The terms were first used during the
First Great Awakening (1730s–40s), which expanded through the British North American colonies in the middle of the 18th century. In
A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God (1737),
Jonathan Edwards, a leader in the Awakening, describes his congregants' vivid experiences with
grace as causing a "new light" in their perspective on sin and
atonement. Old Lights and New Lights generally referred to
Congregationalists and
Baptists in
New England and
Presbyterians in
Pennsylvania and further south who took different positions on the Awakening from the traditional branches of their denominations. New Lights embraced the revivals that spread through the colonies, while Old Lights were suspicious of the revivals (and their seeming threat to authority). Historian
Richard Bushman credits the division between Old Lights and New Lights for the creation of political factionalism in Connecticut in the mid-18th century. Often, many "new light" Congregationalists who had been converted under the preaching of
George Whitefield left that connection to become "new light" Baptists when they found no evidence of
infant baptism in the apostolic church. When told of this development, Whitefield famously quipped that he was glad to hear about the fervent faith of his followers but regretted that "so many of his chickens had become ducks." In the
Presbyterian Church those elements embracing the revivals of the Great Awakening were sometimes called "
New Side," and those opposed to the revivals were called "Old Side." In the
Church of Scotland Seceders in the 1790s, the "Old Lights" (Constitutional Associate Presbytery and Synod of Original Burghers) followed the principles of the
Covenanters, and the "New Lights" (which united to form the United Secession Church in 1820) were more focused on personal salvation and considered the strictures of the Covenants as less binding moral enormities. The terms were also used in 1833, when a debate over swearing allegiance to the
U.S. Constitution split the Reformed Presbyterians. The "Old Light" Reformed Presbyterians, in keeping with their Covenanter heritage, refused to swear allegiance to the Constitution and thus to become
US citizens because the Constitution makes no mention of the Lordship of Christ, and the "New Light" Reformed Presbyterians allowed the swearing. After the split, the Old Lights eventually formed the
Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, and the New Lights formed the
Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod. ==See also==