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James Caughey
James Caughey (April 9, 1810 – January 30, 1891) was an Irish-born American preacher and Methodist evangelist whose calling from God sparked powerful revivals across the United States, Canada, and Britain, emphasizing conversion and holiness for over five decades. Born in Northern Ireland to Scottish parents, he immigrated with his family to Troy, New York, in the early 1820s. Converted in 1830 at age 20 during a revival in Troy’s "Burned-over District," he was accepted as a probationary preacher by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, ordained as a deacon in 1834, and began ministering in Burlington, Vermont, without formal theological education beyond practical training. Caughey’s calling from God led him to evangelistic campaigns, starting in Montreal in 1835, followed by Quebec in 1840–1841, and a transformative six-year stint in Britain (1841–1847), where he preached in industrial cities like Liverpool, Birmingham, and Nottingham, claiming 20,000 conversions and 10,000 sanctified. His sermons, marked by emotional altar calls and a focus on entire sanctification, influenced figures like William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, though his style clashed with British Methodist leaders, prompting his reluctant return to America in 1847. Based in Burlington, he continued itinerant preaching, returning to England in 1857–1867 with less impact. Author of works like Methodism in Earnest (1850) and Helps to a Life of Holiness (1854), he called sinners to repentance with a commanding presence. Married, with family details unrecorded, he passed away at age 80 in Highland Park, New Jersey.
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James Caughey delivers a powerful sermon urging believers to weep over the impending judgment and eternal damnation of sinners, just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem. He emphasizes the need for repentance and tears of penitence, highlighting the eternal consequences of sin and the importance of being born again to enter the kingdom of heaven. Caughey reminds the congregation of the weeping time allotted to believers on earth, contrasting it with the never-ending mourning and sorrow awaiting the unrepentant in hell.
Should We Not Weep?
If Jesus wept over Jerusalem, when He beheld a cloud of wrath gathering over it - why, Oh, why, should not we weep? I repeat it, why should not we weep to behold the mouths of the grave and of hell preparing to open and to engulf so many. Instead of repressing our tears, should we not rather say with the prophet Jeremiah, "Oh, that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people?" And if sinners will despise, and sin on, we can only resolve with Jeremiah again, "But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride, and mine eyes shall weep sore and run down with tears." Who of us, or who that has ever read the writings and history of Jeremiah the prophet, would charge him with weak-mindedness? We are the followers of "The Man of Sorrows." Like Him, we are "acquainted with grief." From Christ's own lips we learn that, "unless you are born again, you cannot see or enter the kingdom of heaven." (John 3:3,5). And, had He added, you shall never, in that case, see or enter hell, perhaps our eyes could remain dry. But, alas! Exclusion from heaven implies incarceration in hell, - "the fire that never shall be quenched, - the worm that never dieth, - the weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth in outer darkness; - and the horrors of everlasting punishment, - eternal damnation, - the fire prepared for the devil and his angels". Did Christ over sinners weep, and shall our cheeks be dry? Let floods of penitential grief burst forth from every eye. The Son of God in tears. The wondering angels see; be thou astonished, Oh, my soul, He shed those tears for thee! He wept that we might weep; each sin demands a tear; in heaven alone no sin is found, and there's no weeping there. Ah! Poor sinner! We have the weeping part now, but YOUR weeping time is coming, but with this difference, ours is limited to time, yours has an eternity appended. The promise to us is, that God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes in heaven. (Rev. 7:17). Neither sorrow, nor cause of sorrow, nor tears nor cause of tears, for the days of our mourning shall be ended in heaven. But, alas for you who may drop into hell - for sorrow and the cause of sorrow, tears and the cause of tears, must coexist with your eternity; your mourning and the cause of mourning shall never, never end. Why, then, should we not weep over you, in view of your sad future? Why should we not weep, seeing there is yet hope of your salvation that you may begin and weep as freely for yourselves, as we do for you? There is hope, and we weep. No wonder tears are wiped away in heaven, when hope for the willfully damned is gone, and gone forever! Hearken, all of you, to what Jesus says on this subject: "Woe unto you that laugh now; for ye shall mourn and weep." But He had just said to His disciples, "Blessed are ye that weep now; for ye shall laugh." So, then, this is our weeping time. Yours is to come. May it be now, also!
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James Caughey (April 9, 1810 – January 30, 1891) was an Irish-born American preacher and Methodist evangelist whose calling from God sparked powerful revivals across the United States, Canada, and Britain, emphasizing conversion and holiness for over five decades. Born in Northern Ireland to Scottish parents, he immigrated with his family to Troy, New York, in the early 1820s. Converted in 1830 at age 20 during a revival in Troy’s "Burned-over District," he was accepted as a probationary preacher by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, ordained as a deacon in 1834, and began ministering in Burlington, Vermont, without formal theological education beyond practical training. Caughey’s calling from God led him to evangelistic campaigns, starting in Montreal in 1835, followed by Quebec in 1840–1841, and a transformative six-year stint in Britain (1841–1847), where he preached in industrial cities like Liverpool, Birmingham, and Nottingham, claiming 20,000 conversions and 10,000 sanctified. His sermons, marked by emotional altar calls and a focus on entire sanctification, influenced figures like William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, though his style clashed with British Methodist leaders, prompting his reluctant return to America in 1847. Based in Burlington, he continued itinerant preaching, returning to England in 1857–1867 with less impact. Author of works like Methodism in Earnest (1850) and Helps to a Life of Holiness (1854), he called sinners to repentance with a commanding presence. Married, with family details unrecorded, he passed away at age 80 in Highland Park, New Jersey.