The Great Awakening P18

Last week I ended on a few of the many sermons addressing political topics. Sermons preached and printed during the First Great Awakening that helped produce Biblical thinking on numerous issues they were faced with in their days under the tyrannical rule of the King of England.

Those sermon titles illustrate that early pastors openly taught Biblical principles related to government and culture. As historian Alice Baldwin documented, “such sermons were indispensable in shaping America’s unique view of civil and religious liberty:”

She further noted, “The Constitutional Convention and the written Constitution were the children of the pulpit. No wonder Founding Father John Adams openly rejoiced that the “pulpits have thundered,” affirming that:

The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were…the general principles of Christianity…I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God; and that those principles of liberty are as unalterable as human nature.

The First Great Awakening was foundational in preparing Americans in the Biblical character and worldview necessary for a lasting independence. It also molded the young men who became our Founding Fathers, and a number of them became ministers, also serving as political leaders.

Content sourced from The American Story, The Beginnings by Dave Barton & Tim Barton