CHAPTER IV 



THE CHILDREN'S START IN LIFE 



The eleven children of Jonathan Edwards had 

 an unenviable start in life so far as their environ- 

 ment was concerned. The oldest was still in her 

 teens when serious trouble arose in the parish at 

 Northampton. Mr. Edwards was pastor at North- 

 ampton for twenty-five years, and a more fruitful 

 pastorate or a more glorious ministerial career for 

 a quarter of a century no man could ask. He 

 made that church on the frontier the largest 

 Protestant church in the world, and it was the 

 most influential as well as the best known. There 

 began the greatest religious awakening of modern 

 times. In his church, resulting from his preaching, 

 began a revival which stirred into activity every 

 church in Massachusetts, every church in the 

 colonies, and most of the Protestant churches of 

 Great Britain and Europe. 



After this long and eminently successful pas- 

 torate, Mr. Edwards preached a sermon about the 

 reading and conversation of young people upon 

 subjects of questionable propriety, which led to 

 such local excitement that upon the recommenda- 

 tion of an ecclesiastical council he was dismissed by 



(29) 



