The First Great Wake (sometimes the Great Waking) was the Evangelical Revival consisted of a number of Christian revival in Britain and thirteen colonies between the 1730s and 1740s. The Movement for Resurrection has permanently influenced Protestantism, as the supporters endeavored to restore individual piety and religious commitment
Prior to this revival, religious devotion and craving fell in colonies.
George Whitefield, a British minister, had a significant influence during the Great Wakeup. Whitefield visited the colonies along and across the Atlantic coast, preaching his message. Within a year, Whitefield covered 5,000 miles in America and preached more than 350 times.
His style was charismatic, theatrical, and expressive. The Whitefield often shouted the word of God and fluttered during his preaching. People would get thousands to hear how he was talking.
Whitefield was preaching to ordinary people, slaves and Indians. No one can be out of reach. Even Benjamin Franklin, a religious skeptic, was caught by the Whitefield's preachers, and the two became friends.
Not everyone accepted the idea of the Great Awakening. One of the main opponents was Charles Chauncy, a minister in Boston. Chauncy was against the way of preaching and supported the traditional approach of religion.
Until 1742, the Great Awakening debate divided the New England clergy and many colonists into two groups.
The preachers and followers of the new ideas from the Great Awakening became known as "new lights". Those who wanted, traditional old-fashioned ecclesiastical methods, were called "old lights".
A great awakening was completed sometime in the 1740s.
