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Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: With a Biographical Introduction and Notes
This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: The Macmillan Co. in 1904 in 226 pages; Subjects: Sermons, American; Biography & Autobiography / Religious; History / General; Religion / Sermons / Christian; Religion / Christian Ministry / Preaching;
198 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1904
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About the author
Jonathan Edwards
1,604 books525 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database named Jonathan Edwards.
Jonathan Edwards was the most eminent American philosopher-theologian of his time, and a key figure in what has come to be called the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s.
The only son in a family of eleven children, he entered Yale in September, 1716 when he was not yet thirteen and graduated four years later (1720) as valedictorian. He received his Masters three years later. As a youth, Edwards was unable to accept the Calvinist sovereignty of God. However, in 1721 he came to what he called a "delightful conviction" though meditation on 1 Timothy 1:17. From that point on, Edwards delighted in the sovereignty of God. Edwards later recognized this as his conversion to Christ.
In 1727 he was ordained minister at Northampton and assistant to his maternal grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. He was a student minister, not a visiting pastor, his rule being thirteen hours of study a day. In the same year, he married Sarah Pierpont, then age seventeen, daughter of Yale founder James Pierpont (1659–1714). In total, Jonathan and Sarah had eleven children.
Stoddard died on February 11th, 1729, leaving to his grandson the difficult task of the sole ministerial charge of one of the largest and wealthiest congregations in the colony. Throughout his time in Northampton his preaching brought remarkable religious revivals.
Yet, tensions flamed as Edwards would not continue his grandfather's practice of open communion. Stoddard believed that communion was a "converting ordinance." Surrounding congregations had been convinced of this, and as Edwards became more convinced that this was harmful, his public disagreement with the idea caused his dismissal in 1750.
Edwards then moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, then a frontier settlement, where he ministered to a small congregation and served as missionary to the Housatonic Indians. There, having more time for study and writing, he completed his celebrated work, The Freedom of the Will (1754).
Edwards was elected president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in early 1758. He was a popular choice, for he had been a friend of the College since its inception. He died of fever at the age of fifty-four following experimental inoculation for smallpox and was buried in the President's Lot in the Princeton cemetery beside his son-in-law, Aaron Burr.
Jonathan Edwards was the most eminent American philosopher-theologian of his time, and a key figure in what has come to be called the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s.
The only son in a family of eleven children, he entered Yale in September, 1716 when he was not yet thirteen and graduated four years later (1720) as valedictorian. He received his Masters three years later. As a youth, Edwards was unable to accept the Calvinist sovereignty of God. However, in 1721 he came to what he called a "delightful conviction" though meditation on 1 Timothy 1:17. From that point on, Edwards delighted in the sovereignty of God. Edwards later recognized this as his conversion to Christ.
In 1727 he was ordained minister at Northampton and assistant to his maternal grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. He was a student minister, not a visiting pastor, his rule being thirteen hours of study a day. In the same year, he married Sarah Pierpont, then age seventeen, daughter of Yale founder James Pierpont (1659–1714). In total, Jonathan and Sarah had eleven children.
Stoddard died on February 11th, 1729, leaving to his grandson the difficult task of the sole ministerial charge of one of the largest and wealthiest congregations in the colony. Throughout his time in Northampton his preaching brought remarkable religious revivals.
Yet, tensions flamed as Edwards would not continue his grandfather's practice of open communion. Stoddard believed that communion was a "converting ordinance." Surrounding congregations had been convinced of this, and as Edwards became more convinced that this was harmful, his public disagreement with the idea caused his dismissal in 1750.
Edwards then moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, then a frontier settlement, where he ministered to a small congregation and served as missionary to the Housatonic Indians. There, having more time for study and writing, he completed his celebrated work, The Freedom of the Will (1754).
Edwards was elected president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in early 1758. He was a popular choice, for he had been a friend of the College since its inception. He died of fever at the age of fifty-four following experimental inoculation for smallpox and was buried in the President's Lot in the Princeton cemetery beside his son-in-law, Aaron Burr.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 17, 2017
He was a bit difficult to understand in some places and I didn't really get into him the way that I did for say: Martin Luther. Nevertheless, there are some excellent piece of theology in here and some very good quotes.
I especially liked his 'Farewell Sermon' where he talked about the duties of the family. I thought it was particularly pertinent to our current society where family does not seem to be as important as it used to be.
This quote about summed it up for me: "Every Christian family ought to be as it were a little church, consecrated to Christ, and wholly influenced and governed by his rules. And family education and order are some of the chief of the means of grace. If these fail, all other means are likely to prove ineffectual."
I especially liked his 'Farewell Sermon' where he talked about the duties of the family. I thought it was particularly pertinent to our current society where family does not seem to be as important as it used to be.
This quote about summed it up for me: "Every Christian family ought to be as it were a little church, consecrated to Christ, and wholly influenced and governed by his rules. And family education and order are some of the chief of the means of grace. If these fail, all other means are likely to prove ineffectual."
September 28, 2019
I can appreciate this book for what it is, though the selected sermons are definitely more for seekers than for Christians who are looking for sermons with a lot of practical relevance for their own lives. Edwards is a little too fear focused in his evangelism for my taste, but I recognize that he led a lot of people to Christ by being so cavalier about sin and judgment. Provided some good food for thought even though I didn’t find many of his sermons applicable for the church so much as I found them relevant to a setting that you would expect to find more unbelievers. I’d have to look more into some of his other sermons to really know, but from this sampling it seems like his church was a great place for seekers, but maybe not so much for those who were looking for discipleship and growth beyond conversion.
January 15, 2023
I liked some of the sermons more than others… but overall it was a good experience reading the works of someone whose teachings have endured so long and have influenced many other teachers. My favorite of the sermons was “God Glorified in Man’s Dependence.”
January 9, 2016
What an excellent book. I greatly enjoyed reading this book. If you are a fan of Johathan Edwards (or even if you aren't), I highly recommend that you read this book.
This book is a collection of seven JE sermons along with an Introduction that gives a kind of background and biographical sketch of Edwards.
Sermon I: GOD Glorified in Man's Dependence
’Tis a more glorious effect of power to make that holy that was so depraved and under the dominion of sin, than to confer holiness on that which before had nothing of the contrary. It is a more glorious work of power to rescue a soul out of the hands of the devil, and from the powers of darkness, and to bring it into a state of salvation, than to confer holiness where there was no prepossession or opposition.
So ’tis a more glorious work of power to uphold a soul in a state of grace and holiness, and to carry it on till it is brought to glory, when there is so much sin remaining in the heart resisting, and Satan with all his might opposing, than it would have been to have kept man from falling at first, when Satan had nothing in man.
Sermon II: A DIVINE AND SUPERNATURAL LIGHT, IMMEDIATELY IMPARTED TO THE SOUL BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, SHOWN TO BE BOTH A SCRIPTURAL AND RATIONAL DOCTRINE.
That there is such a thing as a Spiritual and Divine Light, immediately imparted to the soul by God, of a different nature from any that is obtained by natural means.
But this spiritual light that I am speaking of, is quite a different thing from inspiration: it reveals no new doctrine, it suggests no new proposition to the mind, it teaches no new thing of God, or Christ, or another world, not taught in the Bible, but only gives a due apprehension of those things that are taught in the word of God.
Sermon III: RUTH’S RESOLUTION
Yea, we must not only forsake sin, but must, in a sense, forsake all the world: Luke xiv. 33, “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” That is, he must forsake all in his heart, and must come to a thorough disposition and readiness actually to quit all for God and the glorious spiritual privileges of his people, whenever the case may require it;
Sermon IV: THE MANY MANSIONS
And seeing there are many mansions there, mansions enough for us all, our folly will be the greater if we neglect to seek a place in heaven, having our minds foolishly taken up about the worthless, fading things of this world.
Sermon V: SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD
There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.
Sin is the ruin and misery of the soul; it is destructive in its nature; and if God should leave it without restraint, there would need nothing else to make the soul perfectly miserable. The corruption of the heart of man is a thing that is immoderate and boundless in its fury; and while wicked men live here, it is like fire pent up by God’s restraints, whenas if it were let loose, it would set on fire the course of nature; and as the heart is now a sink of sin, so, if sin was not restrained, it would immediately turn the soul into a fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and brimstone.
Sermon VI: GOD’S AWFUL JUDGMENT IN THE BREAKING AND WITHERING OF THE STRONG RODS OF A COMMUNITY
The prosperity of a people depends more on their rulers than is commonly imagined. As they have the public society under their care and power, so they have advantage to promote the public interest every way; and if they are such rulers as have been spoken of, they are some of the greatest blessings to the public. Their influence has a tendency to promote their wealth and cause their temporal possessions and blessings to abound: and to promote virtue amongst them, and so to unite them one to another in peace and mutual benevolence, and make them happy in society, each one the instrument of his neighbor’s quietness, comfort and prosperity; and by these means to advance their reputation and honor in the world; and which is much more, to promote their spiritual and eternal happiness. Therefore, the wise man says, Eccles. x. 17, “Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles.”
As he was known to be a serious person, and an enemy to a profane or vain conversation, so he was feared on that account by great and small. When he was in the room, only his presence was sufficient to maintain decency; though many were there that were accounted gentlemen and great men, who otherwise were disposed to take a much greater freedom in their talk and behavior than they dared to do in his presence.
Sermon VII: A FAREWELL SERMON
Ministers, and the people that are under their care, must meet one another before Christ’s tribunal at the day of judgment.
The Judge will not only declare justice, but he will do justice between ministers and their people. He will declare what is right between them, approving him that has been just and faithful, and condemning the unjust; and perfect truth and equity shall take place in the sentence which he passes, in the rewards he bestows and the punishments which he inflicts.
This book is a collection of seven JE sermons along with an Introduction that gives a kind of background and biographical sketch of Edwards.
Sermon I: GOD Glorified in Man's Dependence
’Tis a more glorious effect of power to make that holy that was so depraved and under the dominion of sin, than to confer holiness on that which before had nothing of the contrary. It is a more glorious work of power to rescue a soul out of the hands of the devil, and from the powers of darkness, and to bring it into a state of salvation, than to confer holiness where there was no prepossession or opposition.
So ’tis a more glorious work of power to uphold a soul in a state of grace and holiness, and to carry it on till it is brought to glory, when there is so much sin remaining in the heart resisting, and Satan with all his might opposing, than it would have been to have kept man from falling at first, when Satan had nothing in man.
Sermon II: A DIVINE AND SUPERNATURAL LIGHT, IMMEDIATELY IMPARTED TO THE SOUL BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, SHOWN TO BE BOTH A SCRIPTURAL AND RATIONAL DOCTRINE.
That there is such a thing as a Spiritual and Divine Light, immediately imparted to the soul by God, of a different nature from any that is obtained by natural means.
But this spiritual light that I am speaking of, is quite a different thing from inspiration: it reveals no new doctrine, it suggests no new proposition to the mind, it teaches no new thing of God, or Christ, or another world, not taught in the Bible, but only gives a due apprehension of those things that are taught in the word of God.
Sermon III: RUTH’S RESOLUTION
Yea, we must not only forsake sin, but must, in a sense, forsake all the world: Luke xiv. 33, “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” That is, he must forsake all in his heart, and must come to a thorough disposition and readiness actually to quit all for God and the glorious spiritual privileges of his people, whenever the case may require it;
Sermon IV: THE MANY MANSIONS
And seeing there are many mansions there, mansions enough for us all, our folly will be the greater if we neglect to seek a place in heaven, having our minds foolishly taken up about the worthless, fading things of this world.
Sermon V: SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD
There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.
Sin is the ruin and misery of the soul; it is destructive in its nature; and if God should leave it without restraint, there would need nothing else to make the soul perfectly miserable. The corruption of the heart of man is a thing that is immoderate and boundless in its fury; and while wicked men live here, it is like fire pent up by God’s restraints, whenas if it were let loose, it would set on fire the course of nature; and as the heart is now a sink of sin, so, if sin was not restrained, it would immediately turn the soul into a fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and brimstone.
Sermon VI: GOD’S AWFUL JUDGMENT IN THE BREAKING AND WITHERING OF THE STRONG RODS OF A COMMUNITY
The prosperity of a people depends more on their rulers than is commonly imagined. As they have the public society under their care and power, so they have advantage to promote the public interest every way; and if they are such rulers as have been spoken of, they are some of the greatest blessings to the public. Their influence has a tendency to promote their wealth and cause their temporal possessions and blessings to abound: and to promote virtue amongst them, and so to unite them one to another in peace and mutual benevolence, and make them happy in society, each one the instrument of his neighbor’s quietness, comfort and prosperity; and by these means to advance their reputation and honor in the world; and which is much more, to promote their spiritual and eternal happiness. Therefore, the wise man says, Eccles. x. 17, “Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles.”
As he was known to be a serious person, and an enemy to a profane or vain conversation, so he was feared on that account by great and small. When he was in the room, only his presence was sufficient to maintain decency; though many were there that were accounted gentlemen and great men, who otherwise were disposed to take a much greater freedom in their talk and behavior than they dared to do in his presence.
Sermon VII: A FAREWELL SERMON
Ministers, and the people that are under their care, must meet one another before Christ’s tribunal at the day of judgment.
The Judge will not only declare justice, but he will do justice between ministers and their people. He will declare what is right between them, approving him that has been just and faithful, and condemning the unjust; and perfect truth and equity shall take place in the sentence which he passes, in the rewards he bestows and the punishments which he inflicts.
October 27, 2012
If you love great sermons, this must be added to your reading list. As I read "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," I could tell why people responded to this sermon with such great passion. You can still feel the Holy Spirit working as you read this sermon and many more. "Ruth's Resolution," was another great sermon that really spoke to me as I read it.
This is not easy reading because we have become imbeciles when it comes to the English language. Edwards, being led by the Spirit, was able to turn a phrase. Also, you could get your toes stepped on if you are a believer and especially if you are not a believer. Read and enjoy!!
This is not easy reading because we have become imbeciles when it comes to the English language. Edwards, being led by the Spirit, was able to turn a phrase. Also, you could get your toes stepped on if you are a believer and especially if you are not a believer. Read and enjoy!!
June 23, 2019
If you want a primary source account of what God was awakening in hearts of New Englanders in the early-to-mid-1700s, this is a great place to start. I wish more preachers and pastors would forego their own material once in a while and read straight from some of Edwards' sermons: he cuts to the heart of the matter - our wickedness and God's justice & mercy - and wrestles with it on his listeners' behalves, pleading with them (us) to examine their (our) hearts before God. 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God' is probably the best sermon I have ever read apart from those found in the Scriptures.
June 18, 2014
The rating is purely based on this version of the text. The digital rendition had line breaks and page breaks that were unnatural to read. The Sermons themselves, this was the second time I have read these works and enjoyed them again. Highlights include Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and The reality of Spiritual Light.
December 21, 2015
Fabulous book!
I am sure the modern evangelical church would have nothing to do with Jonathan Edwards. He was too plain spoken and serious for most congregations. There were no jokes and far too much doctrine. Also his sermons were much too long for the modern Christian. I consider him to be a very great preacher,
I am sure the modern evangelical church would have nothing to do with Jonathan Edwards. He was too plain spoken and serious for most congregations. There were no jokes and far too much doctrine. Also his sermons were much too long for the modern Christian. I consider him to be a very great preacher,
August 30, 2013
Three sermons were really good; two seemed to state the obvious; and one was very heavy-handed and downright oppressive. I have more of a mixed appreciation for him now- we are less likely to revere people the more we get to know them!
December 20, 2016
Tough but rewarding read
I knew "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and his Resolutions, but nothing else about Edwards. If you read this, make sure you read the explanatory notes that go along with each sermon. They give you really valuable context for each.
I knew "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and his Resolutions, but nothing else about Edwards. If you read this, make sure you read the explanatory notes that go along with each sermon. They give you really valuable context for each.
January 7, 2013
Awesome expository preaching ... and easier to read than I thought. Read Edwards to better understand how we can fear the God of wrath yet delight in the same God of love.
September 6, 2016
Interesting read, I listen with a public domain audio version I got on Librivox and it helped reassure me of my Faith and confidence in my Hope in God's love, Plan and redemption of Humankind
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews