In the 16th Century, England experienced some theological reforms. They switched from Catholicism to Anglicanism. This movement won the hearts of many, but not all. There was a group of people intermingled in this reformation called the Puritans. The Puritans did not necessarily oppose these reforms, but they wanted to take these reforms further than the Anglican Church had taken them. The Puritans believed that the Anglican Church was still too much like the Catholic Church and had not been reformed nearly enough (from a personal opinion, I have to agree with them). The Puritans were considered “Calvinists”, meaning they held to the teachings of John Calvin, a 16th Century theologian. Ultimately, the goal of the Puritans was to integrate their Calvinist theology into the Anglican Church, and become more “reformed”.
Sadly, the Anglican Church never subscribed to Calvinism, and the Puritans were actually forced to either conform to the teachings of Anglicanism or be imprisoned. This was all mandated under “The Acts of Supremacy and Conformity”, created by the English Parliament. After this was established, the Puritans fled England and came to America, where they could exercise religious freedom.
The Puritans developed their own colonies, once they were in America. Because of the immense focus and emphasis on the Bible and their personal relationships with the God of the Bible, these colonies were theocratic. The Puritans were very dedicated to right living, modest behavior, and sound theology. The Puritans had many great historical figures amongst them, and they have actually gone down in history for that, however, one of the most famous names to ever come out of the Puritans was a man named Jonathan Edwards.
Jonathan Edwards was a Puritan preacher, and also one of America’s most influential and all around greatest theologians. Edwards was a strong advocate of Reformed theology and/or Calvinism. In his writings and sermons, he focused on God’s absolute sovereignty and had strong Christocentric themes. He was a devout man, very much committed to living a life of purity and honor.
Jonathan Edwards played a very critical and important role in the First Great Awakening, one of the greatest revivals in Church history. He preached countless sermons during this great revival and is still remembered for some of those sermons. Edwards is most noted for his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, a literary work that is still read in schools today.
Edwards was also a prolific writer and the president of The College of New Jersey (Princeton University). Edwards, was one of the greatest figures of American history. Edwards was known and loved for so many different reasons and occupations. However, Jonathan Edwards was an amazing preacher, an incredible theologian, and an exceptional writer.
On October 5th, in the year 1703, Timothy Edwards and his wife Esther had their fifth child. A boy, named Jonathan. Jonathan, the only boy in the family, had ten sisters. All throughout his years as an adolescent, his father and some of his older sisters trained him for college. In 1716, he enrolled into Yale College at the age of 13. Edwards was profoundly interested in philosophy and science. He kept journals and notebooks focusing on “The Mind”, “Natural Science”, “The Scriptures”, and some containing miscellanies studies. He was very much interested in science and actually was drawn to theism by his studies of science. What is interesting is that most students of science tend to lean toward deism or evolutionism because of scientific conclusions; ironically, Edwards went the other way with his views of God through science. He claimed to see God’s wonderful, sovereign design in the natural world, and actually was so impressed with nature that throughout his life, his favorite place to pray was the woods because of its natural beauty.
Edwards, at the age of 17 years old, graduated from Yale College in 1720 as valedictorian and top of his class. After his years at Yale, he decided to pursue the ministry and chose to study theology for the next two years. Even though he was so fascinated by science all throughout school, he felt called by God to preach, study, and write about the Word of God.
From 1720 to 1726, Edwards recorded in his diary that he spent a large portion of his time wrestling with some theological reflections and did some self-searching. A specific example of a doctrine he wrestled with was that of Election, the belief that God chooses some for salvation and lets the others remain in their sin resulting in eternal damnation. Edwards writes, he saw this doctrine as “horrible” but then after stressing over this and wrestling with himself, he came to quite the opposite conclusion. Edwards eventually considered the doctrine of Election to be “exceedingly pleasant, bright and sweet.” He suddenly had an immense, new joy in the wonderful beauty of nature, and was delighted in the allegorical interpretation of the Song of Solomon.
On the 15th day in the month of February, Jonathan Edwards was ordained as a minister of the Lord in Northampton. He was the assistant to his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. Edwards served as a scholar-pastor, meaning he spent 13 hours of his day studying and learning, as opposed to ministering to the congregation. Edwards was an exceptional scholar and worked very hard as a pastor.
In the same year, Edwards met the girl he would eventually marry. Her name was Sarah Pierpont. Sarah was only 17 years old and the daughter of James Pierpont, one of the founders of Yale College. Jonathan and Sarah both had an undying love for their God, and their union only brought out the best of both of them. Sarah had rigid spiritual devotion, a quality that strongly inspired Edwards. She truly proved to be a wonderful woman, a wonderful mother to her 11 children, and a wonderful wife to Jonathan.
Sadly, Jonathan’s grandfather died on February 11th, leaving the difficult task of ministering to the church up to young Jonathan. This marks the beginning of Edwards’ career as an amazing preacher, an incredible theologian, and an exceptional writer.
Jonathan Edwards proved himself to be an amazing preacher when he was asked to preach in the town of Enfield, Connecticut. He preached his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in July of 1741, and sparked what will always be remembered as the First Great Awakening, arguably the most intense and mind-boggling outpourings of the Spirit of God in American history. This day that Edwards preached in Connecticut was the height of the Great Awakening, due to the power of God through the sermons Edwards preached. Ironically, Edwards had already preached the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” once before to his own congregation, however, he felt led by God to use it again in Enfield.
What has always amazed historians and students of Church history is that Edwards’ preaching techniques were actually rather unimpressive and what some would even call boring. Edwards would read his sermons in a very flat or even voice, but would do so with great conviction. However, no matter how monotone his preaching style was, or unimpressive his methods were, Edwards always seemed to convict his listeners and be used by God to draw them to salvation. Truthfully, Edwards’ self-stated goal in his preaching was to impress upon the listeners the power of God’s truth and their desperate need for a savior, found in the person of Jesus Christ.
It was no mistake that Jonathan Edwards wasn't just marked in history as a theologian, for Edwards was arguably one of the greatest theologians in American history, as well as Church history. Edwards always included such deep and thought-provoking theological reflections in every sermon he preached and every books he wrote. Eventually, years later, when Edwards moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, he was able to minister to a smaller congregation and also serve as a missionary to a tribe of Indians. It was in this stage of his life that Edwards found time to really focus on his studies of theology and God’s Word, and also to write.
Edwards’ theological persuasiveness in what he wrote and preached, is still remembered and studied to this very day, as well as aiding pastors, teachers, writers, students of theology, and many more. Edwards impacted his culture for the glory of God, and by God’s grace is still impacting people even long after his death.
Finally, Edwards was an exceptional writer. All of his books and/or writings, due to his insatiable love for God and His doctrine, are so wonderfully full of biblical, theological, and Christ-centered themes. He has written an abundance of titles such as, “A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God”, “Charity and its Fruits”, “Concerning the End for Which God Created the World”, “Original Sin”, ‘The Nature of True Virtue”, “A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections”, and so many more. However, one of Edwards’ most celebrated books was “The Freedom of the Will”, published in 1754. Edwards wrote it after he moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he had more time to study and to write.
In his book, “The Freedom of the Will”, Edwards thoroughly investigated the immensely contrasting Calvinist and Arminian views of free will and God’s sovereignty, foreknowledge and determinism, and moral agency. Edwards, as the scholarly man he was, attempted to resolve these topics relying on a large variety of resources such as the Bible and many philosophical works by various enlightenment thinkers. Edwards wrote this book as a very challenging piece of literature due to his insatiable passion and strong emphasis on philosophical reasoning, however striving to properly educate his readers by constantly defining the confusing and intense terms he uses to explain such controversial passages of Scripture in clear and understandable depth. Edwards wrote this book for every Christian who has ever found themselves pondering questions about good and evil, as well as desire and choice.
This book is one of Edwards’ most celebrated works because it so eloquently explains some of the hardest doctrines to comprehend and at the same time provokes some serious adoration to God’s glorious sovereignty in salvation, and also causes its readers to finish the book with a vast, new understanding of God’s Word and decrees. Thanks to this book and many others, Edwards is remembered as not only an amazing preacher or an incredible theologian, but also an exceptional writer.
Sadly, on March 22nd, 1758, Jonathan Edwards died of a fever, shortly after he had been established as president of the College of New Jersey. Although, Edwards’ died, his legacy still lives on, through his sermons, books, and various writings in his journal. All of his wonderful characteristics such as humility, devotion to God’s Word, gentleness, and wise leadership, are summed up and have been captured, leaving behind irrefutable evidence of the great man he truly was. Jonathan Edwards will always be remembered as an amazing preacher, an incredible theologian, and an exceptional writer.
