Beware of False Maturity: A Stinging Quote from Jonathan Edwards
I have been reading Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections for two years now. It has taken this long because 1) I think a book like this requires slow, patient, thoughtful reading, and 2) I am only able to read it occasionally because I have a stack of other reading to complete for school. It is no [...]
History, Theology, and Edwards’ Devotion to the Bible
Jonathan Edwards is well-known for his devotion to Scripture; not only for his commitment to biblical doctrine, but also for his deriving that doctrine from its original source: the Scriptures themselves. In Edwards’ two volume collected works, there is a massive 140 page section entitled ‘Notes on the Bible,’ which contains over 1500 numbered entries [...]
Edwards On Judging the Spiritual State of Others
Here are some of the best words I have read (or heard) on how a Christian should judge the spiritual condition of another professing Christian. They are taken from the Religious Affections, pages 110-111. The true saints have not such a spirit of discerning that they can certainly determine who are godly and who are [...]
Edwards on How to Listen to Sermons
In the spring of 1741, Jonathan Edwards visited and ministered to a small congregation in Suffield, Connecticut. This little church was without a pastor for a small time, but was blessed with some amazing visitors: one being Edwards and another being the great George Whitefield. A few months after Edwards had visited, Elizabeth Hatheway, a young [...]
Don’t Lose One Moment of Time
Currently I am taking some high school guys through the Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. Each Friday we gather together in my office and talk about the resolutions we had read and meditated on the week prior. We are going at a slow pace – last time we read the first six resolutions, and this week [...]
Thoughts on Studying for the Right Reasons
In the introduction to Marriage to a Difficult Man, John Piper writes, Edwards made it plain in his preaching and in his living that he believed great thoughts about God without great love towards people are sure evidences of hypocrisy and the pathway to hell. For Edwards there was no separating high views of God [...]
Edwards Instruction for Growing in Divine Knowledge
Here is a practical and helpful guide from Jonathan Edwards to aid you in your studies. This was taken from Edwards’ sermon, The Importance and Advantage of a Thorough Knowledge of Divine Truth. 1. Be assiduous in reading the holy Scriptures. This is the fountain whence all knowledge in divinity must be derived. Therefore let not this treasure lie [...]
‘Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography’ by Iain Murray
I have been recently observing an unfortunate phenomenon: Jonathan Edwards is not well known. My referencing of Edwards in conversation has usually been met with an astonishing, “Who?” or, the caricature of the angry, downcast, miserable, depressed, joy-stealing preacher of “Sinners in the hands of an angry God,” springs to mind and immediately prejudices the [...]
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