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TOPIC: Edwards, Jonathan - Rational Biblical Theology (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: Chapt 27 Evangelism
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1. Jonathan Edwards the Evangelist
Jonathan Edwards was an intellectual evangelist. Not only was he given to writing learned and profound treatises, but he preached solidly. He did not preach academically, certainly not pedantically. He made a distinction in method between the scholarly and the popular, but not in content. What he wrote in his treatises, he preached from his pulpit - and with basically the same arguments.
If it is true that an evangelist may be successful only in inverse proportion to the solidity of his message (which we trust is not the case), then Jonathan Edwards would never have been considered an evangelist at all. He seemed to believe in the formula “truth is unto godliness” and preached accordingly. He preached the truth, the whole truth, as he saw it. And he showed the people why he saw it so. His sermons explore the nature of God, the essence of virtue, the fine points of salvation, the controversial issues of theology. None of these were withheld from his congregation, while in all of them he was urging his hearers to press into the Kingdom.
At the same time, as the reader will have observed if he has read nothing more of Edwards than the excerpts in this volume, the preaching was always clear. I doubt if any ever thought of Edwards as going over their heads. Probably, they often wished he had.
Edwards was a preacher of the Word. In all his manuscripts I do not remember one that does not begin with a text and its exposition in context. All of his “doctrines” are drawn directly from the text. All of his “reasons” are implications of this and other texts, except for a rare flight of speculation of which he was fully conscious and about which he usually apologized, explaining that he did it simply because some persons were more impressed by such reasonings than by the Word of God. He rested his final authority, however, on the authority of Scripture.
Furthermore, he preached every doctrine that he found in the Bible. His texts range over both Testaments and all the books of each. He preached about sovereignty and he preached about responsibility; he preached about hell and about heaven; he preached about grace and about law; he preached about individual piety and about social obligations; he preached about principles and about persons; he preached about terror and he preached about comfort.
Edwards’ was a consistent preacher of Calvinism. He called no man master - not John Calvin or any other man. But, in the main, he clearly preached of sovereignty and reprobation, of total depravity and imputation, of efficacious grace and the perseverance of the saints. It is also clear from the way in which he preached human ability and responsibility: men are unable to do any good thing, whether in the direction of salvation or in any other way. But they are able to hear the Word and they are able to do certain outward deeds that possess a non-meritorious “negative righteousness.” These things men could do, and Edwards never let up in insisting that they do what they could. Neither did he ever cease to remind them that all they did was of no true value at all, could in no way recommend them to God, and did not in itself bring them one whit closer to the Kingdom than they were without it. In other words, he preached human ability and responsibility with as much insistence as any Arminian would do, but without a trace of Arminianism or the slightest compromise of his Calvinistic convictions.
Probably the most distinctive thing about Jonathan Edwards’ evangelistic message is his theory of seeking, which doctrine we shall examine in detail in the next chapter. For now, suffice to say that in Edwards’ view natural man could do certain things (use the means of grace, obey the commandments outwardly, etc.) that would probably issue in his salvation. This theory falls between the Arminian, on the one hand, and the extreme Calvinistic, on the other. According to the Arminian theory of salvation, the sinner was able of himself alone to repent, believe, and be saved: all without the working of regeneration having previously taken place. According to Calvinism, regeneration must precede such gracious acts as believing and repenting. When the message comes to the unconverted, he has no ability to receive it savingly unless God, at the time the message is given, works faith in the person. He will then evince this regeneration by believing the gospel which is presented. But if God does not work faith, there is nothing, according to some Calvinists, that the sinner can do. At this point perhaps the Calvinist Edwards is distinctive (though certainly not among Puritans). He insists that there is something that the sinner can do; in that, he agrees with the Arminians. Still, he denies with vigor that the sinner can do what the Arminian thinks he can do. At the same time he disagrees with those Calvinists who say that there is nothing that the sinner can do. According to Edwards, he can do something non-saving but promising and hopeful: namely, seek.
One last general observation about the evangelistic message of Jonathan Edwards: Being a Calvinist he, of course, preached election and the perseverance of saints. He also taught that assurance of salvation was possible and desirable. But here again he is somewhat unique among evangelists. The marks of grace and signs of salvation were so meticulous, exacting, and searching on the one hand; and the deceitfulness of sin, the counterfeits of Christian experience, and the difficulty of being truly objective about the state of one’s soul were so great, on the other, that assurance became a relatively rare thing. Edwards himself did not have it before he was twenty-five years of age and never mentions it much even after that. It has been said that few of his followers claimed to have it, but rather remained dubious to the end of their lives. Here was a remarkable phenomenon: Edwards was a preacher who preached perseverance and preservation of the saints with unmixed purity, and assurance with the same confidence, while at the same time putting it almost out of reach of the most earnest. We can well understand the remark that was made about him when he was introduced to a congregation in Portsmouth, June 28, 1748: “They say that your wife is a going to heaven, by a shorter road than yourself.” The narrative adds simply, “Mr. Edwards bowed, and after reading the Psalm, went on with the Sermon.” *1*
2. The Predestinarian Hell-fire Preacher
We have already seen that Jonathan Edwards was a preacher, and that he was a predestinarian; now we see the way he preached the gospel as a predestinarian hell-fire preacher.
“God doth exercise his sovereignty in the affair of men’s eternal salvation” is the conclusion Edwards draws from Paul’s instances, cited in verses 8-12 of the 9th chapter of Romans (Rom_9:8-12), of divine preferences even among the descendants of Abraham. *2* After stating this “doctrine,” the preacher first asks what sovereignty is. It is God’s absolute, independent right of disposing of His creatures to His purpose. God acts according to His mere good pleasure. And this sovereignty is without proper obligation because God has independent right to His creatures. The implication of such a right is that God may bestow or withhold salvation without prejudice to any of his attributes. If He is bound by anything - such as keeping His promises - this is only because He has sovereignly chosen to make such promises. Edwards then shows that it may be consistent with the justice, mercy, majesty, and truth of God to save or to damn. In this discussion he has in view the sacrifice of Christ, which satisfies divine justice and repairs the divine majesty: “since Christ has wrought out the work of redemption, and fulfilled the law by obeying, there is none of mankind whom he may not save without any prejudice to any of his attributes. . . .” *3* Without this grace, God’s justice and other attributes require damnation.
What is God’s right to do, is also His pleasure to do, Edwards continues. He not only may save some, being determined solely by His good pleasure, but He actually does so. He does so by giving the means of salvation to some nations and individuals while withholding them from others. Where God does give the means of grace, He continues to exercise His sovereignty by making them effectual or not, as He pleases. In the very same family He saves and damns. In some instances He saves where there are few means of grace and, on the other hand, permits to perish in the midst of spiritual abundance. He saves some heinous, indifferent sinners and permits some “seekers” not to find. “[S]ome are converted and saved, who never had so great strivings as some who, notwithstanding, perish.” *4*
There are two basic reasons for God’s exercise of sovereignty in the salvation of men. The fundamental reason is God’s purpose to reveal all His attributes in the creation. He can reveal no one attribute perfectly in intensity, but He does make an extensive revelation of His total being, and one ingredient of His deity is sovereignty - absolute and independent. The second reason given is only a modification of the first. The greater the creature over which the sovereignty is exercised, the clearer the revelation of this sovereignty. Hence God exercises it over the souls of men and angels as well as over the lower creation.
Since Edwards found this doctrine a peculiarly successful means of conversion, we are interested to see how he makes application of it to his hearers. First, they are to learn how utterly dependent they are on God. Second, they are to adore the awful and absolute divine sovereignty. Third, they are, therefore, to exalt God in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for His sovereignty is the aspect of his grace most honored in the Scripture. And let us marvel at the condescension of the sovereign God who has chosen to bind Himself in covenant. Avoid presumption, on the one hand (for God is sovereign), or discouragement, on the other (for God is gracious). The greatest sinner among you may be saved - if God please - is the evangelistic conclusion of the matter. Men will be saved, he says, when they recognize that God alone can save them, but only if He pleases. The sermon ends on a note of encouragement. “Let you be what sinner you may, God can . . . greatly glorify himself in your salvation.” *5*
One can see in this early sermon how thorough the predestinarianism is and how equally thorough is the evangelism. God exercises His absolute sovereignty in salvation, but that sovereignty may include me, the sinner hears. There is “no damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” here. Before Edwards is finished with his evangelistic doctrine, it sounds more like “saved if you do and damned if you don’t.” But before his fellow Calvinists climb all over him, they would do well to hear him carefully. He compromises none of the depravity he has already set forth in Reformed fullness, and he never gives a hint of any virtue in all the sinners strivings which may yet be so full of hope.
Predestination is behind us and hell is before us. So we need look more closely at how our great predestinarian works hell into his gospel evangelism. It is so difficult for many to believe that such a keen thinker could be mired down in a literal inferno, that to see him actually scaring people mad with it is too much. But this is Edwards warts and all. Jonathan Edwards scared people, he meant to scare them, and the more frightened they were the better. Shouting is excused, if not advised, for one is misleading if he shouts “fire” with his customary composure. Edwards realized that this could make the “melancholy” more melancholy and that some weak ones would take their lives to gain momentary relief.
Edwards’ preaching on hell had its opponents. To them he gave a careful cautious, but ultimate and solemn, warning of nothing less then the unpardonable sin:
Let all to whom this work is a cloud and darkness, as the pillar of cloud and fire was to the Egyptians, take heed that it ben’t their destruction, as that was theirs, while it gave light to God’s Israel. [cf. Exo_14:19-20].
I would pray those that quiet themselves with that, that they proceed on a principle of prudence, and are waiting to see what the issue of things will be, and what fruits those that are the subjects of this work will bring forth in their lives and conversations, would consider whether this will justify a long refraining from acknowledging Christ when he appears so wonderfully and graciously present in the land. ’Tis probable that many of those that are thus waiting, know not what they are waiting for: if they wait to see a work of God without difficulties and stumbling blocks, that will be like the fools’ waiting at the riverside to have the water all run by. A work of God without stumbling blocks is never to be expected: “It must needs be that offenses come” [Mat_18:7]. There never yet was any great manifestation that God made of himself to the world, without many difficulties attending it. It is with the works of God as ’tis with the Word of God; they are full of those things that seem strange and inconsistent and difficult to the carnal unbelieving hearts of men. Christ and his work always was, and always will be a stone of stumbling, and rock of offense; a gin and a snare to many [Hos_14:9]. The prophet Hosea, in the last chapter of his prophecy, speaking of a glorious revival of religion in God’s church, when God would be as the dew to Israel, and he should grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon, his branches should spread, etc., concludes all thus, in the last verse: “Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them, but the transgressors shall fall therein” [Hos_14:9].
’Tis probable that the stumbling blocks that now attend this work will in some respects be increased, and not diminished. Particularly, we probably shall see more instances of apostasy and gross iniquity among professors. And if one kind of stumbling blocks are removed, ’tis to be expected that others will come. ’Tis with Christ’s works as it was with his parables: things that are difficult to men’s dark minds are ordered of purpose, for the trial of persons’ dispositions and spiritual sense, and that persons of corrupt minds, and of an unbelieving, perverse, caviling spirit, seeing might see and not understand [cf. Mat_13:13]. Those that are now waiting to see the issue of this work, think they shall be better able to determine by and by; but they are probably, many of them, mistaken. The Jews that saw Christ’s miracles, waited to see better evidences of his being the Messiah; they wanted a sign from heaven; but they waited in vain; stumbling blocks did not diminish, but increase; they found no end to ’em; and so were more and more hardened in their unbelief. Many have been praying for that glorious reformation spoken of in Scripture, that knew not what they have been praying for (as it was with the Jews when they prayed for the coming of Christ); if it should come, they would not acknowledge or receive it.
This pretended prudence of persons, in waiting so long before they acknowledge this work, will probably in the end prove the greatest imprudence, in this respect, that hereby they will fail of any share of so great a blessing, and will miss the most precious opportunity of obtaining divine light, grace and comfort, and heavenly and eternal benefits, that ever God gave in New England. While the glorious fountain is set open in so wonderful a manner, and multitudes flock to it, and receive a rich supply of the wants of their souls, they stand at a distance doubting and wondering, and receive nothing, and are like to continue thus till the precious season is past.
It is to be wondered at, that those that have doubted of the work that has been attended with such uncommon external appearances, should be easy in their doubts, without taking thorough pains to inform themselves, by going where such things have been to be seen, and narrowly observing them, and diligently inquiring into them; not contenting themselves only with observing two or three instances, nor resting till they were fully informed by their own observation. I don’t doubt but that if this course had been taken, it would have convinced all whose minds are not shut up against conviction, in a great degree indeed. How greatly have they erred, who only from the uncertain reports of others, have ventured to speak slightily of these things? That caution of an unbelieving Jew [Gamaliel] might teach them more prudence, Act_5:38-39, “Refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this counsel, or this work be of men, it will come to nought; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found to fight against God.” Whether what has been said in this discourse be enough to convince all that have heard it, that the work that is now carried on in the land, is the work of God, or not, yet I hope that for the future, they will at least hearken to the caution of Gamaliel that has been now mentioned; for the future not to oppose it, or say anything against it, or anything that has so much as an indirect tendency to bring it into discredit, lest they should be found to be opposers of the Holy Ghost. There is no kind of sins so hurtful and dangerous to the souls of men, as those that are committed against the Holy Ghost. We had better speak against God the Father, or the Son, than to speak against the Holy Spirit in his gracious operations on the hearts of men: nothing will so much tend forever to prevent our having any benefit of his operations in our own souls.
If there are any that will still resolutely go on to speak contemptibly of these things, I would beg of them to take heed that they ben’t guilty of the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost. A time when the Holy Spirit is much poured out, and men’s lusts, lukewarmness and hypocrisy reproached by its powerful operations, is the most likely time of any whatsoever, for this sin to be committed. If the work goes on, ’tis well if among the many that shew an enmity against it, and reproach it, some ben’t guilty of this sin, if none have been already. Those that maliciously oppose and reproach this work, and call it the work of the Devil, want but one thing of the unpardonable sin, and that is doing it against inward conviction. And though some are so prudent, as not openly to oppose and reproach the work, yet ’tis to be feared, at this day when the Lord is going forth so gloriously against his enemies, that many that are silent and unactive, especially ministers, will bring that curse of the angel of the Lord upon themselves, Jdg_5:23; “Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord: curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” *6*
3. The Call of God
Thus far in sketching Edwards’ theology we have concentrated almost exclusively on what God has decreed and done. The creation and fall of man, to be sure, have been mentioned, but nothing has been said of man’s participation in redemption (or damnation, for that matter). God’s decrees of election and reprobation have been studied, the person and work of the Son and the Spirit delineated, but we now see how all of this bears on man and his activity.
Man as we now meet him is dead in sins but predestinated to eternal life or eternal death. The outcome is certain according to Jonathan Edwards but totally unknown to the men concerned.
Though fallen they are in full possession of their created faculties of thought and will. Their thought and will, however, are in the service of their “heart” or sinful disposition. As such sinners, they will understand the gospel of Christ if and when it reaches them and they will experience the Holy Spirit’s stirring. But their hearts will be hostile to every divine overture and their minds will seek to justify their wicked hostility. Such is the man to whom the good news comes!
The cynic will ask Jonathan Edwards: Why does God bother calling anyway? The elect will be saved even if He doesn’t and the non-elect will be lost even if He does. In any case the outcome is as certain as God is and as unchangeable.
We have already seen in our discussion of decrees the answer to this. All men are predestined or foreordained to be sure. However, they are predestined as men not as rocks or things. God created them as rational, volitional beings. He deals with them accordingly - not as if they were not rational, moral beings. He has indeed predestined their every choice, but he has predestined their choice not His, which simply is. He foreordains every movement of a river but as a river which makes no choices itself. He predestines the king’s every choice as He foreordains the river’s every movement; but, as a king’s choice. The river is unconscious and totally irresponsible. The king is totally conscious and fully responsible because God’s choices for him are also his choices for him. If a river drowns a person who has done it no harm, there is no blame. If a king drowns an innocent person he will be condemned. God will not be damned though He foreordained the damnable deed. The difference, Edwards explained, was that God decreed the circumstances that lead the evil king to do the evil deed for his own evil purposes. But God’s purposes, in decreeing the king’s evil purposes, were good not evil. One good purpose was that the king would see his evil purposing heart. Another good purpose was bringing justice upon the victim. Though the king had no just ground for killing him, God did because he was a sinner before God, even though he was not a sinner before the king. A third good purpose of God was to show that God is able to use the evil of men for good purposes. He can make the wrath of men to praise him. There are many other purposes which a good God has in foreordaining all the evil that ever was or ever shall be.
So, since predestination and foreordination do not preclude, but include human choices, God sees fit to call men to this gospel of His Son, Jesus Christ. This call is not universal in two senses, but it is in one sense.
The call to sinners is not universal in the sense that not all sinners hear it. Millions die in infancy and other millions die in old age without hearing it. Millions even in Christian churches never hear it. Some even hear that there is no call to salvation because there is no damnation.
There is a second sense in which the call is not universal. If call is taken in the sense of an invitation to come to Christ the Savior, it is not universal. Even some of those who hear it, hear it as an invitation to others not to themselves. “I came not to call the righteous but sinners,” Christ said (Mar_2:17). Unless a man is converted he never considers himself a sinner.
Edwards has much to say, as did all Puritans, about the unconverted under conviction of sin, as we will see. But this is merely a rational persuasion that a person is a sinner under divine wrath. He really does not believe himself guilty of filthy pollution or he would flee it as he never does until he is converted to Christ. So even such persons are not invited to Christ. They do not believe - no matter what they say - that they need Him.
But there is a sense in which the call is universal. In the sense that God commands everyone who hears the gospel to come to Christ, the call is universal and without exception. The command is to repent, believe and be saved. Anyone who repents and believes will be saved. None will be rejected ever. No matter what a person has ever thought or done, if he comes to Christ in faith he will not be cast out.
This call everyone who hears, hears. He hears Christ saying that anyone who repents and believes will be saved. The unregenerate hear it. The regenerate hear it. The unregenerate understand it. The regenerate understand it. In some cases, the unregenerate “hear” it better than the regenerate. That is, they understand its nature better. They know what repentance is and they grasp the meaning of faith and even take in what “coming to Christ” implies far better than some to whom the invitation is given. But one thing they do not “understand” at all. That is, how such a command or invitation could be attractive or even welcome. They understand it so well that they are insulted by it. They despise those who humble themselves to accept such an insult.
4. Appealing to the Sinner’s Selfishness
When I come to a discussion of “True Virtue,” we will see Edwards’ careful distinction between self-love, secondary virtue, and selfishness. Here, in the realm of depraved man’s pure selfishness, fine points are unnecessary. As an evangelist all that he can solicit or elicit from the human fountain of wickedness is his monopolistic self-concern. From that cesspool of pollution the evangelist must provoke some interest in righteousness and faith, however hypocritical.
The great problem is how to appeal to sinners to seek with all their heart a gospel that they hate with all their heart. How is the evangelist to persuade his hearers to seek what they are inclined to flee? To what good motive can the preacher appeal in men who are not inclined to good motives? Or, if they have no good motives, to what can the evangelist appeal? There seems to be nothing left but an evil motive - an evil motive for seeking a good thing. It is at this point that Edwards makes an evangelistic appeal to an unworthy motive.
What is the motive that can lead a natural man to use what ability he does have? It is self-interest. This can make natural men seek the good of their souls. *7* They may by it be led to seek for eternal, as well as for temporal, happiness. Even though this motivation is not good, some of the ways by which men seek may be said to be right. These ways may possess a “natural rather than a moral goodness.” The way is right or good only in the sense that it is likely to issue in the happiness of those who seek.
The principle of self-interest is the sinners’ only point of contact with the gospel which they hate. If it were not for this, there would be no relevance of the Word of God to them. In a sermon on Gen_3:4 Edwards said that a principal means of bringing in the lost is their thinking that by coming they will not be punished. *8* “Self-love duly regulated,” he preached in a late sermon, “is a thing of great use in religion.” *9* A sermon on Zec_7:5-6 is devoted to a discussion of the relation between men’s aim to please God and their desire to serve their own good. *10*
The question may be raised, Why does self-interest not lead all persons to become Christians? Or, Why is the grace of God necessary when there is such a lever as this? This question is answered in the sermon on *Num_13:27-33; *Num_14:1-45; *Num_15:1-41; *Num_16:1-50; *Num_17:1-13; *Num_18:1-32; *Num_19:1-22; *Num_20:1-29; *Num_21:1-35; *Num_22:1-41; *Num_23:1-30; *Num_24:1-25; *Num_25:1-18; *Num_26:1-65; *Num_27:1-23; *Num_28:1-11* Men like some things and not others in the gospel. Many virtues tend to bring worldly advantage. This they like. However, men utterly dislike these virtues as they are actually offered:
In their esteem there is good and bad mixed, but the bad vastly outweighs. So that upon the whole they entirely disapprove. . . . There is nothing belonging to Christianity that these professors like as it is. . . . So those things in religion that natural men dislike and account evil are giants in their eyes that eat up all the good. *12*
This then is the reason that self-interest alone will not make Christians of natural men - there are too many things that do not interest them.
If men actually do become professing Christians from principles of fear and self-interest alone, they are not true Christians. A man may start the search for conversion motivated by fear and self-interest, but he can never end it that way. Self-interest may lead him to seek for a conversion, which conversion would supplant the principle of self-interest by God-interest. In the sermon on Pro_10:24, Edwards discusses the futility of selfish religion. *13* The doctrine of the sermon is the text itself: “The fear of the wicked shall come upon him.” This fear of the wicked arises from conscience and self-interest. This fear will really come upon them, for they, in spite of their fear, are never actually awakened - are not “effectually scared.” That is, they are not scared enough to seek God for a new heart. Since there is no virtue in their fear, as such, nothing comes of it. Self-interest alone works no good.
In the Rev_3:20 sermon Edwards discusses the role of self-interest in the true Christian life. *14* Far from seeking our own interest, he declares, we must, if we would be Christians, deny ourselves. The end of self-interest marks the beginning of Christian faith. Still, “[t]he godly do seek their own happiness in all they do in the sense that ’tis their happiness to do that which shall be well pleasing and acceptable to God.” The glory of God is the happiness of all those who love him. Nevertheless, it is the glory of God at which the Christian aims, not at his own happiness. But his happiness comes as a by-product when he is not seeking self-interest any longer. So long as he is seeking his own ends he never finds them; when he ceases to seek them he has found them. It is in the light of the above that we must think of Edwards’ many appeals to seek higher degrees of reward in heaven - we may call it an appeal to a Christian self-interest.
More particularly devoted to a discussion of the relation between the aiming to please God and the Christian’s own good is the sermon on Zechariah 7:5-6. *15* The doctrine is that “no religion is acceptable to God but that which is done from a true respect to him.” That is not a true respect to God which springs from self-love. That only is true which has its foundation in a high esteem for God and a sense of his excellence. True worship consists in the following elements: first, an aim to glorify God; second, an aim to please him; third, an aim to be like him; fourth, an aim to enjoy him; fifth, an aim to have eternal life because of his promises. In aiming at these things the Christian will find his self-interest wonderfully advanced, but that must not be his aim, Edwards explains. The reasons that this should not be his aim are given in the latter part of the exposition. Among these reasons, two may be mentioned: first, there is no goodness in anything that is not done for the glory of God, for God alone is good; second, aiming to worship God in the interests of self-love implies a lie and, therefore, could not be good.
Nevertheless, though man is able to exercise his ability of himself, for his own interest, there is no merit in all of it before God. However good these works may be in themselves, they have no goodness as related to the doer. I call them bad good works. Hence God has no obligation to acknowledge them, much less reward them, with anything as great as eternal life. As a matter of fact, if we speak of the merit of these bad good works, they merit eternal damnation, being utterly odious in God’s eyes when considered in relation to the doers. “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts. . . .” (Mat_7:11) Being evil, quantity cannot change the quality of the unbeliever’s works. Indeed, God has more reason to be angry with many than with few, considering their nature. “It is a gross mistake of some natural men, who think when they read and pray they do not add to their sins. . . .” *16* “All the while” sinners who are doing these so-called good works “imagine that they do deserve that God should pity them and hear them and help them they are meriting his hatred and fury and that God should be more incensed against them.” *17* “Our prayers are loathsome till they are presented by him [Christ] in his intercession.” *18*
It may be profitable to go into more detail concerning Edwards’ view of these works. Doing these bad “good works” is evil, but it is less evil than not doing them. If the sinner does not do these “good works from his evil heart, he will do bad things from his evil heart. So he will be more evil. Bad works are certainly more bad than bad “good works.”
There is an observation that needs to be made here: If the unregenerate do these bad good works pretending that they are good good works, that is certainly worse than bad good works frankly acknowledged to be such. Hypocrisy would be present in one instance and not in the other, and this would certainly augment the evil. This is the same as to say that hypocritical bad “good works” are far worse than un-hypocritical bad “good works.” The casuistical question remains - which is worse: hypocritical bad “good works” or bad bad works? That is, specifically, is it more sinful for a man to keep the Sabbath, outwardly, pretending that he loves God in so doing? Or, is it better to break the Sabbath, making no pretenses to loving God? It seems impossible to construct an ethical calculus by which to evaluate two bad motives plus one good deed over against one bad motive and one bad deed. Suffice it to notice here that all these possibilities exist in the morass of moral possibilities. Edwards was not only aware of them but he preached about them. One thing on which he repeatedly insisted is that it is far less sinful, and far more likely to bring salvation (non-meritoriously), for men to do bad good works than to do bad bad works.
This leads Edwards to deal more specifically with a question that some were raising. If all that I do is wrong, why do anything? In answer he presents two reasons. First, he informs his parishioners that it is foolish to ask the question because they cannot possibly avoid doing. They would have to cease to be in order to cease to do. Second, they can do what is negatively right and avoid what is more wrong. That which is negatively or materially right, though formally wrong, is less evil, than that which is both materially and formally wrong. Furthermore, he observes, it is likely to issue in saving good by the sovereign grace of God.
In other sermons, Edwards lists other advantages of these bad good works. Thus, doing them avoids the guilt of not doing them. *19* At great length Edwards argues that the amount of suffering in hell avoided by doing these works is infinitely worthwhile. Every sin adds an infinity of guilt and punishment, and therefore the avoiding of such is highly advisable even if the denial should never lead to salvation.
And though you never should go to heaven yet if you will live a moral life you will surely have a less punishment. . . . ’Tis not absolutely certain that they shall go to heaven but this is certain that they shall escape an exceeding intolerable addition to their eternal misery and indeed every degree of that misery is intolerable. *20*
God commands men to strive to enter the Kingdom of God. If they do not, they will someday wish that they had sought it, even if they had not attained. A fourth reason is the temporal rewards that come from the doing of duties, even externally and unsavingly. Being honest although the motive is not good, our Yankee Puritan observes, brings temporal prosperity.
Only God has the ability to convert or give the desire for conversion. Sometimes natural men think they desire conversion. They say that they would be glad to be made willing. They think they are willing to be made willing. *21* Edwards argues that such a statement is not sincere but indicates merely a fear of hell. If men desired to be made willing, this would show that they were willing, which by supposition they are not; for if they were willing to be made willing they would not need to be made willing. If they truly desired to desire God, that would show that they did desire God and need not be made to desire him.
Men are not willing in any sense. They are able but not willing. *22* “The reason why they don’t use the means is not because they could not if they were disposed but because they are not disposed.” Men are destitute of faith naturally. They can reject Christ but they cannot accept him. *23* Men must labor to get their hearts disposed. *24* The strong desire for the Kingdom is out of our reach, and for that reason we should be stirred up to use the means of grace that the desire may become ours. Some things are simply beyond us. They strive in vain who strive to make themselves new. Their striving is not so much an earnest seeking to God, as a striving to do themselves that which is the work of God. We should strive to have God do this for us. We should seek a new birth from him. *25* Men must be made willing. *26* And being made willing, they then make their “free choice.” To use Augustine’s expression: men are “free” by nature, but they are not “freed” to do good until God makes them so.
Notice how Edwards scores the notion that men are “freed” by nature:
Having heard that if ever they believe, they must put their trust in Christ, and in him alone, for salvation, they think they will trust in Christ and cast their souls upon him. And this they endeavour to do in their own strength. This is very common with persons upon a sick bed, when they are afraid that they shall die and go to hell, and are told that they must put their trust in Christ alone for salvation. They attempt to do it in their own strength. *27*
Having warned his people against such a notion, Edwards continued urging them “to seek to be made sensible of your misery and unworthiness,” to strive against sin and labor in duty, with the prayer and hope that God will bestow saving faith. *28*
5. Good Times For Good News
Seeking for salvation should be done now, immediately, whatever may be the circumstances. But there are times that are especially propitious for successful seeking. These should be “improved” by any persons needing salvation. These red-letter days for redemption are times when God manifests His saving presence in an especial measure. It is a “blessed time amongst a people when it is a time of the pouring out of God’s Spirit upon them,” and the people are exhorted to pray for such times and for the ministers God is wont to use. *29* In a sermon on Mat_7:13, preached during the great revival in 1740, Edwards gives directions for entering at the strait gate. *30* His exhortation is urgent, for at that time God appeared ready to help sinners and they should make the most of His willingness, since His help is absolutely necessary. Later in the same year Edwards speaks of the propitiousness of these times.
He reflects in 1746, after the great revival was long past, that “sinners are oftentimes converted in great numbers at a time” of special pouring out of the Spirit. *31* Such times are jubilee periods in which spiritual slaves should seek their liberation. As people see so many being saved, they should go along with them to the Holy Land as Ruth leaving Moab went with her mother-in-law to Bethlehem. *32* Such periods of revival are periods of God’s special presence, and only fools will fail to take advantage of their unusual opportunity. *33*
Because these periods are so full of hope for the unsaved, failure to take advantage of them leads to most serious consequences. “When the Spirit of God has been remarkably poured out in his converting and saving influences on a people ’tis an awful thing to dwell among them and yet have no part nor lot in the matter.” *34* Men usually perish after a day of grace that they have not utilized; *35* because it is difficult to get into the Kingdom even in these times and more so afterward. *36* Thus Jerusalem was given up to judicial blindness when it rejected Christ in those days of great revival. If ever those that are far from conversion are to be converted, it must be in a time when God is near. If they miss this, commonly they go to hell. *37* “Those that sin away their day of grace shall be wholly cast away by God as to any regard to their welfare.” *38*
Perhaps Edwards’ most comprehensive statement on this subject was made in the revival sermon Pressing Into the Kingdom. There he argued that
God hath his certain days or appointed seasons of the exercising both of mercy and judgment. There are some remarkable times of wrath, laid out by God for his awful visitation, and the executions of his anger; which times are called days of vengeance, Pro_6:34. Wherein God will visit for sin, Exo_32:34. And so on the contrary, God has laid out in his sovereign counsels seasons of remarkable mercy, wherein he will manifest himself in the exercises of his grace and loving-kindness, more than at other times. Such times in Scripture are called by way of eminency, accepted times, and days of salvation, and also days of God’s visitation; because they are days wherein God will visit in a way of mercy; as Luk_19:44. . . . It is such a time now in this town. . . . It is indeed a day of grace with us as long as we live in this world, in the enjoyment of the means of grace; but such a time as this is especially, and in a distinguishing manner, a day of grace. . . . when conversion and salvation work is going on amongst us from sabbath to sabbath. . . .” *39*
God was wont to humble a seeker before He exalted him to salvation. Edwards often spoke of the “wilderness” experience or humbling that usually preceded deliverance. This is the theme of the sermon on Hosea 2:15. *40 In the context God is threatening Israel because of her adultery. These threatenings came upon her in the fall and captivity in Assyria. But in the fourteenth verse God’s gracious promise of mercy is announced. He gives Israel a bill of divorce in verse 2, but will make her his wife again in verses 16, 19, 20. Then he shows how he will allure her. He will bring her into the wilderness to humble her and then will court her as a young man courts a maid. So God first shows hope and then he brings Israel into the humbling of the wilderness that she may realize that these good things come from him and not from her lovers. He then turns the wilderness into a vineyard. From this Edwards formulates the doctrine: “God is wont to cause hope and comfort to arise to souls after trouble and humbling for sin, and according as the troubler’s slain and forsaken.” *41* In an earlier sermon he draws the same lesson from the experience of Jonah: “There is encouragement for persons that have been seeking mercy though they are under never so dark and discouraging circumstances yet to look again toward God’s holy temple.” *42* In still another sermon he addresses the awakened, urging them not to be discouraged, but on the contrary to seek to be convinced that they are in this wilderness in which hope will spring up. *43* In the great revival sermon on Gen_6:22 he says: “Some are almost driven to despair” before comfort comes, and even after this comfort does come, are afterward again involved in darkness. *44*
The great danger against which he warns those in the wilderness is a discouragement that leads to melancholy. There is perhaps nothing in the world, according to the sermon on 2Co_13:5, that Satan makes a greater handle of than the disease of melancholy. *45* Edwards could never forget his uncle, Joseph Hawley, who, because of the melancholy that developed from his experiences during the early revival, committed suicide. The pathetic funeral sermon Edwards preached on the occasion carried this doctrine: “We are all in ourselves utterly without any strength or power to help ourselves.” *46*
The “good times” referred to in this section are, of course, special times or seasons of revival of an unscheduled or unpredictable character. There was also, however, one regularly recurring occasion that held special significance and potentiality for blessing. That was the administration of the Lord’s Supper. For most of his preaching ministry, Edwards seems to have tacitly agreed with Solomon Stoddard’s doctrine of the Eucharist as a “converting ordinance.” That is not to say that he thought that this sacrament had any ex opere operato tendency in itself to convert the person who observed it - but neither did Stoddard think so. Stoddard would be in agreement with Edwards’ reminder that the people were not to use means of grace “thinking that there is any merit or natural efficacy in the means but only as an appointed way of waiting on a sovereign God.” *47* That 1734 statement shows at once that Edwards thought it a duty to wait on God although He was utterly sovereign in bestowing or withholding grace. There was something of a calculated risk in the use of means of grace, for, if God does not bless the sacraments, they will stir up corruption. *48* “The same means of grace are attended with a quite diverse and contrary influence and consequence on different persons.” *49*
The duty of using the sacrament in seeking salvation is made very clear in the sermon on Proverbs 8:34. *50* Having first insisted that the means must be used if persons are to be converted, Edwards then discusses these means under two headings: duties of natural and of revealed religion. The three duties of revealed religion here mentioned are: observing the Sabbath, listening to preaching, and using the sacraments. “These,” he says, speaking of the sacraments, “ought to be diligently and carefully attended by all that set themselves to seek the grace of God with such preparation as the Word of God directs to.” *51* Here it seems to be the duty of all seekers, whether Christians or not, to attend on these ordinances.
Likewise, in the revival sermon on Isaiah_40:29-3129-31129-31, Edwards discusses “waiting on the Lord” with respect to the two classes, Christians and natural men. *52* Addressing himself to natural men he urges them to “attend on ordinances” - this is an important way of waiting on God. We suppose that “ordinances” may include sacraments. Again Edwards preached, “If we would be in the way of God’s grace and blessing we must wait upon him in his own way and in the use of his appointed means.” *53*
In the sermons above we find no fencing off of the unregenerate from the Table of the Lord such as is declared in the following sermon delivered to a private meeting on December, 1750, after Edwards had been removed from Northampton for taking the position that the Communion service was for professing Christians only. “Those who are born of God alone are admitted to the privileges of God’s family” is the doctrine based on John 12:13. *54* Everything belonging to the constitution of the visible church represents it as God’s family, maintained Edwards; and especially is this true of the Lord’s Supper. How unreasonable it is, he argues, to admit to the Lord’s Table those who not only do not pretend to be of his family but are admittedly his enemies. Are you, he concludes, admitted to a family in order to be born into it? or are you born into a family and thereby admitted to it? Clearly one must be born of God to be admitted to the family of God and its privileges such as the Communion service. In the application, Edwards, as he always had done, urges his hearers to seek regeneration, but absent is an exhortation to use the sacramental means of grace in so seeking, as he had formerly taught. *55*
6. The Sinner’s First Step to Salvation: Conviction
Edwards’ Religious Affections makes it clear that the heart is the proper locus of true religious experience. Nevertheless, the way to the heart is the mind. What is true of true religious affections is true also of the aroused false religious affections. The sinner loves his sins as much as the saint his virtues - indeed, far more so. His mind too must first be awakened to see how vile his lusts are even while he is rolling in them. With his mind he can come to despise that to which he is slavishly addicted in practice. The rational faculty continues to see clearly virtue for what it is and vice for what it is.
In this light we consider now the beginning of the process by which salvation may come to men. The preaching of the Word is the rational instrument by which it is to be accomplished. Until the Spirit of God begins to apply the Word to the minds and hearts of men we do not have the beginning of the sinner’s experience that may lead to actual salvation.
Thus far, in giving or withholding the Word and Spirit of God, God has acted sovereignly without regard to the will of man. Whether a man was born in a land of light or experienced the Spirit’s strivings was not his to decide. And there was no possibility of a man’s accepting a gospel that was never offered to him. But once the Word was preached to him and the Spirit did work in him, response on his part was inevitable, and the first useful one was a conviction of the truth of the things preached. In any case, some response was necessary, for if a man made none at all he could not escape damnation. Many perish because they cannot be made sensible of hell here and do not have a conviction of its reality. *56* Some men, warned Edwards, are “never effectually scared and hence they never escape.” *57*
Most everyone, however, under the gospel gets “impressions,” at least. *58* I have not found in Edwards a clear distinction between “impression” and “conviction,” but apparently they differed, if at all, only in the lesser vividness and depth of the former. A conviction seems to be a deeper and more durable realization that certain doctrines, especially the doctrine of a divine judgment, are true. *59*
Convictions are human reactions to the working of the divine Spirit, who “doth the finishing strokes” on Christ’s salvation. “The work of the Holy Spirit as Christ’s messenger is to convince men of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.” *60* It may be that the Spirit works convictions by making the person more conscious of the glory of God, because “there is nothing like seeing what God is to make men sensible [of] what they are.” *61*
This work of the divine Spirit is an augmenting of the workings of men’s own spirits or minds.
It is from these principles of natural understanding and self-love, as exercised about their own dispositions and actions, and God as their judge, that they have natural conscience and have such convictions of conscience, as have been spoken of. *62*
For though men have lost the moral image of God since the Fall, and no longer have any “sense of the beauty and amiableness of virtue, or of the turpitude and odiousness of vice,” they still have natural conscience. *63* “Thus if a man steals, or commits murder, there is something within, which tells him that he has done wrong; he knows that he has not done right. Rom_2:14-15.” *64* Conscience also tells him that retribution must follow wrongdoing. The Spirit of God sets in to assist the work of conscience. *65*
In the Divine and Supernatural Light sermon we have an even clearer discussion of the relation between natural conscience and the Spirit of God in the work of convicting sinners. *66* It is further illuminated by a comparison of this work of the Spirit with His regenerating work:
Conscience is a principle natural to men; and the work that it doth naturally, or of itself, is to give an apprehension of right and wrong, and to suggest to the mind the relation that there is between right and wrong and a retribution. The Spirit of God, in those convictions which unregenerate men sometimes have, assists conscience to do this work in a further degree than it would do if they were left to themselves. He helps it against those things that tend to stupefy it, and obstruct its exercise. But in the renewing and sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost, those things are wrought in the soul that are above nature, and of which there is nothing of the like kind in the soul by nature; and they are caused to exist in the soul habitually, and according to such a stated constitution or law that lays such a foundation for exercises in a continued course, as is called a principle of nature. Not only are remaining principles assisted to do their work more freely and fully, but those principles are restored that were utterly destroyed by the fall; and the mind thenceforward habitually exerts those acts that the dominion of sin had made it as wholly destitute of as a dead body is of vital Acts *67*
So we see that this work of convicting is basically a natural work. It is the effect of the conscience of man merely augmented by the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a work of the Spirit on the unchanged nature of fallen man; it is not a change within the man. It differs in degree but not in kind from the unaided work of conscience. While Edwards makes this the beginning of the process that may lead to salvation, it is apparent that this, in itself, is not a saving activity. Men are not able to be saved without this work, but they could have this work of the Spirit all their lives without ever being saved.
All this does not imply that men are merely acted upon and not acting. “Persons ought to endeavor to be convinced of sin” is the doctrine of the sermon on Jeremiah 2:23. *68* This sermon exhorts men to think much on sins, ranging back to childhood for material: men should “ransack the secret corners” of their memories as they attempt to recall and feel particular sins. One should work to grow in such convictions. *69* Precisely because it requires time and intelligent application to grow in convictions, deathbed fears tend to be futile. They have a less tendency to conversion than those that are raised by a more calm use of reason and the influence of God’s Spirit. If convictions come too late for repentance, they are “terrible.”
Convictions must be carefully preserved. “If we have any regard to our salvation it concerns us with all diligence to keep our hearts.” *70* Unless we do so, we cannot expect God to keep them. Twelve rules for maintaining convictions are given: Act conscientiously in the light; avoid stupefying the conscience; heed conscience and follow it; cherish its intimations; don’t accustom yourself to a great deal of doctrinal disputing; assist conscience and promote its convictions; be thorough in strivings; never hide from the truth; do not be discouraged; do not quench conscience; converse with the godly; cry to God for awakening. *71*
The resisting of the Spirit or the quenching of these convictions is perilous. There are two main ways of doing this: namely, by giving way to lusts or by directly opposing the Spirit in his inward workings. If a person does thus resist, he brings a yet greater damnation upon himself. *72* Let him lose his convictions and there is great danger that he will have no more until it is too late, for the resisting of the Spirit is a “great sin.” *73*
At the same time that resisting the convictions of the Spirit of God is most serious, not resisting spurious convictions is also dangerous. There are counterfeit convictions as there are counterfeits of all other religious experience. The human nature is exposed to convictions of the mind that are not of the Spirit of God. The difference is not detected by an immediate intuition. Rather, we must deduce that “if there be anything that any man experiences in his mind that does not tend to his spiritual good that is not from the Spirit of God but either from the devil or some other bad cause.” *74*
On the other hand, true convictions are almost indispensable to salvation. God is sovereign and can bring salvation immediately, dispensing with all usual steps. In general, however, “How reasonable it is to suppose it to be requisite that a work of conviction should go before conversion and not that God should deliver from so great misery without giving any sense of it.” *75*
When the Word of God is preached - especially its solemn warnings - convictions come, awakening results. Being awakened, a sinner may be offended at, resent, and reject his convictions. This is non-acceptance of the proffered salvation, or hardening. He may, however, be too impressed to dismiss his convictions so stubbornly. He may be unable to shout down his conscience and so may attempt to bribe or “flatter” it so that he may feel peace again. This is the response of a false acceptance that appears to be a real dealing with the problem of the soul and the gospel but is actually only a subtle evasion of both. Some may be unable to silence conscience either by shouting or flattering and yet not be willing to meet its demands either - this is the response of indecision. Others try to compromise, granting many of the demands of conscience and the gospel, but not all - this is the partial acceptance. True acceptance is the conversion that follows, usually at the end of a long and arduous path of seeking.
7. A Fatal Backward Step: Hardening
In spite of the convictions that come to some persons by the Spirit of God working in conjunction with the proclamation of the Word of God, some are hardened rather than softened and converted by them. According to Edwards, everyone is affected one way or the other by these convictions of the Spirit. He is necessarily either hardened or softened by them; no one is the same as he was before.
I have not found a formal definition of hardening in the sermons of Edwards, or elsewhere, for that matter. It is fairly clear, however, what he has in mind by this term. Nevertheless, I think it will be better understood if we notice his account of the way in which hardening comes about.
Probably the unpublished sermon on Mat_11:21 gives the fullest description of the process by which hardening comes over a convicted soul. Its doctrine is that “sinners under means of grace are ordinarily more hardened in sin than the heathen.” *76* This is not because they have a different degree of sin to begin with, “for all derive the same degree of corruption from the first parents of mankind.” *77* One reason that those under light are more hardened is that the heathen cannot react so violently because they do not have so much light against which to rebel. It is not that they are not as much disposed against the gospel; they simply do not have so much occasion to express this disposition. This violent reaction against conscience tends to stupefy it and make subsequent sins the easier to commit.
The second reason for the doctrine of the serm