The Great American Revival

By Jerry Stewart
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As I’ve spent time studying our American history and just how we came to be a nation, there has always been one question I have not been able to resolve, and that is just how the thirteen colonies were able to join together to take on the British Empire. You see, the colonies were made up of people who had come from many different places. And, although they were all under the rule of the British, they were certainly not all English. Plus, the colonies had taken a position that each colony stood alone and was not necessarily connected to any other. In fact, when someone arrived from another colony they were treated as a foreigner.

So, when you put this together with the fact that the time of our American revolution there was still a large part of the population who were British loyalists, just how were our founding fathers able to make the revolution happen? Well, before it can happen, something quite miraculous must occur to bond the colonies into one larger nation, and this miracle happened through a preacher by the name of George Whitfield.

Since the Pilgrims had first landed in Plymouth Rock and dedicated their settlement to Jesus Christ, a lot had changed in our nation and a spiritual luke-warmness had settled over America. And, although many preachers like Jonathan Edwards and William Tennent were trying to reignite the spiritual fire, in was not to happen until George Whitfield came to America. Everywhere he went revivals broke out. Jonathan Edwards said, "It is wonderful to see what spell he casts over an audience by proclaiming the simplest truths. When he arrives, mechanics shut up their shops, and the day laborers throw down their tools to go and hear him…. And few return unaffected."

The first time Whitfield reached Philadelphia, it was from the courthouse steps. The streets were jammed, but everyone stood perfectly still. His sermons were simple and straightforward but they carried a powerful message that all men are created equal and are seen the same in the eyes of God. But, even more importantly, when God sees a man's soul, he doesn’t see him as an Episcopalian, or a Presbyterian, or a Methodist…he sees him as a believer or unbeliever in Christ.

That first day he spoke in Philadelphia Whitfield didn't notice he had a very famous guest in the crowd, Benjamin Franklin. And as Franklin listened to Whitfield's words and observed the people's reactions he noticed something very powerful was happening. He said, "It is wonderful to see the change being made in the manner of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless and indifferent about religion. It seemed as if all the world was becoming religious, so that one literally could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing Psalms sung the streets."

Benjamin Franklin, a scientist himself, was also amazed with the carrying power of Whitfield's voice. One night as he listened to Whitfield preach, Franklin retraced his steps backwards down the street and until he could no longer hear him. From this, the amazed Franklin computed that in open-space, Whitfield's voice could be heard by 30,000 people.

Year after year, as Whitfield continued to preach, never stopping to rest, and his health began to fail him. But he could not stop. He continued to speak and people continued to come in the tens of thousands. One observer described hearing the sound like distant thunder and then seeing and great cloud of dust rising along the road. It was people, riding as fast as they could to hear Whitfield’s sermon. In one six week period, he preached a hundred different places, riding the main roads and back roads covering nearly 2,000 miles in just five months. Friends would beg him to rest, but he was compelled, he could not stop, and something very miraculous was happening.

For the first time denominational barriers were being broken down and all were accepting Christ in the same way. But, even more amazing, geographical barriers were also being broken down, and, suddenly, these barriers did not matter. The Americans were becoming one people. They were suddenly aware of themselves as one nation. A body of believers who had a national identity as a people chosen by God for a specific purpose – to be the light in a darkened world.

You see, God had given George Whitfield at tremendous task, to awaken the slumbering hearts of the American people. And he obeyed. Between 1736 in 1770, George Whitfield preached more than 18,000 sermons. Then, in 1770, his health now broken and his breathing tormented by asthma attacks, he drove himself as never before. he preached in Boston just five days after the Boston massacre. Then, went on to New Hampshire where it seemed the entire district had turned out to hear him.

As he stood to speak, it seemed he wasn't able. He was just too weak. So he paused to pray, his voice came out strong and clear. For an hour he preached with such power that the audience was spellbound. And on and on he went, into the second hour, seeming to look right into heaven. Then he stopped, absolutely exhausted. That night he had a fitful sleep. Then, that next morning, despite a crushing pain to the chest, nonetheless he pulled himself out of his bed to see one last dawn’s morning light. Then, George Whitfield died. He was gone to be with the Lord. But the new day would soon break and George Whitfield's job was complete: America was now a nation. One nation under God.

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