or meetings for religious conference.
The pastor was encouraged to renewed tenderness and solemnity in his
preaching. His themes were justification by faith, the awfulness of
God's justice, the excellency of Christ, the duty of pressing into the
kingdom of God. Presently a young woman, a leader in the village
gayeties, became "serious, giving evidence," even to the severe judgment
of Edwards, "of a heart truly broken and sanctified." A general
seriousness began to spread over the whole town. Hardly a single person,
old or young, but felt concerned about eternal things. According to
Edwards's "Narrative":

"The work of God, as it was carried on, and the number of true
saints multiplied, soon made a glorious alteration in the
town, so that in the spring and summer, anno 1735, the town
seemed to be full of the presence of God. It was never 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. It was a time of joy in families on the
account of salvation's being brought unto them; parents
rejoicing over their children as being new-born, and husbands
over their wives, and wives over their husbands. The goings of
God were then seen in his sanctuary. God's day was a delight,
and his tabernacles were amiable. Our public assemblies were
then beautiful; the congregation was alive in God's service,
every one intent on the public worship, every hearer eager to
drink in the words of the minister as they came from his
mouth; the assembly in general were from time to time in tears
while the Word was preached, some weeping with sorrow and
distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and
concern for the souls of their neighbors. Our public praises
were then greatly enlivened; God was then served in our
psalmody in some measure in the beauty of holiness."

The crucial test of the divineness of the work was given when the people
presented themselves before the Lord with a solemn act of thanksgiving
for his great goodness and his gracious presence in the town of
Northampton, with publicly recorded vows to renounce their evil ways and
put away their abominations from before his eyes. They solemnly promise
thenceforth, in all dealings with their neighbor, to be governed by the
rules of honesty, justice, and uprightness; not to overre