Can Change the World Again.
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1792 - Born August 29 in Warren, Connecticut. Seventh child of Sylvester and Rebecca Finney. Father a farmer and Revolutionary veteran whose ancestors were early settlers in Plymouth Plantation.
1794- Moved with his family to Oneida County, New York. Attended common schools and Hamilton Oneida Academy (1806-1808).
1808 - Moved with his family to Henderson, New York, near the shore of Lake Ontario.
1808-1812 - Taught district school near Henderson.
1812-1814- Returned to Warren, Connecticut, to attend high school and prepare for Yale.
1814-1816 - Having decided against entering Yale, taught school in New Jersey.
1816 - Returned to Henderson, New York.
1818 - Entered law office of Benjamin Wright of Adams, New York, to study for the bar.
1820 - Admitted to the bar.
1821 - Had intense conversion experience on October 10. Gave up his career as a lawyer to study for the ministry.
1821-1824 - Studied theology and languages with the Rev. George Gale, pastor of the Presbyterian church in Adams, New York. Licensed to preach by the Presbytery of St. Lawrence, December 30, 1823. Ordained as an evangelist by the Oneida Presbytery, July, 1824. Married, October, 1824.
1824-1826- Conducted sensational revival meetings in small towns of western New York.
1826-1827 -Conducted revivals in Utica and Troy. Converted
Theodore Weld in Utica. Attacked by Asahel Nettleton for using "new measures" in revivalism. Attended New Lebanon Convention in July, 1827, where Lyman Beecher and other New England ministers tried to persuade him and his friends to modify their revival methods.
1827-1829 - Conducted revival meetings in Wilmington, Philadelphia, Lancaster, Reading. Signed peace treaty with Beecher in Philadelphia, May 27, 1828.
1829-1830 - Conducted first revival in New York City at the invitation of Anson G. Phelps and David L. Dodge. The New York Evangelist founded March 6, 1830, to publicize his views. (Joshua Leavitt made editor in 1832).
183o-1831 - Conducted the most successful revival of his career in Rochester, New York.
1831-1832 - Conducts revivals in Providence and Boston. Lyman Beecher cooperated in the latter. Preached "New Heart" sermon in October, 1831, and was attacked for heresy by Asa G. Rand.
1832- Accepted pastorate of Chatham Street Chapel (the Second Free Presbyterian Church) in New York City at the request of Arthur and Lewis Tappan. Stricken with cholera at his installation service, October 5, 1833.
1833 - New York Anti-Slavery Society formed in Chatham Street Chapel, October 2.
1839 - Took ocean voyage to Mediterranean for his health, January-July. Persuaded his church to refuse to admit slaveholders to communion in November. The first of his twenty two Friday night lectures on "Revivals of Religion" published in the New York Evangelist, December 6.
1835 - Accepted position as Professor of Theology at Oberlin Collegiate Institute (later Oberlin College) in February and held this post until his death. Published Lectures on Revivals o f Religion in May and Sermons on Various Subjects in June or July. Left New York City for Oberlin in May but continued to be pastor of Chatham Street Chapel where he preached in the winter months.
1836 - Withdrew from the Presbyterian Church on March 2 to accept pastorate of Broadway Tabernacle (Congregational) in New York City. Published Sermons on Important Subjects. Began series of lectures to professing Christians in Broadway Tabernacle in December in which he first expounded his perfectionist views.
1837 - Gave up New York pastorate, April 6. Became pastor of Oberlin Congregational Church (until 1872). Published Lectures to Professing Christians.
1838 - Helped to found the Oberlin Evangelist, October.
1840 - Published Skeletons of a Course of Theological Lectures and Views of Sanctification.
1842 - Conducted particularly successful revival in Rochester.
1843 - Attacked William Miller's theory of the Second Coming of Christ.
1843-1844 - Higher life experience.
1845 - Published Letters on Revivals, which first appeared in the Oberlin Evangelist.
1846 - Published Lectures on Systematic Theology.
1849-1850 - Conducted a series of revival meetings in various towns and cities in England including Birmingham, London, and Worcester.
1851 - Conducted revival meetings in Hartford, Connecticut, in which Horace Bushnell cooperated. Publishes rewritten and expanded London edition of Lectures on Systematic Theology
1851-1866 - Served as President of Oberlin College.
1857 - Conducted revival meetings in Boston and Providence during the Great Prayer Meeting Revival that swept the country.
1859-1860 - Conducted second revival tour in England and Scotland; held meetings in Manchester, Edinburgh, and London.
1868 - completed manuscript of his memoirs, which was published posthumously in 1876.
1869 - Published The Character, Claims, and Practical Workings of Freemasonry.
1875 - Died in Oberlin, August 16.
The following works were published posthumously:
1876 - Memoirs (New York);
1876 - Sermons on Gospel Themes (Oberlin);
1891 - Sermons on the Way of Salvation (Oberlin).