The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1858-03-31

OF his study, and he gladly received IL
even when it came from source that APP
peared to him unlikely to nourish it. He
early resolved to search with all his abili=
! ty for the precise solution of every ques-
ton that came before him, aud with what
result we shall consider as we pass along.
| But space will not allow me to specify
too infinitely the personal habits of this
great man. | wish, however, that may
be able to set him before you, in light
that will unite the man, the student, and
the tieologian in the living unity which
they really and truly possessed, and to do
this, in the space suitable to the occasion,
I can only generalize. 5f
! Edwards appears to me as majestic
idealst, and his works from first to last
| declare that sense Of ideal beauty, truth
and goodness belonged to our original ma
ture, and that man is not himself till he
loves the beautiful, the good and the true
that have their being i'll the one Supreme
Being. Edwards taught the great truths
Of the souls spirituality, and the worth
lessness of every life that was blind to the
Divine truth, or dead to the love of God.
In other circumstances, Edwards would
have been a Poet and a Poet, too, of.
grander. sort than are often heard in these
days. He would have been no 81 go
! Low murmurer of tender lullabies!
Wreather of poppy and weeping willows!
Silent entangler of beautys uesses;' 6
but the poetry which he might have writ
i ten,
TO what shall l compare it g
/ The thought thereof is awful, sweet and holy ;
| Chasing away all worldlincss and folly. Il
/ Coming sometimes like fearful claps of thunder;
1 Or the low rumblings, earth's regions under
| And sometimes like gentle whispering
! Ofall the secrets of some wondrous thing
/ That breathes about US in the vacant air.
/ He would have been a poet like Dante,
fearing not to explore the direst darkness
| of the Inferno; or like Milton, daring to
follow his muse, even should she lead him
through the very gates of Paradise.
But Edwards surroundings wcro in
different style from those among which
the great Italian and English poets were
reared. His education was among more
practical people, and in the midst ofinsti-
tutions and events which laid q demand
upon men to work for immediate practical
effect; when thought was rapidly chrys-
TALKING into material shapes; when ideas
were putting off the chrysalis or inert
state, for the full developed Institution, or
the aggressive, moving state; when truths
were not rejected because they were not
laid down BY the school-men, nor princi-
pies opposed because it was feared they
might undermine some venerable old ruin.
While they endeavored to ''hold fast that
which was good" the men Of New Eng
land just preceding the Revolution were
yet wiling to 'prove all things and
whatever did not oppose the revealed will
of God, nor the cultivated judgment Of
mankind, they were ready to apply in
their actions and cmbody in their legisla-
ton. a
To this spirit, Edwards necessarily con
formed and while his province was lof-
ty one, he yet in it, took the general ten
dency of the age, and applied his solid
learning, his metaphysical acumen, his
critical judgment, his subtle powers Of
logic and his splendid Imagination, to the
investigation Of those high and sacred
truths, that underlic our most vital sys-
TENS of faith and practice. In his sphere
he aimed at practical results as certainly
as John Adams did, or General Putnam.
He sought to know the truth, that he
might know what to teach-he wished to
understand the principles of Gods govern
ment, that he might lead mankind to as
sumo their rightful position under it.
Therefore, while few men were ever more
spiritual than he, none were more practl-
cal He was an idealist, and yet his ideas
were full of truths that came homo to
/ mems business and bosoms. He loved to
soar in the dizzy heights of philosophy
vet he never lost his balance, and never
descended that he did not bring a ray Of
celestial light to bind about the hearts OF
those in darkness. He transformed bis
i logical talent and his deep insight in
to the secret things of the universe into
kind of Jacobs Ladder, that let down
upon men the infinite glories Of Heaven
and upon which aspiring humanity nigh,
ascend to communion with the Fatler O
Spirits.
You will readily see how such man
so thoroughly in sympathy with his time
must have exerted positive power in hi
own day. Indeed, the history of tina
time shows that bis influence was deepl.
and extensively felt 4 remarkable reyi