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In this miscellany entry, Edwards’s intent is to show that “enthusiasm” has been around as long as the church. There was excitement, and response to the proclamation of the Gospel, and perhaps much concern for the things of religion, but ultimately much of this would not amount to anything. The seeming movement of God’s Spirit through these people would prove to be, in Edwards’s words, “pretended.” If first century Judea was not immune to such “enthusiasm” at the preaching of such a saint of God as John the Baptist, Edwards is implying, then certainly it should be expected that there will be some excesses and false affections drafting the genuine work of God’s Spirit in the colonial awakenings.

Therefore, “enthusiasm” is no reason to discredit the awakenings outright, as the Old Lights would prefer. Rather, it is necessary to seek ways in which to separate the wheat and the chaff. In other words, to find what are “distinguishing marks of a work of the Spirit of God,” or what are “signs of truly gracious and holy affections.”

1058. ENTHUSIASM.
John the Baptist was a person greatly moved by the Spirit. He preached to the people in a very earnest manner, warning of their danger, calling upon ‘em to fly from the wrath to come with great pathos, manifesting his great engagedness not only in words but deeds: his incessant labor and great self-denial and great boldness in his work, fearing none, reproving great and small, whereby the people, seeing and hearing, were mightily moved. Christ therefore says concerning him, Matthew 11:7 and Luke 7:24, “What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?” Which seems to imply that there is such a thing as men’s being mightily moved and actuated by something that is pretended to be the Spirit of God, but yet is vain and empty as the wind, exceeding unsteady, and soon comes to nothing, though violent; and that the persons that are the subjects of this emotion do show their great weakness in yielding to it, and being governed by [it]. Such there were, many of them, in the primitive ages of the Christian church. Christ denies John the Baptist to be such a one.

Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 20, The “Miscellanies:” 833-1152, ed. Amy Plantinga Pauw (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), 395.

This book is Edwards’s landmark work on the nature of true Christian experience and is a must-read for any who are interested in Christianity and the religious history of America. In addition to the text of Edwards’s treatise, this volume contains a wonderful introduction by the editor, John E. Smith, as well as several pieces of personal correspondence that shed further light on Edwards’s process in the composition of this great work.

Here is the publisher’s description of this volume and the official giveaway rules can be found after the description.

This volume contains Edwards’ most mature and persistent attempt to judge the validity of the religious development in eighteenth-century America known as the Great Awakening. In developing criteria for such judgment he attacked at the same time one of the fundamental questions facing all religion: how to distinguish genuine from spurious piety? The Awakening created much bitter controversy; on the one side stood the emotionalists and enthusiasts, and on the other the rationalists, for whom religion was essentially a matter of morality or good conduct and the acceptance of properly formulated doctrine. Edwards, with great analytical skill and enormous biblical learning, showed that both sides were in the wrong. He attacked both a “lifeless morality” as too pale as to be the essence of religion, and he rejected the excesses of a purely emotional religion more concerned for sensational effects than for the inner transformation of the self, which was, for him, the center of genuine Christianity.

Official Giveaway Rules:

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Volume 1: Freedom of the Will – This inaugural volume in The Works of Jonathan Edwards is his major contribution to theology and stands as a leading document on Calvinist thought. Mr. Ramsey’s introduction provides a fresh analysis of Edwards’ theological position, includes a study of his life and the intellectual issues in America during his time, and examines the problem of free will in the philosophical context of today and in connection with Leibniz, Locke, and Hume.

Volume 2: Religious Affections – This volume contains Edwards’ most mature and persistent attempt to judge the validity of the religious development in eighteenth-century America known as the Great Awakening. In developing criteria for such judgment he attacked at the same time one of the fundamental questions facing all religion: how to distinguish genuine from spurious piety? The Awakening created much bitter controversy; on the one side stood the emotionalists and enthusiasts, and on the other the rationalists, for whom religion was essentially a matter of morality or good conduct and the acceptance of properly formulated doctrine. Edwards, with great analytical skill and enormous biblical learning, showed that both sides were in the wrong. He attacked both a “lifeless morality” as too pale as to be the essence of religion, and he rejected the excesses of a purely emotional religion more concerned for sensational effects than for the inner transformation of the self, which was, for him, the center of genuine Christianity.

Volume 4: The Great Awakening – Interpreting the Great Awakening of the eighteenth century was in large part the work of Jonathan Edwards; whose writings on the subject defined the revival tradition in America. Moving from sensitive descriptions of “the Surprising work of God” in conversion to a consuming quest for the essence of true religion, and threading his way through mounting controversies over “errors in doctrine and disorders in practice,” Edwards sought to locate an authentic core of evangelical experience, to define it in terms of biblical faith and psychological insight, and to defend it against both overheated zealous and rationalistic critics. The tracts that unfold his thoughts, presented here (with related correspondence ) for the first time in accurate critical texts, document a movement so significant for the American character that it has been called “our national conversion.”

Hopefully Yale Press will publish the other volumes in paper as well, but this is a good start!

Of course, Jonathan Edwards was greatly in tune with this emphasis on the new birth, especially seen in his sermon “A Divine and Supernatural Light,” which points to “a new sense of divine things” that comes about through the illuminating work of God’s Spirit upon the soul of an individual. This “new sense” awakens the soul to see things as they really are, namely the majesty and glory of God, the beauty of Christ and his work, and the truth of Scripture and teachings of the Christian religion. Edwards was also no stranger to awakenings, having gone through several “stirrings” and times of “harvest” both in his father’s church in East Windsor and his grandfather’s church in Northampton. Edwards himself pastored through a brief awakening in 1734-35 in Northampton, half a decade before nearly all of the English colonies were caught up in religious fervor.

After 1735, however, many of Edwards’s parishioners went through periods of backsliding, an evident sign to Edwards that the Holy Spirit was drawing back his influence on the congregation. This prompted Edwards to embark on several sermon campaigns, including the “Charity and its Fruits” sermons, a series on the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, and the sermon series on a “History of the Work of Redemption.” These work little effect among the town and Edwards begins to examine more closely the nature of Christian obedience and behavior, realizing that he may have overemphasized the “divine light” aspect of conversion, not giving sufficient attention to the “divine living” aspect of the Christian life and sanctification. Edwards’s treatise on Religious Affections, published in 1746, a few years after the awakenings of 1740-42, displays a much more balanced approach as he meticulously works these ideas out.

The entire game would change, however, with the arrival of a young, charismatic preacher named George Whitefield. Experiencing some success as a preacher in England, Whitefield comes over to the colonies and sets society on fire by sparking a wide series of awakenings throughout the colonies, resulting in the period known as the Great Awakening. Not everyone was caught up in this movement, however, with many clergy denouncing charismatic excesses and a perceived tendency toward antinomianism that seemed to follow the awakenings as they swept through the land. This sparked controversies between Old Lights, those critical of the awakenings, and New Lights, awakening supporters, causing further upheaval.

Edwards attempted to plow a middle road, championing the revivals as a true work of the Spirit of God, but also warning against the few excesses that were reported and observed. He criticizes New Lights for being un-Christian and un-Scriptural at times, and Old Lights for a stale theology and tradition-driven (as opposed to Scripture-driven) critiques of new approaches to preaching, evangelism, and ministry in general. Though Whitefield would be the most successful awakening preacher of the era, Edwards would also find success, largely away from his congregation at Northampton, this being the period where he (in)famously preached “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” at Enfield, Connecticut.

Much more could be said about the Great Awakening, and especially Edwards’s awakening writings (Religious Affections sparked a fascinating and wonderful discussion in the class), but that was the gist of what we discussed in class today.

After formal class and discussion time, we were surprised with another guest lecture, this time by Dr. Walter Kimnach. Dr. Kimnach served as the general editor for the six sermon volumes in the Yale Works of Jonathan Edwards project, personally editing volumes 10 and 25 himself (just as a sidenote, anyone interested in Edwards’s sermons and preaching should absolutely read Dr. Kimnach’s introduction to volume 10). Dr. Kimnach, naturally, spoke to us about Edwards’s methods as a preacher, particularly in how he structured his sermons, beginning formally with Scripture, then moving to an explanation of the doctrine in view, and concluding with a lengthy application section.

With that, the third day of instruction ended, but there was much more to come. Up next: a trip to the Beinecke Library, home to the largest Jonathan Edwards manuscript collection. A geek’s dream come true!

When I was trying to come up with a title for the site, I wanted something that best captured the whole of Jonathan Edwards’s life and ministry. Unfortunately, when most people today think of Edwards they would probably say that, according to the stated criteria, I should have named the site “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” One of the greatest tragedies in the American educational system today is the treatment of Edwards in high school English and college introductory literature courses. Typically, all students know of Edwards from these courses is Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God presented as the archetypal milieu of 18th century New England. Even worse, as was the case in a friend’s experience, some classes do not even read Sinners in its entirety, instead reading only the infamous spider passage. The result is scores of students having an incredibly skewed view of Edwards and his theology, colonial American society, and colonial American literature.

A better choice than Sinners, perhaps, is A Divine and Supernatural Light which you can read in its entirety here. This sermon is a wonderful example of the theological themes and trends that characterized the first half of the 18th century in colonial New England, a society so enraptured in the ebbs and flows of evangelical awakenings. Famous in its own right, though not to the degree of Sinners, this sermon speaks about the beauty and sweetness of God in who he is and how he saves humans from his wrath. The “divine light” that Edwards speaks of is “immediately imparted to the soul by God,” and consists in “a true sense of the divine excellency of the things revealed in the Word of God, and a conviction of the truth and reality of them, thence arising.”

This “new sense of divine things,” as Edwards describes it elsewhere, is of utmost importance in his overall theological system. Just as one cannot fully know or comprehend the sweetness of honey without tasting it, neither could one fully know or understand the beauty, loveliness, holiness, majesty, etc. of God without the awakening of the soul that comes through the Holy Spirit’s imparting the divine and supernatural light to that soul. One could certainly have some sort of knowledge of God without this light, what Edwards called “speculative knowledge,” but that knowledge would be insufficient for producing the sort of saving relationship that Edwards so desired all to possess.

The ideas found in this sermon would continue to be expounded upon and used by Edwards throughout his life, finding their fullest treatment in Edwards’s magisterial A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections. Much more than Sinners, A Divine and Supernatural Light offers a glimpse into the truly pastoral and aesthetic side of Edwards’s thought and writings, the meticulous nature that characterized many of his greatest arguments, and a broader sense of what was going on and being discussed culturally at the time of its preaching and publication. If only high schools and introductory college courses would teach this sermon, rather than a horribly imbalanced version of Sinners!

489. FAITH OR SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE.

Preamble to the Discourse on Faith, or Spiritual Knowledge. There are these two ways, in which the mind may be said to be sensible that anything is good or excellent: (1) When the mind judges that anything is good or excellent, as by the agreement of mankind is called good or excellent, viz. that which is most to general advantage, and that between which and reward there is a suitableness, or that which is agreeable to the law of the country or law of God. ‘Tis a being merely convinced in judgment that a thing is, according to the meaning of the word, “good,” as the word is generally applied. (2) The mind is sensible of good in another sense, when it is so sensible of the beauty and amiableness of the thing, that ’tis sensible of pleasure and delight in the presence of the idea of it. This kind of sensibleness of good carries in it an act of the will, or inclination, or spirit of the mind, as well as the understanding.

Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 13, The “Miscellanies:” Entry Nos. a–z, aa–zz, 1–500, ed. Thomas A. Schafer (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), 533.