Although the pastor at Stockbridge was nominally the teacher of the Housatonnucks, yet, in fact, he often gave instruction to families of the ]\Iohawks, Oneidas, and Tuscaroras, who had gone to his parish for the sake of its educational advantages. He was a patron and also an intimate companion of Gideon Hawley, a man highly revered as a preacher to the Indian tribes. The elder Edwards desired that his son Jonathan should be trained for a missionary among the aborigines, and he therefore sent the hoy, not then eleven years old, to a settlement of the Oneida Indians on the banks of the Susquehanna. The faithful friend, Gideon Haw- ley, travelled with the boy, and took the charge of him, but, in consequence of the French and Indian war, was obliged to return with him, after a residence of about six months among the Oneidas. Young Ed- wards endeared himself to the Oneida tribe, and on one occasion, when they expected an attack from the French, the Indians took the boy upon their shoulders, and bore him many miles through the wilderness to a place of safety. At that early age he exhibited the traits which afterwards distinguished him — courage, fortitude, and perseverance. While travelling through the wilderness in the depths of winter he was some- times compelled to sleep on the ground in the open air, and he endured the hardness as a good soldier. He spent the two years 1756, 1757, under the parental roof in Stockbridge, but in January, 1758, his father removed to Princeton, and in October, 1758, both his father and mother were removed from the world, and thus, in his fourteentli year, he was left an orphan. He had no pecuniary means for pursuing his educa- tif)n ; but, having received promises of aid from the friends of his parents, he entered the Grammar School at Princeton in February, 1760, was admitted to Prince- ton College in September, 1761, and was graduated there in Septeml)er, 1765. During the presidency and under the preaching of Dr. Finley, he became, as he thought, a true servant of Christ, and in September, 1763, he became a member of the Church. After hav- ing studied theology with Dr. Joseph Bellamy, he was approbated as a preacher in October, 1766, by the Litchfield County Association. In 1767 he was ap-
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pointed to the office of tutor at Nassau Hall, and was continued in the office two years. He was also of- fered, but he declined to accept, the professorship of languages and logic in the same institution. He had distinguished himself as a linguist and as a logician at Nassau Hall, and at a later day he received the doc- torate of divinity from that college. Thus in his ear- lier years he was honored by his Alma Mater as a man of uncommon promise, and in his maturer years as a man of uncommon attainments. His contemporaries speak of him as indefotigably diligent while at college, and as ever afterwards an eager aspirant for knowl- edge in its various branches.
He was also an instructive and sometimes an elo- quent preacher. Accordingly, he was invited to the pastorship of an important church in New Haven, Conn., and was ordained there Jan. 5, 1769. It is stated in his memoir, that the ordaining council were so intenseh' interested in his preparatory examination that they continued it for their own pleasure and profit several hours after the time which had been previous- l}- appointed for the public exercises of the ordination. Several members of his church were advocates of the "half-way covenant;" he, like his father, was deci- dedly hostile to it. This divergence of views occa- sioned much trouble to him in his pastorate. The extravagances which had been connected with the '•great awakening" in 1740-2 were followed by a dis- astrous reaction among the New England churches, and the ministry of Dr. Edwards was made in some d?gree uncomfortable by it. His pastorate was also disturbed by the demoralizing influences of the Revo- lutionary war. That war introduced a flood of errors among the people. Dangerous heresies were adopted by some members of his parish. The result of all these untoward events was that he was dismissed from his office May 19, 1795, after having labored in it more tlian twenty-six j'ears. The Connecticut Evangelical Mdffazine stated that the principal cause "of his dis- mission was the departure of some of his parishioners from their former faith, but the ostensible cause as- signed by the society was their inability to support a minister."
He had already acquired a great reputation as a philosopher and as a philanthropist. He was M'ell known and much beloved by divines in Great Britain, with some of whom he maintained an active corre- spondence. Such a man could not long remain with- out some official relations. In January, 1796, he was installed pastor of the church in Colebrook, Conn. Here, in the bosom of an intelligent, affectionate, and couliiiing parish, he persevered in his rigorous system of studj^ and prepared himself for works which he did not live to execute. Having enjoyed his busy retreat a little more than three years, he was surprised hy be- ing called in May, 1799, to the presidenej' of Union College, Schenectad}', N. Y. After a prolonged ex- amination of his dutv, he applied to an ecclesiastical council for their advice, and in accordance with their counsel he accepted the new office. He entered on its duties in the summer of 1799, and was welcomed with unusual demonstrations of joy. Rev. Dr. Andrew Yates, who was associated with Dr. Ivlwards in the government of the college, says of him : "His disci- jiline was mild and affectionatel}' parental, and his re- (juirements reasonable. Such a character for govern- ment in president Edwards was unexpected to some who professed to know his disposition, and had formed tlieir opinions of him in this respect. It was tiierc- fore the more noticed. There was an apparent auster- ity and reserve in his manner, which no doubt arose from tlic retirement of study and from habits of close thought, and would leave such an impression after a sliglit acquaintance ; but in his domestic intercourse, and with Ins intimate friends, wliile conscientiously strict and prom[)t in his duties, and wMle he" acted with decision, he was mild and affectionate. The