The Revival at Cane Ridge

The Great Revival at Cane Ridge Kentucky 1801
Rhoderick D. Ice

An article in "Discipliana" by Keith Watkins, Spring 94, examines "The Sacramental Character of the Camp Meeting." [A camp meeting was a religious gathering out in the open where the people came and camped together for a time of preaching and revival.] Watkins brings out the unnoticed fact that the Kentucky Revival [and the Camp Meeting which took place at Cane Ridge, KY] had at its heart a celebration of the Lord's Supper. This was "frontier" and customs were different. Let's take a look at some things which help us understand. Two men stand out: James McGready and Barton W. Stone. Both are important preachers and leaders. This is around the year 1796.

Logan Co., KY, in 1796 was a raw and lawless frontier filled with thieves and murders who had come to this desolate area to escape justice. The French & Indian War against the American settlers had devastated the morality of our Nation. Some said it was a nation of drunkards.

You could not find a church on every corner. Those few Christians were without organized worship, and without the Lord's Supper. They did not know they could eat the Supper on their own. And so the offer of a celebration of the Lord’s Supper would cause some to travel many miles to attend. This would be a time of praise and worship for a few days, climaxing in the Lord's Supper - Holy Communion - on Sunday.

James McGready came to Logan County in 1796 with the intent of preaching the Gospel. Great difficulty faced him. In 1797 McGready made a covenant with God to set aside every 3rd Saturday of the month for prayer & fasting for conversion of the lost in Logan County and the world; and to devote ½ hr every Saturday and on Sunday morning, beseeching God to revive His work. McGready had a deep sense of the divine side of the Kingdom.

Beginning in 1797 through 1800, there was an awakening, an explosion of interest as sinners began to take God and salvation seriously. Amazing things began to happen. When Stone investigated, he identified it as a genuine work of God, although he was shocked by some things. People suddenly showed changed lives as they took God up on His amazing offer of salvation.

Stone had noted that spiritual apathy was growing worse each year among the Churches at Cane Ridge and Concord, for which he preached. In the spring of 1801 Stone went to Logan Co. to participate in the revival being conducted by Evangelist McGready, to hopefully bring revival back home with him. Things began to happen at the Cane Ridge Church when he returned home [similar to the Charismatic Revival of today]. He preached the Great Commission according to Mark. A revival began. Multitudes came from great distances, clogging the roads as they came on foot, horseback, and by wagons and carriages. In August, 1801, some 20,000 people had come to Cane Ridge, some from 100 miles away, for the most spectacular Camp Meeting in the USA. Stone cried out that God had already struck the hour of salvation and continued to strike. The revival was proof that TODAY was the day of salvation.
In order to understand, note that many then were of the opinion that salvation could only be found through a miracle of God. Before revival came, they believed they must wait until God in his own time "zapped" them with "salvation." Stone stressed: "Believe and obey NOW!"

"The Kentucky Revival," R. McNemar [Restoration Reprint]. When we dig through the language and get at the heart of what was happening, we find this.

1. They centered revival around the Lord's Supper and its deep meaning.

a. McGready: "...the most important transaction ever witnessed by men or angels, viz. the redemption of guilty sinners by the bitter agonies, bloody sufferings, and dying groans of the incarnate God." cf Matt. 20:17-19; 26:26-29.

b. McGready: "Then to SEE JESUS, is to behold the holiness, justice, wisdom, power and mercy, truth and goodness of the Deity, manifested and gloriously displayed in the active and passive obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Timothy 3:16.

c. McGready: "The bread & fruit of the vine are outward signs of the presence of God. By eating and drinking, we share in the very life of Christ that was given for the life of the world. We SEE His face and enjoy sweet tokens of His love. We love, adore and marvel; and are lost in the boundless ocean of the love of God."

1 Cor. 10:16 MacKnight: "The cup of blessing in the Lord's Supper, for which we bless God, and which we drink, is it not the symbol of our joint participation of the blessings procured by the blood of Christ? The loaf which we break and eat, is it not the symbol of our joint participation of the benefits belonging to the body or church of Christ?"

MacKnight: "This account of the Lord's Supper the apostle gave, to show the Corinthians, that as by eating thereof the partakers declare they have the same object of worship, the same faith, the same hope, the same spirit with the persons whom they join in that act of worship, and that they will follow the same course of life..." 1 Cor. 12:12,27.

1 Cor. 12:13. “Paul states the principle of unity within human diversity (Jews, Gentiles, men, women, slaves, free). The gift of the Holy Spirit is the common life of Christians and a greater dynamic than all human distinctives. Paul pleads for a Spirit-filled life [Eph. 5:18] which involves every Christian believer. Being continually filled with The Spirit is part of our transformation and maturing {2 Cor. 3:17-18; Gal. 3:1-9; Luke 11:13]. Our primary needs are spiritual, and a proper relationship to God through the Holy Spirit is the ground of assurance that He will provide both spiritual and material needs.”