REVIVAL, RELIGIOUS, is a renewed interest in reli gion, coming, as a rule, of ter a period of indifference or decline. Revivalism and evangelism are frequently used as identical terms, but evangelism stands for a certain interpretation of Christianity, emphasizing the objective atonement of Christ, the necessity of a new birth or conversion, and salvation through faith. Revivalism, on the other hand, connotes certain methods of presenting evan gelical doctrine, and the religious awakening resulting therefrom.
Revivalism, in the modern sense, begins with the Wesleyan re vival in England in the year 1737 when a little group of Oxford students, who had been known as Methodists at the university, moved to London and began to preach to the masses. The leaders of this movement were John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield. Whitefield above everything else was a preacher; Charles Wesley was one of those sweet spirits gifted in the writing of religious verse, and his hymns were soon being sung in every corner of the kingdom. But the centre of the movement, and the organizer of its results was John Wesley. He was able through the Methodist movement to offer a permanent contribution, not alone to the religious life of the 18th century, but to the religious life of the world. The method used to bring the gospel to the people was through a system of itinerant preachers, who travelled definite circuits, preaching wherever an opportunity was afforded, and then gathering the converts into small groups for encourage ment and instruction, called "classes" under "leaders." The whole work in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland and finally America was under John Wesley, who by the middle of the century was annually touring the United Kingdom, travelling from 4,000 to 6,000 m. each year, making during his long life 42 visits to Ire land alone. The Methodist revival was, until after the death of John Wesley, a movement within the Church of England, and a strong and permanent evangelical party was developed within the Church. When Wesley died there were Ioo,000 Methodists.
While the Wesleyan revival was getting under way in England, a great revival known as the Great Awakening was sweeping over the English colonies in America. This revival movement had three
distinct phases, the first being the New England revival which began at Northampton, Mass., in 1734 under the earnest preach ing of the Congregational minister, Jonathan Edwards. Before the winter was over more than 30o professed conversion in that little frontier town. This was but the beginning of a movement which swept throughout the New England colonies and continued through several years. The second phase of the Great Awakening was in the Middle colonies, where the movement was led by Theodorus J. Frelinghuysen, minister of the Dutch Reformed Church at Raritan, N.J., and the four sons of Rev. William Tennent, Presbyterian minister at Neshameny, Pa., all of whom, with 12 others, had been educated at his "log college." Gilbert Tennent, Presbyterian minister at New Brunswick, N.J., became the centre of the movement. Both in New England and the middle colonies, as well as in Virginia and the other southern colonies, the revival movement was greatly strengthened by the evangelistic tours in America of George Whitefield. Seven times Whitefield visited America from 1739 to 1770, making preaching tours from New England to Georgia. The last phase of the Ameri can revival was the Virginia Awakening, first among the Presby terians, then among the Baptists and finally among the Methodists and continuing from about 1760 to 179o.
One of the most remarkable revivals of modern times was that which swept over the western part of the United States during the years 1797 to 1805 and called the Great Revival of the West, or the Kentucky revival. It had its beginnings among the Presby terians, but soon spread to the Baptists and the Methodists, and eventually affected all the churches. Meetings were held in the woods and were attended by great emotional excitement, people often falling unconscious, or being taken with such strange exer cises as the "shakes" and the "jerks," or the "laughing" or "bark ing" exercise. Out of the western revival came the camp meeting, an institution which was destined to exercise a great influence on the religious life of the newer sections of the United States.