Joseph Smith, Charles Finney, and the Burned-Over District

“Some time in the second year after our removal to Manchester, there was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion,” wrote Joseph Smith, Jr., in his History.  “It commenced with the Methodists, but soon became general among all the sects in that region of country.  Indeed, the whole district of country seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir and division amongst the people, some crying, “Lo, here!” and others, “Lo, there!”  Some were contending for the Methodist faith, some for the Presbyterian, and some for the Baptist” (Joseph Smith-History1:5).

Joseph Smith, Jr.
Courtesy lds.org

The United States, in 1820, was in the midst of the Second Great Awakening.  Responding to new-found freedom of religion as individual states disestablished state churches, people explored different denominations and chose from among them.  When Joseph Smith referred to an “unusual excitement on the subject of religion,” he wasn’t kidding:  the particular area of New York where the Smith family lived was so overrun with religious meetings that historians have dubbed it the “Burned-over district.” 

From 1825-1828 Presbyterian minister Charles Finney worked in the Burned-over district to bring souls to Christ.  His tool of choice was the revival.  Though controversial in his methods, Finney used the revival with much success, and other preachers approached him for advice.  In 1834 he taught a class of Presbyterian preachers how to conduct revivals; a year later he published these Lectures on Revivals of Religion in book form. 

Charles Grandison Finney
Photograph ca. 1850
Source:  Wikimedia Commons

Finney began his Lectures by explaining what a revival was, and continued by explaining why it was necessary.  A revival injected new spiritual life into the congregation and community.  Without this spiritual renewal, Finney argued, Christians would be distracted from serving God and backslide into sin.  Finney explained:

Men are so spiritually sluggish, there are so many things to lead their minds off from religion, and to oppose the influence of the Gospel, that it is necessary to raise an excitement among them, till the tide rises so high as to sweep away the opposing obstacles. They must be so excited that they will break over these counteracting influences, before they will obey God. . . . Hence it is necessary to awaken men to a sense of guilt and danger, and thus produce an excitement of counter feeling and desire which will break the power of carnal and worldly desire and leave the will free to obey God. (Finney, Lecture 1.)

Further, without the excitement produced by a revival, nonbelievers (Finney called them sinners) would never humble themselves enough to feel the Holy Spirit and be converted through Christ’s grace.  It was the church’s duty to help save nonbelievers and backsliders through holding periodic revivals.  “There is no other way in which a church can be sanctified, grow in grace, and be fitted for heaven” (Finney, Lecture 2, Section II(6)).

Lithograph of revival ca. 1830
Courtesy history.lds.org

“A revival consists of two parts,” wrote Finney (Lecture 3).  First, the preacher encouraged listeners to examine their sins and confess them, in this way breaking down their pride and making them humble.  Finney provided the example:   

 ”If there is a sinner in this house, let me say to him, Abandon all your excuses. You have been told to-night that they are all vain. To-night it will be told in hell, and told in heaven, and echoed from the ends of the universe, what you decide to do. This very hour may seal your eternal destiny. Will you submit to God to-night—NOW?”  

A revival’s second part consisted of prayer, pleading with the Lord to pour out His Spirit among the congregants and grant them forgiveness and conversion.  Again, from Finney:

“Now, my brethren, I have only to ask you, in regard to what I have preached to-night, “Will you do it?”. . . Have you gone over with your sins, and confessed them, and got them all out of the way? Can you pray now? And will you join and offer prevailing prayer, that the Spirit of God may come down here? “(Finney, Lecture 4, Remarks (3)). 

If the minister and the church members had done everything right up to this point, God would indeed pour out his Spirit on the congregation and sinners would be converted.

Revival meetings worked well during the Second Great Awakening because the evangelical tradition of the time taught that individuals needed to have a conversion experience to receive God’s grace, and the excitement produced at a revival brought many people the conversion experience they looked for.  In the Smith family, Lucy Mack Smith, Hyrum, Samuel Harrison, and Sophronia felt satisfied with conversion experiences they had felt while attending Presbyterian revivals (see Joseph Smith-History 1:7).  Joseph Smith, however, never experienced such a life-altering conversion during the revivals that he attended, so he looked for one elsewhere, in a grove of trees near his family’s home.  This time he obtained the experience he sought. 

The Sacred Grove
Courtesy lds.org

The more history I learn, the more convinced I am that God influences the world.  God inspired leaders in state governments to disestablish religion, ensuring that a fourteen-year-old boy would have many different sects to choose from, and feel comfortable with none of them.  God created an atmosphere where people believed in sudden miracle conversions, so that Joseph Smith Jr. would look for one, and not be content until he found it. Finally, when Joseph prayed in the sacred grove, God provided the First Vision.