The Third Great Awakening

By the late 1850s, it was clear that our nation was heading into a Civil War. One writer had this to say about the time period “Stripped of their self-dependence, and in despair, men again found time to think on their need of God.” It was during the year of 1857 that one man in particular was moved to take action. Jeremiah Lanphier, a missionary from New York City, began inviting families to join him in prayer for revival. He widely advertised the prayer meetings for noon at the Fulton Street North Dutch Church. At the scheduled time, he was the only one there. He began to pray and soon several other people joined him. They agreed to have a prayer meeting each week. By the third week they had over forty people at the prayer meeting. At that point they agreed to meet daily at noon for prayer. Within four months the Church was overflowing with those desiring to pray for their need of revival. By the Spring of 1858, over twenty other Churches were conducting prayer meetings all over the New York City area. The Prayer meetings spread to Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburgh, and many other cities throughout the Northeastern United States. The major feature of all of these prayer meetings was prayer, although usually one of the layman read a passage of Scripture. Some historians have estimated that as many as half a million people were saved as a result of the Prayer meeting revivals. The story does not end there. In several countries in Europe, most notably Wales, they had been praying for years for revival. When news of the Prayer meeting revival reached Europe, it encouraged the Spiritual leaders to pray even more earnestly. The Welsh revival was one of the most powerful displays of Holy Spirit revival in Church history. Think about it, all of this was brought on by one man with a burden to pray for God’s Holy Spirit to bring men and woman back to Himself.
The Southern states also experienced revival, but it came in a completely different way. Most of the Southern revival was led by two of their greatest military leaders, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. Under the leadership of these two men, many Confederate soldiers were brought to Christ As soldiers saw the reality of Christ in their leadership, it caused many of them to turn to Christ during the Civil war. Southern historians estimate that as many as 100,000 Confederate soldiers were converted during the course of the war. The Southern revival combined with the prayer meeting revivals in the North, are often referred to as the third Great Awakening. God knew that America needed to be Spiritually strong in order to survive the horrors of a Civil War. Praise God for Godly leaders that saw the need for prayer and Spiritual power during these dark days of our nation’s history.

Gold and the goodness of God

Throughout much of the history of the United States, God’s providential control has been seen through His timing of events. Two great examples of God’s timing can be seen in the acquisition of California and Alaska. California was added to America after the war with Mexico as part of the Mexican Cession. When we defeated Mexico in 1848, we gave them 15 million dollars in exchange for the territory that now makes up the Southwest United States. The War with Mexico had been debated greatly. There were many who felt the United States had provoked Mexico into war just to gain more territory. Even though the way we got the land may not have been God’s way, God allowed us to get the land just in time. The way things worked out remind me of the conversation Joseph had with his brothers in Egypt. Joseph told his brothers; “you meant it for evil but God meant it for good” Often God will take a selfish act of man and turn it into something good. We signed the treaty and took possession of California just weeks before Gold was discovered by Sutter’s mill. Soon thousands of prospectors were flocking to California in search of great wealth. Had the Mexican government known about the Gold in California, they probably never would have sold it to us for such a small amount, if at all. The second example of God’s timing was seen in the purchase of Alaska. Secretary William Seward had been approached by the Russian Authorities that they would be willing to sell the Alaskan territory. When Seward presented the possibility to Congress, he was laughed at and ridiculed. The proposed purchase was labeled “Seward’s Folly”,” Seward’s icebox”, and other such names. Seward was able to buy the land, and it turned out to be a pretty good deal. The land itself cost just a few cents and acre. Then in 1890, gold was discovered in Alaska. Once again, it is doubtful as to whether or not Russia would have sold us the land had they known about the gold just a few years earlier. Russia fell to Communism in 1917, can you imagine the danger we would have been in if Russia controlled Alaska at that time in history. Alaska turned out to be rich in furs, fish, and most of all oil. The purchase of Alaska was an example of God’s mercy and kindness to our country.

The great compromiser

The issue of slavery was always lurking in America’s history, ready to divide and destroy the Union of our nation. During the 1820 to 1850 period, one man helped put off the inevitable clash with his compromises. That man was Henry Clay, who was known as the great compromiser. In 1820 the issue of the expansion of slavery threatened to divide our country. Each side had an equal number of states that were free and slave. The next state to enter the Union threatened to offset the delicate balance. Clay introduced the Missouri compromise, and with it he was able to keep both sides happy for a while. The issue of tariffs also came into play in 1833 when Congress passed the tariff of abominations. This Tariff caused many in the South to consider secession. Clay came up with a compromise that eventually brought the tariff down to normal levels, and peace again was restored. Finally in 1850 California wanted to come into the Union as a free state. This would upset the balance of states that were slave and free. Clay was able to come up with the Compromise of 1850. Even though none of these compromises were able to end slavery or avoid war, they did put off the war for about forty years. God is His mercy was allowing America more time to remove the evil of slavery by vote. How wonderful would it have been if the United States had voted to end slavery like Great Britain did in the mid 1800s. In the early 1850s Henry Clay died, and America lost its champion of Compromise. Less than ten years later, the North and South entered into a Civil War that would change the country forever. Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, and His will is for men to solve their problems peaceably. When sinful men refuse to do His will, then He allows war to solve the problem the hard way. We need more men like Henry Clay who are willing to try to make peace. Blessed are the peace makers, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Hopefully we will do things God’s way, and not have to go through the hard way again.

How could a Christian nation practice sin?

Those who say that America was founded as a Christian nation, and that God has taken an active role in the history of our nation, often have difficulty explaining the treatment of Native Americans and the institution of slavery. How could God be involved with a nation that mistreated the original inhabitants of America, and how could God bless a country that actively supported the slave trade? There are no easy answers to those two questions. Obviously God does not condone needless war, breaking treaties, or one group of people owning another. There are two ideas that I have come across over the years that helped me in this matter. The first principle was that we can never judge one generation by our own standards of conduct. Many things that were done hundreds of years ago seem unacceptable by our way of thinking, but were generally accepted by those who lived in that time period. Slavery was a practice that had been accepted for thousands of years. When nations conquered other nations, it was common practice to place the vanquished into the bonds of slavery. When our founding fathers brought the first slaves to America in 1619, it was nothing out of the ordinary. Christians at this time also drank beer, and began smoking tobacco. Today if a Christian practices any of these behaviors, their commitment to Christ would be questioned. This does not justify the practice of slavery, I believe God judged America with the Civil war for their treatment of slaves, but it does help us at least to understand how a man like Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, even though he wrote that all men are created equel. That brings us to the second principle, and that is that all Providence can be put into two categories, mercy of judgment. Many times we think that God only intervenes to help out nations or individuals. However, God often judges men for their sin and selfish behavior. When we say that America was founded as a Christian nation, it does not mean that everything that was done by our founding fathers was right. The treatment of Native Americans of breaking treaties and sending them off to other land was wrong. God judged America with many wars and destruction of property and life. The War of 1812 was partially caused by Indian resentment. The wars in the West from 1870- 1890 were direct results from our unjust treatment of Indians. As was mentioned the Civil War was mainly caused by our failure to end slavery by laws. The civil rights struggles that started in 1950 and still continue today, remind us of the evils of slavery that were tolerated in America for so long. God never condones sin, but He often uses its results to bring about His will. We need to learn from the mistakes of the past, and make sure we do not allow race to continue to be an issue of fear and hatred today. God is often merciful to us and provides victory and peace, but He also judges sin and allows suffering and war. May God have mercy on us and our nation.

God is there in the highs and the lows

Life is full of high points and low points. The same is true for nations. America had just reached a high point in the early 1800s with the Second Great Awakening, and especially the beginning of the American missionary movement. However, it also experienced one of the darkest events in its history. During the war of 1812, the British were able to scatter a large American military force that was protecting Washington D.C. President Madison and other government leaders were able to escape, but the British troops marched right into our nation’s capitol. The British officers ate food that had been prepared in the President’s mansion. The soldiers went into the Capitol building and took a vote as to whether or not the building should be burned. As you can guess, the vote was unanimous to set the Capitol on fire. They then continued to set the President’s mansion and several other key buildings in our nation’s capitol on fire. It was at this time that God's hand was seen again in our country's history. As the buildings were beginning to burn, a series of thunder storms came roaring in. The fires were put out, with many of our buildings being spared. Even though our country had been humiliated, God kept the damage to a minimum. Many Christians during the war of 1812 felt that the war was God’s judgment for allowing the Constitution to be ratified without any mention of God, and no religious test being required to run for office. The war did turn out to be unnecessary, but even in judgment, God showed His mercy.