Page images
PDF
EPUB

While much care has been taken to avoid errors it is probable that there are some due to clerical mistakes and some to defects in the original statistics, which are always taken from the official yearbooks of the various bodies reported. But as already indicated it is believed that these errors are few and comparatively unimportant and balance each other so as not to affect the conclusions to be drawn from the tables as a whole.

The first table is a general survey of the field as a whole so far as it has been practicable to gather trustworthy statistics. It shows the original additions to the churches among Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, and in the last period Episcopalians, for twelve years. Except for the Methodists the figures are for states and by each denomination. Rhode Island does not appear in this or either of the following tables, as some of its Baptist and Congregational churches were affiliated with those of Massachusetts for a long period and in later years there are no available revival figures from them that seem to require separate study. As Methodist conferences rarely follow state lines the figures are given for all New England, except those parts of Vermont and Connecticut and a few churches in northwestern Massachusetts which belong to New York conferences. But it has not always been easy to follow temporary changes in conference lines. The Methodist figures for New England stand first in each revival period and the states with the other denominations follow in alphabetical order. The central column shows the additions for the revival year; the six columns on the right the additions for the following years, and the five on the left those for the five years before the revival. On the extreme left are given in a few instances the total numbers of members in the churches at the close of the revival year, including those added that year. Totals are given for each period where the figures are full or nearly so, or without the Methodists. A minus sign before Methodist figures denotes loss in members that year and a blank space denotes no official returns for the year. The ecclesiastical year varied. It has begun in April, May, June, or September with a tendency toward adherence to the calendar year, the Congre

4th Year 5th Year 6th Year After After After

[blocks in formation]

By entire states and for each of three denominations except that the Methodists' are given in gains or losses for all conferences wholly within New England. Statistics for Episcopalians appear in revival of 1877 only.

[graphic]

New England:

Methodist, except western part

of Vermont and Connecticut,

gains in church membership. Maine:

Baptist...

Congregational.

New Hampshire:

Vermont:

New England:

Connecticut:

Maine:

Massachusetts:

Baptist..

New Hampshire:

Vermont:

[blocks in formation]

*While this article was in press I discovered that by some unaccountable oversight the figures for the Congregational churches of Massachusetts were omitted from
Table I. The Revival of 1831 and 1832 took those two years in covering the state, there being received 5,260 in 1831 on profession and 4.344 in 1832. For the four following
years the numbers were 1,469, 2,157, 2.092, and 1,952. For the period before 1831 there are no figures except for three years, 1827-29, which are 3,669, 2,018, and 630, three or
four of the local associations not reporting in the latter year.
The twenty-four churches adding 50 or more in 1832 are given in the last table. The total membership of the Congregational churches of Massachusetts on January 1,
1831, is given as 33,429.
Revivals in many churches.

The additions in 1831 to the Congregational churches in Vermont were 28.7 per cent. of their total membership at the close of the revival year.

Additions in Massachusetts Congregational churches were 9.1 per cent. of the total membership.

[graphic]

gationalists for many recent years adopting that as their ecclesiastical year. The chief statistical effect of this variety is that the twelve months reported are not exactly the same in all

cases.

That the chief conclusion from the first table may be a little more clearly seen another table follows in which the figures for the revival years are preceded and followed by the average annual additions before and after the revival.

TABLE II

ADDITIONS TO CHURCHES IN THE REVIVAL YEAR AND THE AVERAGE ANNUAL ADDITIONS FOR FIVE YEARS BEFORE AND AFTER THAT YEAR

The small figures show the number of years where it is less than 5. A minus sign (-) before a number denotes an annual average loss. The figures are for states but for New England Conference in case of Methodists.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

c Three of these years had over 2,000 each.

d Revival continued giving 1,989 and 2,949 in 1st and 24 years after. 1070 in Maine (Bap.) 1 st year after.

€ 2,757 less in 1877-81 than in former 5 years.

From this table it is apparent that the average annual additions to the denominations as a whole for the five years following the revivals, except in the revival of 1877, to which reference will be made later, are from one-fourth to one-fifth the number of those in the revival year. It is also apparent that the average annual additions following the revival year are, in the majority of instances, decidedly less than those in the preceding years.

But the exhibit thus far is based on the figures of all the churches, whether they shared in the revivals of the year or not. Accordingly another investigation has been made. With slight exceptions all churches of the Baptists and Congregationalists adding 50 or more in the revival year and those of the Methodists readily available have been taken. The exception is that only those Baptist churches adding 106 or more, II in all, in the famous revival of "Elder Knapp" in Boston in 1842 are used from that revival, and 13 in Vermont in 1826 and 1830. These churches, 337 in all, report 25,935 additions in the revival years ranging from 1826 to 1877 in 24 groups of from 3 to 30 churches each, widely scattered and in proportionate distribution between city and country towns. The total additions for the revival year and for each following year, together with the total additions for the following five years and the percentage which these together make of those of the revival year are given. The total members of these churches at the close of the revival years are given in four instances.

We are now prepared to point out some of the conclusions. which these data seem to justify from the position of the student of social science, some of which seem to be clearly established and others to be more or less probable. Let the general reader again be cautioned against the assumption that this paper is a discussion of revivals in all their phases. It is only an introductory chapter to such wider treatment. It is an attempt to bring a reasonable amount of data together by the statistical method so that they can be the better observed by all and to treat them from the point of view of the social scientist alone, leaving the other parts of the field to the psychologist, the sociologist, the student of ethics and religious pedagogy, all of whom

« PreviousContinue »