History Book: a revival meeting during the second great awakening

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Monday, August 8th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: the WORLD History Book. Today, a notable revival meeting during the second great awakening. Plus, a baseball milestone. And if you have a box of old 45’s in your basement, you might want to dust them off. Here’s WORLD’s Paul Butler.

INSTR. MUSIC: CAMP MEETING ON THE FOURTH OF JULY

PAUL BUTLER, REPORTER: We begin today with August 6th, 18-01 in the early years of the Second Great Awakening. Presbyterian minister Barton Stone begins a week-long camp meeting about 20 miles east of Lexington, Kentucky. He invited other Presbyterian and Methodist congregations to his church in Cane Ridge for a shared communion service.

His building could accommodate about 500, so he erected a tent as well. Late in the week, people began to arrive and set up camp around the grounds. Audio here from a lecture by Thomas Sullivan of Puritan Reformed Audio Books:

SULLIVAN: People were coming in their wagons. It was too far for them to go home, and so they just set up camp.

The meeting began quietly on that Friday with a full house. Nothing out of the ordinary, except a handful of spontaneous prayer meetings that sprouted up after the gathering. But the next day as people continued to stream in, excitement spread. Preachers addressed the crowds in the church and in the tent. They even cut down trees so they could use the stumps as makeshift pulpits.

Men, women, and children alike responded with weeping and wailing as they felt the weight of their sinful condition. Many fell to the ground, some moaning, others seemingly unresponsive.

SULLIVAN: The meetings resembled a battlefield where people were lying around under conviction like they had been shot…

Some pastors returned to their own churches for Sunday morning services, spreading news of the revival. Many returned the next day, bringing others with them. Numbers swelled to more than 10,000.

In his book The Great Revival of 1800, author William Speer writes:

SULLIVAN: The shouting, the shrieking, praying, and nervous spasms of this vast multitude produced an unearthly and almost terrible spectacle...

Methodist minister James B. Finley heard of the revival and came mid-meeting. He could hear it long before he arrived. He later described the scene this way:

SULLIVAN: The noise was like the roar of Niagara, the vast sea of human beings seemed to be agitated by a storm.

Many who experienced the Cane Ridge Revival later compared it to the Day of Pentecost. Joel chapter two seemed an apt description—as “sons and daughters prophesied,” and the Spirit fell on slaves and free alike.

After seven days, the meeting ended almost as unexpectedly as it began. Similar revivals and camp meetings continued for decades. Barton Stone eventually left the Presbyterian church and became the leader of the Restoration Movement. He called for Christians to return to a simpler and more Biblical expression of faith and practice as seen in Acts chapter two—spawning a handful of new denominations.

INSTR. MUSIC: CAMP MEETING ON THE FOURTH OF JULY

Next, August 11th, 19-29…

SOUND: [CRACK OF BAT, PEOPLE CHEERING]

New York Yankee, George Herman Ruth, becomes the first major league baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career—a benchmark only 27 other players have achieved in the years since.

When Ruth entered the league in 1914, baseball strategy focused almost exclusively on getting batters on base. Players were instructed to hit the ball down or through the infield.

With his powerful swing, Ruth revolutionized the game. In 1919, he hit 27 home runs—a new single-season record. Eight years later, he set the bar at 60. Ruth’s bat propelled his teams to World Series victories on 7 different occasions. He hit a total of 714 home runs in his career—a record that would stand for nearly 40 years.

Ruth was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 19-36 as one of its inaugural five members.

SONG: TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME

And finally today, August 12th, 1877—145 years ago. Thomas Edison sketches out a device he calls the “phonograph.” The US Patent office issues Edison a patent for the invention a few months later. Edison’s device was not the first to record sound, but his phonograph soon becomes the industry standard.

SOUND: [EDISON RECORDING]

Edison’s early phonographs use cylinders about the size of a lint roller.

In the early 20th century, the recording medium flattens into a disc shape. In the 1940s vinyl becomes the preferred medium making mass production by companies like RCA easier.

RCA EDUCATIONAL FILM: The record compound—the finest pure vinyl obtainable—is fed into the press in granular form…

Twenty years ago, Gary J. Freiberg—a vinyl record enthusiast turned preservationist—founded National Vinyl Record Day, commemorated each August 12th in honor of Edison’s first phonograph. Here is Freiberg from a 2011 appearance on the Dave Congalton show:

FREIBERG: I think that it's very, very important to preserve our audio history…and part of the goal of Vinyl Record Day is to urge and perhaps educate the public to take care of their vinyl records.

Freiberg hopes that National Vinyl Record Day encourages everyday music lovers to not only preserve the cultural influence of vinyl records—but also the artwork and analog experience as well. So pull out your turntable, dust off your LPs or 45s, and take a listen down memory lane.

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book, I’m Paul Butler.

TODD SNIDER: “VINYL RECORDS”

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Monday, August 8th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: the WORLD History Book. Today, a notable revival meeting during the second great awakening. Plus, a baseball milestone. And if you have a box of old 45’s in your basement, you might want to dust them off. Here’s WORLD’s Paul Butler.

INSTR. MUSIC: CAMP MEETING ON THE FOURTH OF JULY

PAUL BUTLER, REPORTER: We begin today with August 6th, 18-01 in the early years of the Second Great Awakening. Presbyterian minister Barton Stone begins a week-long camp meeting about 20 miles east of Lexington, Kentucky. He invited other Presbyterian and Methodist congregations to his church in Cane Ridge for a shared communion service.

His building could accommodate about 500, so he erected a tent as well. Late in the week, people began to arrive and set up camp around the grounds. Audio here from a lecture by Thomas Sullivan of Puritan Reformed Audio Books:

SULLIVAN: People were coming in their wagons. It was too far for them to go home, and so they just set up camp.

The meeting began quietly on that Friday with a full house. Nothing out of the ordinary, except a handful of spontaneous prayer meetings that sprouted up after the gathering. But the next day as people continued to stream in, excitement spread. Preachers addressed the crowds in the church and in the tent. They even cut down trees so they could use the stumps as makeshift pulpits.

Men, women, and children alike responded with weeping and wailing as they felt the weight of their sinful condition. Many fell to the ground, some moaning, others seemingly unresponsive.

SULLIVAN: The meetings resembled a battlefield where people were lying around under conviction like they had been shot…

Some pastors returned to their own churches for Sunday morning services, spreading news of the revival. Many returned the next day, bringing others with them. Numbers swelled to more than 10,000.

In his book The Great Revival of 1800, author William Speer writes:

SULLIVAN: The shouting, the shrieking, praying, and nervous spasms of this vast multitude produced an unearthly and almost terrible spectacle...

Methodist minister James B. Finley heard of the revival and came mid-meeting. He could hear it long before he arrived. He later described the scene this way:

SULLIVAN: The noise was like the roar of Niagara, the vast sea of human beings seemed to be agitated by a storm.

Many who experienced the Cane Ridge Revival later compared it to the Day of Pentecost. Joel chapter two seemed an apt description—as “sons and daughters prophesied,” and the Spirit fell on slaves and free alike.

After seven days, the meeting ended almost as unexpectedly as it began. Similar revivals and camp meetings continued for decades. Barton Stone eventually left the Presbyterian church and became the leader of the Restoration Movement. He called for Christians to return to a simpler and more Biblical expression of faith and practice as seen in Acts chapter two—spawning a handful of new denominations.

INSTR. MUSIC: CAMP MEETING ON THE FOURTH OF JULY

Next, August 11th, 19-29…

SOUND: [CRACK OF BAT, PEOPLE CHEERING]

New York Yankee, George Herman Ruth, becomes the first major league baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career—a benchmark only 27 other players have achieved in the years since.

When Ruth entered the league in 19-14, baseball strategy focused almost exclusively on getting batters on base. Players were instructed to hit the ball down or through the infield.

With his powerful swing, Ruth revolutionized the game. In 19-19, he hit 27 home runs—a new single-season record. Eight years later, he set the bar at 60. Ruth’s bat propelled his teams to World Series victories on 7 different occasions. He hit a total of 7-hundred-14 home runs in his career—a record that would stand for nearly 40 years.

Ruth was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 19-36 as one of its inaugural five members.

SONG: TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME

And finally today, August 12th, 1877—145 years ago. Thomas Edison sketches out a device he calls the “Phonograph.” The US Patent office issues Edison a patent for the invention a few months later. Edison’s device was not the first to record sound, but his phonograph soon becomes the industry standard.

SOUND: [EDISON RECORDING]

Edison’s early phonographs use cylinders about the size of a lint roller.

In the early 20th century, the recording medium flattens into a disc shape. In the 1940s vinyl becomes the preferred medium making mass production by companies like RCA easier.

RCA EDUCATIONAL FILM: The record compound—the finest pure vinyl obtainable—is fed into the press in granular form…

Twenty years ago, Gary J. Freiberg—a vinyl record enthusiast turned preservationist—founded National Vinyl Record Day, commemorated each August 12th in honor of Edison’s first phonograph. Here is Freiberg from a 2011 appearance on the Dave Congalton show:

FREIBERG: I think that it's very, very important to preserve our audio history…and part of the goal of Vinyl Record Day is to urge and perhaps educate the public to take care of their vinyl records.

Freiberg hopes that National Vinyl Record Day encourages everyday music lovers to not only preserve the cultural influence of vinyl records—but also the artwork and analog experience as well. So pull out your turntable, dust off your LPs or 45s, and take a listen down memory lane.

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book, I’m Paul Butler.

TODD SNIDER: “VINYL RECORDS”

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