10 Puritans Who Changed the World: Jonathan Edwards, Preacher of the Great Awakening

Who Was Jonathan Edwards?

Jonathan Edwards was born on October 5, 1703, in East Windsor, Connecticut. Edwards’s father and maternal grandfather were powerful preachers and no strangers to religious revivals. Edwards received his early education in his father’s grammar school, where he was saturated in Puritan theology and piety.

At thirteen, Edwards began his studies at the Collegiate School (later known as Yale College).  He was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1720, finishing at the top of his class, and then stayed at Yale to study for his Master of Arts degree. Edwards experienced several periods of spiritual conviction in his childhood and youth, which culminated in his conversion in 1721. The words of Paul in 1 Timothy 1:17 were instrumental in his conversion. He later wrote, “As I read the words, there came into my soul . . . a sense of the glory of the divine being; a new sense, quite different from anything I ever experienced before. I thought within myself, how excellent a being that was, and how happy I should be, if I might enjoy that God, and be rapt up to him in heaven, and be as it were swallowed up in him forever!”

Edwards’s ministerial career began in 1722 when invited to minister at a Presbyterian church in New York City. This pastorate was short-lived, however, for Edwards was persuaded by his father to return to Connecticut only eight months later. After finishing his master’s degree at Yale, he took a call to the parish church at Bolton in November 1723.

The next year, Edwards returned to New Haven to serve as tutor at the college. Edwards remained there until 1726, when he received a summons from the people of Northampton, Massachusetts to serve as assistant to his aged grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. He was installed there on February 15, 1727, and became sole minister of the parish church upon the death of Stoddard in 1729.

Edwards faced the problem of promoting godliness in a congregation that seemed  to be falling into spiritual indifference. Consequently, he focused his preaching in the early 1730s on common sins, urging the people to repent and to embrace the gospel by faith. By the Spirit’s grace, his preaching prompted a significant awakening at Northampton in the winter of 1734–1735.

After a lull in the late 1730s, Edwards was caught up in the Great Awakening, which began in 1740; he became one of the ablest instruments and defenders of the revival and wrote many works in its defense, the most influential being his Treatise Concerning Religious Affections.

Due to his convictions about not letting the unregenerate partake of the Lord’s Supper as well as false rumors about his treatment of some young people and complications resulting from several discipline cases, the members of the Northampton  church voted to eject Edwards from the pulpit in June 1750. The next year, Edwards left Northampton with his family, taking refuge in the frontier settlement   of Stockbridge, where he served as pastor to a small congregation and a missionary  to the Housatonic Indians. Although Edwards’s desire to witness revival among the Indians did not materialize, these were his most fruitful years, producing a vast body of  his writings.

Spiritual Lessons from Jonathan Edwards?

Jonathan Edwards teaches pastors the importance of longing for heaven, meditation, preaching the law and the gospel, and perseverance in the day of small things.

Dear fellow pastor, let the life of Jonathan Edwards teach you to long for heaven. Our desire to be with Christ will fuel our ministries and preaching while we serve the Lord on earth. Cultivate a longing for heaven like Jonathan Edwards, who wrote in his journal, “The heaven I desired was a heaven of holiness; to be with God, and to spend my eternity in divine love, and holy communion with Christ. My mind was very much taken up with contemplations on heaven, and the enjoyments there; and living there in perfect holiness, humility, and love. Heaven appeared exceedingly delightful, as a world of love; and that all happiness consisted in living in pure, humble, heavenly, divine love.”

Second, let the life of Jonathan Edwards teach you to meditate in the presence of God. That sermon is best that is soaked in prayer and deep meditation. During his ministry in New York City, Edwards often turned away from the busy streets to walk on the banks of the Hudson River and meditate upon God and spiritual things. In Northampton, Edwards studied and prayed for about thirteen hours each day but took a break in the afternoon for outdoor exercise like chopping wood or planting trees. He often rode his horse to a grove where he prayed and wrote down his spiritual reflections. No doubt many of the thoughts in Edwards’s writings come from these times of meditation and communion with God.

Third, let the life of Jonathan Edwards teach you to preach both the law and the gospel. Like Edwards, address the common sins of your generation by name. In his sermon entitled “Sinners in the Hands of Angry God,” Edwards preached about the terrors of hell and the just wrath of God but then pointed sinners to the way of escape through Christ. Our faithfulness to Scripture is tested by the extent to which we are willing to stand on God’s Word in those areas that most oppose the ideas of our current culture. Call sinners to repent from those sins that mark your specific culture—from sexual immorality (such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality) and the taking of life unjustly (such as abortion and euthanasia) to pride, blasphemy, and rebellion against God-given authority. After exposing the sinfulness of sin and the depth of depravity, point sinners to the freeness of grace and full forgiveness offered to them in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Follow the example of John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul, and the Lord Jesus Christ in preaching the misery of sin, deliverance in Christ, and a life of joyful obedience and gratitude—in that order.  

Finally, let the life of Jonathan Edwards teach you to persevere in the day of small things. Stand by your biblical convictions. Like Edwards, be willing to suffer for your convictions. Edwards’s unpopular stand on baptism cost him his long and fruitful ministry in Northampton. Remember that you will give an account to Christ on the day of judgment. Serve the Lord faithfully wherever He plants you, even if you are thrust into obscurity. Follow the example of Edwards, who labored in the hard soil of the Housatonic Indian communities in Stockbridge. Although this post was far less prominent than his pulpit in Northampton, these were some of his most fruitful years in writing and evangelism. 

Conclusion

In 1758, Edwards agreed to become president of the College of New Jersey  at Princeton. On March 22, 1758, after only a few months at Princeton, he died of complications from a smallpox inoculation. His vast array of writings continues to be mined, pondered, and evaluated to the present day, evidencing him to be, as some view it, America’s last Puritan and finest theologian. Yale has printed a good portion of his works in twenty-six volumes and has also edited, but not yet printed, the remaining corpus of his writings. 

Recommended Books by Jonathan Edwards

• Narrative of Surprising Conversions
• The Religious Affections
• Charity and Its Fruits
• The Life and Diary of David Brainerd

©2024 Joel Beeke. Used with permission.