Stockbridge Indians. It was Orpheus among the wild beasts, but without
his success. President Wayland quotes this fact in order to support a
theory which is palpably false, that a preacher should not be much above
the literary platform of his people; whereas, Edwards' ill success was
in a large measure owing to the troubles and opposition incident to
frontier life. With all his sorrows, however, he had one great
satisfaction. His chief assailant, Joseph Ashley, of Northampton, who
had borne so large a part in his expulsion, came in deep penitence, and
besought his forgiveness, which was granted with Christian tenderness.
Ashley's compunctions continued, and after Edwards' death increased in
horror so greatly that to obtain relief he published to the world an
explicit confession of his sins against 'that eminent servant of God.'

Edwards, like Milton, had long meditated a work which 'the world would
not willingly let die,' but, although he had for some years been
gathering materials, yet it was not until his removal to Stockbridge
that he addressed himself fully to the mighty task of authorship. His
habits of abstraction grew upon him amazingly during this effort, and
the notable Sarah sheltered him from intrusion, and anticipated his
wants. She was conscious of the greatness of the work with which he had
grappled, and stood by his side like a guardian angel while he
demolished errorists. It was her custom after the labors of the day to
steal up to the study, where, like Numa and Egeria, they held serene
communion. This was his sole medium of secular information, for in his
occasional walks he was like one in a dream. The whole man was engrossed
in what he alone could perform; indeed, to reconcile liberty and
necessity were a task for which he seemed providentially set apart. But
beneath these arguments, which rise Alp on Alp, there lurked a quiet
perception of humor, and the _reductio ad absurdum_, which he
occasionally drives home, showed the keenness of Puritan wit. How he