WHICH HAS OF LATE BEEN GOING ON IN THIS LAND, IS A GLORIOUS WORK OF GOD, Page SECT. II. The Latter-Day Glory is probably to begin in America, 244 SECT. III. The danger of not acknowledging and encouraging, and especially of deriding this Work, 252 SECT. IV. The obligations of Rulers, Ministers, and all sorts to promote this Work, 271 PART III. SHOWING, IN MANY INSTANCES, WHEREIN THE PART IV. SHOWING WHAT THINGS ARE TO BE CORRECTED SECT. I. One cause of errors attending a great Revival of 293 331 338 1 SECT. II. Another cause of errors in conduct attending a Religious Revival, is the adoption of wrong Principles, SECT. III. A third cause of errors in conduct, is being ignorant or unobservant of some things, by which the devil has special advantage, 366 404 SECT. IV. Some particular Errors that have risen from several of the preceding causes-Censuring others, 426 SECT. V. Of errors connected with lay-exhorting, 440 SECT. VI. Of errors connected with singing praises to God, 449 PART V. SHOWING POSITIVELY, WHAT OUGHT TO BE DONE 458 SECT. I. We should endeavour to remove stumbling-blocks, 458 SECT. II. What must be done more directly to advance this Work, 466 SECT. III. Of some particulars that concern all in general, 485 PREFACE. THE friendly correspondence which we maintain with our Brethren of New England, gives us now and then the pleasure of hearing some remarkable instances of divine grace in the conversion of sinners, and some eminent examples of piety in that American part of the world. But never did we hear or read, since the first ages of Christianity, any event of this kind, so surprising as the present Narrative hath set before us. The reverend and worthy Dr. Colman of Boston, had given us some short intimations of it in his letters; and, upon our request of a more large and particular account, Mr. Edwards, the happy and successful minister of Northampton, which was one of the chief scenes of these wonders, drew up this history in an epistle to Dr. Colman. There were some useful sermons of the venerable and aged Mr. William Williams, published lately in New England, which were preached in that part of the country during this season of the glorious work of God in the conversion of men; to which Dr. Colman subjoined a most judicious and accurate abridgment of this epistle: and a little after, by Mr. Edwards' request, he sent the original to us, to be communicated to the world under our care in London. We are abundantly satisfied of the truth of this Narrative, not only from the pious character of the writer, but from the concurrent testimony of many other persons in New England; "for this thing was not done in a corner." There is a spot of ground, wherein there are twelve or fourteen towns and villages, chiefly situate in New Hampshire, near the banks of the river of Connecticut, within the compass of thirty miles, wherein it pleased God, two years ago, to display his free and sovereign mercy in the conversion of a great multitude of souls in a short space of time; turning them from a formal, cold, and careless profession of Christianity, to the lively exercise of every Christian grace, and the powerful practice of our holy religion. The great God has seemed to act over again the miracle of Gideon's fleece, which was plentifully watered with the dew of heaven, while the rest of the earth round about it was dry, and had no such remarkable blessing. There has been a great and just complaint for many years among the ministers and churches in Old England, and in New, (except about the time of the late earthquake there,) that the work of conversion goes on very slowly, that the Spirit of God, in his saving influences, is much withdrawn from the ministrations of his word, and there are few that receive the report of the gospel, with any eminent success upon their hearts. But as the gospel is the same divine instrument of grace still, as ever it was in the days of the apostles, so our ascended Saviour now and then takes a special occasion to manifest the divinity of this gospel, by a plentiful effusion of seen his Spirit where it is preached: then sinners are turned into saints in numbers, and there is a new face of things spread over a town or a country : "The wilderness and the solitary places are glad, the desert rejoices and blossoms as the rose;" and surely, concerning this instance, we may add, that "they have seen the glory of the Lord" there, "and the excellency of our God;" they have “ the out-goings of God our King in his sanctuary." Certainly it becomes us, who profess the religion of Christ, to take notice of such astonishing exercises of his power and mercy, and give him the glory which is due, when he begins to accomplish any of his promises concerning the latter days: and it gives us further encouragement to pray, and wait, and hope, for the like display of his power in the midst of us. "The hand of God is not shortened that it cannot save;" but we have reason to fear that our iniquities, our coldness in religion, and the general carnality of our spirits, have raised a wall of separation between God and us: and we may add, the pride and perverse humour of infidelity, degeneracy, and apostacy from the Christian faith, which have of late years broken out amongst us, seem to have provoked the Spirit of Christ to absent himself much from our nation. "Return, O Lord, and visit thy churches, and revive thine own work in the midst of us." From such blessed instances of the success of the gospel, as appear in this Narrative, we may learn much of the way of the Spirit of God in his dealing with the souls of men, in order to convince sinners, and restore them to his favour and his image by |