For those of you who don't know me,
I'm Michael Holloway.
For this quarter,
This book is often called simply,
Along the way,
I'm very excited about having the opportunity to lead this class.
There's much that he can teach us,
Before we talk about Edwards,
Because God did not see fit to give me
From time to time,
Of course,
I'll be asking you lots of questions,
Because my goal is to stimulate your thinking,
But I know that a lot of you like to have notes from the teacher.
So I've decided on a compromise of sorts:
My full notes will be available on the web
If you don't have access to the web,
I've also printed an outline of the plan for the quarter,
Does anyone have any questions so far?
For the rest of this morning,
Can someone tell me what
Edwards is probably most famous for today?
The sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". How many of you have read or heard that sermon?
Here is a brief excerpt from it: The bow of God's wrath is bent,
It is to be ascribed to nothing else,
That sermon is justly famous.
But if this sermon is all you know about Jonathan Edwards,
Let's look now at some basic facts about Edwards life.
He was born on October 5, 1703
Very little is known about his childhood.
From 1716 to 1720,
Now, if you took the time to subtract 1703 from 1716,
There has been a bit of a debate for some time
We don't have time to enter
Jonathan want on to study for an M.A. at Yale from 1720 to 22.
It was during this time,
After receiving his MA
It was during this time that
He continued writing in "The Mind" and "Miscellanies"
The "Resolutions" is a remarkable collection,
Here's how it begins: Being sensible that I am unable to do any thing without God's help,
There are 70 resolutions. Here are 4 of them: 5. Resolved, Never to lose one moment of time,
8. Resolved, To act, in all respects,
11. Resolved, When I think of any theorem in divinity to be solved,
15. Resolved, Never to suffer the least motions of anger
I especially like that last one,
There's little doubt that Edwards fulfilled many of these resolutions,
It is in "The Mind" that he wrote Does anyone know what that is?
Lightly edited for simplicity, it is: "Truth is the consistency and agreement
Some of you might recall
In 1724 Edwards begin a two-year tutorship at Yale College.
This association with Yale
In 1726 Edwards moved to Northhampton, Massachusetts,
About a year after moving to Northhampton,
In February of 1729,
During his time at Northhampton,
He also began writing and publishing.
Works written during that time included:
God Glorified in the Work of Redemption Has anyone read any of these writings?
In June 1750,
Does anyone know why he was dismissed?
It was over the issue of who should be admitted to the Lord's Table.
The practice in place when Edwards came to Northhampton
Edwards continued this practice for a while,
In 1751 he settled in Stockbridge, Massachusetts,
He stayed in Stockbridge until 1758.
During this time, he continued to write.
Freedom of the Will was written during this time,
Its full title is
Has anyone read this book?
Also written during the Stockbridge years,
John Piper has recently published
Has anyone read this book?
Also, during these years, Edward wrote and published
Has anyone read Original Sin?
In January 1758, Edward left Stockbridge
Anyone know what that institution now is called?
Princeton University
On March 22, he died of a smallpox inoculation,
In this goal,
In the chronology I just gave,
Of them,
None of these,
Religious Affections may be the most difficult of them all to read.
Of it has been said:
"The work on the
What does this mean?
The book is difficult to read,
Edwards is not always easy to read,
This opinion about Edwards insight and importance is not mine alone.
The famous politician Daniel Webster wrote:
About the same work, the London Quarterly Review wrote:
A former President of Princeton said that Edwards was
In Hollister's History of Connecticut,
And finally, here is a translation of the Latin words
"Would you know,
A man indeed,
in the acuteness of his intellect,
in his knowledge of sciences and the liberal arts remarkable,
Illustrious in his piety,
The bereaved college mourns for him,
Of course,
But, I think that by the time our 3 months are up,
I think that you'll see that not only does Edwards
Now, the main topic of our study
It is not strictly necessary
There are several different editions of it in print.
The best,
The Banner of Truth Trust published
You can get also get
I strongly encourage you to use one of these 3 editions:
Beware of other editions,
All such things that I've seen
There is no evidence that the people creating these editions
This reminds me of a fellow named Kenneth Davis
This book was not intended to be an autobiography,
The modern rewordings of
Next week,
In particular,
I will close this class,
This is number 139 and is titled Difficulties in Religion.
I am convinced
If you want to see one example of Jesus giving "this account of the matter", look at Matthew
13:10-13.
I'll be leading you in a study of
A Treatise Concerning The Religious Affections
by Jonathan Edwards.
and that's what I'll call it most of the time, too.
I'll also introduce you to excerpts
from some of Edwards' other writings,
especially the
Jonathan Edwards is one of my two big heroes.
I believe he is
the greatest non-inspired theologian and thinker
that has yet lived.
especially in
here's a little bit about how I'll conduct this class.
a particularly interesting or inspiring voice,
I'll do my best to stimulate discussion,
and give you all
plenty of opportunities to talk,
especially in future classes.
you may even have assignments to do during class,
or during the week.
I have no enforcement mechanism to ensure
you do these assignments,
so whether you do them is entirely up to you.
but whenever you have a question of your own,
please raise your hand,
or do whatever else is necessary,
and consistent with Christian ethics,
to get my attention.
and not to simply fill you with information,
I do not like giving out notes in advance.
I'll hand out a sheet of notes,
but these notes will be basically worthless.
a few days after each class at
<www.logicteacher.com/ra/>.
but you'd like copies of the notes,
please let me know,
and I'll make copies for you.
which has been passed out for you to have and read.
I'm not going to go over it though,
unless someone has some questions,
or we have some extra time at the end.
we're going to talk about Jonathan Edwards himself.
and the arrow made ready on the string,
and justice bends the arrow at your heart,
and strains the bow,
and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God,
and that of an angry God,
without any promise or obligation at all,
that keeps the arrow
one moment
from being made drunk with your blood. ...
that you did not go to hell the last night,
that you were suffered to awake again in this world,
after you closed your eyes to sleep.
And there is no other reason to be given,
why you have not dropped into hell
since you arose in the morning,
but that God's hand has held you up. ...
then your view of who he was
is grossly distorted,
as I'm sure you'll learn during our quarter together.
in East Windsor, Connecticut
he was an undergraduate student at Yale College,
although the college didn't officially have that name yet.
you might be thinking that he started college at a very young age.
But for the time,
he wasn't especially young.
about the degree of Edwards' early intellectual development.
into that debate this morning.
If you're interested in it,
come talk to me later.
in about 1721,
that Edwards was,
according to his own writings,
convinced of his salvation.
he was Minister to a Presbyterian church in New York City.
Mr Edwards began keeping notebooks
that became
"Resolutions",
"Diary",
"The Mind",
and "Miscellanies".
for the rest of his life.
as are the other writings, too.
If you've not read it, I strongly encourage you to do so.
I do humbly entreat him by his grace,
to enable me to keep these Resolutions,
so far as they are agreeable to his will,
for Christ's sake.
but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can.
both speaking and doing,
as if nobody had been so vile as I,
and as if I had committed the same sins,
or had the same infirmities or failings as others;
and that I will let the knowledge of their failings
promote nothing but shame in myself,
and prove only an occasion
of my confessing my own sins and misery to God.
immediately to do what I can towards solving it,
if circumstances do not hinder.
towards irrational beings.
although I suspect that I might be extending its application
beyond what Edwards intended.
The influence of number 11 especially
can be seen in the way in which he attempted to answer
nearly every difficult question in theology.
what I think is the best definition of truth ever written.
of our ideas with the ideas of God."
that Byron used it a sermon a while ago.
is why Yale University is the sponsor and publisher
of the Works of Jonathan Edwards series,
which began in 1957,
and continues today.
The 18
as colleague of his grandfather,
Solomon Stoddard,
at a congregationalist church there.
Edwards married Sarah Pierpont,
with whom he eventually had 11 children.
he became full pastor of Northhampton
after the death of Stoddard,
where he remained until 1750.
the Great Awakening took place,
and Edwards was a major participant in it.
A Divine and Supernatural Light
A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and
Distinguishing Marks of the Work of the Spirit of God
Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England
A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections
An Account of the Life of the Late Reverend Mr. David Brainerd
and
a council of churches voted to dismiss Edwards
as pastor of Northampton,
and he preached his Farewell Sermon on July 1.
was basically that anyone
who neither denied orthodox beliefs,
nor lived in gross sin,
was admitted.
but he eventually,
in 1748,
began to insist
that applicants give credible profession of regeneration.
as local pastor and missionary to Indians.
and published in 1754.
into The modern prevailing Notions
of that Freedom of Will,
Which is supposed to be essential
to Moral Agency, Virtue and Vice,
Reward and
Punishment, Praise and Blame
but not published until 1765 were
Concerning the End for Which God Created the World
and
a book called,
which includes the full text of
Concerning the End for Which God Created the World,
along with Piper's own commentary on the book,
and thoughts on the subject.
Original Sin,
whose full title is
The Great Christian Doctrine of Original Sin defended;
Evidences of its Truth produced,
and Arguments to the Contrary answered.
to assume office as president of the College of New Jersey
which he took with the goal
of encouraging others
that the inoculation was safe.
he undoubtably failed.
I mentioned several of Edwards' published works.
the 3 most widely known and praised are
Freedom of the Will,
Original Sin,
and Religious Affections.
nor nearly any of Edwards other writings,
are easy to read.
is one of the most valuable works
on practical and experimental piety
ever published.
It is more defective in point of style, ... ,
than any other pieces put forth by Edwards himself.
This renders its perusal tedious,
and has perhaps detracted from its value
by deterring many from its pages altogether.
To those,
however,
whose robustness of mind
or whose strength of piety,
is not to be repelled by such defects,
and who are never disgusted with truth,
even when she comes forth divested of all her ornaments,
there is no work of the same kind in the English language
which will better repay a careful perusal."
but if you're interested in truth,
you ought to read it,
because there's nothing else
that addresses the subject as well as it does.
not only in Religious Affections, but in other works, too.
But those who read him carefully
will find amazing insight and practical applications
such as, I believe, can be found in
no other non-inspired theologian in history.
Listen to some of the things that
have been written about him over the years:
"
is the greatest achievement of the human intellect."
"His gigantic specimen of theological argument
is as near to perfection as we may expect
any human composition to approach.
He unites the sharpness of the scimetar [sic]
and the strength of the battle-axe."
"The greatest thinker that America has produced."
the entry on Edwards includes this statement:
He was "The most gifted man of the eighteenth century,
perhaps the most profound thinker in the world."
on Edwards tombstone at Princeton:
oh Traveller,
what manner of person he was whose mortal part lies here?
in body tall yet graceful,
attenuated through aciduity and abstinence
and studies most intense;
his sagacious judgment
and his prudence
second to none among mortals;
in sacred criticism eminent,
and a theologian distinguished without equal;
an unconquered defender of the Christian Faith
and a preacher grave, solemn, discriminating;
and by the favor of God
most happy in the success
and issue of his life.
sedate in manners,
but toward others friendly and [kind],
he lived to be loved and venerated,
and now, alas!
to be lamented in his death.
and the church mourns,
but Heaven rejoices to receive him:
Go hence,
oh traveller,
and his pious footsteps follow."
just because these folks,
and many others,
say that Edwards was a great man,
and his writing especially valuable,
doesn't mean that he is,
or they are.
you'll come to agree
that studying Edwards works is very valuable.
give profound intellectual insight,
but that he is also deeply practical in his applications.
will be the book,
that you read it yourself,
but I do recommend that you do so.
but also by far the most expensive,
is the Yale University Press edition,
which is Volume 2 in
The Works of Jonathan Edwards series.
an inexpensive paperback edition,
which can be difficult to get from time to time.
a free electronic copy on the Internet
by visiting www.jonathanedwards.com
Yale,
Banner of Truth Trust,
Or the electronic copy at jonathanedwards.com.
especially modern ones
claiming to have updated Edwards language
and made the book easier to read and understand.
are horrendous mutilations of Edwards.
had any understanding of Edwards meaning.
who wrote a book
a couple of years ago
titled "Don't Know Much about the Bible".
but that's pretty much what it was.
show as little understanding of Edwards
as Davis showed of the Bible.
we'll begin discussing the content of
We'll look at Edwards Preface,
which explains why he wrote the book.
as I plan to close each class,
by reading,
without comment,
a brief excerpt from the Miscellanies.
that there are many things in religion and the Scriptures
that are made difficult on purpose
to try men,
and to exercise their faith and scrutiny,
and to hinder the proud and self-sufficient;
by many of Christ's speeches upon earth,
which gave great offense
and were very much of a stumbling block,
which yet he could easily have explained.
Yea, he himself gives this account of the matter.