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“Probationers for Eternity.” Notes on Religion in the United States in the Year 1800*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 August 2011
Extract
By 1800 the Puritan experiment in theocracy was over. It had been a great adventure in Utopianism, like none other in the centuries since Christ, noble in the magnitude of its vision of a Christian State, extraordinary in the accidental circumstance of its situation, the fertile unspoiled wilderness of a new world in which to work, and for a time successful in awakening in men's souls a hunger and a thirst for righteousness.
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- Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1944
References
1 All dates, unless otherwise specified, are in 1800 and are indicated by the number of the month — that of the day, i.e. 6/21 is June 21st, 1800.
2 Backus, Charles, Century Sermon, Hartford, 1800Google Scholar.
3 Ibid.
4 Jonathan French: Sermon … at the ordination of the Reverend James Kendall, at Plymouth, 1/1/1800. Boston, 1800.
5 Dwight, Timothy, Travels in New England and New York, London, 1823, Vol. 2, Letter 3Google Scholar.
6 Journal of the Reverend Francis Asbury, Vol. 2, July 26, 1800Google Scholar.
7 Diary of Thomas Robbins. 2 Vols. Boston, 1886.
8 C. W. Jenson, The Stranger in America 1793–1806.
9 It is perhaps worth recording that this building is now in good repair and use.
10 This was widely circulated in books and papers. It appeared in Thomas Cooper's Political Essays, 2 Ed. Philadelphia, 1800; in the Kennebec Gazette, November 28; in the Dartmouth Gazette, April 21, and numerous other papers.
11 Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 8/8.
12 MSS. Collection New York Public Library (Em. 14285).
13 Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 2, August, 1800, “Review of Times Past.”
14 Address of the Council of Censors to the People of Vermont. Bennington, 1800. “900 copies ordered printed 2/4/1800.”
15 Rules established by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, New Jersey, printed by A. Blauvelt, 1800.
16 “What is the chief end of Rum? ” Portland, Oriental Trumpet 4/10.
“What is the chief end of woman? To get a husband. How is this done? You dress, chat, play, dance and even go to church rather than not be seen in public places.” Ibid. 7/30.
17 Martinsburg, Virginia Potomac Guardian, 1/8/1800.
18 Another example is the advertisement of Sheftoll Sheftoll, president of the Hebrew Congregation in Savannah offering $50.00 reward for whoever would inform of the “evil person (who) destroyed the gate belonging to the burying ground of the Hebrew Congregation.” Savannah, Georgia. Columbian Museum 5/22.
19 Hartford, Connecticut. American Mercury.
20 Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Berkshire Gazette 1/14.
21 Boston, Massachusetts. Columbia Centinal 12/24, “The Nativity of the Saviour of all men will be celebrated at the Universalist Meeting House in this town tomorrow afternoon.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gazette of the United States 4/10 “Tomorrow being Good Friday the publication of this Gazette will be suspended until Saturday.” It should be borne in mind that the Evangelical Sects set no particular store by special observances for special days of the church year.
22 Op. cit., Nov. 19.
23 Philadelphia Aurora 10/21 20 Reward … “Abseonder … Apprentice … has several marks on each arm with Indian Ink … Our Saviour on the Cross, the Anchor and Mermaid,” etc….
24 Dartmouth (New Hampshire) Gazette 2/10.… “The extemporaneous effusions of imagination frequently elicit a spark of genius not discernible in more laborious and studied lucubrations. Of such in my opinion is the enclosed composed by a person of no political pretensions without the least premeditation … never intended for the press….”
25 Cyprian Strong — Sermon at Ordination of Reverend Jedediah Bushnell, Hartford, January 15, 1800.
26 Cyprian Strong, Sermon delivered at the ordination of the Reverend Jedediah Bushnell. (Hartford, 1800.) Ethan Smith, Farewell sermon at Haverhill, Massachusetts, Peacham, Vermont 1800, et al.
27 “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus … ? ”
28 Cyprian Judson Sermon delivered in Durham at the ordination of the Reverend David Smith. Middletown, 1800.
29 Rules established by Presbytery of New Brunswick, N. B. 1800.
30 Sermon at the Ordination of the Reverend Timothy Clark, Windsor, Vermont, January 1, 1800.
31 Quoted by Mr.Miller, Perry, The New England Mind, Boston, 1940, p. 48Google Scholar. Also “It is true when corne fails, God can send Manna from heaven; God can use extraordinary means to bring men to life and salvation and happiness, but men must not look now for extraordinary conversions…. In the common course of God, even if a soule now be converted, it must be by the ministry of the Word.” Ibid., p. 297.
32 Edwards, Jonathan — Sermons preached at Northampton in the year 1734. Boston, 1800Google Scholar.
33 Sermon delivered January 1, 1800 by Phineas Whitney at the ordination of (his son) Nicholas Whitney. Boston, 1800.
34 Ephraim Tudor's sermon delivered at the ordination of the Reverend David Smith, Middletown, 1800.
35 Cyprian Strong, op. cit.
36 Dickinson, Timothy, Sermon delivered at the ordination of the Reverend Drury Fairbanks. Concord, 1800Google Scholar.
37 Griswold, Stanley, Truth its own Test. Bridgeport, 1800Google Scholar.
38 Andrews, Elisha, Candid reply to the arguments of the Reverend Mr. Winchester. Boston, 1800Google Scholar.
39 Perkins, Nathaniel, Two discourses on the grounds of the Christian Hope. Hartford, 1800Google Scholar.
40 Getchel, Dennis, Testimony concerning the acceptable worship of Almighty God. New Bedford, 1800Google Scholar.
41 Dickinson, Timothy, Sermon at the ordination of Reverend Drury Fairbanks. Concord, 1800Google Scholar.
42 Journal of the Rev. Francis Asbury. 3 Vols. (Vol. 2) (1787–1800).
43 Ibid. at Dover (Delaware).
44 Jesse Lee. A Short History of Methodism in the U. S. A. Baltimore, 1810.
45 Isaac Smucker, “The Great Awakening.” American Antiquarian Society Proceedings, No. 62, 1874.
46 Treatise Concerning the Religious Affections. “It is plain the Scripture often makes use of bodily effects to express the strength of holy and spiritual affections; such as trembling, groaning, being sick, crying out, panting and fainting.” Works of President Edwards, Vol. III, p. 27, New York 1869.
47 Smucker, op. cit. R. W. Findley was one of the great revivalists. One of his most famous meetings at Queen Ridge County (?) seems to have been held in 1800. The Reverend Samuel Doke, either in 1800 or very shortly after, tried to lead a return to some sanity and attacked the shakers and jerkers. Eventually he caught them.
48 New York Weekly Museum.
49 “Review of Times Past,” Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, July, 1800Google Scholar.
50 Diary of Julia Cowles 1797–1803. New Haven, 1931Google Scholar.
51 The parenthesis is Julia's.
52 Rosewell Messenger. Sermon at the ordination of the Reverend James Boud at Bangor 9/10/1800. Northampton, 1800.
53 Calendar of Virginia State Papers 9/12.
54 This petition was not granted. There is no evident reason that it should have been, which makes Law's remark only perfunctory.
55 Josiah Spalding. The Duty and Importance of Calling on God Illuminated.
56 This was the favorite text of Maurice de Sully, seven hundred years earlier.
57 Constitution and Canon of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U. S. A., Boston, 1800.
58 Op. cit., see note 49.
59 Getchel, Dennis. Testimony concerning acceptable worship of Almighty God. New Bedford, 1800Google Scholar.
60 By John Drinker. Mount Holly, 1800. This is signed John Drinker, Clerk and the only copy seen, that in the John Carter Brown Library in Providence, is catalogued as by John Drinker Clark.
61 Barres, M., La Colline Inspirée, Paris, 1922Google Scholar.
62 Memoirs of the Life and Gospel Labors of Stephen Grellet, ed. Seebohm, B., 2 vols., Philadelphia, 1860Google Scholar.
63 Memories of Hannah Yarnell. Friends Miscellany, Vol. 9, Philadelphia, 1837Google Scholar.
64 Tour of Joseph Clark of Philadelphia. Friends Miscellany, Vol. 5, Philadelphia, 1834Google Scholar.