Jonathan Edwards Essay Research Paper Jonathan EdwardsLearning

Jonathan Edwards Essay, Research Paper

Jonathan Edwards

Learning as a child is like writing in stone. Learning when you are

old is as if you were writing in sand. A fitting quote for Jonathan

Edwards, a man who helped define the New World through theology and

philosophy when the struggling New England colonies were still in their

infancy. Through his strong vision he believed the people could not return

to the past nor be satisfied with the present and for this he is a prime

example of a Calvinist and will be remembered among all who study this

early culture as a devoted preacher, an acute philosophical thinker, and a

shepherd of souls.

Jonathan Edwards was born on October fifth 1703 in the city of East

Windsor Connecticut and was the only son among ten daughters.

Edward s father was Timothy Edwards, who was a respectable pastor.

Edwards’ mother was Esther Stoddard. She can be considered more

famous than her husband because she was the daughter of Reverend

Solomon, a Puritan if there ever was one. He was the spiritual leader of

the town of Northampton, Massachusetts for 57 years. Reverend

Stoddard gained fame for winning a debate against Increase Mather on the

validity of the Half-way convenant. The Half-way covenant allowed

non-converters to be baptized, but they could not receive communion.

Two years before Stoddard s death, his grandson Jonathan Edwards rose

from assistant pastor to pastor. Jonathan Edwards spent a lot of his time

fighting against his grandfather s progress, saying he would admit to his

sacrament only those who gave satisfactory evidence of being truly

converted, siding with Mather on the matter. He was dismissed for this

reason in 1750, having alienated his entire congregation.

However Jonathan Edwards did learn much from his grandfather

and father about the importance of studying hard. As soon as he could

hold a pen he was learning to write. His father taught him several

languages such as Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. At the age of six he could

conjugate Latin verbs. At the age of six I learned how to spell my last

name, but up until then I swear we were running neck and neck. His early

mastery of these languages would later help him be an expert Bible scholar

and a powerful Bible messenger. If he lived today he would have spent

most of his time dodging spitwads and generally being mad fun of, as he

would often spend 14 hours a day studying. Starting at the age of twelve,

Jonathan Edwards became an acute observer of nature and wrote for a

naturalist in England an account of his observations on spiders, but

Edwards also loved to study about other insects. He watched insects

closely, especially ants, citing God’s word in Proverbs 6:6, which says, “Go

to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!” and Proverbs

30:25, “Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in

the summer.” — saying we should admire the great diligence of the ants.

Edwards was interested in science and living creatures because he felt that

it helped him to understand the mind of the God who made all things with

purpose.

At the age of 13, Jonathan Edwards entered Yale College. It was

there that Edwards studied theology. In 1720 at age 17 Edwards

graduated from Yale, first in his class. Early in his pastoral career,

Edwards struggled with the meaning of true revival and wondered what

he could do to get his congregation to experience revival. His generation

was the second generation of the Puritans and Edwards saw a decline in

the spiritual zeal needed to continue the spread of the kingdom of God.

Edwards became focused on revival stating that they were at war

with a devil that was constantly trying to corrupt their new land. This is

why God’s church can never be satisfied or content. It must always make

every effort to enter through that narrow door of salvation. So Edwards

began a series of sermons with more prayer, in order to wake up the sleepy

congregation that had become too involved with their own business and

everyday life and not with Christ and his kingdom. In 1731, he preached a

message called, “God glorified in man’s dependence.” In it, he attacks the

liberal argument that sin was merely a condition of ignorance. He

believed that human sin was an inherent enmity against God and that

salvation meant a change of heart.

This challenged complacent believers (the modern day equivalent of

Easter and Christmas Christians) to earnestly, sincerely and thoroughly

search their hearts of sins and beg for forgiveness. He believed such

earnest soul searching by individuals was a step toward salvation. In 1733

he preached a message called “A Divine and Supernatural Light.” He

stressed that real Christianity requires encounters with the truth, but that

the truth must be illuminated by t

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