death, that "Christ may give him light."-According to this system, regeneration is produced, neither by moral suasion, i.e. by the arguments and motives of the Gospel, nor by any supernatural, spiritual light; but by the immediate agency of the Holy Spirit. Yet the light and knowledge of the Gospel are, by Divine constitution, usually necessary to regeneration, as the blowing of the ram's horns was necessary to the falling of the walls of Jerico; and the moving of the stone, from the mouth of the sepulchre, was necessary to the raising of Lazarus.”

THUS it appears, that Mr. Edwards taught us in his writings, in a manner so clear, that mankind have hitherto been satisfied with the instruction, Why God created this material and spiritual Universe ;What is the nature of that Government which he exercises over Minds, and how it is consistent with their perfect freedom ;-What is the Nature of that Virtue, which they must possess, if they are to secure his approbation;-What is the Nature, the Source, the Extent, and the Evidences of that Depravity, which characterizes Man, as a fallen being;-What is the Series of Events, by which his Redemption is accomplished;-What are the Qualifications for that Church, to which the redeemed belong;-What are the Grounds, on which they are justified;-What are the Nature and Evidences of that Religion, which is imparted to them by the Spirit of grace; -What are the Nature and Effects of that Revival of religion, which accompanies an effusion of his divine influences on a people; -And what are the Inducements to United and Extraordinary Prayer, that such effusions may be abundantly enjoyed by the Church of God.*-By what is thus said, we do not intend, that all his reasonings are solid, or all his opinions sound and scriptural; but we know of no writer, since the days of the Apostles, who has better comprehended the WORD OF GOD; who has more fully unfolded the nature and design of the revelation of his mind, which it contains; who has more ably explained and defended the great doctrines, which it teaches, who has more clearly illustrated the religion which it requires; who has done more for the purification and enlargement of that church which it establishes; or who, in conse quence of his unfoldings of divine truth, will find, when the work of every man is weighed in the balances of eternity, a larger number to be, his hope, and joy, and crown of rejoicing in that day."-And when we remember, in addition to all this, that we can probably select no individual, of all who have lived in that long period, whe has manifested a more ardent or elevated piety towards God, a warmer or more expanded benevolence towards Man, or greater

*For a Catalogue of the works of Mr. Edwards, published previous to this edition, see Appendix L.

purity, or disinterestedness, or integrity of character-one, who gave the concentrated strength of all his powers, more absolutely, to the one end of glorifying God in the salvation of Man;-and then reflect, that at the age of fifty-four, in the highest vigour of all his faculties, in the fulness of his usefulness, when he was just entering on the most important station of his life, he yielded to the stroke of death; we look towards his grave, in mute astonishment, unable to penetrate those clouds and darkness, which hover around it. One of his weeping friends* thus explained this most surprizing dispensation:-"He was pouring in a flood of light upon mankind, which their eyes, as yet, were too feeble to bear."-If this was not the reason; we can only say-" Even so, Father! for so it seemed good in thy sight."

FAREWELL SERMON.

A Farewell Sermon, preached at the first Precinct in Northampton. after the people's public rejection of their minister, and renouncing their relation to him as Pastor of the Church there, on June 22, 1750; Occasioned by difference of sentiments, concerning the requisite Qualifications of members of the Church, in complete standing; By JONATHAN EDWARDS, A. M.

Acts xx. 18. Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, af ter what manner I have been with you, at all seasons.

Ver. 20. And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you: but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house.

Ver. 26, 27. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men; for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the Counsel of God.

Gal. iv. 15, 16. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? For! bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore be

come your enemy, because I tell you the truth.

Boston: Printed and Sold by S. Kneeland, over against the Prison in Queen-Street. 1751.

PREFACE.

It is not unlikely, that some of the readers of the following Sermon may be inquisitive, concerning the circumstances of the difference be tween me and the people of Northampton, that issued in that separation between me and them, which occasioned the preaching of this Farewell Sermon. There is. by no means, room here for a full account of that matter. But yet it seems to be proper, and even necessary, here, to correct some gross misrepresentations, which have been abundantly, and, it is to be feared, by some affectedly and industriously, made, of that difference: such as, That I insisted on persons being assured of their being in a state of salvation, in order to my admitting them into the Church; that I required a particular relation of the method and order of a person's inward experience, and of the time and

manner of his conversion, as the test of his fitness for Christian communion; yea, that I have undertaken to set up a pure church, and to make an exact and certain distinction between saints and hypocrites, by a pretended infallible discerning the state of men's souls; that in these things I had fallen in with those wild people, who have lately appeared in New England, called Separatists; and that I myself was become a grand Separatist; that I arrogated all the power of judging of the Qualifications of candidates for Communion, wholly to myself, and insisted on acting by my sole authority, in the admission of members into the Church, etc.

In opposition to these slanderous representations, I shall, at present, only give my reader an account of some things, which I laid before the Council, that separated between me and my people, in order to their having a just and full account of my principles, relating to the affair in controversy.

Long before the sitting of the Council, my people had sent to the Rev. Mr. Clark of Salem Village, desiring him to write in opposition to my principles. Which gave me occasion to write to Mr. Clark, that he might have true information what my principles were. And in the time of the sitting of the Council, I did, for their information, make a public declaration of my principles, before them and the Church, in the meeting house, of the same import with that in my letter to Mr. Clark, and very much in the same words. And then, afterwards, sent in to the Council, in writing, an extract of that letter, containing the information I had given to Mr. Clark, in the very words of my letter to him, that the Council might read and consider it at their leisure, and have a moré certain and more satisfactory knowledge what my principles were. The extract which I sent in to them, was in the following words:

"I am often, and I do not know but pretty generally, in the country, represented as of a new and odd opinion, with respect to the terms of Christian communion, and as being for introducing a peculiar way of my own. Whereas, I do not perceive that I differ at all from the scheme of Dr. Watts, in his book, entitled, The rational foundation of a Christian Church, and the terms of Christian Communion; which he says, is the common sentiment and practice of all reformed churches. I had not seen this book of Dr. Watts', when I published what I have written on the subject; but yet, I think my sentiments, as I have expressed them, are as exactly agreeable to what he lays down, as if I had been his pupil. Nor do I at all go beyond what Dr. Doddridge plainly shows to be his sentiments, in his Rise and Progress of Religion, and his Sermons on Regeneration, and his Paraphrase and Notes on the New Testament. Nor indeed, Sir, when I consider the sentiments you have expressed in your letters to Major Pomroy and Mr. Billing, can I perceive, but that they come exactly to the same thing which I maintain. You suppose, the Sacraments are not converting ordinances: but that, as seals of the Covenant, they presuppose conversion, especially in the adult; and that it is visible saintship, or in other words, a credible profession of faith and repentance, a solemn consent to the Gospel covenant, joined with a

good conversation, and competent measure of Christian knowledge, is what gives a Gospel right to all sacred ordinances, but that it is necessary to those that come to these ordinances, and in those that profess a consent in the Gospel covenant, that they be sincere in their profession, or at least should think themselves so. The great thing which I have scrupled in the established method of this Church's proceeding, and which I dare no longer go on in, is their publicly assenting to the form of words, rehearsed on occasion of their admission to the communion, without pretending thereby to mean any such thing, as a hearty consent to the terms of the Gospel covenant, or to mean any such faith or repentance as belong to the covenant of grace, and are the grand conditions of that covenant; It being, at the same time that the words are used, their known and established principle, which they openly profess and proceed upon, that men may and ought to use these words, and mean no such thing, but something else of a nature far inferior; which I think they have no distinct determinate notion of; but something consistent with their knowing that they do not choose God as their chief good, but love the world more than him, and that they do not give themselves up entirely to God, but make reserves; and in short, knowing that they do not heartily consent to the Gospel covenant, but live still under the reigning power of the love of the world, and enmity to God and Christ. So that the words of their public profession, according to their openly established use, cease to be of the nature of any profession of Gospel faith and repentance, or any proper compliance with the covenant: for it is their profession, that the words, as used, mean no such thing. The words used, under these circumstances, do at least fail of being a credible profession of these things. I can conceive of no such virtue in a certain set of words, that it is proper, merely on the making of these sounds, to admit persons to Christian Sacraments, without any regard to any pretended meaning of those sounds: nor can I think, that any institution of Christ has established any such terms of admission into the Christian Church. It does not belong to the controversy between me and my people, how particular or large the profession should be, that is required. I should not choose to be confined to exact limits as to that matter: but, rather than contend, I should content myself with a few words, briefly expressing the cardinal virtues or acts, implied in a hearty compliance with the covenant, made (as should appear by enquiry into the person's doctrinal knowledge) understandingly; if there were an external conversation agreeable thereto yea, I should think, that such a person, solemnly making such a profession, had a right to be received as the object of a public charity, however he himself might scruple his own conversion, on account of his not remembering the time, not knowing the method of his conversion, or finding so much remaining sin, etc. And, (if his own scruples did not hinder his coming to the Lord's Table,) I should think the minister or church had no right to debar such a professor, though he should say he did not think himself converted. For I call that a profession of godliness, which is a profession of the great things wherein godliness consists, and not a profession of his own opinion of his good