Joel Andrews, Revivalism, and the Methodist Church
Joel Andrews received his first taste of what he considered real religion when he attended a revival meeting conducted by preacher Ira Hart in Middlebury. Middlebury was then a parish within the town of Waterbury, and about six miles from Bethany. Hart was known as a strict Calvinist who graduated from Yale in the class of 1797, the same class as Lyman Beecher, and had later studied theology under Yale president Timothy Dwight.
Hart was ordained in Middlebury on November 7, 1798, and a revival began shortly after. As a result, Pastor Hart added 41 new members to his church, including a number of Episcopalians. Hart became known for his ability to help people have a conversion experience. Hart didn’t initiate the revival; it came in response to the anxious inquiry of a repentant family, who asked “what shall we do to be saved?” The family repented publicly at a church service, and thereafter conversion fever spread throughout the town. There were meetings and lectures, and there was a tremendous demand for religious instruction. Soon the whole town was talking about religion and conversion. The revival affected young and old alike. Young people stopped attending dances and other frivolous activities, and instead, stayed home and read the Bible with their parents, gathered at the hearthside.
Some questioned the sincerity of the newly converted. Apparently it was common for the initial enthusiasm to wear off, and for people to fall back to their old sinful ways, attending balls, swearing, cider-drinking, and such. Some of those that stumbled caught themselves before they fell; the fear of damnation had been revived. One young woman admitted that she hadn’t thought much about damnation; that was for old people to worry about, so she had plenty of time to have some fun. But then again, you never know when the reaper will come a-knockin’ at your door. The Calvinist doctrine of election claimed that those who were to be saved were predestined to be so, and by the same token, those to be damned ditto; so, some thought, why worry about it? Whatever will be will be. But Pastor Hart warned them that such thinking was the devil’s work, and leading an upright life was a sure sign of election.
Hart had many stories of dramatic conversions. One young man, he said, who had taken to profanely ridiculing those who were struggling in their minds. But one Sabbath, he was pierced by God “with a sharp arrow of conviction.” His conscience awakened, he stumbled to his seat, trembling, and soon had a conversion. By the end of the year, about seventy persons were “seriously impressed,” including fourteen Episcopalians, who weren’t generally noted for a desire for revival meetings. The whole society was alarmed for their souls, and wanted to become members of the church, but Hart asked them to wait and examine themselves. No new members were admitted until the summer of 1800, when thirty-five were admitted, and shortly after, six more.
People of all ages desired to be born again, but especially young people, followed by heads of households. The revival had many beneficial effects. Children became more dutiful to their parents, and respectful and kind to others. The parents were delighted that their children wanted to spend more time at home, reading the Bible and having religious conversations. Parents went to bed with easy minds, knowing that their children were in their closets praying rather than out in “vain, gay company,” staying out late and pursuing frivolous amusements. Pastor Hart convinced them that they would have no peace or comfort until they understood that “divine sovereignty, the doctrine of grace, the electing love of God, and the justice of God in the eternal punishment of the finally impenitent” must be the foundation of their hope.
Joel Andrews wanted to be swept up in this revival fever, but apparently there wasn’t much revival fever in Bethany. Pastor Hawley had been of the stale New Divinity school, and Pastor Jones was of a more Arminian bent, like the Episcopalians. Andrews did note a revival in 1818, but he doesn’t make clear which church sponsored it; possibly it was a Methodist revival. He and his wife Martha joined the Methodist church in 1820, and he most likely attended meetings before that.
Methodism began in Britain at Oxford University, where a small group met each week to discuss theology. The group was led by John Wesley (1703-1791), an Anglican priest, and later joined by George Whitefield, also an Anglican priest. These early Methodists were high church Anglican; Arminian in theology; and politically, advocating freedom and equality.
Wesley, already an ordained priest, had a conversion experience in 1738 that convinced him convinced him of his own salvation; he felt his heart “strangely warmed,” and gave him the conviction that faith in Christ alone saved him from the laws of sin and death. Reacting against Calvin and Luther, Wesley rejected predestination and Election; those doctrines denied human free will and made God the author of sin. He began preaching salvation by faith, and believed that both faith and good works were necessary for salvation. Wesley also rejected complicated theology, and counseled his followers to read only the Bible rather than theological treatises.
Wesley always considered himself an Anglican; like the Puritans, he wanted to reform the Church of England, not form a separate church. Foes of church reform feared religious “enthusiasm, ” that it might lead to violent revolution, as it had with the Calvinists who beheaded King Charles and seized control of the government in the 17th century. But Wesley was opposed to political activity, and supported obedience to Biblical law and to the king.
Unlike the Puritans, who preached that humankind was essentially depraved and worthless “worms,” Wesley believed that human perfection was possible in this life through constant striving against sin, and that the Methodist should be a Christian example to others. Rebirth, or conversion, was a profound mystical experience accessible to humble and unsophisticated people, and didn’t require an understanding of theology. Methodist ministers would preach plain sermons, based on the Bible and not theology, that appealed to ordinary people.
The Rev. George Whitefield was the first Methodist to preach in America. In 1740, he lit a fire that became known as the Great Awakening, popularizing revivalist preaching here. Whitefield was a Calvinist, and preached predestination and election; his revival seemed like a revival of 17th century Puritanism. But Wesley’s Arminian doctrine would later prevail, along with the evangelical message that salvation was offered to everyone, not just the elect. Wesley felt that the doctrine of predestination encouraged people to backslide; after all, if nothing you did could alter your fate, why be pious? While Whitefield’s preaching produced an enthusiastic response (too enthusiastic in the eyes of the Standing Church), there was no follow-up system to prevent backsliding, and many enthusiasts later fell away. But Wesley, the Arminian, not only preached a more liberal message, but set up societies whose members were enjoined to watch over each other (like AA today).
Wesleyan Methodism anticipated the liberal religion that would prevail in Connecticut after 1818, the date of the new state constitution that stripped the Congregational church of its dominant role as the official state religion. Methodists did not claim that their beliefs were the only truths, and readily cooperated with other denominations in the various missionary and moral reform efforts that were the hallmark of 19th century reformed Protestantism.
The Methodist church was just what Joel Andrews was looking for.
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For further reading:
Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College, Vol. V. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1911, 21-24. Accessed May 9, 2021, https://archive.org/details/cu31924092714520/page/n299/mode/2up?q=Ira+Hart
Ira Hart. “A Narrative of a revival of religion in Middlebury, a parish of Waterbury, in the years 1799 and 1800.” Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, vol iii, August- September 1802, accessed May 10, 2021, https://archive.org/details/connecticutevan00unkngoog.
Bernard Semmel. The Methodist Revolution. New York: Basic Books, 1973.