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Gerstner on Jonathan Edwards
The Doctrine of Hell
“This doctrine is indeed
awful and dreadful yet ’tis of God.”
In 1962 Clarence H. Faust wrote: “It is true that Edwards was much more
than a sensational preacher of hell-fire sermons, but no fully rounded
picture of the man can disregard that aspect of his work.” (Faust and
Johnson, “Introduction,” p. xxiii.) It is evident that the present
revival of interest in the “puritan sage” has not denied this aspect of
Edwards but neither Faust nor the contemporary concern has done justice
to Edwards’ emphasis on this theme.
Our age will not stand as
much of hell as his own, and even it complained. Edwards wore himself
out as he had said that Stoddard had done before him. In a 1747 sermon
he laments:
And indeed when I went about preparing this discourse it was with
considerable discouragement. I thought it was now some time since I had
offered any discourse of this nature. But so many had been offered with
so little apparent effect that I thought with myself I know not what to
say further.
But however because I must
warn you from God whether you will hear or whether you will forbear I
have warned you again. It has now been told once more, whether you will
yield to the power of God’s Word, to the force of the awful warnings and
threatenings which the Word of God sets before you [or not]. If you will
not hear now you may possibly solemnly lay these things to heart when
you come to die. And if you continue in your stupidity to the last,
being given up of God to a dreadful degree of hardness that is beyond
the alarm of approaching death, which is the case with some, yet as soon
as ever you are dead you will be fully sensible of all. (Unpublished MS
sermon on Ex. 9:12-16, “They that will not yield to the power of God’s
word shall be broken by the power of his hand,” p. 2, July 1747, pp.
42-43. Cf. MS sermon on Isa. 33:14, “That the time will come, when
fearfulness will surprise the sinners in Zion [“those who are in a
natural condition among the visible people of God”]; because they will
know, that they are about to be cast into a devouring fire, which they
must suffer for ever and ever, and which none can endure,” p. 5, Dec.
1740; printed as “Sinners in Zion Tenderly Warned,” Works, II:201-206.
Cf. also MS sermon on Eze. 22:14 (1), “Since God hath undertaken to deal
with impenitent sinners, they shall neither shun the threatened misery,
nor deliver themselves out of it, nor can they bear it,” p. 3, April
1741 and 1755; printed as “Future Punishment of the Wicked Unavoidable
and Intolerable,” Works, II:78-83.)
Consider also this lament from an earlier sermon. There Edwards reminds
his people that they have been “told from Sabbath to Sabbath of eternal
misery.” Still, they would not be stirred up or think about it. He
continues:
You’ll see it amongst many middle-aged persons and so it is still with
many when advanced in years and they certainly draw near to the grave. .
. . And yet those same persons will seem to acknowledge that the greater
part of men go to hell and suffer eternal misery and that through their
carelessness about it, but yet they’ll do the same. (Unpublished MS
sermon on Mark 9:44, “That the torments of hell will be eternal,” p. 3,
Winter-Summer 1730, pp. 28-29.)
It was this great ever-present danger that drove Edwards to warn his
generation so often. “’Tis a dreadful thing but yet a common thing for
persons to go to hell.” (Unpublished MS sermon on 1 Cor. 11:32, “’Tis a
dreadful thing but yet a common thing for persons to go to hell,” p. 2,
Aug. 1741.) This will be among the laments of the damned. (Unpublished
MS sermon on Prov. 5:11, “Subject, the mourning of sinners in another
world,” p. 1, at Sargt. Allyns, March 31, 1751, and, St. Ind., 1751
(Andover Collection).)
After the spiritual
drought following the awakening of 1734-35, God was pleased to pour out
his Spirit again in 1740. Edwards observed: “If it should always have
continued as it has been for five or six years past almost all of you
would surely have gone to hell. . . .” (MS sermon on Isa. 33:14; Works,
II:201-206. The quotations that follow are from the MS. See Section V.)
Still, not everyone was being converted.
It is an awful thing to think of that there are now some persons in this
very congregation, here and there, in one seat and another that will be
the subjects of that very misery that we have now heard of as dreadful
as it is though it be so intolerable and though it be eternal. (MS
sermon on Isa. 33:14; Works, II:201-206. The quotation is from the MS,
p. 42. See Section V.)
The closing dirge: “tell ’em of hell as often as you will and set it out
in as lively colours as you will, they will be slack and slothful.” (MS
sermon on Isa. 33:14; Works, II:201-206. The quotation is from the MS,
p. 44. See Section V.)
Yet, we know that not all
who heard Edwards were unconvinced. (MS sermon on Isa. 33:14; Works,
II:201-206. The quotation is from the MS, p. 12.)
Some were even converted.
There were still others who were neither despisers nor converts. Of
them, he says that “they were neither awakened, nor at ease.” (This
sentiment was expressed frequently in Edward’s preaching.)
Though it is virtually
impossible to classify precisely Edwards’ overall distribution of
sermons, I estimate that they run three to one in favor of minatory as
opposed to comforting themes — a proportion reflecting the emphasis of
the Bible itself. One must remember that Edwards does not use texts as
pretexts, or even as mere points of departure for a topical development.
He almost always begins with a contextual introduction and then proceeds
to expound the meaning of his text, which he then states in the form of
a “doctrine.” So when Edwards devotes these sermons to hell, he believes
that the texts deal with that subject and that it is incumbent on him as
a steward of the mysteries of God to do the same. With regard to his
preaching in the gospels, in a rough sample check I found among the 140
sermons on Matthew, 13 devoted explicitly to heaven and 23 to hell. Of
the 43 Mark sermons there were 7 on heaven and 4 on hell. Luke’s 111
sermons had 10 on heaven and 13 on hell. Many of Edwards’ Miscellanies
deal directly or indirectly with this subject — Edwards, in his own
table of contents, lists more than sixty.
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