The Revival That Stopped Contagious Diseases by EDDIE HYATT for Charisma News
When the Great Awakening came to Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1735, it had an amazing impact on the entire populace of the city. Not only was there a spiritual impact, but as Jonathan Edwards said, “It was the most remarkable time of health I ever knew.”
The Spiritual Transformation
There was an incredible spiritual transformation of Northampton. Everywhere one went in the town, people were talking about God. Edwards, who was pastor of the Congregational Church in Northampton, said, “The town seemed to be full of the presence of God” (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Transformed America, 57).
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People came to Christ in droves. The one bar in the town was soon left empty. The town was transformed and Edwards said, “A loose, careless person could scarcely be found, and if there was anyone that seemed to remain senseless or unconcerned it would be spoken of as a strange thing” (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Transformed America, 57).
Without any emphasis on church growth methods or other human attempts to increase attendance, the church in Northampton filled with those already born again and with others seeking salvation. Edwards wrote:
Our public assemblies were then beautiful: the congregation was alive in God’s service, everyone intent on the public worship, every hearer eager to drink in the words of the minister as they came from his mouth; the assembly were in general from time to time in tears while the word was preached; some weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and concern for the souls of their neighbors (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Transformed America, 57-58).
The Physical and Mental Transformation
This Awakening also impacted people’s health both mentally and physically. We must remember that this was before penicillin and modern vaccines. The only weapons they had against contagious diseases were quarantines, which they called “bills.”
Edwards says there were normally several quarantines (bills) put on houses every week. But during the Awakening something wonderful happened. He wrote:
