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

their birth, they so wound them with the
sinews Of strength in their great minds,
and expanded them by culture and disci-
pine, and toughened them by contest and
exposure, thatit verify seems almost as
if Franklin was the greatest of practical
philosophers, and Edwards the greatest
of theologians. Yet it was not 50, only
in part but so vivid was the light
and so illustrious the example they fur
nished, that the American name was rem
dered glorious BY their labors, and Amer
lean character and institutions placed upon
more enduring foundations. Their achieve
ments are our legacy; we live more wise
y because they first lived; and the inher-
itance which passes down to posterity
will gather interest in geometrical ratio,
as the years grow into the fast-coming
centuries. 8 +
9a1a0dH guss AZ siaa Gl.ia 20 $50.
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Jonathan Edwards, the elder, was born
on the 9Th Of October, 1903, at Windsor,
in the Province of Connecticut. He was
the descendant, from both his parents, of
q long line Of distinguished ancestors, M
ny of whom were ministers of the gospel.
At twelve years Of age he entered. Yale
College, and graduated with the degree of
Bachelor of Arts in 1920, little before
he was seventeen. In the second year Of
his collegiate course, while only fourteen,
he read Locke on the Human Under
standing, and expresses himself inexpressi-
bly, entertained and profted by the book,
"lnore SO than the most greedy miser,
when gathering up handfuls of silver and
gold from some newly discovered treasure
His whole college course was marked with
sobriety and a desire for improvement in
learning and wisdom. II S scholastic tas-
ties were many and various; he made good
proficiency in allthe arts and sciences then
studied; taking an especial delight in Nat
ural Philosophy, which he retained to the
end Of life; yet bis thoughts turned with
the greatest readiness to the higher de-
partments Of Metaphysics, including divin-
ity. Besides this we have very little re-
corded of bis college life.
After he had received his first degree,
he stabbed two more years at Yale, even
then celebrated no less as seat of learn
ing and piety, than for its gracefully pen
dant elms, which have grown into such
classic fame and venerable height since
Edwards took his daily walk beneath the
'swell of their 1.-THE. and slanting branch
es." These two years were spentin prep
aration for the work Of Christian minis
ter. Having received his license to preach
at the age Of nineteen, he went to the city
Of New York, and passed about eight
months in preaching to the English Pres
byterians- of that place, but not finding
the prospect favorable, at the end Of that
time he returned to his fathers house, and
spent the following summer in close, study.
In Sept. 1928, being then 20 years old,
he took his degree as Master Of Arts, and
was chosen tutor Of Yale College. He
occupied that post for two years, we may
be sure applying, meanwhile, his active
mind vigorously to. study in the intervals
of his duties, and growing in wisdom and
power. In Feb. 1927, he was ordained
as colleague with his grandfather, over tho
church at northampton, and continued its
pastor more than twenty-three years.
Let us contemplate here, for mo-
ment, the thoughtful young student, as he
appears to us through the light of near
~ q century and a half. We see him
again, in fancy, pouring intently for thr-
teen hours day owe, his books or man
uscript; pale, thin-featured man, of a
tender constitution, yet SO exact and sys-
tematic in all his habits, and SO frugal in
diet and sleep, as to accomplish more than
stronger men often do. He accustomed
himself to rise at four in the morning,
and with the exception ola few hours Of
riding on horseback, OF walking after din
ner, was usually in his study the rest Of
the day. His natural talents were thus
improved in no ordinary degree; and that
both his talents and requirements were Of
high order, is shown by his appoint
ment to the place of Tutor in his Alma
Mater when only in the twenty-frst year
of his age.
His thirst for knowledge was extraor-
binary, in the pursuit Of which he spared
no cost nor pains, and very few books on
divinity or collateral subjects that were
| likely to assist him in his studies, or in
crease his knowledge, escaped his notice
and thorough examination. And in al
his studies, he was comprehensive ane
| catholic, reading with more than ordina
~ attention those books which advocated
opinions opposed to his own. The dis
covery Of the truth was the great objec