Powerful stuff. I'm really busy, getting ready for another tourney, but that really blessed me.

Back to work.

Cheerfully,
Marshall
Marshall Sherman | Homepage | 03.06.06 - 12:38 pm | #

Thanks for posting these! Jonathan Edwards' resolutions and writings were one of those things I would "get to later" but seeing his writings broken down in small pieces makes it much easier to read. Thanks!
Grace | 03.06.06 - 1:05 pm | #

Just wanted to let you know that I frequently browse your site and appreciate the important issues you are addressing. This particular one really struck a chord with me today.
Lisa | 03.06.06 - 1:52 pm | #

A picture is worth a thousand words. Thanks for these glimpses of teens who refused adolescence! They give a whole different twist to the old adage: Virtue is its own reward.
Kim | Homepage | 03.07.06 - 4:44 am | #

This is great!

I've always had this picture of JE as one of the great saints "up there" with Paul and the Apostles. Without a doubt, he was and is a great Christian - but to see his stumblings and failings is encouraging. The greatest of us have dryness at times.

A question mark popped into my head after reading: "38. Resolved, never to speak anything that is ridiculous, sportive, or matter of laughter on the Lord's day." OK... the Sabbath was made for man, and the man not made for the Sabbath. It seems, in the light of this, that JE was unable to view laughter as something which can glorify God. I agree with not speaking things which are ridiculous and sportive, maybe - but things which make one laugh... hmmm?

Take a look at The Medicine of Laughter: Spurgeon's Humor

So what do you all think of Resolution 38? I think even on the Lord's Day there is and must be occasion for laughter and humor.
David Peyton | Homepage | 03.07.06 - 5:33 am | #

oops - the link doesn't seem to be working:

http://www.the-highway.com/ laugh...er_Michael.html
David Peyton | Homepage | 03.07.06 - 5:34 am | #

I love the way his diary entries have been placed with the resolutions. Edwards was serious about becoming more like Christ!
Elizabeth | Homepage | 03.07.06 - 7:41 am | #

This Jonathan Edwards stuff is good :)
This question is prolly answered elsewhere, but I'll ask it anyway... Is there a book (as in a real book, not on the computer) with his resolutions and diary entries? I'd be interested in getting that, if there is one...
Lana | 03.07.06 - 4:31 pm | #

Lana:
There are a number of print options containing the diary and resolutions. The Yale Univ. Press has 23 volumes of the complete works (haha). Look at http://edwards.yale.edu. (very useful site) At the "store" on that site you will see A Jonathan Edwards Reader which contains what you're looking for. Or, what I got, is the 2-volume edition now published by Hendrickson. That has the complete text (in double-columned, miscule print) of most of the essentials. The 2-vol. edition is also in pdf at http://ccel.org.
Nathan Straub | Homepage | 03.08.06 - 7:14 am | #

I've been following these with great interest, as much as my time allows. I too wondered at Resolution 38. It sounded rather like the tendency to be legalistic and put too many rules on oneself (been there, done that). Granted, I may have misinterpreted Edward's meaning, and he was a strict Puritan, but still...
A fellow soldier | 03.08.06 - 2:47 pm | #

Thanks Nathan! I'll certainly check those out!
23 volumes, huh? I love to read, but that's a lot for even me... :)
two volumes is more like it!
Lana | 03.09.06 - 9:53 am | #