The Awakening traveled to Eastern cities, where former lawyer Finney preached that "all sin consists in selfishness" and that religious faith led people to help others; Americans began to believe that they could act to make things better.
The Second Great Awakening had a tremendous effect on American society by spawning a large number of social reform movements. A great encourager of such reforms was the evangelist Charles G. Finney.
Finney was to bring in new methods and a new attitude towards revival. Jonathan Edwards had viewed the 1735 revival in Northampton as "a very extraordinary dispensation of Providence" a "surprising work of God."
Charles Finney, however, believed that "a revival is not a miracle . . . It is a purely philosophic [i.e. scientific] result of the right use of the constituted means."
In the series of revivals Finney held from 1824-1837 (during what some call the Third Awakening), Finney instituted a number of new measures which later evangelists would continue.
These included the inquiry room for counseling seekers, the anxious or mourners' bench for those responding to the public invitation to Christ, preaching for an immediate decision, emotional prayers which addressed God in a very familiar, informal language, organized choirs and music, advertising and advanced preparation for the revival meeting.
The Second Great Awakening exerted a lasting impact on American society, more than any other revival. While its fervor abated, it left a legacy of many established churches, democratization and social reform.
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