I have neither the material at my disposal, nor the time and inclination to go into this study, both physiological and psychological, and shall therefore confine myself to a few suggestions only which have occurred to me in the course of the examination of the records I have been discussing. "The Great Awakening," so called, occurred in 1740,--it was then that Whitefield preached on Boston Common to an audience about equal in number to three quarters of the entire population of the town.[12] Five years before, in 1735, had occurred the famous Northampton revival, engineered and presided over by Jonathan Edwards; and previous to that there had been a number of small local outbreaks of the same character, which his "venerable and honoured Grandfather Stoddard," as Edwards describes his immediate predecessor in the Northampton pulpit, was accustomed to refer to as "Harvests," in which there was "a considerable Ingathering of Souls." A little later this spiritual condition became general and, so to speak, epidemic. There are few sadder or more suggestive forms of literature than that in which the religious contagion of 1735, for it was nothing else, is described; it reveals a state of affairs bordering close on universal insanity. Take for instance the following from Edwards's "Narrative" of what took place at Northampton:-- "Presently upon this, a great and earnest Concern about the great things of Religion, and the eternal World, became _universal_ in all parts of the Town, and among Persons of all Degrees, and all Ages; the Noise amongst the _Dry Bones_ waxed louder and louder: All other talk but about spiritual and eternal things, was soon thrown by.... There was scarcely a single Person in the Town, either old or young, that was left unconcerned about the great Things of the eternal World. Those that were wont to be the vainest, and loosest, and those that had been most disposed to think, and speak slightly of vital and experimental Religion, were now generally subject to great awakenings.... Souls did as it were come by Flocks to Jesus Christ. From Day to Day, for many Months together, might be seen evident Instances of Sinners brought _out of Darkness into marvellous Light_, and delivered _out of an horrible Pit, and from the miry Clay, and set upon a Rock_, with a _new Song of Praise to God in their mouths_ ... in the Spring and Summer following, _Anno_ 1735 the Town seemed to be full of the Presence of God. It never was so full of _Love_, nor so full of _Joy_; and yet so full of Distress as it was then. There were remarkable Tokens of God's Presence in almost every House.... Our publick _Praises_ were then greatly enlivened.... In all _Companies_ on _other_ Days, on whatever _Occasions_ Persons met together, _Christ_ was to be heard of and seen in the midst of them. Our _young People_, when they met, were wont to spend the time in talking of the