James McGready
Encyclopedia
Rev. James McGready was a Presbyterian minister and a revival
ist during the Second Great Awakening
in the United States of America. He was one of the most important figures of the Second Great Awakening in the American frontier.
descent, and was born in Pennsylvania
. When he was quite young, his father moved from Pennsylvania, and settled in Guilford County, North Carolina
. An uncle, who was on a visit to his father's family, from Pennsylvania, thought that the boy's character fitted him to be educated for the ministry, and asked his parents to allow their son to accompany him back to Pennsylvania.
About the time of his commencing his studies preparatory to the work of the ministry, he was convinced by a sermon of a certain Reverend Smith, of the unsoundness of his previous religious convictions. Smith, in his history of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church
, says that his religious awakening was attributable to a conversation of two friends, overheard by McGready, in which they expressed their fears that he was not a truly converted man. Foote, in his Sketches of North Carolina, confirms the latter account.
, with whom he had spent some time after his arrival with his uncle from North Carolina. Dr. McMillan's school grew into what is now Jefferson College
.
When McGready had completed his literary and theological studies, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Redstone
, on August 13, 1788, when he was about thirty years of age. In the following autumn or winter, he returned to North Carolina, and on his way spent some time with Dr. John Blair Smith, at Hampden-Sydney College
in Virginia
. Dr. Smith had been connected with a powerful religious revival that occurred in his neighborhood about that time, and McGready seems to have been deeply affected by what he saw and heard of that revival.
, he found the churches in an unsatisfactory state. His preaching was the means of awakening increased interest on the subject of religion. According to one account: "His labors at an academy under the care of Dr. Caldwell, were instrumental in producing a revival of religion, in which ten or twelve young men were brought into the fold, all of whom became ministers of the gospel, and some of them were subsequently his fellow-laborers in the far West."
About the year 1790 McGready married, and became the pastor of a congregation in Orange County
. "Here he labored with his wonted zeal, and often with great success." His zeal provoked opposition, and he was accused of distracting people from their labors and creating unnecessary alarm among decent and orderly people. "A letter was written to him in blood, requiring him to leave the country at the peril of his life; and a number of wicked men and women of the baser sort, on a certain occasion during the week, assembled in his church, tore down the seats, set fire to the pulpit, and burnt it to ashes." On the following Sunday, when the congregation met for worship, a scene of confusion and desolation presented itself. He, however, proceeded with the service, using a relevant and solemn psalm, and delivering a sermon from the following text: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold your house is left unto you desolate."
In 1796 McGready left North Carolina for Kentucky
. After spending a few months in East Tennessee
, he reached his destination, and took the pastoral charge of three congregations in Logan County
-- Gaspar River, Red River, and Muddy River. These congregations were small, and in a low state of religious interest. He presented to the members of his congregation for their approval and signatures, the following preamble and covenant:
To this covenant he and they affixed their names. The writer recollects to have heard the late Dr. Alfred M. Bryan state that his father, and perhaps his mother, were subscribers, among others. In May, 1797, the first signs of promise appeared, in the conversion of a female member of one of his congregations, who had been in the communion of the Church for some time. These favorable indications continued through the summer, but were followed by a temporary reaction through the fall and winter. The following summer the work developed itself more powerfully. On Monday of the sacramental meeting, at Gaspar River Meeting-house, the Spirit of God was poured out abundantly; the congregation became intensely interested on the subject of religion, and during the following week, almost entirely neglected their secular affairs, so great was their solicitude to secure the salvation of their own souls and the souls of others. This was the commencement of the great revival of 1800. For several subsequent years, a history of Mr. McGready would be a history of the revival. He was its leading spirit, its most earnest advocate, and powerful promoter.
When the difficulties began to develop themselves, which resulted in the organization of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Mr. McGready for a time took a decided stand, as we would have expected, with the revival party. As these difficulties progressed, however, and became more serious than he expected, he faltered. It is, perhaps, not a matter of surprise. He was a Calvinist of the old school. He had received his early theological impressions, and his impressions of ecclesiastical order, from Dr. McMillan and old Red Stone Presbytery, types of the sternest Presbyterianism. He had no idea, it is supposed, when the troubles commenced, that they would become so complicated and embarrassing. Another consideration may be added. Although a man of great power in the pulpit, he was not a man for ecclesiastical conflict. He was not adapted to the leadership of a party. In December 1805 he was cited, with Revs. Messrs. William Hodge, William McGee, Samuel McAdow, and John Rankin, to appear before the next meeting of Kentucky Synod, to account for their conduct in not submitting the young men for reexamination to the Commission of the Synod. The history of the Commission is known. He succeeded by some means in making his peace with the Synod, and with the Transylvania Presbytery, which he seems to have attended in 1809, for the first time after his citation by the Commission of Synod.
Shortly after Mr. McGready's defection from the Council out of which the Cumberland Presbytery of 1810 grew, he left Logan county, and settled in Henderson county, Kentucky, where he remained until his death, which occurred in February, 1817.
Christian revival
Christian revival is a term that generally refers to a specific period of increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or many churches, either regionally or globally...
ist during the Second Great Awakening
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Christian revival movement during the early 19th century in the United States. The movement began around 1800, had begun to gain momentum by 1820, and was in decline by 1870. The Second Great Awakening expressed Arminian theology, by which every person could be...
in the United States of America. He was one of the most important figures of the Second Great Awakening in the American frontier.
Early life
McGready was of Scots-IrishScots-Irish American
Scotch-Irish Americans are an estimated 250,000 Presbyterian and other Protestant dissenters from the Irish province of Ulster who immigrated to North America primarily during the colonial era and their descendants. Some scholars also include the 150,000 Ulster Protestants who immigrated to...
descent, and was born in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. When he was quite young, his father moved from Pennsylvania, and settled in Guilford County, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. An uncle, who was on a visit to his father's family, from Pennsylvania, thought that the boy's character fitted him to be educated for the ministry, and asked his parents to allow their son to accompany him back to Pennsylvania.
About the time of his commencing his studies preparatory to the work of the ministry, he was convinced by a sermon of a certain Reverend Smith, of the unsoundness of his previous religious convictions. Smith, in his history of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Cumberland Presbyterian Church
The Cumberland Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian Christian denomination spawned by the Second Great Awakening. In 2007, it had an active membership of less than 50,000 and about 800 congregations, the majority of which are concentrated in the United States...
, says that his religious awakening was attributable to a conversation of two friends, overheard by McGready, in which they expressed their fears that he was not a truly converted man. Foote, in his Sketches of North Carolina, confirms the latter account.
Revival
In the fall of 1785, Mr. Smith, who, according to the first tradition, was the means of his awakening, opened a school for the purpose of assisting young men in preparing for the ministry, and young McGready immediately became one of his pupils. He remained here for some time, and then entered a school recently opened by Rev. Dr. John McMillanJohn McMillan (pastor)
John McMillan was a prominent Presbyterian minister and missionary in Western Pennsylvania when that area was part of the American Frontier. He founded the first school west of the Allegheny Mountains, which is now known as John McMillan's Log School...
, with whom he had spent some time after his arrival with his uncle from North Carolina. Dr. McMillan's school grew into what is now Jefferson College
Washington & Jefferson College
Washington & Jefferson College, also known as W & J College or W&J, is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania, in the United States, which is south of Pittsburgh...
.
When McGready had completed his literary and theological studies, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Redstone
Presbytery of Redstone
The Presbytery of Redstone is a Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church governing congregations in Westmoreland, Fayette, Somerset, and Cambria Counties in Western Pennsylvania. Its headquarters in located in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. It governs 80 congregations and 14,971 total congregants. It...
, on August 13, 1788, when he was about thirty years of age. In the following autumn or winter, he returned to North Carolina, and on his way spent some time with Dr. John Blair Smith, at Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden–Sydney College is a liberal arts college for men located in Hampden Sydney, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1775, Hampden–Sydney is the oldest private charter college in the Southern U.S., the last college founded before the American Revolution, and one of only three four-year,...
in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. Dr. Smith had been connected with a powerful religious revival that occurred in his neighborhood about that time, and McGready seems to have been deeply affected by what he saw and heard of that revival.
Ministry
On his arrival in North CarolinaNorth Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, he found the churches in an unsatisfactory state. His preaching was the means of awakening increased interest on the subject of religion. According to one account: "His labors at an academy under the care of Dr. Caldwell, were instrumental in producing a revival of religion, in which ten or twelve young men were brought into the fold, all of whom became ministers of the gospel, and some of them were subsequently his fellow-laborers in the far West."
About the year 1790 McGready married, and became the pastor of a congregation in Orange County
Orange County, North Carolina
Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the population was 133,801. Its county seat is Hillsborough...
. "Here he labored with his wonted zeal, and often with great success." His zeal provoked opposition, and he was accused of distracting people from their labors and creating unnecessary alarm among decent and orderly people. "A letter was written to him in blood, requiring him to leave the country at the peril of his life; and a number of wicked men and women of the baser sort, on a certain occasion during the week, assembled in his church, tore down the seats, set fire to the pulpit, and burnt it to ashes." On the following Sunday, when the congregation met for worship, a scene of confusion and desolation presented itself. He, however, proceeded with the service, using a relevant and solemn psalm, and delivering a sermon from the following text: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold your house is left unto you desolate."
In 1796 McGready left North Carolina for Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. After spending a few months in East Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, he reached his destination, and took the pastoral charge of three congregations in Logan County
Logan County, Kentucky
Logan County is a county located in the southwest area of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 26,573. Its county seat is Russellville...
-- Gaspar River, Red River, and Muddy River. These congregations were small, and in a low state of religious interest. He presented to the members of his congregation for their approval and signatures, the following preamble and covenant:
When we consider the word and promises of a compassionate God to the poor lost family of Adam, we find the strongest encouragement for Christians to pray in faith--to ask in the name of Jesus for the conversion of their fellow-men. None ever went to Christ when on earth, with the case of their friends, that were denied, and, although the days of his humiliation are ended, yet, for the encouragement of his people, he has left it on record, that where two or three agree upon earth to ask in prayer, believing, it shall be done. Again, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. With these promises before us, we feel encouraged to unite our supplications to a prayer-hearing God for the outpouring of his Spirit, that his people may be quickened and comforted, and that our children, and sinners generally, may be converted. Therefore, we bind ourselves to observe the third Saturday of each month, for one year, as a day of fasting and prayer for the conversion of sinners in Logan county, and throughout the world. We also engage to spend one half hour every Saturday evening, beginning at the setting of the sun, and one half hour every Sabbath morning, from the rising of the sun, pleading with God to revive his work.
To this covenant he and they affixed their names. The writer recollects to have heard the late Dr. Alfred M. Bryan state that his father, and perhaps his mother, were subscribers, among others. In May, 1797, the first signs of promise appeared, in the conversion of a female member of one of his congregations, who had been in the communion of the Church for some time. These favorable indications continued through the summer, but were followed by a temporary reaction through the fall and winter. The following summer the work developed itself more powerfully. On Monday of the sacramental meeting, at Gaspar River Meeting-house, the Spirit of God was poured out abundantly; the congregation became intensely interested on the subject of religion, and during the following week, almost entirely neglected their secular affairs, so great was their solicitude to secure the salvation of their own souls and the souls of others. This was the commencement of the great revival of 1800. For several subsequent years, a history of Mr. McGready would be a history of the revival. He was its leading spirit, its most earnest advocate, and powerful promoter.
When the difficulties began to develop themselves, which resulted in the organization of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Mr. McGready for a time took a decided stand, as we would have expected, with the revival party. As these difficulties progressed, however, and became more serious than he expected, he faltered. It is, perhaps, not a matter of surprise. He was a Calvinist of the old school. He had received his early theological impressions, and his impressions of ecclesiastical order, from Dr. McMillan and old Red Stone Presbytery, types of the sternest Presbyterianism. He had no idea, it is supposed, when the troubles commenced, that they would become so complicated and embarrassing. Another consideration may be added. Although a man of great power in the pulpit, he was not a man for ecclesiastical conflict. He was not adapted to the leadership of a party. In December 1805 he was cited, with Revs. Messrs. William Hodge, William McGee, Samuel McAdow, and John Rankin, to appear before the next meeting of Kentucky Synod, to account for their conduct in not submitting the young men for reexamination to the Commission of the Synod. The history of the Commission is known. He succeeded by some means in making his peace with the Synod, and with the Transylvania Presbytery, which he seems to have attended in 1809, for the first time after his citation by the Commission of Synod.
Shortly after Mr. McGready's defection from the Council out of which the Cumberland Presbytery of 1810 grew, he left Logan county, and settled in Henderson county, Kentucky, where he remained until his death, which occurred in February, 1817.