Eighteenth-century evangelicals as spiritual mentors

Alongside the fourth and sixteenth centuries, the eighteenth-century is arguably one of the most important eras in Christian history. The great evangelical awakening that began in the 1730s resulted in many thousands of conversions on both sides of the Atlantic and a reviving of the church throughout the English-speaking world.

Here, historian Michael Haykin considers key aspects of this revival—the anointed preaching, the new birth and justification, the Lord’s Supper, hymnody and spiritual direction—through some of its leading figures—George Whitefield, Charles Wesley, William Williams, William Grimshaw, Anne Dutton and John Newton. He also considers the lives and spirituality of two Dissenters, Andrew Fuller and William Carey. The final chapter deals with the topic of the gifts of the Spirit. In both the lives of these people and the issues they wrestled with, we can learn much about loving, Spirit-filled Christianity for our day.