Editing First Great Awakening (section)

===Northampton revival===
[[File:JE Sinners in the Hands Monument.jpg|thumb|Monument in [[Enfield, Connecticut]], commemorating the location where ''[[Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God]]'' was preached]]
The most influential evangelical revival was the [[Northampton, Massachusetts|Northampton]] revival of 1734–1735, under the leadership of Congregational minister [[Jonathan Edwards (theologian)|Jonathan Edwards]].{{Sfn|Kidd|2007|p=13}} In the fall of 1734, Edwards preached a sermon series on [[justification by faith alone]], and the community's response was extraordinary. Signs of religious commitment among the [[laity]] increased, especially among the town's young people. Edwards wrote to Boston minister Benjamin Colman that the town "never was so full of Love, nor so full of Joy, nor so full of distress as it has lately been.&nbsp;... I never saw the Christian spirit in Love to Enemies so exemplified, in all my Life as I have seen it within this half-year."{{Sfn|Ahlstrom|2004|p=282}} The revival ultimately spread to 25 communities in western Massachusetts and central Connecticut until it began to wane in 1737.{{Sfn | Noll | 2004 | pp=76–78}}

At a time when Enlightenment rationalism and [[Arminian]] theology were popular among some Congregational clergy, Edwards held to traditional Calvinist doctrine. He understood conversion to be the experience of moving from [[Spiritual death in Christianity|spiritual deadness]] to [[Fruit of the Holy Spirit#Joy (Greek: chara, Latin: gaudium)|joy]] in the knowledge of one's [[Unconditional election|election]] (that one had been chosen by God for salvation). While a Christian might have several conversion moments as part of this process, Edwards believed there was a single point in time when God [[Regeneration (theology)|regenerated]] an individual, even if the exact moment could not be pinpointed.{{Sfn|Kidd|2007|pp=13–14,15–16}}

The Northampton revival featured instances of what critics called [[enthusiasm]] but what supporters believed were signs of the Holy Spirit. Services became more emotional, and some people had [[Vision (spirituality)|visions]] and [[Mysticism|mystical]] experiences. Edwards cautiously defended these experiences as long as they led individuals to a greater belief in God's glory than in self-glorification. Similar experiences would appear in most of the major revivals of the 18th century.{{Sfn|Kidd|2007|pp=19–20}}

Edwards wrote an account of the Northampton revival, ''[[A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls in Northampton|A Faithful Narrative]]'', which was published in England through the efforts of prominent evangelicals [[John Guyse]] and [[Isaac Watts]]. The publication of his account made Edwards a celebrity in Britain and influenced the growing revival movement in that nation. ''A Faithful Narrative'' would become a model on which other revivals would be conducted.{{Sfn|Kidd|2007|pp=21–23}}