The majority of the colonies in America were formed because the colonists wanted religious freedom, like the Puritans, who decided the best way to get freedom was to remove themselves from the old and well controlled Europe. However, after a few generations the people living in America began to take it for granted and slowly left their religion behind. The preachers and church leaders began the “Great Awakening” to target those people that said they believed in Christianity but didn’t practice it. The awakening started in 1720 when Thomas Frelinghuyson (I can’t pronounce it either) went to New Jersey to preach. He was extremely strict and directly condemned the people that went to church but didn’t really listen. Since people don’t especially like being directly condemned, Thomas wasn’t very popular, and he didn’t reach many people. He did, however, get people used to it, which opened the way for other preachers like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.
Jonathan Edwards (picture above) was born in 1703, and was born to a family of ministers on both sides of the family, and because of this he got a great education at a young age. He graduated from Yale College at the top of his class, and became a Minister only a couple of years later. He also married Sarah Piermont in the same year, and ended up having 11 children with her. He then preached in Boston in 1732 about holding true to your principles, and this led a great many to join his church, 300 joining in the first year, 1733. However, to get people to stop sinning, a fear campaign started that painted Hell as a very real and very horrible place. This caused many to commit suicide, though in 1741 Edwards preached his famous sermon “In the Hands of an Angry God” which recirculated the message of hope, not that you could tell by the title. He took in and helped poor people and Native Americans at the end of his life, eventually dying of a failed smallpox vaccine.
George Whitefield is generally accepted as the greatest pastor of the “Great Awakening” while Jonathan was the greatest theologian (he had the best understanding of the bible). George was a much poorer Englishman and went to Oxford as a servitor, where he would work for other students and teachers in exchange for sitting in on the classes. He joined a religious club imaginatively named the “Holy Club” He then went to the America’s to preach, and upon finding an orphanage decided to help it as best he could. He would preach in parks and other public places, so that he could reach as many people as possible. It’s said that his voice could be heard from five miles away, letting him preach to thousands of people. He also warned people to guard their freedom, because the King of England planned to send a Bishop to the Americas, ridding them of their religious freedom. He died in 1770, having helped many people better their lives (as far as I can tell).
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