pulpit, with long locks flowing down his back, his gaunt form encased in
a coarse garment, girt about the loins with a leathern girdle, in
imitation of the prophet Elijah. His discourses were 'awful and solemn,'
and the houses were crowded, though the cold was so intense as to sheet
Long Island Sound with ice. Other memorials of this great awakening are
found in Edwards' thrilling sermons, such as 'Sinners in the hands of an
angry God,' 'Wicked men only useful in their destruction,' etc. For
years after, the grand idea of New England was piety and good morals,
and as there were no journals, except here and there a dwarfed weekly,
the power of the pulpit was unrivaled. Religion was a common theme in
every house. As a result, it is stated that during the whole Revolution,
there was but one case of wilful murder in Massachusetts, and Dwight
informs us that up to his day there had never been a lawsuit in
Northampton, nor a loss by fire in which the damage was not mutually
shared by the citizens. He also adds that on a given Sabbath five-sixths
of the community were found in meeting. The minister in each town was
supported by tax, and being in some sense a public officer, the ceremony
of ordination was sometimes celebrated with procession and band of
music.

Jonathan Edwards, the great light of New England, at this time could
have been found in a quiet village on the Connecticut, whence his fame
had already spread to the mother country. How Northampton gloried in her
matchless preacher! For sixty years his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard,
had labored there. Let us linger a moment over those scenes which,
though fled like a dream, once witnessed the joys and sorrows of a
lifetime. Here in this retired street stands the weather-stained
parsonage, graced by a pair of saplings, planted by his own hands, to
which Northampton points as 'the Edwards elms,' and which now fling
giant shadows across the lawn. This dwelling, though scant of