A Revivalist Warns Against Old Lights Ministers Summary

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Gilbert Tennent, a New Lights minister, would agree with Mark Knoll. In one of his sermons, “A Revivalist Warns Against Old Light Ministers,” he advocates for a new way for people to run the church. He begins his argument by claiming that the ministers of the old ways are “Pharisee-Teachers” (Tennent). This is actually quite interesting because one could see how the Old Lights Ministers would say the same thing about the New Lights Ministers. Tennent does challenge the old ways of the Church. He claims that if a person is not getting the things that they need out of their minister, they should look elsewhere. This does present an interesting situation though; if everyone goes to find their own pastor, then will it not invoke chaos among the people. Tennent would say no. He believes that this new way of the church allows for every man to have his fair share, while the old way offered a “common Mess to their People” (Tennent). This is …show more content…

Sarah was a woman who had gone through many hardships in her life. She thought she was doing well, but believed that the devil still had it out to get her. She even believed that it was impossible to be saved at this point in time. No matter what she did, she was going to perish in Hell. It was then that she felt the spirit of the Lord come down and help her banish the devil. This is what drew her to the religious revivals because they validated her testimony of the help from God. Her testimony was as good as any man’s and would not be questioned. This is what drew many women to the religious revivals. Their public testimony of the grace of God was just as good as any man’s. In the eyes of the Lord, a testimony was a testimony. It did not matter the gender of the person testifying. This was different from the old ways of the church because women were seen as quasi-equal to men. Whereas in the old ways, women were always below

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