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Sermons On The Lord's Supper

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Sermons by Jonathan Edwards on the Lord's Supper (Communion)

271 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

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About the author

Jonathan Edwards

1,640 books535 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database named Jonathan Edwards.

Jonathan Edwards was the most eminent American philosopher-theologian of his time, and a key figure in what has come to be called the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s.

The only son in a family of eleven children, he entered Yale in September, 1716 when he was not yet thirteen and graduated four years later (1720) as valedictorian. He received his Masters three years later. As a youth, Edwards was unable to accept the Calvinist sovereignty of God. However, in 1721 he came to what he called a "delightful conviction" though meditation on 1 Timothy 1:17. From that point on, Edwards delighted in the sovereignty of God. Edwards later recognized this as his conversion to Christ.

In 1727 he was ordained minister at Northampton and assistant to his maternal grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. He was a student minister, not a visiting pastor, his rule being thirteen hours of study a day. In the same year, he married Sarah Pierpont, then age seventeen, daughter of Yale founder James Pierpont (1659–1714). In total, Jonathan and Sarah had eleven children.

Stoddard died on February 11th, 1729, leaving to his grandson the difficult task of the sole ministerial charge of one of the largest and wealthiest congregations in the colony. Throughout his time in Northampton his preaching brought remarkable religious revivals.

Yet, tensions flamed as Edwards would not continue his grandfather's practice of open communion. Stoddard believed that communion was a "converting ordinance." Surrounding congregations had been convinced of this, and as Edwards became more convinced that this was harmful, his public disagreement with the idea caused his dismissal in 1750.

Edwards then moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, then a frontier settlement, where he ministered to a small congregation and served as missionary to the Housatonic Indians. There, having more time for study and writing, he completed his celebrated work, The Freedom of the Will (1754).

Edwards was elected president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in early 1758. He was a popular choice, for he had been a friend of the College since its inception. He died of fever at the age of fifty-four following experimental inoculation for smallpox and was buried in the President's Lot in the Princeton cemetery beside his son-in-law, Aaron Burr.

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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Profile Image for Coyle.
677 reviews62 followers
February 17, 2010
Great collection of Edwards sermons, 9 (loosely) on the Lord's Supper, and 6 on various other topics. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants an easy introduction to Edwards and who doesn't want to dive right into Freedom of the Will, Religious Affections, or Charity and Its Fruit. The edition is readable and well broken up and the sermons are simple, mostly from Edwards' years as a missionary.
Sample quote:
Holiness is a most beautiful, lovely thing. Men are apt to drink in strange notions of holiness from their childhood, as if it were a melancholy, morose, sour, and unpleasant thing; but there is nothing in it but what is sweet and ravishingly lovely. 'Tis the brighter beauty and amiableness, vastly above all other beauties; 'tis a divine beauty, makes the soul heavenly, and far purer than anything here on earth. This world is like mire and filth and defilement ot the soul that is sanctified. 'Tis of a sweet, lovely, delightful, serene, calm, and still nature. (220)
Profile Image for John.
255 reviews1 follower
June 2, 2023
Worth the time if you appreciate Edwards' work. If you've never read any of his works, this one is a good place to start.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews

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