Anglican critiques of revivalism: Gibson on "gradual progress and improvement in the fruits of the Spirit"

The 1739 pastoral letter - Against Lukewarmness on one hand, and Enthusiasm on the other -  issued by Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London, was a response to the revivalism of George Whitefield. Gibson quoted from Whitefield's journals to demonstrate the character of revivalism, showing how Whitefield words testified to his "boast of sudden and surprizing Effects as wrought by the Holy Ghost, in Consequence of [his] Preaching"; to claims of his Preaching and Expounding, and the Effects of them, as the sole Work of a divine Power"; and justifying his "own extraordinary Methods of teaching, by casting unworthy Reflections upon the Parochial Clergy" and the regular ministrations of the church.

Against this, Gibson's pastoral letter provided an account of a characteristically Anglican theology and piety, contrasting revivalist claims that experience of 'new birth' was the evidence of the Spirit's workings, with the "gradual progress and improvement ... in the fruits of the Spirit" in the Christian life to be heard from Anglican pulpits:

I hope, when your Ministers preach to you the Doctrine of Regeneration, or being born again of the Spirit, as laid down in the New Testament; they do not tell you that it must be instantaneous, and inwardly felt at the very Time; both, because there is no such Thing revealed to us by Christ or his Apostles, who lay down the Doctrine in general Terms; and because Experience shews us, that the Renovation of the Heart and Life is effected by Degrees, and discovers itself, more and more, in a Hatred of Sin, and in a gradual Progress and Improvement in those Graces, which the Scripture declares to be the Fruits of the Spirit.

Teaching from Anglican pulpits, rather than promoting the dramatic experiences promoted by revivalism, should prudently, insightfully, wisely urge hearers to a more meaningful self-examination:

I hope, when they dissuade bad Men from a Security in sinning and a groundless Presumption upon the Mercy of God; they also endeavour to preserve good Men from Despair; by teaching them to make a Judgment of their spiritual Condition, (or, in other Words, whether they be in a State of Salvation, or not,) from the present Disposition of their Hearts, and the Tenour of their Lives, and the Improvements they make in Grace and Goodness; and not from any sudden and extraordinary Influences and Impulses.

Likewise, while the revivalists' relied on an inadequate, impoverished, and misleading articulation of sola fide, Anglican pulpits should clearly expound the necessity of good works, as being more authentic evidence of the work of the Spirit than revivalist experiences:

I hope, that when your Ministers preach to you of Justification by Faith alone, which is asserted in the strongest Manner by our Church; they explain it in such a Manner, as to leave no Doubt upon your Minds, whether good Works are a necessary Condition of your being justified in the Sight of God ... I hope, lastly, that in their Preaching they frequently inculcate upon you the indispensible Obligation you are under, to lead sober and regular Lives.

Finally, Gibson pointed to how revivalism encouraged a dismissal by some of "the ordinary Methods" of the church's teaching, prayer, and sacraments, while 'Weird' revivalist experiences pushed others away from the life of faith:

The aiming at high Flights in Religion, and depreciating the ordinary Methods of maintaining and propagating it, looks speciously, and will never want Admirers and Followers. But surely, an Endeavour to raise Religion to greater Heights and greater Abstractions from common Life, than Christ and his Apostles made and designed it, is attended with mischievous Consequences; from what Principle soever it proceeds, or with what Degrees of Zeal soever it may be accompanied. Some it draws from their proper Business which God has required them to attend, and heats them by Degrees into a Kind of religious Frenzy, and seldom fails to lead them into spiritual Pride and an inward Contempt of the Generality of their Fellow Christians, as of a low Size in Religion, compared with themselves. And others are naturally led by it, to think it impossible for them to attain those Heights in which Religion is made to consist, and to give over all Thoughts of being religious at all ... Whereas, nothing is more certain, than that the Christian Religion is calculated for common Life.

Ordinary methods, common life: such was the vision of the Christian life defended by Gibson against the noisy, insistent claims of revivalism. It is through ordinary methods and in common life that the "gradual progress and improvements ... in the fruits of the Spirit" is known. It is "sober and regular lives", not the experiences of revivalism, which witness to saving, renovating grace. Gibson thus suggests the theological and pastoral confidence with which Anglicans can offer a meaningful alternative to revivalism. As he stated in the introduction to his pastoral letter, against the extremes of Lukewarmness and Enthusiasm, "true Christianity lies in the middle Way between them".