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Page 6
It is not surprising to find that the ancestors of Mr. Edwards were
cradled in the intellectual literary activities of the days of Queen
Elizabeth. The family is of Welsh origin and can be traced as far as
1282, when Edward, the conquerer, appeared. His great-great-grandfather,
Richard Edwards, who went from Wales to London about 1580, was a
clergyman in the Elizabethan period. Those were days which provided
tonic for the keenest spirits and brightest minds and professional men
profited most from the influence of Spencer, Bacon, and Shakespeare.
Among the first men to come to the new colonies in New England was
William, a son of this clergyman, born about 1620, who came to Hartford,
where his son Richard, born 1647, the grandfather of Jonathan, was an
eminently prosperous merchant. Richard was an only son. The father of
Jonathan, Timothy Edwards, was an only son in a family of seven.
Aristocracy was at its height in the household of the merchants of
Hartford in the middle of the seventeenth century.
Harvard was America's only college, and it was a great event for a young
man to go from Hartford to Harvard, but this Timothy Edwards did, and he
took all attainable honors, graduating in 1661, taking the degrees
of A.B. and A.M. the same day, "an uncommon mark of respect paid
extraordinary proficiency in learning." This brilliant graduate of
Harvard was soon settled over the church at East Windsor, Conn., where
he remained sixty-five years as pastor.
Who can estimate the inheritance which comes to a child of such a pastor
who had been born in a merchant's home. In the four generations which
stood behind Jonathan Edwards were two merchants and two preachers, a
grand combination for manly and intellectual power.
In this pastor's home Jonathan Edwards was born October 5, 1703. Those
were days in which great men came into the world. There were born within
fifteen years of Jonathan Edwards a wonderful array of thinkers along
religious and philosophic lines, men who have molded the thought and
lives of a multitude of persons. Among these intellectual giants born
within fifteen years of Mr. Edwards were John Wesley, George Whitefield,
Swedenborg, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Hume.
In order to appreciate the full significance of Mr. Edwards' legacy to
the world, it is well to study some conditions of his life. It would not
be easy to find a man whose surroundings and training in childhood were
better than those of Jonathan Edwards. The parsonage on the banks of the
Connecticut was a delightful home. His parents and his grandparents were
ideal American Christian educated persons. He was prepared for college
by his father and mother. He was a devout little Christian before he was
twelve years of age. When he was but ten years old he, with two other
lads about his own age, made a booth of branches in a retired spot in a
neighboring wood, where the three went daily for a season of prayer.
He began the study of Latin at six and at twelve had a good preparation
for college in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, all of which had come from home
study. He not only knew books, but he knew nature and loved her. From
early childhood to advanced years this remained true. He entered Yale
college at twelve years of age. In a letter which he wrote while a
college freshman he speaks of himself as a child. Not many freshmen take
that view of themselves, but a lad of twelve, away from home at college
could have been little more than a child.
He was the fifth in a family of eleven children, so that he had no lack
of companionship from both older and younger sisters. The older sisters
had contributed much to his preparation for college. They were a
never-failing source of inspiration. At fourteen he read in a masterly
way "Locke on the Human Understanding." It took a powerful hold on his
mind and greatly affected his life. In a letter to his father he asked
a special favor that he might have a copy of "The Art of Thinking," not
because it was necessary to his college work, but because he thought it
would be profitable.
While still in his teens he wrote a series of "Resolutions," the like of
which it would be difficult to duplicate in the case of any other youth.
These things are dwelt upon as indicating the way in which every fibre
of his being was prepared for the great moral and intellectual legacy he
left his children and his children's children. Here are ten of his
seventy resolutions:
_Resolved_, to do whatever I think to be my duty, and most for the good
and advantage of mankind in general.
_Resolved_, so to do, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many
soever, and how great soever.
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