The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University

The staff of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University will present a weeklong course examining Jonathan Edwards’s Religious Affections, including the historical context and background, the argument, a discussion of the signs, Edwards’s use of marks of distinguishing grace in preaching, and contemporary spirituality. The classroom portion of the course will feature lectures and discussions of common readings. There will be ample time allowed for questions and dialogue. Common readings will include a guided reading of Religious Affections and selections from printed collections of Edwards’s writings and secondary sources. Also, the course will be integrated with the use of materials located in The Works of Jonathan Edwards Online (www.edwards.yale.edu) Special features of the course will be a viewing of Edwards’s manuscripts related to Religious Affections at Yale’s Beinecke Library and a day-long tour of an Edwardsean site.  For course-specific inquiries, please contact edwards@yale.edu

For Registration please click here.

"RESOLUTIONS"

Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ's sake.

Remember to read over these Resolutions once a week.

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty, and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.

2. Resolved, to be continually endeavoring to find out some new invention and contrivance to promote the forementioned things.

[[3. Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.]]

4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.

5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.

[[8. Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God. Vid. July 30, [1723].]]

9. Resolved, to think much on all occasions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.

[[10. Resolved, when I feel pain, to think of the pains of martyrdom, and of hell.]]

11. Resolved, when I think of any¹ theorem in divinity to be solved, immediately to do what I can towards solving it, if circumstances don't hinder.

[[12. Resolved, if I take delight in it as a gratification of pride, or vanity, or on any such account, immediately to throw it by.]]

13. Resolved, to be endeavoring to find out fit objects of charity and liberality.

14. Resolved, never to do anything out of revenge.

15. Resolved, never to suffer the least motions of anger to irrational beings.

[[16. Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so that it shall tend to his dishonor, more or less, upon no account except for some real good.]]

17. Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.

18. Resolved, to live so at all times, as I think is best in my devout frames, and when I have clearest notions of things of the gospel, and another world.

[[19. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour, before I should hear the last trump.]]

20. Resolved, to maintain the strictest temperance in eating and drinking.

21. Resolved, never to do anything, which if I should see in another, I should count a just occasion to despise him for, or to think any way the more meanly of him.

[[22. Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself (as much happiness, in the other world,) as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.

23. Resolved, frequently to take some deliberate action, which seems most unlikely to be done, for the glory of God, and trace it back to the original intention, designs and ends of it; and if I find it not to be for God's glory, to repute it as a breach of the 4th Resolution.]]

24. Resolved, whenever I do any conspicuously evil action, to trace it back, till I come to the original cause; and then both carefully endeavor to do so no more, and to fight and pray with all my might against the original of it.

[[25. Resolved, to examine carefully, and constantly, what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt of the love of God; and to direct all my forces against it.

26. Resolved, to cast away such things, as I find do abate my assurance.

27. Resolved, never willfully to omit anything, except the omission be for the glory of God; and frequently to examine my omissions.]]

28. Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.

[[29. Resolved, never to count that a prayer, nor to let that pass as a prayer, nor that as a petition of a prayer, which is so made, that I cannot hope that God will answer it; nor that as a confession, which I cannot hope God will accept.]]

30. Resolved, to strive to my utmost every week to be brought higher in religion, and to a higher exercise of grace, than I was the week before.

[[31. Resolved, never to say anything at all against anybody, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility, and sense of my own faults and failings, and agreeable to the Golden Rule; often, when I have said anything against anyone, to bring it to, and try it strictly by the test of this Resolution.]]

32. Resolved, to be strictly and firmly faithful to my trust, that that in Proverbs 20:6, "A faithful man who can find?" may not be partly fulfilled in me.

33. Resolved, always to do what I can towards making, maintaining and establishing² peace, when it can be without over-balancing detriment in other respects. [[Dec. 26, 1722.]]

34. Resolved, in narrations never to speak anything but the pure and simple verity.

[[35. Resolved, whenever I so much question whether I have done my duty, as that my quiet and calm is thereby disturbed, to set it down, and also how the question was resolved. Dec. 18, 1722.]]

36. Resolved, never to speak evil of any, except I have some particular good call for it. [[Dec. 19, 1722.]]

37. Resolved, to inquire every night, as I am going to bed, wherein I have been negligent, what sin I have committed, and wherein I have denied myself: also at the end of every week, month and year. [[Dec. 22 and 26, 1722.]]

38. Resolved, never to speak anything that is ridiculous,³ or matter of laughter on the Lord's day. [[Sabbath evening, Dec. 23, 1722.]]

39. Resolved, never to do anything that I so much question the lawfulness of, as that I intend, at the same time, to consider and examine afterwards, whether it be lawful or no: except I as much question the lawfulness of the omission.

[[40. Resolved, to inquire every night, before I go to bed, whether I have acted in the best way I possibly could, with respect to eating and drinking. Jan. 7, 1723.]]

41. Resolved, to ask myself at the end of every day, week, month and year, wherein I could possibly in any respect have done better. [[Jan. 11, 1723.]]

42. Resolved, frequently to renew the dedication of myself to God,

which was made at my baptism; which I solemnly renewed, when I was received into the communion of the church; and which I have solemnly re-made this 12th day of January, 1722-23.

43. Resolved, never henceforward, till I die, to act as if I were anyway my own, but entirely and altogether God's, agreeable to what is to be found in Saturday, Jan. 12. [[Jan. 12th, 1723.

44. Resolved, that no other end but religion, shall have any influence at all on any of my actions; and that no action shall be, in the least circumstance, any otherwise than the religious end will carry it. Jan. 12, 1723.

45. Resolved, never to allow any pleasure or grief, joy or sorrow, nor any affection at all, nor any degree of affection, nor any circumstance relating to it, but what helps religion. Jan. 12 and 13, 1723.]]

46. Resolved, never to allow the least measure of any fretting uneasiness at my father or mother. Resolved to suffer no effects of it, so much as in the least alteration of speech, or motion of my eye: and to be especially careful of it, with respect to any of our family.

47. Resolved, to endeavor to my utmost to deny whatever is not most agreeable to a good, and universally sweet and benevolent, quiet, peaceable, contented, easy, compassionate, generous, humble, meek, modest, submissive, obliging, diligent and industrious, charitable, even, patient, moderate, forgiving, sincere temper; and to do at all times what such a temper would lead me to. Examine strictly every week, whether I have done so. [[Sabbath morning, May 5, 1723.]]

48. Resolved, constantly, with the utmost niceness and diligence, and the strictest scrutiny, to be looking into the state of my soul, that I may know whether I have truly an interest in Christ or no; that when I come to die, I may not have any negligence respecting this to repent of. [[May 26, 1723.

49. Resolved, that this never shall be, if I can help it.]]

50. Resolved, I will act so as I think I shall judge would have been best, and most prudent, when I come into the future world. [[July 5, 1723.

51. Resolved, that I will act so, in every respect, as I think I shall wish I had done, if I should at last be damned. July 8, 1723.]]

52. I frequently hear persons in old age say how they would live, if they were to live their lives over again: resolved, that I will live just so as I can think I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age. [[July 8, 1723.

53. Resolved, to improve every opportunity, when I am in the best and happiest frame of mind, to cast and venture my soul on the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust and confide in him, and consecrate myself wholly to him; that from this I may have assurance of my safety, knowing that I confide in my Redeemer. July 8, 1723.]]

54. Whenever I hear anything spoken in commendation⁴ of any person, if I think it would be praiseworthy in me, resolved to endeavor to imitate it. [[July 8, 1723.]]

55. Resolved, to endeavor to my utmost to act as I can think I should do, if I had already seen the happiness of heaven, and hell torments. [[July 8, 1723.]]

56. Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.

57. Resolved, when I fear misfortunes and adversities, to examine whether I have done my duty, and resolve to do it; and let it be just as providence orders it, I will as far as I can, be concerned about nothing but my duty and my sin. [[June 9 and July 13, 1723.

58. Resolved, not only to refrain from an air of dislike, fretfulness, and anger in conversation, but to exhibit an air of love, cheerfulness and benignity. May 27 and July 13, 1723.

59. Resolved, when I am most conscious of provocations to ill-nature and anger, that I will strive most to feel and act good-naturedly; yea, at such times, to manifest good nature, though I think that in other respects it would be disadvantageous, and so as would be imprudent at other times. May 12, July 11, and July 13.

60. Resolved, whenever my feelings begin to appear in the least out of order, when I am conscious of the least uneasiness within, or the least irregularity without, I will then subject myself to the strictest examination. July 4 and 13, 1723.

61. Resolved, that I will not give way to that listlessness which I find unbends and relaxes my mind from being fully and fixedly set on religion, whatever excuse I may have for it-that what my listlessness inclines me to do, is best to be done, etc. May 21 and July 13, 1723.]]

62. Resolved, never to do anything but duty; and then according to Ephesians 6:6-8, do it willingly and cheerfully "as unto the Lord, and not to man; knowing that whatever good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord." [[June 25 and July 13, 1723.

63. On the supposition, that there never was to be but one individual in the world, at any one time, who was properly a complete Christian, in all respects of a right stamp, having Christianity always shining in its true luster, and appearing excellent and lovely, from whatever part and under whatever character viewed: resolved, to act just as I would do, if I strove with all my might to be that one, who should live in my time. Jan. 14 and July 13, 1723.

64. Resolved, when I find those "groanings which cannot be uttered," of which the Apostle speaks [Romans 8:26], and those "breakings of soul for the longing it hath," of which the Psalmist speaks, Psalms 119:20, that I will promote them to the utmost of my power, and that I will not be weary of earnestly endeavoring to vent my desires, nor of the repetitions of such earnestness. July 23 and Aug. 10, 1723.]]

65. Resolved, very much to exercise myself in this all my life long, viz. with the greatest openness I am capable of, to declare my ways to God, and lay open my soul to him: all my sins, temptations, difficulties, sorrows, fears, hopes, desires, and everything, and every circumstance; according to Dr. Manton's 27th sermon on the 119th Psalm.⁵ [[July 26 and Aug. 10, 1723.

66. Resolved, that I will endeavor always to keep a benign aspect, and air of acting and speaking in all places, and in all companies, except it should so happen that duty requires otherwise.]]

67. Resolved, after afflictions, to inquire, what I am the better for them, what good I have got by them, and what I might have got by them.

[[68. Resolved, to confess frankly to myself all that which I find in myself, either infirmity or sin; and, if it be what concerns religion, also to confess the whole case to God, and implore needed help. July 23 and Aug. 10, 1723.

69. Resolved, always to do that, which I shall wish I had done when I see others do it. Aug. 11, 1723.

70. Let there be something of benevolence, in all that I speak. Aug. 17, 1723.]]

 

1. "Any" is from Dwight (1, 69); Hopkins (p. 6) reads "my." ↩

2. Dwight (1, 70): "preserving." ↩

3. Ibid., "sportive." ↩

4. "Commendation" is from Dwight (1, 72); Hopkins (p. g) reads "conversation." ↩

5. Thomas Manton, One Hundred and Ninety Sermons on the Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm↪ (London, 1681). The doctrine of Sermon XXVII, on Psalms 119:26 (pp. 162-70), reads: "They that would speed with God, should learn this point of Christian ingenuity, unfeignedly to lay open their whole case to him." See also the "Diary" for July 26, 1723, below. ↩

 

 

Source: Jonathan Edwards, Letters and Personal Writings (WJE Online Vol. 16), 753-759.

 

 

So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. The shortness of the life of man, were it not that there is another never-ending life to succeed, would be enough quite to discourage and dishearten us....Jonathan Edwards on Ps. 90:12. To read sermon, please visit the pastor's platform. 

 

 

Designed specifically for the classroom, this volume presents the accurate and definitive version of Sinners, accompanied by the tools necessary to study and teach this famous American sermon. With an introduction aimed at students and teachers and commentary that draws on fifty years of team editorial experience of Yale’s Works of Jonathan Edwards, it provides both context and interpretation, and addresses the concerns and questions of a twenty-first century audience.

The book contains questions for in-class discussion, a chronology of Edwards’s life, and a glossary. In addition, curricular materials and video mini-presentations are available on a dedicated Web site. This casebook represents a innovative contribution to the art of teaching Edwards to a new generation of readers.

Wilson Kimnach is the Presidential Professor in the Humanities Emeritus at the University of Bridgeport and the general editor of sermons for The Works of Jonathan Edwards. Caleb J. D. Maskell was formerly associate editor of The Works of Jonathan Edwards. Kenneth P. Minkema is the editor of The Works of Jonathan Edwards and executive director of the Jonathan Edwards Center.

Available Mar 01, 2010 

Pre-order Yale University Press

224 p., 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
29 b/w illus.
ISBN: 9780300140385
ISBN-10: 030014038X

 

December 3, 2009      Interview Dutch Newspaper Reformatorisch Dagblad with Dr. Joel Burnell, "The objective of the new institute is the wider publication of the work of Jonathan Edwards in Poland." In addition, attention will be given to the Reformation, Puritanism and the history of Polish Protestantism.... In May 2010 a Edwards conference is planned, which, among other experts from Yale University will contribute. "We also want practical, small-scale seminars for pastors and other church leaders to organize." See also Jonathan Edwards Centre Poland. 

 

 

Cotton Mather, one of the leading intellectuals of colonial America, has often been overshadowed by his younger Puritan contemporary, Jonathan Edwards. Now, however, the publication of this first edition of Mather's magnum opus in the area of biblical knowledge focuses fresh attention on early New England's second most prodigious intellect. Mather's commentary takes the form of questions and answers on the whole biblical canon. The edition, prepared by an international team of experts in early American studies, will consist of ten volumes published over the course of a decade. This first volume introduces the project and offers Mather's comments on Genesis. This work will be treasured by students of American church history, colonial-era Puritanism, Christian responses to the Enlightenment, American intellectual development, and the history of biblical interpretation. It is a must-have acquisition for research libraries covering these disciplines.

 

 

 

"From these entries emerges a Mather of erudite learning, immersion in the Scriptures, and deep piety. This edition will be of great use to scholars and specialists, pastors and lay readers alike."--Harry S. Stout, Yale University

 

 

For additional information: Biblia Americana

 

New Book

Hall. Richard A.S., ed. The Contribution of Jonathan Edwards to American Culture and Society: Essays on America’s Spiritual Founding Father. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2008. Pp. xi + 355 + Appendixes.

To borrow a line from Annie Dillard, “the flood of fire” of the tercentenary obervations of Edwards’ birth has abated, but we are “still spending the power.” Not entirely abated. Witness the new volume that brings together resources from events held at First Churches in Northampton in that very busy year. From the conference, we have eighteen papers on a wide variety of topics, touching on, among other things, Edwards as a political philosopher and as an interpreter of nature, his place in American philosophy, and in transatlantic metaphyics and and theology. If volumes commemorating the bicentenary of Edwards’ birth, not to mention Edwards family reunions in the nineteenth century, were characterized by the addition of poetry (of questionable quality, alas), this volume is characterized by the addition of fascinating musical scores composed and performed for the tercentenary—fitting, given Edwards’ emphasis on music and aesthetics. Four different pieces, classical and jazz, are presented here. The volume concludes with the program of a conference on “Edwards and the Environment” from 2007, the proceedings of which we hope to see published, as well as a gallery of images from the 2003 gathering. 

 

We are pleased to announce the publication on August 25, 2009 of the volumes 1, 2, and 4 of The Works of Jonathan Edwards by Yale University Press

 Yale Book News

Yale University Press                                                                   For more information, please contact:                                          Ph: 203-432-0163

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For Immediate Release:   

Contact: Alden Ferro,  Publicist       203.432.0909, alden.ferro@yale.edu

                                                                                                                                                                                 

Three Volumes of The Works of Jonathan Edwards to be Published in a New Modern Paperback Edition

by Yale University Press

 

“The Jonathan Edwards Project is the first of its kind—a comprehensive, exhaustive effort to produce an online archive of all of Edwards’ sermons, treatises, letters and musings to serve the needs of anyone who cares to know the man. To date, no other university or institute has attempted to transcribe, computerize and then post online the complete works of any one historical figure. . . . Though he may never attain the rock-star status of George Washington,
with the Yale project, Edwards will live forever.”

—Adrian Brune, Hartford Courant

 

New Haven — Yale University Press is pleased to announce the publication on August 25, 2009 of volumes 1, 2, and 4 of The Works of Jonathan Edwards in a modern paperback edition for the first time.

 

Ken Minkema, Executive Editor of The Works of Jonathan Edwards and Director of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University says, “The reprinting of these key volumes of The Works of Jonathan Edwards in paperback will prove a real boon to the growing readership of Edwards around the world.”

 

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), pastor, revivalist, Christian philosopher, missionary, and college president, is widely regarded as North America’s greatest theologian.  These early volumes contain Edwards’s Inquiry on the Freedom of the Will, A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, and his revival tracts including A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God, Distinguishing Marks of the Work of the Spirit of God, and Some Thoughts Concerning the Revival, along with classic introductions by Paul Ramsey, John E. Smith, and C.C. Goen. Among the best-selling volumes of the Yale Edwards Edition, and presenting many of Edwards’s most important and enduring treatises, these new paperback versions will make Edwards affordable and accessible to the many sorts of readers who continue to consult and study “America’s Theologian.”

 

About The Works of Jonathan Edwards Series:

The Works of Jonathan Edwards was initially conceived by renowned literary historian Perry Miller in 1953. Its aim was to publish a modern critical edition of Edwards’ published and unpublished works, issued in book form by Yale University Press. Twenty-six volumes, along with A Jonathan Edwards Reader (1995) and The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: A Reader (1999), have been released.

The Yale Edition of The Works of Jonathan Edwards occupies a special place in the larger world of American scholarship. Over the past several decades it has emerged as the single most sustained, scholarly, editorial undertaking in the United States alongside the Founding Fathers papers projects. It is the only one of its scope in the field of American religious history.

 

 

The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale is pleased to announce JE Centers in Africa, Australia and Poland.Strategic partnerships have been established with the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa, Ridley Melbourne Mission & Ministry College, Melbourne, Australia and the Evangelical School of Theology, Wroclaw, Poland.

The establishment of these JE Centers is a significant expansion of Edwards scholarship and will serve widely both academia and the church. In recent years, a rapidly growing interest in Edwards as theologian has brought the man and his writings onto the world stage, pressing beyond the popular and more parochial image of Edwards primarily as American preacher and American historic figure.   Increasingly, his writings are being consulted by religious leaders, pastors, and churches around the world, spurred by a growing recognition of the fervency and universality of the Edwards message and the acumen with which he appraised religious experience.

This interest in Edwards globally has been fuelled in part by the work of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University, whose sole mission is to support inquiry into the life, writings, and legacy of Jonathan Edwards by providing resources that encourage critical appraisal of the historical importance and contemporary relevance of America’s premier theologian.

For local contact at the JE Center Africa, Australia and Poland, please vist our page International Centers.

The staff of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University will present a week-long summer course examining the life, thought, and legacies of Jonathan Edwards,  one of the great theologians in the Christian tradition and one of the most significant figures in American religious history.

The classroom portion of the course will feature lectures and discussions of common readings. There will be ample time allowed for questions and dialogue. Common readings will include selections from printed collections of Edwards’s writings and secondary sources. Also, the course will be integrated with the use of materials located in The Works of Jonathan Edwards Online.

Special features of the course will be a viewing of Edwards’s manuscripts at Yale’s Beinecke Library, and a day-long tour of sites in the Connecticut River Valley relating to Edwards and the Great Awakening. These sites include East Windsor (Edwards’s birthplace) and Enfield, Connecticut (where he preached Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God), and Northampton  and Stockbridge, Massachusetts, the towns where he ministered for most of his career.

Readings
John Smith et al., eds., A Jonathan Edwards Reader
Douglas Sweeney and Allen Guelzo, eds., The New England Theology: From Edwards to Edwards Amasa Park

Participants can also utilize the Jonathan Edwards Center’s free website, edwards.yale.edu.

Schedule

Monday, 9-11:30
The Post-Reformation Era, Puritanism, and the Young Edwards
JE Reader, “Spider Letter,” “Of Being,” “Beauty of the World,” “The Mind,” “Diary,” “Resolutions,” “Apostrophe to Sarah Pierpont”
Online: A Biographical Sketch.

Tuesday, 9-11:30
Edwards the Theologian
JE Reader, “A History of the Work of Redemption,” “Freedom of the Will,” “Original Sin,” “Nature of True Virtue”
Online: Edwards as Theologian.

Wednesday, 9-11:30 a.m
The Great Awakening
JE Reader, “Faithful Narrative,” “Religious Affections,” “Personal Narrative”
Online: JEC Exhibit, “Billy Graham Preaches ‘Sinners."

1:30-3:00 p.m.
Edwards’s Manuscripts at Beinecke Library

Thursday, 9-11:30
Edwards’s American and Global Legacies
Douglas Sweeney and Allen Guelzo, eds., The New England Theology: From Edwards to Edwards Amasa Park (divide readings among class)
Online: Edwards’s Legacies.

Friday, 8-4
A Tour of Edwards and Great Awakening Sites.

For inquiries: please contact edwards@yale.edu

For registration: see Summer Course Information