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Though known primarily as a "hellfire and brimstone" preacher, Jonathan Edwards actually wrote and preached most on the excellency and beauty of Christ. This is comforting, encouraging, uplifting, soul-and-heart-warming preaching from this great evangelist and pastor.
238 pages, Hardcover
Published June 1, 1998
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Jonathan Edwards
1,612 books527 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 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 8, 2025
This collection of sermons all address the loveliness of Christ for our miserable condition. His exegesis of both passage and person are searching.
Edwards challenges the standard of our shorter sermons today. A few of these sermons would take 75-90 minutes to preach, thereby allowing him to address a greater variety of cases of conscience more thoroughly. If 95% of pastoral counseling is done from the pulpit, we may need to spend more time unfolding the passage and its implications than we are currently.
Edwards challenges the standard of our shorter sermons today. A few of these sermons would take 75-90 minutes to preach, thereby allowing him to address a greater variety of cases of conscience more thoroughly. If 95% of pastoral counseling is done from the pulpit, we may need to spend more time unfolding the passage and its implications than we are currently.
May 16, 2024
What can be said about Edwards as a Christian, as a pastor, as a theologian, and a devotional and worship scholar? This short book on the glory and excellency of Christ is superlative!
May 31, 2020
A beautiful collection of Edwards sermons on the Lord Jesus. There are few men who expressed such wonder, awe, and love for Christ. I highly recommend it.
May 21, 2025
The collection of sermons by Edwards is a powerful reminder of the beauty and benevolence of Jesus. It’s written in the style of his time, so readers unused to it will need to adjust to some vocabulary and sentence structure. Even so, it’s a great sampler of the deep theology and pastoral heart of Edwards and, more importantly, a thoughtful look at Christ in all his glory.
May 25, 2020
Very readable edition of this volume of selected sermons preached by Jonathan Edwards to his congregation in 18th C America.
What always strikes me about Edward's sermons (and more so with earlier Puritans) is that these are actual sermons preached to their congregations. Not only are they incredibly lengthy but they are also theogically rich, deep, and so closely reasoned. They required enormous concentration by those listening, most of whom were not academics but ordinary locals - farmers, labourers etc. And yet today in our churches we have no end of graduate professionals, and PhD's in our congregations who regard a 40 minute sermon as quite demanding (although thankfully things have improved in this regard in recent years in evangelicalism).
Some would argue that times have changed, with the advent of modern media and people being raised on TV, video, and social media soundbites. And that this affects not only their concentration span, but also their ability to think conceptually. The argument is that today, preaching must be in concrete rather than conceptual terms. But this is really is a complete myth, and a failure to reckon with the doctrine of man.
The reality is that every human being is made in the image of God. And an aspect of being made in God's image is the capacity to think logically and to reason. It is the job of the preacher to teach his congregation to think and listen logically. We do them an immense disservice by dumbing down the preaching. And we insult their intelligence. (By the way, this is not a "class" thing but a theological thing).
But at the same time, let me add, that no, preaching must never be boring. To preach the word of God (!) - the word of God - in a way as to be boring, is frankly criminal.
What always strikes me about Edward's sermons (and more so with earlier Puritans) is that these are actual sermons preached to their congregations. Not only are they incredibly lengthy but they are also theogically rich, deep, and so closely reasoned. They required enormous concentration by those listening, most of whom were not academics but ordinary locals - farmers, labourers etc. And yet today in our churches we have no end of graduate professionals, and PhD's in our congregations who regard a 40 minute sermon as quite demanding (although thankfully things have improved in this regard in recent years in evangelicalism).
Some would argue that times have changed, with the advent of modern media and people being raised on TV, video, and social media soundbites. And that this affects not only their concentration span, but also their ability to think conceptually. The argument is that today, preaching must be in concrete rather than conceptual terms. But this is really is a complete myth, and a failure to reckon with the doctrine of man.
The reality is that every human being is made in the image of God. And an aspect of being made in God's image is the capacity to think logically and to reason. It is the job of the preacher to teach his congregation to think and listen logically. We do them an immense disservice by dumbing down the preaching. And we insult their intelligence. (By the way, this is not a "class" thing but a theological thing).
But at the same time, let me add, that no, preaching must never be boring. To preach the word of God (!) - the word of God - in a way as to be boring, is frankly criminal.
July 21, 2025
Very Good!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews