Drinking Health to King Jesus

George Whitefield, whose preaching in 1740
began theGreat Awakening.
(From www.nndb.com)

The Great Awakening was "the boisterous and often fractious religious revivals that gripped New England following George Whitefield's celebrated preaching tour of 1740. Partisans of the Whitefieldian awakenings frequently referred to local events in places such as Newbury [Mass.] as a 'surprising,' 'extraordinary,' 'Glorious,' 'Marvelous,' and 'wonderfull' outpouring of God's Holy Spirit. More often, they simply called it 'the Work'...

"[In 1744], a Rowley [Mass.] layman named Richard Woodbury descended on Newbury, accompanied by Daniel Rogers and Nicholas Gilman. Together, they spent more than a month laboring to stir up fervent revival advocates in the town's two largest parishes. Woodbury claimed to possess the 'Power to bless and curse eternally whom he pleased.' He dared to drink 'healths to King Jesus' and vehemently condemned to hell anyone who questioned his charismatic authority. Exhibiting what one report called a 'strange Emotion,' Woodbury frequently fell into trances during which he would roll on the floor and rail against revival opposers, crying out that they had crucified Christ. Other reports suggested that he and his disciples bent to the ground and made crosses in the dust, before kissing and licking the earthen symbols." (65)  --Douglas L. Winiarski, "The Newbury Prayer Bill Hoax: Devotion and Deception in New England's Era of Great Awakenings," Massachusetts Historical Review, Vol. 14 (2012)

I should hasten to add in fairness that George Whitefield, John Wesley, and Jonathan Edwards, all closely associated with the First Great Awakening, would all have strongly disapproved of the sort of madness described above. There were both respectable and disreputable aspects of the First Great Awakening. Needless to say, Woodbury, Rogers, and Gilman represented the wilder side.