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JONATHAN
EDWARDS (1703–1758)
Colonial
Congregational minister and theologian
EDWARDS, JONATHAN (THE ELDER) : The
founder of the New England theology as a distinct type of doctrine, considered
by many the greatest theologian America has produced; b. at Windsor Farms (now
East Windsor), Conn., Oct, 5, 1703; d. at Princeton, N. J., Mar, 22, 1758. His
father, Rev. Timothy Edwards, was born at Hartford, in May, 1669, was graduated
with honor at Harvard in 1691, and was ordained pastor of the Congregational
Church in Windsor Farms, in 1694. He remained pastor of this church more than
sixty-three years, and died Jan. 27, 1758. The mother of Jonathan Edwards was
Esther Stoddard, daughter of Solomon Stoddard, who from 1672 to 1729 was pastor
of the Congregational Church in Northampton, Mass. She was a woman of queenly
presence and admirable character, was born in 1672, married in 1694, became the
mother of eleven children, and died in 1770.
In his early years
Jonathan Edwards was instructed chiefly at home. He began the study of Latin at
the age of six, and before he was thirteen had acquired a good knowledge of
Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. In his childhood he was taught to think with his pen
in hand, and thus learned to think definitely, and to express his thoughts
clearly. When he was about nine he wrote an interesting letter on materialism,
and when he was about twelve he wrote some remarkable papers on questions in
natural philosophy. One month before he was thirteen he entered Yale College,
and was graduated, with the highest honors of his class, in 1720. At the age of
fourteen, one of his college studies was Locke on the Human Understanding. Not
long before his death, he remarked to certain friends that he was beyond
expression entertained and pleased with this book when he read it in his youth
at college; that he "was as much engaged, and had more satisfaction and
pleasure in studying it, than the most greedy miser in gathering up handfuls of
silver and gold from some new-discovered treasure."
As a
child, his sensibilities were often aroused by the truths of religion. He
united with the Church, probably at East Windsor, about the time of his
graduation at college. After graduation be pursued his theological studies for
nearly two years in New Haven. He was "approbated " as a preacher in June or
July 1722, several months before he was nineteen. From Aug., 1722, until Apr.,
1723, he preached to a small Presbyterian church in New York City. From 1724 to
1726 he was tutor at Yale. On Feb. 15, 1727, when in his twenty-fourth year, he
was ordained as colleague with his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, and pastor of
the Congregational Church at Northampton, Mass. On July 27 of that year he
married Sarah Pierpont, daughter of Rev. James Pierpont of New Haven. At the
time of her marriage, she was in the eighteenth year of her age, was
distinguished by her graceful and expressive features, her vigorous mind, fine
culture, and fervent piety. During her married life she relieved her husband of
many burdens which are commonly laid upon a parish minister, and thus enabled
him to pursue his studies with comparatively few interruptions. As a youthful
preacher Edwards was eminent for his weighty thought and fervid utterance. His
voice was not commanding, his gestures were few, but many of his sermons were
overwhelming. He wrote some of them in full. Often he spoke extempore, often
from brief but suggestive notes. The traditions relating to their power and
influence appear well-nigh fabulous.
In 1734 - 35 there occurred in his parish a "great awakening
" of religious feeling; in 1740--41 occurred another, which extended through a
large part of New England. At this time he became associated with George
Whitefield. During these exciting scenes, Edwards manifested the rare
comprehensiveness of his mind. He did not favor the extravagances attending the
new measures of the revivalists. He did more, perhaps, than any other American
clergyman to promote the doctrinal purity, at the same time quickening the
zeal, of the churches. In process of time he became convinced that his
grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, was wrong in permitting unconverted persons to
partake of the Lord's Supper. A prolonged controversy with the Northampton
church followed, and Edwards was ejected in 1750 from the pastorate which be
had adorned for more than twenty-three years.
In
Aug., 1751, he was installed pastor of the small Congregational church in
Stockbridge, Mass., and missionary of the Housatonic Indians at that place whom
he served with fidelity. On Sept. 26, 1757, he was elected president of the
college at Princeton, N. J. He was reluctant to accept the office, but finally
yielded to the advice of others, and was dismissed from his Stockbridge
pastorate Jan. 4, 1758. He spent a part of January and all of February at
Princeton, performing some duties at the college, but was not inaugurated until
Feb. 16, 1758. One week after his inauguration he was inoculated for the
smallpox. After the ordinary effects of the inoculation had nearly subsided, a
secondary fever supervened, and be died five weeks after his inauguration.
The more important works of President
Edwards are the following: A Divine and Supernatural Light Imparted to the
Soul by the Spirit o/ God (Boston, 1734), a sermon noted for its spiritual
philosophy; the hearers of it at Northampton requested it for the press; A
Faithful Narrative o/ the Surprising Work of God in the Conversion of many
Hundred Souls in Northampton, etc. (Boston and London, 1737); Five
Discourses on Justification by Faith (Boston, 1738); Sinners in the
Hands of an Angry God (Boston, 1741), one of his most terrific sermons;
frequently republished; severely criticized by some who fail to regard the
character and condition of the persons to whom it was preached;
Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God (1741); Some
Thoughts concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England (1742),
A Treatise concerning Religious Affections (1746), one of his most
spiritual and analytical works; An Humble Attempt to promote Explicit
Agreement and Visible Union of God's People in Extraordinary Prayer
(1747); An Account of the Life of the Late Reverend Mr. David Brainerd
. . . chiefly taken from his own Diary (1749); An Humble Inquiry into the
Rules of the Word of God, concerning the Qualifications requisite to a Complete
Standing and full Communion in the Visible Christian Church (1749). His
more important works were published after he had left his first pastorate, some
of them not until after hip death, A Careful and Strict Enquiry into the
Modern Prevailing Notions of that Freedom of Will which is Supposed to be
Essential to Moral Agency (1754); The Great Christian Doctrine of
Original Sin Defended (1758); History of Redemption (1772);
Dissertation concerning the End for which God created the World, and
Dissertation concerning the Nature of True Virtue (1788). The
published works of President Edwards were printed in eight volumes, at
Worcester, Mass., 1808-09 (reprinted, New York). A larger edition of his
writings, in ten volumes, including a new memoir and much new material, was
published at New York, in 1829 by Rev. Dr. Sereno Edwards Dwight.F.H.
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