The Great Awakening of 1837- 40

The Gospel Grows A City

Rev. Titus Coan

"Hilo then had but one framed house... the number of church members was twenty-three, all living in the town....

"I visited all the villages along the shore, preaching and exhorting everywhere. The people came out, men, women, and children, in crowds, and listened with great attention. Here I preached three, four, and five times a day, and had much personal conversation with the natives on things pertaining to the kingdom of God... Now they rallied in masses, and were eager to hear the Word...

"Soon scores and hundreds who had heard the Gospel in Ka'u, Puna, and Hilo, came into the town to hear more... whole families and whole villages in the country were left, with the exception of a few of the old people, and in some instances even the aged and the feeble were brought in on litters from a distance of thirty or fifty miles. Little cabins studded the place like the camps of an army, and we estimated that our population was increased to 10,000 souls."