One must not take liberties here with what Finney means by excitement. He gives further explanation about what he means throughout this book and his later letters.

² The remainder of this sentence in the first book edition ended as follows: "shape the course of events so as to produce another excitement, and then pour out his Spirit again to convert sinners."

³ In the first book edition the sentence ended: "they are greatly excited, they will not obey God." In the later Revell edition the rest of the sentence was changed to: "it is greatly excited, it will go back from the path of duty, and do nothing to promote the glory of God."

⁴ The 1868 edition replaced "by these excitements" for "by means of revivals." Finney shows himself to be a post-millennialist in these lectures.

⁵ In the first edition and later Revell editions this sentence ends with an exclamation point. We have not noted many frequent changes in punctuation, and will only mention those that at all affect the meaning.

⁶ The later Revell edition made the rest of the sentence into two and changed the words to the following: "do. But the Church is so little enlightened, and there are so many counteracting causes, that the Church will not go steadily to work without a special excitement." The only difference in the first edition was it ended with "excitement" rather than "interest being awakened."

⁷ The later Revell edition removed "it cannot be so;" and added "with" at the end of the sentence. The first edition had "can't" in the place of "cannot".

⁸ The later Revell edition started the sentence as: "Indeed, it will then"

⁹ "Finney lived in the era when there was no academic distinction between the humanities and the sciences. Consequently he uses the adjective "philosophical" throughout these lectures in the old sense of "logical," "rational," or "scientific." And he includes in the word "philosophy" what would now be designated as the science of psychology. Finney would accept Webster's first definition of philosophy as "the science which investigates the facts and principles of reality and of human nature and conduct." The crux of Finney's attack on Calvinism in these lectures is that its doctrines are contrary to the laws of philosophy and to "the laws of mind" and hence, in modern terms, Calvinism is "unscientific." (W. G. M.)

¹⁰ The first edition and later Revell edition had the word "in" after "is".

¹¹ The later Revell edition has in place of this: "Men being so reluctant to obey God, will".

¹² The second edition added: "by a sense of guild and danger"; while the later Revell edition replaced the word "guilt" with "quiet" and ended the sentence as: "cannot hold back any longer."

¹³ The later Revell edition changed it to: "A Revival is", as also under point 2 and 3. The New York Evangelist edition had these first sentences together as: "I. It is not a miracle in the sense of a suspension or setting aside of the laws of nature."

¹⁴ "Anyone who has read Jonathan Edwards' Faithful Narrative of the Surpising Work of God or his Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England will see at once how different his view of a revival was from that expressed here. Edwards constantly marvels at "this shower of divine blessing," which is "a very extraordinary dispensation of providence; God has in many respects gone out of, and much beyond, his usual and ordinary way." And he applies the words "strange," "remarkable," "wonderful," "uncommon," "amazing" to the revival to indicate its miraculous character: "It is a great and wonderful event, a strange revolution, and unexpected, surprizing overturning of things, suddenly brought to pass." In fact Edwards went out of his way to chastise those who sought to explain in human terms how and why revivals came about: "This is too much for the clay to take upon it with respect to the potter," for "The wind bloweth where it listest" and "We know not the work of God who maketh all." See Jonathan Edwards, Works, ed. Sereno E. Dwight (New York, 1829-1830), IV, 27, 80, 120-121, and passim. (Of course, it should be noted that although Finney denies the miraculous aspect of revivals, he by no means denies that miracles can and do happen.)" (W. G. M.)

¹⁵ These last sentences were not in the first edition, and partly in the later Revell editions.

¹⁶ The later Revell editions at this point added to and replaced the original statements to read: "to plough, and plant, and labour, as if they expected to raise a crop, is very wrong, that it amounts to taking the work out of the hands of that God is a Sovereign, and will give them a crop only when it pleases Him, and that for them to plough, and plant, and labour, as if they expected to raise a crop, is very wrong,, that it amounts to taking the work out of the hands of God, that it is an interference with His Sovereignty, and there is no connection between the means and the result..."

¹⁷ This paragraph found in the first and second editions was not in the New York Evangelist, Dec. 6, 1834, p. 194. It was therefore added by Finney and resembles more of his style of expression.

¹⁸ "When, in 1832, Finney made his home in New York, where he had accepted the pastorate of the Second Free Presbyterian Church, an epidemic of cholera broke out, which was specially fatal in the district where he had gone to reside. One day he counted, from his own house, five hearses, drawn up at one time before as many doors.

"Next, he was himself smitten, and although he slowly recovered, his system received a severe shock. On his restoration to health he preached (in the theatre which was the meeting-place of his congregation) for twenty evenings, in addition to the Sabbath services. Undoubtedly the preaching was the chief agency, but the remembrance of the epidemic and the preacher's inevitable allusions thereto tended to the deepening of conviction. There were so many converts that another Church was speedily formed. Finney's aim throughout was not to fill his building with Christians from other places, but to gather in the ungodly. Ultimately (so widely did the work spread) he wrote: 'When I left New York we had seven such Churches, where members were labouring to secure the salvation of souls.'" (From the later Revell editions.)

¹⁹ This was Finney at Oriskany Woolen Mill in Oriskany, New York, 1826. "The factory was "on the Oriskany Creek, a little above Whitesborough." The words of the gentleman who gave the order to close were: 'Stop the mill and let the people attend to religion; for it is more important that our souls be saved than that this factory should run.' Accordingly the gates were closed, the factory stopped, and the meeting held forthwith. Finney's brother-in-law, who was superintendent of the factory, had invited the evangelist to the neighbourhood, and a crowded meeting had been held the previous night in the village school-house. Most of the young people from the factory had been present, and many had come under deep conviction. When, therefore, Finney visited the factory next morning they needed only a word to lead them to immediate decision for Christ. In a pamphlet issued by the minister of the Presbyterian Church at Whitesborough it was stated that the converts in the district, during the revival, numbered three thousand." (From the later Revell editions)

²⁰ The first edition had "they" in place of "he".

²¹ The story is from Finney's own experience. The factory was "on the Oriskany Creek, a little above Whitesborough." The words of the gentleman who gave the order to close were: "Stop the mill and let the people attend to religion; for it is more important that our souls should be saved than that this factory should run." Accordingly the gates were closed, the factory stopped, and the meeting held forthwith. Finney's brother-in-law, who was superintendent of the factory, had invited the evangelist to the neighbourhood, and a crowed meeting had been held the previous night in the village school-house. Most of the young people from the factory had been present, and many had come under deep conviction. When, therefore, Finney visited the factory next morning they needed only a word to lead them to immediate decision for Christ. In a pamphlet issued by the minister of the Presbyterian Church at Whitesborough it was stated that the converts in the district, during the revival, numbered three thousand.

²² The later Revell editions have instead: "after which the Church".

²³ The later Revell editions read: "a pastor who entertained this supposition—that a . . .".

²⁴ The later Revell editions added words; and had "lost" in place of "in hell." This is evidence of an attempt to soften Finney's tone as was the case above where "guilt" was replaced with "quiet".

²⁵ The later Revell editions had "Deism" in place of "atheism." Finney was very much aware of the difference between the two as can be seen in his elsewhere. Yet he was no doubt referring to the way people practically treat God as he mentioned in the following: "IV. Practical Atheism. This admits, in words, and profession, the existence of God, but denies him in works." Skeletons of a Course of Theological Lectures, Lecture V.

²⁶ "'Till a few years past,' wrote Rev. Calvin Colton, M.A., in 1832, 'this was the ordinary character of revivals of religion in America: Churches and Christians waited for them, as men are wont to wait for showers of rain, without ever imagining that any duty was incumbent on themselves as instruments. The common apology for indolence, which clothes itself with the sanctity of a resignation to the Divine will, has been too long employed. But it is now getting to be more generally understood that to wait God's time in this matter, is not to wait at all, and that sitting still, or standing still, is not the submission of piety, but an expression of the sloth and recklessness of unbelief' ("History and Character of American Revivals")." (Later Revell editions)

²⁷ The later Revell editions have added instead: "under (but not because of)". But they removed the next two sentences.

This entire paragraph was not in the New York Evangelist edition, Dec. 6, 1834, p. 194.

²⁸ The later Revell editions replaced this with "accidental."

²⁹ The later Revell editions removed the first and last three sentences and inconsistently removed some of the words "you", and in the last case replaced it with "people". Yet they retained the personal references in the quotation sentence.

³⁰ Throughout the later Revell editions all references to pronouns referring to God had the first letter capitalized. This was not the case with the first or second editions. But in this sentence we see an example of the way Finney intended to use it.

The original editions have the words "this winter" which more faithfully reveal Finney's focus on the present and near future. He was a man who wrote and concerned himself with the immediate situations. Later editors of his Memoirs, Systematic Theology, and other works, have often removed such personal applications that they did not agree with, and have no doubt contributed to an impression of Finney that he took pains to avoid. These last two paragraphs are clear examples of Finney's almost forceful address to the people before him. The removing of text we have cited above is not nearly as bad as in other places such as the Memoirs and Systematic Theology, where Fairchild and later editors have deleted entire paragraphs of such a nature.