to learn the dialect of the Oneidas. In conse-
quence of the breaking out of war between England
and France, in which the colonies were involved,
young Edwards remained there only six months,
and acquired but an imperfect knowledge of the
language. The death of his father, soon followed
by that of his mother, and their removal to Prince-
ton, IST. J., materially changed his plans. Although
left with insuificient means to complete his educa-
tion, he determined to go forward, and, with the
aid of friends, entered the grannnar-school at
Princeton in February, 1760. The following year
he matriculated at the College of New Jersey, at
which institution he was graduated in ITtio. He
began the study of theology under the Rev. Joseph
Bellamy, D. D., and received a licence to preach
from tiie Association of Litchfield county. Conn.,
in 17G0. In 1767 he was appointed tutor at Prince-
ton, wiiere he remained for two years, till he be-
came, in January, 1769, pastor of the society at
White Haven, Conn. Several members of his
church were advocates of the " half-way covenant,"
while he, like his father, decidedly opposed it. His
pastorate was also disturbed by the reaction among
the New England churches that followed the ex-
travagances that accompanied the " great awaken-
ing" of 1740-2, and by the demoralizing influences
of tlie Revolutionary war. The result of these un-
toward circumstances was a dismissal from his
charge, 19 May, 1795, for the ostensible reason that
the society was unable to support a minister. In
1796 he was called to the church in Colebrook,
Litchfield co., Conn. Here, in a retired country
parisli, he found opportunity to pursue his favorite
theological and metaphysical inquiries, and would
have been willing to spend the remainder of his
days there ; but he was called, in the summer of
1799, to the presidency of the then recently estab-
lished college at Schenectady, N. Y. He was
warmly welcomed by both students and citizens,
and the talent for government that he subsequently
displayed surprised even those who knew him best,
his discipline being mild and afliectionately parent-
al ; but he died the second summer after his in-
auguration. He received the degree of D. D. from
the College of New Jersey in 1785. His career re-
sembled that of his distinguished father in so
many particulars that the coincidence has at-
tracted universal attention. They bore the same
name, and were distinguished scholars and divines.
Both were tutors for equal periods in the colleges
where they were respectively educated. Both,
after being settled in the ministiy, were dismissed
on account of their doctrinal opinions, and were
again settled in retired places, where they had
leisure to prepare and publish their works. Both
were called from the discharge of these duties to
be presidents of colleges, and both died shortly
after inauguration, one in the fifty-fifth and the
other in the fifty-seventh year of liis age, each hav-
ing preached on the first Sabbath of the year from
the text, " This year thou shalt die." Nor was this
resemblance confined merely to outward circum-
stances; intellectually the two men were much
alike. Dr. Emmons is reported to have said that
" the father had more reason than the son ; yet the
son was a better reasoner than the father " ; and
Dr. Samuel Miller, of Princeton, remarked that
"the son greatly resembled his venerable father in
metaphysical acuteness, ardent piety, and the pur-
est exemplariness of Christian deportment." The
younger Edwards devoted a large portion of his
life to the study and interpretation of his father's
writings. He was thus well fitted to edit the
latter's works, and did prepare for the press the "History of the Work of Redemption," two vol-
umes of sermons, and two volumes of " Miscel-
laneous Observations on Important Theological
Subjects." In 1797 Dr. Edwards published "A
Dissertation concerning Liberty and Necessity,"
which is, perhaps, the fairest exposition extant of
the father's " theory of the will." He also printed
numerous articles in the " New York Theological
Magazine," under the signatures " I " and " 0," and
many sermons in which his views were carefully
elaborated. Among the latter may be mentioned
three discourses " On the Necessity of the Atone-
ment and its Consistency with Free Grace in For-
giveness " (1785). They have been fi'equently re-
published, and form the basis of what is now
known as the " Edwardean theory of the atone-
ment." Dr. Edwards also ranked high as a phi-
lologist, and his " Observations on the Language
of the Muhhekaneew Indians," etc., elicited the en-
thusiastic praises of Humboldt. Nearly all his pub-
lished writings were reprinted in two octavo vol-
umes, edited, with a memoir, by Tryon Edwards
(Andover, 1842).— Jonathan Walter, lawyer, only
son of the second Jonathan, b. in New Haven, Conn.,
5 Jan., 1772 ; d. in Hartford, 8 April, 1831, was grad-
uated at Yale in 1789, and was afterward a tutor
there. On taking his second degree, he delivered an
oration in which he vigorously attacked the then
existing state law by which the eldest son received
a double portion of his father's property in case
the latter died intestate, and the obnoxious statute
was repealed in the following year, 1792. He
studied law at Litchfield, settled in Hartford, and
soon took high rank in his profession. He was
gifted with quick perceptive powers, great acute-
ness in reasoning, and an unfailing flow of lan-
guage. Unremitting devotion to his legal studies
and pursuits flnally undermined his health, and
led to his early retirement from the more en-
grossing duties of his profession ; his remaining
years were mainly devoted to his family and to
looking after his large inherited landed interests.
Chief-Justice Williams has written a sketch of Mr.
Edwards, which is contained in an appendix to
the " Connecticut Reports." — Jonathan, son of
Jonathan Walter, b. in Hartford, Conn., 7 Sept.,
1798 ; d. in New Haven, 23 Aug., 1875, was graduated at Yale in 1819, and studied in the law-school of Judge Gould at Litchfield, Conn. He practised for many years in Hartford, where he held the office of judge of probate. About 1840 he removed to Troy, N. Y., of which city he was subsequently chosen mayor. He was also several times elected to the legislature. — Tryon, clergyman, another son, b. in Hartford, Conn., 7 Aug., 1809 ; d. in Detroit, Mich., 5 Jan., 1894, was graduated at Yale, studied law in New York, and theology at Princeton, and accepted a pastoral call to Rochester, N. Y., in 1834, whence he removed to New London, Conn., in 1845. He was subsequently called to Hagerstown, Md. (1867), and from there went to Gouverneur, St. Lawrence co., N. Y., in 1880, which charge he was obliged to relinquish in 1886 on account of failing health. While settled at Hagerstown he was largely influential in originating and organizing Wilson college, of which institution he was chosen the first president. In 1832 a prize tract on Sunday-schools appeared from his pen, and soon afterward " Christianity a Philosophy of Principles." He has since contributed largely to the religious literature of the time in both periodical and book-form. He is the author of " Self-Cultivation" (New York, 1835), and " Light for the Day, or Heavenly Thoughts for Earthly Guidance" (Philadelphia, 1879), partly original and
Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/334
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