Revival Locations

We are in the Evangelism Awakening Revival Institutes, and if you'll turn in your handouts to Session 7, Revival Locations. In conducting research while writing my books on revival, I had to travel personally to the actual scenes of historical revival. These revival locations were both humbling and inspiring to me, and I want to share with you friends some of these locations so you can visit them as well.

In Exeter, New Hampshire, in the town square is a boulder with the name Whitfield on it, and this engraved stone marks the spot where George Whitfield preached his last sermon. He preached in the open air in a field to 4,000 hearers. He was ill and would die the next morning, and as he slowly made his way through the crowd, a minister commented, Mr. Whitfield, you look more fit for bed than to preach, to which the great evangelist replied, true sir, but I would rather wear out than rust out.

There, that autumn day of September 29th, 1770, Whitfield stood atop two barrels and preached from his text, examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith. His voice rose above the immense crowd as a fire seemed to possess him as he cried out, oh works, works, a man get to heaven by works. I would as soon think of climbing to the moon on a rope of sand.

Well, if you're interested in other places that George Whitfield preached in America, I have photographs of these revival locations, and they can be found in my two-volume definitive biography on his life, as well as photos of the home he died in and the crypt he is buried in, both in the town of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Well, in the town of Schenectady, New York, a powerful revival occurred under the preaching of Asahel Nettleton. The revival began on the campus of Union College and spread to the town.

God used the death of one of the students at the college to confront the young people with eternity. At the home of one of the professors, Dr. McCauley, the corpse was laid out in the drawing room. Well, Asahel Nettleton was a house guest at the time, and he described in his diary the solemn scene that occurred as students gathered around the corpse to pray.

That very home still stands on campus today at Union College, and I have a photo of it in my biography on Asahel Nettleton. I want to read you an account of the remarkable revival that gripped the town of Schenectady in 1820. Here now are the words of Asahel Nettleton, as I've copied them from his personal papers at Hartford Seminary, as he described the revival scenes.

The revival is now very powerful in the city. Such a scene they never before witnessed. More than 100 have been brought to rejoice in hope.

Besides these, we had more than 200 in our meeting of inquiry, anxious for their souls. We met in a large upper room called the Masonic Hall. The room was so crowded that we were obliged to request all who had recently found relief to retire below and spend their time in prayer for those above.

This evening will never be forgotten. The scene is beyond description. Did you ever witness 200 sinners with one accord in one place, weeping for their sins? Until you have seen this, you can have no adequate conceptions of the solemn scene.

I felt as though I was standing on the verge of the eternal world, while the floor under my feet was shaken by the trembling of anxious souls in view of a judgment to come. Well, Asahel Nettleton went from there to preach in the First Presbyterian Church in Schenectady, where his good friend Dr. McCauley was the pastor, and a powerful revival broke out there that spread through the town like a prairie fire that church is still standing and can be visited today. It's vitally important, friends, to study historical revivals, and if possible, go visit those very scenes yourself.

I've often stood at David Brainerd's grave in Bridge Street Cemetery in Northampton, Massachusetts, and it's a solemn exercise in appreciating what God has done in former times. Andrew Bonar visited the grave of Brainerd and recorded in his diary that as he reflected on the great work that God had done in the town of Northampton, he said, that my heart was stirred within me. And that will happen to you, friends, as you visit these scenes as well.

David Brainerd died in the home of Jonathan Edwards, and it was Edwards who read the eulogy that day at the town cemetery as stood by Brainerd's earth of remains. And I want to read you an extract from Brainerd's diary. He wrote, Went to the meeting house, ashamed to see, and he come here, such an unspeakable worthless wretch.

However, God enabled me to speak with clearness, power, and pungency. Visiting Brainerd's grave is a solemn experience, one you will never forget. One of the most powerful times in my life, when I felt God moving in my life, occurred at the grave of D.L. Moody in Northville, Massachusetts.

I spent the entire day in solitude, sitting on the porch of the home of Moody that he was born in, and staring through the windows of the home he died in, and walking the campus of the school he founded. God told Jacob to go back to Bethel, and I believe, friends, that God keeps a record of the very scenes where he has moved in former times. It is thrilling to visit historical scenes revival, and it refuels one's entire ministry purpose to glorify God and win souls to Christ.

In the town of Anfield, Connecticut, is a stone marker in a field, and it reads, This boulder marks the place where stood the second meeting house of the First Church of Christ in Anfield, built A.D. 1704, and used for worship until 1775. In this meeting house, on July 8, 1741, during the revival known as the Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards preached a celebrated sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Well, I have walked that hallowed ground, and paced back and forth across that little field where that stone marker is, and I contemplated the powerful revival that occurred there, and I witnessed a count of one who was there, as Edwards preached, is as follows.

We went over to Anfield, where we met dear Mr. Edwards of Northampton, who preached a most awakening sermon from these words, Deuteronomy 32-35, and before the sermon was done, there was a great moaning and crying out through the whole house, What shall I do to be saved? Oh, I am going to hell. Oh, what shall I do for Christ? So ye minister was obliged to desist. Ye shrieks and cries were piercing and amazing.

I will stop there, friends. The benefits gained from the study of revival are immense. I encourage each of you to devote the time necessary to learn as much as you can about revival.

You will never regret it. For further study, I refer you to my biographies on Whitfield and Nettleton, where I list the locations where these men labored in scenes of remarkable revival. This ends our session.

Let us prepare for session eight.