Wednesday, January 14, 2009

A preternatural and invisible hand

Morgan Edwards in his work on Baptists in 1771 declared "I believe a preternatural and invisible hand operates in the assemblies of the Separate-Baptists bearing down the human mind, as was the case in primitive churches. I Cor.14:25." In the Ketocton Baptist Association in 1816 a writer commenting on what had occurred in the past 50 years remarked that while it was not miraculous, it was something remarkably like it. There are descriptions of the power of Heaven coming down in those early assemblies. Some times the power convicted of sin and filled hearts with the fear of the judgment to come. At other times, there was a sense of such love and joy, the persons experiencing the visitation could scarcely contain themselves. Now all of this was in conjunction with faithful preaching of the doctrines of grace. Two things are noted in the case of the First and Second Great Awakenings, namely, the theology preached and the visitation of the Divine presence. The two in conjunction seem to utterly transform neighborhoods, people, conduct, etc. This is the source of why the South became such a church going part of the nation.

1 comment:

  1. I have been following your posts. You seem to have a lot of wisdom and a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. I would love to hear more of your history. It is interesting that you converted from atheism to Christianity in 1957. I was converted in 1954, but I had the background of Christian parents and nurturing neighbors and friends. You say a vision/hallucination was the reason for your conversion. I would like to hear more of that experience. I am praying for that Third Great Awakening as I know you are. You say you had a wife for 39 years. I assume that she is no longer with you. My husband and I have been married 50 years, and we have been serving GOD in the same church for over 48 years. My husband is from KY. We met and married in GA, but have been living in TN since 1961. I enjoy reading your comments on the SBC blog. Thank you for your intense answers and great insight.
    Ruby Brown

    ReplyDelete