The Awakening of 1727 Onward - Part 4 — J. Edwin Orr

The Revival Spreads from the Dutch Reformed to the Scotch-Irish

In New Jersey under Prelinghausen. It spread from the Dutch Reformed to the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. Now most Americans must understand the word Scotch-Irish. They think, well that means his mother was Scotch, his father was Irish.

No, no, the Scotch-Irish are the North of Ireland people. Largely Presbyterian. Very rugged lot. I remember reading in the history of the Allegheny Presbytery the prayer of a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian elder in the Kirk Session.

He prayed, Grant, O Lord, that I may always be right. For thou knowest, Lord, that I am hard to turn. I thought that was a very good Presbyterian prayer. Now the revival spread from the Dutch Reformed through a man called Gilbert Tennant to the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians who spoke English with a Scotch-Irish accent.

The Log College and the Birth of Princeton

They had so many candidates for the ministry they started a little log college just north of Philadelphia in a place called Nishimene. That log college Whitfield visited and described for us. And he said that from it were going forth many faithful servants of Jesus.

Just a rough log college. That college grew and grew until today it's known as Princeton University. Do you know that most of American universities, the old ones, came out of that revival? I won't go into all the details, but most of them came out of that revival.

The Great Awakening Among the Baptists

It spread from the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians to the Baptists. Before the Great Awakening there weren't more than 500 Baptists in the colonies. Now they've got 21 million. You can trace them right back to that revival.

Jonathan Edwards and the Arrival of George Whitfield

Then it jumped north and broke out in Northampton, Massachusetts under Jonathan Edwards in that great revival of 1738. And then it began to spread. And then who should arrive but George Whitfield. George Whitfield was on a sailing ship headed for Philadelphia, but it landed in North Carolina.

They weren't very exact in those days. He meant to get to Philadelphia, so he had to go the rest of the way by horse. But when he started preaching, he had phenomenal response. Benjamin Franklin said his preaching was the most powerful he'd ever heard.

George Whitfield’s Orphanage Collection

Benjamin Franklin once was talking to George Whitfield. Whitfield said, I'm going to start an orphanage in Savannah. Franklin said, you're crazy. Not Savannah. Way down there. Philadelphia is the center of all the colonies.

Now you build it here and I'll help you financially. Whitfield said, God has spoken to me and I'm going to start it in Savannah. So Benjamin Franklin said he's not going to get any money from me. Now he went to one of these meetings and he saw that George Whitfield was going to take up a collection for his orphanage.

He said in his pocket he had a five dollar gold piece, some silver dollars, and some copper. But he determined not to give anything. He didn't approve. But when the plate was passed, he relented and decided to put in the copper.

George Whitfield was preaching so powerfully he decided, well I'll give him the silver as well. And finally he put in gold, silver, and copper and everything. He said that man could really preach. Now what was the result of this awakening?

The Awakening’s Transformation of the Colonies and England

It completely turned the colonies around from being a frontier society to being a godly nation again. And what was it affect in England? It was the great event of that century. It turned the english-speaking people towards God.

Remembering Revival for Future Generations

Now some people say, well why do we have to talk about these things that happened such a long time ago? Very simple. The scripture tells us to tell our children and our children's children what God has done.

Why? That they may not forget his commandments. They might put their trust in God. He will answer in due course. You'll find many, many times revival has broken out among God's people when they heard of what God has done and what God can do.

Now that's only part of my message. I want to give you the rest a little later.