EDWARDS, JONATHAN, was born at East Windsor, in the pro vince of Connecticut, on the 5th of October 1703. He was the only son, among eleven children, of Timothy Edwards, who was minister of Windsor, or (as it was then) the eastern parish of Windsor,during a period of sixty-three years, and who, being a learned, ex emplary, and devout man, was much beloved and respected by his flock. Until the age of thirteen Jonathan was educated at home. He began to learn Latin when six years old, under the care of his father and elder sisters, aU of whom the father had made proficienta in that language. Ile seems to havo begun writing letters and essays at a very early age ; and such of his early compositions as aro pre served show a remarkable inquisitiveness concerning both mental and natural phenomena, and a by no means contemptible skill in explain ing them. President Dwight, his biographer, has given a fragment written by him in the bantering style, when he could not have been more than twelve years old, against some one who had contended for the materiality of the soul, which shows considerable wit, reach of thought, and power of expression. There is also preserved an enter taining and instructive account of the habits of spiders, as observed by himself, which was writteu before he was thirteen. lie was also led very early to religious meditation, and imbued with a deep sense of religion. Ile says of himself, iu an account of his religious pro gress, written later in life for the benefit of his children I had a variety of concerns and exercises about my soul from my childhood; but had two more remarkable seasons of awakening beforo I met with that change by which I was brought to those new dispositions, and that new sense of things, that I have since had. The first time was when I was a boy, some years before I went to college, at a time of remarkable awakening in my father's congregation. I was then very much affected for many months, and concerned about the things of religion and my soul's salvation; and was abundant iu religious duties. I used to pray five times a day in secret, and to spend much time in religious conversation with other boys. . . . . I, with some of my school-fellows, joined together, and built a booth in a swamp, in a very retired spot, for a place of prayer. And besides I had parti
cular secret places of my own in the woods, where I used to retire by myself, and was from time to time much affected." lie went to Yale College, in Newhaven. at the ago of thirteen. In tho second year of his residence at the college, when only fourteen, ho read through Locke's Essay on the Duman Understanding;' and President Dwight has published some of his notes on the topics treated of in the essay, which show that ho could then understand and appre ciate it. The same biographer has published notes on the natural sciences and on theology, which were collected by Edwards during his stay at college. It was In the fourth and last year of his collegiate life that his second ' awakening' took place, an awakening which was speedily followed by a second relapse. "But in process of time," he observes, in continuation of what has been already quoted, " my convictions and affections wore off; and I entirely lost all those affections and delights, and left off secret prayer, at least ns to any constant performance of it; and returned like a dog to his vomit, and went on in the ways of sin. Indeed I was at times very uneasy, especially towards the latter part of my time at college; when it pleased God to seize me with a pleurisy, in which he brought me nigh to the grave, and shook me over the pit of hell. And yet it was not long after my recovery before I fell again into my old ways of sin." His final and entire conversion took place shortly after his taking his B.A. degree in September 1720. The chief symptom of his ' con version' is thus described by him :—" From my childhood up, my mind had been full of objections against the doctrine of God's sove reignty in choosing whom he would to eternal life, and rejecting whom he pleased ; leaving them eternally to perish, and be everlastingly tormented in helL It used to appear like a horrible doctrine to me; but I remember the time very well when I seemed to be convinced, and fully satisfied, as to this sovereignty of God, and his justice in thus eternally disposing of men according to his sovereign pleasure.