same spirit characterized his government of the col- lege. It was probably conducted with greater mild- ness and affection than would have been exercised had not the prevailing expectations of some intimated the danger of his erring on the side of severity. His pupils, like a well-regulated family under faithful dis- cipline, were respectfully attached to him."
On August 1, 1801, after an illness of about a fort- night, he died, at the age of fiftj'-six years, two months, and six days. " The blood of Christ is m}- only ground of hope" were among his last words. A highly eulo- gistic sermon was preached at his funeral in the Re- formed Dutch Church at Schenectady by his friend. Rev. Robert Smith, of Savannah. Dr. Edwards had been greatly affected Ijy the loss of his first wife, who, in June, 1782, was drowned. He had also been be- reaved of one child ; but three of his children survived him.
The influence of Dr. Edwards in the pulpit, although not equal to that of his father, was yet greater than might have been expected from his analytic habits. His eye was piercing, his whole manner was impress^ ive, his thoughts were clear and weight}', and his geUr eral character was itself a sermon. He was known to be honest, and a hearty lover of the truth as it is in Jesus. Although not a talker, in the superficial meaning of that phrase, yet he was powerful in con- versation with men of letters, and was a prince among disputants ; therefore his influence over his theologi- cal pupils was perhaps as important as his power in moulding the ciiaracter of his parishioners. He in- structed many j'oung men for the Christian ministry, and his influence is yet apparent in the writings of some of them. One of these pupils was his nephew, president Dwight, of Yale College, who was wont to speak of him with filial reverence ; another was Dr. Griffin, president of Williams College, who bore fre- cjuent testimony to the power of his teacher. A large part of Dr. Edwards's influence arose from his inter- pretations of his father's writings. He often said that he had spent his life on those writings, although, in 'fact, he had a more various learning than belonged to his father. He studied the published and the unpub- lished works of the elder president with p?culiar care. He was an early and confidential friend of Dr. Bella- nw, one of the most intimate associates of the elder president, and he learned from Bellamy the exact shadings of the father's sj'stem. He was also a life- long friend of Dr. Samuel Hopkins, another of presi- dent Edwards's bosom companions, and he obtained from Hopkins many nice discriminations in regard to the president's theories as expounded in his conversa- tions. He was thus well fitted to be an editor of his father's works, and he did prepare for the press the History of the Work of Redemption, two volumes of ser- mons, and two volumes of Miscellaneous Oh-^ercati-ms on important Theological Subjects. He was a'so well fitted to write a commentary on his father's doctrinal sj-stem, as that system was originally published by the President, or afterwards modified by Hopkins, Bel- lamy, Smalley, and others. In this aspect there is great value belonging to Dr. Edwards's treatise enti- tled Improvements in Theology made bg President Ed- wards and those who have folhirsd his Course of Thought. In 1797, while he was at Colebook, he published A Dissertation concerning Liberty and Necessity; in reply to the Rev. Dr. Samuel West. This volume may be re- garded as perha])S the fairest exponent of the elder president's theory of the >vill. It led Dr. Emmons to say that, of the two, the father had more reason than the son, yet the son was a better reasoner than the fa- ther. It is accordingly in his published works that the influence of Dr. Edwards has been most conspicuous. He printed numerous articles in the Xew York Theo- logical Magazine ; various sermons, one in 178.3, at the ordination of Rev. Timothy Dwight, at Greenfield, Conn. ; one in 1791, on the Injustice and Impolicy of
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the Slave-trade ; one in 1791, on Human Depravity ; one in 1792, at the ordination of Itev. Dan Bradley, at Hanulen; one in 1792, at the ordination of Ke v. Wil- liam Brown, at Glastenbury ; one in 1792, the Concio ad Clerum, preached in the chapel of Yale College on the marriage of a deceased wife's sister ; one in 1793, on the death of Roger Sherman ; an election sermon in 1794 ; in 1797, a sermon on the Futm'e State of Ex- istence and the Immortality of the Soul ; in 1799, a Farewell Sermon to the people of Colebrook. Tlie most celebrated of his discourses are the three On the Necessity of the Atonement and its Consistency with Free Grace in Forgiveness. They were " preaclied before his excellency the governor and a large number of both houses of the Legislature of the State of Connec- ticut, during their sessions at New Haven, in October, 1785, and published by request." They have been frequently republished, and they form the basis of that tlieory of the atonement which is sometimes call- ed the "Edwardean theory," and is now commonly adopted bj' what is termed the " New England school of divines." These discourses have great historical as well as theological importance, and they serve to illustrate the fact tliat some of the most profound treatises in the science of divinit}' have been originally preached in sermons. One ultimate design of his vol- ume on the Atonement was to refute the argument which some were deriving from that doctrine in favor of universal salvation. Intimately connected with this volume was another larger work, originally pub- lished in 1789, but frequently republished, and enti- tled. The Sdloation of all Men strictly examined, and the endless Punishment of those who die impenitent argued and d(f ended against the Reasonings of Dr. Chauncy in his booh entitled " The Salvation of all Men.'''' This work alone would have established the fame of Dr. Edwards as a divine of singular acuteness, deep pene- tration, accuracy' and precision of tliought and style. At the present day it is more suggestive of the true and the decisive modes" of reasoning on this subject than is perhaps any other volume. The preceding works illustrate the metaphysical acumen and the pro- found judgment of Dr. Edwards ; he published one essay which indicates his tact as a philologist, and which elicited the enthusiastic praises of Humboldt. This is his Observations on the Language of the Muh- hehaneew Indians, in which the Extent of that Languar/e in North America is shoiim, its Genius grammatically traced, and some of its Peculiarities, and some Instances of Analogy between that and tlw. Hebrew are pointed out. These observations were "communicated to the Connecticut Society of Arts and Sciences, and publish- ed at the recjuest of the society." One of the most ac- complished of American linguists, Hon. John Picker- ing, who edited one edition of this paper, says of it : " The work has l:)een for some time well known in Eu- rope, where it has undoubtedly contributed to the dif- fusion of more just ideas than once prevailed respecting the structure of the Indian languages, and has served to correct some of the errors into which learned men had been led hj placing too implicit confidence in the accounts of hasty travellers and blundering interpret- ers. In the Mithridates, that immortal monument of philological research, professor Vater refers to it for the information he has given upon the Mohegan lan- guage, and he has published large extracts from it. To a perfect familiaritj^ with the Muhhekaneew dialect. Dr. Edwards united a stock of grammatical and other learning which well qualified him for the task of re- ducing an unwritten language to the rules of gram- mar." Nearly all of Dr. Edwards's published writ- ! ings were collected and reprinted in two octavo vol- [ umes, each of above 500 pages, in 1842. Thej' were ! edited, and a memoir was prefixed to them, by his < grandson. Rev. Tryon Edwards, D.D.