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"LIGHT AND LOVE." 



A SKETCH 



OF 



THE LIFE AND LABORS 



OF THE 



REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 



THE 



EVANGELICAL PASTOR; 



THE ADVOCATE OF 



TEMPERANCE, THE SABBATH, AND THE BIBLE. 

y 

BY REV. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK, 

OF NEW YORK CITY. 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

NEW YORK : 150 NASSAU-STREET. 

BOSTON : 28 CORNHILL. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by William A. Hal- 
lock, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New 
York. 

Right of publishing transferred to the American Tract Society. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

EARLY LIFE TO HIS ENTERINa THE MINISTRY— 

1787-1812. 

Parentage — Influence of the great works of God in 1740 and 1800 
on bis conversion and Christian character — Commences study — 
Dedication of himself to God — In Williams College — Hon. Will- 
iam H. Maynard — Reading — Graduates with honor — In Andover 
Seminary — Prevailing conflict of truth and error — Rise of the 
foreign missionary spirit — His call to the church in Andover — 
Letter to ladies who presented ordination garments . . 7 

CHAPTER II. 

HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER— FIRST FIVE YEARS, 

1812-1817. 

Consecration to his work — ^First sermon, on preaching the Bible — 
Rules of life — His abundant labors as pastor — Visits Westhamp- 
ton for rest — Dr. Austin — Circle to devise plans for doing good — 
New England Tract Society — Society for Reformation of Morals — 
'•'Great Effects from little Causes" — Value of a soul — First Sab- 
bath-school — Monthly concert of prayer established in this coun- 
try — Mr. and Mrs. Bardwell — Sermon, '-If any man have not the 
Spirit of Christ " — Two sermons on Intemperance — New principle 
of the Temperance reform — Letter to Rev. Gordon Hall . 32 

CHAPTER III. 

HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER— FIVE YEARS, 1817-1822. 

Prayer — Abundant pastoral labors — Preaching "Christ crucified" — 
His marriage — Business arrangements — Letter to Church Mis- 
sionary Society — Preaches on the Signs of the Times — Dr. Jud- 
son — Spiritual efi"usions — Letters to one desponding, to one in 
affliction, and on the birth of a child — Maxims of peace — The 
Saints' Rest — Elected on the Board of the Seminary — Journey to 
Maine — Ecclesiastical council — Sermon on Christian Commun- 
ion — Two more sermons on Intemperance — Letter of Rev. Sam- 
uel Wood, of Boscawen — Reminiscences by a sister of Mrs. Ed- 
wards 73 

CHAPTER IV. 

HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER— BIBLE VIEWS OF THE 
MINISTRY AND CHURCH OF CHRIST — 1823, 1824. 

His Nehemiah sermon and address before the Education Society — 
His address on Sacred Eloquence — A world-wide objection coo- 



4 CONTENTS. 

sidered — The truths of the Bible in their own inspired connec- 
tion—Eloquence taught by the Spirit — His sermon on the Church 
the Pillar and Ground of the truth 127 

CHAPTER V. 

HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER— LAST THREE YEARS, 

1824-1827. 

Male and Female Bible-classes — To one indulging a trembling hope — 
On establishing family worship — Letters — Responsibility of con- 
ducting the religious press — Christian Union — Results of the So- 
ciety for Doing Good — Writes the temperance tract, Well-con- 
ducted Farm — Formation of the Temperance Society — Blessed 
results of Bible-classes — ^AVrites the tract, Way to be Saved — 
Powerful address before the Tract Society — New church in An- 
dover — Laying the corner-stone — Called to Park-street church, 
and other public labors — Blessings of the Spirit — Convention at 
Lebanon Springs — Results and reminiscences of his ministry 177 

CHAPTER VI. 

HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON— NEARLY TWO YEARS, 

1828, 1829. 

Call to New York city, and trying questions of duty — Abimdant 
and successful labors — His sermon on the "Unction from the 
Holy One" — Revival in Londonderry — Prospects of extensive 
usefulness — The Bible God's book for man — Visits Connecticut 
river for health — Letter of Dr. Spring — A Presbytery near Sara- 
atoga Springs — Letters to his church in Boston, a niece, a mer- 
chant, a relative on the death of a son — Williamstown — Calls to 
public stations — Character as a pastor — Letters from Rev. Dr. 
Porter, and Rev. Dr. Goodell 250 

CHAPTER VII. 

HIS LABORS IN THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION— 
FIR'ST two YEARS, 1830,1831. 

Leadings of Providence — Origin and early history of the Temper- 
ance movement — His early Temperance labors while pastor — 
A new principle, to keep temperate people temperate — The Tem- 
perance Society formed — Agency of the Rev. Dr. Hewit and oth- 
ers — Hints for laborers in the cause of Temperance — Letters to 
his family and friends — On vindicating our o^\^l character — Love 
of the Bible — Hon. Samuel L. Southard — Death of Mrs. Edwards' 
father — Tour to province of New Brunswick — Letter of Rev. Dr. 
Miller — His letters from Baltimore, Washington city, aud Phil- 
adelphia — Letter of Hon. John Cotton Smith — Surprising results 
of near two years' labors — First Permanent Temperance Docu- 
ment — Powerful appeals 312 



CONTENTS. 5 

CHAPTER VIII. 

LABORS IN THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION— TWO 
YEARS, 1832, 1833. 

National Circular — Eloquent appeal — Intemperance destroys the 
soul — Why sign a pledge? — The pledge adopted — Second Perma- 
nent Temperance Document, on the Traffic — Church-members 
retailing — Stings of conscience — Temperance not a mere secular 
concern — Its advocacy appropriate to the Sabbath — Document, 
"The immorality of the Traffic "—Burning appeals- The retail- 
er's sign-board- The Spirit grieved— The Christian trafficker in 
his closet, and on his death-bed— Death of Dr. Cornelius — Invita- 
tion to Hamilton college— Letters of Hon. Mr. Van Rensselaer, 
General Cocke, and Hon. Mr. Frelinghuysen — His letters from 
Washington — Congressional Temperance Society — Documents on 
the moral wrong of "Laws which authorize the Traffic " 353 

CHAPTER IX. 

LABORS IN THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION- 
THREE YEARS, 1833-1836. 

National and other Conventions, condemning the Traffic — The re- 
tailer's gains, " the price of blood " — Long western tour — Bible 
principles, "Is it right?"— Immorality of the traffic as presented 
in the Bible — Letter to a merchant — Systematic benevolence — 
Nathaniel R. Cobb — Letter from Virginia — Remonstrance of Dr. 
Beecher and Mr. Delavan against his leaving the Temperance 
cause — Alcohol the product of fermentation — Testimony of gen- 
tlemen to the effects of total abstinence on themselves — Cheer- 
ing results of his Temperance labors — Letter of Mr. John Tap- 
pan — Letters to his family — Foreign missionary address on the 
death of Munson and Lyman, and Dr. Wisner — Mills, Fisk, Rob- 
bins, Harriet Newell, Cornelius 379 

CHAPTER X. 

HIS PRESIDENCY IN THE THEOLOQICAL SEMI- 
NARY—SIX YEARS, 1836-1842. 

Other appointments declined — Summary report of labors — Hints 
as to a minister's conversation and conduct — "Worthy is the 
Lamb" — Letter from Dr. Miluor — To a brother who had pro- 
fessed Christ — Hints to a student at college — Serious letters to a 
son in college — Preservation of his eldest son from a sinking 
western steamboat — Honesty in the post-office — To a zealous 
Christian— Death of Hon. "William Bartlet — Rev. Dr. Dana — Ser- 
mon, "Not by might nor by power," on foreign missions — The 
spirit of our early foreign missionaries — Letters . . . 411 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XI. 

HIS LABORS FOR THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE SAB- 
BATH—SEVEN YEARS, 1842-1849. 

The question what God would now have him do — Letter as to circu- 
lating the Bible — " Temperance, the Sabbath, and the Bible " — 
Brought again into contact with men — Formation of the Sabbath 
Union — Abundant and successful labors — The Sabbath estab- 
lished at the creation for man — Its stillness the voice of God — 
God's right to the day, and the inalienable right of laboring men 
and beasts of burden to its rest — Their nature requires it — 
Change of the day — Redemption greater than creation — "The 
Sabbath a Family Institution"' — Family government, instruction 
and example — "Proper mode of keeping the Sabbath" — Ques- 
tions as to its violation considered — National Sabbath Conven- 
tion of seventeen hundred delegates — Other conventions — West- 
ern tour — Abundant labors and happy results . . . 445 

CHAPTER XII. 

LABORS FOR THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE SAB- 
BATH—CONTINUED. 

Letter to a son about to travel — Every Christian a colporteur — Dr. 
Scudder and his sons — Power of the press — Death of Mrs. Ed- 
wards' mother — Death of Dr. Armstrong — Letters to his family 
in long Sabbath tours — Riding on horseback — Card-playing — • 
Letters to his daughters, and sons — Professor Dod — Mesmerism — 
Boundaries to human knowledge — Making a will — Sabbath and 
Temperance Manuals — Letters from Alabama and New Orleans- 
Illness at Cincinnati — Closing words on the Sabbath and on Tem- 
perance — Letter of Judge McLean — Labors of reformed drunk- 
ards — Right of the people to laws against the traffic . .469 

CHAPTER XIII. 

HIS COMMENT ON THE BIBLE AS G-OD'S GIFT FOR 
ALL MEN— FOUR YEARS, 1849-1853. 

Early plans that the Bible might be circulated, and profitably read — 
Proposed Bible Manual — Proposed preface for New Testament 
with a glossary — Rev. Dr. Jenks — The Bible for immigrants — 
Requested to prepare brief Notes and Instructions — Specimen of 
Notes on Matthew — Hints as to the proposed comment — Delight 
in illustrating Scripture — Congress' recommendation of the Bible 
in 1781 — Comment on the New Testament completed — Letters 
to family friends — view of human life 501 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE CLOSIN& LABORS OF HIS LIFE. 

Comment on the Old Testament to the Psalms — Visit to the Virginia 
Springs — His death — Letter of his daughter — Testimonies and 
reminiscences — Conclusion ... ... 523 



MEMOIR 



OP 



REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 



CHAPTER I. 

EARLY LIFE TO HIS ENTERING THE MINISTRY. 



A. D. 1787-1812. 



" The works of the Lord are great, souglit out of 
all them that have pleasure therein." When by his 
grace he reaches the heart of a young man, enlightens 
him into the riches of his holy word, teaches him the 
salvation of Christ, and leads him to consecrate a 
long eventful life of unwearied usefulness to "Him 
who washed us from our sins in his own blood," and 
to the best interests of all for whom He died, a lesson 
is set before us by which all may profit. 

The subject of this sketch, with characteristic 
modesty, prepared no written memorial of himself; 
and of many of the most laborious and useful portions 
of his life, the only record is in enduring results on 
earth and before the throne of God. His letters to his 
father's family, whicli had been carefully preserved, 
were destroyed by fire ; and of his letters to his wife 



8 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

and children, and other relatives and friends, all of 
which seem to have been written in the midst of press- 
ing public duties, probably not one was intended for 
the public eye. Of these .letters only such passages 
have been retained as seemed to be of general interest. 
Justin Edwards was born April 25, 1787, in West- 
hampton, which until September, 1778, was a part of 
Northampton, Hampshire county, Massachusetts. He 
was the second son of Justin Edwards, and was a de- 
scendant of Alexander Edwards, who came from Wales 
in 1640, settled in Springfield, Massachusetts, and a 
few years after removed to Northampton, where the 
succeeding ancestors of the subject of this memoir 
resided till his father removed to Westhampton.* 

* "Alexander Edwards came from a border town in Wales in 
1640, and settled in Springfield. It appears from a deposition, that 
his minister in Wales was Mr. Wroth, a conspicuous Puritan 
preacher. He married a young widow, Sarah Searl, April 28, 1642. 
He removed to Northampton about 1655, where he died, Septem- 
ber 4, 1690. He had eight children, the oldest of whom was Sam- 
uel, born March 7, 1643. 

"Samuel Edwards, son of Alexander, married Sarah Boykin, 
daughter of Jarvis Boykin of New Haven, about 1675. He had 
six children, the eldest of whom was Samuel, born March 26, 1676. 
He died April 13, 1712. 

" Samuel Edwards, son of Samuel, married first Mercy Pomeroy, 
1708. She died 1712, and he married Sarah Pomeroy of Colches- 
ter, Connecticut. He died March 8, 1749. He had nine children, 
including Samuel, born September 12, 1716, and Noah, born June 
6, 1722. 

"Noah Edwards, son of the second Samuel, married Jerusha 
Alvord, June 28, 1749 ; she died 1798, and in his old age he mar- 
ried widow Elizabeth Wright, September 11, 1799. He died Sep- 
tember 3, 1805. He had eight children ; the second child was Jus- 
tin, born in 1752. 



EARLY LIFE. 9 

His mother, Elizabeth Clark, was a devoted exem- 
plary Christian, who had a word to speak for Christ 
as opportunity presented, and whose instructions and 
prayers, though she was removed by death when he 
was but five years old, he never forgot. He is remem- 
bered as a pleasant virtuous child who could be con- 
fided in ; a kind, consistent, and industrious youth ; 
assisting his father on the farm ; in the district school 
esteemed by his mates, and showing a love of study, 
with an active vigorous mind ; a good reader, and a 
fine proficient in arithmetic ; avoiding contention ; 
cautious in speaking of the faults of others ; and hav- 
ing the friendship and confidence of all who knew him, 
when, at the close of 1^01, he had reached the age of 
nearly eighteen. 

The period in the religious history of our country 
was eventful, and struck its lines deep into the char- 

" Justin Edwards, son of Noah, married Elizabeth Clark in 1778. 
He removed to Westhampton, where his wife died, December 6, 1792 ; 
and he married Mary Bartlet, January 1, 1795, a niece of Phebe 
Bartlet, whose early history is given in President Edwards' work 
on Revivals. He died October 6, 1816, aged sixty-four. His chil- 
dren by the first wife were Dotia, Jesse, Justin, (Rev. Dr. Edwards,) 
and Elizabeth ; and by the second, Sarah, who died in infancy, Mary, 
and William. 

" Samuel Edwards, born in 171G, brother of Noah, was the grand- 
father of the late Rev. Professor Bela B. Edwards. 

*' The ancestors of Rev. Dr. Justin Edwards were all farmers, in- 
dustrious men, neither rich nor poor, and nearly all of them, male 
and female, were members of the church, and they were all persons 
of good character. I remember Justin Edwards, senior, of AVest- 
hampton. He was a quiet farmer that minded his own business, a 
man of few words, and perfectly honest. 

"SYLVESTER JUDD. 

"Northampton, February 6, 1854." 

1* 



10 ilEV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

acter and history of this worthy youth. As the tri- 
umphs of the gospel in the seventeenth century, in 
the days of Bunyan, Baxter, and Flavel, had been 
followed — partly through the blighting influence of 
the Act of Uniformity, which for twenty-five years 
banished from their pulpits near two thousand godly 
pastors — by a half century of spiritual dearth, when 
God again poured out his Spirit, both on the mother 
country and our own, in the days of Whitefield, Wes- 
ley, Lady Huntington, President Edwards, Brainerd, 
and the Tennents, about the year 1740; so, before 
the close of another half century, this later glorious 
work of God was succeeded by prevalent declension. 
These devoted servants of Christ had rested from their 
labors ; men of zeal without knowledge had put a rash 
hand to the ark ; our seven years' war of the Revolu- 
tion, with its desolating moral effects, had intervened ; 
French Infidelity had entered into high places, and 
threatened to pervade the community ; the life-giving 
influences of the Spirit had been withdrawn ; the 
greater part of our churches had sunk into formalism ; 
in many of them the necessity of being born again by 
the renewing of the Spirit was overlooked ; and men 
without prayer, without faith, or love, claimed admis- 
sion to gospel ordinances on the so-called "half-way 
covenant" system, reserving to themselves the right 
of celebrating, or neglecting the Lord's supper at 
their own pleasure. 

The church at Westhampton, through the period 
of the childhood and youth of the subject of this me- 
moir, felt this unhappy, pervading influence: essentially 
evangelical in doctrine, but without revivals, with- 



EARLY LIFE. 11 

out meetings for social prayer ; vital piety, on the 
one hand, not being contemned, and on the other, not 
regarded as a prerequisite to membership. Sixty or 
seventy years had elapsed since President Edwards 
was laboring amid showers of mercy at Northampton ; 
and preached the sermons constituting his "History 
of Redemption," and wrote his immortal treatises on 
Revivals. A majority of his own congregation, as 
early as 1750, undervaluing the richest gifts of divine 
grace, had effected his removal ; and darkness and 
spiritual dearth again lamentably prevailed. 

Yet the savor of the genuine work of God about 
1740 remained in many churches ; and multitudes of 
God's chosen ones were walking worthy of their high 
calling. At that day many an eye dimmed with age 
brightened, and many a furrowed countenance glowed 
with new life, in the recital of well-remembered scenes, 
when the thunders of Sinai, and the moving accents of 
the Saviour's love fell from the lips of Whitefield, or 
President Edwards, who had long since joined the 
assembly of the first-born in heaven. 

In the wonderful providence of God, the death of 
one of these aged worthies was the means of life to 
the subject of this memoir. Those familiar with Presi- 
dent Edwards' " Narrative of the surprising Work of 
God in Northampton," remember the prominence he 
g-ives to the narrative of " Phebe Bartlet," a dear child 
five years old, whom he could not but regard as sav- 
ingly converted to God. She was born in March, 
1731, adorned the gospel of Christ to advanced years, 
and in December, 1804, at the age of nearly seventy- 
four, went, with her pious husband, Mr. Noah Parsons, 



12 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

wlio was then nearly or entirely blind, to spend a few 
days with her son in Westhampton, who was a near 
neighbor of Mr. Justin Edwards. There she was 
taken sick, and died January 5, 1805. Young Justin 
kindly assisted in ministering to the wants of these 
aged servants of Christ ; and as he heard their heav- 
enly conversation, and saw the dying woman calmly 
trusting in her Saviour — willing to live, or go to be 
with Him, as should be his holy will — and saw the 
divine supports that sustained the bereaved and lonely 
husband, he said to himself. Here is a religion that I 
have not, and that I must have. For many weeks he 
said nothing to any one of his religious feelings ; he 
betook himself to the faithful study of the word of 
God and to prayer, and at length believed that he had 
been enabled to cast himself on Christ as his only and 
all-sufficient portion. Thus he was one of the fruits, 
through the power and grace of Him "who worketh 
all things after the counsel of his own will," of " The 
Great Awakening of 1740." 

But another heavenly influence was to come in to 
form his religious character. The great revival of the 
work of God which commenced about the year 1800, 
which exploded from all our evangelical churches the 
subterfuge of the "half-way covenant," and gave rise to 
the missionary nioveincnts of the age, was already work- 
ing in many churches, not only at the north, but at the 
south in connection with the labors of Dr. Archibald 
Alexander and others, and extending westward, with 
calm but majestic power, characterized by a depth and 
thoroughness wliich caused the most incredulous to 
acknowledge, " This is the work of God." The " Con- 



EARLY LIFE. 13 

necticut Evangelical Magazine," issued at Hartford, 
which heralded the progress of this work, was widely 
circulated ; Southampton was visited by the special 
influences of the Spirit ; and soon the blessing fell on 
Westhampton. The pastor and members of the church 
were quickened ; many mourned the low state into 
which they had fallen ; and young Edwards gave joy 
to their hearts by relating, to the godly and the im- 
penitent around him, what he hoped God had done for 
his own soul. He soon began to seek the salvation of 
others, and took part in religious meetings, including 
meetings of the young. 

About this time he commenced teaching the centre 
school in Westhampton, which he daily opened and 
closed with prayer, and in which an unusual religious 
interest appeared. Calmly addressing the school one 
morning on their eternal interests, he found that sighs 
and sobs were pervading the room ; and the pastor 
was sent for, to come in and address the school and 
pray with them. These facts were heard with wonder 
by the people ; God was indeed among them by his 
Spirit, and "forty or fifty" were added to the church 
on the profession of their faith. A Christian lady, 
who about this time was visiting her friends in West- 
hampton, well remembers that " much was said of his 
extraordinary performances in the meetings for prayer 
and religious conference ;" and to the questions," When 
was he converted ? How long has he been a Christian ?" 
she heard the reply, "He has always been good — I 
thinkhc wassanctifiedfromhisbirth." She adds, "There 
was a great desire to see and hear him at the meet- 
ings ; and his mother's prayers were often mentioned." 



14 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

In April, 180G, about fifteen months after he wit- 
nessed the happy death of her that was Phebe Bart- 
let, we find he has solemnly consecrated himself to 
the service of his Redeemer — a service to which, for 
forty-seven years, he devoted his ceaseless energies, 
till it was said of him, " Blessed are the dead .... for 
they resty He had already placed himself under the 
instruction of his kind and worthy pastor, the Rev. 
Enoch Hale, an accurate -scholar, who ministered to 
that church for fifty years from its formation in 1779, 
and who died among them in 1837 at the advanced 
age of eighty-three. 

In this month we have the first record from his pen, 
in a small book of memoranda, and with it the follow- 
ing document written and subscribed by him. 

"Eternal and glorious Jehovah — Wilt thou 
permit me, who am a sinful worm of the dust, to 
present myself before thee, and enable me by thy 
grace, with the deepest humiliation, self-abasement, 
and contrition of soul, to surrender myself to thee, 
both soul and body, which is my most reasonable ser- 
vice. Through Christ Jesus, thy dear Son, who will- 
ingly laid down his life for sinners, and relying sole- 
ly on his atonement and intercession, enable me 
by faith to take hold of the new covenant of grace, 
and give myself up to thee, and cheerfully, sincerely, 
and unreservedly to consecrate all I am and all I 
have, faculties of both body and mind, to thy service ; 
and may I be enabled by thy grace to renounce the 
world, with all its prospects, allurements, and vani- 
ties, to place no dependence upon them, and humbly 
accept of the Lord Jehovah^ the ever blessed God, 



EARLY LIFE. 15 

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for my only hope and 
portion, both in this life and that which is to come. 

" May I be sensible what a being Thou art, and 
know the way in which sinners may find mercy and 
acceptance in thy sight. Enable me to embrace 
Christ Jesus as he is offered in the gospel, and place 
my soul's immortal hope in Him, who is alone able 
to save. wash my soul in the fountain of his 
blood, and interest me in thy covenant, ordered in 
all things, and sure. Use me as an instrument in 
thy hand of upbuilding the Redeemer's kingdom and 
advancing thy glory. May I now renewedly resolve, 
by thy grace, to live as becometh the gospel of 
Christ, sensible that I am not at home here in the 
body. And wilt thou clothe my naked soul with the 
righteousness of Christ, sanctify me by thy Spirit, 
and may I be united to the blessed Saviour as the 
branch is united unto the vine. May I not depend 
on my own strength, but on thy grace, by which alone 
I shall be enabled to perform my solemn vows. 0, 
save me from the destroying sin of hypocrisy, and 
enable me to know my own heart; and wilt thou 
search and try me, and lead me in the way everlast- 
ing. 

" Ever direct me in the way of duty ; and when the 
all-trying hour of death shall come, whether sooner 
or later, may I be found ready, with my loins girt 
about, my lamp trimmed and burning, and, through 
thy boundless grace in the Saviour, be received to thy 
heavenly kingdom, where thy saints worship thee 
with perfect and upright hearts. 

"J.E. April 24, 1806." 



16 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

The little book of memoranda referred to con- 
tains first a list of works read for one year, twenty- 
three in number, all religious, and most of them high- 
ly spiritual, including Baxter's Reformed Pastor, the 
Life of Brainerd, Backus on Regeneration, Dod- 
dridge's Rise and Progress, Edwards on the Affec- 
tions, Fuller's Gospel its Own Witness, Willison on 
the Lord's Supper, West and Littleton on the Resur- 
rection, and kindred works, with one of systematic 
theology. Such reading he continued diligently 
throughout the whole course of his literary and theo- 
logical studies ; and it is well known, that through life 
he took an active part in the wide diffusion of such 
religious works. The memoranda comprise also a 
record of all the sermons he heard during the year, 
the classical studies he pursued, and a few current 
incidents, among which are the following : 

" April 1, 1806. I yesterday commenced study- 
ing Latin." 

" April 27. I this day enter upon the twentieth 
year of my age. Nineteen years of my mortal life 
are gone, and how little of the great business of life 
has been performed !" 

"May 4. Thirty-one persons were this day added 
to the church of Christ in Westhampton.'^ 
"May 10. Began to study Virgil." 
" Aug. 22. Began the Greek Testament." 
"May 18, 1807. Commenced the study of He- 
brew." 

" Oct. 3. Ended my studies with Rev. Mr. Hale." 
" Oct. 8. Was examined and admitted into the 
Sophomore class in- Williams college." 



EARLY LIFE. 17 

His father not only was unable consistently to 
support him. in acquiring his education, but had a de- 
sire to retain him at home as the support of his own 
advancing years. His parents furnished his clothing, 
no small part of it made by the hands of his mother 
and sister, but for his pecuniary expenses he was 
mainly thrown upon his own resources. A memoran- 
dum gives these as $38 expended in the preparatory 
course, and $287 in college ; $55 70 as received from 
his father, and the remainder he paid chiefly by 
teaching, at intervals during the progress of his clas- 
sical studies, and after their close. He often walked 
forty miles, from Westhampton to Williamstown, or 
returning, and so vigorous was his health, and so 
buoyant his spirits in view of the object before him, 
that he scarcely thought of its being a burden. 

In the winter vacation of his first year in college, 
we find he was teaching in Easthampton ; the suc- 
ceeding winter, in Holliston, Mass. ; and many are 
the evidences of the high estimation in which he was 
held by his pupils and their parents, and the pastors 
whose hands he strengthened by his consistent Chris- 
tian deportment and influence. 

In January, 1808, we find a letter of melancholy 
interest addressed to him by his class-mate, the late 
early fallen and lamented William H. Maynard, of 
the bar and senate of New York ; Edwards and he 
having been regarded as holding the first standing 
in the class, and of course rivals for the highest 
honors. Maynard was then teaching in Plainfield, 
Mass., where he fitted for college with the Rev. 
Moses Hallock, whose hospitable abode was some- 



18 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

times a half-way house for Edwards, as he walked to 
and from college. Maynard writes him a friendly 
letter, withal proposing that they should room to- 
gether on their return to college ; and though May- 
nard professed no special interest in religion, yet as 
he believed it would be gratifying to Edwards, he 
gives him, much as a minister might have done, in a 
page and a half of closely written foolscap, a minute 
description of a powerful revival of religion then en- 
joyed in Plainfield, describing the operation and 
fruits of the Spirit, and particular cases of decided 
conversion, though making no allusion whatever to 
the state of his own soul. 

In college, he was a cheerful, intelligent, consist- 
ent Christian, universally respected and esteemed ; 
but he was so constantly pressing forward his studies, 
his bodily frame being so energetic and his health so 
perfect as seemingly to require neither exercise nor 
relaxation, that the intimacies he formed were few. 
We have no letter from his pen written during his 
college course. His list of hooks read is continued, 
and shows a wide range of subjects ; and he doubt- 
less urged on his reading and studies, no less when 
he was absent in teaching, than when within the col- 
lege halls. Besides all the studies and exercises of 
the three years' course, he read about two hundred 
volumes, embracing, beyond the range of strictly re- 
ligious, devotional works. Lord Bacon's Essays, New- 
ton on Prophecy, Prideaux and Shuckford's Connec- 
tions, Locke on the Human Understanding, Robin- 
son's Charles V. and America, Marshall's Life of 
Washington, Mavor's Universal History, Hume and 



EARLY LIFE. 19 

Gibbon, Reid and Stewart on the Mind, Edwards on 
the Will, Milner's Church History, Porteus' Lectures, 
Paley's Natural and Moral Philosophy, Butler's Anal- 
ogy, Jews' Letters to Voltaire, Montesquieu's Spirit 
of Laws, Blackstone's Commentaries, Junius, Addi-' 
son's, Franklin's, and Priestley's works, etc. 

The orations and treatises he delivered or read in 
college, show also that his mind was not limited to a 
single range of subjects. Among the topics discussed, 
are the wonders of the human soul, whether certain 
crimes ought to be punished with death, love of coun- 
try, instructions to representatives in Congress, the 
measures of the then existing political administration, 
the union of ecclesiastical and civil power, hereditary 
and elective monarchy contrasted, evidences of a di- 
vine Providence in the affairs of men, the work of 
redemption the greatest and most wonderful of the 
works of God, a funeral oration on the death of a 
class-mate, and the valedictory oration on the Signs of 
the Titnes, for he graduated with the highest honors of 
his class, September 5, 1810. 

The "signs of the times" were indeed then por- 
tentous. Napoleon Buonaparte was subjugating king- 
doms at his will ; our country was on the eve of war 
with Great Britain ; every man's heart quaked with 
terror ; yet the speaker points to the great mission- 
ary movements of the age, and the promises of God, 
as indications that the world's redemption drew nigh. 

Feeling the obligation to repay the money he had 
borrowed for his college course, he again devoted 
some months to teaching, in Athens, in the state of 



20 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

New York, and, March 11, 1811, joined the theologi- 
cal seminary at Andover. 

The same work of the Holy Spirit, beginning 
about the year 1800, which had reached the heart of 
young Edwards in Westhampton, and had produced 
glorious fruits in Western Massachusetts and Connec- 
ticut, of which the Rev. Dr. Griffin said, "I could 
stand at the door of my house in New Hartford, Con- 
necticut, and count sixty churches laid down in one 
field of divine wonders," had also reached Eastern 
Massachusetts, where deadness and spiritual dearth 
had long and lamentably prevailed. The university 
at Cambridge, with its professor of theology, had 
gone over to the open denial of the divinity of Christ ; 
in the city of Boston, only one of the Congregational 
churches, the "Old South," maintained the doctrines 
of the cross, and men of God were moved to found 
the Andover seminary, as a rampart for the truth. 
Its orthodoxy was so offensive, like that of the semi- 
nary at Geneva, under Dr. Merle D'Aubigne and 
Gaussen ; or the burning zeal of Whitefield and his 
associates, about the year 1740, both in Old and New 
England ; or of the Haldanes in Scotland, that the 
Legislature of the state of Massachusetts long hesitat- 
ed to grant it the power of holding sufficient funds ; 
it being placed under the direction of the trustees of 
Phillips' academy and a board of visitors. The day 
was one of trial. Churches were separating them- 
selves from each other on the great doctrines centering 
in tlic supreme divinity of our Lord and Redeemer ; 
and many were coming out, erecting new churches, 
and supporting themselves as separate organizations. 



EARLY LIFE. 21 

The professor of rhetoric elected at the organization 
of the seminary was the Rev. Dr. Griffin, who un- 
sheathed the sword of truth, and wielded it with 
mighty power, as he had done for ten years previous, 
amidst wonderful displays of divine grace ; and when 
he was transferred to Boston, where he delivered his 
celebrated " Park-street Lectures," he was succeeded 
in the seminary by the Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Porter, 
who came also from the midst of the great revivals 
in Connecticut, and with his hallowed piety, and 
beautifully consistent and prayerful life, proclaimed 
Christ crucified with trumpet tongue, till he rested 
from his earthly labors. The other professors had 
devoted their lives to the seminary with kindred 
views. 

In the interior of the seminary, the influence of 
the revival of the work of God was also manifest in 
the hallowed missionary spirit. Samuel J. Mills, 
Gordon Hall, and James Richards, all the fruits of 
that outpouring of the Spirit, were familiar asso- 
ciates of Edwards in Williams college. They had 
there privately consecrated themselves personally to 
foreign missions, and of them, with a few others. Dr. 
Griffin says, " On the banks of the Hoosac, under the 
haystacks, these young Elijahs prayed into existence 
the embryo of foreign missions." Arriving at An- 
dover, Edwards rejoined these missionary pioneers, 
with Dr. Judson, late of Burmah, and Nott and New- 
ell, who were the six men, as representatives of 
whom four of their number publicly offered them- 
selves to the General Association of Massachusetts 
to go personally to the heathen, if means could be 



22 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

provided for their support, which was the commence- 
ment of the foreign missionary movement in this 
country. The heart of Edwards beat warmly with 
theirs ; he united in their prayers and counsels, which 
embraced not only foreign missions, but plans for sup- 
plying our own new settlements, and western and 
southern frontiers. But before he had decided the 
question whether himself to go to the heathen, or to 
the remote destitute in our own country, divine Prov- 
idence evidently called him to not less arduous la- 
bors in the field immediately around him. He was 
ardently attached to the missionary enterprise ; he 
ever gave it his prayerful counsels and his faithful 
personal support ; and his plans of usefulness through 
life had a reach as wide as the ruins of the fall. 

In the seminary, he pursued his studies and prose- 
cuted his reading with the same quenchless zeal as in 
college ; and though at proper times, and especially 
in intimate discussions with his fellow-students, the 
late Rev. Professors Olds and Dutton, Dr. Timothy 
Woodbridge, and others, he broke many a friendly 
lance on the knotty and recondite points of divinity, 
yet the characteristic of his theological course, as of 
his future life, was, that he made the Bible, in its 
plain, practical, and obvious import, his great text- 
book. In the public exercises of the seminary ; in 
the Wednesday evening conference, when the pro- 
fessors and students met, and conversed freely on 
subjects of personal religion, and the practical duties 
and responsibilities of the ministry ; in the devotional 
meetings of the students ; in a weekly prayer-meeting 
at the centre of the town, where he frequently led in 



EARLY LIFE. 23 

prayer and spoke of Christ and his salvation ; in meet- 
ings in the neighboring towns, as there was oppor- 
tunity; and in social intercourse with his brethren, 
he manifested a depth of piety, maturity^f judgment, 
wisdom, and discretion, that won confidence, and in- 
dicated that God was preparing him for extensive 
usefulness in the church. 

Not many months had elapsed, when the venerable 
Samuel Abbot, Esq., of Andover, the first of the 
princely donors who laid the foundations of the semi- 
nary, had fixed his eye on Edwards, in whom both 
he and Mrs. Abbot soon became deeply interested, 
and their endeared attachment to him was sundered 
only by death. The church in Andover, to which 
the venerable Rev. Samuel Phillips had ministered 
almost sixty years from its formation in 1711, and 
then the Rev. Jonathan French almost thirty-seven 
years, had now been nearly -three years destitute 
iof a pastor; and though for a considerable period 
the "half-way covenant" system had in this church 
been laid aside, those wishing to join, whose lives 
were inofi'ensive, and especially if they had family 
worship, were adm^itted without insisting on evidence 
of a vital union with Christ by faith; and a revi- 
val of religion like those in the days of President 
Edwards, and those which had already marked the 
beginning of this century, is not known to have been 
there enjoyed. A somewhat serious division was 
existing in the congregation, turning on the vital 
points of evangelical truth, and from time to time the 
pulpit had recently been supplied by men " denying the 
Lord that bought us." Mr. Abbot and others were 



24 KEY. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

alarmed for the interests of the congregation ; and 
after becoming satisfied of the qualifications of Mr. 
Edwards, the wish was expressed to him, that he 
should leave the seminary, though scarcely half 
through the regular course, assume the charge of sa 
congregation of not far from 2,000 souls, scattered 
over a large territory ; attempt to heal their divis- 
ions; and all with the expectation that his revered 
instructors and his fellow-students would be among 
his constant hearers. The attachment of the evan- 
gelical part of the congregation increased ; the more 
they knew and heard him, the warmer was their love ; 
the professors, fearing the consequences if he denied 
their request, gave their unanimous consent ; the stu- 
dents concurred in what they believed so wise a 
choice ; and the young man was pressed above meas- 
ure to know what truly were the "indications of 
Providence," which then and ever he sought to fol- 
low, with no contravening will of his own. 

Having been licensed to preach. May 12, 1812, 
and the committee for supplying the pulpit having 
made some overtures with reference to a call, he 
wrote them the following letter, addressed to " Dea- 
con Daniel Poor, chairman of the committee for sup- 
plying the pulpit in the south parish in Andover :" 

"Andover, June 29, 1812. 

" Dear Sir — It is undoubtedly the duty of every 
person, to pursue that course of conduct which will 
best advance the glory of God and the good of man- 
kind; and the person whose heart is right, will re- 
solve to follow the path of duty, wherever it may 
go. But where the path of duty leads, or what course 



EARLY LIFE. 25 

of conduct will on the whole best advance the glory 
of God and the good of mankind, is a question some- 
times difficult to decide. Upon this subject, as well 
as all others, every person stands in need of divine 
guidance and direction. 

" God sees fit to leave the path of duty sometimes 
doubtful, that we may be sensible of our dependence, 
and that we need divine guidance, as well as divine 
support. This is especially the case with a minister 
of the gospel in this land at the present day, when 
there are hundreds of churches which once had pastors, 
but now are destitute; thousands of new settlements 
which never statedly enjoyed the ordinances of the 
gospel, and are literally starving for the bread of 
life. When there are thousands of heathen on our 
borders, millions in America, and hundreds of mill- 
ions in other parts of the world, whose souls are as 
precious, and who need salvation as much as our 
friends and acquaintance, it is not easy for a minister 
to decide where he must labor, in order to do the 
most good. He must therefore seek for divine di- 
rection, and follow the indications of Providence. 
But a minister, in order to be useful and faithful to 
the souls of men in any place, needs much prepara- 
tion. He must be a scribe well instructed into things 
which pertain to the kingdom of God ; must be well 
acquainted with the Bible, with the character of man, 
and the way of salvation which he must preach to 
others. And at this day, when iniquity is coming in 
like a flood ; when the Christian world is divided, 
both with respect to the character of God, and the 
character of man ; when our American chiu'ches are 

Edwards. 2 



26 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

rent into parties, and the watchmen do not see eye 
to eye, but preach different ways of salvation ; and 
when there is and can be but one way of life, and that 
so strait and narrow, that our Saviour said, 'Few 
there be that find it ;' it is especially necessary that, 
a minister be well acquainted with divine truth, with 
the character of man, and the plan of salvation 
through a Redeemer. 

" It has therefore been a question which has 
rested with great weight on my mind, since I engaged 
to preach in this place, whether I ought to go into 
the ministry immediately, or spend a longer time in 
preparation. But as I am a mere child in theology, 
and have lately begun to study it in a manner which 
I hope will be important to the church and the 
world, I think it my duty to pursue the course for 
the present, and spend a longer time in study, before 
I settle in the ministry. I therefore request that 
nothing be done towards giving me a call to settle in 
this place. 

" But viewing your highly important situation in 
the church, the long time you have been without a 
minister, and the evils to which a people in this situ- 
ation are always exposed ; remembering also the 
kindness, respect, and affection, with which I have 
been treated while among you, and your ardent de- 
sires to obtain a minister of the gospel, my heart 
beats with emotion which can be felt, but never de- 
scribed. And I hope that I can join with you in 
looking to the great Head of the church, that you may 
have a faithful minister sent among you, one in whom 
your hearts can be united ; who shall know the way 



EARLY LIFE. 27 

of life, have an ardent love for souls, and who shall 
Avatch for them as one who expects to render an ac- 
count ; wlio shall be a rich blessing for a long time 
to come, and at last meet you and your children on 
the right hand of Christ. 

' With great respect and esteem, 

"Your brother in Christ, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

Notwithstanding the reception of the above letter, 
the church, on the 24th of July, gave him a call by a 
vote of " 49, and 3 neuter," and on the 10th of Au- 
gust the parish united in it by a vote of " 163, and 
19 in the negative." A letter to him, September 1, 
from a deacon of the church, says, " It is impossible 
to conceive the evils which would probably result 
from a negative. While wc wish your mind to be at 
liberty to weigli the important subject in all its bear- 
ings, we cannot refrain from expressing our own con- 
victions, that the almost unanimous call of this 
church and society, so long distracted and in danger 
of dissolution, must be considered as the call of heav- 
en." The following shows his acceptance of their 
call ; and he was ordained and installed pastor on the 
2d of December. 

" Andovee, Oct. 3, 1812. 

" To the Church and Society in the south parish of Andover: 

"Dear Brethren axd Friexds — The invitation 
which you gave me, to settle with you in the work of 
the gospel ministry, has been a subject of serious con- 
sideration. Although I had not intended to settle in 
any place at present, yet so unanimous a call, in so 
favorable circumstances, and from so important a 



28 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

society, could not but demand the most serious atten- 
tion. I have therefore viewed the subject in its 
various bearings and relations, have consulted with 
friends of Christ in this and other parts of the coun- 
try, and have often implored divine guidance and 
direction. 

" After the most careful inquiry concerning the 
will of God, I have concluded to accept your invita- 
tion, and to labor for you, and for Christ, in this part 
of his vineyard. But on account of my present state 
of health, and the very short time which I have had 
to prepare for the ministry, I must accept your invi- 
tation under the following condition, namely, that I 
shall have opportunity to devote myself to study until 
the month of April. 

" Brethren, I commend you and myself unto God, 
beseeching him that the consequences of this decision 
may be such as he shall approve, such as we shall 
review with pleasure in this life, and with unspeak- 
able joy in the life to come. 

" I ask also an interest in your prayers, that I 
may have the presence of God, the assistance of his 
Spirit, and a single eye to his glory ; that I may feel 
the worth of souls, and watch for them as one who 
expects to render an account ; that I may be faithful 
unto death, and at last meet you and your children 
on the right hand of Christ. 

" With abiding aifection, 

" Yours, in the Lord, 

"J. EDWARDS." 
Ladies of the congregation liaving presented him 
garments which they deemed appropriate for the in- 
stallation, he thus acknowledged their kindness. 



EARLY LIFE. 29 

"Feeling myself under peculiar obligations, I cheer- 
fully express my warmest gratitude to the benevolent 
females who have manifested their kindness and lib- 
erality, in presenting me suitable garments for the 
ordination and other public occasions. 

"I receive them as a new token of that kindness 
and respect which I have so frequently experienced 
since my residence in Andover. Although I came to 
this place a stranger, and expected to leave it in that 
character, yet that Being who should always be our 
director, appears at present to determine otherwise. 
And while I view the events of his providence, it 
kindles peculiar emotions to see him providing me, 
notwithstanding all my unworthiness, such a number 
of friends. And it affords great satisfaction to reflect, 
that although I may not be able to reward them for 
all their kindness, yet if it is the fruit of that disposi- 
tion which charity hopes and the Saviour requires, it 
will meet an abundant reward. 

"Knowing it to be necessary that all be provided 
with suitable garments, I have observed with the deep- 
est regret that many appear to be destitute. They 
are provided with a suitable garment for the ordina- 
tion, and such public occasions ; but you recollect we 
are soon to assemble on another occasion, called 'the 
marriage supper of the Lamb,' where there will be a 
very large assembly not only of our friends and con- 
nections and the people in this vicinity, but all of 
every kindred and tongue and people and nation un- 
der heaven. For this important occasion many have 
no garment, and as they have only a few days to 
provide one, I fear they never will obtain it. Having 



30 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

had evidence of your kindness and liberality, I am 
encouraged to request you to afford them your united 
assistance. The garment for this occasion is peculiar, 
and is called the ' righteousness of Christ ;' and he is 
the only person in the universe who can provide it. 
Viewing the distress and anguish which all will be 
in who are not clothed with this garment, he has kindly 
provided enough for us all. They are now all com- 
pleted and deposited in Emmanuel's wardrobe, but they 
are so costly and valuable that not one can ever be 
purchased. The only way for a person to obtain one, 
is to feel his need of it ; be sensible that he is altogether 
unworthy to receive it, and without it is undone ; and 
in the character of a suppliant make application to 
Christ. But as this garment is worn only by a few, 
and is at present unfashionable, those who are destitute 
feel no need of it, and make no exertion to obtain it. 
This renders their case doubly distressing ; for so long 
as they remain ignorant of their need, so long they will 
remain destitute of a garment for the great day. 

" I therefore entreat you, dear friends, to compas- 
sionate their case, and propose that we all make a 
united application to Christ for them. And as the 
greater the number who at the same time make applica- 
tion, the greater will be the prospect of success, let us 
invite our friends and neighbors and acquaintances to 
join in the request. Although it be not necessary that 
a number be in the same place, yet it is desirable, and 
will increase the prospect of success, for all to make 
application at the same time and for the same object. 
I therefore propose that the time, or a part of it, 
between the hours of eight and nine, on Saturday 



EARLY LIFE. 31 

evening, unless some other time be thought more con- 
venient, be weekly and sacredly devoted to this 
benevolent object ; that all who have a heart to feel, 
or a tongue to pray, may at the same time unite in 
fervent supplications to the Friend of sinners, that He 
would have compassion upon them, and lead them to 
see their condition while there is hope, and make 
application to Him before it be for ever too late ; that 
He would give them repentance to salvation, and 
clothe them with the robe of his righteousness, which 
shall fit them to enter the gates of life, and sit down 
with his redeemed at the marriage-supper of the 
Lamb. 

" ThQ course here proposed is one that has been 
pursued with glorious success by multitudes who have 
gone before us, and we have the most abundant encour- 
agement to follow their example. Should a single 
individual obtain a garment for the great day in con- 
sequence of our endeavors, we shall perform an act of 
charity which heaven will approve ; and should the 
hand which procures the favor at present be concealed, 
eternity will acknowledge the deed." 



S2 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 



CHAPTER II. 

HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 

FIRST FIVE YEARS, 1812—1817. 

'In a few transient leaves of memoranda of pastoral 
visits and other daily engagements at the commence- 
ment of his ministry, we find the following : 

"December 2, 1812 — Was this day examined and 
ordained by an ecclesiastical council from this vicinity, 
consisting of thirteen clergymen and twenty-one lay- 
men. Oh, how amazing the responsibility of watch- 
ing for souls. Immanuel, may thy grace be sufficient 
for me, and thy strength be made perfect in weakness. 
Grant me, Lord, an ardent love to thee and to the 
souls of men ; and glorify thyself in multiplying tro- 
phies of redeeming mercy, and saving the souls of sin- 
ners in this place. May I live to glorify, and be pre- 
pared with all thy redeemed to enjoy thee for ever. 
thou everlasting Jehovah, make me wise as a ser- 
pent and harmless as a dove. Teach me so to num- 
ber my days that I may apply my heart unto wisdom. 
Guide me by thy counsel, and afterwards receive me 
to glory through Jesus Christ. Amen." 

On the succeeding Sabbath, December 6, in the 
opening of the first sermon addressed to his people as 
their pastor, from the text, " Preach t/ie gospel,'^ he said 
to them : 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 33 

"The connection which God in his providence has 
formed between you and me by the transactions of the 
last week, bears a solemn and immediate relation to 
the welfare of the soul and to eternity. It will deeply 
affect our happiness, both here and hereafter. It 
involves consequences which will go with us through 
life, surround us at death, attend us to the judgment, 
and encircle us through eternity. Were it to affect 
us only in this life, or only for a thousand, or ten thou- 
sand years, it would be as nothing. But on the conse- 
quences of this connection I see inscribed, for ever, * 

FOR EVER. 

" Multitudes who will outlive the sun, who are heirs 
of endless existence, and will spend it, rising for ever 
in the world of life, or sinking for ever in the world 
of death, are committed to the watchman's charge. 
How overwhelming the responsibility ! To watch foi 
souls, sound the trumpet of alarm, and beseech them 
to awake from the slumber of death; uncover the 
world of darkness ; show the region of light ; exhibit 
their danger, and point out the way and the motives 
to escape it ; to beseech fellow-men to be reconciled 
unto God, when the message will be a savor of life 
unto life, or of death unto death, to all who hear it ; 
to be an ambassador of God commissioned to negotiate 
with men about the honors of heaven and crowns of 
unfading glory, is a work too great for men, too great 
for angels; none but Christ is sufficient for it; and 
had He not said, 'Lo, I am with you always, even to 
the end of the world,' no minister would have any 
prospect of success. Without Christ, the strongest 
can do nothing ; and with Christ, the weakest can do 

9* 



34 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

all tilings ; for He says, ' My strength is made perfect 
in weakness.' Most gladly therefore will I rejoice in 
weakness, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 
Had I the ardor of Paul, and the eloquence of Apol- 
los ; yea, more, had I the tongue of angels, and could 
speak in the dialect of eternity, it would accomplish 
nothing. In the salvation of souls, Christ and his 
Spirit must do the work, and to Him be all the glory. 
Instead therefore of sinking in despair, or drawing 
back from the arduous work, I would rest on the arm 
*of Jehovah, and inquire, 'Lord, what wilt thou have 
me to do?'" 

Having shown the import of the divine command 
to ^^ preach tJie gospel,^^ the glad tidings of salvation, to 
men condemned to eternal death by the holy law of 
God : to preach " Christ the mediator of the new 
covenant, with all the glory of his Godhead, in the 
form of a servant offering himself to Justice as the 
meritorious ground of salvation; the Holy Spirit as 
the Being who creates anew in Christ Jesus and pre- 
pares the soul to enjoy this salvation ; repentance, 
faith, and obedience as the only way to obtain it; and 
the glory of God and the good of men as the object for 
which it is given," he proceeds to say, "This exhibi- 
tion of the author and finisher and subject and way 
and end of salvation, is all contained in the Bible. 
This, by way of eminence, is ' the gospel,' which every 
minister is to 'preach.' It is the word of the Lord, 
to which we do well to take heed. It is a light given 
on purpose to shine in a dark place ; and to guide all 
penitent believing souls through this wilderness to the 
heavenly rest. In the Bil)le the course of a minister's 



HIS MINISTUr IN ANDOVER. 35 

preaching is not only sketclied, but clearly drawn by 
the pencil of inspiration; and the man or the angel 
who dares to alter it, is charged with rebellion against 
his Maker.'' 

Proceeding with the discussion in successive dis- 
courses, he was guided from on high to lay down, at 
the outset of his ministry, the grand principle which 
was the key-note of all his future instructions: "A 

MIXISTER MUST PREACH THE DOCTRINES AND DUTIES OF 

THE Bible ix their own inspired connection. These 
doctrines and duties are all connected together, hold ' 
their proper place, and when viewed in their connec- 
tion appear harmonious and consistent, divinely cal- 
culated to bring 'glory to God in the highest,' and 
salvation to the lost children of men. When a par- 
ticular doctrine is taken out of its place, and viewed 
without its connection, it may appear inconsistent, and 
perhaps unreasonable ; but in its proper place, and in 
its divinely inspired connection, the inconsistency is 
done away. The doctrines of the gospel all rest upon 
one foundation ; they are connected together, and form 
one harmonious, consistent whole ; but unless viewed 
in their connection, the consistency, harmony, fitness, 
and propriety which mark their divinity, cannot be 
seen. However much the true doctrines of the Bible 
may be opposed by the feelings of natural men, and 
however much they may hate them ; yet if they were 
viewed in their connection, with that clearness with 
which all will behold them at the judgment, * every 
mouth would be stopped, and the whole world become 
guilty before God.' " 

He goes on to illustrate the principle by showing 



36 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

the relations of great foundation truths of the gospel 
to each other — truths ^yhich, when understood by the 
man whose heart is opposed to God, may cause him, 
"without any handwriting upon the wall," to "quake 
like Belshazzar when weighed in the balance and 
found wanting ;" but which to the humble, believing 
child of God, are a source of unspeakable joy. 

He then proceeds to apply the subject by showing 
that every doctrine and every duty of the Bible which 
God has enjoined upon the minister, devolves a cor- 
responding responsibility upon his people. If he must 
be a friend of God and love the truth he declares, so 
must they. If he must be acquainted with his own 
heart, so must they. If he must be constantly present 
to preach, so must they be to hear. If he must make 
the Bible, and not his own feelings, the standard of his 
preaching, so must they. If he must illustrate and 
enforce all its doctrines and duties, just as God has 
revealed them, because he has declared them to be 
" given by inspiration and profitable f so must they for 
the same reason receive, love, and obey them. If he 
must live a life of prayer, so must they. If he must 
prayerfully study the Bible, and when he has learned 
what doctrines and precepts are contained there, 
must faithfully declare them; so must they "search 
the Scriptures," and reject no truth which God has 
revealed. If he must practice as well as preach, and 
manifest in his conduct that he has been with Christ, 
so must they in all things show a sacred and inviolable 
regard to duty. The great inquiry for pastor and 
people is, " What doth the Lord thy God require of 
thee?" ' 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 37 

The following practical rules for the direction of 
his own life, which at his death were found in his 
handwriting in his pocket-book, and which ho had 
evidently kept by him for a long course of years, seem 
to have been seriously regarded throughout the whole 
of his public career. 

RULES OF LIFE. 

"1. Act at all times as in the presence of God ; 
and make it the great object, in all things to please 
him. In order to this, 

" 2. Seek first of all to gain clear views of his will, 
and with regard to all things to be perfectly conformed 
to it. And in doing this, 

" 3. Cherish no thoughts, indulge no feelings, speak 
no words, and do no actions, but what you really think, 
after all the light that you can gain, will most honor 
God, most benefit yourself and others, and give you 
the greatest joy when they come to be exhibited before 
the assembled universe at the judgment-day. 

" 4. Begin and end each day by a season of com- 
munion with God, and by a solemn and hearty com- 
mitment of yourself and all your interests, temporal 
and eternal, to his guidance, care, and disposal. 

" 5. Daily read with deep attention and fervent 
prayer a portion of the word of God, and for the pur- 
pose of understanding, believing, and obeying it. 

"6. Never express or indulge the least degree of 
unkindness towards any human being, and give no 
needless pain to any of the human race, or any even of 
the animal creation. 

"7. Make it your object to promote the greatest 



38 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

happiness on tlie whole of all upon whom you may- 
have influence, both of the present and of all future 
generations. 

"8. Regard the hand of God in all the dispensa- 
tions of his providence, and in whatsoever state he 
places you, therewith be content. 

"9. Envy none who are above you, and despise 
none who are below you ; but possess and manifest the 
utmost good will towards all men. 

"10. Never speak of any, or feel towards them in 
a manner that you ought not to wish them, under sim- 
ilar circumstances, to speak or feel with regard to you. 

"11. Let all statements and narrations be an exact 
exhibition of the real truth. 

"12. Act for God, for the universe, and for eter- 
nity ; and in such a manner as is adapted to promote 
the highest good for ever. In order to this, 

"13. Look habitually to Jesus Christ; let your 
whole soul be imbued with his spirit, and manifest it 
in all your actions. 

" 14. Look to the Holy Ghost as the author of all 
good in man ; seek habitually his teaching, his illu- 
minating and purifying influences; and that he may 
dwell in you as his temple, and take full possession of 
all your powers and talents for himself. 

" 15. Earnestly desire that he would take of the 
things of Christ and more and more show them unto 
you ; and carefully avoid every thing which tends to 
hinder you from becoming perfectly like him. 

"16. Make it as your meat and drink to do the 
will of God, and perseveringly have respect to all his 
commandments. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 39 

" 17. Feel and acknowledge that all the good that 
you ever have received, that you now receive, or ever 
will receive, is of grace through Jesus Christ ; trust in 
him for all which you need, both for this life and the 
life to come ; rely on his merits, imitate his example, 
and in view of every blessing give Him and the Father 
and the Holy Ghost all the glory." 

Having assumed the high responsibilities of a pas- 
toral charge embracing not far from two thousand 
souls, chiefly a farming community, spread over a ter- 
ritory about eight miles by four in extent,^ with no 
other church organization within its bounds ; the people 
all looking to him as the pastor, not only to sustain the 
public ministrations of the Lord's house, but to visit 
them at their own abodes, and be with them in sorrow 
and in joy ; he entered on the fulfilment of these sacred 
duties with an impulse and energy doubtless kindled 
from on high. To every soul, whether of the rich or 
the poor, from the most aged trembling under the 
weight of years, down to the little child, he felt that 
he was "debtor;" and he was enabled to pursue his 
ministerial work with a fidelity. Christian discretion, 
and adaptation to the wants of all, that concentrated 
upon him their respect, affection, and confidence ; and 
showed that he had been endued with preeminent 
qualifications to "feed the church of God which he 
hath purchased with his own blood." 

* Andover lies twcuty miles north of Boston, and nearly at the 
same distance from Salem and Newburyport. It is on the direct 
road from Boston to the capital of New Hampshire, and is now- 
penetrated by the Boston and Maine railroad. The present popu- 
lation of the town is upwards of seven thousand. 



40 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

Except brief memoranda of the engagements of 
eacli day for three short periods, he made no record 
of his abundant labors throughout his pastoral life; 
evidently " having respect unto the recompense of the 
reward," when he should give an account of his stew- 
ardship ; and too intent- on the duties of each passing 
day and hour to have time or strength to write what 
they were, or how they were performed. But there 
are enduring records in the grateful, glowing hearts 
of many of his surviving people, in the historic facts 
of divisions healed ; opposition to " the truth as it is 
in Jesus" allayed; a slumbering people spiritually 
aroused; intemperance removed; the Sabbath honor- 
ed ; the sanctuary filled with solemn worshippers ; the 
family altar erected; the Sabbath-schools; the Bible- 
classes ; the organizations among male and female, old 
and young, for the reformation of morals and " doing 
good ;" the pervading heavenly influence which rested 
on a great congregation, multitudes of whom are now, 
with their honored and beloved pastor, together cast- 
ing their crowns before the throne of God and the 
Lamb. 

The transient memoranda commenced on the day 
of his installation, December 2, 1812, were continued 
for tliree months to March 4, 1813, noticing what 
families he visited, and how he was employed in the 
morning, in the afternoon, and often in the evening of 
each day. These notices show a surprising amount 
of pastoral labor, the number of families visited being 
frequently ten or fifteen in a day, in many of which he 
" took tlie names of the children," who were his hope 
and the objects of his special care ; and it Avas his cus- 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 41 

torn tlirouglioiit his ministry, in pastoral visits to read 
a short portion of Scripture, sometimes with explana- 
tions and singing a hymn, and to close the interview 
with prayer. Not one family within the limits of his 
congregation, however humble or obscure, or far from 
God, escaped his notice in his pastoral visits. 

The memoranda contain repeated notices of sup- 
plying families with hymn-books, catechisms, and prim- 
ers ; of care for the young ; of persons found anxious 
for their salvation ; of families establishing family 
worship; of good seasons in the house of God; of 
visiting the sick ; of conversing and praying in 
schools ; of devising plans of usefulness ; attending 
meetings for prayer, in one of which an hour of Sat- 
urday evening was set apart as a concert of private 
prayer for the influences of the Holy Spirit ; notices of 
his studying particular portions of Scripture ; reading 
the Hebrew Bible ; conversing on the doctrine of the 
Trinity ; meeting the deacons and planning for the 
good of souls ; ejaculations to God to enable him to 
be faithful in visiting ; of writing and preaching ser- 
mons, and similar varied and unwearied means of use- 
fulness. To his people it seemed that he might justly 
say, in the language of the great apostle, "I have kept 
back nothing that was profitable unto you ; but have 
showed you, and have taught you, publicly and from 
house to house ; testifying both to the Jews, and also 
to the Greeks, repentance towards God and faith 
towards our Lord Jesus Christ." 

His health soon became prostrated, and he was 
obliged to leave his charge for some time, and rest. It 
was probably of this period that he said in substance, 



42 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

" My health had been so firm that I thought nothing 
could hurt me, and wishing to visit a young minister 

at C , I started off and walked fifteen miles in a 

hot day. Getting very warm, I sat. down in a cool 
place and took a cold which disabled me from preach- 
ing for months." Visiting Westhampton, his surviv- 
ing elder sister, who had cared for him in childhood 
and youth and when pursuing classical study, remem- 
bers that he said to her, that when agitating the ques- 
tion of accepting the call to settle in Andover, the 
Rev. Dr. Austin, of Worcester, told him he would 
be manifestly going contrary to the will of divine 
Providence should he decline it ; that on the morning 
of the installation he felt oppressed with a sense of 
the responsibilities he was about to assume ; that often 
in the arduous and difiicult position in which he was 
placed, when he looked at his own weakness and un- 
worthiness, he felt that he should sink ; but when he 
had the light of God's countenance and his holy, sup- 
porting presence, he hoped he did "a little good." 

His deacons wrote him at "Westhampton, stating 
the deep anxiety of his people, and that there were a 
number of cases of seriousness among them. The late 
deacon Isaac Abbot writes, "You, sir, mention that, 
could you see a revival of religion in Andover, and 
hear immortal souls inquiring, 'What must we do to 
be saved?' and see them fleeing from the wrath to 
come, and laying hold on eternal life, you should be 
almost well. These things, sir, you cannot see where 
you now are ; but were you here, if only to visit and 
converse with the people, I have strong faith, trusting 
in the aid of the divine Spirit, that such a season you 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 43 

would behold. It was our communion last Sabbath : 



your address to the church and society was read, and 
received with great satisfaction. Our people all seem 
greatly rejoiced to hear from you, but would be much 
more so, could we see you." 

While laboring for the best interests of his church 
and congregation, it soon became evident that God 
had placed him in a position where his influence was 
to be still more widely felt. Young men preparing 
for the ministry had till this time generally pursued 
their studies under the care of some divine who was 
faithfully engaged in the labors of a pastor ; and those 
entering the walls of the Theological Seminary would 
fix their eyes on him, whose ministry they then attend- 
ed ; and the influence on them of his pastoral fidelity 
might extend to other churches, and even to heathen 
lands, to which many of them were destined. 

He also, soon after his settlement, united with the 
Rev. Professors Porter, Woods, and Stuart, Mr. 
Adams, principal of the Academy, Mr. Farrar, treas- 
urer, and Deacon Newman, a member of the board 
of trustees, in a weekly Monday evening meeting at 
Dr. Porter's study, for devising plans of doing good 
and advancing the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom, 
at home and abroad, in every practicable way. This 
meeting was continued many years. It was noiseless ; 
but its aim was befitting the rising spirit of missions 
and other departments of benevolence which the great 
work of God at the beginning of the century had 
awakened ; and their united prayers, counsels, and 
endeavors were evidently owned from on high in ex- 



44 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

tensive good. Several of our excellent and cherished 
institutions and means of usefulness had their origin 
in, or were assisted and encouraged by the harmo- 
nious plans and counsels of this little meeting. 

The earliest among these institutions was the 
"New England Tract Society," which at length was 
merged into the "American Tract Society," an 
enterprise of which Dr. Edwards, while pastor, was 
to have for several years the principal direction, and 
in which to bear high responsibilities through life. It 
was about the close of the year 1813, that the Eev. 
Dr. Porter was buying a little religious book, when it 
occurred to him, that a Tract Society would supply the 
community with better books at a far cheaper rate ; 
and suggesting the idea to the little circle of his 
brethren, they took up the enterprise, made their own 
subscriptions, and set about obtaining collections for 
establishing it, which were responded to with such 
liberality in the principal towns in the vicinity, that 
they soon set presses in motion, and at the time of the 
public organization of the Society in Boston, May 23, 
1814, no less than $3,830 had been subscribed, and 
$2,745 expended in issuing a series of fifty tracts, in 
all 297,000 copies. The printing and principal man- 
agement till 1825 remained at Andover, though it had 
a d6p6t of its publications in Boston, where its an- 
niversaries were celebrated. 

On the 20th of April, 1814, a highly efficient in- 
strumentality, " The Andover South Parish Society 
FOR THE Reformation of Morals," or " Doing Good," 
was organized by about seventy of the male members 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 45 

of the congregation : its object being to discountenance 
immorality, particularly Sabbath-breaking, intemper- 
ance, and profanity ; and to promote industry, temper- 
ance, order, piety, and good morals. The Society met 
quarterly for mutual encouragement, and the pastor, 
who was chairman of their standing committee, gave his 
counsel and cooperation in all the objects before them, 
and for eleven successive years presented, at their an- 
nual meetings in September, an able public report or 
address. At their first anniversary he showed the power 
of associated counsels and action in discountenancing 
vice, and doing good ; -that the fathers who had united 
in the Society, seeing the destructive influence of the 
vices named, for this life and the life to come, had 
associated not only to benefit themselves and those 
around them, but to save their children from the cor- 
rupting influences that if not arrested must descend 
to them ; and to do this especially by setting a good 
example themselves, and in the regulation of their own 
families. "As neighbors when they meet," said the 
address, " must have subjects of conversation, let them 
converse on the evils of prevailing immoralities, and 
the ease with which by united exertion they might be 
prevented." It stated that there were in the parish 
^^Jive hundred children, whom they wished to train up 
in sobriety, temperance, industry, virtue, piety, and 
good morals, a generation for God, to be pillars in 
church and state when their fathers are in the grave, 
and who, when these heavens shall have passed away, 
shall through grace stand on mount Zion, crowned 
with immortal glory." All these children they wished 
to supply with suitable tracts and small books adapted 



46 REV. JUSTIN EDAVARDS, D. D. 

to their age and wants ; to throw a good moral and 
religious influence into all the district-schools ; and 
by all suitable means "train them up in the nurture 
and admonition of the Lord." 

At the next anniversary, September 13, 1815, the 
pastor, as chairman of the standing committee, pre- 
sented a very cheering report. 

At the first quarterly meeting, they had appointed 
their president, vice-president, and Mr. John Adams 
delegates to a county convention in Topsfield for pre- 
venting the profanation of the Lord's day, Avhich the 
pastor attended and took part in the discussions. The 
object of this and similar movements in various parts 
of New England at this period, A^as especially to en- 
courage a more faithful execution of the laws of the 
land, in furtherance of which Dr. Edwards wrote a 
petition to the legislature of the state. 

At their second quarterly meeting tliey had ap- 
pointed the Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Porter as preacher at 
their next anniversary, whose sermon was no other 
than his well-known splendid discourse, " Great Effects 
result from Little Causes," of which tens of thousands 
have been circulated by the American Tract Society 
as No. 74 of their series. 

At their third quarterly meeting they had welcomed 
a new auxiliary in one hundred and Jifty females, who 
had organized as the "Andover South Parish Female 
Cliaritable Society," and with their prayers and co- 
operation brought liberal funds to purchase books for 
the children. 

In reviewing the year, the pastor, in behalf of the 
committee, stated that in reference to profanity, they 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 47 

liad had little to do, for he said, '* This enormous evil, 
which a few years ago was so prevalent, has almost 
ceased, except it be with a few of the most degraded, 
and we hope the time is approaching when this evil 
will be entirely done away." 

" On the subject of the Sabbath, you need only appeal 
to the testimony of your own eyes, to see that the 
exertions of yourselves and others have been crowned 
with success. The alarming profanation of the Sab- 
bath, which two years ago threatened to sweep every 
thing before it, and was thought to be incurable, has 
not only been arrested and greatly checked, partly 
through the cooperation given to civil officers, but 
apparently almost done away." 

"As to intemperance, although some individuals are 
still reeling to and fro, and some families clothed in 
woe by this iniquity, yet the evil has been greatly 
lessened. A few years ago, $15,000 were expended in 
this town for ardent spirits in a year ; $8,000 more 
than was paid for the support of the gospel, and of all 
the schools, highways, state and county taxes, and all 
other town expenses. The people the last year did 
not probably expend one third of that sum. Ardent 
spirits in the respectable part of the community are 
becoming unfashionable, and dispensed with in sodal 
visits. Many workmen are employed on condition of 
refraining from ardent spirits, and it is found that 
better men are secured, and that they do more business 
and in a better manner than before. The practice of 
taking wine at funerals is almost entirely abolished; 
and it begins to be understood that ardent spirits, 
except in special cases as a medicine, are not only 



48 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

entirely useless, but ruinous to the bodies and the souls 
of men." 

"The ^Female Charitable Society' have prospered 
beyond their expectations. Here are one hundred and 
fifty females, feeling that their mercies have all been 
purchased by the blood of Christ, and associated to 
contribute annually to provide books for the children, 
as rewards for learning the catechism and good be- 
havior; to furnish the destitute with Bibles and 
religious books, and to aid in supporting missions in 
this country and among the heathen. Never was there 
a more benevolent object than that in which they are 
engaged. Their benevolence begins at home, but 
embraces the world ; not for time only, but through 
endless being." 

He proceeds to report that small books had been 
procured as a circulating library for each of the seven 
district-schools ; and that within the last four months 
1,302 books, containing over 30,000 pages, had been 
reported as read; about two hundred children had 
learned one half, and one hundred and six the whole 
of the catechism, besides about two hundred hymns 
and numerous portions of Scripture. The results in 
each district are minutely reported ; the improvement 
of the children in learning had been unusually great ; 
and a gratifying progress was made towards reaching 
all the five hundred children whose welfare they were 
seeking. 

"Look for a moment," he says, "at one soul, im- 
mortal and yet walking heedlessly over the bottomless 
pit. Like an angel of mercy, you hand him a little 
tract on the ' Loss of the soul.' He reads with wonder ; 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 49 

the eyes of his mind are enlightened ; he sees himself 
on slippery places, and fiery billows are beneath him. 
Wretched, he casts himself on the blood of Jesus ; and 
an arm of mercy from heaven snatches him as a brand 
from the burning, and he- sings, 'Salvation, and glory, 
and honor to the Lord our God.' You have saved a 
soul from death and hid a multitude of sins. His 
influence, which before was leading others to destruc- 
tion, is now guiding them to heaven. He comes to 
die. Surrounded with the light of heaven, his eye 
beams with hope; and his voice, though sinking in 
death, is raised in thanksgiving. He recommends his 
precious Redeemer to all around him, falls asleep in 
His arms, and wings his way ; and a multitude which 
no man can number, press to the gate of heaven to 
shout his arrival. He ascends upon mount Zion, and 
joins the swelling song, ' Unto Him that loved us and 
gave himself for us.' " 

These operations were efficiently continued from 
year to year ; attention being gradually concentrated 
more and more on instructing the children in the truths 
of the Bible, and interesting them and others in the 
great benevolent movements of the age. At the an- 
niversary in 1818, the pastor reported a new move- 
ment: it was no other than the formation of a Sabbath- 
school f in which one hundred and thirty-eight children 
met, in the interval of public worship, to recite por- 
tions of Scripture and receive instruction in the truths 
of the Bible. This event was hailed with great de- 
light, and its benefits and promise of usefulness were 
dwelt upon, as showing that God was about to bless 
to children the truths of his word, and turn the hearts 

Edwards. 3 



50 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

of multitudes of them to himself. In a few years more, 
seven Sabbath-schools were sustained in the several school- 
districts within the bounds of his large congregation, 
and most of the five hundred children were gathered 
into them. 

As the donations of the charitable society and the 
children were distributed to almost all the principal 
benevolent institutions, the pastor availed himself of 
the annual meetings of this Society for Doing Good, 
to give full, and often minute and graphic information 
concerning the character and operations of the several 
institutions which they aided in our own and foreign 
lands ; a course admirably calculated to enlarge the 
hearts of the little ones and others to feel for the 
moral wants and woes of the world. 

His beloved foreign missionary brethren of the col- 
lege and seminary continued to write him frequently. 
The Rev. Samuel J. Mills wrote from his father's, in 
Torringford, Connecticut, requesting him to spend the 
winter of 1815-16 in New Orleans, where was great 
need of missionary labor, and reporting a blessed 
revival of religion in a neighboring town ; the Rev. 
Luther Rice wrote him both before and after sailing 
from Philadelphia for India; and the Rev. Gordon 
Hall often wrote, reporting the progress of the mission 
in Bombay. 

In reference to establishing in our land the monthly 
concert of prayer for foreign missions, Dr. Edwards wrote 
the following, in the form of a circular letter. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 53 

To Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Fitch, President of Williams College. 

"Andovek, January 13, 1815. 

" Rev. and very dear Sir — While we as a nation 
are groaning under the judgments of heaven, and as a 
punishment for our iniquities appear to be sinking 
never again to rise, the friends of Zion in different 
parts of the country have expressed a wish that there 
might be a concert for prayer; that Christians of 
every age and denomination may at the same time 
unite in fervent supplications that the Lord would 
pour his Spirit upon us from on high ; that he would 
sanctify the children and rising generation for him- 
self, and extend the gospel with all its blessings through 
the world. In a word, to pray for a revival of pure 
and undefiled religion, the only thing which can pos- 
sibly save our sinking country. 

" The time proposed for the concert is the first 
Monday evening of every month. A concert for prayer 
on this evening has already been observed in Great 
Britain, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, the Christian 
settlements in Africa, New Holland, Asia, and other 
parts of the world. Could it now be extended through- 
out the United States, we should then unite with 
Christians, not only in this country but in numerous 
other countries, in supplicating the greatest blessings 
which God can bestow. 

" Have we not reason to hope, sir, if such a union 
could be formed, that light would break forth upon us 
as the morning, and salvation as the noonday ; that 
righteousness would go before us, and that the glory 
of the Lord would follow? 

" Will you have the goodness, dear sir, to give us 



52 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

your thoughts upon the subject, and also Professor 
Dewey, etc., as soon as may be. Should the plan meet 
the views of gentlemen of influence in different parts 
of the country, measures will be taken to extend the 
information as speedily and as widely as possible. 

" We think of preparing a tract that may go into 
every family, perhaps President Edwards' work as 
abridged by Mr. Burder, and sending it through the 
United States. 

" With sentiments of the highest regard, 
" Most cordially yours, 

''J. EDWARDS." 

In October, 1815, an esteemed young lady of his 
church was married to the Rev. Horatio Bardwell, 
destined to the mission at Bombay, who sailed for 
India the same month, in company with Dr. Ed*wards' 
early friend Richards, and Rev. Messrs. Poor and 
Warren ; the company receiving a solemn charge from 
her pastor, in the appropriate public services previous 
to their embarkation at Newburyport. Of her recol- 
lections of Dr. Edwards previous to her departure, 
she says, 

"My impressions of his early ministry are still 
vivid. There existed at that time among the people 
more or less prejudice against the Theological Sem- 
inary, and many feared that the young pastor, fresh 
from that institution, would fail to secure the harmony 
of the church and society ; but these fears were soon 
removed. He had joeculiar excellences as a pastor 
and preacher. He was indefatigable, in season and 
out of season ; preeminently an example of what a 
gospel minister may accomplish, even in an unpromis- 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 53 

ing field, by diligent, persevering devotion to his work, 
and love for the spiritual interests of his flock. His 
hearers felt that he sought not theirs, but them. In 
the sanctuary, the prayer-meeting, the conference-room, 
and in more private family meetings, in which he 
always seemed greatly to delight, the universal impres- 
sion made on the minds of his people, that he was a 
consistent, devoted minister of Christ, disarmed opposi- 
tion. The deep and solemn interest of one of these family 
meetings, at which I was present in the early part of 
his labors, I can never forget. 

" His prayers were peculiarly comprehensive and 
solemn, and in all his exercises his aim was to rivet 
the attention of his hearers, and fix truth upon the 
heart. He was both revered and loved by his people. 
I often heard the remark, ' Mr. Edwards can do just 
as he pleases.' His wishes were law, and the con- 
straining influence of that law was love. The interest 
he manifested in children was great, and his labors for 
them abundant. All in all, perhaps there never was 
a more visible, happy change wrought in a church and 
society, than by the earnest, zealous efforts of this 
good man and minister." 

Concurring in the above, the Rev. Mr. Bardwell 
further says, "As a minister of Christ, Dr. Edwards 
excelled, as all acknowledge, in the skilful handling 
of the word of God ; he was ' mighty in the Scrip- 
tures.' The foundation of this eminence was laid in 
the early part of his ministry. I was in the seminary 
when he was installed, and heard most of his sermons 
for two years. These and all his extemporaneous 
performances in the pulpit, and in the conference and 



54 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

prayer-meeting, were strictly biblical. He made little 
display of his knowledge of the principles of technical 
exegesis; but honored the received version of the 
Bible, and encouraged his hearers to receive it as the 
oracles of God. He seemed to bear in mind the great 
truth, that the object before him was not to preach 
himself or any system of human device, but to explain 
and enforce tlie gospel. He abounded in quotations 
from the sacred volume, and his richest illustrations 
were drawn from Bible history. In the argumentative 
parts of his sermons, he oftener employed the language 
of the sacred writers, than of philosophy and of the 
schools; and in his appeals to the heart and con- 
science, he abounded in scriptural phraseology. His 
hearers could not fail to be impressed that the preacher 
honored the Bible as the word of God, and that it was 
the one great purpose of his heart to preach it. 

" It was, I think, this uncommon measure of Bible 
truth in his early ministry, that gave him such power 
over his people. The aged felt it safe to confide in 
one who, though young in years, had so enriched his 
mind with heavenly wisdom. The children and the 
youth loved and reverenced him, not only because on 
his lips was the law of social kindness, but of scrip- 
ture truth, which distilled like the gentle rain and 
the dew. He was eminently a Bible man. This, to 
my mind, was the secret of his power, that in which 
his great strength lay.'^ 

A prominent aim of the preaching to which Rev. 
Mr. Bardwell refers, was plainly and distinctly to 
show to all classes of hearers, that " except a man be 
bo7'n again, he cannot see the kingdom of God ;" that 



HIS MINISTR'i: IN ANDOVER. 55 

" if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, lie is none 
of His." Preaching from this latter text in 1814, he 
uttered the following heart-searching truths, in which 
the discerning reader will perceive many indications 
of the moral and religious state of things then ex- 
isting. 

" There is a great difference of opinion," he says, 
" as to what constitutes a Christian. Some suppose 
that being born in a Christian land, and educated 
under the light of the gospel, constitute a Christian. 
Others, that a man becomes a Christian by professing 
the Christian religion. Some suppose that living 
what is called an innocent and harmless life, and 
doing no hurt in the world, constitute a Christian. 
Others, that a man becomes a Christian by being- 
diligent and enterprising in business, respectable in 
society, supporting civil and religious institutions, ob- 
serving the Sabbath, and going the round of external 
duties. Some suppose that a mild, amiable temper, a 
great regard to the feelings of men, and a disposition 
always to please them, constitute a Christian ; and 
others, that a man becomes a Christian by changing 
his outward conduct. Some suppose that believing 
that Jesus of NazaretL is the Christ, and that the 
Bible is a divine revelation, constitute a Christian ; 
and others, that a man becomes a Christian by think- 
ina: that he is one. 

" But all these are mistakes. Who, on a moment's 
reflection, does not know that a man may be born in 
a Christian land, and hear the preaching of the gospel, 
and yet not be a Christian? Many heard the preach- 
ing of Christ himself who were 'of their father the 



56 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS. D.D. 

devil, and the lusts of their father they would do.' 
And it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, 
and for Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, 
than for them. 

" A man may profess religion ; but who does not 
know that men are not always what they profess to 
be? Many profess Christ in words, while in works 
they deny him. They will say in that day, ' Have we 
not eaten and drunk in thy presence?' but He will 
say, ' I never knew you ; depart from me, ye workers 
of iniquity.' A man may live what is called an inno- 
cent and harmless life, injure no one, and do no hurt 
in the world ; but this does not make him a Christian. 
Christians do good. The man who simply does no 
hurt is an 'unprofitable servant.' He will be 'cast 
into outer darkness.' Who gave him liberty to hide his 
talent in a napkin, and simply do no hurt? A man 
may be diligent in business, honest in his dealings, 
useful to society, support civil and religious institu- 
tions, attend public worship on the Sabbath, and so 
far as men discover go the whole round of external 
duties ; he may ' give his goods to feed the poor, and 
his body to be burned' — but this does not constitute a 
Christian. A man may do all this from supreme re- 
gard to himself. He may be diligent, to lay up for the 
body ; be honest, because it is the best way to get 
rich ; attend public worship, from a regard to reputa- 
tion ; give to the poor, to silence conscience, or pur- 
chase heaven ; or sacrifice life, to be enrolled on the 
annals of fame. He may have a thousand motives to 
be moral, diligent, honest, and even draw near to God 
with his mouth, while his heart is far from Him ; but 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 57 

* the Lord looketli upon the heart ;' ' he weigheth the 
spirits.' 

" A man may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and 
that the Bible is a divine revelation. He may know- 
it. But this does not make him a Christian. Multi- 
tudes of wicked men believe this. The time is com- 
ing when they will all believe it. They will hear the 
trump of the archangel ; they will look up and see 
Jesus descending in flaming tire ; thousands and tens 
of thousands will be round about him, and they will 
have no doubt of his being the Christ ; but it will not 
make them Christians. They will 'cry to the rocks 
and mountains to fall on them.' A man may have all 
these things, and yet may still be an impenitent, unbe- 
lieving sinner, 

"The Holy Ghost, as if with direct reference to 
this diversity of opinion, and to cut off all controversy 
upon the subject, declares with the plainness of eternal 
truth, ' If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is 
none of his.' A Christian is a man who has ' the Spirit 
of Christ.' This forms the dividing line between 
saints and sinners : a line which separates this assem- 
bly, and the whole human race, into two classes. 
Those who have the Spirit of Christ, of whatever age, 
profession, or name, are Christians : those who have 
not his Spirit, are none of his. 

" The great truth revealed in the text is this : If 
any man have not a temper of heart like thai of Christ, he 
is not a Christian; andifanyman have a temper of heart 
like that of Christ, he is a Christian. This line separates 
all men into saints or sinners. My present object is, 
in a simple manner to show what was the temper 



58 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

OF Christ. Let every individual, as I pass along, com- 
pare it with his own, in order to determine whether 
he is a Christian or not. 

" Christ had a supi'eme regard to the glory of God 
and the good of his kingdmn. He would make any sac- 
rifice to advance them. When necessary, he would 
sacrifice ease and comfort, and the respect and ap- 
plause of men, houses, lands, kinsfolk, and friends ; 
he would sacrifice his life. For this he left heaven, 
and came down to earth ; for this he lived and toiled 
and mourned and wept and bled and died. While 
others lived and died for themselves, he lived and 
died for the glory of God and the good of his king- 
dom. Is this your object? There is some object for 
which you live and toil. Is it the glory of God? 
Does this occupy your hearts, and can you sacrifice a 
right hand or a right eye to promote it? Perhaps 
you cannot think of standing alone for the sake of ad- 
vancing the glory of God and the good of his king- 
dom. If so, you have not the spirit of Christ. He 
was totally different. He was ready to do something, 
and to make sacrifices, whether others would or not. 
He stood in the gap. It was not necessary for him to 
go with the multitude, and have the world to support 
him. He had a bold independence which could stand 
alone. When the glory of God required, he fixed his 
face like a flint. He suffered trials, bore aJBAictions^- 
endured hardships, encountered dangers. He was 
courageous. With eyes fixed on the glory of God 
and the good of his kingdom, he cast himself on infi- 
nite strength and broke through all opposition which 
stood in the path of duty, or opposed his progress in 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 59 

the way to heaven. He had no thought, in promoting 
the divine glory, that all others must do the same, or 
he neglect it. Whatever others did, his object was 
one. He lived and he died to advance it. Have you 
this spirit? 

" Christ was guided in his feelings and conduct by 
the icill of God. He came into the world not to do 
his own will, but the will of liis Father. His meat 
and drink was, to ' do the will of Him that sent him, 
and to finish his work.' Whether he should take this 
course or that, was determined by the will of God. 
He did not inquire, Will others do it? what do men 
think? will it be easy, safe, or popular? but, Is it 
the will of God? If so, his course was fixed. Per- 
haps it led him through pain, and sickness, and sor- 
row, and tribulation, and death ; but no matter for 
that, it led him to eternal glory, that was enough. 
Have you this spirit ? What guides your conduct ; 
is it your inclination, or is it the will of God ? When 
you know his will, is your course fixed? Are you 
ready to go forward, whatever be the consequences ? 
Christ was ; and if you have not the Spirit of Christ 
you are none of his. 

" Christ sought his happiness in serving God and en- 
joying his presence. Nothing gave him such delight 
as communion with God. Hence, we read of his rising 
* a great while before day ' for prayer. Is it so with 
you? 

" Christ approved tlie divine law ; that law which 
saith, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
mind, and thy neighbor as thyself;' and 'the soul 



60 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. L). 

that sinueth, it shall die.' The purity of the law, its 
extent, its requirements, and its penalt}^, every thing 
with respect to it, met his full approbation. He 
viewed it as perfectly right. He wished for no 
alteration. He believed that all men ought perfectly 
to obey it, and that if they did not they were guilty, 
and deserved everlasting destruction. Do you ? Do 
you feel that you ought to obey the divine law per- 
fectly, and that so far as you fall short, you are guilty 
and without excuse, and that you must be forgiven or 
perish? Do you approve the law which condemns 
you, and feel that you deserve the everlasting destruc- 
tion which it threatens ? Or do you feel that it is 
too strict, that it requires too much, or threatens too 
much ? If so, you have not the spirit of Christ. He 
felt that the law was exactly right. He loved it, and 
strove constantly to obey it. You do, if you have 
the spirit of Christ. You approve it. It appears holy, 
and just, and good. You love it ; you strive con- 
stantly to obey it. When you transgress you feel 
guilty ; you condemn yourself for your sin ; you loathe 
and abhor it -, you mourn in bitterness of soul, and 
repent as in dust and ashes. Have you this spirit? 
Be honest with yourselves and with God. It will do 
you no hurt to learn your true character ; but to be 
deceived will ruin you. 

" Christ was pleased with the government of God, 
and ready to commit all concerns to his everlasting 
disposal. He was satisfied with what God does ; the 
dispensations of his providence and his grace met his 
full approval. Clouds and darkness might be round 
about him, but he knew that justice and judgment 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 61 

are the liabitiition of his throne. Whenever he could 
say, 'It is the Lord/ he was ready also to say, 'It is 
well ;' ' Not my will, but thine be done.' Have you 
this spirit ? Christ had ; and if Christians, you have. 

" Christ loved the souls of men. Every step from 
the throne of God to the manger, and from the 
manger to the cross, was a proof of it. He was plain 
in his instructions, faithful in his warnings, and 
abundant in labors. He did not cry peace, when 
there was no peace. He told men their true con- 
dition, their amazing guilt and danger. He carried 
them on to the judgment. He opened eternal pros- 
pects, and cried with a voice of mercy, ' He that hath 
ears to hear, let him hear.' Have you his spirit ? 

" Christ was much in prayer. If Christians, so are 
you. You do not pray simply once or twice on the 
Sabbath, or some special occasion, but prayer is a 
part of your daily business. I ask every individual, 
do you pray in secret, in your families, in the house 
of God? Christ did. Have you in this respect his 
spirit ? 

" Christ endured trials with patience. He prayed 
for his enemies, and was ready to forgive. Are you ? 
Search your hearts on this point. If Christians, you 
cannot pass through this world without trials. You 
will have enemies, and you must have tribulation. 
Your motives may be impeached, your actions mis- 
represented, and a cloud of darkness may be thrown 
over you. But though your enemies be ever so 
many, or ever so violent, you must he an eneiny to no 
man. Is this your character? Do you pray for your 
enemies? Do you forgive them? Christ did. His 



62 HEV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

friends forsake him ; lie is betrayed by one, denied 
by another, deserted by all. His enemies, who lived 
on his mercy, with instruments of death in their 
hands and the malice of hell in their hearts, come 
upon him. They render evil for his goodness, and 
hatred for his love. They bind him, and crown him 
with thorns, and mock and scourge him, and crucify 
him ; yet, in the fulness of his soul he cries, ' Father, 
forgive them, for they know not what they do ?' 

" Such was Christ. Christians are like him. Are 
you like him ? If not, your hopes of heaven will fail 
at the giving up of the ghost." 

On the day of the annual state fast, April 4, 1816, 
he preached to his own people two plain and power- 
ful sermons on intemperance. 

The morning sermon was from the text, "Woe 
unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they 
may follow strong drink ; that continue until night, till 
wine inflame them." One woe is a craving appetite 
which nothing can satisfy. Like the grave, it cries, 
" Give, give." It is a burning which seems to be 
kindled by the fire that never shall be quenched. 
They are tormented. They feel a gnawing as of the 
worm that never dies. Another woe is the loss of 
reputation. Another woe is the loss of property. 
Another, the loss of domestic peace and comfort. 
Another, the loss of health. Another, the loss of 
reason. Another, the loss of life. "Earthly woes pass 
away, but another cometli quickly — they lose the soul. 
They go away into everlasting burnings. Guilt fastens 
upon them and eats their souls like fire. They fol- 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDUVER. 63 

lowed strong drink ; its woes come upon them ; they 
must drink of the fierceness of divine indignation for 
ever." 

The afternoon sermon was from the words, " I 
speak as to wise men ; judge ye what I say," in which 
he draws out at length the supposition, that an army 
of ten thousand men enter the United States under 
the garb of friendship ; that they are welcomed among 
us ; but under all forms of flattery and love, they are 
found to work all manner of mischief — " ' Judge ye 
what I say,' Would it be enough to refrain from em- 
ploying these men ourselves ? Must we not do our 
utmost to have others also refrain?" He then ao-ain 
portrays the woes brought on our country, on all 
classes of men, on husbands and wives, parents and 
children, old and young, by intoxicating liquor within 
thirty years — '' ' I speak as to wise men,' What shall 
be done ? Shall this enemy be continued among us, 
or shall we declare a war of extermination, and root 
it out ? But one says, * It is a very useful thing.' ' It 
will do no hurt, if men do not take too much ; they 
must be on their guard.' JYo; 'Be on your guard' 
has been the motto for thirty years ; and shall we go 
on and perpetuate its evils on this generation, and 
fasten them on the necks of posterity ? 

"It is not drunkards nor intemperate men who 
control this business. It is temperate men, useful men, 
honorable men. Let them forbear to use it, and show 
that it is not necessary, and the evil will die ; for they 
shut the door through which all intemperate men and 
all drunkards have entered. Those men were once 
where temperate men now are, in the temperate use of 



64 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

strong drink ; and temperate men, if they continue 
this course, will many of them soon be where the in- 
temperate now are. It is temperate using which 
gives the relish, prepares the way, and opens the door 
to intemperance. Shut this door, and it will not enter. 
Let temperate men give up the use of strong drink, 
and the evil will very soon be done away, for all who 
are now intemperate will die soon, and when they 
die there will be none to fill their places. Having 
stopped the temperate use, there is no door to intem- 
perance. Those who are now intemperate may dis- 
tress us for the present. They will frown, and cor- 
rupt, while here. But they are not to be here. He 
who made them has graciously decreed that if they 
will not reform, they shall go to their own place, and 
the earth be relieved of her burden. 

" We are now reduced to one point, Shall temperate 
men continue the temperate use of strong drink, and thus 
keep open the door to intemperance, idleness, dissipation, 
drunkenness, poverty, wretchedness, and death; or shall 
they forbear, and thus shut the door against .those evils for 
ever? ^ I speak as to wise men J Which will you ap- 
prove when you come to die, and which will you 
approve for ever ? Judge ye what I say. And may 
He who has all hearts in his band lead you to form 
such a judgment as shall be for your own everlasting 
welfare, and that of your children. Amen." 

It will be seen that here is the clear and distinct 
announcement of the great principle embodied ten 
years afterwards in the formation of the American 
Temperance Society, and which was the basis, under 
the blessing of God, of the wonderful results effected 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 65 

by the temperance reformation. Until the practical 
application of the principle of abstinence by the tem- 
perate, the efforts of philanthropists were vainly di- 
rected to the prevention of drunkenness by regulating 
the moderate use. 

To the multiplied claims upon him was now added 
an appointment from the American Board for Foreign 
Missions, to act as far as practicable throughout his 
own county in rousing the churches to that object ; 
but he was obliged to reply, that while he commended 
the board for seeking this mode of cooperation, " so 
numerous were his present engagements, that he must 
decline accepting the appointment." 

His endeared friend Rev. Gordon Hall, at Bom- 
bay, having written him very earnestly for letters to 
strengthen and encourage him in that " dry and thirs- 
ty land where no water is," he returned the following 
reply : 

To Rev. G-ordon Hall, Bombay, India. 

"Andovek, Jan. 20, 1817. 

"Dear Brother Hall— Yours of June 9, 1815, 
I received March 18, 1816. I have too long delayed 
to answer it. My only excuse is ill-health, and a vast 
multiplicity of avocations. I hope that I shall not 
be obliged to make this excuse any more. 

" The letter enclosed to brother Olds, I directed 
and forwarded immediately to him. He was settled 
at Greenfield, Massachusetts, but I believe is now dis- 
missed on account of having been appointed Professor 
of Chemistry in Middlebury college. 

" Your class-mate Pomeroy is settled in Salisbury, 



66 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D . 

Vermont ; Brunell in Yernon, New York ; and Ira 
Olds in that vicinity. Brother Ware is settled in 
Ware, Massachusetts, has had two powerful revivals 
of religion among his people, and is doing much 
good. 

" Brother Seward is settled in Ohio, and very use- 
ful. Griswold has been settled in Bloomfield, New 
York, where President Fitch is now settled. Pro- 
fessor Moore, formerly of Leicester, succeeds him as 
President. Williams College is flourishing. 

" Should the Lord spare my life, and continue me 
in this place, I should be happy in a regular corre- 
spondence with you. If you will write one letter to 
me whenever you have opportunity, I will try to de- 
vote one evening every month in writing to you. 
This will give you twelve letters a year, and I shall 
receive perhaps two. If measured by numbers, you 
will be my debtor, but if by weight, I shall probably 
be yours. In your next, mention the subjects upon 
which you wish me to write. You have many corre- 
spondents from this country, and you do not wish me 
to repeat what they say. 

" The great things concerning your mission I get 
from your communications to the board; but there 
are many things which will be interesting to me and 
useful to my people, which I do not get from any 
quarter. I wish you to write to me just as you would 
talk, if you and I could spend an hour together every 
month in my study. All important anecdotes, every 
thing which illustrates the character and condition of 
the heathen, and the effect which the preaching of the 
gospel has upon them ; in short, every thing which 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 67 

will increase ray usefulness to you, to the heathen, 
and to the church in this country, will be peculiarly 
interesting. 

"I have some unusual attention among my people, 
several cases of deep impression, and a few of hopeful 
conversion. 

" President Dwight, President Backus of Hamil- 
ton college, formerly of Bethlem, and Dr. Strong of 
Hartford, have all died within a few weeks. Thus 
the Lord is breaking in upon our churches ; but where 
he is taking away one, he is raising up ten to fill their 
places. The American Education Society for edu- 
cating pious youth for the gospel ministry, which has 
lately been formed, has at present fifty-three under its 
care. Mr. Beecher of Litchfield has just informed 
us that he shall shortly have fifty from that county, 
whom he means to send on to fit for college at our 
academy. 

" There are various other similar societies in dif- 
ferent parts of the United States, and there are prob- 
ably four times as many persons now preparing for 
the ministry as at any former period. Many of them, 
no doubt, will be missionaries. 

" Tell brother and sister Bardwell, if they are with 
you, that their parents are well, and their friends 
generally in this town. 

" Between sixty and seventy students in the semi- 
nary. Professors and families well, except Dr. Porter, 
who has gone south for his health. A remarkable 
time of health the past year in all this region. 
" Your affectionate brother, 

"J. EDWARDS." 



68 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

The systematic efforts for " Doing Good" to which 
we have referred, having produced a very happy in- 
fluence on the children of his congregation, and frequent 
requests having been received for information as to 
the means which had been used, he prepared, March 
1817, the following valuable communication for the 
Panoplist, an able monthly religious publication then 
conducted by Jeremiah Evarts, Esq. : 

"PLAN FOR THE MORAL AND RELI&IOUS IMPROVE, 
MENT OF CHILDREN. 

"In the spring of 1814, a Society consisting of 
about seventy men was formed for Doing Good. In 
the spring of 1815, a branch Society was formed, con- 
sisting of about one hundred and fifty women. These 
societies have in view a number of objects, one of 
which is the moral and religious improvement of 
children. For this and other purposes, they contrib- 
ute about one hundred and fifty dollars a year. 

" The concerns of the society are conducted by a 
standing committee, consisting of twelve men, who 
are chosen annually. They meet once in three months 
to de\ise ways and means of accomplishing the ob- 
jects of the society. The society have an annual 
meeting, when they unite in religious exercises, and a 
discourse is delivered by some person previously ap- 
pointed for that purpose. The standing committee 
then report their proceedings during the past year, 
and the success which has attended them. 

"In the spring of 1816, another branch Society was 
formed, consisting of between two and three hundred 
children. Tlie exclusive object of this branch is to 
furnish the heathen with Bibles. Every child who 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 69 

daily reads the Bible himself, or if he is not old 
enough to read, who hears it read by others, and en- 
deavors to understand and obey it, and who annually 
contributes to send it to the heathen, is a member. 
The particular sum to be contributed, is left entirely 
to the discretion of each individual. 

"At the opening of the schools in 1816, each 
teacher was furnished with a blank-book ruled with 
eight columns. On the first column was to be writ- 
ten the name of each scholar ; on the second, his age ; 
on the third, the number of times he had been at the 
head of his class at the last spelling for the day ; on 
the fourth, the number of books which he had taken 
from the library f on the fifth, the number of verses 
of hymns and divine songs which he had learned ; on 
the sixth, the number of answers which he had learned 
of the shorter catechism ; on the seventh, the number 
of verses which he had learned of the Bible ; and on 
the eighth, the number of cents which in the course of 

* This library was established in 1815, by the Standing Com- 
mittee of the Society for "Doing Good." After procuring a large 
quantity of books suitable for children, they divided them into as 
many parcels as there are schools in the place, and took one parcel 
enclosed in a trunk to each school. The teacher was appointed 
librarian. All children whose conduct and improvement met the 
approbation of the teacher, were allowed to take a book from the 
library every Saturday. The book was charged to them, and the 
next Saturday they were required to return it ; and if their conduct 
during the week had been good, they were allowed to take out 
another. In the course of six months, the whole taken together 
read more than thirty thousand pages, learned more than two hun- 
dred hymns and many select portions of Scripture ; and notwith- 
standing their unusual attention to reading, etc., their improve- 
ment in the various branches of learning was much greater than 
had been witnessed before. 



70 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

one 3^ear he had given to the Bible Society. When 
any scholar had in the course of the week saved any 
thing for the heathen, he was allowed on Saturday, 
when he took a book from the library, to hand it to 
the teacher, and the sum was recorded against his 
name in the eighth column, as a donation of his to the 
Bible Society. 

" After the scholars were made acquainted with the 
whole system, they were informed that the committee 
at the close would examine the schools, and inspect 
the books: when at one view they would see how 
many children had attended school ; what was their 
age ; how many times each scholar had been at the 
head of his class ; how many books he had taken from 
the library ;* how many verses of hymns and divine 
songs he had learned, how many answers of the cat- 
echism, how many verses of the Bible ; and how 
many cents he had given to the Bible Society. 

" The object of the Bible Society interested the 
children exceedingly. You might see tears of com- 
passion trickle down many eyes as they heard of the 
destitute state of the heathen, and their hearts beat 
high with desires to send them the Bible. The great 
question was. How shall we get money to give ? The 
committee replied, that almost every one would in the 
course of the year receive a few cents from his par- 
ents or friends, and that they might save one quarter 
or one half of these, more or less, as they saw fit ; and 
that probably many parents would give them more, 

■^ This would show not only how much he had read, but also 
what had been his behavior, as no one was allowed to take out 
books unless he behaved well. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVEK. 71 

when they found that they devoted it to so good an 
object. 

"The committee then pointed out four ways in 
which they might earn something for this object. 
They informed them that each scholar who should be 
at the head of his class more than six times, should be 
considered as earning six cents, which should be paid 
for him out of the treasury of the Society for Doing 
Good, and be recorded in the eighth column against 
his name as a donation of his to the Bible Society ; 
and that the scholar who should read the most books, 
should in the same way and for the same object 
receive six cents more ; and each scholar who should 
learn such a number of hymns and chapters in the 
Bible, six cents more ; and each scholar who should 
learn through the catechism, six cents more : and that 
in these ways they might by their diligence and good 
conduct greatly benefit themselves, and at the same 
time be constantly earning something for the "heathen. 
Both teachers and scholars when the system was un- 
folded entered into it with very great ardor, and the 
result has surpassed the most sanguine expectations. 

" At the examination, it was found that four hun- 
dred and fifteen children had attended school ; that 
their average age was about eight years ; that one 
hundred and eight had been at the head of their 
respective classes more than six times ; that one hun- 
dred and twenty-seven had learned through the cate- 
chism ; that two hundred and forty-one, all taken to- 
gether, had learned more than seven thousand verses of 
hymns and divine songs, and one hundred and twenty- 
one, more than five thousand verses of the Bible ; that 



72 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

two hundred and forty-two had become members of 
the Society, and had in addition to their contributions 
earned for it fifteen dollars and thirty cents. 

"Their behavior at the examination was remark- 
ably good, and it is believed that they sustained a 
better examination in the various branches of learn- 
ing, than the committee had ever witnessed before. 

"PASTOR." 

The abundant labors of the pastor, and the varied 
means of grace to which he and his people were 
directed, had now been blessed in the accession to 
the church of more than fifty souls, who gave satisfac- 
tory evidence that they had been born again by the 
renewing of the Holy Spirit. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 73 



CHAPTER III. 

HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER— CONTINUED. 

FIVE YEARS, 1817-1822. 

At this period of his ministry, Dr. Edwards for a 
short time made brief notices of the manner in which 
he employed each day, which we give entire for about 
two weeks, as illustrating the character of his pas- 
toral life, his unwearied fidelity to the people of his 
charge, and the unremitting consecration of his pow- 
ers to the service of Christ and the good of men. 

"Monday, July 7, 1817. In order to satisfy my 
own mind upon a review whether I spend my time in 
a manner the most useful to my own soul, and the 
souls of my dear people, I write the following account 
of a part of my labors. 

" thou blessed Jehovah, who hast the hearts of 
all in thy hand, for the sake of Jesus Christ who 
died for sinners, guide me, I beseech thee ; enable me 
in all things to glorify thee and promote the everlast- 
ing welfare of the souls of men ; grant me wisdom 
rightly to employ my time, my talents, my influence, 
my property, and all which I possess ; grant me thy 
guiding, sanctifying, and supporting presence ; pre- 
pare me to meet every difficulty, support every trial, 
and discharge every duty. grant me humility, 
repentance, faith, boldness, and perseverance in the 

Edwards 4 



74 EEV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

cause of the blessed Redeemer ; make me exceedingly 
useful, I beseech thee ; guide me in my contemplations, 
and in my prayers, in studying the Scriptures, in se- 
lecting texts, in writing and delivering sermons. I 
pray that all may be done in such a manner as shall 
be most for the glory of God and the salvation of 
men ; guide me in visiting and conversing with my 
people, and in all things. I am but a child, I need 
guidance, I need support, I need wisdom, sanctifica- 
tion, and every thing. I am a guilty, polluted, ruined 
sinner. for the Eedeemer's sake forgive ; help me 
unreservedly to surrender all into his hands, and 
cheerfully to leave all for ever to his disposal. be 
my hope, my guide, my support, my everlasting por- 
tion; make me instrumental of winning souls to 
Christ, and training up many among this dear people 
for heaven, and thine. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 
will be all the glory. Amen." 

"Monday, July 7. In the forenoon I visited Mr. 
G. F., conversed with him and his family on the 
concerns of their souls, and on the great importance 
of being immediately prepared to die, and prayed 
with and for the family. I then visited widow Z. A., 
and conversed with her on eternal concerns. In the 
afternoon attended the monthly concert for pi'aycr, and 
related to a large and solemn assembly the dealings 
of God with many churches, in pouring out his Spirit, 
which I learned on my late journey ; also a number of 
instances of remarkable conversion. It was a solemn 
and interesting time. Lord, for Jesus' sake, pour 
out thy Spirit here ; call sinners to repentance ; angels 
will rejoice, and thine be all the glory. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 75 

"Tuesday, 8. Attended the meeting of the An- 
dover Association at Bradford and the dedication of 
their meeting-house. 

"Wednesday, 9. Visited Mr. W. G. Conversed 
with him and his family on divine things, and closed 
with prayer. Visited the school in the Bailey dis- 
trict, examined, conversed, and prayed with them ; 
and then visited the families of Messrs. S. ¥., and J. 
B. ; conversed on the subject of missions, Christian 
experience, and the salvation of their souls. 

"Thursday 10, a. m. I began to write from 
1 Timothy, 1 : 8, 'The law is good,' etc. Afternoon, 
visited Mr. E. L. H., conversed with him and his wife 
on the state of their own souls and on family prayer, 
and prayed with them. Visited Captain J. A., con- 
versed and prayed with him and the family. 

" Friday 11, a. m. Continued writing my sermon. 
Afternoon, visited the family of Mr. J., conversed with 
him and his wife on the state of their own souls, and 
on family prayer. Visited Mr. E. J., and conversed 
with his family on divine things, and some prom- 
inent traits of Christian experience. Visited Mr. 
J. C. and family ; also Mr. H. and family, took 
tea, conversed, read the Scriptures, and prayed with 
them. 

"Saturday 12, a. m. Finished my sermon. In 
the afternoon rode to Dunstable, New Hampshire, to 
exchange with Mr. S. 

"Lord's day 13, a. m. Preached from 2 Timothy, 
'6:15] afternoon, from 2 Corinthians, 5:17. 

"Monday 14, a. m. Rode to Andover; stopped 
at Messrs. F., B., and G.'s. In the afternoon visited 



76 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

the school in the Holt district, and afterwards con- 
versed and took tea with Mr. D. G. 

"Tuesday 15, a. m. Attended a little to domes- 
tic concerns, and wrote three letters to distant friends. 
Afternoon, visited the school in the Abbot district, and 
the families of J. P. and E. F. 

"Wednesday 16, a. m. Began to write a sermon 
from Acts 7 :60. Afternoon, visited, examined, con- 
versed, and prayed with the school in the Osgood 
district. Visited, conversed, and prayed with the 
family of Mrs. J. 

"Thursday 17, a. m. Visited Deacon Newman, 
then continued writing the sermon above-mentioned. 
Afternoon, visited and conversed with Esquire K.'s 
family ; visited Esquire A.'s family, took tea, con- 
versed with them and several of the neighbors who 
were assembled, and closed with prayer. In the 
evening visited Mrs. W., a woman who has lately lost 
her husband, and is left with a family of children. 
May the widow's God guide and support her, and 
bless her children. 

"Friday 18, a. m. Finished my sermon. After- 
noon, visited Lieutenant S. J. ; conversed with him, 
his family, and several of the neighbors who were 
assembled ; took tea, read a portion of Scripture, and 
closed with prayer. 

" Saturday 19, a. m. Spent in reading, and attend- 
ing to domestic concerns. Afternoon, visited H. R., 
who was sick with a fever, conversed with her and 
her father's family, and closed with prayer. 

"Lord's day 20, a. m. Preached from 1 Timothy, 
1:8,' We know that the law is good, if a man use it 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 77 

lawfully.' First, showed the goodness of the law ; 
secondly, pointed out the lawful use of it ; then drew 
some practical conclusions. Afternoon, preached from 
Acts 7 : 60, ' And he kneeled down,' etc. 

''Monday 21, a. m. Exercised in the morning; 
then visited Captain J. A., and spent the rest of the 
morning in reading, etc. Afternoon, went to W. A. 
and Mr. N.'s on business ; called at Mr. N. A.'s. Visited 
Captain B., conversed with the family, took tea, read a 
portion of Scripture, and closed with prayer. Visited 
and transacted business with A. B., Esq. 

" Tuesday 22, a. m. Spent in searching the Scrip- 
tures, reading, and writing. Afternoon, visited, con 
versed, and prayed with Mr. D. W., and with Mr. 
A. J. and family ; perused the Recorder, Missionary 
Register, and wrote a letter to Dr. M. 

" Wednesday 23, a. m. Wrote part of a sermon 
from Numbers 14 : 35. Afternoon, received a visit 
from a parishioner ; attended a meeting of the com- 
mittee of the Andover South Parish Society for the 
Reformation of Morals, took tea, sung, conversed, and 
closed with prayer." 

He had a quick discernment of the moral and 
spiritual state and wants of his people ; and in his 
pastoral visits, as in his other labors, sought their 
highest temporal and eternal good. His warm heart 
was full of love, and they could unburden to him 
their sorrows ; while there was in him a native dig- 
nified reserve, which, with his commanding presence, 
and well-weighed words, forbade what was trifling, 
and especially what might be said to the injury of 



78 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

others. "Mr. Edwards," said Major C, "will hear 
all you have to say, but if you speak against any 
body, you never get any thing back." When they 
sought his counsel, they received words of heavenly 
wisdom, often drawn directly from the inspired ora- 
cles ; and the way in which he read and expounded 
brief portions of Scripture, and the solemnity and 
unction of his prayers, inspired all with love and con- 
fidence in him who was set to watch for their souls. 
Their difficulties, misapprehensions, or inquiries as to 
scripture truth or the way of salvation, often suggested 
to him topics for the pulpit, and frequently on a suc- 
ceeding Sabbath they had an able public elucidation 
of the subject on which they had conversed. 

His public ministrations embraced a wide range 
of subjects, frequently having reference to the events 
of Providence among his people from which he 
thought they should receive instruction, but mainly 
drawn from the exhaustless fountains of light and 
truth and duty in the word of God. To a young 
preacher who expressed his wonder that a minister 
could find new subjects for his stated preaching, he 
doubtless gave his own experience when he replied, 
that " to any minister who loves and prayerfully 
studies the Bible, topics rich and new will be suggest- 
ed, more than he can preach from." From time to 
time he preached on striking passages or historic 
facts, as recorded in the order of the sacred records, 
or on some book of the New Testament ; and just 
previous to the dates of the above memoranda, he had 
completed a course of able sermons on the ten com- 
mandments. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 79 

His public ministrations were always solemn, ten- 
der, impressive, as if he would rescue souls from eter- 
nal death and raise them to eternal glory. Christ 
and his salvation was the theme that underlay all his 
instructions. He preached as if what he wrote thirty 
years after in his comment on Christ the shepherd of 
the sheep had been constantly before him : " Real 
Christians have spiritual discernment and relish of 
the great truths of the gospel. No instruction, how- 
ever specious or learned, which denies or omits the 
doctrine of Christ crucified as a divine atoning Saviour^ 
satisfies them, commends itself to their conscience, if 
enlightened, or meets their wants as sinners." In a 
sermon preached about this period in several church- 
es and in the theological seminary, (in connection 
with which a new church had now been organized,) 
from the words, "We preach Christ crucified, unto 
the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks 
foolishness, but unto them who are called, both Jews 
and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wis- 
dom of God," he says, 

" The Lord Jesus Christ is tlie wonder of all worlds. 
There is no being like him in the universe. He is 
the everlasting Jehovah, and the man Christ Jesus. 
He is 'the root,' and 'the offspring' of David, the 
Alpha and Omega, who liveth, who was dead, who is 
alive for evermore. 

" The object of Christ is wonderful : to ransom un 
numbered millions of his enemies from everlastino: woe, 
and raise them to be kings and priests unto God. 

" To accomplish this, his work has been wonderful. 
He left the bosom of the Father and the glor}^ he 



80 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

had with him before the world was, took the form of 
a servant, and with the riches of the universe in his 
hand, had not where to lay his head. Although he 
controlled the elements and raised the dead, com- 
manded legions of angels, and devils fell prostrate 
before him, ' he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, 
and as a sheep dumb before her shearers, he opened 
not his mouth.' He was the Maker of heaven and of 
earth ; the Prince of life, yet he 'cried with a loud 
voice, and yielded up the ghost.' 

" The effect was wonderful. The earth trembled, 
rocks rent, graves opened, and even crucifiers said 
he was the Son of God. The third day he arose, laid 
aside his grave-clothes, went out to his disciples and 
said, ' Behold, it is I.' He showed them his hands, 
his side, and said, ' Peace be unto you. All power 
is given unto me in heaven anil in earth. As my 
Father hath sent me, so send I you. And he breathed 
on them and said, Receive the Holy Ghost. Go ye 
into all the world and preach the gospel to every 
creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 
And he led them out to Bethany, and lifted up his 
hands, and blessed them ; and while he blessed them, 
was parted from them, and went up into heaven, and 
a cloud received him out of their sight.' 

" His present state is wonderful. ' I beheld, and lo, in 
the midst of the throne and of the elders, stood a Lamb 
as it had been slain ; and they fell down before him 
and sung. Thou art worthy. Thou wast slain, and 
hast redeemed us to God.' And angels, ten thousand 
times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, cried, 



HIS MINISTRY JN ANDOVER. 81 

Worthy, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, 
and strength. And every creature in heaven, on 
earth, and under the earth, cried, Blessing, and honor, 
and glory ; and the four beasts said, Amen ; and all 
heaven bowed before him, 

"After viewing this wonderful Christ, you will 
not be surprised if the preaching of him should pro- 
duce WONDERFUL EFFECTS. It docs. ' AYc prcach 
Christ crucified, the power of God and the wisdom of 
GodJ The apostle Paul did not preach Seneca nor 
Plato, nor any of the wise men among the heathen. 
He did not preach St. Paul. He did not preach an 
angel, nor the highest created being in heaven. No ; 
he preached Christ. And he did not preach Christ 
as a man merely, a moral teacher, an example, a pat- 
tern for imitation ; but Christ crucified, the great 
atoning sacrifice for sin, without the shedding of 
whose blood there could be no remission ; who ' was 
wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our 
iniquities.' He preached the way of salvation through 
faith in a crucified Redeemer, and he preached no 
other. Wherever he went, he 'determined not to 
know any thing, save Jesus Christ and him crucified.' 
Although he had as exalted views of Christ's per- 
sonal character as any man ever had, yet he saw in 
him no hope for dying sinners till he beheld him on 
the cross — ' the Lamb of God, which taketh away the 
sin of the world.' 

" He preached ' God manifest in the flesh.' And 
he showed why this manifestation was necessary. Be- 
cause men have ' all gone out of the way ;' have al- 
together become filthy; because 'there is none that 

4# 



82 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

doeth good, no, not one ;' because men naturally are 
carnally minded, and 'to be carnally minded is death,^ 
for it is ' enmity against God.' He showed them, 
without reserve, that they had destroyed themselves, 
and that in God alone is their help ; and held up 
Christ crucified, entering the holy place with his own 
blood, saying, ' Such a High-priest became us, who is 
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and 
higher than the heavens ;' who was appointed of God 
to make atonement for the sins of the people ; suffer- 
ing for them, shedding his own blood, dying for them 
while enemies, that they might be 'reconciled/ and 
made the ' righteousness of God ' in him. He pressed 
upon them their perishing need of such a Saviour ; one 
who could, ' through the eternal Spirit, offer himself 
without spot to God,' ' a living sacrifice ;' who could 
' enter into the holy place with his own blood,' ' ob- 
tain eternal redemption,' and as Captain of salvation, 
be ' made perfect through suffering.' 

" He showed them what they must he, and what 
they must do, in order to become interested in Christ 
and partakers of his blessings : that they must feel 
their need of him ; that they must abhor sin, and look 
to Christ for pardon, and receive him as their hope 
and portion ; that they must repent, and believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ. He told them what repentance is, 
and pointed out the difference between that ' godly 
sorrow ' which worketh repentance unto life, and that 
' sorrow of the world ' which worketh death ; and the 
difference between that faith which 'worketh by love,' 
and the faith of devils. He showed them, that repent- 
ance and faith are evidences of love to God ; and 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 83 

that they must be created anew in Christ Jesus unto 
good works. He showed the author of this change : 
that Christians are born of the Spirit, ' not of blood, 
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but 
of God ;' that it was ' not by works of righteousness 
which they had done, but according to his mercy he 
saved them, by the washing of regeneration and 
renewing of the Holy Ghost,' ' that they should be 
holy and without blame before him in love.' 



J V 



On the 17th of September, 1817, Dr. Edwards was 
married to Miss Lydia Bigelow, daughter of Asa Big- 
elow, Esquire, of Colchester, Connecticut, and till the 
close of his earthly life, she was his firm, consistent, 
devoted " helper in Christ Jesus." It gives us pleas- 
ure to state, that for more than three years from the 
time of his ordination, the venerated widow of Samuel 
Abbot, Esq., welcomed Dr. Edwards as a guest in her 
own mansion, not neglecting the noble animal that 
bore him over the hills and plains in his abundant pas- 
toral labors, until her death, February 12, 1816, at the 
advanced age of eighty-nine. Not far from the time 
of her death, a commodious house, in a favorable loca- 
tion for the pastor, having been offered for sale, with 
characteristic forethought, economy, and discretion in 
the management of his worldly concerns, to which he 
had been trained in early life, he purchased it ; apply- 
ing in payment what could be saved from his salary 
before his family became large and expensive: and 
this, except at intervals, was the home of his family 
till his death. He scrupulously refrained from all 
unnecessary business engagements, or speculations, 



84 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

from buying or selling for purposes of gain, and from 
incurriug unnecessary debts, as inconsistent with the 
duties and responsibilities of his sacred calling. He 
was careful, accurate, and noiseless in his pecuniary 
transactions, always husbanding his resources, though 
giving liberally to the poor and to charitable objects. 
What from time to time was saved, he committed 
chiefly to a responsible business relative, who took 
charge of it. Few ministers ever had so little hin- 
derance in their work from pecuniary perplexity ; 
and as his life was long preserved, under the smiles 
of Providence, the small savings of years enabled 
him to leave his widow and the children remaining 
with her in comfortable circumstances, in the pleas- 
ant home endeared to them by the memory of the hus- 
band and father. 

In January, 1818, he was acting with the Rev. 
Drs. Jedidiah Morse of Charlestown, and Samuel 
Worcester of Salem, as a committee of the General 
Association of Massachusetts to adopt proper means 
for establishing a Domestic Missionary Society, for 
supplying needy parishes and the waste places of the 
state, which resulted in the formation of the " Massa- 
chusetts Missionary Society." He was frequently 
engaged in consultations and plans for the society 
then recently formed to Educate Pious Youth for the 
Ministry, into which the Rev. Professor Porter threw 
all his energies. He was also examining and acting 
on important publications for the Tract Society ; and 
in behalf of the Board of Foreign Missions wrote the 
following letter to the " Church Missionary Society/' 
in London. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 85 

To the Rev. Josiah Pratt, Secretary of the Church 
Missionary Society. 

"Andover, April 28, 1818. 

" Rev. and dear Sir — A few days ago I received 
from the hand of the Rev. Dr. Morse, of Charlestown, 
a copy of your truly excellent Missionary Register. 
I have perused it with the greatest satisfaction. Its 
spirit is catholic and evangelical, and the facts which 
it records transcendently glorious. It must, I think, 
be extensively useful not only in this country, but 
wherever it circulates throughout the Christian 
world. 

" The friends of Zion will rejoice to see the church 
of England rising in her strength, or rather the 
strength of her Redeemer, and scattering the light 
of his salvation over the world. Her example will 
awaken a holy emulation in the breasts of millions, 
and the record of her achievements be a lasting mon- 
ument of her glory. She in a peculiar manner is a 
city set upon a hill. May her light so shine, that 
even the ends of the earth shall see and glorify her 
Father who is in heaven. 

" Let all portions of the Christian church follow 
her noble example ; let them forget minor, unessential 
distinctions, fix their eyes on the great interests of 
the Redeemer's kingdom, and with one heart and soul 
steadily pursue them, and He shall soon have 'the 
heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of 
the earth for his possession.' He shall reign from sea 
to sea, and earth be indeed an emblem of heaven. 

" One powerful means of hastening this day of 
glory, would be the circulation of your Missionary 



86 RE\'. JUSTIN EDWAE.DS, D. D. 

Register. I trust that it will circulate extensively ; 
that your labors, and those of your associates, with 
all of every kindred and name, will be abundantly 
blessed, and receive at last a gracious and eternal 
reward. 

" I remain with respect and affectionate salutation, 
" Your brother in the gospel, 

''J. EDWARDS." 

The next month he preached a sermon on "How 
is it that ye do not discern this time ?" which shows 
how deeply his heart was enlisted for the conversion 
of the world ; and at the same time how interesting 
and hopeful was the period in which he was then act- 
ing. His object was to show some of the then exist- 
ing indications that Christ was about to appear in the 
glorious enlargement of his kingdom. 

One sign was, " The kingdom of Christ has become 
exceedingly dear to the hearts of his people, and they are 
now ardently wishing and fervently praying to have 
it extended through the world." 

Another sign was, ''The widely extended concert for 
prayer y He says, that about twenty years before, a 
few Christians met in a private room in Great Britain 
and agreed to spend a part of the first Monday even- 
ing in every month in prayer for the conversion of the 
world ; that it was now observed by Christians in 
almost every part of the earth, and probably by as 
many as fifteen hundred churches in the United States. 
"When such multitudes 'agree touching the thing they 
shall ask,' is it not a sign that ' it shall be done for 
them by their Father who is in heaven ?' " 

Another sign is, " The many ansivers to prayer which 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER, 87 

God has already given. While Christians have been 
praying, the Lord has been pouring out his Spirit. 
There have been more revivals of religion during a 
few years past, than for many years before ; and a far 
greater proportion of the subjects of grace are young 
men, and a great portion of them are preparing for the 
ministry — while the fields are white to the harvest, 
and a cry is heard from six hundred millions, ' Come 
over and help us.' " 

Another sign is, " The exertions which have been 
made to supply the destitute millions. More than three 
hundred missionaries have already gone forth ; and 
old men and maidens, young men and children, are 
giving for their support. Who would have thought, 
twenty years ago, that more than three thousand dollars 
in a month would have been contributed in this country 
for this purpose V 

Another sign is, " The circulation of the Bible. It has 
already been circulated in more than sixty languages, 
and is read by thousands, and even millions, where till 
lately Christ never was known. This shows that the 
work is of God. It is not the work of Satan, nor of 
the pride of man. If these would translate and dis- 
tribute Bibles, it would have been the work of every 
generation since the fall. Wicked men and devils 
may oppose this work ; but it will go onward, borne 
by millions of hearts and millions of hands, and on the 
arm which is almighty, till it scatters light and life on 
every land." 

The last sign is, " The great attention which is paid to 
children. They are beginning to be viewed as they 
actually are, as the rising hope of the church. Often 



88 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

has God poured out his Spirit ; children have been 
born again, and ' out of the mouths of babes and suck- 
lings has he perfected praise.' God will raise up 
new generations to fill the places of their fathers, and 
do vastly more than they, till the 'kingdoms of this 
world become the kingdom of our Lord and of his 
Christ."' 

The preservation of the following gem from his 
distinguished, self-sacrificing friend in Burmah, will 
not be unacceptable to many readers. 

"Rangoon, October 1, 1818. 
" My DEAR Brother — As I do not know any per- 
son in Andover connected with the Society of Mission 
Inquiry in the Theological institution but yourself, I 
take the liberty of sending you by the hands of Dr. 
Baldwin one hundred and twenty-seven dollars, which 
/ consider due from myself to that society, desiring 
that you will have the goodness to pay it to the treas- 
urer or proper ofiicer ; and you will greatly oblige, 
" Your friend and brother, 

''A. JUDSON. 
"Rev. J. Edwakds." 

To a dear and intimate friend, under diff'erent 
dates, he writes more respecting his work and the 
relations he sustained to the people of his charge, than 
he has before expressed. 

" I wish to place myself ' behind,' with those things 
which the apostle says must be forgotten ; and before 
me to place Jesus Christ. It is good to look much on 
him. The sight is transforming. The more we love, 
admire, and copy his excellences, the more we shall 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 89 

be like him ; He is the source of all good, and other 
things will be the means, just in proportion as they 
lead us to him. 

" I have a great work to do : the spiritual care of 
three hundred and fifty families, and perhaps twenty 
that I have promised to visit now, as soon as I can. 
The schools are now opening, and I must visit them. 
I must prepare the constitution of their Bible Society 
and a catalogue of their members. My good women 
are helping me in this as much as they can." 

Again he says, "I do think that my enjoyment 
consists less and less in worldly things, and that I am 
happy just in proportion as I enjoy the guiding, sup- 
porting, sanctifying, comforting presence of the Spirit 
of God. His favor is life ; his loving-kindness better 
than life. How blessed would it be to be able to say 
at all times, * Whom have I in heaven but thee V 

" A young woman called upon me on Saturday in 
a state of great anxiety for her soul. She could say 
but little, appeared to be burdened with a sense of 
sin, and by her looks and many tears expressed the 
anguish of her soul. 1 hope God will grant her, and 
many others, repentance unto life. How important 
that ministers should preach faithfully, walk humbly, 
pray fervently, and suffer patiently the whole will of 
God." 

Again he says, " It is good to receive all our mer- 
cies as from the hand of God, to feel that He gives 
them, and that they come as the purchase of Imman- 
uel's blood. A number are anxiously inquiring what 
they must do to be saved ; and a few are entertaining 
the hope that they have lately passed from death unto 



90 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

life. But there is the same opposition to the truth as 
it is in Jesus here, as in all other places. How we 
ought to rejoice that the Lord has all hearts in his 
hands. I hope that he will yet here subdue multi- 
tudes to himself. Next Sabbath is our communion. 
Pray that the Lord will manifest his saving power in 
the midst of us.'' 

At another date he says, "Several persons are 
most deeply impressed. I need wisdom, I need grace, 
I need every thing. Precious promise, ' Whatsoever 
ye shall ask in my name, that will I do.' I hope the 
Lord will prepare us to see a great revival here. It 
is a great honor, as well as a source of rich comfort, 
to be permitted to labor for God in promoting the 
kingdom of his Son. How much we are indebted to 
Jesus Christ. We owe him all, all. 

" That minister is exceedingly unwise who says, or 
even thinks much about his trials ; for however great, 
they are but light and momentary, not worthy to be 
compared with the glory that shall be revealed. 
Trials do not destroy a Christian's happiness ; nay, 
sometimes the greater the trial the greater the joy. 
If I could always feel as I think Paul and Silas felt 
in prison, when they sang at midnight so that the pris- 
oners heard them, I should not envy the mightiest 
monarch that ever graced a throne. If when we do 
well we suffer for it, happy are we. If called to suffer 
with Christ, may we not hope to reign with him? this 
is enough ; and what a wonder of wonders, that guilty 
rebels may hope for it. Our happiness must not be 
expected from the world ; nor in what the world calls 
exemption from trials ; nor from the praises of men ; 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANUOVER. 91 

but from comuiiinion with God, enjoying his presence, 
doing his will, and striving by his grace to prepare 
ourselves and all around us for his glory. I preached 
yesterday from 1 Tim. 6 : 17 ; a large and solemn 
audience. Some, I trust, are mourning in bitterness 
over their sins." 

Again he writes, "Last Monday I attended a 
wedding at H., with Eev. Mr. W. the pastor. A 
great collection of people assembled. After the mar- 
riage was solemnized, they were earnest in their 
requests that I should speak to them. After speak- 
ing of the marriage union, I attempted to describe the 
union between Christ and believers; and to show 
that it is a vital union, an endearing union, and an 
everlasting union ; that those who possess it have the 
pardon of sin, justification, a growing conformity to 
Christ, support in trials, consolation in death, a part 
in the first resurrection, triumph at the judgment, and 
everlasting glory with Christ in his kingdom. It was 
a very solemn, interesting time." 

Again, "There is more than usual attention in 
one part of the town to ' the one thing needful,' and 
several have hopefully obtained it." 

To Mrs. Edwards' brother, then in a desponding state of 

mind. 

"My dear Brother — I learn by a letter from 
A. E., which Mrs. Edwards received yesterday, that 
although you have at times enjoyed some hope that 
you are born of God, yet you were, when she wrote, 
in darkness, borne down by the apprehension that you 
remain still impenitent. And should you continue, my 
dear brother, to look only at yourself and ruminate 



92 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

on the state of your own heart, you might never ob- 
tain relief. For the heart is at best a sink of iniquity, 
which none but the eye of God can fathom ; it is full 
of pollution and black with guilt ; and so long as you 
continue to look only at that, you may see nothing 
but darkness and despair. 

"But 'the chief end of man,' is not to continue 
looking at himself. It is to glorify God, in whom 
there is light and no darkness at all ; who is the 
centre and source of blessedness, and the sum of all 
perfection. Make it, then, the single object of your 
soul, in all things to honor and glorify Him, to live 
not unto yourself, but unto Him that died for sin- 
ners and rose again. 

"So long as you continue to look at yourself, you 
can see nothing but darkness ; but look to God, act 
for Him, labor for Him, and live for Him, trusting 
alone in Jesus to enable you to do it and to be ac- 
cepted in it, and you may have light. Or if you do 
not have light, you may do that which is infinitely 
more important, you may glorify God, you may do 
good, you may be instrumental in the salvation of 
souls who will bless God for ever, and a revenue of 
everlasting glory will redound to his great and holy 
name." 

To an afflicted woman. 

" Dear Mrs. W. — -Yours of the 2d inst. to Mrs. 
Edwards was received and read with the interest 
which she takes in all cases of sorrow, especially in 
every thing which relates to her dear Mrs. W. As 
she has not been well for a few days, she requested 
me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 93 

" "We rejoice that you have been so far favored by the 
Lord, and hope that his mercies will still be continued 
to you. We sympathize with you in your afflictions, 
and hope that the Lord will sanctify them to you. 
"We know that they must be great, very great, but 
how great none can tell till they feel them. Yet such 
afflictions do not rise from the dust, nor spring from 
the ground ; they are ordered by a wise and good 
God, and they go where he sends them, and like all 
other trials, will work out an exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory to those who love Him. We hope 
that they will be the means of leading you to see the 
evil of sin, to loathe and abhor it, to be humble under 
the chastising hand of God ; to choose Jesus Christ 
for your portion, and find great satisfaction in com- 
mitting yourself, your dear children, your husband, 
and all your interests and concerns to his infinitely 
wise and good disposal. 

" The Lord has all hearts in his hands, and he can 
turn them as the rivers of water are turned. He can 
overrule all your concerns, and bring them to such a 
result as will be most for his glory, for your good, 
and the good of your children. We know not what 
is best for us. It is good to have all our concerns in 
the hands of God, and commit them all for time and 
eternity to his disposal. Dear Mrs. W., we hope that 
you will give him your own heart, your children, your 
husband, and rejoice to have him do with and for 
you all, as seemeth good in his sight. If your trials 
should be the means of leading you to Jesus Christ, 
and teaching you to lay up your treasure, not on 
earth, but in heaven, you will number them in eternity 



94 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

as among your choicest mercies. They T^ill be light 

afflictions, but for a moment, and you will say, Blessed 

afflictions, which weaned me from the world, led me 

to seek God as my portion, and lay up treasure where 

sins, and of course sorrows, never enter, where the 

Lamb leads his people to fountains of living water, 

and wipes away all tears from their eyes. 

"Praying that you may have the guidance and 

blessing of God ; that he will direct all your concerns 

in mercy, and hereafter bring you, yom* dear children 

and husband, with all the redeemed, to his heavenly 

kingdom, we remain, with tender sympathy and af 

fection, 

" Your unworthy 

"FRIENDS." 

To his sister, Mrs. C, on the birth of her first child. 

"Beloved Sister — When I have seen a smilins: 
babe in a mother's arms, I have often thought that 
God might be considered as speaking to her as the 
daughter of Pharaoh spoke to the mother of Moses, 
' Take this child, and nurse it for me.' Mothers are 
generally the means of forming the character of their 
children, and often of their children's children, for 
many generations ; and the effects of their pious exam- 
ple, judicious government, and salutary instructions, 
are not confined to this life, but will run on through 
eternity. As often as the fond mother views her 
smiling babe, or clasps it in her arms, so often should 
she bear it in the arms of faith and prayer to the 
throne of divine grace, commending it to the mercy 
of Him who made it ; beseeching him to wash it from 
its native pollution, create it anew in Christ Jesus, 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 96 

adopt it into his chosen family, and train it up for 
usefulness in this world, and for immortal glory in 
the world to come. 

"That little one now in your arms has a soul 
worth more than a thousand worlds ; having begun, 
an existence which is never to end, after continuing 
here its appointed time, and forming a character 
which shall fit it for happiness or misery, it will burst 
from its little prison, and like an angel for ever rise 
higher and higher in a world of light, or be for ever 
sinking deeper and deeper in a world of woe. Al- 
though it now appears innocent and lovely, yet it 
belongs to a sinful race of beings, and it must be born 
again, or it cannot be happy here, or meet the smiles 
of God hereafter. How important that parents should 
have hearts to pray. And how wonderful the love 
which has opened a way in which parents and chil- 
dren may be adopted into the chosen family of Christ, 
and through riches of free grace be prepared to meet 
each other in the world of glory, to part no more for 
ever. 

•' That this, after a useful and happy life, may be 
the case with you and yours, is the earnest desire and 
daily prayer of your affectionate brother, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

Under another date he says, "To the little girl 
whose arm I once hurt, I mean to write a letter and 
send a little book. Her name, I am sorry to say, I 
have forgotten ; but you will not think it strange, when 
you recollect that I have five hundred little girls and 
boys to think of here. Perhaps, however, I shall 
think of her name before I begin to write. If I do 



96 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

not, I shall call her the dear little girl; for I love her 
much, and hope that the Lord will bless her. I was 
pleased to hear that you were going to Plainfield, 
because you would have such a good minister. Fa- 
ther Hallock is one of the excellent of the earth. 
Give my love to him and Mrs. Hallock, to dear 
brother C. and all friends." 

To a friend who had written him in reference to 
some impending difficulty, he gave, in his reply, the 
following maxims of peace : 

" In speaking about others, never say any thing 
but what you are willing they should hear, and what 
if they should hear would appear to be the fruit of 
love, and be adapted to be the means of doing good 
to their souls. If others speak against us, it is good 
to imitate Him who, ' when reviled, reviled not again, 
but committed himself to him that judgeth right- 
eously ;' and if they urge us to come down and meet 
them in disputation in some one of the villages on 
the plains of Ono, to say in actions as did Nehemiah, 

* I am doing a great work, and cannot come down.' 

* Out-preach them, out-pray them, and ovii-live them,' 
and as you ought to wish that they, under a change 
of circumstances, should speak of you, so speak you 
of them. ' If any man offend not in word, the same 
is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole 
body.'" 

Note accompanying the presentation of Baxter's Saints' 

Rest. 

"Dear B. — ^Perhaps in your weak and feeble 
state you may be able to read some. This book was 
written by Mr. Baxter when in near prospect of 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 97 

heaven, and it has hopefully been the means of pre- 
paring many for that blessed abode. You now have 
a good time to secure your salvation. Be careful 
diligently to improve it. 

"That you may feel your need of Jesus Christ, 
give him your heart, and devote all that you have to 
his service, is the prayer of your affectionate pastor, 

''J. EDWARDS." 

" P. S. Read this book attentively, and pray that 
God will bless it to the good of your soul." 

When this work was distributed to every family 
in Andover, from the proceeds of a fund left by Lieut.- 
Governor Samuel Phillips, Dr. Edwards said its in- 
fluence was like that of a gentle revival of religion 
throughout his parish. 

A sister of Mrs. Edwards, who, at the age of 
about ten, in the years 1818 and 1819, was an in- 
mate of Dr. Edwards' family, has kindly communi- 
cated some recollections of him, which fill a chasm 
in our narrative that otherwise could hardly be sup- 
plied. 

'• It was in 1816, in the days of my childhood, that 
I first saw this man of God, and learned to love him. 
Though he was not at that time much accustomed to 
amuse or interest children, and the movements of his 
giant frame were not the most graceful, yet I soon 
felt myself strongly attracted towards him, and I 
remember finding myself more than once seated on 
his knee, supported by his strong arm, and listening 
with delight to the deep, rich tones of his voice as 
he poured forth the ' Pilgrim's Farewell,' and ' Guide 
me, thou great Jehovah,' in the tune of Hotham. 

Edwards. 5 



98 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. i). 

These at that time were his favorite tunes, and they 
became mine also. For years afterwards he often in- 
dulged me in the singing of them, and I shall never 
forget the peculiar emphasis with which he rolled out 
the lines, ' I '11 take my staff and travel on, till I a 
better world can view.' I remember well the love 
and veneration with which I then regarded him, and 
in the many days and weeks and years which I have 
since spent in the bosom of his family, they have not 
been diminished. Always kind, open, and affable in 
his deportment, he was ever ready, when not too much 
engrossed with the deep workings of his own mind, to 
attend to the veriest want even of a child, and the 
answer he would give to each childish inquiry would 
be so simple and plain that I at once understood its 
meaning. 

" The first sermon I ever remember hearing with 
any interest was from his lips ; and the reason why I 
felt interested at that early age was, that he made 
every part of it so simple and so clear, that the little 
child could not fail to understand it. The subject was 
the six cities of refuge to which the manslayer must 
flee for safety ; and so plain and simple did he make 
every part of his discourse, and so impressive was his 
manner, that no other sermon which I heard in early 
life is still so vividly before my mind. Beautiful 
simplicity was the grand characteristic of his preach- 
ing, all the way through his ministry ; and this, com- 
bined with the purity and strength of his elocution, 
together with the peculiar solemnity of his manner, 
and the richness of Bible truth which he uttered, 
formed the great . attraction of his sermons, which, 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 99 

when he was in the prime of life, were considered by 
most of his hearers as remarkably impressive. 

" For two years after his marriage, at an age when 
a child is noticing every thing that occurs, and trifles 
make an impression, I was a constant inmate of his 
family. At the fireside, at the social board, at the 
hour of prayer, at the parochial visit, everywhere, 
except in the study, I was daily in his society, and 
witnessed the meek and quiet spirit, the consistent 
walk and conversation, he uniformly exhibited. In- 
deed, vivid as are my recollections of those days, as 
well as of after-years, when his children were growing 
up around him, and every parent has much to perplex 
and harass, I do not remember ever seeing the slight- 
est variation of temper. Let what might occur, he al- 
ways preserved his equanimity and remained unruffled. 
'Let patience have its perfect work,' was his motto 
for himself, and he often recommended it to others. 

" In his parochial visits he was free and commu- 
nicative, inquiring with kindness about the things 
most likely to interest those whom he was visiting, 
and expressing an interest in all that concerned them. 
His conversation on religious subjects was much like 
his preaching, a familiar discussion and illustration 
of the subject, rather than a direct and personal ad- 
dress to those that heard him ; and yet it had so much 
point, that it could not fail to have its effect. These 
visits among his people were always closed with read- 
ing the Scriptures and prayer." 

The joy occasioned by the election of Eev. Dr. 
Edwards on the Board of Trustees of the Theological 



100 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

Seminary and Academy, September 28, 1820, is well 
remembered. Such was the influence of gentlemen 
of high standing who were connections of the early 
founders of the academy, that it was feared they 
would succeed in perpetuating in the Board of Trus- 
tees men unfriendly to evangelical truth. The late 
venerable William Phillips, Lieutenant-governor of 
Massachusetts, a man of great integrity and single- 
hearted piety^ in the consultations of the board, en- 
treated his honored relatives even with tears, that 
they would withdraw their opposition to the election 
of Dr. Edwards, and let the seminary be what its 
founders designed, a distinctly evangelical institu- 
tion ; and when the result of the election was an- 
nounced to the Hon. William Bartlet, the largest 
donor to the seminary, and one of its board of visit- 
ors, it is stated that he also wept for joy. 

To Mrs. Edwards. 

" Portland, Maine, May 20, 1822. 

"My very dear Wife — On Thursday we [the 
late Rev. Dr. Woods and himself] dined in Exeter, 
arrived in Dover before night, and lodged at Dr. 
W.'s, a brother of Mrs. Woods. On Friday dined in 
Kennebunk, and arrived before night at Saco, distant 
from Andover about eighty-five miles, and Saturday 
morning rode to Portland. We both preached all 
day on the Sabbath, and Dr. Woods preached in the 
evening. 

" This forenoon we went out twenty miles to sea 
with Dr. Payson and a few other friends ; then 
returned and dined with Dr. Payson. This after- 
noon expect to take tea at Mr. C.'s, the father of one 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 101 

of our AndoYcr students. There is more than usual 
attention to religion in this place, and there are a 
great many most excellent Christians. 

"To-morrow morning we expect to go to North 
Yarmouth. We hope to be able to leave there on 
Thursday, and with the leave of Providence, to arrive 
in Dover on Friday, and in Andover on Saturday. 
God has been very kind to us, and our journey so 
far has been pleasant, and I trust in some measure 
useful. 

" I hope it gives me some comfort to commit you 
and the dear family to Jesus Christ, and hope that 
you will find Him to be a very present helper in all 
times of need ; that He will grant us his holy pres- 
ence, use us as instruments of doing good, provide 
for us all needful blessings while on earth, and pre- 
pare us with all his redeemed people for the everlast- 
ing enjoyment of himself in glory. 

" I have been rather unusually interested with the 
first nine verses of the Thirty-fourth Psalm. That 
we and all our friends, with the whole Israel of God, 
may experience the blessedness there described, is 
the prayer of 

" Your affectionate husband, 

''J. EDWARDS." 

The occasion of the visit described in the above 
letter, appears to have been a call to sit in an eccle- 
siastical council, on a question of great difficulty and 
perplexity ; and though such occasions, in which his 
counsel, or mediation, was sought from time to time, 
laid heavy claims upon his heart, his sound judgment, 
and bodily strength, in the midst of his other pressing 



102 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

public responsibilities, few men had sucli qualifica- 
tions for reaching a wise and harmonious result, 
which in this case was drawn up by him, and is pre- 
served on file. In such deliberations he was calm 
and peaceful, as if the presence of God were with him. 
His single aim was evidently the glory of God and 
the best interests of his kingdom. He gave the ener- 
gies of his mind to the subject, but said little, or if any 
thing, only words of love ; and when the whole sub- 
ject was understood, he often showed uncommon dis- 
cernment and singleness of purpose in suggesting a 
course by which the great interests at stake might 
be secured, and yet in which the parties could ac- 
quiesce. 

In the progress of the "New England Tract So- 
ciety" — which in 1819 and 1820 received a vigorous 
impulse from a year's agency of the late Rev. Louis 
Dwight — the management of its concerns fell grad- 
ually into the hands of Dr. Edwards ; Mr. Blan- 
chard its treasurer, and Messrs. Flagg and Gould its 
printers and business agents, being all members of 
his congregation. From 1817 he had acted on its 
Executive Committee, and in 1821 was elected Corre- 
sponding Secretary, by which the labor and responsi- 
bility of superintending the press and directly manag- 
ing its concerns were officially devolved upon him, 
though he was still fulfilling all his arduous duties as 
pastor. In May, 1821, he wrote the able and soul- 
stirring Seventh Annual Report of that Society, the 
spirit of which appears in the following summary of 
its contents in the closing paragraphs : 



HIS MINISTRY ]N ANDOVER. 103 

"If two of our tracts have been connected with 
the hopeful conversion of twelve persons, which have 
come to our knowledge, what may we not hope, with 
the blessing of heaven, from the four hundred thousand 
which have issued from our depository the past year ; 
and from the millions which have issued in seven 
years ; and from the millions and millions which will 
continue to issue to all future generations ? 

" Who can contemplate these six considerations con- 
nected with this Society, namely, the ease and effect 
w'th which it may speak at the same time to millions ; 
th3 immense call for tracts ; the great amount of good 
wMch may be done by small means ; the ease and 
eflect with which it may assist all other benevolent 
societies ; its permanency, its adaptedness with pre- 
seit means for perpetual operation ; and above all, 
who can witness the approbation of God which it has 
already received ; see one tract instrumental in the 
topeful conversion of four persons, and more indi- 
rectly in the conversion of forty, another in the con- 
version of eight, another of twelve, another of thir 
teen, and many of these out of the way of other means 
of grace — who can see a tract put in operation all the 
Bible Societies in Russia, Sweden, and the neighbor- 
ing countries, and not expect, when he stands on 
mount Zion, to see the multitude which no man can 
number, vastly augmented through the instrumentality 
of tracts ? 

"And who, with a conviction that he had been 
instrumental in their salvation, would not join with 
ineffable delight in their anthems of glory *unto Him 
that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own 



104 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.l). 

blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God 
and his Father ; to whom be glory and dominion for 
ever and ever?'" 

In June, 1821, he received from his friend Rev, 
Gordon Hall, at Bombay, the well-known eloquent 
appeal, "The Conversion of the World, or the 
Claims of Six Hundred Millions," which was thea 
published by the Tract Society as No. 138 of the^r 
series. / 

Under such a pressure of public duty, and tie 
impossibility of performing the superadded labors 
involved in his ofi&cial relations to the Tract Sociely, 
as he was riding on horseback to visit some of Ms 
people, July 26, 1822, he called at the room of tke 
compiler of this memoir, who was near the close of lis 
course in the seminary and contemplating labors at 
the West, and said in substance, "The New England 
Tract Society is in a very low state, and we think we 
must have one from the Senior class to engage for a 
time in its agency. We have been looking over the 
class, and according to the best light we have, we 
think it may be your duty to labor for a time in this 
department. We wish you would think of it, and 
hope you will have light and direction from above. 
My duties are at this time very pressing. Good- 
morning, sir." The result was that the young man 
thus addressed, the day after closing his studies, com- 
menced the agency, in which he had the benefit of 
Dr. Edwards' wise and disinterested counsels and 
affectionate sympathy for two and a half years in 
Andover ; and when, in 1825, the Society united with 
other societies in forming the American Tract Soci- 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 105 

ety located in New York, of whicli lie was elected 
Corresponding Secretar}-, the kind and effective co- 
operation of Dr. Edwards, as a member of the Pub- 
lishing Committee of the national Society, and in 
various ways, was still faithfully continued through- 
out the further period of twenty-eight years, till God 
called him to rest from his earthly labors. 

On the 12th of June, 1822, Dr. Edwards preached 
his sermon on " Christian Communion" at the installa- 
tion, in Gorham, Maine, of the Rev. Thaddeus Pomeroy, 
his class-mate in the Theological Seminary, which was 
published in three editions at the Andover press, 
and also in an able magazine edited by a man of kin- 
dred spirit, the Rev. Dr. John H. Rice, of Richmond, 
Virginia. The discourse is founded on the words, 
" Receive ye one another, as Christ also received us, 
to the glory of God," and shows that " the communion 
of all real Christians is an object dear to Christ. He 
bore it upon his heart, in his dying prayer, ' that they 
all may be one.' To open the way for this, he laid 
down his life. To accomplish it, he now intercedes 
in heaven. The union for which he prayed, is a union 
in God, the only real, permanent union that can ever 
be formed — a union of souls that truly receive Christ, 
with Christ — founded on no merely external distinc- 
tion whatever ; but they receive him as their prophet 
to teach them the will of God, their priest to atone 
for their sins, their king to rule in their hearts and 
to receive their choicest affections and govern their 
lives." Ml such Christ receives ; and they are bound 
by the divine command, and the most sacred and in- 
spiring motives, to receive one another. 

5* 



106 REY. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

In the autumn of 1822," (or more probably two 
years later,) a man partially intoxicated, passing 
through Andover on a wagon loaded with apples, fell 
under its wheels within a few rods of Dr. Edwards' 
church, and was crushed to death. This, and another 
death occasioned by intemperance, led to his preach- 
ing two more, powerful sermons, probably from the 
texts, "The way of transgressors is hard," and, "At 
the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like 
an adder ;" showing, as he did in 1816, the woes of 
the intemperate, and the duty of doing all in our 
power to induce the temperate to ahstain from the use 
of intoxicating drinks, that when the existing race of 
the intemperate should be removed, the land might be 
free from the curse of drunkenness. We were not 
present to hear these sermons, but well remember 
that the report of them filled the region around ; and 
that the main idea was seized by all, and passed from 
mouth to mouth, " Keep the temperate people temper- 
ate ; the drunkards will soon die, and the land be 
free ;" a happy illustration of the power God had 
given him, to seize on a great, simple, practical idea, 
that all could understand and put in practice, and 
which yet was the germ of an all-pervading moral 
influence and good which the mind of man cannot 
estimate. 

Early in 1823, it appears that Dr. Edwards, learn- 
ing the distinguished usefulness of a humble and aged 

* This date, from a printed paper, may be an error of the 
press. The death here described is recorded as occurring Oct. 18, 
1824. The man was seen to reel as he passed, seated on the 
tongue of his wagon ; and as he descended a hill near the residence 
of the late Deacon Poor, he fell and met his untimely end. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 107 

pastor at Boscawen, New Hampshire, who had trained 
many youth for public usefulness, and among them the 
late Hon. Daniel Webster — whose name the pastor in 
his modesty does not mention — requested of him some 
of the results of his labors, which might be discreetly 
used for the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom. 
The questions proposed appear in the pastor's meek 
reply, which we gladly insert as a testimony to the 
usefulness of many ministers of Christ who serve Him 
faithfully, and receive a glorious reward, though far 
removed from the pomp and splendor of this world. 

" BoscAWEN, Jan. 23, 1823. 

"Rev. and Dear Sir — I received yours of Jan. 
15th but yesterday. On reading, I found some ques- 
tions hard, if not too delicate, for me to answer: 
hard, as I have not sufacient guides' to direct me ; 
delicate, as pride may insensibly tempt me to exag- 
gerate; or on the other hand, an affected humility 
may lead me to keep some things back which the 
Lord has done for us. But if I can gratify and en- 
courage a Christian brother in the ministry, and 
directly or indirectly do something to promote the 
cause of religion by relating, as far as I am able, 
what God has done by me for his people, I ought to 
suppress my own feelings, and to suggest a few things 
in reply to your questions, as far as my memory shall 
serve, with what helps records may afford. 

" Ques. 1. ' How many scholars have you fitted for 
college ?' Perhaps I have offered to college or fitted 
between ninety and a hundred, of whom thirty-seven 
have entered upon the ministry, and some others are 
in progress. 



108 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

" Ques. 2. ' How many of them became hopefully 
pious in your family?' As many as sixteen or more. 

" Ques. 3. ' How many of those who became hope- 
fully pious in your family have entered the ministry V 
Ten at least. 

" Ques. 4. ' How many have made a profession of 
religion under your ministry, and about how many 
of those do you suppose have been or now are heads 
of families?' The church that acted in my ordination 
consisted of twenty members in all, male and female, 
all of whom were heads of families, and now all but 
one have been removed by death. Since my settle- 
ment, about four hundred and thirty have been added, 
and I should suppose that three hundred of those 
have been or now are heads of families. 

"Ques. 5. 'About how many souls are there in 
your congregation, and how many in your church?' 
My congregation contains about one hundred families, 
and I think our assemblies are from two to four 
hundred ; the regular members of the church are some 
short of three hundred. 

"Ques. 6. 'About how much is done in your so- 
ciety in a year for benevolent objects?' There are 
various societies, ways, and means, by which these 
objects have been promoted, and no annual estimation 
has been made that has come to my knowledge, ex- 
cept one year, when it amounted to about five hundred 
dollars. More has been done some years than others, 
perhaps some years not more than three hundred. 

" Ques. 7. ' To the conversion of how mony souls 
do you suppose there is reason to hope, that with the 
divine blessing, your labors have been instrumental ; 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 109 

and how many of those have been members of your 
family V To the first part of your question I have no 
direct answer prepared, for I have never attempted 
to make any such estimate. When I entered on the 
ministry, I reflected with myself, that if I should labor 
all my days and be instrumental of the salvation of 
one soul, that would be more than an ample reward. 
But now more than forty-three years have passed 
since I commenced preaching, and I may say that 
goodness and mercy have attended me. I experienced 
one special season of the outpouring of the Holy 
Spirit before I came to this town, at which season 
twenty or thirty were hopeful subjects, and a respect- 
able church was established. And since I came here 
I have been favored with seven or eight ; the two first 
and two last were very powerful. In the former 
part of my ministry, special revivals were far less 
frequent than in later years. 

"In this region, when I entered on my ministry 
in this town, the state of religion wore a very gloomy 
aspect ; a revival of religion had hardly been known. 
And in consequence of our first revival, forty years 
since, I was abundantly called upon to labor in the 
neighboring towns ; and as the doctrines of grace 
had been but little inculcated, the churches were in a 
very low and formal state. In a number of instances 
I witnessed a revolution in sentiment, and a revival 
of the spirit of religion, which the work that the 
Lord had wrought among my people served greatly 
to strengthen and increase, till nearly the whole vi- 
cinity became revolutionized. 

" But in answer to your question, what shall I say ? 



no REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

If I have been instrumental of good to one soul, to 
ten, to a hundred, or to a thousand, the glory is all 
due to God our Saviour ; to him be the praise. A 
Paul may plant and an Apollos water, but God only 
can give the increase. As to how many of those hope- 
ful subjects of grace have been members of my family, 
nearly thirty have professed a hope while connected 
with my family, and a number of others have received 
impressions, and obtained a hope after they left. 

" My dear brother, the work of the ministry ap- 
pears to me greater and greater as I advance in life. 
When I look back, I have to mourn my unfaithfulness 
before Hiui who weighs the actions of men. I rely 
on your candor in the freedom which I have used in 
this hasty epistle. That our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
great Head of the church, may direct and prosper you 
in your labors in his vineyard, is the prayer of your 
friend and brother in the faith and fellowship of the 

gospel, 

"SAMUEL WOOD." 

In the silence of the subject of our narrative as to 
his own labors and usefulness in the five years of his 
pastoral life at which we have now glanced, we grate- 
fully acknowledge the aid of another sister of Mrs. 
Edwards, in kindly sketching reminiscences of events 
which occurred more than thirty years ago, but are 
still fresh as yesterday, and some of which, we are 
sure, will lose none of their interest when suns and 
systems shall have perished. 

" On a Sabbath morning when I was about four- 
teen," she says, " our pastor in Colchester introduced 
to the pulpit a stranger whose solemn and awakening 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. HI 

sermon produced no small stir among the people, 
with many inquiries as to who he could be, and why 
they had not before heard of him. My father, who 
was a man of strong and decided character, and op- 
posed to the doctrines of grace, remarked, that as his 
erect athletic figure rose before the audience, and he 
heard his deep-toned impressive voice, he wondered 
' what sort of a preacher we had got now,' but soon 
said to himself, ' that man knows what he is about.' 
Little did he imagine that this stranger was to be- 
come a member of his own family, to exert a powerful 
influence over his household, and reach even his own 
mind, which had already so yielded itself to error, 
that it appeared invulnerable to the truth. 

" The impression I received from that sermon was 
abiding as eternity. The solemnity of his manner 
when for the first time my eye rested upon his coun- 
tenance, the expression of awe and reverence with 
which he opened the Bible and cast his eye around 
the house, as if to say, ' God is here,' I shall never for- 
get. His text was, ' If any man he in Christ, he is a new 
creature.^ His voice was powerful and commanding, 
and every eye was fastened upon him. That sermon 
opened my eyes to the nature of the new birth. It 
was evident that the speaker knew by experience 
what it was. I saw that it was to give God the 
supreme place in the heart, and to do every thing 
with reference to pleasing him. There was a rever- 
ence, solemnity, humility, and majesty, such as I had 
never observed in any preacher. He seemed to me 
to have seen God as Isaiah saw him in the temple, 
'on a throne high and lifted up,' and to bow down 



112 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

like Job in the dust before his awful presence. Yet, 
as I afterwards discovered, it was God in Christ that 
he knew. There was no gloom, no terror, but the 
most simple confidence, mingled with the profoundest 
reverence. 

" When Mr. Edwards became a visitor in our fam- 
ily, he seldom addressed me directly on the subject of 
personal religion ; and yet he inspired me with deeper 
convictions of my own ungodliness and selfishness, and 
of the vanity of all worldly pursuits, than any other 
man. I give one incident by way of example. At 
sixteen years of age, returning from my boarding- 
school with an Album, I waited with much interest 
for an expected visit from him, to request of him a 
contribution to its pages. Instead of meeting the 
wishes of a worldly young girl, he wrote a familiar 
verse of a hymn. I was at first almost disposed to 
resent it, and wished to tear it out. But I read it 
and reread it. Every time I took up the book, that 
verse seemed to stand out more prominent than any 
thing else in it — 

" * God is my all-sufficient good, 
My portion, and my choice ; 
In Him my vast desires are filled, 
And all my powers rejoice.' 

" It had the effect upon me that he intended ; to 
reprove me for giving my mind and heart to the 
vanities of this world. It concentrated in a few 
words what every thing else he had done and said 
had before signified to my conscience. I saw that 
always and everywhere he was supremely desirous to 
turn my heart from the world to God. I pondered 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 113 

the stanza, displeased, yet impressed. The first line 
told me the secret of his piety. I saw myself in con- 
trast with him, and he was my human model. For 
two years I had earnestly studied his character, and 
now I endeavored to put it to a practical use. I saw 
that he sat down before the word of God to be taught 
his will, that he might do it ; that he resorted thither 
for instruction and guidance in every thing ; and that 
its truths were incorporated into his very being. 

" When he heard that I was hopefully converted, he 
wrote me an instructive and affecting letter. It was 
the first I had ever received from him ; and I had no 
doubt what was the nature of its contents. I took it 
into the attic to read it alone and with prayer. This 
letter was burned up with the house of my father 
more than twenty years ago, but I well recollect the 

first sentence in it : ' And has God, my dear E , 

given you a heart to love Him? If so, he lias done 
more for you than if he had bestowed upon you all 
the wealth of this world.' Every word I esteemed as 
very precious. The power of his example made it so. 
I burst into tears on reading this sentence, and after 
reading the remainder, continued on my knees weep- 
ing, and praying that I might be enabled to follow 
the instructions it contained, and this reading of it 
was for some time repeated daily in the same way 
and the same place. 

"At the time of Mr. Edwards' early visits at my 
father's, our household consisted of fifteen or twenty 
persons. My parents had nine children, all making 
their home with them. The other persons were house- 
servants, and laborers on the farm. The colored 



114 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

servant-woman we called Amy. She was a slave, 
purchased by my father before the emancipation act, 
but so old that this act did not reach her. There 
was also in the family a man-servant named Thell, 
an Irishman of very limited mental capacity. We 
could not teach him to read, and he could retain 
scarcely any portions of the Bible. Several of the 
other laborers had been taken young, and trained by 
my father on the farm, and so were permanent mem- 
bers of the family. This was the circle to which Mr. 
Edwards was introduced on his first coming to our 
house, and on which he was to exert a great and ben- 
eficial influence. He was a man of few words, but 
of gentle and kind manners. On entering the house 
at first, and ever afterwards, he noticed and addressed 
every one, taking especial care not to overlook Amy 
and Thell. Nor was his kindness lost upon them. 
This stupid man would watch every opportunity to 
render a service to Mr. Edwards, in return for his 
kind manner. His remark was, 'I would do any 
thing for Mr. Edwards ; he is the politest man I ever 
knew.' Gentleness, kindness, and courtesy marked 
his intercourse with all the members of our family. 

" In reviewing his whole connection with us, God's 
faithfulness in fulfilling the desire of them that fear 
him is manifest. It must be regarded as a striking- 
instance of answer to prayer. Our mother was de- 
scended from a very godly ancestry. Her grandpar- 
ents had left their home and all their possessions on 
account of the great profligacy and wickedness pre- 
vailing around them, and had settled in Colchester 
when it was a wilderness, for the sake of enjoying 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVEil. 115 

unmolested their religious sentiments, and training 
up their children in the fear of God. My mother 
believed that she was converted when about six years 
old. My earliest recollections are of her faithfulness 
in inculcating religious truth, and other endeavors 
for the spiritual good of her household. For a long 
series of years, she bore the burden of their souls' wel- 
fare on her heart alone, feeling that she was the only 
one of this large household who sought communion 
with God. At the time of Mr. Edwards' introduc- 
tion to the family, two only of her children had been 
given her in answer to her prayers. Long had she 
wrestled with God in secret for the conversion of my 
father, being much afflicted by his opposition to true 
piety, but yet sweetly and patiently waiting upon the 
Lord, trusting in that word of promise in which he 
had led her to hope. Our house was always open to 
visitors, and clergymen were so often entertained 
there, that it came to be called the 'ministers' home.' 
But although ministers were always most hospitably 
welcomed by my father, yet no one of them ever ad- 
dressed him on the subject of personal religion ; nor 
did my mother ever venture to pray in his presence, 
or often speak to him on the subject. But here was 
a young man who at once commanded his respect, 
and brought to his view a specimen of elevated piety, 
combined with courtesy and good sense. YV^henever 
he knew that Mr. Edwards was coming, he arranged 
his business so as to be at home ; and during his stay 
with us, the whole family would be daily assembled 
to have him lead us in worship. 

" I love to recall that large family group, as they 



116 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

were seated on these occasions in the long family- 
room, which was almost large enough for a chapel. 
We often wished it might be used as such, for it 
Would have accommodated all the neighbors, and we 
lived four miles from any church ; but no other relig- 
ious meetings were ever allowed in the house by my 
father. This rendered these seasons peculiarly inter- 
esting to the pious members of the household. Mr. 
Edwards would be seated at one end of the room, my 
father beside him in his arm-chair in the attitude of 
an attentive listener ; my mother next him, in her 
easy-chair, with such a look of delight and gratitude 
as could not be mistaken. Then came the children, 
ranging from the man of thirty-five, down to the child 
of ten years ; then the blacksmith, the cooper, and 
perhaps a shoemaker, with the other laboring men, 
and boys and servants. Mr. Edwards would take 
the large family Bible, which had been in use nearly 
forty years, and open it with an impressive manner, 
which seemed to say, now God is about to speak, and 
we must listen ; then closing his eyes with great 
humility and simplicity, he would ask the aid of the 
Holy Spirit in reading it. When reading, he would 
pause on passages that might not be understood, and 
explain them to the comprehension of the most unlet- 
tered of the company. It was evident to all, that he 
came to the Scriptures as a learner to be taught ; and 
what he might know more than others, he wished to 
communicate for their benefit. 

" One winter, my father having more than usual 
leisure, had taken up and read several authors on his 
favorite subjects in theology. They confirmed him 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 117 

in liis erroneous views, professing as they did to 
prove all their teachings by the Scriptures. The 
time was approaching for Mr. Edwards' visit at the 
mansion ; and the books were read and carefully 
laid up, to await his visit. 'Now I intend,' said my 
father, 'to have a thorough talk with Mr. Edwards, 
and I shall ask him to examine these volumes thor- 
oughly. I 'm sure he will not object to give the time 
to it, and I do not believe he will be able to answer 
these powerful arguments.' His interest increased as 
the time drew near, and upon Mr. Edwards' arrival, 
my father could scarcely wait for the usual saluta- 
tions, before saying, 'I wish, Mr. Edwards, that you 
would take these volumes and look them over care- 
fully, and tell me, if you can, why I should not believe 
as they teach.' Their principal and favorite doctrine 
was that of universal salvation. My father's manner 
of proposing the subject convinced Mr. Edwards that 
the request was very serious, and he evidently felt 
himself urgently called to devote time and thought to 
the subject. He replied that he would do so. The 
next morning he requested to have a fire in a room 
by himself. He took the Bible, with the books in 
question, and spent the whole day alone ; probably 
much of it in prayer. After tea, he informed my 
father that he was ready. They sat down, surrounded 
by such of the family as felt interested in the discus- 
sion. 

"His manner in answering all my father's ques- 
tions and arguments was kind, respectful, and amiable. 
He did not aim to show any superior learning or 
power, and thus to confound him ; but in the most 



118 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

patient manner listened to every thing he had to say. 
He then showed him the fallacies of his favorite 
authors, their misuse of Scripture in proving their 
doctrines ; and at the same time quoted passage after 
passage to prove the contrary. He closed by stating 
facts from his own experience at the death-beds of 
those who had professed to hold these sentiments, 
none of which had been peaceful and happy. He 
then contrasted the life, character, and general influ- 
ence of this class of men with that of those who had 
yielded their hearts implicitly to the guidance of the 
Holy Spirit in reading the Bible. With what interest 
the discussion was listened to by those members of 
the family who, in concert with others, had for many 
years been praying that his eyes might be opened, 
and his heart prepared for the reception of the truth, 
you can well imagine. His countenance and manner 
gradually changed, as Mr. Edwards proceeded to un- 
dermine his confidence, and as he was obliged to yield 
one point after another, until the whole fabric upon 
which his hopes had been built for eternity, was 
shaken to its foundation. As he leaned upon the 
arms of his chair, his whole frame was agitated, and 
he sat in perfect silence, and listened to an earnest 
and afi'ectionate appeal to make the Lord Jesus Christ 
his refuge and trust. In the most solemn manner our 
friend assured him that none other would be sufficient 
for him in life, in death, and the judgment ; that all 
other dependences would, at the last, prove refuges of 
lies, and be swept away like the spider's web. 

"After this the books were returned to their 
owner. Those gentlemen of my father's acquaintance 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 119 

who professed these doctrines, and who had been ac- 
customed, much to the grief of my mother, to visit the 
house and continually converse upon them, came no 
more. Never, after this intervicAV to the day of his 
death, do I recollect hearing my father allude to 
these doctrines in any way. He read his Bible more, 
and with deep attention. He was changed in many 
respects ; whether he was savingly converted is not 
for us to say, but no such effect was produced on him 
by any other means. No act of Mr. Edwards' life 
endeared him to us so much as this. We remembered 
it with gratitude to God, as we looked for the last 
time upon the lifeless remains of one of the kindest of 
fathers, whose death was instantaneous. 

"I always recur with interest to a residence of six 
months in Dr. Edwards' family in the year 1821, dur- 
ing which time I had ample opportunity to become 
acquainted with him as a Christian and a minister. 
I had not been long in his family before I began to 
desire that the work of grace should become more 
deep and thorough in my own heart. His preaching 
created in me a taste for such works as Bellamy's, 
Baxter's, Edwards', and Chalmers'. It led me to read 
the Scriptures with more diligence, and with earnest 
prayer for the teachings of the Holy Spirit. It 
brought Christ to my view as I had never previously 
conceived of him, and inspired me with strong desires 
not only to know and to love him better, but to be 
more like him. Mr. Edwards appeared to me to have 
been favored with unusual views of the preciousness 
of the Saviour. I inferred this, not merely from the 
tenor of his preaching, but of his life from day to 



120 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

day, and his prayers both in public and in his family. 
The latter were always short, comprehending much in 
a few words. It was a favorite petition, 'that the 
light of the knowledge of the glory of God might 
shine into our hearts as it shines in the face of Jesus 
Christ.' His whole life, as I saw it in the family and 
elsewhere, led me to believe that this constant desire 
of his heart was granted him. Just before I left 
Andover, Mrs. Edwards told me one day, confiden- 
tially, that Mr. Edwards had lain awake the last part 
of the preceding night. She said that she spoke to 
him, but he did not incline to converse, and on rising 
in the morning, he remarked to her that he had 
enjoyed during the last few hours some very pre- 
cious views of the Saviour. I do not recollect the 
words, but he described them as such as to fill his 
soul with inexpressible delight. This was the only 
time that I ever knew of his speaking of his own relig- 
ious exercises to any one. He 7iever talked about 
himself; but as I once heard him preach from the 
text, *I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy 
likeness,' I felt sure that he drew from his own rich 
experiences of the presence and power of Christ. 

" In this visit I became acquainted with his pas- 
toral character. He seemed to know every one of 
his large flock, not only by name, but their past his- 
tory and present condition. I often rode with him to 
different parts of his extensive parish when he went 
to preach his weekly lectures. It was very common 
for him when we passed a house to give me the name 
of the family residing in it, and its history for several 
generations. He was peculiarly fond of tracing the 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 121 

dealings of Providence with individuals and families. 
Pastoral visitation was attended to by him most faith- 
fully. In his visits in the latter part of the day, he 
usually took tea with the family. This enabled him 
generally to see and speak with them all. After tea, 
he always proposed to pray with the family before 
leaving. If all the members were not present, the 
absent ones were called. The Bible was brought and 
placed before him. He would say, ' We will unite in 
singing a hymn.' He would repeat the first line of 
one familiar to himself, and if it was not familiar to 
the family, he would continue to repeat two lines at 
a time. His favorite hymns for such occasions were, 

" ' Guide me, thou great Jehovah.' 
' Jesus, lover of my soul.' 
' Lord, thou wilt hear me when I pray.' 
' While thee I seek, protecting power,' etc. 

After this he would open the Bible, close his eyes and 
audibly ask the teachings of the Holy Spirit to accom- 
pany the reading of it. Sometimes he would explain 
the passage or make other pertinent remarks. It was 
so evident that he yielded his own understanding im- 
plicitly to the teachings he sought, that when he ex- 
plained a verse the conviction was deeply felt that he 
had expressed the very mind of God. ' Open thou 
mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of 
thy law,' was constantly on his lips. How often 
would he say, ' We should always listen to the Bible 
as to God speaking to us : be still — listen when God 
speaks.' ' Some complain that they do not feel 
enough. If they want feeling, this is the way to get 
it. Go away alone with the Bible and let God speak 

Edwards. 6 



122 REY. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

to you, and always that you may obey him ; learn his 
will, that you may do it.' 

"During this winter he had familiar conferences 
for the families in his own neighborhood. They met 
at different houses, as if for a visit. He would some- 
times commence them with reading a hymn, and ex- 
pressing the thoughts it suggested. Once he took the 
119th Psalm, 9th part, by Watts. The Psalmist, he 
said, seemed suddenly to awake to a sense of God's 
goodness, and he exclaims, 

" ' Thy mercies Jill the earth, Lord !' 
Then he sees his goodness in his works, 

" ' How good thy works appear ;' 

and quickly his word comes to mind, and this calls 
forth a prayer, ' Open mine eyes' — not because he was 
physically blind, but his understanding was darkened 
by sin — 

" ' Open mine eyes to read thy word, 
And see thy wonders there.' 

Then he looks at himself, and is reminded of God and 
acknowledges him as the author of his frame : 

" ' My heart was fashioned by thy hand ;' 

and what inference does he draw from this? Why, 
the most natural in the world, 

" ' My service is thy due.' 

Who else can have such claims to it ? Then follows 
anotlier prayer, because he feels his dependence even 
to think a good thought : 

" ' make thy servant understand 
The duties he must do.' 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 123 

Then, 

" ' Since I 'm a stranger here below, 
Let not thy path be hid.' 

Here lie described a man wandering in a wilderness 

without guide or compass, when one competent to lead 

him safely through appears, and offers to become his 

guide. Such an one the Psalmist found ; he trusted 

him, yielded himself to him, and he prays, 

" ' Mark the road my feet should go, 
And be my constant guide. ' 

' God is in his word ; it is a light, a lamp to our feet,' 
etc. Thus he went through the whole of the eight 
verses of that Psalm. I remember with what interest 
and delight those families would listen to these famil- 
iar instructions, and hope I have not yet lost their 
influence. His aim seemed to be not merely to bring 
truth before the mind, but to help his people to digest 
it, to revolve it over and over until it became a part 
of themselves, and they were transformed by it. 

" I well remember the visits the pious, praying 
women used to make at his house with their knittino:- 
work. Some of the time would be spent by them in 
prayer ; and he would always come into the parlor, 
either before or after tea, and give them an oppor- 
tunity for some conversation with him. This would 
often be introduced by questions from them on some 
point of practical religion, or about some passage of 
Scripture. Such visits from his people were always 
closed by singing a hymn, reading the Scriptures, and 
prayer. 

" When individuals came to ask his counsel, or to 
state difficulties in their religious experience, I never 



124 REV. JUSTIN EDWAE.DS, D. D. 

knew him appear to consider it an intrusion, or wish 
them to leave, but he gave himself up to do them 
all the good he could. I think it was liis intimate 
acquaintance with his people that gave to his preach- 
ing such weight. He knew what they needed, and it 
was evident that he aimed to meet their necessities, 
and feed them with the bread of life. 

" I shall never forget a series of familiar lectures 
he delivered on the 119th Psalm. The effect was to 
make me feel that there were treasures in the Bible 
which I had not yet found, and to make me resolve 
that I would never give over till I could say with the 
Psalmist, that I had found them ' sweeter than honey 
and the honey-comb.' 

" There were uncommon Bible readers under his 
ministry. The Bible was the great book. Some of 
the aged women might answer well to the description 
of Anna, so familiar were they with its pages, and so 
constant at the place of prayer. 

" It was not merely Mr. Edwards' sermons which 
attracted his people in such numbers to the sanctuary 
Sabbath after Sabbath, and led them to sit there with 
profit and delight. The aged people being unusually 
numerous, many of them were seated according to an 
old custom just in front of the pulpit. Their punctu- 
ality was very noticeable, as if they were glad when 
it was said unto them, ' Let us go into the house of the 
Lord.' Order and stillness were observable both in 
and about the house. The people were early in their 
places. His very manner when he entered the sanc- 
tuary, seemed to indicate that he had come there com- 
muning with God. He seemed never to forget the 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 126 

directions, ' Be not rasli with thy mouth, and let not 
thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God ; 
for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth : therefore 
let thy words be few.' While he was a pastor, he 
gave himself eminently to a pastor's work. He made 
it his study how he could do his people the most good, 
and best fit them for heaven. He did indeed take a 
deep interest in the objects of the Tract and Foreign 
Mission Societies, and his labors for them at this time 
were abundant ; but he allowed nothing to interfere 
with his duty to the souls for whom he was thus per- 
sonally responsible. His addresses before missionary 
meetings were not usually written, but flowed sponta- 
neously from his heart. In a few moments, he would 
often present some grand and sublime view, that would 
deeply affect and elevate the audience. His compre- 
hensive mind seemed to embrace the present world 
and the coming eternity. He believed that this earth 
belongs to Christ, and that he is to possess it; and 
the glory of the Saviour in the success of his gospel, 
seemed to be the great inspiring motive which led 
him to spend and be spent in laboring to bring the 
world into subjection to him. 

*' Surely never had a pastor more constant and 
unremitted proof of the confidence and affection of his 
people. When he married, it was enough that they 
received among them the companion of his choice ; 
and there was no scene of which my father seemed to 
take more delight in speaking, in the latter years of 
his life, than that of the cordiality and kindness with 
which a great company assembled to welcome to her 
new home one who was to share the pastor's sorrows 



126 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. U. 

and joys ; and their love and esteem were neither 
withheld nor diminished. Of the mothers in Israel, 
whose sympathy in sickness or trials was ever mani- 
fested, I well remember one. Her deeply furrowed 
cheek and withered hand seemed to indicate that she 
had already served her appointed time, but she lived 
many years a comfort and support to her pastor by 
her fervent prayers and unwearied devotion to him- 
self and his family. It is sad to think that such 
relations of a pastor and his flock must be sundered, 
and joyful to think that after the earthly tie that 
binds them is broken, there is one above that shall 
endure." 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER, 127 



CHAPTER IV. 

HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER — CONTINUED. 

BIBLE VIEWS OF THE MINISTRY AND CHURCH OF CHRIST. 

1823, 1824. 

On the 12tli of February, 1823, he preached in 
Boston his published sermon, "I am doing a great 
work, so that I cannot come down," before the Young 
Men's Education Society. Nehemiah was building an 
earthly city ; but these young men are raising up in- 
struments to build the city of the Redeemed in heaven. 
" Their object is to increase the number of pious, able, 
and faithful ministers of the gospel, who shall spend 
their days in preaching the unsearchable riches of 
Christ to their fellow-men — ministers who in temper 
and conduct shall resemble Paul, and all who in. every 
generation have followed his example; who have 
themselves been born of the Spirit ; who glory in the 
cross, and by it are crucified to the world, and the 
world crucified to them ; who determine not to know 
any thing among their hearers, save Jesus Christ, and 
him crucified ; and who count all things but loss for 
the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus — ministers 
who will be able to teach others with the same teach- 
ing which they receive from God ; who will not shun 
to declare all his counsel ; will keep the faith ; not 
count efven life dear unto them ; and, as the Lord 



128 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

shall open the way, will go forth 'into all the world, 
and preach the gospel to every creature.' " 

He proceeds to show that " the labors of such min- 
isters are the grand means which God has appointed 
for the salvation of men ;" that " of these means a 
vast portion of men are destitute f and that " by 
these means God accomplishes great ends." Men are 
in a state of apostasy, sin, and ruin. They need sal- 
vation. A great salvation has been provided in 
Christ ; and the preaching of his gospel is the grand 
means of turning them from sin to God. 

" What nation, or body of men, have ever been led 
to turn from idolatry to the service of the living God, 
without the preaching of the gospel? What church 
has ever been gathered, even in Christian lands, with- 
out the preaching of the gospel ? What body of men 
have ever been led to remember the Sabbath-day and 
keep it holy, to assemble statedly for the worship of 
God, daily to search the Scriptures, to pray in their 
families, to train up their children in the nurture 
and admonition of the Lord, and walk before them 
in all his ordinances, except those who have heard the 
'preaching of the gospel ? 

"What body of men have ever been led to feel 
that they * are not their own,' but ' are bought with a 
price;' and been persuaded by this to 'glorify God 
in body and spirit, which are his?' What body of 
men have ever learned to imitate Him who ' maketh 
his sun to rise on the evil, and on the good ; and send- 
eth rain on the just, and on the unjust ?' Who has 
ever seen a company of Howards, or a single 'How- 
ard Benevolent Society,' among all the generations 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 129 

aud tribes of men who have never heard the gospel ? 
What extensive plan of charity ever was known of 
any kind, calculated to convey substantial good to 
men, in any, I might say, even of the concerns of this 
life? But these I shall omit — for while I speak it, I 
see the heavens passing away, and the elements melt- 
ing down ; the earth and the things of it burnt up, 
and all its concerns swallowed up in an opening and 
boundless eternity. 

" Who has ever engaged in the benevolent plan of 
making known Jehovah in that wondrous exhibition 
of himself, which drew forth from the lips of angels, 
' Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good 
will towards men?' Who has ever engaged in mak- 
ing known God as a Saviour, coming down from 
heaven ' to seek and to save that which was lost,' and 
in opening upon the dying nations the infinite riches 
of his grace, except those who have heard the gospel? 

" Would our Mayhews and Eliots have gone from 
island to island, and spent the daytime in traversing 
the desert, and the night in translating the Bible, if 
they had never heard the preaching of the gospel ? 

"Would Brainerd have poured out his thousands 
of supplications in the wilderness, and spent the vigor 
of his days in bringing wandering pagans back to 
God, if he had never heard the preaching of the 
gospel ? 

"Would Swartz or Carey, Vanderkemp or Bu- 
chanan have broken into the empire of darkness, and 
held up to the perishing nations the light of the glo- 
rious gospel, if they had never themselves heard the 
gospel? Would the gospel itself ever have passed 

6* 



130 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

the limits of Judea, or its glad tidings been published 
to a single gentile nation on earth, if it had not been 
done by those who had heard the gospel? Search the 
records of all ages, and you will find that such works 
of mercy have never been done, except by those who 
have heard the preaching of the gospel. Search the 
Scriptures ; examine the economy of divine grace ; 
look at the promises of God, and see their fulfilment 
in his providence ; and you will find that such works 
of mercy never will be done, except by those who hear 
the gospel. 

"Nor is this all. Extinguish the light of a living 
ministry, and let it not be revived, and all Christen- 
dom will sink into pagan darkness. Bibles, and the 
writings of pious men, they may continue to have ; but 
if these do not produce influence enough to raise up 
among them a living ministry, all will soon be locked 
up in the slumbers of moral death. 

"This is not because the Bible does not reveal 
every principle of holy action which is or can be ex- 
hibited by living preachers, and every principle too 
which is needed in order to arouse the whole world, 
and pour the tide of benevolence over all its popula- 
tion ; but it is because, without living preachers, men 
have not the grand means which God has appointed 
for causing the principles of holy action which are 
revealed in the Bible, to take possession of the heart, 
and to govern the life. 

" The Bible may be sent to every family in the 
world, yet if they never hear the preaching of the gos- 
pel, it will not by the great mass of people ever be 
daily read. Its holy principles will not be received, 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 131 

and its holy commands will not be obeyed. If its 
principles are examined enough to be understood, they 
will lodge in the understanding, and not take posses- 
sion of the heart. They will be viewed as matters 
of speculation, rather than felt as principles of holy 
practice. 

'' How is it with those parts of our own country 
which once had the light of a living ministry, but in 
which that light has been extinguished only for half a 
century ? Is there not a great increase of moral dark- 
ness? Is not the Sabbath almost universally pro- 
faned ; the worship and ordinances of God neglected? 
Do not idleness, dissipation, and iniquity prevail? And 
even with the sober part of the community, is it not 
the great inquiry, ' What shall we eat, what shall we 
drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed?' Who 
will show us earthly good ? And do not the great in- 
terests of vital godliness visibly and rapidly decline ? 

"In one part of our country, there were sixteen 
towns which were all supplied with settled ministers. 
Churches were gathered in every town, and many of 
them were in a flourishing condition. In the myste- 
rious providence of God, they have within half a cen- 
tury all been left destitute.^ They retained the Bible 
and the writings of pious men in every town ; but 
the great interests of vital religion visibly and rapidly 
declined. Ten years ago there were not, upon an av; 
erage, nine members of the church in a town, although 

* We have reason to believe that these towns were within 
about fifty miles of Boston ; another illustration of the low state 
into which the churches had fallen in the latter part of the last 
century. 



132 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

the towns contained, upon an average, nearly a thou- 
sand people. In four towns the churches had become 
extinct. In one of those towns, when they had a 
settled minister, there was a church of forty members ; 
and in another, there was a church of more than sixty 
members ; but those members were not suffered to 
continue by reason of death. And none arose to fill 
their places. At length the grave closed upon the 
very last member, and the light even of a Christian 
profession was extinguished. One church not extinct 
had had no communion for five years. . Two other 
churches had had none for twenty years. Is it not 
plain that they had not the grand means v^hich God 
has appointed for awakening men from the slumber 
of moral death, and leading them out of darkness 
into the light and liberty of his children ? Even the 
passing traveller, in view of the footsteps of deprav- 
ity which he everywhere witnessed, could not but feel 
that the glory had departed. So would it be without 
the preaching of the gospel in every town in our 
country, and throughout the world. ^ ^ ^ 

" Salvation I who can measure its mighty import ? 
Who can tell the greatness of that deliverance, when 
a soul is born of God ? Who can tell what it is for an 
immortal soul, which must exist as long as God shall 
exist, to be delivered from inheriting everlasting 
burnings, changed into the image of God, and raised 
to dwell with Christ, to see him as he is, and be like 
him for ever ? Oh, salvation, even to one soul, is a great 
thing. And every faithful minister that you raise up, 
may, with the blessing of God, be the means of salva- 
tion to great numbers. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 133 

" When Eichard Baxter began to preach the gos- 
pel at Kidderminster, there was but about one pray- 
ing family in a street. The Sabbath was openly pro- 
faned ; immorality of almost every kind prevailed ; 
and the whole town was a scene of moral desolation. 
Before he had preached there fourteen years, in pass- 
ing the streets on the Sabbath, one might hear a hun- 
dred families engaged in family devotion, and in 
some streets there were not more than two families 
tliat neglected it. The number of communicants at 
the Lord's table was more than six hundred ; and 
among them all were not twelve persons who did not 
give reason to hope that they were born of God. At 
the same time, he was hopefully the means of salva- 
tion to numbers in Worcester, Cleobury, Dudley, Shef- 
field, and many other places where he occasionally 
preached the gospel. Several of these were after- 
wards distinguished ministers of Christ. 

" Almost every week he received letters, mention- 
ing instances of hopeful conversion by means of his 
' Call to the Unconverted.' More than twenty thou- 
sand copies of this work were printed in a year. It 
was published not only in England, but in Scotland, 
Ireland, France, Germany, Holland, and America. 
And yet it was believed by himself and by others, 
that his ' Saints' Rest ' had been the means of salva- 
tion to still greater numbers. Portions of his works 
have been read in nearly all the Protestant countries 
of Christendom, down to this day. And it is not too 
much to suppose, that there has not been a year since 
Baxter died, in which his works have not, to some, 
been the means of salvation. And this, should the 



131 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

Lord so order it, may continue to be the case to the 
end of the world. Go forward into eternity, and by 
its everlasting light look at the greatness of what 
God accomplished by means of Richard Baxter. 

" Do you say that Baxter was a rare example ? I 
grant it. And in this day, when the children of Zion 
are taking pleasure in her stones, and favoring her 
dust, you may expect other rare examples ; and that 
tlicy will be multiplied until they shall become com- 
mon examples. 

"Henry Martyn, before he reached the age of 
thirty-one, besides j^r caching the gospel to great num- 
bers, in demonstration of the Sj)irit and of power, had 
translated the whole of the New Testament for the 
millions of Hindoostan ; and also for the millions of 
Persia. 

" By the labors of another minister, God has pre- 
pared the whole Bible for the hundreds of millions of 
China. 

"And our own countryman, Samuel J. Mills, al- 
though he died a young man, lived long enough to be 
a leading instrument in the formation of a Bible So- 
ciety in Pennsylvania, and in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. And he was 
also a leading instrument in the formation of the 
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 
sions, the United Foreign Missionary Society, the 
African School, and the American Bible Society; 
institutions which are extending the word of life to 
hundreds of thousands of our fellow-men. 

"But you say, these were missionaries. Missiona- 
ries ? So^ I trust, will be many whom you are raising 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANUOVER. 135 

up, and missionaries who will explore every dark 
region under heaven, and spread the light of holiness 
'from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of 
the earth.' " 

A few months afterwards, Dr. Edwards was called 
to advocate, at a public meeting in Boston, the reso- 
lution, "That the influence of education societies upon our 
literary institutions ought to be acknowledged with 
gratitude to God." He begins by showing that the 
pilgrim fathers, in establishing common-schools, sought 
that their children should become "wise unto salvation, 
through faith in Christ Jesus," and hence regarded 
piety an essential requisite in a teacher. " Those men 
who left the delights of their native country, braved 
the dangers of the ocean, and settled in a waste howl- 
ing wilderness, that they might educate their children 
for God, would not commit them to one who knew 
not God. 'How,' said they, 'can he teach others 
what he does not himself know ? Besides, if he is not 
a pious man, his example, instead of leading them to 
God, will tend to lead them away from him. And 
what advantage will it be to our children to become 
wise for this world, and yet be fools for the world to 
come ; to become great and distinguished here, and 
yet be outcasts from the presence and favor of God 
hereafter? Nor had they much confidence that, with- 
out pious instruction and example, their children 
would ever become wise or happy for this world. 
They had learnt the lesson which ought to be writ- 
ten upon every man's heart, that godliness is that 
alone which is profitable unto all things, 'having 



136 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

promise of the life that now is, and that which is to 
come.' 

"It was the promotion of this also which was 
their object in the establisliment of academies. This 
also was their object in the establishment of colleges. 
They were founded for the purpose, primarily, of 
raising up ministers of the gospel. Our fathers, in 
making this the object in establishing our literary in- 
stitutions, were wise men, and if we do not make it 
our object in supporting them, we shall be as far 
from wisdom as they were from folly. Whatever 
tends to promote this object in our literary institu- 
tions, tends to promote their prosperity. 

"Education societies tend strongly to promote 
this object. Since their formation they have assisted 
more than seven hilndred and fifty young men, of 
hopeful piety, in their preparation for the gospel 
ministry. About two-thirds of these, it is supposed, 
have been instructors of schools. Education societies 
then have furnished five hundred instructors of com- 
mon-schools. Suppose that each one has had the care, 
upon an average, of forty children ; this has brought 
two thousand children under their daily instruction. 
To them they have read the Bible ; with them united 
in morning and evening supplication. And often, 
after showing them their sins, have they pointed 
them to ' the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of 
the world ;' and that too at the most interesting period 
of their existence, when they were forming and fixing 
their character for eternity. Who that knows the 
worth of the soul, or views it on a state of trial, and 
bound to eternity, does not here see cause for grati- 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 137 

tude to Almighty God for the influence of education 
societies ? I have known a single teacher, a charity- 
scholar too, in a single season, hopefully the means, 
under God, of leading no less than ten of his pupils 
to that knowledge of Christ which is life eternal. 
Eight of these are now members of the church, and 
have for years adorned the doctrine of God our Sav- 
iour by their lives and conversation. 

'' Probably more than four hundred of the bene- 
ficiaries of education societies have been members of 
academies. Here they have come into contact, as 
daily companions, with not less than one thousand 
youth who are preparing for public life. And as 'he 
that walketh with wise men shall be wise,' their influ- 
ence on them in promoting diligence, sobriety, and the 
fear of the Lord, has been eminently salutary. 

" Several hundred of these beneficiaries have been 
members of colleges. In thirteen different colleges 
there have been, within seven years, revivals of re- 
ligion. In seven of them, in the course of two years, 
one hundred and eighty students were added to the 
church. And it is the united opinion of the officers 
of these colleges, that no inconsiderable part of these 
efforts must be ascribed, under God, to the influence 
of beneficiaries. 

" We hear of a revival of religion in a college, 
and rejoice in it as a great event. But when we look 
at it only in general, we have but a very inadequate 
idea of its importance. Fix your eyes upon a single 
individual. He has distinguished talents, and has 
come to college for the purpose of preparing to make 
a distinguished figure in the world. He has no re- 



138 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS. D.D. 

ligion, has in view no higher object than himself, and 
never casts a look beyond the limits of time. Upon 
the members of that college God pours out his Spirit. 
Numbers are convicted of sin, and anxiously in- 
quiring what they shall do to be saved. He remains 
unmoved. He looks down with scorn and contempt 
upon those who are anxious for eternity. 

" But He who inhabiteth eternity has made him 
for a different purpose, and an arrow from his quiver 
pierces his heart. He too is distressed, and finds no 
rest. In the class of which he is a member, there is 
one charity student. No sooner is this young man 
distressed on account of his sins, than he attaches 
himself to that charity student. Often they are seen 
in the lonely walk engaged in ardent counsel, one 
anxious to know who can ' take away the heart of 
stone,' and the other anxious to tell him. On a cer- 
tain day they retire to a mountain, in imitation, I 
trust, of Him who ' went up into a mountain to pray,' 
and there unite in supplication to the God of heaven 
for the blessings of his grace. Impressions are made 
by the power of the Holy Ghost upon the mind of 
that young man which will never be effaced. He be- 
comes an ardent disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and devotes his time, talents, and influence to the 
promotion of His glory and the salvation of His 
people. 

" Much is done by him before he leaves college. 
Tlicn he enters tlie ministry, and his labors are 
blessed. Numerous churches and congregations, who 
have heard him with delight, are anxious to obtain 
him for their minister, to go in and out before them, 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 139 

break to tliem the bread of life, and guide them and 
their children in the way to heaven. 

"But God has opened a fountain in that man's 
soul, fi'om which flows a current of benevolence too 
strong to be confined within the limits of Christendom. 
He crosses the Atlantic, passes round the Cape of 
Good Hope, and up through the Indian Ocean, and 
for years proclaims the glad tidings of salvation on 
the islands and continent of Asia. From that land of 
moral death, he cries with a voice that is heard half 
round the globe, ' ye blood-bought churches of 
Christ, let the cry among you be, Whom shall we send, 
and who will go for us as messengers to the heathen ? 
And 0, ye pious youth, let the echo among you be, 
Here are we, send us.' Nor does he speak only to 
those in Christian lands ; no, he daily tells the wan- 
dering pagans of a Saviour who has bought them with 
his blood. With one hand he points them to the 
cross, and with the other gives them the New Testa- 
ment which he and his associates have translated and 
printed in the language of ten millions of people. 
More than two thousand children are collected to- 
gether in missionary schools, to read in their own 
tongue the wonderful works of Jehovah. Hundreds 
of thousands of religious tracts are put in circulation, 
and a system of Christian means opened, which, like 
streams from the fountain of life, are uniting in one 
great and mighty river to carry the blessings of sal- 
vation through that extended and desolate part of the 
world. 

'*At some future day, I see a Hindoo traveller 
crossing that mighty desert. Weary and thirsty, his 



140 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

soul faints within him ; but directed by a hand unseen, 
he meets this current of mercy, and it is to him ' as a 
river of water in a dry place,' and its banks are ' as 
the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.' He 
drinks of this water, and never thirsts. It is ' in him 
a well of water springing up into everlasting life.' 
And as he rises and goes onward ' from strength to 
strength,' his heart kindles with holy desire to know 
the source of this celestial river. With an enthusiasm 
more ardent than ever sought the source of the Niger 
or the Nile, ho traces it through a course of eighteen 
thousand miles, and finds that it comes from America. 
Not content with this, he traces it among our hills 
and dales, till he comes to a literary institution. Not 
content with this, but wishing to see the very crevice 
from which it sprung, he enters the interior, and after 
searching, finds that he who was honored of God as 
an instrument of opening this fountain with all its 
blessings upon the world, was a charity student. And 
uniting with all pious charity students, and all pious 
benefactors of charity students, all who have been or 
shall be saved from eternal death by their labors, he 
gives the glory to God for ever." 

HIS ADDRESS ON SACRED ELOQUENCE. 

The " Porter Rhetorical Society of the Theological 
Seminary" having appointed him to deliver an ad- 
dress before the ofi&cers and members of the seminary, 
and the body of clergymen and others to assemble at 
the anniversary of the institution, September 26, 1824, 
he chose the great theme of a minister's preaching the 
gospel as it is given by inspiration in the Old and JYew 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 141 

Testaments, in wliich he gives by far the best testimony 
and record within our reach of his own aims, and how 
he fulfilled them in his public ministrations. 

The editors of the Boston Recorder doubtless 
echoed the impressions of the community of evangel- 
ical Christians at the time, when they said, " Who 
would not expect on such an occasion, and before such 
an audience as annually collects at Andover, that an 
address of this kind would contain fine specimens of 
writing, labored periods, rich selections of imagery, 
sublimity of description, and a powerful combination 
of language ? But no ; here is no display, no dazzle, 
no apparent effort. Mr. Edwards was to speak to 
an audience whose sympathies and consciences were 
awake, and his is the eloquence of the heart. It is 
not boisterous, not vehement, no swell, no dashing, 
but you are borne on a stream so clear, that the very 
foundations over which it rolls are laid bare, and so 
deep and so strong, that resistance is mocked. We 
never recollect hearing or reading an appeal so sim- 
ple in its plan and execution, and yet so powerful in 
its effect. The plan is, to answer three questions : 
' What was the object of God in appointing the ordi- 
nance of public speaking on sacred subjects ? What 
kind of speaking most strongly tends to accomplish 
that object? And how may men of competent talents 
and learning attain to that kind of speaking ?' We 
give some extracts, to show how an inimitable sim- 
plicity can be united with true eloquence. We con- 
sider this style as the true style for a sermon. A 
child can understand every sentence, and a philoso- 
pher kindle at the energy of its deep-toned eloquence. 



142 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

One thing more. The writer derives his eloquence 
and power from the Bible. The language of inspira- 
tion is inseparably interwoven with his style, and the 
profound infidel of France would, we think, have ex- 
tolled the Bible with a double enthusiasm, could he 
have often seen its eloquence embodied in such writing 
as the discourse before us. When Mr. Edwards takes 
up the second point of discussion, he lays down what 
we consider a very important position, and no less 
ably supported than clearly laid down. It makes 
sacred eloquence spring from a heart burning with 
love to God and the souls of men ; and all attempts 
at sacred eloquence without these, are like the splen- 
dor of snow in the moonlight of December — it shines 
and sparkles, but the more it does so, the more it 
freezes. Preachers may talk about eloquence, they 
may write prettily, they may speak charmingly, but 
unless they feel the everlasting truths which they 
utter, they are not and cannot be eloquent." 

Having premised that sacred eloquence is the art 
of speaking loell on sacred subjects, he says, " These are 
subjects which relate to God, to Jesus Christ, to the 
Holy Ghost, to the souls of men, and to eternity. 
They relate especially to the wondrous manifestation 
of the Godhead for the deliverance of unnumbered 
millions of our race from the ruins of the apostasy, 
and their exaltation to the holiness and bliss of 
heaven. The character of God ; the creation and fall 
of man ; the way opened for his recovery by the in- 
carnation, obedience, and death of Christ ; the trans- 
formation of those who believe, by the power of the 
Holy Ghost, into the divine image ; tlie dissolution 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 14o 

of the TTorld; and the eternal destinies of the 
righteous and the wicked, are all appropriately sub- 
jects of sacred eloquence." 

" What, then, was the object of God in appointing 
the ordinance of public speaking on sacred subjects ? 

" It was the promotion of his glory in the salva- 
tion of men. This salvation consists in deliverance 
from a state of eternal sinning and suffering, and in 
exaltation to a state of eternal holiness and bliss. 
It includes a change of character from a state of en- 
mity to a state of friendship with God. This change 
is manifested by repentance of sin, faith in Jesus 
Christ, and obedience to his commands. The grand 
means of effecting it is, by divine appointment, pub- 
lic speaking. This then is the object of sacred elo- 
quence, to reconcile men to God, for the purpose of pro- 
moting his glory in their salvation, 

"This is stated to be the object by the highest 
authority. Said one of the most eloquent men that 
ever lived, who was taught this divine art from 
heaven, and who spoke as he was moved by the Holy 
Ghost, ' Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade 
men.' To what did he persuade them ? ' Be ye recon- 
ciled to God.' ' We pray you in Christ's stead, be 
ye reconciled to God.' ' Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ.' And ' whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever 
ye do, do all to the glory of God.' Why did he wish 
to persuade them to this ? ' Knowing the terror of 
the Lord :' ' Other foundation can no man lay than 
is laid, which is Jesus Christ.' ' Neither is there sal- 
vation in any other ; for there is none other name 
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be 



144 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

saved.' ' And he that believetli not the Son shall not 
see life, but the wratli of God abideth on him.' ' The 
Lord sliall be revealed from heaven with his mighty 
angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that 
know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with ever- 
lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, 
and from the glory of his power.' To save men from 
this overwhelming and endless destruction, and to 
raise -them to that ' exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory,' is the object of sacred eloquence. This was 
the object of Paul. It was the object of Him who 
spake as never man spake. It is the object of all 
who are like him, and who, with his spirit, engage in 
this employment. This ought to be the object of 
every minister of the gospel ; and of every individual 
who unites with this society for the purpose of im- 
provement in sacred eloquence. And on this occasion, 
brethren, I shall take it for granted that this is your 
object. I shall take it for granted that your object is 
the same with that of Paul, from the memorable 
period when light shone around about him from 
heaven, and it was said of him, ' Behold, he prayeth ;' 
and when he was borne onward by the love of Christ, 
through perils of waters, perils of robbers, perils by 
his own countrymen, by the heathen, in the city, 
in the wilderness, in the sea, among false brethren, 
in weariness and painfulness, hunger, cold, thirst, 
and nakedness, not counting life dear to Iiim, till 
he broke out in triumphant strains, ' I have fought a 
good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept tlie 
faith. Henceforth tliere is laid up for me a crOAvn of 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 145 

righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, 
shall give me at that day ; and not to me only, but 
unto all them also that love his appearing.' Yes, I 
hear your hearts echo, this is the object. 

" TVhat kind of speaking then most strongly tends 
to accomplish this object? It is not every kind of 
speaking, nor is it every kind of speaking on sacred 
subjects. ' What is the chaff to the wheat, saith the 
Lord ?' ' If I say unto a v^icked man. Thou shalt 
surely die, and thou dost not warii that wicked man, 
he shall die.'" 

A WORLD-WIDE OBJECTION CONSIDERED. 

" What kind of speaking then will save men ? I 
hear it whispered, ' No kind of speaking whatever. 
To save men is the work of God. Repentance of sin, 
and faith in Jesus Christ, are his gifts. It is not of 
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God 
that showeth mercy.' I know it. Every man who 
understands and believes the Bible, knows it. Paul 
may plant, and Apollos may water, but God giveth 
the increase. But how does he give it? Without 
the planting of Paul and the watering of Apollos, or 
with them? After he has appointed means, and com- 
manded men to use them, does he give his blessing 
without the use of those means, or with it? And 
does the fact that he gives the blessing, render the 
means which he has appointed useless ? Does it give 
the least hope, or furnish the least excuse to those 
that neglect them? Let God answer. 'He that is 
idle in seed-time, shall beg in harvest, and have 
nothing.^ Although neither is he that planteth any 

Eil\rnHs. 7 



146 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

thing, neither he that watereth, as to being the author 
of blessings, yet he that planteth and he that water- 
eth are both as instruments essential, because God 
has appointed them. And working all things after 
the counsel of his own will, he gives blessings in the 
way of his own appointment. Hence, it is a principle 
in his administration, settled as the ordinances of 
heaven, that 'as a man soweth, so shall he reap.' 
And this is as true in spiritual things, as in temporal. 
He of whom are all things, and by whom are all 
things, ordinarily apportions the harvest in kind and 
quantity to the seed sown, the ground cultivated, and 
the labor bestowed upon it. Hence the foundation 
for that which is the glory of creatures on a state of 
probation, an abiding conviction of absolute dependence on 
God, and of obligation perfectly to obey him ; leading to 
deep humility, fervent gratitude, untiring persever- 
ance in duty, a disposition to view all blessings as 
the gifts of God and render to him for ever all the 
glory. And this, instead of palsying the powers of 
the human soul, will raise them to the highest pitch 
of exertion. It will give to men a boldness and an 
energy, a vigor and perseverance, both in willing and 
in doing, which nothing but a conviction that God is 
working in them both to will and to do, will ever 
accomplish. Hence when He, in whom dwelt the ful- 
ness of the Godhead bodily, would lead those who 
were not sufficient of themselves even to think any 
thing as of themselves, to undertake, and to accom- 
plish the most difficult and glorious work ever 
thought of by mortals, he told them, 'Without me ye 
can do nothing.' Plaving fastened the conviction of 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 147 

this truth in their minds, he commanded, 'Go ye into 
all the world, and preach the gospel to every crea- 
ture.' And to sweep away every objection which 
the ignorance, sloth, pride, or malice of men could 
raise, he said, 'He that believeth and is baptized, 
shall be saved ; and he that believeth not, shall be 
damned/ ' And lo, I am with you alway, even unto 
the end of the world.' 

" Believing his declaration, and relying on his 
promise, as workers together with him, they -went 
forth, in the plenitude of their weakness and his 
strength, conquering and to conquer. Satan and his 
legions, driven out from strong-holds which they had 
fortified for ages, surrendered their captives, and re- 
tired in dismay before this band of martyrs, as they 
waved in holy triumph from continent to continent, the 
banner of the cross. Songs of deliverance even from 
eternal death, broke from a thousand tongues, and ten 
thousand hearts poured forth their choicest strains to 
God their deliverer. But in doing this, they lost sight 
neither of the instruments, nor of him who used them. 
With one breath they cried, ' How beautiful upon the 
mountains are the feet of them that bring good tid- 
ings, and that publish the gospel of peace.' With the 
next they cried, ' Unto Him that loved us, and washed 
us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us 
kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be 
glory and dominion for ever and ever.' 

"So it has been in every generation. So we learn 
from the Bible it will be. I heard a voice saying, 
Who are these, and whence came they? I looked, 
and lo, a multitude which no man could number, of 



148 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, 
stood before the tlirone of God and the Lamb, clothed 
Avith white robes and palms in their hands, and cried 
with a loud voice, saying. Salvation to our God that 
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. Such, 
by divine appointment, are to be the trophies of sa- 
cred eloquence. Attended by the power of the Holy 
Ghost, it is destined to be the means of peopling 
heaven — preparing multitudes which no man can 
number to shine before the throne of God in the lustre 
of his image, and reflect the brightness of his glory 
through the universe. 

" The question then returns, and with augmented 
interest, What kind of speaking most strongly tends 
to accomplish this ? How must a man speak, in order 
to promote to the greatest extent the salvation of 
men?" 

THE TRUTHS OF THE BIBLE IN THEIR OWN DI- 
VINELY INSPIRED CONNECTION. 

He must declare all the truths which God reveals, in 
the connections in which he reveals them. And he must 
declare them with those FEELINGS which these truths, clear- 
ly apprehended, cordially embraced, and faithfully obeyed, 
ivill inspire. The only reason why preaching of any 
kind is ever effectual to the salvation of men is, God 
has appointed it, and attends it with his blessing. 
And lie has appointed not only that men should 
preach, but has told them what to preach. 'Preach 
the preaching that I bid thee.' 'Hear the word at 
my mouth, and give them warning from me.' ' Ho 
tliat liath my word, let him speak my ^yoy^X faithfully.'' 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 149 

This requires him to preach whatever God reveals, and 
as he reveals it. A preacher has nothing to do to in- 
vent new truths, to preach those which God does not 
reveal, or those which he does in any different man- 
ner and connection from what he reveals them. To 
the law and the testimony — if preachers speak not ac- 
cording to these, there is no light in them. The law 
of the Lord, as he reveals it, is perfect, converting the 
soul. It needs only to be understood and obeyed to 
prepare men for heaven. The testimony of the Lord, 
as he gives it, is sure, making wise the simple. All 
that a preacher has to do is, in the clearest and kind- 
est manner, to exhibit this ; illustrate it to the under- 
standing, and impress it upon the heart. ' Go ye into 
all the world, and preach tlie Gospel to every crea- 
ture.' This gospel is that revelation which is made 
to men in the Bible ; all of which is given by inspi- 
ration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, 
correction, and instruction in righteousness, that the 
man of God may be perfect, thoroughly famished unto 
every good work. The whole of this revelation, 
would you be instrumental to the greatest extent in 
saving souls, you must preach, and nothing more. 
The Bible must be to you what the pillar of fire and 
of cloud was to Moses. AVhere that goes, you must 
go. If you stop, God moves on without you. You 
are left behind in a wilderness, without a guide, with- 
out a helper. Your safety and your success both de- 
pend upon following him. Where he stops, you must 
stop. If you move, go which way you will, you go 
without God. Fight as you may, you only beat the 
air. Instead of conquering, you are conquered. Or 



150 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

if you seem to yourselves to gain a temporary triumph, 
and begin to scowl upon less adventurous spirits, who 
dare not move without God, it is only a feint of the 
enemy to draw you into thicker ambush, and sink you 
into deeper ruin. You may imagine that you have 
hosts strong and mighty, who can overcome in battle ; 
but like the Egyptians in the sea, the more numerous 
your hosts and the heavier your artillery, the deeper 
you sink. In a warfare like this, nothing can.be done 
without God. And he will accompany none but 
those who follow him. 

"Would you rise in sacred eloquence to the high- 
est possible pitch, your eloquence as to matter, must 
be the echo of the eloquence of God. That, like its 
author, is perfect. The perfection of human eloquence 
is to be like it. That is the pattern which you must 
always follow. And those who honor me, saith God, 
I will honor; but those who despise me, shall be 
lightly esteemed. In the battle with flesh and blood, 
principalities and powers, and the rulers of the dark- 
ness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high 
places, you, without God, are nothing ; less than 
nothing and vanity ; as the chaff which the whirl- 
wind driveth away. You cannot for a moment sus- 
tain yourself ; how can you conquer others ? 

"In illustration of the principle under considera- 
tion, look a moment at the grand topic of revelation : 
that which as a means in saving sinners is the prin- 
cipal instrument of doing all tliat revelation can do, 
namely, t/ie character of God. Who understands it, 
and who can understand it but himself? Who else 
can reveal it ? And after he has revealed it, who can 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 151 

add to that revelation, or take from it, or in any 
respect essentially alter it, without making it essen- 
tially imperfect? No matter how great a man's tal- 
ents, or extensive his learning ; had he a mind sur- 
passing a thousand-fold the mind of Gabriel, and stor- 
ed with all the wisdom and knowledge that has ever 
existed, or that ever will exist out of the mind of God, 
he could add nothing and take away nothing from 
divine revelation without rendering it, so far as he 
altered it, imperfect ; and tending to prevent its 
proper effect on minds. Would you produce the right 
effect on minds, and raise this effect to the highest 
pitch of intensity, and give it the greatest extent, 
show them the character of God just as he reveals it. 
If you fail essentially here, you may expect to fail 
everywhere. You may speak with the tongue of 
men and of angels, but without exhibiting the char- 
acter of God, in the work of saving sinners you will 
be nothing ; and you will do nothing but hinder it. 
Should your voice be music itself, and reach the ear 
of every being in creation, it will fall powerless upon 
the heart which is at enmity with God, and produce 
in it no reconciliation to him. 

" You will not make men feel that while they live 
in known sin they are enemies to God. You will not 
make them feel that on account of this, they deserve 
to perish. You will not make them feel that except 
they be * born again,' they will perish. And you will 
not reconcile them to Him, who, if they do not repent, 
believe on Jesus Christ, and serve him, will punish 
them with everlasting destruction from the presence 
of the Lord, and the glory of his power. IIow can 



152 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

you reconcile men to God, unless they feel their need 
of reconciliation ? When he offers them deliverance 
from destruction, all of grace, how can they accept it, 
as all of grace, if they feel that they do not deserve 
that destruction ? And if they feel that they do not 
deserve it, how can you reconcile them to Him who 
threatens it, and who, if they are not reconciled to 
him, will bring it upon them? The thing is impos- 
sible. Hence I say again, if you fail essentially here, 
you may expect in the work of saving sinners to fail 
everywhere. Their hearts will remain cased in im- 
penetrable adamant, and not the voice even of an 
angel would reach them. This adamant must be 
broken, and the heart within pierced. And there is 
but one instrument that will do this, the word op 
God. This luill do it. 'Is not my word like as a 
fire, saith the Lord ; and like a hammer, that breaketh 
the rock in pieces ?' Would you assail hearts of stone 
and turn them to hearts of flesh, use this. ' And as 
the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and 
watereth the earth, and maketh it to bring forth and 
bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to 
the cater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of 
my mouth. It shall not return unto me void ; it shall 
accomplish that which I please, and prosper in the 
things whereto I sent it.' Mark the instrument of 
which this promise is made, my word that goeth forth 
out of my mouth. Use this. And attended by the 
omnipotence of Him who speaks, it will be quick and 
powerful, sharper than a twoedged sword, piercing 
to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, the 
joints and marrow, a discerner of the thoughts and 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 153 

intents of the heart. It will stain the pride of human 
glory, bring down high looks, and lead him who said, 
I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of 
nothing, to cry. Woe is me ; I am undone. From the 
crown of the head to the sole of the foot there is no 
soundness. Against thee, and thee only have I sinned, 
and done evil in thy sight. 

"And strange as it may seem, the same instru- 
ment, the word of God which goeth forth out of his 
mouth, that wounds, will also heal. It will bind up 
the broken heart, and heal the wounded spirit. It 
will give deliverance to captives, and the opening of 
the prison to them that are bound. It will even open 
blind eyes, and let in the light of the knowledge of 
the glory of God, and lead the heart that was dead, 
to cry, ' Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there 
is none upon the earth that I desire beside thee.' 
'The Lord is my portion.' 'Though he slay me, I 
will trust in him.' 

"Nothing but the ivord of God will do this. 
Nothing else is the sword of the Spirit. Other 
weapons are carnal ; formed by the pride and igno- 
rance of men. Be furnished with them as abun- 
dantly as you will, and use them as dexterously, in 
the day of battle you will fall. Every man who uses 
them will fall, and the army of the aliens move on 
in triumph. The god of this world is never con- 
quered, he never retreats, and never yields a captive, 
but at the point of the 'sword of the Spirit.' To 
cope with him you must use this weapon. And you 
must use it naked in all its brightness. Then it will 
be mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong- 



154 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

holds, casting down imaginations and every high thing 
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, 
and bringing every thing into captivity to the obe- 
dience of Christ. However numerous or powerful 
your foes, you have nothing to fear ; for the Lord 
will consume them with the breath of his mouth, and 
destroy them with the brightness of his coming. 

" Show to every sinner Jehovah, as he shows him- 
self, a 'just God, and a Saviour.' Call, in his name, 
upon every one to love him with all the heart and 
soul and strength and mind; and whether they eat 
or drink, or whatever they do, to do all to his glory. 
Tell them from him, that it is a reasonable service for 
them to be holy as he is holy, and perfect as he is 
perfect ; but that they have all gone out of the way, 
have together become filthy, that there is none right- 
eous among them, no, not one. Tell them from him, 
that into heaven can enter nothing that defileth, and 
that except a man be born again he cannot see the 
kingdom of God ; that the wicked will be driven 
away in their wickedness — be turned into hell — go 
away into everlasting punishment — and the smoke of 
their torment ascend up for ever and ever. And if 
while you lodge his testimony on the ear, he carries 
it to the heart, and fastens there the conviction that 
not one jot or tittle of what he has said will fail till it 
all comes to pass, you will not need to add your dem- 
onstration. They will feel its truth. And think it 
not strange if some set their faces against the heavens, 
and are almost ready to curse their God and King, 
and look upward ; while others, with clearer views of 
their own guilt, and a deeper conviction of God's jus- 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDUVER. 155 

tice, close their lips in silence, and are ready to sink 
into eternal despair. As they cast a lingering anxious 
look to you, show them God as a Saviour ; although 
infinitely rich, for their sakes becoming poor, that they 
through his poverty might be rich. Go with them to 
the manger, and thence through prayers and tears 
and sufi'erings to Calvary. Follow him by the blood 
of his footsteps, till he bears their sins in his own 
body on the tree ; and let them hear him as he 
groans, *My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
me?' Tell them from him, that he is wounded for 
their transgressions, and bruised for their iniquities ; 
that the chastisement of their peace is on him ; that 
the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquities of us all. 
And as he struggles under the amazing load, and the 
sun shrinks away, the rocks break asunder, and the 
dead start from their graves, ask them, If these things 
are done in the green tree, what will be done in the 
dry ? And as they sink under the unutterable answer, 
he cries in agony, ' Father, forgive them.' And if they 
are not dead, they will feel that God has no pleasure 
in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn 
from his way and live. They will hear from the 
cross the voice of infinite kindness^ saying, ' Turn ye, 
turn ye, for why will ye die?' And if they are not 
twice dead, they will feel that if they turn not, there 
will remain no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain 
fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, 
which shall for ever devour them. 

"But supposing they are dead, twice dead, con- 
sumed, and their bones bleaching under the winds of 
heaven, be not discouraged. If you are surrounded 



156 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

on every side with dry bones, even if they are very 
dry, and you are asked by God, Can these dry bones 
live? never answer, No; but prepare to preach the 
preaching that he bids you. Stand before the cross, 
and in view of ' earth's sole hope,' cry, ' Come, 
breath, and breathe upon these slain.' ' Awake, thou 
that sleepest; arise from the dead, and Christ shall 
give thee light.' And there will be a shaking among 
the dry bones ; they will come together, bone to its 
bone ; flesh and sinews will come upon them, and skin 
cover them above, and the Spirit of the Lord breathe 
into them the breath of life. And as soon as they 
open their eyes, show them ' the Lamb of God, which 
taketh away the sin of the world.' Invite all to look 
unto him and be saved. Tell them that He who spared 
not his own Son, but freely gave him up for them all, 
will, with liim also, to those who embrace him, freely 
give all things ; that neither death nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
creature, shall be able to separate them from the love 
of God in Christ Jesus. And that they may have 
strong consolation, tell them that he hath confirmed 
it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which 
it is impossible for God to lie, they may have strong 
consolation who flee for refuge to the hope set be- 
fore them. 

" But tell them too, that other foundation of hope 
for the guilty can no man lay, than that is laid, which 
is Jesus Christ ; that if he who despised Moses' law 
died without mercy, of vastly sorer punishment will 
he be thought worthy who treads under foot the blood 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 157 

of the Son of God ; that whosoever believeth not on 
him shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth 
on him. 

"And that they may have no doubt of it, carry 
them forward, till he comes in his glory and the glory 
of his Father, with the holy angels ; the dead small 
and great stand before him, and he divides them one 
from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from 
the goats. Let them hear, ' Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from 
-the foundation of the world ;' and, ' Depart from me, 
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil 
and his angels.' Let them see the wicked going away 
into eternal punishment, and the righteous into eter- 
nal life. Yes, my brethren, let them see it. And that 
they may, see it yourselves. Stand, when you preach, 
on the ruins of the world ; see the heavens passing 
away with a great noise, and the elements melting 
with fervent heat ; the earth also and all things in it 
burnt up ; your hearers going away, some into ever- 
lasting punishment, and others into life eternal — and 
this to depend as a means upon you ; and you cannot 
but be eloquent. With the groans of the damned 
and the songs of the blessed mingling on your ear, and 
the love of Christ in your heart, you cannot but be 
eloquent. Every look, oyery action, every word, and 
every tear will be eloquent. And it will be the elo- 
quence of the heart, which is the means of God's ap- 
pointment to reach the heart. This is the eloquence 
which he delights to bless, the eloquence of the heart, 
in view of an eternal heaven, and an eternal hell, to 
one of which each individual of the human family id 



158 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

hastening ; constrained by love to pour out its emo 
tions to save immortal souls from sinking eternally in 
the one, and raise them to dwell eternally in the 
other. And though this eloquence has none of the 
trappings of human oratory, and is nothing but faith 
in Christ, and love to souls uttering itself in the strong 
unaffected language of the heart, it will, with the bless- 
ing of God, impress the heart and subdue it ; for it 
pleases God, by the foolishness of such preaching, to 
save them that believe. 

"Preach, my brethren, the truth of God in this 
manner, for the purpose of glorifying him in the sal- 
vation of men, and you may hope, through grace, to 
turn many to righteousness ; and afterwards to shine 
as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars 
for ever and ever." 

THIS KIND OF SPEAKING TAUaHT BY THE HOLY 

SPIRIT. 

" How then can you attain to this kind of speaking ? 
You, I mean, who have competent talents, learning, 
and powers of utterance ; who have all needful human 
instruction, and are willing to make the sacrifices and 
efforts which such an attainment requires. You must 
he taught it by tJie Spirit of God. Human teaching is 
needful to show you how, in the best manner, to ex- 
press your feelings ; but you must have divine teach- 
ing, in order to possess those feelings, which are essen- 
tial to sacred eloquence. No one but God can teach 
you rightly to apprehend his truth, cordially to em- 
brace it, and powerfully to feel its efficacy on your 
own hearts; or witli those feelings which truth in- 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDO\'ER. 159 

spires, communicate it to others. On these points, 
each of which is essential to sacred eloquence, you 
must be taught of God. To receive his teaching, you 
must feel deeply your need of it. God does not com- 
municate his instruction where it is not desired. To 
receive it you must desire it, ardently desire it. You 
must daily ask for it, and be ready, with the meek- 
ness and docility of children, implicitly to receive it. 
For this purpose you must daily listen to what he 
declares in the Bible ; and with that fixed attention 
which you would, should you hear him declare it from 
the throne of his excellent glory. And you must feel, 
deeply feel, that it is all true, and aU important ; that 
the Bible is all given by inspiration of God, and is all 
profitable. And as such you must receive it, and 
obey it. Love the same things that God loves, hate 
the same things that He hates, and seek in all your 
efforts the same great end. In doing this, let his will 
made known in the Bible be your guide. When you 
understand, always follow it. Do nothing, even in 
thought, which he forbids. Neglect nothing, even in 
feeling, which he requires. Form no plans, engage in 
no business, do no actions, speak no words, cherish no 
thoughts, exercise no desires, and indulge no feelings 
but what you really believe, after all the light, that 
you can gain, God approves. In every place, and at 
all times, let, ' Thou God seest me,' be written upon 
your hearts ; and underneath this inscription, ' Thy 
favor is life, and thy loving-kindness is better than 
life.' Act continually under this conviction, and let 
it be your grand object to please God, and be like 
him. Those books, those studies, those conversations, 



160 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

those amusements, and those desires whicli draw you 
away from God, and render you unlike him, abhor, 
renounce. Have nothing to do with any thing which 
you cannot, in some way, make subservient to the 
glory of God, in the salvation of men. Would you 
rise to the highest pitch of sacred eloquence, keep 
your eye and your heart fixed on this grand point, 
and towards it direct, without ceasiug, your highest 
efforts. Let the same mind be in you which was also 
in Christ Jesus. Let no trials, no sacrifices, no temp- 
tations turn you from the path of duty. Walk with 
God. Live by faith. Reside at the throne of grace, 
and habitually commune with Him who sits upon it. 
One hour's communion with God daily, amidst the 
realities of eternity, will do more to make a man 
excel in sacred eloquence, than a whole life of labori- 
ous study without it. Select your text, prepare your 
sermon, and preach for eternity. This will make you 
truly eloquent. This was the grand secret in the 
eloquence of Baxter, when there was scarce a family, 
through an immense congregation, whicli was not a 
family of daily prayer ; and which did not become 
such through his instrumentality. It was because the 
fire was kindled from heaven, which glows on the 
pages of his ' Saints' Rest,' that it has lighted its thou- 
sands to glory. It is because it was thus kindled, 
that it continues to burn, and will continue with in- 
creasing brightness and glory till the last conflagra- 
tion. 

"Tliis was the grand secret in the eloquence ot 
Brainerd : as it echoed through the trees of the forest, 
tlie savage dropped his tomahawk, and with stream- 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 161 

ing eyes cried, Giittujnmaukalummch, guttummaukalum- 
meh — Have mercy upon me, have mercy upon me. 

" This was the very soul of the eloquence of Paul, 
as kings on their thrones trembled, and beggars leaped 
for joy. It made songs of triumph echo in the dun- 
geon, and carried transports of joy to the rack, and 
the flames. 

" Nor has it lost the least degree of its power in 
eighteen hundred years. No, even now, it melts icy 
hearts on the cliffs of Greenland, lights with celestial 
brightness the plains of Hindostan ; it removes black- 
ness even from the Hottentot, and opens upon the 
Otaheitan the ' light of the world.' 

"Excel, my brethren, in this kind of eloquence, 
and extend it through the world ; and the light of the 
moon will be like the liorht of the sun ; the lio'ht of 
the sun will be sevenfold — and the light of Zion will 
eclipse them. Kings will come to her light, and 
princes to the brightness of her rising. Her sun will 
not go down by day, her moon not withdraw itself; 
the Lord will be her everlasting light, and the Lamb 
her glory. A voice will be heard, ' The kingdoms of 
the world are become the kingdom of our Lord, and 
his Christ.' And the whole earth will be full of his 
glory, as the waters fill the seas." 

THE CHURCH THE PILLAR AND GROUND OF 

THE TRUTH. 

He was now called to another public occasion : an 
installation in one of those numerous, and often small, 
self-sacrificing evangelical churches in eastern Mas- 
sachusetts, wlio, for the sake of Christ and the gospel, 



162 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

separated themselves from the sanctuary of their fa- 
thers, in the midst of obloquy and opposition. It was 
at the rock of Plymouth, the very landing-place of the 
Puritan fathers, November 3, 1824. The responsi- 
bility boldly and faithfully to proclaim the truth of 
God, he felt to be great ; and his subject and manner 
of treating it give the intelligent Christian reader no 
little insidit into his own character as a minister of 
Christ, and the perilous state of the churches when he 
was called into public life. 

His theme was, "That thou may est know how thou 
oiightest to behave thyself in the house of God, which 
is the church of the living God, tlie pillar and ground of 
the truth ;^^ from which he undertook to show, "in a 
plain scriptural manner," " What is the church ? What 
is the truth which the church supports? How does 
the church support it ; and for what reasons ?" 

" The w^ord church is sometimes used in the New 
Testament for all persons who have been, or shall be, 
born of God ; and who will stand at the last day ou 
the right hand of Christ. Thus it is used in the fifth 
chapter to the Ephesians : ' As Christ also loved the 
church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify 
and cleanse it, with the washing of water by the word ; 
that he might present it to himself a glorious church, 
not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but 
that it should be holy and without blemish.' 

" But the word church is more often used for only 
a part of these persons ; who are at the same time on 
earth, and so near as to unite with such as profess to 
be like them, in supporting the worship, observing 
the ordinances, and obeying the commands of God. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 163 

Thus we read of * the church of God which is at Cor- 
inth ;' ' the churches of Asia ;' ' the church of the 
Thessalonians, in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus 
Christ' 

"But what was the character of these persons, 
such of them as were in reality what they professed 
to be ? They were horn of God. They all professed 
to receive Jesus Christ. And 'as many as received 
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of 
God ; who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of 
man, but of God.' To be horn of God, is a phrase used 
in the Bible for that change without which a man can- 
not see the kingdom of heaven. 

" That the members of the church, in the days of 
Paul, if they were what they professed to be, had 
experienced this change, is evident from the manner 
in which the Holy Ghost speaks of them. ' The Lord 
added to the church such as should be saved.^ Paul 
said to members of the church, 'According to his 
mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, 
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.' The preach- 
ing of the cross is foolishness to them that perish ; but 
unto us that are saved, it is the power of God. ' Who 
hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not 
according to our works, but according to his purpose 
and grace.' Speaking of openly immoral persons, he 
says to members of the church, ' Such were some of 
you ; but ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are jus- 
tified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit 
of our God.' ' You hath he quickened, who were dead 
in trespasses and sins.' ' God, who is rich in mercy, 
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when 



164 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

we were dead in sins, hatli quickened us together with 
Christ.' ' We are his workmanship, created in Christ 
Jesus unto good works.' 

" Such were members of the church in the days of 
Paul. They were the ' household of faith.' They were 
' built upon the foundation Jesus Christ ;' ' in him fitly 
framed together, and growing up unto a holy temple 
in the Lord.' 'They were builded together for a 
habitation of God, through the Spirit.' 'The Holy 
Ghost dwelt in them.' 'They were members of 
Christ's body, of his flesh, and of his bones ;' and 
were so joined to the Lord as to be ' one spirit.' These 
persons repenting of their sins, believing with the 
heart on the Lord Jesus Christ, and to whom he was 
* the end of the law for righteousness,' united together 
with such as professed to be like them, to support the 
worship, observe the ordinances, and obey the com- 
mands of God. In this united character they were 
the ' church of the living God, the pillar and ground 
of the truth.' And such has been ' the church of the 
living God ' in every generation, down to the present 
day. They are persons who, if they are what they pro- 
fess to be, are horn of God, repent of all their sins, believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and have passed from death 
unto life. 

"What is THE TRUTH WHICH THE CHURCH SUP- 
PORTS ? What truth did it support in *the days of 
Paul ? The truth which Paul preached, when he * de- 
termined to know nothing among them, save Jesus 
Christ and him crucified ;' and ' delivered unto them, 
first of all, that Jesus Christ died for our sins, accord- 
ing to the Scriptures ; and rose again for our justifi- 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDUVER. 165 

cation, according to the Scriptures :' when he said, 
' God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is cruci- 
fied to me, and I to the world ; for in Christ Jesus 
neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircum- 
cision, but a new creature.' ' And if any man be in 
Christ, he is a new creature ; old things are passed 
away ; behold, all things are become new/ That the 
church supported this truth, is evident from the fact, 
that it is the truth of God, and they were converted 
by it. ' I neither received it of man,' said he, ' neither 
was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.' 
And * I have begotten you through the gospel ;' 'which 
ye have received, wherein ye stand, and by which ye 
are saved, unless ye have believed in vain.' 

"This will not be denied. All will admit, that 
the church of the living God, when faithful to him, 
did, in the days of Paul, support the truth which he 
preached. But the great question is, What is the 
truth which Paul preached? About this, there is a 
great difference of opinion ; and there was, even in 
the days of Paul. Some said, that he preached what 
he said that he did not preach. Others said, that he 
did not preach what he said that he did. Yet Paul 
was one of the plainest preachers, as well as one of 
the best, that ever lived. And had there been but one 
feeling about his preaching, and that of cordial appro- 
bation, there would have been but one opinion as to 
what it was. And it would have been to all, 'the 
wisdom and the power of God.' 

" But as there was a difference oi feeling about his 
preaching, there was a great difference of opinion as 



166 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

to what it was. A similar difference of feeling, has 
made a similar difference of opinion ever since. Af- 
ter all the light which has been thrown upon it by the 
dispensations of Providence, and the manifestations 
of grace, for more than seventeen hundred years, there 
is now a great difference of opinion about the preach- 
ing of Paul. The Holy Ghost, seeing the end from 
the beginning, knew that this would be the case. He 
therefore directed Paul, in the next verse to the text, 
to tell what the truth is which he did preach; and 
which the church of the living God does support. 
This he has done, in words which the Holy Ghost 
taught him. * God was manifest in the Jksh, justified in 
the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto tlie Gentiles, be- 
lieved on in the world, received up into glory J 

" This is the truth which Paul preached, and which 
the church of the living God supports : ' God was 
manifest in the flesh.' ' He who in the beginning was 
with God, and who was God, was made flesh, and 
dwelt among us.' *He took not on him the nature 
of angels, but the seed of Abraham ;' ' of whom, con- 
cerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God 
blessed for ever ;' ' the Wonderful, Counsellor, the 
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of 
Peace ;' ' the Alpha and Omega ; the beginning and 
ending ; which is, and was, and is to come, the Al- 
mighty ;' ' by whom all things were created, that are 
in heaven, and tliat are in earth ; visible, and invisi- 
ble ; Avhether they be thrones, or dominions, or prin- 
cipalities, or powers ;' ' all things were created by him 
and for him ;' ' and without him was not any thing- 
made that was made.' Yet though he was so rich, 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 107 

' for our sakcs he became poor, that we^ throuo-h his 
poverty, might be rich.' Though he was God, for 
our sakes he took upon him the form of a servant, 
and was made in the likeness of men. Let it be told 
to every being in creation ; let it be echoed by every 
tongue in the universe, and felt by every heart to 
eternity, * God was manifest in the jlesh.^ 

" This is the truth wliich the ' church of the living: 
God' supports. By this is not meant, however, merely 
the single fact that he became a man ; but this fact 
taken in connection with other facts as God has re- 
vealed them. Hence said Paul not only, ' God was 
manifest in the flesh,' but 'justified in the Spirit, seen 
of angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the 
world, received up into glory.' ' Being found in fash- 
ion as a man, he humbled himself,' and for the sake 
of accomplishing his work as a Saviour, ' became obe- 
dient unto death, even the death of the cross.' But 
death could not hold him. He was never its prisoner, 
but only a voluntary captive. And having accom- 
plished his object in dying, he arose, with all power 
in heaven, and on earth. Then he was 'justified in 
the Spirit.' The truth of his declarations was demon- 
strated, and his claims as Messiah established for 
ever. In this condition, as conqueror of earth and 
hell, he was ' seen of angels.' Multitudes beheld him. 
Chosen witnesses were sent to declare his resurrec- 
tion, and preach the unsearchable riches of his grace, 
not to Jews only, but to Gentiles — to all nations. And 
although tliey did not see him, and had no ocular dem- 
onstration of his resurrection, yet he was 'believed 
on ;' and by vast multitudes, even after lie was ' re- 



168 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

ceived up into glory.' And although 'not seen/ he 
was * hved.^ To all that believed on him he was ' pre- 
cious/ the 'chief among ten thousand/ 'altogether 
lovely.' And this has been the case with all who have 
believed on him, down to the present day. They have 
been ready to cry, with Thomas, ' My Lord, and my 
God / with Paul, to ' count all things but loss for the 
excellency of the knowledge of Jesus / and with Ste- 
phen, full of the Holy Ghost, to cry, ' Lord Jesus, re- 
ceive my spirit.' 

" These persons, wherever found, have united to- 
gether ; that, not as individuals only, but churches, 
they might ' serve the Lord Christ ;' and thus support 
the truth, that ' God was manifest in the flesh.' 

" Li view of this truth, thinking men have always 
been disposed to ask, Why was he manifest in the flesh ? 
The church has answered, in the language of the Holy 
Ghost, ' That he might be a merciful and faithful high- 
priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconcili- 
ation for the sins of the people / and ' such a high- 
priest,' say they, ' became us.' ' He was wounded for 
our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities : 
the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with 
his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have 
gone astray ; and the Lord hath laid on him the ini- 
quity of us all.' ' Christ hath redeemed us from the 
curse of the law, being made a curse for us.' ' And 
he is the propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours 
only, but for the sins of the whole world.' 

" The moment this is believed, another question 
arises. Why was he the propitiation for our sins, and 
for the sins of the whole world ? And the answer of 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 169 

the church is, ' That God might be just, and the justi- 
fier of him that believeth.' ' He hath made him, who 
knew no sin, to be sin,' (a sin-offering,) ' for us, that we 
might be made the righteousness of God in him.' And 
'there is now no condemnation to them that are in 
Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after 
the Spirit.' ' The law of the Spirit of life in Christ 
Jesus hath made them free from the law of sin and 
death.' 'For Christ is the end of the law for right- 
eousness to every one that believeth.' And ' he that 
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.' No sooner 
is this heard as the declaration of God, and believed, 
than the question arises. What will be the condition 
of those that believe not ? And the church answers 
in the language of God, ' They shall not see life, but 
the wrath of God abideth on them.' ' He shall send 
forth his angels, and gather out of his kingdom all 
that offend, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast 
them into a furnace of fire, and there shall be wailing 
and gnashing of teeth.' 'They shall go away into 
everlasting punishment ;' ' and the smoke of their tor- 
ment ascendeth for ever and ever.' 

"Such is the truth which, on the declaration of 
God, and in the connection in which he has revealed 
it, the church of the living God supports." 

He proceeds to show that the church supports 
THIS TRUTH — by believing it — by openly professing 
it — by the preaching and ordinances of the gospel — 
by teaching it to her children, under which head he 
says, 

"The wisdom that is from beneath says. Give to 
children no religious instruction ; and exert upon them 



170 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

no moral influence in favor of the gospel, lest they 
rccoivc an improper bias ; let them alone to choose 
for themselves, and when they come to years of under- 
standing they will choose right. 

" But the wisdom that is from above saith, ' Train 
up a child in the way he should go.' ' Teach these 
things diligently to thy children, when thou sittest in 
the house, and when thou walkest by the way ; when 
thou liest down, and when thou risest up.' ' Suffer 
little children to come unto me.' ' Train them up in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord.' 

" In yonder distant country was a little feeble band 
inspired with love to Christ, who covenanted to edu- 
cate their children for him. Not able to do it accord- 
ing to his word and the dictates of their consciences 
in their own land, they escape under the cover of 
night, with their little ones, to a foreign clime. But 
their children still exposed, they embark upon the 
ocean with no protector but their covenant God. 
And though the very elements seem to join with earth 
and hell to oppose them, borne in his arms, I see them 
approaching, till they enter yonder haven, and stand 
upon a rock.^ And though winter and famine and 
pestilence attack them, and cut down half their num- 
bers, around them I see the arms of the everlasting 
covenant, witliin them the Shekinah, and hear a voice 
saying, ' Leave your fatherless children, and let your 
widows trust in me.' ' I will never leave nor forsake 
thee ;' and ' they that seek the Lord shall not want 
any good thing.' They hearken, and lo, they ' break 
forth on the right hand, and extend themselves on the 
* At Plymouth, where the s;ermoii was preached. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 171 

left ;' ' a little one becomes a thousand, and a small 
one a strong nation.' They spread from sea to sea, 
and ' he is a God to them, and their children after 
them, from generation to generation ;' ' keeping cove- 
nant and mercy to thousands of them that love him, 
and obey his commandments.' 

" The church of the living God supports this truth, 
by extending it to the destitute. Ever since Jesus Christ 
gave the command, ' Go ye into all the world, and 
preach the gospel to every creature,' the church has 
acknowledged her obligations to obey. And she has 
prayed that she might fulfil them. For a time her 
efforts, in some measure, corresponded with her pray- 
ers. Her missionaries were found in various lands. 
Trophies of grace were multiplied ; churches were 
gathered from among the heathen ; and the gospel 
seemed ready to be extended through the world. 

" But the church, which was to be the instrument 
of this, elated by prosperity, became corrupt in doc- 
trine. The consequence was, she became corrupt in 
practice. Her prayers grew formal, her efforts were 
palsied, and the progress of truth ceased. The dark- 
ness which she had rolled back, now began to return ; 
the smoke, and the locusts from the bottomless pit 
overshadowed ; the beast and the false prophet came 
upon her ; and she had to struggle even for existence, 
a thousand years. Some, however, among her chil- 
dren sighed over her abominations, and bewailed her 
calamities. With the souls under the altar, they cried 
without ceasing, ' Lord, how long?' And he who had 
promised that the gates of hell should not prevail, 
heard. He arose, light broke in, and Zion ' looked 



172 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

forth as the morning, beautiful as Tirzah, and comely 
as Jerusalem.' But she again slumbered; and, for 
two hundred years, did little more than maintain the 
truth within her own borders. Yet all that time she 
acknowledged her obligations to extend it to every 
creature. She constantly prayed, that ' the heathen 
mio-ht be ffiven to Christ for his inheritance, and the 
uttermost parts of the earth for his possession.' But, 
shameful to relate, with the exception of her Eliots, 
her Brainerds, and a few kindred spirits, she did next 
to nothing, that her own prayers might be answered. 
The consequence was, the truth which she supported, 
and which is destined in its progress to enlighten and 
renovate the world, was confined within the limits of 
Christendom. Five hundred millions of the human 
family, eighteen hundred years after Christ died to 
redeem them, had never heard of it. Fifty genera- 
tions of immortal souls in danger of eternal death, 
were suifered to go down in unbroken succession 
to the grave, and never even to hear that ' God was 
manifest in the flesh,' till their probation was closed, 
and their accounts sealed up to the judgment. 

" 0, had not her Saviour been God, long ere this 
the church had been consumed ! She had been swept 
away, and her name blotted out. But ' glory to God 
in the highest,' her Maker is ' her husband, the Lord 
of hosts is his name.' 'The Holy One is her Re- 
deemer, the God of the whole earth shall he be called.' 

" By a convulsion which shook half the globe, he 
awoke her from her slumbers — by the finger of his 
providence pointed her to her duty. By his Spirit 
he impressed upon her heart that she must not only 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. I73 

pray that the heathen may be converted, but give 
them the Bible, and the preaching of the gospel, that 
her prayers may be answered. 

" She al'ose not only to pray, but to act; and from 
that time she has ' lengthened her cords, and strength- 
ened her stakes.' More than four hundred of her mis- 
sionaries are now among the heathen ; and more than 
two hundred churches has she gathered in pagan 
lands. More than fifty thousand children are now in 
her missionary schools ; and more than fifty of her 
ministers, who, thirty years ago, were abominable 
idolaters, are now preaching ' the unsearchable riches 
of Christ.' Ministers born in pagan lands, and min- 
isters born in Christian lands, are now telling the 
wanderins: idolaters of a Saviour, ' God manifest in 
the flesh.' And the Holy Ghost sent down from heav- 
en is leading them to embrace him. You may hear 
his praises in the western wilderness ; in the islands 
of the southern sea ; for a thousand miles on the con- 
tinent of Africa ; in Ceylon, and India ; in Astra- 
chan, and Greenland. Hearken, my brethren, and 
you hear the Cherokee and Choctaw, the Hottentot 
and Hindoo, the Greenlander and Otaheitan, all 
mingling their praises ' unto Him that loved us, and 
washed us from our sins in his blood, and hath made 
us kings and priests unto God and his Father ; to Him 
be glory and dominion, for ever and ever.' 

" And every real convert to Christ from among 
the heathen, is a new accession to the 'pillar and 
ground of the truth.' From the heart they embrace 
the ' great mystery of godliness,' and unite their pray- 
ers and efforts to support it. 



17-1 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

" By sending the gospel to the destitute, the church 
also supports the truth in another way. She lets the 
liglit of holiness shine on those at home, and thus 
leads them to glorify her Father. While she waters 
others, God waters her. For every measure which 
she gives, she receives 'good measure, pressed down, 
and running over.' The more she scatters, the more 
she increases. 

" As soon as she began to send the blessings of sal- 
vation beyond her own borders, God began to increase 
her numbers, multiply her resources, and augment her 
strength. And these have been steadily advancing, 
witli every new effort which she has made, until, with- 
out lessening their increase, she can stretch out her 
arms, with the blessings of life, half round the globe. 
And what she has done, is only the beginning of what 
she will do. ' For brass she will bring gold ; for iron, 
silver ; for wood, brass ; and for stones, iron.' The 
bells of her horses shall be holiness ; her very walls 
be salvation, and her gates praise. Then shall God, 
who was manifest in the flesh, be known, from the 
rising to the setting sun, and the whole earth be filled 
with his glory, as the waters fill the seas. Hence, we 
are prepared to see 

" The REASONS why the church supports this truth. 
It is the truth of God. By an unction from him, she 
knows it. Upon it she builds her immortal hopes, 
and it is the only foundation of hope for a dying 
world. In its support, are involved the glory of 
God, and the salvation of men. His manifestation 
in the flesh was the grand effort of infinite grace, for 
Vn-inging out to view the glories of the Godhead. It 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 175 

was made in behalf of the church. And should she 
refuse to support it, the very stones would cry out 
against her. To it she owes all her hopes of deliver- 
ance from hell, and of exaltation to the light and 
bliss of heaven. 

" Reject universally the great mystery of godli- 
ness, and godliness will take its last flight from the 
world. No shaking after that will ever be witnessed 
throughout all this valley of dry bones— no voice 
cry, breath, breathe upon these slain; and no 
heart desire it. 

" But let the great mystery of godliness be sup- 
ported, let it be extended, accompanied by the Holy 
Ghost, and cordially embraced, tears of repentance, 
in view of the Crucified, will drop from a thousand 
eyes, and ten thousand hearts will bow in contrition 
before the cross. The love of Him who bled upon it, 
shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, will 
constrain them, and will purify them, even as God is 
pure. From this will arise a hope which will not 
make ashamed, but which will be an anchor to the 
soul, sure and steadfast. It will support them even 
in death. Thousands have tried it, and not one has 
found it to fail them. As they go down the dark val- 
ley, I hear them sing, ' death, where is thy sting ? 
grave, where is thy victory ?' and shout, ' Thanks be 
to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord 
Jesus Christ.' ' We shall see him as he is, and be 
like him.' Ah, that last, 'be like /wm,' swallows up 
death— and they mount upward, shining in the glory 
of his image, and break forth with ten thousand voices, 
' Thou art worthy, for thou wast slain, and hast re- 



176 KEY. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

deemed us to God by thy blood, out of every nation, 
and kindred, and people, and tongue ;' while angels, 
ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of 
thousands, cry, * Worthy, to receive power, and riches, 
and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and 
blessing.' And every creature in heaven, on earth, 
and under the earth, hear I saying, 'Blessing, and 
honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth 
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and 
ever.' And their song never wears out, never grows 
dull, no heart is languid, not a voice falters, not a 
tongue tires ; but with increasing ardor, and increas- 
ing powers, and ever-growing views of God mani- 
fest in the flesh, their accents of glory rise higher and 
higher, and to every heart grow sweeter and sweeter, 
to endless ages." 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 177 



CHAPTER Y. 

HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER— CONTINUED. 

LAST THREE YEARS, 1824-1827. 

In addition to tlie efficient system of Sabbath-school 
instruction, and the other various means employed for 
the spiritual welfare of his people, he established, in 
October, 1823, a female Bible-class, which at length had 
no less than one hundred and sixty members, and which, 
though it added to his labors, proved to be one of the 
most efficient means of his usefulness. This had be- 
come so apparent that, in November, 1824, he was 
induced also to form a Bible-class of males, in which his 
instructions awakened so deep an interest, that about 
one hundred and fifty men, from youth to advanced 
years, became stated attendants. 

No part of his ministerial labors seems to have 
been more evidently productive of spiritual good, than 
these two Bible-classes. He here witnessed the power 
of the simple truth of God's word, prayerfully studied 
and understood, and made effectual by the accompa- 
nying influences of the Holy Spirit, to the salvation of 
many souls. Some of his preparations for successive 
meetings of these classes, in the Gospels and the Acts., 
remain; their general character resembling that of 
his more condensed notes and instructions in his valu- 
able comment. We find also a little hand-book, con- 
taining alphabetical lists of both classes, and what is 

8*- 



178 KEY. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

more interesting, a list of tliose who from time to time 
had called on him for personal conversation on the state 
of their souls, the number of whom is no less than one 
hundred and six; and also a list of persons who 
had commenced family worship, to the number of 
tkirty-one. 

To a brother of Mrs. Edwards. 

"Andovek, July 6, 1824. 

" My dear Brother — Yours, enclosing $20, 1 re- 
ceived yesterday. I have directed the agent to put 
you up a box of Tracts, and send them to the deposi- 
tory in Hartford, directed to you. 

" I am glad that you have formed an Auxiliary 
Society. All that is worth living for is to glorify God, 
and to do good to all as we have opportunity, and es- 
pecially to the household of faith. I hope that you 
will make it your single object to inquire, 'Lord, what 
wilt thou have me to do V And to answer this ques- 
tion, you have only to ascertain what He commands ; 
and when you know this, let it be tlie single object 
of your heart to do it. Be not afraid or ashamed to 
be openly for God in all places, and at all times, and 
you will lind that as your day is, so your strength will 
be. It is perfectly safe to trust in God, and go for- 
ward in the patli of duty. And there is no other way 
to enjoy the light of his countenance, and experience 
the blessings of his salvation. God meets men and 
manifests himself to them when striving in all things 
to obey him, and not while they are letting a sense 
of unworthiness, or any thing else, hinder them from 
doing this." 



(i 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANLOVEK,. 179 

To the same. 

"Andover, Aug. 18, 1824. 

My dear Brother — Things are in an encourag- 
ing state in Reading, and also in this place. A num- 
ber will probably make a profession here at the next 
communion. 

"All who have determined to make it the great 
object of living to serve Christ, and to do good, ought 
to acknowledge him before men. They ought to let 
neither their own unworthiness, nor the fear that they 
shall not live as they ought, nor any thing else, hinder 
them from doing this in remembrance of Christ. The 
reason is, Christ has commanded them to do it ; and 
the only course of duty, or of safety, is in all things 
to obey him. God does not manifest his presence 
much, even to his own children, while they continue 
to neglect any of his known commands ; but when 
they make it their great object, in all things, to do 
them. 'Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have 
respect to all thy commandments.' 

" It appears to me that if you should acknowledge 
Christ before men, pray daily with your family, (un- 
less your father is willing to pray in it,) and take a 
part occasionally in conference-meetings, if God seems 
to call you to it, it would be greatly for the benefit of 
your soul, pleasing to God, and useful to the souls of 
others. We know not how long we shall be permit- 
ted to act in this world, and we ought, without delay, 
to be setting such an example as will testify for Christ 
when we are in the grave. God has done a great deal 
for you and your father's house, and he ouglit daily, 
not only in secret, but in the family, to be worshipped 



180 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDri, D. D. 

in that house. It might, uay, there is great reason to 
hope that it would be, the means of salvation to all 
the members of the family. 

" My brother, it is high time for us to live in ear- 
nest for eternity. Great things are depending. Let 
us strive in all things to be faithful, and great will be 
our reward. 'Be thou faithful unto death, and I will 
give thee a crown of life.' That we may know what 
this means by experience, is the prayer of 
"Your unworthy brother, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

To a sister of Mrs. Edwards. 

"Andover, Aug. 18, 1824. 
"My dear Sister Ann — I learn from your letter to 
Mrs. E., that brother G. and some of the family go up 
stairs frequently and unite in prayer. Why, my dear 
sister, go up stairs ? God has done wonders of grace 
for your father's family, and why not worship him 
daily in the family below? I think that if your father, 
or if he is not willing to lead, if brother G. should 
daily pray with as many of the family as are disposed to 
attend, it would be pleasing to God, and highly useful 
to men. In a family to which God has been so kind 
as he has to that of your beloved father, how suitable, 
how strong the obligation, for the whole family daily, 
and unitedly, to acknowledge it. It might be the 
means of the conversion of all who are now uncon- 
verted. 

"It is always safe openly to acknowledge God, 
and it is a peculiar duty thus to acknowledge him 
daily in every family. More than twenty families 
have set up the daily worship of God in this place, 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVEK. 181 

since the beginning of the year ; and in several cases 
there is reason to hope that it has had an influence in 
the salvation of souls. 

" In a town in , a few years ago, the Lord 

sent down his Spirit, and led a number of persons to 
embrace the Saviour. Among them was one young 
man whose father had never prayed in his family. 
After the son became pious, he said to his father in 
the field one day, 'Father, we ought to have prayer 
in the family.' Said the father, ' I know it.' ' Well,' 
said the son, 'why do you not pray?' 'Ah,' said the 
father, ' I have no heart to pray.' ' Well,' said the 
son, ' are you willing that I should pray ? We ought 
to have prayer in the family.' And said the father, 
'Yes, with all my heart.' So the next night they 
had, for the first time, family prayer. And they con- 
tinued, morning and evening, reading the Bible and 
uniting as a family in prayer, until, in the course of a 
little time, the father hoped that through wonders of 
grace in Christ Jesus, he had obtained that inesti- 
mable blessing, a heart to pray ; and then the father 
used to pray in the morning, and the son at night. 
Thus they were mutual helpers of each other in the 
road to heaven. And when they arrive there, may 
not that son say, ' Here, Lord, am I, and the father 
whom thou hast given me ?' " 

At a later date, he writes, " Tell brother G 

to 'trust in the Lord, and do good, and verily he 
shall be fed.' Who ever trusted in him, and was 
disappointed? 'They that Avait upon the Lord, shall 
renew their strength.' It is wise, and safe, to leave 
all things to his infinitely wise guidance and disposal 



182 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

He can give us, and preserve to us as much charac- 
ter and ability for usefulness, as he sees it best for 
us to have ; and when precious interests seem to be in 
danger, he can easily shield them. He says to us, 
'You do those things which are plain, and see how 
easily, how wisely, and how benevolently I can di- 
rect those that are difficult, and to you impossible.' 
' Cast thy burden on the Lord, and he will sustain 
tliee.' He loves the church better than we do, and 
his way to promote her welfare is better than ours. 
It is good both to hope and to wait for the salvation 
of the Lord. Never say, 'All these things are against 
me ;' because, if you love God and serve him, it is 
not true. ' In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he 
shall direct thy paths.' " 

The doubts and darkness in this dear brother's 
mind were ere long succeeded by an humble trust in 
Christ. He was enabled to erect the family altar, 
the fire of which, for a long course of years, has not 
ceased to burn. 

In the autumn of 1824, negotiations were entered 
into between the '^ New England Tract Society," which 
had already changed its name to the " American Tract 
Society," of which Dr. Edwards was Corresponding 
Secretary, and the " Religious Tract Society in New 
York," for forming a more truly national institution, 
to unite the principal Tract Societies of the country 
and Christians of various evangelical denominations, 
and to be located in Boston, or New York, as a suit- 
able commercial centre. The raising in New York of 
$20,000, which was soon increased to $25,000, to erect 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. IfciS 

a house for the new Society, with other considerations, 
after many conferences and much deliberation, led to 
a harmonious union in the American Tract Society, 
formed in that city. May 11, 1825, as the principal 
publishing institution. The American Tract Society 
at Boston, whose business had been mainly conducted 
at Andover, became a Branch of the national Society ; 
but still retained its name and distinct organization, 
and greatly enlarged its operations. Its stereotype 
plates and engravings were transferred to New York ; 
and as a bond of union, Dr. Edwards, who had had the 
primary responsibility of the issues at Boston, was 
unanimously elected on the Publishing Committee at 
New York, and all the publications continued to be 
issued with his sanction, in which for some time he had 
the concurrence of the Rev. Dr. Woods, of the Com- 
mittee at Andover, who had taken a kind and active 
part in the negotiations, and was, from the formation 
of the Society in New York, till his death, one of its 
honored Vice-presidents. The Rev. Dr. Edwards, at 
the time of his decease, was a member of the Publish- 
ing Committee of the Society in New York ; and the 
two institutions have continued the most harmonious 
cooperation ; the Rev. Dr. Nehemiah Adams of the 
Committee of the Society in Boston, succeeding Dr. 
Edwards as a member of the Publishing Committee in 
New York. 

In the two years following the formation of the 
American Tract Society in New York, Dr. Edwards 
performed an invaluable service in revising and ad- 
justing the new series of tracts, in connection with 
the members elected in that city, the object of all the 



184 REV. JUSTIN EDWARJJS, D.D. 

members having been found to be one and the same, 
to preach " Christ crucified " for the salvation of a 
perishing Tvorld. 

The Publishing Committee, July 1825, requested 
Dr. Edwards to prepare a tract " On the Divinity of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," which they be- 
lieved might be eminently useful among the first pub- 
lications issued ; but the multitude of his engagements 
did not allow him to prepare it. 

To his sister, Mrs. Cook, in Ohio. 

"Andover, July 12, 1825. 

" Dear Brother and Sister Cook — I hope that 
sister Cook is better, and may yet be restored if it is 
the Lord's will. Trials, in this world, we must expect ; 
and it should be our daily fervent prayer, that they 
may lead our hearts to God. Our great business 
should be, to serve him, in the places in which he has 
put us, and then we shall not, in the end, want any 
good thing. In no other way can we ever be happy 
in this life, or in the life to come. His favor is life, 
and his loving-kindness is better than life. Jesus 
Christ is able and willing to be a very present help 
in all times of trouble, to those that put their trust in 
him. I hope that you find him to be a very present 
helper to you, and to yours, in all your wants. 

" Though we are separated by a long distance, and 
may never see each other in this world, it is but a 
short time that we shall any of us live here, and if we 
love God, trust in Jesus Christ, and delight to do his 
will, we shall shortly meet in heaven, to part no more 
for ever ; but 0, liow dreadful would it be, if we 
should there be separated, to meet no more. Lord, 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 185 

search us, and try us ; see, and show us, if there be 
any wicked way in us, and lead us in the way ever- 
lasting. 

"It is with us a very fruitful season, and some 
drops of spiritual rain are descending ; about eighty 
have been added to our church, since the beginning of 
last year. I send you ten dollars, with my best wishes 
for your present and future welfare, and remain 
"Your affectionate brother, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

To Rev. "Wm. A. Hallock, Secretary American Tract 
Society, New York. 

"AxDOVER, June 22, 1825. 

"My dear Brother — Yours of the eleventh in- 
stant was duly received. I have read the address of 
the Committee with high satisfaction. I would not 
suggest any alteration. So far as I can judge, the 
indications of Providence with regard to the Tract 
cause are highly encouraging ; and seem to call upon 
all connected with it, especially upon those intrusted 
with its management, to walk softly, uprightly, briskly, 
and perseveringly. I have no doubt that then, if they 
continue to look upward, they will walk safely. 

" Would it not be well for you to suggest to Con- 
necticut the expediency of their becoming a branch of 
the national institution. They would receive their 
tracts and their magazine much more economically 
from New York, than from Boston. 

"Would it not be well, to have a first-rate agent 
stationed at New Orleans ; to spend the winter there, 
with an overflowing depository, and the summer in 
traversing the country west of the Alleghanies, to 



186 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

open the way for tracts to come into every village 
and family, and to keep them in brisk circulation. 
Such an agent might circulate an immense number of 
bound volumes, obtain life members, etc. I have 
mentioned this to one or two gentlemen from the 
West, who were delighted with it. Said one from 
Kentucky to me the other day, 'Your Tract system, 
if carried forward with energy, will be the salvation 
of the western country.' 

'• I hope that the Lord will give wisdom to you 
and to the dear brethren with whom you are associ- 
ated, and strength according to your day ; and if 
from love to him, you meet the openings of His provi- 
dence, and persevere in following it to the end, I 
have no doubt that, for all your anxieties and labors, 
you will receive a reward as great as you can desire. 
With Christian salutations to all the brethren, 
" I remain most affectionately yours, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

To the same. 

" Andover, July 23, 1825. 

" My dear Sir — Yours of the eighteenth instant 
containing the proposed alterations in the first fifteen 
tracts, came to hand yesterday. I make no objections 
to the proposed alterations. Dr. Woods makes none. 
I have communicated to him all that you wished con- 
cerning the stereotype plates, etc. 

"On the subject of an agent, Mr. G is doing 

I believe, what he can. I will also do what I can 
Two or three are considering the subject, but no one 
is engaged. It is not easy to find the men and per- 
suade them to engage. We must look to God to fur- 



OJ 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 187 

nisli US with 7nen, with money, with tracts, aud with 
every good and perfect gift, while we must neglect 
no means in our power to obtain them; and if our 
plans are essential to the prosperity of his kingdom, 
or will promote it, they will no doubt succeed, and 
in such a way as to make it manifest that to God 
belongs all the glory. 

"With my best wishes that the blessing of the 
Lord may rest upon you, and upon the gentlemen of 
the Committee, and all with whom you and they are 
associated, 

" I remain, very affectionately, yours, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

In the examination of tracts and books. Dr. Ed- 
wards felt a sacred responsibility that all instructions 
as to the sinner's salvation should be in strict accord- 
ance with the word of God, that no soul might be 
misled, and perhaps perish, through erroneous or de- 
fective teachings going forth with the Society's sanc- 
tion. He well knew the lurking places of error, and 
how ready the human heart is to seize upon some- 
thing short of a living faith in Christ, through the 
sanctifying influences of the Spirit, as acceptable to 
God. He had been accustomed to weigh and guard 
his own instructions as to the way of life, and show 
that no mere external observances whatever, without 
genuine repentance, humility, faith, and love, can be 
acceptable to God. He writes, "I think we ought to 
be exceedingly cautious about saying that the charac- 
ters described are pious, unless the evidence is very 
decisive ; and then some qualifying word, such as, we 
trust, or hopefully, or apparently, might be thrown in. 



188 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

with safety and to advantage." In his report on a 
long- manuscript from a worthy writer, submitted for 
a tract, he shows his high estimate of the merit which 
every tract should possess, and his fidelity in declin- 
ing to sanction what he did not judge to be of true 
permanent value. "The thoughts," he says, " are not 
sufficiently dense to be either heavy, or hot ; and the 
language is not sufficiently definite, concise, or select. 
The figures could not all be painted without exhibit- 
ing some incongruities. Yet the subject is important, 
and the spirit excellent." Again he says of a tract 
on gaming, " The facts are the best part of it. The 
rest of it wants the unction of the gospel. Had it 
been written by Baxter, it would have been a truly 
valuable tract." 

All the influence exerted by Dr. Edwards, from 
first to last, to give the American Tract Society its 
present, and we hope permanent, evangelical charac- 
ter will doubtless be fully known and revealed in the 
final day. 

To Rev. Wm. A. Hallock, Secretary, New York. 

"Andover, August 28, 1825. 

" My dear Sir — I rejoice to hear of the movement 
in the United and Foreign Missionary Society towards 
a union with the American Board for Foreign Mis- 
sions. There is scarcely any thing which I more 
ardently wish, than Christian union among all good 
men. It was an object so dear to Jesus Christ, that 
lie bore it on his heart in prospect of his own death, 
and earnestly prayed for it. And it would no doubt 
greatly promote his cause, to have them all receive 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 189 

one another as he receives them. Then, union in 
efibrt will vastly increase their strength. 

" Would it not be well to have the American Sun- 
day-school Union become the American Sabbath-school 
and Bible-class Union ? Then all the state auxiliaries 
might become Sabbath-school and Bible-class auxil- 
iaries, which would probably increase the number 
and usefulness of both. These two most important 
branches of benevolent operation are too closely allied 
to form two separate systems ; one being in fact only 
a continuation of the other. 

" Our benevolent operations should combine and 
consolidate as much as possible, and yet be simple ; and 
then, if they are impelled by love and guided by prayer 
and continued by faith^ they will be easily managed 
and become mightily efficacious. 

" Yery affectionately, yours, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

September 22, 1825, he presented to his people the 
annual report of the organization among them for 
" Doing Good," as he had done annually since 1814 ; 
not only presenting the results among themselves, but 
spreading before them the wide-reaching influence of 
the various benevolent institutions they aided, in our 
own land and the world. In this report he gives a 
summary view of what, in eleven years, they had been 
enabled to accomplish. 

In the same month the Boston Recorder reports a 
brief, glowing address, which he delivered at a For- 
eign Missionary meeting, in which he takes the most 
cheering views of the results which had then been 



190 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

witnessed in heathen lands, and especially at the 
Sandwich Islands. 

" We are permitted," he said, " to witness success — 
and success so glorious, that it has already been cele- 
brated with ecstasy of joy by every being in the uni- 
verse that has heard of it, and rejoices over him that 
repenteth. 

" It is but a few years since the present system of 
missionary efforts began. Many who are now present 
can remember the first missionary meeting, the first 
monthly concert, and the first contribution, in the 
present system of efforts to send the gospel to the 
heathen. 

"Now you may witness, on the first Monday of 
every month, members of thousands of churches, in 
countries which extend half round the globe, assem- 
bled at the throne of mercy, having agreed together 
touching the thing that they should ask, and uniting 
in supplication that it may be done for them. And 
He who hath said, ' Ask, and it shall be given,' is mani- 
festing his faithfulness. 

"Even now you may witness set up in heathen 
countries more than forty printing-presses, furnishing 
Bibles, school-books, religious tracts, and various 
other productions for the literary, moral, and relig- 
ious improvement of the lieathen world. 

"On distant shores, where forty years ago the 
name of Jesus was not known, I can show you every 
Sabbatli numerous congregations, averaging more 
than four thousand souls each, all bowing before 
Jehovah, and rendering united thanks for his 'un- 
speakable gift.' In that small portion of tlie world, 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 191 

you may count not less than fourteen thousand per- 
sons who can in their own tongue read the Bible ; 
and more tlian seven thousand who can with the pen 
transact the ordinary business of life. 

" You may go to their Sabbath-school, and there 
at an annual meeting witness thousands of children. 
And as they sing, ' Hosanna to the Son of David,' you 
may see the tear drop down the cheek of a hundred 
parents, as their hearts swell with emotions too big 
for utterance in view of what the gospel has done for 
their children. And as you hear the deep groan 
break through the assembly, and ask. What is the mat- 
ter? with streaming eyes one will tell you, ' 0, if the 
missionaries had only come here a little sooner, I 
too should have had children to attend the Sabbath- 
school ; but before they came, when Satan reigned 
and we were all in darkness, I killed them.' 

"You may see parents around the communion- 
table, melting in contrition at the dying love of 
Jesus ; and parents too who have with their own 
hands, before they had the gospel, killed two, three, 
and in some cases, four of their own children. Now, 
were they living, most joyfully would they lead them 
to Him who took little children in his arms and 
blessed them, and said, ' Of such is the kingdom of 
heaven.' You may go, in that country, to a mission- 
ary meeting and fmd collected together seven thou- 
sand people, bearing their offerings to the Lord of 
hosts. You may see tlie fond parent move with rapid 
step, at the birth of his infant, to enroll his name as a 
member of the Missionary Society. 'You,' he says, 
as he looks on his offspring, with feelings which no 



192 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

parent born in Christendom ever knew, ' if it had not 
been for the gospel, might have been killed. And as 
the gospel saves you, it is no more than right that 
you should do something that it may save others/ 
And very careful is he to pay the child's missionary 
tax every year, until the child is old enough to earn 
and pay it himself. 

" In short, sir, there is throughout that country a 
moral renovation. The wilderness and solitary places 
are glad ; the desert rejoices, and blossoms as the 
rose. The eyes of the blind are opened, and the ears 
of the deaf unstopped ; the lame man leaps as a hart, 
and the tongue of the dumb sings. A highway is 
there, ' the way of holiness ;' and the ransomed of the 
Lord are already returning, and coming home to Zion 
with singing. Joy and gladness are found among 
them ; while sorrow and sighing flee away. 

" Is not here encouragement to go forward, to per- 
severe with increasing diligence to the end ? And is 
there not encouragement enough to persuade every 
individual to do this? If not, I can show you three 
thousand pupils in missionary schools among our 
North American Indians, three thousand in the 
Sandwich Islands, and twelve thousand in islands 
farther south. I can show you three thousand in 
West Africa, and four thousand in South Africa; 
fifty thousand in the East Indies, and not a smaller 
number in the West Indies. Among them are thou- 
sands of females, of whom Paganism has said, and 
repeated the lie a thousand times, that for them to 
learn to read is impossible, because they have no 
souls. Now they are by thousands in missionarv 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 193 

schools ; and making as rapid improvement, consider- 
ing their condition, as any individuals on the globe. 

" Here, then, are thousands of persons who are to 
be mothers, and tens of thousands who are to be fa- 
thers, in a course of Christian instruction ; four hundred 
and fifty ministers of the gospel, more than fifty of 
whom were born in Pagan lands, now proclaiming the 
unsearchable riches of Christ ; two hundred and fifty 
missionary stations, at most of which are Christian 
churches ; and tens of thousands who have renounced 
their idolatry and acknowledged Jehovah as the only 
living and true God. 

"And what sacrifices have been made, by the in- 
habitants of Christendom, to produce this mighty 
change? Have farmers generally given their farms, 
and merchants their merchandise, to replenish the 
treasury of the Lord? No. Have men generally 
given their income, above the needful expenses of 
their families ? No. Have they given half, or even 
one tenth part? No. What have they done? If all 
that has been done to send the gospel to the heathen, 
should be averaged upon the individuals in Christen- 
dom, it would amount to about one half cent in a 
year." 

December 18, 1825, he preached before the Peni- 
tent Females' Refuge Society in Boston the sermon 
which was then published, and the substance of which 
was soon after issued at New York as tract No. 178, 
" Joy in Heaven over the Penitent." 

About this time, as the happy results of the in- 
troduction of the principle of total abstinence from 
ardent spirits in a large farming establishment, (that 

Kdwarrt- 9 



194 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

of S. V. S. Wilder, Esq., at Bolton, Massachusetts,) 
came to his knowledge, he encouraged the careful col- 
lection of the facts, and embodied them in the valu- 
able tract, " The Well-conducted Farm," No. 176 of 
the series. 

In January and February, 1826, after much con- 
sultation with the worthy friends around him, he 
united with the Rev. Dr. Woods and fourteen others, 
ministers and laymen, in forming, in Boston, " The 
American Society for the Promotion of Temperance," 
more fully noticed hereafter. At first it proceeded 
noiselessly, employing no agent till the succeeding 
year, printing no report till December, 1829, and 
electing no corresponding secretary till May, 1831, 
when Dr. Edwards was appointed to that of&ce. 

Mr. T , a respected merchant of Boston, states 

that when Dr. Edwards and Dr. Woods visited Bos- 
ton to propose this new organization, Mr. T re- 
plied, that "he had been laboring fifteen years to 
effect a temperance reformation by the moderate use j 
but he did not see that it did any good, and he was 
tired of the whole thing." " But," said tlie gentlemen 
who called on him, "we have a new idea. Our main 
object is, not to reform inebriates, but to induce all 
temperate people to continiie temperate by practising total 
abstinence : the drunkards, if not reformed, will die, 
and the land be free." " I confess," said the mer- 
chant, "that is a new view of the subject, and worth 
thinking of. If you see best to call a meeting, I will 
attend it." He did so, and from that meeting pro- 
ceeded the American Temperance Society. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 195 

To Rev. Wm. A. Hallock, Secretary, New York. 

"Andover, February 10, 1826. 

" My dear Brother — "We are at present fast hold 
of a project for making all people in this country, 
and in all other countries, temperate ; or rather, a 
plan to induce those that are now temperate to continue 
so. Then, as all who are intemperate will soon be 
dead, the earth will be eased of an amazing evil. 
This, you will see at once, is a great plan, and to ex- 
ecute it thoroughly will require great- wisdom and 
strength. And though we are so destitute, the Lord 
has enough of both. ' Of his fulness ' may we all 
receive. 

"I hope all hearts and all hands in New York 
will aid in forming the Domestic Missionary Society. 
I believe it is a plan that meets the approbation, and 
will receive fhe blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

" The pressure to attend meeting in my parish has 
become so great, and the number of people who wish 
for this privilege so much larger than can be accom- 
modated in our house, that the parish last Monday 
' voted to erect another house on the west side of the river; 
to be dedicated to the worship of the one only living 
and true God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
Ghost.' They are next Monday to consider, and with 
the leave of Providence, decide on the spot, appoint 
their building committee, etc. I ask your prayers 
and the prayers of all good people that this subject, 
which is so apt to cause roots of bitterness to spring 
up among a people, may here promote brotherly har- 
mony and love, and be the means of preparing the 
multitudes who are here to spend their day of grace, 



196 REV. JUSTIN. EDWARDS, D. D. 

for the kingdom of God. We greatly need the di- 
vine presence and blessing. Without it we cannot 
succeed ; no, not in any good thing. How delight- 
ful that Jehovah has all hearts in his hands, and can 
turn tliem as the rivers of water are turned. And 
liow inexcusable will every man under his govern- 
ment be, if he is not a man of prayer, of faith, of deep 
humility, holy boldness, and of vigorous, untiring de- 
votion to his service. And how inexcusable will 
every man be if he does not have great wisdom, since 
whenever he lacks he may ask of God, who giveth 
liberally and upbraideth not." 

He adds, March 3, "A Society is formed, not for 
tJie suppression of intemperance, but for the promotion of 
temperance. It is on the plan of the American Board 
of Commissioners, and is designed to be national. It 
will meet, a week from next Monday, fen* the election 
of members in the different states. The Executive 
Committee directed me to request you, in connection 
with Dr. Spring and such other brethren as you may 
think proper to consult, to inform us what gentle- 
men in New York and vicinity, or in the state, we 
can elect to advantage as members. We want holy 
men, who do not use intoxicating liquors, unless pre- 
scribed by a physician as a medicine : and who will 
be willing to make sacrifices, and perform labors, or 
give money to induce all others who are now tem- 
perate, for ever to continue so. If all temperate men 
can be induced to continue temperate, all drunkards 
will soon die, and the land be eased of an overwhelm- 
ing burden. The constitution of the Society we shall 
give you shortly ; till then we wish nothing published. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 1<J7 

The plan is, to raise a fund to support a strong man, 
who shall be permanently and wholly devoted to this 
object. Will you please inform me, as soon as pos- 
sible, of a few good men and true, who may to advan- 
tage be elected at the next meeting. 
" Affectionately, yours, 

«J. EDWARDS." 

Dr. Edwards' two Bible-classes, of about one 
hundred and fifty men and one hundred and sixty 
women, were still continued with most cheering evi- 
dences of good. "Within about two years he had ad- 
mitted to the church ninety-two, as giving evidence of 
f^ith in Christ and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 
ffty-nine of whom were heads of families, and thirty- 
seven were members of these Bible-classes, the solem- 
nity and interest of which are still remembered by 
many, as occasions when they stood on the very 
heights of Zion. On the invitation to those who 
wished to converse with him, to meet him at his 
study on specified evenings, the room was sometimes 
crowded with those who, conscious of their sin and 
ruin, sought his prayers and counsel and guidance in 
the way of life. 

As intelliorence of these Bible-classes was widelv 
diffused by students of the seminary and others, Dr. 
Edwards received many requests, from various direc- 
tions, for information as to the best methods of con- 
ducting such instructions, which led him to preach to 
the students of the seminary, March 12, 1826, a dis- 
course, from the text, "Search the Scriptures," "on 
the manner of forming and conducting Bible-classes r 
which, at their request, was published. He says : 



198 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

The first prerequisite is in the qualifications of the 
minister. "Let him be a good man, and ardently 
devoted to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let 
him daily search the Scriptures, feeling that they are 
the voice of God speaking to him and communicating 
the divine will. Let him search them with a real 
and earnest desire to understand their whole mean- 
ing ; seeking heartily, as he. reads, for the illuminat- 
ing and purifying influences of the Holy Spirit, that he 
may have spiritual discernment, understand spiritual 
things in a spiritual manner, and find the word of 
God to be. spirit and life to his soul. The declarations 
of the Bible let him heartily believe, on the testimony 
of Jehovah ; and the directions of the Bible, as to feel- 
ings, thoughts, words, and actions, immediately and 
perseveringly follow. He will then understand its 
doctrines and precepts, and will know that both are 
of God. He will know God himself, and Jesus Christ 
whom he has sent, which is life eternal. He will also 
earnestly desire that others may have the same know- 
ledge ; and be willing, if God calls, to perform labors 
and make sacrifices to impart it to them. If it shall 
appear that he can do this most effectually by means 
of a Bible-class — although pressed with business, as 
every faithful minister must be — he will not shrink 
from the additional labor of establishing and conduct- 
ing one." 

With prayer for divine direction, he may then 
show from the pulpit that " all Scripture is given by 
inspiration of God," and present the evidences, exter- 
nal and internal, of its divinity ; " such, for instance, as 
the agreement of all its writers. Although they were 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANLOVEH. 109 

men of different education, occupation, and habits ; 
lived at different times, through a period of more than 
fifteen hundred years ; wrote upon a vast variety of 
subjects, some of them that which no mortal eye had 
ever seen, or ear heard, and of which no human mind, 
uninstructed by what they wrote, ever thought ; yet 
they all agree. They give the same views of God, 
of Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit ; of heaven, 
and of hell ; of time, and eternity ; of the character 
of men, and what they must do to escape destruction, 
and inherit eternal life. Although each writer does 
not speak to the same extent, or with the same clear- 
ness on all these subjects, yet what he does say is in 
accordance with what the others say. A unity of de- 
sign and execution runs through the Bible, which stamps 
upon it the impress of God." And such are its effects, 
that "if all men should perfectly believe and obey it, 
it would transform this lost, guilty world into the 
likeness of heaven ; every son and daughter of Adam 
on earth, it would change into the image of the God 
of heaven ; it would fill the world, as the waters fill 
the seas, with the bliss of heaven. Would a book, 
which professes to be from God, if it were not so, 
make all who believe and obey it like unto God? 
Would it, simply by being followed, transform this 
world into the likeness, and fill it with the joys of 
heaven? Let a man believe the Bible and obey it, 
and he will know that it is from God." 

" Having made an impression upon the audience, 
vivid and strong, that the Bible is the word of God, 
as really as if they heard him declare what it contains 
directly out of lieaven, let the minister show them 



200 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

liow they ought to treat it — that they ought to read it 
daily, attentively, devoutly, and perseveringly, and that 
when they understand its directions, without delay 
and without ceasing, they must follow them. He may 
then show the benefits, for time and eternity, of thus 
studying the Bible ; and may offer to assist all among 
his beloved people who wish to enter upon the study 
of it, in a Bible-class." 

Suggestions are then given as to forming the 
class ; various ways in which the minister may assist 
them to a right understanding of the Scriptures ; with 
specimens of proper questions and answers on select 
portions of the Bible, and explanations of the topics 
suggested, which the minister may give. " And let 
the members of the class commence with a fixed pur- 
pose, trusting in Jesus Christ alone, to ask of God 
daily to teach them his will ; and daily to listen to 
his voice speaking to them in his word, that they may 
understand it. And when they do understand it, let 
notliing hinder them from doing it, for the purpose of 
glorifying God, becoming in temper like him, and 
performing his will. They will then find that the 
Bible is perfect, converting the soul ; sure, making 
wise the simple ; right, rejoicing the heart ; pure, en- 
lightening the eyes ; true and righteous altogether ; 
more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine 
gold ; and that in obeying it there is indeed a great 
re ward.'' 

March 19, 1826, he preached to his own people a 
most effective sermon, which was then printed, and 
immediately after embodied in the series of the Amer- 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 201 

ican Tract Society at New York as tract No. 179, 
"The Way to be Saved." It is one of the best 
tracts that have been written, and has been specially 
blessed of the Spirit in bringing souls to Christ. It 
has been translated into modern Greek, Arnieno- 
Turkish, and other foreign languages. Two or three 
paragraphs may show the character and aim of this 
precious tract. 

" ' I am a great sinner,' says one. ' I have sinned 
against great light and great love. I have sinned a 
long time. My heart is very hard, and I sometimes 
think that for me there is no hope. I fear I have sin- 
ned away my day of grace. I deserve to perish ; and 
unless God have mercy, I must perish. I know that 
Jesus Christ died, 'the just for the unjust;' that 'he 
was wounded for our transgressions,' and ' bruised for 
our iniquities ;' that ' he bore our sins in his own body 
on the tree ;' and that ' the Lord hath laid on him the 
iniquity of us all.' I know this, because God has de- 
clared it, and I believe what he says. I know also, 
because he has declared it, that the wicked will go 
away into eternal punishment. I feel that I am 
wicked, exceedingly wicked, and should I for ever 
perish, I know that it would be just. But I cannot 
dwell with devouring fire, I cannot inhabit everlast- 
ing burnings ! I wish to escape, and I know that if I 
do, it must be quickly. What must I do ?' " 

As a reply to this anxious inquiry, the four ques- 
tions are then seriously asked, and considered in their 
order, " What have you done?" "What are you willing 
to do ?" " When are you willing to begin V " How long 
are you willing to continue ?" 



202 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

" Give, without delay, yourself and all that you 
have to Jesus Christ, resolving in his strength, that, 
by the assistance of the Holy Spirit, you will ' live 
not unto yourself, but unto Him that died for you, and 
rose again.' Break off, without delay, whatever you 
know to be sin, because it is offensive to God, and 
ruinous to you. Engage in whatever you know to be 
duty, for the sake of glorifying God, and doing good. 
For the sake of becoming like him, let it be hencefor- 
ward your grand object to learn his whole will, and 
to do it, trusting wholly in Jesus Christ for whatever 
you need, both to do this, and to be accepted in it. 
Continue this course to the end of life, and you shall 
be saved with an everlasting salvation. God will be 
your portion, and you shall not want any good thing. 
He will guide you by his counsel, and afterward 
receive you to glory. You shall see him as he is, 
and be like him, to everlasting ages. I will tell 
you why. 

" This breaking off of all known sin, because it is 
offensive to God, and ruinous to you, is repentance. 
This engaging heartily in what you know to be duty, 
for the sake of glorifying God and doing good, is 
obedience. And surrendering yourself, and all that 
you have, to Jesus Christ, trusting alone in him for 
whatever you need, is faith — that faith which has sub- 
dued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, and obtained 
])romises ; stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the 
violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of 
weakness been made strong, waxed valiant in fight, 
and will, wherever it is exercised, overcome the 
world, the flesh, and the devil, and come off conqueror, 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 203 

and more than conqueror, through Him that loved us, 
and gave himself for us." 

To Rev. William A. Hallock, Secretary, New York. 

"Andovek, March 24, 1826. 

" Dear Brother — We conclude to have you print 
the Christian Almanac for the whole country. I have 
written two tracts, (Joy in Heaven over the Penitent, 
and the Way to he Saved,) and am examining two 
more to fill out the eighth volume. Although I am 
not now of the Committee here, yet, as usual, I have 
to do the work. Of course it moves slowly. The 
other gentlemen are by no means negligent, but are 
full of other work. 

"I exceedingly wish to see a man of the right 
stamp at New Orleans, with a full depository, to de- 
fend the mouth of the Mississippi and secure that 
world of back country. I think that we ought to 
pray much that the Lord would open the way for it 
speedily. A man at New Orleans with arms long 
enough to reach from Pittsburgh to Mexico, and strong 
enough to scatter the good seed all the way between, 
might expect, through, grace, an abunda7it harvest. 
Would it not be well for you to print the Christian 
Almanac in German^ for the back settlements of Penn- 
sylvania ; and in Spanish for Mexico and South 
America ? 

"The Society for the promotion of Temperance, 
although it costs much labor, promises well. The 
first conversation which a few had about funds, led 
one man to say, ' I will give a thousand dollars.' We 
want twenty other men to do the same, and hope that 



204 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

we shall then be able, through grace, to save thou- 
sands of lives and millions of dollars a year ; or lead 
others to save them. Then, should the amount saved 
be, as a thank-offering, put into the Lord's treasury, 
we should have new cause to bless him and double 
our diligence in his service. But so much good can 
probably never be effected without much prayer and 
fasting. 

" Dr. Beecher's installation, (in the new Hanover- 
street church, Boston,) was on Wednesday. The oc- 
casion was very interesting, and the cause of truth in 
Boston is evidently rising. Let us pray much for Zion, 
and prefer her prosperity above every earthly joy. 
'' Affectionately yours, 

«J. EDWARDS." 

On May 10, 1826, he attended the first anniver- 
sary of the American Tract Society in New York, 
of whose Publishing Committee he was a member, 
and delivered an address worthy of the man v^ho had 
nursed the Tract enterprise from its beginning in this 
country, and perhaps done more than any other man 
to give it the high evangelical and spiritual charac- 
ter which, by the grace of God, we believe it yet pos- 
sesses. This address struck the key-note of the insti- 
tution ; it was made the basis of action and of public 
appeals, and is perpetuated in one of the series of 
tracts. No. 104. He began by saying, 

" The object of this Society is to deliver immortal 
souls from a course of eternal sinning and eternal suf 
fering ; to transform them into the perfect image of 
God, and raise them to a state of eternal holiness and 
bliss in heaven. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 205 

" The means by which we are to accomplish this, 
is the dissemination of the truths which God has re- 
vealed, in the form of interesting and impressive re- 
ligious tracts. I say, th^ truths which God has revealed, 
for no other truths will accomplish this glorious end : 
such truths as the utterly lost condition of sinners, 
and their indispensable duty, without delay, to love 
God with all their heart, and soul, and strength, and 
mind ; the necessity of being born again, not of blood, 
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but 
of God ; the infinite dignity, divine beauty, excellence, 
and glory of Him on whom their help is laid ; his 
amazing condescension in becoming a servant, and 
having not where to lay his head ; his unparalleled 
kindness in bearing their sins in his own body on the 
tree, and having laid on him the iniquity of them all ; 
the necessity of believing on him in order to be inter- 
ested in the blessings of his salvation ; that every per- 
son to whom he is made known is under immediate 
obligation to embrace him, repent of sin, and live not 
unto himself, but unto him that died for sinners and 
rose again ; that a day is coming when ' all that are 
in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come 
forth ; they that have done good unto the resurrection 
of life, and they that have done evil unto the resur- 
rection of damnation ;'' that the wicked will go away 
into eternal punishment, and the righteous into eternal 
life. These are the truths, with kindred truths, in 
their divinely inspired aspect and connection, stamped 
in bold relief on the face of religious tracts, and ex- 
tended to every city and town and village and fam- 
ily and soul, by which this Society is to aid in reno- 



206 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

vating a world, and preparing a 'multitude that no 
man can number,' to shine in the beauty of holiness, 
and shout the triumphs of grace to everlasting ages. 

" These are the truths which were proclaimed on 
the hills and in the vales of Judea ; by which the fish- 
ermen of Galilee, and men of like spirit, went out, 
and unarmed, in the face of an opposing world, planted 
the standard of the cross on the throne of the Caesars. 
These are the truths which blazed at the Reformation, 
scattered the darkness of papal midnight, and kindled 
a light that will ' grow brighter and brighter, even to 
the perfect day.' These truths, as they go forth, * pro- 
claiming deliverance to captives, the opening of the 
prison to them that are bound,' and pointing them to 
' the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the 
world,' will cause tears of contrition to drop down 
from ten thousand eyes, and ten thousand hearts to 
pour forth their strains of gratitude in hallelujahs to 
the Redeemer. 

" These truths it is our duty to extend, not merely 
because we have associated for this purpose, but be- 
cause God has revealed them, and commanded us to 
extend them to every creature. And, if I do not mis- 
take, sir, there are some peculiar reasons why we, in 
this country, should extend them by means of relig- 
ious tracts. 

"We are a great people, and, if not blasted by our 
sins, shall become greater and greater, till the light 
of revealed truth and the light of human science, the 
light of true religion, and the light of civil and relig- 
ious freedom, shall blaze from one end of this con- 
tinent to the other, and with a brightness that shall 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 207 

illumine the world. We are called by the God of 
heaveu to make an experiment, and one of the most 
momentous that was ever intrusted to mortals. 

"Blessed with a .country of almost unparalleled 
extent ; settled by a people of invincible energy, of 
ceaseless action, and untiring perseverance ; enjoying 
civil and religious liberty to a greater extent than 
any other people on the globe; holding property of 
every description, and to any amount, in pure fee- 
simple, with the strongest motives bearing upon the 
mass of minds to the highest possible effort, we must 
make a development of character such as creation 
never witnessed, and rise to a height of goodness 
and greatness, from which we shall be the benefactors 
of the world, and instruments in bearing its millions 
to glory — or from which we shall sink, under a load 
of guilt such as earth never bore, to endless perdi- 
tion. Ah, then there would be shouting through all 
the world of darkness, and among all the sons of 
darkness, through the universe ; ages of darkness, 
which the gospel has heaved away, would roll back- 
ward, and cover millions and millions in deep and 
everlasting gloom. 

"And are we in no danger of this? We are a 
republic, with no government but that which rests 
on the will of the people, and which cannot be per- 
petuated without holiness among the people. Some 
may say, it cannot without public virtue. But public 
virtue never did exist, sufficient to perpetuate a re- 
publican government over such an extent of country 
as ours, without holiness, and it never will. This 
holiness is not the natural growth of a single heart in 



208 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

the land. No means will produce it, but the means 
of God's appointment. Of these means a vast portion 
of our countrymen are now destitute. Millions and 
millions, increasing every day, are destitute of that 
influence which is so essential to the preservation of 
all our social, civil, and religious blessings. Nor is 
this all : but each individual of these millions has a 
soul worth a thousand worlds. And without holiness 
they had better have had no existence ; for they will 
spend it in weeping and wailing and gnashing of 
teeth. While I speak it, I see them borne onward 
towards the close of their probation, destitute of that 
holiness without which no one' can see the Lord, and 
destitute of the means of holiness which God has 
appointed. 

"What then shall be done? Send them living 
preachers? You have not got them. Thousands, 
with the ardor of Paul, with the eloquence and might 
in the Scriptures of Apollos, are needed to-day, in 
order fully to supply this country. Do you say, ' En- 
courage Education Societies, and train up pious young 
men for the ministry?' By all means. Let these 
efforts be vastly increased, and prosecuted with all 
possible vigor, and generation after generation will 
pass away before they can all have the regular and 
stated ministrations of the gospel. Do you say, * Send 
them the Bible ?' By all means. Let efforts to extend 
it be increased and increased, till there shall not be a 
family, from one end of the land to the other, that has 
not the sacred volume. But then multitudes will not 
read it ; and multitudes more will act directly against 
its holy dictates. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 209 

"What then shall be done? Take the truths of 
the Bible, and in 'thoughts that breathe, and words 
that bui-n,' stamp them on the pages of religious 
tracts ; multiply these tracts by thousands and mill- 
ions ; send them forth, attended, in answer to prayer, 
by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, to every 
city and town and neighborhood and family, till all 
shall see Him who was rich, for their sakes becoming- 
poor, that they, through his poverty, might be rich. 
And as they see him 'bearing their sins in his own 
body on the tree/ and hear him cry, 'My God, my 
God, why hast thou forsaken me?' and the sun 
shrinks away, the rocks break asunder, and the dead 
start from their graves, there will be mourning ; yes, 
there will be a very great mourning, and there will be 
a o'reat turnino- unto the Lord our God." 

He proceeds to give some very striking and cheer- 
ing facts, showing that God had made this means of 
grace effectual in the salvation of many ; then takes a 
view of the wants of our country, at that time con- 
taining about twelve millions of souls ; then considers 
the means required, and shows that the churches are 
most abundantly able and doubtless willing to supply 
them; and then turns to the Canadas, Mexico, South 
America, Africa, and all our foreign missionary sta- 
tions among the heathen as embraced in the Society's 
field of labor. 

" Thousands and thousands are now perishing, for 
the want of tracts, on the island of Ceylon. 'We 
visit,' said a missionary, 'from two to eight families 
in a day ; sometimes we take long journeys, and are 
out six or eight days. At such times we take a num- 



210 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS; D.D. 

ber of boys from the schools, aud we exceedingly need 
tracts. As we pass from Tillage to village, where the 
gospel was never preached, we find hundreds who can, 
and would read, had we Bibles or tracts to give them ; 
but, alas, we have none: no Bible, no tract to show 
the poor heathen how to flee from the wrath to come. 
Oh, that we could get a supply printed. Into how 
many villages might the gospel be sent by means of 
tracts ; and how many souls, by a single tract, might 
be saved from endless misery.' 

"And shall the missionary who has left his father's 
house, his native land, and gone thirteen thousand 
miles to tell the dying pagans of a Saviour, cry in the 
ears of a thousand churches abounding in wealth, ' Oh, 
that we could get a supply of tracts printed. Into 
how many villages might the gospel be sent by means 
of tracts, and how many souls might be saved by 
a single tract from endless misery' — and yet cry in 
vain ? Let those churches answer. 

" At Bombay is a printing-press, in the midst of a 
population, speaking the same tongue, of eleven mill- 
ions of people ; nearly all of whom are destitute of 
the gospel, and among whom tracts might be cir- 
culated to the utmost advantage. A strong feeling of 
doubt and uncertainty exists in the minds of multi- 
tudes throughout that country with regard to their 
own religion. Numbers have come to the conclusion 
that it is false. Multitudes are halting between two 
opinions, and all are becoming impressed with the 
expectation that a great change is approaching. In 
this state, they greatly need tracts, and many strongly 
desire them. Individuals have come twenty miles, 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 211 

and in some cases thirty and forty miles, to obtain 
a tract. And writes a missionary, 'Tracts may be 
printed at Bombay as cheap as in America ; and in 
no part of the world can they be distributed to 
greater advantage. Many of the people would be 
likely to receive more instruction from a little tract, 
which they could read in five minutes, than from the 
whole of the New Testament, because they would be 
so much more likely to read it.' 

" Writes another missionary, ' The distribution of 
tracts is the only possible way in which we can ex- 
hibit any portion of the gospel to vast multitudes of the 
'present generation of India. Ministers enough to go 
and preach to them the gospel, cannot be obtained. 
We must print and circulate tracts, or millions and 
millions of the present and future generations must 
go down without the gospel, in unbroken succession, 
to the grave.' 

"And these millions, Mr. President, exceedingly 
need tracts ; for they are exceedingly wretched, even 
for this life. A man who has resided among them 
twenty years, for the purpose of investigating their 
spiritual condition, told me that he knew of a numer- 
ous class with whom it was an article of religion not 
to suffer a single female child to live. One of them, 
however, on the birth of a daughter, being overcome 
by natural affection, resolved to preserve her life. 
He secreted her, and intended, unknown to his coun- 
trymen, to preserve her to mature years. He suc- 
ceeded without its being known, till she was, I think, 
seven years old. Then it became known that he had 
in his house a daughter. And being abroad one day, 



212 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

he was so overcome with the scoffs of his countrymen, 
and with the obloquy which they cast upon him, that 
he returned, and with an axe hewed her in pieces. 

"And not only are they miserable in this life, but 
in death. A Hindoo of a thoughtful, reflecting turn 
of mind, but devoted to idolatry, lay on his death-bed. 
As he saw himself about to plunge into that boundless 
unknown, he cried out, 'What will become of me?' 
' 0,' said a Brahmin who stood by, ' you will inhabit 
another body.' ' And where,' said he, ' shall I go 
then?' 'Into another.' 'And where then?' 'Into 
another, and so on, through thousands of millions.' 
Darting across this whole period, as though it were 
but an instant, he cried, 'Where shall I go then?' 
And paganism could not answer. And he died, 
agonizing under the inquiry, ' Where shall I go, last 
of all?' 

''Another Hindoo lay on his death-bed; he, how- 
ever, had seen a religious tract, and had read it. It 
had led him to religious teachers, and to Christ. His 
friend, hearing of his sickness, came to see him, and 
found him in the last stage of disease ; and as he bore 
up his languishing head, watching to see him breathe 
his last, the dying man broke out in ecstasy, 'Sing, 
brother, sing.' 'What,' said he, 'shall I sing?' 'Sal- 
vation,' said he ; ' salvation, by the death of Jesus' — ■ 
and winged his way to bow with ransomed millions 
before the throne. 

"Let us send tracts to those sinners, and all other 
sinners on the globe — tracts blazing with the efful- 
gence of the truths which God has revealed, in t/ie aspect 
and connection in which ha has revealed them, and at- 



His MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 213 

tended, in answer to the prayers of God's people, by 
the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven ; and multi- 
tudes out of every nation, and kindred, and people, 
and tongue, will assemble on mount Zion, and open 
an everlasting anthem ' unto Him that loved us, and 
washed us from our sins in his blood ;' and every holy 
creature in the universe will cry, ' Unto him be glory, 
for ever and ever.' " 

To Mrs. Edwards. 
"Philadelphia, Monday Morning, May 15, 1826, 

" My very dear Wife — The longer I am absent 
from you, the more I learn how much I love you and 
the dear little children, and the more, I trust, I feel 
my obligations to God for such precious blessings. 
The more I see of the condition of others, and con- 
trast it with our condition, the more I feel that we 
are under obligations of special gratitude to God for 
his kindness. I hope it may lead us to himself, and 
excite us to greater activity in his service. 

"Last Monday I left Colchester, and took the 
steamboat at East Haddam. On board I found a 
large number of ministers, and among others, Mr. 
Vail from the Osage Indians. He came and told 
me that he had a letter for you from one of the Osage 
girls at the missionary station. He wished, however, 
to keep it, for the sake of reading it at New York 
and Philadelphia, after which he said that he would 
hand it to me. In the evening he gave an account of 
the Indians, and the exercises were closed by singing 
a hymn, and a prayer. In the morning we found our- 
selves at New York. I attended the meetings of tho 
American Home Mission Society, the American Tract 



214 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

Societ}^, the Bible Society, and the Education Society. 
On Friday I took the steamboat, with Rev. Dr. Por- 
ter, for New Brunswick ; then the stage to Prince- 
ton. There we attended the examination of the The- 
ological Seminary, and spent the night with the pro- 
fessors; then took the stage to Trenton, then the 
steamboat to Philadelphia. Yesterday I preached in 
the morning, and in the evening. To-night the Sab- 
bath-school Union have a meeting in this city. Other 
meetings will come along from day to day till Thurs- 
day, when the General Assembly meet, and will hold 
their session two weeks. I have concluded not to go 
any farther south. The weather is as hot here now, 
as it is with us in the midst of summer. Apple-trees 
and peach-trees were in bloom more than a week ago. 
Rye is almost as high as the top of the fences, and 
grass almost high enough to mow. I shall stay here 
a few days, and then, with the leave of Providence, 
shall return. Love to all. 

" Your affectionate husband, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

As above intimated, the large edifice in which Dr. 
Edwards preached could no longer accommodate the 
thronging audiences, and a portion of the congrega- 
tion were set off as the West-church in Andover. On 
June 15, 1826, he was called to lay " the corner- 
stone" of the new edifice, on which occasion he re- 
counted the way in which they had been graciously 
and harmoniously led, and set before them the high 
spiritual aims by which he hoped all who took part 
in the enterprise had been and would be governed. 

" But little more than two hundred years ago," he 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 215 

said, " New England was a waste, howling wilder- 
ness ; inhabited only by savage beasts, and savage 
men. No altar for Jehovah, and no house dedicated 
to his worship, was to be seen from one end of it to 
the other. 

"A little band of pilgrims under the guidance of 
Abraham's God came across the Atlantic, and on the 
22d of December, 1620, planted their feet on these 
western shores. At the opening of a long and dreary 
winter, on a bleak, frozen coast, without a house to 
shelter them, or any human arm for their protec- 
tion, they commenced a settlement ; resolving, in the 
strength of the Lord, here to spend their days, and 
here to leave their children. Before the opening of 
spring, sickness swept off half their number ; trials 
gathered, thickened, and pressed upon them, enough 
to break down and overcome any common purpose ; 
but they persevered, through dangers seen and dan- 
gers unseen, resolving, with increasing firmness, here 
to spend their days, and here to leave their children. 

" What was their object ? The glory of God in 
the salvation of their posterity. What supported 
them in their privations and dangers and toils and 
sufferings ? ' Christ in them the hope of glory.' Faith 
in him which overcomes the world, and love to him 
stronger than death, bore them up in their trials, 
gave them an elevation of feeling, an extent of vision, 
a boldness of design, a vigor of execution, and an in- 
flexibility of perseverance, the effects of which have 
been felt by millions and millions down to this day ; 
and will continue to be felt by greater and greater 
numbers, to the end of the world. 



216 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

"Let it be distinctly stated, let it be universally 
understood, and by the children of the pilgrims al- 
ways remembered : The grand object of our fathers 
in coming to this land, was the glory of God in the 
salvation of their posterity ; not their salvation mere- 
ly from civil and ecclesiastical oppression, or their 
exaltation to the privileges and enjoyments of free- 
dom, but their salvation from the power and pollu- 
tion of sin, their restoration to the image of God, 
and their exaltation to the holiness and bliss of heav- 
en. It was, that the Son of God might make them 
free, that they might be free indeed. They sought 
for their posterity, principally, not an earthly, but a 
heavenly country ; a city that hath foundations, whose 
builder and maker is God. Hence, among their first 
acts after their arrival, was a dedication of themselves 
and their children ancAV to him. Among the first 
buildings which they erected, after obtaining for them- 
selves a shelter, was a house for his worship. The 
foundation was laid* in prayer, the structure reared in 
faith, and the head-stone brought forth with shouting, 
Grace, grace unto it. 

" Whenever, on account of their increasing num- 
bers, they settled a new town, one of their first objects 
was a meeting-house ; and another, a minister. In 
selecting him, they sought for one who believed that 
men are lost, and that all their hope must be in Him 
who came down from heaven to seek and to save ; that 
when he died for all, all were dead; and that without 
being born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, 
nor of the will of man, but of God, they cannot see his 
kingdom : that it is their duty, when he is revealed, 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 217 

Avithout delay to love liim with all the heart, and soul, 
and strength, and mind ; and live, not unto themselves, 
but unto Him that died for them and rose again ; that 
the Word, who was in the beginning with God, icas 
God ; that when he took upon him our nature, and in 
this nature died on the cross, he was wounded for our 
transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities, that the 
chastisement of our peace was on him, and that by his 
stripes we are healed ; that the Lord laid on him the 
iniquity of us all, and that whosoever believeth on 
him, with that faith which works by love, hath ever- 
lasting life, shall not come into condemnation, but is 
passed from death unto life ; while he that believeth 
not, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth 
on him. They sought a man for their minister, who 
believed that all that are in their graves shall one 
day hear his voice, and come forth, they that have 
done good, to the resurrection of life, and they that 
have done evil, to the resurrection of damnation ; that 
he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd 
divideth his sheep from the goats, and that the wicked 
will go away into everlasting punishment, when the 
righteous go into eternal life. 

"These great truths which God has revealed, with 
kindred truths, in their divinely inspired aspect and 
connection, they had been taught by the Holy Ghost 
to feel; and they had found them to be the wisdom 
and the power of God to salvation. They wished 
their ministers to feel them, and to preach them, not 
only because they are revealed, but that they might 
be the wisdom and power of God to the salvation of 
their children and children's children. And their 

ICJwanK 10 



218 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

ministers did preach them. ' Christ and him cruci- 
fied ' was then the grand theme in every pulpit ; and 
it came not in word only, but in power, in the 
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. As they took 
the truth of God as he reveals it, he was not ashamed 
to be their God. He enlarged the borders of their 
tents, and stretched forth the curtains of their habita- 
tions. He drove out the heathen from one place and 
another, and planted them. In about twenty years 
after the first landing of the fathers. Christian fami- 
lies were settled in this town. A meeting-house was 
erected, and a minister ordained ; who, says the his- 
torian, 'abounded in devotions, of serious, devout, 
heavenly, experimental Christianity.' The same gos- 
pel that sounded on the shores of Plymouth, was from 
Sabbath to Sabbath preached in Andover ; and under 
the influences of the Holy Spirit, it produced its appro- 
priate effects. 

" Between sixty and seventy years after this, the 
first house was erected for public worship in this par- 
ish. A minister was settled, a descendant of the 
Puritans, and partaking of their spirit. Of his grand- 
father it is said, ' His love of the Bible was so great, 
that he was in the habit of reading it through six 
times in every year.' His grandson loved the Bible, 
and was cordially attached to the doctrines of grace, 
as embraced by the fathers of New England ; , for 
more than sixty years he earnestly preached them, 
persuaded, says the historian, and as his own works 
abundantly testify, that * they are the faith which was 
once delivered to the saints.' 

" This gospel, through the kindness of God, has 



HJS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 2\9 

been preached in this parish down to the present day. 
And to many, there is reason to believe, it has been 
the wisdom of God and the power of God to salva- 
tion. Numbers now on earth, and numbers now in 
heaven, will testify for ever that it is the glorious gos- 
pel of the blessed God. May it ever be preached here 
in simplicity and godly sincerity, be attended by the 
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and be the means 
of salvation to all future generations, down to the end 
of the world. 

" Hitherto you, and your fathers, have worshipped 
in one house ; and it has, I trust, been to many the 
house of God and the gate of heaven. Peace be 
within its walls, and the God of peace with all who 
meet in it to worship him. 

*'In the course of divine Providence, under the 
smiles of heaven, you have now become too numerous 
any longer to be accommodated in one assembly. In 
consequence of this, you have been led to unite your 
prayers, your counsels, and your efforts, for the erec- 
tion of another place of worship. Through the good- 
ness of God, you have selected a spot, provided the 
means, and made arrangements for the erection of the 
building. You have prepared the foundation, and 
now, after united supplication to the Father of lights 
for his presence and blessing, have laid the corner- 
stone. May you have wisdom, grace, and strength 
from on high, speedily to complete the edifice ; and 
then, as an offering of gratitude, to dedicate it with 
all its appurtenances to God, the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Ghost, your God, and your father's God, 
which is your reasonable service. In his own good time, 



220 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

may he send you a minister after his own heart ; a 
man of faith and prayer ; of wisdom and a sound 
mind; of humility and zeal; boldness, energy, and 
perseverance ; who shall determine not to know any 
thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified ; 
who shall open to you with great clearness his un- 
searchable riches, and count all things but loss for 
the excellency of the knowledge of Him; who shall 
go in and out before you, and break unto you the 
bread of life ; bear you and your children daily to 
the throne of mercy, and be honored by the Holy 
Ghost as an instrument of leading you and them to 
that knowledge of God and his Son Jesus Christ, 
which is life eternal. That this may be the case, let 
all your efforts spring from love to God, and love to 
men ; let all profaneness, intemperance, and immoral- 
ity of every description, be banished from among 
you ; let the voice of humble, believing supplication 
ascend from every one of you daily in secret, Jeho- 
vah be acknowledged by every one of you daily in 
your families, his fear reign in your hearts, and his 
revealed will govern your lives. Then may you hope 
speedily to hear the gospel, to meet the presence and 
eujoy the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ, in this 
house of prayer. And after worshipping God in 
spirit and in truth, in this temple made with hands, 
you may hope to meet in a temple made without 
hands — a temple large enough to hold all the re- 
deemed, from every nation, and kindred, and people, 
and tongue ; into which they shall all enter, a mul- 
titude that no man can number ; and he shall open to 
their admiring vision the infinite glories of his charac- 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 221 

ter, with greater and greater brightness for ever and 
ever." 

Not long after the laying of the corner-stone of 
the new church, Dr. Edwards, in a sermon to his 
people, recounted to them the various proceedings 
which had been happily consummated in the erection 
of the new edifice and the dismission of fifty-six mem- 
bers for the new organization. He calls upon his 
remaining people to give thanks to God for the har- 
mony with which the whole proceeding had been con- 
ducted; still to regard those who had united in the 
new enterprise as their brethren beloved ; to pray 
daily for his presence and blessing to be with them, 
and especially upon the young, of whom there were 
many within the bounds of the new congregation ; 
that he would send them a pastor who should be a 
man after his own heart ; and that brotherly love 
between the two churches might ever continue. 

A few months afterwards, June 6, 1827, the Rev. 
Samuel C. Jackson, with the cordial welcome of Dr. 
Edwards, was installed pastor of the West church, 
where a blessing attended his labors ; and the two 
churches have long preserved " the unity of the Spirit 
in the bond of peace.'' 

While fulfilling all these responsibilities in his 
own more immediate field of labor, public calls and 
claims multiplied upon him. The more faithful and 
successful were his labors at home, the more was he 
appreciated abroad, and the more the hallowed in- 
fluence of his services was sought in other portions of 
the Lord's vineyard. 



222 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

At the time of his visit to New^ York in May 
1826, the "American Home Missionary Society" was 
organized ; he was elected a Director ; and, July 1, an 
urgent application was made to him to give, for as 
long a time as he could be spared from his people, his 
" efficient exertions and personal influence " in labors 
in the principal towns in Connecticut, and in the 
cities of New York and Albany, to establish the So- 
ciety in the affections of the people, and lay the 
foundations for its future success. 

September 14, he was elected a member of the 
" American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 
sions ;" and at the same time was acting on a Commit- 
tee of the Board of Trustees of the Theological Semi- 
nary as to proper arrangements in the department of 
Ecclesiastical History, on which he obtained valuable 
letters from the Rev. Drs. Miller and Perrine, pro- 
fessors at Princeton and Auburn, and from other 
sources. He was invited to deliver the cojicio ad 
clerum at Williams College, and to preach on other 
public occasions ; was requested to assist a pastor 
where the influences of the Spirit were manifest, and 
who wished "warm-hearted preaching" by those "not 
afraid nor ashamed to preach the gospel in its pu- 
rity ;" and by another pastor of a very important 

church, at N , was requested to tell him how so 

to preach to his great congregation, that the truth 
might reach the hearts of his people, how best to con- 
duct Sabbath-schools and Bible-classes, and how so 
to perform pastoral duties as to win his people to 
Christ. 

On July 20, 1826, he received a call from the 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDUVER. 2-2:J 

Park-street church, Boston, as he had not long before 
been informally requested to consent to overtures for 
his settlement in the new church established in Han- 
over-street in that city, where the Rev. Dr. Lyman 
Beecher was soon after installed. The Committee to 
present the call to Park-street comprised the Hon. 
Samuel Hubbard, Hon. George Odiorne, Jeremiah 
Evarts, and Henry Hill, Esqrs., Deacons Bumstead 
and Proctor, Mr. Henry Homes, and other citizens of 
distinguished worth, all personal friends of Dr. Ed- 
wards ; and it was prosecuted with a zeal and ability 
that prompted to all discreet and proper measures to 
accomplish an object dear to their hearts, and in 
which they believed that the interests of evangelical 
truth, not only in Boston, but throughout the country 
and the world, were deeply involved. The call was 
enclosed in the following note from the Hon. Mr. 
Hubbard, chairman of the Committee, and was urged 
upon Dr. Edwards by the most powerful motives 
which some of the ablest members of the Committee 
could personally present, not the least of which was 
the influence he might there exert in behalf of his and 
their favorite object, the x\.merican Board of Foreign 
Missions. 

"BosTox, July 21, 1826. 
*'Rev. AND DEAR SiR — Tlicsc liucs aunounco to 
you, that the members of Park-street church, after 
solemn deliberation and many prayers for the divine 
guidance, have, Avith most desirable unanimity and 
with feelings of cordial respect and attachment, 
elected you to become their pastor. The church are 
not unmindful that you sustain endearing and highly 



224 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

important relations, in the place where your divine 
Master has made use of your talents and services. 
But they wish to lay before you the reasons which 
have induced them to offer the present invitation ; 
and which, unless they are mistaken, will make it 
your duty to accept it. 

"The accompanying copy of the proceedings of 
tlie church will sufficiently explain the principal facts 
relating to this important transaction. It may be 
proper, however, for the Committee who wait upon 
you with this document, to make such verbal state- 
ments as shall seem to them likely to cast any light 
upon the path of duty. 

"Praying that you may experience the divine 
guidance with reference to this great concern, and 
that the Lord would cause the hearts of all who are 
interested in the result of this application, humbly to 
acquiesce in that course which shall be most for his 
glory, we are, reverend sir, with sentiments of sincere 
friendship and Christian affection, 

" Yours in the gospel. 

"By order of the Committee appointed by the 
church to present their call, 

"SAMUEL HUBBARD, Chairman." 

As a means of learning the will of divine Prov- 
idence on the momentous question submitted to him, 
Dr. Edwards addressed a large number of distin- 
guished clergymen and laymen, inquiring, "Is it in 
your view probable that I can on the whole be more 
useful to the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, by 
becoming pastor of the Park-street church, than by 
continuing where I am?" To this inquiry more than 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 225 

thirty who were addressed returned him faithful, well- 
considered replies, all implying a deep conviction that 
the best interests of religion were involved in the 
question of the station he should occupy. At a meeting 
also of several esteemed pastors and laymen, the whole 
subject was patiently and seriously discussed : the 
powerful reasons for his removing to Park-street, and 
the powerful reasons for his remaining at Andover, 
being fully presented and weighed. Students of the 
Theological Seminary put in their plea that he should 
remain, for the sake of his influence on that institu- 
tion ; and on the whole, especially as the enterprise 
of establishino: the new church in Andover remained 
to be consummated, the path of duty did not appear 
to him so clear as to warrant the sundering of all 
the sacred existing ties, and he declined the call as 
follows : 

"Andover, August 28, 182G. 
*'To the Church in Park-street, Boston: 

" Dear Brethren — The invitation which you have 
been pleased to give me to become your pastor, I re- 
ceived through the hands of your Committee, on the 
22d ult. The subject is immensely im|X)rtant, and I 
have given it an attentive and prayerful considera- 
tion. I have endeavored, by all suitable means, to 
ascertain the will of God, and, if I know my own 
heart, for the purpose of doing it. So far as I can 
judge from the indications of his providence, it does 
not appear to be his will that I should accept the in- 
vitation ; I tlierefore decline it. In doing this, I am 
not insensible of the peculiarly interesting manner in 
which it was presented, nor of the vast importance of 

10* 



226 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

your situation as a church, being called to shine with 
the light of holiness not merely on a city, or a 
country, but on the world. That the Lord will guide 
and bless you, and in his own way and time send you 
a pastor after his own heart, who shall be instru- 
mental in your salvation and that of your children, in 
extending the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ 
throughout your city, throughout our country, and 
throughout the whole earth, is the prayer of your 
affectionate and unworthy servant in the gospel, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

The Hon. Mr. Hubbard, in a letter a few weeks 
later, having expressed a desire that some of his chil- 
dren might visit the family of Dr. Edwards, says, " I 
feel solicitous concerning them, and I have an in- 
creased desire that their minds may be early im- 
pressed with a sense of divine truth, and that they 
may act from an habitual regard to the fear and favor 
of God." He adds, 

"I will not indulge my feelings on the subject of 
your answer to our church. I hope I endeavored, 
with much mixture of infirmity and sin however, to 
commit the subject to God, after using all proper and 
upright means to place the case in the light which 
appeared to me correct ; and it is my duty to say. The 
will of the Lord be done. In looking at my dear 
family, I feel the want of a pastor, and I thought I 
saw those wants supplied far better than I deserve; 
but I am brought back again, or ought to be, to more 
simple and direct dependence upon God, and I pray 
Him to strengthen our faith, and to provide for us in 
his good time a true servant avIio shall feed his sheep 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 227 

aud his lambs, and be a faithful laborer in his Master's 
sheepfold." 

'' You stand," wrote an esteemed pastor near Bos- 
ton, when the question of his removal to Park-street 
was pending, " in the full view of one hundred and fifty 
young men who are to be pastors, and move around 
in your parish, with so many eyes out on you as a liv- 
ing example in a work in which no small part of their 
usefulness must consist. God has enabled you, in an 
important sense, to say to them in this work, 'Be ye 
followers of me ;' at least, they, as I know, have felt 
this. If you leave Andover, will your place in this 
respect be filled ? And will your relations as a member 
of the Board of Trustees be as well sustained ? 

"Your meetings with the professors for devising 
good — what have they done? You know, sir, better 
than I ; but, if I am not mistaken, they have been at 
the foundation of some of the richest blessings to the 
world. One man of mighty power to pray and plan 
there, is Archimedes with his lever. I am always glad 
to feel that you are in those counsels, in which I have 
sometimes had the privilege to mingle." 

In October, 1826, Mr. Homan Hallock, who, on 
September 5, 1824, had united with Dr. Edwards' 
church on the profession of his faith, sailed as a mis- 
sionary printer for the Mediterranean ; claiming the 
pastor's counsel, sympathy, and prayers ; and writing 
back to him from time to time cheering missionary 
intelligence. 

In November he received a request from the Amer- 
ican Sunday-school Union, to prepare a Manual for 



228 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

conducting Bible-classes, both of youth and of adults^ 
founded on his own experience of what is " best fitted 
to answer the important ends of the social study of the 
word of God." 

In January, 1827, he preached his published ser- 
mon on " the Inspiration of the Scriptures " at instal- 
lations in Henniker, N. H., and Conway, Mass. ; a 
sermon which was translated by the Rev. Dr. Goodell, 
and printed in Italian, and afterwards in Modern 
Greek, and still later in Armeno-Turkish. 

In this month he visited Boston, and with the 
counsel and cooperation of active ministers and lay- 
men, raised in that city $5,400, to which he soon ad- 
ded $2,000, from Andover, Salem, Newburyport, and 
Northampton, towards the support of an agent or 
secretary to devote himself permanently to the pro 
motion of the cause of temperance. 

March 22, 1827, he wrote to the Secretary of the 
Tract Society, New York, " The indications for good, 
in all this region, are more numerous and decisive 
than I have ever known before. There is rather a 
growing attention among my people. Pray for us." 

A few weeks later he says, " The unusual anxiety 
among my people, and the increasing numbers who 
are inquiring what they shall do to be saved, leaves 
me not a moment's time to try to supply the defects of 
this manuscript." 

At the close of May, he again writes from Boston : 
"We have, I think, had more evident tokens, during 
the celebration of our anniversaries this year, that 
the Lord is among us by his Spirit, than ever before. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 229 

There is a remarkable tenderness of spirit manifested 
by the ministers, and an earnest desire for the salva- 
tion of men. It was suggested to my mind in passing 
the new theatre, which is rapidly going up there, 
whether it is not the will of God that his people 
should agree together to pray that the building may 
be, as soon as the designs of infinite benevolence shall 
permit, consecrated as a temple for the worship of the 
living God ; and that instead of its being, as it must 
be if appropriated according to the present designs, a 
place in which multitudes, perhaps some of our own 
relatives, will be ripened for perdition, it may be a 
place in which multitudes, in answer to prayer, shall 
be prepared for glory. Will you think of it, ask 
counsel of the Lord, and let me know your thoughts 
upon it. Is it too much for the Lord, in the course of 
no long period, to take possession of that theatre,^' of 
Harvard College, of all Boston, and this whole com- 
monwealth ; and of the four millions of the destitute 
west of the Alleghanies ; and of the five hundred mill- 
ions equally precious, from the rising of the sun to the 
going down of the same? Our brethren from New 
York have done us much good ; and I hope have not 
been injured themselves. 

" P. S. I have been wishing for some time to save 
twenty dollars from the expenses of my family to 
transmit to your Society. I now have it, and send it 
to you, lest, if I should delay, it should slip some other 
way. It will make me a life member." 

* This theatre, the Tremont, was, about fifteen years after- 
wards, purchased and converted into a irec evangehcal church in 
the Baptist connection, where the gospel is statedly preached. 



230 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

In this month he was invited to deliver anniver- 
sary addresses before the American Bible Society in 
New York, the American Sunday-school Union in 
Philadelphia, and the American Tract Society at Bos- 
ton ; but the pressure of other duties compelled him 
to decline the invitations. 

In the number of the National Preacher for this 
month appeared his evangelical and excellent sermon, 
" The Great Change/' from the text, " If any man be 
in Christ, he is a new creatureJ'' 

The gracious influences of the Holy Spirit having 
been manifested in many churches, and serious ques- 
tions having arisen as to the measures employed by 
some for the promotion of the work, a convention of 
several prominent clergymen from the New England 
states and New York, met, July 18, 1827, at Lebanon 
Springs, and spent several days in a serious consid- 
eration and discussion of the proper principles and 
measures to be observed in labors in revivals. A 
report of the discussion, published in the New York 
Observer of August 4, 1827, and signed by Eev. 
Heman Humphrey, D. D., Moderator, gives the follow- 
ing propositions relating to evils supposed to exist, 
which were submitted by Dr. Edwards, and unani- 
mously adopted : 

" That revivals of true religion are the work of 
God's Spirit, by which, in a comparatively short period 
of time, many persons are convinced of sin, and brought 
to the exercise of repentance towards God and faith 
in our Lord Jesus Christ." 

" That the preservation and extension of true re- 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 231 

ligion in our land have been much promoted by these 
revivals." 

" That according to the Bible and the indications 
of Providence, greater and more glorious revivals are 
to be expected, than have ever yet existed." 

"That though revivals of religion are the work 
of God's Spirit, they are produced by means of divine 
truth and human instrumentality, and are liable to be 
advanced or hindered by measures which are adopted 
in conducting them. The idea that God ordinarily 
works independently of human instrumentality, or 
without any reference to the adaptation of means to 
ends, is unscriptural." 

"There may be some variety in the mode of con- 
ducting revivals according to local customs ; and 
there may be relative imperfections attending them, 
which do not destroy the purity of the work, and its 
permanent and general good influence upon the church 
and the world ; and in such cases, good men, while 
they lament these imperfections, may rejoice in the 
revival as the work of God." 

"There may be so much human infirmity, and in- 
discretion and wickedness of man, in conducting a 
revival of reli2:ion, as to render the general evils 
which flow from this infirmity, indiscretion, and wick- 
edness of man, greater than the local and temporary 
advantages of the revival; that is, this infirmity, in- 
discretion, and wickedness of man, may be the means 
of preventing the conversion of more souls than may 
have been converted during the revival. 

" In view of these considerations, we regard it as 



232 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

eminently important that there should be a general un- 
derstanding among ministers and churches, in respect 
to those things which are of a dangerous tendency 
and are not to be countenanced." 

"Those meetings for social religious worship, in 
which all speak according to their own inclinations, 
arc improper ; and all meetings for religious worship 
ought to be under the presiding influence of some per- 
son or persons." 

" The existence in the churches of evangelists in 
such numbers as to constitute an influence in the com- 
munity separate from that of the settled pastors, and 
the introduction by evangelists of measures without 
consulting the pastors, or contrary to their judgment 
and wishes, by an excitement of popular feeling which 
may seem to render acquiescence unavoidable, is to 
be carefully guarded against, as an evil which is cal- 
culated, or at least liable, to destroy the institution 
of a settled ministry, and fill the churches with confu- 
sion and disorder." 

"All irreverent familiarity with God, such as men 
use towards their equals, or which would not be proper 
for an affectionate child to use towards a worthy par- 
ent, is to be avoided." 

"From the temporary success of uneducated and 
ardent young men, to make invidious comparisons 
between them and settled pastors, to depreciate the 
value of education, or introduce young men as preach- 
ers without the usual qualifications, is incorrect and 
unsafe." 

"To state things which arc not true, or not sup- 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 233 

ported by evidence, for the purpose of awakening sin- 
ners, or to represent their case as more hopeless than 
it really is, is wrong." 

"Unkindness and disrespect to superiors in age 
or station, is to be carefully avoided." 

" In promoting and conducting revivals of religion, 
it is unsafe, and of dangerous tendency, to connive at 
acknowledged errors, through fear that enemies will 
take advantage from our attempt to correct them." 

" The immediate success of any measure, without 
regard to its scriptural character, or its future and 
permanent consequences, does not justify that measure, 
or prove it to be right." 

" Great care should be taken to discriminate be- 
tween holy and unholy affections, and to exhibit with 
clearness the scriptural evidences of true religion." 

" No measures are to be adopted in promoting and 
conducting revivals of religion, which those who adopt 
them are unwilling to have published, or which are 
not proper to be published to the world." 

In August, he was requested to prepare for an 
able quarterly a review of the subject of " Revivals," 
in which it was hoped that all the friends of genuine 
revivals might cordially unite. 

In September, he received a kind note from the 
Rev. President Day, informing him that the Corpora- 
tion of Yale College had conferred on him the degree 
of Doctor of Divinity, and expressing the hope that, 
though " these academical titles are of small account 
with one who elevates his aims above the transient 
distinctions of earth," he would not refuse their " trib- 
ute of respect." 



234 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

Dr. Edwards had now ministered to a beloved and 
confiding people for nearly fifteen years, with a cheer- 
ing and constant accession to the church, on the pro- 
fession of their faith, of those who gave evidence of 
true and saving conversion to God. In 1813, seven 
were thus admitted; in 1814, twenty-three; in 1815, 
fourteen; in 1816, six; in 1817, fourteen; in 1818, 
twenty-one ; in 1819, sixteen ; in 1820, eleven ; in 1821, 
eight; in 1822, ten; in 1823, ten; in 1824, when the 
Bible-classes were greatly blessed, fifty-five, of whom 
forty were heads of families, and twenty-seven mem- 
bers of the Bible-classes ; in 1825, twenty ; in 1826, 
eight; in 1827, sixteen; being, in fifteen years, two 
hundred and thirty-nine admitted on profession of 
their faith, making, with twenty-seven received from 
other churches, two hundred and sixty-six. But this 
was far from the measure of all the good effected. 
The steady influence of his ministry for fifteen years 
was as the gentle descent of the Holy Spirit on the 
congregation. Every visit he made to a school or 
family, to the sick, suffering, or sorrowing, every per- 
sonal interview, every smile and word of counsel to 
the child, every funeral attended, every marriage cele- 
brated, every pastoral or social visit, every prayer he 
offered, every brief portion of scripture he expounded, 
all the variety of circumstances in which the people, 
old or young, came in contact with the man of God, 
impressed on their minds the fact that true, vital re- 
ligion is a blessed reality, and that they must be born 
again by the washing of regeneration and renewing of 
the Spirit. His efficient influence in Sabbath-schools 
and Bible-classes was a pattern for imitation, and 



HIS MINISTRY IN AND07ER. 235 

awakened interest and encouragement extensively in 
other clmrclies. His devotional services and exposi- 
tions of the Scriptures, in the social prayer-meeting, or 
the parochial family visit, were a feast to the hungry 
soul. He not only loved and venerated the Bible, but 
he himself fed upon it, and drew refreshment from it 
for others. It afforded exhaustless supplies, and the 
more he drew from it, the richer were its remaining 
treasures. 

Well do we remember the spiritual refreshment 
imparted by his oJBficial labors in the sanctuary. When, 
under the chilling influence too often felt in studying 
the Scriptures in the originals, perhaps with learned 
but unsanctified helps, or investigating theological 
truth as a science, the soul seemed to be famishing-, it 
was as a visit from on high to be permitted to join in 
his prayers, which seemed to breathe " an unction from 
the Holy One," and listen to the great life-giving truths 
of salvation by the once crucified, but risen, exalted, 
and interceding Redeemer. His deep-toned voice, 
often tremulous from the swelling emotions of his 
heart ; his tender beaming eye ; the whole expression 
of his countenance and demeanor, as if he lived in 
sight of the holiness and bliss of heaven, and of the 
misery of the lost, and would pluck sinners as brands 
from the burning ; his sense of the fulness of Christ, of 
the power of the Spirit, of the prevalence of prayer, 
and the worth of the soul ; his hiding himself in the 
riches of divine grace ; his moving entreaties — still 
live before us, as "the glorious gospel of the blessed 
God." 



236 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

Yet the time had come when the bond that had 
united him to his people without a jar, must be sun- 
dered. From an early period, as has already appear- 
ed, his soul had been stirred within him by the sad 
influence of intemperance in steeling the heart against 
the gospel. Again and again he had presented the 
subject to his people, and seen the beneficent results. 
The American Temperance Society had been formed 
in a great degree through his influence ; it needed 
some master-spirit to carry it forward ; and there was 
"wo man like-minded, naturally to care for itT A work 
wide as the world, and requiring more than human 
power, was to be done ; his brethren enlisted with 
him in that Society, urged that work on him ; the eyes 
of the community were fixed on him for this service ; 
and he felt that the great Master called him to enter 
it, with all its sacrifices and self-denials. Besides, he 
felt that his multiplied and growing public engage- 
ments must diminish his usefulness as a pastor ; and 
in addition to this, he perceived that his firm native 
strength and vigor could not long sustain the constant 
pressure that had rested upon him. He consulted the 
Ministerial Association with which he stood connect- 
ed, and able and faithful Christian friends, who exam- 
ined the subject with prayerful deliberation. The 
path of duty seemed plain. He laid the subject before 
his deacons, and then submitted it to his congregation 
in the following terms : 

"To the South Church and Society in Andover: 

" Dear Brethren and Friends — In the course of 
divine Providence, I have received from the Execu- 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 237 

tive Committee of the American Society for the Pro- 
motion of Temperance,' the following communication : 
[a commission appointing him Agent of that Society 
for three months, with a view to his being elected 
its permanent Secretary.] 

" The above appointment, so far as it relates to 
enccasrinij: for a time, in order, with the leave of Provi- 
dence, to lay a foundation for the permanent support 
of a man who shall devote his life to the promotion 
of Temperance, I feel it to be my duty, after having 
received the opinion of many Christian friends, to 
accept; provided you shall be willing to grant me a 
dismission for this purpose. And I hereby request that 
I may be dismissed from my pastoral and ministerial 
connection with you, in order that I may accept the 
above-mentioned temporary appointment ; and then be 
in a situation, should any other appointment be made, 
to act with regard to it as Providence shall seem to 
call. 

"This request, dear brethren and friends, is not 
made on account of any diminution of affection for 
you, or regard for your welfare, and that of your 
children, but on account of a conviction that the good 
of the kingdom of Jesus Christ will be promoted by 
my dismission, and that it will be better for you and 
your children to have a good minister whose whole 
time can be devoted to your service, than to have one 
who is called to be absent as much as I am for the 
promotion of public benevolent objects. 

"Wishing you the divine guidance and blessing, 
and praying that the Lord will ever dwell among 
you by his Spirit, and bring all in this place to that 



238 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

knowledge of himself and of his Son which is life 
eternal, 

" I am, with tender affection, 
" Most cordially, your much obliged pastor, 

"J. EDWARDS. 
"Andover, Sept. 8, 1827." 

A meeting of the church having been appointed 
for September 14, on the preceding day Dr. Edwards 
received a call from the church which had then been 
formed in Salem-street, Boston, to become their pastor, 
which call he also laid before the church in connection 
with the above communication. His church and con- 
gregation, seeing the determined purpose with which 
h*e had resolved to yield to what he believed to be the 
call of G od, though at great apparent sacrifice both to 
themselves and to him, acquiesced in his decision, and 
the pastoral relation was dissolved, October 1, 1827. 

Such a sundering of the tender and sacred rela- 
tions which God has established between an endeared 
pastor and his flock, whom he is leading by the still 
waters, and training for usefulness on earth and for 
glory in heaven, is among the most trying and inscru- 
table events in the dispensations of a holy and uner- 
ring Providence. It was a bitter stroke to his unani- 
mously confiding people, who had come to feel that 
all he did and proposed was for their highest and 
eternal good. -An honored of&cer of the church re- 
cently said, " We had but one thing against him, and 
that was his leaving us." 

Could all the history of this pastoral life for fifteen 
years be recorded as seen by the omniscient Eye, it 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 239 

would be full of interest and encouragement to the 
ministry, and to all who love the welfare of the Re- 
deemer's kingdom. Thanks for the seed sown and 
fruits reaped for eternity, in which the subject, the 
writer, and the reader of this memoir may rejoice for 
ever before the throne of God. Would that we had a 
record from the pastor's own pen of the emotions of 
his heart, and of what God was doing in and by him ; 
but in this most laborious, active, and useful portion 
of his life, when his public services were most abun- 
dant, when calls were pressing on him from every 
direction, and his powers were tasked to the utmost 
in fulfilling his weighty responsibilities, he kept no 
written memorial even of the most important events, 
as if he had then been guided by what he wrote 
twenty or thirty years later in life in his comment on 
Paul's words, " Would to God ye could bear with me 
a little in my folly :" "A judicious and modest Chris- 
tian vnll not speak of hhnsdf and his labors, unless the 
public good evidently requires it; and then he will 
do it, not to exalt himself, but to magnify the grace 
of God." 

Those who know most of the influence and results 
of this happy period of Dr. Edwards' life, of which 
the writer, from the years 1819 to 1825, was not a 
distant or indifferent spectator, appreciate them the 
most highly ; but they will never be fully recorded 
here on earth. 

A few worthy servants of Christ, still adorning 
the gospel, who rexiall, with overflowing gratitude, his 
public ministrations, his Bible-classes, Sabbath-schools, 
pastoral visits, and godly life, must not be denied the 



240 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

privilege of uttering their testimony to the grace of 
God manifested through him. 

The venerable Mr. John Adams, long Preceptor 
of the Phillips Academy at Andover, and yet active 
in the Master's service at the advanced age of more 
than fourscore years, says of Dr. Edwards as a 
pastor : 

"I was intimately acquainted with him, from the 
time he entered the Theological Seminary till I left 
Andover in 1833. On my first acquaintance, I often 
met him at the prayer-meeting, and in the conference- 
room, especially at the central school-house. It was 
here, at these solemn and interesting meetings, that 
Mr. Edwards, then a student in the seminary, so won 
the affections of the people in the parish, that they 
fixed their eyes upon him as their future pastor. And 
so intent and eager were they, that before he had 
completed the regular course in the seminary, he, 
with the full consent of the professors, Avas installed 
pastor. Here he labored with great success, highly 
esteemed, and greatly beloved. And his labors were 
richly blessed in the conversion of sinners, and the 
increase and purity of the church. When the church 
for the seminary and academy was organized, my 
family of course changed our place of Avorship ; but 
Betsey Cleaveland, long an interesting member of the 
family, was so strongly attached to her miidster, loved 
him, his instructions and counsels, so much, and had 
such confidence in him, that nothing could separate 
her from Dr. Edwards. If her wish, and the wishes 
of many others, could have been gratified, he would 
never have left Andover. 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 241 

" Dr. Edwards, no doubt, had his faults, but I do 
not remember them. He was remarkably cautious 
and prudent ; a safe counsellor, and a peacemaker. 
He did not indulge in polemics or metaphysics. He 
did not attempt things too high for him, nor ' to be 
wise above what is written.' He was very solemn in 
his public prayers. His manner of preaching was so 
plain and simple, that those of common attainments 
could not fail to understand him. He was sound in 
doctrine ; his delivery good, earnest, solemn, and cal- 
culated to make the impression on the audience, that 
he did really believe what he said." 

An aged lady, Mrs. C , recalls with the deep- 
est interest " his faithful labors, his wise counsel, and 
judicious explanations of Scripture, by which many 
were made wise unto salvation. The instruction I 
received from his public discourses," she says, " I shall 
never forget. Even now, I recollect distinctly with 
what eager and delightful anticipation I looked for- 
ward from Sabbath to Sabbath, knowing I should be 
fed with the sincere milk of the word, and hoping 
thereby to grow in knowledge and in grace." 

Others recall the^r^^ Sabbath-school; the anniver- 
sary occasions, when three hundred children each re- 
ceived from the hand of the pastor a little book, with 
kind words of counsel and incentives to study the 
word of God ; the visits and instructions of the pas- 
tor in the day-schools ; and the plainness and solem- 
nity with which, in the Bible-classes, divine truth was 
brought down to the comprehension of all. 

An aged member of the church says, '' The silent 
but pervading descent of the Holy Spirit in 1823-24 

K.'.wjrus. 1 1 



242 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS. D. D. 

greatly enlarged the cliurch, and endeared the pastor 
to his people. The work was still and solemn. No 
extraordinary measures were resorted to, but a divine 
influence manifestly attended the common means of 
grace. The prayer-meeting and room for religious 
inquiry were places of deep solemnity. The appeals 
of our pastor were direct and pungent. It was the 
time of God's gracious visitation. There seemed a 
steady, uniform growth of piety, which was the legiti- 
mate result of the faithful preaching of the gospel. 
The house of God then answered well to the senti- 
ment which for so many years was inscribed on its 
venerable walls, ' Holiness becometh thy house, Lord, 
for ever.' His pastoral visits were highly prized. 
They were strictly religious, always closed with pray- 
er, and suited to make a deep impression on every 
member of the family. If any subject of interest to 
the family, any passage of Scripture, or religious topic 
was brought up in the course of the conversation, 
which needed light, it was not unusual to hear more 
about it the next Sabbath. His charities were kind, 
unobtrusive, but eminently judicious. His basket was 
always at hand, and filled for the supply of the poor 
and needy." 

Two letters, written more than thirty years ago, 
by H. F., a lady who spent some years in Andover, 
are still preserved, which report to distant friends the 
religious privileges she was enjoying under the minis- 
try of Dr. Edwards. In one she describes a lecture 
at a school-house, from Revelation 20, on the resur- 
rection and general judgment, when the books shall 
be opened, and all, small and great, appear before 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 243 

God. In the other, she first describes a Bible-class 
when the subject was the Lord's opening the heart of 
Lydia, and the conversion of the jailer ; and then an 
evening lecture on Faith, as illustrated in Hebrews 
11. " He was in his element," she says, " and you may 
judge how he appeared. He seemed to soar on the 
wings of faith, and to take us all with him. He told 
us what faith is, the necessity of having it, and the 
happiness of those who live by faith. He said we must 
always follow the way that God leads ; there may be 
difficulties and trials, but we must surmount them, 
take up the cross, and never regard the sneers and 
scoffs of the world. He described Noah's faith, who 
went on building the ark a hundred and twenty years, 
as if he could see the clouds gathering, and the rain 
descending. This is true faith : to live in the belief 
of things not seen. 0, it was good to be there, though 
I know that all these precious privileges, if misimpro- 
ved, will rise against me in the day of trial." 

■Another member of his church says, " I well remem- 
ber the hold he had on the hearts of his people, and 
how strong a tie was sundered when, in the providence 
of God, he was called to labor elsewhere. He often 
visited his people in regular course by neighborhoods, 
holding in each a neighborhood meeting. These meet- 
ings awakened a deep interest, and it was esteemed a 
rich privilege to attend them. He gave such clear and 
distinct views of the truths explained, and enforced 
them in such a familiar and practical manner, that it 
seemed to carry conviction to every heart of the im- 
portance of becoming personally interested in religion. 
The amount of labor he performed in this way is truly 



244 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

surprising, considering the great extent of his parish. 
But this constant and familiar intercourse with his 
people was, under God, one of the grand secrets of the 
success of his labors, and aided him to prepare a word 
in season for all. 

" The cause of missions lay near his heart, and he 
labored to impress its importance upon his people, 
that they might aid it by their prayers and efforts and 
contributions. He made the monthly concert of prayer 
an occasion of deep interest ; and the first Monday in 
January he wished to have observed by the church as a 
day of fasting and prayer. These were precious sea- 
sons, not soon forgotten by those who enjoyed them. 

" He sought out and visited the abodes of want 
and sorrow. Of the good he thus did, and the char- 
ities he bestowed, the record is on high, and the final 
day will declare it. Many facts illustrating this I 
learned of my father, whose calling, as a physician, 
led him to witness much suffering, and of whom Dr. 
Edwards frequently inquired as to cases he had met. 
One such case shows with what energy and persever- 
ance he would overcome obstacles, to accomplish a 
good object. My father had been called, on a very 
cold and stormy day, to visit a poor sick woman in a 
family consisting only of three females, who lived on 
a cross street a mile from the public road. He found 
them almost perishing with cold. The heavy snow, 
which was still falling and piling in drifts, rendered 
the roads almost impassable ; yet Dr. Edwards made 
his way through it all no less than three times during 
the day, with wood from his own wood-pile, and other 
article? for their relief." 



HIS M1NISTE.Y IN ANDOVER. 245 

Another, who resided in a distant part of the con- 
gregation, says, " A few years after he was settled, he 
established a meeting in the most westerly part of the 
parish, on the first Tuesday of every month, when the 
house was generally crowded with attentive hearers, 
many coming from the neighboring towns. Among 
the happy results of this meeting was the hopeful con- 
version of a number of persons, some of them mothers 
of families, who seldom had the privilege of attending 
church. Many remember these meetings as among 
their choicest privileges, the texts from which he 
preached, and the deep earnestness and solemnity with 
which he spoke, seldom going through a sermon with- 
out his eye being moistened with a tear. Though his 
congregation was very large, he did not neglect the 
most remote corners, but sought out the sick and 
afflicted, and in his visits administered not only to 
their spiritual, but also to their temporal wants. The 
memory of that revered man is enshrined in many 
hearts." 

Another, in a distant part of the congregation, 
says, "In our district-school he took a deep interest, 
not only visiting it at the opening and at the close, but 
often during the term, and encouraging us not only 
in our regular school-studies, but to commit passages 
of Scripture and the catechism, for which he presented 
us tracts which were highly esteemed, and some of 
which are still preserved in remembrance of the giver. 
He also established among us a neighborhood Bible- 
class, which was attended in the afternoon ; and in 
the evening, prayer-meetings were held in the neigh- 
boring houses, as the result of which a large number 



246 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

were added to liis churcli, and many who have since 
professed faith in Christ, have dated their first relig- 
ious impressions from those interesting seasons." 

A lady says, "In his family, where I was often 
privileged to be, I was struck with many traits of his 
character. One was, the entire absence of any thing 
like detraction, fault-finding, or unkindness. Return- 
ing from public worship on the Sabbath, as he found 
two of his children engaged in something like play, 
he mildly said, ' Is this the way to keep the Sabbath- 
day holy?' and related how careful his mother was 
that he should keep the Sabbath ; which had the de- 
sired effect. Usually his words were few, and he was 
especially reserved in speaking of himself. I suppose 
the person is not living who ever heard him speak of 
his own good deeds. What he said was instructive and 
edifying ; and he seemed to speak only what he would 
be willing all his people should hear. There was a 
kindness and benignity in the expression of his coun- 
tenance and his manner which inspired confidence and 
love, and you always wished to hear more from his 
lips." 

Another says, "He never talked for the sake of 
talking. It seems to me no one will have so few idle 
words to answer for at the judgment. He frequently 
repeated the passages, 'In the multitude of words 
there wanteth not sin.' ' A fool uttereth all his mind, 
but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.' He was 
probably never accused of slander, or of speaking un- 
advisedly with his lips. He seemed to be fully aware 
that ' the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.' His 
words were often 'like apples of gold in pictures 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANi^OVEE,. 247 

of silver.' Many of his short pithy sayings are laid 
up as treasures by his friends: 'It always requires 
more light to move, than it does to stand still.' ' In 
order to know what a man's judgment is worth, you 
must know his circumstances in relation to the matter 
about which he is consulted.' ' No man of sense and 
right feeling will be lifted up or made vain by human 
honors, much less by flattery. To this every man of 
talent, learning, and accomplishments of any kind will 
be exposed, and the weak will often bestow it upon 
him, but none but the weak will be lifted up by it.' 
It was common for him, when asked about any thing 
he was thinking of doing, to say, * If Providence opens 
the way.' When asked about his health, even if un- 
well, his usual reply was, ' comfortable.' This doubt- 
less arose from an aversion to making himself the 
topic of remark." 

The trait frequently alluded to above, of watchful- 
aess over the tongue, was one not easily portrayed for 
Imitation ; yet it marked his character, and doubtless 
increased his usefulness. He acted as if the inspired 
injunction had been well considered, "By thy words 
shalt thou be justified, and by thy words shalt thou be 
condemned." In this trait we have doubtless one 
reason why there were so few drawbacks in his charac- 
ter and influence. The respected gentleman who was 
in the profession of law in Dr. Edwards' parish 
throughout his ministry, said, at its close, that he did 
not remember hearing any man, in any grade of so- 
ciety, or in any circumstances, speak disrespectfully 
of Dr. Edwards. No man found an evil report started 



248 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

concerning himself, through the indiscretion of his pas- 
tor ; and though hundreds unbosomed to him . their 
trials, perplexities, and sorrows, they rested in his 
own bosom till the judgment ; and by this means he 
had sometimes a wisdom in counselling a man as to 
what he believed would be most for his usefulness and 
the welfare of the Redeemer's kingdom, which he 
could not otherwise have possessed. Xhere were no 
personalities in his conversation or preaching, though 
many a man found the truths he uttered rankling like 
barbed arrows in his conscience. 

At a monthly concert for prayer, interesting state- 
ments as to the success of foreign missions had been 
made, and the usual contributions were about to be 
received, when an aged gentleman asked leave to 
state his views, and proceeded to urge an array of ob- 
jections against all foreign missions. As he sat down, 
many looked for an able reply from the pastor ; but 
he simply said, with great calmness — " The collection 
may be taken up." 

On one occasion he and a member of his church 
heard the first sermon of a student in divinity, who 
boldly undertook to edaircise the subject of God's 
hardening Pharaoh's heart ; but with little regard to 
the principle that every part of Scripture is to be in- 
terpreted "in its own divinely inspired connection." 
As they were retiring, his parishioner said to him 
with some enthusiasm, "That was very fine, was n't 
it?" " I thought they had very good siiiging,^^ was the 
only reply. 

When the young pastor of the new church in An- 
dover was entering on his labors, Dr. Edwards inti- 



HIS MINISTRY IN ANDOVER. 249 

mated to him, that if, in intercourse with his people, 
remarks should be made as to the location of the church, 
it would always be safe to say that it is important that 
a church should be located in the right place ; and that 
it is well for a minister to remember, that God has 
given him two ears, and but one tongue. That pastor 
has said, " I took my people directly from Dr. Edwards, 
and there was but one testimony as to the acceptable- 
ness and usefulness of his ministry. Their confidence 
in his wisdom and judgment was unbounded. While 
I was a student in the Seminary, he was regarded by 
us all as an admirable illustration of what a pastor 
should be. We learned the theory on the hill, and 
our eyes turned to the Tillage for the example." 

On the sundering of Dr. Edwards' pastoral rela- 
tions to the church in Andover, he was so happy as 
to be the means of introducing to the pulpit the Rev. 
Dr. Milton Badger, in whom the people united, and 
under whose labors rich harvests of souls were gath- 
ered. The retiring pastor, (whose permanent residence 
continued among them till his death,) with a discretion 
not always exemplified, withdrew himself as much as 
practicable from the affairs of the church, that, though 
he loved them as one who had " begotten them through 
the gospel," they might speedily transfer their affec- 
tions to his worthy successor. 



!!• 



250 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 



CHAPTER YI. 

HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 

NEARLY TWO YEARS — 1S28, 1829. 

Dr. Edwards, having resigned his pastoral charge 
at Andover, October 1, 1827, entered immediately on 
the agency he had accepted for the American Tem- 
perance Society. But Christians, both in the city of 
Boston and in the city of New York, had aroused to 
the duty of forming new churches for the supply of 
the destitute thousands congregating in those com- 
mercial centres ; and the well-known character of his 
pastoral labors at Andover, and the happy and con- 
stantly accumulating results with which God had 
crowned them, had fastened their eyes on him to give 
a controlling influence to evangelical plans and enter- 
prises in those cities ; while the fact that his pastoral 
relations had been sundered, seems to have given new 
confidence, in each city, of success in securing his ser- 
vices. At the same time his brethren, whom he had 
himself encouraged to form the Temperance Society, 
felt it to be indispensable that he should prosecute 
that enterprise. 

What shall he do ? In 1805, he had given him- 
self to Christ. In 1806, he had consecrated all his 
powers to the ministry and the upbuilding of his king- 
dom. In College and in the Theological Seminary, 
he had united with Mills and Richards, and other pio-. 
neers of foreign missions, in looking at the claims of 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 251 

the world, and regarding it as an individual duty to 
labor wherever God should call, and seek, by prayer 
and unreserved devotion to his service, to learn and 
to do His will It had been clearly the divine will 
that he should settle in the ministry at Andover, and 
to that work he had given the vigor of his early man- 
hood: threatening dangers had been removed; and 
the one church had become two, both firmly estab- 
lished in the faith. He believed that God had called 
him to resign the pastoral charge, especially as the 
constant tension and excitement of mind, in his unceas- 
ing public labors and responsibilities, had produced a 
chronic bilious state which gave indications of utter 
prostration, without some change of life like that he 
was now pursuing in the Temperance agency. Yet 
the call from each of the two cities was urgently re- 
newed : he had full confidence in those engaged in 
founding the new churches in both cities ; and in each 
of the three enterprises before him he saw a field of 
boundless usefulness. He must definitively decide 
among these momentous interests ; and he had learn- 
ed, in his own words, " that a man's wisdom and safe- 
ty, happiness, duty, and usefulness, consist in looking 
distinctly, in all events, at the face of God, and watch- 
ing the indications of his will as manifested by his 
providence, ybr the simple purpose of following it^ 

The call from Boston had been in his hands some 
weeks, when he convened a council of brethren in 
whom he had confidence, and laid the whole subject 
before them ; having expressed to leading men engag- 
ed in that enterprise, "a willingness, if Providence 
should permit, to follow- the advice of that council, 



252 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

provided it should be unanimous.'^ The council, on 
deliberation, came to the result unanimously that he 
ought to accept the call from Boston ; and after further 
delay, and receiving also applications that he would 
consent to be elected as Secretary of the American 
Home Missionary Society, and as Professor of Divinity 
in Hamilton College ; and after holding another seri- 
ous consultation with esteemed brethren, he accepted 
the call from Boston, and negatived that from New 
York, as follows : 

"To Messrs. J. C. Proctor, L. P. Grosvenor, D. Green, D. Saf- 
FORD, S. Tenney, E. Palmer, Committee of Salem Chiu-ch, 
Boston. 

"Andoyer, Dec. 3, 1827. 

" Dear Brethren — The invitation which you gave 
me to become your pastor, I have made the subject of 
attentive and prayerful consideration. I have endeav- 
ored by all suitable means to learn the will of God ; 
and in accordance with the advice of friends, and 
what appear to be the indications of Providence, I 
now accept your invitation, and consent, with the di- 
vine leave, to take the oversight of you in the Lord. 

"In doing this, I am not insensible of my amazing 
responsibility, and of the m.omentous consequences 
which may result, both to you and to me. I ask an 
interest in all your prayers, that I may come to you 
in the fulness of the blessings of the gospel, deter- 
mined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ 
and him cracified ; that my labors may spring from 
love to Him, and love to you, be attended by the Holy 
Ghost sent down from heaven, and be the wisdom and 
the power of God to your salvation, and that of your 
children. 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 253 

" Commending you, and myself, unto Him who is 
able to do exceeding abundantly for us, above all that 
we ask or think, according to the riches of grace in 
Christ Jesus, 

" I am, dear brethren, most cordially, 
" Yours in the Lord, 

«J. EDWARDS." 

"To Messrs. A. Tappan, E. Lord, J. Wheelwright, James Brown, 
and Moses Allen, Committee, etc., for building a new Church in 
the city of New York : 

" Boston, Dec. 13, 1827. 

" Dear Brethren — Yours of the 3d inst. came to 
hand on the 7th, the very day on which my answer 
in the affirmative, which had already been sent, was 
communicated to the Salem church, Boston. Tlie 
object in which you are engaged has a magnitude, and 
I view it with an intensity of interest, which no lan- 
guage can describe. A church such as you propose, 
if properly manned, and under the divine guidance and 
blessing, must in its effects be felt not only through 
your city, and through our country, hut through the 
world. 

"The reason why I cannot comply with your re- 
quest is, not any doubt as to the importance and prac- 
ticability of the object, i:or any doubt but that my 
temporal wants and that of my family would in New 
York meet a ready and an abundant supply ; nor is 
it any want of interest in your object, or of desire to 
render you all the assistance in my power, consistently 
with following the will of God ; but it is the fact, 
that in my view, and in the view of those with wiiom 
I take counsel, he assigns me other labors. I should 
feel as if I were going before Providence, and also 



254 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

endangering many precious interests which seem to 
be committed to my hands, were I, in my present situ- 
ation, to comply with your request. "^ '^ * 

'' I have looked at the whole subject, as carefully 
as my limited time and great pressure of business 
would permit ; have asked counsel of our wisest and 
best men, and have endeavored to carry the whole 
subject, and every thing pertaining to it, to the Lord ; 
to lay all at his feet, and follow his direction. And I 
have come to the result which I have communicated. 

"But it grieves me, my brethren, while it almost 
overwhelms me with a conviction of responsibility, 
that such an object, so noble in its origin, so heavenl}'' 
in its nature, and so boundless in its results, should 
for a moment seem, even to you, to be suspended on 
7ny decision, or the decision of any one man. Is it 
not the Lord's work ; and as he has in his providence 
rendered it unsuitable for me, in my present situation, 
to comply with your request, can it not, ought it not, 
7nust it not go forward in humble dependence on Him 
and with a single eye to his glory, without me ? Ought 
you not, as they have done in Boston, to commence 
the work without delay, and prosecute it with untiring 
vigor and perseverance, for the sake of glorifying 
God ; putting your trust in Him, and expecting, when 
the house is completed, that God will provide a minis- 
ter, open the way for him to come among you in the 
fulness of the blessings of the gospel of Christ, and 
make him an instrument of your salvation and that 
of your children, and of multitudes in your great and 
growing city, throughout our whole country, and 
throughout the world? 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 255 

" Brethren, I commend you to God, who is able 
and willing to guide and to bless ; and to do exceeding 
abundantly for you, above all that you ask or think, 
according to the riches of grace and glory in Christ 
Jesus. 

" That you may have much of the divine presence, 

and be led forth in the right way, is the fervent and 

habitual prayer of your unworthy, but most cordial 

brother in Christ, 

"J EDWARDS." 

On Tuesday, January 1, 1828, he was installed 
first pastor of the "Salem church," just erected in 
Salem-street, in the north and more destitute part of 
Boston. In entering on his labors in this new field, 
he again gave special attention to pastoral visitation j 
and as he did on his settlement in Andover, began 
brief memoranda of the families visited, with a notice 
of the manner in which he employed each day. These 
memoranda were continued about two months, and 
show with what self denying, unwearied fidelity, and 
Christian hope, he devoted himself to the fulfilment 
of the high responsibilities he had assumed. He be- 
gins by committing himself to God in Jesus Christ. 

"In the great and momentous work which is before 
me, I would go in the strength of the Lord God ; and 
in humble reliance on Him who is the propitiation for 
my sins and the sins of the world, who is my advocate 
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, would I 
commit myself and all my interests, mortal and immor- 
tal, to his infinitely wise and good disposal. 

" Prepare me, Lord, for whatever is before me 
in thy providence. Grant me thy holy presence at 



256 REV. JUSTIN EDWAUDS, D. D. 

all times. In thy light may I see light ; by thy wis- 
dom be wise ; in thy strength be strong, and with thy 
consolations be greatly comforted. Gxant me at all 
times supreme devotion to thyself, holy confidence in 
thy Son, and an ardent desire for the indwelling and 
the teaching, guidance, and blessing of the Holy Spir- 
it. Grant me ardent love to souls, a deep and abid- 
ing conviction of their ruin by sin, and a willingness 
to spend and be spent for their salvation. 

"In reading thy holy word, open thou mine eyes 
to behold the wondrous things contained in thy law. 
Illuminate my understanding, purify my affections, 
subdue my will, and grant that all my powers of body 
and of soul may be brought into sweet and humble sub- 
jection to thee. Make me mighty in the Scriptures ; 
may I love them more than thousands of gold and sil- 
ver ; and find in keeping thy commands great reward. 

"In preparing to preach, guide me, I beseech thee, 
as to subjects, and the manner of treating them ; and 
enable me to bring forth from the treasures of revela- 
tion things new and old. May I determine to know 
nothing among this people, 'save Jesus Christ and 
him crucified.' Give me, I entreat thee, for his sake, 
enlarged views of his infinite excellence, loveliness, 
and glory, and enable me to open with great clearness 
his unsearchable riches; and 0, grant that the Holy 
Ghost may take of the things of Jesus Christ and 
show them to men ; that my labors may be attended 
with an influence from on high, and be 'the wisdom 
of God, and the power of God,' to the salvation of 
many. 

"Remember the prayers which have been offered 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 257 

on this spot by those who through faith and patience 
now inherit the promises, and answer them in rich 
and abundant blessings on their descendants. Hear 
the prayers which may be offered by those whose 
hearts' desire is, that sinners may be saved ; and show 
them that every one that asketh receiveth, that he 
that seeketh findeth, and that to him that knocketh 
the door is opened ; and may our eyes see thy salva- 
tion, and our hearts rejoice in thy love. 

"Guide me, God, in conversation with all to 
whom I may be called to speak ; and may I speak at 
all times according to the lively oracles, and my 
words be with grace, that they may be to the salvation 
of the hearers. Guide me in visiting the sick, the 
sorrowful, and dying ; and grant me thy presence, 
that I may know how I ought to address every man. 
Guide me in all my conduct, and in every thing may 
I act for eternity, glorify God, and be honored as a 
chosen instrument in thy hand of honoring the Sav- 
iour. In consultation with my brethren in the minis- 
try, make me wise ; may I discern with great clear- 
ness the ' signs of the times,' and the will of God, and 
be a helper of their faith, activity, and joy. In every 
action and situation, God, be with me. I am weak, 
ignorant, and guilty ; leave me not, and suffer me not 
to trust to my own understanding, but to the living 
God ; and may I find by blessed experience that such 
as trust in thee are ' as mount Zion, which cannot be 
moved, but abideth for ever;' that thou dost keep 
those in perfect peace whose minds are stayed on thee, 
and that such as seek thee do not in fact want any 
good thing. 



208 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

*' Bless him who has been called in thy providence 
to take the oversight of my former people. Be with 
him and grant him all the blessings which I can ask 
for my own. Give him, I beseech thee, all their souls 
as seals of his ministry, and their children as jewels 
in his crown of future joy. 

" Pour out thy Spirit in rich effusions upon all this 
cit}^, the city of our solemnities, the place of our fa- 
thers' sepulchres. ' Lord, revive thy work,' and cause 
that all this people may come to the knowledge of 
thee, and of Jesus Christ, which is life eternal. Cause 
the truth as it is in Jesus to triumph in every place 
throughout our land, that this land may in every part 
be Immanuel's, a mountain of holiness, and a habita- 
tion of righteousness ; that the triumphs of his cross 
may be extended to every land, and that all flesh may 
speedily see his salvation. God, fill my heart with 
thy love, and my mouth shall declare thy praise." 

On the day of the installation he attended a meet- 
ing at Hon. Samuel Hubbard's, "to consult concerning 
Pine-street church, and the church in Cambridge- 
port," and in the evening addressed his people from, 
"Brethren, pray for us." 

The next day he went to Andover, where he says, 
" I attended the examination and ordination of Rev. 
Milton Badger, who was installed pastor of my former 
church and people. May the Lord grant him his holy 
presence, and make him the means of salvation to 
them and their children ; and make me truly grateful 
that he has kept them united in such a wonderful 
manner, and so kindly sent them a man who appears to 
be a man of prayer and supreme devotion to Christ. 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 259 

May the Lord make him wise, faithful, and abundantly 
successful. The day was most interesting to me. 
Had enlarged views of the all-sufficiency, glory, and 
love of Christ ; and was encouraged, in view of my 
great work, to trust in him, and to expect to see his 
salvation. let me never lose sight of his infinite 
glory, but always trust in him, and find that his grace 
is sufficient for me." Returning from the installation, 
he says, " Had on the way an unusual sense of the 
goodness of God, especially as a prayer-hearing God, 
and of the great importance of praying for destitute 
churches, that he would send them pastors after his 
own heart." 

On the next day, he says, "Preached in the even- 
ing, preparatory to the communion ; subject, ' A just 
God, and a Saviour,' as illustrated in the Bible, the 
dealings of God, and especially in the death of Christ. 
A full meeting, and interesting. Lord, follow it 
with thy blessing. Grant that it may be found that 
some souls received impressions which will never be 
effaced, and which shall, through grace, be connected 
with their salvation." 

The next day he says, " Attended a meeting at the 
missionary rooms for consultation as to the monthly 
concert of prayer, and it was agreed to have three 
meetings in the city, instead of one as heretofore : one 
at Park-street church, one at Pine-street, and one at 
Salem church. The Lord grant his presence in those 
meetings, and make them the means of salvation to 
those who attend, and to the heathen." 

The next day, the first Sabbath after his installa- 
tion, he says, " Preached morning and afternoon ; the 



260 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

house full to overflowing. At the close, the three 
deacons were consecrated to their office, and the Lord's 
supper was administered. Preached in the evening; 
house crowded. Lord, follow the truths spoken 
with the illuminating and purifying influences of the 
Holy Spirit, and make them ' the wisdom of God and 
the power of God' to the salvation of many souls, and 
the glory shall be thine." 

The next day, " Attended a meeting with ministers 
of Boston and others for prayer and consultation^ and 
the monthly concert in Salem church in the evening. 
Lord, follow these services with thy blessing ; 
grant me at all times thy holy presence, and furnish 
me for thy whole will." 

On January 9, his memorandum is, " In the morn- 
ing, preparing sermon. Attended the installation of 
Rev. Howard Malcom at the Federal-street Baptist 
church ; and a meeting of the Committee of the Mas- 
sachusetts Missionary Society. In the evening, a meet- 
ing of boys for religious inquiry at Mr. G.'s. Lord, 
increase, I beseech thee, the number of those youth 
who shall seek thee with the whole heart, and find 
thee as their hope and portion for ever." 

The next day, he " attended a meeting of the Ex- 
ecutive Committee of the American Temperance So- 
ciety at Mr. Odiorne's," and the following day "a 
meeting at Mr. John Tappan's, for consultation on the 
subject of publishing a religious magazine," which was 
not long after commenced under the title, " The Spirit 
of the Pilgrims," Dr. Edwards being one of the Pub- 
lishing Committee. 

On Sabbath, January 13, he preached morning 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 261 

and afternoon, and says, " In the evening attended an 
inquiring meeting. About sixty attended. may 
they all be saved, and greater and greater numbers 
attend, and obtain eternal life." 

The daily memoranda proceed: noticing pastoral 
visits ; supplying children with books and tracts ; 
conversation with persons on the state of their souls, 
and with particular individuals in afi&iction, or in 
spiritual perplexity and darkness ; meeting the mem- 
bers of the church for special prayer ; meeting the 
pastors for prayer and conference ; the preparation of 
sermons ; consultations as to the new magazine ; the 
concert of prayer for colleges ; the interests of religion 
in places around Boston, and other evangelical enter- 
prises ; and kindred labors, interspersed with ejacula- 
tions for the divine presence and blessing. 

"Dwell, Lord, I beseech thee, in the midst of 
this church for good, and bestow upon them and 
around them the rich blessings of thy grace." 

" Great God, forgive, I beseech thee, all my sins, 
and follow with thy blessing my labors this after- 
noon ; lead to thyself, and make him an instru- 
ment of eternal good to many souls ; sanctify the af- 
flictions of S , and make them the means of her 

salvation." " Lord, remember that young woman, and 
lead her to repentance and faith in Christ." 

" Lord, bless each of those persons with whom 
I have conversed, and to whom I have distributed 
tracts. Let thy Spirit, I beseech thee, impress thy 
truth upon their hearts." 

" Lord, incline many to assemble and hear the 
gospel, ' the glorious gospel of the blessed God.' Pre- 



262 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

pare me to address them 'in demonstration of the 
Spirit, and with power.' Assist me, God, with thy 
presence." 

"0 Lord, let thy Spirit descend on B ," (a 

neighboring village where he had gone out to preach 
on a Friday evening,) "take of the things of Jesus 
Christ and show them to that people, and work a 
mighty work of grace among them." 

" Follow with thy blessing, God, I beseech thee, 
the labors of this day, and guide me at all times by 
wisdom from above ; forgive all my sins, and assist me, 
through Jesus Christ. Multiply convictions and con- 
versions abundantly, and the glory shall be thine." 

Among the powerful, heart-searching sermons to 
which Dr. Edwards' congregation in Boston listened 
with deep interest, was that from the text, "Ye have 
AN UNCTION FROM THE HoLY One, and yc know all 
things," which was published in the National Preacher 
for June, 1830. Its aim is to show that those who 
are savingly taught by the anointing of the Holy 
Spirit, have a spiritual understanding of the great truths 
of the gospel, of which all otJier men, however moral, o?' 
learned, or refined, are ignorant; and " this teaching con- 
sists in leading them rightly to apprehend and suita- 
bly to feel the force of the truths revealed in the Bible." 
Those thus taught, see that God has revealed that 
" the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately 
wicked" — that this is a state of sin and death — that 
without a great change, called in Scripture being 
"born again," no man can be saved — that in God is 
their "help" — that "other foundation can no man lay, 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 263 

than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" — that "who- 
soever believeth on Him shall not perish, but have 
everlasting life'' — they feel that unto them "that 
believe. He is precious," and their hearts respond to 
his words, " Ye are not your own, ye are bought with 
a price ; therefore glorify God in your body and in 
your spirit, which are God's." 

"Hence you see them, in seasons of trial, not count- 
ing even life dear to them ; but counting all things 
but loss, that they might win Christ, and be found of 
Him in peace. In short, the whole Bible becomes to 
such persons the testimony of God ; which is therefore 
believed; and to a great extent is illustrated and 
confirmed in their own experience. And when these 
truths are known by experience, they have a reality, a 
fulness, and a power, of which before they had no 
conception. 

"The man who feels the heat of fire, has a very 
different conception from the man who only hears 
about it, or reads concerning it, or only stands at a 
distance and looks at it. His conceptions are cold ; 
and when shivering under the blasts of winter, they 
do him no good. He may have read about fire, he 
may have seen it, may have disputed about its proper- 
ties, and may have thought, perhaps, that he was 
acquainted with it ; but when he comes near and 
receives its genial warmth, and still nearer, and feels 
its penetrating heat, it has a reality, it has a pungency, 
of which before he had no conception. My word, 
saith God, is a fire, and a hammer ; it breaketh the 
rock in pieces. The man who feels it has a totally 
different conception from the man who only hears 



264 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

about it, or reads concerning it, or reasons and dis- 
putes about it. The conceptions of the latter are cold 
and heartless, and leave him dead in sin. The mo- 
mentous truths of the Bible may appear to him like 
fables ; may pass by him unheeded, and leave upon 
his heart no permanent impression ; while, to the real 
Christian, who has been taught them by ' an unction 
from the Holy One,' and who receives them in love, 
they have a reality, and they have a fulness and 
power, which stamp upon the Bible, and upon his 
heart, the impress of God. 

" True religion begins with experience. The know- 
ledge which real Christians have is taught them, not 
merely by men, but by the Holy Ghost, and attended 
with a permanent conviction that this knowledge is 
from God. Hence they will not, for any opposite 
errors, renounce it. 

" These things cannot be said of the opposite sen- 
timents. Real Christians cannot find them in the 
Bible. They do not describe their true condition 
as sinners; they do not meet their wants. To remove 
this difficulty, you may try to show them that they 
have no such wants as they suppose — that they have 
been among the enthusiastic, and are deluded. And 
upon this subject you may reason with great learning 
and acuteness ; but their wants are not matters of 
mere speculation, but oi feeling. 

" A man before you is starving, and you feed him 
on the east wind. He tells you that it does not satisfy 
him — that he wants food. You try to show him that 
he has no such want — that he has been among hungry 
men, and is deluded. You reason with great learn- 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 265 

ing and acuteness ; and if he is not a learned man, he 
may not find it easy to answer you. But his wants 
are matters, not of reasoning, though there is good 
reason for them: they are matters of feeling, and 
when a man feels pain, you cannot convince him that 
he has none. What he wants is ease^ not proof that 
he has no pain ; on that point he has proof enough, 
and proof which will for ever convince him, all your 
reasoning and efforts to the contrary notwithstand- 
ing. 

"A man is in agony under the pangs of conscious 
guilt in not having believed on the Saviour. What 
he needs is pardon, not proof that he has no guilt ; 
on that point he has proof enough, and proof which 
will carry overwhelming and eternal conviction to 
his mind, though all the rest of creation should 
doubt it. 

"Suppose you undertake to prove to real Chris- 
tians, that they have never had a carnal mind, or that 
the carnal mind is not enmity against God ; how can 
you make them believe it ? What revelation has God 
given to men but the Bible? and where in the Bible 
is it written, that when God looked down from heaven 
to see if there were any that did understand and seek 
him, he found that there were some that had not the 
carnal mind, or that the carnal mind is not enmity 
against God? And how can you make this accord 
with their experience? They Avere ten, twenty, per- 
haps fifty years, supremely devoted to themselves and 
the world. How can you show them that they were 
all this time not at enmity with God ? Not from the 
Bible ; this declares, ' They have rebelled against me.' 

Edward".. 12 



266 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

Not from their own feelings; these cry, 'Pardon mine 
iniquity, for it is great/ Now, if all other men should 
declare that they never had carnal minds, or that the 
carnal mind is not enmity to God, Christians will not 
believe it ; they know it to be false. 

" Try, if you will, to make them believe that they 
do not deserve to perish ; and that if they should perish 
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the 
Lord and the glory of his power, God would be 
unjust ; and in their view you contradict the Bible ; 
and you contradict also their own feelings, and that 
knowledge of themselves which the Holy Ghost hath 
given them. 

"Try to make them believe that they do not Tieed 
the special influences of the Holy Ghost ; and when 
they are quaking in fearful apprehension under con- 
scious guilt, crying. Who will take away the heart of 
stone, and give a heart of flesh ? or who shall deliver 
us from the body of this death ? direct them to them- 
selves, or to creatures, as their only hope, and you 
only mock their anguish. ' Miserable comforters are 
ye all.' But when they hear a voice from the throne, 
saying, ' / will take away the heart of stone, and give 
a heart of flesh ; and from all your filthiness, and from 
all your idols, will I cleanse you ;' and experience the 
truth of these declarations, they cry, ' Thanks be to 
God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord 
Jesus Christ.' 

"This inflexible firmness, this persevering adher- 
ence to sacred truth, which real Christians manifest, 
notwithstanding all the improvements which men 
imagine they have made, is thought by some to result 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 267 

from ignorance. They hold, it is said, to that old way, 
because they do not know any better. And it is a 
fact that they do not know any better ; and so long 
as they continue to have ' an unction from the Holy 
One,' they never will. But though they trust to the 
wisdom of another, yet they know something ; and 
something too, which is 'hid from many wise and 
prudent, and revealed unto babes.' Others, however, 
do not think that they hold to this old way because 
they are ignorant, but because they are bigoted. They 
have, say some, been taught it, and they never will 
renounce what they have been taught. They have been 
taught it. This is what the apostle declares ; but 
who was their teacher ? Let the apostle answer, ' Ye 
have an unction from the Holy One.' He was their 
teacher, and they will not give up what he has taught 
them. 

" Two things are peculiar to the Holy Ghost as a 
teacher: his disciples will believe him; and what he 
teaches they will never renounce : though they should be 
tempted, or sawn asunder, or slain with the sword, or 
have to wander about in sheep-skins, and goat-skins, 
destitute, afflicted, and tormented, on account of their 
faith, yet they will not renounce it. 

"It is not strange that different men, with the 
same external means, have very different views about 
the gospel, and very different feelings towards it. 
Take, for instance, the doctrine of human depravity. 
If one man feels it, and when he looks into himself, 
finds that he is actually poor and wretched, miserable, 
blind, and naked, in want of all things ; and another 
man, when he looks into himself, imagines that he is 



268 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

rich, and increased in goods, and has need of nothing ; 
it is not strange that the one believes the doctrine of 
human depravity, and the other rejects it. Just give 
to that man the same kind of evidence which the other 
has ; let him look again into himself, his mind being 
enlightened by the Holy Ghost to ' discern spiritual 
things,' in a spiritual manner ; and let him find, as 
thousands have found, that instead of being, as he 
supposed, rich, and increased in goods, and in need of 
nothing, he is actually poor and wretched, miserable, 
blind, and naked, and in want of all things ; and he 
too will believe the doctrine of human depravity. He 
will feel it, and thus know that it is true. What the 
man needs may be neither learning, nor talents, nor 
opportunities, but an humble spirit, receiving the 
truth as God has revealed it. He needs faith — that 
faith which is ' the substance of things hoped for, and 
the evidence of things not seen.' If one man has this, 
and another has not, it is not strange that they should 
differ in their views about the truths of the Bible ; 
and in their feelings towards them. It would be un- 
accountable if it were not so. 

"Hence we see the reason why children and poor 
persons, persons of little learning and small abilities, 
sometimes embrace the gospel, appear clearly to un- 
derstand it, and deeply to feel its truths. It is because 
the Holy Ghost can and does teach them as really as 
others. The truths of the gospel are adapted to their 
condition, and exactly meet their wants. They can 
understand them. 

" The little child, when weeping over the wicked- 
ness of his own heart, in godly sorrow and true peni- 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 269 

tence, understands the doctrine of depravity as really 
as a man ; and more so, unless the man has been 
taught it in the same way, hj feeling it. And that 
child may pray as sincerely, ' Create in me a clean 
heart, God, and renew a right spirit within me,' as 
any man on earth. And he may turn from sin, look 
to the Lord Jesus, and believe on him, love him, and 
obey him ; Christ may be formed in him the hope of 
glory, be all his salvation and all his desire, and be 
the end of the law for righteousness to him, as truly 
as if he were the greatest philosopher on earth. The 
reason is, the gospel, the glorious gospel of God our 
Saviour, is adapted, not merely to adult sinners, or 
to learned sinners, or sinners of great talents, but to 
sinners of every class. ' Come unto me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and 
ye shall find rest to your souls.' 

" We see also the reason why some men, with the 
Bible in their hands, are ' ever learning, and yet never 
come to the knowledge of the truth.' They do not 
feel their need of the teaching of the Holy Ghost. 
They perhaps do not believe ' that there is any Holy 
Ghost.' They do not seek his teaching. They do 
not obtain it ; and the truths which he has revealed, 
they do not believe. Hence, they grope in darkness 
at noonday, and stumble as in the night. 

"If Christians, to whom the gospel has come, not 
in word only, but in power, in the Holy Ghost, and in 
much assurance, would have others embrace it, and in 
such a manner that they will never renounce it, but 
be sanctified and saved with an eternal salvation ; 



270 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

while they use all suitable means to convey divine 
truth to their minds, they must depend for success 
upon 'an unction from the Holy One.' And for this 
he 'will be inquired off he will be sought unto. 
Hence Christians, while they make all possible efforts 
to convey divine truth to the minds of men, should at 
the same time abound in prayer. ' Paul may plant and 
Apollos water, but God giveth the increase.' Nor is 
this the least discouragement either to effort or to 
prayer ; it is rather the grand encouragement to both : 
for would any of you, being a father, should a famish- 
ing child ask bread, give him a stone ? or should he 
ask a fish, would you give him a serpent ? ' If ye then, 
being evil, know how to give good gifts to your chil- 
dren, how much more shall your Father in heaven 
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him V 

"Let then Christians, who have 'an unction from 
the Holy One,' of every denomination and of every 
name, use the means of God's appointment, and there 
is no insuperable difficulty in the way of the conver- 
sion of sinners, or of a revival of true religion, which 
shall not stop till it has extended to every district 
and state and kingdom, and has reached every fam- 
ily and every individual on the globe. Give each a 
Bible ; let him daily read it, and listen to it as the 
voice of Jehovah ; let the gospel, ' tlie glorious gospel 
of the blessed God,' be preached, in purity and with 
power, to every creature ; let prayer, believing, effec- 
tual, fervent prayer, ascend without ceasing ; and in 
answer, let there be given to all people 'an unction 
from the Holy One,' and there would be a mourning 
for sin all over the earth ; and then, let the Lord 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 271 

Jesus Christ be proclaimed as the only hope of glory, 
and every heart would embrace him, the song of sal- 
vation would echo from sea to sea, and the whole 
earth join the blessed anthem, 'To the Lamb that was 
slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood.' " 

We well remember, as do many others, hearing 
this sermon on the " Unction from the Holy One," as 
he preached it before the New Hampshire General 
Association of Clergymen, at their meeting in the 
east parish of Londonderry, now Derry, September 7, 
1 824. The clergymen assembled, in their harmony, and 
fervent prayers that their meeting might be blessed to 
their own increased spirituality and usefulness in the 
ministry, and especially to the reviving of the work 
of the Lord in the congregation among whom they 
met, set an example worthy of imitation by clerical 
bodies throughout the world. The godly and lamented 
Rev. Samuel Green, of Boston, was also present, and 
preached as if endued with power from on high, from 
the text, " Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, 
and uphold me with thy free Spirit ; then will I teach 
transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted 
unto thee." Here were two preachers from the sister 
state, magnifying the work of the Spirit in man's 
salvation. The meetings were crowded. They were 
silent and solemn, but the unbidden tear and the sup- 
pressed sob showed the presence of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The hands of the 
pastor, the Rev. Edward L. Parker, were strength- 
ened, and his heart made glad. A work of grace 
commenced immediately, the blessed results of which 
the pastor, in his History of Londonderry, records in 



272 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

these words : " This year the General Association of 
New Hampshire held its anniversary in the east 
parish of Londonderry. A divine blessing attended 
its deeply interesting and solemn services. Sixty-two 
were, in consequence, added to the church." 

Under such preaching, and the abundant labors of 
faith and love indicated in the above brief memoranda, 
rich spiritual blessings were evidently descending. 
The memoranda contain the following cheering items : 
January 17, " twelve persons were examined for ad- 
mission to the church." January 27, "about forty 
attended the inquiry-meeting." February 10, "more 
than fifty inquirers." February 24, "a meeting for 
inquirers in the evening, at which between thirty and 
forty attended." Under date of February 21, there is 
also this item : " Seventy-six pews in the Salem church 
were sold for about $18,700. Lord, fill this house 
with thy presence." 

We gather other indications of the spirit and suc- 
cess with which he was laboring, from letters to his 
family, who remained at Andover for a time after his 
installation in Boston. 

To his eldest son, then about the age of nine, he 
wrote January 8, 1828, " You must pray for your dear 
papa every day, that the Lord would enable him to do 
much good ; that his life and health may be preserved, 
and that he may be the means of saving very many 
souls. Pray also every day, for yourself, that the 
Lord would teach you to love and serve him. Re- 
member, that unless you love God, and keep his com- 
mandments, you can never go to heaven. I hope you 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 273 

daily read the Bible. Some little boys in Boston, not 
much older than you, have this winter become pious, 
and have meetings to read the Bible, and to pray to- 
gether. God says that he loves those that love him, 
and that those who seek him early shall find him ; and 
it is better to have God for your friend, than to have 
every thing else. 

" There were, the last Sabbath evening, more than 
a hundred at Dr. Beecher's inquiry-meeting; more 
than a hundred at Rev. Mr. Wisner's ; sixty or 
seventy at Park-street, and about the same number 
at Rev. Mr. Green's, besides others in other places. 
Many are inquiring what they shall do to be saved, 
and we hope that many will repent of their sins, 
believe on Jesus Christ, and by keeping his com- 
mands, be prepared for heaven." 

To II rs. Edwards. 

"BosTox, JaD. 14,1828. 
" My very dear Wife — Through the kindness of 
our heavenly Father, I am continued to the present 
time, and though somewhat hoarse through a slight 
cold, I preached twice yesterday ; in the afternoon, 
to a large assembly. In the evening, I had an inquiry- 
meeting ; about sixty attended ; some of them persons 
who belonged to churches in the country, but have 
not joined any in this city ; some of them persons who 
have hope, but have not made a profession ; and some 
of all stages of religious impression, from a little seri- 
ousness up to deep conviction. Several persons, of 
various ages, had their minds deeply impressed at 
the lecture last Tuesday evening ; among them was 

Mr. , the merchant in Market-street. He called to 

12* 



274 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

converse with me on Saturday evening. Some at the 
inquiry-meeting were from Roman-catholic families, 
and some from Universalists. Our friends are encour- 
aged to hope that they shall see the salvation of God. 
I hope you pray much for us that the work of God 
may revive and spread over all this city. 

"I generally retire about 11 P. M., rise about six, 
and find as much as I can do. I hope you pray daily 
for me, that I may be wise, humble, bold, faithful, and 
win many souls to Christ. I preached yesterday all 
day from, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my 
Spirit, saith the Lord.' I hope it made a good im- 
pression, and will be followed by the divine blessing. 
Pray much for Mr. Badger and the people at Ando- 
ver. Give my love to him and to all. 
"Your affectionate husband, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

To the same. 

"Boston, Feb. 25, 1828. 
" My very dear Wife — My health after you left 
was very poor ; and I became so bilious, that I felt 
more like giving up, than I have for years. On Sat- 
urday I rode out to see Dr. Chaplin, at Cambridge- 
port. On the Sabbath I preached twice. In the 
afternoon felt better, and spoke with freedom on the 
nature of repentance, the reasons why angels rejoice 
over the repenting sinner, and the instructions which 
this fact affords us. In the evening very stormy ; had 
between thirty and forty at the inquiry-meeting, one 
head of a family, whose mind was deeply impressed in 
the course of the day. Between seventy and eighty 
pews were sold last week for about $19,000 ; about 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 275 

$1,500 more than they were prized as worth. About 
twenty pews were also leased. Our meeting, the last 
Sabbath, about as full as when the pews were all free. 

" My health to-day is much better ; and though I 
have been in consultation with the ministers and others 
all day, I feel this evening quite comfortable. I never 
felt so much the need of your prayers, and the prayers 
of all God's people, that I may be sustained, strength- 
ened in the inner and outer man, be guided by wis- 
dom from on high, and have the constant presence 
and blessing of God. I find that without him I can 
do nothing ; and hope I sometimes feel, that through 
his strengthening me, I can do all things. My preach- 
ing seems to me, and I presume often to others, to be 
very poor ; but the Lord can bless the weakness of 
means, and that gives me some hope. I rejoice that 
they have so good a minister at Andover ; and hope 
I am thankful that he may probably be instrumental 
in saving many more souls among them than I' should. 

" Give my best love to the dear boys ; and tell 
them my earnest hopes that they every day pray to 
God, and strive to obey him ; that they are very atten- 
tive and obedient to their mother, and are very thank- 
ful for the many things which she does for them. Kiss 
the dear little girls: tell them that papa thinks of 
them, and tries to pray for them and all the people at 
Andover every day. Tell Sarah that she does not 
know what a precious time she now has to secure the 
salvation of her soul ; and I fear, if she does not ob- 
tain an interest in Jesus Christ, by believing on him 
soon, that she never will. She may die suddenly, and 
go unprepared to the judgment. And Fanny too 



276 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

should remember God, and seek the salvation of her 
soul now, while she is young ; for she does not know 
but she may die before she grows up. 

"I hope God will dwell with yo\i, and give you 
and sister A. J., to whom I feel under many obliga- 
tions, wisdom and grace to serve him, and do much 
good. I hope to come up and see you at no distant 
time ; but when, is at present uncertain. I lecture 
to-morrow evening. Prayer for colleges on Thursday, 
A. M. United meeting of all the churches, in Park- 
street in the evening. Preparatory lecture, Friday 
evening. Communion on the Sabbath ; lecture, or 
inquiry-meeting in the evening, and so on. 
" Your affectionate husband, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

February 29, he writes, " Our little band of pray- 
ing people met yesterday afternoon to pray for the 
youth in our colleges ; and in the evening we had a 
meeting" of all the churches in Park-street, full, and 
very interesting, rather more so than any united 
meeting that we have had since I have been here. 
Pray much, my dear wife, for me your unworthy 
husband, and for the dear ministers in this city, that 
we may all be men full of the Holy Ghost and of 
power; be clothed with humility, be strong in the 
grace that is in Christ Jesus, and be furnished by him 
for every good word and work ; that by well-doing 
we may put to silence foolish and wicked men, and 
prevail against every foe, 'for we wrestle not with 
flesh and blood' merely, 'but with principalities and 
powers, with the rulers of the darkness of this world, 
and with spiritual wickedness in high places.' 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 277 

March 4, he says, " Our little band of praying ones 
are, I think, growing in grace, as well as in numbers, 
and feel that we have a great work before us. 
Boston appears to be more full of God than I have 
ever befo;re known it, and I think that the manifesta- 
tions of his presence are increasing. I preached three 
times on the Sabbath, administered the communion, 
admitted eighteen to the church, wrote all Monday 
forenoon, consulted in the afternoon with the breth- 
ren, and spoke and prayed at the concert in the even- 
ing, and am this morning remarkably well for me. 
But my strength, you know, is only weakness, and I 
am well only as long as I am held up ; and wise only 
by wisdom from above. 

"Brother Wisner has gone to Philadelphia for 
Dr. Skinner." 

About the same time that the Salem-street church 
was erected in the north part of Boston, the Pine- 
street church was erected in the south part, in which 
the services of the Rev. Dr. Thomas H. Skinner were 
secured as pastor. 

To Rev. \Vm. A. Hallock, Secretary, New York. 

"Boston, March 5, 1828. 
"Dear Brother — I believe that some time ago 
the printing of my sermon on the ' Inspiration of the 
Scriptures,' as a tract, was spoken of. I am now 
placed where, for thirty years, error has reigned over 
multitudes. The consequence is, infidelity is exten- 
sively exerting its deadly influence over their souls. 
I now propose, if the Lord gives me wisdom, strength, 
grace, and opportunity, to rewrite on the subject of 



278 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D 

inspiration, more at length, and I hope m a better 
manner. My first Bible lecture will probably be deliv- 
ered in about two weeks. 

" God seems to be in the midst of us of a truth. 
Pray for us, especially those of us who are appointed 
to be watchmen in these perilous and difficult times, 
and on this perilous and difficult spot : that we may 
be humble, united, bold, active, and strong in the grace 
that is in Christ Jesus, giving glory, all the glory of 
every good that is done in us and by us, to God to 
whom it belongs ; that we may also in all our move- 
ments look at the world, the whole world, and bear 
upon those points and in that manner in which we 
shall most rapidly and permanently promote its reno- 
vation and salvation from sin and death, and its resto- 
ration to the image and favor of God. 

"I would thank you again to read my sermon, 
and let me know what alterations and additions it 
wants in order to produce the most extensive and 
deep impression, that the Bible is the word of God, 
and as such ought to he daily listened to by every son and 
daughter of Mam, and to be believed and obeyed wherever 
known, from the rising of the sun to the going down of 
tJie same. 

" I have a project also for reaching the consciences 
of all professors of religion in the land, so that they 
cannot come into contact with distilled liquors, either 
in the use, the making, or the sale of them, without an 
apprehension and a foretaste of the certainty, if they 
continue to aid in their distribution, that they will ere 
long kindle around them and all who follow them a 
£re, tlic fierceness of which they never can mitigate, 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 279 

and the raging and consuming power of which no man 
can quench. 

" Yours in the best bonds, 

'•J. EDWARDS." 

Such were the unceasing labors, such the faith and 
prayer, such the love to souls, the dependence on 
Christ and humble trust in him, with which Dr. Ed- 
wards was pressing on in his career of usefulness, with 
his eye fixed on the advancement of evangelical truth, 
not only in his own congregation, but throughout the 
city, and the land, and the world. The hearts of 
Christians far and wide were made glad by the de- 
scent of the Holy Spirit on the New England capital, 
where moral dearth had so long prevailed ; and the 
most pleasing anticipations of future good were in- 
dulged — when his vigorous bodily powers yielded to 
the pressure of mental labor and excitement, and he 
was compelled to suspend all active exertions. This 
was but a renewal of what he had experienced before 
resigning his charge in Andover. In a letter written 
April 18, 1828, to a relative in Colchester, he says, 
" In the month of September last, I had a severe turn 
of bilious obstruction, occasioned, I suppose, by a spas- 
modic contraction of the biliary duct, and accompa- 
nied with great pain ; and I have not been well since. 
Almost every effort of mind has occasioned threaten- 
ing" symptoms of the same disease, and five weeks ago 
it became so violent that I was obliged entirely to 
desist from preaching and all kinds of mental effort. 
For ten or twelve days I was confined to my chamber 
in Boston." Of the hazards, in respect to the state of 
his health, of assuming the responsibilities of the new 



280 REY. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

charge in Boston, he was probably more fully aware 
than the counsellors who unanimously advised him to 
assume them ; and the relief he had experienced by 
the change in prosecuting for several weeks the Tem- 
perance agency, may have given him hope that his 
bodily powers were radically restored. But the very 
sundering of the tender and sacred ties that bound 
him to his former charge, and the meeting and adjust- 
ing of the claims so soon and so urgently pressed 
upon him from important churches and institutions, 
in which his own usefulness and the dearest interests 
of the kingdom of the Redeemer seemed to be involv- 
ed, renewed and increased that long-continued mental 
excitement, which was as an internal flame burning 
at the seat of life. 

About the first of April he left Boston, on horse- 
back, for some weeks of recreation and rest among 
his relatives and friends on the Connecticut river — 
passing the Sabbath, on his way, at Hardwick, where 
he "worshipped with a little company of orthodox 
Christians in an upper chamber." Proceeding to 
Hatfield, he engaged Rev. Mr. Waterbuiy to supply 
his pulpit for four weeks; and spent a few days at 
Hadley, with his esteemed friends Dr. and Mrs. Por- 
ter. He then visited his relatives in Westhampton, 
where he found "an unusual attention to religion;" 
and was also cheered by a letter from Dea. Proctor, 
informing him that nine or ten were to be received 
to his own church in Boston on the profession of their 
faith. He then "rested a while" among his friends 
in Northampton, where lie wrote to Mrs. Edwards, 
"I hope the Lord is teaching me and you and oui* 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 281 

dear people, that to he where he puts us is to be in the 
best place ; that with his presence and blessing, we 
can be happy anywhere and in any condition, and 
that without it, all else is vanity." 

On May 20, he is at Cambridgeport, where he had 
been consulting Dr. Chaplin, and writes to Mrs. Ed- 
wards, " Dr. Chaplin has decided that I must not go 
into Boston at present. As soon as our deacons learn- 
ed his decision, they invited Hon. Mr. Hubbard, Mr. 
Tappan, Mr. Evarts, and others, to a meeting for con- 
sultation, and it was forthwith decided to obtain a 
house for us, for the summer, a few miles out of Bos- 
ton. This was an instance of kindness and prompt 
generosity which my unbelieving, ungrateful heart 
did not expect. It was manifestly the Lord's doing, 
and I hope he will bind us all in everlasting gratitude 
to himself. It appears to me that he is leading us, 
and all his people, in the right way, that we may ' go 
to a city of habitation.' 

" I had a most delightful walk this morning about 
Cambridge University, while all were asleep, and it 
was a good time to pray that God would come down 
there by his Spirit. Wijl you, my dear, pray daily 
for a revival of religion in that university. It is a 
delightful spot, and the Lord is owner of it, and doubt- 
less designs to make it subservient to the interests of 
his church. Dr. Skinner appears to be getting on 
finely " in the Pine-street church. 

In accordance with a suggestion above, a house 
was provided for Dr. Edwards' family in Dorchester, 
six miles from Boston, where they resided during the 
summer months. 



282 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

Jo a brother of Mrs. Edwards, in New York. 

''Northampton, April 21, 1828. 

"My dear Brother — Since I experienced your 
kindness in Boston, I have thought of you with pecul- 
iar interest almost daily ; and with special desire that 
the vigorous and active powers with which the Lord 
has graciously blessed you, might all be devoted to 
his service. I do not wish you to change your busi- 
ness, or leave your employment as a merchant, for 
that is the calling in which- you are called. But what 
I desire is, that you may engage in it, and prosecute 
it daily, not supremely for yourself, but for the Lord 
Jesus Christ, of whom, and through whom, and to 
whom are all things. 

" If a man is active in business and acquires prop- 
erty, but all supremely for himself, and for this world 
merely, his activity stands in the way of his salvation ; 
and his acquisition of property, if this course is contin- 
ued, will engross his whole heart, and drown him in 
destruction and perdition. But if he is active and 
acquires property for the sake of honoring God, and 
doing good, his very activity will tend to promote 
his salvation, and while di^gent in business he will 
be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. He will also 
enjoy vastly greater comfort in the acquisition of 
property itself, because he will be acquiring it for a 
nobler purpose ; and it will have a more elevating, 
purifying, and benevolent influence upon his whole 
character. 

"Be careful, my dear brother, every day to set 
apart a season for meditation, reading the Scriptures, 
and prayer, to look backward and forward, to exam- 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 283 

ine yourself and see whether the course that you are 
now pursuing, should you continue it, will lead you 
to heaven. If not, make no delay to change, and set 
out in that way which if continued will end in glory. 
Give your heart to God, and make it your constant 
object to render unto him the things that are his ; 
trusting wholly for what you need in the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and seeking daily the teaching and guidance 
of his blessed Spirit. Act in all things for eternity, 
and strive to do good, as you have opportunity, to all, 
and especially to those that love him. 
" Your affectionate brother, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

A renewed attack still prevented Dr. Edwards 
from resuming labors among his people, when he re- 
ceived the following brotherly communication from a 
highly respected pastor in a sister city. 

"New York, July 3, 1828. 

"Rev. and dear Sir — I write because I know that 
what I am about to say is of importance. Men will 
praise you, my brother, after you are dead ; and when 
you have labored and toiled, and died, they will greatly 
commend your disinterestedness — and until then, they 
will urge and goad you to labors which no human 
mind or frame can sustain. I do not know but it is 
too late to save your shattered constitution ; but if it 
is saved, you must not leave it to the sympathy even 
of the best of men. 

" I write to say, not this only, but that you have 
no chance for permanent recovery while at home. My 
own experience tells me, there is nothing like a long 
sea-voyage. The perfect repose — the novelty — the 



284 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

atmosphere — the regimen — the storms — the sleep — the 
exercise — the tumbling about — these are what the 
jaded mind and body of a minister require. I beg of 
you to try the experiment — not coastwise, but across 
the western ocean. Your people must furnish you 
means and society : both are necessary. Be absent a 
year ; and go, not to labor, but to rest. Seven or 
eight hundred dollars will cover the expense. Do not 
lose a month, but go. Do not say, your usefulness is 
not worth the effort. One minister, well trained to 
the service of the sanctuary and to the labors of the 
church, is worth ten years' preparatory service, and 
surely one of repose. I rejoice in all that is good at 
Boston. 

" Your affectionate brother, 

''GARDINER SPRING." 

August 21, 1828, he writes a letter, from the neigh- 
borhood of Saratoga Springs, to the Rev. Dr. Wisner 
of Boston, stating that he had attended a highly inter- 
esting meeting of the Albany Presbytery, when the 
subject of missions in our own country was taken up, 
and its immense magnitude and importance most seri- 
ously considered. " It would have done your heart 
good,'^ lie says, "to see worthy fathers in the ministry 
weep like children while this subject was under discus- 
sion, and the tender, strong emotion which pervaded 
the whole assembly. It was indeed a time of refreshing, 
I trust, from the presence of the Lord. They hope to 
raise within their bounds $4,000 for this object, in one 
year. A delightful spirit now pervades the Presbytery, 
and one which seems to promise mucli, not only for the 
destitute, but for themselves and their children. 



HIS MINlSTRi^ IN BOSTON. 285 

"Rev. Mr. Yale is a noble spirit. I -svish the 
world was full of such men, as manifestations of the 
lovely, transforming, and mighty power of grace. I 
rejoice exceedingly to see such men in health, and 
able, in the strength of the Lord, to move on the holy 
and life-giving projects of his kingdom. 

" I am much interested in Dr. Nott, and we lodge 
at the same house. We have talked much on the sub- 
ject of the sanctification of the Sabbath. May the 
Lord give us wisdom equal to the importance of the 
crisis to which we have come, and the magnitude of 
the interests which may be affected by our conduct. 

" On the subject of Sabbath-schools this Presbytery 
are preparing to do nobly. And on the whole the 
work of the Lord, if his people shall continue humble, 
prayerful, and active, is evidently advancing towards 
a glorious consummation ; and the laying aside of one 
man, or a dozen men, cannot stop its progress. 

" With love to the brethren, and asking an interest 
in your prayers, that I may honor God, and be prepar- 
ed, in his own way, time, and place, to be eminently 
instrumental in bringing our world into subjection to 
the Saviour, and spreading the honor of his precious 
name through the universe, I am cordially yours," etc. 

" To the Members of Salem church, Boston : 

"Saratoga SprIxVgs, Aug. 26, 1828. 
"Dear Brethren and Friends — The ways of the 
Lord are wonderful, sought out of all them that have 
pleasure therein. When the Lord disappoints the 
expectations of his people, it is not because he does 
not love them — not because he does not design to 
promote their highest good in the best way, or the 



28G REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

highest good of his holy kingdom. He does design 
to do both, yet he often takes a course and uses means 
for this purpose directly the reverse of what we 
should. 

" Who would have thought of sending Israel into 
Egypt as the best way of leading them to Canaan ; 
of sending Moses for forty years into obscurity as the 
best way of preparing him to do the greatest good to 
the world ? Who of us would have kept the children 
of Israel for so long a time in the wilderness, and led 
them in such a circuitous route to the land of promise? 
And yet God did it ; and who will say that it was not 
the best way — the way to glorify himself, and most 
effectually bless his people ? How many benefits have 
already resulted to his church from his taking that 
course, and how many will yet result through eternal 
ages, above what would have resulted had he taken 
the course which we should have taken, none but God 
can determine. 

" Who but God would have thought, in a time of 
such abounding wickedness, when the labors of the 
Lord's prophets were so much needed, of sending 
away Elijah the ablest of them to a solitary place 
alone, and feeding him there for so long a time by 
ravens ? Yet the Lord did it ; and who will say that 
Elijah was not during that time more useful to the 
kingdom of Jehovah, viewed in its connection with 
eternity, than he could have been anywhere else? 

" Had Jehovah become in any measure indifferent 
to the interests of Zion, or did he mistake the best 
way to promote his own cause ? No ; he takes ways 
different from what we should, and often from what 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTUN. 287 

we desire and pray for, not because he loves Zion less 
than we, but infinitely more. He is infinitely more 
wise, more benevolent. In prayer, we look perhaps 
supremely to this or that particular church, or to the 
course which the Lord shall take in the disposal of 
his servants, and regard principally the present time, 
or at most the time in which we shall live ; but God 
regards supremely himself, and the holy interests of his 
whole kingdom for endless ages. And though we, in 
the bitterness of disappointed hopes, cry, 'AH these 
things are against me ' ; and perhaps feel, if we do 
not say, that they are against the cause of Zion too ; 
yet how foolish and how ungrateful it is for us to 
think so. Has ' He who spared not his own Son, but 
freely gave him up for us all,' forgotten his people, or 
mistaken the best way to promote their interests? 
They desire perhaps earthly prosperity, especially in 
their religious concerns. He desires their sanctifica- 
tion and salvation, and he leads them in the right 
way, that they may go to a city of habitation. 

" Who of us, after Saul of Tarsus was converted, 
with his immense learning and talents, and when there 
was so much need of his labors in Damascus, Jerusa- 
lem, and many other places, would have sent him into 
the deserts of Arabia ; or, when all his strength was 
so much needed, have caused him even at the first, in 
the populous region of Galatia, to preach the gospel 
through severe bodily infirmity, even such as to make 
his speech, in the view of many, contemptible. Who of 
us, had we the power to prevent it, would have suf- 
fered him, in the metropolis of the world, when thou- 
sands were perishing for lack of knowledge, to be 



288 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

bound and imprisoned? Yet God did it; and con- 
trary to all human expectation, it turned out, as the 
ways of the Lord always do, to the furtherance of the 
gospel. ' Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, 
and confirm the feeble knees ; say unto them that are 
of a fearful heart. Be strong; fear not J Zion is placed 
as a seal upon the Lord's arm, and bound as a signet 
upon his heart; he will never leave, never forsake 
her. Though for a little time he afflicts her in some 
of her branches or members, yet with everlasting lov- 
ing-kindness will he have mercy upon her. He afflicts 
her for her profit, to show all her members what is in 
their hearts, and that he may do them good in the 
latter end. Though he tarry long, wait for him ; in 
due time he shall come, and will not tarry. "Who ever 
trusted in him and sought him with the whole heart, 
and was disappointed? No one; and no one ever 
will. He will give them the desires of their heart, or 
he will give them what is infinitely better; and while 
the youth, and the most strong, vigorous, and power- 
ful, who seek supremely their own, shall faint and be 
weary, and all who trust to themselves and creatures 
shall utterly fall, they that wait upon the Lord shall 
renew their strength ; they shall mount up on wings 
as eagles, shall run and not be weary, walk and not 
faint. 

. " Who of us would have permitted that Preacher 
of righteousness who spake as never man spake, to be 
apprehended, bound, and buffeted, spit upon, and cru- 
cified between two malefactors? And should we not 
all, had we beheld it, like the weeping disciples, have 
trembled for the rising prospects of his infant king- 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 289 

dom? Yet God, who seeth the end from the begin- 
ning, permitted this ; and what amazing benefits have 
flowed from it to his church, and what brighter glo- 
ries will continue to encircle it, in consequence of this, 
to everlasting ages. How will those very disciples, 
who when their Leader was taken from them were 
ready to say, ' All these things are against us,' be filled 
in view of that event with celestial ardor, and sing in 
more exalted strains. Oh the length and the breadth, 
the height and depth of the wisdom and the love of 
God, it passeth knowledge. 

"Let us then, my brethren and sisters, choose to 
have the Lord govern in his own way, not only in the 
armies of heaven, but in the habitations of the earth, 
and dispose of us and ours as seemeth good in his 
sight ; and let the language of each of our hearts be, 
at all times, in all places, and under all circumstances, 
' Not my will, but thine be done ;' and let us inquire 
each one for himself habitually, ' Lord, what wilt thou 
have me to do ?' and leaning upon God go forward in 
duty, living not unto ourselves, but unto Him that died 
for us, and rose again ; and then we may rest assured 
that all things shall work together, not only for the 
good of Zion, but for our good, as they do for the 
good of them that love God, and who are the called 
according to his purpose ; and by and by, from the 
heights of heavenly glory we shall look back on the 
way through which Jehovah has led us, and see that 
every step was ordered by infinite wisdom and good- 
ness and love, and shall w4th one heart and one voice 
adore the riches of divine grace with the millions of 
the redeemed for ever. 

E.I ward*. 1 3 



290 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

" Through the kindness of our heavenly Father, I 
arrived here safely about three weeks ago, and have 
since been here for the benefit of the waters. My 
health is slowly, but I believe daily improving, and I 
am not without expectation of being restored to per- 
fect health. If the Lord has any thing for me to do 
among you, I shall rejoice, in his own way and time, 
to be restored to you, to minister as of the ability 
which he shall give, and to spend and be spent in pro- 
moting his glory in the salvation of men. Praying 
daily that he would dwell among you by his Spirit, 
and grant you at all times his presence ; make you 
wise by his wisdom, strong in his strength, and com- 
fort you by his consolation ; that he will increase you 
with the increase of God, build you up, and give you 
an inheritance among all them that are sanctified, 
"I am, with tender regard, 

" Your affectionate pastor, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

Soon after writing the above, he was enabled to 
return to his people and resume his labors ; and his 
family, in the course of the autumn, removed from 
Dorchester into the city. 

To Miss P. C , a niece in Ohio, he wrote, Sept. 

9, 1828, "I send you $10, with which, and with what 
your father may assist you, I hope you will be able to 
accomplish your object. I approve entirely of your 
fitting yourself to keep school, and if you improve all 
tlie time and opportunities that you can get, I have no 
doubt that you will be able to do it. It is an impor- 
tant and useful employment; and to prepare 3^ou for 
it, 1 hope you will give your heart to God, and daily 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 291 

seek the teaching and guidance of his Spirit, and 
make it your great object, should you have the care 
of children, to train them up ' in the nurture and ad- 
monition of the Lord,' and to fit them, not only for 
usefulness on earth, but for glory in heaven. If you 
serve God, and in all your ways acknowledge him, he 
will be your guide, will lead you in the right way, 
will provide for you, and train you up for heaven. 

" If you have the tracts of the American Tract So- 
ciety, the one entitled, ' The Way to he Saved/ and anoth- 
er, ' Joy in Heaven over the Penitent^ may assist you in 
the way to heaven. I hope you will read them with 
attention and with prayer ; they were both written 
by your affectionate uncle, as was also another, enti- 
tled, ' The Well-conducted FarmJ This, you may hand 
to your father. 

"Seek, my dear, first of all, to serve God, and to 
do good ; live for Jesus Christ, and then you shall 
not want any good thing, he will guide you by his 
counsel, and afterwards receive you to glory. Seek 
him with your whole heart, and you shall find him. 
" Your affectionate uncle, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

To Mrs. Edwards' brother in New York, who had 
requested religious counsel : 

" Boston, Jan. 17, 1829. 

" My dear Brother — If you would be saved from 
the power and dominion of sin, be changed into the 
image of God, and prepared for the joys of his king- 
dom, you must /ff/ that this is the most important sub- 
ject in the world, and you must make it at present your 
chief QowQQvn. It must appear more important to you 



293 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

than wealth, reputation, ease, health, friends, or even 
life itself. Without this view of its importance, you 
wiir never give it the attention which it requires, and 
which it must have, or the soul be lost, for ever lost. 
Come then to a fixed decision, before God, and for 
eternity on this point, namely, Are you willing to 
make your deliverance from sin, and your restoration 
to holiness and the image and favor of God, your chief 
present concern? If so, let me say, 

" Recollect, fix it in your mind indelibly, that all 
you have you receive from God, and it is your rea- 
sonable service to employ it according to his will. 
Common honesty requires this. Without it you do not 
render to God his own, and cannot, in his estimation, 
be at heart an honest man ; for honesty is rendering 
to all their dues, and it applies to God no less than 
to men. Merchants who would be esteemed honest, 
often overlook this. And so do other men. But, my 
brother, be honest at heart, and really attempt with- 
out delay to render to God all his due. And that you 
may, 

'' Set apart a portion of each day, morning and 
evening, to see how your account stands with him, 
and ask him to teach you by his Spirit how much you 
are indebted to him. And at the same time listen to 
his voice speaking to you in his word, the Bible, that 
you may learn his views on the subject, and you will 
find his demand to have been every day, since you first 
knew his character and your relation to him, * all the 
heart, and soul, and strength, and mind.' Now have 
you, my dear brother, ever for one day rendered this ? 
Have you ever, as the cAie/* present concern, attempted 



HIS MINISTUY IN BOSTON. 293 

it ? Have you done what you could ? Have you de- 
voted the time, talents, influence, and property wliicli 
he has given you, to him ? that is, have you attempted 
to use it according to his will, and for the purpose of 
promoting his glory, and the spiritual and eternal 
good of your fellow-men? If not, you must be greatly 
in debt. He has given you many talents, and those 
with which you might do immense good to his king- 
dom, and if you have not used them for him, you have 
all your days been robbing him of what was his own ; 
and to defraud God is a sin as much greater than to 
defraud men, as he is more worthy than they. If you 
will daily examine your account with God, with an hon- 
est heart, really desiring to know the whole amount, 
you will find that you owe him ten thousand talents, 
and that you really have nothing to pay. For, should 
you henceforward render to him for ever all his due, 
and never run into debt for any thing more, it would 
only be rendering to him what you will be constantly 
receiving from him, and thus merely acting honestly 
in time to come, without cancelling or even lessening 
one iota of the debt which is past. 

" But such is his amazing kindness, that he offers 
freely to forgive all, and receive you and treat you as 
if you had never offended, on the simple condition of 
trusting in his Son, and devoting yourself hencefor- 
ward to the doing of his will. And that he might do 
this without dishonoring himself, or injuring his king- 
dom, he gave up that Son, whom he loved with intinite 
love, to bear your sins in his own body on the tree, to 
feel the effects of them himself, to be ivounded for your 
transgressions, and bruised for your iniquities, that 



294 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

you, by believing on him, that is, trusting in him for 
all that you need, both to do the will of God, and to 
be accepted in it, might through his stripes, that is, his 
suffering unto death, be healed, and saved with an 
everlasting salvation. 

•' Of course you can have no excuse if you do not 
immediately and for ever devote yourself, with all your 
powers, faculties, and talents, to his service. He has 
given up his Son to buy you off from the curse of the 
law, that is, from the penalty of your past transgres- 
sions, by being himself made a curse for you, or bear- 
ing the effects of your sins in your stead. And by 
trusting in him you may receive all that you need, 
both to do his will, and to be accepted in it. 

"If you do not under these circumstances imme- 
diately commence his service, jom will incur tremen- 
dous guilt. You will be continually increasing the 
debt which you already owe to God. You will show 
an awful indifference to the wishes of God concern- 
ing you ; and also to his interests, and the interests of 
his kingdom. You will reject the provision which he 
has made for your pardon, sanctification, and salva- 
tion. You will cut yourself off from all the benefits 
of Christ's death. You will be farther than ever 
before, treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath. 
You will provoke God to say. Cut him down ; why 
should he cumber the ground? And you will show 
that you are not willing even to attempt to be honest 
towards God. In short, you fail of deliverance from 
sin. You will lose eternal life ; and after a few days 
of toil and disappointment on earth, during your vain 
life, (Avhich will flee away as a shadow,) you will sink 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 295 

down to the pit, and under the awful guilt of being 
for ever a self-destroy er. 

" But on the other hand, if you will without delay- 
make it your chief concern to learn the whole will of 
God, and as you learn it, the chief object without delay 
to do it, trusting in Christ for all that you need ; and 
henceforward live supremely, not for yourself, or the 
world, but for God and heaven, that you may glorify 
him and become in temper like him, and set an exam- 
ple by doing the highest good to men in your power, 
that all may safely follow, you will, 

" 1. For Christ's sake, and out of regard to what 
he has done, be freely forgiven all your past sins. 
And, 

" 2. You will through him receive the Holy Ghost 
to enlighten your mind, purify your heart, and change 
you into his own image. And, 

" 3. You will have peace of conscience and peace 
with God. And, 

"4. You will experience more or less of joy in 
believing his declarations, and keeping his commands. 

"5. You will ardently desire that all others may 
take the same course, and you will pray and make 
efforts that they may. And, 

"6. You will have good hope through grace, that 
when absent from the body you will be present with 
the Lord, see him as he is, and be like him. And, 

"7. This hope will tend strongly now to make 
you more humble, more prayerful, more weaned in 
your affections and expectations from this world, and 
more anxious to be prepared for the business and joys 
of the world above. And, 



296 REV JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

" 8. While it will not deprive you of one excellence 
of character, or innocent enjoyment in this world, or 
in the least hinder your success in any lawful concern, 
it will give you excellence, and that of the highest 
kind, such as is esteemed by angels and the spirits of 
just men made perfect ; and it will give you joy com- 
pared with which all that you have yet experienced, 
or ever could experience, should you have the whole 
world, and live here a thousand years without relig- 
ion, would be like a dream when one awaketh. 

" Halt then no longer, my dear brother, between 
two opinions. Decide without delay, and remember 
that you do it for endless being. Life and death 
eternal ?LYe both before you. Choose life, and walk in 
the way that leads to it, and it shall be yours, eternally 
yours, which is the ardent desire and daily prayer of 
'' Your unworthy, but affectionate brother, 

«J. EDWARDS." 

After some years, this beloved brother, who was 
made the subject of prayer by his mother, sisters 
and friends, was enabled to rejoice in the great sal- 
vation, and publicly joined himself -to the people of 
God. 

To an older brother of Mrs. Edwards', on the death of a 

son. 

"Boston, June 12, 1829. 

"My dearly beloved Brother and Sister — It 

seems to be one of the great objects of God, in all his 

dealings with his people, to make them feel that they 

are not at home in this world, and that there is nothing 

on which they can, with safety or comfort, place their 

hearts, but himself. Though in great kindness, when 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 297 

they are panting under the burden and heat of the 
day, he will often grant them a gourd to shelter 
them, or when they are hungry, a little manna from 
above ; yet soon a worm at the root will cause the 
gourd to wither, and that on which they expected 
at some future time to feast, will be found to have 
spoiled. And as they find themselves again exposed, 
hungry and thirsty, they will feel, and every time 
more and more deeply, that there is no tree under 
whose shadow they can safely and permanently repose, 
but that whose leaves are for the healing of the na- 
tions ; and no bread which will permanently satisfy 
their hunger, but that which cometh down from heaven 
and giveth life to the world; and no stream which 
will quench their thirst, but that which flows from the 
throne of God and the Lamb. He gives life, health, 
reason, friends, property, and all other blessings, as 
seemeth to him good, and he continues them as long 
as will consist with his infinite glory, and the highest 
good of his kingdom, and the personal benefit of those 
that love him ; and when these require, he wisely and 
kindly removes them. And blessed are they who can 
say from the heart, and who do say by their lives. 
Even so, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy 
sight. Xot my will, but thine be done, by me and 
mine and all. Let the Lord do as seemeth good in 
his sif^^ht ; he doeth all things well. 

" He had a Son, a dearly beloved, an only begotten 
Son, in whom he delighted with infinite delight ; yet 
when our good required it, he gave him freely, and 
to all the agonies of the cross, even under the ex- 
cruciating tortures of bearing our sins in his own 

13* 



298 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

body on the tree ; and shall not we, when his glory 
and the good of his kingdom require it, give up and 
be willino; that he should take what he will of his 
own? Shall we not rather have all our concerns 
governed by infinite wisdom and goodness, by One 
who sees the end from the beginning, and who does 
all things well, than to govern them ourselves ? What 
has he ever done, what will he ever do, which could 
on the whole be altered for the better ? Trust in the 
Lord with all thy heart, and lean not to thine own 
understanding ; in all thy ways acknowledge him, 
and he shall direct thy paths. They that trust in 
him shall be as mount Zion ; they that seek him 
shall not want any good thing ; they that do his 
will shall 9.bide for ever ; they shall find it good for 
them to draw near to him, that in his presence is 
fulness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures 
for evermore. 

"My health is better much than last year, though 
moderate enough for comfort or usefulness. Mrs. Ed- 
wards thinks, if Providence should favor it, of taking 
the children and visiting Colchester during the months 
of July and August, while I go to the Springs, and 
perhaps take a journey on horseback. Things here 
are much as usual, xill send love. 

" Your affectionate brother, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

In this month, June, 1829, was published in the 
National Preacher his persuasive and awakening dis- 
course, "Preparation for Eternity," from the text, 
"The end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore 
sober, and watch unto prayer." 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 299 

His family having left the city to spend the warn, 
season with Mrs. Edwards' relatives in Colchester, he 
wrote a pleasing letter to the five younger children, 
with special messages to each of the little ones ; hav- 
ing previously prepared the following counsels for the 
eldest, on his leaving home to reside there for a longer 
period/" 

"Directions to my dear son, Justin Asa Edwards, 
when he shall go to Connecticut. 

"1. Remember God, and not forget that he is 
always looking upon you; that he sees every thing 
that you do, hears every thing that you say, and knows 
every thing that you think and feel. 

" 2. Every morning, and every evening, pray to 
Him in spirit and in truth, that he would pardon all 
your sins, and teach you to love and serve him. 

"3. Every day read one chapter in the Bible, 
because it is the word of God, and able to make you 
wise unto salvation. Believe what it says, and follow 
its directions. 

" 4. Strive, in every thing you do, to please God ; 
trust for all that you need in Jesus Christ, and seek 
the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

"5. Never do any thing that you know to be 
wrong. 

" 6. If you have done wrong, never deny it ; but 
always in all things speak the truth. 

"7. Never be angry; and never differ with other 
boys. 

* Dr. Edwards had three sons, Justin Asa, Jonathan, and New- 
ton; and three younger daughters, Ehzabeth, Lydia, and Ana 
Eliza, all of whom survived their father. 



300 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

" 8. Remember the Sabbath-day, and keep it holy. 
When you go to meeting attend to the preaching, 
remember the text, and as much of the sermon as you 
can, and repeat it to your uncle and aunt when you 
get home. 

" 9. Do not forget that you may die while you are 
young, and not live to grow up. 

" 10. Read Janeway's Token for Children and other 
good books which tell you about good boys, and strive 
to be like them. 

"11. Think much about Jesus Christ, and try to 
be like him. Love and serve him with all your heart, 
and then when you die you will go and dwell with 
him and all good people in heaven. 

" Remember that these directions were written by 
your affectionate father, who loves you, thinks much 
about you, and ardently wishes that you may love 
God, and do much good. 

" Pray for your affectionate father, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

To the members of Salem church, Boston. 

" Boston, July 15, 1829. 

"Dear Brethren and Friends — On Monday of 
this week, I received an appointment from the Amer- 
ican Society for the Promotion of Temperance, to act 
as agent for that Society for the space of one year. I 
have also received an appointment as agent of the 
General Union for promoting the observance of the 
Christian Sabbath. 

"As my health has required me to be absent from 
you much in time past, and, I fear, will require me in 
future to be absent more than is consistent with the 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 301 

highest usefulness of a pastor ; and as the journeyings 
to which the acceptance of either of the above-men- 
tioned appointments would call me, would probably 
be more conducive to a sound and vigorous state of 
health, than the labors of a city pastor, I am led 
seriously to inquire whether your good, and that of 
the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, might not 
probably be promoted by a dissolution of my pastoral 
connection, that I may be at liberty, should it appear 
to be the divine will, to accept for a time one of the 
above-mentioned appointments, or any other to which 
Providence may appear to call me. 

"I shall endeavor to ascertain the will of God, 
and with his leave will, in two or three weeks, com- 
municate to you the result of my contemplations on 
the subject. In the mean time, I ask an interest in 
your prayers, that I may be guided in all things by 
wisdom from above, be led in that way which will 
conduce most to the divine glory, to our mutual spir- 
itual advantage, and to the good of the kingdom of 
Jehovah. 

"Wishing you, and all connected with you, the 
guidance and blessing of the Lord ; praying that He 
will dwell among you by his Spirit, and communicate 
to you richly the blessings of his grace, I am 

" Your much obliged and grateful pastor, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

To Mrs. Edwards. 

"Sar-^toga Springs, July 25, 1829. 
"My dear Wife — Loving-kindness and tender 
mercy have followed me continually since I left Col- 
chester. The first night I lodged in Springfield. The 



302 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D 

next day at eleven o'clock I was on the summit of 
mount Tom, from which I had one of the most delight- 
ful prospects in the world ; dined at Westhampton, 
found all well, and all send much love. The next 
day, Wednesday, I went to Williamstown ; and saw 
it for the first time for nineteen years. I slept in the 
house where I dined on Commencement-day, and the 
next morning had some very impressive views of the 
shortness of human life — to think that it was nine- 
teen years since I was there, and yet it looked like 
yesterday. I recollect the countenances and the con- 
versation of that day with perfect distinctness. Nine- 
teen years more, should I live in this world, will make 
me sixt3^-one years old. Surely life is a vapor ; but 
if spent for God, it will be just long enough, and filled 
with just mercies enough, and trials enough, and every 
thing enough, to fit the soul for heaven and for the 
everlasting enjoyment of God. In the morning I 
visited the grave of my classmate ; saw the place where 
Mills, Richards, and other good men used to pray ; 
and then called upon, and spent the forenoon with 
Dr. Grijffin. 

" Your affectionate husband, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

To the members of Salem church, Boston. 

"Saratoga Springs, Aug. 1, 1829. 

"Dear Brethren and Friends — On the subject 
of my last communication to you, I would observe, 
that so far as I at present understand the indications 
of Providence, it appears to be the divine will, that I 
should request that my pastoral connection with you 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 303 

may be dissolved. I do therefore hereby request, that 
my pastoral and ministerial connection with Salem 
church and congregation, Boston, may be dissolved ; 
provided it shall appear, to an ecclesiastical council 
called for that purpose, to be the divine will. 

" I have been led to make the above request from 
the following considerations : 

*' 1. It appears to me that it will be more for your 
good, and that of your children, to have a pastor who 
can spend his whole time with you, than to have one 
who is required to be absent from you as much as I 
have been, and probably must be in future, should my 
pastoral connection with you be continued. 

"2. To engage, at least for a time, in some em- 
ployment, that will call for habitual and vigorous 
bodily exercise, will, I believe, be more conducive 
to my health, than to continue the labors of a city 
pastor. 

"3. Should the Lord, by a course of active em- 
ployment, give me health, it is probable that I can 
be more useful to the church of God and the world 
in some other situation, than I can with my present 
health, or the health that I can expect to enjoy, as 
pastor of Salem church. 

" And if, dear brethren and friends, in view of the 
above considerations, it shall appear to you to be in 
accordance with the divine will, I would invite you, 
and I do hereby invite you to unite with me in calling 
an ecclesiastical council to consider, and if they think 
proper, to comply with the above request. - ^ ^ 

" Praying and expecting that the Lord will dwell 
among you by his Spirit, build you up as a church, 



304 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

and give you and your children an inheritance among 
all them that are sanctified, 

"I am your grateful and affectionate pastor, 

"J. EDWARDS. 
" To Samuel Texney, Clerk of Salem church, Boston." 

With this request the church felt it to be their 
duty to comply, and on the 20th of August, 1829, his 
relations as pastor of a confiding, united people were 
again dissolved. 

His last year's labor as pastor had been a con- 
stant struggle to fulfil his high responsibilities, while 
every exciting effort he made but disabled him the 
more. His heart was intent on the work upon his 
hands. He wished to see the house of God filled with 
spiritual worshippers, rescued from the highways of 
sin and the labyrinths of destructive and prevailing 
error. He wished to see Boston redeemed, and her 
energies consecrated to Christ and the salvation of 
men. The prospects in his early labors there had 
been bright as the rising dawn ; the gift of gifts, the 
power of the Holy Spirit, was richly descending ; God 
was with him ; every thing indicated that the most 
sanguine hopes would be realized ; and when he sunk 
under the pressure of labor, he still hoped that his 
vigorous physical powers would rally. But the work- 
ing of the moral machinery within, the fire burning in 
him as he put forth his impassioned appeals to rouse 
men from the slumber of death, and wake them, 
through the power of the Spirit, to life eternal ; the 
bearing of otliers' burdens in the Christian counsel he 
was continually called to give; and his keen sense of 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 305 

responsibility to God and men, had deranged some of 
those delicate organs on which the healthy action of 
the physical frame depends. He sought rest and rec- 
reation ; he and his people hoped against hope ; till 
it became clear to all, including the best medical ad- 
visers, that he must resign his charge, leave the city, 
and seek a more active out-door life ; or his cenotaph 
and his precious memory would ere long be all that 
his devoted people could retain of him. 

This was the turning-point of his history. He 
had been "watching providence,'"' and by a discipline, 
doubtless as kind as it was trying, God had been de- 
ciding the point that he must close his labors as pas- 
tor, and enter on plans of benevolent effort wide as 
the world, which were to mark the age in which he 
lived. 

Being dismissed, as above stated, on the 20th of 
August, and regarding the claims of the Temperance 
Society, which he had left for the charge in Boston, 
as taking precedence of others then laid before him, 
he, on the 27th of the same month, resumed his labors 
in that department of benevolence which must ever 
be associated with his name. 

Among the calls made at this time for his public 
services, were an invitation to a professorship in a 
New England college ; overtures for the professor- 
ship of sacred rhetoric in the Theological seminary at 
Auburn ; besides his appointment, above referred to, 
as agent of the General Union for promoting the ob- 
servance of the Christian Sabbath, formed in the city 
of New York. In declining the last-mentioned ap- 
pointment, he says, "Sabbath-breakers are generally 



306 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

rum-drinkers ; and while they continue the use of dis- 
tilled liquors, it will not be possible to lead them duly 
to observe the Christian Sabbath. In order, there- 
fore, to accomplish the great object of the General 
Sabbath Union, as well as that of the Bible Society, 
the Home and Foreign Missionary societies, and every 
other benevolent institution, I think it proper for me 
at present to labor to banish the use of distilled 
liquors from the earth." 

Without rebelling against the decisions of a wise 
and unerring Providence, who had purposed that Dr. 
Edwards should yet be employed successively in four 
great public enterprises and institutions of the age, 
we yet record with a degree of sadness the termina- 
tion of his labors as pastor of a church of Christ, for 
which God had given him such distinguished qualifi- 
cations ; while it must be acknowledged, that by his 
experience in the pastoral office, he was trained and 
fitted for the eminent usefulness he attained in other 
spheres of action. On the whole, the indications of 
Providence have perhaps rarely been more clear, than 
that, in his existing state of health, he was now called 
to resign the pastoral charge ; and at the same time, 
that he must throw himself again into the great tem- 
perance movement, which God had made him so prom- 
inent an instrument in originating ; its journey ings 
and active labors, however toilsome and self-denying, 
being precisely what was necessary to restore his 
health and proloijg his usefulness. 

In his successful labors as pastor at Andover and 
Boston, he reached an eminence which few servants of 
God in the ministry have attained, and the sweet 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 307 

savor of that period of his life must ever remain, as- 
cending like incense, acceptable to God. He was the 
man whom such parents as the lamented Hon. Samuel 
Hubbard, as he has said in the extract quoted above, 
the praying members of the church at Andover, the 
church in Salem-street, the church in Park-street, the 
First Presbyterian church in Philadelphia, and those 
single-hearted Christians who united for the new en- 
terprise in the city of New York, wished as their pas- 
tor, to stand between a sin-offended God and their 
own souls and the souls of their children ; to draw 
eternal truth from the inspired oracles by which the 
famishing soul might be fed ; to guide them to Christ 
the only Redeemer, and to the Holy Spirit the only 
Sanctilier ; to preach " the glorious gospel of the 
blessed God ;" to throw his heavenly influence into the 
family circle, in prosperity and joy, in sickness and in 
sorrow, and on the bed of death ; the pastor to whom 
they were to unbosom the burdens of their hearts, 
who would betray no confidence reposed in him, 
would counsel them in difficulties, promote their peace 
with God and one another, and guide them in all the 
way of life. They insisted not on classical elegance, 
refined human speculations, the polished gesture, or 
the beautiful trope ; but loved the man of God, " mighty 
in the Scriptures," set for the defence of the gospel, 
and intent on guiding men to "the Lamb of God which 
taketh away the sin of the world." Such a pastor 
they wished to labor with them through life, and at 
last to present them faultless before the throne of God 
with exceeding joy. 



308 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

We find a pleasing letter referring to his charac- 
ter as pastor, from the late excellent Rev. Dr. Eben- 
ezer Porter, professor in the Theological Seminary, 
to whom Dr. Edwards had written before the close of 
his first year in Boston, for counsel as to accepting 
the presidency of a college at the West. 

"Andover, Nov. 25, 1828. 

"My dear Sir — My only reason for not writing 
sooner is, that I deferred the subject one week for a 
meeting of the faculty, it being difficult in the multitude 
of our engagements to get any consultation earlier. 
The result is just as heretofore, that in our opinion 
God made you for pastoral action and influence. We 
have no doubt that a great work in the West is to be 
done, and that you have many eminent qualifications 
to do it. But as that work will require immense 
mental effort and responsibility, probably it would be 
more unfavorable to your health, (lungs being sound 
in your case,) than the ministry, for which you have so 
much stock of furniture on hand. 

"With your present prospect of health, it seems 
that Boston at present is your field. To this opinion 
I am inclined by other considerations which render 
your influence specially important there in the present 
posture of its ministerial organization. Dr. Church, 
whom I saw the day I received your letter, sponta- 
neously expressed an opinion similar to the foregoing. 

" The Lord guide and bless you. 

"Your brother, 

"E. PORTER. 

" P. S. It may gratify you to know that our ship is 
again before the wind, with a fine breeze. Our chapel. 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 309 

at prayers, is so full that a part of the Senior class are 
seated on the platform by the desk. The Junior class 
is forty- eight or fifty, probably some more coming ; 
Middle class, about forty ; Senior class, thirty-five. 
Not more than two or three members of the seminary 
absent ; the two old classes were all here, with few 
exceptions, the first day of the term ; four new mem- 
bers of the Senior class, two from Princeton, and two 
more in the Middle class. Pray that we may be guided 
from above in our great work." 

The Rev. Dr. William Goodell, the veteran mis- 
sionary on the Mediterranean, in his recent visit to 
this country, poured out the fervor of his warm heart, 
as he spoke of the solemn, glowing, resistless power 
with which Dr. Edwards proclaimed "the terror of 
the Lord," and salvation only by Jesus Christ and the 
renewing of the Holy Ghost, when he sat under his 
preaching while a student at the academy in Andover, 
fitting for college ; and then afterwards, when he had 
returned to the Theological Seminary, and was one 
of many students who, as often as propriety admitted, 
repaired to his church, and refreshed their spirits by 
waiting on his public ministrations. 

Dr. Edwards' sermon on the Inspiration of the 
Scriptures, and his tract, the Way to be Saved, had 
been translated by Rev. Dr. Goodell, and circulated 
in several languages, concerning which he writes to 
his esteemed and beloved friend the author. 

"Malta, July 25, 1829. 

" Rev. and dear Sir — Your sermon on ' the Inspi- 
ration of the Holy Scriptures,' in Armeno-Turkish, I 



310 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

forwarded to you on the 27th ult. ; and, lest it should 
not have been previously sent you in Italian and Mod- 
ern-Greek, I now forward you a copy in each of these 
languages. I forward also at this time your sermon 
on 'the Way to be Saved' in Modern-Greek and Ar- 
meno-Turkish. The text under the cut in the latter 
is, ' For it is not possible, that the blood of bulls and 
of goats should take away sins.' The poetry at the 
close and on the cover is on salvation by grace through 
the blood of Christ, by Wortabet. 

" Many copies of it in Modern- Greek have already 
been sent forth to ' show the way of salvation ' to per- 
ishing men. And many others will soon follow in 
both of the above-mentioned languages, and will prob- 
ably go ' throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Sa- 
maria ;' will ' travel as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, 
and Antioch ;' will ' come to Perga in Pamphylia,' and 
'to Antioch in Pisidia,' and 'to Lystra, and Derbe, 
cities of Lycaonia,' and ' to Philippi, the chief city of 
Macedonia,' and 'to the seven churches that are in 
Asia;' and will be read 'in the midst of Mars' hill,' 
and 'in the isle of Patmos,' and at Corinth and 
Colosse and Thessalonica, at Scio and Samos and 
Rhodes and Miletus, and by ' the strangers scattered 
throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and 
Bithynia.' May it, like ' the grace of God, that bring- 
eth salvation, appear to all' these and many others, 
' teaching them, that denying ungodliness and worldly 
lusts, they should live soberly, righteously, and godly 
in this present world!' And may many of the ser- 
mons which you shall hereafter preach, be not only 
like a lamp, giving light to a circumscribed spot, but 



HIS MINISTRY IN BOSTON. 311 

like the sun, emitting its rays to the poles, and enlight- 
ening now this, now that entire half of the globe. 

" You will accept, dear sir, our kind regards for 
yourself and yours, and our best wishes for your suc- 
cess in the work of the ministry ; and will remember 
us and ours, and our important work, in your prayers. 
"Yours affectionately, 

«W. GOODELL." 



312 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 



CHAPTER VII. 

HIS LABORS IN THE TEMPERANCE REFORMA- 
TION. 

FIRST TWO YEARS — 1830, 1831. 

On the 27th August, 1829, Dr. Edwards, at the 
distinct call of divine Providence, turned aside from 
the labors of the pastoral office, and concentrated the 
powerful energies of his mind and heart on the enter- 
prise he had already done so much to originate and 
establish, the promotion of total abstinence from 
INTOXICATING DRINKS, and thus the removal of one of the 
most terrific obstacles to the spread of the gospel — a novel 
idea, majestic in its simplicity, for which millions bless 
God, and which, if universally put in practice, would 
rid this sin-ruined world of one of the heaviest curses 
under which it groans. 

The intelligent Christian reader will mark with 
interest, in the preceding pages, that long train of 
providential events by which Dr. Edwards was pre- 
pared for and brought into this service as General 
Agent and Secretary of the American Temperance 
Society : — his early training — his consecration to the 
universal spread of the gospel — his being led to feel, 
as a pastor, the influence of intemperance palsying 
the truth from his own lips and spreading desolation 
among those he loved — the particular providences 
which concentrated his attention upon this subject — 
the success of endeavors among his own people — the 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 313 

strong ]iold the subject took upon the minds of the 
ablest and best of men with whom he was accustomed 
to act — the feeling that the responsibility of rousing 
and directing the public mind on this subject rested 
much upon himself— smd that state of his physical sys- 
tem which compelled him to relinquish the labors of 
a pastor and a sedentary life. 

The history of the origin and progress of this 
wonderful movement, to the period when he commenc- 
ed his seven years of labor, which form so prominent 
an era in his life and in the benevolent enterprises of 
the age, we are permitted to give mainly in the terse, 
well-weighed, and glowing language of his own pen 
in a public document, though recorded with such char- 
acteristic delicacy, that most of the allusions to his 
own efficient endeavors are perceptible only to those 
otherwise cognizant of the facts. 

Having stated that the fatal error, that ardent 
spirit is useful as an article of diet, or as an aid to 
labor, began to prevail in Great Britain less than 
three hundred years ago, and did not prevail gener- 
ally among the mass of the people in our own country 
until after the war of the Revolution ; that " the cause 
of this error was the deceptive feelings of those who 
use it : being in its nature a mocker, it deceived them ; 
by disturbing healthy action and inducing disease, it 
created an unnatural thirst, the gratification of which, 
like the gratification of the desire of sinning in the 
man who sins, causes it to increase, and the end is 
death ;" and having presented a summary view of the 
wide-spread ravages of intemperance upon property, 
health, reason, life, morals, and religion, at which the 

Edwards. 1 4 



314 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

intelligent, on both sides of the Atlantic, had become 
appalled, and were uttering their loud notes of woe 
and of alarm, while yet governments and churches^ 
ministers and people^ philanthropists and Christians^ still 
favored the makings vending, and moderate use / — he thus 
proceeds : 

" But a great change has been commenced ; and 
one which, in the rapidity and extent of its progress, 
has no parallel in the history of man. Already it is 
spoken of, by the wise and the good in this and other 
countries, as one of the wonders of the world. 

" ' The great discovery,' says a European writer, 
* has at length come forth like the light of a new day, 
that the temperate members of society are the chief 
agents in promoting and perpetuating drunkenness. 
On whose mind this great truth first rose, is not 
known. Whoever he was, whether humble or great, 
peace to his memory. He has done more for the 
world than he who enriched it with the knowledge of 
a new continent ; and posterity, to the remotest gen- 
eration, shall walk in the light which he has thrown 
around them. Had it not been for him, Americans 
and Europeans might have continued to countenance 
the moderate ordinary use of a substance, whose most 
moderate ordinary use is temptation and danger ; 
and amidst a flood of prejudice and temptation urged 
onward by themselves, they would have made rules 
against drunkenness, like ropes of sand, to be burst 
and buried by the coming wave.' 

" About seventeen years ago, a communication was 
made by a member of this committee," (Dr. Edwards 
himself, in 1815, two or three years after he was set- 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 315 

tied at Andover,) " on the evils of using intoxicating 
liquors at fmierals ; and reasons were presented, why 
this practice, which had become common in some 
parts of the country, should be done away. Not long 
after, he made another communication on the evils of 
furnishing ardent spirit as an article of entertainment, 
especially to ministers of the gospel ; a practice which 
was also common, and was thought by many to be a 
suitable expression of respect and kindness towards 
the ministerial ofi&ce. The effects were strongly mark- 
ed; and some persons from that time adopted the 
plan of not using ardent spirit on any occasion. The 
benefits of abstinence were striking ; facts were col- 
lected, and arrangements made for a more extended 
exhibition of this subject. Men were found who had 
been led by their own reflection, in view of the evil 
which it occasions, to renounce the use of this poi- 
son ; and others, who had never used it ; yet, as a 
body, they enjoyed better health than those who con- 
tinued to use it, were more uniform and consistent in 
their deportment, and more ready for every good 
word and work. 

"In 1822, (1824?) a teamster, partially intoxicated, 
by using what some persons, for less, probably, than 
twenty-five cents, had given him, fell under the wheels 
of his wagon, and was crushed to death. Another 
man, tending a coalpit, became partially intoxicated, 
fell asleep on some straw, and was burnt to death. 
These events occasioned the delivery of two discourses, 
(by Dr. Edwards,) one on the wretchedness of intem- 
perate men, and another on the duty oi preventing sober 
men from becoming intemperate j that when the present 



316 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

race of diiinkards should be removed, the whole land might 
be free. The means of doing this, the sure means, and 
the only means, were shown to be, abstinence from the 
use of intoxicating liquors. This was shown, by facts, 
to be both practicable and expedient, and was urged 
as the indispensable duty of all men ; a duty which 
they owed to God, to themselves, their children, their 
country, and the world. 

"This doctrine appeared to many to be strange; 
excited great attention, occasioned much conversa- 
tion, and through the blessing of the Lord, produced 
great results. It was again and again enforced. A 
conviction of the duty of abstinence was fastened on 
many consciences ; and it became evident from facts, 
that this doctrine is adapted to commend itself to 
every man's conscience in the sight of God. 

" And the question arose, Who knows, should the 
subject be presented kindly and plainly throughout 
the United States — be illustrated by facts, and pressed 
on the conscience — but that it may, through the divide 
blessing, change the habits of the nation ? Who knows, 
but that our children, and children's children, may be 
raised up free from this abomination, to be instrumen- 
tal in perpetuating the blessings of free institutions — 
to be themselves made free by the Son of God — and 
to spread the light and glory of that freedom round 
the globe ? 

"In 1825, the present Corresponding Secretary 
wrote the tract No. 176 of the American Tract Soci- 
ety's series, entitled, 'The Well-conducted Farm,' 
exhibiting the happy results of an experiment made by 
an original member of this committee, in the introduc- 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 317 

tion of the principle of total abstinence upon an exten- 
sive farming establishment in the county of Worces- 
ter, Mass. This tract -was the same year printed, and 
circulated extensively through the country. 

" The evils of using, and the benefits of abstaining 
from ardent spirit, became more and more conspicu- 
ous ; and also the necessity, as well as the encourage- 
ment, to make more systematic, general, and perse- 
vering efforts on the subject. Individuals not only 
abstained, but in some cases agreed together, that 
they would not use or furnish to others that destruc- 
tive poison. But there was no system, no plan of 
operation, to cause such a union to become universal ; 
and it was evident, that unless something more uni- 
versal, efficacious, and persevering should be done, our 
country would be ruined ; the gospel would never 
have its legitimate influence over the human mind, 
and the reign of da^rkness and sin would be perpetu- 
ated to the end of time. Past efforts, though they 
had on some spots and in some cases done good, had 
not struck at the root of the evil. Their object was, 
to regulate the use of ardent spirit, not to abolish it. 
Those who made it admitted, and most of them prac- 
tised, the fundamental error, that men in health 
might, without injury, and of course without sin, use 
the poison, if they did not use too much. This was the 
case with members of societies for the suppression of 
intemperance. Thus, while they only retarded the 
growth, or clipped off a few of the top twigs of this 
poisonous tree, the roots were constantly nourished, 
and daily struck deeper and deeper. While the friends 
of temperance were reforming one old drunkard, their 



318 HEV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

own habits, if followed, would make a hundred new 
ones. They were indeed sounding the alarm, )3ut 
were treading in the footsteps of the lost ; denouncing 
intemperance, and encouraging the use of strong drink ; 
bewailing the ejffect, and perpetuating the cause ; warn- 
ing men not to be drunken, and urging them to drink. 
Many were enraged, almost to madness, at those who 
represented the use of ardent spirit to be a sin ; and 
though they had followed a promising son to the drunk- 
ard's grave, and were expecting soon to follow anoth- 
er, and another, they would denounce as enthusiasts 
and treat as enemies, those who urged them not to 
drink. The husband who had lost his wife by intem- 
perance, would, for the sake of money, furnish that 
which killed her to all who would purchase, and even 
give it, as a token of kindness, to his nearest friends. 
The wife who had seen her husband die by this poison, 
would use it herself, and give it daily to her only 
son. And it was perfectly evident, that unless a new 
movement could be started on a new plan, and one 
which should be commensurate, in place and time, 
with the evil — one which should strike it at the root and 
exterminate it — drunkenness could never be done away; 
the people would never become 'all righteous,^ nor 
the day of millennial glory ever break on the world. 

"A meeting of a few individuals was therefore 
called," (near the close of 1825,) "to consider the 
question, ' WJiat shall be done to banish intemperance 
from the United States ?' 

"After prayer for divine guidance, and consulta- 
tion on the subject, the result was a determination to 
attempt the formation of an American Temperance 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 319 

Society, whose grand principle should be, abstinence 
from strong drink; and its object, by light and love, to 
change the habits of the nation with regard to the use 
of intoxicating liquors. 

"A correspondence was therefore opened, and a 
meeting of gentlemen, of various Christian denomina- 
tions, holden in Boston, January 10, 1826, when a 
committee was appointed to prepare a constitution, 
and the meeting was adjourned to February 13, 1826. 

"At the adjourned meeting, a constitution was 
presented and adopted, and the following persons 
were chosen by the members of the meeting at the 
commencement, to compose the Society : namely. Rev. 
Leonard Woods, D. D. ; Rev. William Jenks, D. D. ; 
Rev. Justin Edwards ; Rev. Warren Fay ; Rev. Ben- 
jamin B. Wisner ; Rev. Francis Wayland ; Rev. Tim- 
othy Merritt; Hon. Marcus Morton; Hon. Samuel 
Hubbard ; Hon. William Reed ; Hon. George Odi- 
orne ; John Tappan, Esq. ; William Ropes, Esq. ; 
James P. Chaplin, M. D. ; S. Y. S. Wilder, Esq. ; 
and Enoch Hale, M. D. The Society was then organ- 
ized by choosing the Hon. Marcus Morton, President ; 
Hon. Samuel Hubbard, Vice-president ; William Ropes, 
Esq., Treasurer. Executive Committee : Rev. Leon- 
ard Woods, D. D. ; Rev. Justin Edwards ; John Tap- 
pan, Esq. ; Hon. George Odiorne, and S. Y. S. Wil- 
der, Esq. 

" On the sixteenth of January, Rev. Calvin Chapin, 
D. D., of Wethersfield, Conn., commenced the publica- 
tion of a series of thirty-three numbers, in the Con- 
necticut Observer, entitled, 'The Infallible Anti- 
dote.' His motto was, ^Entire abstinence from ardent 



320 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

spirits is the only certain preventive of intemperance. 
This was strikingly illustrated in the various numbers, 
and strongly urged upon all as an indispensable duty. 
He had himself, as had a number of others, practised 
it for many years, and urged it as the duty of all men. 

"In April, 1826, the National Philanthropist, a 
weekly paper, devoted to the cause of temperance, was 
established in Boston by the Rev. William Collier. 
Its motto was, ' Temperate drinking is the downhill road 
to intemperance.^ 

"In January, 1827, the present Corresponding 
Secretary visited Boston, and commenced an effort to 
obtain means for the support of a permanent agent. 
At the first meeting, although the evening was exceed- 
ingly stormy, the amount subscribed was more than 
$3,500. At the second meeting, the amount sub- 
scribed was more than $1,200 ; and at the third mee1> 
ing, more than $700. In Salem, Newburyport, An- 
dover, and Northampton, were obtained upwards of 
$2,000 more. 

"As the pastoral duties of the Secretary did not 
permit of his continuing his agency, the Committee 
appointed the Rev. Nathaniel Hewit, of Fairfield, 
Conn., who was known to have preached and acted 
successfully on this subject, who spent twenty weeks 
in the service of the Society. He visited various 
places in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
New York, and Pennsylvania ; preached on the sub- 
ject, addressed public bodies, and in various ways pro- 
moted successfully the great and good cause. 

" In September of the same year, the present Sec- 
retary was again appointed to an agency of three 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 321 

months, and visited various places in Maine, New 
Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. 

" In the course of the year, were published Kit- 
tredge's First Address, Dr. Mussey's Address before 
the Medical Convention of New Hampshire, Mr. Pal- 
frey's Sermons, and Dr. Beecher's Sermons on the 
Nature, Signs, Evils, and Remedy of Intemperance ; 
and they were all powerful auxiliaries to the cause." 

On January 1, 1828, when Dr. Edwards was called 
from his temperance labors to the church in Boston, 
the Rev. Dr. Hewit resumed his agency ; the Rev. 
Joshua Leavitt, Mr. Daniel C. Axtell in Western New 
York, Rev. Dr. John Woodbridge, and many others, 
rendered important services in the enterprise, and at 
the close of that year more than two hundred Tem- 
perance Societies had been formed. See First Per- 
manent Temperance Document, 1831. 

The following "Hints" indicate the spirit with 
which Dr. Edwards prosecuted his labors in the cause 
of temperance ; and those who knew him best, best 
knew how consistently, faithfully, and conscientiously 
he put them in practice. 

"HINTS FOR MYSELF,AND FOR EVERY MAN WHO EN- 
aAGES IN THE PROMOTION OF TEMPERANCE. 

"1. Let your object be, the glory of God in the 
salvation of men. 

"2. Feel deeply your dependence on him; in all 
your ways acknowledge him, and let every step of 
your course be sanctified by the word of God and 
prayer. 

14* 



322 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

" 3. Make yourself thoroughly acquainted with the 
nature of intoxicating liquors, and with their effects 
upon the body and the mind; upon the property, 
health, reputation, reason, life, and salvation of those 
who use them. 

"4. Exhibit these effects in a kind, affectionate, 
lucid, humble, and powerful manner, as illustrated, 
not by philosophy, but by facts ; remembering that but 
few understand philosophy, and that all understand 
and feel facts. 

"5. Never dispute with any one; and never con- 
verse, on this subject, with a man who is intoxicated. 

"6. When a man does not believe what you say, 
never be angry, or try to force him to believe ; but 
remember that once you did not believe : treat him 
kindly ; ask questions, relate anecdotes, and state 
facts to meet his objections, and facts too which no 
one can gainsay or resist. 

"7. Never try to force people forward any far- 
ther than, from the light which you have thrown 
before them, they choose to go. 

"8. Try, if possible, to have every one that you 
address give you something ; and if they do it, this 
will tend to secure the influence of their example. 

" 9. Never be uncivil or impolite towards those 
who will give you nothing, or even abuse you. Over- 
come evil with good. 

"10. Say nothing and do nothing but what you 
are willing should be told through the world. 

"11. Use no intoxicating liquors yourself. Ab- 
stain entirely from tobacco, snuff, and all needless 
things. 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 323 

"12. Be temperate in the use of tea, coffee, and 
every kind of food and of drink. 

" 13. Say nothing concerning any one behind his 
back, but what you would be willing to say to his 
face; and what, if you should say it, would tend to 
illuminate and purify his mind. 

" 14. Strive to leave such an impression every- 
where, that all will wish to see and hear and assist 
you again. 

"15. Be yourself a pattern of temperance in all 
things ; and strive ever to enforce all that you say by 
the irresistible eloquence of your own example. For 
this end be timely, regular, and temperate as to diet, 
sleep, exercise, and every thing to which you are 
called. 

"16. Never exaggerate, or state any thing more 
than the simple truth. 

" 17. Show how the use of intoxicating liquor 
mightily obstructs the progress of the gospel, and all 
the means of grace ; hinders every effort for the im- 
provement, and especially for the salvation of men ; and 
in this way actually ruins for eternity many souls. 

"18. Never be discouraged; and never self-confi- 
dent. Go forward in duty from love to God and love 
to men ; humble in prosperity, calm in adversity, com- 
mitting yourself, the cause in which you are engaged, 
and all your interests, mortal and immortal, to the di- 
vine guidance and disposal ; and in due time you shall 
reap, to your perfect satisfaction, if you faint not." 

After successfully prosecuting his labors in the 
cause of temperance for a few months in New Eng- 



324 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

land, he proceeded to New York, where, January 2, 
1830, he wrote to relatives in Colchester, who had 
charge of two of his children, giving a cheering view 
of the work in which he was engaged. 

"The millennium," he says, "will never come so 
long as sober men continue the use of ardent spirit, nor 
will the gospel and the means of grace have their legit- 
imate effects on the minds of men. And as the Lord 
is pleased to make me instrumental in leading many 
in every place where I go to break off the use of it, I 
am encouraged to proceed. If I have ever been instru- 
mental in doing any good in the world, perhaps I was 
never more so than at present. 

"Since my arrival in this city, I have had a bad 
attack of biliary obstruction, which has disabled me 
from making much effort for the present. Thus when 
it appeared to me that the great interests of the world 
might be promoted by my being enabled to make a 
great effort, the Lord sees it to be best that I should 
be able to make next to none at all. I preached once 
last Sabbath, and expect, if the Lord will, to preach 
once to-morrow. But unless I should be better, it 
probably will not be safe for me to continue long in 
the city. Pray for me, my dear brother and sister, 
that I may be enabled to know and do the whole will 
of God ; and that the language of my feelings and 
actions may ever be, 'Not my will, but thine be 
done.' 

" I desire to be thankful, that while I am called to 
be absent from my dear wife and six dear children, 
seven as strong reasons to bind me to my home as a 
man can well have, the Lord has graciously provided 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 325 

SO kindly that two of them can be in your family, and 
one of them with our dear sister M ." 

Two weeks later he writes to Mrs. Edwards from 
Washington city, stating that he was that evening 
to form a Temperance Society among the colored 
people, and adds, "I have been much struck lately 
with President Edwards' 47th resolution : 

" ' Resolved, to endeavor to my utmost to deny what- 
ever is not most agreeable to a good and universally 
sweet and benevolent, quiet, peaceable, contented and 
easy, compassionate and generous, humble and meek, 
submissive and obliging, diligent and industrious, 
charitable and even, patient, moderate, forgiving, and 
sincere temper ; and to do at all times what such a 
temper would lead to ; and to examine strictly at 
the end of every week whether I have so done. 
Should all act upon this plan, what a delightful world 
this would be.' " 

To his eldest Son. 

"New York, Jan. 18, 1830. 

" My dear Son — It would give me a great deal of 
pleasure to be at home with your dear mother, and to 
see all my six dear children around me. I should like to 
see Justin Asa, and Jonathan, and Newton, and Eliza- 
beth, and Lydia, and Ann Eliza, all sitting around the 
table, or around the fire at the time of reading the 
Bible in the morning. I should like to live with them 
all the time, and give them that instruction and those 
counsels which, if followed, would make them wise 
and good — would prepare them to be very useful in 
this world, and happy in the world to come. 

" But perhaps you ask, Papa, why do you not live 



326 REV. JUSTIN EDWARI>S, D. D. 

at home, and take care of us? It is because there 
are so many parents who, by drinking rum, destroy 
their reason, and thus unfit themselves to take care 
of their children. There are now 200,000 children, 
whose parents are so wicked in consequence of drink- 
ing rum, that they will not provide food, or clothing, 
or schools for their children ; so that these poor chil- 
dren, whose condition is as bad as if they had no fa- 
thers, are often hungry and almost naked, and grow 
up in ignorance and sin. Now I am absent from my 
dear family, and go to Boston, to New York, and 
other places, to teach the people that it is wicked for 
men to make distilled liquors, to sell them, and to use 
them, because they do nothing but mischief. And if 
the use of them should be continued for thirty years 
to come, as it has been for thirty years past, it would 
cause a loss to the people who should use these liquors, 
of more than $3,000,000,000 ; and would kill 900,000 
people, and would ruin for eternity very many of the 
souls of men. 

"And while I am absent for the sake of doing good 
to other children, I am exceedingly anxious that my 
own children should not suffer for want of a father to 
take care of them. And I hope that you, my dear 
son, will every day seek to your Father in heaven, that 
he would bless you, and teach you to love and serve 
him." 

Two days later, he wrote from New York to Mrs. 
Edwards, " Since I last wrote, I have preached every 
Sabbath, and attended two or three meetings during 
the week. Several associations have been formed in 
congregations, and the cause of entire abstinence is fast 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 327 

gaining ground. And if it were not for the woful 
fact, that many of the professors of religion in evan- 
gelical churches in this city are still making and sell- 
ing the poison, it would gain much faster. If the 
man who uses so much as to kill himself, is a self-mur- 
derer, what, in the sight of the Lord, must be the 
man who, for the sake of getting money, is fHrnishing 
the means of killing hundreds and thousands, when 
he knows the use which they will make of it ? I hope 
that whoever lives a few years will see the time when 
not a professor of religion in the country will be 
found in this destructive traffic. 

" I cannot but hope that in some way the Lord will 
provide means to extend and perpetuate this work of 
mercy, till there is not a drunkard on the globe, and 
not a sober man to make the drunkard's drink. Mr. 

A. T , at the monthly concert, put in $1,000 for 

foreign missions ; and soon after, at a missionary meet- 
ing, subscribed $4,000, about three times as much as 
all the rest of the people. I expect that he will give 
me something for temperance." 

January 26, he writes to relatives in Boston, 
"When I came to this city, I did not intend to stop 
till this time ; but as a wide and effectual door seemed 
by divine Providence to be opened into many churches, 
into which no temperance agent has before been ad- 
mitted, I thought it the will of Providence that I 
should. Promoting temperance here is promoting it 
west and south, through the whole country. 

"I hope and trust that the Lord has some one, 
whom he is preparing for you," (as pastor of the Salem- 
street church,) " and whom he will, in his time, which 



328 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

is always the best time, by the use of suitable means 
on your part, send to you. He loves his church in- 
finitely better than we can, and knows infinitely better 
how to promote her highest good. If we love him, 
and do his will, we may safely commit ourselves, our 
friends, the interests of Zion, and all our concerns, 
mortal and immortal, to his infinitely wise, holy, and 
benevolent disposal." 

A week later he says, "The gentlemen who at- 
tended the meeting at the Medical College, on Satur- 
day evening, were exceedingly anxious that the state- 
ment which I made to them should be made to a 
larger assembly, both of gentlemen and ladies. Sev- 
eral of the physicians and others have invited a 
meeting this evening, at Masonic Hall. There seems 
to be an impression, which increases daily upon the 
minds of reflecting men, that the object is a momen- 
tous one, which will deeply affect the welfare of our 
country to all future generations. 

" As every man is bound to pursue such business, 
and such only, as is on the whole useful to men, it is 
impossible to see on what principles any man can pur- 
sue, consistently with duty, the business of making or 
vending distilled liquor. I am confident that if sober 
men saw this thing as they will soon see it in the 
light of eternity, they would not be guilty of con- 
niving at it, or assisting in it, for all the wealth of 
creation." 

February 20, he is at Boston, and says, "The 
meeting here, Wednesday evening, was full, and ap- 
pears to have had a good influence. The subject was, 
the folly and wickedness of selling distilled liquors. 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 329 

The legislature vrere nearly all present. The lieu- 
tenant-governor the next morning, by the payment of 
$30, made himself an honorary life-member of the 
Society." 

To a friend in trying circumstances, he wrote 
March 11, "I have generally found that it is best to 
do little or nothing in vindication of our character; 
but to mind our own business, seek in all things to 
please God, and trust in him in due time to set all 
things right. By this, I do not mean that it is not 
best, if things have been wrongly stated, when Prov- 
idence gives opportunity, to state the truth. But I 
would not press for an opportunity to do this ; would 
do it only when Providence opens the way, and then 
do it simply, and rather that the truth may be known, 
and others be saved from error, than to vindicate 
ourselves. If we please the Lord, feel kind and for- 
giving, and strive in all things to do good, never ren- 
dering evil for evil, but contrariwise blessing, God 
will take care of us and ours, and direct all things to 
the right result. 

"It is sometimes necessary, however, to let pa- 
tience have her perfect work, in order to be perfect 
and entire, wanting nothing ; and ' if any man offend 
not in word, the same is a perfect man.' I recollect 
one who, when they laid many grievous things to his 
charge, answered nothing. And if when ye do well 
and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, happy are ye. 
The spirit of grace and of glory resteth upon you. 
On the part of others Jesus may be dishonored, but 
on your part he is glorified. And if we sufler with 
him, and for his sake, we shall also reign with him." 



330 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

About the same date he says, '' I have ten times as 
many applications as I can comply with. The tem- 
perance. cause is gaining, and I hope that God designs 
to work a change which shall be of unspeakable ben- 
efit to all future generations of men." 

"Flemington, N. J., May 5, 1830. 

"My dearly beloved Wife — I left New York 
on Monday morning, and arrived here yesterday. In 
the afternoon I addressed the people in the meeting- 
house, and in the evening the gentlemen of the court 
and others in the court-house, on the subject of temper- 
ance. Immediately after, the Hon. Samuel L. South- 
ard, late Secretary of the Navy, and now Attorney- 
general of the state of New Jersey, made a speech, 
and a county society was formed under very favorable 
circumstances. Some, I learn to-day, came for the 
purpose of opposing ; but when they had lieard, they 
concluded to hold their peace." 

He proceeds to say, "I have had my mind too much 
filled with men, and not enough with God. I have 
not spent time enough in communing with him, and 
listening to his voice, Sind feasting, as with marrow and 
fatness, upon his word revealed in the Bible. I often 
resolve, and I hope, sometimes strive, to do better ; 
but our strength is weakness, and our wisdom folly, 
and our righteousness rags. Let us come daily and 
habitually, and freely and humbly and boldly, to the 
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find 
grace to help in all times of need, according to all 
our wants ; and I verily believe that we shall then 
receive of his fulness grace for grace. 

" I have often tried to decide things to-day, which 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 331 

the Lord, should I live, would not call me to decide 
till next week or month ; and been more anxious as 
to what will be the conditfon of things next year, 
than I have to please God and enjoy his presence, and 
be prepared to die to-day, or to-morrow ; and so I 
shall do again and again, if the Lord does not prevent. 
How much better it would be to say and to feel, that 
' if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.' " 

Of the Hon. Mr. Southard's address above alluded 
to, he wrote to his little son, "Mr. Southard said that 
he had not drank any ardent spirits for more than 
twenty years ; while many younger than he, who have 
used it, have gone down to the drunkard's grave. He 
said, I have two sons, and if they might each of them 
have one hundred thousand dollars, provided they 
would begin to drink rum, and if they did not they 
should not have a farthing, I should rather they would 
not have a farthing. So poisonous are ardent spirits, 
that they kill thousands and thousands of people every 
year, and render very wicked and very wretched thou- 
sands of others that use them." 

About the same time he says, "I hope to obtain 
means to employ an agent over the whole state of 
Pennsylvania, in which are a million and a half of 
people." 

On the 4th of May, 1830, he was appointed Asso- 
ciate Secretary of the American Home Missionary 
Society at New York, and on the same day the gen- 
tlemen in that city who had previously chosen him as 
pastor of the new church they were about to organize, 
presented a renewed call from the congregation, that 
he would become their pastor. To both these appoint- 



332 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

ments he felt constrained to give a negative reply, 
assigning in his answer to the new congregation " two 
reasons :" 

"1. From the testimony of physicians, and from 
past experience, I am led to conclude that a longer 
continuance in my present employment will be more 
conducive to a speedy and complete restoration to 
health, than an immediate engagement in the duties 
of a city pastor. 

"2. The great interests of our country and the 
world seem to me to require that a more permanent 
foundation should be laid for a united and ever-grow- 
ing effort to abolish, as an article of luxmy or living, 
the traffic in distilled liquors, throughout the globe. 
And as Providence has, for the present, committed the 
instrumental superintendence of this concern to me, 
the time seems not yet to have arrived when it is 
proper for me to leave it." 

To Mrs Edwards, announcing the death of her father. 

"Boston, August 1, 1830. 

" My dear Wife — God is very kind, and we should 
make it our simple business, in mercies and in trials, 
to please him. Let us, at all times, lean upon him. 
Let us be satisfied with all that he does, remembering 
that he could not in any thing do better. Hence the 
reason why we should say, ' Not my will, but thine be 
done ;' and ask, with regard to every thing, ' Lord, 
what wilt thou have me to do ?' and make it our sim- 
ple business in all things to do it, trusting in him for 
all that we need, and striving to glorify him in body 
and in spirit. 

" I intend this afternoon to write to your mother. 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 333 

and the friends at Colchester. I found on my return 
from Reading, that Mary had received a letter from 
Ann Eliza, mentioning that your father had been un- 
well for three weeks ; and more so for a week past — 
that on Wednesday he died, and was buried yester- 
day. He had a dropsy of the heart ; was sitting on 
the side of the bed in the middle room, and talking 
with George while the family were taking tea. They 
observed a change, and in a minute or two he was 
dead. He had spoken, within a day or two, a few times 
about dying suddenly, but h^d said little." 

From Eastport, Maine, he writes, August 13, "I 
preached on Sabbath morning and evening at Calais, 
on Monday evening at Milltown, on Tuesday, 10 
o'clock, A. M., at St. Stephens in New Brunswick, on 
Tuesday evening at St. Andrews, on Wednesday at 
Robbinstown, on Thursday evening at Perry, and on 
Friday returned to Eastport, where I expect to preach 
on the Sabbath. About two hundred have been added 
to the temperance societies this week, and things ap- 
pear favorable. Women walk five or six miles to 
attend meeting, and bring a child in their arms, and 
return home at 10 o'clock at night in the same way." 

He proceeded to St. Johns, in the province of JSTew 
Brunsmck, where he wrote to Rev. Mr. Gale, his 
brother-in-law, at Eastport, Aug. 24: "Through the 
kindness of the Lord I arrived here, after a pleasant 
passage, on Saturday evening at half past 10 o'clock. 
On Sabbath morning I called on Rev. Dr. Burns, and 
preached for him in the afternoon on the worthiness 
of Jesus Christ. Rev. 5 : 12. On Monday morning I 
called on Rev. Dr. Gray, on the mayor, and on Mr. 



334 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

McLeod. They all received me kindly, and seemed 
to be gratified at my arrival. 

" The mayor said, that the people of '^ew Bruns- 
wick ' beat the people of the United States all hollow ' 
as to drinking ; that the people of the United States 
drank only about /t;e gallons a year to each individual ; 
whereas the people of New Brunswick used more than 
seven to every man, woman, and child in the province. 
He said they had about 50,000 inhabitants, and it cost 
the consumers, upon an average, about one dollar per 
gallon, which would make $500,000 a year, paid out 
for that which does no good, and which causes a loss 
in idleness, dissipation, etc., of more than $500,000 
more. They have about two hundred and fifty per- 
sons licensed to sell ardent spirits in St. Johns. 

" I found the mayor received the Journal of Hu- 
manity," (a temperance paper which had been estab- 
lished at Andover,) " and is prepared to favor the tem- 
perance cause. Any of the public rooms, he said, 
should be at my service at any time when I chose. 
He wished, however, that they might have till next 
week to notify the people, so that they might have a 
large assembly. I have concluded therefore, with the 
leave of Providence, to take the steam-boat to-morrow 
for Fredericton, with a letter from the mayor of this 
city to the governor and others. My expectation is 
to return here on Monday, speak on Tuesday evening, 
and return to Eastport on Thursday of next week." 

He soon entered on the prosecution of the tem- 
perance enterprise in the middle states and the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, to which he devoted a half year of 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 335 

uninterrupted successful toil, making brief allusions 
to his proceedings, and their results, in letters to his 
family and friends. 

To his brother-in-law, Dea. Daniel Safford, of the 
Salem church, Boston, he wrote from New York, No- 
vember 2, "It would give me great pleasure to be 
with you at Salem church to-morrow," (at the installa- 
tion of Rev. Dr. Blagden as pastor,) "but the Lord 
seems to direct another way, and our safety and inter- 
est and usefulness, you know, consist in following him. 
My dear wife, I hope, will be with you, and that you 
all will enjoy much of the presence of God." 

" Baltimore, Nov. 15, 1830. 

"My dear Wife — From New York I went to 
Princeton, spent a night with Rev. Dr. Miller, and 
the Sabbath at New Brunswick. On Tuesday night 
attended, with the Hon. Mr. Frelinghuysen, the an- 
nual meeting of the New Jersey State Temperance So- 
ciety, at the state-house in Trenton. On Wednesday 
went to Philadelphia, and on Friday came to this city. 
Yesterday I preached twice on the subject of tem- 
perance ; expect to preach again on Thursday evening, 
and then, if the Lord will, twice on the coming Sab- 
bath. On the Thursday following is their annual 
meeting, and I shall probably stay here two or three 
weeks, and then go to Washington." 

The Rev. Dr. Miller, President of the New Jersey 
State Temperance Society, says, in a letter apologiz- 
ing for unavoidable absence from their anniversary, 
and encouraging the friends of temperance : 

"There is one thought on this subject, which I 
will take the liberty of expressing. It is, that I 



33G REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

seriously doubt whether owv female friends are aware 
how much is in their power in reference to the cause 
of temperance. I am fully persuaded, that if they 
with one accord should all unite in expressing, on 
all proper occasions, their abhorrence of the use of 
ardent spirits in any form, as a common drink ; and 
if they should resolutely frown upon all whom they 
may see using ardent spirits on any occasion, they 
would do more to banish this dreadful destroyer from 
our land, than almost any other human means that 
could be used. Indeed, I cannot doubt that if our 
respected countrywomen were unanimous and firm in 
taking this course, the use of distilled liquors would 
be speedily banished from all decent society. And 
when I consider what a peculiar interest females have 
in preserving their nearest and dearest relatives from 
that gulf of infamy and destruction to which the sin 
of intemperance is daily leading thousands, I cannot 
help feeling equal surprise and regret that they do not 
take a more decisive stand against all use of ardent 
spirits ; for the longer I reflect and inquire on this 
subject, the deeper is my persuasion that it is only 
in the way of total abstinejice that the path of safety 
lies ; and that the idea of indulging in the ' guard- 
ed' and 'temperate' use of this deceiver without 
danger, is one of the greatest and most fatal of all 
delusions." 

The above having been kindly copied by the Rev. 
Dr. James W. Alexander, and sent to Dr. Edwards, 
to the care of the lamented Rev. Dr. Nevins, Balti- 
more, Dr. Alexander adds, that the directors of the 
Delaware and Hudson Canal Company had discon- 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 337 

tinned the use of ardent spirits among their workmen ; 
and gives " the following impressive anecdote. 

" When the contractors were closing their engage- 
ments with the company last week, one of them com- 
plained of this condition, and stated this as his expe- 
rience : When he had a contract upon a Pennsylvania 
canal, he gave every hand eight or nine drams a day, 
upon this condition, that he should work to the utmost 
limit of his strength. ' And,' said he, or to this effect, 
' I got a fourth more work out of them ; but in two 
years they were absolutely worn out, burnt up ; indeed 
a man would last just about as long as his tools.' You 
may depend upon this statement as substantially cor- 
rect." 

From Baltimore he writes to Mrs. Edwards, De- 
cember 2, "I recollect as I write, that December 2d 
was the day that I was ordained at Andover, eighteen 
years ago. I hope that in the next eighteen years, 
if my life shall be spared, I may be disposed and 
enabled to do a great deal more good, than I have for 
the eighteen years past. 

" I had three meetings on the Sabbath, and have 
had one every day since, and am to have two more 
this week. On Tuesday I went to Annapolis, thirty 
miles below this, on the Chesapeake bay. A Temper- 
ance Society was formed of about a hundred, and one 
in Baltimore last night. Another is to be formed here 
to-night, and another to-morrow night. 

I have visited the state-prison, containing about 
330 prisoners, about 300 of them brought there by in- 
temperance ; and the almshouse, containing 1,138, of 
whom 1,076 were brought there by intemperance.'' 

Ed-*ranl*, 1 5 



338 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

On the 21st he was at Washington city, where he 
wrote to Mrs. Edwards' brother in New York, " This 
morning one of the Senators, and also one of the Rep- 
resentatives called on me to know whether I would 
consent, if invited, to preach in the capitol, and make 
a statement on the subject of temperance to the mem- 
bers of Congress, and I have consented to do so. 

" Mr. Lumpkin, of Georgia, informs me that in his 
part of the country the change on temperance has 
been so great, that should any candidate for office offer 
ardent spirits to the electors, it would defeat his elec- 
tion. About a dozen members of Congress called 
the first evening after my arrival, and all seemed 
very favorable to temperance. At a late party of 
the French minister, they had no ardent spirits ; 
and they have none at quite a number of the board- 
ing-houses. 

" It is, as you may well suppose, a great self-denial 
for me to be absent so much from my dear family ; but 
we ought to be willing to take that course in which 
we can do most good. That was a noble resolution 
of President Edwards : 

" ' Resolved, That I will do whatsoever I think to 
be most to the glory of God, and my own good, profit, 
and pleasure, in tJie whole of Qny duration, without any 
consideration of the time, whether now, or never so 
many myriads of ages hence ; and to do whatever I 
think to be my duty, and most for the good and 
advantage of mankind in general, whatever difficulties 
I meet with, how many soever and how great soever. 
And resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had 
done when I come to die.' 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 339 

"May the Lord give both you and me, my dear 
brother, grace that we may do the same." 

The next day he wrote to the American Tract 
Society in New York, recommending as a tract the 
able address on temperance delivered at Washington 
by Dr. Sewall, an eminent citizen, an ornament to the 
medical profession, and an active and influential mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. He stated 
that " many of the members of Congress were wishing 
to obtain copies of it, to circulate among their constit- 
uents f and also requested a grant of 820 worth of 
temperance tracts for his own distribution. He soon 
transmitted the tract, prepared for the press by him- 
self and Dr. Sewall, and it constitutes No. 249 of the 
series. 

" The temperance cause," he adds, " is shaping well. 
I yesterday preached in the capitol ; and though it 
was very stormy, I was told by a man who has been 
twenty years in this city, that he never saw more of 
the members out; and they listened with attention. 
Many of them take a deep interest in the subject. I 
am expecting this week to see the President and the 
Secretary of the Navy ; and then to visit Annapolis, at 
which place we expect to form a State Society." 

To Mrs. Edwards' brother in New York. 

"Philadelphia, March 3, 1831. 
" My dear Brother — I arrived here to-day from 
Wilmington, Delaware, where they yesterday formed 
a Delaware Temperance Society. They have also 
formed a State Society in Maryland, and about twenty 
others in Baltimore, Annapolis, and other parts of the 
state. Thirteen also have been formed in the District 



340 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

of Columbia, embracing in all more than three thou- 
sand members. 

"^5 I have been ahsent nearly six months, it gives me 
much pleasure to set my face again towards home. I 
have had great cause to be thankful that I have trav- 
elled in safety, met with a very kind reception, and I 
hope been instrumental in some good. The people 
have assembled in great numbers, and listened with 
deep attention, and apparently with much feeling ; and 
I cannot but hope that it will be seen at some future 
time, that much good has been done through the grace 
and mercy of the Lord Jesus. 

" I understand that there is more than usual atten- 
tion to religion in your city, and I cannot but hope 
that you and many others will know the blessedness 
of living not unto yourselves, but unto Him who died 
for us and rose again ; that to live is Christ, and to 
die is gain. 

" Truly and affectionately yours, 

"J. EDWARDS." 

At this time Dr. Edwards received a cheering let- 
ter from the venerable Hon. John Cotton Smith, of 
Sharon, Connecticut, in which he says, 

" You overrate my powers, but not my zeal in pro- 
moting the cause of temperance. I feel with you, in 
all its extent, the importance of enlisting the whole of 
our American youth in this sacred enterprise. They, 
and they only, possess the means of finishing the work 
so auspiciously begun ; and we cannot be too diligent 
in impressing this truth upon their minds. Let them 
see the magnitude of the evil, and their efficiency in 
removing it. Let them feel that the welfare of their 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 341 

country is at this moment suspended, under God, upon 
their efforts. In a word, ' show them the enemy,^ and 
unless I mistake the character of my young country- 
men, the battle is won, gloriously won for them, and 
for the world. 

"Of the present generation our hopes are less san- 
guine. More, however, much more has been accom- 
plished in giving a new direction to public opinion, 
and in breaking down habits heretofore deemed incor- 
rigible, than we could have imagined ; and we are 
urged by irresistible motives to persevering exertion. 

" I had supposed the moderate use of wine allow- 
able ; but from a more careful scrutiny of the word of 
God, I am convinced that inebriating liquor of what- 
ever kind is clearly prohibited, excepting for medici- 
nal and religious purposes. You and other good men, 
I doubt not, have entertained the same sentiment for 
a much longer period. Whether it is expedient to 
press the subject thus far at present, deserves mature 
consideration. 

"I have marked your progress, my dear sir, the 
past year with no common interest. Your labors and 
success in this noble cause entitle you, in my judg- 
ment, to the lasting gratitude of your country and of 
mankind." 

From Norwich, Connecticut, where there were evi- 
dent manifestations of the presence of the Spirit, he 
wrote to the compiler, April 29, " God is doing won- 
ders in our land, and giving us all the utmost encour- 
agement to be humble, to hold on, and to look up ; 
knowing that our poor endeavors will not be in vain 
in the Lord. I hope he will be with you and all 



342 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

friends in New York, at that joyful^ dangerous time, 
the anniversaries, and teach you all to please him." 

On the 18th of May, 1831, the American Temper- 
ance Society held their anniversary in Boston, when 
Dr. Edwards, as Corresponding Secretary, presented 
the able Fourth Annual Report, which constitutes the 
first of the well-known and widely circulated " Per- 
manent Temperance Documents " from his pen, which 
have exerted so powerful an influence on our country 
and the world. He says in this document : 

"The Corresponding Secretary, since his reap- 
pointment, August 27, 1829, has continued uninter- 
ruptedly his labors in the service of the Society. He 
has visited various parts of the British province of 
New Brunswick, and the states of Maine, New Hamp- 
shire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and the 
District of Columbia. He has travelled more than 
six thousand four hundred miles, and preached and 
addressed public bodies three hundred and eighty-six 
times. He has assisted in the formation, and attended 
the anniversaries, of numerous Temperance societies ; 
written a number of articles for publication ; con- 
ducted the correspondence, and superintended the gen- 
eral concerns of the Society. 

"On the first of May, there had been reported 
one hundred and forty societies in Maine, ninety-six 
in New Hampshire, one hundred and thirty-two in 
Vermont, two hundred and nine in Massachusetts, 
twenty-one in Rhode Island, two hundred and two in 
Connecticut, seven hundred and twenty-seven in New 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 343 

York, sixty-one in New Jersey, one hundred and 
twenty-four in Pennsylvania, five in Delaware, thirty- 
eight in Maryland, ten in the District of Columbia, 
one hundred and thirteen in Virginia, thirty-one in 
North Carolina, sixteen in South Carolina, sixty in 
Georgia, one in Florida, ten in Alabama, nineteen in 
Mississippi, three in Louisiana, fifteen in Tennessee, 
twenty-three in Kentucky, one hundred and four in 
Ohio, twenty-five in Indiana, twelve in Illinois, four 
in Missouri, and thirteen in Michigan territory ; mak- 
ing, in all, more than two thousand two hundred, and 
embracing more than one hundred and seventy thou- 
sand members. These members have been constantly 
increasing, and have, in many cases, been more than 
doubled since they were reported. There are also 
numerous societies which have been formed, and some 
of them embracing large districts of country, not con- 
tained in the above list, and from which no returns 
have been received. The number belonging to soci- 
eties which are not reported, in the state of New 
York, are supposed, by the Committee of the State 
society, to amount to more than thirty thousand. In 
other states from which the retui-ns have been less 
general and complete, the number in proportion is 
still greater. In Kentucky, in which but twenty-three 
have been reported to us, containing only about six- 
teen hundred members, a correspondent writes, that 
they have, in his opinion, nearly one hundred societies, 
and not much short of fifteen thousand members. So 
it may be in other states ; and from the best informa- 
tion which has been obtained, the Committee conclude 
that there are now formed in the United States, on 



344 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

the plan of abstinence from the use of ardent spirit, 
more than three thousand temperance societies, containing 
more than three hundred thousand manbers. 

" From the influence of these societies, and other 
causes, three hundred thousand more may have adopted 
the plan of not using it, or furnishing it for the use of 
others. Connected with these, six hundred thousand 
children, and persons in their employment and under 
their control, may be as many more. And thus one 
million two hundred thousand may already have been 
brought under the influence, and may now be expe- 
riencing the benefit of the Temperance reformation. 
Among these, should they continue to refrain from 
intoxicating drink, there will never be a drunkard ; 
whereas, had they continued in habits which prevailed 
five years ago, fifty thousand of them might have come 
to the drunkard's grave. 

"So that, should this reform now be merely sta- 
tionary, and make no further progress, it may have 
saved fifty thousand from the drunkard's doom ; and 
how many it would save of their children, and chil- 
dren's children, none but God can determine. 

"In one case, as our Secretary was informed, a fa- 
ther adopted the plan of using a little ardent spirit 
every day. He was never intoxicated, and never 
thought to be in the least intemperate. He only took 
a little, a very little, because he thought that it did him 
good. For the same reason his children took a little 
daily ; and so did their children. And now, no less 
than forty of his descendants are drunkards, or in the 
drunkard's grave. 

" Another man adopted a different plan : he would 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 345 

not use ardent spirit ; he would not purchase it, nor 
would he suffer it to enter his house. He taught his 
children to treat it as a poison, a mortal poison ; and 
they taught their children. And now, there is not a 
drunkard among them ; nor has one of his descendants 
ever come to the drunkard's grave. Long, long may 
it be, before any one ever shall. And when the long 
lines of descendants of these two men, through all 
future ages, shall rise up before them, and before the 
universe, in the blazing light of eternity, who can 
estimate the difference of results of the different 
courses adopted and pursued by their progenitors? 
None but He who seeth the end from the beginning, 
and to whom they have both now gone to render their 
account." 

"From a town in Connecticut a gentleman states, 
' We succeeded in forming a large Temperance society. 
Several of the drunkards ceased to use spirituous 
liquors. They appeared like new men, and 0, their 
families appeared to be in a new world. The change 
was wonderful. But they have, almost all, gone back. 
And we cannot help it, so long as (me of our deacons 
will sell rum. They say, ' If it is not wrong for the 
deacon to sell it, it is not wrong for us to buy it. He 
thinks that a little does good, and so do we.' And 
thus they go down to ruin. And 0, their families, 
their wretched families — but we cannot help them, so 
long as the deacon will sell rum.' 

" Xo ; if deacons and church- members and sober 
men will continue, for the sake of money, to sell rum 
and make drunkards, and thus become their tempters 
and destroyers, good men and the friends of humanity 

15* 



346 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

cannot help it. Nor can they, but to a small extent, 
furnish relief to their wretched families. Though they 
go with an angel's kindness, and with an angel's free- 
ness pour it out upon them, the deacon, or the church- 
member, or some other retailer, for twenty-five cents 
will throw that whole family, for days, into all the 
agonies, the heart-rending, heart-breaking agonies, of 
having a drunken and an infuriated maniac for a hus- 
band and a father ! Yes, for twenty-five cents, he will 
hear the scream of the children, and see them run 
away and hide, and hear the groans of her who cannot 
get away ; and though she comes, when the storm is 
over, and beseeches him with tears, not to sell her hus- 
band the madman's poison, for she and her children — 
and her tongue falters as she says, children — cannot 
endure it ; yet, for twenty-five cents, he will sell it yet 
again and again, till, as was the case in one instance, 
the husband and the father went home from the dea- 
con's store, and under the influence of what the deacon 
had given him, murdered his wife! She will never 
again beseech him, for her children's sake, and the 
Saviour's sake, not to sell her husband rum. No ; she 
will not complain, nor will she beseech him any more. 
But his own children may do both. One of them, on 
hearing of this murder and the circumstances, said, 
'Father, do you not think, that in the day of judg- 
ment, you will have to answer for that murder ?' And 
must not conscience, when awakened, echo, ' Murder, 
murder P Why ? did he murder that woman ? No ; 
but he gave her husband that which excited him to 
do it ; when he knew, from the testimony of judges 
and jurists, that it caused more than three-fourths of 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 347 

all the murders in the United States. And why did 
he do it? For money. How much? A sum so great 
that a man could not withstand it? No ; for less than 
twenty-five cents ! Yes, for less than twenty-five cents 
those children were made orphans ; and their father, 
when our agent passed through that part of the 
country, was in prison, to be tried for his life for mur- 
dering their mother ! And all his excuse was, he was 
excited to do it by what he received from the deacon. 
No wonder his child should beseech him to give up the 
traffic, and warn him with tears, that if he did not do 
it, he would be, at the day of judgment, stained with 
the guilt of blood. 

" It is an established principle of law, for the viola- 
tion of which men have been hanged, that the acces- 
sory and the principal in the commission of crime, are 
both guilty. If this principle is correct, and applies 
to divine as well as human law, and the drunkard 
cannot enter heaven, what will be the condition of 
him who is accessory to the making of drunkards ; 
who furnishes the materials, and for the sake of gain, 
sends them out to all who will purchase them, when 
he knows the nature and efi'ects of this employment? 
Can he enter heaven? 

"The Committee do not ask these questions con- 
cerning those who were engaged in this traffic when 
its nature and efi'ects were not known, and when it 
was supposed to be consistent with the Christian re- 
ligion ; but only concerning those who, since its nature 
and consequences are known, and known to be ruin- 
ous to the temporal and eternal interests of men, still 
continue it. And they do not make such inquiries 



348 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

concerning them, but with the kindest feelings, both 
towards them and the community. 

" But when it is known that more than two mur- 
ders in a week, upon an average, are committed in 
the United States, through the influence of ardent 
spirit, and that more than five hundred persons in a 
week are killed by the use of it, they cannot but pre- 
sent this subject, kindly and plainly, to the considera- 
tion of all sober men. 

"It is now known, that hundreds of thousands 
have ceased to use this liquor, and that their health 
and comfort, and those of their families, have been 
greatly improved; that the amount and severity of 
sickness have lessened, and the number of paupers, 
crimes, and deaths been diminished. It is known that 
while men continue to use this liquor, intemperance 
can never be prevented, and its evils never be done 
away. It is known too that it tends, when used even 
moderately, to hinder the efi&cacy of the gospel and 
prevent the salvation of men, and thus to ruin them, 
not for time only, but for eternity. All this is known, 
and known to the owners of ardent spirit. And if 
they, notwithstanding this, not only suffer it to go 
abroad, but sell it to all who will buy ; send it out, 
and spread it through tlie community ; let them know, 
let it be told, and let it echo through creation, that 
they, by Jehovah, will be held responsible at his tri- 
bunal for its effects. To the pauperism, crimes, and 
wretchedness, the sickness, insanity, and deaths, which 
it occasions, and to the ruin, temporal and eternal, 
they are knowingly and voluntarily accessory. And 
of all the obstructions which the friends of temperance 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 349 

now meet with, which stand in the way and hinder 
the progress of that mighty movement which God has 
awakened, and which takes hold on the destinies of 
unborn millions for eternity, these men, yes, the men 
who traffic in ardent spirit, present the greatest. 

" And if this movement is ever to be stayed, and 
that deluge of fire again roll, unobstructed, through the 
length and breadth of this land, scorching and wither- 
ing, consuming and annihilating, all that is fair and 
lovely and excellent, and glorious in possession and 
in prospect, these men, the men who continue to traffic 
in ardent spirit, are to bear a vast and ever-growing 
portion of the odium, the guilt, and the retribution of 
this tremendous ruin. They not only sin themselves, 
but they tempt others to sin. They stand at the foun- 
tain of death, and open streams which may roll on- 
wards after they are dead, and sweep multitudes to 
the world of woe. 

"But we do not believe, and we shall not admit, 
till we behold it, that this mighty movement which 
God has commenced, and hitherto carried forward 
with a rapidity and to an extent altogether unexam- 
pled in the history of man, and which is now spoken 
of, in both hemispheres, as one of the wonders of the 
world, is ever to stop, till the use of ardent spirit, and 
the traffic in it as an article of luxury or diet, is aban- 
doned by every good man in our country. We cannot 
believe that any good man, or any man that expects 
to render an account for the influence which he exerts 
on the world, when he sees what he is doing, will con- 
sent, for the sake of money, to be actively instrumen- 
tal in destroying the bodies and souls of men. We 



350 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

cannot believe that, for the sake of money, good men 
will consent, when they know what they do, to deal 
out the cause of pauperism and crime, sickness, insan- 
ity, and death — to raise a barrier against the influences 
of the Holy Spirit, and help the great adversary to 
people the world of woe. Even should human govern- 
ments continue to license such a business, we cannot 
believe that good men, or any who regard the welfare 
of their fellow-men, will continue to consent to take 
out such a license, or to use it, for all the wealth of 
the world. That light and love which have already 
led more than one million to give up the use of ardent 
spirit, and more than three thousand who were en- 
gaged in the trafi&c, to renounce it, will, we trust, if 
kindly, universally, and perseveringly diffused, and 
attended, as they have been, by the mighty power of 
Him who worketh all in all, lead all good men to do 
the same. 

" More than one thousand distilleries have already 
been stopped; and the owners of many would not 
again open them for the wealth of creation. In one 
town, in which were sixteen of these fountains of 
death, there are now but three ; and those, it is believ- 
ed, furnish a less quantity of the poison, destroy a less 
number of lives, and ruin fewer souls, than they did 
when the whole were in operation. One brass-founder 
states that he has bought thirty stills, and sold but 
one. In many towns, this destroyer is not even sold. 
Among more than one hundred thousand people, none, 
except keepers of public-houses, have license to sell 
it ; and from more than one hundred public-houses it 
is excluded. The owners will not consent, for the 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 361 

sake of monc}^, to poison even the traveller ; and he 
finds, often to his amazement, that he can be received 
cheerfully, treated politely, and refreshed abundantly, 
by those who furnish nothing adapted to destroy him. 
And why, should these and similar facts be made 
known to all, and the Holy Spirit incline them to 
their duty, may we not expect this to be the case 
throughout our land, and throughout the world ?" 

A request having been presented to him that he 
would supply, "for a few Sabbaths or a few months," 
the Presbyterian church in Morristown, New Jersey, 
in reference to a settlement, he replied, July 8, " Were 
it consistent with duty, it would give me great pleasure 
to be with my family more than I can in my present 
business as Secretary of the American Temperance 
Society j and were I to settle again in the ministry, 
no part of the country would be more pleasant to me, 
on account of the climate as favorable to my health, 
and on account of its being a region which the Lord 
hath blessed, than the state of New Jersey. But so 
far as I can judge, the great interests of our country 
and the world, and the greatest success of the gospel 
in the salvation of men, seem to require that I should 
continue, for the present, my connection with the Tem- 
perance Society." 

To his family, at the opening of the new year. 

" Boston, Jan. 2, 1832. 

"My dear Wife — Rev. Mr. Mead of East Hart- 
ford, Rev. Mr. Mitchell of Norwich, Rev. Mr. San- 
ford of Philadelphia, and Rev. Mr. Jenkins of Port- 
land, all ministers in the midst of life, have died with- 



352 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

in a few weeks. So frail is human life, that man in 
his best estate is altogether vanity. ' He cometh forth 
as a flower, and is cut down ;' but the word of the 
Lord endureth for ever. Blessed, truly and for ever 
and supremely blessed, are all those who trust in 
him, and who delight in keeping his commandments. 
Though they die, it is but to live with Christ and 
angels and good men, free from pain, from sickness, 
from sorrow and from sin, for ever and ever. They 
would not wish to come back to this world if they 
could ; for to be with Christ is far better. 

"All the feelings, thoughts, words, and actions of 
the last year, and of our whole past lives, are now 
written in the book of God's remembrance, and closed 
up for the judgment of the great day, then to be exhib- 
ited before the assembled world. Happy, unspeak- 
ably happy, are all those, and those only, who have 
Jesus Christ for their friend. Better, infinitely bet- 
ter, to have Christ, than to have all the world besides. 
Let us this year resolve to live wholly /or him, to act 
as in his presence, and seek in all things to please 
him, daily and heartily to commune with him, listen 
to his voice speaking in the Bible, give him our hearts, 
do good as we have opportunity, and keep our end 
continually in view ; that when absent from the body, 
we may be present with the Lord." 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 353 



CHAPTER YIII. 

LABORS IN THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION- 
CONTINUED. 

TWO YEARS — 1S32, 1833. 

Early in 1832, Dr. Edwards wrote a powerful 
" National Circular, addressed to the head of each 
family in the United States," which was issued in tens 
of thousands of copies, not only by the American Tem- 
perance Society, but by the American Tract Society at 
Boston and at New York. Having presented a cheer- 
ing view of the wonders God had wrought in the 
Temperance reformation, and many motives which 
should induce all individually to adopt the pledge of 
total abstinence from ardent spirit, he proceeds : 

" It destroys the soul. It makes sinners more sinful, 
and prevents them from experiencing God's illumi- 
nating and purifying power. It tends directly and 
strongly to make men feel — as Jesus Christ hates — rich 
spiritually, increased in goods, and in need of noth- 
ing ; and for ever to prevent them from feeling as men 
must feel, in order to be interested in the blessings of 
his salvation. The Holy Spirit will not visit, much 
less dwell with him who is under the polluting, debas- 
ing effects of intoxicating drink. That state of mind 
and heart which this occasions, is to Him a loathinir 
and an utter abomination. Not only does it darken 
the understanding, sear the conscience, pollute the 
affections, and debase all the powers of the soul, but 



354 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

it counteracts the merciful designs of Jehovah, and all 
the overflowing kindness of an infinitely compassion- 
ate Saviour for its deliverance, binds the soul in hope- 
less bondage to its destroyers, awakens the 'worm 
which dieth not,' and the 'fire which is not quenched/ 
and drives the soul away in despair, weeping and 
wailing, to be punished with everlasting destruction 
from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his 
power. 

" And yet these evils, great as they are, rising up 
to heaven, and overwhelming as, if continued, they 
certainly will be, may nevertheless, with perfect ease, all 
he done away. Let each individual cease to use intox- 
icating drinks, and intemperance with all its abomi- 
nations will vanish ; and temperance, with all its bless- 
ings to body and soul, will universally prevail. Our 
three million children may come forward into life 
without the habit of using intoxicating liquor, with- 
out any appetite for it, or any expectation of benefit 
from the use of it. And such a generation they may 
be as this world never saw ; to show, by their bless- 
ings, the glory of free institutions, and the brighter 
glories of the gospel of the Son of God, and to spread 
a light which shall cause ignorance and vice, desola- 
tion and wretchedness, over the whole earth, for ever 
to flee away. We therefore cannot but confidently 
anticipate that you, and your family, will cheerfully, 
for the sake of doing good, add to the pledge which 
is annexed the influence of your names. 

" But some may say, ' Why sign a pledge ? Why 
is it not as well, and even better, for each one to ab- 
stain, take care of himself, and let all others do the 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 355 

same? What is the benefit of visible, organized union?' 
Do you remember the time when your fathers and 
mothers could not drink tea, without sanctioning that 
odious principle, taxation without representation? 
And what did the men of '76 say ? Let each one take 
care of himself? Let us have no visible agreement, no 
pledge? Hear the voice of the delegates of Virginia, 
assembled at Williamsburg, August 1, 1774: 

" ' Considering the article of tea as the detestable 
instrument which laid the foundation of the present 
sufferings of our distressed friends in Boston, we view 
it with horror; and therefore, 

" ' Resolved, That we will not, from this day, import 
tea of any kind whatever, nor icill we use it, nor suffer such 
as may now he on hand to he used in any of our families.^ 

"They invited others throughout the country to 
join them. They did so ; and the effects were felt 
across the Atlantic. They are felt throughout our 
country, and they will be felt in every land, to the 
end of time. What was the benefit of that combina- 
tion, that visible agreement, that universal pledge? 
Strength, action, SUCCESS. Suppose each man, when 
the armies of oppression were poured in upon our 
country, had said, I will abstain from helping them ; 
and I will abstain too from all visible agreement with 
others to oppose them. I will make no pledge ; and 
when I fight, will fight single-handed, and do my own 
fighting in my own way. Then had the enemy tri- 
umphed, and we never had been free. And if we 
could not conquer Britons without visible organized 
union, can we conquer that before which, not only 
Britons, but Americans too, have fallen? and in vastly 



366 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

greater numbers than fell for their country's inde- 
pendence ? 

" But why, it is asked, should women belong to tem- 
perance societies? Because, under the light of the 
gospel, which raises women in excellence of character 
and ability to do good to an equality with men, every 
association composed of both will more than double 
its influence over the public mind, especially over the 
minds of ymdh and ckildren. And the grand object of 
efforts for the promotion of temperance is, the salva- 
tion of the children. And to accomplish it, we need, 
and must have, the influence of motJiers as well as 
fathers, sisters as well as brothers. 

"There is another reason why all women should 
unite with temperance societies. More than a hun- 
dred thousand of the lovely daughters of the last gen- 
eration were doomed to the tremendous curse of hav- 
ing drunken husbands, and rearing their little ones 
under the blasting, withering influence of drunken 
fathers. But there is no need of it. Let the fathers 
and mothers, the brothers and sisters of this genera- 
tion, all cease to use intoxicating drinks, and unite 
their influence in temperance societies, and the daugh- 
ters of the next generation, and of all futui*e genera- 
tions practising on this plan, shall be for ever free. 

"And there is another reason why women should 
belong to temperance societies. Multitudes of the 
last generation were made drunkards by the customs 
of society. Though the appetite for ardent spirit is 
not natural, and would never exist were it not formed 
by the use of it, it has been formed, not only in the 
cradle, but in many cases has been coeval almost with 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 357 

life itself. Even the mother, when her infant was 
unwell and she did not wish during the night to be 
kept awake with it, drank the poison herself, and the 
helpless babe slept like a drunkard, and for a similar 
reason ; and the drunkard's appetite was formed there ; 
and, as if that were not enough, as it lay in the cradle, 
she fed it with a teaspoon, and the drunkard's appe- 
tite was strengthened ; and no sooner could it walk 
than the father, after he had been drinking, gave it 
the bottom of the glass, sweetened in the most enchant- 
ing manner; and the drunkard's appetite was con- 
firmed. And before the heedless youth had entered 
upon manhood, he stumbled into the drunkard's 
grave, was covered up, and his destroyers were glad 
to forget him. But there is no need of it. Let the 
customs of society be changed, and each individual 
unite with others, to touch not, taste not, and handle 
not the abominable thing, and the evil will be done 
away. Generations yet unborn, to all future ages, 
saved, by simply ceasing to do evil and learning to 
do well, will rise up and call you blessed. 

"PLEDGE. 

"We whose names are hereunto annexed, believ- 
ing that the use of ardent spirit, as a drink," [changed 
in a reissue of this circular in 1835 to read, "that the 
use of intoxicating liquor as a beverage,^^] " is not only 
needless, but hurtful to the social, civil, and religious 
interests of men ; that it tends to form intemperate 
appetites and habits ; and that, while it is continued, 
the evils of intemperance can never be done away ; do 
therefore agree that we will not use it, or traffic in it ; 
that we will not provide it as an article of entertain- 



358 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

ment or for persons in our employment ; and that, in 
all suitable ways, we will discountenance the use of 
it in the community." 

On the 30th of May, 1832, another Temperance 
anniversary was held in Boston, and Dr. Edwards 
presented the Second Permanent Temperance Docu- 
ment, showing, by an array of facts and testimonies of 
the deepest interest, the moral wrong, not only of the 
use of ardent spirit as a drink, but of the traffic 
in it. 

In one town which he visited, he says, " There was 
but one man who sold ardent spirit, and he was a 
member of the church. There were one-fourth as 
many drunkards in that place as there were families ; 
and he supplied them all. He supplied, also, all mod- 
erate drinkers with that which is adapted to make 
them drunkards, to ruin their children, and to perpet- 
uate a drunkard to every four families to all future 
generations. At one time his own son, in the house 
and business of his father, was dealing out this poison, 
and partaking of it himself, till he became so poisoned 
that he could not stand ; and was carried home to his 
heart-broken wife and children, in a state of intoxica- 
tion. This, you say, is horrible, horrible. It is, in- 
deed. Yet it is the very business in which are many 
church-members, even in New England. Some of this 
character have, the last year, been admitted to the 
cliurches, who are as really accessory to the making 
of drunkards, as was this man. If they do not make 
drunkards of their own children, they do of the chil- 
dren of others. And the committee cannot but deep- 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 359 

ly regret that Boston, the metropolis of the pilgrims, 
exalted by blessings to heaven, and Avhich ought to be 
a light and a glory to all lands, should have churches 
in which there are members who make it a business 
to stand at these poisonous fountains, and pour out 
streams of death over the community ; thus teaching 
by their business, in the most impressive way, that for 
men to buy and use ardent spirit is right — a doctrine 
that has probably, during the past century, polluted 
more hearts, beggared more families, destroyed more 
lives, and ruined more souls, than any other heresy or 
crime whatever. And so long as the churches shall 
connive at such deadly evils in their members, may 
they expect to be visited with the withering curse of 
the Almighty. They cannot hold the protecting ban- 
ner of the cross over such enormities, and escape the 
blasting indignation of Him who bled upon it, to 
redeem unto himself a peculiar people, zealous only of 
good works. Not only are they ruining men by thou- 
sands for the next world, but most unjustly and cruelly 
loading the community with tremendous burdens in 
this. 

" As certainly as the nature of man continues the 
same, and light on this subject continues to increase, 
this conviction will extend, till it shall become uni- 
versal. It fastens, even now, upon the seared con- 
science of many a retailer himself. Said one who 
during the past year renounced this trafi&c, laying his 
hand on his heart, 'You can't think what a load I 
have got off here.' He had been the whole round of 
excuses for continuing the business ; had persevered 
in the contest between covetousness and conscience, 



360 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS D. D. 

until he had fought every inch of ground ; but, ' I have 
lain awake/ said he, ' night after night, and night after 
night, thinking of it.' Thinking of what ? That he 
was engaged in a work of death ; that for the wretch- 
edness, temporal and eternal, which he was occasion- 
ing, he must answer at the tribunal of God — thinking 
that it would profit him nothing to gain the world 
and lose his soul, or be instrumental in destroying 
the souls of others. Yes, he lay awake night after 
night, thinking of it. It is the determination of God 
that men shall think of it. His providence is pressing 
it upon their minds. Light has penetrated even the 
thick darkness which surrounds the distiller's con- 
science and the wholesale dealer's.'' 

Going on to illustrate the enormity of the sin, by 
testimonies from judges on the bench, ofi&cers of the 
army and navy, and other sources ; and then looking 
at the conquests already won, the thousands who had 
refrained from drinking and were rejoicing in hope 
of the glory of God ; and thousands who, continuing 
to drink, had rejected "glory, honor, and eternal life," 
and many of wliom were weeping and wailing beyond 
the boundaries of hope, he says, in burning words : 

" And shall we be told, that temperance is only a 
secular concern ; that it affects only the bodies of men, 
not their souls, and is a concern which relates to time 
only, not to eternity ; and that it ought not to be dis- 
cussed from the pulpit on the Sabbath? Should Satan 
cause this to be believed, he would perpetuate intem- 
perance to the end of the world. Shall the fires which 
make this poison burn on the Sabbath, and the use of 
it tend to counteract all the merciful designs of Jeho- 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 361 

vah in establishing that holy day ; shall Jehovah be 
insulted by the appearance in the sanctuary of men 
who use it on the Sabbath ; and yet the Sabbath not 
be occupied, by light and love, to abolish the use of 
it? Shall it cause the word of the Lord, even from 
the pulpit, to fall as upon a rock, instead of being as 
the rain and the snow that come down from heaven 
and water the earth ; and cause thousands who might 
be trees of righteousness in the garden of the Lord, 
to stand like the heath in the desert, not seeing good 
when good comes — and yet the pulpit be dumb? or 
speak only on week-days, when those who trafi&c in it 
have so much to do in furnishing the poison, that they 
have no time, and less inclination to hear ? If Satau 
can cause this to be believed, and those who manufac- 
ture, sell, and use the weapons of his warfare, and 
multiply the trophies of his victory, not hear of their 
sin on the Sabbath, when God speaks to the conscience ; 
or be entreated from the pulpit, his mercy's seat, by 
the tears and blood of a Saviour, to flee from coming- 
wrath — the adversary will keep possession of his 
strong-hold. There is no coping icith him, hut ivith 
weapons of heavenly temper from the armory of Jehovah, 
on the day when he goes forth, and creation, at his com- 
mand, stands still to witness the conflict. Then it is, as 
conscience kindled from above blazes and thunders 
in the heart of the enemy, that he is consumed by the 
breath of the Almighty, and destroyed by the bright- 
ness of his coming. 

"Never was an idea farther from the truth, than 
that which represents the Temperance reformation as 
only a secular concern, affecting principally tlie body ; 

EiKvards 1 6 



362 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

or confined in its influence to this world, or to time. 
Its principal influence, and that which in importance 
eclipses and swallows up every other, is upon the soul, 
and for eternity. And let ministers and churches do 
their duty, free themselves from all participation in, 
or connivance at iniquity, and let them, by light and 
love, poured out kindly and perpetually, labor to per- 
suade all, from supreme regard to God and good will 
to men, to do the same, and the night and woe of ages 
will pass away, and the Sun of righteousness, rising 
in his glory, will pour round the globe the life and 
the bliss of universal and unceasing day. 

" And when Ethiopia is rising and stretching out 
her hands, and the isles of the sea are receiving and 
obeying God's law ; when China is struggling to keep 
off death fl^om her people, Iceland in supplication for 
deliverance is melting, and the whole creation groan- 
eth and travaileth in pain ; when the Saviour, with a 
voice which pervades creation, is proclaiming. Who is 
on the Lord's side? Who? and the universe look 
with intense gaze to witness the result ; and when a 
single individual, by coming out openly and decidedly 
on the Lord's side, and sacrificing, in a single instance, 
money to duty, may roll a wave of salvation on the 
other side of the globe — shall professed members of 
that church which Christ has bought with his blood, 
take part with the enemy of all good, and assist in 
perpetuating his dark and dismal reign over souls, to 
endless ages? If they do, God will write, for the 
universe to look at, To whom they yield themselves ser- 
vants to obey, his servants they are. And the register, 
in blazing capitals, will be eternal. And though men 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 363 

who continue knowingly and habitually to do evil, 
and to hate the light, may, in this world, refuse to 
come to it, and when it approaches them may attempt 
to flee away ; in the future world it will blaze upon 
them in one unclouded vision of infinite brightness, 
and show the hearts of all who persevere in wicked- 
ness to be more black than darkness itself for ever." 

While his mind and heart were full of this subject. 
Dr. Edwards wrote the able document on "The Im- 
morality OF THE Traffic in Ardent Spirit," which 
is not only embodied in the Permanent Temperance 
Documents, but constitutes Tract No. 125 of the Amer- 
ican Tract Society's series, and is a standard treatise, 
combining convincing argument and the most rousing 
and tender appeal. 

Having constructed the body of the document, 
showing the nature of ardent spirit, and its destruc- 
tive influence for the life that now is and that which 
is to come, and noticed the more common and plausi- 
ble exaises for engaging in the traffic, he says, 

"Suppose a man, when about to commence the 
traffic in ardent spirit, should write in great capitals 
ON HIS sign-board, to be seen and read of all men, 
what he will do : That so many of the inhabitants 
of this town or city, he will, for the sake of getting 
their money, make paupers, and send them to the 
almshouse, and thus oblige the whole community to 
support them and their families ; that so many others 
he will excite to the commission of crimes, and thus 
increase the expenses and endanger the peace and 
welfare of the community ; that so many he will send 



364 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

to the jail, and so many more to the state prison, and 
so many to the gallows ; that so many he will visit 
with sore and distressing diseases, and, in so many 
cases, diseases which would have been comparatively 
harmless, he will by his poison render fatal ; that in so 
many cases he will deprive persons of reason, and in 
so many cases will cause sudden death ; that so many 
wives he will make widows, and so many children he 
Avill make orphans, and that in so many cases he will 
cause tlie children to grow up in ignorance, vice, and 
crime, and after being nuisances on earth, will bring 
them to a premature grave ; that in so many cases he 
will prevent the efficacy of the gospel, grieve away 
the Holy Ghost, and ruin for eternity the souls of 
men. And suppose he could, and should give some 
faint conception of what it is to lose the soul, and of 
the overwhelming guilt and coming wretchedness of 
him who is knowingly instrumental in producing this 
ruin ; and suppose he should put at the bottom of 
the sign this question : What, you may ask, can be 
my object in acting so much like a devil incarnate, 
and bringing such accumulated wretchedness upon a 
comparatively happy people ? and under it should put 
the true answer, Money ; and go on to say, I have a 
family to support ; I want money, and must have it ; 
this is my business, I was brought up to it ; and if I 
should not follow it, I must change my business, or I 
could not support my family. And as all faces begin 
to gather blackness at the approaching ruin, and all 
hearts to l)oil with indignation at its author, suppose 
he should add, for their consolation, ' If I do not bring 
this destruction upon you, somebody else will.' What 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 365 

would they think of him? what would all the world 
think of him ? what ought they to think of him ? And 
is it any worse for a man to tell the people before- 
hand, honestly, what he will do, if they buy and use 
his poison, than it is to go on and do it? And what 
if they are not aware of the mischief which he is doing 
them, and he can accomplish it through their own 
perverted and voluntary agency? Is it not equally 
abominable, if he knows it, and does not cease from 
producing it? 

"And if there are churches whose members are 
doing such things, and those churches are not blessed 
with the presence and favor of the Holy Ghost, they 
need not be at any loss for the reason. And if they 
should never again, while they continue in this state, 
be blessed with the reviving influence of God's Spirit, 
they need not be at any loss for the reason. Their own 
members are exerting a strong and fatal influence 
against it ; and that too, after divine Providence has 
shown them what they are doing. And in many such 
cases there is awful guilt, with regard to this thing, 
resting upon the whole church. Though they have 
known for years what these men were doing, have 
seen the misery, heard the oaths, witnessed the crimes, 
and known the wretchedness and deaths which they 
have occasioned, and perhaps have spoken of it and 
deplored it to one another, many of them have never 
spoken on this subject to the persons themselves. They 
have seen them scattering firebrands, arrows, and 
death, temporal and eternal ; and yet have never so 
much as warned them on the subject, and never be- 
sought them to give up their work of death. Every 



366 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

brother in such a case is bound, on his own account, 
to converse with him who is thus aiding the powers of 
darkness, and opposing the kingdom of Jesus Christ, 
and try to persuade him to cease from this destructive 
business. And the whole church is bound to make 
efforts, and use all proper means, to accomplish this 
result. And before half the individual members have 
done their duty on this subject, they may expect, if 
the offending brother has, and manifests the spirit of 
Christ, that he will cease to be an offence to his breth- 
ren, and a stumbling-block to the world, over which 
such multitudes fall to the pit of woe. 

"Professed Christian, you have been redeemed, 
not with silver, nor with gold, but with the precious 
blood of Jesus Christ. When all were dead, he died 
that they who live should not live unto themselves, 
but unto him that died for them and rose again. In 
the manufacture or sale of ardent spirit as a drink, 
you do not and you cannot honor God ; but you do, 
and so long as you continue it, you will greatly dis- 
honor him. You exert an influence which tends 
directly and strongly to ruin, for both worlds, your 
fellow-men. Should you take a quantity of that poi- 
sonous liquid into your closet, present it before the 
Lord, confess to him its nature and effects, spread 
out before him what it has done and what it will do, 
and attempt to ask him to bless you in extending its 
influence ; it would, unless your conscience is already 
seared as with a hot iron, appear to you like blas- 
phemy. You could no more do it, than you could 
take tlie instruments of gambling, and attempt to ask 
God to bless you in extending them through the com- 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 367 

munity. And why not, if it is a lawful business? 
Why not ask" God to increase it, make you an instru- 
ment in extending it over the country, and perpetu- 
ating it to all future generations ? Even the worldly 
and profane man, when he hears about professing 
Christians offering prayer to God, that he would 
bless them in the manufacture or sale of ardent spirit, 
involuntarily shrinks back, and says, ' That is too bad.' 
He can see that it is an abomination. And if it is 
too bad for a professed Christian to pray about it, is 
it not too bad for him to practise it ? If you continue, 
under all the light which God in his providence has 
furnished with regard to its hurtful nature and de- 
structive effects, to furnish ardent spirit as a drink 
for your fellow-men, you will run the fearful hazard 
of losing your soul, and you will exert an influence 
which powerfully tends to destroy the souls of your 
fellow-men. Every time you furnish it, you are ren- 
dering it less likely that they will be illuminated, 
sanctified, and saved, and more likely that they will 
continue in sin, and go down to the chambers of death. 
'• My friend, you are soon to die, and in eternity 
to witness the influence, the whole influence which 
you exert while on earth, and you are to witness 
its consequences, in joy or sorrow, to endless being. 
Imagine yourself now, where you will soon be, on 
your death-bed, x\.nd imagine that you have a full view 
of the property which you have caused to be wasted, 
or which you have gained without furnishing any 
valuable equivalent; of the health which you have 
destroyed, and the characters which you have demor- 
alized ; of the wives that you have made widows, and 



368 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

the children that you have made orphans ; of all the 
lives that you have shortened, and all the souls that 
you have destroyed. 0, imagine that these are the only 
'rod and staff' which you have to comfort you, as you 
go down the valley of the shadow of death, and that 
they will all meet you in full array at the judgment, 
and testify against you. What will it profit you, 
though you have gained more money than you other- 
wise would, when you have left it all far behind in 
that world which is destined to fire, and the day of 
perdition of ungodly men ? What will it profit when 
you are enveloped in the influence which you have 
exerted, and are experiencing its consequences to end- 
less ages, finding for ever that as a man soweth so must 
he reap, and that if he has sowed death he must reap 
death ? Do not any longer assist in destroying men, 
nor expose yourselves and your children to be de- 
stroyed. Do good, and good only, to all as you have 
opportunity, and good shall come unto you." 

In a note to Mrs. Edwards, Feb. 14, 1832, he says, 
" You have probably heard before this, that Rev. Dr. 
Cornelius died, at Dr. Hawes' in Hartford, on Sabbath 
morning, of a brain-fever ; brought on, probably, by 
excessive care, toil, and labor. His wife arrived there 
in the afternoon, and is a deeply afflicted widow. But 
the God of the widow, and the Father of the fatherless, 
will no doubt provide for her, and hers." 

The Rev. President Davis, being about to retire, 
in advanced years, from the charge of Hamilton Col- 
lege, New York, wrote to Dr. Edwards, March 2, a 
full and earnest letter, spreading before him the his- 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 369 

tory and claims of that institution, and its promise of 
future usefulness, and asking that he would allow 
himself to be a candidate for election to that office. 
To this application he felt constrained to reply : 

" Yours of the 2d inst. has been made the subject 
of as much attention as my very numerous duties 
would permit. Considering the importance of my 
present situation to the great interests of the church 
and the world, and the difficulty of my leaving it, at 
present, without detriment to the Temperance cause ; 
considering also, that my present employment appears 
to be highly favorable to the enjoyment of sound and 
vigorous health, and that you may probably unite in 
a man who has paid more attention, of late, to collet 
giate studies than I have, and might be more useful 
than I could be at the head of your college, it does not 
appear to me, at present, to be consistent with the 
will of Providence that I should consent to become a 
candidate for that very interesting, responsible, and 
important office." 

The three following notes indicate some of the 
means which Dr. Edwards was employing, and how he 
was cheered on in his work by some of the worthiest 
of men. 

''Albany, March 19, 1832. 

" Dear Sir — I have been confined to my chamber 
since November last by severe illness, which has in- 
capacitated me to attend to business. You will please 
to receive this as my apology for not sooner attend- 
ing to your communication. I will with pleasure be 
a contributor of one hundred dollars for a few years. 
We are making extra efforts here in our State Tem- 

16* 



370 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

perance Society, we think and hope successfully. May 
the Lord smile on our exertions, is the prayer of 
"Yours sincerely, 

"STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER." 

" Bremo, Fluvanna county, Va., Dec. 1832. 

"Dear Sir — Grateful for the benefit which the 
Temperance reformation is spreading throughout the 
Christian world, but especially for the happy effects 
I have seen resulting from it in my own neighborhood 
and county, I feel myself called upon to contribute 
some pecuniary aid to a cause which, excepting the 
propagation of the blessed gospel, in my humble opin- 
ion, stands second to none among the various Chris- 
tian and benevolent enterprises of the day. 

" I inclose you a check of the cashier of the branch 
Bank of the United States at Richmond, on the Boston 
branch of the same bank, for two hundred and fifty 
dollars. After deducting the cost of one hundred 
copies of the fourth, and one hundred copies of the 
fifth report, to be forwarded as herein after directed, 
add the balance to the funds of the American Tem- 
perance Society. 

" Yours respectfully, 

"JOHN H. COCKE." 

He adds a list of about fifty distinguished clergy- 
men and laymen at the south, to which he wishes a 
copy of both reports to be addressed, with an addi- 
tional supply for the respected bishops of the Protes- 
tant Episcopal church. 

" Washington, Jan. 18, 1833. 
" Dear Sir — I have just received your favor of the 
15th inst., and thank vou for the invitation to the an- 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 371 

niversary of the American Temperance Society on the 
7th May next. It will afford me great pleasure to 
enjoy the privilege of taking part in its exercises. A 
few of us, in Congress, contemplate the formation of a 
Congressional Temperance society on the 26th Feb. 
next. I hope we shall be enabled to carry such a 
plan into operation. There seems to be an influence 
resulting from sayings and doings here^ that is peculiar, 
and I think we are bound to cast it all on the side of 
good principles. I trust the Lord will attend and 
succeed it with his blessing. 

" Yours very truly, 

" THEO. FRELINGHUYSEN." 

In a communication to the committee of the New 
York City Temperance Society, February 1, 1833, he 
says, " I have attended in this city thirty-two meet- 
ings, and have four more engaged. The ward asso- 
ciations are all formed and in a course of successful 
operation. Eleven churches are free from all mem- 
bers connected with the traffic, and in seven others 
there is only one in each, who it is hoped will be out 
of the business soon. The members of the various 
Temperance societies in the city, I think, are now more 
than seven thousand." 

He soon proceeded to Washington city, with a 
special view to organizing a Congressional Temper- 
ance society. 

"Washington City, Feb. 15, 1833. 

"My dear Sons and Daughters — I left New 
York on Friday, spent the Sabbath in Philadelphia at 
Mr. Henry Bird's, and arrived here on Wednesday. 
I have been up this morning to the Senate chamber, 



372 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

where are Mr. Webster, Mr. Clay, Mr. Calhoun, 
etc. Mr. Calhoun has to-day been speaking. He 
expects to finish to-morrow, and then Mr. Webster 
will speak. 

"There is now in Congress one man, Mr. Choate 
of Salem, who, like Justin, was a little boy in the acad- 
emy, long since I came to Andover. And if Justin 
lives he will soon be old enough, and so will each of 
his brothers, to be in Congress ; and if they are good, 
they may be in a much more useful and honorable 
place, namely, the pulpit, or in some log-hut, or under 
some green tree, teaching men how to become, not 
citizens, or even rulers of an earthly kingdom, but 
citizens of heaven, and even kings and priests unto 
God, and to reign with him for ever and ever. To he 
good, is to be great in the best sense ; and to be useful from 
the love of doing good, is to be happy." 

The next day he writes, " The prospect now is, of 
having a great Temperance meeting on the evening of 
the 24th, and of forming a Congressional Temperance 
society under favorable auspices on the 26th. A paper 
signed by ten of the Senators is now circulating in the 
House for the signatures of those who are disposed to 
unite in it. 

" The chaplain of the House has to-day applied to 
me, in consequence of the application of members to 
him, to supply his place to-morrow in the capitol, 
wliich, with the divine leave, I now expect to do, and 
to reason with the members, 'of righteousness, tern- 
perance, and judgment to come.' " 

Three days later he says, " I preached in the capitol 
on the Sabbath on the subject of temperance, and for 



HIS LABORS FUR TEMPERANCE. 373 

Rev. Mr. Post in tlie afternoon. Large assemblies, 
and many members of Congress in both places. Four- 
teen of the Senate have signed a paper declaring their 
readiness to join a Congressional Temperance society on 
the 26th, and the paper is now circulating for signa- 
tures in the House. Among the men in the Senate 
are Webster, Wilkins, Dallas, Grundy, Ewing, Tip- 
ton, Sprague, Tomlinson, etc. The prospect so far 
looks well. Col. Richard M. Johnson has engaged 
this morning to apply for the capitol in order to have 
in it a great Temperance meeting, and says he will 
carry it by acclamation. There are in the House a 
number who are no friends to temperance; but the 
cause is evidently rising, and is viewed by many as a 
cause more interesting to our country, and more im- 
portant in its prospective influence, than any which 
has agitated Congress. 

" One of the largest mail contractors in the United 
States has concluded to have no man drive any of his 
stages who drinks ardent spirit. Let that course be 
taken by all stages, steam-boats, and railroads, and on 
all public works, and thousands of lives will be saved, 
and if adopted by all who hear the gospel, thousands 
of souls too." 

The "xVmerican Congressional Temperance Soci- 
ety" was organized, as proposed, on the 26th, under 
favorable auspices ; and having returned to Boston, 
he writes, March 15, "On Wednesday, by invitation 
from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, I 
came down to attend a meeting of the members of the 
legislature of Massachusetts, which is to be holden in 
the Representatives' hall this evening, for the purpose 



374 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

of forming a * Massachusetts Legislative Temperance So- 
ciety ;^^^ which was also successfully organized. 

On the 7th of May, 1833, a summary view of Dr. 
Edwards' labors for another year was presented to 
the American Temperance Society, whose anniversary 
was then held in the city of New York. The great 
principles and facts which had been spread before the 
country and the world in the first and second Per- 
manent Temperance documents, had been received 
with favor, and were producing happy results. Of 
the first, issued in 1831, two editions of 10,000 and 
5,000 copies were printed in this country, and two 
editions in England ; in an abridged form 10,000 were 
issued, and of an abstract of the document 170,000 
more. Of the second Permanent document, 14,000 
were printed in this country, and it was reprinted 
entire in England ; and of the " Immorality of the 
Traffic," included in that document, 40,000 were cir- 
culated separately ; making of both documents, or 
parts of them, about two hundred and fifty thousand 
copies. Numerous periodical and other Temperance 
publications were issued in various parts of the 
country; agents were employed by state and county 
societies, and the work was rapidly advancing. 

On the 26th of February, not only the American 
Congressional Temperance Society had been formed, but 
simultaneous meetings had been held extensively, both 
in the United States and Great Britain. The Sec- 
retary of War had abolished spirit rations in the 
army, substituting therefor sugar and coffee; and 
temperance had been introduced into several ships of 



HIS LABORS FOR, TEMPERANCE. 375 

the navy. The General Conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, and numerous other ecclesiastical 
bodies, had also taken action on the subject, the spirit 
of which is indicated in the language of the General 
Assembly of the Presbyterian church, who said, 

"It is now a well-established fact, that the common 
use of strong drink, however moderate, has been Sifatalj 
soul-destroying barrier against the influence of the gos- 
pel. Consequently, wherever total abstinence is 
practised, a powerful instrument of resisting the Holy 
Spirit is removed, and a new avenue of access to the 
hearts of men opened to the power of truth. Thus in 
numerous instances, and in various places, during the 
past year the Temperance reformation has been a 
harbinger, preparing the way of the Lord ; and the 
banishment of that liquid poison, which kills both soul 
and body, has made way for the immediate entrance 
of the Spirit and the word, the glorious train of the 
Redeemer. But a great work is still to be effected in 
the church. The sons of Levi must be purified. The 
accursed thing must be removed from the camp of the 
Lord. While professing Christians continue to exhibit 
the baleful example of tasting the drunkard^ s poison, or, 
by a sacrilegious traffic, to make it their employment to 
degrade and destroy their fellow-men, those who love 
the Lord must not keep silence, but must lift up their 
warning voice, and use all lawful efforts to remove 
this withering reproach from the house of God." 

At this time Dr. Edwards issued the able docu- 
ment, " LAWS WHICH AUTHORIZE THE TRAFFIC IN AR- 
DENT Spirit as a Drink, morally Wrong." 



376 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

" The American Temperance Society," he says, " at 
the commencement, took the ground that to drink 
ardent spirit is morally wrong ; and in their reports 
they have exhibited the reasons which demonstrate its 
truth. Millions in this country have embraced this 
truth, and are now acting under its influence. Its in- 
fluence has also been extended to other countries, and 
great numbers in foreign lands are imitating our 
example. 

" The next position taken by the society was, that 
it is wicked to make ardent spirit, or to furnish it to 
be drunk by others. This too they accompanied by 
legitimate and abundant proof; and it has been em- 
braced, as whole counties in which it is now a viola- 
tion even of human law to sell it, and a thousand 
churches in which there is not a man who prosecutes 
the business, and thousands of other churches that are 
struggling to throw off the mighty incubus, abundantly 
testify. It is shown also by the existence of more 
than six thousand Temperance societies, embracing 
more than a million of members, pledged to abstain 
from the drinking of ardent spirit, and from the traf&c 
in it, and also to use all suitable means to cause this 
to become universal. The means by which such a 
result may be expected, is the universal conviction 
that the drinking of ardent spirit, or the furnishing it 
to be drunk by others, is sin ; an offence against God, 
and injurious to the temporal and eternal interests of 
men. Whatever tends to produce this conviction, 
tends to promote the Temperance reformation; and 
whatever tends to prevent the one, tends to hinder the 
other. 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 377 

" Perhaps nothing now stands more in the way of 
producing this conviction, and causing it to become 
universal, than the fact that the traffic in ardent spirit 
is authorized by law; and thus receives the sanction 
and support of legislation. This is a public testimony 
to the world that the sale of ardent spirit, and of 
course the drinking of it, are right : a fundamental 
and fatal error, destructive in its effects to the life 
that now is, and to that which is to come. The next 
thing to be accomplished therefore, is by the universal 
diffusion of information and the exertion of kind moral 
influeffice, to produce throughout the community the con- 
viction^ that the laws which authorize the traffic in ardent 
spirit as a drink, by licensing men to pursue it, are moroEy 
wrong, opposed in their influence to the laws of God ; 
and that the public good, instead of requiring that 
some men should sell it, utterly forbids that this should 
be done by any ; and that no men or body of men who 
understand, or have the means of understanding this 
subject, can be instrumental in making such laws Avith- 
out the commission of sin. And as such laws are 
morally wrong, they never can be politically right, or 
beneficial, or expedient. While Jehovah lives, right- 
eousness, and that alone, will exalt a nation ; sin in 
any form, and especially if sanctioned by law, will be 
a reproach and a nuisance to any people." 

He proceeds to a calm, logical discussion of the 
subject, supported by acknowledged principles and 
facts, and adds, 

" Over wide regions of country, where the facts 
are known, and a part of the people abstain from the 
use of ardent spirit, and from the traffic in it, and a 



378 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

part do not, as the committee behold ten times as 
many in proportion to the number, of one class enlist- 
ing apparently under the banners of Immanuel, as of 
the other ; and see the number from one, as light in- 
creases, constantly and rapidly increasing, and from 
the other as consta.ntly and rapidly diminishing, they 
cannot but feel, that the laws which sanction the trajfic 
and use, and proclaim them to be right, are radically 
and morally wrong, offensive to the Saviour, and 
hostile to the temporal and eternal interests of men. 
And they cannot but most respectfully and kindly, ear- \ 

v£stly and perseveringly entreat the legislators of our 
country, by the rich mercies which he has so bounti- 
fully bestowed upon it, and by the agonies which he 
so freely endured for our race, and the glories which 
he so graciously proffers them, no longer to sanction 
these iniquities, or say by legislation that they are 
either useful or right. As He poured out life to re- 
deem them, and would have all men come to the know- 
ledge and love of his truth, and be his obedient and f 
glorified people, they would beseech legislators no 
longer to do what tends so powerfully, extensively, 

^ - . n„ +^ l^inrler it." 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 379 



CHAPTER IX. 

LABORS IN THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION- 
CONTINUED. 

THREE YEARS — 1S33-1S36 

On the 24tli of May, 1833, a National Temper- 
ance Convention, called by the American Temper- 
ance Society, was held at the Hall of Independence 
in Philadelphia, at which were assembled /w^r hundred 
delegates from Temperance Societies in twenty-one states, 
embracing much of the intelligence, piety, and patri- 
otism of the nation. The Hon. Reuben H. Walworth 
presided, and Dr. Edwards was chairman of the busi- 
ness committee. It should be recorded with grati- 
tude to God, that this large Convention, one of the 
most influential bodies that ever assembled for such 
an object in our country, united in adopting twenty- 
eight resolutions which embodied in substance all the 
great principles and aims of the Temperance move- 
ment. 

The resolution " that the traffic in ardent spirit, to 
be used as a drink, is morally wrong, and ought to be 
universally abandoned," received the most calm and 
solemn deliberation. "Many," says Dr. Edwards, 
"were anxious to know what the physicians, the ju- 
rists, and the statesmen, assembled from all parts of 
the country, thought upon this subject. As the dis- 
cussion proceeded, and the manifest and enormous 
immorality of the traffic was exhibited, the Conven- 
tion not only saw that it is an immorality, but that it 



380 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

was a duty which they owed to God, to themselves, 
and to society, to express their deep and solemn con- 
viction of this truth, and to publish it as extensively 
as possible, for the benefit of mankind. And seldom 
has any act of a public body, designed to operate by 
moral influence, been hailed with greater gladness, or 
promised to do greater good. Passed as it was, after 
long and full discussion, in a body composed of men 
of all professions and employments, and of all Chris- 
tian denominations and political parties, and from all 
parts of the country, and in accordance with the fun- 
damental truth which the American Temperance Soci- 
ety and various other bodies of men had been propa- 
gating for years, its influence was felt throughout the 
land. Numbers who had not before done it, were 
now led to examine the subject in the light of the 
moral law ; and the more extensive the examination, 
the more deep and general has been the conviction, 
that the sentiment expressed by the Convention is 
eternal truth, the belief of which is of infinite impor- 
tance, and that it ought to be published, with its evi- 
dence, and proclaimed throughout the world." 

So deeply impressed was the Hon. Stephen Van 
Rensselaer of the powerful influence which these pro- 
ceedings were calculated to exert, that he bore the 
expense of publishing one hundred thousand copies of the 
proceedings of the Convention for gratuitous distri- 
bution. 

Other large and influential Temperance laonven- 
tions were soon held in difi"erent states of the Union, 
in most of which Dr. Edwards took part, and all of 
which concurred substantially in the action of the Na- 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 381 

tional Convention. At the Massachusetts State Conven- 
tion, held at Worcester, more than five hundred dele- 
gates, embracing distinguished gentlemen of all pro- 
fessions, were present, and the Governor of the state 
presided. A similar convention for the state of JYew 
York was held at Utica, and for the state of Connecti- 
cut at Middletown. An Ohio State Convention was 
held at Columbus, at which the Governor presided, 
and a Legislative Temperance Society was soon after 
organized. A Mississippi State Convention was held 
at Jackson, which recommended not only to abstain 
from ardent spirit, but from wine. A Kentucky State 
Convention was held at Frankfort, and a Legislative 
Temperance Society formed on the principle of absti- 
nence both from ardent spirit and wine, and the Gov- 
ernor was made president. A convention was held 
and a State Temperance Society formed in Missouri, 
A State Society was formed in Alabama. A Pennsyl- 
vania State Temperance Convention was held at Har- 
risburg, and a Legislative Temperance Society formed. 
A Delaware State Convention was held at Dover. A 
State Convention was held in JYew Jersey ; another 
in Vermont ; another in Maine; and a convention of 
cities was held in Now York. 

" Thus," says Dr. Edwards, "has the sentiment that 
the traffic in ardent spirit is an immorality and ought 
to be universally abandoned, been expressed by bodies 
embracing more than five thousand ministers of the 
gospel, and six thousand Christian churches ; by the 
American Congressional Temperance meeting, by the 
United States Temperance Convention, by ten State 
Temperance conventions, and numerous other bodies 



382 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

and classes of men, in various ways and places through- 
out the land. 

"The truth that the traffic is wicked, strikes the 
evil at the root, and with a blow so strong and deep 
that it will inevitably destroy it. If the traffic is not 
a violation of the law of God, and by him forbidden, 
if the friends of temperance do not believe this truth 
and publish it with its evidence to all people, vain are 
all expectations that it will ever be exterminated. 
There is no force hut that which from the thrcme of God 
fastens on the conscience, and binds man according to his 
deeds irrevocably to an eternal retribution, that is strong 
enough to say to this ocean of death. Hitherto shalt 
thou come, but no farther ; and here let thy violence 
be stayed. And while this sentiment ought to be 
expressed, as it ought ever to be held, with great kind- 
ness, so it ought to be expressed, with great plainness ; 
and in such a manner as is best adapted to produce 
universally the deepest conviction, and the most active 
and persevering efforts." 

Of the injustice of gaining money by the traffic, he 
says, " The article which is put into the miserable vic- 
tim's hand to induce him to give up his money, is not 
merely worthless — it is destructive. Its direct, well- 
known, universal, and inevitable tendency is to kill — 
to kill soul and body. What the retailer wants is his 
customer's three cents ! He does not wish to kill him. 
He only gives him what kills him, because that is the 
only way to get his three cents. He does not wish to 
destroy the man for the very sake of destroying him. 
He does not desire, on its own account, to ruin his 
character, and take away his property, and break his 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 383 

wife's heart, and beggar and starve his children. No, 
his object is only to get the man's money, and he does 
these things, because that seems to him the shortest 
way to secure his three cents. All the money he 
makes, is worse than taken dishonestly. It is the price 
of blood/ Every dollar he receives, instead of being 
a certificate of the amount of good he has done, is a 
certificate of the misery and ruin he has spread around 
him. His coin should be inscribed, 'This certifies 
that the bearer has made a man beat his wife.' ' This 
half dollar is a memorial of four nights of wretched- 
ness, which were given to a whole family in exchange 
for it.' ' This bag of money certifies that the possessor 
has sent two of his neighbors to the jail, and their 
wives and children to the poor-house.' What money 
for a man to hold in his coffers I It is the price of 

BLOOD !" 

In the autumn of 1833, Dr. Edwards proceeded to 
a laborious and successful tour of several months in the 
western states, of which he writes to his family and 
friends many instructive facts and pleasing incidents, 
that we should gladly give more fully than our limits 
allow. 

"Cincinnati, Oct. 23, 1833. 

" My dear Wife — I left Albany on Monday, the 
7th ; arrived at Buffalo on Friday morning ; visited 
Niagara Falls, and spent the Sabbath at Buffalo ; in 
the evening had a large and interesting temperance 
meeting ; on Monday took the steam-boat on Lake 
Erie for Cleveland, and arrived on Tuesday night. 
Wednesday took the stage, and went one hundred 
and eighty-three miles to Springfield, Ohio, where I 



384 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

arrived on Saturda}^ evening and spent the Sabbath ; 
then took the stage and arrived here, seventy-two 
miles, on Monday night, through the great kindness 
of the Lord, in good health. 

" Cincinnati is a beautiful city, on the north side 
of the Ohio, which here runs to the west ; and as the 
mountains were round about Jerusalem, so they are 
round about Cincinnati. How long I shall remain 
here is uncertain ; perhaps a month or two, if circum- 
stances favor it." 

Again he says, November 2, '"We have just fin- 
ished the week of anniversaries, which has been a 
very delightful one, and so far as I can judge, pro- 
duced a fine impression. Things here appear in a 
promising state. I now expect to preach here to- 
morrow ; and on Monday, if the Lord will, go with 
Dr. Beecher and Dr. Cogswell, to Lexington, Ken- 
tucky, eighty-four miles, where next week is to be 
another series of meetings, and the commencement of 
Transylvania University." 

At Louisville, he writes, November 20, "From 
Lexington I went, on Tuesday of last week, to Frank- 
fort, the capital of Kentucky, and on Wednesday had 
a Temperance meeting. On Thursday came to this 
place. Had a meeting last evening, and expect anoth- 
er this evening. On Monday or Tuesday of next 
week expect to leave this, if the Lord will, for St. 
Louis, by water, about eight hundred miles ; then 
perhaps visit Jacksonville, about one hundred and 
twenty miles, and then return to Cincinnati. 

" I find enough to do to bring these ten states in tJie 
valley of the Mississippi to he temperate, each one of which 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 385 

is six times as large as Massachusetts, and all equal 
to sixty such states." 

In the introductory paragraph to the Fourth Per- 
manent Temperance Document, presented May, 1834, 
at the anniversary of the American Temperance Soci- 
ety, held in the city of Philadelphia, Dr. Edwards 
notices as "auspicious peculiarities of the present 
age," that increasing numbers of people are disposed 
to inquire with regard to every moral principle and 
practice. Is it right ? That the standard of right and 
wrong, with increasing numbers, is the Bible. That 
t]ie number is rapidly increasing, who, when they learn 
that the Bible condemns a practice, will renounce it ; 
and who, when they learn that it requires action, will 
attempt, with the spirit which the Bible inculcates, to 
perform it, whether other men do this or not. That 
there is a deeper conviction of individual, personal re- 
sponsibility directly to God, binding each one, in all situ- 
ations, for the character and tendency of his actions, 
to the retributions of eternity. That it is becoming 
more and more common, if a man wishes to have good 
done, to engage in it himself, and to do it noio ; and 
to aim at the root of evils, instead of merely attempt- 
ing to lop off the branches. 

"A striking development of these principles has 
been made in the Temperance reformation. A vicious 
practice had obtained, had received the sanction of 
legislation, and the support of the example of nearly 
the whole Christian world. But it was followed, as 
its natural and necessary result, by loss of property, 
character, life, and the soul, to an extent which must 

Edwards. 1 7 



386 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

fill every person wlio comprehends it, with amaze- 
ment. And the question was started, no doubt by 
the Spirit of God, ' Is it right ' to continue a practice 
which produces such results ; and which, if continued, 
will perpetuate and increase them to all future ages? 
The Bible was examined, and providences observed; 
divine teaching was sought, and the conviction was 
fastened on the mind, that the practice was not right; 
and that to prevent the evils which it produced, men 
must cease to perpetuate the cause." 

Dr. Edwards at this time prepared an able docu- 
ment on The Immorality of the Traffic as pre- 
sented IN the Bible. 

" The Bible," he says, " is not constructed on the 
plan of mentioning every practice by name, and say- 
ing in so many words, it is right, or wrong ; but on 
the plan of revealing certain great principles of right 
and wrong, by which every practice in which men 
ever did or ever will engage, may be tried, and be 
seen to be right or wrong. The proper question is not, 
Does the Bible mention this or that thing by name; 
but. Do the principles of the Bible approve or condemn it ? 
When the nature of the thing is seen in the light of 
its effects, is it found to accord with those principles, 
or to violate them? If it is found to violate them, it 
is forbidden ; it is an immorality, and ought to be 
abandoned ; and as certainly as the Bible shall govern 
men, it will be abandoned throughout the earth. 

" Wliat then are the facts with regard to the traf- 
fic in ardent spirit, to be used as a drink ? What is 
the nature of this traffic, as manifested by its effects? 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 387 

Does it accord with the principles of the Bible, or 
does it violate them ? This is the question to deter- 
mine its morality, or immorality. And it is the only 
question. AVhat then are the principles of the Bible, 
by which this traffic is to be tried? 

"One of them is in Matthew 6 : 13, ^ Lead us not 
into temptation^ but deliver us from evilJ This is a prin- 
ciple so important that the Saviour of men, who was 
willing for their good even to die, would have them, 
in their supplications and conduct, daily regard it. 
Does the traffic in ardent spirit, to be used as a drink, 
tend to lead men into temptation ; and give to temp- 
tation peculiar power to overcome them, so that they 
fall by it into sin, when they otherwise would not fall? 
And is this its natural tendency? If it is, the Bible 
forbids it ; and to pursue it, is manifestly an immoral- 
ity. What then are the facts ?" 

He proceeds by an array of facts to prove that the 
use of ardent spirit tends to idleness — to crime— to mur- 
der. He then discusses the great principle, " JMiatso- 
evcr ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so 
to them;^' and then the command, ^^ Abstain from fleshly 
lusts, which war against the soul;^^ and then the princi- 
ple, " As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men,^^ 
under which he recapitulates the ruinous effects of 
intoxicating drinks on the body and the soul, and 
says of the traffic, " Instead of doing good, it does evil, 
and nothing but evil. To all these tremendous and 
overwhelming calamities there is no countervailing 
benefit. And while the cause of them is continued, 
they never can be prevented. The Bible then /oriic/^ 
it. It violates all those principles which require men to 



388 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

honor God or do good to mankind ; it is manifestly hos- 
tile to both ; and no principle of religion, morality, or 
humanity, will justify its continuance." He adds : 

"The Temperance reformation, which has scattered 
the darkness and broken the slumber of ages, and is 
now travelling in the greatness of mercy over the 
length and breadth of the world, was begun by the influ- 
ence of the Bible. It was undertaken in prayer, and 
for the purpose of delivering souls from sin and death. 
It was to remove that mighty obstruction to the effi- 
cacy of the Redeemer's kindness, which, while contin- 
ued, will keep millions in spiritual bondage ; and to 
open the way for the speedy and universal triumphs of 
his grace. This it is, we believe, which has led him 
to favor it, and by his mighty power to crown it so 
extensively with his blessing. And this it is, which 
inspires us with the continually growing expectation, 
that if his friends do their duty, it will never stop till 
drunkenness has ceased from under heaven." 

As the documents which had been issued showing 
that Laws which autho7'ize the traffic in ardent spirit as a 
drink are morally wrongs "proceeded a step farther 
than previous publications on the subject, and not 
only called in question the morality, but proved, as it 
was believed, the immorality of a part of legislation 
which had long received extensive sanction and sup- 
port," they were submitted to a large number of dis- 
tinguished physicians, divines, jurists, and statesmen, 
with the two following inquiries : 

"1. Are the principles exhibited in these docu- 
ments in your view correct, and the arguments sound ? 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 389 

"2. What would probably be the effect on the 
great interests of the community, should the people gen- 
erally, and legislators, choose to have all legislation on 
this subject conformed to those principles?" 

To these questions very able affirmative replies 
and discussions of the principles involved were receiv- 
ed, which are worthy of the consideration of all who 
wish further to investigate the subject. See Fourth 
Permanent Temperance Document, 1834. 

June 3, 1834, he writes to Mrs. Edwards' brother, 
a merchant in New York, on the occasion of his mar- 
riage : "I feel a strong desire that, as you are now 
beginning life as it were anew, you should begin it 
with the Lord. One half hour, morning and evening, 
spent by yourself in reflection, reading the Scriptures, 
and prayer, will be likely to have a very important 
influence upon your thoughts, feelings, and conduct, 
through the day. I have found it so with myself, and 
doubt not it must be so with others. God has been 
very kind to you in giving you property, and now a 
companion worthy of yoiu* confidence and affection, 
and who may be to you a rich and lasting blessing. 
Now is a favorable time to devote yourself and all 
that you are and have to him. Should you and your 
beloved wife daily unite your hearts in supplications 
before the throne of the heavenly grace, you would 
find that it would lighten all your sorrows, and double 
all your joys." 

Under another date he writes to the same brother, 
suggesting the inquiry " whether it would not be well 
to devote from ten to twenty-five per cent, of his 
income to charitable and benevolent objects ;" or to 



390 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS. D. D. 

adopt any other system by whicTi a substantial part 
of all his income might be devoted hy the steward to 
Him icho is the owner of all things. He urges this 
as needful to counteract that " hve of money, which 
every person, if he lays up for himself all he can get, 
will always have, and which will be likely always 
to prevent him from coming under the saving influ- 
ence of the gospel ; and because those who thus .ha- 
bitually give a part of their income to save the souls 
of men, arc so much more likely themselves to be 
saved." 

Again he says, " In a late New York Observer, I 
saw a brief notice of my friend, that most accomplished 
merchant, Nathaniel K. Cobb of Boston. Might it 
not be well for all merchants to adopt resolutions" as 
to property, similar to his. He had the fairest pros- 
pects of happiness and usefulness, but sickness and 
death came at the age of thirty-five. Yet he had 
hopefully his treasure in heaven. His sickness was 
remarkably peaceful, and his death blessed, which, is 
worth more tlian all earthly good. My highest wish 
for you is, that your life may be such that this blessed- 
ness may be yours.'' 

* The remarkable resolutions adopted and practised upon by 
Mr. Cobb were ; 

"By the grace of God, I will never be worth more than 
$50,000. 

"By the grace of God, I will give one fourth of the net profits 
of my business to charitable and religious uses. 

" If I am ever worth ;*t^20,000, I will give one half of my net 
profits ; and if I am ever worth ^30,000, 1 will give three fourths ; 
and the whole, after $50,000. So help me God, or give to a more 
faithful steward, and set me aside. 

"N. R. COBB." 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 391 

Some time after, as a son began to receive some 
proceeds of his labors, he wrote him, " You had better 
start on the principle of giving one-tenth part of your 
net profit annually to good objects. The other nine 
parts will then be more likely to benefit you, than if 
you lay up the whole. ' A wise son heareth his father's 
instructions.' " 

"Bremo, Fluvanna county, Ya., Nov. 5, 1834. 

"My dear Wife — I am now at the mansion of 
Gen. Cocke, who called on you with Mr. John Tap- 
pan when I was absent. He has five hundred acres 
of the best meadow land, in full view of the window 
from which I am writing, lying on the banks of James 
river. The meeting of the Temperance convention at 
Charlottesville was an intensely interesting one, and 
closed very happily. On Friday I expect to start for 
Richmond. My journey has hitherto, through the di- 
vine kindness, been interesting and pleasant, and my 
health is quite comfortable. This, if there were none 
but freemen in it, would be a delightful region of coun- 
try ; and when the glorious gospel of the blessed God 
shall universally prevail here, joy and gladness shall 
universally abound, thanksgiving and the voice of 
melody. That is the only effectual remedy for the 
ruins of the fall, and for the ills of human life." 

On March 31, 1835, Dr. Edwards was unanimously 
elected as Associate Secretary of tlie Presbyterian 
Education Society, located in the city of New York. 
The acceptance of this appointment was urged upon 
him by many esteemed brethren in New York, from 
the great need of additional laborers in the ministry, 
and the belief that Dr. Edwards' singleness of pur- 



392 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

pose, devoted piety, sound discretion, kind and catho- 
lic feeling, and far-reaching views as to the character 
of men needed, and wisdom in guiding them in a 
course adapted to the highest usefulness, might be of 
incalculable benefit to the churches, to our country, 
and the world. It was believed that in his extensive 
communications with pastors and with the officers and 
members of literary and theological institutions, he 
would exert a most salutary influence which would be 
felt by all evangelical Christian denominations, and 
that in no w^ay perhaps could he more usefully employ 
his powers. 

But the early champion of Temperance, the author 
of the "Six Sermons," then located in the great West, 
came in with his plea, that that battle was not yet 
fought, and many triumphs remained to be won. His 
reasons against a transfer to another agency were 
mainly these three : 

" 1. Because, so long as you continue to act as an 
agent, it is all loss and no gain for you to take another 
sphere. A great amount of experimental knowledge 
in your present sphere cannot be transferred to the 
other, and must be acquired by time, of which in this 
short life we have little to spare. 

"2. Because the Temperance movement, though 
progressive, is not past the dangers of falling back, 
through want of a constant energetic supervision and 
system ; or of shipwreck by ultra, headlong violence 
which shall divide our forces. And you are the only 
man to whom God has given the wisdom and energy 
and influence over public opinion, to guide the experi- 
ment safely through. 



HIS LABORS FQU TEMPERANCE. 393 

*' 3. Whatever may be true of the East, we are by 
no means sufficiently enlightened and organized and 
consolidated at the West, to hold on and advance to 
a sure victory. Before you resign your Temperance 
agency, you ought to come to the West and do the 
work up here, at least as far as it has been done at 
the East. You can accomplish at the West, in two 
or three years, as much as your entire agency has done 
at the East ; and no other man can do it in the same or 
double the time." 

Mr. Delavan, the champion of the New York State 
Temperance Society, which was circulating by the 
hundred thousand, papers advocating abstinence from 
all intoxicating drinks, and battling the brewers for 
the use of poisonous drugs, also came in with his ear- 
nest plea. " I should feel much distressed at the idea 
of your leaving your present situation /or any other. I 
know no other man fitted to fill the important station. 
if we^make mistakes here, we affect only a single 
state ; but should the National Society make a misstep, 
the whole nation would feel it. I do hope, dear sir, 
that you will stay where yon are, and by your wisdom 
keep us all steady J^ 

Dr. Edwards' reply to the request of the Educa- 
tion Society was, that "so far as he could judge, it 
did not appear to be consistent with the present indi- 
cations of Providence for him to accept the appoint- 
ment." 

At the same date he also replied in a similar man- 
ner to a request that he would engage in the service 
of " the American Union for the Relief and Improve- 
ment of the Colored Race." 

17* 



394 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

About the same time renewed overtures were made 
to him from the Western Reserve College, Ohio, and 
he was requested to consent to accept the office of 
professor of theology in that institution ; but he felt 
it to be his duty to discourage further proceedings in 
that direction. 

It was deemed advisable at the outset of the Tem- 
perance movement to call attention simply and dis- 
tinctly to the evils attending the use of ardent spirit as 
a drink. But the principle involved evidently applied 
equally to all intoxicating drinks. The Fourth Per- 
manent Document had been closed, in 1834, with the 
understanding that it would be the last ; but in con- 
nection with the Temperance anniversary, May 26, 
1835, another document was prepared, . the primary 
topic of discussion being the nature of alcohol, which 
was shown to be produced by vinous fermentation. Of 
course it exists lo. fermented liquors; and evei;y man 
might readily draw the inference, that if the use of 
fifty-three per cent, of alcohol in brandy and rum 
was wrong, the use of twenty-four per cent, in Ma- 
deira wine, seventeen per cent, in claret, thirteen in 
champagne, and from five to nine in ale, cider, etc., 
was at least questionable. From this date onwards 
Temperance papers and documents speak more gener- 
ally of the evils, not of alcohol or ardent sj^irit merely, 
but of aU intoxicating drinks. 

"That intoxicating principle, which has in this 
country been the chief cause of drunkenness, is not," 
he says, " the product of creation ; nor is it the result 
of any living process in nature. The animal kingdom, 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMTERANCE. 395 

in all its vast variety of existence, and modes of opera- 
tion, saitli, ' It is not in me ;' and the vegetable king- 
dom responds, 'It is not in me.' It cannot be found, 
and it does not exist, among all the living works of 
God. Those' substances, however, which contain or 
which will produce sugar, after they are dead, and 
have become subject to those laws which then operate 
on inanimate matter, in the incipient stages of decom- 
position, undergo a process which chemists call vinous 
fermentation. By this process a new substance is 
formed, called alcohol. This is the means of intoxi- 
cation. It is composed of hydrogen, carbon, and 
oxygen in the proportion of 13.04, 52.17, and 34.79 
parts to a hundred ; and is in its nature, as manifested 
by its effects, an exceedingly subtle and diffusive joowow. 
The elements, by the combination of which this is 
formed, existed before ; but the substance, which this 
combination forms, did not before exist. It is an en- 
tirely new substance, and is altogether different in its 
nature and effects, from what existed before. 

" We are the more particular on this point, because 
there is much error in the public mind with regard 
to it. Many suppose that there is some portion of 
alcohol in all vegetable substances ; at least in all 
whose fermentation, after death, will produce it. But 
this is an entire mistake. Not a living vegetable 
under heaven, so far as has yet been discovered, con- 
tains a particle of it. It does not exist in any living 
substance. It is formed only by vinous fermentation. 
After it is formed, it can be extracted from fer- 
mented liquors, as in common distillation.'' 

He proceeds to state that alcohol was probably 



396 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

first extracted from fermented liquor eight or nine 
hundred years ago. It was soon ascertained to be a 
poison, and no one thought of its ever being used as a 
drink. About the year 1234, however, it was intro- 
duced, in the south of Europe, as a medicine, and "in 
1581 was introduced by the English as a kind of 
cordial for their soldiers in the Netherlands war." He 
then shows the reasons why men, from the pleasure 
and excitement which alcohol at* first occasions, thiiik 
it does them good, and continue to use it j and then why, 
from its exhausting influence on the system, they are 
led to increase the quantity, and so go on till they " com- 
mit suicide as really as if they did it with arsenic, a 
pistol, or a halter." 

Believing that the testimony of distinguished men 
to the benefits they had themselves received by ^^ en- 
tire abstijience from the use, as a beverage, of all in- 
toxicating liquor, would be of service, especially to 
young men," Dr. Edwards, in November, 1835, ad- 
dressed to numerous highly respected gentlemen in 
the various departments of life, the three following 
inquiries : 

"1. What, in your case, has been the effect of 
abstinence from the use of intoxicating liquor, on 
health? 

"2. "What has been the effect on the capability 
of making great and continued efforts of body and 
mind? 

"3. What has been the effect on the feelings, as 
to cheerfulness, uniformity, etc.? with any other par- 
ticulars which may occur to you as important to be 
known by the human family." 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 397 

The answers to these inquiries were in many cases 
very full, and abundantly corroborative of the salutary 
influence of entire abstinence from all intoxicating 
drinks. Thirty-four of them were embodied in the 
report presented at the Temperance anniversary held 
at Saratoga Springs in August following, and were 
added to the permanent Temperance documents. 
They are at once an admirable testimony to the value 
of Temperance, and to the high excellence, moral 
worth, patriotism, and benevolence of many of our 
eminent fellow-citizens, the living and the dead. 

Of the first three Temperance documents, or parts 
of them, about 325,000 copies had been put into circu- 
lation before the fourth was issued ; and when sub- 
sequent parts were added, vigorous and persevering 
efforts were made to supply the volume "for every 
preacher, lawyer, physician, magistrate, officer of gov- 
ernment, secretary of a Temperance society, teacher 
of youth, and educated young man throughout the 
United States ; and also for sending a copy of it to 
foreign missionaries and distinguished philanthropists 
in all parts of the world." The substance of these 
documents was issued, in 116 pages 8vo., as a "Tem- 
perance Manual for the Young Men of the United 
States," with the hope also of supplying it to every 
accessible family of immigrants who read our lan- 
guage. The substance of the documents was also pub- 
lished by the American Tract Society in German and 
in French, in which languages, by the activity of the 
Rev. Dr. Baird, who was then in Europe, it was trans- 
lated, issued, and widely circulated both in Germany 
and in France. 



39S REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

In a letter to the king and the crown-prince of 
Prussia, written in the hope of extending the Tem- 
perance reformation in Germany, Dr. Edwards says, 
" The number of Temperance societies formed in this 
country, is more than seven thousand; and the number 
of persons who have united with them, more than 
twelve hundred and fifty thousand. More than three 
thousand distilleries have been stopped ; and more than 
seve7i thousand merchants have abandoned the traffic in 
spiritous liquors. More than a thousand vessels sail 
from our ports in which no such liquors are used ; and 
more than ten thousand persons, who, a few years ago, 
were drunkards, now use no intoxicating drink. They 
are all sober men ; many of them are industrious, re- 
spectable, and useful ; and not a few of them truly 
pious men. In those parts of the country in which 
these Societies are most general, industry, economy, 
morality, and religion have been greatly revived; 
sickness and mortality have been much diminished, 
and pauperism and crime have been almost entirely 
done away." 

Mr. John Tappan, chairman of the Executive Com- 
mittee of the American Temperance Society, says : 

" I was placed on the Committee of the American 
Temperance Society with Dr. Edwards at its forma- 
tion in 1826, and acted with him during the whole 
period of his agency, and continued on the Committee 
with him until the close of his life. In forming its 
constitution, conducting its correspondence, employing 
its agents, attending conventions, drawing resolutions 
as chairman of tlie business committees in nearly all 
the public meetings, in the capitol at Washington, and 



HIS LABORS FOE. TEMPERANCE. 399 

the Capitols of most of the states of the Union, he was 
the pivot upon which all moved. His gentleness of 
manner, 'speaking the truth in love,' disarmed oppo- 
nents, and the light he threw upon the subject in de- 
bate, convinced and made friends of those who came 
to oppose. Never was there a more lovely exhibition 
of the Christian character, than was displayed by him 
in conducting this great movement, from its earliest 
conception to its all-pervading influence through this 
and other lands — an influence continually extending, 
especially in these United States. 

"He looked forward to great results, in the fur- 
ther spread of the gospel, when men should universally 
abandon intoxicating beverages ; and with this object 
in view, he was instant in season, and out of season, 
that he might save not some only, but many of the de- 
luded unhappy victims of intemperance, made such, in 
many cases, more by injudicious parents and friends, 
than by any other cause. Never, in our day, should 
we have rejoiced in the enactment of the laws prohib- 
iting the traf&c, with all their countless blessings, and 
have seen them extending their influence through the 
United States, had it not been for his efi'orts in laying 
the foundation on which they rest. That foundation 
was the word of God. To cause men univers'cdly to he 
temperate ^ that they might hcconie Christians, was the one 
great object for which he labored and prayed. 

"With the same singleness of purpose, he after- 
wards engaged in efforts for the promotion of the 
better observance of the Sabbath, and there also his 
influence extended over our land. When the increas- 
ed facilities for travel in railroads and steam-boats, 



400 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

with tlie increase of wealth which was flowing into 
our country, alarmed the friends of the Sabbath lest it 
should be more extensively desecrated, his influence 
was greatly felt in putting a stop to public travelling, 
and conveying the mails on the Sabbath, throughout 
a large portion of the land. In the cause of the Sab- 
bath, as in that of Temperance, the influence of his 
efforts will extend to remote time. 

"The present generation have lost a leader who 
lived what he taught, and whose record is on high. 
Never has a brighter combination of wisdom in coun- 
sel, energy in action, and humility in life shone forth, 
than in our reverj^d friend ; and to have so often met 
him in prayerful consultation and familiar intercourse, 
during a period of nearly thirty years, has been one 
of the highest of my privileges." 

To Mrs. Edwards he wrote, " Let us daily fray for 
our children, and especially on the birthday of each. 
That day, if you please, we will, as far as circumstan- 
ces permit, devote as a day of special supplication to 
the Father of all mercies, that they may be partakers 
of his rich grace in Jesus Christ, be disposed to serve 
him and do good on the earth, and be prepared to 
glorify and enjoy him for ever in heaven." 

He again writes, " I should be glad to have all the 
members of the family, every night before they go to 
sleep, repeat that delightful hymn, 

' Glory to thee, my God, this night,' etc., 
and when we awake in the morning, that otlier, 

' Awake, my soul, and with the sun,' etc. 
I like these hymns very much, and mean daily to 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 401 

repeat tliem myself. We shall then be able to sing 
them without the book ; and however we may be sep- 
arated, shall all be repeating the same things at nearly 
the same time." 

To . his youngest son, then residing for a time in 
New York, he wrote, March 30, 1836, "Your brother 
Jonathan is now anxious, and we hope seeking his 
salvation. Numbers in the academy have become 
hopefully pious. A temper to be happy in doing the 
will of God, is essential; and every person who has 
not such a temper, should fix it in his mind, that with- 
out a change he will -be wretched. This then is more 
important than learning, wealth, and every thing else. 
It is indeed ' the one thing needful.' " 

Again he says, " Do not forget that the great busi- 
ness for which you were made, and on which your 
happiness for both worlds depends, is to serve God, 
love and obey him. Read daily a portion of his word, 
with humble, believing prayer for the teaching of his 
Spirit. You are now in the most interesting part of 
your existence, and forming a character for endless 
being. Strive daily to give your heart, and all that 
you are and have, to Jesus Christ, whose favor is life, 
and whose loving-kindness is better than life." 

To his eldest son in New York he says, " I send 
you' a copy of Baxter's Saints' Rest, which I should 
like to have you treat as a friend — read it through 
with care, and with fervent prayer to God that it may 
be to you, as it has been to thousands, the means of 
preparing them for that heavenly rest on which he, 
and multitudes of others through his instrumentality, 
there is reason to believe, have entered." 



402 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

Writing from Pittsburgh, May 8, 1836, he says to 
his little daughters, " This morning when I awoke, just 
as it began to be light, I heard the birds singing their 
Maker's praises most sweetly. And it made me think 
of you, and hope that you and all the children will 
do so too. The Lord is good to all. All his works 
'praise him. But especially should those do it who 
have reason, and have been redeemed by the suffer- 
ings and death of his own dear Son. I hope you do 
not forget the way to be happy. Love the Lord, 
and do good, be kind and obliging, hate and forsake 
all sin, and trust in Jesus Christ, and strive to be 
like him." 

In August, he attended a Temperance Convention 
at Saratoga Springs, where he wrote Mrs. Edwards, 
"I see no objection to Jonathan's being admitted to 
the church as soon as the way is prepared for it ; or 
to his attending commencement at Yale College and 
offering himself for admission, if his teachers think it 
best. I hope he will daily listen to the Bible, and 
seek heartily the divine guidance, protection, and bless- 
ing ; be humble and diligent, and do all the good in 
his power." 

We close this chapter with the substance of a glow- 
ing, Christ-exalting address by Dr. Edwards, at a 
foreign missionary meeting in Masonic Hall, New 
York, February 11, 1835, having special reference to 
the violent death of the missionaries. Rev. Messrs. 
MuNSON and Lyman, in Sumatra, and the sudden 
death of the Rev. Dr. Wisner, secretary of the Mis- 
sionary Board. 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 403 

"Nothing," he said, "except the contemplation of 
God fills my mind with greater awe than the contem- 
plation of the human soul — its amazing power, its 
endless duration, its capability of for ever rising from 
glory to glory, or sinking from woe to woe. 

"But the points suggested by this occasion, are, 
That souls have begun a course of departure from God, 
the fountain of all being, and excellence, and blessed- 
ness ; and that from this course they must return in 
this life, or they will continue on it for ever and for 
ever ; and that nothing but the gospel will ever induce 
them to return." 

He proceeds to show the darkness of the heathen ; 
the pollution of their gods — that the more they wor- 
ship them and pray to them, the more they become 
like them ; and that not only the heathen must perish 
without the gospel, but we need on our own account to 
send it to them, to " live not unto ourselves, but unto 
Him that died for us and rose again." Christ made 
the one great sacrifice in bearing our sins in his own 
body on the tree : he never faltered or shrunk back 
till he could say, " It is finished." It is now for us to 
do our duty. It is not the way of love to wish the 
object beloved to make all the sacrifices, while he who 
loves lives supremely to himself. 

" It was not so with Paul. He did not wish to have 
Christ, or any other one, do all or suffer all. The 
love of Christ constrained him to count all thin^rs but 
loss, that he might proclaim the great salvation in 
places in which the name of Jesus had not been 
known. He rejoiced even in his sufferings, ' that he 
might fill up that which was behind of the afflictions 



404 REV. JUSTIN EDWAUDS, D. D. 

of Christ, for liis body's sake, which is the church/ 
This he did, not on the ground of merit, but as the 
fruit and evidence of love ; because God,- and his own 
salvation, and the salvation of the heathen, required it. 

" So with Brainerd, and Martyn, and Mills. As 
Mills came one day and took my arm, he said, that 
no 3^oung man redeemed by the blood of Christ, and 
living in the nineteenth century, ought to intend to 
die, or to live, without an effort to make his influence 
felt round the globe. Hall, and Newell, and Judson, 
and Parsons, and Fisk, whose tongues, moved by the 
love of Jesus, I have often heard plead for dying 
heathen, did not wish to have all the labors perform- 
ed, and all the privations and sufferings endured by 
others. They chose to do and suffer a part them- 
selves. Their salvation required it, Christ required 
it, and the joy which they wished to excite in heaven 
required it. I remember hearing the modest, but 
heavenly-minded Fisk once say — and his form seems 
now to rise up before me, as if it were only yester- 
day when he spoke it — ' what a privilege it is to live 
in this day. The way is open ; a man may do as much 
as he chooses. 0, it is an unspeakable privilege to 
live in such a day.' Fisk gave not only his money, 
but he gave himself. And do you think, as he stood 
on Calvary, or lay gasping in death, or as he rose to 
glory, that he altered his opinion ? No. Nor was he 
alone. There were Richards, and Robbins, and War- 
ren, and many others, whose love to Christ, and to 
souls, carried them to the other side of the globe ; 
yes, and farther too, it carried them to heaven. 

" Robbins is a name not often mentioned among 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 405 

missionaries, but in heart and soul he was a great mis- 
sionary ; by whose mighty instrumentality, and that 
of others," was prayed into existence the whole system 
of American missions. His bones slumber in a south- 
ern clime, and his spirit, we trust, mingles sweetly 
with that rapidly increasing band of perfect missiona- 
ries, before the throne of God. 

"I could tell you too, of MuNSON and Lyman, 
who began privation and sacrifices while in the midst 
of overflowing abundance, that when called, in Java, 
or Sumatra, or Siam, to make them, they might, not 
only by the strengthened love of Christ, but also by 
the power of habit, be rendered more easy and more 
sweet. Precious youth — they loved not their lives, 
but they loved Christ, unto the death. 

"'But,' it is said, 'they died by the hand of vio- 
lence.' So did Stephen, though full of the Holy 
Ghost. So did Peter, though he could say, even to 
the Searcher of hearts, ' Thou knowest all things ; thou 
knowest that I love thee.' And so did Paul; and 
though to live was Christ, to die was gain. By the 
hand of violence? Mr. President, where had been 
your hope, and mine, and the hope of other sinners, if 
no one had been willing, for the salvation of men, to 
die by the hand of violence, and to make his grave 
with the wicked? Thanks, everlasting thanks to Him 
who was willing, when it was needful, to die by the 
hand of violence. 'I, if I be lifted up,' said he, 'will 
draw all men unto me.' Therefore we, and this dying 
world liave hope. 

" ' But they died so soon.' it is said. Yes, and it 
was probably because tliat prayer which Jesus, when 



406 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

about to taste death for them, put up, was so soon 
answered : ' Father, I will that they whom thou hast 
given me, be with me where I am, that they may be- 
hold my glory.' Bobbins, as when dying he was 
reminded of his friends, raised his eyes, and smiling, 
whispered, ' I have friends there, I hope ; and go to 
them, not from them.' 

" ' But those poor widows without a guide, or pro- 
tector, what will become of them, and that little fa- 
therless child?' Without a guide, or protector? a 
little child, too, in a land of strangers, among heathen, 
and fatherless? Whose voice do I hear, so much 
sweeter than the voice of angels, so divinely tender, 
and yet all-pervading, echoing, wherever the Bible 
goes, down to the end of time, ' Leave your fatherless 
children, and let your widows trust in me.' Which 
is best, to have an earthly father and protector, such 
as Munson, or Lyman, or any other mortal man, or to 
have the Lord God, gracious and merciful, slow to 
anger and abundant in kindness, saying, 'I will never 
leave thee, nor forsake thee ?' 

" ' But the heathen are perishing, we have not hall 
as many missionaries as we need ; and what can God 
mean in taking so many so soon away?' What can 
he mean ? He means that Christ shall have ' the 
heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts 
of the earth for his possession ;' that ' all nations, and 
kindreds, and people shall serve him.' When Christ 
raises up missionaries, and fits them for his service by 
pouring into their minds the light of heavenly truth, 
and shedding abroad in their hearts richly of his love 
])y the Holy Ghost; and they come to us, and urge 



HIS LABORS FOR, TEMPERANCE. 407 

upon us with the living voice, and the corresponding 
living example, the last great command of the Sav- 
iour, and we do not obey, but hug our children, hoard 
our treasures, and live for this world, and will not hear 
the voice of their life, then he speaks to us in their 
death. And in this way, he does not speak in vain. 

" Harriet Newell, though we had then few mis- 
sionaries, did not live to go to the spot where the 
mission was to be established. She died, but her death 
was the seed of missions. I found her life on the 
shelf, away off at the south, in a place where, I believe, 
they did not see missionaries, or hear missionary ser- 
mons. But Harriet Newell, speaking- in accents of 
death, and pleading for dying heathen, with a tongue 
and a power to which when living she was a stranger, 
went and preached to them. Though she sleeps on 
the other side of the globe, she has raised her voice 
so as to be heard almost throughout Christendom, and 
it is not spent, she does not become fatigued ; her 
voice has awakened many a minister in our own land 
to his duty ; and many a daughter and son have been 
devoted to the service of God among the heathen. 
But Oh, I tremble when I recollect that we have been 
so backward to do our duty, and that God has found 
it needful to add so many other dying voices to hers, 
in order to awaken us from our slumbers, and lead us 
to obey him. Ten times, by the death of missionaries, 
God hath spoken to us tlie past year. may we hear 
the voice, and awake to our duty. 

" Said Jeremiah Evarts, in one of the last conver- 
sations that I had with him, ' Tliere is nothing in this 
world like being a benefactor of minds ;^ a sentiment 



408 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

worthy of being inscribed on tbe annals of the uni- 
verse. So said Evarts, not in words only upon one 
occasion, but habitually and perseveringly in deeds. 
And when he came to die, as they wiped the cold 
sweat from his face, he opened his glimmering eyes, 
and looking upward, said, 'Infinite glory, infinite 
glory r Yes, ' infinite glory ' is before the man that 
lives for Christ, and is a benefactor of minds : glory 
which eye hath not seen ; and into which, when he 
leaves the body, he will enter and will shine as the 
brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever 
and ever. 

"Young men, I speak to you — you who are, or 
may be, blessed with grace, talents, and education. 
There is nothing in this world like being a benefactor 
of minds ; and nothing that more surely or rapidly 
fits the soul for heaven, than making known, from love 
.to Christ, the gospel of his grace to dying men. This 
may be one reason why those who engage in it with 
all the heart, are so soon prepared, through grace, to 
be with Christ, beholding his glory, and made per- 
fectly like him ; where ' they hunger no more, neither 
thirst any more, but the Lamb himself leads them to 
fountains of living water, and wipes away all tears 
from their eyes.' 

" When I have seen brother Wisner, during the 
past year, stand and plead as for liis life for perishing 
heatlien, as his bosom heaved and his eye swelled 
with tears, I have often thought of what a minister said 
to me once of brother Cornelius, six months perhaps 
before his death, a minister with whom he used to take 
counsel, and unite in prayer : *It appears to me he is 



HIS LABORS FOR TEMPERANCE. 409 

fast preparing for heaven.' And that dying woman, 
too, on whom I once called, at whose bed-side Cor- 
nelius had been offering up his supplications, said to 
me — and she was on the borders of heaven, when 
such persons sometimes have peculiar spiritual dis- 
cernment — ' I think he is ripening for a bright crown 
of glory/ 

"And may we not hope, must we not hope, that 
this was also the case with Wisner? When I met 
him in Tremont-street two weeks ago yesterday, he 
hastened and took my hand and said, ' Where have 
you been that I could not find you? I have been 
wanting to see you. I wrote you a letter about it 
before I got home.' And what did he want? To tell 
what he had thought about a plan for more speedily 
evangelizing the world. And if, through boundless 
grace, he was thus prepared for a bright crown of 
glory, why should he not wear it ; especially when it 
would be for the glory of Christ, and swell the joy of 
that great band of missionaries who had gone before 
him to glory, to see him, after all the tossings of this 
tempestuous world, landing in safety on the heavenly 
shore? And more especially when we may hope that 
his death too will start into life many a precious mis- 
sionary who may do more for God among the heathen, 
than even he could have done, had he lived. As the 
voice by his death waxeth louder and louder, saying, 
'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' me- 
thinks I hear one, and another, and another, from the 
East, and the West, and the North, and the South, 
saying, ' Here, Lord, am I ; send me I' 

" Missionaries will be greatly increased, but we 



410 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

must not depend upon them. No, their very founda- 
tion is in the dust, they dwell in houses of clay, and 
they are crushed before the moth. We must look 
upward to God ; yes, one and all of us must look up, 
with hearty submission, unwavering confidence, and 
transporting hope. In the closet, in the family, morn- 
ing and evening, every day ; as we walk the street, 
and sit in the house ; at the monthly concert espe- 
cially, let every man, woman, and child that loves 
Christ, or wishes for the salvation of those for whom 
he died, cry mightily unto God, and rest not from 
prayer and action, till 'the kingdoms of this world 
are become the kingdom of our Lord and of his 
Christ.'" 

In January, 1837, the "American Temperance 
Union," consisting of the officers of the Americanr 
Temperance Society and of the several state societies, 
commenced its operations in the city of Philadelphia, 
when its present secretary, Rev. John Marsh, entered 
on his official labors in connection with that institu- 
tion. As secretary of the Connecticut Temperance 
Society, though still pastor at Haddam, Mr. Marsh 
had long and actively cooperated with Dr. Edwards ; 
and as early as 1829, published his rousing Temper- 
ance appeal, " Putnam and the Wolf," No. 240 of the 
Tract Society's series. 



fUESIDENGY IN THE SEMINARY. 411 



CHAPTER X. 

HIS PRESIDENCY IN THE THEOLOGICAL 
SEMINARY. 

SIX YEARS — 180G-1842. 

Dr. Edwards, in February, 1836, was elected Pro- 
fessor of Theology in the Seminary then recently 
organized in the city of JVew York; and on the 9th 
of March he wrote the Directors of that institution : 
" The subject is of great importance ; and when the 
facts connected with it shall have been fully laid be- 
fore me, I shall endeavor to give it that attentive 
and prayerful consideration, which a subject so inti- 
mately connected with the prosperity of the Redeem- 
er's kingdom and the salvation of men, appears to 
deserve.'^ 

While the question of accepting this appointment 
was pending, he applied by letter to many esteemed 
brethren for their counsel, and the question had not 
been decided when, on the 21st of April, he received 
the following note from the Hon. Samuel Hubbard of 
Boston, a member of the Board of Trustees of the 
Theological Seminary at Andover. 
_ "I have said nothing to you in relation to your 
invitations to the "Western Reserve and to New York. 
As to the first, I never had the least doubt. As to 
the second, our doings at Andover," (at a meeting 
of the trustees, just held, electing him President of 



412 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

the Theological Seminary there,) "will assure you 
what my most deliberate judgment is as to your appro- 
priate sphere of usefulness in the service of our divine 
Master." 

The venerable Mr. Bartlet, one of the founders, 
and a member of the Board of Visitors, already the 
largest donor to the seminary, uniting in the judg- 
ment of Mr. Hubbard and others, had agreed to pay 
the salary of Dr. Edwards for five years, should he be 
elected President — an office which had existed in the 
seminary only during the last six years of the life of 
Kev. Dr. Porter, the senior professor, from 1828 to 
bis death in 1834; and which has since been filled 
only during the time it was occupied by Dr. Edwards. 
It was the quenchless desire of Mr. Bartlet, Mr. Hub- 
bard, and others, that the seminary should be pre- 
served a pure fountain sending forth pure streams; 
and they had great confidence, that the hallowed in- 
fluence of Dr. Edwards in the station assigned him, 
and virtually as pastor of the seminary, of the acad- 
emy, and of the schools and families connected with 
them, would be wisely and powerfully exerted for 
that end. 

In view of all the light he was able to obtain, he 
felt constrained to decline the appointment at New 
York, and to accept that of the seminary of whose 
board of trustees he had for sixteen years been an 
active member. 

"To the Reverend and Honorable the Trustees of Phillips 
Academy, in Andover. 

" Gentlemen — ^The appointment to the Presidency 
of the Tlieological Seminary in Phillips Academy, 



PRESIDENCY IN THE SEMINARY. 413 

wliicli I liad the honor to receivo from you, I have 
considered, with a portion at least of that desire for 
divine ofuidance and attention to the indications of the 
divine will, which the great importance of the subject 
seemed to require. The subject has not been without 
difficulty, nor have I been free from painful solicitude 
with regard to it. It has at times appeared to me 
doubtful whether I shall probably enjoy as good health 
in the situation to which you invite me, as in the one 
which I now occupy ; and if I should, whether I can 
be as useful to the world. But after all the light 
which I have obtained, by application to the Father 
of lights, and attention to those indications by which 
he ordinarily, on such occasions, manifests his will, I 
have come to the conclusion to accept, and I hereby 
do accept, the appointment to the Presidency of the 
Theological Seminary under your care ; and will, with 
the divine permission, enter upon the discharge of its 
duties at the commencement of the next term. * " ^ 
" Wishing you at all times the divine guidance and 
blessing, and asking an interest in your prayers, that 
I may be faithful and useful, that the seminaries under 
our care may be eminently instrumental in advancing 
the kingdom of our Redeemer, and that we may all, 
after having served God and our generation accord- 
ing to his will, meet as trophies of grace before his 
throne, and mingle with that blest assembly who 
through faith and patience are now inheriting the 
promises, I am with great respect and esteem, 
" Truly and gratefully yours, 

"J. EDWARDS. 
"Andover, July 16, 1836." 



414 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

On the 7th of September, 1836, he was inaugurated 
President of the Theological Seminary, on which occa- 
sion he delivered an address to the young men about 
to leave the Seminary, on the sacred work of the gos- 
pel ministry. 

In August previous, he had been unanimously 
elected Chancellor of "the University of Western 
New York," for which a location had been selected 
at Buffalo, and an endowment of "two hundred and 
twenty-five thousand dollars " had been subscribed ; 
but the communication from the Eev. John C. Lord 
and others, announcing this election, reached him after 
he had accepted the appointment at Andover. 

In tracing the life of Dr. Edwards while laboring 
in the Temperance reformation, we have had the most 
abundant materials, in public documents, and in ap- 
peals which he must necessarily issue in order to reach 
the minds of individual men throughout the commu- 
nity. As President of the Seminary ; as a member of 
the Board of Trustees, or Chairman of their Commit- 
tee of Exigencies ; in his consultations with members 
of the respected Board of Visitors, or with the Faculty, 
or with individual members of the Seminary or Acad- 
emy, or in regard to all the varied, responsible, and 
often complicated interests requiring his patient, labo- 
rious attention and care, his deliberations and counsels 
were to a great extent official and confidential. He 
neither wrote, nor reported them verbally, to any one. 
Those who consulted him as to official duties, or their 
individual interests, had a right to know that it was 
in a confidence ever to remain sacredly inviolate. Of 
this portion of his life and labors while in the Presi- 



PRESIDENCY IN THE SEMINARY. 415 

dency, however rich it may have been in lessons of 
wisdom or instruction, we have of course no record. 
Those who knew most intimately the labors and re- 
sponsibilities devolving on him at this period, believe 
that they were not less arduous than in other portions 
of his life, and that their blessed results will appear in 
the revelations of the final day. 

In an official report at the end of his first year in 
the Theological Seminary, he says, " I have prepared 
and preached, during the year, twenty-three sermons 
on the great principles and duties of the Christian 
religion. I have endeavored to exhibit them in an 
experimental and a practical, rather than in a scientific 
and scholastic form, as I considered them in this form 
best adapted to promote the spiritual interests of the 
Seminary. 

" I have attended the devotional exercises of the 
chapel daily, through the year, in the morning ; and 
have taken my proportion with the other officers, who 
have not been excused from this service, in the even- 
ing. I have spent one evening in a week, most of the 
year, with one of the other officers, in prayer and 
religious conversation upon some experimental and 
practical subject, with the members of the seminary ; 
and have taken my proportion in the criticism of the 
sermons of the Senior class. 

''I have also had one exercise a week with the 
resident licentiates on the composition and delivery of 
sermons, and the performance of the various duties of 
the ministry. One evening in a week has been devoted 
to conversation with all who wished to see me on the 
subject of religion. I have taken the charge of the 



41G IvEV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

pulpit, and of the monthly concert, and have had one 
meeting in a month for the families belonging to the 
congregation. 

"All the members of each of the seminaries who 
wished for the privilege, have had access to my study 
for an hour and a half in a day, for the purpose of 
making inquiries on any subject with regard to which 
they wished for counsel and advice. Much time has 
often been employed in this service ; and I have 
endeavored, as far as circumstances would permit, to 
act the part not only of a pastor, but of a father ; and 
from the frequent expressions of gratitude which I 
have received, I am led to believe that this exercise 
may have been useful to many. 

"I have also conducted the correspondence of the 
seminary ; which, with the numerous letters of inquiry 
from individuals, churches, literary and benevolent 
institutions, for pastors, teachers, agents, etc., and also 
for advice with regard to their concerns, lias required 
much time and labor." 

At the end of the second year he reports, that 
there had been an addition of forty-three students, 
making the whole number one hundred and two ; that 
" during the winter term there was an increasing at- 
tention to the subject of religion, and several cases of 
hopeful conversion among the members of the academy 
and others belonging to the congregation ;" that mem- 
bers of the seminary had performed much faithful 
labor during the spring vacation, in places visited by 
the special influences of the Holy Spirit ; that he had 
devoted one evening each week to conversation and 
prayer with all who wished to meet to make inquiries 



PRESIDENCY IN THE SEMINAHY. 417 

on the subject of religion, and once in three months 
had attended a meeting' for the mothers and the chil- 
dren ; that in the morning prayers of the seminary, 
which he had uniformly attended, he had found op- 
portunity to speak to the members on subjects to 
which at any time he thought their attention ought to 
be turned ; and that three hours in each day his study 
had been open, for consultation and advice, " not only 
to the one hundred young men in the seminary, but 
more than two hundred youths in the other institu- 
tions, many of whom," he says, " are without parents, 
most of whom are at a distance from their friends, 
and not a few of whom are laboring imder pecuniary 
and various other embarrassments, and are greatly 
needing wise parental advice ;" which gave "the best 
opportunity to become intimately acquainted with 
many in the morning of life, and under circumstances 
peculiarly favorable to exerting upon them a salutary 
influence." 

At the end of the next year, he says, " The number 
of students who have entered the Seminary during the 
year, exclusive of the advanced class, has been ffty 
two, and ten who had been absent have returned; 
twelve entered the advanced class ; making an addi- 
tion to the number of students in the Seminary of 
seventy-four, the whole number being one hundred and 
twenty-five. The state of religion in the Seminary has 
been, in view of the Faculty, comparatively favorable ; 
and the character of those who now finish their course 
of study is such as to give good reason to hope that, 
with the divine blessing, they may be rendered emi- 
nently useful to the world. A number of them are 

IS* 



418 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

devoted to the work of missions among the heathen ; 
and it is the opinion of the Faculty, that the prevalence 
of the missionary spirit has been, and promises to con- 
tinue to be, highly salutary to all the great interests 
of the institution." 

Addressing the students of the Seminary, October, 
1837, on the responsibilities and duties of the ministry, 
he gives the following hints as to a minister's conversa- 
tion and conduct, which we record not only as inher- 
ently valuable, but as having been faithfully exempli- 
fied in his own life as pastor. 

"The conversation and conduct, and the whole 
example of a minister, at all times, and in all things, 
should be such as will strengthen and confirm the 
influence of his preaching. Ministers are a spectacle 
not only to God, and to angels, but to men. All eyes 
are upon them, and all ears open to their words. In 
the stage, in the steam-boat, in the parlor, in the pub- 
lic concourse, in the private circle, or when convers- 
ing with individuals — anywhere, everywhere, 'the 
priest's lips should keep knowledge.' 

'' No man can measure his influence for good, con- 
cerning whom it can in truth be said, he utters no im- 
proper words. And no one can express the pain which 
is sometimes given to the sensitive and discreet mind, 
or the injury that is done, by the unsavory, ill-judged, 
frothy conversation of a thoughtless, vain, indiscreet, 
or even hypochondriacal minister. Does he travel? 
you hear of his remarks, from the mouths of the 
thoughtless and the profane, all along his journey ; 
and among his own people, they become the current 



PRESIDENCY IN THE SEMINARY. _ 419 

coin of conversation — counteracting, and often more 
than counteracting, the good which he might have 
done, if his conversation had been ' in simplicity and 
godly sincerity,' as became his office. He is a minister 
of Him, who so spake that men 'wondered at the 
gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth;' 
and in this he hath left us 'an example, that we 
should follow his steps.' 

" A minister may sometimes converse so mucli about 
himself] as to lead all to conclude that he thinks more 
about himself, than he does about God ; sometimes so 
much about his friends, as to show that he idolizes 
them; sometimes so much about the rich and the 
great, as to show that he seeks supremely to be like 
them. 

''He may converse so constantly and in such a 
manner about property^ especially when buying and 
selling, as to make the impression that his treasure is 
on earth — that there is nothing he loves above gold. 
So far as all transactions with regard to property are 
concerned, it is ordinarily wise for a minister first to 
ascertain the value of the thing in question, so as to 
prevent imposition, and then to do his business in the 
kindest way, and with as few words as practicable. 
Let him see to it that he does not in reality love the 
world ; and that he does not make the impression that 
he loves it. 

"A minister's manner of speaking about persons 
may be such as to make the impression that he does 
not speak of others, as he would wish and ought to 
wish that they should speak of him ; and of course 
that he is not governed by the spirit of the gospel. 



420 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

All that is trifling or frivolous in his conversation — 
all that is immeaning and apparently adapted only to 
flatter his hearers, or to make them think highly of 
himself — all that is not an exemplification of the truths 
which he inculcates in the pulpit, will tend to prevent 
their good effects. Nor is it enough that it should not 
be positively in opposition to the truth ; it must be in 
favor of it : here it is emphatically true, that he that 
gathereth not with Christ, scattereth abroad. 

"I do not mean that a minister must speak only 
upon the subject of religion, and never converse with 
freedom on the things of this life ; but that he should 
do it at such times, and in such a way, as is adapted 
to leave the impression that life is a vapor, that eter- 
nity draweth nigh, that 'one thing is needful,' that 
'now is the accepted time;' in such a way as shall 
say, in moving and persuasive accents, ' that they 
were wise, that they understood this, that they would 
consider their latter end.' In all his intercourse with 
his people, this should manifestly be his great object, 
that to which his time, his talents, his influence, his 
all of body and mind, should be habitually and per- 
severingly devoted. His heart's desire, his prayer to 
God should manifestly be, that they may be saved. 

" I might also urge a strict regard to simple truth 
in all his professed narrations of facts, so that all who 
hear him, or hear of his statements, may with con- 
fidence and safety conclude that the things stated are 
really so. If a man prevaricate, or exaggerate in con- 
versation, and others find that they cannot rely upon 
liim out of the pulpit, it tends directly and powerfully 
to destroy their confidence in what, he says in the 



PRESIDENCY IN THE SEMINARY. 421 

pulpit, and thus to cripple his power of producing 
conviction, even when he declares the truth. 'Let 
your communication be yea, yea ; nay, nay ' — simple 
verities in all things ; that none need ever doubt the 
correctness of your representations." 

December 29, 1838, he preached to the Theological 
seminary from the text, "Worthy is the Lamb that 
was slain;" presenting Christ as a willing, an un- 
changeable, an almighty Saviour. 

"Do you doubt," he says, "whether the great 
apostle justly spoke of him as ' God over all, blessed 
for ever ?' Look into heaven, and see written by the 
finger of God in great capitals for the universe to 
read, ' Worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt 
thou serve.' Then listen to the heavenly song, ' Bless- 
ing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him 
that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for 
ever and ever.' Do they not worship Christ? If so, 
they break the first command, or Jesus Christ is 
God. And if men cannot, or will not view and treat 
him as such here, what can they do in heaven ? 

" Do you say he was a man, he looked like a man, 
and acted like a man? He ate, and drank, and labor- 
ed, and died ; and in all, appeared like a man ? No 
doubt, for he was a man ; in all respects like other 
men, except sin. But ivhy was he a man ? I know 
that he who 'in the beginning was with God, and was 
God — by whom all things were created that are in 
heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, 
whether they be thrones or dominions, or principal- 
ities or powers, and without whom was not any thing 



422 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

made that was made ' — was himself ' made flesh, and 
dwelt among us;' that 'he took not on him the na- 
ture of angels, but the seed of Abraham,' ' was found 
in fashion as a man, and humbled himself, and became 
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.' 

" But why was he a man ? To die for you, and for 
me, and thus open a way in which God might be just, 
and yet save us from an eternity of sinning, and an 
eternity of suffering ; change us into his own blessed 
image, and raise us to seats of glory at his right hand. 
Had it not been for his love to us, and his desire to 
save us, he never had been a man ; but had reigned, 
in the glory which he had with the Father before the 
world was, to everlasting ages, and no being in heaven 
had doubted who he was. 

" But he loved sinners, and gave himself for them. 
Shall they on this account withhold from him their 
hearts, and refuse to give him their lives? While 
angels and cherubim and seraphim veil their faces, 
and cast their crowns at his feet, and raise the high- 
est ascriptions of glory ' to him that sitteth upon the 
throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever,' shall they 
who have been redeemed to God by his blood stand 
mute, or say in their hearts, ' We will not have him to 
reign over us ?' " 

At the time of the prostration of his health in 
Boston, May, 1829, Dr. Edwards resigned his mem- 
bership of the Publishing Committee of the American 
Tract Society at New York. In September, 1839, he 
was reelected to that office ; but as he still believed 
that the pressure of his official and other public duties 



PRESIDENCY IN THE SEMINARY. 423 

forbade his resuming the labors required, a special 
committee of the Society, consisting of S. Y. S. Wil- 
der, Esq., president, Rev. James Milnor, D. D., chair- 
man of the Executive and Publishing Committees, and 
Rev. William A. Hallock, secretary, addressed him 
on the subject, in a note written by Rev. Dr. Milnor. 

" Reverend and dear Sir — The Executive Com- 
mittee of the American Tract Society have received 
with great regret your letter declining the appoint- 
ment which they had hoped you would accept, as a 
member of the Publishing Committee. 

" Under a deep sense of the importance of having 
a gentleman of the Congregational denomination on 
that committee, who with other required qualifications 
should have so established a reputation in that body 
and in the community as to give weight to our pub- 
lications by his revision and sanction of them, and 
believing that divine Providence directs us immedi- 
ately to yourself as that person, we are induced to ask 
of you the favor to reconsider your determination. 

"The interest you have heretofore taken in the 
Tract cause, and the valuable contributions you have 
made to our series, together with the great importance, 
in the view of the resident members of the Publishing 
Committee, of having associated with them an eastern 
colleague in whom they could so entirely confide as 
yourself, induce them to hope that you may still feel 
yourself at liberty to engage in this interesting ser- 
vice. 

"We are persuaded that the duty will be less 
arduous than you imagine, as the Publishing Commit- 
tee will only forward you for examination such Tracts 



424 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

as the resident members have previously approved, 
and of course you will be spared the reading of a 
large quantity of manuscript which they have had the 
labor of examining, and have been obliged to reject. 

"Be assured, it will afford great pleasure to the 
Executive Committee, and they believe essentially 
promote the good cause in which they are engaged, 
if you can, though it be at some sacrifice of personal 
convenience, unite with them in their labor of love." 

Dr. Edwards soon consented to act again on the 
Publishing Committee, and continued to discharge the 
duties of that office until his death. 

Mrs. Edwards' brother in New York, in whose 
spiritual welfare he had felt so deep an interest, hav- 
ing obtained hope in Christ, he wrote him May 14, 
1838 : " It has rejoiced our hearts, and I trust led us to 
praise the Lord, that through his kindness and grace, 
you have been led to hope in his mercy. Next to the 
gift of a Saviour, the gift of a heart to trust in him, 
is the greatest which God ever bestows upon the chil- 
dren of men. If the Lord has granted you this bless- 
ing, he has, my dear brother, done more for you than 
if he had given you all the kingdoms of the world. 

" If your hope is that which will not fail, but will 
be as an anchor to the soul, sure and steadfast, it will 
lead you to make it your great object to be in temper 
like our blessed Saviour, and in all things to do his 
holy will. You will see more and more clearly, and 
feel more and more deeply your own unworthiness 
and guilt, your indebtedness for all your comforts to 
God's unmerited grace, and will strive to honor him 
in body and spirit, which are his. 



PRESIDENCY IN THE SEMINARY. 425 

" Seek, my dear brother, in all things to set a holy 
example, and to do good as you have opportunity to 
all. Your conversion may be in answer to the pray- 
ers which have been offered by many for this event. 
Pray much yourself for the salvation of others, and 
forget not our dear son Justin, and the other dear 
children which God has given us and you." 

A few weeks later he writes this beloved brother, 
requesting him to join in a concert of private prayer, 
in which the parents and a few friends had " agreed," 
for the conversion of absent sons and each of the chil- 
dren of the family. He adds by way of encourage- 
ment, "Did we know how ready Jehovah is to hear 
and answer prayer, we should no doubt pray much 
more than we now do, and with much more faith, 
earnestness, and perseverance. It may have seemed 
strange that you should be brought to hope that you 
know the truth, believe in and love the Saviour. But 
when it shall be told, in eternity, how many times 
your beloved mother has made this her last petition 
at night, and her first petition in the morning, how 
much others have prayed for you, and how faithful 
God is to answer prayer, the mystery may be un- 
folded." 

His two younger sons being now in Yale College, 
he prepared for them the following 

HINTS TO A STUDENT AT COLLEG-E. 

"Make it your first object to discharge your duty 
to God, to love him supremely, and obey his com- 
mands ; and daily read a portion of his word, with 
prayer for the teaching of his Holy Spirit. 



426 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

" Keep holy the Sabbath, statedly attend public wor- 
ship, avoid the reading of worldly books, and attention 
to wordly business, conversation, or amusement. 

"Be regular and diligent in your studies. Pass 
over nothing which is required in college without 
thoroughly understanding it. Be punctual and con- 
stant in your attendance upon all college duties ; and 
treat all the officers of college uniformly with polite- 
ness and respect. 

" Choose the >sober and the good only for your 
companions ; and never associate with those who are 
in any way vicious. Never be afraid to say to any 
one who solicits you to do an improper thing, * No.' • 

" Engage in no business, or reading, or amusement, 
or any thing which will hinder you from attending 
every recitation, and being thoroughly prepared. 
Never think it a mark of genius to be idle, or of dul- 
ness to study hard. Never be found in opposition to 
the government. Though all college should go wrong, 
let it be seen and known by all, that you on this point 
will go right. 

" In your dress be plain, simple, neat ; and in your 
manners easy and dignified ; be respectful to superi- 
ors, kind and affable to inferiors, and open, frank, and 
generous to equals. Never feel uneasy at hearing 
others praised, or try in any way to disparage them. 
Rejoice that others can do so well, and strive yourself 
to do better. 

" Take good care of your health ; exercise at least 
two hours in a day ; rise and retire early ; use cold 
water freely in washing every morning, and apply a 
coarse towel briskly to the skin ; and do the same 



PRESiDENCY IN THE SEMINARY. 427 

whenever there is an inability to sleep during the 
night. Eat regularly and slowly, masticate thorough- 
ly, and always be accommodating and polite at the 
table. 

"In journeying, be as circumspect as you would be 
at home ; treat all with politeness ; never differ with 
any one, should he take your seat in the stage or the 
car, and never dispute with any one by the way. Show 
that you can bear an affront, or if need be an injury, 
without condescending to notice it. Ever delight to 
show a kindness, and do all the good you can. 

" Let the consequences be what they may, never 
do what you know to be wrong, or neglect what you 
know to be right. In all things strive to 5e, rather 
than seem to be ; and to do that which you will most 
approve for ever. 

" Daily ask God for Christ's sake to guide you in 
all your views, feelings, words, and actions ; for he 
that trusteth to his own wisdom, or goodness, or, in 
the language of the Bible, ' to his own heart,' is a fool. 
' The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and 
a good understanding have they who keep his com- 
mandments.' ' Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe j' 
guide me, and I shall go in the right way." 

He afterwards says, "Among the most common 
baits which the devil puts upon his hook, in order to 
catch young men in college, are wine, cards, profane- 
ness, and tobacco. Whoever nibbles at either of them, 
may expect to be caught. Avoid soda, mead, confec- 
tionary, and every thing which tends to generate an 
artificial appetite of any sort. Keep your natural appe- 
tite, and you will find that nothing quenches thirst so 



428 RE V. JUSTJN EDWARDS, D. D. 

well, or tastes so good as pure water, a beverage as 
perfect as infinite power can make." 

Again he says, " Mr. Webster and all such men are 
now experiencing the benefit of their thorough atten- 
tion to science when young ; while many are exerting 
far less influence than they might have done, had they 
not while in college neglected their studies for that 
which they thought would in future life be to them of 
more advantage.'' 

To a son in College. 

"Andover, Feb. 24, 1840. 

" My dear Son — There is much more than usual 
attention to religion in many places, and a number 
have become hopefully pious. At such times, G-od 
may be said to be peculiarly near ; and it gives spe- 
cial emphasis to his direction, ' Seek ye the Lord while 
he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.^ 
It often appears to be much easier to secure the salva- 
tion of one's soul at such times than at others. But 
it must be made the object of chief attention. A heart 
to see and feel one's own sins, to abhor and forsake 
them, to behold the infinite beauty, loveliness, and 
excellence of Jesus Christ, to trust in him as a Sav- 
iour, and to delight in obeying him, is infinitely better 
than all wisdom, knowledge, or wealth, without it. 

" The coming Thursday is a day which is very gen- 
erally observed as a day of special prayer for colleges 
and other seminaries of learning. I suppose you have 
public exercises on that occasion. All such seasons I 
should be glad to have you attend, feeling that every 
thing is of small importance compared with the sal- 
vation of the soul." 



PRESIDENCY IN THE SEMINARY. 429 

A week later he says, "I feel especially desirous 
that you, my dear son, should now make this your 
great concern. Without a heart to choose God as 
your portion, to give him your supreme, your best 
affections, and make it your great object in life to 
honor him and do good, you are not fitted to live or 
prepared to die ; and you are constantly robbing him 
of what is most justly his due. You know from your 
acquaintance with the word of God, that you must 
experience a change in the temper of your mind, or 
you cannot see his kingdom. And you know also, 
from your own consciousness, that without it you can- 
not be happy here. As you must at some time make 
this your great concern, or it had been better for you 
not to have been born, and you can never have a bet- 
ter time, is not the present a peculiarly favorable time? 
it may be your only time. Does not duty, interest, 
safety, blessedness, every thing dear and every thing 
dreadful, urge you to give yourself, and all that you 
are and have, without delay, to Him who hath said 
and sealed it with his blood, ' Him that cometh unto 
me I wilf in no wise cast out.' " 

Again he says, " Contemplate, my dear son, your 
character and condition as a sinner in the sight of 
God. Go to him habitually, and tell him honestly 
and freely how you feel, and what you need ; beseech 
him to grant you his Spirit — who convinces of sin, 
of righteousness, and of judgment ; who takes of the 
things of Christ, and shows them unto men ; who 
opens blind eyes, unstops deaf ears, softens hard hearts, 
and brings those that were afar off nigh by the blood 
of Jesus. And forget not, that Jesus is now * exalted 



430 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

to give repentance and forgiveness of sins.' He inter- 
cedes for you, invites you to come to him, guilty as you 
are, and will delight to receive you ; and there would 
be great joy in the presence of all the angels of God. 
Give them this joy, my dear son, and let that Saviour 
who freely gave up his life for you, have your soul for 
a jewel in his crown of glory." 

To the compiler he wrote in reference to this son, 
"If convenient and pleasant for you and your friends 
to remember him before your heavenly Father, and to 
ask that he may be furnished to be an instrument in 
preparing jewels for the crown of Him whom the 
Father delighteth to honor, you will lay me under 
many and great and new obligations by doing so, and 
may be instrumental in saving not only one, but many 
souls from death, and hiding multitudes of sins." 

To his eldest son in New York. 

"Andover, March 7, 1840. 
"My dear Son — I am glad to hear of so much 
attention to religion in New York, and hope you will 
ever feel that the blessings of the Holy Spirit are 
the greatest and most to be desired of all blessings. 
If persons feel their need of Christ and his salvation, 
give up themselves to him, trust in him, and choose to 
serve him, he has promised that they shall not want 
any good thing. He will keep them from the dan- 
gers to which they may be exposed, will guide them 
in the right way, will give them as much of this 
world as shall be best for them, will order all things 
for their good, and when they leave this world will 
receive them to himself. They, and they only, are 
safe, and in the way in which alone it is possible to 



PRESIDENCY IN THE SEMINARY. 431 

be either excellent or happy, in this life or the life to 
come. 

" The Bible is the expression of His will. And per- 
sons may know something how they feel towards Him, 
by knowing how they feel towards that. If they love 
the one, they will love the other. And if you do not 
find delight in daily searching the Scriptures, you 
should fix it in your mind that your heart is not right 
with God, and that without a great change you can- 
not see his kingdom. Daily spread out your feelings 
to him, and beseech him to grant you the teachings of 
his Spirit. May the Lord guide and bless you, my 
son, and make you a blessing.'^ 

To his sons in college he wrote, June 11, record- 
ing the wonderful preservation of the life of their 
elder brother : " We yesterday received a letter from 
Justin, dated Galena, Illinois, June 5, saying that he 
was on board a steam-boat in the Missouri river, which 
struck a snag and sunk." He says, 

"'She sunk in three minutes. Six persons were 
drowned ; two women, three children, and an old man. 
In the afternoon four or five of us had been talking 
about the bursting of boilers, and other accidents of 
steam-boats upon these waters. We all concluded 
that the stern of the boat, on the hurricane deck, 
would be the safest place should the boat strike a 
snag. While talking, the supper-bell rang. Just after 
we were seated we heard a tremendous crash, and 
knew that the boat had struck. The dishes were all 
knocked off the table, and some of the persons from 
their seats. I sprung for my life-preserver, which I 
had in my berth already filled. I took that and was 



432 REV JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

on the hurricane deck in less than a minute ; two oth- 
ers followed, one of them was the old man. All the 
others who could, got into the small boat, which was 
immediately filled, and sunk before it reached the 
shore, but all got safe to land. The steam-boat ca- 
reened, and threw us who were on the deck into the 
water. The current was strong, and it was nearly 
two hours before I reached the land, and when I did 
I was out of sight of the place where the boat sunk. 
I was cold, and ran as fast as I could up the river, till 
I came to the passengers. The one who stood on 
deck with me was on the opposite side of the river 
safe, but the old man was drowned. I immediately 
left the spot, and after walking about four miles, found 
a wagon and went back to St. Louis.' 

"He had $1,400 with him when in the water, but 
so secured that it was not injured. He will be kept 
out, should he live and be able to travel, a number of 
weeks longer than he expected. The goodness of God 
in his preservation should be devoutly acknowledged, 
and that life which God has so graciously spared, be 
devoted to his service." 

To his son so kindly preserved, he wrote, " We 
rejoice and desire to be grateful to God, the author of 
all good and the giver of every mercy, for his kind- 
ness in your preservation, and that having obtained 
help of him you are permitted to continue, as we hope, 
in the land of the living. So true it is, that we do not 
know, and we cannot know, what a day or an hour 
may bring forth. The merchant is unwise who does 
not get his goods insured. How much more he who 
does not, by believing in the Saviour and loving him, 



PRESIDENCY IN THE SEMINARY. 433 

secure the everlasting interests of his soul, when that 
is so much more exposed than goods, and so much 
more valuable, and the loss of it so much more irrep- 
arable. 

" It must have been a solemn time to you when in 
the water, your companions sinking by your side, and 
you not knowing but that soon you would follow 
them. No one, without experience, can know the 
value at such a time, of having a good hope through 
grace of an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a 
joyful assurance that if called to be absent from the 
body the soul will be present with the Lord, behold- 
ing his glory and rejoicing in his love. Had you 
then, my dear son, closed your probation, where would 
now have been your soul ? Nothing of this sort occurs 
by chance. It is under the wise and good direction 
of God. It is a call to you, in his providence, to 
give him your heart, and devote that life which he has 
so kindly preserved, as an offering of gratitude, to his 
service. Pray daily for his Spirit, that you may 
hearken to his voice, love him, and trust in him. And 
may that love which led God to give up his dearly 
beloved Son to die for you, constrain you to live 
henceforth not unto yourself, but unto Him who died 
for you and rose again." 

To a son who for a short time assisted in a post- 
ofi&ce he wrote, January 21, 1841, " Do nothing in con- 
nection with the post-oJQ&ce but what is strictly legal, 
and be as careful not improperly to deprive the gov- 
ernment of their just revenue, as you would be not to 
deprive an individual of his just due. There is some- 
times much looseness of conscience on this subject, 

Edwards 1 9 



434 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

even among professed Christians, and they seem to 
think it less wrong to defraud the government than 
to defraud an individual. But this is not right. We 
experience great blessings through the medium of our 
government, and we should conscientiously and cheer- 
fully pay our proportion of taxes, customs, postage, 
etc., for its support." 

Writing to a relative a few days later, he says, " I 
have had more than twenty students to examine this 
week, preparatory to their being licensed to preach ; 
and sometimes it takes two or three hours to examine 
one and say all to him which seems important before 
he begins to preach. It is a great thing for a minis- 
ter to preach even one sermon, and have all that is 
said strictly true, and so said that it will convey noth- 
ing but truth to others." 

About the same date he wrote to a Christian 
friend, who he perhaps feared might awaken prejudice 
or opposition in the young and tender mind by too 
anxious endeavors for immediate spiritual results : 

" ' First the blade, then the ear, after that the full 
corn in the ear.' ' The husbandman hath patience for 
the early and latter rain.' So must we have patience. 
The husbandman who keeps all the time handling the 
little tender blade, and pulling it with his fingers, and 
trying to make it grow faster, and bring forth fruit 
Twv) before it is half grown, will not help it any, or 
have any greater harvest, than he who prepares the 
ground, keeps out the weeds, and goes to sleep at 
night, while it springs up and grows he knows not 
how. And 'he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing 
precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoic- 



PRESIDENCY IN THE SEMINARY. 435 

ing, bringing his sheaves with him/ and giving all 
the praise to the God of the harvest, who giveth ' seed 
to the sower and bread to the eater/ for ever." 

Reporting to the compiler his approval of the trea- 
tise on " Love to God/' by the excellent Joseph John 
Gurnej, of the society of Friends, he says, "It is a 
very sweet work, with which the soul is delighted as 
with marrow and fatness," and adds, " We ought to 
be grateful that there are some servants of Christ 
who, through grace, are tall enough to walk over the 
denominational walls which men. have placed around 
them." 

In a letter of February, 1841, Dr. Edwards records 
the death of the Hon. William Bartlet, the princely 
donor to the Theological Seminary, who had added 
to his other gifts, provision for the salary of Dr. Ed- 
wards in the presidency, for five years from 1836 to 
1841. He died at his residence in Newburyport, Feb- 
ruary 8, 1841, at the great age of ninety-three years. 
Besides all his munificent charities while he lived, he 
bequeathed, chiefly to children and grandchildren, 
upwards of half a million of dollars. At the age of 
twenty-one he was a shoemaker, and he was strong 
and vigorous till within a very short period of his 
death. A tribute to his memory was delivered at 
Andover by the Rev. Daniel Dana, D. D., April 19, 
1841, in which, after referring to his deep interest in 
the benevolent institutions of the age, which, with 
other objects of philanthropy, received his liberal sup- 
port, he says, 

"It is a singular and memorable fact, that when, 
about thirty-four years since, several opulent and 



436 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

large-hearted individuals were meditating the estab- 
lishment of a theological seminary in this place, an 
assemblage of the same description, in a distant part 
of the county, were, without any mutual knowledge 
or communication, engaged in a design entirely simi- 
lar. When the respective parties became acquainted 
with each other's intentions, a most interesting ques- 
tion arose : Would the cause of God and the interests 
of the churches be best promoted by a separate or a 
united organization? The question received a long 
and ample discussion. In the issue, difficulties van- 
ished, minor differences were merged, the spirit of 
union and of mutual concession prevailed ; and as the 
result, this theological institution rose into existence 
amply endowed, and powerfully sustained. The foun- 
ders at Andover," (Samuel Abbott, Esq., the widow of 
Lieutenant-governor Samuel Phillips, and Hon. John 
Phillips, Jr.,) " having been first in maturing and ar- 
ranging their plan, it was agreed that the other party 
should unite with them under the appellation of Asso- 
ciate Founders. Messrs. Brown (of Newburyport,) and 
Norris (of Salem,) made each a donation of ten tliou- 
sand dollars; Mr. Bartlet the same; adding, at the 
time, another ten thousand, and soon after increasing 
his subscription by a similar additional sum. These 
contributions, so liberal and ample, were but a mere 
introduction to subsequent displays of his liberality. 
To this liberality we owe the elegant and commodious 
chapel in which we are now convened. To this we 
owe a spacious and convenient hall for the residence 
of students. To this we owe no small part of our 
select and invaluable library. Having from early 



PRESIDENCY IN THE SEMINARY. 437 

time adopted the Seminary as the child of his affec- 
tions, he has followed it, in every subsequent stage, 
with spontaneous and unintermitted kindness, crown- 
ing all former favors by a very liberal provision in 
his last testament." 

September 8, 1841, Dr. Edwards preached before 
the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
Missions, in Philadelphia, his published sermon, 
"Christ, the Builder of the Spiritual Temple," from 
Zechariah 4:6," Not by might, nor by power, but by 
my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." This spiritual 
temple is the church, " built upon the foundation of the 
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the 
chief corner-stone." " It is to be composed of all true 
believers who shall ever have lived, from the first 
morning of creation to the last moment of time. They 
may not belong to the same denomination, or spend 
life on the same side of the wall which they have set 
up ; but if they believe on the Son of God, and are so 
joined to him as to be 'one Spirit,' they shall form a 
part of his spiritual temple. Europeans, Asiatics, 
Africans, Indians — all, of every age, and color, and 
kindred, and people, and nation, and tongue, who be- 
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, shall thus be builded 
together for an eternal habitation of God through the 
Spirit." 

"The greatness of the work which it was necessary 
to perform to lay the foundation — the foundation it- 
self," the Son of God, the brightness of the Father's 
glory, and the express image of his person — " the ma- 
terials out of which the temple is to be made," fallen 



438 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

and apostate man — ■" and the object for wliicli it is to 
be erected," to make known " the manifold wisdom of 
God, and the exceeding riches of his grace in his kind- 
ness towards men through Jesus Christ" — all show 
that it must be built, not by might, nor by power, but 
by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. That divine Spirit 
has chosen to work by blessing his own truth in answer 
to prayer, and has commanded his followers to make 
known that truth to every creature. "The grand 
business of every one is to embrace the gospel himself 
as the power of God unto salvation, and exert his 
influence to have this done by every man, woman, 
and child in Christendom, and throughout the world. 
From the discharge of this duty no man can be ex- 
cused. Let him be a merchant, a manufacturer, a 
mechanic, or a farmer ; a professional man, a man of 
leisure, or a man of business — whoever, wherever, 
whatever he may be, he is bound by obligations which 
he can never throw off, to go himself, or assist others 
to go, and preach the gospel to all people, and to use 
his influence to induce all to embrace it." 

Fired with this theme, when the members of the 
Seminary reassembled, he solemnly laid before them 
the import of the Saviour's last command, in its prac- 
tical application to foreign missions — a command de- 
manding not prayer only, or the gift of money, but the 
gift of themselves to go at the bidding of the Lord. 
And here his mind reverted to Mills, and Hall, and 
Richards, and Robbins, his companions in college, 
whose consecration of themselves to missions, in the 
dark period thirty years before, had been blessed in 
the cheering results then witnessed. He records that 



PRESIDENCY IN THE SEMINARY. 439 

while the best pastors who had long been praying that 
the gospel might be preached to the heathen, were 
advising the young men ''to give up such visionary 
projects,'^ one of the little band wrote to another as 
follows : 

"'I trust that our brethren will stand at their 
several posts, determined, God helping them, to show 
themselves men. Perhaps the fathers will soon arise, 
and take the business into their own hands. But 
should they hesitate, let us be prepared to go for- 
ward, trusting to that God who hath said, ' Lo, I am 
with you alway, even to the end of the world.' that 
we could enter at a thousand gates ; that every limb were 
a tongue, and every tongue a trumpet, to spread the gos- 
pel sound. Let us, my dear brother, rely with im- 
plicit confidence upon those great eternal precious 
promises contained in the word of God : 'There is no 
man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or 
father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for 
my sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive a hun- 
dred-fold, now in this time, with persecutions ; and in 
the world to come, eternal life.' Be strong therefore, 
and let not your hands be weak, for your work shall 
be rewarded. 

" ' Come then, and, added to thy many crowns, 
Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth, 
Thou, who alone art worthy ; it was thine 
By ancient covenant e'er nature's birth ; 
And thou hast made it thine, by purchase, since, 
And overpaid its value with thy blood.'" 

"Such were the feelings of four young men in 
1809. Their reliance was on God, and their deter- 
mination was, that, let others do as they might, they 



440 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

would attempt in this matter to obey Christ, and do 
what they could to cause the gospel of his salvation to 
be preached to every creature. They resolved, if they 
could, to form an association in this country to assist 
them. And if they could not, to go to some other 
country and form one there, if they could. And if 
they could not do this, then to work their way to 
some portion of the heathen world, and make known 
to the dying people, as far as they could, ' the unsearch- 
able riches of Christ.' This is tJie spirit which God de- 
lights to bkssJ^ 

January 27, 1842, he wrote to relatives in Boston, 
who had kindly supported his second son throughout 
his college course, informing them that the son had 
entered the Theological Seminary, and requesting 
them to procure a copy of " The "Way of Life " to be 
presented to him by his sister. He adds : 

" J • appears to be in fine health ; he entered 

immediately into the Junior class, and appears to be 
devoted to his studies. And if the Lord shall grant 
him the teaching of his Spirit, I cannot but hope that 
your many labors and prayers and sacrifices for him, 
may not be in vain in the Lord ; but may, through his 
rich abounding grace, redound to his glory, to the 
honor of that Saviour to whom we owe all our friends, 
all our comforts, and all our hopes ; and to whom we 
shall be indebted for all, for ever. It is good to serve 
him ; and in proportion as our young ministers, and 
old ones too, learn to follow him, they will not walk 
in darkness, but have the ' light of life ;' a light com- 
pared with which, the light of reason, of learning and 



PRESIDENCY IN THE SEMINARY. 441 

science, of wealth and power, of reputation and in- 
fluence and popularity merely, are as that of the glow- 
worm compared with the light of the sun. It is a 
light from the Sun of righteousness, which causes those 
who receive and enjoy it, not only to have light, but 
to become light in the Lord." 

To his youngest daughter, who was with friends 
in Boston, where were some special indications of the 
presence of the Spirit, he wrote, March 17, 1842, "We 
are willing that you should stay ; hoping that your 
great desire is to become reconciled to God, and be 
prepared to serve him. He is good ; he has been very 
kind, all your days, to you ; and it is right that you 
should, without delay, serve him. For this end, trust 
not to yourself, or to ministers, or Christian friends, 
as they cannot help you, except as Jesus Christ shall, 
by his Spirit, use them for this purpose. He is every- 
where present, and he can do for you what you need. 
Go directly to him, tell him all your un worthiness and 
all your wants ; and that he must save you, or you 
must perish. Tell him how you feel, and what you 
need, remembering that he would be just, if he should 
show you no mercy, but leave you, on account of your 
sins, to perish ; and yet, that he died to save you ; and 
invites you, guilty and unworthy as you are, to put 
your trust in him. He is all our hope, and we are 
under everlasting obligations to him for dying in our 
stead, that God might be just, and yet sanctify and 
save with an everlasting salvation all who trust in 
him." 

A few months later, under her father's kind and 
faithful counsel, this daughter publicly professed 

19=^ 



442 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

Christ, and joined herself to his people. Having con- 
nected herself with Bradford academy, an institution 
identified with the early history of Mrs. Ann H. Jud- 
son and Harriet Newell, her father wrote to her, 
"Daily read the Bible, and ask God to teach you by 
his Spirit all his holy will. Endeavor in all things 
to set an example which is lovely and will benefit all 
who shall follow it. Endeavor to keep the Sabbath- 
day holy from the beginning to the end, and to do to 
others as you ought to wish they should do to you. 
Trust in Jesus Christ for all that you need, and strive 
to imitate him, that you may find rest to your soul. 
Cultivate cheerfulness and piety as the balm of human 
life, which is nourished and increased by doing good 
to all." 

In a letter to Mrs. Edwards' brother in New York, 
April 25, 1842, he announces his retiring from the 
presidency : " When I accepted the appointment of 
President of the Theological Seminary, provision was 
made for my support for only five years, and I knew 
that I might be liable to close my connection with 
the institution at the close of that time. Neverthe- 
less, I thought it best to accept the appointment, even 
if that should be the case. The five years closed last 
September. The trustees then appointed a committee 
to see if means could be appropriated to my support 
from funds which we now have. But they find that 
they cannot do it without taking them away from 
other objects, from which none of us wish to take 
them, and I have of course resigned my office as pres- 
ident, still retaining that of trustee of the institution. 

" T am this day fifty-five years old. May the Lord 



PRESIDENCY IN THE SEMINARY. 443 

make me truly grateful for all his kindness, and teach 
me evermore to rejoice in him. I hope he will open 
some door of usefulness for me, and provide in kind- 
ness for my family. He has hitherto been unspeaka- 
bly kind, and I cannot but hope that he will give me 
a heart to trust in him, and to do his will." 

Many worthy and successful pastors, and others 
in stations of eminent usefulness in the church of God, 
bear a grateful testimony to the hallowed and abiding 
influence exerted by Dr. Edwards upon their own 
minds during his presidency — an influence which they 
value the more as they have become acquainted with 
the practical wants of men, and the power of the sim- 
ple gospel of Christ as the remedy for sin and woe. 
His influence was practical and biblical, rather than 
theoretic, literary, or scholastic ; and was enforced by 
a living example of what the man of God should be. 
His prayers and other devotional exercises are remem- 
bered as breathing " an unction from the Holy One ;" 
his brief practical expositions of the Bible as refresh- 
ing to the spirit that loved to draw divine instruction 
from the inspired fountains ; and his kind counsels as 
indicating that he had himself been taught of God, 
and as guiding to the course of true wisdom and use- 
fulness. Often has the remark been made, that all he 
did in his presidency for the best good of individuals 
brought into connection with him, and for the highest 
spiritual interests of the kingdom of Chi'ist, will never 
be fully appreciated till the fruits into which it ripen- 
ed shall be garnered in a brighter world. 

An esteemed pastor, who was a member of the 
seminary, says, " His counsels to the young men about 



444 HEV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

to enter the ministry, in the weekly conference, and 
on other occasions, were very valuable ; and his kind, 
peaceful, evangelical influence was felt on the semi- 
nary, and through the academies, in nameless ways. 
I have a distinct impression of the singular appropri- 
ateness and force with which he commented on the 
passages of Scripture read at the devotional exercises 
of the seminary. He seemed neither to say too much 
nor too little ; his words were ' fitly spoken.' He was 
preeminent as a counsellor. His study was the resort 
of students perplexed and 'troubled about many 
things,' and he was \hQ father of them all." 

Another, after expressing a wish that he could 
have acted as Professor of Pastoral Theology, and 
from the professional chair " imparted to the students 
his varied experience and wise counsels respecting 
pastoral duties," says, "He exerted a powerful and 
beneficial influence, of which no record can be made. 
Among tlie eminent men whom I gratefully remember 
as my teachers, there is not one whom I remember 
with more gratitude than Dr. Edwards. It is good 
to be permitted even to know such a man, and to love 
him." 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 445 



CHAPTER XI. 

HIS LABORS FOR THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE 

SABBATH. 

SEVEN YEARS — 1842-1849. 

Dr. Edwards having resigned the presidency of 
the Theological Seminary, April 19, 1842, we mark 
the workings of his mind on the question, what God 
WOULD NOW HAVE HIM DO ; and his humbly seeking 
the guidance of the word, the providence, and the Spirit 
of God, which at length was manifestly imparted. 

April 26, he wrote to the Rev. Dr. Brigham, Sec- 
retary of the American Bible Society, a letter of in- 
quiry touching a department of usefulness to which 
his thoughts had long and often been turned : 

" For a number of years, when reading the Bible, 
and finding it to be sweeter than honey or even the 
honey-comb, and that a knowledge of it is more to be 
desired than gold or evening gold, and that in under- 
standing, believing, and obeying it, there is indeed 
a great reward, I have had many thoughts floating 
about my mind as to the best mode, in the least time, 
of giving it to all who can read, and who would not 
otherwise receive it. You may perhaps recollect a 
letter which I wrote to you from Saratoga thirteen 
or fourteen years ago. What it was I do not now 
distinctly recollect; but I remember that it was de- 
signed, should the Lord give opportunity, to open the 
way for some further communications with regard to 



446 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

this subject. But other objects intervened, and it has 
rested to the present time. What should you think 
of a systematic, united, general, and persevering effort, 
to induce each individual who has the Bible, DAILY to read 
some portion of it ; and to do something to extend it, IN 
THE LEAST POSSIBLE TIME, to every individual who can 
read, and who would not otherwise obtain it? And 
should you be disposed, without any noise, to consult 
further with regard to it; or are your plans now as 
well constructed, and in as general, vigorous, and effi- 
cacious operation as in the present imperfect state of 
things they probably can be ?'' 

To this letter Dr. Brigham replied, May 4, that it 
had awakened much interest ; that " the Board felt 
more and more the importance, not only of distributing 
a greater number of Bibles, but of having them more 
generally and faithfully reac^ ;" that "after consulting 
two committees, of which the Rev. Dr. Milnor and 
the Rev. Dr. DeWitt were chairmen, it was resolved 
to invite him to give an address at the Society's anni- 
versary to be held on the 12th instant, embodying all 
the wisdom he had on the subject of the universal dis- 
tribution and perusal of the word of God." 

On the day in which Dr. Edwards wrote the above 
note to the Bible Society, the secretaries of the Amer- 
ican Tract Society at New York addressed him, inquir- 
ing " if he would listen to any proposition that Society 
could make for gaining his cooperation more immedi- 
ately in the Tract department of benevolence ;" to 
which he replied. May 10, that he was not then pre- 
pared to decide with regard to his future course ; that 
he " did not intend to be idle, but to keep his eyes a.nd ears 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 447 

open, and fake suitable measures to ascertain the will of 
God, and in dependence on him, as fast as he learned his 
vnll, to attempt to do it J' 

Near the close of the month, during the anniver- 
sary week in Boston, he invited the compiler to a 
walk on the Common, and stated that his attention 
had been especially directed to three objects — Tem- 
perance, the Bible, and the Sabbath. To the first 
he had devoted seven years ; the other two were now 
more especially before him, and he wished to see 
clearly to which of the two God called him to conse- 
crate himself. 

While these subjects were under consideration, 
the committee of the American Temperance Society, 
June 4, 1842, reappointed him for the service of that 
Society, though with the understanding, that should 
he feel that he was called to combine with it or even 
relinquish it for labors in behalf of the Sabbath or 
any other kindred object, he should be at liberty to 
follow what he might believe to be the indications of 
the divine will. And here we have brief memoranda 
from his own pen for a few days, in a little book for 
the pocket, chiefly filled with business items of the 
work on which he was to enter. 

"June 13, 1842. On the 4th inst. I received an 
appointment from the Executive Committee of the 
American Temperance Society, and on the sixth I ac- 
cepted the appointment. During the week I prepared 
two communications for the press : one on the nature, 
author, object, progress, and results of the Temperance 
movement, and the duties of the friends of God and 
man with regard to it ; the other an appeal to minis- 



448 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

ters of the gospel in the state, with reference to the 
Massachusetts Temperance Union. 

" To-day I undertake to prepare a discourse, to be 
preached as I may have opportunity, on Psalm 24 : 1 : 
* Tke earth is tlie Lord^s, and the fulness thereof; the 
world, and they that dwell therein;^ designed to make the 
impression upon my own mind and the minds of others, 
that God is the owner of all things ; that men are 
and can be only stewards, and that to be honest they 
must be disposed to render Him his due ; and designed 
to point out to all people who may hear it, what hon- 
esty requires. 

" May the Lord guide me by his Spirit, and make 
me instrumental of honoring him, and doing the high- 
est good of which I am capable to the children of 
men. I feel, or think I feel, more and more my con- 
stant need of his presence and blessing ; and that the 
entrance of his word, accompanied by his Spirit, or the 
Spirit speaking by the word, giveth light ; it giveth un- 
derstanding to the simple ; it indeed shineth as the 
day. And the amount of light which He, through his 
truth, can communicate at once on spiritual subjects, is 
truly wonderful ; so that through Him, as our day is, 
not only our strength, but also our light, our consola- 
tion, and all other needed blessings, shall also be. 
'Trust in the Lord,' therefore, 'with all thy heart, 
and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy 
ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 
Be careful,' over-anxious, ' for nothing ; but in every 
thing by prayer and supplication let your requests be 
made known to God. And the peace of God, which 
passeth all understanding, shall keep your mind and 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 449 

heart through Christ Jesus.' May I ever feel this and 
act accordingly, and so seek Thee, thou source and 
fountain of light and love, wisdom, strength, and con- 
solation, that I shall not want any good thing. 

" Afternoon. Had several hours very interesting 
conversation with a friend on the means of the moral 
renovation of this world ; particularly the promotion 
of Temperance, the observance of the Sabbath, and the 
proper treatment of the Bible; and concerning God 
as the author, Christ as the foundation, the Holy 
Ghost as the producer, and faith and love and Chris 
tian effort as the means, of all good to the children 
of men. May the Lord bless it to him and to me, 
and make it the means of great good to millions for 
ever." 

On the 19th he preached the sermon on Psalm 
24 : 1, in Newburyport, and then proceeded to Port- 
land, where on the 21st he says, "I addressed the 
Maine Conference on the subject of Temperance, the 
Sabbath, and the Bible. Had an interesting and very 
pleasant time. The Lord seemed to be there. 

" At seven p. m. took the boat for Boston. Arrived 
fifteen minutes too late to take the cars for Hartford, 
and soon saw, or thought I saw, the goodness of God 
in my disappointment. May I always rejoice in his 
will, and say, not in words merely, but in feeling and 
conduct, 'Not my will, but thine be done.' Left at 
three P. M. and lodged at the Exchange, (Hartford,) 
where the proprietor keeps a Bible in each lodging- 
room, and does not sell the drunkard's poison to be 
drunk even by sober men. This is as it should be, 
and I trust soon will be over all the earth, should the 



450 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

Bible go everywhere, and be understood, believed, and 
obeyed by every soul. 

" 22d, (at the Exchange hotel in Hartford,} thought 
this morning of forming, or attempting to form, an 
American and Foreign Biblical Association, the 
object of which shall be to induce every person who 
cannot read, to learn to read ; every person who can 
read, and is destitute, to supply himself with a Bible, 
daily to read some portion of it, and seek the teaching 
of the Holy Spirit, that he may understand, believe, 
and obey it. 

" 23d, arrived at Wethersfield just in time to pro- 
cure from the General Association of Connecticut the 
passage of three resolutions on Temperance, the Sabbath, 
and the Bible, the same as were passed on the 21st, by 
the General Association of Maine. I would devoutly 
acknowledge the goodness of God in bringing me here 
at the hour, and inducing the Association to give the 
resolution so favorable a reception. May he help 
me henceforward to notice his hand, his kindness and 
love in all things, and rejoice evermore in him and 
his holy will, so that I may pray without ceasing, and 
in every thing give thanks, because this is the will of 
God. Help me, God, to trust in thee at all times, 
and to pour out my heart before thee, and in all my 
ways so to acknowledge thee that thou mayest in all 
things direct my paths. Give me clear and extended 
discernment, sound judgment, a pure and holy heart, 
an ardent thirst after knowledge, especially a know- 
ledge of the 'only true God, and Jesus Christ whom 
thou hast sent ;' an ardent love to men, and desire for 
their highest good ; candor and kindness in view of 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 451 

their failings, and compassion in view of their sins ; 
a deep abhorrence of every wrong thing ; a rejoicing 
in others' proaperity, in their increasing influence, and 
ability and disposition to do good; and a heart to 
render to thee at all times all the glory. Open the 
way, I beseech thee, O Lord, for the sake of thy Son, 
for all people soon to bow to him and own him as 
Lord, to thy glory. 

" 25th, reached Boston, where I spent the Sabbath. 

" 2Tth, went to Andover and formed the Sabbath 
Association. 

"29th, went to Westborough, and attended the 
General Association of Massachusetts, who adopted 
the resolutions on Temperance^ the Sabbath, and the 
BibleJ' 

On the 31st he is at New Haven raising funds for 
the Sabbath cause ; then at Saratoga and at Mr. Dela- 
van's in Ballston, then at Utica, then at Rochester at 
an interesting Sabbath Convention ; then at Geneva, 
Auburn, Albany, Troy ; then at Boston successfully 
conferring with gentlemen as to providing funds, 
and then in other parts of New England, and we find 
him in the midst of a powerful agency for the cause of 
THE Sabbath, to which he devoted seven years of his 
public life. 

As in the Temperance reformation, when he was 
brought as it were into contact with the millions of men, 
in forming and executing plans of which the responsi- 
bility rested mainly on himself, he showed a giant 
power which none before knew that God had given 
him, we now seem to feel the renewed pulsations of his 
great and warm heart, as he launches forth among the 



452 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

works and people of God, with the grand aim of in- 
ducing all men to pause on the holy Sabbath, and hear 
the voice of God speaking to them the words of eternal 
life. 

He had labored nearly one year, when, on the 4th 
of April, 1843, the American and Foreign Sabbath 
Union was organized in Boston : Chief Justice Will- 
iams, of Connecticut, President; Dr. Edwards, Sec- 
retary ; and Messrs. John Tappan, Moses Grant, Ben- 
jamin Smith, Jacob Sleeper, and Benjamin Howard, 
Executive Committee. 

On the I7th April, 1844, their first anniversary 
was held, when we have a summary record of the 
labors of Dr. Edwards for nearly two years. 

" The Secretary of this Union has visited ten dif- 
ferent states, and travelled about twelve thousand 
miles." He has generally preached, or delivered pub- 
lic addresses, two or three times on the Sabbath, and 
often during the week ; he has attended five general 
Sabbath conventions, and addressed a great number 
of all classes of people. "These conventions have 
been numerously attended, and with great unanimity 
have expressed and published their views with regard 
to the importance of the Sabbath, and the benefits 
which would result to individuals and to the commu- 
nity from its universal observance. 

" He has also attended the meetings of twenty-five 
ecclesiastical bodies of various denominations, has 
addressed personally more than thirteen hundred minis- 
ters of the gospel and several hundred more by letter, 
procured the passage of numerous resolutions expres- 
sive of their views of the divine authority and per- 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SA.BBATH. 453 

petual obligation of the Sabbath, and has engaged 
many to preach on the subject, and in the various 
ways in their power to disseminate a knowledge of the 
reasons why all men should remember that day and 
keep it holy. He has also visited many colleges and 
seminaries, and addressed the students on the impor- 
tance of the Sabbath, as a day of rest from their secu- 
lar pursuits, and of special devotion to spiritual and 
eternal concerns. Wherever he has gone, he has been 
welcomed, and the subject of the Sabbath has been 
treated with the most respectful attention. Many 
distinguished men have expressed their conviction of 
its great importance to all the interests and prospects 
of our country ; and applications for the services of 
the Secretary have been much more numerous than he 
could comply with. He has also published numerous 
articles in various periodicals, which have been exten- 
sively copied and circulated. Through his efforts and 
those of others, an increased attention has been awak- 
ened, and in many places a great change in sentiment 
and practice is taking place with regard to this subject. 
"The transportation of the mails on the Sabbath 
has, on numerous routes, been discontinued ; and stage- 
coaches, steam- boats, rail-cars, and canal-boats have, 
in many cases, ceased to run on that day. Stockhold- 
ers, directors, distinguished merchants and civilians, 
have expressed their conviction, that, should this be 
the case universally, it would greatly promote the 
welfare of all. The number of those who go, or send 
to the post-office, who are disposed to labor, or engage 
in secular business, travelling, or amusement on the 
Sabbath, is diminishing ; and the number increasing 



454 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

who are disposed to attend the public worship of 
God. Sabbath-breaking is becoming more and more 
disreputable, and is viewed by increasing numbers, as 
evidence of a low, reckless, and vicious mind. The 
conviction is extending that it is not only morally 
wrong, but is unprofitable and dangerous. And 
should all the facts with regard to this subject be 
known, and duly appreciated, that conviction, we 
believe, would become universal. 

"Laborers, in many cases, refuse to work on the 
Sabbath. They view it, as it actually is, a degrada- 
tion to be thus singled out from the rest of the com- 
munity, and obliged to labor when others are at rest. 
They find it to be hurtful to themselves and their 
families. It injures their health, corrupts their morals, 
and increases the danger of their being abandoned to 
infamy and ruin. Some who, in consequence of refus- 
ing to labor on the Sabbath, had been dismissed from 
their employments, have afterwards been sought for 
and employed again, and warmly commended for their 
attachment to principle, and for their fidelity and suc- 
cess in the discharge of their duties. 

" There is a growing conviction, founded upon ex- 
perience and observation, that property and life are 
7nore safe under the care of those who keep the Sab- 
bath, than under the care of those who violate it ; and 
that the one class are more likely to be blessed and 
to be a blessing, even in this world, than the other. 
As principles and facts become known, all see new 
evidence that 'the Sabbath was made for man,' and 
that in the keeping of it, according to the will of God, 
there is great reward." 



HIS LABORS FOR THL SABBATH. 455 

The First of the well-known and still widely cir- 
culated Permanent Sabbath Documents, prepared by 
Dr. Edwards, had now been issued: exhibiting the 
ends for which the Sabbath was appointed ; the rea- 
sons why it should be kept ; the benefits of observing 
it ; and the evils which, by laws that no one can an- 
nul or evade, must come upon those who profane it. 
The Sabbath, with its attendant means of grace, is 
presented as " the great institution of Jehovah for com- 
municating, preserving, and rendering practically eflS- 
cacious the knowledge of himself, as the Creator, Pre- 
server, Redeemer, Benefactor, Owner, Governor, and 
Judge of men. It is the institution which he appointed, 
and which he blesses for that purpose. And so efi&ca- 
cious is it for that end, that no people who have con- 
tinued to observe it according to his will, have ever 
lost the knowledge of the one only living and true 
God, or ceased publi»cly to serve and adore him. And 
had all people continued from the beginning to ob- 
serve it, they had in all ages been worshippers of Je- 
hovah, and idolatry never have been practised upon 
the earth." 

At the creation God established the Sabbath for 
the race of man, and ratified it by his own high and 
holy example in resting on the seventh day. " Time 
itself was to be divided, not merely into days, or 
montlis, or years, or into any periods measured by the 
revolutions of the earth or the heavenly bodies, but 
into weelis — periods of seven days ; six for labor, and 
one for rest and special devotion to spiritual things. 
This division of time, measured by the conduct and 
i^ill of God, and by the capacities and wants of men, 



456 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

was to be, in all ages and all countries, a sign of the 
covenant between God and his people ; an emblem 
and a foretaste of the rest which remaineth for them, 
and a special season of preparation for its eternal 
joys. 

" For this reason, Jehovah not only kept it himself, 
but he sanctified it, or set it apart from other days for 
this special purpose. He also blessed it, and with 
such a fulness of blessings, that they flow out to those 
who keep it, not only on that day, but through all 
the other days of the week. They are blessed in their 
bodies and souls, in their going out and their coming 
in, and in all their ways." 

" When, on the morning of that blessed day, the 
sun rises and shines as brightly as on other days, the 
oxen graze as peacefully, the lambs skip as briskly, 
and the birds sing as sweetly — yet no man goes forth 
to his labor, no shop-door or window opens, no wheel 
rattles on the pavement, or vessel leaves the harbor, 
no stage-coach or canal-boat runs, no whistling or 
rumbling is heard on the railroad, or bustle is wit- 
nessed in any department of secular business, but uni- 
versal stillness reigns throughout creation, except as 
broken by the voice of prayer and praise ascending 
to its Author : that stillness is the voice of God to the 
moral nature of man — his still, small, but all-pervading 
and efficacious voice, proclaiming his existence, his 
character, and his will." 

" When the day comes, every man has a right to 
keep it holy to the Lord. This is the right of the 
poor, as really as of the rich ; of servants, as well as 
of masters. All have a right to labor six days in a 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 457 

week, because God has given it. All have a right to 
rest one day in seven, because God has given that. 
This right comes from God. Like the right to live, 
to see the sun, and breathe the air, it vests in human- 
ity, and is indienohle. No human government gave it, 
and no human government, without deep injustice, can 
take it away. There is not a laborer on the canal or 
railroad, in the manufactory or workshop, or in any 
department of worldly business, who has not this 
right." 

And not only the law written on tables of stone, 
but ^^ another law written by the finger of God on the 
nature of man arid beast j^^ requires this. " They were 
not made for seven days' labor in a week, and they 
cannot endure it, without lessening their health and 
shortening their lives :" a principle which he supports 
by the most reliable and abundant testimony, showing 
that " the policy which seeks to gain by the violation 
of the laws which infinite wisdom and goodness have ' 
established, is selfish, short-sighted, and defeats its 
own end." 

The Second Permanent Sabbath Document, issued 
the next year, considers the change from the seventh to 
tlie first day of the iceek. The original institution was 
the setting apart of one day in seven for the holy rest ; 
and we have simply to learn the will of God as to 
which day of the week it shall be. The seventh day 
was originally observed in commemoration of Jeho- 
vah's resting from the work oi creation; the first day 
is observed in commemoration of the greater work of 
redemption, as shown in the New Testament. 



458 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

"No sooner does Jeliovah appear as 'God manifest 
in the flesli/ than suddenly there is with the angels a 
multitude of the heavenly hosts, crying, ' Glory to 
God in the highest.' Why ? Because that in six days 
he created the heavens and the earth ? No ; not that 
merely, or principally ; but because there is ' peace 
on earth, good-will to men,' through those wondrous 
manifestations into which angels desire to look, of a 
JUST God, and yet a Saviour. 

"The first creation made men creatures, and placed 
them where, by their voluntary rebellion, they became 
sinners, and exposed to endless death ; the second 
creation makes them saints, and prepares them to be 
kings and priests unto God, and to reign with him for 
ever and ever. 

"Ever since He who had power to lay down his 
life, showed that he had power to take it again, by 
bursting the bands of death, and rising triumphant, 
•leading captivity captive, his disciples have assembled 
on the day of his resurrection to worship and adore. 
For eighteen hundred years has been sung, by the 
church on earth, a new song, and one which the physi- 
cal creation merely could never inspire, 'Thou art 
worthy, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us 
unto God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and 
tongue, and people, and nation.' This is now their 
practice ; and such it will continue to be, till this song 
of the church on earth is swallowed up in the song of 
the church in heaven." 

After Christ's resurrection, when according to the 
prophecy he became the headstone of the corner, we 
hear no more of his going into the synagogue, or any 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 4-59 

other place of worship, or even meeting his disciples, 
on the seventh day, (the day in which he had lain in 
the grave ;) but on the first day he met them from 
time to time with abundant blessings, and said, " Peace 
be unto you ;" " Receive ye the Holy Ghost." 

The Third Permanent Sabbath Document, issued 
two years later, is entitled, " The Sabbath a Family 
Institutiox," and shows that as God made o}ie woman 
to be the help-meet of o/ze mayi, so he made the Sabhath 
to be the help-meet of the family ^ without which, in nei- 
ther case, would he have fulfilled his designs of love. 
The whole subject underlies the dearest individual, 
social, civil, temporal, and eternal interests of man. 

"To bring glory to himself in the highest, and 
manifest most efiicaciously and extensively good-will to 
men, God established, at the creation, two great, fun- 
damental, and permanent institutions. The first was 
that of Marriage, or the union for life of one man 
and one woman, as the head of one family. The next 
was the Sabbath, or the day of weekly rest from 
worldly business and cares, and of special devotion to 
the worship of God and the promotion of the spiritual 
good of men. Both were established in paradise, 
before the fall, and were 'made for man.' Both are 
suited to his nature, adapted to his capacities, and 
essential to the supply of his wants. They were so 
at the beginning, they are so now, and they will con- 
tinue to be so, in all countries, to the end of time. 
They are parts of one whole, and mutually aid and 
sustain each other." 

He considers the familv institution under the heads 



460 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

of government^ instruction, and example. Under the 
first he says, " Children are the creatures, and as such, 
the property of God. He commits them to their par- 
ents as his representatives and officers, to receive and 
train them for his service. For this purpose they are, 
from the beginning, to consecrate them to him, and 
early to teach them the first great lesson of his moral 
government, ' Not my will, but thine be done :' that 
they must not be permitted to have their own way, to 
govern themselves, or others. They are not qualified 
to govern. They have not lived long enough, they do 
not know enough, they are not good enough, they are 
not strong enough. Their interest, safety, excellence, 
and usefulness, their happiness, and the happiness of 
others, all require that they should not govern, but 
be governed. Parents are God's officers to teach 
them this truth, which lies at the foundation of his 
moral government, and the practical experimental 
knowledge of which is essential to the excellence, use- 
fulness, and happiness of every human being.'' 

The instruction they need, especially " the know- 
ledge of God their Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, 
and of themselves, their relations and duties, should be 
communicated, not in set forms, or at stated periods 
merely, but ' line upon line, and precept upon precept, 
here a little and there a little,' as they are able to 
bear it. In the house and by the way, when they lie 
down and when they rise up, parents must communi- 
cate knowledge as there is time and opportunity. And 
in order to secure the performance of these duties, 
parents must daily read the Bible themselves, and pray, 
not only in secret, hut in their families. All the family 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 461 

must assemble and hearken to the voice of their com- 
mon God and Father ; bow before him in confession 
of their sins, and in humble supplication for his mer- 
cy ; render tlianks for his benefits, and ask of him the 
blessings which they need for the body and the soul, 
for time and eternity, especially the blessings of his 
grace, that they may all be made wise unto salvation 
through faith in Jesus Christ. And in the duties and 
events of the day, parents must manifest those feelings 
of supreme regard to God and good will to men, which 
they inculcate on their children ; and must set them an 
example of living, not unto themselves, but unto Him 
who died for them and rose again. 

" Under the influence of such government, instruc- 
tion, and example, they may expect, with the blessing 
of God, that their children will know him, and Jesus 
Christ whom he has sent, and will become followers 
of those who through faith and patience are now in- 
heriting the promises." 

But there would be no such " family government, 
instruction, and example," as here inculcated, if the 
Sabbath, with its ordinances and blessings, had not 
been given, and the very terms of the command seem 
to present it as a family institution : " In it thou shalt 
not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, 
thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, 
nor the stranger that is within thy gates," or under 
thy control. " God has made it the duty of the head 
of the family to see that it is observed. And one 
great object that he had in view in the establishment 
of family government was, that through its influence 
the observance of the Sabbath might be secured," and 



46:^ REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS. D. D. 

thus the Wo great primeval institutions of paradise 
be the mutual support and strength of each other. 

The Fourth Permanent Sabbath Document, issued 
the next year, shows, chiefly from scriptural authority, 

THE PROPER MODE OF KEEPING THE SaBBATH. The 

divine command, as above intimated, secures rest on 
thi^ day to all under one's care and control, not only 
men but beasts of burden, and requires that all things 
be so arranged as to give them this privilege. 

" Though heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot 
contain him, and he has ten thousand times ten thou- 
sand round about him, God does not forget the poor 
or the dumb. Not a servant escapes his notice, nor a 
beast is beneath his care. He never for a moment 
overlooks the defenceless, who cannot protect them- 
selves, or plead their own cause. He compassionates 
their condition, and sympathizes with their wants. 
When, after six days of labor, they need, in addition 
to the rest of the nights, the rest also of one day, he 
guarantees it to them. And it was with reference to 
them, as well as others, that he made the Sabbath, set 
it apart for sacred purposes, gave it to men, forbade 
them to labor during its hours, and commanded them 
to keep it holy. 

" To keep the Sabbath-day, then, in a proper man- 
ner, oxen and owners, servants and masters, children 
and parents, workmen and employers, sojourners and 
citizens, all, on this day, must rest from worldly busi- 
ness, except so far as works of necessary mercy, and 
the best discharge of the appropriate duties of the 
Sabbath as a holy day, may require.'^ 



HIS LABURS FOR THE SABBATH. -iGD 

He proceeds to a careful analysis of the directions 
of the Bible as to the sacred observance of the day, and 
especially the teaching of Christ and the apostles; 
and then examines a great variety of cases, in all the 
principal departments of life, in which there may be 
a supposed necessity for violating the Sabbath, illustrating 
the subject by facts which had come to his knowledge. 
He considers very fully the case of manufactories — hay- 
ing ajid harvesting — the merchant, or banker — tJie lawyer — 
travelling — the mails — the sailing of packets — going into 
the country for health— ferries — livery stables — the butch- 
er — the baker — the printer — arrangements of families — 
steam-boats — navigation of ships — whaling — secular read- 
ing, or conversation — ministerial exchanges, etc., showing 
in all the safety, the wisdom, and the duty of sacredly 
and faithfully keeping the day holy unto God. He 
then renews the consideration of the benefits of ob- 
serving the day, in the study of the Scriptures, public 
worship, prayer, gaining or imparting religious in- 
struction, and other means of grace, and adds : 

" Let all who would be the friends of their Maker 
and benefactors of their race, confine their secular 
business, travelling, and amusement to six days in a 
week, the only days which God has made or given to 
men for that purpose, the only days which they can 
take without taking what is not theirs, and thus show- 
ing themselves to be at heart, towards God, dishonest 
men. Let them remember the Sabbath-day, and keep 
it holy as the day of the Lord ; devoting it from 
beginning to end cheerfully to his worship, private, 
social, and public, and to the promotion of the spirit- 
ual good of men. Let them cease from secular cares, 



464 KEV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

from worldly, scientific, and literary reading, conver- 
sation, visiting, and pleasure. Let them hearken dil- 
igently to the voice of God in his works, his word, 
and his providence, and as echoed by their own con- 
science ; let them make it a part of their employment 
every Sabbath, to study the Bible with attention, 
docility, and prayer ; to hearken to it as illustrated, 
expounded, and enforced by the pious, learned, and 
faithful ministers of the gospel ; and then let them 
search the Scriptures for themselves, and judge wheth- 
er what they hear is confirmed by the unerring word 
of God ; and if so, let them receive it, not as the word 
of men, but as the word of God, treasure it up in their 
hearts, and exemplify it in their lives. Then will they 
shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word 
of life, and letting their light so shine that multitudes 
will be led to glorify their Father in heaven. Life 
will be pleasant, death will be peaceful, and eternity 
glorious. Their children who walk in their steps will 
rise up and call them blessed. Posterity will honor 
their memory, and unborn generations to all future 
time reap the benefit of their labors, and add to their 
exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 

The Fifth, and last Permanent Sabbath Docu- 
ment, Developments of Providence on the Sab- 
bath, comprises one hundred and thirty-four well at- 
tested, instructive, and in many cases intensely inter- 
esting facts ; illustrating the blessedness, even in this 
life, of keeping the day holy, and the folly and sin of 
presumptuously rebelling against God by its profa- 
nation. 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 465 

"These facts," he says, "are not stated to prove 
that the Sabbath is a holy day ; but, as a part of the 
history of providence with regard to the day, they 
serve to illustrate and enforce the truth, that when 
men, in opposition to the known will of God, openly 
trample down a great institution of his appointment, 
the observance of which is essential to the promotion 
of his glory and the welfare of men, he will in his 
providence so often thwart their plans and disappoint 
their expectations, that for them to pursue such a 
course is not wise. It is not good policy for this 
world. It does not produce a good influence on a 
man's own mind while he pursues it ; and it does not 
work well on his children. It is not the best way to 
obtain property, and receive from it the greatest 
benefit ; and it does not end well." 

These admirable "Permanent Sabbath Documents" 
were joyfully welcomed by the Christian community, 
both in this and the mother country, as they succes- 
sively appeared, and they are still the standard work 
for general circulation on the sanctification of the 
Lord's day. 

On the 27th of November, 1844, a National Sab- 
bath CoNVENTiox was held at Baltimore, attended by 
upwards of seventeen hundred delegates^ from eleven 
different states, at which John Quincy Adams, late 
President of the United States, presided. This con- 
vention adopted with great unanimity twenty reso- 
lutions, expressing their sense of the sacredness, the 
divine authority, the obligations, and the benefits of 
the Sabbath ; and also adopted three able and forcible 

20* 



466 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

public appeals for the true and proper observance of 
the day: one to the people of the United States ; one to 
canal commissioners ; and one to the directors of rail- 
roads — all of which, with the proceedings of the con- 
vention and valuable letters from gentlemen of dis- 
tinction who could not be present, were published and 
extensively circulated. Within the first three years 
of Dr. Edwards' labors, fifteen general Sabbath con- 
ventions were held, of which seven were state con- 
ventions, each attended by from one hundred to five 
hundred delegates. 

On the adjournment of the National Convention 
at Baltimore, he entered on one of those extensive and 
laborious tours by which he exerted so efi'ective an in- 
fluence. The brief record is : " He visited Washing- 
ton, and addressed six public assemblies in the District 
of Columbia. He then proceeded westward, spend- 
ing a week or two, and attending various public 
meetings, in the principal places from that city to St. 
Louis, where he addressed seven public meetings, and 
then proceeded to Alton, Peoria, Chicago, and De- 
troit, and returned by way of Buffalo to Albany. In 
the course of his tour, he attended about sixty public 
meetings^ and had opportunity to address many mem- 
bers of the courts and other distinguished individuals, 
and members of the legislatures of Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
nois, Michigan, and New York. He was listened to 
by crowded audiences, and with great attention. And 
not a few expressed the opinion, that could informa- 
tion be spread, and Sabbath observance receive, from 
good men, the united influence of a uniformly consistent 
example, it would ere long become universal. 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 467 

"Railroad directors, in increasing numbers of cases, 
confined the running of their cars to six days in the 
week; locks on canals were not opened, and oJBficial 
business not transacted on the Sabbath. Stage-coach- 
es and steam-boats in many cases had ceased to run ; 
and more than eighty thousand miles of Sabbath-break- 
ing mails had been stopped." 

The last Sabbath report he presented. May, 1850, 
states that he had travelled more than forty-eight thou- 
sand miles, through twenty-five of the United States, 
'' addressing various classes of men through the pulpit 
and the press, and pointing out the reasons why, as 
individuals and as a nation, we should, in obedience 
to God, ' remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy.' " 

" A-hoiit forty railroad companies j" he says, " stop the 
running of their cars on that day, on sibout four thou- 
sand miles of roads. The communities through which 
they pass, and whose right to the stillness and quiet 
of the day had for years been grossly violated by the 
screaming and rumbling of cars in time of public wor- 
ship, are now free from the nuisance, and are permitted 
to enjoy their rights and privileges without molesta- 
tion. No good reason can be given why this should 
not be the case universally, throughout our country. 
The running of rail-cars on the Sabbath is giving sanc- 
tion to its public desecration, and openly setting at de- 
fiance the will of Jehovah. It is undermining the ejfi- 
cacy of his laws, and encouraging the vicious to break 
them. If one class of men may violate one of the ten 
commandments, those great, fundamental, permanent 
moral laws, engraven with the finger of Jehovah on 
tables of stone, another class may violate another, and 



468 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

SO Oil, till all are disregarded. Thus an example is 
set which tends powerfully to universal profligacy, 
and to the destruction of that virtue on which all our 
social, civil, and religious institutions depend. That 
railroads are to be the principal mode of conveyance 
on all our great thoroughfares, is now settled. From 
morning to evening, and from evening to morning, one 
incessant and mighty rush of human invention, activ- 
ity, and enterprise will, year after year, sweep from 
ocean to ocean, through the six working days of the 
week. If then, at the bidding of Jehovah, the giver 
and preserver of all good, the fire of our engines is 
extinguished, and our millions of wheels cease to roll — 
if the rising Sabbath sun, unobscured by the smoke of 
our fires, casts his cheering rays on every iron road, 
and as he passes over our widely extended and extend- 
ing country, sees in our cities, towns, and villages, the 
whole people congregating for prayer, thanksgiving, 
and praise, then shall our peace be as a river, and our 
righteousness as the waves of the sea. The difference 
between the Sabbath and other days will be seen and 
felt by every child in our nation, and they will grow 
up instinctively exclaiming on its approach, *This is 
the day which the Lord hath made ; we will rejoice 
and be glad in it. Let us come before his presence 
with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him 
with psalms. come, let us worship and bow down j 
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker ; for he is our 
God, and we are the sheep of his pasture and the peo- 
ple of his hand.'" 



HIS Labors for the sabbath. 469 



CHAPTER XII. 

LABORS FOR THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE 
SABBATH— CONTINUED. 

1842-1849. 

Having presented a brief view of Dr. Edwards' 
more public and official labors for seven years in be- 
half of the Sabbath, we return to gather some gems 
from his correspondence during the same period. 

To his eldest son, who was about to travel at the 
South and West, he gave the following hints : 

"■ Commit yourself and your way to the Lord ; ac- 
knowledge him with gratitude as the first duty of the 
mornings and seek his guidance, protection, and bless- 
ing through the day. These we always need, and 
especially in travelling, for then it is especially true 
that we know not what a day may bring forth. Keep 
a little pocket Testament as your daily companion, and 
endeavor to read some portion of it every day, though 
it be but a few verses. Avoid travelling on the Sab- 
bath, and wherever you may be, endeavor to keep it 
holy, and always attend public worship. It is the 
way to prosper during the week. 

'' Avoid gaming of every sort, even for amusement, 
at public-houses, on board the steam-boat, and in all 
other places. I have seen young men on the western 
steam-boats induced 'jiist to begin,^ and having once 
begun, unable to stop till they had lost all, and were 



470 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

deeply in debt. Many of the boats and public-houses 
abound with men who are constantly watching, and 
who make it a business to ingratiate themselves into 
the confidence of the young, in order to seduce and 
ruin them. 

" Do nothing on your journey under the idea that 
you are a stranger, and that it will not be known. 
Treat all persons with courtesy and kindness, but 
never commit yourself to any stranger in such a man- 
ner that he may injure you, should he prove to be a 
bad man. Have no difficulty or personal altercation 
with any one, however badly he may treat you. If a 
man takes your berth in the boat or your seat in the 
coach, and refuses to give it up when politely inform- 
ed that it is yours, then take another. Be above hav- 
ing any difficulty with such a man, and have nothing 
to do with him except to 'overcome evil with good.' 
This is the way to make all treat you with kindness 
and respect. 

" Keep your eyes and ears open, see every thing, 
and hear every thing, and learn as many valuable and 
important facts as possible while on your journey. 
Provide yourself with good pocket travelling maps 
and note-books, and make yourself thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the geography of the country through 
which you pass. Soon after you enter a city, like 
Cincinnati or St. Louis, it is well to go upon the high- 
est elevation in the neighborhood which overlooks the 
city, and get as perfect a view as possible fixed in your 
mind of its exact location, size, shape, etc. You will 
thus get correct and permanent impressions of every 
place you visit. 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 471 

"Be as regular as possible in meals and sleep: 
avoid overloading the stomach, especially in the even- 
ing ; and above all, avoid wines, beers, and all intoxi- 
cating liquors. Be careful not to be out at night or 
in storms. This is more hazardous at the West than 
at the East. Avoid as far as possible great fatigue, 
which will expose you to fever and ague, and bilious 
fevers. When sick do not travel, but lie by, and send 
for the best physician, if possible a Christian physi- 
cian, for such, a one may be more safely trusted. 
Above all, look to the great Physician of body and 
soul, who is always able and willing to hear and to 
do for those who truly and heartily apply to him. 
When getting up from sickness, be careful not to set 
out on your journey too soon. A relapse thus caused 
will be more dangerous than the first attack, and many 
have thus lost their lives. 

"Tf called to lay your body among strangers, or in 
the rolling deep, commit your soul in penitence and 
faith into the hands of Him who hath said, ' Him that 
cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.' ' He that 
believeth on me shall never die ;' and ' though he were 
dead, yet shall he live.' " 

He adds a list of thirty or forty worthy clergymen 
and laymen in the principal cities and towns, con- 
nected with the several evangelical Christian denomi- 
nations, who, in case his son should be sick and need 
their aid, would gladly render it. 

In October, 1842, having taken part in a public 
deliberative meeting of the Boai'd and friends of the 
American Tract Society in New York, he wrote to 



472 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

the compiler: "The meeting will, I trust, do great 
good, and several of the documents read might with 
great advantage be put into a volume, or circulated 
in some other form, to all the friends of Zion. The 
idea that every Christian^ wherever he goes or stays, 
should be a colporteur to the destitute, should be ex- 
tended and impressed universally. 

" The paper read on the divinely appointed meth- 
ods of spreading the gospel, is a fundamental document^ 
and could the New Testament be fairly and fully ex- 
hibited on that subject, it would sweep away mfany 
powerful obstructions to the most extensive good. It 
is earnestly hoped that the Christians of this country, 
and other countries, will not wait till they are, by 
persecution, violently scattered abroad, before they 
will, wherever they go, preach the word ; and testify 
that by which men may be saved. If making known 
divine truth is preaching, all may bear a part in preach- 
ing the gospel to every creature ; and all may have 
souls for their hire. There never was a people on 
the face of the earth who had greater facilities, or 
were under stronger obligations to do this, than the 
people of these United States ; especially to evangel- 
ize, in the least possible time, every nook and corner of 
our own country. 

" God is furnishinor instruments for the battle of 
the great day. Our Leader is invincible, and ulti- 
mate victory certain. Let us be strong in the Lord, 
and in the power of his might ; not weary in well-do- 
ing ; not stop by the way to contend which shall be 
the greatest, or whose course the most important ; 
but do good as we have opportunity to all, and rest 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH 473 

assured that if any man serve Christ, him will the 
Father honor." 

Being in the city of New York, April 29, 1844, he 
wrote to Mrs. Edwards : " Last evening I attended a 
meeting in the Tabernacle, and heard a son of Rev. 
Dr. Scudder, who is to sail on the 6th of May as a 
missionary to India. He has three other sons, who 
are preparing to be missionaries. One of them spoke 
after his brother, and the father closed. When he 
rose, he told the audience that he had eight sons and 
two daughters ; that he gave all up to be missionaries, 
to go anywhere, or to any place to which God might 
call them. He then addressed other parents, and urged 
them to give up their children to the same blessed 
work ; then called on the young merchants, doctors, 
and lawyers to dedicate themselves to Jesus Christ, 
and go to the heathen, or make money to help others 
to go ; as a work infinitely more noble, dignified, use- 
ful, and blessed, than living merely for dollars and 
cents." 

About the same time he wrote from New York to 
Mr. Delavan : " I am becoming most strongly impress- 
ed with the immense influence which a man of the right 
sort, stationed in this city, might exert, by keeping his 
eye on all the papers, and preparing weekly for each 
a short paragraph adapted to meet the wants of the 
public mind, and to exert a transforming power on 
the press of the country. 

" I have proposed to Dr. Nott to prepare an address 
for a great public meeting in Boston and then in New 
York, on the importance of the Sabbath to the laboring 
classes of tlie community. I hope he will do it. It 



474 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

might then be printed, and scattered on the wings of 
the wind.'' 

Mrs. Edwards being at Saratoga Springs when her 
venerated mother died, at the age of eighty-six, he 
wrote her from Andover, August 6, 1844 : " Our dear 
mother died on Wednesday, at three o'clock, p. m. 
We have great reason to be thankful that she lived so 
long, and was enabled and inclined to set so good an 
example ; that she had such a peaceful, quiet old age ; 
such a calm and merciful departure from this world : 
and that we have such good reason to believe that she 
is now in glory, where no one saith, I am sick ; where 
there is no sin, and of course no suffering, or disap- 
pointment, or sorrow, or evil of any description ; but 
where all are holy, and beautiful, and perfect, and 
blessed. 

" Every day probably, for many years, and espec- 
ially for several of the last years of her life, she pray- 
ed for all her children and grandchildren. It was her 
custom, when she lay awake at night, to spend the time 
in mentioning her children and grandchildren to the 
Lord ; and in beseeching him to grant them the bless- 
ings of his grace. Her prayers are now ended. And 
it becomes more and more important, that they should 
pray daily for themselves, and endeavor, all of them, 
to become followers of them who, through faith in Jesus 
Christ and obedience to him, are now inheriting the 
promises which God has made to all that love him. 

"Some of her excellences were, good common- 
sense, a charming temper, great kindness towards all, 
uniform consistency of character, steady devotion to 



HIS LABORS FOR THE 8ABBATH. 475 

the appropriate duties of her station, and persevering 
obedience to the known will of God. May her chil- 
dren and grandchildren all imitate her as far as she 
imitated Christ. It is a great blessing to have had 
such a mother and grandmother." 

December 2, he wrote Mrs. Edwards, from Wash- 
ington city, " It is to-day thirty-two years since I was 
ordained at Andover. 'So teach us to number our 
days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.' 
Life, when it is finished, will have gone in the same 
way like a dream when one awaketh. 

" ' Well, if our days must fly, 

We '11 keep their end in sight ; 
We '11 spend them all in wisdom's way, 

And let them speed their flight. 
They '11 waft us sooner o'er 

This life's tempestuous sea ; 
Soon we shall reach the peaceful shore 

Of blest eternity ' — 

provided we spend life in learning and doing the will 
of God. We shall then enjoy much comfort in this 
world, and do much good ; and when called, shall, 
through grace, be prepared to leave it and enter into 
that 'rest which remaineth for the people of God.' 
The Sabbath was designed to be an emblem of that 
rest, and a season of preparation for it. And when 
it shall be kept by all the people according to the 
will of God, many, very many will be preparing for 
heaven." 

On the thirty-fourth anniversary of his ordination 
he wrote again from Boston, "I recollect that ten 
years after I was settled, I had a very impressive 
view of the shortness of human life. I was then thir- 



476 REV. JUSTUS EDWARDS, D. D. 

ty-five years old, one-half of seventy ; and I could see 
very plainly that twice the term I had then lived 
would be vei-y short. I am now within a little more 
than ten years of seventy, and about nine years older 
than Rev. Dr. Armstrong, who, you have heard, died 
last week, in the wreck of the Atlantic. A week ago 
this morning he was here at the Marlboro' hotel, and 
led in fanwly prayer, as I did this morning. After 
prayer, I had conversation with him on the subject of 
missions. He left Wednesday afternoon. His thanks- 
giving-day, and that of the crew, tossing on the waves, 
was very different from ours. He has left a wife and 
five children. On Sabbath morning they hauled up the 
Atlantic on the dry dock, and spent the Sabbath in 
repairing her. But these Sabbath-day repairs do not 
end well. Before the next Sabbath she was in frag- 
ments on the rocks, and forty-five of her passengers 
had bid adieu to earth." 

Writing while on a long journey, he says, "My 
health is good, and 1 Ltn as comfortable as can be 
expected away from home, until I grow better, and 
learn to be more happy in God, and doing his will," 

He says again, "My present mode of life is in some 
respects that of exile, and no one who has a good home 
and kind friends knows the privations of being absent 
from them, and living on the winds and the waves, in 
bar-rooms, stages, rail-cars, and steam-boats, but from 
experience. Yet as no great good can be accomplish- 
ed without many sacrifices, and as we have but one 
life to live in this world, it is best to make the most 
of it, and do what we can for Him who has done and 
suffered so much for us." 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 477 

His letters to his family, in his long, laborious, and 
successful tours at the West and South, indicate untir- 
ing perseverance in his work, gratitude for the Chris- 
tian kindness and cooperation received, and buoyancy 
and cheerfulness in meeting the ever- varying incidents 
which occurred. He often made journeys of hundreds 
of miles by stage, travelling slowly day and night in 
almost impassable roads ; notices of which in his let- 
ters are mingled with descriptions of the growth of 
cities, interesting intelligence of passing events, and 
all the variety of kind paternal counsels which he 
would have wished to give verbally at home. 

On one occasion he writes to his eldest daughter, 
" I went up the Kentucky river forty-five miles, from 
Frankfort to Munday's landing, and wishing to come 
about ten miles to Harrodsburg, it being very muddy, 
a gentleman offered me his horse. Asking him what I 
should pay, ' 0, nothing,' said he. 'Well, what shall 
I do with the horse?' '0,' said he, 'my boy' (a large 
colored young man) 'will go with you and take care 
of the horse : I suppose you have no objection to his 
riding with you.' 'No,' said I, 'not at all.' So we 
started off together, with the colored man behind me 
on the same horse, and thus arrived, through the mud, 
at Harrodsburg." 

He adds, "As I came up from Louisville, about 
sixty miles on the Ohio, and about seventy on the 
Kentucky river, to Frankfort, in the evening, at one 
end of the cabin were a number of men playing cards. 
At the other, was a man with a violin, and a number 
of men and women dancing. I sat between them, 
looking, as I suppose they thought, very sober, think- 



478 REV JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

ing how light-headed and empty-hearted persons must 
be who have no more substantial, elevating, or puri- 
fying employments. When they were not dancing, 
they were, women and all, playing cards on board a 
public steam-boat. 

"It is one of the devices of the adversary to get 
ladies to patronize card-playing by their example. 
Though perhaps they do not play for money, or only 
play for a very little, a few bright little silver pieces, 
yet it opens the way for others, judges, jurists, states- 
men, merchants, farmers, mechanics, young, old, mid- 
dle-aged, black, white, and all classes, to be caught in 
Satan's snare, and led captive through its bewitching 
influence, down to ruin. I should rejoice should each 
one of my children be able to say, at the close of life, 
that they nevei- knew how to play cards. That is one of 
those things with regard to which it is a great honor 
to be ignorant. 

" I am glad you have had opportunity to see all 
your brothers ; and hope that they and their sisters 
will often be permitted to meet, and will love G-od 
and one another so heartily and fervently, that their 
meetings will always be seasons of exceeding great 
joy-' 

To his two eldest daughters, who were members 
of the Mount Holyoke seminary, he wrote with a fa- 
ther's love and care for their highest temporal and 
eternal good. 

" I hope," he says, " that you find your situatioji 
increasingly pleasant, and that you do all you can 
consistently with health to improve the advantages 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 479 

you enjoy. Some privations must of course be experi- 
enced while pursuing study, but they are more than 
paid for by the increase of useful knowledge, which 
with suitable diligence and self-denial you may obtain. 
I wish all my daughters, as well as sons, as soon as 
they can, to get a good education, so that, should 
their parents die, or be unable to support them, they 
can, with the blessing of God, support themselves. 
The time of young persons who have a good opportu- 
nity for an education, is more valuable than they can 
well imagine. It is in fact the seed-time of life. And 
what a man soweth, that must he also reap.'^ 

In March, 1845, he wrote to his eldest daughter, 
whom he had recently left in Boston, a full and seri- 
ous letter in reference to her own salvation : "I have 
thought of you much since I left, and cannot but feel 
that the present is a time of great interest with regard 
to your happiness and usefulness on earth, and your 
salvation in heaven. That salvation, as you know, 
to be enjoyed there, must be begun here, in the conver- 
sion of the soul to God. And blessed be God, he has 
opened the way for this, freely, of his own accord, and 
determined to do it, even before any one had ever 
asked him, though it cost him the sacrifice and death 
of his own beloved Son. And Jesus Christ consented 
to bear the effects of our sins in his own body on the 
cross, as he did when he suffered, for our sakes, ago- 
nies such as no other ever endured, and such as none 
but himself can fully conceive. This shows that he 
is love, and desires not the continuance in sin, or 
tne death of any one, but that they may all forsake 
it, be delivered from it, nnd enjoy his presence and 



480 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

favor on earth, and everlasting life and glory in 
heaven. 

"In pursuance of this same love and mercy, and as 
the manifestation of his desire to seek and to save the 
lost, he has opened the way for the Holy Spirit to 
convince men that they are sinners, and without his 
mercy and grace must perish ; that they have some- 
thing to do to be saved, and that the present is the 
time in which to do it. All such feelings are the fruit 
of the Holy Spirit operating on the mind, and are the 
voice of God to the soul, in pursuance of that same 
love which led him to give up his Son for our redemp- 
tion, saying with infinite kindness, ' Turn ye, turn ye ; 
why will ye die?' 

" If God should, of his infinite mercy, light up in 
your soul the flame of love to him, kindled by the full- 
orbed glory of his love to you, as it shines in the face 
of Jesus Christ, that you might not perish, but won- 
der, admire, praise, and adore for ever, it will not be, 
and it ought not to be, solely or principally, that you 
may be saved, but that you may be instrumental, by 
the manifestation of a portion of that same love which 
was in Him, in saving others. Do not fail daily to 
study the Bible, asking God, as you proceed, to teach 
you by his Spirit, who takes of the things of Jesus 
Christ and shows them unto men, that you may rightly 
apprehend his truth and feel right in view of it ; espe- 
cially that you may know him, that is, have right views 
of his character and right feelings towards him — 
have spiritual discernment of his beauty, excellence, 
loveliness, and glory, that you may be changed into 
his image. It is right, it is safe, it is blessed to give 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 481 

up body and soul for time and eternity to Jesus Christ, 
and to trust in him for all that we need ; for pardon 
of sin, for the Holy Spirit to work in us both to will 
and to do what he requires, and what is our duty and 
most reasonable service. Go then, my dear daughter, 
to him, cast all upon him, put yourself under his teach- 
ing, and learn of him who is meek and lowly in heart, 
and you shall find rest to your soul." 

Two months later he writes to one of his sons, 
" Your sisters have, I hope, chosen that ^ good part which 
shall not he taken from themJ If they have chosen God 
for their portion, and shall live to serve him and do 
good, he will provide- for them, and be their everlast- 
ing Father and friend. My great desire and prayer 
to God is, tliat this may be the case with you, and all 
my children, that when the few days of this life shall 
have passed away, we may meet, an unbroken family, 
in heaven." 

Dr. Edwards' two eldest daughters, a few weeks 
after this, publicly professed their faith in Christ and 
joined themselves to his people. 

To his second son, entering on theological study, 
he writes, " Live near to God, and make it your great 
object to learn his will as revealed in the Bible. The 
more you make of the Bible in your preparation for 
the ministry, the more able and successful you will be 
as a minister. That is the voice of God, while other 
books are the voice of men." 

In another letter, having alluded to theological 
controversies as to original sin and the atonement, 
and recommended to get the views of distinguished 

Fxlwsrd". 21 



482 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS. D. D. 

theologians, "not by hearsay, but by a careful perusal 
of their works/' he says, "The Bible, on these and other 
subjects, is all just right ; and that is the only book, 
in matter and manner, probably, that is so. All human 
standards and human works partake of the imperfec- 
tions of their authors. To the law and the testimony 
every thing is to be brought, and by them to be tried. 
If they speak not according to that word, they are to 
be rejected. It is important to be biblical in manner 
as well as in matter, to catch the spirit and aspect as 
well as the sentiment or truth of the Bible. The 
truth may be held in unrighteousness, and spoken in 
contention, hatred, variance, wra'th, emulation, and 
strife, instead of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gen- 
tleness, meekness, goodness, faith, and temperance. 
Let a minister be truly mighty in the Scriptures, not 
in the letter merely, that killeth, if alone ; or in the 
literature and critical verbal philology, that puffeth 
up ; but in the spirit, that giveth life : let the word of 
Christ and the Spirit of Christ dwell in him richly in 
all wisdom and spiritual understanding, and then will 
he find it mighty through God to the pulling down of 
strong-holds. Make God your 'principal teacher, if you 
would become godlike in temper, teaching, and suc- 
cess." 

To his youngest son, in Augusta, Maine, he wrote 
from Richmond, "Virginia, November 21, 1845, "If you 
have a good opportunity, I think it well for you to 
get a knowledge of German ; and were I in your sit- 
uation, I would also learn Spanish and Italian, which 
are so much like the Latin that they are easily obtain- 
ed. It is l)pst when young to avail ourselves of all 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 483 

practicable means of acquiring knowledge ; as know- 
ledge is power, and power to do good. This was one 
trait in President D wight, in which every young man 
would do well to imitate him — his diligence and per- 
severance, even to the end of life, in acquiring know- 
ledge ; and not merely from books, but from men. He 
freely mingled with men of all classes, and made inqui- 
ries, especially on subjects with which they were par- 
ticularly acquainted — of shoemakers concerning shoes, 
of gardeners concerning gardens, of mechanics con- 
cerning their business, of mercantile men concerning 
theirs, etc. He spent his vacations in journeys for 
such purposes, which kept him in good health ; and 
his History of New England is the result, while his 
Lectures on Theology, a book worthy of the attentive 
study of every young man, are probably better than 
they otherwise would have been. 

" The hook of God, a portion of which should be 
attentively read daily, with prayer for the teaching of 
the Holy Spirit, and the works of God, are the great 
sources of the most important knowledge, even that 
knowledge of himself which is life to the soul." 

He writes again, January VI, from Louisville, Ken- 
tucky : "I send you herewith a pamphlet written by 
Prof. Hodge, concerning the late Prof. Dod, which I 
think is very interesting. Prof. Dod was one of the 
ablest men of New Jersey. I read from his pen, in 
the Princeton Repertory of October last, a review of 
the 'Vestiges of Creation.' It was the last thing 
which he wrote, and is very able. I should like to 
have you read it, if you have opportunity. He takes 
occasion to remark on mesmerism. Perhaps Dr. Tap- 



484 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

pan m;\y take the work, and will lend it to you. The 
remarks which he makes about the kind of minds that 
embrace mesmerism, phrenology, etc., are deserving 
of attention. It is ordinarily not wise to occupy our 
minds or devote. our energies much to those unaccount- 
ables which tend to weaken, bewilder, darken, and 
perplex, rather than to invigorate, strengthen, purify, 
and elevate. There are boundaries to human know- 
ledge, and very much of real improvement depends 
upon seeing distinctly what those boundaries are, and 
keeping, in all our efforts, within them. 

'■'Many things which are true, we in this life can 
never know. Life is too short to acquire the know- 
ledge, or we may not need it here. It is needful 
therefore, if we would turn life to the best account, 
to make a selection, and employ our energies upon 
those subjects with regard to which we may obtain 
real knowledge, and knowledge which we can make 
useful, and which tends to benefit our own minds and 
the minds of others. In the case of Prof. Dod, we see 
very clearly what is, in the hour of trial, ' the one thing 
needful,^ and that in comparison with which, all others 
may be said, in a sense, to be needless. That you, 
like him, may have in your last days that 'peace of 
God' which passeth all understanding, is the prayer of 

" Your affectionate father," 

To his eldest son, then a merchant at New Or- 
leans, he wrote, February 8, 1847, prudent counsels as 
to his business and worldly concerns ; advising him to 
such a distinct written agreement with his partner, 
that in case of the death of one of the firm there 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 485 

should not be ground for litigation, and to make his 
mill, on which point ho says : 

" Some people have a reluctance to making a will, 
as it seems as if they were going to die. But they 
will not die any sooner, on account of having a will ; 
and it may prevent many evils, after they are dead. 
Among the worst contentions in families, have some- 
times been those which have arisen about the property 
of deceased relatives. And where they do not differ, 
they often feel dissatisfied. 

" With a good knowledge of business, diligent and 
economical habits, and a virtuous character," he adds, 
" a man may get as much money as will be likely to 
do him any good. We should not expect to be made 
happy by the things of this world. All that they 
can do for us is, to supply our temporal wants as 
we pass rapidly through it. We need to be in such 
a state of mind as to be happy, when we leave this 
world and all that there is in it, in that endless state 
of being which is to follow this short and uncertain 
life. And as we know not, and cannot know when 
we shall come to the close of life, preparation for 
that should, with each one, be the first and great con- 
cern. 

" I feel very desirous that you should daily think 
of the goodness of God, and cultivate towards him 
an increasingly grateful spirit. Ingratitude is a very 
hateful sin, and exceedingly injurious to the soul ; 
while gratitude is not only a duty, but a source of the 
purest joy. ' What shall I render unto the Lord for 
all his goodness ?' is a question proper for us all ; and 
nothing can be more suitable, than that we should 



486 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

daily praise him for his kindness to ourselves and our 
fellow-men. 

"I feel that we, as a family^ have great reason to 
praise him, that he has preserved the lives of all, 
healed them in sickness, rescued them in danger, and 
continued them till grown to men's and women's 
estate ; that he has rendered them kind and affection- 
ate to their parents, and to one another, and is giving 
them opportunity and disposition to be diligent in 
some useful business, and to provide for themselves in 
the world ; that he has led four of them to hope that 
they have experienced of his grace, and to acknow- 
ledge him as their Saviour before the world. If he 
should lead the other two to believe on Jesus Christ 
as their Saviour, and to devote their lives to honoring 
him, and doing good by the keeping of his commands, 
our cup of blessings icould seem to be full; and we should 
be under renewed obligations to bless him for ever. 

"Never till you are a parent will you know how 
much pleasure it gives us to hear from you." 

To the compiler he wrote, August 18, 1846 : "My 
object in preparing a ' National Sabbath Manual ' 
was to write, if possible, in such a manner as should 
be attractive, true, and convincing. The accounts which 
I receive from various parts of the country, give me 
increasing reason to hope that the object which I had 
in view will, through grace, be in some measure ac- 
complished. A distinguished civilian informs me that 
his friend, and I believe not a religious person, told 
him that after beginning to read the Manual, it was 
impossible to leave it till it was finished. I hope it 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 487 

may be found so with many. Mr. Bliss told me the 
other day that he should want ten thousand a month. 

"I have now just prepared a 'National Temper- 
ance Manual/ after repeated requests from distin- 
guished individuals to do so. Should the Committee 
think proper, I have thought that it might be well to 
have it printed by the Tract Society, in the same form 
with the Sabbath Manual, to go with it into every 
family in the nation. The object is to set the public 
conscience right on that subject, with a view to an 
enlightened, 'permanent, kind, ever-growing moral influ- 
ence, till no one, not abandoned, shall think of making 
money by the sale of that which corrupts and destroys 
his fellow-men. My object has been to embody prin- 
ciples, and illustrate them by facts in such a manner 
that every child as he grows up may become acquainted 
with them and act accordingly ; and we wish, in all 
practicable ways, to get them out before the mind of the 
nation, 

" Perhaps when we get ready, if Providence per- 
mit, they may to great advantage be followed by a 
'National Biblical Manual,' the object of which 
shall be, to point out in a kind, plain, convincing 
manner, the reason why every person who has a soul 
should be taught to read, and own a Bible, and also the 
manner in which he should treat it, in order to be 
saved." 

In the winter of 1847-48, Dr. Edwards made a 
tour of some months in the southern and south-western 
states, laboring chiefly in the cities and principal towns 
of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, meeting legis- 
latures, the conference of the Methodist Episcopal 



488 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

church and other clerical bodies, and preaching and 
delivering addresses. When at Montgomery, Alabama, 
he wrote to the American Tract Society, January 21, 
1848: 

"In passing over the southern and south western 
parts of our country, I have been more and more 
deeply impressed with the vast importance of the Col- 
porteur enterprise. Without being scattered abroad 
by persecution, as were the first disciples, yet, like 
them, the colporteurs go ' everywhere, preaching the 
word,' and like apostles preach it 'from house to 
house.' If they were obliged to be scattered ' every- 
where ' by persecution, we should rejoice in their do- 
ing this ; that is, talking of Jesus Christ and the way 
of salvation through him, and even entreating men 
' with tears,' to be reconciled to God, and thus preach- 
ing the gospel to 'every creature' in every kitchen 
and parlor to which they should be invited. Much 
more may we rejoice when well-qualified men are 
found to do this only from love to Christ and to 
souls. 

" While there are thousands and tens of thousands 
who are, and till they die must be destitute of the 
stated preaching of the gospel from educated, regular, 
and ordained ministers, who would not say, let them 
have statedly, till tlii3y can get better, such preachers 
as Baxter and Bunyan, Doddridge and Flavel, and 
Paul? No colporteur should pass a house that is not 
supplied, without leaving the works of inspired men, 
who spoke and wrote as they were directed by the 
Holy Ghost. And not a family, on the mountain or 
in the valley, should be suffered to continue without 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 489 

being visited by some man of God, who, like his 
Master, is ' going about doing good.' 

" The Sabbath Mariual I find in many families ; and 
in view of what I see, I have often wished that the 
Temperance Manual had gone with it ; for rum, whiskey, 
and brandy drinkers will break the Sabbath, and Sab- 
bath-breakers will neglect the Bible, and neglecters 
of the Bible will disobey God. 

"My ears have often been greeted with the enco- 
miums which have been bestowed in different places on 
the colporteurs who passed that way, and my heart 
delighted to hear it so often repeated, in widely dis- 
tant sections of country, 'I presume the one who came 
along here, was one of the best of themJ Thousands 
will bless God for ever for the colporteur, who left 
his home and wandered far over mountain and vale, 
through forest and flood, to visit the parent and the 
child, to sell them good books, if they could buy, and 
if not, to give them, especially that book of books the 
Bible. 

"Let men cease to poison themselves with the 
drunkard's drink, confine their secular business and 
cares to six days in a week, and keep the seventh 
holy ; let each one that has a soul be taught the art 
of reading, that speaking-trumpet of the Almighty, 
and let him hear daily his Father in heaven speaking 
to him ' words by which he may be saved ;' let him 
look up for the Holy Spirit to Him who hath said, 
'Ask, and it shall be given you,' and each one may 
become wise to salvation, and learn the heavenly art 
of living, not unto himself, but unto Him who died for 
him, and of doing to others as he ought to wish that 

2\* 



490 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

others should do to him. Then will all live together 
as brethren ; tasting and seeing that the Lord is good, 
and feeling that he doth indeed 'magnify his word 
above all his name.' " 

Visiting New Orleans, where he met his eldest 
son, and enjoyed the hospitality of his pastor Rev. Dr. 
Scott, he says, " Nothing but the mercy and grace of 
God can save us from sore and desolating judgments ; 
for the wickedness of men is great, and their sins cry 
to heaven. But the Lord is good, his tender mercies 
are over all, and thus far he waits, not willing that 
men should perish, but come to repentance. Many 
are the indications that he is working with us. Let 
us therefore be steadfast, immovable, always abound- 
ing in the work of the Lord, inasmuch as by faith 
we know that our labor shall not be in vain in the 
Lord." 

Proceeding from Memphis, Tenn., up the Ohio river, 
he wrote Mrs. Edwards from Cincinnati, March 7 : "I 
arrived here on Saturday. The weather was cold and 
snowy. I had been somewhat threatened during the 
day, and went to the Broadway hotel. Before morn- 
ing I was attacked as at Lowell," (in October, 1847, 
with an internal inflammation,) "though in a much 
milder form. In the morning sent for Dr. Mussey, and 
in five minutes was relieved ; have since been gaining, 
and am now about as comfortable as I was about a 
week after I came from Lowell. Six ministers and 
a number of others called to see me on Monday, and 
had me removed from the hotel to Mr. Funk's in 
Yine-street, where I have every accommodation which 
I can desire. Mr. Funk says he heard me preach 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 491 

eight or ten years ago, and the next day made terrible 
havoc among the whiskey barrels, and in a month 
there was not a whiskey seller in their church." 

On the 7th of September, 1848, Dr. Edwards had 
the high satisfaction of uniting with his beloved breth- 
ren in the ministry, in the ordination and installation 
of his second son, Jonathan, as pastor of a large and 
important church, in Woburn, ten miles from Boston, 
on which occasion he delivered the charge to the pas- 
tor, commending to him the Bible as the fountain of 
all truth, the theme of his preaching, the guide of his 
ministry and his life. 

CLOSINO WORDS ON THE SABBATH, AND ON 
TEMPERANCE. 

In the autumn of 1848, he wrote the compiler, 
sending fifty dollars, for stereotyping the Temperance 
Manual in Spanish^ and said, " We have put a copy 
of the whole of both the Sabbath and Temperance 
Manuals into every family in Andover, and given one 
to every young man who is at work for himself and 
disconnected from the family of his father ; making in 
all, with one to each member of the seminary and acad- 
emy, eighteen hundred copies of each. ^^ 

Again he writes from Boston: "A copy of the 
Temperance and Sabbath Manuals, and a New Testa- 
ment, I hope may yet be put into the hand of every 
immigrant that reaches our shores ; especially every 
one who can read ; together with a Biblical Manual, 
showing them the nature of the Bible and the manner 
of treating it, which will prepare them for, and carry 
them to heaven. Tlie same should be done for every 



492 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

family visited by colporteurs or missionaries. And I 
hope that the time will soon come, when the Tract 
Society will furnish all the books which they through 
their agents can circulate. I wish to see them in a 
race with all others, as to the furnishing of the above 
for every family in the United States. If you have 
not room enough to furnish all fast enough, why not 
put on another story on your building, and multiply 
your presses and workmen accordingly ? The ' Amer- 
ican Messenger ' comes richly freighted, and is doing 
a great and good work. Hold on, look up, and move 
onward. 

" Yesterday was a beautiful day, and all seemed to 
rejoice greatly that they are henceforward to have 
in Boston an abundance of good, clear, fresh water. 
And they have reason to rejoice. It is a greater 
blessing than any imagine. Yet he that drinketh of 
this water shall thirst again : but he that drinketh of 
the water which we may be instrumental in communi- 
cating to as many millions as there were thousands in 
Boston yesterday, shall never thirst ; and it shall be in 
him a well of water springing up unto everlasting 
life." 

February 5, 1849, he wrote from Washington city : 
" Our meetings here yesterday, both in the morning 
and at night, were intensely interesting ;" and, in the 
name of several gentlemen, he requests that a copy of 
the Sabbath Manual might be sent to each member of 
Congress. "They think," he says, "that the facts 
would be of great service ; and that the book coming 
after the subject has been presented to an overflowing 
congregation in the capitol, would be read, be carried 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 493 

home, or sent by members of Congress to influential 
constituents, and thus do great good. I suppose that 
there are about sixty Senators, and two hundred and 
thirty members of the House. There has evidently 
been a great change for the better within a few years 
in this city, with regard to the keeping of the Sabbath; 
adding another to the very numerous evidences, that 
wherever this subject is presented, as in that Manual, 
it commends itself to every man's conscience in the 
sight of God." 

'' Mr. Delavan, of Albany," he again writes, " has 
concluded to print one hundred thousand of the Sab- 
bath Document, to be distributed to stockholders and 
those who travel on the railroads from Albany to 
Buffalo, to prepare the way for all the cars to stop 
running on the Sabbath." 

At another date he says, " Might it not be well to 
have prefixed to the Temperance Manual," (similar to 
what had been already prefixed to the Sabbath Man- 
ual,) " something like the following, namely : 

'' ' Every minister of the gospel into whose hands 
this Manual shall come, is respectfully requested, 
should it appear to him to be adapted to be useful, on 
the Sabbath to preach a sermon to his people, and 
exhibit the biblical principles in their application to 
the subject of Temperance, in its connection with 
righteousness and judgment to come ; and to open the 
way to put a copy of this Manual into every family in 
his congregation.' 

" In that way might we not secure the preaching 
often thousand sermons forthwith on the Sabbath/roTTi 
the ministers; which is just what the Temperance cause 



494 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

now needs, and thus open the way for the circulation 
forthwith of one hundred thousand Temperance Manu- 
als. And if you cannot afford to send a Manual to 
every minister gratis, then print it on a sheet like the 
Messenger, and send it to them, and we will pay $100 
to circulate it in that form ; and we will also pay 
$100 to circulate part first of the Sabbath Manual in 
the same way." He suggested also, that students 
from theological seminaries might employ their vaca- 
tions in circulating these documents. 

To Rev. 0. Eastman, and Rev. R. S. Cook, Sec- 
retaries of the Tract Society, he wrote frequently, 
encouraging the widest circulation of the Sabbath and 
Temperance Manuals in all the channels of the Socie- 
ty's distributions, partly at the expense of the Sabbath 
Union. > 

" Should it be consistent," he says, " for the Com- 
mittee to say to me, that for every hundred dollars 
which I shall pay them for that purpose, they will put 
in circulation ten thousand copies of the Sabbath Man- 
ual, to the amount of one, two, or three hundred thou- 
sand copies a year, perhaps I may be able to raise 
some money for that purpose, and in that way we may 
perhaps enlarge the circulation. The Sabbath effort 
is like the purifying of the air of a great country, in 
its influence on the health of the people. It is better 
to purify the air, and so keep the people well, than to 
let them get sick, and then send in the doctors to cure 
them. In proportion as we get the Sabbath observed, 
we increase the number of readers of the Bible, tracts, 
and all good books ; and the number also who attend 
public worship, hear the gospel, and come under the 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 495 

divinely appointed means of grace; and the efficacy 
of all other means will thereby be greatly increased. 
Of course, to make special efforts for the universal ob- 
servance of the Sabbath, is in the highest degree philo- 
sophical, biblical, and economical, with reference to the 
salvation of men." 

On the 23d of January, 1850, he wrote again: 
/'The object of the American and Foreign Sabbath 
Union, in the donation of $1,000, which they have 
this year made to the American Tract Society, and 
in the donation of $1,320, which they have previously 
made, for the distribution of the Sabbath Manual, 
was, to enable the Tract Society so to supply all their 
colporteurs with it, that they might place a copy of 
one or more of the parts of that Manual in every 
family, at the cost of it wherever the receivers are 
able and willing to pay, and gratuitously where they 
are not ; with a few words of good advice as to the 
benefits that will result to them and their children, 
from the keeping of the Sabbath. The same also, as 
far as practicable, they wish to have done by all home 
or domestic missionaries ; that in the least possible 
time, through the various modes of circulation, every 
family in the United States, especially in the new 
settlements and on the frontiers, may be supplied with 
a copy. Should all the children of our country grow 
up with a knowledge of the principles and facts em- 
bodied in that Manual, exhibiting the will of God, as 
manifested in his works, his word, and his providence, 
with regard to the Sabbath-day, we cannot but hope 
that through his blessing, this will be a Sabbath-keep- 
ing nation to the end of time." 



496 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

The Tract Society cooperated in all these plans, 
and reported to him that of different parts or numbers 
of the Sabbath Manual, they had circulated 684,741 
copies in English, 8,277 in German, 1,718 in French, 
and 5,146 in Spanish, makiDg a total circulation of 
699,882 copies ; and that these included grants to the 
value of $2,421 77, for the supply of emigrants at Buf- 
falo, Pittsburgh, and other great thoroughfares, and 
for missionaries, clergymen, and others, exclusive of 
grants by their colporteurs ; and that it was believed 
the colporteurs had circulated gratuitously not far 
from an equal amount. 

In a circular letter written by Dr. Edwards, Jan- 
uary 24, 1851, requesting funds to aid in circulating 
the Sabbath Manual, he states that of the first part 
541,000 had been printed, and of all the other parts 
in four languages 634,000, making one million one hun- 
dred and seventy-five thousand copies. 

During the whole of Dr. Edwards' labors for the 
Sabbath, he lent his aid, in all practicable ways, to 
the cause of Temperance ; acting on the Committee of 
the Temperance Society, and identified with its inter- 
ests from the time of its formation till liis death. 

Of the Temperance Manual^ which had been trans- 
lated into German, French, and Spanish, the Hon. 
John McLean, judge of the Supreme Court of the 
United States, wrote him, December 17, 1847, "I feel 
the greatest interest in saying, that I have never pe- 
rused a treatise on the subject which condensed in so 
few pages so many facts and arguments so unanswer- 
able, against intemperance. No one can read this 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 497 

little work, who wishes well to his species and, his 
country, and not ardently desire to see a copy of it 
in the hands of every family in the United States. It 
would have a powerful effect to render odious, to the 
rising generation, the ruinous vice of intemperance ; 
and indeed, its influence would be salutary on all 
whose sensibilities are not blunted or destroyed by a 
criminal indulgence in the use of ardent spirits." 

At the close of the years 1847 and 1849, Dr. Ed- 
wards wrote brief reports of the American Temper- 
ance Society, which were published in the religious 
papers, and in which we have his mature judgment 
and testimony on the subject of that enterprise, after 
abundant labors and careful observation for thirty 
years. 

"The Temperance reformation," he says, ^^was be- 
gun for the purpose of removing that mighty obstruction 
which the using of intoxicating liquors as a beverage 
occasions to the efficacy of tJie gospel and the means of 
grace. It was carried forward for years principally 
by religious men, and urged by religious motives. It 
then received the manifest approbation of heaven, and 
the efforts which were made were crowned with great 
success. Such motives must always lie at the founda- 
tion of this great moral reformation. They are tJie 
only motives that go deep enough to produce permanent, 
ever-growing results. They are also the only motives 
wliich we can expect will be so attended with the 
influences of the Holy Spirit, as to be rendered in the 
highest degree successful." 

Acknowledging the good service which many re- 
formed drunkards had done in tlieir narratives of their 



498 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

own appalling history, and the influence they might 
still have in reforming others, yet he says, "Wherever 
the work has been left solely or principally to them, 
its progress has soon ceased to be onward. Sober 
men who never were drunkards, educated men, pro- 
fessional men, ministers of the gospel, and all sorts of 
good men, must come up to the work. The Bible 
must be put in requisition, and the sanctions of relig- 
ion as well as morality, of eternity as well as time, 
must be brought to bear upon the hearts of men. The 
voice of God, as well as of men, must be heard by 
drunkards, and drunkard-makers, and those who use 
the drunkard's drink. The motives which He has 
revealed, as manifested in his works, his w^ord, and 
his providence, drawn from heaven, earth, and hell, 
must urge upon them his heartfelt entreaty, ' Turn ye, 
turn ye from your evil ways ; for why will ye die ?' 

" Men may crowd temperance meetings to be amus- 
ed, or to enjoy the luxury of strongly excited feelings. 
They may hear the statement of the drunkard's follies 
and woes, and the agonies of his starving wife and 
dying children ; or they may hear the follies of the 
drunkard, and the pretended ardent friendship for 
temperance of the drunkard-makers held up to ridi- 
cule, while the mind is not enlightened, the conscience 
not aroused, and the heart not healthfully or perma- 
nently impressed. There must be truth, the truth of 
God, and it must be spoken in love. It must be 
attended by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, 
and convince men of the sin as well as the folly of 
intemperance, and of aiding and abetting it in any 
way. The motives which are urged to induce men 



HIS LABORS FOR THE SABBATH. 499 

to cease from tliis, as well as other sins, should be 
drawn from, and presented in the light of the cross. 

" It should also be understood by all, that the peo- 
ple in their civil capacity, who do not wish longer to 
suffer the evils of the liquor traffic, have a perfect right, 
through the legislature, that right arm of the people which 
God has provided for that purpose, to defend themselves 
against the nuisance. This mode of self-defence is in 
accordance with the Bible, with the constitution of 
the nation, and of the several states. It is required 
by a due regard to the great interests of the people, 
and their children. Nor have liquor-sellers any right, 
in opposition to the wishes of the people, to force the 
evils of this ungodly traffic upon them. It is a viola- 
tion of the rights of humanity, and a vicious way of 
making money. Every people who have the power, 
have also the right to defend themselves and their 
children against this evil. And those who do their 
duty to themselves or their children, their country or 
their God, will not draw back till this work be accom- 
plished." 

September 1, 1851, he wrote to E. C. Delavan, 
Esq., " If we can keep at work, all hands, we shall in 
due time secure effectual legislative defence; but in order 
to this, there must be a steady, regular, and long 
course of wise, ' patient continuance in well-doing,' by 
the old, substantial, and long-tried friends of temper- 
ance, who 'in all their ways acknowledge God,' and 
act in the spirit and under the influence of the gospel, 
and for the purpose of honoring God in the salvation 
of men." 

Mr. Delavan, in enclosing the above, says, " This 



500 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

letter was the last of the many which I received dur- 
ing the past quarter of a century from my dearly 
beloved departed friend. Under God, I owe to him, 
and to a few others of the same nobility of soul, a 
deep debt of gratitude. And now, at this important 
crisis of the same reform to which he devoted so many 
years of his life, and in which I feel it to be my duty 
and privilege still to labor, I miss, and that greatly, 
the counsel and advice, always so full of wisdom, 
which he was, when asked, so ready to give. HeTias 
been to me a faithful friend and wise counsellor. I 
feel that I have lost a brother. I always looked for- 
ward to his yearly visits with great pleasure : he 
brought and left a blessing." 



HIS COMMENT ON THE BIBLE. 601 



CHAPTER XIII. 

HIS COMMENT ON THE BIBLE, AS GOD'S GIFT 
FOR ALL MEN. 

FOUR YEARS— 1349-1853. 

We have seen that to give the Bible to all, with 
the best incitements and helps to read and understand 
it, had long been a prominent object before the mind 
of Dr. Edwards. When earnestly seeking his own 
salvation without the knowledge of any minister or 
private Christian, the word of God was precious to 
him. It was so in pursuing theological study ; it was 
so in his labors as pastor, and in his Bible-classes ; 
and at the turning-points of his life, both in 1829 and 
1842, he seriously considered the question of devoting 
his undivided energies to the object of its being uni- 
versally circulated, and prayerfully and profitably read. 

We are now to see how, as a child of Providence, 
he was led to give the effective energies of the closing 
years of his life to this design, second in importance 
perhaps to none in which he had been engaged, though 
in a way somewhat different from that which he seems 
to have planned. 

In his visits to all parts of the country he saw 
prevailing destitution and neglect of the Bible ; and 
while pushing the circulation of his own Sabbath and 
Temperance Manuals, and enlisting the Tract Society's 
colporteurs and other agencies to circulate them by 



502 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

liundreds of thousands of copies, the idea still pressed 
itself upon him, that God's inspired word had yet 
higher claims. He urged upon colporteurs as he 
met them, and upon the officers of the Society, that 
every family found destitute should be supplied with 
the Bible ; and when he learned the fact that the col- 
porteurs of that Society, on whose Committee he was 
still acting, were turning away from tens of thousands 
of families whose distant abodes they had reached, 
and leaving them unsupplied, from the difficulty of 
procuring Bibles, his soul was stirred within him. In 
all delicate and proper ways, as his correspondence 
shows, he sought to remove this obstacle, and ulti- 
mately to effect the more universal circulation of the 
Bible, and at the same time to call attention to its 
pages, and to " assist common readers to understand 
the meaning of the Holy Spirit" therein conveyed. 

While in the midst of his labors for the sanctifi- 
cation of the Sabbath, June 11, 1846, he wrote to an 
officer of the American Tract Society at New York : 

"It appears to me that the time is near, when it 
will be well to make a general effort to instruct every 
person in this land in the art of reading, and to induce 
every person who can read to own a Bible, and to treat 
it in such 'a manner that it will be ' a lamp to his feet 
and a light to his path.' The American Tract Soci- 
ety may, by that time, have in the field five hundred 
colporteurs. Among the books they circulate might 
be, and should be. Bibles and Testaments of all de- 
scriptions, and as low as they can be printed. If each 
colporteur should put in circulation one thousand 
copies annually, they might thus aid in giving the 



HIS COMMENT ON THE BIBLE. 503 

Bible eacli year to half a million of families. I hope 
for the time when every man, bond and free, shall 
exercise his inalienable right to hear the voice of his 
heavenly Father, and in the words which ' the Holy 
Ghost teacheth;' and when that foul libel against 
God, that the daily reading of his word would tend 
to make any one worse, will for ever cease. 

"If the London convention (the Christian Alli- 
ance) should do nothing more than to commence /or^^- 
with an effort to induce every person on earth who 
can read to own a Bible, they would do a great work. 

" The way would then be open to send out among 
all who do own a Bible, specific directiom as to the 
manner in which it should be treated, in order to 
guide each one who has it to heaven, through that 
way of pleasantness and path of peace. It appears to 
me that some presentations might be made on this 
subject, which might be carried out in their practical 
application, through the medium of colporteurs and 
others, with great advantage to the world." 

Two years and a half later, in December, 1848, he 
wrote again : " Every body in this country that has a 
soul and can read, should as soon as possible have a 
Bible, and a brief, lucid statement of the nature of the 
book, the right manner of treating it, and the effect 
which such treatment will, through grace, have on 
him for both worlds ; and then a few words in the 
margin, or in brief notes, which may express the mean- 
ing of the Holy Ghost more plainly, where the lan- 
guage is obscure ; and we may all expect, that in the 
moral renovation of this world, the Lord will 'mag- 
nify his word above all his name.' The Tract Societv 



504 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

• 

has been too long sending out for Bible truth, the 
works of uninspired men merely. It is time, high 
time, while they increase the works of good men a 
thousand-fold, that they should send with them to 
every man who has it not, the word of God, perfect as 
its author, the standard and test by which all the 
works of men are to be tried : that each one, while 
reading the works of men, may ' search the Scriptures,' 
and under the influence of their divine Author, become 
wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." 

Dr. Edwards having a table in the office of the 
American Tract Society at Boston, where he usually 
wrote when in that city, conferred freely on the above 
subject with the officers of that Society ; and their 
Executive Committee, December 6, 1848, appointed 
the late lamented Hon. Simon Greenleaf, and Rev. E. 
N. Kirk and Rev. Seth Bliss a special committee "to 
consider the importance of the American Tract Soci- 
ety's publishing a Bible and New Testament with brief 
explanatory notes, in order to supply their colpor- 
teurs with this book for circulation." The report of 
the special committee, in favor of the object proposed, 
was adopted December 13; and on the 19th the Rev. 
Mr. Kirk, in behalf of the Society in Boston, commend- 
ed the subject to the most serious attention of the 
Executive Committee of the Society in New York, 
who again referred it to a special committee, consist- 
ing of their chairman the Rev. Dr. Knox, the Rev. 
Dr. John S. Stone, and Rev. William A. Hallock. 

While this special committee were seeking light, 
frequent communications were held with Dr. Ed- 
wards, who wrote from Albany, January 1, 1849 : 



HIS COMMENT ON THE BIBLE. 505 

"I rejoice that the Committee are taking up the 
subject of the New Testament. It is high time that 
we were all engaged, heart and hand, in furnishing 
each one who can read, with a copy. 

" If the Lord will, I shall be in New York on Sat- 
urday next, and shall bring what I shall be willing 
that the Committee should adopt as a preface for the 
New Testament, if they think proper. I do not wish, 
in the Testament which we shall print, to have a com- 
mentary, but only a glossary^ or dictionary, or rather 
an instructor to teach the reader, as he goes along, 
the meaning of certain words and phrases which he 
might not understand, such, for instance, as repent- 
ance, faith, justification, sanctification, Pharisees, He- 
rodians, concision, etc. But you can print the first 
hundred thousand immediately, with only the preface, 
and by the time those are gone, the notes may be 
ready." 

Ai Dr. Edwards was proceeding from Albany to 
the city of Washington in his labors for the Sabbath, 
he stopped in New York, conferred on the subject of 
the comment, prepared some specimen notes, and sub- 
mitted the following draft of a preface, such as might 
perhaps be prefixed to the New Testament. 

" This book is the word of God. In it he makes 
known to men his character and will. It is all given 
by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and is profitable ; 
teaching men what to believe ; showing them in what 
they are wrong ; instructing them in what is right ; 
and leading them, through the grace of God, to do it. 
Although written by men, God directed them what to 

Edwards. 22 



/)06 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

write and how to write it, that as a rule of human 
faith and conduct it might be perfect. Having been 
all written, not in words taught by the wisdom of 
men, but the wisdom of God, it is ' perfect, converting 
the soul ; sure, making wise the simple ; and right, re- 
joicing the heart.' Of course a knowledge of this book 
is more to be desired than gold, even much £ne gold ; 
because in understanding, believing, and obeying it, 
there is great present and great future reward. 

" Hence, every person who can should own a copy 
of it, and should read some in it every day ; asking 
God to teach him, by his Spirit, rightly to understand, 
cordially to believe, and faithfully to obey it. It will 
then be spirit and life to his soul, and make him wise 
to salvation. It will be a lamp to his feet, and a 
light to his path ; guiding him in the way of right- 
eousness, that way of pleasantness and path of peace. 
He will be wiser, in the things of God, even than his 
teachers, if they do not understand, believe, and obey 
the Bible. Through it he will get understanding and 
will hate every false way ; and by it he will be fur- 
nished thoroughly for every good work. 

" On the Sabbath he should study this book in its 
divinely inspired aspect and connection ; not merely 
that he may obtain a greater knowledge of it himself, 
but also that he may be better qualified to communi- 
cate this knowledge to others. He should also, as he 
may be able, avail himself of the assistance of his fel- 
low-men, that he may receive from the treasures of 
revelation things new and old. 

"For this purpose he should confine his worldly 
business, cares, travelling, and amusements, to six 



HIS COMMENT ON THE BIBLE. 507 

days in a week, and should rest on the Sabbath and 
keep the day holy. He should not only, as on other 
days, pray to God, morning and evening, himself in 
secret and also in the family, but he should meet with 
others and worship God in public ; hearken to the 
preaching of the gospel by the ministers of Jesus Christ; 
and when he goes home, and has opportunity, he should 
examine the Bible and see whether what he has heard 
is according to it. If it is, he should receive it and 
treat it as the truth of God. If it is not, he should 
reject it ; for if any one preaches contrary to the 
Bible, he does not preach the truth, and is not to be 
believed. Each one should therefore study this word 
of God for himself, that he may be able rightly to 
judge whether what he hears is according to it or not. 
Every true minister of Christ will wish to have his 
hearers do this ; and like Paul will rejoice, (see Acts 
17 : 2,) when he learns that they are searching the 
Scriptures, to satisfy themselves whether what he 
preaches is true. By this law and testimony of God 
all human teaching from the pulpit and the press 
should be tried. If men speak not according to this 
word, there is no light in them. 

"Reader, make this book your own. By it try 
your faith, and your practice. Hearken to it daily, as 
the voice of God speaking to you, telling you words 
by which you may be saved, and by which you may 
also be instrumental in saving others. Follow its 
heavenly teachings, and all things shall work together 
for your good. God will guide you by his counsel 
through life ; he will support and comfort you in 
death ; and after death, he will receive you to glory ; 



508 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

where with him, and all his people, you will rise from 
glory to glory for ever and ever. 

"N. B. Some words and phrases which might not 
otherwise be understood, are explained in the notes 
at the bottom of the page ; and a specimen given of 
some of the instructions which the Scriptures afford." 

In the mean time, the Secretary at Boston pro- 
cured and transmitted to the special committee a 
letter from the venerable Rev. Dr. Jenks, who had 
labored long in preparing the " Comprehensive Com- 
mentary," giving his kind suggestions as to the char- 
acter of a comment best adapted for the object pro- 
posed — whether the text should be issued as a " Para- 
graph Bible," or possibly in a chronological arrange- 
ment like that of Townsend ; whether the references 
in Bagster's Bible, " prepared by the diligent and 
lamented Mr. Greenfield," should be adopted ; to 
what length notes and practical remarks should be 
extended ; and the desirableness of inserting a sketch 
of the events which occurred "between the closing 
of the Old Testament canon and the opening of the 
New." 

On the 10th of February, Dr. Edwards, having 
returned to New York, presented a specimen of brief 
notes on the first chapter of Matthew, to give an idea 
of the kind of Commentary which he "wished some- 
body to publish, for all our population who should 
not be otherwise supplied." 

On the 10th of March, he wrote : " From this time 
forward I hope tliat all colporteurs will be so fur- 
nished with Testaments, that each family, found 



HIS COMMENT ON THE BIBLE. 509 

destitute, shall be supplied with a copy, and each 
child in each fiimilv, who can purchase it, or whose 
parent or friend will purchase it for him ; also that 
colporteurs enough be forthwith employed and furnish- 
ed, to offer a copy to every family of immigrants, and 
to as many of their children as they will purchase for, 
well bound and in their awn tongue. No foreigner 
should get into our southern or western country, 
without having had the offer of a Bible or Testament 
as soon as possible after he steps on our shores : so 
that it may be understood, over all the world, that no 
body is to live in this country without a Bible, or a Testa- 
ment, unless through his own rejection of it. If they 
can have the Bible, the great object is accomplished, 
whether they have the comments of men, or not ; and 
every soul that shall be sanctified and saved through 
the influence of a Bible which without us he would not 
have received, will bless the Lord for ever, that we did 
not put off and delay doing good ' as we had opportu- 
nity,' till after he was dead. What thy hand findeth 
to do, do with thy might ; for in the grave to which 
thou art hastening there is no work." 

On the 23d of April, the report of the special 
committee was received and adopted ; recommending, 
"that the comments be such as are needful to assist 
the common reader rightly to understand the word of 
God, without lengthened human expositions. Where, 
from a change in the meaning of terms since the re- 
ceived version was made, from the obscurity of the 
meaning of words or phrases, from ignorance of ancient 
customs, from the prevalence of false interpretations, 
(as in the notes appended to the Douay version, or in 



610 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

the multiform teachings of men denying the Lord that 
bought us,) or from any other cause, the common 
reader would be likely to fail of apprehending the 
mind of the Spirit as revealed in the sacred volume, it 
seems desirable to add such explanations, notes, or 
comments, and perhaps occasional practical reflections, 
as may guide the reader to a reception of the great 
evangelical truths revealed, all centering in ' HIM, of 
whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write,' 
* THE Lamb op God, which taketh away the sin of the 
world.' " 

The following minute was also unanimously 
adopted : 

"Whereas the Rev. Dr. Edwards, who has been 
long and intimately connected with this and the Amer- 
ican Tract Society at Boston, has for years had his 
attention called to the momentous importance of bring- 
ing the truths of the Bible, in their divinely inspired 
aspects and connections, into contact with the minds 
of all our population : 

"Resolved, That he be requested to prepare and 
submit to this Committee a comment and notes on the 
gospel by Matthew, as a specimen of what he proposes, 
with a view to aid the Society in reaching a definite 
conclusion upon the whole subject." 

He entered immediately on the work thus assign- 
ed him, and. May 17, wrote to the Publishing Com- 
mittee : " In compliance with your request, I herewith 
send you a specimen of what I suppose it may be 
proper for the Tract Society to publish on the gospel 
of Matthew. The object of the work is to express to 
laboring people, common unlearned readers, in the 



HIS COMMENT ON THE BIBLE. 511 

plainest maimer, the meaning of the Holy Ghost in 
the gospel of Matthew, and some of the instructions 
which it alFords. I have therefore endeavored to avoid 
all attempts at learned criticism, and to give the re- 
sults of sound judicious interpretation, without giving 
the steps by which we reach those results. 

*' The Instructions I have added for the purpose of 
helping all persons, when they read the Bible, to form 
the habit of drawins: from it such instructions as will 
tend most to their growth in knowledge and in grace, 
and furnish them thoroughly for every good work." 

Though Dr. Edwards originally contemplated only 
a glossary, or the briefest explanation of, terms and 
phrases, yet as he proceeded through the gospel of 
Matthew, the work grew upon his hands, especially 
in the rich practical instructions suggested, till it be- 
came evident that the comment would be larger than 
was designed, and he proceeded carefully to abridge 
and condense it into the form in which, under the re- 
vision and sanction of the Committee, it was stereo- 
typed.^ 

* We annex the last three verses of Matthew as a specimen 
of the comment, though both the notes and instructions are longer 
than in the work generally, which contains the references and mar- 
ginal readings of Bagster's Polyglott Bible, and maps. 

MATTHEW 28 : 18-20. 

18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is 
given unto me in heaven and in earth. 

19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in 
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : 

20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have 
commanded you : and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end 
of the world. Amen. 



512 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

While the best form of publishing the work was 
under consideration, he wrote: "I think there are 
serious objections to intermingling the instructions 
with the notes ; or turning off the attention from what 
God has said, until the reader has spent as much time 
in attending to it as he thinks to be suitable. Then, 
if he has time, and is disposed to look at the instruc- 
tion which God's communication has suggested to a 
man, he can do so ; or he can write down, or think 

NOTES. 

18. All power ; power is here used in the sense of authority. 
Is given unto me; as mediator, God and man. 

19. TeacJi.j disciple all nations ; proclaim to them the gospel, 
for the purpose of persuading them to become my disciples. The 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; the one only living and true 
God. 

20. I am with you; in this work, to guide, comfort, sanctify, 
and sustain you ; to render you successful in awakening the atten- 
tion of men, convincing them of sin, and turning them from dark- 
ness to light, and from the power of sin unto God. I will be with 
you and aU who succeed you in preaching the gospel, to the end of 
time. Amen ; so let it be, and so it shall be. 

INSTPuUCTIONS. 

18. As Christ has authority over all, and power to direct and 
govern all, they who put their trust in him will be for ever safe. 

19. The making of all nations the disciples of Christ should be 
the great object of all. Some should labor for it in one way, and 
some in another, as the Lord shall call them ; but all should 
strive together that the Scriptures may be translated into every 
tongue, and the gospel be preached to every creature. 

20. Christ, with his divine presence and aid, will be with his 
people in doing his will, to the end of time ; and after having in- 
clined and enabled them to serve him and their generation according 
to the will of God, will receive them to himself, that where he is 
they also may be, to behold his glory, the glory which be had with 
the Father before the world was. John 17 : 24. 



HIS COMMENT ON THE BIBLE. 513 

out the instruction which the divine communication 
suggests to his own mind. 

'• I do not intend to insert any introduction to each 
book ; but to the Bible or Testament perhaps it might 
be well to have an introduction, stating to the reader 
the peculiar nature of this book, the manner in which 
it should be treated, and some of the good it will do 
him, if he treats it in that way." 

He says again, "It is very difficult to make any 
one work best suited to all classes of people. The 
very passages which to ministers and learned men are 
about as plain as they can be, are not so to the un- 
learned and to children, to whom simple explanations 
of the word of God are very attractive. The Bible 
about which learned doctors have so long differed, 
the unlearned millions exceedingly desire to have 
made plain to them.'* 

"If this work is to have a general circulation among 
all classes of people, and be best suited to all, it ap- 
pears to me there must be different editions, and some 
comprehending more than others. Might it not be 
best then first to prepare an edition best suited for 
colporteur distribution among those who would not be 
likely to get the Bible, except through their instru- 
mentality ? and then, as time, experience, observation, 
and the providence of God may point the way, prepare 
it in other forms and sizes and varieties for other 
classes of people ? 

* " ' Machinations' " — a term which some one had proposed in 
revising the notes — " is a long hard word, which unlearned labor- 
ing men do not use, and which many of them do not understand, 
or know how to pronounce." 

22* 



514 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

"As to references, if the Committee think that 
the comment will be sought after by ministers and 
Sabbath-school teachers and experienced Christians, 
and that it would be better for them to have more 
references, I have no objection, provided they do 
not call upon me to make them. The reason why 
I should be reluctant to perform that labor is, it ap- 
pears to me that the little time which I have to stay 
on earth, may, in another way, be employed to better 
advantage. I have always supposed that a number 
of tables containing such information as common 
people need, and which they would not be likely 
to get except from this Bible, might be embodied, 
and add much to the attractiveness and value of the 
work. 

" My attention is now fully occupied in endeavor- 
ing rightly to apprehend and rightly to express the mean- 
ing of the Holy Ghost in those passages of Scripture which 
I am called upon to examine. This employment is de- 
lightful. The weeks slip away with amazing rapidity, 
and will soon be all gone — it may be before I get 
through the Bible, or such parts of it as may be 
thought desirable. If they should not, and I should 
be here and able to do it, and nothing else should 
more urgently call, I will attend to references or any 
thing else to wliich Providence may direct me. What 
my hands find to do, I ask an interest in your prayers 
and those of the Committee, that I may be enabled to 
do and with ray might, according to the will of God ; 
and I hope that through your and their assistance, and 
the divine blessing, great and lasting good will result 
to mankind." 



HIS CO^iLMENT ON THE BIBLE. 515 

The stereotyping of Matthew having been unavoid- 
ably delayed, he wrote, December 3 : "It is no doubt 
best that the Committee and all concerned should, in 
this and all things, take all needed time to learn the 
divine will and to do it. He that believeth, while he 
will be diligent in business, and what his hands find to 
do, will do with his might, and heartily unto the Lord, 
will not ^make hasted or wish to pluck the fruits of 
Providence before they are ripe. Unripe fruits are 
unhealthy ; and though they often look beautifully, 
and are very tempting, yet God causes them to ripen 
slowly, on purpose, I suppose, to try our patience, and 
let us know that unless we let patience have its per- 
fect work, we can never be perfect and entire, but 
shall ever be wanting." 

In a letter, April 4, 1850, he says, "I sometimes 
please myself with the hope, that somebody at some 
time may be enabled to prepare a Biblical Manual, to 
go with the Bible, which shall contain what its com- 
mon readers may need to know about the nature of 
the book, the proper mode of treating it, and the 
effects of treating it in this way ; all needful tables of 
weights, measures, distances, coins, titles, offices, etc., 
together with history, chronology, geography, etc. ; 
in a word, whatever is needful to enable the people 
to understand the Lord's meaning in all the words 
which he uses. 

" It may contain also a dissertation, briefly stating 
the right which every man who has a soul has to own 
a Bible, to read some in it daily, to judge himself of 
its meaning, and when he learns what the will of God 
is, his right and duty to do it ; and the unspeakable 



516 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

importance of every man, woman, and child, especially 
in this country, taking this course."" 

" It might be called the ' Biblical Manual,' and 
go out with the Temperance and Sabbath Manuals, 
and the Bible, to every soul that will receive it, and 
thus aid in preparing the way for the Lord to ' mag- 
nify his word above all his name,' and to make the 
light of the moon like the light of the sun, and the 
light of the sun as the light of seven days." 

Again he says, "No words can express my con- 
stantly growing convictions of the importance and the 
necessity of men becoming, in their proper place and 

* Dr. Edwards having written to the aged antiquarian, Rev. 
Thomas Robbins, then at Hartford, for information as to the Bible 
published by recommendation of our American Congress, he replied, 
that "Mr. Robert Aitken, a printer at Philadelphia, finding that 
there was a great scarcity of Bibles in the time of our revolution- 
ary war, made application to Congress to patronize the object, 
January 21, 1781. His memorial was referred to a committee, of 
which James Duane was chairman. The work went on slowly, a 
great work for that day, and the committee reported, September 1, 
1782, 'that Mr. Aitken has, at great expense, now finished an 
American edition of the Holy Scriptures in English ; that the com- 
mittee have from time to time attended to his progress in the 
work ; that they also recommended it to the two chaplains of Con- 
gress to examine and give their opinion of the execution.' 

"The chaplains, Dr. White and Mr. Duffield, reported their 
high approbation, and Congress then 

"'Resolved, That the United States, in Congress assembled, 
highly approve the pious and laudable undertaking of Mr. Aitken, 
as subservient to the interests of religion, as well as an instance of 
the progress of arts in this country, and being satisfied from the 
above report of his care and accuracy in the execution of his work, 
they recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the 
United Statx;s, and hereby authorize him to publish this recommen- 
dation in the manner he shall think proper.' " 



HIS COMMENT ON THE BIBLE. 517 

in the right way, workers together with God, in promot- 
ing their own salvation and that of others. To induce 
them to do this, is one grand object of all that I am 
now doing." 

He pressed forward laboriously with his delightful 
work, and on the last day of December, 1850, was 
enabled to announce the J^ew Testament completed. 

"My DEAR Sir— Through the great kindness of 
God, and by his continued assistance, I have finished 
the book of Revelation and the New Testament. 

" I desire to express to you and to the dear breth- 
ren of the Committee, and to your fellow-laborer 
Mr. Rand, my grateful acknowledgments for the kind 
assistance which you and they have rendered me, and 
above all, to the God of all grace, the giver of all 
good, for enabling and inclining you and them to do 
it. I would also ask the continued aid of your and 
their prayers, that should my life and health be pre- 
served, and I be graciously permitted to pursue this 
work, I may rightly apprehend and rightly express 
the mind and will of the Holy" Ghost; that we may 
be instrumental in communicating a knowledge of it 
to multitudes of the present and future generations 
who would otherwise not so clearly or to so great an 
extent understand it. And may our daily prayer 
ascend to God, that his truth as communicated by us 
and others may, through his rich abounding grace, be 
the means of preparing many for glory and honor, 
immortality, and eternal life in heaven. With much 
love to you and all the brethren, 

" I am truly and gratefully yours, 

<' JUSTIN EDWARDS." 



518 E.EV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

His youngest daughter having, at the close of the 
year 1850, engaged for a time in teaching in Alabama, 
he wrote her kind and fatherly letters, giving valua- 
ble hints as to the management of the school, her own 
course of reading and study, the cultivation of piety 
in her own heart, her usefulness to those around her, 
and especially prayerful fidelity to the eternal welfare 
of the pupils under her charge. 

January 1, 1851, he writes her, "'I wish you a 
happy new year,' by your remembering that all our 
happiness comes from that great and good God in 
whom we live and move and have our being, and that 
if we are ever truly and permanently blessed, it must 
be in learning and doing his will. All that we are, 
and all that we have, we receive from him. For our 
friends, and for all that is lovely in them, and all the 
comforts we receive from them, we are indebted to 
him ; and they come to us as the fruit of our Saviour's 
kindness and condescension, his exile for more than 
thirty years from his Father's house and its manifold 
comforts, in a cold and pitiless world, where although 
the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air nests, he 
had not where to lay his head. 

"I learn from Elizabeth's letter, for which we are 
all very much obliged to you, that you sometimes 
feel lonely. This I expected ; for I have often, when 
absent from home and friends, especially when I was 
young, felt so myself. When my mother died, and I 
had to leave my father, brother, and sisters, and go 
to live with strangers, I had such feelings as I never 
had before, and which we should know nothing about 
if we did not experience them. Yet hundreds and 



HIS COMMENT ON THE BIBLE. 519 

thousands in different parts of the world, and many of 
them in situations much less comfortable than yours, 
are experiencing such lonely desolate feelings all the 
while. God wishes that we should think of them, 
sympathize with them, and pray to him for them ; but 
we never should do it, if we never had any such feel- 
ings ourselves. Jesus Christ, knowing how much we 
should need his sympathy, left his home in heaven and 
took upon him our nature in body and soul, and will- 
ingly submitted to the temptations, trials, and dis- 
tresses of this life, that he might know by experience 
what they are, and be better fitted to feel for, sympa- 
thize with, and succor those who are lonelv and dis- 
tressed, and need his help. He is near you, though 
we are not, and into his kind bosom you may pour out 
all your wants. When I have been far away from 
friends, and felt lonely and desolate, I have sometimes 
found great comfort in reading the epistles to the Phi- 
lippians and Colossians. ' Cast thy burden on the 
Lord, and he shall sustain thee.' " 

To his brother-in-law. Rev. Jared Reid, who had 
an attack of paralysis, which ere long terminated his 
life, he wrote, January 7, from Rockport, where he 
had been to attend the funeral of a little son of Rev. 
Mr. Gale : " We have here learned that you are pros- 
trated by disease. We tenderly and deeply sympa- 
thize with you in your affliction, and hope that the 
Lord will be graciously pleased to be with you, and 
for Christ's sake grant you his presence and blessing, 
lift upon you the light of his countenance, and give 
you joy and peace in believing on him, who is, you 
know, able and willing to do exceeding abundantly 



520 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

above all that we can ask or think, for all who put 
their trust in him. As diseases are his servants, that 
go and come at his bidding, and as he does not afflict 
willingly or grieve the children of men, but for their 
profit, that they may be partakers of his holiness, we 
have always reason in the midst of our trials to say. 
It is the Lord, let him do as seemeth him good ; he 
doeth all things well ; and though the fig-tree should 
not blossom, neither fruit be in the vines, yet I will 
rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my sal- 
vation. I hope he will graciously direct to and 
bless means for your recovery, and raise you up to the 
glory of his name, and to the good of all concerned ; 
above all, that he will be with you, and enable you 
so to trust in him as to be like mount Zion that cannot 
be moved, and so to seek him that you will not want 
any good thing. 

" The good seed which you and your departed wife 
sowed in your ministry at Reading and at Belcher- 
town, seems to be evidently springing up and bring- 
ing forth fruit unto life eternal. So I trust it may be 
at Tiverton, so that whether you remain, or go to be 
with your dear wife and those who through faith and 
patience, and often through much tribulation, are now 
inheriting the promises, you may see, in due time, that 
through rich grace your labors have not been in vain 
in the Lord." 

To his eldest son, whose partner in New Orleans 
had been removed by death, and who had formed a 
new mercantile connection in New York, he wrote, 
January 21, 1852: 

"My DEAR Son — If I rightly recollect, it is tliir- 



HIS COMMENT ON THE BIBLE. 521 

ty-three years since I first saw your face and heard 
your voice — almost one-third of a century. You have 
now lived to be half of sixty-six, and by looking back 
can see a little how sixty-six years of human life will 
seem to you, should you live to see them. You can 
also see about all which this world can do for men, 
as to making them happy. It can do, through our 
own efforts, and the blessing of God, what it has done 
for you and me : furnish food and raiment, and the 
means of support for the body, something with which 
to aid our friends, and if we are disposed, do good to 
our needy fellow-men. But as we brought nothing 
into this world, so we shall carry nothing out of it, 
except the character we here form. And it is on our 
character, our feelings with regard to God and our 
fellow-men, that our happiness depends. 

" Especially will this be the case, when we leave 
this world, which we may be called to at any time ; 
and the character we then have will continue for 
ever. Hence, with every wise man, the great inquiry 
will be, how his own mind may be brought into such 
a state as to be happy in loving and obeying God. 
There is a way, and that way is pointed out in the 
Bible ; and each person may learn it, under the teach- 
ing of the Holy Spirit, which God gives to those who 
desire it and ask it of him. Matt. 7 : 11. To assist 
men in doing this, and in receiving the instructions 
which the Holy Ghost gives, is one object I have in 
view in writing notes on the Bible. An objection 
which persons sometimes think of is, that if they make 
it their great object to learn and do the will of God, 
they shall not obtain as much as they want of this 



522 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

world. But the answer to that is, God has promised 
that they shall have all that tliey need, all that will 
do them good, all that will not in the end be a curse 
to them. And what wise man, who looks upon him- 
self as an immortal being, will wish for more. ' Seek 
ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and 
all these things,' that is, all which you need, all which 
will be best for you, all you can have without injury, 
'shall be added to you.' Matt. 6:33. I hope my 
notes may be instrumental in leading many rightly to 
understand such passages, and by taking the course 
pointed out, experience the blessings which are prom- 
ised. To seek first the kingdom of God and his right- \ 
eousness, is to treat him as our rightful King, seek to 
be governed by his will, do what we know to be right, | 
and trust in what Jesus Christ lias done for accept- ' 

ance with God. In doing this, we shall have all that 
God sees to be best for us in this world, and enjoy 
much more happiness in it than we can in any other 
way, and be perfectly and for ever blessed with him 
and all his redeemed people in the world to come. 
" Your ever affectionate father, 

"J. EDWARDS." 



KIS CLOSINa LABORS. 523 



CHAPTER XIY. 

THE CLOSING LABORS OF HIS LIFE. 

As soon as he had finished the notes and instruc- 
tions on the New Testament, he began those upon the 
Old Testament, to which he consecrated his unremit- 
ting energies for nearly a year and a half, till he had 
reached the end of the first book of Kings, when, 
April 17, 1852, he wrote by an amanuensis : 

" Dear Sir — I am down with a fever, brought on, 
I suppose, by too long continued and intense mental 
excitement and effort. Though I trust not immedi- 
ately dangerous, I am not able to employ my mind 
about any thing. You must make the first of Kings 
as perfect as you can, and go on and print it, or leave 
it to be examined by me, should the Lord permit, at 
some future time, as you may judge best." 

This sickness, which he doubtless attributes to the 
true cause, "too long continued and intense mental 
excitement and effort," not only in urging forward 
the Comment, but fulfilling other public responsibili- 
ties, especially affected the brain, and for some weeks 
he was in a high state of mental and nervous excite- 
ment; prostrated by disease and yet apparently in 
great buoyancy of spirits, talking continually of the 
Comment, the Sabbath, the religious hopes of his chil- 
dren, and an endless variety of subjects, often display- 
ing uncommon shrewdness and brilliancy; but as 



524 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

when, in health and the fall use of his reason, express- 
ing no alarm at the approach of death, scarcely allud- 
ing to the subject of the state of his own mind or 
his preparation for eternity, and in no case speaking 
an unkind word of the absent. Two of his sons, 
one a merchant in New York, and one a lawyer in 
Augusta, Maine, came to him, and remained through 
the crisis of the disease ; and for seven days and 
seven nights, in which they were with him, together 
or alternately, they believe he slept not a moment, 
but was almost constantly speaking, except when his 
tongue became paralyzed, at periods when his death 
was daily and almost hourly expected. Not only was 
there the influence of fever, but the biliary derange- 
ment, under which in the pressure of great labor and 
exhaustion he had formerly been prostrated, return- 
ed ; and with it the chronic " internal inflammation " 
of which his letters speak, that at times had caused 
intense suffering — a complication of disease which 
seemed to indicate the will of God, that his work on 
earth should now be terminated. But prayer was 
made for him continually ; his own prayers that he 
might be useful were with the great Intercessor before 
the heavenly throne ; and after about forty days he 
became again comfortable, though reduced to a state 
of great weakness. 

On the 12th of May, his son in Maine wrote: "I 
have been during the last ten days engaged with the 
other members of our family in attending on my fa- 
ther. He now seems to be slowly improving, and I 
think the impression of the physician is, that if no 
relapse should take place, he will recover. 



HIS CLOSING LABORS. 525 

" There is no doubt in the mind of the physician, 
or of the family, that the cause of the present illness 
was too severe and long continued mental effort. For 
two years, as he has repeatedly said during his illness, 
he has had no vacation. His daily biblical studies 
being of a nature which rendered it proper to think 
and read in connection with them on the Sabbath, I 
doubt if he has had even the relaxation and chano:e 
of pursuit which make that day so valuable to other 
men. In addition to the Commentary, which required 
as much labor as he was able to perform, he has had 
various and laborious duties in connection with the 
Sabbath and Temperance interests, the Theological 
Seminary, and other matters. The brain was thus 
tasked beyond its power of endurance, and delirium 
ensued, which lasted some three weeks. His mind is 
still weak, and must have time to recover itself. His 
life is of so much value that we feel bound to use every 
effort to prevent it from being prematurely terminated 
by a return to the full burden of past labors.'^ 

June 3, his youngest daughter wrote : " The love 
and anxiety manifested on our behalf by sympathizing 
friends, has been most grateful to our feelings, and has 
contributed not a little to support and strengthen us 
in this day of doubt and trial. But thanks to our 
merciful heavenly Father, the clouds are now gra- 
ciously dispersed, and we are allowed to look forward 
to the time when he who is so precious to our hearts, 
shall be raised up from his bed of languishing and 
distress to become again a blessing to the church, the 
world, and his family, and gladden the social circle by 
his counsel and example. I am rejoiced to be able to 



526 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

tell you that ray father gains slowly, though very 
slowly, from day to day. For a week past he has been 
riding out a short distance every pleasant day, and 
though fatigued by the exertion, seems refreshed, after 
his long confinement, by the lovely attire in which 
spring is clothing our village." 

June 24:th, Dr. Edwards wrote, " For nearly three 
years I pursued a course of vigorous mental effort, 
without any substantial vacation, hoping to prevent 
the depressing effects by a course of daily vigorous 
bodily exercise ; but both mind and body failed, and I 
have been affected with a violent inflammation of the 
brain, which for a time endangered my life. From 
that I am now slowly recovering, and hope in due 
time to be able to prosecute my duties. Some things 
about the Bible may be learned in sickness, which will 
not ordinarily be learned in health." 

July 7, he says, "I am gradually but slowly gain- 
ing as to health, and hope in due time to resume my 
work. You can now stereotype all that you have, 
and must wait upon Providence for the rest. I rejoice 
that you have sent one hundred and fifty copies of the 
New Testament to foreign missionaries." 

September 9, he wrote, " Had I taken two montlis' 
vacation in each of the three years I have been occu- 
pied with the Commentary, it might have saved me 
the long and severe illness I have suffered. But I did 
not take any, and even when absent on a journey took 
my inanuscript with me, hoping that by exercising the 
latter part of each day I could continue my labor 
without any vacation. But in this I was mistaken, 
and have had to take nearly six months' vacation, all 



HIS CLOSING LABORS. 527 

at one time. The knowledge thus acquired, I hope to 
make of use, if I live, in future time and labors. I am 
perceptibly but slowly gaining, and hope that on the 
approach of cold weather I shall gain faster. But 
that I leave with Him who bringeth down and raiseth 
up, and who doeth all things well." 

As his strength gradually returned, he proceeded 
cautiously in the preparation of the Comment, the com- 
pletion of which was now the one work to which 
Providence seemed to call him ; and though he had 
little strength for any other service, the Bible grew 
more and more precious, and it was food to his soul to 
drink in its blessed truths, and draw out its practical 
heaven-inspired instructions for the benefit of others. 
On the 30th of October, he sent the second book of 
Kings, and on the 23d of December had finished the 
book of Esther. 

About the middle of February, 1853, he had com- 
pleted the book of Job, and reached the fortieth 
Psalm, when the complicated disease by which he had 
been prostrated ten months before reappeared, though 
in a much milder form ; and a lingering fever and 
nervous exhaustion again precluded all mental effort. 
After some weeks he wrote, April 18, " My health is 
slowly gaining. I ride out every pleasant day, and 
walk a little. To-day I finish the comment on the 
fiftieth Psalm, and hope to go on slowly with the 
work, but shall at present attempt to do but little." 
Within a few weeks, applying all his remaining 
strength, at short intervals, to his endeared work, he 
carried it forward to the end of the ninetieth Psalm. 

He resorted to all means of relaxation : riding, 



528 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

exercise in his garden of which he was fond, and even 
ventured to take a little journey, beyond his strength, 
to visit his relatives in Westhampton ; but he found 
that no means he was using had any essential recu- 
perative influence upon his health : when his esteemed 
friend General Cocke of Virginia visited him, and 
after cheering conversation on their old favorite sub- 
ject of Temperance, recommended his visiting the 
Virginia Springs, agreeing to meet him at Richmond, 
or Philadelphia, and accompany him, first to his own 
residence and then to the Springs, and if desirable, to 
take him in the ensuing winter to his plantation in 
Alabama. 

Hoping against hope that his formerly successful 
remedy of a change of scene in a somewhat extended 
tour might restore his energies ; and though with 
lurking disease manifestly prostrating his system, yet 
seeing no prospect of health if he remained at home, 
he resolved to accept the General's invitation, and 
June 1, wrote to the compiler in New York : 

"I should think well of printing forthwith the 
comment to the end of Job, as volume first of the Old 
Testament. It would be a great convenience to me 
to have it. How long before the whole will be finished 
will depend much on my health. 

" I now think, if Providence permit, of visiting the 
Virginia Springs. If so, I shall be in New York next 
week. I would thank you to see Dr. Bliss, and tell 
him I am just getting up from a forty days' fever ; but 
am feeble, have no appetite, and am not able to get 
any. I daily ride out in pleasant weather, but the 
circulation in the system is low, and I am very easily 



HIS CLOSING LABORS. 529 

tired with very little effort, and do not seem to gain. 
My old difficulty for whick he visited me, continues to 
trouble me some, but not more than it has ordinarily 
for several years past. If you will ascertain his views 
as to my going to the Yirginia Springs for a few 
weeks, so that you can inform me when I reach New 
York, you will oblige me." 

On the same day Mrs. Edwards wrote, "He has 
attended church half the day for two or three Sab- 
baths. Last Sabbath being very warm, and the air 
of the church becoming close, he fainted, but on com- 
ing to the fresh air revived again, and has seemed 
since quite as well as before." 

Having made all arrangements as if he might 
never return — which was usual in his preparation for 
a journey — he, on the 8th of June, left Andover ac- 
companied by his youngest daughter, and on the second 
day reached the city of New York, and found a home 
in the family of the compiler. So great was his weak- 
ness, that he was unable to converse continuously on 
any topic, or even to lead in family devotions ; and 
the singing of his favorite hymn, 

" could I speak the matchless worth, 
could I sound the glories forth 
Which in my Saviour shine," 

was more than his prostrated nervous system could 
bear ; yet occasionally his tender beaming eye and 
flashes of spiritual thought showed the heavenly fii'e 
that glowed in his public appeals when in the vigor 
of his pastoral life. 

Though the physician in New York feared that the 
internal disease upon him was incurable, and regarded 

Khvtrda 23 



530 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

the attempt to reach the Virginia Springs as hazard- 
ous, he left on the morning of the 13th, accompanied 
by his daughter and his eldest son, for Philadelphia ; 
and one week later he wrote Mrs. Edwards from the 
mansion of General Cocke, that he had safely arrived 
there, and his health " seemed to be improving." He 
wrote again, June 27, and June 30, that his health 
was "rather more comfortable than when he left 
home f that his appetite, though poor, was somewhat 
improved, and "the swelling in his feet much less- 
ened;" that he frequently rode out, and every thing 
was done for his comfort ; that they were having " the 
warmest summer weather for Virginia, the thermom- 
eter ranging from ninety-four to ninety-eight degrees, 
but he did not feel oppressed by it more than by the 
warm weather at the north." 

One week later, he and his daughter were accom- 
panied by General Cocke, by way of the Natural 
Bridge, to the Rockbridge Alum Springs. They here 
spent four days, when the General was called home on 
business, and Dr. Edwards and his daughter proceeded 
sixteen miles to the Bath Alum Springs ; being still 
ten miles distant from the " Hot Springs," which he 
wished to reach, hoping to receive benefit from bath- 
ing in the waters. At the Rockbridge Springs, "he 
went to meals every day leaning on the GeneraFs 
arm, though he seemed to relish little or nothing that 
he ate," and the night he arrived at the Bath Alum 
Springs, Wednesday, July 13, he was taken sick. We 
give the brief narrative that follows, in the words of 
his daughter in a letter to her mother, "Sabbath 
morning, July 24, 1853 :" 



HIS CLOSINa LABORS. 531 

" Mother dear — Pa went home to heaven yester- 
day morning at half past seven o'clock. I believe he 
heard the harps of the angels before he died, for the 
sweetest smile is on his face. I 'm so happy to think 
he 's done with sickness and pain for ever ; and if one 
is made perfect through suffering, then I 'm sure he is 
tuning his harp very near the throne of God this 
beautiful Sabbath morning. I wrote you on Thurs- 
day night after the doctor came, but pa was so debil- 
itated by his loss of appetite and distress, that the 
physician could only make use of the most simple rem- 
edies. He gradually failed till Friday night, when 
we thought him dying. I held his head on a pillow 
from twelve o'clock until four Saturday morning, 
when his breathing, which had been difficult, became 
as calm as an infant's, but gradually grew shorter and 
shorter, till the last was over. 

"I had prayed most earnestly that the agony of 
his disease might not accompany him to the hour of 
death, and when I found my prayers were answered 
in granting him so calm an exit, I could not ask for 
more, for his death was the same peaceful, quiet scene 
that his life has ever been. And, dearest mother, if 
you could look on the lovely expression of his counte- 
nance, I am sure you must feel comforted in knowing 
that every thing was done for him, that under the cir- 
cumstances, human aid could afford. 

"I have always thought I should have a dread 
of death, but shall never feel it again. I could kiss 
the death-dew from his brow, and sing his favorite 
hymns — thinking that though so nearly lost to the 
outward world, he miglit still be able to hear what he 



532 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

loved in health — all through Friday night, though the 
moon shining over his bed was my only company. 
The doctor had asked me if I would not have some 
gentlemen from the house called in ; but I told him 
not unless they could do some good, for it was my 
greatest comfort to stay alone with him and feel that 
I was committing his spirit from my care to that of 
his God. 

" Although my trial was a most bitter one, to lose 
so dear a friend, and among strangers too, yet when 
the struggle was over I could feel that Yirginia was 
as good a place from which to go home to God and 
glory, as Massachusetts could ever be. I had none 
of the desolate, lonely feelings one might expect. I 
could calmly select the clothes in which to dress him 
as though they were only for the journey of the next 
day, as I have so often done before ; and kissing him 
after he was dressed, seemed like bidding him good- 
by only for a little while. I made arrangements to 
leave the same afternoon, though they begged me to 
stay till the next day ; but I told them, no, for my 
business was done : I could no longer comfort my 
father, and must hurry home to console my mother by 
telling her how much we have to be thankful for. 1 
had a plain box made in which to bring pa as far as 
Lexington, where I could get a metallic case. The 
doctor insisted on accompanying me as far as Rich- 
mond. I have found so many kind friends — every 
body is good to me. 

" I began this at Rockbridge, where we stopped 
for breakfast, but am finishing it on the boat going 
down James river. I have no fear but I shall get on 



HIS cLOsma labors. 533 

well, and never can distrust again when I have been 
so wonderfully sustained so far." 

At Richmond, her eldest brother met lier, and they 
arrived at Andover on Monday, where the daughter 
says, " I found the consoling grace of God had reached 
home before me, and wonderfully sustained the be- 
reaved and aching hearts waiting there. The chil- 
dren were all gathered together, with uncles, aunts, 
and cousins, that sorrowful but still rejoicing Monday 
night. On Tuesday, August 2, at eleven o'clock. Pro- 
fessor Phelps read the Scriptures and offered prayer 
at the house with the relatives. Then we proceeded 
in procession to the Seminary chapel, where the Scrip- 
tures were read, prayer offered by Rev. John Taylor, 
and hymns sung, the last of which, 

' How blest the righteous when he dies,' 
was one of those I sung to him the night he was dying. 
In the chapel burying-ground we laid him down to 
rest, 'with kings and counsellors of the earth,' and 
what is more, with 'kings and priests unto God.'" 

As a distino'uished friend called to tender his 
sympathy to the bereaved widow, he found her tear- 
ful eye lifted in thanksgiving and praise, saying, "I 
feel that to mourn would be ingratitude to God for 
his rich and abounding grace." And when regret 
was expressed that her departed husband had not said 
more of his own feelings in view of death, she replied, 
" That would not have been like him ; he never talked 
about his own feelings." 

A few days after, she wrote, "For more than a 
year, I have thought it probable that his stay on earth 
miffht be short ; and he seemed to live as if he midit 



534 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

be called away at any time, and yet as if he had much 
work still to do here, and was not ready to go till it 
was finished. Trying as it is to part with him, I 
would not call him back; he has found a far better 
home in heaven, where Jesus is, and where he can be 
fully employed without fainting or tiring, freed from 
suffering and from sin, and where he has, all his life, 
been preparing to go. I can feel that the Lord is 
good and kind in giving^ and kind in taking away. I 
have not been left to regret that he went south. Had 
he stayed through my means and died here, I should 
have reproached myself, thinking that if he had gone 
as he wished, he might have lived. And how kindly 
was he taken care of, by friends he loved, all his jour- 
ney through ; and if he must die from home, what 
better place could he have chosen? — a large airy room, 
all things still and quiet, with one to attend upon him. 
Consoling as it would be to me to have been there, I 
am constrained to say. He doeth all things well, and 
blessed be his holy name." 

When he arrived at the Rockbridge Springs, and 
again when he reached the Bath Alum Springs, he 
asked for the volume of Dr. Scott's Commentary con- 
taining the Psalms, Avhich assisted his meditations 
when his strength allowed, and was under his pillow 
when he died. Though, on leaving home, he arranged 
every thing as if he were not to return, he took with 
him the original Hebrew and best helps for continu- 
ing the Commentary ; and on opening his trunk, it was 
found that he had carried it on from the ninetieth to 
the close of the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm. 
His daughter supposed this was done in the calm early 



HI6 CLOSING- LABORS. ^35 

morning hours of the oppressively hot days while he 
was at General Cocke's, though he was then too weak 
to bear continued conversation on any subject — so in- 
tent was he on finishing the work which he believed 
God had called him to do. He was cheered by the 
fact that his comment on the New Testament was in 
such demand that no less than seventy thousand copies 
had been already printed ; that it was received and 
read with great interest, especially in family worship ; 
that the idea of preparing simple notes and instructions 
for the masses of men was owned by the great Master, 
and would probably produce results more than realiz- 
ing his expectations ; and he was daily expecting to 
receive from the press the first volume of the Old Tes- 
tament, Genesis to Job. At tlie time of his death it 
was supposed that his closing words on the ninetieth 
Psalm were the last he had written : " God is the 
author and finisher of all good works. With his 
presence and blessing, they will continue to prosper. 
Men must die, and leave many things unfinished, but 
God lives. His cause will extend, and by such in- 
struments as he shall raise up, will ultimately pros- 
per." 

The physician who attended him from the com- 
mencement of his severe sickness a year before he 
died, says, "At my first visit, in April, 1852, on hear- 
ing his plain, clear, and graphic description of his an- 
tecedent symptoms and sufferings, and the treatment 
he had received by distinguished physicians, I was 
struck with his remarkable calmness, firmness, and 
acquiescence in whatever might be the will of divine 
Providence. He was of the nervous-bilious tempera- 



536 HEY. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

ment, favorable to activity, strength, and endurance 
both of body and mind. The nature of his disease 
was such as to cause, at times, extreme suffering ; yet 
he was never known to express any other view than 
that all was wisely ordered for good. Under all cir- 
cumstances, he was uniformly kind, gentle, charitable, 
faithful, peaceful, firm, and patient. On one occasion 
of great suffering, I asked him if he had fear of death. 
He answered, ' None. It is nothing fearful to die and 
go to heaven' — adding, after a pause, 'I love my 
family and friends of course, and it would give me 
pleasure to be able to finish my commentary — for 
these I could desire life ; but the Lord will provide, 
and do what is best.' In this severe illness he was 
many days deranged, in which state he disclosed much 
hidden treasure. His usual caution and reserve in 
speaking disappeared ; and he became communicative, 
free, and lovely as the morn of spring : showing, in 
his constant conversation, wonderful stores of know- 
ledge and wise reflection ; speaking of all kindly, 
hopefully, charitably, and prayerfully ; and exhibiting 
the loveliest phases of Christian character — thus dis- 
pelling the deep gloom often pervading families in 
such circumstances, and making his own sick-room 
really cheerful." 

An excellent pastor, who resided some time in his 
family, says, " I knew him well and loved him much ; 
and am much indebted to his advice, suggestions, and 
wise hints, for the degree of usefulness with which 
God has favored me in the ministry. He had sterling 
common-sense, and the most knowledge about the 
most subjects pertaining to all the realities of life, 



HIS CLOSINa LABORS. 537 

that I have discovered in any one man. Of his de- 
voted piety there was but one impression among those 
who knew him. His was the religion of deep, un- 
bending principle. These qualities combined rendered 
him eminently competent to advise^ and to advise in 
such a way as to make his suggestions impressive and 
useful. Once he said to me, on telling him of some 
sacrifice to observe the Sabbath, 'That is right; put 
honor on God's institutions, and he will put honor on 
your instructions.' At another time, speaking of the 
difiiculty of getting along peaceably in the midst of 
conflicting religious opinions and interests, he said, 
* Hold fast to your principles ; but with a limber el- 
bow.' So always he had a word in season, appro- 
priate, striking, sententious, lucid. I loved him as a 
father, and Avould say much, were I competent to 
speak of such a man." 

Another intelligent and successful pastor, who was 
long in Dr. Edwards' family, and gratefully acknow- 
ledges his wise counsel and persevering fidelity in 
guiding his studies and preparing him for usefulness, 
says, with brevity, but judicious accuracy and discrim- 
ination : 

"The following occur to me as among the prominent 
traits of his character as they developed themselves in 
my intercourse with him : A calm, constant determi 
nation to do all the good possible, to all the world. 
Patient, undeviating trust in God. Remarkable self- 
control ; as perfect a command of his temper as I ever 
saw in any human being. Uncommon fairness of mind, 
willing to allow the weight of opinions opposite to 
his own, not dogmatizing, or seeming to desire to force 

23* 



538 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

his opinions on any one. Decided clearness of mind, 
seizing the strong points of a case. Singular discre- 
tion and sound judgment. Minding his own business. 
Honorableness of treatment towards all men. Kind 
and tender feelings. Great energy, perseverance, and 
self-reliance ; an independence of other men, both in 
thought and in action, doing things in his own way. 
A constant endeavor to gain knowledge. An unusu- 
ally well-balanced mind." 

Of his influence in his family, the same pastor says, 
''It was characterized peculiarly by kindness ; which 
showed itself, not in caresses or affectionate expres- 
sions, but in actions rather than phrases, in tones 
rather than sentences, in looks rather than declara- 
tions, in the general aspect and mien and intercourse, 
rather than in particular forms. If you asked him 
any thing, he listened to you carefully, and took time 
and pains to meet your wishes ; ready to give his 
thoughts, his energy, and his wisdom for your welfare. 
In his family intercourse he retained his personal dig- 
nity, which rather repressed than invited familiarity. 
He seemed to be pleased with the happy sports of his 
children at proper times, but he never romped and 
sported with them, except with the greatest modera- 
tion. He was not stern; but a sort of calm moral 
grandeur seemed to pervade his whole life, a loftiness 
of thought, and plan, and labor, which left him little 
time and less disposition for mingling in childish 
sports. I believe he thought, in his later years, that it 
V70uld have been better to have unbent more in famil- 
iar intercourse in his family. His bow seemed always 
to be stretched to its utmost tension; and had he 



HIS CLOSlXa LABORS. 539 

allowed himself more relaxation, his strength might 
have continued longer. His conversation however 
was often entertaining and sprightly. He had inhe- 
rently a vein of native wit, as appears sometimes in 
his writings, especially when replying in a single line 
to some fallacious objection ; but I think he was a lit- 
tle afraid of it, and not only took no pains to cultivate 
it, and no pride in exercising it, but was sparing and 
careful in the use of it. 

"His conversation was always instructive: he was 
all his life accumulating knowledge, a reader on agri- 
culture, physiology, natural philosophy, politics, as 
well as on what more directly concerned his profes- 
sion ; and from the stores of information thus gathered, 
he not infrequently both entertained and instructed 
his household. He had the most perfect authority and 
control over his children, yet there was very little 
show of authority : he had a rare power of personal 
influence which answered all purposes, and quite fore- 
stalled any contest as to the question whose will should 
govern. That influence commenced so early that no 
one's memory ran back of it ; and it continued so dis- 
creetly, so constantly, so calmly, that no one saw any 
breach made upon it : it was conceded from the first, 
so that though he punished his children almost never, 
he controlled them always. One ground of this result 
was, I think, his deference to the proper opinions and 
desires of his children. He took care to be in the 
right himself; not commanding, in haste, what he 
might afterwards wish to recall. He rarely com- 
manded any thing ; but when his will was known, it 
wa5 expected to be, and was promptly obeyed. In a 



540 KEY. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

matter of doubt, he gave the child every opportunity 
to consider the reasons bearing on the case, and its 
own responsibilities; thus cultivating the exercise of 
individual judgment and discretion. The fairness of 
mind with which he weighed and balanced great pub- 
lic questions of the day, extended quite as much to 
the common affairs of the household. 

" His religimis influence over his family was not that 
of conversations with them personally at particular 
times and seasons, so much as the general and com- 
manding influence of his life, evidently controlled, 
both at home and abroad, by the law of doing good 
as in the sight of God. His prayers sprang naturally 
out of such a life, not as a formal appendage, but an 
inherent part of it. It was clear to those who lived 
most with him, that he was calmly, industriously, wise- 
ly, with full purpose of heart, with strong and vigor- 
ous common-sense, continually consecrating himself to 
obedience to God — not fitfully, but steadily, persever- 
ingly, right on, through the whole of life." 

It may help to present him as he was, to add from 
a most intimate friend, "It was sometimes wished that 
he had been less reserved, and more familiar with his 
children and others, especially in expressing his own 
feelings ; that he had indulged himself more in pleas- 
ant relaxation ; and given more attention to minor 
external graces and attractions, while his mind was 
filled with subjects of great and momentous interest. 
His words were indeed few, but they were well cho- 
sen, and he was always ready to give advice upon 
any subject when asked. He was mild and kind, uni- 
form and punctual, and careful as to making trouble. 



HIS CLOSING- LABORS. 541 

or finding fault. He trained his children to industry 
and energy in overcoming obstacles, in which he set 
them an example ; making himself useful in the vigor- 
ous exercise he daily took to preserve health and pre- 
pare himself for mental labor. All that was to be 
done was done promptly and cheerfully, without noise 
or bustle, and nothing seemed a burden. He seemed 
to have gained the heavenly art of having his hands 
employed here, and his heart in heaven. He never 
joined in trifling conversation at home or abroad, or 
in worldly conversation on the Sabbath. He was 
calm, self-possessed, not over-anxious, trusting that 
Providence would order all things well ; and though 
persevering, independent, and decided in his plans 
and purposes, when any thing occurred to show that 
the will of God was otherwise, he came into it as 
cheerfully and as cordially as if he had had no plans 
of his own. In sickness, he was patient and forbear- 
ing, cheerful and uncomplaining. In giving reproof 
he was gentle, and spoke in a low, mild voice. His 
early friends, though at a distance from him, seemed 
always to have a place in his heart, and he was ever 
mindful of their wants. He appeared to have a sym- 
pathy for all, from the king on his throne to the beg- 
gar in the street. He envied not the rich, nor despis- 
ed the poor. His one great object, from first to last, 
seemed to be to advance the kingdom of Christ and 
get souls to heaven." 

An intelligent theological professor says, " I knew 
him intimately, and hold in my sweetest remembrance 
those hours of friendship ihut I have enjoyed in his 
kind home. To the stranger, there was a sort of dig- 



542 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

nity and distance in his bearing, while the deep and 
low intonation of his voice seemed to awe rather than 
win to an acquaintance ; but to those who knew him 
more intimately, these first impressions were lost in 
the ready and uniform kindness and courtesy that per- 
vaded his social intercourse. He was in his family 
the truly Christian father. His household was eini 
nently a happy one, made so by the steady, uniform 
influence he shed over it. The morning and evening 
devotions constituted a part of the order of the house- 
hold, and came regularly with a still and quiet grace ; 
making these services a bright and beautiful illustra- 
tion of social religion. Grave in manner, reverent 
towards God, he opened the Bible, read a portion, 
often made some pertinent remark, and with deep 
solemnity offered a brief prayer, in which the rela- 
tions and wants of all were definitely expressed. 
In earlier years, at the opening of the service he 
invoked the blessing of God, and at a later period 
the family united in singing a few verses. In conver- 
sation, it was his habit often to make obvious some 
great principle of duty ; to illustrate some obscure 
passage of Scripture ; to speak of events, political and 
moral, the passing scenes of daily life, however dark 
and adverse they might seem, as items only in the 
providence of God, who worketh all things after the 
counsel of his own will. Few men had such a readi- 
ness in pertinent scripture illustration : he often sur- 
prised you by a passage from the Bible revealing the 
truth under discussion with a fulness and force that 
no uninspired language could convey. The Sabbath 
evenings in his family will live with me till life is 



HIS CLOSING LABORS. 543 

over. When the public duties of the day were past, 
his views of diviue truth, expressed in his own happy 
manner, were rich with instruction, and doubly im- 
pressive as they were felt to be but the utterance of 
his own deep Christian life. We love to say of him, 
that in his private and family relations there was 
nothing which we should wish to forget. Always 
open, sincere, serious, he was a Christian gentleman ; 
truthful, honest, he was a wise adviser in private 
counsel ; he was an honored father, a beloved hus- 
band, whose memory shall long refresh those who 
knew him, 'as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew 
that descended upon the mountains of Zion, where 
the Lord commanded his blessing, even life for ever- 
more.'" 

The editor of an able and widely circulated jour- 
nal, who was early associated with Dr. Edwards in 
the Temperance reformation, said in an article at the 
time of his death, "A great man is fallen in Israel. 
In his boyhood he manifested an extraordinary desire 
for the acquisition of knowledge, especially in the 
profoundest subjects of thought. His ministry was 
greatly blessed and honored. It was he, more than 
any other, that studied out and promulgated the doc- 
trines of the great Temperance reform — the moral 
wonder of the age — everywhere seeking to fix the 
true doctrines and practice of Temperance deeply in 
the consciences of the best portions of society. His 
Permanent Temperance Documents' constitute a se- 
ries of linked logic and powerful appeal that can 
hardly be equalled in the English language. His 
Family Comment on the Bible shows how perfectly 



544 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

original and unique his mind was both in conception 
and execution. 

" The most striking traits of his character were 
greatness and integrity. He grasped the greatest 
subjects to which he turned his attention, and had 
them in his mind in all their relations. And the pow- 
ers with which he was endowed, he cultivated and put 
forth with wisdom, and employed them to the utmost 
for the advancement of the best objects. Few men 
could present the great truths of salvation with such 
transparent clearness and such tremendous cogency, 
and in such varied, potent applications, as he was 
wont to do in his preaching as a pastor. Rare is the 
man who could lay such far-reaching and all-compre- 
hending plans, having every step of the process so en- 
tirely in his mind, and carry them forward with such 
calm certainty of the result, and yet admit nothing 
into the process inconsistent with the spirit and exam- 
ple of the Saviour. He did nothing which even jeal- 
ousy could imagine was designed for display, or to 
'make an impression,' or to exhibit himself. The 
breaking down of his health during his pastorate in 
Boston, weakened the physical vigor of his giant 
frame, which before had few equals ; but his extraor- 
dinary mental power in the investigation of truth, 
and in simplifying great truths to the general under- 
standing, remained unimpaired. And the upright- 
ness and integrity which marked his whole career of 
life, will make him a pattern to all other great and 
good men who shall be called to fill stations of pe- 
culiar difficulty and responsibility in the service of 
Christ." 



HIS CLOSINa LABORS. 545 

About the same time, an eloquent pastor at the 
South wrote in a public journal, "Indomitable energy 
and perseverance were developed from the commence- 
ment of his college life. No soft indulgences marked 
any point of his career. Out of deep poverty was he 
to enrich those for whom he labored. With a thought- 
ful, investigating, reasoning mind was united the spirit 
of a practical philanthropy. He contemplated truth 
always with a view to results. Enamored of her 
excellence, he strove to impress a sense of it on oth- 
ers. One could not help being charmed with the 
beauty of his reasoning on subjects which are usually 
considered as demanding impassioned appeals. A 
singular combination of gentleness and energy char- 
acterized his mind. He sought to persuade by con- 
vincing. Inscribing on his banner light and love, he 
elevated it, and never suffered it to be trailed in the 
dust. His plans for the good of men being adopted 
with great judgment, and carried out with a steady 
perseverance, were uniformly crowned with success. 
It is not usual that one so eminent as a student, a 
preacher, a teacher, becomes, when past the meridian 
of life, so a2:2:ressive and effectual a laborer in untried 
spheres. But the activity of his spirit could never 
be repressed. He could not 'live to himself.' To 
do good was the element of his being, the life of his 
happiness." 

The " World's Temperance Convention," held at 
New York, September, 1853, dropped a tear over his 
departure, expressed their "high and grateful appre- 
ciation of his services in the cause of Temperance," 
and " deeply mourned the loss from their ranks of so 



546 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

efficient and faithful a laborer." The gentleman in 
the chair and others traced to his influence and early 
labors their own enlistment in the Temperance refor- 
mation. " I heard him in Maryland," said a veteran 
in the Temperance service, "and the words he used 
became riveted upon my heart. I had the honor of 
being with him on the business committee in the Na- 
tional Convention, held in 1833, in the Hall of Amer- 
ican Independence. There, and in subsequent con- 
ventions where I was with him, whenever adverse 
thoughts and views were presented, a word or two 
from his clear mind was like oil from the troubled 
waters. His memory will last while ages last. Gen- 
erations yet unborn will rise and call him blessed." 

A late professor in the seminary at Andover says, 
"I first became acquainted with Dr. Edwards in 
1811, when he was a member of the seminary. I re- 
member well the high character he bore in the sem- 
inary, and increasingly abroad, as his high promise 
became rapidly known. He took a lively interest in 
the cause of missions, both at home and abroad, and 
lent his commanding influence in the seminary to the 
promotion of that cause. It was at that heart-stir- 
ring period when our first foreign missionaries were 
ordained and sent abroad, and when the projects were 
on foot for exploring our Western and Southern fron- 
tiers by Mills and others ; and from that eventful day 
to his death. Dr. Edwards' heart was ever ready to 
exult in any new and wise movement for the promo- 
tion of Christ's kingdom. While a student at the 
seminary his health and vigor were remarkable, and 
his severe and successful application to study was 



HIS CLOSINa LABORS. 547 

enough to break down the strongest constitution. He 
was called to the church in Andover at precisely the 
grand crisis for orthodoxy in Eastern Massachusetts, 
when no one could predict the result. But the peo- 
ple, however variously they might regard his theol- 
ogy, all perceived a life, and power, and substance 
in his preaching, which was also much admired by 
the students; and the results have been most pro- 
pitious to the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom. 
When, after the lapse of years, he was made presi- 
dent of the seminary, he came into that station with 
the same steady and glowing piety, sound judgment, 
and aim at practical wisdom, though the duties devolv- 
ed on him, in their minute and ever-varying details, 
were far from being such as to give him the same 
prominence in the public eye that he had held in his 
previous life. As a presiding and executive officer, 
he was all that could be desired. Every thing belong- 
ing to the department was attended to promptly and 
well. It was from an intuitive knowledge of his fit- 
ness for. these duties, that Mr. Bartlet was so anxious 
he should be appointed to the office, and so willing, 
year by year, till he died, to furnish, by special dona- 
tion, the requisite funds for his support. His useful- 
ness in this office will be fully known only at that final 
day when not only his general care of the seminary 
and the academy, but his prayers and the extent of 
his truly pious influence on the students, and through 
them on the world, shall be unveiled." 

An officer of one of our prominent benevolent 
institutions writes : " Dr. Edwards' mind appeared 
to me to be comprehensive and far-reaching beyond 



548 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

that of most men. In the public enterprises in which 
he engaged, he laid the foundation of success in first 
securing the adoption, in the public mind, of simple 
and almost self evident principles that no one could 
question, and thus gained the results with more ease 
than most men are wont to do, winning his victories 
before the enemy was fairly aroused. 

"His influence in intelligent deliberative assem- 
blies, when he took an active part in them, was re- 
markably effective. The sanctified self-control, for 
which he was always distinguished, was one element 
of this influence. The unbounded confidence reposed 
in his integrity, was another. There was something, 
also, in his grave and commanding person, and in the 
deep tones of his voice. But these served only as 
auxiliaries to a high attribute of his understanding : 
I mean, his power of stating facts. In this he was pre- 
eminent. Never in haste to speak, when he did speak 
in deliberative assemblies it was generally in some 
simple, lucid statement, that placed the principal facts 
of the case in their true form and natural relations, 
making them all bear directly on the point at issue ; 
and when once he had laid himself out in this man- 
ner, there was afterwards little real occasion for de- 
bate. In this power of effective argumentative state- 
ment of facts, he resembled Daniel Webster. This 
was indeed his forte ; and it was delightful, while lis- 
tening to him, to see the spirit of controversy visibly 
subsiding under the influence of truth presented, in 
its simplest forms, by a great and good mind. 

" I never saw so remarkable an instance of sancti- 
fied self-control as on one occasion, when Dr. Edwards 



HIS CLOSINa LABORS. 549 

resigned a public charge, as he believed in accord- 
ance with the will of divine Providence. With solem- 
nity, and with the same calmness and deliberation as 
when stating important cases in which he was not 
personally interested, he went into a historical view 
of his position, and of the matter as it then stood. 
And I must say that in all my intercourse with good 
men in similar circumstances, I never saw any thing 
equal to what I then beheld in Dr. Edwards. It was 
a great, magnanimous, and uncommonly sanctified 
man rising calmly out of painful perplexities, with his 
eyes intent on the divine Being ordering all things 
for his own glory. It was the sublime in character, 
and I delight ever to retain it in my memory. '' 



550 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 



CONCLUSION. 

In reviewing this outline of the life of Dr. Ed- 
wards, which we have endeavored to present in sim- 
plicity and in truth in view of all the light that has 
come before us, and adoring the grace and mercy of 
God manifested in him, we notice, 

The elements which were combined to form his religious 
character. Like Martin Luther, and John Bunyan, 
and John Newton, and James Milnor, he saw himself 
" plucked as a brand from the burning," and he long- 
ed to rescue others from the same doom. It was not 
immorality, or violence and crime, from which he was 
rescued, but the equally fatal "neglect" of "the great 
salvation," in which he and the community, including 
many of the churches around him, were gliding secure- 
ly on, though practically denying the work and grace 
of Christ, and the necessity of the new birth by the 
renewing of the Holy Ghost. The spiritual death 
from which he had been redeemed, and the riches of 
grace revealed to him, were fresh in his mind till his 
dying day ; and he felt bound by infinite motives, to 
make them known to others as far as the ruins of the 
fall had spread. In the revival of the work of God 
about the beginning of the present century, in which 
his religious character was formed, the distinguishing 
truths and doctrines of salvation by grace were per- 
haps as clearly preached as in the great reformation, 
or in the flavs of Baxter and Flavel in the seven- 



CONCLUSION. 551 

teenth century, or of President Edwards and other 
worthies in the middle of the eighteenth ; and to this 
there was superadded the missionary spirit — the sense 
of obligation to convey a knowledge of " the gospel to 
every creature" — which had not to the same extent 
appeared since apostolic days. The union of these 
two elements — clear views of the doctrines of grace, 
fired by the missionary spirit — is the key that fits the 
wards of Dr. Edwards' life, and unlocks his character^ 
from the hour when he began to study for the minis- 
try, till from the Virginia Springs he ascended into 
rest. Here we find the light and love which char- 
acterize his efforts — light from on high, and love to 
perishing souls. Hence, 

^^ Jesus Christ, and him crucifiedj'^ was his great 
theme. He had felt its constraining power, and 
knew that in it centre the hopes of men. Not only 
was this the theme of his ministry, but in his efforts 
for Temperance and the Sabbath he did not think 
any other motive strong enough permanently to control 
the heart and life. He saw too, that intemperance 
and Sabbath-breaking benumbed the hearts and clos- 
ed the ears of men to the overtures of divine mercy, 
and that both were appalling obstacles which must 
be taken out of the way of the chariot of salvation. 
Hence too, 

His life of prayer and trust in Providence. Did ever 
a circle of Christians, great or small, in any circum- 
stances, bow with him before God in the spirit of 
prayer, when by his leading their devotions, they did 
not feel that they were brought nearer the throne of 
^rac(^? "T nevor lioard him preach," said a godly 



552 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

minister in New Hampshire, "but he once offered a 
prayer that I shall never forget." We have met him 
in his study when it seemed as " the gate of heaven," 
filled with the presence of God. A venerable lady of 
his church states that a few years after he was settled, 
as he was offering prayer in the sanctuary on a Sab- 
bath morning, the shock of an earthquake was per- 
ceptible by all the congregation ; but the tones of his 
voice were unchanged, and he immediately proceeded 
in tlianks to God that " though the earth be removed," 
they that trust in him are safe. His looking for light 
and direction from above was habitual, and observed 
by all who knew him. A young clergyman, hearing 
that his health was prostrated, and fearing that death 
was near, wrote him, " I almost daily bless God for 
what you have done for me. If I have had any wis- 
dom to follow the indications of Providence — not to 
contend with men, or set up my little self and deter- 
mine always to have my own way, or attempt to carry 
measures by management — and not to be alarmed but 
trust in God when prospects look dark, I owe it in a 
great degree, under God, to you ; and I beg still to 
ask an interest in your prayers." When he was asked 
by a young secretary who had just received interest- 
ing intelligence from abroad, whether to publish it at 
once, or keep it for the annual report, " Let it go," 
said he, "Providence will provide for the report." 
Hence too. 

His love of the Bible, God's own revelation of truth 
in its inspired aspects and connections, in which there 
could be no defect, nor shade of error, and his desire 
that all men should have it and study and understand 



CONCLUSION. 553 

it. For this object he seems to have planned efforts 
like those he made for Temperance and the Sabbath — 
to visit lesrislatures and clerical bodies and churches 
throughout the land, and ultimately to prepare a Bible 
Manual presenting the subject in its momentous import 
and practical bearings ; and though he did not live to 
execute these plans in the manner proposed, yet the 
notes and instructions for common minds, which he 
was providentially led to prepare on the New Testa- 
ment and half of the Old, when carried to their com- 
pletion, with auxiliary helps such as he designed, may 
yet happily realize the beneficent results he had in view. 

He presented divine truth in great clearness and 
simplicity to the common mind. In preaching, he seemed 
to feel, like Dr. Archibald Alexander, whom in keen 
discernment, strong common-sense, wisdom in counsel, 
and love to the masses of men, he much resembled, 
that the pulpit was too sacred, and souls too precious, 
for him there to display himself in literary terms, or 
nice abstract disquisitions, while the souls of the great 
body of his hearers were hungering for the bread of 
life. In all Dr. Edwards wrote which has met our 
eye, we do not remember his using an ol^scure word 
of foreign origin, when a plain Anglo-saxon term 
would give the idea ; nor have we met any argument 
in favor of the denomination with which he stood con- 
nected, to the prejudice of other denominations who 
embraced the great substantial of the gospel "in 
spirit and in truth." 

He fixed on the strong point of a subject. He knew 
the common mind, and how to rouse it with prodigious 
energy. He worked out the plain practical thought 

Edwards. 24 



554 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

on which a subject rested, and when he presented it, 
others seemed to see it as clearly as himself. To a 
great extent this was illustrated in every sermon he 
preached, or address he made. That all the temperate 
should practise total abstinence — God's right to the 
Sabbath, and the right of every laboring man and 
beast of burden to its rest — and that every man should 
learn what God has said in the Bible and obey it — are 
ideas as simple as, in the phases in which he present- 
ed them, they were original and profound, underlying 
the great objects to which nearly twenty years of his 
Mfe were consecrated. 

His patient endurance and laborious self-denial. Hav- 
ing given himself to Christ, with his firm physical 
powers strengthened by cultivating a rocky New 
England soil ; parting with the caresses of his mother 
at the age of five, and compelled to work his way to 
manhood as it were alone — hardship and toil had no 
terror for him. Of all that his tender, sensitive heart 
endured, in the trying events to which human life is 
subject, and of the bodily pain he suffered, we have 
said little, for the reason that he neither wrote of 
them, nor spoke of them, even on the bed of death. 
The aim of life was to glorify God in doing good, and 
he could silently and uncomplainingly toil on, practise 
economy, endure self-denial, and bear burdens. Such 
was his punctuality, that in the seven years of his 
Temperance labors he did not remember being in any 
case too late ; and his financial affairs were conducted 
with a promptness and accuracy, that left his mind 
unembarrassed for his great work. 

He was uniformly kind. His natural reserve, cher- 



CONCLUSION. 550 

ished perhaps by the early removal of his mother and 
other circumstances of his early life, ripened into tliat 
"keeping his tongue from evil, and his lips from speak- 
ing guile," which was a beautiful trait of his charac- 
ter. The writer has discovered in all he wrote no 
spirit of retaliation, nor has he heard from his lips an 
unkind word concerning any human being. To a 
friend who submitted to him a sharp letter to one 
witli whom he felt aggrieved, he replied, "The en- 
closed I have read with care, and now, according to 
your request, return it. He who was more wronged 
than any other, 'when he was reviled, reviled not 
again,' and when 'led as a lamb to the slaughter, 
opened not his mouth.' '' The writer once applying to 
him for counsel, in some alarm at an obstacle to use- 
fulness which another seemed to be interposing, the 
burden was rolled off in a moment as he replied, " 
well, if he is determined to stand there, let him stand — 
it is not best to quarrel with him — pass right round 
him, and go on and do the Lord's work." There was 
in his counsels a remarkable absence of his own per- 
sonal interest, and largeness of view for the prosper- 
ity of the Redeemer's kingdom. 

His constant preparation for death. Our narrative of 
his last days and hours is but like that of the ancient 
scripture worthies, " And he died ;" while his life 
shows that the future of the present and of the com- 
ing world was viewed by him, as it was seen in visions 
of the prophets, at one glance. When he should be 
transferred from one world to the other, was known 
only to God ; and the idea that preparation was the 
peculiar work of a dying hour seems not to have en- 



556 REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

tered his thoughts. In the spirit of his own rules of 
life, found in his pocketbook, he seemed to " act for 
God, for the universe, and for eternity f to " trust 
habitually in Christ Jesus for all he needed both for 
this life and the life to come :" to " seek the teaching, 
the illuminating, and purifying influences of the Holy 
Spirit that He might dwell in him ;" and to do what 
would "give him the greatest joy at the judgment- 
day." The language of his life was, " For me to live 
is Christ, and to die is gain." " Whether we live, we 
live unto the Lord ; and whether we die, we die unto 
the Lord : whether we live, therefore, or die, we are 
the Lord's." 

A neat, enduring marble jnonument has been 
erected at his grave, enclosed by an iron railing, 
with this inscription : 

REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. 

BORN IN WESTHAMPTON, MASS., APRIL 25, 1787. 
DIED JULY 23, 1853. 

HE WAS SUCCESSIVELY PASTOR OF THE SOUTH CHURCH, ANDOVER, AND 
THE SALEM CHURCH, BOSTON; SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAN 
TEMPERANCE SOCIETY ; PRESIDENT OF THE ANDOVER THE- 
OLOGICAL SEMINARY ; AND SECRETARY OF THE AMERI- 
CAN AND FOREIGN SABBATH UNION. THE LAST 
FOUR YEARS OF HIS LIFE WERE DEVOTED 
TO THE PREPARATION OF A FAMILY 
COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE. 

THE MEMORY OF THE JUST IS BLESSED. 



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