Quote of the Day (Jonathan Edwards, on “The Wrath to Come”)

"And let every one that is yet out of Christ, and hanging over the pit of hell, whether they be old men and women, or middle aged, or young people, or little children, now hearken to the loud calls of God's word and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such great favour to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to others. Men's hearts harden, and their guilt increases apace at such a day as this, if they neglect their souls; and never was there so great danger of such persons being given up to hardness of heart and blindness of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect in all parts of the land; and probably the greater part of adult persons that ever shall be saved, will be brought in now in a little time, and that it will be as it was on the great out-pouring of the Spirit upon the Jews in the apostles' days; the election will obtain, and the rest will be blinded. If this should be the case with you, you will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you was born, to see such a season of the pouring out of God's Spirit, and will wish that you had died and gone to hell before you had seen it. Now undoubtedly it is, as it was in the days of John the Baptist, the axe is in an extraordinary manner laid at the root of the trees, that every tree which brings not forth good fruit, may be hewn down and cast into the fire.

"Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let every one fly out of Sodom: 'Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed.'"—Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741)

This past Friday was the 270th anniversary of one of the most influential sermons of American history. Minute after minute in this unrelenting appeal to his audience in the neighboring parish of Enfield, Conn., to mend their ways, Congregationalist minister Jonathan Edwards (who was invited to come here) spoke in even tones decidedly at odds with the fire-and-brimstone rhetoric you’ve just read.

No matter. By the conclusion of this speech, many in the audience were trembling; others cried out; still others fainted dead away.

All in all, as a college professor of mine remarked wryly, “That meant it was a roaring success.” (Indeed, as many as 500 listening that day are said to have converted.)

Edwards was a contemporary of Benjamin Franklin, born within a few years of the great patriot and also a native of New England. Indeed, in his early teens, Edwards wrote an essay on spiders that one could easily imagine Franklin producing or, for that matter, someone else who would, a century later, also show extraordinarily keen insight into the natural world: Henry David Thoreau.

The difference, of course, is that Edwards, in Sinners, approaches nature with a metaphorical (let alone religious) consciousness that would have been quite beyond Franklin. In his view, the spider becomes man, except that this creature is now viewed with a baleful eye by a consciouness quite beyond its own:

"The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours."

As hard as it is to imagine a connection between Edwards and Franklin, it's even more astounding to think of a link between Edwards and his grandson: Aaron Burr, man of action (a colonel in the American Revolution), libertine (sued for divorce in his 70s on grounds of adultery!), slippery politician (force behind the formation of Tammany Hall) and the man who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.

Yet another aspect of their lives make it hard to conceive of Burr as a descendant of Edwards. The minister left after him copious sermons and other writings. Yet, unique among the men who founded the American Republic (and especially one who survived into old age), Burr left comparatively little documentation behind.

It is true that part of this resulted from a disaster at sea in which not only a number of his papers were lost but also the dear daughter daughter he had raised with an education the equal of any man's of the time. But another significant reason for the lack of surviving papers derived from a simple and frequent bit of advice that Burr gave to anyone reading his legal or political messages: "Burn this." He did not trust the kindness of his enemies (and, perhaps, historians) in putting a benign construct on his intentions.

Edwards served as assistant pastor to his grandfather, the New England clergyman Solomon Stoddard. But it's hard to imagine Burr serving his grandfather in any capacity. In fact, it would be much easier to conceive of Edwards (who died only three years after Burr's birth) warning his grandson that hell's fires (mentioned 17 times in this sermon) awaited him.