Part 12 (1/2)

78. =Sinners in the Hands of an Angry G.o.d.= The full t.i.tle-page of this, Edwards's most famous sermon, read in the original edition as follows: ”Sinners in the Hands of an Angry G.o.d. A sermon Preached at Enfield, July 8th 1741. At a time of great Awakenings; and attended with remarkable Impressions on many of the Hearers. By Jonathan Edwards A.M. Pastor of the Church of Christ in Northampton. Amos ix. 2, 3.--Though they dig into h.e.l.l, thence shall mine Hand take them; though they climb up to Heaven, thence will I bring them down. And though they hide themselves in the Top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my Sight in the Bottom of the Sea, thence will I command the Serpent, and he shall bite them. Boston: Printed and Sold by S. Kneeland and T.

Green in Queen Street over against the Prison, 1741.”

Benjamin Trumbull in his _History of Connecticut_ (New Haven, 1818), Vol.

II, p. 145, records the circ.u.mstances under which this sermon was delivered as told to him by Mr. Wheelock, a minister from Connecticut (Enfield, Conn., was at that time included in Hamps.h.i.+re County, Ma.s.s.), who heard it. ”While the people in neighboring towns,” writes Trumbull, ”were in great distress for their souls, the inhabitants of that town were very secure, loose, and vain. A lecture had been appointed at Enfield, and the neighboring people, the night before, were so affected at the thoughtlessness of the inhabitants, and in such fear that G.o.d would, in his righteous judgment, pa.s.s them by, while the divine showers were falling all around them, as to be prostrate before him a considerable part of it, supplicating mercy for their souls. When the time appointed for the lecture came, a number of the neighboring ministers attended, and some from a distance. When they went into the meeting-house, the appearance of the a.s.sembly was thoughtless and vain. The people hardly conducted themselves with common decency. The Rev. Mr. Edwards, of Northampton, preached, and before the sermon was ended, the a.s.sembly appeared deeply impressed and bowed down, with an awful conviction of their sin and danger. There was such a breathing of distress and weeping, that the preacher was obliged to speak to the people and desire silence, that he might be heard. This was the beginning of the same great and prevailing concern in that place, with which the colony in general was visited.” The circ.u.mstances, thus, under which this sermon was preached were exceptional; the excitement of the Great Awakening was at its height; the congregation to whom the sermon was addressed were notorious for their apathy; Edwards doubtless felt that an exceptionally strong presentation of their danger was necessary to arouse them. And this sermon is probably the most tremendous of its kind ever delivered by a Christian minister.

The kind, however, was by no means exceptional in Edwards's preaching, particularly at this period. Believing as he did that the decisions of men in this life were fraught with the most momentous issues to all eternity, he held it his bounden duty to present these issues before them in the liveliest manner possible.[16] The Justice of G.o.d in the d.a.m.nation of Sinners; The Future Punishment of the Wicked Unavoidable and Intolerable; The Eternity of h.e.l.l Torments; When the Wicked shall have filled up the Measure of their Sin, Wrath will come upon them to the Uttermost; The End of the Wicked contemplated by the Righteous; or, The Torments of the Wicked in h.e.l.l, no occasion of grief to the Saints in Heaven; Wicked Men useful in their Destruction only,--these are among the t.i.tles of his sermons. Moreover, there is reason to believe that this very sermon, or its like, was used on other occasions besides the one to which it is explicitly ascribed. There is a tradition[17] that Edwards preached it once when Whitfield had disappointed an audience by not appearing, and that he produced a great effect by it. The ma.n.u.script is dated _June_, 1741, which suggests that it may have been preached in Northampton, or elsewhere, the month before it was attended with such remarkable impressions on the hearers in Enfield. But still more significant is the existence of an undated second sermon from the same text. In this, which was undoubtedly of earlier origin, the thought is somewhat differently worked out: it is less lurid, less fully elaborated, less terrific; but it contains many of the ideas, for example, on the uncertainty of life, the suddenness with which destruction may overtake the sinner, etc., that are found in the Enfield sermon. Edwards was evidently fascinated by the theme; he works it out with the sure touch of a great artist, with the intellectual force of the skilled dialectician. And he proclaims his message with the intensity of conviction of an Old Testament prophet. No wonder his hearers were moved. The effect would certainly have been less great had there been any note or personal vindictiveness in the preaching.

But there is nothing of this; it is not in this sense that the sermon can be called ”imprecatory.” On the contrary, so far as Edwards's personal att.i.tude is concerned, it is not difficult to detect in it the pathos and the pity of the gentlest of men weeping over the senseless folly of those who, blind to impending destruction, refuse repeated invitations of safety (cf. Matt. xxiii. 37). For the rest, he is quite impersonal, detached; the truth he preaches is sure, awful, but objective. On the modern reader the sermon is likely to produce a very painful impression, unless he, for his part, reads it in the same impersonal, detached way. It is not only the realism of the presentation, but the harshness of the doctrine, which offends. Edwards, for instance, frequently speaks of the reason why sinners are not immediately cast into h.e.l.l; but the reason a.s.signed is not the mercy or goodness or love of G.o.d, but His mere power and sovereign pleasure. This is one aspect of the truth of the spiritual universe as Edwards sees it. He is not a sentimentalist; he proclaims the truth as he finds it. As far as Edwards himself is concerned, there is nothing in the whole sermon, or in any of his ”imprecatory” sermons, so called, half as revolting as Dante's att.i.tude towards sinners in h.e.l.l. Take, for instance, the case of Filippo Argenti in the Lake of Mud (_Inferno_, Canto viii.): ”'Master, I should much like to see him ducked in this broth before we depart from the lake.' And he to me, 'Ere the sh.o.r.e allows thee to see it thou shalt be satisfied; it will be fitting that thou enjoy such a desire.' After this a little I saw such rending of him by the muddy folk that I still praise G.o.d therefor, and thank Him for it. All cried, 'At Filippo Argenti!' and the raging Florentine spirit turned upon himself with his teeth.”

89. =The G.o.d that holds you ... drop down into h.e.l.l.= This is probably the best remembered paragraph in this all too well remembered sermon.

Comparison with the original ma.n.u.script shows some interesting variants from the printed text, and at the same time gives evidence of the deliberateness with which the sentences were wrought out with reference to their calculated effect. For both reasons the pa.s.sage is here reproduced as written.

”You are over the pit of h.e.l.l in G.o.ds hand very much as one holds a spider or some loathsome Insect over the fire & 'tis nothing but for G.o.d to let you go & you fall in.” (Here follow four undecipherable lines, which apparently, however, do not belong in this connection. The pa.s.sage then continues on the next page of the Ms.) ”& this G. that thus holds you in his hand is very angry with you & dreadfully provoked. ____ his wrath burns like fire. ____ you are lothsome and hatefull in his eyes & and worthy to be burnt--he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire you are ten thous. times more loathsome in his eyes than the most noisome insect in the eyes of us men ____ & you have offended him a thous. times so much as ever an obstinate rebel did his prince. ____ & yet you are in his hands & tis nothing at all but his mere pleasure that he keeps you from falling into h.e.l.l every moment ____ there is no other reason to be given why you did not go to h.e.l.l last night why you did not wake up in h.e.l.l after you had closed your eyes to sleep & there is no other reason to be given why you have [not] drop'd since you rose in the morning ____ yea since you sit on here in the house of G.

Provoking his pure Eyes by your sinfull wicked manner of attending his Holy wors.h.i.+p ____ Yea there is nothing else to be given as the Reason why you don't this very moment drop down into h.e.l.l.”

Between the sentences here separated by longer s.p.a.ces, lines curving from the lower part of the preceding to the upper part of the following are drawn, indicating possibly rhetorical pauses in the delivery and suggesting to the modern reader a succession of waves, wave on wave of horror, each more overwhelming than the one that went before.

The above pa.s.sage is contained in the ma.n.u.script under division I. of the ”Application,” division II. beginning, ”And consider here more particularly” (p. 89). The four divisions thereafter following correspond roughly to those in the printed edition, but are mere headings, and differ from the six divisions first sketched. Inserted in the ma.n.u.script is a loose sheet containing in Edwards's handwriting a careful outline of the whole sermon, such as he might have made when preparing the sermon for the press or used as notes for preaching. The ma.n.u.script of the entire sermon is short, but twenty-two pages of writing and one blank leaf.

A STRONG ROD BROKEN

98. =G.o.d's Awful Judgment.= The ma.n.u.script of this sermon is dated, ”On occasion of the death of Col. Stoddard June 1748.” It consists of fifty-two pages of the usual size of Edwards's ma.n.u.script sermons, but with the unusual feature of being written in double columns. The paper used was partly that of letters addressed to Edwards, the writing being in places across the address, and the stamp marks being removed; partly--about twenty pages--pieces of fine, soft paper, deep cut around the upper edges, believed to be sc.r.a.ps of the paper used by Mrs. Edwards and her daughters in making fans. The sermon is evidently written at high pressure, with few corrections and fairly fully. The t.i.tle-page of the first edition reads as follows: ”A Strong Rod broken and withered. A Sermon Preached in Northampton, in the Lord's Day, June 26. 1748 On the Death of The Honourable John Stoddard, Esq. Often a Member of his Majesty's Council, For many Years Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Hamps.h.i.+re, Judge of the Probate of Wills, and Chief Colonel of the Regiment, &c. Who died in Boston June 19. 1748. in the 67th Year of his Age. By Jonathan Edwards A.M. Pastor of the first Church in Northampton. Dan. iv. 35--He doth according to his Will in the Army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the Earth; and none can stay his Hand, or say unto Him, What dost thou? Boston Printed by Rogers and Fowle for J. Edwards in Cornhill 1748.”

Colonel Stoddard was the eighth child and fourth son of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, and therefore Edwards's uncle on his mother's side. He was a man of great prominence in all the leading affairs of the town, the county, and the colony. ”His life,” says Trumbull (_History of Northampton_, Vol.

II, p. 172), ”was the connecting link between the two series of great leaders who controlled the affairs of Western Ma.s.sachusetts for nearly a century and three-quarters. His predecessors were John Pynchon of Springfield and Samuel Partridge of Hatfield; following him came Joseph Hawley and Caleb Strong of Northampton, and these five men were the leaders in the Colony, the Province and the State.” He was a stalwart upholder of royalty and the royal prerogative, and for this reason had many opponents; but the general esteem in which he was held is evidenced by his many offices and by the fact that he was seventeen times reelected the representative of the county to the General Court. He was a valued friend of Governor s.h.i.+rley, in connection with whom there is a characteristic story of him. It is that he once called and asked to see the Governor when the latter had a party dining with him, but declined the servant's invitation to come in. The company were surprised and shocked at what they regarded as an act of discourtesy to the chief magistrate. ”What is the gentleman's name?” asked the Governor. ”I think,” replied the servant, ”he told me his name was Stoddard.” ”Is it?” said the Governor.

”Excuse me, gentlemen, if it is Col. Stoddard, I must go to him.” (From _Dwight's Travels_, Vol. I, p. 332, quoted by Trumbull, _op. cit._ p.

173.) His death removed one of Edwards's strongest supporters and probably contributed to the tragic issue of the great controversy in which the preacher was now engaged. In this connection it is interesting to find that Colonel Stoddard in 1736 helped to lay out the towns.h.i.+p of Stockbridge and that he had much to do toward establis.h.i.+ng the mission to the Indians there, to the conduct of which Edwards was called after his dismissal from Northampton. Edwards's sermon is an eulogy, but there is every reason to suppose that it gives on the whole a just impression of Stoddard's character, services, and attainments. On him, see further Trumbull, _op. cit._ Vol. II, Chap. xiii.

116. =Present war.= King George's French and Indian War (1744-1748-9).

Colonel Stoddard, as commander of the Hamps.h.i.+re forces, directed the military operations in that part of the country until his death. Major Israel Williams of Hatfield, who later succeeded to the command, writing under date of June 25, 1748, to Secretary Willard, says: ”We are now like sheep without a shepherd.... G.o.d has been pleased to take him (who was in a great measure our wisdom and strength and glory) from us at a time when we could least spare him.” (Trumbull, _op. cit._ Vol. II, p. 158.)

FAREWELL SERMON

118. =A Farewell Sermon.= ”A Farewel-Sermon Preached at the first Precinct in Northampton, After the People's publick Rejection of their Minister, and renouncing their Relation to Him as Pastor of the Church there, On June 22. 1750 Occasion'd by Difference of Sentiments, concerning the requisite Qualifications of Members of the Church, in compleat Standing.

By Jonathan Edwards, A.M. Acts xx. 18. Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what Manner I have been with you, at all Seasons.

ver. 20. And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publickly, and from House to House.

ver. 26, 27. Wherefore I take you to Record this Day, that I am pure from the Blood of all Men: For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the Counsel of G.o.d. Gal. iv. 15, 16. Where is then the Blessedness ye spake of? For I bear you Record, that if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own Eyes, and have given them to me. Am I then become your Enemy, because I tell you the Truth? Boston Printed and sold by S.

Kneeland over against the Prison in Queen-Street. 1751.”--t.i.tle-page of the first edition.

The preface to this sermon is a doc.u.ment so important for the understanding of it, that it is here, as is usual also in other editions, printed in full.

_Preface._ It is not unlikely, that some of the readers of the following sermon may be inquisitive concerning the circ.u.mstances of the difference between me and the people of Northampton, that issued in that separation between me and them, which occasioned the preaching of this farewell sermon. There is, by no means, room here for a full account of that matter: but yet it seems to be proper, and even necessary, here to correct some gross misrepresentations, which have been abundantly, and ('tis to be feared) by some affectedly and industriously made, of that difference: such as, that I insisted on persons being a.s.sured of their being in a state of salvation, in order to my admitting them into the church; that I required a particular relation of the method and order of a person's inward experience, and of the time and manner of his conversion, as the test of his fitness for Christian communion; yea, that I have undertaken to set up a pure church, and to make an exact and certain distinction between saints and hypocrites, by a pretended infallible discerning [of]

the state of men's souls; that in these things I had fallen in with those wild people, who have lately appeared in New England, called Separatists; and that I myself was become a grand Separatist; and that I arrogated all the power of judging of the qualifications of candidates for communion wholly to myself, and insisted on acting by my sole authority, in the admission of members into the church, &c.

In opposition to these slanderous representations, I shall at present only give my reader an account of some things which I laid before the council, that separated between me and my people, in order to their having a just and full view of my principles relating to the affair in controversy.