New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1904 All rights reserved Copyright , 1904, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1904. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A....

Jonathan Edwards was born October 5, 1703, in what is now South Windsor, Conn., a part of the parish then known as “Windsor Farmes.” His father, the Rev. Timothy Edwards, the minister of the parish, a Harvard graduate, was reputed a man of superior ability and polished manners, a lover of learning as well as of religion; in addition to his pastoral duties, he fitted young men for college, and his liberal views of education appear in the fact that he made his daughters pursue the same studies the

1 Cor. i. 29-31.—That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Those Christians to whom the apostle directed this epistle dwelt in a part of the world where human wisdom was in great repute; as the apostle observes in the 22d verse of this chapter, “The Greeks seek after wisdom.” Corinth was not fa

Matt. xvi.—And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Christ says these words to Peter upon occasion of his professing his faith in him as the Son of God. Our Lord was inquiring of his disciples, who men said he was; not that he needed to be informed, but only to introduce and give occasion to what follows. They answer, that some said he was John the Baptist, and some Elias, and othe

Ruth i. 16.—And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. The historical things in this book of Ruth seem to be inserted into the canon of the Scripture especially on two accounts: First, Because Christ was of Ruth’s posterity. The Holy Ghost thought fit to take particular notice of that marriage of Boaz with Ruth, whence sprang the Sa

John xiv. 2.—In my Father’s house are many mansions. In these words may be observed two things, 1. The thing described, viz., Christ’s Father’s house. Christ spoke to his disciples in the foregoing chapter as one that was about to leave them. He told ’em, verse 31, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him,” and then goes to giving of them counsel to live in unity and love one another, as one that was going from them. By which they seemed somewhat surprised and hardly knew wh

Deuteronomy xxxii. 35.—Their foot shall slide in due time. In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving Israelites, that were God’s visible people, and lived under means of grace; and that notwithstanding all God’s wonderful works that he had wrought towards that people, yet remained, as is expressed verse 28, void of counsel, having no understanding in them; and that, under all the cultivations of heaven, brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit; as in the two vers

Ezek. xix. 12.—Her strong rods were broken and withered. In order to a right understanding and improving these words, these four things must be observed and understood concerning them. 1. Who she is that is here represented as having had strong rods, viz., the Jewish community, [who] here, as often elsewhere, is called the people’s mother. She is here compared to a vine planted in a very fruitful soil, verse 10. The Jewish church and state is often elsewhere compared to a vine; as Psalm lxxx. 8,

2 Cor. i. 14.—As also you have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. The apostle, in the preceding part of the chapter, declares what great troubles he met with in the course of his ministry. In the text and two foregoing verses, he declares what were his comforts and supports under the troubles he met with. There are four things in particular. 1. That he had approved himself to his own conscience, verse 12: “For our own rejoi

1. God Glorified. The title-page of the original edition of this sermon, the first work published by the author, reads as follows: “God Glorified in the Work of Redemption by the Greatness of Man’s Dependance upon Him, in the Whole of it. Preached on the Publick Lecture in Boston, July 8, 1731. And published at the Desire of several, Ministers and Others, in Boston, who heard it. By Jonathan Edwards A.M. Pastor of the Church of Christ in Northampton. Judges 7. 2.—Lest Israel vaunt themselves aga