“As high as possibly I can” by Jonathan Edwards

“I don’t think ministers are to be blamed for raising the affections of their hearers too high, if that which they are affected with be only that which is worthy of affection, and their affections are not raised beyond a proportion to their importance, or worthiness of affection.

I should think myself in the way of my duty to raise the affections of my hearers as high as possibly I can, provided that they are affected with nothing but truth.”

–Jonathan Edwards, “Some Thoughts Concerning the Revival of Religion in New England,” in The Great Awakening, ed. Harry S. Stout and C. C. Goen, Revised Edition, vol. 4, The Works of Jonathan Edwards (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2009), 4: 387.