The Presbyterian Church During the Great Awakening a Look at the Problems That Tore Presbyterianism in Two at the Time of the Great Awakening in the 1740S

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Division, Dissension, and Compromise: The Presbyterian Church during the Great Awakening A look at the problems that tore Presbyterianism in two at the time of the Great Awakening in the 1740s. by Marilyn Westerkamp

ON MAY 27, 1745, THE SYNOD OF PHILA- Within four years, the synods began consid- delphia accepted, with some grace, the de- ering plans of union, testifying to the dedica- cision of the Presbytery of New York to join tion of the moderate party. Nine years later, with the Presbytery of New Brunswick in a in 1758, the reunited Synod of New York separately organized Synod of New York. and Philadelphia met and formally healed The Presbyterian community was not a par- the schism. ticularly large one at this time—six Controversy was not new to the colonial presbyteries with some fifty-four ministers church. Scarcely forty years old at the time serving congregations from Long Island to of this schism, the Synod of Philadelphia had New Castle. An outsider might well think already weathered three major controver- that this reasonably small population and sies. In 1722, the nature and authority of geography could have been managed by a judicatories was debated. One group envi- single synod, but such an observer would be sioned a hierarchical scheme of congrega- forgetting the large personalities involved— tion, presbytery, and synod, with the latter personalities too vibrant, too doctrinaire, bodies granted the authority to set church too righteous to govern themselves together. policies and in that way maintain orthodoxy During the previous ten years of spiritual and order. Others challenged such a politi- revitalization, two increasingly intractable cal system as a potential encroachment upon parties had battled in the presbyteries and their consciences. Seven years later several synods over the best ways to spread the ministers proposed that subscription to the gospel and serve the people, with one party Westminster Confession be required of all managing to oust the other at a poorly at- clerics as a guarantor of orthodoxy within a tended synod meeting in 1741. In addition community troubled by the arrival of un- to these two obstinate clerical factions, a sound ministers from overseas. Once again, group of moderates had worked to maintain opponents complained that this demand peace. Following the exclusion of 1741, a would force clergymen to subscribe articles meeting which they had not attended, this they conscientiously opposed. In both cases, third party sought rapprochement between compromise proved attainable through the the others for three years. When both proved simple expedient of accepting the system in unbending, the moderates sided with those general, while allowing particular excep- excluded as those more justifiably aggrieved tions. A third controversy over the preaching and whose spiritual vision they shared. of Samuel Hemphill set the Presbyterians as

Dr. Westerkamp is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Journal of Presbyterian History 78:1 (Spring 2000) 4 Journal of Presbyterian History a church against the latitudinarian opinions pastors to congregations, as well as remove of Hemphill, uniting those who opposed them, lay persons found many ways of driv- subscription with more traditional defend- ing an unwanted pastor out of their congre- ers of orthodoxy against the gross errors of gation, including withholding salary and/or yet another unsound minister from overseas. filing charges of misconduct or heresy with In all three cases, problems had been re- the presbytery. Salary games were tricky to solved and the church was able to move play and could backfire, but presbyteries forward. took morals and heterodoxy charges quite The battle of 1741 was different. Al- seriously. Any small group of determined though couched in the language of presby- lay persons could make life miserable for terial rights and judicature authority, the their minister. During these eighteenth-cen- conflict engaged individual ministers at the tury years of religious renewal, many con- very heart of their being and their callings. gregations did just that. They ran after popu- An intense religious furor had touched the lar preachers, fled stolid ministers to form laity, arousing congregations to heights of new congregations, refused to pay one or emotion and Christian commitment and two who did not support revival, and filed bringing more people into the churches them- charges of immorality against others. selves. This “Great Awakening,” which swept Ten years ago, in Triumph of the Laity: the Mid-Atlantic and New England colonies Scots-Irish Piety and the Great Awakening,1 during the 1730s, 1740s and 1750s, in- I argued that the overwhelming support of spired many clerics to rethink their own the laity for the Great Awakening pushed the spirituality and experiment with sermon style institutional church to schism and led to the and itinerancy as a way to bring new souls to ultimate victory of the pro-Awakening, New Christ. Such experiments succeeded beyond Light faction in the Plan of Union accepted all expectations in awakening people to a in 1757. I have not changed my mind about sense of their own sins, not only in the this conclusion, and the research of Eliza- privacy of their hearts, but in large, emo- beth Nybakken on the anti-Awakening Old tional, communal rituals of revivalism and Light community reinforces, through an “ex- piety. Although many complained that the ception proves the rule” sort of argument, effects of such excitement were ephemeral, that the laity were a major force in eigh- in congregations where such fervor was teenth-century Presbyterian politics, if for cultivated and guided, pastors claimed that moving their clergy in both directions.2 Re- the Holy Spirit had brought true transforma- cently, however, Bryan Le Beau’s new bio- tions of individuals and communities. graphical study of Jonathan Dickinson has The laity became deeply committed to led me to reconsider and perhaps reconfigure this revivalist religiosity to a degree never my own understanding of the clergy.3 approached in previous disputes, and Pres- I have maintained that Leonard Trin- byterians’ organization and their theology of terud’s argument that the New Lights repre- polity empowered, some might say overly sented a New England consciousness was empowered, the laity to prescribe the devel- too narrow. Ned Landsman identified an opment of the national church, perhaps even early Awakening-style revival in the Scottish change its direction. In congregations, the community at Freehold, New Jersey, pastored authority of pastors was buttressed and over- by John Tennent, and my own research seen by a body of elected elders; elders also found roots of New Light religiosity in the joined clerics in both presbytery and synod Presbyterian communities of seventeenth- as governors within these democratically- century Ireland and Scotland.4 Now Le Beau, run bodies. Churches called pastors to min- building upon the work of Leigh Eric Schmidt, ister to them through elections involving the has added another challenge to Trinterud’s entire male congregation. While presbyteries paradigm, namely that the New Englanders, were the only bodies who could ordain far from joining the intractable New Light The Presbyterian Church during the Great Awakening 5

ine the circumstances surrounding the division and reunification, consider again the causes for the division, and reevaluate the role played and authority exercised by the clergy. While I continue to assert that the laity played a pivotal role in promoting the Awakening and increasing the authority of New Light clerics, and I maintain that the laity was never completely under the control of its favored clergy, I have come to believe that the congregations of the Presby- terian church did, in the end, fall back under the control of the clerical leadership. This reassertion of clerical authority through the establishment of the College of New Jersey, the reunification of the synods, and the calling of the Scot John Witherspoon to head the new college served to stabilize the insti- Rev. George Whitefield tutional organization even as it opened up party, played a role of moderation through- future centers of conflict and dissent among out the dispute, through the schism, and both clergy and laity. beyond.5 New Englanders may have ended up on the side of the New Lights; they I certainly believed that it was the Holy Spirit, rather than the delusions of George The first stirrings of revivalism that char- Whitefield, that swept through the colonies. acterized the Great Awakening appeared in However, they worked ceaselessly before the Mid-Atlantic and Chesapeake colonies, and after the years of crisis to maintain, then the region through which the Presbyterian reconstruct, then again maintain peace. Per- Church had extended its authority and influ- haps the remarkable feature of this mid- ence. There, amidst the new immigrants and eighteenth-century episode is not that this their pastors, the Awakening began early dispute brought schism, but that despite the and lasted longest, entertaining itinerant intensity, emotionalism, and personal stakes preachers and inspiring congregations until involved, the schism lasted only seventeen the political upheavals of the American Revo- years. In other words, in light of the extraor- lution replaced, at least temporarily, reli- dinary power of the Great Awakening, what gious enthusiasm with political protest. In is surprising is not the power of the laity to 1729 John Tennent’s Freehold congregation effect schism, but the ability of the clergy to became the first New Jersey community to bridge schism through a renewed commit- assert that “Regeneration is absolutely nec- ment to moderation. The very brevity of the essary in Order to obtain eternal Salvation,” split, the ability of a divided church to estab- and, more importantly, to experience that lish a college for the education of ministers, regeneration as a community. The entire and the accommodation of the New Light congregation felt a strong sense of its sinful- Synod of New York to the needs of the Old ness, realized the punishment that deserv- Light Synod of Philadelphia without forfeit- edly awaited, turned to Jesus in hope, and ing their own goals testified to the ability of felt the joy of the Spirit’s grace in their hearts. the most rancorous clerics to find common As late as 1766, Samuel Buell reported “un- ground amidst the turmoil of the era. usual symptoms” among his congregants, This essay will revisit the Presbyterian noting with pride that at one point ninety- Church during the Great Awakening, exam- eight adults had joined the church in East 6 Journal of Presbyterian History

Hampton, Long Island.6 For thirty-five years, brothers, a veritable clerical dynasty. Will- communal rituals characterized by intense, iam Tennent, having arrived from Ireland in emotional terror and repentance followed 1718, brought with him four sons, Gilbert, by ecstatic celebrations of conversion regu- John, William, Jr., and Charles, all destined larly erupted in Presbyterian congregations for the ministry. Initially settled in East throughout the colonial territory. Animated Chester, New York, William Sr. would live itinerants and true-believing pastors berated in Bedford for five years before finally ac- and purred, terrified sinners and comforted cepting a call, in 1726, to the congregation penitents, while newcomers and old mem- at Neshaminy, Pennsylvania. Within his first bers shrieked, wept, fainted, and experi- year there, he responded to the need for enced grace. Clergy and congregants be- clerical education in North America and lieved themselves full participants in an opened an informal school for the education international movement which, in their of candidates to the ministry. Known as the world, meant that the fires of the Holy Spirit “Log College” by its detractors, Tennent’s were sweeping not only the North American school provided the only education for min- colonies but the British Isles themselves. isters, apart from private tutoring, available While the Freehold revival may have in the mid-Atlantic colonies. Although said been the first such phenomenon among the to be proficient in the classical languages as Presbyterian colonizers, it should not be well as well read in divinity, William Tennent, seen as a singular, unexpected event for his sons, and his students were known for which the clergy were unprepared. The Free- their experimental piety; that is, they had hold congregation included significant num- removed erudition from the center of their bers of Scots-Irish immigrants, descendants vocation and replaced it with the personal of the Scots who had colonized the northern experience of grace. For Tennent, primary Irish province of Ulster.7 Amid the harsh knowledge of God came through the divine (and reportedly irreligious) conditions of the intervention of the Holy Spirit rather than colonial Irish frontier, a few Scottish Presby- through study and knowledge.9 A man who terian ministers had, beginning in 1625, led had not felt the Holy Spirit was judged unfit a series of religious revivals. The revivals, as a spiritual leader. These graduates of the which blossomed into communion services, Log College would become hearty support- were characterized by large-scale popular ers of the Great Awakening, and they, along participation and enthusiastic community with Jonathan Dickinson, were the move- response as the congregation (and visitors) ment’s most able preachers and publicists. were led through a recognizable conversion They were not the only ones, nor the first, experience. As these settlers had come from to foster this intense level of piety in the mid- western Scotland and continued to visit Atlantic colonies. In the 1720s, Theodorus “home,” this revivalist culture soon pros- Jacobus Frelinghuysen, the newly-arrived pered there as well. For the next century, Dutch pastor of Raritan, New Jersey, em- experiential religion flourished on both sides braced an experiential spirituality and pub- of the Irish Sea. In the second and third licly reproached congregants and ministers decades of the eighteenth century, the Scots- who did not agree with his position. While Irish, mostly in response to economic pres- he alienated some Dutch Reformed pastors sures and several cycles of famine condi- and lay persons, he gathered an increasingly tions, began to emigrate in large numbers.8 numerous community of supporters whose When they came, they brought their religi- influence extended beyond congregational osity with them, and experiential spirituality and, later, ethnic boundaries. One of his flourished on both sides of the Atlantic. most active colleagues was the young Gil- In the difficult task of pastoring his agi- bert Tennent, who had been called to gather tated congregation, John Tennent undoubt- a church in New Brunswick in 1726. Just edly looked for support to his father and down the river from Raritan, Tennent had The Presbyterian Church during the Great Awakening 7

ample opportunity to chart Frelinghuysen’s lation, so that the New Brunswick men were success and develop significant convictions much heralded for their efforts and their about his own inadequacies. It was during sacrifices. However, in addition to traveling these early pastoral years that Gilbert Tennent in the unserved areas of their own geo- became ill. During that illness, in traditional graphically vast presbytery, they were conversion fashion, Tennent worked through preaching within the boundaries of other his guilt, realized repentance and assurance presbyteries, sometimes of other congrega- of grace, and reconfigured his methods of tions with settled ministers. From the per- preaching and pastoring.10 spective of these ministers, the New During the decade following the Free- Brunswick preachers were intruders who hold revival congregations organized and stirred up discontent among congregants. led by the Tennents and other Log College That there could arise a battle among minis- graduates began to experience the revival ters that divided the people indicated that excitement. Less a concerted, continuous the colonies were beginning to see a reason- movement than sporadic outbursts of activ- able number of ministers. In some cases, ity, these preachers, working from their own settlers now saw themselves as having a convictions, led individuals and entire com- choice. munities to penitential realization of their By the end of the 1730s, those same sins and conversion to the grace of God. clergy growing anxiously angry about intru- Accompanying such conversion, pastors at- sions raised an issue of their own. For the tested, was the transformed behavior that previous twenty years or so, the Presbyteri- evidenced the legitimacy of the revivals. As ans had been plagued by incompetent pas- the decade progressed, such phenomena tors. Probationers of questionable qualifica- occurred more frequently, until challenges tions who could not find a place in Scotland were waged in presbyteries and carried to or Ireland migrated to North America where, the synod. By 1738, many of the Log College on the clergy-scarce frontier, they were ea- men organized themselves (or were set apart, gerly welcomed with congregational calls it is a difficult call) into the new Presbytery of that were affirmed by the respective New Brunswick. Throughout the next seven presbyteries. Within months, those same years, the New Brunswick Presbytery would judicatures would sit upon charges of pasto- boast the most active preachers of the com- ral negligence, heterodoxy, or immorality. munion as they traveled huge distances as Resolutions were passed demanding that itinerants, organized new congregations, presbyteries take special care in reviewing intruded into settled parishes, and generally, the academic qualifications of ministerial in their own terms, furthered the work of the candidates. When frustrations continued, gospel. the synod decided that all probationers who From a Presbyterian perspective, most of had not attended a New England or Euro- this work was much needed. In discussing pean college would be subject to synodical the strife of the Great Awakening, it is easy examination to demonstrate basic academic to forget that this was a frontier community knowledge. In light of increasing tensions expanding exponentially with a continuous between the New Brunswick Presbytery and flow of immigrants from Scotland and, espe- others in the synod, this resolution could cially, Ireland. During the first four decades have been read as a criticism of William of the century, the Presbyterian Church Tennent’s college, for students of William struggled with the problem of too few min- Tennent would necessarily be described as isters. For many new settlers, itinerancy was men with a private education. The New the only means by which they heard the Brunswick men issued the first challenge gospel or participated in the sacraments. when they decided, in 1738, to license Log Ministers willing to traverse hundreds of College graduate John Rowland without this miles were a boon to the burgeoning popu- examination because “they were not in point 8 Journal of Presbyterian History of Conscience restrained by sd Act from astic responses wherever he spoke. People using the Liberty and Power with Presbys shrieked, fainted, and wept, all crying “what have all along hitherto enjoyed.”11 must I do to be saved?” However, the revival The problem of Rowland’s qualifications in religion would disappear as quickly as it was more than academic. The congregation had come unless it was fostered by others. of Hopewell and Maidenhead, New Jersey, Whitefield was an itinerant, not a pastor; he having no settled pastor, had asked that awakened sinners rather than led them to Rowland be permitted to supply. This con- salvation. That task of nurturing conversions gregation was on the border of the Philadel- was left to those ministers already settled in phia and New Brunswick Presbyteries, al- the region. Predictably, the revivalism ig- though officially within the boundaries of nited by Whitefield continued in the only Philadelphia which had sent its own proba- two regions that had already experienced tioner, John Guild. The people, however, some religious enthusiasm, New England claimed their right to hear a second proba- and the Mid-Atlantic. It would later spread tioner and invited Rowland, who accepted to the Chesapeake with Presbyterian and, the invitation despite a warning from one of later, Baptist ministers. Philadelphia’s clergy that Rowland’s preach- Throughout the colonies clergymen took ing there would cause dissension. In fact, his sides for or against the new religiosity. Sup- preaching did split the congregation, and porters of the Awakening, New Lights, saw Hopewell and Maidenhead petitioned to be the essence of true faith as holy love— divided into two, with Hopewell calling religion of the heart; they believed the reviv- Guild and Maidenhead calling Rowland. als to be the work of the Holy Spirit and The synod, in the following year, publicly understood the extreme physical manifesta- declared that the Presbytery of New tions as one natural response of an enlight- Brunswick had been “very disorderly” in ened soul responding to the newly realized licensing Rowland “to preach the Gospel threat of damnation. New Lights described without his submitting to such preparatory their opponents as legalists who mistook Examination as was appointed.” The battle correct behavior for conversion, thinking for had begun. 12 faith, and eloquence for inspiration. These The synod might have struggled along, opponents, Old Lights, found the essence of hearing disputes and processing compro- true faith in right reason and intelligent or- mises as they had always done, were it not thodoxy—religion of the mind. They con- for the appearance of George Whitefield. sidered the revivals delusions of an ignorant, Twenty-five years old and fresh from the vulgar populace fed by irresponsible, self- spiritual tutelage of John Wesley, Whitefield serving demagogues. In all regions, congre- embarked upon a preaching tour of the gations identified themselves as Old or New colonies in the autumn of 1739. From all Light, and clerics and communities on each accounts Whitefield boasted extraordinary side made connections across denomina- gifts as a speaker, and his success through- tional boundaries with those who shared out New England and the Mid-Atlantic colo- their views of the revivals. In other words, nies has been well documented. A well- even as they experienced divisions and orchestrated publicity campaign that utilized schisms within their own denominations, advance notices, publications, and the net- congregations envisioned themselves united work of curious or, especially later, commit- with other churches to promote the work of ted ministers placed neighborhoods on the the spirit. alert so that, fully warned, hundreds, if not Among Presbyterians, Whitefield had set thousands, gathered in churches and fields a new pace for religious expansion, exciting to witness the spectacle.13 It was said that lay persons and raising the expectations of the skeptics came to heckle and stayed to be clergy. At last the Holy Spirit was moving converted, and Whitefield did draw enthusi- with the grace that required nurturance from The Presbyterian Church during the Great Awakening 9

tack upon the Log College is uncertain. John Rowland had been previously denied licen- sure by the Presbytery of New Castle since they found him “remarkably deficient in many parts of the useful language required in our Directory,” however, it was not New Castle but the Presbytery of Lewes that proposed the examination resolution.14 That the Presbytery of New Brunswick first ig- nored the resolution as not applicable to them and later protested the 1738 act at the 1739 Synod reflects an increasing aware- ness of efforts to deprecate William Tennent’s students and a determination to defend themselves as a presbytery and maintain their own authority in the field. Whether or not in response to a supposed attack upon the Log College preachers, Gilbert Tennent quickly turned from the institutional arena and the question of academic examination and in- Rev. Gilbert Tennent stigated a new ministerial qualification battle pastors. Many who had considered them- over experiential piety out into the trenches selves committed and faithful Christians of the Nottingham, Pennsylvania, meeting came to believe that their confidence in house, Presbytery of Donegal. salvation had been presumptuous, their spiri- Nottingham was a perfect choice. Six tuality empty. Even ministers reported that years before, in 1734, the congregation had hearing Whitefield had brought them to brought charges against their pastor of two realize the futility of their spiritual aspira- years’ standing, William Orr. The leadership tions, and serious questions about the quali- began with accusations of heterodoxy; the fications of pastors arose again. How could presbytery acquitted Orr of believing false a man who had yet to know the flush of doctrine but warned him of his questionable divine grace, that is, a man who had yet to expressions. The following year, Orr re- experience conversion, lead others to salva- quested permission to demit the pastorate as tion? Of what use was a knowledge of Greek he had experienced severe disappointments; or Hebrew, or a deep understanding of the that is, he was not getting paid. Elders’ Westminster Confession, without faith? continued accusations were answered by While the Tennents and their disciples Orr’s charges of slander, and the trial degen- granted the importance of learning and an erated into a discussion of Orr’s moral con- orthodox comprehension of doctrine, they duct, complete with unsubstantiated gossip. believed that the essential requirement for Throughout the trials, the presbytery sup- ordination was an experiential knowledge ported the minister over the people, but, in of the love and mercy of God. Once again the end, the presbytery ended the pastoral the battle over pastoral qualifications raged, relationship as a fruitless enterprise. Their but it had turned from orthodoxy and learn- demands that Nottingham pay their debits to ing to experiential piety. Orr probably went unmet; Orr was refused a The official minutes of the New certificate through the machinations of one Brunswick Presbytery reflect the tensions of his obstreperous elders and left the coun- surrounding the passage of the 1738 resolu- try. By the end of the decade, the congregation regarding synodical examination. tion had been vacant for several months Whether this decision was a particular at- and, after waiting for supply preachers who 10 Journal of Presbyterian History never came, the congregation invited and of vocational calling and ordination. Some heard Log College man Samuel Blair. In this men were more talented than others, but pulpit, in 1740, Gilbert Tennent delivered these Calvinists worked with the assurance the scathing sermon Danger of an Uncon- that Providence would place a minister in verted Ministry. the place where he could achieve the great- Apparently weary of evading the legalis- est good. Once established, the pastoral tic processes of his colleagues, Gilbert relationship was sacred. Jonathan Dickinson, Tennent proclaimed his own style of minis- no strong supporter of presbyterial method try. Fast and furious, the rhetoric hardly left and synodical authority, nevertheless the topic of the wickedness and evildoing of preached vehemently against the laity’s re- unconverted ministers: “caterpillars” who jecting ministers who had been ordained at labored “to devour every green Thing.” They the invitation of the people. Months before were like the Pharisees of the Gospels, “proud Tennent’s sermon, Dickinson had spoken & conceity,” “crafty as foxes” with the “Cru- out in defense of John Pierson, whose con- elty of Wolves.” Tennent portrayed them as gregation had been expressing dissatisfac- men fixed upon the small, unimportant rules tion with his demeanor. Dickinson empha- of religion and “fired with a Party Zeal.” sized that such an expression wrongly After devoting a very few minutes to the attributed to men the work of the Holy Spirit. scriptural proof of the necessity of rebirth “This mistake lies in giving the Honour to the through the story of Nicodemus, Tennent Instrument, which belongs only to the prin- returned to the original, more gratifying sub- ciple Agent; and not ascribing to the Sover- ject of the flaws of the unconverted preach- eignty of Gods free Grace, all the blessings ers. Their sermons were “cold and sapless,” that he is pleased to afford to the means of providing security to the wicked in their this Grace.” Dickinson described the opin- confusion of legal obedience with gospel ions as arguing that the unprofitable minis- obedience. “They keep Driving, Driving, to ters “want [i.e., lack] right views, are not Duty, Duty, under this Notion that it will influenced with a Zeal for the Cause of recommend natural Men to the favour of Christ.… They and their followers are dead GOD, or entitle them to the promises of and lifeless.…” In reply, Dickinson chal- grace and Salvation.” Tennent returned to lenged that he could not see into men’s the primary issue of ministerial qualifica- hearts, and he asked others to stop pretend- tions and transformed the concept of exami- ing that they could.16 nation. Because academies were so corrupt, The emotions surrounding the question the church should encourage private schools of ministerial qualifications were intensified “under the Care of skillful and experienced by the itinerant activities of the New Christians; in which those only should be Brunswick Presbytery. Alongside resolutions admitted, who upon strict Examination, have seeking to deter the ordination of men like in the Judgment of a reasonable Charity, the John Rowland were resolutions aimed at plain evidence of experimental Religion.” In controlling those already ordained. After all, the segment of the sermon directed at lay congregants would not leave their pastors persons, Tennent called people fools for and run after other preachers if those preach- staying with unconverted ministers, how- ers had not intruded into pulpits where they ever well behaved, and even allowed people had no business. Thus, the 1738 synod that to leave good ministers of lesser abilities. In first passed the resolution demanding syn- other words, people were more or less free odical examination of candidates not edu- to hear whomever they pleased, wherever cated in established universities also passed they pleased, provided, of course, that the resolutions concerning itinerant preaching. sought-after preacher was godly.15 Any minister was generally free to preach in Such a construction of the ministry flew a vacant congregation, even one beyond his against the core of Presbyterians’ theology own presbyterial boundaries; however, if The Presbyterian Church during the Great Awakening 11 warned by the congregation’s presbytery that such preaching would foment divisions, then the itinerant must receive permission from the presbytery before accepting an invitation. This resolution, as well as that on examining candidates, was confirmed the following year.17 Six months later, George Whitefield began his first major tour of the British colonies, and the following March Tennent denounced “unconverted ministers.” It would seem that the stage was set for explosion, but the compromisers made one more effort. First, the synod of 1740 responded to lay misperceptions that the synodical act “was calculated to prevent itinerant Preaching.” They were shocked at the thought, and declared “that they never thought of opposing, but do heartily rejoice in the Labours of the Ministry in other Places besides their own charge.” The judicature therefore repealed Rev. Jonathan Dickinson the resolution, and agreed “that our Minis- least heckle and harass) their own ministers ters shall in that respect conduct themselves in favor of the itinerants. As the Presbyterian as tho’ it had never been made.” In the next community moved into the post-Whitefield breath, they “clarified” the synodical mo- decade, the congregations began challeng- tion regarding examination of candidates for ing unwanted pastors through salary dis- the ministry, explaining that they did not putes and judicatory charges. Additionally, question the “Power of subordinate as Le Beau has so persuasively argued, the Presbyteries to ordain Ministers,” but only absence of the New York Presbytery at the meant to assert their own right to judge of the 1741 synod opened the way for the major credentials of synod members. They further battle. Because of their absence, the two added that while such an agreement was sides were fairly evenly matched, and, with necessary for maintaining the good order of a remonstrance and a vote, the Old Lights the Presbyterian church, the synod admitted established themselves as the “majority,” that such candidates may well be “truly albeit a suspiciously thin one, and threw the Gospel Ministrs.” With one motion, the synod others out of the synod. The Presbytery of had repealed the intrusions resolution and New York, led by Dickinson, did indeed backed somewhat off their hard-line stance begin almost immediately seeking reunion, on candidate examinations. The meeting but they were too late, in part because this closed with prayer, but not before the con- battle had been brewing not for six months gregations of Tinnacum and Newtown, Penn- but for more then four years. Having settled sylvania, were permitted to leave the Old their problems temporarily by excluding Light Presbytery of Philadelphia for New troublesome itinerants through the Remon- Brunswick.18 strance of 1741, the remaining members of Returning now to the synod of 1741, the the newly “purged” synod refused to undo failure of the leadership to maintain com- that exclusion. Those cast out may have felt promise is striking. The New Light ministers themselves unable, they were in any case had continued their disruptive intrusions, unwilling, to negotiate reunion without this accompanied by critical commentary, and concession, making reunion impossible. lay persons increasingly chose to reject (or at Each side then entered upon the legalistic 12 Journal of Presbyterian History dance, demanding that the others remove the sinners did not cry out, and those who were initial obstacle, whether it be the Remon- converted displayed a reformation of behav- strance of 1741 or the practice of itinerancy. In ior. In other words, through their behavior the end, New York sided with those cast out and their accounts of this period, members but, in a spirit of unity, petitioned the synod to of the New York Presbytery revealed them- allow them to establish a second Synod of selves as sympathetic to the cause of the new New York. Philadelphia accepted this pro- religiosity. Second, and perhaps equally posal, and separation came.19 important, Dickinson and his clerical fol- Why Dickinson and the New York lowers judged the Old Light Synod members Presbytery sided with the New Lights is a at fault in the dispute. As mediators between more complicated question than has been opponents, they did hear both sets of griev- assumed. Following the lead of Leonard ances, and their demeanor throughout, as Trinterud, the New England background of well as the end result, indicates that they the clergy and congregations has become judged New Brunswick and its supporters to the easy, “obvious” explanation for their have been maligned. The New York choice. Yet all students of the Great Awak- Presbytery, in essence, joined with the ex- ening know that New England did not uni- cluded in asking that the entire matter be laterally support the revivals; their churches debated again on a more equal footing. were as divided as those in the Mid-Atlantic When the reduced Synod of Philadelphia region. Among the Presbyterians, four New refused to allow an unconditional reconsid- Englanders, including Harvard graduate eration, with all Presbyterian clergymen Jedidiah Andrews, pastor in Philadelphia, equal participants, the clerics of New York remained staunchly Old Light. Moreover, at placed the fault squarely at the synod’s feet.21 an earlier stage, when congregants chal- During the fourteen years of the schism, lenged the spiritual leadership of John the two synods remained in communion Pierson, Dickinson responded with a spiri- and conversation with each other, which, in tual defense of Pierson as the Spirit-anointed and of itself, reflects the abilities of clergy to pastor as well as a scathing attack upon put aside some differences at some times. misguided, self-indulgent congregants. His Once they were not in daily discussion with discussion certainly stands as a strong coun- each other, once disputes with their own terpoint to Gilbert Tennent’s sermon on un- congregants were no longer subject to the converted ministers. judgment of the others, once intrusions were I think the solution to the problem lies in no longer issues accessible to synodical two separate convictions. First, the New process, the clergy could remain on speak- York members came to believe that the ing terms. Regular meetings of a joint synod Great Awakening was the work of the Holy committee, ostensibly to discuss reunion, Spirit. They certainly opened their doors to began in 1747. The terms of negotiation the preaching of itinerants, including remained relatively unchanged; however Whitefield, and they continued the work of personnel changes (several key people died) conversion after the itinerants had initially as well as changing attitudes of some of the awakened their hearers. In 1742, Dickinson most obstreperous opened the door for granted that “The most serious and judi- greater compromise. John Thomson, who cious, both Ministers and Christians, have had called the revivals “these disorderly look’d upon it to be, in the main, a genuine violent new-fangled Notions and Stirs about Work of God, and the Effect of that Effusion Religion,” left his troubled pastorate in Chest- of the SPIRIT of Grace, which the faithful nut Hill for Hanover, Virginia. And while he have been praying, hoping, longing and remained a member of the Synod of Phila- waiting for.”20 Dickinson was uncomfort- delphia, he found himself free to utilize able with some of the more emotional, physi- some of the revivalists’ methods and to en- cal antics, but, he noted, most awakened joy some of their success.22 The Presbyterian Church during the Great Awakening 13

On the other side, Gilbert Tennent, in the reunification discussions, two factors response to the rise of uncontrollable enthu- worked together to render the New Light siasm, was beginning to move toward the Synod of New York the dominant force. The persuasive, moderate voice of Jonathan first was the overwhelming support of the Dickinson. James Davenport, an itinerant laity for the revival. From 1738 onward, whose original parish was on Long Island, congregation upon congregation under the had already created some anxiety among governance of the Old Light presbyteries of the New Lights during his tour of New Jer- Philadelphia, Donegal, and New Castle pe- sey, bringing communities to unbridled en- titioned New Brunswick, and later the Synod thusiasm. Already excessive in his methods, of New York, to be placed under their care. he seemed to go over the edge in New Not only did the congregations of Hopewell England where he sang in the streets, shrieked and Maidenhead split but so did those of his messages, and encouraged lay preach- Cohanzy, Neshaminy, Great Valley, and ers. Following a series of sermons that grew Philadelphia. Tinnacum, Newtown, and increasingly harsh in their condemnation of Tredyffrin, also of the Philadelphia “unenlightened” ministers who in fact sup- Presbytery, sought to be joined to New ported the Awakening but condemned Dav- Brunswick, as did four congregations in the enport, Davenport brought shame to the New Castle Presbytery. Additionally, five Presbyterian Church when he established a communities under New Castle’s care di- “school of the prophets,” the “Shepherd’s vided, and in the Presbytery of Donegal Tent” in New London, Connecticut. On one almost every congregation either withdrew of the more spectacular evenings he pro- from the presbytery or suffered a separation. voked his followers to build a bonfire and In 1741 alone, seventeen congregations in burn the published works of eminent New the Mid-Atlantic and Chesapeake areas pe- England ministers.23 A few years after Dav- titioned the New Brunswick Presbytery for enport had shaken Tennent’s convictions, supply preaching.25 he observed the disruption that the Moravians The second factor, building upon the brought among their German brethren, as first, was the ability of the New Light com- well as the threat they posed for his own munity to supply ministers to those congre- congregation in Philadelphia. The Moravians gations. In 1758, the year of reunion, the swept through Pennsylvania, promising the Old Light Synod of Philadelphia numbered possibilities of universal salvation and deny- twenty clerics, nine of whom had joined the ing the need of preparing for conversion, a synod after 1745. The Synod of New York theological position that Presbyterians found had seventy-two clerics; fifty-eight had ar- indefensible. Further, the Moravians de- rived within the previous ten years, and of manded ministers that led successful reviv- those at least half were native-born.26 These als and urged congregants to leave pastors numbers are not only about the demand for who could not provoke the correct response. ministers, but about supply. From the 1730s Jonathan Dickinson and Samuel Blair, as onward, Presbyterian clerics had been in- well as Tennent, denounced the Moravians, creasingly concerned about their depen- and Tennent absolutely changed position dence upon British institutions, along with upon the pastor-congregant relation: he now Harvard and Yale, to provide the basic bac- argued that people should stay with their calaureate education for young men/poten- own pastors. These sermons were titled The tial ministers. In fact, the Presbyterian Church Danger of Spiritual Pride and The Necessity was dependent upon Harvard, Yale, and of studying to be quiet, and doing our own Britain not only for education but for candi- Business. By the time the work of reconcili- dates themselves. William Tennent’s Log ation was underway, Tennent had preached College had been the first response to this Brotherly Love recommended.24 dependence, and the discomfort some cler- As the synods jockeyed for position in gymen felt about such a private enterprise 14 Journal of Presbyterian History was acted out in the Rowland debates over ministerial qualifications. Beyond private tutoring, however, ministers on both sides of the Awakening began working toward the establishment of a college. The Old Lights had great hopes for the New London Academy and arrangements with Yale to take their students, plans that never came to fruition. The New Lights, of course, were highly suspicious of Yale and Harvard, for both had rejected the promise of the Awakening. Yale’s president had refused to permit students to attend Gilbert Tennent’s preaching in a nearby town, and the college’s expulsion of David Brainerd, who had said that his tutor had “no more grace than a chair” and then refused to confess and repent, was becoming legend- ary. New Lights turned to their own re- sources, again, and under the guidance of the highly admired and politically astute Rev. John Witherspoon Dickinson, they successfully proposed the establishment of the College of New Jersey, indirect reference to the New Brunswick a colony-supported college that would edu- Presbytery’s protest of the 1739 decision cate men of all denominations and yet be concerning ministerial qualifications. The under the direction of Presbyterian clergy. Protestation of 1741 was also deemed a When the college moved to Newark in Oc- legal protest, but only that, and not an act of tober 1747, twenty students were enrolled. synod. In accepting the Plan of Union, then, The first class of six graduated in 1748, and the Old Lights acknowledged that their use over the next twenty years, 338 men gradu- of this protest as synodical act was illegal, ated from the college and almost half (158) paving the way for reconciliation.28 were ordained, most of them Presbyteri- Members reached compromise positions ans.27 upon the original presenting issues: ministe- Reflecting the dominance of the Synod rial qualifications and intrusions. Now, proof New York, the Plan of Union incorpo- bationers would be required to produce rated resolutions upon each disputed area evidence of their experiential piety as well that favored the New Light position while as their learning and theological understand- allowing the Old Lights to save face. The ing. On the question of intrusions, preachers agreement began with a confirmation of the were warned against slandering one another Westminster Confession as the confession of publicly, whether the accusations involved the Presbyterian church. The Westminster immorality, heterodoxy, or mere insuffi- Directory established the plans of worship, ciency as a pastor. Any one concerned about government, and discipline, and concur- the character or theology of a pastor was to rence with (or at least submission to) every employ the appropriate disciplinary pro- synodical decision was required in matters cess outlined in the Directory. So too, an judged “indispensable to doctrine or gov- itinerant preacher was required to ask the ernment.” The proviso, first established in permission of the pastor, or, in the case of a 1729, that members could protest inessen- vacant congregation, the presbytery, before tial matters remained, and no one would be he preached outside the bounds of his own prosecuted for protesting a decision—an congregation. However, the agreement also The Presbyterian Church during the Great Awakening 15 noted that refusing such consent would be the 1740s, this division held great symbolic judged “unbrotherly.”29 value for all Presbyterians. If the New Lights The final article of the Plan of Union really believed that their opponents were established the new synod’s ratification of unconverted, then their withdrawal repre- the Awakening as a work of the Holy Spirit. sented a rejection of the body corrupt, and With extensive and fulsome prose, the agree- the Old Lights, who saw their opponents as ment confirmed that true conversion was deluded, may have pursued their removal as characterized by “an entire Change of Heart a sort of grand purge. While the laity, espe- & Life” and noted that many people who had cially the New Lights, may have found them- experienced the physical manifestations of selves interpreting the schism in this light, spiritual awakening still failed to evidence moderating actions on both sides indicate such a change in their behavior and habits. that neither group of clerics had moved to These individuals were judged deluded. The such polar extremes. Clergymen held a range revival’s advocates appeared to back away of positions on the subject of separation as from a position of unilateral, indiscriminate well as presenting issues causing the split, support, and much of the emotional enthu- with very few ministers so extreme as to not siasm was condemned. In the end, the final seek reconciliation. article did proclaim the recent awakening George Gillespie, a highly respected member of the New Castle Presbytery since a gracious Work of God, even tho’ it Shou’d be 1721, had mixed feelings about the Awak- attended with unusual bodily Commotions, or Some more exceptionable Circumstances, by ening itself. He found Whitefield’s theology Means of Infirmity, Temptations, or remaining unsound and Tennent’s preaching danger- Corruptions; and whenever religious Appear- ous, and he remained in the Synod of Phila- ances are attended with the good Effects above delphia after 1745. However, he neither mentioned, we desire to rejoice in and thank joined nor approved the Protestation of 1741 God for them.30 and wrote that “it plainly appeareth who Although this language may be read as were hottest for a division, to wit, the pro- political compromise of New Lights to con- testers.”31 Several members of the New York tinued Old Light hesitations, historians can Presbytery were deeply sympathetic to those also see here the growing anxiety of the New ministers who had felt attacked by such Lights themselves with the emotionalism sermons as Tennent’s Danger of an Uncon- and “fanatical” zeal, as they described it, of verted Ministry; Jonathan Dickinson pub- such extremists as the Moravians or their licly condemned a congregation who seemed own James Davenport. to be moving in such a direction in opposi- A spare seventeen years after the New tion to their pious and respectable (but ap- Brunswick brethren and their supporters were parently not so very charismatic) pastor. The cast out of the Synod of Philadelphia, the presbytery itself, absent from the synod in leaders of both parties reached an agree- 1741, devoted three years within the Phila- ment and united into the Synod of New York delphia Synod toward effecting a reconcili- and Philadelphia. The comparative brevity ation. Only after failing to achieve unity did of the separation makes it difficult to mea- they choose to create with the others a new sure the ultimate significance of the schism synodical body, and in this effort, the Synod in the history of Presbyterianism in the United of New York informed and sought (and States. One might argue, from the changing received) the blessing of the Synod of Phila- composition of the clerical community com- delphia. Even the obstreperous Gilbert bined with the rather static nature of the Tennent had developed second thoughts laity, that the church of 1765 would have about the stridency, vehemence, and dog- become what it was, even without the up- matism of his own preaching upon the im- heaval of schism. Still, these very communi- portance of the Spirit. He had never opposed ties did push toward separation, and during the importance of erudition as a qualifica- 16 Journal of Presbyterian History tion for the ministry; but he was convinced ferences among themselves. They sought that an experiential knowledge of God was out and negotiated compromises and then of equal importance. Within eight years of persuaded their congregations to accept his Nottingham sermon, Tennent himself those compromises. They would have said, had seen the face of extremism and recog- I think, that they did this for the glory of God: nized it as unsound and dangerous, spiritu- to further the work of God in the world. They ally and theologically. certainly did this for the sake of unity, es- While the laity always seemed prepared pousing a theology that understood unity as to enjoy a good fight, clergymen generally a virtue in and of itself. But still, this unity stepped more carefully. Perhaps the laity was undoubtedly more important to clerical were less sophisticated and therefore unable well-being than to the lay spirituality. Min- to understand such nuances as essential vs. isters needed the support and friendship of inessential doctrines. This could prevent other ministers. Clegymen required the ser- them from grasping the space for compro- vices that only the institutional church can mise. Perhaps the laity were simply irre- provide: supply preachers, assistance cel- sponsible, willing to use the justification of ebrating the sacraments, support in disci- Awakening to destroy the career of their plinary matters, assistance in educating and pastor because he did not fit their own image promoting new ministerial candidates. Most of a spiritual leader (or, at least, to leave his of these things would benefit the laity, but care for someone better liked). While the the clergy, by sitting at the heart of the laity, overall, probably were less sophisti- institution’s life, understood better what was cated than the ministry, and while some needed. I would argue that, in part, they undoubtedly disliked their pastors enough resolved disputes and negotiated compro- to use whatever means available to rid them- mises because they were colleagues, friends, selves of them, I believe it a mistake to and confidants. They needed the emotional simply see the clergy as something the laity and institutional support that clergymen give were not. In the Presbyterian Church, whether to one another and that the church adminis- in Scotland, Ireland, or North America, tration provided them in their work. whether in the seventeenth, eighteenth, or The moderating spirit was most apparent twentieth centuries, the clergy have often in the early progress of the College of New had the responsibility for leading the laity Jersey. Presbyters throughout the Mid-At- beyond the frequently dualistic thinking of lantic had dreamed about a college in their their congregations—right/wrong simple- own region that could train candidates for mindedness that retained no space for legiti- the ministry. The presbyteries that would mate disagreement or compromise. Some- constitute the Synod of New York had, un- times pastors failed, but often they refused to der the guidance of Jonathan Dickinson, try and instead used the laity as a lever with finally succeeded. Long negotiations with which to push clerical opponents. The prob- the successive governors of New Jersey had lem, of course, was that when ministers used garnered a charter as well as the patronage the laity as a tool, lay men and women might of leading citizens in the region. When the develop a heightened, dare I say dangerous, two synods reunited in 1758, they together sense of their own importance. The embraced the College of New Jersey as their congregants could then challenge their pas- own, and despite the efforts of a few minis- tor or their presbytery, and what began as a ters within the Philadelphia Presbytery who power battle among clerics fueled by lay still hoped for their own college, the clerics participation could end up a battle between worked together to support the New Jersey pastors and their congregations. institution. The first two decades of the In the end, a pastor’s surest allies re- college’s history were rocky, plagued by the mained his colleagues, and so clerics often death of several presidents. However, in worked, from the beginning, to resolve dif- 1768, the trustees successfully recruited John The Presbyterian Church during the Great Awakening 17

Witherspoon to serve as the college’s new mative Years of American Presbyterianism (Lexington: Univ. of Kentucky Press, 1997). president. As a minister within the Church of 4Leonard J. Trinterud, The Forming of an American Scotland and a member of the evangelical Tradition: A Re-examination of Colonial Presbyteri- party, Witherspoon was opposed to the theo- anism (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1949), esp. 53–167; Ned Landsman, “Revivalism and Nativism in logical rationalism that rejected the divinity the Middle Colonies: The Great Awakening and The of Christ. A staunch Calvinist, he also op- Scots Community in East New Jersey,” American Quar- posed the enthusiasm of the revivals which terly 34 (1982): 149–64. 5Leigh Eric Schmidt, “Jonathan Dickinson and the had swept mid-century Scotland as well as Making of the Moderate Awakening,” American Pres- the North American colonies. Because of his byterians: Journal of Presbyterian History 63 (1985): stature, his political acumen, and his partici- 341–53. 6John Tennent, The Nature of Regeneration Opened pation in the political as well as theological (Boston, 1735); Samuel Buell, A Faithful Narrative of debates of the day, Wither-spoon became the Remarkable Revival of Religion in the Congrega- what the Presbyterian Church had lacked: a tion of East-Hampton, on Long Island (New York, 1766). leader of national prominence who symbol- 7This story of the Scots-Irish, from the 1625 reviv- ized no faction, only unity. Following the als to the Great Awakening, is recounted in Westerkamp, American Revolution, in the very year in Triumph of the Laity. 8Religious persecutions were also cited as a reason which the new republic began its history for the emigration; but the persecution was haphazard under the Constitution, Witherspoon would and erratic, dependent entirely upon the attitude of the lead the Presbyterian Church toward its na- Anglican bishop overseeing the district. In my judgment, the economic factors were far more important. tional destiny with the formation of a na- The report of John St. Leger and Michael Ward to the tional General Assembly comprising four Lord Justices, 26 June 1729 (Public Record Office, synods. Belfast, Northern Ireland) cites persecutions, including high tithes and summonses to bishops’ courts, but they, This unity was, predictably, short-lived. too, found the primary problems to be economic. During the first few decades of the nine- 9On William Tennent’s theology, see Milton J teenth century, battles about revivalism, Coalter, Jr.’s exploration of several sermons in his Gilbert Tennent, Son of Thunder: A Case Study of ministerial qualifications, and the nature of Continental Pietism’s Impact on the First Great Awak- salvation returned. The laity again became ening in the Middle Colonies (Westport, Conn.: Green- radicalized, the clergy took sides and en- wood Press, 1986), 5–9. 10Randall H. Balmer, A Perfect Babel of Confusion: couraged congregants’ rebellion, and Pres- Dutch Religion and English Culture in the Middle byterians once again returned to the cycle of Colonies (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1989), 103– schism and reunion. In the end, the cyclical 21. See also Coalter, Gilbert Tennent, Son of Thunder, 12–22. nature of this dynamic retains primary im- 11Presbytery of New Brunswick, Minutes, 8 August portance. Yes, the Presbyterian Church did 1738, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia; split in 1741, and, yes, it would do so again Minutes of the Synod of Philadelphia, 29 May 1738, 29 May 1739 as printed in Guy S. Klett, ed., Minutes of the many times; schism seems built into Presby- Presbyterian Church in America 1706–1788 (Philadel- terian theology and polity. However, the phia: Presbyterian Historical Society, 1976), 157, 164. Presbyterian Church also reunited in 1758, Subsequent citations of synod minutes are from this edition. a union negotiated among the sharpest of 12Minutes of the Philadelphia Synod, 28 May 1739, opponents, a union that lasted more than 163. forty years. Apparently, reunions, as well as 13On Whitefield’s great success cultivating an image and attracting huge numbers, see Frank Lambert, schisms, stand as part of the Presbyterian Pedlar in Divinity: George Whitefield and the Transat- political culture. lantic Revivals, 1737–1770 (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1994). 14As cited in Coalter, Gilbert Tennent, Son of NOTES Thunder, 50; Minutes of the Philadelphia Synod, 29 May 1738, 157. 1(New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1988). 15Gilbert Tennent, The Danger of an Unconverted 2Elizabeth I. Nybakken, “The Scottish, Irish, and Ministry (Philadelphia: Benjamin Franklin, 1740), 3– American Evangelical Community in the 18th Century: 7, 10, 16. Clergy and Laity in the Revivals” (Commentary deliv- 16Jonathan Dickinson, The Danger of Schisms and ered at the 1989 Meeting of the Organization of Contentions with Respect to the Ministry and Ordi- American Historians, April 1989, St. Louis, MO). nances of the Gospel (New York: J. Peter Zenger, 3Bryan Le Beau, Jonathan Dickinson and the For- 1739), 8, 17. 18 Journal of Presbyterian History

17Minutes of the Synod of Philadelphia, 25 May Dickinson, 124–43; Westerkamp, Triumph of the La- 1738, 153; 28 May 1739, 163. ity, 203–9. 18Ibid., 2 June 1740, 171. 25Presbytery of New Brunswick, Minutes, 2 June 19LeBeau, Jonathan Dickinson, 124–31. 1741, 29 May 1742, 27 May 1743, 11–12 August 20Jonathan Dickinson, A Display of God’s special 1743, 11 September 1744; Synod of Philadelphia Grace (Boston, 1742), i–ii. Minutes, 2 June 1740, 172; Presbytery of Philadelphia 21LeBeau, Jonathan Dickinson, 124–48. Minutes, 27 May 1740, 27 May 1741, Presbyterian 22John Thomson, The Government of the Church of Historical Society, Philadelphia. This last note on Christ, and the Authority of Church Judicatories estab- petitions for supply preaching has also been noted by lished on a Scripture Foundation (Philadelphia, 1741), iv. Coalter, Gilbert Tennent, Son of Thunder, 142. 23Harry S. Stout and Peter Onuf, “James Davenport 26Westerkamp, Triumph of the Laity, 204–5. and the Great Awakening in New London,” Journal of 27Le Beau, Jonathan Dickinson, 165–86; Coalter, American History 71 (1983): 556–78. Gilbert Tennent, Son of Thunder, 140–51, statistics on 24Gilbert Tennent, Some Account of the Principles graduates 151. of the Moravians (London, 1743); Tennent,The Danger 28Synod of New York and Philadelphia, Minutes, of Spiritual Pride represented (Philadelphia, [1745]); 22 May 1758, printed in Klett, ed., Minutes of the Tennent, The Necessity of Studying to be quiet, and Presbyterian Church, 340–43, citation, 341. doing our own Business (Philadelphia, 1744); Tennent, 29Ibid., 341. Brotherly Love recommended, by Argument of the 30Ibid., 342. Love of Christ (Philadelphia, 1748). On the movement 31George Gillespie, A Letter to the Reverend Breth- of New Lights toward moderation see Coalter, Gilbert ren as quoted in Le Beau, Jonathan Dickinson, 130. See Tennent, Son of Thunder, 91–112; David C. Harlan, also George Gillespie, A Sermon Against Divisions in “The Travail of Religious Moderation: Jonathan Christ’s Churches (Philadelphia, 1740) and Gillespie, Dickinson and the Great Awakening,” Journal of Pres- Remarks upon Mr. George Whitefield (Philadelphia, byterian History 61 (1983): 411–26; Le Beau, Jonathan 1744).