bookslover
Puritan Board Doctor
Here are a couple of quotations from "A Sweet Flame": Piety in the Letters of Jonathan Edwards", edited by Michael A. G. Haykin (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2007). This is a volume in the publisher's Profiles in Reformed Spirituality series.
Here is Edwards on preferring, over all, Peter van Mastricht to Francis Turretin (from a letter to Joseph Bellamy dated January 15, 1747):
"...They are both excellent. Turretin is on polemical divinity, on the 5 points & all other controversial points, & is much larger than these than Mastricht, & is better for one that desires only to be thoroughly versed in controversies. But take Mastricht for divinity in general, doctrine, practice, & controversy, or as an universal system of divinity; & it is much better than Turretin or any other book in the world, excepting the Bible, in my opinion." (pp. 83-85)
And, here's Edwards on whether he could be a Presbyterian and an adherer to the Westminster Standards; the context of this letter is that Edwards was on the verge of being fired by his church, and is answering a question about if he could see his way to ministering in Scotland (from a letter to the Scots pastor John Erskine, dated July 5, 1750):
"You are pleased, dear Sir, very kindly to ask me, whether I could sign the Westminster Confession of Faith, and submit to the Presbyterian form of church government, and to offer to use your influence to procure a call for me, to some congregation in Scotland. I should be very ungrateful, if I were not thankful for such kindness and friendship. As for my subscribing to the substance of the Westminster Confession, there would be no difficulty; and as to the Presbyterian government, I have long been perfectly out of conceit of our unsettled, independent, confused way of church government in this land. [Edwards was, remember, a Congregationalist.] And the Presbyterian way has ever appeared to me most agreable to the Word of God, and the reason and nature of things, though I cannot say that I think that the Presbyterian government of the Church of Scotland is so perfect that it cannot, in some respects, be mended." (pp. 119-120)
In this same letter to Erskine, by the way, he makes an interesting comment about himself:
"Nor have I any particular door in view that I depend upon to be opened for my future serviceableness. Most places in New England that want a minister would not be forward to invite one with so chargeable a family, nor one so far advanced in years - being forty-six the fifth day of last October. I am fitted for no other business but study. I should make a poor hand at getting a living by any secular employment." (p. 119)
Interesting comments by Jonathan Edwards.
By the way, I've read the volume on John Calvin in this series and am finishing up the one on Edwards. These books in the Profiles in Reformed Spirituality series are definitely worth your time.
Here is Edwards on preferring, over all, Peter van Mastricht to Francis Turretin (from a letter to Joseph Bellamy dated January 15, 1747):
"...They are both excellent. Turretin is on polemical divinity, on the 5 points & all other controversial points, & is much larger than these than Mastricht, & is better for one that desires only to be thoroughly versed in controversies. But take Mastricht for divinity in general, doctrine, practice, & controversy, or as an universal system of divinity; & it is much better than Turretin or any other book in the world, excepting the Bible, in my opinion." (pp. 83-85)
And, here's Edwards on whether he could be a Presbyterian and an adherer to the Westminster Standards; the context of this letter is that Edwards was on the verge of being fired by his church, and is answering a question about if he could see his way to ministering in Scotland (from a letter to the Scots pastor John Erskine, dated July 5, 1750):
"You are pleased, dear Sir, very kindly to ask me, whether I could sign the Westminster Confession of Faith, and submit to the Presbyterian form of church government, and to offer to use your influence to procure a call for me, to some congregation in Scotland. I should be very ungrateful, if I were not thankful for such kindness and friendship. As for my subscribing to the substance of the Westminster Confession, there would be no difficulty; and as to the Presbyterian government, I have long been perfectly out of conceit of our unsettled, independent, confused way of church government in this land. [Edwards was, remember, a Congregationalist.] And the Presbyterian way has ever appeared to me most agreable to the Word of God, and the reason and nature of things, though I cannot say that I think that the Presbyterian government of the Church of Scotland is so perfect that it cannot, in some respects, be mended." (pp. 119-120)
In this same letter to Erskine, by the way, he makes an interesting comment about himself:
"Nor have I any particular door in view that I depend upon to be opened for my future serviceableness. Most places in New England that want a minister would not be forward to invite one with so chargeable a family, nor one so far advanced in years - being forty-six the fifth day of last October. I am fitted for no other business but study. I should make a poor hand at getting a living by any secular employment." (p. 119)
Interesting comments by Jonathan Edwards.
By the way, I've read the volume on John Calvin in this series and am finishing up the one on Edwards. These books in the Profiles in Reformed Spirituality series are definitely worth your time.
