George Addison Baxter (July 22, 1771-Spring 1841) was a professor at Washington Academy in Virginia. He published an account of his travels throughout Kentucky the previous November, giving particular attention to the religious revivals where taking place. With academic skepticism he researched the reports of what was later to be known as "The Second Great Awakening."
Dr. George Addison Baxter's report, printed in the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, March of 1802, recounted:
<The power with which this revival has spread, and its influence in moralizing the people, are difficult for you to conceive, and more so for me to describe....
I found Kentucky, to appearance, the most moral place I had ever seen. A profane expression was hardly ever heard. A religious awe seemed to pervade the country. Never in my life have I seen more genuine marks of that humility which...looks to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way of acceptance with God.
I was indeed highly pleased to find that Christ was all and in all in their religion...and it was truly affecting to hear with what agonizing anxiety awakened sinners inquired for Christ, as the only physician who could give them any help.
Those who call these things "enthusiasm," ought to tell us what they understand by the Spirit of Christianity....
Upon the whole, sir, I think the revival in Kentucky among the most extraordinary that have ever visited the Church of Christ, and all things considered, peculiarly adapted to the circumstances of that country....
Something of an extraordinary nature seemed necessary to arrest the attention of a giddy people, who were ready to conclude that Christianity was a fable, and futurity a dream.
This revival has done it; it has confounded infidelity, awed vice to silence, and brought numbers beyond calculation under serious impressions.> 1771GB001
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1771GB001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Dr. George Addison Baxter's report of "The Second Great Awakening," printed in the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, March of 1802, as a professor at Washington Academy in Virginia, published a report of his travels throughout Kentucky in November of 1801. The Connecticut Evangelical Magazine (CT: Missionary Society of Connecticut, March 1802). Peter Marshall and David Manuel, From Sea to Shining Sea (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1986), p. 69.