Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 13
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Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 13
Literature -- Collections
Edwards's first publication (1731) was a sermon preached in Boston on
'God Glorified in Man's Dependence.' The conditions under which it was
produced afford striking contrasts to those attendant upon
Schleiermacher's epoch-making 'Reden ueber Religion'; but the same note
of absolute dependence upon God is struck by each with masterly power.
A yet more characteristic and deeply spiritual utterance was given in
the next published discourse, entitled 'A Divine and Supernatural
Light Immediately Imparted to the Soul by the Spirit of God, Shown to
be both a Scriptural and Rational Doctrine' (1734). These two sermons
are of primary significance for a right understanding of their
author's teaching. All is of God; faith is sensibleness of what is
real in the work of redemption; this reality is divinely and
transcendently excellent; this quality of it is revealed to the soul
by the Holy Spirit, and becomes the spring of all holiness. "The
central idea of his system," says Henry B. Smith, "is that of
spiritual life (holy love) as the gift of divine grace." All of
Edwards's other writings may be arranged in relation to this
principle,--as introductory, explicative, or defensive.
When the sermon on the 'Reality of Spiritual Light' was delivered, the
movement had begun which, as afterwards extended from Northampton to
many communities in New England and beyond, is known as "The Great
Awakening." The preaching of Edwards was a prominent instrumentality
in its origination, and he became its most effective promoter and
champion, and no less its watchful observer and critic. Among the
published (1738) sermons which it occasioned should be specially
mentioned those on 'Justification by Faith Alone,' 'The Justice of God
in the Damnation of Sinners,' 'The Excellency of Jesus Christ,' 'The
Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God, applied to that
uncommon operation that has lately appeared on the minds of many of
the people of New England: with a particular consideration of the
extraordinary circumstances with which this work is attended' (1741).
The same year (1741) appeared the sermon on 'Sinners in the Hands of
an Angry God.' Some five years previous, moved by the notice taken in
London by Dr. Watts and Dr. Guise of the religious revival in
Northampton and several other towns, and by a special request from
Rev. Dr. Colman of Boston, Edwards prepared a careful 'Narrative,'
which, with a preface by the English clergymen just named, was
published in London in 1737, and the year following in Boston. The
sermon on the 'Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the True Spirit of
God' was followed by the treatise entitled 'Some Thoughts Concerning
the Present Revival of Religion, and the way in which it ought to be
acknowledged and promoted' (1742); and four years later, by the
elaborate work on 'Religious Affections.' The latter sums up all that
Edwards had learned, through his participation in the movement whose
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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