A STUDY OF JONATHAN EDWARDS 19 



Boston and Harvard been more thoroughly the 

 seat of cultm-e and of intellectual power than then. 

 It was a remarkable event for a young man of 

 twenty-eight to be invited to come from the "West- 

 ern limit of civilization and preach the annual ser- 

 mon before the philosophical, theological, and 

 scholastic masters of the East. This sermon was 

 so powerful that the association published it. 

 This was his first apj)earance in print. So pro- 

 foundly moved by this effort were the chxirches 

 of New England that the clergymen generally gave 

 public thanks to the Head of the Church for rais- 

 ing up so great a teacher and preacher. Thus was 

 born the fame of Jonathan Edwards. 



It is nearly 170 years since then. Science and 

 invention, enterprise and ambition have done great 

 things for America and for Americans. We have 

 mighty universities, libraries, and laboratories, but 

 we have no man who thinks more clearly, writes 

 more logically, speaks more vigorously than did 

 Jonathan Edwards, and we have never had such a 

 combination of spirit and power in any other Amer- 

 ican. This mastery is revealing itself in various 

 ways in hundreds of his descendants to-day, and 

 it has never ceased to do it since his blood gave 

 tonic to the thought and character of his children 

 and his children's children. 



