ral otlier towns in the country.

1 am far from pretending (continues our author) to be able to deter-
mine how many have lately been the subjects of such mercy ; but if I
may be allowed to declare an}- thing that appears to me probable in a
thing of this nature, I hope that more than three hundred souls were
savingly brought home to Christ in this town, in the space of half a
year, and about the same number of males as females. I hope also
that by far the greater part of persons in this town, above 16 years of
age, are such as have the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ ; and so by
wliat I have heard, I suppose it is in some other places, particularly at
Sunderland and South Hadley. T suppose there were upwards of Hftj-
persons in this town above forty years of age ; and more than twenty
of them above fifty, and about ten of them above sixty, and two of
them above seventy years of years. Nearly thirty were to appearance
s» wrought upon between ten and fourteen years of age, and two be-
tween nine and ten, and one of about four years of age.

The work of God's Spirit seemed to be at it greatest height in this
town, in the former part of the spring ; at w hich time the conversion
of souls was carried oa amongst us in so wonderful a manner, that so
far as I can judge from the particular acquaintance 1 have had with
souls in this work, it appears to me probable to have been at the rate,
at least, of four persons in a day, or nearly thirty in a week, taking one
witli another, for five or six weeks together. When God in so remark-
able a maniier took the work into liis own hands, there w as as much
done in a day or two, as at ordinary times, with all endeavours that
men can use, and with such a blessing as we commonly have, is done
in a year.

[Narrative, p. 14.— 29.

While wc are considering the wonderful works of God in America,
we cannot persuade ourselves to omit the remarkable success which
attended the ministry of the excellent Mr. Whitefield in ditierent parts
of America, in the years 1738, 1740, and 177U, where incredible num-
bers attended his ministry, and much good was done. It may be need-
less to mention, that in Georgia he founded an orphan house on a plan
similiar to that of Professor Franck, above mentioned. Also in the
}ear 1761 the gospel was remarkably succeeded in Long Island. At
East Hampton only, where a Mr. Bull was minister, nearly two hun-
dred appeared to be truly converted, with circumstances nearly similar
to the great work mentioned by President Edwards. At Huntingdon,
Smith Town, Bridge Ham^tUii. and Southhold also, the like work was
carried on to the glory of di\in grace, and the salvation of multi-
tudes



TO THE FALL OF ANTICHRIST. 315

success of Christ's purchase. This I would do by-
showing how things now are, compared witli the
first times of the Reformation ; observing wherein
the state of things is changed for the worse, and
how it is altered for the better.

[1] I would show wherein the state of things is
altered from what it was in the beginning of the
Reformation, for the worse ; and it is so especially
in these three respects.

First, the Reformed church is much diminished.
The reformation formerly, as was observed before,
was supposed to take place through one half of
Christendom, excepting the Greek church ; but now
the Protestant church is much diminished. Here-
tofore there have been many famous protestant
churches in different parts of France who used to
meet together in synods, and maintain a regular dis-
cipline ; and great part of that kingdom were pro-
testants ; the protestant church of France was a
great part of the glory of the Reformation. But
now it is far otherwise : this church is all broken
to pieces and scattered. The protestant religion is
almost wholly rooted out of that kingdom by the
cruel persecutions which have taken place, and there
are now but very few protestant assemblies in all
that kingdom, the protestant interest is also great-
ly diminished in Germany. There were several
sovereign princes formerly who were protestants,
whose successors are now papists ; particularly, the
Elector Palatine, and the Elector of Saxony. The
kingdom of Bohemia was formerly a protestant king-
dom, but is now in the hands of the papists. Hun-
gary was also formerly a protestant country ; but the
protestants there have been greatly reduced, and
indeed subdued by persecution. And the protestant
interest has no way remarkably gained ground of
late on the church of Rome.

Another thing wherein the state of things is altered
for the worse, from what was in the former times of
the Reformation, is the prevalence of licentious prin-
ciples and opinions. There is not now that spirit



316 HISTORY OF REDEMPTION.

of orthodoxy as formerly ; there is very little ap
pearance of zeal for the mysterious and spiritual
doctrines of Christianity; and they never were sc
ridiculed, and had in contempt, as they are in the
present age, and especially in England, the principal
kingdom ot" the Reformation. In this kingdom,
those principles on which the power of godliness
depends, are in a great measure exploded, and Arian-
ism, Socinianism, Arminianism, and Deism, prevail
and carry almost all before them.* History gives
no account of any age wherein there was so great
an apostasy of those who had been brought up under
the light of the gospel ; never was there such a
rejection of all revealed religion : never in any age
was there so much scoffing at and ridiculing the gos-
pel of Christ, by those who have been brought up
under gospel-light, as at this day.

Another thing in which things are altered for the
worse is, that there is much less of the prevalency
of the power of godliness, than there was at the
beginning of the Reformation. A glorious out-
pouring of the Spirit of God accompanied the first
reformation, not only to convert multitudes in so
short a time from popery to the true religion, but to
turn many to God and true godliness. Religion
gloriously flourished in one country and another, as
most remarkably appeared in those times of terrible
persecution, which have already been spoken of.
But now there is a great decay of vital piety, which
is contemptuously called enthusiasm and fanaticism.
Those who are truly religious, are commonly looked

* Since the time that the above was written, there has happily been
a great change in the relig-ious state of this country. Deism, though
inveterate in the minds of a few, is generally discountenanced. Arian
ism is nearly extinct, and is nowhere professed by any distinct body
of christians. Socinianism is fast hastening to perdition, and cannot
long survive the death-blows that have been given it by the labours of
a Fuller and a Wardlaw. And as to Arminianism, it is not the same
thing that it was a century ago : amongst the Wesley ans particularly
it has infused into it a large portion of genuine piety, and embraces all
the essentials of the gospel. Missionary Societies and Bible Societies
have also given to the present age a character wliich this country did
not possess in the days of President Edwards, when revivals in rohgion
were chiefly confined to the American continent.



TO THE FALL OF ANTICHRIST. 317

upon to be crack-brained, and beside themselves ;
and vice and profaneness dreadfully prevail, like a
flood which threatens to bear down all before it.

But I proceed to show, secondly, in what respect
things are altered for the better. First, the power
and influence of the Pope is much diminished. Al-
though, since the former times of the reformation,
he has gained ground in extent of dominion ; yet
he has lost in degree of influence. The vial which
in the beginning of the Reformation was poured out
on the throne of the beast, to the great diminishing
of his power and authority in the world, has conti-
nued running ever since. The pope, soon after the
reformation, became less regarded by the princes of
Europe than he had been before. Many of the
popish princes themselves seem to regard him very
little more than they think will serve their own
designs ; of which there have been several remark-
able proofs and instances of late.

There is far less persecution now than there was
in the early times of the reformation. You have
heard already how dreadfully persecution raged in
former times, aiid there is something of it still.
Some parts of the protestant church are at this day
mider persecution, and some probably will be so
until the church's suffering and travail is at an end,
which will not be till the fall of antichrist. But it
is now in no measure as it was heretofore. The
same spirit of persecution does not prevail, it is
more out of fashion even in popish countries. The
wickedness of the enemies of Christ, and the oppo-
sition against his cause, seem to run in another
channel. The humour now is, to despise and laugh
at all religion, and to indulge a spirit of indifference
about it. However, so far the state of things is bet-
ter than it has been, that there is so much less of
persecution.

There is also a great increase of learning. In the
dark times of popery before the reformation, learning
was so far decayed, that the world seemed to be over-
run with barbarous ignorance. Their very priests



318 HISTORY OF KEDEMPTION.

were many of them grossly ignorant. Learning be-
gan to revive with the reformation, which was owing
very much to the art of printing, which was invented
a little before that time ; and since then, learning
has encreased more and more, and at this day is
undoubtedly raised to a greater height than ever it
was before. And though but little good use is made
of it by the greater part of learned men, yet its in-
crease is of considerable importance, because it is
capable of being an excellent handmaid to divinity,
and is a talent which, if God gives men a heart,
affords them an opportunity to do great things for
the advancement of the kingdom of Christ, and the
good of souls. That learning and knowledge should
greatly encrease before the glorious times of the
gospel, seems to be foretold in Dan. xii. 4. * But
thou, oh Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the
book, even to the time of the end : many shall run
to and fro, and knowledge shall be encreased.' And
however little now learning is applied to the ad-
vancement of religion, we may hope that the days
are approaching wherein God will make great use
of it for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ.

God in his providence now seems to be acting
over again the same part which he did a little be-
fore Christ came, when learning greatly prevailed
and was at a greater height than ever it had been
before ; and yet wickedness never prevailed more
than then. God was pleased to suffer human learn-
ing to come to such a height before he sent the gos-
pel into the world, that they might see the insuf-
ficiency of their own wisdom for obtaining the
knowledge of God ; and when the gospel had pre-
vailed first without the help of human wisdom, then
God was pleased to make use of learning as a
handmaid. So now learning is at a height beyond
what it was in the age when Christ appeared ; and
yet men trusting to their learning, are groping in
the day time as in the night. Learned men are ex-
ceedingly divided in their opinions concerning mat-
ters of religion, and run into all manner of pernicious



TO THE lALI, or ANTICHRIST 319

errors. They scorn to siibinit their reason to divir.e
revelation, to believe any thing that is above their
comprehension ; and so being wise in their own
eyes, they become fools, and even vain in their
imaginations, and turn the truth of God into a lie,
and their foolish hearts are darkened. Rom. i. 21.

Yet when God has sufficiently shown men the in-
sufficiency of human wisdom and learning for the
})urposes of religion, and when the appointed time
comes for that glorious outpouring of the Spirit of
God, when he will himself by his own immediate
influence enlighten mens' minds; then may we hope
that God will make use of the great encrease of
learning, as the means of a glorious advancement of
the kingdom of his Son. Then shall human learning
be subservient to the understanding of the scrip-
tures, and to a clear explanation and a glorious de-
fence of the doctrines of Christianity. And there is
no doubt to be made of it, that God in his provi-
dence has of late given the world the art of printing,
and such a great encrease of learning, to prepare for
what he designs to accomplish for his church in the
a])proaching days of its prosperity.



Having now shown how the work of redemption
has been carried on from the fall of man to the pre-
sent time, before I proceed any further, I would
make some Application.

From what has been said, we may see great evi-
dence of the truth of the christian religion, and that
the scriptures are the words of God. Three argu-
ments in proof of this, may be drawn from what has
i^een said.

(1) It may be argued from that violent and inve-
terate opposition which has always appeared, of the
wickedness of the world against this religion. The
religion that God's people have professed from the
first, has always been the same as to its essentials.
The church of God from the beginning forms but
one society. The christian church which has been
since Christ's ascension, is manifestly the s'^me



320 MI STORY Ol UEDEMPTIOX.

society with the church before Christ came : they
are built on the same foundation. The revelation
on which both have depended is essentially the same,
only the subjects of it are now more clearly revealed
in the New Testament than they were in the Old.
The church before the flood was built on the foun-
dation of those revelations of Christ which were
given to Adam, Abel, Enoch, and others of that
period. The church after the flood was built on the
revelations made to Noah, Abraham, Melchisedek,
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, and other holy men.
After this the church depended on the scriptures
themselves as they gradually encreased ; so that the
church of God has always been built on the founda-
tion of divine revelations which were essentially the
same, and are summarily comprehended in the holy
scriptures.

Hence the opposition which has been made to the
church of God in all ages, has always been against
the same religion, and the same revelation. Now
therefore the violent and perpetual opposition that
has ever been made by the corruption and wicked-
ness of mankind against the church is a strong argu-
ment of the truth of this religion, and the revelation
upon which the church has always been built.
Contraries are well argued from one another. We
may well and safely argue that a thing is good, ac-
cording to the degree in which evil opposes it.
Now it is evident, that the wicked world has had a
perpetual hatred to the church and her religion, and
has made most violent opposition against it.

That the church of God has always met with great
opposition in the world, none can deny. This is
plain from profane history, so high as that reaches ;
and before that, divine history gives us the same
account. The church of God, and its religion and
worship, began to be opposed in the time of Cain
and Abel, and was so when the earth was filled with
violence in Noah's days. After this, the church was
opposed in Egypt ; and Israel was always hated by
the nations round about, agreeable to that text,



TO THE FALL Ol- ANTICHRIST. 321

Jer. xii. 9. ' Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled
bird, the birds round about are against her/ After
the Babylonish captivity, the church was persecuted
by Antiochus Epiphanes and others. And how was
Christ persecuted when on earth ; and the apostles
and other christians by the Jews, before the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem. Dreadful also was the opposition
of the heathen world against the christian church
before the time of Constantine. And since that,
still more violent, spiteful, and cruel has been the
opposition of antichrist.— There is no such instance
of opposition to any other religion. Other profes-
sions have enjoyed their religions in peace and quiet-
ness, however they have diifered from their neigh-
bours. One nation has worshipped one set of gods,
and others another, without molesting or disturbing
one another about it. All the spite and opposition
has been against the religion of the church of Christ,
as though they could never satisfy their cruelty.
They put their inventions upon the rack to find out
torments that should be cruel enough ; and yet their
thirst has never been satisfied with blood.

So that it is out of doubt, that this religion, and
the scriptures, have always been malignantly op-
posed in the world. The"^only question is, whether
it be the wickedness and corruption of the world or
not, that has done this ? But of this there can be
no more doubt than of the other, if we consider how
causeless this cruelty has always been, who were
the opposers, and the manner in which they acted.
The opposition has chiefly been from heathenism
and popery ; which are both of them very evil, and
the fruits of the blindness, corruption, and wicked-
ness of men, as the very deists themselves confess.
The light of nature shows that the religion of hea-
thens, consisting in the worship of idols, and sacri-
ficing their children to them, and in obscene and
abominable rites and ceremonies, is wickedness
itself. And the superstitious idolatries and usurpa-
tions of the church of Rome, are no less contrary to
the light of reason. It hence appears, that the
2 T



322 HISTORY OF REUEMPTIOX.

opposition against the church of God has been made
by wicked men. And with regard to the opposition
of the Jews in Christ's and the apostles' times, it
was when the people were generally become ex-
ceedingly wicked, as Josephus and other Jewish
writers who lived about that time acknowledge.
And that it has been mere wickedness that has
made this opposition, is manifest from the manner
of the opposition, the extreme violence, injustice,
and cruelty, with which the church of God has been
treated, ft seems to show the hand of maligniant
infernal spirits in it.

Now what reason can be assigned, why the cor-
ruption and wickedness of the world should so
implacably set itself against the religion of Jesus
Christ, and against the scriptures, but only that
they are contrary to wickedness, and consequently
good and holy ? Why should the enemies of Christ,
for so many thousand years together, manifest such
a mortal hatred of this religion, unless it were the
cause of God ? If the scriptures be not the word
of God, and the religion of the church of Christ be
not the true religion, then it must follow, that it is
nothing but an imposture and delusion invented by
the enemies of God themselves. And if this were
so, it is not likely that the enemies of God, and the
wickedness of the world, would have maintained
such a perpetual and implacable enmity against it.

(2) It is a great argument that the christian church
and its religion is from God, that it has been up-
held hitherto through all the opposition and dangers
it has met with. That the church of God and the
true religion, which has been so continually and
violently opposed, with so many endeavours to over-
throw it, and which has so often been brought to
the brink of ruin, and almost swallowed up, through
the greatest part of six thousand years, has yet been
upheld, does most remarkably show the hand of
God in favour of it. This, if properly considered,
will appear one of the greatest wonders and mira-
cl<^s that ever came to pass: there is nothing like



TO THE FALL OF AXT[CH1UST. 323

it upon the face of the earth. As to the old world
before the flood, that was overthrown by a deluge
of waters ; but the church of God was still preserv-
ed. Satan's visible kingdom on earth was then
entirely overthrown ; but the visible kingdom Christ
never has been. All the ancient monarchies of for-
mer ages, are long since come to an end ; they have
all grown old, and have vanished away. ' The
moth has eaten them up like a garment, and the
worm has eaten them like wool ; ' but God's church
still remains.

Never were there such potent endeavours to de
stroy any thing else, as there has been to destroy
the church. Other kingdoms and societies of men,
which have appeared to be ten times as strong as
the church of God, have been destroyed with a
hundredth part of the opposition which the church
of God has met with. This shows that it is God
who has been the protector of the church, for it is
most plain that it has not upheld itself by its own
strength ; for the most part it has been a very weak
society. The children of Israel were but a small
handful of people, in comparison of those who often
sought their overthrow. In Christ's time, and in
the beginning of the christian church after his resur-
rection, they were but a remnant, while the whole
multitude of the Jewish nation were against them.
And so in the beginning of the Gentile church ; they
were but a small number in comparison with their
heathen persecutors. Also in the dark time of anti-
christ, before the reformation, they were but a hand-
ful ; and yet their enemies could not overthrow
them. And it has commonly happened that the
enemies of the church have not only had the great-
est number, but also the civil authority on theii
side. Israel were only slaves to the Egyptians, and
yet they could not destroy them. Likewise in the
time of Antiochus Epiphanes, under the heathen
Roman government, and for the most part since the
rise of antichrist, the civil power was all on the side
of the persecutors, and the church seemed to be ir



324 HISTORY OF REDEMPTION.

their hands. And not only has the strength of the
enemies of the church been greatest, but ordinarily
the church has not used what strength they had in
their own defence, but have committed themselves
wholly to God. So it was in the Jewish persecu-
tions before the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Romans ; and in the heathen persecutions before
Constantine, the christians did not attempt to make
any forcible resistance to their heathen persecutors.
So it has for the most part been under the popish
persecutors, and yet they have never been able to
overthrow the church of God ; but it stands to this
very day.

This is still the more wonderful, if we consider
how often the church has been brought to the brink
of ruin, and the case seemed to be desperate. In
the time of the old world, wickedness so prevailed,
that but one religious family was left. At the Red
Sea, when Pharaoh and his host thought they were
quite sure of their prey ; and from time to time in
the church of Israel, God delivered them, as has
been shown. Thus under the tenth and last hea-
then persecution, their enemies boasted that they
had destroyed the christians, and overthrown the
church : yet in the midst of their triumph, the
christian church rises out of the dust and prevails,
and the heathen empire totally falls before it. So
when the christian church seemed ready to be swal-
lowed up by Arianism, — when antichrist rose and
prevailed, and all the world wondered after the
beast, and the church for many hundred years was
reduced to a very small number, and the power of
the world was engaged to destroy them ; yet they
could never fully accomplish their design, and at
last God wonderfully revived his church in the time
of the Reformation, and made it to stand as it were
on its feet in the sight of its enemies, and raised it
out of their reach. And so since, when the Popish
powers have plotted the overthrow of the Reformed
church, and have seemed just about to bring their
matters to a conclusion, and to finish their design,



TO THE FALL OF AXTICHRIST. 325

then God has wonderfully appeared for the deliver
ance of his church, as it was in the revolution by
King William. Thus it has been from time to time ;
presently after the darkest times, God has made his
church most gloriously to flourish.

If the preservation of the church of God, horn
the beginning of the world hitherto, attended with
such circumstances, is not sufficient to show a di-
vine hand in favour of it, what can be devised that
would be so ? But if this be from the divine hand,
then God owns the church and her religion, and
those scriptures on which she is built : and so it
will follow, that this is the true religion, and that
the scriptures are God's word.

(3) We may draw a further argument for the di-
vine authority of the scriptures from the fulfilment
of those things which they have foretold. — I have