The following excerpt is one of several increasingly hostile reports on the Great Revival published in the annual minutes of the Presbyterian General Assembly in Philadelphia from 1803 to 1809. Click here to view related excerpts from the Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (1847).
The committee appointed to draw up and present to the house a summary of the information received in the Assembly, during the free conversation on the general state of religion, exhibited their report. The report having been read and amended, was adopted, and is as follows:
“The information which has been received respecting the state of religion within the bounds of the General Assembly during the last year, exhibits a variegated scene. Whilst on the one hand, it presents many things which are just cause of gratitude and rejoicing; on the other, it brings into view some calculated to produce humiliation and regret. In several congregations, particularly on Long Island, in the bounds of the Synod of Albany, and in the western parts of the Presbytery of New Brunswick, there have been considerable revivals of religion. The number of adults who have been received into the church in different parts, by baptism, as well as those who have been admitted to the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, has been considerable. Such as have been added to the church during the revivals which have taken place in times past, have generally, and indeed almost universally, proved steadfast in the faith, been progressive in their Christian course, and evidenced the sincerity of their profession by the holiness of their lives and conversation; whilst instances of apostasy have been very rare. Praying societies have been established in many places, and generally well attended. In those congregations which enjoy the preaching of the gospel, and the administration of its ordinances in a stated manner, there is generally manifested a growing attention to the things of religion. A more than usual anxiety, and more vigorous exertions have also been manifested by vacant congregations, to have the institutions of religion statedly among them. In several places, the highly important duty of catechizing has been more attended to than formerly, and has produced those salutary effects which we have reason to expect will always flow from it.
The prospects with respect to the Indians are highly encouraging. A school has been established among the Cherokees, in the state of Tennessee, under the care of the Rev. Mr. Blackburn, with flattering prospects. Some of the Indian tribes to the westward, seem also favourably disposed to receive the gospel, and have expressed an earnest desire to have schools established among them. The school among the Catawbas, established by the Synod of the Carolinas, is also continued. And several young men of different tribes have received, and are now receiving their education under the care of the Synod of Pittsburgh.
Whilst there is satisfactory evidence to believe, that there has been a great and glorious work of God carried on throughout a widely extended portion of country, to the south and west, within the bounds of the General Assembly, and that many souls have been savingly brought home to God, it is proper to observe that in general this has been accompanied with very uncommon and extraordinary effects on the body. There appears also reason to believe that in certain places, some instances of these bodily affections have been of such a nature, and proceeded to such lengths as greatly tended to impede the progress and to tarnish the glory of what, in its first stages, was so highly promising. That God has all the powers both of our mortal and immortal part, absolutely under his direction and subject to his control, and can influence and affect them according to his sovereign pleasure, will not be doubted by any who acknowledge him as the Framer of our bodies, and the Father of our spirits; and that in him we live, and move, and have our being.
Experience and the very reason and nature of things, also manifest that human nature may be deeply affected, and even overpowered by particular views and impressions of spiritual and divine things. But it is equally manifest that these effects may be, in a considerable degree, produced by natural causes, or by the agency of spiritual and subordinate beings. Satan may transform himself now, as well as formerly, into an angel of light. It is enjoined upon us not to believe every spirit, but to try the spirits whether they be of God. As the magicians endeavoured by their enchantments to imitate and discredit the miracles performed by Moses; so has it been an artifice of Satan in every period of the church, to endeavour to obstruct and bring a reproach upon a revival of religion, by counterfeiting the operations of the Spirit of God, and exciting those who were concerned in such revival, to extravagant and disorderly proceedings. True religion is a most rational and scriptural thing. One of the unhappy circumstances usually attending a revival of religion is, that some who are engaged in it, are prone to consider all its concomitants, and everything connected with it, as sacred. This affords the adversary an opportunity unsuspected, of sowing tares among the wheat, to the great prejudice of the approaching harvest. In times of the revival of religion, it highly concerns us carefully to guard against grieving the Holy Spirit of God, and provoking him to suspend or withdraw his gracious influences, either by resisting, or not duly improving his operations, or by yielding to the suggestions and influences of Satan. All religious experience is to be brought to the test of divine truth. To the law and to the testimony, if it be not conformable to these, it is because it is spurious. God is a God of order and not of confusion; and whatever tends to destroy the comely order of his worship, is not from him, for he is consistent with himself. Whilst then the General Assembly mourn over and lament those irregular and disorderly proceedings which have taken place in some parts, and which have tended to obscure and tarnish the glory of this good work of God, they rejoice that in general they appear to subside, that the minds of the people are reverting to more rational and spiritual views and exercises; that but few of the ministers in their connection, have countenanced or encouraged these wild extravagances, or considered any bodily exercises as a criterion, by which to form a judgment of a person’s character or state, but have formed their opinion in this case from the conformity of their views and exercises to the word of God. The Assembly are happy to find that the pernicious and destructive principles of infidelity, and “philosophy falsely so called “ continue to lose their influence, or are less avowed; whilst at the same time, they have cause to lament that formality and lukewarmness in religion seem to prevail in some of our churches, and that the sacred institutions of the gospel are attended with so little power. Multitudes continue careless and secure, perishing in ignorance and in sin, whilst “the love of many waxes cold.” A respectful and serious attention however to the institutions of religion seems pretty generally to have prevailed, and an increasing union and harmony in societies which are composed of Presbyterians and Congregationalists. We are also happy to learn by the delegates from our sister churches of Connecticut, that the highly useful practice of catechizing has been more than commonly attended to among them, that their churches are in peace, and there is a generally increased attention to the things of religion among them.
Source
Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United State of America: From Its Organization A. D. 1789 to A. D. 1820 Inclusive (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, [1847]), 333–335.
