Don’t Join Unless You REALLY Mean it Warned Brodhead
[Above: Thomas Chambers (1808–1869) The Connecticut Valley / Wikimedia File:Thomas Chambers, The Connecticut Valley, mid 19th century, NGA 43630.jpg]
Early Methodists expected large turnings to Christ when they preached. Here is a report by John Brodhead, supervisor of the Methodist Societies in the Connecticut Valley. His efforts were especially concentrated in New Hampshire (where he lived and which he represented in Congress for a few years) and in neighboring Vermont. Here is a letter he wrote, dated this day, 18 May, 1801.
I can inform you that I have been an eye, an ear, and heartfelt witness of the work of God on Landau, Vershire, and Weathersfield circuits. Near four hundred have joined in [Methodist] society, the year past, on the three circuits; and the work goes on still in a most glorious and remarkable manner. Landaff circuit is all in a flame; upwards of one hundred have been converted to God: Our quarterly meetings are generally attended with the power of God, like a mighty rushing wind. On Vershire circuit there is a good work: more than one hundred have joined society, and the power of the Lord is remarkably displayed; many fall down overwhelmed with the power of the Lord, and great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of them.
Falling down was a common occurrence in the revivals of that period. Even people who came to mock often proved incapable of escaping the effect. Some who tried to run away fell before they had taken more than a few steps. Methodists generally attributed it to the power of God’s Spirit (as Brodhead does here), but skeptics said it was the power of suggestion at work. A few clergy blamed satanic influences. Not everyone who fell became a changed person, but many did. One person who experienced falling said it came on him with a sensation as if he’d hit his funny bone. Brodhead continued:
Weathersfield circuit has been gradually gaining ground the whole year... but nothing remarkable happened till we came to the little town of Athens. Here I preached on Tuesday to a large congregation in the open air: they heard me with great attention—there had been no society formed—it was proposed for me to preach again the next day, read the rules, and form a class. We had a most melting time; the power of the Lord was present to heal, and eighty-three came forward and joined society.
“Melting” was a term Methodists used to express the tenderness of heart that followed some preaching. It described a responsiveness to God’s word that led to repentance, forgiveness of others, and a general sense of love and fellowship. Methodists organized into societies, which were subdivided into classes (small groups) of six to twelve people who were expected to help each other walk in faith and keep each other stirred up with fervor for a continued Christian walk.
"Their eagerness to join alarmed me before they had all joined. I was afraid they had not considered sufficiently what they were doing." Here Brodhead may have been alluding to Christ’s warning (Luke 14:25-33) that those who follow him must count the cost.
I rose up and poured in upon them a very warm exhortation, and told them we wanted none but such as were determined to save their souls, and would evidence it by walking according to the rules of society. As soon as I ended, they came forward with streaming eyes, and desired to join till we made up the number of eighty-three.
Dozens of similar reports from Methodist ministers of that period can be found in Lorenzo Dow’s Extracts from original letters to the Methodist bishops, mostly from their preachers and members in North America. For more stories of the Methodist revivals, you can read “Cochran Heard a Voice Telling Him to TURN and Seek the Lord;” and “McKendree Heard the Plea, ‘Lord SEND Some of These Preachers.’”
—Dan Graves
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The Great Awakening: Spiritual Revival in Colonial America. Watch at RedeemTV
You can purchase The Great Awakening at Vision Video.
Christian History magazine has done several issues that mention eighteenth and nineteenth-century Methodist revivals. See for example CH45 Camp Meetings and Circuit Riders; CH114 Francis Asbury: Pioneer of Methodism; and CH151 Awakenings.
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