Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/424

 EDWAKDS

Kl) WARDS

His theological views, which are a part of the religiims his-tory of his tiim-. attracted wide attention and received severe criticism. In 1740 the Hev. tieorge Wiiitelieid visited him and preached during his four days' stay several times to large audiences. His preaching led to a great religious awakening throughout New England, in wliich Mr. Edwards was a ixjwerful factor. Mr. E.lwanls visited various churches by invitation of their pastors and his preaching produced ex- traordinary results. Fearing fanatical excesses, he published " The Distinguishing Marks of the Work of the Spirit of God""; "Thoughts con- cerning the Present Revival of Religion,"' and •"Treatise on Religious Affections." He differed with the majority of his parishioners as to thi} jx^licy of allowing what was known as the tice so earnestly tiiat on June 22, 17.30, he was forced to resign after a ministry of nearly twenty- four yeiirs. This left him without an income and with a large family dejjendent on him. Frien Is in Scotland sent him money and invited him to settle in that countiy. The Rev. Samuel Daves of Virginia offered to surrender to him his own parish and some of his friends in Northamp- ton sought to have liim remain and live on their lx)unty. He declined these offers, however, accepting from the London society for the propa- gation of the gospel an offer to become missionary to the Housatonnuck Indians, and removed to Stockbridge in August, 1751. Here he preached to the Indians through an interpreter and his slender stipend was augmented by the sale in Boston of the delicate handiwork of his wife and daugliters. His work on his books was gi-eatly facilitated by reason of his light pastoral duties and was only interrupted Iw the death in 17.")7 of his son-in-law, the Rev. Aaron Burr, president of the College of New Jersey. This event led the curators of the college to select and appoint Mr. E<lwards as president, in 1757, and he was in- stalled, Feb. IG, 17.58. He was at the head of the institution only thirty-four days, but long enough to win the respect and admiration of the students. Having been inoculated for small pox, then prev- alent in the neighborhood, he died from the effects. He was buried in the college burj'ing ground, in proximity to the grave of President Burr, and but a few days thereafter his wife and his daughter Esther, the widow of President Burr, fell victims to the same malaside him. On the first Sunday of the year of his death he preached from the text. " This year thou shalt die." He left in jmblished books, sermons and manu.script abun<lant evidence of his .superior spiritual attainment. Among his more important publications are: Treatise Con- cerning the Bdifjious Affections (1746) ; Inquiry Into
 * ' liiilf-way covenant." and condemned its prac-

thr Qunliiicatinns for Free Communion in the Church (1749); a treatise On the Freedom of the Will (1754); Original 6V« (1757) ; True Xixtiire of Christ- ian Virtue (17t!8) ; Dixsertation Concerning the End for which God Created the World (1789) ; Thoughts on the Revival of Religion ; History of the Redem]>- tion; and Life of David Brninerd. His name was given a place in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, October, 1000, in "Class G, Preachers and Theologians," with Beecher and Channing. He died in Princeton, N.J., March 22, 1758.

EDWARDS, Jonathan, theologian, was born in NorthaiiiptDn, ]\Iass., May 2G, 1745; second son of the Rev. Jonathan and Sarah (Pierrei)ont) Edwards; and grandson of the Rev. Timothy Edwards and of the Rev. James Pien-epont. His youth was spent at Stockbridge, Mass.. at that time an Indian settlement, and there he acquired a mastery of the dialect of the Housatonnuck Indians. His father desired that he sliould become a missionary among the aboriginal tribes and he began to study the dialect of the Oneidas with the Rev. Gideon Hawley, stationed on the Susquehanna river, but the French and Indian war put an end to his project after six months" sojourn with the tribe. The removal of his father's family to Princeton, N.J., and the sudden death of his father, mother and sister, caused him to change his plans. Friends assisted him to prepare for college and he was graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1765. He then studied theology under the Rev. Dr. Bellamy at Bethlehem, Conn., and was licensed to preach by the association of Litchfield county in 1766. He returned, however, to Princeton, where he was tutor in the college, 1767-68. and in Januarv', 1769, he became pastor at White Haven, Conn. Here he met the opposition of the advocates of the "half-way covenant," and also the reaction incident to the extravagant religious fervor brought about by the revival of 1740-42. The churches were at the same time also greatlj' divided and impoverished by reason of the war with the mother country, and liis own congrega- tion took advantage of all these causes to rid themselves of their miuLster. He was dismissed from his charge. May 19, 1795, and found a church at Colebrook, a retired country parish in Litchfield county, where he ministered to a small and not exacting congregation, 1796-99, mean- while pursuing his theological and inetai)hysical researches. He was called from his retirement in 1799 to assume the pi-esidency of Union college, Schenectady, N.Y., rendered vacant by the resig- nation of the first president, the Rev. Dr. John Blair Smith. He was eminently successful in his administration and won the friendship of his faculty, the students and the citizens of Schenec- tady. He received the degree of A.M. from th©