Jonathan Edwards

1703-1758

I.Life

  1. Edwards was the only son of 11 children; his father and grandfather were both ______. He was under great pressure to measure up to their expectations. His father taught him at home, and Jonathan proved to be ______: he entered Yale before his ______birthday, having already written ______works, such as a “______refutation of ______” and a “pioneer study of the behavior of ______.”
  2. He finished college in four years and then worked briefly as a minister, but he was so ______that he felt it wise to return to Yale where he was employed while he did graduate work. In 1726 at the age of 23, he was employed as the assistant ______at his grandfather’s church.
  3. The next year he married a “beautiful, witty, and pious” girl who continued to be his life-long inspiration. They eventually had ______children. When his grandfather died in 1782, he became the sole pastor of the church.
  4. Edwards became ______across the colonies at that church. He is credited with starting the “______,” a period of “extraordinary revival” that spread though the middle colonies in the early ______. Prior to this, Puritanism had been losing its grip on the colonies.
  5. Edwards was much more successful in reaching people with his sermons. His sermons were eloquent and persuasive and “fiery,” but he “was always less concerned with God’s ______than with his ______which was freely extended to sinners who repented.”
  6. By ______, the religious fervor was over and Edwards lost his prestige and his ______. He finally was sent to be a missionary to the ______in the wilderness-not the best fit for an ______. However, this post allowed him to do his best writing, and he published ______books in all.
  7. After seven years in “______” (his term for it), he was asked to be president of ______, but he died of complications from a smallpox vaccination after only a few months of being on the job.

II.“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

  1. This is Edward’s most famous sermon; call by many a “______sermon.” In it he compares unconverted man to several unsavory creatures and depicts in several ways the dangerous position of sinners:
  2. The “bow of God’s wrath is bent,” and the ______ready on the string, and ______bends the arrow at man’s heart.
  3. Humans are held over the pit of Hell by God like one holds a ______over the fire.
  4. Unconverted men walk over the pit of Hell on a ______covering, and there are innumerable, unseen weak places that cannot bear the weight.
  5. God’s anger is like a dam temporarily holding back a ______, but the waters of God’s wrath will burst and sweep sinners away.
  6. The purpose of the sermon is persuasion, and a major persuasive tactic is ______. However, this is not his only tactic. His major theme is the glory of God: despite man’s sin, God has ______and He is giving man the opportunity to be saved.

III.Significance

  1. He was the last and the most gifted defender of ______.
  2. He is important ______as the leader of a widespread revival of religious interest.