

In 1752, George Whitefield wrote to Benjamin Franklin, who had invented the lightning rod:

“My Dear Doctor….I find that you grow more and more famous in the learned world.”

In 1764, George Whitefield received a letter from Benjamin Franklin, in which Franklin ended with the salutation:

“Your frequently repeated Wishes and Prayers for my Eternal as well as temporal Happiness are very obliging. I can only thank you for them, and offer you mine in return.”

In 1769, George Whitefield wrote Benjamin Franklin on the night before his last trip to America. In this last surviving letter, Whitefield shares his desire that both he and Franklin would:

“Be in that happy number of those who is the midst of the tremendous final blaze shall cry Amen.”

Franklin wrote to George Whitefield:

“I sometimes wish you and I were jointly employed by the Crown to settle a colony on the Ohio…a strong body of religious and industrious people!…

Might it not greatly facilitate the introduction of pure religion among the heathen, if we could, by such a colony, show them a better sample of Christians than they commonly see in our Indian traders?”

George Whitefield died SEPTEMBER 30, 1770. As he was dying, he declared:

“How willing I would ever live to preach Christ! But I die to be with Him!”

George Whitefield had declared:

“Would you have peace with God? Away, then, to God through Jesus Christ, who has purchased peace; the Lord Jesus has shed his heart’s blood for this.

He died for this; he rose again for this; he ascended into the highest heaven, and is now interceding at the right hand of God.”

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The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

Francis Asbury, born August 20, 1745

Agree or disagree with this denomination, great benefit in freedom of religion was attained with this Methodist and the Baptist.

American Minute with Bill Federer

300,000 miles on horseback, from the Atlantic to the Appalachians, from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico, for 45 years, he spread the Gospel.

This was Francis Asbury, Methodist Circuit riding preacher who was born AUGUST 20, 1745.

When the Revolution began, he was the only Methodist minister to remain in America, refusing to return with other Anglican ministers to England, stating:

“I can by no means agree to leave such a field for gathering souls to Christ as we have in America.”

Preaching over 16,000 sermons, Asbury’s leadership resulted in the Methodist Church in America growing from 1,200 people to 214,000 with 700 ordained minsters.

In 1785, Asbury broke the Methodist movement away from the Episcopal Church, forming its own denomination.

This had tremendous political impact, as Episcopal members of Virginia’s Assembly now no longer had a majority.

When a vote was taken the next year, the Episcopal Church lost its position as Virginia’s established State Church, thereby allowing other denominations to be treated equally.

Francis Asbury befriended Richard Bassett, a signer of the U.S. Constitution, who converted to being a Methodist, freed his slaves, paid them as hired labor and rode joyfully with them to revival meetings.

Methodist Bishops Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke met with newly elected President George Washington in New York, delivering the message, May 19, 1789:

“We…express to you…our sincere congratulations, on your appointment to the presidentship of these States.

We…place as full a confidence in your wisdom and integrity, for the preservation of those civil and religious liberties which have been transmitted to us by the Providence of GOD…

Dependence on the Great Governor of the Universe which you have repeatedly expressed, acknowledging Him the source of every blessing, and particularly of the most excellent Constitution of these States, which is at present the admiration of the world…”

Bishop Asbury continued:

“We enjoy a holy expectation that you will always prove a faithful and impartial patron of genuine, vital religion – the grand end of our creation and present probationary existence…

We promise you our fervent prayers to the Throne of Grace, that GOD Almighty may endue you with all the graces and gifts of his Holy Spirit, that may enable you to fill up your important station to His glory.”

On May 29, 1789, President Washington wrote a reply:

“To the Bishops of the Methodist-Episcopal Church…

I return to you…my thanks for the demonstrations of affection and the expressions of joy…on my late appointment.

It shall still be my endeavor…to contribute…towards the preservation of the civil and religious liberties of the American people…

I hope, by the assistance of Divine Providence, not altogether to disappoint the confidence which you have been pleased to repose in me…in acknowledgments of homage to the Great Governor of the Universe…”

Washington continued:

“I trust the people of every denomination…will have every occasion to be convinced that I shall always strive to prove a faithful and impartial patron of genuine, vital religion…

I take in the kindest part the promise you make of presenting your prayers at the Throne of Grace for me, and that I likewise implore the Divine benediction on yourselves and your religious community.”

In 1799, Francis Asbury ordained the first African-American Methodist minister, Richard Allen, and dedicated the first African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Unveiling the Equestrian Statue of Francis Asbury in Washington, D.C., 1924, President Calvin Coolidge stated:

“Francis Asbury, the first American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church…made a tremendous contribution…”

Coolidge continued:

“Our government rests upon religion. It is from that source that we derive our reverence for truth and justice, for equality and liberty, and for the rights of mankind. Unless the people believe in these principles they cannot believe in our government…

Calling the people to righteousness (was) a direct preparation for self-government. It was for a continuation of this work that Francis Asbury was raised up.”

Coolidge added:

“The government of a country never gets ahead of the religion of a country. There is no way by which we can substitute the authority of law for the virtue of man…

Real reforms which society in these days is seeking will come as a result of our religious convictions, or they will not come at all. Peace, justice, humanity, charity – these cannot be legislated into being. They are the result of a Divine Grace…”

Coolidge continued about Francis Asbury:

“Frontier mothers must have brought their children to him to receive his blessings! It is more than probable that Nancy Hanks, the mother of Lincoln, had heard him in her youth.

Adams and Jefferson must have known him, and Jackson must have seen in him a flaming spirit as unconquerable as his own…He is entitled to rank as one of the builders of our nation.

On the foundation of a religious civilization which he sought to build, our country has enjoyed greater blessing of liberty and prosperity than was ever before the lot of man.

These cannot continue if we neglect the work which he did.”

Coolidge concluded:

“We cannot depend on the government to do the work of religion. I do not see how anyone could recount the story of this early Bishop without feeling a renewed faith in our own country.”

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The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s bookshere.

The SECOND Great Awakening

American Minute with Bill Federer

In his Memorandum Book, Jefferson noted:

“I have subscribed to the building of an Episcopalian church, two hundred dollars; a Presbyterian church, sixty dollars, and a Baptist church, twenty-five.”

The Boston newspaper Christian Watchman, July 14, 1826, printed an unverified story of Jefferson dining at Monticello before the Revolution with Baptist Pastor Andrew Tribble.

According to the story, Jefferson remarked of Baptist church government that he “considered it the only form of pure democracy that exists in the world…It would be the best plan of government for the American colonies.”

Jefferson ‘organized’ a church, as Julian P. Boyd recorded in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, drafting “Subscriptions to Support a Clergyman in Charlottesville,” February 1777, which stated:

“We the subscribers… desirous of encouraging and supporting the Calvinistical Reformed church, and of deriving to ourselves, through the ministry of its teachers, the benefits of Gospel knowledge and religious improvement…by regular education for explaining the holy scriptures…

Approving highly the political conduct of the Revd. Charles Clay, who, early rejecting the tyrant and tyranny of Britain, proved his religion genuine by its harmonies with the liberties of mankind…

and, conforming his public prayers to the spirit and the injured rights of his country, ever addressed the God of battles for victory to our arms…

We expect that the said Charles Clay shall perform divine service and preach a sermon in the town of Charlottesville on every 4th…Sunday or oftener if a regular rotation with the other churches…will admit a more frequent attendance.

And we further mutually agree with each other that we will meet at Charlottesville…every year…and there make a choice by ballot of three wardens to collect our said subscriptions…for the use of our church.”

Jefferson noted in his Memorandum Book, August 15, 1779:

“Pd. Revd. Charles Clay in consideration of parochial services.”

The Calvinistical Reformed Church met in the Albemarle Courthouse for seven years.

It ceased meeting after subscribers Philip Mazzei and John Harvie moved away, and Thomas Jefferson, depressed after the death of his wife and several children, sailed to France in 1783 as an ambassador.

Virginia’s religious revival continued as part of the Second Great Awakening.

Methodist evangelist Jesse Lee, who traveled a circle of cities, reported in 1787 the “circuits that had the greatest revival of religion” included Albermarle county.

Virtually all Baptist and Methodist churches were of mixed races.

In 1788, Rev. John Leland, a friend of Jefferson’s and pastor of Goldmine Baptist Church of Louisa, Virginia, personally baptized over 400.

In Charlottesville, attorney William Wirt wrote in 1795 of the preaching of Presbyterian Rev. James Waddell:

“Every heart in the assembly trembled in unision. His peculiar phrases that force of description that the original scene appeared to be, at that moment, acting before our eyes…

The effect was inconceivable. The whole house resounded with the mingled groans, and sobs, and shrieks of the congregation.”

James Madison, who was a member of St. Thomas Parish where Rev. James Waddell taught, exclaimed:

“He has spoiled me for all other preaching.”

Madison had Presbyterian preachers speak his Montpelier estate, such as Samuel Stanhope Smith and Nathaniel Irwin, of whom he wrote:

“Praise is in every man’s mouth here for an excellent discourse he this day preached to us.”

Methodist Rev. Lorenzo Dow, nicknamed “Crazy Dow,” traveled over ten thousand miles preaching to over a million people. His autobiography at one time was the 2nd best-selling book in America, exceeded only by the Bible.

Dow held a preaching camp meeting near Jefferson’s home, writing in his Journal that on April 17, 1804:

“I spoke in…Charlottesville near the President’s seat in Albermarle County…to about four thousand people, and one of the President’s daughters (Mary Jefferson Eppes) who was present.”

In the lawless Kentucky frontier, Rev. James McGready and his small church agreed in 1797:

“Therefore, we bind ourselves to observe the third Saturday of each month for one year as a day of fasting and prayer for the conversion of sinners in Logan County and throughout the world.

We also engage to spend one half hour every Saturday evening, beginning at the setting of the sun, and one half hour every Sabbath morning at the rising of the sun in pleading with God to revive His work.”

In June of 1800, 500 members of James McGready’s three congregations gathered at the Red River for a “camp meeting” lasting several days, similar to Scottish “Holy Fairs” where teams of open-air preachers rotated in a continuous stream of sermons.

On the final day:

“‘A mighty effusion of the Spirit’ came on everyone ‘and the floor was soon covered with the slain; their screams for mercy pierced the heavens.’”

In July of 1800, the congregation planned another camp meeting at the Gaspar River. Surpassing their expectations, 8,000 people arrived, some from over 100 miles away:

“The power of God seemed to shake the whole assembly. Towards the close of the sermon, the cries of the distressed arose almost as loud as his voice.

After the congregation was dismissed the solemnity increased, till the greater part of the multitude seemed engaged in the most solemn manner.

No person seemed to wish to go home-hunger and sleep seemed to affect nobody-eternal things were the vast concern.

Here awakening and converting work was to be found in every part of the multitude; and even some things strangely and wonderfully new to me.”

On AUGUST 7, 1801, though Kentucky’s largest city had less than 2,000 people, 25,000 showed up at revival meetings in Cane Ridge, Kentucky.

Arriving from as far away as Ohio, Tennessee, and the Indiana Territory, they heard the preaching of Barton W. Stone and other Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian ministers.

Rev. Moses Hodge described:

“Nothing that imagination can paint, can make a stronger impression upon the mind, than one of those scenes.

Sinners dropping down on every hand, shrieking, groaning, crying for mercy, convulsed; professors praying, agonizing, fainting, falling down in distress, for sinners or in raptures of joy!…

As to the work in general there can be no question but it is of God. The subjects of it, for the most part are deeply wounded for their sins, and can give a clear and rational account of their conversion.”

Prior to the Revolution, the FIRST Great Awakening was led by Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and other preachers who helped start the University of Pennsylvania (1740), Princeton (1746), Brown (1764), Rutgers (1766), and Dartmouth (1770).

The SECOND Great Awakening led to the conversion of a third of Yale’s student body through the efforts of its President Timothy Dwight.

Spreading to other colleges, hundreds of students entered the ministry and pioneered the foreign missions movement.

Young men, along with the first women missionaries, were sent to the American West, and as far away as Burma and Hawaii.

The Second Great Awakening contributed to the founding of the American Bible Society, the Society for the Promotion of Temperance, the Church of Christ, the Disciples of Christ and the Seventh-Day Adventists.

Christians helped reform prisons, cared for the handicapped and mentally ill, and worked to abolish slavery.

George Addison Baxter, a skeptical professor at Washington Academy in Virginia, published an account of his travels throughout Kentucky, which was printed in the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, March of 1802:

“The power with which this revival has spread, and its influence in moralizing the people, are difficult for you to conceive, and more so for me to describe….

I found Kentucky, to appearance, the most moral place I had ever seen. A profane expression was hardly ever heard. A religious awe seemed to pervade the country.

Never in my life have I seen more genuine marks of that humility which…looks to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way of acceptance with God…”

Baxter continued:

“I was indeed highly pleased to find that Christ was all and in all in their religion… and it was truly affecting to hear with what agonizing anxiety awakened sinners inquired for Christ, as the only physician who could give them any help.

Those who call these things ‘enthusiasm,’ ought to tell us what they understand by the Spirit of Christianity….

Upon the whole, sir, I think the revival in Kentucky among the most extraordinary that have ever visited the Church of Christ, and all things considered, peculiarly adapted to the circumstances of that country…

Something of an extraordinary nature seemed necessary to arrest the attention of a giddy people, who were ready to conclude that Christianity was a fable, and futurity a dream.

This revival has done it; it has confounded infidelity, awed vice to silence, and brought numbers beyond calculation under serious impressions.”

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The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

124– May 03 – This Day in Baptist History Past

A timely snowstorm, a changed life
On the first Sunday in 1850 at the age of fifteen Charles Spurgeon converted to Christ. On January 6, 1850 a snow storm made him seek shelter in a Primitive Methodist chapel in Colchester. The scheduled speaker could not keep his appointment, and one of the men attempted to preach. His text was Isaiah 45:22, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” After exhausting his thoughts on the passage, he looked straight at the young Spurgeon and said: “Young man, you look very miserable! You always will be miserable-miserable in life and miserable in death, if you don’t obey my text: but if you obey now, this moment you will be saved. Young man, look to Jesus! Look! Look! Look! You have nothing to do but to look and live”
Young Spurgeon heard, not the voice of the inept preacher, but the voice of the Spirit of God and was gloriously saved. Realizing his need to be baptized “He walked from Hew Market to Isleham, seven miles, on May 3rd, 1850, where Rev. Mr. Cantlow buried him with Christ in Baptism.”
Dr. Dale R. Hart: Adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 180-181
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47 – February 16 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

 

The importance of baptism

AN ANGLICAN BECOMES A BAPTIST AND WALKS 120 MILES IN WINTER TO BE BAPTIZED – Dan Taylor, was baptized on February 16, 1763 having walked 120 miles in winter to do so. Several Baptist ministers had refused to baptize him because of his belief in the unlimited atonement of our Lord, but he continued to search until he heard of a society of General Baptists in Lincolnshire. Taylor had begun working in the coal mines of England with his dad when he was just five.  He learned to read at an early age and often took a book with him into the heart of the earth.  He grew into a sturdy man but undersized which he blamed on not getting enough sunshine during his growing years. His family was not very religious, though members of the Church of England, but had Dan confirmed when he was 16. In a few years he became a lay Methodist preacher and delivered his first sermon in 1761 but his study of the bible led him to desire believer’s baptism. By the next autumn after his baptism he had become a General Baptist pastor in Wadsworth but he found that those churches were generally cold, and with his passion for souls he felt out of place. Withdrawing from the Association, Taylor with nine other ministers founded the Assembly of Free Grace General Baptists, which were nicknamed the “New Connection.” The group affirmed their faith in the natural depravity of man, the obligation of the moral law, the deity of Christ, the universal design of the atonement, the promise of salvation for all who believe, the necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and the obligation upon repentance of immersion. Taylor traveled 25,000 miles, mostly by foot, on preaching tours. He would average on those trips, 9 sermons per week. He believed that any day he did not preach was a failure. Fearing his sight was failing, he memorized a great portion of the N.T. He established an academy, which later became a college to train men for the ministry. He authored 45 publications, some sizeable volumes. He established the General Baptist Magazine in 1798 and served as its 1st editor. He died on Nov. 26, 1816 at 78. In 1791 the “New Connection” merged with the Baptist Union in England.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon, from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 64.

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85 – March 26 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

Joshua Brown Hutson was born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia to Methodist parents.  Soon after his conversion to Christ he was immersed on Feb. 3, 1858, and it was said that he was the first Baptist in the Hutson family.  He was educated in country schools, but the Civil war made College impossible.  Following the war, the Byrne Street Baptist Church in Petersburg licensed him to preach in 1869.  They ordained him on Dec. 14, 1871.  Joshua married Miss Leonora J. Baugh on March 26, 1874 and became pastor of the Belvidere Baptist Church in Richmond which later relocated and changed its name to Pine Street Baptist.  At that time the church had 162 members.  By 1890 the church had grown to 1,110, and by the time of Pastor Hutson’s retirement it had grown to 1901 members.  During his lengthy ministry he had baptized 2,799 people, an average of one per Sunday.  He had made 50,605 pastoral calls, married 1,764 couples and conducted 2,202 funerals.  He had pastored Pine Street Baptist Church for forty-five years and six months.  He was asked by a gentlemen on the street how long his sermons were, he answered that on hot Sundays they were nineteen or twenty-minutes.  Although honors and titles came to him, he always remained to his flock, ‘Brother Hutson.’  It has been well said, “A home going preacher makes church going people.”

Dr. Greg J. Dixon, adapted from: This Day in Baptist History III (David L. Cummins), pp. 176-178.

 

66 – March 07 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

He Had a Baptist Bible

Oliver Willis Van Osdel was born to godly Methodist parents on October 30, 1846, in the village of Middlebush, near Poughkeepsie, New York. His father was a blacksmith and served the Lord until his death. The family moved to Illinois in 1854. Oliver intended to prepare for a career in law but sensed God’s call to the ministry. This led him to an examination of his own beliefs. Though Methodist by heritage, he had come to the conclusion that New Testament truth was most accurately taught by the Baptist people. Thus on March 7, 1869 Oliver was baptized by immersion and joined the Baptist church of Yorkville, Illinois. That night he preached his first sermon. When Oliver’s family pressed him about his decision to become a Baptist, he replied flatly that: “he had a Baptist Bible.” Oliver attended the old Chicago Baptist Theological Seminary, and in 1874 he assumed the pastorate of the Community Baptist Church in Warrenville, Illinois, and was ordained to the ministry on April 30, 1874. The next thirty-five years were eventful as Oliver held a number of pastorates during this period.

Van Osdel developed some strong convictions and the courage to stand by them during his years of ministry.  He faced opposition from several fronts throughout these years and stood firmly for the Gospel, for the truth of God’s Word, and against unbelief. In 1909 something unusual happened to Oliver.  He was called to return to Grand Rapids to pastor the church he had formerly led, the Wealthy Street Baptist Church. At age sixty-two, he began a ministry that would span twenty-five years!

Dr. Dale R. Hart, adapted from: “This Day in Baptist History III” David L. Cummins. pp. 137 – 138.

47 – Feb. 16 – This Day in Baptist History Past

[he] walked 120 miles that he might obey the Lord’s command.

February 16, 1763 – Dan Taylor was baptized. He set out on foot in the winter and walked 120 miles that he might obey the Lord’s command. By the next autumn he had become a General Baptist pastor in Wadsworth. He was refused believer’s immersion by several because of his belief in the unlimited atonement of our Lord, but he continued his search and ultimately heard of a society of General Baptists in Lincolnshire. When only five Dan learned to read. He grew into a sturdy young man but blamed his shortness on not getting enough sunshine during his growing years. His family was not religious but claimed to be of the Church of England and Dan was confirmed when sixteen. However, a few years later he became a Methodist and was made a lay preacher. He delivered his first sermon in 1761, but his study in the Bible led him to request baptism of a Baptist minister. Soon Taylor found that the General Baptist Churches were cold,  and with his passion for souls, Taylor along with nine other ministers formed the Assembly of Free Grace General  Baptists, and they were generally called the “New Connection”. They affirmed their belief in the natural depravity of man, the obligation of the moral law, the deity of Christ, the universal design of the atonement, the promise of salvation for all who believe, the necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and the obligation upon repentance of immersion. Taylor traveled 25,000 miles, mostly by foot, on preaching tours. He would average nine sermons a week. Fearing that he was losing his eye sight, he memorized a great portion of the New Testament. He died on Nov. 26, 1816 at the age of seventy-eight, and without his leadership,  the “New Connection” movement merged with the Baptist Union in England.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 64-65.

Preacher’s That Don’t Believe

Baptist Press has published a study by Tufts University about preachers that do not believe what they preach.

The reason for this is the ambiguity of the pluralism that they teach. That pluralism sounds something like this – “God is many different things to different people, and since we can’t know if one of these conceptions is the right one, we should honor them all,”

God can be known! He has given us His Word and told us to read it to know of Him and to know Him. The very idea that God or His doctrine is unknowable or many different things to different people is pure hog wash.

Here is what was found about one Methodist pastor – He no longer believes God exists but his congregation does not know he is an atheist.

A United Church of Christ pastor preaches as if he is a believer because it is the way of life he knows, not because he believes the doctrine.

A Presbyterian remains a pastor because of financial reasons even as he rejects christian tenets.

A Southern Baptist was attracted to Christianity because it is a religion of love and he has since become an atheist.

I, personally, am not surprised about an unconverted ministry in any of these few denominations I have mentioned. When they do not preach the true Biblical plan of salvation few can be converted or experience the New Birth. I am thrilled to death that I am an Old Time Landmark Missionary Baptist where we preach repentance and confession and Grace and Faith.

Preach the truth Brethren.