(Tim, w/thanks to Jake) For a number of years, Yale's been hard at it putting the works of Jonathan Edwards online, freely available for hoi polloi who can no longer afford the critical edition now running around $110 per volume . It's an ill wind that blows nobody some good, though, and I suspect the high price of the hard copies is part of the reason all of us are now able to search the volumes online. So I'm happy.
Don't allow anyone else to give your Edwards to you. When I was at seminary in New England, I took a course in Edwards' works under Richard Lovelace. One night (it was a small evening seminar), I well remember coming to the session with great anticipation, having read a good portion of Edward's harder truths that week. But then, Dr. Lovelace started the class with a statement to the effect that "Here, Edwards goes a little bit off the deep edge, engaging in his well-known penchant for negativity."
Yes, yes; that's the problem with Edwards. He's so negative you get an ulcer reading him. What we need today is something positive that people can relate to; something that will give people hope and not lead them into despair.
Well, if you've read Edwards, you know that there are few men in the history of the Church who are more...
perfectly balanced, Biblically, in giving God's "no" and His "yes." Sublime meditations on the glory of God in Heaven and white-hot condemnations of annihiliationism.
But then, I've said enough. Just remember to get your Edwards straight from the source. Don't depend on me or John Piper to premasticate it for you, making him palatable to your highly refined sensitivities. Put your mouth directly up to the fire hydrant, but don't forget to take a gasp of air now and then.
