American History: Influential Ministers — Jonathan Edwards

Introduction

We turn our focus now from Whitefield to another well-known figure in the Great Awakening: Jonathan Edwards. While Whitefield was certainly heard by more people, Edwards is known as one of the most important theologian of the time and is also the one who proved the catalyst for the Great Awakening. 

Who Was Jonathan Edwards?

Born in East Windsor, Connecticut in 1703, Edwards was the only son of Timothy and Esther Edwards. His father was a preacher, as was his grandfather on his mother’s side, and he grew up with a strongly Puritan background. Edwards showed interest in spiritual things early on, and at the age of thirteen, he entered Yale. Close on the heels of graduation, he apprenticed with his maternal grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, in Northampton, Massachusetts. Two years later, when his grandfather passed on, he became the sole preacher for the parish of Northampton. It was in Northampton that Edwards’ name would begin to gain notice. By this time, he had married Sarah Pierrepont, whom he was happily married to for the rest of his life and who would eventually give him eleven children in total. 

What Took Jonathan Edwards from Small Town Preacher to Famous Theologian

Had God not moved in the hearts of the men and women in Edwards’ parish and used Edwards himself in such a mighty way, Edwards would have remained nothing more than a small town preacher who would die in obscurity. But his choices, his zeal for God, and God’s blessing on him led to quite a different outcome. The town where he had become pastor was, like many other cities and towns in the colonies at the time, spiritually lukewarm at best. They had continual issues with lewd behavior, drinking at all hours in the tavern, adultery, fornication, and all other manner of problematic behaviors. Not only that, along with all of the behavior troubles Edwards faced, there was no interest whatsoever in God or spiritual matters. Church had become a matter of duty and culture, not a matter of the heart and of worship. This problem disturbed Edwards, and he was well-known for being a fire-and-brimstone preacher. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the two main themes that Edwards always focused on were God’s absolute sovereignty and the beauty of God’s holiness (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Jonathan Edwards). His focus on these two themes and the message of justification by faith were to pay off as they would spark the beginning of the Great Awakening in his town.

Nine years after the change began to happen, Jonathan Edwards wrote that “Ever since the great work of God that was wrought here about nine years ago, there has been a great abiding alteration in this town in many respects. There has been vastly more religion kept up in the town, among all sorts of persons, in religious exercises and in common conversation than used to be before. There has remained a more general seriousness and decency in attending the public worship. There has been a very great alteration among the youth of the town with respect to reveling, frolicking, profane and unclean conversation, and lewd songs. Instances of fornication have been very rare. There has also been a great alteration among both old and young with respect to tavern haunting. I suppose the town has been in no measure so free of vice in these respects for any long time together for this sixty years as it has been this nine years past” (Jonathan Edwards: On the Great Awakening). 

He further noted in the same piece that George Whitefield’s arrival in town only added to the fervor of revival and that many things changed in those years. Word of the revival that began in his little town quickly spread to the towns nearby and from there, out to the whole of the colonies as community after community was radically altered by the changes revival brought.

Jonathan Edwards’ Part in the Great Awakening

Edwards himself continued to write and work in his own parish for many years. He kept a record of the changes that came over his own parish and the country in a work entitled A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God. This work chronicled the changes sweeping over his area of the colonies in the early stages of what later became known as the Great Awakening. 

Over his lifetime, Edwards was to preach over one thousand sermons, the most notable of them being collected into a book titled Justification by Faith. These were widely read throughout the colonies and helped to spark the coals of the Great Awakening, which George Whitefield would then fan into a fully fueled fire. His best known sermon to this day is Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, which was preached to a church in Enfield, Connecticut, which had remained largely untouched by the revivals spreading like wildfire across the country. Edwards’ purpose in writing and giving the sermon was to bring to his listeners a very real awareness of the hell awaiting them if they did not repent and turn to God. The sermon worked well both as a plea to flee to God before wrath must inevitably be poured out and as a shock to the system of those who had become hardened and complacent toward the things of God.

Interestingly enough, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God has resulted in modern writers often seeing Edwards as an emotional, theatrical speaker much as Whitefield was. This was not, however, the case. Edwards was an extremely dispassionate preacher and was not prone to displays of great emotion, though he did teach and believe that true religion must be rooted in the affections of a man’s heart, not just or even predominantly in his mind.

Despite his focus on the affections in religion, Edwards was himself a highly logical and reason-oriented individual. His early journals during his years as a student indicate in him strong observational skills and, according to Britannica, “his ambition to publish scientific and philosophical works in confutation of materialism and atheism (“Natural Philosophy”)” (Britannica.com, Jonathan Edwards). Britannica continues on to note that Edwards’ approach to his faith was similarly not a passive one. According to Edwards in his autobiography, A Personal Narrative, “From my childhood up, my mind had been full of objections against the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, in choosing whom he would to eternal life, and rejecting whom he pleased; leaving them eternally to perish, and be everlastingly tormented in hell. It used to appear like a horrible doctrine to me. But I remember the time very well, when I seemed to be convinced, and fully satisfied, as to this sovereignty of God, and his justice in thus eternally disposing of men, according to his sovereign pleasure. But I never could give an account how, or by what means, I was thus convinced, not in the least imagining at the time, nor a long time after, that there was any extraordinary influence of God’s Spirit in it; but only that now I saw further, and my reason apprehended the justice and reasonableness of it. However, my mind rested in it; and it put an end to all those cavils and objections. And there has been a wonderful alteration in my mind, with respect to the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, from that day to this; so that I scarce ever have found so much as the rising of an objection against it, in the most absolute sense, in God showing mercy to whom he will show mercy, and hardening whom he will. God’s absolute sovereignty and justice, with respect to salvation and damnation, is what my mind seems to rest assured of, as much as of any thing that I see with my eyes; at least it is so at times. But I have often, since that first conviction, had quite another kind of sense of God’s sovereignty that I had then. I have often since had not only a conviction, but a delightful conviction. The doctrine has very often appeared exceeding pleasant, bright, and sweet. Absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God. But my first conviction was not so” (Jonathan Edwards, A Personal Narrative).

Jonathan Edwards’ Later Years

Edwards’ focus on personal conversion was what would eventually lead to conflict with his congregation. He believed that only those who had made a profession of faith and had given evidence for it through their testimony to the church should be allowed to partake in communion. His grandfather had practiced an open communion in the church by which any could partake according to their own conscience, and the change in the old way of doing things angered his congregation. This conflict led to his removal as pastor. He spent some time as a missionary to native tribes in Stockholm, Massachusetts. It was during these later years that he wrote his defense of divine sovereignty entitled Freedom of the Will. His last days were spent at Princeton after being named the president of the college. Sadly, at the age of 55, Christianity Today notes that “Edwards died of the new smallpox vaccination” (Christianity Today, Jonathan Edwards). 

Conclusion

There is no way of knowing how much more Edwards might have accomplished had he lived for longer to fulfill his duties as the president of Princeton College. One thing is certain however. Edwards proved to be one of the most influential men of his time and was a driving force behind the Great Awakening, which was to set the stage spiritually for the American Revolution that was to follow in its wake. Without men like those we have been examining, we might never have seen the American Revolution come to fruition or, had we seen it at all, it would not have had the same nature, purpose, and character as it did when the tensions between Britain and the colonies finally boiled over. America owes much to these pastors, and as we shall see, there are several more men who were pastors and theologians who would be of even more direct impact on the Founding of the United States of America.

Application to the Reader

It is my hope that by this time, as we draw closer and closer to the time in American History when the United States would be born, that you are beginning to realize just how rich our spiritual history was and how indispensable it was to the rise of prosperity, freedom, and liberty that the colonies and later the United States enjoyed. We have taken for granted their part, forgotten it entirely in most cases, or directly derided them as useless to the Founding of America. Historians today erase them from our history books, pretend they played no part in our history, and brand even the most religious of those involved in our Founding as Deists at best. These outright assaults on the character of the men and women involved in America’s Founding fly in the face of every reliable primary source we have, of which we have a great many. 

My prayer and hope is that through my articles and the primary sources they provide, you will walk away with a richer understanding of our history, a better understanding of how faith played a critical role in shaping the thinking and form of our country in its founding and infancy, and a better appreciation for what that legacy has given us. If we forget these men and what they left for us, we will also lose the meaning of what has been so engrained into our country. Freedom can mean nothing to us if we do not understand the sacrifices made for it, the why behind it, and the value it holds, and as we look at what is happening in America today, it could not be clearer that we have no value for things which we have played no part in fighting to preserve or hold onto. If we do not want to be back in the same position our Founders were with our own government, if we do not want to discover the hard way what freedom means to us after it gone, then we must fight to keep the knowledge of the foundations that freedom rested on and stand up to preserve it while we still have it.

We all have a part we can play to preserve our history, our freedom, and our country. These articles are my way of choosing to get involved in the fight. Your sphere of influence may be small, but as Jonathan Edwards shows, even the smallest sphere of influence and the smallest choices can lead to nation-wide changes. You can be the one where the change begins.

Resources

Jonathan Edwards’ Writings from Post Reformation Digital Library

Jonathan Edwards’ Diary on ccel.org

Application Portion of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God from American YAWP

Jonathan Edwards: On The Great Awakening on nhinet.org

Jonathan Edwards by Christianity Today

A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God available on Amazon

Jonathan Edwards by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Jonathan Edwards Biography by Britannica

A Personal Narrative by Jonathan Edwards from APM