any notable experience, when he was invited to preach the annual sermon
before the association of ministers at Boston. Never since that day
have Boston and Harvard been more thoroughly the seat of culture and
of intellectual power than then. It was a remarkable event for a young
man of twenty-eight to be invited to come from the Western limit of
civilization and preach the annual sermon before the philosophical,
theological, and scholastic masters of the East. This sermon was so
powerful that the association published it. This was his first
appearance in print. So profoundly moved by this effort were the
churches of New England that the clergymen generally gave public thanks
to the Head of the Church for raising up so great a teacher and
preacher. Thus was born the fame of Jonathan Edwards.

It is nearly 170 years since then. Science and invention, enterprise and
ambition have done great things for America and for Americans. We have
mighty universities, libraries, and laboratories, but we have no man who
thinks more clearly, writes more logically, speaks more vigorously than
did Jonathan Edwards, and we have never had such a combination of spirit
and power in any other American. This mastery is revealing itself in
various ways in hundreds of his descendants to-day, and it has never
ceased to do it since his blood gave tonic to the thought and character
of his children and his children's children.




CHAPTER III

THE INHERITANCE AND TRAINING OF MR. EDWARDS