2nd Great Awakening 1792

2nd Great Awakening Timeline

Canadian Revivals

1776-84 Henry Alline began his itinerant revivals in, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in Canada.

1786-1806 William Black, Freeborn Garretson and James O. Cromwell saw revival in Nova Scotia and many other Canadian towns.

1790 William Losee saw revival in Ontario

1801-1810 Revival occurred in the Niagara Peninsula.

College Revivals

1757 College Revival at Yale led by Naphtali Dagget and saw a small awakening.

1781 Dartmouth revival breaks out

1783 Another wave of revival at Yale, also Princeton, Williams, Hampden-Sydney

1795 Timothy Dwight, grandson of Jonathan Edwards, took over Yale College in 1795 and saw over half the students converted in just one year. Other colleges enjoyed similar movements of the Spirit.

1802 Another move of the Spirit at Yale under Timothy Dwight. About a third of the 230 students in the college became Christians.

1802 The revival spread to Dartmouth and Princeton. Almost 80 of the 105 students at Princeton were saved and 25 of them became ministers.

1808 Revival again came to Yale when 30 were converted

1812-1813 About 180 students at Princeton were touched during a student prayer revival.

1831 Revivals again occurred at Yale, where Horace Bushnell was converted.

1841 Further revivals at Yale with 75 converts under the preaching of Jacob Knapp.

British Revivals in the 2nd Great Awakening

1784 John Erskine of Edinburgh re-published Jonathan Edward’s earnest plea for revival prayer. It was entitled, ‘An Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God’s People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ’s Kingdom”. Denomination after denomination devoted a monthly Monday evening to prayer, first in Britain, then in the US.

1785 Evangelical awakenings (revivals) spread throughout Wales: 1785, Brynengan, 1786 Trecastle, 1791 Bala, 1805 Aberystwyth, 1810 Llangei-tho, 1817 Beddgelert, 1821 Denbighshire, 1822 Anglesey, 1828 Carmarthenshire, 1832 Caernarvonshire, 1840 Merionethshire, 1849 SouthWales, et al

1789 John Sutcliffe, England, published a new edition of Edwards’ ‘A Humble Attempt…’

1791 Revival beginnings in the industrial towns of Yorkshire in late, spreading across the UK and various denominations. Methodists alone grew from around 72,000 at Wesleys death in 1791 to almost a quarter of a million within a generation.

1792 May 12, William Carey published An Enquiry on missions; on May 31, preaches “Expect great things, attempt great things” sermon; Oct. 2, helps to found Baptist Missionary Society

1793 William Carey, the “Father of Modern Misssions” sets out for Bengal, India missionary work.

1780’s Churches in Wales became packed again and thousands gathered in the open air.

1780’s (need confirming) the Haldanes (Robert and James) and Thomas Chalmers, saw phenomenal awakenings in Scotland.

1780’s (need confirming) Ireland too, saw local awakenings, especially among the Methodists.

1800 Beginnings of local awakenings (revivals) in Scotland: Lewis, Harris, Perthshire.

1807 May 31, the Mow Cop Revival, 2-4000 attended, prompted by Lorenzo Dow UK visit, led by Hugh Bourne and attended by William Clowes who subsequently became a revivalist preacher. This meeting was the beginning of the Primitive Methodist movement in UK.

A remarkable result of these UK revivals was the founding the British and Foreign Bible Society, The Religious Tract Society, The Baptist Missionary Society, The London Missionary Society, The Church Missionary Society and a host of other evangelistic agencies. It also achieved considerable social reform; evangelical Anglicans successfully fought for the abolition of the slave trade, prisons were reformed, Sunday Schools began and a number of benevolent institutions were commenced.

1800 Scandinavia was impacted and in Switzerland a visit of Robert Haldane sparked off revivals among the Reformed churches.

c.1810 Wales: revivals under Christmas Evans and John Elias.

American Revivals

1773 Virginia: revival breaks out as first instance of a Pentecostal-type religious revival in North America; followed by recurrence in 1787.

1794-1798 In US the concept of prayer was very widespread and awakening broke out everywhere. Every state and every evangelical denomination was affected.

1771 Francis Asbury, later known as the “Wesley of America” sailed across the Atlantic for America with other Methodist circuit-riding preachers. Great advance followed.

1784 Wesley ordained Thomas Coke and others for work in America.

1798 Lorenzo Dow saw twelve hundred converts in twelve months.

New England Awakenings

1797-1798 About 150 New England churches had “times of refreshing”.

1794 Isaac Backus encouraged spread of monthly concert of prayer.

1797 An awakening under Charles Backus began in Somers, Connecticut, with the young people.

1798 December 26, Alexander Gillet’s preaching sparked a revival at Torringford, Connecticut.

1798 springtime, Timothy M. Cooley experienced awakening in Granville, Massachusetts. April

1799 Samuel Shepherd saw a sudden influx of new converts in Lennox, Massachusetts

1800 James McGready and Barton Stone witnessed an astounding revival at Kentucky with much trembling, shaking, tears, shouting and fainting.

1800 Peter Cartwright converted at Kentucky meetings, joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. became a preacher in 1802, ordained in 1806 by Francis Asbury and William McKendree, thereafter became itinerant revivalist for 35 years.

1801 Barton Stone was invited to minister at the Cambridge meeting house in Bourbon County. A second visit attracted 20,000 people to a 6-day camp-meeting, which witnessed astounding revival scenes, with hundreds falling at once, with shrieks and shouts and many conversions.

1805 Lorenzo Dow preached in the Court-house at Knoxville, Tennessee, when about one hundred and fifty of his hearers were exercised with “the jerks.”

1805-6  Revival broke out in central Pennsylvania through the ministry of Jacob Albright and George Miller, two Evangelical pastors.

1806 August The Haystack Prayer Meeting, Williamstown, Massachusetts, ignited prayer for missionary expansion, ultimately establishing the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions .

1807 Revival at Yale

1809 February, Park Street Church in Boston was founded and became a center of missionary activity and renewal in Unitarian Boston. Most revivals occurred in the period from 1813 to 1846. One was under Sereno Dwight in 1826 and 1827.

1812 First missionaries sent to India, later to China, Hawaii and southeast Asia, establishing hospitals and schools at its mission stations, translation of the Bible into native languages. Thousands of missionaries were sent to Asia.

1815 Revival at Princeton during which Daniel Baker visited the rooms of every student and won forty-five to Christ. More than twenty-five of these later became ministers.

Results of this revival: The American Bible Society, American Tract Society, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission and innumerable other societies were founded at this time.

Continental Europe

1796 Norwegian revival under Hans Nielsen Hauge.

1810 Evangelical awakenings in Switzerland under Robert Haldane, also France and Germany.

1816   Elberfeld revivals in western Germany: First revival 1816, second 1820.

1820 Revival in Pomerania, Germany.

This timeline was initially constructed using Earle E. Cairns historical chronology, with additions drawn from a variety of other revival works.