Document 4.5 Nathan Cole, On George Whitefield Coming to Connecticut, 1740

Document 4.5

Nathan Cole | On George Whitefield Coming to Connecticut, 1740

As the Great Awakening swept through British North America in the 1730s and 1740s, thousands flocked to revivals led by traveling ministers. George Whitefield, an English evangelical preacher, launched an extensive speaking tour of the colonies in 1739 to 1740. In the following passage, Nathan Cole, a Connecticut farmer, describes his own reaction and that of the crowd assembled at Wethersfield to hear Whitefield preach.

We went down in the Stream; I heard no man speak a word all the way three mile but every one pressing forward in great haste and when we got down to the old meeting house there was a great multitude; it was said to be 3 or 4000 of people assembled together. We got off from our horses and shook off the dust and the ministers were then coming to the meeting house. I turned and looked toward the great river and saw the ferry boats running swift forward and backward bringing over loads of people; the oars rowed nimble and quick. Every thing men horses and boats all seemed to be struggling for life; the land and the banks over the river looked black with people and horses all along the 12 miles. I see no man at work in his field but all seemed to be gone—when I saw Mr. Whitefield come upon the Scaffold [platform] he looked almost angelical, a young slim slender youth before some thousands of people and with a bold undaunted countenance, and my hearing how God was with him every where as he came along it solemnized my mind and put me in a trembling fear before he began to preach; for he looked as if he was clothed with authority from the great God, and a sweet solemn solemnity sat upon his brow. And my hearing him preach gave me a heart wound; by God’s blessing my old foundation was broken up and I saw that my righteousness would not save me; then I was convinced of the doctrine of Election and went right to quarreling with God about it because all that I could do would not save me; and he had decreed from Eternity who should be saved and who not.

Source: George Leon Walker, Some Aspects of the Religious Life of New England (New York: Silver, Burnett, 1897), 91–92.