One Man’s Odyssey

One Man’s Odyssey

Not all faithful preachers end their years of ministry being appreciated outside their own congregation.

DEVEREUX JARRATT was born about twenty-five miles southeast of Richmond, Virginia, in 1733. There was a Church of England parish about three miles away, but the Jarratts attended infrequently.

When Jarratt was nineteen, he left home to become a schoolteacher in northwestern Virginia on the edge of the Appalachian Mountains, then considered the American frontier. There were no churches in the area.

After his initial teaching job, Jarratt was invited to stay at the home of a wealthy Virginian named John Cannon and took a job teaching at a nearby school. Mrs. Cannon was a supporter of the Great Awakening that had been sweeping through America under the preaching of George Whitefield. She read sermons out loud every evening and invited Jarratt to come and listen. Although initially he just feigned interest, eventually the sermons touched his heart, and he determined to try to abandon his sins and to save his soul. Jarratt was the first person Mrs. Cannon had ever seen who seemed to be drawn to her faith, so she invited him to stay on in their home. Jarratt stayed for a year, teaching school during the day and listening to sermons in the evening.

After returning briefly to his first teaching position, Jarratt moved back into the Cannons’ home to take a better paying position tutoring their son. At this time a Presbyterian minister began preaching nearby once a month. Although he was not a particularly gifted preacher, Jarratt attended every service. He spent time with the pastor, who introduced him to the writings of Richard Baxter and the hymns of Isaac Watts.

It was during his second stay at the Cannons’ home that Jarratt finally met the Savior personally. He described his experience as follows:

I was blessed with faith to believe, not one promise only, but all the promises of the gospel with joy unspeakable and full of glory. I saw a fullness of Christ to save to the uttermost, that, had I ten thousand souls as wretched and guilty as mine was, I could venture all on his blood and righteousness without one doubt or fear. . . . Such a bright manifestation of the Redeemer’s all-sufficiency and willingness to save, and such a divine confidence to rely on him, I never had until that moment—it was a delightful little heaven on earth—so sweet, so ravishing, so delightful, I uttered not a word, but silently rejoiced in God my Savior.

After his conversion, friends encouraged him to enter the ministry. Learning that both George Whitefield and John Wesley were ordained in the Church of England, he decided to prepare for ordination there as well. However, in order to be ordained in the Church of England he had to go to England. Jarratt sold a piece of land that he had inherited and used the proceeds to finance his trip to England.

On July 3, 1763, Devereux Jarratt arrived back in America an ordained priest of the Church of England, which after the Revolutionary War became known in the United States as the Episcopal Church. He became pastor of the Bath parish in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, south of Petersburg, within thirty miles of where he was born.

Jarratt played a major role in the Southern Awakening. From 1764 to 1772 he led a revival among the Anglicans of Virginia and North Carolina. In 1773 he joined forces with the Methodists, a cooperation that climaxed in 1775 to 1776 in what is known as the Methodist phase of the Southern Awakening.

Jarratt was opposed by his fellow Anglican priests, who regarded him as a fanatic and “a Presbyterian,” in their minds the ultimate insult. Hurt by their rejection, he eventually stopped attending denominational meetings. He became more and more isolated within the Church of England, yet he remained loyal to it, the denomination of his ordination.

Reflection

In Virginia in the 1700s those claiming to be Christians often had a hard time getting along with one another. Sadly, the same is true today. What do you feel are the causes? the cures? What can individual Christians do to bring unity to God’s people?

My prayer for all of them is that they will be one.

John 17:21