to appearances the most moral place I had ever seen. A profane
expression was hardly ever heard. A religious awe seemed to
pervade the country. Upon the whole, I think the revival in
Kentucky the most extraordinary that has ever visited the
church of Christ; and, all things considered, it was
peculiarly adapted to the circumstances of the country into
which it came. Infidelity was triumphant and religion was on
the point of expiring. Something extraordinary seemed
necessary to arrest the attention of a giddy people who were
ready to conclude that Christianity was a fable and futurity a
delusion. This revival has done it. It has confounded
infidelity and brought numbers beyond calculation under
serious impressions."

A sermon preached in 1803 to the Presbyterian synod of Kentucky, by the
Rev. David Rice, has the value of testimony given in the presence of
other competent witnesses, and liable thus to be questioned or
contradicted. In it he says:

"Neighborhoods noted for their vicious and profligate manners
are now as much noted for their piety and good order.
Drunkards, profane swearers, liars, quarrelsome persons, etc.,
are remarkably reformed.... A number of families who had lived
apparently without the fear of God, in folly and in vice,
without any religious instruction or any proper government,
are now reduced to order and are daily joining in the worship
of God, reading his word, singing his praises, and offering up
their supplications to a throne of grace. Parents who seemed
formerly to have little or no regard for the salvation of
their children are now anxiously concerned for their
salvation, are pleading for them, and endeavoring to lead them
to Christ and train them up in the way of piety and virtue."

That same year the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, in its
annual review of the state of religion, adverted with emphasis to the
work in the Cumberland country, and cited remarkable instances of
conversion--malignant opposers of vital piety convinced and reconciled,
learned, active, and conspicuous infidels becoming signal monuments of
that grace which they once despised; and in conclusion declared with joy
that "the state and prospects of vital religion in our country are more
favorable and encouraging than at any period within the last forty
years."[238:1]

In orde