Edwards's careful analysis of genuine faith emphasized, in sum,
that it was not the quantity of emotions which indicated the presence
of true spirituality, but the origin of such emotions with God and their
manifestation in works in accord with the law of God.
Mostyn Roberts of Welwyn spoke aat the Leicester Conference of
the Banner of Truth on Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) and the nature of
true Christian Experience. Edwards was a Massachusetts Congregational
minister who produced one of the most thorough and compelling bodies of
theological writing in the history of America. Edwards, the son of a Congregational
minister, entered the ministry in 1726 after a bachelor's degree at Yale.
He served in Northampton until he was dismissed in 1750 after a controversy
with his congregation over standards for church admission. He then labored
in frontier Stockbridge, Massachusetts, as minister to congregations of
Indians and whites. His death from inoculation for smallpox came on March
22, 1758, only a few weeks after he began his work as president of the
College of New Jersey.
Edwards's claim to be regarded as America's greatest theologian rests
on
both the depth and breadth of his writing and his importance for both
practical and theoretical religion. He was the theologian of the First
Great Awakening, and every bit as important in explicating that movement
as
George Whitefield had been in promoting it. He was also the eighteenth
century's most powerful exponent of experimental Calvinism. In between
his
active labors as a pastor and his more popular preaching and writing,
he
found time to compose works of deep theological construction which
challenge scholars to this day.
Edwards argued that the "will" was not an independent faculty
but an
expression of more basic human motivation. To "will" something
was to act
in accordance with the strongest motives prevailing within a person.
Uppermost in Edwards's mind were the implications for conversion which
this
view of human nature entailed. It meant that a sinner by nature would
never
choose to glorify God unless God himself changed that person's character
or
- as Edwards phrased it - implanted a new "sense of the heart"
to love and
serve God. Regeneration, God's act, was the basis for repentance and
conversion, the human actions. What does Edwards mean by the heart and
the
intellect. The intellect is the soul perceiving. The will is the soul
choosing. When the mind wills it is called the heart. What is the
connection between the heart and the will? The heart is also the unifying
principle between intellect and will.
Edwards's examination of true Christian experience arose directly out
of
his experiences in the Northampton revivals and later in the colonial
Great
Awakening as a whole. In particular, he responded to charges by
anti-revivalists that the revival was all emotion, froth, and disorder.
Edwards conceded that the emotionalism of the awakening could undercut
authentic Christianity, but he also defended the revival by pointing to
the
more intense worship and to the permanently changed lives it left in its
wake.
In 1746 Edwards published his most mature examination of this subject,
A
Treatise on the Religious Affections. This volume argued that true religion
resides in the heart, or the seat of affections, emotions, and
inclinations. But it also detailed with painstaking scrutiny the kinds
of
religious emotions that are largely irrelevant to any determination of
true
spirituality. The book closed with a description of twelve "marks"
which
indicate the presence of true religion. The first of these was a religious
affection arising "from those influences and operations on the heart,
which
are spiritual, supernatural and divine." The last was the manifestation
of
true religion - genuinely gracious affections - in Christian practice.
Edwards's careful analysis of genuine faith emphasized, in sum, that it
was
not the quantity of emotions which indicated the presence of true
spirituality, but the origin of such emotions with God and their
manifestation in works in accord with the law of God.
Spiritual experience is God's work in a Christian manifested in a life
of
love, or equally, in holiness. Where does it begin? The 'new sense of
the
heart' Describing his own conversion he made a distinction between his
former insight - a 'mere conviction' about the absolute sovereignty of
God
- to what he called a 'delightful conviction.' A new delight in God came
to
him and that was at his conversion.
1. Theologically we need to be reminded of the absolute need of
regeneration. We are nothing without it. The heart is depraved without
this
2. The new sense of the heart leads to prayer. If prayer is the measure
of
love. Prayer is a longing after more holiness.
3 The ordinances of religion impresses us to love the truth, to display
a
more affectionate way of preaching about the great truths of religion.
Their hearts touched as well as their heads informed are our congregations'
great needs. But anything feigned or forced is to be avoided. Preaching
is
to be an act of love and we need to work on our hearts to preach a felt
Christ.
4. To create an appetite for Christ is why God has given us affections.
Conclusions.
1. Simply to be thankful that God has made this knowledge of himself
to be
understood by the simple.
2. Examine yourself to see whether you have this knowledge.
3. Seek it earnestly.
