JUST PRECEDING OUR AMERICAN REVOLUTION WHEN OUR FOUNDING FATHERS LIKE GEORGE WASHINGTON, JOHN ADAMS, THOMAS JEFFERSON, AND JAMES MADISON WERE LESS THAN 10 YEARS OLD, THERE WAS A GREAT RELIGIOUS AWAKENING, FOR THE MOST PART IGNITED IN JONATHON EDWARD’S CHURCH IN NORTH HAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS. ALSO GEORGE WHITEFIELD A YOUNG EVANGELIST FROM ENGLAND CONTRIBUTED GREATLY TO THIS GREAT RELIGIOUS AWAKENING, PREACHING OVER 18,000 SERMONS, MOSTLY IN THE FIELDS FROM 1740-1770. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, WHO WAS NOT A CHRISTIAN BUT A GOOD FRIEND OF GEORGE WHITEFIELD, FOR HE PRINTED HIS SERMONS SAID THIS ABOUT HIM: In 1739 arrived among us from Ireland the Reverend Mr. Whitefield,1 who had made himself remarkable there as an itinerant preacher. He was at first permitted to preach in some of our churches; but the clergy, taking a dislike to him, soon refus’d him their pulpits, and he was oblig’d to preach in the fields. The multitudes of all sects and denominations that attended his sermons were enormous, and it was matter of speculation to me, who was one of the number, to observe the extraordinary influence of his oratory on his hearers, and how much they admir’d and respected him, notwithstanding his common abuse of them, by assuring them they were naturally HALF BEASTS(BECAUSE OF THE EVIL PROCLIVITIES OF THEIR HEART) and half devils(BECAUSE THEY WERE BORN INTO THIS WORLD WITH SATAN AS THEIR SPIRITUAL FATHER). It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seem’d as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk thro’ the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ALSO WRITES ABOUT HOW LARGE A CROWD GEORGE WHITEFIELD COULD DRAW: “He had a loud and clear Voice, and articulated his Words and Sentences so perfectly that he might be heard and understood at a great Distance, especially as his Auditors [audience], however numerous, observ’d the most exact Silence.
He preach’d one Evening from the Top of the Court House Steps, which are in the middle of Market Street, and on the West Side of Second Street which crosses it at right angles.
Both Streets were fill’d with his Hearers to a considerable Distance.
Being among the hindmost in Market Street, I had the Curiosity to learn how far he could be heard, by retiring backwards down the Street towards the River; and I found his Voice distinct till I came near Front Street, when some Noise in that Street, obscur’d it. Imagining then a Semicircle, of which my Distance should be the Radius, and that it were fill’d with Auditors, to each of whom I allow’d two square feet, I computed that he might well be heard by more than 30,000. This reconcil’d me to the Newspaper Accounts of his having preach’d to 25,000 People in the Fields, and to the ancient Histories of Generals haranguing whole Armies, of which I had sometimes doubted.” BY 1746 JONATHON EDWARDS BECAME KEENLY AWARE THAT SATAN HAD SOWED MANY TARES AMONGST THE WHEAT, THAT IS ALMOST CHRISTIANS AMONGST THE TRUE CHRISTIAN TO DELUDE THE GREAT AWAKENING, AND THUS JONATHON EDWARDS WROTE A TREATISE ENTITLED RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS TO HELP THE COLONISTS TO DETERMINE IF THEY WERE AN ALMOST CHRISTIAN OR A TRUE CHRISTIAN: WE ARE IN PART 5 IN THIS LENGTHY TREATISE WHICH DISTINGUISHES THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN AND THE TRUE CHRISTIAN WHICH IS AN ABSOLUTE NECESSARY READ FOR BOTH OF US AS NATURAL MAN AMERICANS, ALMOST CHRISTIAN AMERICANS, AND TRUE CHRISTIAN AMERICANS TO HELP US TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT WE AS AMERICANS ARE RUGHT WITH GOD. THIS TREATISE DEMONSTRATES SCRIPTURALLY, THE MYRIAD OF WAYS WE CAN BE DECEIVED INTO BEING A TRUE CHRISTIAN WHEN IN REALITY WE ARE ONLY AN ALMOST CHRISTIAN. SATAN IS RELENTLESS IN SOWING TARES AMONGST THE WHEAT AND JESUS HIMSELF MAKES THIS CLEAR IN MATTHEW 13:36-43